《Elder Cultivator》 Chapter 1 Outside a farmstead in the village of Dungannon, swirling winds carried cold snow onto the eaves and ground. All of the animals were safely tucked away in the barn, and the thought of repairing fences and other tiresome work didn¡¯t even cross the minds of any of those crowding around inside. Inside, there was something truly wonderful happening- the birth of a child. Not that they hadn¡¯t all seen something like that before. Of course, all twenty-odd of the family present had been born, and the two grandparents in the room and ten parents had seen most of those in the very same room be born. Anton and Janina Krantz were excited because it wasn¡¯t so often that people had a chance to become great-grandparents. The village midwife was quite experienced, having helped with Tabby¡¯s birth, and now Tabby herself was having a child. There were many things that could go wrong with a birth, but skilled hands and practiced care greatly reduced the dangers. In this particular case, the midwife might not even have needed to come through the burgeoning snow at all. The birth was quick and smooth, and less than an hour later a beautiful little girl was being held in her mother¡¯s arms. ¡°Annelie,¡± her mother said. ¡°Her name will be Annelie.¡± Anton Krantz had seen all five of his own children be born, as well as his nine grandchildren. When he first laid his eyes upon them, he loved them¡­ but even as he grew older and more directly removed from the process he found his attachment increased. He would willingly die for any of his family if it would help them somehow. If the little baby could talk and told him to kill himself he felt he would have done it without hesitation, even without anything to gain for it but a smile. Fortunately, neither of those things had cause to occur in his peaceful life. Annelie was just the first in a line of great-grandchildren that would be born into the family over the next few years. Even if half of the third generation had chosen to move away from Dungannon into other towns and cities, their numbers were continuously growing. Everyone knew who they were, of course, with the ever growing family and farm¡­ but then again, everyone knew everyone in Dungannon. ----- Some of his children told Anton Krantz that he shouldn¡¯t be working outside, wrangling cattle and building fences, driving oxen and planting seeds. He was ¡®too old¡¯. Whenever anyone suggested that, he asked them who was going to do it in his stead. It wasn¡¯t that they weren¡¯t willing to work, but quite frankly it would take two or three of them to replace the work that he did, and they were all occupied with other things throughout the day. Janina had once worked out in the fields with him, but age had hit her more strongly, especially over the past few years. She still wasn¡¯t the sort to sit around doing nothing, so they had a constant influx of tailored work clothes coming from her. ¡°Grand-grandpa,¡± Annelie said from behind him where she was tossing seeds into the plowed field. ¡°Are you really a thousand years old?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Anton Krantz might have been exaggerating his age a bit, but sometimes it felt like it. A thousand was¡­ a bit out of reach for a normal person. That was the sort of age that heroes in the legends reached, but even for cultivators a thousand years was probably an exaggeration. Not that he had any way to know, since he¡¯d only met a couple in his life, usually when he was visiting a big city. They were the sort to buy a whole animal without a thought, and with the sort of money they often had he didn¡¯t really blame them. At least they mostly didn¡¯t cause trouble. The whole country of Graotan was watched over by The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, at least in theory. Anton wasn¡¯t sure how they could manage to handle that, especially since they were a whole fortnight of travel away on horseback. However, he had heard that they regularly stopped by Alcombey, the large city to the southwest. At least, one of their disciples. As for what that actually accomplished, he wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°How big is a thousand?¡± Annelie asked. ¡°That¡¯s ten hundreds,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Oh.¡± Annelie nodded, ¡°I thought mommy said you were almost a hundred years old.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Anton laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t you think I would know how old I am? I was around when your grandpa was born, too.¡± ¡°He says you¡¯re only a hundred too.¡± Annelie was technically scattering seeds still, but several handfuls ended up in the same spot. ¡°Maybe they¡¯re right then,¡± Anton gave up on the joke. ¡°Watch where that seed goes. You want to make sure not too many plants grow together. None of them will make those big potatoes you like so much if they¡¯re cramped.¡± Well, it didn¡¯t matter much. She only had a relatively small portion of the seed, and mostly she was just there to watch. Speaking of which, the oxen had probably rested enough. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he had rested enough, but he could still keep going. Just because he wasn¡¯t young didn¡¯t mean he was weak. ----- With all the work on the ever-expanding farm, he rarely got out into the forest for hunting. Technically he still wasn¡¯t hunting, though he did have his bow with him. If he saw a wild boar or a deer, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to take it back with him. However, he was looking for something else at the moment. He needed medicinal herbs that he knew grew in the area. Of course, if they didn¡¯t grow in the area he couldn¡¯t do much but wistfully think about them. While the farm was expanding, it merely took care of the family and provided little beyond what they needed. They weren¡¯t poor, with some savings for harsh winters or the like¡­ but they also couldn¡¯t afford to spend a large amount of money on medicine. When they did¡­ it was for the great-grandchildren. What Anton was looking for required a constant supply, and he made regular trips out into the forest for the herbs. Janina wasn¡¯t any older than himself, but the last few years had been harder on her. She¡¯d developed a persistent cough, and anything that could ease her pain for a while was welcome. Anton was quite familiar with the locations it grew, how it liked to live in the shade and especially near sources of water. He found himself ranging further and further looking for the herbs, letting them regrow in places he¡¯d already been and instead seeking out further patches. Since he might spend several days away, it was best if he came back with as much as possible for his efforts. Sometimes that meant some fresh game¡­ but usually it meant edible mushrooms or root vegetables. This was looking to be one of the second types. He hadn¡¯t spotted even something like a rabbit- though realistically a rabbit would be harder to spot than larger game. At least he still had a bagful of other herbs they might be able to sell. As he finished plucking a few mushrooms after checking their coloration and placing them in a second little bag at his waist, he noticed someone in front of him. ¡°Oh¡­¡± Anton bowed his head. ¡°Hello, sir. I don¡¯t often see anyone else out in the forest.¡± The man in front of him was young. He might have taken him for a hunter as well with his obvious physique, but he didn¡¯t have a bow and his clothing was much too loose. The man bowed his head in return. ¡°Good day to you, sir. I don¡¯t suppose you have come across signs of any others? There are reports of bandits moving into the area.¡± Anton frowned. Bandits were never good news. ¡°No¡­ I haven¡¯t seen anything of them. What have you heard?¡± ¡°There was an attack on Thorpes last month. I know little more than that, I fear.¡± The man extended his hand. ¡°I am Vincent. If you stumble upon anything, please let me know. You can leave a message for me at the Prancing Deer in Alcombey.¡± The Prancing Deer¡­ that was one of the nicer inns in the city. The journey was far enough that whenever Anton visited he had to stay overnight, but he¡¯d never been willing to spend enough to stay at that place. It might not have been as overpriced as the Golden Swan, but it certainly wasn¡¯t within the range he was willing to pay for a place to sleep. ¡°Very well. If I hear anything about bandits, I will contact you there.¡± ¡°Much obliged, good sir,¡± Vincent bowed his head. ¡°Good luck with your hunt.¡± Anton watched as he left, and strangely enough Vincent seemed to almost float over the land. Of course, he was walking with his feet on the ground but the patches of rough terrain didn¡¯t seem to slow him down. It seemed like every step brought him the same distance even up or down a slope or over rocks or roots. Somehow, the steps avoided being awkward or mechanical. There was something strange about it¡­ but Anton returned to thinking about his newly increased concerns once the man was out of sight. Now there were bandits. There was no way for Anton to know if the man¡¯s blessing meant anything at all, but not ten minutes later he stumbled upon a large patch of the very herb he was looking for. After picking a handful of the most mature specimens, he left the remaining herbs to continue maturing. There was some chance someone else would come pick them up before he could, but he would prefer to give them a chance to grow and repopulate even if it meant perhaps not getting everything himself. Then he started on his return journey¡­ worrying about all sorts of troubles that might arise. Chapter 2 Each great-grandchild that was born increased both Anton¡¯s joy and his worries. He loved every single member of his family- despite the fact that none of them were perfect- and he wanted the best for them. Figuring out what was best and acquiring it was¡­ difficult. Anton knew he couldn¡¯t solve every problem his family faced¡­ but nobody was going to stop him from trying. Janina wasn¡¯t the sort to give up either¡­ but the last decade had been hard on her. Now she spent most of her time in bed. He knew she hated feeling useless, but just giving up on her¡­ was impossible. He¡¯d known her for most of the century they¡¯d been alive, and loved her as soon as such feelings developed in him. She was his closest friend since the very beginning. No matter how many herbs he found in the forest, she wasn¡¯t going to get better. In fact, too many and she would decline more quickly. Relieving pain was not without side effects. Anton missed working by her side every day, or seeing her when he entered the house at dinner time, and even just being able to talk without exhausting her. The thing that bothered him most about the situation¡­ was himself. He knew he was well past his prime, long before. His strength was declining and his eyesight was blurring such that he could barely hunt. Yet if he were to compare his health to most of the others his age¡­ it was quite simple to see the difference. They were dead, and he was not. Compared to Janina, he was quite healthy¡­ and he would likely outlive her by a number of years at least. He was still in better shape than she was a decade prior. If he could only pass on with her¡­ but he also couldn¡¯t just give up on life after that. There were so many others who might need him. Work on the farm mostly was taken care of, but there was always more he could help out with. Then there were the bandits. While in most cases, bandits lasted a few months at most before disappearing, the particular group of bandits were much more troublesome. Even with The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars looking for them, they¡¯d evaded capture for a whole decade. They weren¡¯t just normal bandits, of course. They were cultivators¡­ and as with anything else related to cultivators their effects were much more than those who weren¡¯t. Regular bandits stole and pillaged what they could, and cultivators could do much more. They ravaged entire towns, taking anything they found of worth, killing those without value and selling the rest as slaves. Even if such events were rare, every few months at most¡­ they ranged throughout all of northeastern Graotan. While they hadn¡¯t yet been seen near Dungannon, the thought that they might have a base in the forest was a concern. Perhaps Vincent had been incorrect about them hiding in the forest. Anton had trekked across the forest back and forth his whole life, and the last decade he hadn¡¯t found them. But whether or not they made their home in a nearby forest or elsewhere, they were a threat. Yet he¡¯d been all over the forests and never found them. Even if they moved camp, he should have found them. He couldn¡¯t range any further than a few days from Dungannon, both practically and emotionally. His children and grandchildren were already worried when he went out on a hunt. Perhaps they were right to be. ----- Thick snow swirled in front of Anton¡¯s face, such that he couldn¡¯t see. Even more than normal, that was. He could barely pick out a deer from a tree at a hundred paces in bright daylight. In a snowstorm, he could barely see the ground in front of him. This was where the priorities of different people came into play. It had been a harsh winter, and the year before that was no good either. At home there were great-grandchildren complaining of hunger. His family told him to not go out into the woods to hunt, that he would die¡­ but they didn¡¯t consider what he wanted. Janina was gone now. The previous winter had taken her with its bitter cold¡­ though it was not much harsher than most winters. She had just reached her end. She had kept a smile on her face as she lay in her deathbed, but while she might have been content Anton was not. Maybe he wanted to die. The thought did cross his mind. That was why he was out in the blinding snow in the dead of winter. But that thought¡­ was just a thought. It passed. He had his bow and arrows, though he could barely draw the bow now. If he died in the snow¡­ his family would mourn. He didn¡¯t want that. He instead wanted them to rejoice at his return. For that, and the continued rejoicing afterwards when they had something more to eat¡­ he needed to bring back some game. But first he had to not die. He could barely recognize the landscape entirely covered in snow, but he saw a familiar tree with peculiar knots. That meant nearby was¡­ yes, there it was. A cave. He could take shelter during the worst part of the storm. He had to. He knew better than to do what he had done, but the mistake was now made. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Anton gathered sticks and brush, whatever he could find. He cleaned it of snow so it wouldn¡¯t be so wet and began to set about making a fire. At least his hunting pack had been properly supplied and still had flint and steel in it from the previous hunt. Honestly, what had he been thinking sneaking out the door like he did? Now he was half a day from home in the worst storm of the year. Eventually he started a fire, and the warmth it created was¡­ sufficient. The cave blocked the cold winds and snow from outside, his warm clothing did well enough to keep him alive until that point¡­ and as he brushed off the snow so he wasn¡¯t wet from it melting in the fire, he was at least not cold as the time passed. He leaned back where he sat against the wall, drifting off into unconsciousness. ----- When he woke, Anton was pleased to see that he wasn¡¯t dead, and that the storm was over. The second was ultimately more important as it meant his family would not be needing quite as much firewood, so his grandchildren didn¡¯t have to go out into the snow to cut more. Plus, it meant he might get back home¡­ or successfully hunt something. Every member of his family could attest that he was stubborn about some things. Even if he hadn¡¯t been thinking quite right, he was out in the forest to hunt. His family was hungry, surviving only on food they had to ration over the remaining winter. If things went on, they might have to dig into their seed for the next year¡­ and all the hard work expanding the farm would slowly decline. Perhaps they might borrow money in the city, but if there was another bad year¡­ they could lose everything. He wanted a deer. So he trudged off deeper into the woods. It seemed fate, if it existed, had no intention to kill him just yet. He found some berries in the hollow of a hill that weren¡¯t quite frozen, providing him some energy to continue forward. He knew of another cave to spend the next night, and somehow found it. The next morning luck seemed to be on his side as he found tracks. They were fresh, too, a light snowfall having come during the night. Deer. It didn¡¯t matter how big it was, any deer would be a godsend. He followed the tracks, happy that he had stumbled across them. He couldn¡¯t have spotted them from far on the blank white landscape with the sun glaring off of it¡­ not with his eyes as they were. He squinted his eyes, crouching down. Just a few hours of tracking and he¡¯d actually found it. Somehow he¡¯d avoided spooking it off. He couldn¡¯t quite see what was its flank, a nearby tree, its head¡­ but there was certainly a deer. Or a log strangely floating off the ground. It had to be a deer. Anton nocked an arrow in his bow, the string trembling as he pulled it back. Weakness from hunger and age compounded, but he grit his teeth and pulled with all his might. When he released the arrow, only years of experience kept it on track as it nearly flew off target¡­ but he hit the deer straight in the side. Red blood spurted onto the white snow and the creature took off running. Step by step he followed after it. It wasn¡¯t hard to spot the red blood, even with his eyesight. Perhaps his aim hadn¡¯t been quite right, or he was tired¡­ because it felt like it was hours before he spotted the deer again. However, he finally did¡­ seeing it collapsed on its side. He was lucky no scavengers had gotten to it before him. He unloaded the canvas from his pack, using it as a sled under the deer. It was thin¡­ but still heavier than he could lift. Once when he was young and strong he could have slung it over his shoulder and walked all day, but now he could barely drag it on the canvas sled. But he had done it. He certainly wasn¡¯t going to leave his prize behind. If it was the last thing he ever did¡­ he had to at least get it back to his family. Then they could make it through the winter, even if he didn¡¯t. Step by step he trudged along. It would likely take him two days to get back, because while he hadn¡¯t gone straight away from home he was also even slower with his catch. He had to pace himself so he wouldn¡¯t collapse along the way. That wouldn¡¯t benefit anyone but the wolves. Then he spotted something. Strange blobs in the distance, not trees. He couldn¡¯t figure out what they were, but he detached the sled and crept closer. He had a feeling what it might be¡­ and once he was within ten paces he found he was right. Tents. Not just one or two, but a full dozen. A camp¡­ used recently, and one that would likely be returned to. It was in a place he was certain he had passed before many times. Perhaps it was new¡­ even his old eyes wouldn¡¯t have missed it. If it was what he thought, he would need to head to Graotan after he returned home. He couldn¡¯t go directly there regardless- he would certainly die of exhaustion on the trip, and he wasn¡¯t going to just eat the deer on his own. It would likely take about the same amount of time regardless, since the only roads left from Dungannon. He could be slightly faster without the deer¡­ but if he didn¡¯t return with it, there was no point in killing it to begin with. And on the rations the Krantz family could afford to give to an old nearly decrepit man, he wouldn¡¯t make it. He was the only one who knew where Vincent would be, and where the camp was. So he walked, steadily, towards his home. Perhaps he might still accomplish one more thing before he died. Chapter 3 The snowstorms had ceased, leaving behind clear but desolate skies. There was no sound reaching Anton¡¯s ears except the crunching of snow from his boots and the sled behind him. As he began walking, still a day from home, he saw the comforting sights of smoke from the chimneys of the farm and the town. He was nearly back. He walked onward with renewed vigor, eager to return home with his catch. As his steps carried him forward, his eagerness gradually turned to dread. He wasn¡¯t so close to Dungannon that the smoke from chimneys should be so clearly spotted. It was thick, black smoke. He dropped the sled from his shoulders, running as quickly as he could through the snow towards the town. His better sense came over him and he slowed his past to a fast walk, one that would likely still exhaust him by the time he arrived but at least he wouldn¡¯t collapse before he got there. His lungs and legs burned, but he kept pushing himself to move. His stomach growled from its prolonged hunger, reminding him why he had been away hunting. He first spotted the Krantz farm from atop a nearby rise. His legs stopped as he took in the sight, his mind unable to process what he had already imagined was true. Black smoke slowly rose from the scene, but it was thinner than it had been. Barns were scorched and collapsed, and the family home was a smouldering pile of rubble. Anton fell to his knees, then forward onto his face. The cold snow shocked him enough to rattle him into action. He shakily pushed himself up to one knee, then used a nearby tree to pull himself onto his feet. He ran forward once again, ignoring the burning pain in his legs and his lungs and fully giving into the sense of delirium that overcame him. Spots of red stood out in one the white snow, next to the black. Blood. The first body he came across was a cow, emaciated but one they had hoped would grow quickly in the spring. Her body was lying in a collapsed barn, clearly killed before the fire. Why? Anton staggered further towards the house, where he saw more blood¡­ and more bodies. His children¡­ not young anymore but grandparents¡­ them and their wonderful spouses, loved parts of the family. Next came some grandchildren, young but old enough to be parents- and most were. ¡°Hello? Anyone?¡± Anton called out, hoping to find someone alive, someone he could save. No response came. He called out again and again as his legs carried him past the farm, but he heard nothing. Automatically, he walked into town. He wasn¡¯t thinking anything, but if he had been¡­ he wanted to find anyone alive, someone he could save or talk to to ask what happened. Unfortunately, he already knew. The bandits. That gang of cultivators that had been growing stronger for the last decade. Even normal bandits wouldn¡¯t be so brutal. Living people could be stolen from again, and there was no profit in burning down buildings. He should have come faster. He staggered into town, completely unaware of his own body. Dungannon proper was exactly the same as the Krantz farm, merely burned out husks of buildings and bodies of all sorts surrounded by snow covered ground. Most of the fires had sputtered out. Anton called out for anyone until his throat was raw, and even more beyond that. As soon as he saw the camp he should have run to town. He could have warned them. What did food matter? His feet carried him back and forth until his tracks criss-crossed the city square many times. There were a few tracks not his own, but he couldn¡¯t tell if they were coming or going. He started to follow them out of town, towards Graotan. His brain told him there was something there. His body told him it could do no more. Before he even reached the edge of town, he collapsed face first into the snow. He didn¡¯t even feel the cold, the burning of his lungs, the pain in his legs¡­ none of it registered to him. No coherent thoughts crossed his minds, merely ideas of how he could have arrived faster. How he could have changed his route to spot the camp on his way out. How he could have immediately returned to warn people. As if¡­ such actions would make a difference. What would people have done? Prepared to fight? Fled their homes in the middle of a snowstorm? He didn¡¯t have answers to that. He didn¡¯t have answers to anything. At least he was going to die with everyone else. He almost smiled at that thought as consciousness left him, but he had neither the strength nor sufficient ironic joy. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ----- Heaven was cold. Or was it hell? Heaven wasn¡¯t supposed to be painful. If it was hell¡­ it wasn¡¯t as bad as he thought, until his memories came back to him. Then it was worse. He opened his mouth to cry out, but he had no strength for that. Bright light streamed into his eyes from the sky. Light mixed with snowfall. When had he gotten on his back? He thought he heard something. A hand touched his chest and his head. Something soothing flowed into him. It was like cool water on a hot day, but in the cold it was also like a toasty fire and a hot cup of tea. Then he heard something. A voice, calling to him. ¡°...ton¡­ Anton!¡± His eyes focused on a man in front of him. His throat¡­ was just barely able to make sound. ¡°...Vincent?¡± ¡°I saw the smoke. I ran here from Graotan. I know this is hard, but did you¡­ see where they went?¡± Anton tried to shake his head, but he couldn¡¯t. ¡°...no.¡± Breathing was hard. ¡°Saw their camp.¡± ¡°You found it?¡± Vincent¡¯s eyebrows furrowed. ¡°Where is it?¡± ¡°Can¡­ show you¡­¡± Anton tried to stand up, but he could barely even move his fingers, let alone raise his body. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ out in the forest. By the oak with the¡­ seven knots¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ know the place.¡± Vincent sighed. ¡°... drag me.¡± ¡°If I move you, you¡¯ll die,¡± Vincent replied. ¡°...So? If you can kill¡­ the bandits¡­ at least I¡¯ll die for something.¡± Vincent grinned, ¡°Determination¡­ that¡¯s good. Fine. Point me in the right direction.¡± Anton had given piggyback rides to his children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. It had been probably ninety years since he had gotten one himself, give or take a few years. Yet he found himself picked up like a little child. He knew he wasn¡¯t as heavily muscled as he had once been, and there was no fat left on his bones¡­ but he hadn¡¯t expected to find himself so casually carried. Nor had he expected to then move so quickly. ¡°Sorry about this, Anton. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not comfortable.¡± Anton had no energy to respond to the thought of discomfort. He could barely keep his eyes open as he bounced along, the scenery blurring past him- and not just because of his poor eyesight. He directed Vincent with as few words as possible, guiding him along towards his tracks, partially covered with new snow. However, he hadn¡¯t taken the straightest route from the camp. He¡¯d gone the easy way, but he pointed Anton straight towards the camp, away from his tracks. At least, they would get close. For all his apologies, the motion from being carried by Vincent was¡­ quite minimal. No worse than walking speed on a horse. He recalled seeing him move smoothly over the land before, and he imagined it was the same now¡­ though he couldn¡¯t see his feet. Leaning would be inadvisable, so he stayed draped over the man. ¡°A few degrees right. Straight through that tree.¡± At first he had thought he would have to find slightly traversable paths, but as Vincent jumped over a stream ten paces wide he realized they could be a bit more efficient. At the speed they were going¡­ they would arrive at the camp in less than an hour. Assuming Vincent could keep it up. Not only was that true, but Anton felt the speed actually increased. ¡°I see it¡­¡± Vincent said. ¡°But I don¡¯t sense anyone nearby. Rest here for a moment, Anton.¡± Anton smiled, preparing to close his eyes for the final time. Vincent would surely catch them now. At least¡­ nobody else would suffer. ¡°Damn,¡± the expletive pulled him out of his reverie. ¡°So that was how they hid. The formation only broke because of the excessive snow. With a formation master among them¡­¡± Vincent continued speaking to himself, ¡°... and they must know the formation broke as they were out. They likely won¡¯t return here.¡± Anton saw Vincent bury his head in his hands. ¡°Just empty tents¡­¡± ¡°How can I¡­ help¡­¡± Anton couldn¡¯t just die now. They were so close. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. There¡¯s nothing more you can do. This is the best lead possible, and it might allow me to find them in the future now that I know.¡± ¡°... gonna kill them¡­¡± Anton muttered. ¡°Of course I am. You¡¯ve seen what they do. Killing them will bring justice.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t listening to Vincent. Instead, he was trying to get to his feet. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ gonna kill them.¡± Somehow, he made it to his feet before toppling forward. ¡°Gonna¡­ get¡­ them¡­¡± Once more, his consciousness faded. Chapter 4 The wonderful smell of eggs and sausage trickled into Anton Krantz¡¯ nose. He could hear the sizzling of a frying pan and the warmth of the fire. However, that very warmth reminded him of something. Now that he was not freezing, he felt his aching legs and raw throat as well as his terrible hunger. At least it seemed one of those might be solved, but remembering that he wasn¡¯t home with his family- and indeed couldn¡¯t possibly be home with his family- brought more pain than his physical maladies. Vincent¡¯s voice came from nearby. ¡°Good. You¡¯re awake.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t sure how he knew that since he hadn¡¯t even moved or opened his eyes. ¡°Breakfast is just about ready. I¡¯m sure you need it.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just let me die in the snow?¡± Anton slowly opened his eyes, letting them settle on the younger man next to him. ¡°Because that¡¯s something I can¡¯t take back.¡± Vincent shrugged, ¡°If you really want to die, you just have to not eat. Then you¡¯ll never kill a bandit or save any of your family.¡± Anton¡¯s brow furrowed, wrinkling his forehead even more than its standard cragginess. ¡°How can I save anyone that¡¯s dead?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t,¡± Vincent said, ¡°But not all of them are dead. However, their fate might not be much better. These bandits are slavers, and while that means that most of the young folk in Dungannon will still be alive¡­ things might not be much better. Likely they will be sold in Ofrurg, which cares little for where slaves come from. From there, they might be sold anywhere.¡± Anton had managed to crawl out of the tent he woke up in. He pulled himself to a sitting position and took the plate of food Vincent handed him, shakily grabbing a fork and bringing food into his mouth. He chewed in silence for a while before speaking. ¡°What use is that information to an old man such as me? I¡¯ll likely die before I even reach the border, and have no way to retrieve them from the hands of cultivator bandits or a slaveholding nation.¡± ¡°You are correct,¡± Vincent ate casually but seemed to disregard the heat of the food, making no attempts to blow on his food. ¡°There is nothing you can do. Even if you have the utmost determination in the world, it is likely impossible. The leader of the bandits has likely surpassed the body tempering stage and moved on to the next level of cultivation. If you only care about your own family¡­ you might as well give up your life. However¡­¡± there was a long pause. ¡°If you have the determination to stop more evils, perhaps there is a small chance you might yet do something. I already have sworn to kill these bandits, and I will do my best to see any they captured free from slavery. I can¡¯t promise to accomplish any of those feats in the next year¡­ but I won¡¯t be giving up on taking them down.¡± Vincent shook his head, ¡°Old as you are, you can do nothing, but I at least have a way you can speed along your death without giving up.¡± He pulled out a scroll from a bag by his side- a scroll that didn¡¯t seem as if it could have fit inside. He let the scroll roll out on its own, and Anton saw a myriad of sparkling lights. ¡°This is the core cultivation technique of The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. I am sure you know we are headquartered in the southwestern portion of Graotan. If you are able to practice it to the third level, then you can join the order.¡± Anton looked at him. ¡°Can I¡­. cultivate? Even as an old man?¡± Vincent grimaced. ¡°I won¡¯t lie to you. It will likely be excruciatingly difficult. You will need natural talent to even successfully cultivate the first layer in¡­ a short amount of time.¡± ¡°Before I die, you mean.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Cultivation takes many years, and currently, I have¡­ very few left in me.¡± Anton placed his hand on his chest. He could even now feel his heart straining, overworked by his recent events. It had lasted him so long already, but it might not hold out for just the bit more that he needed. ¡°That¡¯s correct. And there¡¯s no real chance of you actually being able to compete with the bandits who killed your family. Perhaps¡­ you might become strong enough to journey to find those who were enslaved, but that¡¯s the work of a lifetime.¡± Vincent sighed, ¡°It won¡¯t be easy for you to even try, but if you truly have the determination to get revenge, you can make the attempt.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Anton reached out for the scroll, his hands still shaking even without the deep hunger. He looked at it, seeing the writing hidden behind the field of stars. It was too dense to read at the moment, but fortunately his eyes worked up close for the most part. Anton looked around him, at the remains of the bandit camp they were staying in. ¡°Will they come back here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so¡­¡± Vincent said, ¡°But I searched around for their trail from the city and couldn¡¯t find it. More than just the snow was at play covering their tracks. So the best I can hope is that there is something they want here.¡± Vincent gestured to the campfire which wasn¡¯t emitting any smoke. ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be able to notice me here until they get close, but they might have given up because the formation collapsed. And there¡¯s nothing of value here¡­ just food and tents.¡± ¡°Food has value.¡± ¡°Not to those who steal it. Not when they can just take more.¡± Vincent shook his head. ¡°You should rest. Think carefully on that. It¡¯s¡­ dangerous. Especially with a weak constitution.¡± Anton took his advice, though only because he could barely drag himself back into a tent. Rest¡­ might help. But likely not. ----- Anton¡¯s dreams were filled with nightmares. He wasn¡¯t just seeing the faces of his dead family. Somehow, he was witnessing the bandits kill them. His wife was there too, but young. She was carried away by the bandits. When Anton awoke, he knew it was a nightmare, that he hadn¡¯t seen any of that, that Janina had been old and dead for years¡­ but that didn¡¯t make the impact less. Even though it was the middle of the night, Vincent was still awake. Did the man ever sleep? Did he have to sleep? He was a cultivator, after all. Anton wasn¡¯t sure what they could do¡­ but they were certainly far beyond the capabilities of normal humans. His thoughts drifted back to the nightmare and he shook his head. He wanted none of it. Perhaps it was better to just die, but if he was going to die anyway¡­ he pulled out the scroll. It glowed in the night, the stars on its surface flickering and moving. He read the words hidden in the stars. The scroll explained many things about cultivation. The beginning was body tempering. During that stage, the cultivator would lay the foundation for body tempering by guiding energy from the cultivation technique all throughout their body. Once that was complete, that was the first level. Then the cultivator had a choice to make. Throughout body tempering, they would refine their skin, bones, marrow, muscles, internal organs in the head and torso separately, their tendons, and perhaps most importantly their meridians. Then there would be one final refinement of the entire body to complete the stage. That was the tenth of ninety-nine stars. The full body was first and last, but in between any choices could be made. After each refinement it grew more difficult¡­ but the cultivator would also likely grow more skilled with the technique. However, the specifics¡­ didn¡¯t matter to Anton yet. He wasn¡¯t even sure if he could gather energy from the world. He read through the breathing technique that described how it was supposed to be done. His lungs were barely up to the task of breathing deeply, so expelling the impurities inside of him was clearly not going to be easier. He wasn¡¯t even sure if he had any success at that as he inhaled, attempting to gather the energy of the world. Out and in. In and out. Anton didn¡¯t notice Vincent turn towards him, his eyes closed in concentration. Then, he felt it. Just a little strand of something. He was supposed to guide that throughout his body. Through his meridians¡­ but he couldn¡¯t even really sense them. He followed the description as much as he could, but as the energy entered his stomach it burned. It felt like he was on fire, and like he might die. However, he pulled it into him anyway. If he truly exploded¡­ at least everything would be over. Once it settled inside him the pain decreased, but he didn¡¯t stop. He encouraged the energy to flow through his body, and it seemed to naturally find the meridians, whatever they were, as it flowed in a set path. His insides were on fire, and the energy quickly ran out¡­ but he grit his teeth and started the whole process again. Either he would succeed sooner or die sooner¡­ and he didn¡¯t really care which. If nothing else, the physical pain kept his mind away from the rest. Chapter 5 Though every tiny piece of his body hurt, Anton found himself more able to actually move about after some time spent cultivating. With that, he thought of something more important to do than just moping about thinking about dying. Anton trudged his way back towards Dungannon at a measured pace. A bit of food had given him some strength, but movement still hurt, both from fatigued muscles and whatever it was that cultivating was doing to him. Possibly tearing him apart, but it was really damaging him he felt he would already be dead. Even though he had once been quite tough¡­ at around a hundred years old, he felt like he could fall apart at any moment. He was almost surprised he¡¯d made it so far, but he didn¡¯t let his mind stop on any of that. On the way back towards town, he passed over the frozen and snow-covered carcass of the deer he had hunted. It had surprisingly not been touched by scavengers, so it was in relatively good shape. Anton couldn¡¯t rely on Vincent to provide him food¡­ and Vincent wouldn¡¯t be in town regardless. So he grabbed the straps and started pulling the canvas sled towards town. He followed basically the same path he had taken before, his previous tracks barely visible under new layers of snow. It was a long walk still, to reach Dungannon, but he was able to reach the town before evening. He stopped outside the Krantz family farm, unwilling to go closer. Instead, he gathered sticks and cleared snow to make a fire pit. He didn¡¯t have a good table to work on the deer, so he just cut off strips of meat and roasted them over the fire, keeping the main portion of the deer away from the heat so it wouldn¡¯t thaw and refreeze. The meal was awful. Frozen deer didn¡¯t cook well, and the thoughts he had harbored of sharing it with his family only brought their faces back into his mind. However, he needed to eat¡­ and he had come back for a reason. So he ate as much as seemed reasonable to build up his strength, before setting a tent next to a ruined barn and using a bedroll pilfered from the bandit camp to keep himself warm for the night. ----- Anton could only take so much cultivating. His entire body screamed as the unfamiliar energy he pulled from the world around him tore into it. Though it hurt to move after that, he didn¡¯t feel weakness which was good enough. As long as he could move¡­ he could work. First he found himself digging through the rubble looking for tools. It took a day before he came up with a shovel, and then he could begin the real work. His oldest son could have reasonably been considered an old man in his own right. He was a grandfather, but like Anton himself he worked his whole life. His body still had quite a bit of muscle on it, so bringing it to the top of the hill where Janina was buried with Anton¡¯s parents was quite a chore. Then Anton set about removing the snow and digging through frozen soil. Eating, sleeping, cultivating, and digging graves became Anton¡¯s life. The venison lasted him two weeks, and after that he began on the organs, eating whatever he could despite how tough it might be. Everything was roasted over a fire, which wasn¡¯t the optimal way to cook all of it¡­ but he didn¡¯t exactly have many other options. The bodies of Anton¡¯s family were all buried by the time he ran out of food. Digging through the rubble had been slow, but with nothing else to do all day¡­ he kept at it. Despite the constant pain from muscle fatigue and cultivation, he felt stronger than he had in a long time. Perhaps it was just the weakness from winter rations fading, but he was able to push his way past his difficulties. Anton knew that Vincent had been right, but seeing that only about half of his grandchildren and their spouses were dead didn¡¯t fill him with joy. Getting carried away as slaves was not necessarily a better fate. As for his great-grandchildren¡­ Anton knew he couldn¡¯t fight even the weakest cultivator, but he wanted to stomp off to Ofrurg and tear down the whole country. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Perhaps the attempt would have allowed him to die content, but it wouldn¡¯t have really done anything productive. He still had work to do where he was. Dungannon wasn¡¯t just his own family after all. The rest of the villagers also deserved the respect of a proper burial. Before he could do that, Anton needed to survive. That meant food- and with all of the village¡¯s stored food eaten, stolen, or destroyed- he had to hunt. Somehow his bow had held up through being buried in snow with him several times, though he had to replace the string with another he had fortunately stored in the quiver. Heading out far into the woods wasn¡¯t something he wanted to do, so he looked for tracks closer. If he was lucky, he would find something smaller, since he didn¡¯t need to feed a whole family and it would be easier to carry back. When he was willing to settle for smaller game, his eyes were drawn to any prints he saw. After a few hours of following some rabbit tracks, he finally found one. He would have preferred to set up traps, but he no longer had the material for them. As he spotted the rabbit, he noticed his eyesight was slightly less blurry. Even with its winter coat, he had seen it from over a dozen paces away. He couldn¡¯t say which end was the head, but he stopped and carefully drew his bow. It pulled back slightly more easily now that he wasn¡¯t quite so fatigued, and his arrow flew true- and the rabbit didn¡¯t notice the movement. Unlike the deer, a rabbit couldn¡¯t even move with an arrow in its side, so he didn¡¯t have to chase it. That would provide food for a day, at least. ----- Whenever he breathed out, Anton could feel something being forced out of him. It wasn¡¯t just stale air, either. Whatever it was quickly found itself replaced by new, fresh air¡­ and in that air was the energy he was seeking. According to the cultivation manual, it was possible to absorb it directly at a certain point- but for the moment, he could only take the energy from the air inside his lungs. Each breath had a small strand of energy that he pulled down to his dantian, a place below his navel. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was a real organ. He¡¯d seen enough of the insides of people over the past month and a half to be fairly certain there were only guts there¡­ but then again, the meridians this energy flowed through didn¡¯t seem to be real either. Or maybe¡­ real wasn¡¯t the right word. He could feel both, and he stored up energy in his dantian before moving it through the squiggly meridians going throughout his body. Each time he did, it strained him. He had to practically force it to move through the meridians, like water through a clogged pipe. As he did so, they opened up slightly¡­ but he also was capable of gathering more strands of energy that he needed to circulate throughout his body. In this particular cultivation session, his body and energy seemed to be resisting his every move. It felt like every step of the way he was dragging claws through his body. Perhaps he was making a mistake, and would destroy himself¡­ but he still fell into the vain and stupid hope that he might actually become a cultivator and become strong enough to avenge his family- or rescue some of them. It was the only thing that kept him going when surrounded by corpses all day. The nearby villages had likely heard about Dungannon¡¯s tragedy, but they could barely take care of themselves in the winter. Sending people to help bury bodies was a pointless gesture that nobody would even notice¡­ and they didn¡¯t know that anything was being done at all. He was fine with that, but he hoped he could finish the job. Yet he was perhaps about to kill himself cultivating. The sharp pain he felt as he prodded and pushed and pulled the energy through his body might have been a warning of danger. That was often the case, but the technique had said there would be pain. It wasn¡¯t so verbose that it said the exact level of pain, but Anton knew that cultivators were superhuman. It wasn¡¯t so easy to become one, so just the amount of physical pain he felt¡­ what did it matter? He¡¯d thought to ask Vincent for advice, but after a month he was no longer waiting for the bandits to return. He was off somewhere, hunting them down if he could. That meant Anton had no way to know how to handle the situation. Choosing the most straightforward option of charging ahead was the only thing he could be bothered to do. Either it was a hurdle he needed to overcome or he wasn¡¯t cut out for cultivation and should just become another body among the rest. So, despite the excruciating pain throughout his body, he pushed the gathered energy through his meridians and to all of his extremities. Chapter 6 At a few points in his life Anton had gotten too close to the heat of a stove or an open fire. A quick jerk of his hand and maybe some cool water or a salve to soothe the burn was enough to comfort him after that. However, he¡¯d never had fire inside of him before. As the pressure of the energy in his meridians built up, it transformed into fire. It was already far too late to stop, if he did nothing the fire would rage inside him uncontrolled¡­ the best he could do was circulate it through his meridians and hope he hadn¡¯t killed himself. The energy inside him circulated from his core, the area underneath his navel the cultivation technique spoke of as the ¡®Dantian¡¯ and out to his extremities and back. Each time it completed a full circulation, the power increased. If it continued, Anton didn¡¯t know if he could keep it under control. Each circulation left a little bit of flame in the middle of his dantian, extremely hot and spinning around releasing more energy. Anton continued the circulations, trying to remember the instructions down to the tiniest detail. He wasn¡¯t sure, but perhaps¡­ this was supposed to happen. As the energy circulated more and more, it wrapped more strands around the fiery core, twisting like a ball of twine. Then he reached the limit of his control and the strand snapped away from him, coiling around the burning ball. However, instead of unraveling or exploding it suddenly condensed. Anton had only skimmed over the section of the cultivation manual related to reaching the first level of cultivation. It wasn¡¯t something that should be quick, and he knew age would make cultivating slower. However, perhaps he had underestimated the time it would take. A month and a half didn¡¯t seem like long to a man a hundred years old¡­ but for someone who was ten or fifteen years old it was indeed much more significant. Now that he wasn¡¯t dead, he pulled out the starry manual again. Indeed, the text covered ¡®igniting the first star¡¯. He¡¯d only thought he was making progress along the way, pushing himself closer¡­ not making the actual breakthrough. However, he couldn¡¯t deny that he certainly had the first star inside of him now. There was nothing else that he could call it. Anton sighed. Was he young and reckless again? Then again, even if he¡¯d been prepared¡­ what else could he have done? He was ready to break through or it wouldn¡¯t have been possible, and there was something to be said about letting things happen as they came naturally. He stood up and noticed a cracking sound. He looked down at himself and noticed a layer of blackness on his skin. Was he burnt? He scraped some of it with his hand and found it was more of a sort of goop. It didn¡¯t hurt, but it smelled foul. He would have to clean himself off. ----- After having ignited the first star, Anton¡¯s body no longer hurt, whether cultivating or not. He felt much stronger¡­ as if he were ten years younger. Granted, that would still be what he was like at ninety years old, but he thought he was a fairly vigorous ninety year old. The most important thing is that his meridians felt more durable, so he was able to cultivate more smoothly. The manual for Ninety-Nine Stars described the choices he had to make next in body tempering. Upon reviewing them once again, he decided that fully refining his meridians next would be the best choice. Better cultivation was good, right? He felt his chest. Since he hadn¡¯t died¡­ his heart should hold out for the moment. He might want to consider refining the organs in his torso next, however. ----- Out in the forest, Anton¡¯s body felt lighter. ¡°Young¡± people never realized what they had until it was too late. That was true for Anton, and he hadn¡¯t even really noticed the decline over the past decades, gradual as it was. However, returning to some of his former strength and feeling of youth reminded him. He had the many decades of experience hunting to rely on as well, since farming alone had never been sufficient. His body moved stealthily through the brush. He saw a small pack of deer, and could actually pick them out well enough from a distance that he didn¡¯t startle them. His eyes still weren¡¯t good, but he didn¡¯t need to pick out their patterns¡­ just hit them in the side. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He was able to achieve a draw on the bow he hadn¡¯t in quite some time. It was still far below the bow¡¯s capacity, but his arrow flew true, sinking deep into the side of the deer. It didn¡¯t run nearly so far as the one during the snowstorm, and he was able to quickly bring it back to the village where he would eat some and turn the rest into jerky. ----- Anton turned dour as he looked over the rows of graves. Was there even any point in cultivating, swearing vengeance upon the bandits? He¡¯s taken the first step, but was it even possible to do more? He shook his head. At least, he had to finish this job. His shovel drove into the frozen ground, much deeper than he¡¯d been able to before. Within three hours, he had a shallow grave prepared. Deep enough to keep scavengers out, at least. He moved to find the next nearest body. Lily, he believed her name was. He tried to remember everyone¡¯s name, but some he only spoke to occasionally. He made a simple grave marker out of wood, carving her name into it. It wouldn¡¯t last forever¡­ but it was all he could do. He had no access to stone or a chisel to make a lasting headstone. ----- Focusing the next tempering on his meridians was more difficult than he had thought it would be. Perhaps he had grown cocky after having ignited the first star. If cultivation was so easy¡­ everyone would do it. The first star inside of him stored more energy than he had been able to before, as well as allowing him to gather it more quickly with the proper breathing technique. However, using that energy to temper his meridians beyond where they already were¡­ he found to be quite slow. Even spending more time each day cultivating, his progress felt minimal. Then Anton realized why it was so hard. He¡¯d become aware of his success, his ability to live on at least for a while. He was being cautious, when his only chance of becoming relevant was to surve forward. He couldn¡¯t be happy with just the first star, or even the second. He had to complete all of the Body Foundation stage at least to be able to avenge his family- the first nine stars. With the fire of a small star inside of him, he had to be able to do more. It was quite calm and gentle at rest, but if he riled it up it could spin and more rapidly release energy. That was what he needed. He flooded his meridians with energy, straining them to their limits, limits he more clearly understood now that he had experience cultivating. The fire burned through him, down each extremity one at a time seeping into even the smallest parts of his body. Once his energy faded to a small ember, he gathered more, breathing it in from the world around him. He barely slept, not wanting to give up cultivating but also needing to bury as many bodys as he could before the thaw. He was rarely glad for a long winter¡­ and of course he would have preferred the current one to be mild and gentle, but it might not have stopped the bandits. At least he wanted the villagers to be relatively whole in their graves, as much as he could do it. But he also couldn¡¯t afford to waste time not cultivating, because he wasn¡¯t sure if he could live long enough to become strong if he didn¡¯t. He lost track of time, and soon enough another month had passed. Each day he cultivated, he was more efficient with the energy he gathered and he found he could store more and more in his dantian, and the first star. However, he had begun to slow down, having reached a bottleneck. Was he ready to advance to the second star? There was only one way to find out. Anton continued gathering energy from the world with every breath, condensing it as much as he could into the first star in his dantian until it was overflowing. Then he called upon the energy, circulating it through his meridians, forcing its power against them and into them. Fire burned in his veins, but though there was pain, it was a good feeling. He wasn¡¯t beyond what he could bear yet. He kept pushing himself towards the limits, consciously breathing in more energy at a regular pace to feed the fires inside of him. When the fire inside him reached their peak and began to overflow, he grasped them in his control, wrestling the strands of energy around each other until they began to form another ball¡­ the second star. It grew and grew and grew, becoming harder and harder to control. His meridians were on fire, the pain constantly intensifying, but he pushed back the physical pain with his memories which bore much worse emotional pain, and the desire to somehow make amends for what had happened. As he pushed himself knew the energy would eventually exceed his capacity, but he was unable to pull back¡­ and when he reached the limits of his control, it once more collapsed into a more condensed star. The second star, burning bright. He¡¯d made it. Perhaps¡­ he might be able to have some success at cultivation after all. Chapter 7 With every breath he took, Anton felt the energy of the world suffusing his body. It wasn¡¯t so much as when he focused on cultivation, but after his meridians were tempered the process was much more automatic. The energy flowed more easily through him, and he found he was able to apply it outside of himself more effectively as well. It turned out there was a correct choice after all. His subsequent cultivation would go more smoothly. Though the next level was the most important. He would be able to join the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars if he reached the third level of the Body Foundation Stage. If he didn¡¯t¡­ then he just wasn¡¯t good enough. The constant influx of energy allowed him to speed up the process of burying the villagers of Dungannon even more. It also helped that the spring thaws were beginning, and the ground was less frozen. That also gave him the impetus to work as quickly as he could. He had needed to change several shovels as they wore out, but with more energy providing a defensive layer and sharpness to the shovel, he was able to be more effective and wear out his equipment less. Anton¡¯s knowledge of cultivation was limited, but he was aware that besides cultivation techniques like the one he had, there were methods to make better use of the energy for various uses. At the current moment he felt he had only a basic grasp of how it could be used¡­ but it was still so powerful. Each step he took made him realize how strong those at the next stage must be. Especially if they had a young body to go with it. He didn¡¯t even know what the next stage was called. The scroll he had for the Ninety-Nine Stars only covered Body Foundation. Not that he needed to concern himself with that when he was only at the second level out of ten. ----- As Anton performed the breathing technique, he could feel not only his lungs pulling in natural energy but the pores in his skin where his meridians reached the outside of his body. It was only a very small force, but quite real. In a way, that made cultivation more complex. He wasn¡¯t sure whether to gather all the energy in his dantian or try to circulate it from wherever it ended up. Some experimentation showed him little noticeable differences, except he could more directly reach the pathways he wanted from the dantian, which connected with meridians stretching to every part of his body. If he didn¡¯t go through the dantian, he still had to take a circuitous route for over half of the energy. He also found it was slightly easier to use energy refined by the stars in his dantian, so that seemed like the best method. Eventually, all of it would end up in his torso. Anton appreciated the thought of having better eyesight by tempering the organs of his head, and muscles and strong bones were always welcome¡­ but as all of his breathing in energy flowed through his lungs, he felt that was the next logical step. He was also somewhat concerned about his heart. Perhaps it would explode and kill him during this step, but if that was the case he might as well get it over with. The energy from the world continuously flowed into him, through his lungs and pores into his dantian to be refined into a more usable form by the stars. Then it flowed right back into his lungs, his heart, his liver, stomach¡­ every organ in his torso. He thought to prioritize his lungs and heart, but it seemed wiser to give all of the organs their fair share. That way he wouldn¡¯t overload any of them, and to be honest he thought that having a stronger stomach could be quite useful. He had felt his guts working, and when they weren¡¯t working as well, his life could be quite unpleasant. His heart and lungs kept him alive every second, but the rest played their part as well. Energy flowed smoothly through him, his newly tempered meridians making the work almost trivial. At the end of two weeks he found himself at a bottleneck once more, but he was able to quickly gather the energy to push through, and though his organs strained and groaned they grew stronger and tougher¡­ before finally releasing the excess energy which he formed into another star inside him according to the cultivation manual. Yes, tempering his meridians second had been the right choice. It was surprising how fast it made cultivation. Now, after just three months, he¡¯d already reached the third level of Ninety-Nine Stars. If he continued at that pace, he might reach Spirit Building in a year¡­ or maybe two or three, since it was implied that the progress would slow down. He supposed the bandits would be cultivating as well, and they would pull away from him if he didn¡¯t keep pushing himself. However, Anton felt he could use the guidance of those with experience so he knew how much was too much. As long as he could make it to the Order, he would be able to join- and he could learn more there. Reaching the Order wasn¡¯t as simple as it sounded, but Anton was much more able to travel across the country for a whole month now compared to at least the previous two or three decades. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ----- Before he set out on his journey, Anton hunted some more animals to make jerky out of. He also did his best to prepare some hides that he hoped to sell on the way so he could buy more supplies. Hunting in unfamiliar territory was much lower on the list of things he wanted to do, since there could easily be magical beasts in unfamiliar forests- or they might be claimed by some local lord or cultivators. Besides, that would slow down his trip. The Spring air wasn¡¯t quite warm, but it was refreshing. The most refreshing part was leaving behind Dungannon. A cloud of sadness hung over the whole village, inescapable as long as he was there. Concentrating on his cultivation and thoughts of revenge could only do so much to distract him. Now, he could try to enjoy new sights as he traveled along the road, doing his best to ignore the fact that the road was mostly slushy mud mixed with ice and instead focusing on the early flowers growing. Anton found he was able to do basic cultivation as he walked. At least, he could absorb the energy of the world as he moved, gathering it for use when he stopped for the night. He would camp wherever on the road he found himself when it became dark, cultivating until he felt he¡¯d hit his limit for the night then sleeping until dawn. He would eat and return to the road. That cycle continued for a week before he found any significant obstacle on the road. ----- Spring rains poured down, not exactly warm but much more welcome than the snow of winter. Anton¡¯s boots squelched in the mud as he walked, but he found that his balance was much more adequate than it had once been. His body was almost returning to a state where he felt young. Of course, he distantly remembered actually being young, but feeling less old was good enough for him. He occasionally passed people on the road, but had little to say to them. He didn¡¯t know what people thought of an old man like himself, but he had little desire for conversation. He occasionally stopped in towns, but he couldn¡¯t afford the prices of a room at an inn. Food was the most important, and he needed to last a month. As he passed through a little town he saw a crowd of people gathered around in the rain. That was certainly unusual, but the reason soon became clear. Up ahead was a river that hadn¡¯t been on any map that Anton had ever seen. Then again, it was more of a large stream¡­ and he hadn¡¯t needed maps of the whole of Graotan. It was impossible to tell how large the stream normally was¡­ but at the current moment it was overflowing its banks. The small bridge crossing it was half flooded¡­ and seemed unable to withstand the currents, swaying in a most concerning way. A bridge flooding out was certainly enough to get a village gathered around with concern, but as he approached Anton noticed more. He saw a young child attempting to cross the bridge- from the far side. ¡°Jimmy! Be careful!¡± a worried mother called out from where her feet were just getting flooded by the river. Anton took stock of the situation. The flooding wasn¡¯t caused by just the gentle rains in the area, but likely runoff from the nearby mountains at the same time. It was unlikely anyone could have anticipated the trouble at the current moment. Anton approached closer. The bridge was certainly precarious, but it could likely carry the child as he walked across, clutching the railing and trying to keep his feet on the slippery surface. A sudden surge of water, however, immediately changed the situation. Anton heard the bridge crack and snap. While it somehow remained partly attached to the shore, it tilted- flinging the young boy off of the bridge. His body reacted before his mind could process anything. He was surprised how easy it was to leap into the center of the river- but his surprise was tempered by freezing water in his face and the chaos of a flooding river. He had just missed the boy, grabbing out at him as he hit the water. It took a moment to reorient himself, getting tossed head over heels in the water. He somehow spotted a form further down the river. His arms reached out, pulling on the water as quickly as they could to propel him toward the boy. Anton just managed to reach the struggling young boy and grab an arm when another huge rush of water came over them, surging down the river, pushing both of them under. Chapter 8 Turbulent waters completely filled Anton¡¯s vision. He was unable to really swim, keeping his grasp on the child with one hand and weighed down by his clothes and traveling gear. The two of them surged down the river without direction. Anton vaguely saw or sensed something up ahead and instinctively wrapped himself around Jimmy protectively. A moment later, he impacted a large rock in the middle of the stream. The sudden collision forced air out of his lungs as he only afterwards thought to summon his energy. It wrapped around himself and the boy as they hurtled downstream. Newly fallen logs and disruptive boulders were all too common, and there were only rare moments when the pair surfaced- and they didn¡¯t have a real chance to breathe. Anton took all of the force of the river upon himself, unable to let a child be hurt. He kicked his legs, struggling to find the surface and a shore. After what felt like an eternity of darkness and being underwater, he managed to bump into a root overhanging a washed out section of river. He grabbed onto it with one hand, stopping them. He pulled the young boy in his arm out of the water, but he had no expression- nor breath. Anton didn¡¯t have the flexibility or strength of his youth, but with all his effort he managed to toss the child up onto the shore. He used both arms to drag himself up the root and onto the shore, where he pulled the child further from the river just in time to avoid the bank collapsing further. Beneath him, the child continued to draw no breath and his lips were blue, but Anton wasn¡¯t done yet. What was the point in cultivating if he couldn¡¯t save even a single child? He pressed down on the child¡¯s stomach, hoping to force him to expel the water in his lungs. It barely seemed to work, and Anton knew he couldn¡¯t afford to waste time. He had to get the water out. Energy was still new and mysterious, but he placed his hands on the child¡¯s chest and gently reached inside with his energy. He could feel the water that filled them, not completely¡­ but far too much. He tried to drag it out, and combined with a small amount of force on the child¡¯s abdomen water spurted out. Then more and more. A moment later, the child was coughing and sputtering. A good sign, if unpleasant. He stopped shortly after expelling more water, breathing raggedly. With his energy, Anton felt water remaining in the boy¡¯s lungs. He wasn¡¯t sure what problems that might cause, so he once again carefully reached inside with his energy, forming it into a cup with which which he dragged the water until it was outside the boy. His breathing eased somewhat, but he was still freezing. Anton looked around. He wasn¡¯t sure how far downstream they had gone, but finding which way to go was trivial. He just had to walk upstream parallel to the river, though not too close. Clearly the exact area wasn¡¯t traveled too much, because in the dark it was hard to pick out anything like a trail. Nearer to the river would be clear¡­ but quite dangerous. He walked with the child on his back, step by step through the rain. If his body hadn¡¯t been tempered, he would have already collapsed long before. His heart and lungs were working overtime to keep up¡­ but while he felt the burn in his lungs as his steps quickened, he was able to continue. Soon he stumbled upon the buildings of the village whose name he hadn¡¯t yet learned. He knocked on the nearest door, where they seemed to have a fire going. The door opened. ¡°Who are¡­?¡± a man opened the door, looking over Anton. Then he saw the boy¡¯s head peeking over his shoulder. ¡°Is that little Jimmy? Come inside! You both look half drowned! More than that, even.¡± Anton managed to comply, getting inside the hut and setting down the boy carefully before collapsing into a heap himself. Then his consciousness faded as he felt safety. ----- When he awoke, he found himself wrapped in a bundle of blankets next to the fire, with nothing underneath. His clothes had surely been soaked through. He sat up, looking around. The man who had come to the door was sitting at a table nearby and noticed his alertness. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re awake!¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Anton nodded. ¡°Where¡¯s¡­ the boy?¡± ¡°He¡¯s alright. I went to find his mother, and he already went home. That was a brave thing you did, old stranger. Lucy and the rest of us are extremely grateful.¡± The man inclined his head respectfully, ¡°I¡¯m Darryl, by the way. That little Jimmy is my nephew. So, thank you for saving him.¡± Anton smiled. ¡°I couldn¡¯t do anything but. I had children of my own, and couldn¡¯t bear to see one lost. Especially if it just exchanged these old bones of mine for someone with youth.¡± Anton meant that, even though he still had to live to get revenge on the bandits and save his family. That goal was too far off¡­ if he let himself lose his humanity and couldn¡¯t even save a little child, what good was he? At least he knew he still had part of himself, because he hadn¡¯t even thought about it. ¡°I¡¯m Anton Krantz, by the way.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to meet you.¡± Darryl scratched his head. ¡°Listen, about your things¡­ your clothes will do fine once they dry. The tent too, obviously, and that strange scroll somehow seems fine. But your travel supplies and your bow seem quite ruined. The bow itself snapped in half from some impact in the river. You yourself have some nasty bruises¡­¡± When he thought about it, Anton did notice the pain from those. It was just¡­ not nearly so much pain as he¡¯d felt over the last few months, even just physically. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. I lived this long.¡± Darryl nodded, ¡°You¡¯re a tough old man, alright. Listen, we don¡¯t have any bows that can replace yours here, but we can fill your pack with supplies. Though your travels might be quite delayed with the bridge in the state it is.¡± ¡°That is fine,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can wait.¡± ----- The villagers of Helmfirth Rill- that was what the village was called, once he had the chance to speak to them- were all very grateful for Anton¡¯s arrival. A small village like theirs only had a few children, and losing one of them would have been devastating for more than just his family. Everyone knew everyone, so each child was treated almost like everyone¡¯s own. The flood died down within the next two days, though the drizzle continued over the village- but a sudden flood from the mountains was likely no longer a concern. ¡°Listen, Anton, we appreciate what you did with Jimmy¡­ you really don¡¯t have to¡­¡± Darryl seemed to be trying to stop Anton from working on the new bridge, but he couldn¡¯t stop him. He might have been able to physically wrestle Anton to the ground- though it would be close- and he really didn¡¯t want to. Anton pounded stakes deep into the earth. ¡°I appreciate the concern, but I¡¯ve been working hard my whole life. If I stop now, maybe I¡¯ll just turn into a pile of dirt.¡± Anton hadn¡¯t built a bridge before, but he¡¯d set up fences and barns many times. He might not have been able to design the bridge, but he could certainly contribute as much as an average man. ¡°Besides, I might as well help speed up the process, get out of your hair a bit earlier. Now don¡¯t go saying I can stay as long as I like. I know you all don¡¯t have too much extra food, especially after such a winter.¡± Darryl didn¡¯t have much to say to that, just nodding and getting back to his own work. ----- It took several days to complete the bridge, and during half the night Anton continued his cultivation. Circulating the energy throughout his body really helped with the bruises, clearing them up rather more rapidly. They might still last a week or two, but for an old man like himself the fact that they would ever heal was quite remarkable. Cultivation was an amazing thing. Anton thought everyone should try it, though he had to admit it had been a bit risky at the start. He was working on the fourth level, where he¡¯d chosen to refine the organs in his head. Basically, his eyes and ears and everything connecting down to his torso. His brain too, apparently, though he had to be careful with that. He¡¯d chosen the next step mostly for his eyes, though now he was down a bow and archery skills weren¡¯t much good without. Still, spotting things from a distance was good. Soon enough he would move on from Helmfirth Rill. It was enticing to just stay in a small village forever, but they didn¡¯t need him¡­ and he had all of Dungannon to avenge. Or if nothing else, at least he might help others along the way to the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. Chapter 9 Just a few days¡¯ travel away from Helmfirth Rill the population density started to pick up. There was more farmland and each village and city seemed to increase in size. He began to notice cultivators in the cities. The way they carried themselves and how they were equipped made their status clear, but Anton noticed something else. He could feel them. It certainly wasn¡¯t any of his normal senses, but nonetheless he clearly felt it. About halfway through his journey, he came across a group on the road. Five cultivators walking in a loose formation. He thought to pass them, but as they were next to them on the road the leader turned towards him and spoke. ¡°Are you from the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars?¡± Anton took stock of the man. He had an average build, maybe a bit on the small side. Clearly young. However, his tone was friendly¡­ and Anton sensed something from him. Not answering wouldn¡¯t help him if they were enemies, because at the very minimum he could tell each of them were stronger than himself. ¡°I am not, yet¡­ but I am hoping to join. I was told I would have the chance if I reached the third level.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes finally made their way to a subtle pin on the man¡¯s cloak made up of nine stars. The man smiled and nodded, ¡°I thought so. Who¡¯s your sponsor?¡± ¡°Vincent,¡± Anton responded. ¡°That¡¯s usually the case. He¡¯s quite a recruiter,¡± the man nodded pleasantly. ¡°Good luck with the test. Perhaps we will be brothers in the future.¡± As they walked away, Anton became more certain of the sense of familiarity. Somehow, he could feel the resonance between his own cultivation technique and them. However, he felt they were all at least at the fifth level of Body Foundation, with the leader being¡­ eighth or ninth. Pinning it down exactly was difficult. Behind him, Anton heard a whispered voice from one of the others. ¡°Why encourage him like that? You know how unlikely someone of his age is to be accepted¡­¡± The leader responded, ¡°That may be so¡­ but there¡¯s no reason to be discouraging either. Besides, Vincent seems to have a knack for such things. Perhaps the man will find a place for himself.¡± Once they were quite a bit further away, Anton sighed. None of them appeared over twenty years old. Perhaps his estimations were slightly off, because it was said cultivators aged more slowly, but he knew it would be quite difficult to match them. Still, he had to try. From that point on, he saw more patrols by members of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. Not all of them stopped to talk to him, but they were all quite pleasant when they did¡­ though he could tell that they didn¡¯t have much thought for his actual chances. ----- It wasn¡¯t long before Anton found himself at the end of his journey. Edelhull was just outside of the territory of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. It was the biggest city Anton had ever seen- not that he was that familiar with large cities. However, Alcombey was quite a large city for the region he had grown up in. It just paled in comparison to Edelhull. Anton noticed all sorts of cultivators- including many practicing the cultivation technique of the Order of Ninety Nine stars. Though he would have loved to tour the city, he could only really pass through. He had no money, and would have to camp out nearby. As he passed through, he overheard some people talking. It was hard to ignore, especially with his hearing being enhanced- he was close to finishing the refinement and he¡¯d already benefited greatly. ¡°I¡¯m glad we made it so quickly. If we took a few extra days, we¡¯d miss the recruitment period and have to wait a whole month for the next one!¡± The speaker was a young man who radiated a feeling Anton felt as the third level of the Ninety-Nine Stars, just like himself. They were likewise talking to another youngster. Anton was taken aback for a moment as he saw her face. She looked like a younger Tabby¡­ or an older Annelie. But then the feeling passed. How many young women were there with dark hair, especially in a city of this size- or drawing from all of Graotan? He was just still sensitive about everything that had happened. ¡°Another month wouldn¡¯t matter either way,¡± the young woman answered. ¡°More training would be good for us.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The young man sighed. ¡°Come on Catarina. You can¡¯t be satisfied with just the basic cultivation manual. They¡¯ve got training grounds with abundant energy, special techniques, and masters to learn from! Every day we cultivate there will be so much more effective.¡± The young woman seemed to not be overly excited at the thought of such amenities. ¡°I suppose so. But I¡¯d rather just not bother with the test.¡± ¡°Hmph. You might be able to make it in another month, but I¡¯d still have to take the test. I¡¯d at least like to get a chance this time.¡± The young man crossed his arms. At that point, Anton was far enough away to not hear any more of them, and he pulled his eyes away. It was amazing how well they worked now. He could make out people from an entire city block away. Outside of Edelhull, Anton found he wasn¡¯t the only one who would be camping. There were a few other tents set up near the entrance posts declaring the land behind them belonged to the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. He set up his tent away from the few others, for privacy in both directions. Anton thought to sleep to rest up for the morning, but he couldn¡¯t. Besides¡­ he had spent a month on the road cultivating. It was a habit that was hard to break, and he felt he was close to reaching the next level. As he began cultivating, he felt the energy was much stronger than anywhere else he had been. Around Dungannon was actually fairly decent compared to many places on the road, but the natural energy in the area seemed twice as thick, though he wasn¡¯t sure how to actually compare them. Regardless, he soon found himself full to bursting. Besides successfully completing the initial body tempering, the fourth level had taken him the longest. Even with more experience in cultivation and tempered meridians, it seemed that he would be slowing down. But he could at least make this next breakthrough right now. Energy flowed through him like a rushing river. However, Anton¡¯s tempered meridians kept all of it exactly in line with his wishes, circulating from his dantian below his navel up through his torso and into his head. From there the energy was intentionally dispersed through his head. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue¡­ all of them received a portion. His spine was left untouched- the cultivation method noted that a different technique was required for bones and the like. The upper portion of his throat received an inpouring of energy as well. The area he had to be most careful with was his brain. He felt the energy rushing into it, little rivulets that strengthened it bit by bit. Then everything reached its limits¡­ and he was done. From his head flowed another star. His fourth star. ----- In the morning, Anton found his way towards the gates of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. Or at least¡­ the building at this border. There wasn¡¯t a large wall surrounding the area¡­ and as Anton looked into the distance, he could see why that might be. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars didn¡¯t just own a complex of buildings, but if he was correct they owned an entire mountain and the area surrounding it. A small mountain, perhaps, but the area was much too large to build a meaningful wall around. In the distance he could just barely spot the walls of a larger complex up the slope- even with his newly refined eyes. Then again, they were still slightly short of his peak when he was younger. It was easy to figure out where he was supposed to be going. A conglomeration of newer cultivators were lining up in front of a number of cultivators at the fifth level of Body Foundation or higher. Anton saw an older man as well. The man appeared to be middle age, but the aura he gave off was much greater. Was he in Spirit Building? Somewhere even beyond that? Anton hadn¡¯t been around Vincent since he started cultivating, so he had nobody to compare to but himself and the rest of those immediately present. The elder in front was clearly part of the administration of testing, directing people in one way or another¡­ but sometimes sending them directly away, hanging their heads. From what Anton could tell, that was because they hadn¡¯t reached the third level of cultivation. He could tell some cultivated a different technique, but those who were of similar power at least were passed on somehow. The initial line moved fairly quickly, but there were many people and it took most of the morning before Anton was about halfway towards the front. At that point, one of the disciples in the area who was standing away from the line called out to him. ¡°You there!¡± the disciple pointed. ¡°The¡­ uh¡­¡± ¡°Old man?¡± Anton said in response, pointing to himself. ¡°Yes, you.¡± The disciple waved him over. ¡°Come over here. You¡¯re not supposed to be standing in that line.¡± Was he not? Anton didn¡¯t see anywhere else to go. What had he done wrong? He thought he would at least be given the chance to join since he¡¯d reached the third level. Still, it was best not to cause a fuss in public. Perhaps he could talk to the man in private. He stepped out of the line towards the younger man. It would be unfortunate if he lost his spot, but if he had to wait a day or a month for his next chance, at least he would have one. Chapter 10 Anton moved forward to the disciple- sixth level of Body Foundation, by the feel of him- keeping his voice as steady as he could despite his misgivings. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I was told that as long as I reached the third level I would have a chance to join, despite my age..¡± The disciple looked at him askance. ¡°Of course that¡¯s true. But you¡­ are at the fourth level. So¡­ follow me.¡± Anton did so, and soon they were outside the building where people were gathered. He saw some of the potential recruits off to the side, sparring with each other and performing other tests. However, they continued past them. ¡°Where are we going, young man?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± he looked over his shoulder and asked. ¡°We¡¯re going to the sect, obviously.¡± ¡°...Why?¡± Had he done something wrong by cultivating to the fourth level? Anton hadn¡¯t seen any warnings about that. ¡°So that we can set you up with your plot and introduce you to things.¡± That¡­ didn¡¯t sound bad. ¡°What about the test?¡± Anton asked. ¡°What about the test? I doubt it would do you much good to take it. You didn¡¯t cultivate all the way to the fourth level just so you would have to take the test.¡± The young man continued walking. ¡°We can always find a use for people who made it to the fourth level alone. Uh¡­ were you not told that?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°No, I merely continued cultivating on the road while I traveled¡­ so I reached the fourth level.¡± ¡°You must be from quite far then.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I am from the far east of Graotan. I was sponsored by Vincent.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? I was too!¡± The young man nodded, ¡°Not that I¡¯m alone in that respect. About half of those from a background outside of cultivation that join seem to have been sponsored by him. Maybe that¡¯s an exaggeration but¡­ he¡¯s usually moving around on missions, so he finds quite a few people.¡± The young man extended his hand, ¡°I¡¯m Sterling, by the way.¡± ¡°Anton,¡± he shook the young man¡¯s hand, feeling the interplay of the energy that gathered about them. ¡°It is good to meet you.¡± Anton was quite used to walking, but he found the pace of Sterling hard to keep up with. The young man seemed to notice, slowing down to a quick but manageable pace. Anton could see why he would be in a hurry. The road into the sect continued quite far up the mountain. Half an hour of brisk walking later and Anton wished he had already tempered his muscles or bones. Yet with the basic tempering of his entire body, he felt young enough that it might be good for him to push himself somewhat. That said, he decided he would need to temper his muscles next. As they climbed the increasing slope, Anton felt himself reinvigorated by the denser natural energy in the area. It wasn¡¯t a difference he could have noticed before cultivating, nor taken advantage of. Now he was practiced enough to slowly circulate his energy while moving. The very slow influx of energy into his muscles relieved any fatigue he might have felt from the climb. Along the way they passed a number of modest homes, quite a bit smaller than where Anton had lived¡­ but he imagined they didn¡¯t house so many people either. Finally they began to near the complex he had spotted from so far down the mountain. ¡°This is the central area. Most everything you need can be handled here.¡± Sterling waved to the guards at the gate. ¡°I have a new recruit.¡± The gate guards nodded in return. Just like Sterling, they were young. However, they were clearly past the tenth star¡­ somewhere in Spirit Building. ¡°Fourth star huh,¡± one of the guards commented. His tone wasn¡¯t unfriendly, but Anton felt there was something more to it. What was it about fourth star people that was so bad? He didn¡¯t have to take the test. Beyond that, he wasn¡¯t sure. He¡¯d have to think more about it later. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Inside the complex, Sterling showed Anton various places. ¡°There¡¯s the armory. You can exchange contribution points for weapons and armor there. The technique library is important as well. You can stop by there to check out the options later. Of course, if you¡­ when you reach Spirit Building, you¡¯ll need to pick up the complete version of Ninety-Nine Stars to study.¡± Anton didn¡¯t miss the stumble. Was it that hard to get to Spirit Building? He couldn¡¯t be sure, since he was only less than halfway through Body Foundation. He did notice that each stage was harder as each subsequent star took more energy. ¡°Can I see the technique before that?¡± ¡°You can. It won¡¯t do much good until you¡¯re at least at the ninth star, heading towards Spirit Building. Oh, but you¡¯ll have to be with the sect for a year before you can look at it. We don¡¯t want people coming in to take our cultivation technique if they¡¯re going to go rogue.¡± Sterling paused, ¡°It¡¯s okay to leave the sect and even continue practicing Ninety-Nine Stars, but we can¡¯t have any evil cultivators going around using our technique. It¡¯s bad for those who they would harm and our reputation.¡± Sterling continued to point out more buildings. ¡°There¡¯s the lecture halls. Check the schedule every month, the elders have many helpful insights to give, even to¡­ those with years of practice. The sparring rings are there, with formations to protect people from serious injury. Occasionally we have competitions as well.¡± Sterling gestured to a wing of the complex, ¡°There is where most of the elders stay. You¡¯re not forbidden to go there, but I would suggest not disturbing them without a reason.¡± Sterling thought for a few moments, ¡°Oh we need to show you the job hall and the rewards hall. Unless you brought money with you, you¡¯ll need the contribution points you can get through various methods. The managers at the rewards chamber will also be assigning you to your plot of land, and give you your badge.¡± The complex they were walking through was still almost the size of a city. Maybe not one so large as Edelhull, but the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars was spread out over quite a large area. It had taken over an hour to reach the central complex. If he was going to be visiting often, Anton would need to make better time. Muscle tempering would help with that. At the desk of the rewards hall was a woman Anton presumed was an elder¡­ though it was strange to call people who were younger than him an elder. Or was she younger? Cultivation had some effect on extending age, but the woman was barely grey and light on wrinkles. Could that make up for forty years of difference? Anton didn¡¯t know, because all his information had come from things he¡¯d overheard from before he was a cultivator¡­ and instructions specifically to allow him to cultivate the Ninety-Nine Stars. ¡°New outer disciple here, Elder Lois,¡± Sterling gestured to Anton. The elder nodded. ¡°Very well, one moment.¡± She moved away from the desk into a room behind her, coming out with a palm-sized token and a small map. ¡°I¡¯ve circled your plot on the map. Do take good care of it. If you topple the house, you¡¯ll have to rebuild it. It doesn¡¯t sound like something I¡¯d have to tell people, but every couple of years¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°Well, I imagine you might be less inclined to recklessness at your age.¡± She placed the token in Anton¡¯s hand, pouring some of her energy in it. ¡°Now put some of your energy in.¡± Anton did so, and he felt a slight connection to it. ¡°Great. That¡¯s your identifier. Keep it on you, especially if you¡¯re leaving sect grounds. Don¡¯t lose it or destroy it, et cetera. They¡¯re not too expensive to identify Body Foundation cultivators, but it¡¯s best to start good habits. The ones to uniquely identify Spirit Building and higher require more to verify people properly.¡± ¡°Thank you, Elder Lois,¡± Anton bowed his head. While it might have felt weird to call someone potentially younger than him ¡®elder¡¯, he didn¡¯t mind being respectful. It didn¡¯t hurt him, and having people think well of him was always good. Besides, he didn¡¯t spend so long teaching his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren how to be polite to then flaunt those teachings. Inside the job hall, Sterling explained the system. ¡°It¡¯s pretty simple. It¡¯s generally organized by difficulty. A fourth star cultivator like yourself can probably handle anything up to about this point, though the combat missions might be a bit dangerous without equipment. Some of the jobs change out, but they¡¯re always looking for people to help with labor. It¡¯s not glamorous, but you can get contribution points for helping out the sect in any way.¡± ¡°Including introducing new outer disciples to the sect?¡± Sterling nodded, ¡°That¡¯s one of them. Maybe you¡¯ll do this yourself some day. If you have experience refining pills or equipment, those are the best pay¡­ but it¡¯s no good for those who don¡¯t have the knowledge. Farming jobs are quite steady, as there are crops for every season. You can also help in the library, though those positions usually fill up pretty fast. I might try out a number of things and see what fits you. If you¡¯re interested in refining pills or equipment, taking any jobs working with the herbs or around the smithies, even labor, will give you a leg up. I took a variety of jobs before I got enough equipment to hunt wild beasts. The sect grounds are quite large, and certain beasts are attracted to the high natural energy and the fields. Inner disciples generally take care of the stronger beasts, leaving the weaker ones for the outer disciples, though be warned you might encounter numerous weaker beasts. If you aren¡¯t prepared¡­¡± Sterling shook his head. ¡°Sometimes, cultivating peacefully for a while is the right move. Now then, let¡¯s find that plot.¡± Chapter 11 The trip to his new house had Anton realizing how much he needed to be able to walk faster. Sterling was quite patient, walking at a speed he could go¡­ but watching how he moved Anton was aware he would generally go much faster. That was exemplified by those they passed going the other way- or those who passed them on the road. It seemed that despite his new vigor, Anton couldn¡¯t just ignore that he was an old man. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could keep up with so many young cultivators¡­ and walking was the least of his concerns. By the time they arrived at Anton¡¯s new home, it was getting into the afternoon. To be honest, Anton almost missed it. Not because it was small, but because he thought the homes in the area wouldn¡¯t be for outer disciples. Each little complex in the area had four square buildings on the corners, connected by walls connecting them at the perimeter, and from the angle up the slope Anton could just make out that they had walls connecting in the middle. ¡°Here it is,¡± Sterling gestured. ¡°We try to make every plot for disciples of the same rank equivalent. Of course, with land parcels that¡¯s impossible¡­ but we can get close. The courtyard has enough room to grow a small patch of medicinal herbs if you have the interest, with room to cultivate and practice techniques. Other disciples will likely be assigned to the others after the selection today.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It¡¯s actually quite a bit larger than I expected.¡± The home itself was about the same size as the main house back in Dungannon, without some of the little additions they¡¯d added over the decades. Frankly, he felt it was much too large for a single person¡­ but he wasn¡¯t going to complain. ¡°Thank you for your help, Sterling. I know I¡¯m a slow old man, and I appreciate you not rushing me.¡± Sterling smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Patience is a virtue, and we¡¯d rather have a thousand cultivators with good attitude and perseverance than ten thousand geniuses. Nothing good comes of talent without character.¡± Sterling inclined his head, then pointed up the slope towards a larger building. ¡°That building there is the meal hall for this section. I¡¯m still an outer disciple too, and I live on the other side of it. I¡¯ll probably see you there, at least in the mornings and evenings. Lunch is usually taken wherever you are working.¡± With that, Sterling took his leave. Anton turned back to his new home- finding it sparsely but furnished but sufficient for any needs he had. He considered what he would do with the rest of the day. ----- In the end, Anton¡¯s feet carried him all the way back to the central complex. It was too late to start any sort of job, but he could look at the job boards. Something that interested him more, however, was the technique library. He wasn¡¯t sure what things would be contained therein, but he knew they were quite useful. There was also the issue that Anton wasn¡¯t a fighter. Oh, he¡¯d speared a few wild boars in his day and his archery skills were quite decent for hunting, but he¡¯d never fought a person, and especially not a cultivator. If he was to avenge his family¡­ he needed to be able to fight. Quite frankly, he had little idea how cultivators fought and he didn¡¯t want to bother anyone with trying to learn from them until he¡¯d reached the limits of what he could study on his own. That might be a day, a week, or a few months. It was a complete unknown. He did stop by the job board to confirm where he would go for work. At least for the moment he would be going with the most familiar option. They needed farmhands, and at the very least he wouldn¡¯t be completely lost there. Plants cultivators cared about would likely require special care, but he would at least know the basic principles. Checking his map, he determined the closest plots that were requesting new workers. A mere half hour from his new home, depending on how the terrain and roads lined up. Libraries were not a place Anton often had reason to visit. Dungannon only had personal collections of books, and while Anton had a small collection spending money on books was a waste. Not that knowledge wasn¡¯t valuable, but he¡¯d learned everything he needed to from his father, or through practice. There weren¡¯t any books about farming that would have things he didn¡¯t know. At least, not that he had ever seen. Strangely enough, a cultivator¡¯s library was much the same as any other¡­ though with a much more powerful energy flowing through the area. Anton wasn¡¯t sure what it was all for, but he imagined some of it was involved with keeping the books and scrolls held within safe. The woman inside couldn¡¯t be a guard at all hours of the day¡­ though Anton felt that while she was there, nothing could happen without her. She was a young woman, but he felt like she was at the peak of Spirit Building. It was hard to tell, but he felt at least twenty stars. Was she at the stage beyond that? He wasn¡¯t sure, with nothing to compare to¡­ and he wasn¡¯t sure if Spirit Building was another ten stars or not. He¡¯d made that assumption, but he just now realized it might be wrong. ¡°Good day, honored librarian.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°You¡¯re new,¡± the woman immediately remarked. ¡°It is good to see new faces. You can call me Librarian Mason, or Elder Mason if you prefer.¡± ¡°Pardon my words, Elder Mason,¡± Anton inclined his head. ¡°I sensed your power, but I expected an elder to be¡­ well¡­ quite a bit older.¡± She looked no older than any of his granddaughters, quite in the prime of her life. ¡°I¡¯m sure you will find that cultivators are often quite a bit older than they look, however I am indeed still quite young.¡± Librarian Mason smiled, ¡°I¡¯m certainly older than most of the new recruits, but there are occasionally exceptions like yourself. What sort of technique are you interested in today? As a new outer disciple your selection will be limited for the sake of caution, but we have quite a wide breadth of available techniques.¡± ¡°I had thought I would browse¡­¡± Anton said, but as he looked over the many shelves- hundreds of them filled with books and scrolls of all sizes- he realized he would never find anything that way. ¡°Honestly, I have no idea what would be best¡­ but I am most familiar with archery, I think.¡± ¡°I see. May I ask what parts of your body you have refined? Some of the techniques will be better suited for you with the proper refinements.¡± Librarian Mason stood, gesturing for him to follow. Anton was a bit nervous about telling her what choices he¡¯d made. What if he¡¯d picked a bad path? Then again, he would eventually refine every part of his body¡­ so if that was the case, he would just have to wait longer. An elder would hopefully not judge his choices too harshly, and he didn¡¯t sense anyone else nearby to overhear, so he cautiously spoke. ¡°After the initial refining, I refined my meridians, then the organs in my torso and my head. I am currently refining my muscles.¡± ¡°Some techniques will be difficult before you finish refining your muscles and tendons, but proper breath control and eyesight will help greatly. You should be quite able to at least begin learning anything, however.¡± Librarian Mason stopped, her long hair swishing past her waist. ¡°Here we are.¡± She pulled two scrolls and a thin book off the shelves. ¡°These are the best techniques. Take a quick look.¡± Anton browsed through them. The scrolls were much less impressive than the Ninety-Nine Stars scroll, but they still had a mystical quality to them. The first one was titled ¡®Spirit Arrows¡¯. From a quick look, it was a method to make arrows out of the archer¡¯s energy, requiring no physical arrow to nock. Normally energy would not so easily maintain its form away from a cultivator without something to keep it anchored. It seemed to have serious requirements for the amount of energy used, and having the meridians refined was required. The second scroll was ¡°Hawk Eyes Archery¡±. It contained multiple techniques related to each other. One was to focus energy on the eyes to improve the eyesight, and the others were techniques for controlling arrows so they could actually hit a target at a far distance. It didn¡¯t matter if a cultivator could see clearly a kilometer away if an arrow didn¡¯t stay on target. Wind was a factor, but also air resistance even without any particular currents seemed to be a factor. Of course, it required the cultivator to have the organs in their head refined. The thin manual was less mystical in nature. It was called ¡°Thousand Arrows¡±, and seemed to cover every technique for firing a bow faster. That covered bow style, how to hold each bow, how to nock arrows, quivers¡­ and then some actual special training techniques to improve draw speed and strength. It seemed that the latter would require muscle and tendon refinements to be used to their fullest. Anton had trouble deciding which of them he liked the best. Having no need for arrows was interesting¡­ at least as an emergency it would have value. Eyesight was quite tempting as well. Thousand Arrows¡­ seemed interesting, but not something he was ready to study in depth yet. ¡°You can study them at a desk, if you wish, or in your room,¡± Librarian Mason¡¯s voice stirred him out of his thoughts. ¡°We have additional copies of Hawk Eyes Archery and Thousand Arrows. You can keep Spirit Arrows for a month without issue. Beyond that, we may send a representative to retrieve it, if someone else asks for it.¡± Librarian Mason held up a token with a stylized scroll on it. ¡°This is the token of a library worker. It is unlikely anyone else will pretend to be from the library but¡­ sometimes people make poor decisions.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Thank you. I would like to borrow all three of these, then.¡± He paused for a moment, then decided to ask his question. ¡°I am aware that the full Ninety-Nine Stars is not available for study until I have been a disciple for at least a year. However, I am curious about something. You seem to have twenty something stars¡­ have you passed beyond Spirit Building to the next stage?¡± Librarian Mason smiled. ¡°That sort of information is not what is kept secret. We just don¡¯t wish those we do not yet fully trust to cultivate a technique so closely associated with us. After Body Foundation, the next eighteen stars are the seven purifications and eleven orbits. It is only at the twenty-ninth star that one would step into Constellation Formation. So I am not yet at that point.¡± ¡°I appreciate the explanation,¡± Anton said. He wasn¡¯t sure what the details of the purifications and orbits were, but properly judging which stage people were in seemed important. He knew there was a large leap in power upon reaching each stage- he could easily feel the difference between Body Foundation and Spirit Building. Now that he knew that Spirit Building lasted until the twenty-eighth star, he updated his thoughts of Librarian Mason from a slightly weak Constellation Formation cultivator to an exceptionally strong Spirit Building cultivator. Chapter 12 It wasn¡¯t possible to learn a combat technique overnight, though Anton still put in his best effort. He was hindered by the fact that he didn¡¯t have a bow, so he could only practice some of the vision techniques from Hawk Eyes Archery and begin a basic attempt at Spirit Arrows. If he had a bow, he might have tried out a few things from Thousand Arrows, but to get a bow he needed to work¡­ and to work, he needed to rest. ----- Anton woke up before dawn. That was his regular time, and he was planning to get to regular work. First he needed some sustenance, so he found his way over to the dining hall nearest to him. The kitchens were just getting started, but Anton saw there were some industrious workers there as well. He got a nice bowl of porridge and some toast. Perhaps because he hadn¡¯t eaten in the company of others in quite some time, he felt it was the best meal he¡¯d had in months. Maybe half a year, if he was honest. Not the most filling, because Vincent had certainly filled him up, but the most ultimately satisfying. There were few others awake in the early morning, and none who were interested in sitting next to an old man. That left Anton open to observe those around him. Unlike the impression he¡¯d first gotten, he found that the disciples of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars weren¡¯t all quite what he thought. Those involved with testing like Sterling had all been sixth star or higher, but there were some fifth star and even a small handful of fourth star cultivators like Anton. The large dining hall was still mostly empty even with those people in it, seemingly able to support hundreds at the same time. However, Anton supposed that most of the third star cultivators would be young fellows just joining. Then in a few weeks they would reach the fourth star and begin to surpass him. He needed to do his best to at least keep up with some of them, or he¡¯d never have his chance. Anton finished his light meal. He was sure after a half day of labor he would be quite famished and ready for a heavier meal. He found himself already looking forward to what that might be as he headed towards the nearest fields. It was dawn when he arrived, and Anton found there were only a handful of others there with him. ¡°Are there not that many workers?¡± Anton asked of the youth next to him. ¡°There are more,¡± the young man replied, ¡°But they¡¯ll show up sometime after dawn. Elder Howland doesn¡¯t mind as long as they put in the work¡­ though those of us who show up at dawn usually get paid better. You¡¯re new here, I take it? I¡¯m Hoyt.¡± Hoyt extended his hand. ¡°Everyone can tell, apparently,¡± Anton received the hand and shook it, ¡°Anton.¡± ¡°Pleased to meet you, Senior Anton.¡± ¡°Just Anton is fine. We¡¯re both fourth star cultivators, outer disciples. If anything, I should call you Senior Hoyt, since you joined before me.¡± Hoyt grimaced, ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± Elder Howland showed up not a few minutes later¡­ though Anton had the feeling that he¡¯d been around the whole time. There weren¡¯t many places to hide in the untilled and currently empty fields, but somehow he¡¯d almost appeared from nowhere. Anton had turned to see him as soon as he felt the fifteen star presence, but he was already close by that point. Anton first became suspicious as he was handed a hoe. He was no stranger to tilling soil by hand, but as soon as the family farm had expanded enough he¡¯d gotten an ox and a proper plough. There was no way that the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars didn¡¯t know the utility of an ox, or couldn¡¯t afford one. It wasn¡¯t as if they were working on a small area, either. He didn¡¯t complain, beginning to till the soil as instructed- though he didn¡¯t hear anything new. He swung his hoe, feeling like an eighty maybe even as young as seventy year old man as his hoe connected with soil, turning it. He recalled his children and grandchildren complaining about his ¡®overworking¡¯ himself, but he only pushed himself as hard as he needed. Just enough to take care of the day¡¯s work. As he swung his hoe, Anton circulated the Ninety-Nine Stars cultivation technique, feeding some of the surrounding natural energy into his muscles. Each swing into the dirt stirred up more natural energy¡­ and his suspicions intensified. Some of the others in the area seemed to be focusing on their muscles, but weren¡¯t cultivating at all. Anton felt Hoyt was doing the same thing as him. He couldn¡¯t blame the kid for having sloppy technique- Anton¡¯s own near century of experience was something hard to match. At least Hoyt was clearly trying. Some didn¡¯t seem concerned about their technique, just trying to run out the clock. Anton put all of his muscle into the swings, working his arms and back, and even his legs. By the time lunch came, he was nearly exhausted. Lunch was delivered to the work area, consisting of a selection of various things. Many disciples went straight for the meats, but Anton made sure to mix in vegetables. He had to admit that they were the best quality he had ever tasted. Something about the natural energy in the area, perhaps. After resting for lunch, he felt reinvigorated enough to continue exhausting himself until evening. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Hoyt¡¯s legs carried him in the same direction as Anton. It appeared he lived in the same region, instead of coming from the other side of the fields like most of the other workers. There wasn¡¯t much to discuss about their day, but Anton brought up the one thing he thought was strange. ¡°Why do we not use plows? It would require many fewer workers to till the fields.¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure. If you ask Elder Howland, he says something about animals disturbing the natural energy in the area. However, if you ask me¡­ well, I think you¡¯ve stumbled onto this idea yourself. They just want to see how we work.¡± ¡°And whether we think to cultivate ourselves while we cultivate the land,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Are you from a farming background?¡± ¡°No, my father was a laborer in Edelhull. Still, I interacted with them enough to know what they were talking about. Cultivating the body isn¡¯t exactly like cultivating land, but they can clearly be done together. Just wait until we get to picking weeds from among the magic herbs. There¡¯s so much natural energy there¡­¡± Hoyt shook his head, ¡°Well, it¡¯s not possible to use it all, and some needs to be left for the plants. But it¡¯s just as much as some of the nice training places that you have to pay for, and you get paid instead.¡± ----- Hoyt lived more to the north of the dining hall, while Anton lived to the south, so they parted ways at the conclusion of dinner. As Anton was approaching, he noticed something. The other residences were now occupied. He should have expected that, but he¡¯d forgotten. Before heading to greet them, he moved into his courtyard, washing off the day¡¯s dirt and grime with a few buckets of water from the pump there. It seemed extravagant for each courtyard to have its own pump, but then again cultivators seemed to value privacy. Anton found his way to his first neighbor. He could tell that they weren¡¯t immediately in the middle of cultivation, so he knocked on their door. A man perhaps in his late twenties answered the door. ¡°Yes, what is it? Am I being summoned for something?¡± Anton did his best to smile pleasantly. ¡°I just thought it would be good to introduce myself. I am Anton, one of your neighbors.¡± ¡°Oh, yes.¡± The man looked him over, ¡°I¡¯m Hayden. Good to meet you.¡± Though he said the words, his expression and the way he quickly closed the door belied the actual meaning of them. His reception at the second neighbor was not particularly better. A young woman just at the border of adulthood responded to his knock. Anton took the initiative to introduce himself and his purpose for being there. ¡°Oh. Hello. I¡¯m Velvet.¡± The young woman bowed her head. You¡¯re¡­ the old man who got to skip the test, right? How¡¯d you do that?¡± Anton sighed, ¡°Those at the fourth star do not have to take the test.¡± ¡°I see,¡± she nodded. ¡°So you spent all that time cultivating to the fourth star alone so you could join the sect. I suppose that makes sense.¡± While Velvet was slightly more pleasant than Hayden, her words clearly indicated she didn¡¯t think much of Anton. He hadn¡¯t even known he would skip the test by being fourth star. If he¡¯d known, he wasn¡¯t sure if he should have delayed slightly or not. Failing the test would have been disheartening. Something Anton noticed from the first two neighbors was that they didn¡¯t cultivate the Ninety-Nine Stars. Well, they were just starting to show signs of it, but they seemed to be something similar to the third star in other techniques. Presumably they would be changing cultivation techniques, though perhaps they had access to something particularly impressive- though in that case they might have little use for the Order as a whole, even with its other resources. His third and final neighbor was cultivating when he arrived. However, they stopped when he stood outside the door. Perhaps they sensed him, but regardless Anton took the chance to knock. Opening the door was a young woman who he recognized from the test. ¡°Good evening. I am Anton, the neighbor in the house counterclockwise one in the complex.¡± The young woman nodded. ¡°Catarina.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mean to pry, but I believe I passed you in Edelhull. Did the young man you were with earlier get assigned to a different complex?¡± The young woman had little expression on her face as she spoke. ¡°No. Timothy is¡­ kind of an idiot. He failed the test.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be,¡± Catarina said. ¡°He¡¯ll probably pass next month anyway.¡± Catarina squinted her eyes at Anton. ¡°Weren¡¯t you third star?¡± ¡°I managed to complete the fourth star just in time for the test. Or¡­ lack of it, apparently.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Good evening,¡± she inclined her head and closed the door. Though her words were straightforward, they seemed at least generally polite¡­ though unexpressive. Anton felt her return to cultivating again not a few moments later. So she had sensed him coming. She was third star as well, apparently having already been practicing the Ninety-Nine Stars, and he felt she would reach fourth star fairly quickly. Indeed, if she¡¯d somehow failed the test¡­ she would certainly be able to skip the one coming in another month. Anton returned to his own home. Though he¡¯d been cultivating during the day, it wasn¡¯t quite the same while moving and while still. His muscles still ached from their exertion, and a bit of cultivating would help ease that. Then he had to put in a bit of practice for his archery techniques- or at least what he could do without a bow- before finally catching enough sleep for the next day. Chapter 13 Sleeping, eating, working, and cultivating became Anton¡¯s life. It wasn¡¯t so dissimilar from his previous life, except he had no family to share his successes with and no diversions except occasional conversations with Hoyt to comfort him. The novelty of cultivation and his need to grow stronger kept him going. Though the thought of lessons from elders piqued his interest, none on the schedule had been interesting to him thus far. Sword and spear techniques weren¡¯t something had a foundation with and he didn¡¯t feel as if he needed guidance in the core Ninety-Nine Stars cultivation technique. It wasn¡¯t that he wasn¡¯t willing to learn from others, but he hadn¡¯t felt the limits without guidance in that area. There didn¡¯t seem to be any archery masters giving lessons, and learning about advanced movement techniques would be a waste of time if he didn¡¯t even know any basic movement techniques. He wasn¡¯t even sure how those worked, but he was busy just teaching his body to move at normal speed again. He¡¯d cut a third off of his travel times between his home and the dining hall and fields, perhaps half if he counted the better routes. He certainly wasn¡¯t fast, but he felt the progress. He might be slightly swifter once he finished muscle tempering and reached the fifth star, but his speed would still be limited by age. More than that, moving around strained more than just his muscles. Anton felt aches in his joints after a hard day of labor, and while cultivation helped him recover quickly¡­ his actions during one day were limited. Theoretically his joints would be refined along with his bones, so perhaps he would be served best to refine his bones next. That would delay some of the power he could achieve with archery, but he didn¡¯t exactly need to be concerned with that immediately. He didn¡¯t plan to immediately go hunt wild beasts, at least nothing more than a normal boar. Anton stood in his courtyard at night, concentrating on the flow of his energy. The next day he was planning to visit the armory and determine if he had enough contribution points to exchange for a bow. He knew there were fancy cultivator weapons that were quite expensive, but a regular hunting bow wouldn¡¯t be so much. Then again, a couple weeks of farming couldn¡¯t be worth that much. Anton pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on the technique written in Spirit Arrows. He stood with one arm outstretched and one by his ear, as if he was holding a drawn bow. He relaxed his stance as if easing the tension on the string, concentrating on the space between his hands. Energy began to take shape and he moved his arms, elongating it into the shape of an arrow. The thin shape radiated a faint golden glow, but the head of the arrow was almost nonexistent and the fletching was shabby and indistinct. Anton held its form for a few seconds before letting it dissipate, with no way to attempt to fire it. He could propel it with his own energy, but every time he tried it immediately fell apart as he lost control of the energy binding the arrow together. Flinging it with his hand was slightly better, but it didn¡¯t have the power a bow had. It was little better than flinging a rock, maybe worse. Anton was pretty sure he could charge a rock with energy and do a pretty good bit of damage if he chucked it at someone¡¯s head. Anton formed a few more arrows to familiarize himself with the technique before climbing onto the outer wall of the complex. His joints especially complained at that, but he ignored the pain as he had for the last several decades. It wasn¡¯t even as bad as simply walking around had been before he became a cultivator. From atop the wall he focused on looking towards the other parts of the sect. To the north and a little west was the dining hall where he ate. He focused his energy on his eyes, performing the core of Hawk Eyes Archery. Where his eyes focused everything seemed to draw closer to him, until he could almost make out the features of the late diners going in and out of the dining hall. The kitchens were open from dawn until midnight though most made use of it at somewhat regular meal times¡­ and then a crowd just before it closed. Anton¡¯s eyes swept east towards the fields he had been working in. The grains they had planted were growing quickly, much more quickly than he was used to anything growing even in its best season. ----- The very first fields he had worked in now needed weeding. As much as the abundant natural energy allowed the grains to grow tall and strong in just a pair of weeks it also helped undesired plants to grow. Anton found himself with thick leather gloves, pulling up plants with five centimeter thorns on them. Those were much more rare, but there were little things that would take nutrients as well. Stooping down to pull them out was hard on his back, but for the little things Anton found a decent way to avoid that. One of his boots stood next to a small weed. Anton circulated his energy through himself and down towards his foot, then through the boot and out into the soil around the tiny weed. With a little yank, he pulled it out and then carried it up alongside his leg until it was resting at his waist, where he would grab it with his hand and throw it into the basket with the rest of the weeds to be disposed of. Controlling energy that wasn¡¯t immediately touching him was difficult. While Spirit Arrows retained form away from him, that was an application to keep them in a shape rather than actually control the energy once it was further. If he needed to reach, he could stretch his energy a few hands away from his body if he needed to, but it got several times more difficult. Moving himself closer was the best option for the moment. Anton turned in his basket at the end of the day and headed towards the central complex, where the rewards hall and the attached armory were. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ----- Anton wasn¡¯t sure how much the contribution points he¡¯d gotten over the two weeks of work were worth, but he could compare to how much he might have earned at other jobs. Working in the fields was slightly more than other ¡®unskilled¡¯ labor, but several times less than a qualified apprentice for the pill refiners or smiths. Hunting wild beasts seemed to pay more than any of that, though it was less consistent and of course somewhat dangerous. Anton once again found Elder Lois at the rewards hall, though he was aware she wasn¡¯t always there. She had to spend time cultivating on her own, or she would never advance. He just hadn¡¯t been to visit the rewards hall much. Anton inclined his head. ¡°Elder Lois, I¡¯ve come to check how many contribution points I might need to get a bow.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± she looked at a ledger in front of her, flipping its pages rapidly. ¡°You¡¯re Anton Krantz, correct?¡± she didn¡¯t wait for a response, instead waving her hand and doing something with energy that made his token resonate. She scribbled a number on a piece of paper. ¡°Not bad for two weeks, though it won¡¯t get you too far in the armory. Evan can show you around.¡± Anton took the piece of paper, which read ¡®242¡¯. The base rate for contribution points was a single point per hour of labor, though clearly Anton had received more than that. Skilled farming should have been one and a third, if he recalled correctly. He¡¯d worked fairly long days, but certainly not thirteen hours per day every day. He wasn¡¯t going to complain about any extra, though. The armory was just adjacent to the rewards hall. Anton immediately saw a man of indeterminate age. He was having much more difficulty determining actual age with so many cultivators around. Anton smiled politely, ¡°Elder Evan, I was hoping to receive information on the prices of weapons¡­ bows specifically. I know it might take me some time to earn enough for one but I need to know what I¡¯m working towards.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Evan smiled. ¡°It¡¯s good to have aspirations. Follow me.¡± Evan took Anton past several doors behind which Anton could feel powerful energy radiating off of not just the room but the things inside. One of them was labeled simply, ¡®100,000¡¯. If that was how many contribution points things in that room cost¡­ he would have to work for 10 years to have a chance to get anything in there. As they walked along to other rooms Anton saw not everything was completely sealed off but instead he was able to see what was inside some of them. There were swords and shields, suits of armor made out of both heavy metal and thin almost clothlike garments that radiated power. He even saw a few bows as they turned through twisting corridors. Evan stopped next to a door labeled ¡®5,000¡¯. ¡°This is the standard level of equipment,¡± Evan gestured Anton to follow him inside the room. ¡°Go ahead and touch. Nothing here is so fragile as to fall apart under your fingers.¡± Anton was able to control himself well enough that it wouldn¡¯t have been a problem to restrain himself, but upon being given permission¡­ he placed his hand on a suit of armor, feeling the energy directly with his skin. He had no idea how he would even think about breaking through it. There were swords so sharp he almost cut himself without touching one. It might have been his imagination, but his hand was five centimeters away from a blade when he felt the sharpness. He decided not to test whether it was real or imagined. There was a nearby bow, after all. ¡°The string is there, next to it.¡± Evan pointed to a strange orange string that was unlike anything Anton had seened used before. It wasn¡¯t any sort of animal tendon or anything he recognized. It felt slightly warm to the touch. ¡°Go ahead and give it a try.¡± Anton attempted to string the bow¡­ but he couldn¡¯t even get it to flex. He¡¯d been strong when he was younger, and now he was recovering much of that strength with his muscle tempering¡­ but it was clearly insufficient. How strong were cultivators really, if he couldn¡¯t even string a bow they would use? ¡°Fire snake spine and wyvern horn make up quite a powerful combination¡­ but at the fourth star a more appropriate bow could be found more cheaply.¡± Evan smiled, and waved Anton onward. After a few more twists and turns they ended up at a door labeled, ¡®100¡¯. ¡°Everything in here is made by apprentice refiners. Only when they turn out something appropriate, of course. Subpar equipment is destroyed and the materials reused, where possible. We sell off most of it, but we do like to keep around a handful. I do believe there was a bow¡­ ah, here we go.¡± Evan pulled out a smooth black bow and a similarly black string. ¡°Nightwood and black steel. Springy yet powerful. Go on.¡± Anton reached for the bow and string. He was able to bend the bow, though it took all of his strength. More than that, he had to incorporate energy to get it the last centimeter to hook the metallic string onto it. Anton pulled back the string, almost subconsciously using Spirit Arrows. His bare fingers protested at the harsh material of the string, but the amount of give was just right and as he let the string go he felt the power¡­ perhaps a bit too directly as it came to impact his forearm. It drew a line of blood, and he knew he would need some accessories if he was even going to think about using the bow. At least, until he had tempered his skin. That had seemed like the most useless on the list¡­ but he realized everything had its place. ¡°Is this really a hundred contribution points? I¡¯d love to have it.¡± Anton paused, ¡°Ah¡­ but it could be quite a bit more.¡± It seemed unlikely everything in the room was priced exactly the same, right? Elder Evan smiled, ¡°Correct. That one is actually¡­ five hundred contribution points.¡± Anton sighed. That would take another two weeks- assuming he worked slightly more and even got as many extra points as he had so far. ¡°I suppose¡­ it¡¯s something to keep working for.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t have enough?¡± Evan asked. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what¡­ come out back to the practice field with me. You can at least try firing it for real. It will give you something to look forward to.¡± Not wanting to let go of the bow, Anton began to follow him. ¡°I appreciate it.¡± Chapter 14 Twists and turns led through various corridors, Evan leading the way for Anton to reach the practice fields attached to the armory. Evan produced a quiver of arrows, though Anton hadn¡¯t seen him pick one up. ¡°You¡¯ll need these. Here¡¯s the archery range. To make this somewhat interesting, I¡¯ll give you a challenge. If you hit thirty points, I¡¯ll give you a prize.¡± Evan smiled, a mirthful yet mysterious expression on his face. ¡°What¡¯s the scoring?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Quite simple. One point or two.¡± Anton looked at the archery target ahead of him, a hundred meters away. That was further than he¡¯d normally shoot, but then again that was before he was a cultivator. Besides, the target wasn¡¯t moving. Hopefully, it would stay that way. There were five rings on it. Maybe the center rings were worth two points? ¡°If I lose?¡± Evan shrugged, ¡°Nothing special happens. You help me clean up the arrows and get back to your business.¡± ¡°Then¡­ challenge accepted.¡± Anton pulled an arrow from the quiver, looking it over. It was good, without any warped wood and the fletching was even. He pulled back the bow, feeling the strain on his arms, but it was a good strain. The first arrow went high. It was his first time firing the bow, after all, and his strength had changed so much since his last attempt. But with two points available per shot, he could afford to miss a point. The second arrow Anton was ready for the power and speed of the bow, and he didn¡¯t have to compensate as much for gravity. The arrow flew through the air, sticking in the outer ring of the target, just below the top. Perhaps he was still a little high, but it hit. ¡°One point,¡± Evan said. Anton was beginning to get used to the bow. He pulled back the arrow to his ear, breathing carefully and then holding his breath at the moment of release. The arrow cut through the air, hitting the second ring from the edge. It was a little bit off to the right because of some wind, but not worryingly so. ¡°Another point. That¡¯s two so far,¡± Evan recounted. ¡°Seventeen arrows to go.¡± That was a reminder that some of his arrows had to hit two points. Apparently the outer two rings weren¡¯t good enough, but he wouldn¡¯t have expected it. The next few arrows hit the second ring, the third ring¡­ one point each. Anton was getting a handle on the bow, and a sense for the wind. Fourth ring. One point. He¡¯d fired six arrows for five points. It seemed only the bullseye would net him two points. He needed most of the thirteen arrows to hit the bullseye to defeat this challenge. He wasn¡¯t sure what he would get¡­ but he wanted the satisfaction of doing well. Anton took a deep breath. He didn¡¯t need to hurry. He focused his mind on the target, and he let his energy flow over the arrow. He hadn¡¯t practiced those techniques on real arrows, but he could theoretically redirect it in flight. Maybe not much¡­ but his arrow flew straight, arcing up and down slightly before striking the bullseye. ¡°One point,¡± Evan declared. Anton looked at him. If a bullseye wasn¡¯t worth two points, how could anything be? The arrow was almost exactly in the center as well. Was it a trick, an impossible challenge? That didn¡¯t seem quite right. Anton followed Evan¡¯s eyes. He was looking at the target but at that angle¡­ Anton moved to the side. Behind the target was another, a full two hundred meters away. He had assumed it was for someone else, but upon thinking about it that was foolish. It was directly in line with the other target, so if the first archer missed¡­ the second would get it right in the back of the head. Or they might, at least. Anton sighed. Was this the standard cultivators were held to? He should have asked about the details of the points, but then again he needed to get used to the bow. At least he got points. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Anton drew the next arrow. This one too would inevitably be a sacrifice to practice. After that, all he had to do was hit the second target with every single arrow¡­ and if it was worth two points he could match the challenge score. All that was demanded of him was a step short of perfection. Anton released his sacrificial arrow. It almost seemed as if it would hit, sailing cleanly over the first target and towards the second¡­ but the wind shifted during its flight and it went wide. It was hard to account for changes in the wind. He needed to put more power so the arrow flew more quickly¡­ and some energy to pull it back on target. The muscles and tendons in his hands were already straining, along with his upper back. If he¡¯d tried to do any of this before becoming a cultivator he would have wrecked himself, except perhaps when he was near his prime. Even now, he was sweating after less than ten arrows. From that point on, only perfection would do. The ninth arrow flew, piercing through the winds and puncturing the second target. Just the outer ring but¡­ ¡°Two points,¡± Evan had a clear smile on his face, though Anton couldn¡¯t focus on that. Everything but Anton and the two targets disappeared. He didn¡¯t even think about why he wanted to succeed or even what it meant. He just had to hit the target. Outer ring. Second. Second. Third ring. Third again. Fourth Ring. Fourth ring. Third ring. Anton¡¯s concentration slipped. Second ring. He refocused his mind. He put all of himself into the next arrow, not concerning himself with the distance or the changes in the wind. Before it hit, he knew the arrow would be a bullseye. It sunk deep into the target, and Anton momentarily celebrated. But then he saw it was just on the edge of the bullseye. It might count, but it wasn¡¯t quite as he had envisioned. Anton visibly deflated. ¡°Twenty-eight points. One to go.¡± Evan¡¯s voice returned Anton to his own body. He had one arrow left. There was that challenge to complete. It had to hit the target, but he¡¯d done that so many times already. It would be easy. He pulled back the bow, his tired arm straining. The arrow flew over the first target towards the second and stuck point first¡­ into the grass in front of it. Anton slowly let out his breath. He¡¯d lost focus. He could have done it but¡­ he was careless. It was worse than not even being able to do it. ¡°Twenty-eight points total, and no more arrows,¡± Evan shook his head. Anton nodded. ¡°I understand. I just have one question. If I destroy the targets¡­ do I get in trouble?¡± Evan smiled. ¡°Going to take out your frustrations on them? If you do, you¡¯re responsible for the clean up and setting up the new ones.¡± Anton nodded. He could deal with that. Instead of moving towards the targets, however, he lifted his tired arm once more. Sweat dripped down his body as he gathered his remaining energy, breathing in more of the abundant natural energy around him. As he pulled back on the string he formed an arrow. It was the first time he¡¯d done it with an actual bow, but it felt quite a bit more natural. He felt himself straining to hold it, but as he felt the wind lapse momentarily he released. The string and his own energy propelled his arrow straight forward, puncturing through the top of the first straw target without even slowing. It continued on its path, barely affected by gravity, flying the next hundred meters towards the second target where it pierced through the bullseye before fading away. Anton sighed in satisfaction. ¡°Alright. I feel much better now.¡± Evan nodded. ¡°Good. Also, that¡¯s three points. So you win the challenge. In recognition of your archery skills, I will allow you to borrow that bow for a month with no charge. At the end of the month you can purchase it if you wish to, otherwise you must return it to the armory.¡± Anton was barely listening, but he eventually processed Evan¡¯s words. He really did need a bow to practice with but¡­ ¡°I ran out of arrows, though. That one was extra.¡± ¡°So?¡± Evan shrugged, ¡°I would say initial mastery of Spirit Arrows demonstrates more archery potential than just hitting a damn target a few times. Just take the stupid bow.¡± Anton took a step back and bowed, ¡°Right, of course. Sorry, Elder Evan. I will gladly accept your generosity. And I will earn the contribution points to purchase it, you can be sure of that.¡± ¡°Yes yes,¡± Evan waved his hand. ¡°But you do still have to replace those targets. Otherwise someone will find themselves quite disappointed with the quality of the practice range.¡± Chapter 15 Over the next week Anton¡¯s schedule remained much the same, except his archery practice was much more effective with an actual bow. Practicing on targets let him understand how much of a difference there was between using energy and not. WIthout energy, he was just a very strong old man, equivalent to a moderately strong adult male. He would just be able to reach full draw on a good hunting bow, and seemed as if he barely tapped the potential of the bow he was borrowing from the armory. Despite all the body tempering greeting affecting his abilities, Anton was behind himself when he was young. However, the inclusion of energy was significant. Anton also borrowed a quiver of practice arrows, and while they might stick a centimeter or so into a target they certainly couldn¡¯t fly through one. It wasn¡¯t just a difference with using Spirit Arrows either, though it was hard to test because he subconsciously propelled those arrows with his own energy. How could he not? Anton doubted that he could shoot through much besides a straw target, but it could still be quite lethal for a wild boar or deer. He might get a half arrow¡¯s depth in one, which would take it down much more quickly- and that was ignoring the accuracy benefits. Hawk Eyes Archery allowed him to focus in on a single point, and Thousand Arrows contained many techniques on redirecting arrows with energy, how to do it efficiently and without sending arrows spinning wildly. It was easy to just direct the tip and have it veer off course, but gently coaxing it along the right path was less energy intensive and much more useful. Though he didn¡¯t see much of those sharing the complex with him, he often felt the other three cultivating late into the night. That was the sort of atmosphere that the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars promoted, and it felt like a waste to not spend all his time doing so. With such abundant natural energy¡­ it was easy. That said, Anton felt the difficulty of later stages. He¡¯d thought he would form the fifth star within a month in his current environment, but it was looking like it would take at least another week or two. He felt himself slowing down. If that happened, how could he ever catch up with the bandits? One particular night, Anton felt Catarina was cultivating particularly powerfully. He almost felt himself being pulled towards her with the rest of the natural energy in the area, though it was just a slight pressure. Then there was an intense buildup of energy from her, and a few short minutes later she had condensed the fourth star inside herself. No wonder she hadn¡¯t been worried about whether she waited a month or not to take the test. The next one was still some days away, and even with just the energy from outside the Order¡¯s grounds she would have made it before the next test. Then she wouldn¡¯t have needed to take a test at all. Perhaps her friend would do the same. Anton¡¯s ears twitched. His hearing hadn¡¯t faded as much as his eyesight, and after tempering the organs in his head he found he probably heard better than he had at his best. The two others were conversing with each other, probably in Hayden¡¯s courtyard. They seemed to do so often, and Anton wished he had anything in common with the others to converse about. He couldn¡¯t hear much of their conversation, and honestly what he did overhear was an accident. ¡°... go over?...¡± ¡°... tempering pills¡­¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t deserve them¡­¡± People muttering about others behind their backs was a human condition. Gossip was everywhere in Dungannon, and some people just didn¡¯t mesh with others. Talking was fine, but Anton felt a stirring of energy from them as they spoke. Hayden¡¯s courtyard was diagonally across from his, with Catarina¡¯s being in between them in the clockwise direction from Anton. Anton silently listened as the two left the gate of the courtyard and walked towards hers. The gates were on the second wall of each courtyard, when going clockwise. Soon, the pair knocked on the gate. ¡°Catarina?¡± Hayden¡¯s voice carried over the walls. Anton shuffled slightly closer to the wall. ¡°Yes?¡± Catarina called back. ¡°May we come in?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I¡¯m cultivating,¡± Catarina answered coldly¡­ though Anton¡¯s few interactions with her indicated that was just how she was. ¡°We know,¡± Hayden said. ¡°Listen¡­ we know you got three tempering pills from your place in the test. Now that you¡¯ve used one to break through to the fourth star, you should share the others with us.¡± His words were technically polite and calm¡­ but just in case Anton bounced on his toes slightly. He wanted to be ready to spring up the wall if he was needed. Perhaps he was being paranoid, but if nothing happened nobody would know anything except perhaps that he was being a little bit nosy. ¡°If you were supposed to have them, the sect would have given them to you.¡± Anton felt Catarina stand up from the way her energy shifted position, though she felt somewhat drained after her breakthrough. ¡°If you want some, you can make a request at the rewards hall.¡± Hayden answered again, ¡°Your results were already so good¡­ why did they have to give you a bigger advantage?¡± The gates were able to be locked from the inside, but there was little point to it except to prevent casual intrusion. It seemed Catarina hadn¡¯t bothered as her gate swung open, and Anton chose that moment to pull himself atop the wall between his courtyard and Catarina¡¯s. Anton stood atop the wall, his bow in hand. ¡°I don¡¯t believe she gave you permission to enter her courtyard. If you attempt to forcibly enter I¡¯m going to have to assume you possess ill intent.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes scanned the situation. Catarina had her hand on the sword at her waist, a commonly used weapon among cultivators. Hayden had a sword, which Anton estimated to be lower quality, though he wasn¡¯t qualified to guarantee that. As he focused energy on his eyes, they flicked over to the horizon uphill. Someone was there, quite a distance away. Were they watching or¡­? Hayden scoffed. ¡°Don¡¯t interfere old man. Just sit there in your courtyard and quietly cultivate until you die of old age.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. He stepped forward, reaching for his sword¡­ and Anton followed through on his threat. In one smooth motion he formed a Spirit Arrow on his string, pulled it back, and released. Hayden had already begun to form his energy around himself to be ready for combat¡­ but even so Anton¡¯s arrow pierced deep into his chest. With the short distance between them, he had little time to dodge¡­ and despite the warning clearly hadn¡¯t been prepared for an attack. Blood spurted out of his mouth and he fell to his knees. Velvet hadn¡¯t entered the courtyard and stepped away, her hands up. ¡°I just thought we would ask. I didn¡¯t think he would¡­¡± The cultivator watching from uphill moved with such speed that Anton barely had time to react. He¡¯d only looked away for a few seconds, but when he felt their energy approaching his eyes flicked back. He only had a moment to see a blurry figure before an old woman was standing on the wall next to him, and before he could react his bow was removed from his hand and his arms were twisted behind his back. ¡°What¡¯s happening here?¡± the woman next to him once again updated Anton¡¯s impression of how strong cultivators might be. Her skin was wrinkled and he was certain she was actually older than himself. She had certainly surpassed Spirit Building and must have been in Constellation Formation. Thirty stars, at least. It was hard to tell because the power was so overwhelming. Anton answered first. ¡°This young man was planning to rob Catarina¡¯s rewards for her place in the entry test. When his plans became clear, I warned him not to enter but he did anyway.¡± Somehow without him noticing, Anton¡¯s arms had become shackled. He tumbled forward off the wall as the elder let go of him, but he managed to twist to land on his feet. As he did so, he shattered an ankle. He¡¯d attempted to summon energy to reinforce himself, but he hadn¡¯t been able to. The elder was already next to Hayden, who had blood pouring out of his chest. Spirit Arrows didn¡¯t leave anything behind to block the wounds. Anton felt her do something, presumably to stop the bleeding. ¡°Everyone¡¯s coming with me to explain.¡± Anton attempted to get to his feet to comply with her request, but he felt himself suddenly moving. The unknown elder in front of him had wrapped all of those present in energy and was moving once more with blinding speed. It was only a few minutes later that Anton found himself in a cell. ----- Vincent hummed to himself as he approached the Order¡¯s front gate. He¡¯d finally figured out why he couldn¡¯t track down those bandits, and with the improved information he¡¯d managed to hire a formation expert to locate one of their camps. It was expensive, but he¡¯d managed to take out some of their lower ranking members. Their leader and the formation expert weren¡¯t present, but he was in a good mood. Finally he¡¯d made progress. He was planning to collect someone from the Order to save on expenses, and then he would return to tracking them down. ¡°Elder Vincent!¡± One of the guards at the gates bowed as he approached. ¡°It is good to see you again.¡± ¡°Jacob!¡± Vincent waved, ¡°Glad to see you have been cultivating well.¡± ¡°Thank you, Elder. I have a message for you from Elder Daniela Selby.¡± Jacob handed over a sealed note. Vincent read the message. It wasn¡¯t long, but it immediately put him out of his good mood. One of his recruits had been involved in an internal incident, and he was needed to provide context to determine if the disciple would be a danger. The fact that he was being asked for indicated it wasn¡¯t a clear case, but it was disappointing for his students to get involved in conflict. Then again, it was also inevitable with how many he recruited. Elder Daniela had been around longer than Vincent himself, though Vincent was catching up to her in cultivation. His relative youth was an advantage there. Before even dropping by his own chambers he went to see her. ¡°Elder Daniela,¡± Vincent inclined his head. ¡°Elder Vincent¡­ you know there¡¯s no need to be so formal.¡± The old woman sighed, ¡°A few weeks back, there was an incident with a student recruited by you. I don¡¯t expect you to remember each and every one, but with less than a month of him being in the sect we didn¡¯t have time to judge his character. He nearly killed another disciple- a now-former disciple who was in the wrong, but who would have certainly died if I weren¡¯t nearby. This particular disciple might have lapsed from your memory by now. An old one that came in at fourth star.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t promise I know each and every one in detail, but I¡¯ll try to remember. What¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°Anton Krantz.¡± Vincent blinked. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t¡­ Anton Krantz, you said?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, do you not remember him?¡± Vincent frowned and muttered to himself, ¡°Was there a second one? That could have been decades ago¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°I certainly remember someone by that name, but I doubt it¡¯s him. Perhaps we should go see him.¡± Elder Daniela nodded, ¡°Good. He¡¯s been cultivating furiously even in confinement¡­ and he was apparently a good worker. If he¡¯s likely to be trouble again in the future we might as well expel him quickly, otherwise¡­ he¡¯s served sufficient time.¡± ¡°What exactly happened?¡± ¡°One of the new disciples tried to rob another of their resources. He shot him in the heart with a Spirit Arrow. If he hadn¡¯t been so straightforwardly deadly in his approach he likely wouldn¡¯t be imprisoned still.¡± The cells of the Order were blissfully unused for the most part. There were two disciples in opposite cells who had clearly had too much to drink the night before, but as they walked towards the somewhat more secure rear cells Vincent only sensed one source of energy. Someone new, though he didn¡¯t always stay around potential recruits long enough to get a feel for their particular energy patterns. This one felt fairly decent, almost as if¡­ he were forming the fifth star. Vincent and Daniela just exchanged looks as they approached, stopping outside the cell. Vincent stood there watching silently as he felt the fifth star completely form inside Anton. ¡°So¡­¡± Elder Daniela said as Anton¡¯s energy settled down. ¡°Do you recognize him?¡± ¡°What?¡± Vincent turned towards her. ¡°Oh¡­ yes. How could I not? I saw him less than six months ago.¡± Elder Daniela smiled, ¡°And you said your memory was decent. Shouldn¡¯t he have been someone you visited regularly, if you just saw him then?¡± ¡°Technically¡­ yes. But the thing is¡­ six months ago was when I gave him the manual.¡± Vincent folded his arms. ¡°He hadn¡¯t touched cultivation before then.¡± ¡°An amusing joke,¡± Elder Daniela laughed mirthlessly. ¡°But how¡¯s his temperament? Can we expect more trouble from him?¡± ¡°From him?¡± Vincent raised an eyebrow. ¡°Not if nobody¡¯s acting like bandits. He was quite a stable family man once.¡± Vincent paused, ¡°But I was dead serious about what I said. How the hell is he fifth star now?¡± Chapter 16 Energy flowed satisfyingly smoothly through Anton¡¯s meridians. His dantian was now occupied by five rotating stars, each representing changes to his body. The first star was the initial refinement to his entire person. Second had been his meridians, followed by the organs in his torso, the organs in his head, and finally his muscles. Some of it was just making up for abilities his body no longer had, but with the addition of energy to support him he found himself quite a bit more capable. If only he weren¡¯t imprisoned. Anton¡¯s mind slowly returned to its focus outside of himself after his breakthrough. Surprisingly, there were two people standing outside his cell, watching him. He got to his feet, ignoring how some of his joints ached as he did. It was still much less than he¡¯d experienced a few months prior. ¡°Elder Daniela,¡± he inclined his head politely. He turned his head so the light settled properly on the other person. ¡°Vincent! I mean¡­ Elder Vincent.¡± ¡°Everyone just calls me Vincent. No need to change your form of address, Anton.¡± Vincent¡¯s eyes scanned over Anton. ¡°You look about twenty years younger.¡± Anton grinned slightly, ¡°I feel it too. Unfortunately I¡¯m sure you know I¡¯ve run into a bit of trouble.¡± ¡°What have you been doing since we last met?¡± ¡°I assure you I was behaving quite excellently until just recently.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care about this, right now.¡± Vincent waved his hand. ¡°You just formed the fifth star. How did that happen?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I¡­ cultivated? I¡¯m not sure quite what you mean. Forming the first star took me¡­ a month and a half. I nearly died, I think. During that time I did little else but cultivate and¡­ bury the villagers of Dungannon.¡± Vincent nodded in acknowledgement and gestured for him to continue. ¡°I found cultivating to be quite difficult, my meridians strained¡­ so I chose to refine those next. Next I refined my torso, to keep all these old organs going. That was¡­ somewhere around three months.¡± Anton nodded to himself, recalling the events. ¡°You had mentioned joining the sect at the third star, so I began the journey. On the road I began to refine the organs in my head, since my eyesight was still quite awful. It was a slow process, and I only broke through to the fourth star just outside the sect, taking advantage of the abundant natural energy that spread out to the surrounding areas. Then I spent some months here in the sect cultivating my muscles and the fifth star.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Vincent asked. ¡°You just cultivated? Didn¡¯t stumble across any potent herbs?¡± ¡°Around Dungannon or along the road?¡± Anton grinned, ¡°Not at all.¡± ¡°I understand. So, what about the trouble that landed you in here?¡± Vincent asked. Anton shrugged, ¡°What can I say that I have not already told? I realize I was excessive in my actions, but I stand by the principle. I don¡¯t believe sect members should attempt to take from each other. If you wish, I can make a formal apology to Hayden for attempting to kill him.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t, actually,¡± Elder Daniela interjected. ¡°He¡¯s no longer a part of the sect. You¡¯re right about his actions being inappropriate. However, even when the cause is right¡­ it¡¯s best not to do things that can¡¯t be taken back. Especially if there might be some misunderstanding.¡± Elder Daniela looked to Vincent and gestured behind her hand. In turn, Vincent nodded and waved his hand towards the door. ¡°Since your actions were justified and Hayden¡¯s death was prevented, it has been deemed that you have spent sufficient time here as punishment. As long as you swear to be more thoughtful in your future actions, you can return to your residence immediately.¡± She pulled out a key and began unlocking the cell immediately. Anton found himself watching the way the energy gathered around the key and twisted in the lock, finding a sense of oppression from the bars disappearing. Then he remembered what had been said. ¡°Of course. I swear to be more careful if future conflict arises with fellow disciples.¡± Vincent smiled, ¡°We shall have to continue catching up later. Good luck with your cultivation.¡± With a nod, Vincent walked ahead of the other two as Elder Daniela escorted Anton out. ----- Elder Vincent and Elder Daniela met up later, on their way to meet with others. ¡°Was it really just six months?¡± Elder Daniela shook her head. ¡°It took me longer than that to reach fifth star.¡± ¡°Not quite so much for me,¡± Vincent commented. ¡°But I wasn¡¯t a hundred years old yet.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe the tests didn¡¯t notice anything¡­¡± ¡°He skipped the test, remember? Fourth star. We don¡¯t usually expect someone to go from third to fourth in the time it takes to travel here¡­ and they might be more informed.¡± Vincent shook his head, ¡°I gave him a bare minimum of information because I didn¡¯t expect that much. It explains why I couldn¡¯t find him as I passed back through Dungannon, however.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°What do we do?¡± Elder Daniela frowned. ¡°He could have certainly won extra resources in the tests. Should we give him a chance?¡± Vincent shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s too late for that now. Besides, he clearly hasn¡¯t needed anything. As for what we do¡­ I¡¯m not sure we have to do anything. Perhaps coax him into attending some lessons, but otherwise I don¡¯t imagine there is anything required from us at the moment. Though we should certainly bring him up at the meeting. Everyone¡¯s always looking for young geniuses. Nobody thought to look for an old one. If he makes it to Spirit Building at the same rate¡­ it¡¯ll be quite something to see.¡± ----- While the conditions in the cell had been comfortable enough, Anton was quite pleased to be unconstrained. Cultivating for a few weeks without moving his body more than a small distance was not the optimal situation, though the natural energy had been abundant enough. Despite its simplicity, he was glad to be back in his own little courtyard. He spent some time practicing his techniques, though he realized he did not have a bow. However, the quality of Spirit Arrows he could make had gone up, their duration quite more enduring as he was able to condense his energy further. When he was tired enough, he returned to his own bed. While the quality of the physical object itself was not much different, it was significantly more restful. ----- Anton found himself arriving at breakfast earlier than normal, though he¡¯d left at the same time. His legs carried him faster, with less complaining. Less complaining didn¡¯t mean none, but it wasn¡¯t the muscles crying out. Unlike many others of advanced age, he didn¡¯t have particularly bad knees. That said, not particularly bad did not mean good. Would he refine the area along with his bones? It had some overlap with both bones and tendons. He had to pick something next, so it might as well be one of those. Breakfast was quick enough, though Anton found his appetite increased. Quite a bit, compared to how he had been half a year ago. He was like a teenager again, though perhaps his hunger was amplified by the amount all the actual teenagers and other young disciples were eating. Nothing extraordinary, for the most part, but he could see why the sect wanted to maintain their own fields for both grains and magical herbs. Even with more time spent at breakfast, he was even earlier to the fields where he planned to be working. Elder Howland was already in the area. ¡°Good morning, Elder.¡± ¡°Anton.¡± Elder Howland inclined his head. ¡°Good to see you back. I thought perhaps you would not return after your breakthrough.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°I was just¡­ occupied for a time.¡± ¡°I heard the general idea. I knew a reliable person like you was always going to be out and about soon enough. Now then, might as well get started.¡± With a powerful swing, Anton began to hoe a new field. Even with his body being stronger and the use of natural energy, he found it was still less effective than using an animal to till the soil. However, it wasn¡¯t as if the sect didn¡¯t know what it was doing. Anton just wondered if the other disciples understood. As he moved, he gathered energy from the world around him, breathing it in, circulating it from his dantian through his meridians¡­ and into his bones. Not too deep at first. In fact, refining the marrow was another star in itself. However, he directed the energy to support his body. It wasn¡¯t going to be a short process, but he had to start at some point. ----- When he returned to the compound which his home was a part of, Anton sensed a new person where Hayden had lived. He thought it would be good to introduce himself. He knocked on the gate, since the new disciple was outside in his courtyard, and not in a critical point of cultivation. ¡°Hello?¡± a young man opened the gate to the outside and looked at Anton. He seemed familiar. ¡°Good evening,¡± Anton inclined his head. ¡°I am Anton Krantz. I have not been around recently, but I live in the opposite corner there.¡± ¡°Anton?¡± The young man inclined his head in return. ¡°I¡¯m Timothy. Catarina mentioned you.¡± He looked over his shoulder towards Catarina¡¯s courtyard then leaned in. ¡°She probably won¡¯t mention it, but she really appreciated your help. She was worried about what happened to you.¡± Timothy looked Anton up and down. ¡°Fifth star. That would explain it.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Anton bowed and took a step back. ¡°I was merely here to introduce myself. Don¡¯t hesitate to drop by if you wish to consult on anything, though I¡¯m not sure if I can help much in matters of cultivation.¡± ¡°Good to meet you, Senior Krantz,¡± Timothy inclined his head. The form of address was unfamiliar, though certainly apt since Anton was both older and of a higher cultivation. Anton moved around to Catarina¡¯s courtyard, knocking as well. It didn¡¯t take her long to open the gate. ¡°...Hello.¡± ¡°Good evening, miss Riley. I just wished to say I have returned.¡± She nodded her head. ¡°Okay. I-¡± she started to speak, but didn¡¯t continue. After a handful of seconds, Anton supposed she would probably not continue. ¡°I am glad to see you are well. Your cultivation is progressing nicely towards the next star. I hope the incident didn¡¯t result in further trouble for you,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°No, it¡­ I am¡­ fine.¡± Catarina nodded, ¡°I am¡­ welcome back.¡± With that, she ungracefully shut the gate. Anton smiled. Kids could be so shy. Well, with a few decades of experience anyone might get better at conversation. Though he wasn¡¯t sure if anyone at the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars would actually get much practice in conversation. It didn¡¯t seem to be a favored pastime of cultivators. Chapter 17 After two more weeks of work, Anton was ready to check his contribution points. The bow he had borrowed from the armory had been taken away when he was arrested. He hoped it hadn¡¯t been purchased¡­ and that he was still allowed to make such purchases. Then again, there hadn¡¯t been any talk of ongoing punishments. If it wasn¡¯t necessary for proper training, Anton might have put off getting a weapon just to make the elders feel more assured. Then again, as long as he had it for a time and didn¡¯t mishandle it, they could also be assured he wouldn¡¯t do anything worrying. It wasn¡¯t that Anton wouldn¡¯t be willing to redo what he did, but if a similar situation came up¡­ he would be less likely to attempt a lethal shot. Attempting to kill fellow disciples was rightfully frowned upon. And he likely didn¡¯t need to do anything, since an Elder had been watching. He just hadn¡¯t thought they would arrive so quickly. The walk to the central area was still the same length, but Anton arrived more quickly. He could see how they actually functioned with sections so spread out. Most people just¡­ moved quickly. Anton found his way to the rewards hall. ¡°Elder Lois,¡± Anton inclined his head. ¡°I would like to check my contribution points.¡± He¡¯d worked extra hours the last two weeks just to make sure he would have enough. Assuming he got similar rates to what he had before, at least. ¡°Of course. You are¡­¡± she took a moment to find his name, ¡°Anton Krantz, correct?¡± she held out her hand. ¡°Oh! My token.¡± Anton¡¯s identity token was with him at all times, but he rarely thought about it. Especially during his two weeks in a cell. He also had little use for it while farming. Elder Lois smiled, activating the token with her energy and making it glow. Since she recognized him it probably wasn¡¯t necessary, but she followed the protocol regardless. She handed him his paper with the number. That too radiated energy. It would likely be hard to fake¡­ and Anton had no interest in that. ¡°Elder Evan mentioned awaiting your return some time ago.¡± ¡°Let us hope I was not too slow,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I¡­ was indisposed for two weeks.¡± Elder Lois just smiled in response as Anton made his way towards the armory. ¡®626¡¯, the paper read. He probably hadn¡¯t needed to work so many extra hours, then, but what was he going to do¡­ sleep? He already did enough of that. He could cultivate the Ninety-Nine stars while farming, and without a bow time spent training archery was inefficient. He would likely reduce his hours farming somewhat after the current point, though he could always use more contribution points. Elder Evan still looked younger than him, but potentially wasn¡¯t. ¡°Good day, Elder Evan,¡± Anton inclined his head. ¡°Anton. Congratulations on your breakthrough.¡± Elder Evan smiled, ¡°I had expected you here earlier.¡± ¡°I had some reasons I couldn¡¯t come sooner. I suppose I am too late?¡± Elder Evan reached into a bag by his waist- one that looked to barely be able to hold a handful of apples and certainly not a full length bow- and pulled out the very bow Anton had looked at before, and then the string. ¡°No one else acquired it. I assume you have the five hundred contribution points?¡± Anton held out the slip of paper, which had his name, the date, and the number of contribution points. Elder Evan took it, holding a token similar to Anton¡¯s identity token over it. When he handed it back it said ¡®126¡¯. He likewise handed over the bow. ¡°Do take good care of it. Practice well, and all that. I might suggest attending lectures from the various elders or some of the senior disciples. If there are any you find particular insight from, you might also spend some of those contribution points on personal lessons. Learning from others can be much faster than studying on your own, even if you have the talent. Cultivation is all about time.¡± Anton nodded. If he could save a dozen hours cultivating a technique, he could work that dozen hours to earn more contribution points. Plus, there were also free lectures. He hadn¡¯t felt the need so far, but he¡¯d only just come to the Order a couple months prior¡­ with two weeks of that in a cell- though he didn¡¯t find those two weeks were wasted. ¡°I appreciate the suggestion. Are there any good archery masters?¡± Elder Evan laughed. ¡°Are there? If archery masters are mentioned in the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, the only proper answer is Elder Kseniya. She developed Spirit Arrows.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes widened slightly. He knew that techniques were all made by someone, but the way everyone acted everything in cultivation was said to be ancient techniques and the like. But of course there would be people from the Order who had new innovations, and Spirit Arrows seemed quite special, though Anton couldn¡¯t claim to have a deep understanding of the full limits of cultivation. ¡°Does she lecture?¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Something like that, at least. You should check the schedule.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Of course.¡± It wasn¡¯t far to the lecture halls, where a young looking woman sat behind a desk. ¡°Excuse me¡­¡± Anton was fortunate to catch sight of her badge and her cultivation level before making a terrible mistake, ¡°Senior disciple¡­?¡± He was so used to everyone being an elder that he¡¯d been about to say it. ¡°Brita,¡± she inclined her head to him. He could tell she was in Spirit Building, perhaps the thirteenth star. Her young age was¡­ probably exactly correct. Somewhere in her actual twenties, he thought. ¡°How can I help you?¡± ¡°I was wondering when Elder Kseniya¡¯s next public lecture was.¡± ¡°One moment,¡± Brita flipped through a dozen pages in an instant. Anton considered that he should learn to do that. It seemed quite useful. Perhaps that ability came naturally with cultivation, to some extent. ¡°At the end of the month. One and a half weeks from now, in the afternoon.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Anton almost left, but he supposed he didn¡¯t have to think about just one thing. ¡°Are there any upcoming lectures?¡± he gestured inside. Brita didn¡¯t even need to check the list. ¡°Advanced formations in half an hour. An hour until sword techniques¡­ oh! Elder Vincent just started a cultivation basics lecture five minutes ago. You can likely still catch most of it.¡± ¡°Which way to Elder Vincent¡¯s?¡± Brita pointed to her left, and Anton headed down the hallway- and soon he was able to find the rest of his way from Elder Vincent¡¯s voice and energy. Anton stepped through an open doorway into a large semicircular hall. There were rows of seats in tiers so that everyone could get a view of the lecturer- and the hall was packed full. There were only a few seats in the very back. ¡°...in early cultivation is important,¡± Elder Vincent¡¯s voice carried easily throughout the room without the use of energy. ¡°For the Ninety-Nine Stars, the most critical parts of the first ten stars, Body Foundation, are the second and fifth stars.¡± Well. Anton had already passed that point. He hoped he hadn¡¯t made terrible decisions. ¡°The first and tenth, of course, refine the whole body. But the second and fifth are important because of the basis of the Ninety-Nine Stars. Cultivation seeks the truths of the universe¡­ though whether those truths are properly understood can greatly influence the effectiveness. Thus, great care must be taken to learn from those who come before. As for the basis of the Ninety-Nine Stars¡­ nine is a symbol of completeness and power. In addition to that are the prime numbers. Thus, the Ninety-Nine Stars are the summation of the first nine primes.¡± It was only a moment later when a young man in the crowd raised his hand. Elder Vincent smiled, ¡°I believe I might anticipate your question. Let me guess. Don¡¯t the first nine primes sum to one hundred?¡± Elder Vincent looked at the student, who lowered his hand and nodded. ¡°A good question. That is, quite simply¡­ the limit. Neither the founder nor any who have come after managed to form the hundredth star. People have already been known to call those in the fourth tier of cultivation deities¡­ what would we call someone who has surpassed a deity?¡± Elder Vincent shrugged. ¡°Though naming perhaps isn¡¯t that important. Claiming to be a deity, though, is a bit much. Our Galaxy Construction cultivators say the same. But, back to the question. Surpassing the final known tier of cultivation is a goal for many. Some say it is impossible. Those who try either die or disappear¡­ either through transcending to a higher plane, or destroying themselves so thoroughly there¡¯s nothing left¡­ there¡¯s no way to know. But ninety nine stars seems to be the limit for now.¡± Anton found that answer satisfactory. Even if the hundredth star couldn¡¯t be reached, a technique that was good enough to reach the peak of cultivation was quite something. Though of course, just because the technique was capable of reaching that peak didn¡¯t mean he could. He was already old. He just needed to surpass the Body Tempering stage to avenge his family. ¡°But!¡± Victor declared loudly, ¡°The second and fifth stars¡­ the first prime and the first and second added together. What you choose to temper at those points sets you up for the future. It isn¡¯t that you can¡¯t later achieve the same level of tempering in such a category, but you are set up for an early boost. That is why most of us refine the meridians at the fifth star.¡± The same young man raised his hand, and Vincent pointed to him. ¡°Yes? What is your question?¡± ¡°Why not refine the meridians at the second star? They affect all of cultivation. If we knew this before entering the Order at three stars, could we not be more successful?¡± ¡°Certainly,¡± Vincent said. ¡°Or you could be dead. Trying to force things ends up that way. Tempering the body is not equally easy. Tempering the meridians is the hardest, and thus requires experience. Though sometimes people try it and die.¡± Vincent¡¯s eyes looked straight at Anton. ¡°Except rarities.¡± Anton had to admit that he had found it quite dangerous. It almost spiralled out of control and killed him. Then again, that was his entire experience with cultivation up to that point. Vincent continued, ¡°The prime temperings are especially difficult, but also more effective. However, if one steadily cultivates past Body Foundation, they can eventually smooth out the road before them. So no matter what decisions you have made up to this point, there is no permanent harm done. Take advantage of whatever strengths you have obtained for yourself while you are young.¡± Chapter 18 Another week and a half out of five thousand went by in the blink of an eye. Work started early and lasted until the evening, then practicing archery techniques until he was sufficiently tired to sleep, all interspersed with meals and occasional lectures. Anton learned quite a bit, including how to properly balance his environment while cultivating. It wasn¡¯t as important as having abundant natural energy around, but it was still a factor. That included taking care of his mental state. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if his mind was exactly serene with constant thoughts of revenge, but what was he going to do about it? Focus was necessary to overcome it. The most useful after the tips Vincent gave for cultivation was sparring practice. He was still a beginner in cultivation, so when he found himself struggling with unarmed combat he didn¡¯t feel bad. He had gotten in a few scraps in his days, but had no formal training. His muscles were decently strong, but the rest of his body just wasn¡¯t up to par. All of the others seemed to have begun lessons before him as well, but Anton didn¡¯t like making excuses. He might only rarely need to fight unarmed, but he should at least put in the effort to cover the basics. The anticipated lecture with Elder Kseniya arrived in due time. When Anton arrived at the training field only to find it sparsely attended by merely a dozen others, he asked one of the nearest disciples, ¡°Is this the right place for Elder Kseniya¡¯s lecture?¡± The young woman nearest to him shrugged, ¡°Lectures have words. But this is the place.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ surprisingly empty.¡± ¡°Elder Kseniya is the best archer in the Order,¡± The young woman looked around before finally whispering, ¡°...but she¡¯s not the best teacher.¡± Anton nodded. That often tended to be the case. Eccentric masters of one thing or another often had trouble communicating. It was certainly not impossible to be a skilled teacher and a master of something, but the skills didn¡¯t necessarily go together. Still, he might be able to learn something. He almost didn¡¯t notice when she showed up. Anton had been conditioned into the idea that elders would look younger than they were, so when a truly ancient woman with baggy skin and thin limbs stood in front of them, he almost didn¡¯t think it was her. However, as he sensed her energy he knew it had to be her. He couldn¡¯t sense exactly, but she was at a great number of stars. Perhaps fifty or more? That would place her in the final tier of cultivation, the stage that was referred to as Galaxy Construction in the Ninety-Nine Stars method. She said nothing, merely pulling out a bow from a magic bag- like Elder Evan had. The bow appeared quite plain- merely some sort of dark varnished wood and a string that seemed no different from many others. She had no quiver on her back, but that wasn¡¯t a surprise. Without even saying a word to those watching, her movement started. Anton¡¯s eyes barely tracked the movement of her hand grabbing the string, the forming of a Spirit Arrow and the pulling of the string, and the arrow was out of his vision as if it completely disappeared. Then Elder Kseniya disappeared as well. However, Anton still sensed her- and his eyes snapped to her location, far from where Anton thought it should have been possible to move. Even with his eyes already having been tempered, Anton was barely able to follow her movements. Activating the vision techniques from Hawk Eyes allowed him to not completely lose sight of her, but he was barely able to make out her specific movements even still. She drew and shot the bow, then moved to a seemingly random place to fire again in another similarly random direction. Anton¡¯s eyes occasionally followed the spirit arrows, realizing that he was half right. They did disappear, but their trajectory through the air up to the point where they vanished has also simply been too fast for him to see. Each of the Spirit Arrows destroyed itself at a specific point, though the distance wasn¡¯t always the same. Anton supposed that was the only way she wasn¡¯t going to put holes in everything around them¡­ including the walls of the training areas and perhaps several buildings over. He was absolutely certain she would have, if the arrows didn¡¯t collapse into themselves. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Anton watched in a trance, trying to catch something from what was happening. He felt like he was on the verge of understanding, but he wasn¡¯t sure what he might learn. Then Elder Kseniya stopped. Anton reached down and found his chest was damp. He was sweating from just watching. He was almost entirely drained of energy just to catch a glimpse of what was going on. The others were in a similar boat, except a pair who grumbled to each other, ¡°... didn¡¯t teach anything. Just showed off and left¡­¡± Technically Anton agreed that she didn¡¯t teach anything¡­ but the chance to see something like was still good for his developing skills. Many years of hunting and some competitions were nothing compared to her experience with the bow¡­ but how could he make use of it? ----- Every time he formed a Spirit Arrow, Anton pictured those made by Elder Kseniya. They were thinner, not because they contained less power but because it was even more concentrated. He had barely been able to sense how it worked with the immense power involved, but he tried some things he thought were involved. Had she started the formation at the tip? No. Though he couldn¡¯t be sure, since they seemed to appear instantly. He tried starting with the arrowhead, in the middle, and from the end with the fletching. The middle was the worst, since if he was misaligned it could scrape up against the bow at the front or slip past the string in the back. Fortunately the bow had enough durability to ignore such incidental energy. Anton tried to imagine what her movements were for. He couldn¡¯t possibly move as she did, especially with his joints¡­ though perhaps hers weren¡¯t any better at whatever age she was. He would have to work on his flexibility. At the very least, moving around was a good idea. Anton didn¡¯t exactly dash around, but he started incorporating movement and turning into his practice. He didn¡¯t have targets and didn¡¯t want to destroy the walls, so he just made the arrows dissipate. He wasn¡¯t confident in doing that while they were in motion, so he made sure to practice on his actual target for actual practice firing. The other residents of the complex did their own cultivation at different times, though there was never really a time when nobody was cultivating unless the complex was empty or they were all asleep. On a particular evening another two weeks later, Catarina was cultivating in her own courtyard. Anton felt she was at a particularly crucial moment, so he decided to take a break so as to avoid disturbing her with his energy fluctuations. She was at the peak of the fourth star¡­ and if he guessed correctly she planned to break through to the fifth. The feeling of her cultivation let Anton know she was finishing the refinement of her meridians- a solid choice, apparently. Much less foolish than doing it too early, but Anton supposed he couldn¡¯t be blamed for his thoughts. He really should have been more cautious, though. As Catarina pushed herself to the edge, Anton sensed a sudden boost of energy from her. It didn¡¯t feel like a danger, and indeed it only took a moment for the energy to settle down and come under her control. A short time later, the scene settled down and Anton knew she had reached the fifth star. Since it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to interrupt her anymore, Anton was about to go back to training archery. However, she stepped out of her gate and he was curious where she was going to go. Spying on his neighbors wasn¡¯t proper¡­ but he would have had to intentionally ignore her to not know where she was. Besides, she was coming towards his gate. A moment later, she knocked. ¡°...Anton?¡± He made his way over to the gate and opened it. ¡°Catarina, come on in,¡± he gestured. She shook her head. ¡°Not necessary. Here.¡± She held out her hand, and Anton instinctively reached out to take what she dropped. A small round pellet. She was halfway turned around when Anton called after her. ¡°Wait! Isn¡¯t this your last tempering pill?¡± Anton was quite certain that she had just used one. ¡°No. I have one more left.¡± He still didn¡¯t let her leave, ¡°Why give it to me?¡± ¡°... For the help. Before. Save it for breaking through to sixth star.¡± Now that he¡¯d gotten her to admit why, he wasn¡¯t going to refuse. He sensed she was telling the truth about having another. It seemed likely she hadn¡¯t actually used one for the fourth star. ¡°I will graciously accept,¡± Anton said as she was already stepping out of sight back towards her dwelling. He slowly closed the gate behind her and smiled. He would save the pill for a breakthrough. Though if she needed it before he used it, he would gladly give it to her. Better to foster someone younger who had their whole life ahead of them rather than an old man. Chapter 19 Elder Kseniya¡¯s demonstrations were not regularly scheduled. The second one after Anton heard of her was another three weeks after the first, though it wasn¡¯t scheduled until three days in advance and Anton only heard about it by coincidence. Anton arrived a bit early, since Elder Kseniya didn¡¯t seem the sort to delay upon arriving. It wasn¡¯t exactly a short demonstration the first time, but he had the feeling that watching the whole thing would give him the best insights. The training field the demonstration was in did have actual targets, and Anton found a young man at the seventh star training there. It was not surprising to find him forming a spirit arrow, firing one after the next into a target¡­ though with deliberate speed rather than haste. Anton watched, feeling the young man¡¯s energy as he shot. Obviously he wasn¡¯t much compared to Elder Kseniya, but Anton wouldn¡¯t expect that. His arrows were accurate enough, but they didn¡¯t puncture very deep into the targets. At least, not as much as they should have with energy involved. Anton approached closer, ¡°Young man¡­ interested in advice from an old man a full two stars weaker than you?¡± The young man shrugged, ¡°Why not? I¡¯ll hear it at least.¡± Anton nodded. He had gotten in the habit of bringing his bow with him, since most disciples carried a weapon with them around the Order, and he quickly strung it. Theoretically, even black steel strings had to wear out eventually if it was left strung. Anton held up his fingers, creating a spirit arrow where the young man could see. ¡°I didn¡¯t see any particular flaws in your creation, but your power seemed to suffer. That bow seems decent enough¡­¡± Anton turned to the side and pulled back the arrow, sending it flying towards the target. His energy catapulted it forward through the target. Good, at least he had something to demonstrate that he knew what he was talking about. ¡°The problem is that you¡¯re trying too hard to hit accurately.¡± The young man squinted, ¡°But if I don¡¯t hit¡­ I can¡¯t kill anything.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying you shouldn¡¯t be accurate. I¡¯m just saying you shouldn¡¯t put so much effort into it. You¡¯re stabilizing the arrow with your energy.¡± Anton held up another spirit arrow, ¡°That¡¯s what the fletching is for. If it didn¡¯t have a purpose, we¡¯d merely form something like needles,¡± Anton let the fletching fade away. ¡°But the fletching lets it stay aligned on its own. That energy is best used to propel the whole thing forward. Don¡¯t worry if it spins, that¡¯s fine as well.¡± The young man nodded. ¡°I see.¡± Anton stepped away from the target, letting him have a straight shot. He frowned in concentration, forming an arrow and releasing it. The arrow arrived off target, but Anton knew he just needed to get used to how it behaved. Either way, it punctured most of the way through. It wasn¡¯t so inaccurate as to be a problem on any decently sized opponent, just a couple rings from the bullseye. The young man seemed to be focused on the task, so Anton just watched as he continued. Soon enough the others arrived- several new faces, and a half dozen repeats. Anton noticed the returning disciples were all higher stars than himself, but why would they not be? He was still quite new to cultivation. Elder Kseniya¡¯s arrival was obvious, from her energy but nothing else. She wasn¡¯t hiding it, so the fact that she made no sound and had little visual presence as she arrived didn¡¯t make a difference. Anyone would notice if they were suddenly next to a raging fire. Everyone cleared out of the area as she approached, standing over to the side and watching. Anton decided not to try to focus on the little details this time, something he couldn¡¯t even really make out as she fired arrows almost without him seeing her move¡­ and then she herself changed locations. If he couldn¡¯t pick out fine details, he needed to follow the flow. Was it just a demonstration of how fast she could move and shoot, or was there something more? The first arrow flew out, disappearing as it reached a point somewhere in front of her. At that point, Elder Kseniya had moved a quarter circle around the general area. Her second arrow fired at another spot entirely. As far as Anton could tell, she never aimed at the same point- though her arrows might pass through a similar target sized area, they never stopped in the same area as a previous one. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Anton noticed something else. She wasn¡¯t just running around and shooting. Her movements weren¡¯t so straightforward. She had great speed, but she didn¡¯t move straight from point to point. She changed direction unpredictably, tilting her body as she moved and occasionally pulling back steps. It was as if¡­ she was avoiding enemy attacks. Anton¡¯s brain was overloaded with information¡­ but if he presumed she was shooting and ¡®hitting¡¯ an imaginary foe, it would explain why they didn¡¯t remain in place. His suspicions were confirmed when she ducked ¡®under¡¯ an attack, and instead of firing her bow stabbed out with her hand¡­ a spirit arrow existing for only the briefest of moments. Anton couldn¡¯t say he followed all of her movements, but at least he understood what was happening. It could have just been his imagination¡­ but he thought that sometimes she missed. That is to say, the arrows had a point of maximum power. Usually, they disappeared- indicating a hit- very close to the peak of their power. Sometimes, they continued onward¡­ fading out of existence rather than being directly dispersed. But perhaps that was just Anton reading into things too much. By the time the demonstration was over, Anton was exhausted¡­ both his brain and his reserves of energy just to keep track of anything that was happening. ----- Anton couldn¡¯t say he found Elder Kseniya¡¯s demonstration to be a good lesson¡­ but he still learned some things about what she considered important. Constant movement made sense. He needed to be able to hit an opponent while both of them were moving. Predicting the opponent¡¯s movements was theoretically part of that, though Anton hadn¡¯t been able to track the ¡®movements¡¯ of her opponent to know that was the case. Trying to replicate a similar situation himself stretched the limits of his capabilities, not least of which was his body complaining to him for pushing it so hard. However, he didn¡¯t feel as if he was hurting himself. Tempering his body with energy was allowing him to grow stronger, and though it might be painful in the short term, he found his overall bodily health increasing. Even if his joints burned after every practice session, and his bones creaked. One major issue Anton ran into was imagining an opponent. He hadn¡¯t exactly been in many fights. Hunting animals¡­ usually was done from stealth. If a boar was charging at him, he didn¡¯t use a complex series of movements. He shot it, and tried to figure out how to put a tree between them. For a combat on the level of cultivators, he really didn¡¯t know what to expect. The only images he had in his mind were Elder Kseniya and her invisible opponent. When he tried to imagine fighting them¡­ he died. Rapidly and continuously. His arrows got nowhere near the targets he set in mind, even though he himself had chosen their movement patterns. Anton shook his head. That wouldn¡¯t do any good. He needed some practical experience¡­ or to pick a weaker opponent. The only other person he¡¯d really seen move was¡­ Vincent. He wasn¡¯t even trying to go fast most of the time, but his movements were strange and hard to follow. Anton imagined shooting at someone who moved like Vincent casually. It was difficult, but he managed some ¡®hits¡¯. But that wasn¡¯t the speed Elder Vincent could move at. That was him strolling around. In his head, he pictured being carried through the forest at then-unbelieveable speeds, to return to the bandit camp. Even if that version of Elder Vincent wasn¡¯t trying to dodge him, Anton couldn¡¯t manage a hit on something that speed. On a related note, Anton found himself very glad that the walls of the courtyard were fortified to resist damage. He might still need to be more careful, but at least he wasn¡¯t punching holes in them. He couldn¡¯t do everything necessary to move and aim and shoot with proper power and consistently disperse his energy exactly when he wanted to. Anton sighed. And here he was thinking he would take out cultivator bandits. Bandits who had years or decades of experience on him, who fought and killed for their livelihood. There was no way he could get revenge like that. Elder Vincent had managed to track down some of them- but they had apparently gone far enough into Ofrurg that he couldn¡¯t track them down while still fulfilling other responsibilities for the Order. Anton would have liked to hear they were all dead¡­ but he also wanted to kill them himself. To do that, he needed to fight¡­ something. Disciples were able to spar, at least. There were also magical beasts to hunt down. He wasn¡¯t sure if he was ready, but he could use the contribution points. Tempering his body while farming was good for the moment, but after the sixth and seventh star he would merely be working at the same time. His bones and tendons would be physically worked, but he wasn¡¯t sure about marrow and skin. Speaking of which, before he got into battles with wild beasts, he should have some better idea of how to defend himself with energy. He wouldn¡¯t want to fail to avoid an attack only to find himself impaled¡­ or just simply have his body shatter to bits. He was working on part of that with the tempering of his bones, but Anton was absolutely certain he could easily break his own body with his energy. On that note, he found himself holding back so as not to actually hurt himself. At least he had some ideas in mind for what to study next. Chapter 20 The technique library was a place Anton had only visited once before. He should have visited twice, but during the time he would have been returning his borrowed technique scrolls he was incarcerated. He might still need to look over Hawk Eyes Archery and Thousand Arrows later, but he was fairly certain he¡¯d learned all he could from them at the moment. Spirit Arrows likely had more he could learn as well, but beyond the level of just creating an arrow he wasn¡¯t sure if he didn¡¯t just need more practice to use it to its full capacity. ¡°Elder Mason,¡± Anton inclined his head as he arrived. ¡°I¡¯m sorry these were a bit late.¡± Elder Mason was one of the ones Anton was sure was younger than himself, but not necessarily that much. Still, her long hair and youthful skin could have easily tricked him into believing she was merely in her twenties. Elder Mason shrugged, ¡°If it was a real problem, we would have sent people to collect them.¡± She looked at each scroll as she took them. ¡°Sorry, your badge?¡± Anton held it out. ¡°Oh! Anton Krantz. Sorry, but so many people come through and you¡¯ve only been here once. I¡¯m not as good as some of the others are at remembering names.¡± She marked a ledger with a quill pen- and a little bit of energy. ¡°Now then, since you returned¡­ I presume you want to check out something else? More archery techniques, perhaps?¡± ¡°I might take a look at them,¡± Anton said, ¡°But I wanted to diversify a bit. Something defensive, and maybe for movement.¡± ¡°Aha!¡± Elder Mason smiled. ¡°Planning to join The Hunt?¡± ¡°No¡­? Maybe. I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve heard of it.¡± Anton started following after Elder Mason as she walked along the shelves. ¡°That¡¯s right, it was announced nearly two months ago¡­ so the excitement died down some. It¡¯ll pick back up soon since it¡¯s just a month away.¡± Elder Mason pulled a few scrolls off the shelves, ¡°Take a look to see if any of these suit you.¡± As Anton took them, Elder Mason continued her earlier line of thought, ¡°The Hunt is exactly what it sounds like¡­ more or less. An organized event by the sect to thin the numbers of magical beasts in the deep forest. There are certain points not to be crossed while still in Body Tempering, but it¡¯s a group event. Good for getting to know other disciples, and for contribution points.¡± ¡°I had been considering some hunting,¡± Anton said. Steel skin¡­ tempered skin was recommended. That wasn¡¯t high on his priority list. He would prefer something energy based. Golden Armor was in that vein, but its defenses were a bit static for his tastes. Though he could understand the appeal of solidifying your energy and letting it act as actual armor. He had trouble unfurling the third one. Ponderous Field was certainly interesting, spreading out energy to slow anything around- weapons and people alike. The most interesting thing was that there was another scroll wrapped inside that one. One Step Ahead was¡­ a combined movement and defensive technique¡­ technically. ¡°Oh. That¡¯s where that went.¡± Elder Mason sighed, ¡°This is why only the caretakers are supposed to shelve things.¡± ¡°Is this long past due for someone?¡± Anton could barely believe what the technique wanted from its user. Predict the exact movements of the enemy so that you wouldn¡¯t be somewhere they could attack, while at the same time moving yourself to the optimal location to attack them. For use with archery, it said. He certainly couldn¡¯t see it working with anything in melee, because you¡¯d always be inside your opponent¡¯s reach. ¡°No. But some elders write techniques and just toss them on the shelves, assuming we¡¯ll know where they are. Even though we never registered them.¡± From the tone of her voice, Anton supposed that some elders were one specific elder. ¡°Who wrote this one, then? It doesn¡¯t say.¡± ¡°If you¡¯d seen more of hers, you¡¯d know. The straightforward yet impossible to keep up with descriptions become the obvious thing. And the fact that there¡¯s no name. It¡¯s Elder Kseniya.¡± Anton frowned, ¡°Spirit Arrows wasn¡¯t so¡­ directly obtuse?¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Oh,¡± Elder Mason laughed, ¡°That¡¯s the version for people who want to actually learn, instead of just stare at a page. One of the other elders clarified it.¡± Anton nodded, idly going over One Step Ahead. Synchronize yourself with your opponent. Take one step before them. Never two. He shook his head. There were diagrams for how to circulate energy through the meridians to achieve¡­ presumably the desired results. But he couldn¡¯t say for sure. ¡°Any movement techniques for people with bad joints?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Specifically that? I don¡¯t think so. But there are some focusing on smooth movements rather than jerk reactions.¡± Anton picked out one called Swan Steps. He¡­ wasn¡¯t sure if he had ever seen a swan, but based on watching other waterfowl he was pretty sure they didn¡¯t do a lot of graceful walking. More of a waddle. But the technique seemed decent enough. ¡°How many techniques can I bring with me?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The answer is¡­ don¡¯t get greedy.¡± ¡°I would like Golden Armor and Swan Steps.¡± Anton paused for a moment, ¡°I¡¯m also interested in looking at One Step Ahead and¡­ the original Spirit Arrows.¡± Elder Mason shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s your time. If you can actually make sense of those two, it¡¯s not a problem. Though I need to at least properly register One Step Ahead.¡± ----- Golden Armor was extremely simple, though it required sufficient energy to use it. Set aside an amount of energy, convert it into a solid form around the body, and lock it in place. From that point it would last quite some time as long as nothing was actively breaking through. The downsides was that it wasn¡¯t possible to focus the armor against a big hit, though it did its best to disperse any damage across the body. On the other hand, since he couldn¡¯t do it, he didn¡¯t have to redirect his defenses while at the same time trying to coordinate his own attacks. Anton thought the best solution was to never get attacked at all, but apparently magical beasts had a number of ranged attacks at their disposal as well- from throwing things to attacks involving energy. The energy was what made them so dangerous. They weren¡¯t exactly cultivators, but absorbing large amounts of natural energy not only fortified their bodies but occasionally allowed them to perform basic techniques. They were generally more powerful than a human, as well- though still of animal intelligence. Anton found that Swan Steps, while having very little to do with any sort of actual waterfowl, was quite useful. Especially for him, since it was easier on his joints as he moved around¡­ but still let him move quickly and change direction when needed. That involved more energy usage than his body, but it also allowed him more options. The other two¡­ he only had a feeling would be useful. Between studying them and Elder Kseniya herself, he might learn something. Or maybe he was overestimating himself. Anton had one thing he needed to do besides cultivating. Since The Hunt was a group event, he needed¡­ a group. That could be between three and six people, but he had to actually ask people. But before he did that¡­ Anton circulated his energy through his meridians. He let the energy seep into his bones, seeking out areas where he was less developed. He paid special attention to his joints, and though he knew they wouldn¡¯t be completely better after the refinement¡­ at least they would hold up until the second full body refinement. After that¡­ well, he was already being ambitious thinking about the tenth star. With one more pass through his body, his bones were brimming with energy. Yet he continued according to the prescribed techniques. He pulled in energy from all around him, grateful for how much natural energy was everywhere in the territory of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. It was enough that even an old man like himself could cultivate at a decent speed. Anton knew that the more energy he pulled into his bones the better the final refinement would be. While he could continue to temper them later¡­ it was optimal to do it as well as possible during this first and best opportunity. The energy started making his bones hurt. But at the moment, it was only the ache of a cold winter day. Soon it elevated to the point of feeling like he had broken a bone, except all over his body. He¡¯d had the experience of a broken bone several times when he was younger, and as he grew older it took longer to recover from such injuries. However, his bones weren¡¯t broken. They had already undergone the first tempering, and had been gradually gaining strength as he cultivated the sixth star. They could withstand more, he was certain. He hadn¡¯t been wrong about that so far, and he wasn¡¯t going to doubt himself now. More¡­ more¡­ until he was more worried about the energy exploding on its own regardless of the structural integrity of his bones. The physical pain just filled him with determination as he pushed forward. Finally, there was an explosion, but an intentional one. It focused all the energy inward, condensing it into yet another star floating around inside of him. The sixth star. Sadly, it wasn¡¯t that much of an accomplishment. Technically, the fifth star was harder, as one of the primes. He hadn¡¯t known that at the time, but it explained how things were working for him. The next couple wouldn¡¯t be so bad, but the tenth¡­ well, he had other things to worry about first. Like whether or not he could actually fight. Chapter 21 For the sake of contribution points, joining a group of strong disciples for The Hunt would probably be for the best. The only problem was, Anton wasn¡¯t sure if anyone would want him¡­ or if he would want to join them. What could he learn, being supported by those stronger than him? Would it be worth it even if he got extra equipment or cultivation materials? Anton truly didn¡¯t know, but forming a group with people he knew was something he would prefer. Only¡­ who did he know? Elders didn¡¯t count. And, despite knowing many of them tangentially, he only really knew names and small details about most of them. Vincent was the one he knew the most, but again¡­ it didn¡¯t matter. Who had he met? The list was quite small. He was introduced to the sect by a young man named Sterling, but they had no contact after that. He was acquainted with several people who attended Elder Kseniya¡¯s archery demonstrations, but they were ahead of him in cultivation. That left very few people. Only the others in his complex, and Hoyt. Perhaps one of them needed one more for a group. Anton couldn¡¯t be sure if they were even going to join The Hunt, but he could ask. Despite living in the same complex as the three others, the first Anton encountered was Hoyt. After all, he woke up much earlier than the others. Hoyt was still working the same fields as Anton, and they met regularly at breakfast. ¡°Hoyt. Are you planning to join The Hunt?¡± ¡°I had considered it, Senior Anton.¡± A stern look from Anton made him rephrase his sentence. ¡°...Anton. However, I don¡¯t know many others. How about yourself? Do you plan to participate?¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I thought it would be a good experience. I¡¯ve had¡­ little exposure to combat. Though I did hunt regular animals. I have a few others I was planning to ask as well, but if you wish to enter, I would be glad to fight with you.¡± Hoyt looked at Anton, then nodded. ¡°Of course, I¡¯d be quite glad to join alongside you. Hopefully we can get enough for a full group.¡± ¡°Are there any from the same complex as you that would be a good fit?¡± Anton asked. Hoyt shook his head, ¡°Not really. I don¡¯t think they would be ready.¡± ¡°I have several more I can invite, I¡¯m sure we can find at least a third.¡± ----- Anton started in the counterclockwise direction from his own home. He wasn¡¯t sure about Velvet since she¡¯d been related to the earlier trouble¡­ but it was best to be polite regardless. He knocked on her door first. ¡°Good evening, Anton.¡± She greeted him as he opened the door. ¡°Good evening. I believe I previously overheard you talking about joining a group for The Hunt¡­?¡± He hadn¡¯t actually heard what it was for, but that was the most likely cause for forming a group at the moment. She looked over Anton, ¡°That¡¯s right. We¡¯re nearly full, but we might have room for one more, if you want to join.¡± ¡°I appreciate the offer, but I have no desire to join a group with only one other person I know. I had thought to form a group with some acquaintances. One from the fields¡­ Timothy¡­¡± Velvet smiled politely, ¡°I wish you luck then. Perhaps we will see each other out there.¡± Anton nodded and excused himself. He was glad he was right. And she had clearly not liked the idea of joining up with Timothy. Anton could see why, in practical terms. Timothy was cultivating outside, clearly displaying the aura of the third star. Anton stopped to feel the vigor with which the young man was cultivating. He might not have the talent, but Anton could appreciate his drive. At a moment of rest, Anton knocked on his gate. ¡°Who is it¡­?¡± Timothy asked as he came to the gate. ¡°Oh, Senior Anton.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°Just Anton is fine. Despite the respect of the title, I¡¯d rather not be reminded that I¡¯m old. It¡¯s not required by the Order, so I¡¯d prefer if you just call me my name.¡± ¡°Of course¡­¡± Timothy seemed to twitch as he tried to say Anton¡¯s name. That made him smile. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Have you heard of The Hunt?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Absolutely,¡± Timothy said, ¡°It¡¯s a big event. Unfortunately¡­ nobody would want to take someone of the third star with them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. Would you like to join me?¡± Timothy¡¯s eyes grew wide, ¡°...Really? But you¡¯re¡­ already at the sixth star. I¡¯d just be dead weight.¡± ¡°Nonsense. Another teammate can always be useful. I was thinking of inviting Catarina as well. Do you know if she¡¯s already participating?¡± ¡°No. I mean¡­ she isn¡¯t,¡± Timothy said. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind my cultivation level¡­ I would be glad to join. Catarina¡­ would probably like to as well. I¡¯m sure she¡¯d like you to ask, at least.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I have already recruited another disciple by the name of Hoyt. A solid young man. So we have a minimal team regardless. However, having a fourth would be appreciated.¡± Catarina was outside cultivating¡­ though as soon as Anton approached the gate she stopped. He knocked, and she opened it a moment later. ¡°Yes, Senior Anton?¡± Anton sighed, ¡°I would prefer to just be called Anton, if you please.¡± Why was everyone so insistent on that? ¡°Have you heard of The Hunt? I have been putting together a team to participate. I have already recruited one of my friends and Timothy. However, we would appreciate having a fourth.¡± ¡°Timothy is going with you?¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°I would be glad to join¡­ Anton.¡± ¡°Excellent. I was thinking we should all gather together to learn what each of us can do, and how we can perform the best. Do you have any particular time constraints?¡± Catarina shook her head, ¡°I have nothing that requires a set time.¡± ¡°Excellent. I shall try to arrange a time that will work for everyone, perhaps in two days.¡± ¡°Of course. S- Anton. I have a question before you go.¡± ¡°What is it? I¡¯m glad to answer.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you¡­ fourth star when we first met?¡± ¡°That is correct.¡± Technically he had been third star when he first saw her, but they didn¡¯t really meet then. He just happened to take note of the pair of young cultivators. ¡°I have been quite happy with my overall rate of advancement, considering my age.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Okay. Thank you. Just let me know¡­ when we¡¯re meeting.¡± ----- Though Hoyt worked all day, it wasn¡¯t as if he had to. Neither of them were technically required to inform Elder Howland that they would not be present the next day, but it was courteous to do so. Since the other two didn¡¯t really have any scheduling requirements, they were able to meet up two days later after Anton started gathering everyone. There were various sorts of training fields, and the particular one they were at required renting with contribution points. It wasn¡¯t just a field, but a sparring field that had a formation set up to limit damage two cultivators might do to each other. In addition to that, there was an elder on duty over several areas in case something went wrong and someone was seriously injured. It wasn¡¯t expensive, but it would cost something like ten points throughout the duration of the day, which meant beginning workers might only be able to afford to use it after a full day of work. More powerful formations for those at the final few stars of Body Tempering were more expensive, and Spirit Building was out of the question with Anton¡¯s available points. But they didn¡¯t need anything that could withstand so much. ¡°Hoyt, meet Timothy and Catarina. Likewise, meet Hoyt.¡± Both sides properly introduced themselves, as well as feeling out the cultivation of the others. Currently, they had a third star, two fifth stars, and Anton¡¯s sixth. It wasn¡¯t the most impressive group the Order had, but that didn¡¯t matter. They just had to perform their best. ¡°Why don¡¯t we go over our basic abilities? In case you did not guess from the fact that I always have a bow on me, I am an archer. In general, I make use of Spirit Arrows,¡± Anton formed an arrow in his hand, ¡°Plus some other archery techniques. I have some movement and defensive skills for my own use, but nothing I imagine would be a benefit to the group. I am of course most useful if enemies stay at range, and would much prefer to kill things there. Though I am told that¡¯s not always simple with magical beasts.¡± Anton looked to Hoyt. Hoyt held up a large axe. He was a fit young man, but the size of his body didn¡¯t match the mass of the weapon. ¡°I wield the axe. I am capable of controlling a wide area and breaking through tough defenses.¡± Timothy was equipped with a full set of armor, including helmet and a shield. Anton didn¡¯t judge it to be cultivator grade, but it was still better than fortifying his own body. ¡°I use sword and shield, for the most part. I¡­ don¡¯t have much combat experience, but I¡¯ve been practicing interception techniques.¡± Catarina had a sword at her side. However, she didn¡¯t bring it up at all, instead summarizing her abilities in a single word. ¡°Formations.¡± Hoyt¡¯s jaw dropped, and even Timothy looked somewhat surprised. Anton stroked his chin. He didn¡¯t really know what formations were, but understood they were quite useful. The bandits had even managed to hide themselves from Elder Vincent for such a long time because they had the services of a formation master. ¡°Great. Let¡¯s get started then.¡± Chapter 22 ¡°According to the report,¡± Anton explained, ¡°The most common beasts are merely larger versions of normal counterparts. Wolves, boars, snakes, great cats, and the like. Some bears, maybe. I won¡¯t assume everyone has experience hunting them, so we¡¯ll go over some of the basics.¡± As the oldest in the group, the connecting point between disparate people, and just the highest cultivation Anton took the role of leader for the training. He could also guarantee he had the most experience fighting wild animals, because even if the others had started the day they were born he still had several times their experience. Unless one of them had fought wild beasts every day for that same time, but the stories of cultivators raised by wolves or growing up in the wild were¡­ generally exaggerated. ¡°Mostly, these creatures aren¡¯t threats alone. Even a large bear should be easily defeatable by¡­¡± Anton checked the information he had, ¡°A single fourth star cultivator. Though I would suggest not trying to directly let them hit you, since you¡¯ll waste energy¡­ you should still be alright. There are four of us, so even if one would have difficulty, together we can defeat whatever we encounter.¡± Anton avoided calling out Timothy. It wasn¡¯t like he chose to have lower cultivation. He just wasn¡¯t there yet. ¡°The same cannot be said of magical beasts. Even alone, they can be a threat. They have more muscle and bodily power than normal animals, and the ability to use energy for attacks and defense. We will be staying out of the deeper areas where they will be common. Disciples with higher cultivations will be facing them.¡± Everyone nodded, and the training began. Three of the four had preferences for melee weapons, so the simplest arrangement was for them to stand in a line in front of Anton. Perfectly functional, but nothing special. However, if he stood in the line with them he would have less worries about hitting one of them, and could more quickly kill approaching enemies as he would be closer. They would still be able to intercept enemies as they approached, and he could quickly fall back- if necessary. Anton was still capable of defending himself up close, it simply wasn¡¯t his preferred method. Lacking actual beasts to fight against- and with the forest being too dangerous to enter at the moment, leading to the call for The Hunt- they sparred with each other to get some experience fighting. Training techniques on your own just wasn¡¯t the same. Anton had a huge advantage if they started further apart, and even at a dozen paces which would only take a few moments to cover he could shoot several times before anyone got close. Though the training arena kept people from getting seriously hurt, everyone had to admit they would probably be dead if they actually took a direct hit. So people practiced dodging, and then Anton¡¯s time to have difficulty came. In melee he wasn¡¯t exactly helpless, but he only had a standard one handed axe that cost only a handful of contribution points to use along with a small but sturdy shield. He could have used something heavier, but he needed speed more than power. He didn¡¯t have the proper techniques to use his cultivation to his advantage, and his body held him back still, since the younger cultivators were starting from a better place and had likewise tempered their bodies. Catarina and Hoyt were mostly matched¡­ but Timothy struggled with any combat. It wasn¡¯t that he was unskilled, but the difference of several levels of cultivation was hard to make up for. Battles were most balanced with Timothy and Anton versus the remaining two, though it mostly came down to whether they started at range¡­ or whether Catarina had time to set up. Her ability to fight was really just average, as far as cultivators went. But as she had simply stated, her specialty was formations. Not the sort where people were arranged in particular ways- though that was sometimes part of it- but the sort where energy was arranged in a particular way. It was a difficult subject to learn, and Catarina admitted she was still a novice¡­ but a novice formation user was still a powerful force to reckon with. Given time, she could modify an area either through carving runes into surfaces or making them out of energy. Sometimes rearranging the area on a larger scale to affect the energy flow was involved as well, which was technically the case with the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. Their land was a large natural formation with some modifications that gathered natural energy and protected the borders, though it wasn¡¯t exactly pulling it from elsewhere. It more encouraged energy to form. Catarina explained some specific things she could do. ¡°Here is a simple barrier. It uses energy more efficiently than most attackers can, so breaking through can exhaust people.¡± It took her some time to set up every formation, but Anton could tell she wanted to actually have them visible¡­ even if they were temporary. ¡°Here, attuned people¡­ allies¡­ move more easily. Energy for others is sluggish.¡± Catarina¡¯s movements made sense on the surface, tracing the outline of the area¡­ but the runes sometimes were placed in geometric patterns and sometimes in ways that Anton couldn¡¯t wrap his head around. Catarina¡¯s third and final formation finished and¡­ she disappeared. Except Anton could still feel her there, with his energy. She was just not visible. A few moments later, he felt the formation waver and break. ¡°This one¡­ is difficult. Maybe not useful.¡± Catarina was sweating, despite the relatively slow movements she had been making. Controlling energy so precisely could be quite difficult, and the mental effort wasn¡¯t small either. ¡°It¡¯s supposed to hide energy too¡­ but I can¡¯t yet.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°That¡¯s okay, Catarina! It¡¯s still great.¡± Timothy was very encouraging of her. They were childhood friends, after all. ¡°It is quite impressive,¡± Anton said, ¡°It requires special talent and hard work.¡± Anton thought he saw Catarina smile slightly at that. Hoyt nodded, ¡°I tried learning it once. Then I realized I should stick to swinging heavy things around!¡± Despite his attitude, Anton knew he didn¡¯t just swing wildly. He had actual skill, and a body that was intentionally tempered in specific ways. ----- Despite working hard throughout the day, Anton noticed that Timothy still cultivated late into the night. Anton himself was an old man who didn¡¯t sleep much, and since he wasn¡¯t getting up early for farming when they trained, he found himself spending more time awake later. From what he remembered, while Timothy had been diligent in his cultivation, he hadn¡¯t generally been up so late. It wasn¡¯t polite to spy on others cultivating, but Anton was old enough he felt he¡¯d earned a bit of nosiness. Anton¡¯s senses told him that Timothy¡¯s cultivation was¡­ fine. It was progressing forward towards the next star, the refinement of his tendons going smoothly. But it certainly wasn¡¯t fast. Anton found his way around to Timothy¡¯s courtyard. With nothing particularly challenging happening in his cultivation, interrupting him wouldn¡¯t be a problem. When Timothy opened the gate to Anton¡¯s knock, he invited himself inside. ¡°You¡¯re up quite late, aren¡¯t you? How is the cultivation going?¡± Timothy shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m hoping to reach the fourth star before the end of the month¡­ and The Hunt.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Refining the tendons to support your muscles for quick movements or power, quite useful. I noticed you closely follow the prescribed tempering methods laid out in the Ninety-Nine Stars.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Timothy said, ¡°Precision is important.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°I agree. However, there is more to it than that. You were not raised as a cultivator, right? Did you work at a farm?¡± ¡°My father was a woodcutter,¡± Timothy answered, ¡°Though I was often called to help out nearby farms as well.¡± ¡°Then you are aware of how working your muscles makes them grow stronger. That doesn¡¯t stop being the case when cultivation is involved. There is merely another avenue to do so. However, the first doesn¡¯t become useless.¡± Anton stretched out his arm, displaying his wrist front and back. Pressing his hands together, he stretched his fingers and wrist in various ways. ¡°Some physical exertion lets the body absorb more natural energy. Let¡¯s try some exercises.¡± Timothy didn¡¯t say anything, merely following along with Anton. Anton hoped he hadn¡¯t overstepped his bounds, but the young man didn¡¯t seem to have the right insights to focus his training properly. Some gentle stretching and then more rapid movements for every part of the body left Anton feeling sore¡­ and aching more than usual. However, cultivation with energy would ease the pain. ¡°Follow along with my technique,¡± Anton said, ¡°There are some ways to make your energy flow more smoothly.¡± Anton knew that Timothy hadn¡¯t refined his meridians yet, but that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t exert greater control. His power would be lower, but the way Anton folded energy into his tendons could be replicated. It wasn¡¯t something that could be taken from a cultivation manual, because mere words explaining would never be sufficient. In truth, Anton hadn¡¯t quite perfected the technique himself as he was currently in the middle of cultivating his tendons, but it shared the same principles as the rest. Timothy didn¡¯t quite have it down by the end of the night, but Anton planned to return to guide him in the future. It wasn¡¯t just so he would be stronger to help the team, but Anton just wanted to leave the world somewhat better once he expired. Though that might not happen so naturally anymore¡­ there was a good chance of him getting himself killed within the next year. He couldn¡¯t just train forever and never avenge his family¡­ or look for any survivors who were taken as slaves. Chapter 23 In less than two weeks, Timothy had reached the fourth star, finishing the tempering of his tendons. Anton still had quite a way to go¡­ but it was just time he required. Meanwhile, Timothy had spent a longer time at the third star because of his inefficient technique. He took well to the guidance of Anton, completing the final portion of the tempering without issue. ¡°Thank you for the instruction, team leader Anton.¡± Timothy and the others no longer tried to call Anton ¡®senior¡¯, but he couldn¡¯t refuse ¡®team leader¡¯. It at least didn¡¯t make him feel old. He had hoped that they would be willing to be informal, but the large difference in age made them slightly uneasy still. ¡°What do you plan for the next star?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It would be best to refine my meridians but-¡± ¡°Then that is what you shall do,¡± Anton declared. ¡°Why would you not?¡± ¡°Well, prime refinements are more difficult. Meridians are the hardest to refine properly, and I¡¯m not sure I have enough experience¡­¡± Timothy looked down. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it and just ask when you have questions. It may be difficult, but this is an important time in your future. Catarina and Hoyt both had the fortitude to refine their meridians for a prime refinement. With my guidance you can do the same.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you refine your muscles for the fifth refinement, team leader Anton?¡± ¡°I did,¡± Anton acknowledged, ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean my meridians didn¡¯t also undergo a prime refinement. I am a bit old, though, so it may not be so obvious with my energy capacity.¡± Timothy frowned, ¡°But if muscles were fifth¡­ then meridians were¡­¡± ¡°Second, of course.¡± Anton understood that was a rarity, but it had worked out well for him. He was still alive, after all. ¡°Now then, here¡¯s what you need to do¡­¡± Anton had already finished the refinement of his meridians long before, and with his current additional experience he was quite capable of guiding Timothy¡¯s cultivation. He wasn¡¯t going to magically reach the fifth star in just a couple weeks, but if Anton was able to properly communicate the best techniques, he should be able to properly perform the tempering given time. He had enough determination, at least. ----- At one hundred years old, Anton felt that time moved extremely rapidly. Then he had become a cultivator, and time seemed to flow even faster still. A month of training at least a few times per week with the team he had put together for The Hunt passed in what felt like an instant. Nobody but Timothy made a breakthrough to a higher cultivation level, but that was expected. The rest of the group had advanced relatively recently, and it wasn¡¯t so easy for Anton to reach the next star in just a month. He felt like he was barely halfway¡­ maybe a bit over or under. Cultivation seemed to slow down quite significantly with each step. The gathering for The Hunt was quite impressive. Not every disciple was participating, but Anton estimated at least one in five to ten. With how spread out they were over the land owned by the Order, there were rarely so many in one place. The Order had thousands of members around at any specific time, and hundreds were participating in The Hunt. Anton noticed many with badges of elders. At least a dozen. While that wasn¡¯t a huge portion of the order¡¯s total number of elders, it was quite significant. Anton noticed both Elder Vincent and Elder Kseniya. Vincent was greeting many people as they arrived, but Kseniya mostly watched. He wondered if anyone technically knew her, instead of just knowing who she was. He certainly couldn¡¯t consider himself acquainted. ¡°Anton!¡± Elder Vincent smiled as they approached. ¡°I¡¯m glad to see you are doing well. Your cultivation has progressed one step further, even.¡± Elder Vincent turned his smile to the rest of the team. ¡°I didn¡¯t have the pleasure of recruiting the rest of you. I¡¯m Vincent.¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Elder Vincent,¡± they all inclined their heads, and Vincent and Anton shared a look. He certainly deserved the respect of the title more than Anton did that of senior, but it did seem rather formal. ¡°We will be going over all of the updated information soon. The level of your team¡­¡± Elder Vincent nodded, ¡°An average of fifth star is quite excellent, considering the time you have cultivated. There will be many opportunities for you to be effective in the outer forest.¡± The coordinator for The Hunt was one of the older looking elders, a dark skinned man called Elder Anand. Anton only knew that he was from outside Graotan initially, before finding his position with the Order. ¡°Good day, everyone,¡± Elder Anand spoke. Even with people scattered all about, his voice carried evenly to everyone. ¡°Despite the fact that we will be dealing with creatures from the forest, do remember that the deep forest is off limits. It is far too dangerous¡­ even for Spirit Building disciples. On that note, we have separated the area into several sections. The inner ring is appropriate for any Spirit Building disciples. The middle ring will mostly suit earlier Spirit Building and those near the peak of Body Tempering. Those below the seventh star are advised to stay in the outer area. Of course, these areas are not absolute. Stronger beasts may move between zones, but the elders will be doing the best to limit how many dangerous ones reach further out. We cannot guarantee that large numbers of beasts won¡¯t travel in a pack, so make sure to remain with your teams for safety. And don¡¯t forget, despite the fact that you will be rewarded per beast slain¡­ this is a cooperative venture. If you see another team in need of assistance, please do so. And don¡¯t refuse help from others. It is better to remain alive than to get a few extra contribution points. Though¡­ we shouldn¡¯t have to remind most of you how to behave.¡± Elder Anand explained what to look for that would delineate the different sections- different types of trees, the density of energy, landmarks, and the like. Before sending everyone off, each group was given a magic bag. Anton was surprised they had enough for that- if there were three hundred participants, that meant at least fifty or seventy-five magic bags. That did explain why those disciples that worked with equipment refinement had been looking a bit haggard lately. A magic bag was theoretically simple to use. It could open widely to store objects far beyond its actual capacity, and in this case it was meant for the corpses of beasts. Among other things it would preserve them for use¡­ and keep the forest from being littered with bodies. While scavengers would enjoy such a feast, it was best to minimize the amount to something reasonable. Besides, scavengers were already too plentiful with so many dangerous beasts growing wild. Anton wished he had the chance to enter the forest before. He wasn¡¯t terribly worried about entering an unfamiliar forest, especially since he could always find his way back towards the center where the Order kept the main complex, but knowing the particular quirks of a forest was still good. Maybe he would have the chance later after the hunt, when things settled down. For the moment, they moved towards the outer part of the forest. With experience hunting various creatures, it wasn¡¯t hard to find relatively larger versions of them. Anton barely even had to look to find tracks of a large boar¡­ and he could hear it soon enough. He almost thought it was a normal sized boar but then he realized that the trees it was next to were instead much larger than he thought. The perspective was difficult, but he motioned the group forward as quietly as they could go. Anton was out in front somewhat¡­ but just a few meters ahead. The boar hadn¡¯t noticed them yet, and he pulled on his string, forming a Spirit Arrow as he did so. He aimed lower, towards a front shoulder- and the heart. Anton hadn¡¯t fired a Spirit Arrow at a living being not protected by the sect¡¯s defensive formations¡­ and he was quite surprised. The arrow flew with power he knew it possessed straight and true into the boar¡¯s heart, half its length in. It left behind a hole in the pig¡¯s side¡­ but the boar was also surprising. Its fat was also about twice as thick due to its size, and though the arrow had certainly punctured the heart it wasn¡¯t cleanly pierced through. And boars were known for being hard to take down. It spun around towards Anton, charging towards him. Anton fired two more Spirit Arrows, though its movements and thick skin meant they only stuck more or less harmlessly into its shoulder. However, before it made it more than halfway to him¡­ its rapid movements caused it to bleed more quickly out of the hole in its side and it collapsed. Anton nodded. He could kill one alone, but he¡¯d had the drop on it. Theoretically the beasts would also travel in groups, and he might not always spot his quarry first. It wasn¡¯t truly a hunt, but instead an extermination¡­ or a war. Chapter 24 The group of four tracked down several more oversized beasts over the next few hours, with half of them being slain by Anton before reaching anyone. He let several get closer, injured, both to limit his energy usage and to give the others a chance to test their skills against the beasts. None of the other three had trouble taking down a beast alone. There was a slightly more eventful encounter with a pair of wolves- one of which snuck up from behind the group while they were focused on one in front- but Hoyt chopped straight through the neck of the creature as it attacked from the rear. Anton scratched his chin after they placed the bodies in the magic bag they had been loaned. ¡°I¡¯m not sure whether this is a large quantity of wild beasts or a small number. A normal forest might not sustain this sort of population but¡­¡± he shook his head. They were also traveling faster than he was used to, covering more area, ¡°... it doesn¡¯t seem like a worrisome overflow, even as we are moving inward slightly. They said to expect more packs.¡± Hoyt nodded, ¡°I¡¯d expect the elders knew what they were talking about. We just don¡¯t seem to be finding them.¡± Anton slung his bow over his shoulder. It wasn¡¯t good for long term carrying like that, but it left his hands free for a bit. ¡°Perhaps I might spot something.¡± Though the forest was filled with familiar trees, the sizes were larger than he was used to. Fortunately, they also had larger handholds and footholds, once he could get up the trunk. He climbed his way to the top, glad he had reached so far in the body tempering process. To get the best angle he had to walk out on a branch, but it was easily able to hold his weight. Hawk Eyes Archery had techniques to enhance the eyes, and he focused on the most distance he could. There were actually several beasts in sight, though determining if they were regular animals or the larger ones was difficult. Even so, he found himself surprised that they hadn¡¯t run into more. It seemed the creatures had been avoiding them. ¡°It seems I must have missed some tracks. Strange, for how large these things are.¡± Anton pointed into the distance, ¡°There appears to be a pack of wolves up ahead. Six or seven of them, maybe. I think we can cut off their movements.¡± He looked down at the group, ¡°It¡¯s quite a bit more than one or two. Some of us will have to defend against several at a time. Though if it¡¯s more than two, the others can help them out quickly. Is that alright?¡± ¡°Should be easy,¡± Catarina said. ¡°If we can get in front, I can set up a simple formation.¡± ¡°I should be able to handle two easily enough,¡± Timothy agreed. Hoyt also had no complaints, so Anton led the group in the direction he had determined the wolf pack would be going. ¡°They should come from the north there. There¡¯s enough cover here for us to hide. The wind is from the same direction they¡¯re in, so they won¡¯t smell us until¡­ maybe ten or twenty meters out.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t sure how much size would change their sense of smell. Catarina nodded, then took out her sword and chopped through a bush. She tossed a bundle of its leaves over to the side. ¡°Weren¡¯t we supposed to use that as cover¡­?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± she said, ¡°Plenty left.¡± Catarina started walking around, occasionally dragging her feet through the leaves. Anton watched her with interest. Some of what she did certainly involved her own energy, but some of it seemed random. ¡°How much longer?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Maybe¡­ three or four minutes.¡± Anton responded, ¡±Though they might have changed course.¡± Catarina nodded again, carefully laying a stick on the ground and moving behind the bushes with them. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot until they pass the stick.¡± The stick in question was merely ten meters away, a short sprint for either cultivators or beasts of any size. That was much closer than Anton was comfortable with starting to shoot, but Anton knew there should be a good reason for it¡­ and with the wolves approaching it was better to keep quiet instead of asking. Soon enough he could hear them moving through the brush, and he spotted them between the trees around the same time. The wolves moved closer¡­ and closer¡­ eight of them in total, one more than he had seen. The wolf in the lead was slightly larger, and while Anton expected it to notice them¡­ it moved past the aforementioned stick without reacting. He didn¡¯t know if he was supposed to wait for all of them to pass the stick, and he decided he couldn¡¯t wait. He drew his bow, Spirit Arrow flying with all the force he could muster towards the wolf. It managed to react sufficiently to redirect the arrow to its side instead of its chest, but it couldn¡¯t avoid being wounded. The wolf immediately sprang into action, leaping towards Anton after a short burst to build up speed. Thousand Arrows had methods to shoot quickly, and he managed to form the next Spirit Arrow and release it while still having time to jump to the side. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Everything else sprang into action at the same time, Timothy moving around to one side in an attempt to draw some of the wolves towards him, while Hoyt moved directly towards the pack with Catarina. Hoyt warded off two wolves with back and forth motion of his axe, looking for a good opening. Catarina sprang into action directly, slashing along the side of one of the wolves and continuing past, between that and another wolf. They tried to turn to snap at her, but they ended up running into each other instead. There was no real damage from the collision, but it slowed them down sufficiently for her to be safely out of reach. Three of the wolves focused in on Timothy, who was off by himself. He held his shield at the ready, keeping it towards one wolf circling around while another was in front of him. He did his best to keep a tree behind him as well. It wasn¡¯t possible to maintain that position forever, but when the wolf behind him sprang towards his leg, he was ready. He had a good enough sense of his surroundings to turn himself away, stepping back to the side as he slashed out with his sword. He only struck a glancing blow on the wolf, but with the aid of his energy he cut a gash into its side. His dodge also placed his shield mostly in the direction of the remaining wolves, so that they couldn¡¯t take advantage of the moment. Anton was vaguely aware of everything else that was going on, but he was busy handling his own problem. He was facing just one wolf, but it was somewhat larger. However, if he let himself be intimidated by a single wolf, becoming a cultivator would have been for nothing. It wasn¡¯t a question of whether he could kill it, but how efficiently he could do so. Even with Thousand Arrows for speed, the distance was a bit too close to comfortably shoot his bow. Instead, Anton pulled out his hand axe while holding his bow in the other hand, swiping at the wolf to make it back away. Anton didn¡¯t want to draw out his fight too much, but the wolf was losing blood from two wounds. As he maneuvered around, the wolf slipped on a root- something Anton presumed was related to the effects of the formation Catarina had established- and Anton chopped forward, swinging his axe deep into the neck of the beast. It took some energy to pull it back out and Anton took a ready stance, but the wound was deep enough that the wolf collapsed a moment later. Taking his bow back in both hands, Anton was able to begin opening fire on the remaining wolves, starting with those around Timothy who was the lowest cultivation- and against the most enemies. He interspersed physical arrows with uses of Spirit Arrows, because he didn¡¯t have enough energy to keep up an endless amount of Spirit Arrows. Standard arrows supported by his energy were good enough most of the time, and he needed to last the rest of the fight and preserve himself for future battles as well. His first shot stuck in the leg of one of the wolves, sending it limping back. Timothy took advantage of the opening to shove one wolf away with his shield and slash at the one he had wounded before, killing it. It was only a few moments before the other two were finished- and by that point Catarina and Hoyt had just finished killing the ones around them. The group had a few wounds, and Anton noticed his gambeson had a gash down the front, even after being supported with energy. It seemed the somewhat enhanced beasts had sharper claws as well. The group took some time to bind their wounds, and to recover energy. Fatigue still built up, but half an hour later they were near peak condition and ready to move on. Anton once again climbed a tree to search for the best targets. ¡°There¡¯s another group over there. They seem to be fighting serpents. They seem to be holding their own but...¡± ¡°We should go help,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Even if they are doing well, the tides of battle can change.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Elders said so.¡± Hoyt smiled, ¡°It¡¯s not like they can complain if we don¡¯t intend to take the proof of the kill.¡± Anton quickly climbed down. ¡°Around this way should be the fastest. We should probably hurry¡­ just in case.¡± Chapter 25 When cultivators wanted to move quickly, they could do so more than Anton had imagined. Anton knew he wasn¡¯t anywhere near the speed of Elder Daniela, and he didn¡¯t have the smoothness of Elder Vincent, but he dashed through the forest without feeling as if he were going too fast to pick his footing. Though he was sure they used some unnecessary amounts of energy to move, energy propelled him and the rest forward in addition to the power of their legs. Three of them had completed the tempering of their muscles, and while Catarina was only halfway through that process she wasn¡¯t any slower than Timothy, who had less energy to call upon having not finished the tempering of his meridians. It wasn¡¯t long before they were close to their intended target. Other disciples of the Order of Ninety-Nine stars were fighting a mass of swarming snakes, three of them fighting hard to protect two injured members. It seemed they had made the right choice to come assist them. The snakes were of all different sizes, though none of them small, as well as having a variety of colors varying through brown, red, yellow, black¡­ some striped and some spotted. These were the so-called rainbow serpents, and each different combination had a different sort of venom. Determining which was the worst was nearly impossible, but it was simply best to avoid all of them. Anton would have liked to open up with a volley of arrows towards some of the closest serpents to the other group, but while he was confident in his ability to only hit the targets he was aiming at, he didn¡¯t want to startle anyone and distract them or cause them to think he was attacking them. He took shots at some of the smaller snakes, ones the size of grown adults if he were to compare to the few venomous snakes around Dungannon. Enough serpents were slithering towards the group that the three defending couldn¡¯t prevent some from slipping past, which the two injured members had to defeat on their own. The entire group was low on energy, but they took heart at the arrival of support. Timothy waded into the sea of snakes, his shield of little use against snakes biting at his legs¡­ but he had armored greaves and energy to protect him. He stomped on snakes with his boots and slashed with his sword to slice several at a time. His shield did see some use as some of the snakes launched themselves at him, springing through the air. Catarina moved around the outside of the pack where numbers were thinner, slicing into any snakes she could reach and drawing attention away from the center. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if there was some more profound meaning to the way she weaved back and forth, but he¡¯d seen how her rearrangement of their battle site with the wolves had caused them to stumble when they should not have. There was some sort of energy flow on a level he couldn¡¯t really discern. Hoyt had the hardest time with all of the small snakes, so instead of trying to slice through them one at a time when they chomped at him or even in bundles, he jumped forward deeper towards the larger ones. Anton saw him chop through a snake as big around as his forearm with a sickening slicing sound. He knew from attempting to kill some of them that their scales weren¡¯t so easy to penetrate. On that note, now that the other disciples wouldn¡¯t be completely surprised by his arrows he fired an arrow right into the middle, past Hoyt¡¯s shoulder and right in front of the nose of one of the other disciples, before it caught a springing red-brown snake in the eye as it attacked the rear of one of the injured disciples. With the rainbow serpents being set upon from the outside, the sea of snakes started dwindling in number. There was a particularly large one that sprang towards Hoyt, and he chopped it out of the air with his axe. Surprisingly it resisted the blade and the energy augmenting it, at least enough not to be cleaved in two. However, when it struck again Catarina had arrived to stab her sword into its open mouth, slicing it from the inside. Despite moving forward at a reasonable pace Anton was still ten meters or so away from the rest when the tide of serpents began dissipating. He never intended to leave all of the danger to them, but there was no point in risking himself when he was most effective at a distance. The ability to attack unrestrained helped more than distracting a few snakes would have, anyway. Anton continued to pick off escaping snakes, to prevent them from having enough numbers to trouble others. Eventually, everything settled down. ¡°Thank you for the help,¡± the other disciples inclined their heads. ¡°I don¡¯t know if we would have made it without you.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Just because the battle was over, however, didn¡¯t mean their troubles ended. All of the members of the other group had been bitten at least once- those they were sheltering had suffered several bites early in the battle. Hoyt had taken some bites as well, and though the actual wounds were almost entirely mitigated by his defensive energy, the serpents merely had to piece the skin to inject venom. There were no universal antivenoms, even in the hands of the Order of the Ninety-Nine Stars, but there were medicines that could support a cultivator in removing the poison themselves. The process of removing poison involved circulating energy throughout the meridians around the body. Refinements to marrow which produced blood could fortify a cultivator, and the organs in the torso could help remove poison. Supporting that with active energy and entrapping the venom and carrying it out of the body could speed up the process. Anton himself needed to recover his energy, and he sat down in a meditative position, breathing in the air full of natural energy and letting it flow into him from both the inside and outside, through his lungs and in through his skin. As he was halfway through one circulation of energy to relieve some of the fatigue throughout his body, his eyes shot open, his hand grasping in front of him. His fingers curled around a snake- a small one, no bigger around than a finger and less than a meter in length. However, Anton held onto it with all of his might. He was concerned but not entirely surprised that it didn¡¯t get crushed in his grip immediately. He focused more energy into his hand¡­ to overcome the energy of the smaller snake. The snake thrashed about, swinging its tail into him, the tip of it carrying bursts of energy as well. Fortunately, though it was a magical beast capable of cultivating it appeared to be a young one. It had hidden among the masses of other snakes, waiting in ambush for people to relax. But with another powerful squeeze from his tempered muscles, the snake¡¯s neck snapped and it went limp. Anton looked down at his arms which would now have bruises from the tail. A gentle reminder not to let his guard down. He felt around the area for more energy, or snakes hidden among the bodies. Fortunately, that seemed to be the only one. Anton stowed the body in the magic bag that had been provided. Regardless of what they did with the rest, it would be hard to argue that their group shouldn¡¯t have that. When Anton and the rest had recovered, they all gathered together. ¡°Will you be alright?¡± Anton asked. The faces of the injured cultivators were a bit less pale at least. They nodded. ¡°We will not be able to stay any longer but if we head out of the area directly we should not run into any more trouble. ¡°Then we shall leave you to it,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Wait,¡± their leader said. ¡°You should take the bodies. We wouldn¡¯t have survived without you.¡± Anton understood how important contribution points could be, and though he had to look out for his own group, these others similarly needed the points. ¡°An even split would not be unfair. We could not take everything from fellow disciples.¡± The group had already decided that would be their preferred policy whether they received aid from others or helped them- though they wouldn¡¯t demand anything. An exactly even split wouldn¡¯t be possible, with all different sized and quality of snakes¡­ but they did the best they could. Neither side was much concerned with exactness in any case. After gathering everything and watching the other group depart towards the outer forest, Anton turned to the other three with him. ¡°I do not think we would be advised to go deeper. If we were the ones to be initially set upon by that group, I am unsure if we would have fared better.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Though I don¡¯t entirely agree with the assessment, further in would be too much risk.¡± ¡°I hate snakes,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Though uh, I don¡¯t suppose that matters. I agree with staying at this depth. I can handle myself against something like this, but much more¡­¡± ¡°I like snakes,¡± Catarina said. ¡°When they don¡¯t try to kill me.¡± She looked wistfully off in the distance. ¡°I want to study the barrier.¡± The Order controlled a large area, and though they didn¡¯t encapsulate the whole forest in the barrier, it protected the side of the forest from beasts heading towards populated areas. Anton wasn¡¯t sure exactly how it worked, but it at least lessened the amount it happened. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have studied the barrier outside of a monster infested forest?¡± Timothy asked. Catarina shook her head. ¡°It should be different deeper into the forest. Can¡¯t have monsters wandering out of the forest to nearby areas.¡± ¡°Fine with me,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°It¡¯s either that direction or the other, right?¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯ll head in that direction, towards the edge of the Order¡¯s controlled area.¡± Chapter 26 The first thing Anton noticed was a bird in front of them. Nothing was particularly strange about the bird itself except it was larger than he would expect. In addition to that, it remained in the air with its wings out, not flapping. ¡°Wait,¡± Anton held his hand out to the side, the rest stopping behind him. Anton focused his eyes, and even with the highest level of Hawk¡¯s Eyes he could produce, he could only just barely see thin strings between the trees in front of them, wrapped around the bird. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Spiders. Diamondsilk spiders, to be specific.¡± Anton was glad he¡¯d researched the various dangers in the area before The Hunt began. He wouldn¡¯t have imagined the sort of danger before them. Normal spiders had webs that could be difficult to see- though perhaps not with the eyes of a cultivator. For its size, spider silk was normally as strong as steel. However, to have something capable of catching a large bird the webs would have to be much thicker- and thus more visible. Except in the case of diamondsilk spiders, where the webs were¡­ well, extremely durable while thin if nothing else. Diamond was perhaps a bad comparison, except visually. ¡°We have to be careful moving around. Only follow directly behind me.¡± Anton looked around, seeing they had already found themselves inside the area of other webs. They were lucky not to have run into any, but now they had to be careful leaving the area. Attempting to gather the webs was a possibility, since Diamondsilk was many times stronger than normal spider silk and quite valuable. However, that came with its own dangers. It was possible to get tangled in the webs or exhaust too much energy taking them down¡­ and then facing the spiders who produced the webs. They were actually quite small and nearly invisible themselves, though they came in large numbers to devour the choice parts of prey much larger than themselves. Anton first looked directly behind them. They could retreat that way, but he could see more webs on either side of them which would prevent them from easily going around the area. On the other hand, he could see a way to go deeper¡­ and hopefully through the area. He explained the options to the group. Hoyt shrugged, ¡°Either way is fine with me,¡± he turned his head around, ¡°Can¡¯t see any of these webs though.¡± ¡°The flow of energy is different around here,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°I¡¯d prefer to go through.¡± Timothy scratched his head, ¡°I can barely even see the bird from here. Just let me know where to step.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll try going through then.¡± He was very careful with the movements he made, because while the webs couldn¡¯t be placed just anywhere- they had to string between two trees- they were even harder to see without the right light. He moved his head around to get different angles, keeping his eyes enhanced. Fortunately he only needed to track still targets, so it was less strain on his energy reserves than it would be in combat. They picked their way through the forest one step at a time. ¡°Careful of this one here, gotta duck below it. Watch your left foot.¡± Anton scraped the dirt with his boot to show the edge of where they could move. As they moved further, concern grew on Anton¡¯s face. ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°I¡­ haven¡¯t spotted a single Diamondsilk spider yet. The book indicated they would be easier to see than the webs, if I looked in the right place.¡± Anton glanced down at his boots and legs, but still saw nothing. There was also nothing hanging off of the webs. He should see transparent spiders, and the library had high quality images of them. He stayed on guard as they continued forward, but eventually the webs thinned and stopped. ¡°That¡¯s the end. We could attempt to gather some webs, but we don¡¯t have the tools. All we¡¯d end up with is sticky, tangled bodies in the magic bag. ¡°We can come back after The Hunt,¡± Catarina suggested, ¡°It can be quite useful.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Anton nodded, but couldn¡¯t help but think about the missing spiders. It was unfortunate to miss such a good opportunity, but he couldn¡¯t help but think it was a trap of some sort. There were no other obstructions to their path on the way to the barrier, and they only ran into a few lone beasts which were quickly defeated, along with some regular sized boars and wolves which they left alone. It wasn¡¯t as if they planned to exterminate the population. ¡°This should be the right place,¡± Anton waved his hand. He could generally sense something in front of them, a flow of energy, but not much beyond that. Catarina nodded. She stepped forward, tracing her fingers in the air. As she did, a shimmering barrier- quite like a web but less regular in arrangement and not from a central point- became visible in front of them. Catarina stared at it, enraptured. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°How long is this going to take?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°A while,¡± she responded. With that, Anton looked for a nice tree to take watch in. It would be better not to be stumbled upon by a pack of beasts. They should only be able to come from what was more or less a semicircle behind them, so it was easier than focusing on every direction. It was good to take a rest, as they had already spent a long day fighting and moving. Actually stopping for more than just the time to recover energy would do them good, though Catarina wasn¡¯t actually resting. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything,¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ good, right?¡± Hoyt questioned. ¡°Your tone doesn¡¯t make it sound good.¡± ¡°Something is wrong. There are far, far too few beasts nearby. What does that mean¡­¡± Anton pondered from where he was sitting in a tree. ¡°What is that?¡± Anton narrowed his eyes as he looked at the horizon. ¡°The barrier is broken,¡± Catarina declared. ¡°What?¡± Hoyt asked. Both Anton and Catarina spoke at the same time. ¡°The beasts can get through this section.¡± and ¡°There¡¯s a large group coming.¡± Normal people could sometimes parse two people talking at once, and cultivators brains were better at keeping track of multiple things. Timothy was the first to react, ¡°Are they coming towards us?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anton said. ¡°We should get out of here¡­¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Thuston,¡± Catarina said looking at a map. ¡°What?¡± Anton asked, jumping down next to her. She pointed to the map. ¡°Here we are. Here¡¯s Thuston. So we can tell the elders where the barrier is broken.¡± Anton looked in front of them, his eyes just catching sight of the town in front of them, the tallest buildings just barely visible on the horizon. ¡°I have to protect them,¡± Anton said. ¡°The rest of you should be able to move along the barrier to the south into safe territory.¡± ¡°What?¡± Hoyt tilted his head, ¡°Oh. I see. Nah. I¡¯m going too. The Order is responsible for protecting people, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m coming too,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Right,¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°I can¡¯t just leave them.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I understand. I won¡¯t refuse your help. However, someone should go. We need to inform the elders. I don¡¯t know if we can defeat what I saw. It might not have been everything.¡± ¡°I can set up a formation that will help,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I want to fight,¡± Hoyt said. Everyone turned to look at Timothy. ¡°What? I might be the weakest, but if we¡¯re just holding out against a large number of enemies¡­ I should be very helpful too.¡± Hoyt sighed, ¡°Ah. You¡¯re right. And I can run faster.¡± He shook his head, ¡°Can¡¯t waste any time arguing. Good luck.¡± With that, Hoyt broke into a sprint along the edge of the barrier. ¡°We¡¯ll have maybe half an hour,¡± Anton said, ¡°Maybe a bit less. If the beasts go into the surrounding area¡­ we can¡¯t do much to stop them. But at least we can protect one town.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± There were no dangers on the way to Thuston, not that it would be expected. They should have previously been contained by the barrier, and normal animals would avoid humans if they were smart. Thuston itself was a town of a few hundred. The group got a few looks from people as they headed toward the center. There, Anton empowered his voice with some energy. ¡°People of Thuston. We are disciples of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. We spotted a large number of beasts heading in this direction. We will do our best to protect you from them, but we cannot guarantee anything.¡± ¡°They¡¯re coming for our town?¡± one man asked. Anton shook his head. ¡°We don¡¯t know for sure. They may spread out and leave it alone. But there are not enough of us here to stop them if they go everywhere. If you flee the village, they might follow you, but if you don¡¯t¡­ the village may be overrun.¡± ¡°But you¡¯ll protect us?¡± a woman asked. ¡°To the best of our abilities. We can¡¯t guarantee safety for any of you.¡± ¡°Can we fight too?¡± One of the men asked. ¡°How many are there?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t count the numbers. You can fight but¡­ only defend yourselves from those that get past us.¡± Anton looked around, ¡°Who wants to help with something else? You three-¡± he pointed at several strong looking men, ¡°Help her rearrange things. She knows how to set up formations.¡± There were whispers among the crowd about that. It seemed they had only slightly more knowledge about formations than Anton himself had known at the beginning of the year. In short, they just knew it was something powerful and rare- and connected to the barrier around the nearby forest. Anton had expected the village to panic, but instead of doing so they easily listened to his instructions. Very few chose to flee and take their lives into their own hands, instead most of them preferring to stay to fight with the cultivators. Anton hoped he hadn¡¯t led them to their doom by providing that option¡­ but he also understood that if they didn¡¯t stay to defend their homes, they might have nothing left. Normal animals might not destroy homes, but he couldn¡¯t say the same would be true of a large pack of beasts. He hadn¡¯t been able to see clearly, but they were more like a stampede than a pack of wolves¡­ and it had been more than just one sort of creature. Anton gripped his bow tightly. It was time to put his cultivation to a practical use. Chapter 27 The name of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars carried great weight in all of Graotan, but especially nearby. Anton was surprised it was so easy to get the villagers of Thuston to believe them with nothing but their word. Then again, the consequences of potentially ignoring the situation were unfathomable. If for some reason the horde of beasts didn¡¯t come to Thuston or never existed at all, they would merely lose part of a day. Anton knew he would have been gladly willing to sacrifice time to defend his home and family¡­ but he never had the chance. ¡°...Anton. I need assistance.¡± Catarina stood nearby. ¡°The formation will require more energy to start functioning.¡± Anton nodded. Unlike when she had moved around a few sticks and sliced through branches, the current setup in the village was more complex. It also took a lot more work to put together. ¡°It would be better if we could break down some walls.¡± Catarina seemed disappointed that she couldn¡¯t quite set things up the way she thought they should go, but Anton contributing energy where she asked helped quite a bit. He could feel it more this time. He still had no idea how it worked, but that was why people trained hard to be a formation master, if they had the aptitude. If they had more time, Catarina might have been able to do more¡­ but she would reach the limits of her own energy and Anton¡¯s soon enough. The villagers had called in all of the nearby field workers, gathering everyone who wished to stay and fight. Some had weapons, swords, bows, and the like. Others took any sort of sharp implements they had lying around. Pitchforks were a thousand times better than fighting barehanded, even if they weren¡¯t optimal weapons. One thing that Thuston had different from Dungannon is that a handful of the villagers had trained in cultivation. Only to the first or second star- but with the Ninety-Nine Stars readily available, nearly everyone gave cultivation a try. Anyone who reached the third star would have already gone to join the Order, but any amount of cultivation at all could greatly increase combat capabilities. At the edge of town Anton stood atop a grain silo. It was the highest point around and gave him a good view of the approaching beasts. He had a look of concern on his face because they were right, and the beasts were headed for Thuston instead of merely spreading out. He couldn¡¯t be sure that a few hadn¡¯t trailed off, but the numbers of the various creatures were still high. Hundreds¡­ maybe more, since there were creatures of all different sizes grouped together in a way that was impossible to count. The movements of the beasts were highly unnatural. Wolves kept pace with snakes and boars, bears walked underneath circling eagles¡­ the only thing that reassured Anton was that there were very few signatures of magical beasts among the group. However, few magical beasts was not none. He was glad the villagers hadn¡¯t chosen to flee, because three of them couldn¡¯t handle so many beasts¡­ and they wouldn¡¯t be able to outrun the tide. It wasn¡¯t fast, but Anton saw no signs of it slowing. ¡°I¡¯ve spotted them on the horizon! It will only be a few minutes before they arrive.¡± Timothy stood at the main entrance to the village below, flanked on either side by barrels and crates mostly at least half full, providing a partial barrier to the village between two buildings. Catarina stood nearby, ready to move wherever necessary to deal with beasts that didn¡¯t attack from the front. The formation should apparently encourage them to move as she intended, but nothing was perfect. Anton, of course, would also be able to move around if necessary. He was surprised at how little he was worried about getting down from the top of a silo, as he wouldn¡¯t have been able to even make the attempt a year before. He¡¯d changed so much. Anton looked to the sky. The most troublesome beasts would be those that flew. While they could be attacked when they came down to claw at people, they had sharp talons that could piece flesh or stab through an eye. A moving target at a few hundred meters was about the maximum range for Anton. He could do a bit more, but additional distance took a disproportionate amount of energy, as his control wavered so far from himself. That was doubly so with Spirit Arrows, though his control was more precise with them out to a more conservative two hundred meters. As the beasts came within range, Anton picked a target. There were so many it hardly mattered, but he supposed some early casualties might discourage them. He didn¡¯t have a good angle for a kill shot on most of the creatures, but he pulled back his bow. It no longer seemed as if the heavy draw weight of it were so much more than a normal bow, after he¡¯d finished muscle tempering and continued practicing with the bow. The black steel string had the proper springiness he would expect of a traditional string, and the bow bent back in a curve as he pulled back, his arm and back muscles tensing but only holding for a moment before release. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The arrow- a real arrow with his energy enhancing it- flew straight and true towards the shoulder of a large bear, sinking in half of its length. If it had been any normal bear it would have likely gone down in an instant, but it continued hobbling forward for a dozen meters. By that point, Anton had fired three more arrows at the beasts on the ground and was changing his target to the air, having staggered the front ranks of the beasts as much as he practically could. Shooting up into the air, the weight of an arrow was more significant. Spirit Arrows were able to overcome that barrier, with only a small arc at most and the ability to fly more quickly with less drag. His first target was an eagle, its wingspan at least as wide as a man was tall. His arrow flew towards it, and as the bird curved in flight to avoid the attack the arrow changed trajectory slightly as well. He only managed to pierce through a wing instead of the chest, but that was sufficient to bring it down. As it spiralled downward into the ground he knew it wouldn¡¯t be moving about after it hit. The villagers with bows were further back and could shoot less distance, but soon the beasts were close enough for them to open fire. A dozen arrows flew in a small volley into the crowd of animals of various sorts, and while the effects weren¡¯t immediately obvious, more bodies were trailing behind the end of the swarm. Anton continued to fire at the flying beasts, preparing himself to move. Though the silo wasn¡¯t a large platform to stand on, with Swan Steps he thought he could dodge around past a bird or two. If he couldn¡¯t, he could at least manage his fall to the ground below. He knew he was a target with his position¡­ but that was the whole point. He couldn¡¯t allow the villagers of Thuston to suffer when he had the power to fight. ----- Timothy nervously held his position in front of the village. He saw how many beasts were rushing towards them, but he kept his confidence high. Individually, most of them weren¡¯t a threat. He could kill one with a single stab of his sword. If only he had the luxury of fighting just one at a time. Behind him stood other villagers, and more were preparing for beasts to sneak around the sides, away from the main street. A wildcat was the first thing to break away from the pack and charge. Timothy held his sword and shield at the ready, impaling the creature as it leaped and catching its paw with his shield. His body rocked backwards from the momentum of the attack, and it took him a moment to free his sword. By that point, a wolf had slipped past him and he found himself facing a snake and a bear. He swiped at the bear before it got close, his sword cutting along its nose and sending it reeling away. The snake he batted away with his shield, flinging it into the stacked pile next to him. The tide of beasts began to crash into the barrier, attempting to knock it over and starting to climb over it. There was no way it would have held together without the effect of the formation fortifying the village. Even so, it was clear it wouldn¡¯t last long. Timothy gathered his own energy, carefully breathing in to draw more natural energy from the world as he did so. After he¡¯d begun to temper his meridians with the guidance of Anton, he¡¯d felt his ability to control energy increase immensely. He stabilized himself against the ground while at the same time using the force of the approaching tide to push back against them. He never took more than a step away from his position even as he began to be surrounded. This is what cultivators were supposed to do. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars protected people, and he was one of their disciples. He found himself in a trance of slicing and stabbing, unable to think about his next moves and merely performing them. His mind numbed the pain when his armor was dented or torn through, when his bones cracked from the impact of large beasts and when blood began to flow from his body. Timothy knew he absolutely couldn¡¯t stop everything from passing him, but he did his very best. He was already the weakest member of the team, probably included because he lived in the same complex as Anton- or because Catarina asked. Even with Anton¡¯s personal guidance he was a full star behind the next two members. He knew he could never keep up with Catarina, but he also didn¡¯t want to disappoint her. Or himself. He continued to hold his position until the tide started thinning¡­ but while he might have liked to sigh in relief he knew things weren¡¯t over. A few magical beasts were among the remaining half of the creatures, and he was starting to slow down. He really hoped backup would arrive soon¡­ though he knew Hoyt had quite a distance to run to find any help, and the return trip might take just as long. Timothy almost didn¡¯t believe his eyes when he saw the bear rear up in front of him, seemingly as big as either of the buildings that stood on either side of him. Unless support was already on the horizon, he couldn¡¯t count on any help beyond what they had. He grit his teeth to prepare to face the beast. Chapter 28 Up on its hind legs, the bear in front of Timothy looked to be at least five meters tall, and maybe half as wide. It had bark brown fur and limbs as thick around as his torso for their entire length. When it plopped back onto its front legs the ground trembled for a moment. This was the sort of thing that could wipe out Thuston all on its own. A nebulous energy surrounded it, and though its size was likely a bigger factor the energy couldn¡¯t be ignored. If Timothy was careless, he might find his attacks not being as effective as he intended at a critical moment, or not defending himself adequately because he didn¡¯t consider the augmentation energy could provide to a magical beast. It was fortunate that the bear¡¯s arrival sent most of the nearby beasts scattering away as it charged. Timothy was hoping to get some support from Anton up above, but a quick glance showed the old man was dealing with his own troubles, large taloned birds attacking him atop the silo. At least there were villagers available to support him, though Timothy didn¡¯t want to risk their lives if possible. He would have to bear the brunt of the danger. The great bear charged forward almost ponderously. It almost looked like it was moving through molasses¡­ except for the fact that it was rapidly growing closer. Each giant step it took was several meters of distance despite the small number of actual paces. A moment later it arrived in front of the ¡®wall¡¯ that had been set up, sweeping a great paw and shattering the crates and barrels into pieces. Timothy blocked the splinters flying towards his face as he tried to figure out how to fight the creature. The only thing he knew for sure is he couldn¡¯t let it get into the village. Without thinking, his legs carried him forward towards the bear. He ducked under its other paw which was sweeping back across the same area, swinging his sword outward as he circled around the beast. He thought he had a pretty good hit, but as his sword raked along the beast¡¯s fur he realized he probably didn¡¯t even get through to the flesh. At least he succeeded in drawing its attention. It quickly turned and swept down towards him with its paws. The speed at which it moved was deceptive because of its size. Timothy wanted to keep circling around the creature, but through the bear¡¯s legs he saw villagers approaching it from behind. If he dodged around it, he¡¯d lead it to attack them. Timothy thrust his sword in its lower belly, piercing through the fur into the fat, and when it flattened itself to try to crush him he dove away. A dozen weapons stabbed into the creature¡¯s rear, though without the power of a fourth star cultivator their effects were limited. Timothy moved back in towards the creature¡¯s lowered face, slashing across its nose. In return, the bear swiped at him. Though he dodged away, five gashes were torn across his chest from the creature¡¯s claws, as if he had no armor at all. Of course, without the armor and his energy he would instead have half of his chest torn away. Timothy knew he was riding the line, but he had managed to keep its focus on him. He stepped forward in a feint, pulling away as the creature swiped back in the other direction. He swung his sword between the claws, hoping to slice through the forearm lengthwise but instead settling for a bleeding gash. With every move it was stabbed in the rear, but it focused its gaze on him as the target in front. Timothy attempted another feint, but in his peripheral vision he caught the movement of both paws at once, slightly offset. The beast was stepping forward as well, so if he retreated he would be caught and torn apart regardless. That left him with the only option to move forward. It was terrifying to get closer to the massive beast, but he gathered his energy and thrust his sword deep into its belly. Deep enough he couldn¡¯t pull it out, and he didn¡¯t roll away fast enough when it flopped down on him. It was close. It was just a single foot that didn¡¯t make it out. The ¡®softness¡¯ of the creature¡¯s fur and flesh mean his foot wasn¡¯t completely crushed, but it was definitely broken. Timothy yanked his foot out from under the creature. He could stand on it, but he certainly couldn¡¯t dodge well. While turning its ponderous mass to face him, the bear twisted its upper body and neck so it could bite at him. The jaws were large enough to fit him entirely inside, widthwise at least. Timothy had to think fast, unstrapping his shield and throwing it at the bear¡¯s nose where he had previously cut. It wasn¡¯t real damage, but the creature flinched in pain. That allowed him just a single moment to grab fistfuls of fur around its upper jaw and pull himself upward. He flipped himself over and found himself astride the bear¡¯s snout, his legs barely able to split wide enough to fit around. He¡¯d ridden a horse in the past, back in his hometown of Carran. He squeezed with his thighs¡­ and with nothing else he could do he punched out with a gauntleted fist towards the creature¡¯s eye. It closed a massive eyelid and his fist rebounded, but he reached out towards with both hands, tearing at the eyelid where it closed together. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. It was like trying to tear apart a canvas tent, except even more difficult. His tempered muscles and energy were barely enough¡­ but he revealed a few centimeters of bare eyeball. He stabbed out with his fingers and as much energy as he could, piercing into it¡­ as a paw batted him away. One claw tore into his shoulder, but he was mostly hit by the pad. Even so, it felt like everything broke as he slammed through a nearby wall and into the floor. So much for protecting the structures, he could barely even protect himself. If he hadn¡¯t tempered his bones, would he just be a pile of mush? Somehow he managed to sit up, and looked straight into the eye of the bear. The one he¡¯d pierced was closed and bleeding¡­ but was it enough blood? He couldn¡¯t say. The creature likely had enough to fill an entire well. If only he could stand up... ----- Though only a small portion of the beasts moved around to alternate entrances to the village, they were the more clever ones. Catarina found herself fully occupied scurrying around fending off the strongest beasts. She was barely able to keep up. It almost seemed like her formation wasn¡¯t working, but she knew what the real issue was. She just wasn¡¯t strong enough. She said she knew formations¡­ and she did. Like a young child might know how to speak. She could do it¡­ but she was certainly no master yet. She¡¯d barely been able to understand the barrier around the forest, just enough to know it was broken. Covering an entire village in enhancements was difficult. And it might not be enough. All around her Catarina saw villagers injured by the beasts she couldn¡¯t reach in time. They were fighting, slaying the creatures as well¡­ but none of them were really prepared for what they were facing. Maybe they should have just told them to abandon everything. They could have at least saved their lives. Catarina first noticed a new threat by sensing its energy. A magical beast- her eyes flickered to it and saw a large, black furred cat. The panther had led at least a dozen mismatched beasts into the village. As if they had agreed upon a match, both Catarina and the panther moved towards each other. She darted past it, slashing with her sword. She thought she would avoid its swiping claws, but she felt traces of blood on her upper arm¡­ and then the pain a moment later. It was fast. Too fast, and much too strong to face alone. Catarina changed her tactics. She moved at a different angle, focusing more on her defense as she passed the creature back and forth. Her sword might not even find purchase with each pass, but the same was true for the panther. However, Catarina was consuming her energy rapidly¡­ and the panther mostly relied on its body. Catarina had five stars of body tempering, but muscle wasn¡¯t one of them¡­ she needed energy to swiftly kill creatures as well as to defend herself. The pair continued to pass each other seemingly at random, but Catarina was leading the panther towards a particular point. She was glad to see that none of the villagers were along the path to be collateral damage. There was a fountain at the center of the village, and Catarina leapt up to stand atop it. The panther wriggled, preparing to pounce¡­ but Catarina didn¡¯t move. She was concentrating on gathering energy, what she had inside of herself and everything swirling about the village. This was the central point of the formation she¡¯d set up, and the best point for her to empower herself. The panther leaped, jaws open and claws ready to latch onto her, as if having her head crushed in the jaws wouldn¡¯t be enough. Catarina could dodge, but she wouldn¡¯t keep control of the energy if she did so. She thrust her sword in front of her, right into the open jaw, through the roof of the mouth, and into the creature¡¯s brain. Her sword, her arm, the fountain and everything around trembled as the energy of the formation collided with the creature, stopping its momentum and killing it. Her entire arm suffered cuts and she knew there was internal damage. Her meridians were strained, and the fountain was cracked¡­ but she pulled her sword out of the creature¡¯s mouth. She looked around¡­ but wasn¡¯t ready to see another creature, a wolf half again bigger than the panther. Another magical beast. What had they gotten themselves into? Chapter 29 The sound of hurried boots crunching leaves, sticks, and undergrowth filled the forest, along with the sound of heavy paws. Hoyt breathed deeply, trying to maintain a steady rhythm as his lungs burned. Running with wolves nipping at his heels wasn¡¯t something he enjoyed, but at least they motivated him to go even faster. Honestly, Hoyt would have enjoyed the whole thing except for the danger to himself and to those he was trying to save. Pushing his body to the limits for cultivation was a wonderful feeling¡­ at least later, when he was recovering. In the moment, the burning lungs and muscle pain were the worst part. Hoyt couldn¡¯t say he enjoyed the way he was draining his reserves of energy, either. There was only so much natural energy he could take in, and it wasn¡¯t keeping up. He ignored the wolves behind him, since looking back would merely cause him to trip up as he moved forward. They were loud enough he knew they were at least several paces back. As long as nothing slowed him down¡­ But of course, the forest wouldn¡¯t let things be so easy. A giant boar spotted him, not that he expected to pass unseen. However, as with most of the creatures in the forest it was aggressive. It charged straight for him from the front, with wolves behind. With just a few moments to consider if he could afford the time to dodge around it, especially with the wolves being spread out on either side behind him, he chose a more direct option. He couldn¡¯t be sure it would work until he tried it. Cultivators were probably supposed to make better decisions than normal people, but Hoyt knew they really just made decisions with the power to recover from mistakes¡­ as long as such mistakes weren¡¯t too big. He continued to run at the boar that was as tall as himself head on. Twenty paces. Ten paces. Five paces, and the boar had lowered its head. The tusks were long enough to impale him from below his ribcage up into his jaw. Hoyt put on a small burst of speed, putting himself one step ahead of where he would have been, then jumped. Not high¡­ but enough to get a foot on top of the boar¡¯s snout as it flipped its head up. His head crashed through the branches above as he tumbled through the air. Hoyt knew he was keeping forward momentum for the most part, but he tried to orient himself for his landing. During his relatively effortless handful of seconds in the air while he was upside down he thought he saw a pile composed of the boar and wolves. While the creatures of the forest seemed more interested in attacking humans for the most part, a direct collision seemed likely to turn into a proper conflict. A few moments before he hit the ground, crashing through more branches, Hoyt managed to right himself. When he hit the ground he rolled, wrapping his energy around himself as he turned into a ball. He only intended to roll once, but he flipped at least a dozen times. His axe caught on something and the strap tore off, but he sprang back to his feet and kept moving. He could get it later- or replace it. People couldn¡¯t be replaced. Especially not people like Anton. The others were fine as well¡­ but that old man was something special. Not just his cultivation talent, either. He kept sprinting. Hoyt was pretty sure that the fact that he could barely see now wasn¡¯t a good sign. His vision narrowed to a small tunnel in front of him. His lungs were just numb and he was pretty sure he was slowing down and that some of the muscles in his legs just didn¡¯t work. It was hard to tell if he was still moving, with the change in perspective. His legs kept trying to move even as a hand rested on his shoulder. ¡°Need help?¡± The voice seemed familiar for some reason. The face¡­ was indiscernible. ¡°...Thuston¡­¡± Hoyt managed to choke down a lungful of air, ¡°Anton¡­¡± Did he even have lungs? He wasn¡¯t sure anymore. ¡°...beast swarm¡­¡± He was pretty sure he was supposed to say more words. And be standing vertically. Why was he on his side? The trees were moving at least. But as they thinned and Hoyt¡¯s brain managed to regain a semblance of understanding, he realized they were going the wrong way. This was out of the forest, completely in the opposite direction of Anton and the others. Thuston was about as far away from the center of the Order¡¯s territory as anything could get, except the deep forest. ¡°No¡­ other way¡­¡± Hoyt muttered. ¡°Thus¡­ ton¡­¡± ----- Birds- even large birds- were easy to kill if he could hit them. The first few had been simple. Anton tracked their movements and got an arrow through them easily enough. Body or wings didn¡¯t matter. Either way they fell, and the ground wouldn¡¯t be kind to them. However, after his first few shots the raptors started to recognize their own mortality. They had the ability to turn rapidly, even diving or rising swiftly if they needed to. He could only redirect his arrows a certain amount, and there were too many to focus on taking down just one. Everything was more difficult when they reached him in his position atop the silo, slashing at him with claws and beaks. He got some practical experience dodging in a tight space. He knew he could just drop down, and perhaps that would be safest for himself. He could continue to pick off the raptors as they attacked the villagers, keeping himself safe at the cost of the people of Thuston. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. But of course, he couldn¡¯t. While it wasn¡¯t his village, they were still people. They were farmers and smiths and grocers and weavers¡­ people. They didn¡¯t deserve to die. Especially not for an old man. His thoughts flickered to the thought of some of the villagers of Dungannon and his family in slavery. He wanted to save them too, but he wasn¡¯t strong enough. He just couldn¡¯t let himself choose something more dear to himself over present, actual lives he could save. And nothing said he couldn¡¯t do both. He just had to live. Blood trickled down his cheek. Giant raptor talons were sharp enough to tear through his energy with seemingly little effort. He could focus on a single area to protect it, but that would leave the rest of his body open. Then a little cut like that would become a spike sticking through his head or shoulder. The most important thing for Anton was predicting the enemies¡¯ movements. One Step Ahead¡­ he honestly didn¡¯t know how anyone was supposed to comprehend what it was saying. Grasping what your enemy- or possibly enemies- would do in the future wasn¡¯t so easy. But Anton was certain that at least Elder Kseniya knew how to do it. In her demonstrations, she most certainly fought unseen opponents. More than just one, Anton had realized after some consideration. He¡¯d attempted to do the same¡­ and just maybe that practice let him keep his footing while avoiding most of the danger. He couldn¡¯t say he even had the first level of understanding of One Step Ahead, but he felt a certain tingling sensation of progress. Another thing Elder Kseniya had done came to mind. He didn¡¯t always have time to draw his bow, but Spirit Arrows were merely sharp stabbing implements made of energy. They did well enough when not propelled by the bow, and he didn¡¯t have to let them disperse. He stabbed at one of the raptors- probably an eagle but he didn¡¯t have time to observe so closely for details- forcing it to swerve away. Then he fired the same arrow at another just a handful of meters away, using a partial draw with less power but sufficient speed. A dozen large birds dwindled to a half dozen, three, two¡­ but one remained. It had actually been hanging further back, circling around and watching Anton. It radiated energy, indicating it was a magical beast. As it flew towards him, Anton could see it gained speed from more than just the flapping of its wings. Waves of winds flattened plants down below as it moved. He just barely moved out of the way of talons trying to impale his head. Anton returned to the center of the silo so he could dodge in every direction. He managed to fire a single arrow at the beast as it turned around, but it came back at him just as swiftly. His arrow deflected off a wing- the first time he hadn¡¯t pierced into one- and he found himself having to fall to his back to get under the bird. Shooting from a prone position wasn¡¯t optimal at all, but that forced it to swerve on its return and gave him time to stand. However, it was clear to Anton that he was becoming fatigued, and the magical beast was merely growing more used to his movements. Unless it was distracted, he doubted he could get a solid hit on it¡­ and anything less wouldn¡¯t penetrate through its defensive energy and surprisingly durable feathers. The beast swooped around, and Anton felt it focusing itself for a powerful attack. Birds did have some weaknesses, though. Even at the creature¡¯s size, it probably wasn¡¯t any heavier than Anton. He might not be able to dodge it, but the actual force behind its blows, as long as he avoided the talons¡­ he could withstand it. And if he was making that choice, he was glad he¡¯d studied Golden Armor. It wasn¡¯t anything particularly profound, but having a proper method to solidify his energy into a stronger defensive layer was quite useful. He just had to be resolved to take a hit, and to expend the energy for the technique. Anton readied his bow as the bird flew towards him, talons outstretched. Was it a hawk? This one might have been. Either way, Hawk Eyes let him focus on its movements regardless of whether or not it shared a name. Along with that, splitting his attention between Spirit Arrows and Golden Armor was too much¡­ so he drew one of his few remaining physical arrows. It would still be enhanced sufficiently with his own energy. The arrow flew towards the great hawk, sticking a finger length into its chest. That might have been enough for the lesser beasts, but the hawk continued its motion unperturbed. Anton watched as talons came straight for him. At the very last moment, he tilted his body and bow at a strange angle. Talons scraped along his arm, leaving a bloody gash even with a glance along his Golden Armor protected limb. Anton raised his arm, the bow and string around the leg as he lifted as high as he could, catching the leg. The momentum of the creature yanked him off of his feet- and the silo- but he grabbed a wing with his other hand. Then he was spinning, down towards the ground. He repositioned himself to land atop the great bird with all of his weight, rolling away almost nimbly after they impacted. The great bird wasn¡¯t quite dead, but the hollow bones of an avian couldn¡¯t survive such a feat even if the particular one in question was a magical beast. Anton¡¯s own tempered bones were barely holding on after the impact. And while the bird would never fly again, Anton found himself just barely able to walk, his energy exhausted. And there were more beasts to combat. Even a few normal wolves would be able to bring him down. Even as he began to wish he had begun cultivating sooner, and not wrapped up Timothy and Catarina into a suicidal mission¡­ his eyes drifted towards the sky. For some reason, he felt like he saw a giant eye staring down at him. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he believed in gods of any sort¡­ and he certainly didn¡¯t think cultivators would truly become gods, as some believed¡­ but the eye made him reconsider the possibility. A moment later, the sky darkened and all of the energy in the area was pulled away in a great swirling vortex. Something truly unfathomable at Anton¡¯s current cultivation level was happening¡­ and he couldn¡¯t afford to miss a single moment. Chapter 30 The force of the flowing energy nearly pulled Anton off his feet. While he was certainly unsteady at the moment, the fact that merely gathering energy had that effect left him in awe. As the sky continued to darken, the lone eye he¡¯d spotted grew clear and bright. Along with the eye was a wrinkled hand, more folded skin and gnarls than even Anton had ever had. All of the energy in the area around Thuston gathered into that hand. Anton knew he shouldn¡¯t be stopping to stare at it, but the beast swarm had paused as well. Perhaps they couldn¡¯t do anything else. Though Anton was quite certain it was merely early evening, stars bloomed in the sky. However, as the great hand in the sky closed, the stars started to fall. His head turned as he watched the first star streak from the sky, striking a great bear, leaving behind only a flaming crater and no discernable remains of the creature. However, despite the power of the falling star the building immediately adjacent didn¡¯t even get singed. Smaller stars rained down on other beasts, sometimes merely piercing through beasts like flaming spears. Those were especially common inside the village, where the powerful concentrations of energy brushed past the villagers of Thuston without harming a single one. Soon enough, the great eye and hand turned¡­ more stars plummeting into the forest, though leaving behind no fire. As the last of the stars in the sky fell, the sky began to return to the dull red sky of sunset. The hand and eye faded from existence, but Anton couldn¡¯t help but think that right before they disappeared the eye turned back and focused directly on him, just for a moment. Unsure what to do, Anton half walked half hobbled into Thuston. Timothy crawled out of a hole in the side of a building and joined him. The villagers of Thuston were all talking with each other about what happened. Upon seeing Anton and Timothy, they asked them. ¡°I can¡¯t say I know for sure,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though I would expect a grand elder got involved.¡± Timothy didn¡¯t know either, and he kept looking over his shoulder into the sky. There were dead beasts around the streets of Thuston, and while there were a few injured villagers, and some dead, along with a few destroyed buildings Anton was still willing to declare the battle a victory. He just wasn¡¯t sure if he had an important impact on it, if everything was finished off by someone not even present. But instead of feeling discouraged, Anton supposed he should be thinking about reaching that level of power. Cultivation was so much more than just what he had seen and experienced so far. After finding Catarina to determine she was alright- injured just like the other two, but nothing fatal- Anton requested the villagers for a place to rest. Cultivators could recover pretty much anywhere, but a proper room and comfort could help immensely. Natural energy was just beginning to flow back into the area after having been entirely used up. It wasn¡¯t an issue, since Anton found himself only able to handle just a little. His meridians ached from overuse, but he didn¡¯t exactly have the luxury to hold back in a battle. He spent several hours circulating energy throughout his body. He found that his tendons- the next target of his tempering- had progressed quite significantly. Though they were sore now, he was likely only a week or two from completing the tempering and the seventh star. At least the desperate battle had been good for something. Anton was disturbed from his cultivation by a smell. Not a bad one, but the pleasant smell of food. Upon stepping outside his borrowed room, he found the center of town was filled with a large number of bonfires and roasting meat. The villagers waved him over. ¡°You¡¯re finally out! This feast is in honor of you, and the survival of our village!¡± Among the food was a large amount of boar and surprisingly large drumsticks of avian meat. Anton smiled. His mind returned to celebrations in the past. He pushed away thoughts of those no longer with him, and instead focused on the happy feelings. Timothy seemed to be enjoying the festivities already, while it seemed that Catarina had hidden away with a plate of food. The feasting and celebration lasted well into the night, but eventually the time came for sleep, and then the morning. Just because the beast swarm had been defeated didn¡¯t mean everything was resolved. There were still many bodies of beasts- despite many being destroyed or consumed- and while Anton and the others filled the magic bag there were many more. Tanners and butchers had already gone to work dismantling beasts, and the villagers had sent people to nearby villages and to the Order for help. Those sent to the Order wouldn¡¯t have arrived just yet, but Thuston knew the Order would pay them for the materials¡­ and help remove the corpses before they started rotting. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Thinking of the Order, Anton found the others. ¡°I am going to go secure the hole in the barrier. Just in case¡­¡± He knew he wasn¡¯t fully recovered yet, and both Timothy and Catarina were the same. Hoyt had¡­ probably reached the Order the evening before. It seemed unlikely a Grand Elder would have gotten involved by random chance. Unless there were some other powerful cultivator in the area who just happened to help, but that seemed completely improbable. Besides, that cultivation power had radiated the aura of the Ninety-Nine Stars, in addition to the dramatic method of their attacks. Anton didn¡¯t want to bring his young companions into more danger, but he also couldn¡¯t refuse to let them come with him. Besides, he might need their help. At the end of their almost leisurely hike back to the barrier, Anton¡¯s concerns of danger were immediately assuaged. ¡°Anton!¡± Elder Vincent waved. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you made it. I was just providing some support as these fine fellows repaired the barrier,¡± he gestured behind him. Vincent nodded to Timothy and Catarina, ¡°Your companion Hoyt nearly ran himself to death to warn us what was happening. A dangerous situation you got into.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Yes¡­ I¡¯m not sure we handled it the right way.¡± ¡°Did the defense of the village go poorly?¡± Vincent asked. ¡°I heard the situation had been resolved but¡­¡± ¡°Some of the villagers were injured, and others died. I wonder if we could have drawn the beasts away, or if we should have abandoned the village¡­¡± Anton bit his lip. Vincent gave him a pat on the shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you made the right choice. A beast swarm like that wasn¡¯t running on just instinct. They were seeking out people. You might not have been able to draw them away from the village, and if they fled¡­ they would merely have been caught without a defensible position, and likely without their homes. Magical beasts can be incredibly destructive.¡± ¡°Vincent!¡± one of the elders at the barrier called. ¡°I have to finish here,¡± Vincent waved. ¡°Oh, The Hunt is officially over. It seemed we made a mistake with our estimations of the danger, and this break in the barrier¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°Get back to the Order and get your well deserved rewards.¡± ----- Elder Lois was not alone in handling the rewards hall at the current moment. After all, The Hunt brought many people to collect rewards. The contents of the magic bags were actually sorted by the equipment refinement department, but they sent a report on the value to the rewards hall, where the points would be logged. There was a bit of a line, but almost everyone was in good spirits. Even though the points would be split in four, a full magic bag had to be worth quite a few contribution points. The villagers of Thuston wanted to give them more, but they had participated in the battle as well and deserved some recompense. Anton and the others had taken the most valuable remains of the magical beasts, where they still had structure. Anton ended up being attended to by Elder Lois herself. ¡°Hello again!¡± she said as Anton handed over his token. ¡°Let¡¯s see here¡­ with the information from the refinement department and the other rewards¡­ your portion of the total should be this.¡± She held out a sheet for him to see. The number 2308 was on the paper. ¡°Your team also received some commendations, which are more than just a nice word.¡± ¡°Is that number right? I thought my share of the materials would only be half that, at most.¡± Anton was concerned the others might have given him a larger share because of his higher cultivation level, even though they needed the contribution points as well. Elder Lois smiled, ¡°The additional points are for valorous actions. The Order absolutely rewards defending villages. That includes all forms, such as your friend who ran to retrieve assistance.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Good. Thank you.¡± He had no idea what he would do with so many contribution points. He didn¡¯t need a new bow- he doubted he would find one significantly better within that range. Perhaps some armor. He had heard there were exceptional armors available, light like clothing but able to defend like steel. He had used armor along a similar vein- though the more mundane sort, enough that it had protected him from dying at least. Now that he had been through some battles and could afford it, the thought of something better was quite appealing. He understood that he was quite mortal even after cultivating, and he had things he wanted to live for still. Since money burning a hole in the pocket was a poor reason to spend, Anton decided to wait until another day and give some proper thought to it. Perhaps there was something he needed more but wouldn¡¯t consider right away. Besides, he still wanted to rest more. When he arrived back at the complex where he lived, he was surprised to find an unknown elder waiting for him. The elder bowed his head. ¡°Anton Krantz. Grand Elder Vandale has requested to meet with you, at your earliest convenience.¡± Anton understood what that meant. It meant now. Sure, he could make an elder wait around for a while to escort him to see someone important¡­ but he had no intent to be petty. Especially not if he was right in his estimation that this Grand Elder was the eye and hand in the sky. Chapter 31 The elder escorted Anton to the top of the mountain. Not the central area where all of the facilities were located- that was closer to the starting point of the journey. Anton was quite confident that just a year before he wouldn¡¯t have been able to make the full trip to the top. Traipsing through the forest for a hunt was one thing- and he really probably shouldn¡¯t have been doing that- but climbing a mountain, even with proper paths and stairs, was quite a bit harder. Anton had only heard about the air thinning at the top of a mountain, and had never experienced it before. If his lungs and heart had not been tempered, he wasn¡¯t sure how far he could have gone. Perhaps the elder escorting him could have carried him, but it was embarrassing enough to accept that in an emergency situation. If he couldn¡¯t at least traverse the mountain on his own merits, he wasn¡¯t sure he deserved to meet with a Grand Elder. He wasn¡¯t certain about that regardless, but Anton wasn¡¯t the one responsible for that decision. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars had many elders, including a collection of ninety elders on the council that formed the backbone of their strength, along with nine Grand Elders. Anton would have thought that was far too many elders to include in any sort of council, but numbers had meaning in cultivation. For the most part, the Grand Elders would handle important decisions among their smaller number, with the advice and information of ten elders serving directly below them. Anton looked down the mountain behind him, at the land blanketed by sunset. He had no idea how many steps he¡¯d taken, but it didn¡¯t seem to be a specific count. A thousand, nine thousand... The steps seemed instead practically placed when necessary. The thin air around Anton was offset by greater concentrations of natural energy. However, despite or perhaps because of the density of the energy¡­ Anton found it quite difficult to draw it in. The lower areas of the sect were much more optimal, at least at his level. He also found his ability to use energy weakened from his previous exertions. Just a small way further in front of Anton were a number of structures. The one he was being led toward was a large dome with a curious protrusion out of the top. Inside was one massive and dark room, nearly empty except for what Anton now realized was a massive spyglass¡­ and a single old man sitting next to it. Anton couldn¡¯t see his eyes, but a glimpse of one gnarled hand indicated that this was likely the one who had appeared in the sky to save Thuston. Anton felt a slight tingling all over himself, and then the figure turned slowly. The eye was clearly the same. Its intensity was unforgettable. However, it appeared Grand Elder Vandale had only the single eye. At least, he kept his other eyelid closed, and Anton didn¡¯t see the shape of an eyeball pressing against it. ¡°Anton Krantz.¡± Grand Elder Vandale¡¯s voice was raspy and almost weak¡­ but when it struck Anton¡¯s ears he couldn¡¯t help but listen intently. ¡°To my senses and my eye you are almost two different people. My eye sees before me an old man who has lived many hard years, enduring many hardships. Yet my senses tell me there is a newly growing cultivator.¡± Anton waited a moment, then supposed a reply would be in order. ¡°I never had the opportunity to become a cultivator while younger¡­ though I don¡¯t know if I would have taken it, regardless.¡± Grand Elder Vandale nodded. ¡°Perhaps the far corners of Graotan have been overlooked¡­ though we have certainly taken more care in recent years.¡± He paused for a moment, ¡°Young Vincent told me of what happened in your region. He thought he could handle it alone¡­ and with it being so far from our center of power, we let the problem continue for far too long. Relationships with Ofrurg have always been touchy...¡± he shook his head sadly. Anton still wasn¡¯t sure why he had been called to see Grand Elder Vandale. Was it for a sort of apology on behalf of the sect? While Anton certainly was still bitter about what happened, he could never find it in himself to blame others for actions that weren¡¯t theirs. ¡°Elder Vincent was trying to hunt them down for years. Apparently, only a formation master would have helped.¡± ¡°We have far too few of those,¡± Grand Elder Vandale clicked his tongue. ¡°Come, let me show you something.¡± He walked over to the base of the large spyglass. ¡°This is a telescope. It is much like a spyglass, but made for much further viewing. Stars are¡­ an almost unfathomable distance away.¡± He placed his eye against a small segment on the side of the telescope, then turned a crank which rotated the telescope- and the whole dome- just slightly. Another one adjusted the angle vertically a small amount. ¡°Look at this. What do you see?¡± Anton stepped forward and did so. It took a moment for his eye to focus, but he saw that it was now fully nighttime. He could see a cluster of stars, lustrous against the black sky. ¡°A group of stars. They¡¯re quite a sight to behold like this.¡± Anton had certainly taken pleasure from looking at the stars, but they were so much more clear through a telescope. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Grand Elder Vandale made a sound like a dry cough that Anton took a moment to realize was a chuckle. ¡°Certainly, they would appear to be a group. Though studious observations have told us that they are quite far removed from each other.¡± Anton turned to look at the Grand Elder. ¡°The Ninety-Nine Stars has little tangible connection to actual stars in the sky, but in my case I find that the observation suits my style of cultivation. Anything in the world can give insights, if viewed in the right way at the right time.¡± He retook his position from Anton, moving the telescope once more. ¡°Here. This is a nebula. A collection of mere dust, similarly unfathomable in size like anything beyond our home here. Yet see how it sparkles.¡± Anton enjoyed looking at everything Grand Elder Vandale showed him. It was a relaxing time, and it continued well into the night. However, he wasn¡¯t sure as to the purpose of him being called. There weren¡¯t many things that had been said. If the sort of apology wasn¡¯t it, then perhaps it was that he should seek insights from the world? Certainly, he shouldn¡¯t take any of the words of a Grand Elder casually. It was very late into the night when Grand Elder Vandale sighed. ¡°I should not keep you forever. You have been quite patient with me. You must have questions. About me, the sect, cultivation¡­ feel free to ask any of them.¡± Anton nodded. He had questions¡­ but he wasn¡¯t sure if any of them were good questions. He might as well start off with something straightforward. ¡°How does one grow in cultivation quickly? How can someone reach the same level as you?¡± Anton couldn¡¯t feel the exact strength of Grand Elder Vandale. He wasn¡¯t hiding it, but Anton just wasn¡¯t prepared to sense it. It was like looking into the sun. From what he knew, however, any of the Grand Elders were likely in Galaxy Construction- and perhaps near the peak of known cultivation. ¡°Two questions that almost sound like they might have the same answer,¡± Grand Elder Vandale showed a smile that had many missing and crooked teeth. ¡°I can¡¯t answer the former. Honestly, I don¡¯t know. It took me hundreds of years to reach this point. That hardly seems quick. I suppose that might answer the second question as well¡­ but that¡¯s not a very helpful answer, is it? I would have to say¡­ dedicate yourself to cultivation, but don¡¯t forget why you wish to grow. If you cultivate for temporal reasons, your growth will likewise be impermanent. Though it is possible to merely have a change in focus. If I cultivated¡­ it would be for the Order.¡± ¡°... do you not cultivate?¡± Grand Elder Vandale shook his head, ¡°I find myself unable to take the next step. Cultivation is quite difficult on this old body¡­ though I¡¯m sure you have some idea of that. Cultivation can maintain and restore youth, but only if you make progress rapidly enough. Since I¡¯ve hit the limit of both cultivation and age¡­ I merely continue living out of duty. I can¡¯t do much but defend the sect anymore.¡± Anton sensed something more from him when he said that. While Anton could certainly feel power from him, it was not just hard to pin down¡­ but almost muted beneath the surface. With a day of rest- not counting the trip back to the sect and up the mountain- Anton had recovered somewhat from his fatigue. He had been able to fill himself full of natural energy once more. However, Grand Elder Vandale seemed as if he were almost empty- just a bright shell around an empty core. If Anton were to compare himself, he was like a bucket. Filling it up was not difficult, but filling up a great lake or a sea like the Grand Elder was much harder. Energy that was merely several times denser would be insufficient for rapid recovery. As for the difficulty of using energy at a far distance, Anton could only imagine. ¡°Are there any insights you can give me for once I step past Body Tempering?¡± ¡°I could. And I will, if you later have need of them. But first, you should think about the purifications yourself.¡± Anton half grinned, ¡°That will be at least eight months from now.¡± ¡°Why not sooner? Ah.¡± A dry chuckle once more, ¡°I forgot. Here.¡± Grand Elder Vandale pulled out a scroll. ¡°The full Ninety-Nine Stars, continuing past Body Tempering.¡± Anton looked at him for confirmation before cautiously taking it. ¡°What, are you worried about that rule? The one year thing¡­ it doesn¡¯t mean anything for you. There are many exceptions made. It is just the baseline until we determine whether we want someone to be able to continue cultivating the Ninety-Nine Stars. It¡¯s not like we would deny someone the continuation of the technique after they reached the peak of Body Tempering, if they are a decent person.¡± Anton thought for a moment, then nodded. ¡°Good. I was actually a bit worried.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been here four months. At your rate of progression, I can see why you¡¯d be concerned about reaching the end of Body Tempering with nowhere to go.¡± Grand Elder Vandale breathed out slowly. ¡°I must be off. Do not hesitate to return if you have questions only I can answer. Though you need not walk all the way up here for much, since the other elders can answer most things just as well.¡± Anton bowed before turning to leave. He really didn¡¯t have any proper questions to ask, and he was eager to take a look at the full version of the Ninety-Nine Stars. Just completing Body Tempering would merely get him to the weakest point he could truly think about revenge. Chapter 32 For basically as long as he could remember, waking up with the dawn had been part of Anton¡¯s life. That hadn¡¯t changed with becoming a cultivator, but when Anton awoke the sun was high in the sky. Resting for the night in Thuston hadn¡¯t been enough to fully recover, and then hiking up the mountain, staying up late into the night looking at the stars, the hike back down¡­ and he hadn¡¯t thought a little bit of cultivating would be a problem. Instead, it wiped him out. It didn¡¯t actually matter that he awoke late, because he hadn¡¯t planned to work in the fields or anything else that would constrain his time. The Hunt was still supposed to be continuing, if things hadn¡¯t gone the way they did. He had been able to fill his dantian with natural energy, but it was work. His body grew tired, and that included his meridians and dantian. Perhaps he had really needed the rest. The cuts along his arm and elsewhere didn¡¯t help either. He¡¯d applied salves and bandages, but the healing process had only just started. He¡¯d lost blood, and while walking back to the sect had been fine he only now realized how weak he had been. Once he finished Body Refinement, perhaps the problems wouldn¡¯t be so pronounced. Refining his skin wouldn¡¯t just make it more durable, it would heal more quickly along with his flesh. Refining his marrow would also allow for recovering blood more quickly, among other benefits. Anton stretched, arms up above his head. Before he did any of that, he needed to finish refining his tendons. Some archery practice and some movement techniques would be a good start. Despite his fatigue, everything felt just a bit smoother. As Anton imagined a foe, he formed a Spirit Arrow at the same time as he determined where it would go. He hadn¡¯t previously been waiting to draw the arrow, but this way it formed at the earliest opportunity but not too early. Holding a Spirit Arrow in its shape took some amount of effort and while over a single shot it didn¡¯t matter, over a hundred any inefficiencies could add up. Anton now had practical experience avoiding attacks as well. Sparring had been something, but facing actual danger to his life was much more effective. Being reminded of his mortality was also good motivation. After some time spent in cultivation, Anton pulled out the scroll of the Ninety-Nine Stars. Not just the first section, but the full technique given to him by Grand Elder Vandale. He reviewed the Body Tempering section, just to make sure it wasn¡¯t any different. He didn¡¯t expect that to be the case, but it wasn¡¯t as if all copies of everything were exactly the same. People made mistakes or abbreviations or extra notes. Anton didn¡¯t see any substantial differences, though the language was less elementary. Anton had learned to read well, more than just enough to get by, but that didn¡¯t mean he spent a lot of time reading books with flowery language and certainly not cultivation before recently. It hadn¡¯t even been suggested that it would be useful for farmers. It was for warriors. Though he knew better now. The next section covered the segment of cultivation the Ninety-Nine Stars called Spirit Building. It was similar in nature to Body Refining, but of course tempering the spirit instead of the body. The next seven stars were the seven purifications, a much more abstract process where various facets of the spirit were tempered. Only one aspect could receive the prime tempering, though just like Body Tempering that didn¡¯t mean the others couldn¡¯t catch up given time. For a practical point of comparison, Anton considered a few of the elders he had seen in action. Mental Vision was strongly displayed by Elder Kseniya, and perhaps was a requirement for One Step Ahead. On the other hand, Grand Elder Vandale seemed to embody more of Spiritual Connection, with the way he interacted with the stars. Those were the most prominently displayed facets of those two, though he couldn¡¯t be sure if they actually had those as prime refinements. Vandale in particular Anton had only interacted with for a short time, so Anton¡¯s judgement might mean nothing. The eleven orbits following the seven purifications were simply a revisiting of the various facets of body tempering and strengthening the connection between the body and spirit. On an individual level they were nothing special, but the whole process was important. The prime refinement was merely the completion of the task. Important, but not a decision that had to be made. Beyond that was what the Ninety-Nine Stars called Constellation Formation. It was even more abstract than the previous level, and Anton could tell he wasn¡¯t ready to truly dive into it yet. Maybe¡­ never. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could ever reach that far. Even if he could, he had to do more than just cultivate before then. Participating in The Hunt had been good not just for himself but because of protecting Thuston. Anton knew there were more dangers in the world, and there was also everything he still had to do. He found himself growing impatient with himself, which seemed like it would lead to harm. More than just getting in over his head in a battle. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. He needed to properly prepare himself for the future. Among other things that meant continuing with his cultivation. Since he couldn¡¯t be sure how long he would live even if he didn¡¯t throw himself into danger, he also wanted to actually do things to leave the world a better place while he had the chance. ----- Timothy breathed out heavily, swirling a small bit of excess natural energy he hadn¡¯t absorbed around himself. ¡°I was so close. I almost caught up to her.¡± He looked to Anton, ¡°I wish I could keep you around all the time. Your advice is very helpful, Anton.¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Enjoy it while it lasts. Though I¡¯m still planning to stay around for a while.¡± ¡°Oh, yes. I just meant¡­ we¡¯re planning to return to Carran for a while. So I¡¯ll probably be away for a couple months.¡± ¡°Carran,¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Your hometown. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be happy to see your progress, and it might even help your cultivation to return.¡± Anton returned the topic to where it had been, ¡°On that note, why are you concerned that Catarina reached sixth star before you reached fifth?¡± Timothy sighed, ¡°I wanted to catch up to her, at least for a bit. To be as strong as her again. I just want to keep up.¡± ¡°So you want to be as strong as Catarina?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Don¡¯t be embarrassed. It¡¯s quite understandable. However¡­ to summarize the words of someone even older and wiser than myself¡­ think about why you wish to grow. Why you want to be as strong as her.¡± Timothy looked over towards the adjacent courtyard, which was currently empty. ¡°I want to¡­¡± ¡°Protect her? Impress her?¡± Anton grinned, ¡°Maybe you don¡¯t even know yet. Whether you want to keep your friend safe¡­ or show off your ability¡­ I think you might have the wrong focus on your cultivation. Tell me, do you want to match her or be stronger than her?¡± Timothy shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I can do either.¡± ¡°There is the core of the problem. It¡¯s not so easy to fix.¡± Anton thought for a few moments, ¡°I¡¯ll say this. I know you can¡¯t just suddenly become confident in your own abilities. That is a process that takes time. But it might do you good to reframe the way you look at your own strength. Whether you work for yourself or for someone else¡¯s sake¡­ ultimately I¡¯m not sure it matters. It can even be both. The important part is that you-¡± Anton poked his finger into Timothy¡¯s chest, ¡°You, Timothy, want to be stronger. As strong as you can be. It doesn¡¯t matter what anyone else¡¯s cultivation level is. So you¡¯re slightly more than a full star behind. That¡¯s not an impossible gap. You almost did it¡­ but lost focus on the fact that no matter what you intend to do with it, your cultivation is part of you.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°Like I said though, it¡¯s not so easy. Don¡¯t forget, she even used one of her tempering pills to break through to the fifth star. Prime ones aren¡¯t so easy. You have contribution points still.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Actually¡­¡± Timothy scratched the back of his head. ¡°I thought with your guidance¡­ maybe I didn¡¯t need it.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t. But it will save you time.¡± Anton had learned enough about those sorts of medicines to know that limited use of them was fine. Timothy looked towards his home. ¡°Actually, she gave me one before we started training for The Hunt. I just thought it was out of pity.¡± Anton laughed, ¡°I doubt she has any pity in her. But you should know her better than me.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°Tempering the meridians is important. I shouldn¡¯t be stubborn about it.¡± Anton left Timothy alone as he returned to cultivating. If Timothy took that pill, he could form the fifth star pretty much immediately. Anton had studied the pill Catarina gave to him. They were high quality, radiating energy similar to those costing a thousand contribution points in the rewards hall at least. The prizes for the entrance exams were certainly excellent. If she had used one herself and given one to him¡­ then the last went to Timothy. Anton wondered if he should return his. Of course, practically he could not. It would make her think he didn¡¯t appreciate it. But he didn¡¯t need pity or help keeping up, not yet at least. At the rate things were going¡­ he should be fine until the tenth star. He wasn¡¯t sure how much more difficult that might be. Perhaps he would reach his limits there. But Anton wasn¡¯t likely to get more opportunities for so many contribution points before then, so if he didn¡¯t want to spend the majority of his points on medicines, he should plan to use it at that point. And, there was something else. He wasn¡¯t certain, but he supposed that having received it as a gift would make it more effective. Not in any practical way, but cultivation was a mental process. If nothing else¡­ he could tell Catarina he used it to form the tenth star. He just had the next couple to complete first. If he could manage that. Chapter 33 The outer parts of the forest were much more pleasant when wild beasts didn¡¯t attack every few minutes. Anton led the group back into the forest, not because he expected to need assistance in battle but because there was still one profitable venture to handle before Timothy and Catarina went to visit home. It had been forgotten on their return trip from Thuston, both because everyone was exhausted and they didn¡¯t return through the forest. ¡°There it is,¡± Anton announced. ¡°I still don¡¯t see anything,¡± Timothy said. ¡°The spiders seem to have moved back,¡± Anton commented as he saw nearly-clear creatures on similarly concealed strands of spider silk. ¡°It seems they were more disturbed out of their natural habitat than part of the beast horde.¡± ¡°If the spiders are back¡­ do we just leave?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°I know they¡¯re not that dangerous individually¡­ but¡­¡± ¡°I believe Catarina has prepared something,¡± Anton looked to her. ¡°If you please.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°If you could direct me, I¡¯m not exactly certain of the location of the webs.¡± Hoyt and Timothy had little else to do but wait while Catarina and Anton moved about the area, Anton helping her avoid webs while she set up a formation. ¡°I can see them when they skitter through the light,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I think¡­ we have finished. They should be repelled from this area.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t see any remaining in this section.¡± They had cordoned off about half of the group of webs. Diamondsilk spiders were more communal than other spiders- with many living together peacefully. It helped that they were able to catch prey such as birds many times larger than themselves while they remained individually small with only moderate food needs. From Anton¡¯s research they did require a larger amount of food to produce their webs, but if they left some behind the colony of spiders should be alright. The cultivators had actually been hoping the group had migrated- since animals often learned which section they inhabited- but at least this way they could get some of the webs without driving the group to death or provoking their wrath. Anton took the first of many spindles out of his pack and found where one strand attached to a tree, sticking it to the roller and beginning the motion. ¡°Timothy, start with this.¡± They didn¡¯t exactly have to be gentle with the roller. It wasn¡¯t called diamondsilk for nothing. However, there were good reasons to roll at a measured pace. Strands crossed each other, and if the whole web was just pulled into one bundle around a spindle it was less usable than if it were properly rolled. Of course, with many of them unable to really make out what they were working with¡­ it still happened. They were all amateurs in the field regardless of other talents. Still, it was good to try to do it themselves rather than hiring someone else. Everyone twisting a spindle could feel the tension, even if they couldn¡¯t see the thread until it started to form multiple layers around the spindle. It wasn¡¯t completely invisible, and the repeated distortion of light through its strands allowed it to gradually become more visible on the spindles. Anton continued to pick his way around, starting spindles and picking out crossing strands. He really missed having a magic bag. Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t cheap. Five thousand contribution points¡­ might actually be obtainable in a reasonable time. But at the moment it was just a convenience instead of a necessity. Anton stepped over to one side of their cleared area. ¡°The spiders seem to be returning¡­¡± Despite their exceptional nature, diamondsilk spiders weren¡¯t magical beasts able to use energy. Thus, forming a small barrier to keep them away was simple. Even with dozens of them, their combined force was less than a child pushing against him with one hand. Anton held up the temporary barrier while he looked to Catarina. ¡°The formation¡­ changed¡­¡± Catarina said. She looked around. ¡°I forgot. We changed the flow of energy by removing the webs.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I can¡¯t really tell any difference. But I¡¯ll leave the judgement to you.¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Catarina moved about, fixing the formation, and the spiders pulled away again. ¡°Now we can finish.¡± ----- Diamondsilk could easily be exchanged for contribution points- even if the Order raised some spiders, they really needed a lot of space and the right conditions¡­ which were mostly in the forest. It was also tricky work that required someone with refined eyes to watch for spiders attempting to leave containment. However, nobody was really hurting for contribution points at the moment. Each had received an equal share of contribution points for The Hunt- even if Hoyt wasn¡¯t physically present in Thuston he was certainly responsible for some of the success in the village¡¯s survival. Making something practical out of it would in turn cost some contribution points, but much less since they could provide the materials. Even with giant webs and a large number of them, the amount of material they had was limited. Each strand was extremely thin, so weaving it into clothing wasn¡¯t really possible. At most, they could make a full undershirt for one of them. However, while it would certainly be valuable to do so, the actual practical effect wouldn¡¯t be as much as splitting it. Diamondsilk could be woven into other thread to greatly increase its strength- enough that everyone could get a full undershirt that would protect against cuts and stabs. Since it was flexible and thin cloth, it would do little against bludgeoning impacts but it could be worn under anything else without discomfort. Personally, Anton thought full diamondsilk garments would be a bit¡­ uncomfortable. Not physically, but mentally. It was almost completely invisible, after all. Certainly not something that could be worn as anything but an additional layer. The decision to have defensive undershirts made would slightly delay the departure of Catarina and Timothy, but they didn¡¯t have a strict schedule they were adhering to regardless. It was unlikely they would need the additional protection on that journey, but everyone was eagerly looking forward to some tangible fruits of their labor. ----- Anton stretched. He felt like a cat, though the way they distorted themselves he knew he was at best only slightly catlike. He still had a spine and all that. Sometimes, he wasn¡¯t sure that cats did. He could feel his tendons reaching the peak of the refinement process. Each additional step towards refining his body took more work, but Anton found the whole process invigorating. Though he might traditionally stay statically in place for the formation of a star, that was merely for purposes of concentration. He found he was experienced enough in cultivation that he could do so while moving, though of course the effect might vary greatly. In battle would be quite impossible, but a nice bit of moving around his courtyard was easy enough. Even for a breakthrough it felt appropriate to make use of his body. He pulled on his bowstring, with no arrows, just feeling the strain on his tendons as he did so. He had no idea how strong he needed to be. Spirit Building at the very least, but he didn¡¯t need to stop there if he could go further. The world just didn¡¯t have the problems of Dungannon to deal with, but others like those bandits and dangerous beasts. It even could use more everyday people who knew a bit of cultivation in their work, further from centers of cultivation like the Order. It wasn¡¯t clear if making himself and the world better was a proper reason to cultivate. It seemed a bit too broad¡­but it was certainly better than just revenge. The bowstring twanged as Anton¡¯s fingers let it go. Revenge was certainly still on the table. However, he had to balance between practically being able to accomplish that revenge and spending too much time. It had been nearly eight months since the destruction of Dungannon and the beginning of his cultivation. Anton knew cultivators worked in longer timespans than the rest of humanity, but it felt so long. When he¡¯d been living happily and working? Eight months was almost nothing. Every year birthdays of great-grandchildren had surprised him. Now, he never truly relaxed. At most, he distracted himself for a time. His grip tightened on the bow. He pulled back, almost as if he was trying to break his bow or his arm or snap his tendons. That wasn¡¯t quite the case. If he truly injured himself he wasn¡¯t sure if he could recover even with good medicines and the aid of natural energy. However, he had to push himself. Anton was beginning to understand that his speed of cultivation was unexpected for his age, and perhaps even faster than some of the younger generations. He couldn¡¯t say it was easy, though he had to admit it was more smooth than he¡¯d anticipated¡­ but he always had to push himself. If he slowed down now¡­ he felt he would never accomplish anything. Complacency would be the end. And yet¡­ he needed patience. His arm strained, muscle and bone and especially tendons. He switched sides, though he would never have reason to shoot left handed. He stretched his body to the limit as he forced energy into it. Just a bit more patience. As he felt the pressure peak inside of him, it finally collapsed into the seventh star. He breathed out slowly. He wasn¡¯t sure if he would have the proper mental and spiritual fortitude for Spirit Building. He might destroy himself. Perhaps he needed to take some of his own advice and revisit his home. How different would it seem, not even a year later? Chapter 34 Sometimes, an old man just had to be a little bit selfish. He knew what he needed to do, but he just couldn¡¯t face it yet. So when he was invited by Timothy and Catarina to come to their village of Carran, he gladly accepted. Hoyt was invited as well, but he had other plans to attend to. Anton had little to do to prepare. He stocked up on necessary supplies such as arrows and some emergency rations just in case. He exchanged some contribution points for money- he was almost surprised at how much he could have, but he had fought more beasts than he would hunt in a year so it was actually quite reasonable. It was slightly disconcerting to think his bow might cost as much as a barn¡­ but then again, it was comparing a barn made out of mundane wood to something of special materials, even if it was much smaller. A horse might travel further in a day than a man on foot, though their true speed advantage was in short bursts. Cultivators, however, could sustain a speed faster than a horse while walking. Of course, there were special breeds and magical beasts who were even faster¡­ but those were quite a bit more expensive. The official recommendation for members of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars was to walk, if speed was not required.. Anton hadn¡¯t known about it, but it made sense. Walking served the dual purpose of training the body of the cultivator and allowing the citizens of Graotan to see them. While they didn¡¯t necessarily show the symbol of the Order, people could still recognize them. For their current group, it was only an academic choice regardless. Nobody wanted to spend their entire stock of contribution points on a creature only marginally faster than their current speed, something they would soon outclass. ¡°I¡¯m going to show everyone how strong I am when I get back,¡± Timothy declared, hands behind his head as he walked confidently. ¡°How about you, Catarina?¡± ¡°Mmn. Just want to see family.¡± ¡°I thought so. You¡¯re not really the type to show off¡­¡± Timothy nodded to himself, ¡°Still, we can be proud. We both joined the Order, and we¡¯ve grown even stronger in the last few months.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Catarina replied, ¡°But we are still weak.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s fair to say. We¡¯re not weak¡­ everything else is just too strong. Besides, we¡¯re at least strong enough to protect Carran.¡± Anton¡¯s face grew stern, ¡°Don¡¯t rest on your laurels so easily. Magical beasts might not live in the area, but not all cultivators are upright and honest, and they won¡¯t care how long you¡¯ve cultivated¡­ or if you have at all.¡± The tone of his voice was cold, and soured the discussion for the rest of the day. Not that Catarina would have contributed much anyway. ----- When there was no conversation the next morning, Anton offered an apology. ¡°I did not mean to be so harsh with my words yesterday. The two of you have done quite well with your devotion to cultivation. I¡¯m sure you friends and family will be proud of you.¡± He paused, ¡°But I don¡¯t know if it can ever be truly said that you are ¡®strong enough.¡¯¡± He¡¯d thought he was strong. Old as he was, it was hard for anyone to say he wasn¡¯t strong, or at least tough. But he hadn¡¯t even been present to do anything- and if he had, he knew he would have had no effect. Catarina looked over at him, ¡°Where are you from?¡± ¡°Dungannon,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Near Alcombey.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Timothy said. ¡°That¡¯s almost in Ofrurg.¡± Anton hadn¡¯t thought of it that way, but it was indeed closer to Ofrurg than any of the major parts of Graotan, despite the official borders. He hadn¡¯t thought well of it before, but had little interaction with anyone from the area, even when he visited Alcombey. Now that he knew more, it was one of the places in the world he¡¯d least like to visit¡­ and he was absolutely going to go there in the future. The near future. ¡°Do you¡­ want to talk about what happened?¡± Catarina asked. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°...No.¡± Anton breathed out heavily. ¡°Not yet.¡± It wasn¡¯t just that they were young. Maybe they would understand¡­ but speaking about it was hard. Even with Vincent, who already knew everything. If only Vincent could just go into Ofrurg and just tear it apart¡­ but of course Graotan wasn¡¯t the only place with cultivators. The tone of the conversation eventually lightened up, talking about the things they¡¯d done at home, how the upcoming winter might affect things, and the like. Anton did his best not to bring things down. Not just for the two younger folk, but because dwelling on what he couldn¡¯t do at this very moment would just hurt him more. Having not been away from the Order¡¯s lands in the four and a half months he¡¯d been here, Anton wasn¡¯t sure how cultivating would go in areas of lower density natural energy. He wondered if his continued speed was just boosted by the greater availability of energy. Now that he was away from the area, he could confirm it had an effect- but his increased learning was also important. He had tempered his meridians before he even took a step on the Order¡¯s lands, and though he continued to develop them as he could, their overall quality was similar enough. Yet he could gather and more smoothly manipulate energy. Storing more was just a given, since the stars in the Dantian were able to do so, but just having the experience cultivating made Anton certain he could do it again faster. Of course, if his cultivation actually reset to the beginning his body would probably just give out. Not that it was a possibility. Certainly not more likely or easy than being killed by something. ----- Anton didn¡¯t really expect trouble in the midst of Graotan where the population was high and other disciples of the Order traveled and patrolled. Even so, he was relieved when the journey actually went smoothly. Carran was just a few days away- at their current walking speed- still quite near the Order on the whole scale of things¡­ but nothing was ever perfectly safe. He just couldn¡¯t help but think about what might go wrong. Wild beasts from the forests and bandits were of course the strongest in his mind. ¡°There it is,¡± Timothy declared. They¡¯d been walking past farms for quite some time, and that hadn¡¯t actually changed. ¡°I¡¯d recognize that roofline anywhere.¡± ¡°Pretty sure they changed it,¡± Catarina countered. ¡°That one is new.¡± Anton looked ahead at the town. People were moving about doing everyday business. Someone in particular caught his eye. ¡°Catarina. Does your mother look like you?¡± ¡°Yes. Quite. So I am told.¡± ¡°It appears she is at the market, then.¡± Anton found the more he used Hawk Eyes to see, the better his eyes became even when he wasn¡¯t focusing his energy. They still weren¡¯t the best they¡¯d been, but when he focused¡­ picking out faces on the horizon wasn¡¯t too difficult. Especially somewhat familiar ones. As he approached closer, the difference in faces was obvious¡­ but not too much. Just a couple small decades of age. Catarina waved as her mother spotted her. ¡°Mom!¡± That one energetic word was perhaps the most enthusiastic Anton had ever seen Catarina. ¡°I¡¯m back to visit.¡± ¡°So I see. Though you only sent a letter when you got into the Order¡­ and Timothy didn¡¯t even remember to inform his father,¡± she looked at him, placing her hand on her hips¡­ but her smile belied the posture. ¡°Welcome back you two. I¡¯m Flora Riley. A pleasure to meet you. And you are?¡± ¡°Anton Krantz,¡± he inclined his head, watching her face for signs of recognition. He had an idea¡­ but perhaps it was wrong. ¡°I¡¯m another disciple of the Order. We share a complex where we live, and I fought together along with these two.¡± ¡°Fought?¡± Catarina¡¯s mother paled slightly and turned to her. Catarina nodded. ¡°You know cultivators often have to fight. We protected a village.¡± ¡°Well I-¡± she stopped whatever she was going to say. ¡°I¡¯m glad you are alright.¡± She inclined her head to Anton, ¡°Thank you for taking care of them. Do you have a place to stay?¡± Catarina spoke up before Anton could, ¡°I was hoping he could stay in the spare room. He¡¯s guiding Timothy with cultivation, so if he only had to go next door instead of walking out of town, it would be more convenient.¡± Catarina was slightly more verbose with her mother, though she still didn¡¯t seem talkative. Maybe she simply needed to explain everything¡­ or she just wasn¡¯t that comfortable around Anton yet. ¡°Of course he can stay. Any of your friends are welcome.¡± Flora¡¯s eyes sparkled slightly and she looked at Timothy, ¡°And I¡¯m sure some people will be glad you didn¡¯t bring home a young man.¡± Timothy swallowed slightly, but didn¡¯t say anything. The three of them helped Flora carry her shopping back with her- though any one of them could carry far more than she wanted to purchase. Timothy made sure to stop by his home next door when they passed. Anton just enjoyed interacting with a city where nothing was going wrong. Nobody needed saving from a flood or bandits or wild beasts. And he would do his utmost to make sure it stayed that way- as well as every village in Graotan. Chapter 35 There was a pleasant meal with Catarina¡¯s parents and Timothy¡¯s father, as well as of course the young cultivators themselves. It was better than the cafeteria, though not by much. The Order had exceptional cooks and fresh food as well, but there was something about smaller scale home cooking that was just more satisfying. Maybe it was just the company. Anton certainly appreciated it. The conversation mostly consisted of catching up with what had been happening with Timothy and Catarina. A few months was a long time for them, and they¡¯d developed significantly. Kellan Weston, Timothy¡¯s father, sighed. ¡°I do miss having you around to help out. Those cultivator muscles can do a lot of work. I had to hire a replacement.¡± ¡°I¡¯m even stronger now,¡± Timothy flexed. Anton nodded, but didn¡¯t have much to add to the conversation. Nobody needed an old man going off on stories about himself, and he wasn¡¯t really in a mood to share them regardless. Eventually, however, Flora Riley asked about him. ¡°So what about you, Mister Krantz? What¡¯s your story?¡± A vague enough question that he had an answer. ¡°I was mostly a farmer my whole life. Grew up in Dungannon, far to the east. I got into cultivating¡­ very late in my life.¡± Catarina¡¯s father nodded in sympathy, ¡°It¡¯s quite difficult, isn¡¯t it? When the members of the Order came by, Catarina and Timothy were tested to have some potential. I tried some of the steps to begin cultivating¡­¡± Jasper shook his head, ¡°But it¡¯s harder to get into when you aren¡¯t young.¡± He avoided mentioning how much older Anton was. At least twice his age, even if Anton looked a bit less wrinkly lately. ¡°I understand the benefits, but pushing myself that hard just didn¡¯t seem like it would pay off.¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± Anton replied, ¡°You need sufficient motivation to truly begin.¡± There were a few moments of awkward silence before Flora spoke up, ¡°So, you said you lived out to the east¡­ my mother used to live out there. Didn¡¯t like the small country life and moved to Edelhull. Though I ended up out here anyway,¡± she smiled at Jasper. Anton nodded, ¡°It¡¯s not for everyone. Some like the hustle and bustle of cities. Sowing fields, raising animals, hunting¡­ all suited me just fine.¡± Kellan commented, ¡°Cultivation must be a nice change for you. I know it¡¯s work, but you don¡¯t have to move your body so much.¡± He saw the twisted grin on Timothy¡¯s face, ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he moves now more than ever,¡± Timothy said. ¡°He climbed up a silo to shoot arrows at giant eagles attacking Thuston. And his bow¡­¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not something non-cultivators can use.¡± The rest of dinner continued uneventfully, and then it was getting late. ----- Before Anton had time to settle into the spare room, Catarina was inside shuffling things about. That included pushing the bed to a different corner. Anton just watched, since she requested no help. Besides, she didn¡¯t need any. She¡¯d gone through the full tempering of her muscles for the sixth star. Anton had offered guidance if she wanted it, but she politely declined. However, the sounds Anton heard from her courtyard indicated she took up the active style of body cultivation he thought was most beneficial. She might not have tilled rows of soil, but she worked her body without relying solely on energy. Her muscles would be a bit weaker than those who had done a prime tempering of muscles, but her fighting style worked well enough without. The added power she now had would still ultimately be useful, just not critical to her success. Catarina fiddled with the slats for the window and turned a small standing closet. None of the features of the room were more usable in their current positions, but she stood up proudly. ¡°Done.¡± ¡°With what, exactly?¡± Anton asked. ¡°An energy gathering formation,¡± She shrugged, ¡°As much as I can, anyway. Mom made me put the rest of the house back. My room is also set up.¡± Anton nodded. He could feel the concentrations of natural energy increasing, though he couldn¡¯t pick out the exact details that supported that. It wasn¡¯t anywhere near what was around the Order, even in Edelhull, but it was at least a step or two above where it had been which was a similar concentration to Dungannon. Certainly not weak, but not particularly powerful either. ¡°I appreciate it. I couldn¡¯t have done it myself.¡± He¡¯d looked into formations after seeing their utility, but he just couldn¡¯t wrap his head around the details. If he wanted to learn, he¡¯d need to devote months at least to develop his thought process, just to start learning. He certainly couldn¡¯t afford that now, though perhaps if he later found himself with time¡­ he shook his head. That was quite unlikely. He was glad for Catarina that she was naturally suited for the learning required. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. She left the room to him, and he started browsing the Ninety-Nine Stars again. There was one particular oddity in the technique. It wasn¡¯t as if it was kept secret, but there was something missing. The final step for the hundredth star- because it was supposed to reach the hundredth star. That was the summation of the first nine primes, which meant in actuality¡­ Ninety-Nine Stars was incomplete. But so far, nobody had reached the hundredth star, as far as was known. The equivalent cultivation level for other techniques was also in the realm of mystery, though it was possible there were some cultivators in far-off countries that had accomplished it and remained¡­ existent. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if cultivators exploding or transcending to other planes was correct- though the former was certainly possible. The latter was quite hard to test¡­ especially since he was still ninety-three stars short. Anton focused his energy inside of himself, taking advantage of the increased density in the surroundings. While he would normally move around while cultivating, the exact circumstances didn¡¯t allow for much motion without creating noise that might wake others. Besides, tempering the marrow didn¡¯t have much he could physically make it do, short of something like cutting himself to try to force it to replace his blood. Perhaps getting his blood flowing faster would suffice, but he would save that for when he could be outside. ----- In the morning, Anton awoke as the roosters began to stir. Though he was on a smaller farm than what he¡¯d developed over generations, there were still familiar sounds of the world waking up that it made. Anton pulled himself out of bed and went outside to see the chickens. ¡°Hello there, little ones. Feed will be coming for you soon, I¡¯m sure.¡± He would have done it himself, as thanks for staying, but he didn¡¯t know where it was¡­ and of course using other people¡¯s things without permission wasn¡¯t something that would be taken well. He heard footsteps coming outside not long after. ¡°Oh. Mister Krantz.¡± Jasper Riley was carrying a bucket of feed, ¡°Did they wake you?¡± ¡°Would have been up anyway,¡± Anton smiled, ¡°I was a farmer, remember? Need help with anything?¡± ¡°We couldn¡¯t possibly ask you to do anything. You¡¯re a guest,¡± Jasper replied. ¡°And I¡¯m old. So what? I¡¯d rather not sit around and rot.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes scanned the area. ¡°Could fix that fence, or weed a few rows, help fill that firewood shed¡­ there¡¯s always work to be done, isn¡¯t there?¡± Jasper sighed, ¡°Well, if you insist¡­¡± Anton took the chance to do every single thing he¡¯d spotted. It wasn¡¯t that the farm was poorly run, but it was a bit much for two people to handle. And things would forever crop up even if they hired some help. That was just how things were. Timothy and his father passed by early as well, heading off with a third strong man into the woods not far off behind the few nearby houses- the Rileys, the Westons, and two neighbors he didn¡¯t know. Jasper watched Anton, clearly worried he would overwork himself¡­ but Anton hadn¡¯t yet done anything that would have strained him much even before cultivating had made him feel forty years younger. ¡°I¡¯m impressed. You really know what you¡¯re doing. That¡¯s experience for you.¡± ¡°A hundred years of it¡­ minus maybe five while I wasn¡¯t walking around.¡± Anton grinned, ¡°Though I wouldn¡¯t say that I was very helpful for a few years after that, either. Still needed someone following me around so I didn¡¯t tip over the feed bucket.¡± ¡°A hundred¡­¡± Jasper shook his head, ¡°You sure don¡¯t look it. Not that you¡¯re exactly a spring chicken, but¡­¡± ¡°Most my age are six feet under, right?¡± Anton nodded. As long as he didn¡¯t think about anyone specific, the morbid humor of age amused him. ¡°I was thinking I¡¯d hunt something, boar or deer or some such. Who has the hunting rights around here?¡± ¡°It¡¯s mostly open to anyone. Though you might ask some of the hunters about the populations. They live over thataway. I recall hearing deer were populous. Flora would be glad to have some venison to work with.¡± Jasper nodded. ¡°Her mother, Ashlyn, that was the only thing she liked about country life. Fresh venison.¡± Anton almost flung the hoe in his hand away, but managed to keep his grip and gently hang it by his side. ¡°Ashlyn¡­¡± he turned to Jasper. ¡°I assume she looks much the same as Flora, like Catarina?¡± ¡°Grandmother to granddaughter share similar looks, yes. Why?¡± Anton did his best to keep his voice steady. ¡°Was she called Ashlyn Krantz?¡± ¡°Krantz?¡± He shook his head, ¡°No, she¡¯s Ashlyn Bognar. Though¡­¡± Jasper squinted his eyes at Anton. ¡°It could have been. Flora¡¯s brother¡­ almost looks like you.¡± Anton had to breathe deeply so that he wouldn¡¯t snap the hoe in his grip. Maybe his impression when he¡¯d first seen Catarina hadn¡¯t just been random thoughts. Not every single one of his grandchildren had stayed in Dungannon. Ashlyn was one of the oldest. Having two more generations after her wasn¡¯t so crazy. The Krantz family had lost contact with those who had moved away for various reasons, and while he hadn¡¯t exactly forgotten their existence¡­ they hadn¡¯t really registered as family. Living and safe¡­ elsewhere in the world. ¡°I think we should speak with Flora. It could just be the same name, but we need to find out one way or the other.¡± Jasper nodded and followed him towards the house. Chapter 36 It was easy enough to find Flora inside, patching up a pair of work pants. Jasper hesitated a moment, clearly unsure how to broach the subject. ¡°Your mother¡­ she was from out east, right? Did she ever talk about where specifically?¡± Flora¡¯s fingers continued to stitch without slowing, ¡°She probably mentioned it once or twice, when I was little. Mostly to mention how much she liked being in Edelhull.¡± She looked up at the two of them, ¡°What¡¯s so important that it made the two of you come in from the fields? Still covered in dirt, even.¡± Anton looked down at the path of dirt behind them. He was usually more careful about things like that, since keeping the house tidy was hard enough without actual mud and chunks of dirt. However, it was easy enough to wave his hand and push it all away with some energy. It took quite a bit less than the power required to kill a giant boar, though it took a couple passes to get everything. ¡°Sorry about that. It¡¯s probably not urgent¡­ but I¡¯d really be interested. Or if she mentioned her parents at all.¡± ¡°Did she mention them? Certainly. But I only remember hearing about them as grandma and grandpa.¡± Flora thought for a few moments. ¡°I think I have some old letters from her. They might have names. I could dig them out this evening. It¡¯s a bit of a trip to Edelhull just to ask her, of course.¡± She looked at the two of them with suspicion. ¡°What is this about?¡± Jasper sighed. ¡°Maybe nothing at all. I¡¯d rather not mention it if so.¡± ¡°Alright. It¡¯s been some time since I read the letters anyway. Reminds me that maybe we should write or visit sometime. You know she¡¯ll never come out here.¡± Jasper grinned, ¡°Why do you think I like to stay here?¡± ¡°Oh hush, she¡¯s not that bad. I might remind you of someone else¡¯s mother. She¡¯s not even so far away. I¡¯m sure she¡¯d be glad to visit.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t do that¡­ to either of us,¡± Jasper recoiled. ¡°You¡¯re right though. We should keep in touch with Ashlyn more.¡± He nodded, ¡°I think we¡¯d like to see those letters, if you can scrounge them up. Until then, there¡¯s work to do.¡± ----- There was something different about the soil on the Riley¡¯s farm compared to at the Order. Anton would say the quality of soil was high in both places, but it was actually easier to work the soil away from the Order. He hadn¡¯t noticed because he¡¯d been cultivating for several months before arriving at the Order. The soil there was thick and heavy. Quite full of nutrients for plants, he was sure, and the abundant natural energy helped as well¡­ but it was harder to work than normal soil. Now that he had something to compare to in recent memory, he was certain. That also made it easier to work quickly. It wasn¡¯t necessary for him to hoe a field by hand- they had oxen and ploughs for that, and it wasn¡¯t the right season anyway. However, he still had to dig out stubborn weeds with deep roots. Some of them would break away at the surface, but if he left them they¡¯d merely grow back. He could dig with a shovel or with his hands¡­ though wrapping the whole thing in energy and tugging also did the job. Jasper had some questions, ¡°Can anyone do that, with a bit of cultivation? Move like that and pull up the plants by barely touching them?¡± Anton considered for a moment, ¡°You have to develop one thing at a time. However, this is all at an easily achievable level. The first star is a full tempering of the body. That won¡¯t do much for your ability to pull out whole weeds, but even a basic control of energy should be sufficient with a little effort.¡± Anton looked at Jasper, ¡°You attempted cultivating before, correct? What stopped you?¡± Jasper shook his head. ¡°Couldn¡¯t sense the energy, really. I wasn¡¯t able to gather it or do anything with it.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take a quick break,¡± Anton gestured over into the shade. ¡°Have a seat.¡± Jasper did so. ¡°Close your eyes. Try to feel the natural energy. It¡¯s the air around you, the breeze¡­¡± Anton gathered a bit of energy and washed it over him, ¡°It¡¯s just everywhere.¡± ¡°I think I feel it. Just a little.¡± ¡°Grab onto it. You can¡¯t grasp it in your hand, but you can breathe it into your lungs. From there, it flows around your body.¡± Anton traced a line of energy along his skin, guiding the path as he felt Jasper begin to circulate it, ¡°Through your whole body. Then¡­ don¡¯t forget to breathe out.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°Now that you¡¯ve done it, you can do it again. But here¡¯s the secret. You don¡¯t have to sit still. Look here,¡± Anton waited for Jasper to open his eyes. He swirled his arms around and swung a hoe in front of him. ¡°You breathe while working. The energy will be more content to settle into a moving body. Just like the air in your lungs is used up faster when you work. It will take a bit of effort to move your body at the same time, but if you spend a month getting this down¡­ even by next year it will pay off.¡± Anton snapped his fingers. ¡°Oh, I imagine your daughter took the cultivation manual with her, correct? The Order doesn''t have so many they can just hand out one to each person.¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Jasper confirmed. ¡°Though I had plenty of access to it before. I just couldn¡¯t make use of it.¡± ¡°Not everyone learns by reading.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I happen to have an extra I can leave with you.¡± After Grand Elder Vandale had given him the full technique, he hadn¡¯t found a chance to return the body tempering technique. It was allowed to be freely distributed, so the Order wouldn¡¯t be concerned if he gave it away. They would just be handing it out to someone else eventually. He might as well pick someone specific. ¡°Oh, thank you.¡± Jasper nodded. ¡°Do you think I can really learn? Catarina picked it up so easily and I had so little success...¡± ¡°Of course you can. Your wife too, though I imagine she¡¯ll be slightly different. As for making it beyond the beginning¡­ perhaps not.¡± Anton was fairly certain anyone could complete the first full body tempering. Then came the second star, a prime tempering. The easiest one, but also the hardest since the cultivator would still be inexperienced. Then the third star just showed they could continue beyond that, which was sufficient for the Order to be willing to recruit them after a test. And apparently, the fourth star was sufficient that they didn¡¯t care about tests. Anton supposed he had been able to contribute sufficiently to work in the fields at just the fourth star. Though he didn¡¯t know if the Order actually profited from that work. Some of the early work of their disciples probably cost them more than it was worth- except for the training it provided. ----- As she promised, Flora dug out some old letters that evening. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything too personal in here¡­ she was never much for spilling her feelings in a letter. Anton can help us look through for names.¡± Flora clearly trusted her husband¡¯s silence, but Anton could tell she was curious as to why they were doing what they were. Maybe it didn¡¯t need to be kept secret, but Anton also didn¡¯t want to cause excitement for no reason. Perhaps not everyone would want to discover new old relatives, either. Catarina was present as well. It wasn¡¯t possible to keep a secret in such a small household, not that they tried. ¡°Why are we looking for names?¡± she asked. ¡°Do you know grandma?¡± Anton smiled as she cut right to the idea. ¡°Perhaps.¡± That was all he was willing to say for the moment. If he was wrong¡­ he would be rather embarrassed. Though he couldn¡¯t say how things would go if he was right. There were only a few dozen letters. Anton found it easy to scan through them for names extremely quickly. Especially since he knew what names he wanted to see. The handwriting wasn¡¯t as orderly as most cultivation techniques, but it also wasn¡¯t filled with difficult language or complicated concepts. ¡®Your father and I have been looking to expand the factorage. It¡¯s much more pleasant to handle selling rather than producing all the goods¡­¡¯ Letters of that sort dominated. Anton couldn¡¯t say the hand was familiar, but it would have been many decades since he¡¯d seen it¡­ and at least a few decades of development after the last time when they would have been written. ¡°William?¡± Jasper asked. ¡°No, not what I¡¯m looking for.¡± Catarina also found a name, ¡°Barrett?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it either¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°There are a number I¡¯m looking for.¡± Flora found something that sparked his interest. ¡°Cora?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a name I recognize¡­ what does it say?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see here¡­ ¡®Cora came to the factorage today. Her vegetables are good quality, but a bit too expensive.¡¯ I don¡¯t see much else.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound right. I¡¯m looking for people she would have known from before. There could be a lot of things, but Miles and Leslie are the best connection.¡± They were nearly done with the letters when Anton¡¯s eyes finally found a name. It even had the right context. ¡°...your grandpa Miles used to eat so many potatoes, I had no trouble discerning the quality of the batch at all. We won¡¯t be buying from that farm again.¡± Just as Anton was about to say something, Catarina held up her letter. ¡°This mentions a Leslie. Ahem. ¡®My mother, Leslie, gave me this recipe for potato soup, but honestly it has far too much-¡± ¡°Celery,¡± Anton said. ¡°She always complained about that.¡± Catarina paused, looking at the letter. ¡°Yes. Celery. Did you read this one?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°No. But Ashlyn always said the potato soup had too much celery. Every time.¡± Flora eyed Anton. ¡°You certainly sound like you knew her well enough.¡± She seemed to have gathered some idea of what was going on. ¡°Are you perhaps¡­ an uncle of hers?¡± Anton grinned, ¡°I am flattered you think me so youthful. But Ashlyn properly referred to me as grandpa.¡± ¡°Grandpa,¡± Catarina muttered. ¡°Even grandma had a grandpa?¡± Anton thought that part was quite obvious. He was rather more excited about discovering another generation he hadn¡¯t known existed. It was a bit strange to have a great-great grandchild older than merely his great-grandchildren, but over a handful of generations it wasn¡¯t that odd. ¡°You two look quite like her¡­ and she was quite like Janina.¡± Catarina¡¯s thoughts were clearly still processing things for a moment, then her mouth rounded and her eyes grew wide. Chapter 37 Feet fell rapidly on the dirt path. Anton ran at a quick pace, Timothy trailing along behind, panting. ¡°Why are we... running... up the hill again?¡± ¡°Did you not hear what I discovered yesterday? I thought it was quite obvious.¡± Timothy took deep breaths to get enough to speak. ¡°You said¡­ that you are¡­ Catarinas¡­ great¡­ great¡­ grandpa¡­ right?¡± He shook his head, ¡°I still don¡¯t get¡­ why that means¡­ I have to run up a hill.¡± Anton clicked his tongue. ¡°Typical. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll figure it out.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for them to reach the top of the highest hill in the area. Even a non-cultivator could have done so fairly quickly, and both of them had tempered muscles and meridians. Anton had the organs in his torso tempered, so he was less out of breath at the end than he would have been. There were more improvements to be made after the tempering, though that was the biggest moment of progress. It wasn¡¯t that Anton wasn¡¯t breathing hard at the end, but he handled it better than Timothy. ¡°Now¡­ sword out.¡± Anton pointed, though there wasn¡¯t anything in that particular direction. ¡°One hundred swings!¡± At the same time, he pulled out his bow and began firing Spirit Arrows. He let them unravel not far away so that he wouldn¡¯t accidentally hit something in the trees. There was nothing complicated to what he did, just repetitive shooting at a regular pace. For his part, Timothy had exhausted his questions. He just accepted that Anton thought this training method would pay off for some reason. He just shook his head and kept swinging. Technically sometimes he stabbed, but he was pretty sure that counted. His arm was tired by the end, because Anton¡¯s pace didn¡¯t give him a moment to recover. ¡°Good. Now, swap arms.¡± ¡°I¡¯m right handed though.¡± ¡°I am aware,¡± Anton said. ¡°And maybe you¡¯ll never injure your right arm. But that doesn¡¯t mean you should leave your left untrained.¡± Anton also switched his stance with the bow. It would require very specific injuries for him to not be able to fire the bow with his right hand pulling the string but still able to grip the shaft, but he began to fire arrows regardless. When Timothy had finished each swing with his weapon and shield swapped, he found his balance was quite different on that side. It probably wouldn¡¯t matter since the situation shouldn¡¯t arise, but it was weird to be so¡­ asymmetrical. He thought he might have a moment to rest after completing the exercises, but instead Anton thrust them both back down the hill¡­ where they repeated the attacks another hundred times per arm. Anton wiped his brow. ¡°I think it is time for a short break.¡± He took a deep breath, ¡°Feel the energy flow through your meridians into your body, how it replenishes you.¡± Timothy was briefly worried that would be the whole break, but the two of them remained standing and pulling in the natural energy. They stood a reasonable distance apart so as not to interfere with each other too much. Once he was actually feeling recovered, Timothy had the bravery to ask another question. ¡°So, why isn¡¯t Catarina doing this with us?¡± ¡°You think this training would be good for her?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°It might be, though she has her own methods that work. Perhaps we should have her join us for the next round.¡± Timothy groaned. ----- Though he should probably be sleeping, Anton couldn¡¯t help but write his thoughts on his training. It wasn¡¯t some profound technique or expert advice. It was just his only way to make sure what he learned lasted beyond himself. But while he wasn¡¯t sure how long he would live or how long after that his words might last, he supposed he might as well aim high. This was his path to the peak of Ninety-Nine Stars. Anton was startled by a knock on his door. He should have been able to sense Catarina coming, but he was preoccupied with his thoughts. ¡°Yes? Come in.¡± She stepped inside and inclined her head. ¡°Grandpa Anton.¡± She¡¯d gotten him with that one earlier. Something about the younger of cultivators strived for formality, calling him Senior Anton and the like, despite the fact that he wasn¡¯t particularly higher in cultivation than any of them. For the sake of brevity, Catarina left off two greats but he couldn¡¯t refuse her addressing him in that way. Catarina was usually serious, but her face was exceptionally so. ¡°Can I ask you some questions¡­ about you?¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He had some idea where that was going, but he couldn¡¯t reasonably refuse. Saying it wasn¡¯t her business might have been partially true before, but now¡­ could he actually be family with these people if he didn¡¯t let them try to act like family? ¡°Go ahead.¡± She sat down on the bed, looking towards where he sat at the little desk. ¡°Why are you a cultivator? What¡¯s going on with the rest of¡­ our family?¡± She cut right to it¡­ but Anton thought that was probably for the best, instead of both of them evading the subject for a while. ¡°As you might have guessed, those are practically the same answer.¡± It took Anton a while to continue, but Catarina waited patiently. ¡°I was born and raised in the village of Dungannon. I have so many stories about everyone there. Perhaps someday I can write it down, if I have the chance. Though it will be of little interest to most.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°There I met Janina. We had children, those children had more of their own¡­¡± Anton smiled in remembrance. ¡°Some didn¡¯t choose to stay, but with those who did we continued to grow the farm. My parents passed away, many decades ago. It hurt for a time, but that faded like all others. You know it is coming, eventually. The same happened with Janina. I was supposed to be next.¡± Catarina waited patiently, but knew he needed some prompting as he was lost in memory. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Bandits. A group of cultivators from Ofrurg. Wild and destructive.¡± Anton grit his teeth as he spoke, ¡°Elder Vincent tried to track them down, but he could never head them off. He couldn¡¯t track them to their camps, and they grew increasingly bold. In the deep of winter I was out on a hunt. I barely managed to find a deer, and the return trip was so slow¡­ and I only came back to death and destruction. Unnecessary slaughter.¡± Catarina¡¯s face fell. ¡°So everyone is dead?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Not everyone. At least, they weren¡¯t killed there. Ofrurg has a legalized slave trade¡­ and they don¡¯t much care about where they come from, as long as it doesn¡¯t disrupt anyone important there.¡± Anton took a deep breath, ¡°Elder Vincent is the type who would chase them across borders if not for the consequences of doing so. They realized we found their camp. He said they scattered. He killed some of them but¡­ couldn¡¯t get them all. Some might never be found, though the leader is a Spirit Building cultivator. Not quite as many of those to look for. And there was also a formation master, hiding them.¡± ¡°The Order can¡¯t send people in to force them out of hiding?¡± ¡°Can they? Should they?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°You saw what happened in Thuston. Grand Elder Vandale wiped out hundreds of beasts from a distance. If the Order sends elders in to avenge some country villagers, what does that accomplish? Dead cultivators. Dead cultivators in Ofrurg, and dead members of the Order. Perhaps someone can track down bandits on an individual level. If there is no disturbance on a large scale¡­ I wouldn¡¯t expect those of great power to get involved directly. If they do, more common folk will die as a side effect.¡± ¡°But¡­ wouldn¡¯t Ofrurg want bandits dealt with?¡± Anton smiled bitterly. Catarina was a smart enough girl, skilled in cultivation¡­ but she was still young. ¡°I already said they don¡¯t care where slaves come from. And of course they don¡¯t cause any trouble inside Ofrurg. More importantly¡­ Spirit Building cultivators don¡¯t just pop out of the ground. Potatoes barely do that, and that takes work. The chance of them being connected to a sect, formally or informally, is rather high.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I¡¯d love to be able to go in there, kill them all, free everyone taken away. And¡­ I will try. But it¡¯s not so easy.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t they just send someone a little bit stronger, not an elder but a disciple in late Spirit Building?¡± ¡°Who? And why?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Nobody knows who they are looking to save, and assassinating people in another country is too much of a risk for a mission. The Order has already increased security on the border. Perhaps that should have been sooner, but what has been done cannot be undone.¡± Anton stood up and stretched, ¡°The job requires someone who can able to risk their life, in such a way that it can pay off.¡± ¡°... I can go with you.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°I appreciate the offer. But this isn¡¯t like Thuston. Disaster can¡¯t be prevented, it has already happened. You shouldn¡¯t risk your life for people you never knew or an old man you¡¯ve known for a few months. You have too much value to risk yourself for it. Grow stronger, so you can protect more people in the future. I won¡¯t tell you to ignore any trouble you can see¡­ but don¡¯t risk yourself for an old man who is about to die anyway. I¡¯ll be able to use what I have to save some people. I¡¯ll try to save everyone, to right every wrong¡­ but we both know that can¡¯t happen.¡± ¡°... I won¡¯t let you go alone.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°We¡¯ll talk about it more later. Regardless, I¡¯m not yet strong enough. I need more training¡­ and that means so do you. I¡¯ll see you in the morning.¡± Chapter 38 There was some actual consideration in Anton¡¯s mind to leave that night, but he knew if he did Catarina would probably blindly follow him. Perhaps if she didn¡¯t find him she would run off to Ofrurg alone. He¡¯d like to think her more rational than that, but having been a human for a full century¡­ he could say people weren¡¯t like that. She wanted to help him, and he wanted her to live¡­ and neither of them would be able to convince the other. Anton hated to let time pass now that he¡¯d made up his mind, but he knew there was good he could do currently. Jasper did well with Anton¡¯s cultivation recommendations, and though Flora did somewhat less of the heavy manual labor, she was giving it a try as well. He should at least do his best making sure that those he knew could take better care of themselves before he left¡­ and of course there was the problem with leaving Catarina behind. He had to figure that one out still. On much more mundane problems, Anton found trouble with his writing. It was no trouble at all to write down his observations during cultivation. What was good for the vigorous sort like himself and Timothy weren¡¯t necessarily right for Catarina, though he did his best to share his experiences. He learned some from her and Timothy in return. Mostly little things, but every experience was important. But that wasn¡¯t where he had trouble. Anton didn¡¯t think that any of the methods laid out in the Ninety-Nine Stars were wrong. Just incomplete. Of course, his notes would have holes in experience he couldn¡¯t cover as well¡­ but if someday someone found his writing and used it as a supplement to bring them another step further in cultivation, that would be good enough. Anton wasn¡¯t concerned about it being the most important document ever written. Really, an old man just starting cultivating could only do so much. But there was one thing. If others were to read it, it should have a name. ¡®Anton¡¯s Journal of Cultivation¡¯ was¡­ bad. It was for others to read to begin with, so was it really a journal? He¡¯d written down a name. Path to Ninety-Nine Stars. It was the sort of thing he¡¯d expect to find in the library, but something seemed to be missing. More than just ninety-two of the stars, of course. Anton stood and stretched. He very much appreciated the fact that his body could do that without yelling at him to stop. It just whimpered a bit. His cultivation was going well. The change in scenery provided benefits that mere density of natural energy couldn¡¯t make up for. He wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to spend a full two months away from the sect, but that had never been a hard timeline for the stay regardless. Timothy and Catarina just wanted to show their parents their progress¡­ and now their parents were beginning cultivators as well. ----- A sword wreathed in copious amounts of energy sliced through the air towards Anton¡¯s head. The only thing he had to block it was his own arms¡­ and of course the cloth armor covering them. It was quite durable, though nothing compared to the partially diamondsilk shirt on his chest. Anton¡¯s arms rose up to meet the sword, his energy condensing until it could be seen not just as cultivators envisioned energy but in a way the naked eye would see the yellow shine. Golden, if one were to get fancy with the name. Anton staggered back under the force of Timothy¡¯s blow, but Timothy himself was staggered as well. Anton couldn¡¯t expect a real opponent to just straightforwardly hit his defenses, but he had to test how much they could actually withstand. Anton looked at his forearms, one of which was dripping blood. Slightly less than that, then. Maybe it was the way he angled the energy. Though of course Timothy¡¯s power wasn¡¯t something he could ignore. Muscles trained by chopping down trees with his father worked together with his energy to become powerful attacks, even if he wasn¡¯t using an axe. ¡°Sorry,¡± Timothy said. ¡°You said to go all out.¡± ¡°I absolutely did,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I merely couldn¡¯t withstand your attack. Which gives me more reasons to not try. The momentum of the attacker is a hard advantage to overcome.¡± ¡°... you¡¯re dripping blood all over. Aren¡¯t you going to¡­?¡± ¡°It¡¯ll stop on its own,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s only a trickle.¡± ¡°... You¡¯re tempering your marrow, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Might as well take the chance while it¡¯s working hard.¡± The bleeding really wasn¡¯t as bad as it looked. Tempering his skin would come last, and that would also enhance the upper layers of his flesh. He wouldn¡¯t be able to take a blade without energy, but at least he¡¯d be able to ignore pricking bushes. Energy flowed deep into his bones, supporting the marrow in its work. The cut stopped bleeding within a few minutes, but Catarina still looked a bit nervous where she stood on the side. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°... try me next.¡± Catarina pointed. ¡°I mean that.¡± A semi visible barrier had been formed off to her side. It was a formation created by her own energy, but it would sustain itself on the natural energy of the area without her input, at least for some time. More powerful ones would require larger areas or more permanent physical fixtures, but spending money on special materials wasn¡¯t really as good for training as seeing what she could sustain otherwise. Timothy readied his sword. He was only using it in one hand, but being able to attack unrestrained still had great power. ¡°Step back.¡± Obviously in combat situations Catarina would want to stand behind a barrier- or have something she intended to protect behind it- but there was no need to risk that in training. If Anton was able to form Golden Armor away from his body, he might have done that. However, it wasn¡¯t within his current capabilities. Anton approved of the angle of the swing into the barrier. Timothy¡¯s sword struck a resounding blow on an edge¡­ but the power merely wasn¡¯t enough. His sword rebounded and the barrier held. It wasn¡¯t undamaged, but his attack hadn¡¯t broken though in any significant manner. Timothy looked to Catarina, who nodded. ¡°Keep going.¡± Timothy continued to swing at the barrier. Catarina directed some of her own energy to keep it standing, which half negated the point of it being a barrier formation and not her own defensive energy¡­ but it looked like they were having fun competing. Eventually the barrier gave out- but that was inevitable. The power levels were similar enough, so a proper offense would always win against defense without retaliation. But they were just testing the limits. Catarina smiled, ¡°Good! I was able to keep it up for a while, but you still managed to break through.¡± She turned to Anton, ¡°Now you try.¡± Catarina began setting up the barrier before Anton could protest. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t have quite the sort of power required to break through. My arrows don¡¯t exactly have a lot of weight.¡± It was why people didn¡¯t shoot arrows at walls in a siege. It simply wasn¡¯t what they were intended for. Anton didn¡¯t see it as a weakness in archery, since an immobile opponent simply defending while you were far away¡­ it wasn¡¯t hard to just wait until they showed an opening. Catarina frowned. ¡°You can¡¯t do it? That¡¯s too bad. I heard you were a good archer.¡± ¡°What, are you trying to ignite my competitive spirit so I¡¯ll make a fool of myself?¡± Anton grinned, ¡°Because I absolutely will. Finish setting that up. Then everyone back away, because the arrows might deflect a bit.¡± Flora and Jasper watched from a further distance. Neither she nor Jasper were ready to compete in such a way with the others. They did have some spare time to train cultivation, though, because the others provided so much help with the farm. Catarina even set up some permanent- if weak- formations to keep foxes and the like away from the hens. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s ready. I¡¯m sure you can do it,¡± Catarina said. Anton took a good look at the barrier¡­ mostly to make sure it wasn¡¯t any weaker than before. He didn¡¯t want pity taken on him. It seemed Catarina knew her grandma¡¯s grandpa well enough, because it was possibly even a bit stronger. Not that it mattered, if he couldn¡¯t break it regardless. Anton took a few shots, shooting only Spirit Arrows because the energy would only deflect a few meters before he could have it dissipate. A real arrow might be dangerous to onlookers, and honestly just had trade offs in terms of power. Maybe if he had any with special materials it might be different, but he mostly had standard iron heads. The way the arrows deflected off of the barrier without even making it tremble let Anton confirm his thoughts. He just didn¡¯t have the power to match Timothy¡­ though did he have to? The young man struck the barrier with great force many times before it shattered. But if he wanted something practical, shattering it wasn¡¯t necessary. Anton relaxed, then reset his stance. He wanted to get the most power possible. He readied his arms, then pulled as he formed a Spirit Arrow, muscles in his back straining more than his arms, though his whole upper body was involved. He wouldn¡¯t have the luxury to prepare himself normally, but he could add a bit of extra power. As he did so, he condensed the Spirit Arrow until it was even thinner. Elder Kseniya¡¯s arrows were extremely thin as well. They didn¡¯t need to chop off an arm. They just needed to¡­ pierce. At that thought, Anton released the arrow. It was a moment of concentration similar to when he¡¯d had the contest with Elder Evan, just to borrow the bow he now held. It wasn¡¯t a state he could force, and sometimes it just happened. The arrow flew forward, and he felt like he was moving with it. Forward into the barrier. He jerked, and the arrow almost shattered¡­ and then it pierced through. It almost felt blasphemous to dissolve the arrow a dozen meters on, but Anton wasn¡¯t sure how far it would keep flying if he let it. The hole in the barrier, half the area of a normal arrowhead, closed up almost instantly. However, Anton smiled. That was a result he could absolutely accept. Now if only enemies would stand still and let him take his time shooting them, he would be confident in defeating almost anything or anyone. Chapter 39 Though there had been a nebulous plan to stay in Carran for two months, that plan changed. For cultivators early in their growth two months was a rather long time, if they had the talent. Anton noticed that Catarina¡¯s parents and Timothy¡¯s father didn¡¯t seem to be on track to complete the first star in the same time period as himself. However, they had other responsibilities to attend to besides madly cultivating to block out the world. Anton also understood that people had different aptitudes. Perhaps they could learn to be better at something, but the starting point of everyone was different. He had found that cultivation suited him quite well from his first experiences with it. It was after one month that the group returned to the Order¡¯s lands. Cultivating didn¡¯t only require dense natural energy to absorb, but for breakthroughs and the like it was quite necessary. Nobody was on the verge of the next level, but their various experiences were helping with rapid growth and that the largest necessity was merely energy. Anton found that guiding others was useful for himself, as well. It made him think about why he did things a certain way, and if it was actually correct¡­ or just a habit he¡¯d formed. He was pleased that many times it was the former, but not always. That let him fix problem with his own cultivation, and he took notes in Path to Ninety-Nine Stars. Anton found himself unable to rest for a single moment. Most of the past year he¡¯d been active, but now he found himself especially motivated. He had more family. It wasn¡¯t that he had forgotten the others who still lived- he kept every name in memory- but instead discovering Catarina¡¯s connection to him imbued him with a sense of hope and vigor. It reminded him his task wasn¡¯t just to grow stronger, but to do so for a reason. Of course, he knew that. Knowing something and feeling it were not as closely tied as people liked to think. He had already considered the task impossible, such that he almost forgot saving villagers of Dungannon or what remained of his family was actually something that could truly happen. It would have been nice to say that the connection to new family had a direct connection to refining his marrow, but it didn¡¯t. That was just his body, and he cultivated furiously to refine it. Perhaps every bit of natural energy he absorbed was just a bit more pure¡­ or perhaps it just felt that way. Regardless, he spent several weeks cultivating¡­ and seeking information from the Order. The Order¡¯s policy on information exchange was quite simple. Disciples in good standing were able to obtain information the Order had without charge, though some sensitive information required a request. If the information wasn¡¯t available, it was possible to pay to have it obtained. After all, that would require someone to go on a mission and could not be done without charge. There were always exceptions but the information Anton sought wasn¡¯t secret, and if he needed a reason to request it he could easily provide it. Vincent would also tell him anything he needed, but some of that information would come from the same place. For example, Vincent had never seen the leader of the bandits. In Vincent¡¯s own words. ¡®If I had seen him and known who he was, he would be dead.¡¯ But just because Vincent hadn¡¯t seen him didn¡¯t mean nobody had. Nobody was perfect, including cultivators. Survivors of villages that had been attacked by the bandits could identify some of the bandits. With descriptions and other information, scouts in Ofrurg had learned more. The best candidate for the leader of the bandits was a man named Maximillian Van Hassel. Likewise, it was presumed that the formation master was Nirmal Slusser- though information about his actual ability with formations wasn¡¯t readily available. The information the Order possessed wasn¡¯t completely certain, but they had been involved with the sale of slaves at various key times. Anton looked over all the information the Order had obtained on them. Their current locations were unknown, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to fight them at his current strength regardless. Still, there was more he could accomplish before that point, if he went about it the right way. ----- The council of Grand Elders rarely met. It was an unnecessary waste of time, unless there was something important. Vincent wasn¡¯t a Grand Elder, but he was called to speak. He didn¡¯t know much about the council meetings in the past, but he knew they very rarely met on matters concerning a single disciple. Even when appointing a new elder, the council of elders only needed the input of a single Grand Elder. Had they ever met concerning a Body Tempering disciple? Vincent was sure if they had, it wasn¡¯t an old man. Grand Elder Bohdana Matousek wasn¡¯t nearly so old in appearance as Grand Elder Vandale, though Vincent knew there were merely a few decades between them. She waved her hand towards Vandale. ¡°Grand Elder Vandale, why don¡¯t you explain what you called us here for?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Grand Elder Vandale inclined his head. ¡°I¡¯m sure you all want to know. As many of you will have heard from the elders serving under you, we have a rather strange new disciple. Normally, it is not the business of Grand Elders if a new disciple burns their way through Body Tempering with ease. But the circumstances of this one are¡­ different. Elder Vincent, if you could explain when you met Anton Krantz.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Of course,¡± Vincent moved to stand in front of the Grand Elders. Of all of those he had recruited, none of them were on the list. Even the youngest was older than himself. Even so, he carried a measure of respect among them. ¡°I was not searching for disciples when I first met Anton Krantz. If I had been¡­ I wouldn¡¯t have even considered him. It was a decade ago, when the bandits in the far eastern part of Graotan were first beginning to test the waters. I came across Anton Krantz out in the forest, when he was ninety years old.¡± One of the other Grand Elders- Kunibert- frowned. ¡°Did I not hear that he has achieved the seventh star only recently? That¡¯s certainly an anomaly for an old man, but a decade to go so far¡­ am I missing something?¡± Vincent inclined his head. ¡°Indeed, there is more to be said. As I said, I was not searching for disciples. He impressed me with his vigor for one of his age, and I found him pleasant to interact with, but that was all at our first meeting. I remained in the area off and on again for a decade as the bandits grew more bold. They finally destroyed his village. I arrived too late, only to find him dazedly wandering the remains. He had been out on a hunt in midwinter, and hadn¡¯t been present during the attack. He had spotted their camp- and he led me to it. It was then I determined that they had a formation master keeping it hidden. Perhaps I was late in that realization, but that is not the important detail at this moment. Anton still had fire inside him, though he was close to being a sputtering torch. I gave him the Ninety-Nine Stars out of pity, so that he could die in an attempt to avenge his family and village. After that I set about to track down what information I could on the bandits. I merely found a few of their scraps and some potential candidates before I returned to the sect four months later. He was in a small bit of trouble for a conflict with another disciple¡­ and was at that very moment breaking through to the Fifth Star.¡± Grand Elder Bohdana widened her eyes. ¡°He reached the fifth star in four months? It¡¯s not unheard of but¡­ for someone of advanced age who just took up cultivating, it¡¯s nearly unbelievable.¡± ¡°But his pace has not slowed afterwards,¡± Grand Elder Vandale waved Vincent to seat himself. ¡°Three months after that he reached the seventh star, which is where he currently is. He has been seeking information on the bandits, and clearly intends to seek them out. I-¡± There was a knock on the council door as a messenger stepped in. ¡°Message for Grand Elder Vandale.¡± She hurried forward and slipped him a note. Grand Elder Vandale looked at the note in front of him, taking a moment to read it. ¡°Oh. I see. There is some new information. Apparently, he has just achieved the eighth star¡­ half an hour ago.¡± Vincent muttered to himself, ¡°That man sure has a sense of timing¡­¡± ¡°Regardless,¡± Vandale coughed slightly, his voice slightly weak. ¡°It is clear his rate of advancement is¡­ top tier. Few can match him. But one might wonder¡­ if he was not a century old when he began to cultivate, what might that mean?¡± He looked over the rest of the council, letting them think for a moment. ¡°But about why I called you here. Merely informing you of his existence would be sufficient¡­ but we may have to do something. He is almost certainly going to head to Ofrurg soon. Though it is not completely lawless, it is not safe either. When one specifically is looking for trouble¡­ it could lead to disaster. So what do we do? I doubt any of us here would have the audacity to tell him not to risk his life for those he cares about. Yet if we hold him back, perhaps his cultivation will expire. Even those who are young and healthy do not cultivate well when restrained. I have hopes for his future, but I don¡¯t know if he will have one. So what do we do?¡± Bohdana shook her head. ¡°I think we should do nothing. I will admit he¡¯s an enticing disciple, but if he cannot judge danger for himself¡­ his future will go nowhere. Restraining his actions would almost certainly negate whatever future he has. But assisting him¡­ may do so just as much. I would also prefer not to show too much favoritism to any new disciples- and he is new, still. Then there is the potential of war, if we settle the matter for him. We already considered that specific course of action.¡± Kunibert once again spoke up, ¡°Could we not at least send a discreet guardian? Or assist him with a team? I am already unsettled at how long those bandits have lived with minimal reprisals from our side.¡± Grand Elder McAlister took her turn next. ¡°I agree with Bohdana, though it may seem heartless at first. We should not interfere. Of course, if he recruits others to go with him on his own¡­ that is also allowed. And¡­ though we might think of those who advance quickly as young and rash, he is at least experienced with the world.¡± Grand Elder Vandale sighed, ¡°Justice will be done, one way or another. I sincerely hope he is the vessel that will bring it. While I am also concerned for his well being¡­ in addition to fast advancement, his actual performance so far has been exemplary. His mastery of Spirit Arrows is beyond what we would expect at Body Tempering. But, though I would like to say I have full confidence in him¡­ a single person is merely that. I suggest we provide a simple guardian in the middle of Spirit Building. That should not interfere with his development too much, or cause untoward amounts of trouble with Ofrurg.¡± Vincent watched and waited as the Grand Elders discussed. He had no idea what the final result would be. He also had his own ideas on what should be done, though the only thing Vincent could be sure about was that whatever happened with Anton would surprise him. Hopefully, those surprises would continue to be good. Chapter 40 In front of Anton sat a list. It was as accurate as he could make it¡­ but it was possible he¡¯d missed something or other. His memory wasn¡¯t perfect to begin with, and at the time he could have been most precise, he wasn¡¯t in a state to do anything to any level of accuracy. This was the list of those who were still alive¡­ potentially. None of his children were on the list, but that was understandable. They were old, like himself, and that meant they had little value as slaves. While the bandits had been somewhat unpredictable in their actions, taking everything of value was certainly consistent. That included people. Dungannon had not been large- a few hundred people- but Anton had buried most of them. Their faces, at least, he could picture in his mind¡­ if not their names. Some had not been in a state he could recognize. At least fifty people had the potential to be alive. Of those people, however, he only had information on a dozen. Some didn¡¯t stand out enough to have information remembered about them when they were sold. Most went to mines or farms. Hard slave labor wasn¡¯t good for anyone, but they could certainly survive since most were young and healthy. One went to a fighting arena. Devon was one of Anton¡¯s younger grandsons, the son of his youngest daughter. The chances of him being alive were much more slim than anyone else. Then there was Annelie. Anton had avoided learning about her fate in particular until he felt he had at least a little bit of strength. Her fate was known to a certain point. She¡¯d been sold to the Frostmirror sect. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars was a righteous group¡­ and the Frostmirror sect was not. The only thing to say for them was that they also weren¡¯t a demonic sect. But with the extravagant price they paid for her, Anton could hope they found some value in her being alive instead of otherwise. Anton had exchanged contribution points for money, enough that he could buy the others he knew the locations of at a fair price, and even some extra. He destested the idea of supporting the slave trade with his money, but it was either that or fight an entire nation and their cultivators himself. That wasn¡¯t something he could do yet. He considered for a moment. Somehow, his mind hadn¡¯t had the doubt he expected. Was that what the problem was? He filed the thought away for later. Though he could buy the freedom of a handful of people with what he currently had, Annelie¡¯s price paid by the Frostmirror sect had been more than Anton had ever seen. More than the price the family farm had been worth plus every contribution point he¡¯d gained exchanged for money. There was some sort of test for cultivation aptitude, and Annelise had something special in that area. Specific details hadn¡¯t been obtained. Whether or not the particular thing found would be ultimately to her benefit remained to be seen. Anton had not personally experienced cultivators outside of the Order- except the effects of the bandit leader Kunibert and the rest- but he¡¯d heard tales. Even accounting for exaggerations, it was clear that at least occasionally cultivation and cultivation aptitude were stolen by others. The actual effects for those attempting to take it weren¡¯t always as beneficial as they might hope, but for the victim it was always death- or something that might as well be death. If the Frostmirror sect had such intentions when they purchased her¡­ Anton shook his head. He couldn¡¯t do anything about it now regardless. But he might be able to learn more if she was still alive. He was ready to take a trip to Ofrurg. Perhaps he might save a few of those from Dungannon or track down some of the bandits he had basic information on. He might also acquire more information himself. The only problem was how to deal with Catarina. He didn¡¯t want to bring her with him¡­ but he couldn¡¯t not bring her. As in, he was physically incapable of not bringing her. If he left without her she would just follow him. He considered a few options, but none of them made sense. If he just left without saying anything, she would almost certainly go to Ofrurg presuming that to be his target. Even if he could convince her he was just going on a mission to a specific place, when he didn¡¯t return she would know. And he had no logical reason not to invite her. She was capable. Certainly, she was one star behind him¡­ but that wasn¡¯t so much as to hold him back in battle, and having additional hands would in fact be quite helpful. Logic wasn¡¯t everything. Wanting to protect family was quite a paradox, because Catarina also wanted to protect her ¡®grandpa¡¯. And though she wasn¡¯t very vocal about her choices most of the time, she was quietly stubborn. Anton wasn¡¯t sure what to do. Perhaps some cultivation would clear his head. ----- Northern creeper was a completely innocuous name for the spike covered vine Anton found himself dealing with. Its seeds were pods with sharp thorns going in every direction, and they had to be planted carefully by hand. It wasn¡¯t hard physical labor that was required¡­ but instead a certain level of energy defenses. Because while it was just a truly awful plant, its fruit could produce a potent medicine for cultivation. It was one of the main ingredients in tempering pills like the kind Catarina had given to Anton. That was quite understandable, considering the way it sucked up natural energy around it. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. As Anton carefully put his arm deep into the plant where he might prune away some dead leaves, he cut a gash along his arm. While tempering his meridians had allowed him to handle larger amounts of energy, that wasn¡¯t enough to just ignore the thorns. After all, it wasn¡¯t an everyday plant. It absorbed natural energy from the world¡­ and through its thorns in particular. Thus, his defenses were only half as effective at best. Hoyt had also moved on to the same work with Anton. Farming normal plants or even special herbs was just too easy, and hardly worth their time. It provided some contribution points, but this was worth more because of the increased difficulty and value. Hoyt had one advantage Anton did not. He had already completed the tempering of his skin. Though he was a step behind Catarina at the moment, he was almost at the seventh star. Anton watched as the spikes slid along his skin without piercing through¡­ unless Hoyt was careless. As he carefully maneuvered his own arm, it came out bloody. He could wear armor, but patching it would take all the extra contribution points he would earn. Besides, the only thing left to temper was his skin anyway. While it wasn¡¯t a pleasant process, it was actually quite beneficial to add this into his cultivation routine. His practice and some discussions with Hoyt were giving him some initial success in the area. Anton didn¡¯t plan to remain in the Order for the months it would take to finish the tempering of his skin, but at least beginning the process in an optimal environment would help him later. Hoyt, meanwhile, needed advice on tempering his internal organs, starting with his torso. He was young and strong, so he hadn¡¯t found it a necessity to take care of them earlier. Anton envied that youth, but of course he provided the best advice he could. Among other things, it involved a lot of running. That took care of the lungs and heart, at least. He wished he knew that such an active style might be helpful when he first began cultivating, though he would have barely been able to make use of it. His body had been in a better state than his mind¡­ but only barely. ----- Sometimes, one merely had to let themselves get stabbed with a thousand needles to clear their mind. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if that actually helped, but he at least arrived at a reasonable idea. Both he and Catarina were sensible adults, and they could talk about things. And, if he didn¡¯t get what he wanted and she insisted on coming with him¡­ that would just give him more reason to be cautious. Anton invited Catarina over. His living space was still mostly bare, but he had a sitting room with some chairs and a table, at least. ¡°Come. Sit.¡± Catarina did so quite obediently. However, she didn¡¯t wait for him to continue. ¡°Are we finally going to Ofrurg?¡± she asked. Anton sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t be so eager to run into trouble. There will not be anything glorious or fun to be had there. Just¡­ salvaging remnants of old memories. I hope to do what I can for a few people¡­ and end the lives of a few others.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to come with me. It¡¯s too dangerous.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Catarina said. ¡°That is why I can¡¯t let you go alone.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just an old man. If I die doing this¡­ the world doesn¡¯t lose much. You, however, have so much life and potential ahead of you.¡± Catarina frowned, ¡°People aren¡¯t worth just what they can do and become. It¡¯s also what they have done. You still mean something, for your past. And if we¡¯re bringing up potential¡­ are you not improving in cultivation? I know you are, and fast. I can barely keep up.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how much longer I can last,¡± Anton said. ¡°Can I even reach Spirit Building?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°I know cultivating extends your lifespan. Even if it doesn¡¯t help as much for you¡­ it¡¯s not like you¡¯ll die of old age in just a year or two. Not with a whole eight stars already.¡± Catarina stood up and leaned closer, ¡°You¡¯ve already outlived one of my other grandpas. You¡¯re not just going to¡­ fall apart.¡± Anton didn¡¯t have much else to say, but he wasn¡¯t going to stop trying. ¡°You don¡¯t know any of those I plan to save. Don¡¯t risk yourself for them.¡± ¡°So?¡± Catarina said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know anyone in Thuston. Neither did you. We still wanted to protect them from the beasts. And if you¡¯re planning to save some family¡­ aren¡¯t they my family too, grandpa? Just because I haven¡¯t met them yet¡­¡± Anton sighed again. ¡°If you aren¡¯t going to listen to me, then maybe consider how your father and mother would feel if you died.¡± ¡°Maybe you should.¡± Catarina was certainly a lot more comfortable talking with him lately. She had quite a few things to say, apparently. ¡°I know you can¡¯t just wait around to be strong enough to do everything you want. But you don¡¯t have to do it alone. If you still think it¡¯s too dangerous¡­ maybe that should stop you.¡± Anton locked eyes with her. How did she get so stubborn? Maybe she inherited that trait from her parents. Or her grandparents. Or her great-great-grandfather. If that was the case¡­ maybe he should invite some others along as well. Timothy should be easy to convince, though Anton wasn¡¯t sure if Hoyt would have any reason to join. Were there any others he trusted? He hadn¡¯t really developed his social circle much. Too much training. Or maybe not enough. Chapter 41 Finding Timothy wasn¡¯t difficult. They were neighbors, after all. Timothy wasn¡¯t in his courtyard, but that actually made it easier. He was running around their little complex, so Anton merely stepped out of his door to see him as he passed by. ¡°Timothy,¡± Anton smiled and held up a hand to ask him to wait. Timothy stopped, but continued to run in place to keep his heart rate up. ¡°Yes sir? What do you need?¡± Was ¡®sir¡¯ better than ¡®senior¡¯? Anton wasn¡¯t sure. But that didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Catarina and I are going on a journey soon. I would like to request your presence.¡± Timothy¡¯s face fell. ¡°When is ¡®soon¡¯?¡± ¡°As soon as possible, actually. I¡¯d prefer not to delay.¡± Timothy scrunched up his forehead in thought. ¡°I¡¯d really like to but¡­¡± Anton waited for him to say what he wanted. ¡°I already promised to help someone with a mission. We leave in a week, and the mission might take several more. I already promised to help...¡± Timothy looked quite disappointed. ¡°I understand. It is good to keep your word.¡± Anton tried not to let his disappointment show. It was foolish for him to assume that Timothy would have no other engagements. Just because he himself barely knew anyone didn¡¯t mean that others wouldn¡¯t be busy. That did mean the one he thought was a guarantee was actually out. ¡°I hope your mission goes well for you.¡± ¡°Can you wait?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°I know a month can be a long time, but I¡¯d really like to help.¡± Could it wait? It could¡­ perhaps. But if he waited a month, it might never happen. He could wait a month¡­ then what would another month to break through be? Then he might as well try to get to the tenth star. Another few months, and half a year would go by. The first few months of his cultivation he had no chance of doing anything, but now he could at least determine the full extent of what he was up against and perhaps save a few people. He wasn¡¯t going to foolishly think he could challenge a Spirit Building cultivator or two at his current cultivation, but he had leads on weaker individuals. ¡°It is best to not delay so long,¡± Anton said. ¡°It won¡¯t be easy to meet up with us, so I wouldn¡¯t recommend it. I have no idea where exactly we¡¯ll be.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Timothy nodded, clearly still disappointed. ¡°Sorry.¡± He waved and continued running laps around the area. ----- Anton¡¯s skin draped loosely around his frame. There was a time his arms had been thick with muscle, and though he was regaining some of that size his skin would still be oversized and wrinkly. However, he was able to change that a little bit. Intentionally tightening up his skin required quite a bit of natural energy, and while not normally a necessary part of the refinement process Anton knew it was necessary for himself. Reforging his body was difficult and sometimes painful, but also quite exhilarating. There was so much more he could do now, with or without energy involved. He was still harvesting northern creeper. The thorny plant required him to make the most of his manual dexterity as well as his energy control. They couldn¡¯t just break off all of the thorns, since those were involved with the absorption of natural energy and thus the growth of the plants. Even slightly pruned plants showed significant decreases in growth. Elder Howland had shown everyone the difference. So while people might complain, it was only the normal sort of bantery way it was done. Hoyt was working with the plants as well. That was why Anton had made sure to come for the day instead of leaving as soon as possible. He knew he should make some more acquaintances, but it was too late to meet anyone new at this exact moment. ¡°Hoyt. Are you free in the coming weeks?¡± Hoyt nodded, ¡°I have nothing in particular. What do you need?¡± ¡°Well, I am about to set off on a mission and could use another companion.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Hoyt said quickly. ¡°I¡¯d be glad to go with you.¡± Anton held up a hand. ¡°Hold on now. I appreciate the eagerness, but I don¡¯t want you to agree to something you didn¡¯t mean to. It¡¯s not an official mission. It¡¯s something personal. No contribution points to be had¡­ and perhaps quite a bit of danger. Though hopefully not the second.¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°You need me though, right? I¡¯ll do it. It shouldn¡¯t be something completely insane. If you knew we would die, I doubt you would go. Danger can be good training, and either way some travel would be good for me. I don¡¯t want to stagnate in place. You said another, who else is going already?¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Catarina.¡± ¡°Even better,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°A mission with two of the rising stars has to end up worth it, somehow. I¡¯m sure of it.¡± ¡°Timothy won¡¯t be coming with us,¡± Anton clarified. ¡°Really?¡± Hoyt shrugged. ¡°How unexpected.¡± ¡°He found himself with prior engagements, actually,¡± Anton explained. Hoyt smiled, ¡°That¡¯s alright. I won¡¯t change what I said. Even if there¡¯s a bit of danger, we¡¯ll all keep each other alive. I know you wouldn¡¯t ask if it wasn¡¯t important for you.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anton agreed. It was important¡­ but he had no clear idea of how much of it was for himself and how much for the others. It could certainly be both¡­ but his mind couldn¡¯t sort it all out yet. ¡°We plan to set out in the next day or two. There is one more local thing to take care of on the way. Perhaps we could meet up in Edelhull.¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°Just tell me a time and place.¡± ----- Anton and Catarina stood outside a small dwelling in the middle of Edelhull. Anton just stared at the door, unmoving. ¡°What are you waiting for?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°This is the right place.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I just don¡¯t know what to say.¡± ¡°Does anyone ever know?¡± Catarina asked. Anton sighed. ¡°No. It never gets easier. But this is even harder than normal.¡± ¡°Stalling won¡¯t help,¡± Catarina said. She raised her hand and knocked on the door. Then she stepped back. ¡°Go on.¡± Anton stood bravely in front of the door. Why couldn¡¯t he just face down a charging boar or something? The door opened to reveal a woman showing the signs of age. Her hair wasn¡¯t fully grey, but she had age spots and wrinkles as well as the general tiredness of older folk. She still had a clear family resemblance, to both her grandmother and daughter and granddaughter. ¡°Yes, who is it?¡± She looked Anton up and down, her jaw going slack. ¡°...grandpa Anton?¡± Then she noticed Catarina. ¡°Catarina?¡± Her eyes flicked between them. ¡°How did the two of you find each other?¡± ¡°Fate,¡± Catarina declared. ¡°Can we come in, grandma?¡± Ashlyn smiled. ¡°Of course, of course. I certainly wasn¡¯t expecting to see either of you today¡­ leastwise yourself, grandpa Anton.¡± Anton sighed. It was actually much better when Catarina said it. She was so much younger. Then again, he hadn¡¯t cared about being old so much before. It was only after things went wrong. ¡°So, how are things in Dungannon?¡± Ashlyn asked innocently. The way Catarina looked down and Anton¡¯s pursed lips told her some of what she needed to know. ¡°I suppose we best sit down.¡± She led them to a small sitting area. ¡°Should I put on some tea?¡± She got up to do that very thing, but even when she returned the awkward silence stretched on until Anton finally found some words. ¡°Disaster struck the village,¡± Anton explained. ¡°I¡¯m one of the lucky survivors, if the others can even be called that. Cultivating bandits from Ofrurg came into the area, killing and enslaving.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Ashlyn bit her lip. ¡°I heard about things like that happening out east. I knew it got bad but¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°We didn¡¯t send many letters back and forth in so long. When did this happen?¡± ¡°Ten months ago, more or less,¡± Anton said. ¡°Oh.¡± Anton could see Ashlyn found herself uncomfortable. While she wasn¡¯t suited to life in Dungannon, that didn¡¯t mean her relationship with the rest of the family was bad. Just distant and infrequent. ¡°Who¡­?¡± ¡°Not many made it,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m the only one to leave of my own will¡­ I was out of town during the attack.¡± ¡°Can you¡­¡± Ashlyn turned towards Catarina, ¡°You joined the Order, right? Can¡¯t they do anything?¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re from Ofrurg. It¡¯s not so easy. Some of the bandits are dead, though. We plan to kill more.¡± ¡°We?¡± Ashlyn looked at the two of them. ¡°If they¡¯re cultivators, who else? I know you aren¡¯t¡­¡± her eye looked at Anton. ¡°I wasn¡¯t. Now, I am.¡± Anton declared that flatly. ¡°But I didn¡¯t come here just to bring depressing news. I was hoping at least we could share some pleasant stories of the past, and let Catarina hear about what things were like. We only met by coincidence-¡± ¡°Fate,¡± Catarina declared. ¡°Or fate,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But I was able to meet her parents. I know a bit about her life, but little about your part¡­ and I¡¯d like to explain everything that happened. Hopefully, more pleasant things than unpleasant.¡± It wasn¡¯t possible to cover decades of events in a single evening, but Anton and Catarina promised to come back. Anton resolved himself that at least Catarina would be able to do so. However, he also knew that meant avoiding trouble to begin with. His eyes and ears would be on constant lookout¡­ and if his goals would lead them into danger they couldn¡¯t handle, he would have to change them. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he would have just led himself into death without having to watch out for her. There was no way to know for sure. But now, he had to live and be strong¡­ for more than just those far away. Chapter 42 Everything had been properly explained to Hoyt before Anton accepted his final agreement. He didn¡¯t want there to be any mysteries involved when Hoyt might be risking his own life to help him out, for no specific reward. Anton was still not comfortable talking about the subject matter, but since he was going to do something about it he had forced himself to talk. Hoyt met up with Anton and Catarina in Edelhull- which was more or less outside the front gates of the Order. From there, they began to head east back along the route Anton had taken months prior. ¡°Ofrurg, huh¡­¡± Hoyt wrinkled his forehead as they walked. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about it, having grown up in the west. I grew up hearing about Ambati beyond the borders on the other side. Not quite so nice as Graotan, but a decent place.¡± ¡°Ofrurg¡¯s reputation in the east is certainly far short of stellar,¡± Anton commented, ¡°But we never expected anything to come from there.¡± ¡°You trusted the Order to protect you?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°That¡­ and we didn¡¯t think cultivators would bother us. It¡¯s not that we were naive to the ways of the world. In a full century, there was very little trouble. Perhaps the only mistake we made was thinking that it couldn¡¯t happen to us.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°But what would we have done? We heard about other towns being attacked, but we did not look, nor help them. We couldn¡¯t have, but beyond a shipment or two of food around the forest, we didn¡¯t consider it much. It¡¯s quite easy to get used to problems over there and never consider whether we should do something, whether or not it would ultimately affect us.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not fair,¡± Catarina said. ¡°You worked so hard, and they stole everything away. Including¡­ family.¡± ¡°No. The world is not fair,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But perhaps we can take advantage of that. Maybe we can make things better than just some arbitrary fairness.¡± Anton laughed mirthlessly, ¡°If we can affect the world at all. Look at us, two young folk on the rise, and an old man trying to hold onto a place in the world.¡± ¡°You deserve to have a place, Grandpa Anton.¡± He smiled, ¡°I appreciate the words.¡± ----- For the first half of the journey, they passed a large number of other cultivators connected to the Order. However, the further they got from the Orders lands, the fewer they encountered. Graotan was wider than it was tall, and they were headed to the furthest corner. The journey was much more rapid than when Anton had been going in the other direction¡­ even with some delays. ¡°Good day, sir,¡± Anton inclined his head to a man working in the fields. ¡°We¡¯re from the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. Is there anything troubling your fine village here? Beasts, Bandits?¡± The Order accepted requests for aid from all of Graotan, but they also encourage their traveling disciples to offer aid, at reasonable prices. Some things people could wait weeks or months for a message to go to the Order and a cultivator to return¡­ but some things were more urgent. A cultivator could earn contribution points at the recommendation of villages, as well. It wasn¡¯t the best way to do so, but Anton didn¡¯t care. That wasn¡¯t the reason. He was simply not able to confine his worries to a small area any longer. He didn¡¯t want to delay his current journey, but to pass by something on the way would be a shame. ¡°Not here,¡± the man said. ¡°But I heard something¡­ up in Helmfirth Rill they spotted some water monster, I think. Usually quite peaceful there.¡± Anton had hardly realized they¡¯d gone so far. Helmfirth Rill had taken him a week of travel in the other direction, as it was around a quarter of the journey from Dungannon to the Order¡¯s headquarters. However, now he was a similar time in the other direction, and not far at all. ¡°I appreciate your time,¡± he inclined his head, ¡°Good fortune to you.¡± Catarina spoke up when they were further away, ¡°Didn¡¯t you save a child from drowning in Helmfirth Rill?¡± Anton laughed, ¡°Just barely! I wasn¡¯t so far from going down with him myself. I was just at the Third Star, and my body was¡­ still feeling its age. A pleasant town. I hope this water monster is just a scare¡­ or at least that they have avoided too much trouble.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ----- Anton¡¯s eyes picked out Helmfirth Rill in the distance, and he once again focused his energy on his eyes. After tempering the organs in his head, he hadn¡¯t stopped developing them. It was just an initial boost. All of the practice- especially with eye techniques- kept him growing. Without energy being involved, his eyes weren¡¯t as good as when he was young. But he couldn¡¯t hope for that. With energy¡­ he saw better than he¡¯d ever imagined possible. His eyes scanned the bridge- much more sturdy than the temporary setup he¡¯d helped with when he was last around. Past the bridge and then to the south was a small building he recognized. Outside, a man was working in some little garden beds. ¡°Oh, I do believe that¡¯s Darryl. I wonder if he¡¯ll remember me.¡± Their feet crossed the bridge and turned towards the house. ¡°Darryl!¡± Anton waved. The man looked up. It took him a moment, then his eyes lit up. ¡°Well I¡¯ll be! Anton, isn¡¯t it? You saved my nephew Jimmy in the spring.¡± ¡°Fortunate timing, that was,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Is he doing well?¡± ¡°Better than ever. And he¡¯s taken up swimming. Though¡­ these last couple of weeks he¡¯s not been able to.¡± ¡°Is that the water monster?¡± Anton asked. ¡°We heard about it in another town.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Darryl nodded. ¡°Oh! Pardon me, I didn¡¯t notice your companions. I¡¯m Darryl, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard.¡± He held out his hand. ¡°Catarina.¡± ¡°Hoyt.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a strong grip. You work in the fields?¡± ¡°Some,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°It¡¯s a good way to cultivate my body.¡± ¡°I joined the Order,¡± Anton declared. ¡°We¡¯d be happy to help you with that water monster,¡± Anton patted the bow sitting unstrung in his quiver. ¡°Oh! I see you¡¯ve gotten yourself a fine new bow. I¡¯m glad. As for the creature, well, it¡¯s hard to track down. The fishermen were noticing a lack of fish- and then some half eaten bodies washed past. Fish, mostly, but there was also a bear. Half a bear, maybe.¡± Darryl held his fingers splayed out, hands touching at the wrists. ¡°It must have jaws like this to take out chunks the size we saw. So we¡¯ve been keeping out of the river. It¡¯s more trouble to draw all our water from the well, but people keep spotting a big shape. Mostly upstream, where it runs a bit deeper.¡± Darryl looked over Anton and the rest. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t suggest trying to fight it, but if you stay out of the water¡­¡± ¡°I see. We¡¯ll ask if anyone else has more information. Do tell others we¡¯re in town.¡± ----- In a place the size of Helmfirth Rill, it didn¡¯t take long to speak to everyone. Description of the creature¡¯s shape were inconsistent, but it was mostly noticed underwater as a large shape, at least man sized. Someone did have the ribcage of the bear that had previously been mentioned. It had an impressively smooth area of bone missing. Clearly there was something, though how a water creature got a bear¡­ well, they did have to drink water. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like any sort of natural creature,¡± Anton said. ¡°Perhaps a magical beast or something exotic. It¡¯s not afraid to attack large prey, and people could easily be next. If not here, maybe further up the river.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°We just have to find it.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll start by looking in the deeper sections of the river, like they mentioned.¡± Anton had the most experience tracking down creatures. He didn¡¯t know what he was looking for, but he knew what he wasn¡¯t looking for. Deer and boar tracks didn¡¯t matter, though he paid careful attention to them near the edge of the water. He hadn¡¯t yet noticed any signs of anything being pulled in, but there was a lot of ground to cover. ¡°There,¡± Catarina pointed into the river. ¡°The flow is different. Energy and water are all jumbled up.¡± Anton squinted, trying to make out something in the water. With use of Hawk Eyes he could pierce the murk just enough to see something beneath the bank. Not a moving creature, but perhaps a den of some sort. ¡°Good catch. I thought it was just a rock disturbing the flow.¡± ¡°Should we set up here and wait for it to return?¡± Hoyt asked. Anton nodded, ¡°I think that might be best. Though we don¡¯t want to spook it away. I¡¯m not sure if this thing frightens easily at cultivators¡­ but if we simply force it to relocate elsewhere, the problem isn¡¯t solved.¡± ¡°I can conceal us,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯m getting better at it. At least it should get close before noticing us, even if it¡¯s a magical beast.¡± ¡°Excellent,¡± Anton said. ¡°Now, we just need to keep alert.¡± He looked around. No tracks, even close to its potential lair. He wondered at that. Perhaps it was just fully aquatic. Chapter 43 Three people sat inside a concealment formation. They had to wait around for an unknown length of time, and what was worse was that they couldn¡¯t cultivate while doing so. Not without potentially compromising the formation. Anton''s eyes continually scanned the area around them, but didn¡¯t reveal much of anything new. The area was quite sparse of any creatures larger than an insect, however. No birds set down near them- even outside the concealment formation. That lent something to the theory that the underwater den belonged to the creature. On a hunt it wasn¡¯t strange to wait for a few hours. Hoyt, however, was growing impatient. ¡°Should we just go in the den? It might be in there and we just can¡¯t sense it.¡± Catarina formed a response before Anton could reply. ¡°Our inability to sense it would indicate a greater danger. Its den is¡­ strange.¡± ¡°We should wait until evening, at least,¡± Anton said. ¡°Whether coming or going, there should be movement by that time.¡± The first thing Anton noticed were swirls of blood in the water, flowing from upstream. As his eyes followed them, he saw the carcass of a boar floating- and a creature underneath it in the water. ¡°There it is,¡± he whispered to the others. ¡°It would be best to fight it out of the water, if we can. Or on the edge, if we can coax it there.¡± He could sense the energy swirling around it. A true magical beast. The energy wasn¡¯t too concerning, but it was nearly enough to match Hoyt. He was at the peak of the sixth star, not quite the seventh, but what other features the magical beast had would be more relevant than a direct comparison of power. ¡°Want me to be bait?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°I can go near the river, but not too close.¡± The concealment formation was only ten meters from the river¡¯s edge, so he wouldn¡¯t be too far away from the others. Catarina nodded, ¡°I can quickly assist from there. And Anton¡­¡± ¡°I can cover you as far as the other side of the river, if necessary. But preferably you wouldn¡¯t go that far.¡± ¡°Not planning to get into the river at all,¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°Alright then, get ready.¡± Hoyt walked out of the concealment formation. Anyone looking might have seen him suddenly appear, or maybe even have the hazy idea that they could see something in the forest behind him. The creature they were hunting was in the water, and wouldn¡¯t easily see that. Hoyt moved forward, then chucked a stick into the river, creating a splash. At first there seemed to be no reaction, but the floating boar¡¯s carcass drifted more to one side of the river. Anton was prepared to shoot the creature when it leapt out of the water, but he wasn¡¯t prepared for it to throw the carcass at Hoyt. Fortunately, Hoyt had the reaction time for that. He ducked under the suddenly flying boar¡¯s body, and even had his axe ready when a creature leapt out of the river, the first part of it that was visible through the spray being two curved rows of teeth on its upper and lower jaws. Hoyt¡¯s axe swung into its side, their energies colliding resulting in the creature being deflected around him. At that moment, Anton took a shot at one of the most bizzare creatures he had ever seen. Its head had sharp teeth the length of a finger, but instead of being inside a muzzle or even a fish¡¯s mouth it was more akin to the bill of a duck, with teeth all along the sides and around the front where the jaw couldn¡¯t fully close. The creature had webbed feet with claws on the end and a furry hide as well as a wide, flat tail. It stood on its four webbed feet, its head as high as Hoyt¡¯s waist. Anton¡¯s arrow flew towards it from the concealment, but surprisingly it twisted its body in the air and his arrow only managed to scrape along its tail. The creature landed, and instead of turning back towards Hoyt merely flicked at him with its tail before digging its claws deep into the ground and flinging itself in bounds towards Anton. Anton took another shot, this time managing a better hit- but his Spirit Arrow only pierced through the creature¡¯s energy and hide enough to cause some bleeding. If he could hit the same spot again he might reach organs, but it moved strangely yet quickly. It also seemed to not be concerned by the concealment formation- though attacking from within it had certainly disturbed the formation enough to weaken its effects. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Catarina moved to intercept the creature, slicing with her sword as she moved past. Its rear leg swept at her in retaliation, and she only managed a small slice along its shoulder while she avoided the counterattack. Anton had to dodge out of the way as the creature continued towards him, but Hoyt had sprinted behind it and wasn¡¯t far. When the creature tried to move past him towards Anton, he swung his axe low, forcing the creature to jump. Once again it twisted its relatively short hind leg as it passed, and Anton managed to pick out a small stinger of some sort going into Hoyt¡¯s shoulder. Anton managed to take advantage of that moment to shoot a second arrow right next to where his first had hit, ever so slightly deeper. With Catarina¡¯s help, the three of them should have been able to take down the magical beast quickly¡­ but they didn¡¯t quite have that chance. ¡°Another one!¡± Catarina called from closer to the river. ¡°Slightly bigger!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got this!¡± Hoyt said, and indeed he flung the creature into a nearby tree, pulling its stinger out of his shoulder. ¡°Help Catarina!¡± Anton had no hesitation with that, turning to fire spirit arrows at the second creature. It was indeed larger, but it was slightly less quick than the other. Catarina dodged its attacks, and though the fangs got quite unpleasantly close to her at several moments she seemed to be able to hold her own. Though Catarina moved cautiously as it flicked its tail at her, the most that could do would be knock her away. With her keeping the creature¡¯s attention, Anton was able to put a bit more power into his shots, and soon the creature was dripping blood from several holes. Anton realized the second creature didn¡¯t have stingers on its hind feet, unlike the first- and Catarina noticed that as well. The next time it lunged at her, she avoided its bite and then stabbed her sword into its belly with little concern for its rear claws. Though the creature¡¯s momentum knocked her back, she was mostly uninjured. Anton had been keeping a half eye on Hoyt¡¯s fight. He didn¡¯t want to undermine the young man¡¯s valor, and he seemed to be holding his own¡­ but he was slowing down. Hoyt had still only taken the one hit, but the stinger had done more than just let blood trickle from his shoulder. Now that the larger and slower magical beast was down, Anton started firing arrows with speed. He couldn¡¯t be as accurate as he wanted and pierce fully through the creature¡¯s defensive energy, but Hoyt¡¯s attacks were keeping it occupied. Three of Anton¡¯s arrows connected to no effect except distraction, but a fourth found its way into one of the previous injuries, piercing a thin, condensed hole in the creature¡¯s chest. It staggered back, and Hoyt swung his axe down straight into its skull. ¡°Are you alright, Hoyt?¡± Hoyt grunted. ¡°Poison. I think¡­ I can handle it.¡± Anton looked at Catarina. ¡°Perhaps we can help?¡± ¡°I can keep things away,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Or I can try to remove the poison.¡± ¡°I can do it,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°But¡­ perhaps some guidance on energy usage? And maybe an energy gathering formation?¡± Anton smiled. Hoyt was tempering the organs in his torso. Several of them dealt with removing toxins in the bloodstream in one fashion or another. It was a perfect situation to make use of. Though Hoyt sat down stiffly, his energy was still vigorous. Anton began to guide Hoyt in removing the poison. Hoyt managed to pull out some of the poison still in the wound, but the rest was firmly in his bloodstream. For that, Anton showed how he would circulate his energy to Hoyt, though mostly he provided moral support. Catarina was providing some energy with a quick formation, which helped more¡­ and soon energy was swirling around Hoyt. When Hoyt opened his eyes, Anton smiled. ¡°Congratulations. You¡¯ve reached the seventh star.¡± Hoyt half grinned, though it was clear his body was still feeling a bit weak. ¡°The Order certainly cautions against putting yourself in dangerous situations to cultivate, but it¡¯s quite helpful, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Good for a bit of a boost, anyway. Though I think the experience will last for some time beyond now.¡± ¡°If nothing else,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°I got practice fighting a creature with very different movement than anything before. If we had been in the water¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how that would have gone.¡± ¡°Perhaps we should train in the water,¡± Anton suggested, ¡°After we make sure there aren¡¯t any more in that den, or throughout the area.¡± Catarina looked over towards it. ¡°I can sort of see it now. I think it had a concealment formation. Not a complex one, but I wasn¡¯t expecting it so I didn¡¯t notice it. Sometimes, magical beasts will instinctively arrange simple formations like that but I¡¯ve only seen the magical beasts you have. None of the others did that. I think these also concealed their tracks from when they were on land.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°Magical beasts using formations? Unpleasant. Though these were mutated magical beasts. I¡¯ve heard of creatures similar to these before¡­ though perhaps without the fangs, if what I heard was right. I don¡¯t believe they¡¯re native to the region. We should inform the Order. Helmfirth Rill should be able to send them a message, if we don¡¯t think it¡¯s urgent.¡± Chapter 44 After surveying the area around Helmfirth Rill, no more dangerous beasts were found. While no humans had been attacked, their very first actions were aggressive and territorial. Even if they were just defending their den- a possibility- Anton knew it was far too dangerous to leave them alive. Not that they had much choice in the matter, once it came to that. They arranged for information to be sent back to the Order. There might be rewards, but either way Anton found himself satisfied with the results even if he received nothing but the thanks of the village. The villagers certainly couldn¡¯t afford to pay anything appropriate for hunting such monsters, and they weren¡¯t asked to do so. ----- Once they moved on, Dungannon was not far away. Anton both dreaded and highly anticipated his return to his hometown. It was no longer his home, though. He couldn¡¯t see himself living there again¡­ even if it was in a different state. It was with mixed feelings that he approached the village. He mainly experienced dread, anger, and sadness¡­ but he also had a bit of hope. He was only returning because he had confidence in himself to begin vengeance against those who had wronged them¡­ and salvation for those who still lived. Anton would have liked to come back in Spirit Building, maybe even the peak of it, able to wipe out the entire bandit group single handed. But he was willing to settle for at least having enough strength to begin. The other two were quiet as they passed overgrown fields that had no crops and came into sight of the sagging and crumbled buildings of the city proper. Even those that had been relatively untouched by the fires were showing a year without maintenance, and the weight of early snows. Though he knew they were merely being respectful, Anton couldn¡¯t stand the silence. ¡°That was the home of Melinda, a seamstress. Best in the whole village. Across from her was Deo... possibly the worst baker in the world. But a wonderful man, regardless.¡± Anton wished he remembered every single one¡­ but Dungannon wasn¡¯t the same place anymore. He could barely recognize some of the buildings or what they had been. His memory wasn¡¯t perfect, and while he¡¯d known most everyone, some he¡¯d merely not interacted with. He did his best, however. Houses on the outskirts, workshops and stores and other nearby farms were all there. It was a place Anton had spent his whole life, and it had changed so much from when he¡¯d first seen it¡­ to when it last existed. It had been most of his world. There was the nearby forest and other towns, but they were only a small part of his life. But as they finally arrived at the former Krantz farm, he realized how small it was. Anton tried to introduce the farm, but he couldn¡¯t. ¡°Is this it, then?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Where you lived?¡± Anton nodded. He could at least do that. At least, until all of the memories flooded over him. He wandered about in a daze, unaware of anyone else¡­ remembering. Janina had caught his eye in the city, but when she first came to visit him on the farm he remembered how she¡¯d slowly come into view on the horizon. The first cow he¡¯d helped give birth. Each field that slowly expanded. His own children, grandchildren, and more. A hundred years¡­ and then everything was gone all at once. His cultivation was still insufficient. Anton knew that. As he was now, he couldn¡¯t handle any of the bandit leaders, even if they remained the same. ¡°No more¡­¡± Anton spoke to himself. He wouldn¡¯t allow it to happen anymore. Killing the bandits was something that needed to be done¡­ but that wasn¡¯t good enough. He couldn¡¯t allow it to happen to anyone else. As he began to come back to his senses, he realized the stars were out. He couldn¡¯t just try to be stronger. He had to be the strongest. He had to reach the peak of Ninety-Nine Stars. No, that wasn¡¯t it. That was the problem, wasn¡¯t it? Anton was quite confident in himself in general, but as a cultivator in a new field he felt unsure. Even if just a little bit, he was thrown off. He hadn¡¯t thought he could reach the peak of cultivation, but now that he had the determination he realized he was just a little bit off. It was no good just to match those who had come before him in the Order. To reach the peak of Ninety-Nine Stars. The only proper goal was to go all the way. He shouldn¡¯t be walking the path to ninety-nine stars, but to a full hundred. Or beyond. One hundred matched the limit everyone in the world knew about, a limit nobody had spoken about surpassing¡­ but that didn¡¯t mean it couldn¡¯t be done. So whether it was a hundred or a thousand or all the stars in the sky¡­ Anton would walk the path to reach it. But he wouldn¡¯t ignore the world around him along the way. That was the most important part. Cultivation was merely what would let him accomplish the goal. Not that it made it any less important to what he wanted. But he would be cultivating for himself, and for the world¡­ and for all those who could not defend themselves from those who would abuse their power. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Anton breathed in. He felt like he hadn¡¯t taken a breath all day. A ridiculous thought, but as his lungs filled up he felt refreshed as if it was his very first breath. Air swirled around him and natural energy circled and pulled into him. It was truly nothing compared to the control Grand Elder Vandale had shown¡­ but so what? He might not be there yet, but he would be. Even if it took him a hundred more years. Or a thousand, or ten thousand. He wasn¡¯t going to let time get the better of him. ----- Catarina and Hoyt watched from afar as Anton wandered in silence. He hadn¡¯t responded to any of their prompting, but he didn¡¯t just stand around stunned either. He went from place to place, taking it in. Even when it grew late, he moved around the ruins of his former home. Then Anton looked up at the sky, and both of them felt the energy in the area roil around him like a storm. For a brief moment his cultivation was hard to fathom¡­ and then it returned to the feeling of its accustomed place in the eighth star of body tempering. Anton¡¯s head turned towards them, and he slowly approached. ¡°Thank you for your patience. I believe I am done here. Tomorrow¡­ we head for Ofrurg. It¡¯s not far. I would not plan to fight anyone there. What I want¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I shall merely buy the freedom of some, for the moment. But I plan to track down as many of those responsible as I can. If they move outside of Ofrurg, I plan to kill them.¡± Anton looked over the other two for their reactions, ¡°Though there are some who will be too strong at the moment. I plan for only subtle inquiries into them.¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°I haven¡¯t killed anyone yet. But I¡¯ll have no compunctions about doing so to bandits and slavers. As long as we can confirm their involvement.¡± ¡°It might not be possible to track down only those responsible for Dungannon,¡± Anton said, ¡°But as long as we can confirm the villainy of someone, I shall not be concerned as to who in particular they have destroyed the lives of.¡± ¡°What about those you¡¯re going to free?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°How will we keep them safe?¡± ¡°I have looked into the situation. Ofrurg may not be the most pleasant country, but they aren¡¯t a lawless land. Their laws on slavery don¡¯t allow for arbitrary kidnappings.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°Of course, very few care if people come from outside the country with no documentation, but once I obtain ownership of someone and free them, records will exist that prevent them from being enslaved again so easily. Of course, I plan to help them move into Graotan so that there is no opportunity to begin with. Even back to Dungannon, if they wish, but most likely further from the border. Though it should be more secure now, it would be better if they felt safe.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°What about family?¡± Anton sighed, ¡°I am afraid to say that I have very little information on family. My plans are much the same. I can afford to set a number of people up in Graotan, and if I don¡¯t have enough now, I can earn it. There are a few I hope will be simple purchases. Devon has been sold to an arena, which will be trickier¡­ and he may not even still live.¡± Anton closed his eyes for a moment. ¡°Then there is Annelie. She was¡­ I thought she was my first great-grandchild, though I was apparently quite wrong about that. That would be your mother, and even you are older than her. She was sold to the Frostmirror sect. I have no information after that.¡± Hoyt bit his lip. ¡°If they care for good cultivators, she should be treated well. It seems you have talent for cultivation in your family¡­¡± he looked between the two of them. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though we are but two in dozens, many generations apart. Hardly anything to draw conclusions from.¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°That¡¯s still not actually that bad. Some of the sects are very picky about partners and don¡¯t end up with top tier cultivators in two out of five generations.¡± ¡°Top tier?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯m merely in body tempering yet.¡± ¡°If you can say that again in the Spring, I might reconsider my thoughts,¡± Hoyt grinned. ¡°You should be more confident, Grandpa Anton.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°I¡¯d much prefer not to be overconfident. But while I might not consider myself anything of the sort now¡­ I will reach the top. That I swear to whatever it is that governs the lives of people.¡± A ripple of energy flowed out from him as he spoke, brushing over the two other cultivators. ¡°...wow,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I like that confidence. So while you¡¯re not too far, I¡¯d like to humbly request your guidance in the future.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°I shall always support you, such as I am able,¡± he inclined his head to Catarina, ¡°You as well, of course. Even more so. Though your skill with formations far outpaces anything I imagine doing.¡± ¡°Maybe so,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But you can always ask me for help, when you need a formation master. Or¡­ apprentice, right now.¡± Chapter 45 It didn¡¯t take long to reach the border between Graotan and Ofrurg, just a couple days of travel. The border had two clear areas belonging to each country respectively. As cultivators, it was quite easy for the trio to tell which side was which even without flags and geographical location. The Graotan side had three early stage Constellation Formation cultivators. Two of them practiced the Ninety-Nine stars, which left the third one as the odd man out. While the Order was the only major cultivation group throughout Graotan and generally was considered to have one of the best cultivation methods around, there were still others. That technically meant the third would be called an Essence Collection cultivator instead of Constellation Formation, or whatever name might be specific to their cultivation technique. Ofrurg¡¯s side likewise matched with a smattering of lower level cultivators and three early Essence Collection cultivators. They all cultivated different techniques, though exactly what they were was more difficult to discern. If Anton was actually planning to cause trouble inside Ofrurg, he might have been worried. But¡­ despite the power they displayed on the border, Anton was quite certain that most places wouldn¡¯t have as many high level cultivators to worry about. In the grand scheme of things, early Essence Collection wasn¡¯t that amazing. It was enough to be an elder in the Order, but not necessarily one involved with the council. Even so, they were still more than a full tier ahead of the trio. Out of five total cultivation tiers- or four, if it were considered realistically- a full tier and some small levels was the difference between heaven and earth. The group was stopped on the Graotan side, not to prevent them from going but purely to make sure they knew what they were getting into. Ofrurg was a dangerous place, but it still had laws that protected cultivators, especially in public places. That also applied to foreign cultivators, because they could not afford to have all the surrounding countries and sects angered at them. Despite the fact that bandits came from Ofrurg, such troubles weren¡¯t rampant within their own borders. However, that was because of ruthless laws that travelers needed to be aware of. As they approached the Ofrurg side, the pressure of the Essence Collection cultivators displaying their energy was clear. There were fewer warnings and more fees on the Ofrurg side. They got a pass indicating they had passed the border legitimately, allowing them to stay for a period of several months. It wasn¡¯t hard, because Ofrurg knew that traveling cultivators brought with them profits to be made. There was precious little other traffic beside the trio, just a few cultivators who had apparently just been passing through Ofrurg on the way to Graotan and a handful of merchants. The whole time they were at the border, the pressure of the Essence Collection cultivators continued to rest on them like a hand pressing them down. Anton breathed a sigh of relief once they were away. ¡°It was just like seeing a cultivator back in Alcombey. I could barely keep my back straight.¡± ¡°Were they a real problem?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°I doubt the Order would let them do anything to you.¡± ¡°Living further away from the main body of the Order, we didn¡¯t know so much about them. I¡¯m sure they would have punished anyone who did something, but that doesn¡¯t help if someone can kill you before anyone can help. They weren¡¯t really so bad, just keep your head down and walk past¡­ but I really felt it here.¡± Anton took a deep breath, ¡°There¡¯s still a long way to go.¡± ----- On the most basic level, Ofrurg wasn¡¯t different from Graotan. It still had people, cities, and farms. Those farms were largely worked by slaves, but they still produced food. Probably more of it, given the expansiveness of some farms. From what Anton was able to learn, a small handful of people owned the majority of the farmland between the border and the first decently sized city they came to, Veron. That was where the Iron Ring Slavers made their home, and where most of the transactions for the enslaved villagers of Dungannon had taken place. While they likely had records on where people had been sold, that wouldn¡¯t necessarily be public information. However, he did have a handful of locations¡­ and if he found and redeemed those, they might lead him to more. The first order of business was to go to an information broker. The Order¡¯s information should be accurate, but it wasn¡¯t necessarily current. Ofrurg was willing to buy and sell nearly anything, and on the less unpleasant end of that was information. Among the various information groups was one known as the Ears of the Fox. They were a reputable organization, as such things went. At the very least, they charged fair prices and didn¡¯t sell information on their clients. That is, they wouldn¡¯t tell anyone what others went in to learn from them. People might guess, but they would never know for sure. Anything gained outside of that, however, could reasonably be sold. Not that anyone would care about Anton in the slightest. He was just an old man looking for people sold as slaves. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Anton took a moment to ready himself before he entered. Internally, he told himself to not be nervous. He was just going into the market to buy something. He could be casual about it, even if some of it was information on people who could easily kill him. Though that latter information might be outside of his price range. ¡°The two of you should wait out here. I shouldn¡¯t be too long.¡± He assumed so, anyway. Either they would have the information, or they would not. As he stepped inside, he was approached by a young cultivator in the late body tempering stage. The lobby was filled with others of various cultivation levels, to match pretty much any sort of customer. ¡°Good day sir. Is this your first time working with the Ears of the Fox?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton nodded. That information, at least, he could share. ¡°This way, please.¡± The young man began to lead him down a hallway, lined with rooms that he couldn¡¯t sense inside of. That helped them keep secrecy, he was quite certain. ¡°We can offer information on almost anything happening in Ofrurg or the surroundings. Information is valued by its rarity and thoroughness. If we do not have information you seek, you can commission us to learn it for a premium.¡± He opened the door to a simple but comfortable room with two chairs and a table, gesturing for Anton to sit. ¡°There are no refunds, of course, except in the rare case of terribly inaccurate information.¡± ¡°What if I just want to know how much certain information would cost?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Of course, we are willing to work with you in that regard. We will make available the price and depth of information. Once you have the funds, you can return. You won¡¯t find better information anywhere else.¡± ¡°Very well, I would like the price on information about three cultivators, as well as some others.¡± The man nodded, gesturing for Anton to continue. ¡°Maximilian Van Hassel and Nirmal Slusser are the first two. The third is Annelie Vanchev, a slave sold to the Frostmirror sect.¡± The man took notes. ¡°And the non-culivators?¡± Anton listed some of those whose locations he didn¡¯t know. ¡°They should have been sold as slaves around the same time.¡± Anton knew that they weren¡¯t of much importance, so the information might be listed by the category of occurrence rather than by individual people. Even if they recorded pretty much anything, knowing actually everything was impossible. ¡°Very well sir. I shall check on each of these. Enjoy some refreshments while you wait.¡± As the man left, a servant came into the room with a tray of fruits and other light food. Anton hoped they were a servant, at least. If they were a slave¡­ at least they appeared to be healthy and not unhappy. Anton was certain the food would be untainted, but he had no appetite for it at the moment. He wasn¡¯t even sure what information was available, or that he could afford it. As he waited, Anton noticed the room had abundant natural energy. Certainly more than the ambient level¡­ and if he was just going to be sitting, he might as well do some basic cultivation. He breathed in and out, letting the natural energy flow into him through his lungs and even directly through his skin. Every little bit of progress would add up¡­ especially when travel reduced the amount of time he could spend cultivating at full effectiveness. The representative of the Ears of the Fox returned in about half of an hour. Anton wouldn¡¯t have minded if he were a bit slower. He pulled out four sealed boxes. ¡°Maximilian Van Hassel and Nirmal Slusser,¡± he gestured to two of the boxes. ¡°Mostly older information, but includes origins and some recent activity. The information on Annelise is up to date, though limited by the flow of information out of the Frostmirror sect.¡± Anton noticed it was still twice as expensive as the other two boxes- almost everything he had on him. However, he needed that to buy back as many people as he could. ¡°As for those sold as slaves, we have information on who seventeen of those you listed were sold to in public auction.¡± That was cheaper, probably around the price of one slave¡­ the actual value, and not the price Anton was resigned to have to pay. It should contain information on at least five people Anton didn¡¯t know the locations of. ¡°I shall take the last one¡­ and I hope to return later for the other information.¡± The man nodded. ¡°Very well.¡± After Anton handed over payment, he gave him the box. Anton was pleased to see that the names of those who purchased the slaves as well as some information on them, including primary holdings. He supposed it was somewhat necessary information, but he wouldn¡¯t have been that surprised if that had been separate either. The main list was clearly copied from a longer document, but it included several whose names Anton had missed. A reasonable deal, though Anton supposed all the work the Ears of the Fox had to do was keep track of large or unusual sales and then do some simple copying. Even if it only paid out rarely, they could profit. Though of course just the information on any of the cultivators was quite expensive. Anton did learn one other useful bit of information. There was continued information on Annelise, which meant she was still alive. He couldn¡¯t know more than that just yet¡­ but that was good enough. ¡°Thank you,¡± Anton inclined his head. ¡°Of course, sir. It is our business. Anything else?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°Then we hope to see you again.¡± The man retrieved the other boxes and led Anton out. As he caught sight of Catarina and Hoyt, Anton found himself encouraged¡­ though also more desirous of money than before. At least cultivators could make good money, even if it was often dangerous. Chapter 46 There was basically no chance that the Iron Ring Slavers currently held any of those Anton knew. It hadn¡¯t been quite a year, but if slaves did not sell before that time¡­ Anton wouldn¡¯t expect anything good would come of them. Not that the prospects of a slave were golden if they were deemed more valuable, but at least the owners might be interested in taking some care with them. Anton never thought of people as property, but those who ran profitable businesses generally took good care of their tools. Hopefully they shared some of that mentality. It bothered Anton to walk into a place that sold slaves with a pleasant smile on his face, but he worried if he didn¡¯t set his expression to begin with his actual feelings might get the best of him. Finding the location of the Iron Ring Slavers wasn¡¯t hard. They were a legal business who intended to sell, after all. Being hidden would do them little good. Out front of their offices stood two guards. They appeared to be at the peak of Body Tempering, the equivalent of the tenth star. Perhaps it was his own judgements, but Anton felt that their energy was¡­ stagnant. Ungrowing. They still appeared to be in their middle years, but if they began cultivating while young, it was quite possible they were unable to advance to Spirit Building. ¡°Do you have an appointment, sir?¡± One of the guards asked. ¡°No. I wasn¡¯t aware I needed one¡­¡± Anton kept his face as pleasant as possible. ¡°It¡¯s not strictly necessary, but it is not always possible to arrange for a proper escort without notice.¡± He opened the door behind him, ¡°See if the vice-manager is available to escort a cultivator!¡± He turned back to Anton, ¡°It will only be a few moments. You may wait inside.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Anton stepped inside. It wasn¡¯t hard to be polite to the guard. While Anton didn¡¯t approve of his current employment, he had a pleasant enough demeanor. That reminded Anton that not everyone who was pleasant was a good person. Anton couldn¡¯t judge if he were truly evil but those who supported slavery- especially with the methods the Iron Ring Slavers allowed- could most certainly not be good people. It didn¡¯t take long before a slightly balding man walked down the hall. His cultivation was in the middle of Body Tempering, and unlike the guards where he was uncertain, Anton could guarantee this man was never reaching Spirit Building. Not unless he¡¯d started cultivating only in the last few years. ¡°Sir,¡± the man bowed his head to Anton, ¡°Welcome to the Iron Ring Slavers. My name is Marty Dittmar, vice-manager of operations in Veron. What are you interested in purchasing today?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure,¡± Anton said. ¡°I was hoping it was possible to browse.¡± He couldn¡¯t just provide them with a list of everyone he was looking for. Even if they had some, the fact that he wanted them in particular would certainly increase the prices. ¡°I see,¡± the man nodded. ¡°Of course, I can escort you around the area. Come, follow me.¡± It didn¡¯t take long before they stepped into back rooms. Unlike what Anton expected, despite the surroundings becoming more austere with smooth stone walls instead of decorated hangings, the conditions didn¡¯t change dramatically. ¡°Women or men?¡± he asked, gesturing to either side. ¡°I suppose we should begin with women.¡± As he followed after the vice-manager, he could see into the constructed cells. Four women shared each cell, each of which had two pairs of bunks. Anton had imagined dirty and smelly places, but it was quite clean. That was all Anton could say for the area, as the conditions were quite lacking otherwise. Straw mattresses and cheap burlap clothing, and very little room. But even so, the conditions seemed¡­ tolerable. As his eyes passed over one woman, he stopped for a moment. ¡°How much for her?¡± Vice-manager Dittmar quoted a price. It wasn¡¯t much different from what Anton had learned was the standard for a youngish, healthy woman. ¡°Would you like to purchase her?¡± ¡°Perhaps later.¡± Of course, that would be never. Not that Anton wouldn¡¯t like to free these women from slavery, but he couldn¡¯t afford to do so for those he didn¡¯t know. He would very quickly use up all his money and merely help a small number of people, while providing a slight boost to the slaving industry which would result in little net benefit to the world. He had just asked about that particular woman because she seemed like a reasonable starting point, and to see if the vice-manager would give fair prices. Unfortunately, Anton didn¡¯t see any women he recognized. ¡°Perhaps we shall see the men next.¡± ¡°Of course. If you are looking for those who might have cultivation talents,¡± the vice-manager shook his head, ¡°I am afraid to inform you we have none at the moment. They are sold quite quickly.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°No, that¡¯s not quite what I want.¡± Anton did his best to remain vague, like he actually wanted something. However, after asking about the prices of some of the men, he found nobody he recognized among the dozens present. ¡°We have some trained for particular purposes,¡± Dittmar offered. ¡°If you have something in particular you want.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could keep up his extremely vague desire for a slave, so something more specific might be best for the moment. ¡°Do you have any able to cook or clean?¡± ¡°Of course. We could have them brought out, if you wish¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll save us the time,¡± Anton said confidently. Confidence was key. He could even act like he was doing the man a favour by getting what he wanted. They moved further into the back of the facility, to rooms about the same size but with only individuals or pairs. They had slightly better accommodations, linen clothing and decent mattresses. Anton looked over everyone he could, but found nobody. Not that he had expected otherwise, but if he had left someone behind at the easiest point to purchase them¡­ he would have regretted it. Anton clicked his tongue, trying to seem just vaguely annoyed. ¡°Are there none to your liking, sir? If you have any specifics in mind, we can contact you when we find something suiting your tastes.¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so,¡± Anton said. ¡°Perhaps I shall return later.¡± Dittmar¡¯s pleasant smile faded slightly. He had, after all, invested over an hour escorting Anton about for nothing. ¡°Of course, sir. If you can specify what you wish next time, we can set an appointment and save you some walking.¡± ¡°Hmm. Indeed.¡± Anton took the opportunity to remove himself from the location with haste. It wasn¡¯t as terrible as he had imagined- but that didn¡¯t say anything for conditions elsewhere. After he left the place, he curled around several blocks in a leisurely fashion. He didn¡¯t sense anyone following him, but it was better to be safe. Eventually, he met back up with Catarina and Hoyt. He shook his head, ¡°Nobody. Not that I expected different.¡± Hoyt sighed, ¡°The next step of the plan then?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll check out the farms. Everly is a big landowner around here. He seems to have bought several of the men, at least.¡± ----- It wasn¡¯t hard to find the right area. The real issue was seeing what he wanted. Anton described the handful of fellows he was looking for, ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee that Pete will still be chubby,¡± Anton said, ¡°But that scar on his left cheek should still be there.¡± Wandering onto farmland would quite annoy people Anton would rather not mess with. Even if most of the guards he sensed were lower cultivation than himself, it was better to just pass by on the roads. Hawk Eyes¡¯ techniques allowed him to focus his eyes at a far distance. Even if he lost a bit of area, picking out faces of those in the fields wasn¡¯t so difficult for the most part. The problem was the full extent of the fields stretched far beyond that of a small town. These were farmlands that fed into Veron and the rest of Ofrurg, and Everly had a large portion of them. ¡°There¡¯s one,¡± Anton finally said. After picking out five men, Anton passed by a second time but found no more. He then rode towards someone who looked the least like a slave. ¡°You there! Taskmaster!¡± Anton waved. The taskmaster turned towards him. Anton carried a bow that was clearly not of standard make, so the taskmaster would likely have recognized Anton as a cultivator even if one of the nearby guards hadn¡¯t whispered to inform him. ¡°Yes? What is it? This is the property of the honored Everly.¡± ¡°Of course. I don¡¯t wish any trouble.¡± Anton was getting a lot of practice putting on fake smiles. He hated it already. ¡°As I passed by, I found myself with some interest in some of your workers. I would like to buy them. I can pay a fair market price. I¡¯m sure you can replace them.¡± The taskmaster grinned lopsidedly, ¡°We can replace them, but then I¡¯d have to go to market and purchase more. We only lose out on that.¡± The man didn¡¯t directly refuse to sell. In the end, Anton ended up negotiating a price that was about fifty percent above market value- and that was if the men were in top shape instead of having been engaged in hard labor for most of a year. Though that fatigue was only a temporary detriment to their price, since they seemed to be in mostly good health otherwise, if worn down. It was more than they were worth, but less than Anton had been worried he might have to pay. The five men- including a quite significantly thinner Pete- were gathered up and formal papers were drafted. The actual exchange would take place in the city. The slaves were branded, so merely handing them over wouldn¡¯t suffice. Anton hated every second of negotiating for the freedom of those wrongfully enslaved. If only he could get away with killing all of the guards¡­ but that was too dangerous to those he wished to save, and they couldn¡¯t escape with all of the slaves. How strong would he have to be¡­? Whatever it was, Anton intended to reach that level. Chapter 47 If it wasn¡¯t a journey out of Ofrurg and back, Anton would have preferred to bring the five men away as soon as possible. However, a couple weeks here and there would add up quite significantly. Besides, just leaving them somewhere wasn¡¯t his intention. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could afford to set everyone up with a proper job and home, but he could at least give them some tools to survive. That included at least the basics of cultivation. ¡°The best part of body tempering,¡± Anton explained, ¡°Is that even if you don¡¯t intend to continue on the path of cultivation, it will still have clear benefits. I would like everyone to at least be able to gather and circulate natural energy before we move on. That will also give you some time to recover your strength.¡± Pete and the others had been working hard labor on the farms. It wasn¡¯t necessarily too far from what their daily lives had been, but with the duration and difficulty of labor increased, and the amount of food decreased. They weren¡¯t starved, because that wouldn¡¯t let them work at all¡­ but they were certainly a bit undernourished, and had scars from the whips of the taskmasters. An unnecessary cruelty for the sake of ¡®motivation¡¯. Of the five, Pete had the quickest initial success. With some guidance by Anton, he was gathering strands of natural energy within the first hour, slowly circulating small amounts of energy through his body. It would be good for him to move his body while he did so, but at his current point his concentration could only handle controlling the energy while stationary. The others took somewhat longer, and Anton had to gather energy for them to be able to sense it and take a small piece. He guided their flow, tracing the path through their body once¡­ then letting go as they repeated the action on their own. The first day of cultivation would show few results besides pain, but if they could complete the first refinement of their body, it would provide benefits for the rest of their lives. They were still young, after all. If nothing else, work in the fields would grow easier. If they chose other professions- something Anton would blame them for not in the slightest- it would still help their daily lives to have increased health. There were some questions Anton had. The Order freely allowed citizens of Graotan to study the Ninety-Nine Stars. Common knowledge was that cultivating was difficult. While that was true, the benefits for those who didn¡¯t have the intention to fully devote themselves to cultivation still seemed significant enough. Anton knew the Order cared for the citizens of Graotan, and would prefer them to be more efficient in their everyday lives. Yet they only really encouraged those they found with talent to cultivate. Perhaps that was the problem. Creating a copy of a cultivation technique wasn¡¯t trivial work, and those without sufficient talent might find themselves stuck at the very beginning. Most individuals would need guidance, as Anton was finding. That said, it would be of great benefit to Graotan if everyone could reach even the first star. Perhaps one teacher in each community could achieve what he wished for. Though he wasn¡¯t sure how to get to that point either. After a few days, everyone was comfortable enough with cultivation to control energy while walking at a slow pace. While they would certainly be less efficient, it was enough for the moment. Good enough that Anton could move onto the next stage of the plan. ----- ¡°We need to earn money,¡± Anton stated. Catarina held out a heavy bag of coins, ¡°I converted all my contribution points.¡± Hoyt smiled, ¡°I can¡¯t say I converted everything, but I can help buy the freedom of a few people.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I would love to be stubborn and refuse, but I can¡¯t say to someone, ¡®sorry, you¡¯re just not worth as much¡¯.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°And that¡¯s just those I know. But my point still stands. All of what we have now, we¡¯ll just use up. Food and accommodations for travel aren¡¯t free. Though I would love to find and free everyone this month, it¡¯s impossible. Even so, we can earn money while we travel.¡± Anton showed the two the map he had, ¡°Here in the northwest is Khonard. That is the last known location of Devon, one of my grandsons. He will be¡­ easiest to track down. They have an arena there, and if he yet lives I would expect him to still be there. It¡¯s a minor arena where only those without cultivation or of low cultivation rank fight, so he has some chance. But the route there is dangerous. There¡¯s another route that¡¯s safer but twice the distance, but the shorter one is to our benefit.¡± ¡°Because we can work as guards, right?¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°How dangerous is it?¡± ¡°A difficult question to answer,¡± Anton said, ¡°However, traveling with others will be safer than with just our group. Wild beasts appear along the route, sometimes territorial magical beasts. The danger shouldn¡¯t be too great for us at late Body Tempering, but nothing is certain. The journey could pass with no fighting at all, in which case we would earn a basic rate. Otherwise, we fight alongside others and have higher earnings and more combat experience.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Sounds worthwhile either way,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Do you know the frequency of attacks?¡± ¡°It was hard to find specific details. About half of the travelers along the route encounter some sort of danger, though a portion of that is quite low in tier. Of course, I wouldn¡¯t suggest it if I thought there were untoward levels of danger. We need to be alive to save anyone else.¡± ----- Caravans from Veron to Khonard varied quite significantly by travel pace and size. Those carrying valuable goods- including slaves- might travel with fewer higher ranking guards to keep the pace quick. Those with somewhat lower value goods that still needed to arrive in a timely fashion would gather together in larger groups to distribute the cost of hiring guards among them. After all, a caravan of twice as many people didn¡¯t need twice as many guards if there were only incidental attacks by beasts to worry about. Even if bandits were included, a proportionately smaller increase in guards provided a significant deterrent. Ofrurg also cracked down hard on banditry inside of their borders, though just like the Order in Graotan they couldn¡¯t completely eradicate the danger. Not without completely eradicating people. While Anton was willing to pay to free those he knew from slavery, that was already the limit of how far he would support the system. He settled for a group that at least was not transporting slaves, though some of their workers were certainly enslaved. It wasn¡¯t going to be possible to completely avoid slavery in a country where it was legal. The head of the caravan guard was a dark skinned man with a strong aura. He sat outside near where a caravan was beginning to organize itself. It wasn¡¯t just his cultivation in mid Spirit Building that made his aura strong, but also the way it was displayed. It was¡­ sharp. Like an unsheathed blade, though as Anton and the others approached he didn¡¯t feel a threat against them. ¡°Greetings,¡± Anton inclined his head, ¡°I hear we must talk to you to be hired for caravan security? We would also like to bring five non-combatants along with us.¡± ¡°I am the man you seek,¡± the man¡¯s deep voice spoke precisely, with a hint of an Ambati accent. ¡°Your names and specializations?¡± ¡°Anton Krantz. I am an archer. I can provide a demonstration, if you wish.¡± The man nodded, writing something down. ¡°In a moment. And you?¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°I focus on the axe. I can break through heavy defenses, if we encounter wild beasts.¡± He nodded again, ¡°And you?¡± he turned to Catarina. ¡°I wield a straight sword, but I am also an apprentice formation user.¡± That seemed to catch his interest. ¡°I see. We shall test if your abilities align with your cultivations.¡± He stood up from the table he was sitting at, ¡°I am Ayotunde Idowu. I shall challenge each of you there, in that field, to test your skills.¡± He gestured, ¡°First, the old man.¡± As he moved, he pulled a large sword out of a sheathe leaning on the table next to him. He could have said the archer, Anton thought as he moved towards where Ayotunde gestured. But perhaps that was the point. To annoy him and throw him off. Ayotunde gave him a generous ten meters of separation to begin with. Enough he could certainly fire a few shots before the man got close. Anton had no belief he would defeat a man in Spirit Building even with a bit of range to begin with, but he could hopefully make a good showing. ¡°Make the first move,¡± Ayotunde said. ¡°As you move, so will I.¡± Anton nodded. With that permission and feeling the man¡¯s energy defenses were in place he raised his arm as if to grab an arrow from his quiver, but instead moved his hand to the string, drawing a Spirit Arrow and firing directly towards the man¡¯s chest. Ayotunde flicked his sword towards the arrow, but Anton very slightly pulled back on its momentum. That reduced its impact, but let it bypass his parry. The arrow did no damage to the man as it struck his energy, but it slowed him slightly. Ayotunde was fast on his feet, and his long legs certainly didn¡¯t hurt his speed. Anton fired two more quick arrows as the man moved, trying to track his exact motion. He would have liked to move away, but he couldn¡¯t even move at half the man¡¯s speed so it would be fruitless. Instead, he steadied himself for one final shot. Ayotunde¡¯s sword came up, ready to sweep towards Anton- its power overwhelming but clearly restrained below the level of a Spirit Building cultivator- and the arrow flew forward. It curved upwards, striking the man¡¯s wrist as Anton dodged to the side, shooting another arrow into the man¡¯s side as the sword veered slightly off course, slicing smoothly into the ground. The arrow hit his side directly, but it couldn¡¯t puncture a hole all the way through his energy. Anton prepared to sweep out with his leg to throw the man off, but as he did so- ¡°Enough,¡± Ayotunde said. ¡°Your combat skills are sufficient.¡± He pulled his sword out of the ground, where Anton saw a clean cut in the dirt. He would have needed to expend all of his energy on defense to withstand that attack. ¡°Next-¡± Ayotunde gestured to Hoyt. Chapter 48 Hoyt didn¡¯t have the luxury of starting at range like Anton, which meant he had to deal with Ayotunde¡¯s swift and sharp blade the moment they began. The Spirit Building cultivator was only holding back in terms of energy used, not technique. Hoyt used the momentum of his swings to parry the sword while dealing glancing blows to the man himself. However, he wasn¡¯t able to break through Ayotunde¡¯s defense. The dark-skinned man was restraining his attacks, but his defenses had the full power of a Spirit Building cultivator. With a forceful swing, Hoyt knocked the large sword back to the furthest extent of Ayotunde¡¯s reach, seeming to nearly knock the sword out of his hands. On the backswing, Hoyt aimed straight for Ayotunde¡¯s chest. With a flash even Anton found hard to follow, Ayotunde¡¯s sword had crossed in front of the two warriors. Hoyt¡¯s axe was flying through the air and he had a shallow cut along his forearm. Hoyt held up his hands, ¡°Ah¡­ a feint. And I fell right for it.¡± Ayotunde nodded, ¡°Your skills are sufficient as well. Next¡­ the girl. Show me your skill in formations.¡± Catarina first displayed a concealing formation. Anton hadn¡¯t been on the outside of one, and it was quite a strange experience. In one version she merely disappeared. It wasn¡¯t quite perfect, because he could sense traces of her energy, but then again he already knew where she was. If he did not, he could easily miss her. The second version she hid not only herself, but the table Ayotunde had set up for his papers. The wider range allowed Anton to see slight visual flaws¡­ but again, he knew where to look. If he were just passing by, he could easily overlook them. Ayotunde also tested Catarina¡¯s barriers, ramping up the power of his attacks until he broke through. ¡°Good. All three of you pass. The payment shall be standard for a cultivator of your level, eighth or seventh¡­ with the formation user being one higher, at eighth. Combat pay is extra.¡± Ayotunde produced contracts Anton was aware were quite standard. They were quite simple, as such things went. Obviously if they abandoned the caravan they would not get paid- though they could get partial payment if they had to depart the caravan along the way and properly got permission to leave. For the particular route they were going, it was unlikely to be relevant. A tall man in fine clothes approached. His height limited the visual effects of his pronounced belly, which might have otherwise made him quite round. ¡°Idowu! You¡¯re not hiring more guards, are you?¡± Ayotunde looked the man dead in the eye. ¡°Caravan Master Wilbur. You tasked me with protecting the caravan. I am merely doing so.¡± Anton could see the sharpness in the man¡¯s eyes¡­ and almost feel it. The type of energy he cultivated was not a style Anton recognized, though he hadn¡¯t been exposed to that many types of cultivators. Mostly those from the Ninety-Nine Stars and those he¡¯d seen in Edelhull and Veron. The tall man backed down. ¡°Alright. Fine. But I think those you¡¯ve already hired will be quite sufficient.¡± ¡°With the addition of these three, it shall be enough,¡± Ayotunde said agreeably. The portly man sighed and turned to the trio of cultivators. ¡°A pleasure to meet you. I am Caravan Master Frank Wilbur. I deal mostly in herbs and spices. Normally we do not hire so many guards, but we have quite a number of attached groups this time.¡± ¡°There are a dozen others,¡± Ayotunde explained, ¡°Mid to late body tempering. Then an equal number of early body tempering and non-cultivator guards.¡± ¡°All for a dozen wagons. It seems quite excessive to me,¡± Wilbur shook his head, ¡°But at least we¡¯re splitting the costs.¡± ¡°Should trouble arise, you will be wishing we had more. No matter how many we have. They have five followers as well,¡± Ayotunde mentioned. ¡°Right. Have them bring two weeks of rations. We can supply that, of course, but it would cost you. We can handle the water for five more without issue. Now then, I have other things to see to.¡± The caravan master turned and left. Off in the distance he could be heard chastising some workers for how they had loaded goods, ¡°You¡¯ll unbalance the wagon with a setup like that!¡± Ayotunde smiled at the group, ¡°He is a fine enough man to work for, but he must keep the costs in mind. I too hope that we will not meet much trouble- but if we are to run into trouble we will need each of you.¡± He looked them over, ¡°You cultivate the Ninety-Nine Stars, yes? I do not see many from your sect here. More in Ambati. I walk the path of blades, and cultivate the Western Steel Body technique.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of it,¡± Hoyt mentioned, ¡°There¡¯s a stronger focus on cultivating the body at every stage than many others.¡± ¡°That is correct. Many neglect the power of their own body in favor of the power of energy beyond the first stage.¡± Ayotunde shrugged, ¡°It is not impossible to temper both. Just a bit slower.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to hear about it,¡± Anton said. ¡°The Ninety-Nine Stars still considers the body during Spirit Building, but I¡¯m sure the methods differ. Though of course I don¡¯t have any experience at Spirit Building yet.¡± Ayotunde grinned, ¡°Many keep the secrets of cultivation to themselves. They do not know they have the key to treasures the other hold. I would gladly exchange thoughts with the three of you. The young ones have much potential¡­¡± Ayotunde frowned as he looked over Anton, ¡°But you are much more difficult to read. You¡¯re not an elder guiding the others, are you?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°No. I¡¯m just a disciple.¡± ¡°Hmm. Now I am very curious. But we must introduce you to the others.¡± ----- Anton didn¡¯t find himself impressed by any of the other guards. It wasn¡¯t that he expected them to be as strong as Ayotunde. Obviously they wouldn¡¯t be, since they were still in Body Tempering, but their demeanors didn¡¯t impress him. However, he knew they should at least be competent in battle. The entire trip should be about a week in duration, if they did not run into any delays. Pete and the others walked along with the caravan, as did many others. The wagons could carry drivers and a passenger or two, but the majority of the space was reserved for goods. Anton, Hoyt, and Catarina were stationed together in the middle of the caravan. The first day had little of interest, but it was also one of the most unlikely points to encounter trouble. At night, Catarina arranged the area around the camp into a bit of a formation. Without the ability to modify the wagons themselves or special materials to add power it was only able to have a slight aversion force to keep people and creatures away subconsciously, but Anton knew that should be sufficient for most cases. Guards stood four shifts during the night, with Anton being in the second. There wasn¡¯t much to do except look out at the darkness¡­ and up at the stars. He could only do so much of the latter to prevent his thoughts from drifting away. Even if there probably wouldn¡¯t be danger, he wanted to be as responsible as possible with his watch. Still, he could cultivate. He focused energy on his eyes and ears, picking out the sounds of myriad insects and the noises of nearby animals. His brain had to filter the large amount of stimulus he was receiving and make sense of it, and the more he practiced the better it was. He circulated his energy through the rest of his body as well, and of course through the surface of his skin. He just needed some time or one more good push forward to reach the ninth star. Rescuing Pete and the others was emotionally satisfying, but the feeling was tempered by knowing there were so many more people still in captivity. Not just those he knew, but many others. The stars inside of him pulsed as he considered how strong he would need to be to change that. It couldn¡¯t be just himself, either. One man couldn¡¯t match a country. After all, even if he reached the very peak there would be others as well. ----- A bolt of golden yellow energy streaked into the woods, spattering into the forest floor below the feet of a wolf. The creature turned to flee, and so did those around it. ¡°... did you miss?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°They¡¯re just wolves. Hungry, maybe, but this is wild area. They should be allowed to live here. Now they¡¯ll be a bit more wary of humans.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°And wolf tastes awful. I¡¯m not carrying a carcass with me for a bit of hide, either.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t sensed any magical beasts,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°They don¡¯t live close to the road,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°But some of them might choose to come here. But I¡¯d be more concerned about bandits. We have too many guards.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t the guards dissuade them from attacking?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Yes. But¡­ the caravan master and guard leader Idowu must know the value of the caravan. They would not hire so many unless there is something of value. But perhaps nothing will happen.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t sound convinced,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Cultivators both prevent and attract trouble,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Ofrurg feels like the sort of place that has more of the latter.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± Anton said. ¡°Just remember to keep your eyes and ears open.¡± Chapter 49 Major, sudden changes tended to leave Pete Sharman in a stunned state for a while. He didn¡¯t think it would be much different for anyone else. After being captured and sold as a slave, that period was a few months. Most people in villages like Dungannon worked on farms at least part of the year. Being captured and sold as a slave was a dizzying turn of events that left him spinning for months. The sheer quantity of labor expected of him increased suddenly, and he had little time to think. Just work. Day in and day out. Work hard to hopefully avoid punishment, eat, sleep, repeat. The food was nothing much to speak of. Just enough to keep working and no more. The sleeping accommodations at least kept them from literally freezing to death at night. He was resigned to that being his whole life, no break in the monotony or time to socialize with others. Combined with the lack of choice, everything just became worse. It dragged on forever, days blurring together and seasons turning. Then he¡¯d shown up. Anton Krantz. Or a man claiming to be him, anyway. Pete wasn¡¯t going to complain, but the man didn¡¯t quite look like he remembered. He¡¯d expected someone¡­ older? Everyone in Dungannon knew the Krantz farm, or at least knew of them. Pete was quite certain he¡¯d seen someone with the same features he thought was Anton, but this fellow was¡­ younger. Not young by any means, but merely old instead of ancient. Perhaps a son? Had one of the sons been named Anton too? That might be it. It was awkward to ask, and they didn¡¯t speak much in a casual manner. He wasn¡¯t unapproachable, but¡­ it was a strange situation. He bought them out of slavery, freed them on the spot. He promised to bring them somewhere safe¡­ and began to teach them to cultivate. They couldn¡¯t thank him enough, and he wouldn¡¯t let them. Not too much, anyway. ¡°Just doing what should be done,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m trying to make the world a less awful place, for myself.¡± That was what he said, and Pete didn¡¯t have the mental fortitude to argue with him. Anton was one of those types, anyway. He¡¯d do everything he thought needed to be done and not expect anyone to say a word. Cultivation¡­ he¡¯d never expected to actually set foot along that path. He hadn¡¯t even really known anything about it. It was a vague, mysterious thing. But when Anton explained what to do, Pete realized there was simply more to the world than he¡¯d paid attention to. Maybe he just hadn¡¯t known where or how to look. Natural energy was a strange thing¡­ and while tempering his body was hard, it was no worse than a day out in the fields- and it felt better afterwards. He was improving himself instead of slowly wearing himself down. Anton said they could do whatever they wanted. Maybe that was actually true, but Pete wasn¡¯t sure what he wanted except that it wasn¡¯t staying in Ofrurg. So he walked along the road with Anton and the caravan the cultivators were guarding. Some day he would figure out what Anton wanted¡­ and maybe he could pay him back. Though it was a bit difficult to pay back your entire life. ----- In accordance with his own advice, Anton kept his senses on alert as much as was feasibly possible. During the day he scanned the sides of the roads for anything hiding in wait. At night he listened, mainly to the comforting hoots of owls and other sounds to be expected of night in a forest. The howl of wolves was some cause for concern, but they did not seem to be close and would generally avoid large groups of people. If magical beasts were involved then any standard behavior might be ignored, but speculating on every possible event that might happen was merely a waste of time. There were too many places for things to hide in the trees, so Anton was somewhat relieved when the terrain became more rocky, with less ability for large trees and undergrowth to thrive. The road itself was wide enough to provide little concealment along its length, and it had been in good condition for most of the journey. Catarina walked alongside the road, in the rough terrain. She kicked rocks about and dragged the sheath of her sword in the dirt. She cut branches off of trees and replanted flowers at her whim. Perhaps some of it was boredom, but Anton knew at least some portion of it had something to do with formations. Except when they camped at night, she didn¡¯t actually have the time to complete a formation, but just because she couldn¡¯t complete one didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t think about how she would set one up in any given area. Anton¡¯s eyes landed on the road. From the middle of the caravan it was difficult to make out what was in front, but the constant practice was good for his technique. He didn¡¯t see anything that stood out on the road¡­ but perhaps that was the problem. It was too smooth. ¡°I think I see something. I¡¯m going to go talk to guard leader Idowu.¡± Hoyt nodded, and Catarina¡¯s eyes flashed. She began a more intentional series of movements where she stood alongside the road. The caravan kept moving, but Anton could move much more quickly than just horses pulling wagons. Ayotunde obviously sensed Anton approach, turning his head to see him. ¡°Yes? Is there something amiss?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure, Guard Leader. But my eyes picked out a portion of road up ahead, it is¡­ too flat? Not enough pebbles and irregularities. It could be a pit trap...¡± Ayotunde turned his head back to the front, focusing energy on his eyes. While he didn¡¯t have a formalized technique, he could certainly improve his vision a reasonable amount. ¡°A pit trap? I think not. No, it¡¯s something else.¡± He raised his hand calling out behind them, ¡°Halt the caravan! Be on guard! The rear guard especially, check the back!¡± He gestured to Anton, ¡°Hurry forward with me. I believe I have something interesting to show you.¡± Ayotunde ran forward at a quick pace, Anton falling a bit behind. The dark-skinned man stopped a dozen meters short of the spot Anton had seen, picking up a small boulder by the side of the road. It must have weighed as much as a man, but after he used two hands to get a solid grip and heft it high, he tossed it forward with just one hand. The boulder landed on the patch of too-perfect road¡­ and exploded. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. There was only an instant between when it touched the ground and when the ground fell apart. At the same instant, the boulder shattered into pieces. Anton merely saw great pincers the length of his arms retracting into the ground, their initial movement having been too fast to see. The ground itself was no longer perfect in the area, but the dirt shook and it started evening out. ¡°As I thought. A valley chomper, as expected. Which means-¡± howls came from behind the caravan, ¡°-we should get back. Scavengers like to drive herds of animals into these, then feasts on whatever is left.¡± Ayotunde kicked up chunks of road as he sprinted back towards the caravan. Anton followed at a slightly more conservative pace. If absolutely necessary he could fire from one end of the caravan to the other, but as his eyes picked out the wolves in the rear he saw they weren¡¯t magical beasts. They were somewhat larger than he might expect, but they didn¡¯t seem¡­ healthy. They had sandy brown fur, mottled with patches of black, white, and grey- but with patches also missing randomly. Anton could just make out the ribs of some of the creatures. So far, they were merely barking and snarling at those in the rear, clearly hoping to chase them forward. The caravaneers had some trouble keeping the horses under control, but the rear guards were keeping the wolves at bay. Then Anton¡¯s ears picked up an extremely familiar twang and the sound of something cutting through the air. Some of the guards had bows, but the sound Anton heard was off the road. Anton¡¯s eyes flicked towards the sounds with enough alacrity for him to yell, ¡°Bandits!¡± with just enough time to give people half a second to react. Fortunately the dozen arrows claimed no lives in the initial volley. Though Anton could sense energy enhancing them, only one had the sense of an actual archery technique attached. That arrow struck the side of one of the other guards, but he¡¯d managed to rouse some extra energy defenses with the warning. Enough to survive, at least. Perhaps if they¡¯d driven into the valley chomper, the chaos would have made the caravan completely incapable of defending themselves, but though some of the guards were out of place, they were able to react. Anton didn¡¯t even have to move further to fire back at the bandits. His first arrow flew straight towards the ribs of a tall fellow among the bandits. They were ready for an attack, but perhaps not ready for the arrow to redirect itself as they leaned backwards. Anton had thought they would retreat that way, pulling away from him at the angle he was shooting. As the Spirit Arrow pierced into their ribs, Anton realized it was a woman. He supposed that made just as much sense as anyone else becoming a bandit, but it threw off his rhythm slightly. Out from crouching behind larger boulders or from behind some of the wider trees came yet more bandits. They were far enough from the road that they couldn¡¯t be easily sensed- and clearly they had trained to limit how much their energy was noticed- but that distance also meant they had to take time to approach the caravan. With the woman he¡¯d shot ducking back into full cover and clutching the hole in her side, Anton picked another target. It was a meaningless thought in the grand scheme of things, but Anton didn¡¯t want the first person he killed to be a woman. As his second shot flew true into the sternum of one of the ¡®archers¡¯ somewhere in mid Body Tempering, his wish was granted. However, that shot drew the attention of the better archer among the group. Somewhere in late Body Tempering, perhaps even the peak. As an arrow flew towards Anton, time seemed to slow in a moment of great concentration. He judged the trajectory of the arrow in a mere instant- compared to Elder Kseniya¡¯s shots it hardly moved at all. His body still was a moment slow to react and it took a portion of his defensive energy with it as it passed, but he took no damage to his person. Nobody else existed. The people in the caravan next to him would have to handle themselves. Even Hoyt and Catarina faded from his thoughts, though not consciously. He couldn¡¯t think about them, or he would die. An arrow of his own was rapidly shot at the enemy archer, even as he tumbled off the road to where there was more cover. If he moved to stand on the boulder in front of him he could get a good shot but leave himself open. Instead he turned slightly, running in front of said boulder. He lined up his next shot as he moved, aware that his accuracy would suffer. Another arrow came in return, swirling energy betraying its presence but also signifying its deadliness. It flew just over his head as Anton continued running straight ahead- into a small dip that couldn¡¯t be seen from the bandit¡¯s angle. ----- A rock slammed into the guts of an approaching bandit as Catarina kicked it towards the oncoming group. It merely bounced off of his defensive energy, but it slowed him half a step. ¡°I told you I wasn¡¯t paranoid!¡± Catarina said to Hoyt. She pointed to another rock, ¡°That one! Just throw it anywhere!¡± Hoyt reached down with one hand to grab a rock the size of his head. While she said anywhere, what she really meant was away from where she¡¯d been messing around to set up a formation, in the minute or so since Anton had said he saw something ahead. Hoyt wasn¡¯t sure if the formation was working or if he was lucky, but the rock hit straight into the ankle of one of the approaching enemies, causing them to stumble. He ducked beneath an arrow from one of the archers, though most of them were approaching closer and drawing melee weapons. Bandits were attacking from the other side of the road as well, but Ayotunde had turned that way the moment they appeared. Hoyt didn¡¯t have the luxury of turning to watch, but several sources of energy had met Ayotunde¡­ and then disappeared a moment later. That seemed to be a good sign. The rear of the caravan was still beset by wolves, but they weren¡¯t especially eager to attack. They were merely holding a standoff with some of the guards there, tying up resources and three guards. The first bandit to reach Hoyt found himself missing an arm as he tried to parry Hoyt¡¯s axe. He would have liked to attribute that entirely to his own skill, but the bandit was slightly lower in cultivation¡­ and had been sluggish with his control of energy at the last moment. The formation at work. Though the formation only covered the area immediately around Hoyt and Catarina, there were perhaps only thirty or forty bandits total. They outnumbered those in the caravan, but they were individually weaker than the best. Though that was only because they could count Ayotunde. He was fending off almost half of the attackers all on his own. That was a middle Spirit Building cultivator for you. Hoyt readied himself for the next enemies to approach, standing close to Catarina and one of the other guards as she channelled her energy into the simple formation she had set up. There had been some dangerous arrows from someone late in Body Tempering¡­ and Hoyt sensed that same energy further off the road along with Anton¡¯s. Catarina obviously wanted to go help, but if she left the formation their side of the caravan would probably collapse. Chapter 50 A large pack of wolves stood behind the caravan. There were a few cultivators fending them off, but several of those had split off to fight bandits. That left fewer people at the rear, and among those was Pete and the other villagers. They were technically cultivators, though probably shouldn¡¯t call themselves that without even having finished the first star. They might not have had the same strength, but they did have weapons. They stood together side by side. ¡°James. Steven. Watch the flanks. If any get too close, just swing at them. Don¡¯t let them spook the horses.¡± This wasn¡¯t their job, but sitting around being helpless wasn¡¯t something Pete wanted to encounter ever again. The wolves were a bit tall, but they weren¡¯t too bulky. And they clearly didn¡¯t want to get in an actual fight. With a few people standing firm together, any time one approached a quick swipe at it with a sword drove it away. It wasn¡¯t enough to kill the wolves, but they had to hold out. Relying on others to ultimately save them was a bit frustrating, but that was part of why they were cultivating. They would grow stronger, so they could do what they wanted to do, instead of what circumstances forced upon them. For that, they had to survive the moment. Three of the wolves sprang forward at one of the cultivators. Pete wasn¡¯t that good at judging cultivation levels, especially not in the heat of battle. He should be¡­ mid body tempering somewhere? It didn¡¯t matter. The man held the wolves at bay with a spear, but they were spreading around him as he backed towards the rear wagon and more were moving in. Pete gestured the other two to one side, then came at the left wolf from its own flank. His sword flicked out, barely scraping along the creature¡¯s fur. An overestimation of his own reach. He was intending to kill the beast, but instead focused it on him. There were a few moments of standoff after it turned, Pete holding his sword ready in front, trying to figure out how to attack. Then the wolf leaped at his throat. More by virtue of having the proper stance drilled into him than any movement of his own, Pete¡¯s sword drove into the creature¡¯s chest. It didn¡¯t immediately stop the wolf, however. Teeth and claws scraped at Pete¡¯s face and chest. There would probably be more scars to go with the one on his cheek¡­ but only if he survived. Pete thrashed and struggled, trying to pull his sword out for another attack¡­ but after some time rolling around on the ground he realized he was just stuck under the body of the wolf. It was heavy, even when emaciated like it was¡­ but he had decent enough strength. Once he was more methodical, he pushed it off of him and was able to stand. Not a glorious battle¡­ but the wolves were beginning to retreat. As for the rest of the battle... ----- Splinters flew at Anton¡¯s eyes as an arrow struck a tree directly to his side. The arrow remained there as a reminder of how close he was to dying. But¡­ while he hadn¡¯t expected a violent end, Anton had already come to terms with his death. There were new things he had to do before it happened, but he wasn¡¯t afraid of it. Besides, this death wouldn¡¯t be random and unexpected. He could do something about this with his own hands. Fighting arrows was much better than fighting age. The two archers were moving further and further afield, away from the rest of the battle. Anton had driven them away half on purpose and half by it merely being the best cover for himself. Dipping around boulders and into gulleys made it hard to hit him. His own arrows seldom found their mark, but seldom wasn¡¯t never. It was merely an issue that his opponent had a higher cultivation. With the range involved, Anton couldn¡¯t keep quite the level of power he needed to pierce through their energy defenses. He had no interest in testing the converse. His opponent seemed to be getting frustrated. That was what Anton read from his face. Why couldn¡¯t he hit Anton? It was quite simple. Anton already knew where he was going to shoot. With about¡­ two thirds accuracy. The remaining third he had to dodge once he picked out the actual trajectory, instead of just anticipating the attack. Anton¡¯s opponent likewise predicted his shots, but Anton had an advantage there. Changing the trajectory of Spirit Arrows was easier than that of physical arrows¡­ and his arrows were faster. He didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to study his opponent¡¯s bow, but from what he saw and the sounds it made it wasn¡¯t quite as good as Anton¡¯s. A little bit less snappy. Even though he was the only one who had landed any hits, that didn¡¯t mean he was winning. His opponent might run out of arrows before him, or they might not. Anton could shoot a hundred or two hundred Spirit Arrows consecutively in training, but in the heat of combat where much of his energy went to movement it wasn¡¯t the same. More importantly, he felt the flow state he¡¯d fallen into gradually fading. His awareness of the rest of the world was returning¡­ though really it was just the sharpness of his opponent that was fading and by contrast he was more aware of the rest by comparison. Anton¡¯s eyes scanned the surroundings, falling onto Catarina far off in the distance. She was fighting against several others. Hoyt was nearby, bleeding from a cut on his forehead. Pete and the others were at the rear of the caravan, fending off the wolves with some of the cultivators. He was aware that he might lose, but as he made the firm choice not to everything fell into place. Anton formed a Spirit Arrow, pulling his hand back next to his ear. He saw the bandit doing much the same. It was a question of who would choose to dodge which way, and how much that would throw off their aim. But as his last moment of clarity diminished, Anton released the Spirit Arrow. He moved forward with it, at great speed. His body remained where it was, but his vision locked on the other arrow. They seemed as if they might collide head on, but they merely brushed past each other. Though they didn¡¯t directly touch, the energy around them each diverted the other arrow slightly. Anton was now over halfway to his target. Three quarters. He could see the man¡¯s eyes with clarity, the way the bow was oscillating as it returned to its resting state. He looked straight into the man¡¯s eyes, and that was where he flew¡­ where his arrow flew. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. He came back to his body¡¯s normal senses as blood trickled down the side of his neck. Though he hadn¡¯t been fully in his body, he was stepping out of the way of the arrow to the best of his ability¡­ and it had been just enough. But he¡¯d once again been one with his arrow. It was something he wished he could do at will, but never really got the hang of. He placed his hand on his neck, where the cut was. He had no worries about being shot. He knew his arrow struck true, even though his opponent¡¯s energy hadn¡¯t fully faded yet. Seeing that their plans hadn¡¯t gone quite as they wished, the bandits were already fleeing. Fewer than a quarter of their numbers were dead, but while they might possibly win if they remained, no individual valued their life so little that they wanted to stay. Anton resolved to give them a reminder to not consider it again. It wasn¡¯t honorable to shoot fleeing foes, but neither was it honorable to be a bandit. Three arrows flew out in quick succession before the bandits were too far for him to reach, though he had no intent to chase them down on his own after that point. ----- Anton realized he¡¯d slightly underestimated the bandit¡¯s casualties. One the side of the road he was on, his count had been accurate. Ayotunde¡¯s side had much higher casualties. Though he was quite able to take down that many opponents by himself, Anton could clearly see why a further dozen cultivator guards had been necessary. Two mid body tempering guards were dead, and several others were injured. There were a small number of casualties among the merchants as well, and Caravan Master Wilbur was speaking to Ayotunde in hushed tones. The sort of level tempered ears could pick up easily enough with just a tiny bit of extra energy. ¡°... after us?¡± the caravan master said worriedly. Ayotunde shook his head. ¡°They were merely interested in whoever ran into this hazard first. They could have been hoping that I would be injured by the valley chomper. Unless they failed to notice me somehow.¡± Wilbur sighed, ¡°You were right, as always. What bad luck.¡± ¡°Someone would run into this. Now, the journey should be safer for the next several trips, until some new group decides to try their luck.¡± Wilbur shook his head. ¡°Didn¡¯t have to be us, though.¡± With that, he was off to deal with other issues. Ayotunde waved as he saw Anton approaching. ¡°There you are! Good work. No doubt I would have spotted that valley chomper, but only once closer. The eyes of an archer are truly something else.¡± Anton smiled, letting his eyes flicker with energy, ¡°It¡¯s all about the technique. If I can¡¯t see as far as I want to shoot, I¡¯ll become worthless.¡± Ayotunde snorted, ¡°It¡¯s quite a distance. I heard you engaged someone at the peak of Body Tempering?¡± ¡°I believe so,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say for certain now.¡± Anton looked around. ¡°What will we do with the bodies?¡± ¡°We bury our own. Deep enough to discourage scavengers. The rest¡­ do not deserve a proper burial. If we did not have to watch out for the caravan, I would like to track down their lair¡­¡± It took a moment for Anton to consider. He could indeed track them on his own, maybe even kill a few¡­ but there were enough bandits remaining that they would either leave the caravan undefended or risk too much with a smaller group. If only he was in Spirit Building. That way, he could attack from a further distance and retreat safely, even if he couldn¡¯t directly engage so many. ¡°What about the valley chomper?¡± ¡°You up for some more archery?¡± Ayotunde asked. ¡°It¡¯s strong enough to pierce through most armor, but its mobility is¡­ negligible. I can perhaps trick it out of its trap once more, and if you can shoot it the instant it surfaces¡­ we might kill it. If not, it will flee underground. I would prefer not to pass the problem on to the next group to pass, if we have the option.¡± ¡°There are spare bows,¡± Anton said. ¡°We might as well apply those too.¡± A few minutes later, any of the guards who were in good shape had a bow in hand. All of them would have probably fired a bow at some point, but few of them could be considered archers. If Anton were to judge, Hoyt and Catarina had the best form. That might have just been his bias, though. ¡°Alright,¡± Ayotunde hefted another large rock. ¡°Prepare to draw. You want your arrow to arrive the instant after the rock.¡± The rock sailed through the air. A handful of arrows were in the air after it¡­ but they veered off course and even passed it. Anton had gathered an exceptionally strong Spirit Arrow, and he was aware of how precise the timing had to be with the one previous view of the valley chomper. Before the rock landed his arrow was released. Then there was a loud crunch, pincers visible in the air, crushing the rock to pieces. Another handful of arrows struck the general area a second later after the creature retracted into its sandy pit. But¡­ blood splattered on the dirt behind it. ¡°It should be dead,¡± Anton said. ¡°If it cares at all for its organs.¡± ¡°I heard its carapace crack,¡± Ayotunde said. ¡°Nice shot.¡± ¡°If I have all the time in the world, as an archer¡­ I would be ashamed to fail such a shot. I haven¡¯t been shooting arrows for a century for nothing.¡± After waiting for a minute, Ayotunde walked forward. Then he shoved his arms into the loose ground that had previously appeared so precise and smooth. He yanked them back out with a large bodied creature that seemed to be half mandibles. He turned the creature towards the group and looked through it at them. It was only a small hole, less than the diameter of a pinky finger, but the edges were nearly smooth. ¡°Good!¡± He said. ¡°Now we just need to pack the road firm again.¡± He clapped his hands, ¡°And we can feast on valley chomper! I assure you, none of you have ever had anything like it before.¡± Chapter 51 There was a reason nobody had eaten anything like valley chomper before. The muscle was extremely dense and chewy. Anton wouldn¡¯t have called it food or even edible. Ayotunde seemed to derive great pleasure from watching others try to eat it¡­ though he also consumed it himself. Perhaps it was an acquired taste. Either way, it worked Anton¡¯s jaw muscles to try to eat it. Though the merchants and cultivators grumbled about being attacked, Anton found the lack of concern for the deaths to be rather disconcerting. Proper respect was paid for allies, and while he wasn¡¯t interested in performing a nice ceremony for bandits it seemed strange to take so much death in stride. It wasn¡¯t like the deaths Anton had experienced for most of his life, the deaths of time and disease. On the other hand¡­ he had little emotional connection to the guards who had perished. He just thought that human life should matter more. The promise of extra pay for the battle and the spoils of war did little to offset the sense of apathy. The rest of the journey gave Anton time to ponder on those thoughts. ----- Since there had been a reasonable chance that they wouldn¡¯t encounter any actual difficulties, the fact that the rest of the journey went smoothly was expected, if not particularly relaxing. Anton kept his eyes and ears busy looking for further trouble until the signs of civilization were visible on the horizon. Anton couldn¡¯t say that Khonard was much different from Veron, though its layout was quite different. Traffic was mostly expected to flow in from the east and north, instead of all directions like Veron. Their approach from the south came with fewer encounters of other travelers. After collecting his pay, Anton found he made enough to purchase another one or two people from slavery. There was also a bit extra to be made from the sale of some of the bandits weapons and armor. If he made the same amount every week, within a year he could afford to free every villager of Dungannon who had been enslaved, if he could find them all. And in that same year¡­ how many others would have to die? In a practical sense Anton should have been concerned that it eventually might be him¡­ but he merely thought about the totals. Most journeys would be less dangerous and less profitable, but Anton could see why there were relatively few cultivators at the higher levels. Even if they had the talent, many would perish along the way. It was easy to say only the foolish or reckless would die, but it could also happen from bad luck. Then again, was it much different from a normal life? Anton was extremely unlikely to fall and break his neck or catch a sickness now that he was a cultivator, but such mundane deaths happened to people all the time. But perhaps he was looking at things the wrong way. He should consider what good he did for the world, not what ill he failed to stop. Though the route they had taken was indeed more dangerous, several trips along the other route had a similar chance of danger. People had to travel between cities regardless of haste. So if he could prevent some death while earning money to redeem those he wanted to save, was that a bad thing? He just wished there were more things to do that didn¡¯t involve violence. He already felt the desire to return to the Order where he could be more productive with his cultivation instead of merely violent. Then again, Anton supposed other sects had to have similar peaceful methods- but for travelers like him the jobs would clearly fall on the more dangerous side. Inns came in various levels of cost and value. If one merely wanted a place to sleep, getting a roof over their head was simple. Anton had a bit more desire than that, but a simple room was not hard to get. On the other hand, there were more advantageously located inns for cultivators that were around higher concentrations of natural energy and might even have energy gathering formations. The first was more affordable, and since Catarina could at least provide temporary formations for the group the price was most efficient. Combat allowed for quicker growth in cultivation, though it was balanced by the risks involved. Each of the trio had gained something from the battle. Hoyt had reached the seventh star not too long before, but he was making great strides towards the eighth star through his own efforts and Anton¡¯s guidance. Even Catarina actually asked for Anton¡¯s guidance, because she didn¡¯t find herself naturally progressing as quickly while tempering her head. The problem was that she¡¯d never really had to strain her eyes and ears for anything, and merely circulating energy only did so much. She was close to breaking through to the eighth star. Anton found himself pushing towards the ninth star. The cultivation of his skin was nearing its peak, at least what he could accomplish. His skin regained a small amount of its youth, tightness and durability returning. Pushing himself beyond his limits was becoming almost a routine. With his eyes set far beyond Body Tempering, he cultivated with vigor and formed the ninth star. The next star was the real challenge. The tenth star was the third prime tempering and the end of Body Tempering, a recultivation of the whole body. Whether or not he could get past that point would determine his entire future as a cultivator. But there was no point in considering whether or not he could. He had to, therefore he would. That was all there was to it. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ----- Pete and the other four from Dungannon were now past ten days into cultivating. By any measurement that was extremely new. Even the experience of battle did little for them, but Anton could at least sense changes to their body as they progressed through the first full body tempering. If nothing else they should be able to complete the first star, and that would improve the quality of their life. He wanted to give them the chance to seek their own futures¡­ but it was unsafe for them to go off on their own just yet and nobody wished to remain in Ofrurg. He would lead them back into Graotan soon enough, but they hadn¡¯t come to Khonard for nothing. Devon should be in Khonard. The last information was that he still lived, fighting in an arena. That could change at any time, but Anton had to hope he¡¯d lasted the last few months after he made it half a year. He still found himself nervous about it. Khonard had several competing arenas. The title of grand arena shifted between the various arenas in the city, but the northeastern arena had not held that title in decades. It had gained a reputation as a more mundane arena where common folk could more easily afford to watch arena fights. Unfortunately, the fact that it didn¡¯t display much in the way of cultivators fighting didn¡¯t make it less lethal, since generally people of vaguely similar strength would fight each other. Those who owned the arena generally placed their name on it, along with any titles. Thus, the northeastern arena was also the Irvin arena, with no other names. But despite it being the least prominent arena in the city, it wasn¡¯t a place of no consequence. Anton felt the presence of several late Body Tempering cultivators throughout the arena, clearly guards and not visitors. ¡°No matches today,¡± the guards out front informed Anton and the others as they approached. ¡°That¡¯s quite alright,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m actually interested in making a purchase of one of the combatants. Is the arena master or one of his assistants available?¡± ¡°You¡¯d want the administration, across the street there. Everywhere else is off limits.¡± Even during a day with matches inside passageways would be guarded, especially to stop slaves from getting out. Though a single one of the guards should be able to handle any would-be escapees if it came down to that. While forcibly freeing his kin might be a pleasant idea, it simply wasn¡¯t practical even if they made it away from the arena. ¡°We¡¯ll go check there.¡± Having Catarina and Hoyt with him made Anton seem more important, at least he presumed so. At least he was clearly not a lone cultivator, and that could impact business dealings. The offices across the street appeared quite pleasant, though Anton wouldn¡¯t expect any less. They were similarly guarded, though with somewhat lower cultivations. More of a reminder than a barrier to attacks. Any foolish attempt at a heist of some sort would have city guards coming in moments, in addition to those from the arena itself. An assistant sat in the lobby behind a desk, shuffling through some papers. He looked up as Anton and the others entered. ¡°Welcome, what is your business with the Irvin arena? Do you wish to sign up to participate in battles?¡± ¡°Not this time,¡± Anton said. ¡°I was hoping to purchase one of your combatants. Devon Gardner would be his name.¡± ¡°Of course, sir,¡± the man bowed his head. ¡°Let me go check if the arena master is able to see you.¡± He returned a few moments later and gestured them down a hallway. It was somewhat uncomfortable to sit down in a luxurious chair that he knew was funded by the blood of others, possibly his own kin, but Anton maintained as pleasant of a demeanor as he could in front of the arena master. ¡°So, you¡¯re interested in buying Devon Gardner,¡± the man nodded. He was a large man, well muscled. He had reached the peak of Body Tempering by Anton¡¯s judgement, though it was harder to tell with his cultivation method not being the Ninety-Nine Stars. ¡°In fact, your timing couldn¡¯t be better. He has recently advanced to mid body tempering, and we have few who are suited to match him. We would be quite happy to sell him to you.¡± Anton was glad things wouldn¡¯t be difficult, and even for Devon¡¯s apparent gain of cultivation ability. He supposed it was natural to at least give people a chance to cultivate, because it could improve their performances- though he imagined they didn¡¯t receive access to any techniques of particular merit. The downside was that he would certainly be more expensive. Still, Anton should have enough to cover the price¡­ and he could borrow some from Catarina or Hoyt if absolutely necessary. Chapter 52 The process of purchasing Devon moved quite swiftly. The longest part of the whole process was heading over to the cells in the arena where Devon was kept to make sure he was the right person. After all, Anton didn¡¯t want to spend so much money on the wrong Devon Gardner. The dingy cells they passed on the way didn¡¯t encourage Anton, but they passed all of those to enter another section. Devon had a full door with a small barred window. It allowed for more privacy¡­ but Anton was certain it was merely meant for added security. He only had to glance inside to see this was indeed the right person. Currently, he was sleeping¡­ and Anton saw no reason to change that. It would be nice to talk to him, but he would much prefer to finalize the deal first, including payment. Would an arena master raise the price just because he found out they were family? Absolutely. He couldn¡¯t expect people who bought and sold others to always engage in respectable business tactics. Then they were back in the arena master¡¯s office, writing up papers and finalizing everything. Anton was certain he could have gotten a better price¡­ but only if he was willing to wait. He could have let the man stew on an offer for a while, while Devon remained entrapped. He could have also stabbed himself in the leg, but he didn¡¯t know why he would do either of those. Things were mere moments away from wrapping up in a satisfactory manner when the assistant from out front scurried into the room. ¡°Arena master. An urgent message for you.¡± He walked up next to the man and whispered in his ear. It was, of course, extremely rude to eavesdrop on private conversation. If Anton had any respect for those involved, he might have considered whether or not he should. Energy flickered to his ears to catch what the assistant was saying clearly. ¡°The young mistress of the Potenza arena is here. She has stated her intentions to purchase Devon Gardner¡­¡± the man¡¯s eyes flicked towards Anton and the others waiting nearby. ¡°... tell her I shall be out momentarily.¡± The arena master smiled awkwardly as Anton¡¯s eyes drilled into him. The man wrung his hands together for a moment before speaking. ¡°As an honest businessman I do not like to back out of an arrangement already in progress¡­¡± Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could kill the man just by looking at him, but he did his best. ¡°... and I won¡¯t,¡± the arena master swallowed. ¡°But for your sake, I will give you the opportunity to let go of the deal. A member of the Potenzas is here wishing to purchase the same slave and it would be better for both of us if they were allowed to fulfill their wishes.¡± Anton knew a few things. Of key importance was that the Potenza arena catered more towards matches involving cultivators. Thus their arena earned more money and they had more influence than the Irvin arena where he was currently negotiating. Anton turned to see Hoyt and Catarina behind him. Then his eyes moved beyond them, though he couldn¡¯t see anything in that direction. He could, however, feel cultivators. One in late or even peak of Body Tempering, and one in Spirit Building. Early? Mid? It was difficult to tell. Catarina and Hoyt would surely support him. Would they actually be attacked in the city? Surely not. But things could be made very difficult for them¡­ and they had to leave the protection of the city eventually. A sticky situation. ¡°I will speak to her. Why don¡¯t you introduce us?¡± The arena master smiled awkwardly, ¡°Very well¡­¡± he looked slightly relieved, actually, since that would shift most of the displeasure away from himself. But he clearly also didn¡¯t want to upset three late Body Tempering cultivators. If Anton were alone¡­ things might have gone differently. The man led them out into the lobby. ¡°Young mistress Potenza, what an honor to have you here!¡± The young woman who stood in front of them had clearly put in the effort to be visually striking. She had long blonde hair that flowed past her waist along with armor made to emphasize the female form- yet still practical. The way she carried herself was certainly confident¡­ perhaps too confident. The way she turned and looked at them spoke of a young woman who always got her way¡­ even when she really shouldn¡¯t. ¡°I¡¯m sure you heard what I want. Hurry up, then.¡± ¡°Before we get to that this man here, Anton Krantz, wished to speak with you on the manner.¡± The arena master gestured to Anton, then shuffled backwards. Anton stepped forward- not too close, seeing how the Spirit Building man she had as a guardian stood behind her shoulder. ¡°I am sorry to say after you came all this way that I am already in the process of purchasing Devon Gardner. I¡¯m sure there are others available you will find to your liking.¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The young mistress of the Potenza arena folded her arms in front of her. ¡°So? Give him up. I already have plans for him in our arena.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not so simple-¡± Her eyes flashed, ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll pay you double. Happy?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of money,¡± Anton said. ¡°I will not be giving him up for sale.¡± With a flash, the sword at her side pointed at Anton. He held up a hand to stop Catarina and Hoyt from moving. ¡°If you won¡¯t sell¡­ then fight me! We shall bet ownership of the man on a duel!¡± Anton internally sighed. He usually appreciated enthusiasm in people, but this young woman had hers directed in all the wrong places. He would prefer not to settle things with a battle, but did he have a choice? Fight now, one on one¡­ or possibly later, against an unknown group. Or let her take Devon to fight in an arena, one more dangerous to him than his current situation. Perhaps if he survived for a few months she would have had enough of him. But if not¡­ there might be no other chance. ¡°A duel between just the two of us?¡± ¡°Of course. I am not afraid to fight a weak old man.¡± ¡°I will accept on the condition that no grudges be held between us, regardless of the victor.¡± Anton looked to the guardian behind her for that, who nodded slightly. ¡°Then we shall fight!¡± she pointed her sword towards the arena master. ¡°Prepare the arena!¡± How abrupt. But Anton couldn¡¯t say he would be more ready at any other time. ----- The master of the Irvin arena sighed as he looked up into the bare stands. What a waste. Tonina Potenza fighting would fill the place up and earn quite a bit of money¡­ even if her opponent was an old man. The cultivation disparity between them was not large, though there was a clear difference in talent. At least he would get away with the price of a good slave and neither group angered at him specifically. ¡°With the bet of the rights of ownership of Devon Gardner on the line, Anton Krantz and Tonina Potenza shall duel according to the rules of the arena. You may begin!¡± If he was a betting man- and he was- he would have bet money on Tonina. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t get to bet on this fight either. That was too bad, because while the cultivation difference wasn¡¯t that great, one was young and strong¡­ the other quite old, clearly having struggled to reach his current level. The fact that the old man was an archer barely mattered- he only managed to fire a single arrow formed of energy before his opponent reached him. Then a swift slice with a sword and he was¡­ actually, that was quite a good dodge on his part. The way the old man moved was actually quite¡­ graceful? How surprising. It spoke volumes that he was able to dodge continuous attacks with a sword while still firing his bow. Unfortunately, his attacks simply couldn¡¯t penetrate Tonina¡¯s defense. Arrows struck her shoulder and her waist but never penetrated through her armor. All she needed was one good slice to cut the man in two, or at least lop off an arm. The Irvin arena was not set up for nonlethal fights between cultivators, though of course the old man could surrender if he managed to get an arm just halfway lopped off. That would happen¡­ at any moment. Tonina¡¯s sword wasn¡¯t even a centimeter from striking him half of the time. The old man had managed to gain a bit of distance, but fighting on the defensive with a bow was simply untenable. He might be able to retreat with extensive use of his energy, but he would use more backing up than Tonina would attacking. It was only for the moment that he was pulling further away. Except, the gap kept growing, and growing. Tonina¡¯s movements were slow. It seemed to be a struggle to lift her arm, and she held her right shoulder with her left hand. She stepped forward, a shot to her ankle piercing through her energy defenses but not her armor. It still had an impact, however, and sent her onto one knee. The distance between them was now more than a handful of meters. The old man¡­ Anton¡­ pulled back his bow with a particularly powerful arrow charged up. ¡°Surrender,¡± his voice was steady. Calm. ¡°I- you-¡± Tonina stuttered. ¡°No way! You cheated! I know you did!¡± she threw her sword onto the ground in anger. The arena master swallowed. It seemed like things weren¡¯t going to end very well at all. Should he step forward to diffuse the situation, or move out of the blast radius? A difficult question. But¡­ it was his arena. He should probably do something before he regretted whatever happened. Chapter 53 It was unclear to Anton what he was supposed to do with an opponent who had thrown down her weapon but not officially surrendered. He was far enough away that he could afford a quick glance at her guardian off to the side, who merely tendered an apologetic look. The master of the Irvin arena rushed to his rescue. ¡°Do you wish to continue the battle, Tonina Potenza?¡± ¡°No. I lost. But it wasn¡¯t fair. I fought against an old man who¡¯s been cultivating for like¡­ a century!¡± She stomped her foot down pointing her finger at Anton. ¡°I demand a rematch! Tomorrow! No- in one month¡¯s time! I¡¯ll be much stronger then.¡± She spoke that second part quite confidently, and Anton honestly wasn¡¯t surprised. It was likely quite true that in one month she could be significantly stronger. That didn¡¯t change anything, however. ¡°So you refuse to honor the terms of the deal,¡± Anton said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t count!¡± she demanded. ¡°Young mistress,¡± her guardian approached. ¡°Let me speak to him. I believe we can come to a satisfactory conclusion.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± she stomped her foot and turned around. Since any sort of official duel was clearly over, Catarina and Hoyt made their way towards Anton. ¡°What a brat,¡± Catarina said. Hoyt grunted, clearly not of positive opinion¡­ but perhaps a bit more reluctant to voice his opinion in front of her Spirit Building guardian. The man approached to a reasonable distance. ¡°Anton Krantz. Were everything up to me, I would be happy to settle the matter here. But if the young mistress leaves in this state, the matter will become quite public regardless of my efforts, and the master and mistress of the Potenzas may not see things quite the same way. I assume you are still unwilling to give up your purchase? We can increase the offer even further.¡± Anton¡¯s face told him everything necessary. ¡°I thought not. Let me be plain. The young mistress is not far from Spirit Building. In one month, you will be unable to win against her. I know it is not fair, but it is difficult for you to refuse the rematch. In that case, it might be better to accept the offer at this time.¡± ¡°One month¡­¡± Anton stroked his chin. The step between Body Tempering and Spirit Building was a big one. Even if he reached the peak of Body Tempering and she didn¡¯t even complete the first part of Spirit Building, their relative powers would swing in her favor. Her attacks really had carried dangerous force, and while he might still be able to win if he weren¡¯t concerned about heavily injuring her¡­ he also might die. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars couldn¡¯t stand behind him so easily with the distances involved. While the laws of Ofrurg theoretically protected him, he could be killed or made to disappear- and it wouldn¡¯t really matter whether or not there were consequences afterwards. It was unfortunate, but laws didn¡¯t apply to larger groups in exactly the same way. But he couldn¡¯t give up now. ¡°One month. We shall write up a formal contract.¡± The guardian maintained an expressionless face. ¡°Are you certain?¡± ¡°Quite.¡± ¡°Very well. I have no wishes to go against the Potenza¡¯s best interests¡­ but that also includes avoiding public incidents as much as possible. If you will but give me a moment to track down the young mistress and prevent her from¡­ publicizing events to her detriment.¡± ----- The contract was solid, and the terms quite reasonable. Though some of that depended on whether or not Anton was able to win in a rematch. The official terms now included the caveat that whoever lost would be the one to pay the purchase price of Devon. In short, if Anton won he would be quite pleased¡­ and if he lost he would have no grandson and little money. But he also might be dead, and money was just money. While he could use that to redeem others, people weren¡¯t just a price. He couldn¡¯t refuse to try to help family just because he might lose the chance to help others. The most important part¡­ was the result relied on his own actions. He had one month. ----- The sound of a sword cutting apart the air and the sweeping of a wider bladed two handed axe were punctuated by the impact of blade, handle, and the energy covering both. Weapons clashed back and forth, colliding with each other and with the two wielding the weapons. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Anton gripped the sword tightly in his hands. The sword itself wasn¡¯t much. Just a reasonably priced weapon with enough weight and durability. The swings weren¡¯t elegant, but they were quick. With the advantage of two stars of cultivation, he mostly matched Hoyt. Or rather, he was forcing himself to match Hoyt. If he used his bow, he could win handily¡­ but it wasn¡¯t about winning. It was about what his body did. His body had trained to use the bow sufficiently, but he needed to temper his entire body once more. Unlike the initial tempering, every part of him had already undergone significant change. Even a similar amount of growth required many times the work- not least because the tenth star was a prime. Catarina maintained a formation that would stop the two fighters from killing each other. It couldn¡¯t fully prevent bruises and cuts and cracked bones, though for the most part they avoided injuries. And anything that Anton had, he pushed through the pain. One month might be enough for him to finish the tenth star. Dedicated cultivation could produce great results. But stepping into Spirit Building¡­ that was something else. Unfortunately, Anton couldn¡¯t be certain whether he would find it difficult or simple until he attempted it. ----- One week passed. Then two. ¡°Grandpa Anton¡­¡± Catarina seemed to not know what to say. ¡°I think¡­ you¡¯re pushing yourself too hard.¡± He looked at her, his face determined, but with a slight softness showing. ¡°But it hasn¡¯t been enough. Do you want me to give up?¡± ¡°Well¡­ no¡­ but-¡± ¡°Grandpa Anton, you call me. Devon called me that as well. He will have the chance to do so again. To be free, not fighting for the entertainment of others.¡± Catarina frowned. Clearly she wanted to offer an alternate solution, but could think of nothing. ¡°What else can I do to help? I know my energy gathering formations aren¡¯t good enough-¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say that,¡± Anton said sternly. ¡°They¡¯re wonderful. Just what I need. But actually, that reminds me. Where did that end up¡­¡± he dug around in his bags until he uncovered a cloth wrapped around a small stoppered bottle, inside of which was a single round pill. ¡°Here it is.¡± ¡°I thought¡­ you took that already.¡± Catarina looked at the pill in his hand. ¡°To break through to the sixth star¡­¡± Anton nodded. ¡°You did tell me to use it for that. But, I didn¡¯t need it. Let me ask, how long did you think it took me to reach the fifth star- when I first achieved it.¡± ¡°A decade¡­¡± Catarina said. ¡°Be honest,¡± Anton looked straight at her. ¡°... a few decades.¡± ¡°Right. But at that point, it was half a year or so. I didn¡¯t need it.¡± Anton looked at it, ¡°But now I do.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°I have money. We can buy more pills-¡± Anton held up a hand to stop her. ¡°If I thought it would ultimately help save a single life, I would not resist taking every coin from you and Hoyt. But this is a good pill. If we can managed to get another like it- which may not be available here- the next won¡¯t be nearly so significant. Especially not taken at the same time. I am quite confident in reaching the peak of Body Tempering and forming the tenth star with this¡­ and the help of a nice energy gathering formation. ----- Over the past few weeks, Anton had pushed his body to the limit. It was aching and bruised, strained and cut and perhaps just a little bit broken. Now it just needed a proper influx of energy¡­ and that energy had to be properly controlled by him. If he pushed things too far, he could injure himself or even destroy his cultivation. But he wasn¡¯t going to do that. After all, he still had another ninety stars to go after that, and so many other things to do. Energy swirled inside him, in and out. Starting in his dantians it flowed through his meridians to the rest of his body. From his marrow out to his bones, muscles, tendons, organ, and skin then back in. His body began to heat up. It was a fiery furnace, a star¡­ but as he continued he knew it was not hot enough. He swallowed the pill. Even as it touched his tongue it began to dissolve. It was bitter, strong- foul. He wondered if it had gone bad over the months, but as it slid down his throat into his stomach he felt a surge of energy. Then he had no more time to think. The pill itself was like a small star inside of him, burning. It spread throughout his whole body, and he felt like he was on fire. Then he was fire. He was heat and growth. He was the thing that burned, and not what was burned. The energy that resulted. Then he pushed, shrinking himself down to a reasonable size. The heat withdrew from his body, but the tenth star rested in his dantian, smouldering brightly as the others danced around with it. Everything hurt as he breathed out slowly. Now all he had to do was figure out Spirit Building. Chapter 54 Spirit Building. It could be summarized as cultivating the spirit like Body Tempering focused on the body. But it wasn¡¯t really quite the same. It was the difference between tangible and intangible¡­ and at least in the case of the Ninety-Nine Stars there was only one prime tempering in the first half. Other cultivation methods might be organized differently to emphasize different parts, and they didn¡¯t even have to categorize things the same way. Body Tempering of course covered the whole body eventually, but the spirit was less measurable. For the Ninety-Nine Stars, it was divided into seven parts, the final of which would be the prime tempering. With only one area being able to be emphasized, it was more of a matter of what Anton wanted to develop early than what he wanted to later emphasize. Or what he could do. He had no certainty that he would finish the eleventh through seventeenth stars which covered the first ¡®half¡¯ of Spirit Building. He could save something he considered important for a prime tempering¡­ or begin tempering it early, allowing it more time to grow to a similar level. The seven categories were: Instinct, Emotion, Mental Liberation, Earthly Connection, Voice, Intuition, and Spiritual Connection. Just from their names, Anton had little idea what he might want¡­ and further study didn¡¯t give him a full picture either. Instinct focused on personal survival. It allowed the cultivator to react to previously unsensed threats and to act with little information. Contrasted with Intuition, which focused more on knowing. It was much more used for reading people and situations, understanding the big picture of how things might work and how an individual might act. Both were important. Instinct allowed the cultivator to do something even if they didn¡¯t entirely know why. It could help detect poisons and anything else that affected the body. Emotion also centered on the inner emotions of the cultivator. Emotional balance could have a great change to the efficacy of energy usage and cultivation. Earthly Connection was being in tune with the emotions of others. Already, there were areas of clear overlap. The same wasn¡¯t untrue in Body Tempering. The muscles attached to tendons and bones, skin encompassed everything, and the organs provided services to power and filter the whole body. Everything was made possible by the dantian and meridians circulating natural energy. Mental Liberation allowed for the resisting of the shackles of outside control. This could be through energy influences or merely a sense of fear. It merely allowed the circumvention of emotions and the like, without stabilizing them or erasing them. It would sometimes be necessary to ignore feelings, though removing them entirely would be harmful. Some emotionless sects existed, but more often than not they ended up going down a dark path which ultimately led to their destruction. Voice was tied to both inner and outer voice. That is, how the cultivator interacted with themself internally and also how they influenced others. In the latter case, it was basically the opposite of Mental Liberation. Spiritual Connection allowed the cultivator to be in tune with the world around them. It had less ties to people or even physical matter than the flow of energy. It seemed as if it was important for formation users, though everyone would of course benefit. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could even choose one, and if he did choose cultivating it would be difficult. He¡¯d always had a body. Such a statement was blatantly obvious and unhelpful, except that he hadn¡¯t always been aware of the spiritual part of himself. He had grown used to cultivation of his body and the use of energy, but that part of him was still new. Less than a year, out of his one hundred. A hundred and one now, if he were precise. Instead of trying to logic out what might be best for him in the long run, Anton simply went for what he thought he would have the most luck with. Intuition. He couldn¡¯t say he was a master of reading others, but he had some experience with One Step Ahead as written by Elder Kseniya- and in addition to that he had watched her demonstrations. Saying he understood everything that was happening would be an exaggeration, but it was at least something he had some example of in action. Unlike Body Tempering, there wasn¡¯t a clear method of energy circulation that would accomplish what he wanted. There were guidelines, but it was one step more abstracted from the physical world. Anton certainly could feel the energy circulating inside himself and maybe even improving in quality, but he couldn¡¯t say he was properly refining Intuition. Maybe he¡¯d made a mistake. Confidence was good for a cultivator¡­ but overconfidence? Could he really use just two weeks to catch up to a young cultivator who came from a wealthy clan and had already been trying to enter Spirit Building for some time? Tonina had been confident in properly entering Spirit Building in a month, but even then Anton was aware that she still needed to push herself for that goal. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. He should have not accepted the challenge. He could have pushed to get Devon into his hands, then fled the city. It might have come with future trouble, but he was certain they could have kept off the road and hidden. And what¡­ hoped there were no trained dogs in Khonard? He might be able to hide their scent from normal hounds, but there were tamed magical beasts with powerful senses as well. They didn¡¯t have to be particularly strong, either, just better at sensing- and that was something Anton could say beasts had in abundance. Even with his eyes enhanced with energy, he was probably not better than an actual, mundane hawk. Anton tried to calm himself. Thinking about what could have been done was clearly not going to help. He knew that, but dismissing the thoughts was difficult. For Spirit Building especially, clearing his mind of distractions was important. He had to focus. All around him were faint threads, ideas of how he might continue his cultivation path. He just needed to make one real and grab onto it. And focus. ----- Two weeks passed. It was almost like he was trying to learn how to cultivate all over from the beginning. However, he was now divorced from physical pain. He couldn¡¯t say the same for mental anguish. He had to succeed. If not, Devon would be taken away to another arena to fight until he inevitably perished. The chances of anything else- no matter Devon¡¯s talent and skill- were extremely slim. In addition to those thoughts, Anton¡¯s cultivation reopened old wounds. He had a handful of villagers from Dungannon around himself and had even seen Devon. A year of being away from the situation had merely numbed the pain. Visiting Dungannon had ultimately been a good thing, but it left him emotionally vulnerable. Now, he might encounter his first real failure. That was simply no good. But there was no more time. He was completely out. Tomorrow was the day. But at least¡­ he knew he was doing his best. It would be small comfort if he lost, but then again¡­ who was to say he couldn¡¯t fight a Spirit Building cultivator at the peak of Body Tempering? He¡¯d heard of it. Stories were often greatly exaggerated, but it had to have happened in the past. Usually young geniuses who precipitated a great change in the world. It was too late¡­ but if he couldn¡¯t physically save Devon, he could at least try to provide hope. Hope he himself was low on. The Irvin arena master allowed him to see Devon- under heavy guard, of course. He should have already talked to him before, but he didn¡¯t want to get his hopes up. ¡°Someone to talk to you,¡± the arena master said as he opened the door. ¡°One of the two who might purchase you.¡± For his own part, Devon looked good. Healthy. A bit tired, but that was understandable. Uncertainty in the future didn¡¯t make for easy sleep. ¡°Devon,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°I had hoped to make this a pleasant surprise.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Devon looked at Anton, surveying him with his senses. ¡°Do I know you, Senior?¡± Anton¡¯s face fell. Had he forgotten? It was certainly the right man, but something could have happened. ¡°Do you not recognize me?¡± He already had the price written up in a contract, so revealing his relation shouldn¡¯t be a problem. ¡°It¡¯s me, Anton.¡± There was a long pause. Far too long. ¡°... Grandpa Anton? Have you¡­ always been a cultivator? And you look so¡­ different.¡± Anton breathed a sigh of relief. So he did remember. ¡°No. I¡¯m new to it.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re¡­¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°No, that doesn¡¯t matter. I thought¡­ you were dead. With everyone else. So many people¡­ but you were out hunting, weren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Fortunately. Perhaps. I couldn¡¯t have done anything.¡± ¡°Are you really¡­ at the peak of Body Tempering?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Due to various circumstances, I will be fighting for the right to purchase you.¡± Devon smiled and relaxed. ¡°Is that so? I was aware of what was happening, but I had no idea one was you. I¡¯m glad.¡± ¡°Listen, Devon¡­¡± Anton bit his lip. ¡°I just want to say, I¡¯ll do my best. But I can¡¯t guarantee I will win.¡± ¡°... It¡¯s that serious, is it?¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°Well. What should I say? I am grateful that you are alive. I certainly want to be free¡­ but I¡¯ve managed to keep myself alive thus far. Maybe there¡¯s a chance to earn my freedom¡­ on the small chance that you fail.¡± Anton scratched the back of his head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say it¡¯s small¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you fail at something you set your mind to,¡± Devon said. ¡°It¡¯s already crazy enough to believe¡­ you¡¯re like this. I¡¯m confident in your ability.¡± ¡°At least someone has confidence,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ll carry it with me tomorrow. And if I don¡¯t get another chance, I just want to say¡­ I love you. I won¡¯t give up on you or any of the others, even if I fail today.¡± Devon grinned, ¡°See? I told you. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be waiting. Hopefully, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± Chapter 55 The night before the rematch, Anton didn¡¯t have a miraculous breakthrough. In fact, he barely slept. When he tried to sleep, his mind told him he should be cultivating. When he tried to cultivate¡­ he could only think about how much he needed to win. That was motivation¡­ but not usable. He needed a clear and focused mind, not scattered near-panic. For her own part, upon her arrival Tonina didn¡¯t look entirely fresh either. She clearly hadn¡¯t had a leisurely month of pleasant cultivation. Her eyes were filled with determination. Anton might have congratulated her change in demeanor if circumstances had been different. However, she was still going to fight him for possession over his grandson. Even if she didn¡¯t know the relation¡­ it was still someone¡¯s life. And of course, they would not be having another match to begin with were she not a spoiled brat throwing around her family¡¯s influence. As soon as the match started Anton fired and shot arrows, the twang of his bow crystal clear in the arena nearly devoid of life. Anton no longer had the inclination to be gentle. The previous battle he had simply pieced through her energy defenses to weaken her joints one at a time until she could not fight. Now, if he found the opportunity, he would not mind filling her with holes. While there was merely one level of difference between them still, Anton had merely reached the peak of Body Tempering and she¡¯d fully stepped into Spirit Building. He couldn¡¯t hold back, even if it meant future trouble. It was already far too late to consider additional consequences. He merely had to win. Tonina Potenza was from a wealthy family quite interested in her survival, so it was no surprise that her armor was top tier. Though it was durable, it also appeared light enough for her to move easily. No more than the standard weight of steel plate, at least. Her movements were swift and her attacks sharp, while her defenses couldn¡¯t be underestimated. Even with his energy concentrated to a fine point, her energy at early Spirit Building was a large step more durable than it had been during the last battle. While Anton was confident he could have pierced through her armor as well as her energy in the previous battle, now he was having trouble causing more superficial wounds. Her sword brushed past his face. It wasn¡¯t supposed to be so close. When they last fought he let her attacks brush close to him because it required less effort to avoid by a narrow margin, and he was confident in his ability to judge her attacks- but now it was all he could manage. However, he wasn¡¯t willing to give up. There was too much on the line¡­ and he knew he could do more. It physically hurt Anton to parry her sword with his bow, despite him being aware that his energy and the nightwood could withstand some level of damage. But if he didn¡¯t do it, he would die. He pulled out all his techniques. Thousand Arrows allowed him to fire at an unreasonably quick rate, but he simply couldn¡¯t break through her defenses consistently enough. Tonina wasn¡¯t just letting him hit her, either. Whenever he gathered more energy, she took the opportunity to attack or divert her defenses to withstand his improved attacks. Swan Steps kept his head on his neck, and he found his body was indeed faster than it had been¡­ but he needed more. Reading her movements with One Step Ahead was more difficult as her speed was more than before, and the change in quality of energy as she stepped into Spirit Building exemplified that. As with all weapons, the speed of her sword also directly translated into deadliness. It cut through his own energy, leaving trails of blood even where Anton¡¯s armor protected him. So far it was merely surface level, but the difference between a trivial wound and a deadly one wasn¡¯t even a full centimeter. It wasn¡¯t enough. He needed to know where she would move before she started, maybe even before she knew. Her sword might slice up at a certain angle, or thrust at him just so. If he twisted his body just right he could avoid the attacks. In a way he was successful. At least he got away with his life. Anton was extremely grateful for the diamondsilk woven into the armor on his chest. Its strength had saved him from some deep cuts that might have decided the battle. Had he underestimated Spirit Building? Overestimated himself? Should he just give up? He might not be able to save Devon, but he could save others. But giving up¡­ simply wasn¡¯t possible. Win or lose, he couldn¡¯t do anything but give his very best. The stars inside Anton flared as he pushed his energy to its limits, moving his body as quick as he could, shooting arrows made purely of energy that would pierce ever so slightly deeper, leaving blood dripping from several places on Tonina. But it wasn¡¯t enough yet. He needed to find an opening. To see her movements. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. And¡­ he did. One battle and half of another weren¡¯t enough time to get to know an opponent fully, but Anton almost saw her moving ahead of where she was. In fact, he did see it, just not with his eyes. He just knew. The stars danced around inside him, one pair, one trio, and the final group of five. They offered up energy to their limits and even more. There was a veritable whirlpool around Anton, his lungs pulling in every strand of energy in the atmosphere he could and immediately putting it to use. As he became more confident in the visions Anton pierced into a weak point in her armor at her shoulder joint several times in a row. When she gathered her energy to defend, he simply targeted her lower torso, slowly piercing through the armor at a particular point. He even gathered an especially large spirit arrow to shoot into her thigh as he dodged an attack by a hair, using every ounce of the skill and energy he had available. Then he saw it. A sweep of her sword, swift and nearly undodgeable. But he could do it. He could¡­ but his body couldn¡¯t. His energy was nearly dried up, and blood was flowing out of numerous wounds. A trail of blood was sliced along his ribs, into some of them, sending him flying onto his back. Even as he lay there, his eyes locked on her. If he could just take aim¡­ but his arms refused to move. He could still breathe. Energy flowed into his lungs, but to move he would have to prop himself up entirely with it. Then he wouldn¡¯t be able to attack. How could he¡­? Anton didn¡¯t even hear the announcement of his loss, though he couldn¡¯t debate it. He had lain still on the ground for far too long. Energy rushed into him like the crashing emotions he had inside. He had lost. Even though he had given it his all. It was much worse than simply not being present. He¡¯d had the chance to redeem one family member, but on his first opportunity he fell short. He couldn¡¯t say if it was because of his earlier choices- those might have led to his death, or they might not have. He didn¡¯t have the clarity of thought to process any of that, or the emotional fortitude to get even a modicum of solace from the fact that he had broken through to Spirit Building. ----- The match was private. Only the participants, the master of the arena, and a few others were there to watch. Devon watched as two young cultivators rushed out to where Anton lay bleeding on the ground. He wished he could go there¡­ but he couldn¡¯t. Even if he could, he wasn¡¯t sure if his grandfather would find solace in his comfort. Anton was¡­ the pillar of the family. He had been what held everything together over the generations. The farm had only grown because of his determination, a determination he passed on to others. Then there had been devastation. Devon had been there. He was young enough. Healthy. And incapable of even scratching the attacking bandits. He wasn¡¯t able to keep track of everything happening in the confusion. They were led away in chains at the fastest speed they could maintain. Faster, even. Some people were thrown away along the way, never even making it to Veron to be sold. They¡¯d all been split up. Many of the strong young men went to farms or the mines, but he¡¯d been sold to the arena. He¡¯d been given a simple cultivation technique, along with an ultimatum. Win, or die. While it wasn¡¯t quite so black and white, if he didn¡¯t take care of himself he wouldn¡¯t survive in the arena. So he had practiced with a weapon and trained the cultivation technique¡­ and won. For no particular reason than he had nothing better to do. He knew he didn¡¯t want to die, but he didn¡¯t remember why. He kept winning¡­ and then there were no more fights. Weeks of that, then another month with talks of him being purchased. Then Anton had shown up. It was supposed to be a nice surprise, but instead it was sort of a bitter apology. As if he¡¯d known he would lose. But¡­ it helped Devon remember something. That was why he hadn¡¯t given up. Grandpa Anton wouldn¡¯t. Even as he lay bleeding on the floor of the arena, Devon felt his energy clawing at the air, trying to do anything. Not just any energy. Strong energy. The energy of a Spirit Building cultivator. That was¡­ crazy. Devon was not well versed in cultivation, but he had reached mid Body Tempering. He wasn¡¯t the youngest man in the world, though certainly not old. Even so, he¡¯d felt his age. Anton, his grandfather¡­ had far surpassed him. It wasn¡¯t just possessing a good technique. That could never do so much. Instead, it was the undying determination he possessed. Something Devon had thought gone from the world. But now he saw it. Would he have preferred to be saved? To no longer be subject to slavery fighting in an arena? Of course. If only he had been just a bit stronger¡­ but Devon couldn¡¯t say that anyone else could have done better. For his own case, however, Devon had merely been going through the motions of survival because that was what he was expected to do. Yet his grandfather Anton had thrown himself into danger, just for a chance to save him. He¡¯d almost done it, too. It was a distant hope to think he would survive long enough for Anton to manage to free him now. If it was just about money, he could have been bought away already without the sacrifice. What would be required to force a sale? Devon wasn¡¯t sure, but as he felt the Spirit Building energy flickering from his prone grandfather as he was pulled away, he knew he had to survive to find out. How could he give up on himself when someone like that was still looking out for him? Chapter 56 The sky was full of bright stars. Though Anton didn¡¯t have quite the same connection to them as Grand Elder Vandale, he appreciated them. Besides, thinking about the old cultivator gave him some perspective. There was no way the path to the peak was smooth and flawless. Anton knew he should consider himself lucky to have lost just money and his chance to free Devon. He didn¡¯t lose an eye¡­ or get killed. That meant there was going to be another chance. He couldn¡¯t change the past, but reflecting on it was helpful. Wallowing in it wouldn¡¯t do him any good, but he could at least try to figure out what went wrong. In the end, he decided it was simply some of the regulars. Fear and arrogance. Anton himself had less trouble with those than others, but it was something he saw with people constantly. Making poor choices because of perceived potential danger. There was indeed some chance that the Potenza family would send people to try to kill them away from the city if he had just gone through with the purchase of Devon. But if he was just going to trust in his own ability anyway, why not do it that way? Accepting the one month challenge was stupid. He should have been the one to set the time limit. He hadn¡¯t even misjudged his own ability, just underestimated the difficulty of entering Spirit Building. Which was stupid, because Tonina needed another month to reach it from where she was, and Anton himself hadn¡¯t even been at the peak of Body Tempering yet. He was right to believe he could reach it¡­ and he¡¯d even stumbled his way into Spirit Building during the rematch, but it wasn¡¯t enough. The real problem was it put the entire burden on himself. The problem was, he was usually capable of doing so. But things were more than what one old man could handle. He¡¯d even known that¡­ then ignored it. He had to go find Catarina and Hoyt. It was almost a shame that in his lifespan he¡¯d actually made what he thought were a below average number of serious mistakes. Perhaps he might have more practice. Then again, it would mean less. It was not hard to find them- they were the closest two with any significant cultivation, and there were only so many places they could stay in the inn. Anton was relieved the dining area was empty except for them. It was hard enough to say the words regardless. They both looked over as Anton approached. They might have expected him to still be lost in his unpleasant thoughts, but he simply didn¡¯t have time for that. He couldn¡¯t afford to pity himself for weeks on end. Once he was close enough, Anton threw himself onto the floor in front of them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Catarina almost recoiled. ¡°I- you- um¡­ you don¡¯t have to apologize for anything. I said I wanted to help.¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°Me as well. I understand needing a bit of time to yourself.¡± Anton shook his head, still prostrate in front of them. ¡°That¡¯s not it at all. Though I do appreciate the space to think. I¡¯m sorry for not¡­ believing in you. I brought you both along, then tried to do everything myself. Like a fool.¡± Catarina smiled awkwardly. ¡°Grandpa¡­ I don¡¯t know if¡­ umm-¡± Hoyt interrupted, ¡°You¡¯re right, actually. You might be¡­ very strong, but that doesn¡¯t mean you can do everything yourself. Though I¡¯m not sure if we could do anything in this case.¡± Catarina squirmed. ¡°I did¡­ feel left out. Like I was just watching you grow stronger without me. But I accept your apology.¡± ¡°Oh right,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Me too. Please raise your head. It¡¯s¡­ really awkward.¡± Anton slowly stood up. ¡°It¡¯s not good for my back either. I thought I¡¯d get over all of this¡­ maybe I¡¯m just bad at Body Tempering.¡± He only received stern looks in response. ¡°Alright, fine. I just thought the second full tempering would make me feel¡­ actually young. But I was too far gone.¡± Anton sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know where to go next.¡± There was some awkward time of silence. Eventually, Hoyt spoke up. ¡°How about the mines? There were some more on your list at the northern mines, right?¡± Anton thought for a few moments. ¡°That¡¯s right, but¡­ Pete and the others are still with us. I don¡¯t know if we should drag them around forever.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I might be wrong,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°But I think the best thing for them is to travel around with a cultivation master.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I would call myself a master,¡± Anton said. ¡°You¡¯re in Spirit Building now,¡± Hoyt pointed out. ¡°But it¡¯s more in the manner of¡­ one who teaches. You¡¯re good at that. Speaking of which, any good tips for entering Spirit Building?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Anton stroked his chin. ¡°Besides desperation? Not just yet. I¡¯ll get back to you on that later. I suppose now, I should speak to the others. Might as well ask them what they want.¡± ----- ¡°We want to come with you,¡± Pete said. ¡°At least, I do. I still need to pay you back somehow¡­ and I¡¯d like to keep cultivating with your guidance. I¡¯ve almost finished the first star. I can feel how much of a difference it makes. If I can grow strong enough to protect myself¡­ I¡¯d like to avoid anything like what happened in Dungannon ever again.¡± The others nodded in consent. ¡°We¡¯d like to stay with you. Especially if you are planning to emancipate others. Each day¡­ well, it would be better to free them as soon as possible, if you have the means. I know we were quite expensive.¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t untrue,¡± Anton said, ¡°But something important to know is that cultivators are very capable of making money quickly. It¡¯s usually dangerous, but efficient. I have no reason to wait around now. At least, I feel somewhat safe traveling Ofrurg. If you do as well, I would welcome your company.¡± ¡°As long as we are with you,¡± Pete said, ¡°I cannot imagine somewhere I would feel safer, especially with Hoyt and Catarina. The three of you are very strong.¡± ¡°Flattery won¡¯t make training any easier,¡± Anton grinned. ----- In addition to training with and guiding the others, Anton had to cultivate himself. It kept him busy. Busy not thinking about the past. And, even though he¡¯d messed up in an almost irrecoverable manner¡­ Anton still felt somewhat freer now. He wasn¡¯t sure about the confidence he felt in himself right now, but the confidence of others was keeping him going. Especially Devon. ¡®I¡¯ll be waiting.¡¯ A simple sentence. He said it like it would be the next day¡­ but perhaps he knew. Anton had offered some hope, and even though it was shattered, some still remained. Hopefully Devon would persevere while Anton pushed himself further forward. At least he¡¯d been able to act this time, even if he failed. But such thoughts didn¡¯t help with cultivating. Visualizing the fight did. He replayed it over and over in his mind. Looking for flaws in himself and in Tonina. He couldn¡¯t go back and repeat the battle¡­ and demanding a rematch would dig him into another sort of hole. He couldn¡¯t be mired down with that method of trying to free Devon, unless he could become much stronger. There had to be other avenues, even if he couldn¡¯t tread them yet. The biggest flaw Anton found in his own attacks was the lack of¡­ deadliness. He¡¯d killed only a small number of people. Before he became a cultivator it was none and on the trip from Veron to Khonard it had become two, maybe three or four. It was easy to think of bandits as not people, but they were. He couldn¡¯t fathom what led them to those choices. Revenge he could understand, but he felt it had to be more a sense of desperation. Something had caused them to stop caring about human lives. The environment of Ofrurg was certainly quite capable of that. Regardless of whether it was ultimately a good thing, Anton had little experience killing people. He never wanted to treat them like animals, but then again he had reasons to kill animals as well. Food and hides were practical and useful, and animals could be a danger. People weren¡¯t quite like vicious wolves, but he needed to be decisive with his attacks like he was facing them. There were of course other flaws in his movements that he found, but those would be refined out by practice naturally, slightly faster for having noticed them. Repeating Tonina¡¯s movements in his mind was merely for the sake of practice. He had missed some of the intent behind her actions, slight feints to push him off balance. While she was an arrogant brat, she clearly had good teachers. While he could circulate his energy as much as he wanted, Anton felt that Spirit Building especially required him to get practical experience. It didn¡¯t just have to be combat though. Intuition wasn¡¯t just about combat. That was just what all cultivation ended up leaning into. Predicting how people would respond to things in any situation could be useful in all sorts of situations. It wasn¡¯t as if he would be able to read their minds¡­ but then again, it was hard to fathom how it would develop towards the peak of cultivation. Anton certainly didn¡¯t feel comfortable saying anything in particular was impossible. Just out of his reach for the moment. There was so much more growth he needed to achieve¡­ and he couldn¡¯t stop. He had too many things he had to do. If he accomplished them all he would just have to find more. The world wasn¡¯t going to run out of problems on its own. Chapter 57 It was hard to figure out why Anton wasn¡¯t dead. Hoyt didn¡¯t think he was a frail old man, but when he responded to both excitement and depression with more work it was hard to figure out when the man ever stopped. Perhaps that was the trick. Maybe he was cursed. Unable to stop¡­ forever. That had to be it. Because otherwise Hoyt would have to admit that sparring with an old man two-on-one tired him out. If he kept going, he didn¡¯t think he could move for a week. Technically they would have beaten him with the two of them together. Probably. What happened in an actual battle couldn¡¯t be predicted with certainty. It was possible Anton would put a hole through either him or Catarina before they could take a step forward, but once they were up close they were able to grind him down. But¡­ that was the limit of what they could do. They could never land a solid strike, as if he could predict every move they made. Since they¡¯d sparred with each other an exactly equivalent amount of times- it was literally impossible for that to not be true- Hoyt wondered how he did it. Except, of course, the answer was plain. Spirit Building. Anton was traveling down the path of Intuition for the moment, as the eleventh star. Hoyt wasn¡¯t sure if the results were supposed to be so immediate, but then again Anton was always good at reading movements. He¡¯d even trained a technique for it at some point. Written by that crazy Archer elder, if Hoyt remembered correctly. But while two people could match Anton for a while, it was absolutely certain that just one of them would die quickly. A significantly more well trained and talented lower tier cultivator could potentially fight one at a higher level and win, but that¡¯s where the qualifiers came in. The lower tier cultivator had to be better than the higher tier one. Anton had a good foot into Spirit Building and was absolutely not worse than either of the other two. The only real chance they had to win was if Catarina set up a formation ahead of time, but it was possible for Anton to just break through it if they were careless. Plus, they would have to remain in one area- which just meant he could just shoot them from a distance. Hoyt shook his head. It was crazy that Anton had started cultivating at a hundred, and now a year later he was in Spirit Building. However, Hoyt couldn¡¯t complain. The man worked hard¡­ and he wasn¡¯t selfish with his insights. The elders at the Order weren¡¯t secretive either, but there was a big difference between personalized advice and what was said to a roomful at a time. With the month Anton had been crazily training for the rematch, Hoyt and Catarina hadn¡¯t been idle. They had nearly reached the eighth star, and after the training started Anton had pushed them past that. They were rapidly approaching the ninth star and wouldn¡¯t be too much longer to reach the tenth. It might still be a month each, but that was quite rapid. And while Anton had pulled ahead, once they reached Spirit Building they wouldn¡¯t be too far behind. A couple months wasn¡¯t so bad in the cultivation world. It was just relevant in the early stages especially where geniuses were involved, and at points like the threshold of a new stage. Hoyt wasn¡¯t sure if he could consider himself a genius, but he wasn¡¯t so humble as to say he lacked talent. But if anyone deserved the title, it was probably Anton. Even if a young genius might be faster growing¡­ so what? It wouldn¡¯t be by much. Hoyt picked himself up out of the dirt. They were traveling along to the north of Ofrurg. There were mines with more slaves from Dungannon there. It was hard to believe just how many slaves the country had, but Hoyt had the perspective of growing up in a decent country instead of a trash pile. A trash pile with fancy cities and strong cultivators, but that was all it was with the way people were allowed to be treated. ¡°This was a good decision,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Oh?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°You want to continue, then?¡± Hoyt held up his hands. ¡°I meant coming with you. I doubt I¡¯d train more efficiently at the Order, and we can actually do some good for the world. At least a little¡­¡± Hoyt shook his head. ¡°A little bit now, a bit more later¡­¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°And maybe a whole heap in the future. I¡¯ve got big ambitions.¡± ¡°I heard of ambitious people before. Usually people mean they¡¯re clawing for power.¡± ¡°Am I not?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well¡­¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°You¡¯re not stepping on everyone along the way. So I prefer your method.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll need good backup,¡± Anton said. ¡°Lots of it. It¡¯s purely self-serving.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Hoyt said. ¡°If I said I was leaving tomorrow, would you keep training me?¡± Stolen story; please report. ¡°How would I do that if you left?¡± Anton asked. Hoyt laughed, ¡°Good point. But I might have somewhere I need to go, in the future.¡± ¡°Just bring me along, then. As long as I¡¯m not in the middle of something critical¡­¡± Anton looked down the road. ¡°It¡¯s already been a year. Another year and I¡¯ll hopefully have done everything I can here. There might be a few difficult points, especially with Annelie.. But I¡¯m not going to be doing just this forever. Especially once there are no more slaves at all.¡± ¡°At all?¡± Hoyt raised an eyebrow, ¡°Ambitious. Maybe don¡¯t let the wrong people around here hear you.¡± ¡°Bah. I¡¯m just an old man,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Nobody will take me seriously. Though I wasn¡¯t planning to announce it in the cities. Not until at least Constellation Formation. What do you think, two years? Three?¡± ¡°Even the best take five.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I guess I could settle for four, then, but I¡¯m not made of time.¡± Hoyt could tell that response was half a joke. The other half was the supreme confidence that he would reach Constellation Formation. And while five more years was about a quarter of Hoyt¡¯s life, it was basically nothing for cultivators who could increase their lifespans by decades in each stage. Even ten years would be considered quite fast from Spirit Building to Constellation Formation. He had to be there to see it with his own eyes. How long would it actually take? ----- The young woman who traveled with them, Catarina, was an oddity. Pete was aware that women could be cultivators. That wasn¡¯t the weird part. It was just¡­ her. Whenever they stopped, she would fiddle with things. He had to ask, but he couldn¡¯t dive straight into it. ¡°Excuse me. You are¡­ Anton¡¯s granddaughter, right?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Catarina replied curtly, not turning to look at him. She was adjusting sticks and piles of leaves. ¡°I never saw you in Dungannon, that I recall.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t,¡± Catarina stated. ¡°Technically, I¡¯m his¡­ great-great granddaughter.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Pete wasn¡¯t sure how to respond to that. It made more sense, of course. ¡°You have a lot of cultivators in the family?¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°I was the first.¡± She paused to think for a second. ¡°That¡¯s a strange thought. I didn¡¯t have reason to¡­ wholeheartedly throw myself into it. I lived out west.¡± ¡°But¡­ there¡¯s also Anton and¡­¡± Pete wasn¡¯t sure if he should bring up Devon, considering the circumstances. ¡°Grandpa Anton didn¡¯t begin cultivating until after¡­ the incident. I met him after that.¡± Catarina picked up a small rock, placing it carefully, then she picked it back up and threw it away. ¡°That one doesn¡¯t help.¡± ¡°Why doesn¡¯t it help?¡± Pete asked. ¡°It had negligible effect on the flow of energy. I thought it did, but it was just a random fluctuation.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Pete thought for a moment, ¡°Anton¡­ he¡¯s really only been cultivating for a year? I saw the match. Well, I was there watching. I can¡¯t claim to have really seen anything that happened. It was so fast.¡± ¡°Yes. Absolutely. My grandfather is very talented. Determined.¡± Catarina pointed. ¡°Move that one.¡± ¡°This stick?¡± Pete said. ¡°Like this?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Catarina thought for a moment. ¡°You got it just right.¡± ¡°Well, you talked about the flow of energy, so I just¡­¡± Pete waved his hands. ¡°Yes. Good. You will help with formations,¡± Catarina stated. ¡°We will gather energy¡­ right here.¡± Catarina moved to stand in a spot. ¡°But not too directly. We don¡¯t want to crush whoever is here.¡± ¡°I get it. Kind of a spiral, right?¡± Pete looked around them. ¡°A formation, you call it? It¡¯s almost like magic. Though I thought all cultivation was magic two months ago.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not magic,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But it¡¯s not not magic. As much as magic exists, this can be it. Now, that one.¡± Pete couldn¡¯t say he fully understood what was happening. She seemed to just assume he would understand. When he didn¡¯t, she just corrected him without getting angry. He did his best to change the flow of energy in the area. It was hard to describe exactly how it worked, but the physical arrangement of objects was more than it appeared to be on the surface. Pete wasn¡¯t sure if he actually made the whole process slower with his presence, but he knew it was something useful. Even if he couldn¡¯t do much now, if he could actually help in the future he might be able to start paying back Anton just a little bit. Chapter 58 The area around Sarton had a number of mines, and in keeping with that many slaves working in the mines. From what information the group had gathered, there were also more valuable sorts of mines worked by cultivators. Stones containing natural energy and high yield metals. Those were generally worked by free laborers, since it required a certain amount of cultivation to work those mines safely. Keeping sufficient numbers of stronger cultivators on guards wasn¡¯t profitable after a certain point. But the more mundane mines make liberal use of slaves, and some of those had connections to Dungannon. There were also some who had been sold to energy stone mines. Anton was concerned about their safety. It was a small mine with low yield, but using slaves meant they had a low life expectancy in such a place. Lower than normal, even. But it wasn¡¯t possible to know for sure the status of everyone until they went to look. From Khonard to Sarton was a safer journey than the route that had been taken from Veron to Khonard. It was well traveled and generally considered safe for cultivators, at least on the road. With that being the case, work as guards along the way didn¡¯t pay nearly so well and Anton and the others opted to travel alone for greater speed. Pete and the others from Dungannon had all completed the first star with some proper guidance. They were also healthy, young men- so they could keep up a quick enough pace. Anton found they were faster than he was at early stars, at least. A good portion of the journey was through the Mossythorn Timberlands, a stretch of forest that surrounded many towns and villages along the way. Out of precaution, Anton continuously scanned the horizon around them. In addition to looking for enemies, it also let him take in the sights of the nature around them. It was nice to be in gentle terrain where there was very little danger. Anton paid special attention to the people they passed. Some of them were travelers going the other direction. Merchants or cultivators or a bit of both, for the most part. However, he was more interested in the regular people. The farmer out in his fields, the woodcutter tending to his lot, bakers and tanners, tailors and innkeepers. People going about their normal lives in peace. One of those had been him not all that long ago, yet it seemed strangely foreign. He¡¯d worked the fields of the Order and even the Riley farm. The people were so¡­ calm. As if they were safe. It was especially strange in Ofrurg, where people were sold into slavery. Just not arbitrarily where it involved their own citizens. An internally sustainable sort of peace, but tenuous. If the cultivators on Ofrurg decided they no longer wished to follow those rules, they could. Unlike Graotan, they already showed lack of value for human life. Even the Order wasn¡¯t expansive enough to fully protect Graotan. Was anywhere truly safe? Even cultivators could face stronger cultivators. Anton shook his head. These were just depressing thoughts. Even if no cultivators existed, nothing would be truly safe. Those in power would declare wars and convince enough others that they must be gone along with that everyone had to capitulate- or fight them. Conflict and danger were parts of humanity¡­ but perhaps it shouldn''t be that way. Even so, the citizens of Ofrurg were safe enough. Even as the foolish thought crossed Anton¡¯s mind to take revenge on them for profiting from a system that had harmed him¡­ that wasn¡¯t what he really wanted. The people along the way probably didn¡¯t even really have a choice. Anton was successful enough he could have moved to another part of the country- or a different country entirely- but relocation was quite difficult for common folk. It was only attempted by the desperate. But with all his dissatisfaction with the world, Anton doubted he could solve any of the problems he had. If he could¡­ it wouldn¡¯t be yet. While his thoughts were on a negative streak lately, the majority of his life he had been positive. It had been enough to just¡­ live. ¡°He¡¯s lost in thought again¡­¡± Hoyt whispered to Catarina. ¡°Yeah. Whenever he gets like that, he won¡¯t say anything for hours.¡± Anton laughed, ¡°I can still hear you, you know. Just thinking about changing the world.¡± ¡°Completely lost in thought,¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°Spouting nonsense.¡± ¡°You think I can¡¯t?¡± Anton leaned towards him. Hoyt held up his hands, ¡°I didn¡¯t say that. We just have to take things one at a time. Not all of us are in Spirit Building already.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Won¡¯t be too long,¡± Anton said. It was indeed quiet for a time as they traveled along the road before Anton stopped at the top of a rise. He was looking straight ahead, into the forest instead of down where the road diverged from its course in front of them. Catarina stood next to him and looked as well. ¡°Is there a problem? Danger?¡± She squinted, ¡°Every time I improve my eyesight, you go a step further. I don¡¯t see anything.¡± ¡°Trails on the ground,¡± Anton pointed. ¡°Far off the road. It shouldn¡¯t be a danger to us.¡± ¡°... buuut?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°You don¡¯t seem to be done with just that statement.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°A recent battle. Not a lot of blood, but the area¡¯s damaged. Someone was dragged away. Like I said, it¡¯s far enough from the road it shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± It was a few moments of silence before Pete stepped forward and prodded him. ¡°If you want to try to rescue someone, we don¡¯t mind. Nothing says you can only help those you know.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like unknown dangers,¡± Anton said, ¡°But, we can at least check it out. By we, I mean the three of us.¡± Anton pointed, ¡°The five of you stay by the road. The current disparity between our cultivations is too great. We can¡¯t protect you, and if we have to flee¡­ I¡¯d rather not leave you behind.¡± ¡°Ah, I hate to admit it¡­ but I understand,¡± Pete nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t take too long.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a kilometer or two off road. We should be back in an hour, one way or another.¡± ----- Anton, Catarina, and Hoyt moved through the forest at a quick pace. They weren¡¯t quite running, but they were going faster than the running pace of any non-cultivator. It wasn¡¯t quite as elegant as Vincent¡¯s movement, but then again Anton hadn¡¯t seen him concerned about speed. Soon enough they came to the area Anton had spotted. From up close, it was clear enough to anyone that something had happened. There was torn up soil everywhere and scar marks on trees, along with a lingering sense of energy. In addition to that, sticks and plant pieces were strewn about as foliage got damaged during the battle. Others might not be able to pick out the small trail of blood and the drag marks, though the heavy footprints in the area stood out like a sore thumb. ¡°What is it?¡± Hoyt asked, looking down at them. ¡°Some sort of claw. A bear?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s big enough for that, but it matches a wolf. Four toes instead of five. Magical beasts, maybe. The forest here seems dense enough with natural energy. But whatever they fought¡­ shouldn¡¯t be dead. There¡¯s not nearly enough blood, and even if they devoured it there would be signs.¡± Anton held his finger up to a scar on the tree, ¡°And this is clearly a fresh cut by a blade. So it should be a person. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure from afar.¡± Anton led the way, though the others were only a few steps to either side. Enough to give each other room to fight, if it became necessary. There were several sets of wolf tracks, along with the one dragging the body. There were continued drops of blood¡­ strangely little, for what one would expect of someone mauled by a pack of wolves. The three followed the trail until they spotted a cave. However, instead of approaching immediately they circled around to a relatively hidden location and watched. ¡°Dark inside,¡± Hoyt commented quietly. ¡°But I can feel the energy. It¡¯s not too powerful, but¡­ multiple sources, I think. It¡¯s not just a magical beast leading a pack.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton said. ¡°But something still seems off. The cave is too open, even for large wolves¡­ and though they have excellent night vision it¡¯s too dark before it turns that corner. They definitely went in there, though.¡± Anton stepped slightly closer to the trail, still away from the cave entrance. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± He picked up a small piece of greyish-brown moss. It had been elsewhere along the trail, and at the battle location. As he held it up to inspect¡­ it suddenly jumped. Sudden movement from moss- or any movement for that matter- was quite a surprise for Anton. Tiny hooks appeared on the edges of the moss as he dodged out of the way, and he felt them stick into his energy. He flung the bits of moss away from himself, unsure if it could do any more. A moment later, other moss along the trail began popping up, not exactly directed in its motion. That triggered more and more of it until it reached the cave and went inside. In return, out of the cave came a large wolf with bright yellow eyes. However, it moved strangely, and its fur was coated in large clusters of the moss. A small amount of blood on its fur indicated it had been involved in the battle¡­ and it seemed quite interested in fighting another one. Its howl was harsh and ragged, but more echoed it from in the cave and around the area. Chapter 59 Wolves again. Anton was quite familiar how to deal with wolves, though he mainly avoided them when hunting. But on occasion he had to deal with those who roamed out of the forest, and then there was The Hunt at the Order. A single spirit arrow nocked in his bow then quickly released. The beast couldn¡¯t even dodge as the arrow flew straight and true into its eye, and into its brain. A simple act to defeat an enemy. Anton had expected it to be harder¡­ but he had also expected the creature to die. When the wolf started rushing towards him after suffering the blow, he knew things weren¡¯t quite as they should be. He thought he¡¯d misjudged his attack. Perhaps it had only looked like it penetrated deep into the eye but was actually absorbed into the beast. Some magical beasts had such high bodily defenses. But he could clearly make out the hole- despite the trickle of blood. A trickle that was perhaps too small in quantity for the amount of damage. Anton could also make out some of the same moss from the fur inside the creature. ¡°Careful! They¡¯re not normal beasts!¡± The chance that the other two actually needed him to say that were slim. Unless they had looked away¡­ ¡°They won¡¯t die so easily, but nothing¡¯s immortal! Keep an eye out for those others!¡± Even as he was talking Anton had readied and fired another arrow, straight into the other eye. With the wolf moving it was a bit harder to hit with pinpoint accuracy. Predicting its movements was¡­ strange. His training with insight was completely failing him, though the creature wasn¡¯t quick. His arrow still grazed the eye, enough to make it unusable but not to penetrate deep into its body. Anton pulled his neck out of the way of biting teeth as the creature pounced towards him. It turned more or less directly towards him, but as it swiped at him with its claws he noticed its range wasn¡¯t perfect. Sometimes he actually had to dodge, and sometimes it just missed. So despite not dying properly, it did seem to need its eyes. Fighting in melee range with a bow was extremely taxing. He didn¡¯t have time to properly line up a shot, and the swiping claws threatened to strike his bow. Anton didn¡¯t think that it would break to even a quite oversized and strange wolf, but it wasn¡¯t optimal to fight that way either. A few arrows deep into its chest didn¡¯t seem to faze it, so he decided his smaller axes would do better instead. If nothing else, he could dismember it. A quick glance told him that worked quite well. ----- Catarina was fighting a wolf that had approached from one side of them. She danced around it with ease, stabbing her sword into its side several times. While she drew blood, it didn¡¯t seem sufficiently damaging for a creature of that size. She had hopes that its other internal organs might be more important to it than its brain- perhaps an abnormal wish, but it was an abnormal creature. It wasn¡¯t hard to tell that the moss was one of the strange parts about it. It radiated an abnormal energy- and any amount at all was abnormal for moss. So was growing on a creature. A quick slice of her sword along a patch and she found it was surprisingly resistant to attack¡­ and also quite vulnerable. Her own energy was sufficient to cut through the defenses of a patch of moss, after which the whole thing exploded. Spores flew everywhere. No, they burst out with great speed¡­ but they flew towards her. Her energy defenses stopped anything from touching her directly, but the spores latched onto the outside of her energy. Catarina was quick to push it away, letting part of her energy go with it. She didn¡¯t want to find out if it could harm her without touching her directly. Maybe the spores were why grandpa Anton hadn¡¯t attacked the moss. Or perhaps he hadn¡¯t felt the flow of energy from the moss. He wasn¡¯t actually perfect, after all. As for the damage to the wolf¡­ it actually bled profusely from where the patch of moss had been moments earlier. Now she had a target¡­ but its movements also changed to try to protect the moss. It wasn¡¯t dodging, but instead it became more aggressive. Attacking recklessly would normally be a suicidal move, but it forced Catarina to dodge its attacks instead of making her own. That made sense, because the creature wasn¡¯t particularly fast. Even so, it took some effort to find an opening¡­ ----- Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Hoyt ran off to the right of the cave entrance, where he spotted two wolves were approaching. One was much closer than the other, so he moved to meet it head on. He¡¯d rather not fight two on one. The wolf also seemed happy to rush towards him. As they were only a short distance apart, Hoyt solidified his stance as he swung his axe, right into the ribcage of the creature. His axe sank the full length of the blade, driving into the creature¡¯s heart. Hoyt had seen what Anton¡¯s arrows piercing into its brain did- practically nothing- but he was still a bit disconcerted when it twisted, biting and clawing at him as if it wasn¡¯t twisting its sliced ribs around. With all the strength he could muster, Hoyt kicked the creature¡¯s ribs, pushing it further and yanking his axe out at the same time. A moment later the creature had rolled to its feet, and while it seemed slightly unsteady with some of its structural support sliced apart it was a far cry from dead. As it charged back towards him Hoyt aimed for a different target. Tactics involving striking opponent¡¯s limbs were rarely optimal. If Hoyt had the opening to cut off someone¡¯s arm, couldn¡¯t he cut off their head? He looked at the creature¡¯s neck. In this case¡­ he could not. But even though he couldn¡¯t take off the head, Hoyt found an opportunity to take a swing at a front shoulder. The leg was probably ten centimeters thick, going up to twenty just below the shoulder. That was already a bit much for the size of his axe- it wasn¡¯t crazily oversized but rather practical in terms of weight and size. It was sufficient for most things¡­ and for the rest, his energy could make up for it. Slight extensions of energy on either side, and as he leaned around an attack he took the swing. Hard bone and thick, sinewy muscle slowed his swing, but he cut straight through the limb. He might have expected the creature to die of shock or topple over from pain, but instead it merely continued to try to attack him. However, while it might not really care about the loss of a leg, it still needed it for support. It couldn¡¯t swipe at him with its other paw, so it was limited to biting. Quite by accident while looking for another opening, Hoyt had moved away from the fallen limb. Even though he knew the thing was strange, he thought it wouldn¡¯t do anything¡­ but it continued to flop around wildly. More than just random twitching, though not really more effective. Whatever these things were, it seemed he couldn¡¯t make any assumptions. As Hoyt was taking small swings at the creature¡¯s leg while avoiding its extremely long teeth, he circled around its side. He thought to perhaps go for a rear leg instead, as the head was being extremely annoying. However, before he could find the chance a section of moss on the creature shot out towards him. His energy defenses stopped it, but it latched on. Ah. He¡¯d learned about things like this. In a way, it wasn¡¯t dissimilar to the northern creeper but much more aggressive. Though what he thought he knew about it didn¡¯t actually make a difference, because ¡®chop it to bits and don¡¯t get spored¡¯ was already sufficient. Circling around the creature wasn¡¯t too hard as long as he was ready for the spores, and he didn¡¯t have to waste any more energy with that. Then with one hind leg gone, the wolf was entirely unbalanced. Just in time for the second one to reach him. ----- Cutting all the way through a wolf¡¯s leg was a bit much for Anton and his more moderately sized handaxe. He had quite a bit of strength, but he didn¡¯t have the weight a bigger weapon would add. Then again, he hadn¡¯t really tested his maximum force. Anton had a better idea, however. Even if he could accomplish the same thing as Hoyt, he would prefer a bit more efficiency. The creatures didn¡¯t seem to care about their bodies much, but they were still after all using them. No matter what sort of force was controlling them, they had to have a certain structure. If Anton recalled correctly, the tendon on the leg should be just¡­ there. If he wanted to exaggerate his prowess, he might have left out the part where he was in Spirit Tempering and fighting a blind wolf, but he sliced right through a tendon, then one on the other front leg. He considered chopping at the other legs, but instead he pulled back. Somehow the creature managed to limp along even with the damage. There was a bit of pulsing energy inside it¡­ but it was even more awkward than before. Since they were already going to have to deal with the spores anyway¡­ he backed up and took a shot. One arrow into each of three patches of moss he could see. They exploded just like he saw with Catarina, but he wasn¡¯t close enough for them to seek him out. In fact, they seemed to go straight back along the path of the arrow even as he curved them around to hit the sides. It made sense, following energy. With the moss dying, the wolf eventually stopped moving. Anton looked to see if the others needed a hand, and then to see if there were more. Not close, at least, though he thought he¡¯d heard more than four howls total. If they were quick, they might leave before more came. However, there was still the matter of the person they had dragged off. He didn¡¯t imagine things had gone well for them, but at least they might be buried with dignity. Chapter 60 Forming a makeshift torch and lighting it up wasn¡¯t difficult. It was doubtful if it would be able to burn away any of the strange moss, especially while fresh, but at least it would provide light. While any of the three cultivators could find their way around in the dark well enough by sensing the walls, they couldn¡¯t actually see in the dark. Hidden dangers might still lurk unsensed. Especially of concern was more of the strange moss, despite the energy it gave off. The good news was that the cave did not stretch back very far beyond the initial bend. The bad news was the rest of it was covered in the strange moss, and more than just the walls of the cave there were a few figures. One human and several small wolves- perhaps almost normal sized, but their proportions indicated they were pups. Details were harder to make out under the cover of the moss, but they still felt¡­ alive. More than the other wolves had been, at least. Catarina grimaced. ¡°I don¡¯t know if we can save them¡­ but we need to destroy this moss no matter what. Growing on and into things like this¡­¡± ¡°I have no disagreements,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°But practically, it¡¯s difficult. There are already so many spores outside, we¡¯d have to burn down the whole forest basically.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Anton intoned while he thought. ¡°Is that correct, though? Look here. The moss only starts where the sunlight would never hit. It might not survive sunlight without¡­ inhabiting an animal.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not windy,¡± Catarina said. ¡°The spores won¡¯t have gone far, in either case. I can¡­ destroy it.¡± ¡°Should I go get the others?¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Or at least tell them what¡¯s happening?¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Pete can help. But first, we should check each other. It¡­ sticks to energy.¡± After looking over each other and their equipment, they found no remaining traces of spores. Even so, they took ten minutes to let Catarina set up a first, smaller formation. They could see what it did to patches of the moss on the corpses of one wolf, shriveling it away into a grey powder in a single minute. Any spores they had on them while they stood in the area would have suffered the same fate. ¡°Targeted destruction of immobile foes is¡­ simple.¡± It actually wasn¡¯t faster than attempting to burn each bit, though there were less side effects and they could be certain they encompassed the whole area. ¡°I¡¯ll be off to get the others, then,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I¡¯ll stick to the same path.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come with you part of the way,¡± Anton said. ¡°To watch for some older spores. Catarina, I presume you can handle yourself here?¡± She nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll start on the cave. Maybe¡­ we can save something.¡± ----- It wasn¡¯t possible for the group to go everywhere the wolves had been and might have spread the spores, but as far as they could tell any that brushed off onto the ground were inactive. If the origin of the moss was the cave they had found, then they could eradicate it. If not¡­ they couldn¡¯t be responsible for a whole forest in a country they weren¡¯t even allies with. They still planned to leave a report in the next cities they passed through, warning people of the dangerous moss. Carving runes into the wall of the cave was difficult work, even with energy. They had to be precise enough to affect the flow of energy, and the more important part was that they had to affect beyond themselves. Catarina certainly wasn¡¯t willing to touch the moss to rearrange or carve anything beyond the start of the moss, and Pete was much more vulnerable than her. They had to inch along piece by piece, the formation destroying patches of the moss as they went along. Hoyt and Anton contributed much of the energy the formation needed to do so. It was possible that the amount of destruction was unnecessary, but nobody wanted to leave the job half done. If they did, it would merely grow back¡­ and they didn¡¯t like thinking about it. In the end, it took several hours to uncover the figures at the back. Several of the pups died immediately- the moss had grown too deeply inside of them for them to survive its removal. In a way, they were already dead before that. One pup still had a heartbeat afterwards, and the cultivator- a young man- also remained alive as the moss growing on, in, and around him decayed under the power of the formation. He started to bleed profusely, but that was something cultivators were more set up to handle. Coagulants were something they might need after a battle, and though they weren¡¯t dealing with neat cuts some poultices at least stopped the bleeding. That said, there were also several day-old wounds from the wolves. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. If the young man was able to regain consciousness, he should be able to kickstart the recovery process of his own body. From Anton¡¯s assessment he would have nasty scars- and one arm might be crippled. The moss had grown deep enough into it that it was not quite everything it should be without it. Even so, it was better than death- and much better than becoming a half-alive thing seemingly under control of the moss. Anton noticed Catarina spent more time helping the living pup than the cultivator, but he couldn¡¯t blame her. Despite its size, it was a rather cute animal. He hadn¡¯t had need for herding dogs on the farm, since they focused more on crops than livestocks, but he could appreciate a good animal. He also knew when they were probably beyond help. However, that was taking into account his mundane knowledge. The pup¡¯s breathing was ragged and weak, its body torn and wrecked¡­ but Catarina began shaving its fur. Anton wouldn¡¯t believe anything from her was random patterns. As always, it was a formation. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Catarina said, ¡°Something.¡± She bit her lip. For not knowing, her movements were quite confident. Anton let her concentrate. He didn¡¯t feel any flow of energy from the formation even when she finished¡­ until she injected her own energy into it. Then he felt it. Catarina¡¯s energy flowed through the formation in a certain pattern. Though the shape of the wolf pup was quite different from that of a human, it would be rather dense of Anton to not recognize the circulation of energy through meridians. It was just that some of them were outside the pup, and it wasn¡¯t using the creature¡¯s own energy. Not that it likely had any. Even if it had the lineage of a magical beast, it was too young to have had much growth in that regard. It was honestly unclear if the circulation of energy was doing anything for the pup. Perhaps its ragged breathing calmed slightly. Maybe its lungs were just giving out. Even so, Catarina continued the process. Anton wasn¡¯t going to stop her. Compassion was an admirable trait, and if it died regardless, then there was nothing to be done. He wasn¡¯t going to disparage an attempt to help. The group stayed for the night in the cave- more towards the entrance than in the back with the dead-grey piles that had once been a terrible moss. Anton arranged to take watch for the first half of the night, with Hoyt taking the latter. One night a couple hours short on sleep wouldn¡¯t be a problem, and they¡¯d had sufficient time to recover their energy after the battles and supporting the formation to feel comfortable. ----- In the morning Anton awoke to the stirring feeling of unfamiliar energy. It was slow and methodical, not sudden¡­ but it still startled him awake. Hoyt nodded to him, then inclined his head towards the cultivator they had rescued. He appeared to have survived the night, and was slowly cultivating. It was unclear if he had regained consciousness or not. Anton was aware he circulated a small amount of energy automatically, perhaps a bit more now that he was in Spirit Building. On the other side Catarina was curled up next to the wolf pup. The creature had ragged and bloody patches as well as carved out bits of fur. It looked like a real mess¡­ but it still lived. The formation Catarina had made still trickled just the slightest bit of her energy in a circuit throughout the beast. Anton signalled to Hoyt to watch things while he went off to hunt. A few rabbits or small birds would do. He also surveyed the surrounding area carefully, seeing no other signs of the moss. Just the regular kind. It was quite visually different, and normal moss grew quite contentedly on trees instead of into animals. When he returned, he found the cultivator and the others were fully awake. The young man inclined his head. He tried to clasp his hands together, but winced as his bad arm signalled to him its inability. ¡°I was told that you were the one who spotted signs of my struggle from the road. Thank you for coming to my rescue. I am Lev. I have no family name, but I am a disciple of the Grasping Willows. We are located a few days from here. I came on a mission to verify the sightings of strange beasts and¡­ well.¡± He shrugged- which clearly also hurt. ¡°I think I found them. I have little to give you as a reward, but I should at least be able to give you the pay for my mission. I will request more from the sect, but I cannot guarantee anything.¡± Anton looked at Catarina and Hoyt. They seemed pleased enough with him. Not that he planned to deny the man common courtesy regardless. ¡°If it is not too far as you say, we would be glad to escort you there. We were heading to the northeast¡­¡± ¡°How fortunate indeed,¡± Lev said. ¡°The Grasping Willows are along the road in that direction, though off a side road some ways.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s fortune with only really two ways along the road,¡± Anton said, ¡°But it was fortunate that we found you less than two days after the attack. It could have easily been just a bit longer.¡± ¡°And then we wouldn¡¯t be having this conversation. So I am quite grateful for your eyes, and your willingness to help someone you hadn¡¯t even seen,¡± Lev inclined his head once more. Anton was also quite pleased with how things had turned out. At least the young man seemed decent enough, though of course how could he act differently when surrounded by those he didn¡¯t know? Then again, Anton had encountered the truly arrogant type. Having good relations with a disciple of a local sect should be of benefit to them- and if he was truly a decent person, even better. Chapter 61 Though he had been extremely polite about it, it was obvious that Lev needed the escort back to the Grasping Willows. Even with the support of his energy he walked quite unsteadily. It wasn¡¯t possible for cultivators to fully heal in a day, especially not without any miraculous medicines. Anton was quite willing to share what he had, but it wasn¡¯t exactly suited for the precise purpose of regrowing bits that had been replaced by parasitic mold. It wasn¡¯t clear if Lev¡¯s right arm would ever work again, and everyone silently agreed not to bring it up as they traveled. It wasn¡¯t a long journey, but no day or meal was lacking in Lev¡¯s expressions of thanks. ¡°I don¡¯t know how I can ever repay you all,¡± Lev said. ¡°You saved my life.¡± ¡°I¡¯d quite like to say, ¡®don¡¯t worry about it¡¯, but I do believe we could use whatever reward you could scrounge up.¡± Anton sighed slightly and looked wistfully off into the distance, ¡°We experienced some difficulties that ended up with finances lost for nothing. We still have need of more funds in the near future, possibly more than anticipated.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes settled on Pete and the others briefly. ¡°I¡¯m not rich, but I did promise that pay for my mission,¡± Lev looked over the group. ¡°You¡¯re traveling away from Khonard? I assume the trouble was there.¡± Anton grunted. ¡°I made some miscalculations. Mishandled politics, overestimated myself.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t sound like you¡¯re from Ofrurg, though. Did you bet on yourself in an arena match? At least you¡¯re alive.¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± Anton said. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Lev thought for a few moments, ¡°Elder Varela has some sway with people there. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m worth enough to get him to try to cancel debts, but if you need more time¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not quite the problem,¡± Anton said. ¡°No need to burden yourself with it.¡± ¡°You saved my life though.¡± Lev continued to look over the group, ¡°Is it someone you know? Enslaved and fighting?¡± Anton¡¯s expression told him enough. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that. If you failed to just buy them, they have to be a cultivator, right? That¡¯s harder to deal with. I can at least ask, though.¡± ¡°I doubt he will be let free,¡± Anton said. ¡°Well, no.¡± Lev shook his head, ¡°Elder Varela doesn¡¯t have actual authority there. But he knows some people, and he¡¯s mid Spirit Building which gives him more weight there. I¡¯m honestly surprised someone would compete with you over a slave. People can¡¯t really control slaves at Spirit Building, so their upper end value in an arena¡­¡± Lev shook his head, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have expected anyone to be willing to make an enemy of a Spirit Building cultivator over a single person.¡± ¡°He wasn¡¯t, when it started,¡± Hoyt explained. ¡°Though that woman might have tried something regardless.¡± ¡°Oh. It was some time ago, then?¡± Lev asked. ¡°Two months. Just a bit less actually,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°A recent breakthrough?¡± Lev once again twitched as his right arm didn¡¯t move how he wanted, so he merely bowed his head. ¡°Congratulations. I know it doesn¡¯t make up for a friend in danger, but it is still worthy of celebration.¡± ¡°I have not often been in the mood to celebrate as of late,¡± Anton said. ¡°I understand. So this¡­ woman. She is backed by one of the powerful clans?¡± ¡°There¡¯s an understanding not to speak of it,¡± Anton said. ¡°Hmm. Someone young then? Who thought they might actually lose to you...¡± Lev frowned. ¡°She did lose,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Then she threw a tantrum.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes sharpened as he looked at Catarina. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I believe I¡¯ve seen her,¡± Lev said. ¡°I promise not to speak of it. Except the part where you have a friend you would like to survive. Ah! There¡¯s our road.¡± Lev smiled, ¡°Soon we¡¯ll be able to see the sect.¡± He pulled out his sword with his left hand, ¡°The road¡¯s a bit unkempt, so¡­¡± ¡°Beasts?¡± Anton asked. ¡°No no, nothing like that.¡± Lev¡¯s eyes moved back and forth across the road before stopping. There was about a minute of silent walking before he suddenly swung his sword at the air in front of him, slicing through the hanging branches of a nearby tree. ¡°Should you be damaging the namesake of your sect like that?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Those droopy vine-like trees are willows, right?¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°The Grasping Willow, even,¡± Lev nodded. ¡°And we like visitors to reach our grounds. So we chop.¡± ¡°I see,¡± said Anton, looking deeper into the woods away from the road. ¡°It quite makes sense. Not many birds here.¡± ¡°The smart ones stay away!¡± Lev said, ¡°And the ones like that pigeon-¡± he pointed with his blade. The pigeon flew towards the branch of one of the willows, brushing against the dangling branches. As it did so, the branch suddenly curled up, sticking to the pigeon¡¯s wing and wrapping around its body. The bird flapped its wings and made a racket. ¡°See? Sometimes they even get grounded wildlife. Careless wolves and deer and stuff. ¡°Eep!¡± Catarina said. ¡°They eat wolves?¡± She shifted her weight back and forth as she walked. ¡°How do they know?¡± ¡°These plants just eat¡­ everything. Including people, if they¡¯re even more careless. We get some of our proper fighting style from ideas about them, and we also sort of just placed ourselves in the midst of them. Thus the name.¡± Lev gestured, ¡°You can break off the branch if you don¡¯t panic. But mostly the trees use anything that bumps into their branches.¡± ¡°Oh. Fuzz is safe then.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Fuzz?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Probably that wolf conspicuously placed in her pack,¡± Anton said. Catarina smiled awkwardly, ¡°Why would I- um,¡± Catarina stuttered to defend herself. ¡°It¡¯s a serious responsibility. Not just raising an animal, but a wild beast,¡± Anton cautioned her. ¡°Cultivators have more ability to handle a bit of misbehavior, but make sure it doesn¡¯t harm others. If you¡¯re not sure if you can do what¡¯s necessary if things go wrong, it¡¯s best to rid yourself of it now.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°But if you really want to try, you¡¯d better study up on beast taming. If you even have any spare time.¡± ¡°I have¡­ a little,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I can do it.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Anton said. ¡°I trust you to be responsible about it. But I wanted to caution you.¡± ----- The rest of the trip was uneventful. The willows were kept back further from the road close to the entrance of the sect. Lev waved to the guards at the gates as they approached. ¡°Hello! I¡¯m back!¡± ¡°Lev!¡± One of the guards said, ¡°We thought you¡¯d be back a day or two ago.¡± The burly man looked over him from head to toe, ¡°We¡¯ll have to talk about what happened. And the rest of these?¡± ¡°They rescued me,¡± Lev said. ¡°They¡¯re from¡­¡± ¡°The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars,¡± Anton answered. ¡°I thought so,¡± Lev nodded. ¡°But I wasn¡¯t sure. I¡¯ve heard good things about them. Though you probably hadn¡¯t heard of us.¡± ¡°Well-¡± Lev raised his ¡®good¡¯ arm. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯re a small sect. But I¡¯d like to say we¡¯re one of the more upstanding ones in Ofrurg, though not the strongest.¡± He looked to the guards, ¡°Can we enter?¡± ¡°If you vouch for them. The elders will be eager to see you, thought you might want to first visit the healer.¡± Lev shook his head, ¡°Don¡¯t think it¡¯ll change anything. At least it didn¡¯t reach my meridians.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to tell me what ¡®it¡¯ is sometime.¡± ¡°I bet you¡¯ll hear all about it,¡± Lev said. ¡°Some really nasty stuff over there.¡± They were waved through the gates. The guards still kept their eyes on the group as they walked around, but there wasn¡¯t much else to watch out for besides them. As they walked through the Grasping Willows¡¯ territory, Anton found many similarities with the Order. The buildings were more practical than extravagant, despite cultivators generally being more prone to excess because they could afford it. Small fields were tended to by disciples of the sect- or at least cultivators with the same energy signature as Lev and the guards. From their demeanor and the fact that they were allowed to cultivate Anton found it unlikely for them to be slaves, though of course the workers ranged from people happily contented with their labor to those just doing it to get whatever rewards were offered. ¡°It¡¯s not far,¡± Lev said. It was clear he was pushing himself somewhat, but this was their destination. ¡°I¡¯ll get you settled into some guest accommodations. I¡¯ll report back about my mission, and get you that reward. Plus Elder Varela,¡± Lev shook his head. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure you all want a bit of a rest too.¡± ----- Anton needed rest the least of any of them, but he didn¡¯t mind some time to sit and think. When he¡¯d had enough thinking he began to cultivate. Lev was certainly genuine enough, and he felt no malice from any of the others in the sect. Feelings like that became more tangible after he¡¯d begun cultivating, and Spirit Building especially opened him up to new gut feelings. He was cultivating Intuition, which was one of the stars that related to other people the most strongly, so he was confident in his assertions. If he happened to be extremely wrong, he would kill his way out with the others¡­ and write off Ofrurg for good. Still, he held onto the hope that there were at least some decent cultivators in the country, not too taken in with themselves that they forgot the humanity of others. His mind returned to Devon. He couldn¡¯t do anything to save him right now, but he would find the chance. One month was too short, but a few months¡­ if Devon could hold out that long, Anton might be able to make the Potenza family reconsider. They would have already profited from him and if Anton could show he would continue growing stronger the family might choose to cut their losses- or rather, keep their profits. If they made the wrong choice, then he¡¯d simply have to grow strong enough fast enough to save Devon anyway. Then again, Devon might free himself somehow. Anton wouldn¡¯t bet on it- he was confident in his grandson¡¯s grit, but it would simply be harder to do from his side. Regardless, it was better to work on the problem from two sides rather than one. Anton wasn¡¯t going to let him down again. His eyes flashed as he breathed in smooth natural energy. It was still quite early to complete the eleventh star, but Anton had an internal race with Catarina and Hoyt. He wanted to see if he could get there before they completed both the ninth and tenth stars. He was well aware that higher tiers of cultivation weren¡¯t as quick, but he felt he could do at least that much. If not, at least he had a cultivation goal to aim for. Chapter 62 It had to be admitted that having a good night¡¯s sleep in a secure location was much better for a full recovery than furtively watching for enemies while you rested in the middle of the forest. Anton could feel a clear difference in the quality and quantity of energy he was able to retain when he awoke. As always, the sun was barely in the sky. The guest houses had a little courtyard with a nice willow of the non-grasping variety in the center providing atmosphere. Anton took the time to perform his morning exercises. Improvements to his body were very marginal since he completed the tenth star. The first seven stars of Spirit Building weren¡¯t targeted at the body at all, so he had to feel for himself what he could do to improve. In the past, he would have been more than content with his current body. It was noticeably better than when he was in his prime, at least in terms of what it could do¡­ but he knew it wasn¡¯t the peak of what a cultivator could have. It was still a bit old as well. Like a building having recently undergone renovations. It wasn¡¯t the same as a strong new structure despite additional supports holding it together. Training his insight was harder because it wasn¡¯t just the repetition of a task, moving his body or circulating his energy a certain way. The energy circulation only went so far. Even fighting a shadow-enemy didn¡¯t always help him improve. The problem was, he already knew what his imaginary opponent would do. No matter how he tried, he rarely managed to make it do something ¡®unexpected¡¯ that he could ¡®react¡¯ to. But that didn¡¯t mean he felt as if he were stuck. Anton could feel his insight improving merely from exposure to people. There was more impact in the context of fighting, but observing the way people moved outside of combat wasn¡¯t useless to him either. Around the time Catarina and Hoyt awoke, Lev came to see them. He also looked somewhat more hearty, though his right arm was bound up in a proper cast and restrained to his chest. He¡¯d decided to try to keep it, then. Good. Anton was worried it might have to be amputated. Then again, it might just be a hopeful gesture. ¡°Good morning to you all,¡± Lev inclined his head. He held out a heavy pouch with one hand, ¡°Here is the sum total of the reward we can offer. The price of my mission, but also additional rewards from the sect for my life, and the information on a more serious concern in the area. Anton graciously accepted. It was a significant total. The sect clearly valued their disciple or the information¡­ or both. Cultivators didn¡¯t have to be kind but inefficient or unwavering in ¡®logical¡¯ decision-making. ¡°We were quite glad to provide our help.¡± Lev smiled, ¡°I do appreciate being alive. And not infested by that horrid moss. I spoke to Elder Varela, he said that he would like to meet you before deciding if he should offer you support. I can take you whenever you¡¯re free.¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯m quite free right now. He wishes to meet all of us or¡­?¡± ¡°He also wishes to meet fellow cultivators Hoyt and Catarina, but he was especially interested in you, Senior Anton.¡± Anton smiled. At least he was actually in the next stage of cultivation compared to Lev and slightly deserved the title now. ¡°Your¡­ disciples? are free to explore this area of the sect if they wish.¡± ¡°I shall let them know. Then we should not keep the Elder waiting.¡± ----- The land of the Grasping Willows was quite pleasant, full of outdoor paths flanked by many trees between every building. It wasn¡¯t as practical as the Order¡¯s central complexes of buildings, though Anton was quite aware the Order had many natural areas available beyond the forest. There were small planters around the Order¡¯s buildings as well, but the Grasping Willows had a higher proportion of ¡®natural¡¯ surroundings. Instead of being led into an office or a sitting room, Lev brought the trio along some paths surrounded by bamboo and ominously looming willows to a large pagoda next to a lake. Long snow-white hair and an equally long beard trailed down towards the knees of the figure standing there, watching the lake. He turned towards the group, the trails of his hair and beard swaying in the breeze. ¡°So you are the ones who saved my favorite disciple.¡± He laughed at Lev¡¯s reaction, ¡°Oh come now, everybody knows people have favorites, and usually who those are. It¡¯s just old men like me who are confident enough to admit it.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Anton laughed, ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be a secret though.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we can have two or three and still keep some favorites secret,¡± Elder Varela took stock of the group, spending the most time on Anton. ¡°Lev told me you ran into trouble in Khonard. It¡¯s not uncommon. Too many people there, bound to be some bad ones. And they tend to spoil everyone around them.¡± He blew a puff of air from his mouth, fluttering his moustache. ¡°Too many sects with thought only for strength. Not that it was much different when I was young.¡± ¡°I paid little attention to cultivators in my youth,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°A foolish mistake, but I think many others have too little care for the common folk.¡± ¡°Everyone neglects certain aspects of the world. It is merely how much they fail to see the larger picture that changes.¡± Elder Varela shifted to look out over the lake again, ¡°I¡¯d say I see maybe half of what there is to see.¡± Anton frowned slightly, ¡°I feel like I might have to change my estimate down then, if you judge your own view of the world so.¡± ¡°Perhaps. It¡¯s not something I can say. I might even be wrong about myself.¡± He remained quiet for a few moments, ¡°I had the chance to cultivate the Ninety-Nine Stars, you know? I know some of those who are now elders. We Grasping Willows are much smaller, but I felt more suited to this. Besides, something felt off, which I only learned about later. You¡¯re at Spirit Building, so you should know¡­¡± he glanced at Catarina and Hoyt. ¡°They either already know, or they could. They¡¯ll be at Spirit Building soon enough either way,¡± Anton smiled at them, ¡°I assume this is about the technique being incomplete?¡± ¡°It is,¡± Elder Varela shook his head, which wiggled his hair and beard. ¡°I know as someone who hasn¡¯t even gotten close to the peak it¡¯s a bit arrogant, but I¡¯d rather practice a developing technique like the Grasping Willow has rather than something known to be incomplete. It¡¯s silly, right? At my current age, I don¡¯t even know if anyone can really step beyond that point. But something inside of me said it wasn¡¯t right for me. How about yourself?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say I had exposure to many cultivation techniques. This was the first I had access to but it absolutely is the right path for me.¡± Anton wanted to declare he was determined to reach the hundredth star, but it seemed a bit premature to announce to others. He would hold that in his heart for the moment. Elder Varela remained in pleasant contemplation looking at the lake for a few minutes before he continued, ¡°Young Lev said that you only recently broke through to Spirit Building.¡± ¡°Yes. There was a conflict, so it was a bit rushed.¡± ¡°I thought so. Something private. Lev wouldn¡¯t speak of it.¡± ¡°I have reasons to keep the details private,¡± Anton said. ¡°But my grandson is currently enslaved to fight as a cultivator in an arena.¡± ¡°A grandson. I suppose you lived apart?¡± ¡°No. I had not yet started cultivation at the time.¡± Elder Varela raised a very bushy eyebrow, ¡°A late start? Interesting. It is quite rude to doubt the words of a guest, but I find it quite hard to believe. However, I¡¯m quite a believer in coming to know one¡¯s opponent through combat. I would not force anything upon a savior of one of our disciples, but a spar can do some good for both of us, I might think. We have a training field with proper safeguards in place, though I¡¯d like to think I have better control than to require that.¡± Elder Varela¡¯s eye sparkled as he looked at Anton. Since Elder Varela was in the middle of Spirit Building, there was no question that he could defeat Anton quickly if he showed no restraint. Anton was quite aware that he had some talent, but he didn¡¯t have enough experience comparing cultivators to make up for such a large difference. Elder Varela would be the equivalent of at least the seventeenth star while he was still at the tenth, though his exact level was hard to judge compared to the Ninety-Nine Stars. ¡°I would not mind, as I am also certain I could learn something from the experience. If it has any chance to help Devon, even more so.¡± ¡°We shall see,¡± Elder Varela said. ¡°I can promise to send word I would prefer your grandson remain in good health, but depending on what I might learn about you I may offer more.¡± Catarina tugged on Anton¡¯s sleeve and whispered to him. ¡°I might suggest learning techniques to speak to a single person, young formation expert. But we would not mind you inspecting the sparring field¡¯s formations.¡± Catarina blushed, but that didn¡¯t change her resolve to check for traps of some sort. Chapter 63 ¡°Everything should be fine,¡± Catarina declared from the arena that was surrounded by a ring of drooping trees. ¡°The formation is in good shape.¡± That was also her polite way of saying that it didn¡¯t have any strange functionality. Though Anton understood her concern, she needn¡¯t have bothered. Elder Varela was powerful enough to do whatever he wanted regardless. While the world had rotten apples like Tonina, Anton refused to believe that the world was so bad he would be killed for absolutely no reason. If it was, maybe he should just die. But he understood Catarina¡¯s concerns. Catarina might feel a bit overprotective here, but outside of friendly territory she was a great asset. Elder Varela¡¯s droopy beard and long hair swayed in the wind as he stood across from Anton. ¡°Here we begin a spar to know each other. Begin whenever you are ready.¡± With the difference between early Spirit Building- not even the first full star- and mid Spirit Building, Anton had no reason to hold back. It would simply be impolite. His hands rapidly moved, Spirit Arrow forming and flying as he did so. Elder Varela merely held his ground without taking a step. Then Anton¡¯s Spirit Arrow was swatted away- not by a hand, but by the old man¡¯s beard. A second arrow was already on the way, but it met the same fate. Anton hadn¡¯t been sure what he expected, but it wasn¡¯t that. Even so, Anton could feel the way energy twined itself in and around the beard and hair Elder Varela had. It was clearly practiced, not an improvised technique to make fun of him. The length of each allowed for a long, flexible limb that could block attacks from any angle. Counting beard and hair, at least two at a time. A flurry of arrows going at different speeds curved across the arena. They arrived in pairs and triplets, but all were deflected without even getting close to an actual hit. However, Anton began to pick up on the finer details of how things moved. Ten arrows, twenty, thirty, forty. One hundred. Elder Varela kept his feet firmly planted. Anton was forcing him into harder deflection angles, where his attacks would force Elder Varela to expend more of his own energy. One hundred and fifty. A cluster of four arrows flew in from different angles, all accelerating at the end of their movement. Elder Varela¡¯s hair flicked to deflect one from the rear. His beard split into two strands that batted away another two arrows. The fourth¡­ he dodged. However, that was the first time Anton forced him to take a step. Another fifty arrows. Even being in early Spirit Building greatly increased Anton¡¯s ability to store and control energy. After two hundred shots, Elder Varela was no longer able to stand still and occasionally dodge. However, his energy was brimming and Anton¡¯s was two-thirds depleted. ¡°A fine display,¡± Elder Varela said. ¡°But how are you on the defensive?¡± The man was quick, his energy propelling him towards Anton in mere moments. Anton fired several arrows as he moved, but they didn¡¯t find their mark. He held his bow in one hand and retrieved a handaxe. He might not be able to do anything to Elder Varela, but he at least wanted to defend himself. Elder Varela¡¯s beard was like a third arm reaching out to strike at Anton as the Elder finally made use of his hands. Anton treated it as fighting multiple opponents. He did his best to predict the moves which clearly had the energy held back to levels he could handle. He could handle them, indeed, but he still found himself getting struck in the shoulder or receiving a scrape along his cheek as he dodged, parried, and chopped with his axe. Then the Elder¡¯s hair got involved. It was a strange dance as Anton flipped about with as much agility as he could muster, avoiding the twisting and grasping hair as well as the striking hands and occasionally feet. Then hair twisted around his arm, grabbing it. A palm struck his chest, shattering his defensive energy as he tried to pull away. Then it was over. His ribs were a bit sore like he¡¯d let someone slap him, but that was all. Elder Varela held the smile he¡¯d had throughout, ¡°I must say, I learned quite a bit. How much closer did you get to the next step, hmm?¡± Anton grinned in return, ¡°I¡¯m not far now, actually.¡± ¡°Wonderful! I wish I could say the same for myself, but¡­ I aged this way while a cultivator. I¡¯m a few decades older than you, but I¡¯ve cultivated most of my life. As for you¡­ you started recently. Very recently.¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°You could say that,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°I can send a confident message, then. It¡¯s almost a shame the Order won¡¯t throw their weight around. Too cautious, I think. But for the most part, they¡¯re a whole country away. For me, Khonard is just down the road. I¡¯ll gladly send a message to tell the Potenzas to be careful with Devon. Because I can guarantee they¡¯ll regret it if they don¡¯t.¡± ¡°I appreciate your support,¡± Anton said. ¡°It wasn¡¯t my intention when I came here, but I will gladly accept.¡± ¡°Maybe it should have been,¡± Elder Varela said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You¡¯re the type who relies too much on yourself. I see you have some trusted allies as well, but you still want to deal with problems within your group.¡± Elder Varela looked between Anton and the others. ¡°Does your Order know you¡¯re in Spirit Building?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been on the road¡­ so not yet.¡± ¡°When you return, you should push them to action. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars is full of good intentions¡­ and inaction. Too much concerned with the affairs of Graotan, and not enough with the world. I haven¡¯t heard of them crushing an evil sect in decades, which used to happen on the regular. So tell them to act.¡± Elder Varela shrugged, ¡°Or at least, ask why things are so. I can¡¯t claim to know the internal affairs of your sect better than you, but that¡¯s what I see.¡± Elder Varela stroked his beard and turned away, ¡°Now how to begin that letter¡­ ¡®Remember that favour, Grigo?¡¯ No, that''s awful. ¡®Greetings and warnings¡¯, not much better. ¡®How would you like to be on the right side of history?¡¯ Hmm, I like that one.¡± Elder Varela chuckled to himself as he walked away. ¡°I think that went well,¡± Lev came forward from where he had watched the spar. ¡°I didn¡¯t get to see you fight when you saved me. You¡¯re¡­ more than what I imagined.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°He went easy on me. Still quite a big gap to overcome. I should learn how to fight people multiple levels higher than me¡­¡± Hoyt clapped Anton on the shoulder, ¡°If anyone can do it, I¡¯d say it¡¯s you. I like his advice about the Order, as well. The elders are mostly just sitting around maintaining the status quo. That¡¯s what happens without a sect head, I suppose.¡± ¡°There¡¯s supposed to be a sect head?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I hadn¡¯t heard about it. Can none of the elders agree on one?¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°Oh, they agreed. It¡¯s just the agreement was that none of them were qualified. That was¡­ decades ago. The latest news about it, really. So it¡¯s quite natural to assume just the council of nine and ninety-nine were all there is.¡± ¡°What qualifies someone to be sect head? Grand Elder Vandale is at the Ninety-Ninth Star. If he isn¡¯t qualified...¡± Anton puzzled over it. ¡°It¡¯s not just about being strongest. Though a certain level of cultivation is important, leadership ability, ambition, many things are considered.¡± Hoyt shook his head, ¡°The elders recognized their own shortcomings, but now it¡¯s likely they¡¯ll only consider the next generation.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to keep our eyes open, then,¡± Anton said. ¡°Maybe someone like Vincent. Recruiting is important, but I understand that more is necessary. But we should be moving on soon.¡± Anton waved to Catarina, Pete, and the others, ¡°How was the spar? Did you learn anything?¡± Pete came forward, ¡°It was quite hard to follow. But I found myself inspired regardless. I hadn¡¯t imagined that level of power. The-¡± Pete bit his lip and furrowed his brow, ¡°The bandit leader was strong, quick, but he only fought those not his equal.¡± ¡°I learned a lot!¡± Catarina said, ¡°The flow of energy from you and Elder Varela,¡± Catarina¡¯s mind drifted away as she recalled it. ¡°And you, Hoyt?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯m about ready to break through to the tenth star, actually. You think they¡¯ll allow us into some high energy density areas?¡± ¡°We can always ask,¡± Anton said. ¡°We don¡¯t need to occupy them long.¡± Anton also replayed the spar in his mind. More than natural energy, the beginnings of Spirit Building felt more like he had to find the right state of mind. His mind was all over the place with worry sometimes, but constant training kept him focused. Constant progress was important. There was so much to do. Wrongs to right, mistakes to make up for. Anton honestly still didn¡¯t know if he was going too slow or too fast. All he knew was that he couldn¡¯t stop. Chapter 64 The moment he¡¯d had a chance to get away from the mining business and had another way to support his wife Oskar Tanzer had taken it. It was rough work, especially when people didn¡¯t care for your survival. Ironically as a slave Oskar almost felt more valued than he had working as a miner in Graotan. But he also felt more likely to die. It was only through hard work, some luck, and watching the backs of the others that he¡¯d made it so far. The mines weren¡¯t for iron or coal or anything of the sort. Not exactly gems, either, though the magic rocks they dug up had a certain sparkle to them. Energy stones, they said. The mines were well braced and solid. They even had a decent flow of air down below. Explosive dust didn¡¯t seem to be a problem. But the thing that might kill them was the very thing they were looking for. Oskar felt it, when he first set foot in the mine. An itching on his skin he couldn¡¯t ignore. When he breathed it into his lungs it burned like tobacco. Unpleasant but somewhat addictive. Deeper into the mine, the feeling was stronger. It started pressing down like a heavy weight of water. Oskar knew it existed, but he didn¡¯t really know what it was until he put his hands on the first stone. It burned with energy, like picking up a hot coal. But it was the same sort of thing that filled the air. This was something for cultivators. Though it burned in his hand, Oskar immediately coveted the stone. It had value. More than him, almost. Except for one thing. He was part of a new group. Two dozen new workers all at once. In the first week, half of them had broken, including two others from Dungannon. Some of those who were broken died, but the others weren¡¯t necessarily more lucky. They were sick and pale, faces twisted in silent agony. After a day they were taken away by the taskmasters to never return. Oskar wasn¡¯t sure if they survived and were made to do other work, or would just die. He felt it himself. The crushing weight of the air, the way it burrowed into his skin and his lungs. It was a place with energy stones, and Oskar new cultivators used them. If they were the same, then the air¡­ was full of energy. But what could he do with it? Oskar had known he was going to break. He was just a bit slower to collapse than the others. He could barely breathe now even when he was out of the mines, eating or sleeping. It was trying to find its way inside. Once it did, he would die. So he let it. Better to die quickly than slowly, he thought. He was deep in the mines when he let it in. He pulled it in through his lungs and let it pierce through his skin into his body. Somebody would have to carry him out. He hadn¡¯t thought of that, and as pain shot into his limbs he mutely apologized to them. With each swing of his pick, the energy pierced deeper and deeper into him, like a million needles. His fatigued muscles continued to swing the pick, waiting for him to die. He wanted it to be quick, but when he let it inside it was so slow. It pierced into him like needles, but it was also like molasses flowing through his veins. Goopy, liquidy, and sticky. He pushed it around a little bit. He didn¡¯t really think about how, but it had a way it wanted to flow once he gave it momentum. So he let it. Oskar barely managed to pull himself out of the mines at the end of the day. He knew he¡¯d messed up. He hadn¡¯t died quickly, so he was going to be bedridden until they took him away to die. The looks of silent agony those who were broken had disturbed him. But even so, he quickly fell into a deep sleep. When he awoke, it was before the sun. The mines didn¡¯t rely on day and night, so they did their best to eke out as much work as they could from each slave. It was time to wake up¡­ and Oskar knew he wasn¡¯t broken. He felt almost¡­ good. Strong. Like he¡¯d gotten an extra day¡¯s rest, but there was no way that had happened. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Before even entering the mine, Oskar felt the energy inside him. It was there already, but much more comfortable than before. He felt it move around as he took each step and moved his body. He nudged it slightly, encouraging it. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was like poking a snake, but he wasn¡¯t dead yet. It was the next day when he was certain something was odd. He¡¯d allowed more energy deep in the mines into his body, and yet he wasn¡¯t dead. He also felt something as he passed the guards. He simply hadn¡¯t been able to comprehend it before, but they had much more energy inside of them. They were cultivators. The same type as those who had attacked Dungannon and taken him and his wife away. Oskar wasn¡¯t sure where she was. He couldn¡¯t do anything about it right now except not die, and hope he might see her again. But¡­ Oskar also understood that he might be a cultivator. And while it seemed to be helping him survive, he couldn¡¯t be found out. He needed to hide it, somehow. It wasn¡¯t really all that much compared to the deep mines, so he buried what he had inside of himself. It sunk into his muscles and bones, and every day when he left the mine he walked out empty. Some of the others were struggling. Oskar understood. Their bodies weren¡¯t strong enough, and he knew the others didn¡¯t know how to handle the energy. They just withstood it. The taskmasters and guards didn¡¯t follow them down into the mines. They just wanted to make sure there were a certain number of stones mined, and didn¡¯t care about anything else. One a day, even one the size of his pinky nail, was sufficient to keep them happy. One day, Oskar saw that one of the others hadn¡¯t found anything. Again. He might not survive that. When the others weren¡¯t looking, Oskar dropped a stone in front of Ebbe. He was another from Dungannon, but they barely knew each other. Even so¡­ he couldn¡¯t just leave him. The man already had whip marks from the day before. How was he even supposed to work? Oskar had been lucky so far. He¡¯d managed to bring an energy stone of some size regularly. He could feel them, so he knew where to dig and he put in the work. But he didn¡¯t have a second one, and Ebbe had needed it. So he felt the sting of the taskmaster¡¯s whips for the first time. It was painful, and he allowed himself to cry out in pain. They liked that, knowing it hurt. It was better not to let them know how much less it was than he thought it would be. His body resisted each blow, not fully but he could feel how it had changed. The next day, Oskar worked next to Ebbe. Nobody would hear quiet words among the ringing of picks. ¡°Ebbe. Can you feel the energy? Itching. Burning. Pressing down on you?¡± Ebbe nodded. ¡°I can. I don¡¯t know how much longer I can resist.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to tell you something crazy,¡± Oskar said. ¡°Let it in.¡± Ebbe certainly looked at him like he was crazy. Oskar did his best to explain, including how he removed the leftover traces of energy. His back and shoulders burned as he continued to work, going at just the right pace to find what he needed without giving up too much. If he could have just one stone per day, he wouldn¡¯t get more. But if he stopped working at any point, he might get in trouble. Ebbe also worked next to him, though he slowed down as he let the energy in. That night, Ebbe walked out looking almost dead. He handed over a small energy stone and barely managed to eat before collapsing in his bed. But the next day, he felt better. Not quite rejuvenated, but the energy wasn¡¯t quite so oppressive Oskar looked out for other opportunities. One came quite by accident, when there was a collapse. There hadn¡¯t been any major collapses so far, but Oskar had seen them before. He just happened to be looking over at the right time to fling himself over another worker he didn¡¯t know, pushing them both away from the collapsing rocks as much as he could. It wasn¡¯t a full collapse. They should be able to clear away the rubble, but that time wouldn¡¯t be spent mining. Unless they were lucky and found energy stones, Oskar knew what was coming. But that was okay. It let him talk to the man in secret. Bernhard, he found out. So it was that another joined their little group. Oskar wanted to do more than just make everyone self sufficient. They should work together. They might seem like they were competing for the energy stones, but that wasn¡¯t the case. There were enough for all of them to find¡­ especially if they knew how to look. Oskar wondered why the cultivators weren¡¯t doing it, except for the difficulty. They should be stronger and faster than him. Then again, all they had to do was stand around all day and give them food while they received something of great value in return. Chapter 65 The basic level of cultivation Oskar had managed to achieve allowed him and others to resist the oppressive energy down in the mines. It also empowered their bodies to be stronger and more enduring. At first it wasn¡¯t much, but along with coordinating the workers it soon allowed them to complete their work in a shorter timespan. If they were working a normal job, their efficiency might be praised. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± one of the taskmasters held up an energy stone. Every slave was inspected upon leaving for the day, to make sure they weren¡¯t smuggling out anything. Not that they could go anywhere even if they stole something. ¡°An energy stone, sir,¡± Oskar kept his voice polite and his head down. ¡°Was I mistaken?¡± ¡°No. But it¡¯s so small.¡± It was on the smaller end of those Oskar had brought in, but by no means the smallest. ¡°You look quite relaxed. Found it early in the day, did you, then decided you didn¡¯t have to work?¡± ¡°No sir. I pace myself throughout the day-¡± but Oskar¡¯s explanation didn¡¯t matter. He knew that. The sting of the whip was sharp. They wanted it to be painful, and it was. It didn¡¯t matter that his skin was now more durable than it had been before, because they didn¡¯t stop until he bled. ¡°Let this be a message to you all,¡± the taskmaster said to the gathered slaves who had been forced to watch. ¡°Just because you get a bit lucky does not mean you can be lazy. We expect hard work from all of you. From now on we will be monitoring your work more closely.¡± ----- The early times after the taskmasters began taking shifts inside the mine were difficult. It wasn¡¯t that nobody could do the work- they were all purchased because they were strong and the simple cultivation had overcome their fatigue. It was coordinating things so they did just the right amount of work. Under the watchful eye of a taskmaster, it was harder to slip small stones from person to person so that nobody came out empty handed. Oskar found it fortunate that he had been the one punished. His back didn¡¯t agree with him, but it did quite well to unite the other slaves with him. Everyone worked at a believable pace- slightly harder when the taskmaster came into view. Together, they increased the output of energy stones slightly. Very slightly. Oskar didn¡¯t want to overtax anyone, and he also didn¡¯t want to give the taskmasters too many ideas. They still had no involvement in the mining itself- the miners chose where to go and how to get there. Old branches in the mines had already been dug out, and sometimes offshoots of them were good- and sometimes not. The only thing that Oskar was content with was the quality of the tools. The picks were strong and durable, able to break through stone as well as a man could swing it. At least whoever was running the mines understood that decent tools and sufficient quantities of food were required for the mines to be functional. The taskmasters also seemed happy that they weren¡¯t having to replace any of the miners. ----- Most of the time Oskar worked alone. He was most capable of sensing where the energy stones would be within the rocks, and he could often gather some extra. He also didn¡¯t mind squirreling some away in piles of rubble and mine tailings. Anything that wouldn¡¯t be taken away up to the surface was usable- and the taskmasters didn¡¯t like to go deeper into the mines. When he came out with whatever they deemed sufficient, they didn¡¯t care. If it wasn¡¯t being forced upon him, he might have found it almost fulfilling. There was a nice rhythm to be had. Swing a pick, pry at the rock, pull back, swing again. Using his body while letting the energy flow into him made him stronger than he¡¯d ever been before. The work was still quite unpleasant and Oskar found himself often working harder than the others- who he helped coordinate to not exhaust themselves while appearing as if they couldn¡¯t work any harder. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. He just couldn¡¯t help but put the group first. When there were collapses and injuries, the same amount of output was still expected. It was unreasonable, and everyone knew that. Oskar was tempted to fill everyone¡¯s pockets during such days, but he only brought just enough to keep the taskmaster¡¯s wrath to a minimum. That led to whippings for himself and others, but if they produced just as much in times of trouble, their deception would be noticed. Working with others had a nice sound to it. Clank. Clank. Clank. Alone, it was much less pleasant. Swing, clank, pry, pull, swing, clank. Swing, clank, pry, pull, swing, swoosh. Oskar went to pick up his lamp. Something was strange. As the rays of light pierced through the hole, he wondered if he had come across an unknown tunnel. But he knew them pretty well, and he had no idea of any in that direction. Plus, he felt something that had drawn him that way. An energy stone. So he kept swinging. Eventually he opened up a hole big enough for him to move into. His lamp revealed he¡¯d cut an angle into a cylindrical room. He was basically along one edge and had to turn almost ninety degrees to see the center. It was immediately clear he wasn¡¯t looking at an energy stone. Atop a perfectly smooth pedestal was a rolled scroll. As he stepped into the room, Oskar noticed the floor and walls- and even the ceiling- were also perfectly smooth. No dust except what he brought in with him, and no other visible entrances. Just the scroll in the center of a clearly constructed room. Oskar stepped forward cautiously. He knew cultivators could be protective of their secrets, hiding and defending them¡­ but he didn¡¯t feel any danger. He was unsure if that meant he was just unprepared for what he might face, or if it was safe. He tossed a rock further into the room. It clattered on the ground, touching the pillar. Nothing happened. Presumably if anything were going to kill him, it would have done so when he broke into the room. He stepped closer. Closer. However, while he wanted to reach out and touch it, caution got the better of him. If this was something for cultivators, could he use or understand it? No matter how miraculous it might be, he knew it was dangerous. Oskar decided to be cautious. He could study it later. As soon as he resolved himself to that, he let out the breath he had held in and began to turn around. The air from his lips brushed against the scroll, and his head snapped back to face the pedestal, almost against his will. The scroll rose up and unfurled, the writing upon it glowing. Oskar wasn¡¯t even quite sure if he read the language it was written in, but the words were still clear to him. ¡°What makes a technique forbidden? It is danger. Danger to the cultivator, or to others. Forbidden techniques might merely be that which can threaten those in power. In such a case, it is not for the good of the practitioners that it is forbidden, but for the good of those who forbid it. If possible, such techniques are destroyed by those in power. ¡°Then there is another type. Techniques that are forbidden for the sake of the user. They bring danger to the practitioner either because they are flawed or incomplete, or by the mere nature of their completeness. Such techniques are declared forbidden by their creators or those who do not fully understand them. Sometimes proper skill can avoid the side effects. In such a case, forbidden techniques are reserved for the genius or the intellectual. Even dangerous techniques can be studied for insight into cultivation itself. ¡°The technique before you falls into both categories. If those in power found out I, Everheart, created such techniques they would kill me and destroy them. Perhaps they will. But I refuse to accept that my efforts will be lost. ¡°What you see before you is but a single copy out of many, containing half a technique. That is the only concession I am willing to make. I have not practiced this technique beyond what it took to develop, but I can guarantee its efficacy. But I propose that it is more useful as a scholarly study rather than something to be used. Forbidden, but merely to practice. The full technique has a certain dangerous appeal, so only those willing to take the risk after fully comprehending the first half should search for it. ¡°But please, study and comprehend. Safely. Cautiously. Learn what you can and apply what you should to your own techniques. But for the sake of actually using it, I shall dub this technique as ¡®forbidden¡¯, even by my own standards. ¡°P.S. Forgive my naming conventions. I do not pick the most flashy name¡­ merely that I feel most appropriate.¡± The warning burned itself into Oskar¡¯s mind. In a way, it was more of an explanation. If the writer- Everheart?- were to be believed, there was no danger in studying the technique. But as the scroll floated open in front of him, Oskar merely read the name of the technique then tore his eyes away. He stepped away, and heard the scroll settle back into place. His eyes rested on it sitting on the pedestal. Candle Wax. A curious name. But Oskar knew he wasn¡¯t ready to think about forbidden techniques. There were other things to deal with first, like survival. He resolved to bury the passageway in rubble, so that others might not stumble onto it either. Best to leave what is forbidden alone. Chapter 66 The Grasping Willows were generous enough to allow usage of areas specifically made for breakthroughs. The highest energy density areas also had formations to gather it even further, though there were limits to what cultivators at certain levels could handle. Catarina and Hoyt were able to complete the tenth star, putting them just one step from Spirit Building. Anton also made use of training areas, but while he was able to push himself right to the edge of the eleventh star, he wasn¡¯t quite ready. He wasn¡¯t sure what he was missing, but he knew he shouldn¡¯t try to push himself further. Though he might indeed form the eleventh star something would be insufficient about it if he forced it, Anton was certain. Eventually the time came to depart and they prepared to say goodbye to Lev and Elder Varela, in addition to a few acquaintances they¡¯d made. While it was a nice enough place even with the presence of the namesake trees that could be somewhat cantankerous, they couldn¡¯t stay forever. If they were going to stay anywhere forever it would be the Order, but Anton was still quite aware of what they had left to do. He had a list. He was happy that he had been able to mark several people as rescued, but there was more to do. There had previously been an entire page devoted to Devon, though he¡¯d burned it. There was no sense to be made of anything he¡¯d put there. ¡°Currently in possession of the Potenza clan in Khonard¡± was the useful information he had. Anything beyond that was just speculation and led to depressing thoughts, except a recent note. ¡°Received helpful influence from Elder Varela of the Grasping Willows.¡± ¡°Thank you once again,¡± Anton said to Elder Varela. The bearded man inclined his head in return. ¡°You as well. We couldn¡¯t possibly replace Lev. As for what I did, I can¡¯t say how long it will hold. The actual results are up to you. But I believe you have the necessary potential.¡± ¡°Potential¡­¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°Many people and things have potential that is never realized.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t start doubting yourself now,¡± Elder Varela said. ¡°Just look at me. I might be stronger than you, but for how long?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to say,¡± Anton answered. ¡°I do not expect the next decade to be uneventful.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be,¡± Hoyt said. Lev bowed with his one arm, ¡°I will not forget all of you. I can¡¯t fully pay you back yet, but I will.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not necessary to do any more,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if you find an opportunity to help others in the future, if it is within your power¡­ that would be the best way to pay us back.¡± ¡°I can do that,¡± Lev said, ¡°But I can at least save your life or something. Or maybe fight alongside you.¡± Anton didn¡¯t want to give away too much, so he merely nodded. ¡°If we have need of you, we¡¯ll seek you out.¡± ¡°I mean it!¡± Lev said. ¡°I¡¯m not done cultivating just because of this,¡± he gestured to his missing arm. ¡°I might not stand up to someone equal to me in power, but I just have to get stronger than them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit,¡± Elder Varela smiled. ¡°But we should really let them be on their way. They seem quite keen to continue their journey.¡± ----- Everything with Devon had been a mess. If there was one thing that Anton learned from that, it was that even after a year a single day might still matter. He wasn¡¯t going to rush either of the others in the training opportunities with the Grasping Willows, but he could push the group to move faster. Pete, James, Steven, and the other two from Dungannon were making more progress in Body Tempering. None of them were at the second star yet, but all had completed the first. They were relatively young men in good health, and picking up the pace was a reasonable form of training. Anton was aware of a half-dozen people who needed freeing from around the area. The latest information he had wasn¡¯t recent, however. ----- Though Sarton was the largest city in the area, it was overall rather rural. Though he found it small now, it was about the size of Alcombey- the largest city he¡¯d interacted with for most of his life. It was shocking how quickly perspectives could change. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The packed dirt road they were traversing had deep grooves from overloaded wagons coming from various origins. Their particular destination was one that had lighter output, but that didn¡¯t make Anton less worried. ¡°Do you think we¡¯re too late?¡± Anton asked. ¡°No point thinking about it now,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Could you even have made it here six months ago? Besides, I can tell that people from Dungannon are tough,¡± he gestured to Pete and the others. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Pete said. ¡°I knew some of these fellows enough to know they wouldn¡¯t give up. If they didn¡¯t make it, it simply couldn¡¯t be done.¡± Catarina sighed, ¡°I can¡¯t believe they¡¯re forcing normal people to mine energy stones. What are they thinking?¡± Hoyt chose to answer that, ¡°Probably that they want to get every scrap of value out of what they own. They don¡¯t trust cultivators because they think they¡¯ll act like them- and they know they¡¯d steal from the mines, so everyone else would too. If people can¡¯t cultivate or leave, what can they do? Even if someone hides a spirit stone for a while, they can¡¯t use it.¡± ¡°Mmm¡­¡± Catarina voiced her displeasure, ¡°How terrible.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°But this is Ofrurg. They chose to be like this. Well, cultivators took over and chose for it to be like this. Nobody with enough wealth or power cares, so this is how it ends up.¡± ¡°And the Order just lets it happen,¡± Anton said. ¡°Maybe they have to. But¡­¡± ¡°The problem with the Order is trying to balance goodness and stability,¡± Hoyt shook his head, ¡°They sort of reached the limit of what that can do. The last couple generations have been somewhat,¡± Hoyt pursed his lips, trying to think of the right words, ¡°Low in talent, let¡¯s say. Sure, there are a few with talent but not that many. It used to be that the elders on the Council were all Essence Collection. Though that was a century ago.¡± ¡°What happened to them?¡± Pete asked. ¡°They died,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°As I said, a century. Cultivation can improve lifespans by several times. A few Grand Elders are hundreds of years old, but low hundreds.¡± ¡°Vandale is at his limit,¡± Anton said. ¡°He¡¯s the strongest guardian the Order has, but he can¡¯t go anywhere. I understand why they don¡¯t want to spark a war, but the results are¡­ disappointing.¡± ¡°Gonna change it then?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°... Yes,¡± Anton said, ¡°I will.¡± ¡°How decisive!¡± Hoyt grinned. ¡°Words are easy,¡± Anton said, ¡°But I have no idea how I¡¯d actually do so, or if I can.¡± ¡°You have us to help,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We¡¯re not much in the way of cultivators,¡± Pete said, ¡°But if you¡¯re trying to make things better, you have our support.¡± ¡°What is ¡®better¡¯?¡± Anton asked of nobody in particular. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to figure that out. But first¡­ I do believe we¡¯re here.¡± Catarina frowned, ¡°There aren¡¯t even any Spirit Building guards.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°They¡¯re expensive. They don¡¯t want to cut into the profits of the mines.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton said. ¡°Now then, we¡¯ll have the rest of you stay back a bit. Don¡¯t want to spook anyone into thinking we¡¯re attacking.¡± Anton walked a bit faster, ¡°Hello there!¡± he called out towards the guards from about a hundred meters downhill of them. ¡°Halt there!¡± The guards called, ¡°This mine is property of the Callahans!¡± ¡°I am quite aware,¡± Anton said, ¡°I¡¯m here with a business proposition. I heard these mines are quite difficult to work, and I¡¯m looking for just such workers. If you have any who have lasted for some time, I might like to purchase them.¡± With that, Anton flared his energy a little bit. It was partially a threat, but more a sign of power- and thus wealth. ¡°Do you have anyone like that?¡± The latest news was indeed that they hadn¡¯t replaced workers in some time. It was unusual enough to take note, and Anton had half been expecting to find they weren¡¯t operational. However, if their workers were instead particularly survivable¡­ he might actually have a chance to find those he wanted. The guards exchanged glances, ¡°Wait there. We¡¯ll go consult with the taskmasters.¡± Anton waited as they turned to leave, but if they thought the distance was doing them any good they were quite mistaken. A hundred meters was quite close enough for him to kill either of them, being only somewhere in the middle of Body Tempering. In fact, it was almost optimal range for him to fight in general. He had no intention to do so, but taking stock of his potential opponents was still important. Besides, almost everything about Ofrurg made him touchy and prone to violence. Who did these people think they were to keep people he knew as slaves? Nobody should be slaves, but Anton couldn¡¯t help absolutely everybody. Could he? No, of course not. Certainly not at his current level. Chapter 67 If not for some particular details, Anton might have found the area quite pleasant. Fresh mountain air and a nice breeze blew away dust outside of the mine, and the mine itself was quite pleasant to look at. The structures set up in front of it were quite plain but practical, but that was something Anton liked in buildings. Things used for a purpose. The slopes of the mountain around were covered in trees and various forms of undergrowth and lively with animals. But the mine was manned by slaves. Anton wasn¡¯t convinced that slavery was an appropirate punishment for crimes or debts, but at least he could understand the reasoning there. However, those who took others as slaves merely because they had the power to do so filled him with thoughts of what he might do with his own power. But he forced himself to calm and civil, despite the circumstances. The taskmasters had lined up about a dozen slaves in front of Anton. They all looked relatively healthy and strong, but Anton was able to spot small scars. The way the slaves moved made it clear that some of them had been whipped- at least clear enough to Anton¡¯s senses. Though they were doing their best to give off a good impression, Anton understood that was just how things worked. There were a few he recognized among the group. If he recalled correctly the one with the square jaw was Ebbe. He recognized Oskar as well. He thought he recognized one other from Dungannon, but that still left several others missing. Was he too late? Were they sold somewhere else, or dead¡­ or did he not even recognize their faces? Anton did his best not to focus too much on any individual. Ebbe didn¡¯t seem to have recognized him, but Oskar¡¯s eyes flashed. There was a lot of anger there. At him? No. Anton¡¯s insight told him the man was wound like a spring. Ready to spring for the nearest guard and strangle him, if he could. Somehow Oskar seemed to think that there would be a fight. Was he expecting Anton to¡­? Surely he had to know that his guards were cultivators. But then Anton felt it. It was small, hidden, but Oskar and the others radiated just a tiny bit of energy. Some form of cultivation, but well hidden. It wouldn¡¯t be enough for them to matter, though. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Anton said, trying to sound indecisive. ¡°Yes, they do appear quite durable indeed. Just what I am looking for. If you could name a price, I will think on it and return on the morrow.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± the taskmaster said. He gestured to the guards, ¡°Send them back to work. I¡¯ll be speaking with the Senior inside.¡± The taskmaster brought Anton into what he could tell was one of the few ¡®luxurious¡¯ rooms in the area. At least, it was comfortable enough. The prices the man names for the slaves was high, easily three times what he had expected. Clearly they¡¯d understood there was something valuable about them in particular, but Anton doubted they knew they were cultivating. The strongest guard was in late Body Tempering, and cultivation fed directly into the ability to sense details of others. Anton was fairly certain only his training in Insight had allowed him to notice, but then again the guards had longer. Perhaps they were merely allowing the miners to persist with cultivation because they were weak enough. Anton thanked the man and promised to return the next day. That wasn¡¯t untrue given his intentions, but it was certainly incomplete. ----- Catarina moved along with Anton. They didn¡¯t move far, taking each step one at a time as Catarina kept them concealed. Mobile formations were difficult, so they were mostly relying on distance to make up for the deficiencies. There was a steep cliff at the rear of the encampment, and no guards watching from that side. In fact, only a single pair of guards was awake, watching the road. That was the only sensible direction for fleeing slaves to go, and they occasionally patrolled around the area. However, the unrestrained nature of their energy meant they were quite easy to pick out. The two of them climbed up into the area when the patrolling guard was on the far side, quickly moving over to the door to the miners¡¯ dormitory. Anton had easily been able to make out what it was when he visited earlier in the day, but he stopped at the door to feel more carefully for any sort of traps or alarms. It turned out to merely be locked from the outside, of little concern when he could manipulate the lock with his energy. It was only meant to keep slaves inside, after all. He slowly opened the door, gesturing Catarina inside first. He stepped in silently after her as she used small flicks of energy to set up a small formation around Oskar. Anton kept his voice low, even inside the formation. ¡°Oskar. Wake up.¡± The man¡¯s eyes flicked open. Anton had been ready to cover his mouth in case he was going to make an overly loud noise, but it didn¡¯t seem necessary. ¡°You can speak¡­ quietly.¡± Oskar nodded. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ Anton Krantz, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. I saw you and Ebbe. What about the others who came with you?¡± ¡°Dead,¡± Oskar said, ¡°Within the first week or two. They couldn¡¯t handle the pressure down there. They mainly just brought new batches of miners every fortnight.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Anton frowned. ¡°Bastards. Listen, I have enough money to buy you and Ebbe. I just wanted to make sure there weren¡¯t more of you. I can buy you tomorrow and get you out of here.¡± ¡°No,¡± Oskar said firmly. ¡°What?¡± Catarina exclaimed, ¡°You can¡¯t want to stay here?¡± ¡°Of course not. It¡¯s awful,¡± Oskar shook his head, ¡°But I can¡¯t just leave everyone else. You- both of you- are strong cultivators, aren¡¯t you? You feel stronger than any of the guards. Can¡¯t you just break us out of here?¡± Anton and Catarina exchanged looks. After a moment, Anton answered, ¡°I¡¯m quite certain that is a bad idea.¡± ¡°Fine. Then leave me here.¡± Oskar took a firm stance, ¡°I won¡¯t leave without everyone else. And preferably the guards and taskmasters dead, but if we can get these men out that¡¯s secondary.¡± ¡°If only things were so simple,¡± Anton said. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t they be?¡± Oskar said. ¡°People from here ran into Graotan and enslaved us. If you have the strength, why can¡¯t you just kill them and free us?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°The world just isn¡¯t fair, I¡¯m afraid.¡± Anton could tell he truly meant he wouldn¡¯t leave- and forcibly taking him away wouldn¡¯t do either of them any good. ¡°But¡­ I¡¯ll try to figure something out. Keep your head down until then.¡± ¡°Wait,¡± Oskar grabbed Anton¡¯s arm as he turned. ¡°I don¡¯t want to force you into danger¡­ but the guards have just a few shifts. During the day a pair stand outside the mines and some watch the road¡­¡± Oskar gave as many details as he had to Anton. ¡°I suppose you know how they are at night well enough.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°We figured it out. I hope¡­ we will meet again soon.¡± By the time their conversation was done the guard patrolled once more- but they merely waited with their energy constrained for him to pass. Then they went back down and away until they wouldn¡¯t be noticed. ----- Everyone was sitting around in front of Anton. That included Pete and the others as well. ¡°I have to involve everyone in this decision. Even the five of you, since you should have different perspective.¡± Anton explained everything he knew about the situation, including possible personal danger and potential retaliation against Graotan. ¡°I doubt it would turn into a war, but obviously people will die. Even if we leave no trail¡­¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°So. What are your feelings? What about the taskmasters and guards? Do they deserve to die?¡± ¡°Honestly,¡± Pete answered, ¡°I think they do. If they¡¯re anything like where we were, they¡¯re unnecessarily harsh. And if they¡¯re working people to death, they¡¯re worse. I can¡¯t say I really thought about the others when you freed us. There were so many and I didn¡¯t really grow close to most of them. I was just relieved to be free.¡± Anton looked around, waiting for others to speak. Hoyt was the next to do so. ¡°About the Order. They might not be pleased at killing people involved in what Ofrurg considers legitimate business. Not pleased, but I don¡¯t know if they could find any moral fault either. I¡¯m willing to go along with what you decide. I believe the Order will still shelter you inside Graotan no matter what, but it might not be the best political move. Ofrurg deserves to take some hits, though. We can¡¯t just let them walk all over Graotan.¡± ¡°Catarina?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± she said. ¡°I feel like cultivators aren¡¯t supposed to just take injustices lying down. Even if we might get killed,¡± she shrugged, ¡°I feel like we should do the right thing.¡± ¡°If only I knew what that was,¡± Anton said. ¡°How much of myself and others should I risk? How far is too far?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°I will be honest. I would not feel a moment of remorse for killing any of these slavers. But the risk might be too high.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t we just need a plan?¡± James spoke up. Most of those from Dungannon besides Pete were too intimidated to say much in front of Anton, but that didn¡¯t mean they had no opinions. ¡°Unlike with D- In Khonard, we have time. We don¡¯t have to settle on anything right away. I don¡¯t really understand the cultivation world, but much of it seems to be about might makes right. Even if you personally have a real sense of morality, I don¡¯t think these people do. So put some pressure on them. Even I know the Order is strong enough to keep them out of Graotan when they¡¯re not sneaking around. Maybe scare them. Either way, when we act it has to be decisive.¡± James sat there awkwardly for a few moments. ¡°You make good points,¡± Anton said. ¡°It makes me think that I am not a good cultivator.¡± He held up a hand to stave off protests, ¡°Oh, I understand I have the ability. But I¡¯m an old man with cultivation. What have I done? Almost gotten killed by a beast tide, fought a few bandits, spent far more money than I really deserved...¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I spend time cultivating, but what have I done with my cultivation?¡± ¡°Saving Thuston was a great deed,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And you saved these five, and the caravan.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll accept the first two as significant,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I feel like I could have done so much more if I just let myself. Even now, I¡¯m thinking to myself- Do I let people get away with evil and others suffer so that I can have an easier time helping another handful of those I know? Instead, I feel like I should just¡­ act.¡± ¡°We¡¯re here whatever you do,¡± Pete said. ¡°I appreciate my new chance at life, but I would not mind risking it for others.¡± Everyone else concurred. Eventually, Anton was left with his own thoughts. He didn¡¯t want to be a fool who rushed into things, and he didn¡¯t think he was a coward, but some part of him was still thinking like a simple farmer. Avoiding conflict and trying to keep his little community safe and cohesive, just continuing to live life. He didn¡¯t think that and of that was bad, but it wasn¡¯t what he needed. Chapter 68 What are cultivators? That was the question Anton was asking himself. Cultivators were people who made use of natural energy to temper their bodies and self. With that energy, cultivators could do amazing things. Cultivators were like the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, guardians of the common people. They were also people like Maximillian Van Hassel, bandits and murderers. Mentors and slavers, farmers and oppressors. They were just¡­ people. That didn¡¯t help Anton make a decision in the slightest. He was strong enough to be relevant on a local scale. Large enough towns were outside of what he could influence even with Catarina and Hoyt¡¯s support. Even if they stepped into Spirit Building, the three of them could affect the lives of hundreds at a time but likely not thousands. But should they? Protecting people from danger was easy and unambiguous. When attacked by forest creatures, there was little room for ambiguity in Anton¡¯s mind. Even if they did something stupid to provoke beasts, Anton considered the lives of humans more valuable than beasts. He might lecture people after he saved them, but he judged that value nearly unconsciously. It was where he had to weigh humans against other humans that things became tricky. The bandits working with Maximillian Van Hassel- clearly guilty. He had no qualms about killing them when he got the chance. But the Iron Ring Slavers who bought those slaves in a place where slavery was legal but the method of acquisition wasn¡¯t¡­ how guilty were they? The people who then bought slaves from them? Anton thought about what gave him the right to decide some people he could kill and others he couldn¡¯t. To judge the value of one human over another. The answer he came up with was nothing. Similarly, nothing gave others the right to make that decision. Laws were decided upon by people, and different laws were made in different places. Sometimes the laws reflected the wills of the people- but some of the time the laws reflected the will of those with power. When both agreed laws were generally good, but following laws wasn¡¯t inherently good. And if laws were supposed to represent the wills of the people, who were those people? Anton knew that the majority of slaves- those who weren¡¯t broken down into husks- would say that slavery was unjust. But they would have no say in the laws, because they had no power. So nothing gave Anton or others the right to decide what was right and wrong. Anton still believed that right and wrong existed. Good and evil actions might be intangible and it might not always be possible to know whether something was good or evil or some mix, but he knew it was unlikely to perfectly match his own decisions. He wasn¡¯t perfect, nor was anyone he knew perfect. It was unlikely anyone could be. If there were gods, they were silent- at best speaking only to their own followers who had various levels of reliability. If good and evil existed, he could only do his best to stay in line with them. If they didn¡¯t exist, then doing whatever he wanted was perfectly fine. There was, however, definitely a line between doing whatever he wanted and doing his best to stay in line with what he understood as good. Because while Anton wanted to kill every bandit who came to Dungannon and found his thoughts on that fully justified, he also wanted to make them suffer at least as much as the villagers of Dungannon did. It might even be justified, but might wasn¡¯t good enough. If he allowed himself to get so close to the line that he wasn¡¯t sure which side he was on, he could easily find himself taking a few steps beyond it. Anyone could justify going just a little bit further to themselves. So, if he was at least as justified as anyone else with judging the value of human lives, how could he do it? Slavery as it stood in Ofrurg was fully unjust, for it took someone¡¯s life away as fully as killing them with no real justification. Of those who were enslaved because of crime or debt Anton was certain not all were enslaved fairly, if that was even possible. So he might be justified killing everyone who bought and sold and owned slaves, but even if he had the personal power to start doing that, there would be consequences. Unless he was all powerful- something untrue of even those at the peak of cultivation- there would be retaliations. Anton wouldn¡¯t even really be able to blame people for defending themselves, no matter how evil their actions might have been before that. Nobody wished to die. But if he were to value the slaves that would be saved higher than the slavers, what about those who would die as an accidental consequence of his actions? If he started a war, cultivators from Ofrurg and Graotan would certainly die. Were cultivators worth more than commoners? Anton¡¯s initial thoughts were both ¡®no¡¯ and ¡®yes¡¯. Some might proclaim to weigh all human life equally, but Anton knew he didn¡¯t. Family was more important than others. Those he knew were more important. Those he judged to be doing something of value or with the potential to do so held more value in his mind. He couldn¡¯t change that, but at least he could consider it when he had time to think about his actions. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. After sorting through those thoughts, Anton had made his decision. He considered the likely consequences of acting against those of doing nothing. How much risk was he willing to take? Could he leave men enslaved to die in the mines to protect himself and avoid conflict? He could, but he wouldn¡¯t. If he had the personal power, he would slaughter his way into Khonard to save Devon. He should have faked some political power- in the sense that he wasn¡¯t sure if the Order would have supported his threats and not that he thought they were incapable. But while he knew they wanted to avoid conflict, they weren¡¯t entirely inactive. Others wouldn¡¯t necessarily know the whole truth. Anton would prefer to actually have the Order willing to enter conflict for himself, but he had been fairly certain their response would have been limited. But he could have confidently said it regardless. If it had gotten him kicked out of the Order later, he could have dealt with that consequence. On the other hand, Anton wasn¡¯t sure if that was something they would disparage. If he murdered in the Order¡¯s name, that was something they would not stand for. If he simply intimidated people who were unreasonable, why would they care? He was just hesitant. He knew the Order was good, because the people who made it up were good. Vincent had been trying to hunt down the bandits and had simply failed. The Order tried, but not enough. It was, frankly, something he could understand. The Order was old and tired. He¡¯d seen it in many people, and very occasionally when nobody was watching he¡¯d even acted old and tired. By the time Anton finished sorting his thoughts, he was late for the meeting at the mine. But he wasn¡¯t going to show up. Cultivators were known to be fickle, and he didn¡¯t feel like talking to people he was just going to kill. He needed to make sure the others didn¡¯t think he was crazy, because it would be really hard to justify himself by saying that he decided killing slavers was okay if nobody else agreed. He could also use others to keep himself on the right side of the line. Even if nobody knew where it was, everyone at least had a sense for the ephemeral thing. But after he talked to them and before he started shooting people with arrows, he had something else to do. ----- Oskar and the others weren¡¯t the only slaves from Dungannon to be sold into the area. Anton was fortunate enough to have information from the Ears of the Fox that had led him to another. Even if nobody was alive to denounce his actions, Anton wouldn¡¯t be comfortable staying in the area for whatever investigations happened. Thus, he had to find the others first. Oskar would have to wait, but he wouldn¡¯t mind. Especially not when Anton showed him his wife. According to the information, she¡¯d been sold as a maid to a certain minor noble in the area. Nobility was a complicated thing, especially since it was generally trumped by cultivators, but in essence it was a rich family that had been so for many generations. They had some political power aside from their wealth, but because they did not produce strong cultivators they were ultimately limited. That was better for Anton, because sneaking into the house was much easier. ¡°I spotted formations around what is likely the master bedroom,¡± Catarina said. She spoke quietly, with a little bit of energy directing her words. They didn¡¯t have access to a formal technique for private conversations, but they were experimenting with their own. At least their version would be quiet, if not immune to being overheard by cultivators. ¡°Much more complicated than what I bypassed on the outer walls.¡± One thing about having wealth for some time was that they¡¯d been able to hire formation experts set up long lasting formations. They could arrange from simple alarms to defensive shields to even traps designed to kill intruders. ¡°Do you sense any others?¡± Catarina shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t imagine anyone would spend so much money to protect their servants- and the formations on the wall would likely alert them to escaping slaves as well.¡± ¡°Then let us hope that Patricia is easy to find and retrieve,¡± Anton carefully opened his senses to feel for where people were while limiting how much he might be felt by the few cultivator guards. Besides the formations the area was less well defended than the mines, but he didn¡¯t want to spark trouble if he didn¡¯t have to. He wanted everyone to get out of Ofrurg alive. Chapter 69 The manor they were sneaking through wasn¡¯t so expansive that it took long to reach their destination even at a slow and stealthy pace. It took longer for Anton to pick the correct room to enter. Recognizing someone with his energy senses was easy, but that only applied to those he¡¯d met after he was able to use energy. Combined with the fact that he was not intimately acquainted with Patricia it took him longer to settle on the right person. The individual rooms seemed decent enough, if small. A large step up from the dormitory at the mines which had bunks packed in as tightly as they could fit and no attempt at comfort. But comfortable slavery was still slavery. Lighting the small lamp in her room caused her to stir, But Catarina had already set up a simple formation to keep things quiet. ¡°Patricia,¡± Anton used his most pleasant voice to try to wake her up without giving her a fright. Her eyes snapped open, ¡°Who are you?¡± Her voice was not quiet, and he could tell his distance standing across the room still didn¡¯t exactly make her comfortable with being woken up in the middle of the night. ¡°Anton Krantz. From Dungannon. I apologize for waking you in this manner, but it was the most expedient method. I don¡¯t plan to stay in the area long. I plan to leave soon, with both you and Oskar. Unless you have any objections?¡± ¡°How?¡± she asked. ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ it¡¯s not possible to leave.¡± ¡°We got in,¡± Anton gestured towards Catarina. ¡°And we can get you out. All you have to do is follow us.¡± She clearly hesitated for a few moments. ¡°I can¡¯t leave without Kevin. But it¡¯s too dangerous.¡± ¡°Who is Kevin?¡± Anton asked. ¡°He¡¯s¡­ our son. I was pregnant when we were taken away. I wasn¡¯t showing until after we arrived here.¡± Patricia tightly gripped the bedspread covering her. ¡°He was taken away then? Is he in the manor?¡± Patricia nodded, her head hanging low. ¡°Yes. He¡¯s in the same wing as the mistress. I am not even allowed to take care of my own son. Marin- the head maid- is the one who does so.¡± Anton waited to see what else she would say, ¡°She lets me see him more often than I am supposed to, but it is rarely more than once per week.¡± ¡°Tell us where he is and we will bring him. And anyone else you want to come with you.¡± ¡°You really can¡­?¡± Anton stood tall and proud. ¡°Absolutely. The two of us will protect you from harm. What about the other slaves here?¡± Patricia hesitated. ¡°I know I should want them to be free as well, but I hardly know most of them. Marin is a good soul, and several of the others. I cannot vouch for all of them.¡± Anton held out a hand. ¡°Wait here, then. We will attempt not to be spotted, but if you hear a commotion we will do our best to distract the guards. You can escape from the rear-right corner, over the wall. Wake any others you trust and be ready. You¡¯ll want to wear whatever your best outfit for travel is, if you have an option.¡± ----- Catarina led the way towards the other wing of the manor. Rather than spotting guards it was more important to avoid any formations that had been set up. Catarina might suddenly stop and Anton could do the same, but if she had to call out to tell him things would be more complicated. Besides, trailing by a few steps wouldn¡¯t significantly hamper Anton¡¯s ability to detect patrolling guards. ¡°The main area has no formations,¡± Catarina said. ¡°They would probably trigger from everyone passing through and be useless. The doors to the other wing are quite heavily protected, however. You¡¯ll have to watch my back for several minutes while I deal with it.¡± Anton gladly did so. He was just able to sense the formation, but wouldn¡¯t be able to interact with it in any meaningful way. He was confident he could break the doors open- but Catarina could do that too. He was also nearly certain that would alert the entire manor to their presence. He held his bow at the ready as he kept his eyes and ears on full alert. His sense of the guard¡¯s energy also said they were nowhere near, patrolling the outside of the manor, but if they sensed him they might try to approach secretly. It was unlikely they could hide their breathing, however, and it would be nearly impossible for his eyes to miss them. It didn¡¯t take long for Catarina to finish her work, then with a little bit of additional energy the door clicked open. Anton suddenly reached out a hand to her shoulder and held her back. Both of them stood quietly as the door swung open slowly, revealing a patrolling soldier walking down the hall. Away from them. The formation had hidden him until it was released, and the lock had only taken an instant to open. Anton was ready to kill the guard, but he was certain that doing so would raise the alarm. Even if there weren¡¯t formations to detect it, once he released an arrow it would be blindingly obvious. If he used a physical arrow it would be slightly more subtle, but he would have to charge it with energy to be certain of killing the man in a single shot. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. But he didn¡¯t have to. At least not yet. He continued walking, unaware of the two people standing directly behind him. Once he was far enough away he turned a corner and the two of them quickly closed the doors behind them and started down the hallway. Anton listened for sounds of breathing. He especially listened for a tinier set of lungs. The two of them hurried down the hallway at the fastest pace they dared, since if the guard came patrolling back they would have to deal with him. They might be able to slip into a room if they found one without formations with well oiled hinges, but betting on that was too much. Anton finally heard what he was listening for. ¡°There,¡± he said almost silently. He could sense the formations, but the way Catarina grimaced he knew they were more difficult than the previous ones. It made sense, because they were not far from a large set of doors that was likely the master bedroom. Patricia hadn¡¯t been able to give them a complete description of the layout, but she did say the head maid¡¯s rooms were connected to the master bedroom. That was where Marin was staying, along with Kevin. Before Catarina could make sense of the formation or begin altering it, Anton pulled her away from the door. He had his full attention devoted to patrolling guards, and if they stayed still they would be flanked. They moved down a side hallway and looped back around as Anton felt they were safe. They had to do the same several times as Catarina puzzled out how to deal with the formation. ¡°Almost done,¡± she said. Anton could see and feel her moving her hands and flickers of energy, temporarily rearranging the formation. ¡°They¡¯re coming again,¡± Anton warned. ¡°I can¡¯t stop now!¡± Catarina hissed. ¡°Nearly¡­ There!¡± At that same moment, Anton fired an arrow. Steel arrowhead and wooden shaft were stabilized by carefully cut feathers as his energy guided the shot. Spirit Arrows might not be instantly recognizable, but he¡¯d rather leave the fewest traces possible. The arrow struck the guard¡¯s throat just as he was about to shout, twisting in the air as he attempted to dodge it. However, he was merely in the middle of body tempering, so neither his body nor energy could withstand what Anton had available. ¡°Damn it. I was hoping to get out secretly. Let¡¯s go!¡± Catarina opened the door and yanked Anton inside. ¡°The formations here don¡¯t let sound in or out. Babies, you know.¡± A figure on the bed was awoken by Catarina¡¯s announcement. ¡°Who¡­?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯re here to bring you out. Patricia told us about Kevin here. We¡¯re bringing you away. No time to change. Grab clothes and anything he needs, then we¡¯re going.¡± Anton gestured, ¡°I just killed a guard outside.¡± ¡°Killed? Oh my.¡± Marin turned into a flurry of motion as she got up from the bed, bundling clothes for herself and various other things for Kevin. Despite having just been woken up, she was quite coordinated. ¡°Are you sure we should¡­?¡± ¡°Do you want to remain a slave?¡± Anton asked. ¡°This is your chance.¡± Marin nodded. ¡°Trust it to cultivators to show up with unreasonable demands and expect people to listen.¡± Despite saying that, she did finish her bundle in less than a minute, and had Kevin cradled on top of it. ¡°Good. We have to hurry,¡± Anton said. ¡°Catarina, if you would?¡± Catarina lifted Marin into her arms. She was at the completion of Body Tempering, so it wasn¡¯t strange in the slightest that she could do it with ease. Even if muscle wasn¡¯t one of her prime temperings, she was stronger than any non-cultivator could be. Marin yipped as she found herself swept off her feet, but they really didn¡¯t have time. They hurried through the hallways. Anton would have liked to pick up the body of the guard he¡¯d killed, but that was far out of their intended path. The bloodstains would be obvious regardless, so it would barely change the time for someone to react if they came to that part of the patrol. They managed to make it back to the first wing of the manor where Patricia and a handful of others were waiting when the yelling started. Anton fired an arrow through the handles of the door at the end of the hallway, not caring if it was locked or not. He was able to sense they weren¡¯t strong enough to counterattack him from that distance- and indeed once he destroyed that part of the door it was clear they had no offensive capabilities at all. He shoved the door open as he stepped outside, before he ran to jump on the corner where Catarina had disabled the formation. Catarina was still carrying Marin- though she could have likely run on her own as fast as the others she was herding. Anton saw several guards coming around the corners of the house. However, though the manor was quite large, it was nothing compared to the distance of a good archery range. There were a few guards a bit too far for optimal shots, but several arrows pierced into the breastplates of approaching guards. There were at least a dozen guards and cultivators moved fast, but what that really meant was not that they could reach Anton before they died, but instead that they were able to swiftly dive back around corners and into doors to take cover. Anton kept his eyes and other senses out for any sign of movement, but as the next brave soul came into view, a man at the late Body Tempering stage, Anton put a bit more effort into his shot. The man made a valiant effort, diving back into cover while instantly bringing his defenses to their full height. However, Anton¡¯s shot had already been straight at the wall he landed behind. A wall simply made of fine wood. The arrow pierced a narrow hole through the corner- and through the man. Anton made sure that all of the other guards would feel how much energy went into that, including the fact that he was at Spirit Building. While that also meant they could possibly recognize his energy signature later, it wasn¡¯t something you could so easily describe to others. Anton hoped they couldn¡¯t pick out his cultivation method, but it was unlikely any of them were particularly familiar with it. Either way, as he helped a handful of women and two men over the wall he knew they had to move fast. Though they were on the outskirts of the city, it was likely Sarton¡¯s guards had been called. If they could make it unseen, Catarina had prepared a safe zone where the others were waiting. Hopefully it would keep them concealed long enough for the three cultivators to move outside the city and free Oskar and the rest. It should only take an half hour to get there, and Anton estimated about twice that to return. They could be out of the city before dawn and covering their tracks. It seemed to Anton he¡¯d underestimated the danger¡­ but there was also more good to be done than he¡¯d thought. Not only could he reunite husband and wife, but there was a child as well. Chapter 70 The very same night they freed Patricia from the manor they headed to the energy stone mines. Anton hoped he hadn¡¯t rushed things too much, but now that they had caused a commotion he wanted to finish things and be off. He had no desire to stay in the area where he might be hunted down. And more importantly, others he cared about. But he also wasn¡¯t content to be passive about it. He¡¯d assessed the situation and made his judgement that action was within acceptable risks. Now he just had to see if he was right. Hoyt was the one accompanying him to the mines. Anton was fairly confident in his ability to deal with all of the cultivators guarding the mines alone. With Hoyt, he had no concerns. Normally it would have been better to use everyone he had at his disposal but Catarina was watching the others. There were almost a dozen people they had to protect that they couldn¡¯t bring running around with them to a battle, but also couldn¡¯t just leave alone. Anton was aware how effective formations could be at keeping a group concealed, and so Catarina had to maintain that. If things went terribly wrong, she could help that group flee. But he planned to be quick and give little time for that. He wasn¡¯t sure how much uproar there would be when mundane slaves were stolen. He imagined there would be more concern about the principle of the thing than the actual ¡®value¡¯ involved. The dead cultivators would be considered as well. Fortunately, Sarton was remote enough that they didn¡¯t have many high ranking cultivators, and those they did have wouldn¡¯t necessarily be interested in a manhunt. Anton focused his eyes to spot the guards up the path. With the effects of Hawk Eyes Archery, he was able to pick them out easily. In return, he doubted they could see more than blurry shadows. He needed to get a little bit closer before he tried an attack, but there wasn¡¯t really anywhere for them to run. Anton waited as he slowly crept closer, using boulders alongside the path as cover. Hoyt should be coming up the back side, and Anton judged he should be in position. He gathered energy in one smooth motion, drawing an arrow and firing it. Killing people in cold blood wasn¡¯t honorable, but as far as Anton was concerned he was killing someone engaged in active evil. These guards weren¡¯t protecting the miners or even really the goods they mined. They were keeping slaves trapped. He¡¯d heard enough from Oskar that he judged them sufficiently guilty regardless of their current activity. It wasn¡¯t really fair, a Spirit Building cultivator attacking someone in mid Body Tempering. But neither was it fair when they used their own cultivation to suppress those without cultivation. It was just the level of fairness they deserved. Anton flew with his arrow, feeling as he/it struck the cultivator straight in the throat, passing through gaps in his armor. One man was down¡­ and a half-dozen sources of energy flared. Anton had no way to hide such an attack with so much open area around, so he didn¡¯t even bother. Instead, he¡¯d ensured that his first shot was successful. Anton didn¡¯t sense Hoyt¡¯s energy, instead feeling all of the sources moving towards him. The second guard at the top of the road was shouting something, but he made the wrong choice to try to charge towards Anton instead of running away. The slope was gradual enough he couldn¡¯t have gotten much cover anyway, but even as he readied himself to throw a weapon Anton was shooting more arrows at him. Instead of a single lethal shot he went for a quick flurry of arrows. He aimed at several different weak spots and vitals. His opponent was aware of his attack and was able to handle the first volley, but the second volley Anton fired each shot at a different speed. The first shot was slowest and the last sped to catch up to it, four arrows arriving at almost the same instant. The man could only fling himself to the side to try to avoid the attacks, and that saved him from instant death. One arrow still stuck in his side, however. There was no sign of Hoyt yet. He wouldn¡¯t have abandoned the mission, so he must have been held up somehow. That was probably still fine. Anton just needed to make sure he made efficient use of his energy. Instead of finishing off the first guard, Anton continued up the slope at a moderate pace and let the man pull away, injured. If he had been using purely Spirit Arrows the man would be spurting blood from his side. Instead, he had to make the choice between letting an arrow continue digging into his side as he moved around or a similar fate. The remaining cultivators huddled together in the building that housed the guards and the taskmasters. The taskmasters had at least a small amount of cultivation, but they weren¡¯t equal to the guards. Anton supposed it made sense for everyone to stay together. Assuming Anton was the only attacker was foolish, and they knew he could shoot arrows so being inside was safer. That was where the comfortable nature of their little building worked against them. It had windows. Large enough to let in plenty of light¡­ and arrows. It wasn¡¯t fortified by formations or made out of anything spectacular, so Anton took his time shooting one arrow at a time inside after he reached the top of the rise and had a decent angle. With single methodical arrows he could control the trajectory much more precisely and deal with pesky things like corners. He managed to injure one more guard before they decided their position wasn¡¯t helping, and at the same time Anton figured out where Hoyt was. When the miners came pouring out of their dormitory, it was quite obvious. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if that was a good plan or not. Now that they were free they could flee to a safe distance on their own. However, the guards might think they were a good target to go after which might not have been the case when they were uncertain of the attacker¡¯s motives. The cultivators poured out of their hut together, most of them running towards Anton who was now a bit uncomfortably close. One seemed to think that the miners would indeed be good hostages or felt like slaughtering them. However, he soon found himself with arrows in the back of both legs. Armor was typically weaker on the rear, and Anton surmised his energy defenses were less capable of reacting to his attacks as well. Probably because he couldn¡¯t see the attacks coming. That choice by Anton let the others get about a third of the way to him, sprinting at full speed. He fired several shots, but the two guards in front worked together to parry his attacks. They weren¡¯t flawless, but together they weakened his attacks enough they couldn¡¯t pierce straight through their defenses. So he shot one of the taskmasters in the middle instead. Either of the two guards in front could have dodged the attack if he targeted them, but he suddenly pulled back on the speed of his arrow as it got within striking range, making their parries miss. That lowered the power, but he didn¡¯t need so much to kill his target. Four guards and a couple taskmasters remained uninjured. He found that drawing arrows wasted a fraction of a second he couldn¡¯t afford, so he switched to purely Spirit Arrows. They were more maneuverable anyway. Two more quick shots struck the shoulder and thigh of the front guards before they were an instant away from reaching him in melee combat. But Hoyt was slightly faster than them. There was no was no chance they hadn¡¯t noticed him coming up behind them- the escaped slaves had drawn enough attention to him. However, they¡¯d remained coordinated, intent on taking out Anton together. It made sense- if they could move away from Hoyt and kill Anton, their life would be easier. Instead, the rear two had to make a sudden turn before they got close¡­ and one swing from Hoyt turned them into just a single rear guard. He had no reason to be cautious with his attacks when killing them also protected him, and his energy was sufficient to block at least a few hits from one of them. The remaining parts of the group still moved to surround Anton and stabbed several spears and swung swords at him simultaneously. They were correct to assume that Anton was weaker in melee combat, but there was a reason he hadn¡¯t retreated while shooting at them. He simply didn¡¯t need to. His insight was almost fully trained, and even early Spirit Building had a large gap with the men he was fighting. He could see their most likely moves even more smoothly than he was used to. Clever use of Swan Steps also made the taskmasters¡¯ attacks interfere with the guards. With a swing of his hand axe, he sliced into one taskmaster, his attack continuing to slice along the neck of one of the guards. His attack didn¡¯t quite hit the intended vital spot on the guard, but his movements took him past their encirclement towards Hoyt. Anton¡¯s movements distracted the guard enough for Hoyt to chop into his ribcage, and then the two of them faced the remaining group side by side. There was another short round of combat where Anton was glad his defensive energy could resist some of the more accurate attacks and more guards died¡­ and then the rest were running. It was probably the correct choice, but Anton still had a bow. Though Anton didn¡¯t feel any joy in killing them, his mind was clear of guilt. In fact, it was more focused than usual. He¡¯d already spent enough time cultivating to reach the eleventh star. It wasn¡¯t gathering energy to push through that he needed. It was just a little bit of something else. As Anton looked down at the fallen guards, he realized it wasn¡¯t even combat experience or the like. It was decisiveness. And maybe a little bit of serenity. After making sure the guards hiding inside the hut were dead and counting to make sure the numbers were what he remembered, Anton went over to all of the miners. They hadn¡¯t actually run away, instead having equipped themselves with picks and any other heavy tools they could find. It was nice that they prepared to fight, but it wasn¡¯t necessary. As Anton looked over them he found someone missing. ¡°Where¡¯s Oskar?¡± ¡°He¡¯s in the mine, sir. Said there was something important in there.¡± Strange. Anton wondered what could be more important than escaping quickly. He was about to go in and find out when he sensed Oskar. He was running quickly, a small sack clutched in one hand and a scroll in the other. ¡°Anton! Sorry to make you wait. I stashed a few things in there.¡± He held up the sack. Anton could feel the energy from it, but despite there being at least a dozen decent energy stones he was drawn more to the scroll. Something about it drew his attention, beyond the fact that it was clearly meant for cultivators. That would have to wait, though. Besides, it belonged to Oskar, whatever it was. Chapter 71 Being unable to affect his own circumstances was one of the worst feelings in the world. Pete was still extremely low in cultivation and had no combat experience to speak of. If anything actually happened while they waited, he would basically be helpless again. The best he could do was shuffle around the perimeter of their safe zone, checking the formation. He couldn¡¯t even fix it if there was a problem. He certainly wasn¡¯t going to do anything without talking to Catarina, because while he had a decent sense of how things were supposed to be he had merely a couple of months of experience. If he changed something that felt incorrect and instead broke the formation, he couldn¡¯t make up for it. He had no real reason to believe he could help with anything, but patrolling around made him feel better. He couldn¡¯t even think about sleeping. Then he saw a flicker of movement and more importantly moving energy. He could still feel Catarina back in the center of their camp, but it wasn¡¯t nearly strong enough for that anyway. It wasn¡¯t James or Steven or the other two. But there was still one more thing it could be. The way it disturbed the energy¡­ yes, it had to be Fuzz. Even though he¡¯d been watching, Pete barely had any idea what Catarina had been doing with the wolf. For a while she¡¯d been carrying the thing in her pack, all bundled up nice and safe. Safe for both the wolf and the people. Fuzz couldn¡¯t really hurt anyone if he wanted to, anyway. He was understandably nervous and snippy at first, but he couldn¡¯t really¡­ move. Whatever that moss had done as it ate into him messed up most of his legs. Personally Pete would have just left the wolf to die, or even finished it off quickly. Instead, Catarina had done something crazy. She started cutting formations into the wolf¡¯s fur. At first it was to encourage healing but when she realized that wouldn¡¯t be sufficient she started onto stranger stuff. Pete couldn¡¯t say how, but somehow she¡¯d made up for whatever was missing from Fuzz¡¯s front right leg, letting it move. That was pretty recent, though. How could the whole beast be running off? It was unlikely to matter that Pete attempted to be quiet as he followed after Fuzz. If he somehow avoided being heard- which was unlikely- Fuzz would still smell him. He wasn¡¯t even sure why he was sneaking instead of calling the alarm. Though honestly, if the wolf wanted to run off what did it even matter? He followed the obvious disturbances of energy, occasionally catching sight of Fuzz. The way he was moving was almost comical. Only his two front legs worked. If Pete had been guessing how he would move like that, he would have imagined someone crawling or dragging themselves across the ground. Instead, the wolf had his rear lifted in the air. Not straight above his head like someone doing a handstand, but just enough that his rear feet didn¡¯t touch the ground. It seemed extremely unbalanced, but the grey-furred animal plodded forward continuously. Pete was a bit faster, though, and that was while trying to be stealthy. Before he could catch up, he heard something. A whine. Had Fuzz hurt himself? It seemed likely. Then he heard a voice. ¡°What are you doing, stupid mutt?¡± A woman¡¯s voice. Not one he was familiar with. Maybe one of the women they¡¯d just freed? Lara, he thought her name was. Then there was a growl. ¡°Get out of the way!¡± then, ¡°Let go!¡± When he finally could see through the trees and underbrush, the dim moonlight revealed Fuzz grabbing onto the arm of a woman, with her attempting to pull away. He was no longer walking in his strange way, instead his rear was firmly planted on the ground. Pete¡¯s first instincts were to rush forward and help Lara, but something felt strange. His feet didn¡¯t hesitate to continue forward while his mind thought about it. Ah, he figured it out. The woman wasn¡¯t yelling for help, even though the camp was not far. On the other hand, Fuzz was gripping her arm firmly but not in a way that would damage her. She only got hurt as she kicked at him while he kept his jaws tight. If he didn¡¯t know better, Pete would have thought the woman was trying to escape the camp. But she didn¡¯t need to escape. Nobody had forced her to come. But instead of speculating, he supposed he could try to use words. ¡°Fuzz! Let go of her.¡± Fuzz responded with something between a whine and a growl, but the wolf didn¡¯t move. He continued his firm hold on the woman¡¯s arm. On the other hand, the woman startled at the sound of Pete¡¯s voice. Her face was nervous as she turned to look at him. ¡°Oh! Uhm¡­ Peter. This beast is attacking me, please help!¡± ¡°Of course,¡± he said, stepping closer. ¡°I can¡¯t just pull him off without tearing up your arm. Try to hold still.¡± Pete was a bit nervous about folding his hands around a wolf¡¯s jaw. Despite the cute name, Fuzz was a full-sized wolf. Or rather, he was a young version of an oversized wolf. He¡¯d been a feral animal less than a month prior, and no matter how much intelligence he had that wouldn¡¯t necessarily change. Cultivators had ways to influence animals, but Catarina was making up her own technique. She seemed talented, but he doubted it would work perfectly right away. Still, the way the scene looked to him¡­ ¡°How did you get all the way out here?¡± he asked as he made an attempt to pry apart Fuzz¡¯s jaws. ¡°The beast chased me away from the camp,¡± Lara said, her voice faltering. Pete had to admit her emotional distress seemed genuine, and she was certainly afraid of Fuzz. But she was lying. The camp wasn¡¯t that big, and he¡¯d seen Fuzz leave. He wasn¡¯t moving fast, and she would have had plenty of opportunities to call for help. Pete also knew that Fuzz had sharp teeth, and the fact that he hadn¡¯t torn through the woman¡¯s sleeves and punctured deep into her arm was because he was being gentle. But Fuzz also wasn¡¯t helping the situation be cleared up either. Pete took a good grip on the wolf¡¯s jaws while he inspected the woman subtly. Long sleeves, pants, boots. She was equipped in traveling gear they had purchased, not her own bedclothes or her servant¡¯s garb. She was leaving. But why? They¡¯d done nothing to harm her. She had to know she would be caught if she continued heading towards Sarton. Ah. Maybe that was it. ¡°Come on Fuzz. I need you to be a good boy and let go.¡± Pete matched his muscles against that of Fuzz¡¯s jaws. They were very close. Pete considered making use of energy, but he almost felt like if he pulled harder he would snap something on Fuzz. ¡°Just let go and we can all go back to camp, okay?¡± Fuzz was smart. Pete was certain that the wolf understood at least some of what he was saying. His jaws loosened and the woman pulled her arm out. ¡°Thank you. Could you please take that beast back to the camp and restrain him?¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll hold onto him.¡± Pete put his arms around Fuzz¡¯s chest under his front shoulders and lifted him up. He was a heavy thing, but Pete at least had the initial pass of Body Tempering done and had been decently strong to begin with. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°You go on without me,¡± she said. ¡°I need a moment.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Pete said. ¡°Take your time.¡± He turned around, still carrying Fuzz. Fuzz whined and wriggled, but he couldn¡¯t get out of Pete¡¯s grip. Pete walked away, leaves and sticks crunching under his feet while he listened behind him. Fuzz¡¯s continuous whining didn¡¯t help, but Pete understood the reason well enough. When they turned around, Lara was gone. ¡°Okay boy. Let¡¯s catch her.¡± If Fuzz was able to walk at a full pace he would have put the wolf down. Instead, he was still able to move more quickly even carrying the weight. He couldn¡¯t say he was fast, but they weren¡¯t slow either. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. He first hurried back towards where she had last been. He couldn¡¯t hear her, but Fuzz leaned very hard in one direction. All that snuffling he was doing must be for something, so Pete followed his ¡®directions¡¯. Eventually he caught up to the sound of running feet, and he caught sight of the woman. She wasn¡¯t fast, but it was a bit hard keeping up with her while holding Fuzz. ¡°You wait here,¡± he said, putting down the wolf. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡± He didn¡¯t stop to see if Fuzz listened, instead calling after the woman. ¡°Where are you going?¡± Instead of answering, she instead started to sprint away. Not that he expected much different. He put his energy into his legs, the way he saw Anton and the others do when they were trying to move quickly. He almost toppled himself face first into the dirt, but fortunately managed to hold his position. His legs still did the majority of the work but he was enough faster to continuously gain on the woman. ¡°Do you intend to go back into slavery?¡± No answer. But he wasn¡¯t going to stop. He caught up to her and grabbed her around the waist, picking her up. She started screaming and yelling, kicking and biting at him. Some of that probably hurt, because while his energy was pretty weak it still provided a tough surface all over his body. Pete felt bad, but she was running directly towards Sarton. Whether she intended to betray them or was fleeing in the wrong direction he couldn¡¯t be completely sure, but either way he couldn¡¯t let her. He hoped nobody was looking for them in this area right now. The whole point of the formation was to hide their position, and now they were far outside of it. He started jogging back towards the camp, kicking sticks and rocks and leaves in a strange attempt to mask his trail. He had no idea if it would work, but it didn¡¯t leave things any more obvious than he¡¯d already been. About halfway back he saw Fuzz, doing his weird front-paws-only thing to move after them. When he saw they were both coming, he sort of waggled his butt and turned around back towards the camp. That was what Pete thought. Fuzz just wanted everyone to stay together. It wasn¡¯t clear if he understood the danger or just wanted everyone to be a nice little pack. The woman¡¯s yelling woke everyone up, of course, and there was a lot of yelling and accusations going back and forth. Pete didn¡¯t even want to think about all the things the woman he was carrying said about him. The men from Dungannon seemed to be taking Pete¡¯s side, and they were all stronger than the rest. Things seemed like they might get violent but- ¡°Enough!¡± Catarina¡¯s voice cut through everything else. A wave of energy made everyone reel on their feet. ¡°Everyone quiet. We¡¯ll hear things out one at a time. Pete, set her down.¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Pete said as he put her in the middle of everyone. He trusted Catarina to keep things fair. ¡°You-¡± Catarina pointed to Lara. ¡°Share your side of what happened.¡± ¡°He tried to rape me!¡± Lara accused. ¡°He pulled me out of the camp and-¡± ¡°I see,¡± Catarina cut her off. ¡°Pete. Explain.¡± ¡°I stepped away from the camp because I saw Fuzz run off. She was out there, heading towards Sarton. Fuzz had a grip on her arm, trying to stop her from going.¡± ¡°The beast attacked me!¡± the woman exclaimed. ¡°Shut up,¡± Catarina said, ¡°I didn¡¯t say it was your turn to talk.¡± Pete had to admit that Catarina was being a bit biased. Fuzz was snuggling up against her legs at the moment. But that bias really helped him, so he didn¡¯t complain. ¡°As I was saying¡­ Fuzz wouldn¡¯t let go. I finally managed to convince him to let go. She asked us to return to camp first, so I began to. But as you all might notice,¡± Pete pointed out. ¡°She¡¯s in full travel garb. She wasn¡¯t forced to go anywhere. Anyway, almost as soon as our backs were turned she ran off again. Straight towards Sarton. Now, I can¡¯t say she¡¯s a traitor. Maybe she¡¯s just got a bad sense of direction, but that was where she was going. You can follow our tracks easily enough¡± ¡°I see,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°You. Explain why you were going towards Sarton.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t!¡± She pointed a finger towards Pete, ¡±He-¡± Catarina¡¯s sword was drawn and pointed at her throat in an instant, ¡°Explain why you were going back towards the people who enslaved you and left on your own. Nobody forced you to be here. You know it¡¯s dangerous for you to go out there, and you snuck away instead of just saying you were going off on your own. Why?¡± Lara didn¡¯t answer immediately, but another one of those from the manor did. ¡°She¡¯s the snitch,¡± the second said. ¡°What?¡± Patricia gasped. ¡°She¡¯s the one who always told when we weren¡¯t doing exactly as we should. I knew it. I just thought, if we were all going to be free it didn¡¯t matter. But instead she thought about the stupid rewards she could get for being a traitorous bitch.¡± ¡°You have one last chance to defend your actions,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Explain why you snuck away and headed directly towards our enemies.¡± ¡°Look, I- I didn¡¯t trust you, okay? Sure, I was the snitch. I thought it would be better to run off on my own instead of staying around people I didn¡¯t know. Okay? I just ran the wrong direction. It¡¯s dark.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Catarina said. She pointed with her sword. ¡°That¡¯s the direction you want to go.¡± Lara hesitated. ¡°Go!¡± Pete shook his head as he watched her leave. ¡°I don¡¯t feel good about this.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t either,¡± the second woman said. ¡°I don¡¯t trust that snitch. Throwing around so many accusations¡­¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say I believed her,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I just told her to go. Everyone else stay here and be safe.¡± With that, Catarina went off into the forest after Lara. Pete collapsed into a pile, various people comforting him and some of the women apologizing for their lack of trust. He was about to wave them away so everyone could start going to bed when Catarina came back into camp, carrying Lara. ¡°She didn¡¯t even go half a mile before turning back towards Sarton.¡± Lara was tied up and her mouth gagged. ¡°So she gets to stay like this until the morning, when we decide what to do with her.¡± Catarina¡¯s voice indicated how angry she was, each word almost stabbing into Pete and he wasn¡¯t even the target of her ire. However, a calming feeling then washed over them. ¡°As for the rest of you. Please, if you want to leave¡­ just stay with us until we can get somewhere safer. We plan to take you out of Ofrurg, but if you want to strike off on your own somewhere¡­¡± Patricia shook her head, ¡°We know we can¡¯t do anything about cultivators. We¡¯re safest here.¡± The mood of being freed was dampened by what had just happened, but several hours before dawn Anton and Hoyt arrived- with all of the miners in tow. That of course included Oskar, and the reunion of him and Patricia filled everyone with hope. So did the baby that hadn¡¯t even seen his father until he was already several months old. Chapter 72 Nearly three dozen ragged people were trudging through the wilderness northwest of Sarton. Their speed was hampered by the slowest among them, namely the various slaves freed from the manor. However, those same people remained determined to continue as long as they could, pushing themselves to keep up. Those with more cultivation carried heavier loads, mostly food, bedrolls, and tents. Much of it was repurposed from what they had at the mines, because even a poor blanket was better than nothing. There were also some nicer things to take as well as the weapons and armor. The bodies had been disposed of inside the mine. It would take longer for them to be found that way, though it wouldn¡¯t do much to hide their trail. Whenever someone came for the next shipment it would be obvious something was wrong. There was only so much that could be done to hide blood and damage, especially since they didn¡¯t want to remain for long. None of the miners had a single complaint about their current situation. Oskar had managed to create a tight-knit community. It helped solidify it even more when they heard he had been offered the chance to slip off unnoticed and refused to go without everyone. Though they were now free, nobody quite felt it yet. Fleeing for their lives had something to do with it. Though Anton, Catarina, and Hoyt had no trouble with the mere act of traveling quickly, they took more difficult responsibilities upon themselves. Hoyt constantly patrolled around looking for dangers. It was possible they would be found at any time, despite their efforts to hide their trail and chosen route. The first few times they camped it had been tense, as searching cultivators came close to finding them several times. The concealment formations held, however, and they hadn¡¯t seen anyone in the past two days. There were several reasons they might not have noticed anyone. Perhaps they disguised their passage well enough. Maybe the damage they had caused wasn¡¯t considered worthwhile enough to continue to expend resources hunting them down actively. A couple dozen slaves probably wasn¡¯t valued that much, though the cultivators they had killed might have sparked more concern. It was possible Sarton was simply arranging a more organized attempt, which might include a formation master who could see through Catarina¡¯s efforts. At least part of the reason, however, was probably that they were traveling through the Black March Hills. They were about as pleasant as their name indicated. When gathering information about the area to think of escape routes before they set everything off, they had heard the stories of a company of cultivators being slaughtered by denizens that lived in the hills, nearly down to the last man. What sorts of monsters inhabited the area was unclear, and the story of its namesake was so ancient it was hard to verify- but they were certainly dangerous. They¡¯d already come across several magical beasts, nothing that the main three had to worry about but any sort of magical beast was enough to be a danger to those in the early level of Body Tempering. On that subject, when they stopped for the night they didn¡¯t just get to rest. That was when cultivation lessons began. Oskar and the miners had managed to achieve a level equivalent to the first star of Body Tempering through very messy methods that just involved taking in the overabundant energy from the mines. Oskar did have some guidance he¡¯d given the others that allowed them to be successful, but it was mostly just dumb luck that allowed them to succeed. Anton began to instruct them in more proper methods of cultivation, though any aftereffects of their rocky start wouldn¡¯t be clear until much later. For the moment, they were bringing Lara along with the group. Her fate had already been decided, but leaving a body behind would only be a clear marker of their trail. They also didn¡¯t want to carry a corpse with them, so she was restrained and forced to walk- or sometimes carried. Nobody enjoyed it, but even when they¡¯d allowed her to leave she simply began to march back towards Sarton to turn them in. Anton had been able to confirm Catarina¡¯s word on that- and it didn¡¯t take any convincing to the rest regardless. She¡¯d admitted she was the snitch to those who knew her, and the miners were quite grateful to Anton and the rest for saving them. Even though their life seemed to be in danger every moment, it was apparently no worse than working in the mines. And they were free- despite not really having many options available at the moment. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ----- Sharp eyes aided by carefully handled energy looked ahead of the group. Anton had managed to complete the eleventh star shortly after they freed the miners. Despite the fact that they were fleeing through the wilderness with unknown forces at their heels, Anton was in one of the best mental states he¡¯d been in during the last year. He was still worried for their survival, but he was doing something. It was dangerous, but not foolish or reckless. The fact that they¡¯d made it this far indicated that they¡¯d judged the situation appropriately. The response to their actions hadn¡¯t been adequate to stop them, and now they had not only managed to save dozens but also weren¡¯t rewarding those who were responsible for their predicament in the first place. It made sense to peacefully buy up people from Dungannon to save their lives. Timidly keeping his head down and acting like slavers weren¡¯t doing anything wrong could be effective¡­ but the problem there was he was only saving a small portion of those he could see. How many hundreds were still forced to work in the fields around Veron and elsewhere? Of course Anton couldn¡¯t repeat his current actions indefinitely and assume there would be no consequences, but remaining as he was wouldn¡¯t have been good enough. His future actions would be more difficult- especially finding and freeing the last of those from Dungannon and whatever few members of his family still lived- but he judged the difficulty would be worth it. He wasn¡¯t going to just lead an army across Ofrurg. Even if the Order suddenly declared him as head and let him take every single elder, it would be far too costly. However, Anton would be certain to make use of the support he had in more than just training himself. He would ask for the Order¡¯s help with political pressure. They might be reluctant to act or he might find his contributions insufficient, but he felt that he would do better that way than on his own- or with the help of just a few others like Catarina and Hoyt. If the Order was unwilling¡­ he was certain that some other sect would be willing to do something. Spirit Building cultivators didn¡¯t just grow on trees. Despite the fact that it had taken him not much more than a year to reach his current level, he knew people like him weren¡¯t just everywhere. Convincing a new sect of his growth speed and potential might be rather difficult and despite its stagnation he still thought the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars was the right group to be a part of. Their core values were not something he would find just anywhere. But before he could deal with any of that, Anton needed the people with him to survive the journey into Estary. Estary was north of Graotan and thus mainly northwest of Ofrurg, and one of the closest borders. They were also likely to be sympathetic to the plight of a group of fleeing slaves. The border itself would be a problem, but they weren¡¯t traveling along the roads so Ofrurg wouldn¡¯t be able to stop them and Estary would be able to ignore the specifics of where they came from. As long as they didn¡¯t enter the country with cultivators hot on their heels, everything should be fine. If they made it there alive. Magical beasts were a bit too common in the Black March Hills, and if they faced too many of them at once then the weaker members of their group would be in danger. There was a problem directly ahead, as well. In fact, all along the ridgeline in front of them. Anton was still trying to puzzle out the specifics, but he could feel the energy of magical beasts. Not just a few, either. Yet he couldn¡¯t pick a single one out among all of the rocks in the area. It was only when he caught a glimpse of a rock moving that he figured it out. Anton was relieved that it wasn¡¯t actually a rock though. There were apparently places where the rocks themselves came alive, but in this case it was merely a collection of giant tortoises. Their shells looked like rock and would no doubt be extremely hard, but they still had heads and legs and everything else expected of a tortoise. That would include vital organs, if they could reach them. Their eyes were big enough. Anton would have to discuss with the others how best to try to avoid the creatures, though. He wanted to be prepared if they fought, but not fighting was the best option, especially with so many of the brown-shelled creatures. Chapter 73 The group stood well downhill of the tortoises, observing them. ¡°What do you think they¡¯re all doing up on the ridge?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Sunning themselves, it looks like,¡± Anton answered. ¡°Doubt they¡¯ll take kindly to being interrupted though. If they attacked a contingent of soldiers they¡¯ll certainly plan to attack us.¡± ¡°Maybe not,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°Maybe if we move a few at a time. I think one of us should approach them to see their reaction.¡± He looked around, ¡°Me, probably. I imagine you¡¯ll be more effective at range,¡± he inclined his head to Anton, ¡°And Catarina is the only one who can conceal the group. If we can draw them away or shoo them off it should be good enough.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll start setting up,¡± Catarina declared. A stationary concealment formation was quite powerful, but if she was going to make it mobile it would be much less effective. Keeping the main group of people unnoticed before disturbing them would be much more likely to draw the tortoises towards Anton or Hoyt- or if they ran away, then it would just be a small bit of wasted time and effort. Anton and Hoyt stood over to the side, discussing their plan. ¡°I¡¯d prefer to just wait until they moved,¡± Anton said, ¡°But if they¡¯re sunning themselves, that could take half a day. And there¡¯s no guarantee they won¡¯t just hole up for the night. There doesn¡¯t seem to be much vegetation here for them to eat, but they might not have to eat every day. Tortoises have a slow metabolism and some magical beasts sustain themselves half off of energy, I believe.¡± Hoyt nodded, ¡°So how do you want to approach this?¡± ¡°If I knew them to be a hostile species, I¡¯d just as soon start shooting. The Black March might have been because of these creatures, or other inhabitants a century or two ago. It¡¯s also best to try not to startle them.¡± Anton kept sweeping his eyes over the creatures, hoping to see a break in their line or any sort of overall movement. Some of them shuffled around, but they mostly remained still, flat on their bellies. ¡°If you approach close at a slow pace, they might just shuffle away. If you can do that, we can just squeeze open a path and walk through. That would be the best way.¡± Anton frowned, ¡°The ground look odd to you?¡± Hoyt just shook his head, ¡°Not really.¡± ¡°Hmm. There are a few gouges around. There, there, and there,¡± Anton pointed them out. ¡°Can¡¯t figure out what they¡¯d be caused by, though.¡± ¡°Hopefully we don¡¯t have to find out.¡± Hoyt looked towards Catarina, barely able to see her even though he knew she was there. She was fuzzy and indistinct, and his instincts told him to just ignore the area. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re ready. I¡¯ll head to the right, I suppose?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll take the left. If they¡¯re aggressive, I¡¯ll try to draw some of them towards me, open up the middle there.¡± Hoyt started picking his way uphill. The terrain was rough and uneven with lots of little potholes. He¡¯d have to watch out for that if it came down to a fight. There wasn¡¯t anything in the way of normal terrain that could stop someone at the peak of Body Tempering, but it could be an inconvenience. He wasn¡¯t in a hurry anyway, so he picked his way carefully up to a somewhat smoother spot. That would allow him to move around with less worry if he was attacked. It didn¡¯t take long before the tortoises noticed him. He wasn¡¯t exactly trying to hide. Spooking them might work, but he was hoping they¡¯d just move away in annoyance. However, as he got around a dozen meters away several of the closest turtles stood and turned towards him, groaning in a deep, rumbly voice. That was a pretty clear threat. He held his position for a minute, but they neither moved towards him nor retreated. That wasn¡¯t good enough. Hoyt took several more steps forward and finally got a reaction. The closest tortoise bellowed, a horrible noise that he could feel carried some natural energy behind it. It wasn¡¯t enough to overpower Hoyt¡¯s defenses, but it would likely be enough to momentarily stun anyone that didn¡¯t have energy defenses ready. The tortoise leaned back slightly then pulled all its limbs forward at once, throwing itself forward. As it did so, it pulled its legs and head into its shell. Now Hoyt suddenly had a tortoise whose shell was almost as high as he was tall sliding down the hill towards him. That explained the strange marks, at least. It was fast, too. Hoyt barely managed to leap over it, running along its shell for a moment. He had barely touched ground when another several tortoises launched themselves at him in quick succession. When it was quite clear the creatures were aggressive and fully on alert, Anton took action. An expanding area of tortoises was focusing on Hoyt, and it was best if he didn¡¯t have to deal with attacks from too many angles. He started firing arrows towards the tortoises. They were extremely quick to close their eyes or snap their heads back into their shells. He did manage to wound a few before they really got what was going on, but it wasn¡¯t long before Anton had to deal with tortoises barreling down towards him. However, he was much further than Hoyt. He learned several things. The most troublesome was that they continued to pick up speed as they skied down the hill, tumbling rocks along with them. They also coordinated themselves very well. Anton had been hoping he might get some to crash into each other, but they only attacked in sequence. That meant he technically only had to dodge one at a time. Most important, however, was that once they committed to sliding towards him they continued almost exactly straight along their trajectory with very little deviation. Their legs and head were all bundled up so there wasn¡¯t anything they could do to change it, except perhaps use a bit of their energy. Anton felt something that made them not go exactly straight, but he just had to focus on the closest few. Predicting their movements was laughably easy even without insight, but he was still constantly having to change directions. If he made a mistake, he didn¡¯t want to know what a ton of turtle smashing into him would do to his body. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The tortoises that slid down the hill eventually stopped as things leveled out. By that point they were much too far to worry about, and as far as Anton could tell they weren¡¯t even coming back up the hill. It made sense. They didn¡¯t seem to be fast except with the aid of gravity. Catarina gestured to the group with her. The tortoises shouldn¡¯t be able to sense them easily, but formations weren¡¯t perfect against everything. There was a gap in the tortoises, however, directly between Hoyt and Anton. It was large enough for them to slip through if they stayed close- and they had to do so for the sake of the formation regardless. Catarina was at the front, flicking out little bits of energy to change the terrain in front of them. She pick the path that would best support the formation they had which was unfortunately not the easiest climb. Hopefully all of the miners could support the weaker members among them. Some of the tortoises, while not aiming for their group, started getting far too close. It was a good thing they¡¯d started moving when they did, because the angles involved meant that the tortoises further to the sides would be more towards where they stood, at least from Hoyt¡¯s side. Anton was far enough back that most of the tortoises would have gone behind them even if they didn¡¯t move. Catarina kept a steady pace, keeping track of Pete on the rear-left of the triangular formation they were holding. He was doing just fine, but Oskar¡¯s portion on the other side was unstable. He at least avoided making erratic movements, but he also wasn¡¯t doing anything to direct the flow of energy properly. That was still good enough for someone without training. He was responsible enough to know to keep his arms held in front of him carrying the rocks she directed even if he didn¡¯t understand the specifics. Everyone else was more chaotically arranged, filling out the rest of the equilateral triangle. Fuzz stayed right on her heels. So far, things had been going pretty well. That was until someone broke away from the formation. Lara. She was allowed to walk unrestrained because of the difficult terrain, and she dashed off down the hill just as they were nearing the top of the ridge. There were several tortoises that had held back from flinging themselves downhill and several others that had just meandered their way up to the crest where they could actually slide down. Upon seeing a woman suddenly appear out of nothing, they had another, closer target than the two cultivators to either side. Naturally they began to attack. Lara had run more or less directly downhill of the formation, which placed the trajectories of some of the tortoises directly through the group. ¡°Everyone get closer together! Strongest cultivations on the outside!¡± She hoped the tortoises wouldn¡¯t really hear her words, but she couldn¡¯t silently guide people in the current situation. If Catarina had just a minute or two she could have set up a passable defensive formation. As it was, the concealment formation had to suffice. It was good enough to keep the tortoises unaware of their presence until they were about to impact. The first one was almost directly at the point of the formation, herself. She could easily dodge it, but then all of those behind her would die. Instead, she gathered as much of her energy as she could onto her legs, taking a firm stance as she kicked the side of what was effectively a sliding boulder. She didn¡¯t hold back a tiny bit, but even with her body at the peak of Body Tempering and the energy that went along with it, the power she could harness in an instant was barely enough to deflect it. Sharp pieces of rock sprayed into the group as the tortoise slid past, wounding several of those on the outer layer. A few had passable energy defenses and held their ground, but they couldn¡¯t fully protect those in the middle either. That was the problem with traveling around with close to thirty people. Somehow the formation held together from the first tortoise and another few that came extremely close to impacting the formation towards the rear. There were only a few more of the giant tortoises, but one was angled about a third of the way inward on the right side. It wasn¡¯t possible for everyone to get out of the way, especially those moving uphill. Then the formation shattered as Oskar grabbed the two people closest to him, flinging them away from the corner. Though Catarina¡¯s eyes weren¡¯t on the scene, she could feel his energy suddenly spike as he dashed forward. His arm wide, he managed to sweep up four others in the way of the tortoise¡¯s descent and shove them out of the way, along with himself. Catarina could probably carry four people, but she was at the peak of Body Tempering and not just somewhere around the first star. However, the instant after that Oskar¡¯s energy flattened. She would have turned to see him but there was one last tortoise straight ahead. With the formation scattered they were quite visible now. Before it even started moving, she gathered all of her energy and charged forward to meet it. Her quick thinking probably saved a dozen lives, because though it moved straight towards her it didn¡¯t have as much time to build up momentum. Catarina once again kicked with her heel to throw the creature off course, this time being flung tumbling off to the side. But she diverted the creature enough that the left side batted it away with their weapons as they dodged out of the way. Catarina looked downhill. At least there was some justice. Lara had been the target of most of the tortoises, and they were quite accurate. Catarina grimaced as several tortoises stood around a decidedly non-rigid body. Catarina didn¡¯t watch, but she was certain she saw one of them open its mouth to take a bite of the mess, before she turned away. Chapter 74 Having survived the onslaught of tortoises flinging themselves downhill and now being uphill of them instead, the group did¡­ nothing. Not to the tortoises, anyway. They were certainly aggressive and dangerous, but that was exactly the reason there was no point in staying around to antagonize them further. When approached from uphill, they did indeed start moving away to the side and since they were able to continue without any serious injuries, they left the area. Besides, leaving them all basically healthy would make it much harder for anyone trying to follow them. It might take the tortoises some time to return to the top of the hill, but they seemed to be already doing so. The Black March hills were the final barrier to reaching Estary, and while they encountered a number of other magical beasts none were sufficiently powerful or in large enough numbers to endanger the group. ----- Camp had been set up just outside the border to Estary. It was already late when they arrived, and they preferred to cross the border during the day. They had decided that officially crossing the border would be the best option, with a few caveats. They did have some escaped slaves. It was unknown if Estary would honor Ofrurg¡¯s laws, but the bigger problem was Ofrurg¡¯s side of the border. It was decided that Hoyt would cross the border with the legally freed slaves. He was chosen in particular because unless they had been seen while traveling- in which case their pursuers had gotten much closer than they¡¯d thought- nobody could recognize him. There was a small chance Anton and Catarina could be recognized from the manor. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could or should kill everyone there and while they had been quite far he couldn¡¯t discount the possibility one of the guards had extraordinary eyesight and good memory. Hoyt couldn¡¯t be recognized because everyone at the mines was either dead or part of their group. While they had a break, Anton had something to talk to Oskar about. The man now had strands of grey hair among his dark brown, strands that hadn¡¯t been at all grey the previous morning. ¡°What was that technique you used?¡± Anton asked calmly. Oskar sighed. He looked exhausted, more than anyone else despite having been actively in combat for the same duration. He shuffled through his pack and pulled out the scroll. He held it out for Anton to take. ¡°I found it in the mines. A forbidden technique.¡± Anton left him with his hand awkwardly outstretched. ¡°I see. And you practiced it anyway?¡± ¡°Well¡­ not really.¡± Oskar scratched his grizzled beard. ¡°I thought to leave it alone. But I couldn¡¯t help but keep thinking,¡± his eyes flickering over to Patricia, ¡°Thinking that I might need more power than I had. I knew how strong the guards were. So I read it. But I didn¡¯t practice it.¡± Anton nodded, his face impassive. ¡°That is probably the worst choice, from what I have heard.¡± ¡°What do you mean? The technique indeed had warnings, but it also said that if it wasn¡¯t used there was no danger in studying it.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if you were going to end up using it anyway, it was better to practice it in safety first. Unless the technique can only be used three or four times total, it shouldn¡¯t have this effect on you.¡± Oskar shook his head, finally lowering the scroll. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It certainly implied it could be used somewhat more than that. It was¡­ difficult to understand.¡± ¡°Do you want my help? I have no intent to take it away from you. I¡¯ve had more access to different techniques for study, and higher cultivation levels assist with understanding techniques.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Oskar said. ¡°If Patricia was safe- and Kevin too- I might just get rid of it. But if they need me, I¡¯m not concerned about burning a little bit of my life force away.¡± ¡°Burning your life force?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°That would explain the sudden aging. If it is any consolation, it is likely that continuing to rise in cultivation should recover some of that.¡± ¡°Is that why you look so¡­ relatively young?¡± ¡°That seems to be the case,¡± Anton said. ¡°It seems that each star of the Ninety-Nine Stars has the potential to raise the user¡¯s lifespan between one and three years, and similar totals are had at the same stage for most cultivation methods. So I may still live another decade, though it could be less. Little study has been done on the extension of lifespan for those who begin cultivating¡­ late.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know much about it,¡± Oskar replied, ¡°But I certainly heard it was difficult to begin cultivating when older. How did you do it?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s amazing what you are willing to endure if you don¡¯t care if you die.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Oskar nodded sadly. ¡°I don¡¯t wish to put you in danger, but I would like your thoughts on whether this technique will have any additional side effects.¡± Anton smiled reassuringly, ¡°I will do my best to help you out.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ----- Hoyt had no idea why he was nervous. He was quite capable of being independent. He had the papers from when he originally crossed into Ofrurg, and the documents for Pete and the others declaring them free. He didn¡¯t feel like he would have been nervous if Anton were around. He couldn¡¯t say the same for his real grandfather. Maybe he was just destined to be a follower. In that case, at least he could be standing behind Anton. But if that were the case, he at least had to be able to carry out a plan they¡¯d put together on his own. Growing up with the shelter of the Order so nearby maybe hadn¡¯t been that good for him. Still, he felt justified in being nervous. While there was only one Essence Collection cultivator at this border, it was still nerve wracking. He was used to any he met being much more friendly, since they were usually part of the Order or at least friendly to them. There was another similar cultivator to match on the Estary side, but that did little to help. If Hoyt had been able to ask Anton how he avoided being nervous, the answer would have been simple. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t get nervous doing things. He¡¯d just come to accept that everyone did and some just hid it better than others. While eventually repeated experiences limited the number of situations a person would feel uncomfortable, there was always something new that could elicit the same feelings. Hoyt walked into the small office. There was no point in waiting. The others came along with him. ¡°Papers, please,¡± a bored looking clerk said. He was technically a cultivator, but he appeared to be in his forties and was still somewhere in early Body Tempering. Which was why he had this job, instead of something more exciting. Hoyt handed over what he¡¯d gotten at the other border. The clerk looked down at it, then picked up a little bell which he rang. Another more junior clerk came running, ¡°Process these, please.¡± Everything seemed normal. But there was a slight change on the clerk¡¯s face when he read the papers. ¡°What was that for?¡± ¡°We¡¯re checking everyone crossing the border. There was an incident.¡± The clerk gestured to Pete and the other four. ¡°Papers, please.¡± The only identity papers they had were the ones that declared they were freed slaves. He started looking through them one at a time. ¡°These don¡¯t match. These documents aren¡¯t for cultivators.¡± Hoyt bristled at that, ¡°Are you telling me I¡¯m not allowed to teach free people how to cultivate?¡± It was quite obvious to anyone who was willing to look that they shared the same cultivation style. Sure, Hoyt technically hadn¡¯t been the one to do it, but the clerk didn¡¯t have to know that. He didn¡¯t like where things were going. Was that ¡®incident¡­?¡¯ This was the closest border and sending a message along the roads would have been faster. His question was answered when two Spirit Building cultivators approached. They hadn¡¯t been far away to begin with. Were they listening in? It was a security checkpoint. ¡°We¡¯ll need to do a thorough search of your group,¡± they said. Along with that, they extended their energy to press down on Hoyt and the others. That actually made Hoyt stand more firm. This was just a battle without weapons or attacks. Nothing to worry about. ¡°On what grounds?¡± Hoyt said, his voice brimming with confidence¡­ and projecting forward with the aid of energy. ¡°Slaves were stolen from Sarton, and cultivators were killed.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°What does that have to do with us? I purchased the freedom of all five of these men in Veron. That has nothing to do with anything that happened in Sarton.¡± He continued to project his voice past the men. He wasn¡¯t sure if it would do any good, but sometimes the loudest voice won. And he wasn¡¯t doing anything that could be considered an attack, unlike them. The pressure of their energy bore down on him and Hoyt had to admit it was hard to stand up to¡­ but there were two Spirit Building cultivators against just himself. ¡°The men have no other proof of identity,¡± the clerk said, ¡°Just descriptions aren¡¯t a good enough match.¡± That was enough to set off Hoyt. ¡°Of course they don¡¯t! Slaving bandits from Ofrurg stole them from their homes in Graotan. I followed all of your laws to free them. Now you¡¯re attempting to brand me a criminal? The Order won¡¯t stand for this.¡± Hoyt was currently making his cultivation very obvious. He couldn¡¯t possibly defeat the two Spirit Building cultivators despite their relatively low ability. But he really didn¡¯t believe they would dare to do something carelessly. While Hoyt agreed that the Order needed to be more active, it was also the case that they wouldn¡¯t stand for any violations that could be easily proven. A young, peak Body Tempering cultivator wasn¡¯t a nobody who would just be forgotten about if he disappeared at the border. Hoyt also got some confidence because he¡¯d felt the senses of an Essence Collection cultivator sweep over him. Two, in fact. The one that bolstered his confidence was the one from Estary. He felt the closer one approaching. Hoyt wondered if he had made a mistake. While the Order would certainly avenge him, he¡¯d really rather still be alive. He did have one more card he could pull out but fortunately the Essence Collection cultivator from Estary had started to move at the same time. Quite a bit more quickly, as well. A heavy pressure bore down on him for an instant before it was lifted along with that of the Spirit Building cultivators. ¡°What¡¯s going on here, hmm?¡± The voice of a woman spoke out right next to Hoyt. He hadn¡¯t even noticed when she got there. As he turned to look he found her younger than he¡¯d thought she would be. She looked to be in her thirties, and while Hoyt actually doubted that was her actual age, it showed she had advanced fairly quickly. Hoyt had no chance to answer, because there was another definitely older voice. ¡°Stay out of this, Adrastea.¡± The man in front of them was certainly older. ¡°My job is border security,¡± Adrastea smiled in response. ¡°It seems to me your men are causing untoward trouble for this young man, Yust.¡± She spit out the name like it left a bad taste in her mouth. Hoyt just tried to look small. He wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d made the right choice, but it at least made him more confident to have someone strong at his side. He just hoped their obvious personal conflict wouldn¡¯t be trouble for him. Chapter 75 If Anton or the others knew their way around Estary, they could have arranged for a discreet location to meet up. As it was, their target was a city not far from the other side of the border. Hoyt and those with him were quite a distance away at the proper border crossing, while Anton and Catarina planned to just walk across some distance away. That meant they¡¯d have to avoid anything that ended up with their identities being checked, but they really didn¡¯t have any intention for that regardless. He wasn¡¯t planning to buy anything particularly strange and exotic, nor did he plan to commit any crimes. Except sneaking past the border, he supposed. ¡°Stop!¡± Catarina held out her hand to the side. ¡°There¡¯s a formation.¡± Anton surveyed the area in front of them, but shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything. It¡¯s too faint.¡± ¡°It¡¯s weak,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It¡¯s not a barrier or an offensive formation. Nothing will stop us if we just walk through.¡± ¡°I suppose it must be an alarm then?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I think so,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But none of the actual parts of the formation is here. This is just an extension of the effect between two points.¡± Catarina looked to the left and right. ¡°It¡¯s too far to go around, I think. It could encompass the whole border.¡± ¡°Was there anything like this at the Graotan-Ofrurg border?¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t know,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I didn¡¯t sense it at the time, but I¡¯ve improved in cultivation significantly. And practical experience with formations.¡± She approached closer towards the invisible barrier, presumably stopping in front of it. ¡°I think I can open up a way through. As long as nobody¡¯s currently watching the barrier.¡± ¡°How long is it to go around, really?¡± Catarina shook her head, ¡°It would be a half day to the northeast before we could determine whether or not it ends or just has a relay point.¡± ¡°And the other option is sneaking through this formation¡¯s effects. If we¡¯re still being pursued the detour might cost us. But if we¡¯re caught here¡­¡± Anton shook his head. He continued to look around them. It was just a regular stretch of land. In fact, he¡¯d thought they¡¯d already crossed the border. Of course just that didn¡¯t make them safe, but still. ¡°Catarina, can you tell if there are formation techniques from Estary or Ofrurg supporting this formation?¡± She shook her head, ¡°Even if I could study the core of the formation, from what I know of formations this entire region should have the same basis. Close enough for individual styles to overwhelm regional differences.¡± ¡°Too bad, because I was hoping we were fully in Estary. If it¡¯s not something both sides control, I¡¯d rather bet on explaining things to Estary.¡± He looked back at the dozens of people following behind them, waiting to see what they did. ¡°We just have to not get caught then,¡± Catarina started shuffling pebbles around, ¡°I will need you to lend me energy. Then we can open up a path for everyone to move through.¡± ----- The two Essence Collection cultivators were having a staredown, with the side effects being for the floor between them. Adrastea kept any energy from flowing towards Hoyt and the five others, while the older man named Yust protected those from Ofrurg. Where their energy met cracks formed in the ground. The woman who had been referred to as Adrastea pushed forward, and the crack widened. However, as she turned towards him to speak instead of any sort of retaliation from Yust the crackling energy lessened. ¡°Who are you, young man?¡± Hoyt cupped his hands together, bowing slightly. ¡°I am Hoyt, of the Order of NInety-Nine Stars.¡± ¡°And these?¡± she gestured to Pete and the others from the farms. ¡°They were captured from Graotan and taken as slaves. I legally purchased and freed them, as those documents show.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no proof of that!¡± Yust said. Adrastea turned back towards him, ¡°Perhaps. But the papers are legitimate, are they not? Why have they not been allowed through?¡± Stolen story; please report. ¡°They have no other form of identification. It could be anyone.¡± Adrastea¡¯s snort stirred up the air so much that one of the two early Spirit Building cultivators standing behind Yust staggered back slightly. ¡°Ofrurg never provides freed slaves with proper identification. That is a fault in your own system, and inadequate reason to hinder someone on legitimate business. Anything else?¡± ¡°Citizens were killed in Sarton and slaves freed. This is the nearest border. We need to search him to see if he has any connection to the incident. These slaves-¡± Adrastea pulled a spear from nowhere and leveled it at Yust. ¡°These people are not slaves. Nor should anyone be.¡± Yust swallowed, ¡°My mistake. However, this being the closest border we have legitimate reason to search this fellow, and any others crossing.¡± Adrastea¡¯s eyes flickered to the side for a moment before turning back towards Yust. ¡°Is that so? Then we¡¯ll be glad to search any disciple from the sects of Ofrurg passing through our land as well. I¡¯m sure they have some lovely techniques.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t-¡± ¡°Many people would like to get their hands on a fully copy of the Ninety-Nine Stars. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re among them.¡± Adrastea turned to Hoyt. ¡°Hoyt. If you will allow us to jointly search you and your companions, I can promise no techniques or private correspondence will be read.¡± ¡°Of course. Go ahead,¡± Hoyt really didn¡¯t have much choice- and they really didn¡¯t have anything on them. Pete and the others had little more than the clothes on their back, travelling supplies, and weapons. Hoyt had the Ninety-Nine Stars, but all of the more suspect things were with Anton. It didn¡¯t take long before they were past the Ofrurg side of the border. Adrastea lead them forward to the Estary side. ¡°We still have to fill out the paperwork, but that won¡¯t take long.¡± It didn¡¯t, either. It probably helped that Adrastea herself filled out the documents, her hand flicking with remarkable speed as she wrote. ¡°There. How many others?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just the six of us,¡± Hoyt said. Adrastea took a good hard look at Hoyt. ¡°Fine. Just one moment, though.¡± She picked up another pile of documents, filling each out in an instant. She put half to the side and handed half to Hoyt. ¡°If you happen to run into any other members of the Order, say an eleventh and tenth star, or perhaps two dozen miscellaneous others, they might need these.¡± When Hoyt hesitated, she spun them through the air so they landed in his bag. ¡°I can tell you haven¡¯t been expelled from the Order, and I believe you about the method these five were enslaved and freed. So I¡¯m willing to take the chance. Though if they really aren¡¯t with you¡­¡± Adrastea stroked her spear she hadn¡¯t yet put away. Hoyt gave up. She obviously knew who had passed, and probably where they were more than he did. ¡°Actually I was planning to meet up with some others. Maybe they lost their papers.¡± Adrastea smiled and waved them on. As they stepped out of the structure, Adrastea called after them, ¡°Oh, don¡¯t forget to tell your grandfather I said hi!¡± Dammit. Stupid Essence Collection cultivators knew everything. At least they got past the border. ----- Hoyt was waiting outside the city for Anton and the others. He handed over the bundle of papers after they approached. ¡°You were found out. Fortunately, by someone friendly to the Order. Maybe that¡¯s Estary¡¯s opinion in general,¡± Hoyt shrugged. Catarina frowned. ¡°How¡­ was there a secondary formation to detect tampering? It didn¡¯t resist my efforts¡­¡± she muttered to herself as Anton looked over the papers. ¡°Some of the details seem to have been left vague,¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ something.¡± The papers for him mostly said Spirit Building, Ninety-Nine Stars along with the date and other legal stuff. The papers for the miners just said Body Tempering, undeclared. ¡°Are these safe?¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°The Essence Building cultivator can probably see us from here. And if she wanted you to be dead, you¡¯d be dead.¡± ¡°I only detect anti-tampering formations,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But if they want to track us¡­¡± ¡°Let them,¡± Anton said. ¡°It appears we underestimated the border.¡± ¡°... I¡¯m sorry,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault,¡± Anton said. ¡°Truthfully, both of us are inexperienced in this area. Nothing bad happened this time, so we can learn.¡± Anton looked at the nearly three dozen people they had. He¡¯d hunted animals when necessary as they were fleeing through Ofrurg, but he¡¯d rather not poach in Estary if he could help it. It would be a poor guest that received such a helpful welcome only to turn around and break laws. That meant they¡¯d have to buy food, and they also should probably at least get everyone into a common room instead of their somewhat lacking tents. They¡¯d saved quite a bit of money by not paying for any of the last group, but they should probably get some work. Preferably some that looped around to the west, so they could return to Graotan. Except it wasn¡¯t guaranteed everyone was from there. He hadn¡¯t really stopped to talk with the majority of the miners and the servants. An oversight on his part. There was no way any of them were going back into Ofrurg, but if there were any who had homes in Estary going a bit out of their way to return them home would be the proper thing to do. Anton wasn¡¯t even completely where Pete, Oskar, Patricia, and all the others wanted to go. Dungannon was no more, and it really wasn¡¯t very safe. Chapter 76 It was humbling that they were found out while crossing the border, but that only reinforced what Elder Varela of the Grasping Willows told Anton. Even if he wasn¡¯t strong enough to contend with the best yet, he could rely on allies. Granted, he hadn¡¯t known the woman who helped in this particular case but he wasn¡¯t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. From what Hoyt had said, she could have been supporting them or just getting back at Yust, or Ofrurg in general. Probably both. Intentionally making allies in a receptive country would be a good move. That should have included the Order, but he¡¯d been focused on all of the wrong things at the time. When he was told the Order would not or could not act, he hadn¡¯t really pushed for more. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could have convinced them at the time since he didn¡¯t know what to say and was just a new Body Tempering cultivator, but he might have gotten something. Even a strongly worded letter could have been to his advantage if he hadn¡¯t gone in so cautious, as if he had been targeted for some reason. He briefly entertained a fantasy where he went directly to the Iron Ring slavers, using the pressure of the Order to have them buy back all of those they sold from Dungannon. Even in that fantasy his more practical thoughts butted in and forced him to take out a loan (in Graotan where he could get a reasonable rate) to pay for all of that. And if it had gone perfectly¡­ Anton looked at the group of people around him. Dozens of people he was now acquainted with would be slaves still. People from Ofrurg, Graotan, Estary, and everywhere around. Anton made sure to talk to each and every one of them one-on-one. Some of them were sparse with the details of how they became slaves, possibly because they didn¡¯t want to think about it or perhaps because it had involved some sort of crime. Anton understood why they would be leery of mentioning those details and didn¡¯t press them. He¡¯d been fortunate enough to never have to choose between a life of crime or not surviving. Though now he was technically a criminal in a larger manner than any of them could have been. Anton had no regrets for his actions except how it limited him in the future. Before he could enter Ofrurg again he would have to wait for things to settle down and get information on what they really knew. If there was a bounty with his face on it, it would make life much more complicated. Anton didn¡¯t think the consequences would spread throughout the whole of Ofrurg, but it could be troublesome if he later had business in the north. Anton didn¡¯t think he¡¯d killed anyone important, and with how Ofrurg worked he¡¯d likely be forgotten within the month. Though Ofrurg did crack down a lot harder on crimes within their own borders compared to what their citizens chose to do elsewhere. Hypocrites. Of more concern was what the Order would think of what he¡¯d done. Anton had no intention to break ties with the Order, and he didn¡¯t think hiding his actions would be useful. Hoyt and Catarina could remain quiet about things, but the Order would wonder how he got so many people freed. Currently all of them approved of following along with him until they arrived in Graotan, though if some of them found opportunities on the way Anton would encourage them to take them. He couldn¡¯t do much more than teach some basic cultivation and provide for them long enough for them to become established somewhere. Though it seemed likely that several of them planned to truly become cultivators. Pete was currently undergoing the difficult process of tempering his meridians as the second star. If he succeeded it would be in great benefit as he continued to work with formations, and Anton was providing the best guidance he could. It still wouldn¡¯t be easy. Anton did it quickly enough but he¡¯d almost killed himself. Pete had a long life ahead of him still and could afford to be a bit more conservative with his efforts. Always being on the road doubtless wasn¡¯t helping, but he wasn¡¯t far. Oskar was actually quite naturally talented. It seemed he¡¯d never bothered making the attempt to cultivate, being content with his simple life. The tests the Order performed had passed him by because he lived and worked in small villages. Anton felt it was a shame. Vincent was so proactive about recruitment, but many people didn¡¯t even know the real benefit that could be gained from cultivation. It was just a thing that they would never be able to interact with. Currently, Oskar was rebuilding his cultivation. He¡¯d managed to temper his body more or less equivalently to the first star so it was just about modifying his energy so his body could get used to the way the Ninety-Nine Stars felt. Anton was certain part of his success had been luck, but there was nothing wrong with that. Oskar worked hard and took the chances he had to. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. That brought Anton back to the forbidden technique. He¡¯d borrowed it to study, and he was quite certain he absolutely would not use it. He wasn¡¯t even sure if he wanted to practice the techniques without actually activating them, because even that might cause him to age. The potential to burn up the remaining portion of his life for momentary power wouldn¡¯t do him much good if he killed himself before he ran into danger. He agreed with its creator, Everheart, about its forbidden status. He did find some benefits from studying it, and he passed the insights he gleaned along to Oskar. It was up to him if he wanted to practice it further, but Anton was fairly certain some of the age he¡¯d lost could be recovered. It was just his body was unused to the burst of energy and not that he¡¯d burned away so many decades of his life in an instant. But¡­ probably a single decade. No, Candle Wax treated the cultivator¡¯s life force as an energy source and Anton certainly had none of that to spare. As an auxiliary technique, however, it did teach him how to try to sense his life force. Anton wasn¡¯t certain if that would be useful, but it was interesting enough he began to practice it. The second half of Candle Wax interested Anton, as secrets dangled just out of reach often did. He would love to study it¡­ but he had no intention to put in the effort to find it. There was no guarantee any copies of it actually existed. Anton didn¡¯t know who Everheart was, but the scroll was hundreds of years old. Which technically could have made him not much older than Grand Elder Vandale. Maybe if he had time he would research Everheart at the Order. If they didn¡¯t decide to expel him or something. ----- While searching for potential work along the lines of caravan guarding they had done in Ofrurg, they came across bounty notices. There was one that instantly caught everyone¡¯s eye. Hoyt was closest and read it aloud. ¡°Wanted: Group of eleven cultivators, cultivations from mid to late Body Tempering. Crimes: Illegal border crossing, suspected banditry.¡± Hoyt paused, ¡°This is recent. They seem to have a location, as well.¡± ¡°Why hasn¡¯t it been taken care of then?¡± Catarina asked. The caretaker of the bounty board was standing nearby, and even though the question wasn¡¯t directed at him he helpfully answered. ¡°It will usually be taken care of by one of the larger sects within a week or two. And, because the recon has already been dealt with, the pay¡¯s not generally considered sufficient. Nobody much cares to risk their life for something that will be handled by someone else.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Catarina said. ¡°What if someone gets hurt before the sects deal with it?¡± ¡°It can happen,¡± the man admitted, ¡°But border security has increased recently. They shouldn¡¯t find any easy targets around here.¡± ¡°Does that increased security have something to do with Adrastea?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°You met her, did you?¡± the man nodded. ¡°There were a few incidents some years back. Then she transferred in.¡± ¡°What sort of incidents?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Banditry, slaving. It¡¯s hard to believe Ofrurg is allowed to stand, but nobody really wants a cultivator war either. There are enough large factions that are perfectly ¡®innocent¡¯ except for how they benefit from letting things slide.¡± The man shook his head, ¡°Anyway, senior Adrastea has really helped solidify the border.¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± Anton asked Hoyt and Catarina. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t be doing it just for the money,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I think it should be manageable. We can at least get the details.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Catarina said. Anton looked to the bounty board caretaker. ¡°If we could see more details, then. We¡¯d like to know more about what we¡¯re getting into.¡± ¡°Of course sir, we have a general location, some specifics on cultivation, and several sketches from those who have spotted them in the area.¡± The man looked through a few shelves behind him until he found the right bundle of papers. ¡°Here you are. We¡¯ll need those returned if you don¡¯t take the job. Or if you wish to consider it longer you can make a copy.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes flashed as he looked through the papers. He couldn¡¯t be sure, but some of the sketches matched the features of another he¡¯d gotten from one of those he was looking for. It wasn¡¯t too strange, since the information from the Ears of the Fox had mentioned he was still active but no longer in Graotan. Even if it wasn¡¯t the right people, the information was detailed enough to confirm they weren¡¯t just simple border hoppers. Anton would hate to kill people fleeing criminal injustice like himself. Chapter 77 Though the information on the bandits took them almost directly to the encampment, they didn¡¯t rush in and start attacking. Even if all of the information was perfectly accurate, it could still pose danger. The number of bandits and their progress in cultivation was more than at the mines, and while Catarina¡¯s aid would certainly make up for some of that it was better not to just rush into anything. They weren¡¯t in a rush, so watching from far away to scope out the camp was reasonable. It was extremely unlikely that any of them could see better than Anton, who was not only somewhat ahead in cultivation of their best members but also favored a technique to increase his eyesight. While doing nothing else he could keep Hawk Eyes active at the most basic level all day, and that was what Anton had been doing. Just as they were wondering if they ever left camp, he spotted several of them sneaking away early during the night. ¡°Figures,¡± he said. ¡°They stay inactive during the day and sneak off at night. Should have expected that.¡± There was only a small group heading out, unless he¡¯d missed others somehow. ¡°Just three of them,¡± Anton looked to Catarina and Hoyt. ¡°Can¡¯t exactly let them go off on their own and just hope they behave.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll stay here and keep watch,¡± Catarina said. ¡°If they split up more, we¡¯ll figure out what to do. If they spot us here¡­¡± Catarina shrugged. She¡¯d put together a small formation that allowed for concealment and combat enhancement. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine. Though tomorrow we should bring some of the others. Whoever is best at combat.¡± Anton didn¡¯t like that. The reason was simple. While two dozen first and second star cultivators could indeed overwhelm a handful of mid Body Tempering enemies, their individual lives would be in danger. But Anton also didn¡¯t like the thought of leaving bandits to go off and do whatever they pleased. ¡°You¡¯re right. We can ask if the others want to join.¡± They probably would, regardless of their own feelings. Anton didn¡¯t know how to get around that, since it was simply loyalty to the group. He would at least make sure they knew how dangerous it was. He would have preferred not putting them into combat so early in their training, but they might be necessary. ¡°I need to get moving.¡± Stalking people was much the same as stalking animals. It was unlike tracking, since his target was already in sight. He just needed for them to stay unaware of him until he got close enough. Though he wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to kill them just yet. Just assuming the information they had was accurate didn¡¯t sit right. So far all he¡¯d seen was them camping out. If they planned to do something, however, he would be close enough to stop them before they could go through with anything. Even at a hundred or two hundred meters, it would only take a short moment for his arrows to reach them. With the way the three men he was following looked around, he almost thought he was compromised. However, they continued to regularly repeat the same actions, sneaking to behind a tree or a rise, looking for pursuers or foes ahead of them before moving further. Anton was fairly certain he¡¯d concealed his energy well enough. Though his greater quantity of energy at a higher cultivation was more prone to causing disturbances, he also had greater control over it when he wanted to. The end result was a passable stealth ability that still relied on keeping distant. He followed the trio to a small community. A village with a tall palisade meant to keep out wild animals- and probably bandits. There were several entrances to the village, and guards at each. The trio seemed to be confirming that information, though they didn¡¯t speak except in whispers- and Anton was certainly not good enough to pick up such whispers from so far. He didn¡¯t have a formal technique for hearing, and hearing was naturally worse than vision for long distances. Even in the dim starlight, Anton could make out one of the men well enough to be certain that he matched the description of a scout that had worked with Van Hassel. That matched the information from the bounty board. There was nothing wrong with that, but Anton couldn¡¯t help but remain suspicious. They had too much information about these people for them to not have already been removed. Was there corruption? One border guard helping them out didn¡¯t confirm anything for the whole of Estary. But if that was the case, why was the information accurate? Why post the bounty at all? It could be a trap, but for who? It shouldn¡¯t be for Anton, because he should still be an unknown from their perspective. Only a few people knew what he intended, and he didn¡¯t expect any of them to betray him. The closest would be the Ears of the Fox, but they had a reputation for professionalism. If he¡¯d already started targeting this group he could understand if some sort of information group found something, but the bounty was there before he even reached the border. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. As the trio of bandits finished their scouting of the village- they seemed unwilling to approach the walls- Anton followed after them. He followed them back towards their camp and wondered if the same could happen to him. He hadn¡¯t exactly been incautious, but he was presuming that one of those he knew about would be the only possibility. Someone in Body Tempering. But if there was someone with equal or higher cultivation than Anton, like Van Hassel or the formation master¡­ A single glimpse of someone in the woods behind him was all he got. In fact, saying he saw someone was incorrect. He saw the edge of what might have possibly been clothing. With so many trees in the way and it being dark, it was impossible to confirm anything. But Anton was convinced. Someone was following him. No, that wasn¡¯t the only option. It could also be someone else watching the bandits who had noticed his presence. He took a circuitous route around the camp to meet up with Catarina and Hoyt. He couldn¡¯t say if he¡¯d lost the tail, but he did his best not to lead them to his allies. At the very least he knew Catarina¡¯s concealment formation should keep conversation private, unless the extra was vastly more powerful than he imagined. In that case, there was little they could do about it. He told the other two about what he saw- including the tail. ¡°Should we give up on this?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°This figure doesn¡¯t fit the description of the formation master or the leader, right?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°That is, neither of them are particularly known for personal stealth. And if it had been a concealment formation, you would have either not noticed them or seen something else.¡± ¡°Correct,¡± Anton said, ¡°They simply moved behind trees as I turned my head. But just because they aren¡¯t known to have those abilities¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Well, the methods of Van Hassel imply he isn¡¯t skilled at tailing. But the formation master, Nirmal, is relatively unknown. I regret not getting the complete information from the Ears of the Fox. I¡¯m mostly relying on the Order¡¯s info. Probably reliable, but incomplete.¡± ¡°So what do you think?¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Are they a threat to us, or a competitor for this bounty?¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t mentioned anyone else had taken the bounty. However, I¡¯ve been watching the encampment closely. Unless they have a way to turn invisible- a technique or formations or something- they didn¡¯t enter the camp. The bandits did a nice job of clearing out the area around it so nobody could sneak up on them.¡± It also made their location more obvious once people looking were close. ¡°I don¡¯t think the formation master is with them. Otherwise we couldn¡¯t see the camp.¡± ¡°Unless it¡¯s a decoy camp,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But if that was the case, this entire group is the decoy. Or they¡¯re doing something extremely complicated with people going in and out.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say that¡¯s not possible,¡± Anton admitted, ¡°Especially with my knowledge of formations. I didn¡¯t really talk to Victor about what he found, either.¡± ¡°I think¡­¡± Catarina calculated, ¡°It¡¯s unlikely. I don¡¯t actually know how one would accomplish what I saw. Compared to the formation at the border, where I just missed some functionality. Nirmal would have to be extremely talented in which case one would wonder why he was still in Spirit Gathering and not luxuriously working for some big sect. Raiding and slaving can¡¯t be that profitable in comparison.¡± ¡°Even if it¡¯s him,¡± Anton said, ¡°If he¡¯s not advanced past mid Spirit Building then we can fight him. We might need the others to hold off a good portion of the bandits though. I¡¯d prefer to not act rashly. We¡¯ll keep an eye on them another day or two. Though we might want to start setting up an ambush point. I know their likely routes if they plan to attack the village, and if they attack before we¡¯re ready we can at least warn the village. Any of us should be able to travel faster than their group.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I think I¡¯d like to train whoever¡¯s coming with us in some tactics to take advantage of their numbers. We just have to balance that with having them close enough to be helpful but far enough not to be noticed.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll do anything during the day,¡± Anton said. ¡°Maybe rest yourself and start them in the afternoon, then you can personally come here at night in case we need to act.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll also scout out those locations you mentioned in the morning,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Some formations might be better than others along particular routes.¡± Chapter 78 Everything was so confusing. There were all sorts of new plants and new animals, some of which were a threat to the pack. Fuzz wasn¡¯t sure how everyone sifted through so many scents so quickly without even seeming like they sniffed anything at all. Then again, the pack leaders were so strong it was understandable. They¡¯d been the ones to save Fuzz and the others from the plants that were eating them. He was taken to be part of a new pack, though he wasn¡¯t sure why. He was injured and weak. Even his own pack wouldn¡¯t have wanted him. Everything was so confusing. There was another one he thought might be one of the pack leaders for the first few days. He was just coming to understand what made the pack all so strong at the time, but the fourth maybe-pack-leader had been left behind. Then there had been a long time of going to new places with their pack of nine. They didn¡¯t hunt much, but they always had enough food. He didn¡¯t have to fight anyone for it. That was good, because he would lose. Even with one of the pack leaders making him stronger, he could tell the others were more. Just as he was getting used to nine, there were suddenly many more. And some of them were even weaker than Fuzz. They didn¡¯t have any of the power of the pack leaders, and there was even a pup. It must have been younger than Fuzz, because it was very tiny. One of the pack members got lost and seemed to be unable to find her way back. Fuzz followed her and tried to get her to come back, but she didn¡¯t until one of those with power came to get her. Fuzz liked being somewhere near the top half of the pack, but that didn¡¯t even last until dawn. Then there were a whole lot more pack members with power. It was small compared to the pack leaders, but more than Fuzz. The pack started traveling more quickly. Was it a dispute over hunting grounds? Fuzz had smelled some blood and they seemed to be being chased. It was hard to imagine anyone stronger than the pack leaders, but they knew what they were doing. Along the way the female pack leader kept doing things to Fuzz that he felt gave him more power. She even made his rear legs work again! Then they were attacked by big rocks. The rocks had the same power as the people, and the pack huddled together for safety. Two of the pack leaders fought away from the group, while the woman who was helping Fuzz grow stronger stayed to protect the rest of the pack. Fuzz wanted to hunt, but the creatures were so dangerous he understood why they ran away. The confused woman ran the wrong way and was killed, because she didn¡¯t stick to the safety of the pack. Then the pack had gone to a very scary place. There were others everywhere. At first Fuzz thought maybe all of them were from the same back, but it seemed to be some sort of neutral territory. That made some sense, because there were many dens to defend and the rocks were dangerous. The place with many packs also wasn¡¯t any good as hunting grounds. There were only humans, and humans didn¡¯t seem to hunt other humans. At least Fuzz thought that, but now they were hunting humans. It must have been some sort of territorial dispute. Maybe they were going to live here? He wasn¡¯t sure. For a day the pack leaders had gone away and left him in the den, but now he got to go out. Most of those with the special power did. Some stayed behind to protect the rest of the pack, but Fuzz got to go hunting. It was a good place, lots of prey to be had. It seemed the pack leaders were more concerned with the other humans though. It was probably dangerous to hunt prey when there was competition. The oldest member of the pack had Fuzz memorize the scent of a specific human. It seemed to be a warning, because Fuzz could smell how much power that one had. It didn¡¯t smell like a pack, so it was probably a lone wolf. A lone human? Those could be quite fierce. Either way, it was definitely too strong for Fuzz, though he couldn¡¯t tell if it was stronger than the pack leaders. He needed to get better at using this power. Now they were waiting where the scents of the probably-enemy pack had passed before. Since they were waiting in ambush, Fuzz was nearly certain that they were enemies. However, he was wary of attacking before the pack leaders gave the order. He didn¡¯t want to cause trouble for the pack. The wind changed directions, and Fuzz smelled them coming. Several strong humans. They smelled stronger than the others with the power, but weaker than the pack leaders. Dangerous, but that was why they¡¯d brought most of the pack. From his pack, Fuzz smelled anticipation and fear. He understood. However, the woman pack leader had claimed the territory, and he felt her power and the rest of them were stronger. Fuzz was nervous but also excited. He wanted to prove he could help the pack. They just had to take down a pawful or two of these strong humans. Somehow, the approaching humans didn¡¯t smell them at all. They were so close when they realized that Fuzz¡¯s pack was waiting in ambush. And he was certain that was what they were doing, because the humans had their not-fangs ready. Fuzz had tried to figure out how they worked, but they weren¡¯t part of the humans. He¡¯d seen one alone, and it had been cold and tasted like blood. But also not like blood? It was also sharp, and it had almost tasted like Fuzz¡¯s blood. Fortunately, the power protected his tongue from the edge. The female pack leader was the first to attack. Fuzz also thought he understood the words that said to do so, but he mostly followed everyone¡¯s lead. This was their territory now. He looked for the most vulnerable enemy. He wasn¡¯t stupid enough to think that just because he was with the pack he could take down the strongest foe. He found one, and lunged for their leg. They stabbed down at him with a long not-fang with the sharp part on the end. One of the other pack members shoved the attack away. Fuzz liked this pack. He also liked his old pack, but they weren¡¯t particularly protective of each other except for the pups. Fuzz thought he might still be a pup, except pups didn¡¯t get to fight. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. His fangs wrapped around an ankle. The strange power made his teeth hurt, but his own power protected them. He didn¡¯t manage to sink into the leg, but he still pulled. Three pack members next to Fuzz used his own not-fang to maul the enemy. Even though Fuzz hadn¡¯t managed to pull him to the ground yet, it still seemed he could do some good. Fuzz smelled a lot of blood. He could see some of it was from his own packmates. He could also smell the power of the other two pack leaders, who were fighting against enemies that outnumbered them. Fuzz wanted to go help them, but the rest of the pack was still fighting here. He sprang into action, biting and nipping at the legs of the humans. For some reason, the power they kept around their legs was usually less, even though it was so easy to reach. Once Fuzz even managed to crack through it and bite into some sort of already-bloody leg. But it wasn¡¯t wet? Then actual warm blood came out when he bit harder. How strange. A not-fang cut across Fuzz¡¯s back. It hurt, but the power and his hide kept him safe enough. He could still fight. Besides, they were winning. He couldn¡¯t retreat while they were winning. Fuzz surveyed the battlefield, seeing one of his pack had been pulled down. He jumped up to bite at the back of the neck of the other human trying to attack with his not-fangs. He barely managed to stagger the man with his weight, but the human found it hard to attack him from its position. Apparently his not-fang wasn¡¯t made to attack behind him, and whlie the man tried to grab onto Fuzz, Fuzz kept his jaw clenched. He wasn¡¯t able to bite deep into the neck, but he wasn¡¯t going to let go and allow him to kill the fallen pack member. He did find himself being spun around in circles, though. His teeth really hurt, but he refused to let go. He couldn¡¯t really see, but he thought maybe he was getting close to a tree. Should he let go? Before he could decide, Fuzz felt the power of the oldest pack member. Somehow he managed to make it break off from the rest of him and attack at a distance. Fuzz wanted to know how to do that, but he probably had to be stronger first. Either way, that power killed the man he was latched on to. Fuzz took a few moments to unclench his jaw, extracting it from the weird hard fur some of these humans had. He¡¯d used up all of his power and his jaw hurt, but he had to help. But¡­ his pack was winning. The other pack was retreating. Fuzz knew he couldn¡¯t give chase, so he chose to watch the downed members of the enemy pack instead. He couldn¡¯t tell if they were all dead, and without his power he felt like their not-fangs would be quite dangerous. So he took a guarded position and kept low. Until the female pack leader picked him up. ----- ¡°Fuzz!¡± Catarina cried out. She was already pulling out bandages and needles to stitch him up. However, when she picked him up to move him to a better place she could tell his wound wasn¡¯t bleeding too badly. The others probably needed help first. Even though everyone who had participated in the fight did so voluntarily, Catarina still felt bad for involving people at the first and second stars against mid Body Tempering opponents. One wrong move and they could have easily died. As far as she could tell none were, but a few were critically injured. Fuzz would have to wait. Though, she could help him at the same time. The most important thing was making sure nobody bled out, and she was getting better at medical formations. Fuzz had even helped with that, or rather the state they¡¯d found him and others in. The damage to Fuzz from removing the moss growing into him had mostly ignored muscle and bone, but it was the smaller and more important nerves that had been the biggest problem. Catarina honestly hadn¡¯t known what she was doing. Carving formation marks into the fur of a wolf was crazy, but she hadn¡¯t really known what else to do. So she kept doing it, and either the energy tempering his body had helped him recover or one of the things she tried. She considered trying to do it to herself, though she wanted to reach the eleventh star first. Though she¡¯d like to wait until the prime tempering for Spiritual Connection, doing it as early as possible was the second best option. It was extremely important for getting better at formations, and Catarina realized that though she was good for her age there was still a lot more to learn. She couldn¡¯t afford to wait years to improve, either. Not if she wanted to help her grandfather. It was only a bit more than a year he¡¯d been cultivating and he was already up to such crazy stuff. She needed to go for what was most useful now. Besides, she could always make up for it not being the prime tempering later. An hour later all of the bandits were captured or dead, and all of their own people were¡­ alive. That was all that could be said for a few of them. They had to get them back to the city for treatment, and even then they were on shaky ground. The miners sure were tough. They worked together well, too. Sure, fighting two or three to one made things easier but there was always the chance that they could be killed in a single blow. Some almost had, with the difference being they were just nearly dead. Most of the bandits hadn¡¯t died instantly either- mostly the ones Hoyt hacked through. Even one Anton shot in the heart had lived until the end of the battle. He just hadn¡¯t been able to do anything but stabilize his own blood flow after he was hit. Honestly the most important factor to their victory was probably the bandits themselves. They had decent cultivations, but saying they were skilled wasn¡¯t accurate. Most of them weren¡¯t young, having taken many years to reach where they were. And since they were intending to pick on weak villagers who only had a few cultivators as guards to protect them, they weren¡¯t really prepared for an ambush. Catarina was glad she¡¯d pushed it to be just a little bit more effective at defending people. She wasn¡¯t good with people she knew dying. Chapter 79 It was a big relief for Anton that they finished the battle without interference from the mysterious figure. He hadn¡¯t been able to learn more about whoever they were after that first instance spotting them, though he¡¯d had a few similar moments. His detection abilities were just on the edge of where they needed to be to pick out that particular person. He enlisted the help of Fuzz to memorize their scent, but he wasn¡¯t sure about following the trail. He had a few tricks he¡¯d used to try to make them reveal themselves. His most promising attempt he gathered much of his energy and tried to move it away from himself as if he were walking off away from his actual location. That had afforded him another glimpse as they moved, but that was it. Still just the edge of clothing. Not wanting to push his luck, Anton had gone on with the plan to ambush the bandits. He¡¯d kept a bit too much energy in reserve, and some of their allies were seriously injured. He couldn¡¯t say that he would have been able to avoid that entirely if he didn¡¯t hold back at all, because he¡¯d still been quite effective and most of the injuries were earlier in the fighting when the bandits stabilized their positions right after the ambush. But he couldn¡¯t spend too long thinking about what he had done right and wrong. He didn¡¯t detect any serious mistakes, and he took much of the risk upon himself, fighting several cultivators at once. Well, he supposed he shouldn¡¯t count the one he brought down with his first arrow. While Catarina stabilized the injured members, Anton and Hoyt gathered the heads of the bandits that the bounty wanted proof of. It was a grisly task, but really the best way of proving they had killed them. Though some of them had been involved in the attack on Dungannon- Oskar even mentioned he recognized one- Anton didn¡¯t feel much elation. He had no worries about killing them, his inspections of their actions sufficient for him to agree with the assessment. It just wasn¡¯t very cathartic. Only a handful of them had been connected to the attack, and there were so many more to kill, and so many taken into slavery yet unfreed. So, Anton only felt a little bit of satisfaction that he¡¯d done good for the world. Then again, he¡¯d pretty much known that revenge wouldn¡¯t make him happy. Even though he¡¯d previously only experience pettier forms of revenge, any satisfaction it brought was fleeting. Even though the dozens he¡¯d had a part in freeing from slavery were extremely grateful, he wasn¡¯t the sort to base his life around praise and adulation. Though it did feel good. He just knew that wouldn¡¯t be the driving force in his life. Revenge couldn¡¯t be it either, because eventually he would be done with that. Perhaps he was a bit overconfident, but Anton knew he had to have assurance in himself to cultivate well. That was something he was working on at the moment. For the twelfth star, he was cultivating ¡®voice¡¯. It combined inner and outer benefits. The outer benefits were improved ability to command- and more usefully in Anton¡¯s opinion- to teach. Internally, it let him organize his thoughts and act with confidence. Both of those effects were still quite minor at his current level of progress, but he thought it was the best choice. While he could chase after purifications that would be most useful for combat power he wanted to prioritize some other areas so he didn¡¯t lose himself. As they travelled the half-day¡¯s journey back towards Valburgh, Fuzz started acting up. He began with sniffing up a storm before he began alternatively whining and growling. Clearly he disapproved of something along the road. Anton didn¡¯t see anything but there was no hurt in taking a look. Fuzz showed no signs of stopping, however. He kept pace with the rest of them, continuously sniffing. ¡°Whatever it is,¡± Catarina said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem to be too close.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see any strange tracks,¡± Anton said, ¡°And we¡¯re right along the road. So it should be a person. Since all the bandits are dead, it might be that mysterious figure.¡± Anton tried to ask Fuzz if that was the case, but he was fairly certain he didn¡¯t get the right words across. Fuzz was an intelligent wolf, but he was still just a wolf. Even if he could learn to fully understand spoken language, he was still getting used to it. Fuzz continued to whine as they entered the city. Catarina wasn¡¯t the only cultivator who had taken a beast as a companion, but the gate guards reminded them that they were responsible for Fuzz¡¯s behavior. Fortunately, he was well behaved- though Catarina followed right next to him ready to grab him just in case. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Before stopping by the bounty office they took their injured members to proper healers. The prices for their services were reasonable enough, but Anton was getting a picture of how expensive large groups of cultivators could be. On the farm people rarely needed patching up by a doctor, and especially not in groups. Adding on to that even basic equipment and prices were quite high. Though they did still have some energy stones they could sell. Doing so right at the border seemed ill advised, regardless of whether or not Estary cared about their origins, so they were keeping them for the moment. Only the official members of the Order returned to the bounty office- along with Fuzz. Anton wasn¡¯t entirely surprised when he began growling as they got close. As for what it actually meant, he supposed they¡¯d have to find out. Catarina decided to pick Fuzz up under his front shoulders, just in case. It was a comical sight, his rear legs hanging almost to the ground. He didn¡¯t resist her, though he did still turn his head eagerly for new scents, and the growling continued. Anton stepped through the door first. The same man who had been there when they were first scoping things out was still there. ¡°Here to claim the bounty on the bandits?¡± he asked. It wasn¡¯t entirely strange for him to know that. They had signed up for the task properly, and Anton had a suspiciously sized sack at his belt- fortunately not dripping blood. They¡¯d already shown the gate guards the bounty notice. Still, he was quick to figure it out. It made even more sense when a middle aged woman stepped out of one of the back rooms. ¡°I told you they¡¯d be coming soon,¡± she smiled. For all Anton could tell it was genuine, but since he was fairly certain she¡¯d been the one sneaking around he still remained slightly skeptical. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of this one. Come with me, please.¡± She merely led the group to a small counter next to a door to one of the back rooms- not the one she¡¯d exited. ¡°If I could take the proof of the deeds, please.¡± Anton really didn¡¯t want to hold onto a head anyway. He and the others handed over the heads as Fuzz growled and whined. Catarina patted him reassuringly. ¡°Weren¡¯t you watching?¡± Anton asked. The woman just smiled, not actually answering. ¡°Things do need to be done properly.¡± She moved into the back room for a few moments, returning with their payment. The whole process was quick and easy, ¡°We appreciate your contributions to Estary¡¯s safety.¡± ¡°Was this some sort of test?¡± Anton asked. ¡°All bounties offered are important for the safety of Estary,¡± the woman answered. However, she didn¡¯t deny his idea. Anton wasn¡¯t really sure who it was a test for, but the woman was clearly strong enough to take out that group on her own. Anton didn¡¯t think he would get much else, so he merely thanked her and left. They checked the bounty board for anything else, but there were relatively few and some of the bounties didn¡¯t indicate anyone local. Anton did his best to remember the faces either as potential targets or some to avoid and report to the authorities, if they were too strong. After they left the office, Anton spoke to the other two, ¡°What do you think about all that?¡± ¡°I¡¯d bet it¡¯s a test for the younger generation,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°And a sort of training opportunity. Let people experience live combat without too much chance of anything going wrong. It¡¯s sort of what the Order did with the forest, though clearly that got out of control this last time.¡± ¡°A troublesome problem,¡± Anton said. ¡°The older generations can take care of all the danger more efficiently, but that leaves those following behind them unprepared.¡± ¡°Also,¡± Catarina added, ¡°If they are always seen to be occupied with smaller tasks, people can take those opportunities to cause larger trouble. If only a few of the stronger cultivators are occupied and nobody knows when, they¡¯re a better deterrent.¡± ¡°A reasonable enough system,¡± Anton admitted, ¡°It¡¯s too difficult to perfectly assess and handle danger.¡± He was quite aware that cultivators weren¡¯t perfect. They were still just humans after all, humans who could make mistakes with even broader reach than normal. Still, from what he could tell Estary had its head in a good place and was also at least decently effective. Graotan wasn¡¯t bad either, but clearly there had been failures. Fixing a system that worked well for the most part without allowing other problems to crop up would be difficult. It was a good thing Anton had no intention to do it alone. Chapter 80 There was something to be said about not being in ¡®enemy territory¡¯ that made Anton much more comfortable. Fields still needed workers but they weren¡¯t slaves and from what Anton could tell they appeared just as productive if not more so without people constantly watching for reasons to punish them. Though they could be even more productive if they were cultivating natural energy. Even the first level of body tempering would be greatly useful for common labor. They were travelling with quite an oversized group. It wouldn¡¯t be dangerous for them to travel with just themselves- several strong cultivators and a couple dozen others who could fight, though some had injuries that would make it difficult. At least everyone seemed on the path to recover after the treatments they received, plus two weeks of rest and cultivation. A cultivator could fully recover from most injuries besides lost limbs or organs given enough time, though Anton could do little to guide the others in that regard. His injuries had generally not been close to life-threatening, and his experience there was limited. Even though they could travel with just them, it was better to sign on as caravan guards. Nobody needed their particular selection of beginning cultivators and a few stepping into early Spirit Building, but they found one group willing to hire them. They had to accept a minimal price that basically just covered the living expenses of the last two weeks, though that and food being covered was enough. Feeding nearly three dozen people could get expensive, and Anton couldn¡¯t just go out into the woods and kill deer or boar as he pleased. Well, he could but he¡¯d prefer to abide by local restrictions and those could change from area to area. He wouldn¡¯t want to annoy a minor noble or a cultivation sect by hunting in their territory. Anton had arranged for them to work with Brantley Siblings Transport, traveling along with Mervyn and Ebba themselves to Yedo, one of the trade centers to the west. It was quite possible this was the sibling¡¯s only set of wagons, but he had heard they were reliable with their contracts. Having completed the bounty on the bandits made the two siblings more willing to take on the strangely large and imbalanced group. Brantley Siblings Transport was carrying mostly heavy goods, metals and the like exported from Ofrurg, mainly Sarton. Many other goods passed through Valburgh but mined materials were the main export from northern Ofrurg. While good materials were valuable, whatever few bandits lived within Estary¡¯s borders weren¡¯t much interested in such heavy wagons. They weren¡¯t reasonable to bring off the road to whatever camp or hideout they had and they couldn¡¯t directly use the materials. That didn¡¯t mean there couldn¡¯t be attacks by bandits who thought the caravan carried something easier for them to transport, but attacks by wild beasts would be more likely. Large numbers could help discourage that, but the route went through some particularly aggressive scrubland. Various sorts of canines and larger cats lived in the area and while there might not be a frontal assault they could attack pack animals at night. Having so many people available to take watch was a benefit there, though the few mid-body tempering cultivators already signed up could likely have handled that on their own. Mervyn and Ebba seemed experienced enough, both somewhere around their late thirties and early forties. Anton watched as they gave orders to the caravan, though they rarely had to do so. Their leadership skills might have been in question if their workers couldn¡¯t manage to hook up the wagons each day and get them pointed in the right direction on the road. For the most part they directed people to groups who were having trouble for whatever reason. Sometimes animals were stubborn and didn¡¯t want to be hooked up to a wagon on a given day. They always got it done quickly enough, but sometimes it took the more experienced handlers to get them to cooperate. Speaking of animals, Fuzz was kept well away from the horses. He wasn¡¯t causing trouble directly, but the horses understandably grew nervous around him. Catarina implemented a simple scent concealment formation into what he already had so that changes in winds wouldn¡¯t suddenly remind the work animals that he was around. Fuzz barely even had much in the way of fur anymore with how many things were carved into his fur, but it didn¡¯t appear haphazard like formations laid into natural surroundings. It was like being tattooed, without ink. When he asked about tattoos, Catarina informed him that she wasn¡¯t ready to commit to anything permanent. That was sensible for a number of reasons. ----- Early morning training was the best in Anton¡¯s opinion, but a bit impractical when traveling with a caravan. He kept training in the morning to a minimum, not enough to fatigue anyone. At night he alternated between groups that roughly split everyone in half. Those training on a particular day had group exercises to go through, but there was also a time afterwards reserved for individual help. Nobody learned in exactly the same way, and all of the miners needed different advice as they were converting to the more structured form of the Ninety-Nine Stars instead of their former ¡®style¡¯ which required being in very specific mines bursting with natural energy. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The servants like Patricia were the only group that hadn¡¯t completed at least the first step of Body Tempering. Some of them were making great progress, though a few of them weren¡¯t well suited for training that involved combat movements. If they were safe and sound in a city, Anton would have been fine adapting their training to their work, but he still believed basic self-defense skills could be necessary. Nobody really complained about learning to fight, since it would allow them to have a larger influence over their own future. After a few days of travel, Anton found that a few of the caravaneers came to watch the training. He didn¡¯t mind that, but the way they were sneaking around was somewhat disruptive. ¡°You three can come out now,¡± Anton said, eyes flicking to all of them. Unsurprisingly, nobody immediately jumped out of hiding. They had at least that much understanding of stealth. But Anton could have picked them out without the benefit of his cultivation- sensing them with energy was just trivial. Anton formed three fingers of energy, extremely loose and without any real power. With that he poked each of the hidden figures on the forehead. ¡°Did you think I wouldn¡¯t notice?¡± The first one out was a young man Anton knew worked with the horses. He sprang out from his hiding place and threw himself onto his knees. ¡°I¡¯m sorry great master, I didn¡¯t mean to spy¡­¡± The other two were a few years older, bulkier sorts who were involved with the heavier work. Anton pegged them for siblings or maybe cousins. They bowed their heads to the ground, ¡°Please forgive us, master cultivator!¡± ¡°I¡¯m only going to say this once. I¡¯m not a master cultivator. My name is Anton. You may call me that, or instructor if you wish. The early stages of the Ninety-Nine Stars are not a secret, so there¡¯s no need to snoop around. If you want to train, you may do so. As long as you¡¯re not supposed to be working.¡± He didn¡¯t want to upset the caravan leaders. Just like that, he gained three more disciples or¡­ whatever they were. In the following days more workers joined irregularly, but the first three were the most eager to learn about cultivation. They trained with Anton every minute they could, and made good use of his advice for how they could train while working. It was a fairly simple idea to let energy flow through the right parts of the body while working, but it took practice to really get it right. Mervyn and Ebba even joined for a few sessions, probably just to see what everyone was getting up to. They had established positions as owners of a caravan, so it was unlikely that learning to cultivate would significantly change their lives, but Anton encouraged them to put in the effort regardless. It could make them healthier and able to live longer, if nothing else. While a person¡¯s lifespan might extend only a few years per star that was assuming they were going to live close to the limits humans had to begin with. That wasn¡¯t necessarily the case. The two of them weren¡¯t inactive nor terribly unhealthy, but they could still be more physically fit. It would even make everything else they did easier, though not always by much. Even the mid body tempering cultivators attended training with Anton. Since they were already significantly into their own cultivation techniques some of what Anton said was useless to them. However, except for a few extreme examples every cultivation method began with body tempering, and Anton¡¯s experience and insight into it could be applied even to other techniques, at least to some extent. If nothing else working with a group encouraged them to continually put in the effort and not slack off. With so many people Anton found it difficult to give personal guidance, but Hoyt and Catarina weren¡¯t significantly behind him in cultivation. They had their own insights into different aspects of cultivation that were beneficial to people, and though Anton did his best to learn from them as well, he could never know everything someone else did or have all of the same experiences. On the path of cultivation even small experiences could greatly shape the way someone progressed with cultivation without them even knowing what it was that made everything slide into place. There was one thing that was a problem. When people wanted to cultivate alone, they didn¡¯t have enough copies of the Ninety-Nine Stars. They had only three, though Hoyt and Anton also both had the complete technique. Cultivation techniques weren¡¯t just words that could be copied onto a page. Writers had to impart some of their insights into the words for readers to absorb. For that, experience was necessary¡­ though having completed all of Body Tempering, perhaps they could recreate the basic version with sufficient quality. It still required good materials and special inks, but Anton thought to give it a try when they arrived in Yedo. Chapter 81 The trip to Yedo was without incident. Anton understood that was true for most travel, because otherwise if attacks that had any semblance of danger happened weekly for every single group of traveling merchants, they or their guards would certainly perish within the year. Anton was an exception for having fought groups of cultivators multiple times in the last several months, otherwise there would quite simply be no cultivators of higher cultivation rank. While death was certainly a factor in the current state of things, it wasn¡¯t the only factor involved. Talent and available resources were also important. Anton knew he would be at least a few stars lower if not for the abundant natural energy available at the Order and the teachers providing guidance. There was also the one breakthrough pill that had made a significant difference, though not quite as much as he wished in the necessary timeframe. Anton resolved to take some time for more relaxing cultivation when he got back to the Order. Or somewhere else, if they didn¡¯t want him anymore. Even though it was on a small scale, he was being disruptive and technically criminal. But he would just have to wait and see. Before any of that, they had to return to Graotan. Travel to Yedo represented about one third of their journey as they looped around to the northern border of Graotan. There were more direct routes, but just in case Ofrurg was crazy enough to send people over the border after them he would be happy to be further. Hopefully they were still in the dark about the major details. Now, he needed to see if he could find proper materials. They didn¡¯t have nearly enough copies of the Ninety-Nine Stars for everyone who wanted to learn, even if they shared. One for every twelve people was quite insufficient. ----- Hoyt looked back and forth between the two scrolls displayed in front of him. Both had the same sort of feel about them, though the words were somewhat different. The insights woven into the words were where the two scrolls varied the most. But even so, the differences were relatively minor. ¡°What do you think?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It¡¯s good,¡± Hoyt admitted. ¡°It certainly varies a bit from the others I¡¯ve seen, but it covers Body Tempering quite thoroughly. None of the differences are so big as to be a problem. It just has more variants.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve noticed quite some differences in how people cultivate, so I thought that mentioning that was worthwhile,¡± Anton nodded to himself, ¡°Though I¡¯m not sure if I might be leading people off course. I¡¯m not far beyond Body Tempering myself.¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Either people will have to forge their own path, change techniques, or they¡¯ll be able to work from the full versions of the Ninety-Nine Stars, should they choose to join the Order.¡± ¡°I was wondering,¡± Anton said, ¡°Who scribed the ones we have? They¡¯re clearly not old enough to be any of the founders.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°Most of those currently available are scribed by the Grand Elders. Grand Elder Vandale was responsible for both of our complete versions, I believe.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°He is the closest to the peak we have, after all. Does Vincent make most of the basic ones?¡± Hoyt smiled, ¡°He¡¯d run out if he didn¡¯t make his own. That man is quite eager. Though he doesn¡¯t spend as much time personally teaching people as you.¡± ¡°Maybe he should,¡± Anton suggested. ¡°I¡¯d like to talk to him about it. But speaking of the Grand Elder, I¡¯m reminded I should look to the stars more.¡± ¡°He sure does like them,¡± Hoyt admitted. ¡°I¡¯ve never found the inspiration in them he has, but I¡¯m still quite young.¡± ¡°Sometimes you just want to do something pleasant,¡± Anton said. ¡°Let your mind have a break. Though I have to admit I haven¡¯t done much of that lately.¡± ¡°I understand why,¡± Hoyt acknowledged, ¡°All of my friends and family are safely around the Order and Edelhull. Well, except all of us who are here,¡± he smiled slightly. Anton nodded, ¡°The hardest part was admitting that I couldn¡¯t do everything myself. Good thing I listened to Catarina, or I¡¯d probably be dead in a gutter somewhere.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°That¡¯s what family is for, right?¡± Hoyt nodded, ¡°You old folk either think you¡¯re invincible or it doesn¡¯t matter if you die. But the former is never true, and if people still exist and care for you, neither is the latter.¡± ¡°Probably nobody would hear about it, in my case,¡± Anton said morosely. ¡°But I don¡¯t plan to die. I have so much left to do, and a few long-term projects in mind I¡¯d like to see to completion.¡± ----- ¡°Very well, we have come to an agreement,¡± Anton shook the hands of both of the Brantley siblings. Though they hadn¡¯t encountered any danger on the first leg of their journey the caravan wanted him back. If nothing else the other guards and a few of the workers wanted to keep learning cultivation with him. Mervyn and Ebba wanted to pay him for those services, but Anton didn¡¯t feel that was right. It was something he wanted to do and didn¡¯t cost him anything. In fact, he found he often learned a lot from his students. Maybe not so much from any individual, but so many different perspectives ended up with useful insight. Anton did accept a slight increase in pay across the board. That way some of those traveling with them could have a bit of money of their own after they were done. It was also easier for them to accept than if he were to try to give them money directly. Then they¡¯d probably talk about how they had to pay him back for the clothes and weapons and all that junk. ¡°We really appreciate what you¡¯ve been doing,¡± Ebba said, ¡°If nothing else, having communal activities while traveling is good for morale.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t hurt that it makes us safer, either. Though,¡± Mervyn hesitantly asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t it dangerous, teaching so many people to cultivate?¡± ¡°Any power is dangerous in the wrong hands,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have no worries about this. I¡¯ve been keeping a close eye on whether people are being responsible. You two hold together a good caravan, and all of those with me have seen power in the wrong hands.¡± ¡°... Right. You said you came from Ofrurg?¡± ¡°I bought the freedom of many slaves. My village was attacked by raiders and I have plans to get them all back.¡± Anton left out the part where he also killed a bunch of guards keeping some of them slaves, because that wasn¡¯t a useful part of the story. Ebba spit to the side, ¡°Slavery is a detestable practice. I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s allowed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what happens when the wrong people get in power,¡± Mervyn shrugged. ¡°We could make quite a bit more profit if we went into Ofrurg, but along with the risks of foul play of some sort I¡¯d also prefer to minimize the amount of profit I let into their hands. When I can, of course. It¡¯s unfortunately impossible to have a complete embargo on their goods.¡± ¡°Not in a way people are willing to accept,¡± Ebba admitted. ¡°We do our best to only work with select trade partners. Though that¡¯s the case even here. Some people will try anything as long as it¡¯s technically legal. Like it¡¯s proper business to cheat others out of their money. It works, too. At least long enough for them to get rich and fat before they make a costly mistake.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°And it doesn¡¯t always happen the same generation. Like I said, power of all sorts. Giving people some personal power will hopefully allow them the skill and bravery to stand up to threats. At least they can make the choice to try.¡± ----- At night they continued to train cultivation, more people from the caravan filtering in and out to see what all the fuss was about. However, there were only so many hours in a day and people had to sleep. Anton did too, but he¡¯d not been much for sleep before being a cultivator and found little reason to change that afterwards. If he had been exhausting himself during the day that would be one thing, but he was being moderate with his training so that he could be always ready to defend the caravan if trouble arose. Now he was looking up at the stars. He had no telescope, but his eyes could see more than a normal human. He remembered what Grand Elder Vandale had said about the stars and planets. Though they paled in comparison, stars were just like the sun, a bright burning ball in the sky. They were simply much, much further away. The great telescope had allowed him to see that, and also the closer planets. He¡¯d learned about them somewhat as a child, but they were generally thought of just as brighter stars. Dungannon didn¡¯t have an abundance of telescopes or anyone who really studied the stars, and it hadn¡¯t really mattered. Most obvious was the moon. It had a bleak surface with mountains and craters, but no rivers or forests or any visible signs of life. That didn¡¯t mean there was none, but it didn¡¯t look like anything where Anton was. Besides, it was far enough that the details were limited even with enhanced eyes. Grand Elder Vandale¡¯s telescope had allowed him to see better, but there was nothing he¡¯d been able to point out. He had mentioned that he¡¯d been watching some developments on one of the other planets, however. He¡¯d tried to show Anton, but despite the telescope and his eye enhancing abilities he just couldn¡¯t make anything out. Grand Elder Vandale said that the lines of the planet had been changing, either eroding hills or potentially odd colored forests or even signs of civilization. There was a very large difference between what could be seen by the two of them, but Vandale had nearly ten times as many stars and of course the energy that went along with it. Some of the other planets were interesting to look at but Vandale said they couldn¡¯t support life as he understood. They were covered in a constant cloudy atmosphere, and Vandale said he¡¯d been debating what that meant with several other astronomers he knew. Trying to figure it out involved a lot of tedious calculations and decades of study. However, Anton accepted that he didn¡¯t know and that was fine. There were plenty of earthly problems for him to deal with, he didn¡¯t need to take on mysteries in the heavens as well. Chapter 82 Even as a cultivator Anton had generally dealt with ¡®normal¡¯ animals. There were some magical beasts involved, but they had typical forms he would expect. There were occasional exceptions like the river beasts that had moved upstream from Helmfirth Rill, and the sand trap monster but even the tortoises had been mostly normal despite their strange method of attack. On the trip from Yedo to Southpoint they were expecting something specifically strange. Or at least the Brantley siblings had told them to prepare for the possibility of finding them. Dangerous or otherwise troublesome creatures were killed when they could be to keep them away from roads or human civilization, but the creatures would be attracted towards their particular loads because they ate metal. They had various names; metal eaters, spiked rollers, and armored rats were the most common. They didn¡¯t seem to be related to rats at all, though their head shapes vaguely matched. Either way, Anton could pick out a tall tale from a serious warning, and the Brantley siblings were quite sincere about the features of the creatures. They were made of overlapping armored plates with spikes coming out at irregular points. When curled into a ball they had basically no weak points and they had claws and teeth that could tear through metal. For stronger pieces their saliva had the effect of almost instantaneously rusting it into a softer form. They would attack anything in the way of their desired meals and were quite capable of defending themselves, but once they had a belly full of scrapped metal they would generally choose to leave instead of continuing a fight. They were hard enough to kill and any metal would be ruined once they got their claws on it anyway, so at that point they had to be let go. Thus, the important part was preventing them from getting to the goods to begin with. It wasn¡¯t much different from defending the people and mounts, but being informed on their potential tactics was useful. The caravan¡¯s defenders split into even shifts as usual, but everyone kept their weapons on hand. Metal armor was generally kept in the middle of the camp with the wagons since it would only provide more tempting targets. For the first several nights everything was quiet. Catarina set up simple formations that would conceal their camp, and while a few wild animals poked around the area Anton didn¡¯t really see much of anything significant. Magical Beasts generally learned to stay away from humans, and those who were too interested in human¡¯s goods or otherwise aggressive generally got killed fairly quickly. He saw one snuffling around the edges of the camp. It truly was covered in armor, and if he didn¡¯t know better Anton would have thought the armor was made by a smith instead of being grown. He only saw the one, but it was as big as Fuzz and with stronger energy. It also took up all of the area it covered, with small limbs on its armored body. Anton didn¡¯t think there was any reason to let it continue snooping around, as it had clearly noticed them somehow. Before it could step over the threshold into their camp, he fired his bow towards its slightly less armored face. The creature sensed his attack and ducked its head. Anton was pleased to see that his Spirit Arrow penetrated through its defensive energy and into the plates, causing the creature to bleed. It seemed to find the danger too high and immediately turned around, at the same time curling up into a ball. Its energy twisted and it began to roll, the spikes of metal sending dirt flying as it moved at a quick roll away from the camp. He wasn¡¯t sure if it would try to come back, but it was quickly out of optimal range and he didn¡¯t fancy his chances of hitting a good shot on rotating armored plates. There was a reason people generally didn¡¯t chase them down. Anton was glad it had chosen to retreat, because he could see it causing real damage if it had moved through the camp. Almost everyone woke up when Anton attacked, but he quickly reassured them that it had been driven off. The next night there were several different metal eaters who found them, and there were some during the following day as they travelled on the road. The first ones on the road weren¡¯t a problem, but the third one immediately attacked from uphill. ¡°To the left!¡± Anton called out. He began firing arrows at a steady pace, since he needed as much power as he could reasonably use for each shot. The spinning metal plates did a good job of deflecting his attacks, though he certainly scarred the creature. Hoyt and Catarina sprang into action, moving to the side of the caravan it was rolling towards. Hoyt was in front, his energy reaching its peak as the magical beast approached. The creature clearly aimed to run him over, but he stepped to the side, swinging his axe at it. They collided with a violent clash of energy and metal, but Hoyt was at the completion of Body Tempering and very close to truly stepping into Spirit Building. It was to the metal eater¡¯s credit that it didn¡¯t get chopped clean in half but merely lost its momentum and had damaged armor plates. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. With the creature much slowed, Catarina stabbed her sword into one of the already-damaged plates, pinning the creature to the ground. The creature stopped, twitching for a few moments, before it stopped moving. Two of the guards who had been with the caravan on a more regular basis breathed a sigh of relief. They were weaker in cultivation, and it would have been quite troublesome for them to deal with the creature. At the very least there would have been damage to the wagons. Fuzz stood next to them, loyally defending the cart as was his duty. Anton hoped he had intended to dodge the metal eater¡¯s charge, but that wasn¡¯t necessarily guaranteed. ¡°Strange,¡± Ebba said as she looked at the creature. ¡°They should be smaller than this. Because of their particular diet, they generally don¡¯t grow very large. They do eat other things, but they won¡¯t outgrow their armor so they need large quantities of metal or many years to grow so large.¡± Mervyn nodded, ¡°Yes, ones such as these should have been noticed before. They should be knee-height, I believe. Still quite troublesome, but¡­¡± ¡°Maybe they found a vein of ore,¡± Ebba said. ¡°That could be quite troublesome. How many of them are there, at this size?¡± ¡°... Only three or four, I think.¡± Anton pointed at a spot on the creature¡¯s head. ¡°This is the first one I shot, two nights ago. It¡¯s just begun healing.¡± ¡°That¡¯s somewhat reassuring,¡± Ebba acknowledged, ¡°But they¡¯re a danger. They seem quite able to track us. I¡¯m unsure how far their territory will range.¡± ¡°I think we¡¯ve been moving into their territory. That¡¯s why they showed up in greater numbers. Though still relatively few,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°It might be best for us to try to track them to their lair, wherever that might be.¡± Mervyn thought for a few moments, ¡°If it would not leave the caravan vulnerable, that would be for the best. We don¡¯t want to leave others to deal with this mess after they grow bigger.¡± ¡°I can scout around the area to make sure none are watching,¡± Anton said to assuage his concerns, ¡°And if their lair is close, I should meet any coming from their lair.¡± ----- They did a few widening loops around the caravan to make sure there weren¡¯t any in hiding. Their tracks were easy to see- deep impressions of their claws because of how heavy they were. Close by, Anton only saw one set of tracks. Catarina and Hoyt followed along behind him at a quick pace, with Fuzz barely keeping up. His nose could be useful, or they would have left him with the safety of the caravan. He might be growing in strength, but he was a bit short for what they were facing. Anton noticed more tracks shortly after Fuzz howled in warning. The tracks continued increasing in density and gave them a more precise direction to go in. They moved up a hill in a consistent direction, but before they could find any sort of lair they were spotted by the spiked rollers. There were three of them, but one of them was half again larger than the other two. They hadn¡¯t seen that one before, and its armor and spikes had golden hues and hints of rainbows as well. Anton was quick to fire arrows, hoping to catch them opened up. He had no luck with that, but at least his first arrow struck before the largest one began rolling, causing a minor injury just behind its neck. Each of the creatures was very fast once it built up speed, but they didn¡¯t have to defend a wagon or other people. Thus, it was much simpler for them to dodge out of the way. Hoyt didn¡¯t risk a single swing to try to bring down the one on the left, instead swinging higher and chopping off some of the spikes that gave it danger and speed alike. On the right, Catarina pulled away another of the ¡®smaller¡¯ ones as she slashed at its sides with her sword, striking for any gaps in its armor. The largest one had metal spikes on its sides as well, so Anton had to give it a wider berth. It seemed the creatures weren¡¯t used to fighting mobile targets, so as long as he focused on dodging he was able to protect himself. He got occasional shots at its side when it turned around- he tried to sneak his arrows into the less armored parts within, to various success. It would be quite difficult to defeat alone, but if he kept himself safe while he delayed it, he was certain they could avoid risk once they gained a numerical advantage. Until then, Anton had to avoid instinctively using cover. When it barrelled through a tree almost as wide as him with barely a drop in momentum, Anton decided that just attempting to circle it was the best option. Swan Steps allowed him to avoid its blatantly obvious charges, and he could take a few pot shots when it turned. It seemed quite a bit more durable than the others, and Anton wondered what exactly it had been eating. It couldn¡¯t just be regular ores, that he was certain of. Chapter 83 Insight was wonderfully useful at letting Anton dodge the spiked roller, though he imagined he would have been completely fine without the ability. All of the attacks were extremely straightforward, which made perfect sense when rolling up into a ball and spinning were the plan. Not really a lot of aiming that can happen after the momentum starts. Conversely, knowing exactly what the creature intended to do didn¡¯t help him all that much in attacking it. Each segment of armor spun by too quickly for even Anton¡¯s eyes to properly take in. Springing himself off to the side when it rolled by and taking a shoot was much more useful, and if it got far enough away he could curve arrows around to the side. He could do that at any distance, but not fast enough to cut off its trajectory unless he had time to set up. The spiked rollers didn¡¯t have completely impenetrable defenses even discounting that all armor could be broken through with enough force. On the side, they almost matched up to a perfect circle, but there was a small ring in the middle that wasn¡¯t quite full of the interlocking plates. That was his target, and Anton found he was getting better at hitting it. On the other side of things, the spiked roller was throwing itself at him faster and faster. It clearly took quite a bit of energy, but Anton had found himself just a bit too slow to move out of the way several times. He ended up with a cut along his ribcage and one on his arm which lowered his ability to shoot his bow. Thus, Anton was quite glad when he sensed Catarina and Hoyt had completed their battles with the smaller creatures. Anton was fairly confident that he would win eventually, as he was being more conservative with his energy, but as the battle dragged on he was more likely to make a critical mistake while the spiked roller had little to fear from random chance. It did, however, have quite a bit to fear from additional participants in the battle. Against just Anton it could turn around either by stopping with its armored back to him shuffling around and then rolling up into a ball once more or by simply taking a wide arc while rolling. Anton was able to tell Hoyt where it would likely slow or stop, which forced the creature to use more energy avoiding him. However, its awareness of the world around it changing as it rolled was minimal. Several times Hoyt managed to cut it off and chop into it, sometimes denting its armor or slicing into the spikes. Dented armor weakened its perfect defenses as plates stopped overlapping, leaving more room for everyone to attack. Catarina¡¯s contributions were mainly to be an extra body either as a target of attack or an obstacle at the end of its roll. The spiked roller was ranging too far too quickly for her to set up a formation of any practical value, but her skills with her sword were quite sufficient to contribute to the accumulation of wounds on the creature. ¡°Hoyt!¡± Anton pointed, firing a small dart of energy that had no real effect but to stop at a precise position. ¡°Catarina!¡± He pointed to another position. While it would have been nice to explain what he wanted in more detail, he didn¡¯t exactly have time to say for them to go fifty meters to his northwest and thirty-five to his east with every pass of the creature. It was still focused on Anton primarily, his source of energy being the largest still. Anton wished he had the confidence to use Golden Armor and completely stop the creature, but he honestly didn¡¯t find the technique to be very useful. He¡¯d much rather avoid direct hits, and this creature was specialized for it. So instead he focused on the movements of the creature and how One Step Ahead and his experience told him to react. Anton poured perhaps a sixth of his remaining energy into a single Spirit Arrow aimed at the spinning creature. He released at the point he was most confident in hitting a damaged armor plate, though his arrow snapped an instant after contact and he couldn¡¯t be sure how deep it had gotten. Then he dodged early. It was quite a simple plan. Either dodging early allowed him to leisurely move out of the way, or the thing would turn to face him. Both were beneficial in their own way. In this instance, it had enough space to redirect itself and chose to try to catch Anton still. He dodged at the last moment, taking another portion of his energy- but Hoyt was straight behind him. The spiked roller turned away from Hoyt, recognizing the direct danger he posed- but it wasn¡¯t able to completely avoid him as he moved to intercept. Another cut in its side and it was speeding back in the other direction. Most of the terrain was completely torn up now, trees toppled and bushes uprooted by the force of the creature and its ripping spikes. Anton continued to shoot at the creature as its side was exposed to him briefly, but it continued to move farther away from him. He had predicted it would retreat soon, unwilling to fight to the death merely for the sake of doing so. Stolen novel; please report. Predicting his opponent several moves in advance so that Catarina was in its direct line was¡­ outside of his abilities. But she was only twenty or thirty meters off of the path instead of fifty or a hundred like she could have been. It was a bit slower now, with its body being beaten and battered, and she sliced towards its belly, cutting into its side. That was enough that it lost the tightness of muscle that held it in shape, and it unfurled on its back ten meters past her. It managed to flip over onto its front before she arrived, but its back wasn¡¯t a perfect defense anymore. Her sword drove straight into it as it tried to waddle away, its energy providing little in the way of defense. Anton¡¯s final Spirit Arrows were probably unnecessary, but either way it finally perished. ¡°Let¡¯s take a rest before checking out their lair,¡± Anton said. ¡°If there are any more I doubt they will be much good at indoor combat, at least in comparison, but there are occasionally different creatures sharing dens.¡± Neither of the other two objected, of course. The spiked rollers were extremely durable and took quite an expenditure of energy to kill, and more because they had to defend themselves while doing so. It wasn¡¯t possible to recover their full energy capacity in twenty minutes or so, but the natural energy in the area was decently abundant and they felt quite refreshed soon enough. Following the rest of the trail, once they found outside all of the torn up terrain, was easy enough. They hadn¡¯t been far at all from a little cave in the hill. It was large enough to stand in with a slight crouch, and the walls were mostly dirt with very little stone. ¡°We should really invest in some torches or lanterns or something,¡± Hoyt said as Anton used a small ball of energy to create light. ¡°Though whatever it was would have to last a couple months of travel. Still, this isn¡¯t exactly efficient.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Agreed. I believe some of the miners kept lanterns, but I didn¡¯t think to bring one.¡± It turned out to not matter very much. The little cave didn¡¯t go that deep, maybe fifty or a hundred meters. It was mostly straight inside as well, and at the back of the cave¡­ was a little open cavern. The entrance wasn¡¯t exactly clean, it was likely one of the creatures had accidentally scraped through the wall with one of its spikes. It was hard to tell exactly because they had clearly traversed in and out many times. Inside there were scattered piles of¡­ junk. Though it wasn¡¯t all junk. There was the sparkle of gemstones in various states. Some were quite large and intact, while others were small and most were shattered. There were scattered bits of armor, still radiating remnants of energy. No metal, but instead straps and cloth armor along with boots. There were wrappings for the hilts of swords, wooden shafts of weapons, random slats of wood that had to have once been part of chests, and much more. ¡°A cultivator cache,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Or¡­ what¡¯s left of it.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°That would explain how they got so large, then.¡± Catarina was already digging through the piles, trying to find things that weren¡¯t broken. Even the pieces that had no metal on them to eat had clearly been stomped on by the creatures. Some things were pressed deep into the dirt and others had snapped under the pressure, so it took a bit of unearthing to get some things. ¡°Oh, is this a bow?¡± She yanked something half buried in the dirt. ¡°It looks like it, right?¡± Anton caught the object as she tossed it to him. ¡°Looks like. It doesn¡¯t have a string, though.¡± Anton tested its give, ¡°But maybe it¡¯s not.¡± He pulled a little harder, not wanting to break it, but it remained firm. ¡°Maybe it stiffened with age, because it certainly fits the look. Unless it¡¯s just a strangely curved staff weapon.¡± Anton swished it through the air, but that didn¡¯t feel right either. ¡°It feels like some sort of dense bone, but it would have to be from something massive.¡± Beyond the ¡®bow¡¯ they found little of practical use. There were some things that they thought could be sold as materials, but only a black stone bracelet and a cloak made of some sort of sparkling scales appeared usable. As for what they did, it wasn¡¯t clear. None of them were appraisers or enchanted goods, and though it was tangentially related to formations Catarina had no experience in the area yet. They could try testing with their energy, but it seemed wiser to get them properly appraised somewhere. After gathering everything that seemed to be of value, they headed back outside the cave. ¡°We should probably also take the bodies of the metal eaters,¡± Anton said. ¡°If they consumed enchanted equipment, there should be quite a bit of value in them.¡± Hoyt sighed, ¡°They¡¯ll be damn heavy though. Guess we should get started. Catarina, can you go ahead and let the caravan know? We don¡¯t want them to get worried. Then come back and help us.¡± Though Catarina hadn¡¯t done a prime tempering of her muscles, she was still at the completion of Body Tempering. While she would be somewhat weaker than the other two, it was probably no more than twenty percent. Quite a difference in a straight battle of strength, but she would still be stronger than any two of the others with the caravan, even if the miners who had begun cultivating reached the second star and tempered their muscles for the first prime tempering. Each star didn¡¯t only temper one thing, it just focused on one, and the tenth star was a prime full body tempering that smoothed out most of the unevenness in Body Tempering choices between members of the Order. Even with Catarina¡¯s help it would take at least two trips, because the biggest creature weighed at least a literal tonne. Hopefully the wagons could support it. Chapter 84 Retrieving the bodies of the spiked rollers was almost as hard as the battle to defeat them in the first place. They could only be dragged with their legs down which was still extremely high in friction- just better than trying to drag them with the half-meter spikes on their back and sides digging into the ground. Nobody was quite sure what would be the most valuable about them, but most of the weight was in the metal parts, which definitely should have some value. The smaller ones could be carried by one person, as long as that person was Anton, Catarina, or Hoyt. The three of them together eventually lifted the larger one as far as they could go in a short burst, then relied on the others with them to drag the creature with ropes and the like for a while. They were just fast enough that stopping to cut down logs to roll the creature atop wasn¡¯t necessarily going to be faster, since they would have to be close to the same size and individually strong enough to support a portion of the uneven weight. Mervyn whistled, ¡°Damn, that¡¯s not something you see every day. Has to way more than a cow. What the hell did it eat to get so big?¡± ¡°Cultivator cache,¡± Hoyt explained. ¡°Really?¡± Mervyn¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Did you find anything interesting?¡± Hoyt shook his head, ¡°Not much. As it turns out¡­ metals are very widely used. They¡¯re strong but can be flexible as well. It seemed pretty old, and most of the non-metal things were broken down. Even with enchantments.¡± ¡°A shame,¡± Mervyn said. ¡°Hope you got something of worth. We can¡¯t afford to pay you what this deed was worth. Of course, you¡¯ll get the top end of the combat pay we negotiated.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll also talk to our contacts to try to get you a reward for protecting the road,¡± Ebba added. ¡° ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°We just couldn¡¯t leave them behind to attack others.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though we¡¯ll gladly accept your help trying to get a reward. If nothing else, building up some favor here in Estary should be useful.¡± ¡°Letting people know what you¡¯ve done shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± Mervyn said. ¡°And these things won¡¯t go unnoticed. We¡¯ll have to shuffle stuff out of one of the wagons to support them¡­¡± he frowned. Anton could see the way he looked at the wagons. ¡°Perhaps one of us should stay in the wagon to keep it reinforced with energy.¡± ¡°That might be best. The wagons are made for heavy duty work, but the uneven weight might be a problem. Can¡¯t just chop them up into bits though, I imagine they¡¯re worth more whole.¡± ----- In the end, supporting the wagon was delegated to groups of four earlier cultivators at a time. They rotated out throughout the day, but it gave them a good chance to test their endurance in a safe setting. Pete and the others were approaching the third star now, while Oskar and the faster of the miners were around the second star. Since all they had to do was distribute the effect of the spiked rollers across a larger surface that could otherwise support them, it wasn¡¯t too difficult. Still, trying different things was valuable. The same task could have been accomplished with a simple formation carved into the wagon, but that would only last for a short time if they didn¡¯t use any special materials to augment the formation. The cost of a single wagon wasn¡¯t terribly prohibitive, so if the formation faded and became simply scars in the wood it wouldn¡¯t be too expensive to replace. However, since they were getting training out of the way things were it was better to just continue as they had been. It wasn¡¯t too much longer before they reached Southpoint, only a handful of days from the Estary-Graotan border. The Brantley siblings had no plan to cross the borders, and Southpoint was large enough that finding buyers for the spiked rollers there was possible. It was certainly simpler than buying their own wagons and work animals to continue transporting them on their own. The Brantley siblings kept their word about finding them what rewards they could, and though it took them several days they soon introduced the group to a representative of the Misty Hill Palace, a local sect that had a good reputation. Sects with bad reputations didn¡¯t tend to do well in Estary, but there was still a difference between neutral and positive. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The woman who was introduced to them was bent nearly at the waist. She showed her age with more than just her stature, with the exception of her skin remained only minimally wrinkled and spotted. She was at the very peak of Spirit Building, but instead of being intimidating her aura gave of the calming feeling of sitting atop a peaceful mountain. Then again, they were on friendly terms. ¡°I see, I see. You¡¯re from the Order.¡± She smiled, gaps showing in her teeth. ¡°Wish we got more of your kind up this way. It¡¯s always quite a pleasure when I meet them.¡± Her eyes and senses carefully roamed over the three cultivators in front, but she also took in Fuzz and the others. ¡°A strange group. Does the Order now accept those below the third rank?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°No, but the Body Tempering technique can be freely disseminated. Most of those who join learn the technique in their own villages. These all are former slaves, and I knew a good number of them before¡­ that happened. I¡¯m quite invested in their ability to defend themselves, among other things. Some of them may later choose to join the Order.¡± ¡°Interesting. They all seem to be advancing quite well. But I shouldn¡¯t pry too much,¡± she slightly nodded her head, ¡°I go by Elder Byrne. I do believe the Brantleys have already told you we wish to purchase these spiked rollers, and reward you for their defeat.¡± She waddled her way towards the wagon that carried them. ¡°My my, that¡¯s a big one alright. A strange mix of colors, too.¡± ¡°They found an old cultivator cache,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say what sorts of things they ingested from that.¡± ¡°An old cache? Any markings?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Find anything good?¡± She held up a hand, ¡°You don¡¯t have to say. Just curious. But I can appraise things. It¡¯s one of my jobs.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± Anton said, ¡°I found a strange thing. It seems to be a bow, but has no string and is impossible to bend.¡± He pulled it from a wagon, where it was sitting among other good simply wrapped in cloth. He held it out to Elder Byrne for her to inspect. She carefully unwrapped it, squinting her eyes even as she put her face up close to it and looked along its length. She very carefully ran a trickle of energy over it. She also made a few attempts to bend it. ¡°I see. I can¡¯t say for sure out here but¡­ I think you¡¯re just not strong enough.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Anton asked. ¡°From what I can tell,¡± Elder Byrne said, ¡°It should be flexible. It is just that the point at which it starts to bend should be greater. It¡¯s a four, maybe five tonne draw?¡± she gave a small nod. ¡°Though that won¡¯t do you much good without a string. Something¡¯s odd about that too.¡± ¡°Five tonne draw¡­¡± Anton shook his head. He¡¯d used a seventy kilogram bow before he was a cultivator, though mostly when he wanted to show off. Such a high draw weight wasn¡¯t necessary for hunting in most cases. But tonnes? He¡¯d have to be as strong as a hundred men. ¡°When could I even be that strong¡­¡± Anton pondered, mostly to himself. ¡°A young, strong cultivator could probably do something around early Essence Collection,¡± Elder Byrne answered his casual question. ¡°Probably later, if you rely purely on the strength of your body. I don¡¯t know the inner workings of the Ninety-Nine Stars, but I¡¯d expect somewhere around there with a mix of body and energy.¡± It would be years, then. And by that point, it might not even be worthwhile. Heavy draw weights weren¡¯t the only factor in whether a bow was good. Plus there was the matter of the string. He couldn¡¯t just get any random string, it had to match the bow. ¡°Now, about these spiked rollers,¡± Elder Byrne returned to the subject. She handed over a weighty sack, ¡°This is for defeating them. Misty Hill Palace benefits from Southport¡¯s prosperity, and people need to be safe to travel for that. For the materials, I can offer the same again. I¡¯m also willing to appraise anything you found there- or elsewhere- if you¡¯re interested. That bow is likely worth more than the same amount. Possibly much more.¡± Anton used his energy senses to count the coin. Getting an exact amount would be difficult, but being within a few percent was easy enough. It was, once again, more money than he¡¯d ever had. Even splitting it, he had little in the way of financial worries if he intended to free more people. Since he shouldn¡¯t be heading into Ofrurg in the near future just in case, maybe he could even offer a mission. The only problem would be getting the right people- he had some details to give, but strong dark haired young men sold to work would likely not be the only ones in a particular area. He didn¡¯t mind buying the freedom of more slaves except for who the money would be going to. But still, being a cultivator was clearly extremely lucrative. He was several times stronger than he had been when farming and during The Hunt, and the few spiked rollers they had fought were honestly a similar threat than the whole of the beast attack on Thuston, just compressed into a few creatures instead of hundreds. Since half of the point of transporting the spiked rollers was to sell them, they accepted the offer. It was within what they had been expecting, maybe even a bit more. Hoyt seemed to have a better idea for what cultivator prices were like, though he also admitted to it being guesswork. The important part was the reputation of the buyers. Elder Byrne representing the Misty Hill Palace would be offering a fair price. Anton could feel that much, at least. And he very much wanted that bow to be appraised. The other objects they¡¯d found were nebulously owned by both Hoyt and Catarina, but of the three of them obviously Anton had first pick of the bow. Even if it couldn¡¯t be used, he wanted it. Chapter 85 Though skies were clear, Anton got a good sense of how Misty Hill Palace was named. There was a wispy sort of energy so dense in some places that he could almost see it with just his eyes. While the overall results were simply a several fold increase in energy versus the surroundings, it was a good place to cultivate. It was quite full of scenic views, but of course practicality required that the cultivators have places to sleep and store things. But even the architecture fit nicely into the aesthetic of the area, and it was an almost unassuming building that was where Elder Byrne took Anton and the others. She smiled widely, her missing teeth showing proudly. ¡°Here it is, my little workshop.¡± In it she had a number of magnifying glasses set up for viewing things of different sizes, as well as a large number of other tools Anton couldn¡¯t see a use for. The first thing she took a closer look at was Anton¡¯s bow. He had already decided he wouldn¡¯t give it up, even if he wouldn¡¯t be able to use it for a very long time. He didn¡¯t immediately need money anyway, and its value wouldn¡¯t fluctuate suddenly after who knows how many decades or centuries. She moved it around under bright lights, pressing her eye right up to microscopes the size of her whole face, making her eye seem to be almost the size her head normally was. Sounds of ¡®hmm¡¯ and ¡®interesting¡¯ were repeated as she looked over every aspect, carefully injecting energy into areas and occasionally tugging at it. Then she began to explain what you learned. ¡°As you surmised, this is carved from the bone of a great creature. I¡¯m not sure what sort, besides the fact that it would have to be a land creature for this bone density. It¡¯s not enchanted. I¡¯m not sure if it even could be. Certainly not by someone of my skills. Even so, I would have trouble damaging it intentionally. The most interesting part is that, while I¡¯m certain it¡¯s a bow, you can¡¯t string it.¡± ¡°What?¡± Anton asked. ¡°See here. At the ends. It¡¯s clearly not made to have a string wrapped around it. There was never a string on it.¡± ¡°... But it¡¯s a bow?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Without a string it¡¯s just a slightly curved staff.¡± It was nearly straight, only over its full length could the curve be seen. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Elder Byrne said. ¡°As far as I can tell, there¡¯s no physical mechanism to attach a string.¡± ¡°... but?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The way you said that indicates more.¡± She smiled widely as she pressed her finger to one end, leaving a trail of silvery energy as she stretched to the other end. ¡°It readily accepts the attachment of energy.¡± A clear string stood stiff in place. ¡°Hah. No physical method.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°But wouldn¡¯t that require powerful energy to hold tension against the draw weight of the bow?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Elder Byrne pulled back on the string, snapping the fragile construct before the bow even began to bend. ¡°It¡¯s a high requirement bow, but it should be very powerful. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars should have some elder who can use it. I¡¯m sure it would be quite a sight. Though if you let them use it, prepare to have it be snatched up!¡± She laughed. ¡°I doubt the Order would allow any ¡®snatching¡¯,¡± Anton said, ¡°But perhaps I won¡¯t tempt anyone.¡± He did kind of want to see Elder Kseniya shoot it though. But maybe it wasn¡¯t suited for someone as strong as her anyway. ¡°You said it could be used in early Essence Collection?¡± ¡°Well, I did say that. It¡¯s possible. It might require more than that. As for the upper limits it has, I can¡¯t quite tell. That partly depends on whether it can be enchanted. Plus, that¡¯s merely the difficulty of using it. Since I can¡¯t fire it myself,¡± she shrugged, ¡°The actual power is unknown. It could be amazing or merely mediocre.¡± ¡°Hmm. It seems like it would be a boon to training, regardless. Thank you,¡± Anton bowed his head as she handed the bow back to him. ¡°What about the two of you?¡± Elder Byrne asked of Hoyt and Catarina, ¡°There are two further enchanted items.¡± They looked at each other, then nodded. Hoyt stepped forward, ¡°We have this obsidian bracelet and scale cloak.¡± ¡°Ooooh, quite fine workmanship here.¡± She almost lovingly stroked the two pieces, before starting with the inspection of the bracelet. Everyone startled when it suddenly burst into flame- except her. ¡°I see, I see. Could be quite useful.¡± She didn¡¯t spend as long studying the bracelet as she had with the bow. After only ten or so minutes she handed it back. ¡°This is a flame enhancing bracelet. Even those who aren¡¯t skilled in fire energy could make some use of it. It¡¯s simple to activate,¡± she gave a short explanation, ¡°Try it yourself.¡± Hoyt did, and flames covered his hand without hurting him. The others could feel the heat when he brought his hand near them. ¡°Interesting.¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. The old woman took the scaled cloak next. This time they were less startled when it split in half, spreading out to the sides. ¡°Wings,¡± she simply stated. ¡°Or a moldable armor. I wouldn¡¯t suggest trying to fly with it, at least not off of anything high. The wings can expand with more energy, but for enough to lift a person it would be more than an early Spirit Building cultivator is capable of for more than a few moments. It is, however, quite responsive if you flow your energy through it in the right way.¡± She demonstrated by having it wrap around her arm and even stand straight up on its own. ¡°A decent armor or tool for deflection. A passable source of flight, perhaps.¡± She looked around, ¡°Is there anything more?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°Nothing in particular, though I did have some questions. If you could give me a few moments to consult with one of my companions.¡± It wasn¡¯t either Hoyt or Catarina he meant, but instead he retreated to the outside where the others were enjoying the abundant natural energy. He had a short discussion with Oskar before returning. ¡°You seem to know quite a few things. I recently came across the name ¡®Everheart¡¯. Have you heard of him?¡± Elder Byrne laughed, ¡°Came across the name, hmm? He did like to leave things all over the place. Mostly in Ofrurg. I can¡¯t say that I know much about him, beyond the basics. He was a lunatic, a madman, but also a genius. He created a large number of forbidden techniques- some of which were merely threats to the established cultivators, and some that caused uproars whenever people tried to use them. Mostly unsuccessfully. I hope you weren¡¯t planning to practice anything he made.¡± ¡°I had no such intentions. The one technique I heard of is¡­ completely useless for me.¡± Anton barely had any lifespan left. If he burned it for power, would he even complete his attack before he died? ¡°Don¡¯t be give any such techniques to youngsters either,¡± she waggled her finger at Anton then at Hoyt and Catarina, ¡°Do things the proper way and you can end up old and decrepit like me,¡± she laughed at her own ¡®joke¡¯. ¡°If that is all Elder¡­?¡± ¡°Anton Krantz,¡± he said. ¡°Just Anton.¡± ¡°I like to show proper respect for those from other sects. Especially ones like the Order.¡± ¡°I¡¯m simply not an elder though.¡± ¡°Really?¡± she stepped closer to him, her face only centimeters from him. ¡°Interesting. You felt¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°Well, you¡¯re no spring chicken, and you¡¯ll have your work cut out for you if you intend to use that bow.¡± ¡°I imagine so.¡± ----- They were offered the courtesy of staying at the Misty Hill Palace for some time. They had no reason to refuse the offer, since a break would be good for them and they could make use of the increased natural energy. Spending some time around the Misty Hill Palace was also useful for getting to know some people besides just Elder Byrne. Though they wouldn¡¯t owe each other anything after they departed, just knowing people could be helpful. If he later needed allies, he could come to them for help. Even if they still required payment of some sort, he would rather start with those inclined to do good for the world rather than pure mercenary sorts. More allies, friends, or simply fondly remembered acquaintances would always be useful. Plus, it was nice to relaxingly discuss cultivation with new people. Few of those close to Anton¡¯s cultivation level were near his age, but several were a decade or two older than Hoyt and Catarina. After a week and some, they set out towards the Estary-Graotan border. They did not want to overstay their welcome, and the energy in the Order was on par or in some places better, if different in temperament. Since they had official papers, getting through the border was the easiest it had ever been. The only questions were about the dozens of lower level cultivators with them, but both sides were quite happy to hear they were former slaves. Those from the Order were more curious about there being so many potential disciples- though they couldn¡¯t be members yet since they weren¡¯t at the third star. Most of them weren¡¯t planning to remain cultivators anyway- or at least, they had no plan to live the lifestyle of a cultivator. Anton was glad to be ¡®home¡¯, but the northern part of Graotan was just as new to him as most of the others. The border with Estary seemed safe enough, but everyone was quite comfortable with his plan to set them up somewhere in more central Graotan. It was tempting to try to refound Dungannon, but even those from Dungannon weren¡¯t particularly interested in that prospect. Even though the Order had increased border security, being closer to the heart of the Order would be beneficial. Setting more than two dozen people up with homes in a big city would be quite difficult, but Anton knew they could find some good land for a reasonable price away from the city. Maybe they¡¯d be part of a small village or start their own community- that would take some talking to the locals. Best not to cause any conflicts. While Anton did that, he sent Hoyt and Catarina ahead, to return to the sect. Catarina wanted to stay, but she also wanted to get the chance to visit the library and study information on formations that hadn¡¯t been relevant before Spirit Building. She had stepped into Spirit Building fully now, though she hadn¡¯t yet completed the eleventh star. ----- Hoyt took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. He stood in front of the council. He was glad that Anton wanted to give a full and honest report, because otherwise it would have felt like a betrayal. Of course, Anton probably didn¡¯t expect Hoyt to stand before the council of elders, but the basic reports had already reached them anyway. Eventually he stepped through the doors, where he saw eighteen people waiting. Grand Elder Vandale spoke, ¡°Welcome back, disciple Hoyt.¡± The words were formal, but the tone warm and comforting. ¡°We are quite happy to hear you all returned alive.¡± Hoyt had an awkward smile on his face. ¡°Of course, Grand Elder Vandale. I have already laid out the basics in my report on the mission, but it seemed best to keep some of the details for an in-person briefing.¡± It was too bad they hadn¡¯t sent that mid Spirit Building guardian instead of him. Not that he wouldn¡¯t have gone along at Anton¡¯s request, but they really could have used that extra authority. ¡°You might notice that Anton Krantz himself has not yet returned. It may yet be several months, by which point I fully expect him to have achieved the twelfth star¡­¡± Hoyt began his account in the most unbiased way he found possible, which was still quite positively weighted towards Anton¡¯s actions and his own involvement. He had approved, after all. Even if he wished things could have been different. Chapter 86 After he finished his explanation of what had happened, Hoyt got to wait awkwardly for a few minutes. Were the Grand Elders silently deliberating or simply thinking? Even if they had a way to communicate silently he would have still expected them to move their lips. On the other hand, he wasn¡¯t privy to all the possibilities that could come in Galaxy Construction or other high tiers of power. Maybe it wasn¡¯t even several minutes but it sure felt that long. Grand Elder Bohdana was the first one to speak. ¡°Are you certain he will achieve the twelfth star soon?¡± she asked. ¡°As certain as anything can be in cultivation,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I am as confident in his advancement as I am in my own.¡± ¡°Good,¡± she said. ¡°Now about his actions. He seems to have restrained himself remarkably well. Or rather, he chose saving lives at the potential cost of making his revenge harder. That is commendable, even if his actions were a bit¡­ unsubtle. Though Ofrurg will see this as an attack on their citizens, in my eyes it is reasonable enough to see this as merely stopping criminals in the act.¡± Grand Elder McAlister spoke up next, ¡°No news has reached us that Ofrurg saw this as an attack by the Order, to the point this particular act hadn¡¯t been brought to our attention until now. That is good, but as he continues to grow in power and deals with those in Spirit Building and later, they are more likely to recognize him as a member of the Order. I personally think his actions were too high risk, though the results the three of you managed are quite acceptable. His path through Body Tempering was quick enough that we did not have ample time to explain how to best align our goals.¡± That would probably be Hoyt¡¯s job, though he found himself thinking more about what Anton had been talking about. The Order had become a little too unwilling to act. He understood why they couldn¡¯t just start a war- even if they could win it which wasn¡¯t certain with whatever guardians were throughout Ofrurg, they had to consider the costs. But there had to be better middle ground between fighting a whole country and the minimal level of retaliation they were currently at. There were at least a few sects with reasonable morals in Ofrurg. Hoyt thought that Anton would be better able to express his opinions on the matter, so he let it rest for the moment. ¡°Now then,¡± Grand Elder Vandale spoke, his single eye flicking back and forth to either side of him, ¡°Am I correct that we are all agreed the actions taken were within acceptable limits?¡± He paused to allow time for a response, ¡°Very well. Then we can move on to more supportive topics. For various reasons, we cannot reward anyone for what happened in Ofrurg. However, though they already were rewarded for their actions in Estary some of the bandits there also committed crimes in Graotan. A small additional reward might be appropriate, but I will admit some bias towards the situation.¡± ¡°I think it unnecessary that we make a personal ruling,¡± Grand Elder Bohdana stated. ¡°The rewards hall should have precedent for similar occurrences. There is no need for us to weigh in personally. Perhaps if something happens with Van Hassel¡­ which it very well could within the next few years.¡± ¡°In that case, this meeting is adjourned,¡± Grand Elder Vandale said. His eye turned to Hoyt, and then he stood from his seat to appear in front of him. ¡°I¡¯m glad that everything went well. Your training is advancing spectacularly. If you need anything¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, grandfather,¡± Hoyt inclined his head. ¡°I hope my focus on Anton hasn¡¯t bothered you,¡± Vandale said. Hoyt smiled, ¡°It doesn¡¯t. I¡¯m similarly quite interested. I find it quite refreshing to see someone new to the cultivation world unafraid to express their opinions. Many people just assume that things are the way they are for a good reason¡­ which is only true half the time.¡± Vandale shrugged. ¡°We¡¯d better prepare for some hard times. Change is one of the most difficult things to deal with.¡± ¡°You think he can really make large change happen?¡± ¡°Think it? He¡¯s already started waves. Something will change now regardless of what he does in the future. Hopefully, it¡¯s for the better.¡± Grand Elder Vandale just smiled as he looked up into the sky. ----- Anton had somewhat underestimated the difficulty of buying large amounts of land. His previous interactions with purchasing land had been a little bit at a time from people he¡¯d known for decades. There was also the fact that he was a cultivator. It was something about the way he carried himself now, how he moved. He doubted he looked just like Vincent¡¯s flowing walk, but it was still something people could recognize. He understood why they would be hesitant to sell the land to a cultivator, but he wasn¡¯t going to hide who he was. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Part of the difficulty was merely finding the right place. He was running about all over the countryside looking for people with sufficient amounts of land, and he was on something of a time limit. It was already summer, late in the year to start a new farm. It also cost money to support everyone. They were a strange sight, camping out outside towns because nobody had room for thirty people to stay. The fact that they purchased so much food relieved the towns, because they could always use a bit of extra money. It took a few weeks and more than two dozen villages visited before Anton finally found something appropriate. Windrip was a small village in central Graotan, but their population was on the decline. The ground was difficult to work and though its location was good, the actual connections to other places were somewhat limited. Traffic had flowed around through more prosperous regions, compounding the effect. Of course, Anton didn¡¯t want to have poor land, but that wasn¡¯t what was available. It was of decent quality¡­ but it would take quite a bit of work to get use out of it. That was something they were able to handle. The land had been overtaken by trees and rocks raised by winter frosts over the last several years. The dirt itself really required ploughing by a team of oxen, an investment that was difficult to make for new farmers. But Anton had the knowledge, the money, and those willing to perform labor. Of course, not everyone wanted to be a farmer long term. Some actually wanted to be energy cultivators, while others had different professions in mind. Everyone was offered the opportunity to strike off on their own, but the group had formed a bond from the dangers they had gone through. Even if it meant they couldn¡¯t immediately move to a desired profession, they would be able to sustain themselves and hopefully gain profits as well. Those who desired other professions could expand into those as the opportunity arose, but at least for the beginning it was easier to have everyone working towards one goal together. It took a bit of work to convince the mayor to sell the land to them. He was a member of the Order, but people were still wary of cultivators. However, he was able to properly express his intentions to contribute to the community and Windrip¡¯s prosperity. The greater story of people stolen from their homes and then their valiant escape probably helped more than his cultivation of Voice, but he could feel that the latter certainly wasn¡¯t ignorable. He doubted he could force people to do things against their interests, but he didn¡¯t have any intentions to do that anyway. ----- What they had was a pile of boxes in an empty field. Four mules for a group of thirty was a very small amount, but doing the work with their own hands would be better for everyone¡¯s Body Tempering. The mules would be mainly for pulling wagons into town or transporting goods to and from the cities, but they could also help accelerate the work they had to do. They were already a bit late in the season, especially when the land had to be cleared. However, the group soon found how much even the first level of Body Tempering helped with their efforts. They could lift heavier rocks and move faster with them to clear the fields. Chopping and sawing trees was expedited, and they pulled in the services of some of those from Windrip to help with the continuous transformation of the logs into usable forms. While they could have made a log cabin, they had the tools and available labor to make more efficient use of the wood in constructing simple buildings. Nobody wanted to live in a tent longer than they had to, and soon enough they were raising the first building. It was to be a communal sleeping area until they had homes for people, at which point it would be converted for storage. The group kept the local blacksmith busy making nails. Anton guided everyone in their labor and their cultivation, which were both intertwined. As they worked their bodies and their cultivation improved, their speed increased, and though Anton had been counting on them being somewhat faster than he was used to, they managed to plant some fields early enough that they would have a full harvest of some of the faster growing crops before the season ended. Most of that would be used for seed and to sustain themselves. That was something else Anton had underestimated. He had forgotten how much normal people would eat compared to cultivators. It wasn¡¯t entirely crazy, but they¡¯d underestimated the amount of supplies they needed early. He was able to pay for it, but it involved traveling to cities where they had more in the way of excess. Windrip had enough for themselves and a bit of spare, but an extra thirty people for a sustained period was a bit much. The work that Anton himself was able to accomplish astounded him. He knew that the fields and special crops the Order tended had more exacting requirements, but he was still surprised at how much he could do. The amount of energy he could store and use now that he was in Spirit Building was also a significant part of the change. The change in his abilities from the first three stars and the most recent three were both similarly impactful. He could pull a plough better than a pair of mules, to the point he could nearly run. He might have, if the plough itself could handle the stress. Though the amount of natural energy in the area wasn¡¯t terribly high, Anton felt himself advancing. The tranquility of simply working was good for him. He didn¡¯t have to think about everything else he needed to accomplish. He wanted to wait for time to pass anyway, and he was still cultivating. Interestingly enough, he found that the amount of natural energy in the area was steadily increasing. Was it something they were doing, or was it a seasonal change he had simply been unaware of? Another question to find the answer to when he returned to the Order. He wanted to take Pete and Oskar with him when he went, and he also wanted to make sure the community was stable enough to not need him around. He would leave some money, but that would only solve a small subsection of possible issues that might arise. Chapter 87 It was tempting, so very tempting, to rush things. He could cut corners and not take the proper amount of time to do things right. He could certainly push his cultivation to the twelfth star and rush back to Ofrurg. He could march right up to that young mistress Potenza and demand a duel for Devon. He was confident she would agree. But, after he won- and he knew he would win- even if he brought Devon away with him successfully he knew it would be a mistake. Rushing things never worked out in the end. If one rushed the construction of a barn, it might seem fine for a year or two. Maybe a little draft one year, a small leak the next¡­ and by the fifth year you had to build a new barn. That was just normal, mundane rushing. If he started shoving pills down his gullet he could boost his energy but he didn¡¯t want to be a shoddy built barn. Barns were noble structures, despite what people generally seemed to think of animals, but shoddy work was unacceptable. He would return for Devon and everyone else he could find in Ofrurg, but he had other responsibilities. He thought of the dozens who relied on him. Sure, he could have just pulled them out of slavery and thrown money at them. They would probably be fine. They were real people and not barns, so they could take care of any failures on his part. But he was still responsible for this group. Running off and leaving them to fend for themselves was unacceptable. Not until he had fully equipped them to the best of his abilities. The attitude of Pete and the others who had been enslaved to do basically the same work was exceptional. Anton couldn¡¯t help but praise them- though he tried not to do it too much. Hard labor wasn¡¯t inherently bad. It was just when it was made harder than it had to be and the laborer didn¡¯t reap any of the rewards that it was a problem. Anton could tell that not everyone found the particular sort of work they were doing fulfilling, but the mere fact that they could leave was enough for most of them. He made sure they each had weekly wages, paid out of a communal pool. He couldn¡¯t be quite as generous as he wanted to be, but the rate at which even beginning cultivators could work meant it wasn¡¯t unreasonable to pay them more than the standard rate. Anton wasn¡¯t concerned about getting money back from his ¡®investment¡¯. He didn¡¯t want money, he wanted people who were able to function. Though they¡¯d finished the planting of the crops now there was always still work. More construction for their little community was constant, buildings made of wood, stone, or wattle and daub depending on what they had available at the moment and the function of the building. That also meant clearing more area, which was still hard labor. However, the amount of work was winding down slightly. It would rise up again at harvest, but at the current moment people were expressing their desires to return to previous professions or learn new ones. He gave his full support, but he knew for it to be practical people had to be better than average. They couldn¡¯t afford to spend the money for a dozen barely profitable workshops. To that end, he was working with people to try to figure out how cultivation could help them. Grant wanted to be a smith. He had been an apprentice before he was enslaved, and had nearly enough experience to be considered a journeyman. ¡°I¡¯m a bit out of practice now,¡± he admitted, ¡°But I know all the techniques. And I¡¯m much stronger now.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Now, let us go over other ways to use energy. You could use it to reinforce subpar tools- though I wouldn¡¯t recommend it. Deviating your concentration for such an effect is bound to lead to trouble, and you don¡¯t want customers seeing you with shoddy tools.¡± Grant nodded, ¡°And I wouldn¡¯t want to use it to reinforce things I sell, because it wouldn¡¯t last outside the shop. So energy might not be much use in working metal.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Anton said. ¡°I was never much of a smith- helped out a few times when I needed something quick, but I never did it myself. But it can¡¯t be used just to make things strong. It can make things more flexible, which might help forge things at a lower temperature. Though I can¡¯t say what results that would have. Still, just using it to temper your body should be sufficient. You¡¯ve already done the prime tempering for your muscles, and I¡¯d recommend skin or tendons next. Skin will help resist cuts and the heat of the forge. Comfort and safety aren¡¯t bad. Tendons help with dexterity. You can also use energy to supplement either of those for short term work, but whatever part of your body you temper will last all day. I can show you some exercises for both.¡± Derya was a weaver, before she became a slave and eventually forced to work at the manor. She had been quite skilled, so that wasn¡¯t a problem. Anton had no experience in the area, so he started with the most important question, ¡°What is the most difficult part of weaving? Where the most things go wrong? If you can use energy to deal with that, I would expect the overall quality to improve.¡± She thought about that for some time, coming up with several answers. ¡°Some of it is the device. The loom or thread might break under stress. Keeping track of more complicated weaves and dealing with tangles. Some of everything, really.¡± ¡°I wish I could offer concrete advice,¡± Anton said, ¡°But some of that should improve naturally. As you temper your body, the quality of your mind improves as well. You¡¯re close to completing the tempering of your tendons for dexterity, and I would recommend the head next. The acuity of your eyes should be important. Beyond that, if you¡¯re careful you can use energy to sense small scale problems and damage.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I know there must be one at the Order. They made my defensive undershirt. It¡¯s partly made from diamondsilk. That has to be a difficult one. Imagine a thread so fine you can¡¯t even see it except from just the right angle.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Derya grimaced, ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d ever be able to handle something like that. But I can feel my body is under better control. I¡¯m certain I can make fine cloth. I might want to make my own thread as well.¡± Anton smiled. She might get along better in a city, but it wasn¡¯t too far from Windrip to Stregate and she¡¯d wanted to stay with the group. There was no home for her elsewhere. From Windrip to Stregate wasn¡¯t a trip suited to being made every day, but it was reasonable enough to stock up on supplies there every week or two, selling whatever she made in the meantime. If she made it to the third star- which Anton was almost certain of- she could even join the Order. A majority of the group just wanted to live a normal life, while taking advantage of the strength and safety a modest level of cultivation offered them. Anton quite approved of that. He would have liked to have learned cultivation early in his life for the boost in ability itself. He wanted to give others that chance now. ----- Traveling to different villages was a common thing for Vincent. However, in this case he wasn¡¯t going with any plans to teach people about cultivation. Someone else already was. Quite thoroughly, if he¡¯d heard correctly. He understood how Anton was a bit hesitant to return to the Order proper, but he hopefully wouldn¡¯t mind a visit from an old friend. Hoyt hadn¡¯t been able to provide an exact location, but Vincent didn¡¯t mind a bit of wandering. It gave him time to think about things. Clearly he and Anton had very different ideas. Vincent only had so much time, so he gave the option to everyone and only spent time with those he felt were special. There was an entire nation of people, and he was only one man. Even if everyone from the Order took on two dozen students, they would only cover a fraction of the people in Graotan. Thousands to teach millions. It was easy to pick up the trail in Stregate. Tracking a group of over thirty people who weren¡¯t trying to hide was easy. People in the city noticed them- and the few cultivators took special note. It seems they regularly visited the city from Windrip, and it didn¡¯t take long before he was looking at the little addition to the community. It really was dozens of cultivators, and not all at the first star either. It was probably half a year since Anton had gone on his journey, but the progress of his students was decent. Anton himself¡­ even more so. The man was really in Spirit Building already, not that Vincent had doubted the words of Hoyt and Catarina. Their own rates of advancement were just as quick, though slightly less impressive due to their youth. As Vincent approached, Anton turned to spot him from several fields away. He hadn¡¯t exactly hidden his own energy, but he didn¡¯t make it obvious either. Anton smiled, and Vincent quickly made his way over. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again, Anton.¡± There was a sign of relief on the old man¡¯s face. ¡°It is good to see you as well. Welcome.¡± Vincent smiled back and nodded, ¡°It¡¯s just as I heard. So¡­¡± Vincent waved his arm to indicate the wider area around them, ¡°Why do this?¡± ¡°Farming is good,¡± Anton said. ¡°I certainly won¡¯t argue against building up communities,¡± Vincent said. ¡°But teaching them all to cultivate? Why do it?¡± ¡°Why not? They¡¯re stronger, more able to work¡­ and to defend themselves. I think it is worth the investment of time, even if I didn¡¯t learn anything from the teaching.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Vincent said. ¡°Defend themselves.¡± He sighed, ¡°I wish I could say that would never be necessary. Still, even with your guidance, most of these here will never reach Spirit Building. You know that, right?¡± ¡°Does it matter?¡± Anton said. ¡°All of this, it is an improvement for them. Each of their lives are better. Safer. I can¡¯t see why it would be a problem, but I sense you disapprove.¡± ¡°We do try to have reasons for things. It¡¯s not forbidden,¡± Vincent said, ¡°But cautioned against. If everyone cultivates, they might band together in an uprising. Together, a hundred first or second star cultivators are many times more dangerous than the same who don¡¯t cultivate.¡± ¡°They are,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°But more dangerous to who? Not to each other, I don¡¯t think. Those who are determined to hurt others will still do so, and likely find a way to cultivate anyway. The average person being stronger by a similar amount merely makes them more of a threat to cultivators. And¡­ if the Order is worried about that, then perhaps they should be more concerned about acting according to righteous tenets.¡± Vincent thought for a time. ¡°Unlike in some places, I can say that is not the stated or even implied reason that we don¡¯t teach everyone to cultivate. But long before, it may have stemmed from that. Quite simply, I don¡¯t think anyone thought about it. The Order is already more open with opportunities than others, freely giving the opportunity to cultivate¡­ if not personal instruction. I think¡­ nobody thought about it. The mindset of cultivators, even in the Order, is of a struggle to reach the top. Nobody thought to raise the floor. But basically everyone who joins spends their whole life as a cultivator, past being a young adult.¡± ¡°So nobody saw the good it could do,¡± Anton said. ¡°And nobody thought to wonder if anything should change. Actually, I think I have found¡­ the reluctance to change the status quo is discomforting.¡± ¡°You have complaints, then.¡± Vincent nodded, ¡°We should sit down somewhere. I¡¯ll hear you out. For many things- perhaps even most- we have good reasons to be the way we are. But it may not be obvious, and that is its own sort of problem.¡± Chapter 88 Two old men talked, both appearing more youthful than their actual age- but the older of them seeming much younger. Though Vincent was perhaps not that much older than Anton. ¡°I understand that the Order doesn¡¯t wish to be warmongering, but don¡¯t you think the problems with Van Hassel merited more of a response?¡± Vincent held up his hands. ¡°We didn¡¯t know the full extent of what he could do. Our borders are secure now. We won¡¯t forget about that failure anytime soon.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not quite what I mean. If a cultivator from Graotan went and publicly caused chaos in Ofrurg, there wouldn¡¯t just be a passive response.¡± ¡°...¡± Vincent refrained from commenting about Anton¡¯s actions in Ofrurg. ¡°You¡¯re right. But I¡¯m not in charge of any of that. I mostly work with simple recruitment. The Order had no specific sect or clan to blame, and the general policy to not escalate conflicts¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°Do Spirit Building Cultivators just pop out of the ground in Ofrurg?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Two of them, even.¡± Vincent sighed, ¡°Van Hassel¡¯s former sect has expelled him years ago. There is no proof of any continued connection.¡± ¡°Which sect?¡± Anton asked. ¡°We can get you that information later. I will remind you to be cautious around them, because even if the Order chooses to support you, they¡¯re not nobodies. And they might really have no connection to him anymore. If you catch him outside of Ofrurg- or if we notice him outside of Ofrurg- that will be something different.¡± ¡°If he is officially expelled, they cannot act to protect him.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Vincent shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not like they become physically incapable of acting. It won¡¯t do much good if you get killed in the wilderness. You¡¯re much stronger now. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s enough to face him and Slusser, but if you keep growing stronger I am confident you¡¯ll be able to accomplish your goals.¡± Vincent hesitated for a few moments. ¡°I just hope you don¡¯t get yourself or any other promising individuals killed in the process. I won¡¯t say you shouldn¡¯t try, though. Just be aware of the full situation. We can give you more information, since you¡¯re strong enough to get yourself into real trouble now without it. And please keep the Order informed about your actions. We can add some more official backing to you, if you act within certain parameters.¡± ----- Anton understood caution and a resistance to change. He had been pretty set in his ways working on the farm, though nobody could argue that what he did worked. Then the catastrophe in Dungannon had torn his life apart. In the past year and a half he¡¯d changed greatly, though most of that was in the area of his cultivation abilities and his knowledge of the cultivation world beyond the bare bones. He was just finishing his points to Vincent. ¡°... I have the feeling that change is coming regardless of what the Order chooses to do. I would like to be an active part of that change instead of a bystander.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Vincent raised his hands, ¡°That¡¯s quite sufficient. You don¡¯t have to convince me. Just everyone else.¡± ¡°I doubt it will be so simple,¡± Anton said, ¡°It¡¯s not as if I¡¯m the first to pass through Spirit Building and train Voice. Everyone will certainly have their own view of the way things work, and should work.¡± ¡°It is what it is,¡± Vincent shrugged. ¡°The biggest practical problem is the concentration of our forces. We can¡¯t just scatter people across Graotan without leaving people short on natural energy. A year or two doesn¡¯t matter much, but as the decades drag on the lack of concentrated natural energy will drag people behind in cultivation.¡± ¡°About that¡­ where does natural energy come from?¡± ¡°It¡¯s from the world itself. The sun and the stars, the earth, and especially all forms of life. Though I must admit I am not the best person to speak to on the subject.¡± ¡°That fits with what I remembered¡­ and observed. The area here grew in natural energy as we tended to it and the season progressed.¡± Anton pondered, ¡°There must have been a drop I failed to sense as we were removing some of the native life, but now that things are growing the land is vibrant.¡± ¡°There¡¯s something,¡± Vincent stroked his chin, ¡°The way the energy flows¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°I have recently pushed myself to learn more about formations. I¡¯m still very much an amateur but it seems you might have arranged it into a bit of a formation. Otherwise, I can¡¯t imagine it would produce more natural energy than wild land. At least I don¡¯t sense anything special here, only standard plants and decent soil.¡± ¡°A formation, huh. We should speak to Pete.¡± ¡°Which one is he?¡± Vincent asked. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°There,¡± Anton pointed. ¡°The third star. He¡¯s in charge of some of the finer details, and he was learning about formations from Catarina.¡± ¡°He might have a gift for formations.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a decent cultivator as well. He¡¯s one of those that plans to officially join the Order once the season is over.¡± ¡°I am certain he will have no trouble,¡± Vincent said. ¡°He seems capable enough. Come, let us speak to him about if you¡¯ve made a formation here.¡± Everyone turned to look at Vincent as he passed. Anton wasn¡¯t surprised- he was somewhere in mid Essence Collection, the strongest cultivator they¡¯d ever seen. He took the time to introduce him. ¡°This is Vincent. He¡¯s an elder with the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. He was the one who found me after what happened to Dungannon and offered me the opportunity to cultivate.¡± Vincent grinned sheepishly, ¡°I honestly didn¡¯t expect your current results in the slightest. I should have spent some time personally instructing you, but¡­¡± Anton understood. He had also needed to chase after the bandits. Besides, nobody had expected Anton to have any sort of talent in cultivation. It was just a kind gesture to let him die trying to grow strong. Then he had. Of course, he wasn¡¯t strong enough yet. Not for his full revenge, and not for everything else he needed to do afterwards. ¡°Pete!¡± Anton waved, ¡°We had a question, if you¡¯re not too busy.¡± ¡°I can take a break,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯re not too busy right now anyway. What is it you need?¡± He kept his eyes focused on Vincent, taking in his level of strength. ¡°We should cut straight to the point,¡± Vincent said. ¡°The two of us were discussing the area. Anton noticed an increase in natural energy. You have some knowledge of formations. Is there something like that covering this area?¡± ¡°A formation?¡± Pete asked. ¡°I suppose it¡¯s turned into something like that. We sort of went with the form of the land, moving with natural windbreaks and the like. I just sort of went with what felt right. Should we not have a formation?¡± ¡°There are no laws or guidance against it, unless it¡¯s permanently drawing energy from the area around you,¡± Vincent clarified. ¡°Oh. It¡¯s not,¡± Pete confirmed. ¡°This just sort of enhances what¡¯s already here.¡± ¡°Then it is a desirable outcome,¡± Vincent said. ¡°Though it may be best to consult a formation master if you expand to a grand scale.¡± ¡°Like Catarina?¡± Pete asked. ¡°I miss having her around to ask questions.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if she is a master or not,¡± Vincent said. ¡°Truthfully, the term is somewhat vague. Past a certain point, everyone is called a master. Based on what I heard of your travels, she might have reached that point- though I am not the right one to judge that.¡± Hearing that relieved Anton. He sometimes worried about Nirmal Slusser, the formation master who had worked with Van Hassel. He¡¯d seen what Catarina could do, and had been worried he would be many times more powerful. They would still need to be cautious, but at least it wasn¡¯t something equivalent to Essence Collection. It was still too early to think about Catarina matching him in early Spirit Building, but he and Van Hassel had been active for more than a decade. Since they were thought to still be in Spirit Building, at least their rate of growth should be something Anton and Catarina could catch up to. Vincent stayed for several days, helping out with the mostly trivial tasks they had between planting and harvest. He also spent some time guiding people in cultivation, though Anton was the one who felt he got the most benefit from that. He felt like he was very close to the twelfth star. He just needed one more step. ----- Fuzz was dismayed when they left the pack behind, including one of the pack leaders. But he knew Catarina had a reason. They had a mission of some kind, or so he thought. It wasn¡¯t long before he realized it was something else. They weren¡¯t leaving the pack, but instead reuniting with it. Their pack was so much bigger than he could have imagined, but the evidence was plain for his nose to smell. The same sort of energy that flowed through the rest of the pack members ran through everyone at this Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. In addition, the pack¡¯s territory was full of rich, invigorating natural energy. He felt like a pup again as he ran about, and supposed he actually was a pup still. He¡¯d seen some ¡®normal¡¯ wolves, and he was bigger than them already but he still had more growing to do. He wanted to be at least as tall as the other pack members. Though he walked on all fours and they stood on their hind legs, he thought his parents had been that large. They had died, but his new pack took good care of him. Except for when Catarina made him eat nasty clumps of rancid dirt. The ¡®medicine¡¯ smelled bad and tasted worse, but it was supposed to be good for him. He had to admit he had an easier time walking around, the muscles in his rear legs fully obeying his commands instead of merely acting like his thoughts were suggestions. Even that had been an improvement over when his new pack adopted him, but now he could move around freely. He liked to do so, but Catarina informed him of a particular area he was allowed. Perhaps the other pack members didn¡¯t want him messing up their sub-dens. He spent some of his time in the group of dens that Catarina had claimed for her own. One of the four was empty, but smelled of Anton- one of the other pack leaders. Hopefully he would return soon. The third pack leader, Hoyt, was much further away- but Catarina let him roam to see him. He kept out of the fields and away from packs of people he hadn¡¯t been introduced to- with such a large pack, it would take them some time to know his scent, so he had to be careful. The other two in the set of four dens were a man and a woman. Young, like Catarina and Hoyt. The woman was Velvet. The man was Timothy. Catarina said he was a close friend, but he didn¡¯t smell like her and they didn¡¯t visit much. Fuzz was still getting used to human speech, but he thought that didn¡¯t seem right. Much time passed. He ran across the mountain, growing big and strong. Catarina continued to take care of him, assisting his energy flow. They even visited the forest to hunt occasionally. Like that, a ¡®season¡¯ quickly passed. Then Anton returned. He brought with him some of the other, smaller pack. But before even saying hello, he settled into his own den to ¡®cultivate¡¯. It was like sleep, but done in a different posture- and it involved manipulating energy. Interrupting people from that was bad, so Fuzz waited patiently in the courtyard ready to greet him. As he did so, he felt Anton grow stronger. Another little fire ignited inside of him. He opened his eyes, smiling, and Fuzz jumped on him and licked his face. It was good to have more pack leaders around. Chapter 89 During his time away, Anton had forgotten just how much of a difference there was between the quantity and quality of the energy on the Order¡¯s grounds and that elsewhere. The boost was just what he needed to push through to the completion of the twelfth star. That was all there was to it, the majority of the real work having already been done. The part of cultivation where he gathered energy was just more of the same. He looked up the mountain towards the peaks. The energy there had been much stronger to the point he could barely handle it. Now, he wanted to test how it affected him differently. But though he fully intended to go and talk to Grand Elder Vandale, he wasn¡¯t quite ready and there were so many other things that needed doing. He¡¯d only been separated from Catarina a short time, though he supposed several months was quite meaningful to those who were young. It had been more than half of a year since he¡¯d seen Timothy. The young man was at the ninth star, only a small portion short of the peak of Body Tempering. His cultivation progress was fine, but there was something¡­ Anton shook his head. One thing at a time. The opportunities to enter the Order were held monthly. Anton knew he might be able to push for those he knew to be tested earlier, but he didn¡¯t want to show any favoritism. That wouldn¡¯t help them in the long run. Besides, he had full confidence in Pete and Oskar. Some of the others were on track to third star and planned to join the Order as well, but those two were the most skilled in cultivation. Patricia, Oskar¡¯s wife, was somewhat behind since she didn¡¯t have a chance to cultivate until later. It seemed likely she would reach third star soon enough, but she wasn¡¯t sure if she wanted to join the Order. She would be able to stay with Oskar regardless- the Order allowed family and even a number of permanent guests. Anton had considered bringing some of the others to train, but being able to reach the third star without relying on sheer quantity of energy was sort of the point of the tests. There was probably more to it, but Anton hadn¡¯t actually participated. He would observe this time. He was certain the entrance qualifications had not changed in decades or centuries, like most other things. Though he had his complaints with the Order, he didn¡¯t find that they were bad in how they handled things. He just thought they could be better. He might change his mind once he¡¯d had more exposure to cultivators but he was not going to just assume those who were older knew better. They might, or they might not. First he was going to find Elder Howland. He should be able to answer some of Anton¡¯s questions, or at least point him in the right direction. The man wasn¡¯t hard to find. He was always around somewhere, it just depended on which farming plot he was working with that day. It had been nearly half a year since Anton had seen the man. During that time, he¡¯d grown from late Body Tempering all the way to the twelfth star, significantly closing the gap between himself and the Elder. Elder Howland was only at the fifteenth star, so his status as an Elder clearly wasn¡¯t for his cultivation prowess but his other usefulness. Not that Anton intended to mention that. ----- Charlton Howland was in a good mood. Hoyt had returned, in Spirit Building no less. Yet he still came to tend to the fields. Not just the more troublesome plants either, but some of the mundane ones. He could certainly earn more contribution points elsewhere, and having completed Body Tempering it wasn¡¯t even really good training. Sure, he didn¡¯t come by every day anymore, but he only needed to come by weekly to do as much as he¡¯d been doing before he set off on his journey. He nearly didn¡¯t recognize Anton when he showed up. Trusting Hoyt¡¯s word that Anton had reached the eleventh star was easy. Hoyt saw it and relayed the information. But the prediction that he would reach twelfth star in the next few months before he returned to the Order¡­ had seemed somewhat unbelievable. Then again, it seemed likely barely a few months before that Anton had first joined the Order. What was another star or two when he¡¯d gone from four to eleven in that time? Of course, Howland hadn¡¯t advanced a single star in that time. He was stuck waffling between training Voice and Spiritual Connection. That had been the case for quite some time, but he really didn¡¯t need to advance any further to complete his duties. Managing the fields required more knowledge than cultivation, though some of the more troublesome plants required proper cultivation as well. The Order just didn¡¯t keep anything too dangerous. Of course there were some herbs that could be misused as poisons, but they were carefully regulated. Other than that, the northern creepers were one of the more extreme examples of plants that fought those tending them. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. But his own cultivation was not important. He was quite content with his own abilities. At the same time, he could praise the advancements of others. ¡°Anton! It¡¯s good to see you back. Here to work the land?¡± ¡°That was not my intention today,¡± disappointment must have shown on Howland¡¯s face, ¡°But I would be quite content to do so while we talk.¡± The man wielded a hoe like a fine spear, and he plucked weeds out from the rows like they were enemies he had to slay. It took a moment for Howland to find his voice and ask what important things he wished to speak about. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just a few questions really,¡± Anton assuaged his worries. ¡°Probably important, in the grand scheme of things, but not urgent. Where does natural energy come from?¡± ¡°The ground, plants, living creatures, and sometimes special features.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton sounded disappointed. ¡°I was wondering how a place like the Order¡¯s land here develops, with such abundant energy. Or places like the forest.¡± Howland shrugged, ¡°The answer is the same.¡± Was he unclear somewhere? ¡°Cultivators and magic beasts make the largest difference in the short term, though certain special plants are good for longer term development and stability.¡± At that Anton¡¯s eyes flickered in thought. ¡°Don¡¯t cultivators and magical beasts drain the area of energy?¡± ¡°They can and do,¡± Howland confirmed. ¡°Sometimes that leads to damaging the area. But that¡¯s true of anything. Overeager boars root up the land, destroying it on a more mundane level. But humans are living creatures. They produce natural energy that can accumulate in an area. If managed properly, both cultivators and the land they live on grow together.¡± ¡°I had not considered that. I only thought of the animals and plants.¡± They had moved between several fields by this point. Some weren¡¯t scheduled for work until weeks later, but that didn¡¯t matter. Anton left alone the areas where others were working and focused on anywhere unattended. Howland worked along with him, but he didn¡¯t feel he could keep up with Anton¡¯s pace despite his higher cultivation level. ¡°Why does the Order not do this elsewhere, then?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Howland asked. ¡°There¡¯s just this one location, shoved up almost against the western border of Graotan. It¡¯s quite extraordinary, to be sure, but the rest of the country has but tolerable amounts of natural energy available.¡± ¡°Does it matter?¡± Howland wondered, ¡°The smaller sects within Graotan maintain their own areas, and the rest is not populated by cultivators.¡± ¡°It could be, though.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Why not expand the area?¡± ¡°The Order doesn¡¯t have need of more land,¡± Howland explained. ¡°Our numbers rise and fall as time passes, but we have an entire mountain and the forests for just a few thousand at any time. The area we control is already quite expansive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But think of the border. The formation keeps intruders in and out, understandably. But it also keeps the natural energy controlled.¡± ¡°The Order is not entirely selfless. The benefits to the surrounding farmers would be negligible compared to our losses. We put in the work and reap the rewards.¡± ¡°I fully understand that. However, couldn¡¯t the surrounding area instead benefit the Order? If the land adjacent grows more, it would contribute back to the Order¡¯s land.¡± ¡°Alas,¡± Howland said, ¡°It¡¯s not quite so efficient. The maximum growth that would have on the surrounding area would not be enough to recoup the losses given any amount of time. If our numbers swelled and we had several times as many disciples, perhaps expanding would be prudent. But we can barely manage the area we have now.¡± ¡°It just needs to be tended to by cultivators, right?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Let me tell you about some thoughts I¡¯ve been having. I think imagining ourselves as cultivators and the rest of the country as non-cultivators is perhaps merely limiting the Order.¡± They talked for some time. Howland thought Anton¡¯s ideas of how easy it was to teach everyone to cultivate were a bit exaggerated, but he had to admit that Anton had significant success in the area already. Howland couldn¡¯t say it was impossible, either. Anton had much more understanding of non-cultivator activities and the benefits even small amounts of cultivation would provide them. Unknowingly at the time, some buried thoughts in Howland¡¯s head slipped into place. He wanted more people to care about the land and not just think of it as something low level cultivators did for contribution points. He hadn¡¯t even considered those outside the Order in regards to that. From that point on, his cultivation would creep forward from its formerly stagnant status. Chapter 90 It was strange to be nervous, Pete thought. Certainly, he was about to take a test, but when Anton Krantz said that he would pass easily, Pete Sharman believed him. He believed him, but still¡­ joining a cultivation sect? The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars was known all throughout Graotan. But Pete still thought of cultivators as something else. Something that didn¡¯t include himself. Oskar clapped him on the shoulder. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll do fine.¡± Oskar decided against mentioning that this wasn¡¯t their only chance. Better to pass the first time. Oskar himself wanted to give it his all, because Anton believed in them. There were many opportunities as a member of the Order, not just fighting. He would still make sure he could fight, to defend his family, but he didn¡¯t want to continually risk his life. He had a wife and child, and though his death might support them financially he knew the loss of loved ones would tear them apart. Kevin was still too young to really understand, but both he and Patricia had lost most of those they knew in Dungannon. Pete and Oskar couldn¡¯t help but be a little bit nervous as they found themselves lining up with a half dozen others who all seemed to be a decade younger. But¡­ age wasn¡¯t everything. Some seemed strong and muscular, but one young woman was quite¡­ round. They probably had a better chance than her, at least. Pete and Oskar had started cultivating later, and Anton demonstrated that age wasn¡¯t impossible to surmount. It didn¡¯t help that the one running the test seemed younger than them. ¡°Welcome! My name is Sterling.¡± the young man said. ¡°All of you have reached the third star. That¡¯s good, but not enough by itself. We have to test your body and mind.¡± He gestured, pulling back the cloth covering a doorway to the outside. ¡°First we have an obstacle course. The rules are simple, make it to the end as fast as you can.¡± Pete stood on his tiptoes, trying to see as far into the course as he could. He couldn¡¯t see the end, but he did see a number of ramps along with strange impediments on the ground. He could see several routes he might take. ¡°With twelve of you, we¡¯ll do two sets of six, a minute apart, so you don¡¯t get in each other¡¯s way too much.¡± Sterling pointed out six of them, seemingly at random. ¡°You¡¯ll be the first group.¡± Neither Pete nor Oskar were picked in that first group. That gave them a chance to watch the others go first. It seemed like an advantage, but he wasn¡¯t going to complain. As they ran ahead at a quick pace, Pete learned of something he hadn¡¯t spotted before. Mud. One of the dips was quite full of it, and it seemed to be both sticky and slippery at the same time. It was quite difficult for people to go up ramps or hold onto ropes after that point. That added some appeal to a higher route that simply looked more difficult. ¡°Maybe we should go that route?¡± Pete said. ¡°Go ahead,¡± Oskar said. ¡°I¡¯m gonna pick my own route though. No offense, but I feel like going with you would be too easy.¡± Pete shrugged. So Oskar wanted to deal with a challenge. That didn¡¯t exactly mesh with getting to the end as fast as possible, did it? Then again, he supposed they should all pick their own routes. Around the time the trailing members of the first group were rounding a corner, it was their turn to go. Oskar ran straight ahead, stepping over wires seemingly placed to trip uncoordinated runners. Three of the others ran with him down the middle. One went to the left side, hopping between poles that were over a pit of water. Pete took the right side, up a ramp. The ramp was steeper than it looked, and slippery. However, a bit of momentum and some energy on his boots to help resist the slipping got him to the top. Then there were swinging logs. They seemed to be powered by a simple formation. He considered trying to disarm it, but supposed that would be outside of the bounds of the test. He stopped for a second, watching the flow of the movements that would knock him to the left or right, off of his elevated position down into other parts of the course. It was just a few seconds, but others were getting ahead. He stepped through, not at a run but a quick walk. One swings from the left, one from the right, then a tricky angled one to catch people off guard. Stop for a second, then three quick steps. Half of the pathway disappeared ahead, requiring him to balance as he moved forward. Once past the swinging logs he climbed a rope even higher. Pulling himself up wasn¡¯t too hard. Then there was a rope hanging out in front of him, out of reach. He stretched out his hand, and extended his energy to grab it and pull it to him. He held the rope further down as he swung, then at the end of the arc let go as he flew over the mud pits. He was behind everyone else, but that was okay. He was saving his stamina for when it got hard. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Obstacles continued in the same vein. Climbing, dodging, jumping, balancing. Some points required quick reactions, and there was a pole with spinning sticks basically attacking anyone who passed by, but not only were its movements easy to predict the power it had was far below a cultivator with a weapon. It was also less scary than one of the turtles, and not sharp like the spiked rollers. He did get knocked on the back of the head as he passed, but his energy easily absorbed the blow. It wasn¡¯t long before he came up behind someone round. She was attempting to climb a rope up a vertical wall. Pete could see the problem. She had exhausted her energy, and her hands were slick with mud. There seemed to be no option but go up this wall- it covered the entire width of the course- and there were only higher walls and not lower. Then there was the matter of her roundness. Pete didn¡¯t want to be rude, but it was quite clear she came from a life of affluence, to have reached such a weight. It seemed she hadn¡¯t tempered her muscles, either. While the first full body tempering would have given her some strength, she had more to carry than most. She had clearly wiped her hands on her formerly fine garments, but there was enough mud on them that wiping her hands more didn¡¯t help. Pete stopped next to her, before attempting to climb up. ¡°I can try wiping that off for you,¡± Pete gestured to the rope. Her eyes turned to him. Sharp. Maybe a bit angry, but also¡­ tired. ¡°... isn¡¯t that cheating?¡± Pete shrugged, ¡°I might want to use that rope.¡± He touched it, and instantly became glad he¡¯d avoided the mud previously. It stuck to him like molasses, but slid along the rope at the same time. It wouldn¡¯t shake off his hands, and he didn¡¯t want to wipe it on his body and just make more things awful to touch. He used a little energy, with a trick Anton had done to get mud off his boots. Just sort of pushing from the inside out. It fell right off. He grabbed the rope and poured his energy into it, the mud sloughing to the ground. ¡°Could I see your hands?¡± She seemed reluctant. ¡°I think¡­ this is enough.¡± He shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± He stood and watched as she grabbed the rope. Her grip remained firm, but she just didn¡¯t have the strength to pull herself up. But she didn¡¯t let go either. ¡°If you work on that for the next month, I¡¯m sure you can do it.¡± He had meant it innocently enough. They were supposed to be words of encouragement. But the eyes half hidden behind rounded cheeks glared at him. Then she muttered under her breath in a way he clearly wasn¡¯t supposed to hear. ¡°... Don¡¯t get to come back to try again. Want me to fail.¡± Pete waited until her attention turned back to the rope before grabbing the next one over. He didn¡¯t want to look like he was taunting her with the ease he could do the same task she was failing. She probably noticed anyway, but he didn¡¯t look. When he reached the top, he saw there was just a slide down to the end where Sterling was waiting. It seemed to be the final obstacle. Pete looked down at the young lady struggling below, then at Sterling. Sterling had his arms behind his back, looking up. ¡°Come on,¡± Pete called down. ¡°You can do it!¡± He didn¡¯t think she could, but he wanted to motivate her. In return, he didn¡¯t even get a glare. In fact, the only thing he could see was the top of her head below her white knuckles. She seemed to have a death grip on the rope, but couldn¡¯t move. Pete looked over at Sterling. No reaction. Well, technically nobody had said they had to reach the end on their own. There was nothing he could change that would even end up with a minor formation to bolster her energy. It was also clear she wasn¡¯t able to move under her own power anymore. So he grabbed the rope. The young woman clearly wasn¡¯t willing to give up, and if she really couldn¡¯t try again¡­ he might as well see if he could bend the rules a little. He was glad he¡¯d reserved his strength, because pulling a rope at his angle wasn¡¯t exactly easy. There was barely any room at the top before the slope down, and he didn¡¯t want to risk damaging the rope. So he had to pull straight up. That worked muscles he really hadn¡¯t had much reason to use, and he needed energy to augment them and keep the rope from slipping. Hand over hand he pulled, until he had to lift his hands over his head. She wasn¡¯t much shorter than him, so to get her feet over the edge he had to extend his arms to their full height. Then he gently set her feet on the ledge. She just stood there with her arms raised, the rope hanging down. Pete could see her eyes were closed, but then she yanked on the rope, bringing her arms down in front of her belly. She didn¡¯t immediately seem to register what was happening, but she seemed stable enough to not fall backwards. Pete hopped over to the side and ran down the slope in the section next to her. He watched carefully as he passed Sterling. If he was to get in trouble, he wanted to explain that he was the one who¡¯d done everything. However, the only response he got was, ¡°A bit slow.¡± With that, he walked past into the next section. It was full of tables, and people were already furiously scribbling away at papers. Well, he¡¯d done what he could. Another member of the Order was waiting and pointed to an empty table. ¡°Answer as many questions as you can.¡± Chapter 91 The obstacle course was followed by a written test. The main instructions had been ¡®answer as many as you can¡¯. Questions at the beginning were about cultivation and combat, but there were other questions on history and mathematics. Pete was happy to find that it covered questions about various trade skills and useful professions as well. There was no way anyone would complete the whole thing, but that wasn¡¯t the point. They were clearly looking for how people would be useful. Pete did his best, answering farming, energy cultivation, and fighting questions for the most part. If he saw something simple as he browsed he would scribble down an answer, but at the back he found questions on formations. The first few were simple, but as he continued on he found himself taking longer and longer. He only got through about half of them. He thought his experience with formations was pretty good, but clearly there was a lot still left to learn. They hadn¡¯t been told a specific time limit, but each of them were stopped in order, likely based on when they finished the obstacle course. It was only a few minutes difference all around, but it put some pressure on those who knew the end was coming. Pete exchanged looks with Oskar, who shrugged. It was hard to say how they did on the written portions. Nobody had really talked about those, or the tests in general. Next came sparring. They were matched against other entrants. Oskar fought against another muscular man who was almost equally muscled- a rare sight. However, while their bodies seemed to be closely matched, Oskar¡¯s fighting experience pushed him ahead. He had learned an aggressive axe fighting style from Hoyt that constantly kept the enemy on the defensive, before finally his axe came to rest next to his opponent¡¯s neck. Pete marvelled at how well the formation was able to stop the attack, though he did see it was actively being watched over. As for Pete himself, he ended up fighting the round young woman. Gerd, apparently. He wondered if he should have asked that or not. Either way, he supposed she would not like that descriptor much. Determined, maybe. Pete wasn¡¯t sure if his help was technically allowed, but she was participating in the rest of the test at least. The time of rest seemed to have done her a great benefit, because she seemed nearly brimming with energy. Actually, everyone was quite full up. Pete had only experienced similar levels of natural energy suffusing the area in Misty Hill Palace and occasionally a lesser form when Catarina set up energy gathering formations. This was still more, and he¡¯d filled up easily and without even really noticing. It was sword against sword. A common choice of weapon, though spears had the advantage of reach. For cultivators fighting individual battles, what suited them was the most important. In Pete¡¯s case, he hadn¡¯t felt any particular draw to certain weapons, so had gone with the same weapon as Catarina. He didn¡¯t wield it in the same way, preferring to rely more on his strength rather than her elegant technique. As their swords began to clash, Pete quickly found himself on the back foot. Gerd clearly had some experience fighting, and he didn¡¯t quite know how to react. He kept himself secure in the battle by relying on his greater physical strength, which was still sufficient to overcome a certain amount of energy. He hadn¡¯t tempered his meridians yet. He was only at the third star, and while Anton had been able to achieve that for his first prime tempering, it was too difficult for Pete. He would be waiting until the fifth star and the second prime tempering. He couldn¡¯t tell what Gerd had tempered. It wasn¡¯t muscle, unless she had been positively infirm before she began to cultivate. Her energy wasn¡¯t so strong as to make him believe she had her meridians tempered. Bones? Marrow? Those effects were hard to see. He learned something when he managed to slice along her upper arm. His attack was shallow as her skin resisted. That was one tempering then, but she still pulled back from the damage. Trained to fight, but not used to being injured. Meanwhile, Pete had fought for his life several times. He had to admit he was well defended for the most part, but against the bandits just past the Estary border he¡¯d felt the danger. This was just a spar. He didn¡¯t want to put down Gerd¡¯s determination, but that was even more reason to take what advantages he could. If he held back, it might be insulting. Pete began to take reckless tactics. He attacked with little regard for his own defense, counting on Gerd to defend herself rather than taking the openings. It worked often enough as she prioritized her own defense. Pete got to see exactly how she would defend against each strike, the precise position she held her guard. She seemed to have good training, but she lacked the adaptability learned in actual battle. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Pete feinted a slash towards her left side, but instead twisted his sword into a stab towards her heart. Her reaction was nearly quick enough but his sword stabbed into her chest before she could parry it. At least, that was what it would have done if the formation hadn¡¯t stopped his blade. He was counting on it. They¡¯d said not to worry about injuring their opponents, and meant it. ¡°A good fight,¡± Pete said. He didn¡¯t feel great about beating someone a decade younger than him, but they were both third star. She¡¯d probably been training a similar amount of time to him, maybe even longer. Though it seemed her actual exercise had been neglected. He wondered who taught her- or if she¡¯d had to learn on her own. If it was the latter, then Pete could only say he was lucky to have excellent guidance. Gerd was breathing heavily. It seemed she was finding it hard to accept that she¡¯d lost. ¡°You- you¡­¡± clearly she had something she planned to say, but thought better of it. ¡°... A good fight,¡± she inclined her head. Pete hoped that her losing the spar didn¡¯t mean she wouldn¡¯t be recruited. He¡¯d assumed it was an exhibition of skill, but he actually didn¡¯t know. Then he was pulled away for several other tests- including a short segment where he tried to discern the effects of certain actual formations instead of just writing about it. He wasn¡¯t sure if that test was tailored to him specifically, but he didn¡¯t see anyone else in that area. Then it was already dusk. He was quite pleased that, as the sun settled behind the mountain peak, he was declared to have passed. Not only that, he was apparently the best ranking, receiving as a prize several pills and instructions on how and when to best use them. In short- only when extra accumulation of energy is the limiting factor in advancing cultivation. Pete wasn¡¯t fully confident in his ability to judge that, but he knew Catarina and Anton could give him advice. After the test he was taken to a little complex of four simple houses. Oskar was already there- and he¡¯d even had time to get Patricia. The third neighbor was one of the other young men who was participating in the test. The fourth remained empty. Had only three passed? Three out of twelve was low, but then again the test could be repeated monthly. There could also be another complex that was filled out first. Pete was out in his courtyard, messing around with the dirt making simple formations, when he sensed her. It was well after dark now, but Gerd¡¯s exhausted form was dragging itself behind one of the older disciples. Good. She¡¯d passed. Though she might need some help with certain kinds of training, since she seemed to be ignorant in some areas. ----- Anton eagerly awaited the results. He was quite pleased when Sterling came to him saying that both Pete and Oskar passed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re at the twelfth star already,¡± Sterling said. ¡°I was two stars ahead, now I¡¯m three behind.¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry so much. It¡¯s not a race. I can provide some advice on Peak Body Tempering and thoughts on Spirit Building, if you want.¡± ¡°I might take you up on that,¡± Sterling smiled softly. ¡°But those two¡­ quite interesting. Not what we normally see. I can see your influence on both of them. In the obstacle course Pete clearly thought it would be more difficult and reserved himself too much¡­ and then he helped someone over the last obstacle instead of just reaching the finish.¡± ¡°Good!¡± Anton said, ¡°One should always be ready to help others.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Sterling said, ¡°And that¡¯s something we watch for. There¡¯s a reason the tests are the way they are.¡± ¡°About that,¡± Anton said. ¡°What about those who arrive at fourth star? I was just able to walk right in, nobody even checking me over.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Sterling said, ¡°That wasn¡¯t exactly true. You said Vincent was your sponsor. It could have been a lie, but we¡¯d prefer to get fourth star people into the Order as soon as possible. The second prime tempering isn¡¯t far for them, and the fact that they made it so far shows talent. Plus, it wasn¡¯t as if you were just roaming about unwatched.¡± ¡°The instructors?¡± Anton asked, then nodded, ¡°But also Elder Daniela.¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct,¡± Sterling said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s the method I¡¯d use,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°But I can see why. Still wonder why you don¡¯t just raise up people at the first or second star. Or even just potentials.¡± Anton held up a hand, ¡°I know, I know, that takes people, they might not all become true cultivators, bla bla bla. But you would have more people to teach if some of them stuck to it. I don¡¯t think it would be bad for Graotan to have more low level cultivators anyway.¡± Anton was planning to talk to everyone he could about his ideas. Some of them needed refinement still, but if he never started then he¡¯d never get anywhere with his ideas. Besides, when people told him what was wrong with certain things he could smooth out that area, instead of waiting for months or years to realize it himself. Chapter 92 The courtyard, once having seemed so large, was beginning to be insufficient for Anton¡¯s uses. He noticed it especially when practicing archery, how its relative size had diminished. He barely even had time for his arrows to build up speed before he had to disintegrate them. Firing them up into the sky wasn¡¯t any better, since it was hard to test his accuracy that way. The wind whipping above the courtyard didn¡¯t help. He would need to petition to move to larger accommodations or at least closer to the proper archery ranges. It was still far to just run on over when he wanted a bit of practice. His new bow was still a problem. He hadn¡¯t thought he would be able to suddenly put it to use at the twelfth star, but he¡¯d sort of expected some change. The swirls of wind in his courtyard couldn¡¯t distract him from his task. Create a string with energy. Then an arrow, and pull. His muscles strained and his energy tensed, and the only thing he got was sore fingertips. Was the string too thin? It was made of his own energy, so it was able to cut through his defenses if he wasn¡¯t careful. Fortunately it didn¡¯t easily hurt him, but it dug into the tips of his fingers after some repetitions. And the string didn¡¯t move, unless he extended it. The bow bent not even a single millimeter. Still, it was an interesting way to train his abilities even if he couldn¡¯t shoot it. Forming shapes with pure energy other than arrows was something he didn¡¯t do as often. He could make pretty much any shape he wanted, but having them keep their form under stress was much harder. A door clicked in the opposite corner courtyard. That was a problem that still needed dealing with. Anton sighed. ----- Life should have been good for Fuzz. Plentiful food, as much as he needed. He didn¡¯t need to hunt for it, but he could when he wanted to. He had a den to stay in, though he had to learn to clean off ¡®mud¡¯ before he could do so. That was a useful exercise, shedding unwanted things from his paws and the rest of his body. Outside of the den he had space to run, and so so many pack members. He¡¯d tried to count them, but there were many dozens and he simply didn¡¯t have a way to count that high. He was growing stronger, both through his own efforts and the care of Catarina. In some places his body was still missing parts of him, where the moss had grown into him, but for the most part he was healthy. He could run on all of his legs over the vast stretches of pack territory- though usually he couldn¡¯t do so alone. Everything should have been right, but something was wrong. And Fuzz was going to find out what. Anton was back. He was still the same. Hoyt was further away, but he seemed to be doing well. It was the third leader of their sub-pack that was a problem. The one closest to Fuzz, Catarina. She was not right, ever since they arrived. The problem was with the other two packmates that live in adjacent dens. One of them Catarina never visited. Fuzz thought he smelled a faint bit of animosity there, but it was so subtle he also thought he could be wrong. But the other male, that was a problem. Catarina said he was a ¡®friend¡¯. Like he was part of their sub-pack, training and living together. However, he retreated whenever Fuzz tried to visit. Not only that, this ¡®Timothy¡¯ wouldn¡¯t even stay outside when Catarina or Anton were training. Fuzz thought he was concerned about distracting them at first, but instead of deference his movements smelled of something else. Timidity, maybe. The scent of humans was still hard to puzzle out sometimes. The biggest problem was that Timothy didn¡¯t exhibit any of the expected features of a ¡®friend¡¯. Fuzz had come to believe they should eat together, travel together, hunt together, train together, be together. That was what a pack was. But they weren¡¯t together. Catarina and Timothy had spoken when they returned, and very little since. Several times Catarina had gone over and there had been no response from the door, though both Timothy and his energy smelled like they were there. Strange. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Was he trapped inside? Certainly doors were difficult to open at first, but every human he¡¯d met had operated them with ease. Besides, he¡¯d seen him do it. Grr. It was just so frustrating. A warm hand rubbed his head. ¡°There there, Fuzz. It¡¯s okay. Timothy is a friend. He¡¯s just training out in the yard.¡± The more she said it, the less Fuzz believed it. What could he do about it? He couldn¡¯t speak, and didn¡¯t know what to say anyway. What needed to happen? After a moment of thought, Fuzz unbarred the door he was sitting in front of, the one that led to the courtyard. Sliding the bar was easy, pulling it required manipulating energy or a more difficult paw placement. So he pulled with a bit of energy, then stepped into the yard. Now he had to be fast. His paws tore up dirt as he moved, then just the right distance from the wall he leaped, muscle and energy pushing him high over the wall. Timothy was surprised. Of course he was. Fuzz hadn¡¯t done it since the first time when Catarina scolded him. Anton didn¡¯t care if he visited, but Catarina wanted him to use a ¡®gate¡¯. Even though it was slower. But this time he had to be fast. Dirt and rocks scattered in a cloud as he landed, startling Timothy. But he was a cultivator, already standing in a defensive position when Fuzz landed. The screen of dust was the only thing that let Fuzz grab onto his shoulder, and even so he barely succeeded. His teeth held on tight, never with the intent to do injury but Timothy¡¯s defensive energy would have held regardless. He was merely a small bit weaker than the three pack leaders. Fuzz pulled. It was already an awkward angle, standing on his hind legs, but he was unable to get any traction. Timothy elbowed him to try to make him let go, but Fuzz would have none of it. He reinforced his body to take the blow. His teeth hurt as they barely held, but he reinforced that area also, without making his teeth sharper. He couldn¡¯t pull Timothy along the ground, his footing was too good. Fuzz decided to let go, falling to the ground. Then his mouth closed around Timothy¡¯s ankle. He got kicked in the side, but Fuzz almost found it amusing. It was a bit more than he would have expected for simple roughhousing, but he could tell Timothy was not using his full power. Not yet. So he had to hurry. Fuzz leaped, nearly straight up. If he couldn¡¯t drag Timothy along the ground, he would carry him through the air. The ankle came with him, not able to drag against anything, and Timothy dangled head down as they rose. Then his ankle was once more below them as they descended. Fuzz made sure his paws touched the ground first so he could jump at a better angle, with Timothy flailing as they slid smoothly over the fence, only catching on it once and bumping his head. But he had defensive energy so it was fine. ¡°Fuzz!¡± Catarina chastised him. ¡°Stop that!¡± Fuzz stopped. He wasn¡¯t planning to jump over the wall again anyway. He didn¡¯t let go of Timothy though, even though he whined and complained. He didn¡¯t get to order Fuzz around unless he acted like a pack member. For some reason, Catarina was unreasonably upset at Fuzz for jumping over the wall. He couldn¡¯t quite get what she was saying because she was having trouble speaking properly. Humans didn¡¯t speak so well when they were upset, and it was already hard to understand them. Then Anton came over the wall, and she didn¡¯t get mad at him at all! What an unfair double standard. Fuzz dropped Timothy¡¯s ankle and pushed him with his nose towards Catarina and Anton. They were supposed to be friends and spend time together, but they hadn¡¯t even gotten close enough to get their scent on each other since they came to the big pack. Completely unacceptable. ¡°I think I get it,¡± Anton said as he pulled Timothy to his feet. Yes! Good! The old one was a wise pack leader. But they didn¡¯t immediately start to familiarize themselves with each other again. Fuzz ran around and rubbed up against all of them so they would remember how to do it, but they didn¡¯t quite seem to get it. They were talking, though. That was good. The scents of their energies mingled slightly, at least, though Fuzz really thought they should touch more. Would he have to be the one to do all the work? Chapter 93 Everyone- Timothy, Catarina, Fuzz, and Anton- was gathered together in Catarina¡¯s courtyard. Anton hadn¡¯t been planning to do things in such a drastic fashion, but he had to admit that Fuzz really helped kick off the process. ¡°Good to see you, Timothy. Fuzz isn¡¯t capable of verbalizing, but perhaps I can help. Even Fuzz can tell you guys are acting strange, and he¡¯s never seen the two of you together to be normal.¡± ¡°Well, I, uh¡­¡± Timothy was still quite off put from being pulled by a wolf and thrust into an uncomfortable situation. Catarina wasn¡¯t much more equipped to handle a sudden confrontation. She had been focused on Fuzz¡¯ surface actions rather than the implications. ¡°We don¡¯t have to- there¡¯s nothing to really¡­¡± She didn¡¯t manage a full, coherent sentence. ¡°A hundred years of experience makes some interactions painfully obvious,¡± Anton said. ¡°Now, I fully understand that with the passage of time people might drift apart. But a simple half of a year shouldn¡¯t end up with two people who are friends their whole lives not talking to each other. There are clearly thoughts that need to be communicated here. And while I admit to personal bias, I think the one who needs to express themselves first is you Timothy.¡± Anton threw around the full power of Voice. It couldn¡¯t make anyone do anything they truly didn¡¯t want to do, but a commanding tone was a very useful tool to have. ¡°Being open and honest won¡¯t be easy, but it will be quite better later. So. Why are you reluctant to speak to your best friend in the whole world?¡± Anton could think of several options. They could range from trivial and laughable- but still very real- to some things that would be painful. That depended on what he¡¯d done or thought he¡¯d done. ¡°We can wait for you to form your thoughts.¡± That was half a reminder to Catarina. He put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, among other things. Timothy clearly wanted to run away. Not that he was afraid of either of them, but emotional conflicts were harder to face than just a big scary monster that might try to kill you. With the latter you either won or you lost. There might be injuries, but physical pain only hurt so much. It was clear that Timothy couldn¡¯t really run away, if he wasn¡¯t allowed to, but nobody was physically stopping him. Fuzz had managed to move him around with the element of surprise, but it would take Anton or Catarina to truly stop him. Anton had positioned them out of the way of his physical retreat- though of course he could just jump over a wall so the courtyards themselves were basically meaningless for blocking him. Finally, Timothy put together a sentence. ¡°I just¡­ thought you would hate me. For abandoning you.¡± ¡°...What?¡± Catarina sounded genuinely confused. Anton nodded. He thought it was something like that. But he wanted to let them talk about it before trying to insert his own potential explanations. ¡°You went on that whole journey,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Faced so much danger. I could have helped. But I wasn¡¯t there for you.¡± His face indicated there was more left unspoken. ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We didn¡¯t need you.¡± Anton could see Timothy¡¯s heart break. Catarina caught it a moment later. ¡°I-it¡¯s not that we couldn¡¯t have used your help. Or want you there. It¡¯s just¡­ we made it back. No injuries that couldn¡¯t recover.¡± ¡°... I still should have been with you.¡± ¡°Then why weren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Timothy didn¡¯t seem able to find the words. Anton supposed he should help. ¡°He had prior commitments,¡± Anton explained. Though it had come up long before, Anton remembered. He left out the unhelpful and extraneous details he knew about. ¡°Our departure was not known about well in advance. I was perhaps a bit overeager to go, instead of waiting patiently for another companion.¡± It would have been impossible to say if things would ultimately have gone better had they waited. Many encounters would have happened differently, or not at all. They might have been too late for some things, though another companion might also have allowed them to move with less caution and more speed. But even though they¡¯d only been separated for several months, as planned, that was still a significant time for two young folk with barely twenty years to their name. He¡¯d focused too much on those potential people he planned to save, and not enough on those people who were close to him. ¡°I am quite sure we would have benefitted from your presence.¡± Timothy¡¯s head still hung. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t need me. You¡¯re both so strong. I¡¯m not even at peak Body Tempering yet.¡± Anton cracked his knuckles, grinning wildly. ¡°We can fix that.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care about that,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯re weak or strong. You¡¯re my friend. Though I have to say, it¡¯s harder to grow strong alone. I¡¯d be way weaker if not for Grandpa Anton¡¯s advice.¡± The discussion was over shortly. A trivial argument to solve, though Anton might have some questions for Timothy in private. But though the solution was simple, the problems it could have caused if left alone were very meaningful. Anton remembered Timothy¡¯s ambition to be stronger than Catarina, and though he must have worked hard alone he just didn¡¯t have the right opportunities. When she returned with such strength, it was likely a significant blow to him. Anton was quite certain he was brushing up against finishing the tenth star and just couldn¡¯t reach it. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It might have been more difficult to work through if the problems stemmed from not caring instead of caring too much. Anton doubted that things would be fully resolved with just what they had done, but the distance that had formed between the two friends could be patched. As they eventually went their separate ways, Anton looked towards the fourth courtyard. There was one more member of their little community, and he felt they needed to have a talk. Probably should have been done months before, but he was more confident in his assertions now. ----- An unexpected knock on the door startled Velvet. She hadn¡¯t even noticed him walking around. That was concerning, because Anton Krantz was extremely easy to notice. The aura of Spirit Building poured off him quite clearly. Velvet wondered what he wanted. The easiest way to find out was to just walk over to the door. ¡°Senior Anton, please do come in.¡± He¡¯d dropped by to say hello after he first returned- though not before he broke through to the twelfth star. He hadn¡¯t stayed for more than a moment there, and she was hoping for more now. ¡°Thank you,¡± Anton smiled pleasantly. ¡°I would love to.¡± Was he younger? If nothing else his wrinkles were less pronounced- though tempering his skin would do that. If she recalled correctly, he hadn¡¯t finished that before leaving on his journey. Though nothing about his particular movements were threatening, Velvet herself was merely at the eighth star. He had four more, and it wasn¡¯t just four but also a prime tempering and stepping into the next stage. He could kill her in an instant, though she thought she¡¯d avoided giving him any reason to do so. ¡°I thought that I should get to know my final neighbor better. You went on an expedition while we were gone, correct? With Timothy? I¡¯d love to hear about it.¡± Velvet took a deep breath. She didn¡¯t want to screw something up. She didn¡¯t fully comprehend how Anton Krantz was now four stars ahead of her instead of one, but she felt the opportunity he represented. ¡°I¡¯d be glad to! The team I was working with needed another competent defender, and he was the first I thought of.¡± It had been a bit concerning when he stagnated at the ninth star, but he was still ahead of her so she hadn¡¯t been too worried. ¡°We journeyed west, into Ambati. A bit north as well, into the jungled section.¡± She spoke about the mission, making sure to give TImothy proper praise. Anton listened intently, occasionally prompting her with questions. ¡°... we made it back alright, but perhaps I should have invited you as well, Senior Anton.¡± ¡°I would have been forced to decline. I had my own plans to take care of.¡± ¡°So I noticed!¡± Velvet smiled. ¡°A quite successful training journey, I can tell. I¡¯d love to hear about how you advanced so quickly.¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite simple really,¡± Anton explained, ¡°Just put yourself in situations you must grow stronger, and you will. Or you suffer the consequences.¡± Velvet grimaced. That wasn¡¯t really the answer she was looking for. There had to be some trick to his growth. ¡°I¡¯m sure that someone as wise as you was never in any true danger.¡± Something on Anton¡¯s face shifted, though she couldn¡¯t tell what it meant. ¡°There are more precious things beyond just one¡¯s wealth and life.¡± He looked at her, as if trying to see through her. He folded his hands in front of him, and she was suddenly very uncomfortable as the atmosphere shifted. ¡°So why did you really invite Timothy?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know what you mean.¡± Everything she said was true. ¡°He was strong, growing stronger rapidly. A perfect fit for the team.¡± ¡°Understandable,¡± Anton said. ¡°But¡­ odd. I can see why you wouldn¡¯t invite an old man along. Why not Catarina as well?¡± ¡°Well, there was the¡­ incident. I¡¯m sure you remember that.¡± Velvet dropped her eyes. She really didn¡¯t want to remember that. She could have died. That was also part of why she hadn¡¯t approached Anton. That danger. ¡°I see,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°So instead you chose to attempt to manipulate her best friend instead.¡± How was it so cold? Velvet knew the answer to that, but the way she was sweating and getting the chills at the same time was extremely uncomfortable. ¡°I just asked him to come along,¡± she said sweetly. ¡°It¡¯s not like we gave him a bad cut or anything¡­¡± Timothy had potential. She really didn¡¯t want to make an enemy of someone like that. Unfortunately, before she¡¯d really understood anything she¡¯d already done that with Catarina. Then she had been completely blindsided by Anton. Was he even human? How did he get so strong so fast? She was shocked back to focus when Anton spoke. ¡°I understand.¡± The words were powerful, yet frightening. ¡°People don¡¯t just become cultivators on a whim. They want something. Power. Safety. Stability. Though the latter two rarely end up working out in the long run.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes nearly stabbed into her. ¡°I understand wanting to be in control of your life. But do consider how you go about it.¡± Anton stood up. ¡°Remember that we¡¯re in the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, and what that represents.¡± He turned towards the door. ¡°Now if you¡¯ll excuse me, I have business to attend to. I¡¯m afraid any talk about my trip will have to wait for later. Don¡¯t be hesitant to drop by if you have any questions about that, or anything really. I¡¯ll do my best to make sure you understand. And you don¡¯t even have to listen over the wall.¡± Velvet watched him go, closing the door behind himself. He didn¡¯t know everything. He didn¡¯t really know her. But he certainly wasn¡¯t blind, or deaf. And he was far too strong to mess around with. Velvet sighed. She just wished she had whatever it was that he had. But he¡¯d made it very clear that his secrets wouldn¡¯t be easy to get. Chapter 94 Advancing in cultivation was a mix between control of energy and mastery of particular aspects of cultivation. For Body Tempering, it was fairly clear what was being tempered, though specifics changed from person to person. In Spirit Building, things were more abstract. Anton could easily tell they were still very real, but even less specific than ¡®muscles¡¯. He had definitely tempered some of his muscles more than others, but he¡¯d still completed the tempering of his muscles without issue. He honestly doubted that muscles on his face were of much use even if properly tempered. The best part about the Ninety-Nine Stars was that while the choice of what to cultivate- especially for prime temperings- was quite open, it never fully put aside other aspects. His choices in Body Tempering still significantly influenced his current self, but as his cultivation grew he could continually smooth out any weaknesses he had. So instead of focusing too hard on exactly what he should cultivate in Spirit Building and the single prime tempering of the Seven Purifications, he just let himself continue to grow. Having already cultivated Voice, he found it easier to organize his thoughts on what he wanted. Going for whatever seemed most useful in the immediate future was perfectly reasonable. He could reserve things that were ultimately important but not urgent for later. Insight for reading enemies. He knew he would have to fight, and that wouldn¡¯t suddenly stop happening in the future. Even outside of combat he was able to use it to great effect. Voice was his inner voice and thoughts, while his outer voice allowed him to influence others. It wasn¡¯t anything so powerful as mind control, but he didn¡¯t want to deal with the problems inherent in that field anyway. It was simply useful. Emotion was next. While he found himself relatively stable at the moment, in personal situations he would be able to make better decisions if he could properly manage his emotions. That didn¡¯t mean suppressing or ignoring them. Some sects managed their emotions in different ways- even to the extremes of letting certain emotions take them over or completely cutting themselves off. The Order preferred a more nourishing approach wherein the effects of emotions on decision making could be tempered as necessary. Anger or impatience would be managed such that improper snap decisions were prevented, while proper training would still allow appropriate responses in the same time frame. Another aspect of Emotion was its effect on cultivation as a whole. It could be juxtaposed with Spiritual Connection as they related to different aspects of energy control. Spiritual Connection had much to do with reading the flow of energy, absorbing it, and controlling it outside the body. Extremely useful, but Emotion had effects on internal use of energy to grow cultivation. It was a close choice between the two of them, with Emotion barely coming out ahead. In truth, it barely mattered. Not because the details of his cultivation weren¡¯t important, but because in a few months he would be advancing to the other one either way. Each had useful immediate benefits, so he finally just made the choice. After a week of training, he felt like it was the right one. This was one area his advanced age absolutely helped instead of hindering him. While those undergoing puberty experienced many emotions, a majority of those emotions were ultimately shallow. Anton had lived a full life, to the point he had experienced basically anything life had to offer, highs and lows of all sorts. Though the lowest lows came at the destruction of Dungannon, just prior to which he would have been perfectly happy to die peacefully and finish his life. Now, he absolutely wouldn¡¯t let go of his hold on life. ----- The management of the technique library was primarily under the care of Elder Bristol Mason. Even with thousands of members in the order, she rarely got more than ten or twenty people per day at the technique library. An individual might ask for help finding a handful of techniques at once then study them each for a month or more before returning. A few seemed interested in studying absolutely everything they could, which she hoped was beneficial to their cultivation instead of confusing. For the most part Anton Krantz fell into the former category. He¡¯d studied a small handful of techniques over his year and some with the Order. After he returned from a journey he perused a few more, archery techniques and movement for the most part. Standard fare. Then he¡¯d begun asking about Everheart, and forbidden techniques. ¡°What makes a technique forbidden, anyway? By the Order¡¯s standards?¡± Elder Mason might not entertain the questions from a young disciple, but Anton hadn¡¯t even brought up the idea of seeing any of them. It seemed to be pure intellectual curiosity. ¡°Same things as most, really. Danger to the cultivator or to society.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I had a chance to see one of Everheart¡¯s techniques. Candle Wax. A clear danger to the user, and the scroll laid it out quite clearly. Burning one¡¯s life like a candle for temporary bursts of power. The way the description said not to seek out forbidden techniques¡­ Everheart seemed to be trying to make people curious about more.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Elder Mason smiled. ¡°Yes. That was his way. He was quite fond of creating techniques that were forbidden, though he had his own standards. Nothing that was exceptionally cruel to others. Of course, half of his techniques were forbidden just because they were intentionally made to counter some of the prominent sects in his time. He was on passable terms with the Order so we don¡¯t believe he created anything specifically to spite the Order, but he was fond of ways to disrupt cultivator¡¯s internal cultivation methods. None of that is technically forbidden here, but if we found something specifically aimed at countering the Ninety-Nine Stars, it would probably get that treatment anyway.¡± ¡°Everyone has limits,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I¡¯d certainly be happy to get rid of any anti-archery techniques.¡± ¡°I suppose we can¡¯t lend you any of the distance closing techniques then,¡± Elder Mason grinned. ¡°... Actually I should probably study those.¡± ¡°It could be worthwhile. They¡¯re basically just specific movement techniques focused on catching up with people and sticking with them.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°One last question. Do you ever recommend forbidden techniques to people?¡± ¡°Your question presupposes that we keep forbidden techniques on hand.¡± ¡°Of course you do,¡± Anton said. ¡°Every technique is dangerous in some fashion. I could twist my ankle or break a leg if I messed up a movement technique. There have to be things besides life-burning, soul stealing, or consciousness overriding techniques that are simply too dangerous for general practice. Even the full version of the Ninety-Nine Stars isn¡¯t freely available to everyone.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right about that. We have different levels of availability. Even some truly abhorrent techniques kept to research counters.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Speaking of counters, can I see some of those distance closing techniques?¡± He didn¡¯t continue to bring up the topic later, but Elder Briston knew he was still interested. Everheart was still corrupting people with his enthusiasm to this very day, it seemed. Though chastising Anton for his curiosity would be hypocritical. Everheart had so many good ideas. Or at least interesting ideas. ----- Less than a month since Timothy started talking to people again, Velvet felt him break through to the tenth star. It was so frustrating. She¡¯d tried to watch him train, but there was nothing special about any of it. Some of it was even stupid. Running hundreds of laps around their compound had to be some sort of distraction so she would stop paying attention. Whatever he¡¯d done with Anton when they went off together had to be the key to his continued growth, but Velvet didn¡¯t have the confidence to stealthily follow behind Anton. She¡¯d tried it once. The way he turned around and looked straight into her eyes from a couple hundred meters away had shown her how impossible that was. Just a quick turn, a look, and then he continued walking as if she didn¡¯t exist. As if she was nothing. Maybe that was true. He didn¡¯t even look angry. Just nothing, as if there was no connection between them. Or her and the others. He was right. Timothy might have grown slightly closer to her during the course of the mission in Ambati, but that all faded away afterwards. He talked more about Catarina and Anton than her even while they were on the mission. Then he¡¯d sort of fallen apart when they were back, worrying about them. Somehow that got worse when they returned. Velvet thought that Catarina had done something like declare she found a lover on her journey, but apparently she¡¯d just spoken about what they did. Then Timothy regretted not helping, even though he couldn¡¯t have known anything. It was stupid. Why did he even care? Maybe he just regretted missing out on whatever secret training methods Anton had. That had to be it. Even though he wasn¡¯t exactly performing poorly, the entire trio that went on that journey returned at Spirit Building. Her curiosity got the better of her. He¡¯d said something she might be able to use. A knock on Anton¡¯s door. Of course, he was almost there to answer it by the time she knocked. He knew she was coming. ¡°Hello, Senior Anton.¡± That smile. It had to be hiding something. But what was it? How could she get his secrets? ¡°Velvet. Welcome! Do come in.¡± He brought her tea. Nothing special about it, but she wasn¡¯t going to complain either. She engaged in some smalltalk, then she got to her true purpose. ¡°Earlier, you said you¡¯d explain anything I didn¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°I did.¡± At least he didn¡¯t deny it. The fact that his expression didn¡¯t change made her wonder if he was surprised or not. It was so difficult to tell. ¡°Then¡­ tell me how you and the others got so strong so fast.¡± ¡°Certainly. Just tell me where you¡¯re experiencing problems with your cultivation.¡± Velvet took a sip of tea. So that was how it was going to be. He wanted to scope out her weaknesses. But could she get enough useful information out of him without giving everything away? She decided to try. ¡°I¡¯m currently trying to temper my bones, but sometimes it gets extremely painful. It¡¯s keeping me from progressing.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton said. He appeared to take a moment to think. ¡°Painful how?¡± She wasn¡¯t going to give away her weak points that easily. ¡°It¡¯s hard to describe¡­¡± Sometimes it was a burning fire. Sometimes it was as if she was a creaking tower about to snap. A brick at the bottom of a pile crushed under the weight of those above. ¡°It just sort of¡­ hurts.¡± ¡°In that case,¡± Anton explained. ¡°I have a few helpful training tips.¡± That was something, at least. Hopefully they would help until she got to the real secrets. Chapter 95 It wasn¡¯t hard to spot Velvet sneaking around. She was better at it than Anton generally expected of people, but having an advantage of four steps of cultivation was a gap that was hard to close. Anton particularly cared about spotting opponents from afar, and he¡¯d been expecting her. When he looked at her, she shrunk away like a startled mouse. That girl had problems. He didn¡¯t know what they were, or if he should even try to solve them. Doing nothing was definitely the wrong option, though. If he left her alone she would be a danger to others or to herself, perhaps both. He didn¡¯t appreciate her manipulative methods, but it seemed to be the only way she knew to interact with people. It was like she couldn¡¯t even believe the things he said directly to her. So he would watch over her. He really hoped he could coax her into a person more fitting for the Order, because if not she would be a danger. He wondered if the Order knew. Probably- but he wasn¡¯t just going to assume that. Nobody was perfect. He¡¯d have to talk to Elder Daniela, and explain what he planned to do. But for the moment, he had a promise to fulfill. Anton sat with Velvet in her courtyard and folded his fingers in front of him. He should probably start slowly. ¡°Tempering your body isn¡¯t just about dumping natural energy into it. That can work, but the more you understand the better you will do. You said training your bones hurts?¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°There are several possibilities. You are likely trying to go too fast, too strong. Something that will certainly help is understanding your body and moving it.¡± Anton wiggled his fingers and made weird motions with his joined hands. ¡°The hands are the easiest place to just feel a lot of bones. Almost a quarter of the whole number of bones are in them together. You understand?¡± ¡°Mmn.¡± Velvet had folded her hands together as well, but she was unenthusiastic about the process. ¡°I know how many bones people have already¡­¡± It was difficult to teach someone who didn¡¯t want to be taught. She wanted his secrets to advancing in cultivation. But there weren¡¯t any secrets. Hard work, a bit of luck, and then working with other people to understand the process. He might also include cultivating like a madman uncaring about your life, but he wouldn¡¯t recommend that one for the long term. Otherwise he would have just suggested she push through the pain. There was a decent chance that would allow her to complete the ninth star- if she didn¡¯t explode her bones. ¡°Watch the flow of my energy carefully.¡± Anton pressed his fingers together, tip to tip. He coaxed a strand of energy to flow up his right hand, along the right edge towards his pinky. He made sure it carefully weaved its way through the bone itself, then into his other pinky and down the other side to his wrist. Then up his left ring finger and down, flowing back and forth through all the bones in his hand, ending behind his left thumb. The process did very little for him- his bones were near the limits of what they could reach until the second half of Spirit Building. ¡°Pay attention to each bone, and do it yourself. I will watch and guide you.¡± Velvet looked at him suspiciously- in short, with the same look he¡¯d seen from her almost all the time since he¡¯d returned. Still, she slowly repeated his same process. It didn¡¯t seem to be a lack of control that was holding her back, but rather what she did with it. She was nearly forcing the energy into her bones after they reached their limit, like packing a bag too full. Of course it hurt. Her face was strained, though she clearly tried to hide that. The process took her a lot longer, and she was sweating by the end of it. ¡°Good energy control.¡± The girl hadn¡¯t properly followed his instructions, but she seemed in desperate need of reinforcement. ¡°Now, with all that energy in your hands you need to move them.¡± Anton showed some methods of stretching his hands. ¡°If you can do it while circulating even better, but for now we¡¯ll settle for one at a time. Moving your fingers doesn¡¯t directly affect your bones, but it will help. If you are careful, some light pressure on individual bones-¡± Anton squeezed one finger, ¡°-can help the process. Start small, because if you push too far you just get broken bones. Trust me, it hurts.¡± Velvet didn¡¯t have any questions, just silently following his lead. That was a problem, because she clearly didn¡¯t fully understand what he was doing. She just wouldn¡¯t ask. Anton shook his head. He wouldn¡¯t expect any real change in a single day. On that note, he made sure to remind her that the exercises he was teaching her also wouldn¡¯t have immediate results. Hopefully she would be patient enough to wait a full week to see how it affected her. After he finished that lesson, he had another handful who might need his help. Anton didn¡¯t mind spending time teaching others because he learned quite a bit for himself- and he cared about them. Pete and Oskar both passed the test and could use some guidance. Patricia was able to live with Oskar, and she was also was interested in continuing to learn cultivation. Maybe the others living in the same area as them would join for lessons. Of course there was also Hoyt, Catarina, and Timothy. Timothy was pushing himself to catch back up, doing a good job of overcoming his feelings of inadequacy. He¡¯d have a hard time overcoming Catarina since she wasn¡¯t the sort to slack off in training and had talent, but he could at least reach close enough to be a relevant factor in battle. ----- Sometimes, curiosity overcame patience. Anton brought the bone bow to Elder Evan, who ran the armory. He was quite capable of appraising it, and he gave basically the same answer as Elder Byrne of the Misty Hill Palace, including close pricing. ¡°I honestly can¡¯t say if it¡¯s a good bow,¡± he said, ¡°But the materials and work are excellent. I¡¯m certain Elder Kseniya could judge its actual practicality better.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Anton nodded. He¡¯d thought that as well, but he just wanted to see if Evan had any insights before that. Despite Elder Byrne¡¯s general warning, he wasn¡¯t concerned about anyone ¡®snatching¡¯ it away from him. The Order was a bit creaky and stiff in its age, but it still tried to follow righteous standards. And frankly, Elder Kseniya had to have a better bow. There were a number of residences for elders in the same area as the rewards hall, the armory, and the majority of the training fields. Most business was handled in that area. However, many elders and disciples lived further up the mountain. Anton had the opportunity to do so now, but he wasn¡¯t concerned about the amount of difference in energy at the moment. Where he was remained sufficient. Anton was certain that more powerful elders like Kseniya and any of the Grand Elders most certainly needed the increased density. He found the atmosphere much less oppressive now that he was in Spirit Building, though Elder Kseniya¡¯s residence wasn¡¯t at the peak like the observatory where he¡¯d met Grand Elder Vandale. He confidently knocked on her door. Doubtless she felt him coming, but whether she would come to her door was a different question entirely. ¡°Yes? Who is it?¡± Before Anton could respond, the door was quickly pulled open. ¡°Ah. I have not seen you at an archery demonstration in some time.¡± She recognized him- and his absence. Anton was surprised at that. Then again, she seemed the sort to either completely ignore everyone she didn¡¯t know, or memorize them all. So it was probably nothing special with him in particular. ¡°Looking for private lessons?¡± ¡°Not at this time, Elder Kseniya¡± Anton said. ¡°Though I suppose this is something of a related request. I am Anton Krantz, by the way.¡± He bowed. ¡°I have recently come across a strange bow, and while Elder Evan was able to identify its properties he was unable to determine its efficacy as a bow. I know your time is valuable, but if you could take a look at it-¡± he wasn¡¯t able to finish his sentence before the bow was in her hands. A bit rude, but he hadn¡¯t really expected anything else from her. ¡°Come,¡± she said. She nearly disappeared from his sight as she moved through her house. Anton was barely able to close the door behind him and follow her into the back yard. A courtyard much bigger than his, and significantly longer in length compared to its width. There were formations set up, concentrating on several types of archery targets- the standard sort of block but not made out of straw, hanging targets, and some in the shape of a torso and head. She was looking at the bow curiously, and Anton was about to try to explain when she formed a string. Then immediately after that, a Spirit Arrow as she held the bow up in a proper stance. It was the first time he¡¯d seen the bow bend even a little bit, but it almost seemed to have no resistance in Elder Kseniya¡¯s hand. There was a horrible sound that nearly toppled Anton off his feet as she released her grip and the string snapped, but not before it propelled the arrow forward. The arrow itself moved far quicker than Anton had anticipated, even having seen Elder Kseniya shoot before. She didn¡¯t remain idle, moving to different positions and continuously firing arrows, her subsequent string holding strong. The sound of the bow twanging was sharp and echoed throughout the large courtyard. It was a good sound. After just a minute or so, Elder Kseniya was holding the bow in front of Anton. He held out his hand to take it, and she dropped it into his palm. ¡°I hate it.¡± ¡°Yes? Um¡­¡± ¡°Too hard to draw. Time between shots is high.¡± Anton hadn¡¯t really noticed a significant drop in her speed, but he could see that. ¡°Power is reasonable. But forming a proper string splits the attention between that, bending the bow, and the arrow. Coating standard arrows in energy would barely help.¡± ¡°Oh. Thank you for your assessment. Do I-¡± ¡°You won¡¯t be able to use it with puny arms like that,¡± Elder Kseniya declared. ¡°Even at early Essence Collection, that darkwood bow you have would do better.¡± Anton blinked. He didn¡¯t even have the bow with him. But then again, of course she remembered his bow. He¡¯d never even seen her glance at any of the disciples who watched her ¡®demonstrations¡¯, but she probably knew their bows better than their faces. ¡°What if you pulled the bow with pure strength?¡± Anton asked. Elder Kseniya looked straight into his eyes and poked his bicep. Despite how it looked, she confidently declared, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it with those twig arms. And your back muscles¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°You¡¯d tear yourself apart.¡± ¡°How do I train-¡± ¡°Shoot more arrows,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe that will help.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Anton just looked at her. He hadn¡¯t really expected anything different, but it was still strange. Especially being treated like a skinny little kid, when he was none of those. ¡°Do I owe you-¡± ¡°Don¡¯t need anything.¡± She waved him away. ¡°Now shoo. I have someone coming for lessons. Unless you want to?¡± ¡°Not right now,¡± Anton said. ¡°I need to think first.¡± As he was walking down the road, he saw a familiar face. ¡°Marcio?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Marcio Armani?¡± ¡°You¡­ Anton Krantz, right?¡± the young man nodded. Anton noticed that he had gone from seventh to twelfth star since they first met. ¡°Are you taking lessons from Elder Kseniya too? Because if you are, I¡¯d really like you to explain to me instead. Her teaching skills are¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°Some people are suited for different things,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I was just asking about this bow, actually. But perhaps we could meet up and talk archery. I¡¯ve learned some useful tricks, with some practical experience.¡± ¡°That would be great.¡± Marcio paused. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ twelfth star now?¡± ¡°As of the last couple weeks,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°You look close to thirteenth now, correct?¡± ¡°...yeah,¡± Marcio shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ve made some pretty good progress. Some of your advice really helped, actually.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Anton said. ¡°I don¡¯t know too many archers. Don¡¯t talk much with the other students, and Elder Kseniya¡­¡± ¡°Is Elder Kseniya,¡± Marcio nodded. ¡°Speaking of which, I should hurry. She doesn¡¯t much tolerate lateness.¡± Chapter 96 The journey up to the very peak of the mountain was hardly laborious at all, now that Anton was returning much stronger. The amount of natural energy was still unpleasant, but no more than that. It was like dealing with weather a bit too hot or too cold, though his body didn¡¯t really know how to react. Arranging for a meeting with Grand Elder Vandale was quite easy. Or rather, the man was completely booked for the majority of the day and devoted the night to watching the stars. Presumably he slept some, but Anton knew how little ¡®some¡¯ could be. He wasn¡¯t much of a sleeper himself, and Vandale was several times his age. When Anton requested to visit, the response he received was that he could come at any time during the first four hours of the night- and it was an open invitation. Seeing no reason to delay, he was going the first night after he asked. He was quite aware that it was an honor to meet with a Grand Elder, but though they¡¯d barely interacted he felt quite comfortable. It was like meeting an eccentric acquaintance, one he wouldn¡¯t mind having as a friend. It was from quite a distance that he first felt Vandale. The man made no effort to hide himself, shining like a bright star atop the hill. In return, he found he had already been noticed. The way the energy danced over him it was clear it was keeping track of him. He¡¯d only sensed a brief sweep the first time, though that may have truly been all there was. The natural energy in the area wasn¡¯t a problem for Anton, but he found it quite difficult to continue walking towards Vandale. He wanted to flee, recognizing a source of danger. But he knew better. There was no danger to him- not any different than there would be anywhere else around the Order. It still took quite the effort to actually enter the building. ¡°I¡¯m glad to see you are in good form, Grand Elder Vandale,¡± Anton greeted him. Vandale turned, a nearly toothless smile on his face. His one eye pierced into Anton, once more judging him. ¡°You present the same paradox as before. But now that I¡¯ve personally felt your growth. Tell me, now that you¡¯ve had time to consider. Why do you cultivate?¡± ¡°To get revenge for Dungannon,¡± Anton said. ¡°To return those who were stolen away. That motivation is a sufficient for me to travel through Spirit Building.¡± Vandale showed some disappointment, but Anton was not yet finished, ¡°After that, my target is more nebulous. You said that you would cultivate for the Order. Being who I am, that would not suit me. The Order is¡­ good. But I am not so attached that I would use it as motivation. But,¡± Anton let the word linger in the air, ¡°I certainly won¡¯t be done with cultivation after I complete my short term goals. Unless I die on the path, I have more to do. Having traveled through Ofrurg, my horizons broadened. I grew up in a peaceful village, and for a time it was my deepest desire to return to that. But it¡¯s already too late for me.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°I could never be content, whittling away my time in a village. Not when I could do so much more. I liberated more than thirty slaves from Ofrurg. Yet it¡¯s basically nothing. Do you know how many slaves they have?¡± ¡°Besides too many?¡± Vandale shook his head, ¡°No. But I can guess. They have a population of tens of millions, and a not insignificant portion of that is composed of slaves.¡± ¡°At least one in ten, though most people don¡¯t seem to interact much with slaves. They are generally owned by more wealthy individuals in numbers surpassing the rest of the country by far.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°They work them hard to undercut the common laborers and buy more slaves. It is both effective and terrible. So I¡¯m going to free all of the slaves.¡± ¡°Every slave in Ofrurg, huh?¡± Vandale touched a wrinkled hand to his lips. ¡°Ambitious.¡± ¡°Ofrurg first, then everywhere else,¡± Anton declared. ¡°I might hit a limit, or reach the end of my lifespan, or die trying. But I see no reason to give up short of that.¡± Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°You¡¯ll upset many people with ideas like that.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll kill them,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯d prefer to have the Order on my side for that. I understand why you wouldn¡¯t want to try to take on the world, but you think too much like cultivators. Things seem stable, and you don¡¯t want the world to get worse.¡± ¡°Stability¡­¡± Vandale nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not so easy to give it up. Look at me, a guardian who doesn¡¯t leave his post, the very symbol of stability.¡± Vandale gestured to himself, especially his missing eye and otherwise decrepit form. ¡°I¡¯d quite like for a powerful young generation to replace me and keep the stability.¡± ¡°You should know that won¡¯t happen. Not just like that. The world is always changing. I¡­ lived a full life, not as a cultivator but just as a man. I understand the desire for things to stay the same. But I also understand that it can¡¯t happen. Fifty years ago, the Krantz farm was big enough. My children could help me work it and we would be quite content. But grandchildren would come into the picture eventually. Children and grandchildren alike moved away to seek their own lives, despite the option for stability. And I knew I couldn¡¯t just leave the farm as it was. Staying just as things were was meaningless. Precisely because of those younger generations. Not everyone can accept just doing the same thing. And even if all of Graotan decided they want to keep things as they are, we¡¯re not the ultimate deciding factor. Everyone else is, and that mostly means cultivators. Non-cultivators hardly get to decide anything. In that way, they¡¯re almost slaves.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Vandale paused. ¡°Is it not a good life, here in Graotan? With unfortunate exceptions, the people are safe and prosperous.¡± ¡°Yes, but they could be more so. Both more safe, and more prosperous.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have the ability,¡± Vandale said. ¡°Whenever we¡¯ve tried, we merely overwork ourselves and leave weaknesses.¡± ¡°But you don¡¯t have to,¡± Anton said. ¡°The problem is not the efforts of the Order, really. It is, as I said, that the common folk are non-cultivators. If everyone in Dungannon had even been at the first or second star, things would have gone quite differently. You¡¯ve heard, I¡¯m sure, about the slaves I freed.¡± ¡°Yes. A remarkable achievement, that they have all surpassed the first star in just a few months.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if it is,¡± Anton said. ¡°It was really quite simple to guide them. If a bit more time was taken, most could do it if they knew how.¡± Anton organized his thoughts. ¡°The thing is, the strength and prosperity of every common person would be so much more with just the beginnings of cultivation. They just need to be taught. And it doesn¡¯t have to be just by me. If one of moderate talent achieved late Body Tempering, with proper training they could do the same. It might take decades to really spread, but I think it¡¯s worth trying.¡± ¡°I see. At least you acknowledge the time taken. I don¡¯t know if I believe your words fully, but decades¡­ is actually not so long. I might even be able to watch much of this attempt myself.¡± The admission that Vandale had just low decades to live was concerning, but Anton knew he was already several centuries old. There was nothing unexpected there. In fact, when he was drained from rescuing Thuston, Vandale had felt like he might only have years instead of decades. ¡°I¡¯d like to try it, and I¡¯d like the Order¡¯s permission and assistance.¡± ¡°I do not think it would hurt. Some of the others might not like the idea so much, however. It is likely you will need to show results with just your personal effort. Though I would caution you, do not forget your own cultivation.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. In fact, I think this would help me grow faster. There¡¯s quite a lot to learn from people stumbling around at the beginning of cultivation.¡± ¡°Good to hear. Now then¡­ you remember what I pointed out last time?¡± Vandale had already moved over next to the telescope. ¡°You can get a different angle on some things. Come and see.¡± With that, the topic moved to the stars- and that included the other planets in the system. If one considered the planets stars, which was often the case, then a system was actually somewhat analogous to Spirit Building. Anton liked that thought, that he¡¯d stepped beyond the beginning but wasn¡¯t yet truly far from home compared to the vastness of where he might reach. It was intimidating, but comforting at the same time. Chapter 97 Simply living for a long time didn¡¯t make one peaceful and tolerant. Anton had known quite a few old grumps in his time, and they could be downright miserable fellows hanging onto life out of pure spite. Anton had chosen to become tolerant of others, especially youths who didn¡¯t know any better¡­ but he wasn¡¯t a saint. It was still possible to get on his nerves, and he was getting far too much practice in the area of tempering his emotions with Velvet. Most of the time, she was a quiet and obedient learner. She was more than tolerable at those points, eagerly soaking up his advice and flourishing like a previously water-starved plant. For those who wanted to learn, Anton had the patience to explain something many times, trying different methods until something stuck. Velvet clearly wanted to learn, to grow stronger¡­ but she had problems. Problems with people, and problems with trust. ¡°Why won¡¯t you tell me how to complete body tempering?¡± Velvet complained. As if it was something easy. He knew how to do it, but he didn¡¯t know what she was having trouble with. She wouldn¡¯t explain it. She didn¡¯t like him watching as she cultivated, as if he was trying to steal her secrets. It was true that he would learn things about her, her weaknesses, from doing so- but it was also the only way he could help her grow strong. ¡°Things that may be obvious to me might not be obvious to you. I can¡¯t help without knowing where you struggle.¡± For the moment, Anton wanted to avoid a direct confrontation. Raising his voice at her wouldn¡¯t help, and she was slowly growing more comfortable around him. It was a shame that her current lack of progress was hurting the trust they were building. For the moment, he could only give her advice on each aspect of body tempering, to cover whatever she was missing. It could just be that she was not willing to give it the proper amount of time. From what Anton knew it wouldn¡¯t be strange to take a year to form the tenth star. That would be quite an acceptable speed, though not good. A few months was well within reason, especially considering there was no pressure from danger. Sparring was all well and good, but actual battles allowed cultivators to grow much more. But Anton wasn¡¯t going to suggest she throw herself into mortal peril just to save a month or two. While her technical skills were fine and her strength sufficient, Anton didn¡¯t feel that would be helpful at the moment. If she would only work with him. Fortunately, he found his other students to be much more pleasing to work with. ----- Pete, Oskar, and Patricia all had experience training with Anton. Throwing in a couple others wasn¡¯t a problem. They had a nice group of seven, not counting Anton himself. Catarina, Timothy, Hoyt, plus the two others who shared the complex with the first group. Velvet was invited¡­ but she was very personal. In short, unwilling to train in front of others. Their training group might have appeared a bit odd, with cultivation ranging from second star to twelfth, but there were many things they could do together. Though bodily improvements in the first half of Spirit Building were extremely marginal, Anton still felt it fulfilling to go through the full range of exercises. Running was quite satisfying purely for the feeling of the world flying past, and repeated exercises with weapons or through a form of work bred familiarity. Anton even ¡®practiced¡¯ with his new bow. He hadn¡¯t made it bend an inch yet, but he was getting better at forming a string. His muscles strained against the bow, tiring him out quickly, but something felt off about the whole thing. He wasn¡¯t sure what he was doing wrong, because Elder Kseniya¡¯s form had been the same as his. Maybe it really was useless. Anton¡¯s eyes brushed over Velvet. She was getting better at concealing herself. An area she was quite talented in, though he wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to encourage it. He hoped she would see his lessons to others and understand. His lessons to others, and what they could teach him. Gerd was a round little thing. She looked to not have worked a day in her life before she began cultivating, but she gleefully followed his training advice. She wasn¡¯t able to run far, so she would run until she collapsed. At first Anton had been hesitant to throw her into things too quickly, but she always asked for another exercise. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Work your arms next,¡± he said, demonstrating a series of exercises. There was something about that¡­ it was almost a proper technique, but not viable for combat. The Ninety-Nine Stars emphasized the energy side of body tempering but didn¡¯t neglect proper exercise. As far as he had seen, however, a comprehensive technique covering each part of body tempering wasn¡¯t available. Or whatever it might be called. Everyone had their own style, which made sense given different weapons and the like, but there were core parts that everyone could benefit from. When Gerd had finished working her arms until they couldn¡¯t move, Anton set her onto the next task. Sometimes she had to be carried back to her home at the end of the day, but that was fine with Anton. Another new recruit was Malcom Cruse. He had practiced a different technique than the Ninety-Nine stars to the equivalent of the third star. The technique itself wasn¡¯t very good, which was actually more impressive that he achieved the progress he did within a full year. Anton was helping him get his body and soul used to the Ninety-Nine Stars¡¯ cultivation method, because it was just better. Provided strong, durable energy for the user to do as they pleased. While certain techniques did better if a cultivator had an elemental attribute or the like tied to their cultivation, it wasn¡¯t required. It seemed the Ninety-Nine Stars would be able to incorporate other styles if it needed to, though Anton had no experience with that. He¡¯d browsed some of the cultivation techniques the library kept for reference, but didn¡¯t find anything particularly inspiring. Even while training was going well, Anton still felt something telling him that he was too slow. What was he doing? He felt like he was doing nothing. He should be in Ofrurg, buying people¡¯s freedom or killing to achieve the same result. Thinking about what they might do brought anger upon him. He let it pass with the help of time, because while he could indeed focus on one emotion and grow more powerful quickly, a proper balance would be better. ----- Anton wasn¡¯t using time for nothing. He was training, of course, but there was more than that. He was talking to others in the Order. But he also kept in correspondence with Ofrurg. Specifically, Elder Varela and the Ears of the Fox. There were some things he couldn¡¯t even mention in case the letters were intercepted and read, but he was merely talking about legal methods of accomplishing his goals. The Ears of the Fox were happy to provide information if he paid for it- and promissory notes from the Order wouldn¡¯t matter if they were stolen. There was only so much he could ask, but they knew about everything. Even events long in the past, and he managed to get some ideas. Elder Varela kept him informed about Devon, though the Grasping Willows were more than a few days from Khonard. Either Varela¡¯s influence of their own good sense had kept Devon alive so far, though he did fight regular battles. Anton was working on a plan for the right time to try to get Devon back. Preferably without getting himself into any stupid fights or spending money again, but he wouldn¡¯t be returning empty handed again. But coordinating what he wanted was taking some time, and he wanted to be at the thirteenth star before returning. Just so it was very clear his advancement wasn¡¯t some sort of fluke. Through the Ears, Anton knew Annelie was still alive. In fact, information about her was public enough that he got ¡®free¡¯ information that she was a proper disciple of the sect. The exact details weren¡¯t given, but she was generally safe. Even so, Anton¡¯s studies into the Frostmirror sect indicated it was a competitive environment, and not entirely safe. They were very protective against external threats, but internal conflicts could happen. More so to those who were talented, and Annelie had at least some amount of talent. Otherwise the information on her wouldn¡¯t be so expensive. He had plans to purchase it when he returned to Ofrurg. The most interesting thing that was still a budding sprout was freeing slaves without violence, threats, or money. Or at least without paying their owners. If it could be proven that someone had been improperly enslaved, they could be freed. Sadly, the burden of proof was high- enough that Anton suspected it was only there to prevent sect disciples or others of importance from suffering the fate of enslavement. Still, the Ears of the Fox got Anton in contact with a woman who specialized in the area of slavery law. Kohar Tolvaj was her name, and she might be able to help Anton- and while her services would have a cost, from afar he felt she actually wanted to do the right thing. It just took time and resources. He¡¯d have to meet her in person to know for sure, but if he could use Ofrurg¡¯s own laws against them he honestly didn¡¯t mind spending more money as long as it stayed out of certain hands. Chapter 98 It was hopeless to sneak around everywhere and presume she would never be discovered. Anton would always pick her out and some of the elders had to have found her. But maybe his concentration would lapse and she would figure out what the secret was. The strange thing was that even though she spent all her time watching, they never did anything even close to secret. There was a whole lot of running around, and strangely enough working. Working fields by hand and even dealing with strange and exotic plants. That was something only Hoyt and Anton did much of, but she couldn¡¯t see how it would help. They didn¡¯t even cultivate any plant-related techniques. Those in Spirit Building certainly spent less time training their bodies, but Anton kept stubbornly trying to shoot a bow that didn¡¯t seem to bend. Velvet didn¡¯t know what the point was. If he couldn¡¯t do it, he couldn¡¯t do it. Everyone cultivated, of course, using the natural energy in the area to improve themselves. But the Spirit Building cultivators also spent a lot of time sparring and a strangely equal amount socializing. Mostly with each other instead of the rest of the Order as a whole, but it was still strange how they continued to grow strong so quickly. Maybe it was all a trick. However, Velvet didn¡¯t believe they¡¯d give up several weeks of cultivation time just to throw her off. Not when they could just¡­ remove her. Anton had never told her to stop skulking about, and she wanted to know what it meant. She briefly considered trying to bribe him. A foolish idea. Even performing menial labor he must have more contribution points than she could imagine, given the speed at which he worked. And he had gone on grand adventures, obtaining enchanted items. Her own mission to the jungle of Ambati had no way to match that. Yet she wasn¡¯t strong enough to take something riskier. Everyone was pulling away. Timothy had surpassed the tenth star and was properly stepping into spirit building. Catarina and Hoyt were on their way to the twelfth star, Anton clearly making progress toward the thirteenth. Even the new recruits were advancing faster than Velvet ever had. Finally, Velvet understood. If only she had been able to come to some other conclusion, it might help¡­ but instead she knew. It didn¡¯t matter if she was told the secret, if it was openly practiced in front of her. She couldn¡¯t do it. Anton knew that, but he wasted time with her anyway, giving false hope. It didn¡¯t make any sense. And she knew it never would. ----- Anton¡¯s eyes tracked the horizon. There was a disturbing lack of a certain skulking figure. She¡¯d certainly been improving her stealth abilities, but not so quickly. For one thing, Anton was constantly improving his Hawk Eyes technique, and he had other techniques for various senses. No, she wasn¡¯t suddenly successfully hiding. She just wasn¡¯t around. He hadn¡¯t felt her cultivating when he left the complex. In fact, she hadn¡¯t cultivated one bit in the last few days to the best of his knowledge. Perhaps her paranoia had reached a peak, and she would only do it when he was not around. He¡¯d have to check. But first, he had to replant this Screaming Root Bush. It was currently in a pot, and while it would benefit greatly from being planted in proper soil it didn¡¯t understand that. It wasn¡¯t a plant that thought in any sense of the word. It just resisted being unearthed, and created a horrible noise as it did so. The roots gripped onto the pot until Anton started to dismantle the vessel bit by bit. He protected his ears from the screaming noise with energy, a difficult task given the way it constantly shifted. It was good practice though. Dismantling the pot without harming the plant was also a useful exercise. Anton didn¡¯t know what sort of strange medicine this plant would eventually be, but it was quite a difficult one to raise. He created a bubble of energy around the roots as he shoved the plant into the soil where a hole had been dug. If it stuck its roots into the soil too high, it would be improperly buried- harming itself and anyone who walked nearby without protecting their ears. He held the roots still as he buried it up to the green leaves above it, pushing a pile of dirt with his free arm. Then he let it do as it would, which was to instinctively jab its roots into the soil all around it, greedily pulling in nutrients. It also needed to be watered immediately. That was a simple task merely involving pouring out a bucket, and then another when the ground immediately dried after the first. Then the soil remained slightly wet, and the thing settled down. That was enough for today. He enjoyed caring for exotic plants, and found it quite helpful to his cultivation, but there were other things to attend to. He said his goodbyes to Elder Howland, whose cultivation seemed to have improved from the fifteenth star to the sixteenth. The seventeenth would be another prime tempering, but the farming elder was throwing himself forward with vigor. Just as it should be! Maybe his individual cultivation wouldn¡¯t do much for the land, but it would be better than him not advancing. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Anton stood uphill from the little complex he lived in, close to where Elder Daniela had once stood, watching. She was probably around somewhere, doing the same. Anton couldn¡¯t see any signs of Velvet in her courtyard. It was rude to look, but he felt the need to guide the foolish little girl onto the right path and for that he needed to find her. His movements weren¡¯t nearly so swift as Elder Daniela. It took him a whole minute to traverse the distance to the complex instead of merely a handful of seconds. That wasn¡¯t surprising, considering she had thrice as many stars as he did. That put her a good few steps into Constellation Formation, though thirty-six stars was still far short of ninety-nine. As he approached, he was able to pick up Velvet¡¯s energy. It was jumbled and chaotic. For a moment Anton was worried she¡¯d made a mistake in her cultivation, but she wasn¡¯t doing anything with that energy. Which was good, because if it was circulated through her meridians and dantian in its current state she would certainly harm herself. Anton knocked on her door. He waited a few moments, then knocked louder. The third time, he amplified the sound and his own voice. ¡°Velvet? Are you alright?¡± The answer was clearly ¡®no¡¯, but she didn¡¯t give it. As far as he could tell, she didn¡¯t even shift from her position. He could hear her muttering to herself, but the door and the distance were too much to make anything out. ¡°Velvet? If you want to be left alone I need a response. Otherwise I will assume you need help, and will enter.¡± Nothing indicated he had been heard. ¡°I¡¯m coming in.¡± It was rude, and probably against some rules, but he opened the door. It hadn¡¯t even been locked, though he wouldn¡¯t have let that stop him. It only took him a few seconds to navigate to her. She was lying on her back in the middle of a hallway, staring up at the ceiling and muttering to herself. ¡°Never figure it out¡­¡± he heard, ¡°Not good enough¡­¡± Anton frowned. This isn¡¯t what he wanted at all, but he had the feeling it was his fault. Apparently her mind was so averse to the thought of trusting people that instead she had wholly misinterpreted his actions even when the answer was blatantly obvious. She didn¡¯t react as he walked over next to her, waving his hand in front of her face. She just blankly looked up at the ceiling. That wasn¡¯t good. She needed help, but Anton didn¡¯t know how. He didn¡¯t think he could provide anything, but he also didn¡¯t believe anyone else would do much good. He thought they¡¯d been building up some small level of understanding between them, and someone unknown would not provide any help even if they had the proper expertise. Or he could be wrong. But he knew he was going to try to help her on his own. That was what every part of him said was the right thing to do. It was his fault, even if not his intention. A fragile girl lay broken on the floor. He let the words come to him on their own. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re good enough. You made it this far.¡± He avoided saying something like ¡®on her own¡¯, though doubtless that was close to correct, despite his attempts at advice. She didn¡¯t visibly respond to his words, but she continued to mutter to herself. ¡°Don¡¯t understand. What¡¯s the point? Running and talking and fighting¡­¡± He didn¡¯t think she could hear his answers, but maybe on some deeper level he would. So he did his best. ¡°Training with others helps,¡± he explained. ¡°They can point out your flaws, and help you. You can do the same for them.¡± She repeated her thoughts, her questions. Her mind wandered randomly through ideas of insufficiency and lack of understanding. Anton continued to support her, the foolish girl, to the best of his ability. Cultivators were tougher than the rest, but as the sun fell, rose, and fell again Anton heard her voice rasp more and more. His own throat was dry as well. He could go get water. It would only take a moment, and he would be back. Yet somehow he felt if he left her side he wouldn¡¯t get another chance. ¡°... can¡¯t trust anyone¡­¡± Those exact words, and things like them, were far too common in Velvet¡¯s mutterings. Anton had little he could do to respond. ¡°You have to. It doesn¡¯t have to be me. But humans can¡¯t survive alone.¡± Sometimes, he almost thought she heard him. But he could never get a consistent response of any sort out of her. She didn¡¯t turn her eyes towards him and didn¡¯t react when he was in front of her. But he waited, sitting next to her, trying to help somehow. Maybe he wasn¡¯t qualified. Maybe the Order had some solution for this, and he was just wasting his time, endangering her. But he couldn¡¯t leave now. He wasn¡¯t sure how long it had been. More than a full day, probably two or three. It was then that something happened. It didn¡¯t seem like much, but as he waved his hand in front of her she reached up and grabbed his wrinkled wrist. She squeezed with the full power of the ninth star of Body Tempering. The bones in his wrist were close to snapping after just a moment, but he couldn¡¯t resist with energy. That could hurt her. He didn¡¯t try to dislodge her grip as her eyes finally closed. The grip only seemed to tighten after that, and Anton grit his teeth. The second full body tempering had barely been enough to make his old bones sturdy enough to resist, and it wasn¡¯t going to last forever. But what was a broken and squashed wrist anyway? As long as it wasn¡¯t too bad, he could recover it eventually. That hardly mattered. He did hope she would tire soon, but her grip seemed more likely to break her own fingers than give up. Chapter 99 Sometimes, dreams were bad. Most of the time, really. Nightmares could be anything you could imagine, things you didn¡¯t know you could imagine. Or just worse versions of what had already happened. Memories of loss, hunger, solitude¡­ all of those quite frequently graced Velvet¡¯s dreams. This one involved her father. Usually those weren¡¯t good dreams. However, this one sparked a particular memory. She hadn¡¯t been old enough to remember details, but she knew he¡¯d come to tell her stories before bed. Stories of princes and princesses and cultivators and magic, where everything always had a happy ending. Normally Velvet¡¯s mind would wander to later in her life, when she was lying in her bed at night with no one to tuck her in- or later when a hard bed seemed like a luxury. This dream didn¡¯t go there. Instead, her father read her stories and held her hand as she fell asleep. Her mother came in and kissed her forehead too. Then she fell asleep. ----- It was strange to feel comfortable when waking up. Velvet knew her bed was technically nice, but it never felt like it. The air was always too warm or too cold. Sometimes she kicked off the sheets or fell onto the floor. But this time was comfortable. Memories of the dream she¡¯d been having quickly faded. It was something nice though. The weirdest part was when she realized she wasn¡¯t on her bed. When her eyes opened, she only saw the ceiling. Wasn¡¯t this one of her hallways? She turned her head, following the line of her arm to what she was holding on to. Someone¡¯s wrist? She quickly let go. ¡°Good morning, young lady. Did you sleep well?¡± Her immediate thought was to answer ¡®yes¡¯. Instead, she chose to take a better stock of her situation. She felt comfortable, but she¡¯d definitely been sleeping on the hard floor. Her fingers were pale- how hard had she been gripping? Anton sat next to her, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Velvet wasn¡¯t willing to answer the question, so she asked one of her own. ¡°Why am I here?¡± As she spoke, she found her throat was dry, her lips cracked. How had she felt comfort like that? ¡°A good question. Not where I¡¯d recommend people take a nap, but to each their own.¡± Anton stood, reaching out a hand to help her up. She took it. Or she tried to, but the fingers in her right hand wouldn¡¯t move properly. She switched hands and let herself be pulled up at a strange angle. There was something¡­ she vaguely remembered stumbling back home. ¡°Why are you here?¡± Anton smiled. It almost seemed sincere. ¡°I noticed a distinct lack of your presence, so I came to check up on you. You didn¡¯t respond so I quite rudely let myself in.¡± That¡­ didn¡¯t actually bother her as much as she thought it would. She tried to remember. She¡¯d come back because¡­ she figured it out. She wasn¡¯t being taught because she couldn¡¯t learn. You¡¯re good enough. A voice echoed in her mind. It wasn¡¯t hers. This wasn¡¯t right. What had he done? You have to trust someone. A stupid thought. Why would Anton have to mess with her head? She did that enough on her own. And he was almost nice to her. ¡°I-¡± she tried to speak, but her throat cracked. ¡°Perhaps you should get something to drink. We can talk later, if you wish.¡± She nodded. Her body felt bad, but everything else was¡­ fine. ¡°Okay.¡± That was all she said. Anton inclined his head and turned around. Something was weird about that. He held one hand behind him the whole time, out of her view. Was he taking something? But she didn¡¯t have anything of value. She shook her head. Everything was so fuzzy. She needed that water. And¡­ food, apparently. She could hear her stomach rumbling along with Anton¡¯s as he stepped out the door. ----- As he carefully inspected his wrist, Anton found it wasn¡¯t that bad. Oh, it was broken all right. Shattered, even. But there was no internal bleeding to worry about. He just had to coax it back into shape and let it heal up. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Tiny strands of his energy latched onto each piece of bone, shifting it around. He should stop by the central area later to pick up a bone healing pill. He¡¯d not had use for medicines wish such specific function, but this was exactly the sort of thing they were for. He circulated his energy through the area, very carefully. It was a soothing feeling, reducing the heat and pain. He carefully coaxed each part, reminding it where it belonged. Then there was a knock on his door. Well. Velvet was rather swifter than normal. Hopefully that was a good thing. He put on his best face and opened the door with his good hand, keeping the other behind his back. ¡°Good morning once more.¡± Velvet looked at him for a moment. ¡°...Are you okay?¡± That was something she¡¯d never asked before. Did he really look that bad? Actually, he supposed that was true. ¡°Just a few days with little sleep. Nothing to worry about.¡± Of course, there was a big difference between little sleep and no sleep, but he didn¡¯t mention that. ¡°Would you like to come in?¡± Velvet nodded, and he led her to the sitting room. It was not really used that much, since most of Anton¡¯s activities took place outside. He brought them each cups, along with pitchers of water juice. He was quite certain she couldn¡¯t have recovered from her dehydration yet, because he certainly hadn¡¯t. He also set out food- simple bread and cheese. She nibbled on the bread and cheese he¡¯d set out. She looked like she should be taking big bites, but he supposed she was keeping busy and trying to find excuses not to talk. Anton matched her, sipping from his cup and munching food. He slowly circulated his energy, as he usually did when not engaged in anything else. Then they ran out of food, an entire loaf and a wedge of cheese devoured in fifteen minutes. The pitchers were both drained as well. ¡°Should I get some more?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I- um¡­¡± he could tell she certainly wanted to say yes. But also that she wanted to say something. ¡°I actually¡­ can you¡­ I¡¯m ready to let you see me cultivate. So you can help.¡± She took a deep breath. ¡°Everyone else does it. And they¡¯re making so much progress.¡± She clearly had more to say, so Anton waited patiently. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I mean¡­¡± she bit her lip. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve not been helpful, even though you were trying. I just thought¡­ nobody would so easily reveal important secrets.¡± She apologized. Good. Even without a verbal apology, he¡¯d felt it¡­ but the words were important. ¡°Very well. When do you want to start?¡± ¡°Right now?¡± she said cautiously. ¡°... how about we eat a little bit more first?¡± Anton knew he was still old and wrinkly, but at least his stomach felt like he was a young man again. ¡°... yes please.¡± ----- It turned out Velvet had been doing everything wrong. Well, not everything. But it sure felt like it. Whenever she described areas she was having trouble, Anton had her demonstrate and then at least two or three different pieces of advice. He even had a whole notebook he consulted- but she could see his handwriting in it. How had he gotten so much experience? She figured that out when he added more notes to it. ¡°I haven¡¯t come across that exact problem before,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it might be that your meridians are better suited to a certain pattern of circulation.¡± He explained what he meant. For that, he talked about how blood flowed through the body. The exact layout didn¡¯t match the meridians, but it was the best analog. Most importantly was how blood returned to the heart and lungs, and valves. Velvet¡¯s meridians always felt like hollow tubes, but as she tried different directions of circulation for each branch of meridians going away from her dantian, she felt a strong difference. She hadn¡¯t really thought about it, but now she could tell that one way was wrong. The cultivation technique had just said which meridians to circulate through in order, but not which direction. And Anton said he hadn¡¯t found a difference. ¡°... Does that make me weird?¡± Velvet asked. His response came fairly quickly. ¡°Human bodies are all different. Height and hair and skin are all obviously visible, but there¡¯s much more inside that nobody really interacts with. Meridians should be no different.¡± ¡°... You didn¡¯t say I¡¯m not weird,¡± Velvet muttered. ¡°One of my toes is longer,¡± Anton said. ¡°What?¡± As an answer, Anton removed his shoes, placing his feet on the table. They were old and wrinkly and gnarled, but they were actually quite clean. ¡°See these two?¡± Anton pressed his feet together. ¡°The fourth toe on the left is quite a bit longer, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°...Weird.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Anton said. ¡°It is a bit weird. Did you notice Pete is left handed? Makes quite a difference in a spar.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Velvet knew that Anton was just trying to make her feel normal¡­ but it worked. ¡°What about muscle? I¡¯m not sure I did everything right there¡­¡± She was working on the tenth star, which was the second full body tempering. She had so many mistakes to make up for, but strangely enough just asking about it got her answers. She just hoped Anton didn¡¯t suddenly leave. Chapter 100 It wasn¡¯t possible for Anton to reach a concrete conclusion based solely on less than a year and a few dozen people, but he certainly felt vindicated in his ideas. There were many different ways for people to struggle in cultivation at Body Tempering. Anton had no doubt that the difficulties only increased at higher levels of cultivation, but he only had his limited experience with early Spirit Building, plus a few others. So far, they¡¯d done well enough- though Hoyt¡¯s experience training Insight was quite different from Anton. Of the seven purifications, that was the only current overlap in training that had been made. Timothy was working on properly entering Spirit Building, with yet a different first choice than the others. For the moment, Anton was content with the portion of his writings concerning Body Tempering. Path to One Hundred Stars certainly wasn¡¯t in any place he could show it to others- and absolutely not with that name- but he was able to consult it where his memory failed. Thankfully, that was rare. Cultivation had been quite good for him, and he found his thoughts quite clear and his recall excellent. Anton had been fortunate not to suffer from the maladies of the mind that plagued many of advanced age. As he thought about his students, Anton knew that nothing he was able to write would fully cover every situation. Every single person had their own particular experiences that shaped how they cultivated, and things didn¡¯t exactly work the same for everyone. Take Gerd for example. She was, by all initial impressions, unsuited to be a cultivator. Her physical fitness was insufficient in all manners. Anton had wondered how she had passed the examinations, and while many of the specific results were secret he¡¯d still been able to learn the most important part. Determination. She hadn¡¯t given up, even when she could go no further. She likely still would have failed at the beginning if Pete hadn¡¯t helped her, but being a sympathetic figure that others wanted to see succeed was a positive trait. It was clear that she¡¯d had no formal instruction on cultivation of any sort, and some other basic concepts that Anton found amusing. She¡¯d struggled through the first star which at least made her body closer to the power of an average person. Following that, she had tempered her skin- opting for an inside-out approach. With no real grasp of the prime temperings- something Anton thought should be outlined more clearly in the explanation of the basic technique- she¡¯d of course found that quite difficult. Her third star had been marrow- because that was about as far on the other end as she could get. She had thought to try tempering her meridians, but it was unsurprisingly difficult. Then she¡¯d begun training. Anton recalled her transformation with fondness. ----- Pete had invited Gerd to train with him and Anton because that was what he was used to. Since Anton bought his freedom, he hadn¡¯t trained with any fewer than a half dozen at a time. He also wanted her and Malcom to succeed, because even if they¡¯d only known each other briefly they were still sectmates. Gerd was hesitant, and after thinking about it for a moment Pete could see why. ¡°I may have left out important information,¡± Pete said. ¡°Telling you he¡¯d only been cultivating for a year and a half was supposed to inspire confidence. It¡¯s true that his length of experience with cultivation isn¡¯t long, but he has great wisdom. His teachings are what allowed myself and Oskar to reach the third star in relatively quick fashion. He¡¯s also taught many others.¡± There were a few moments where Gerd considered Pete¡¯s thoughts, ¡°I suppose I shouldn¡¯t refuse an offer of help. I¡­ can¡¯t say I won¡¯t need it.¡± The first thing Anton had them do was work the fields with Elder Howland. Gerd was clearly reluctant to do so. ¡°May I ask why?¡± Gerd asked. ¡°I thought you were going to teach us about cultivating energy?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Because you are in Body Tempering. Combining the exercise of your muscles and the circulation of energy increases the effectiveness of both. And,¡± Anton held up his bow, ¡°You can get contribution points and do a useful task at the same time.¡± Gerd looked confused for a moment. Pete thought the explanation was quite simple, but her following comments indicated that wasn¡¯t the problem. ¡°Really?¡± she asked. ¡°How come nobody told me that?¡± Anton just shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ve had the same question. Though the cultivation guide does indicate that, mentioning how you can temper your body beyond its normal limits.¡± Working in the field was routine for Pete. Gerd was¡­ much slower. However, she did a good job of emulating Anton¡¯s form and Pete was able to help her with smaller adjustments while Anton was busy elsewhere. ¡°Be careful not to bend too much, or you¡¯ll put out your back. You have to work it some, but not too much.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Gerd just nodded silently, breathing hard. She didn¡¯t work as fast as anyone else, but she kept going. Actually, Pete found that to be a bit problematic. ¡°It¡¯s time to stop for the day,¡± Pete said as the sun was going down. Most of the others were already gone- Anton included, though not because he was lacking in work ethic. He just wanted to leave something for the rest of them. ¡°But I¡¯m not¡­¡± Gerd breathed heavily, but steadily. ¡°I¡¯m not done. Look,¡± she gestured to the untilled soil nearby. ¡°That can wait until tomorrow. It¡¯s not like this has to all be done today.¡± ¡°... oh,¡± Gerd nodded. ¡°I thought¡­ we had to finish an entire section.¡± While it was true that most people had, she clearly wasn¡¯t in any condition to go any further. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be. That¡¯s just an easy cutoff for experienced workers.¡± Pete could include himself in that group, though he didn¡¯t mention that he¡¯d been able to cover more than one area. The general size of a plot was just what was expected of the average just-recruited disciple in a day. ¡°We should go eat. We¡¯ll need the energy for tomorrow.¡± The walk to the nearest mess hall was quite a long one, not because it was all that far but because Gerd could barely drag her feet there. However, once Pete got food for them Gerd began to eat at a measured pace. She definitely had manners trained into her. Pete even found himself being more careful about how he scarfed down his food as he watched her take precise bites, though she didn¡¯t give him any judgemental looks. In fact, she was quite concentrated on her food. Until she was staring at an empty plate, forlornly. ¡°Still hungry?¡± Pete asked, ¡°We did a lot of work today. I can grab us seconds.¡± ¡°...Yes please.¡± Pete happily went and got them more food. There were no limits to how much disciples were allowed to take- as long as they didn¡¯t waste it. Food scraps were turned into compost for the fields, but it was still inefficient to throw out a plateful of food. As he returned with the second round, Pete wondered if he shouldn¡¯t have asked. She was quite round, and excess weight was detrimental to cultivators. Then again, she¡¯d worked hard all day and needed to eat. If she was hungry, that was fine. It wasn¡¯t Pete¡¯s job to tell her to go hungry just because it would make things a little bit easier in the future. With all the work she was doing, she would naturally reach a healthier weight. The next day Gerd was once again energetic working in the fields- though she made only slightly more progress in the field, still completing less than one section. The third day, she had a question for Pete. ¡°Am I¡­ are my arms supposed to hurt?¡± ¡°Your arms hurt?¡± Pete asked. ¡°How bad is it? Where?¡± He hoped she hadn¡¯t damaged them with misaligned energy. That could be extremely dangerous. Gerd pointed to various points on her body, especially her upper arms and back. ¡°It all started the day of the test. After the¡­ obstacle course.¡± Gerd looked down as she talked about that. ¡°My legs hurt then too, but that went away yesterday.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s your muscles that hurt?¡± Pete asked. ¡°I believe so,¡± Gerd acknowledged. ¡°It does match the areas that Senior Anton talked about cultivating.¡± ¡°Is it more than normal exercise?¡± Pete continued his questioning, ¡°If it¡¯s really painful you need to stop before you tear something.¡± Gerd frowned. ¡°It does hurt, like my arm is tearing. But, I don¡¯t know what ¡®normal exercise¡¯ feels like.¡± ¡°...¡± Pete tried to not look too upset at that. Gerd was a nice, hardworking young woman. The fact that she¡¯d likely been pampered during her upbringing was clear from her body shape, since abundant food wasn¡¯t so readily available outside of the Order. She didn¡¯t know that he had been a slave, forced to work overly long hours merely for survival. ¡°It is hard to compare pain with others,¡± Pete said. ¡°However, the pain in your legs from the first day that has recovered is a good starting point.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Gerd nodded. ¡°Then, more than normal.¡± ¡°More than that, but not terribly painful?¡± Gerd shook her head. ¡°No. I just¡­ sometimes become unable to move. Like with the ropes. I don¡¯t know why.¡± ¡°That¡¯s muscle fatigue,¡± Pete explained. Internally, he was shaking his head. He had no idea why she had become a cultivator, but at least it had given Pete the opportunity to fill her up with some common sense. ¡°It¡¯s not good to keep pushing beyond that, or you can hurt yourself. Careful circulation of energy can help you recover. That¡¯s especially true during the evenings before you go to sleep. If you can, it¡¯s best not to collapse into bed right away.¡± Pete liked having the luxury of choosing if he threw himself into bed exhausted, though two years before he would have thought the idea laughable. Gerd had some other questions in the coming days, but Anton was better equipped to answer those. Still, she came to Pete first. He didn¡¯t mind that at all, because being relied on was a good feeling. Even if the person who relied on you was a bit distant from what he¡¯d come to know as reality. Chapter 101 As it turned out, every part of the arm was rather important for firing a bow. That included the wrist. While it didn¡¯t need to be bent, it did need to hold up against force. Not something that Anton wanted to try with a broken wrist. Supplementing with energy to protect his wrist might work, but the tendons in the fingers attached all the way to the wrist. He could just go a couple weeks without firing a bow, but he didn¡¯t want to. He also didn¡¯t want to do something stupid and injure himself worse, so he let his arm hang at his side with his wrist properly stabilized. Maybe with his foot? His leg raised up. He had to admit he was now much more flexible than he had been ever in his life. He could raise his leg up to the same height as his outstretched left hand, but along with lifting a leg completely screwing up his stance nobody could be flexible enough to pull the leg back far enough to grab the string and then draw it. That was simply not how bones worked. Teeth were immediately rejected along with everything involving the mouth. No flexibility in the teeth, and everything in that area was far too vulnerable and not muscled enough. If he could somehow manage it, the draw wouldn¡¯t be much short. Generally the draw of a bow ended with the hand beside the head, so it would only be centimeters off. Of course, the difference between beside and in front of could be very significant. No point in trying. He wanted something sensible or he might as well not bother. Sadly, there weren¡¯t really any extra grasping limbs on a person. That was all he had. If he wasn¡¯t a cultivator, he would have just given up as soon as his wrist was broken, but he still had one more option. He could just use his energy to pull back the string- it was already going to be attached anyway. He¡¯d just have to find the right path for optimal stability. His energy could easily extend that far from his body without losing power, especially with his arm outstretched alongside it. The first test was a hilarious failure. Everything seemed good. He formed a spirit arrow by reflex now, so adding a bit more energy along the length of the string wasn¡¯t too hard. He pulled it back from the center, let the tension go and¡­ the arrow stuck to the string. Probably would have caused some damage if his energy wasn¡¯t passively covering the whole bow. He tried again but remembered to not attach the energy on the string to the arrow, except as necessary to pull it back. The result was much better, but Anton still found the technique lacking. It was the same as trying to use the bone bow that far outclassed his abilities. It was simply too much manipulation of energy at once, though having an actual string there instead of merely having to replicate the effect of one made it work somewhat better. Of course it also helped immensely that he could bend the bow. In the end, he drastically reduced the number of arrows he shot for a while. Not to none, because he found that it was useful practice even if it wasn¡¯t practical at the moment, but he also couldn¡¯t shoot hundreds of arrows per day with the extra expenditures involved. It reminded him how much work his body was still doing underneath all that convenient energy. ----- It had been more than a year since The Hunt, which allowed some time for the forest and creatures to recover. Disaster had narrowly been avoided due to Catarina¡¯s fortunate discovery of the hole in the barrier which allowed time for Hoyt to get help while Anton, Catarina, and Timothy defended Thuston from an unusual outpouring of creatures. Said help had eventually led to Grand Elder Vandale, who was able to affect the great number of beasts from afar, killing most of those around Thuston and in the outer part of the forest. The hole in the barrier had been sealed, but nothing unusual about it was found. Even the best formations could fail given enough time, and as an exceptionally large one that was even more possible. The strange part was how quickly the beasts had found it and the way they acted as a group. Though there were some more intelligent magical beasts among them, it had still been unusual. At the time Anton hadn¡¯t heard much more on the topic. Thuston was safe, the barrier repaired, the forest watched. Those were the important details at the time. However, now that he was much stronger when the opportunity arose to look further, he took it. Much stronger¡­ yet he was still unqualified to participate in the current initiative to scout the deep forest. The name for the forest varied depending on the location and who was speaking of it. In the area controlled by the order, it was usually just called the Beast Forest. As it travelled to the northwest across the border into Ambati, it was often just the Western Forest. It was undecided whether it was technically the same forest that eventually blended into the jungles in northern Ambati or not, but creatures who handled the different climates well travelled between them. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Having heard about the scouting effort, Anton went to speak to Elder Anand. He was the man who had organized The Hunt previously, and was responsible for much of the work with the forest. Elder Anand had dark skin and was beginning to show his age with wrinkles and greying hair. When Anton came to his office, he greeted him with a smile. ¡°Anton! To what do I owe the pleasure?¡± Anton was briefly taken aback. ¡°Ah, I didn¡¯t think you would recognize me.¡± ¡°How could I not?¡± Elder Anand said. ¡°You were one of those responsible for protecting Thuston. That could have turned into a disaster. Anything that ends with Grand Elder Vandale acting¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°I would certainly not forget so easily. Besides, you must know that your rate of advancement is exceptional. There are few new members who match your speed of growth, and many of those who do¡­ are connected to you in some way.¡± ¡°I must admit not knowing as many other disciples as I should. Though I have been expanding my circles.¡± Mostly he was making sure to keep in contact with those interested in archery, like Marcio. ¡°I have been fortunate in finding a good path. I am aware not many people reach Spirit Building within two years of starting cultivation.¡± ¡°Not that many per year, either. We get a dozen on average. Sometimes only a couple, sometimes more. Though given our total numbers, that¡¯s actually quite reasonable. But you didn¡¯t come here to talk about that,¡± Elder Anand gestured, ¡°What was it?¡± ¡°Well,¡± Anton began, ¡°I heard you were continuing efforts to learn what happened in the Beast Forest. I am aware that early Spirit Building cultivation is not sufficient for even some of the middling areas, but I wished to help out if I can.¡± ¡°You¡¯re an archer, correct?¡± He could obviously see Anton¡¯s bow. ¡°You have good eyesight?¡± Anton nodded, ¡°And experience tracking.¡± ¡°Then¡­ I think we have something that can work for you. It¡¯s not currently so important as to call in Elder Kseniya, and the rest of those with good eyes or tracking experience are occupied.¡± Elder Anand shrugged, ¡°Which isn¡¯t that strange, with a good third of those beyond Body Tempering out of the country at any particular point.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t encounter many in my travels,¡± Anton said. ¡°I had no idea it was so high.¡± ¡°Well, you went to Ofrurg, right? They¡¯re not so friendly to us there. Probably no more than a few dozen of our members there at any time, so you¡¯d have to just be in the right city on the right day.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Right. About that opportunity?¡± ¡°Oh yes. We haven¡¯t completed a thorough sweep of everything. It¡¯s probably thousands of square kilometers to cover, and we¡¯ve also been trying to keep the current wildlife relatively intact. We¡¯d not wish to spark trouble. Normally things were quite calm, and nothing truly worrying came too close to the Order¡¯s territory. Nothing that was encountered last year was concerning in its particular power, but how many Beasts and how they acted was the concern.¡± ¡°We identified several magical beasts that were somewhat in control of the attack on Thuston,¡± Anton mentioned. ¡°Yes, I am aware. That should normally not have been enough. There is the possibility something deep in the forest drove them away, intentionally or by virtue of its imposing presence. Elder Kseniya did make a sweep of the area, but powerful magical beasts have the instincts and intelligence to hide from strong cultivators. Kseniya is¡­ not the most stealthy sort of person.¡± Anand smiled, ¡°Anyway, what I have in mind would be a search for oddities. Strange trails, unexpected populations of animals, checking dens, and the like. I myself am planning to head deeper into the forest, but we have areas not covered as thoroughly that an elder could escort you through. Or you and a team, if you prefer to get more combat experience. In that case the elder would merely be on the watch for creatures out of the norm.¡± Anton smiled. ¡°I certainly have people in mind for a team. Don¡¯t want people to get too much in the habit of just sitting around peacefully cultivating. Though I suppose if all goes well we should end up in few battles.¡± Anand nodded, ¡°Preferably, but there are a few types of extremely territorial creatures that have great ability to find intruders, and not enough sense to think about them being cultivators. So you could certainly find yourselves in combat, even if you leave things relatively undisturbed.¡± ¡°And if we manage to avoid fights¡­¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Honestly, quietly slipping through the wilderness is a good training exhibition, though hopefully not one we¡¯d need regularly.¡± ¡°Good. When you are able to put together the team let me know. I¡¯ll be looking for an appropriate elder to accompany you, and we¡¯ll provide you with relevant data we¡¯ve already collected about the area and especially changes from our records.¡± Chapter 102 Preparing for a short expedition in the Beast Forest didn¡¯t take long. Every supply they could need was readily available, and everyone Anton intended to bring with him had an open schedule. They would just be training- going on a mission that was close by was also a good opportunity. Timothy and Hoyt had few skills relevant to the mission besides combat capabilities, but they were reliable and familiar. Catarina could provide formations which would be relevant as they camped overnight. Anton himself would be doing the bulk of the tracking and scouting work. After discussing with the others, Anton also invited along Velvet. Timothy had previous experience in a team with her, and while he didn¡¯t have a positive opinion of her as a person, she had reasonable enough teamwork skills. Catarina had long forgotten any grudge she might have had with her. Few people developed wide skillsets at a young age. Cultivators learned to fight because there was little point in having so much power if they couldn¡¯t wield it. Other valuable skills related to knowing about opponents they might face, so they could have countermeasures in place. Beyond that, they might develop practical skills like pillmaking, smithing, or the use of formations. Those usually relied on preparing ahead of time, but everything came together in the end. For what cultivators did, most things came back to combat- or avoiding it. Though Velvet didn¡¯t have as much experience as Anton did moving quietly through the forest, she had practiced stealth and had reasonable awareness of her surroundings. Her ability to find tracks was decent enough, she merely lacked training in recognizing how to make sense of them. Anton crouched down to show her some things. ¡°We have wolf prints going this way. More recently, a boar crossed that trail that way, in a hurry too.¡± He mentioned the way the undergrowth was damaged and the dirt torn up more than normal, showing her why he could say what he did with confidence. She seemed comfortable enough in the wilderness, but Anton noticed she relied more on her cultivation to manage than her experience. She might not know the signs of dangerous creatures in the area, but if they showed themselves she was capable of reacting. ¡°Does it matter if we know about them ahead of time?¡± ¡°With these? Probably not, if we don¡¯t intend to hunt them. But if we came across signs of a creature of normal size but abnormal power- such as some magical beasts- it could be important to know to avoid their territory.¡± Anton glanced over at the elder traveling with them. Tshering was at the very peak of Spirit Building. From his age and the feel of him, his cultivation seemed to have plateaued there. ¡°Nothing seems unusual so far. Whatever sent a boar of this size fleeing so quickly must be quite strong, but it shouldn¡¯t be abnormal for this area. It seems to have been left well behind, as there are no parallel tracks.¡± Catarina was keeping an eye out for anything such as formations. She was better suited for sensing them, and while it was doubtful that anything would have been set up on the Order¡¯s territory some could occur naturally. They were usually of little concern, but if one was empowering or controlling the wildlife directly or indirectly it needed to be dealt with. ----- Anything within a day of the edge of the forest, counting the speeds those with tempered bodies could travel, was basically ¡®normal¡¯ forest. There were occasional oddities and magical beasts, and common humans would do well to avoid the area. Even so, it was relatively tame. If she hadn¡¯t seen the transition, Velvet wouldn¡¯t have noticed the difference in her current area. She wasn¡¯t fully aware of all the differences, but they occurred everywhere. Large clusters of colorful mushrooms. Strange colored bark on trees. The sound of the leaves crunching beneath her feet fading. Skittish yet unfamiliar wildlife all too eager to climb up trees and dip down into burrows. She¡¯d been the one to spot the signs first, by virtue of the angle she was standing at. Anton had prompted her to check out the area- cautiously. There was a cut in the bark of a tree. Not a gouge nor the slashing and tearing of claws, but a cut. A single line, about chest high. Velvet approached carefully. She had no technique to enhance her vision, but simply approaching closer was good enough. She just wanted to be cautious about what she was stepping on in the thick undergrowth. She still didn¡¯t understand why her footfalls were more quiet outside of her advancing in technique, because everything looked the same. Was the ground softer, somehow? It didn¡¯t feel like it. When she was an arm¡¯s length away from the tree, she had no further understanding than when she spotted it. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Anton¡¯s voice almost startled her, ¡°If you could describe what you are thinking, please.¡± She turned, and he smiled, ¡°So that we can measure your conclusions.¡± Velvet nodded, and turned back. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ a cut. A knuckle deep, thin. No traces of energy which means¡­ either it faded or was done without. It should be a blade.¡± Velvet frowned, ¡°Why would anyone swing at that angle? At what?¡± she looked around, ¡°I don¡¯t see other signs of fighting.¡± That was it. Just an oddity and various tracks. What would Anton do? She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d ever truly be a scout, but she had the stealth ability. If she was to act independently being able to bring back usable information was important. She reached out her hand, after determining she wouldn¡¯t learn more from the way things were. She tried to peel back the bark, to see if something was hidden inside the cut. Instead she found herself unable to do so. Well. That was strange. ¡°Strong bark. It doesn¡¯t just break off. But that cut¡­¡± she shook her head. She pinched with her fingers and gave a solid yank. Bark snapped off. She had the strength, she just hadn¡¯t expected it to require it. ¡°Very strong. The cut was with something sharp and strong. Normal blades would have failed at this.¡± Was there another cultivator? It wouldn¡¯t be entirely strange, though nobody should have been through the area in the last few days. She looked down. The ground was firm enough she wasn¡¯t leaving behind defined prints, and she didn¡¯t see other human prints. There were a few signs of creatures in the underbrush- but one stood out differently. It almost looked like an arrow, the sort that would be drawn to direct people. A triangular shape with a middle line. Something with three toes, then. A bird? It was strangely sectioned and the talon marks, if that was what they were, remained barely visible. ¡°Some sort of large bird? Traveling that way,¡± Velvet pointed. Her feet shifted. Leaves crunched, but just a little. She picked one up. Bent it. It was dry, and it snapped- but not without some effort. Durable, like the bark of the tree. So the twigs and leaves crunched less because they held their form against her weight- though not everything had that property. She needed to spot the differences somehow. The trees were absorbing natural energy but not storing it, so they all felt the same as the environment around them. ¡°What made you think it was the bird?¡± Anton asked, approaching. ¡°Well it-¡± Velvet looked around. It was just the only strange thing. ¡°It¡¯s going the right direction, and it would move something like this,¡± Velvet held out her arms like wings hanging at her side. They were a bit below the mark. ¡°Something like this, but taller.¡± Now that she said it, it was a pretty shaky description. ¡°That makes sense,¡± Anton acknowledged. Velvet smiled as she still faced away from him. ¡°But the damage is from a blade, not a beak or talons. How would a bird cause it?¡± Her face fell. She hadn¡¯t thought about that. It was just that the two things stood out and odd, and she connected them. ¡°How would a bird cause it?¡± The repeated question prodded Velvet. It was a real question, not just a polite way to tell her she was wrong. Could a bird have caused it? ¡°I¡¯m not sure if it could have.¡± She thought about where she¡¯d placed her hands. Birds didn¡¯t have hands there. They had wings. Those certainly weren¡¯t sharp. They were soft and swooshy. ¡°It could be something else.¡± Then again, the bark wasn¡¯t supposed to be so hard. That made it even less likely that a bird could have done it. ¡°Unless it has sharp feathers?¡± She turned to look at Anton. His face had a pleasant smile. Encouraging, but frustratingly not telling her if she was right or wrong. Then he shrugged. ¡°It could. There are some. Not listed anywhere around here, but it¡¯s not uncommon to have a few things out of place. Since we don¡¯t know,¡± Anton drew out the word, ¡°We might as well follow the bird. It¡¯s the strangest thing we¡¯ve noticed in the area.¡± Velvet nodded, though she kept her smile off her face. It was nice to know that even he didn¡¯t know everything all the time. It gave her confidence, like the elder watching over them who wasn¡¯t the wilderness sort at all. He had an overwhelming sense of strength, even restrained as it was. Strong, but not in the comforting way that Anton was- like a good solid roof over your head. She needed to keep learning so he wanted to keep her around. Chapter 103 The tracks of the large bird weren¡¯t hard to follow. Anton let Velvet take the lead so she could get practice, but with the way it left impressions it wasn¡¯t difficult. Based on the properties of the leaves and the earth beneath, Anton got the picture it was a very heavy bird. That meant either it was truly gigantic in proportion to its talons, or perhaps it was a flightless bird. Those were rare, but Anton had heard of them. Though he had to admit until he saw a feather, he thought instead they might be mistaken about the origin of the creature based on its print. As they moved, it started to become clear that the creature was indeed responsible for the cut in the tree. At least the cuts followed its same route, occasional slices appearing in plants along the way. Then they found a feather. It didn¡¯t look like much, except the way it was embedded in a rock. It appeared to have sliced cleanly into it as it passed, but it stopped halfway. It took a moment of twisting and wrenching to pull the feather out of the rock, and as he did so Anton saw it slice a little bit deeper to the side. He very carefully trailed his finger along the feather. It looked soft and fluffy, but he felt it trying to cut into him through his defensive layer of energy. It was of little comfort that a free floating feather only barely didn¡¯t cut him, but that was how things were. He trailed his finger in the other direction and found that it didn¡¯t cut at all from tail to back in the direction of the shaft, only when he followed the direction of the barbs. ¡°You were certainly right about it being a bird,¡± Anton commended Velvet. ¡°If I¡¯m right, this is a ¡®grounded razorwing¡¯, or some relative.¡± He¡¯d been spending time looking into bestiaries of creatures in the surrounding countries. There were far more animals and types of magical beasts than he¡¯d thought. He knew other places had different creatures, but he hadn¡¯t realized how much variance there could be among the ¡®normal¡¯ creatures. Any of the razorwings were not considered normal beasts, since their feathers cut like blades even without the use of energy. ¡°Whatever type it is, it¡¯s far from home. A good target for investigating oddities.¡± It being a land bird explained some of the oddities- like why the trail was so consistent. Birds would walk along the ground for a short way in some circumstances, but most preferred to alight in trees or fly. Even a very large bird could find a perch in the natural energy enhanced trees in the area, but since this sort of bird didn¡¯t fly it cleanly solved that mystery. The group walked quickly- if they were trying to catch up to the creature, they needed to move faster than it would. Even if it had just been heading back to its lair, they didn¡¯t want to spend more days out in the forest than they needed to. Tshering was patient, but he probably had other things to be doing than watching over relatively new cultivators. Anton could tell he was keeping notice of beasts that might approach, but he hadn¡¯t yet needed to give a warning of any sort. Part of that was that Anton was keeping on top of sensing threats for himself. It took Anton a moment to judge an upcoming problem because everything felt so off. However, his eyes and senses weren¡¯t lying to him. ¡°Trouble up ahead. Looks like¡­ ants.¡± Ants shouldn¡¯t be a problem for cultivators- no matter how many of them there were, they couldn¡¯t even damage someone with tempered skin or the thinnest layer of defensive energy. Not normal ants. ¡°They have abdomens as big as a fist.¡± Velvet squinted her eyes, clearly trying to make them out. ¡°I can see the mound,¡± she finally said. ¡°It¡¯s still quite far¡­ but almost directly in our path.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°That¡¯s the problem. Plus, they¡¯re an aggressive sort. I see skeletons of large animals around the area, and what might have been a deer being dragged towards the mound.¡± Creature that could hunt deer using numbers weren¡¯t necessarily a problem- wolves could do it. Anton looked over at Fuzz. He was sniffing the area with interest. ¡°Should we try to travel around them?¡± ----- This new forest was great. Fuzz smelled so many new scents, and not once had a plant tried to kill him. He thought it had twice, but the first time had just been a root he didn¡¯t notice which didn¡¯t react at all when he clawed it. The second time had been a squirrel who thought he couldn¡¯t climb trees. It was half right. Fuzz might not be able to climb a tree, but he was able to jump high enough to chomp through the branch the creature had been standing on, chittering tauntingly. After that Catarina had asked him what he ate with a strange look on her face, but he didn¡¯t have any other squirrels to share. How selfish of him. The fourth one appeared to be a friend now. She had been hiding nearby for a while, watching them, but now she was spending time with the rest like a proper member of the pack. This Velvet was a strange one, sometimes disappearing from scent and even energy. When it turned out she was a hunter like Anton, he thought it made sense. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. When Anton said there were ants ahead of them, Fuzz was confused. Ants were little black creatures, and these were big and brown. A proper mouthful instead of just a crunchy texture on the tongue that sometimes resulted in stinging. Maybe he¡¯d only seen baby ants? That made sense, but he wondered why the pack leaders would leave their young all on their own. But there were more important things for Fuzz, like dealing with these big ones now. They had a den right along the trail of the sharp bird they were following, and they seemed to not appreciate the intrusion upon their territory. While Fuzz¡¯ pack avoided their den, it wasn¡¯t good enough. They didn¡¯t go a day out of their way to avoid the ants¡¯ territory, so they were attacked. Stupid ants. Fuzz had fought alongside the pack leaders several times. Usually he found that Anton¡¯s arrows were greatly terrifying, but though he killed one or even several of the creatures with each shot, there were so many of them it hardly slowed them. He had to prepare himself to fight up close. Everyone was told to stay together, which made sense. Being swarmed wasn¡¯t a fun idea. Catarina was doing that funny thing where she moved things around and dug up the ground. Fuzz had tried to help before but apparently he had done it wrong, even though he¡¯d dug much deeper. Humans were strange, but the pack leaders were strong so he just did his best to understand. Then the ants were upon them. Fuzz was right, they were a mouthful. Very crunchy, but their insides didn¡¯t taste very good. He didn¡¯t have much time to savor them either, as they were also trying to eat him. Fuzz hadn¡¯t been old enough to go hunting with the wolf pack, so he didn¡¯t learn all of the tactics they had. Instead, he learned from the humans. The way they fought was strange, but after he learned to control his energy just a little bit he found how good it was. He supposed their weapons made up for the lack of claws, but Fuzz much preferred attacking with his own body. He stamped down on the creatures, crushing them at their thin point. He chomped into them, swept them with his paws and flicked at them with his tail. His tail wasn¡¯t much good for fighting, but with energy protecting it Fuzz was able to make some use of it. Maybe he wouldn¡¯t do that forever, but humans liked trying new things to grow strong, so Fuzz would too. Timothy seemed to find trouble with the ants, because his ¡®shield¡¯ wasn¡¯t suited to resisting them. His sword still chopped through them with a satisfying slicing sound, but apparently he was unable to perform his defensive position in the party. Hoyt had some trouble as well, but Fuzz noticed he was on fire. That kept the ants away, but hopefully he could handle it himself. Fuzz was too far to help fix him. It sure seemed hard for the humans to fight something so low to the ground. Fuzz had a much better time, because he only barely had to crouch to reach the height of the ants and bat at them. But nothing was perfect. Though they did their best to keep from being encircled and having ants all throughout between them, they couldn¡¯t stop them. That was when Fuzz started getting bitten. He couldn¡¯t fully attack and defend with his energy all at the same time. Humans were so versatile and powerful. Fuzz envied their ability to fight like that. However, because there were so many ants Fuzz knew he had to kill them as quickly as he could- so he left his defenses weaker. Their sharp jaws bit into his hide, drawing a little bit of blood. That wasn¡¯t so bad, but then he was lit on fire. Fuzz couldn¡¯t see it, but he knew he was burning. He rolled around over the creatures as he fought, trying to put the fire out, but when he got bit on the nose he figured it out. His nose wasn¡¯t on fire. No, it was much worse. Fire that couldn¡¯t be seen or put out. Fuzz howled, redoubling his efforts to slay the creatures before they could injure him. He felt the empowerment of Catarinas ¡®formation¡¯ thing flowing into him, giving him a boost to strength and speed against the vile ants. Yet their numbers were endless. He found himself being overwhelmed. His vision started to cloud with the bodies of ants alive and dead and the constant burning pain. Then he saw the new one. Velvet. Her arms flashed, carrying swords much smaller than the others Fuzz had seen. But they didn¡¯t need to be longer, for they did what fang and claw did just as well- rending the creatures asunder. With one sweep she slew a half-dozen, then she would take a step. Ants would leap towards her but lose track of her. Even Fuzz almost couldn¡¯t see her as her energy hid her among them. Several more swings from Velvet and dozens of dead ants piled up along with the ones already around Fuzz. Then Catarina came, spinning low to the ground with wide sweeping arcs of her sword. Though her height wasn¡¯t suited to the maneuver, it was still effective. Fuzz could see why one would want weapons. They extended beyond the body to provide much greater reach and area. Energy could do that too, though it was hard to do it much. Fuzz resolved to obtain a similar ability, and howled to push away the pain. What even was a little burning? It dug into his body, but it was nothing like the plant that had tried to live inside him. It was just a little bit of burning on his legs and tail and nose, a bit of blood. He pushed through the pain and continued fighting the creatures until there weren¡¯t any more around him. Then he tried eating another one. Its head was too poky, but the rest of it was okay. Not worth hunting though. Chapter 104 No matter how agile a person was, withstanding innumerable attacks completely unharmed was not possible. At least, Spirit Building was not a realm where one could ignore a swarm of melon sized ants. Energy defenses accumulated damage and had imperfections where attacks could pierce through, and the team of five people and one wolf were binding their wounds and circulating their energy to remove the painful but otherwise relatively harmless poison. Sitting introspectively slightly off by himself was Anton. His fingers rubbed on the string of his bow as he recalled the fight. Thousand Arrows had many good techniques for increasing his firing speed, but nothing that actually approached its name. Anton was only able to fire his bow so fast. With one arrow per ant, it would have taken him over ten minutes to kill the swarm of ants by himself- assuming they just let him hit them peacefully. He was able to guide his arrows to sometimes pierce two, but the angle just wasn¡¯t right. Nobody made techniques for shooting at one¡¯s feet. It would be easy to accept what happened as a limit of archery. He could sweep his handaxes to hit a larger number of ants at once. The ability to fight a whole swarm of small, low to the ground creatures was something he would only use rarely. But fighting a large number of enemies had come up before, and while he was several times stronger than he was during the attack on Thuston, he still wouldn¡¯t be able to stop the beast swarm there by himself. Not before it reached the town. It was simply a matter of what he could do at once. He only had two hands, two feet. But he wasn¡¯t cultivating to do what a normal human could. He had goals to accomplish, people to rescue and others to avenge. Besides, he couldn¡¯t say that it wasn¡¯t possible to attack so many creatures at once. He¡¯d seen it done. Grand Elder Vandale had targeted each individual creature with his falling stars attack. Anton was well aware that was more difficult than just cratering the whole area, and he admired the ability to avoid friendly casualties. Anton wasn¡¯t so crazy as to think he should compare his thirteen stars and less than two years of experience with ninety-nine and centuries, but it was something to aspire to. Perhaps he should ask about similar wide area abilities. Anton turned towards Hoyt. ¡°Hey, how¡¯s that bracelet treating you?¡± Hoyt nodded, holding up his arm and letting fire play over his fingertips. ¡°Useful, though setting things on fire is a bit of a double edged sword. It almost worked too well. And now Fuzz doesn¡¯t want to approach me.¡± Fuzz looked warily at the flame. ¡°I hadn¡¯t realized how much my techniques sort of rely on fighting large opponents. Or at least not very small ones.¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°They also ruin formations by walking everywhere.¡± Timothy shook his head, ¡°Shields aren¡¯t really made for things around your feet either. It would be nice to have armored boots.¡± Velvet seemed hesitant to join in the conversation, but when Anton saw she had something to say, he gestured to her. ¡°Umm, I¡­ my fighting style was also not suited to them.¡± ¡°You did well though,¡± Hoyt acknowledged, ¡°You crouched almost flat against the ground. It¡¯s difficult to do without just¡­ toppling over.¡± The group continued to discuss the battle for some time. They were never truly in danger- though Fuzz was significantly weaker than the rest of them and had been a bit reckless in his actions. Elder Tshering would have interfered if there was a true problem, but just taking advantage of that safety would make them weak. They had the power to defeat their enemy, but the battle simply wasn¡¯t what they had expected it could be. Then again, if the ants were just a little bit smaller and proportionately weaker, they couldn¡¯t have bit any of their group- just like with the diamondsilk spiders. They weren¡¯t likely to run into something smaller and stronger that was still so numerous, but widening their tactics was worthwhile regardless. ----- After binding their wounds and resting, the group looked towards the ant mound from afar. ¡°Do you think we should try to destroy it?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Too risky,¡± Anton responded. ¡°We didn¡¯t kill all of the ants. That was just¡­ an advance party, maybe. They¡¯ll have at least several times more, and certainly some surprises.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of surprises,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°Can we just leave it though?¡± Catarina questioned. ¡°They¡¯re so aggressive. It seems dangerous.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Anton looked towards Elder Tshering. ¡°I believe it¡¯s out of our capabilities. Can you do it?¡± Elder Tshering nodded. ¡°I can.¡± ¡°There are several magical beasts in there that I can¡¯t tell how strong they are.¡± Anton looked at the mound, which was bigger than the standard complex of four houses the Order employed- including the courtyards. It would take two sets stacked atop each other to equal it. ¡°Oh, you can sense them?¡± Elder Tshering smiled. ¡°Not bad at all. They won¡¯t be a danger to me, but to properly destroy the nest we have to kill the queen- and those who could be queens. I¡¯ll need all of you to watch the sides for things with wings.¡± Anton nodded, raising his bow. ¡°This type of ant should only have the one mound. You can see the tunnels. I won¡¯t be attempting to dig my way through, and even if they were large enough I¡¯d rather not deal with it. I¡¯m going to break it down from the top. If Anton can catch any fliers, that would be best. The rest of you should stay back far enough that those who pour out don¡¯t attack you first but instead focus on me. Only move forward for any crawling out with the wings. Catarina, if you could put together a formation around the area,¡± Elder Tshering thought for a moment, ¡°Something to hinder the ants, slow them. That would be more beneficial than fortifying us.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°That will probably take¡­ a few hours? It¡¯s a big area, and I can¡¯t approach too close.¡± ¡°Good,¡± he nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you, just in case there is a problem. Everyone else, remain watchful. We may not expect anything else to inhabit this area, but stay cautious.¡± As predicted, a few hours later Catarina finished setting up the formation. ¡°That¡¯s all I can do without walking up to the mound. It will slightly hinder their thoughts and actions, including decisions to flee. I just need a moment with each of the others to prevent it from affecting them.¡± Elder Tshering nodded, ¡°It¡¯s good to have another budding formation master as part of the Order. It¡¯s rare to find those with the talent and the drive.¡± After gathering everyone around, Elder Tshering made sure everyone was ready. ¡°Good. Spread out, and don¡¯t worry about letting the workers past. It¡¯s best to leave them alone, if they do the same to you. I¡¯ll be waiting here until everyone¡¯s in position¡­ and you¡¯ll be quite aware of when everything starts.¡± With five people, they took spots even distances around the irregularly shaped structure, Fuzz remaining with Catarina. As promised, Elder Tshering acted as soon as they were in position- and obviously. With a single leap he was halfway up the structure, then on top. With a short sprint he was over the middle, then he leapt straight into the air¡­ then came back down. Though he only reached a dozen meters in the air, if that, his fall was like a meteor- energy gathered around him and he crashed into the structure with a heavy, fiery explosion. Packed dirt flew in all directions, the top center of the mound being obliterated in an instant. Nobody was able to see him after that, as he was below the edge of the mound, but subsequent though somewhat smaller explosions rang out. Anton watched carefully, and was the first to act when a handful of ants took off flying from the center. One arrow each was sufficient, piercing a hole right through them. Ants started pouring out of the mound, some of them swarming towards Elder Tshering and others fleeing in all directions. The others besides Elder Tshering did as he said, watching for any ants with wings. Those who took off directly were shot down by Anton, but others crawled out of the sides and were generally impaled or sliced before taking off. A large ant flew into the air- not through the power of wings, but as it was tossed by Elder Tshering. Then another. Both were about the size of a man, perhaps slightly bigger considering the roundness of their abdomens. They had large heads and sharp jaws, and Elder Tshering punched at both of them. The two royal guards resisted his fists, at least for a moment, snapping back with their mandibles. Neither seemed able to get through the other¡¯s defenses¡­ but after a few rounds of punches and kicks, Elder Tshering suddenly had a spear in his hands. A moment later, he drove it straight down the middle of one of the large ants, energy exploding out of its abdomen in the rear. He pulled his gorey spear out of the creature in time to block the other, its mandibles impacting its own energy against his. At that moment, a similarly large ant took to the skies. It dragged behind it an abdomen like a deflated wine pouch, but it flew with purpose and speed. Likewise, Anton shot arrows one at a time. The queen was likewise somewhat larger than a human, and had sufficient energy to protect from Anton¡¯s arrows. At least, to resist them. He didn¡¯t continue to fire standard arrows in easy patterns. He began to use trick shots, firing slow curving arrows while gathering more energy for frontal assaults. The queen was forced to shift around her energy inexpertly, and Anton pierced an arrow through her defenses- and one of her wings. It wasn¡¯t a simple hole, but instead he tore as much of it as he could near the shoulder, nearly severing the wing. Elder Tshering slammed a foot to the ground, his energy crushing a dozen ants while he finished off the second royal guard with his spear at the same time as the queen started to fall. Despite her massive wings several meters long and the enhancement of natural energy, such a creature wasn¡¯t meant to fly. Elder Tshering finished her off with his spear, before returning to the nest and crushing the eggs remaining. Working from the center, he toppled the mound as the others finished off the few ants that chose to fight instead of fleeing. He made it look almost easy to do what he did, but Anton could sense that the battle still took quite a bit out of Elder Tshering. The man looked positively manic, a wide grin on his face. ¡°Good job everyone! And excellent job picking your battles. No shame in admitting you aren¡¯t equipped to face unknown but powerful forces.¡± He flicked his spear, spinning it and applying energy to push off the filth. Anton found it amusing how the quiet elder suddenly changed demeanors, but he supposed he had simply been letting them make their own choices. He wondered why the man had stopped at the peak of Spirit Building. He¡¯d ask, but that was probably inappropriate. Maybe it would come up naturally. Chapter 105 The forest expedition continued after wiping out the giant hive of fire ants. Even just doing that could count as a successful mission, but the razorwing hadn¡¯t suddenly stopped being out of place. The trail was picked up past the territory, with more slicing marks and occasional feathers being some of the signs. The ground was slightly harder, so the footprints were becoming fainter. The group encountered several aggressive beasts, but nothing turned into more than a minor scuffle. From the perspective of the group, at least. The beasts who attacked them would probably have different opinions- but they¡¯d already made a final and fatal choice. The next day, Anton noticed something interesting. It was not of immediate concern, so he waited for Velvet to comment on it. It took some escalating of the signs, but she eventually figured it out. Then again, she couldn¡¯t see as far as Anton could so perhaps she picked it up quickly once the information was actually able to reach her eyes. ¡°There are more feathers.¡± That was true, but it wasn¡¯t the important part. ¡°And footprints. I think that means¡­ it lives near here?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°That seems likely.¡± ¡°There are a lot though,¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°Maybe there¡¯s more than just the one.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee it,¡± Anton said, ¡°But if not it is very busy.¡± The trees began to thin out, with more short and squat bushes. The area was still laden with energy, but some change in terrain led to different sorts of plants flourishing. Grass grew above head height, blocking vision, but it also made it easier to track their quarry. They simply followed where the grass was trampled- and sometimes just cut off, depending on the angle of their wings. It was merely a matter of what beast had trampled which grass that they had to contend with. With his sight blocked, Anton occasionally hopped into the air to get a look at the surroundings. He felt rather silly for it, but he would feel more silly if he missed something important for not putting in the effort. A hop didn¡¯t leave much time for processing what he saw, but his brain was much quicker at taking in information than before he had become a cultivator. It was crazy to think he¡¯d lived without any of the benefits cultivation provided his whole life. Even just the beginning made so much difference. He still intended to spread cultivation it to as many people as he could, even if they only were able to manage the beginning. Along with Anton, Velvet also hopped up into the air. That made Anton grin, because it wasn¡¯t so much a special technique as a necessity. She could probably just stand on someone¡¯s shoulders, but he was a bit old to ask that. Instead, he eventually found a decent tree to climb. It was thin, and seemed like it would snap under his weight- but he could tell it had been strengthened just like all of the others and easily held his weight. Velvet climbed up after him, standing on another branch that barely bent under her weight, despite it being only two fingers thick. ¡°Do you see them?¡± Anton asked. Velvet nodded. ¡°They have long necks. And they¡¯re so reflective¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s just what I expected. I haven¡¯t seen any razorwings in person, but the bestiaries described them well. Their wings aren¡¯t metal, but they cut like it¡­ and shine like it. Quite a bit different from the spiked rollers we fought.¡± ¡°... You fought those things?¡± ¡°Yes. Some big ones, too. We can talk about it later. What do you think of those?¡± he gestured generally. ¡°Umm¡­ they¡¯re all stopped.¡± Velvet squinted her eyes, concentrating energy in a beginning version of the Hawk Eyes vision technique Anton was teaching her. ¡°They¡¯re all on¡­ eggs?¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Quite right. They¡¯re nesting. Many of them. Normally they would be quite territorial, even with each other, but something has changed that.¡± ¡°Do we have to kill them all?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s necessary. The ants were aggressively multiplying and dangerous. Razorwings aren¡¯t likely to move on humans, but¡­ they also aren¡¯t known to be a part of this area.¡± Anton scratched his chin, ¡°We¡¯ll have to report on them, at least. I wouldn¡¯t want to try to take all of them out either way. Though reducing their numbers somewhat is basically inevitable.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Velvet asked. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°I doubt they¡¯re just coming to say hello,¡± Anton gestured to several disturbances in the grass. The razorwings tended to trample the grass in front of them, but off to the sides their feathers cut into the grass leaving a fairly obvious trail. ¡°As magical beasts, I do believe a grounded razorwing should be able to keep pace with the slowest of us, so fleeing isn¡¯t exactly an option.¡± Anton turned, ¡°You all heard, right?¡± Everyone else nodded, including Elder Tshering. ¡°Good, then the five of us should get ready to fight, though I¡¯d like to try to leave if we can. There are only a few, and if those eggs are any indication they won¡¯t miss a few of their numbers.¡± After moving his arms around to test the space, Anton hopped down from the scraggly tree. It would just get in his way, though the vantage point he provided would have been useful for archery otherwise. Catarina was looking around, clearly wondering how she might make a proper formation in the area. Initial setup might be easy with the grass, but that also meant it would be easy to destroy on accident. She seemed to give up as the group started to retreat away from the approaching razorwings. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem like they¡¯re going to leave us alone,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°They¡¯re gaining on us, and I can feel their energy bubbling in anticipation.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°It was worth a try. At least this way they¡¯ll be further from reinforcements.¡± Anton stopped and turned back towards the approaching razorwings, mostly hidden by the grass. ¡°Everyone ready?¡± Everyone nodded- and Fuzz gave a growl of acknowledgement. The process of drawing a bow could be quick or slow. There was rarely any reason to spend any more time than required to aim, because that left strain on the wielder¡¯s muscles, but Anton needed to gather more energy than normal. It still didn¡¯t take longer than the amount of time for a draw he¡¯d had as a non-cultivator, but was significantly slower than his possible fastest speed. His arrow flew straight and true, and he rode the air with it. The arrow pierced through the grass. It was tough in addition to being extraordinarily long but it barely slowed the flight of the arrow. Anton was there with it, guiding it, when it struck the razorwing. He had been aiming for its chest. He¡¯d expected it to dodge if it noticed him, but it didn¡¯t. But he also didn¡¯t hit its chest. Instead, a wing came forward and parried his arrow, slicing through the grass around its motion. That was the problem with magical beasts. None seemed to have human intelligence, but they could also be quite a bit smarter than normal animals. These even had complex control of their energy, gathering it on their already bladelike feathers. The battle erupted into motion with that arrow. The grounded razorwings burst through the grass towards the group, reaching them before Anton could shoot more than one or two more arrows. If he¡¯d been ready for a deflection on his first shot he might have been able to score a hit instead, but now that they were aware of his own abilities they were too cautious. He¡¯d have to find openings later. ¡°Probably a bad idea to use fire,¡± Hoyt commented to himself as he readied his large axe. He held it in two hands, stepping forward and chopping at one of the approaching razorwings. It moved its wing and energy to intercept his attack. Hoyt had a bit more mass than the creature, a bird of nearly the same height as a human, and was able to push it to the side. It pecked towards him with its beak as it passed, but it was too far to deal any meaningful damage. The others were all engaged as well. Timothy took it upon himself to engage two of the creatures, preventing them from running past him. The birds slashed with their wings, but only pecked when they were certain their necks would be safe from a counter. Timothy wasn¡¯t able to damage either of them in any meaningful fashion, but his shield protected him while he learned their movements. Catarina and Anton both danced around one of their own. Anton found that they preferred to rush past, swiping with a wing, which suited him just fine as he fought with a bow and could use the extra space. Catarina slashed with her sword, trying to hit openings while keeping herself safe. From low to the ground, Fuzz nipped at the heels of whichever bird he found at the moment. He kept himself concealed in the grass as he looked to find ones distracted by others. He was actually able to ambush one of them and bite its leg, but as he pulled to try to throw it to the ground it resisted by virtue of a stronger energy. Fuzz had to pull away as its beak came down towards his head. As for Velvet¡­ she was gone. Even Anton lost track of her in the tall grass until she stabbed into the back of the neck of one of the razorwings with a long dagger. Anton felt her energy a moment before the attack, but the razorwing didn¡¯t- or at least felt it too late. The total amount of energy in Velvet¡¯s attack wasn¡¯t anything amazing, but she condensed her energy into a sharp point and stabbed where her opponent was weak. That was usually the goal with in battle, but it was hard to pull off. Archery worked similarly, but the advantage it had in range became a disadvantage when it gave your opponent time to react. But Anton hadn¡¯t been training just to lose to a bunch of birds- no matter how sharp and swift their wings were. He felt a trail of blood on his shoulder and knew he¡¯d let it get a little too close, but the razorwing that made the attack had continued on, as usual. Anton had an arrow ready and aimed at its back as it moved. The creature couldn¡¯t bend its wing back to reach him, but it had the proper senses to dodge. Right into the real attack Anton had prepared. Firing two arrows actually at the same time was something new he was testing. It wasn¡¯t very good for the most part and would probably not work well against a human in its current form, but he at least tricked a bird. His arrow pierced into a section of the bird¡¯s back that had a lower concentration of energy. It wasn¡¯t enough to bring it down immediately, but Anton could see the blood pouring over its feathers. Now if only he could find where to sneak in shots from the front, he wouldn¡¯t have to let any of them attack him even once. Chapter 106 As the group of six finished the survey of the forest, it became more obvious that a variety of non-native creatures had moved in, quite recently too. The razorwings who were normally solitary creatures were living close together, almost in communal nests though not quite. Anton had no prior experience with them himself, but he had read how that was only common during or shortly after a group migration. They weren¡¯t the only things, but they stood out the most. Anton also thought of the creatures around Helmfirth Rill, far out of their homes. He would mention that once more in their report. ¡°I¡¯m kind of disappointed we didn¡¯t find a beast king or something,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Though I suppose we wouldn¡¯t have been useful if that was the case.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°We were only able to survey one section of the forest. Doubtless others will have similar findings elsewhere. It could be unrelated to the unexpected coordination, but it is notable nonetheless.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe there were like a million giant ants living in the forest,¡± Timothy commented. ¡°They have no business being that big. And yet they were also hard to hit.¡± ¡°... the mission in Ambati also involved creatures that weren¡¯t native to the area,¡± Velvet spoke timidly, ¡°I think. The scout thought so, anyway.¡± Elder Tshering nodded his head. ¡°All good information. We noticed quite a bit I wouldn¡¯t have thought of just touring by myself. Which was the whole point.¡± ----- Real combat was useful for experience that could lead to improvements in cultivation. That was something that was known and discussed, but Anton found that comparing experiences with others had at least as much effect. He wasn¡¯t suddenly going to shoot from the beginning of the thirteenth star to the fourteenth, but working with Catarina to understand Spiritual Connection helped him. He clearly didn¡¯t have the same natural talent in that area as she did, but he was at least able to take advantage of some of her learning. Anton in turn was able to help Hoyt with his studies of Insight. Catarina also worked with Timothy on Mental Liberation. It was impossible to say when resistance to mental attacks would be useful- just that at some point it would be. The choice to strengthen those particular defenses earlier was merely one of many available options, and all of the seven purifications were connected eventually. Choosing one particular thing early should make little difference in the end. Velvet was progressing quickly, and given some time would be stepping into Spirit Building. She was a good example of how certain guidance could make a significant difference in cultivation. While the Order freely taught what they could, there was little personal guidance. Just matching people up randomly wouldn¡¯t help though. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he was the right person to teach everyone, but he felt it was an area he did well. The change in Velvet¡¯s cultivation was merely a measurable benefit allowed by the other changes Anton had been observing. She had chosen to trust him, at least enough for him to help her. Dealing with her still wasn¡¯t easy, but he didn¡¯t feel she was purposefully doing anything difficult. She was still somewhat paranoid, and that wasn¡¯t going to just go away over a few months. Interestingly enough, her combat style relied on having allies to fight alongside her. She would use concealment techniques so that she was unnoticed before attacking a critical location on a distracted enemy, usually to great effect. While this did result in more pressure on her allies temporarily, a quick defeat made it safer for them in the long run. Besides, she was under no obligation to allow herself to be a target. The whole way she operated was interesting, if a bit depressing. Anton saw how she fought well with a team, but she never really tried to get along with them. Her only social interactions seemed based around avoiding anyone forming a negative opinion of her. While in theory that was a good thing, it also avoided a positive opinion forming- and eventually a neutral opinion might swing towards negative when her other unsavory traits. When she wanted something, her default thought seemed to be manipulating others instead of asking. That said, she had enough awareness of how people would react that it usually mattered little. Timothy had been an easy person to recruit as a teammate, and the only reason he was unhappy with the situation was because he¡¯d accepted too hastily and been unavailable when his friends requested help. The situation with Hayden had gotten out of her control, but she hadn¡¯t repeated anything like that. At the time Anton had been very angry- and then imprisoned. It had basically dropped out of his mind, but recently he¡¯d actually gotten past it, letting go of the unhelpful anger. It was almost depressing how good she was at stealth techniques. A woman so young shouldn¡¯t feel the need to hide from everything. But that same youth was what made her actions forgivable. She wasn¡¯t full of plots to steal techniques or overthrow the Order. She just wanted to survive. Anton understood that, though he¡¯d long since passed the point where he considered his own survival important beyond what he could do if he continued living. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Her combat style fit into the team well enough, but it was clear she wasn¡¯t part of them. With the exception of Fuzz, nobody was actively social with her. Fuzz was quick to accept her, and in turn she seemed quite fond of him. Probably because there was nothing he could want from her beyond simple scratching behind his ears. There was no intention on Anton¡¯s part to force her to fit into their group, but he did want her to be progressing in a better direction. Cultivation hardly mattered in that equation except for her own desires to control her life. Maybe cultivation would lead to her being content with life, but not without help. Anton couldn¡¯t say he was the best at solving problems, especially where it involved young women. Janina was mainly responsible for troubles with their daughters and granddaughters, but Anton couldn¡¯t just ignore the poor kid. What was the point of teaching everyone to cultivate if it merely made them live long, productive, and miserable lives. The people mattered too. ----- With the completion of another mission, Anton considered how best to spend his contribution points. He could just exchange them for money. He still needed it to free people, after all. He knew that was a foolish idea, though. While cultivators were capable of functioning in combat by relying on their own energy, proper equipment and enchanted items were still useful. He could think about everything on his own, or he could just ask. He was glad he chose the latter, because Elder Evan was quite willing to offer him advice. ¡°Your bow is still holding up, right?¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Good, I thought so. With proper maintenance it should be usable until at least mid spirit building. Eventually you will find it insufficient for your needs, but the nightwood and black steel bow you have now makes the most of the materials. Now, if you don¡¯t mind my asking, how many contribution points do you have available?¡¯ ¡°About¡­ five thousand.¡± Anton had more than that, but he wanted to keep some in reserve. He¡¯d been earning contribution points for several months since his return, and his cultivation level allowed him to do much more than before. The recent mission had been worth almost a thousand as well. He didn¡¯t feel it matched up to saving a village, but then again it required a great bit more cultivation strength and more time. Evan took stock of Anton. ¡°Bow, defensive undershirt¡­ you practice Spirit Arrows so an expensive quiver is of little use.¡± As he talked, he was leading Anton through the turning corridors of the equipment hall. ¡°Here we are,¡± Evan gestured towards a door with ¡®1000¡¯, indicating the price items inside started at. ¡°We can get you several things from here.¡± Evan stepped inside, reaching onto the shelves and tossing a pair of gloves towards Anton. ¡°My first recommendation. Archery gloves. I know your skin is tempered so you don''t need any mundane version, but these are different. Specially enchanted to be used by archers. Well, any who need to quickly channel energy around their hands. Put them on and try creating an arrow.¡± They fit snugly- even though he was quite certain they hadn¡¯t been the right size when he first saw them. The gloves covered every finger without being restrictive like he might expect. The cloth wasn¡¯t quite the lightness of diamondsilk, but the material was breathable and felt durable. His first arrow felt sluggish, as the material altered the flow of his energy. ¡°It will show its worth in practice. Come outside with me,¡± Evan gestured. Once more Anton found himself at the attached practice area. His first shot still felt wrong, the arrow flying slowly. However, with each subsequent shot he noticed an improvement. It wasn¡¯t the gloves getting used to his energy, but instead the other way around. The gloves drew energy from all around his hands for whatever he was doing. Anton was used to just using the three fingers that would be holding a spirit arrow to form it, but drawing the energy from around his entire hand allowed for every meridian on his limb to be involved. That certainly increased the potential output, but he wasn¡¯t sure if he preferred it. He was willing to admit it was something he might try training on his own, but the gloves seemed unnecessary. However, after a few dozen shots he noticed how it amplified his shots just slightly even when he was using his typical method. It wasn¡¯t possible for it to just get energy from nothing, but an increased efficiency was useful. He should have trusted that Evan knew what he was doing. Without even asking if Anton wanted the gloves, Evan brought him back inside to try out several other things. He quickly discovered Anton didn¡¯t like anything that reshaped his energy. Anton ended up with a second pair of gloves that simply helped condense energy moving through it for his arrows. Anton also ended up with bracers durable enough to deflect early Spirit Building attacks with proper technique, boots that maintained traction on any surface, and goggles that could enhance his vision even more. The goggles were a bit inconvenient if he was dealing with anything up close, but he could see fine details from afar without giving up the benefit of both eyes, unlike a spyglass. They also didn¡¯t require use of his hands, which was important. There were still limits to how far he could shoot even if he could see, but he was learning to expand his range. He had never been much for shopping, but Anton did like practical tools. He felt good after what he got- and he had plenty of contribution points he could convert into currency. He¡¯d need that soon¡­ but first he had to return to a few places in Graotan. Chapter 107 When he had first joined the Order, home had seemed so far away for Timothy. It was almost half the country, even if it was the short half. Yet now he could return home in just a few days. There were no specific obligations on his time, though through Anton¡¯s encouragement he worked to earn contribution points, cultivating as he did so. It was hard to believe how much his life had changed¡­ and how much it hadn¡¯t. He was so much stronger now. Not just his body, but the use of energy added so much more. He could choose to do almost anything now that he was in Spirit Building- though proper practice of a profession or craft would still require dedication of time. Yet there was so much more, a world beyond anything he had imagined. It wasn¡¯t secret, but information about cultivators wasn¡¯t that widely known. Maybe that was for the best, since they were so much stronger than normal people. On the other hand, Timothy liked Anton¡¯s idea. Everyone could cultivate at least a little bit, and it could do so much for them. His father had only completed two stars of Body Tempering, but he was now able to find time to do other work besides woodcutting. There was only so much wood that Carran needed, and the area of woods he managed had a limit to how much he could reasonably cut. Most of his extra labor might have gone into helping on the Riley farm at one point, but they were now more capable of managing it all on their own, even with some small expansions. It was comforting knowing that his father and Catarina¡¯s family could do more than just get by. Six people ate together around a table that barely fit all of them. Even if productivity increased, it had been less than a year. A larger table wasn¡¯t the most important thing on the list for the Rileys, since there were only two of them and often Timothy¡¯s father. They also had no way to predict when three extra people would be in town. ¡°Catarina mentioned that you freed dozens from slavery in Ofrurg,¡± Jasper said between bites of a hearty stew full of vegetables and chicken. ¡°It¡¯s amazing to hear about.¡± ¡°There are so many more slaves, even among those I knew, but¡­¡± Anton allowed himself to smile, ¡°We were able to do some real good. I¡¯m not even close to done yet. Maybe I never will be, but I think I can live with that, as long as I make progress.¡± Timothy knew that was hard for Anton to say, but he clearly meant it. The kind old man felt it was his responsibility to do whatever he could now that he had power. ¡°I should have been there,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I could have helped too.¡± ¡°You will though, right?¡± Catarina reminded him. ¡°We¡¯re going back.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Timothy said, mostly to himself. ¡°I¡¯ll be coming with you. I made sure to have no other commitments.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be glad to have you,¡± Anton said as he finished his stew. ¡°If all goes well, we won¡¯t need to fight¡­ but having another Spirit Building person around will be useful for negotiations regardless.¡± Anton turned to the three parents, ¡°Your children won¡¯t say it, but they¡¯re among the fastest progressing cultivators in this generation.¡± ¡°We knew they were talented from the very beginning,¡± Flora smiled widely. ¡°Just a couple years ago they started cultivating, and it seemed like they were immediately off to the Order to join.¡± Timothy didn¡¯t bring up how he was almost a full month behind Catarina- barely reaching the third star in time to take that month¡¯s test. Then he¡¯d failed the first time. It had been a sore moment, but Anton had talked to him about it. How he made mistakes when he was nervous and how in the end it just meant he had to try again. Timothy didn¡¯t feel like he was worthwhile all the time- especially after not being around to help with the previous journey- but he supposed that didn¡¯t matter as long as he could help those he cared about. Jasper Riley continued the conversation, ¡°Now the three of us are cultivators. Certainly not the fastest growing, but it¡¯s changed so much. Our neighbors have been asking about it. We tried to teach them, but we don¡¯t quite have the same ability.¡± Flora nodded, ¡°We didn¡¯t want to cause any harm, so we were cautious. We had your notes, but they were mostly tailored to our struggles.¡± ¡°I can provide a bit more in the way of general notes,¡± Anton said. ¡°It might not help some people past the first star or two, but there are big benefits to be obtained with just that. We¡¯ll also be around for a couple weeks, so I can teach you myself. I have the feeling the two of you can reach at least the third star. You could even join the Order!¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Not that you need to. You have a good life here.¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We¡¯re quite content,¡± Jasper admitted. ¡°I believe we plan to remain a part of this community even if we achieve the third star.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anton responded. ¡°I¡¯m glad. I think what Graotan needs is more cultivators just¡­ living. There are certainly worthwhile benefits to joining the Order, but living a comfortable life is just fine. Now, did somebody mention pie?¡± Timothy grinned. It was best for cultivators to eat a healthy balance of food, but occasional indulgences weren¡¯t a problem. ----- Anton left behind several copies of the Ninety-Nine Stars as well as his notes for cultivating at Body Tempering. That should be more than enough for everyone for at least a decade. Most would find themselves unable to advance more than the first few stars with the standard amount of natural energy in the environment, even with guidance. If anyone reached the end of Body Tempering they would be best served by joining the Order- probably long before that point. If they wanted, they could still return to live in Carran, though few disciples lived outside the Order¡¯s ground where it was easier to cultivate. Flora was a bit ahead of Jasper and Kellan. Anton wondered if there was some sort of inherited trait for cultivation. If so, was it merely the determination to work hard and push through difficulties, or something else? The Order knew that children of cultivators were more likely to succeed at cultivation themselves, but he didn¡¯t know if that was any different than the son of a blacksmith going on to become a blacksmith himself. Being raised around something came with familiarity and comfort. Anton had no interest in debating the specifics. Instead, he just let himself be happy at the progress. He would have liked to stay for longer, but he wanted to get back to Windrip, and his plans with Kohar Tolvaj wouldn¡¯t wait forever. He was already doing his best to resist rushing back to Ofrurg. ----- It was clear that Windrip was the center of something amazing. Specifically, the dozens of former slaves that Anton had set up were constantly expanding. With a couple seasons of growth they were quite able to support themselves without any further help from Anton. In fact, they offered to try to pay him back. James was one of the first he¡¯d freed, and he held out a bag to Anton. ¡°Please. Take it. It¡¯s not much, but you can use it to help free more people.¡± It took a moment of consideration on Anton¡¯s part. However, his training of Voice allowed him to express what he wanted with sufficient clarity. ¡°I will not be taking your money. I fully understand your desire to pay me back, and to free others from slavery. However, that money can do more good here. If it is not needed for construction of further buildings-¡± ¡°We can take care of that ourselves,¡± James assured him. ¡°-then use it to help people, in whatever way you can. Windrip must have those who need aid. If not, then Stregate. Money might not be what they actually need, but that lets you pay for food, shelter, or to take the time to provide those yourselves.¡± Anton kept his back straight as he spoke, projecting his voice to all of those around. ¡°There are no slaves in Graotan, but not all are prosperous. I will remind you not to keep the benefits of cultivation to yourselves. Teach others freely, as they remain in good standing with the community. Those with little talent can improve their lives, and those with undiscovered affinity for cultivation can benefit more.¡± Anton made sure to emphasize teaching those in good standing. Troublemakers would be the first to try to learn something to increase their personal strength, but for the community to be safe the rest had to have a base level of cultivation. Every town and city already had ways to manage those who were somewhat stronger or more dangerous. A strong man with a knife could be a menace to any common person. Anton understood that giving them the chance to become stronger allowed for more potential danger- but those who would handle them could also become stronger. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if there was a way to fairly choose who could and couldn¡¯t be taught to cultivate in the end. Some of those who displayed good attitudes would go bad, and some of those not well thought of could do great good if given the chance. ¡°You don¡¯t need to be guards for Windrip or Stregate,¡± Anton said. ¡°If anyone is interested in that profession you can encourage them, but it is better if your group specifically isn¡¯t relied on. If even a tenth of the population becomes first star cultivators and are willing to act to keep society functioning, a strong fourth or fifth star cultivator won¡¯t be able to do much.¡± They might kill people, but so could that same madman with a knife. Society functioned so well because most people weren¡¯t going to kill others. Deaths were more common among cultivators, but that had more to do with their common role as what were effectively wandering mercenaries rather than the fact that they cultivated energy. After convincing James, Steven, and all of the others to use their money to pay forward his actions, Anton finished checking up on the rest of them. Anton was pleased that the little community he had founded attached to Windrip was doing well. They were quite determined to work together and improve themselves through cultivation, and while they certainly weren¡¯t wealthy they were many times better than slaves if for no other reason than they could make their own choices. Meaningful ones, even. Anton smiled to himself, thinking about what might happen if he freed every slave in Ofrurg. Utter chaos, probably. That was far outside of the scope of his current capabilities, but the idea stuck in his mind. A nice thought for what his goals might be after the next few years. Chapter 108 There was a strange thing among cultivators both young and old where they might hardly feel the passage of time. The last several months were only a tiny portion of Anton¡¯s life, but he found that the same feeling of it passing by quickly didn¡¯t apply to just him. It wasn¡¯t to the extreme of closed door cultivation where people hid themselves from the world for months, years, or even decades at the extreme in a single span of cultivation, but repeating similar actions and cultivating while doing so accelerated the feeling of time. Catarina, Timothy, Hoyt, and of course Fuzz were going to accompany Anton on his journey. He had asked them long before, and he would have had a harder time keeping them away than bringing them along. Even if the plan wouldn¡¯t necessary result in the sort of journey that was the most beneficial in cultivation, all of them were willing to lend their strength to his cause. A slight surprise came when Velvet came to Anton¡¯s door. Before he could even say hello, she was talking. ¡°I¡¯m coming with you.¡± Velvet seemed to notice how improper her tone was, and repeated herself in a different manner. ¡°I mean¡­ I would like to come with you, if I may.¡± ¡°I only plan to be gone several months, at most,¡± Anton explained. ¡°You should be able to step into Spirit Building shortly, and even complete the eleventh star without further guidance.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Velvet said, ¡°But that¡¯s not why. I mean, it¡¯s not the only reason. You need help, right? You could use more allies, and as you said I¡¯m very close to Spirit Building. Or¡­ am I not good enough to help?¡± Anton smiled. She needed the warm feelings, even if he was internally worried. ¡°If you want to come along, I certainly won¡¯t reject you. I don¡¯t know what I might expect. Hopefully, it will be boring.¡± ¡°I doubt that,¡± Velvet commented. ¡°You never know. I¡¯ve been known to get wrapped up in decades of boringness.¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re going into Ofrurg. Nothing is that simple. You¡¯ll definitely have to free some people though¡­ extralegal means. I¡¯m the sneakiest person you know! I think.¡± ¡°Hopefully we won¡¯t need to do any of that,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I¡¯d be a fool to refuse your offer. You have some talents the rest of us are lacking.¡± Anton had to admit he was somewhat stealthy himself, but there was a big difference between avoiding the notice of guards or distant animals compared to cultivators actively looking for you. Velvet had a chance against the latter- and a good one, since if he was the same cultivation Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could so easily pick her out. ¡°Great. So¡­ I¡¯ll go get ready.¡± ¡°I know you overheard, but don¡¯t forget a tent. You might not technically need one, but it makes a big difference.¡± Velvet sheepishly waved goodbye, Anton closing the door behind her. He hadn¡¯t asked her along because he didn¡¯t want her to feel obligated. While she might owe him for aiding her cultivation, he also didn¡¯t want to force someone into danger. There were other ways she could repay him, and Anton didn¡¯t do what he did just to get favors from others. With her being the one to make the choice, she would hopefully be more reliable. ----- Travel to the Graotan-Ofrurg border was quick and painless. They ran into no trouble along the way, and Anton was pleased to see that Helmfirth Rill was getting along quite well. He was fond of the little town, unimportant as it was overall. The border itself was still manned by early Essence Collection cultivators, three on each side. Despite being an entire tier below them, Anton found himself somewhat heartened by their presence. Ofrurg and Graotan were not on good terms, and the guards on either side were a show of military might. They only represented a small portion of the total forces of either side, but the point was that Anton was no longer so insignificant compared to them. He might not match them this year or the next, but he¡¯d crossed the critical threshold of Spirit Building and still found himself progressing at a reasonable speed. There was also something else. While the Ofrurg side match the Graotan side, Anton knew that the internal politics of Ofrurg weren¡¯t so stable. He was better armed this time to achieve his goals, though freeing many slaves would still make him unpopular. That being said, those who managed slaves were generally no stronger than Spirit Building. Most slaves weren¡¯t allowed to cultivate, and thus their total value was limited- not worthwhile for the strongest cultivators to personally handle. That and his preparations and allies gave Anton confidence. The previous time they had crossed the border, it had been over quickly. Anton noticed that more care was taken on his current crossing, though the fact that the Ofrurg side also more carefully checked them indicated it was nothing to be concerned about. A group of four- nearly five- Spirit Building cultivators was something to take note of. That also meant more eyes would be on them, but Anton had already confirmed the trouble they had caused already was forgotten and nobody was looking for them in specific. They just had to be careful not to cause the wrong sort of trouble. It was actually somewhat comforting to feel the eyes of the cultivators from Graotan follow them until they were far past the Ofrurg side of the border. He wasn¡¯t just a newbie disciple anymore¡­ though he recognized how far he still had to go. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ----- Veron was exactly as it had been the last time he came through. There were still far too many slaves working on farms outside the city, and Anton knew he could do nothing about it. At best he could save a few. Individual slave owners might not be as significant of a threat as they once were, but trying to upset the whole institution would be suicide. The first order of business was to get in contact with Kohar Tolvaj. The Red Willow Inn was helpfully painted the same color, and Anton was able to spot it as soon as they turned onto the right street. It was possible she wasn¡¯t yet there- this was the earliest date she had said she would be around, but two people precisely meeting up across different countries might take some coordination. The Red Willow Inn looked quite comfortable, but not extravagant. If Anton cared to, he could pay for more luxurious places for quite some time. For the equivalent of several weeks labor, he could spend a night somewhere with a proper energy gathering formation for cultivation. A waste of money. He was eager to grow stronger, but that didn¡¯t mean he should be inefficient with his money. Perhaps if he was close to a breakthrough he would consider it, but for the most part he was fine with just a dry roof over his head and palatable food. He didn¡¯t become a cultivator for luxury. He walked up to the front desk. ¡°Is there a Kohar Tolvaj here?¡± he asked. ¡°She should be expecting me.¡± Anton didn¡¯t know what her energy signature would be like, but it wouldn¡¯t have mattered because one thing The Red Willow Inn did have was some privacy formations. He wouldn¡¯t be able to casually sense the energy of anyone staying inside. ¡°One moment,¡± the man said as he reached for a drawer in the desk he was standing behind. ¡°Your name?¡± ¡°Anton Krantz.¡± ¡°Oh yes, she was indeed expecting you and your companions. Follow me.¡± The man led them up to the third floor, only briefly glancing at Fuzz, where he knocked on a door. ¡°Honored guest, Anton Krantz has arrived.¡± A short few moments later, a woman beginning to show her age opened the door. She should still be younger than Anton, though it might not be by that much since she was at the peak of Body Tempering. She could have gotten a late start like Anton, but he doubted it. With no barriers between them, their energies passively met. Anton didn¡¯t know what he was expecting, but she knew he was a member of the Order. ¡°Good timing. I have been here less than half the day. Come in.¡± Velvet was the last one in and closed the door behind her. By that point, Catarina was already shuffling about the room curiously. Various thinking noises came out of her as she poked her head behind furniture. ¡°Not too bad. They have decent privacy formations. I don¡¯t see any significant issues.¡± She did slightly push a table when she thought nobody was looking, but other than that she left things where they were. ¡°A formation master, are you?¡± the brown skinned woman asked. ¡°Not a master,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Not yet.¡± ¡°Modesty suits you,¡± Kohar smiled, ¡°But I¡¯ve seen those with less ability claim the title.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t even done anything,¡± Catarina said. ¡°You looked over the whole formation in a minute. That¡¯s certainly an indication of your skill. And your cultivation and age are similarly impressive.¡± Kohar turned to Anton. ¡°On that note, I do believe your letter said you were at the twelfth star, but if I¡¯m not incorrect you seem to be at the thirteenth.¡± ¡°I was,¡± Anton said, ¡°And I am. I wasn¡¯t sure how well it would go.¡± ¡°I could have told you,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I knew you¡¯d make it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that I have no confidence in my abilities,¡± Anton said, ¡°But we could have left early. Besides, a month or two¡­¡± he shrugged. ¡°Could have been off by that much.¡± ¡°Congratulations on your advancement, then. I assume you have brought what I need?¡± Anton nodded, ¡°A full list. As much as it can be. As for the price...¡± ¡°I just need something to get started,¡± Kohar said. ¡°Anything I do will require money to grease the wheels, along with legitimate fees. I can¡¯t guarantee this will cost less than buying their freedom, but it will alter what hands the money ends up in.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°I¡¯m more interested in setting the precedent.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t going to make you many friends,¡± Kohar warned. ¡°I doubt it will be better for you,¡± Anton countered. ¡°I have methods to stay safe.¡± ¡°Doing this publicly should actually help,¡± Anton said. ¡°The Order wouldn¡¯t just stand by if something happened to us.¡± He¡¯d gotten confirmation of that, at least. Nobody would be able to provide any excuses if something happened to them when they were following proper legal rules. Anton simply hadn¡¯t known all the laws. Kohar did. From what she had explained, it was important for slavers to keep documents. It was at least supposed to be a legitimate practice. Among those documents were enslavement history and reason for enslavement. While getting anyone to show those documents would be work, none of the citizens of Dungannon could have been legally enslaved. While the Iron Ring Slavers might get away with just financial penalties for their ¡®carelessness¡¯, Anton much preferred that method to paying for people. Kohar had also assured him that once it was proven the slaves weren¡¯t legally owned, that would extend to later owners and they could thus track them down where otherwise they had to rely on information brokers. Even if they were reliable, they might have incomplete information. The process wouldn¡¯t be quick. Kohar expected it to take months- but that would still be faster than tracking down every person individually, and likely safer. Anton and the others wouldn¡¯t just be waiting around though. Some things could be expedited. They also had other things to speak about with the Ears of the Fox. Anton didn¡¯t expect that everything would turn out pleasantly, but they would do what they could. Chapter 109 With his experience of over one hundred years, Anton could confidently say that legal proceedings were the most boring thing in the world. There had been only slight bits of interest buried in the time leading up to it where he was introduced to the workings of the law. Seeing how it could be used to their advantage was interesting, but he doubted that he would enjoy in depth studies of the laws of a place that allowed slavery. Requiring the law to spell out every little detail was an exercise in frustration. Unfortunately, it was entirely necessary for the sorts of people who weren¡¯t willing to follow basic principles of not harming others. Anton could see that details were necessary where there were misunderstandings, but too many people tried to do whatever they could get away with and not what was right. Consulting about legal matters with Kohar resulted in an understanding that while the law was supposed to be fair and just, it was always slightly less perfect than those who created it. It was also woefully insufficient for dealing with certain matters. While it was completely obvious that the Iron Ring Slavers willfully accepted slaves from illegal sources, they would only be punished for the relatively small fraction that people could prove. Such punishments were little more than a slap on the wrist, though much of that had to do with connections and influence on the court system. Power was really what it came down to in the end. Laws that dealt with cultivators were only enforceable when other cultivators chose to do so. Ofrurg as a whole condoned slavery, and thus was only minimally interested in enforcing proper practices where it didn¡¯t concern their own citizens. Even if the lawsuit went flawlessly, the Iron Ring Slavers would survive, and they and others would just put more work into not getting caught. They would only stop if it cost more than they expected to make. But just because the Iron Ring Slavers wouldn¡¯t be crippled didn¡¯t mean it wouldn¡¯t be worth the time, effort, and expense. It would still be some amount of damage to them, and it might encourage others to come forward with similar cases. It was also a statement that their practices wouldn¡¯t be accepted. One step. But inside the court certainly was dull. ----- Stepping outside at the end of the day, Anton allowed himself to sigh. ¡°Thank you, everyone, for supporting me in this matter.¡± Hoyt looked qually deflated, ¡°The worst part is we can¡¯t even cultivate. Gotta keep out energy on lockdown.¡± ¡°It¡¯s kind of like mental training,¡± Timothy pointed out, ¡°But I still hate it.¡± ¡°The flow of energy in the courtroom is subpar,¡± Catarina commented, ¡°It almost seems designed for misery, but it¡¯s too random.¡± ¡°I just want to crawl into a corner¡­¡± Velvet said. Kohar looked slightly better than the rest, but still tired. ¡°I just want to remind you all that great strides have been made. Your presence is helpful, even if you rarely are called upon to speak. I hate to say it, but this has been one of the more expedient cases I¡¯ve worked on.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°Yet it has still taken more than a month. This task takes great fortitude. I appreciate your work as well, Kohar.¡± ----- The various reports from the Ears of the Fox hadn¡¯t been cheap, but Anton found their contents quite worthwhile. The unfortunate problem was that they provided no solutions on their own. He was confident enough in his current strength to at least acquire the information on Van Hassel and Slusser. The good news was that they appeared to have little talent for cultivation. Various sightings indicated that their cultivators were still lingering in mid Spirit Building. Still uncomfortably strong for Anton, but he felt he should be able to catch up to them. Recent activities included traveling to various countries around Ofrurg, and the reports were able to tie more raiding and slaving to them with decent certainty. Nothing quite so extreme as what had happened in Graotan with entire villages being destroyed, but the continued destruction bothered Anton. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Their activities were known, but they hadn¡¯t yet been stopped. They didn¡¯t cause trouble in Ofrurg, but even so merely having a formation master shouldn¡¯t have been enough to keep them safe as they caused trouble outside of Ofrurg. There were signs of interference by a more powerful group. That was the Heavenly Lion Sect, from which Maximillian Van Hassel had technically been expelled. Yet he was the son of an elder, and was clearly still receiving some support. That made things more complicated, because while there were no official ties, it would still be difficult to find and kill him. There weren¡¯t alternatives to that. Not that Anton was willing to accept. It was merely about how long it would take him to be strong enough to do so. He was fairly confident that he and the four other members of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars could take two mid Spirit Building cultivators in a straight battle. If they managed to ambush them, he thought they might even avoid any heavy injuries on their side. Yet thoughts like that ignored the likelihood they would have additional men with them. Even if those men were mostly still in Body Tempering, that would shift the odds. That also discounted the possibility of a hidden guardian of some sort. Making any sort of attempt on his life within the borders of Ofrurg was probably a terrible idea. The Heavenly Lion Sect was a powerful sect with dozens of Essence Collection cultivators, including Maximillian¡¯s father. Even if most of the sect truly rejected him, the additional power there wasn¡¯t something Anton could deal with even counting his allies. The only option was to catch them outside Ofrurg, preferably somewhere sympathetic to the Order and Graotan. It would be safest if he could work with another sect. He wouldn¡¯t even mind just providing them with sufficient information to hunt him down, though if possible he wanted to be there in person to see him die. He¡¯d seen portraits of the man, and only his training in Emotion kept him from tearing them up. That would be unhelpful. Even if he remembered the face, having something he could show others would be useful. The other pieces of information the Ears of the Fox had for him were about Devon and Annelise. Overall he found that it was good news, but he couldn¡¯t say it made him happy. Devon continued to grow in cultivation, though his cultivation still seemed to be mid to late Body Tempering. It was presumed that was due to a lack of proper training and an inadequate cultivation technique. His talent seemed to be middling, not poor but not truly noteworthy. He was still kept to fight at the Potenza Arena in Khonard. He was alive, and hadn¡¯t been put into any fights where he was seriously injured. Perhaps that was simply good management of resources, but Anton thought at least some of it was because of the pressure Elder Varela of the Grasping Willows had helped apply. From what he¡¯d learned, if slaves were allowed to cultivate they usually were placed into harder and harder matches until they broke, for the sake of an entertaining ¡®journey¡¯ for the crowds to watch. Another practice of Ofrurg he despised. Anton understood appreciating watching a good battle, but cultivators could fight without bloodshed and death. Annelise was now in her early teenage years. The news about her was encouraging, but also problematic. She had been purchased by the Frostmirror Sect as a slave. Now she was free, but a member of the sect. It was entirely possible it would be more difficult for her to leave them than if she was a slave. They wouldn¡¯t want to let her go, especially with what Anton learned about her progress. She was ¡®only¡¯ in late Body Tempering, but besides that being a good result for less than two years of cultivation there were other factors. Age was generally important in cultivation. Too young and the body wasn¡¯t developed enough to cultivate at full potential safely. Too old, and the body also couldn¡¯t handle it. She was making impressive strides with those circumstances. Anton knew he was far on the other end. His old body had still been healthy enough to have a chance when he first began cultivating. Cultivating without thought of whether or not it would kill him allowed him to push past the beginning stages where the burden on his body lightened. If he¡¯d been a little less healthy or insufficiently determined, he might have died or failed to achieve even the first star. Now his body was rejuvenated to merely an advanced age and he had to immerse himself in gathering insights from every available opportunity to continue advancing. He knew even that wouldn¡¯t be enough if he wasn¡¯t suited for energy cultivation, but he was fortunate in that regard. He wanted to meet Annelise, but it wouldn¡¯t be simple to contact her. Just approaching and asking the sect had a small chance of his message being delivered, but if she believed him to be dead she might think he was an impostor. If he tried and was rejected, future attempts to meet her would be stymied. If he could manage to see her in person, she would absolutely recognize him. The only question was how to arrange for that to happen. He was still looking into it, but there were various events she might get involved with. Cultivators liked competing against each other in contests of all sorts, though so far Anton had not been involved with any. He was too old to participate in many, even if he had only just begun cultivating recently. Plans were already underway to retrieve Devon. He would prefer to do it without further conflict with the Potenza family, mostly so they couldn¡¯t retaliate against Devon, but he would have to go in person. Annelise would have to wait. Other family¡­ he would find those he could. It already felt like it had been an eternity, but now he felt capable of finishing the mission he had set for himself. Chapter 110 Nothing was as easy as it should be. The Iron Ring Slavers tried every trick in the book and even wrote some new ones to hide their crimes. Kohar was determined not only to win, but to do so resoundingly. She couldn¡¯t do it all on her own, but she didn¡¯t have to. Having four Spirit Building cultivators around just providing their presence was beneficial by providing a greater sense of legitimacy to her case- and the fact that they were from the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars meant they couldn¡¯t be completely ignored. It also meant that if Kohar was to mysteriously ¡®disappear¡¯ things couldn¡¯t just be brushed under the rug, though she had taken steps to prevent that regardless. When by the end of the first month the four Spirit Building cultivators became five, Kohar found herself somewhat jealous. Was stepping into Spirit Building so easy? Perhaps she might ask for advice, but she had business to finish first. The Iron Ring Slavers did their best to drag their feet, trying to stall or entirely prevent having to produce the required documents. They attempted to claim that some of the people hadn¡¯t ever been sold to them. Kohar was certain they bribed some people to push back against the lawsuit. She received a threatening letter which intended to consume itself after she read it, possibly explosively. Catarina spotted that and disabled it by slicing just a single line in the paper, which left them with a useful piece of evidence- though tracing it to the Iron Ring Slavers in a sense of legal proof might be difficult. Everything that needed to be done was far too much work for one person, but Kohar didn¡¯t have to work alone. Anton Krantz had been part of the village of Dungannon and was willing to throw large amounts of money her way. Kohar took her proper payment for her time, but even that part of it mostly went to the same place as the rest- hiring additional hands. When they finally received documents, there were far too many for even a peak Body Tempering cultivator to read over in a reasonable amount of time. Most of them were unrelated to the case or clearly falsified documents. It was frustrating that it took what was basically bribes to get proper sanctions against them and require them to produce the original documents, but at least the money was available. There wasn¡¯t just work to do in Veron, because she needed to notify every person who had bought one of them. They were basically threats disguised as legal missives, informing them that any further harm to befall any of the former villagers of Dungannon would be prosecuted to the fullest extent. It wasn¡¯t possible to punish them for previous actions as slave owners could do almost whatever they wished with a slave and they could, possibly legitimately, claim that they bought the slaves in good faith that everything was proper and legal. Preventing any further harm even before the end of the legal action was critical. As time passed it became more clear to Kohar that they would be successful, at least at the surface level. Those who still lived would be freed. The Iron Ring Slavers would be forced to refund the sale price for all of them. The slave owners might complain about that, but Kohar had already prepared to deal with them claiming increases in value. Honestly she was ambivalent about whatever resulted from individual events of that sort, because whether the Iron Ring Slavers or the slave owners had the money it still supported the cause of slavery. What she was really pushing for was further penalties to the Iron Ring Slavers in the form of fines and restrictions, plus recompense for those who had been unlawfully enslaved. The latter of those was unfortunately not always required, but since it was basically intended to assuage cultivators if something happened to someone they knew there was actually a good chance to get some amount of payment- though ironically not nearly as much as the sale price of a slave. The four younger cultivators displayed clear potential and the promise of later difficulty if things didn¡¯t go their way, but Kohar personally found herself more concerned about Anton. Well, not actually concerned- none of his ire was directed towards her. Instead, it came out in his every movement as he stood in the courtroom. His face was calm, his back straight, and his heart murderous. Yet he was in complete control of his emotions, never reacting to provocations in anger. Nobody was allowed to use their cultivation to suppress others in the courtroom. That was the law, but what it practically meant was that nobody was allowed to attack people or put physical pressure on them. Once Anton had seen what others got away with he consulted Kohar, and then he began openly impressing those strong emotions upon people. It was occasionally enough to make the lawyers from the Iron Ring Slavers choke on their words or stumble and admit to certain sorts of wrongdoing. Every little bit helped the cause. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ----- Dozens of papers sat on a table in front of Anton. It disturbed him that the lives of people were reduced to just ink and paper, but that was the current state of Ofrurg. One pile were those who had not survived. Illness, accident, or foul tempered masters were the main causes. One had been killed by wild beasts while working on a farm that generally took decent care of its slaves. Another pile was those who were missing. Several were said to have escaped. Others were bought by roaming cultivators who were unable to be contacted. Some seemingly hadn¡¯t ever been registered at the Iron Ring Slavers. Anton didn¡¯t intend to take every declaration at face value- owners might have decided that the slave was worth more to them than a refund for whatever reason. He doubted many would do that- they could receive payment as if the slave was new and in good condition- but some people were very attached to certain slaves or just stubborn and unwilling to give up something that was theirs. He would be taking advantage of his friends and allies to move throughout the country and help retrieve those who had been freed. Some would not be in any condition to travel, nor would they necessarily have the resources. In the worst case, as lone foreigners they might find themselves right back in slavery with fewer tracks to follow. So many friends and family reduced to pieces of paper, though Anton had to admit the majority were merely acquaintances. He might have fond memories of them, but his closest friends had been older. Even the ones decades younger than himself weren¡¯t slave material. As for family¡­ none of his children were alive. None of them were young. Even some of his grandchildren and their spouses had been older than people liked as slaves. Half had died in the attack on Dungannon, and he now only had six who survived and had known locations. Every individual who had not was another reason to kill Maximillian Van Hassel and possibly everyone connected to him¡­ if he was able. After everyone was as safe as they could be. Anton¡¯s great-grandchildren started with Annelie, at least if he were counting those from Dungannon. He might have others elsewhere in Graotan, but he was confident they would have at least decent lives there. In the decade since Annelie had been born, he had ten more great grandchildren. All of them had been sold to various training facilities, and while they were alive¡­ two years of that at such a young age would certainly have been disastrous for their mental development. The furniture in the room was trembling. Anton¡¯s control of energy was better than to accidentally destroy things, but he realized he wasn¡¯t fully controlled. He breathed out slowly, feeling the way his energy flowed out of him and affected the room. He wasn¡¯t naturally talented in that area. Sensing energy in the form of armor or an attack or in large concentrations was simple enough, but the flow of things was more obtuse to his senses. He was now taking the opportunity to train that sense. For the fourteenth star, he was training Spiritual Connection with the guidance of Catarina. Her natural talent had let her assist others who had similar leanings, like Pete, but only when she properly trained that sense in Spirit Building was she able to help others. His energy circulated through his meridians, through his body, and a small part through the room. He brushed against the edges of the room and the formation Catarina had set up. While the inn they were staying at should be secure, being more certain of that wouldn¡¯t hurt. She couldn¡¯t carve into the walls and just shuffling furniture around wasn¡¯t sufficient, but she had purchased some formation flags and wardstone. They allowed quickly setting up formations and even keeping them more stable, though they weren¡¯t as good as anything permanent. With Catarina¡¯s talent, she would get more out of modifying the surrounding terrain in a specific area, but that could take hours to have a better effect. The reason she didn¡¯t purchase them before was that each set cost more than a thousand contribution points, and a larger formation could require all of them. The price wasn¡¯t actually excessive- both formation flags and wardstones needed to be made out of special materials that could withstand the flow of large amounts of energy. Those who constructed them were rare, even among cultivators. The papers were left where they were, to be properly distributed in the morning. Looking at them longer wouldn¡¯t help, and Anton wanted to cultivate. Carefully, because he first needed to determine if his current mental state would poison his cultivation or allow him to push forward. He didn¡¯t want to settle for short term gains when he needed to reach the very peak¡­ or at least whatever he could manage. While Body Tempering and the early part of Spirit Building had progressed far more smoothly than they should have at his age, it was inevitable that he would come across some sort of roadblock sooner or later. Whether he could surpass it or not was a different question. Chapter 111 Simply being in Spirit Building was not enough for Velvet to feel comfortable traveling alone. Her concerns were handled without her even having to voice them. While any of them would probably be safe on their own, it was decided that people would travel in pairs. That still allowed them to cover much more ground while still supporting each other. They were arranged more or less by strength, higher and lower being together. That put Velvet with Hoyt, who was well into the twelfth star. Catarina and Timothy were together, along with Fuzz who didn¡¯t really count. Though Fuzz seemed to think he did. Maybe, soon¡­ that wolf was growing stronger rapidly. Right now he was probably equivalent to a Mid Body tempering cultivator. Maybe a bit less intelligent. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. Fuzz had a different sort of intelligence. He was currently unable to cultivate on his own, but Catarina had been the one to save him and was devoted to helping him improve. That left just Anton at Spirit Building, with Kohar at the peak of Body Tempering. The two old folk together, though Kohar was probably closer to the age of any of the rest of them than to Anton¡¯s age. Velvet couldn¡¯t be sure, because it was rude to ask. They would be handling some of the more difficult tasks, mostly on the legal side. Hopefully just that. ¡°Well,¡± Velvet looked down at the papers she held in her hands. They went into a proper carrying case so they wouldn¡¯t be damaged. ¡°I suppose we should get going.¡± It bothered her that she held in her hands the futures of over a dozen people. She didn¡¯t have the only copies of things, but the part that bothered her most was that they even had to do anything. That slavery was possible. Her early life hadn¡¯t been happy, not by a long shot, but she at least hadn¡¯t been at risk of slavery. Probably. The villagers of Dungannon probably hadn¡¯t thought about it either. Yet things came to where they were. Awful. Velvet cultivated, like many cultivators, for her own personal power. Sure, she had probably intended to lord it over people some. Maybe get back at those who deserved retribution. Maybe kill some people. Enslaving people was insane. And slaughtering most of a village? Velvet had heard about cultivators of the sort, but she thought they were simply scary stories. An insane thing that nobody would even attempt because they couldn¡¯t get away with it. But apparently they could. For a while, at least. Until Anton killed them. He would, too. His rate of growth was freakish. Not really any faster than the quite talented Hoyt and Catarina, but he didn¡¯t have to be. She wondered how he grew so strong. She¡¯d thought it was some sort of secret. Maybe it was, but not in the way she¡¯d thought. Hard work. Talent. Cooperation. Those all fed into it. The last she was still getting used to, but she understood it in principle. That would get people somewhere, but people had noticed. Rumors spread. Anton was willing to share the truth about why he was cultivating, though he¡¯d greatly unexaggerated his desire for revenge. Velvet wasn¡¯t sure which rumors about his training were true, but the one she gave the most credit was the one where Vincent told the other elders. People weren¡¯t supposed to talk about personal things like that, but it would always happen. Even if it was just a little. As soon as he got his hands on the cultivation scroll, he cultivated like mad. Not just day and night, constantly pushing forward. That better fit the descriptor tireless. No, he cultivated like a madman. Tireless geniuses sat in a field or atop a nice mountain and breathed in pure air, rapidly reshaping their bodies. Madmen dragged their nearly dead bodies back to their destroyed village and cultivated their body by digging graves for months. The trickling rumors weren¡¯t so detailed in that part, but Velvet had seen what was left of Dungannon. They had stopped to pay their respects on the way, and the fields of graves¡­ that wasn¡¯t something a normal person could do. She would have gone insane from that. Maybe he did, but Anton was certainly sane now. Scarily so, sometimes. Velvet had thought crazy people would be more frightening, but the way Anton looked at people in the courtroom made her glad she hadn¡¯t pushed things too far in the past. Her mistakes had been forgiven, right? No, this was no time to doubt his sincerity. He wasn¡¯t the tricky sort, but the straightforward vengeful kind. And the compassionate, helping kind. To that end, she needed to do her part. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Travel with Hoyt was awkward. It wasn¡¯t his fault, but Velvet wasn¡¯t sure if it was hers either. It just was. They were two allies who had trained together and participated in a single mission. A few months of shallow experience compared to a stunning performance in The Hunt where they saved a village nobody even knew could be in danger. Maybe if she had¡­ no, she wasn¡¯t the right person to have participated at that point. She likely would have fled to protect herself. She couldn¡¯t say for sure if she was still that person or not. ----- ¡°Thank you, thank you, thank you,¡± the woman squeezed Velvet¡¯s hands as she cried tears of joy. ¡°I didn¡¯t- I¡­ am just helping out Anton Krantz.¡± She didn¡¯t do anything worth thanking. At best she was a delivery girl bringing money that wasn¡¯t hers. ¡°We¡¯re, uh, planning to travel around to gather some others. We aren¡¯t leaving Ofrurg directly, but we can escort you as we travel. It might be safer.¡± The woman closed her eyes for a second. ¡°The two of you are cultivators? Strong ones?¡± ¡°We¡¯re¡­ better than the weakest.¡± Velvet felt strong, but there was so much more growing she could do. She knew that many other cultivators were stronger. Most of them, in fact. She hadn¡¯t been cultivating for that long yet, despite her success. That wasn¡¯t the right thing to say though. ¡°I can beat some people who have trained for a decade or more.¡± That was more encouraging, and was true even if she didn¡¯t count people eternally stuck at the beginning of cultivation. Cultivation speed could vary so widely. The woman nodded. ¡°Then yes, I will put my trust in the two of you.¡± ----- Shadows could cloak a person, but unnatural shadow was just as obvious as standing in the open. The proper way to sneak about involved good body control and careful regulation of energy for use only when necessary. A creaky door could be silenced, footfalls softened, and legs made swift to avoid the gaze of a guard. If she didn¡¯t have to worry about cultivators sensing her, Velvet could simply cease breathing and circulate air into and out of her lungs with energy. It was extremely strange, and rarely useful. Perception was just as important. You didn¡¯t have to hide from a guard if you went where they weren¡¯t going to be. You watched their patrols from afar, heard their steps around a corner, felt the floor tremble. She crept up behind her target. One hand went over the mouth. Immediately, hands and feet flailed at her. ¡°It¡¯s alright. Just don¡¯t scream.¡± It took a moment for the scared man to calm down. ¡°Yes yes, I¡¯m not supposed to be here. I get it. Will you promise not to shout when I remove my hand?¡± The man nodded. Velvet did so and waited, preparing to run. She didn¡¯t have another way to get what she wanted. Hurting someone wouldn¡¯t help her. The man just stood there, stock still. ¡°Good.¡± She pulled out a paper, holding it in front of the man. ¡°Do you know who this is?¡± The man nodded. ¡°You can speak. Just quietly.¡± ¡°I know him. His name was Barnaby.¡± ¡°Was?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°What happened to him?¡± ¡°Died of the bloody plague.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I think so. I mean, he was really sick. I hadn¡¯t seen it before, but that¡¯s what the doctor said it was.¡± ¡°A doctor was called in?¡± The man nodded once more. ¡°Keeps the rest of us from getting sick.¡± ¡°Sure he¡¯s dead?¡± ¡°Saw the body carried out. Well, it was covered up- but I don¡¯t doubt it was Barnaby. Nobody else got sick.¡± Velvet was gone before he could notice the silence and even think to turn around. If he had, she was wearing a mask to cover her face. A voice might be suspicious, but it was hardly something to identify someone by. So this one was dead, just like the report said. Another slave not expecting to be questioned shouldn¡¯t be ready to lie, and she¡¯d seen no sign of Barnaby anywhere at work or in the slave quarters. She had to check though. She had no doubt that there would be a few deceivers among those enslaving their assigned people. At the current time they¡¯d confirmed six. Four traveled with them, Barnaby dead, and one was seen leaving the area on his own. He was free to do so, and leaving right away had been the best choice if he was going to do it. Velvet wasn¡¯t sure if it was safe to do so, but she also wasn¡¯t sure if traveling with them was truly safe. The world was crazy. There were people out there as much stronger than her than the bandits had been compared to non-cultivators. A scary thought, and something she planned to rectify if at all possible. Just another handful, and they could go meet up with Anton. Then everyone could thank him instead of her and Hoyt, who wouldn¡¯t even have known anything was wrong without Anton. Chapter 112 Everything should have been fine, but for some reason it was not. The pack had returned to the big pack, the Order-pack. It had been safe there, with abundant food that didn¡¯t even need to be hunted for and natural energy of the most pleasant sort. Even out in the forest where the unpleasant ants and razor birds lived the problems had been resolved with the help of a pack ¡®elder¡¯. Now the pack leaders had taken him along with them, leaving behind weaker pack members. Timothy had properly reclaimed his status as ¡®friend¡¯, though Fuzz wasn¡¯t sure what Velvet was in relation to the pack. She certainly was part of the Order-pack. He could smell the same energy in her. She came with them as some sort of ally. Then there had been a long time of remaining in a single city. Fuzz didn¡¯t understand why. Nobody was happy. They didn¡¯t hunt or gather other resources. The opportunities to cultivate weren¡¯t anything special. Fuzz wasn¡¯t even allowed to come into the building they spent all day inside, which was strange. It seemed a courthouse didn¡¯t allow low ranking pack members inside, but he scented many weaker than himself entering. Strange. It was only afterwards that Fuzz understood they were looking for pack members. Anton had been part of a large pack, not as big as the Order-pack but still precious to him. Timothy and Catarina split from the rest of the pack along with himself. They travelled quickly to other cities where they found what were apparently Anton¡¯s former packmates. They had been lost, somehow, but now they were found. These packmates were weak. Without cultivation. Fuzz didn¡¯t know how to show them how to cultivate energy, but he made sure to bring them meat so that they could develop a strong body. At first he didn¡¯t understand why they cooked it on a fire and left the bones behind, but he did find it nice when meat was warm. The bones went to him, even when he tried to insist others should eat them. Fuzz would not let them be wasted, so he eventually ate them himself. They cracked apart easily, releasing tasty marrow and crunchy tidbits of bone. Fuzz remembered gnawing on bones when he was just a little pup, how hard it was to bite through- but now he was able to do it with ease even without using his energy. His new pack made him strong. Cities were often paved with stone, and roads were made of packed dirt or stone. Such ground was unpleasant on his pads, but better than stepping on thorns. Fuzz had few thorns he had to worry about now, but he knew they existed. The Order-pack had plants with very sharp thorns that he only tried to sniff inside once. They had tasty energy fruit buried inside, but his snout was all cut up. Not a good trade. Normally the pack traveled on such terrain but now they were off the road. They were looking for someone. A packmate of Anton¡¯s. No, it was more than that. One of his offspring, or at least a kin of some sort. Fuzz wasn¡¯t sure exactly, but it was like the word for Catarina. A great daughter. The one they were looking for had been gone for a whole week from where they thought they were going to meet her. Catarina and Timothy hadn¡¯t been happy about that, but apparently she hadn¡¯t listened to the other pack, or something. It was a big problem. One week was a long time. Scents were hard to follow after a week, and it was even worse when he didn¡¯t know what he was smelling for. He had been taken to Alva¡¯s room but it had been ¡®cleaned¡¯ and it only smelled like other people staying at that house. They didn¡¯t have a trail for him to follow, or more than a vague direction they thought she had gone. So Fuzz was running around snuffling up the forest. His lungs were very strong now, so when he snuffled too hard he pulled up dirt and it made him sneeze. He was surprised by that. Dirt was supposed to stay on the ground, not go in the air. He made sure to adjust his method, keeping his nose a bit higher. His scent abilities had gotten better, especially if he used energy. He just had to find signs of someone. Five people besides their pack had passed through this area recently. Seventeen squirrels, two boars, a bear, some kinds of birds Fuzz didn¡¯t recognize, and countless insects also filled the area. But he knew what humans smelled like. Humans smelled like salt and like cotton and leather, and sometimes metal. It wasn¡¯t clear to Fuzz which he should follow. He wandered back and forth on the trail. He had gotten ahead of Catarina and Timothy, but he was still close enough to hear them. They were very slow because of all the other pack members, so he didn¡¯t want to wait. He could cover more area on his own. The trail split. Most of the human scents weren¡¯t from the same time, but it was an easy path to walk along. Now they could spread out in two general directions. Which one should he follow? Fuzz sniffed hard, getting a noseful of dirt and leaves. It was all too faint. Who did he want? Something¡­ he sniffed more, using energy to pull in more air but also block big chunks from hitting his nose. Was that what he wanted? He was looking for kin of Anton, which would also be kin of Catarina. Besides the smell of the Ninety-Nine Stars, they had very little scent in common¡­ but there was one bit of smell here that matched that. With no better idea, Fuzz followed that one. The trail scent grew stronger. Fuzz was much faster than a normal human, and though the trail wandered around without specific direction he knew he was able to cut ahead at some points. He was going at a quick trot. The current trail was no longer a week old. Only a few days. Maybe less. Fresh since the last rain. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Most of the beasts avoided Fuzz. Squirrels and rabbits didn¡¯t want to be eaten, and he had no time to hunt them. Deer ran away quickly, but he didn¡¯t give chase. A boar wandered into view. It was big. Tough. He was on its territory. Fuzz growled. He didn¡¯t have time to fight a boar. The boar pawed the ground as if about to charge¡­ then turned away. Good. Paws found their way over dirt and roots and leaves and sticks. Bushes got in the way and he ploughed through them or jumped over. The scent was getting closer. Now he was no longer close enough to Timothy and Catarina to hear them, but he would be able to find them. He knew where their trail would be, and was very familiar with their scent. He had to find this kin of Anton. She was close. Then Fuzz heard a scream. His claws tore the ground as he moved, propelling him forward with great speed. He no longer cared about the trail. No more time wasted with scents, just running. His lungs and heart pumped quickly as he ran, panting to cool himself. Screams continued, but he was getting close. Then he saw it. A great cat, and a king of the forest. One paw was one the leg of a human girl-child. It could have easily leaned forward to bite her neck and finish her off, but it was toying with her. Fuzz barely even needed scent to know this was the kin of Anton and Catarina. He howled and charged. He hoped that Timothy and Catarina would hear him. The cat was not just larger than himself. As a king of the forest, it had energy just like Fuzz did. That energy was stronger than his, deep and old. The great cat turned from its prey towards him. It knew it could safely ignore the girl to face Fuzz. That was what he intended. He couldn¡¯t allow more harm to come to Anton¡¯s kin. If he had hesitated to draw the beast¡¯s attention, it could have slain her at any moment. With no packmates to aid him, Fuzz could not use his usual tactics. He would have liked to circle around behind the creature and pull its leg, but that was simply impossible. He had to do this differently. The cat had no time to ready for a pounce as Fuzz charged it. His paw slashed towards the cat¡¯s nose, and in return the cat clawed at him. Fuzz ducked his body under the attack while his own paw scraped along the creature¡¯s nose. Barely a scratch. The creature¡¯s energy was stronger, resisting his attack. He pulled back, wary of the cat¡¯s longer reach. If he stayed too far he could not attack, but if he approached too close it could crush him with its weight. He also had to make sure it didn¡¯t go towards the child. Fuzz relied on his quick reflexes and turning ability to move around it, attacking from an angle on its right side. The right side was dangerous a quick paw slashing out, and he felt blood trail along his ear and down his head and neck. His own attack barely connected, and didn¡¯t even leave a shallow mark. His teeth remained ready for a moment when he saw an extended neck, but he found no opportunity. He pulled back to circle around to the other side. His turning allowed him to see that the human girl was dragging herself away. Hopefully she could escape, but if Fuzz did not win the battle it would do little good. All that could be hoped for would be the cat getting bored and not her being far enough to escape. Fuzz didn¡¯t want to let Anton¡¯s kin die, but he also didn¡¯t want to die. He wasn¡¯t able to choose between the two options, which meant he had to win even though he didn¡¯t think he could. He howled once more, hoping Timothy and Catarina could hear him. He was quite far, and human ears were weak. He lunged towards the cat¡¯s left side. Its reaction was a bit slower, and his fangs dug into its shoulder. In return, the creature fell on him, then turned itself to tower over him. Fuzz lashed out with his teeth to keep himself safe, but it would only last so long. The creature was bigger and stronger, and he was in a disadvantageous position. Fuzz noticed that it didn¡¯t really focus its energy on one particular place, but it was enough stronger it didn¡¯t need to. One paw pressed down on his chest, cracking his ribs. Jaw opened wide to bite down at his neck. Fuzz knew he was going to die. Then a tiny rock hit the cat in the head. Such a small rock didn¡¯t even cause its head to move, but it shifted its weight and slightly lifted its paw. Fuzz immediately attacked. He didn¡¯t have the energy to resist its attacks, so he didn¡¯t. Everything he had went into his jaws and teeth. It was almost too much- as he tried to lengthen his teeth he found it pushing against his mouth. He softened it to not affect him as he lunged for the cat¡¯s throat. Warm, sweet blood filled his mouth. He tore, flung away what he had in his mouth, then bit again. And again, and again, until the cries of the great cat faded away. The great cat had fallen atop him, pinning him down. His ribs were broken. His head and neck were bleeding, along with his belly and side. Fuzz pushed, trying to get the cat off. It would be a shame to die after killing it. He couldn¡¯t do it. He was dizzy from loss of blood, tired. Nearly out of energy. Then he heard a little voice. It was the human-girl. She wasn¡¯t saying anything he recognized as words, just grunts of exertion. He saw her pushing against the side of the cat, as if she could even slightly affect it. How silly. Then he heard a cry of pain. She was pushing with her legs, her back pressed against the beast. That included her injured leg. But she didn¡¯t stop. Fuzz growled, trying to get her to just leave him, but she either didn¡¯t hear or didn¡¯t understand. How pathetic. How could he give up when Anton¡¯s kin still wanted to rescue him? He growled, not with any sort of meaning but just to express himself. His legs pushed, his ribs strained and ached and felt like they might break even further. Then something snapped, but it wasn¡¯t his ribs. The great cat¡¯s body flew off of him over to the side, and Fuzz rolled onto his belly. He tried to bend to lick the wound on his side, but his body wouldn¡¯t listen. He slumped into unconsciousness, but not before he felt warm arms around his neck. Chapter 113 The howl of a wolf carried through the air as Catarina sprinted through the trees. Fuzz had been scouting ahead, getting further and further from the rest of the group. Timothy and Catarina could have both kept up, but even mildly dangerous animals would be a threat to the handful of common folk they had with them. There shouldn¡¯t be anything dangerous to Spirit Building cultivators, but Fuzz was weaker than that. He was just a little wolf pup. Well, very big for a pup but still smaller than he would be when full grown. His defenseless and weak form lingered in Catarina¡¯s memory as she moved closer to where the sound came from. Soon she could sense his energy, but it was weak instead of vibrant. Closer, and she sensed a larger energy that was even more faded. Finally, she sensed another life, just before she came into view of the scene. Blood was everywhere, soaking into the leaves and splattered across the bark of the trees. It took a moment for Catarina to figure out what one of the creatures was under all the blood and viscera. Some sort of large cat, bigger than a wolf. Its head might have been rib height on a human if it was standing. It only took a moment for Catarina to find what she was actually looking for. Fuzz was there- along with a young girl somewhere around ten years of age wrapped around his bloody body. Was this Alva? She heard breath from both figures, but Fuzz sounded nearly as weak as when he had first been found- after the parasitic moss had been removed from him. Catarina didn¡¯t have any medicines or treatments specifically meant for wolves, but she had coagulants to help stop the bleeding, bandages, and needle and thread for stitching. She carefully pried off the unconscious child, relieved that none of the blood seemed to be hers- though noting a broken leg. Though she had little in the way of real medical training, Catarina¡¯s hands were swift and dextrous as she stitched closed the most grievous wounds. She traced her fingers along the patterns cut into Fuzz¡¯ fur and above the new wounds without touching them. The practice of turning people into living formations was discouraged in Graotan because it often resulted in mutilations and death, but Fuzz had already been about to die. Though he was visibly much worse looking at the moment, Catarina believed he was probably better off. His body was tempered with energy and though his durability had already been tested with his wounds, Fuzz'' recovery should be higher. His flow of energy wasn¡¯t quite right, so she shaved more fur in an attempt to stabilize things. She had a feel for what was right, and some actual study on the topic now instead of what she had done spontaneously. When she was finished, if Fuzz wasn¡¯t covered in blood Catarina almost would have thought he was having a nap. The little girl had bags under her eyes and was thin. Wandering around in the forest for a week was bound to be exhausting. She was lucky the area was warm enough for her to survive the night, and that she hadn¡¯t run into danger sooner. Catarina thought to let her rest, but they needed to set that leg sooner rather than later. The first thing she did was cut down a small tree. A sword wasn¡¯t the best tool for the job, but with the addition of energy it was like slicing through a soft cake. She carved out straight lengths of wood to use as a splint. She didn¡¯t know if she should wake the girl up or set her leg while she was unconscious. Finally she decided that waking up to pain wouldn¡¯t be a good first impression. Catarina gently touched her shoulder to shake her awake. It took more than just a little effort, but eventually the girl¡¯s eyes opened. ¡°Hello,¡± Catarina said softly. ¡°Are you Alva?¡± Alva nodded, staring for a moment. ¡°Who¡­ are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Catarina. I¡¯m¡­ hmm¡­ it¡¯s hard to explain. Do you remember your great-grandpa Anton? He sent me to help you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± her eyes grew wide. ¡°What about mom and dad?¡± She sat up and winced. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°Listen, I¡¯m going to have to set the bones in your leg. It will hurt, but it won¡¯t heal right if I don¡¯t. Okay?¡± Alva bit her lip. ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Get ready.¡± Catarina really hoped it wouldn¡¯t hurt that much. She let her energy flow into the wounded leg, grabbing onto the larger broken bones and with them the smaller pieces. It wasn¡¯t a clean break, but if she could get it close there were bone-healing medicines for humans that she had. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Despite her best efforts to ease the movement of the bones, they made a snap as she moved them back into place and Alva cried out in pain. Catarina quickly applied the splints, wrapping them tightly. She realized she should have used painkillers of some sort. She¡¯d spent too much time with cultivators who could push through the pain. Alva was doing her best, but tears streamed down her face. What medicines were bad to mix? Catarina could regulate what happened inside her own body, but Alva couldn¡¯t. She shook her head and held out a pill, a little ball of crushed and refined herbs. The most important thing was the bone recovery medicine. Hopefully the pain wasn¡¯t too much now that things were properly set. ¡°I need you to swallow this.¡± Alva nodded, sniffling, and Catarina floated it through the air with her energy. She knew it would taste bad, so she avoided letting it touch Alva¡¯s tongue. When it got closer to her throat Alva swallowed more out of surprise than anything else. She coughed and sputtered, sending Catarina into a panic until it subsided a moment later- and she felt there wasn¡¯t anything stuck in the girl¡¯s lungs. When Alva finished coughing, she looked at Catarina. ¡°Are you¡­ a cultivator?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Catarina said.¡± ¡°Can you teach me?¡± An awkward question. She absolutely could- and would- but she didn¡¯t know how much cultivation young children could do. Since Body Tempering was first, it was somewhat dangerous for those whose bodies hadn¡¯t fully developed. Another danger was that during the teenage years hormones ran wild, disrupting thinking processes and increasing the chance of making a serious mistake that could lead to crippling injury. ¡°Maybe not right away,¡± Catarina said, ¡°But I will, when it¡¯s safe.¡± Moving Alva while injured was possible, but Fuzz was also unconscious. Instead of pushing them, Catarina gave Alva something to eat and started setting up a simple formation to protect the area. It was nightfall when Timothy and the others finally caught up. Most of the others were exhausted, but elated to see Alva was found and relatively unharmed. Even those who didn¡¯t have contact with her before were relieved to know a young girl was safe. ----- ¡°I can¡¯t believe it,¡± said a man with whitish-blond hair. ¡°I thought for sure you died in the attack. And to learn you¡¯re a cultivator¡­¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I only survived by chance. I was outside of town.¡± Anton knew the former owner of a small restaurant was called Reuben. Though most of his food was raised and prepared by his family, sometimes when they visited the main part of Dungannon they¡¯d gone to eat at his place. Maybe not more than yearly himself, but they knew each other well enough. ¡°In the giant snowstorm?¡± Reuben shook his head. ¡°If it was someone else, I wouldn¡¯t have believed it.¡± ¡°It was a bad winter. People were hungry.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t have to explain to me. I know you well enough. A tough old guy, that¡¯s for sure.¡± Reuben looked Anton up and down. ¡°You look¡­ younger? Maybe it¡¯s just faulty memory, but you were a bit more wrinkled before.¡± ¡°Like a prune,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Cultivation helps somewhat.¡± ¡°I tried it once,¡± Reuben said. ¡°Cultivation. Didn¡¯t get anywhere in a couple years.¡± ¡°Maybe I can point you in the right direction,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯ll be good for you to even get some initial success.¡± Anton looked over towards Kohar. ¡°I¡¯ve found comparing experiences to be very helpful to my own cultivation. I¡¯d be glad to have you join us, if you¡¯re willing.¡± She had enough time spent as a cultivator he knew she really should have useful insights despite being lower cultivation than him. Since she cultivated a different technique than the Ninety-Nine Stars he wasn¡¯t sure if he could help her surpass Body Tempering, but he wanted to try. ¡°I would be glad to exchange thoughts,¡± Kohar agreed. ¡°Because of my chosen path, I spend less time cultivating than I might like. Many find the study of law a waste of time, and trying to help others with it even more so.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a most honorable choice,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have some thoughts about helping strangers in some potential future where I solve all of my own problems first, but at the moment this is mostly just for myself.¡± He inclined his head to Reuben, ¡°Sorry to say it.¡± ¡°Hah!¡± Reuben¡¯s face spread into a wide smile, ¡°I¡¯m not going to complain about whatever reasons you had to help get me free. Besides, I know you have a good heart. You didn¡¯t ask me to swear eternal loyalty to you or sacrifice my life or anything.¡± ¡°Oh, did I forget to mention that part?¡± Anton grinned. It was nice, to be happy for a few moments, but he still had some of his most important steps ahead. He was absolutely willing to admit that his own family was worth more to him than other people, and Devon was waiting for him. Chapter 114 It was almost hard to remember life before everything had become a total mess. Yet those precious memories from before were the things Devon clung to the most. Memories of comfort and community. There was little enough of each in his current life. His accommodations were ever so slightly better than they had been in the Irvin arena. The bed was nearly tolerable, the floors were cleaned almost monthly, and the food was more abundant. The danger was more variable. In the Irvin arena he had to fight for his life primarily against wild beasts. Sometimes they were starved, the effects of which varied by the animal. If they were too starved they were easier to fight, which suited Devon just fine. He didn¡¯t mind killing an easy opponent. He would even do his best to make it look somewhat difficult. He didn¡¯t care about the crowd but when his life was in control of someone else, he had to adapt. There had also been a few fights against humans there. Not all of them were to the death- slaves cost money after all. After he¡¯d been casually given an admittedly poor cultivation technique, he quickly grew stronger. A cultivator¡¯s body was much stronger than anyone else, and the versatility and power of energy couldn¡¯t be overcome by simply having a stronger build. He ended up against stronger opponents but he himself grew quickly enough to defend himself. Enough that the Irvin arena was running out of opponents for him- and the guards were barely higher cultivation than himself. Then he had been bought by the Potenza family- or more specifically by a daughter of the family, Tonina. His grandfather Anton had found him and planned to purchase his freedom, but she arrived before the deal was finished and used her family¡¯s influence to coerce him into a duel- and when she lost that one, a second duel at a time most convenient to her advancing cultivation. After that he had been thrown into an endless series of matches against other cultivators and magical beasts. He had to grow stronger to survive, and so he did. Somehow he came through it, and a few weeks later things calmed down. He¡¯d thought he would be pushed until he died, but it seemed to not be the case. Perhaps they had plans for when he grew in cultivation. Just because they were going to send him against greater opponents as he grew didn¡¯t mean he could stop. They would do it anyway- and Devon preferred to live. He had little in the way of discussions with others about cultivation since talking with rivals wasn¡¯t good for his own safety. He knew he had pushed himself from mid to late Body Tempering, but not to the peak according to the cultivation method he had available. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was a mismatch between himself and the technique or if something was simply wrong with it, but he couldn¡¯t manage any more advancement. Even so, he survived. He was fortunate to find himself matched against beasts he could kill or kept out of death matches entirely. He thought perhaps he might survive until he could grow strong enough to escape, or until his grandfather returned. Those hopes had been shattered when his next match was announced. There was a giant man named Moreno, more than a head taller than any of the other men and coated in rippling muscle. His build was secondary to his cultivation at the peak of Body Tempering. More than that, even. The rumors weren¡¯t entirely clear on whether he had a foot into Spirit Building or had fully stepped into it. Devon¡¯s only time seeing the man he hadn¡¯t felt like he¡¯d completed a full level of whatever cultivation technique he used, but that could have changed in the last few weeks. Regardless, it didn¡¯t matter. Moreno had more than just higher cultivation than Devon. Moreno wasn¡¯t a slave, or at least not fully treated like one. He was the man chosen to end most every arena combatant¡¯s streaks- permanently. Devon didn¡¯t know what sort of bets were involved, but anyone involved would be foolish to bet against him. The matches weren¡¯t fair. He was always equipped with better gear- high quality and enchanted. Even if his opponent was more skilled or nearly as strong, even a lucky hit by them wouldn¡¯t be enough to change the tide of battle. Devon had found out about the match only three days before, directly from the lips of Tonina. The evil grin on her face told him that he was going to die just as much as her words did. If he¡¯d had a weapon nearby he would have tried to stab it through her heart, despite her presence in early Spirit Building meaning he had no hope to kill her. So he was going to die. Three days wasn¡¯t sufficient for any sort of breakthrough. The only solace he had was on the training field. Moreno had his own place to train secretly, with outside opponents. He was still able to watch the others train to inspect their weaknesses. It was clear he hadn¡¯t been informed of the match any sooner than Devon- he hadn¡¯t been watching him fight at all. In fact, he was out of town. One of the other men used the same sort of weapon- if it could be called that instead of a torture device. A chain with spikes along its length designed to cause maximum pain. Devon had convinced him to help train- since Devon would be dying in a few days regardless any secrets couldn¡¯t be used against him later. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. His goal was still technically to win and kill Moreno, but Devon didn¡¯t think it would happen. He had no control over the shadow of death looming over him, but if he was going to die he was at least going to go down swinging. That might be exactly what the arena wanted, but he never had a choice in the matter. If possible, he wanted to take out an eye or at least chop off a finger. Something lasting to remind the world he had been alive. He held his head high as he walked towards the arena floor, only to be thrown for a loop one last time. He wasn¡¯t assigned his typical weapon, but instead a fencing sword and small bucklers. Someone didn¡¯t even care if he was entertaining as he died. ----- The walls of Khonard loomed before the small group. Some of the less fit members were falling behind, unable to keep up with the pace Anton set. Kohar was able to keep up with the pace, but she gave a side-eye to Anton. ¡°Why are you pushing so hard? We¡¯re here, are we not?¡± ¡°We are,¡± Anton acknowledged. ¡°But I have a feeling¡­ last time I came here, if I had arrived just minutes earlier, maybe a quarter of an hour, things would have been different. I just feel that-¡± his eyes caught a figure in the distance. He turned to the few former villagers of Dungannon he¡¯d been able to gather on their route to Khonard. ¡°All of you have your papers, your pouches?¡± They nodded. ¡°The inn is two blocks that way, big sign. We¡¯ll meet you there later. Go ahead and get rooms, and a meal. Kohar, with me.¡± Sprinting through the streets of a city was considered rude, but Anton didn¡¯t care. Half a minute later he stood in front of Elder Varela of the Grasping Willows. ¡°No time for formalities, I¡¯m afraid.¡± Elder Varela¡¯s long white beard fluttered as he turned his head. ¡°Kohar, I presume. If you could find Elder Rocha in the government district and tell her Anton is present, we will be heading to the Potenza arena immediately.¡± ¡°That urgent?¡± Kohar glanced at Anton, then back to Elder Varela, ¡°I will return with as much haste as I can manage.¡± Kohar split off from the others, and Elder Varela began to explain as they were on their way, weaving through the people on the street. ¡°You were right about the Potenza family taking things poorly- or rather a certain foolish girl. My contact was able to convince them to restrict the sorts of combats Devon ended up in, but the elder members of the Potenza family are out of the city for the next few days. I did not know that until Tonina refused to release Devon, even when I showed her the copy of the document. It seems we accidentally provoked her into quick action. That was three days ago, and Devon was scheduled for a deathmatch immediately. One that is about to start at any moment.¡± ¡°I can go faster,¡± Anton declared. Trusting that Elder Varela¡¯s advantage in cultivation would be sufficient for him to do the same, he rushed through the streets. His eyes picked out the way people were moving and where they would be when he arrived. He avoided their movements before they even knew he was there, and when someone noticed him and made uncoordinated movements that would have resulted in a collision he was prepared for that too. Was there a slight flow of energy along his path, guiding him, or was that his imagination? He couldn¡¯t be sure, and simply relied on his Insight to avoid people. As they approached the arena, Anton was able to sense many sources of energy. Guards with cultivations around the peak of Body Tempering. Further in he sensed at least a handful of those in Spirit Building. Some might simply belong to those watching the match, but Anton sensed Tonina and the guardian she¡¯d previously had with her as well. If the information was correct, he was known as Masozi. Then Anton sensed Devon, combating someone unknown. Anton unfurled a document as he stopped in front of two guards who had spears drawn to block the entrance. ¡°You are illegally holding a man and will release him at once.¡± ¡°Bring that up with the Potenzas,¡± said one of the guards. ¡°I know Tonina is inside, bring me to her now.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t. Match is happening.¡± The guard seemed awfully confident Anton wouldn¡¯t do anything to him, despite him being weaker. Even as his eyes drilled into the man, he stood firm. ¡°That match involves a man illegally taken as a slave. Take me to him.¡± The men continued to block the entrance. ¡°Do you intend to ignore the rule of law?¡± ¡°Like I said,¡± the guard stood firm. ¡°Take it up with the Potenzas.¡± Anton turned to Elder Varela. There was just a simple nod response. Then there was a blur of motion. On the left, the shocked head of a man landed sideways on the ground, shortly followed by his body. On the right there was a snap as the man¡¯s neck was twisted completely around by Elder Varela¡¯s seemingly innocuous long hair and beard- unthreatening before they latched onto him like giant hands. With a powerful flick of his handaxe Anton cleaned the blood off, before returning it to hang at his side and drawing his bow. ¡°Should we announce ourselves more clearly?¡± Anton asked. ¡°They¡¯ll be able to put up an organized defense. Dangerous. But it will help justify our actions and might help your grandson.¡± Elder Varela¡¯s hair and beard wriggled around in the air in front of him and to the sides. ¡°I¡¯ll support whatever choice you make.¡± Chapter 115 Author¡¯s note: There¡¯s more description of injury than average in this chapter. If you read The Immortal Berserker by me, it¡¯s not more than some of that, but if you dislike gore you might just prefer to skim the first section. ----- The sand beneath Devon¡¯s boots was depressing. Not because it was too hot or too cold, but just because it was there. Sand didn¡¯t belong in the middle of a city. Dirt was easier to get. But sand was preferred for some reason. Maybe it was the clean color, or maybe it was how it absorbed blood. He had the feeling it was the latter. It was possible for Devon to get behind the idea of fighting or dying for a cause. Sometimes, you had to fight and kill others. He¡¯d had to do so. He¡¯d been forced to do so. That or die, and since somebody would be dying, he preferred it to be the other guy. It was nothing personal. But now he was in the worst sort of situation. He wasn¡¯t fighting for something. He didn¡¯t have the choice to do so, nor did he even have the option to kill his opponent. Not really. He held the unfamiliar fencing sword in what he hoped was a reasonable stance, looking at the too-small buckler held in his left hand. It was probably a perfectly reasonable setup for someone who trained that way. The weight of his armor rested on him. It was the same as all the rest of the armor. Inadequate. The helmet and breastplate were fine, but the arms and legs didn¡¯t cover everything. So that there would be more blood. People liked blood. If those sorts that liked to watch humans die were people. Maybe they were just monsters in human skin. Devon looked up at them, the bright sun making it difficult to make out their faces. They were just a mass. He only saw one face he recognized, and that was more a matter of remembering her energy. Tonina Potenza. The person most responsible for his current situation. He¡¯d like to live today, just to spite her. But that wasn¡¯t possible. He knew that, as he turned his eyes towards Moreno. There was more than just a single step of cultivation between them. In fact, though he was concealing it, Devon felt that Moreno had more than just stepped into Spirit Building, but completed the first stage of his cultivation technique there. Maybe that was even the reason he¡¯d been away, to complete his advancement. Devon noted how his armor covered his knees and elbows and how the long chain he was dragging along behind him sparkled in the sun. He never consciously heard the call to begin fighting anymore. When it was time, it was time. His legs moved, pushing off of the sand as it flew up into great clouds behind him. He didn¡¯t have the stamina to draw out the fight. He probably didn¡¯t have the power to finish the battle early, but he had to try for something. The chain writhed on the surface of the sand, Moreno¡¯s powerful arms manipulating it to flick towards him. Devon slid underneath it, taking advantage of the sand¡¯s malleability to sink low. He carried as much of his momentum forward as he could, thrusting with the sword straight towards Moreno¡¯s eyes. A slight turn of his head and the man¡¯s defensive energy absorbed most of the blow- with the helmet deflecting the rest. Pain. Chunks of flesh were pulled out of his back as the spike laden chain raked along his back like he knew it would. It tore through energy, breastplate, and skin before slicing into muscle and bone unevenly. He shoved the buckler into it to divert its momentum as he shifted around Moreno¡¯s side. He wasn¡¯t sure how much of his success was his own, and how much was the man playing with him. A series of thrusts with his unfamiliar weapon allowed him to get used to its motion. If he¡¯d chosen it, it wouldn¡¯t have been a bad weapon. Beyond just relying on his armor and energy, Moreno was forced to dodge and even tried to grab the sword with his weapon, twisting the chain around it. However, before it could bind the sword Devon pulled away. The rest of the length of chain was not idle during that exchange. It twisted and snaked around, savaging the rear of Devon¡¯s left thigh before coiling around his left arm, pulling away parts of him as it left. The pain was sharp yet lasting. Some of the finer sand was already finding its way into his wounds, clumping together with the blood. It was the sort of pain that should make him cry out to the heavens for relief. Instead, he grit his teeth. If his jaw clenched any harder he was certain he would crack it or his teeth or both, but he wasn¡¯t willing to give anyone the satisfaction. If he¡¯d been faced with a real weapon he would just be dead now, his torso sliced in two or at least his arm on the ground. Since they wanted to cause him pain, he wouldn¡¯t show it. His energy surged inside of him. He had not held back one iota since the beginning of the match, but he began to exceed the maximum output he thought he could control. Maybe he couldn¡¯t. It felt more like the energy was controlling him, leading his attacks and twisting his body. Then again, wasn¡¯t it all him? He didn¡¯t know. He just fought, oblivious to anything but himself and his opponent. Thrust after thrust failed to pierce Moreno¡¯s defenses, but he wouldn¡¯t give up. He pushed his body beyond its limits, since it was the last time he¡¯d have the chance to use it. He even stopped using energy for defense- if Moreno could break through anyway, why bother? Blood trickled down his back, his arm, both legs. He continued to attack. His helmet was torn off, and with the same motion the spiked chain twisted around his head and neck. It traced a line along his scalp, across his right eye, tearing through his right ear, and circling around the back of his neck to his left shoulder. For a moment Devon thought his eye had been destroyed, but he used his energy to clear the blood and he could still sort of see out of it. Just damage to the white, but not superficial. He hadn¡¯t even managed anything to Moreno yet. He continued to press the attack, making use of all his training with his usual weapon and skill and the bit of practice the older gladiator had allowed him fighting against the spiked chain. He was almost starting to feel comfortable with the foil in his hand, and tried a series of feints and attacks. At a critical moment he stepped forward, thrusting with all of his power. He was too far forward, his shoulder nearly touching Moreno¡¯s belly as he stepped toward Devon and to the side of his attack. A mistake¡­ was what Devon wanted it to look like. His left hand was already coming up, clutching the buckler. Since it was useless against the twisting chain, it was just another weapon. There was no chance it could break through Moreno¡¯s armor, but there was one place that it could just barely work. As Moreno stepped forward, the edge of the buckler slid into the partly open face of his helmet. There was a crunch, and Moreno took a step back. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Devon shook his head. Not enough power. His lower rank of cultivation was to blame, and the blood loss didn¡¯t help. He barely stood on his feet, unable to make a proper follow up attack as Moreno snapped his broken nose back into place, blood dripping down his front. All around him Devon felt the chain filling with energy. It would constrict him, tearing him apart once and for all. It was over¡­ but he allowed himself a slight smile. Then Moreno twitched, taking a half step forward to catch his balance. Devon didn¡¯t even try to guess if it was some sort of feint, he just used his remaining energy to thrust his sword forward. It hadn¡¯t even been necessary, because Moreno¡¯s weight carried him forward into it- and the energy just allowed it to pierce through his eye and come out the back of his head, clanking into his helmet. Devon looked down at the body on the ground in front of him. Moreno ultimately fell awkwardly onto his side, and Devon could see something. A hole in the bottom of his right armpit. The hole went through the armor, and though blood blocked him from actually seeing Devon was certain it went all the way through widthwise to come out to the sand below. Then the pain reasserted its presence along with his awareness of the rest of the world. He quietly grunted as waves of energy poured over him. Four people at Spirit Building. Not only that, but actively engaged in combat. He recognized three of them- and the third was both the most unexpected and yet the most natural. That was the energy of his grandfather Anton, and the same energy that he hadn¡¯t really comprehended that made the hole through Moreno. Devon slowly turned his head to see what was happening, and realized that the stands were mostly empty- the only watchers remaining fleeing for the exits at top speed. ----- Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he was a hypocrite, or if the word even had any meaning with the way that humans acted. Sometimes, you just did what you did with no prior intention of deceiving others or oneself. As soon as Elder Varela had given his full support, he had burst into action. Any cultivator would instantly be able to tell his intentions with the way his energy surged, and as he shouted at the top of his lungs everyone who wasn¡¯t deaf would be informed. ¡°I have declarations that Devon Gardner was illegally enslaved! Anyone who stands between me and my grandson dies!¡± Of course, that immediately resulted in guards rushing his position. The first one to round the corner got a spirit arrow through his head. And the second. Normally it might have taken two or three shots even if they were below his level, because they weren¡¯t unaware of his presence. However, if there was ever a time to use forbidden techniques it was when storming an enemy fortress. Candle Wax flared as Anton burned years off of his life. His legs carried him forward, arrows piercing into anyone who showed their face. When several came at once, he restrained himself slightly and let Elder Varela tear into some of them, snapping their necks with his knee-length white hair or simply piercing their heart with a dagger. The corridors entering the arena were twisted and maze-like on purpose, in case anyone thought to escape past the guards. That meant they ran into many squads of guards, from mid to late Body Tempering as well as a handful in Spirit Building. They killed them all. When they came to the arena floor, barred gates stood in their way. Elder Varela moved forward as if to lift the gate, but before that Anton took his shot. The bloody figure of Devon in front of him was clear to his eyes, and Anton didn¡¯t hesitate to throw himself along with a full bundle of years into his attack. He was a streak of energy, one moment outside the arena, the next piercing through the formation on the gate, the next meeting armor, ribs, lung, heart, lung, and finally one last piece of armor before putting a hole the diameter of a finger in the arena wall behind the man. A cloud of black smoke came out of Anton¡¯s mouth as he felt himself burn on the inside, but it didn¡¯t matter. Each rank of cultivation was at least a year. Burning his lifespan felt truly awful, but as long as he continued cultivating at a rate that outpace his growth in lifespan, he only needed a year as a buffer zone. He didn¡¯t care how overconfident that made him, because while revenge was his ultimate goal it would be empty without friends and family. White hair extended, growing even longer than its actual length as Elder Varela took advantage of the momentarily broken formation to grab the metal bars and twist them. They snapped apart, leaving room for a man to walk through upright. He was first into the arena, but Anton was only a step behind. Elder Varela spoke before Anton could. ¡°Members of the audience, I am here to inform you that you have been witnessing the Potenza Arena in the midst of a committing a crime. As you must have already heard, this man should have never been enslaved. I provided proof of this to the young lady there, but instead of following her legal obligation she arranged for a spiteful death match. Now¡­ stay out of our way.¡± There was just enough patience within Anton to let him finish speaking. It was a nice reprieve to let him clear up his energy as the immediate side effects of Candle Wax were very disruptive. Tonina stood up in the stands and opened her mouth, but by that point a Spirit Arrow was already flying towards her. It was a disappointment when he merely managed to pierce through her defensive energy, the flexible armor she had on, and a couple centimeters of flesh and bone. The arrow was supposed to have gone all the way through her heart. She was the equivalent of the twelfth star, having continued her cultivation but ultimately having been surpassed by Anton, but that one step wasn¡¯t quite enough for him to kill her instantly. The second arrow was blocked by Masozi, who was in mid Sprit Building. The man had not been immediately by her side, but now he stood in front of her. Then he charged towards Anton, leaping directly along the path Anton had shot, his body completely concealing Tonina. Anton prepared another Spirit Arrow. One last use of Candle Wax should leave him no closer to his death than when he had first begun cultivating. Maybe even with a handful of spare years. The arrow shot straight towards the mid Spirit Building man¡­ but of course Anton had no hope to kill him in a single shot. As he rode with the arrow, it spiralled around the guardian out of his reach, once more flying towards Tonina behind the man. Masozi reached out, stretching his energy to grab the tail of the arrow. He reduced half of its power before Anton was able to break apart and continue forward. He was the arrow, and he once more struck towards the heart of Tonina. Her energy was fully committed to block, but she was slow to parry with her sword and he pierced through her defenses with some small amount of momentum left. He was precisely on target for the same spot, but barely had the energy to pierce another half centimeter, merely scratching her heart and not puncturing through it as intended. Tonina¡¯s guardian immediately reversed course once he hit the ground, blocking the next dozen arrows Anton shot. He knew that would happen, and didn¡¯t commit himself to anything extreme. ¡°Young mistress, we must retreat!¡± ¡°But he¡¯s- you should kill him!¡± ¡°You¡¯d die.¡± The man didn¡¯t let her give any more argument and yanked her along with him. Anton¡¯s ears were barely able to pick out her words, even with his enhanced senses. ¡°...but I beat him¡­¡± With that, they were almost out of sight and moving into the structure of the arena. He considered trying one more shot¡­ but resisted the urge. A waste of energy, or lifespan and energy. There were multiple ways into the arena, all full of cultivators. While he might be able to fight through them, he would not have the power left to combat her and her guardian. Elder Varela could no doubt match the guardian, but they weren¡¯t here to kill. All of the guards along the way died simply because it was easier than sparing them, and their chosen profession gave them no sympathy from Anton. Anton looked to Devon, smiling. Devon smiled back, then began to fall off his feet. Elder Varela was already there, gently catching him and picking him up. ¡°While I am certain you would like to seek further revenge, now is not the time. We should leave the way we came. I sense Elder Rocha is there waiting. She cannot shield us if we move away from her.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I understand. Is he-¡± Elder Varela¡¯s hands and hair were moving, plying Devon with all sorts of medicines both on his wounds and internally. Even as he ran towards Anton and performed so many actions, Devon remained perfectly level as if he were simply floating. ¡°Do not worry. His breath continues.¡± ----- Author¡¯s note 2: Well this one got long. But splitting it up wouldn¡¯t feel right, so have almost two chapters together. Chapter 116 Either there were no remaining guards in the section they had entered through or they chose to stay well out of the way of Anton and Elder Varela. Either way, Anton strode confidently out of the arena, keeping his back as straight as possible. He briefly noticed some sort of commotion in another part of the arena, but had no way to affect whatever was happening from his location. By the time he would arrive, everything would be over. Seeing to Devon¡¯s safety was the most important thing at the moment. Outside was Kohar, along with a woman who had to be Elder Rocha. Her actual age was hard to judge, but she was dressed in fine robes and had the aura of late Spirit Building. Along with the two of them were several dozen cultivators dressed in uniform ranging from mid Body Tempering to early Spirit Building. Elder Rocha spoke in a very concise manner. ¡°We have now confirmed the situation with my own eyes. This young man was unjustly harmed under the instruction of Tonina Potenza.¡± That declaration was for those watching from afar. Anyone in the nearby area who was a cultivator would have felt the conflict, and where there was conflict there were curious onlookers. At a safe distance, of course. ¡°Now then, we shall escort this injured man to safety.¡± With that, she turned and everyone followed. A quite serious procession began, walking at a quick pace only suited for cultivators but not one so fast as to worsen Devon¡¯s injuries as he was carried by Elder Varela. Elder Rocha stood at the front, with Kohar, Anton, and Elder Varela behind her. Around them on either side and behind were the other cultivators in city official uniform. They only managed several blocks before another group moved to intercept them, Tonina at the head. Her guardian Masozi was next to her, attempting to support her without it being obvious- but it was clear she couldn¡¯t stay on her feet by herself, let alone walk. ¡°There!¡± she pointed, coughing as she raised her voice. ¡°Catch those criminals!¡± ¡°Tonina Potenza.¡± Elder Rocha said the name like a mother chastising a child, though without any sense of affection that might otherwise be present. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± ¡°What are you-¡± she coughed, ¡°-You doing? They attacked my arena!¡± ¡°You have made interesting choices as of late, Tonina Potenza.¡± Elder Rocha¡¯s voice was perfectly steady and calm. She gestured towards Elder Varela, who pulled out a paper. ¡°Do you remember this document?¡± ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t see it from there. Hand it-¡± she coughed and a small amount of blood trickled from her mouth. ¡°Hand it to me!¡± Elder Rocha flung the piece of paper to Tonina¡­ who instantly tore it up it when it reached her hands- though she had to make use of her energy to do so. ¡°Hmph. I don¡¯t see anything.¡± Her guardian placed his head in his free hand as she did so, sighing. ¡°That¡¯s three counts of ignoring official legal orders, and two counts of destruction of official documentation.¡± Kohar spoke with great confidence, despite her low cultivation compared to the rest of those involved. ¡°Plus unlawful imprisonment, attempted murder and¡­¡± she looked at Devon, ¡°Torture.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t-¡± Tonina winced and held her hand over her chest, ¡°You can¡¯t prove anything.¡± ¡°I have witnessed several of these accusations with my own eyes,¡± Elder Rocha said. Her face remained impassive, but her energy in late Spirit Building stretched over the area. ¡°Even if you had merely destroyed an order in front of my face you would be facing arrest. Surrender peacefully or face the consequences.¡± As Tonina was about to speak, Masozi clamped his hand over her mouth. ¡°Of course,¡± he said. ¡°We will comply willingly.¡± He looked to the city guards Tonina had gathered, who were standing around awkwardly. ¡°Feel free to return to your other duties. Your continued presence is redundant.¡± Tonina tried to struggle against his hand, but she quickly passed out. ¡°Now then, I believe we have two people who could use greater medical attention.¡± He scooped Tonina up in his arms. ¡°Shall we proceed?¡± ¡°One moment,¡± Elder Rocha said. ¡°Why bring these,¡± she gestured to the dispersing guards, ¡°Then so easily surrender?¡± ¡°I do not have a death wish,¡± the man replied. ¡°Earlier, I assumed that this man,¡± he nodded to Anton, ¡°Was simply fabricating a false legal claim for the sake of his grandson. Thus, calling upon the assistance of the city guards was a reasonable action.¡± He began to turn, walking slowly along the street, ¡°For the record, I was not aware of any prior documents.¡± At the current moment, Anton was busy regulating his emotions. It was unnecessary and foolish to think of launching another attack on Tonina, but he really wanted to. His anger was righteous and justified, but if it could be resolved without bloodshed at the current moment it was probably best. Either way, the attempt would not help his cause in the slightest. He really hoped she would die on the way, but the amount of blood she was losing at the moment seemed insufficient. As they reached the core of Khonard and the government district, several powerful cultivators that were likely a match for Elder Rocha seemed about to stop them, but Masozi always shook his head. ¡°We need to make our way to the infirmary without delay.¡± With that, there were only harsh looks but nothing more. Only when they arrived in the infirmary, and had actual healers looking at the two injured people did Anton relax. The guards Elder Rocha brought separated Devon and Tonina¡¯s sections as well as watching the outside. ¡°Do you need-¡± ¡°I¡¯m not injured,¡± Anton said as a third healer walked up to him. ¡°I appreciate the concern, but I am just¡­ fatigued.¡± He wasn¡¯t quite sure if he¡¯d pushed the forbidden technique too hard or not far enough. Logically speaking he understood that not killing Tonina would be safer for him, but if he could have done it¡­ actually, he was unsure if it would have made him feel better at all. It would be nothing compared to the relief he felt when Devon was declared to be stable, his breathing steady if a bit weak. ----- If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Waking up was unexpected but welcome, except for the pain. Devon had made the unconscious mistake of trying to open both of his eyes, and his right eye protested the effort greatly. He thought he managed to avoid damaging it further, but he had to just grit his teeth for a while to help the pain dull. Speaking of dull pain, it was sort of all over his body. Why had he survived? Recalling memories was much less painful than trying to move, despite the unpleasant nature of the memories. When compared to the current pain he felt the memories were worse, but they were also less real. He¡¯d been in a match with Moreno. One where he was going to die. Yet just as he was defeated¡­ Moreno fell. Anton! His grandfather had come back! He never really doubted him- but in the three days he¡¯d been waiting for his scheduled death he hadn¡¯t even considered that his grandfather might arrive. But he arrived just in time. That had to be a cultivator thing. Would have been nice if he was an hour earlier though. He heard footsteps- and felt the auras of cultivators. Two strong ones. Anton and¡­ one of his companions. He¡¯d sensed it before, but they hadn¡¯t had the chance to actually meet. ¡°Don¡¯t try to sit up, Devon.¡± Anton¡¯s voice came through the door, ¡°Doctor¡¯s orders.¡± ¡°Tch.¡± How did he even know he was trying? It just felt so awful to meet his grandfather flat on his back. ¡°I heard that,¡± Anton said as he opened the door. ¡°Which is good. It doesn¡¯t hurt to talk?¡± It was wonderful to see the face of his grandfather again, and to feel safe. If he could stand up he would be hugging the man- and if he wasn¡¯t injured, he knew his grandfather would have his arms around him, nearly crushing him. Instead, Anton gripped his hand gently. ¡°No.¡± That was one part of him that really didn¡¯t hurt, which was good. His one functional eye went to the familiar form of his grandfather¡­ and a strangely familiar form of a young woman he¡¯d never seen before. ¡°Who is this?¡± ¡°This is Catarina,¡± Anton answered. ¡°It would have been nice if I could have introduced you in happier circumstances, but that did not work out as hoped. But now that you are free- legally, if that makes you feel better- we have the opportunity. She is Ashlyn¡¯s granddaughter.¡± ¡°Really? Amazing!¡± Ashlyn had left the farm while he was still young, but he remembered her somewhat. ¡°That explains why she looks familiar.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nice to actually meet you¡­ uncle Devon?¡± He smiled, ¡°That¡¯s probably the easiest thing to call me.¡± New family. He really wasn¡¯t sure what to think about that, but he¡¯d have plenty of time in the future. ¡°There are others waiting to see you later,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯ve had great success with freeing those from Dungannon, but did not wish to overwhelm you while you¡¯re injured.¡± Others were now free? More than before? Devon was almost crying now, but it hurt to even think about it. Besides, he¡¯d spend so long just staying alive nothing felt quite real yet. ¡°I appreciate keeping things small.¡± Thank you for saving me, by the way. I don¡¯t know if I said that.¡± ¡°I promised to return.¡± He said it as if it were so simple. Perhaps he didn¡¯t even know there was exhaustion in his voice. Devon¡¯s eye turned to Catarina. For some reason, she was standing excessively close, her face now a hand¡¯s length from his own, though she was looking over all of her head and torso. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± he asked. ¡°Something wrong with my injuries?¡± Catarina pulled back and blushed slightly. ¡°Ack. Umm¡­ sorry. It¡¯s, uh¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m aware I¡¯ll be badly scarred. I might not be able to move, but my energy is just fine. I can feel it all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not quite it¡­ see Fuzz was really injured too¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°Nevermind. It¡¯s probably a bad idea.¡± ¡°Well now I¡¯m curious.¡± Devon really wished he could sit up or even turn his head without the dull pain greatly sharpening. Even turning his eyes hurt his right, as there were injuries on its surface. Anton looked at Catarina for a few moments, then rolled his eyes. ¡°She was probably thinking about turning you into a walking formation.¡± ¡°Like¡­ a building?¡± Devon asked in confusion. ¡°I know formations are the protective things on the cells.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Catarina said. ¡°You¡¯re not like Fuzz, so it would probably hurt to try. And I can¡¯t guarantee I wouldn¡¯t mess it up.¡± ¡°You know about formations, though?¡± Devon was quite curious. ¡°I¡¯m missing most information about cultivation, honestly.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure we can help with that,¡± Anton said. ¡°While I can¡¯t say I have much more experience than you, I had a much better learning environment.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Devon frowned, ¡°Is that bitch dead?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°No. I tried.¡± ¡°Good. I¡¯ll kill her myself. Maybe. I¡¯m stuck below the peak of Body Tempering.¡± His grandfather¡¯s face turned into a very wide smile at that. ¡°I¡¯d love to hear about it, and help you through. In fact, I could teach you a much better cultivation method.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Devon said. ¡°I¡¯ve come so far. I¡¯d like to continue this path, if I can.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°A reasonable choice. And I should be able to help ease the journey somewhat. You don¡¯t have to follow the prescribed methods exactly as written¡­ though do be cautious.¡± ¡°That¡¯s something I learned quickly.¡± The only problem was Devon wasn¡¯t sure how well his body would recover. Some of the wounds were deep into the muscle. But even if he couldn¡¯t continue cultivating, just being alive and somewhere relatively safe was wonderful. ----- Pack dynamics were getting more and more complicated since they met up in the big city. There were so very many new people! However, Fuzz preferred not to think about that. He was one of the members of the pack, friendly with the pack leaders, and treated very well. Not only that, he was now also a mighty steed to carry one of great import, a pup in the line of two of the pack leaders! Another from the line of Anton and Catarina. Surprisingly, not even the youngest, though she was even smaller than Fuzz himself. The child known as Alva had started riding him around when he recovered from his injuries, as her leg had still been broken. However, the situation had been amenable to the both of them so they didn¡¯t stop when she recovered the ability to walk on her own. Alva was very willing to hug him and scratch his fur, both of which were very pleasant. Her weight on his back was comforting and not too burdensome, though he certainly wouldn¡¯t be able to fight with her riding him. The pack seemed to be both very busy yet they also seemed to do nothing at all. He hadn¡¯t remained in a big city so long before. Usually they continued to travel, or at the great and small homes of the pack he was able to run free in the wilds. Now, he had to have one of the pack leaders with him as he traveled about. Truly strange. Chapter 117 The next weeks were filled with more boring yet stressful legal proceedings. Kohar had to make the utmost use of her legal prowess, and Anton was astounded at how many seemingly small circumstances could change things. Fortunately Kohar had been prepared for what they had done. Killing everyone in their path had always been the backup plan, it had simply been intended for a later time when Catarina, Hoyt, Velvet, and Timothy were all present. Tonina¡¯s actions had forced them to act much earlier than intended. The insurmountable extent of evidence on their side was helpful. First was the official courier who swore he delivered the first copy of the document directly to Tonina¡¯s hands. Elder Varela had shown her the copy sent to him in the presence of several of her guards, and though they hadn¡¯t read it his verbalized summary was remembered by one of them. Probably more than one, but only one admitted it. Then there was the quarter-full arena. Not all of them had been able to clearly make out Anton¡¯s shouting declaration, but out of hundreds of people they were able to track down a handful who heard clearly enough and could confirm that Tonina ordered the match to be continued. Once more there could have been more, but many likely feared reprisals from the Potenza family. There were also witnesses of Tonina¡¯s destruction of the orders outside of the arena, and Elder Rocha had significant influence. Not everything went smoothly. Both of Tonina¡¯s parents had been out of town for business and were quite furious when they returned. They immediately started calling in favors, but the delay minimized their impact. They also brought counter charges against Anton and Elder Varela- the legality of slaughtering the guards preventing their passage was already settled, but there was another matter they attempted to leverage. The other slaves had broken out of the arena while they were there. Kohar counterattacked savagely, at least as much as could be done by pulling up legal precedent. The accusation only served to slow down the whole situation. There were no witnesses of them being in that section of the arena, and there couldn¡¯t be. All of the guards were dead. The freed arena combatants had been even more savage than the caged magical beasts that seemed to have been unleashed first to soften up the guards. Despite cultivator¡¯s patience for certain matters, legal proceedings weren¡¯t generally one of them. The Potenzas¡¯ influence only went so far when held against Elder Rocha. In the end they merely sufficed to keep Tonina alive. The sentence was a paltry three years of confinement and penalties that amounted to ten times what Devon had been sold for. The first was nothing compared to death, but not quite as worthless as it sounded. Proper confinement for cultivators involved a prison where there was no natural energy. If they could cultivate, it would hardly be a punishment at all. And while it was just three year, for a young woman like Tonina missing even a single year of cultivation would significantly weaken her compared to her peers. ----- ¡°I owe you both great favors,¡± Anton said to Elder Varela and Kohar. ¡°I promise to pay you back properly, if I can.¡± ¡°I will not refuse the offer,¡± Kohar said. ¡°Your goals aligned with my own, but I will admit that there is more risk to myself than my normal business.¡± ¡°You painted a big target on yourself,¡± Elder Varela said. ¡°I hope you¡¯re ready. So many eyes are on you right now that I doubt you¡¯ll immediately be in danger, but don¡¯t let your guard down.¡± ¡°I was aware when I started all of this what the consequences might be.¡± Anton looked towards his other companions who had arrived during all of the legal mess. ¡°In a way, I¡¯m glad things turned out just like this, without any of your involved.¡± Catarina hung her head, ¡°I was willing to share the burden with you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°I wanted to fight with you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying you won¡¯t still get to do that,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Rather, nobody took notice of any of you. At least, not in the same way. It¡¯s not so easy for you all to be unnoticed with, well¡­ everyone.¡± There was quite a large number of people to bring along with them now, as each group had over a dozen freed people. ¡°I do mean it about that favor, Elder Varela. I may have saved Lev by coincidence, but you called in a big favor to help Devon.¡± Elder Varela smiled beneath his massively long beard. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about not paying me back. I know the value of favors. I hope you don¡¯t mind if I wait until you¡¯re in late Spirit Building, so I can get a fair exchange.¡± ¡°That¡¯s some confidence you have in me,¡± Anton laughed. ¡°How long?¡± Elder Varela asked, more seriously. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°How long until you¡¯re in late Spirit Building? I¡¯m sure you have an idea.¡± ¡°... four to seven years,¡± Anton said. ¡°And that¡¯s why I¡¯m confident. You didn¡¯t even consider not reaching that point. Yet here I am, stuck in mid Spirit Building. Just last year I saw you as you were stepping into Spirit Building, and now you are a solid three steps in.¡± Anton just smiled in response. ----- His muscles trembled as he pulled back his bow. Anton hadn¡¯t felt such strain since he was first firing it, at the fifth star. He gathered his energy, forming an arrow. It flew forward, straight and true. He breathed out slowly. At least it wasn¡¯t too bad. His body took the biggest hit from using the forbidden technique. He didn¡¯t regret it one bit. If he¡¯d been half a second slower, Devon could have been dead. What was a few years of his own life for that? At least his energy was still strong and steady. Age simply didn¡¯t affect his ability to use energy as much. It was somewhat more difficult to cultivate, but that seemed to be more related to the short-term aftereffects of Candle Wax rather than the increase in age. He¡¯d used more energy than his meridians could comfortably handle. He had so many ambitions left, and found himself in a strange state. He might actually be able to accomplish them, but he might also have to give them up for his other goals. If he had to die for the sake of Devon, sweet little Alva, and the rest he would not regret it. But if it came to it, he wouldn''t go easily. Anton couldn¡¯t know exactly what trouble they might face on the way out of Ofrurg, but if they ran into no trouble at all he would wonder what sort of dream world he ended up in. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. But just accepting the risk was foolish. What was all that money for if he didn¡¯t spend it? There had to be mercenaries around. Anton wouldn¡¯t put the lives of his companions over his own, but random people he was paying¡­ absolutely. Though preferably the bolstered strength would protect everyone from serious danger. ----- With everything finished, they were ready to leave Khonard- and Ofrurg. Every part of his list had been marked off- either confirmed dead, free, or missing with no way to track them. The one exception was still Annelie, but he couldn¡¯t just go see her. The risk was too high, and there were many people he still had to protect. Besides, he¡¯d received some very interesting information from the Ears of the Fox. An additional tidbit that found him in Khonard, free of charge. Or rather, they seemed to include it in what he¡¯d already paid for. A Tomb of Everheart was going to be opening. Many ancient cultivators had created fancy tombs to test potential successors of their techniques, if they didn¡¯t have a sect or anyone specific to leave inheritances to. A last act of egoism to make them feel important, for the most part. Very few of them were actual tombs, though some had trusted friends actually place their bodies within or chose them as a place to die from injuries or age. Everheart had created many tombs. More importantly, Everheart made it clear that none of them were his. It was a Tomb for those participating. According to the information they usually weren¡¯t entirely deadly, but they were unpredictable like the man himself had been. Tricky, difficult, frustrating, confusing. Also deadly, but not just that. There were some restrictions on who could enter. So said the grand formation Everheart set up. That was also how people didn¡¯t just enter when it was found. The exact details weren¡¯t spread, but apparently it was for ¡®new cultivators¡¯. As a member of a large sect Annelie would certainly participate, or at least attempt to. Anton was also interested, though he doubted he would count as a new cultivator. He was a century old. Still, he might see her there¡­ and he had many companions he would like to bring along. Before that, they had to be alive. That meant leaving Ofrurg. Staying in Khonard had been safe so far, but that wouldn¡¯t necessarily remain forever. Nobody wanted to stay, anyway. To leave, they needed to be strong. Five Spirit Building cultivators was a good start. Elder Varela might accompany them, and Kohar was nearly in Spirit Building and likely to be interested in leaving the country. Seven might be enough, but Anton would rather spend money to make sure. Devon was quite happy to give up most of the fines for what happened to him to help protect everyone, though Anton knew he could hire a few solid individuals with his own money. What he wanted were mercenaries. Hiring from a company might have worked if he had a stable structure to rely on, but instead he thought to look for strong individuals. There were locations where free mercenaries looking for work gathered between jobs. They might petition sects for work, but when they weren¡¯t on a job or hunting monsters or training, they would gather hoping to get a job. If they were lucky, they could make more money as an independent mercenary than as part of a company. If they weren¡¯t lucky, they died. It was quite surprising to feel an Essence Collection cultivator as he approached the building. Someone that strong could easily find a place in a sect or mercenary company, or both. They would also be monstrously expensive to hire. Maybe he¡¯d ask, but for an escort all the way to the border¡­ it seemed unlikely. When he noticed a familiar aura he was surprised. When he stepped inside and got visual information of Masozi sitting at a table, he slowly approached. His ability with formations was still minimal, but Catarina had been helping him with Spiritual Connection. He could tell there were formations in the area, and he had to trust they were for secrecy between tables as he had been told. ¡°I hadn¡¯t expected to see you here,¡± Anton said. ¡°Hmm,¡± the man who had been Tonina Potenza¡¯s guardian shifted in his seat. ¡°I did expect to see you here. If you were smart. You shook things up quite a bit. Unsettled some¡­ established positions.¡± Masozi held up a hand, ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong. I don¡¯t intend to take you as an enemy. I am here because the Potenzas care more for their daughter¡¯s opinion even in her current situation than for good sense. Blame for her actions somewhat ended up on me, despite the fact that she specifically went behind the backs of her parents and myself. I¡¯d rather be independent than demoted.¡± ¡°Sounds dangerous,¡± Anton commented. ¡°I don¡¯t plan to be the only mercenary going on whatever mission I receive,¡± Masozi sat calmly with his hands folded in front of him. ¡°I am smarter than that. Which is also why I hope we can leave any matters of the past behind us. I do not look forward to dying next year, or whenever it is that you surpass me in cultivation. I do remember quite well that you weren¡¯t even at the peak of Body Tempering when we first met.¡± Anton took a deep breath, then nodded. ¡°Fine. Though we have personal history, your actions were no worse than any of many others in this country.¡± Anton leaned closer, ¡°But I would think very carefully about what you do in the future and who you choose to support.¡± Masozi shook his head. ¡°In ten years, you will be an important figure¡­ or a dead one.¡± ¡°I¡¯m already past due,¡± Anton smiled. Then he turned towards another figure he¡¯d noticed. There was a delay before recognition sparked in the man¡¯s eyes. He approached the dark skinned man, waving casually as he did so. Ayotunde slowly and obviously gave Anton the once over, his eyes and senses carefully appraising him. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ stronger. Yet your body¡­ and you¡¯re far too much older.¡± Ayotunde shook his head. ¡°I will not judge your choice of techniques. Forbidding useful abilities is only for those with the luxury to do so.¡± ¡°They¡¯re unrelated,¡± Anton clarified. ¡°My cultivation advanced more or less naturally, and the forbidden technique that re-aged me was simply necessary for recent events.¡± ¡°So you were the old man to cause trouble with the Potenzas. What an astounding change. The other two that were with you¡­?¡± ¡°Similar advancement, but less exposing themselves to side effects. I must ask, why are you no longer with the caravan? It seemed like a solid job.¡± ¡°It was, but the caravan changed hands to a fellow I did not mesh with. So I left. And now you are here to hire people for¡­?¡± ¡°A simple escort out of the country,¡± Anton said. ¡°Who else wants to kill you?¡± Ayotunde asked. ¡°Besides the Potenzas.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Them, probably the Iron Ring Slavers, some wealthy slavers who don¡¯t like change. I doubt all of them will cause trouble though.¡± ¡°Nobody important, then.¡± Ayotunde¡¯s declaration seemed sincere. ¡°I would be glad to offer my services for standard rates.¡± ¡°With combat pay extra?¡± ¡°It cannot be extra if it is guaranteed. If you were to have to pay proportionate to the danger, I am not sure if you could afford it. I would suggest offering a share of equipment sales- to myself and others. Anyone sent after you won¡¯t be poorly equipped.¡± ¡°Reasonably. Who else here can you recommend?¡± Ayotunde looked across the room, though he probably already had people in mind. ¡°The shrimp and the granny.¡± It wasn¡¯t too hard to determine which two Ayotunde referred to. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose they have actual names?¡± ¡°Probably, old man, but why even bother?¡± Ayotunde smiled. Chapter 118 Everyone was in high spirits as they were leaving Khonard. They were aware of the potential danger, but given how some of their lives had been over the past two years, they were happy to have the option to face danger instead of just living with what they were told. The spirit of happy reunion had diminished somewhat over the weeks they¡¯d spent together after everyone met up in Khonard, but some of the joy still remained. It was a heartening sight, but it also made Anton realize something. He was barely one of them anymore. That was not a change in any of the former villagers of Dungannon, but in himself. In most of them, he saw the desire to go back to lives they had before. All were grateful to be saved, and eagerly learned cultivation as a means to defend themselves, but most of them would go back to lives that resembled what they used to have. He didn¡¯t blame them. That was the life he had desired and fulfilled for a century. Now he could no longer be content just living a good life. He had to make sure others were able to do so- as many as possible. Revenge. That thought still existed in his mind, but he had ambition beyond that point. He might not live to fulfill either, but that no longer concerned him. He just had to do what he could- starting with bringing the rest back alive. ¡°Senior Anton,¡± a young woman, somewhere just around thirty years old, approached him. ¡°I heard there was another group before us?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It was not easy to find everyone. It took time.¡± He looked at Silren, trying to recall details about her. These people were more than just names on a list. ¡°Of course, I don¡¯t blame you for the time it took. I was just wondering. My sister¡­ was she with them?¡± It was as he thought. She and her older sister had worked together as tailors. He bought a coat from them once. He remembered her. He also remembered the brothel where she had been bought. He shook his head. ¡°She was not one of those that made it.¡± He¡¯d been able to confirm her death. A terrible task, and every one hurt. Hearing the news from the others wasn¡¯t any better. The majority of those brought into slavery had survived, but perhaps a tenth had died from ill treatment. ¡°Oh. Can I ask¡­?¡± ¡°Do you really want to know?¡± Anton asked. ¡°There is nothing you can do right now but honor her memory.¡± Silren hung her head. ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°That¡­ I did not mean to discourage you.¡± Even with training, what he said wouldn¡¯t always be right. ¡°You know she would want you to live your life in the way you are best able. But if you cannot let the thought go in the coming years, there might yet be something you can do. Not for her, but for others forced into slavery. You have a decent talent for cultivation. In time, you can be strong.¡± ¡°Like you?¡± Silren asked. ¡°Stronger than me,¡± Anton said. ¡°At least¡­ stronger than I am now. I have been fortunate to only only fight those who are relatively weaker. I am close enough to see those at the top, but to consider myself truly strong¡­¡± That was a problem he had to deal with. How strong did he really need to be? Spirit Building was a good step, but he couldn¡¯t create the sort of change he wanted with just that. ¡°It¡¯s not quite good enough yet. But if you continue to cultivate, I am certain you will have the opportunity to do much good in the world with allies at your side.¡± ¡°I think I want that,¡± she said confidently. ¡°Then I will help you achieve it.¡± ----- ¡°Hoyt. You¡¯re on the right side. Elisa, the rear.¡± Anton was handing out orders. He was the highest in cultivation except for the mercenaries they had with them. Protecting a large group of people was difficult work. Velvet wasn¡¯t sure if they had enough cultivators. Only two people could go in each area. That assumed someone would be assigned to the middle with Anton, but nobody else could cover as much area as he could. But assigning someone to the middle would mean they had the mobility to support anyone. Velvet thought she was capable of that, and was hoping to be assigned there. ¡°Alva.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The young girl stood at the ready and saluted. ¡°I¡¯m going to need Fuzz to be able to freely run about. Please stay with the others.¡± ¡°But- but I¡¯m a cultivator now!¡± Anton¡¯s face was very stern. ¡°That¡¯s right. But you are barely at the first star. You have no more power than a strong man. You lack reach and training. You must let the cultivators at Spirit Building handle everything they can.¡± Velvet knew that even Devon, near the peak of Body Tempering, was remaining with the others. Part of that was he had lingering injuries, but there was a significant difference between his level and those truly in Spirit Building. At the very least he needed to avoid being the first line of defense. ¡°But Fuzz isn¡¯t in Spirit Building!¡± Alva complained. Anton sighed. ¡°He¡¯s a magical beast. They work differently. Besides, he has experience in battle.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°But I-¡± ¡°You have a weapon. If they get past the outer defenses, everyone will have to fight. Stay with the others to have a proper defensive line.¡± Velvet knew that a defensive line would barely help against stronger cultivators, but using the advantage of numbers was all they could count on if it came down to those without strong cultivation fighting. Running wouldn¡¯t be possible. ¡°Now then. Velvet.¡± Here it was. She was stronger than Kohar, so she had to be part of the defensive line somewhere. ¡°You¡¯ll be the scout.¡± Velvet blinked. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You¡¯re to move around the area, looking for approaching threats. You have the proper skills.¡± ¡°By myself?¡± ¡°Of course. You¡¯ll be most effective that way. Your concealment skills are excellent, and they won¡¯t be looking for you in particular.¡± Anton smiled reassuringly, ¡°Even if I could hide myself as well as you, my absence would be noted. You¡¯ve managed to keep a low enough profile that you should be unexpected.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Velvet nodded. This was what she wanted, right? Real responsibility? If so, why was it so hard to breathe? No, Anton was right. She could do it. She just had to watch for enemies. By herself. She sure hoped Anton was right, because it didn¡¯t feel like it. ----- At night, they set up a defensive and concealment formation. That was through the work of Catarina and Elisa, a hired mercenary. The work of a formation expert wasn¡¯t cheap, but having the entire burden on Catarina didn¡¯t feel right. Anton knew she would happily do her best, and while her best was excellent she wasn¡¯t perfect. It took time and energy to set up a formation, and having another expert would help with both. She didn¡¯t even have Pete along as an assistant. The money would have just paid for a few other mercenaries anyway, and avoiding trouble was better than trying to fight through it. The two of them worked together seamlessly. Anton wondered if it was a special form of understanding between them or simply their mutual knowledge of formations. Both of them had formation flags that would allow them to improve the effects of what they did by another level. With his current practice of Spiritual Connection Anton could feel the flow of energy changing as he was inside. He still didn¡¯t have the sense for why it was changing as it did, but he thought he could at least find the best place to disrupt it. From the inside, that was. As he stepped out of the formation, he almost felt like he had been teleported. He couldn¡¯t pick up even the slightest trace of energy from any of the others, and it looked just like an empty section of trees. He passed back over the border of the formation. He had been attuned to be able to pass through it, but he felt it flowing over him as he did so. The camp was arranged to take up a modest amount of space. That made setting up the formation easier, and left fewer traces behind later. Simple tents were trivial to acquire, as well as practical bedrolls. The placement of those tents was dictated by the two formation experts, and that was especially important because people weren¡¯t just sitting about. Everyone was cultivating- all of those who were new, anyway. If the Spirit Building cultivators were serious, they would hog all of the natural energy in the area. The difference of a week or two of cultivation wouldn¡¯t be a big deal for most of them, the exception being Kohar who had just stepped into Spirit Building with the assistance of Anton and the others. She had been fairly confident in her preparations to keep herself safe, but things had escalated in a way that was unintended at the Potenza arena. She felt safer leaving with them, and Anton had been happy to bring her along. Even if she wasn¡¯t the strongest cultivator, she was enough to provide them an additional portion of safety. Anton walked among the tents, feeling how people cultivated. Everyone had received personal guidance at the beginning of their training, which began as soon as they had met up with Anton or his companions. Catarina had quite appropriately been the one to teach Alva at the beginning. The staggered generations of Anton¡¯s descendents had ended up with Catarina being older than Alva who was technically one generation back. Alva had learned a lot from Catarina, but it became clear she was not the same type as Catarina. Catarina was a patient thinker, and Alva was the sort who was prone to leap before she looked. It was a good thing Alva had talent for cultivation, or she would have already damaged herself. It was already risky for her to be cultivating with her body not yet fully developed, but it wasn¡¯t possible to exclude just her. There were several of her cousins about the same age that had thankfully been freed, but they took cultivation as a school child might reading. It was something they had to learn, and they took their time. That was probably the better attitude in the current case. Fuzz was curled up around Alva as she sat cross legged. It didn¡¯t seem that his presence disturbed the natural energy she was taking in, though Catarina¡¯s formations allowed him to cultivate more like a human than a beast. For the moment he was peaceful, as he was the sort who was most energized while running around in the woods- an unintentionally beneficial method for cultivating the body. Alva was fine, the little bundle of energy at least being wise enough to listen to his cautions. When she learned he had cultivated his meridians second it wasn¡¯t possible to dissuade her from the task, but at least she was willing to slow down slightly. Anton might have slightly fibbed when he told her it took him two months, but if he told her it was a month and a half he was certain she¡¯d push herself for a month or less. Anton followed the flow of energy to Silren. She was nice and steady. Her talent was at least on the level of Pete and the others, though knowing for certain after just a month was difficult. Reuben was next. Proper guidance had helped him begin cultivating, and while Anton doubted he would be treading new territory any time soon, he was diligent and capable of working with a teacher. Devon didn¡¯t feel like he was near the peak of Body Tempering as he cultivated. He could, but he was being properly cautious. He had been focusing on all of the wounded parts of his body one at a time, and now he was nearly healed. He would have wicked scars, even with medicines to minimize the damage, but his current reason to be gentle was because he was reorienting his cultivation. He had chosen to stick with his current cultivation method, despite its flaws. He mentioned insights gained from the battle with Moreno, and had declined the offer of specific help. So Anton made sure he wasn¡¯t doing anything harmful to himself and hoped Devon was right about knowing what he had to change. For a few hours, energy flowed in vortices around the internal part of the camp until it thinned out enough everyone was better off going to bed. They needed the rest anyway. Every day was a long one where they hoped they could get to the border before anyone looking to cause trouble caught up. Chapter 119 Scouting in all directions around the group would have been impossible if they traveled at the speed of well trained cultivators. Velvet wasn¡¯t any faster than the others, so handling the scouting duties by herself was a difficult task. First she moved in front of the group, along the road. Traveling along the road made them more predictable, but it also made them faster. More importantly, they had many people that would be troubled by rough terrain. The distance Velvet went in front of the group was about twice what she expected them to cover in a single loop around. Trying to get more distance would leave her vulnerable if she was noticed, and any less had a good chance of leaving them without advance warning and ruin the whole point of her scouting. Then she would curve around the group, sensing for anyone approaching from the side, the back, other side, and then back to the front to get ahead of the group again. Nobody else had the same training in stealth she had, which left Velvet to complete the task on her own. So far, she supposed she¡¯d been successful, if finding absolutely nothing since the last big city counted. There was nothing wrong with that, as long as nobody was actually around and trying to kill them. It was strange, though. There should have been wild beasts at the very minimum. She saw a few animals, but nothing aggressive. No magical beasts. She should have encountered at least some of them, even if they avoided the large group moving through their territory. That was a problem. Looking at the road they were following, it was impossible to say who had been traveling on it. Not from a lack of signs, but rather an abundance. Many tracks, old and new, all mingling together. But no people. Even if traffic between Ofrurg and Graotan was limited along the path they were taking, it was expected that some cultivators would pass them in either direction. Yet there was nothing. Suspicious. The border was rapidly approaching. It was only a couple weeks from Khonard by the direct route at the rate they were traveling, and now they were a handful of days from it. It was a smaller border crossing than the one they used to enter Ofrurg, since the route had difficult terrain and little trade. Front, side, back, side. Nothing. Just rocks and dirt and trees. The terrain steepened, the road worsened. Most of those traveling with the group had healthy bodies and they continued slowly. Velvet moved quickly along the road. Next to the road. The road itself had nowhere to hide, and her stealth techniques weren¡¯t sufficient to make her actually invisible. The road continued through a deep gorge, carved long ago by a river that had found another path. Velvet nearly entered the gorge to scout ahead, but thought better of it. Would people be waiting for them along the bottom? Perhaps. But being up above on either side was more advantageous. Even if most cultivators didn¡¯t specialize in archery, the advantage of the high ground could allow them to attack without retaliation. The terrain rose so quickly that Velvet had to climb to reach the top of the left slope. She did so, slowly and carefully. She had little experience climbing, but any peak Body Tempering cultivator could hold themselves up by even a few fingers. The slope wasn¡¯t even truly vertical at any point, so she pulled herself up arm over arm and foot over foot with only bad holds. She slipped once, when a hold couldn¡¯t carry her weight- but she latched onto the slope with her energy. Velvet stopped. She didn¡¯t sense anyone up above, but if they were paying attention they might have noticed her. She continued to hang in her position for several minutes before she decided she¡¯d been subtle enough. That didn¡¯t stop her from shifting a dozen yards to the side before continuing her ascent and finally peeking over the top of the gorge. The people at the top were well concealed. At least, if expecting people to walk along the road. They would be fully invisible from down below, using their energy senses to pick up the group as a whole. Yet from the side and the back she merely saw people crouched and prone. Without actively using her energy to feel them she could only approximate their cultivations. Spirit Building were the best. Several of them. Then at least a dozen in Body Tempering, mid to late. If she were to suppose that the other side had a similar complement, it was quite a dangerous group. With her new vantage point she could see that her route to the top wasn¡¯t the best. The face she had climbed up was in fact probably the hardest route. That would explain why this particular location was chosen for an ambush. Velvet felt the rest of the company approaching. She had to return to warn them- and if she had sensed her companions, they had likely already been noticed by the group. She silently made her way back down the slope, running back towards her companions at the quickest speed she could maintain her concealment, glancing over her shoulder towards the gorge as she went. ----- The shifty one popped up on the other side of the company without Ayotunde noticing her approach. ¡°Ambush ahead! At the gorge,¡± she declared. ¡°They¡¯ve probably already sensed us.¡± ¡°Hmm. I see the area,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°Not the best place for us to fight. But if we go around, they can just follow us into rough terrain and catch up on their terms. We should try to turn things against them.¡± He looked to Ayotunde. The dark skinned man nodded. He might have been simply hired as a mercenary, but he was also the most experienced with this sort of thing. The company had stopped when the shifty girl appeared. Ayotunde drew from his experience and gave a warning. ¡°We should keep moving, if they know we¡¯re here. At a bit of a slower pace so we can strategize. Any recognizable markings?¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The girl shook her head. ¡°Not that I saw. Standard assortments of gear, pretty much.¡± ¡°Ways up to them?¡± ¡°Yes, but not easy. The faces closest to us are the worst spots. I didn¡¯t have time to check the right side, though.¡± Ayotunde nodded, ¡°Good enough. I might suggest we find our way up as most of the group approaches. Even those of us worse at stealth can manage if they are distracted. If you have a route on the left side, take the granny here with you,¡± he nodded his head. ¡°I have a name, you know. Lera.¡± Ayotunde ignored that. ¡°Shrimp and I will go to the right side at a slower pace. I would suggest no more people peel off until the battle starts. The main group should remain back, where people can be defended properly. I trust you can still be effective at a hundred and fifty meters, plus the rise?¡± ¡°That I can,¡± Anton acknowledged. ¡°I agree with the plan.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll prepare a formation,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It won¡¯t be much good if we have to set it up in an instant, but we can deflect weaker attacks.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Ayotunde nodded. He knew many of these were solid combatants. The shifty girl he wasn¡¯t certain about, but the granny would make up for anything. ¡°Oh yes. Ropes. A good spike can anchor them into anything, though only one or two might climb at a time. At that height¡­ it should take a Spirit Building cultivator a good ten seconds, but that¡¯s much better than the alternative.¡± Ayotunde reached into his pack, throwing the granny a coil of said rope and spike. ¡°I have more for our side. Never know when you will need rope. Just kick it into a good rock, and protect it.¡± Ayotunde looked up. ¡°We¡¯re close. Let¡¯s hope they can¡¯t see us. Time to split.¡± ¡°My name¡¯s Ross,¡± said the shrimp as he followed after. ¡°Yes, no doubt it is.¡± He pulled his energy inward, keeping it tight against him. Running with just his body wasn¡¯t a problem. In fact, he would be better than most without energy since he practiced Western Steel Body. He knew the members of the Ninety-Nine Stars did not cultivate their bodies to any significant degree in early Spirit Building, and he found that a weakness. Though the technique was stronger in other ways. The shrimp followed behind, circular razor disks in hand. He was more of a mid range combatant than a short range type, but not competent at long range like a proper archer. He was good, though. Enough that Ayotunde did remember his name, even if he didn¡¯t choose to use it. It was no longer possible to feel the shifty girl or the grandma, though the former had been concealed immediately once she was out of sight. A useful skill, even if it was not one Ayotunde ever planned to develop beyond a basic level. He found a slightly climbable part of the slope. He thought for a moment. Yes, it had been long enough. The main group was approaching their position. Climbable for him, but the shrimp¡­ His hand closed on the rock in front of him, grabbing a chunk of it. He alternated hands, tearing into the rock a half meter apart on either side, leaving behind proper handholds as he climbed. That should be good enough. Arm went over arm repeatedly over the next minute. He was concerned he might have been too noisy when he reached the top, but the main company had properly distracted people. His choice of climbing location still left him fifty meters from his targets, and one of them would notice him soon. Then the shrimp reached the top, and flung out his razor disks. That was the opening salvo of the battle, and the lives of two body temperers were lost as their spines were cut. The next two targets as the disks wheeled through the air managed to block- though one nearly sacrificed an arm to do so. The spike was driven into a nearby rock through a rope. A moment later Ayotunde¡¯s hands were holding his sword, a two handed beast that required a special sheath to carry properly. Fifty meters was covered in merely a few moments, just long enough for the surprised enemies to reach their feet. He¡¯d wanted to take out one of the Spirit Building opponents, but he wasn¡¯t quite fast enough. A spear stabbed out at him, but Ayotunde¡¯s sword was nearly as long. He nimbly wielded it, parrying the blow before striking back at his opponent, cutting his shoulder from underneath. Next to him was a woman with a bow ready to fire on those below- the unexpected flanking attack had rattled her enough that she didn¡¯t think to switch to her sidearm. Ayotunde didn¡¯t even bother trying to avoid her aim as he just sliced through the bow and her arm at the same time. Not an archer, then. She¡¯d have been ready for that. Ayotunde pulled back to where the shrimp¡¯s blades danced through the air, almost daring anyone to approach. With over a dozen enemies still standing, he needed to use proper tactics. That included stalling for reinforcements from below. He was hoping for the axe guy. More power was always nice. ----- By the time Velvet crested the rise after the granny- Lera- half of the ¡®ambushers¡¯ were coughing and sputtering. She¡¯d intended to sneak forward and stab one before she was noticed, but she wasn¡¯t going anywhere near whatever that cloud was. She used Lera as cover to approach closer, crouching low to the ground and wishing there were more sources of cover than just a few rises in the terrain and the occasional boulder or scrawny tree. Two body temperers attacked Lera together, but she simply stepped back and let their attacks pass through where she was. Meanwhile, both of them got a needle impaled into them. One in a shoulder, and one in the cheek. Nothing lethal normally, except¡­ they had to be poisoned. Some of those who had been coughing didn¡¯t get up, while others recovered. Arrows flew towards Velvet- no, she hadn¡¯t been noticed, she merely placed herself in their trajectory on accident. Several more launched down below, but they were matched by more shots from just Anton himself. One Body Temperer went down, and even a Spirit Building cultivator got an arrow of pure energy in his side as he presumed that there would be no relevant counterattack and had only minimal defenses. At some point Lera had managed to set up the rope, and Velvet could sense Hoyt was already halfway up. That was good, because Lera was getting swarmed. A dagger sliced along the side of the neck of a large Spirit Building cultivator. Velvet cursed. There went her best chance at taking someone out instantly and she only managed a thin cut. Sure, she had to pierce his energy defenses and armor but she thought she had it. She dodged back away from a wild swing of an axe. She needed to be careful, or she might find herself dying instantly. She was feeling more confident when Hoyt arrived to help take off the pressure and she managed to dodge around several people and make them lose track of her. The battle on the other side of the gorge was also going well. Then she felt another group of cultivators charging along the floor of the ridge towards their main company. It wouldn¡¯t take them long to arrive, and now there were only a few defenders left below. Damn. She hadn¡¯t even thought there would be a third group. Chapter 120 Sometimes there were people who seemed able to do anything they set their mind to. Anton Krantz was one of those. Reuben was aware that a farm had many different things it needed, and Anton could take care of them all. It seemed that even when the man hit a hundred the only reason the rest of his family had work to do was because he let them. The patriarch of that family was someone that everyone in Dungannon knew. But now he was different. Though honestly it felt just like the next step. A cultivator always felt like something different from a normal human. Reuben hadn¡¯t really changed his assessment. Anton and his companions were different. People who were so willing to throw themselves into action were exceptional. They also had a wolf. That was just¡­ something Reuben had observed. Beyond just learning to cultivate himself, Anton seemed to be proficient enough to teach it. Reuben had given a serious try for a few years but it just didn¡¯t click. Then he talked to Anton for an hour, and everything made sense. It still took a week for him to really have enough sense and control of natural energy to really feel like a cultivator, but the path had been laid out for him and he just had to walk it. Sometimes paths were rocky and full of twigs trying to snag you, but at least you knew you were going the right way. Learning to cultivate was empowering¡­ but Reuben hadn¡¯t realized it would be so frightening. Actually being able to sense how strong cultivators were was intimidating. Anton had already been the sort of person who felt overwhelming when he was in action but like just a man otherwise, but the feeling was amplified. Others weren¡¯t so restrained. There was the dark-skinned Ayotunde. A mercenary. He was even stronger. Seeing some of the cultivators spar for training was entertaining, but when actual battle happened¡­ that was where he felt fear. When Dungannon was attacked he¡¯d seen people die. So many people, for no reason. As they approached the growing gorge, he felt people die. To the right, to the left. Powerful presences that were simply snuffed out. It made him realize just how much further he had to go if he wanted to really be a cultivator. What was the first star, even, against the attacks facing them? Arrows he was certain could pierce through him and the man behind him flew in both directions. The ones from up on the cliff were greatly weakened by a sort of barrier set up by Catarina and another mercenary called Elisa. Enough that the villagers could block with the shields they had been given. Reuben held his shield above his head, doing his best to reinforce it with his energy. He should probably dodge, but he didn¡¯t know if he could do it in time- and that might just leave someone else in danger. The arrows from their side were fired by Anton. Just him, yet he matched a handful of other archers. He didn¡¯t even have arrows, making them purely from energy. They didn¡¯t look like much, but the sharpness that radiated off of them combined with their speed and power made Reuben feel that they were indeed very real. When Dungannon had been attacked, nobody could do anything. Now Anton was so strong. Reuben wasn¡¯t sure, but he wasn¡¯t too far from the stronger bandits. Since they¡¯d had no real opponents, it was impossible to say. Now the villagers of Dungannon were still weak, but they had hope. They were free- yet people were still trying to claim them. Reuben knew he was far too weak to matter, but he stepped forward anyway, just inside the edge of the barrier. Devon was right there as well, looking towards those approaching from the bottom of the gorge. Most of their warriors were atop either side, fighting opponents who outnumbered them. Reuben wasn¡¯t sure if he could harm some of the stronger figures approaching, but he was certain he could try. ----- Each arrow was aimed at a precise spot. It wasn¡¯t always where someone was unprepared for an attack, or at least not where people thought they were unprepared. Anton was beginning to sense the subtler fluctuations of energy. He realized that there were always weak points, even in a person¡¯s defensive energy. He might have thought he had an even layer covering him like armor, but some places were simply weaker. When one of those matched up with a weakness in actual armor, he could use less than half as much energy to achieve the same result. Usually, that was killing someone. None of his attacks were ever intended to go easy on someone. If he could kill them, he would. If he could wound an arm instead, that would make things easier for the future. People tended to overcompensate for areas they were injured, shifting to cover the weaker area with excess energy. Even if it was just a small change, he could catch someone while their energy was moving about and not perfectly placed. It wasn¡¯t enough to kill other Spirit Building cultivators in just a few shots, but it could certainly distract them enough that they weren¡¯t able to fight effectively. Against late Body Temperers, he took them out by his third arrow in most cases. It helped to have strong allies on the front lines suppressing people. He was glad he¡¯d hired all four of the mercenaries he did, because they were quite worth the expense just for this one battle. He saw Ayotunde maneuver his large sword to change from a slash into a stab with his two-handed sword, piercing into someone¡¯s neck. The old woman, Lera, was a poison user- but Anton wasn¡¯t sure if anything was more dishonorable than trying to own other people or fighting for them. Poison wasn¡¯t a weapon he wanted to learn how to use, but he saw its value. Velvet, Hoyt, Timothy, and the small man known as Ross also performed excellently. They were nearly finished with their battle when the front lines of the group coming down the gorge arrived. Another dozen body temperers and four at Spirit Building. The wide variety of cultivation styles indicated they were a mercenary group and not a sect of some sort- hopefully the Heavenly Lion Sect hadn¡¯t connected the dots yet. He¡¯d done nothing directly against them or their little ¡®former¡¯ disciple Van Hassel. Not yet, anyway. He didn¡¯t mind painting a target on himself, but he didn¡¯t want it to be that big until he could handle it. The barrier in front of them shook. A direct attack, even though the origin of the attack was still thirty meters away. They weren¡¯t an archer, but not far from it. A man had formed spikes of condensed energy, but they were unlike Spirit Arrows. They depended mainly on their size to cause damage- and Anton had to admit it was effective. A hole appeared in the barrier and some of the Body Temperers started pouring through. Devon and Fuzz were there to head them off, with Kohar providing her support, but the situation was concerning. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. His arrows continued to fly. Someone tried to chop into Devon with an axe, and while Anton¡¯s grandson handily protected himself the act wouldn¡¯t go unpunished. An arrow into the neck, curving right under the helmet was an appropriate response. He also fired shots to help the villagers who were much weaker and in more danger, though they managed to keep enemies at bay with at least three or four spears prodding at each of them. Anton had to twist his body to the side as spikes of energy flew towards him. He¡¯d been taken as a priority target, and he didn¡¯t mind responding in kind. He couldn¡¯t afford to have an enemy who could target any of his friends or family. As his hands grasped his bow, Anton took careful stock of how his energy covered it. Some parts needed more, but he could thin it out on others. The main spine of the bow only got the bare minimum to protect it in case of an attack, but he wouldn¡¯t get much power from adding energy there. He needed to be efficient with his energy because his muscles were old and tired once more. Having completed Body Tempering he was still stronger than even the strongest who didn¡¯t cultivate, but somewhere at half of his peak. He couldn¡¯t launch attacks simultaneously, but Anton managed a continuous barrage on the man, while he had to dodge four or five coordinated attacks at once. That wasn¡¯t impossible. In fact, it was made easier by the way the spikes moved in formation. He had to dodge further to the side, but he also slipped through the middle once or twice and they didn¡¯t curve towards him. Without anything to propel them but the energy themselves, the way they accelerated was also predictable. Anton got a few scrapes but he managed his energy defenses to resist before focusing on his enemy¡¯s weakness. He needed to win before the other Spirit Building enemies joined the fight in earnest. ----- A two handed sword like Ayotunde¡¯s was actually light and agile, without the sort of thick blades that were suited for cutting off someone¡¯s head. He could still do it though. It just took a bit more energy sharpened to a fine blade and a bit more muscle. That was something he had in abundance. The final Spirit Building cultivator was finished off by him. Sadly the shrimp had gotten one alone and half killed that one, so Ayotunde couldn¡¯t tease him. He hadn¡¯t gotten the axe wielding youth to help, but he had to admit the shield and sword one was quite competent as well. He was a bit weaker in cultivation, but the way he stood by Ayotunde¡¯s side and coordinated with him without previous practice was excellent. Being able to ignore an attack and instead counter with an attack of his own was quite liberating. That was the end of those up with them. The plan had been to get Anton up to them for a good vantage, but clearly that wasn¡¯t happening. Ayotunde ran over towards the edge of the unnatural gorge. It simply didn¡¯t fit quite right into the area. How strong would someone have to be to¡­? He¡¯d consider that later. ¡°Hey! Mercenary dimwits!¡± he shouted to them. ¡°I hope you got paid in advance, because I look forward to looting it from your corpse. But that doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t run. We could use a few people to inform others not to work for those idiots who hired you.¡± Honestly, this group could have been enough. If they¡¯d walked into the ambush, things would have gone the other way quickly. He still felt there should have been a fourth group to catch them from behind, but¡­ he looked with his eyes and senses. Nothing. Perhaps they were short on men, or bad at tactics. ¡°I mean it! Run, and only the slowest of you will get shot in the back!¡± Morale was important for mercenaries. He was honestly surprised they hadn¡¯t broken already. Still not running. Twenty meters down? That seemed fine. Ayotunde leaped directly down towards one of the Spirit Building cultivators who was flinging ranged attacks at the group. He had no room for subtlety or complicated attacks, instead settling for a giant overhand swing. His target didn¡¯t miss out on something so important as a mid Spirit Building warrior leaping at him, and he leapt to the side, admirably protecting himself and only getting one arm slightly cut through. If he didn¡¯t have bracers¡­ he¡¯d still be dead the same way, because Anton followed up with a perfect shot right into the man¡¯s waist, disrupting his footing and letting Ayotunde stab him through the heart. He needed to work with archers more. ----- The enemy mercenaries were turning to flee, and Anton began to relax. Then his eye twitched as he saw Alva running forward towards one wrestling with Fuzz. He was almost impressed how she managed to actually stab into his thigh. It took most of her energy concentrated into that attack, but it was well done. Anton¡¯s arrow was already on the way, but he filled it with extra hate as Alva was backhanded by the man and sent flying a dozen meters. His arrow went up through the bottom of the half-prone man¡¯s jaw, and he swore to himself that if Alva was seriously injured he would hunt down every fleeing mercenary, his nearly drained reserves of energy be damned. He should have told Alva she couldn¡¯t fight no matter what. As he reached her side, she was already standing up. She was trembling and blood dripped down her face, but she propped herself up with the butt of her spear. ¡°Yeah! You better run!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton said. ¡°They should run. Which is why you should have let them instead of continuing to fight.¡± Alva turned up to him, blood streaming out of her nostrils. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Just a broken nose.¡± ¡°A little bit more and you could have died!¡± Anton chastised. ¡°Nu-uh. Broken noses don¡¯t kill people.¡± Anton didn¡¯t know what to say, but Catarina arrived to say the exact thing he¡¯d chosen not to. ¡°You can. The bones in your nose can be pushed into your brain,¡± Catarina gestured. ¡°It¡¯s not pretty.¡± Alva turned to the side and threw up. What followed was a frenzy of activity as everyone tried to recover from the battle. They hadn¡¯t been lucky enough to be able to just avoid their enemies, and the consequences were severe. None of their top cultivators were dead, but Hoyt had a nasty gash on his arm and Devon had either reopened old injuries or gotten new ones in similar places. It was honestly impressive that they¡¯d only lost a handful of people against the enemy forces. They were outnumbered in terms of real cultivators, and there was only so much a little bit of edge in cultivation and skill could do against that. Anton wondered if it was his fault the people were dead. If he hadn¡¯t taught them to cultivate, they would have been more cautious. Were his ideas wrong? Something tapped his ankle. He looked down to see a man on his belly craning back to look up at him. ¡°Thanks,¡± the man said. Anton just recognized him as Reuben under all the blood. ¡°I got to actually fight, instead of just being helpless.¡± Then his head dropped face first into the dirt. Anton flipped him over, seeing bloody wounds all over the man¡¯s chest. Before he did anything else, a quick check with his energy- and he found Reuben was alive, if only barely. He used his energy to keep as much blood in the man as possible while his hands moved as quickly as they were able applying coagulant powder, stitches, and bandages. He still felt awful, but despite all the weary faces around him, he saw them strong and determined rather than giving into despair. These people had a second chance at life, and they were going to do their utmost to take it. Chapter 121 Not too far away from the group of fleeing former slaves the land was currently in a state of settling, roots returning to their position in the ground and trees bending back into their normal state. The signs of battle would still be obvious in the future, but it was proper to return things to the best state possible. The final segment of mercenaries intended to bring up the rear in the attack had found themselves grossly outnumbered. Elder Varela would have liked to provide more public support for Anton and the rest, but the Grasping Willows still had to live in Ofrurg. Though he would have liked to rub his current actions in the face of others, some of the present company needed to remain unknown. There were a half dozen former gladiators among their company. ¡°Thank you for our freedom,¡± several of them came forward together, ¡°With this, I hope our debt is repaid.¡± ¡°You never owed me anything,¡± Elder Varela shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s Lev who set you free.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± they agreed, ¡°But your presence is what made it possible.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Elder Varela refused to commit more than that. ¡°Though in that case, Anton Krantz is more responsible than I. He is the one responsible for inspiring Lev, and would have doubtless freed you himself if he could bear the consequences.¡± The former gladiators inclined their heads. ¡°We will of course pay our respects to your disciple Lev¡­ at a later moment.¡± They did their best to avoid looking sick or glancing in that direction. Elder Varela smiled. ¡°Good. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll appreciate it.¡± With that, he peacefully began to stroll towards his favorite disciple. He casually layered the dirt back where it belonged atop roots, and sometimes encouraged those roots to bury themselves deeper than they originally grew. He stepped over broken and twisted bodies, the likes of which weren¡¯t sufficient to disturb gladiators who had fought to the death many times. One of the mercenaries they had just fought was standing in his path, but he paid him no mind. He would be dealt with soon enough. Currently, Lev was placing his hands on another. He unceremoniously ripped his energy out of the man in front of him, leaving behind a ruined and half-hollow corpse. ¡°It works as well as you said it would,¡± Elder Varela admitted, ¡°But I have to admit it¡¯s a bit unsettling.¡± Lev grimaced. ¡°You instructed me to learn from nature. I simply emulated the most dangerous sort I was able to witness and fortunately survive.¡± Lev gestured towards one arm that still hung limply at his side. Elder Varela knew it was difficult to heal, but Lev had refused to try, leaving it as a ¡®reminder¡¯. ¡°I still barely have control of anyone. I haven¡¯t been able to get practice on humans before now.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Elder Varela said. ¡°I doubt your savior would approve of you treating humans as just experimental toys.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Lev acknowledged. ¡°I am quite aware that it is a horrid sight to behold.¡± With a stirring of his energy, another ¡®body¡¯ staggered over towards him. He spent some time looking over it, feeling the energy he had grown into what had once been a live person, then tearing his energy out and letting it collapse into just another corpse. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to practice the traditional Grasping Willow methods,¡± Elder Varela reminded him. ¡°Of course. How do you think I get people to hold still?¡± Lev grimaced. ¡°I don¡¯t plan to use this very often. But this group should have known the full circumstances and still made the choice to accept this mission.¡± Lev looked at the remaining people he had to deal with and sighed. ¡°I wish I could have spoken to Anton.¡± ¡°You made your choice. I think he would approve, but it was better for him to not know of it at the time. It might not seem like it sometimes, but the power of genuine truth is greater than deception. Those people you freed were entirely unconnected to him, and can stay that way.¡± Elder Varela rested a hand on Lev¡¯s good shoulder. ¡°I am proud of you for following your convictions instead of taking the easiest path with an early payoff.¡± Lev looked around, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I can look him in the face anymore.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Elder Varela asked. ¡°These people are just as dead now as all of those up ahead hopefully are. You didn¡¯t even think to keep them around even though it would be useful in future battles. That shows your mind is in the right place, even if you¡¯ve created a forbidden technique.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I would have if I thought anyone else could practice it,¡± Lev injected his own energy into what had once been the nerves in his arm, raising it unnaturally. ¡°But I doubt others would be willing to go through the same experiences.¡± Elder Varela was using the nearby roots to relocate the bodies, stripping them of valuable weapons and armor while properly distributing them about the area so that they wouldn¡¯t leave behind a hulking pile of dead bodies. Animals would be quite happy to eat fallen cultivators, but if they were all together the scavengers would squabble over them even if they couldn¡¯t consume more than a small portion individually. ¡°Actually,¡± Elder Varela commented, ¡°Speaking of forbidden techniques. Anton expressed interest in Everheart¡¯s Tomb. That new one that revealed itself down in Floelor. I believe you should be inside the restrictions for participating. You should turn up yourself, when the time comes.¡± ¡°You think Anton will really be able to get inside?¡± Elder Varela shrugged, ¡°I think he¡¯ll show up. Everheart¡¯s formations are known to be fickle. New cultivators would almost certainly mean young for most, but he¡¯s just the sort to let people like Anton into his tombs.¡± Elder Varela didn¡¯t mention that he¡¯d noticed Anton¡¯s use of a famous forbidden technique by Everheart himself. Lev would likely not be happy to hear what the man did to speed them up when he could have potentially been present as an ally. Elder Varela fully believed Anton would have done the same with the addition of Lev, but he didn¡¯t need to burden the young man with the potential idea. ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± Lev nodded. ¡°I want to thank him again.¡± Lev thought for a while before continuing the conversation, ¡°It¡¯s strange that nobody has found these places before. Was Everheart that good?¡± ¡°He was,¡± Elder Varela confirmed, ¡°I know that firsthand from my own master.¡± ¡°What about¡­¡± Lev stopped himself, then continued, ¡°What about the rumors that he¡¯s still alive?¡± Elder Varela shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s been so long. Perhaps that was once the case. I do believe he faked his death many times to hide from his many enemies, but with the passage of time he must have now perished. Though I wouldn¡¯t put it past him to have hatched a scheme to make sure those rumors continued to spread long after his actual death, just so the descendents of his enemies could never fully relax.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°The Grasping Willow-¡± ¡°Barely existed when he was active. We¡¯re talking larger sects¡­ some of which he took with him at the end. Some simply never recovered, but won¡¯t admit it.¡± Elder Varela shook his head, ¡°I would prefer not to talk about those, but I do know the Frostmirror sect was an old enemy, like most of the region. They were just smart enough to make reparations before the forbidden technique maniac was pushed into a corner.¡± Lev took some time to digest those thoughts, before returning to a more practical conversation. ¡°What do you think the rewards of the tomb will be?¡± ¡°He managed to gather many resources and techniques. Hopefully some of those.¡± Elder Varela shook his head, ¡°Otherwise it¡¯s probably some great mess of a forbidden technique that would be better off never seeing the light of day, passed down onto someone with just the right factors to cause trouble with it.¡± Elder Varela shrugged, ¡°Or there was the one time it was a pile of dirt. There was a big uproar about that one.¡± ----- No further trouble was encountered on the way to the border. That wasn¡¯t strange, because there were only a finite number of cultivators. More importantly, the payment offered to attack the group couldn¡¯t be unlimited. The Iron Ring Slavers had a great amount of wealth, but the amount of free cash they had to have after recent events was bound to be less significant. Since they mostly traded in non-cultivator slaves, there were limits on their wealth and influence. There were also limits on how public their actions could be. If they made too big of a stir it would be the difference between people assuming they hired a mercenary group to kill people they just had conflict with and knowing they did it. An important difference when Ofrurg¡¯s policies wouldn¡¯t shield them from the Order of the Ninety-Nine Stars in the second case, nor even from the country¡¯s internal laws. Whatever hand the Potenzas had was also limited by the same factors. It was impossible to fully know why things ended up exactly the way they did, but Anton and the others hadn¡¯t come into Ofrurg just hoping that they could succeed. Paying information brokers and using Kohar¡¯s experience, they¡¯d made a reasonable estimate of the backlash they could expect and determined they could survive it. They had been correct, though they still mourned the loss of some of their number. Just because they weren¡¯t powerful cultivators didn¡¯t mean the ones who died weren¡¯t people. Though the particular border crossing they were approaching was more out of the way and thus less traveled, the contingent of defenders was no weaker. That very out of the way feature could have otherwise allowed for slipping across the border unnoticed, and neither country wanted that. At least not when it was out of their own particular control. Everything seemed to be going smoothly at the border with paperwork being processed normally, until the auras of several Essence Collection cultivators and the other arranged guards simultaneously bore down on the group. One of those cultivators was a stern looking man, and quickly made a declaration. ¡°You are all under arrest for violation of Ofrurg law.¡± ¡°What violations?¡± Anton asked. ¡°They are numerous in quantity and varied. Now then, submit peacefully.¡± Before Anton could reply, Kohar held up a hand. ¡°It is required to state crimes for each individual in specificity.¡± The man looked down on Kohar as much as he could from his position of similar height. ¡°That will all be made clear in due time.¡± Kohar shook her head, ¡°You can¡¯t arrest anyone without specific declarations in advance unless you obtain the approval of Graotan as well. It is not permissible to hold a group or individual on the assumption that you might dredge up crime in the future. Do you have any formal charges against any individuals? If not, you must let us pass.¡± Despite the large gap in cultivation, she held her head up high and spoke confidently. Anton smiled. This was her area of speciality. He knew she would do the best that any of them could manage. ¡°Very well. If you must know,¡± the man drew out the word. ¡°The individual known as Anton Krantz is being detained for murder. Now submit to arrest.¡± ¡°Murder of who?¡± Kohar asked. ¡°Such a vague declaration is insufficient.¡± She waited a moment, then continued, ¡°Since you are unable to declare a single crime in specificity we shall be on our way.¡± She tried to step forward, but his presence prevented her movement ¡°There were over a dozen individuals murdered in the Potenza Arena in Khonard by his very hand,¡± the man declared. ¡°We have their names.¡± ¡°Every charge was formally tried and dropped due to aiding and abetting unlawful imprisonment.¡± Kohar turned her gaze to look past the man, ¡°Do you intend to let them imprison members of your Order with no justification?¡± Auras clashed as the border guards from Graotan formally made themselves known. A much older but still very powerfully built man stood at the ready. ¡°We do not intend to allow it. I trust you have something to justify your position?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Kohar agreed. The man from the Order turned his eyes to the Ofrurg guards, ¡°That includes you, Ashok. I hope you prepared a proper case.¡± The man known as Ashok snorted. ¡°Of course, Baltassar. We would only do things properly.¡± A quick comparison of the information proved his lie. Baltassar had heard their explanations and currently held documents that looked simply tiny in his large hands, comparing them for the dozenth time. ¡°I find it surprising that you only have the immediate information one side declared on the scene, not even complete to the end of the day or from both parties. And that you managed to not hear a word of such a high profile case after another month. A case which, I might add, has been heard about on this side of the border already. I was just wondering if you would lie.¡± ¡°Of course you would take the side of a disciple of the Order, Baltassar,¡± Ashok remained confident and overbearing as he spoke. ¡°However, this is a matter of the law of Ofrurg. You really wish to risk war over a few criminal disciples?¡± ¡°Funny that you should mention that,¡± Kohar said. ¡°Because I guarantee a backwater border guard like you has no authority to even speak of declarations of war. When that information gets back to the rest of Ofrurg, I wonder what sort of reprimands will be made for each of your sects?¡± Kohar made a point of lingering her eyes on the two other Essence Collection cultivators. They turned to each other, exchanging glances. Then they retracted their auras around themselves. ¡°Ashok is acting on his own in that capacity. Our estimation is that you have provided sufficient proof to pass the border.¡± Ashok turned to glare at the other two, but with the odds being between three-to-one in his favor at best, he backed down. ¡°Fine. Go.¡± He waved his hand. After they had been properly passed through the other side, Anton commended Kohar. ¡°I knew you were a specialist in law, but your quick thinking and recall skills are remarkable. I don¡¯t know the intricacies of certain laws as well as perhaps I should.¡± Kohar nodded, ¡°Thank you, though I will admit something now that we are well past the border. I might have fibbed a little bit on some of the details.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°While they might not have been able to restrain the citizens of Graotan on mere speculation¡­ that law doesn¡¯t technically apply to citizens of Ofrurg. But I didn¡¯t think they needed to know that,¡± she grinned widely. Anton laughed in return. ¡°Seems like they should do some brushing up as well.¡± ¡°I¡¯d prefer it if they did not. My job would be much easier if my opponents were ignorant.¡± ¡°Can we really get that man¡¯s sect reprimanded?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Maybe,¡± Kohar shrugged. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t hurt to try. I¡¯ll draft some letters.¡± Anton smiled as they walked. Sometimes, it was nice to win a battle without anyone dying. Chapter 122 Nobody was entirely willing to relax until they were several days from the border and in more populated areas. At that point, only the most suicidal of cultivators would be willing to make any attempt on their lives. Anton still kept the services of the mercenaries until the end of the week just in case. It was only money for peace of mind, and he couldn¡¯t use money to buy that back if something happened. Then it was time to settle all of his debts. Anton shook his head at the exceedingly large amount of money that had been flowing through his hands since he became a cultivator. Even in terms of productivity it made some amount of sense, but he had been ignorant of how much wealth disparity there could be between people. Instead of finding rumors about cultivators being exaggerated they had almost been undersold. Ayotunde, Ross, Lera, and Elisa were paid partly with shares of loot from the mercenaries who attacked them. It was a not insignificant amount of money, but only two of them had enchanted bags of any sort. Though there was some appeal to carrying the entirety of one¡¯s wealth on them, most cultivators actually didn¡¯t do that. That was even true of Anton- some of his payment was drawing on bank accounts set up through the Order. Kohar had been paid in an ongoing manner during her legal work, including expenses incurred for ¡®legal fees¡¯, most of which were bribes to make the process not take years or decades. Though they¡¯d managed to legally emancipate a large number of people and force the Iron Ring Slavers to pay huge penalties, those penalties had ironically mostly gone towards the slave owners and not those wrongfully enslaved. Only small amounts were actually awarded to people insufficient to even begin to cover the wrongs committed- if money could cover such wrongs. Anton had set aside more funds to help set people up. Nearly everyone was planning to move to Windrip, where the first wave of freed slaves mostly resided. They had the option to go elsewhere, but most preferred to return to some sense of the former community they¡¯d possessed. It wasn¡¯t possible for Anton to forget his friends from the Order. If he were to pay them mercenary rates for the entire duration of their efforts, he would bankrupt himself. They weren¡¯t unwilling to help, but he made sure that the rest of the profits from sale of looted weapons and armor would go to them. If he ended up with just pennies to his name¡­ he didn¡¯t care. He could just work for more. He did have one more expense he had to pocket, but it was perhaps one of the most important. He wanted to throw a giant celebration. Enough mourning had taken place to last the entirety of everyone¡¯s lives, but a celebration of those who still lived and were now free once more was absolutely critical. It would symbolize the end of the first step of making things right. Anton planned to clear his mind of thoughts of the rest. Revenge would be found and he still had to confirm if Annelie was able to be happy, but such a momentous success could not go uncelebrated. ----- The previous group in Windrip had been anticipating the arrival of more kindred spirits, freed slaves whether they were from Dungannon or elsewhere. There was enough room for everyone to settle in, though it wouldn¡¯t be comfortable long term. For the first week nobody would be spending time in their quarters anyway as everyone was busy with festival preparations. Though they were under no obligation to help, Ayotunde and the other mercenaries were instrumental in transporting goods from the nearby city of Stregate and helping to set up temporary pavilions for the celebrations. There were even a few more permanent structures flung together like they were nothing. When Ayotunde could support the frame of one wall of a building by himself and they had dozens of other cultivators more than a single stage into Body Tempering, labor was quick. Every person who was even vaguely a chef from the little cultivation haven in Windrip was involved in cooking, and even more people from the town itself and the nearby Stregate. Stew cooked for days, and tables were laden with pies, roasts, and dishes of every sort. Despite the accelerated timeline for planning, the concerted efforts of everyone made everything work, even if it was a bit early in the year for the sort of celebration they were having. Spring crops had barely begun being planted, but the abundance of willing hands brought everything together in a timely manner. Then on the day of the festival, it decided to rain just as the final setup was complete. Wind whipped the rain underneath the covered pavilions, soaking people and food. The atmosphere immediately turned sour. That simply wouldn¡¯t be allowed. Anton knew he was in no way capable of dispersing the clouds in the sky at his current level, but he could do something else. He grabbed a handheld pie and stepped out into the rain. He could have prevented the rain from touching his body, but not everyone could do that. He let it soak him and instead used his energy to draw attention to himself. He held the small meat pie above his head. ¡°Everyone!¡± he called upon the his training in Voice to not only carry the sound to the hundreds of people in the surroundings but also guide his speech, adjusting his tone where possible. ¡°Today we celebrate freedom! Freedom for those who were taken as slaves, but also freedom for those who were born and remain free! Those of you who cultivate energy do so to improve your work, but also to keep yourselves free! Today, we celebrate- and we won¡¯t let a little bit of weather get in the way!¡± With that, Anton chomped into the soaked meat pie. It was squishy and disgusting and one of the best tastes he¡¯d experienced in two years. If his life ended now he could die happy- but there were many times in his life he¡¯d had that feeling. He¡¯d lived past all of them, and intended to live to reach more in the future. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The first one to join was Ayotunde. He grabbed an entire roasted chicken and ran out into the rain, dancing around in a circle chomping into carried food with Anton like a pair of madmen. Catarina was next, but all of the stronger cultivators joined in almost immediately after that. Fuzz dragged a whole roast pig out onto the soaking wet grass and started devouring it with Alva right next to him. Chefs began passing out bowls of steaming hot soup that people carried into the rain. People began shoving food into their mouths and running around wildly, exuberant in their freedom. Not everyone chose to run into the rain, but the rain and good spirit still came to them as they stood next to the tables. More than just the former villagers of Dungannon and the other freed slaves were participating. People from the rest of Windrip and Stregate had come to join the festivities, and enough of them brough contributions of their own food that it was likely that everyone would be stuffed full for days. It was a good feeling, Anton decided, seeing people happy. This was the thing that was most important. Hard work was necessary for the resources to allow this, and unfortunately battle was necessary as well, but it was all worth it in the end. With so many cultivators, even with small cultivators, the energy in the area was wild. Anton felt it flow around and through him. It wasn¡¯t really organized in any conceivable way, but the way it flowed through people was invigorating. It was more than just a good feeling. By the end of the night Anton reached the completion of the fourteenth star, and while he imagined people who cultivated Spiritual Connection or something like it would have gained the most, he knew at least a half dozen of the weaker cultivators advanced as well, along with Ayotunde who was the strongest among them. For a brief moment, Anton wondered how they might replicate the situation¡­ but he immediately knew that the event was not something that could be manufactured artificially. He still intended to promote celebrations regardless, because the cultivation benefits were merely a nice convenience. Doubtless the relaxed atmosphere had simply eased the tension on accumulated energy. The Order already knew the benefits of occasional relaxation, though not everyone really seemed to take it seriously. Anton had ignored it, but he wasn¡¯t in any state to truly relax more than a small amount for the last two years. ----- Dozens of people woke up in the morning, covered in mud with hangovers. Yet as they adjusted to the rising sun, the previous night¡¯s joy eased their pain. Small groups of people tried to continue the celebrations to some success, but others went back to work on the fields. Anton was in the second group, and though they didn¡¯t need his help at all he was able to accelerate some parts of it quite a bit. Ayotunde also lent his powerful body to the cause. Anton could see he was no stranger to such work, but he was missing decades of experience if he wanted to keep up with Anton himself. ¡°You worked as a farmer?¡± Anton asked. ¡°For a while,¡± Ayotunde admitted. ¡°I was not too fond of it, but Western Steel Body understand that working the body is just as important as circulating energy.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to hear more about it, if it¡¯s not secret. My body is a bit lacking¡­ especially at the current moment.¡± The cultivation method of the Ninety-Nine Stars didn¡¯t do anything in the way of cultivating the body in the first half of Spirit Building. While having completed the first ten stars would make a cultivator¡¯s body sufficiently powerful, Anton¡¯s use of Candle Wax had let his age catch up, and the first thing it hit was his body. He was able to compensate with energy and he wasn¡¯t weak, but he didn¡¯t feel like someone who¡¯d cultivated his body so much either. He also sort of wanted to use that bone bow still, but that was looking even more unlikely with his current bodily power. ¡°There are many secrets I cannot share,¡± Ayotunde admitted, ¡°But I still have things I can share that should help an old man like yourself.¡± ¡°I will do my best to respond in kind,¡± Anton nodded. He was getting more experience studying other cultivation techniques from working with Devon and Kohar. While he couldn¡¯t alter their fundamental natures at his current level of experience, he still saw certain patterns that could be adjusted to better suit specific needs. ----- It was Anton¡¯s desire to settle all of his family in Windrip, or possibly in Carran with Catarina¡¯s family. He wouldn¡¯t even mind if they wanted to stay in Edelhull or some other big city. He had more than a handful of adult descendants who were happy to choose a peaceful life. Anton knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to spend as much time with them as he wanted, but he didn¡¯t need to control their lives anyway. His great-grandchildren weren¡¯t all able to be reunited with their parents, but in turn some parents had lost children. Everyone found new homes, and everything was basically as good as could be, given the circumstances. Given his lingering injuries Devon settling down to live a quiet life would have been quite sensible, but Anton hadn¡¯t really expected that. Devon was still intent to grow stronger in cultivation, and joining the Order was the best way to accomplish that. While the Ninety-Nine Stars was the primary cultivation method and usually superior to other choices, it wasn¡¯t impossible for a cultivator to keep their old technique and be an official member. Devon had chosen to do so, though he intended to continue working with Anton to improve the basic method he¡¯d grown accustomed to. All of that was fine. The one thing that Anton didn¡¯t want was to have a great-granddaughter not even in her teenage years declare she wanted to be just like him. Alva didn¡¯t simply mean a cultivator, but she wanted to be a fighting cultivator. No matter how many times Anton explained that he would have preferred to live a peaceful life, she wouldn¡¯t listen. It didn¡¯t help that she was almost inseparable from Fuzz and that Catarina encouraged her decision. For that, Catarina was the one who had to keep Alva in her home. Their courtyards merely had a single wall separating them, but he thought it would be better for Alva. He would still do his best to help raise her, but he was quite worried about that. Even if she had already completed the first star, cultivating too quickly at a young age could damage her. Anton paid very careful attention so that she would not harm herself, but he couldn¡¯t be around all the time. That was as both a cultivation instructor and as a surrogate parent. He also couldn¡¯t just bring her along with him, because she was exactly the kind to throw herself into danger when it appeared instead of staying somewhere safe. Her injuries in the battle hadn¡¯t dissuaded her from that at all. Anton sighed. Why did his descendants have to be so willful and difficult? Chapter 123 A fist with the force of a charging bull hit Anton straight in the face. He was sent flying backwards, though despite how that looked it was actually the best result. That meant the force was nicely distributed instead of just focused on a single deadly point. It wouldn¡¯t entirely stop his face from bruising later, and he still had to land properly. As the wall came rushing towards him he twisted his body so that his feet were facing it, and he landed much as he would from a vertical drop, though with some awkward forward and ground-facing momentum. He wasn¡¯t even fully on his feet when his opponent reached him, kicking him in the side. His body lifted off the ground slightly, and a kick from the other side tossed him back in the other direction. None of the attacks were powerful enough to truly break through his defenses, but it was shameful to be treated like a sack of potatoes. The attacks kept coming continuously, giving him no time to think between them. Which was, of course, the whole point. Anton had only barely started to lift his hand to block the fist coming for him when it stopped, touching his nose. He sighed. ¡°Have you been holding back or something, Hoyt?¡± Hoyt shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s just the restrictions placed on you that make it feel so difficult. You¡¯re not used to fighting without a weapon. Besides, you¡¯re actually less effective than normal for another reason. You¡¯re trying too hard not to think.¡± ¡°I thought that was the whole point of training Instinct,¡± Anton commented. ¡°Depends on who you talk to,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°But as someone who knows you and has trained with you, Instinct definitely doesn¡¯t replace thinking. What are you thinking about?¡± ¡°I was just trying to¡­ not. I wanted my body to react to your attacks on its own. Is that not correct?¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°Again, I¡¯m just one person¡­ but even I don¡¯t know how to not think. Besides, Instinct is just another thing. You¡¯ll still need to think. Just try to focus on something else.¡± The two of them went through several more iterations of training over the next several days with only minimal progress. Finally, they found what worked best for Anton. Since he wasn¡¯t an expert in Instinct he still needed to be in the mental state of combat to make use of it. So they returned to sparring, with some special features thrown in. Arms and legs moved swiftly, but the subtle movements of small joints or the waist sometimes made the most difference. Anton could deflect every strike, but if Hoyt got ahold of his arm even his slightly greater cultivation couldn¡¯t save him. He had to use all of his concentration keeping himself out of a grapple he would likely lose. Then a rock hit him in the side of the head. Hoyt was kind enough to slow down slightly as Anton was thrown off, but he didn¡¯t let Anton have the freedom to think about other things. At the current moment Anton was able to avoid a simple rock about half of the time. Energy charged rocks he was slightly more successful with, as they were easier to notice. Anton had to admit that he wasn¡¯t using Instinct as his sole method for dealing with the flung projectiles, but he didn¡¯t like looking so sloppy. It was also not unreasonable, since relying on just Instinct later would doubtless get him killed. The ones to throw the rocks had been Catarina and Timothy at first, but as Anton advanced in his training Velvet had taken to participating. She upped the difficulty too much with her stealthy, so she usually chose to abstain, but a certain small someone had picked up her technique. Alva didn¡¯t have the bodily strength to launch a rock fast enough or with enough precision that Anton wouldn¡¯t just have moved out of the way before it reached him even if he didn¡¯t intend do, but with a little bit of stealth technique mixed in she nearly matched Catarina and Timothy. Some of that started with Anton wanting to make her feel like she was succeeding, but soon enough he was legitimately finding it difficult to avoid her attacks. Though as his level of proficiency in Instinct increased, he was better at avoiding every attack even when he wasn¡¯t expecting them. Even outside of sparring, It had become a sort of game where any of them could attack Anton at any time. Never anything serious, but even a touch counted as a loss. Anton lost quite a bit¡­ until the point where he started doing the same. Hoyt was the only one who had trained Instinct so far, though Velvet was learning along with Anton. She was quite capable of training it without people pelting her with rocks while she focused on someone else, but that just made her experiences more valuable for Anton¡¯s notes. Though he was only at the fourteenth star, among their little group everyone had trained everything but Earthly Connection, the final piece of the first half of Spirit Building. Catarina was beginning her training in the area, but she didn¡¯t have much to say at her current point. It was one of the least appealing possible purifications, since being in tune with others¡¯ emotions didn¡¯t inherently make one stronger. Yet Anton knew it still had value. Insight allowed something similar, but it only related to surface level actions. It allowed people to predict someone¡¯s movements yet lacked understanding their motivations. Likewise, Earthly Connection would theoretically allow for prediction of more long-term actions, as well as how groups as a whole would react. Anton was actually quite interested in that, but that was the very reason he was putting it off. He was considering taking it as his Prime Tempering. If it proved to be less useful than he anticipated, he could still put in more effort to catch up in other areas. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ----- Time passed peacefully, with Anton often journeying back and forth between the Order¡¯s main grounds where there was the highest concentration of natural energy and Windrip, where he could visit a growing and thriving community. Training himself was important, but if he let that community fail most of his effort would have been for naught. Though more than the community itself, the people were important. If they were truly satisfied to go their separate ways, he would not object- but the majority still remained with them. Only a few set out on their own, and of them Anton knew of two who were planning to teach other communities about how even basic cultivation could improve their lives. The first thing that Anton was glad to notice was that he had started sensing cultivators throughout the rest of Windrip. He hadn¡¯t forced anyone to teach others about cultivation, but he encouraged it. With how many were having success, they must have done more than just leave the basic cultivation manual with them. Anton knew he was fortunate to be the type that could get by without guidance, but most people weren¡¯t. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was even true of him anymore, because he would be at least a few stars weaker without what he¡¯d learned from others. ¡°Welcome back, Sir Anton. It is good to see you again.¡± Anton sighed. ¡°Come now Ebbe. Just Anton.¡± ¡°Alright, Anton.¡± At least he dropped the formality easier. The square jawed man was large and talented enough at cultivation Anton thought he would have chosen to join the Order, but as he seemed quite happy where he was Anton didn¡¯t continue to bring it up. ¡°How have things been going here?¡± ¡°The same as normal,¡± Ebbe nodded. ¡°You have something to say?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ the road is a bit rough.¡± ¡°It is not hard for those with even a bit of cultivation, though it does make transporting animals difficult,¡± Ebbe admitted. ¡°That first part¡¯s the problem. Maybe it doesn¡¯t matter, but I can¡¯t help but think more people would come see how things are here if the road was better.¡± ¡°Maybe we should work on it,¡± Ebbe conceded. ¡°I¡¯ll bring it up later. Or you could.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to force things. I know my opinion carries great weight, but I don¡¯t want to run things.¡± He didn¡¯t even want to be a mayor when all of these people were just part of Dungannon. It was just that apparently people equated personal strength and leadership. Anton was willing to admit that people could have both, and even that cultivators could improve themselves in ways to become better at leadership, but he didn¡¯t think he was there yet. Not really. ¡°Let¡¯s stop standing in the fields,¡± Ebbe said. ¡°Have a drink. We¡¯re a bit low on the good things, but the well is plentiful.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind a drink,¡± Anton said. Normally such a thing would be trivial and ignorable. Drop the bucket, wheel it up, pour it into a jug, drink. Easy. Even normal people had no trouble with that, cultivators even less so. Despite Anton feeling his age again, he wasn¡¯t feeble. But something felt strange. His hand grabbed Ebbe¡¯s wrist before he even thought about it. ¡°Wait,¡± Anton cautioned. The water tasted sweet and clean¡­ but he had the feeling it wasn¡¯t. With that feeling he actually brought his energy to bear, and found that Instinct hadn¡¯t led him astray. The water was bad. It wasn¡¯t at the level that would kill a man, let alone a village of cultivators¡­ but it could certainly make them sick. Anton had no problem exerting his influence for purposes like investigating the water. Within an hour someone was running into Stregate to get the water tested while many others were moving around the area looking for a source of contamination. Anton wasn¡¯t familiar with poisons, but he didn¡¯t think the well was poisoned. At least, not intentionally. The investigation would hopefully arrive at the same conclusion. If it was foul play of some sort¡­ Anton honestly didn¡¯t know what he would do. In such a case, he should probably ask Kohar for advice. She wasn¡¯t just an expert on legalities, but also the proper way to handle such things. Back in Dungannon most conflicts were settled easily as they were honest mistakes- and when someone tried to cheat him in a business deal, he simply refused to interact with them again. Once everyone knew someone was a cheat, they didn¡¯t last long. He thought perhaps he should study law. By Kohar¡¯s admission, she had been doing so for decades and still wasn¡¯t able to cover everything in a single field. That meant it wouldn¡¯t be easy, and he probably wouldn¡¯t have the time. But getting at least a basic understanding beyond village laws could help him maneuver through tricky situations. More importantly, if he planned to push for change in Ofrurg he needed to understand what laws were required at what complexity to make a functioning society. He wasn¡¯t a fan of complicated laws, but if they were too simple they might be insufficient. What Anton knew for sure was that he grew bored when he wasn¡¯t actively participating in events, and he decided to scout around the area. He was several times faster than anyone else, and within an hour he found a dead animal upstream of the village that was likely the source of the bad water. It felt the same, at least. He properly moved the half-eaten deer away from the shore. That would prevent the problem from worsening, but he didn¡¯t know what to do to make the current water safe. Fortunately, someone else did. Another reminder that he couldn¡¯t do everything, even if he wanted to. Anton supposed he was sort of justified being set in his ways, but the longer he remained a cultivator the less the ¡®old man¡¯ excuse would actually apply. He needed to take a moment to examine which of his future goals he actually needed to lead himself. Killing Van Hassel was a given, but he wouldn¡¯t mind giving the job to some Elders if the opportunity presented itself. Personal catharsis was nice, but he¡¯d rather not risk his own life and that of his companions for something so ultimately meaningless. Chapter 124 Most of those who worked in the Order¡¯s fields were new cultivators who needed a way to earn contribution points without experience. While some were quite good workers, they couldn¡¯t really be relied upon for consistency. Most of those who were consistent were those with stagnated cultivation. They wanted to maintain a pleasant lifestyle as well as occasionally obtaining cultivation resources to try to advance further. There were very few with Elder Howland¡¯s particular devotion to the task, which was why even though some older and more powerful cultivators sometimes helped him when the fields were lacking, he usually made up for any slack himself. Sometimes that was difficult at the fifteenth star. The Order didn¡¯t have just a small amount of lands, but dozens and hundreds of separate fields. Some of them were smaller or basically trivial to take care of, but some of the more valuable herbs required special care. Lately, his job had become easier for several reasons. He had more help, and while he couldn¡¯t say it was constant it was as consistent as it could get. Hoyt and Anton both continued to work with the plants whenever they were on the Order¡¯s grounds, usually giving Elder Howland months of strong work. Even when they were just in Body Tempering they were as good as two, three, sometimes ten others. Now they were in Spirit Building and could do the work of dozens, though comparing them to the more experienced helpers he had they were only as good as a handful of them put together. In relation to Anton were a number of others. Displaced villagers from Anton¡¯s former home. The situation that had brought them to the Order was unpleasant, but Elder Howland was glad to have them. Anton convinced them that working the fields was good for their personal energy cultivation- and he was correct. They even drew in some others to help them. Among them was a young man named Pete, who not only worked hard but also had a feel for how the fields should be arranged. He was a formation expert in training, and Howland could see he had the knack. The biggest factor, or at least the one Howland felt most closely, was the changes in himself. He¡¯d been stuck on the fifteenth star, trying to complete Spiritual Connection. Anton had helped him achieve a new perspective on it, and he¡¯d completed it and was well on his way to the seventeenth star. Mental Liberation was really just something he¡¯d put off for last rather than something he intended to have be a prime tempering. Of course, he¡¯d had no way to know he¡¯d stagnate for a couple decades, but if he had his decisions wouldn¡¯t have been much different. He simply refused to be outpaced by an actual old man. Not that his refusal seemed relevant. Soon enough Anton would catch and then surpass him, but at least by that point he¡¯d be surpassing mid spirit building and find himself among the upper echelons of the Order. Though on the other hand, Elder Howland was slightly doubtful he¡¯d reach the twenty-second star before Anton. How long did he have? Five years? Though his cultivation had started moving again, it wasn¡¯t really accelerating like it would need to if he wanted to achieve that goal. It was just a simple goal. If he failed, it didn¡¯t matter. In fact, he had more lofty goals now. He¡¯d been out to observe the fields in the little community Anton had added to. The energy in the area certainly showed the effects Anton asked about, after less than a full year. Though he wasn¡¯t the social type, Elder Howland was also doing his best to spread Anton¡¯s ideas. He didn¡¯t want to push for it too hard, but if even first star cultivators tended all of the fields in Graotan, Howland imagined it would bring great change. It seemed a lofty goal, but not a single person in Windrip seemed that they would fail to reach the first star given even half a year to cultivate. Cooperative cultivation wasn¡¯t unheard of, but the personal care for every single person¡¯s beginning cultivation was a rarity. When a plant among the fields was failing Howland would provide it some additional fertilizer and water, but he wouldn¡¯t spend hours caring for it. Perhaps if they had enough workers they could reap benefits from such actions. The reciprocal effects of plants providing energy to the land and vice-versa might not show on such a small scale or in a single crop, but over time he wondered where it might lead. He was excited for the thought. Even more so because so few people surpassed Spirit Building, and better cultivation resources could push the standard of the Order higher, increasing their influence and power. While those factors should not be the ultimate end goal for righteous cultivators, they were still necessary to allow real change to improve the world. ----- Though most would have considered five months to advance from the fourteenth to fifteenth star quick, Anton found it was rather slow. Though it was not terribly slower than anything else, Anton thought he was better suited for it than he was Spiritual Connection. There had been no issues with Catarina¡¯s training, it simply had taken time. Anton simply felt that he was slower than he should have been for his training in Instinct. The only reason he felt it was slow at all was that Hoyt and Catarina closed the gap in cultivation with him, reaching fifteenth star not long after himself. Until that point he¡¯d been able to keep a pace ahead of them. He had a very simple place to lay his blame. Himself. Burning his lifespan with Candle Wax had been the right choice considering the timing involved with saving Devon¡¯s life, but Anton would now have to accept a slower pace of cultivation. Even if his further successes in cultivation gained him more years of lifespan, he would always be a little bit worse than he¡¯d had the chance for. But so what? He had no right to complain, as he still outpaced many people. Even his most important target, Maximilian Van Hassel, had been in Spirit Building for more than a decade. Anton knew better than to complain, but he was still human. There was no way to stop himself from feeling a bit of disappointment at his current situation. Not regret, but dissatisfaction. Those very thoughts were what let Anton know he was lucky. He was alive and prospering and he still wanted more. He could see how easily thoughts could take over, making cultivators feel they were above the world when really they were just part of it the same as any human. A more powerful part, but simply another individual in the grand scheme of the world. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ----- Among all of the talk of the upcoming expedition to a dangerous tomb of some sort, Velvet found that she was most afraid of something else. She¡¯d put off cultivating Voice, Earthly Connection, and Emotion as long as she could. All were intertwined in areas she didn¡¯t really understand. Insight? Figuring out what people would do was easy, for the most part. It was all in their eyes, the way they tensed their muscles, how they shifted their energy. That was as far as she¡¯d managed with understanding others. Immediately following had been Mental Liberation. Though Anton was the best at explaining the principles he hadn¡¯t yet practiced that particular area himself. The basic idea was simple enough. Resisting outside control came naturally, and ignoring her own emotions was easy. Velvet knew that was a bad thing, but she properly followed the Ninety-Nine Stars and didn¡¯t divest herself of unpleasant emotions, even if it would have been easier. Instinct was fine. She was actually quite happy to participate in the training with the others. It gave her a sense of connection to everyone knowing she could be ¡®attacked¡¯ at any moment. Rather than causing her stress, it allowed her to relax around others knowing she would be able to respond to any threats- both manufactured and legitimate. Spiritual Connection was part of the essence of cultivation. It stretched beyond the cultivator into an understanding of the world as a whole, but despite the complexity it had Velvet was able to manage with the assistance of good teachers. Catarina had the knowledge and talent, and Anton was actually able to explain that knowledge. Catarina still hadn¡¯t attempted to to train Voice, seemingly leaving a weakness for a prime tempering like so many others. Including herself. Velvet finally settled on training Emotion. Examining herself inside brought back memories of people she¡¯d rather not remember, of a time in her life when she was weak and out of control of her life. She didn¡¯t feel as if she was making any progress at all, and she wondered if she should just abandon the effort and try something else. But neither of the other two options were more appealing. Voice also involved introspection, and she wasn¡¯t ready to try for a deeper understanding of people with Earthly Connection when she wasn¡¯t able to understand herself. So that was what she was most afraid of. But the tomb still sounded like a close second. She was researching this ¡®Everheart¡¯ through the records of the Order and by talking to other disciples. ¡°How many traps did you say were in that corridor?¡± Velvet asked incredulously. ¡°Fifteen,¡± said a disciple who had to be at least ten years older. ¡°Those were just the ones we found. There were probably more that didn¡¯t work. It was an old place. And the whole time ¡®Everhearts¡¯ were hounding us about how slow we were going. As if it was some kind of race.¡± The man shook his head, ¡°I got out of there when the next projection talked about the different kinds of poisons that had been mixed into the upcoming room¡¯s atmosphere. I don¡¯t care if most things aren¡¯t stable for a century, if anyone could do it that man could.¡± ¡°How about the rewards?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Were they worth it?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± the man shrugged. ¡°I heard the first three places in the ¡®race¡¯ received some ancient treasures and some technique manuals. Written by Everheart himself.¡± He sighed, ¡°Forbidden techniques. Like Sixty-Three Poisons Constitution and Burning Heels.¡± ¡°Those are¡­?¡± ¡°Poisoning yourself so much you build up an immunity to pretty much anything, and then a way to run so fast you leave a trail of fire behind you. And on you.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Velvet shrugged, ¡°They¡¯re probably useful?¡± ¡°Maybe. Third place didn¡¯t even get a real technique. Just a scroll labeled ¡®Jump Good¡¯. One of the elders watched him try to follow it and he just hit his head on the ceiling, immediately knocking himself out. Then somehow he bounced four or five times into one of the nearby corridors and nearly lost an arm to an undiscovered trap. Then the closest Everheart projection laughed.¡± ¡°You¡¯re mentioning these projections. That¡¯s a formation technique to make an image, right? What does Everheart look like?¡± Velvet was quite curious. ¡°No idea,¡± the man shrugged. ¡°How? You said there were a lot of them.¡± ¡°Yeah. And they all looked different. The only relation¡­ some sort of handsome young man. And tall. I¡¯m pretty sure Everheart hadn¡¯t been the first ones for a couple centuries by the time he started making these stupid ¡®tombs¡¯, and he was probably never tall. Though probably not as short as some of his enemies said.¡± The disciple shook his head. ¡°Sorry I can¡¯t be more help. You can ask Elder Karn for more information. Though if he throws you out of his office, don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you. That man¡¯s got opinions.¡± ¡°Thank you for your time,¡± Velvet bowed her head. That information was much the same as the others she¡¯d talked to, though nobody was a real expert. The real problem wasn¡¯t Everheart being malicious. He was, sometimes, but that was mostly due to his chaotic nature. So far, she didn¡¯t know what to expect¡­ except for traps and trials. Nobody even knew what he meant by ¡®new cultivators¡¯ and they wouldn¡¯t know until the ¡®tomb¡¯ opened up in the next month. Everyone who wanted to participate had to already be there, and Velvet would bet that Everheart¡¯s actual plan was to get thousands of cultivators riled up only to slap them in the face by telling them they couldn¡¯t enter. She didn¡¯t want that, because Anton was interested¡­ but to be honest both of them knew he wasn¡¯t likely to get in. But Velvet and the others probably could, unless Everheart meant people with less than a year of experience or just teenagers. The only thing that was certain was he would have some sort of entrants allowed, and the Order was confident enough in the rewards they were putting together an expedition with any disciples who wished to volunteer knowing the risks. That part was good, because it would mean they had elders watching over them, at least outside of the ¡®tomb¡¯. Even the trial spaces were making fun of other cultivators of his time. No wonder Everheart died¡­ however it happened. Probably with a dozen sects dogpiling him and a big explosion or something. Chapter 125 Though he had somehow managed to get Alva to take cultivation ¡®slowly¡¯, after slightly more than half a year of cultivating she was close to the second prime tempering, the fifth star. Even at that speed her road hadn¡¯t been entirely smooth. Anton and the others had been carefully monitoring her progress and there had been several points where it was clear that her still growing body responded differently to body tempering than an adult. If it were so easy to begin training five or ten years early, it would be commonly practiced. The correct thing to do was to prevent Alva from cultivating, but that wasn¡¯t possible anymore. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if it had ever been possible. Everyone she might reasonably be taken care of was a cultivator or at least learning how to be one, and Alva would certainly have coaxed them into teaching her or found the technique manual herself at some point. Then she would have been doing something dangerous and entirely unsupervised. The best Anton could do was impart on her the knowledge of the danger and take care of her. He was currently satisfied that she probably wouldn¡¯t kill or injure herself in cultivation. A small comfort, since she was eager to participate in real battles. He could forbid that as well, but that was impractical. He and the others who could watch her were heading to Everheart¡¯s ¡®tomb¡¯. Only physically imprisoning her would stop her from running off into the beast forest or on some dangerous mission. By the Order¡¯s standards, she was able to become an official member with the proper benefits that provided. The only other option was taking her along with him, but that simply guaranteed she¡¯d get into danger that she wasn¡¯t prepared to handle. The difference between the fifth star, when she reached it, and the fifteenth star that Anton was at were more than just a factor of three. Anton could probably fight ten of her without trouble. ¡°You need to stay here,¡± Anton said. ¡°Keep training as I¡¯ve taught you. Work the fields or any other job you like, to improve yourself and grow your resources. And Uncle Pete will be around if you need any advice.¡± Technically Pete wasn¡¯t her uncle or a relative at all, but it was close enough. ¡°But I want to go with you! I¡¯m much stronger now.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not ready for real danger yet.¡± ¡°You always say that,¡± Alva pouted. ¡°I know you were fighting beasts in the forest a month after you joined the Order!¡± Having smart grandchildren was a curse. But at least he had one more way to wiggle out of that. ¡°It was only a month after I joined the Order, indeed, but I was at the fifth star at the time. If you reach that level and find a team, you can hunt in the forest.¡± It was best to compromise, especially if it would keep her overall safer. She¡¯d already been in danger many times more than a normal child of her age, but that didn¡¯t mean exposing her to more danger was a good idea. ¡°Don¡¯t go outside of the proper depths. I¡¯ll know if you ¡®get lost¡¯ and go deeper than you should. You have a better sense of direction than that.¡± ¡°And,¡± Catarina took the chance to interject. ¡°You¡¯ll have Fuzz with you. He¡¯ll be there to keep you safe, but if you go somewhere too dangerous he could get really hurt. You don¡¯t want that, do you?¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°No¡­ I want Fuzz to be happy and run around like normal.¡± ¡°One more thing,¡± Anton said. ¡°You have to buy some equipment from the equipment hall. A good bow you can wield or some protection- but preferably both.¡± That should delay her¡­ another few weeks maybe. Alva worked hard, but she wasn¡¯t the sort to go from dawn to dusk and she didn¡¯t have Anton¡¯s years of experience. The amount of contribution points she could earn that way was much less. And if she did work extra hard, well, that was training. Hopefully she wouldn¡¯t push herself too hard though. ¡°I don¡¯t know when we¡¯ll be back,¡± Anton admitted, ¡°But since the Order is involved, you¡¯ll be able to ask the elders what they know if it¡¯s more than a month or two. The trip will likely be a few weeks, so we can¡¯t really return sooner than that.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Alva nodded. ¡°Then you¡¯ll take me with you on the next thing, right?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll talk about that later,¡± Anton hedged. If she reached Spirit Building, he couldn¡¯t reasonably refuse to take her along with him. That shouldn¡¯t happen for another year, maybe a couple months less even at her more cautious rate of advancement. ----- With the vague terms of the ¡®tomb¡¯, all sorts of members of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars were making the trip. That included many there to guard the rest, since there would doubtless be sects they had conflict with heading there as well. Of the escorts, Anton recognized Vincent and Elder Kseniya. There were a few more Essence Collection cultivators thrown in, and if it weren¡¯t for the circumstances it would almost be equivalent to an invading army. Though Elder Kseniya was the only Galaxy Construction cultivator among them, sending just one was already significant. The exact number wasn¡¯t public, but the Order didn¡¯t have more than a couple dozen cultivators at that level, with only a handful in other sects in Graotan. Most sects didn¡¯t even have a single one, even sects considered relatively powerful. Of the cultivators planning to participate in whatever trials would be in Everheart¡¯s tomb, Anton knew more than a handful. There was himself, of course. The usual group with Catarina, Timothy, Hoyt, and now Velvet. There was also Sterling who introduced Anton to the grounds and Marcio the archer. Oskar and Devon would both be participating as well, being at peak Body Tempering and early Spirit Building, respectively. Anton was surprised to see two Constellation Formation cultivators who were traveling as part of the hopefuls instead of as guards. They still looked quite young, so if Anton was right they might have been cultivating for less than a decade. He hadn¡¯t thought that much about how wide the definition for a new cultivator might be perceived. He knew he felt knew at two and a half years, but a full decade? Well, it wasn¡¯t as unreasonable as he first felt. For most cultivators, a decade was indeed very new. Cultivation was seen as a lifelong endeavor, and even those with modest talents tended to live more than a century. If they were practicing a trade, Anton would have considered those with ten years of experience as something like journeymen. Not necessarily new, but not masters either. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The vast majority of the hopeful participants were young. Early twenties for the most part. There were a few just at the third or fourth star, and while Anton was certain that they would fit the mantle of ¡®new¡¯ if Everheart wasn¡¯t more crazy than he already knew. There was the smallest chance that it was all a farce and the ¡®tomb¡¯ was empty except the outside formation or only available to cultivators with a month or less of experience. Anton thought it would be sort of funny, but he wasn¡¯t sure if even Everheart had that much free time and resources to set up that sort of thing for centuries later. As a cultivator, Anton rarely traveled with a group that he wasn¡¯t part of the leadership. He didn¡¯t mind following instructions, but he found it strange not having to make any of the plans. All told over a hundred cultivators from the Order as well as a few from other sects in Graotan were traveling together. Fortunately the elders had magic bags full of trail rations. Nothing tasty, but they didn¡¯t have to rely on buying fresh food from every village they marched through. They still usually did, of course, and the villages and cities appreciated the business- but relying on random availability of spare food was foolish. Though Graotan was prosperous enough that it was generally not an issue. The first half of the roads were familiar, but instead of turning more towards the north they continued directly east and even slightly south towards Floelor. The border guards on either side showed no surprise at such a large group. Floelor was quite aware that they wouldn¡¯t be able to stop the flood of cultivators heading towards Everheart¡¯s new tomb, so they simply prepared travel routes that would bring people directly to the destination with minimal opportunities to get into trouble. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars and Graotan¡¯s cultivators in general had a good enough reputation that Floelor wasn¡¯t concerned about them in particular. As they traveled away from the border and the scenery changed, Anton could only describe the area as barren. Barren of plant life and barren of natural energy. Yet there were still large cities occasionally, and the cultivators watching over those cities were still of respectable power. He noticed several Essence Collection cultivators in just a single city- and he was certain they weren¡¯t part of other traveling sects. When he asked about it, Vincent had an easy answer for him. ¡°The tomb is out in the middle of nowhere. Likewise, the route was chosen to bring us through the least relevant areas with no resources to steal. I have been through Floelor previously, and though many areas are like this, some places have an abundance of natural energy and vibrant plants and beasts. Even here there is more than immediately meets the eye.¡± With that information, Anton kept his eyes and other senses open. He had to admit that Vincent was right. While the plants were mostly clumps of scrubgrass and scraggly bushes, there were occasional solid trees and robust and tall grass. The natural energy was still minimal, but he realized that much of it was condensed into what little plantlife there was. That included wheat fields, and Anton knew that eating grains with condensed natural energy would be almost as good as taking cultivation boosting medicines with fewer potential side effects. Anton didn¡¯t mind that in principle, but it seemed that lower level cultivators had trouble advancing without connections. Then again, wasn¡¯t that true anywhere? Even Anton had just been handed a powerful technique in the form of the Ninety-Nine Stars. It wasn¡¯t secret but the number of copies was still limited. If Vincent hadn¡¯t done that for him he might not have even been able to acquire any form of cultivation technique to start off with. That just reaffirmed Anton¡¯s plans for the future. ----- The terrain gradually grew arid and hot. There were also more craggy hills and tall, freestanding rock structures. Some stood alone like towers while others had wide, flat tops. The soil itself was now reddish brown and claylike. Not good for farming much of anything, though the few plants that grew in the area seemed happy enough. Most of the terrain was completely ignorable, and there wasn¡¯t much of anything to see. However, as they approached one of the large freestanding plateaus Anton could see other people. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands. They must have reached the destination. The first thing he saw, while they were still far off, was the image of a tall man. Not a statue, but not really a person. Unless the man were eight feet tall and able to stand with his feet well above the ground. Possible, but he would have sensed the fluctuations of energy from the horizon. The way the light didn¡¯t hit his face quite right confirmed Anton¡¯s theory. From what he¡¯d heard, the chiseled jaw and sharp features were just the sort of thing Everheart would use for a projection of ¡®himself¡¯. Broad shoulders like an ox and muscle filled out the rest of the figure who had no shirt and barely anything covering his lower half. He was standing there in the air, grinning at the crowd of people. As they approached closer, Anton managed to recognize a few further figures. Elder Varela and Lev weren¡¯t exactly a surprise, though the young man was almost unrecognizable. His back was straight, and though his presumably still useless arm was concealed in an oversized sleeve, he radiated confidence. The next two were a surprise. Faces he had only seen in drawings. Anton tensed up as he saw Maximillian Van Hassel and Nirmal Slusser in person. He thought about trying to put arrows through them then and there, but in addition to the fact that they felt like they were in late Spirit Building there were both formal and informal agreements about conduct in such situations. The Order would be justified to not support him if he were to attack, and he would find himself mostly alone. Even if his usual allies supported him he wasn¡¯t certain of victory, and the two didn¡¯t seem to be alone. Finally he saw a face he¡¯d wanted to see for two and a half years. In that time Annelie had gone from a girl to starting to look like a young woman, but there was no way he wouldn¡¯t recognize her no matter how much she grew. She was standing at the center of a group of people with similar auras, presumably the Frostmirror sect. Each group was cordoned off from the others. Anton knew he wouldn¡¯t be allowed to casually approach, but he was going to make the attempt. That was his intention, anyway, but around the time they were just a couple hundred meters away from the crowds of cultivators the large floating ¡®Everheart¡¯ spoke with a booming voice. ¡°Welcome, everyone, to my tomb! Or your tomb, if you are not worthy. This one is specially prepared for new cultivators.¡± Somehow the figure¡¯s back became even more straight, and Anton thought his muscles bulged unnaturally as his arms flexed in front of him. ¡°You might be wondering who counts as a new cultivator. It¡¯s quite simple. Just try to enter and if you fit the bill you won¡¯t get knocked on your ass!¡± Anton had never heard a laugh that would have sounded like someone good spirits in other contexts feel so malicious. Though Anton could see a smirk that indicated it would at least be fun for someone. Though Anton doubted a projection could actually feel mirth, it sure acted like it. As crowds of people started pouring towards an ornate entrance in the rocky plateau, Anton realized he would have to find a chance to see Annelie later. Hopefully inside, where she would have fewer people around her. Chapter 126 On either side of the entrance into the plateau were large statues posing proudly. They were reminiscent of the floating projection of Everheart, though unique in their own way. People were already starting to rush towards the entrance, and Anton saw people either pass through easily or get violently thrown back. Interestingly enough, nobody seemed to be injured no matter how far it flung them. For example, one eager man from the front of the pack landed right at Anton¡¯s feet still over a hundred meters away. He was a man of about thirty years of age, but he had clearly been rejected harshly. Though Anton would have thought he could have reacted while in the air to have a smooth landing with his cultivation in mid Spirit Building, he landed directly on his rear and sat there stunned. Anton and the other proceeded forward at a natural pace, and the area in front was starting to somewhat calm down. People seemed to have noticed that if they were moving at a moderate rate they wouldn¡¯t get flung too far back. That was presumably less embarrassing for them, though it left everyone looking at them as they struggled to pick themselves up and staggered out of the way. One man barrelled into the entrance once, landed on his rear, then charged it again. The second time he was flung twice as far and instead of landing gently if in an undignified manner, he struck the dirt and tumbled. Anton focused his eyes to see the man lying on his back staring up at the sky with a bloody nose. It didn¡¯t look serious, but the escalation was a clear warning. Most people got it. Anton clicked his tongue as the remaining disciples of the Frostmirror sect pulled out of the way, having been some of the first to reach the entrance. Those who could enter had already done so, and the rest stood to the side trying to look like they hadn¡¯t been rejected. Though the situation precluded the various sects from engaging in violence with their enemies, it didn¡¯t stop verbal barbs and jabs. A member of the Heavenly Lion Sect jeered at someone who was unable to enter, then found himself similarly rejected. The members of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars tried to keep a neutral composure though some couldn¡¯t suppress their eagerness, running forward ahead of the rest. Some made it inside, but others had to make the walk of shame back towards the main body of the group. Anton and the others kept a measured pace. There had been nothing that said admittance was limited, and more people were rejected than able to enter. There was no need to rush. When Anton and the others around him were about ten meters away, Anton picked out Van Hassel and Slusser trying to enter. They were swiftly rejected, with Van Hassel sliding past Anton. His eyes couldn¡¯t help but follow the man, and for a moment their eyes met. Anton was close to just whipping out his bow and killing the man as he was in the midst of their group, but that would give others a reason to attack them. He also couldn¡¯t justify his actions without taking long enough for the man to prepare himself or retreat. Even if he did, any accusations would likely be taken as, well, an attempt to justify killing the man. It would be, even if it was just. His vision simply lingered on Van Hassel as he approached the entrance, and the surprisingly well kept man glared. ¡°What are you looking at, huh, old man? Where are you going? You think you can enter when I can¡¯t?¡± Anton refrained from comment, but had already made himself seen. He just kept his gaze on the man as he continued walking. Van Hassel got up on his feet and gestured. If he¡¯d been gutsy enough to pull out a weapon Anton might have tried to manipulate the situation, but mere impotent threats weren¡¯t sufficient. ¡°Hey! Answer me you-¡± the sound was cut off as Anton felt energy wrap around him. It was powerful, and stopped his movements. He prepared himself to be flung backwards and resolved to land with as much dignity as possible, but then his step continued and he was through the barrier. He wasn¡¯t sure if the pause was even enough for most people to notice, but he certainly felt it. He turned to Hoyt who walked next to him, whispering, ¡°Did the barrier slightly stagger you?¡± Hoyt shook his head, ¡°I felt nothing.¡± Anton frowned. That was concerning, but he was clearly inside- and proceeding deeper down the hallway. Soon enough he stepped into a large hall with at least a dozen doorways leading away from it, where there was of course another Everheart. This time it wasn¡¯t a muscled man, but instead a young handsome fellow in long, flowing, royal robes. He had his hands covered opposite sleeves and bowed as the final group behind the Order trailed in. ¡°Welcome, new cultivators. Five years. That is the threshold I allowed for entry, allowing my generous and magnanimous and quite relaxed stipulations to bring so many of you inside.¡± Given the crowd outside, it didn¡¯t really seem like many people had made it in- but Anton couldn¡¯t really consider it few either. He scanned the crowd casually, estimating around a hundred people in Spirit Building including around ten from Graotan, mainly the Order. There were several hundred more in Body Tempering who were confident enough in themselves to come to one of Everheart¡¯s ¡®tombs¡¯. ¡°Honestly,¡± Everheart continued, ¡°I find myself disappointed. A generous five years, and not a single Essence Collection cultivator. How far things have fallen.¡± The man¡¯s gaze rested on a few towards the front who had the aura of late Spirit Building. ¡°Not too far, but that step is quite important. Well, I suppose five years might be a bit too short to expect from people. This could just be one of those things. I wonder if I¡¯m a few years off from a good cycle.¡± The last part was muttered to himself- though quite easy for anyone to overhear regardless. ¡°You said five years?¡± a young man standing with the disciples of the Frostmirror sect asked. ¡°Why is there an old man here then?¡± He looked pointedly towards Anton. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. At that point, Everheart¡¯s facade of civility and proper demeanor shattered. With a flick of his voluminous sleeves, the young man was flat on his face. Then Everheart was crouching in front of him, legs spread wide and a lazy expression of contempt on his face. ¡°Listen up, maggot. There are two problems with what you said. First, I¡¯m not ¡®you¡¯. I¡¯m Everheart. Great Golden Emperor of the Most Powerful Techniques Everheart. Though everyone else can call me Senior Everheart if they¡¯re polite about it.¡± Everheart poked the top of the young man¡¯s head. ¡°Second, I don¡¯t make mistakes. If I say the old man has been cultivating for less than five years, he has.¡± An uncomfortable number of gazes were on the young man on the floor, but even more were on Anton. Everheart snapped his fingers, ¡°Oh, a third thing. My word is law here. Even if that wasn¡¯t true, if I say the ceiling¡¯s a floor, it¡¯s a floor.¡± With another flick of his sleeve the young man ¡®fell¡¯ to the ceiling, where he was similarly stuck flat. ¡°Now then, where were we? Oh yes. Go ahead and explore for a few days. The test starts after that.¡± With a swirl of sleeves and light he spun around, then disappeared from view. Even with many people running down different hallways at the announcement that they could explore, far too much attention was on Anton for his own preference- but something good came of the situation. He ignored the young man glaring at him from the ceiling as if the situation was Anton¡¯s fault and focused on a head poking out from the crowd. Annelie¡¯s eyes were wide and her jaw was hanging slack. Anton smiled gently and he gave a little wave. ¡°Finally found you. I hope you¡¯re doing well?¡± Several of the other members of the Frostmirror sect stepped in front of Annelie defensively, but she tried to push her way through them. ¡°That¡¯s my great-grandpa!¡± she exclaimed. Another voice responded to her statement. ¡°The one you said was invincible and could do anything?¡± The figure that spoke that line stepped forward, a woman just past her teenage years with an icy demeanor. ¡°What use is he if he couldn¡¯t even defend your village?¡± Anton¡¯s hand covered Catarina¡¯s mouth as she was about to say something in his defense. He would prefer to maintain cordial relations with Annelie¡¯s sect, at least for the moment- the disciple on the ceiling already being a lost cause. ¡°That¡¯s true. I¡¯m not even remotely invincible and there are many things I cannot do. But I would still like to see my great-granddaughter.¡± The woman looked like she was going to reject, but Annelie¡¯s hands appeared on her shoulders and her chin rested on the woman¡¯s head. ¡°Diana said you were dead but I told her you couldn¡¯t be. I was right!¡± Anton smiled sadly. ¡°I could have been, though. In most cases, she would have been right. How are things?¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Annelie said from her weird perch. The woman she was resting on kept an impassive yet stern expression even as she was being climbed on. ¡°Cultivating is fine but I don¡¯t have any friends.¡± She blinked then exclaimed, ¡°You¡¯re a cultivator! I thought so! How strong were you before?¡± ¡°I was not a cultivator when we last saw each other,¡± Anton stated. ¡°Only from¡­ shortly after.¡± Seeming to be finished with Annelie clambering on her, Diana gently but swiftly lowered her to the ground. ¡°You should not believe him. That is not possible. Even if it was, there are opportunities to seek. We must be going.¡± She started pulling Annelie behind her down a hallway. Annelie looked back, ¡°I believe you! We¡¯ll talk more later once Diana loses track of me!¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the sort of thing you should say in front of me,¡± the woman admonished. Given the demeanor of the other surrounding disciples, Anton declined to attempt to follow her. ¡°Fare well, Annelie. See you soon.¡± At least he could confirm she was alive and in something like good spirits, though he didn¡¯t think much of her sect mates. Cold and uncaring¡­ or a bit too emotional like the young man apparently permanently relegated to the ceiling. He was ¡®standing¡¯ now, walking around and trying to find a way to get to the other hallways- while still occasionally glaring towards Anton. ¡°She¡¯s terrible,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°Diana, I mean. Annelie seems great.¡± ¡°Ah, I forgot to introduce you,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Well, there will be chances later, I¡¯m certain.¡± He wasn¡¯t happy with the brevity of the meeting, but his heart was uplifted. ¡°Let¡¯s go check out these death traps, shall we? There should be reliable rewards if we can pass them.¡± The other disciples from the Order had already left, except for the core group. Timothy, Hoyt, and Velvet were still nearby.Hoyt spoke up next, ¡°The Frostmirror sect is one of those that tends to divest themselves of emotions instead of handling them. Luckily Annelie there is still in early Spirit Building as far as I could tell, so she should have barely begun the process. It would be better if we could retrieve her from their care, but that might be difficult.¡± ¡°Is removing your emotions that bad?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Do cultivators really need them?¡± Hoyt shrugged. ¡°It depends on who you ask. But I will say this. You have two kidneys. You don¡¯t need both of them. But I doubt you would divest yourself of either of them just because they might inconvenience you in the future.¡± Velvet wrapped her hands around her belly. ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Much better to be able to suppress emotions for a short time than entirely remove them,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s literally impossible to be happy about the results, nor sad. If properly handled, positive emotions can be made to outweigh the negative. Even if it takes much effort.¡± Anton was making use of his training at the very moment, trying not to remember the emotions from two and a half years prior, when he¡¯d last seen Annelie. Breaking down crying wouldn¡¯t do any good right now. He could just do it a little bit inside. He didn¡¯t need to pretend the meeting was only happy though. The group had been strolling towards the nearest hallway. When they arrived, another Everheart with coiffed hair and tailored clothes that were probably fashionable in a previous century was just finishing an explanation to a small crowd. ¡°... and that¡¯s about it. Just follow those instructions and you probably won¡¯t get yourself killed.¡± His eyes turned to the five just entering the area. ¡°No, I¡¯m not going to repeat myself. Figure it out.¡± Somehow, Anton found Everheart¡¯s intentionally provocative attitude reassuring. He could take his mind off of problems he couldn¡¯t solve right now with a little bit of mortal danger. He looked down what seemed to be an empty hallway with little decoration by tiled floors and started scanning it with his eyes and senses, while the others did so as well. Chapter 127 Before any of the members of the Order could discern whatever rules governed the hallway, someone started making their way through it. They took four steps, each one matching the one meter length of the tiles on the floor, before the fifth step unleashed a volley of darts from the wall. The man twisted his body in place to avoid most of them, but one still stuck into his shoulder as it pierced through his energy. If he had been willing to step off of the tile he was standing on he could have certainly dodged them completely. Anton was quite amazed at the trap, he hadn¡¯t been able to tell the pressure plate or the tiny holes in the wall had been there until it activated. Afterwards, he still wasn¡¯t sure he could really pick it out or if he was just seeing what he wanted to see. ¡°Anything?¡± he asked Catarina and Velvet. ¡°It¡¯s not a formation, I don¡¯t think¡­¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°At least, I can only discern reinforcement for the walls and floor and nothing more.¡± Before Velvet had the time to give her opinion, a strong woman stepped confidently onto the first tile the previous cultivator had stepped on. In response, a dozen spikes pierced through that very tile into her foot. She screamed in rage and pulled her foot away- Anton couldn¡¯t be sure, but he doubted she was seriously injured, outside of her pride. After all, she was able to stumble back to the safe zone without consequence. She looked like she was about to yell at the projection of Everheart, but thought better of it. Perhaps she remembered the man who was doubtless still wandering around the ceiling in the main hall. ¡°Senior Everheart. I thought you said there was only one path through the hallway. Why did it change?¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± the fancily dressed Everheart stroked a well manicured beard, ¡°Did I say that?¡± He looked pointedly towards the five who had come in last. ¡°Who knows? I might have, I might not have.¡± The woman grumbled but chose to walk back towards the main hall rather than trying to continue down the hallway or argue with the proprietor. Anton thought that was a reasonable choice, though he doubted the other hallways would be intentionally less obtuse. Several others of those waiting tried stepping onto the tiles, but most were met by various traps. One more person managed to step several tiles in along a different path, before the leading cultivator had made his decision and took a step to his left. With no response, he then continued forward. A ball of compressed energy dropped from the ceiling, and the man flung himself backwards. Losing progress was one thing, but he absolutely could not be hit by the ball of energy. As it passed through the spot he had been standing it simply exploded, sending a shockwave down the five meter wide corridor. The cultivator wasn¡¯t quite prepared for that and was blasted into the ground. Anton exchanged glances with the others. He wondered if they noticed what he did. He still wasn¡¯t sure how everything worked, but he moved forward to the left end of the five tile wide hallway. He stepped onto the first tile and nothing happened. The second in front of him. The third to his right. Then right once more and a large axe blade was slicing towards his legs. He hadn¡¯t been able to anticipate the attack, but as soon as it was happening his training in Instinct took over and along with his previous intentions propelled him backwards, leaping over the tile between himself and safety. ¡°I think that¡¯s quite enough of that for now,¡± he commented. Others began to try, not finding any real path to success. The paths people chose all seemed to be wrong, with traps triggering at unexpected moments and forcing them to retreat with various levels of injury before anyone even got ten tiles into the hallway that was a hundred meters long. People started filtering out of the hallway, leaving only the five from the Order and the first cultivator to step into the area. The wound on his shoulder had barely bled, but Anton could see occasional glimpses of it and saw what looked like yellow and purple bruising in the area. It hadn¡¯t been a wide impact, so perhaps it was some sort of poison causing the discoloration. Anton sat down, then gestured for the others to do so as well. ¡°I have an idea.¡± When the unknown cultivator didn¡¯t respond, Anton waved him over specifically. ¡°You should join us as well. We might be competition, but the chances of us getting something if we work together are higher.¡± The man reluctantly sat down. ¡°I¡¯m Anton. You?¡± ¡°Firdaus,¡± he said reluctantly. ¡°Good enough. We¡¯re all part of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, but if you work together with us we can agree to give you an even share of whatever treasures are at the other end.¡± ¡°What do you need me to do?¡± he asked. ¡°Listen to my ideas, and if you don¡¯t have thoughts to prove my ideas wrong one of us will run down the hallway.¡± ¡°Which one of us?¡± Firdaus narrowed his eyes. ¡°Either you or me. At your discretion. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll understand why later. First, I¡¯ll say what I¡¯ve observed. I¡¯m sure some of you have as well. Firdaus, what can you tell about why the tiles activate?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± he shook his head, ¡°It seems entirely random. I can¡¯t discern a path to the end.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± Anton said agreeably. ¡°Entirely random. Does everyone else feel the same?¡± Everyone nodded in agreement. ¡°But there¡¯s more to it.¡± ¡°Before you share that,¡± Velvet interjected, ¡°Perhaps it would be best for Firdaus to share the rules he heard. Since we¡¯re offering our insights to him.¡± Firdaus shrugged, ¡°Sure. For all the good it¡¯ll do you.¡± He closed his eyes in concentration, then recited. ¡°There is only one path through the hallway. Each tile has the potential to release traps. The only rule is that you must step on adjacent tiles for the whole path.¡± He held out his hands, ¡°That was the whole thing, though he said it with more drama,¡± Firdaus inclined his head towards the watching projection. ¡°That last part is actually important,¡± Anton said. ¡°Very useful. I might have made a mistake without that.¡± ¡°How¡¯s that useful?¡± ¡°Because I was just going to leap as far as I could to avoid stepping on as many tiles as possible,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But if that¡¯s an actual rule I imagine it¡¯s enforced,¡± he couldn¡¯t read anything from the smug expression of the nearby Everheart. He doubted that face was ever not smug. ¡°There were two specific things I took note of. Anyone want to guess?¡± ¡°The traps are always the same,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°They¡¯re not actually random. Each tile has the same one every time it triggers.¡± ¡°The formation doesn¡¯t make the effects,¡± Catarina confirmed, ¡°I¡¯ve been able to observe it. It simply fortifies the walls and perhaps helps reset the traps, but the traps are certainly real if nearly impossible to detect with the senses.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°It¡¯s good to have confirmation on that,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Having the traps be the same isn¡¯t too bad, and there¡¯s one other factor that I think makes this safe enough to risk. Anyone?¡± Nobody answered for a few moments until Timothy finally spoke up, ¡°I¡¯m not sure about this¡­ but I don¡¯t think I ever saw a trap trigger when someone stepped backwards.¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± Anton slapped his thigh to emphasize his enthusiasm. ¡°I don¡¯t think Everheart wants to kill people with this. At least not in a boring or unfair way. People have the option to retreat. I think everyone else subconsciously realized that. A good deterrent.¡± Anton turned towards their temporary companion. ¡°So,¡± Anton continued his earlier line of thought. ¡°One of the two of us should just run down the hall. If we don¡¯t stop, we can avoid the traps. If something changes, I believe we will still have the option to retreat.¡± ¡°Why would I go first, then?¡± Firdaus asked. ¡°I can¡¯t find any fault in your observations, but you could still be fatally incorrect.¡± ¡°Simple. Though we might split things evenly, whoever goes first will get first pick of similarly valued items. The same for each of us. Whoever goes last will have the easiest time avoiding traps, in theory, so even if they get a fair split they don¡¯t have priority.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. But so you can¡¯t later say I didn¡¯t contribute, I¡¯ll go second.¡± ¡°Perfectly reasonable,¡± Anton said. ¡°Any objections from anyone else? Good.¡± Anton shifted to his feet. ¡°Might as well get started.¡± Anton stepped forward, coating himself with his energy. He always had some protecting him but now it was actively controlled and at a higher intensity. He needed defenses but also agility. Still, it should be slightly easier than a real combat because he wouldn¡¯t have to also worry about any sort of attacks of his own. He picked the line where he was familiar with the first five traps, then started running. Each foot hit a tile. The first one sprayed gas towards him, but by the time it reached the target location he was already on the next tile. That one didn¡¯t trigger. Anton had no reason to divert to the left or the right since most of the traps were still unknown, so he might as well make the most progress possible. As he ran, Anton focused on his training in Swan Steps to augment his movements while he relied on his memory of the next two traps to avoid them, then had to rely solely on trained Instinct. Blades and spears and rocks flew at him, poisonous darts and gas and pretty much everything. One tile even fell away from under his foot as he stepped, but his momentum carried him forward to the next step. Anton didn¡¯t think about what was happening behind him or what might happen ahead- he merely focused on what he needed to do in the moment. One step in front of the other, a twist to avoid an incoming attack, fortifying his defenses on an arm where he had to block, breathing in and out. This hallway was a test of agility and reaction as well as general cultivation power. It wasn¡¯t a real deathtrap. Anton was certain of that. If Everheart just wanted to kill people, there was no need to pretend to have fairness. Though Anton couldn¡¯t say what the results might be if he angered one of the projections. Then all logic might be out the window. After a minute, Anton realized he was standing still. He¡¯d told himself to keep going until the reached the end of the tiles, and he had. He looked back at the hallway which was filled with flame, gasses, dust, and weapons. The weapons retracted into the floors or walls while the projectiles were retrieved by some mysterious force. The gas dispersed and the flames faded, leaving behind no scorch marks on the surroundings or indeed any signs of his passage. As for himself, Anton was still breathing heavily and had nicks and scrapes and burns all over, with traces of poison in his system. His movements hadn¡¯t been perfect, nor his defenses. He took a few steps away from the tiles and sat down, circulating his energy to jumpstart the healing process while he watched to see if Firdaus would really make the attempt. Firdaus stuck to what he said and ran straight down the middle, along the same path as Anton. There were still many differences in the dangers he encountered, since the triggering of the tiles was quite random. There was a stretch of nearly eight tiles where nothing happened, then one that hadn¡¯t done anything for Anton suddenly tilted, flinging him to the side and to the right end of the corridor. He hit the wall but was running as soon as his feet hit the tile below, narrowly avoiding a blade chopping out of the wall. He continued running down the right side of the corridor, triggering traps with every other step. Anton found that the danger seemed more real when he could see all of it instead of just moving past it, but it was all somewhat appropriate. Firdaus used his spear to parry blades on the very last tile and then stepped to next to Anton. ¡°Very good,¡± Anton said. ¡°Instead of trying to get back on the path you just kept moving. That takes bravery.¡± ¡°... Thanks,¡± Firdaus didn¡¯t seem to know how to respond to the complement. ¡°Honestly, I just didn¡¯t think about it.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t either,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I just had to keep going. Still, whatever mental training you have done was sufficient.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what Spirit Building is all about,¡± Firdaus said. He sat himself near Anton and watched down the corridor, also taking the chance to start healing small wounds. ¡°Not going to try to attack me and claim everything for yourself?¡± ¡°That would be pretty stupid,¡± He said. ¡°I know the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. I hope you will uphold the reputation of honesty, and I¡¯m certain you would uphold the tradition of strength.¡± He stroked his chin, ¡°Is it really true you¡¯ve also been training less than five years? You don¡¯t¡­ look like it.¡± ¡°My opportunity came very late in life,¡± Anton said, ¡°But it is true that I only began recently.¡± ¡°Close to mid Spirit Building in that time¡­ given your age, I¡¯m quite impressed. The rest of your group seems talented as well.¡± ¡°Yes. We were lucky to join the Order at similar times.¡± Timothy was currently running down the hall, yelling at the top of his lungs. In his defense, it was a cry of determination and not fear, but it was a bit funny to watch. Anything that came from his left was skillfully deflected with his shield, and fancy footwork and simple forward momentum took care of everything else. He arrived with the other two soon enough, the least injured of the three. Catarina was next, though it seemed the others had also been eager to try their hand. She relied less on judging attacks after they came and instead had memorized most of the dangers that would appear in front of her, dodging them before they could even be a threat- sometimes stopping short instead of continuing at full speed like the first three. There were still a few that were new and she had to react to without knowing what they would be, but she made it to the end in good health, though clearly fatigued like the others. Hoyt seemed eager but let Velvet go next. She was clearly less aware of the pattern of traps she would be facing, since memorizing things like that was more in Catarina¡¯s field, but she still used her speed and agility to weave her way through the traps- and was even willing to step to side tiles instead of sticking strictly to the middle, despite possible unknown traps. When it was finally his turn, Hoyt¡¯s response to most of the traps was chopping through them. Though the method was aggressive, it was effective. Darts split easily, but while fire wasn¡¯t something that could be cut with a blade, energy could wedge it apart. That was even more true when the energy in question was also fire. Though chopping seemed as if it was a method of brute force, it actually took as much finesse as parrying everything. He still had to align his weapon precisely, he just wasn¡¯t meeting the threats with intent to solely deflect. He ran into some trouble with the floor spikes that were fortified to not break, but even in that case his axe pushed him away from the spikes. Soon enough six relatively healthy people were at the end of the hall, with an impatient looking Everheart looming over them. ¡°Finally. Will you look at the rewards now? Honestly, I haven¡¯t seen people so willing to wait for rewards in my entire life. You didn¡¯t even peek your head in the doors!¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Sorry, Senior Everheart, but I wanted to see my companions successes.¡± Besides, were the treasures just going to run away? Actually, he supposed they might. Everheart sighed, ¡°Yes yes, loyalty and all that. We have two things. First, the door on the left. It has rewards for all of you. One item each. The other is for training. One hour per day per person.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ too bad we don¡¯t get to split everything. Still, second pick should be worth something, eh Firdaus?¡± The man nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s see what there is. If I know one thing about Everheart, he is generous with rewards.¡± Chapter 128 The rewards room couldn¡¯t be compared to the treasury at the Order, but the latter was a sprawling complex of rooms built up over many years. In fairness, the room was quite full of varied rewards- and it shouldn¡¯t be the only one of its type in the area. At least, Anton didn¡¯t see any other entrances or additional people in the area, and he doubted they were the only ones to have passed some trial at this point. There were hundreds of people, after all. ¡°Senior Everheart,¡± Anton didn¡¯t think there would be any problems, but he had to ask. ¡°What constitutes choosing an item? May we pick them up and examine them?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no trick about it,¡± Everheart said, ¡°Whatever you take out of the room. Or if you break something, but that¡¯s not going to happen by accident.¡± With his concerns assuaged, Anton set out examining the various things in the room. There were a few bows, but while he was interested in something he could use between his current bow and that bone bow he still wanted to try, he could get something better at the Order. It would be better to get something that the Order didn¡¯t have. Anton¡¯s eyes were drawn to some crystals. They were the sort that could be worked into equipment as a method of empowering them along with whatever base materials were used to form the object. While most crystals didn¡¯t have any direct effects, they could allow something to store energy of their own and lighten the burden on the user. There was a pretty clear outlier among the crystals, and indeed it stood out in comparison to the rest of the equipment. The powerful energy it radiated was nearly twice that of anything else. Anton picked it up, feeling the power of a storm wash over him, wind whipping in his hair and lightning shaking him. The feeling didn¡¯t completely encapsulate his senses, and he felt fluctuations nearby. He turned towards Firdaus, seeing the desire plain on his face. ¡°You want this?¡± Anton held up the crystal. Firdaus only hesitated a moment before nodding. ¡°It would be very useful to me.¡± Anton smiled and placed it back on the shelf. ¡°It¡¯s quite something, but I don¡¯t know if it would be of particular use to me. Go ahead, if you want it. Just make sure you give everything a once over. I¡¯d imagine there are some hidden treasures as well.¡± Weapons and armors of various sorts were placed along the walls, but most of them were nothing special. It would never be inappropriate to have more armor, but even the best quality armor would limit mobility past a certain weight or bulk. Anton was not without armor, though he was finding the limits of some equipment in Spirit Building. There were other objects that didn¡¯t all have clear purposes, rings and necklaces that certainly were enchanted but the sorts of enchantments weren¡¯t always obvious. ¡°It¡¯s hard to know the value of things here,¡± Anton mused, holding up a pair of gloves. ¡°It seems inappropriate to choose something just for fashion.¡± ¡°Wyvern leather gloves. Good for protection and enchanted to improve manual dexterity.¡± Anton glanced over his shoulder to see Firdaus clutching the crystal in his hand. ¡°You¡¯re primarily an archer, correct?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°There¡¯s an undershirt on the shelf there,¡± he pointed, ¡°Tendonvine strands, covers the torso and arms an stabilizes and fortifies the muscles especially in the back and shoulders. That leaves the hands themselves, but it should improve your efficiency by a decent margin. A few percent, at least.¡± Anton moved over to the indicated shelf, unfolding what had just looked like a square of cloth to his eyes. It had an interesting texture, but not an unpleasant one. It was a strangely stretch material but he determined it was still reasonably tough. Not relevant to consider as armor, but it wouldn¡¯t be damaged in casual use. As for its effects Anton couldn¡¯t be quite sure without trying it on. So he did. It was only a few moments before his torso was bare and then he slipped it on. He could immediately feel the effects as it tightened around his muscles. Even so, he was still able to move as he wanted and in fact he felt his movements supported. Just to make sure he held his bow and felt the effects as he pulled back the string. It was just a bit easier. Utility items of the sort were usually passed over for flashier items, but Anton liked it. ¡°Are you an enchanter of some sort?¡± Anton asked Firdaus. ¡°It would be inappropriate to say that with my experience,¡± Firdaus shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m just an apprentice.¡± ¡°Is that so. I¡¯m certain you will do well when you¡¯re officially an enchanter. I don¡¯t recognize your sect¡­?¡± ¡°Cloudtop Summit, from the southeast.¡± ¡°I see. I have not travelled that far just yet.¡± Anton once more flexed his arm, feeling the undershirt¡¯s effects. ¡°Thank you for your recommendation.¡± ¡°I should note that it will not have the highest market price. But I do believe it will be the most beneficial to you, unless you intend to acquire one of the bows. It seemed you rejected them, though.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°They¡¯re not sufficiently better than I could get elsewhere,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°And I have no desire to accustom myself to a different bow in the middle of all of this,¡± he gestured vaguely around them. ¡°A reasonable conclusion.¡± During the time Anton was choosing, most of the others had chosen an item of their own. Timothy acquired an armor made of green scales of some creature Anton didn¡¯t recognize but Firdaus said was a lesser dragon. Catarina took a formation flag made of material even Firdaus didn¡¯t recognize. It was a single piece and not part of a set, but Catarina was quite firm that was what she wanted and Anton had no basis to try to convince her otherwise. Hoyt took another crystal with a fire type energy, though it wouldn¡¯t immediately benefit him. Velvet was the only one who had yet to make a choice. She was looking between two daggers in an almost desperate state. One had a blade of blackened metal, and the other white. She held one in each hand, looking back and forth between them. She moved to set one down, but couldn¡¯t seem to let it go. ¡°Can someone- no, nevermind¡­¡± Velvet hung her head. ¡°Senior Everheart. Is it possible to complete this trial again to get a second item?¡± ¡°No, it is not.¡± The current projection stood nearby, not as towering as the first one but still taller than was reasonable. ¡°What about if I did one of the other trials. Could I come here for my prize instead?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid that is not possible,¡± Everheart said. ¡°What if I did all of them?¡± Velvet gestured around her with the two daggers in her hands. ¡°There has to be a way.¡± ¡°One item from a specific area per person who passes the trial. Those are the rules I have set.¡± ¡°So I can¡¯t have both of these?¡± Velvet sighed. Then she muttered to herself, ¡°Maybe if I coerce someone into getting it¡­ no, I shouldn¡¯t¡­ but what if¡­¡± Everheart snorted then burst out laughing, his well groomed demeanor finally breaking. ¡°I¡¯m not opposed to such methods. However, the risk is your own. But I¡¯ve had enough for now.¡± He moved down in front of Velvet, taking the daggers into his own hands as if she didn¡¯t have a grip on them. He held them up next to each other where the differences were most pronounced. One was longer, the other with a broader blade. The hilts were decorated and shaped differently, and with one purest black and the other an unblemished white they could hardly contrast with each other more while still being the same type of weapon. ¡°I put these on different shelves for a reason. I hadn¡¯t expected someone to actually put them together so quickly.¡± He tossed them back to Velvet who automatically caught them by the hilts. ¡°They¡¯re a pair. That counts as one item. I¡¯m not so crazy as to separately require people get a bow and a string.¡± He tapped his chin, ¡°Unless they¡¯re part of that Heavenly Lion Sect or whatever.¡± Everheart looked around at the people listening and glared. ¡°Just remember that I¡¯m an impartial arbiter. Got it?¡± His face distorted and his hair popped up as his rough motions tore a seam in his sleeve. Nobody dared to say anything, instead slowly filing out of the room. There was in fact another room nearby for training. They wondered how that might work. They were all genuinely interested, of course. But it was also a good excuse to get away from that mood. Everheart appeared in front of them, hair properly coiffed and clothes perfectly in place. ¡°This training room is sufficient for nine individuals at a time. Do take care to stay within the marked boundaries. It is possible to choose the element and intensity of the natural energy in each area, though I would advise that nobody attempt the highest setting.¡± Everheart sighed, muttering to himself. ¡°Not even a single Essence Collection among them¡­¡± The room was nearly bare and empty of ornamentation. It was simply a square room, with paths criss-crossing between nine clearly marked square areas. The entire room had a higher concentration of natural energy than the rest of the tomb, but it didn¡¯t seem to be active at the moment. ¡°Should we make use of it now?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Senior Everheart,¡± Anton made sure to maintain the formality to get the best reaction, ¡°You said these rooms could be used for one hour per day. I assume we have to repeat the trial every time, correct?¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯m not going to just hand out optimal training locations.¡± ¡°There¡¯s the answer, then. We use these now unless we want to go back through that with no real benefit. If we¡¯re doing it again, it might as well be tomorrow.¡± Everyone moved into the room, picking styles of energy that best suited them through a series of stylized pictures on the floor. Anton, Catarina, and Velvet all chose a neutral mix of energy, either preferring ¡®pure¡¯ energy or not having chosen any particular element to focus on yet. Timothy chose earth, Hoyt fire, and Firdaus lightning. Anton looked over the options for quantity and power of energy, choosing one two steps below the top. The top was for Essence Collection cultivators, so the next would be something like late Spirit Building. He was just on the edge of mid Spirit Building himself, so the next choice should be appropriate. As he finalized his choice, the area around Anton was flooded with energy. It was a violent torrent that threatened to overwhelm him, and while its density was less than on the peaks at the Order, it was difficult to work with. Merely as a defensive precaution Anton immediately began wrestling it to be controlled, absorbing what he could where necessary. It was a constant back and forth wrestling match where he nearly exhausted himself constantly while also being refilled at the same pace. When the hour was over he was sweating and exhausted, but quite satisfied with the results. The precise combination of factors combined to be very efficient training, though he wouldn¡¯t want to attempt to do that for more than a single hour per day. ¡°Well then,¡± a voice came from the nearby Everheart that didn¡¯t have the same affectations they expected. It didn¡¯t fit the look at all. ¡°It¡¯s time to announce to everyone the real goal here. All of you will be staying here for a month, and the one who makes the most cultivation improvements will receive the grand prize! There are rewards for many others of course, but only one person can come out on top. Your sects outside have been informed of this arrangement, of course. They¡¯re having a wonderful time discussing the implications.¡± Everheart clapped his hands, ¡°Now get busy!¡± Chapter 129 Shortly before Everheart¡¯s proclamation in a expansive room with walls smoothly carved out of the plateau¡¯s stone, dozens of cultivators pushed themselves forward against the pressure of the area. Oskar felt his muscles straining as he was nearly forced off his feet. One section ahead of him he saw Devon, likewise struggling to resist the pressure of the area. The rules of their current test were simple. Reach the furthest point that one could without collapsing. Some candidates attempted to improve their results by moving as swiftly as possible, but the second part of the rules resulted in that rarely being to their benefit. The participant¡¯s location over a certain period of time was averaged- thus, if someone could run from the front of the room to the back but collapsed at the end, they would only count as having reached the middle. The participants instead needed to match their stamina and the strongest place they could resist, moving as far as they could quickly while not going too far and suffering defeat. The weight bearing down on Oksar was oppressive energy, but he welcomed it. Though he now practiced the Ninety-Nine Stars, his first experience in cultivation had been in mines where the natural energy was far too dense for a normal human to operate. Even without any training as a cultivator he had been able to feel the energy there, and he had chosen to let it inside to slow the pressure instead of trying to hold out against it. That could have easily been the wrong choice- if so, he would have died slightly sooner. Of course, he wasn¡¯t dead and in fact had set himself down the path to power with his decision. He used that same experience now to let the pressure flow through him, easing the burden on his body. The effects were easy to discern- Oskar had reached his current point next to several cultivators in early Spirit Building, and he felt he could go further. Not much, but at least to the next section where the pressure would increase strongly once more. Ahead of him, Devon seemed to be relying on another method to continue forward- pure grit. Though he was certainly using all of his technique to lessen the pressure on himself, he kept moving forward through the power of will, despite his body trembling in exertion and pain. At least half of the participants had already collapsed, with some of those who rushed ahead despite the stated rules being the first. Their rewards would be the least, though Oskar wasn¡¯t certain that the rewards themselves mattered. An area like this required powerful formations- the likes of which even the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars would find too expensive to sustain for long periods. It was an excellent training method, though Oskar knew that if he tried to use it as his only training method he would end up quite flawed. Notwithstanding that its effects would be most helpful for body tempering, diversity in training was important. Energy was extremely important to a cultivator, but Anton had taught him that properly making use of whatever energy was available for training and combat was more important. The energy flowed over him and through him, and though it wasn¡¯t in a pure form where he could absorb more than a modest amount into himself, he took advantage of what he could. He carefully guided it through his meridians starting at his head and exiting his feet with the greatest portion he could handle diverted into his dantian where it would be refined and used as his own. His steps forward were slow and determined, bringing him to the edge of the next section. Every minute one or two more people were unable to continue, some ahead and some behind. Oskar stepped forward and felt a weight crash down on him. It was like a full tub of water, washing over him and destabilizing him. However, he withstood it. More than that, he comprehended it. Personal control of energy was important to Oskar, and he¡¯d resolved that his first step into Spirit Building would be Spiritual Connection. It couldn¡¯t wait for the prime tempering, and thus completing it first was the most efficient. As he stepped forward, he felt himself also take the more metaphysical step into Spirit Building. He wasn¡¯t at the completion of the eleventh star and wouldn¡¯t be for some time, but fundamental changes were starting inside of him. He continued forward, each step feeling as if he had a boulder on his back. He could push himself further than he had thought, though each step took several seconds to complete. He could barely raise his feet off the floor, and ahead of him Devon was merely shuffling his own feet. Yet the two of them continued to make progress. Oskar soon found himself one section further than he¡¯d thought he could reach, though he merely stood across the threshold with his body trembling, fearing he would stumble if he continued. Devon stayed ahead of him, stopping before the threshold to the next section for some time before flinging himself forward. Oskar thought he could hear Devon¡¯s bones creaking- though that may have been his imagination in the relatively quiet hall. Before he collapsed ten seconds later, Devon had made it not just through one section but into the next as well, though barely. When Devon collapsed, he did so with a contented sigh. Then the announcement from Everheart came. A decree they would be staying inside for a full month and having a competition to increase in cultivation for the greatest prizes. It didn¡¯t sound like anyone was allowed to refuse, but Oskar merely determined to be cautious in efforts. That was why he had chosen this particular room- it didn¡¯t have anything that would be deadly, unless a cultivator actually chose to push themself to the brink of death. However, when people collapsed the pressure on them was released- so Oskar wasn¡¯t even sure there was any possible danger besides embarrassment in this particular challenge. ----- Outside of the tomb, the reactions of the various sects were quite varied. Some immediately attempted an attack on the entrance or the projection of Everheart, but in both cases he simply laughed. The attacks rebounded off of the barrier at the entrance and simply passed through the projection, respectively. ¡°I¡¯m afraid you will simply have to wait until the time is up. The danger inside is no higher than it was before, so I should not think it would be a problem. Unless you believe your disciples are too stupid to know their own limits?¡± Nobody answered that one at all. ¡°Then please do not attempt another attack on the barrier, or I¡¯ll have to break my fully neutral standing and remove some of you.¡± As he said that, just to prove he did have power to affect people, he waved a muscled arm and toppled all of those who were close to the entrance of the tomb. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Most of the sects involved were quite calm about the result. As Everheart said, the danger hadn¡¯t suddenly changed- just the option for their disciples to withdraw. There was little they could do about it regardless, not without endangering themselves or possibly their disciples. Among the members of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, the elders and those who had been cultivating longer than the allowed duration, Elder Kseniya was thinking about something else. She was an archer, and had eyes that could pick out a specific target on the horizon. She would of course notice anything happening right in front of her gaze. Her current feeling was regret at not having brought along the woman known as Kohar Tolvaj. Her training in law was irregular for a cultivator but had proved extremely useful for Anton¡¯s goals. Kohar was currently working with the Order on something as well. If things had ended with everyone leaving Khonard and nothing more the Order could have merely expressed disapproval that a lawsuit had been required to free unlawfully enslaved people. The attack by mercenaries and the trouble at the border, however, gave them some ammunition. The problem was using it in a way that did not harm the greater interests of Graotan for the sake of petty revenge. The mercenaries had generally gotten their just desserts- most of them were killed in the attack with nothing to show for it. It was simply those who had hired them who hadn¡¯t yet been punished, and that would require some maneuvering. Along with direct legal advice, Kohar was knowledgeable in how to manipulate people. It wouldn¡¯t be useful to just make a declaration and assume that Ofrurg would enforce their will. Instead, they had to take advantage of their internal politics to make certain parties interested in taking the action they wanted from them. All of that was probably more important, but when Elder Kseniya saw a criminal right in front of her eyes she wanted to just shoot his head off. She¡¯d seen Anton resist the urge, however, and she would hope she was somewhat more responsible than him. Even though Van Hassel wasn¡¯t anywhere near the top of the list of the Order¡¯s enemies, because of Anton and the company he kept many elders were aware of him. And it would be so easy to just shoot him. She could even declare he was a criminal, and since he had been formally removed from the Heavenly Lion Sect they shouldn¡¯t be able to respond. Yet it would still probably be seen as a breach of the contract of peace for events such as these. So was following him as he left and killing him in the wilderness. Of course, nobody would be able to do anything about that second one, but anyone strong enough to get involved would be missed. So Elder Kseniya did nothing except keep careful track of how close Van Hassell stood to the Heavenly Lion Sect and also the few exchanges he had with his uncle and some of the others. They prevented anyone from overhearing their words, but they couldn¡¯t stop her from trying to read their lips. Sadly, she saw nothing incriminating beyond the very fact that an expelled disciple was still able to engage in pleasantries with his former sect. Then he left, along with many others- all of those who weren¡¯t chosen were being escorted away by part of the elders, while the others remained to escort the rest at the end of the month. There was one last chance to shoot him, after he was just over the horizon. A simple Horizon Shot would be able to take him out, and nobody could say they saw her shoot the arrow that killed him. But they could say an arrow much like hers did it, and that she shot one at the right time. Maybe she should teach Anton that. Though by the time he could learn it, she would be extremely surprised if he hadn¡¯t already killed Van Hassel through other means. ----- ¡°...and thus I propose this particular course of action,¡± Anton concluded. He looked at his current companions- including Firdaus, who had been included in the discussion. Having expected strong disagreement, Anton was pleased when Catarina was the first to speak- and in support of his ideas. ¡°I concur with the idea. Even if it does not go well, it should not diminish our relative standing in the competition.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Velvet said. ¡°How will we enforce anything? What if we help someone and then they refuse to contribute in turn?¡± ¡°There is an entire month here,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯ll take things one day at a time. If someone decides that one hint or piece of assistance we give is so valuable that they wish to take it without contributing in return, we shall simply ignore them. Of course, I am not suggesting we try to work with absolutely everyone. We should take stock of those who might be amenable to teamwork with other sects. I do believe I would immediately discount the Heavenly Lion Sect as whole, though that might be unfair to some of their individual members.¡± ¡°Probably not,¡± Firdaus said. ¡°Nor do I think they would agree to cooperate in any fashion.¡± ¡°We should take careful stock of the allegiances of those involved,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°There are more than direct enemies of the Order, and some of those who are technically neutral are allied with them. Being as open as possible is fine, but we should not cross that line.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Perhaps more in-depth examinations of people before we make the offer, then. Though of course we should coordinate with the Order and the Grasping Willow sect. As for Cloudtop Summit,¡± Anton looked to Firdaus, ¡°What do you think? The personal offer to you will remain open of course, regardless.¡± ¡°I cannot say Cloudtop Summit is an ally of the Order, but we are certainly not enemies.¡± ¡°Neutral is fine,¡± Anton said. ¡°Even with excellent training conditions, one month is still merely that. We shouldn¡¯t significantly impact another sect on the whole, and even if we somehow do they should be more inclined to be friendly towards us. This might drive a rift between certain groups but honestly¡­ cultivators aren¡¯t naturally inclined to get along anyway.¡± Nobody had hard objections to the plan- but some were cautiously optimistic about the possibilities while others were just cautious. Before they could even determine if they¡¯d actually be able to accomplish anything useful, they were first going to seek out their allies and ask about the other areas. It wouldn¡¯t do to miss out on the basics. Chapter 130 The extent of the facilities were quite impressive. Even for top tier cultivators in Life Transformation- the analogue to Galaxy Construction- resources weren¡¯t infinite. Of course, Everheart was the sort that would happily plunder the bounty of his enemies, and he had many of them. It wasn¡¯t inconceivable for him to have made more than one ¡®tomb¡¯, but together they had to have been the work of a century. Anton was in one of a handful of rooms that had golems in them. Many things could be called golems, but the general idea was something made of sturdy materials, imbued with energy and mobilized by a formation. What Anton saw was a man made out of rock nearly four meters tall, though details of facial expression and musculature were ignored in exchange for smooth shapes. He held his bow loosely, looking at his opponent. As far as anyone had been able to tell, they were always accurate about when the challengers started the battle, but he didn¡¯t want to accidentally initiate combat early. He had watched a few fights and now was imagining himself in combat against the construct. After he¡¯d gone through several iterations, he decided he would have to fight to truly know. His bow came up, and the moment he was creating and drawing his first Spirit Arrow the creature moved. It seemed ponderous and slow, but that was merely due to its bulk. Each step took it twice as far as a normal person, so its speed could not be underestimated. Anton¡¯s first arrow flew straight towards its head, only to be blocked by a stone fist. A colored mark appeared on the back of its hand where he hit, not real damage but instead an indicator of what the damage might have been, if they were able to be damaged at all. It was a faint red blush that indicated minimal damage- but there was the possibility for there to be none at all, so Anton was satisfied. The creature barrelled towards him, and Anton mobilized his energy to strafe around the room while firing arrows at the golem. With his age having returned he was less able to rely on his body for his movements and drawing his bow, but his energy was sufficient that he was still a real threat. At least, to normal opponents. Unbreakable golems sadly didn¡¯t get weaker as the battle continued, nor did they tire. Thus, while soon it had red blushes on every one of its joints and a deep red mark on its neck, it continued with the same unliving vigor it had begun the battle with. This was the part of the particular trial that was difficult. One had to keep going, doing as much damage as possible while avoiding attacks. More than that, it wasn¡¯t possible to voluntarily withdraw early. That meant keeping enough in reserve to withstand at least a single hit by a several ton rock fist empowered by energy. Fortunately, the actual energy enhancements were mostly defensive- otherwise Anton doubted anyone below Essence Collection would have been able to survive a single hit. As far as he could tell the golems didn¡¯t adjust themselves to their opponent¡¯s cultivation, either. Dangerous. Anton felt himself slowing down. He just wanted to get in a few more hits¡­ then he would have to take one. His arrows struck the golem from behind, taking advantage of its inability to block or deflect attacks from the rear. Then he maneuvered towards the center of the room. He wasn¡¯t sure if he needed to actually fully take a hit, but apparently some people who dodged too well did not manage to trigger the proper defeat sequence. He planted his feet and trusted that Everheart wasn¡¯t just interested in killing him. Otherwise, he was dead as soon as he entered the room and the door shut behind him. He formed his energy around him into a solid layer of armor, ready to take a blow head on. Golden Armor wasn¡¯t something he used often, but there were a few situations he was glad to have it. He looked at a fist coming for him¡­ and decided that he could do with a little bit of impact softening. He prepared to jump back as the attack hit him. He was sent flying all the way to the edge of the room, where he rebounded off of the wall. His Golden Armor was shattered, but it distributed the impact across his body equally. That meant that he would simply be bruised everywhere, front and back, instead of having a hole in his torso. Anton was glad to see that the golem had returned to its stationary position and the door opened. Perhaps he needed to work on Golden Armor more, if he was to keep training with the golems. At least he¡¯d done a reasonable amount of damage. Unlike the trial with the trapped corridor, combat with the golems was cumulative. He was saving up points for a nice breastplate he saw in the rewards- and if someone got that first, there were other interesting things available. There were two areas Anton hadn¡¯t yet gone to. First was a room for dismantling and setting up formations. He should at least see what he was able to do there, but he didn¡¯t expect much in the way of results. The other one was the most dangerous. It seemed to be the culmination of everything else. Trapped corridors, both involving formations and not. Crushing pressure. Golems. Puzzles. Random questions about cultivation. Everything had dangers, and unlike many other places it didn¡¯t allow for easy retreats. The further one progressed the more danger they would have to face on their way back out. There was no official name, but the cultivators had taken to calling it The Gauntlet. The only reason anyone knew all of the different aspects it covered was not because someone had gotten close to the end, but instead that which order things were arranged changed every day. ----- After the announcement that everyone would be challenged for a month, several new areas had opened up. Specifically, rooms for people to sleep as well as a mess hall and finally a library. Anton found that the food in the mess hall was highly nutritious and plentiful. It also tasted like mud, but to be fair to mud sometimes it tasted like very little. The food in the mess hall didn¡¯t have that wonderful feature. Still, it was beneficial to his training and he would endure it for one month. His rations would probably last, but they wouldn¡¯t taste much better and would be less helpful. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The library was something special. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if that was good, but it was full of all sorts of techniques written by Everheart. Some of them nobody would bother declaring forbidden, but some¡­ Anton only looked at to be certain how to counter them. He had no desire to implant parasites that would tear people apart from the inside even if it was ¡®highly effective¡¯. Of special interest was an ancient copy of the Ninety-Nine Stars. Anton found it fascinating to see how things had changed over a few centuries, as it was both significant yet also minor. It was clearly still the same technique, but the older version was more difficult to practice and had significant weaknesses. Yet along with that, some of the difficulty added increased strength. Little things that would slightly enhance prime temperings if performed correctly or a whole second layer of circulation through the meridians that could be maintained at the same time for either nearly a twenty percent increase in cultivation speed or¡­ probable crippling of the meridians and dantian as energy exploded inside the cultivator. That seemed to only be intended for Essence Collection and later, so it was possible the Order still carried that information in sections he hadn¡¯t been allowed to access yet. He still took careful notes regardless. There were also the core techniques for the Heavenly Lion Sect and the Frostmirror Sect. Likely similarly out of date, but still useful to look at. Anton wished he could say he spotted a significant flaw inherent in the Heavenly Lion Sect¡¯s technique that he could use to defeat Van Hassel with ease, but honestly it seemed quite sound. He was more familiar with the Ninety-Nine Stars, of course, so deeper study might be useful. He wondered who else was reading up on the Ninety-Nine Stars. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to constantly watch the library. In fact, he was only allowed a single hour per day- like everyone else. He could conscript twenty-three others to help him, but that would be a monumental waste of time. He would just assume all his worst enemies would know. That gave him the idea to simulate some of the weaknesses that the Ninety-Nine Stars no longer possessed. He¡¯d give that a try. Eventually. ----- Each sect had staked a claim on certain sections of the individual rooms. Each room was identical, so there was little benefit to particular ones except a slightly shorter walk, but they preferred to keep separate. At the moment he was waiting outside the Frostmirror Sect¡¯s section. He first spotted Diana approaching, but through her legs he could see some of another, smaller figure. He inclined his head. ¡°I hope your cultivation is going well.¡± ¡°It is,¡± she declared without emotion. ¡°I wish the same for you.¡± It felt more like she wished him to be covered in ice and frozen to death, but perhaps that was just¡­ her. Annelie pushed her way past Diana. ¡°I¡¯m ready to go!¡± She turned to Diana. ¡°Thank you for allowing me to study with my great-grandpa.¡± ¡°It would be¡­ unreasonable of us to forbid you to interact. Please remember to consult me on what he teaches before attempting to practice it. We don¡¯t want to introduce any flaws to your cultivation.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be back in an hour!¡± Annelie waved. Then she grabbed Anton¡¯s hand and started pulling him away. They¡¯d met a few times, but he¡¯d only recently managed to get permission for Annelie to join their training group. Besides Firdaus and those he¡¯d known before, the group also included more members of Cloudtop Summit and one more member of the Frostmirror Sect. There were also a dozen members of some other major sects and twice that many from small sects or who were independent. A few others attended irregularly. ¡°Oh!¡± Annelie paused for a moment when she saw the member of the Frostmirror Sect. ¡°Marsen, you¡¯re here too. What convinced you to join when none of the others did?¡± ¡°Practical,¡± he said. He was similarly inexpressive of emotions as Diana, but Anton had the feeling he¡¯d always been more like that instead of it being a result of training. ¡°An exchange of knowledge for knowledge.¡± The group training sessions were much different from what Anton was used to. For one thing, the majority of those participating didn¡¯t practice the Ninety-Nine Stars. Thus, it wasn¡¯t possible for Anton to directly guide people. But his still did his best to fulfill the role of a leader. That meant even if he couldn¡¯t help someone finding who could. Occasionally there were disputes to settle where people felt the value of what they received was unequal, but most of those who would be dissatisfied quickly simply stopped attending. Now people exchanged cultivation thoughts almost without reservation, assuming that eventually they would similarly be advised by others. After checking in on everyone, Anton took Annelie aside and began instructing her. He¡¯d read over the Frostmirror Sect¡¯s technique, and he had to know if certain parts were the same or different. ¡°In the Spirit Building section, when does the severing of emotions come?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ know if I¡¯m allowed to say that. Sorry. I¡¯m sworn not to reveal details. Even to friends and family.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Anton said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to push you. How about this. I will describe something, and you can say whether it is the same¡­ or whether it is not. ¡° ¡°That¡­ should be fine.¡± ¡°Excellent. Let¡¯s continue.¡± Anton¡¯s primary goal was trying to get her to modify the emotion severing. Even if the Frostmirror sect¡¯s technique allowed that part to be ¡®incomplete¡¯, he still found the ability to willfully remove emotions while still having them was better. Wherever it was necessary for her training she would still be able to divest herself of emotions, but she could still have them where useful. The only problem was trying to slip that training past Diana, but while Annelie had sworn not to speak of her cultivation technique she had no qualms of directly taking his advice on how to cultivate without passing it by Diana first. She would likely still end up telling her one way or another, but as long as the proper results were reached Anton didn¡¯t mind. Annelie had some leeway as a talented cultivator, and Diana was really meant to be protecting her more than controlling her. Chapter 131 At the end of the first week of the competition, it had been widely accepted that completing The Gauntlet was impossible. It was a slog of endurance, combat, and mental challenges that weren¡¯t possible for a single person to have accomplished in five years of training. Even if they were the sort of genius who reached Essence Collection in that time, it seemed unlikely they would have also been able to learn knowledge on a variety of topics including formations and equipment crafting and enchantment. Yet there were no rewards for partial completion. Nearly everything else had rewards based on progress. In the case of the trapped corridor, there were initial rewards in the form of equipment and ongoing rewards in the form of the training area. Though Anton and the others were fairly certain that having to pass through the traps every day was also intended for training. It would be a waste to not go every day, because the single hour in those training chambers was worth at least several days of normal effort. Only a certain portion of people were willing to repeatedly go through the area for the benefits, and those below Spirit Building generally weren¡¯t able to pass the hallway- so throughout the course of the day everyone who wanted to was able to fit in one of the available slots. A week was sufficient time to settle into a routine, and Anton gladly settled into a routine where he visited a dozen different trials every day as well as spending time training with others. This ended with him getting five to six hours of sleep per night, which he felt was quite sufficient. During the planting and harvest a farmer needed to work hard all day or miss the optimal opportunity. There were times for slower work, but this wasn¡¯t one of them. None of those who came to the tomb were coasting along, but not everyone knew how much a human could be pushed for a month. Anton saw some people with bags under their eyes already and knew they would run into trouble by the next week at best. Even if they didn¡¯t make a terrible mistake during training they¡¯d be significantly less efficient. Another two hours hour of training per day were meaningless if they had even a one in ten decrease in effectiveness throughout the day. Before it had been declared impossible, Anton¡¯s interest in The Gauntlet was minimal. He had made an attempt, but when it started with formations he quickly backed out. One other time it had been far too busy, and he didn¡¯t want to get locked up in circumstantial damage from others¡¯ combats or traps. After nobody was there, he actually became more interested. He wasn¡¯t the only one- Hoyt suggested that perhaps they try it together. Specifically, a group with the widest variety of talents they could. Either they would quickly fail¡­ or they might actually find a way to success. They put together a group- most of the members were from the Order, of course, but they also had Firdaus, Lev, and Marsen join them. Annelie was invited as well, but she made the decision on her own to stay out of it. She was many ranks lower in cultivation and unsure if she would be able to pull her weight. Anton was quite glad that she had some sense of self preservation, unlike Alva. For the same reason of cultivation level Devon and Oskar would not be going with them. There were many challenges to test themselves against that were less dangerous. That left eight people to show up at The Gauntlet, where only one other person was present- and leaving. ¡°Can¡¯t believe formations are near the front again,¡± the young man shook his head as he walked past the group. ¡°Good luck to all of you, I guess.¡± ¡°Near the front¡± did not mean first in this case. It was instead the pressure test. It didn¡¯t reach the levels required for the actual room, but it also wouldn¡¯t release the pressure on anyone who collapsed. Several people had to be pulled out by sect mates when they went too far and could no longer move. Before entering, Anton thought about why he was making the attempt. Risking death for no reason was a terrible idea, and he didn¡¯t count nebulous ¡®rewards¡¯. If he was saving someone he would be quite happy to take on the risk, but it was simply unnecessary. However, that was if he had no other ambitions. If he was just content to continue as he was, growing steadily in cultivation and having a modest impact on the world. If he was willing to accept Annelie¡¯s word that she wanted to be part of the Frostmirror sect without her knowing he could help change that. If he was willing to give up on killing Van Hassel and dealing with inevitable retaliation from the Heavenly Lion Sect. If he didn¡¯t want to free all of the slaves in Ofrurg- or the entire world. Some of those goals were worth dying in pursuit of, and that included some level of risk in how he grew stronger. He stepped into the area, feeling the physical force press down on him. His inner voice propped himself up with confidence, strengthening his energy. Being in a proper mental state had great effectiveness on a cultivator¡¯s results, which was why completely divesting emotions allowed for a cultivator to avoid potential pitfalls- but they also couldn¡¯t reach quite the same heights. Consistency was good, but consistency with potential was even better. It was also more difficult. Anton had only done so well with training the emotion related stars because he had experienced a full life and could look over everything from a far perspective. Yet even then, there were some things close to himself that still tried to overwhelm him with emotion. A few years wasn¡¯t enough to truly erase the memories of Dungannon- not that he really wanted to forget. He set aside his worries and stepped forward confidently. He was falling behind, and he didn¡¯t want anyone to have to wait for him. The others resisted in their own ways- sometimes as straightforwardly as Hoyt and Timothy, while Catarina seemed to be finding weaknesses in the field that she could move through. To Anton, everything felt uniform but the way she weaved around had to have a purpose. Soon enough they were all past the first part of the challenge. That wasn¡¯t unexpected, because The Gauntlet wasn¡¯t just one thing. It was about whether or not they could pass through all of it safely. This time, the second trial was golems. Unlike the training exercise with them, there were no requirements to fight and get hit by them. They could be ¡®defeated¡¯ once a proper amount of damage was done to them. As the group stepped into the area, an important moment of truth arrived. Whether or not they were actually allowed to proceed as a group would be decided here. Eight large stone golems stood out to face them, matching them in number. Anton was the one who began the combat by firing a shot at a golem to the side of him. The golems had quick reactions and tough bodies, but he knew they weren¡¯t particularly flexible. They were meant to face one opponent at a time, and were best at fending off attacks from the front. He still only managed a small red mark on the golem¡¯s chest as his arrow slipped between its forearm and elbow, but it was red and not just a slight blush. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The golems all rushed forward at the opponents in front of them- but Hoyt intercepted his and Anton¡¯s together, while Timothy intercepted another two. So far there hadn¡¯t been any adverse reactions, and Anton continued firing at whichever target was convenient while circling around the room. He had a target he wanted to reach, but for that he needed a different angle. Velvet was the first one to achieve that goal. It was only a few moments into the battle that she disappeared from sight among all of the combatants, and then shortly after that she appeared as she stabbed one of her new daggers ¡®into¡¯ the ¡®spine¡¯ of one of the golems, in the middle of the back. To reach that height she actually had to jump off the ground, but for her efforts she got a dark red mark. Then the golem immediately lowered its arms and started trudging away. It wasn¡¯t known if that was a real weak point of the golems since it still didn¡¯t cause any damage, but it was considered one by this system. A powerful enough attack could take them out by hitting that point, or another one just below the rear of the neck. Fatal points on humans were not always as valuable as targets, so there was some other logic to it. Anton continue around to the back, and now that there was one fewer golem the pressure on those fighting was lessened. It was still more than one per person, but everyone was a capable fighter. Catarina and Velvet were swift with Firdaus nearly matching them, Hoyt and Timothy were strong, and Lev and Marsen were able to limit their opponents in different ways. Lev primarily used his energy as tendrils to wrap around the golems, and while he couldn¡¯t directly resist them he was able to make supple energy constructs that would stretch but not snap under their movements- slowing them. Marsen created ice on the ground, which made it easier to disrupt the movements of the golems. Everyone was building up damage on the golems in front of them, but Anton was at an angle where he could start firing arrows. The golems attempted lateral dodges to avoid his arrows, but their movements simply weren¡¯t enough. When some tried to turn to face him they found their backs open to the others. Velvet also continued to take out the golems who had trouble tracking her, and she and Anton were basically solely responsible for half of the golems going down while contributing to the other two. That didn¡¯t mean they were more important, because without the teamwork of the others they couldn¡¯t have reached the critical weak points without some risk. After the golems were defeated, they were able to take a short break. It seemed that after fifteen minutes or so golems would once more come out to face them, so they had to move onto the next area before then. The next area was one involving formations. Catarina stepped forward and threw out formation flags- she had been collecting them as rewards from the various different trials, and her new set matched quite well, even synchronizing with the ones she got from the Order. The first section was passed easily as Catarina finished solving whatever needed to be done before Anton even figured out what was going on. ¡°Next up is a trap. Be careful. Follow my movements precisely,¡± Catarina instructed. They did so, but it seemed her meaning of precise and the others¡¯ weren¡¯t entirely the same. A centimeter to either side resulted in some electrical shocks, and though they could deflect those with their energy it was still draining. They needed to keep as much stamina as possible for the rest of The Gauntlet. ¡°Next is a barrier.¡± Catarina placed flags stuck ¡®into¡¯ the air, arranged in a square like it was flat on the ground. ¡°Everyone attack together in the center of the flags. It will be easiest to break it with force rather than try to dismantle it.¡± Anton trusted her judgment attacking was the ¡®right¡¯ choice and carefully built up power. One perfect spirit arrow would be better than a dozen poor ones. While he was still not terribly knowledgeable about formations, he knew that once anything was broken the weak points could be exploited for further damage. Eight simultaneous attacks shattered the invisible barrier, at least between the formation flags Catarina had placed and they stepped forward. ¡°Next is¡­¡± Catarina began to explain, but instead started swiftly throwing out formation flags, sticking them into the ground. ¡°Everyone needs to power one! Steady and even, preferably matching everyone else.¡± Anton moved for one of the further ones, since he knew that some of their members wouldn¡¯t be as quick to react to Catarina¡¯s commands. He injected his energy doing his best to match Catarina¡¯s output. Everyone was close enough in cultivation that they were able to match, but¡­ ¡°Stop!¡± Catarina called out. She reached out, using strands of energy to pull the flags to her. She then threw them out to different locations. ¡°It¡¯s a shifting formation!¡± The meaning of that quickly became obvious, because everyone had to scramble around from location to location. Catarina had the worst of it, because she had to find the points they needed to react to as well as being the one that maintained the link between their energies. After an exhausting half hour, the waves of energy settled down. They were able to move onto the next room but- ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I can¡¯t keep going. It¡¯s not possible to manage all of that alone. We need to train together on formations.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not really something I know anything about¡­¡± Lev shook his head. ¡°But I¡¯ll try.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll still be taking the core, but I need people to be able to anticipate the changes with me. It shouldn¡¯t be too bad, and just speeding our teamwork should be sufficient.¡± They had to move back through the previous formations- but half were still disabled. Then they had to move through the rooms with the golems again. That was the danger of The Gauntlet, along with the fact that it didn¡¯t pull any punches. Except they didn¡¯t have to defeat the golems, just avoid them. Some of their group engaged while others helped ease the pressure. Anton and Velvet actually found it easier to take one out to let the others break their engagements, and they were all running a moment later. There was a moment of panic as Timothy was struck in the back. He was sent flying past everyone, but as he struck the wall of the room he managed to land on his feet. He looked back and wiped some blood from his lip. ¡°Come on! Let¡¯s keep going!¡± He¡¯d certainly toughened up quite a bit. Passing through the pressure from highest amount to lowest was quite a bit easier, and soon everyone was sprinting and then¡­ safe. They still had some strategy to talk about, but it was quite clear everyone was willing to make another attempt. Chapter 132 One week of training was hardly sufficient to be a formation master, or expert, or even really an apprentice. However, the heightened level of understanding provided by Spiritual Connection allowed Anton and the others to learn from Catarina enough for her to direct them better. They treated it just like they would combat, requiring quick movements and precision. Catarina was able to set up a version of the formation that Everheart was using that made it easier to feel the flow of energy. ¡°Now I no longer feel like I¡¯m running around an empty room,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I can at least see some nodes of energy.¡± Timothy and Hoyt were having the most trouble learning, since they¡¯d chosen to forgo training Spiritual Connection so far. That didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t able to improve their sensing and control of energy, but it took a bit more effort. Catarina had to spend more time training them, but they put in the effort to play supporting roles. The fact that they had a team of eight meant that not everyone needed to be as good at that particular section anyway. At that point, the team was ready to attempt The Gauntlet again. They¡¯d made improvements in more than that one area, and were better able to coordinate in other ways as well. Some of their abilities weren¡¯t as useful in certain situations, but the whole point of the team was to be a cooperative venture. Just because Lev was lower in cultivation couldn¡¯t seriously harm the golems didn¡¯t make his abilities useless. He was one of the top three in sensing and manipulating energy, after Catarina and Firdaus. When they returned to The Gauntlet, it was again sparsely populated. They waited for the few people in sight to move on to the next room before beginning their plan. Currently the first room was a trap room. Instead of static traps like the hallway they had dealt with earlier, each pressure plate changed slightly depending on how people moved through the area. It wasn¡¯t possible- at least not with cultivation in Spirit Building- to just run through the gauntlet of traps. Each of them was capable of seriously injuring someone if triggered. It was a test of perception and pattern recognition. There were minute differences in how a dangerous tile looked compared to safe ones, and each tile changed others around it. The one rule that everyone knew was that a safe tile would never become dangerous while depressed. Thus, it was possible for the whole group to move through together. They weren¡¯t certain if multiple people standing on the same tile would be safe, but with two groups- one led by Velvet and one by Anton- they started moving through the area, each person several tiles apart. Anton looked carefully at a tile in front of Catarina. ¡°It¡¯s safe, right?¡± she asked. ¡°My path here should have made it in the same state as when you crossed.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I do believe so.¡± Either way, he didn¡¯t see any of the signs that it was dangerous. He needed to see the smallest of differences in resting height but from just a handful of meters away with the use of Hawk Eyes, even height changes less than a millimeter were clear. The group eventually made their way into the next room, which was one they hadn¡¯t seen before. A projection of Everheart was standing in the middle of the room, a book under his arm as he shook his head at the cultivator standing there. ¡°That¡¯s three marks. You fail. Try again later.¡± Then he swung the book with both hands like it was a club, flinging the young man out of the room and nearly onto the traps in the previous, before the door swung shut. ¡°Very well, next.¡± This Everheart was somewhat more subdued in size and looks, portraying a handsome if scruffy man without so much muscle or physical prowess as others before him. He kept a neutral tone as he spoke. ¡°Each person must correctly answer ten questions on various topics before getting three wrong. There is a time limit before your answer must begin.¡± ¡°Senior Everheart, are we allowed to consult each other on the questions?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I am the one who will ask questions here,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Well, he didn¡¯t say ¡®no¡¯. I¡¯ll go first,¡± Timothy stepped forward. He had seen Everheart unceremoniously bat the fellow beforehand out of the room, so he knew what he was getting into. Most importantly, this was one of the trials that had the smallest danger. Their information gathering over the last few weeks had merely resulted in people being annoyed that they lost due to ¡®random chance¡¯ and ¡®tricky questions¡¯. Everheart asked several questions Timothy knew on his own. ¡°Which weapon has the advantage?¡± ¡°Why are different materials used in equipment?¡± ¡°How long would it take for a cultivator moving at this speed to reach his opponent?¡± ¡°What is the purpose of cultivation?¡± Timothy hesitated slightly on that one, but began his explanation. ¡°Cultivation is for the empowerment of the individual, with different goals such as seeking immortality or to defeat enemies.¡± ¡°... good enough,¡± Everheart said, sounding disappointed. ¡°What is Northern Creeper used for?¡± Timothy immediately turned towards Anton and Hoyt, knowing they had worked with it. Before Anton could speak Lev chimed in. ¡°It fruit is used in cultivation enhancement pills to store energy, though its spines can be used as weapons or to medically alter the flow of cultivators who have lost control of their own energy.¡± Timothy nodded and turned back towards Everheart. He seemed to blatantly ignore that Lev said anything. So Timothy repeated it. Without saying anything, Everheart moved onto the next question. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Throughout the slightly more than eighty questions the group had to answer they covered martial combat, cultivation in general, botany, equipment crafting and enchantment, formations, and beast lore- with a smattering of lesser topics. They managed to get a few wrong or delay too much, but so far everyone had passed. The questions seemed to have generally increased in difficulty from person to person, so perhaps their teamwork plan wasn¡¯t quite as useful as they thought. Marsen was the last to go up, and he currently had eight correct questions but two failures. ¡°What is my name?¡± Some of the questions were tricky, some simply difficult in subject matter. None were so straightforwardly a trap of some kind. Perhaps he had some other name that they were supposed to know. Nobody had an answer for Marsen, but he didn¡¯t even look to the rest and straightforwardly answered, ¡°Great Golden Emperor of the Most Powerful Techniques Everheart.¡± Everyone else couldn¡¯t help but get strange looks on their faces. He¡¯d technically said that but¡­ Everheart didn¡¯t respond. Then the slightest smile lit up his face. ¡°Ooh! You get the bonus point. That means you¡¯re done.¡± He waved his hand towards the door. Despite the next room containing golems that almost immediately attacked, the group mostly seemed interested in discussing what had happened while they fought. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you said that with a straight face,¡± Lev commented to Marsen. ¡°I considered that it would likely be a good answer,¡± Marsen said. ¡°He said it himself, two weeks ago.¡± ¡°Still,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°Don¡¯t you feel shame just saying that?¡± ¡°No,¡± Marsen said as he hooked his leg behind the ankle of one of the golems, sending it tumbling on slippery ice as Hoyt¡¯s axe chopped into its chest. Its flailing fist clipped his face, the speed and friction leaving a bloody mark along his forehead. ¡°I do not feel shame. Nor anything else, as a competent member of the Frostmirror sect.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t think that¡¯s the right method,¡± Anton commented as he shot several arrows. ¡°I agree with your assessment,¡± Marsen agreed, ¡°But it is unlikely I will be able to change my current status without harming my cultivation. It seems that Junior Sister Annelie¡¯s attempts to modify the structure are going well, however. Diana is livid. With the small percent of anger she still feels, anyway. I believe she might be jealous.¡± Marsen shook his head as the last golem left. ¡°I should not add more details.¡± The group was able to push themselves further than the previous time. They even completed the formation room in half the time, and with less expenditure of resources. They knew they had to be getting close to the end, but there were still weeks left for them to make further attempts and they were beginning to feel the fatigue. In the end, they relied on Marsen¡¯s emotionless judgment that pushing themselves further was unwise along with their own fears of danger against their anticipation of achieving rewards. They were glad they did, because they were all exhausted and nursing various wounds when they got back to the beginning. The wounds might have been quite serious for non-cultivators and indeed they would affect their ability to fight, but they could recover in a few days instead of a longer period of time. As they were returning to the common areas, someone stepped out into their path. Marsen¡¯s, specifically. ¡°There you are!¡± the young man declared. ¡°I should have known. Colluding with outsiders still. Why must you cause trouble for our Frostmirror sect?¡± Marsen met the young man straight in the eyes. ¡°There was no trouble for any member of the Frostmirror sect in any way related to me, until you blocked my path.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t try to make excuses. You¡¯re working with other sects just to improve yourself.¡± ¡°So?¡± Marsen asked. ¡°This does not in any way harm the Frostmirror sect¡¯s goals.¡± He turned to Lev, perhaps sensing something- or perhaps choosing his own interpretation of Lev¡¯s face. ¡°I see you are confused, Lev. You might not recognize this fellow disciple of mine. This is ceiling boy.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Jeston! Senior brother Jeston, to you¡­ Marsen.¡± ¡°That is incorrect,¡± Marsen said. ¡°It is only proper to call someone senior brother on the condition that they are stronger than you, have more talent than you, or that you respect them. None of those are true for you. Now, are you going to challenge me to a duel, thus cementing your intention to cause conflict with your own sectmate?¡± ¡°A duel? Give me one good reason I shouldn¡¯t teach you a lesson right here!¡± ¡°First, because there would be many witnesses of your misdeeds. Second, because such a violent outburst would result in chastisement by the sect. But most importantly, because Great Golden Emperor of the Most Powerful Techniques Everheart said so, and I¡¯m certain he¡¯d enforce that.¡± Despite his bluster, Jeston was part of the Frostmirror sect. He was not going to get his emotions enflamed to uncontrollable levels. Yet he clearly still had them. He seemed half a step away from attacking anyway, but seeing that he was outnumbered, and perhaps remembering his time on the ceiling, he restrained himself. ¡°In fact, I was planning to challenge you to a duel. You have chosen to train with outsiders instead of with the sect, and are a traitor.¡± ¡°That is not how being a traitor works,¡± Marsen commented flatly, ¡°But I accept your challenge. Tomorrow.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Jeston said. He turned to glare at Anton, ¡°I still can¡¯t believe he let an old man in here.¡± Then he walked away. Marsen turned to Anton, ¡°What I can¡¯t believe is that he¡¯s currently walking on the floor.¡± ¡°Perhaps Everheart got bored with it,¡± Anton said. ¡°But anyway, is this alright? We would not wish to set you against your sect.¡± ¡°You have not,¡± Marsen said. ¡°Jeston is an individual. Just in case, I shall properly remind others that they not only would not have been assisting me with training but that they were also allowed to train with our alliance. It is simple logic that I would make this choice.¡± ¡°I¡¯m honestly surprised we haven¡¯t had more trouble before now,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°The prohibition against fighting outside of duels is one thing, but that only goes so far.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I expect we will run into more trouble in the coming days. Hopefully not because we were trying to help people grow.¡± Chapter 133 The rooms reserved for duels were fairly sparse. There was a small section for viewing and a section where the duelists could place bets. Other than that, they were just empty spaces of varying size. In one of the smaller arenas, Marsen and Jeston faced each other. They were watched by much of the training group as well as a few members of the Frostmirror sect- including Annelie and Diana. One of the two combatants was the very symbol of impassiveness, and the other was obviously annoyed even before the battle started. Marsen had no visible weapons, while Jeston carried a large sword in two hands. The instant the barrier in the middle of the room disappeared they sprang into action. Jeston swung his sword at Marsen, who evaded the main attack but wasn¡¯t able to completely avoid the trail of frost that spread from it. As he moved around the attack he countered with his own palm strike to Jeston¡¯s side, leaving a trail of ice behind where he moved. At the two continued to match each other, even the walls at the edge of the arena began developing frost crystals. The breath of the two combatants soon became visible as they moved about on the ice at their feet. Jeston continued to swing his sword with reckless abandon, with Marsen left with little choice but to avoid it and sneak in attacks where he could. The clothing of the two young men began to stiffen, and the cold had clearly begun seeping past their defensive energy. Jeston couldn¡¯t catch Marsen with a solid blow, but the reach advantage of his sword meant he was able to sustain a number of cuts while only receiving insignificant blows himself. That was the disadvantage of unarmed combat- weapons were meant to multiply the force of an attack, and without it one had to rely solely on the effects of their energy. Against another member of the Frostmirror sect, Marsen found his opponent quite resistant. The sweat of exertion froze as it trickled down the faces and bodies of the two combatants, layers of frost building up on their bodies and turning their skin blue. ¡°Alright, enough of this!¡± Jeston stepped back, taking a wide stance. A swirling vortex of icicles surrounded his sword, extending beyond it in all directions. Marsen rallied his energies as well. A sweep of the sword flung icicles in a cone in front of Jeston, many of them piercing into Marsen¡¯s arms which covered his face. However, Marsen moved in towards Jeston along the trailing edge of his sword and grabbed his arm. While most of the audience expected them to begin wrestling for control, everything just stopped. Neither of the two of them moved, frozen in space. One second. Ten seconds. Thirty. After one minute, a cracking sound rang out from one of the combatants. A thin but clearly extremely powerful layer of ice fell off of him. Jeston stepped back, having broken out from the freeze first. He immediately raised his arms to bring his sword down onto Marsen¡¯s head. It cleaved directly down, striking him. There was a shattering sound and a cry of pain. Marsen then finally moved. The layer of ice on him sloughed off like the end of a winter thaw and popping sounds came from his joints. He shook his head at his opponent in front of him whose arms were twisted in ways they were never meant to be. ¡°You thawed far too quickly. You¡¯re far too reckless and emotional.¡± With that, Marsen walked over to the box where the bets were kept. It opened, signaling his victory. Yet Jeston chuckled from the ground. ¡°What were you hoping to find in there?¡± ¡°Your dignity. But apparently you didn¡¯t have any.¡± Jeston¡¯s face twitched and he passed out on the floor. Marsen walked over to Anton and the others, smiling. ¡°That was fun. Or rather¡­ satisfying.¡± Marsen touched a hand to his chest and ¡®composed¡¯ himself, his face returning to a neutral position. Anton grabbed his shoulder and leaned in close, using his energy to make sure only Marsen could hear his whisper. ¡°Feelings aren¡¯t a weakness. It¡¯s not a failure to have kept some.¡± Then he straightened up and clapped him on the back. ¡°Good job, that was a resounding victory.¡± ¡°Of course. I did not spend that time training for nothing.¡± As they were leaving, Diana cut them off, clearing her throat. ¡°Excuse me. Your¡­ group¡­ has clearly been causing a stir among those of our sect. To that end, I will be participating to make sure nothing untoward is happening.¡± ¡°Will you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You can, but you have to follow the same rules as everyone else. You need to contribute to others¡¯ growth.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± she nodded. ¡°I will follow your rules.¡± ¡°Then there shouldn¡¯t be any issues,¡± Anton said. ----- The vast amount of training resources available in the ¡®tomb¡¯ greatly accelerated everyone¡¯s cultivation speed. By the end of the third week, they had the equivalent of another half a year¡¯s training putting them solidly one rank further. Anton himself trained Mental Liberation, and he found that the best place to do that was in the pressure training hall. The pressure¡¯s suppression wasn¡¯t purely physical, but also partially mental. That was the case with all suppression from a cultivator¡¯s aura, unless someone was simply physically restrained by the greater power of another cultivator. His next star- the seventeen and the next prime tempering- was going to be Earthly Connection. Even with partial training in it, he felt it advancing his understanding of others beyond his previous capabilities. He had been somewhat concerned about Diana joining their group, but she was actually quite helpful with Annelie¡¯s training once they were more open about things. He was also able to discern her real reason for wanting to join them. It was the same basic reason as why anyone joined groups. Personal power was on the list, of course, but there was something more fundamental. Loneliness. Even among other members of their sect, it was possible for cultivators to be lonely. Anton suspected that was why the cultivation courtyards were arranged the way they were- to make it more likely for people to develop connections with at least a few people. While they could have made larger complexes that had many people, having just a few people constantly around was a better starting point for some. Those who desired even more people around had other places to meet them. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. By its very core the Frostmirror sect tended towards emotionlessness. Without emotions, one would not get lonely. They would be able to focus solely on improving their cultivation without distractions. But Anton was no longer sure it was even truly possible to divest oneself of emotions completely. There were always things that clung to a person, things fundamental to their person. Diana was lonely, but she wasn¡¯t alone. Independent cultivators notwithstanding, many of those who joined the training group simply couldn¡¯t find companionship amongst their own sects. The fact that it also helped improve their training was a good excuse, but there was more to it than that. Having completed Voice previously and knowing his inner thoughts, Anton was surprised that his beginning in training Earthly Connections revealed some of that same loneliness in himself. But it was only a small amount- an old wound that had mostly healed. Though he would never quite fit exactly with Catarina and the other youths, they were still a real source of companionship. Of family, in addition to the family he had managed to regain after the point where everything could have been lost to him. Another attempt was made at The Gauntlet. People began to notice that it could be attempted with a team, but Anton and the others had been spending work on coordination for the whole duration of the training already. While some other groups might have some success, they still thought they had a competitive chance to be the first ones to complete it. They would just have to make new attempts as soon as they recovered fully. It seemed that they must be close to the end, but there was only so much they could do at once. Still, they were certain they¡¯d passed every challenge and merely had to face them all at once. The next attempt could very well be it. ----- Some conversations needed to be straightforward. It was somewhat difficult to pry Annelie away from Diana- or rather, the other way around- but he got some moments alone with her. ¡°How do you feel about the Frostmirror sect?¡± Annelie thought for a few moments. ¡°I like it. They take care of me. I¡¯m suited to the technique as well- though I agree with you about the emotionless aspect going too far.¡± ¡°I see. What do you think about leaving, and coming to join the Order with me?¡± ¡°I-¡± Annelie hesitated. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯d rather not see Graotan right now. My parents...¡± Anton shook his head. Neither of them had made it. ¡°They won¡¯t be there. But Alva would love to see you.¡± Annelie held a hand over her heart. ¡°I¡­ want to see her too. But this is the best way for me to grow. You saw those two- late Spirit Building now, if they weren¡¯t before. I can¡¯t just let them live. Walking around like they haven¡¯t done anything wrong.¡± It hurt, realizing how much like him she was. ¡°I don¡¯t plan to leave them alone, either. Are you sure you wish to stay with the Frostmirror sect?¡± Annelie nodded. ¡°Yes. Though sometimes people are distance, I am taken care of. Not quite like back home, but¡­ it¡¯s better that way, I think.¡± His appreciation of his great-granddaughter¡¯s emotional maturity was dulled by the fact that she should still be acting like a girl, barely a young woman. She still had her emotions- and his assistance with her training should ensure that- but the troubles of her life had robbed her of some of the way things should have been. Another crime to attribute to Van Hassel and one likely shared by the Heavenly Lion Sect as a whole. ----- Platinum oak formed the shaft of the bow. It was not quite so silver as its name implied, but it certainly was expensive like that very same metal. The bowstring was made of the sinew of a great cat from the Beast Forest. Together with some auxiliary pieces they formed a whole bow, one that Alva held above her head triumphantly as she walked out of the armament hall. She had done all sorts of stupid work to get enough contribution points for this thing, but she finally had it. She supposed the work was also training and was useful because it produced stuff, but it was so boring. It made her want to fall asleep, which was even worse when she was tired from spending extra hours working and training. But she had it and now she could go on a hunt before great-grandpa Anton got back. And she would do it with a bow just like his. Well, it wasn¡¯t just like his. The materials were different. It was also a lot smaller. She wasn¡¯t sure what she was supposed to do with a bow taller than her anyway. There was no way she could draw it that far with her arms. A shortbow suited her just fine, and anyone who made fun of her for it would get an arrow to the face. She had bought arrows too, but they weren¡¯t anything fancy. She was still trying to learn Spirit Arrows, but it was¡­ difficult. She needed to ask for help with that later. But before later happened, she needed to go on a hunt. She had gotten to the fifth star now and tempered her muscles, and she was strong. She was maybe not as strong as those who were older than her and also cultivators, but at least as much as a normal adult man? That seemed right. She was listening to the advice she¡¯d been given to make sure she didn¡¯t hurt herself by cultivating too quickly, and there were many elders around to help if she asked. She didn¡¯t really want to talk to most of them, but Elder Vincent was a friendly one. She¡¯d even seen him once or twice when he came through Dungannon. But she didn¡¯t want to think about that. She wanted to hunt. Fuzz was obviously going with her. She also needed more people before it was probably considered a proper team. Fortunately, she knew just the right people. She didn¡¯t know Pete much outside of being from Dungannon, but she knew Patricia. She was a nice lady, and she was also a cultivator. She¡¯d been cultivating for longer than Alva but she was also at the fifth star. She said she was ¡®taking it slow¡¯, though Alva didn¡¯t know why anyone would do that. There were also a couple other people in the same complex as them. Gerd was a round woman that was far too nice for Alva to call her fat, and Malcom was¡­ a fifth person. There wasn¡¯t anything really wrong with him, but Alva didn¡¯t really care if he came along. Since he was from the same complex, it would be weird not to invite him- and it didn¡¯t hurt to have more people along. Alva was a bit on the weaker side to be going with them. Pete was more than a full star ahead of her, but since she didn¡¯t know anyone else it was fine. Besides, the rest of her family would probably be happier that she was being safe. She did intend to be safe, too. That was why she had a saddle for Fuzz and everything. He was fast and could run away from anything coming at them as she shot them with her bow. She wasn¡¯t sure how she would be against beasts, but Pete had watched her and approved of her skills. He even called her a ¡®Little Anton¡¯ which made her turn away and blush. She wasn¡¯t that amazing yet. But she would be. Chapter 134 Something disturbed the brush ahead. Alva readied her bow, drawing and nearly shooting before she saw what it was. However, when it started darting away she slowly released the tension on the string and lowered her bow. It was just a deer. If they needed to eat it would be fine to kill it, but they were intending to hunt aggressive beasts. Even if Fuzz sometimes ate a lot, he didn¡¯t need a whole deer right now. Alva scratched Fuzz behind the ears, reaching down in front of her specially made saddle to do so. ¡°Good boy Fuzz. We don¡¯t need to hunt that. See if you can find something else.¡± Fuzz put his nose to the ground and was sniffling away rather quickly. He moved ahead at a pace the rest of the group could keep up with comfortably as they all scanned their surroundings for dangerous beasts. As they continued forward, Fuzz was the first to react. He growled at a large area of brush ahead, and everyone prepared themselves. A few moments later a boar of similar size to Fuzz- head around chest height on a man- charged forward. Alva had hesitated slightly after the deer, but she quickly drew and fired her bow, coating the arrow in energy to increase its piercing power. Her arrow flew straight towards the beast¡¯s head, glancing off the skull and sticking in its shoulder a finger deep. If she¡¯d hit the eye it might be dead, but without an arrow through the brain a boar was bound to keep charging. As the boar charged, Alva¡¯s first instincts were to flinch away- but a proper archer would stay focused on her target. Fuzz had started running around to the side to give Alva a better angle as the boar reached the front lines. Gerd had positioned herself in front, a large two-handed hammer in her hands. With a great cracking sound it rang against the boar¡¯s skull, imparting momentum that sent its charge to her side. Yet the boar still wasn¡¯t down. Pete and Malcolm were on the other side of Gerd so they couldn¡¯t use their primary weapons, but Pete threw a dart into the hindquarters of the boar. Two more arrows went into its side by the time the boar properly turned around as Fuzz tried to keep pace parallel to it. The boar seemed indecisive about who it should attack, but settled for Malcolm with his shield and shortspear. However, even with that name a shortspear still had decent reach- and Malcolm was able to stab his spear into the creature¡¯s chest before it was close enough to gore him. Its momentum carried them both along together, but the solid blow to its heart laid the boar to rest. ¡°Good,¡± Pete commented. ¡°If we can handle something like this, we should be able to handle most of the things in this area safely. Don¡¯t get careless, though. Sometimes beasts wander into different areas where they don¡¯t belong. Any rewards aren¡¯t worth it if any of us get injured.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Alva said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to see Fuzz or anyone hurt again.¡± If she was more accurate with her shots, she could help that more. If a beast never got close, it couldn¡¯t harm anyone. Though they also needed the battle experience to grow stronger properly, so she should probably let her allies face some danger. It was difficult to keep both in mind in the right amount. Cultivation was hard, but she never thought it would be easy to be like great-grandpa Anton. ----- Everyone breathed in and out at a steady pace, feeling their own cultivations and checking for problems. What did they need to grow stronger? Besides just time and energy to temper themselves, of course. Some of the people in the training group were talking, discussing problems they had encountered while others remained available to provide help where they had expertise. Though nobody was significantly more advanced in cultivation, they all had insights to share with each other. Some things that seemed obvious to one person wouldn¡¯t be so to another. Then the peaceful atmosphere was disrupted. Lev staggered onto the scene, his one ¡®good¡¯ arm bound and in a sling in front of his chest. Eyes were drawn to him as he sat down heavily. ¡°What happened?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The Heavenly Lion Sect. I was heading to the trapped corridor to train when I was stopped by two of their cronies. They said something stupid about it being reserved. Of course, they couldn¡¯t just attack me so I didn¡¯t think anything of it and started moving through the corridor. I didn¡¯t expect them to throw things to set off extra traps around me.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°I hadn¡¯t expected the rules to be so easily exploitable.¡± ¡°I saw them there earlier, too,¡± said one of the independent cultivators, ¡°I was too afraid to upset them.¡± ¡°I would appreciate it if everyone reports similar matters,¡± Anton said. ¡°We may not have more than a temporary connection with each other, but I think we can all agree we wouldn¡¯t like to have people interfere with our training.¡± Anton looked to Lev, ¡°Any other details you can provide?¡± Lev nodded, ¡°They seemed fairly careful not to get their attacks too close to me. So they still seemed to be wary of the limitations.¡± Frost was creeping over the scene, present from all three of the Frostmirror Sect but surprisingly focused around Diana who prided herself on control. ¡°Those arrogant bastards.¡± ¡°We should be wary of such tactics,¡± Anton said, ¡°But I¡¯m not sure if we should seek further conflict. Lev, what do you think?¡± Lev shook his head, ¡°We don¡¯t have the people to have them stand around at all hours of the day ready to cause trouble. I¡¯d like to get revenge somehow though. Can¡¯t just shove them onto the traps, though. Some people have tested the limits for what counts as an attack, and it can be pretty strict. Apparently they ended up with injuries for a few days as a ¡®warning¡¯¡± ¡°Is there no projection in that area?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It does seem like a circumvention of Everheart¡¯s rules. He might tacitly allow it, but we should bring it to the attention of the projections anyway.¡± ----- ¡°Can¡¯t be bothered,¡± the projection in charge of a different area said. ¡°The traps take care of themselves following the rules. Deal with it yourself.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Anton said and looked to Lev. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think letting them go without retaliation is reasonable,¡± Lev said. ¡°I only imagine they¡¯ll get worse.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I can spare a few hours,¡± Anton said. ¡°What are the chances they have people in that training room?¡± ¡°Pretty high,¡± Lev said. ¡°Then let us go.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Lev said. ¡°I¡¯d rely on other members of the Grasping Willows, but we aren¡¯t really a match.¡± ¡°What about retaliation later?¡± Lev shook his head, ¡°They¡¯re causing trouble for us here and now. And there¡¯s an unspoken rule to keep conflicts in places like this restricted to just this area. Of course, that doesn¡¯t happen- but dealing with a later grudge is better than being walked on now.¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Of course I agree,¡± Anton said, ¡°I just wanted to make sure you¡¯d thought about it.¡± ¡°Should we follow?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°If I don¡¯t make any mistakes, I shouldn¡¯t be able to be harmed,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if you wish to show solidarity, I would not mind help.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come too,¡± Catarina said.¡± ¡°Might as well make this a semi-official Ninety-Nine Stars stance, right?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°We should probably inform the others first,¡± Anton said, ¡°Even if we make the declaration as our training group, it will affect them. Then again, people are already beginning to cause trouble anyway. Everyone¡¯s getting antsy about the end.¡± After finding as many people as they could to spread the word, the group found their way to the trap corridor. ¡°Passage is forbidden,¡± said two large men, standing menacingly. With that said, neither of them were in Spirit Building so the intimidation factor was minimal. ¡°I am aware of your declarations,¡± Anton said. He just stood there looking down the hallway. ¡°That means leave,¡± one of them said. ¡°Go ahead,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°Make me.¡± The two guards turned to each other then harrumphed, as if they were simply choosing to ignore him instead of being unable to do anything. When another cultivator showed up and was told passage was forbidden, Anton explained what they meant. ¡°The Heavenly Lion Sect has decided to declare war on everyone else and is setting off the traps when anyone else tries to pass,¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡¯s what they actually mean, but they¡¯re too cowardly to admit it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not-¡± ¡°We-¡± ¡°If you¡¯re not cowards,¡± Lev said, ¡°We can duel right now. To the death, if you want.¡± Lev still had his normally useful arm strapped to his side and glared at the guards. They chose to keep their mouths closed. The difference between Spirit Building and late Body Tempering was enough that they weren¡¯t confident. The cultivator shook his head and left. Shortly after that, another member of the Heavenly Lion Sect arrived. ¡°Passage is forbidden,¡± Anton said. ¡°Not to us it isn¡¯t,¡± said the two guards. Anton shrugged, ¡°I guess not then. It seems the Heavenly Lion Sect owns this area now.¡± He turned around and stepped away. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± said the early Spirit Building member. ¡°You¡¯d better know your place.¡± Anton continued walking away until the man started down the actually trapped part of the corridor. He was dealing it much the same way as the others, quickly moving to avoid the traps. Once he was about a third of the way, Anton spun around and fired five arrows in quick succession, passing the man and hitting traps slightly in front of him. Unfortunately only two triggered, but an unexpected blade and a gout of flame in front of the man left him with slight scorch marks and a cut along one arm. ¡°I changed my mind,¡± Anton said. ¡°If passage is forbidden, I would prefer for it to be universally enforced.¡± The cultivator had stopped retreating slightly to reach a safe area down the corridor. ¡°Do you realize what you are doing?¡± he said. ¡°Do you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You chose to attack others first.¡± Before giving him any time to respond, he continued firing arrows at tiles all around the man. While technically going backwards was safe, Anton was able to trigger any trap in front of him. Assuming it passed the random chance involved. The cultivator from the Heavenly Lion Sect made a mad dash back towards the entrance. Even as quickly as Anton could fire arrows- with some of the others tossing darts and ranged weapons as well- it was only slightly more dangerous than the traps the man could trigger normally. The only difference was they could trigger in front of him instead of at his location. When he arrived he had at least half of his ribs broken and numerous cuts and some poisons. He looked as if he was going to attack, but thought better of it and immediately began binding his wounds. Then he left in a staggering huff. The two guards just sweated nervously, unable to do anything but also unwilling to leave. Anton smiled at them. ¡°There, nice and fair I¡¯m sure you agree.¡± Less than a quarter hour later, someone entered the corridor from the far end. After sensing that they were indeed a member of the Heavenly Lion Sect, Anton shouted at them. ¡°Corridor¡¯s closed! You have to stay there forever now!¡± ¡°He¡¯s serious!¡± Yelled one of the guards, ¡°And crazy!¡± The cultivator at the end ignored Anton¡¯s words, simply raising his energy at mid Spirit-Building. He began calmly walking towards Anton¡­ who immediately made use of the best techniques of Thousand Arrows. Since he didn¡¯t even have to cause real damage, he was capable of rapidly firing continuously without worrying about running out of energy. The only thing he needed to do was impart proper speed to his Spirit Arrows, and enough force to trigger a pressure plate. The cultivator from the Heavenly Lion Sect apparently had a trick in mind, as he lunged towards some of Anton¡¯s arrows- but Anton had already anticipated that possibility. He didn¡¯t want to find out if that counted as him attacking, and so he wasn¡¯t going to. He was quite capable of redirected his arrows in flight, or just erasing them from existence if necessary. Explosions and poisons and blades surrounded the man- and Anton was really starting to get a sense of timing for optimal placement of arrows. He could also cover the entire width of the hallway, whereas a person running down it would normally only trigger one. Even if they triggered none themselves on the way back, the danger was five or more times as high. The cultivator retreated to the end of the corridor before even making it a third of the way. There was a standoff between them for half of an hour, and a half dozen other cultivators came with the intention of entering the training areas. A crowd built up at both ends of the corridor as everyone finished cultivating and wouldn¡¯t be allowed out by Anton. Sensing many people building up, even just curious onlookers came to watch. Eventually things got to the point where one of the two top cultivators in the training area came. He was in late Spirit Building- close to the peak and breaking through to Essence Collection, in fact. ¡°What the hell is going on here?¡± The Heavenly Lion Sect members at the far end of the corridor were the first to shout overlapping complaints. They all summed up to Anton blocking their way. By setting of the traps. ¡°Is that true?¡± Anton felt a pressure of a strong aura bearing down on him. Anton stared unblinkingly at the man. He practiced the cultivation technique of Glorious Flame Palace. There weren¡¯t many people at his level. Anish was his name, if Anton recalled correctly. ¡°I was just helping them enforce their own rules. The Heavenly Lion Sect declared passage forbidden quite vehemently,¡± he gestured to Lev. ¡°So I was simply making sure it applied to their sect as well.¡± The man¡¯s eyes landed on the two ¡®guards¡¯ still standing in their positions. ¡°Speak.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t our idea!¡± they immediately caved. ¡°Senior Brother Zvonko came up with the idea, and others agreed! We were just told to do it.¡± Anish slammed a fist into the wall, fire bursting from around the impact point. It very carefully weaved its way around everyone, but the intent was clear. ¡°Enough! There won¡¯t be any more of this foolishness,¡± he gestured to the guards, ¡°On either side,¡± he glared at Anton. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have had to do this if they weren¡¯t the instigators,¡± Anton said. ¡°If anyone continues to try anything like this, I¡¯ll be matching them.¡± ¡°I said enough,¡± Anish stood over Anton. Anton just met his gaze. ¡°I don¡¯t intend to start anything, but I won¡¯t let people off without retaliation. If you disagree, you can complain to my sect elders when we get out of here. I¡¯m not going to count on Glorious Flame Palace to enforce things.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Anish snorted, ¡°You¡¯d better not start anything.¡± He put his finger as close to pressing on Anton¡¯s chest as he could without actually doing so. With all of that, the crowd dispersed- Anton and the others left first, because if anyone planned to monopolize that training area they would have to reach the far end, where they were in the worst position to retreat. Though Anish had declared an end to ¡®foolishness¡¯, Anton knew that there would certainly be more conflicts coming. Chapter 135 The golems offered cumulative points for fighting them- though repeated performances at the same level gave significantly less. One category of rewards offered was medicine, and simple recovery from wounds was easily accomplished given a few days and some expense. Those few days were still critical parts of the month, and Anton wished he and the others had been able to enact a larger retaliation for Lev. Not that he felt like they weren¡¯t able to be effective. The Heavenly Lion Sect had taken care to not bar cultivators from some of the strongest sects, but all of the independent cultivators and smaller sects were still reasonably outraged. Some of the larger sects spoke up as well, though their outrage could have been an excuse to promote their rivalries. Either way, it suddenly became harder for them to act as they pleased. Spots were filled up just before they attempted a trial of some sort, and rewards their members were eyeing were taken by others before they could obtain them. Despite Anish¡¯s proclamations, the approaching end of the training session only seemed to encourage people to cause trouble for others, though generally in less extreme ways than the nearly direct attacks. There was also perfectly acceptable competitive spirit that didn¡¯t involve sabotaging others as people pushed for the last few days. ----- With Lev healed, the group decided to try their hand at The Gauntlet one final time. Either they would sustain injuries they couldn¡¯t recover from in just a few days or find success. They thought they were close on the last attempt, though they couldn¡¯t be completely sure. It was not a surprise to find that The Gauntlet was already busy. Others had the same idea as them, and were likewise making use of teams to try to push through the trials. It was impossible to know exactly how far others had gotten, but it seemed no one had reached the end just yet. The first challenge always involved some sort of physical or combat test. This time it was a series of traps. Not hidden ones, but obviously swinging blades and gouts of flame. Picking a path through and advancing with the right timing was the safest bet, though anyone with sufficient cultivation could simply plough their way through. Interestingly enough, the group found that this time that was more literal. Traps were usually never damaged and if they were damaged the formations quickly repaired them, but there was a straight path through the first room. Anton went through first just to make sure it wasn¡¯t some sort of trap and things were actually active, but he didn¡¯t spot any changes from the obvious- and arrived at the other side unscathed. At least they didn¡¯t have to expend their effort just yet, though it threw them off slightly. Future trials had nothing to destroy- though they did see some damaged floors as they continued through the pressure trial. They passed puzzles and the knowledge as well as another round of traps that were only slightly damaged. Then they came to the golems. Everyone was quite confident in defeating the golems, but it seemed a group was already there ahead of them. It seemed to be a dozen members of the Heavenly Lion Sect, with cultivations ranging from just entering Spirit Building to one member on the border between mid and late Spirit Building. They would have been quite content staying out of things and watching the fight, but apparently entering the room was sufficient to trigger more golems. Eight more golems, one with a curious cut on its otherwise flawless body, stepped out into the area. They headed towards the new entrants, but things didn¡¯t end there. The members of the Heavenly Lion Sect had clearly noticed them. The strongest one among them-who should have been the ¡°Senior Brother Zvonko¡±- shouted orders. ¡°Formation C!¡± There was sufficient room for the two groups to fight the total of twenty golems, but the members of the Heavenly Lion Sect began weaving themselves among the others, drawing their golems along with them. The group that was slightly more than half members of the Ninety-Nine Stars responded in kind. Nobody could directly attack another, but standing in front of someone while a golem punched with a multiple ton fist did just as well. It became a mess of fighting the golems while getting in the way of other combatants- while not also being blocked by them. Anton found himself forced into melee- even if he retreated, the members of the Heavenly Lion Sect would follow him with two or three members, since they had some spares. The golems likewise came with them. While Anton was still able to avoid the ponderous attacks of several golems, since they were intentionally being drawn towards him instead of fended off like his companions normally did he was less effective at damaging them and simply ended up drifting back towards the larger mass of people. Marsen had the most direct effects on the Heavenly Lion Sect. His frost could make the ground extremely slippery, but he was in no obligation to withdraw it when others moved through the area. Thus, he spread the effects wildly without directly touching anyone, limiting their movements while he simply removed ice where it would inhibit his companions. Timothy¡¯s approach was the most¡­ extreme. When he found it difficult to direct attacks to their competitors he seemed to simply devote himself to battle- but then he suddenly jumped in front of someone who was being attacked. A member of the Heavenly Lion Sect, specifically. He raised his shield- a new one obtained in the various trials- directly intercepting the attack. It was then that his purpose became clear. He hadn¡¯t suddenly decided that working with them was the best option. Instead, he was struck and sent rocketing backwards- into a very surprised cultivator who wasn¡¯t prepared to dodge someone launched by the golem. Timothy simply rallied all his energy for defense and let himself be catapulted into the man. Both of them crashed into the wall, but only Timothy quickly brushed himself off and was moving. Despite all the efforts to sabotage each other, the golems were steadily being defeated. It didn¡¯t seem that anyone could leave until they were all gone, so the end results were drawbacks for both sides. They expended much more energy than they should have and both sides sustained at least minor injuries. Both sides glared at each other as they moved on, neither willing to give the other priority. If he had the slightest bit of faith in the integrity of the Heavenly Lion sect, Anton might have advised letting them go first and promising to not interfere with them- but he thought it most likely that they would attempt to set up something to harm them even if Anton and the others were sincere. It wasn¡¯t just idle speculation- there were their previous interactions to go off of as well as his ability to read people. The emotions on display from both sides were anger and annoyance, which Anton couldn¡¯t really blame. Though the Heavenly Lion Sect was entirely at fault for the conflicts beginning in the first place. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The next room was the formations room. Zvonko¡¯s face lit up and he pushed forward a skinny young man in early Spirit Building. ¡°Time for you to do your thing.¡± The instant he began pulling out formation flags and throwing them about the area, Catarina leapt forward and started doing the same. The formations already set up in the area had various dangers- fire and lightning were very prominently featured, but instead of being triggered by pressure plates they were constantly active, filling the whole area. The two who were trained in formations matched off against each other as they advanced their own groups forward. The young man was quick, and Catarina seemed to be falling behind. She wasn¡¯t even able to retrieve all of her formation flags as they pressed their way forward. ¡°Tell me how I can help,¡± Firdaus offered. Catalina just held out her hand, fending him off. He was the next most proficient with formations in their group, given their relation to enchanting equipment. His help would have been useful, but Catarina seemed to have taken the current situation as a personal challenge. Anton watched her in pure concentration as she continuously moved through the area, only occasionally directing them to their normal tasks of helping her place flags in the shifting formations. The Heavenly Lion Sect continued to get further ahead, until at the last formation they were able to complete it with time to spare before the others could even reach it. The formation user wasn¡¯t done with just that, however. He was setting up more flags around him. ¡°I need contributions of your energy!¡± he called to the others. ¡°You heard him,¡± Zvonko said, contributing his own energy to the growing formation, a barrier of golden light. ¡°Hmph,¡± the formation user held his head high. ¡°You thought you could compete with me? I¡¯m a journeyman in the formation arts already!¡± As he proclaimed that the barrier completed, while Catarina was left just watching. Anton could sense how difficult it would be to tear apart the barrier. ¡°A journeyman?¡± Catarina questioned. Then she stepped forward, pulling out another formation flag and stabbing it point first into the barrier in front of her. ¡°What low standards.¡± As her flag pierced into the barrier, energy swirled through all of her other flags in the area. Anton didn¡¯t feel like it would be sufficient, but as he was about to add his own energy he felt a sudden flood of energy as the effect spread to previous formations- making use of the other flags that had been ¡®forgotten¡¯. He¡¯d sensed Catarina¡¯s haste, but hadn¡¯t read the undertone of her true intentions until that moment. The power of the formations inherent to the chamber they were in all activated, pressing against the barrier with mixes of fire, lightning, and pure force. There were a few moments where nothing happened, then the barrier cracked. Instead of the elements washing over the members of the Heavenly Lion Sect, it simply shattered the barrier then turned into a massive whirlwind. All of them were sucked into it and pulled back to the beginning of the room while Catarina stepped forward and towards the next room. With a flick of her wrist she pulled her formation flags to her- though she left the other flags scattered about in the final section. She smiled, ¡°The formations here are amazing. I¡¯m just starting to get the slightest idea of how they work.¡± She looked longingly at the spare formation flags. ¡°Unfortunately, the restrictions on this entire place are too enigmatic for me to completely learn.¡± As she stepped through the door into the next room, Catarina waved. ¡°Good luck, mister Journeyman! I hope you have spare flags!¡± The next room was empty. Completely empty, and worrying for that. There was simply a closed door and a simple sign on it. ¡®Please wait¡¯. Anton looked around. ¡°Any traps?¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°It seems to be fine.¡± ¡°About what you did in there¡­ I¡¯m not going to complain, of course, but I would have liked some advance warning you could do that.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°Honestly, I wasn¡¯t quite ready for something like that. I¡¯ve been studying the formations here, of course. Everything is buried behind myriad other layers. I just got the idea¡­ and I kind of picked up on that particular flow as I was going. I was planning to get ahead and encircle them with that formation I was setting up, but I slowed down once I got the idea.¡± ¡°...¡± Firdaus seemed speechless, ¡°You¡¯ve been cultivating for¡­ how long?¡± ¡°Almost three years,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Ah. I had initially assumed all of you were closer to the upper end like myself. Four or five years. How foolish of me.¡± There wasn¡¯t much more to say, and instead they just waited. There were no signs that the Heavenly Lion Sect would be joining them, but they remained cautious as they circulated their energy to refresh themselves. After fifteen minutes, the door in front of them opened. A disheveled looking woman with a sword at her side calmly walked out. She looked at all of them, then shook her head. ¡°Didn¡¯t make it. Good luck.¡± With what seemed to be two swift steps she was gone, and back in the previous room- where they couldn¡¯t catch a glimpse of the Heavenly Lion Sect at all. ¡°That was¡­¡± Lev stared back behind them, ¡°That was Chikere, right? She¡¯s a hair away from Essence Collection.¡± Anton tried to recall that name. ¡°Oh yes. She¡¯s the other one at that level. An independent cultivator, even. I wonder what sort of trial stopped her at the very end. Assuming this is the end.¡± The door ahead of them was still open, and a voice called out from inside. ¡°Oy! I don¡¯t have all day! Or at least, you don¡¯t. Get in here or get out.¡± All of them looked at each other, then hurried inside. Once there they saw¡­ another Everheart. His appearance changed as they looked at him, suddenly growing a longer beard and adopting a different posture. Everheart frowned, then patted his chest and felt his face. ¡°How did I¡­?¡± he scanned the people in the room, then pointed to Anton, ¡°What the hell man, why¡¯d you have to throw everything off? Women want a dashing young fellow, not a nearly middle aged man. You threw off the average so much.¡± Anton avoided commenting to wonder if being a ¡®dashing young fellow¡¯ ever worked, either. Yet he was answered anyway. ¡°No it doesn¡¯t work! But it will someday! Though I¡¯m just a projection so I¡¯m not long for it anyway.¡± ¡°Is the real Everheart still out there?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Eh¡­ maybe. What year is it?¡± the projection in front of them frowned. ¡°Probably dead. Or immortal or whatever. Couldn¡¯t be bothered to come back and check on us if he is alive. Selfish asshole.¡± He stomped his foot on the ground, cracking it. ¡°And yes, I know that¡¯s me I¡¯m talking about! Now are we fighting or what?¡± Everyone blinked. ¡°That¡¯s the trial?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The last one.¡± Everheart punched a fist into his palm. ¡°Gotta at least get a little bit of entertainment out of this. Now come on! Let¡¯s do this.¡± Chapter 136 While it seemed a little bit unfair to fight an eight-on-one battle, Anton wasn¡¯t sure who it was unfair towards. The advantage of numbers should have been useful, but the way Timothy was flying past his head he was going to say the advantage was held by the one with greater cultivation. Though he wasn¡¯t an actual person, the aura around the projection of Everheart was similar in magnitude to an Essence Collection cultivator. He¡¯d felt it change as they entered the room, so presumably it was matching them in some way. Whether that was to be fair or not was a different question. Everheart¡¯s blows were as powerful as the strikes from the golems, but he was much quicker and also a smaller target. Spirit Arrows flew past him as quickly as Anton could fire them, but striking him seemed impossible even as he dodged numerous other attacks. Everheart¡¯s projection fought without weapons, but that was simply because they weren¡¯t necessary. Weapons were for providing reach and multiplying force. The latter was completely unnecessary when fighting them, and if he used a weapon he would simply kill them. Though Everheart could be an ass, he was at least basically fair in his trials. Anton was even starting to doubt the legitimacy of calling this place a ¡®tomb¡¯, though some careless fellows had died- mostly in The Gauntlet during the early days. One bow, two swords, a pair of daggers, and an axe were the weapons of the members of the Order. Lev fought mostly unarmed, relying more on the effects he could produce with his energy rather than physical attacks. He created tendrils of energy meant to restrain as well as leaving traces of his own energy that attempted to burrow through Everheart¡¯s defenses. Though Marsen had fought with no weapons against the other member of the Frostmirror sect, he was currently using a staff with which he primarily targeted Everheart¡¯s lower body. Marsen of course also made use of his frost abilities. Firdaus primarily made use of his spear, though he also took advantage of bladed gauntlets and boots he wore, kicking and punching where advantageous. He incorporated lightning into his attacks, resulting in the area being a mix of colors. Everheart was so relaxed he could talk while fighting them. ¡°Your swordsmanship isn¡¯t anything to speak of,¡± Everheart said as he swiped an elbow over Catarina¡¯s head, ¡°You should probably try to focus on those formations of yours.¡± Of course, she was trying to do that. Everheart just kept moving her formation flags and moving to attack her directly, disrupting her efforts as she had to defend herself. His fist slammed into Timothy¡¯s shield, sending him staggering back several steps but not catapulting him through the air. ¡°Your ability to take a hit is fine I suppose, but what¡¯s the point in blocking if you can¡¯t even reflect the damage to me?¡± Everheart¡¯s hooked his leg behind Timothy¡¯s knee and whacked him on the back of the head with his fist as he lost his balance, ¡°And your stance sucks.¡± Everheart¡¯s eyes constantly scanned his surroundings, looking for his next target. He found it, grabbing Hoyt¡¯s axe just below the blade and stopping his attack. He twisted it to block a spear of ice shot by Marsen. ¡°Your technique sucks,¡± he said to Hoyt. ¡°You¡¯d do better focusing on external projection rather than your physique.¡± He tossed Hoyt¡¯s axe at Marsen, ¡°Your face isn¡¯t as unreadable as you think. Seems the Frostmirror sect still doesn¡¯t have any actual mirrors.¡± His next target was Lev. ¡°An interesting technique you¡¯ve got, but that arm at your side is slowing you down. Better to just remove it.¡± As if to punctuate his point, Everheart jabbed Lev in the guts on the side of his useless arm. At the same time, that ¡®useless¡¯ arm slammed into Everheart¡¯s face, getting the first solid blow on him in the battle. It didn¡¯t do much more than damage his defenses briefly, but Everheart¡¯s eyes flashed with anger. Then he laughed. ¡°What a dumb technique. Using your energy to control your own useless arm from the inside like a parasite on yourself. I love it!¡± That declaration didn¡¯t stop him from kicking Lev halfway across the room, though. Anton kept up a steady rate of firing arrows. He was beginning to see some patterns in Everheart¡¯s movements. The others were also acclimating to fighting one powerful and smaller enemy rather than dealing with golems of their own. As a group, they¡¯d never fought a single person so they weren¡¯t as familiar as they could be. ¡°Where is¡­¡± Everheart looked around, then kicked his leg up behind him, sending Velvet flying into the ceiling. ¡°There you are. Too much killing intent right before your attacks.¡± She twisted her body to hit the ceiling feet first and sprang back down towards Everheart, slicing out with her daggers. He avoided, of course, but Marsen was able to clip him with his spear, drawing their first blood for the battle. Everheart caught the spear as it was being retracted, basically ignoring the electricity pouring out of it against his energy. ¡°You should work more on how to use equipment. It¡¯ll help with making it too.¡± Then Everheart snapped the spear in half. ¡°Also, try not to freeze up in battle. It lets your opponent do whatever they want.¡± During that whole exchange he was dodging others¡¯ attacks. Catarina was actually seizing the opportunity to build up her formation. The energy she was providing was beginning to flow through them, and slightly slowing Everheart. Likewise, Lev¡¯s energy had successfully burrowed its way into one finger and was causing internal damage. Those making more standard attacks were managing to land blows, though most of them didn¡¯t puncture Everheart¡¯s defensive energy. Anton kept his arrows densely packed with energy to have a chance to break through, though some of the time he simply intended for Everheart to avoid and take a lesser blow from someone else. When Everheart appeared right in front of him, Anton wasn¡¯t surprised. ¡°Why the hell are you old, though?¡± Perhaps if he weren¡¯t so thrown off by the question Anton could have avoided the straight punch to his face- but only on a good day. His head snapped back and blood gushed from Anton¡¯s nose. ¡°Couldn¡¯t not be,¡± Anton responded. He spun a nice new handaxe he¡¯d gotten from the reward points, slicing at Everheart¡¯s chin but only cutting a few beard hairs. ¡°I feel that,¡± Everheart said. ¡°But you just started.¡± Anton managed to jump over a sweep of his leg, and Everheart had to respond to a half dozen other attacks which prevented from following up. ¡°Why start cultivating at your age?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°I couldn¡¯t not. I had things to do. Still do, really.¡± ¡°I know what you mean. There¡¯s always more. You know, the Ninety-Nine Stars kind of drops the ball in the first half of Spirit Building. You should have swapped them and done body first. You¡¯d break fewer ribs.¡± Anton knew the attack was coming, but he couldn¡¯t avoid the spinning kick to his chest. He only barely reacted in time as it hit his sternum, his hastily constructed Golden Armor shattering under the blow. And, as predicted, many of his ribs. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Anton coughed up a bit of blood. ¡°So?¡± His response was punctuated with an arrow. He sent himself with it, feeling all of the energy of everyone else. Velvet was not quite directly behind him, Hoyt and Lev on one side with Firdaus and Marsen taking up the other side. Timothy had inserted himself on the front. The Spirit Arrow went past Timothy¡¯s ear as Firdaus forced Everheart to hop into the air. The Spirit Arrow curved as it needed to on its way to Everheart¡¯s heart, piercing through his defenses- until suddenly they increased in magnitude, shattering the arrow. Blows from all around him rained down on Everheart, and he slammed into the ground, sending out cracks in all directions- throwing all of Catarina¡¯s formation flags into disarray. Anton had noticed him steadily growing stronger throughout the battle, nearly matching their teamwork, but he hadn¡¯t expected a sudden increase. One or two at a time, Everheart used a single strike to send those around him flying with various numbers of broken bones. With impossibly swift movements he reached Anton to backhand him on the side of the head before tossing him, then he ran around the room and grabbed all of Catarina¡¯s formation flags, throwing them around the sudden pile of people suddenly atop Catarina. ¡°Ah.¡± Everheart looked at the pile. ¡°Maybe I overdid it.¡± He prodded the pile, and heard a chorus of groans. ¡°Nah, it¡¯s fine. Hey! Get up! Time for rewards and crap.¡± Somehow Anton understood the words through his concussion, but he was still the last to get to his feet except Catarina, who had ended up at the bottom of the pile of people. Everheart threw open the large doors at the back of the room, to display another room where piles of books and scrolls were haphazardly placed. ¡°Hope you all like forbidden techniques, because that¡¯s what I¡¯ve got.¡± Everheart looked at the pile. ¡°Huh. And a staff technique, I guess.¡± He tossed a scroll at Firdaus¡¯ head, and the young man barely managed to catch it before impact. ¡°I¡¯m glad it was a group that did this first, because honestly I doubt anyone can use all of these themselves.¡± Everheart looked at the dazed group. ¡°Well go on, get looking!¡± Everheart shook his head, ¡°This group here,¡± he waved his hand vaguely, ¡°Is only forbidden because they¡¯re good. I suppose you can start there. This pile is for self-destructive techniques. This bunch just has really awful side effects for whoever you attack with it.¡± ¡°What about that one?¡± Velvet asked, pointing to a lone scroll in the corner. ¡°Hmm.¡± Everheart walked over to it and opened it up. A swirling void opened up in front of him, and he swiftly rolled the scroll. ¡°I thought I got rid of the world destruction techniques.¡± Everheart ripped the scroll into tiny pieces. ¡°If you see any of those, best hand them over. You kind of live in the world, after all.¡± Among the various techniques in the pile were a dozen copies of Candle Wax. Anton browsed them just to make sure they were the same, but they were identical in every respect. Still just the worst side effects. Most of the other techniques were of marginal value, as well. Nobody wanted to sacrifice their life to create a giant carnivorous forest. Lev did scan that one, but he carefully placed it back. Velvet claimed a stealth technique that Everheart claimed could let you sneak into- and with sufficient proficiency out of- any sect in the world. She let Anton take a look, and while he didn¡¯t understand the profoundities behind it he did think it was probably true. It was just that minimum requirements to begin training it were Essence Collection and proficiency in ¡®about a dozen¡¯ other stealth techniques. It wasn¡¯t expected that good techniques would be easy to train, but Everheart¡¯s techniques varied widely in usability. Everheart tossed books at people as he browsed through the pile himself. ¡°Oh, the formation books aren¡¯t here by the way.¡± He gestured to Catarina, ¡°Except this one.¡± He held up a manual titled ¡®Soul-Sucking Sanctum¡¯. ¡°This actually belongs in the fourth category of ¡®all of the above¡¯. Though it has some normal insights on formations still.¡± He looked at Lev. ¡°You¡¯re some kind of planty guy?¡± Everheart tossed him a scroll from the first pile, seemingly written on a large leaf. ¡°A nice book on gardening.¡± Anton wondered what about gardening might have been forbidden by powerful sects, but he supposed he could ask Lev. ¡°Oh, here¡¯s a good one. It¡¯s a joke book,¡± he tossed a book from the third pile to Marsen. ¡°Also other forms of mental disruption and soul freezing and crap. But you should look at the jokes. I got them from this great guy. Really funny.¡± Everheart crossed his arms in front of him as he looked at Anton. ¡°The best one for you isn¡¯t here, sorry.¡± ¡°Best how?¡± Anton asked. ¡°An archery book or¡­?¡± Everheart posed dramatically and pointed, ¡°Fleeting Youth! Using the power of the grave to dredge out your potential. Perfect for an old new cultivator. It¡¯s not here, but I can tell you where it is.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Anton asked. ¡°That sounds intriguing. Is it dangerous?¡± ¡°Only if you use it wrong. Probably. It was like¡­ ninety percent finished when I was made here. Should have worked out the kinks.¡± ¡°That does sound useful,¡± Anton admitted. Though Everheart was deemed crazy and dangerous by almost everyone, nobody ever claimed his techniques didn¡¯t work. Even an incomplete one could be valuable. ¡°Do you know where other things might be? Anything about raising the cultivation of people on a large scale?¡± ¡°Trying to boost your sect for merit, huh?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°I have one in that third pile. You might not want that though.¡± ¡°I was thinking wider scale. I¡¯ve been trying to determine if it¡¯s viable to raise the minimum cultivation level of everyone, so that cultivators can¡¯t just run rampant over peaceful towns and villages.¡± ¡°Oho. Interesting. I don¡¯t have a technique for that,¡± Everheart admitted, ¡°But I do have some notes. Should still be sealed. I could tell you where it is. Or that technique for yourself. Fleeting Youth is one of my best works. You¡¯d have to pick one though.¡± ¡°The notes,¡± Anton said without hesitation. ¡°They should be more beneficial to the world.¡± ¡°Tch,¡± Everheart clicked his tongue, muttering to himself, ¡°Should have spent more time hyping it up. You sure? You could rule the world with the other one.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anton said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to ¡®rule the world¡¯ if people are helpless without my intervention.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Everheart took one of the scrolls in front of him, unraveling and then wiping his hand across it. All of the colored inks in it were ripped from the pages, leaving it blank. Then he slapped the scroll, leaving behind instructions and a map. Everheart looked it over. ¡°Yeah, that should do. Here you go.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Anton accepted the scroll. ¡°Well,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Time for you to get going.¡± He scooped up all of the remaining techniques with his energy and tossed them into a bag, which he threw to Anton. ¡°Do whatever with those. It¡¯s time for the end!¡± Everheart stood tall, proudly announcing. ¡°Everyone! I¡¯m sure you¡¯re glad to hear that the trials are over. No complaints that it¡¯s only been twenty-five days! Come to the main hall. All facilities will now become defunct.¡± Everheart waved to the group. ¡°Shoo. Go. Don¡¯t delay.¡± Ignoring Everheart¡¯s projection seemed like a foolish idea, so they all started running. There was nothing blocking their movement- though they did see members of the Heavenly Lion Sect milling about outside the room where the golems would have been, awkwardly heading towards the main hall when they realized nothing was active for them to exploit. Chapter 137 Hundreds of people once more found their way to the main hall of Everheart¡¯s ¡®tomb¡¯. There wasn¡¯t anything else they could do- all of the facilities had stopped working and even the standard amount of natural energy was dropping back to ambient levels. The atmosphere was confused but slightly excited. Confused, because it was still well short of the promised month. Excited, because they wanted to see the prizes- especially the grand prize. The Everheart in long flowing robes was once again present. It wasn¡¯t clear if he was more ¡®real¡¯ or just the one used for formal announcements. ¡°Let¡¯s get this started. Beginning with the second through fourth place prizes were two who made great strides in their own cultivation. Bags of assorted cra- cultivation resources for each of them!¡± For a moment Everheart¡¯s true personality almost shone through the formal projection. Everheart tossed two storage bags to Anish and Chikere, the two with the highest cultivations- but also the most personal talent. A third one went to Zvonko of the Heavenly Lion Sect. ¡°Then we have smaller prizes for a myriad of others.¡± Several dozen storage bags and hundreds of small boxes were distributed to people. Anton looked down at his empty hands in surprise. He¡¯d thought he¡¯d progressed an above average amount. It was only a single star and a bit, but he was in mid Spirit Building. He wouldn¡¯t complain, though, because he¡¯d already received some very useful information. Even just the chance to cultivate in the area for twenty-five days was greatly beneficial. He was just starting to turn to leave when Everheart continued. ¡°Now I¡¯m sure all of you are wondering about the grand prize. You might even wonder about the rest. It¡¯s all about remembering what I said. ¡®Most cultivation improvements¡¯ isn¡¯t just about raising your rank. It¡¯s about practicing techniques as well. Most importantly, it¡¯s not just about your own cultivation. Half of you didn¡¯t even work in cooperation with your own sects! A shameful display. But the grand prize goes to the one who, overall, was most responsible for the greatest amount of cultivation improvements.¡± Everheart held up a pot. Then he stepped forward into the crowd. ¡°Hope you like dealing with jealousy, because you have to learn it eventually.¡± He set the pot in Anton¡¯s hands. A silence fell over the crowd. Before they could fully process everything, Everheart¡¯s form wavered slightly, and the ground trembled. ¡°Well, that¡¯s that then. My advice is for everyone to run like hell. This whole place is coming down. I matched its stability against its future, so all of the remaining stuff has been decayed for centuries. That includes the walls and ceiling. Don¡¯t bother trying to dig it up, though I won¡¯t be here to stop you if you want to try.¡± Another tremble. ¡°RUN!¡± Everheart commanded. Anton was already obeying, but was finding it difficult to get through the crowd in front of him. It wasn¡¯t a long distance down the path away from the main hall before they got outside, but the rumblings went from ominous to cataclysmic very quickly. As he was passing Anton scooped up a few of the slower Body Tempering cultivators, ignoring their sect affiliations and simply gathering two or three in each arm as he balanced the pot on his head. Moments later, Anton was outside and setting the handful of others on their feet. An arm grasped towards him, and Anton ducked. However, the true target was atop his head. Anton felt the figure he recognized as Zvonko grabbing the pot while at the same time there was a flaring of powerful energy he barely had time to even comprehend. Two sources of energy clashed- one Anton recognized as Elder Kseniya, and two members of the Heavenly Lion Sect working together to stop a hail of arrows. Anton already had his handaxes in hand and was spinning about, slashing towards Zvonko¡¯s arm. Then everything froze. The buff figure of Everheart showed up as everyone was frozen in place. ¡°I do believe I had a prohibition against fighting. However, I also had one against stealing. I never said those were over. So I am going to let the actions here play out as they will. Just remember, there are always consequences for actions.¡± Everheart¡¯s voice boomed loudly, ¡°Never ignore my proclamations!¡± Perhaps nobody was ever frozen at all, because the momentum of the scene continued directly from where it was before. Anton¡¯s axe swung up towards Zvonko¡¯s arm that was grasping the pot he¡¯d received, but Zvonko was already withdrawing. But Anton had allies willing to watch his back, and Lev had seen the attempt coming. Tendrils of his energy wrapped around Zvonko¡¯s outstretched arm, preventing its withdrawal. The sharpness of the axes Anton received from the tomb¡¯s rewards could not be underestimated, and Anton cleaved right through Zvonko¡¯s defensive energy, skin, muscle, and bone. A severed hand fell to the ground out of which Anton grabbed his pot. One of the two late Essence Collection cultivators from the Heavenly Lion Sect charged towards Anton as Zvonko screamed in pain. Anton knew he had no way to defend against it, but no Spirit Arrows came from Elder Kseniya. Then he realized it was because she was suddenly standing in front of him. ¡°Treachery!¡± yelled the elder. ¡°How dare you maim one of our disciples under the protection of neutral ground!¡± Elder Kseniya¡¯s presence didn¡¯t match the vision of a great arm and eye in the sky from when Grand Elder Vandale had rained stars down on the beast horde, but it was also much more present than that event. Though she was only in early Galaxy Construction, she still possessed immense power. Her normally subdued aura flooded the area. ¡°There was no treachery on our part. Your disciple openly attempted to steal from one of ours, in the presence of hundreds of eyewitnesses. So you have two choices. First- you can bow your heads to the ground and beg for the forgiveness of my disciple. Second- you can all die.¡± The white haired elder from the Heavenly Lion Sect held his back straight under the suppression of her aura. ¡°You can¡¯t get away with that under the treaty.¡± ¡°Maybe not,¡± Elder Kseniya conceded. She had an arrow drawn and pointed at him, brimming with condensed power. ¡°But nobody here has the justification to stop me either.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Two more presences made themselves known- from Glorious Flame Palace and the Frostmirror Sect respectively. The second was in response to the first. The older man from the Glorious Flame Palace spoke first. ¡°One sect breaking the rules does not justify excessive retaliation. Stand down.¡± ¡°Your Glorious Flame Palace is far too eager to jump into conflict,¡± the seemingly ageless woman from the Frostmirror Sect countered. ¡°The rules state that whoever breaks the peace first shall be beset by all of the rest. But you knew that. You just want an excuse to lay down ¡®justice¡¯ against a powerful opponent. It is my opinion that we should follow the rules and side with those who were attacked.¡± Zvonko had already backed away a dozen meters from Anton and Lev, clutching his severed forearm. ¡°I was just trying to get back what was mine. The old man stole my prize.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lie.¡± The same or very similar comments rang from the mouths of at least a dozen people. Anton himself, his companions, five members of the Frostmirror Sect, Anish, Chikere¡­ and most damning of all one of the members of the Heavenly Lion Sect. The latter was one of those Anton had scooped up and brought outside during the collapse- which was now quite complete, the great plateau being half rubble behind them. Elder Ksenia didn¡¯t seem to have been influenced by the surrounding circumstances. ¡°You have ten seconds left to kneel down and apologize to my disciple and the Order of Ninety Nine Stars. You two and that kid.¡± There was a long pause as the elders from the Heavenly Lion Sect considered the situation. ¡°Zvonko. Do as she says,¡± they concluded. ¡°We apologize for the improprieties committed by our disciple,¡± they clasped their hands and inclined their heads. ¡°What do you think, Anton?¡± Elder Kseniya asked. What he thought was that he didn¡¯t need any more enemies, but he supposed that was already impossible given the events of the day. More importantly, the Heavenly Lion Sect was already on that list no matter what. ¡°They didn¡¯t even get on their knees, let alone bow their heads to the ground.¡± Anton could sense Elder Kseniya¡¯s smile as she fired four sudden arrows. The elders of the Heavenly Lion sect weren¡¯t without defenses, but each of them ended up with at least one shattered knee, staggering them. ¡°Done. We can forgive you now.¡± The disciples of every sect had already been separating into what they perceived as allied groups. The Frostmirror sect subconsciously followed Diana, Annelie, and Marsen to stand with Anton and the others. Many independent cultivators were already slipping away, but Chikere stayed, standing with Anton. Likewise, those who had been harmed by the Heavenly Lion Sect¡¯s short-term monopoly of training facilities stood against them. The Heavenly Lion Sect was not without their own allies, but they looked somewhat outnumbered. All disciples looked towards their elders to see if a battle would happen. The two elders of the Heavenly Lion Sect made themselves stand on their shattered legs. ¡°We leave. Don¡¯t think you¡¯ve heard the end of this.¡± ¡°Those could have been through your heart, you know,¡± Elder Kseniya warned. ¡°But I chose to avoid irreparable harm out of respect for the other sects¡¯ opinions.¡± The elder from Glorious Flame Palace had folded his arms in front of him and frowned, but he clearly heard Anish¡¯ declaration of the lie, and saw his positioning. The other disciples had all followed their foremost senior, of course. ¡°These results are barely acceptable.¡± Somehow, all the sects split apart smoothly without any further conflict. While destroyed kneecaps might have been crippling injuries for most, Elder Kseniya had taken no steps to prevent their healing. Thus, it was little more than a slap on the face for Essence Collection cultivators to receive such injuries. Such insults could be taken just as seriously as killing someone, but in terms of the agreement between sects it was relatively minor. Anton clutched the pot to himself and breathed deeply as they walked away. He would have to thank Elder Kseniya¡­ probably. Though she had also prodded him into digging a deeper hole for himself. Not maliciously, he was certain, but she was the ¡®growth through adversity¡¯ type. He¡¯d been quite happy to have removed much of the conflicts from his life, but now he doubted that could ever be achieved. Then again, if he continued cultivating maybe he was just fooling himself that it could be peaceful. ----- The Grasping Willows were going well out of their optimal path to travel along with the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, but it was quite a bit safer for them to do so. It also gave some time for Anton to catch up with Elder Varela, and Lev also regaled him of the events in the tomb. ¡°The grand prize, even,¡± Elder Varela shook his head, ¡°Did you plan that out?¡± ¡°Ha!¡± Anton laughed, ¡°I wish. It just seemed like the best thing to do. Personally, I find I advance best in such conditions. I¡¯m not a solitary genius cultivator, even if I managed to push through the first few stars alone.¡± ¡°Everyone¡¯s looking much different for a month,¡± Elder Varela said. ¡°Stronger cultivation and enchanted treasures abound. One wonders what they might all do.¡± ¡°You could just ask,¡± Anton said. ¡°The answer is, I don¡¯t know.¡± He opened the pot and peeked in. There were strands of energy visible to the eye swirling about. In addition to that, he saw a pile of cultivation medicines and crafting resources contained inside what was apparently a space similar to a storage bag, given the pot was rather small on the outside. At least there didn¡¯t seem to be more forbidden techniques in there. ¡°Swirls of energy and resources.¡± He couldn¡¯t tell what the pot did as it clearly wasn¡¯t active at the moment, but he would carefully investigate. If it was dangerous Everheart would have probably given a warning, but he might have just assumed Anton knew to be cautious. Unfortunately, Firdaus had split off- Cloudtop Summit was in the opposite direction. The Order had competent appraisers and crafters, but they simply weren¡¯t part of the crowd that had come. ¡°I¡¯m sure it does¡­ something ridiculous.¡± ¡°You can be certain of that,¡± Elder Kseniya commented. ¡°You¡¯re right to be cautious. On that note¡­ that includes any further techniques you picked up. I doubt he didn¡¯t hand any out.¡± Anton looked down at the bag at his side completely stuffed full of them. ¡°He had a few, for certain.¡± He was planning to destroy most of them, but the first category of forbidden was simply arbitrary suppression by powerful sects- that just meant they were worth looking into. Chapter 138 With the crafting materials and other cultivation resources separated from the pot, Anton could take stock of what else there was. To him, it looked most like¡­ noodle soup. Where both the noodles and broth were made of natural energy in slightly different forms. There were long strands of denser energy floating in somewhat less dense energy without any coherent form. The liquid was still quite dense, and it responded to Anton¡¯s attempts to control it as he would expect from natural energy, though it was a bit sluggish. After considering if he should be cautious and wait for appraisal of the pot, Anton decided he should do some investigating on his own. It shouldn¡¯t be dangerous, especially if he was cautious. More importantly, he wouldn¡¯t always be able to rely on others for appraisal of enchanted objects. He needed to be able to test things on his own. He drew some of the liquid up out of the pot into his hand, keeping it separate from himself. Then he carefully dipped a finger into it. He wasn¡¯t sure what he expected. There was a slight chill, but little else happened. He didn¡¯t even directly distort the drops, because they reacted just like natural energy- including the property of being immaterial. The chilling feeling was from how the energy felt when touching his own. It didn¡¯t seem dangerous, just strange. Very carefully he took just a single drop of the energy and started to absorb it into himself, ready to forcibly eject it if necessary. As it circulated through his meridians it broke down, revealing it was exactly what it seemed to be. Natural energy, simply condensed into something like a liquid. As it broke apart it expanded into a density more like what he would expect from areas like the higher slopes in the Order, a density he could manage with effort. If he were trying to control more than a few drops he might find it difficult, but with just a single one he merely ingested a significant amount of energy. He thought the liquid would be useful for both training energy or recovering in areas with lesser density of natural energy. Then there were the strands. They moved around in the pot as he adjusted it, almost impossibly thin strands that overlapped and twisted around each other. Unlike the liquid, they didn¡¯t respond directly to his promptings for control. He found he could use his own energy or the liquid to move them just fine, but the strands themselves didn¡¯t react. He carefully lifted a group out, separating a single strand to hang down like a thin blond hair that shone with light. He retracted his energy, allowing the strand to touch his bare skin. Nothing, except he could tell it was in a way even more ephemeral than the energy. It had no physical sensation at all, though he could hold it between his fingers. On the assumption that it was a similar sort of thing, he allowed the strand to be absorbed into his meridian. The power he felt in it was significant, but not sufficient to combat his own energy. As long as he isolated it there would be no danger of serious repercussions. Or he was making some sort of gigantic mistake, but Anton doubted it would be that dangerous. Not with a very tiny, single strand out of the whole mess inside the pot. Though the strands didn¡¯t respond to his control directly, it easily enough slipped into the meridians in his left hand as he wrapped it in energy. Then he set about circulating it through himself, avoiding his dantian just in case it was problematic. The feeling of the Ninety-Nine Stars was warm and comforting, and as Anton was at the stage of improving Earthly Connection, he focused on thoughts of others subconsciously. Cultivating the Frostmirror technique was cold and dispassionate, but in a way it also had the beauty of a frozen lake. A timely chill breeze could help resist the heat of a hot day and energy with cold properties could be used for many things. It flowed like a comforting ice through his meridians. As it happened, Anton was aware of the thoughts flooding into him. He¡¯d certainly never cultivated the Frostmirror technique, and as the moment passed he was aware he still had not. His energy still flowed through his meridians in the expected pattern, but he had just a moment of memory and insight. Not just random insight, either. If Anton was right, it was Marsen¡¯s memory and insight. Anton stared cautiously at the pot, then sealed it. He wasn¡¯t quite sure how he should interpret what had happened, but if things leaned a certain way he would much rather destroy the pot no matter its clear value. He would not accept stolen memories or insights, especially not those of his companions. He decided to remain quiet about what he¡¯d experienced until they could get back to the Order. ----- Upon returning to the sect, the first thing that happened was an ambush. A large wolf and a small girl both pounced on Anton as he stepped into his home to set aside unnecessary extras. ¡°I did it!¡± Alva proclaimed. ¡°I went on a hunt and fought beasts!¡± Anton sighed internally, but smiled on the outside. He wouldn¡¯t be able to change Alva, and he had no objections to her cultivating in general. It was just too early. A child should be given the opportunity to be a child. For Alva¡­ that wasn¡¯t fully the case. ¡°The fifth star, congratulations. I see your energy is quite steady too.¡± Anton glanced down, ¡°How¡¯s your leg.¡± Alva tucked it behind her. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s almost healed. Senior Brother Oskar said it was normal to get injured a little bit.¡± From what Anton could sense, it really was just a small wound. That didn¡¯t stop his chest from tightening up, though. Far too many members of his family were embroiled in dangerous cultivation¡­ but then again, it might be even more dangerous to not cultivate. ¡°I¡¯d love to hear all about it,¡± Anton said as he set his pack and bow down in the hall. He could probably put them away later. ¡°I had quite some adventures as well. I wonder if you can guess who I met?¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± Alva bit her lip. ¡°You went to a big tomb with lots of sects and stuff, right? Then could it be¡­ Annelie?¡± She was a smart one. Alva¡¯s face lit up, ¡°You saw her, didn¡¯t you? Is she here?¡± Alva ran toward the door. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The two of them were a couple years apart, but as part of the family they had grown up together on the farm. Anton sighed, ¡°She¡¯s not here,¡± he shook his head. ¡°Why not?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Where else would she be?¡± How was he supposed to answer that without making Alva feel like her cousin didn¡¯t care about her? Personally, he couldn¡¯t blame Annelie. The Frostmirror sect had freed her from slavery and offered her safety and stability where he couldn¡¯t. She had advanced into Spirit Building and seemed quite adept at their cultivation style. It wouldn¡¯t benefit her to change to the Ninety-Nine Stars, and it would just uproot her life again to do so. Perhaps as her great-grandfather he could have pressured her into making that choice, but thoughts of what the Frostmirror sect might think of that were secondary to her own desires. She chose to stay. Since he¡¯d at least been able to teach her how to subdue her emotions rather than just sever them his biggest concern was assuaged. Her fellow disciples would take care of her as well as he could. Perhaps better, since he wasn¡¯t exactly a stable, ever present figure anymore. While he could bring her along with him, she should be able to make her own choices. Though she was still young, both she and Alva had been forced to mature past their age. ¡°She¡¯s not going to be staying with us, but if you continue to carefully progress your cultivation I am certain you can meet at future events.¡± A deflection and a promise all in one, but it was the best he could do. At least Alva seemed to understand well enough, despite her obvious disappointment. ----- ¡°This is quite something,¡± a wrinkled old woman said as she returned the pot to Anton. ¡°If you would like, the Order would pay a generous sum to buy it from you. Though I suppose I should first tell you about what it does, and what that would entail.¡± ¡°Thank you, Elder Siekert, that would be appreciated. I noticed some details, as I said, but I wasn¡¯t able to full tell how it operated.¡± The old woman worked with elder Evan, but more on the appraisal and creation side instead of storage and distribution. ¡°On that point, we are not entirely unmatched,¡± she nodded slightly, ¡°It¡¯s a most potent vessel indeed, but also difficult to identify. I can, at least, assuage some of your worries. First, it seems safe to use. Second, it does not steal memories or insights from people around it. It simply replicates small snippets of nearby cultivation progress. It would be immensely valuable if it seemed capable of assisting those at the Galaxy Construction level, but it seems aimed strongly at Essence Collection cultivators. It should still be usable by you at your current level, of course.¡± Elder Siekert sighed, ¡°Many of us could use something like that, but that¡¯s not the end of it. First, it is already attuned to you. You did not mention making such a decision, but it is likely that Everheart forced that upon you. Severing that connection would be detrimental to you, though if you were willing the damage would be something we could compensate you for.¡± ¡°So the insights are copies? How fascinating.¡± Anton was concerned they were obtained by stealing them from others, but if it was simply that. ¡°How does that work?¡± ¡°If we knew,¡± Elder Siekert said, ¡°We¡¯d be the most powerful cultivation sect in the world. Because while those insights don¡¯t give you actual progress in other cultivation methods, all sorts of insights into the nature of cultivation are greatly beneficial.¡± ¡°It would also allow me to better converse with others on those topics,¡± Anton nodded to himself. ¡°I¡¯m quite capable of guiding people in the Ninety-Nine Stars, but I¡¯ve started encountering many others.¡± ¡°That¡¯s where the limitations come in,¡± Elder Siekert said. ¡°It is limited to insights gained in its presence. More than that, a warning. I would expect it to be quite dangerous if you attempted to use it to absorb anything significantly beyond your level. Along the lines of permanent mental damage, if you¡¯re lucky. So safe is relative to that point. Doubtless you will find other peculiarities to how it functions over a long time of use, but I thought that a week of study on my own part sufficient to declare it appraised.¡± ¡°I think I shall keep it for now,¡± Anton said. ¡°Before you go, let me give you the first offer to purchase it. Though I have the feeling it won¡¯t matter.¡± ----- Grand Elder Vandale sat around with several of the other Grand Elders, not in a formal meeting but a casual state instead. ¡°If there was any doubt before, these are times of change. Whether Everheart anticipated this before his death or merely chose a random time, his actions are precipitating change. Though I do believe some of our new disciples would have that effect regardless.¡± ¡°Are you jealous that your grandson is being overshadowed?¡± Matousek inquired. ¡°Why should I be? He is the one who chose his own path¡­ very specifically different from my own. And it¡¯s not as if he isn¡¯t involved with things.¡± Ivarsson had comments to make as well. ¡°It speaks highly of Anton that his first actions were to organize wider ranging training exercises. Focusing on those lower in cultivation than himself, in particular. This may still benefit his own cultivation, but interacting with those stronger than himself would be most beneficial to his rapid growth.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect any different,¡± Vandale responded. ¡°His focus has become quite clear. I don¡¯t doubt that he¡¯ll be traveling around Graotan soon enough as well, spreading seeds of growth. It is a shame that the results will take so long to manifest, even if they properly take hold.¡± ¡°He¡¯s still that same type, though,¡± Matousek sighed. ¡°He¡¯ll draw trouble whether or not he seeks it out.¡± ¡°Did any of us get where we are without mountains of trouble?¡± Vandale asked. ¡°No. But that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m looking forward to it. And it had to be Everheart, of course,¡± Matousek shook his head. ¡°You think he died?¡± Ivarsson asked. ¡°Of course,¡± Matousek retorted. ¡°The man wasn¡¯t able to lay low for more than a few years. And even this isn¡¯t a big deal compared to what he got up to.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s dead,¡± Vandale noted. He slowly looked up to the sky. ¡°There¡¯s the other option, after all.¡± ¡°Ascension?¡± Matousek frowned. ¡°Even the founder wasn¡¯t sure that was possible. You¡¯ve all seen what happens to those who try. Even you yourself said it was probably impossible.¡± ¡°Impossible for me, yes,¡± Vandale nodded. ¡°But in general? It¡¯s hard to say. It¡¯s not like there aren¡¯t those with more talent than me in the world, striving for their chance.¡± Chapter 139 When Anton thought he¡¯d gotten his hands on something too good to be true, he ended up half right. There were many things in the wide world of cultivation he didn¡¯t understand, and that included miraculous objects that were extremely beneficial to cultivator¡¯s growth. But as this particular object had come from Everheart, he had his doubts. He wasn¡¯t exactly wrong, either. If he¡¯d gotten a proper explanation from Everheart, he would believe its accuracy- but what he got instead was a collapsing tomb. He also expected the Order¡¯s appraisal to be accurate- and it was. Especially the part about ¡®optimal for Essence Collection¡¯. Though he might have preferred it to be said ¡®difficult to use while in Spirit Building¡¯. The ability to absorb insights condensed into metaphysical strands was a wonderful thing- and difficult. After all, they were just brief moments. Seconds, here and there. Absorbing the first strand hadn¡¯t been terribly taxing for Anton, but he found he could only handle a handful per day before his mind was overwhelmed by thoughts not his own. More importantly, while general insights into cultivation were beneficial a large majority were specific to cultivation techniques or specific skills he didn¡¯t possess and never planned to train. Thus, they were of limited to no use for him. In addition to that, it didn¡¯t just absorb insights automatically. He had to activate it, and while it was capable of drawing in surrounding natural energy to power itself, that energy had to be channeled through him. At least, he didn¡¯t see another way to do it. Thus, it was extremely tiring. Yet Anton had no serious complaints. Cultivation was all about overcoming difficulty and the benefits that could provide. This was no different. He began to gather groups of cultivators from the Order, consulting with them on their cultivation and having them practice in his presence while he managed the Vessel of Insights. Calling it just a pot seemed¡­ inappropriate. Anton was able to separate out the strands that related to the Ninety-Nine Stars, and absorbing them was easier because of his familiarity with the techniques- though that could have been because the insights were from lower tier cultivators in general. He didn¡¯t directly learn much from them, but he found he was able to converse about certain difficulties in a more useful fashion. Sometimes someone might say they were having trouble with the fifth star and tempering their organs when what they actually meant was their control over energy wasn¡¯t refined enough to progress. He invited his companions to participate as well. They had deeper knowledge of what he was doing, but the insights were devoid of thoughts unrelated to cultivation. At most, he might learn someone was distracted by personal matters but not what kind. He wasn¡¯t sure if this was a limitation of the process or intentional, but he appreciated it. He would rather not directly deal with the emotional baggage of others. He had his own, and he was still sorting through it. Ultimately he intended for some well placed arrows to lighten that burden, but of course not everything was that simple. ----- Attempting to deal with matters involving Ofrurg would certainly be more expedient if Kohar was in that very same country. However, the form of expediency that would result would probably be detrimental to her, as she would likely end up dead. Yet any attempts to form legal proceedings from Graotan were extremely difficult. If the Order wasn¡¯t sending escorts along with her missives Kohar was quite certain they would end up ¡®missing¡¯ somehow. Matters were further complicated by recent events. Though on the grand scale of cultivators Anton cutting off the hand of a disciple of the Heavenly Lion Sect and Elder Kseniya shooting the knees of two of their elders could be considered a minor scuffle, it opened up room for accusations of personal biases. Just because Kohar wasn¡¯t part of the sect didn¡¯t mean that her staying in Graotan left her completely unaffected by them or unsympathetic. That was partly because they were in the right and not horrible, but still. The only benefit to her to come out of that whole expedition to Everheart¡¯s ¡®tomb¡¯ was that the Heavenly Lion Sect had been seen interacting in a positive manner with Van Hassel and Slusser. It wasn¡¯t enough to be able to heap anything on their head, but they couldn¡¯t completely distance themselves from the two and the many substantiated claims of banditry against them. Currently Kohar needed to gain the assistance of others in Ofrurg to make much progress. She was still attempting to get in contact with some people Anton had met, so she wasn¡¯t certain if she would see any results. But that was fine. The strange thing was, this was the most progress she¡¯d made towards any sort of real change on Ofrurg in some time. Cultivation was a slow process, and law did not flow quickly. Laws concerning cultivators were difficult to enforce during the best of times, and the fact that some events had only taken several months by monopolizing some of the courts was actually a great boon. Her cultivation was actually improving, as well, which made her optimistic about eventually returning to Ofrurg in person. Perhaps in a few years, when it would be harder to make her disappear without a big fuss. ----- Just reading the technique manual obtained from Everheart scared Catarina. She would absolutely not be practicing wide-scale formations that indiscriminately absorbed life force. But that didn¡¯t mean she should ignore it, either. She had to know how it worked to counter anything of the sort in the future, and there were still insights she could glean from it. She just wished there weren¡¯t detailed drawings of shriveled corpses involved. She¡¯d seen death before, but it was unpleasant how dispassionate the drawings were. She had to admit that Everheart was an unmatched genius in the category of formations. Just being in the tomb had let her know that. She wasn¡¯t a formation master yet, but when she compared the masters from the Order and Everheart, she could see a significant gap. Though with an even larger rift between them and herself, she understood her own position. She had no doubt she was talented and full of potential, but most of it was yet unrealized. Just a few years of cultivation training was still small, though Catarina wondered if she could measure up to Everheart¡¯s standards. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. He¡¯d anticipated Essence Collection cultivators with just five years of training. Presumably they would have just placed their foot in that category, but she wondered if that was a reasonable standard in the past. Then again, Everheart wasn¡¯t known for being reasonable. Even with her talent Catarina doubted she could achieve the remaining twelve stars in less than two and a half years. That was about one per two months, which only was reasonable in Body Tempering. Granted, she¡¯d gotten more than a full star in a single month in the tomb, but that was an exception. That wasn¡¯t a pace that could be maintained- even with Anton¡¯s help. He¡¯d been able to help her with some insights with the reward he¡¯d received, but she doubted it would catapult her growth so significantly. She shook her head. It really wasn¡¯t fair to compare herself to theoretical geniuses who might have not even existed in prior generations. Especially since some of them had probably ravaged the lands and torn up the resources that now had to be carefully maintained in current generations. There were still wild lands to explore, but over the past several hundred years those were shrinking in number. It wasn¡¯t as if places suddenly became unsettled and started having natural treasures, and humanity was constantly expanding into formerly dangerous territories as they became at least somewhat safe. While the gathered insights and technique development over the last centuries wasn¡¯t meaningless, the way people in the old stories gulped down unique fruits and dined on thousand year old beasts, if they were even half true, indicated an amount of resources she couldn¡¯t compare to. Though with Everheart¡¯s rewards she could maintain a similar lifestyle for a few months, perhaps, it wouldn¡¯t be the same as the extreme training facilities he¡¯d had. As for powering the facilities by drawing on the future¡­ she believed it was something like that, but had no idea how it would be accomplished. Likely it was something that required Life Transformation level insights and power to even begin thinking about. That was still decades away, even if she continued without major roadblocks. Somehow, she still felt very small even though she was technically in the upper half of the population of the disciples of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. ----- Anton had the location of another location Everheart had set up. He wanted to immediately run off to go check it out and find the promised notes, but he needed to take some time to stabilize his cultivation. Forcing all of that training into a month likely hadn¡¯t harmed him, but he had so many things to do. Training alone, with others, with the Vessel of Insights¡­ and with Elder Kseniya. She¡¯d come to him and declared they would be training. It wasn¡¯t a question or a command, just a statement of fact that she hadn¡¯t doubted. She¡¯d been right, of course. Personal instruction from her was priceless, and she¡¯d simply volunteered it. It was still difficult to interpret though. She had the skills, but her capacity to transfer them was somewhat limited. Perhaps that was because of her high insights, but some of it was her personality. In this case, though, Anton could feel her sincere attempts to relay information properly. ¡°Focus yourself. Gather your energy, your self, and place it into the Spirit Arrow. Then let it fly.¡± Elder Kseniya demonstrated, her shot arcing through the air over the horizon- where Anton was certain if he went to check he would see she had struck the bullseye on a target placed there. He found he likely wasn¡¯t ready for Horizon Shot. He could maintain an arrow with the proper speed or for the proper duration, but with the great distance involved it was too much for him to do both. He still improved his ability to become one with his arrows, but he could only be accurate at a few hundred meters- and the furthest distance he could shoot without regard for accuracy was barely more than a kilometer. Much further than he could have achieved before he became a cultivator, but far insufficient for shooting over the horizon. As for the stated purpose of learning the technique, Elder Kseniya said it quite plainly. ¡°If your opponents can¡¯t even sense you before they die, you are safe and can conserve energy that would have been spent on an extended battle.¡± In short, if an assassination worked, it was easy. ¡°That ugly hearted man wouldn¡¯t see it coming. I almost shot him for you, but we aren¡¯t ready. Plus, I thought you¡¯d like to do it yourself.¡± Anton was surprised how ¡®talkative¡¯ Elder Kseniya had become. Perhaps she just took time to warm up to people- though Marcio had known her for longer, technically, and found her still quite distant. Anton did have many years of experience to count on, even if some of it wasn¡¯t useful at the level cultivators operated on. Or maybe it was just that he was able to follow along with her well enough. ¡°Horizon Shot isn¡¯t much good if you¡¯re shooting random people,¡± Elder Kseniya remarked. ¡°So you need to be able to sense people that far. It¡¯s easiest to lock onto one person, but if you can manage it in other ways you¡¯ll be unstoppable. I¡¯d recommend studying Eyes of the Dragon and some other techniques. It¡¯s a whole different way of controlling your energy and developing your eyes.¡± Elder Kseniya nodded, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s best to learn this soon- the second half of System Gathering focuses on the body once more. That¡¯s the best time.¡± Anton had to agree, both because of her experience and the logic behind her statements. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean starting to train the techniques with her guidance was simple. The Vessel of Insights wouldn¡¯t do him any good either- Elder Kseniya wasn¡¯t having any new insights, but just spouting old ones that worked for her. Anton pushed his way through the unnecessary bits to interpret her thoughts as best he could, holding onto them in memory and later physical notes for when they would be most useful. Path to One Hundred Stars was starting to become a rather burdensome collection of journals. He would have to pare it down to the important parts, if it ever amounted to anything that he felt worth sharing as a whole. And the name was still under review, of course. Chapter 140 One continual benefit Anton found of an ever-improving cultivation was the time it took to travel around the country diminished. The Order¡¯s headquarters and the settlement in Windrip were about half of the country apart, and what would have taken him two weeks of travel was now down to a handful of days, depending on how much Anton wished to exert himself. Windrip didn¡¯t need him anymore, but he still liked to check up on it. The community there was both amazing and yet quite normal. Nothing was different from any other small town except the efficiency with which people worked, empowered by Body Tempering. Anton passed between the fields, now completely certain about the increasing amounts of local natural energy. It couldn¡¯t compare to any of the sects he¡¯d been to, but the lowliest sects had at least decades of history. This was just a small community building up from practically nothing. While most cultivation sects would pick a place with already high natural energy to then build up, building up from a lower level seemed possible. Yet ultimately it only made a small difference- most people would never advance further than a few stars in their first years and even in the Order half of their members were still in Body Tempering. That was the most important thing. The Order itself was very powerful, but its members numbered in the thousands. Here, there were already hundreds of low level cultivators. Without extra resources or powerful natural energy they might not go much further, but they were already as a group capable of resisting attacks on the level of what had happened to Dungannon. Anton understood that most people wouldn¡¯t be quite so motivated to grow their strength in that way, but if this process took place over a decade instead of a couple years it would still transform the way of life in Graotan. Cultivation could allow the common folk prosperity and safety together. ----- Though he had no intention to cause a stir, it was basically inevitable that when Anton came to observe the people of the area around Windrip practicing cultivation. He stood out like a sore thumb with a cultivation in mid Spirit Building instead of early Body Tempering. More importantly, many of those who were cultivating did so according to Anton¡¯s teachings- while they worked and made use of their bodies. Even those who focused more on mental tasks still had benefits to gain from Body Tempering beyond general health. Tempering the organs in the head allowed for clarity of mind and senses. Rather quickly Anton found himself providing guidance to everyone he could. While they would eventually manage on their own, Anton knew that proper guidance would help deal with current problems while still making sure they had the proper experience for the future. Some cultivators felt that sharing insights would stymie the growth of others, but Anton felt that it was simply when there were insufficient explanations. He had people put into practice what he told them, and just like any profession knowing what to do and how to do it was always beneficial. People apprenticing under grandmasters didn¡¯t become incapable of growing on their own, unless those same grandmasters kept secret the important parts. Strict improvements in cultivation were certainly beneficial to the people in the area, but Anton knew they needed proper motivation. More than just wanting to be good at their jobs, or strong. That would carry people for some distance, but when things got difficult they would just give up. Many people stopped after the first star, unwilling to push through to the second star and first prime tempering. As long as they made that choice intentionally, deciding what they had done was enough or their skill was insufficient, Anton didn¡¯t mind. However, except for the rarest people who were almost entirely incapable of cultivating he expected more than a single star to be reachable. He just had to draw out the proper motivation. Anton himself cultivated to be strong. Strong for himself, strong for family, the former villagers of Dungannon, and now for more than just that. He didn¡¯t necessarily care about the Order itself, but both disciples and elders were people he cared about. If conflicts came- when they came- he wanted to be able to help. And of course he still had some people to kill. Anton wasn¡¯t going to bet that the Heavenly Lion Sect wouldn¡¯t attempt some form of retaliation, and it¡¯s not like he would find Van Hassel walking around Graotan where he would be easy to kill. For one thing, he was already a wanted criminal so if anyone found him it was likely someone would get to him before Anton, at least within the borders of Graotan. One young man wanted to impress girls. That was a fleeting motivation for cultivation, but if there ended up being a specific girl his motivations could shift. Being strong enough to work hard to care for a family and protect them were powerful motivations. Not everyone¡¯s motivations were for others, though Anton resonated most strongly with those. Some cared only about themselves. That wasn¡¯t necessarily as bad as it sounded. Caring only for yourself didn¡¯t necessarily equate to a willingness to harm others wantonly for your own benefit. There was a particular woman who, during his conversations with her, Anton determined simply had no one she felt close to. Yet she didn¡¯t seem to desire any close friends, but was happy with just living her life. Cultivating to improve her work wasn¡¯t a good motivating factor for her, either. What worked for her was actually the benefits to lifespan with the efficiency of her work only motivating her as far as it meant she could spend more time not providing for her physical needs. She enjoyed just spending time by a stream, watching it flow and listening to the trickling sounds. In the end, that became her primary cultivation spot, and she focused on a relaxed and long-term cultivation path. Some people wanted to cultivate to use their strength to control others. They were usually the sort who already sought out cultivation independently. With everyone else around them cultivating their own efforts provided little benefit in relative strength- and the Order wouldn¡¯t tolerate anyone misusing cultivation if things went too far. Preferably each town or city would be able to police itself, but general cultivation wasn¡¯t so widespread that it would be feasible for everywhere. But Anton didn¡¯t intend for things to remain that way. ----- Anton¡¯s more relaxed rate of cultivation wasn¡¯t exactly slow, but he still found that Catarina and Hoyt caught up to him in cultivation at the seventeenth star. They hadn¡¯t been that far apart to begin with, and though Anton felt he rather smoothly completed his prime tempering of Earthly Connection, the next part of the Ninety-Nine Stars was harder for him. With some of his age having come back, tempering his body became more difficult. The eleven stars from eighteen to twenty-eight once more focused on the body. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The eighteenth star, twenty-third star, and prime tempering at the twenty-eighth star would all be focused on the connection between the body and spirit. There were the inherent connections, of course. A body did not function without a spirit. However, that connection could be strengthened. In practical terms, it allowed the body to be automatically fortified by natural energy rather than requiring active focus on how energy interacted with the body. When done properly, additional energy would be drawn in by the body itself and allocated to various parts of the body while still allowing the cultivator to handle and store the expected amount of energy in their dantian for the typical active uses. The remaining eight stars would be a retreading of the various body tempering stages with regards to how they individually connected to the spirit. Though he by no means found himself at a dead end, Anton felt his progress had slowed. He sought advice from the elders, but in general they had been training that section of Spirit Building while young, and either surpassed it or stagnated. Elder Howland was the only one who Anton was able to view as a contemporary in that regard. The elder in charge of farming had not even completed the Seven Purifications, but a dam in his cultivation had broken during his conversations with Anton. He was actually slightly younger than Anton, but still experienced some of the effects of age on the latter part of Spirit Building. Together the two of them were exchanging insights- but it seemed it would just take them a bit longer. ----- With his personal cultivation in a less than inspiring state, Anton was motivated to pursue different goals. His final revenge was still off the table for the moment, unless he was willing to devote months or a year to tracking Van Hassel down himself, and even with his allies at his back he was wary of that conflict still. In fact, it was partly because of his allies that Anton wished to delay it. There was a reasonable chance that some of them might die in the conflict unless they were so fortunate as to get Van Hassel and Slusser alone without anyone else around and without any formations set up. Everheart had drawn a map for Anton that should lead to notes on general cultivation improvement. It wasn¡¯t a surprise that the man had the same thought, because it seemed he was extremely prolific in his efforts. He¡¯d been extremely powerful and lived a long time, but the fact that one of his projections had knowledge of this location indicated it might be more than just casual notes. If it didn¡¯t kill him, Anton knew it would be beneficial regardless of the helpfulness of those particular notes. The death part might still happen, but the notes from Everheart indicated it was only ¡®minimally trapped¡¯, at least if he followed certain protocols. This particular location was in Ambati, and while Anton was still considering if it was the proper time to make a trip, he received a petition for assistance from Ayotunde. Personally, Anton found it far too formal of a request- but that made him take it more seriously. It seemed Ayotunde was embroiled in conflicts among clans in the region he was now residing in, with some of his family. Simply leaving wasn¡¯t possible, so he was connecting with anyone who he thought might be sympathetic to his cause. He was right to send letters to the Order. Just because he had been a mercenary didn¡¯t mean that Anton and the others didn¡¯t consider him more than just a temporary ally. He¡¯d been prepared to help them even when dealing with the circumstances involved with basically fleeing Ofrurg. He had even posted a formal request to the Order, but it was basically unnecessary. Hoyt and Timothy separately came to Anton and brought it up. Catarina had been deeply embroiled in her studies so hadn¡¯t noticed. As for Velvet, she was surprised when she heard about it. She hadn¡¯t even thought to check for mail, having no acquaintances she expected correspondence from. She appeared quite touched that someone would specifically ask her for help. There was only a single point of contention with the whole thing. It wasn¡¯t that the section of Ambati where Ayotunde needed help wasn¡¯t particularly close to Anton¡¯s desired destination. That project could wait, if it needed to. No, it was something more. ¡°So, we¡¯re going to go help Ayotunde, right?¡± Alva asked. Anton saw where she was going. His first thought was to say ¡®We aren¡¯t going anywhere¡¯. But it was hard to refuse her. He had practiced archery with her- more than just shooting at targets, but sparring. While her cultivation in mid Body Tempering was far insufficient to challenge him, it was hard to say she wasn¡¯t capable enough to help in a battle. She knew Ayotunde as well, so refusing her the opportunity to help him seemed disingenuous- even if she hadn¡¯t specifically received her own request for aid. ¡°You want to come with us? If so, you¡¯d better be certain. If you are relying on me to protect you¡­ have no doubt that I will do so to the best of my ability. But know what the consequences of that would be. If you are unable to take care of yourself properly, it will endanger myself and the others.¡± ¡°I can protect myself,¡± Alva insisted. ¡°And if it¡¯s dangerous, I can run away. Even you can¡¯t outrun Fuzz.¡± Anton had to concede that point. The wolf was very fast, and capable of carrying Alva at that same speed. ¡°Let me just show you something, then. If you need to flee to safety, you must make sure you¡¯re actually out of the area of combat.¡± Anton took Alva outside- their courtyards were far too small for what he wanted. He held in his hands a new bow. The bone bow was still beyond him, but the one that had merely cost him five hundred contribution points was starting to limit his abilities. The bow he held in his hands was fairly plain in design, but it was made of a green wood and blood red string. It was nearly as tall as himself, being just short of the size certain longbows might reach for the sake of retaining some mobility. ¡°How far can you shoot?¡± he asked Alva. ¡°A hundred meters,¡± she proudly declared. ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton shot an arrow across the empty fields to that precise distance, exploding his Spirit Arrow at the end to intentionally create a round impression in the ground. ¡°Hit that spot, if you would.¡± Alva formed her own Spirit Arrow. It wasn¡¯t as sharp or as steady as Anton¡¯s, but it was more than decent. Her arrow flew towards his ¡®target¡¯, hitting the ground several meters in front of it. ¡°Wait, I can do better!¡± she shot another arrow and got closer, shooting slightly past it. ¡°See?¡± ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Anton said honestly. ¡°But you need a little bit more accuracy to declare that you can shoot at that range. But don¡¯t forget that stronger cultivators can affect areas even further.¡± Anton strung an arrow, letting it fly before shooting another to follow it. Two hundred and fifty meters was not his full limit, but for the effect he wanted it was the best distance. Alva could see each arrow sequentially hit the same point, digging a deep line into the dirt. ¡°A hundred meters might be a good range for you, but you could face someone who could throw a boulder a hundred and fifty, or shoot arrows three hundred. Keep vigilant until you are more than certain you are safe.¡± Alva nodded. ¡°That¡¯s pretty cool. When can I do that?¡± ¡°I can try to teach you now, but honestly¡­ I¡¯m not even close to mastering this technique. You know Elder Kseniya? She can shoot over the horizon.¡± Alva¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°No way. That has to be an exaggeration, right? Like saying you were a thousand years old¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s not. Though if we were to encounter a Life Transformation cultivator who wished to harm us, it wouldn¡¯t matter. Fuzz wouldn¡¯t be able to outrun even the slowest of them casually strolling.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°But do be careful about how far you think is safe. And think about if you can handle attacks like this, at least a little bit. If you decide you still want to join us¡­ I won¡¯t prevent you. But you have to be careful.¡± Alva nodded and began to think seriously. Anton hoped she would choose not to come, but it was the sort of hope one had for the impossible to happen. Chapter 141 Cultivators generally did not take long to prepare for a journey. Food rations were easily handled and planning a route was more about what dangers they thought acceptable rather than picking the absolute safest journey. With most of those who were going on the journey finding themselves in possession of storage bags handed out like candy in Everheart¡¯s Tomb, everything was easier. Even if the absolute storage space in each bag was relatively small, each could hold the equivalent of what would otherwise be a bulky travel pack. Not that it was terribly relevant for a cultivator if they were carrying ten or twenty extra kilograms of weight, but the uneven distribution of it could result in less than optimal movements. Storage bags retained the same weight and size until they were full, making all sorts of things more practical. Personally, Anton didn¡¯t mind camping among the stars, with or without a tent. Most of the others preferred more pleasant accommodations, with at least proper bedrolls and coverings from the elements. But protecting themselves from exposure was hardly necessary, as they had no intentions to go to any extreme danger zones. In fact, most of Ambati would likely be uncomfortably hot, something more cover wouldn¡¯t help with. Alva had made the inevitable choice to join them. Pete had been able to vouch for her performance in actual combat, so at least Anton wasn¡¯t worried she would freeze up. Fuzz would doubtless do his best to protect her, but carrying a static target would make them both vulnerable. Anton himself was going, of course. The group had pretty well solidified to also include Catarina, Hoyt, Timothy, and Velvet. Pete declined to go, as he preferred to stay with the Order and continue his studies of formations uninterrupted. Oskar and Patricia were invited along as well, but they were staying behind because Patricia was pregnant with their second child. That helped explain to Anton how she had fallen so far behind in cultivation. She¡¯d started later, but her talent was not terrible. The gap between the fifth star and the eleventh was quite significant- but if she had been limiting her cultivation on purpose, he understood completely. He had not himself delved into the topic, as he was never going to have any more children, but it seemed cultivation mistakes during a pregnancy could cause harm to the child. It was, after all, present inside the body and really quite vulnerable to any sudden changes. Devon would be coming along, his cultivation having grown significantly with proper training available and the following period of time in Everheart¡¯s tomb. He wanted more practical experience outside of controlled environments, and it was clear his choice of career was simply that of a combat oriented cultivator for as long as he could continue. The shared experience of loss pressed many of those from Dungannon to seek personal strength, and it was difficult to believe that any amount was enough. The trip would also be an official mission from the sect. The Order didn¡¯t just form whatever missions it wanted, they also accepted limited mercenary work from outsiders. The missions had to fall within certain parameters- fighting dangerous beasts to secure certain resources was a common one. For missions that would likely involve fighting other cultivators, there were further stipulations. The Order wouldn¡¯t allow their disciples to be used as a simple army to suppress people. If there was no clear righteous cause to support, the Order generally had its disciples limit themselves to mostly defensive activities. In all cases, judgments had to be made about the situation- and if someone hiring the disciples was found to have knowingly misrepresented details, the Order wouldn¡¯t be bound to a contract. They might simply demand the promised payment and leave, but in some cases it was appropriate to change sides in a conflict to punish their deceivers. This didn¡¯t mean that the Order was seen as unreliable- they maintained a steadfast and loyal reputation. They simply wouldn¡¯t accept anyone hiring them dishonestly. While many sects disagreed with their beliefs on what was just and good, it would be impossible for them to say that the Order didn¡¯t try to practice what they preached. As part of being an official mission, there were some benefits. They could bring an elder along with them in an official capacity. Ambati as a whole was on reasonable terms with the Order, and they trusted the Order to restrain themselves within the borders of the country. In their case, Elder Tshering had been looking for an opportunity to go to Ambati and thus was willing to do so for a smaller portion of the proceeds. The country was full of dangerous beasts, and he particularly wanted to see if he could determine the source of those filtering through the lands into Graotan and the beast forest. Anton was quite pleased to have him- especially because he¡¯d recently advanced from the twenty-eighth star to the twenty-ninth, overcoming his stagnation and stepping into Constellation Formation. The stage was also generally known as Essence Collection when not referencing a specific cultivation technique. His presence made Anton feel more comfortable about Alva¡¯s presence, yet at the same time concerned. If anything that could actually challenge Elder Tshering appeared, they would all be in danger. Of course, it could simply be a matter of numbers. If the rest of them unified together and were willing to accept losses they should be able to defeat Elder Tshering- or more realistically someone on a similar level. The Order did its best to prevent intrasect conflict well before it could grow to the level of attempting to kill each other. ----- Three figures stood together on the walls of the Temitope clan, located in Tailoga in south-central Ambati. One was Ayotunde, the other two the people he referred to as ¡®shrimp¡¯ and ¡®granny¡¯. The two of them had continued through Graotan into Ambati, and had thus been the first to receive Ayotunde¡¯s missives. Finding the offer of payment sufficient, they had already come to offer their services. ¡°I should have charged you for every time you call me shrimp,¡± Ross commented. ¡°I could be a rich man. So why are you helping this clan anyway? You¡¯re not a member or anything, and you¡¯re not just being hired as a mercenary here.¡± ¡°During my earlier years, they did me a great favor. I owe them a debt. Besides,¡± Ayotunde said. ¡°I do care for many of those who live in this region. The Temitope clan is moderate enough, but the others that vie for control of the region will not be so conservative with their taxes on the common folk and lower cultivators. They are already excessive in the cities they control, I would not expect them to be more reasonable with anything else they get their hands on.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Why have a struggle for power now?¡± ¡®granny¡¯ Lera asked. ¡°With three clans in the area the balance should be maintainable. Whoever makes the first move will be weakened, leaving the third to swoop in. What changed?¡± ¡°A beast overlord,¡± Ayotunde explained. ¡°Though it is unlikely that it suddenly popped up. However, the beast lord has been more territorial, indicating it is protecting something. That could be either some sort of powerful natural treasure or even offspring. Young magical beasts from a strong line could fetch a fine price or be raised to aid a force in combat. If whatever is being guarded is significant enough, it can shift the balance of power in the region. The Olayinka clan was the first to take notice of the situation, beginning a buildup of their forces. The Temitope clan can¡¯t necessarily ally with the Mwangi clan against them, so all build their own forces.¡± Ross shook his head, ¡°If it weren¡¯t for our history, I wouldn¡¯t want to get involved in a war where Essence Collection patriarchs are involved, even if they¡¯re only barely worthy of that title. But then again, I¡¯d rather work with reliable allies than random unknowns. I just wish we had more. Most of the people here are Body Tempering, early Spirit Building at best.¡± ¡°They¡¯ve also snapped up most of the other mercenaries,¡± Lera pointed out. ¡°Those who are willing to get involved, anyway.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Ayotunde nodded. ¡°I am hoping¡­ to receive the help of others. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. Or Anton, specifically.¡± ¡°That old man?¡± Ross asked. ¡°He¡¯s a fine archer, to be sure. But early Spirit Building is a bit¡­ well, limited. I¡¯d be glad to have him, of course.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t kept an ear open for the news, then. As of two months ago, he was at what they call the sixteenth star. Two steps higher than we left him.¡± Ayotunde smiled, ¡°Did I not tell you I met him in late Body Tempering? Less than two years ago. The companions with him as well.¡± ¡°How did you hear of him?¡± Lera asked. ¡°You have someone specifically watching for him?¡± Ayotunde shook his head. ¡°No. I just have my ear to the ground. Did you not pay attention to what happened with Everheart¡¯s tomb?¡± Lera shrugged, ¡°Usually best to ignore it. Usually ridiculous nonsense or senseless deaths.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Ayotunde said, ¡°But Anton found himself receiving the highest prize in a little training based tournament Everheart set up. Over some late Spirit Building fellows- and the big deal is everyone had cultivated for less than five years. A pack of geniuses.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Ross said. ¡°I heard about that. They said the winner was only on a technicality. Something about ¡®improving cultivation¡¯ counting others¡¯ somehow.¡± ¡°Even better, then,¡± Ayotunde said. ¡°He can basically match any of us, and if Everheart approved his teaching methods? Perhaps we can learn something vital. My growth isn¡¯t so rapid that I wouldn¡¯t like a boost.¡± Ayotunde paused, ¡°Oh this is mostly unrelated, but he cut off the hand of one of the prime disciples of the Heavenly Lion Sect.¡± ¡°... he seemed quite sane to me, when we saw him,¡± Lera frowned, her wrinkled face pruning even more. ¡°But I suppose he¡¯s part of the Ninety-Nine Stars. They¡¯re a big sect as well. Bigger, probably.¡± ¡°But usually not crazy. These days, that is,¡± Ayotunde smiled. ¡°I remember stories about the past. They used to shake things up- back in Everheart¡¯s days. They¡¯d see an evil sect and just stamp them out without thinking about it twice. No political maneuvering, just power.¡± ¡°Sounds like any violent overlord,¡± Lera commented. ¡°Not sure I¡¯d want more of those.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Ayotunde agreed. ¡°But if there are any, you want them on your side. Anton¡­ that old man, he is not someone to ignore.¡± Ayotunde leaned forward onto the wall. ¡°Though I have not yet received a response. He could be off doing something else crazy, or simply decline. Then we will just have to make do with what we have here.¡± The three of them looked down at the Body Tempering cultivators training together. The Temitope clan had more than just them, but the scope of their power was limited. If they didn¡¯t manage to get more assistance, they could only hope to hold on through the turbulent times without hope of coming out on top. ----- The paw of a lion, claws nearly large enough to cleave Devon¡¯s torso in two, just barely scraped in front of him as he jumped back. The claws still carved some of the energy defending him away, a blow without blood but not without harm. In response, Devon stretched his arms out. Criss-crossing strands of energy erupted from him, wrapping around the swinging paw. If one looked closely, they would see the strands of energy formed chains with grasping spikes, a reflection of the same sort of weapon that had scarred him. Devon chose the method of attack as a form of defiance. The chains and spikes that cause him pain wouldn¡¯t be ignored, but overcome. He was glad to be allowed to study the Order¡¯s cultivation documents, despite not practicing their cultivation method. While he knew it was a powerful technique, the strength provided by his method was well suited to him. After fixing some of the flaws, he found it well suited to manifestations of energy. His grandfather Anton¡¯s Spirit Arrows were an example of the sort- though they were less strictly arrows than other manifestations might be. While the details of a weapon should be practical, the emotional connection to a more specific form could actually increase the power of something specific. Thus, the chains were more useful than mere sharp strands of energy. The chains from Devon¡¯s hands wrapped around the paw, but he couldn¡¯t completely stop the lion¡¯s momentum. It was a magical beast matching early Spirit Building, after all. He simply managed to make the chains dig into its flesh and slow its movements, resisting as it tried to pull him off his feet and then tried to leap on him to bite him. However, with its movements slowed for even a few moments Devon received timely attacks from his companions. A simple slash from Timothy next to him slowed the beast, and two arrows from Anton found their way into its side. He was able to take advantage as it flinched away to leap onto its back and wrap the chains around its neck. The beast tried to throw him off, but he half-cut half-strangled it with his manifested chains. He had other weapons, but he found the manifestations to be the most satisfying. They were what he would use to kill Tonina, when he found the chance. To that end, he needed to improve their strength as much as he could. Chapter 142 During the course of their travel, Elder Tshering didn¡¯t have to lift a finger except the one time an ambush predator thought he would be the best choice as a target. It was a greatly oversized cat, but clearly without the ability to sense energy. Elder Tshering restrained his energy so as to not simply scare off every magical beast in the surrounding area, but anything close enough to lay its eyes on him would still be able to sense his power. Rarely in the past had Anton been successfully ambushed. While the forest around Dungannon wasn¡¯t exactly peaceful, it had no ambush predators large enough to attack humans. After he¡¯d started training Body Tempering, one of his earlier stars had been the organs in his head, which was where the major senses resided. He also trained Hawk Eyes archery and other techniques to boost his senses even more. It was good to match off against more challenging foes. The way the creatures camouflaged into the surroundings without the use of energy was particularly interesting. If he could find Velvet, he might ask her what she thought. He could pick her out here and there, but ever since she¡¯d started practicing her new stealth technique he struggled to keep up. It was one of the techniques merely forbidden by sects in the past because it was used against them. In short, it was too good. A technique that allowed her to slip past her surroundings without disturbing them was certainly not easy to learn, but after the months of practice she¡¯d put in, he found himself impressed. Fuzz was running back and forth, crossing in front of and behind the group. When he abruptly stopped and pointed his nose into the tall grass, Anton took his bow into his hands. Before he could compare the angle to determine exactly what was hiding, Alva had already taken a shot. An injured lion leaped out of the brush- a slim hunter, unlike the more voluminous males who seemed to do little actual fighting. Anton took a shot, his arrow digging deeper into its side than Alva¡¯s. It wasn¡¯t really a fair comparison, as he had a whole eleven stars more than her. Still, despite the fact that the cat¡¯s leap was less than halfway to Alva, he wasn¡¯t going to let it get unnecessarily close. If he had other opponents to worry about it would be one thing, but he wasn¡¯t going to just leave it when he was able to act. ¡°Aww, I wanted to take it alone. Though it¡¯s pretty tough.¡± Alva waited a few moments then urged Fuzz closer. ¡°I think this is the same kind that¡¯s part of my bow.¡± She tapped a finger to her lips, ¡°Does this mean I can make a second bow?¡± ¡°If you find a good shaft and learn to properly handle the materials, sure,¡± Anton said. ¡°Want to help me butcher it? We can see if there are any good tendons.¡± ¡°... I think I¡¯ll pass for now.¡± Alva wasn¡¯t exactly squeamish, but she preferred not to get blood and guts on her. She patted Fuzz on the head, ¡°Good job sniffing it out. Can you teach me how to do that?¡± Fuzz did a sort of bark, sniffing around the area with his head low. Alva followed him around, but Anton could tell she was just playing. Though he wondered if he should try to enhance his sense of smell. Something might hide from sight, vision, and even energy sensing¡­ but smells were bound to leak out eventually. Scents were lingering instead of just having to be stopped in the moment. Having the ability to detect things by scent could be valuable, though as with any powerful sense it could also be a weakness. He¡¯d seen normal wolves overwhelmed by certain plants in the forest, making them an excellent deterrent around their flocks. Though most wolves wouldn¡¯t approach a farm unless they were starving anyway. ¡°How much longer until we get there?¡± Alva asked. She seemed impatient to arrive, though she was doing her best to keep herself occupied as they passed very similar terrain for long periods of time. Elder Tshering was the one to answer that. ¡°Two days, if we keep this pace. We¡¯ll hit a road soon enough, and we¡¯ll likely not encounter any more wild beasts.¡± He shook his head, ¡°There hasn¡¯t been much of note here, but I can ask about unexpected movements of beasts when we arrive. The locals should know more.¡± Even though it had already been several years, the reasons behind the unexpected number of beasts that had appeared were still being investigated. For the moment the area was just being more carefully managed, but there were investigations into whether significant changes had happened elsewhere. The primary suspect was more from the north, but the circumstances Ayotunde had mentioned were a possible connection. Either way, they had plans to move around different parts of Ambati after they concluded the mission- to search for more about the beasts if necessary and to look for the facility Everheart mentioned. It was doubtless something dangerous to tackle alone. Anton hoped that Elder Tshering would stay with them, though that was up to whether he could be convinced. ----- As predicted, they soon enough arrived in Tailoga. The architecture was quite different from what Anton was used to, but houses were houses and cities were cities. It was easy to make out roads and businesses, and of course the locations of large clans. The Tempitope clan didn¡¯t entirely control the city of Tailoga, but they had their hands in many things in the city and the area around it. Finding their way to Ayotunde merely took a short time, and he jumped down from the walls he was standing atop to greet them. They were actually tall enough to stop most cultivators, but going down was easier than up. Down came on its own. Normally Anton would have supposed such a fall would break a knee or two, but it seemed the Western Steel Body was quite suited for such stunts. He did leave a significant impression in the ground, though. Ayotunde threw his arms out wide, ¡°Welcome, members of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. I hope your presence means you have accepted my request.¡± His eyes especially lingered on Elder Tshering. Elder Tshering nodded, ¡°That is correct. Assuming the scope of the task is as stated, we can enter into a proper agreement.¡± ¡°That is good,¡± Ayotunde nodded. ¡°We can discuss that later. I am glad to see all of you came, including you, old man.¡± Ayotunde inclined his head to Anton. ¡°And it is good to see a powerful king of the forest as well.¡± Ayotunde¡¯s reference was likely to Elder Tshering, who was wearing some sort of bear. A portion of it, anyway, as it seemed the full pelt would have been several times his rather significant height. It seemed Ayotunde¡¯s prevalence at nicknaming people didn¡¯t just extend to those who were weaker than himself and peers. A dangerous choice, if he chose the wrong target. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Elder Tshering, however, grinned widely. ¡°No doubt there¡¯s a new king there by now, but this hide was particularly nice. See how sharp the claws are?¡± ¡°Hmm, very nice,¡± Ayotunde nodded appreciatively. ¡°Let¡¯s go now.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you invite me?¡± Velvet appeared next to Ayotunde. He started, pulling away in surprise. ¡°I was there as well. In Ofrurg.¡± ¡°Oh. The spook. I did not think you would consider us more than acquaintances.¡± Ayotunde shook his head, ¡°But you came anyway, did you not?¡± Velvet narrowed her eyes, ¡°Next time I won¡¯t show up if you don¡¯t invite me.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Ayotunde nodded. ¡°The services of a spook are very valuable. I won¡¯t make the mistake again.¡± He quickly led them inside the walls of the Temitope clan. Everything was very comfortable, but not excessive. The rooms were better appointed than the default ones in the Order, but they were powerful guests. Besides, the Order expected their disciples to make their own choices about which furnishings they needed, as it became relevant. After everyone was settled in properly they went over the contract. Nothing particularly limited what the members of the order could do, but they didn¡¯t have to participate in certain activities. They would work together with Ayotunde and by extension the Tempitope clan to protect them from attacks, and they would be accompanying them on expeditions, but how they accomplished their tasks was up to them. In short, they couldn¡¯t be ordered around, but could settle conflicts however seemed best. Though they could make their own choices, it was made clear to both parties that the Order would do their best to assist, even if they had the right to refusal of specific orders. Ayotunde did not care to dredge over the details- he accepted the Order¡¯s promise, and the contract was merely a formality to him. Likewise, Anton and the others didn¡¯t intend to leave him high and dry when he and the Temitope clan fell into trouble. It was merely for clarity about both parties'' expectations that they went into specifics. ----- Without any sort of formal introduction, the group from the Order was invited to a dinner, along with Ayotunde and the two other mercenaries. They barely had time to reacquaint themselves with Ross and Lera before arriving in the dining room. Inside was a long table full of various dishes common in Ambati. Fruits and vegetables abounded, but the main focus was a whole roasted gazelle- an unexpected sight. Similarly unexpected was the wrinkled but regal woman sitting at the head of the table. Servants directed them to their places, and it was then that they realized that the entire spread before them was merely for the eleven of them, plus the woman already seated. Elder Tshering and Ayotunde were seated next to her, with Lera and Anton next. From there it generally continued to decrease by age and cultivation, with the exception of Ross who was still slightly stronger in cultivation than Anton and the others. ¡°Everyone, this is Matriarch Afi,¡± Ayotunde introduced her, then the rest of them- down to the end with Alva. Alva was looking about with concern, unsure how she was supposed to eat, or when, among other things. Matriarch Afi spared her with a few words. ¡°That is about all the formality I can handle these days. With us introduced, go ahead and eat however you like! Forks, hands, feet, I don¡¯t mind.¡± The servants with her did their best to maintain neutral expressions, but with their low cultivations Anton could read them clearly. They weren¡¯t entirely happy with her actions, but wouldn¡¯t dare to say anything either. ¡°If I wanted people to yell at me about formalities I¡¯d have everyone else here. But then I wouldn¡¯t have a chance to get to know the people this kid,¡± she jabbed a slice of fruit in her hand at Ayotunde, ¡°thought good enough to recruit for our cause. Can you believe they tell me not to yell at people at the end of the table? How are they supposed to hear me if I don¡¯t yell? They¡¯re so far away. I tried to get them to make me a round table with a hole in the middle so I can be close to everyone, but then they would complain about me jumping over the table. How else am I supposed to get into the center, hmm?¡± Ayotunde laughed, ¡°That¡¯s right, quite a problem.¡± Elder Tshering nodded sagely, his arms crossed in front of him. ¡°A conundrum indeed. Have you considered a horseshoe design? It could curve around you but still have that open space.¡± ¡°Oh, a good thought!¡± Matriarch Afi grabbed one of the haunches of the gazelle with a snatch of energy. ¡°Everyone had a chance, no complaining now,¡± she grinned heartily, then opened her mouth wide, shoving the entire thing inside. Somehow it worked, without distending her expression. She chewed for a few moments until her mouth was empty in her one nod to politeness. ¡°A horseshoe shape, huh. What do you think?¡± she waved the bone at Anton before cracking it in half to begin sucking out the marrow. He was a bit hesitant to answer, because although she was friendly enough her cultivation was still enough above him it felt awkward. With the Elders from the Order he had a connection to them beforehand, but Matriarch Afi was unfamiliar to him except in the last minutes. He gave himself time to think by slowly chewing the seeds of a fruit he had in hand. ¡°If there are too many people, it will still result in some being far away. But I can¡¯t think how you would fix that without moving your seat.¡± She didn¡¯t have to shout, of course. A cultivator could shape the sound of their voice at least enough to have it carry further without being too loud. Though if she truly intended to talk to those at the end of the table, they might not have the skills to answer in the same manner. Suddenly, the Matriarch¡¯s face became stern. ¡°Alva!¡± Alva froze, one hand under the table. ¡°You don¡¯t need to smuggle something out of the dining hall, you know. We¡¯ll make sure your companion gets fed.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Alva slowly put her hand with a large slab of meat on her plate. ¡°Fuzz gets very hungry.¡± ¡°You named him Fuzz? A good name.¡± ¡°Catarina named him,¡± Alva said. ¡°When she found him in a cave of death moss.¡± ¡°Death moss? I¡¯d love to hear about it,¡± Matriarch Afi nodded enthusiastically. ¡°And about you. Not many cultivate so young.¡± Her eyes sharpened, searching across the table. ¡°Tell me, are you and Catarina sisters?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ Great-Grandpa Anton, what are we?¡± ¡°Cousins of some sort,¡± Anton answered. ¡°Quite a bit of family here, then. Do I sense Devon¡¯s connection as well?¡± she seemed less certain about that one. Anton nodded, ¡°A grandson.¡± ¡°I¡¯d love to hear all about how you ended up together like this. And with one cultivating a different technique, even. But first, this death moss.¡± Anton did eventually share his story, and how his family came to be in the state it was, while Matriarch Afi shared about the Temitope clan. The history was a bit longer, but it was not too much unlike his own family¡¯s story, except with more cultivation- not counting the recent years for Anton and the others. Chapter 143 The conclusion of the meal left everyone satisfied, though not particularly more aware of the actual situation they were called upon to deal with. That was to be explained to them the next morning. To that end, they were called to a surprisingly large gathering. In addition to Matriarch Afi who was in early Essence Collection, there were over a dozen warriors in Spirit Building and several dozen more at various levels of Body Tempering. While it might seem that the Temitope clan¡¯s forces paled in comparison to the Order, it had to be remembered that they were simply a clan managing a single city. As one of thousands of clans in Ambati, their numbers still made them significant, perhaps in the top hundred clans. The particular events they were dealing with currently were precisely the sort of chance to improve their position. More relevantly, they couldn¡¯t afford to let either of the other two clans in the area seize the opportunity unopposed. Either the Olayinka or the Mwangi clan significantly growing in power would overturn the balance of the region. While it was extremely unlikely that any of the three clans would grow strong enough to overpower the others together, it was a matter of practicalities. If they could completely dominate one while still retaining enough uninjured fighting forces to compete with the other, they would practically control the region. The other clans might unite together against them, but someone would be taking losses- and they would both want it to be the other clan. It would be difficult to have a truly unified front. Matriarch Afi stood in front of the gathering of clan members and mercenaries. ¡°All of you are aware of the general situation we face. Natural energy fluctuation in the area and unusual beast activities leading to the likelihood of a beast overlord. Whether or not this creature exists, there is no doubt that something unusual is happening. Perhaps there is a font of natural energy, some natural treasure, or anything else. Even just the body of a beast overlord has value.¡± She went on to explain about the tactical situation in the area. It wasn¡¯t directly placed in between the three competing clans, but it was within a day¡¯s travel of all of them at the pace expected of mid Body Tempering. Less than fifty kilometers from the furthest, the Olayinka clan. ¡°Elder Kwasi, if you would.¡± Elder Kwasi, a late Spirit Building cultivator just beginning to grey, approached the front of the group. ¡°While many of you are familiar with the common dangers of the region, some are not- and recent shifts have brought less usual creatures into the area. Our scouts and spies have been able to narrow down the region of activity we will ultimately be searching. Primary observations include large herbivores in the area. Those with experience will know that does not make these creatures less dangerous. Both the elephant and hippopotamus can crush a cultivator with their weight, even at the standard size. Larger specimens or magical beasts are extremely dangerous. ¡°Standard predators also exist in the area in the form of great cats, lions and cheetah primarily. We¡¯ve also seen the rooting of oversized boar or similar. There are few signs of large birds- no significant presence of razorwings or man-eating raptors. If there is a beast overlord, it could be from any of the former species or something unknown.¡± Elder Kwasi paused to let people digest information, and to shift topics. ¡°There are also plant based dangers in the area. Ignoring the plants with poisons that must be digested, there are patches of western creeper and energy-eating grass.¡± Elder Kwasi held up dried versions of each for example. ¡°Look for these patterns. The grass especially blends in with other grasses, though it will register to your energy if it has recently consumed anything.¡± After Elder Kwasi finished going over the known dangers, he stepped back to the rest of the group and Matriarch Afi took over once more. ¡°We have received word that the other clans are mobilizing- doubtless they will be watching our movements as well. Some of you will remain here to supplement Tailoga¡¯s defenses. The rest will be split into three main groups. One with myself, one with Elder Kwasi, and the third group under the control of Elder Tshering of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. I have arranged for several limited use communication talismans, though of course standard ways of getting attention will still be available in emergencies. Of course, any obvious displays of energy will alert the others as well.¡± She looked over everyone present, ¡°Our current position is already quite enviable. If nothing changed the situation, maintaining our status would have been best. However, we cannot afford to fall behind. That could be losing out on this opportunity¡­ or losing our members. Do remember to keep yourselves safe. It would be better for us to retreat early with no benefits than to recklessly fight for the prize and lose out on it¡­ or perhaps even obtain it with astounding losses. To that end, we will minimize our antagonizing of the other clans and whatever mercenaries they have hired. This need not be a battle to the death- driving them off will suit us just fine. Likewise, if they are grouped together in numbers we cannot defeat, retreat is in order. If we could manage to have the Mwangi and Olayinka fight each other unto exhaustion without involving ourselves, that would be best. But they know that as well- so we shall pick our battles carefully.¡± She smiled appreciatively, ¡°I believe in the power of the Temitope clan and our allies. Let us prepare to move out!¡± ----- A half dozen members of the Temitope clan in the Body Tempering stage were assigned to fight with the Order. This helped make up for their otherwise lacking numbers. While having high cultivations was also extremely important, sometimes simply having more hands or eyes was necessary. In turn, Catarina and Timothy and ¡®granny¡¯ were remaining with those who would defend the clan. Catarina would be especially useful with her ability to optimize the use of defensive formations. While she was able to create them in a mobile fashion through the use of flags and stones, formations were always most suited for stationary use. Keeping the clan grounds secure was also important, as those with weak cultivations and resources still remained. It would do little good if the Temitope clan otherwise returned victorious if the rest of their clan members were wiped out and their homes destroyed. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. More likely was that an attack would be threatened and the Temitope forced to withdraw their forces to deal with such a problem, but leaving proper defenses behind would prevent that to begin with. Forces with a defensive position should be more efficient, so ultimately it would allow the best use of their forces without worrying about needing to retreat to defend, unless either of the other clans gave up a significant portion of their forces and thus the prize to make the attempt. Though Ayotunde wasn¡¯t particularly trained as a scout, his familiarity with the local area made him as useful in that regard as Anton, Velvet, or Elder Tshering who were more traditionally specialized in the area. After most of a day of travel, they started exploring the area to try to find whatever it was that they were looking for. If someone already knew exactly where they wanted to look, it was likely that it would have been seized weeks before, despite the potential danger. If one of the clans had concrete information, they could have mobilized their forces and returned before the others could reasonably react. As it was, it could take several days for the combined forces of the three clans to comb the whole area. Even if the density of trees was small, the horizon couldn¡¯t necessarily be seen from afar. The grass grew as tall as men or horses in some areas, with hills and gullies varying the terrain and creating many possible hiding places. Though there were a few incidents with the local wildlife, Velvet was the first to spot members of the other clans. She came back to the group and announced what she found, ¡°I saw a group of others ahead. From the markings, they should be members of the Mwangi clan. Mostly Body Tempering and early Spirit Building, but there are many of them.¡± ¡°That is their way,¡± Ayotunde confirmed, ¡°Though they have a number of powerful members, lately they have recruited many weaker cultivators to bolster them. Continue, please.¡± ¡°They seemed to be in combat with a large snake. As big around as my torso is wide, at least a dozen meters long. I saw it was coiled around a large tree,¡± Velvet pointed. ¡°The canopy should be just visible from here, you see? The fruits on it radiated strong energy.¡± ¡°Then we must move closer, observe the situation,¡± Elder Tshering confirmed. ¡°I don¡¯t sense a battle that I would think should involve a beast overlord, but perhaps they have not truly begun fighting.¡± The group followed back along Velvet¡¯s path- with the possible danger from the plants, it was better to take a slightly more circuitous route rather than potentially stumble into trouble. In fact, Anton thought he recognized some of the energy draining grass to their side as they moved- though the only way to be sure was to test it. A pointless endeavor that could only waste resources at the moment. Anton moved ahead a few others to take a look at the battle. He could see the warriors fighting with spears and swords against a snake just as large as Velvet described. A magical beast, to be sure, with an aura that matched a proper Spirit Building cultivator to go with its powerful body. Likewise, he sensed the power from the fruit. But¡­ Elder Tshering shook his head. ¡°If that is the beast overlord zealously guarding its prize, there is nothing for the Temitope clan to be concerned about.¡± ¡°I recognize the tree,¡± Ayotunde said. ¡°Perhaps not that specific one, but the type. It grows useful fruit, but each is no more powerful than a well crafted medicine grown from farmable herbs. Yet those trees are picky about where they grow, and do not replant. It would be a massive endeavor for something of that size, and it would almost certainly die. They should only gain an acceptable amount of resources.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Elder Tshering said. ¡°This should not be the cause of the powerful fluctuations in the area. We should move on. No point getting into conflict here, when we can instead move on unhindered.¡± They returned to the rest of the group just in time to see Hoyt swinging his axe, coated in flames, chopping through some of the surrounding grass. Though it would have expected for the brown grass to immediately light on fire, it was simply charred at the points it was cut. Hoyt swung his axe in a continual pattern, keeping it moving as the grass coiled and writhed in front of him. Soon enough a figure was revealed- one of the members of the Temitope clan. With another few slashes he was extricated from the grass and moved to safety. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said. ¡°I stepped away to relieve myself¡­ I did not recognize the grass for what it was.¡± Anton could see his problem- only a portion of the grass had the marks that would be expected. The rest was merely the standard grass of the region, entirely mundane. It indicated they needed slightly more caution, but the grass itself was mostly dangerous to loners. It wrapped around a target to restrain them and drain their energy- if an ally was nearby, they were quite capable of extricating their companion. The restrained man would likely be fatigued, but he could recover given time. Alone, however, he would likely have been drained until he was but a husk. There were signs of dead animals in the area. In fact, Anton would bet that corpses were used as bait to kill scavengers. Rather intelligent, for something with no mind at all. But it wouldn¡¯t have been able to survive if it was not effective. The group moved onward, relying on the scouts to recognize other dangers before they stumbled into them. Sometimes, it was simply beasts who were various levels of obvious. Twice they spooked something that was hidden, causing them in turn to be startled- but they had not yet encountered anything of serious danger. That likely wouldn¡¯t last. Especially not when they saw a burst of energy akin to a signal flare ahead of them. That wasn¡¯t the agreed upon sign of the Temitope clan, but they needed to check it out anyway- while staying cautious of a possible trap. Chapter 144 It was quite tempting, really, to set the whole countryside on fire. Though it likely wouldn¡¯t burn up the energy devouring grasses, it would reveal them by the very fact that they remained. Tempting, but also excessive, unnecessary, and immoral. Hoyt knew that setting a fire in the countryside couldn¡¯t be controlled exactly. Maybe animals that were just trying to live their lives, no threat to humans, would die. Ecosystems would be wiped out, and human villages could easily be caught up in the aftermath. He had no doubt that some sects would have done it anyway, but either the other two clans didn¡¯t have the inclination, the ability, or they didn¡¯t want to risk damaging their prize. A powerful plant might resist scorching fires unharmed, or it might burn up like loose tinder. With only speculation, the risks had to be taken as they came instead of attempting to ¡®solve¡¯ them with a single act. But damn were the native plants annoying. It wasn¡¯t just the grass, but western creeper as well. It was bad enough when it was grown on trellises and designed to be harvested from- when it crawled along the ground in patches hundreds of meters wide, crossing the area was just foolish. If their scouts weren¡¯t so good, they would be having real problems. Though occasionally even Hoyt could spot some things on his own. Namely, after someone from one of the other clans had stumbled into a patch and now had a dead body in there. Most of those were from the Mwangi clan, including some of the swarms of mercenaries they¡¯d hired. The Mwangi clan went for quantity over quality, and the same was true of the mercenaries they¡¯d hired. People wearing their colors were all over the place, and when they died the bodies were just left behind. Their group, at least, did a better job taking care of their weaker members. Every Body Tempering cultivator was matched with a Spirit Building ally, and simply through virtue of the ability of the Spirit Building cultivators¡¯ offensive power the Body Tempering cultivators were safer. It wasn¡¯t necessary to have anyone risk themselves to protect others- fighting together and taking advantage of openings people created was good enough. Hoyt spotted the scouts returning. Anton was the one to relay what they saw. ¡°A large field of melons is ahead. They radiate energy, an attractive prospect. However, they match the description of a dangerous plant.¡± ¡°Serpentmelons?¡± Ayotunde asked. ¡°As far as we could tell, yes. It should still be worthwhile to retrieve them, but we saw cultivators from the Olayinka clan nearby. Doubtless they will be aiming for them as well.¡± Ayotunde nodded, ¡°Serpentmelons are worth enough to harvest and compete over. Though the energy contained in them is a bait, it¡¯s still very real. A delectable treat and a valuable cultivation resource. Alas, one that does not grow well in captivity. It requires¡­ many animal carcasses. Some of significant energy.¡± ¡°For those who forgot,¡± Anton began to relay the information, ¡°Serpentmelon plants have extremely poisonous spines. Those spines can either directly pierce you as you brush against them or be launched. In addition, the tendrils they extend containing those can whip about when disturbed. It would be best to deal with them from a distance. Sadly, they are both durable and do not tire quickly. More importantly, the more they are disturbed the more they reabsorb the energy from the melons to replenish themselves.¡± As the explanation finished, the group was already making their way to the serpentmelon patch. Once there, they spotted the Olayinka clan on the far side, as predicted. Neither of them could have truly been said to have arrived first. ¡°Stand down,¡± called a late Spirit Building man, accompanied by another. ¡°The Olayinka clan has claim to this patch.¡± Elder Tshering stepped forward, ¡°So does the Temitope clan. See the mark my men left?¡± ¡°Do you wish to fight?¡± Elder Tshering smiled as their auras pressed against each other, ¡°Do you?¡± Neither side was willing to back down. Though the group working with the Temitope clan was likely slightly stronger, a conflict here could damage the plants and would still be costly to whichever side won. ¡°Since you will not back down,¡± Elder Tshering stated, ¡°And we have our own claim¡­ why do we not just get what we can? We send forward our lesser members to have them collect as they will. No interference from the other side.¡± That was both a suggestion and a threat. If Elder Tshering acted, even just at the first star of Essence Collection, he could easily kill their weaker members. Likewise, the two late Spirit Building cultivators could match him or be a danger to others. ¡°Very well.¡± With a gesture, they waved the others forward. Like that, everything began. Hoyt moved around to the left side of the patch. The edged were generally the best, instead of the center. Though it seemed counterintuitive, it was quite simple. The plants would kill beasts they attracted, and they simply wouldn¡¯t make it to the center. Only occasional birds would be caught by the center of the patch, so the melons there were thin as the scraggly tendrils of plant had to consume them to continue. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Of course, the best melons weren¡¯t actually on the outside. There were at least several layers of plant protecting the first melons, and the row behind that was supposed to be the best. It matched what Hoyt¡¯s senses told him. Though it was better to not damage the plants, he didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to pick through one step at a time, avoiding causing the slightest disturbance. Instead, he did the next best thing. He picked a single vine and chopped through it. After making his axe scalding hot, of course. Instant cauterization and maximized cutting power would be his most useful allies. If he simply projected energy he could attack deeper parts of the plant and sever the tendrils near where they attached, but he had not trained in that. Quite purposefully. Hoyt hacked through a tendril. He didn¡¯t have to use quite that much force, but he couldn¡¯t hold back much either. If it took two swings, he could be in danger. A disconnected tendril would only flop about and curl in on itself, while the remaining portions whipped with great force. Somehow they didn¡¯t set off the rest of the plant- except a small local area. The flying needles Hoyt simple burned up before they touched his body- even if a needle pierced through his defenses, the poison should have been broken down by the heat. Everheart was right. He knew it. Attacking up close had its limits, and energy projection was something that would significantly improve him. But while he was right, Hoyt damn well wasn¡¯t going to listen to him. He could throw little fireballs at things right now if he wanted to, but he didn¡¯t want to. That was what other people wanted, not him. He was Hoyt, not Prospero Vandale. He chopped down, severing a melon from the plant. He wasn¡¯t quite sure what they looked like when fully ripe, but they wouldn¡¯t be coming back this way. With his foot he caught the melon and tossed it back towards those watching at the edge. Anton caught it, gently placing it in a pile they were starting. Hoyt continued to make a narrow line through the plants, his straightforward methods disturbing them less than it might seem at first. As long as he could step over a particular vine and have an area of confidence around himself to dodge, he would leave the plant alone on his way to the next melon. As he cauterized the wounds, there was nowhere to pull energy to, except the remaining triggered parts of the plant. A single flop or twist was not enough to particularly drain a melon, and he didn¡¯t have the niceties of time anyway. He could see others near him, allies forming a matching line as they circled the center. He caught sights of a squirming figure, wiggling her way along the ground. Between her feet she was dragging a melon almost the same size as her, scooting it under the winding tendrils. Hoyt hadn¡¯t even considered that option, because he was far too big to pull it off. The melon itself somehow didn¡¯t set off the plants, however, so Alva was able to worm her way along. If she brushed against the plants wrong she could be in danger, but he couldn¡¯t stop her just because she was young. Others the same strength as her were participating, and she was doing quite well, taking advantage of her small size. As he continued along the leftmost edge, Hoyt neared the middle. He saw a particularly fine specimen, a melon the size of his torso. He could see a cultivator from the other side eyeing it as well. Hoyt took a deep breath, focusing on his surroundings. He had reached the seventeenth star, and he focused on Spiritual Connection. There was a flow of energy through the plants- though it was really more of one large plant. Regardless, he felt how things flowed. Insight was of little use, as there was no body language to read in a plant. The flow of energy wasn¡¯t really hidden either. Serpentmelon hadn¡¯t developed to prevent human cultivators, but instead entrap wild beasts. Sometimes those beasts were powerful, but they couldn¡¯t usually pick up on the subtleties of energy flow. Hoyt kicked one of the tendrils, and it snapped up- whipping towards the other cultivator. He had no ability to accurately control it, so his opponent was able to dodge with the space around him. But Hoyt didn¡¯t need to kill him or even injure him. Just slow him down. He was already halfway to his destination when a rock was tossed into the area near him, springing a number of tendrils to wrap around him and sending tiny needles as thin as hairs flying everywhere. The fires he kept wrapped tightly around himself burned them, but it consumed some of his energy. Hoyt strategically triggered a few more pieces of the plant and then just chucked clods of dirt around his opponent. He chopped through nearby areas as necessary to make room, and soon he was only a handful of meters from the melon, his opponent the same. They exchanged glances, and his opponent began darting forward. Instead of doing the same, Hoyt just jumped. He couldn¡¯t guarantee exactly where he would land, except that he would certainly step on some of the plant- and he wouldn¡¯t be far from the melon. As he landed, he wrapped himself around the melon, his energy coating it with fire directed outwards. A feature of energy that was a manipulation of the natural order, since fire didn¡¯t really have a direction normally. As the plant triggered around him Hoyt used the best of his training in Instinct and Spiritual Connection to avoid most of the damage. Then he leaped, carrying the heavy melon back with him. By the time he reached the edge, most of the melons were already retrieves. Some in the very center still remained, but they were mainly small and shriveled. ¡°That¡¯s enough,¡± Elder Tshering declared. ¡°We must treat our injuries and be on our way.¡± Based on the size of their piles, they had come out basically even, though personally Hoyt thought their melons seemed more vibrant. That could have been bias, though. They stuffed their pile of melons into the storage bags they had available and moved away. Even as they walked, they chopped some of the melons into pieces. While it wasn¡¯t perfect, eating the melon and circulating the energy the right way helped dissolve the poison some people had injected into them. Either way, the melon was bulky and they didn¡¯t quite have room to carry all of it in the bags they had available. Everyone got a share of the succulent and juicy melons, and a quick boost in their energy. There were limits to how much cultivation resources were reasonable to consume, but serpentmelon was a stable one. Not excessively powerful, but Hoyt could feel the effects it had. He was quite satisfied. The rest would be shared with the other groups when they met up. That would be¡­ in the morning, because that was when the signals came. Someone had found the beast overlord and whatever it was protecting. The group hastily made their way forward, watching for dangers that might stand in their way. Chapter 145 Even as they began to make their way over to the signal, other signals were released into the sky, specially formed energy meant to draw attention. If there were no obstacles, it would only take the various groups scattered through the areas several minutes to converge. However, there were dangerous plants and beasts along the way. Anton and the other scouts did their best to avoid trouble quickly, and when there were simply a few lone beasts they didn¡¯t bother to circumvent them. Elder Tshering contributed his efforts in slaying some of the beasts, crushing the heads of great cats under his heel. Around the time they were able to pick out specific individuals from the mass of energy signatures in front of them, everyone was also able to spot something looming over the man-height grass, and even some of the nearby trees. A boar with tusks as long as pikes and a body nearly the size of a barn. It swept its head along the ground, flinging piles of dirt, trees, and people about. So far it seemed everyone had been lucky enough to not be impaled on a tusk, but that certainly didn¡¯t mean they were left unharmed. ¡°Looks like I might be needed,¡± Elder Tshering said, ¡°The rest of you make your way around to meet up with the rest of the Temitope clan. I¡¯m heading ahead.¡± With that, he vaulted through the air, bounding ahead. None of the others could match his movement, and they had to watch for dangers along the way. They circled around towards where they felt more Temitope clan members, avoiding a large patch of western creeper and some grasping grass. As they approached closer they were better able to see the damage to the battlefield. Trees were torn up and snapped in half, dirt scattered all over, trenches gouged in the ground by the overlord¡¯s tusks and the attacks of surrounding cultivators. Though the base form of the giant magical beast resembled a boar with mighty tusks, it had other protrusions along its spine and the sides of its four legs. In addition to that, it had a long tail with thin spike a meter long at the end. At a smaller scale they might have seemed like the spines of a porcupine, barbs included. The beast overlord wasn¡¯t alone in the battle. A number of smaller boars with more standard features also trampled around the area, as well as other sorts of creatures. Snakes and great cats were expected, but there were also herbivores like a pair of elephants and a wide mouthed hippopotamus involved in the skirmish. Not all of the beasts seemed to be on the side of the overlord- the beasts also clashed against each other, some of them having their own cultivations to match. No single thing was even close to the power of the gargantuan boar, not even the few Essence Collection cultivators. The Temitope clan had many of its members formed up with shields and spears at the ready. While organized lines weren¡¯t always the best idea when fighting against powerful cultivators, it still allowed those who were weaker to supplement each other¡¯s strength. The more powerful cultivators could move around on their own, wherever the battle led them. Though the Temitope clan had hoped to not be immediately drawn into the battle, the general chaos in the area meant they were unable to truly avoid the battle. At the current moment, the Essence Collection cultivators and those at the peak of Spirit Building were engaged with the overlord. While they might have liked to let the other powerful cultivators wear themselves down, the current battle revolved around directing its wrath towards enemy cultivators. While most of the cultivators redirected it with threatening attacks, Elder Tshering prevented it from charging the lines more directly, with a kick to the side of its head. It barely moved the beast, but its charge turned to follow the line of its head enough that the cultivators of the Temitope clan were able to move aside and let its charge go past. Anton found his way up into a tree covered in spikes- but the mundane sort. With just his tempered skin he could ignore any danger it might have posed. There were similar trees around that were older, bigger¡­ and possessed of sharper thorns. Arrows flew from his position and any of the other archers. Alva was riding back and forth throughout the area, firing arrows at anything that approached the line of spearmen to lessen their ability to overrun the mostly Body Tempering cultivators. At the moment, there was little direct combat between the three clans and the mercenaries they had each hired. But as the battle shifted, it seemed more likely that they would come to blows. Anton surveyed the battlefield, firing shots at quite a significant distance to damage or even distract the beasts. When a large black panther snuck around the others and leapt up into his tree, he tumbled backwards and drew his axes out. Unlike Velvet¡¯s new daggers, the two axes didn¡¯t match- except in how effective they were. The thorns of the tree and the thick branches only slowed the panther for a second as it fell down atop Anton, but he held his ground and even stepped forward as it fell downward. He slashed up at its belly as it tried to focus on him with its claws. His right axe dragged a deep impression along its ribs as he stepped to the side so it wouldn¡¯t fall directly upon him. Spinning around to his left, he slashed at the creature¡¯s shoulder forcing it to back off or receive greater wounds. If this was any sort of normal beast, it would have never joined the battle to begin with. At its current strength it should have known it didn¡¯t stand a chance against Anton, but the emotions of everything in the area were greatly heightened. Anton took a stance, preparing to finish the creature off quickly so he could return to his archery. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ----- Dozens and dozens of scents permeated the air, making it a rather useless form of perception. Was the big cat still in that grass or moved on already? Perhaps it was the one behind him being impaled by a spear. There were so many other animals, too, and humans. Impossible to keep track of it all. So Fuzz relied on his eyes and ears most of all. He could see the various things that made a distinction between allies and enemies, and when he couldn¡¯t¡­ he would rely on Alva. If he ran straight towards something and she didn¡¯t fire an arrow at it, he could presume it was some sort of ally. Thus he was not supposed to leap onto it and bite into its neck. Though he rarely had a chance to do that anyway, because he had to keep moving. Alva still wasn¡¯t so strong that she would be safe against the various threats in the area. Fuzz of course stayed well away from the disturbingly large boar and the cultivators with powerful suppressing energy, but there were intermediate threats as well. Humans with large curved blades were often foes, like the ones with the particularly choppy axes. Not Hoyt of course, because his axe was quite different. For one thing, it was on fire. There was one scent Fuzz couldn¡¯t ignore. It was the strangest thing. Something powerful. But he couldn¡¯t see it at all, despite the way it suffused throughout the whole area. Then Fuzz realized. Of course, it was underground. Not a threat, but a target. Something that smelled good to eat, which was especially strange for Fuzz because he couldn¡¯t even begin to describe what sort of meat it was. He was quite surprised when, dashing through the battlefield, he came across a dug up chunk of the thing and found it was just a big root. He picked it up in his mouth to make sure it was the right thing, and it was. But roots weren¡¯t meat. How odd. He ran back behind the wall of allies, dropping his small portion of root. Battle wasn¡¯t a good time to eat, even if he was hungry. He¡¯d learned that fighting with a stuffed stomach was not pleasant at all. ¡°Fuzz!¡± Alva called to him, her hand pointing in front to the left, ¡°Bring us past that!¡± Past it? Fuzz looked at the big grey monster with tree trunk legs. It had various appendages with significant reach, so he couldn¡¯t move too close. But it was clearly what she pointed at. So he did. He planned to run behind, but she directed him to go around its front. He made sure to give some extra room, but the strange twisty-grabby appendage on its front flailed out towards them. He dodged to the side and Alva ducked flat on his back, and together they barely avoided the attack. ¡°That¡¯s it, we have its attention!¡± Alva stooped down to pick up a rock and threw it at the big creature, instead of just shooting it with an arrow. ¡°Now run that way!¡± ¡®That way¡¯ was towards the biggest thing. Fuzz had to protect Alva, but he also had to listen to her commands. How frustrating. But he also had to run from the ¡®elephant¡¯ anyway, because it was not happy with them. Fuzz was planning routes to circle around either side to avoid getting too close to the dangerous center of the battle, but Alva had another plan. ¡°That¡¯s far enough! Stop! One-eighty!¡± Fuzz had no idea what that number had to do with turning directly around, but humans were confusing things. Perhaps it was the one hundred and eightieth tactic they thought of, though that made him wonder why it took them so long to get to hard turns. That was one of the first tactics, behind jump, bite throat, and claw. But he had no time to think about that. He dug his front paws into the ground, grinding to a halt as he spun about. Alva held onto the front of the saddle he had on, keeping her position. ¡°Now jump over it!¡± Somehow, Fuzz had forgotten the elephant was directly behind them. He¡¯d gotten quite a bit of distance on it, but stopping had practically negated that gap. Still, he had to admit that Alva¡¯s judgment was reasonable. He had enough room to get up to speed and do his biggest jump. Surely he could go over that thing. Paws tore into the ground as he pushed his energy to the maximum. He reached top speed then slammed his energy downward as he pushed off, up, up, up. Over the creature¡¯s head¡­ but only barely. The thing¡¯s ¡®trunk¡¯, which was not at all like the tree trunks that were its legs, flailed up towards him. He couldn¡¯t possibly dodge in the air, but Alva was already ready with her own response. An arrow struck the nose, pushing it down and to the side. It still nearly brushed against Fuzz¡¯ leg, but he found that to be quite a success. Then for a moment his feet were on the elephant¡¯s back before he pushed off once more. He dug his claws into its hindquarters and shoved it back as he propelled himself forward. Alva¡¯s sounds indicated she was happy with the results as the elephant continued forward towards an old man with a large curved blade. It was certainly much less agile than himself, and in fact it didn¡¯t even seem to care to turn around. The man moved out of the way, but the elephant battered its head and tusks into the boar that was only slightly larger than itself. That was where energy came into play, as Fuzz was well aware. Muscle and size were good, but energy was the most important- and the boar had plenty of it. In fact, it smelled good. Just like¡­ the root. Maybe the root was made of boar. Or the boar ate the root, but that wouldn¡¯t explain why it smelled good. A human warrior stood between Fuzz and his target trajectory, passing Anton. One of the ones with an axe. He must have thought he was so clever, waiting for Fuzz to approach. He would certainly have the advantage with his feet planted like that. But Fuzz had an archer. He wasn¡¯t sure how to do ranged attacks himself, but Alva had shown him many times how powerful not having to worry about the enemy ripping out your own throat when you attacked was. She was able to fire several powerful shots that the man had to deflect with his weapon, sending him staggering back. Seeing his weapon was poorly aligned, Fuzz had no problem leaping onto his chest. He raked him with his claws but didn¡¯t move in for the kill. He felt the stares of other warriors who might target Alva if he lingered too long. He kept moving, the warrior bloody but alive behind him in the dirt. Chapter 146 On a large battlefield with hundreds of eyes, it would seem impossible to stay hidden from all of them. Perhaps that might be the case if everything was specifically searching for someone hidden, but they were rather focused on everyone and everything else. Velvet found she was able to move around with little disruption. There were some exceptions, of course. Velvet knew that any of the Essence Collection cultivators would be able to find her if she got close. Being hidden also didn¡¯t protect her from being hit on accident, with all of the charging animals and warriors around. Some of the most annoying dangers were simply the plantlife in the area- whether it passively or actively attacked her, it didn¡¯t look for her at all. It simply reacted to her touch. It would take a much higher level of stealth mastery than she currently had to fool the sense something had when it was physically moved about. She wasn¡¯t just hiding, of course. She was picking the right targets. Unlike a ¡®normal¡¯ battle, she couldn¡¯t just thoughtlessly attack enemies. Killing a lion wouldn¡¯t necessarily improve the position of her allies. Killing one of the warriors¡­ she was unsure about. Things had gone past the point of the three clans merely facing off against each other. Serious injury and death had begun. It was simply that picking the wrong opponents might ultimately weaken the position of the Temitope clan. Though it was pretty easy to choose to deal with any cultivator directly in combat with the Temitope clan or any of the others with them. She concentrated her energy, slashing the thighs of two mercenary warriors facing off against the Temitope line. Before her attack, nobody sensed her. Afterwards, her two targets were unable to swiftly respond- and the senses of the others who might react were briefly distorted, at least until she could get somewhere else. The tall grass in the area really helped with her hiding, as long as it wasn¡¯t trying to strangle her. With their new wounds, the two mercs retreated. Velvet might have been able to kill them- though perhaps not. Vitals were more strongly defended. Either way, she thought her method was good enough. Some people might deserve to die, but mercenaries she didn¡¯t know anything about in a conflict that wasn¡¯t fully obvious that there was a right side? It was unnecessary. Of course, making sure that they couldn¡¯t continue to fight was still required. If she allowed her own allies to be harmed by being too merciful, she would regret it. The mercs were smart enough to prioritize their lives when injured. Couldn¡¯t get paid or achieve any future goal if they were dead. The grass twisted around Velvet. Her energy grasped gently near the top, preventing its sway. Those with keen eyes might still notice, though it could be taken for a flutter of wind. She kept moving, knowing that if someone got a solid look at her then all of her techniques wouldn¡¯t be enough. She wasn¡¯t actually invisible. Yet. Though at the higher levels of Everheart¡¯s technique, it got pretty close. According to what she¡¯d read, it was even better than that- because it covered more than just visual senses. She scanned the battlefield. The battle with the overlord was certainly progressing. She could see meter long cuts on its side, though none of them were terribly deep yet. The small handful of Essence Collection cultivators and peak Spirit Building cultivators were likewise also showing some injuries and fatigue. Alva was¡­ somehow still fine. She and Fuzz seemed to be staying far enough away from enemies for the most part, and there weren¡¯t any terribly accomplished archers singling her out. Velvet did notice a few arrows being intercepted by Anton¡¯s shots, but those were rare¡­ and he didn¡¯t protect just Alva. Rather than intercepting shots, he seemed to be most functional by providing credible threats that people had to avoid or be impaled. This prevented enemies from attacking or opened them up to opponents they were engaged with. Hoyt, Ayotunde, and the sh- Ross- were facing off against some other cultivators. They seemed quite evenly matched, but the magnitude of attacks swirling around them made Velvet hesitate to attempt to join that fight. It wasn¡¯t possible to signal to her allies what she was going to do without potentially alerting enemies, so she would face danger approaching from any angle. She saw a particularly annoying section of plants. There were western creepers, grasping grass, some of those particularly spiky trees¡­ and snakes lying in wait among all of that. She almost missed the latter. Velvet moved along intentionally leaving a trail next to her as she picked her way through and around the area. Apparently western creeper wasn¡¯t too bad if you just restrained your energy, relying on tempered skin, but she really didn¡¯t want it poking holes in her pants or sleeves either. The best part about it was that it didn¡¯t move. Velvet snuck around behind one of the vipers, past the grasping grass which received a small sacrifice of her energy, and over a small crevice that had various unpleasant plants growing out of it. She looked back towards the nearest group of enemies- cultivators from the Olayinka clan. They seemed to be edging towards the Temitope clan, so it would be best to divert them. With a few quick flicks of her wrist, Velvet threw a handful of throwing daggers. Regular steel, and quite disposable. Her energy was carried with them to increase their piercing power, but they barely even broke the skin of the Spirit Building man she¡¯d targeted. The two body temperers at his side grumpily pulled the daggers out of their shoulders. They should have been happy she wasn¡¯t using any poisons, but honestly that was a waste of good poison. Upon making the attack, her position was immediately revealed. The trail of energy the throwing daggers left couldn¡¯t be completely concealed, and the eyes of a full squad locked on her. Velvet froze, trying to blend in with the grass around her as much as possible. They charged straight towards her, following the line of the throwing daggers. When they ran into western creeper, one noticed the energy signature from the path she had falsified. That led them into grasping grass and one of the vipers. When they slowed down to more carefully pick their way through she lobbed more daggers at them, and at some of the nearby plants that were quite happy to lash out towards anything that touched them. The group couldn¡¯t go slowly, because she and the snakes were an ever present danger, but they couldn¡¯t rush towards her because of all the obstacles in the way. Ultimately, most of them chose to retreat down paths they had just stomped flat. Only the Spirit Building man continued towards her, cutting through obstacles with a large blade and leaping over patches of suspect origin. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Velvet might have liked to retreat, but she had intentionally chosen to enter the middle of the highest density of problematic plants she could. The only exit she was certain of was through the man approaching her, and he had his eyes locked on her. But just because she didn¡¯t have the element of surprise didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t fight him. She easily ducked under his first blade attack, pulling out her paired-yet-mismatched daggers. The long white dagger in her right hand stabbed out while the broader black one in her left swung for the man¡¯s arm, forcing him to twist his arm to avoid it. Velvet moved left, and the man¡¯s eyes tracked the other way for an instant. He threw himself away as her dagger stabbed towards his armpit, but she continued to press the attack. He continued to swing at her, wide horizontal chops for the most part. She was able to duck under or jump over them for the most part, after which she would circle around the man once more. Sometimes, she would move one way and her energy would seem to head another. But if she always did that, then he would quite simply attack the opposite side of where she appeared. Of course, there was more than that. She could go to her left, her right, over his head or under his legs. If he was able to accurately predict where she would move he might be able to counter some of the more audacious moves, but her daggers continued to slash and stab at his extremities, never committing to an attack if he properly locked on to her. The man angrily slammed the ground with his large blade, sending energy in all directions and knocking her back- but causing her no real harm. The attack simply made room for him to retreat¡­ and she let him. There were signs that the Olayinka clan was on their back legs. Truth be told, the cultivators from the Order were a significant deciding factor in the balance of power. A handful of mid Spirit Building cultivators couldn¡¯t be ignored, and a second full Essence Collection cultivator fighting with the Temitope clan was pushing them ahead in the battle with the beast overlord and other clan leaders. In addition, the Temitope¡¯s plan to let the other clans fight each other had worked well enough that it was probably too late for them to join forces. As the lesser cultivators from the clans began to pull back, the pressure of some of the surrounding frenzied beasts increased on those remaining. The clans had to measure whether the prize was worthwhile or retreating and recovering their forces with their current gains was the proper move. The Mwangi clan was first to withdraw, as they lacked the higher ranking cultivators who could more safely combat the remaining enemies. ----- Elder Tshering was fired up. His cultivation had stagnated at the peak of Spirit Building, but getting back out into the beast forest and fighting had helped break that barrier. Mostly, he¡¯d really needed something to do besides just cultivate in the safety and comfort the Order provided. Of course, cultivators were aware that real world experience was important, but Elder Tshering had failed to find anything he was passionate about. Stomping a giant ant colony had been a nice start. The Beast Forest controlled by the Order had too many anomalies recently, and there would be more like that. The thought of seeking out those problems had pushed him just a bit further¡­ and now he was here. Fighting a boar larger than an elephant. Though there were some elephants and the like involved as well. It was great. Elder Tshering slipped under a hippo¡¯s open maw, unconcerned about it squashing him at its speed¡­ and weight. Because as he moved under its body, he stretched his arms out wide and grabbed its belly and sides. His energy had to extend even further to get a good grip, but he stood up¡­ and then tossed the creature towards the patriarch of the Olayinka clan. The hippopotamus was barely even a magical beast with only the slightest traces of energy, but it did weigh close to two tonnes. The patriarch didn¡¯t hesitate to chop it in half with his large curved blade. What a waste. But at least it provided an opening for Afi to stab her spear into his shoulder. Of course, it was aimed for his heart- but Essence Collection cultivators wouldn¡¯t let themselves get killed so easily. The peak Spirit Building cultivators backing up the Olayinka patriarch had already directed the creature towards the Temitope clan¡¯s lines again, but Elder Tshering was on it immediately. He even had time for a short detour where he elbowed one of the two men in the ribs, bouncing off him and using the momentum to get back on course. As he caught up to the boar overlord, its tail constantly swished, trying to stab him with barbed needles. Some of them were even shot like projectiles, but Elder Tshering had the thing all to himself. He landed on the boar¡¯s rear and reached down, grabbing the base of the strange tail. He pulled, but found his plan wouldn¡¯t quite work. It didn¡¯t bend in such a way that he could hit the boar with its own spines, not unless it could fully break it- but that expenditure of power might as well go to a killing blow. It did suit quite well to redirect the creature, however, driving it into a mostly empty area. It was also great for fending off the two Spirit Building cultivators who had to fend it off with their swords. When they attempted to move in together, a half dozen consecutive arrows slowed one of the cultivators. The battle had progressed far enough that Anton was free to focus on the main fight, it seemed. He didn¡¯t manage any significant injuries to the man, but he desynchronized the pair. That meant one arrived a few moments early. That was just the right amount of time for Elder Tshering to perform an axe kick, sending the man into the ground. In response his sword slid down Elder Tshering¡¯s leg, but some quick twisting saved his manhood. He wasn¡¯t going to let his vitals be damaged so easily. One man was half buried in the ground. The boar spun itself around. The patriarch of the Olayinka clan had broken away from matriarch Afi and was charging towards Elder Tshering with the remaining Spirit Building cultivator, and the boar charged him from behind. As the overlord bent its head to impale Elder Tshering with its tusk, he jumped up to meet it. At the scale of the boar, the tusk itself was in no way sharp. The energy that radiated off of it certainly was, but Elder Tshering clamped his feet on the sides of the tusk. The giant creature only had the skill to form its energy into defenses or to extend its tusks, so from his position clamped on it merely sent him rocketing forward with it towards the others. The Olayinka patriarch gathered energy, his curved blade ready to sweep up and chop Tshering in two. To throw off his timing, Tshering pushed forward off the boar. The blade slashed early, and Elder Tshering curled into a ball to keep his legs. His legs glanced off the patriarch¡¯s head as he tumbled over him, and he kicked the man towards the boar. The creature¡¯s tusk was barely avoided by him, but Afi¡¯s thrown spear was not- it pierced through his abdomen, impaling into the boar¡¯s leg. The two Spirit Building cultivators were only just able to avoid the boar. The Olayinka patriarch dove under the legs and came out without further injuries- but his side was spewing blood. ¡°We retreat! Come!¡± Elder Tshering had no way to know if they simply planned to regroup, but with others out of the way it would be more straightforward to take down the overlord. It was already battered and bruised from the combat, and more fatigued than either of the two remaining Essence Collection Cultivators. Most of the Temitope cultivators would have to stay at a distance, but they could pelt it with spears and keep away the other beasts, at least the ones that would support the boar overlord. All that remained was a little scrapping, a nice straightforward fight. Tshering punched his fist into his palm. This should be fun. Chapter 147 The battle wound to a close as the cultivators of the Temitope clan surrounded the overlord. While it did not go down easily, it was overwhelmed by numbers and power. Each small wound became more significant as the course of the battle stretched on. It made one last move, frantically dashing forward towards something, but matriarch Afi planted herself firmly in front of it, driving her spear into its heart, nearly burying her arm in its chest. The creature continued running, carrying her for several dozen meters before burying its head in the ground, digging up chunks of dirt. However, its movements were sluggish- and it collapsed less than a minute later. Just because the battle was over didn¡¯t mean that people could sit idly. ¡°Begin dismantling!¡± Matriarch Afi commanded. ¡°See if we can find whatever this was protecting in this region.¡± Alva had an answer for that immediately. ¡°I think¡­ it¡¯s the potato thing.¡± She gestured to one of the deepest gouges in the ground, which revealed some already-chewed tubers. They weren¡¯t exactly potatoes, but another sort of root vegetable. It wasn¡¯t one that Ambati had a word for, though they compared it to some of their similar products. As for determining if this was something that a beast overlord of a region would want to protect, that was simple. Once they dug some of it up they could feel how much energy was packed into the plants. It wasn¡¯t just a single root, either. It was clearly a large plant that the overlord had been tending for a while, eating from it to grow to its terrific size. It was impossible to say how much there had been at one point or exactly how long it took to grow, but as they started digging it out they found hundreds of kilograms of the bulbous roots. While the defeat of the beast overlord had calmed the creatures in the area somewhat, the unearthing of the tubers and the scent of the overlord¡¯s meat had clearly drawn more attention. The process of parceling pieces of the beast and the roots to people to carry was almost as frenzied as the battle preceding it. The Temitope clan had access to some magic bags, but the sheer volume and weight of what they had to carry was too much for just those. In the end, most of the warriors carried a hundred or two hundred kilograms of meat or tubers. A smaller portion of the burdens were the bodies of their own fallen. They were already leaving the area within the hour, making their way back towards Tailoga and the Temitope clan. Though some beasts curiously watched them, none were brave enough to attack the large organized group of warriors. Likewise, the other two clans avoided making any attacks. The trip back took slightly longer than a normal day¡¯s travel because of the extra weight everyone had, but they didn¡¯t stop even after dark. As they grew close to Tailoga they almost relaxed, but Ayotunde reminded everyone that this was the final chance for them to be ambushed. Only when they arrived at the gates of the clan and were met by familiar faces could they finally relax. But just because all of the warriors basically collapsed into heaps didn¡¯t mean that the activity was over. Matriarch Afi wasn¡¯t done yet. ¡°A feast for everyone!¡± she declared. ¡°Set aside a portion of the tubers to be planted later. We shall feast on the overlord and the target of his protection! We celebrate victory!¡± More quietly, she instructed the cooks to make sure both were edible. Boars could have all sorts of nasty parasites, and powerful specimens might have even nastier things inside them. Most tubers were safe to eat, but eating mysterious ones that stored energy without at least checking was downright foolish. It was just that saying that in front of everyone would be a bit of a downer. ----- The feast actually took all night to prepare- however, the cooks of the clan threw together some quick food to tide over their starving warriors while they waited. Technically they could just eat rations they had with them, but that wasn¡¯t a proper way to treat anyone after a great victory. Extra seats were prepared for their fallen comrades, though the food would of course be consumed by those present in body. The entire clan was involved in the feast, with guards on the walls being rotated out to keep some modicum of safety. Anton looked at the bowl of stew in front of him. The primary ingredients were the boars and the tubers they¡¯d found. Even the leafy tops were used in the stew after being tested by the cooks. The number of other ingredients were small, just a few spices, but upon smelling it Anton understood why. The meat of a beast overlord was like nothing else he had ever smelled, though that wasn¡¯t nearly so pleasant before it had been cooked. One sip of the soup told him that the cooks were right to keep things simple. It was extremely rich. The meat was quite tough, but nowhere near as much as it had been. The effort of chewing through it paid off, as the flavor was amazing. The tubers were soft and absorbed the flavors around them perfectly, releasing them as he bit into the chunks. Anton felt himself being fortified as he ate. He wondered if it was a bit rude to activate the Vessel of Insights in such a scenario, but he kept it limited. It would only absorb stray energy that wasn¡¯t going to be made use of regardless. As for the insights, he felt some of them pouring in. Even as he consumed the stew, memories of the battle flooded into his head. Very few true insights were among them, but a few. No wonder rich cultivators sought out powerful beasts for raising their pampered children. It would be so easy to grow strong with meals like this every day. ¡°Fuzz!¡± Alva chastised. ¡°Paws off the table.¡± She took the bowl and put it on the floor. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t reach it on the table, as he was quite tall enough¡­ but he couldn¡¯t help but want to look around more. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Nobody commented on their being a large wolf in the area. Those who had been involved in the battle appreciated his presence, and the others simply went along with the whims of their matriarch. No point in stupidly complaining and maybe being kicked out of the feast. The feast continued for some time, until a tremendous sound rang through the clan¡¯s property. ¡°What was that?¡± Matriarch Afi asked as she stood. ¡°Just the formation,¡± Catarina casually finished chewing a bite of food. ¡°It should hold on its own for a few moments at least. Though we should probably go check it out.¡± ¡°Catarina, Ayotunde, Tshering. With me.¡± Anton waited patiently as they left- and quickly returned without Catarina and Ayotunde. The sound of several more attacks rang out in the intervening time. Matriarch Afi was quick to speak, but ultimately looked unconcerned. ¡°All of those who are capable of attacking at range, please make yourselves available on the walls. We will also be rotating out people to provide energy supporting the formations.¡± Tshering grabbed a giant bone from the boar. Bones often softened when cooked, but for something of that size merely boiling overnight wouldn¡¯t have an impact. He tapped it into his hand like a club, with an impressive sound. ¡°The other two clans think they deserve a portion of the prize. So we thought you should all just finish eating it. Meanwhile, we¡¯ll go bat them around a little bit.¡± After beginning Body Tempering, Anton¡¯s appetite had grown significantly. However, it wasn¡¯t enough for him to need the massive quantities of food that had been placed before him. He was mostly still eating because of the wonderful flavors and not the hunger. Thus, stopping himself was simple enough. The younger warriors who had strong ability to attack at range looked a bit reluctant to go, but they¡¯d had a full feast by any standards already. ----- At the walls, Anton saw the patriarchs from both the Olayinka and Mwangi clans. The complement of warriors they had with them was not astoundingly large, since it seemed they didn¡¯t have any of the more injured warriors with them. A wise choice, because Anton would have gladly shot them. As far as legitimate cultivation competition went, everything was over. The Temitope clan had successfully retrieved their target, and now their home was being attacked. Based on how he felt the formations straining, it could be quite a danger. Except the strongest people who were causing that strain wouldn¡¯t be able to maintain that level of attack for long. Especially not when they were distracted. Matriarch Afi and Tshering leapt down from the walls, as well as some of the elders of the Temitope clan. They were all of the ones strong enough to protect themselves away from the walls, while the rest stayed up above, attacking or simply sustaining the formation. Catarina and Ayotunde were in that latter category, Ayotunde not because he had much to do with controlling formations but simply because of his ability to provide energy, like many of the others. Anton was one of those who would be attacking. While he had gone through a great battle then run for hours to return to safety, the meals since then and the short time everyone passed out before the meal was ready in the morning was enough to invigorate him. He was feeling great, and while he could see that the patriarchs at least had replenished their energy they weren¡¯t quite so fully refreshed. As he shot arrows down below, Anton noticed that some of the mercenaries from before were missing. The other parts of the wall hadn¡¯t raised any alarms, so it was unlikely they were making an attack from elsewhere. Instead, it was more likely their contracts didn¡¯t extend to attacking another clan. The Order¡¯s contract didn¡¯t either- but they were defending, which was quite expressly covered. Far be it from them to go into another country and kill people in their own homes, but they would gladly defend those they were working with. It quickly became clear that the difference in recovery was great. Standard medicines commonly available just weren¡¯t quite the same as boar overlord and what amounted to a natural treasure he was defending. The defensive position was an advantage as well, because it was possible for people to retreat to the walls if they were hard pressed. The formations were able to prevent any attacks from reaching them, with the patriarchs occupied and the power being reinforced by rotating members of the clan. Though he wasn¡¯t able to land a single blow on either of the patriarchs, Anton began to focus most of his attention there. Because even if he couldn¡¯t hit them, the way that they dodged informed him on how he needed to improve. Did he need to be faster? More accurate? More flexible in where his shots went? Of course, it was some of each. His shots didn¡¯t do nothing just because they were avoided or extremely rarely blocked. Each distraction from him meant that the real threats were more able to land a telling blow. Such was the case when Elder Tshering found an opening to swing his improvised mace directly down on the head of the Olayinka patriarch. Actually, the patriarch blocked with his sword- but surprisingly Tshering let him cut through the bone and simply relied on the momentum of the top third to impact the man in the face. The blow was mostly a surprise, but in that moment, Tshering managed to kick him in the chest hard enough to send him flying two dozen meters, with a much more satisfying crack. ¡°And stay out!¡± he gestured angrily. ¡°Unless you all want to die here.¡± The mercenaries certainly didn¡¯t¡­ and the lesser clan members were already edging away before the patriarch gave leave to retreat. Anton was ready to keep shooting before Afi held up a hand. ¡°We can deal with the rest of that on our own¡­ later. The strength of our clan should increase from this feast, and we can leverage our current health.¡± Anton nodded. It made sense that they¡¯d want to continue without outside help. Otherwise, their strength might be doubted. As Anton was heading back, he realized he still had the Vessel activated. It hadn¡¯t been at full power, but as he opened it up he saw a few longer golden strands of insight. He wondered if they would be useful. They weren¡¯t a replacement for his own training, but they were certainly a nice supplement. He was also able to help his allies grow, one small step at a time. Nothing that allowed them to leap over cultivation stages, but he still found himself quite fond of it. Chapter 148 During certain times, a clan or sect could come upon certain powerful resources that might catapult them forward. However, the fortunes of many were more difficult to change than that of an individual. In short, spreading out rewards rarely had a drastic change for any individual. The defeat of the Overlord was a significant accomplishment, and the following feast was absolutely beneficial to the Temitope clan, but it wasn¡¯t as if all of their members skyrocketed to the next rank afterwards. It helped with their recovery after the battle and would have lasting effects in their continuing cultivation, but the sudden changes were limited. The circumstances shifted in their favor, however, as the other two clans still had to pay their mercenaries with only whatever minimal gains they had gotten from the area they were searching for the beast overlord. The tubers he had been both consuming and guarding were an extraordinary variant, to be sure, but even though the portions they saved could be replanted, growing into more of the same, it would take time for them to grow. The plants would feed off of natural energy that might be used for special herbs or other crops. That didn¡¯t make them not worth the effort, of course. The purity of natural energy they were able to hold was quite something. If they were left for the longer term, they could also increase the quality of the soil around them- and eventually the quality of natural energy in the area. It was the same principles as other farming by energy cultivators. It would just take time before the results were obvious. Even so, Anton was happy to have a small bundle of his own. He¡¯d helped advise the Temitope clan about how they should treat the plants, given his own experience and what he¡¯d learned from Elder Howland. Most cultivators who knew plants specialized in poisonous or medicinal ones, not those more closely resembling standard crops. The Temitope clan had farmers, of course, but their cultivations were generally lower. Anton understood why things ended up that way, but he thought it was an area that deserved as much recognition and respect as smithing or combat itself. After one week, the mercenaries hired by the other two clans had already gone on their way. The chances that they would try for another attack on the Temitope clan were low, especially since they had to take some time to lick their wounds and recover. The group from the Order could be moving on at any point, but they stayed another week. Enough to be friendly, but not to overstay the hospitality of the Temitope. Though it wasn¡¯t as if they didn¡¯t contribute, either. The Temitope wouldn¡¯t make mercenaries or guests work in the fields, but nobody could stop Anton. Then there was the matter of the Vessel of Insight. There were a few interesting strands in there from the feast and battle at the walls. Anton was starting to be able to pick out who the insights came from before absorbing them, and these included insights from Elder Tshering and Matriarch Afi. Previously, Anton had thought it would be useful for other cultivators to absorb the insights directly. However, when he¡¯d experimented with the others¡­ they hadn¡¯t been able to take the strands of insight. It might have been possible with certain applications of energy, but so far they¡¯d only managed to destroy a few smaller strands instead of practically being able to absorb them. It was likely that only the currently attuned owner of the Vessel was able to properly interact with the insights. In fact, Anton had the feeling that changing the attunement would result in the destruction of much of the insights. They were already an intangible made semi-real, so he wasn¡¯t surprised when they followed obtuse rules. At his current rank, Anton wasn¡¯t sure about absorbing Essence Collection insights. Instead, he stuck to the noodly strands that were more appropriate to his current cultivation. The Temitope clan had many spear cultivators, and Anton supposed if he wanted to take up spear and shield he would now have a head start. He was more interested in a bit of the Western Steel Body that Ayotunde practiced, but he didn¡¯t have the context to do much with it. Perhaps as he approached the next stars and worked on his body more. He was still focusing on that spirit-body connection. As usual, Anton did his best to help others by advising them on his perspective of the insights. Not everyone would want to listen to a random old man, but he discussed with anyone who was willing. Whether Anton¡¯s thoughts or the originator of the insight were more correct, discussing their thoughts helped both of them improve. Sometimes they explained things Anton had missed, while others he was able to add to what they learned. He thought he was getting better at things like that, though he knew he was still far short of many cultivators in the Order. But the more powerful ones didn¡¯t necessarily have the time to individually interact with all of the others, so what they could teach wasn¡¯t always better. When the Order finally left, everyone was eager to visit again in the future. They were planning to stop in on their return path, of course, but they were more invested in the Temitope clan, Tailoga, and the region by the time they left. It was good to be able to help Ayotunde in return for his previous aid, even if they were both getting paid at the time. ----- The terrain shifted from open grasslands into jungle as they neared the region where Everheart had indicated. They had briefly split up to search for information in the surrounding towns. Now that they were gathered back together Anton looked at the instructions he had in hand. If he didn¡¯t know better, he might think that it was as clear as it could be and that Everheart simply couldn¡¯t precisely point out a location. In short, he knew enough about Everheart from what people said and from interacting with the projections he had in the tomb that he was just messing with Anton. ¡°What the hell even is the ¡®seventh waterfall¡¯?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°He should know that terrain changes over the centuries.¡± If he didn¡¯t believe that at least the facility in question existed, he¡¯d just give up. ¡°Did anyone find anything about Rainbow Lake?¡± ¡°I did,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I had to search old records for it. Turns out it¡¯s been a dry lakebed for hundreds of years.¡± ¡°Hmm, that might be a problem,¡± Anton commented. The instructions weren¡¯t vague enough that they had no hope. In fact, Everheart had named several cities around the area and directions from them to the region they wanted to search. Most of those cities even survived under the same names after two hundred years. ¡°We¡¯re supposed to follow the river that feeds into it to the seventh waterfall. At least he didn¡¯t mention a specific tree or rock or something. Those are probably all long gone.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°And from there?¡± Elder Tshering asked. ¡°The facility is¡­?¡± ¡°Behind the seventh waterfall, apparently.¡± ¡°Aha!¡± He said, ¡°All we have to do is search behind waterfalls then. Easy enough.¡± ¡°The region isn¡¯t that big,¡± Hoyt admitted. ¡°Combing it thoroughly might take several weeks, but it should be possible.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Alva said, ¡°We get to go exploring!¡± There weren¡¯t any particular comments from Timothy, Devon, and Velvet. They¡¯d already agreed to come along and support Anton and hadn¡¯t suddenly changed their minds. ¡°Then,¡± Anton said, ¡°We should find our way to this Rainbow Lake. We¡¯ll have to search from there.¡± They considered getting a local guide, but the expense wasn¡¯t what stopped them. Instead, it was the desire for secrecy. Assuming this facility hadn¡¯t already been found, it should have valuable information and resources. Beyond the promised notes, of course. ----- Just as stated, Rainbow Lake was a dry lakebed. So dry, apparently, that nothing grew in it. That was strange, as the area in general was quite wet. However, all of the rivers flowing around them followed different contours of the land and simply didn¡¯t get to Rainbow Lake. Anton checked the notes once more. ¡°Nothing on direction from Rainbow Lake. Just ¡®seventh waterfall¡¯. Perhaps we should try finding where the inlet was and go from there?¡± In a wide open, empty area, it wasn¡¯t actually that hard to spot the inlet and outlet. It just took a bit of investigating to determine which one had been which. Then they began walking. ¡°It¡¯s weird,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°I feel something strange as well,¡± Anton said. Everyone concurred, but nobody could quite point to what it was. Fuzz was very frantically sniffing the dry river bed, but came up with nothing of interest. Eventually they came to the first river in the area, where a bend turned it away from its previous longtime flow direction. ¡°Upriver, I suppose,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°That¡¯s where I¡¯d expect the waterfalls to be.¡± To even possibly accommodate the idea of seven waterfalls, the area had to be quite hilly. In fact, it was just the right sort of area for that¡­ and thus the worst sort of area for traveling. Sudden cliffs where the waterfalls were had to be climbed, and even walking alongside the river was difficult because of all the different plants growing alongside it. Most of the plants weren¡¯t dangerous. Many of them were. Poisonous spores, spines, traps¡­ everything they could imagine the plants had. Fuzz almost dove into a pool of water inside one particularly large specimen, but Alva pulled him away. When she pointed out how it was going to try to eat him if he did that, Fuzz looked as embarrassed as a wolf reasonably could, his nose down in the soil below. That one wouldn¡¯t have been much danger for someone with help, since it was made for animals to fall into and drown, to be slowly digested. Others were more immediately dangerous. As they travelled upriver, they found three falls. Perhaps there was a fourth at some point, based on how they thought the terrain might have shifted. Certainly never a fifth. The spring from which the river flowed was at one of the highest points in the area. Not the highest point though. Perhaps one of the other rivers was the one they actually wanted, and the flow had changed more than they thought. ----- Two weeks. Two weeks going through the jungle dealing with plants that wanted to kill or incapacitate them and the beasts that lived within. And now it was raining, again. In all fairness, it was not a terribly abnormal two weeks for a group of cultivators. However, they weren¡¯t out in the jungle for the express purpose of training. It was still somewhat useful, but they had a specific goal they were trying to reach, and no progress towards it. Taking shelter from the rain was pointless. Alva was the weakest among them, but she was still easily able to withstand a bit of water. None of their gear would be damaged. It was still an annoyance, though. A reminder that the jungle continued as usual, raining buckets nearly every other day. Just because they could traverse mud didn¡¯t mean they wanted to do it all the time. Anton looked towards Rainbow Lake, or what had once been Rainbow Lake. ¡°How the hell is Rainbow Lake dry?¡± he asked. Timothy shrugged, ¡°Well, that river doesn¡¯t flow to it anymore¡­ so¡­¡± even as he spoke, Timothy frowned. He seemed to have nothing convincing to say. ¡°I didn¡¯t think about it,¡± Elder Tshering admitted. ¡°Dry lakes are dry. That¡¯s all.¡± ¡°We should go investigate more,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It should at least have been a little wet. It rained the day before.¡± ¡°Maybe it just dries fast,¡± Hoyt conjectured. ¡°Look, the rain¡¯s almost let up. The plants here won¡¯t look like they were soaked within a couple hours, and the drainage there might be even better.¡± ¡°It could be,¡± Anton admitted. As predicted, the rain did clear up. It even came with a large rainbow, streaking throughout the sky. That was nice, but by the time they got to Rainbow Lake, it was all dried up. That¡­ was clearly something strange. But determining exactly how things should be was difficult. ¡°Needs more investigation, it seems,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Do we just look around here or¡­?¡± Anton kicked some of the dirt. He found it to be surprisingly tough, instead of creating a gouge like he expected. That was even stranger. ¡°Perhaps we look closer at Rainbow Lake, and set aside the waterfalls for later. It¡¯s our only concrete lead, and it¡¯s¡­ like this,¡± he gestured down at the dry, light brown dirt. It wouldn¡¯t have been out of place in the grasslands, but even when the other parts of the jungle were dry they were a dark dirt full of decayed plants. There weren¡¯t even an abundance of leaves blown into the lake. Something worth investigating, indeed. Chapter 149 Everything found in ¡®Rainbow Lake¡¯ were things they had already found. It was a dry lakebed with dirt at the bottom and a dry riverbed leading to it. They¡¯d already followed that direction, and there was nothing more to see. In short, it was exceedingly suspicious. ¡°Let¡¯s enumerate our suspicions,¡± Anton said as everyone gathered around. ¡°First, it¡¯s dry when it was just raining. That¡¯s clearly abnormal. Second, there¡¯s not a single plant in the area. Third, the flow of energy is ¡®weird¡¯. Fourth and finally, Everheart told us to come here. That last one is maybe even the most suspicious part about it.¡± He shook his head, ¡°But I¡¯m not sure what we can do. Catarina?¡± She shook her head, ¡°Still haven¡¯t discerned if this is actually part of a formation.¡± ¡°Hoyt and Timothy?¡± ¡°The trees are tough,¡± Timothy answered, ¡°But the surrounding trees seem about as normal as they can be here.¡± ¡°Fuzz?¡± Fuzz stuck his head out of hole. Alva answered for him, ¡°We haven¡¯t found anything. Just more dirt, even two meters deep.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°That¡¯s something then. Elder Tshering should return soon with a count of the waterfalls, though I doubt it will turn up much.¡± He thought for a few moments, ¡°I¡¯m interested in seeing what it looks like if the river that obviously wanted to run this way connects to the lake. Anyone got a shovel?¡± He looked around. Apparently not. He should carry more practical stuff like that with him, then. ¡°Hands it is.¡± Truthfully, a cultivator digging with their hands didn¡¯t find it that hard to do. Anton and Devon moved next to the river where it approached the dry riverbed, and were able to shape their energy into wide shapes to shovel quite well. It would have been better if there were an underlying structure to support their energy, but it wasn¡¯t a terribly big deal. The actual expenditure was relatively minor- their muscles could move the dirt on its own, and their energy didn¡¯t have to cut through anything. ¡°I¡¯m surprised,¡± Devon said, ¡°You used to have everything, Grandpa.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like I don¡¯t own a shovel. It¡¯s just not here. I¡¯m not used to being able to carry a whole shed around with me.¡± Anton flung a hunk of dirt past Devon¡¯s head to a pile next to him. Devon used both hands to scoop out a large section, flinging it right towards Anton¡¯s torso so he had to dodge. Soon enough they were engaged in a dirt fight, though the silently agreed upon rules were that the dirt had to come from the trench they were digging. Soon enough they had a trench a meter wide and deep stretching from the dry part of the riverbed to just short of the actual river. Anton looked down at the pot on his waist, pulling it out and looking into it. He pulled out a single strand, a dark yellow instead of a shining golden. It slowly sank into his hand as he carefully absorbed it. ¡°Huh.¡± ¡°What?¡± Devon asked. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought this thing would deal with more¡­ mundane insights.¡± Anton had learned more about how to use the Vessel of Insights. Specifically, if he didn¡¯t care about it storing excess energy for the future, he could have it always active without draining his own reserves. The effects it had would be limited based on the quantity of natural energy in the area, but he really didn¡¯t have a reason not to have it active. ¡°On a different note, it seems we both have some ways to improve where our two hands meet.¡± Anton put his hands together in the shovel shape they were using. ¡°See here, we¡¯ve been treating it like two areas and it¡¯s weaker where they meet.¡± ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± Devon nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not something that would normally come up for me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Your hands work independently. Well, most do- even if wielding a weapon in two hands.¡± Anton scratched his chin, ¡°Should matter for a bow though. I cover the whole thing in energy starting from my hands.¡± ¡°So what was that about mundane insights?¡± ¡°Well, I know a bit more about digging now. Which likely isn¡¯t that important, unless you¡¯re on a strict timeline. Taking another scoop or two isn¡¯t that big of a deal.¡± Anton looked towards the river next to them. ¡°So, ready to open this up?¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± Devon nodded. ¡°Should we work from both sides?¡± ¡°I think so. It should wash away the middle if we get a good flow on either side. If not, we can still reach out. It¡¯s not too wide.¡± To reach the bottom of the trench without extending energy beyond their bodies, they would have had to practically lie down on the ground- it was a meter deep, about the length of an arm, more or less. However, they were both able to extend their energy so they only had to crouch a bit. Hundreds of kilograms of dirt were flung behind them within a few seconds and the river opened up. The water started rushing down the trench, some of it soaking into the dry ground. Then a few moments later the flow slowed¡­ and the ground was once more dry. Where they had opened the river the dirt had sewn itself back together, and the rest of their trench was slowly closing itself as well. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°I guess that answered that,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know what that means.¡± Then it began to rain again. They watched as the water touched the dry riverbed and barely wet it for a moment. The two of them just walked back to Rainbow Lake where they might meet up with the others. When the lakebed also remained dry, if they still thought the lake had naturally dried up, they would have been committing to being the most ignorant people in the world, or at least close. The chance that it was in no way connected to Everheart was extremely slim. If he wasn¡¯t responsible, perhaps someone looking for the facility was. As the rain began to let up, another rainbow appeared. Though there were some slight issues with it, like the fact that it split up into different colored beams going to different places around the lake. Anton exchanged looks with Devon. ¡°Which one is the seventh, then? Inside out or outside in?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go to red,¡± Devon said. ¡°You head for the other end.¡± Some of the others were around the area still and had noticed the clearly unnatural rainbow as well. The only way the rainbow would look normal was if they were¡­ well, far away from the lake. Like the last time. Anton couldn¡¯t remember what the purple at the other end was called, but he could see where it split off from the main beam. He reached it shortly before Catarina got to him. ¡°What is this?¡± she asked. Anton shrugged, ¡°The seventh waterfall, maybe.¡± It was still raining slightly, and the water was split in a way to create the different beams. He wasn¡¯t even sure how one might begin going about that, and he had a pretty good sense of how energy flowed now. With nothing better to do, he started shoveling the dirt at his feet, where the beam met the ground. Elder Tshering appeared moments later. ¡°I counted the waterfalls!¡± he declared, ¡°But I¡¯m betting that¡¯s pointless now. This seems to pretty well indicate we were looking for this the whole time.¡± He bent down and reached out with his hands. Then he stood up, a ball of dirt the size of a person in his hands. He tossed it to the side and repeated. Instead of shoveling he was clamping oversized ¡®hands¡¯ around the dirt. It wasn¡¯t necessary to do so much at once, but his enthusiasm spread to Anton. Meanwhile, Catarina was grumbling about Everheart. ¡°...just how good at formations was he? I can barely even make it out with it active like this.¡± Following the path of the violet part of the rainbow, they dug a full ten meters into the ground before they finally uncovered a staircase with some sort of barrier keeping the dirt out. At that point, they made sure to gather everyone around. ¡°As you can all see, we¡¯ve found some sort of underground place,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°Though just because Everheart directed me here we shouldn¡¯t assume it is safe. I should probably go first,¡± Anton looked over at Elder Tshering. ¡°You¡¯re right about that,¡± Tshering admitted. ¡°You¡¯ve got the right senses for traps, and Everheart might not appreciate someone at my level entering first.¡± Velvet looked like she wanted to say something but decided against it, and nobody else had anything to say. So Anton began to make his way down the stairs. The map and instructions he had might not be anything but just that, but Anton made sure to keep them at the ready. The stairs didn¡¯t continue far, and soon Anton found himself in a well-lit corridor with six other stairways leading to it. ¡°Tch,¡± the sound of a tongue clicking came from nearby. ¡°How lucky.¡± Anton turned to see what looked like a young boy in an oversized robe, but had the same feeling as Everheart¡¯s projections. ¡°Welcome to the Seventh Waterfall, I guess.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Anton said. He gestured with the instructions he¡¯d gotten. ¡°Senior Everheart, I presume? I was sent here by a projection in Floelor. He said there were notes on improving the basic cultivation level of people on a large scale. I was hoping to get access to those.¡± ¡°Really?¡± the young boy asked. ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯re looking for?¡± ¡°Yes. Is it not here? Is it already taken?¡± ¡°Let me see that,¡± Everheart said, not bothering to get Anton¡¯s permission as he flicked a hand and took the section of scroll from him. ¡°Yeah, that seems like something I¡¯d do. What else did he say was here?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Anton clarified, ¡°He didn¡¯t mention anything else. Just the notes. He offered me the location of that or Fleeting Youth, but I chose this one.¡± ¡°Ahh, I get it now,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°Makes all kinds of sense.¡± He looked down at himself. ¡°Ugh at least I can stop looking like this.¡± His form shimmered as he grew into the nebulous age of young adulthood. ¡°Good enough. Shouldn¡¯t have to conserve power anymore.¡± ¡°Does your projection being smaller conserve power?¡± Anton asked. ¡°No,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I get efficiency from not liking the form.¡± ¡°... how does that work?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You can get something from anything, if you know how.¡± He tapped the side of his head, ¡°You said Floelor, right? I should have preserved anything there with something pretty clever.¡± ¡°The future of all unclaimed resources, I believe.¡± ¡°Yeah, that sounds like what I was thinking of. Rainbow Lake is my favorite, so that¡¯s why things are so awful up above,¡± Everheart shook his head. ¡°About time someone got here. I¡¯ve got trials and crap. Well, trial. Most of them I kinda decided weren¡¯t any good. Can¡¯t really rebuild them now,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°So how do you feel about swimming in acid?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Anton narrowed his eyes. ¡°Oh wait,¡± Everheart snapped his fingers, ¡°That was one of the stupid ones.¡± Everheart frowned and looked over his shoulder at the single corridor behind him. He put on a serious face. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡± He walked the way only cultivators could- a relaxed pace that somehow resulted in great speed. He didn¡¯t return until ten minutes later. ¡°So. I might have destroyed all of the trials.¡± Everheart tapped a finger to his lip. ¡°So you have to wait here while I make a new one.¡± Ignoring that he previously said he couldn¡¯t, Anton nodded. ¡°How long do you expect that to take, Senior Everheart?¡± ¡°Days. Weeks. Months. Years. Decades. Depends on when I get a good idea,¡± Everheart nodded to himself. ¡°So you just wait here until then. I¡¯ve got an energy gathering array back there where you can cultivate. Make sure not to disturb me while I¡¯m thinking.¡± With that, Everheart wandered off again. Anton shared a look with the others. ¡°... Let¡¯s hope for days, shall we?¡± Everyone nodded. At least they could cultivate. That was something. Chapter 150 Though simple, the training facilities were sufficient. Dense energy gathered in enough quantity for everyone to make as much use as they wanted to. That included activating the Vessel of Insights at full power, taking advantage of the plentiful natural energy. Unlike the tomb, there were no special facilities with golems for combat or traps or pressure training areas, just energy. The higher one got in cultivation, the less difference a week or two gathering energy made. As the two cultivators at the lowest rank, Alva and Devon were progressing the most quickly. Alva focused more on honing her technique compared to just pushing higher in rank, conceding to the continued cautions of Anton. With the Vessel of Insights, Alva was the one to benefit the most. She was practicing archery just like Anton, and whenever the vessel produced one of her insights Anton was able to compare to his own experience. The one area he found she suffered in the most was patience. Each shot had to be intentionally aimed to its utmost degree. Even if it only took a second or a fraction thereof, shooting hastily led to wasted energy. For her age, not even quite a teenager, Alva was remarkably patient- but she wanted to keep up with Anton¡¯s speed. That simply wouldn¡¯t be possible, with decades of experience as a hunter and then a more compressed experience of multiple years fighting as a cultivator. She would be able to catch up with the latter- the former was something she would just have to wait for. Elder Tshering had only recently advanced into Essence Collection. Even in a good training environment, his insights were few and far between. When Anton was able to absorb one, he rarely managed to think of anything of his own to contribute. If he for some reason needed to fight with his bare fists the insights would help him, but they didn¡¯t significantly propel his growth. If he could get insights from Elder Kseniya¡­ his head would probably explode, but if it didn¡¯t it would be quite powerful. According to what he knew, however, the Vessel of Insight had its own limitations that seemed to make it most useful in Essence Collection. Catarina spent the majority of her time studying the unseen formations around them. According to her, they weren¡¯t so intentionally hidden as in the tomb. Insights from her in that category generally went over Anton¡¯s head, but he collected the thoughts and feelings for later, if his knowledge advanced sufficiently to make use of it. Days of training and simple sparring turned into weeks, and people started to wonder if Everheart was actually going to be able to create some sort of trial for them. Short of the years or decades mark, of course. Then he came to see them- briefly. ¡°I¡¯m approaching a critical point in forming the trial,¡± his current dignified form informed them. ¡°Two more weeks. However, I need to not be disturbed. Thus, I will be sealing the entrance to the surface. I trust you all have sufficient supplies for that time?¡± Anton nodded. It wouldn¡¯t be the same as being able to hunt for fresh meat or forage for vegetables or fruits, but they had rations available to them that could sustain them for months. ¡°Should we just wait outside to avoid disturbing you?¡± Everheart shook his head, ¡°I need to attune it to match all of you. If you leave¡­ my efforts will be wasted. I don¡¯t know if I have the energy to repeat the process. Now then, time for me to get back to it.¡± ----- Like that, another week and more passed. Spending a month in focused cultivation wasn¡¯t particularly strange for cultivators, even those early in their efforts. In fact, Anton had effectively spent his first three months doing nothing else, except morbid duties such as burying the dead. Compared to that, a pleasant environment with friends, family, and allies was quite comforting. Though a powerful cultivator could theoretically go without sleep for long durations, that was only by pushing themselves beyond proper limits. There were always consequences for such things, and even if he needed only a few hours each day they were important to Anton. With little but a hallway, a training room, and the stairs leading up¡­ the room below the stairs was sometimes used as somewhere to sleep. That way the fluctuations of energy from the others wouldn¡¯t disturb anyone. That was why Anton was surprised to wake up to the feeling of danger. Not to himself. It was more distant than that. But danger, to be sure. He stretched out his senses. No problem with the others. He felt everyone was safe, mostly sleeping with only Devon and Elder Tshering training at the current moment. Fuzz was actually sleeping in the training room, the way only a canine could. Where could the danger be, then? Anton only took a moment to send his senses up above, to Rainbow Lake. The dry bed that had once been called that, at least. He immediately found the source of the danger. A bird, much like an eagle but on a completely different scale- its wings each wider than a man was tall and with a beak large enough to tear a man in half. Beneath it was a small group of people. Normal people, not cultivators. The energy the bird displayed and its size were each sufficient to kill all of them easily. Anton only hesitated a moment. He felt the barrier at the stairs, and determined it simply kept too much from entering down where he was. Leaving wouldn¡¯t break things and screw things up for everyone else. They could have their trial and get whatever rewards they were allowed. At the time, he didn¡¯t realize how strange it was that he could so clearly feel the situation above through that barrier, but later he realized how he was tricked. He leapt out of the hole they had created in the dry dirt with an arrow drawn, immediately firing it towards the great beast as it swooped down. His arrow flew straight and true, but he hadn¡¯t expected the creature to pivot and swing its wing towards him. The energy coating that wing shattered his arrow and continued onward with a dozen feathers that shot towards him. Even as he dodged the feathers, he shouted towards the group that seemed to be a family- a middle aged man and woman, plus two young children. ¡°Get yourselves to safety! I¡¯ll handle this!¡± The feathers were not inherently sharp like those of the razorwing, but as they impacted the ground in front of him the force kicked up clouds of dust as they created small explosions. A couple of those wouldn¡¯t kill Anton, but he certainly couldn¡¯t afford to let himself take any damage. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Even as he continued to fire arrows at it, the eagle didn¡¯t immediately swoop in with its claws. It continued to circle around, deflecting his arrows where it needed to and raining explosive feathers down on him. Anton tried a few tricks, like varying the speed of his arrows and causing them to swerve wildly. He also timed it so that they would arrive at his target simultaneously, but that simply caused the eagle to roll laterally, swiping the attacks away with its wings and barely sustaining anything that could be deemed a real injury. Each time it responded with feathers- and they didn¡¯t just fly straight towards their destination. The energy around them also allowed them to reorient slightly. Sometimes Anton wasn¡¯t able to retreat quickly enough to get away unscathed. The family was only at the edge of the dry lake. That was the problem with commoners, they were not particularly fast. Even if they were faster, the dangers of the jungle around didn¡¯t make it safe to run at top speed. But Anton kept attacking the eagle to draw it away from them. Eventually, perhaps because it ran out of spare feathers, the creature decided it had enough. It swooped down towards him, claws extended. He fired several quick arrows, but instead of using its wings as it had before it sliced down on them with its beak, using it like a curved blade. The creature continued to pick up speed. Anton was not just standing stationary, but he had to break into a full run towards it. It could clearly turn to catch him anywhere else, but if he dove underneath it he hoped to force it to pull up. However, it seemed unconcerned about his motions, diving even more steeply. As its claws came for him Anton already had his axes in hand. He thought chopping into its talons would deter it, but most of its energy was focused on them. Even as he tried to slide out of its reach it wrapped one set of talons around an arm and another around his torso, flapping its wings in a single powerful gust that stirred up a small dust storm, stopping its downward momentum nearly instantly. Even as he began to struggle, trying to twist his body to escape its grasp, he felt the sudden appearance of another source of energy. One that took advantage of it focusing entirely on its talons and him. Anton didn¡¯t even really sense Velvet until after her attack was finished, two lines angling down the creature¡¯s neck to meet in the front in a V. Even as it screamed those screams turned into a strange gurgle, and its grip relaxed. Anton wasn¡¯t going to bet that the wound was fatal, instead wrapping an arm around one of its legs and pulling himself higher up to the creature, swinging his axe into its chest before it was able to redirect much of its energy. Then he had to roll out of the way as the creature fully fell, collapsing and shuddering the ground. Anton inclined his head to Velvet. ¡°Thank you. But you didn¡¯t need to give up your chance at the trial.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what I could possibly get from that,¡± she replied. ¡°Certainly nothing worth more than your safety. You understand. You¡¯re out here for four people you don¡¯t even know.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Indeed. Speaking of which, we should go see them.¡± Anton hurried over to the stunned family. ¡°It is good to see you. Is anyone injured?¡± he didn¡¯t see or feel any injuries on them. ¡°No, we are fine, thank you,¡± the father bowed his head. They were all clearly from Ambati, with their darker skin. ¡°Good,¡± Anton smiled. He was glad they could understand him. While cultivators spread languages throughout large regions with their travel, those from small villages might speak older languages or have different dialects. ¡°Why are all of you here? It¡¯s quite dangerous, I¡¯m sure you know already.¡± The mother bowed her head, ¡°We had to leave our village. A small one, to the west, after a beast attack.¡± ¡°An attack?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Tell me more. How long ago?¡± ¡°This was well over a week,¡± they admitted. ¡°It won¡¯t be possible to save anyone who hasn¡¯t saved themselves.¡± Anton sighed. Life could be so cruel, especially to those without cultivation. ¡°Did you have any warriors there?¡± ¡°Not many,¡± the father admitted. ¡°Let me provide you with help,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can give food, but more than that, a way to defend yourselves. It might take some time, but I can teach you to cultivate.¡± Anton patted the ground next to him as he sat down. ¡°Umm¡­ so quickly?¡± the father asked. ¡°No point in delaying. I have nothing else to do now, either. Unless you have urgent business I can help with?¡± ¡°No,¡± he admitted. ¡°Thank you.¡± Anton pulled out some food- just terrible rations, but perhaps he could cook up that eagle later. He began to ask them about themselves, the beasts, everything he could. Then he lost himself in trying to teach them cultivation. Before long, a day had passed. ¡°Well now,¡± a powerful figure appeared next to him. ¡°I do believe I told you to stay down below,¡± Everheart was quite an imposing figure when he wanted to be, even without using energy to bear down on someone. Anton frowned, ¡°Did I disrupt your concentration? I didn¡¯t intend to ruin the chances for the others. I thought you could just go on without me.¡± ¡°No point,¡± Everheart said, ¡°Considering you already passed.¡± When things he was certain were there suddenly faded from his senses, Anton turned with a start to look over his shoulder. But the family was gone, and the eagle as well. Even the pieces he¡¯d taken were no longer cooking on the fire. Everheart grinned, ¡°I thought about drawing that bit out further,¡± he admitted, ¡°But I thought I¡¯d just skip to the important part. You see, I have excellent judgment if I do say so myself. And of course I do.¡± He nodded to himself. Anton saw no reason to stop him from talking. ¡°When I heard you came here for those notes I hadn¡¯t even finished, I wondered if it was some sort of trick. Choosing that over an amazing technique that could let you rule the world. Preposterous. Then you just gave that up to save some weaklings.¡± Everheart frowned, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I would have done the same. But¡­ at one point, I wanted to be a person like that.¡± He folded his arms in front of him and huffed. ¡°Well, don¡¯t just stand there! Get your butt downstairs! I have piles of cra- important notes to give you.¡± Somehow, Anton thought he should have known- but that was the thing about Everheart. If you knew he was always going to trick you and counted on it, he probably wouldn¡¯t. Anton started moving, while Velvet stood nearby awkwardly. ¡°You might as well go too,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I think you sort of passed the trial.¡± Everheart snorted, ¡°And I can¡¯t even really say anyone failed. How boring.¡± Chapter 151 It was impossible for Anton to not be surprised by the results. Could he have predicted Everheart projecting people in danger outside the area to make him fail some sort of test? Absolutely. As for that being part of the actual test, he was a bit surprised. ¡°Was that the whole test?¡± Anton asked. ¡°To see if I would help those people.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re worried about there being more¡­ no, it¡¯s over. However, the test was seeing how you would react to waiting. If people were patient when there was no timeline or instructions not to leave. As for that part,¡± Everheart nodded to himself, ¡°It was mostly for you. To see if you¡¯re the kind of person you have purported to be. Definitely a pass.¡± Everheart jabbed a finger into Anton¡¯s sternum. ¡°That said, I think unrestrained compassion is an exploitable weakness. You¡¯re not yet strong enough that you can afford to give up opportunities to possibly help others. You have to think about yourself.¡± ¡°So,¡± Anton thought for a moment, ¡°When would I be strong enough for that?¡± ¡°Never!¡± Everheart harrumphed. ¡°Even if you ascend. Perhaps especially then.¡± ¡°About ascension¡­¡± Everheart held up a hand, ¡°All I will say is that it¡¯s quite real. And also that most people do kill themselves trying. Anything else, you¡¯ll have to discover on your own.¡± As they talked, they walked back inside. ¡°If this were a real trial,¡± Everheart commented, ¡°I might fail your companions for not noticing my excellently placed decoy, or not noticing you sneaking out. But I suppose that¡¯s my own fault for not amplifying the effects enough.¡± Fuzz met them at the foot of the stairs, jumping up to lick Anton in the face, and then Velvet. As they passed by the training area, Anton saw the others in various states. They seemed a bit distracted. ¡°Should we get them?¡± ¡°No point. This facility doesn¡¯t have a huge pile of treasures or cultivation resources. All it has is knowledge¡­ and that can be shared.¡± Anton saw Catarina turn her head, but it seemed as if she couldn¡¯t really make out him or Everheart. Yet she nearly tracked them with her eyes as they moved past. ¡°Any reason you¡¯re keeping this secret?¡± ¡°I like secrets,¡± Everheart simply commented. He led Anton through long corridors, past various rooms that may actually have once been trials of some sort, and into a small room that had a single bookshelf- half full. ¡°Here we are. A bunch of personal notes, including on the topic in question. Improving general cultivations at the lowest level. Though the big secret¡­ is to just try. Though thousands of pages of notes will be slightly more helpful than that, I suppose.¡± Anton looked at the notes, some in stacks of individual papers, others in bound books, and the rest in rolled scrolls, but all carefully organized. He began storing them carefully until he came across one particular scroll. He was unable to hide his surprise. Everheart stood by his shoulder, grinning. ¡°Here¡¯s a little secret about me. Sometimes, I lie about things.¡± In Anton¡¯s hands he held something titled ¡°Fleeting Youth¡±. ¡°This is¡­ here?¡± ¡°A complete version, even. Perhaps not the best possible version, but that¡¯s for you to suss out. Maybe find another copy elsewhere or refine it yourself,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°But I¡¯d like to think it has to be the best one, or I wouldn¡¯t have destroyed my favorite lake to preserve it. Now it¡¯s your problem.¡± Everheart nodded seriously. ¡°By the way, you said you¡¯d been to one of my tombs. You made a pretty convincing show of it, but here you are standing around¡­ instead of running.¡± The slight rumble convinced Anton to stop thinking and throw everything into his storage bag, with Velvet helping. The two of them checked the training room on the way, but apparently the others had taken note of the tremors as well and were standing at the bottom of the stairs- having not been informed the trial was over, they hesitated slightly. ¡°There you are!¡± Catarina said as she saw Anton. ¡°I was worried something had happened to you up above, since I stopped being able to sense you clearly. But I had the feeling you were still around.¡± ¡°We can talk about it on the surface,¡± Anton urged. The stairs weren¡¯t long, but by the time they were at the top of them water was splashing on them. It seemed the river had decided it was going to flow straight along that path instead of turning anymore. It hadn¡¯t even truly begun to fill the empty basin of Rainbow Lake, but the hole was right along the path. After everyone got up on ¡®shore¡¯ for the sake of avoiding getting splashed, Anton explained everything. ¡°Sounds like what we know of him,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°A pain in the rear,¡± Elder Tshering nodded. ¡°But we¡¯re done here, then?¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Anton said. ¡°Thank you for staying around.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good for us old folk to get out once in a while,¡± Tshering grinned. ¡°I¡¯m sure you understand the sentiment.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Anton nodded, though he was always the sort who ¡®got out¡¯ even when people told him that he should let them do the work. It was strange to watch the lake fill up slowly. It would likely take days or more, but now that it wasn¡¯t being unnaturally held out of its existence¡­ it seemed it could return. It was too bad that Everheart wouldn¡¯t be able to see it. Though¡­ Anton wasn¡¯t entirely sure about that. There was no guarantee that the projection, at least, couldn¡¯t remain for a while after everything broke down. That would explain all of the rushing and removal of whatever trials had been set up. It was hard to tell either way. Anton just looked at everything he had. To read through it all, he¡¯d really need a proper place to sit down, preferably protected from the elements. Some of it was just written on normal, unenchanted paper¡­ or perhaps the enchantments had faded. The exception was, of course, Fleeting Youth. A strange surprise. He¡¯d already fully given up on it. If he couldn¡¯t help others, he didn¡¯t care about his personal power. But¡­ nothing said he couldn¡¯t have both. Except Everheart, he supposed, but the man admitted even that was a lie. After quickly browsing it, Anton was able to understand the gist of it. It was¡­ generally useless. For something that empowered those with advanced age, one would think that elders would greatly benefit from it. However, that was simply not the case. It required its user to advance in cultivation while training it to receive the benefits. That was what the explanation said, anyway. As for actually using it¡­ Anton would need several days before he could even begin to do so. Everheart¡¯s techniques could be tricky, but he¡¯d never seen any of the things that took nebulous concepts and matched them against some sort of power. Not a detailed explanation of the techniques, anyway. Everheart had commented about how he¡¯d given up the lake to preserve the papers he now had, and the tomb had been running on the future of every reward people didn¡¯t get. It was beyond the sensible standards of how one might use natural energy- creating physical effects that could otherwise exist. This seemed more like wrestling the laws of the universe and twisting them to suit his needs. ----- The group¡¯s path through Ambati had brought them vaguely to the southwest region of the country. That was where the Temitope clan and Tailoga had been. Rainbow Lake and the region surrounding it was more to the north-west, though not particularly close to the border. Elder Tshering was primarily interested in the effects of Ambati¡¯s fauna on Graotan. A beast overlord appearing in the southwest was liable to cause some change, but he thought there should be more. Ultimately everything was connected- but more direct routes for the creatures would be back in the northeast of Ambati. Thus, the group was headed back that way. That had been the general plan anyway, and they were able to stick with it. The only difference was that instead of pondering notes left behind by a crazy man, Anton also had a technique that he had big claims about. And while Everheart was chaotic and often a liar, he was also extremely talented. The first stage of Fleeting Youth was attuning himself to the concept of age. On the surface that was trivial. He felt the age in his body, even if he knew he had some years left in him because of improving his cultivation. Wrinkled skin, tired bones. Tempered muscles not quite as good as they could really be if he was young. Cultivating the Ninety-Nine Stars, the next step on his path was furthering the connection of his body and spirit. In a way, that matched what he was trying to comprehend with Fleeting Youth. But while he felt the age in his body, Fleeting Youth also indicated the age in his spirit. Bodies would grow old and break down, but it seemed some of that was connected to the spirit fading. Cultivating strengthened both body and spirit, and thus a cultivator could live longer. If he were being perfectly fair, Anton could claim to be a genius. Perhaps not one of the highest level ones in the entire cultivation world, but certainly he had the talent. He was more or less on par with others whose cultivation talents he thought highly of, so he had to admit that of himself. Whether or not his age was a factor to consider him better, he wasn¡¯t sure. Nor did he think it mattered in the end. What mattered was¡­ he hadn¡¯t run into a technique that was hard before. Certainly he¡¯d put a lot of effort into practicing Spirit Arrows and everything else he¡¯d learned. Piecing together Elder Kseniya¡¯s difficult to parse words took great effort, and the time and labor he¡¯d put into his training was great. But apparently, all of those techniques had been easy. Because he understood them, and was breaking his brain trying to understand Fleeting Youth. It made formations look easy. The worst part was that Anton felt he had the proper affinity, unlike with formations. Perhaps he was just fooling himself though. Elder Tshering didn¡¯t find it any easier. Though he wasn¡¯t the type that would receive the most benefits from it, he had expressed interest and Anton had no qualms about sharing it among members of the Order. It wasn¡¯t like he had to rip up the pages and eat them to gain the knowledge. Only two or three of Everheart¡¯s techniques were like that¡­ and Anton was pretty sure they were made that way out of spite. ¡°I understand being old,¡± Tshering grumbled, ¡°I get the actual, tangible effects from that. But transforming that, twisting it around on itself to squeeze out latent potential just isn¡¯t working. I¡¯d say it requires a Life Transformation cultivator to learn it, but by that point it¡¯s already too late, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Seems so,¡± Anton nodded. He actually found the slight strands of insight Tshering had on the technique- both spoken and gleaned from the Vessel of Insights- extremely helpful. He still felt as if he only had the first step or even just half a step into the long road of learning the technique, but it was something. He wasn¡¯t going to give up on it, though. He felt the truth in its power¡­ and he could be quite stubborn. Just because he found something actually difficult didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t do it. If he were to ride with just what was easy, he wouldn¡¯t have built up a whole multigenerational farm. Some of the others asked to look at it, but since they were all quite youthful they really had no connection to the technique and were quite stumped at the outset. Even if Devon was closer to middle aged before he began cultivating, Anton was actually almost able to be considered young among cultivators at his rank. A hundred years for mid Spirit Building wasn¡¯t that strange. There were many ¡®elders¡¯ younger than him, though they were elders more related to their duties regarding the sect. Maybe that was it, Anton pondered. He had likely added ten to thirty years to his lifespan through cultivation. Even with burning some of that¡­ he could have decades left. He wasn¡¯t planning to rush to employ Candle Wax, but maybe he just wasn¡¯t as close to the line as he thought. Though he had to admit that couldn¡¯t be the only factor. He would just have to stick to it. He felt the eighteenth star creeping up on him¡­ and wondered if that would pull him further from his comprehensions. He wasn¡¯t even close to picking out what flaws the technique might have, either. But a few weeks wasn¡¯t a fair attempt. He¡¯d have to keep pushing himself, though he figured it was alright to silently curse Everheart for not providing better training guidance. Then again, if he understood correctly¡­ Everheart hadn¡¯t been able to practice it himself. Chapter 152 The eighteenth star was on the horizon. With some determination, Anton would be able to reach it. Strengthening the connection between body and spirit was the true beginning of the second half of Spirit Building, and he could already feel the changes without completing the eighteenth star. But he stopped reaching for it. The further he went in his cultivation before properly cultivating Fleeting Youth, the less he would benefit from it. While to the current point Anton had found his own progression sufficient, he could feel his disadvantages from age accumulating. Having a good cultivation technique mitigated that, but he knew if he wanted to continue in his cultivation, he would have to concern himself with people like Anish from the Glorious Flame Palace. People who were at the peak of Spirit Building in less than five years. To match that he would have to accelerate the pace of his own training back to two months per star. That simply wasn¡¯t possible to keep up for two more years. And, while strict cultivation rank wasn¡¯t everything, it was common that those who progressed quickly also obtained other advantages, powerful foundations and techniques that would augment their abilities. Anton could continue as he was, and he might continue to be above average¡­ but his aspirations didn¡¯t end with simply killing a pair of men. He didn¡¯t know if he could reach the level where he could change the world, but he was going to take every chance he had to improve himself. Even if it was particularly difficult. The problem was that Fleeting Youth promised to augment his flow of energy. The question with what arose, and he didn¡¯t know how to answer it. Training the body allowed it to store more energy and make use of it more quickly and efficiently. This was because the dantian and meridians were part of the body, bridging the gap between the fully physical body and the spirit. Energy was connected to both. Every living thing produced natural energy, as well as some things that weren¡¯t considered to be alive like certain types of stone or crystals. The augmentation to energy wouldn¡¯t be coming from his body- he was already using that energy, and the technique made it clear that wasn¡¯t what it relied on. Instead, the power came from age. That wasn¡¯t a quality that seemed to lend itself to being drawn upon, even in the context of the other things Everheart did. In a way, Anton could comprehend how there might be something to draw on by drawing on the value of something¡¯s future. He couldn¡¯t give an explanation for how it would be done, but if two pillars were both able to last a hundred years on their own, the idea that together either one of them could end up lasting two hundred years vaguely made sense. One of the pillars would merely appear to be intact. Or something like that. But with age, there was no future to pull against. After death one would merely¡­ It was strange to admit he didn¡¯t know. Anton knew there were several theories as to what happened after death. Moving on to some sort of afterlife was one. Some proposed life simply ceased, the spirit fading into nothing. Another was entering the cycle of reincarnation to be born again once more. In fact, if he thought about it, life ending in nothing was more of an exception to the more common beliefs. So the question became whether he could draw on whatever happened after death. And whether he should. But as those thoughts passed through his head, he was able to reconcile why it wasn¡¯t useful except at an advanced age. Creating a connection with something required closeness, and of course training that connection would take time. The requirements began to make sense, though he didn¡¯t find that he was actually significantly closer to making use of the technique. But he felt he had passed an important hurdle. As for the rest¡­ he would need to consult with others. Perhaps they would know about possibilities for what happened after death. ----- Dozens of scents tickled Fuzz¡¯ snout as he sniffed the ground. He was smelling for something big. Some people might have said that big didn¡¯t have a smell, and they were right. Sort of. Because if you went about it right, smelling for a big thing was just like finding it any other way- by there being more of it. More smell made a bigger thing. Sometimes. Not always, because if it were always true than skunks would be the biggest things, and they weren¡¯t. Fortunately Fuzz had known to avoid them since that one time when he was a little pup. Rolling around in the dirt and rubbing his fur off on trees and splashing around in the water had barely done anything. It was awful. Almost as much as the death moss. But at least that led to having his current pack, which was good. The one known as Elder Tshering didn¡¯t want just something big. There were lots of those things around. It was entirely possible to find creatures larger than the boar overlord that they had eaten. Very tasty. An oversized elephant would do. But it wasn¡¯t just about big body. It was about big energy. Another overlord, or something like it. Fuzz almost buried his snout in the dirt. Sometimes traces of energy seeped into the ground and stayed there. He sniffed. Mmm, nothing here. But if he crossed something¡¯s path, he would smell it. He smelled lots of things, but nothing that mattered. Ooh, a bug! He ate it. Very crunchy. Usually they didn¡¯t make them big enough to be a proper mouthful, but this one was at least part of a bite. There were those ants, but they were probably too big. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Sniff sniff. Oh! A person! And another person. Frequent tracks indicated there was probably a village or something nearby. They should go meet them. Fuzz liked people, though he found that people didn¡¯t always like him for some reason. Even when he was being friendly. ----- Elder Tshering did not choose to involve himself in managing the Beast Forest because he was good with people, but he did understand that it was better to introduce yourself to the local populace before running around in their woods. He wasn¡¯t sure if the group of several hundred people was properly in ownership of the area, but it was best to avoid conflicts. At first glance, it had seemed like a group of traveling cultivators like themselves. Technically that was still true, but the scale of things was much different. The Ghameita tribe were nomadic and had several hundred members, nearly all cultivators. Most were in Body Tempering, but Anton took great interest in that aspect of them. As for Elder Tshering, he didn¡¯t care about it so much. After some assurances that they didn¡¯t intend to cause any trouble, he was able to speak with one of the village elders, an old man in Spirit Building. ¡°Have there been any problems with powerful beasts in the area?¡± he asked. The old man shook his head. ¡°No. In fact, it is perhaps the opposite here. We used to follow several herds around the area controlled by the Clear Lake Sect. The herds began to roam further and we eventually arrived here with the herds smaller and weaker. We have had to hunt more dangerous beasts as we pass through areas rather than our preferred quarries, but there has been nothing particularly dangerous.¡± ¡°Do you know what made the herds you follow change their patterns?¡± ¡°Not directly. It seems the herds were attacked by something, as we were regularly finding their members dead. The attacks must have happened at night, because we monitored the herds during the day and saw nothing irregular. Strangely, we even found some that had not been consumed at all, merely with puncture wounds that killed them and little more.¡± The elder bit his lip, ¡°When we fed on the bodies, some of the villagers became sick. But it was clear that the animals did not die from a disease but an attack of some sort. A strange result.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Elder Tshering admitted. He continued to ask questions- about the nearby area and where they came from. It seemed the villagers of the Ghameita tribe had little interaction with the Clear Lake Sect except for occasional members who tried to join them. They rarely returned, except perhaps to pass through on their way to something else- as expected of cultivators. Many who chose to devote themselves to cultivation left their old lives behind. It seemed the Ghameita tribe hadn¡¯t been able to investigate more deeply. With herds to follow, they kept on the move. While they could make up for a day or two of lost travel, it was difficult on the weaker members of the tribe. Staying in the same area also meant they were able to gather less local food and had to rely on dried foods. In short, they were busy keeping their daily lives stable and had no time for much extra. Getting directions to the Clear Lake Sect was slightly harder than Elder Tshering had anticipated. They had information it was to the north, but there weren¡¯t any convenient rivers to follow to it. However, they were able to learn about a series of landmarks, and the group was on their way- the next day, after Anton had a chance to talk to them all about their tribe-wide cultivation practices. ----- As the group approached the area described by the Ghameita tribe, it became ever more clear that something was off. In areas so obviously brimming with vibrant plantlife it was expected to see large herbivores and predators. Instead, the majority of animals they spotted were smaller. As they approached closer to the Clear Lake Sect, they found some plants were dead or dying with no obvious cause. No blight or damage that anyone could find, simply once-healthy plants that had perished. These were subsequently being fed on by large swarms of insects, but for the most part the normal kind. Nothing that would be more than a nuisance to even a normal human. With no clear results, they continued to press forward towards their destination. With the warnings from the Ghemeita tribe they kept watch at night. It was during Anton¡¯s watch one night that their first real clues surfaced. Everything seemed normal for the night, except for perhaps how quiet it was. With tempered senses Anton could still hear smaller animals moving around and the sound of various insects. At first he didn¡¯t notice anything strange as the sound of insect wings grew louder. The pitch was a bit off, but any number of things could have caused that. But when he idly turned to look towards a particular droning sound that continually grew louder, he spotted something unnatural. The moonlight revealed the figure of a mosquito- not the size of a knuckle or anywhere close to what he would expect, but closer to the size of a small dog, its body a half meter in length and its wingspan several times that. Without even stopping to think about it, he fired a shot at it. Though the creature noticed his attack coming and tried to move, his control over his arrows allowed him to redirect his shot, nearly splitting the creature in two as his arrow struck between its head and thorax. There was a loud crunch as his arrow pierced its carapace, but it fell to the ground. The sudden aggressive use of energy woke everyone else, and soon enough Anton was showing them the giant bug. He held it up for them to see. ¡°It was generally moving towards us. Perhaps it had no intention to attack, but¡­ regular sized insects are bad enough. I think I might have spotted a few more in the distance, but they¡¯re unfortunately difficult to distinguish from birds.¡± Elder Tshering nodded, ¡°An unnatural find, to be sure. More importantly¡­ I sense a small amount of energy within it. Not directly its own, but from some magical beast it may have fed on. This may be connected to our problem¡­ and even if not, I do believe it would be for the best to remove these creatures.¡± ¡°Gross,¡± Catarina commented as she poked it with her sword. Fuzz silently concurred by not attempting to eat the body even after it was left alone and everyone returned to bed so they could be well rested for the morning. Chapter 153 In the morning the group continued onwards towards the Clear Lake Sect. When the line of trees broke to reveal the lake in question, those with the best eyesight immediately showed concern. A large lake stretched to the horizon, but as for signs of a cultivation sect inhabiting the area, they were not immediately apparent. There were a few buildings visible to one side, but that was hardly enough to make up a sect. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anyone,¡± Anton commented, ¡°Anyone else?¡± He paused, ¡°There¡¯s something in the lake though. First, we should check out the buildings.¡± They didn¡¯t want to intrude on the territory of a sect, but they didn¡¯t have a clear path to find them. As they approached the few buildings in sight, the shape of a poorly maintained road revealed itself. More than that, however, they saw the crumpled forms of buildings. Even the few structure they saw standing were basically single walls tricking them by the angle. As the strongest among them by a significant margin, Elder Tshering was the first to approach. ¡°The damage is old. Plants have started growing over everything. The buildings clearly didn¡¯t fall apart from age, however.¡± Everyone began to comb the area. A few minutes later, Fuzz started barking. Though there didn¡¯t seem to be any immediate danger, it wasn¡¯t possible to blame him for his concern. In the middle of one of the groups of buildings was a large tree with black bark. Catarina moved towards it, striding around it in a circle. ¡°The flow of energy here was disrupted, long ago. It seems likely this was part of some attack. Likely another cultivation sect.¡± She reached her hand out to trace her fingers along it, ¡°It¡¯s not active anymore. Just a remnant.¡± The group continued to find more similar signs throughout the area, trees with dark black bark and even a few with leaves that were much the same. Almost as if the trees were burnt charcoal, though in actuality they were healthy and aside from the color unremarkable scraggly trees. Yet as they searched through the remnants of the buildings, it barely seemed enough to be called a sect. The Ghameita tribe seemed to have thought they were significant in size, which was strange considering they were similarly expansive. Then the group moved towards the lake. There, they saw the rest of the sect- or at least what it once was. The sunken remnants of piers stretching out into the lake and the structures they had supported were clearly visible on the bottom of the admittedly clear waters. Clear except for the thousands of squiggling figures of various sizes that were currently inhabiting the lake. ¡°Mosquito larvae,¡± Elder Tshering declared, ¡°And not a one of them smaller than my finger. That explains that large one. With the numbers here¡­ there must be many more. Explains the lack of¡­ well, much of anything around here.¡± A regular mosquito might drain a little bit of blood from a person or animal. The amount was so small that it was a mere nuisance unless they happened to be carrying a disease. At a greatly expanded size, however, each one would likely kill or at least severely weaken whatever it drained from. ¡°Why aren¡¯t there any flying around?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°A good question,¡± Elder Tshering considered, ¡°Perhaps they are more sensitive to light than their smaller brethren. We were able to see them at night, after all. They often come out at evening, but this might be more extreme.¡± ¡°... What do we do?¡± Alva asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can shoot that many arrows.¡± ¡°Ha!¡± Elder Tshering laughed, ¡°A good point. Well. I do believe we¡¯ll have to find some way to clear them out, but doing it by hand is¡­ infeasible.¡± He gestured to the lake as a whole, which had oversized larvae as far as they could see. ¡°They¡¯re all throughout this thing. A calm lake with no flow, inlets or outlets. A perfect mess.¡± He crouched down at the edge, looking into the depths. ¡°I wonder if the Clear Lake Sect kept such things out of their lake, or if they were raising them. Either way, it seems clear that after they were destroyed- I¡¯d guess just within the last few years based on the other events- these mosquitoes became extremely prolific.¡± Catarina nodded, ¡°The area has strong enough natural energy that it could be primarily responsible for their size. With just a few mutants or a leading magical beast they could have rapidly expanded in size over a few generations.¡± Catarina poked her finger into the water, withdrawing it as one of the squiggling wormy creatures leapt towards the disturbance. ¡°I can set up a formation to wipe them all out.¡± ¡°All of them?¡± Elder Tshering asked, ¡°Across the whole lake? Where will you get the energy for that?¡± ¡°From them,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Using their life as energy to support it.¡± ¡°Ugh,¡± Elder Tshering shook his head, ¡°Is this one of Everheart¡¯s ideas?¡± Catarina nodded, ¡°Yes. It is¡­ the most reasonable version of one of his techniques. It can be strongly tied to a single sort of creature.¡± ¡°What about materials?¡± ¡°My formation flags should suffice. However, they will need to be spread out over a longer distance than normal. People will need to prevent them from being disturbed. Likewise, everyone will have to contribute to stabilizing the formation. Except Alva and Fuzz.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Alva began to complain before Catarina held her hand up. ¡°You don¡¯t have the right training for that yet. Besides, you will be taking on the important job of patrolling the whole perimeter and assisting people when they need it.¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°How long will this take?¡± Tshering asked. ¡°Several days of continuous work. It should be relatively easy from moment to moment, but it needs to be a continuous process to be most effective.¡± She looked up at the sky, the sun approaching the horizon. ¡°I imagine the mosquitoes will react poorly to it, though the larvae should be restricted to their location. We should start in the morning, if they truly do not like the light.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Tshering said. ¡°We¡¯ll have two on each watch for tonight, since we¡¯re in unsafe territory. Just keep ¡®em away if you can.¡± ----- Timothy stood at the edge of the lake, watching. Catarina had almost made her way around the whole lake, and he could feel the fluctuations of energy. Though he would never be as good as her, he was at least passable with sensing the flow of energy and what it might actually do. In this case, he only felt the vague sense of danger from the formation. The additional runes scrawled in the dirt next to the formation flags added a level of complexity beyond him. It was already late afternoon once more, but the formation was just beginning to start functioning. He felt the energy flow, and he watched as many of the wriggling forms of the larvae curled up as the formation tore vital energy out of them. Somehow the others seemed to know when they were dead and began feasting on the bodies almost immediately. Perhaps that was something they did to their weakened members regardless. As the power of the formation grew, Timothy sensed something behind him. It had been speculated that the mosquitoes would retaliate, and here he could finally see them. He readied his shield and took a stance as the first one flew towards him. His sword easily cut through it as his shield deflected its proboscis. He was slightly concerned as he felt its feeding mouth tear through his energy, but his actual armor was quite sufficient for defending against them, as long as they didn¡¯t have any energy of their own. One by one, then two or three at a time, more mosquitoes attacked. As he chopped through them, Timothy was glad their attacks weren¡¯t coordinated. They were really incompetent in a straight fight, it seemed. Not that he felt safe, but as long as he was aware of his rear he could take them out. If anything, the largest ones were easiest to deal with. Despite some level of protection from their exoskeleton, it was barely sufficient to do more than keep them together. They had to be able to fly, after all, and even if they had some natural energy supporting them that limited how much they could weigh, and thus their durability and power. ----- Devon was used to fighting with inadequate defenses. He didn¡¯t always have his choice of weapons or armor in the arena, and thus he knew it was quite important that he was able to defend himself without. Using his energy to absorb a blow was feasible only if he could come out a clear victor- he couldn¡¯t know if any particular wound would still be around when the next battle came. Dodging was the best option if it was possible, placing the least strain on himself. And a step before that¡­ killing opponents before they could get within reach. Chains made of energy extended from him, ranging from one or two meters to almost ten in length. He could only control a handful at once, but the longer ones were quite useful. He wrapped one around one of the assaulting insects, using it like a club as he slammed it into others. Though they didn¡¯t have much mass, they did have a large enough cross section to make it fairly accurate. Even if they dodged his chain directly, he could get wings and legs tangled up until whatever specimen he was holding fell apart. There were lulls in the fighting. Sometimes he would only face one bug in several minutes or a half hour, and other times he was facing a dozen at once for as long as it took for him to destroy them. He couldn¡¯t afford to be slow in case more arrived, and he took his rest where he could. By the time the morning sun began to peek over the horizon, he had piles of the creatures- and bits and pieces of them scattered about. ----- Fast feet patted across the ground, four paws in total. Alva rode atop Fuzz, keeping her eye above them in the morning light. She didn¡¯t mind bugs so much, but giant bugs were another thing. They were dangerous, if nothing else. Somehow they were able to tear through her energy defenses, like those stupid western creepers. She hadn¡¯t let one impale her, but she had a cut along her shoulder. Fortunately, she usually was able to kill them with a good shot to the eye. Eyes? Whatever compound eyes were. Hitting a mosquito in the eye sounded difficult until you realized those eyes were a good centimeter across or more. Then it was easy, and Spirit Arrows happily drilled right into their brains. Or whatever they had in their head, because she honestly hadn¡¯t seen any brains come out of them. Up ahead she saw Anton. ¡°Grandpa!¡± she waved. ¡°I talked to everyone. No more mosquitoes so far since the sun rose. Catarina said some of us could go hunt them wherever they were staying, like you suggested. The formation is stable enough.¡± ----- Velvet was glad she ended up on the hunting team. Remaining in place and fighting things that came to her was just¡­ awful. Her weapons were too short to easily kill the mosquitoes before they got to her, and there were too many close calls with proboscises nearly jabbing straight through her. Even the few scrapes she had gotten didn¡¯t properly stop bleeding, and she¡¯d had to pull out some of the medicines Anton made sure everyone had. Before she¡¯d had a storage bag she wondered why she was carrying a dozen different types of things for extremely specific circumstances¡­ but now that she needed it she would have been fine carrying twice as much. Though with a storage bag as long as she didn¡¯t get anything terribly bulky, it didn¡¯t matter how much she had except for when trying to dig it out. Now they were following Fuzz around as he looked for caves and stagnant hollows beneath trees, and just generally sniffed for the mosquitoes. Once or twice he¡¯d tried to stick his nose in a cave only for Alva to pull him back as bugs swarmed out, a dozen or two at a time. Fuzz was actually the most vulnerable to them, as their proboscises could likely jab through his tough hide and fur. They were actually still extremely thin, which made them easy to break if one had the opportunity- but Fuzz had no weapons that extended beyond himself. His best bet was to stay away. Some of the holes he found seemed too small for anything but normal mosquitoes to live inside, but they always found at least some. Some of the ¡®smaller¡¯ fist sized ones managed to fit in knotholes in trees and other places. But fighting the things during the day, even if it was disturbing when they swarmed out of a cave, was much simpler. They were more sluggish, and with nobody moving around alone they were able to make use of teamwork to resist their numbers. If they wanted to be faster everyone could move individually, but they found it best to be cautious. When Fuzz came across a wide mouth of a cave- just barely as high as a person but a dozen meters wide- she was quite glad to have Anton, Alva, Fuzz, and Hoyt with her. The others were maintaining the formation still, but their group was trying to help lighten the strain that would come from the next night. As Hoyt lit the cave with a lantern and she saw myriad mosquitoes ranging from slightly large to waist height, she was extremely glad she wasn¡¯t alone. Especially since all of her stealth abilities seemed to be nearly worthless against these creatures. She readied her daggers as hundreds of pairs of wings started droning together. Chapter 154 As Hoyt saw all of the bugs underneath the low overhang, he immediately stepped forward, sweeping his axe across the area. While he didn¡¯t contact more than one or two, he didn¡¯t have to. A trail of fire lingered behind his swing. He was still practicing the technique. Eventually he might make it last for minutes or more, but currently it was a handful of seconds. That was still enough when concerning a swarm of insects ranging in size from large to catastrophic. The mosquitoes were relatively fragile, only threatening because of their great numbers. Those that tried to reach him through the flames caught on fire and spread to others, while those that held back still allowed the group some breathing room. Fuzz was clawing and biting his way through the swarm, Alva having let him go ahead while she stood back with Anton. The both of them continuously fired arrows, some piercing through multiple insects, but the swarm seemed unending. Hoyt and Fuzz simply couldn¡¯t hold them back forever, where they were nicely contained in the cave. The press of bodies was enough that they would eventually get out, no matter how many trails of fire he left. They could let them go, but if the creatures instead attacked they would have to deal with numbers on all sides. While many of them were smaller, they had the annoying ability to pierce through energy defenses. Maybe if he¡­ Hoyt stopped the thought before it could continue. They would be fine. He just had to push himself a bit harder to make certain of that. Flames roiled around him as he swung his axe back and forth, aiming for the larger mosquitoes, especially the ones that had the signatures of magical beasts. He thought all of them had some amount of energy, but those with more would be a danger if they were allowed to roam free. As they started pouring out of the low overhang, Hoyt wondered if it might not be safer to go inside. However, as he saw a portion of the mosquitoes turning towards the lake, he knew they couldn¡¯t just take a defensive position. While mosquitoes weren¡¯t usually a swarming insect attacking in groups, instead relying on stealth¡­ with their size he could see the behavior had changed significantly at well. Their other allies were at the lake. Alva and Anton were already shooting the more dangerous specimens flying towards the lake. Hoyt remained at the mouth of the cave for just a bit longer, until he could no longer take advantage of the shape of the area to hinder more creatures. ¡°After them!¡± Hoyt was the one to lead the charge towards the diverted group, though he didn¡¯t move far ahead as he still had to help protect against the ones swarming them. ----- *Clap* Elder Tshering squashed a buzzing insect between his palms. Well, most of it anyway. It was a bit too big for that, but bugs deserved to be squashed. Even excessively large ones. They all deserved it for trying to drink his blood. His methods of destroying the insects might be inefficient, but he managed to match the continuous stream that found its way towards him. He had no need to do any better at the moment. He was monitoring the situations of the others, and if they needed support he would be able to offer it¡­ but otherwise, he didn¡¯t mind a nice relaxing fight with a swarm. Except for their ability to pierce through defenses, they weren¡¯t any worse than the ant swarm- and he didn¡¯t need to think about them fleeing. Then he spotted a big one. Head to abdomen it was about the size of a human. Its wingspan made it seem much greater, though its relatively sleek profile could also fool him into it being smaller. If he counted the length of its proboscis, it was half again as long. He could sense the energy radiating off of it as it approached- not all of the energy its own. He wasn¡¯t sure what magical beast it drained, but it seemed to have provided a boost to its power. He moved to intercept it. The others would have their hands full dealing with the numbers around them- no need to burden them with a big threat. Besides, most of them wouldn¡¯t be able to catch it as it zipped about. Even he had a hard time approaching it, but it got the message he intended to fight it when he flung a rock the size of its head at it, narrowly failing to connect. It turned and shot forward at him. It was all he could do to dodge to the side to avoid being impaled. Its acceleration was nearly instantaneous as its wings vibrated with great intensity. That was the problem with creatures like these, going outside the bounds of what was normal. They could act in ways unanticipated. While Instinct might let someone dodge, it still required a certain level of speed to pull it off. With the creature not being his sole foe, he had to get a bit serious. Instead of merely connecting with his bare fists, he started widening his energy. Slapping these bugs wouldn¡¯t be enough anymore. He spun in circles as the man-sized mosquito continuously attacked him. His hands and feet swept out at the surrounding enemies, crushing them while he tried to find an opening to attack his primary foe. Timing his attacks to hit it while it passed was difficult, considering he already was pushing himself to keep dodging it. Each pass it got closer to striking his heart, predicting his movements and instantly redirecting itself in flight. Finally, he found an opening. It charged straight towards him and he countered with a fist. His arm should match its reach, preventing it from impaling him. He was mostly right. His fist directly struck one of its legs, sending it flying off the creature. However its forward momentum continued, its proboscis stabbing into his upper right shoulder. He had still tried to dodge, after all. He wasn¡¯t going to let it get an easy hit just because he wanted to counter, but it had gone right through his energy defenses and even slipped into the joints of his armor. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Immediately he felt his blood being drawn out at a nearly impossible speed. He rallied his own energy to pull back against it, while at the same time grabbing for the creature¡¯s head. Then he crushed it. It was still an insect after all, subject to instinct and sometimes self preservation¡­ but it didn¡¯t quite have the level of processing to truly understand his strength. He did have to admit he¡¯d also underestimated it a bit, as he yanked the proboscis out of him and shoved a bandage in to keep the hole plugged. He tossed some pills into his mouth. He might regret the way he quickly dissolved them later, but it was better to be effective now rather than later. He could already feel the power of the formation rising to a crescendo, and he needed to provide his support. ----- There was no point for Catarina to fight any of the mosquitoes coming for her. She had more important things to do, so she ignored them as she ran about the formation. As they followed behind her they found that they should have been afraid of her. Because they were targets of it, just like their larvae. The adults were more durable, but simply being in the formation weakened them. Their vision was hampered by the daylight as well, which was useful for Catarina. They all tried to jab into her, but she led them around on a merry chase. What she really needed was for everything to align properly, and that included both the cultivators from their group and the concentrations of enemies. She hadn¡¯t anticipated a large swarm of them during the day, but she could adjust for that. Catarina stabbed her sword towards a formation flag, shunting it into a different position as she passed. She sliced trails into the ground behind her, altering the flow of energy as she simultaneously spread her energy throughout the formation as a whole, guiding its actions. If she¡¯d done it right, it should be close to the maximum amount of energy it could support. When that happened, it was supposed to disgorge all that energy at once, in a way that resonated with the mosquitoes only. The remaining ones, of course. Perhaps a third of the larvae in the lake were already dead. She passed by Timothy, who stepped behind her and sliced through the swarm of mosquitoes after her. ¡°Thank you!¡± she hadn¡¯t asked him for that, but it really made things easier. All she really wanted was to move that flag. In discussions about formations nobody talked about how physically exhausting it could be. They talked about mental exhaustion, having to keep track of all the changes and implement them. Perhaps people didn¡¯t cover enough lakes with large formations where they had to physically move around to manage it. Perhaps even Everheart didn¡¯t, though he couldn¡¯t have always been able to produce perfect formations that didn¡¯t need modifying. She imagined he was the sort that frantically dealt with problems as they cropped up and later said he had everything planned from the beginning. She was at least willing to admit she planned to fix her problems along the way, whatever she missed. Nearly there. Just a bit more. Elder Tshering started providing a strong stream of energy. Just what she needed. She guided it with tendrils of her own energy. The formation reached its limit and¡­ Blood splattered on her face, as well as nearly everywhere else. Ah. Well, at least it worked. She hadn¡¯t intended for them to literally explode, but then again, what should she expect from pushing so much energy into all of the mosquitoes around them? The lake was red, but not because of the sunset. Not only because of that, anyway. Well, at least she seemed successful. Any remaining larvae should die as the formation trickled to a halt. Then they could figure out how to keep the situation from returning to how it was. ----- ¡°Fish,¡± Elder Tshering suggested. ¡°I noticed the lake had a severe lack of them. If there were fish of various sizes, they could feed on the eggs and larvae. Most of them have perished, but if we just leave it they¡¯ll doubtless attempt to spawn again. With fewer things to feed on it might be different but,¡± he shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s not worth betting on it. We will of course also inform the closest cities and sects of what happened so they can help monitor it, but we should do what we can.¡± With fish being the solution, that was what they got. It turned out storage bags could also store water, and live fish. It wasn¡¯t a good long term solution, it seemed, but as they ran to nearby bodies of water to retrieve fish and back it was enough. After a few days they had a good hundred fish in the lake. They had an abundance of larvae to eat, dead¡­ but still full of nutrients. The fish didn¡¯t care. While they doubted that dumping fish into a giant stagnant lake would completely solve the issue, they took other reasonable steps. While it couldn¡¯t reasonably be called Clear Lake anymore, hopefully some plantlife would take a liking to it and help clean it up from all the junk in it. Perhaps animals would move back into the area now that there weren¡¯t swarms of creatures feeding on them and roaming into the surrounding region. ----- Elder Tshering grumbled to himself. He should have been more careful about the stupid mosquito. Though it didn¡¯t cause too much damage to his shoulder, the junk it injected into him willingly and unwillingly was messing him up. His shoulder still refused to stop bleeding after several days, and he was getting tired of holding his blood inside himself with his own energy. That was fading, but his focus on that had given whatever disease the creature carried a chance to stake a hold. He was confident that he would root it out eventually, but for the moment his whole body felt like crap and his blood wanted to ooze out of his pores if he so much as breathed wrong. It was a good thing they¡¯d dealt with the problem all at once, because several of them were carrying lingering troubles. If they were still having to face swarms of bloodsucking insects they might not do so well. Instead, they were walking along well traversed roads back towards the Order. Elder Tshering had seen enough of Ambati to get a picture of what had happened. As with most things, there were multiple factors contributing to the troubles. He might return later to take another look, but he had a duty to bring all of the disciples back unharmed and he wanted to make sure it stayed that way. Besides, Anton had that insane technique he was planning to consult with the Elders about. Getting that to the Order sooner rather than later was probably a good idea. Chapter 155 When they returned to the Order, the physicians were fortunately able to help everyone deal with the various maladies caused by the mosquitoes. They had better advice beyond simply taking medicines. Some of them would just boost the ability of the various things inside them to continue making them ill. As cultivators, their stronger bodies and ability to resist sickness had to contend with similarly improved health problems. It was unlikely those without powerful cultivations would have survived against the mosquitoes at all, but if they had and any of the sickness spread¡­ the whole northeastern section of Ambati could have been devastated. But that was purely speculation. They had gone to the area and dealt with a problem they stumbled into to the best of their abilities, and prevented further issues as much as they could. The Order couldn¡¯t know the full ramifications of what they prevented. However, they were rewarded in a reasonable fashion under Elder Tshering¡¯s discretion, in addition to the rewards from the Temitope clan¡¯s mission. As for what had happened to the Clear Lake Sect, it had been determined that the mosquitoes weren''t their downfall. Instead, they were a result of what happened afterwards, when they were no longer managing the lake. The results were fairly clear- destroyed buildings and missing resources. Another sect had destroyed them in some sort of conflict... inadvertently causing the events by suddenly removing their stewardship of the area. ----- Atop a peak in the Order¡¯s territory, Anton sat with Grand Elder Vandale. He knew that most people couldn¡¯t so easily meet with a grand elder, but since he had the ability he planned to make use of it. The Vessel of Insights was fully active, drawing in only a small part of the abundant natural energy in the area. He had asked for the permission of Vandale. Even though it would not harm anyone, people could be quite sensitive about anything close to themselves. That included insights into cultivation. While the Order was fairly open with sharing between their members, having a conversation and directly absorbing something were different. Vandale did not mind Anton activating the vessel, though Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could actually absorb an insight from someone at the peak of Galaxy Construction. Anton had just shown Vandale Fleeting Youth. There were few others he could think of that were so qualified to study the technique. Perhaps he might gain something from it, though it was supposed to be practiced earlier in cultivation. If nothing else, he could determine whether it was something worth sharing with others. Anton wasn¡¯t willing to give it up, but if they could create a copy he wouldn¡¯t mind it. Copying a technique wasn¡¯t as easy as transcribing words from one paper to another, but instead required a certain amount of insight into the technique. ¡°I¡¯m having some troubles with it,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Drawing on intangible forces¡­ is a difficult concept. I¡¯m sure the power has to come from somewhere but...¡± Elder Vandale nodded. His single eye was focused on the technique in front of him, reading it again. ¡°It¡¯s hard to believe this was out there, just waiting to be found. Though perhaps it wasn¡¯t even quite finished in the time Everheart walked the earth. The truth of that depends on when he actually died¡­ and if his projections were able to fill in insights he hadn¡¯t yet completed.¡± Elder Vandale nodded, ¡°But, regardless of all that, I can confirm this is a completed technique. It should work, though to what magnitude I can¡¯t be certain. As for advice regarding training it¡­¡± he shut his eye for a few moments as he pondered. ¡°What do you know about ascension?¡± ¡°Not that much,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I do know that it can be called the end goal of cultivation. Theoretically, someone who achieved one hundred stars in our cultivation technique would achieve ascension.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard all about people exploding, imploding, or just ceasing when trying to reach that point, in this or other cultivation techniques. It is unlikely all of those are successes, but at least some of them are. At that point, the cultivator merely cannot exist here, in this world.¡± ¡°That implies they exist somewhere else, though. Right?¡± ¡°Indeed. As for what sort of place it is¡­ since information doesn¡¯t easily pass back and forth, it¡¯s quite mysterious. What is known for certain is that it must be a place of great power to sustain those who have ascended.¡± Elder Vandale looked up at the sky, ¡°It possesses a great draw for those who wish to go even further. It is said one must give up all worldly attachments to ascend.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°That makes no sense. Is not that very desire for cultivation and personal power a worldly attachment?¡± Vandale shrugged. ¡°Perhaps. I myself had others that kept me from making the step, along with lacking the proper insights. My chance has passed, though I¡¯m not sure if I regret it or not.¡± Silence lingered for a time before Anton responded. ¡°I think¡­ I was at that point, briefly. Beyond worldly attachments. I had accomplished everything I desired, lived a full life. My family was prosperous.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°I simply didn¡¯t have any cultivation to allow me to ascend. Then everything shattered. I doubt I could attain that state again.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to,¡± Vandale said. ¡°I believe there¡¯s more to the world than just that. I¡¯m certain you do as well, given your choices to go beyond your personal bubble to help others. If you can¡¯t ascend later, or even suddenly become unable to cultivate further than you are now,¡± he waved his hand, ¡°What does it even matter?¡± He set the scroll down and tapped his fingers on the table next to it. ¡°You said you got this while seeking other information from Everheart?¡± ¡°That is correct. He told me to choose between that and notes on how to raise the level of cultivation of the lowest members of society.¡± ¡°I hope you found that too. And something useful. Not his crap about only feeding people food imbued with natural energy. It¡¯s not even possible. Even if every farmer switched to solely raising our most efficient crops, there wouldn¡¯t be enough food. People would starve.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Anton¡¯s thoughts returned to the notes he¡¯d read through. ¡°I do believe that one was labeled ¡®currently nonviable¡¯.¡± ¡°Hah. Well, don¡¯t take anything in those notes as wholly correct. Think about them first. Everheart was the type to come up with ideas and throw them around every which way, and whatever he saw worked he continued to pursue¡­ with no thought to the damage caused by failed ideas.¡± ¡°I gathered something like that,¡± Anton said. ¡°Good then. Now, about ascension. I almost let us be led away from that discussion entirely. The higher realm¡­ whatever it may be, it is a great source of power. It is also postulated that after death a spirit may ascend to the higher realm regardless. So if there is a connection to death¡­ you may connect to that power. But there is also the matter of reincarnation. This technique may deal with both.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It is known that individuals may reincarnate. Likely everyone, though it is unclear. The process by which a spirit loses its memory of previous lives is unknown, but it is known that sometimes people reincarnate with memories. Very, very rarely. But if they were great cultivators in a previous life, they undoubtedly became so once more, with the previous knowledge and a younger body. As you have described, Everheart draws on strange future intangibles. Reincarnation should be one of those.¡± ¡°So if I practice this technique¡­ I can¡¯t ascend or reincarnate?¡± ¡°That¡­ is entirely unclear. The amount you draw from those places isn¡¯t necessarily limited. A realm of boundless power and an unlimited future¡­ yet I doubt that drawing on such power requires paying back an equivalent amount.¡± Thoughts were clearly swirling through Vandale¡¯s head, as Anton could feel the Vessel of Insights reacting so much it was trembling constantly. He actually had to brace it and weaken it for fear it might break. ¡°But I have no doubt it would make ascension more difficult as well as possibly weakening you afterwards if you achieve it. Likewise, you might not give up all hope of reincarnation¡­ but no doubt you would be weakened in the future.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t matter. Who can even say if I would experience either of those? Even if I have things I wish to do in future incarnations¡­ I can¡¯t give up what I desire now for them. If that¡¯s even really me still.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Vandale said. ¡°Though the prices might in theory be heavy¡­ in practice, it should have few side effects except what is necessary to practice it. In short, given the age requirements you must continuously advance as time passes, until you can go no further. Then you will die of old age, as is natural.¡± ¡°Since I already was prepared for that once,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°It¡¯s hardly an issue, is it?¡± ¡°Right?¡± Vandale smiled. ¡°A perfect technique for someone in your situation. That said, training it might be difficult enough you would be better off without. That is entirely up to you.¡± Anton nodded. He looked inside the vessel of insights. He had the feeling it had only gotten a portion of Vandale¡¯s thoughts, and even then he was afraid to try absorbing any of it at the current time. But later, once his cultivation had advanced¡­ he would have something to look forward to. ----- A satisfying sound of hoe striking dirt rang out as Anton tilled rows into the ground. He¡¯d acquired a personal plot on the Order¡¯s land, opting to begin his growing efforts in the most optimal location possible. He doubted he would profit much from his efforts. Good land with formations to properly control the climate for growing in any season was quite expensive. He was planting the portion of tubers he¡¯s gotten from Ambati. Though the soil was different, he could adjust the factors as he pleased- and actively farming it instead of letting it grow in the wild would be more efficient. He wanted to see what its limits were- especially the lower ones. What was the minimum ambient energy it could be grown in? How much space did it need? Was the labor something that could be accomplished by normal people? He was hoping that at most it would require low level Body Tempering. He had the confidence to assist nearly anyone to reach that point. Once a full harvest was completed, he planned to share with Elder Howland and the settlement in Windrip. He also had plans to spread them even further. He knew that they would inevitably end up in Ofrurg and be used for ill purposes, but he couldn¡¯t give up on the good it could do just because someone would also misuse it. Those with wealth might feed young cultivators and slightly benefit their growth, but they were already doing that. This was just one more factor¡­ but one he hoped that normal people could be involved with- and benefit from. Everheart¡¯s notes were quite expansive. He¡¯d clearly actually tried some of the efforts. The perspective he came at things from was quite different from Anton¡¯s, but the goal of building up the cultivation of those at the lowest level was still the same. Everheart¡¯s goal had been to equip people for revolution, to overthrow the cultivators and oppressing them with sheer numbers. Especially those cultivators Everheart had personal grudges with. His notes rarely considered the cooperation of sects, as he admitted that even if the common folk was a Body Temperer it would hardly impact those with better talents for cultivation. Thus, he expected sects to be selfish and not bother. Anton had the good fortune to be working with the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, who was at least supportive of his efforts even if they weren¡¯t involved in all of them. But he couldn¡¯t expect them to suddenly pour resources into his ideas. They had now barely two years of results, and while his efforts in settling a group in Windrip had been successful, there was no guarantee it would scale up to cover the country. Though Anton was encouraging people to do so even now. A sizable portion of his incoming resources were spent on others with no expectation that he would receive anything in return. With the group in Windrip being prosperous they wanted to pay him back for the land at the very least, but he just encouraged them to continue to expand and spread his ideas. He knew he couldn¡¯t manage everything on his own, and he didn¡¯t have some sort of special sense as to who needed what. Well, he could glean quite a bit of information when he went and visited a place, but those who lived with the people could learn what a community needed as well. Just a bit more slowly. Anton knew that the answer wasn¡¯t always ¡®more cultivation¡¯, but the ability of people to work more efficiently was a serious benefit that couldn¡¯t be discounted. The important part was making the training possible. A farmer might be able to temper their body while they worked- but if they couldn¡¯t take time off to go hear about how Body Tempering was done, it simply wasn¡¯t accessible to them. Likewise, if they had to pay¡­ where would they find the extra funds? Charging people when they later became profitable seemed reasonable, but that could also hinder them at an important moment of growth. Quite a difficult conundrum to deal with, until the point where every parent was able to teach their children how to cultivate at least at the basic level. Even then, that would miss those who became orphans, depriving them of important opportunities. It was simply impossible to think he could solve all of the world¡¯s problems, even at the level of commoners¡­ but if he could improve one aspect at a time until he no longer lived, Anton would be content. He would do what he could, and not concern himself with what he couldn¡¯t. Chapter 156 Though directly absorbing insights from Vandale was far beyond Anton¡¯s current capabilities, he was still able to receive some guidance in the old fashioned way. Conversations with the man were always enlightening, and Vandale clearly enjoyed them as well. Anton couldn¡¯t match him in actual age, but there was a certain morbid connection between two men close to the end of their life speaking with each other. While it was certainly possible Anton wasn¡¯t at the end of his life, he had touched on that point, felt the completion of his life. That was something important if he wished to cultivate Fleeting Youth, but he still needed some time before he could complete the first step. The question then became what he wanted to do with his life. Anton had no desire to grow in cultivation for the recognition he would gain. All the personal recognition he¡¯d ever needed had come from his family and friends. He was quite satisfied with how his life had been. But he still needed power. Power to change the world. A perfect world would look different for everyone. Even those Anton didn¡¯t think were objectively incorrect about perfection could have reasonably different opinions on what was best. Of course, Anton also had to take into account the actual restrictions of the world. Simply having everyone be prosperous and with unlimited resources to do whatever they pleased was a fantasy, not a perfect world. But he could think of something better. To him, a perfect world very much involved solving problems personal to himself. He understood that, but that was simply where his heart lay. He wanted a world where everyone was safe from the likes of Maximillian Van Hassel- and that included those who happily consorted with him. A world free of slavery, where every person had a chance to make something of themselves, become whatever they wanted. A world where the basic needs of everyone were properly provided for. If he was happy to settle for a country, Graotan was truly not too far from his ambition. However, it was clear that it still didn¡¯t meet his standards. The Order wasn¡¯t perfect or unlimited in power. They couldn¡¯t protect every person or solve all their problems, no matter how they tried. Nor was Anton sure if they should have to. He certainly believed that the power the Order possessed came with a duty to make the world a better place, but that wasn¡¯t just doing things for people. It was empowering others to do it for themselves. It didn¡¯t have to be cultivation that provided the solution, but Anton couldn¡¯t think of anything more clearly able to fill the gaps. As much good as the Order accomplished, they were basically forced to spend time counteracting the oppression of evil cultivators and the dangers inherent to the world. They were in a stalemate unable to make real progress. But if the people of Graotan were more able to defend themselves, that would allow the Order to do more. Yet the people of the Order had their own ambitions and goals. Even as a righteous sect, their members could wish to do more than just spending their time charitably. Since he knew he could teach others to cultivate and the effect that was happening, Anton knew he could continue that path. That was ultimately what he wanted. Everything else would be a distraction, perhaps necessary steps along the way. If he obtained insights leading to other solutions, it wouldn¡¯t suddenly invalidate his efforts along the way. He could be proud of what he was doing. As it was, he was just getting started- but he was only a measly few years into his new life as a cultivator. That was nothing. Anton was resolved to accomplish so much more. ----- A slow, deep breath out and in hardly made Velvet feel less nervous. She was standing outside Anton¡¯s place. No doubt he would have noticed her already. She knew her worries were basically unfounded at this point. He wasn¡¯t going to suddenly try to take vengeance for her past stupid mistakes. He wasn¡¯t going to suddenly betray her. Her inner voice told her that was true, but there was always those stupid memories and the thoughts in the back of her head. They weren¡¯t her, not anymore at least. Yet she couldn¡¯t directly quash those thoughts. If she did, she thought she might break. She felt she was improving. The sad thing about her progress in Spirit Building was it let her know how messed up people could be. She knew that every cultivator had internal issues to face, but she couldn¡¯t help but feel hers were the worst. And she could blame herself for it. Not just herself. She knew better than that. But she was certainly partly responsible for some of her own problems. Now that she was trying to overcome things, she wasn¡¯t brave enough to go alone. Or to ask for help. So she took control. It was amazing how she could move around in battle with her two daggers, facing enemies left and right¡­ but knocking on a door was hard. She didn¡¯t know how long it took for the door to open. An eternity, an instant¡­ it could have been either or anything in between. But suddenly Anton was there. His presence was comforting, but in a way that made things worse. She didn¡¯t know what to say. But apparently he did. ¡°Velvet! Good to see you. Come on in. I¡¯ll make you some tea.¡± The tea was hot. It barely mattered on account of her tempered body, but it reminded her that the world existed around her. The scent of it was soothing and cleared her mind. Slowly. By the time she was on her second cup she was ready to say something. ¡°I need your help,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°Of course,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± When Velvet didn¡¯t answer, he picked up from there. ¡°Stuck in cultivation? Giant magical beast you need help fighting? Secret realm you want help exploring?¡± Velvet could feel him judging her for reactions to any of those, but if the problem were so easy she wouldn¡¯t be worried about it. He continued, ¡°Disputes with friends? No? I¡¯m going to need a hint, I think.¡± ¡°It¡¯s none of that,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°I want you to come with me on a trip.¡± She said that, but couldn¡¯t get to the part of why. It was stupid. A waste of his time. Anton had so many more important things to be doing. ¡°Sure. Can you tell me why? What for?¡± When Velvet didn¡¯t answer, he got to the point, ¡°Do we need to bring others?¡± ¡°No. Just you. No one else.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Okay. How far?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I need to let people know how long I¡¯ll be gone.¡± ¡°... within Graotan. A couple weeks at most.¡± Velvet bit her lip, ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know what for before you agree?¡± ¡°You need me, right?¡± Anton smiled, his face wrinkling. ¡°Does it matter what? I can tell it matters to you so much you can¡¯t even say it.¡± ¡°... It¡¯s just stupid.¡± Velvet stood up, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have asked. I¡¯ll go alone.¡± ¡°Alva!¡± Anton called before Velvet started moving. The girl quickly ran inside, with Fuzz next to her. ¡°I¡¯m going on a trip.¡± ¡°Can I-¡± ¡°You can¡¯t come this time, I¡¯m afraid. But there won¡¯t be any fighting or anything you¡¯ll really miss anyway,¡± Anton looked to Velvet as he said that. She nodded. ¡°Oh. Okay.¡± ¡°Make sure to listen to Catarina and uncle Devon, okay?¡± ¡°Fiiine.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°It¡¯ll just be a few weeks. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be fine until then. Maybe you¡¯ll even be at the eighth star when I get back, hmm?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Alva scratched her arm. ¡°Tempering marrow is weird though.¡± ¡°Be careful with that, okay?¡± Anton rubbed her head. ¡°I know. I won¡¯t overdo it like that time I snapped my tendon...¡± Velvet had heard about that. Alva was clearly sincere about her admission as well. The look on her face showed she¡¯d learned to be at least a little bit cautious. She realized she hadn¡¯t actually been going anywhere, and that by the time she was out the door Anton was there with her. ¡°Lead the way,¡± he said. She didn¡¯t object. She did need him, even if the reasons were dumb. She thought cultivators were supposed to be able to do anything, but she couldn¡¯t even go talk to someone alone. How pathetic. ----- It wasn¡¯t too long before they were in north-central Graotan. Not terribly far from where they¡¯d passed when coming back through Estary, but then again nothing seemed so far for a cultivator. Anton did note that they weren¡¯t traveling as quickly as they could. He could tell they were nearing the destination because Velvet was dragging her feet more and more. He almost wanted to pick her up and carry her ahead, but as funny as that would be he didn¡¯t think it would be good in her current mental state. His attempts to get her to open up were mostly unsuccessful. He¡¯d finally managed to get something of a straightforward answer the night before. He¡¯d asked what she wanted him to do, so he could be prepared. ¡°Nothing. Just¡­ be there.¡± His understanding of her told him that was true. It wasn¡¯t that she had chosen to waste his time by bringing him to do nothing. That was the whole point. As she said, she just wanted him to be there. He was emotional backup for whatever problem she was planning to face. ----- Velvet stood in front of her house. Well, it wasn¡¯t actually her house. It had never belonged to her, and didn¡¯t now. Maybe. She wasn¡¯t actually sure about that, but it didn¡¯t matter. It had belonged to her grandparents, and now it was in the hands of her aunt and uncle. She was reasonably certain she felt them inside, though she¡¯d never felt them with real energy senses before. She could just go in. She was strong now. But before she did she had to be prepared. She looked down at the daggers by her side. Even a regular person could realize their danger. That¡­ wasn¡¯t how she wanted to do things. She unattached them from her belt and dropped them into her storage bag. When she turned back to Anton she saw him preparing to do the same with his weapons. ¡°Umm¡­ right. Thanks.¡± As she raised her hand to knock, Velvet realized she didn¡¯t know what she wanted. She just knew she had to come here. And her inner voice told her if she did things wrong she¡¯d just feel worse. Confidence. That was what she needed. Or at least to act like she had confidence. She ¡®confidently¡¯ knocked on the door, folding her arms in front of her chest and raising her head. Maybe she should have just snuck inside. Confidence. She was able to return to a reasonable stance when she felt someone coming for the door, letting it creak open. A face with a few graying hairs and wrinkles poked through the opening. ¡°Oh. Velvet.¡± ¡°Carol. Aren¡¯t you going to invite us in?¡± ¡°... of course.¡± The smile on Carol¡¯s face was fake. Fake confidence. Velvet knew she couldn¡¯t have recognized it before. ¡°And this is?¡± ¡°My teacher,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We¡¯re just passing through.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Carol opened the door, and Velvet stepped in, brushing past her aunt. Anton followed along with her, though he maintained a friendly face. It wasn¡¯t fake, either. Velvet knew that. Yet she also knew that it only represented a part of him. When it was time to no longer be a kindly old man, he could change without it feeling wrong at all. Carol led the way into a sitting room. ¡°Bert, you¡¯ll never believe who it is. Velvet came for a visit.¡± A wide man who was also showing the beginnings of age turned to look. ¡°Oh. Is that little Velvet? How have you been?¡± His smile was perhaps the fakest thing Velvet had ever seen, but it looked pretty convincing on the surface. ¡°What can your Uncle Bert do for you?¡± ¡°Hello, Bert.¡± She could tell both her aunt and uncle noticed the lack of honorifics. She didn¡¯t respond to the question, instead looking around the sitting area. Unfamiliar furniture filled it. ¡°What happened to the rocking chair?¡± ¡°Got rid of it,¡± Bert said smoothly. ¡°That old thing was falling apart.¡± Velvet disagreed. Bert had never liked it, maybe because of the way her grandfather had made it creak on purpose. She thought it was funny though. She scanned the house with her senses. She kept up her facade of confidence, even though she didn¡¯t even know why she was present. What was she here for? Did she want to stand up to her aunt and uncle, to see her old house again? Was there something else? Her senses swept through the small room that had been hers and now was full of junk, and out the back. It could be more than one thing. But how did she want to handle it? She looked towards Anton, and felt his smile. It was a real smile, but it was only for her, she realized. ¡°I¡¯m going to go take a look at my old room,¡± she declared. She doubted she would like how it looked, but she wanted to make a point. She just wasn¡¯t sure who she was trying to make that point to. Chapter 157 It shouldn¡¯t have felt like an accomplishment to walk around in her own house. Though Velvet wasn¡¯t sure if it was her home anymore. Nothing that made it home was there anymore. Her grandparents were gone. The room that had once been hers was indeed full of random things. Pots and vases and spare tables and chairs. Normal stuff for a house, but not her house. The only thing the same was the walls- and walls were the least important part of a home. As for who owned the house¡­ Velvet wasn¡¯t sure. Her aunt and uncle had claimed it after her grandparent¡¯s deaths. She hadn¡¯t even thought to dispute it at the time. Now¡­ with nothing left of what made it what it once was, it didn¡¯t matter. The value of the house and the land were irrelevant to her. Just to show she could, she stuck her head into the other rooms as well. The master bedroom didn¡¯t have much interesting, just typical furnishings and a jewelry box on the nightstand. Her aunt followed along looking worried, while Anton just stood nearby. Velvet avoided looking at Carol and Bert as she moved past them. If she stopped, she might do something she regretted. Petty vengeance would be easy, but would it make the world a better place? She doubted it. Now she had more than just the Order¡¯s rules to worry about, because Anton cared. And that made her consider whether her actions actually made things better as well. It was always in the back of her head that it might. That they deserved it. But at best, hasty actions would probably end up at a net neutral. She could always come back later. ¡°I¡¯m going out to the yard.¡± The yard was small, just a little fenced in area. Only one tree she vaguely recognized, but she had no real attachment to it. What she wanted was¡­ yes, she¡¯d sensed it properly, buried under the ground. She shoved her arm into the ground, pushing aside the dirt with her energy and muscle. It was so easy. She grabbed something. Several pieces, really. They were the only piece dumped into the ground that still resembled much of anything. Even then, the details on the little wooden statue were faded. It would barely resemble its former self even if she put it back together. But it was something. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Bert asked as she once more moved through the center of the house. Velvet didn¡¯t respond. As she was about to reach the front door, her aunt reached out for her arm. ¡°Where are you-¡± Velvet brushed her off, using her energy so that she couldn¡¯t wrap her hand around. She looked back, glaring. ¡°Goodbye, Carol.¡± She continued walking out onto the road, past several more houses. Then she curled up into a ball around a corner. She looked up at Anton, ¡°This was supposed to make me feel better.¡± She held the broken pieces of a childhood toy in her hand. He sat down beside her. ¡°Sometimes, it hurts before we heal. Do you want to talk about it?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± What was she even supposed to say? ¡°They¡¯re just some people who I used to think were family.¡± She looked down at the wooden figure. She could feel how it aligned along the breaks. There were definitely pieces missing. But there had to be a way to repair it. It wasn¡¯t too long before she was ready to move again. It just hurt to remember her family. She hadn¡¯t thought about them much in years. Except when she was trying to forget, and then the memories were always stronger. ¡°There¡¯s one more place,¡± she said. ¡°Just more memories.¡± It was funny how short the trip down the road was. When she was younger it had felt like forever. It wasn¡¯t just that she could walk faster now, but she also had the freedom to go where she wanted. Her destination was just in the nearby city of Cardend, an hour¡¯s walk for a normal person. The orphanage was right on the outskirts of the city. It was smaller than she had remembered. Certainly, it felt cramped. As one of the older children there hadn¡¯t been much room. But its height had seemed intimidating, once. Looming. She almost didn¡¯t want to go in. It would be the same. Except, of course, the children inside would be different. They had been the real problem. She¡¯d thought adults could see everything and were simply ignoring when the children were cruel to each other, but she now knew they simply couldn¡¯t do everything. Maybe they could have done better though. She looked to Anton. ¡°What do you think of this? Is it safe to teach them to cultivate?¡± Anton frowned. ¡°A difficult question. Desperate children, still developing. Without anyone around to properly guide them, I imagine there would be many pitfalls. Even if there was¡­¡± ¡°People die in accidents all the time,¡± Velvet responded. ¡°Those who are reckless, and those who are unfortunate. Children as well. But I doubt it would be safe unless they had a cultivator watching over them and keeping them in line.¡± ¡°Quite a conundrum,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I haven¡¯t been a child for so long, I somewhat expect everyone to act like a responsible adult at all times. Even Alva¡­ is quite reasonable, for her age.¡± Velvet continued to stand outside the gates. ¡°How long would it take to get here, if I moved quickly? A few days?¡± She frowned, ¡°That¡¯s too much time for regular visits. But I couldn¡¯t give up cultivating at the Order.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°If everywhere were saturated with natural energy, it would make it easier. I don¡¯t think this is something that can change quickly. Maybe a few decades.¡± Velvet nodded, ¡°I can at least talk to the people running it. See if they¡¯re really¡­ doing their best.¡± She stepped through the gate, then turned to make sure Anton was following. Sensing him was one thing, but seeing his supportive smile was another. She could do this. ----- ¡°Sorry to bring you all the way out here for nothing,¡± Velvet said after they left Cardend. ¡°You could have been doing something important. You have so many people who need your help.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°You count too. And while I could help more people in quantity, I don¡¯t know if I could do more for them. It¡¯s not like I spend every second on others anyway. I cultivate, wander, ponder. I¡¯m fortunate to be able to worry about people in general because those I know and care for are¡­ stable. But when they need help, I¡¯m glad to offer it. That includes you. I¡¯ve seen how you changed for the better, and would prefer to keep you heading in that direction.¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have to help me with stupid stuff, though,¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°It was just¡­ walking. And talking to people.¡± ¡°Some things are harder for different people,¡± Anton said. ¡°Personally, I find keeping patience for some individuals much harder than just filling them full of arrows. But having people around me that believe I¡¯m a reasonable fellow helps me make more rational decisions.¡± ¡°Like shooting people full of arrows later?¡± ¡°Exactly. Sometimes it needs to be done.¡± Anton turned his head to Velvet to make sure she was paying close attention. ¡°Don¡¯t think your problems don¡¯t matter. Everyone has a different life. I¡¯ve only lived one, but I¡¯m glad to be able to participate in others when given the chance.¡± ----- Tensions between Ofrurg and Graotan were increasing. The Heavenly Lion Sect wasn¡¯t the only one bitter about Anton receiving recognition and reward in Everheart¡¯s Tomb. Other sects didn¡¯t like the Order simply because of its size and power, or because some of their rivals supported them. Various parts of Ofrurg also took exception for having to admit wrongdoing in how they handled slavery. Those involved in the slave trade were especially bothered by Kohar¡¯s continued efforts to hold them responsible for their actions. But she had managed to hit them in their wallets, and that was likely the best result anyone could hope for. At least, at the current point. Anton was hoping to completely abolish the practice of slavery, but Ofrurg wasn¡¯t the only place in the world that supported it. Just the one sharing the most border with Graotan. Of course, Anton had no expectation that he could accomplish that goal in just a year or two. As for other, smaller goals¡­ perhaps those might be accomplished soon. A secret realm had been uncovered. Unlike one of Everheart¡¯s Tombs, a secret realm could be extremely large in scale. Everheart was but one person- but secret realms were often connected to ancient sects. They were often training grounds, opening only rarely when sufficient time had passed. Sometimes they contained resources left behind after the destruction of a sect- as the name implied, the realm could be hidden or unknown. If nobody knew where it was located or how to open it, the secret realm could be lost to time until the formations that fueled it began to unravel. With great opportunity also came peril. Conflict between sects was often heightened inside secret realms, regardless of official agreements. The sheer size involved meant that people weren¡¯t always around to see villainous deeds committed. Even so, sects and independent cultivators from all over would come to participate if the expected gains outweighed the risks. That would undoubtedly include certain people Anton wished to see again¡­ for various reasons, good and bad. He had no doubt that the Heavenly Lion Sect and Anish in particular would be out for his head, but he had some people he wanted to find as well. It was unlikely that opportunistic people like Van Hassel wouldn¡¯t show up. Normally whoever discovered the secret realm would intend to monopolize it, but upon entering they found it still had a great seal. It would require more than just a single sect or two to participate to open it up. When more than just a handful of sects got involved it was impossible to keep secrets, so the common thing to do was make a public announcement to not draw anyone¡¯s ire for trying. Whether or not Anton thought it reasonable, that was the way things were. Together the sects and countries surrounding the area- Droca, an area to the south of Graotan- planned for a moment six months later. It was important enough for them to recall some of their scattered members from wherever they were for either the sect or personal matters. The only issue Anton had was that it likely wouldn¡¯t end up restricted to newer cultivators. That meant it was possible to encounter more Late Spirit Building cultivators and Essence Collection cultivators. Life Transformation cultivators might be present, but they were few in number and likely wouldn¡¯t get involved in smaller battles. Still, Anton felt like he was somewhat on the weaker end of where he needed to be to feel safe. After all, three years of cultivation experience was almost nothing compared to some. Even if his cultivation advanced quickly, he couldn¡¯t imagine competing with Essence Collection even if his normal allies were by his side. But by three and a half years¡­ well, he didn¡¯t expect to suddenly catapult ahead. But he was confident in continuing to make improvements. ----- After three months Anton had to admit he¡¯d still underestimated Fleeting Youth. He¡¯d thought once he saw the path forward that he could stride along it just like any other. He¡¯d expected to put forth hard work, but he hadn¡¯t expected it to begin consuming his days and nights. He still took the time to seek out others for discussion about cultivation- either to give them guidance or to receive some for himself- but he spent less time doing so. The same was true of other forms of practice, though he never fully neglected everything. He concentrated on connecting to the mysterious idea of after his current life. He reflected on his thoughts just before everything changed, when he thought he would die of old age. Happy, but at his end. Closer. Each moment brought him closer to initial completion of Fleeting Youth, where he would actually be able to benefit¡­ but he wasn¡¯t quite there. He wondered if he had already spent too much time on it, instead of simply continuing with his primary cultivation technique¡­ but worrying about his time was perhaps the opposite of what he needed to be doing. He needed to accept things. For that, he found himself once more at the edge of what had once been Dungannon. Not alone, though he had certainly tried to be. He might have come to terms with some of what had happened, but he knew he couldn¡¯t ever fully be free of what happened. In a strange way, he likely wouldn¡¯t still be alive without the tragedy that had happened. It was probably for the best he hadn¡¯t been allowed to go alone. He steeled himself, then took his first step onto the overgrown road, a few comforting presences behind him. Chapter 158 Time. When he had last been in Dungannon, his thoughts were about time. The time he needed to become strong enough to defeat Van Hassel and Slusser, and any others connected to what had happened. More than that, he¡¯d promised himself to reach the peak of cultivation so he would have the power to protect what he needed to. The experience wasn¡¯t quite the same as before. It was full daylight, so he was unable to see the stars. Yet he knew they were still there. Of course, there was always the brightest star of all- the sun. It was the most prominent and powerful due to its close presence. More than that, he had the heart to speak to others. It felt somewhat morbid to speak with Alva about the places they could no longer visit, but he hoped it would be good for her as they focused on the positive memories. It also gave Catarina a chance to hear about the members of the family she could never meet. As he walked through the ruined buildings, the plants overgrowing the area, he realized something. Each building in its place conjured memories of how things had been, though they were but shells of their former selves. Like corpses strewn across the pavement. It wasn¡¯t the same as leaving actual bodies to the elements, but he wondered if something should be done. He had already gone against the idea of rebuilding the place. There was no point, except to try to catch onto an old life that had been lost. It was better to move past it. Still, that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t leave behind memories. But he thought things should be¡­ better. He looked around the area, and at the people with him. Along with Alva and Catarina were Timothy and a silent Velvet. ¡°I know none of you signed up for this, but I could use some help moving things around. Cleaning up.¡± He reached into the rubble of one building, piling bricks while tossing hunks of half-rotten wood away. ¡°I have a plan for this place.¡± Catarina was quickest to get into a workflow, though Fuzz was perhaps the most eager about his duties. The wolf enjoyed dragging beams out of piles and out of the way. As they cleared away the first building to the foundation, Anton formed a small monument out of the collected bricks and stones in good repair. Carving into mundane materials was simple, and he left behind his memories of the buildings. The project of clearing out a whole village was a monumental task for five humans and a wolf, but they were cultivators. They could carry much greater weights than normal folk, and were able to gather loose pieces with their energy. If they were willing to empty their storage bags, they could carry most of the destroyed remains of a small building. The hardest work ended up being picking out pieces that were still solid enough, and gathering materials for mortar to put together proper headstones and short snippets about the building and people. The village itself was dismantled piece by piece, but in practice it was already nothing- leaving behind memories for others to share was the best legacy Anton could provide. Some day the carvings in the stone would fade as well and nobody would remember Dungannon, but he would give it its proper due. A peaceful village where people just lived their lives. If only every place could be like it- and remain that way. ----- Work was cultivation, and cultivation was work. Anton fully believed that. While it was indeed true that at certain points in cultivating the Ninety-Nine Stars little benefit would come from working the body, at all points it could be useful. As for those working with him, they were all in a stage where they could temper their bodies. Besides Alva, the others were working towards the eighteenth star, where body and spirit were connected. Shifting rubble wasn¡¯t necessarily the best training method, but nobody complained. They were present for Anton¡¯s sake. At certain points, it was clear Alva had too much. Not of working, but of being in Dungannon with nobody around. It was a truly depressing place for the young woman to be. When she couldn¡¯t stand it any longer, she would go out into the nearby forest to hunt. On occasion, Anton would go with her- showing her all of the best areas. He would tell her about animals he caught to eat for one festival or another, and even pointed out where he found the deer for the party after she was born. Perhaps his particulars were wrong about which deer was when, but it still allowed them to share a portion of the past they had been separate for. Alva had been too young to go out into the woods hunting when the attack had happened. Even at her current age Anton would have said she was too young- but she¡¯d been forced to grow quickly. Even if she lacked his experience, she was at least as physically capable as Anton had been close to his prime- and she had the use of energy beyond that. Even though the group was able to clear several plots per day, it took them more than two months to cover all of Dungannon. In a way it was extremely speedy, but it was a time where they found it hard to smile. Yet there was still the satisfaction of doing good work and the bonding it allowed with each other. ----- Fleeting Youth. A technique that relied on the power beyond life, when all things passed. To Anton, it seemed almost as if it were made for him, or someone like him. But Everheart made so many techniques in different areas, there were bound to be several that matched any particular person. It was like he had tried to do everything in the world. Perhaps he had. And honestly, if it had been made for him, it would have been easier to cultivate it. Now that he was close to properly completing the first step, he had quite a few notes. Some areas could have been more clear, and some weren¡¯t quite right. Then again, could he really expect better from something nobody had ever truly practiced? The fact that it was basically functional was already astounding. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He could feel it. The power, sitting beyond the threshold. He knew that once he tapped into it there would be fundamental changes he couldn¡¯t reverse. As for the power¡­ at first, he doubted it would be much different from the time spent cultivating to a higher rank, one more star. But once he achieved that point, he should be able to cultivate Fleeting Youth and the Ninety-Nine Stars in parallel, the technique making up for weaknesses in his aging body. Nothing was stopping him now except how it would affect his cultivation as he went forward- and he wanted to make use of it while he strengthened the connection between body and spirit. After Dungannon, Anton was so close¡­ just a single step away. Perhaps if he could find the right spark of inspiration. And one of the best ways to get those was perilous situations. ----- In almost the blink of an eye, it was time to head to the secret realm in Droca, along with an even larger group of those from Graotan than had previously gone to Everheart¡¯s Tomb. After all, that was just one of many- with somewhat known restrictions on who could enter- but this secret realm was a rarer opportunity, perhaps once in a few decades from what information had been gleaned through the barrier in place. In the wide world there might be more such opportunities in the same time frame, but travelling a few countries away or to another continent for such an event wasn¡¯t always possible. For example, while this secret realm was open to everyone from the surrounding countries, sects from further away weren¡¯t necessarily welcome. Independent cultivators were harder to filter out- but without allies, they were in a delicate situation. It was often difficult for them to compete with others, though they might form temporary alliances with each other or offer their services to a local sect, giving up a cut of their gains. As they continued south into Droca, Anton realized why he¡¯d had no encounters with cultivators from there. The land was poor, not completely barren but low in both proper soil and natural energy. The country was sparsely populated by both civilian and cultivator populations, though both were quite determined and hearty wherever they were. Their border security was merely a few late Spirit Building cultivators, but Anton gathered that was because Droca was also focused on the secret realm. Though he had lofty goals to improve the world, Anton had to admit he hadn¡¯t thought about much beyond the borders of Graotan. He wondered if Droca was always in its current state. Something told him that wasn¡¯t quite right. The layout of plants and rocks, the flow of the sparse energy. He couldn¡¯t be sure. When he went to ask some of the elders travelling with them, Elder Kseniya accosted him. ----- A translucent Spirit Arrow weaved its way through the trees, avoiding stray branches and large trunks in the way. The target was intentionally placed in such a way that a straight shot simply couldn¡¯t reach it. As each moment passed, the energy of the Spirit Arrow strained. Soon it began to tremble- and then it struck a tree, stabbing around thirty centimeters into it. The remaining energy scattered, fading into nothing. Anton breathed out slowly. It was one thing to keep an arrow flying over a long distance, it was quite another to guide it around obstacles he couldn¡¯t see. As much as he rode along with an arrow in flight to guide it, it didn¡¯t suddenly grow eyes or impart upon him new senses to guide it. Though the latter was sort of what his current exercise was about. ¡°More spirit!¡± Kseniya declared. ¡°That¡¯s your problem. Your senses should be one with the arrow. Your spirit must extend with it to crest the horizon!¡± He understood about half of Elder Kseniya¡¯s instructions. But understanding what she wanted and achieving it were different things. At least he got to watch her as well. He could gain some insights from that. Anton wasn¡¯t the only one present, though it seemed he was the only one specifically pulled away. Elder Kseniya didn¡¯t mind if others watched or even made their own attempts, but she also made no effort to instruct them specifically. It was a bit uncomfortable to be singled out, but Anton couldn¡¯t refuse her instruction even if he wanted to. He recognized some of the others who came along. Marcio was the one he knew the best, but there were archers of different ranks. At the end of the traveling day Elder Kseniya was adamant in ensuring Anton could use Horizon Shot, or at least something like it. Elder Kseniya shot one more time, a glowing bolt of energy streaking off into the distance. Anton¡¯s senses couldn¡¯t even feel where it impacted, but he had no doubt it was exactly where she intended. ¡°That¡¯s enough for now. Don¡¯t forget to practice.¡± After she was out of earshot- and then a couple minutes later in case her earshot was further than anyone expected- Marcio shook his head. ¡°I wonder what it takes to get like that. I wonder, would I take genius in exchange for the ability to convey it to others?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t. But perhaps we just need to shoot another ten thousand or a million arrows to have the right sense of things.¡± Anton was quite serious about that number. If he didn¡¯t fire his bow at least a hundred times per day, he felt like he hadn¡¯t done it at all. After a few months that was ten thousand¡­ and after a few decades it would be a million. Before he was a cultivator the amount he could fire his bow was somewhat less, and he had other responsibilities¡­ but over many decades he felt he¡¯d achieved somewhere around those numbers. But doing so as a cultivator was a whole other level. He looked at those gathered around, ¡°Here¡¯s what I learned. We can put our heads together to see if we¡¯re missing anything but practice.¡± While the others might reasonably be jealous of him for getting Elder Kseniya¡¯s personal attention, the fact that he was quite willing to turn around and help the others easily smoothed things over. When he had been lower in cultivation than most of the others he was quite hesitant about offering advice, but in the world of cultivators there was little that was respected more than one¡¯s actual cultivation rank. Given that he¡¯d at least been an archer longer than most of the rest of them put together, they were quite willing to listen. While he might not be able to show them all the one secret to growing stronger, Marcio and the others could sense how working together was helping them improve. It wasn¡¯t that members of the Order never worked together in the past, but Anton thought he had a pretty good knack for it. It didn¡¯t hurt to have the Vessel of Insights, either. Chapter 159 There were reasons Secret Realms could maintain their hidden status, despite people looking for them. First, the entrance to them did not need to be large. Often they were little more than what was comfortably sized for a human, or a few walking side by side. Merely by their existence it could be concluded that there was a powerful formation in the works, either natural or artificial. Those same formations could conceal them as well as sustaining the alternate dimensions that they made up. Finally, many were intentionally placed remotely so that even if a sect was conquered the victors couldn¡¯t take away all of their resources. The latter depended on the purpose of the Secret Realm- some were intended for training disciples or sealing away prisoners. Upon investigation, the Secret Realm in Droca was not the latter kind, though it would be unlikely for anyone inside to survive to the current day even if it was. Considering that this particular Secret Realm was accessed by several kilometers of tunnels- including some formerly narrow passages that didn¡¯t seem fit for people to traverse- it wasn¡¯t strange it had stayed hidden so long. The Black Earth Clan had only stumbled upon it while exploring the caves for unrelated reasons because its concealment formations were failing and it was starting to reveal the significant energy behind it. Upon finding that they couldn¡¯t enter on their own, they decided to announce its presence. That led to the current situation, with many different sects gathering together in one of the larger caverns near the entrance to the Secret Realm. As people tended to do, they separated into vaguely friendly subgroups. With the intention to not be too quickly embroiled in trouble, the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars intentionally placed themselves several groups away from the Heavenly Lion Sect. The previous encounter between them had ended with only a small amount of bloodshed- but severe negative feelings. The two late Essence Collection cultivators from the Heavenly Lion Sect were present, their knees looking quite healed. Deeper among their number Zvonko could be seen. Though he had a long sleeve to conceal it, it was clear that his hand had not somehow been restored. If he¡¯d been given the chance to retrieve it, reattaching it would have been fairly easy¡­ but that hadn¡¯t happened. It took some time to pick through everyone present, at least several thousand figures. This wasn¡¯t just an opportunity for the younger generations, but the sects as a whole. While the official language of truces on neutral ground would apply, a Secret Realm was generally large enough for different groups to be isolated. If someone was killed with no witnesses, what could be done? Even if someone had a particularly recognizable piece of equipment, there was nothing to guarantee that someone didn¡¯t simply come across their dead body. Of course, actions like that could still perpetuate further conflicts, regardless of innocence or guilt. Nearly all of those Anton knew from the Order were present, disregarding certain elders. Oskar and Patricia were busy with their six month old second child- but Pete, Gerd, and even Alva were present. It was unfair for Anton to try to deny Alva her opportunity to show up when she was at the peak of Body Tempering. She was strong enough to participate along with the others from the Order. Besides, this would be her best chance to see Annelie again. It seemed that the Frostmirror Sect had not arrived yet, but there were still several days. Unlike Everheart¡¯s Tomb, things wouldn¡¯t just suddenly be started at a whim. The major sects had agreed upon a time and would be quite motivated to stick to it. Along with familiar and vaguely friendly faces such as Lev from the Grasping Willows and the independent sword cultivator Chikere, there were more ambiguous figures such as Anish from the Glorious Flame Palace. Glorious Flame Palace members were just a bit too eager to try to enforce whatever form of ¡®justice¡¯ they felt was proper in any situation. In short, they were combative. But, despite their power they weren¡¯t significant threats. At least they probably wouldn¡¯t be looking to find people alone so they could kill and rob them. Anton had his doubts about the Heavenly Lion Sect on that matter. Though to be fair¡­ he would happily kill any of them he found as well. But he hadn¡¯t been the one to start their various conflicts. Anton was lucky enough to spot Masozi among the various milling cultivators. He had no affection for the man that had once been Tonina Potenza¡¯s guardian, but he could understand that it was just business. His involvement in the events had mostly been secondary. That didn¡¯t mean Anton would trust him or attempt to befriend him¡­ but he had no intention to seek him out and kill him. He did, however, follow his gaze towards something unexpected. Tonina herself. She was among a group of cultivators in flowing red robes. If Anton remembered the symbol correctly, that was the Flying Blood Cult, from Ofrurg of course. ¡°Three years sure doesn¡¯t seem as long as it used to. Feels more like a year and a half.¡± Of course, that was because it had been a year and a half. She was still supposed to be imprisoned. Devon narrowed his eyes from next to Anton. ¡°You¡¯re right about that. I¡¯m sure they have a good excuse for being off by a factor of two.¡± The way his energy swirled around him menacingly wouldn¡¯t be noticed among everyone else around, though of course it didn¡¯t escape Anton¡¯s notice. ¡°What do you want to do?¡± he asked. ¡°We can go cause a fuss right now.¡± He turned his head to look at another section of their group. ¡°Kohar has kept track of the situation involved. Or¡­ we can look for her inside.¡± Anton wouldn¡¯t consider himself a murderous sort, but where it involved family he didn¡¯t mind if revenge came where the blood was a little bit cold. ¡°I¡¯d much prefer the latter,¡± Devon said. ¡°I¡¯d rather not hear about stupid technicalities or get money thrown at me like it solves everything.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I do believe I shall converse with Kohar regardless. It might be usable as ammunition later.¡± Devon nodded in return. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it After Anton pointed her out, Kohar pulled out a large book of law as well as some other documents, muttering to herself and making notes. ¡°Good. This should help with things.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°I¡¯m surprised you came here. You¡¯re not the most popular figure around.¡± ¡°I had to weigh the pros and cons. I determined that for my intentions, I needed to improve my cultivation. This is a significant opportunity. With the Order providing official protection, I shouldn¡¯t be more at risk than anyone else in early Spirit Building. Most people will be seeking their individual opportunities and won¡¯t be looking for petty revenge.¡± Kohar glared towards a group bearing the symbol of the Iron Ring. ¡°And my looks weren¡¯t well known anywhere, even before I changed things up,¡± she gestured to her hair, cut short against her head. ¡°It¡¯s surprisingly easy to escape notice by changing small details.¡± Anton wondered if he should have taken some steps to disguise himself. He certainly had plenty of enemies. He couldn¡¯t be sure if the whole Heavenly Lion Sect would be out for his head, but certainly a part would like to get their hands on him. The same went for the Iron Ring and probably some groups working with them that he didn¡¯t directly know. But disguising himself didn¡¯t seem right anyway. He wasn¡¯t too proud to stay with strong allies or to run away if he needed to. All of his friends and various allies knew the risks of associating with him, and of course the benefits. Unlike Kohar, his own cultivation was respectable enough to properly fight for his own sake. She¡¯d only recently achieved Spirit Building, since her main focus had never been on cultivation. Her talent was decent enough, but she had higher priorities. Since there were several days until the specified time to open the Secret Realm, the various clans, sects, orders, and independent set up camps in the large cavern they had gathered in. There were a few minor scuffles over the next days, but for the most part people kept to themselves. The cavern didn¡¯t have enough energy for everyone to cultivate to their full extent, so they tried to pass the time as quickly as they could. Then the time came. ----- By the morning of the agreed upon time, the Frostmirror Sect still hadn¡¯t arrived. Whispers and rumors abounded as to what could have happened. Even so, at the agreed upon time everyone began moving towards the Secret Realm. At the front of each group were of course their highest ranking elders. As they moved further into the cavern it narrowed- but a shimmering light soon became clear. It was only as wide as a barn at most, with a handful of people able to comfortably step through. The entrance to the Secret Realm. Though it seemed entering wasn¡¯t exactly the problem. Cultivators began to pass through the portal without issue, having already checked to make sure it was safe. Even if the Black Earth Clan¡¯s information was reliable, the situation could have changed. Anton felt a strange sensation as he passed through the shimmering portal, as the far side was somehow colder than the cave they had just been in. It wasn¡¯t freezing, but still a bit uncomfortable. On the other side he found himself stepping in sand, and heard the sound of waves. Anton had never been to the sea, but he knew what the salty smell represented. Yet he couldn¡¯t see it, either. There was a translucent barrier preventing anything but the vaguest fuzzy blue image. The barrier preventing entry. In a way, Anton supposed it made sense to place it inside the Secret Realm. It was easier to conceal that way¡­ and angry foes were somewhat less likely to just destroy the entrance if they were trying to break inside. Of course, depending on the desires of individual groups they might prefer that access be cut off rather than letting anyone else have what was inside. There was enough room inside for people to begin to spread out again, back into their accustomed groups. The various elders of the powerful sects were standing in front of the barrier, raising their energy as they prepared to break through the barrier, with the guidance of formation masters. As the last people were trickling into the Secret Realm and it was about to be opened, a woman flickered inside. Her impassive face and the aura about her indicated she was a member of the Frostmirror Sect, at peak Essence Collection despite looking quite young. That said, many cultivators who were advanced in age did their best to appear young regardless of the truth. She made her way to the others by the barrier. ¡°The Frostmirror Sect apologizes for the delay. We were held up by unforeseen circumstances.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a problem,¡± Elder Kseniya laughed, ¡°We would have just left you behind.¡± ¡°It is good you are here to do your part,¡± the elder from Glorious Flame Palace declared. ¡°Everyone should contribute properly.¡± He glared at those around, ¡°It is important that everyone use their full effort.¡± Anton understood what he meant. While there was no doubt in his mind that their combined forces could break through the barrier- he felt it power fading, even if it was well beyond what he could deal with- nobody wanted to be at a disadvantage. If Elder Kseniya or one of the others didn¡¯t help but instead kept themselves fresh, they would gain an unfair advantage. After a few more inconsequential comments, the opening of the barrier finally began. Gouts of flame along with spikes of ice and every other sort of attack rained down on the barrier. The various formation masters directed the attacks, with Elder Kseniya contributing with precise arrows stabbing into various key points. Each attack from the elders seemed like it would be enough to wipe Anton out of existence, though he had to admit he was still quite new to cultivation in the grand scheme of things and it wasn¡¯t so unreasonable. Three and a half years could hardly compare to fifty or a hundred. The barrier began to tremble, waves flowing through it as it bent and distorted. Then, it shattered like glass. Ahead of him, Anton saw a vast sea- yet with islands clearly visible under the clear skies. The waters sparkled and energy flowed over him, no longer contained by the barrier. It was peaceful... yet powerful. Anton had to wonder what the ancient sects were like that they could make such a place¡­ and what could have happened that they were no longer around. Chapter 160 The way the far-off islands were visible to both eyes and energy senses made it clear something about the Secret Realm enhanced their presence. A clear feeling came from each of the areas, an indication of their threat- and their purpose. Many people surmised the same thing together, and there were murmurs about the good fortune that they had stumbled across a training facility of an ancient sect. Though it wasn¡¯t clear what the exact benefits might be, it was likely to be less strongly defended than some sort of armory or storage facility. As people began to wonder how they might traverse their way to the islands, a fleet of shimmering boats became visible one at a time, settling on the shore. The various formation masters checked them over for tricks, but found them to be safe. At most they might fade back into nothing, dumping their riders into the water. While that would be embarrassing, it wouldn¡¯t be a significant hindering factor compared to the seas themselves. While they appeared clear and calm, just assuming they were safe was unreasonable. After it was determined that the boats were safe enough, people began to scramble towards them. Those who were first to treasures had a claim for them, after all. Anton ignored the press of people. He wasn¡¯t going to be in the first wave of cultivators anyway, and if they ran out of boats¡­ so be it. He had more important things to do. He set his sights on those at the rear, specifically the Frostmirror sect. Though he was watched by some of the elders with a cautious eye, none stopped his approach. ¡°Good to see you again, Diana, Annelie.¡± He found them together like he had imagined, greeting them politely. Diana inclined her head. ¡°Senior Anton. We meet again.¡± Her face was icy and cold, but there was something about her voice and demeanor that made her feel just a bit warmer. He could see in the depths of her eyes that she was not entirely without emotion. Annelie also inclined her head. ¡°Great-Grandpa Anton.¡± Her eyes flicked around in various directions, finally settling back on Anton. Her face didn¡¯t smile at all, but he was certain that she did in the depths of her eyes. ¡°Whoa! Slow down boy!¡± Alva¡¯s voice came from further behind them. ¡°Sorry, pardon me!¡± Fuzz kicked up a bucketful of sand with each moment as he ran joyfully towards Anton, before skidding to a halt and half-burying him. Anton simply hopped up and let the sand fill back in before he landed. ¡°Uhm. Hi there. I¡¯m Alva.¡± Alva did her best to bow politely to Diana from the back of Fuzz. ¡°I¡¯m Annelie¡¯s cousin!¡± Alva smiled unabashedly, ¡°Annelie! I haven¡¯t seen you in forever! I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re alright!¡± ¡°Alva. I too am glad you are doing well. I heard that our great grandfather was able to safely retrieve you.¡± Annelie bowed deeply but formally. When Anton anticipated that Alva was going to jump off of Fuzz towards her, he put a hand on her shoulder. She looked down at him and he saw her lip trembling. Anton put on his most loving smile. ¡°Remember what we talked about?¡± Alva took a deep breath, then nodded. ¡°Okay. I understand.¡± She turned back to Annelie. ¡°It¡¯s very, very good to see you again.¡± Anton could see and feel people around judging the interactions, and Annelie in particular. She might be a favored disciple, but that also came with higher standards. He almost laughed aloud when Fuzz sniffed her face and then licked it- the whole thing from chin to forehead, almost as wide as her ears. Annelie kept remarkably stoic during that. Her frosty energy gracefully removed the wolf saliva from her face and she calmly pat him on the head. ¡°Hello there big fellow. It is good to meet you.¡± Fuzz wagged his tail, along with the rest of his rear. By that point, it was clear that the boats were unlimited in number- and people were quickly moving to board them. Alva and Annelie only had a few more moments before they had to break apart. Alva grit her teeth as she pulled herself away. Anton would have liked for them to have a proper reunion, but it simply didn¡¯t work out. For the moment, she would have to trust his word that Annelie was quite happy to see her. Once Alva stepped into Spirit Building she could discern those emotions herself- provided Annelie let her. Even Anton couldn¡¯t see any emotion in her after she turned away again. He only briefly caught Marsen¡¯s eye, and Marsen gave a confident nod as they did so, with a bit of a hidden smile. At least the altered training methods seemed to be doing their job. Emotions were still available when they were wanted. Anton still didn¡¯t fully agree with that method, but it was the best he could arrange for. It wasn¡¯t long before Alva and Anton split up. Though he would have liked to watch over her, the difference between mid Spirit Building and peak Body Tempering was significant enough that they weren¡¯t really an appropriate group. Going with her would limit his own opportunities while probably hindering her growth- he would simply have to entrust her safety to herself, Fuzz, and the other members of the Order. Of course, if there were any specific threats he became aware of, he would gladly take steps to help with them. But groups generally were finding their way towards appropriate locations for their cultivation level, and anyone who varied significantly would stand out in a bad way. Anton watched as people boarded the shimmering, ephemeral boats. Some of them disappeared from sight as they set out on the currents of the ocean- a sign that distance wasn¡¯t quite what it appeared. He could spot some of them further out, already kilometers from shore even as they left a moment before and didn¡¯t seem to traverse the space in between. Among the people he spotted were Van Hassel and Slusser, along with a few others in the same boat. But this wasn¡¯t an appropriate time to deal with them. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Most groups settled to be a handful of people- too many and their individual fortunes wouldn¡¯t be considered, too few and they could be taken advantage of. Anton and the others were part of a stable group and had no current intentions to change in size. Catarina waited at the head of one of the small vessels, with Hoyt, Timothy, Devon, and Velvet behind her. Anton was the last aboard, and then just the slightest nudge from Catarina¡¯s energy got them started. ¡°It¡¯s all part of one thing,¡± she explained. ¡°The tides connect to everywhere, but not necessarily in a straightforward manner. We thought we would aim for¡­¡± Catarina pointed, ¡°That island. It seems like it might encompass all of Spirit Building. There are others with more narrow focuses, but it seemed reasonable to us.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Anton said. ¡°Lead the way.¡± Looking into the sea below, Anton couldn¡¯t see how the currents moved- but even slight changes in their trajectory significantly changed their path. It wasn¡¯t a simple as pointing their boat in a direction and going with it. Even if they tried to push across the currents he doubted they would end up at their target, as the fact that the islands were visible around them seemed to merely be some sort of illusion. His eyes caught sight of something in the depths below. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem this trip will be entirely safe. Be ready for trouble.¡± A fin trawled along the surface in front of them. He¡¯d studied various beasts at the Order, but even without that he knew he didn¡¯t want to provoke anything first. If it would leave them alone, then both sides were better off. But if anything actually showed aggression¡­ he would respond in kind. As they began to near more beasts, Anton came to the understanding that they, too, were part of the training. Otherwise there was little chance that so many magical beasts would be mingling in the area without there being any far stronger or weaker than the others. Predators, too, and not just things trying to live their lives. The first creature to attack was a shark. It performed a surprising leap out of the water, crooked rows of teeth clearly visible as it sailed through the air. Anton got a shot straight into the back of its throat, though Hoyt¡¯s response was more thorough- his axe nearly sliced it in half longways. As the creature spilled its guts into the water, Anton felt the shift in the local attitude. Various sea creatures rushed towards the boat. The first two struggled over the corpse of the shark dumped into the water, but the others seemed to hope that those on the boat were easy prey. Untempered aggression wasn¡¯t a good survival tool, but it did make for good training. Very few creatures vaulted out of the water to attack those on the boat, but instead most chose to attack in other ways. Timothy and Velvet hacked through the limbs of a squid that reached its tendrils up for them. When some sturdy fishlike creatures began to ram the boat from below, those in the boat had to change tactics. The boat was some sort of energy construct and seemingly quite sturdy, but it was clear that it was weakening. Anton leaned over the side, firing down into the water. He found that his experience in that area was immediately lacking. Though he knew that firing a bow into a lake was ineffective, he¡¯d hoped for slightly more with Spirit Arrows. Indeed, his attacks weren¡¯t entirely useless. He managed to poke a small hole in one of the creatures, but it wasn¡¯t significant enough to deter it. He shot again, focusing on pushing through the water. Each shot was a bit better, but much less than half as effective as attacking anything on land. And that was if he was only shooting a few meters down. Beyond that range, his arrows basically did nothing. Catarina was guiding the boat and didn¡¯t take much direct action in the combat, but she provided it with protective energy, and did her best to redirect it away from attacks while still keeping it properly aligned to go the right direction. She was prepared to stab anything that came up on board, but those were very few. Hoyt swung his axe down into the water, slicing great wakes into it. Though his attacks were also hampered, if he could reach anything below they were still able to be slain. And when his attacks dropped the water anything poking out could be attacked by the others. Timothy was hanging over the edge, only one leg in the boat. He stabbed his sword into anything that dared get too close, and if it tried to gnaw on his dangling leg he would let it try- then yank it up out of the water. Velvet mostly took advantage of others¡¯ openings, while mumbling about not carrying the right sort of backup weapons. Anton silently agreed that they weren¡¯t properly ready for fighting in alternate situations, even if extending the energy on other weapons could make them similar length to proper spears. Fortunately, not all of the frenzied creatures were interested in attacking the boat or those on it- they were also quite happy to attack each other or feast on the dead beasts. That meant that it was important to toss any bodies overboard, but chucking them a bit away from the boat gave them a bit of leeway. It was the continual nature of the battle that made it most dangerous, and Anton was beginning to worry he might not be able to keep it up, since he had to increase his power with each shot. But the creatures seemed to thin out given time, and soon enough everyone could see why. The waters began to grow more shallow as they approached the island. Anton frowned as he looked at it. ¡°Did we somehow get around to the back side? This looks a bit different.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯re right,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure most people won¡¯t end up in the same spot.¡± The group was looking up at a nearly sheer cliff towards what seemed to be a small forest above. There were no convenient beaches in sight in either direction, and when they tried to direct the boat around¡­ ¡°It¡¯s really fussy,¡± Catarina said as it wobbled strangely. ¡°I think this is the place we get to be, or we leave.¡± ¡°Alright then,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I guess we climb. I¡¯ll go up first.¡± Something thudded against the bottom of the boat. ¡°Then again, we can all go up at the same time. No problem with that.¡± Anton grinned. This place was challenging him with things he had little experience, though reasonably should have. It¡¯s just that it wasn¡¯t something that came up much while just living your life, though he was quite familiar with scrabbling up onto a roof when it needed fixing. A cliff was a bit different, though. He stretched his upper body a bit and prepared himself. Chapter 161 For a cultivator who had completed Body Tempering, nearly any sort of climb was simple. When a finger or two could lift their whole weight, only very small irregularities were needed on the surface. As long as it could hold their weight, cultivators could climb up nearly everything. The cliff above the boat Anton and the others had reached was more than just a little bit pitted and scarred, with consistent room to place a hand or foot. In a few places, the cliff was a bit too crumbly to climb safely- the climbers could hold, but the cliff could not. That was the major obstacle until they were about twenty meters above the water and their boat below. The climb actually became quite a bit easier as cracks in the rocky surface left gaps more than a finger wide all along their route. Anton brushed against a root sticking out of one of the gaps as he pulled himself higher, but hadn¡¯t expected it to coil around his arm. Up until that point it had shown no signs of activity, seeming to be a normal if solid root. Even as it wrapped around him, squeezing against his defensive energy, he sensed nothing abnormal about it. But as he attempted to yank his arm away it refused to yield against him. Before it could crush his arm he held an axe with his other hand- nothing holding him onto the cliff but the root itself. He chopped away, once again admiring the sharpness of the blades from Everheart¡¯s Tomb. Though they had no special characteristics besides that and sturdiness, what else did a weapon need? Given the unfortunate angle he was only able to chop halfway through the root with his first swing, but the second disentangled him. He quickly swung his leg out, kicking into the side of the cliff and pushing his energy inside to pull him back towards it instead of letting himself fall away. Though he didn¡¯t spot any beasts in the water, he would rather not discover their presence the hard way. ¡°Careful of the roots!¡± The verbal warning was largely unnecessary since the others were all able to sense what happened, but it was the polite thing to do. Anton continued to climb with one hand, the other holding his small handaxe. As long as he always had one limb holding him up, he didn¡¯t really run into any issues. His climbing arm was developing a bruise around where it had been nearly crushed, but he could still function well enough. The group diverted to avoid the roots sticking out of the cracks, all of which still seemed perfectly normal. Anton chopped into a few that were in the way, and the parts that weren¡¯t chopped off pulled back into the rocky cliff. The climbers remained wary of any roots that might slide out of the cracks, but they were able to track them out of sight. Timothy cried out at the discovery of something else. A snake suddenly appeared, barely thicker than his finger but with fangs just as long as it was thick. He had the one that had jumped out grabbed just below its mouth, prying it away from his other arm. Until it had moved it felt just like part of the rock- and in fact it still almost did, except for the part where rock didn¡¯t twist or wriggle. Timothy tried to yank it out and throw it into the sea, but it held firm, its body coiled inside a crack. It slipped out of his grip as its head and neck squashed small for a moment. It retreated, leaving behind a snake shaped depression inside the crack. The fact that it had fit so perfectly into the spot indicated it had carved it out itself. Since they could presume other snakes would have done the same, they slowed down, trying to avoid the cracks altogether. Where they couldn¡¯t, they used their senses at a small scale, trying to notice minute gaps below the snakes- or where they bulged above the rock, their scale varying only slightly in texture from the rock itself. Devon used his grasping chains to pull himself to the top first, and as he did he took note of the overly large pine trees with red needles. Even before he finished solidifying his footing, something flew through the air towards him. He dodged it, of course. ¡°Careful! There¡¯s something in the trees!¡± To open up the options for where he dodged, Devon moved away from the cliff edge. He avoided two more small projectiles, about the size of his thumb. Both of those sailed into the sea. He couldn¡¯t quite make out what was in the trees and lobbing the attacks, but one came from almost directly above him. He was agile enough to dodge to the side, but didn¡¯t expect it to explode when it struck the ground. Normally he would pick out threats based on if they had natural energy, but the island they were on was suffused with so much that it blended everything together. The explosion of fire washed over him, not catching anything on fire but flash-burning some of the undergrowth- and singeing his left side. Nothing he couldn¡¯t handle, but he would have preferred not to have to use so much energy defending himself. Devon was cautious about where he moved, since the plants themselves might be a danger even if not lobbed at him by something in the trees. He couldn¡¯t make out whatever it was, only noticing the projectiles as they launched. When one was thrown from afar and he managed to make it out with his eyes, he was a little bit disbelieving. It looked quite a bit like a red acorn. In fact, there were quite a few growing on the large pines around the area. By that point the others were beginning to reach the top of the cliff. A few attacks came their way, but the majority continued to be launched towards Devon, who was closer to the assailants. ¡°Mind if I cause some trouble?¡± Anton asked everyone in general. Before receiving an actual response, he began to fire some arrows. With no specific target, he set about attempting to remove the enemy¡¯s means of attack. As far as he could tell they plucked the acorns off of the tree before hurling them¡­ so if he could remove some of them, that would limit their options. He fired many arrows in quick succession. Using the techniques from Thousand Arrows, he could fire continuously and even several at once, as long as he didn¡¯t need to redirect his attacks or have significant force behind them. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. In an instant several dozen acorns were shot- and they readily exploded. Interestingly enough, they didn¡¯t set off the others around them, and the pines remained unburnt. The only effect he had was to destroy the individual acorns and shake away some of the needles. However, the increased visibility allowed him to spot the culprits. Little fire-red squirrels. Even their tails flowed like flickering fire in the glimpses he caught of them. Anton shot at them but they were quick as lightning, avoiding his arrows and disappearing deeper into the trees. In response, he continued his assault on the explosive acorns- hundreds of them at a time. The others all assisted in their own way, but they didn¡¯t have so many expendable projectiles. Tossing one of the pine needles wasn¡¯t enough to trigger the acorns without a bit of energy, but the others made use of them in handfuls. Soon enough they had about a ten meter square area cleared. Surprisingly enough, there was only a small fire started in some of the brush below which burned out quickly. The trees themselves seemed unperturbed by the flames, except for a few cracked branches caused by the concussive portion of the explosions. No more attacks came. ¡°Have we driven them off?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It seems more like they simply can¡¯t reach us.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Anton said. ¡°Ten meters plus their height in the trees seems to be about the limit.¡± He squinted, focusing his eyes into the trees. ¡°Those little things hide quite well. Don¡¯t see anything else. Either it¡¯s equally camouflaged, or this is the territory of those fiery squirrels.¡± ¡°Ugh,¡± Hoyt groaned, ¡°Why couldn¡¯t it have been something else? At least if it was the trees themselves it wouldn¡¯t sound so bad.¡± ¡°No matter,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We should continue onward. With Velvet¡¯s assistance I should be able to create a mobile formation that will hide us from them. If I¡¯m incorrect¡­ we¡¯ll face a couple barrages and retreat to here. They don¡¯t seem willing to come closer, so we can count on this as somewhat of a safe area.¡± Catarina looked ahead, ¡°If we have to clear our way forward, it will be quite an effort. There are hundreds of the explosive acorns in each section this size.¡± ¡°I could also try to hunt them down,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯re getting a bit careless over there, watching us. They stop moving. If we split up so they couldn¡¯t all keep eyes on each of us, we might make something of it. Though if we can get somewhere else, perhaps it doesn¡¯t matter. What do you think?¡± ¡°I¡¯d prefer to hunt them,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We can just pass by,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I have to agree there,¡± Hoyt agreed. ¡°Others should be coming here. If we can sneak through quickly while leaving them to harass anyone else, we can make the most gains.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°As for what those gains are¡­ any idea how we might harvest these? Normal acorns don¡¯t explode.¡± Hoyt shook his head, ¡°I think we should hold off on these. I¡¯m sure they have some value, but I wouldn¡¯t like my storage bag and all its contents to go up in flames.¡± ¡°Onward, then,¡± Anton looked to Velvet, Devon, and Catarina. ¡°Okay,¡± Catarina stepped forward, handing formation flags to people. ¡°It won¡¯t be as stable as placing them, but we¡¯ve worked together on this kind of thing before. I¡¯m going to blend our energy in with the rest of this place. Velvet¡¯s the expert on that, though, so I¡¯ll have her guide me where I mess up.¡± The group took a quarter of an hour until Catarina was sufficiently satisfied in their setup¡¯s stability, the five of them standing roughly in a pentagon with Velvet at the front. They started to move forward, but ran into no trouble- even as Anton noticed they walked right under a squirrel or two, oblivious to their presence. He considered attacking them, but they might also explode and then they wouldn¡¯t have deterrents for others or interesting and potentially valuable specimens. As they moved along, there were signs of underbrush burning away before, though only rarely. It seemed likely that anything that couldn¡¯t survive regular gouts of fire without catching alight would have already long been driven out of the ecosystem. It wasn¡¯t too long before the woods thinned and then practically ceased, leading to fields filled with palm-sized yellow flowers. However, more interesting were the large stocks that stuck out next to them with great puffy heads. ¡°What sort of danger do you all reckon is in there?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Maybe nothing,¡± Timothy said unconvincingly. ¡°It has to be the flowers, right?¡± Velvet said. Hoyt and Catarina kept their speculation to themselves. ¡°Well then,¡± Anton said. ¡°We can certainly find out. But we only need to make it as far as there,¡± he pointed. Further along the edge between the thinning forest they stood next to and the flowery field was a complex of buildings. ¡°We could try to slip back into the fiery forest to get there, but I believe I see some of these plants amongst those buildings. Might be good to check these out while we¡¯re here, or in case we need to flee this way.¡± ¡°Quite reasonable,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°Since we are currently unhurried, we should make some proper investigations before touching anything.¡± Anton nodded, looking through the fields for anything odd, or anything else that might shed light on the actual dangers. It was hard to sense fine details at a distance, even with well trained energy, but he started from the roots up trying to pick out what might happen. In the end, he came up with a theory. Now they just had to test it. Chapter 162 In his hands Anton held his bow, angled down but ready to be raised and drawn quickly should he need it. The forest full of fiery pines was just behind them, and head was the field of dandelions. The flowers themselves were almost the size of a sunflower, and the puffy seeds structures were the size of someone¡¯s head. A gentle breeze blew through the area as he looked, sending waves through the field. One seed pod floated towards the group, and Anton reached out with a strand of energy to catch it as it floated above. From the actual seed to the stalk it was quite as he expected, but the small structures of the white puffy section were quite different than he anticipated. Instead of the structure of a feather it was closer to a myriad of tiny needles. Touching it with bare skin would certainly have dire consequences. The only other thing he saw in the field were butterflies. They were quite large, with wings extending to about the size of his hand, fingers outstretched. Perhaps twenty centimeters wide. Large, but not concerningly so. Yet they were clearly part of the structure, and thus a potential danger. ¡°Let me try something,¡± Anton said. ¡°I think it should be possible to pass by without disturbing them.¡± He gestured in front of them- and behind. ¡°It wasn¡¯t quite clear to me back there, but this is not just a wild island. This is a garden. Each plant in its own place, not arranged like the wilds. Catarina, can you confirm anything about that? Something with the formations?¡± Catarina looked around. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. But the flow of energy certainly indicates a separation. I thought it was caused by the different areas, but it might be driving it. Though it seems¡­ weak?¡± ¡°Hundreds of years without any maintenance would do that,¡± Anton remarked. ¡°The squirrels seemed like an aggressive sort, but I think this area should be fine as long as we don¡¯t startle anything. That also means inadvertently being spotted while sneaking¡­ so I¡¯m going to straightforwardly approach the area.¡± Just as he said, Anton moved closer to the field and then into it. He had to summon all the flexibility he had, and the gracefulness of Swan Steps as he ducked and dodged around the various puffballs. He chose a path as far from the butterflies as he reasonably could, not quite on the edge of the field and occasionally venturing deeper where it seemed appropriate. He couldn¡¯t say it was a relaxing stroll, but avoiding obstacles that weren¡¯t actively out to get him was a nice change of pace. Soon enough, he found himself by the complex of buildings they¡¯d spotted- in a cracked cobblestone street. Anton called back to the rest of the group. ¡°Seems reasonable enough. Follow along carefully. Don¡¯t move too quickly.¡± He had to point out some hidden dangers to the others, but they all made it over to him without anything attempting to take their lives. From the far angle, it was possible to see where the plants might have once been organized into rows. Moving around the buildings was much easier. They were mostly intact, but it was clear the formations keeping them that way were fading. Over time damage had built up where the buildings should otherwise be immaculate. As for what was inside¡­ the first was a dormitory. A symbol that belonged to the sect, a circle over a series of lines, was prominently placed in many locations. It didn¡¯t seem that the few dozen beds had been in use. There were no signs of people, just places where they could be. The rest of the complex concurred with Anton¡¯s idea that it was a garden- or a farm of some sort. They found beds of herbs, as overgrown as the other plants but at least not appearing so immediately dangerous. They found drying racks- only a few herbs had been in place when the area was last visited, or perhaps the others had faded to dust like the first one Anton gingerly touched. Several were still good- tough roots that were shriveled but still felt somewhat potent. In other places they found various tools for alchemical processes, in various states of stability. Some had weathered the test of time, and some were falling apart. They also found a small library- though it was a nearly full room of alchemical books, likewise in various states. Finally they came to a pill furnace- a big three-legged cauldron used for heating and mixing herbs to form pills. This one was as tall a person and clearly enchanted. Upon looking inside, there was only dust- and strangely, a written note. ¡°To those looking for the Seventeen Flowers Pill, the Nine Colors Liquid, and the Harmonious Sun Herb. I consumed them all. Better luck next time- E¡± Though the message clearly indicated an ending, it continued. ¡°P.S. I would suggest looking around to figure out what happened here. People don¡¯t just abandon places like this for no reason. Must have had something important to do. Also, I left a copy of the recipe for the four elements pill and made sure to leave behind one living rock root, firepine, spiny dandelion, and of course the mangrove lotus. Also I changed the formations so you would end up at the hardest entrance- E¡± A poorly drawn face that seemed to be winking followed. That was the actual end of the note. ¡°So,¡± Anton said. ¡°Someone got in here before us. Before all of us. Someone named E. What are the chances it¡¯s not Everheart?¡± Everyone frowned, thinking. ¡°It might not be him,¡± Velvet said. ¡°He was pretty fond of using his whole name. But then again, maybe he wasn¡¯t confident in his own ability just yet.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°To sneak into this place when it took many powerful sects to open,¡± Catarina shook her head, ¡°That¡¯s something special. But also, Everheart has great knowledge of formations. And almost everything. It wouldn¡¯t be too strange¡­ even for him to repair the entrance.¡± Devon crossed his arms and nodded, ¡°But it could be someone else with an E. It¡¯s unclear how long ago this was. But the capricious nature of this note¡­¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Anton nodded, ¡°It¡¯s hard to believe there¡¯d be another one like him.¡± He looked down at the note. ¡°None of us are pill masters, but finding this recipe and collecting the materials seems like it would be beneficial. Let¡¯s look around, especially in the library. Everyone did their best to judge which books were more important, though if this were the only location they got to, and they indeed found the notes for the Four Element Pill. It even had information on how to collect the materials properly. It was around that point when they first sensed other people- or rather they first sensed explosions in the firepine forest, and then people. Anton looked at the others. ¡°We should probably get going. The pill furnace¡­?¡± ¡°If it was Everheart who left it,¡± Catarina pointed out, ¡°It¡¯s probably not that valuable. I don¡¯t know if it can be put in a storage bag, either.¡± Instead of waiting for the other cultivators to show up, they grabbed the most valuable books- and Everheart¡¯s notes, of course. Then they quickly moved to gather two of the ingredients. The firepine acorns and the spiny dandelion seeds were immediately present for them to collect. Hoyt moved to collect the former with Velvet and Timothy watching, while Devon and Catarina came with Anton as he moved for the seeds. It seemed that the various ingredients didn¡¯t store for long, and more importantly they couldn¡¯t be stored together. Thus, each person of the six could only have one of each in their storage bags. The other two were keeping things they didn¡¯t want around loose and potentially volatile materials. Just because they had instructions didn¡¯t mean they would perfectly pull them off. Anton reached out his arm, holding a finger aloft. He tried to follow the method described to be enticing to the local butterflies. He was unsure if it would work, but as soon as he got it right several immediately approached. One of them alighted on his outstretched finger, while the others fluttered past. He carefully moved his hand to the puff ball. He was now more aware than ever that it could explode in all directions if improperly touched. The butterfly gladly fluttered up to it, however, and as it flapped its wings they began to fly off one at a time, a small gust of energy pulling them away. Anton snatched them up, grabbing the safe portion on the stalks and avoiding the top. He had a few boxes for storing things separately, which he quickly filled. He didn¡¯t want to keep spiny puff balls loose in his bag, so he had to stop after several heads and probably over a hundred seeds. Hoyt carefully climbed up a treed, coating his hand with fire as he reached out for an acorn. He managed to properly grab the first one, but the second detonated near his palm, singeing him through his energy. He managed to finish gathering just as the other cultivators were approaching, having figured out a way to move past the squirrels firebombing them- which just involved running as they defended themselves. Instead of possibly running into conflict, Anton and the others moved away. The new group was close to them in cultivation, though not from any sect they recognized immediately just from their senses. While the others might fight over materials in front of them, it was unlikely they would be followed for speculative gains. After all, it was possible for people on either side to get seriously injured or die. They did seem content to leave Anton and the rest alone, or perhaps they took longer picking their way through the dandelions. Regardless, Anton and the others found that not the entire island was covered in deadly plants. Just most of it. Some of their journey was quite smooth, and some involved moving through firepines or spiny dandelions or both. They gradually sloped downhill, until they came to swampy lowlands at the edge of the island. Beautiful flowers that could only have been the mangrove lotus floated on the shore, anchored into the sand. Though these were in fact the safest of the various plants, they still had to be careful of the sand crabs that lived underneath. They were quite protective of the plants and their roots. ¡°I¡¯ll gather these,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Devon, if you could make your way around to that cliff there?¡± He nodded, ¡°I see the rock roots. I should be able to coax them out.¡± Less than a quarter hour later they were done with their gathering. It was possible they might come across some more valuable things that needed proper storage, but for the moment four of them were as full as they could be with the different ingredients. As for how they would get off the island¡­ when they stood at the shores with the intention to travel, a boat once more appeared for them. They weren¡¯t fully real, after all, simply constructs of energy. Catarina plucked one extra flower, affixing it to the side of the boat. ¡°This should help keep away some of the water beasts,¡± she declared. ¡°As for our next target, I see a larger island over there. Seems reasonably close to our level, still.¡± Anton and the others took a look. Anton nodded, ¡°We won¡¯t be the first ones there, but it seems to be somewhat larger. If my eyes aren¡¯t fooling me more than I think, of course. This place has strange things with distance. Anyone recognize the symbol?¡± Everyone shook their heads. ¡°That¡¯s the strange thing,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I know quite a bit about some ancient sects, but this one was old enough for me to not recall it. Now, it¡¯s entirely possible I missed it- but it could truly be so old that the Order doesn¡¯t have records of them. Yet disappearing and leaving a place like this¡­¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Some of what Everheart says is garbage, but we should certainly carefully consider what happened here. Perhaps we can find more.¡± Catarina pushed the boat with a bit of energy, merely directing it to move and letting it do most of the work. Hopefully the warding flower would be of some use so they could be in peak condition when they arrived. Chapter 163 Though the mangrove lotus doubtless had some effect on providing safety for the boat, the larger factor in keeping them safe was rather straightforward. The beasts in the seas had grown large and violent over the ages, but still had caution in regard to each other. When new factors arrived- that being humans- they were thrown into a frenzy. But as they entered a feeding frenzy to attack the humans and each other, their numbers dwindled. Now that some time had passed and everyone had reached at least the first island, the seas had to calm down somewhat. That didn¡¯t mean that travel was safe, since the more cautious but also more dangerous predators still lurked in the depths, but it did mean the second journey wasn¡¯t such a constant battle. Though distance was hard to determine on the strange sea, they were about halfway to the next island they had targeted when the first curious beast approached. It was easily dissuaded by a warning shot from Anton. The next one was more aggressive, coming from straight underneath. However, Devon was ready for it. Against a horde of undersea creatures leaning over the edge of the boat was ill advised, but when dealing with just a single target it was safe enough. Chains made of energy extended down beneath the boat, wrapping around the spear-like nose of the charging fish. He redirected its movements to the side, resulting in it briefly breaking the surface of the water. Devon held it still while it tried to dive back down as Hoyt hacked through it. With the beasts more spread out there wasn¡¯t an immediate frenzy over the blood and body, and they were able to continue onward with only a few more interruptions. The island they were approaching stood out from the others on the basis of having a large tower. A lighthouse, from the looks of it, but there had to be more to it than just that. For one thing, it would be pointless to have a lighthouse on a lone island in an area that seemed to have no fog or inclement weather of any sort. Upon arrival it was clear that others shared in the same judgment, because there were at least a handful of other groups on the island. It was hard to tell exactly with different cultivation techniques and how they were spread out seemingly randomly inside the tower. As the group approached the entrance, they began to sense more about the tower. The formation made no attempt to hide itself, and because of previous experience everyone recognized it as something similar to the pressure formations Everheart had. As they entered the base of the tower they felt the energy pressing down on them quite clearly. But unlike Everheart¡¯s, the formation was more or less arranged vertically. In short, the pressure seemed to increase as one went up the tower on the spiraling stairs. For an equal amount of effort from the formation, it was somewhat harder and more dangerous than what Everheart had. After all, climbing stairs was harder than walking on flat ground- it was just that neither were generally relevant for cultivators. Fighting against the pressure while raising one¡¯s body higher would actually be a decent test. As for the danger, a cultivator who had completed Body Tempering had little to fear from falling down, or even tumbling down a flight of stairs. They weren¡¯t so fragile as to be damaged from either, but that was considering normal gravity- or equivalent gravity. With the pressure pushing them downward, if they fell the wrong way they would be facing multiple times the force. It would make little difference until the point someone collapsed, but that made pushing oneself to the limit more risky. As they stood at the bottom of the stairs, the feeling of those up above became more clear. Some familiar techniques were sensed- including members of the Heavenly Lion Sect. One particular sensation stuck out to Anton. ¡°Zvonko,¡± he declared. ¡°Should we be concerned?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Perhaps. I would suggest none of us get too far apart.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°If I didn¡¯t know better, I would say that he wouldn¡¯t openly attack us. But considering the last incident between us, he clearly is willing to do so.¡± ¡°A sore loser. Though he should be weaker now,¡± Devon gestured to his own arm. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton agreed, ¡°But some people grow stronger in adversity. In addition, I didn¡¯t achieve that entirely on my own merits. He¡¯s late Spirit Building in cultivation. The Heavenly Lion Sect¡¯s technique is not poor, so my own abilities aren¡¯t a match. Previously Lev assisted me, and Zvonko was unable to gather much energy to attack or defend since it was a surprise attack. I¡¯m not unconfident in standing against him now, but I certainly wouldn¡¯t assume my victory.¡± Velvet looked up the spiral stairs. ¡°What¡¯s the purpose of this tower? Just training? Should we expect any sort of rewards?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like a practical defensive formation,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I see no indication there was an exception for those who belong. So its purpose was likely training. The gradual nature of the increase makes little sense for anything else. As for rewards¡­¡± she shook her head. Velvet sighed. ¡°Right. They would probably be handed out by the sect. But there might instead be something at the top.¡± ¡°It¡¯s worth the attempt,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°And setting up something like this for training is beyond even the Order.¡± Everyone agreed they might as well try- it was something they were all capable of improving with. As they began to climb the tower, they split apart based on the speeds people were comfortable with moving. For perhaps the first quarter of the tower- somewhat difficult to tell from the inside- they all remained together, feeling little effect of the pressure. As it increased Timothy naturally ended up in front, with Hoyt close behind him. Catarina was next, resisting the pressure with skill more than direct effort. Anton was somewhat behind, close to Velvet. While the others had all reached the eighteenth star- including Velvet- Anton was not quite there yet. It was also tiring to draw upon the mysterious energies of Fleeting Youth, so he kept himself to a moderate but sustainable pace. Devon fell somewhat behind, though he kept a steady pace. He had managed to close the gap between himself and the others, but he was still only somewhere like the equivalent of the fifteenth star. He was the only one of them that didn¡¯t cultivate the Ninety-Nine Stars, so the measurement wasn¡¯t quite the same for him. In the interest of staying together, Catarina attached herself to the front three. As they were climbing the tower, sensing with energy became less exact. Just because they could feel others ahead of them didn¡¯t mean they had a good grasp of the details. Recognizing cultivation style or individual was one thing, but their exact locations were more vague. Devon began to push himself to keep up with Anton and Velvet. Anton would have been happy to slow down- but he wasn¡¯t going to disparage his grandson for beginning his cultivation in a less optimal environment. There was little else keeping them separate but time. If Devon didn¡¯t want to seem weaker, Anton would happily maintain his pace. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Anton focused on the pressure around him as he walked the stairs. Each one was not too high, he simply had to properly raise his leg and firmly place it. The weight upon him made it harder than he was used to, but not yet unbearable. It was the way the pressure interacted with his internal energy that he had to deal with first. Creating a stable balance pushing back was the most optimal use of his energy, keeping him from being knocked down but not wasting any energy. He focused on that aspect of the climb, but he was still aware of his other surroundings. The circling stairs were almost hypnotic in their repetition, but that made any changes stand out more. Not that he needed to be hyper aware to notice someone tumbling down the stairs, cursing. Anton spread his legs, taking a solid stance as he stretched out his arm to the side. His arm wrapped around the torso of the tumbling man as he went head over heels down the stairs. The momentum he carried rocked Anton backwards, but he kept his feet as he anchored his energy to the tower walls and stairs. ¡°Hello there, young man,¡± Anton greeted him as he stood him on his feet. ¡°Careful of that step.¡± ¡°Ha. Thanks.¡± The young man brushed himself off, then got a good look at Anton. ¡°Oh! It¡¯s you again. You¡¯re¡­ Anton, right? You saved me from Everheart¡¯s collapsing tomb. I almost got trampled.¡± ¡°Ah yes, I thought I recognized you.¡± The young man was one of the Heavenly Lion Sect. If Anton recalled correctly, his own sect mates had ignored his peril. ¡°I don¡¯t believe I got your name.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Nowell, Senior Anton. I must thank you again,¡± he bowed his head. ¡°It is not a problem.¡± Anton looked up the stairs. ¡°Did you run into trouble?¡± ¡°I¡­ just got ahead of myself,¡± Nowell commented. Even if Anton hadn¡¯t noticed the burst of energy from above, the young man wasn¡¯t very good at lying, not that Anton thought that was a problem. He¡¯d been quite willing to speak up for him when Zvonko said he stole the Vessel of Insight- though nobody knew what it was at the time. ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well, you can continue along with us for a while at least. No need to rush. I would expect to take days to conquer this challenge, if we can. It seems a bit too much to brute force.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to be a bother¡­¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Go at whatever pace you feel comfortable with.¡± He started walking up the stairs at about what they had been going before, and Nowell naturally fell in step with him and the other two, though they were stretched out over a dozen stairs. Nowell circulated his energy as they began to climb again. He had quite a few scrapes and bruises from the fall- and perhaps a bit more than that. He was fortunate to not have anything broken, at least, though the pressure of the area would doubtless make the wounds ache more than normal. They began to pass other cultivators along the way, mostly those in early Spirit Building. They passed a member of the Frostmirror sect who was in mid Spirit Building, but he didn¡¯t even glance over at them as he continued at a set pace. Likely whatever he had determined was optimal. Then they came face-to-face with another member of the Heavenly Lion Sect. He glared at Anton and Nowell, but did nothing as they passed him by. That might have had something to do with the way Anton rested his hand near his belt and the handaxes attached to it, but he couldn¡¯t say for sure. The next one was braver. ¡°Stop right there,¡± a young woman radiating the aura of the Heavenly Lion Sect crossed her arms. ¡°Excuse me?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Not you,¡± she said flippantly. ¡°You have nothing to do with this. This is an internal affair of the Heavenly Lion Sect.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton asked. ¡°What a strange place to deal with internal matters. Because just a week ago I¡¯m quite certain you all must have been in your actual sect, were you not? Why not handle it then?¡± ¡°... shut up,¡± she said unconvincingly. ¡°Just stay out of this.¡± Anton covered Nowell¡¯s mouth when he was about to say something that probably amounted to letting him handle it and it being his own problem. He smiled gently as he looked at the young woman standing in front of him. ¡°Let me ask you something. Have you been standing there long?¡± ¡°What¡¯s it to you?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I was just wondering if this is as far as you can go. You seem like you should be able to climb higher. But maybe not.¡± ¡°I can,¡± the woman stomped her foot, glaring at Anton. ¡°I just¡­ have to deal with this.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anton asked. ¡°This is a location for training. That is the best use of your time. Yet someone has you standing here, dealing with ¡®internal matters¡¯... but why?¡± Anton stroked his chin, ¡°It¡¯s almost as if they are afraid of others growing stronger. Do you think that¡¯s why Zvonko ordered you to block the way here?¡± ¡°Well, I-¡± she was a better liar than Nowell, but not good enough to avoid Anton¡¯s focused insight. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean. He can¡¯t order me to do anything.¡± ¡°A good answer,¡± Anton said. He started walking up the stairs patting her on the head as he went by. ¡°Try to remember that one.¡± ¡°Buh- you-!¡± she balled up her fists, unsure how to react but clearly aware of how she was outnumbered. She glared at Nowell as he passed, but didn¡¯t make a move towards him. After they were quite a bit further on, and out of earshot, Nowell thanked Anton once more. ¡°I appreciate your help, really, but you can¡¯t always remain with me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Anton said. ¡°Do you have your own group? Others from the Heavenly Lion Sect you trust?¡± ¡°Yes, a few here with me. We didn¡¯t think it would matter if we split. But I can meet up with them at the end of the day.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though you don¡¯t necessarily need them.¡± He suddenly stepped towards Nowell, pushing his shoulder. As he began to fall back, Anton grabbed onto his shirt. ¡°You¡¯re used to balancing in normal circumstances, but you haven¡¯t quite adapted here. You should get some practice in a difficult environment.¡± Anton stepped down to be parallel to him, the steps wide enough they could both stand on the same one somewhat comfortably. ¡°You need to be ready for sudden changes, and not just the gradual push of the tower. I think the rest of us could use a bit of practice, too. Since we might end up fighting here.¡± Nowell raised an eyebrow. ¡°Sparring? Here?¡± ¡°Just light sparring,¡± Anton said. ¡°Pushing and grappling, unarmed. I think we could all learn something.¡± He had the Vessel of Insights active, so that if they really did learn something they might get a little bit extra for later. So, on an empty stretch of stairs, two pairs of cultivators began some of the slowest sparring matches for cultivators in mid Spirit Building. They weren¡¯t exactly slow, but the speed at which they moved was certainly restricted by the pressure. Any connecting blow felt more significant with the threat that they might fall down the stairs- though they very intentionally aligned themselves so that people would be more likely to impact on the outer or inner walls instead of beginning a rolling descent. Though Devon would later suggest they just try rolling on purpose to see how they could protect themselves. Chapter 164 Climbing a tower under constant pressure was quite an ordeal- and once a cultivator reached their limits they had to descend safely, which wasn¡¯t as easy as it sounded. It was certainly less dangerous than fighting all day, but ultimately quite draining. An important detail about the Secret Realm was discovered at the end of the day. Or rather, because the day didn¡¯t end. There was no cycle of day or night, but instead a constant light emanating from the sky. Thus, even at the time when it would have otherwise been night, it was still just as bright. However, just because the sun was up didn¡¯t mean cultivators would be. They still had to rest, and to do so they gathered into camps. So far there had been no signs of rain or other inclement weather, but tents were still useful for the purpose of not being in the bright sun. While Anton had to admit that he liked an occasional nap in the sun, fully sleeping was easier with some proper darkness. The others groups of cultivators were also gathering into camps. The Heavenly Lion Sect wasn¡¯t quite one camp, with two adjacent segments. Nowell and some others were in one, and the other had Zvonko and some of his loyalists. Of course, it was perfectly normal for disciples to hang on to other talented and favored disciples for a chance to share in success, but Anton hadn¡¯t seen either from him. But he had to admit that his experiences were limited- perhaps if they hadn¡¯t been willing to stand up against the scheme in Everheart¡¯s tomb, his group would have flourished significantly because of it. Zvonko looked over while Anton was observing him. Anton was ready to shoot him if he even took a single step closer, not willing to risk the more experienced cultivator get close. But it seemed he had some level of restraint, because beyond a glare and flaring his energy, there was nothing else. Maybe he¡¯d realized that he couldn¡¯t just attack people in full view of everyone. Anton eventually took his seat by the fire in his own camp to check on what was cooking. It seemed to be smoking fillets of various fish. With a bit of seasoning they should be quite tasty, and of course they were as fresh as could be. Among his various enemies, Zvonko was one he was most willing to bury the hatchet with. He hadn¡¯t suffered any serious losses, so it wasn¡¯t as if he was being magnanimous with that thought. He doubted that Zvonko would be interested in ending their strife, however. Even if it was entirely his own fault that he lost his hand, Anton knew he wouldn¡¯t see it like that. Perhaps he even somehow convinced himself he truly deserved the Vessel. Anton had seen people hold grudges over much smaller things. Before the members of the Order went to bed, Catarina finished setting up a defensive formation. Even though the Order would certainly retaliate on their behalf if they were killed in their sleep, that would be little comfort to any of them. Likewise, even though the area should have been safe, they set up a series of watches. With six people each of them could take watch for an hour and some. Though Anton would probably be awake for half of the night anyway. He needed some sleep, but rarely more than a handful of hours. Nothing of particular interest happened the first ¡®night¡¯. ----- In the morning, the group entered into a discussion with each other about how they would proceed. The three who had gone further ahead had already been caught up on the situation with Nowell. ¡°Given their willingness to attack a sectmate,¡± Anton said, ¡°Even splitting into two groups seems an unnecessary risk. I understand that this will restrict some of you unfairly, but I think it¡¯s for the best we stay together.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°If we thought they¡¯d be so brazen, we would have never gone ahead.¡± Hoyt and Catarina nodded. ¡°Actually,¡± Catarina suggested, ¡°I have an idea that should be beneficial to all of us. Assuming there¡¯s an actual prize at the peak, that is. If we work together, we should be able to go further. I can¡¯t guarantee we¡¯ll surpass Zvonko, though. A late Spirit Building cultivation is a significant advantage, even for an idiot like him.¡± Catarina frowned, ¡°How long do you think he¡¯s been cultivating? It should have been less than five years at Everheart¡¯s Tomb¡­ a year ago.¡± ¡°It has to have been close to five,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Even with abundant resources, he¡¯d need some cultivation talent to reach that point. Close to us, really. Though there¡¯s always the possibility that he just inflated his cultivation level somewhat. Pushing to reach higher tiers without fully completing each step.¡± Hoyt shook his head, ¡°But cultivation ¡®genius¡¯ and actually making wise decisions are not connected, as can be seen in many cases.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Catarina frowned, ¡°I really can¡¯t promise we¡¯ll surpass him then. Relying on him being reckless seems a bit presumptive. But combining our efforts should increase our efficiency.¡± Working together to resist the pressure of the tower was somewhat similar to their previous efforts dealing with formations- the part where they felt the flow of energy, at least. Devon hadn¡¯t been part of their efforts in the The Gauntlet since his cultivation had been significantly behind, but they were confident he would be able to work with them. Nothing guaranteed synergy between blood relatives in regards to cultivation, but it was a fact that half of their group was related. Even if it didn¡¯t have tangible benefits, it provided a mental boost. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Catarina was the center of the effort. She was the formation specialist after all, and most familiar with manipulating the flow of energy on a larger scale. The pressure from the tower pressed down on them as they formed one large barrier with their energy, diverting it around them. It took a few hours of practice in the lower sections of the tower to be confident in their stability, then they began to proceed higher. The first day of climbing together they made it about the same distance as Catarina, Hoyt, and Timothy had before- slightly more than halfway up the tower. They could have pushed further, but they took some time to spar with each other on the steps. Separating into two groups showed that if they were combining their efforts, whoever had Catarina at the lead was most effective. When individually resisting the pressure it was very difficult for Devon, who was still lower in cultivation. After some practice, it was determined that Timothy was best suited for leading the second group¡¯s efforts. He had practice with controlling defensive energy on a wider scale, related to using a shield in combat. After spending time getting used to the pressure, the group began to descend once more. There was only so much they could do in one day, and they had other aspects of cultivation to practice¡­ and some insights to go over. Each little sliver from the Vessel of Insights was barely a passing thought, and most of the time Anton couldn¡¯t glean much in the way of improvements for himself or others¡­ but each little extra helped. When they had climbed the tower, many people threw them interested looks. That was the same on the way down. It was possible some other groups would try to replicate their efforts, but if they were successful¡­ that was their own merit. Using methods that other people had that worked could be considered stealing techniques, but if it could be done simply by observing then it was hardly inappropriate. In addition to the various groups and individuals they had seen the previous day, there were new arrivals. The first one was a person they¡¯d had little interaction with- but that little bit was generally positive. Chikere was an independent cultivator, focused on the way of the sword. While many cultivators used swords as weapons, she was one of the sort so focused on the weapon that her actual cultivation technique was secondary. She¡¯d stood on the side of the Order during the conflict that didn¡¯t quite happen after the Tomb. Since she¡¯d been able to just stay out of the altogether, that was some credit to her- even if it didn¡¯t come to blows. She inclined her head to the group. ¡°Greetings. Are you planning to reach the finish line before me once again?¡± While some people might have been bitter when saying that, Anton read that she was actually curious. ¡°That¡¯s certainly the plan,¡± he grinned, ¡°You¡¯ll have to put in a good effort to beat us.¡± She nodded, ¡°Good. One cannot simply compete against themself indefinitely.¡± She stepped past the group and continued on her way up. ¡°... I hope she doesn¡¯t just reach the peak right now,¡± Catarina said after she passed. ¡°She¡¯s strong enough. I thought she was in Essence Collection for a second. She was so close before, and she¡¯s certainly stronger now¡­ but not quite there.¡± ¡°I sensed the same,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°It¡¯s not easy to make that step, it seems. Though without the stability of a sect, she¡¯s walking an even harder path.¡± The second person was much less pleasant to encounter. Devon was the first to react to the particular energy signature, his energy rousing itself to be ready for a fight. Tonina Potenza was just below them. Anton put a hand on his shoulder, ¡°You know I will support you, but do be aware of the consequences should you act. And the escorts.¡± Devon nodded gruffly, but didn¡¯t settle down. Tonina came up the spiral staircase surrounded by a handful of other cultivators. Members of the Flying Blood Cult, who she¡¯d been with when they first spotted her outside the Secret Realm. In a way they were doing something similar to the group from the Order- but instead of working together, the five mid Spirit Building Cultivators were simply reducing the pressure on Tonina while otherwise acting independently. Devon stepped forward, chains beginning to form around his arms. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to be imprisoned for another year and a half. And it seems you didn¡¯t follow the restrictions even during that time.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± She turned up her nose- an effect that was somewhat comical consider her position beneath them on the stairway. ¡°And you were supposed to be dead.¡± One of the other cultivators next to her, a somewhat older woman almost on the border between mid and late Spirit Building, looked between Tonina and the others. ¡°Are we fighting?¡± Tonina shook her head. ¡°No, Inha. This isn¡¯t the right place.¡± ¡°Hmph. Too bad,¡± she licked her lips as she looked over the group. ¡°Maybe next time, then.¡± The stairway was just wide enough for the two groups to pass while brushing shoulders. Devon didn¡¯t push things any further, though everyone remained tense as they passed each other. Anton spoke what everyone was thinking. ¡°I anticipate further trouble.¡± He put his hand on Devon¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I know it¡¯s not easy to wait, but¡­¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Devon said. ¡°Besides, I¡¯d like to be able to publicly display her head, before throwing it to Fuzz.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t make Fuzz eat her!¡± Catarina chastised him. ¡°That¡¯s gross!¡± Catarina paused, ¡°Also don¡¯t feed him any other people.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t actually do that part,¡± Devon said. ¡°But I would like to be able to publicly defeat her.¡± ¡°When we find the right chance,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°You¡¯re strong enough now, you know? Though I doubt it would be easy.¡± ¡°No worse than some of the arena fights,¡± Devon commented. He looked down at the chains of energy wrapping around him, mirroring his scars. ¡°And quite a bit more fair than the worst.¡± Anton pondered how rules of propriety were most restrictive to those that hardly needed them. Those who were already inclined to behave decently were bound by formal laws, while those who would ignore them just hid behind them. Yet he didn¡¯t think that not having laws of any sort was the correct solution. Though if people ultimately only followed the law of the strong, he intended to be one of the strongest. Too many people avoided consequences for far too long. Chapter 165 Several more days passed, and the tower found itself with a growing crowd. Not everyone who arrived chose to stay- some passed on to seek out opportunities elsewhere in the Secret Realm. However, many also chose to stay. Keeping track of the progress of others was difficult. The distortion of energy made it difficult to discern more detail about others in the tower except whether they were ahead or behind, with perhaps a vague sense of distance. The only information the Order had about Zvonko¡¯s progress was that he was generally higher than them- and they had reached three-quarters of the tower¡¯s height. Chikere was ahead as well, and it seemed like either of the two could reach the peak in short order. If Chikere were to reach the top first and receive some sort of exclusive awards, Anton and the others would not be upset. However, if Zvonko obtained something instead they would regret it. Even if it wasn¡¯t anything significant, nobody wanted their enemies to prosper. Together they continued to push ever upwards. As before, people began to copy their efforts. However, only a few groups could pull it off properly. Even if they had the technical skill- someone who could lead the group¡¯s control and individual ability- it didn¡¯t always work out. Both groups from the Heavenly Lion Sect attempted to copy the efforts. Zvonko¡¯s group tried it for a single day, before returning to how they were previously doing things. The glances Anton had seen exchanged between members when he spied on them outside the tower seemed to indicate something had caused bad blood between them. He was actually somewhat happy about that. A petty victory, but a victory nonetheless. Though Nowell¡¯s group was generally lower in cultivation and considered to be less talented, they continued to attempt working together in a formation. Even when they made little progress for several days, they kept at it- until they were climbing the tower with great efficiency. Not quite like those from the Order though. It was impossible to say their ascent was effortless. Each of them worked themselves to exhaustion at the end of the day, or as near as they could afford to be. But there was a large difference between tiring yourself out and being tired as a group. There was a sort of happy harmony that came together from shared trials. Each of them was able to go further because they knew the others were with them, and even if someone staggered they would share the load. ----- They climbed the tower once more. They quickly passed those low in cultivation who couldn¡¯t even make it more than a quarter of the way up. Yet about halfway up the tower the group from the Order found themselves being passed by determined individuals. But that didn¡¯t matter. They kept a steady pace, not hurrying through the lower levels nor slowing on the upper levels. Each step they took was much the same as they would do on a relaxed stroll. At the three quarter point, the pressure bearing down on them was more than any of them could handle individually. Even with additional force pressing down on them as a group, however, the ability to distribute the load in a more bearable fashion allowed them to keep going. Catarina¡¯s focus was unwavering as she minutely adjusted the flow with each step they took- when people were slow on their rotation up the stairs she coaxed them to retain their positions, each separated by a fixed distance. They were passing late Spirit Building cultivators, including those who had rushed past them earlier in the tower. They continued until nine-tenths of the way up the tower. The top felt so close, yet so far. The weight pressing down on them strained their body and spirit, but they continued. There were very few people ahead of them. One of those was Zvonko, but they were closing in step by step. Anton regulated his emotions so as not to throw off the others. His anger towards the man was quite valid, but unhelpful. The others would sympathize with his anger, and they could easily be thrown off together. Zvonko came into sight around the bend and was soon a dozen steps above them. They kept going, each step adding more weight. Zvonko trembled in front of them as he tried to step higher. He took one step, then looked back. Though such an act could have easily weakened his resolve, it seemed to bolster him, his back straightening as he looked down on them. They stopped. ¡°Hmph. I¡¯m certain you all feel quite grand for nearly matching me,¡± he grinned slightly, ¡°But I came here under my own power. The six of you are merely cheating the system.¡± Anton knew he could fill Zvonko full of arrows. While fighting would disrupt their formation somewhat, the others could handle it while he made his move. Of course, then what? Declare it was someone else who filled him full of holes¡­ or burned the body to ashes? There were so few people near them, though another member of the Heavenly Lion Sect was not far behind. Anton wondered if Zvonko realized they could kill him. Perhaps he did, and thought they wouldn¡¯t dare. But that wasn¡¯t the reason Anton chose. If he wanted the world to not be just about the strongest murdering others, he had to restrain himself. The others looked over at him, and he shook his head. Then he spoke to Zvonko, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t brag about being incapable of basic teamwork, you know. Even the strongest cultivators are not able to ignore the weight of numbers.¡± They continued walking. They hadn¡¯t stopped because they couldn¡¯t continue, but because it was a safe distance to think¡­ and a good place to spend some time adjusting. They returned to their pace, pressing upward. Zvonko just stared as they stepped up to where he was- and then past that point. Rather than let himself be surpassed, Zvonko began pushing himself to advance further. His energy twisted and pressed against the crushing pressure, lightening his body. He bounded up the stairs two at a time. Anton¡¯s group continued to walk at a measured pace. Eventually, they had to slow down. But they continued to advance. The top of the tower was so close they could almost taste it. Zvonko was ahead, but unmoving. The distance was close enough that they were certain Chikere was merely a few steps beyond that, something they were able to confirm as they rounded the spiral. Zvonko was down on one knee, breathing heavily. Veins stood out in his face, and he somehow was both red and pale at the same time. Sweat dripped from him, pooling on the stairs. That was one area that matched the group from the Order. But they didn¡¯t let themselves stop until they passed him, taking as much of wide berth as was possible around him in case he got any stupid ideas. Timothy placed himself on the point closest to him, shield at the ready. Then they stood between him and Chikere- who was standing, one leg up on a higher step but seemingly unable to continue. She was clearly fatigued, but not quite as poor looking as Zvonko. She turned back towards the group. ¡°Are you once more going to complete what I can¡¯t?¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Anton shrugged- though lifting his shoulders was surprisingly difficult. ¡°Maybe. But who says that you can¡¯t? I imagine you can keep going some. Sure, you might collapse onto your face¡­ but I promise to catch you as you come rolling by.¡± Though his words were meant as both encouragement and joke, Chikere reacted much more strongly than he thought she would. At first it was a snort. Then a giggle. Then she burst out laughing. Hard enough that she fell over onto her rear, landing on a stair above her. But it didn¡¯t stop there. She continued laughing until she was so out of breath her face was almost blue. Then the situation was rudely interrupted. ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± Zvonko said. ¡°Do you think you have the energy to waste on something like that? You couldn¡¯t even take another step. You¡¯ll be down below me soon enough.¡± It took a few moments for Chikere to catch her breath. Then she stood up. She pointed her sword at him, arm trembling. ¡°You speak big words for an ass-kissing sheltered disciple. I know fighting words when I hear them. You want to fight?¡± her sword gleamed with light. Zvonko just glared back. ¡°No? I can come to you. It¡¯s not a problem.¡± Chikere took several steps down towards him. Zvonko¡¯s eyes widened¡­ and he turned on his heel and started stumbling down the stairs. Anton almost wished he¡¯d fully slipped and begun to tumble, but he would probably just claim they pushed him if that happened. If he wasn¡¯t injured, he could say whatever he wanted and little would come of it. Chikere sheathed her sword before turning to Anton and the others. ¡°Well, last time we met I failed at the end. Even if I do so again this time¡­ I¡¯ll hold you to that promise. Be aware, I might roll pretty fast down these stairs,¡± she grinned widely, involuntarily chuckling some more. Then she turned around and started back up the stairs. ¡°... catch me. Pfft.¡± She didn¡¯t move quickly¡­ but she continued step by step. Everyone else looked around at each other, then synchronously began to move. They were a bit slower than her. Chikere¡¯s energy was raising high, pushing to its very limits. Her whole cultivation was revealed, and they could feel the rate her energy was draining. She couldn¡¯t make it far¡­ but there wasn¡¯t far to go. And something was changing. Anton felt his Vessel of Insights trembling as they continued forward. Ten more steps. Seven. Five. They slowed. Three. Two. Each step felt like a mountain pressing down on them. One more step. Another. Then they saw it. A door. Chikere was just a few steps away as they saw it. They continued moving, but she hadn¡¯t stopped. Three. Two. One. She threw open the door and stepped through. Then she began laughing madly. ¡°This feels great!¡± It took a full minute for the group from the Order to climb the last stairs to her, a mere few handfuls. But as they stepped out onto the roof of the tower, the weight was lifted from them and they felt like they were flying. At the same time, their cultivations so drained of energy were freed from their burdens. Energy rushed into them, filling them up. Anton felt his own cultivation pushing through to the eighteenth star. Energy flowed from his dantian into his body and back, the connection strengthening. Devon was breaking through as well, and the others seemed quite close. But that was nothing compared to Chikere. After all, she had already been at the peak of Spirit Building, for more than the last six months. Now she was fully stepping through into Essence Collection, and the energy vortex she was pulling in from the surroundings flooded the area around them with energy- though the tower helped. ¡°Congratulations,¡± Hoyt offered once everything had settled down. ¡°Reaching Essence Collection is a big step, and even more difficult for independent cultivators.¡± Chikere turned to him and grinned. ¡°Thanks. I feel great. Congratulations on your own advancements as well.¡± She looked over them. ¡°I have to say, being in a sect seems to have its advantages. But I¡¯m not willing to give up my freedom. Still, maybe I can¡¯t do everything alone. How about an alliance?¡± She held out her hand. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be anything big. We don¡¯t have to swear to fight to the death for each other. But I think we could get along. You watch my back and I watch yours.¡± Before anyone could even say anything, Velvet was in front of her. She used both of her hands to grab Chikere¡¯s outstretched hand, shaking it. ¡°Of course I will. What else are friends for?¡± Anton thought it was a little bit early to call them friends, having met approximately twice for short periods. However, he also couldn¡¯t say that they weren¡¯t friends. He offered his hand, though it took a moment for Velvet to give up her own grip. ¡°Though my own cultivation is currently inferior to yours, I would be glad to accept your offer. Though be aware that I am absolutely flooded with mortal enemies.¡± Even though she had made the offer, Chikere seemed hesitant to take Anton¡¯s hand- until the thing about mortal enemies. ¡°Great! It¡¯s hard to know a person until you meet a few of their mortal enemies. That guy was one of them, right? With the whole hand thing.¡± ¡°That was all his decision,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°But it does indeed seem to be the case. And likely much of the Heavenly Lion Sect in general.¡± ¡°Yeah, his father¡¯s one of the elder¡¯s or something. You know how it is.¡± Hoyt tried to not react obviously to that, while being the next one to offer his hand. ¡°As Anton said, I do not know if this is a fair deal for you at the moment, but I would gladly exchange aid with you as suits us both.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I mean, seriously, he said he¡¯d catch me when I was rolling by?¡± she looked at Anton and snickered. ¡°Just imagining myself tumbling down the stairs and bowling people over,¡± she giggled, ¡°...but that¡¯s terribly dangerous.¡± She frowned, ¡°Though now that I¡¯m in Essence Collection¡­¡± Hoyt slowly let go of her hand. ¡°I was only kidding about that. That would just kill people, and if I¡¯m going to do that¡­¡± her sword was suddenly in her hand, pointed at the sky. ¡°It would be with this!¡± Her sword swiftly returned to its sheath with a snapping noise. ¡°But seriously I¡¯d appreciate backup if it came down to it. I can fight a half dozen, dozen chumps easily¡­ but I have my own enemies as well, and some of them have lots of guys to throw at me, if they¡¯re okay with losing them. Which they are.¡± Everyone else also agreed to the somewhat casual alliance, shaking hands one at a time. Then they turned to look around the roof. With all of the relief that came from the pressure being released, they had sort of glossed over that it was more than just an empty surface. Though perhaps not much. There was only a single pedestal, on which stood seven black beads. Catarina quickly moved forward, checking them out as she leaned around them. Though before she could say anything, Chikere picked one up. ¡°Neat. It¡¯s surprisingly heavy.¡± ¡°That could have been trapped!¡± Catarina said. ¡°Nah. This is a reward or something.¡± Chikere stuck out her tongue. ¡°It¡¯s not food, or a pill. Maybe materials?¡± Catarina rolled her eyes and picked one up. She held it close, staring into it. ¡°Ooh.¡± She nodded seriously to herself. ¡°I see. The tower also goes down.¡± Chapter 166 The first thing everyone did was to descend back down the tower. Unlike previous times where they had pushed themselves and then had to retreat, reaching the top of the tower had not only been beneficial for improving their cultivation, it had allowed them a chance to rest. They were fresh as they headed back down, and though they had to face the worst pressure at the beginning they were adept enough it was little more than a minor inconvenience. Not that they would be running up and down the tower- especially since a fall could still be a real danger- but they progressed downward to where it was simple to walk in a handful of minutes. Chikere remained near the group from the Order, though she relied on her own energy instead of attempting to synchronize with them. They received various looks from people as they descended- friendly, unfriendly, indifferent, curious- but nobody seemed to have realized that they actually made it to the top. They likely just thought they were done for the day. And they were, but only because they anticipated that the next section would be harder. They each had little beads that Catarina predicted would let them head down from the tower entrance, and they wanted to do more than just take a break to refresh before attempting that. If nothing else, they had to spend some time stabilizing their cultivation from their breakthroughs- and a good sleep would do them wonders. On their way down they passed by Anish, of the Glorious Flame Palace. Though Chikere greeted him and the others from the sect politely, Anton saw she was displeased about something. His prime tempering of Earthly Connection allowed him to make those judgements more easily, but he also thought she¡¯d somewhat let her guard down around them. ¡°Do you have a problem with them?¡± he asked when they were a safe distance away. ¡°Not with those people in particular. Anish is fine,¡± she shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s the Elders of the Glorious Flame Palace that are the problem. They several times suggested I marry into the sect. As if that wouldn¡¯t doubly ruin the point of being an independent cultivator. I¡¯m not like this because I didn¡¯t have the talent to join up anywhere else, you know.¡± Chikere shrugged, ¡°Anish is just the one that is brought up when they broach the subject. After all, ¡®you must join with someone equally talented¡¯.¡± She rolled her eyes, ¡°Perhaps he has that talent and anything else a woman might want¡­ but that¡¯s only if she wants anything to begin with. Anton nodded, ¡°Marriage can be quite nice, but it¡¯s not all positives.¡± ¡°You¡¯re married?¡± she asked. ¡°Is your wife not a cultivator?¡± ¡°She wasn¡¯t,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°Before you ask, yes, she¡¯s passed away. At a ripe old age, I might add. That was before all the troubles.¡± ¡°... should I ask?¡± Chikere questioned. ¡°It¡¯s related to those enemies I spoke about,¡± Anton said. With that, he gave her a quick summary of what happened in Dungannon, and his journey of cultivation. ¡°Wow,¡± Chikere said, ¡°You got a lot of enemies real fast. Maybe even close to as fast as I did!¡± she said enthusiastically. ¡°And now you¡¯ve been cultivating¡­ three and a half years? That¡¯s amazing for an old guy.¡± When Anton didn¡¯t broach a response, Timothy interjected, ¡°I remember when you used to complain about people referencing your age.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ve come to terms that people will see me as an old man before they see me as a growing cultivator. Besides, I¡¯ve had to accept it for other reasons.¡± ¡°Oooh, mysterious reasons,¡± Chikere¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°Some sort of secret technique? You don¡¯t have to tell me, but I know you guys got something from Everheart.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°He has so many forbidden techniques. Though we cautiously avoided the majority of them.¡± Chikere didn¡¯t press any further, and soon enough they were at the bottom of the tower. Though it was probably a bit early to sleep, it was difficult to tell what time of day it was supposed to be with constant clear and bright skies. Regardless, though they had refreshed their energy supplies they were still fatigued from their efforts. Chikere set up her tent as part of their camp, though it was basically just a piece of cloth held up by a couple of sticks. She didn¡¯t even have a bedroll, though clearly if she¡¯d wanted one she had access. Any cultivator could get mundane supplies with no trouble. Instead, she seemed fine laying directly on the uneven rocky surface of the ground. ----- ¡°I should have allies more often,¡± Chikere declared. ¡°It does wonders for getting a good night¡¯s rest, not having to sleep with one eye open.¡± Anton had the feeling that she wasn¡¯t just using it as an expression- perhaps she actually had some way to be only half asleep. An independent cultivator had to be prepared at all times, after all. Especially those who were prone to making enemies. After eating, they made their way into the tower. They waited for a moment that nobody was immediately watching. While what they were doing didn¡¯t necessarily have to remain a secret, it might be troublesome if there weren¡¯t more beads for others to access the area. It was yet unclear if there were simply seven and they had all of them, or if the tower produced one for each of them. Seven was not a number that would be randomly chosen, but it could have had significance to the sect who created the Secret Realm, or that could have coincidentally been what was left. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. As they stepped into the tower, they saw the spiral staircase go up above them. However, as they pulled out the beads, Catarina stepped forward on the other side. The floor in front of them swam and shifted as they approached. ¡°There¡¯s still a barrier here,¡± Catarina said. She pressed the bead to it, but her hand just slipped through. ¡°Holding this should be enough, I guess.¡± She took a few minutes to carefully examine the area, trying to determine how the barrier worked. Once she was satisfied in her curiosity, they continued onward. Stepping onto the stairs felt like dunking in a freezing lake. Anton had done that several times when he was younger, before he was sensible enough to not do things that were painful. It came with a pressure just as strong as the top of the tower, but it bore down on them from all angles. If it was just that, it would simply be a continuation of the tower. A reasonable test or training method, but that wasn¡¯t where things ended. As they moved down the stairs, it became dark. Of course there were no windows leading to the outside to brighten the area- they were underground, or perhaps under the sea. Regardless, once they made a full rotation there was no light left. A cultivator could still navigate in perfect darkness by their senses, but those too were muted. Anton attempted to strike a torch- it never took him more than a strike or two, but the sparks weren¡¯t lasting long enough to light anything. He protected the torch with his energy and finally managed to get it lit¡­ for a full second, before it flickered out. It was also possible to produce light with the use of energy- though anything more than simply illuminating a small area took a proper technique. Normally sustaining a small light was trivial, but while he was able to manage its creation Anton could feel it being pulled away. ¡°Something about this place doesn¡¯t want light. Ah.¡± He gestured, ¡°The stairs. Instead of continuing to spiral along with the ones above, look. They turn.¡± Simply walking into a wall in the dark was nothing more than an embarrassment to a cultivator. Even a normal person might only hurt their nose- though stumbling into other things could be more dangerous. But if that was all it was, there would be no reason to specifically make lighting fail. It was part of the challenge, somehow. Anton let the light fade. ¡°It¡¯s difficult to hold on to it.¡± Velvet spoke up next, ¡°I¡¯m having trouble sensing things. Beyond the seven of us, I can vaguely sense the people in the tower above- but even less than before. As for the walls and floors.¡± She kicked her foot at one of the stairs. ¡°They¡¯re nearly invisible.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the challenge, then,¡± Catarina confirmed. ¡°Sustaining a light source or sensing the area, while at the same time resisting energy pressing down on you. I imagine there are worse problems ahead than just the stairs turning.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Chikere swung her sword, which flashed briefly, leaving behind a transient trail of light. ¡°This also has the danger that you fall towards more difficult areas. I guess that means if I go tumbling I want to be above you all.¡± It was hard to sense if she was smiling or not, but at least there was mirth in her voice. ¡°I¡¯ll go first, though I think I¡¯ll not go far for now.¡± Everyone proceeded slowly. They could barely sense the steps under their feet, but at least they could hear well enough. No one was so skilled in creating light that they were willing to split their focus for that task, so for the moment they were navigating in the darkness. Something about the way their steps echoed tipped Anton off. ¡°Hold on. We need some light.¡± Chikere slashed her sword around the area. The light lingered for only a second, but it illuminated enough. ¡°Aha. A pit. No, in fact it¡¯s just an open stairway.¡± He crouched down. ¡°If we went too far to the left here and fell off, we¡¯d go down¡­ two or three stories. The good news is, there¡¯s a landing there- nice and wide- to catch us. The bad news is¡­ with this force pressing on us, we could easily break a leg or worse. It wouldn''t be the same as an ordinary fall.¡± The group continued onward. With all of them sensing they could each notice different things, so they called out different things. A wall on one side. Straight stairway, curved, a full spiral for a while, and of course any ledges. Those always seemed to lead down to more of the descent and survivable falls, but nobody was much interested in testing that at the moment. ¡°I know I still feel capable of going further,¡± Anton commented, ¡°But don¡¯t forget that we have to climb up to get out. Even if the pressure lessens as we climb, we need to head back with enough energy to do so. I¡¯m not confident in resisting this pressure with just my body.¡± ¡°Maybe I should try that,¡± Chikere said. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if she was joking, but she didn¡¯t withdraw her energy. They all returned to the surface, and though the sunlight briefly hurt, it was a welcome relief. Everything they could see stood out so much more once they actually could, and having their senses unrestricted was like suddenly receiving a new pair of eyes. ----- As it turned out, there weren¡¯t just seven beads available. Over the next few days others managed to reach the top of the tower. Zvonko was one of them, but there were also a few others from different sects. Soon enough Anish would reach the top as well, but he¡¯d arrived later and was still getting used to how the tower worked. Along with new arrivals and people passing through the area came information about other islands. Most of the ones mentioned were already cleared out- thus the reason people continued to travel about. The new arrivals also brought other information, about the Secret Realm in particular. Though they doubtless had tidbits they were keeping hidden, a number of individuals agreed on at least the name of the group that set up the Secret Realm. The Luminous Ocean Society. As for what it was, nobody knew. Perhaps their sects had record of their existence, but nobody remembered reading about it. That was true of even the more powerful sects and some knowledgeable elders. Thus, the Luminous Ocean Society had to have been extremely secretive¡­ or very old. Perhaps both. If nothing else, they hadn¡¯t been active in a good five centuries. But being entirely unknown when they had the power to create a realm of the size people were in¡­ brought up many questions. Just like the ones Everheart had left. Anton wondered if he left notes elsewhere, but nobody had mentioned them. But why would they, if they thought it would provide them some advantage? Chapter 167 For the majority of time training as a cultivator, Anton had been part of the driving force. Not that the others had been unwilling to train, but he¡¯d took much of the organization upon himself. Though sometimes training was difficult, Anton liked to think that his own training was reasonable. He wasn¡¯t sure if what he was currently doing was reasonable at all. Step by step, he ran up the tower. He was less than a quarter of the way up, so it should have been relatively simple. He¡¯d been to the top, and started the descent, both of which were many times more difficult. But running up the stairs was hard. His muscles strained as he moved. Even swinging his arms as he ran was tiring them out. His back ached as it held his body straight. He even felt his internal organs jostling about, his bones creaking. Missing from the equation was one important ingredient¡­ energy. Somehow, Chikere had convinced everyone to attempt climbing the tower without energy. At least she was sensible enough to actually start from the bottom, unlike when she casually mentioned it while they were at the very top. Though her cultivation technique was different from the Ninety-Nine Stars, a cultivator could always continue to temper their body. Whether or not it was useful or efficient was another question. Unless the focus of a particular rank was on some form of body tempering, time could usually be spent elsewhere. In Anton¡¯s sake, he happened to be at a strangely inconvenient point in his training. The eighteenth star connected body and spirit. Now he was retracing the steps of Body Tempering, starting with his meridians- connecting spirit and body took the place of full body temperings. He felt he wasn¡¯t getting as much out of running up these stairs as the others, but he wasn¡¯t going to just leave them. There were far too many enemies around to separate from his allies. Anton considered another angle as well, as his feet rhythmically impacted the stone stairs. Perhaps his training could be more efficient. Since he wasn¡¯t using any energy to support himself climbing the tower, his meridians weren¡¯t particularly in use- but the pressure was still trying to squeeze his energy out of him. Most things he could think of to do with his energy would end up having the same effect of reducing the pressure on the rest of him, but just circulating it internally would probably be fine. That lasted for a short time, but people began to reach their limits. Anton had already been pushing himself pretty hard, but trying not to show it. He didn¡¯t mind being physically behind, but he didn¡¯t want to limit whatever benefits others might derive from this training. Chikere was the exception to being exhausted, of course. She was now in Essence Collection, a very significant amount of cultivation beyond the rest of them. In addition to that, while as a group they were able to resist the pressure of the tower and climb about equal to her, without using energy they couldn¡¯t balance the load. They all had to work alone with just their own bodies. She looked over her shoulder at the rest of them. ¡°I¡¯m going to continue on for a bit. The rest of you should go back down, before you start rolling.¡± Anton agreed, and though Timothy and Hoyt looked like they could go a little bit further they turned around with the rest of them. On the way back down, Anton continued to circulate his energy internally without actually trying to stop the pressure. It was like squeezing molasses from a pipe, but it still moved, if slowly. Then he began to call upon the energy from beyond, the power of Fleeting Youth. It was more than just one definite thing. It was energy from future incarnations, from ascension, from places beyond. He thought it might not be accessible within the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s Secret Realm, but it seemed no more difficult. It was just there, waiting. All he had to do was reach out for it. That wasn¡¯t as simple as it sounded, but it was there. Interestingly enough, the pressure from the tower seemed to have little effect on it. Perhaps that should be expected- though he only managed to gather a few small pieces of the energy, it was much denser than the natural energy from the world around him. It had more power condensed in one spot, so it was less restricted. His body let him know that the world still had some balance. He¡¯d be feeling their little run for longer than the others would, and his body wouldn¡¯t grow as much stronger with each star. But with Fleeting Youth he could make up for that small deficiency. Quite frankly, compared to most cultivators he was extremely well off. He was just in a position where he had to compare himself to talented friends and younger family who were acquiring their own supplemental techniques, and the Ninety-Nine Stars by itself wouldn¡¯t have been enough. ----- Though running up the tower without energy had been something of a fun diversion, soon enough they got back to the task of entering the lower portion of the tower once more. Most cultivators were still climbing up the tower, but a few dozen from different groups had actually reached the top and eventually determined that the beads granted access to the depths- it wasn¡¯t as if Anton and the others could hide themselves completely, and it wasn¡¯t impossible for others to figure it out. If one of the first following cultivators hadn¡¯t been Zvonko they would have even gladly shared the information. In the end he was only frustrated for a few hours, but that was good enough for Anton. If Zvonko had seemed to have any remorse- or at least no intentions to continue their conflict- he wouldn¡¯t have reason to care. As they descended, Anton began to feel something. There were certain differences between different cultivation styles that could be felt. The stars of the Ninety-Nine Stars were like warmly glowing lights, Glorious Flame Palace cultivators felt like a furnace, Frostmirror Sect members nearly froze energy that touched them. Those traits extended to less elemental sorts of things, like when the cultivation style focused primarily on a weapon. Those cultivators tended to be sharp. Occasionally they felt like a weight hammer, but sharpness was the norm. Anton felt at least a dozen drawn blades below them, nearly flinching as he touched them with his energy- though they couldn¡¯t actually cut him with their aura. At least, not at their cultivation level. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Chikere commented on it around the same time Anton finished analyzing them. ¡°Those cultivators are moving rather slow- oh. It¡¯s the Eternal Sword Hall.¡± Chikere had given them an abbreviated list of those that might seek trouble with her- mostly those she sensed joining the area around the tower. ¡°I¡¯m surprised they reached here so easily. They arrived not long ago¡­¡± ¡°Should we risk advancing forward?¡± Anton began to ask. Then he smelled something behind them. Very few types of energy registered as a smell, but the bloody scent was unmistakable. ¡°Do we have a choice? The Flying Blood Cult is behind us. It could be a coincidence.¡± The unmistakable sound of a sword being drawn came from Chikere. ¡°Maybe they¡¯ll be smart and not choose to fight. But I¡¯d be ready. It seems like¡­¡± she nodded, ¡°Yes, one is at early Essence Collection, and another is peak Spirit Building. The others are all weaker. I can probably take the strongest two, but I¡¯ll need you to keep the rest off me.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Timothy said. ¡°We agreed to do so.¡± He hefted his shield and drew his sword. The group advanced downward. The particular section they were in had zig-zagging stairs, with open areas to the next layer. Though the pattern was regular enough that there would be no accidental falls¡­ nobody was expecting any accidents. As they approached, the sharpest among them stepped forward slightly. Specific features were obscured by the darkness and the difficulty of clear sensing, but at the very least it was clear he was the Essence Collection cultivator. ¡°Return what you stole and we might let you live.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Chikere asked, swinging her sword around. ¡°Do you mean this?¡± There was the sound of other swords being unsheathed, not from the cultivators in front of her but directly around her. ¡°Or did you mean some of these?¡± The swords hovered in the air next to her. Then she pulled out yet another sheathed sword from her storage bag. That one thudded to the ground, causing the stairs to shake even back where the rest were standing. ¡°Or this one, the prize of the tournament that I won and you refused to hand over?¡± ¡°All of them.¡± ¡°Gladly,¡± she said. Of course, the words only matched her action from a particular angle. The swords were indeed being moved towards the members of the Eternal Sword Hall. They just were going point-first. Anton wished he was able to be more than a few steps back, but remaining as part of the formation was most important. Both he and the others would be weaker if he moved out of his position. And even if he was able to back up¡­ he was concerned about the Flying Blood Cult. Even if they weren¡¯t actually intending to come for him, they might just decide to do it anyway. They were that sort of group, but nobody was able to find their base of operations. At least, nobody would admit to it. Some groups clearly were willing to work with them despite their murderous proclivities. An arrow formed on his bow. It released¡­ slowly. Like it was flowing through water. But his target, a sword cultivator in mid Spirit Building, reacted with similar speed. In fact, he was even slowed somewhat more by the pressure around them, barely managing a half-dodge. The arrow still struck him, piercing through his energy before glancing off of a rib- though Anton thought he¡¯d cracked that rib as well. Timothy and Hoyt moved forward at the front of the formation, flanking Chikere on either side. As several swordsmen charged up the stairs towards Chikere¡¯s left, Timothy raised his shield. As they tried to step past him to reach her, they found they could not. His physical shield was little wider than his body, but extending beyond that for a full meter on each side was a greater manifestation of his shield. The group of course directed their attacks towards him, but he remained firm. They staggered back, and one of them even teetered close to the edge of the stairs. Hoyt slashed his axe, leaving a trail of fire. It didn¡¯t last as long as it might elsewhere, but along with flashes of sword light the area became revealed to more than just energy senses. Catarina balanced the energy of the group as they moved, and since there was no room for her in the front she moved to whatever position was optimal, focusing solely on that. The stairs were wide enough for several people to fight side by side, but a cultivator could cover a wide area. Velvet remained in reserve back with Anton, while Devon took advantage of the reach of his chains to hinder anyone trying to reach Chikere- except for her called targets. There were at least a dozen swords involved in the part of the battle involving the strongest combatants- and with only three cultivators there, it showed how hands weren¡¯t the only method for wielding a sword. Chikere maneuvered her primary sword with two hands, and each of the others had a sword in their right and a somewhat shorter sword in their left. The remaining swords floated around Chikere, stabbing and slashing along with her. Anton continued to fire arrows. The entire battle felt like it was in slow motion, yet both sides should have been equally restricted. That was what Anton surmised, at least, but it seemed like they were suppressing the extra members of the Eternal Sword hall quite handily with both a numbers and cultivation disadvantage. Dealing with either one of those made sense given the way they were lightening the load on each other, but both¡­ his arrow shot into the foot of someone who telegraphed their attack on Hoyt attack a little bit too much. He aimed for a foot- so either they could withdraw their attack and dodge, or take the hit. They tried to do the former, but were too slow, and his arrow pierced into the top of their foot. His movements were as if the pressure of the area was much higher on them just a few steps lower. But Anton could sense that it wasn¡¯t. Perhaps the battle might be more in their favor than he thought- though there was still the approaching Flying Blood Cult to worry about. Chapter 168 The energy of Fleeting Youth poured into Anton. It wasn¡¯t as potent as the effects of Candlewax, but the condensed power it held did well in the pressure of the tower. In addition, the consequences were much less severe- assuming the very things that would allow the cultivator to practice it to begin with. Acceptance that there would be no future beyond the end of their life. While that might seem natural for many, it was more than just the surface level. It was knowing that people could have something beyond death, and taking away from it. But since it would allow him to accomplish what he had to in his current life, why would Anton need anything like ascension or reincarnation? He had things to do¡­ and that included filling people with arrows. His Spirit Arrow swam through the dense pressure of the lower part of the tower, barely restrained by the great pressure. It flew swiftly and confidently towards one of the members of the Eternal Sword Hall. The man moved to dodge- but Anton¡¯s confidence was not misplaced. The arrow pierced through his uneven defenses, striking his heart and sending him crashing off the stairs to the level below- and even one more than that, as he rolled. Though it seemed impossible, some of those they were fighting seemed entirely unable to resist the pressure they were situated in. That seemed odd because it was barely stronger than the top of the tower- and they had to reach that to get the beads that allowed them to enter the lower section. But they were incapable anyway. If Catarina had forced apart a group formation like they themselves were using, Anton could understand individual weakness. But for the moment he was willing to forgo understanding for exploitation. Each person he took out was one more that wouldn¡¯t be there when the Flying Blood Cult came upon them from the rear, one more that Timothy and Hoyt didn¡¯t have to keep away from Chikere. Though speaking of her¡­ A dozen swords flashed, many of them still entirely under the control of Chikere. Two cultivators danced around her on the stairs, one matching her in the very beginning of Essence Collection and the other in peak Spirit Building. Every time their swords crossed light rang out¡­ and with each exchange Chikere seemed to take more of advantage. She could keep one of them entirely occupied with the sword she held in two hands while fending off another with several blades floating about her, leaving the remaining few open to slash at her opponents relatively unhindered. Of course it wasn¡¯t possible to infuse all of them with sufficient energy to slash straight through her enemy¡¯s defenses, but she fluidly shifted her concentration of energy to where it needed to be, starting with little cuts and stabs but constantly creating new wounds. For her own part, her sleeves were tattered rags and her hair was shaved in a dozen places, but there were as of yet no wounds on her body. Devon yanked a chain back towards him, tripping an opponent who had not sensed him dangling it along the stairs next to him. If one was able to predict their opponent¡¯s movements, the nature of how the tower restricted sensing in its lower parts gave an advantage to subtle tactics. From over a dozen enemies they were down to merely two-thirds of that, but they weren¡¯t able to defeat them all before the Flying Blood Cult arrived. Along with them, Anton sensed another energy. Not particularly hidden, but simply mingled among them. It seemed Devon sensed it as well. They both turned towards the stairs above them at the same time. Anton was already drawing his bow when Devon spoke. ¡°I need to be the one to do it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll cover you,¡± Anton said. As the group rounded the corner he was able to sense them well enough to know they already had weapons drawn. With Tonina there and the proclivities of the Flying Blood Cult he had no concerns that he was provoking opponents they would not already be facing- nor would he be attacking innocents unprovoked. His target dodged, smoothly flowing out of the path of his arrow. Anton hadn¡¯t entirely expected his attack to work since he targeted the strongest of them- one at late Spirit Building- but he¡¯d at least hoped for a graze. Instead¡­ he hit the less ready target behind him in the thigh. There was no point trying to force his arrow into a loop when he could cause damage without wasting energy. There had been discussions on how to fight the Flying Blood Cult. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars and others recognized them as a danger and prepared various responses. Unfortunately, the results were inconclusive. As blood spurted out of the man¡¯s thigh it seemed as if he might be critically injured, but the blood swirled around him in a cloud. That was the very essence of the debate. The Flying Blood Cult controlled loose blood, using it as both offensively and defensively. Thus, causing them to bleed was dangerous. Except not injuring them wasn¡¯t a choice either. Counting on being able to kill an opponent in a single blow was just arrogant. And- as a few of them sliced their extremely sharp daggers along their forearms- they were quite willing to do it to themselves. But it wasn¡¯t as if they had an unlimited amount of blood. They were just crazy enough to fight with life-threatening tactics as their mainstay. Arrows flew out from his position. Devon remained where he was, holding a defensive stance. Though he might have wished to charge forward, if he left the formation everyone would be significantly disadvantaged- including himself. And the Flying Blood Cult seemed quite willing to close the gap. They threw daggers with swirling clouds of blood around them as they advanced, but that was only to keep Anton on his toes as he continued to fire at them. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. The daggers flew past them¡­ but Devon¡¯s chains wrapped around them, yanking them out of the clouds of bloody energy before they could continue. His chains then tossed the daggers over the side of the stairs, where the control fizzled away in the dense pressure. The leader of the group was the swiftest, and lunged at Anton with daggers in each hand. But Anton merely took a step back and to the side. That wouldn¡¯t have brought him out of the man¡¯s reach, except Catarina intercepted him, slicing at him with her sword. Velvet appeared as her dagger stabbed into his armpit, aiming for his heart- her stealth abilities magnified by the sense-muddling nature of the area. Her dagger went deep, all the way to the hilt. She pulled her dagger back out, blood spraying everywhere. A deadly blow, but the man cackled with glee. The blood swirled into a cloud, pushing the two of them away. Anton was only able to fire two more shots before he was forced into the melee. He had no interest in fighting the primary madman, but instead moved to support Devon. Timothy had moved back towards them, leaving Hoyt and Chikere to deal with the remainder of the Eternal Sword Hall- only a handful of cultivators including the two fighting Chikere. Timothy moved to engage the leader of the Flying Blood Cult, his shield blocking the swirling vortex of blood around the man. That left Catarina free to fend off some of the others while Velvet moved from position to position seeking advantageous openings. Devon was facing off against another member of the Flying Blood Cult, who was crazily stabbing at him even with one of his arms wrapped in a chain being crushed, squeezed, and torn apart. Tonina was there as well, holding a whip. ¡°You caused me quite a bit of trouble,¡± she said, ¡°Why couldn¡¯t you just die?¡± Though she was an arrogant and spoiled young mistress, the position afforded her significant training opportunities. Her cultivation was close to Devon¡¯s in mid Spirit Building, clearly having gone against the official restrictions on her training over the last year and a half, since she was in early Spirit Building at the beginning of her punishment. Her whip uncoiled towards him, moving at a deceptive speed as it continuously accelerated. But one of his own chains moved up to meet it. The whip wrapped around it, but the chains of energy coiled in return. Though Anton wasn¡¯t specialized in melee combat, he kept up with his training with the dual axes. The fact that they were such high quality weapons taken from the prizes in Everheart¡¯s Tomb allowed him to at least hold off a few opponents. Though their cultivation nearly matched his, he found their movements a bit sluggish like the members of the Eternal Sword Hall. Not enough to take advantage of three on one, but he was able to at least keep causing small wounds as he cut through their defenses. While that meant there was more blood they could use, Anton was well aware that their reserves were limited. Even if they had more blood than a normal person, they would run out eventually. Devon controlled his chains to fling the member of the Flying Blood Cult engaging him every which way, slamming him into the stairs or just yanking him back and forth through the cloud of blood around him. That kept him from being able to keep effective control over the blood, though some of it still reached his defenses and tried to squeeze their way in and tear them apart. Another chain was constantly reaching for the man¡¯s neck, but he seemed to have some amount of self-preservation instinct, and wouldn¡¯t let Devon achieve a truly lethal hold. On the other side he wrestled against Tonina¡¯s whip. That was in a lock, but she held a long blade in her other hand. Presumably so she could impale her opponent once she¡¯d disarmed or bound them with her whip. Her whip continuously coiled around to try to get free while her other hand kept him occupied defending, and he wasn¡¯t quite able to catch her weapon. But even as she sliced a line of blood along his face- blood which immediately tried to tear him apart- he remained confident. An important shift in the battle occurred as Chikere disarmed one of her opponents of his offhand blade. With the same motion as she did so, her sword followed through on his defenseless left side, stabbing into his chest and piercing his heart and lungs. That blood was far enough from the Flying Blood Cult that it simply pooled on the floor beneath him. But Chikere wasn¡¯t done. The disarmed sword came under her control to block the Essence Collection Cultivator along with her other floating blades. That moment left him open to an attack from behind- Hoyt slashed down with his axe, leaving a trail of flame. Though he put his all into the strike, Hoyt barely cut through his defenses. That was the difference between mid Spirit Building and Early Essence Collection, after all. But the attack wasn¡¯t pointless- it sent the man staggering forward into a handful of swords, driving at him from all different angles. The ones that didn¡¯t pierce his defenses sent him closer to the edge, and off of it- but as he fell Chikere yanked both swords from his grasp. He only fell a single flight of stairs, but one leg collapsed as he hit the landing below. With no more immediate opponents, Chikere and Hoyt were able to join the battle with the Flying Blood Sect. Without the advantage of numbers they would surely lose the battle, and Tonina seemed to recognize that. She abandoned her whip, completely leaving it to Devon as she turned to flee. He attempted to follow after her but the persistent fellow who had a mangled arm gleefully got in Devon¡¯s path. Devon glared, focusing in on all of him with all of his chains. He might be extremely durable, but without Devon having to split his focus his bones were crushed and his body pierced by the spikes growing from the chains- the blood falling to the floor as the man perished. A few moments later the rest of the enemies fell, and Chikere and the member of the Order raced after Tonina. She was already around a corner so Anton couldn¡¯t shoot her properly, but she wasn¡¯t so far it was hopeless to catch up. Until they suddenly ran into a wall and the pressure bearing down on them doubled. Chapter 169 Until the very moment it sprang up, Anton had no idea they were walking into a formation. After it was activated, its boundaries were quite clear. A barrier in front and behind of them blocking their movement, and the more significant effects of increasing the pressure on them filling the whole area in between. Half of them stumbled at the sudden near-doubling of the weight on them. They could handle steady increases, but a sudden doubling was outside what they were prepared for. Beyond the barrier- a transparent barrier that simply blocked them from moving forward- stood several figures. They had all seen Tonina pass that way, so her presence was no surprise. They also knew that Zvonko was present on the same island, and of course he had others from the Heavenly Lion Sect with him. But seeing Van Hassel and Slusser there was somewhat unexpected. Anton would have taken careful note of their arrival. A light appeared in the darkness, and Van Hassel walked up to the barrier on the other side. He looked over the group, his eyes stopping on Devon. ¡°Oh yes. I do vaguely remember that one.¡± Then his eyes turned to Anton. ¡°You really are an old man. Quite strange. Do you know how much trouble you¡¯ve caused me?¡± ¡°Not as much¡­ as I should have¡­¡± It was difficult to talk with double the pressure. Van Hassel seemed unfazed where he was, of course. ¡°Should have just killed you¡­ at the tomb.¡± ¡°Perhaps you should have. But you won¡¯t get that chance,¡± he smiled. ¡°My companion here is a formation master, after all. You won¡¯t be getting out of here alive.¡± Slusser nodded, though his face wasn¡¯t quite as relaxed as Van Hassel. He was clearly working to maintain the formation. There was sufficient energy for it to run, but keeping it steady was another matter. ¡°Yes, you won¡¯t be leaving. Our business partners were quite upset at what happened.¡± He looked beyond them, then at Chikere. She was currently slashing at the barrier, making it wobble but it still held firm. ¡°That won¡¯t work, you know. We hadn¡¯t expected someone of your caliber to join up with them, but fortunately you came along with your own enemies. They delayed you long enough.¡± Zvonko frowned, clutching his missing hand. ¡°I¡¯d love to defeat you personally for what you did to me, but this will have to do.¡± Chikere slashed her sword towards him, causing him to step back even though she couldn¡¯t pass the barrier. ¡°Pfeh. Coward. I¡¯ll cut off your other hand too, once we get out.¡± She turned to the rest of the group. ¡°Hey why are you all just standing there? We need to break this formation!¡± Everyone else looked to Catarina, who had a frown on her face. ¡°Save your strength,¡± she said. ¡°It won¡¯t work like that.¡± She stepped forward, barely managing to raise her leg high enough to reach the stair just before the landing the group was watching from. Sweat dripped down her forehead. She was the primary part of their group, guiding how they resisted the pressure. The sudden doubling was even harder on her. ¡°You said you¡¯re¡­ a formation master?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Slusser said. ¡°I¡¯ve spent decades perfecting my craft.¡± ¡°You ever¡­ see anything by Everheart?¡± ¡°Yes. That man threw his bizarre formations around everywhere.¡± Catarina slowly turned her head, the simple movement difficult. ¡°Timothy. You remember... me talking about rebound?¡± ¡°Of course. I can¡¯t say that I understood it all though.¡± Timothy kept his back as straight as possible as he stood next to her. ¡°Then could you please¡­ stand there.¡± Catarina pointed to a spot only slightly off from where he was. Timothy nodded seriously and shifted the half step. ¡°Grandpa¡­¡± Catarina pointed almost at the ceiling, somewhere over Slusser¡¯s right shoulder. ¡°There. As focused and strong as you can.¡± She held her sword at her side as she reached into her bag. Anton raised his bow. He began to gather energy, forming an arrow. Even as he built up to what he felt was a fairly impressive amount, Slusser laughed. ¡°You won¡¯t shatter the formation with that little.¡± Though he wasn¡¯t a master of formations himself, Anton knew that. To shatter a formation required overwhelming power. For a barrier of the sort in front of him, anything that didn¡¯t break through would be a waste. Using up half of his remaining energy that he needed to keep himself from being crushed seemed pretty foolish¡­ but only if he didn¡¯t trust his family. Everyone else tensed up as his arrow flew forward. Energy swirled around Catarina, gathered from the others. It latched onto the arrow as it struck the barrier- but instead of piercing through or breaking off, the barrier warped and stretched like cloth. The arrow slowed until it crawled to a halt... and then suddenly it rocketed backwards. As it did so the rest of the formation twisted, a portion of it directly in front of Timothy slamming towards him. His raised shield blocked it, but the downwards angle pushed him into the floor hard enough to crack the stairs he stood on. But as the barrier snapped back into position, it tore apart. Catarina pulled her hand out of her bag, holding a dozen formation flags at the same time, throwing them into the opening. They spun around, twisting and pushing the barrier wide apart. As the barrier opened, Anton realized why the group on the other side was standing so casually. They had been drawing the pressure away from their area specifically, not just amplifying the power of the tower. That made a significant difference, because at the same time as he suddenly felt half of the pressure lift off him they were hit with the full force of the pressure, and then some- and at a strange angle. Everyone who had been trapped was forced towards the opening, but the pressure that rocketed through shoved those on the other side backwards and up a flight of stairs. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Chikere didn¡¯t have the experience with the group to be certain that whatever Catarina had asked for would work, but she was the fastest among them. As soon as she was through the barrier she charged forward, slashing towards Zvonko. Luckily for him, one of the others at his side reacted to deflect the attack for him so he only lost a finger instead of his whole hand. Anton moved forward in formation with the others, his first arrow flying towards Slusser who was still a crumpled heap on the stairs. He¡¯d intended to use it to force him into a weaker position, but he found his arrow pierced straight into the man¡¯s elbow. Slusser flailed as he stood unsteadily onto his feet, glaring down at them. ¡°How?!¡± Catarina¡¯s eyes were sharp as she looked at him. ¡°If you¡¯re a formation master¡­ then you should know. You set up a formation inside a larger formation and didn¡¯t even consider resonant backlash.¡± Timothy and Hoyt charged as the front ranks of their group. Anton could see Timothy stumbling as he moved. There was no way the hit he took hadn¡¯t broken at least an ankle, but Anton had to admire his determination. Then again, it was a life or death situation. If he didn¡¯t push himself beyond reasonable limits, when would he? Though Anton supposed some people simply couldn¡¯t. They were the ones who perished. Chikere kept one of the members of the Heavenly Lion Sect busy as she continued to target Zvonko, while the other three of them moved to intercept the members of the Order. Even injured, Timothy engaged two of them and Hoyt another one along with Van Hassel, who wielded a large two-handed sword.. Slusser charged forward, wielding a large glaive he swung at Catarina, who dodged agilely. He was in late Spirit Building, but his movements seemed sluggish¡­ from more than just the hit he¡¯d just taken. Devon extended the chains from his scars, pushing the limits of the formation to reach for Tonina. She dodged most of them, but one extended particularly far and wrapped around her ankle, pulling her down the stairs towards them as its spikes dug into her flesh. Though Hoyt and Timothy were pressed to their limits to fight two at once, their efforts left Anton and Velvet unengaged. Anton began firing arrow after arrow, happy to use up his remaining energy as quickly as he could. As he pulled on the energy of Fleeting Youth, he once again noticed the strange slowness of some people. Zvonko was about what he would expect, but Van Hassel and Slusser were clearly fighting below their capabilities. But as he saw their energy struggle against the pressure, he concluded his observations. An arrow went straight towards Van Hassel¡¯s heart. He stepped back, up the stairs, but Anton diverted it to pierce into his hip. They had just arrived. Though they had to have one of the beads to get passage¡­ it didn¡¯t necessarily have to be something they earned. If someone else gave up theirs- or they stole them- they could enter the lower area without any experience moving and especially fighting under the pressure. Late Spirit Building cultivations might make up for some of that, but it severely disadvantaged them. Even though she¡¯d already fought a hard battle against two opponents earlier, Chikere maintained an oppressive aura as she continued to attack Zvonko and his defender. It almost seemed as if she was steering away from killing blows to target their hands- until one of the blades floating around her swept from a slash closer to his waist to suddenly target his neck. He swiftly shifted his energy and managed to keep his head from being severed, but blood flowed freely from his neck. Velvet made her presence known to the two members of the Heavenly Lion Sect by stabbing her ¡®twin¡¯ daggers into their spines. One toppled to the ground, while the other managed to avoid the intended effect. He still had a five centimeter deep stab into his lower back, but it wasn¡¯t immediately incapacitating. But as Timothy rushed forward towards him he had to throw himself away, wrenching the wound open even more. Slusser¡¯s formation was dust in the wind, completely having slipped from his control. However, Catarina continued to throw formation flags around her as he swung at her with his glaive. When a flag tried to move past him he swung his glaive to bat it out of the air- and found his weapon froze in place for a moment. At the same time, Catarina lunged forwards towards him and aimed a stab under his ribcage. He had to leap back, abandoning his glaive to its momentary lack of mobility. Catarina caught it and threw it behind her. Though he¡¯d been firing a number of arrows, Anton now focused on just one. He caught Van Hassel¡¯s eye. ¡°You don¡¯t often have foes that can fight, do you?¡± The power of Fleeting Youth and everything but the last few percent of Anton¡¯s internal energy combined into the arrow, streaking towards Van Hassel. The man twisted his sword to block, but Anton¡¯s arrow drilled through it- Van Hassel¡¯s energy was unable to properly support it with the pressure bearing down on him. Perhaps even more than a normal amount, based on the flags Catarina was throwing everywhere. The arrow continued forward into his chest, and out the back. It only managed to go through his lung and not the heart as Anton had hoped, but blood was coming out both sides- and flowing into the lung as well. That would have to do. ¡°How can you¡­¡± Van Hassel coughed. ¡°It¡¯s only been three years¡­¡± ¡°Three and a half.¡± Van Hassel furrowed his brow, trying to figure out how a half year made a difference to cultivators. Then he collapsed onto his back. Devon had Tonina completely wrapped in chains. He wrapped them around her arms, legs, head, neck, and many loops around her torso. He began to squeeze, dragging the spikes along her skin. He snarled as he did so¡­ then he let the chains fade away. She flopped to the ground, barely conscious and only able to prevent herself from being crushed by the pressure. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought you would show mercy,¡± Anton commented. Devon turned and smiled, ¡°You think this is merciful? You have to learn to think like a stuck-up bitch. Actually, I was thinking we might cause a little trouble. Up for it?¡± ¡°Absolutely.¡± Devon turned towards Chikere and yelled. ¡°We need him alive!¡± She turned around as his other hand fell to the ground. ¡°Um. Just alive, right?¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Good. Because it¡¯s too late for more than that.¡± Chapter 170 With some of their opponents unable to properly fight in the pressure of the tower and a few already defeated, the tides of battle continued to sway in the favor of those from the Order- with the help of Chikere, of course. Though her help was balanced out by the fact that they probably wouldn¡¯t have gotten into conflict with the Eternal Sword Hall. Though in that case, they might have instead had other opponents. With Slusser divested of his halberd, Catarina was able to finish him off in a few attacks, and the last few members of the Heavenly Lion Sect were defeated. Most people were just barely able to stand at the end of the battle. Anton was somewhat impressed with how together some of their defeated opponents were. If nothing else, their body tempering had been sufficient to keep them from collapsing entirely. Though the splotches appearing all over their skin showed they wouldn¡¯t last forever. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back!¡± Chikere said, walking with haste down the stairs. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Anton asked as she passed. Her only answer was a single word. ¡°Swords! Go ahead and start going up without me!¡± Anton looked down at those lying around them. ¡°That does bring to mind that we need to disarm the rest of them.¡± The value of the equipment their opponents were each likely worth almost as much as their own- or possibly more. That didn¡¯t necessarily count the equipment from Everheart¡¯s tomb and certainly not the Vessel of Insights, but it was easy to see why many cultivators preyed on others. ¡°It¡¯s not too late to just toss everyone down the stairs,¡± Anton commented as they returned to a more steady formation and started making sure none of the unconscious or dead figures had access to weapons. ¡°But I suppose the conflict will escalate regardless.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°This is our best chance to pin something on them. They just tried to kill us after all. Even if it¡¯s just our word against theirs¡­¡± he gestured to Van Hassel and Slusser, ¡°These two are wanted criminals in Graotan and officially expelled from the Heavenly Lion Sect, yet clearly still working with them. We won¡¯t get a better chance than that. And she,¡± Devon grabbed the wrist of Tonina and started dragging her up the stairs, ¡°Is proof of reneging on legal agreements.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been talking to Kohar, hmm?¡± Anton smiled. ¡°It¡¯s pretty clear it¡¯s not effective to deal with people one at a time.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Anton said. ¡°Her working with the Flying Blood Sect might also help, though they have no official location to cause trouble with. But with them all working together¡­¡± Anton looked back down the stairs. ¡°Perhaps we shouldn¡¯t bring up the Eternal Sword Hall. They¡¯re vaguely within reason, though they still broke the truce here.¡± Everyone started moving up the stairs, several of them dragging a body. Zvonko¡¯s bleeding stump was bound to potentially keep him alive. Tonina was in poor shape but still alive. Van Hassel was just barely still breathing, though Slusser was dead. They would all be dead soon enough if things happened properly, but bringing those who were still alive was the most appropriate. They might lie about what happened, but everyone who was honest would be able to confirm their deceptions. Not every cultivation technique trained Insight in the same way, but everyone had some ability to read others. Direct lies were easiest to detect. And the most important thing was what the Order thought. Throwing bodies into magic bags was unpleasant, but having some representative samples should help their case. And while Anton seriously doubted the conflicts would be resolved in a court of law, it was the principle of the thing. Just saying they were right with swords, spears, and bows was no better than anyone else. Chikere caught back up with the rest of them before they reached the surface. Her own cultivation was higher, so even though she wasn¡¯t able to work as part of a formation to lessen the burden on her, she was able to store more energy and replenish it more quickly. She wasn¡¯t exactly looking pristine as they climbed, but she still radiated a strong aura. As they reached the surface, Anton didn¡¯t even bother to wait for people to notice what happened and begin crowding around before he pulled out a long tube and stabbed it into the ground outside the tower. It only took a spark of his own energy to ignite it, sending a blast of energy into the air. There were various forms of communication cultivators might use, but the most widely obvious was a signal flare. The particular properties of the ones Anton and the others had would make it obvious that members of the Order were in distress. While that might attract others as well, the situation was likely to escalate quickly regardless. Catarina and Devon added their own flares to the mix. More than a few wouldn¡¯t make anyone come faster, but it was important to indicate it wasn¡¯t just a small incident. Many cultivators were at their camps outside for their rest periods- with no day or night, it just ended up being a constant cycle. Most looked curiously as a few half-dead people were dragged outside. Few were brave enough to approach, though Anton saw Lowell and waved him closer. ¡°Might be best to cut ties with the Heavenly Lion Sect. They egregiously violated the pact.¡± Lowell looked down at Zvonko, shaking his head. ¡°Stupid bastard.¡± He raised his eyes to Anton. ¡°Can you¡­?¡± ¡°I could vouch for you, but siding with us might bring you into more danger. You¡¯d be welcome later¡­¡± Lowell shook his head, ¡°If I¡¯m going to cut ties, I¡¯d rather do so openly. Though I¡¯d first like to hear about this¡­ I can guess, but I¡¯d like to hear what you have to say.¡± ¡°Yes, there are a lot of curious people about.¡± Anton took a deep breath. It was important to have confidence. He was going to be telling the truth, but it was important to look like it. ¡°Zvonko of the Heavenly Lion Sect, as well as other disciples of the same, joined forces with wanted criminals and exiles of their own sect to ambush us, disciples of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars!¡± Yelling an explanation at people wasn¡¯t going to make all the details clear, but he had to start somewhere. More people were gathering and clearly forming into different groups. Other members of the Order and their allies, people clearly trying to stay out of everything, and some of the members of the Heavenly Lion Sect and their allies. Like the tomb, though the elders weren¡¯t currently around. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Ironically enough, without Zvonko nobody in the Heavenly Lion Sect was willing to make any accusations- they all looked around as if expecting someone else to do it. Eventually someone did- from a significant distance away. ¡°Under what justification do you hold one of our elite disciples?¡± ¡°I already explained, but I can add more details if you want.¡± So Anton explained. Again, and again. More people arrived, climbing down the tower to see what was going on- and some came up out of the depths. The ambush was explained in its entirety- including the involvement of the Eternal Sword Hall. Even if they had some justifications for their conflict with Chikere, it was still against the pact to attack anyone, including independent cultivators. The others added helpful details, like how they mercifully left people alive, and how Tonina was still supposed to be confined. The number and strengths of cultivators on both sides were balanced enough that nobody was willing to start an attack- or get into a very public conflict. That gave some opportunity for Anton and the others to begin recovering energy as quickly as they could. If there was to be a conflict, they wanted to be able to fight. After about half of an hour, Anish of the Glorious Flame Palace emerged from below. ¡°Explain,¡± his voice boomed out. ¡°It¡¯s simple,¡± Chikere was the one who spoke first. ¡°Eternal Sword Hall wanted revenge on me for taking what they owed me, and they grouped up with these others to try to murder me and members of the Order, for various reasons. And besides every member of the Flying Blood Sect, they had three more criminals linking the Heavenly Lion Sect to a big illegal slaving conspiracy. So pretty much the usual for them.¡± Members of the Heavenly Lion Sect were appropriately outraged at her words, but none were willing to say anything against an Essence Collection cultivator with at least two dozen swords floating around her, stabbed in the ground, and held casually in her hand. Anish folded his arms in front of him, gouts of flame erupting from his nostrils as he breathed. ¡°Given previous circumstances, I will give proper consideration to your words. But Glorious Flame Palace will work to make sure there is a full accounting of what has happened.¡± For a sect not known for its measured and rational behavior, that was about the best they were going to get. But he wasn¡¯t the only one that had to be worried about. Boats were approaching the tower island from all directions. The strange nature of the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s Secret Realm made it difficult to tell exactly how far some people were, yet relatively easy to feel people approaching. That included a significant number of Heavenly Lion Sect elders and senior disciples- though Nowell and his group did nothing, the other members had their own signals to send. And with those signals came some from other factions, until people from all over were approaching. Anton had hoped that he would feel more members of the Order closer, but while they were certainly approaching, others seemed closer. The first Essence Collection disciple of the Heavenly Lion Sect to bounded into the middle of the island in just a few jumps. He was relatively young- perhaps somewhere in his forties though he of course looked younger as all cultivators did. He held in his hand a punching dagger- the small weapon being quite atypical for many cultivators who preferred flashier and larger weapons. ¡°You will immediately unhand our disciples.¡± ¡°Does that count these criminal exiles?¡± Anton gestured to the prone body of Van Hassel with his foot. The disciple was apparently savvy enough not to answer directly and somehow admit some sort of wrongdoing. ¡°You must immediately release all of your unlawful captives. You won¡¯t get another chance.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Anton said. ¡°Done. No more unlawful captives. This is where I must inform you that any assault on us will be an additional violation of the treaties. Think carefully.¡± The senior disciple glared at Anton, his eyes shifting to the unceremoniously placed bodies. Though they were barely breathing and tied up in chains, their wounds had been bound and their bleeding stopped with ointments. ¡°That was your one chance for mercy,¡± he said- but he didn¡¯t make any move to attack. Anton had all sorts of ways he could provoke the man to attack, but he really didn¡¯t want to be a driving force of a bloodbath. While the current conflict was going to inevitably result in more deaths, he was actually interested in minimizing those to his side. After all, if the battle was even the Order would only lose out. Killing one enemy for losing one disciple was not a fair trade. It seemed the Heavenly Lion Sect had been arranged in such a way that their late Essence Collection cultivators were somewhat closer than that of the Order. Members trickled in on both sides, but the Heavenly Lion Sect¡¯s numbers were swelling with more powerful cultivators. Then an old man in Life Transformation came ashore. ¡°Master,¡± said the disciple who had challenged them before. ¡°They refused to free Zvonko and the others.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± said the old man. ¡°Then their sentence is death.¡± Death. That was something Anton was familiar with, yet somehow still hadn¡¯t encountered. But as a blade came at him, he felt it. The elder wielded a punching dagger, the same as his disciple. He crossed the distance of a hundred meters between them in an instant, his strike aimed right at Anton¡¯s heart. Chikere moved to counter, but she was too slow. Except that his attack was suddenly moving only half the speed as it hit the barrier Catarina had set up. She wasn¡¯t just going to sit around waiting for an hour as a potential battle brewed. She created a defensive formation to protect them. And it helped, because Anton managed to only get stabbed halfway into his heart instead of all the way through it. Technically the blade hadn¡¯t even touched him, it was only the extension of energy sticking out from it that did. Of course, the follow up attack would kill him regardless. But halfway through, the man leapt backwards. Not only that, he continued to flee until he was on the other side of the tower. Five arrows landed where he had been standing, and six more flew after him, three striking the tower and the final three barely being deflected by the man. Anton smiled. He hadn¡¯t even sensed elder Kseniya until after she shot- but he could just make her out in the distance extremely far away on the sea. Anton smiled, even as he was using all of his energy to keep his blood inside his body. That elder must have thought he could finish them off before any of the Order¡¯s powerful elders arrived, but he was wrong. Though his actions reminded Anton there were still several tiers of power he needed to climb. Still, surviving a single attack was something to be proud of- even as a group. He¡¯d have to thank Catarina for her practicality later. When he could speak without blood shooting out of his chest. Chapter 171 The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars was aware that times of change were coming. Trying to resist change only ever resulted in those who refused to be flexible, shattering under the force of the world. While ultimately they would prefer to avoid conflicts with other sects, that was only possible if they were willing to capitulate to their demands. And even then conflicts would arise, even if they were mere puppets. Of course, as cultivators they wouldn¡¯t accept that. Having individuals who would catalyze changing times within a sect was both a blessing and a curse. Some would prefer to just endure through hard times, and those who precipitated changes were not helpful for that. Though personally Elder Kseniya was all in favor of those that actually did things. She continued to fire Spirit Arrows even as she accelerated her boat. Did that old fart Lakatos really think a tower was going to stand in the way of her arrows? Because he was right. But she didn¡¯t need to let him know that. Her current shots were cleverly disguised as lethal, but not particularly dangerous- or draining. Once she was closer the tower wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but after the first few kilometers precise control really went downhill sharply. She wasn¡¯t the only one approaching. Everyone had taken notice, though some sects weren¡¯t interested in showing up merely to spectate. The Frostmirror Sect, for example, wouldn¡¯t involve themselves if things didn¡¯t involve their own disciples. It wasn¡¯t as if they had an alliance with either side, so there was no need for them to get involved. It seemed she managed to convince the members of the Heavenly Lion Sect that she would be able to lock onto them from where she was, as none approached while she was getting to the island. She certainly had no intention to inform them that if someone below Life Transformation had attacked- with a smaller energy signature- she couldn¡¯t so easily have targeted them. Then again, they would be less able to avoid her attacks. Either way, she arrived without anyone she cared about dying. Though it looked like it was damn close. Anton¡¯s heart was barely functioning as one. As for some other dying people¡­ now that she was close she was able to look them over. An interesting collection of foes. ¡°Elder Lakatos,¡± Kseniya said as she leaped onto the island. ¡°You will come out and explain why you thought it was allowed to attack my disciple.¡± When he didn¡¯t immediately move, she shot five arrows- one circling around the tower towards him, and four others that stopped immediately in front of the disciples of the Heavenly Lion Sect. He moved out, though mostly to avoid the shot circling the tower. ¡°Your disciple broke the truce-¡± The arrows stabbed into the disciples, though only as deep as a knuckle. Elder Kseniya drew another arrow and aimed directly at the man¡¯s disciple, who used the same punching daggers as weapons. ¡°Without lying.¡± ¡°You dare accuse me of lying?¡± He glowered at her, taking a stance. ¡°I may have little choice but to hide when you aren¡¯t on the island, but with you here¡­¡± ¡°Elder Kseniya,¡± spoke one of those surrounding Anton. Catarina, his great-granddaughter, if she recalled correctly. ¡°I can give you the accurate information.¡± It didn¡¯t take long- it seemed their group had much practice going over the details lately. ¡°Thank you. Now that we¡¯ve heard that, Elder Lakatos of the Heavenly Lion Sect. Do you deny that your sect has been working directly with slaving criminals that your own Sect expelled?¡± ¡°Of course I deny it,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s nonsense!¡± He stepped forward, flaring his energy. ¡°Wrong answer.¡± Elder Kseniya released her arrow, sending it straight into the heart of his disciple. She had considered stopping it at the same level of wound Anton had received, but that was not a mercy on the man¡¯s part. He¡¯d fully intended to kill. Elder Lakatos tried to reach his disciple, but only got halfway there before the arrow was all the way out of his back. ¡°I personally witnessed your fraternization at the latest of Everheart¡¯s Tombs. You should have thought before you spoke.¡± Of course, Elder Lakatos didn¡¯t just stand around doing nothing. But as she spoke a constant hail of arrows keeping him on his toes prevented him from reaching her- or any of the weaker disciples. ¡°You would really be better served by helping that boy out. It¡¯s just a hole in his heart. I didn¡¯t even completely annihilate it or turn his brain into a sieve. Take him and leave. That includes every member of the Heavenly Lion Sect.¡± ¡°You wish to make us give up on this tower?¡± he frowned. ¡°Fine. Hand over Zvonko and we shall consider it done.¡± ¡°It seems you misinterpreted what I meant. My apologies.¡± Elder Kseniya waved her hand at him. ¡°You can come witness his execution if you wish, but he will not be leaving with you. And the entire Heavenly Lion Sect will be leaving the Secret Realm, not just this island.¡± ¡°You have no right to do that,¡± he said- bolstered somewhat by the members of his sect and allies around him. ¡°Nor can you take captive one of our disciples.¡± ¡°You,¡± Kseniya waved her hand, ¡°Law woman. Come forward.¡± Kohar stepped out of the crowd. ¡°It¡¯s Kohar.¡± ¡°Hmm. If you take up the bow I¡¯ll consider remembering it. Tell him what rules they violated and how nice I¡¯m being letting anyone live.¡± ¡°There are a number of things. Firstly, it is impossible to justify his attack because they weren¡¯t done with personal witness or a proper investigation. There are several sections of the rules that cover that specifically.¡± Kohar obediently began to recite them. ¡°It could only be justified if lives weren¡¯t immediately threatened, and each of the captives were properly treated. In such a case, the party who initially brought accusations gains the responsibility for the lives of the captives, but is allowed to retain control until a proper investigation is completed.¡± ¡°She¡¯s just making stuff up,¡± Elder Lakatos said. He gestured to the members of the Heavenly Lion Sect and their allies around him. ¡°Come! Let us stop these miscreants hiding behind the veil of a ¡®righteous¡¯ sect.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Yeah!¡± A voice boomed from afar, ¡°Do it!¡± A flaming book struck the ground in front of him, cracking the stone. ¡°Though I should probably tell you to read the stupid book before you do it.¡± A man with wrinkled skin, bald except for hair made of fire rising from his head, stood at the edge of the island. He was Elder Medved, of the Glorious Flame Palace- and there were others with him. ¡°It¡¯s a lot of pages, but you should be able to find them with the law wo- with Kohar¡¯s references.¡± Elder Lakatos stooped down to pick up the tome- then cursed as his fingers were singed. ¡°Ah, my bad.¡± Medved smiled and let the flames fade away. ¡°It was just for show.¡± As he read, Kohar continued. ¡°Punishment for breaking the treaty can result in the death of all members involved. Previous actions merited that threshold but were generously deferred. However, in such a case when another violation is committed in a short timeframe- usually one to five years on the short end- the more severe violation decides the punishment. ¡°I dispute your reading of the law!¡± Elder Medved said. ¡°That is allowable,¡± Kohar admitted, ¡°However, that must be done properly and not through attacking for perceived faults. You did not, in fact, see any violations by the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, did you?¡± ¡°They¡¯re holding our disciple! And that bitch shot another one!¡± ¡°After hundreds of people witnessed your attack,¡± Kohar pointed out. ¡°But I see I will not get a rational discussion with you. Perhaps you would prefer to bring it up with Elder¡­?¡± she turned towards the man from the Heavenly Lion Sect. ¡°Medved, young Kohar. And I would be glad to.¡± He stepped forward, fire spiraling up and around him as he did so. Things were a mere centimeter from exploding into chaos, but while the Heavenly Lion Sect and their allies might be able to handle the Order, they couldn¡¯t deal with them and the Glorious Flame Palace. Plus whatever bystanders might join in for a chance to loot some of them. The Flying Blood Cult¡­ wasn¡¯t necessarily on their side. ¡°You haven¡¯t heard the last of this.¡± He picked up the fallen disciple, who was breathing weakly, and began to walk towards the shore. ¡°Neither have you,¡± Kohar reminded. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to wear something nice to the execution.¡± ----- For most of his life, Anton thought that a heart just had to get blood flowing through the body to function. In most cases, that was a sufficient definition. However, when he had to push his own blood into his arteries the differences between proper pulses and continual flow began to emerge. He barely kept himself conscious, and the powerful cultivators around him didn¡¯t help with that. Though the pressure of their auras on him wasn¡¯t quite so restrictive, just because he wasn¡¯t physically oppressed didn¡¯t mean there wasn¡¯t mental baggage there. He¡¯d have to thank Elder Kseniya again. After he talked to Devon and reminded him that he knew he could be injured. Just because it was his grandson¡¯s idea didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t something he would have done. Bringing people in for a proper sentencing and execution¡­ while it was vaguely tyrannical comparing it to just killing people all over the place it was quite reasonable. Though they¡¯d still killed everyone ¡®unimportant¡¯. He looked up to Elder Kseniya. ¡°What do you think might happen from this?¡± ¡°Lots of things,¡± she said. ¡°A bit of justice. War. A shifting of the balance of power in nearby regions.¡± ¡°Which is most likely?¡± Anton asked. She looked down at him and smiled. ¡°All of them together. You do manage to attract a lot of trouble, don¡¯t you?¡± He shrugged. What was he supposed to say? Though he hadn¡¯t started this conflict, it wasn¡¯t as if he hadn¡¯t been looking for revenge on several of the individuals involved. He would have just done it in a different context. The results would have been the same if he died along with the others, because covering it up entirely would have been impossible. ¡°Hey uh,¡± Chikere spoke up next to Anton, ¡°Wanna see how I stitch blade wounds with energy?¡± One of the elders from the Order scurried over as she was talking. ¡°Why are you just standing there with an open wound and not saying anything?¡± The woman took out a box full of different needles, straight and curved. ¡°I didn¡¯t even realize you were injured.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Fuzzy head.¡± She sighed. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ good, actually. Now, this might hurt a little bit. Shouldn¡¯t wait for anesthetic.¡± If asked later whether having his heart stitched up was painful, Anton would have said yes. But in comparison to having a bone set, it wasn¡¯t really that bad. Her energy from the Ninety-Nine Stars synchronized well with his own, not disturbing him as she floated needles inside his chest to stitch him up. Her work was quick and accurate, so he could hardly say it was one of the most painful things he experienced. And it was just physical pain. ¡°There you go. Anton, right?¡± He nodded. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t believe we¡¯ve talked. Your name?¡± ¡°You may call me Elder Peric. Though it seems you don¡¯t come to the medical ward¡­ ever.¡± ¡°I was there after The Hunt,¡± he said. ¡°Really? I don¡¯t remember you.¡± Then she frowned, ¡°Wait, you were¡­ in Body Tempering, weren¡¯t you.¡± ¡°Sixth star or so,¡± he nodded. ¡°But now you¡¯re at the eighteenth. Yes, I see. I thought perhaps there was just someone with the same name.¡± ¡°There might be others,¡± Hoyt spoke up. ¡°But if it¡¯s an Anton you¡¯ve been hearing about around the Order, it¡¯s him.¡± ¡°Ah. Hoyt,¡± she inclined her head. ¡°I¡¯d heard you were in the same team.¡± She looked around- people had dispersed significantly, but most of the elders of the Order were still standing around defensively. ¡°Missed you in the crowd.¡± She looked at the others standing nearby, specifically Catarina and Devon. ¡°Two members of your family, as well.¡± ¡°And another,¡± Catarina said, ¡°but she¡¯s still a bit young.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She looked at the three chained cultivators next to them. ¡°I heard about what happened. Not in great detail but¡­ he¡¯s the one responsible?¡± she gestured to Van Hassel. Anton nodded, ¡°Directly, it¡¯s him. But based on other information it¡¯s more than just that. It should have been done with the blessing of the Heavenly Lion Sect.¡± ¡°Sounds like them. It¡¯s just usually hard to pin anything down on that sort. Good on ya. How are you feeling, by the way?¡± Anton looked down. He¡¯d almost forgotten the wound already. Though he was still missing some blood. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Good thing to thank me now. It¡¯ll ache like hell later.¡± And it did. Almost as bad as his joints had in winter. Chapter 172 The Order wasn¡¯t willing to withdraw from the Secret Realm right away, but they also weren¡¯t confident in safely escorting their prisoners back with just a small escort. So for the moment some of the elders were watching over the captives. ¡°Thank you for your efforts,¡± Anton inclined his head. ¡°I know you¡¯d rather be seeking your own fortunes than standing guard on a few Spirit Building cultivators.¡± ¡°Unlike you,¡± an older woman responded, ¡°We¡¯ve been cultivating for quite some time. We¡¯re not going to suddenly make any improvements. Better to allow you up-and-coming disciples a chance.¡± They were all bound nearby with strong chains that prevented them from cultivating and gathering natural energy. Though they were very useful to restrain defeated enemies, they were not only expensive but impossible to use in combat. Even if an opponent was slow enough to have manacles slipped onto them, the chains wouldn¡¯t suddenly make them incapable of acting. Until they expended their energy they would be able to fight almost as normal. Zvonko and Tonina had already levied countless insults at their captors and of course Anton and the others. At the current moment they were gagged, though they also grew tired of whining on their own. With their cultivation suppressed they felt sluggish and weak, even if they were technically more hearty than a normal human. Van Hassel was a strange exception. He wasn¡¯t staying quiet out of an abundance of caution, but instead had a blank look on his face. He rarely seemed to focus on anything, except when Anton walked in front of him and his expression became somewhat confused. As if he was still trying to figure out how Anton could have been part of Dungannon, a random village full of commoners. Anton wanted little to do with them, but after the previous events much of the Order¡¯s forces were concentrated around the tower. It was the most secure location for the moment. ----- As they descended into the depths below the tower once more, Anton was glad that they weren¡¯t focused on resisting the pressure with their bodies, because his hurt enough already. Even the small amount that filtered through their defensive formation of energy pressing down on his heart was enough. Though cultivators healed quickly from wounds, that was only relative to normal people. Since things like having a wide hole stabbed in your heart normally weren¡¯t survivable, the fact that he was still alive at all was already more than he would have expected before. Not that anybody had been prone to stab him when he wasn¡¯t a cultivator. Only a few times in the century he¡¯d been alive. Still, the stitches held him together- and if he couldn¡¯t handle walking around with some pain, he wouldn¡¯t have walked at all past ninety. The battle had been over a week ago. If things had gone a little bit less in their favor their own members could have been taken down first and things would have tumbled in the direction of the other side of the battle. Yet because they had come out victorious, it was quite beneficial to all of them. Surviving life and death battles was always good for cultivation, and doing so under extreme circumstances even more so. The pressure of the tower had actually been beneficial to them because of how some of their opponents reached them. Though Zvonko had actually made it to the top of the tower himself, he and several others had climbed it again without the beads on them to obtain more for their plot. Though it allowed more people to come after them, they were unfit to fight in those conditions. Van Hassel and Slusser in particular¡­ Anton didn¡¯t think highly of their abilities. Then again, if they were particularly skilled they might not have chosen to prey on defenseless commoners. Though they weren¡¯t so weak they couldn¡¯t have done something more profitable. They seemed to have simply thought nobody would care about random villages. They were wrong, of course. In more ways than one. But Anton knew he shouldn¡¯t dwell on that topic. He should be focusing on the descent. The Vessel of Insights had given him many thoughts about how to better deal with the energy from their own group and those they fought. Though they were all brief snippets they added up one by one until they were able to smoothly continue their descents. They were the forerunners, along with Anish and a few others. Even if there was no particular reward at the bottom, the glory of being the first was something relevant. Even if Anton himself cared little for it, he knew his younger compatriots could do with a morale boost. They weren¡¯t all thinking about things decades ahead of them yet. Yet they probably had the most future to think about. ----- The final leg of the tower ramped up the difficulty once more. The pressure was about the same as before, gradually increasing with depth, but simple things added up. Uneven stairs, some particularly tall. Narrow ledges. Simple slopes. All of those were dangerous with the pressure upon them. They had to make sure they could get back as well. Then they came to the most dangerous parts. If the cuts in the stairs weren¡¯t so precise, it might have seemed like the stairs crumbled and fell apart- but everything was almost like new. But several stairs at a time were missing- instead dropping down to landings a floor or two below. A drop that size could break bones upon landing. More importantly, the pressure was working against them on the way up, meaning that they had to not go too far without considering if they could get back. But another week of training allowed them to begin making the jumps, a quick hop that reminded Anton of times before he was a cultivator. It was so easy to get his sense of what he could do distorted by his new power. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t overestimate themselves. They hopped over holes and sidled across thin ledges and walked down stairs as the very stairs nearly cracked under their weight to finally arrive within sight of a door. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Anish was not far behind them, but they¡¯d passed him up. Once they could see the end, there was no way they were going to turn back. It was quite tempting to just run down the last flight of stairs with reckless abandon, but they resisted. Most of them, anyway. Chikere broke off from the rest of them, stumbling halfway and only stopping herself by driving a half dozen swords into the walls on either side to slow herself. She quickly took the last few steps and opened the door. ¡°Ha. I win!¡± she stuck out her tongue at them and stepped through. They were less than a minute behind her, however. When they stepped through the door it was with great relief as the pressure lifted from them. Chikere was just looking at them waving a paper. ¡°What¡¯s up with this, huh? Just a stupid note.¡± Anton and the others exchanged glances. ¡°May I read it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Sure. Doesn¡¯t say much.¡± The letter had an annoyingly familiar handwriting. ¡°Congratulations on passing this test! Sorry I took all of the condensed essence beads they had here, but I needed them for my own training. Since I don¡¯t have any rewards to leave behind, I¡¯ll leave you with some thoughts instead. Why do you think someone would need to resist immense amounts of pressure? I¡¯ll give you a hint. It¡¯s not just for diving into the ocean to beat up sharks. -E¡± Anton looked at it and shook his head, ¡°Who wants to bet Everheart took all of the treasures in this place already?¡± ¡°I do!¡± Catarina said. ¡°Wait, does that mean we¡¯re betting on the same thing?¡± ¡°I doubt any of us would bet against that,¡± Hoyt said. ----- The same determination was soon made by the Order as a whole, and the other sects. It was still beneficial for developing cultivators to undergo the trials, and formation masters were deep in study of the whole area. A stable secret realm was a treasure in and of itself, even if there wasn¡¯t anything much they could take away unless they started dismantling buildings brick by brick. The exception to that were plants and parts from beasts. Living things had managed to survive, including several other herb gardens. Though the plants had often grown wild and gotten entangled with each other to the point they barely grew, the best sorts of herbs could be grown from new seed. There were also stores of knowledge to be gained- though key pieces were sometimes missing. Everheart clearly hadn¡¯t made copies of everything, but he¡¯d at least been courteous to leave some useful pieces of information related to the herbs he replanted before he left. He was a selfish bastard, but he didn¡¯t tear the whole place up by the roots and leave it bare. Just mostly. If they¡¯d actually arrived shortly after him, Anton would have bet on there only being one plant of each type. Chikere was coming with the Order back to Graotan. Her official reason was she wanted to see justice done in regards to the captives- though the more likely reason was she was concerned about being ambushed by someone. But she was their friend, so nobody was going to say she couldn¡¯t use them for a bit of shelter. Even as they were similarly responsible for the ire of various foes that tried to murder them together, they fought back against them together. That was bound to deepen ties between people- or show they really weren¡¯t suited to work together. Since most of the contingent of the Order was travelling together, nobody dared to bother them. Even if they¡¯d gone as quickly as they could, the Heavenly Lion Sect wouldn¡¯t have been able to return to their sect and gather an army to attack. There was no guarantee that they weren¡¯t planning to, but the journey would be longer than that. The Order had already sent missives back to Graotan- and received replies. They were watching the border quite carefully. ----- After arriving in Graotan, the trials of Zvonko, Tonina, and Van Hassel weren¡¯t immediate. Though the Order could have justified immediate executions, they were prepared to give them as close to a fair trial as possible. They even reached out for outside judges, unrelated to the incidents. One was from the Frostmirror Sect- who nobody could doubt were going to be logical and calculatingly impartial. The second was from the Desert Fox Society based in Droca. Finally, the third was from Infinite Wisdom Palace in Estary. The lawyers who had defended Tonina before were brought in for the defense of the three- but it was hard for them to raise a real defense. Tonina wasn¡¯t supposed to be present at all. That was the easiest case to open and shut. There were previous legal declarations from Ofrurg about that situation. If she hadn¡¯t been physically captured in relation to another offense they might have not been able to enforce a large penalty, but they had bountiful evidence. Van Hassel required bringing in more witnesses to his deeds, and that included people from Ofrurg to declare he sold them the illegal slaves. It took some pressure to get them to do so, but it shifted the blame away from them so they were willing. Slusser was also convicted for posterity- though he had perished in the battle. For the sake of Zvonko, it took quite a bit of bringing in witnesses to put together the case. It wasn¡¯t sufficient to just accept the word of the accusers. That would hardly be a trial. Instead, witnesses were important. Nobody else was physically present for the fight, but there were people who saw his behavior- and most importantly, saw him conversing with Van Hassel and Slusser. Not just the association around Everheart¡¯s Tomb, but a few cultivators saw them sneaking together into the tower after Anton¡¯s group. That association and the previous attack as well as the reasonable certainty in the facts of the second attack were sufficient to also declare him guilty. But things didn¡¯t just stop there. With Kohar¡¯s help to get it done properly, the Order put together formal charges against the Heavenly Lion Sect for their association with illegal slavers. Within the laws of Graotan all slavery was illegal, but the standards were sufficient even by Ofrurg¡¯s law in a way that couldn¡¯t be refuted entirely. All three judges unanimously agreed to the guilt- to a level justifying execution- of the three parties directly involved. The judges slightly disagreed on how responsible the Heavenly Lion Sect was as a whole, but that was more of a political move. It wasn¡¯t as if they had any members beyond Zvonko in hand. But those matters would continue another day. Before that, the execution date was set- and movement in Ofrurg showed that it wouldn¡¯t go smoothly. Chapter 173 The execution was planned to take place in the eastern part of Graotan. At first it seemed like an odd location. The Order¡¯s main location was in the southwest, and there was practically nothing close to where the execution was happening. It was just a small outpost with minor defensive formations. But the Order started showing how serious it was as it began to assign missions to people. Nearly everyone received one of the missions. Anton was one of them, of course. The missions were mandatory with some exceptions, but Anton was tightly connected to the situation involved and thus entirely uninterested in refusing. He was assigned to a small little hamlet called Troutberk. It was more of a handful of farming families loosely knit together by proximity, really, plus a man who had made some deals with traveling traders and started a little shop. ¡°I understand,¡± Anton was doing his best to convince everyone properly. ¡°This is everything to you. But this place won¡¯t be anything without your family. You risk that- along with everything else- if you choose to stay.¡± A stubborn old man- though not quite so old nor stubborn as Anton himself- frowned. ¡°You think some big-shot cultivators are going to care about our little hamlet specifically? They¡¯ll just ignore us.¡± ¡°They might,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But if they don¡¯t, everything will be gone. And they won¡¯t be in a friendly mood. Let me tell you a story. I¡¯m sure you heard at least a little bit about the troubles years back. Bandits coming in from Ofrurg, raiding villages. Maybe they won¡¯t touch here, but¡­¡± Anton talked about Dungannon. The hamlet wasn¡¯t terribly far, but nor was it particularly close. It was actually closer to the border, but it was indeed small enough to be overlooked in most cases. No wealth in the houses, land, or people. But if the Order was right- and they had more information than just Anton himself did- there was a high likelihood of the Heavenly Lion Sect and perhaps some others trying something. Anton could have easily pushed everyone to leave. It would be difficult for non-cultivators to resist the persuasion of voice, and the implicit fearful respect for cultivators would be sufficient to overcome their hesitation. But he had avenues for understanding as well. Nobody wanted to leave their home, worried that something might happen to it. That included their fields. The thought of losing a season of crops was more than most could bear. Even if they didn¡¯t live season to season, they had little in the way of savings. They were also concerned about their few animals- it was difficult to take them, but they couldn¡¯t just leave them behind. Those were the surface problems, but Anton worked his way deeper. Some specific things were of sentimental value and couldn¡¯t be replaced. While Anton couldn¡¯t bring a house along with him in a storage bag, he could offer to help them with their smaller things. He understood it wouldn¡¯t be easy for them, but the risk to their life was very real. The biggest issue was that old man Abramsen¡¯s wife couldn¡¯t walk at all. They had no proper wagon or even a large enough cart to carry her and other things, and getting her up on a draft mule was out of the question. But that was solved easily enough with the aid of cultivation. With a bit of work putting together something like a chair Anton could strap on his back was easy enough. It wouldn¡¯t be the most comfortable trip, but it might actually be more comfortable than walking. The woman laughed slightly as Anton hefted her into the air and onto his back. She looked down at her husband and smiled, ¡°If this fellow can do it, maybe you should be the one to carry me on the way back, hmm?¡± ¡°Good idea,¡± Anton said- only half jokingly. He wasn¡¯t going to let a chance to teach a new batch of people about cultivation pass him by. Along the way, one family had trouble keeping a mule on the path. It kept trying to wander away- but a quick word from Anton fixed that. ¡°Over here girl. Stay with us.¡± The mule obediently came back. ¡°Well I¡¯ll be darned,¡± said her owner. ¡°Can you teach me that trick?¡± ¡°It might take a while,¡± Anton admitted. Half of it was just knowing the right tone of voice, but the other half was related to Spirit Building. But being confident was key either way. ----- The little group from Troutberk eventually made it to the area set up for them, another day¡¯s travel beyond the fort where the execution would be happening. With the area simply flooded with members of the Order, it would be impossible for anyone to reach them without the Order being able to provide a response. Beyond escorting villagers, everyone from the Order was likewise assigned to assist with protection in the coming days. The execution date was still two weeks hence, but something could happen at any point. Anton took full advantage of having thousands of new people in the same area- even though the border with Ofrurg was relatively sparsely populated, dozens of little villages quickly added up. He wasn¡¯t the only one trying to teach people cultivation, either. Vincent was still more interested in finding those with real talent, but he still wasn¡¯t going to refuse to teach people who asked. There were others as well, beyond Anton¡¯s inner circle. The movement was becoming a bit more popular, though it wasn¡¯t widespread throughout the Order¡¯s disciples yet. Though in a few years it might be, given they would have more incoming disciples who got a chance to cultivate from trying to teach everyone. Anton was still developing the methods to make that easier, but he was confident that everyone could reach at least a few stars. That was a serious benefit, compared to no cultivation at all. And old man Abramsen might actually be able to carry his wife around if he properly cultivated to the second or third star. Though that would take longer than the expected time frame- another three or four weeks would still be less time than it took pretty much anyone to reach the first star. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ----- Though Anton wanted to stay with the civilians to keep them safe, he also had competing desires. He wanted to see the executions, and he reasonably should because all of this mess was related to him. Devon had also helped precipitate it. From a practical standpoint, the Order was expecting an attack and those with higher cultivations and those who could fight from a distance were placed where the epicenter of the action would be. As an archer, Anton quite fit that description. He was still learning Horizon Shot, but his distance had improved. The actual range that it covered¡­ that could wildly vary. Horizon Shot was both about distance as well as shooting at things that couldn¡¯t necessarily be seen, and that meant extending senses to be able to lock on to some sort of energy. While there was no way Anton could properly sense everything at a kilometer from himself, if he focused on just a tiny sliver in one direction he was slightly better than vague forms. He could shoot an arrow that far as well, though that was hardly to the horizon itself. On flat land, the horizon was about five kilometers away. From a proper vantage point it was significantly further, and he was aware Elder Kseniya could shoot much further. At least several tens of kilometers. In that case¡­ he wondered if she could shoot over the border from where they were. ¡°Which one?¡± she asked, grinning. ¡°Because let me tell you, that western border is way out of my league. Couldn¡¯t hit much to the north or south either.¡± That answered his question pretty well- the borders to the north and south were at least a hundred kilometers away. Not being able to hit anything there pretty much implied she could get an arrow to fly that far, but nothing else. Like he could shoot a Spirit Arrow two kilometers- if he just wanted it to go. Wouldn¡¯t even hit the broad side of a barn though. Anton looked around, sensing the hundreds of cultivators nearby. It was more people than he¡¯d ever seen so close together at the Order¡¯s main facilities, even. ¡°Can¡¯t believe I¡¯m responsible for all of this.¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t,¡± Elder Kseniya said. ¡°They are,¡± she gestured, not towards the prisoners but to the east. ¡°The Heavenly Lion Sect and whoever put them up to this. Been pushing the Order more and more. It was time for us to finally show them what we think of that. I could have just made the decision to hand them over, you know? I¡¯m not afraid of telling off our people when we go too far.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯re somewhat biased towards me, though.¡± ¡°Hmm, am I?¡± she grinned widely, ¡°Because if you were the kind of idiot who caused stuff like this without thinking about it, I certainly wouldn¡¯t be. It¡¯s not like my fondness for you can be separated from how I expect you to act.¡± She turned her head, eyes focusing. ¡°There they are.¡± She raised her bow. ¡°One more step and someone will regret it.¡± Anton couldn¡¯t see or sense anything, but he knew that buried among the trees at the far edge of his vision were several border checkpoints. That was one of the biggest reasons for choosing the dinky little fort they currently stood in- even with recent reinforcements it was still small. It was atop a significantly sized hill, bringing them well above the landscape surrounding them. There were few who could take advantage of the extreme distance to the same extremes as Elder Kseniya, but it would allow them to intercept any groups moving through the area. An arrow appeared on Elder Kseniya¡¯s bow, formed from the purest energy Anton had ever seen. Seeing her in training just wasn¡¯t quite the same as active combat- and he¡¯d only seen her fire a handful of shots up close in such situations. ¡°Border¡¯s closed,¡± she muttered as she shot. Anton did his best to sense what was happening, but the arrow went out of the extreme of his energy senses nearly instantly. His eyes tracked it a bit further until it was too small to make out, before a moment later he saw a tiny point of light as it exploded at the far end. It seemed things had finally started. ----- Almost as if there wasn¡¯t someone regularly shooting arrows, the proper ceremony for the execution started. If anyone was planning to rescue Zvonko or the others, they were cutting things rather close. Actually¡­ Anton supposed perhaps that was on purpose. Maybe they didn¡¯t want to succeed at saving them. That would require them to have other achievable goals, of course. That could be simply killing as many members of the Order as they could or the random people they might have still presumed were between them and Zvonko. Or they were really late. Though it was quite reasonable for powerful cultivators at least in Essence Collection to traverse the distance from the border in a quarter of an hour. That would expend some energy they might want for battle, however. Hopefully the Order was fully prepared. There were more things happening that he hadn¡¯t been directly told about- not necessarily secret, but not things that every disciple would hear. He was unable to sense any individual cultivators at the current distance of the approaching front, around twenty kilometers, but he was just able to make out a group. He might have thought it was just his mind playing tricks on him if he didn¡¯t confirm it with where Elder Kseniya was shooting at a measured pace. He doubted she was actually causing much damage at that distance, not shooting every minute or so- even if sometimes she fired a handful of arrows in quick succession. He could feel that she was only making use of something close to what she could recover, so that she wouldn¡¯t exhaust herself. Though her shooting was becoming more frequent as people approached¡­ and it would likely become harder for people to defend. ¡°Got one,¡± Elder Kseniya noted. ¡°Quite a pain, really. There are a few fellows who are making things difficult. They¡¯re quite serious about this, it seems.¡± She pulled a physical arrow out of a quiver. It was black and covered in thorns similar to that of a rose. ¡°But so are we.¡± The arrow streaked off into the distance with no visual effect wherever it arrived- but Anton felt a sudden shifting of energy on the other end. He couldn¡¯t tell the effects just yet, but there was bound to be something significant, because Elder Kseniya smiled. Chapter 174 The approaching cultivators slowed slightly after Elder Kseniya shot the black thorned arrow. She still continued to attack in regular intervals, and soon enough the targets were close enough for those with less extreme ranges to get involved. That included attacks returning from the other side, but the defensive formations were sufficient to negate most of the attacks. There were only a few arrows and the like, while various sorts of energy attacks primarily composed of fire or lightning were the most numerous. A few members of the order responded by blocking the most concerning attacks, letting the others fall apart on the fort¡¯s defenses. Behind them the execution was proceeding normally. It began with a list of crimes upon which the prisoners were convicted. The process had been rather thorough, and the list was rather lengthy- especially for Van Hassel. His glare might have had some power behind it if any of the convicts had access to natural energy, but they were little better than healthy humans in their current states. Anton returned his gaze to the front, where people were just entering his range. The last couple of kilometers would only take the group a couple minutes to pass over- and that was because they were moving slowly for the sake of the ¡®weaker¡¯ members, none of which were below late Spirit Building. All told, there were close to two hundred cultivators- a majority from the Heavenly Lion Sect, but Anton spotted groups of Flying Blood Cult members as well. It was unclear if they actually had some real stake in the outcome- perhaps they were hired to rescue Tonina- or if they just wanted to take part in combat. From what he knew about them, it could be either. In addition to members of those sects, there were many who didn¡¯t match either. Most likely mercenaries who thought whatever rewards offered would be worth the risk. With the numbers they had it wasn¡¯t possible to match the Order¡­ but not everyone from the Order was present. They couldn¡¯t focus all of their power in one place and leave everywhere else defenseless, after all. Only five members at Life Transformation were present, about a quarter of their total, including Elder Kseniya and Grand Elder Matousek. The latter stood upon the walls of the small fort, a collection of light circling around him. Anton wasn¡¯t quite able to count with the way they shifted unpredictably, but there had to be eighty or ninety. Presumably one for each star of cultivation. Anton really wanted to see how they worked, but Matousek wasn¡¯t engaged in combat yet¡­ and he had to make himself useful. With so many targets he wasn¡¯t sure who to pick¡­ but no one else seemed concerned about that. Some shot at the man leading the charge, a Life Transformation expert with an impressive aura. He was able to defend against everything lobbed at him, but repeated attacks should wear him down. Anton did see a small wound on his upper arm, perhaps where Elder Kseniya¡¯s arrow had struck and then been broken off. Pulling it out- with the thorns- would have ripped the wound open wider. He scanned the crowd, seeing a face he recognized. Elder Lakatos, with the punching daggers. His heart twinged, mostly healed but not quite there yet. Then his eyes moved just to the right. The man¡¯s apprentice had come along, the same one that had almost led the Heavenly Lion Sect to attack before the elders arrived. He looked remarkably good, considering what happened to him. Of course Anton couldn¡¯t see a hole in his chest, but even if the man weren¡¯t covered he presumed it wouldn¡¯t be visible except as a scar. He wondered how many medicinal pills were shoved down his throat to be prancing around already. Previously there might have been some mercy for him. He¡¯d acted vaguely reasonably, which was above what Anton expected of the Heavenly Lion Sect. But choosing to come along with the attack signed his sentence. Anton focused an arrow, making it as powerful as he was capable of. Knowing Elder Kseniya he could predict how she would act to some extent, and that guided his hand. The arrow flew straight for the man¡¯s heart again, the dense energy of Fleeting Youth bolstering Anton¡¯s normal reserves. Though he hadn¡¯t made it beyond the first tier of the technique, he was continuing to make strides forward with how he made use of the energy. It flew straight towards the man¡­ and was sliced out of the air. Of course. But as Elder Lakatos blocked the attack at his apprentice, Kseniya had already launched several of her own- even before Anton¡¯s arrow was flying. They followed unexpected curves, some seeming to have missed other targets and turning around to attack from behind. The movements Lakatos made to block the arrow brought him straight into the path of Kseniya¡¯s shots, which he only managed to dodge most of. One struck the elbow of his left arm, after which it hung limp. Anton continued to fire at the apprentice or any other targets he found openings for. The three convicts were arranged on chopping blocks. No way to kill someone was particularly clean, but hangings were less practical when concerning cultivators. Beheadings were the most effective and conclusive method. There were rumors of certain powerful techniques that could allow someone to survive such extreme situations, but even then the body had to be left unattended. Either way, it was certain none of the three were powerful enough for it to be an issue. The executioner stepped up, hood covering their face. In some places being an executioner was an honor, some a duty, some both- but even among cultivators who were more at home with death, few in a righteous sect wanted to be recognized simply for killing. A large blade was prepared and hefted. The leading member of the Heavenly Lion Sect collided with Grand Elder Matousek, his powerful hammer meeting her open palm. ¡°You will free our disciples immediately.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Interesting wording, Sand,¡± Matousek said in response. ¡°But you failed to provide a reason.¡± The stars surrounding Matousek spiraled around her arm and up towards the enemy elder, forming into a man-sized fist and sending him flying backwards, aflame. However, as the man Matousek had called Sand flew down the hill into the forest below, his form suddenly stopped, the flame extinguished. An old woman stood there, previously unnoticed. ¡°No reason¡­ hmm?¡± The aura that arose from her reached high into the sky, nearly manifesting into a solid form, shaped like a sleek great cat. ¡°It¡¯s quite simple. If you surrender now, your deaths will be painless.¡± Anton was nearly rocked off of his feet as her power continued to rise- Marcio actually collapsed to the ground. Life Transformation, but not the early part like Elder Kseniya, not even middle Life Transformation like Grand Elder Matousek. Late Life Transformation, bordering on the peak. No wonder they had been willing to risk an attack. They brought along one of the sect guardians, the peak of what they had to offer. They generally wouldn¡¯t act unless there was a peril to the sect as a whole- which was, in fact, the current case. Though it was entirely their own fault. ¡°Enid Galli,¡± Grand Elder Matousek spoke from atop the wall. ¡°To think someone such as yourself would dare to step foot into Graotan once more.¡± Elder Kseniya took a few shots at the woman but the spirit arrows were either deflected to the side or, in one case, tossed back at her, forcing her to duck beneath her own arrow- apparently unable to disperse it. The woman leapt forward, nearly flying through the air. Her arms swept out to the side, sweeping a dozen people off of the wall as the strongest among them tried their best to protect everyone. ¡°You shall free everyone¡­ at once!¡± Her voice roared so strongly that Anton¡¯s ears almost shattered. Yet the sudden burst of energy wasn¡¯t really directed at anything¡­ and ultimately was less of a concern than the pressure of the tower. For him, of course. He doubted that Grand Elder Matousek felt the same as large claws manifested to attack her from both sides as Galli furiously swung her arms. Matousek put her all into blocking the claws. ¡°Continue with the execution as planned!¡± he called back. Her fists struck out to meet the attacks as everyone else was forced back, the walls cracking near the fight just from the after effects. The battle didn¡¯t take up just a small area, its effects spreading to everything around it as attacks tried to breach the walls. The executioner¡¯s blade came down, chopping off Van Hassel¡¯s head. Sand had a particularly strong reaction to that, which Anton caught out of the corner of his eye as he hastily backed away from the epicenter of the fighting towards the other side of the fort. He certainly didn¡¯t want to approach the execution grounds. The blade was slowly lifted as Van Hassel¡¯s head rolled on the ground, and the executioner stepped forward towards Tonina, lifting the blade and swinging it down. A tornado of blood suddenly fell from the sky, manifesting into a crimson figure. He clearly radiated the energy of the Flying Blood Cult, but Anton couldn¡¯t find any traces of a body. It felt like blood shaped into a woman¡¯s form but without any flesh or bones or¡­ anything. But it also didn¡¯t feel like a simple projection of energy from somewhere else. As the executioner¡¯s blade almost touched Tonina¡¯s neck, the bloody figure grabbed her and ripped apart the section of the execution platform holding her down. The woman once more turned into a tornado which began to carry Tonina up into the sky. Galli took advantage of Matousek¡¯s distraction to shove her aside, rushing towards the platform. A lion¡¯s paw the size of the entire platform slammed down, targeting the platform and the executioner, though leaving the small section with Zvonko in between two spear-sized claws. It struck the platform, the ground shattering. Yet when the paw was lifted, the executioner still stood in place¡­ unfazed. ¡°Really now,¡± came a familiar voice. ¡°Is that all you have?¡± The executioner¡¯s blade was casually flung to slice off Zvonko¡¯s head as he raised his arms to the heavens. ¡°I was hoping to get a bit more, but this will have to do.¡± One eye glinted through the slits in the hood as an overwhelming aura matched against that of the Heavenly Lion Sect¡¯s guardian. A burning golden light shone around him. Anton had felt that power once before. He¡¯d met with Grand Elder Vandale on many occasions, of course, but the man kept his power extremely constrained. He¡¯d only used it when the hunt went beyond all expected grounds and a nearby village was in danger, along with numerous disciples of the Order. The air distorted as the sky went dark, except for myriad stars lighting everything. The stars began to rain down from the sky, the very first of them striking the tornado of blood. The tornado coalesced into a woman once more, several times larger. Her crossed arms blocked the meteor, but she was sent flying away- Tonina falling directly back towards the ground. Another handful of stars crashed down towards Galli, and the rest were targeted at the strongest members of the Heavenly Lion Sect. Even when the stars collided with their targets, the aftereffects of the explosions didn¡¯t affect members of the Order. Anton stood enraptured. It wasn¡¯t just a single volley this time, but a continuous rain. This was the peak of power that could be achieved in the world. Explosive attacks covering a wide range, yet controlled enough to not be indiscriminate. Instead of being intimidating, it was invigorating. Many of the others from the Order seemed to feel the same way, as the momentary disruption from Galli¡¯s presence was quickly overcome and people continued to fight. The sleek lion of Galli and the tornado of blood from the unnamed figure had to continuously fend off attacks from Vandale while their own attacks were blocked by the golden ball of fire with Vandale at the center. The earth trembled and shook. Anton knew that no matter what the ultimate result of the battle, the balance of power would be shifting significantly, the world he was used to changing. He vowed to be a key combatant for the next similar event. Chapter 175 After a fall from a great height, Tonina Potenza was barely able to move around. One of her ankles was broken, along with one arm- though the arm wasn¡¯t going to be doing much anyway with her wrists bound. She didn¡¯t know how people moved around with broken limbs, cultivators or not. People said that in the most desperate times people could overcome anything, but she just couldn¡¯t. Moving quickly just hurt too much. So she staggered along, trying to use one leg as little as possible. She had to leave. To live. She was too important to die in a stupid battle or be executed. She just had to get away. She almost made it to the outer wall after having fallen far too close to the middle of the battle. Just a couple more steps. Then she was yanked backwards. ¡°You won¡¯t be going anywhere, young woman. You still have to face your crimes.¡± She tried her best to glare at the old man, but she mostly just winced as she accidentally put her weight on her bad ankle. She didn¡¯t want to see his face ever again. She got her wish, but only because she was suddenly facing the last sight of her life- a giant claw formed out of energy. ----- Anton was aware that many people present in the battle would want to kill him. That was why he¡¯d done his best to stay away from the center of the battle- because although he was the one with the direct connection to the issues at hand, things went well beyond the squabbles with Zvonko and even the raiding by Van Hassel. To that end, he¡¯d thought himself as safe as he could get in his current position. He was, perhaps, half right. When he felt something coming up behind him, he didn¡¯t hesitate to throw Tonina between himself and the attack. Some of those participating seemed to have deemed her to be of some actual importance, so he thought it should make them hesitate. Instead, the attack barely slowed as giant claws cut through chains and a sturdy body that had surpassed the initial Body Tempering realm. That gave him just enough time to call upon his strongest defenses which he rarely had to use. Golden Armor wasn¡¯t practical in most cases because it took a significant expenditure of energy, and dodging or deflecting attacks was more effective. But when the attack came so quickly and encompassed everywhere he could consider dodging, he needed it. He was sent flying backwards through a half-standing portion of wall. That was the good news, because it meant that he hadn¡¯t been chopped into little pieces. There was a gouge across his chest, a little below where he had a much thinner scar, but the gouge didn¡¯t even make it all the way through his ribs. A laughable caveat, considering the amount of damage he sustained. Something almost yanked the bow out of his hand as he tumbled backwards, somehow coming to rest on his feet. There was no chance of him getting a successful hit on a Life Transformation expert like Enid Galli, but he couldn¡¯t possibly get away either. So he wrapped his bow in energy to achieve the greatest effect he could, trying to amplify the twang of the string and the snap of the limbs. He thought he did pretty well, but the Spirit Arrow that flew forward had worse momentum than most of those he had shot recently. So much for trying new things in the heat of battle. And a giant cat was leaping towards him, with the figure of an old woman buried inside the form. Anton prayed for a well placed meteor, but none came. But even as he dodged backwards- completely certain he wouldn¡¯t get out of the range of the attack- the attacker stopped. Not of their own volition, but forcefully. He saw a bloody tornado wrapping around not just the arms and legs of the forceful lioness, but also the person herself in the middle. The bloody tornado howled and screeched. ¡°You killed my target you bitch!¡± Enid Galli was flung backwards while the tornado pushed off in the opposite direction. An enormous palm wrapped around the midsection of the cat as Grand Elder Vandale stepped forward. Several small stars flew towards the retreating tornado even as it fluttered over Anton¡¯s head, but they seemed to have little effect. The lioness struggled as the giant hand held tight, swinging towards where a wrist or arm would be but finding no purchase. By the time she managed to target the hand itself, scratching it, she was being spun around- then tossed into the air directly towards an incoming star. The flames washed over her, wiping away the construct of energy and leaving behind only a charred corpse and some remnants of enchanted armor. Anton watched Vandale¡¯s gaze follow the bloody tornado, but he ultimately turned towards the rest of the battlefield. Without a late Life Transformation expert blocking him, Vandale was able to rain destruction down on the enemies of the Order unimpeded. He looked down at the wound on his own chest. He¡¯d need to deal with that. And his bow¡­ the string was snapped in two. For a moment he thought he¡¯d broken it when he tried to augment it too much, but then he realized it had been broken before then. Any effects of the string propelling his arrow forward had been purely through the use of energy. In that case, he found the results quite acceptable. Before experimenting with that more, he needed to stop the blood flowing from his chest and sit down for a while, maybe get someone to knit the muscles on his chest back together. He was no longer able to contribute to the battle anyway- mostly because enemies were being defeated as fast as he could consider targeting them. ----- Some cultivators risked themselves on big battles, going all out for giant gains. Soan was more of the type to take the easy jobs. Anything that paid enough he could buy himself something nice, some good booze or women or both. Sneaking across a border with everyone distracted? Easy. Everyone who was going to look for him was either somewhere else or chasing after intruders. That left only the easy targets left. Unfortunately, the first village he came to was empty. Not a single person or animal in the houses. He broke open a barrel of wine, but found it wasn¡¯t ready yet. There wasn¡¯t much worth taking, so he broke a couple things and left. The next village and the third were also empty. He finally came upon a lone farmstead with actual people. A middle aged man and woman but nobody else. Soan considered just killing them and moving on, but he was more than a handful of kilometers into Graotan now. He could vaguely feel the battle off in the distance, which already meant he was way too close. But he would get paid extra for bringing people back. Someone with a big grudge against Graotan as a whole, apparently. The two wouldn¡¯t be much good as slaves, but he picked them up anyway and started heading back for the border. Every step took him further from the battle, and he was feeling quite happy with his little expedition by the time he was crossing the border. The Iron Ring wasn¡¯t so happy to take random slaves now because of some whole mess they got into, but they had already rigged up a system to falsify someone¡¯s origin. Of course, they passed the costs onto those doing the actual work. But this time he was getting paid a set fee no matter quality or anything else, so he didn¡¯t care. It was enough to live it up for a few months. Crossing the border was easy, of course. Wide open land with no other cultivators around¡­ except maybe a few on the same sort of job as him. He made his way into Veron before nightfall. He flashed the guards at the gates a little badge he had to show he was ¡®legitimate¡¯ and made his way to the Iron Ring- well, a back alley nearby. He knocked on a shadowed door. ¡°I¡¯m here for the deal.¡± The man waiting inside opened the door and poked his head out. ¡°Good. Nobody followed you, of course?¡± ¡°Nobody from the Order even got within five kilometers of me. Now can we finish this up? I¡¯m sure whoever wants these guys needs ¡®em quick.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The man didn¡¯t say much, but handed over a coin purse. Soan hefted it, sensing it with his energy. Everything seemed good. He stepped out into the alley and started walking away. Now, what was he going to spend this on? Could be anything. But wherever he went, it had to be somewhere warm. The damn streets were cold today. Too cold. Like ice. Crawling up his legs and down his fingers. Covering his mouth and eyes. And whispering in his ear. ¡°You were right, you know,¡± the voice said. ¡°Nobody from the Order even got close. But that doesn¡¯t mean nobody did. And other people have reasons to prevent illegal slave trading.¡± The figure of a tall woman- he presumed- stepped in front of Soan, her shape barely visible through the layers of ice. ¡°Now then, you have two options. First, you can comply peacefully. Testify about who hired you and you could possibly even save your life. Or¡­ you can have your extremities frozen off one at a time until you comply.¡± Soan didn¡¯t speak a peep. Though he was sure trying. If the crazy ice woman asked him to sing like a bird, he¡¯d damn well do it. He liked his extremities. ¡°I¡¯ll presume that¡¯s a yes.¡± His stiff body was lifted into the air. ¡°I¡¯ll just put you with the others for now.¡± ----- Devon sat next to Anton on a pile of rubble, looking at a bloody mess on the ground. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s her?¡± Devon asked. ¡°That, or that one there,¡± Anton gestured nearby. ¡°Maybe both.¡± ¡°Hmm. Not as satisfying as I had hoped.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°You knew that already though. You¡¯re not just a kid, after all.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ but I kind of hoped. At least it seems like things went well here.¡± Indeed, things had gone well, for a small war. Hundreds of people were dead, with the balance of those deaths leaning away from the Order. But that didn¡¯t mean nobody was dead. Some more experienced disciples and some of the elders had given their lives, and on other battlefields Anton knew many youths would lie dead, no matter how the Order tried to prepare. It was likely that some common civilians were dead as well, though the refugee camp had been sufficiently defended that they were unharmed there. Anton slowly stood to his feet. ¡°I need to go meet with someone.¡± Devon nodded as he walked away. ¡°Take care.¡± It only took a few minutes for Anton to find his destination. It was a simple tent that felt empty, but was guarded by several powerful figures. ¡°I¡¯d like to see Grand Elder Vandale, please.¡± The guards stood there, expressionless and unanswering while clearly blocking the way- but a voice came from inside. ¡°Just let him in.¡± The first time Anton had met Vandale, he felt powerful like the sun- even as he was drained. This time, the pressure of a formation keeping vast amounts of energy inside the area nearly overwhelmed him but Vandale himself felt more like a flickering candle. ¡°Thank you for saving me.¡± ¡°I almost didn¡¯t,¡± Vandale said weakly. ¡°Though nor for lack of trying. A single burst takes a lot out of me¡­ a sustained fight even more so. Anton looked around the tent. The flow of energy was uneven as various crystals produced it, simply swamping the room. ¡°You should have Catarina come here. She¡¯d have this place filling you up smoothly in an instant.¡± ¡°Hah,¡± Vandale sighed, ¡°That might be so. The formation masters among the sect speak highly of her. But while I can bear to show myself like this to an old soul like yourself, I have to keep up appearances for the youngsters.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Perhaps you should. Is this¡­¡± he shook his head, ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought things would end up going to this extent.¡± ¡°It was bound to happen anyway. Except if we did nothing, we wouldn¡¯t have been prepared for it. It¡¯s not over quite yet, though.¡± ¡°Will they really come back?¡± ¡°Who?¡± Vandale raised a bushy eyebrow, the one above his remaining eye. ¡°The Heavenly Lion Sect? They don¡¯t have so many people to spare that they can throw away more. And outside of their defensive formations, they stand no chance now. Not that they did before, they just presumed¡­ that I wouldn¡¯t be here. And they¡¯ll be wrong about that once more.¡± ¡°... you¡¯re going to attack them?¡± Anton asked, though he was fairly certain about the answer. ¡°I only have a few battles left in me. Might as well do the world a favor before I go.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°Not going to beg me to save my strength?¡± ¡°What for?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It would only make everyone unhappy. I¡¯ve seen that look before.¡± In the mirror, mostly. ¡°There are others left who can defend the Order,¡± Vandale said. ¡°And I¡¯ll make anyone else with ideas think thrice before they consider an attack. Though the activity here indicated we still have a weakness.¡± ¡°The civilians. But they could be stronger.¡± ¡°I believe you,¡± Vandale said. ¡°You don¡¯t have long for your project, though.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Anton asked. ¡°What is it? How long?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. No more than a few decades,¡± Vandale smiled toothily, ¡°A blink of an eye in the cultivation world. But something big has to be coming. Things like this, cultivators like you and the other¡­ they don¡¯t come about in every generation. But when they do, it¡¯s usually before a disaster.¡± Vandale coughed slightly, ¡°Sometimes that¡¯s the generation itself, but often it¡¯s something else. Of course, it may be unconnected. If there wasn¡¯t a bright young generation to face off against the next wave of threats¡­ maybe things would just end. It happens to small sects all the time. And apparently large ones. The Luminous Ocean Society¡­ disappeared from history.¡± ¡°Everheart seems to have had some idea. He left notes there.¡± ¡°Yes, of course he knew. Or at least wanted people to think he did- but in this case I¡¯d bet on the former. But he¡¯s dead now.¡± ¡°Or ascended,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°If that bastard ascended and I didn¡¯t make it, I¡¯m going to strangle him in the afterlife!¡± Vandale growled. ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t even really know him,¡± Anton said. He also didn¡¯t mention that if Vandale went to the afterlife- whatever sort it was, if it existed- it probably wouldn¡¯t have Everheart there. Especially not if he ascended. ¡°It¡¯s the principle of the thing,¡± Vandale said. Anton nodded. ¡°I have a question. About your Falling Stars technique.¡± ¡°Oh, asking about my personal technique now?¡± Vandale smiled. ¡°Go ahead. Ask.¡± ¡°Do you drop the stars from the sky to accelerate them with gravity?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not just that. It also produces a nice effect. But yes, I take advantage of gravity. I find that flinging each and every one myself is much less efficient.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Anton didn¡¯t have much else to say. ¡°I can show you how I do it,¡± Vandale offered. ¡°Later.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d properly learn it,¡± Anton said. ¡°I don¡¯t mind if you just steal the best bits,¡± Vandale said. ¡°In that case, I¡¯d like to try. Though I doubt I¡¯ll achieve any success at my current cultivation.¡± Vandale shook his head. ¡°Not so much. It¡¯s not even really practical in Essence Collection. But there are some tricks that help. Might as well teach it to somebody. A few have tried to learn in the past¡­ and one refused. Though I suppose he had a good point. We don¡¯t need any more of me.¡± Chapter 176 One old man crouched in a devastated field, a blank expression on his face. Another stood nearby, watching. Sometimes it wasn¡¯t the right moment to say anything. ¡°Why?¡± the first man asked. It was clear he wasn¡¯t seeking an answer- as if there couldn¡¯t be one. ¡°Why me? Why my fields?¡± He reached down, picking up a handful of dirt. Sparkles of light reflected off fine grains among the soil. Old man Abramsen was nobody of import. He was just another person living in Graotan, and thus there was no way his fields had been targeted specifically. Nor was there any benefit to those who did it. Properly ruining a field- with salt and some other strange minerals Anton could sense- was expensive, hard work. Several cultivators or one particularly powerful individual would have been needed to achieve what they did in the time available. It wouldn¡¯t do any good for Anton to tell him it was his fault- and that was only true in small part. Despite him being the spark that lit everything on fire, the Heavenly Lion Sect had been piling tinder and kindling as high as they could. But it was more than just them- the others involved simply hadn¡¯t been sniffed out yet. Abramsen laid down on his back, not minding the patches of mud in the field. ¡°Maybe I should give up and die. I tried cultivating like you, but my progress is abysmal. There¡¯s no way I can seek revenge on whoever did this, or even feed myself and my wife.¡± Though he was dramatic about it, Anton felt he was quite entitled to his current stance. Honestly he expected more crying, but it seemed that Abramsen simply wasn¡¯t capable of that at the moment. ¡°Let me tell you a story,¡± Anton said, pulling up a log that wasn¡¯t particularly nearby when he started. ¡°About a hero on a years long quest for revenge. At the end, what do you think happens?¡± Abramsen sighed, ¡°He succeeds and lives happily ever after.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton said, ¡°But I intend to tell you a true tale. What happens is¡­ nothing. Oh, the hero gets revenge on those who wronged him. There is a rush of feeling, of course. A satisfaction. Nearly as significant as collapsing into a bed after finishing up weeks of work raising a barn. Nothing compared to seeing a new child or grandchild.¡± ¡°Heh,¡± Abramsen laughed mirthlessly, ¡°You think I can have children at this age?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Likely not. But let me tell you something. The hero of that story might indeed live happily ever after. But it had nothing to do with the revenge. What is the point? People died. Maybe it was good for the world, in the end. Satisfying. But not as personally fulfilling as that man wanted.¡± Anton looked around the fields. ¡°But let me continue. You feel as if you have lost everything, do you not?¡± ¡°Even the house is gone. We¡¯re living out of a tent. Fields are ruined. Got nothing.¡± ¡°Your wife feels the same way?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Certain she does,¡± Abramsen said. ¡°The way she said nothing instead of happily joking as we passed by says everything.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anton agreed, ¡°It won¡¯t be easy to recover. We have a lot of work to do here.¡± He stood up to look around. ¡°You use that pond for anything?¡± ¡°No.¡± Abramsen sat up slowly, first rolling onto his side. ¡°Some years back a neighbor used it as a watering hole, but there¡¯s more convenient ones now.¡± ¡°Looks fine to me,¡± Anton said. ¡°Want a salt pond?¡± ¡°What, going to dump all the fields in there? With no topsoil left, won¡¯t be much left of them anyway.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll take some doing,¡± Anton said, grabbing Abramsen¡¯s arm and pulling him to his feet. ¡°Come on, I saw a shovel back there. Might as well get started fixing things up, if you¡¯re going to make things better than they were. Have to say, I think that¡¯s the best way to spite them.¡± Old man Abramsen sighed. ¡°I appreciate your efforts, but even if you help I have no seed nor much of anything else.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a couple good kinds. Did you know there are plants that like salt? Drink it right up. As for the other, I hope you like potatoes.¡± Abramsen scratched the back of his head, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t mind planting them. Maybe we can clear out some nearby woods? Nobody really knows who owns them. Could use ¡®em for a bit, I suppose.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Anton said. ¡°We can do that too. Now then, show me what you¡¯ve learned about cultivation.¡± ----- The Abramsens weren¡¯t the only ones in Troutberk that had problems, but they got the worst of it. Other fields had been torn up and tossed about, but they could be resown normally. It was quite easy for cultivators to knock down buildings, and so the houses of the hamlet had been trashed- but whoever came through hadn¡¯t understood the value of good strong tools. A majority of the ones they had to leave behind were still intact, not broken or stolen. There were still things that would be necessary for the rebuilding process, but it wasn¡¯t too hard to obtain them. Just a quick trip to the next village over, or the one after that. That might be a day¡¯s effort for some people, but Anton could travel more swiftly. And travel he did. He popped up here and there about the villages as people began to return, buying or borrowing tools while providing much needed work for those whose homes and livelihoods had been damaged. There was a lot that could be said for someone who could raise up an entire side of a barn on his own. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. But he didn¡¯t just solve everyone¡¯s problems. Anton could do the work of many people. Ten, twenty, thirty¡­ it was hard to say. But there was so much to be done. ¡°You need to spread your energy out more,¡± Anton said. ¡°Along your whole body, not just on your arms.¡± Anton demonstrated with his own energy, making it as visible as possible for those who were new to cultivation. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to support your back in particular. And if you anchor to your legs like so, everything gets easier.¡± Anton took a deep breath. ¡°Let the energy flow through your body, strengthening you.¡± He did that for himself as well, especially focusing on his chest. Regrowing sliced up bones was hard work, even with a bit of special medicine. The nineteenth star mirrored the second star, which in his case was his meridians. He was quite familiar with various different sorts of energy and was making significant strides. It didn¡¯t hurt that meridians were the part most inherently connected to the spirit to begin with. It was fairly quickly that Anton ran out of seed for the tubers, but everyone who needed it got at least a little for their fields. The only thing Anton required from people was that they allow him to take some seeds from the final crops to distribute further. The tubers he¡¯d gotten in Ambati weren¡¯t exactly potatoes, especially with the way they grew bunched together in big root structures- but they filled the same sorts of purposes in dining. They were hearty plants, but that didn¡¯t mean raising them was without difficulty. After planting it was important to check for ravenous insects that might want to eat them- including burrowing ones. Even if the insects had no concept of natural energy, they were attracted to the plants that naturally absorbed it. The far eastern sections of Graotan weren¡¯t especially gifted in natural energy either, so the act of cultivators working in the fields was necessary to give them a boost. They would still be much smaller than what had come up in Ambati for a few seasons at minimum, but sufficiently productive to feed people with enough to sell. Before the first harvest people needed some temporary supplies, but some of those were provided by the Order. Some villages also had stores they had managed to keep safe- either because they were hidden or nobody came through. The rest Anton took upon himself to acquire through hunting or simply purchasing from further away. Even for a cultivator it got a bit expensive to contribute to feeding so many people, but what else was he going to do with his money? Buy a new bowstring? He did need to do that, in fact. His bow didn¡¯t work at all, and he still couldn¡¯t reasonably draw the bone bow. Taking its string for his other bow would likely just snap it in half. But that didn¡¯t stop him from hunting. If he needed to he could have caught animals with his bare hands. Disregarding he at least had axes, he had another method he was working on. If Elder Kseniya could call Spirit Arrows just what it was, then he could call it Spirit Bowstring. In short, instead of using his energy to augment his pull on the bowstring, he used it as a replacement. While Spirit Arrows worked especially well because it eliminated the need to draw arrows from a quiver and simply condensing and sharpening energy would do well- and allow easy control- doing the same for a string was a bit more difficult. Anton knew it would still be better to have a string in place to augment. Technically that was true with arrows as well- but only if the arrows were of sufficient quality. Unlike strings, they were basically consumable. Even if they could be retrieved after battle, that wasn¡¯t the case for all of them- and to make each one out of fine material rapidly ballooned in price. Strings were supposed to last for a long time, and his had. Until someone far beyond him had broken it quite by accident. But he wasn¡¯t bitter about it. It¡¯s not like he was thinking about taking revenge in great detail. Though that was because the one most at fault was already dead. In short, Anton didn¡¯t need a bowstring or arrows. Eventually he might not need a bow at all- current experiments showed that if he wanted to kill anything larger than a squirrel, he needed more than just his own energy control. Sharpening and condensing an arrow while also forming a rigid-yet-flexable bowshaft and all of the properties of a decent string¡­ that was a bit beyond what he could do comfortably. ----- A veritable field of lotus flowers floated atop the pond. The flowers literally glistened and sparkled. It had been quite a bit of work to make that happen- first digging out mud at the bottom to make room for adding in the salty soil, and then managing for the other junk that was tossed in. Fortunately, mandrake lotus thrived in adversity. With nothing able to compete with them in salty and potentially poisonous water, they rapidly took over the pond. ¡°Now that I think of it,¡± old man Abramsen commented. ¡°You never told me what we¡¯re doing with these flowers. I¡¯ll admit they¡¯re a right beautiful sight, but for all that work I¡¯m not quite sure what we¡¯ll get out of it.¡± ¡°Is beauty not enough?¡± Anton smiled, ¡°Because I have uses for them. Cultivator stuff. I¡¯ll be buying them.¡± Anton held out a bag. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Abramsen looked in the bag, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Payment. For all of these.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not interested in accepting charity,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s hard to say after all you¡¯ve done for me, but just handing me this much money¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°Especially since you provided the seed and did most of the work.¡± ¡°You want me to be honest?¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡¯s cheap. Consider it payment for letting me experiment with your pond and land. I¡¯ll be making significantly more than that off of these.¡± Without a formal agreement, Anton was willing to concede more than he already had, but if he said how much he thought it would make Abramsen wouldn¡¯t have believed him. It would sound like a scam. One little pond would make more than all of the Krantz farm in a year from many fields and animals. ¡°In a few years these won¡¯t grow here anymore, I don¡¯t think. They¡¯re rapidly desalinating the water. You¡¯d have to live on the coast to grow these properly.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t lie,¡± Abramsen said, ¡°A lot of things about energy cultivation go quite over my head. But seeing these plants you brought¡­ a little bit of special care, and they grow so much.¡± ¡°Just like people,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°I¡¯d be lying if I said I didn¡¯t get any benefits here. A season to complete the nineteenth star isn¡¯t bad.¡± ¡°Frankly,¡± the other man said, ¡°It seems unreasonable. Here I am barely struggling to complete the second star, and you say it gets harder with each step.¡± ¡°Second is a real hurdle though,¡± Anton reminded. ¡°The prime temperings take a bit more. You work hard though. Keep at it¡­ and you won¡¯t have to be surpassed by your wife.¡± ¡°Never thought she¡¯d be able to do so much from a seat. You said she might be able to walk on her own?¡± ¡°No promises about that,¡± Anton said. ¡°If it¡¯s just weak muscles, she¡¯ll be able to totter about with a bit more work. If it¡¯s deeper than that, it would require the help of someone with proper medical training- regarding cultivators.¡± ¡°... sounds expensive.¡± ¡°Right you are,¡± Anton agreed. Then he clapped him on the back. ¡°But hey, you can just carry her around if not. Aren¡¯t you lucky?¡± Abramsen laughed, ¡°Maybe I am.¡± Chapter 177 Cultivation improved the body and mind of a cultivator, allowing them to physically do more as well as their mental ability to process more input. Even if they had a body that could react in an instant to an attack, without their mind being able to give that signal in time nothing would happen. The same was true outside of combat. Cultivators were able to do other mental tasks more quickly, including calculations and memorization. Each person still had their own strengths, but all were enhanced as their cultivation grew. Each time Kohar managed to step up another rank in her cultivation technique, she was able to think more quickly and handle more at once. Yet it seemed like the things requiring her attention increased faster than she could improve herself. She wasn¡¯t trying to do everything herself, but those she was training up as assistants and lawyers simply weren¡¯t experienced enough yet. The Secret Realm previously inhabited by the Luminous Ocean Society had been beneficial to her cultivation, and she was quite glad for the opportunity to go- but she had been hoping that more trouble wouldn¡¯t arise there. Perhaps that was a vain hope, because she knew that Anton and the others attracted trouble wherever they went. Or perhaps they simply found trouble that already existed and were willing to deal with it where others weren¡¯t. Either way, it resulted in more work for Kohar. The one thing she appreciated was that the amount of trouble they caused opened up people for making errors, making it easier to find evidence. Tonina Potenza showing her face in public was the easiest thread to pull on, but it was cut off somewhere in connection to her family and their association with the Flying Blood Cult. The group was hard to track, so she could only go after the Potenza family¡¯s other connections. The association between Van Hassel and Zvonko was big. The Order already basically knew they were still working together in some capacity, but having them in captivity for the trial allowed them to learn more. They were quite willing to give up information on the other. Then there were the executions, and the attacks tantamounting to an invasion that followed. It wasn¡¯t just the Heavenly Lion Sect that got involved. Working simultaneously was the Flying Blood Cult- though they seemed to not be associated. On the other hand, from what she heard about them the fact that the woman who roamed the battlefield as a tornado of blood ultimately ended up killing Enid Galli of the Heavenly Lion Sect didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t acting as allies before that point. Some of her words were important, referring to Tonina as ¡®her target¡¯. Clearly not for assassination, since there was little point in doing so to someone being executed, and she got her hands on her. So it was rescue, or abduction. Once again, the fact that the Flying Blood Cult was working with her previously didn¡¯t necessarily result in the conclusion that they were rescuing her. Then there were the other parties. Allies, or at least those who could be considered helpful associates in Ofrurg, helped gather some information on mercenaries hired to cause trouble in Graotan. Hundreds of those not from the Heavenly Lion Sect, Flying Blood Cult, and the mercenaries directly with them crossed the border in a rush, ignoring proper protocols. That bothered several groups of people. Some were just sticklers for the rules in general. The Frostmirror Sect was more on that end, though even they overlooked minor offenses. But they, among others, caught people being delivered to the Iron Ring Slavers, as well as other slaving companies. Of course, they denied knowledge of the individuals involved in the illegal activity. The worrying thing was that they might be telling the truth. Kohar had no doubt they were still up to more crimes- even if she ignored the parts of slavery that were legal in Ofrurg- but recent events had caused them to be more cautious. The work was so widely distributed and seemingly random, with the destruction being unnecessary and expensive compared to the actual results. The Order had anticipated an outlash from the invaders, thus bringing as many as they could out of the way, but that had just been on the assumption that they would take out their anger as they passed by. Intentional things like overturning fields and capturing some of the few who remained behind were strange- especially people who had no value as slaves. There were only a few dozen cases of people remaining behind and becoming enslaved that they knew about, a small percentage of the entire population in the area- and most of those were caught- but it was still strange. Those who did it only knew they were getting paid quite well, and those giving the payment weren¡¯t much more helpful- even with the Frostmirror Sect¡¯s willingness to interrogate people quite harshly. Either people were unwilling or unable to answer, both of which were concerning. But Kohar couldn¡¯t deal with all of that. She had legal retaliations to deal with. The Iron Ring Slavers and others, while denying responsibility, had still been caught red-handed- and even if Kohar believed their claims, they still deserved the punishments. A corrupt organization answering for individual members¡¯ corruptions was perfectly just, and there was no way she was going to let them weasel out of it. The Potenza family either. Direct violation of legal orders followed by further offenses- though less easily provable given the circumstances- was something she could prosecute all day. And she would. As long as someone of sufficient strength came with her. Because there was no way she was stepping a foot into Ofrurg without bodyguards unless and until she reached Essence Collection- and that wouldn¡¯t be anytime soon. ----- Things of interest in the libraries of a large sect were first and foremost their cultivation and combat techniques, as well as various compendiums on blacksmithing, alchemy or other crafting pursuits. Histories were prized by some, and notes about other sects and their strengths and weaknesses didn¡¯t go ignored. Of minimal interest were simple records- ledgers for transfers of funds and how many herbs of what type were stored when it only mattered if you couldn¡¯t just take all of it. While the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s Secret Realm didn¡¯t have vast treasuries for the taking- and many of what had once been the stores were cleared out by ¡®E¡¯- even things they considered of little value could be quite meaningful to some modern sects. Any enchanted equipment that lasted through the ages was extremely valuable, and simply studying the active formations was a windfall for many. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. But not everyone cared about the same things. Vilma Antonova was actually quite interested in exactly how many of each thing the Luminous Ocean Society had in the Secret Realm. The numbers were quite staggering. They would expect several thousand Spirit Building disciples to pass through the realm every year, and that number didn¡¯t always include those returning for additional chances at rewards. Comparing to the Order of the Ninety-Nine Stars, which had only about thirteen hundred Spirit Building disciples total, it was a stark difference. The records indicated that the Luminous Ocean Society was of significant note during their time, which was at least somewhat relieving. The problem came in the small details of the records. Some of the language was so old it was hard to interpret, but some of the names seemed pertinent. The divine pressure training tower had some implications in its name, but the four elements resistance pill was given significant importance as well. One was to be provided for each disciple ¡®to help resist overflowing elemental energy¡¯. From where, it did not say. But there were other references to worry things such as the ¡®convergence¡¯ and the ¡®harvest¡¯, perhaps two names for the same thing. The records indicated that was what the disciples were being prepared for, and that those who could not reach Life Transformation within thirty years would be put aside for those with ¡®proper talent¡¯. Vilma herself was at the thirtieth star in slightly more than thirty years of cultivation, and was considered to have reasonable talent. She knew she wasn¡¯t a genius or anything, but the fact that she was an entire realm besides what they considered proper talent was somewhat depressing. Though she thought with the resources of the Luminous Ocean Society she might have made more progress- but she wondered why they needed so many people in the highest cultivation realm. The obvious answer was conflict with other sects, but nearly every sect was marked ¡®allied¡¯ or ¡®neutral¡¯ in their records, and it seemed conflicts had been ¡®minimal¡¯. But the records available were minimal, since the Secret Realm wasn¡¯t the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s main base of operations. The actual location was unclear, but it seemed difficult for something so grand to have been lost to time. Vilma knew about dozens of sects that had perished centuries prior and still had prominently remembered locations. But perhaps something would give more clues to where it might be, so they could at least search through what were presumably ruins of historical note. ----- Several years ago, when he had first begun cultivating, Timothy had done so with the intent to keep up with Catarina. His childhood friend meant a lot to him, and even if their relationship developed into something other than friendship he wanted to keep her safe. Simple motivations that had been able to allow him to deal with the trials of cultivation, to a point. Having seen more of the world, he wanted more now. The world had many problems, big and small, but all of them had some connection to cultivators. Whether solved by them or caused by them- as everything, humans did both- it was important that stronger cultivators could do more. The way people affected things could be quite different. Timothy saw how Anton focused on those who weren¡¯t cultivators- or ¡®weren¡¯t yet cultivators¡¯ by Anton¡¯s words. At his current level he was aware that basically no one without cultivation ability could harm him in any way. If an entire city rose up against them, he might not be able to kill all of them, but he could cut swathes through them as he fled the city, uninjured. He wouldn¡¯t, but there were people who would. Kohar dealt with things from a different angle. She had little direct involvement with the people she helped, but instead attacked the sources of their problem- organizations and sects, especially as they were involved with slavery. It seemed a difficult battle to fight, but when done right it could be enforced by those with powerful cultivations who weren¡¯t even strictly the allies of the Order. While some cultivators might think themselves above the law, if it came to affect other cultivators that attitude would quickly result in their destruction. Timothy didn¡¯t have a head for law, nor the right temperament for detailed teaching like Anton. He didn¡¯t mind training with people, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to pick out little problems and correct them all day. But he wanted to help people, keep them safe, and more than just Catarina and his friends. To do that, he needed to be strong. Not just a little bit strong. Recent battles had shown him how strong people could get. Even watching from a distance as he helped defend the refugees, the battle involving Grand Elder Vandale and others at the execution fort had been astounding. And while Timothy knew there were plenty of people with the strength to protect those who couldn¡¯t protect themselves, there weren¡¯t enough people willing to devote themselves to it. Timothy wasn¡¯t sure if he could commit to that forever- he was just a young man, and sticking with something for a decade would already be an accomplishment, let alone a century or maybe a few if his cultivation continued smoothly. But it was his current inspiration for cultivation, and as long as he didn¡¯t focus too much on growing stronger and actually did something along the way, he could be satisfied. The current Graotan wasn¡¯t a battleground, despite the events months earlier, but he could make sure he was ready if anything happened. And, though it was difficult, he would also devote himself to study of larger level strategy, though he had no say on those decisions at his current level. Perhaps if he found some ability there or in some other practical area, he could save more lives than he could with a sword and shield. Chapter 178 Atop the highest peak in the Order of the Ninety-Nine Stars two men, both advanced in age but of vastly different years, looked down upon the world below. ¡°I do not fully expect you to be able to make use of the technique at your current cultivation,¡± Grand Elder Vandale noted. ¡°It is designed for those with higher cultivation. As for actually understanding it, that is up to you¡­ and to me. You will forgive me if some of the insights are difficult to comprehend. I¡¯ve not often taught it to anyone. It was developed as my own personal technique, but as it draws on the Ninety-Nine Stars cultivation technique, it should be usable by anyone. In theory.¡± ¡°Has anyone actually learned Falling Stars?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Not successfully. It was not appropriate for some, and others didn¡¯t have the capability.¡± Vandale held out a single hand, a burning ball appearing over it. ¡°Forming energy next to the cultivator is simple enough. A task everyone gets used to.¡± Another ball appeared in the sky above, streaking downwards before dissipating above the ground. ¡°Forming one at a distance is more difficult. Most importantly, it doesn¡¯t do well inside restrictions or the area controlled by another cultivator. Even if I successfully created one right in front of you, I wouldn¡¯t benefit from the acceleration due to gravity.¡± He tossed the burning ball in his hand down the backside of the mountain, once again dispersing it in the air. ¡°We will practice both creating a proper density of energy as well as acting further away from your body. Combining the two will likely be difficult, as well as controlling the descent to keep it accurate.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for Anton to create something resembling one of the stars that Vandale used, but he knew it was significantly different. His was more akin to a hollow shell instead of a dense ball of fiery power. As he tossed it forwards down the mountain he felt it quickly slip out of his control. He was used to fighting against gravity and not allowing it to take control. But he repeated his attempts, achieving some small amount of success with letting it accelerate under gravity¡¯s power while still keeping his own control over how it moved. As he made each attempt, Vandale guided him on different elements. ¡°The density is more important than the size. Small beads will be more useful for you at the moment, I believe. Simply allowing it to be affected by gravity will be sufficient with the same amount of energy.¡± His ability to articulate his points in a clear and helpful manner made him a much better teacher than Elder Kseniya, though he could certainly learn much from both of them. ¡°You might notice different arcs on your attempts compared to my demonstrations.¡± ¡°I did notice that mine tended to crash directly into the ground, yes,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°That is the expected outcome. Redirecting that momentum into the horizontal plane is an important step to really take control of the technique. I have a few tips for that, besides repeated practice.¡± Several days passed as Anton continued to practice. Each day he would climb up to the peak, since he couldn¡¯t very well practice anywhere else. The rear side of the mountain had one of the few bare slopes available, and he wasn¡¯t so certain in his technique that he guaranteed he could stop something that veered out of his control. Unlike Spirit Arrows where he had to focus somewhat to keep their form, energy condensed into a ball happily held its form unless specifically unravelled by his control- or by impacting something. The same principles of controlling energy applied to both cases, but the exact uses were new¡­ and he had to practice. A few dozen attempts was all he could manage before needing a break, but he repeated throughout the day until he had hundreds of attempts each day, totalling well over a thousand total. For something like archery that would be just the beginning, and it wasn¡¯t much different for Falling Stars. But he at least had enough of the basics for Vandale to start guiding him in other areas. ¡°Good. You¡¯ve become adept at smoothly redirecting the energy to keep whatever angle you want without crashing into the ground or overcorrecting, allowing the attacks to constantly accelerate.¡± Vandale nodded as he held his hands behind his back. Then he raised one up. ¡°Next is controlling energy away from your body. I want you to take it one step at a time. This factor and energy density are things you have little hope of replicating perfectly at your cultivation, but you should still learn them.¡± He demonstrated how he spread his energy out over a large area, suddenly condensing it into a denser form. The way it was spread out evenly but rapidly became a solid point made it more diverse and harder to predict. Anton already had experience with spreading his energy for the sake of sensing and the like, but over any significant distance it wasn¡¯t good for much else, certainly not the power required for attacking. They started with something simple, creating a ball an arm¡¯s length above his head. Anton was quite easily able to summon energy from within himself and raise it to that point, but pulling the energy around it into greater density was something unfamiliar. At the distances involved it would always be more efficient for him to raise an arm for the energy to originate from, but then he would be ultimately limited to just that. It was quite reasonable when in Spirit Building, but increasing the diversity of his abilities would provide significant value. They gradually increased the distance, until about ten meters was the ultimate limit Anton could condense energy in, if he wasn¡¯t focused on one direction. If absolutely necessary he could condense a ball of energy a hundred meters away, but the way his energy all flowed in that direction it would be exceedingly obvious. Even if he could create an attack from anywhere along a long ¡®arm¡¯, it was nowhere near the diversity of attacking from anywhere in a sphere around him. Of course, just condensing energy didn¡¯t make it into an attack. Anton had a long way to go before he could even slightly replicate the true power of Falling Stars, just based on technique alone. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I¡¯m impressed,¡± Vandale said. ¡°You grasped the basics very quickly.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not too different from archery,¡± Anton contended. ¡°Tell that to Elder Kseniya. She¡¯ll disagree.¡± Vandale grinned, his one eye squinting slightly. ¡°But any ranged attack will have certain commonalities. The most important one is density. For now we¡¯ll be focusing on the densest energy you can create.¡± Vandale held up his arm, a ball of fire the size of his head floating above it. Anton was able to watch as more and more energy poured into it without greatly changing its size. Vandale flung his arm, sending it into the air where it exploded. ¡°Energy under pressure wants to be released, but if done right¡­¡± Vandale did it again, creating another ball quite similar to the first. Anton could feel the flow of energy was quite different, and a notable visual difference was that there was no flickering of flames. It was more of a pure yellow-white sphere. Vandale dropped it, and it crashed into the ground, breaking apart rocks under their feet and digging a hole several meters deep before it came to a halt. Anton did his best to replicate the technique, holding his arms in front of him, hands apart on either side of where he formed the ball of energy. Even as he created it he felt gravity trying to drag it down. It grew and grew, but the density wasn¡¯t increasing much. Anton forced it into a tighter configuration, much like he used for Spirit Arrows. However, as he pushed himself beyond his limits and the ball gradually shrunk, he found it pushing back. It was all he could do to toss it away from himself before it exploded. A gentle blanket of energy surrounded him, making the explosion like a warm puff of air. Anton looked to Vandale and bowed his head, ¡°Thank you. I usually don¡¯t make mistakes like that.¡± ¡°Hmm. That¡¯s where you¡¯re different from me. You¡¯re more prone to figuring out your limits and properly expanding them. I used to just push them as far as they could go, regardless of the consequences. When I miraculously survived, I learned my true limits. Go ahead and try again, without restraint. I¡¯ll protect you.¡± Anton didn¡¯t need to express any concern for Vandale. The idea that he even could injure the man was laughable. The man was practically eighty stars ahead of him, five times his amount- and they weren¡¯t all just equivalent in power but increasing as they went. It could take a hundred of him to cause danger to Vandale. And¡­ while he knew the Grand Elder was conserving his energy, the small amount he could trouble him should be nothing to worry about. That said, he wanted to at least have the sort of caution where he was able to tell what went wrong. Thus, he focused both on condensing the energy and seeing what fluctuations caused it to explode and slightly less on preventing that from happening, at least until he understood a particular problem. It was much more tiring than any of the other activities, and after a few attempts he had to rest. Several repetitions later he¡¯d made more than twenty attempts, with visible improvements to his technique- though more visible flaws. ¡°Good,¡± Vandale said, ¡°But I know that¡¯s not actually the highest density of energy you can gather. During the battle I sensed something else.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Well, that¡¯s true. But it¡¯s barely my energy.¡± ¡°Anything you can control is your energy. And I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll want to use it regardless. I understand if you would like to keep that technique a secret, however.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°No, it¡¯s not that. I just can¡¯t use it much.¡± He closed his eyes, concentrating. ¡°The source is that technique from Everheart, Fleeting Youth. I¡¯ve managed to reach the initial level of success in drawing upon the power, but the absolute quantities I can use are limited and it requires more of my own energy to draw it out. But, it is certainly the most dense energy I can handle.¡± Similar to before, Anton held out his hands across from each other. However, the initial ball that formed was smaller. The energy of Fleeting Youth drew on the future that would never be fully reached, primarily the power of ascension and reincarnation. Making repeated use of it pretty much guaranteed he wouldn¡¯t be able to ascend- though that was not much different from most cultivators in the world. As for reincarnation¡­ perhaps if he reincarnated, future versions of him would be unable to use energy at all. He hoped to at least make the world a better place for them to live. Not himself, because that reasonably wouldn¡¯t be him. At least, in his opinion. The smaller ball of energy still had the energy signatures of the Ninety-Nine Stars, despite Anton not having held it in his dantian and converted it from natural energy. But mixed in among it was raw power that didn¡¯t seem to be from any cultivation technique, but likewise wasn¡¯t incompatible with other energy. A ball the size of his fist contained more energy than previous attempts of him, and he continued to add even more. The process only took a handful of seconds- far too slow for most cases in battle, but he was focused more on stability than speed at the moment. With the energy naturally being denser, it seemed less prone to pushing back against him- though he had compressed it to the point it was straining somewhat. There was only so much power he could call upon and control at once, and he reached that limit. Normally he made use of the energy in smaller portions, while currently he held about a total of a third of the energy he could gather from Fleeting Youth all at once. He attempted to fling it forward, driving it with his energy, but it sank like a stone, crashing into the mountain right next to them. It didn¡¯t so readily break through solid stone as Vandale¡¯s, but it had a solid impact and held its shape for a few moments. ¡°Interesting,¡± Vandale said. ¡°If properly formed into an attack, that¡¯s enough to give some Essence Collection cultivators cause for concern. At the very least, they couldn¡¯t just ignore it.¡± Vandale nodded, ¡°We should focus on making use of that. You can use a bit less and get used to controlling it in this form, then we¡¯ll work on the distance exercises. There¡¯s a lot of potential with that.¡± Chapter 179 Stepping out of a courthouse in Ofrurg, Kohar wanted to sigh. However, people were still watching. Letting it be known she was troubled would only vindicate them. Technically, her efforts were bearing fruit- it was simply that she wasn¡¯t making major progress. There were so many things she had to keep track of and the results just weren¡¯t enough. Taking down an individual or even dozens of idiotic cultivators who thought they could just grab people from Graotan wasn¡¯t much good, and the various slaver companies were able to deny wrongdoing by them as a whole. Their legal representation was better as well. Incomplete victories were frustrating. Though she hadn¡¯t often fought on a battlefield with comrades by her side, her efforts were like winning a battle with dead allies. Was it even really a victory at that point? It was difficult for her to claim it that way. The Heavenly Lion Sect was under great pressure, but they chose to break apart rather than let themselves get destroyed. The Order wasn¡¯t going to send an army into Ofrurg, but the Heavenly Lion Sect had plenty of enemies who were willing to take any opportunity, especially with one of their guardians dead. Life Transformation experts didn¡¯t just pop up out of nowhere. As soon as they had sensed their end coming, they split apart. Many disciples and elders were caught fleeing, but the vaults of the Heavenly Lion Sect were found empty, with much unaccounted for. Most of their strongest remaining members went missing. Disorganized individuals couldn¡¯t cause as much damage as a sect, but if any of them was willing to sacrifice their life they could kill a large number of normal people. Then again, most cultivators valued themselves first and foremost- if they could flee to live, they would prefer that to take revenge at a later date. Though she was concerned about attempts at revenge against herself, Kohar knew she wouldn¡¯t be the highest priority. As long as she kept growing in cultivation and stayed safe, she wasn¡¯t really in much danger. Certainly not as much as others involved, fighting actual battles. For the moment, disciples of the Order were forbidden into Ofrurg by the Order itself except on business. Members of the Heavenly Lion Sect might end up elsewhere but forbidding cultivators from going anywhere would just result in every disciple stagnating. They would have to remain aware of the increased risks. Though it was a long shot, Kohar had thought the blatant disregard for any and all laws by a mass of people might have resulted in some wider sweeping changes, especially with regards to slavery, but it remained much the same. It would have been easy to give up in despair, but she knew she had to keep trying. Working as part of the Order was her best chance to change the world in the ways she was capable of, not just through violence of threats of violence. More importantly, it was by trying to use the laws to protect normal folk. She was glad she wasn¡¯t the only one who cared about people instead of just individuals. ----- Replacing a bowstring was not terribly difficult, even on a fine piece of equipment like Anton¡¯s bow. It wouldn¡¯t be quite the same, but it would function. For someone else, at least. If Anton was going to be going to the trouble, he thought he might as well get a new bow entirely. He could certainly afford it, and the beast bone bow was still outside of his ability to properly use. Elder Evan led him through the armory hall to show him bows in the general range he was looking for. ¡°Twistoak and stranglevine,¡± Evan showed Anton a somewhat strange bow where the entire upper and lower limbs were twisting corkscrews of wood. ¡°It¡¯s got great power.¡± Anton held it and felt its draw, the way it bent and pulled. The strange shape didn¡¯t make it awkward as he was expecting, but it wasn¡¯t quite right. ¡°It¡¯s a bit smaller than I¡¯m used to. I generally prefer closer to longbow range.¡± ¡°Understandable,¡± Evan nodded, ¡°We have more over here. How about this one? Springstone and great wolf tendon.¡± Anton took it in hand, feeling the strange smooth stone that made up the limbs. It would be a very strange sort of stone to bend, but he had to trust that the bow would work. He pulled back on the string, finding that it pulled back intensely but not in an unpleasant way. It certainly required drawing strength near his limits, but that was acceptable. ¡°I like this one.¡± ¡°Nooooo!¡± came a voice from next to him. ¡°Grandpa, you can¡¯t get that one. Didn¡¯t you hear it was wolf tendon?¡± Anton sighed, looking over at Alva. ¡°You¡¯re right I suppose. Fuzz wouldn¡¯t approve.¡± Perhaps it was silly to indulge her complaints. He could simply tell her it was practical. She was on the border between being a girl and a young woman, after all. But sometimes how things felt was important. Once it was brought up, he couldn¡¯t shake the thought of it being from something like Fuzz. Perhaps if it was actually him in memory- though Anton didn¡¯t like the thought of that either. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°A tricky one. How about¡­ this.¡± He reached over to another bow, with visible rings on the woody structure. ¡°This is hollowreed, both the main body is formed from it and the string was formed from its fibers. Unlike many of the others, it¡¯s not particularly sturdy. It requires proper application of energy, but enhances it quite well. According to Kseniya, anyway.¡± Anton took it carefully, feeling it with his hand and sinking his energy into it. It did feel quite fragile, but happily accepted his energy. If he were to shoot it, he would need to coat the whole bow in energy, but he did that already to enhance the power. It was simply that he wouldn¡¯t have any other option. He gave it a few tugs. ¡°Mind if I test it at the range?¡± It performed better than expected, snapping forward quickly and propelling his arrows with great speed. It didn¡¯t seem to be strained by the process of firing it, though he would have to be careful with it in combat- more than normal. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°That one looks good,¡± Alva commented. ¡°Fits you better.¡± ¡°If you say so,¡± Anton nodded. He did like it though. He ultimately decided to purchase it, after he checked out some others. He had thought to give Alva his old bow, but despite how much she wanted to emulate him, it just didn¡¯t quite fit her style. She was more of a user of shortbows- though to be fair, her body was hardly big enough for anything else at the moment. She wasn¡¯t tiny, but she certainly hadn¡¯t reached her adult size yet. Bringing her along had just been because of her interest, but he thought it prevented him from making a hasty decision. He just wanted to be shooting again. Properly, and though he could do something much the same without a bow it wasn¡¯t quite the same. Likewise, even though he greatly respected Grand Elder Vandale, he wasn¡¯t going to suddenly stop using a bow and switch to the Falling Stars- even if he could fully use the technique. And he couldn¡¯t. The principles were more important for the moment, and if he ultimately ended up using it as his primary fighting style, it would be many years hence. Anton continued to buy a few other pieces of equipment, namely some armor. He had some temporary equipment he was using, but some of his actual armor had issues. Namely the big stab in the chest region. Even a fully diamondsilk undershirt wouldn¡¯t have stopped an attack from a Life Transformation expert without him being able to support it at a much higher level. The amount of power he could access with Fleeting Youth wasn¡¯t suitable for the purpose of defense, either, since that mostly involved distributed energy. Though Vandale¡¯s techniques would help him focus his defenses on a single point more quickly. He just had to be accurate about it so as to not leave himself open to feints. After they finished acquiring equipment, Anton and Alva walked back together. The current accommodations were sizable enough for them, but Anton was thinking of moving to another place. More natural energy would be nice, but he also wanted a place he could practice archery- the yard was far too small. If it could accommodate some others as well, he would like it- he didn¡¯t want Catarina to suddenly have to take a trip up the mountain to visit him, even if she could do it in ten or fifteen minutes if she hurried. ¡°I miss Annelie,¡± Alva said out of the blue as they were on their way. ¡°You were able to spend time with her in the Secret Realm,¡± Anton mentioned. ¡°I know. But that was months ago. It just makes me miss her more now. I can¡¯t go visit her, and she won¡¯t come here.¡± ¡°It wouldn¡¯t look good, and would risk her position in the Frostmirror Sect- as well as possibly her life if her connection to us is learned by the wrong people. They would defend her if they could, but¡­¡± ¡°I know,¡± Alva said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we still have enemies. I mean, I understand that Van Hassel wasn¡¯t working alone, but it¡¯s just hard to think that so many people wouldn¡¯t like us. Only a few years ago I used to think everyone was a good person.¡± She shook her head, ¡°I was just a dumb kid.¡± ¡°Everyone is, for a while. It would be nice if more people could stay that way, but the world doesn¡¯t allow it.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± she looked down. ¡°When will we be strong enough to do what we want? I thought when I became a cultivator that would happen, and then I thought it might be Spirit Building like you¡­ but there¡¯s so much you can¡¯t handle still.¡± ¡°I suppose we¡¯ll just have to reach the peak of the world, then,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Because anything less won¡¯t be enough. And even if we reached that point, if we were alone it would also be insufficient.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way that¡¯ll happen,¡± Alva frowned. ¡°There¡¯s like¡­ twenty people in Life Transformation here.¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± Anton said. ¡°I heard that they have high hopes for Annelie reaching the peak. But I suppose it would be odd if both of you did.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯m not keeping up with her!¡± Alva clenched a fist. ¡°Next time I see her I¡¯ll be as strong as her, just you watch.¡± ¡°Gladly. Though, if you meet her a bit sooner don¡¯t be concerned about it. Just be happy to see her again.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Alva nodded. ¡°So¡­ not quite that. But I won¡¯t let her stay stronger than me forever!¡± ----- Looking for a single person in a city could be an impossible task. Looking for someone without knowing what city or country they were in was even harder. Velvet wasn¡¯t going to give up easily, though. She couldn¡¯t just always hang around Anton. Especially not when he was busy training himself and others. She¡¯d be able to learn from him, of course, but if they were apart for a while he could just help her fix any problems with her training all at once. That Vessel of Insights he had was quite useful, though much of his advice she knew was also just his. Other people might be able to find Masozi, but she was well suited for it. It also gave her practical skills at stealth beyond just ¡®hide behind something¡¯. Blending in and not being noticed was even better than being hidden completely, because then nobody was looking for you. And Masozi wouldn¡¯t recognize her. Of course, she wouldn¡¯t recognize him without having studied a drawing of him, but that didn¡¯t matter. The man was suddenly important after a long time. Last seen by Anton in Khonard, and the trail was followed by her to hopefully end in Estary. He had been Tonina Potenza¡¯s bodyguard. She was dead now, but there was something strangely important about her regardless. Someone from the Flying Blood Sect had wanted her alive, and her family had fled Khonard after she failed to be retrieved. He might be the only one they could vaguely trust to know something about the connection there. Something about who the enemies of Anton and the Order were- because they were certainly enemies, even if some of them weren¡¯t showing their faces. Velvet stepped into a crowded tavern, scanning for faces and feeling for what the man¡¯s energy had been described as. She found¡­ nothing. But she would keep looking. Maybe ask a few questions. No matter how much they wanted to, people didn¡¯t just disappear- and the man had to earn enough to keep up a cultivator¡¯s lifestyle somehow. Chapter 180 Flashing the paper with Masozi¡¯s face on it would either be the fastest way to find him, or the fastest way to send him into hiding. Just because it didn¡¯t say there was a bounty connected to it didn¡¯t mean it wouldn¡¯t evoke those same feelings. Velvet went with a more subtle approach, looking for who in the tavern might be the most informed, who was paying attention. She kept her cultivation concealed, making her seem weaker and less important, though she didn¡¯t fully hide that she was a cultivator. The things she heard varied widely. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen him.¡± ¡°Seems like a merc.¡± Many more unhelpful things along those lines were repeated, but she eventually got something useful. ¡°I saw him down at the docks, talking to the harbormaster,¡± one man responded. ¡°Might I inquire why you are searching for him?¡± ¡°I need to talk to him about something,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Do you remember what he was talking to the harbormaster about?¡± ¡°I might recall something, though my memory does get a bit fuzzy without my medicine.¡± The man was at least straightforward enough to hold out his hand for the bribe or just payment. ¡°The information better be good,¡± Velvet answered. ¡°It is accurate, I assure you. I have no intention to waste your time with fabrications.¡± Upon receiving a modest payment, he nodded. ¡°He was asking about boats going to the Golden Isles. You know the rumors?¡± Velvet shrugged noncommittally. ¡°It has to do with that Secret Realm down south. Some sort of ocean sect from the past. It seems the ruins of their headquarters have been uncovered, and everyone around here is flocking for it.¡± Velvet looked around the room, seeing how relaxed everyone was. ¡°Everyone without good sense, anyway. Some of those ruins are buried in the depths of the sea. An awful place for cultivators to travel, I must say. Hard to survive there even without beasts chewing on you.¡± Velvet had heard something about that, though she hadn¡¯t been able to confirm a location from a reliable source. She would need to confirm whether Masozi had already left or not, and track down who might have carried him if he was gone. Though if he was going to those ruins, it seemed she would have to end up there eventually. She just didn¡¯t plan to do it alone. ----- It didn¡¯t take long for the Order to express interest in sending a group to the ruins of the Luminous Ocean Society. While closer groups and individuals might have already picked over the area, most of them would be looking for big scores. Anything of direct value, not information. News coming in indicated the place was pretty well looted already, even past the danger zones. It wasn¡¯t much different from what one would expect of a destroyed sect, and in a much worse state than the Secret Realm. But while the Secret Realm had been abandoned, it wasn¡¯t attacked directly- and the actual headquarters might provide more insights to what happened. While it was still a time of high alert for the disciples of the Order, the fact that the location was on the far side of Estary made it slightly safer. At least, the location didn¡¯t favor anyone from Ofrurg- though what might happen away from civilization was another matter. Without a formal gathering of sects meeting anyone there was less likely, but it would also be easier for people to act as they pleased. The Order¡¯s interest meant they would be sending some elders as well as any disciples who wanted to volunteer after understanding what they knew of the risks. Anton was extremely interested in going. He wanted to know what caused the downfall of the Luminous Ocean Society, and with Velvet bringing the word Masozi might be there as well it seemed even more important to go. Catarina was quite interested as well- the permanent formations around the Luminous Ocean Society had been useful for her to study. The Order was also sending Elder Loida Rana, one of the few fully trained formation masters. Catarina had started working with her recently. Timothy and Hoyt were also quite willing to come along, and Velvet had been the one to suggest it- so the entire group readied themselves for the journey. For Anton, that meant finishing up a breakthrough he was near. ----- Cultivation was mainly based on the circulation of energy through a cultivator¡¯s body to slowly improve them. In the Ninety-Nine Stars technique, jumps in power occurred with the formation of each star but the overall process was still gradual. Anton circulated his energy within him, focusing on his torso and the organs therein. He was careful around his heart, despite its apparent recovery. The twentieth star was parallel to the third star, tempering the organs once more. Perhaps if he had been another star higher his injury would have been somewhat less. Regardless, the tempering helped with the healing and he was approaching completion of the twentieth star. Now he just needed to gather energy, easily enough done with the abundant natural energy around the Order. But there was something more. If the energy of Fleeting Youth drew from beyond ascension and reincarnation, then it was sensible that the very same energy could be used to cultivate. Anton had been quite careful with circulating the energy to begin with. As it flowed through his meridians he felt the weight and power behind it. Each strand of energy that made it to his dantian gathered others to it, almost devouring it. But it wasn¡¯t as if it destroyed the energy- it was still there, under his control. That control was just a bit more sluggish and stubborn. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. If he pushed the energy through his organs too quickly he would damage them, but a slow and determined process pushed them to their limits and allowed them to go beyond. While normal humans could only easily train their muscles, energy allowed for empowering the rest of the body and more. As long as he didn¡¯t push too hard, he would benefit- despite the momentary pain. The power of Fleeting Youth was akin to molten lead flowing through his body, compared to the comforting warmth of his normal energy, yet as he guided it through his body he only felt it burning away impurities. Though his body was improved in the process, it didn¡¯t suddenly make him younger. He would always be a bit behind those who cultivated their body as youths, until the point they aged as much as him- though he would be dead by then. While his cultivation had allowed him a certain amount of extra time, and continuing to grow would extend that, if he stagnated in cultivation for long enough he would certainly perish. That was true of anyone- he just had less extra time to deal with. As he reached the point of forming the twentieth star, his body greedily sucked in energy from around it, condensing it. While he could certainly continue in that manner successfully, Anton continued to add just a bit more of the energy of Fleeting Youth. If he was correct, he might be able to maintain a store of it inside of him instead of being forced to draw upon it from outside every time. Not much, perhaps not even enough for a full-power attack, but that was without comparing it to a normal shot. If he could suddenly fire an arrow with several times the momentum, it could greatly throw off an opponent- even if they were ultimately able to withstand it. And if he was able to store that energy in himself, he could access it more quickly. Fire flowed through his meridians into his dantiant, gathering into a ball. Just the smallest amount of Fleeting Youth¡¯s power was used to enhance the process, yet Anton nearly felt overwhelmed, like he stuck himself into a furnace. But he kept control over it. Though it was powerful, this was his fire. It shouldn¡¯t harm him if he didn¡¯t will it to. He almost felt steam blowing out his ears as he continued, but he kept it as the core of his next star. He had the feeling it could do much the same for different cultivation techniques. He nodded to himself. That would be one reason practicing it later wouldn¡¯t provide the same benefits. And he would ultimately have more time practicing it, as he would continue to be at an advanced age while he practiced instead of being forced to cram it into a measly few decades after reaching the peak of cultivation. There was always the question of whether that was possible, but he was going to walk into that direction until he no longer could. Then perhaps he would climb or crawl or whatever was necessary- but he wouldn¡¯t let himself be deterred. Anton felt deep down inside of him, the spinning stars that indicated his success in cultivation. One of them had a denser core than the others- each star was successively more powerful regardless, but this one was a fifth, maybe a tenth more than it would have otherwise been by his estimations. If he could maintain that until Essence Collection, he would be¡­ several percent more powerful overall. That might not seem like much, but each little bit beyond what an already powerful technique like the Ninety-Nine Stars could accomplish equated to greater chances of surviving or thriving in future trials. ----- Devon saw his grandfather off as he left to visit the ruins of the Luminous Ocean Society. Now wasn¡¯t a good time for him to go along on a journey. Even though he¡¯d had several months to refocus himself, his cultivation wasn¡¯t in a stable spot. It seemed that focusing and manipulating your cultivation technique and feeding off of trauma didn¡¯t last. But he didn¡¯t regret it. With Tonina dead, the memories of the arena and her final attempt to kill him didn¡¯t suddenly go away, but he was able to get some perspective. He found a place to be alone and slowly formed the chains, slipping out of his scars to mirror the weapon that had caused them. It was harder with some of the fading anger, but that was fine. He¡¯d noticed some flaws in his technique anyway, beyond its dubious origin. While it was simplest to form the chains from the point of his scars, that limited his forms of attack. He could certainly give up on that training and learn other forms of attack. In fact, now was the best time to change core cultivation techniques, and he could switch to the Ninety-Nine Stars like his grandfather. He might do that, but he would keep the chains. Strangely enough, the chains were a sign of his freedom. He wouldn¡¯t be bound any longer, but his opponents¡­ he had no reason to let them remain free. As for who those enemies would be, he could only guess. The Order still had plenty of enemies, and there were mysterious forces at work. But beyond organizations, Devon had a simple target- those who would enslave others. It was highly appropriate that a method of their downfall would be something they used on others. The spikes, of course, were more of an instrument of torture and not a proper part of chains or even the most effective weapon- but as an additional effect on restricting foes he found them useful enough. All he had to do was modify how the technique worked. It would be more practical if they could come from his hands, at least in part. While some might care about the aesthetic of chains wrapping around their arms, it was ultimately less practical than if he were to grab onto them and manipulate them more directly. But limiting himself to two chains was silly. Other chains could still be formed around him to reach out and combat enemies all around him¡­ and to protect his friends and family. And for those foes who deserved it the chains would either kill them- or restrain them to be brought in for a just execution. He wasn¡¯t going to commit to only capturing his foes alive, but if practical and useful he would be willing to hold himself back from immediate violence. If he could do it with Tonina, he could do so with anyone. Though he was certain it would take months of work to get back on track. Chapter 181 No trouble befell the members of the Order as they travelled through Estary. Travelling in a larger group and more quickly than before was certainly a factor in that, as well as their movement along the main roads. For the most part Anton found it similar to Graotan- a pleasant country well taken care of. Most places were well patrolled, and the biggest difference was simply the variety of cultivators. Most of the cultivators in Graotan were members of the Order, not because of any particular restrictions but because it was a powerful sect with relatively easy entry requirements, as far as cultivation sects went. It didn¡¯t require any particular elemental affinity or harsh tests. The biggest reason the Order wasn¡¯t flooded with cultivators was the restraints on their actions. Many people just wanted to be strong and do whatever they pleased with that power, but the Order did their best to filter out those who didn¡¯t fit with their ideals early. Estary kept a similar country but with more diverse cultivation styles, with the strongest sects forming an alliance protecting the whole country. While they were on good terms with the Order, they wouldn¡¯t necessarily help each other with disputes. It did seem that the Order was able to request some help from them during the execution incident- the countries together secured the border against cultivators flooding in, unlike the eastern border of Graotan which had been intentionally left somewhat lax. Actually, the trip through Estary wasn¡¯t entirely without incident. There was one time where Anton sensed a group of wild beasts attacking a cultivator off the road nearby. It may have been the other way around, but the cultivator was clearly losing the battle. Anton took up his new bow, flexing the hollowreed structure as he formed a Spirit Arrow. Surprisingly enough the beasts seemed to be a combination of some sort of bird and canines on the ground, clearly working together. The birds harassed the cultivator while the other animals circled around and prevented them from running. The flying creatures seemed to be the biggest problem, so Anton locked on to them one at a time, letting arrows fly. His shots arced over the nearby trees then snaked around the final few as they dropped in to pierce wings and torsos of the birds. By the time Anton was getting ready to attack the creatures on the ground, the cultivator had already rallied and taken out half of them. He still launched one final arrow that barely arrived before an attack coming from behind. Beyond that, there was little of note until they reached the northern shore of Estary. The Shervista Ocean spread out before Anton just like in the Secret Realm, with the same smell of salt. The only difference was that it properly fell away at the horizon instead of having the strange distorted space inside the Secret Realm. Anton saw people out fishing on the ocean, not so different from the lakes he had visited before. He supposed there was little difference, except the ocean was salty and vast while lakes were mostly more moderately sized. Members of the Order were packed into a ship with other cultivators heading to the Golden Isles. The boat hardly fit the few hundred people, and there was little chance to cultivate with so many different people in a small space- even as they were constantly moving into areas with more natural energy. The amount of natural energy covering the Shervista Ocean wasn¡¯t low, but it was not so generally high as to satisfy the needs of many cultivators at once. With little better to do, Anton went up on deck. He saw someone up on the ropes around the ship and called up to them. ¡°Hello! What are you doing up there?¡± The man looked down at him and grunted. ¡°Tightening the rigging.¡± Anton could tell his question hadn¡¯t gotten quite the response he wanted. ¡°Need any help up there?¡± ¡°Not responsible if you fall overboard,¡± the man said. Since that wasn¡¯t a ¡®no¡¯, Anton climbed up to take a closer look. The man seemed a bit perturbed, but Anton stayed out of his way and only occasionally asked questions. He was able to keep track of most of what was going on around him with his energy, so he pretty quickly got a good idea of how the ship worked. ¡°While you¡¯re up there,¡± a sailor called down from below. ¡°Tighten up that line just a smidge.¡± A ship like they were on had hundreds of lines going all about in various directions, all with their own names. It was fairly easy to pick out the patterns, and while Anton doubted he demonstrated equal skill to an experienced sailor he at least didn¡¯t screw anything up. As days passed and he was actually of some help, the sailors became more friendly with him. ¡°Lotta strong cultivators like you come along here,¡± one of the men chatted. ¡°Not a one able to sail a ship themselves. Those that can have their own ships, big monsters made of strange materials. See them in port occasionally. None act like yourself. What are you learning for? Fancy a position on one of them ships?¡± ¡°Just thought I should know how it was done,¡± Anton said. ¡°Good to know things. Speaking of which, how¡¯s that cultivation practice I mentioned?¡± Many of the sailors had at least a small bit of experience in Body Tempering, though not all of them. ¡°Well you know,¡± the man shrugged. ¡°Natural energy¡¯s a bit sparse with all these people¡­¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Not so much up here,¡± Anton said. Those who could drain the energy to the top of the riggings were generally more powerful cultivators- and they wouldn¡¯t get enough to even bother with even if they reached that far, especially not with some of the others. Most people had given up on cultivating at all for the duration of the journey, as a couple weeks could be made up for in better circumstances. ¡°Best if you do it at the same time you¡¯re working your muscles.¡± ¡°You say that,¡± said another sailor, ¡°But how do we know you¡¯re not just trying to torture us?¡± The man was clearly joking, for the most part. ¡°Right exhausting it is. Like having fought a whole storm meself.¡± ¡°You should notice some improvements by the end of the week,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have to say, there¡¯s a lot of high level cultivation that¡¯s thrown about where it doesn¡¯t belong, while people are still early in Body Tempering. It¡¯s easy to get hung up on it. Follow my advice and the path will be a bit smoother, though it¡¯s still uphill no matter what. Gotta put in the work.¡± Sailors were no strangers to work, but extra work was something they¡¯d rather avoid. But they all understood what greater cultivations could do for them. Anton doubted that most of them would reach the peak of Body Tempering with just his little bit of advice, but he couldn¡¯t just leave people alone. Sailors weren¡¯t growing anything, so he wasn¡¯t certain if they would have a reciprocating sort of growth with the environment, but they could still stand to be a bit stronger. That would help them if any cultivators wanted to cause trouble. Even if sailors were a rougher type than most, they still deserved to protect themselves. ----- The Golden Isles lived up to their name by the way they sparkled in the sun, no actual gold was involved but some beautiful yellow cliffs reflected light back and forth between parallel isles. In the strictest sense of the term, they might be considered to be one large island since they were closely connected under the water, but the various promontories stuck out of the water on their own and the name stuck nonetheless. From that point the Order split up from the others on the same ship, renting a small fleet of smaller vessels. Their target wasn¡¯t quite part of the Golden Isles, and it was quite a long swim even for Spirit Building cultivators. When they arrived on the island with the ruins, Anton was somewhat surprised anyone even knew where they were. It seemed just like a normal island at first, topped with soil and stone. Only because he was specifically looking could he make out how some of the rocks might have once been worked stone, now smoothed by the tides. A few cultivators were walking around the island, but the Order already knew where to look for what they wanted. On the west side the island sloped down gradually into the water¡­ and it was possible to follow the trail of ruined buildings down into the ocean. Anton took a deep breath and walked into the ocean behind some of the elders. He sunk to the bottom if he didn¡¯t do anything to stop it- he remembered floating on water before, but he supposed his body was somewhat denser now. He wasn¡¯t as much heavier as he might have thought necessary for the increase in strength from Body Tempering, but then again he wasn¡¯t an expert in that area. He was an archer. And he was¡­ underwater. Not really the optimal place to make use of his skills, but he wasn¡¯t entirely incapable either. Everyone had received some basic instruction for fighting underwater before coming to this place, but actual combat was always different. Archery was somewhat more difficult as the water continuously slowed down the arrows, but with his energy continuing to propel them forward they would still be able to reach significant distances with some amount of power left. It would just be less. As they continued underwater, Anton kept track of his own breath. He could still go further before he had to reach for the surface. The sand beneath his feet continued to be littered with stones, but they were starting to actually be connected to each other and not just individual pieces. He thought he even saw a wall, though as they got further from the sun it was harder to tell. Then they ran into a barrier. Anton hadn¡¯t sensed it beforehand, but apparently the elders weren¡¯t surprised. They gathered together several formation masters, including Loida Rana, as well as others studying formations. That included Catarina, of course. It was an uncomfortable minute while they worked. Some disciples swam the hundred meters to the surface to get a breath of air. Anton felt his lungs beginning to ache but he still had more in him before he had to consider moving for air. It was a bit harder to hold his breath with the pressure- all of that water weighing down on him was significant- but the training in the tower had prepared him for this. The tower couldn¡¯t have been just for that, however- or they could have just used any of the water around. Surely making a formation that allowed people to breathe would have been easier to sustain. Even just occasional pockets of air¡­ no, there had to be something more to it. Though Catarina wasn¡¯t part of their little formation at the moment, Anton and the others were able to slightly lessen the burden of the water on each other. At the current depth they could handle things alone, but they found water was quite different from the tower. It pressed in on all sides, not just crushing from above. Just as Anton was getting ready to push off and use his energy to make himself buoyant, a bright light appeared in front of him. The elders waved people forward with their hands and gesturing energy, and everyone began walking. He couldn¡¯t really make out what was ahead because of how bright it suddenly was, and by the time his eyes adjusted he¡¯d already stepped into open air. More than that, he was dry. He found himself in a sunny, dry room with tall ceilings held up by pillars- or at least, in theory. Half of the pillars had collapsed as well as some of the ceiling, revealing the ocean above- but it didn¡¯t pour into the room they were in. There was little of note where they were, but he could see- and now feel, once past the barrier- other buildings ahead of him. From what he could tell, most of them also had air inside them. At least, it seemed that way- though the water distorted things. Instead of being dark like the seafloor had been heading towards when they arrived, he found it to be quite sunny. Luminous, even. He couldn¡¯t determine the exact source of the light, but it seemed external to the building he was in from the shadows. It flowed in through the far doorway and broken ceilings and walls. What a strange place. But then again, who was stranger than cultivators? Chapter 182 Seeing the rays of light filtering down through the water and dancing upon the sand and various structures filled Anton with a sense of wonder. It was like he had come to a whole new world full of bountiful flying creatures. But of course, they were swimming not flying. The difference was¡­ what? One was in water and one was in air, he supposed. But fins were not so different from wings. Flying was simply more difficult because air didn¡¯t support as much weight. After everyone finished filtering into the area through the outside barrier, the formation masters keeping it open stepped through. They let it slowly close behind them. Elder Rana explained what she knew to the gathered disciples. ¡°It should be possible to leave the formation under your own power, if necessary. It is mostly meant to prevent intrusion. Even then, it appears to be disabled in many places.¡± She gestured towards the beasts outside, ¡°Others will have found or created alternate entrances, so be wary of their presence. It is better to stay clear of other cultivators instead of getting into conflicts.¡± She stepped forward along with some of the other elders, ¡°We will be going towards what we perceive as the center of the sect''s ruins. The closer you are to us the safer you will be, but there will be no guarantee of finding anything beneficial. Current reports indicate much of the area is empty, but we know there were at least a few valuable finds by certain cultivators.¡± Anton and the others gathered to discuss what they would be doing. ¡°I am interested in what information will be found about what caused the destruction of the Luminous Ocean Society,¡± Anton said, ¡°But we don¡¯t necessarily have to be there to find it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m interested in studying the formations around the area,¡± Catarina said. ¡°There are many of them. Or at least¡­ remnants of many of them. They are much less whole than the Secret Realm.¡± ¡°There might be some minor formations concealing leftover equipment or materials,¡± Hoyt mentioned. ¡°Even things considered less valuable by the Luminous Ocean Society or those who destroyed them might be of some use to us.¡± ¡°I have no objections,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I doubt we¡¯ll suddenly start taking odd risks now, so I¡¯ll support whatever we decide.¡± ¡°There¡¯s also Masozi,¡± Velvet reminded them. ¡°We should keep an eye out for him. Though Anton will be the best able to recognize him.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°With no way of knowing where he might be, however, picking anywhere is fine.¡± He looked to Catarina, ¡°Where are you being led?¡± ¡°There are holes in the outer formation nearby,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯d like to take a look at some. It¡¯s unclear to me from here if they are the result of natural decay or direct damage. It¡¯s mainly an illusory formation to begin with. Thus the light not passing beyond it.¡± With that, they picked a direction and set out. That involved stepping out of the nice, air-filled entryway into the water of the ocean. Anton had expected more bare sand, but there were various plants and small animal life of various sorts. Beyond that, there were strange rocks that seemed to be growing on the outside of the buildings. Not the barnacles- Anton had learned about those on the ship. Instead there were colorful rocks. He couldn¡¯t ask any of his companions though, at least not without using up some of their air. From what he had heard, speech didn¡¯t sound quite right underwater anyway. Anton kept his eyes open for threats. None of the sea creatures swimming above or walking on the sea floor seemed to be dangerous at the moment, but he had a sense of further off beasts and cultivators that might become a threat. He had to make consistent use of his energy to keep them clear of saltwater. He was likewise keeping it out of his ears and nostrils. All of those were accomplished by redistributing the pressure over his whole body- and the rest of the group as they maintained a sort of formation. Theoretically Anton could have let some of the pressure through to his head. He was moving towards the twenty-first star, which for him would be the Spirit Building tempering of the organs in his head- placing them under strain as he cultivated could help him temper them. However, only his eardrums and eyes would really be affected¡­ and he wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to risk damage to them at the moment. Perhaps if they had extra time towards the end of the excursion he would try it. The formation surrounding the area was quite visible from the inside. In addition to there being regular pillars to serve as the core of the formation, outside of it was only the normal amount of light that would reach the ocean floor. A couple hundred meters below the surface like where they were had only a small amount of light -enough to see by, but not for a significant distance. Where there were holes in the barrier, bright light poured through lighting up a portion of the ocean around it. He hadn¡¯t noticed them from the other side because of the way the light diffused and bent in the water. Of the several Anton could make out, it was soon obvious which one Catarina was heading for. She kicked off from the ocean floor, using a bit of energy to increase her buoyancy as she went about a dozen meters up from the ocean floor. The others followed behind her as she looked at the cracked pillars surrounding the hole. Anton was never going to be a formation master, but he still paid attention to how the energy flowed and what parts Catarina took special interest in. If nothing else, he could confirm those were critical points of some sort if he had to destroy a similar formation. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. One moment Anton was moving to see carvings in one of the pillars up close, the next his bow was up and aimed towards the hole in the barrier. An arrow dug through the water towards a strange creature that seemed to be mostly fishlike, but with a spear-like nose. His arrow pierced into one of its fins after it deflected off of its scales and defensive energy. He¡¯d sensed the aggression as it approached the opening in the barrier. His single arrow had been meant to kill it, but the water hindered his attack. The creature, however, wasn¡¯t slowed by the water at all. It shot forward rapidly towards Anton, only to be deflected by Timothy¡¯s shield, stretched to the limits of his reach as he swam upward. The deflection forced it to swim past before it turned around. Anton fired another arrow, focusing on piercing through the water resistance. With the level of energy he was sensing from the spearfish it was unlikely to be able to break his defenses- but letting it make the attempt would be foolish. His arrow managed to sink into the side of the creature about a finger, but it mostly dug just under the scales instead of piercing deeper like he intended. Hoyt was in position to swing his axe, while Catarina simply held her sword towards the creature point-first. It made sense- if it was difficult for her to pick up speed, she could simply use the opponent¡¯s speed against them. The slowing of the water caused Hoyt to miss as the creature passed by, though he avoided its attack. His axe left a trail of heated bubbles that would have certainly still scalded the creature if they connected. Before the spearfish reached any of the others, it was suddenly stabbed from both sides. Velvet appeared in the center of all of them, her arms raised to stab twin daggers at an angle into the creature. The force of its own momentum drove them half their length in, but after that she was able to use her power to pierce through it, not relying on the speed of her weapons but instead the leverage of her arms against the creature. Blood clouded the area as the creature perished. With a few exchanged glances and gestures, the group swam and walked back towards the nearest building with active formations to keep out the water. Once inside, they discussed what they had experienced. ¡°The force of the water is stronger than I expected,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Especially on the bow itself. I won¡¯t have much more range than the rest of you here. Though any amount isn¡¯t insignificant still.¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult for me as well,¡± Hoyt agreed. ¡°My axe won¡¯t be much good. I have other weapons but I might do better without. Depending on how much the sea creatures are concerned about boiling water.¡± All of them had seen the sorts of attacks that worked, and discussed what they might do. Catarina and Timothy had to choose between using higher quality swords only for the purpose of stabbing or using the longer reach of a proper spear but with lesser enchantments and materials. The potential need had been known to them already, but it wasn¡¯t the same until testing it out against a proper opponent. ¡°I saw what I needed to there,¡± Catarina said. ¡°That area, at least, was just normal decay. The Secret Realm doesn¡¯t have the same tidal forces the actual ocean has, and thus similar forms of decay didn¡¯t happen. There are a few more small buildings like this around the edge that we can hop between while checking out the other holes, then I suppose we should move more inward. There will likely be more interesting things there, but also more dangers from cultivators if nothing else.¡± The next break in the barrier was similar to the first, but the third had an entire pillar missing, with no indication where it could be. Perhaps it was buried under many layers of sand, but none of them could sense it. As they moved along it seemed that more than half of the buildings were flooded with water, but they stopped once more to talk about what they had seen. ¡°If the pillars weren¡¯t so large, I¡¯d be interested in taking them,¡± Catarina said. ¡°They should have valuable materials, but it¡¯s not practical to take much of it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve noticed something odd,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Outside and even up on the island, most of the traces of buildings were buried. Here, while there¡¯s damage to many and some have collapsed they all remain solidly in place atop the sand.¡± ¡°Ooh,¡± Catarina grinned, ¡°That¡¯s an interesting thought. I just assumed the formations that still worked here were mainly for keeping out water, but you¡¯re right about that. We should take a look.¡± She looked down at the floor which was put together out of large stone slabs. ¡°This¡­ might take a bit of work.¡± Pulling up each stone took quite a bit of work. In addition to the weight, simply getting a grip of any sort was difficult at first. They finally resorted to cracking a few stones and pulling out chunks. Yet even that took more effort than they thought it would, since the formation protected the structural stability of the building. As for the original purpose of the building they were in, it was unclear- but given the needs of a sect, it was probably for housing like many others. After lifting up one layer of stones, there was another- but this one inlaid with formation runes. ¡°Not just carving, but inlaid with metal?¡± Catarina grinned. ¡°We have to get some of this.¡± She bent down to look at it carefully. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t have any dangerous reactions to remove it.¡± She stabbed her sword into the stone and pried out a shape of reddish metal. ¡°Aha-¡± was all she managed to say before the water rushed into the room and swamped them. Catarina tried to hide the look on her face, but Anton read it clearly as embarrassment. Well, destroying the formation might make it harder to do what they were doing- but if they could salvage some metals able to be part of a formation for so long, it should be worth working while covered in water. But before they did the same in any other building they were going to more thoroughly make sure there wasn¡¯t anything they¡¯d prefer to keep dry. Chapter 183 Dismantling parts of the buildings had never been the plan- it was just the only way Catarina was able to study the full extent of the formations on the buildings. As she pulled out a part of the formation- still keeping the water repelling features intact- Catarina shook her head. ¡°It feels kind of weird to be taking apart a place where people lived, even if it was a long time ago.¡± ¡°Sects rise and fall,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Many of them get plundered and dismantled less respectfully than this. Kind of like that group over there.¡± ¡°Agh!¡± Catarina looked at the next building over, aghast. ¡°We have to stop them!¡± Before anyone could say anything she had already lept out into the ocean. Anton and the other followed after her, as she was looking surprisingly serious. Catarina reached the group of cultivators and started gesturing at them with her sword. Anton couldn¡¯t make out her words with all the water between them, but a moment later the group of cultivators responded with something and drew their own weapons. Anton quickly began to fire arrows. While shooting from the water into open air meant his attacks were slow and more easily dodged, he didn¡¯t have to hit to be useful. The first handful of shots drove people away from Catarina, letting only one man charge forward. As his spear stabbed towards her she parried it to the side, then struck his jaw with her palm. Based on the way she ¡®gently¡¯ nudged him along the floor out of the way, Anton determined that she was interested in taking them down nonlethally. A difficult task against equals, but the handful of cultivators were only in early Spirit Building. There was some leeway in fighting them. When Hoyt entered the room, he created a wall of fire wherever he moved. Nobody was willing to go through it, so he easily split the group in half. Two were left to deal with Timothy and Catarina, though they were clearly outmatched. Anton had to support Hoyt as the other few tried to take him out, shooting arrows into arms and legs where they shouldn¡¯t cause permanent damage. Velvet appeared behind one of them with a dagger reaching around to the front of his neck, and the man dropped his weapon. A few minutes later they were all disarmed and knocked to the floor, and Anton finally moved forward out of the water. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Catarina pointed to the floor with her sword as she looked at the group. Where she pointed was a blood-red yet metallic inlay. ¡°Enchanted rubysteel,¡± said one of the men, kneeling. ¡°It¡¯s quite valuable.¡± ¡°No!¡± Catarina emphasized her words with her sword. ¡°Well, it is, but more importantly that¡¯s one of the prime runes of the formation. It controls all of the energy moving throughout. If you just yank it out it will explode and destroy everything!¡± Catarina stomped angrily about the area. ¡°And you didn¡¯t even finish clearing the building first! See here under the rubble is the head of a spear you missed entirely.¡± She threw the spearhead at the group, where it trembled in the ground between them. ¡°You¡¯d do better to go around picking that stuff up than messing with formations.¡± ¡°We¡¯re¡­ umm¡­¡± the man looked around at the others with him. ¡°We¡¯re sorry?¡± ¡°Good,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Also, make sure to leave some intact water wards in each area. Unless you want to swim to the surface every time you need a breath?¡± The group didn¡¯t seem happy about being chastised by a woman younger than them- but she was also higher in cultivation along with her allies, so there wasn¡¯t much they could do. And she was right. ¡°If you see anyone else making dumb decisions you should straighten them out too. Getting yourselves killed means you don¡¯t get any profit at all.¡± With that, she turned to leave. The group of cultivators looked quite relieved at that. One of them looked at the rubysteel runes in the floor and sighed, but didn¡¯t make any moves to try to pull it out. Having studied enough of the formations in the area, Catarina led the group generally deeper into the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s territory- and also deeper into the sea. The pressure increased gradually, but not to a level they couldn¡¯t handle. Of more concern was how many of the buildings were missing large portions of them, clearly from damaging attacks and not the ravages of time. Anton even saw burn scars on the stones that made up much of the buildings, half-covered by some of the strange ¡®corals¡¯. Some places had lumps of stone below indicating portions had melted. While he knew cultivators could melt stone in extreme circumstances, having it be so frequently visible was concerting. As they were walking along the bottom of the sea he sensed something. The slope of the sand was gradual and fairly consistent, but the harder ground underneath was actually filled with very deep craters. Only his energy senses could discern that at all, because meters of sand had piled up atop the area. Anton knew someone like Elder Kseniya or Grand Elder Vandale could cause craters like that, but even the two of them working together wouldn¡¯t have been able to affect such large swathes of area. He had no way to prove it, but the damage also seemed somewhat incidental- the attacks would be intended for cultivators, after all, not random patches of ground. But the fact that a massive battle had happened wasn¡¯t actually news. ¡°This one goes underground,¡± Anton commented. Most of the buildings had foundations that were set into the sand and reached down towards bedrock, of course, but few of them actually had more structure beneath. At least not that Anton had noticed. The top level of the building was flooded. Anton saw barnacle-encrusted weapons scattered against a wall among various things growing inside. When he picked one up, the structure of the weapon crumbled away, bits and pieces breaking off. No matter how well enchanted some weapons had been, they hadn¡¯t been able to withstand centuries. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. The group looked around the area, trying to find a way down to what should be lower levels. It was taking some time, and Anton was about to leave to go get a breath of air when he saw one portion of floor was covered in sand and various bits of plantlife- but with the corner of a rug peeking out. Surprisingly, the rug didn¡¯t fall apart as he grabbed it. With a flip the sand slowly drifted through the seawater off of the rug- and underneath he saw a perfectly intact handle. He didn¡¯t sense any energy, but he waved Catarina over just in case. When she gave him a sign that everything was good, he pulled up the trapdoor. It didn¡¯t give for a moment, then something snapped and it opened. Inside were some stairs- and Anton could see the visible signs of a formation keeping out water. He stepped inside with Catarina, signalling to the others with his energy. ¡°I¡¯m surprised this formation is fully intact with how things are above.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not, actually,¡± Catarina explained. ¡°It seems like it still had a minor concealment component. There should have been more to it before.¡± Once the others joined them, she gestured downward. ¡°The formation isn¡¯t exactly steady, so I¡¯ll be going first.¡± It didn¡¯t take them long to step out into a large room with something like a furnace in the middle. Considering the presence of anvils and molds around the room, it appeared to be a forge of some sort. There were tools, still radiating hints of enchantment, scattered randomly about the room. The room had hardly any dust covering the surfaces, though the air was a bit thick and not the best for breathing. ¡°I would have expected a forge to have access to air,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°Beyond that maintained by a formation. Perhaps over there?¡± He walked over to a wall, where there was a closed vent. ¡°I¡¯d bet this is it. I¡¯d also be reasonably willing to bet that this place would flood if I opened it. Not that I see a way for fresh air to get in even if I thought it worked.¡± ¡°Why would a forge be secret?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°That¡¯s the question, isn¡¯t it?¡± he asked. ¡°There¡¯s nothing here but a handful of ingots.¡± ¡°More like two handfuls,¡± Anton said. He gestured to some small bars that didn¡¯t look like anything special. ¡°Those and-¡± he turned around. He didn¡¯t see any ingots, but he sensed them. ¡°These¡­?¡± Anton walked over to a small wooden table that had escaped decay. As he moved, he was able to make out some slight forms. Tilting his head back and forth, he realized there were indeed some ingots that were nearly invisible. He reached out and picked one up. It was cold to the touch, about a hand long and half as wide. A significantly sized ingot, but what properties it had was unclear. ¡°These are stuck, I think,¡± Timothy commented as he tried to pick up ingots from the other table. ¡°Let me just¡­¡± he got two hands on one at the top of the pile and yanked. There was a scraping sound as it slid off the table and then hit the ground with a cracking thud. Timothy just looked at it and then slowly stepped back. ¡°... Almost lost a toe.¡± He bent down and used two hands to lift the ingot, straining as he did so. ¡°This is¡­ really heavy.¡± He brought it to his waist and slipped it into his enchanted bag. ¡°Whew. I think a few of those might push this to capacity.¡± Everyone but Anton hurried over to the table to try to pick up an ingot as well. None of the rest had an easier time than Timothy. In fact, Hoyt was the only one who managed to pick one up without using energy to augment his strength. Both he and Timothy had cultivated muscle at the second star, so they had recently completed the Spirit Building version of the same. Catarina and Velvet had done their tempering later, so were a bit lower in muscle power at the current moment. ¡°There¡¯s one left,¡± Catarina noted. Anton walked over. Seeing no reason to embarrass himself, Anton gathered his energy as he reached out for the normal-looking ingot. He hefted the ingot and gently placed it into his bag, where its weight was no longer a concern. ¡°We can also split the others. Then we should be-¡± he looked towards the stairs at the same time as Velvet. ¡°Someone¡¯s coming,¡± she confirmed. ¡°We should prepare ourselves.¡± Anton hurried over to the other ingots. He had no idea what they were, but they were bound to be valuable. If nothing else for their near-total transparency. He tossed some to the others. He wondered why they hadn¡¯t been taken. Clearly this room should have had much more, but it had been sealed when they arrived. He took a stance in the corner of the room, looking at the stairs. Though the cultivation of those he sensed was below his own, there were at least a dozen of them. Or so he¡¯d thought, but now he only sensed a handful. ¡°They seem to be concealing themselves,¡± Anton said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t bode well for our chances of talking.¡± Even as he tried to keep a lock on them, the few presences he sensed were moving around the area above, and then faded away into the water until he couldn¡¯t sense any of them. Yet simply observing when they hid gave him some idea. ¡°They seem to be water-focused cultivators, perhaps.¡± ¡°That means we might not just be able to wait for them to run out of air,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Though they have to get tired eventually, right?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Velvet said, ¡°But if they¡¯re good we won¡¯t know if they¡¯re gone. If they get fatigued at the same rate as us we can afford to wait, but if they can stand around for a day¡­ we might be in trouble. Or if they can bring more allies.¡± She looked towards the vents Hoyt had spotted. ¡°I might be able to get close enough to spot them, if I sneak around. I don¡¯t know if we the rest of you could climb through this¡­ subtly. Wouldn¡¯t want them to catch us in it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I have any better ideas,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But if that starts flooding this place we basically have to step out and fight.¡± Catarina was already patrolling around the room, at first trying to scratch the floors and walls with her sword but when that didn¡¯t work placing formation flags and plates around the area. ¡°We should at least be ready if they attack. And I might be able to extend this to up above, though I¡¯d have to do it as we fight.¡± Anton looked at the stairs. ¡°I might be able to shoot where one was, but if they¡¯re moving¡­ I can¡¯t say. There¡¯s also some small chance they aren¡¯t actually hostile, but I wouldn¡¯t bet on that.¡± Hoyt punched the air, his fist leaving flaming trails. ¡°If they come down here I can pull out my axe, but I¡¯m ready regardless. Velvet, if you can get us information- great. But don¡¯t risk yourself. If they¡¯re really water cultivators they might move faster than you expect.¡± With that, the group prepared themselves for a fight. If they could put up a good enough showing, any enemy might retreat regardless of whether they could win. Anton planned to do just that. Once he had a target¡­ he was poised to quickly take them out. Chapter 184 It was clear to Velvet that the vent wasn¡¯t made for people to move through it. She could be considered fairly skinny but in parts it wasn¡¯t even as wide as her shoulders as it bent and turned. Velvet hoped that people appreciated what she was doing- bones weren¡¯t meant to bend or move the way she had to. Doing it quietly was even harder¡­ though as she reached the end of the vent she realized people probably couldn¡¯t hear her anyway. That was because it ended under a meter of sand, kept out by the still-functioning wards. Velvet reached up tentatively, but her hand wasn¡¯t stopped by the barrier. She was quite capable of digging through sand, but doing so without making it obvious to anyone nearby was harder. Sensing things with energy worked in all directions, but even the best cultivators she knew of couldn¡¯t pay full attention to every spot at once. If she kept the changes small enough- and most importantly kept her energy concealed- she could stay concealed. Velvet pulled her head up into the sand, arms lifting her on the edge of the stone vent. She continued to rise slowly- somehow it was more worrisome to not be breathing while covered in sand than while just underwater, even though in both cases she had to keep her mouth and nose sealed. If people had been looking at just the right place they might have seen a small rise in the sand, but sand shifted all the time as the water and living creatures swirled it about. She stepped up onto the sand, using her stealth techniques to avoid disturbing the sand and water around her as much as possible, and even the concentrations of natural energy. She wasn¡¯t far from the building above where the rest were. She slowly made her way over towards the building. If she hadn¡¯t been expecting people, she likely would have stumbled right into them. They were so well concealed it took her a full minute to pick out a single person in what otherwise appeared to be an empty room. It might have been faster if she could have used her energy to actively search, but that would have alerted all of them. Even though her friends below would surely back her up, Velvet didn¡¯t like the idea of having to deal with all dozen or so enemies at once. The hiding cultivators looked just like the water around them- which meant basically invisible. The only thing that allowed her to notice them was that with the shifting currents the way light refracted changed slightly, occasionally revealing them by distorted patterns of light beneath them. Even their footprints in the sand were nearly invisible, a hundred times less obvious than those from the Order. Velvet could nearly match them, but she hadn¡¯t been trying when they first entered the area. There wasn¡¯t much she could do but slip away, back towards the vent. She couldn¡¯t sense it with the passive traces of her energy, but she remembered where it was. She slowly wiggled her legs into the sand and when she hit air she was able to confirm she was right. She continued downward until she dropped into stale air, but it was enough to take a relieved breath. Then she shimmied her way down the vent and out. ¡°I was able to spot them,¡± she reported, ¡°But they¡¯re nearly invisible, shifted to look and feel like water. I¡¯m not sure if they can keep that up in battle, but I don¡¯t have a way to point them all out. If a few stay hidden they could attack at critical points¡­ it would be quite dangerous.¡± ¡°Should we call for help?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It would be good if we could rely on ourselves, but trying to do so unnecessarily isn¡¯t a useful form of bravery.¡± ¡°We could,¡± Catarina admitted, ¡°But you said they¡¯re shifted to be like water?¡± Catarina asked, ¡°What are the chances they can also become invisible out of the water?¡± ¡°Not terribly high,¡± Velvet said. ¡°They seem to be water type cultivators, likely from somewhere vaguely local. Unless it¡¯s an entire sect devoted to stealth¡­¡± Velvet shook her head, ¡°Then they should be revealed.¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t conclusively determined hostility,¡± Anton noted. ¡°I would prefer not to give up any advantages, but they must already know we noticed them. Otherwise we wouldn¡¯t stay down here for so long. Plus, they have to have noticed us obscuring our sound.¡± They wouldn¡¯t just be openly discussing their plans without some effort to make sure they weren¡¯t being overheard. ¡°Right,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Actually,¡± she pulled out a formation flag with a finger on her lips. ¡°I have a plan. We should call out to them to make sure if they¡¯re hostile or not.¡± Catarina quickly wrote on a piece of paper. ¡®If Velvet places this on the roof I can create a temporary expansion of the water-repelling formation, exposing them¡¯ Anton nodded. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s the only choice. Everyone else?¡± They all agreed. Velvet once more began to climb out of the area, concealing herself as she went. Anyone else coming out would surely be placed in an awkward position if they were noticed along the way. Otherwise the best solution would be for them to just leave. No unnecessary fighting risking their lives- or unnecessary killing. Catarina began shifting around some of the formation flags to support the upcoming changes. After determining Velvet should be close enough that a distraction would be useful, Hoyt took a position at the bottom of the stairs with the others. ¡°We know you¡¯re there! Come on out or we will presume you¡¯re hostile.¡± He used his energy to project his voice into the water. Doubtless it would be somewhat distorted so he repeated his proclamation with slightly different wording. If they really weren¡¯t hostile it would be best if they didn¡¯t fight. Even if they were, they might get scared away which would be good enough for the moment. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Catarina kept her eyes focused on the stairs, then she nodded. ¡°Now.¡± Everyone began to move up the stairs- even Anton, because from his position he could only fire on a narrow angle at the top. Hoyt and Timothy were at the front, and just as they were about to stick their heads into the water¡­ Catarina¡¯s energy flared and it suddenly receded. At the same time, Timothy and Hoyt stepped out of the trapdoor, standing back-to-back. Anton knew they were outnumbered, so he gathered the energy of Fleeting Youth to begin the battle with some momentum. As the water pulled back, figures stood out in clear contrast to the air. The people that were revealed had clearly modified their bodies- gills could be seen on their necks, though there were a number of sects that did the same when primarily situated around the ocean. For anyone else, the expenditure of effort and danger of permanently altering the body weren¡¯t worth it. It didn¡¯t matter who they were- they way they were poised for an ambush and the fact that they hadn¡¯t even tried some sort of negotiation allowed Anton to take the first shot without guilt- though perhaps his attack was more simultaneous to some of theirs. His arrow was just faster than the nets they threw and their lunging spear thrusts. The room around the secret entrance wasn¡¯t large, and an arrow could travel a handful of meters in no time at all- especially boosted by the most powerful energy Anton could handle. His target was halfway through throwing a spear when the arrow pierced through his torso at an angle- piercing through a lung and her heart and possibly clipping her other lung. The spear continued from her hand, but without controlled energy augmenting it the power it had was limited. Timothy raised his shield on one side, expanding his energy to cover that entire side. He moved his shield to redirect a spear while a net impacted with no effect- it wasn¡¯t able to wrap around and entangle him. On the other side, Hoyt swung his axe to parry a spear while at the same time leaving behind a trail of fire. Unfortunately, that didn¡¯t stop the two nets that entangled him in an overlapping fashion, and he kept his energy more tightly knit around his body. Though it didn¡¯t look very elegant, Hoyt dodged further incoming spears and darts by flinging himself into the trapdoor and down the stairs. That left Timothy briefly open from the back and he was likewise forced to retreat temporarily while blocking and parrying stabbing spears. Anton¡¯s next arrow went straight into the shoulder of someone trying to get behind Timothy, almost removing the arm. He only had another couple of shots with the full power of Fleeting Youth, but this wasn¡¯t a battle where conserving their energy would help. A few moments later the battle had fully shifted to Timothy at the top of the stairs facing the attacks of nearly a dozen opponents at once, with Hoyt still disentangling himself. One person¡¯s energy couldn¡¯t resist so many, but Timothy wasn¡¯t exactly alone- Catarina and the others gave him some of their energy as well as him having some augmentation from the formation. That meant instead of being fully impaled he only ended up with a half-dozen stabs and gashes at the weak points in his armor. Another arrow pierced through the air, past the wall that was Timothy, and into the eye of one of the men attacking them. Breaking through energy and armor together was difficult, but if he was simply accurate enough armor was less important. And not everyone could keep an eye on him at the same time. Since he felt safe, he was able to attack unrestrainedly. Catarina helped free Hoyt, and the two of them rushed forward to relieve the pressure on Timothy. Hoyt swung his axe in a wide arc, forcing people to dodge back or simply knocking them away if they didn¡¯t move. Flames lingered, limiting their movement options. Catarina took advantage of their position to attack the legs of those above them. Another woman in the group had excellent instincts and managed to avoid one of Velvet¡¯s stabbing daggers as she came up behind, protecting her neck from being fully impaled. But she still received a dagger a good fifteen centimeters into her guts, stabbing up under the joints in her armor. With a handful of grievous injuries or deaths in just a matter of moments- and lacking the element of surprise- the enemy group began to retreat. Anton took a single shot at one of them at they retreated, hitting the back of the thigh. He hadn¡¯t chosen mercy nor was he restraining himself from additional attacks- he simply didn¡¯t have an angle to shoot at the others before they fled in all directions and disappeared into the water. Though they weren¡¯t entirely hidden either. Anton saw blood trails heading in several directions. ¡°Quiet Shore Palace,¡± Velvet stated as she inspected one of the fallen enemies. ¡°They¡¯re local. Not a great reputation, though also not much worse than what¡¯s common of cultivators. They ambush and steal if they think they can reasonably get away with it. Especially cultivators who are unfamiliar with water-based combat.¡± ¡°Unfortunately this expansion in the formation won¡¯t last long,¡± Catarina said, ¡°And we shouldn¡¯t give them the time to regroup anyway. Let¡¯s continue closer towards the center, being around more people will at least make them consider if they won¡¯t be caught in the middle. There might be more enemies, but there will also be more allies- or potential allies.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Timothy said as he was applying poultices and bandages to his wounds. Hoyt helped Velvet with the bodies. ¡°Kind of morbid, but they chose to fight us. We can¡¯t just let them come back for what was on their companions.¡± That was the world of cultivators. Killing and looting was highly profitable for the victors. Some conflicts ended before death- many cultivators would be willing to accept a surrender if it meant they could get the contents of someone¡¯s storage bag and not have to deal with someone desperately fighting for their life. That was where ambush situations came in- if the ambush had worked, several of them might have died or been seriously injured instantly, and the rest couldn¡¯t have overcome so many opponents. As they moved out into the water they hurried between buildings that had air, minimizing their exposure to more attacks of the same nature. Then up ahead Anton sensed something. ¡°We should hurry,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s conflict brewing¡­ and if I¡¯m not wrong it involves Masozi. I¡¯m not terribly thrilled about protecting his life, but if he has useful information¡­¡± Going from battle to battle was tiring, but sometimes there just weren¡¯t convenient opportunities to rest. Anton knew that it was important to push through those times and draw out everything you could. Chapter 185 Up ahead a handful of cultivators were surrounding one Anton recognized. A fight hadn¡¯t broken out just yet- it was clear the half dozen early Spirit Building cultivators surrounding Masozi were cautious of his somewhat higher cultivation. Nobody wanted to be the one to approach first, risking themselves. To add to that, Anton fired an arrow towards them. He intentionally let it pass just by the head of one of those gathered around, trying to make it clear that he could have hit. Even if that was not the case, the display of his power that was on the stronger end of mid Spirit Building was sufficient to dissuade the group. They stepped away, and though they might have tried to quickly defeat Masozi before fleeing they chose to prioritize their safety. They turned to flee, and Anton let them go. He didn¡¯t know what their reasons were- perhaps they had a legitimate grudge to avenge- but he needed Masozi alive. Masozi turned towards him, and his face clearly showed a moment of considering if he could run. Anton lowered his bow to indicate he didn¡¯t intend to kill the man. While Masozi might have been involved with helping Tonina get away with more mischief, if it hadn¡¯t been him someone else would have been in the same position. He at least had the good sense to distance himself from her when he was aware of the full implications of what was happening. Tacitly supporting legal slavery wasn¡¯t something Anton believe a good person could allow, but that made him no worse than the majority of Ofrurg. If Masozi was concerned with his life first and foremost, the Potenza clan could have kept him safe instead. When they got close, Masozi hadn¡¯t moved- and Anton gestured into a nearby building with proper air. It was much easier to converse there. ¡°What do you want?¡± Masozi asked. ¡°Straightforward and to the point,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Fine. You must have heard about recent events in Graotan.¡± ¡°I heard Tonina was executed. I¡¯m sure she deserved it,¡± Masozi shrugged. ¡°That no longer has anything to do with me. I believed I was operating inside the law. Not much point in taking out your grudge on me now¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t intend to kill you,¡± Anton assured him. ¡°Nor do I intend to harm you in any way. But you might know some things I need to know. Since you were with Tonina for at least several years, you should have been aware of what was going on around her. She had some connections to very powerful people, beyond the Potenza clan.¡± ¡°You want to know about that, huh?¡± Masozi shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d accept it if I said you¡¯re better off not knowing?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯re already enemies of me and the Order.¡± Anton changed the topic- or at least seemed to. ¡°What quarrel did you have with those fellows from earlier?¡± Masozi shook his head, ¡°Don¡¯t know. Perhaps they just thought a lone cultivator was an easy target. Or¡­¡± he frowned. ¡°Could be someone out for revenge.¡± ¡°You know what we want,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s not like I have anything clear for you,¡± Masozi said. ¡°Just a few things here and there¡­ but even that could get me into serious trouble.¡± ¡°Maybe it already has,¡± Anton countered. Masozi sighed. ¡°Fine. How about this¡­ I heard some pills were found here. Duality pills, they were called when sold. I got a small piece of one, still potent after all this time. I suspect there are more. If you can get me a whole one- or something just as good- I¡¯ll take the risk. That¡¯s already counting that you might just kill me if I don¡¯t cooperate, by the way. I¡¯d feel slightly safer if I broke through another level or two, though.¡± ¡°What if we find more?¡± Anton asked, ¡°Or nothing at all?¡± ¡°I want a fair split, if we¡¯re fighting together, with the first pill being mine. If there¡¯s nothing after say¡­ a full week, I¡¯ll tell you what I know. I have to still be alive for that, obviously. You have to swear to give up any grudges as well.¡± ¡°Sounds like you¡¯re planning to get more than just a single pill out of this.¡± Masozi shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s unreasonable to try to get as many resources as possible to protect myself. And while you have certainly surpassed me since we last met, I won¡¯t be a burden on your group either. It¡¯s only a stronger reward in my favor if we¡¯re only able to get a single thing.¡± Anton considered the deal, consulting with the others briefly. Masozi wasn¡¯t weak- the only reason he¡¯d backed off in their previous confrontation was that Anton had Elder Varela at his side and was exclusively targeting Tonina. It was true he hadn¡¯t advanced much since then, but this wasn¡¯t a long-term deal where he¡¯d need to keep up for months or years. Just a week. The others agreed to the splitting, though they did first have Masozi be more specific about the value of the pill he was looking for. It would indeed be quite significant if they only found one, but if there were more it wasn¡¯t a huge concern. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. It seemed unlikely that things of such value would be found just sitting around anyway- perhaps the real origin of the pills he had seen was from somewhere else. On the other hand, ancient sects were sometimes obscenely wealthy. In the end, they agreed. Anton offered to compensate the rest if they lost out on their portion of the profits, but nobody was concerned with that. All of them owed Anton quite a lot, even if it wasn¡¯t in a way that could be paid back with money, or at all. They also provided help to him, but their debts weren¡¯t the sort that actually cared about money. And if they found real stores of riches, missing a single portion wouldn¡¯t be too concerning. ----- Even underwater, Masozi was quick- Anton remembered him getting almost halfway to him between arrows in the arena. He wielded a short spear with strength and grace, clearly having put in time practicing various weapons. His energy was indeed a bit weaker than the rest of them, but his addition to their numbers was still a benefit. As they moved deeper into the ruins of the Luminous Ocean Society, battle with underwater beasts became more frequent. It seemed that most of the creatures lived away from the barrier, except the occasional one that wandered through one of the holes. At the current moment they were fighting against a handful of perturbing squid, with various tendrils of different lengths. Spirit Arrows were fired into their bodies, but Anton wasn¡¯t certain about the placement of their organs. Disabling limbs one by one was difficult as well, and they took special care of their eyes. If his arrows could go the same speed as on the surface¡­ well then, the squid would have to have been stronger to maintain its relative level of battle prowess. In the most dangerous places there were many beasts that could match mid Spirit Building cultivators. Hoyt seemed to have the easiest time of all of them- as the squid reached out for him to grab onto him, the water bubbled and boiled around him. Anton could feel the significant amounts of energy required to maintain the effect, but the results spoke for themselves. Even if one of the squid briefly wrapped an arm around him, it would quickly pull away. The way they pushed through the water was impressive. Anton watched above him as some of the squid hovered above the sea floor. In a way being underwater meant everything could fly- he could also dodge up while swimming if he wished to, but that would just open him up to attacks from below. Maneuvering without feet on the ground was also difficult. But just sticking to what he was comfortable with might be a disadvantage, so Anton tried to replicate some of the squid¡¯s movements. He didn¡¯t have a large number of tentacles to push against the water, but creating a sheet of energy did just as well. He could even make it intangible as it moved to its starting position, so he could continuously push without slowing down. The downside was that controlling anything of the sort was one more application of energy at the same time as others, weakening his offense or defense or both. Yet the extended energy could also catch on to the incoming tentacles and push them away. The long ones were of most concern, while the shorter ones were better at grabbing. Timothy had quite a bit of difficulty at first, since the squid weren¡¯t attempting to batter him down with force. The longer tendrils first ran into his shield or the extension of it with energy and slowly reached their way around to try to wrap around his arms and legs. Re-angling his shield would do nothing against such a determined action, but eventually he just realized that his shield still limited the angles their attacks could come from. And though these beasts had tough bodies and the benefit of defensive energy, he could still thrust his sword into an oncoming limb if the enemy was careless. Catarina was able to fight against them well enough, whether using her accustomed sword or a spear, but formations out in open water were quite difficult. Anton could see that placing a number of flags might form a defensive cylinder, but to cover the top and bottom she had to adjust the shape into a sphere by placing flags above and below. And flags didn¡¯t just happily remain in place without being physically stuck in something- she either had to hold them at the right position with her own energy or rely solely on being close to the sandy floor. She was still able to guide the flow of energy between members of their group to support those who needed it most, though the complexities of positioning were increased with the more frequent addition of a third dimension. Normally it was more difficult to fly or jump over someone¡¯s head than to just go around- and against cultivators at least, being unable to change trajectory was dangerous. Velvet did just find concealing herself in the water, hiding her visible presence and blending her energy into the surroundings. She wasn¡¯t actually invisible, but she was able to take advantage of distracted opponents even in open water. Though perhaps she might be able to achieve true invisibility underwater in the future. Some of the members of the Quiet Shore Palace had pieces of their technique on them as well- none of them carried a full practicing method probably for the very reason that it would make it harder to steal. Even Anton didn¡¯t carry more than the Body Tempering section of the Ninety-Nine Stars to give to others. He was already familiar enough with the principles of Spirit Building that he didn¡¯t need to review them. Likewise, he didn¡¯t need to keep a copy of Spirit Arrows on him because the book wouldn¡¯t have anything he didn¡¯t know. Masozi twisted and turned his body as he moved through the water, still restrained by it but agile enough to pierce any limbs that reached out towards him. The squid soon discovered that their prey weren¡¯t so easy to kill and began some unexpected tactics- one of them squeezed the blood out of one of their tentacles, and Masozi found it tried to eat away at his energy. He had to back up and take a path around the cloud of blood, giving the squid time to retreat. Anton fired a few parting shots as the squid gave up the fight, feeling as the energy peeled off his Spirit Arrows as it passed through clouds of their blood. However, unlike the more widely disseminated defensive energy he kept around himself, the density of the arrow allowed it to continue without dissipating too much. One of the squid was slain, though the others retreated with varying levels of injury. Gathering the squid was a bit difficult with its acidic and energy-melting blood, but it seemed that second property quickly faded as the blood lingered and then thinned throughout the water. Some more sea creatures swam around the area, drawn by the scent of blood, but most of them chose to follow the trail after the injured creatures since the body had been stored. The others were still appraising the cultivators when they took the chance to step into a building to refresh themselves, effectively putting themselves out of reach of anything in the water. Chapter 186 Though the ruins of the Luminous Ocean Society were not within the purview of any specific agreements by the major sects, that didn¡¯t mean people acted in an entirely lawless manner. Conflicts with the Quiet Shore Palace notwithstanding, conflicts between cultivators were fairly rare. After all, to risk their life in a battle where the benefits were unknown and the most likely outcome is a grudge didn¡¯t motivate many people. Most of the time, only people with specific targets ended up in conflict. It was possible Quiet Shore Palace was after the very ingots that were found, though how they would have known they were there without simply obtaining them was another question raised. As the group from the Order continued to explore, a pattern emerged in the various sorts of treasures they found. First, unless it was well hidden- or formerly well hidden- there were only ever random discarded or displaced treasures to be had. Old weapons that might or might not still be enchanted, scraps of armor, pills that for the most part had lost their efficacy. It was all below a certain level- even the Elders of the Order hadn¡¯t found anything suited for anyone beyond Essence Collection. To be fair, equipment and pills suited for Essence Collection cultivators were still extremely valuable- but compared to what they estimated the Luminous Ocean Society once had they were quite rare. Most commonly there were pieces of equipment that Spirit Building cultivators would make use of. Though they had an agreement with Masozi, Anton had highly doubted that pills would be scattered about in the sect just waiting to be found. He was right¡­ sort of. There were more sealed underground rooms, behind what once must have been powerful concealment formations. Most of those the group found had clearly been broken open long before. It was difficult to count how many vaults they¡¯d gone through to find them empty. At the current moment, they were breaking into one that was still sealed. ¡°A little bit more energy on the left,¡± Catarina guided. There was a weakness in the structure of the formation there, and if they broke through it should crumble apart. It wasn¡¯t a difficult task, but sometimes it was hard to concentrate when being watched like hawks by nearby cultivators. If they could rush inside and get their hands on something before fleeing, they might be willing to take that risk. Some might actually look for a fight. It was better to try to deter them. ¡°In a moment, we will pierce three quarters of the way through.¡± Formations weren¡¯t like walls, where once toppled they were forever rubble. If the actual core of the formation- the various runes that made it up- weren¡¯t destroyed it would reactive assuming its energy supplies allowed for it. Of course, that all depended on the formation. The barrier in front of them wavered and then broke apart, and the group stepped forward after Catarina. Before anyone could try to slip past, however, Catarina threw down several flags to repair the damage they had caused. The barrier reformed. Then she frowned. ¡°Hmm.¡± She was focused on the outer edge of the room they had entered, but everyone could still feel how bare it was in the middle. ¡°It appears this formation was broken through earlier and reformed. A shame.¡± The only thing in the room was a slip of paper. The paper was in a now-familiar hand. ¡°Welcome! It seems you are third. A shame, that. I was hoping to find something good in here. Have a consolation prize -E¡± It didn¡¯t tell them much they didn¡¯t already know, though it sort of extrapolated some information they already had. Everheart had been here as well- but those who destroyed the sect had broken through nondestructively before that point. As for the ¡®consolation prize¡¯, it was just a few notes on the structure of the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s formation methods. Potentially valuable, but far from complete. Masozi sighed, ¡°I really thought there would be something in here.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, we¡¯re a bit late. Those who came in first found everything easy,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I suppose we move on to the next place.¡± Before they stepped out, Catarina dismantled some of the formation from the inside. Permanent formations weren¡¯t made from flags but instead carved runes and specific placement of materials with elemental or otherwise useful properties. Centuries of use weakened all portions of the formation, but some amount of material was recoverable. A few curious cultivators looked at the group as they left, but even with the most efficient methods of sweeping things into storage bags it was clear they wouldn¡¯t have been inside long enough to clear out the whole room. Certainly not enough to get into conflict over. One of the most common sorts of buildings they found were dormitories, since everyone had to live somewhere. They found another one not far away, but it was more intact than most. There was a hole in the ceiling still, and the place was visibly flooded- but enough of the preservation formation remained functional that even flooded with salt water it was possible to make out the full shape of what had once been beds, covered in corals and plantlife. Entering was a bit more difficult than they would have presumed, because the hole in the top had sealed up with the formation. Most of the dormitories never seemed to have had anything more than water repelling formations, but this one had proper defenses. What¡¯s more, they even had enough power for a counterattack. At least that was what Catarina managed to convey without being able to properly speak. She had everyone but Anton gather with her on one side of the formation, while she sent him off beyond a corner- where he could still see her. She held up her hand, then gestured like she was shooting a bow while making it obvious she didn¡¯t actually do that often. Once more holding up her hand, Anton readied himself. He circulated his energy through his meridians, intent on being able to form a Spirit Arrow with full speed at any moment. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. When Catarina finally gestured towards him, making a hooking motion with her arm, he understood the idea. If the formation was going to counter, he simply had to attack from a different angle. He formed an arrow and shot it well off to the side of the building, looping it around to strike the side of the building almost as if he were shooting from the next corner over. The formation responded by sending an arc of lightning back along the path of the arrow. Not the angle at which it had been hit, but actually following the true path. Fortunately, the lightning dissipated rapidly and by the time it struck Anton- who had readied his defenses and moved- it was only enough to send him reeling backwards without breaking through his defenses. At least his efforts had been enough to draw energy away from the part of the formation Catarina was working on, allowing her to open the door. Anton followed after the rest to get inside, finding a strange thin layer of air between the inside and outside water. Inside the dormitory were a myriad of bed-shaped masses of life, as well as a few things that should have once been dressers and footchests. A moment after they were all inside, a crab pinched at Anton. Not a giant crab, but instead one whose larger pincer was merely the size of a fist. But he had almost not sensed it in time, and even when he sensed it and rapidly pulled back his leg a slice of bone was cut off of his shin. A moment later the crab was halfway across the room, having already attacked Hoyt. The first thing Anton and the others did was push off of the ground, but the crab leapt from floor to ceiling and back to take a swing at people. The speed of its claws cut and sliced bloody lines into the cultivators as they tried to counterattack. Anton found it hard to get a lock on the creature as it moved about swiftly and the others barely had time to start swinging their weapons by the time it was already past them. The heat from Hoyt¡¯s abilities didn¡¯t really seem to faze it, though it was only next to him for an instant as it attacked. It was strange to find such a small creature with a cultivation that rivalled someone at the Essence Collection realm, but that was the situation they found themselves dealing with. The crab had power and speed, and even when their weapons managed to touch it its hard shell and energy resisted the blows. The only factor in their favor was that it was unwilling to strongly commit to attacks, making most of the wounds it caused superficial as it darted away the first instant someone responded. Catarina began to throw formation flags about the room, but they were nearly instantly removed from their position by the scuttling crab, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Everyone gathered together to try to defend each other, brandishing their weapons where they expected the crab to attack from. It somewhat worked, allowing them to deflect it while it attacked. Anton pulled out his twin axes, turning the blades towards where the crab was moving. While he couldn¡¯t track its movements, predicting it wasn¡¯t all that hard. It was fast¡­ but not particularly tricky in its movements. When one person stepped forward, they were immediately the target. Anton gathered some energy on the axe in his left hand and then tossed it forward. He hadn¡¯t been certain about what would happen, but the crab rushed past, carving a gouge in the blade. It was painful to see that happen to his weapon, but it inspired the others to distract the crab with other things. Masozi extended a strand of his energy towards one of the ruined chests around the area, covering it in an aura like his and holding his spear behind it. The crab rushed past, and miraculously he managed to catch one of its legs, taking it off. With the creature slightly slowed, others began to land blows of their own, though usually not so significant as an entire leg all at once. The final blow was managed when Timothy slammed his shield into the ground, stopping the crab in its tracks- though it managed to cause quite a dent in the shield as it ran into it. Masozi¡¯s spear pinned the body to the ground, and though surprisingly the crab wasn¡¯t dead while a spear took up the whole center of its body, it was unable to counterattack or move. Its blood filled the area before it eventually died. Once it was confirmed to be deceased, they looked around the room for further threats. They likely would have encountered them during the battle, but they wanted to be cautious. Then they quickly began looking for something of value. They couldn¡¯t sense any energy indicating powerful pills or enchantments¡­ until Masozi tore open the top of one of the still-intact chests. He reached his hand inside and pulled out a little round ball, about the size of the tip of his finger. He showed it to the others, smiling. There were another few unopened chests, each with several pills that still radiated energy as well as a few old books and an enchanted spearhead. Upon making sure that was everything to be found, the group moved to a building with air to properly inspect their spoils and get a fresh breath. Catarina set up a small privacy formation, since openly eyeing their loot could draw other cultivators over and cause trouble. Masozi displayed the first pill he¡¯d found. ¡°It really is a duality pill. Good for soul and body enhancement at the same time. This one is just like the one I got a portion of.¡± He shrugged, ¡°The outer layer is a bit damp, but it seems intact.¡± In total they had enough of the same duality pills that everyone had three, with a couple spares being split among them in pieces. The spearhead showed no signs of damage from being in saltwater for centuries, though it wasn¡¯t clear if it was the materials or enchantments that allowed that. The books were of the most interest. The wording in them was old, because even though an abundance of cultivators tended to homogenize language as they travelled about it still changed over time. Language would still be quite different a few countries away, but cultivators were quick to pick up new speech. Though they were a bit difficult to understand, the books were clearly combat techniques. There was one exception, which appeared to be a journal. The enchantments and waterproofing on it were not quite as strong as the technique books, and soggy pages had bled out some of the ink- but there were readable passages. Perhaps they might find some actual record of what had happened, though that depended on whether a random disciple knew about what would be happening ahead of time- and whether they thought it worthwhile. For the moment, however, it was being carefully dried so as not to tear it apart while flipping through it. Chapter 187 A small ball the size of a tip of a finger was between Anton¡¯s thumb and forefinger as he inspected it. Visually it didn¡¯t look like much, something like a ball of silvery mud. Certainly not something that should be ingested. So far during his cultivation career Anton had only taken a small number of pills, using one to help him break through to the tenth star and little else. He had always been the sort to refuse medicine, but cultivation pills weren¡¯t quite the same thing. They weren¡¯t meant to be taken when sick or even when struggling, but to help a cultivator achieve a specific result by providing a substantial amount of energy with particular properties. Given the condition it had been found in, he found it surprising that it still had any energy signature at all. He could tell it wasn¡¯t in perfect condition- though he didn¡¯t have the training to fully appraise the pill- but it was still much stronger than the previous pills he had consumed. Masozi had already consumed one of his without issue, and since all the pills appeared more or less equivalent it was easy enough to rule out it having gone bad. It shouldn¡¯t cause any harm, but it might be less effective. There were warnings in the Order about consuming excessive amounts of pills, but that wasn¡¯t even vaguely geared towards taking one every couple years. Impurities might build up if someone took a pill every month to push their cultivation forward, in addition to the efficacy decreasing, but if the pill was well made there would be no harm to consuming them less regularly than that. Anton wasn¡¯t concerned about the quality of the pill, but instead he wanted to ponder how to make the best use of it before he took it. The energy inside it was gentle yet powerful, like a wide stream. There were some tendrils of connection as well. Masozi had called it a ¡®duality pill¡¯, though there was no way to know if that was the original name. The point being when Masozi had obtained a partial pill before- and having confirmed it when he consumed a full one just now- he was able to discern that it helped connect body and soul while tempering both. In short, it was extremely well suited for the current portion of Spirit Building Anton was in. Anton stored it away. They couldn¡¯t afford to spend too much time cultivating in one spot, and more importantly Masozi had a deal to fulfill. After having consumed the pill he¡¯d broken through to the next level of his cultivation technique, though Anton knew he wasn¡¯t too far to begin with. Seeing Anton looking over at him, he nodded his head. ¡°I can easily tell what you want. I¡¯m quite happy with how this deal turned out, the only thing I ask is that you try not to spread where you got the information I will share.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Good.¡± He waited to see that Catarina had set up a proper privacy formation. ¡°I might be in more danger for being seen with all of you, but it¡¯s already too late for that. About Tonina, I spent a few years as her bodyguard, while working for the Potenza clan several more before that. Even during the first years where we had little interaction, it was clear she was favored. I assumed at first that it was just the level expected of the Young Mistress of a clan. She was talented enough and an only child. But while I might have considered her parents a more reasonable sort, taking careful consideration of their actions, they often conformed to her whims in ways that weren¡¯t beneficial to the Potenzas as a whole.¡± ¡°That¡¯s likely to happen in any family,¡± Anton said, ¡°Though some descendents are more reasonable.¡± ¡°Indeed. But I learned it wasn¡¯t out of fondness for her. There were occasional meetings with mysterious cultivators. I was never present for them, though they weren¡¯t fully silent as I was leaving the area. I overheard a few things, but nothing practical. No name of a sect or person, no locations. The Potenzas only referred to them as ¡®the organizers¡¯. Or perhaps there was more emphasis. ¡®The Organizers¡¯, but it¡¯s still not the name of a proper group. I didn¡¯t look too hard to find out about them.¡± ¡°Is it the Flying Blood Sect?¡± Anton asked. ¡°They were working with Tonina when we captured her.¡± ¡°No,¡± Masozi shook his head. ¡°Or at least, the organization of the Flying Blood Sect, if it can be called that, is little known. It seemed to me to be a separate entity, and I didn¡¯t sense any of the Flying Blood Sect¡¯s cultivation. Though perhaps they can all hide it if they wish to. Given their activities, some amount of concealment seems necessary for them to continue functioning. But I would go with the presumption that the Flying Blood Sect works with or perhaps for The Organizers.¡± Anton nodded, writing down everything Masozi was saying. Relying on his own memory was good enough in most cases, but proper notes might be needed later. ¡°Any connection to slave trading?¡± ¡°Probably, but the Potenzas are connected to slave trading as well obviously. Or were¡­? I heard the Order was doing something there.¡± ¡°They still existed last I heard,¡± Anton said, ¡°But that could have changed in the last few weeks.¡± Masozi nodded, ¡°Right, well. The Organizers seemed interested in Tonina in particular, rather than the clan. I can give you my best descriptions of their members and when I saw them. There were a few I saw more than once.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Anton took down all of the descriptions. He wished he had the ability to draw, so he could have Masozi adjust them until Masozi felt they were accurate- but words would have to do. There were many things Anton wished he had time to learn but¡­ actually, he had time to try them now. If he could at least make a little bit of progress in cultivation while he attempted new crafts and the like, it could be worthwhile. He was encouraging everyone to do the same with their day-to-day work, and doing so might help him teach others. Or he would waste time and learn nothing important, but he could afford to do a little bit of that. He wasn¡¯t currently so close to the end of his lifespan that he expected to drop dead at any time. Not long later, Anton sensed a small group of other disciples from the Order approaching. They didn¡¯t seem to be in any rush, but they were clearly coming to their group instead of just passing by. The woman at the front appeared to be somewhere in her middle age and only in early Spirit Building. That was actually quite a reasonable place to be at her age, and it was only the growth rates of those immediately around Anton that made her seem behind. She inclined her head to them as she stepped inside. ¡°Seniors, the elders request that all of the members of the Order gather together by the end of the day, deeper into the ruins.¡± She gave them more specific directions to follow. ¡°I understand,¡± Anton said. ¡°Did they give a reason?¡± The woman turned her eyes to Masozi. He shrugged, ¡°I assume it¡¯s some secret vault or the like. I have no stake in it.¡± The woman neither confirmed nor denied, but Anton felt Masozi¡¯s guess wasn¡¯t far off. At least, she would have said if they were anticipating organized attacks or something similar, so there were few other options. ¡°We¡¯ll have to part ways soon then,¡± Anton said to Masozi. ¡°Would you like us to escort you to the edge of the ruins?¡± ¡°I would appreciate that, yes.¡± ¡°I can make that somewhat more effective,¡± Catarina said. ¡°If we conceal just his presence as we move, nobody will know if he¡¯s still travelling with us or not unless they get within eyesight.¡± Catarina shrugged, ¡°Though visibility is pretty far here except when buildings get in the way.¡± They departed from the other group of disciples, who continued to seek out others from the Order. As they walked along in the bright water, Anton considered that he might want to learn more about formations as well. He¡¯d actually achieved some basics when in Everheart¡¯s Tomb. He had little reason to focus on more since Catarina would clearly always be ahead of him, but knowing a bit more shouldn¡¯t hurt. He also wondered about enchanting and everything else. He was still getting used to the idea that his life wasn¡¯t necessarily at its end. As long as he made sure he spent enough time properly cultivating he should be able to continue for a while. He couldn¡¯t fully judge the remainder of his current lifespan, but it was at least a handful of years even if he suddenly stopped cultivating entirely. But no more than a couple decades either. Travelling back to the edge of the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s borders was simple enough, since the further out they got the fewer cultivators were around. Everything was fairly well cleared out, so they would only encounter people traveling in and out, and there was more than just one location they could do so from. The Order just entered through a more ¡®official¡¯ sort of entrance rather than any old hole in the formation. Nobody was sensed nearby when Masozi departed, so he should be safe. If not¡­ Anton and the others had more than fulfilled any obligations to him. They weren¡¯t really enemies, nor were they friends. He was just another cultivator that had given them all the information they needed from him. On the way back, it became clear that more than just disciples of the Order were being called further into the area. Cultivators from other sects were travelling inward as well, and because of the general motion of people, so were many of the independent cultivators. Some still hoped to make lucky finds like the duality pills Anton and the others had gathered, staying to the outer areas and branching out to the sides but others hoped they might pick up something from whatever event was happening. Most of the cultivators were gathering in a ruined library, already picked clean long before. Only bare shelves could be seen, but Anton was amazed at how extensive they were. The Order had a fairly large library of both mundane texts and those related to cultivation, but it could all fit into a corner of the building they were in. One wall of the massive structure was completely gone- pulled outward, by the look of it. Anton felt the remains of the wall and a set of massive doors buried under the sand. The formations keeping water out of the area still functioned, but Anton had the feeling the area was swept clean long before the area was rediscovered. When the group arrived, they saw the Elders of the Order meeting with some others from different sects. It was likely they were arranging the details of how they would organize splitting¡­ whatever it was that was found. As for where that thing might be, Anton could at least make out the presence of a formation below them. Not directly under the library, but out and away from it. Even he could tell that whatever concealments it once had were faded away. Eventually the elders pulled apart, shaking their head. Kseniya spoke to the members of the Order. ¡°No agreement has been reached except that we wish to minimize bloodshed. It¡¯s the barest sort of provision and not fully binding, but it is what it is. In short, remain close to the elders if you want to be safe, or at least be somewhere you can quickly run to us. We would ask that you don¡¯t begin any fights. Of course, there might be nothing at all,¡± she grinned and shrugged. ¡°In a few moments we will begin breaking through the formation. We¡¯ll ask for contributions of energy from everyone. It¡¯s not a simple one.¡± Chapter 188 As soon as they arrived at a location with direct access to the formation, it was obvious how much more powerful it was than the one at the Secret Realm. The first layer was basically the same, and that was where problems set in. There were layers of formation built up on top of each other, seven of them in total. Each was progressively more powerful. No matter how durable a wall was, determined attacks would eventually bring it down- but that wasn¡¯t necessarily the case with a formation. In part, it depended on where it got its power from. Dozens of sects gathered around, large and small. Their elders and formation masters took a position at the front, channeling energy from their disciples behind them. They simultaneously launched attacks at the direction of the formation masters, shattering the first layer of the barrier. Another attack, the second layer. Another, and the third. That was around the point where the first layer started reforming. The next barrage dispersed the reforming first layer while the fourth was merely weakened slightly. The subsequent fifth and sixth strikes shattered the reforming second and third layers while finally breaking through the fourth. At that point, something started to become visible. The first three layers were more durable than when they had first appeared. However, the group continued battering at the barriers until they broke through the fifth layer. Elder Rana, one of the preeminent formation masters from the Order, explained the phenomenon. ¡°When the barriers reform, they seem to take on properties to protect themselves from the previous most effective damage! Prepare to alternate attacks!¡± It took a few moments to organize people such that one group or another wouldn¡¯t attack for a moment, but nobody was willing to stop to rest and let the whole barrier reform. It wasn¡¯t the worst scenario, however. If the barrier adapted to the point that only one type of attack could break through they would be in trouble, since it would require six or seven different sects be able to break a full layer on their own. Instead it just required some people to sit out on individual layers while everyone else worked together to break through the next barrier. Then they could attack the one underneath that before the top layers began to reform. After they broke through the sixth layer, Anton began to call upon the power of Fleeting Youth. It was energy he would never have, from future lives he might never live and the power beyond ascension that he would never reach. Why would he? He wanted nothing more than to make the world better for everyone. Leaving the world behind could hardly accomplish that goal, even if he managed to achieve what most people thought was impossible even for the best cultivators. When the next attack struck, Anton felt his energy rebound violently. It pushed back against him, sending his energy into turbulent confusion. It refused to flow in its proper way, twisting through his meridians and dantian as it pleased and almost trying to break free. He had to stop contributing to the barrage and focus only on calming his energy. It was strange. The barrier hadn¡¯t counterattacked against anything else- nor had he noticed anything happening to others on a larger scale. It was only when he used the power of Fleeting Youth that he provoked a response. Since he valued his life, he decided he wouldn¡¯t attempt it again. In fact, he stopped dealing with the barrier at all. Nobody would miss a single cultivator¡¯s energy. After a good half an hour of continuous attacking, the final layer of the barrier broke apart- and the formation masters were able to prevent it from reforming any longer. The barrage of attacks broke through the ceiling into what appeared to be a fairly standard series of hallways, branching towards many rooms that could be felt in all directions. Cultivators started dropping into the area rapidly, ignoring the possibility of additional traps. Anton approached more cautiously, more concerned about the original barrier- but he was able to pass through the area without difficulty. When they got down into the corridor they began a determined run towards a door further down the hallway that nobody was inside yet. There were dozens of doors nearby, and perhaps hundreds of rooms or more throughout the sprawling underground complex. Fighting with others over unknown benefits inside was pointless when they could freely obtain something else. The first room was a small armory. Dozens of weapons and sets of armor filled the area, all enchanted. Yet as they began to obtain them, Hoyt shook his head. ¡°It seems like most of the power has faded. At least the materials should be worth something.¡± Timothy held up a shield, looking at it. ¡°Is that right?¡± he wondered aloud. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if the power faded at all. It¡¯s just¡­ weak.¡± ¡°Why would a powerful group like the Luminous Ocean Society protect and bury things with weak enchantments?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°But it feels like this is all they ever did.¡± In addition to the equipment there were a few rolled scrolls- they looked to be forging and enchanting manuals, but the archaic language made it difficult to be certain with a cursory inspection. Regardless of whether it seemed valuable, they took everything in the room. Their storage bags were practically bulging as they stepped out of the room, seeing other cultivators wandering the hallways looking slightly disappointed. ¡°Were the things in the other rooms crap too?¡± Hoyt asked asked a passing cultivator. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. The man nodded. ¡°Weak enchantments. We¡¯re hoping to get something for the materials, but they don¡¯t seem like much.¡± Weak enchantments. Uninspiring materials. It didn¡¯t seem like a secret vault of a powerful ancient sect, but there were small benefits to be found. At least fights weren¡¯t breaking out over the ownership of anything. Anton heard something down the hall, then looked at the others. He did his best to direct his voice only towards his companions. ¡°Someone mentioned technique manuals. Those, at least, have to be valuable if they¡¯re intact. Let¡¯s hurry further down the hallway.¡± It was impossible to determine the value of a technique at a cursory glance- some people liked to judge them on their complexity, but Anton was of the firm opinion that more complex techniques weren¡¯t necessarily better. Just harder to learn. A good technique would allow anyone to learn it to a high level of proficiency and still be effective for its purpose. In short, the version of Spirit Arrows normally available in the library and not the version directly written by Elder Kseniya. They did find a room full of books, a veritable library. Their arms were full of scrolls and tomes and weapons without sheaths even as their storage bags were overflowing with things that fit more nicely inside. But though the rewards were overflowing, the cultivators were sort of sadly walking around in the halls. It didn¡¯t take long for hundreds of rooms to be looted- even moving in groups there were thousands of cultivators after all. Not a single weapon with high tier enchantments was found, and people had started looking through the techniques. Their complexity was low, and though they were hard to understand it was clear they were highly situational. It was simply a large number of techniques- and many copies of the same ones- describing how to combat one style of energy. Probably from a sect that didn¡¯t even exist anymore. ¡°What a letdown,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Mhmm,¡± Anton said as he dangled a scroll in front of him. ¡°I was sort of hoping for something¡­¡± he frowned as he looked at the technique. It would require some ¡®translating¡¯ to modern language for him to fully understand it, but there were odd familiarities. When they met back up with the elders, who generally had larger storage bags, their arms were blissfully freed of their abundance. But most of the Order was looking only slightly pleased at best. Even the weakest people who came wouldn¡¯t get use from any of the enchanted equipment, unless they had nothing to begin with. With the surface level only having rare and waterlogged equipment, the haul was rather disappointing. Though they could have expected even less of value to be left behind after a sect was destroyed by another. Usually the whole area was picked clean to the last speck of dust. Unless there were things simply below the notice of the attackers. Anton thought about the pills and spearhead, all highly valuable to someone in Spirit Building and probably even useful in Essence Collection. They might have even been more potent before. No sect would just ignore those¡­ would they? Perhaps they had just gone unnoticed somehow. Another week passed before everyone was quite certain that the entire place had been cleared- the only things of interest were the remaining formations and archaeological and architectural details. Not something the majority of cultivators would be interested in. The Order merely left behind those elders and like-minded disciples who wanted to stay, bringing the rest away. Back up on the surface the area was teeming with boats. Cultivators wanted to leave and didn¡¯t want to swim across the ocean, and every boat that could was packing them to the gills where they could. The Order certainly could have gotten one of them, but instead they decided to be conservative, waiting for several days for space to free up. With people leaving, the area had sufficient natural energy for at least the lower disciples to cultivate- and that included people like Anton, who were still significantly weaker than those at the top. A single Life Transformation cultivator would take up energy that could be used by dozens of others. Anton wasn¡¯t quite ready to try a duality pill. He was instead puzzling over some of the techniques he had available. They were all sorts of things, sword stances to specific combat techniques, archery and elemental control and everything¡­ but they were all weak. The Luminous Ocean Society had to have had better. People had found a few manuals elsewhere that were good. But the vaults behind the seven layer formation¡­ were full of crap. Maybe it was just meant to be a slap on the face for raiders, but it was a lot of effort to go to for a prank. There was also the focus on dealing with a certain type of energy. It never said it directly, but as Anton felt out how some of the weaker techniques would work he could feel them clashing with Fleeting Youth. Not all of it, but specifically the portion related to ascended energy. He had no way to confirm his theory until he had more information, but what he found was highly suggestive. No disciples were without any reward, but most didn¡¯t even get so much as Anton and the others- specifically the duality pills and the like. Actual remnants had been scarce outside of the vaults. One important discovery, however, had been some proper histories. Once again they weren¡¯t written in modern language so the full details couldn¡¯t be gone over in a week but it should shed light on the situation with what happened to the Luminous Ocean Society¡­ and if it could happen again. That was the most important thing. Sects fell all the time, but learning why it happened was important. Sometimes they were simply too overbearing and offended too many others, or one much more powerful sect. Yet the Luminous Ocean Society had been wiped out so thoroughly that nobody had records of them existing, nor of who wiped them out. Anton hoped it wasn¡¯t related to The Organizers. They had enough trouble with mysterious sects from Ofrurg right now, and there was no doubt there would be more of that in the future. The Order wasn¡¯t just going to accept the recent events and roll over. Nor would other parts of Ofrurg who found mysterious interference a threat to their power. Chapter 189 There were a great many people visiting Elder Siekert for her ability to appraise enchanted equipment, but she did not bother to look over them one by one. Everyone lined up with the various pieces they had, including Anton and the others. ¡°Quite a haul here,¡± she said, ¡°Though they seem a bit weak.¡± She picked up and handled the first thing in the line- a sword- before moving on. ¡°Interesting. Very interesting.¡± As for what was interesting, it took her some time to say. ¡°Such basic enchantments, yet skillfully made.¡± ¡°Are they valuable?¡± one disciple asked. ¡°That depends,¡± she said. ¡°If you wanted me to enchant any of this to be usable as weapons and armor, you¡¯d do better to just start me with a hunk of metal.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± the disciple hung his head. ¡°I thought since they came from an ancient sect¡­¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say they weren¡¯t valuable,¡± Elder Siekert continued. ¡°Just not¡­ usable. I¡¯ll buy them all!¡± she declared. One of her apprentices was standing nearby. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if the Order would-¡± ¡°If they don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth it, the Order won¡¯t last long. In that case, I¡¯d do it with my own funds.¡± She looked around, ¡°I¡¯ll offer everyone a fair price. Each piece seems more or less equivalent, barring the materials. And if there were any forging manuals or the like, the Order would also be glad to reward you for them.¡± ¡°What do they do?¡± another disciple asked, ¡°If they¡¯re not usable and can¡¯t be made that way¡­¡± ¡°That,¡± Elder Siekert smiled, ¡°Will have to remain secret for the moment. Nobody will be forced to give up anything if they don¡¯t wish to, but I swear to you they are no use outside of studying the technique for a situation¡­ that should never happen.¡± With little else to be said on the topic, people began handing over their equipment one piece at a time. Instead of tossing coins or the like to the disciples, Siekert simply handed out enchanted papers that could be exchanged for contribution points or equivalent value. If she actually had to hand out coins or the like it seemed likely that even a few storage bags wouldn¡¯t be sufficient. Anton turned in most of his goods as well, since he trusted the enchanter to deal with them all fairly- but he kept a well-balanced sword in hand and waited around for everything to be over. Once everyone else had left except Siekert and the apprentices running in and out with the piles of equipment, she focused on him. ¡°You have something to say, I presume?¡± ¡°I have some insights to provide on the situation,¡± he said. Anton held the sword level in front of him, gathering energy. Not just any energy, but the mixed energy of Fleeting Youth. As he brought it to cover the sword like any cultivator would be apt to do, his hand twitched and his energy dispersed violently. The sword dropped to the ground, where Anton picked it up with his other hand. ¡°I don¡¯t know if Vandale spoke to all of the elders about a technique Everheart left behind, but it purports to draw upon the power beyond ascension¡­ among other things.¡± He didn¡¯t need to mention it also involved post-reincarnation things. Those who had been cultivators for a long time seemed to be concerned about future lives to some extent, but Anton was already quite satisfied with the life he¡¯d had. If he could make this one better, he didn¡¯t need an unknowable future. ¡°Your point being?¡± Elder Siekert looked at him neutrally. ¡°I just know the equipment must be made to fight¡­ that. And of course, it should be obvious that it¡¯s related to the downfall of the Luminous Ocean Society¡­ and perhaps others nobody can recall.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I just thought it would be useful to have some confirmation of your assumptions.¡± ¡°Mmmn. No wonder Vandale took a liking to you. Quite straightforward.¡± Elder Siekert shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s best if I don¡¯t confirm or deny anything at the moment. If the Order as a whole should know, the information will be distributed. And of course, whatever Vandale chooses to share is up to the Grand Elder.¡± ¡°I almost forgot,¡± Anton said, pulling out the duality pill. ¡°We found some of these. They don¡¯t appear dangerous, but I was concerned about long-term side effects.¡± Masozi likely wouldn¡¯t have been swayed by that possibility so he didn¡¯t bring it up- but Anton wasn¡¯t planning to give up some of his future in exchange for breaking through a month or so earlier. She plucked the pill from his outstretched palm, looking at it, sniffing it, rolling it around between her fingers¡­ and then handing it back to him. ¡°It¡¯s safe, if a bit faded. As long as you can handle the energy you can sense you¡¯ll be fine. Nothing deceptive about it.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Anton said. ¡°I need to learn to do that at some point.¡± ¡°You want to become an enchanting apprentice?¡± Siekert asked. ¡°Maybe someday,¡± Anton said. ¡°I still have many other things to learn first.¡± ----- Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Anton held the first pill in his hands. He concentrated on where he would be distributing the energy, mainly around his head though of course some would disperse through his body as a whole. Once he finished breaking through to the twenty-first star, the second refinement of the head and the organs therein, his thoughts and senses would be yet another step clearer. He quite liked the thought of that, and was glad he¡¯d done the same early on in his Body Tempering cultivation. But he could understand why others would prioritize differently. He put the pill on his tongue, letting it begin to dissolve and run down his throat. As the energy hit his stomach and started to expand into his meridians and dantian he swallowed the pill. A quick flow of energy began to pour out of the rapidly decaying pill, and he circulated the flow through his body, concentrating on his eyes, ears, nose, brain, tongue, and little bits and pieces that connected everything. That included his spine, though some portions of that would better go along with marrow and bone refining. Unlike normal cultivation, he couldn¡¯t just stop at any moment. He had to make use off all of the energy he consumed, even when continued application made his body sore and his head throb with pain. He could distribute the focus to other parts, but deviating from the established technique of the Ninety-Nine Stars wouldn¡¯t benefit him in the long run. Most things were as they were for a reason, and one thing that was certainly correct was focusing on the completion of one portion at a time. As his body felt like it was reaching its limits, he directed the final portions of the energy into his dantian. It was quickly filled to maximum capacity, but he didn¡¯t want diffuse energy to make use of later- and he had more still to deal with. He began to compress it into a smaller ball. Each star was much the same in that regard, creating formations of compressed energy that could be drawn upon as necessary. The initial construction was important, as even when the energy from them was depleted a structure remained behind to be filled up at a later time. More density was preferred. Anton was able to make use of some of the energy to force the rest into a tighter ball, but it felt somewhat wasteful. But he had more he could make use of. A stronger energy that could help pull it together, the power of Fleeting Youth. The more he made use of it, the more proficient he would be with it in the future, and the greater his connection would be to the futures he would never have. When the twenty-first star was finally finished, Anton inspected it and found it was the best yet by a significant margin. It was densely packed but he could draw on it as needed without worrying about it breaking down permanently. The more he could achieve similar results, the better he would do with higher tier techniques like Falling Stars and Horizon Shot. ----- A variety of technique manuals and notes were splayed out on the table in Vandale¡¯s observatory. He went back and forth between looking at them and looking up at the stars, either directly or through the telescope. ¡°You don¡¯t have to just stand there,¡± Vandale commented to Anton. ¡°It¡¯s not like you haven¡¯t already guessed at this secret.¡± ¡°I only surmised a few things,¡± Anton said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure how accurate I was.¡± ¡°To be fair,¡± Vandale waved his hand at the notes, ¡°Neither am I. What do you actually know?¡± ¡°Just that the Luminous Ocean Society should have been destroyed by ascended cultivators¡­ after they had prepared to fight them.¡± Anton frowned as he thought, ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware that those who had ascended could return. Then again, I know little about it beyond that it¡¯s possible, and that Fleeting Youth draws from that source.¡± ¡°My information is not as much better than yours as you might think,¡± Vandale said. ¡°However, I can say one thing. If ascended cultivators were able to return whenever they wished and display their great power¡­ they would. For all that cultivators like to pretend to be above worldly matters, even the Frostmirror sect and those like them are more worldly than they¡¯d like people to think. Those who ascend cut away their connection to their lives here, but it¡¯s not possible to truly complete that and still remain the same person. There must be circumstances where they can come back here¡­ or perhaps even to different worlds than the one from which they ascended.¡± Vandale gestured at the sky. ¡°I told you about the other planets. It is perhaps possible that other worlds have cultivators like us, and that others carry those who have ascended. Or perhaps they are under a different sky entirely. I¡¯ll never know for sure.¡± ¡°These techniques¡­¡± Anton looked down at the notes about the techniques from the Luminous Ocean Society. ¡°They¡¯re geared at fighting ascended cultivators?¡± ¡°Indeed. For the moment, the Order has classified them as forbidden. Not because we believe they have no value, but because publicly practicing these might be¡­ problematic. We have no way to know if anyone is in contact with ascended cultivators. The one thing I do know, however, is that what happened with the Luminous Ocean Society and their peers will happen again. Likely soon.¡± Anton swallowed. ¡°Not to worry,¡± Vandale said. ¡°To a man my age, ¡®soon¡¯ is quite a bit longer than what even you might consider it to be. A century, perhaps a handful. Maybe it could stretch out for a millennium. I imagine as the time approaches it will become more clear.¡± ¡°What should I do about it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°What indeed? Can you do anything about it?¡± Vandale asked. ¡°Can I? It is unclear. But I think¡­ that you should continue what you are already doing.¡± Vandale placed his hand on the table with the techniques. ¡°Though you had a different reason for it, we will need as many cultivators as we can get. Every person who can perform even the simplest of these techniques can disrupt the gulf of power, unbalancing those who use the power beyond ascension. In theory.¡± ¡°It certainly works,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have access to a small sliver through practicing Fleeting Youth. The weapons, at least, are immensely disruptive- even just holding one.¡± ¡°How hard is it to overcome?¡± Vandale asked. ¡°I¡¯ll admit that I haven¡¯t put that much time into countering it. I presumed I would simply not make use of such equipment.¡± ¡°Understandable,¡± Vandale said, ¡°But I think it would be best to try. Learn to counter it¡­ and then perhaps we can come up with a way to counter that counter. After all, the Luminous Ocean Society wasn¡¯t just sitting on their thumbs.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll put it on my list.¡± After smithing and weaving, he thought. He doubted he could master those in just a few weeks, but to get down the basic motions would be something else. If he could see what subtle differences in cultivation different crafts allowed for, he would perhaps be able to help many more people cultivate. And he really wanted to learn everything. Not just about cultivation, either. Chapter 190 The clang of hammer on anvil rang out at a steady pace. It struck repeatedly until it came time to quench the metal, steam billowing out of the bucket. Sweat dripped down Anton¡¯s forehead, as this time he wasn¡¯t just watching but making the attempt himself. It wasn¡¯t anything marvelous, just a building nail. It was little more than a slab of metal that tapered to a point, but he was just beginning. It was possible for him to completely negate the heat of a simple forge with his energy, but it seemed outside of the spirit of the work. Besides, if he couldn¡¯t tolerate a little discomfort he would never have gotten good at anything. When Grant had first started down the path of a smith, Anton had just started teaching him how to use energy. He¡¯d barely reached the second star at that point, and while he had some experience as an apprentice his actual experience as a smith was limited. But with tempered muscles and the financial help to set up a forge, he¡¯d begun his journey. Now, two and a half years later, Grant was nearing the peak of Body Tempering and had a steady flow of customers from Windrip and Stregate. ¡°It¡¯s possible to fortify the inner portion of whatever you¡¯re forging so that your hammer blows don¡¯t push it too far,¡± Grant said, ¡°Though it¡¯s really better to achieve that with pure technique. If you really do flatten something too far, it¡¯s possible to more directly alter the structure if you have to, but doing it wrong leaves the metal weak.¡± Anton nodded. Altering things on a small level took very precise and accurate energy control to last. ¡°You use some muscles more than others, but the most important thing is knowing how much strength to use. Just swinging harder doesn¡¯t help much, with normal metals. I haven¡¯t gotten much practice with anything cultivators use.¡± Anton continued to work with Grant, watching him smith. Most of his energy usage while doing so was internal, to improve his body as he worked. Anton had to bow to Grant¡¯s expertise in what areas needed to be tempered properly, but he could provide some advice on how. He regularly visited Windrip to help people with their cultivation, but he was constantly learning new improvements. While many of them were extremely slight changes, they could significantly alter the future trajectory of a cultivator. For those who just wanted to live, it probably wouldn¡¯t matter- and with just the core portions of the Ninety-Nine Stars people weren¡¯t doing poorly. But Anton wasn¡¯t happy with just settling for ¡®good enough¡¯. If people were willing to work with him to be their best, he would happily continue improving with them. And maybe he would be good enough to make things better than nails soon enough. Unlike a regular apprentice, he could afford to fix things if he messed up from trying to learn too quickly. He wasn¡¯t going to be a burden on those he was learning from just because he showed up irregularly. ----- The next week, Derya took him out to the market. ¡°The first part of weaving is picking good thread. It takes a practiced eye, but there¡¯s more to it than that.¡± She had been an experienced weaver when he first helped her get set up in Windrip already, but cultivation had allowed her to take things to the next level. Since her work wasn¡¯t as physically demanding as blacksmithing, she¡¯d been cultivating more slowly after achieving the most useful portions of Body Tempering. ¡°You can sense when a spool of thread has a weakness. I do not buy from those merchants who regularly have poor quality thread. What good is it to just look good on the outside?¡± She held up one spool to the merchant, a young woman, ¡°This one¡¯s bad in the middle, dear.¡± The young woman took it and set it aside, ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have to, if you would cultivate. You could pick it out for yourself.¡± ¡°Where would I find time for that?¡± she asked. ¡°I have to be here all day or managing shipments or taking care of the house.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not all sitting on your rear in meditation, dear,¡± Derya smiled, ¡°It can be done at the same time as practical work. And it doesn¡¯t always take many years. I¡¯d be willing to bet you could sense bad thread by next spring. Sooner, if you have more talent than me.¡± She looked to Anton, ¡°Anton¡¯s the one who taught me, and he¡¯s gone much further in just four years.¡± ¡°I doubt I could compare to a proper cultivator,¡± she kept her head low. ¡°You won¡¯t know until you try,¡± Anton said, ¡°And it will be good for your daily life to be more physically capable. You wouldn¡¯t have to hire someone to unload wagons for you.¡± The young merchant finally agreed to spend some time attempting to cultivate while Anton was in town. Anton wholly understood not wanting to take time away from work for unclear benefits, but soon enough he¡¯d have the whole city cultivating if he could. Preferably people would be trained in cultivation once they were old enough, probably while they were apprentices. With Alva as an example it was clear that training from a younger age was possible, though it was still good to be cautious about it. If Anton had his way, Alva would just barely be starting cultivation and not finishing her second year. Back at Derya¡¯s workshop, she continued to explain weaving to him. ¡°I could make my own thread, and sometimes I do- but time I spend on that I can¡¯t be weaving, and I have to find the material still. I should probably hire some proper apprentices but not everyone wants their young girls to learn to cultivate, and I won¡¯t have one who doesn¡¯t. And of course the young men don¡¯t want to weave.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Weaving was much about patterns and repeated movements. Anton could remember things fairly swiftly, but it would still take time to get it down to habit. It would take quite some time to even begin to master even a couple of crafts, but spending the time allowed him to work on his goals of interacting more with common folk and teaching them to cultivate. Even if every person just reached two stars it would significantly change the way Graotan operated, allowing people to work more efficiently and to increase their prosperity. ----- A plain sword, unadorned except for a stylized guard, was held out in front of Anton as he readied himself for a spar. He had no particular intention to become skilled with swords, but increasing the variety of weapons he was proficient with wasn¡¯t his purpose. The sword in question was the same one from the Luminous Ocean Society, the one which disrupted post-ascension energy. Across from him was Timothy, since he was the one most defensively proficient. Anton had practiced to the point that the disruption from the sword could be overcome when simply holding it, but making use of his energy in combat was quite a different issue. As the spar began, Anton mainly kept on the offense, striking with his sword continuously. Timothy wasn¡¯t just letting him attack, of course. When Anton left himself open Timothy would counter, striking at his body. Though the attacks weren¡¯t serious, Anton still needed to make use of his energy to defend himself. As for the energy on his weapon, he wasn¡¯t using anything but the power of Fleeting Youth. Currently he was focusing on separating it into the different parts, since not all of it contained the type of energy he was intending to practice with. Dense energy coated the sword as he feinted towards Timothy¡¯s left side. When he held out his shield to deflect the attack, Anton flicked his sword around to the other side. Timothy¡¯s right arm came up to parry the attack, and as their weapons clashed the sword was flung out of Anton¡¯s hand, the energy dispersed. It was difficult to tell how effective the enchantments were. Anton had little practice with the energy- not decades or centuries like he could presume those who passed ascension would gather. On the other hand, he only had a small amount of that energy. If the disruption increased with the quantity, it could be very effective. Likewise, the enchantments weren¡¯t made to disrupt someone using the weapon specifically- it was supposed to be used against someone with the requisite energy. That would certainly make it more effective. In short, Anton was not yet experienced enough to give a proper showing of the efficacy of the enchantments, except to prove that they worked on some level. There was as yet no indication if and when the next sort of attack by ascended individuals might be, but waiting would likely make any response too slow. If they got a decade of warning it would be pushing the development of proper counters- and thus improving the enchantments to be more effective. If they had a year of warning, they could only frantically have people learning techniques and enchanting weapons and armor. If there was no warning, they could only die helplessly. Translation efforts were still undergoing, but it was clear that the Luminous Ocean Society had some sort of warning to make use of. More importantly, the Secret Realm seemed to be meant for training people with more than just the tower that had heavy energy pressure, and it was fully intact. While the Order didn¡¯t have control over the area, and anyone could come and go as they pleased, they could make regular expeditions to the area as long as they brought elders for security. ¡°Again,¡± Anton said. He would continue until he was confident in maintaining his control without thinking about it¡­ then Timothy would be the one with the sword. If Anton overcame all of that, learning the basics of the anti-ascension techniques wouldn¡¯t be terribly difficult either. It was problematic that Anton was the only one, at the moment, who could make use of any ascension energy. It could take him years to be relevant in that regard, since a proper ascension cultivator would be beyond Life Transformation in terms of power, or perhaps matching it except for the denser form of energy- but that was still quite a bit out of his reach. ----- Vandale stood in front of Anton atop the peak, holding a small ball of energy in his hand. It was comparable in density to a smouldering orb in his other hand, though Anton could feel clear differences. ¡°This is it, I¡¯m afraid,¡± Vandale said. ¡°In theory, I should be closer to the ascension energy and thus able to reach out for it¡­ but it¡¯s difficult. In theory this was what I was trying to obtain for so many years, and simply that act makes me unsuitable for Fleeting Youth.¡± His energy senses swept over Anton, ¡°I see the practice of it is changing your core. You¡¯re still making proper advancements in the Ninety-Nine Stars, but you feel different.¡± ¡°The ascension energy still isn¡¯t part of me,¡± Anton said, ¡°Nor do I think it can ever be. It¡¯s more like stealing it¡­ or borrowing it, since it¡¯s quite willing to be under my control.¡± ¡°Energy doesn¡¯t much care who controls it,¡± Vandale agreed. ¡°Even this ascension energy is simply not easily accessed from where we are. But I imagine Everheart knew more about it than anyone who had not actually ascended. A shame he is not around to ask, but I doubt his answer would be helpful regardless. Though he might have yet left information around.¡± ¡°If he had a prediction on when the next event would be,¡± Anton said, ¡°I imagine he¡¯d reveal a ¡®tomb¡¯ or equivalent at what he felt was an appropriate time before it. Unless he ascended, in which case I would presume he wouldn¡¯t have been interested in making it easier to defeat him if he ever returned. Even Fleeting Youth could have been completed before he became aware of those events.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Vandale said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t count on any results from him. But we just have to produce someone of our own like Everheart.¡± ¡°I¡¯d never want to be like him,¡± Anton said. ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t mean an asshole. Just a genius,¡± Vandale tossed both balls of energy into the air, letting them unravel and explode against each other. ¡°We definitely don¡¯t need anyone with his personality. Just someone with the guts to make wide-sweeping moves. I¡¯d be glad to try, but unfortunately I can guarantee I wouldn¡¯t be able to see it through to the end.¡± ¡°... I¡¯ll think about it,¡± Anton said. ¡°A bit too late for that, I think. It¡¯s already begun. So do try to stay alive for the rest of it all.¡± Chapter 191 Everything was better when everyone was together. It made Alva and Catarina and Devon and Anton happy, and it made the members of the pack that weren¡¯t of their blood happy. And the pack being happy made Fuzz happy. They also made him strong. The things Catarina did with his fur had grown into him and was a part of him now. She seemed concerned about that, but it didn¡¯t bother Fuzz. He was stronger than he could have ever thought he would be. His teeth and claws were sharp, his legs fast and strong. Even when things were bad, it was better for people to be together. Something bad had happened, but Fuzz couldn¡¯t tell what it was. Every member of the pack was still alive and healthy, as far as he could determine. Devon¡¯s energy changed, but change wasn¡¯t necessarily bad. They didn¡¯t seem worried about that. So Fuzz didn¡¯t worry about it. He just made sure to be as strong as he could be. Fuzz knew there were some things he could never do. Alva and Anton both used ¡®bows¡¯ and attacked from far away, but he couldn¡¯t do that. But he didn¡¯t need to, since they did it. He just needed to get within biting range- or a bit further than that since he learned how to extend his energy further. He was a big wolf, but for a few moments he could be a bigger wolf, with jaws the size of his whole body. Though usually that wasn¡¯t necessary- very few things were big enough to need such a big mouth to bite them. And it made him tired. Fuzz did notice that everyone was trying to practice one weird type of energy. Unlike everything else, it didn¡¯t seem to do anything. Except sometimes Anton did something. He called upon a big power, a strong one. Then the strange energy made it fall apart. At first Fuzz didn¡¯t know why they would want to break apart Anton¡¯s power, but he figured it out. They were going to fight someone with the same power. It was a strange power, and the way they countered it was all swirly and weird. Fuzz couldn¡¯t figure it out at all. It was already bad enough that humans had different ¡®meridians¡¯ than he did. They had legs that were like his back legs, and arms that were kind of like his front legs¡­ but the number and arrangement of meridians wasn¡¯t the same. Humans had five fingers and toes, and they had meridians that went through all of those and to many places in their hands. Fuzz had four toes and meridians terminated in each of those and his foot pads. The way humans treated their arms and legs was also different, and they circulated energy around their body in mysterious ways that he couldn¡¯t understand. But Fuzz wanted to learn. Many of their techniques were used with weapons, and he had no intention to attempt those. He was able to augment his teeth and claws well enough. But they could run fast without just pushing their legs further and change their energy into fire or different sorts of things. He saw all sorts of things in the ¡°Secret Realm¡¯. The strange thing was, lots of people knew about it. Another strange thing about the Secret Realm was Annelie. She smelled like a member of the pack, and Alva spoke with her like that, but she didn¡¯t come back with them. Fuzz didn¡¯t like that. She also got upset when he licked her face- at least when the other cold people were around. Fuzz still didn¡¯t understand how human social interactions and energy techniques worked. They were both equally arcane, and he was still trying to figure them out. To do that¡­ he needed Catarina¡¯s help. He¡¯d have to pester her until she figured it out. ----- ¡°Enough!¡± Catarina said as Fuzz pushed against her. ¡°We can play later. I¡¯m trying to practice.¡± Fuzz whined and barked in what she thought was acknowledgement. ¡°If you know that then why are you getting in the way?¡± ¡°Maybe he wants to spar too?¡± Alva said. ¡°Is that it?¡± Fuzz barked. ¡°Hmm¡­ maybe it would be good to try to use the techniques even when not fighting against grandpa. So we get used to it quicker.¡± ¡°I supposed that makes sense,¡± Catarina acknowledged. ¡°We don¡¯t have enough practice in combat. Mostly, I just find it makes my attacks weaker since I have to include additional patterns of energy movement.¡± ¡°Alright boy!¡± Alva stood across the training field from Fuzz. ¡°Come get me!¡± She readied her shortbow, firing Spirit Arrows towards Fuzz once he started sprinting towards her. Even with the whole length of the field she only got a few shots- and she weakened them as they impacted him, not letting them break through his energy. Then Fuzz was in front of her, and she wasn¡¯t able to get away. Giant fangs surrounded her head. She reached up to pat his ears. ¡°Yes yes, you win. Though only because I was holding back.¡± Fuzz pulled back. ¡°Now go back over there!¡± Fuzz whined. ¡°Well it takes me a lot longer to run across the field,¡± Alva complained. Fuzz shook his head, and whined again. ¡°Something else? You didn¡¯t really want to spar?¡± She didn¡¯t really get an answer before Fuzz dashed over towards Catarina, stopping before he ran into her. As she held her sword out in front of her, he nudged her hand. ¡°What?¡± she said. ¡°You want to spar with me instead?¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not really fair. It¡¯s hard to match my energy to yours and have us both be safe.¡± He nudged her hand again, specifically. ¡°What is it about that hand?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°I know!¡± Alva said. ¡°You¡¯re circulating the anti-ascension technique.¡± Fuzz nodded to confirm that. ¡°He wants to learn it.¡± ¡°Is that it?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°You want to learn¡­ this kind of energy?¡± She specifically focused on her left while keeping her right her normal balance of energy. Fuzz nudged his face into her left hand. ¡°Well¡­ we can try, I suppose. Maybe with a formation¡­ but I don¡¯t want to overload you either.¡± She scratched his head, ¡°Hah, for some reason nobody writes about augmenting a pet wolf with a formation. I have to figure it all out myself.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ----- In the world of cultivators, much of the news that travelled far was not good news. Except for specific important people, nobody was going to comment about someone breaking through to a new rank of cultivation or a sect having a good year of harvests or recruiting. Not beyond the borders of the nearby country or a smaller region therein. But when news was big enough- and usually bad enough- it could travel fairly far. In truth Facraona was not terribly far from Graotan, even if Anton considered that the Order was mostly situated on the western end of the country. It just felt much further since Ofrurg stood directly between them, making it difficult to travel there directly. If he wanted to do so, he would have to go around to the southeast, through Droca. He would certainly travel there someday, but of all times not was certainly not the best with the recent news. It wasn¡¯t something that was easy to keep quiet. Even if it mostly concerned normal folk and not cultivators, mass abductions were something that got noticed. It was a larger scale than what had been happening in eastern Graotan, where a number of villages were ransacked over the course of a decade. Instead, in the span of a few months several dozen towns and villages, totalling several thousand people at least, completely disappeared. By the time any sects in Facraona heard the news and prepared a defense, the abductions stopped. Though Anton supposed that it wasn¡¯t because a force capable of doing so without anyone escaping to spread the news- people only noticing when they didn¡¯t hear from neighboring towns- would not be directly afraid of a group of cultivators ready to face them. After all, if news of their presence only arrived a week or two after they were gone, there was little threat. No, Anton¡¯s opinion- and that of others he had spoken to- was that they had completed their goal. As for what they needed thousands of people for, there could only be speculation. It just couldn¡¯t be good. Anton¡¯s first thought was Ofrurg. It was close enough, and they hadn¡¯t in the past much cared about slavery. Yet the information that came from Ofrurg didn¡¯t indicate the slave markets being flooded. That didn¡¯t rule out the location, but it did rule out a familiar reason for similar activity. Actually, the slave markets were looking rather empty according to sources inside Ofrurg. It might have been unconnected, but if not¡­ someone with great resources needed a vast amount of people. And being willing to cause such a commotion was also a concern. Ofrurg wasn¡¯t a lawless place. Even slaves had a few rights, whether or not they were properly enforced. None of the possibilities of what was happening to those people involved them living through it, whether they were being used for some sort of experiments or sacrificed for some foul cultivation technique. If it were the latter, it was actually somewhat confusing. Generally cultivation techniques that could advance with the deaths of others were more effective when cultivators were used instead of regular people. At least, that was Anton¡¯s understanding. The energy of a few thousand regular people was just a few hundred early Body Tempering cultivators, or at most a few dozen Spirit Building cultivators. On the scales involved, it seemed safer to target smaller groups of cultivators. At the very least it would be easy to go unnoticed. Just because no information had reached Graotan about where the people went didn¡¯t mean nobody noticed. It just meant anyone who noticed had been silenced, one way or another. Hundreds of people weren¡¯t so easy to just drag around the countryside, and it was all along the border. Another reason to believe it was probably Ofrurg, though it could have been a sect just residing in western Facraona. The thing that bothered Anton the most was that there was no target to stop. If the Flying Blood Cult was involved- and it wasn¡¯t outside of the way they interacted with things, so it was them or someone similarly audacious- they didn¡¯t just have a known location they could storm the gates of. Or a mysterious other group. Was there a connection to The Organizers and whoever was attempting abductions during the attack at the execution? Probably. But their locations were unknown too. It didn¡¯t seem too hard to Anton to just scour the whole country. Thousands of cultivators would certainly be able to find the Flying Blood Cult or whoever. But that was only feasible if Ofrurg as a whole decided to work together. And if the mysterious people were out in unclaimed lands and not just doubling up with some sect somewhere. There was no way every sect would be willing to have random cultivators investigate their grounds. And one or two sects wouldn¡¯t be able to scour the countryside and suddenly reveal groups that had been hidden for quite some time already. It was frustrating, knowing there were people even more brazen than Van Hassel- but also better at covering their tracks. Anton would love to put an arrow through any one of them, but before he could do that he would have to find them without any leads. So instead, he did the next best thing- cultivating. Spending months doing little more than improving himself when there were active problems didn¡¯t feel good, but Anton realized that there were always problems with the world. He couldn¡¯t reasonably be expected to solve all of them. But if he had to pick a category¡­ it would be cultivators destroying the lives of those far weaker than themselves. He was working at the problem from both ends. He would gladly kill anyone he could who was involved in such work, and he was also in the business of making sure people weren¡¯t incredibly weak. A group of cultivators might take out a hundred normal civilians without issue, but if each of those people had some cultivation? If they went beyond early Body Tempering into mid Body Tempering or later, a village was basically equivalent to a real army. If nothing else, it would make any battles longer and harder to cover up. Anton shot an arrow through the head of an imaginary figure. He didn¡¯t bother with targets most of the time, since they just got destroyed. He knew whether he hit or not. He was working on expanding his capabilities. He tried firing his bow while using Falling Stars at the same time, but besides the fact that he was still a bit weak to properly make use of Falling Stars, it didn¡¯t feel quite right. But he¡¯d figure it out. And then some people were going to suffer. Briefly, before they were wiped from existence entirely. Chapter 192 Time. That was what cultivation required. For the moment, Anton had it. Even while spending time diversifying himself Anton still had sufficient time to improve the core of his Spirit Building cultivation. For him, the twenty-second star would be a refinement of muscle, connecting him to that portion of his body more deeply. It would be the final refinement before the true midpoint of the latter half of Spirit Building, which when taken as a whole meant he was close to late Spirit Building. A realm unfathomable to him four years prior when he was first cultivating, and yet seemingly insufficient at the same time. But he wasn¡¯t going to let the gap in cultivation between himself and the best in the world intimidate him. Instead, he would treat it as a lofty goal. If he gave up so easily, all the cultivators who strived for decades to not even get as far as he had would rightfully be able to call him pathetic. He had been quite fortunate to have the right temperament and talent while also obtaining the right opportunities to push himself forward. Things hadn¡¯t settled down in the world. The abductions in Facraona still had not been resolved, though there had been no further activity. That made it seem as if whoever was responsible already had enough. Yet despite the troubles- or perhaps because of them- they were still going to go ahead with a tournament they were planning. It was the sort of setup where juniors of sects would get together to display their power and bring honor to their groups. This particular tournament had little to do with Anton- there were restrictions on actual age and not time since someone started cultivating. He supposed it was likely rather difficult to tell the latter, though of course Everheart had a method to do so. Everheart did everything, including a vast number of things he probably shouldn¡¯t have. With the tournament being only a year away, Anton had no chance of making it to Essence Collection, also known as Constellation Formation, where he could participate. The cutoff for the Body Tempering category was thirty years, Spirit Building was sixty, and Essence Collection cultivators could be up to a hundred and twenty years old. Though even if Anton miraculously reached Essence Collection with five total years of cultivation he would be merely at the early stage, and much weaker than most of the participants. Instead of participating, he would rather help others with their training. That included all sorts of people, from his most steadfast allies to an ever growing selection of people throughout Graotan. ----- The most powerful cultivators from the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars stood together. Half of their Galaxy Construction members, all ten qualified to be Grand Elders were it not for the hard limit on that title. The realm of cultivation known as Life Transformation to cultivators in general allowed for great things to be done, but only a very small portion of people could attain those heights. Along with them were about a third of their Constellation Formation members, sixty in total. Grand Elder Vandale¡¯s single eye narrowed as he looked down on the valley below. There was nothing to see, at least not as far as his purely visual senses were telling him. ¡°Do you think he would have wanted to come along, if he knew?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Elder Kseniya said. ¡°But I think he would have heeded words of caution.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Vandale shrugged, ¡°But we¡¯re here.¡± Vandale looked across the valley, to a frozen peak that wasn¡¯t particularly lofty. ¡°Looking forward to being a Grand Elder?¡± ¡°You know I don¡¯t care about titles,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°And it¡¯s hard to believe that so man positions would open up with the forces arrayed here,¡± she gestured towards a peak with heat waves coming off of it. ¡°Our forces should be able to overwhelm them.¡± ¡°That is entirely the plan,¡± Vandale said, ¡°And that is why I can tell you it will not happen so smoothly. Perhaps when you are old like me you¡¯ll understand.¡± Kseniya laughed, her wrinkly face smiling. ¡°Nobody ever ends up old like you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s time,¡± Vandale said. ¡°We can¡¯t wait any longer.¡± He stretched out his arm. ¡°I wonder what they¡¯ll think of this.¡± He stretched out his hand, gathering energy beyond even the power of his own. The power beyond Ascension, and from future reincarnations. Yet it was only sufficient for a single attack. Among other things, he was not quite so brave as Anton. He did not have the fortitude to reach Ascension, but neither did he have the heart to fully give up on it. The same was true with future reincarnations. Perhaps he would weaken himself in his next life, but as surely as anyone did, he would have one. Even if it could barely be called himself. The first falling star streaked down into the ¡®empty¡¯ valley, striking against a barrier that became visible by virtue of the way it resisted his attack. A full dome rising to half the height of the peak and nearly filling the entire valley below at its widest. Vandale smiled slightly, since while the barrier didn¡¯t shatter¡­ it at least trembled under his attack. From the other peaks, frosting ice and burning fire rained down. It was unfortunate that none from Facraona had arrived yet, but they couldn¡¯t wait. Vandale had already ignored the impatience on his nerves as long as he could. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. The Frostmirror Sect and the Glorious Flame Palace weren¡¯t the only ones participating in the assault, but they were among the most prominent. It was their scouts who had perished to find this place, and them who called upon the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars for aid. Even with no formal alliance, Vandale and the others couldn¡¯t refuse the call- even if they hadn¡¯t felt the looming sense of dread. There was little finesse involved in the barrage of attacks, but they were at least aimed for critical points in the defensive formation as guided by those with the proper understanding. Vandale could at least pick most of them out on his own, but he was also happy to have experts. Falling Stars rained down with other attacks from the Order, arrows from Kseniya and many others as well. Grand Elder Kunibert Ivarsson was the strangest of the lot. Though he stood atop the peak next to the rest, he swung a hammer with no regard for the distance to the barrier. He didn¡¯t even project a great image of it into the sky, enhancing its size. Instead, the hammer simply struck the barrier as if he were standing atop it. His hammer pounded down in two hands, creating the first substantial cracks in the barrier. Black smoke spilled out of the formation as the area below gradually began to become visible. Kunibert continued to swing his hammer, battering the formation from all sides without taking a step from his position. Then the barrier shattered, revealing a towering castle shrouded in dark mist. Cultivators with black eyes and shadowy faces stood atop the walls next to impaled bodies, slowly dripping blood. Vandale hesitated briefly as he realized that some of those who were impaled were still alive, or had been moments earlier. Then he narrowed his focus, protecting those who were moving in on the walls, where they had to attack at close range. He couldn¡¯t be concerned if lives were being used to power defensive formations. Those inside would not live past this day if they just sat and waited, and though he couldn¡¯t say what the exact consequences would be if they allowed events to continue unhindered, not one innocent soul would actually be spared. He would prefer if their deaths weren¡¯t through his own hands, but he was willing to act regardless. Targeting individual enemy cultivators on the wall wasn¡¯t of much use, but though their figures and cultivations were somewhere concealed by the dark haze over the whole castle he was able to pick out some who were stronger, and thus more important. There wasn¡¯t just one layer of defenses around the castle, but he was able to pierce his attacks through every once and a while, striking down some targets he hoped were critical. During that time, the scent of blood thickened throughout the valley as cultivators clashed, even reaching him at the top of a nearby peak. Kunibert was standing on the outer wall of the castle, sweeping his hammer through a handful of people trying to stop him. The impact did not knock them backwards, instead it tore through them like he wielded a blade instead of a blunt instrument- though leaving much larger wounds. But even as their blood sprayed around the area, it began to crawl towards the center of the castle. Kunibert looked up at Vandale, who nodded. Before Vandale even began his quick descent down the mountain, Kunibert was in the first courtyard, battering his way through blood-red gates. Each swing of his hammer was enough to not only cause the giant gates to buckle, but also cracked the stone around them. One swing, two swings, three swings and he burst the gates open, which disturbingly splattered dark red liquid everywhere as they broke apart. His next swing was an upward one targeted at the portcullis at the far end of the hallway. There was no way he could reach it from where he stood, nor could he get the head of his hammer underneath it. But he struck it directly on one of the tips locked into the ground. Enchanted stone cracked as in return blood washed over Grand Elder Ivarsson. Blood, and cultivators resembling blood. The Flying Blood Cult was present, but they weren¡¯t the only ones. Black fog still permeated the area, while the sect that held the castle struck only from the shadows. Kunibert continued to swing his hammer, battering it into the portcullis and cracking stone, while at the same time ignoring the poisoned blades attacking him, disappearing just as they were about to impact him. He stood behind the portcullis, swinging his hammer once in front of him without even turning around. The portcullis shook. Then he was on the other side, a dozen attacks passing through his momentary location and clattering against the walls and floor. He reached down with one hand and grabbed the portcullis, yanking. It didn¡¯t quite move the first time, but the second time the final locks holding it into the ground broke and he pulled it up. Behind him cultivators were streaming forward, Frostmirror sect, Ninety-Nine Stars, and Glorious Flame Palace alike. But he had already delayed enough. He rushed forward, stepping past enemies and sometimes simply never passing close at all, merely being in front and then behind. He felt his blood being pulled towards the central keep and the hundreds of lives inside. Vandale and the others were following behind. A large circular formation was set up in the vast central keep, a hundred cultivators placed in an outer formation with two hundred more forming several inner layers. Around them was a grim reminder of all of those who had been captured, most of them with their throats slit littered around the floor. Kunibert took a great swing at the figures in the middle, little more than a mass of swirling blood and shadow. The shadow raised its hand, catching his hammer. It seemed that bypassing the formations made his attack far too weak. His next swing hit several of those around the edge of the area, but he quickly felt some regret. Though the cultivators died, their blood pooled on the ground and pulled towards the center. That wouldn¡¯t quite work. He reached out an arm at what appeared to be empty space, pushing with his palm. Three people were ejected out of the formation. When he did it again¡­ the cultivators let their chests be crushed instead of letting him toss them. Maddening. And he could see that the two in the center still had at least a dozen bound individuals around them that they were piercing with ceremonial daggers, one at a time. Fortunately, more allies were pouring in and they could hopefully provide more useful methods of breaking the formation. Chapter 193 The first person to arrive to back up Grand Elder Kunibert was an elder of the Frostmirror Sect. She was at the peak of essence collection while remaining at a relatively young age for her level of power. Adelina, if he recalled correctly. There weren¡¯t too many names of Life Transformation experts or those who were close to remember but Kunibert didn¡¯t focus on knowing people¡¯s names. ¡°I¡¯d appreciate help, if you can,¡± Kunibert gestured to the multilayer formation. ¡°You¡¯d think that squashing the people holding this thing together would weaken the formation, but all that blood seems to be making the situation worse.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± she nodded, her face impassive. ¡°Break me a way through the outer layer.¡± That was something Kunibert was well suited to. Just a swing of his hammer and he cracked a hole for her to slip through. She reached out towards one of the members of the Flying Blood Cult, who made no move to defend herself. Kunibert had no idea what sort of madness infected them that they had no regard for their lives, perhaps fanatical devotion to a leader¡­ or some expectations of rewards in another life. Either their lives or deaths could power the formation. But when Adelina touched the woman and killed her, there was no blood that flowed into the formation. How could it, when it was frozen solid? The purpose was accomplished by disconnecting the cultivator from the formation without spilling their blood. She was able to reach two more people before they realized what was happening, and they started to defend themselves. Kunibert supposed he could accomplish something similar. If people wouldn¡¯t defend themselves, he simply had to accomplish an attack that would knock them back no matter what they did. He had to widen the impact area. He took a swing past the barrier, slamming someone outward. Normally it was better to condense his attack into a smaller area to cause the most damage, so he hadn¡¯t immediately considered the option. Flames burst into the area. Medved was an elder of the Glorious Flame Palace, quite a bit older than Adelina yet stuck at the same threshold. Kunibert couldn¡¯t fault him for that, he himself spent several decades clawing his way into Life Transformation after all. It was a difficult step. And Medved was effective enough. The cultivators manning the formation now understood that they had to retaliate to keep the formation working, and a wave of darkness met the fire that swirled around Medved. The tendrils of darkness attempted to seep into the elder of the Glorious Flame Palace, but where they reached inside fire burst out from him, burning it away. Kunibert wasn¡¯t certain if such a method could truly be considered a defensive technique as it clearly harmed the user, but preventing the intrusion of an enemy¡¯s energy doubtless deserved a prompt response. Medved continued to step forward towards his target, a wave of fire bursting from his hand and breaking through his opponent¡¯s defenses. Whether or not he got the message about their blood powering the formation, all that was left behind was a pile of ash. All of that was well and good, but the progress in the center continued unabated. The final handful of sacrifices were about to be finished off, and whatever would result from that would ultimately be bad for the world. Kunibert wondered where Vandale was. Any of the others would be of help too, but Vandale was the strongest of them. And if Kunibert wasn¡¯t incorrect the two in the center of the formation were both at the peak of Life Transformation. He wasn¡¯t familiar enough with the Flying Blood Palace or the unnamed darkness sect to guarantee it, but he knew they at least had an amount of power close to that threshold. With the help of Medved and Adelina, as well as others breaking into the area, the outer layer of the formation was falling apart. That made it easier to reach the inner layers. There was no more time for Kunibert to consider whether he could win an engagement with the two in the center. He had to go there¡­ and not contribute any of his blood, if he could help it. He stepped past the next layer of the formation. He couldn¡¯t afford to expend the effort with every attack, and had to be there himself. The two figures, bloody red and midnight black, didn¡¯t seem terribly surprised when he began to attack them. A big sweep of his hammer forced them back, and then he grabbed one of the remaining figures who had not yet been slain. He didn¡¯t feel anything special about them, but he hoped they were important as he shoved them out of the formation. It was easier than anticipated, but then again most formations weren¡¯t meant to stop attacks going outward. In return for his action the crimson figure impaled the last sacrifice, and the shadowy figure lashed out at him with some sort of whip. It coiled around his arm, energy burrowing into it. An instant later Kunibert stepped away, but his movements brought the energy with him, though not the whip. He felt it intruding into him, ignoring his flesh but burrowing deeper into his meridians. He made a quick decision. His instincts had kept him alive up to this point, and he¡¯d do his best to continue that trend. He dropped his hammer and grabbed his right shoulder with his left hand, then tore. His dismembered arm was tossed into his storage bag, and the open wound on his shoulder was sealed shut with his energy. He wouldn¡¯t contribute even a single drop of his blood if he could help it. Kunibert felt the powerful buildup of energy in the formation and the two figures. Were they attempting to ascend? He wouldn¡¯t mind if they were out of his hair, but given recently acquired information they couldn¡¯t count on that lasting forever. His hammer was in his hand and he was behind the bloody figure. He hoped that causing them injuries wouldn¡¯t somehow empower the formation, but he couldn¡¯t help it. A one-armed swing was significantly less powerful than he liked, but his aim was true. When the figure broke apart into a bloody tornado he knew there wouldn¡¯t be a solid impact¡­ but this wasn¡¯t his first time hitting those without solid form. As his hammer swung through the cloud of blood, it trails of red dragged along with it, even away from where his weapon struck. A good few liters of blood splattered against the far wall while never even being in the intervening distance. If that was a normal person they¡¯d be nearly out of blood, but this figure had many times that amount. Even so, he could tell it hurt them to be separated from some of it. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Once more the whip coiled towards him, but he was ready for the attack, despite the hidden nature of the energy. He realized he couldn¡¯t really resist it, so he absolutely couldn¡¯t let it touch him. Even if that meant stepping into the bloody tornado to give himself a moment. The swirling liquid had no real physical impact, but as it touched him he felt it pulling his blood away. To the best of his ability he pulled back, until he was able to simply be somewhere else. That location was behind the dark figure, with his hammer already swinging. He hadn¡¯t expected to crush the man to a pulp, but he was a bit insulted that the figure stopped his attack with one hand again, even with the formation weakened. At least it looked like it took some effort. But Kunibert found the energy was still building, even as the second layer of the formation and the cultivators powering it were being defeated. He couldn¡¯t possible keep track of all of the powerful energy, as late Essence Collection cultivators and even a handful of Life Transformation experts clashed on each side. Attack. Dodge desperately. Distract. Delay. That was all Kunibert could do. Even keeping his blood from flowing out of his shoulder became more and more difficult. Then he heard a loud cracking. At first he thought it was the formation, and he wasn¡¯t entirely wrong. But what the actual sound came from in that moment was the ceiling of the keep above. It had been fortified ot prevent the intrusion of energy, and that also prevented sensing to some extent- so even Kunibert was surprised when Vandale dropped down along with the ceiling. That very same ceiling hit the dome of the formation and was mostly deflected, but Vandale rode a portion of it down like one of his usual Falling Stars. Vandale swept over Kunibert with his eye, clearly seeing his missing arm. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I was slow.¡± Kunibert saw Vandale was not without some injuries of his own, though they were less extreme. ¡°I¡¯d say you were right on time.¡± Vandale pulled Falling Stars out of the sky, forcing the two peak Life Transformation experts to dodge his attacks. Even the Flying Blood Cult leader had to be concerned about being destroyed by the power held within them. Vandale wasn¡¯t the only one to come in from the roof, as more allies and opponents alike joined the fray. But for the most part, it was him and Vandale against the two leaders. The shadow dodged one of the Falling Stars with a significant amount of power behind it. Kunibert thought it would be a shame if it missed, so he batted it at the man. Even though he¡¯d dodged, the man¡¯s defenses weren¡¯t inadequate. A barrier of darkness blocked the burning orb, merely rippling like a pond with a rock tossed into it as the light was snuffed out. Then Kunibert slipped up. He¡¯d thought that the blood on the floor below him was part of the ritual, but some of it belonged to the Flying Blood Cult leader. It reached up and grabbed onto his leg, sinking into his pores. At the same time, it pulled on his blood, exchanging his own for the intruder. Before he could make the decision of whether to give up the leg, the blood pulled out, leaving a dessicated mass up to his knee. It still supported his weight, but it couldn¡¯t really be called alive. A burst of fire blasted the cloud of blood, forcing it to coalesce back into the shape of a man. Medved¡¯s wrinkled skin was also blackened from his own power, but he half-grinned as he staggered to the ground. The Flying Blood Cult leader backed away, skin scorched as they approached the darkness cultivator. Then at the same moment they attacked each other. Darkness and blood swirled together, combining in a reddish-black mass. The blackness won out, and seemed stronger for it as the man smiled. Power overflowed from him as he smiled towards Vandale and Kunibert. ¡°You were too weak. You missed your opportunity.¡± Kunibert felt the power of a massive falling star being formed above. The world began to tremble, both from Vandale¡¯s power and that of the red-tinged dark figure in front of them. Just before the man dodged to the side, Kunibert wrapped his elbow around the man¡¯s throat. He had no illusions about what that would mean for him. Darkness immediately started tearing into his arm, face, and chest- but he squeezed with all of his power, focusing on causing the most damage to the man as possible- and preventing him from defending against the attack. As it struck, he was glad for the way it burned him away- at least it destroyed the darkness that was like wriggling worms heading for his dantian. ----- Even if he was unwilling to accept Grand Elder Kunibert¡¯s sacrifice, Vandale couldn¡¯t have stopped his attack. He only wished that he could have done even more, because his actual target yet lived. Except for a line on his throat the entire front of him was charred to the point of showing muscle and bone, but that wasn¡¯t enough to kill the man. Vandale charged forwards. He called more Falling Stars from the sky, but the energy filling the man had reached a zenith, and he couldn¡¯t afford him a single moment to recover. Vandale charged forward, flames flaring around him and air distorting. He held a dagger outstretched, focusing his power into its point. On the other side, a wave of ice bore down on the man. His own attack was met with a sword stabbing in return, but he would not give up his charge. It pierced through his chest, but he kept it away from his heart. His own attack struck true, piercing through the figure. Then there was an explosion, throwing him to the edge of the room and through the wall. Vandale lay on his back, staring up at the sky. He would bet his life- what remained of it, at least- that his attack wasn¡¯t fully successful. It certainly wounded the man, but the explosion of energy registered as the energy of ascension. He clamped his remaining energy around the wriggling worms of darkness inside him. He felt members of the Order gathering around, protecting him. He hoped the rest of the battle had been settled favorably as he tried to drag the energy out of him but found it inevitably working its way into his dantian. Rather than let it take over, he did his best to seal it inside with his remaining energy. Then his consciousness faded. Chapter 194 Comfortable energy surrounded Vandale, and he was quite pleased to wake up. Certainly he had some complaints. He had wounds all over his body and he was fully drained of energy. Most seriously, he still had wriggling blackness trying to eat him from the inside out. He sat up and his one eye settled on Anton. ¡°Hadn¡¯t expected to see you here.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Elder Peric logically extended your permission to see you at any time. But I can leave, if you wish.¡± ¡°Unnecessary,¡± Vandale smiled slightly. ¡°It¡¯s already too late to hide the extent of my injuries. The whole sect has to know by now, regardless.¡± ¡°Most of the news was swamped with more significant details, like the deaths of other Grand Elders. Four others, in fact.¡± Vandale sighed, ¡°I¡¯d hope it would have ended with Kunibert and myself. But this wasn¡¯t unanticipated. Matousek remained behind to make sure we at least had a Grand Elder. Now the Order will be replacing more than half of our Grand Elders.¡± ¡°The way you say that¡­¡± Anton said questioningly. ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t expect to live through this. Maybe a couple years, if I push it, just to be stubborn.¡± Anton shifted uncomfortably, ¡°I¡¯d hoped differently. This is dire news for the Order, in addition to my personal friendship with you. What happened?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard some sort of summary, but someone ascended. Almost stopped it. Wiped out a good portion of the Flying Blood Cult and that other group.¡± ¡°Speaking of them,¡± Anton said. ¡°I presume those papers on your table have more. I did overhear they had some documents calling them Black Soul Valley. Or perhaps that was just the name of their location.¡± Vandale looked at the papers, taking a deep breath of energy dense air and flicking them over to him. ¡°The summary is¡­ nothing. It¡¯s unlikely that was the full extent of this group, and several high ranking members of the Flying Blood Cult weren¡¯t present.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell me,¡± Anton noted. ¡°Of course I do. Might as well tell you now, instead of forcing you to wait decades to climb the ranks and learn about them when they¡¯re still a problem.¡± Vandale shook his head, ¡°The good news is a significant quantity of wealth was recovered. The bad news is all of the deaths, and more of them are out there.¡± ¡°Ofrurg is¡­ in a tumultuous state,¡± Anton commented. ¡°Sects from Facraona stormed in demanding answers that nobody had. Some places took exception to accusations¡­ true or not. I believe the conflict is still ongoing.¡± ¡°Sounds about right. Listen,¡± Vandale said. ¡°The Order is somewhat weaker right now, but I have high hopes for the upcoming generation. That includes you. And your efforts¡­ might make all the ones following you something more. We¡¯ll need that now more than ever, without me.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Not going to encourage me? Say I can make it through?¡± ¡°I believe in your willpower and ability to persist,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I know death. I can feel its grip on you.¡± ¡°How much of that is flowery words?¡± Vandale asked curiously. ¡°Until now, at my current cultivation, I hadn¡¯t felt it except as a vague idea. But I¡¯ve been practicing Fleeting Youth quite vigorously, and I can feel a bit of the fires of life inside people. Bare as you are, I can feel the emptiness in you that should be filled.¡± Vandale looked down at himself, his eye resting on the bandages around his chest. ¡°Speaking of which, I shouldn¡¯t delay cultivating any longer. I¡¯ll need every bit of energy I can get to persist.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be going. Do you want me to tell anyone anything?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Just tell them to handle things without me.¡± ----- As he walked away, Anton felt the slow swirl of all of the energy on the peak around him. He had sort of expected a stronger pull, a rapid rushing of tides- but the way the energy was slowly but surely being pulled in reminded him of Vandale¡¯s weakness, despite his vigor in the battle Anton saw and even his speech upon waking up. And a slow, measured approach was reasonable. Anton was also not the sort to rush. But he did feel a bit of pressure to move quickly, on the larger scale of things. He still had one more duality pill to make use of, and it could help push along his next refinement of muscle and continued connection of body and soul. The Order had enemies in more than Ofrurg- though Anton had little interaction with most of them. But in this time of weakness, they might wish to take advantage. The forces of the Order weren¡¯t insignificant, even with recent losses, but the reminder that they could be defeated would encourage the wrong sort of people. It would likely be some years before his personal strength was relevant to the Order, but if he could help it those years would be less than another handful. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. For shorter term goals, while he could not himself participate in the tournament in Facraona, he could ensure that those he knew would perform well. A sect with promising juniors was a threat, but also a valuable ally. As long as the balance of power shifted in their favor, it would be worthwhile. And being timid for the next several years could only harm the Order. Of course, Anton didn¡¯t control the policy of the Order as a whole, but he could at least speak to some of those involved. That included Kseniya. Grand Elder Kseniya, if the other elders had anything to do with it. Though her cultivation wasn¡¯t as high as Vandale¡¯s, at her point in Life Transformation it was difficult for anyone to match her- and she was a threat to any sect that wished to cause trouble. Very few had answers for attacks shot from a great distance. Some had archers of their own or others with ranged techniques, but they would have to choose between defending themselves or their juniors and fighting back, if it came to a battle. They often encountered each other practicing archery. Though Kseniya had her own places, she would visit any archery range around the sect. Sometimes she gave guidance, sometimes she merely watched. One thing Anton noticed was that often her guidance was unspoken, in the form of several shots at a target. He had gotten pretty good at discerning what she meant with those, whether it was a correction of stance or control of energy. ¡°Still insisting on trying to use that bone bow?¡± Kseniya asked as he arrived at a long, mostly empty field. Anton shrugged, ¡°Whether I use it or not, I definitely have things to learn from the attempt.¡± Even as he got close to the twenty-second star, his muscles strained as he pulled on the bow. He alternated between drawing it strictly with his muscles, a task he could barely accomplish, to adding his energy to bend it. Neither felt right, and he couldn¡¯t find a happy in between either. But whether or not he would actually use it as a weapon, it was excellent for purposes of training. Even Kseniya didn¡¯t deny him that point. He felt the muscles in his upper body tense as he pulled the string and formed a Spirit Arrow. Despite the inherent power of the bow, he was unable to fully draw it- and thus it was less impressive than the one he actually used. But a few hundred shots with each several times per day kept him in practice. ----- At his current cultivation, Anton was able to keep the Vessel of Insights active a majority of the time. He picked up small little insights from all over the Order as he walked, but he¡¯d also gathered some particularly tempting targets. Insights from Vandale and Kseniya were just asking him to devour them. But he was not so foolish as to try that. However, he had something else. With the permission of several members of the Order, he had observed their cultivation of the Ninety-Nine Stars. These were Essence Collection cultivators, beyond the level of his current cultivation¡­ but not so far ahead as Life Transformation. Simply observing them had given him some insights of his own, but they had their own gains as well, as many passing thoughts and insights would happen during a single session. In the Vessel of Insights they were small thin strands, but filled with power. But not an inaccessible amount of it, unlike some of the others. At least, Anton hoped that wasn¡¯t so. He had prepared himself to absorb one, and was ready to make the attempt. The small bit of insight rushed into him, but he felt as if he were being forced out of his body. Instead of resisting, he went along with it, his consciousness expanding into space. A field of stars surrounded him, and planets as well. He¡¯d seen the planets in the night sky- and more clearly through Vandale¡¯s telescope- but he couldn¡¯t fixate on the ones around him at the moment. It was just a rush of feeling. As his mind expanded, he realized he wasn¡¯t starting from the world around him, but from the most condensed point of energy in someone¡¯s dantian, the core of their energy. The planets weren¡¯t true planets, but merely the suggestion of them. Yet he felt how profound cultivation could be. Then he was back in himself. Anton couldn¡¯t say he suddenly understood how Essence Collection cultivators worked, but the insight did make him think more carefully about the arrangement of his energy inside his dantian. Each star was separate, and kept that way such that they wouldn¡¯t interfere with each other. Beyond that, they generally orbited around each other in patterns¡­ but beyond the density and quantity of energy he hadn¡¯t given it much more consideration. With his recent efforts into learning more about formations and the strand of insight, he thought to put more into it. He knew that shifting around the stars inside of him couldn¡¯t possible bring about the multiplicative effects of a true formation, or certain members of the Order would be inconceivably stronger than the others, but if he could attain more efficiency he would be a few percent stronger. By itself that mattered little, but each improvement in differing areas adding on top of each other was how a major gain was attained. And a little bit of power could make all the difference in injuring an opponent first, and pushing ahead for a resounding victory instead of a close battle. As Anton slowly shifted his internal cultivation about, estimating where he might make improvements and then testing them, he wondered if it would help Fleeing Youth. If nothing else, being able to handle more energy would make his other efforts more efficient- but another thought came to him. Any time he wished to use the power of Fleeting Youth, the energy from beyond ascension and reincarnation combined, he had to gather it up- draw it into himself anew. If he could store some portion of that, he could significantly increase his power. The problem was that it wouldn¡¯t happily sit in his dantian, unlike his ¡®normal¡¯ energy. It just wasn¡¯t quite so cooperative. Riding on the high of an improvement, Anton took the final duality pill. As he did so, he considered how each star related to his body. He knew each was created with relation to an aspect of his body, but few were localized except for the organs in the head. He couldn¡¯t paint a picture or form a constellation that represented their connection to him. But on the topic of constellations, though the stars were often far disconnected from each other, people made mental connections between them and called them something. In a way, that made them real. Anton felt the rush of energy from the pill. He¡¯d grown used to them after taking the few he¡¯d obtained, to the point that even if he had a handful more he doubted they would achieve the same results as the first. But this one would be enough to push him to the twenty-second star and beyond. And maybe he could absorb some more insights from those ahead of him- but not too far. Perhaps he could absorb them smoothly, or perhaps he would he find flaws in them. Or they might even find flaws in him. He was happy to deal with any of them, for he¡¯d long accepted he was full of imperfections. Even if he was sometimes a bit stubborn and slow with fixing them. Chapter 195 The pleasant sounds of birds lied to Alva¡¯s ears. Today wasn¡¯t a pleasant day. She was out in the forest, alone. She didn¡¯t even have Fuzz with her. Well, she wasn¡¯t entirely alone. An arrow made purely out of energy flew past her head. By the time she turned and readied her bow, her target was already gone. It wasn¡¯t fair. Just because her grandpa started cultivating a bit earlier, and because she had to be careful while she was young, he was better than her! Well, to be fair he was going to be a better archer than her even if their cultivations matched. The proof of that was the total energy in her arrows matched what she could accomplish. Hers were just a bit less streamlined and condensed. Alva took off running. If she just stood still, her grandpa would actually hit her with the arrows. Even if he would make sure not to injure her, she didn¡¯t want to just accept a loss. She had to figure out where he was and take a shot. She fired off several arrows, but trees got in the way. Curving them around things was difficult, especially while protecting herself. She was at least able to duck behind some obstacles to protect from incoming attacks. She had to admit that she was a bit too used to fighting with Fuzz. He was able to carry her quickly, and he even took care of a lot of dodging. There was nothing wrong with being used to having him around, since on real missions having him around was practical. Grandpa Anton always said to use every tool at your disposal. But right now, she was training for a tournament. That meant she couldn¡¯t just bring a beast with her. There was no proof that there would be any matches in a forest, but apparently the terrain of the tournament grounds could be varied. Besides, Alva recognized she wouldn¡¯t get much from training in an open field. She wasn¡¯t going to suddenly get better at shooting targets she could see and dodging attacks that were obvious. Eventually she collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. She just couldn¡¯t keep up with her grandpa. He was supposed to be an old man, how did he manage? Sure, his cultivation was¡­ nearly twice as many stars as her. And almost in late Spirit Building instead of early Spirit Building like her. But he was supposed to be old and weak! ----- Anton carefully controlled his breathing as he approached Alva. Given the vast gap in cultivation between them, she had done rather well. Enough to begin to tire him out, at least. The real difference was that Alva would be ready again given an hour or two, while he needed a bit more rest to regain his energy. He had actually expended a bit more than her, because even if he was keeping his attacks at a level she could react to he¡¯d said nothing about not making use of his full energy capacity. Besides, he wasted a lot of energy on arrows that hit her, making sure they quickly dissolved before breaking through her defenses. She needed to have good defenses, but that wasn¡¯t what this training was about¡­ and he didn¡¯t have the heart to cause her even light injuries. Fortunately there were others who would help her in that area. Fuzz was actually quite good for that, because he was able to wrestle and bite and pierce through energy defenses while not hurting anyone in any significant way. When he chose to, of course. In actual battle against real opponents¡­ they were never so lucky. Perhaps if he were at Elder Kseniya¡¯s level he could instantly stop his arrows after breaking through energy defenses, but he wasn¡¯t willing to bet his family¡¯s life on that, or that of his friends. While tempered bodies might also resist some amount of damage, injuries would only slow down training- and they still had much to do. The tournament would split people into different groups based on cultivation rank, with those above a certain age disallowed. Alva might be able to have some success in the early Spirit Building bracket, though Anton wasn¡¯t sure if she could successfully fight against mid Spirit Building cultivators. Then again, not all cultivation techniques were equal. Whether or not she faced an opponent suited to fight against archery would also sway the odds around her. ----- A trio of cultivators stood around each other, each watching for movement from the other two. While there were likely no battles in the Facraona tournament that would involve facing off against multiple opponents, they weren¡¯t just training for that single event. They wanted to better themselves in general, not just for structured battles. Devon faced off against Hoyt and Timothy. His cultivation level was at a disadvantage, but his actual technique was suited for group battles. He didn¡¯t have to be restrained by two arms, but could instead form as many chains as he needed. Though he did have a limit to how many he could practically control without losing focus on some and making them all weaker. He made the first move, attacking Timothy on his left. Since Timothy was right-handed, his shield wasn¡¯t easily able to move to block Devon. When he parried with his sword Devon wrapped his chain around him. A flick of his sword freed it from Devon¡¯s grasp, but it delayed him long enough for Hoyt to slip past his shield and attack him from behind. Yet despite being in heavy armor, Timothy moved it surprising grace- ducking down under the attack and causing Hoyt¡¯s axe to collide with Devon¡¯s reaching chains. Timothy rolled to the side to not stand up back into the trail of fire Hoyt was prone to leaving behind. He¡¯d rather not lose any hair at the moment. It looked nice as it was. Timothy ended up on his feet with his shield towards Devon and his sword aimed at Hoyt. The two-handed axe was not terribly efficient for defending, but each chop sealed off an area for at least a few moments, making it difficult to attack him even while he remained on the offensive. Devon¡¯s chains tried to wrap around Timothy¡¯s shield, but he constantly adjusted the amount he was expanding it beyond the actual structure, pushing the chains away or even capturing them inside the expanding energy projection. Devon could simply let any trapped chains fade away, but he had to produce them again starting at his body, giving a moment of breathing room. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Hoyt found an opening as Devon struggled against Timothy, stepping forward and sweeping his axe down at an angle. He trusted Devon to be strong enough to resist his attack, so he didn¡¯t hold back much, his axe impacting with a trio of chains that bent to stop him. Yet he chopped through, striking Devon¡¯s shoulder and sending him staggering back, his energy defenses barely holding. Then Hoyt had to roll to the side. When he stood back up he had a prick of blood on his throat, but that was all. Velvet had appeared from nowhere, and looked quite disappointed at how easily her surprise attack had been avoided. She wasn¡¯t going to stab much more than another couple millimeters deeper, but if she did so and stopped intentionally she could say Hoyt was dead. Unfortunately all of her companions had trained with her too much, and could actually pick her out¡­ at least the moment before her attack. Training in Instinct was vital in such a situation. Before the four could assess how the situation had altered, they felt a surge of energy around them, entrapping them inside a pentagonal barrier about ten meters on a side. ¡°Ha! Got you!¡± Catarina said. The four combatants crossed eyes with each other and instantaneously came to an agreement. They broke off to different corners of the formation and attacked simultaneously, straining the formation in many directions at the same time. The barrier shuddered, and then broke. As they all began to charge towards Catarina, they sensed a powerful attack. Everyone scattered in every direction as a streak of energy impacted the ground at their feet, tearing up the top layer of soil and spewing pebbles over everyone, including Catarina, a crater being left behind. The attack was easily traceable back to its source- if they trusted that the arrow went in a straight line. The five of them began to dart in that direction. Timothy took point first, blocking one arrow and staggering to a halt. Hoyt charged ahead, splitting the next arrow in two and dispersing it. The next three arrows were split towards different targets, but Devon reached out chains to catch each arrow between the links. His chains shattered, but the arrows faded away with them. Catarina intercepted the next arrow before Timothy had caught up again and was ready to face more. Velvet was nowhere to be seen, but as they continued to charge forward the barrage of arrows suddenly stopped. Anton held up his arms, a dagger to his throat. ¡°It¡¯s not like I could take all of you out on my own anyway. You¡¯d have to get pretty careless with your energy defenses. But seriously, working together to gang up on an old man. I expected better of you.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s an old man?¡± Catarian said. ¡°I specifically remember you distancing yourself from that tile for a while. Besides, if you were expecting us to do nothing after a bombardment like that you¡¯re seriously crazy, grandpa.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°I will note that none of you readied anti-ascension techniques in that moment. With it any of you could have knocked that arrow out of the sky harmlessly.¡± ¡°Harmlessly, you say¡­¡± Hoyt shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s still a powerful bundle of energy. Just because it scatters doesn¡¯t mean it isn¡¯t dangerous.¡± ¡°Still true,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Just remember that true ascended cultivators will be able to make more than just two attacks.¡± ¡°Two?¡± Timothy spun around, maximizing the defenses of his shield. He jumped upward to meet the incoming arrow, which had to have been looping around a very far distance to remain unnoticed until that point. In fact, it was picking up momentum as it currently shot almost straight down. Catarina leaped up after him. When the arrow struck his shield it exploded around it, leaving only a cone shaped area behind it safe. Catarina was in that area, but more importantly she was able to slow Timothy as he was rocketed backwards towards the ground. Devon also produced a dozen chains- without spikes- catching onto them as they approached the ground. The multiple layers of chains at least caused the impact to be spread over a greater time so that Timothy only left a moderately sized impression in the ground, not more than a meter deep. ¡°Bop,¡± Anton tapped his axe on Velvet¡¯s neck. She turned back to him and frowned. ¡°That one doesn¡¯t count. You were dead.¡± ¡°Probably,¡± he admitted. ¡°But you didn¡¯t make sure.¡± She snorted. ¡°It was implied. But next time I¡¯ll make sure to note I stabbed you with both daggers.¡± ----- Many people were focused on the upcoming tournament in Facraona, but Kohar was still focused on one thing. She hadn¡¯t even realized there had been a tremendous battle and was wondering why many of her various jobs had suddenly become easier, but she took full advantage of the few days the legal defenses of various slave trading groups failed. When she later learned about the battle in Black Soul Valley, she thought perhaps she should have done more. If even Life Transformation experts had risked their lives and lost them, why couldn¡¯t she? Though actually risking her life wasn¡¯t going to do much good. Kohar was making sure to stay with her guards, graciously provided by the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, as well as in public places where nobody could pretend they didn¡¯t notice if she came under attack. She also made the best use she could of various skilled couriers, quickly and stealthily carrying messages to different cities to respond to moves she had to deal with. Kohar had to admit that she was still weak as far as cultivators went, and insufficient even if she were to consider her potential in the field of being an advocate, but she continued to improve one bit at a time. Anton continued to stay in touch with her, and had even visited with her when she took a short time off and returned to Graotan. He didn¡¯t say much during that time, but somehow he always found a way to help with cultivation. Even when he was just talking about his grandchildren and how they were progressing. Maybe she just needed to relax. It was just so hard when there were so many things to do, and people needed them done now and not in a hundred years. Though admittedly, Anton continued to remind her that the ultimate goal of abolishing slavery would still be a long time off- whether through the law of the land or the law of the sword. Chapter 196 Notes filled a table in front of Anton. At the moment he was working on transitioning them into a format useful for cultivators, or potential cultivators. These were just the segments covering smithing and weaving, but they were filled with far too many unnecessary details. Grant and Derya had advised him on the salient points for people sharing their professions. Some people might do better with different instruction, but the majority of those who understood their craft would do well with one set of guidance. And Anton didn¡¯t want to have a hulking tome that weighed as much as a person. Short pages that allowed people to integrate their work and cultivation together would be sufficient along with the general guidance that would be for all Body Tempering cultivators. Anton was quite pleased that Vincent was making use of the current iteration of his work. Vincent still didn¡¯t spend much time with any individual, but he was good at finding those with cultivation potential. With some extra pages of guidance along with the early portion of the Ninety-Nine Stars, more people with good potential would be able to actually make forward strides in cultivation. Vincent¡¯s recruiting efforts were more important now than ever before. Only by bolstering the younger generation¡¯s numbers could they guarantee that some of them would grow to a high enough cultivation level to replace those lost in the battle at Black Soul Valley. Of course, the chances of a single generation producing five cultivators with the potential to become Grand Elders was fairly low. Even if those around Anton all managed that feat, merely replacing their numbers would be insufficient. If the Order couldn¡¯t grow in strength, it would fall behind other cultivation sects- and there was the looming threat of trouble from ascended cultivators. With the details on when and how that could happen so unclear it wasn¡¯t possible to plan for it in particular, but having more strong individuals would always be better. Anton felt like his efforts weren¡¯t enough. He was fairly certain he could help guide people through Body Tempering and early Spirit Building, but beyond that all of his experience was inadequate. He had recently entered late Spirit Building himself, with the year leading up to the tournament having flown by. Perhaps all his guidance might break down at some point in the future and lead people off the best path to the peak of Ninety-Nine Stars¡­ or a hundred stars, though Anton wasn¡¯t sure if ascension was actually desirable or not. Yet for all his misgivings, Anton couldn¡¯t do anything else but try. None of the elders had found any major flaws in his insights, and they had approved of his efforts. It was simply that nobody had taken the time to go into such detail about cultivating the Ninety-Nine Stars before, instead counting on the talent of cultivators and guidance received from elders as well as the description of the core cultivation technique. Anton planned to look into other crafts and professions, empowering different people to be better. Cultivation could simply allow people to have more ability to perform everyday tasks, more stamina, more efficiency. Most people wouldn¡¯t cultivate because they thought they couldn¡¯t, or they didn¡¯t have the time- but if the time spent cultivating was the same as the time spent practicing a trade, who could say they had no time? It would simply take more effort at first, somewhat lowering people¡¯s results. Yet Anton knew people would see that they could achieve more with a small amount of investment in cultivation. ----- The delegation from the Order heading to the tournament in Facraona was headed by Grand Elders Matousek and Kseniya. It was a reminder of the strength of both ¡®old¡¯ and ¡®new¡¯ cultivators, though Kseniya certainly wasn¡¯t new except to a position as a Grand Elder. She was still making advances in her cultivation, though past sixty stars it could take multiple years to make a single advancement. There was a reason Life Transformation experts were never young. Though he had no personal stake in the outcome of the tournament and couldn¡¯t participate, Anton was of course going to be cheering on his friends and family. He also wanted to see what sort of place Facraona was, since simply hearing about it wasn¡¯t the same. It was easy to assume they didn¡¯t care about the common folk living in their borders who were attacked en masse, only acting after it became a big public uproar¡­ but the Order had failed to protect against similar things not long before. While Facraona could have learned from the mistakes in Graotan, they had likely not expected such aggressive tactics. Though their armed response had not made it to the battle in time, they had devoted sufficient effort to make their intent clear. After the battle at Black Soul Valley they had continued to look into those who had been more directly involved in the mass abductions, not content to let those who did the dirty work get away. Anton might have liked to see eastern Ofrurg, but the Order was taking a more circuitous route to Facraona. While the intrusion of the Order might have been fully justified, Ofrurg was indignant that so many powerful cultivators from Graotan had entered the country without their knowledge. They had no political capital to actually sanction Graotan or the Order given previous events, but it was better to avoid traveling through Ofrurg at the moment. Anton wondered if there would ever be a time when it wasn¡¯t rife with trouble. He hoped so, but the last handful of years were not that time. The members of the Order swung much further to the south than they needed to if they were simply avoiding Ofrurg. It was partly for safety, since there was no guarantee someone wouldn¡¯t get a crazy idea and sanctions afterwards wouldn¡¯t bring people back to life. However, it was also a good time to interact more with sects in Floelor, the country they were travelling through. There were intentions to establish or strengthen relationships with the various sects in the area, and one of the ways that was most common was to have disciples ¡®exchange pointers¡¯. In short, they would duel each other. When a proper formation was in place and both parties were agreeable, it was good for demonstrating the power of both sides. That could be used either as a deterrent against causing trouble with the Order or encouragement to work together, since everyone would prefer to have strong allies. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ----- The Wandering Bush Sect may not have had a glorious name, but they derived their name from a stubborn, troublesome plant. Their cultivation style focused on mobility and tenacity, forcing others to have a tough time trying to take them down. There was another name for them, though not one used by anyone who intended to be friendly. The Tumbleweed Sect. For obvious reasons, nobody wanted to be called a weed. Maiara Blackwood felt that the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars had been treating them with a proper amount of respect, but she was a little bit miffed at seeing her opponent. Was she facing off against a little girl? Well, she supposed she was more properly a young woman in her early teens. But she couldn¡¯t have been cultivating for long. While it was somewhat disappointing to be matched with her, at least Maiara could pick up a win for her sect. She held her buckler and shortsword at the ready. Even though she wasn¡¯t making use of oversized pieces of equipment, as a cultivator of the Wandering Bush Sect she shouldn¡¯t be underestimated. A buckler was no worse than any other sort of shield. It was better, in some ways, since it required a smaller amount of material and thus could be made of more expensive components. The battle quickly began. It was of no concern that her opponent was an archer. She wouldn¡¯t let arrows past her guard. She swiftly moved forward, blocking the first shot from the young woman directly. Maiara had to admit there was a decent amount of power behind the arrows composed solely out of energy. Taking them head on would be inefficient, and it would be better to angle her buckler for future shots. Maiara had to admit she¡¯d underestimated her opponent because of her looks, but of course their cultivations weren¡¯t too dissimilar. On the boundary between early and mid Spirit Building, in fact. Maiara quickly closed the distance between herself and her opponent. That was key when fighting someone with greater range. The speed with which her opponent, Alva, managed to condense and fire energy arrows was quite impressive. She shot three before Maiara was even halfway to her. Then she began to move as well, dodging and weaving around the terrain of the battlefield, rocky crags and uneven sandy soil. Everything she did was to prevent Maiara from closing properly, but Maiara was extremely comfortable with the local arena. She wasn¡¯t slowed down much. Even when she was forced to dodge an attack instead of just blocking, she moved forward, flipping and twisting in small hops. As she got close she could see her opponent getting desperate, firing arrows faster than she could fully power. Maiara¡¯s left arm darted and blocked one directly, not even needing to use energy to soften the blow. In the next motion she cartwheeled closer while avoiding two more arrows shot together. She was only a few steps away. She almost missed the arrows coming in from behind her, circling back around. But the tenacity of the Wandering Bush Sect wasn¡¯t for nothing. She solidified the energy behind her and negated the attacks while still managing to close the distance to her opponent. Maiara thrust out with her sword at her nearly defenseless opponent, but Alva parried the blow with her bow. Most archers were concerned about damage to their weapon and would avoid colliding weapons at all cost, but it seemed this young woman wasn¡¯t afraid. But one attack wouldn¡¯t be the end of things. Maiara began a series of thrusts and slashes, keeping Alva on the back foot. There was something awkward about her movements, like she wasn¡¯t quite used to avoiding attacks- but then again, how much experience could she have at her age? Being in Spirit Building was already somewhat ridiculous at such a young age. Most people weren¡¯t even beginning cultivation. There were often side effects of cultivating too quickly and too young, but Maiara didn¡¯t detect any from the young woman in front of her. Which meant she might have actually held herself back slightly. She really, really couldn¡¯t afford to lose to someone half her age. Fortunately, even as the young woman managed to attack even while under significant pressure from Maiara¡¯s rain of blows, she couldn¡¯t easily break through Maiara¡¯s own defenses. Wandering Bush Sect cultivators were tough, and able to focus their energy on just the important points when defending. But this young woman was also clearly trained in predicting her movements, so she wasn¡¯t able to find the usual openings. Even when she got a strike in on Alva, she barely did any better than breaking skin. She just needed a little more. One solid strike and she could win the spar. It didn¡¯t have to be a killing blow, and in fact it was rather discouraged in most cases- even if the formation would prevent serious damage. But she needed something decisive. There was something odd about Alva¡¯s stance as they continued to fight. She¡¯d begun with her back up straight, tall and proud like any archer. But as she began moving more and more, she crouched down low, firing her bow from its side and keeping her profile small. She constantly moved her head back and forth as if peeking from behind something, but there was nothing in the way. And even though her defensive movements weren¡¯t quite as refined as they could be, Maiara couldn¡¯t find sufficient flaws to bring her down. Their energy levels were well matched as they continued to whittle away at each other, one quick arrow and thrust of a shortsword at a time. When a draw was eventually called, Maiara had to admit that she¡¯d underestimated her opponent. Even young and clearly not as experienced with movement techniques as other cultivators of her cultivation level might be, her archery was excellent and kept Maiara from attacking as she pleased, even after she closed into melee. Her shots were tricky, and Maiara couldn¡¯t help but think how much trouble she would be if she moved a bit faster, or had a line of other cultivators in front of her. Though in the tournament some people would likely try to pull off dirty techniques like specifically targeting her bow, so it was hard to say which of them would be more successful there. ¡°Good duel,¡± Maiara held out her hand. ¡°We were well matched.¡± Alva nodded and extended her hand as well. ¡°You should see me fight with Fuzz.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Fuzz?¡± ¡°My wolf.¡± Alva seemed to look at someone in the stand. ¡°My wolf companion. He¡¯s not really owned by anyone. Probably.¡± That explained some of her strange movement style, maybe. Though she wondered why Alva seemed unsure about her ownership of the wolf. Chapter 197 Picking out a good mark was important. Choose wrong, and there are consequences. Leo had been fortunate enough to avoid any major trouble so far, focusing on those who were distracted. He only occasionally got to target those with actual money, only occasionally making an attempt when they didn¡¯t have any guards. The worst thing he could do would be to target someone being watched by someone else. He¡¯d seen people lose a hand for that mistake. Targeting cultivators was crazy. They could kill him and get away with it, or just catch him. They were strong and quick. But also rich. And he really didn¡¯t have any other options. He would stick out like a sore thumb in the good parts of town, and the cultivators were just passing through. He just needed one good haul and he could buy medicine for Kit, and maybe more. Then he could stop stealing, and she could stop worrying about him. But she couldn¡¯t worry about him if she didn¡¯t recover. There was no way Leo was going to target some of the people he saw. Groups of cultivators packed together in fives and tens, and some strong ones walking along as well. Just looking at some of them sent shivers down his spine. He could tell a cultivator just by looking, even beyond their clothes, but some of them were on an entirely different level. Especially lately. There was some tournament or something up in Facraona, and with Cruhull being the biggest city in northeastern Droca, it was normal that everyone would pass through. But along with the strong ones came weak ones. Disciples of sects were no good, as they were being watched. What he was looking for was someone on their own, not too strong or important. There. An old man. Definitely a cultivator, from the feeling and the weapons he carried, both a bow and a pair of axes. Not someone Leo would even consider getting in a fight with, but Leo knew something about cultivators. If they were old and not terribly strong, they had no talent. That made them less important, and easier to deal with. Probably wouldn¡¯t be as rich, but that was only by cultivator standards. Leo kept an eye on him, making sure the old man was actually alone. He stopped to look at some of the nearby stalls, browsing the wares. That was perfect, but Leo knew the shopkeepers wouldn¡¯t appreciate him taking from their customers. He had to find the right opening. Somewhere where the crowd was thick, the man concealed as he moved to the next place. The man pulled a coin out of a large sack at his waist. Was it a gigantic coin purse? How extravagant. And foolish. He paid for a little necklace of some sort, barely worth anything. Just a trinket. Then he stepped away from the stall. Leo¡¯s legs moved swiftly, pulling a small blade. He gently placed his hand under the bag, making sure it wasn¡¯t too heavy. The weight shouldn¡¯t suddenly be noticed as missing. He didn¡¯t feel much inside, so perhaps it was mostly empty- but even a handful of coins would be enough. It was too late to go back. He cut at the bag, but his knife slid off. With some quick thinking he sliced the strings holding the bag to the belt, hefting it in his hand and pulling the bag under his arm as he moved away. Into an alley and behind some crates. No footsteps following, so he risked a glance back towards the street. The old man was still oblivious to his presence. He continued, winding through streets and back alleys as he got some distance. He opened up the bag and saw¡­ nothing. It was empty. He almost tossed it down in disgust when he saw something strange. When he held it at a different angle, he could see deeper into the bag. Like, more than an arm¡¯s length. He pulled the mouth wider to make sure he wasn¡¯t crazy, and light sparkled on a pile of coins¡­ along with some books? And a bow. An entire bow. In a bag. He was dead. Once the cultivator found out he took his storage bag, Leo would be dead. But he hadn¡¯t seen him¡­ Leo reached his arm into the bag and pulled out a handful of coins. He debated throwing the bag away, but he just couldn¡¯t. This was enough to live off of for the rest of his life. It would be a shame to just get rid of it without thinking. And he hadn¡¯t been caught. It would be fine. Anyone could have taken it. Just in case, he took a circuitous route to his destination, intentionally trying to throw off pursuers. He didn¡¯t suddenly die when he was alone in a back alley, so he was probably fine. But he couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling of being watched. He stood outside his first destination, then boldly opened the door. It wasn¡¯t a proper store, really. It stunk like a proper apothecary, but it was dingy and didn¡¯t have any glass vials. Not that Leo had seen more than in the door of an apothecary. Where would he get the money for that? Actually, he had enough now¡­ but he was already here. And while Old Haskell might be a bottom tier apothecary, at least he was honest. ¡°I need medicine,¡± Leo said. ¡°What for?¡± the pile of rags behind the counter said, turning to reveal a hunched old man with wide eyes. ¡°Someone sick,¡± Leo answered. ¡°What¡¯s the sickness?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Leo didn¡¯t know. ¡°Rash? Fever? Vomiting? Any symptoms.¡± ¡°Fever,¡± Leo said. ¡°It keeps getting worse.¡± ¡°How much?¡± Old Haskell asked. ¡°One person.¡± ¡°Got coin?¡± Leo held out his hand with a few coins in it. ¡°Someone important?¡± Leo nodded. ¡°Then you¡¯ll want this. The best bitterroot I got. One packet a day for a week, even after the fever goes away. Or you can get something cheaper¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take it,¡± Leo answered quickly. He was handed seven small packets, and dumped his coins on the counter as he quickly left. ¡°Good luck!¡± Old Haskell called after him. ¡°Mix it in a cup of water!¡± Leo didn¡¯t stay to chat. His feet swiftly carried him towards ¡®home¡¯. It was a roof over their head, at least, and nobody came to kick them out. It was a half step better than other places he had seen, even. He just had to slip into a winding series of alleys and find the right pile of crates. Make sure nobody was watching. But there was nobody. Then he slipped behind the crates into a hole in the wall. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Technically this wasn¡¯t a room. It was some sort of hole behind the wall of some disused shop, but it was wide enough to lay down and long enough that two people could fit, if they folded their legs. Kit was wrapped up in their blankets, such as they were. Shivering and sweating at the same time. Even paler than she normally was, her dark hair matted on her face. Leo needed a cup of water, apparently. He had a cracked clay one they shared. Kit was supposed to have drunk from it, but she didn¡¯t seem conscious enough, and it was still mostly full. He leaned over her to grab it and pulled out a packet. ¡°I don¡¯t think that will work,¡± a voice said from behind him. ¡°It¡¯s not that sort of sickness.¡± His head whipped around to see the face of the old man poking in through the hole. Leo stood to take up the whole width of the passage- which wasn¡¯t much. ¡°Please, just let me give her the medicine. You can do whatever you want with me, but let me help her. Please.¡± Leo somehow kept himself from trembling, even though he was going to die. Or if he was lucky, get taken away to the guards never to see the light of day again. Losing a hand might be worse, in some ways, than dying. Kit would want to try to take care of him. ¡°You think I¡¯m going to kill you?¡± the old man asked. ¡°Probably shouldn¡¯t have stolen from me then. As for the medicine, you can probably give it to her, but it won¡¯t work.¡± Leo shook his head, ¡°Old Haskell wouldn¡¯t cheat me.¡± ¡°Should be fine for a normal fever,¡± the man said. ¡°But it¡¯s not that. Too much energy swirling around in there.¡± His eyes narrowed, ¡°You can feel it, can¡¯t you?¡± The old man was right. Leo had felt she was sick before she showed any signs. He just didn¡¯t know what it was. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°Probably ingested something with too much energy. She go out into the woods lately?¡± ¡°What? No, she¡­¡± He remembered a conversation. Asking about cultivators. Leo knew they needed special herbs to grow stronger. Though he didn¡¯t know what any of them were. Certainly nothing that Old Haskell had. ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± The old man squeezed into the area with Leo and Kit. He had surprisingly broad shoulders for how wrinkly he was. Then he suddenly disappeared. It was only after the movement was completed that Leo realized he had hopped over him. As he turned around he saw the old man standing in the air over Kit. His ankles were braced against the wall on opposite sides, just wider than shoulder width¡­ but there wasn¡¯t anything he was standing on. Even so, he was bent over in that position, and pressed a finger to Kit¡¯s forehead. ¡°Hey. Wake up.¡± Her eyes fluttered open, weakly. ¡°Follow along with me, will you?¡± Leo felt him doing something. Cultivator things. Energy, flowing into Kit¡¯s body. He couldn¡¯t let him hurt her. He grabbed one of the axes from the old man¡¯s belt and¡­ froze in place. ¡°Be careful with that. You could hurt someone you care about. And I¡¯m trying to help. Leaving her like this any longer would be quite dangerous.¡± Since Leo couldn¡¯t move an inch, as if strong hands were clamping down all along his arms and hands, he just waited and watched. He had to admit that the gentle flow of the energy didn¡¯t seem like an attack. And¡­ also that he had severely underestimated the old man. He wasn¡¯t weaker than the majority of the cultivators who had been passing by, just more subdued. He hadn¡¯t been showing off his energy, but now that he was making use of it Leo realized his strength. And he was prepared to die- he just hoped the old man really would help Kit. ¡°Just like that,¡± the old man said. ¡°Make sure to follow that same pattern, and let it rest in your dantian, down below your stomach there. Gently now. Your body wasn¡¯t really ready to accept an influx of energy.¡± A moment later, the old man was behind Leo again, having moved over him in the cramped space without him being able to react. And Leo was no longer restrained. ¡°Now, about you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do whatever you want,¡± Leo said. ¡°In that case, come sit outside. It¡¯s very cramped in here.¡± ----- Anton looked at the young man in front of him. He was just short of adulthood, along with his sister¡­ or friend. He didn¡¯t feel a blood relation there, but he could be wrong. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Leo.¡± ¡°Alright Leo. Let¡¯s start with why you thought it was a good idea to steal from a cultivator.¡± Like that, he asked a series of questions that cleared things up. And at least the young man was smart enough to know it wasn¡¯t a good idea. It was for Kit, though he¡¯d sort of surmised that. Anton couldn¡¯t fault someone for taking care of those they loved, but he disliked the method. ¡°I understand that work isn¡¯t always easy to get,¡± Anton acknowledged, ¡°But why, as a cultivator, did you think pickpocketing was the right idea?¡± By his reaction, Anton realized something. ¡°You didn¡¯t know?¡± Anton summoned up a bit of energy in front of him, making it quite obvious- but still invisible. ¡°Normal people can¡¯t sense energy. You stumbled into the beginning of cultivation all on your own?¡± ¡°I thought¡­¡± Leo shook his head. ¡°I heard about cultivation. Gathering energy from the surroundings. So I tried to do it, but it didn¡¯t work. I¡¯ve always been able to sense cultivators though.¡± Anton shrugged. It wasn¡¯t the weirdest thing he had ever heard. And it wasn¡¯t impossible to cultivate energy without a proper technique- after all, when it was first being developed fully formed cultivation styles didn¡¯t fall out of the sky into people¡¯s hands. ¡°And the energy in the air around us? It¡¯s quite dense.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± Leo asked. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ always like this.¡± Anton supposed that might very well be the case. ¡°You haven¡¯t left Cruhull, have you?¡± ¡°No, sir.¡± ¡°Energy density varies in different places. This city is above average in that respect. Now, I have a question. Do you want to practice a trade?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t afford an apprenticeship,¡± Leo said. ¡°Can¡¯t even get a job, looking like this. Not that I have any skills¡± Anton had to admit that he was quite the sight of rags and dirt. ¡°I¡¯m sure someone could use a strong young man,¡± Anton said, ¡°But I¡¯ll admit that your looks leave much to be desired. We can get you cleaned up and find you something at a warehouse, maybe.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not really that strong¡­¡± Leo hung his head. ¡°Really?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Ever arm wrestle anyone, in the last few years?¡± Anton looked at his skinny body. ¡°But maybe you¡¯re right.¡± Anton pulled out a hunk of dried fruit. Travel rations, rarely used especially since he was traveling with the Order. He¡¯d catch up with them in a bit, but they were planning to stay in the city for the night anyway. ¡°Eat this.¡± Leo seemed to be hungry enough that he ate without question. Half of what Anton gave him, then he glanced back towards Kit. Anton pulled out more. ¡°Finish that. You can give this to her while I figure out what to do with you.¡± A troublesome project. He didn¡¯t want to teach cultivation to someone who might use it for criminal acts, but it would be near impossible for the young man to turn his life around if he didn¡¯t. Perhaps the young woman behind him would be key. She should be feeling better soon. She¡¯d gone unconscious again, but for a proper rest instead of a fitful half-sleep with unbalanced energy inside her. Chapter 198 It was a sad world that didn¡¯t have everyone working a job beneficial to themselves and society. Anton was aware that many people did not have the luxury of enjoying their work, but in a perfect world he believed they could find the right fit. There were some who even enjoyed the task of cleaning grimy sewers and holding together the underpinnings of a city. All of that turned on being able to perform a job properly and receiving reasonable compensation for their efforts, which Anton understood wasn¡¯t always the case. Often the worst jobs, unpleasant conditions and low pay, went to those who had no other options left to them. Then there were those employed as criminals, officially or not. Those who sustained themselves simply by taking from others in one way or another, without any benefit to society as a whole. Anton could not claim to know the whole of what caused people to fall to crime, but there were some basic features. First, it could be easy. Why work for a week when you could just take a coin purse containing all of that money in a few minutes? Some considered themselves more noble, taking only from those with great sums of wealth- but it was easy from there to push the boundaries and cause greater harm than intended to the world. Sometimes crime seemed to be the only option. In a large city like Cruhull, Anton had to admit it was more difficult than a rural village. Even if one had learned proper survival techniques, what plants were edible and how to hunt¡­ only a small portion of the population could survive off of the surrounding wilderness, assuming it hadn¡¯t all been converted to farmland. And that it didn¡¯t have any dangerous beasts who would hunt those on their territory. It wasn¡¯t possible for Anton to judge all crime, but he certainly had to be cautious about what he found was acceptable. Leo stole to keep himself and Kit alive. He couldn¡¯t fault that, even if it ultimately harmed others who could not afford the loss of a coin purse. Leo had stepped onto the path of cultivation on his own, if just barely. The question Anton had was whether he should help him advance further along that path despite his crimes. His insight told him Leo truly regretted his criminal lifestyle- not just because he¡¯d gotten caught. But he might always change his mind in the future, as he grew in power. If he was able to do whatever he wanted, what would it matter? Of course, any cultivator could turn down a dark path. There was no way to stop that. Anton¡¯s thoughts to have everyone cultivate would simply mean they could match any with criminal intent and deal with them just the same. He knew he was nowhere close to omniscient, but he felt good things about Leo. It was easy to take pity on a young man with nothing, but he felt no deception in the young man. And leaving him to fumble around with cultivation on his own would likely lead to harm to himself and others, including Kit. Anton had to at least make the attempt to improve things that passed in front of his eyes, even if he couldn¡¯t solve every problem in the world. ¡°I don¡¯t have long here,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯re only staying for a couple days. Then we¡¯ll be passing on. But¡­ I have the intention to guide you and your friend in your cultivation.¡± Kit met the basic level of being a cultivator, even if the only energy she had absorbed was unintentional. Though she hadn¡¯t said anything upon waking up, Anton could tell she had been looking for something to help Leo. He would bet that she wanted to make sure it was safe to consume- and ironically it would have been, for someone who had some control over their energy. ¡°The two of you must take solemn oaths to only use what I teach you for good.¡± There were special techniques to create a contract between cultivators, but they were unstable at best, requiring constant care and attention. Imprecise notions like ¡®good¡¯ were hard to enforce, while at best there could be some reaction from moving to a specific place or interacting with a specific object. Anton had no way to enforce anything, except to make sure the two knew that ultimately one path would be best for them. ¡°I will,¡± Leo said. ¡°... if I am able.¡± Kit nodded. She was half-hiding behind Leo, even though Anton had been the one who helped her stabilize the energy inside her. But who would trust a random old man anyway? ¡°Good,¡± Anton said. ¡°First, you will need to come with me. Between two walls is hardly a proper place to train. I can¡¯t stay with you for long or supply for your every need continuously¡­ and I wouldn¡¯t if I could. But I can help you with this.¡± He practically dragged the two of them to an inn located in a different part of town. It wasn¡¯t luxurious, but he felt it was dry and the beds free of pests as he washed over it with his senses. The innkeeper looked a bit unhappy to have two urchins in rags brought into his establishment, but seeing the weapons Anton carried he didn¡¯t say anything. Anton approached with a smile. He didn¡¯t want to cause trouble. ¡°Two rooms for these two, with meals. For a week.¡± Anton pulled out a small number of coins. ¡°And baths.¡± The innkeeper looked relieved at that statement. Anton looked at the two of them. ¡°Speaking of which, you should have the first of those right now. I¡¯ll be back in a short moment with something better than rags.¡± Using his energy senses he was able to take the measure of a person to a reasonable dimension. He wouldn¡¯t be able to tailor them clothes with a perfect fit- partly because he wasn¡¯t a tailor- but he imagined he could get them something better than they¡¯d worn in recent memory. Or perhaps ever. He quickly made his way to a tailor, picking out some of the ready-made outfits they had available. Sturdy material good for working in. And it would fit, as much as it needed to. As for shoes¡­ it was a bit harder to find ones just right. But he was able to run around between several districts and be back before they finished their baths. After having them change and making sure they had a meal, Anton had the two of them sit with him in Leo¡¯s room. It was little more than a bed and a small table, but it had room for the three of them. As Anton pulled out a tome from his bag, Leo¡¯s face told him something. Though he asked politely anyway. ¡°Can you read?¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Leo shook his head. ¡°No,¡± Kit said with her head down. ¡°Well, everyone has to learn at some point. I¡¯d like to say I could teach you to read in just a day or two, but that¡¯s simply not possible.¡± Anton tossed the tome back into his bag. ¡°So you¡¯ll just have to remember what I show you, and help each other when I¡¯m no longer around. Cultivation is all about energy. The natural energy that is all around us, in varying amounts. I trust the two of you can sense it?¡± Leo nodded, but Kit looked hesitant. Anton held up his hand, gathering a small amount and making it visible to the eye, with more radiating around it. ¡°The energy I use flows from within my body. At a certain point you will produce some of your own, but mostly you will be absorbing it from your surroundings. And you use it for more than just this, but to improve your body.¡± Anton began to explain things to them one step at a time. Just saying things didn¡¯t seem to be useful to them, but showing them how he drew energy in through his meridians and condensed it in his dantian made them understand. Leo was eager to try, but Kit was hesitant. ¡°Why¡­¡± she asked falteringly. ¡°Why are you helping us?¡± ¡°Because I want to,¡± Anton said. ¡°How does it benefit you?¡± she continued to question. ¡°It doesn¡¯t.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± There wasn¡¯t much he could do about that. But Anton had a response that he thought might satisfy her. ¡°Well, if you insist¡­ it makes me feel good to help others. And in the widest scale of things, having more cultivators will benefit my cultivation. For you see, energy doesn¡¯t come from nowhere. Neither does it just disappear upon use, becoming nothing.¡± Anton continued to explain. It was fairly simple on its surface to explain the aspect he most directly observed, with farming. Cultivators grew plants with the benefit of natural energy, the plants grew bigger and stronger and produced more. In Windrip he felt the effects in more than just the plants and ground, but the various goods and crafts produced by the people there and how the energy spread out into the surroundings, amplifying the area. It was still quite a bit short of the Order¡¯s land, but in another decade or two it would at least be like the lower parts of the mountain. Kit seemed satisfied with his roundabout explanation, except for one thing. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you teaching as many people as possible how to cultivate?¡± ¡°You think I¡¯m not?¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ve worked with hundreds of people in Graotan, and they¡¯ve taught others. The two of you should be able to teach others eventually. Don¡¯t be concerned that you¡¯ll suddenly stop being special¡­ you¡¯ll have a head start, and being able to do practical things never stops mattering. As long as you are willing to learn how to do new things. Don¡¯t just get stuck in a rut.¡± He didn¡¯t doubt that they would be willing to learn- they just hadn¡¯t had initial opportunities so far. It was impossible to pack everything he wanted to teach them into a day. He also needed to spend some time looking for someone who needed work. Kit was still a bit weak from her bout with energy, but she should be capable in a couple days. Both were thin, but with a few days of food and body tempering they would show rapid improvement in their abilities. The most basic forms of labor required a strong body, and Anton just needed to find someone who would be willing to put up with them while they improved. Preferably he wouldn¡¯t have to bribe them to do so, because he¡¯d rather set them up with a reasonable boss. ----- It was early morning. The sun wasn¡¯t even over the horizon. Leo and Kit stood outside with Anton. ¡°So this is it?¡± Leo said. ¡°You¡¯re just going to go and¡­ we¡¯ll never see you again?¡± ¡°Who said that?¡± Anton frowned. ¡°There¡¯s no way you¡¯re getting rid of me that easily. I¡¯ll be passing back through here in a month or so to see how you¡¯ve done.¡± ¡°... We might not be staying here anymore,¡± Leo said. ¡°Though I¡¯d hope we could avoid going back to¡­ the other place.¡± Anton had given them a few coins, but he had no intention to just throw money at them and presume they¡¯d have no troubles. They had secured some work, and if they could keep it they should at least be able to keep a roof over their heads. A better roof than the one above the walls they¡¯d been huddling between, obviously. ¡°I¡¯ll be able to find you,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you¡¯re in or around the city.¡± After a few days he was quite familiar with their energy, and even in a city of over ten thousand people it wouldn¡¯t be hard to pick them out. They couldn¡¯t be out of the maximum range of his senses, though he might have to do a few passes around the city if they weren¡¯t in the section he presumed they would be. Poor, but not quite the slums. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t try to teach anyone before then. Remember that it can be dangerous. If you feel any problems, it would be better to wait for me to return instead of pushing yourselves.¡± At least both of them were old enough he didn¡¯t have to worry about the same things as Alva. Speaking of which, she was coming to find him. ¡°Come on grandpa. We¡¯re going.¡± She looked at Leo and Kit. ¡°Who are these two?¡± ¡°New students,¡± Anton said. ¡°Okay,¡± Alva shrugged. Leo and Kit looked at Alva, clearly stunned. She was in Spirit Building, after all. The amount of energy she had was many times more than either of them- and she was clearly still a handful of years younger. ¡°Goodbye for now,¡± Anton said as he waved to them. ¡°Don¡¯t forget anything I said.¡± He especially was referring to how they should properly behave. He hoped that since they didn¡¯t need to steal, they wouldn''t. Kit was helpful there, because she hadn¡¯t wanted Leo to steal even to keep her alive¡­ but young folk were volatile. He just hoped they didn¡¯t get up to too much trouble while he was gone. Arriving back with the travelling members of the Order, Anton also saw some other sects nearby. That included Cloudtop Summit, and Firdaus the enchanter. Anton looked forward to catching up on what had happened while they were apart. He took one last glance over his shoulder at two people many blocks away and behind some buildings, likely unaware of his senses reaching out towards them. He¡¯d just have to trust that they would be fine for some time on their own. Hopefully, he¡¯d handled everything in the right way. Chapter 199 ¡°I see you have a new bow since we last met,¡± Firdaus commented. ¡°Hollowreed. Very springy.¡± ¡°Works decent underwater too,¡± Anton said. ¡°As far as bows go, anyway.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the caveat, isn¡¯t it?¡± Firdaus nodded. ¡°Everything¡¯s got some limits. Like special forging techniques¡­ very expensive.¡± Firdaus shook his head. ¡°Maybe if I win a few rounds of the tournament I can do something. Cloudtop Summit will reward those who do well. That¡¯s what this whole thing is about, showing off.¡± ¡°Same with the Order. Though that doesn¡¯t have anything to do with me,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m just here to provide moral support.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you¡­?¡± Firdaus smiled awkwardly, ¡°Ah, right. I forgot the tournament is limited by age. Personally I prefer Everheart¡¯s method.¡± Anton laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t let anyone catch you saying anything good about him.¡± ¡°Hah. Everyone at least has to admit that he was effective, regardless of how much they liked him. And nobody who knew him will be around to say anything to me.¡± Anton was fairly certain some of the Grand Elders of the Order had some sort of interaction with him, though it would have been near the end of his active period while they were still young. He was from a long time ago¡­ the only reason he was so well remembered was all the trouble he caused and how many ¡®tombs¡¯ he left around. Plus the forbidden techniques. Really he just left a lot of stuff behind so people would be remembering him for a long time. As they moved along, Anton felt the changes in Firdaus. It was more than just the improvements in cultivation since they¡¯d last met a year and a half before, but a change to some fundamental parts of his cultivation. He still had the same sort of stormy feeling about him, as did the other members of Cloudtop Summit, but there was a new core holding everything all together. And of course Anton couldn¡¯t fail to notice his new spear. It felt as if he was holding a bolt of lightning in his hand, though it was much more structurally solid and lasting. He didn¡¯t recognize the material exactly, but the whole thing was made out of a metal with a light blue sheen to it, haft included. The head of the spear was jagged back and forth like a bolt of lightning, with a wide guard sticking out to either side. It was not terribly oversized, as some cultivator weapons tended to be, but it was certainly a bit larger in size than most spears. The blade was not particularly thick but the whole spear was taller, perhaps closer in length to a pike. Anton smiled, ¡°I¡¯m glad to see your cultivation has gone well.¡± Firdaus was about keeping pace with the rest of them, though he¡¯d already been behind the equivalent of two stars or so and that distance had been maintained for the most part. But Anton was aware that anything close to the pace Catarina and the others kept was quite good. ¡°You¡¯ve also done well for yourself,¡± Firdaus commented. ¡°It¡¯s impossible to say what difficulties might arise, but I¡¯d expect you and the rest to reach Essence Building without too many complications.¡± ¡°Advancing to a higher realm always has its difficulties,¡± Anton responded. ¡°But we have high hopes.¡± Certainly nobody seemed like they would suddenly hit a wall at the barrier to Essence Collection, just a couple stars away. As for Life Transformation¡­ it was difficult to predict what would happen so many years away. On the farm he knew there were times of plenty, and also times of struggle. He hoped there would be fewer of the latter for himself and those around him. Though as cultivators, even most struggles could prove to make them stronger in the end. With a year having passed since the big events in Black Soul Valley and the execution before that, Anton had reached the twenty-fifth star while the others were at the twenty-seventh. Though his technical cultivation level fell behind slightly, Anton was not concerned. In fact, he¡¯d been holding himself back slightly in that aspect of his growth. Not too much, of course, because if he didn¡¯t continue to progress in cultivation Fleeting Youth would never make up for the loss. Even though he wasn¡¯t gaining as much lifespan as the others, an extra year every few months equated to an ever-increasing lifespan. Until he got to the point where raising a cultivation level took longer than the time he gained, obviously. Anton wasn¡¯t just throwing time away to keep closer to the threshold for Fleeting Youth. His training in that technique and efforts in other areas took a significant amount of time. Learning from others and teaching them were beneficial to his cultivation, but the higher his own cultivation grew the less he learned from assisting those at the early ranks of Body Tempering. Ultimately, he only had so much time. If he spent all of it cultivating to improve his own lifespan and none of it interacting with the world around him, what was the point? His much younger peers weren¡¯t single-mindedly focused on their cultivations either, but a smaller portion of their time was currently devoted to other things. But they had at least another eighty years to mess around with later, so it wasn¡¯t an issue. Thinking about lifespans and when people might ultimately die seemed somewhat morbid, but Anton liked to think he was practical. He¡¯d reached the end of his life and basically been granted a new one in the form of cultivation. As far as he was concerned, everything he was experiencing now was extra. And though there were looming concerns about the future, the weight of seeking revenge had been lifted off of him after the execution. That didn¡¯t mean Anton would suddenly be acting carefree, but he was able to focus on matters that pulled on his heart without wondering if he should be doing something else. ----- Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. As with all countries, Facraona was just another semi-arbitrary border to cross. But borders were of significant concern to people, and more recent events had affected the landscape significantly. For perhaps a day of travel from the border, at the pace of cultivators, fields lay fallow and houses abandoned. At least, Anton hoped that most of them had been abandoned, but he was aware that that wasn¡¯t the case for all of them. Several thousands of people had been captured and sacrificed in Black Soul Valley, or perhaps taken elsewhere at the same time. Only when they began to see people working the fields once more did Anton feel at ease. Unlike in Ofrurg, most of the workers weren¡¯t slaves. It was the unfortunate truth that some of them were, but to his understanding Facraona had more laws that regulated why and how people could be enslaved, the treatment of slaves, and even how long it could last. Since it was less profitable to own slaves, more farms were worked by individual families instead of being large plantations. Along the road, they also saw patrols of cultivators. Not only was the tournament upcoming and thus people pouring into Facraona, but there were still concerns about security beyond that. Anton felt the presence of natural energy throughout the area to be somewhat higher than in Graotan, and that implied that cultivators might be somewhat higher ranking as well- though that would depend more on the quality of energy in the actual sects territories and not the country in general. Few of the patrols they met could have even been a hindrance to their group, but it wasn¡¯t as if Life Transformation experts were just randomly strewn about everywhere. Without them they could be little more than a delay for a group like the Order had, if they were intending to cause trouble. But a myriad of lesser cultivators could eventually overwhelm even the strongest person. The patrols should at least be enough to make the people feel secure in their safety, tenuous as any such thing was in the world. The cities they passed through were quite different. Anton was certain that the general functions of the buildings remained the same, but the architecture was different than he was used to. Facraona had many older buildings, largely made of stone that emphasized arches and pillars. This was intermingled with generally smaller new structures made of wood but trying to mimic the same styles, with overhanging porches and open courtyards. Some were even lacquered to have the look of old stone, but to a cultivator it was easy to tell the difference. The older building practically radiated age. Actually, Anton thought that a good many of them should have once had functioning formation, and maybe they still had a few remnants of such. That didn¡¯t include the newer buildings clearly housing cultivators, of course. They had the same styles, and a few were made of much more expensive marble compared to granite. Transporting massive intact pieces of marble must have been wildly expensive, even by cultivator standards. The average population density appeared to be higher than in Graotan, and so did the general level of wealth. Given the presence of several large rivers and how it bordered the Shervista Ocean on the north, the amount of trade that flowed through Facraona was a huge contributor to that wealth. Yet as they walked through the cities Anton felt from afar there were still places of poverty and squalor. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was ever possible to fully solve issues of poverty, but Anton knew people could be doing more. And from his understanding raising up the level of the lowest people would still benefit everyone else. But not everyone looked to the far future, not even cultivators. Often they were only concerned with what benefitted them most in the short term. To that end, Anton was quite willing to put in the work to show his idea would work, and that everyone else was wrong. And if he failed¡­ well, at least he would know he tried to make the world better, instead of just his own life. ----- The moment the capital, Zraden, came into view over the horizon it filled more and more of Anton¡¯s vision. The first sight of it was not the city walls but in fact the looming presence of the arena, covering the top of the rise that the whole city was built atop. It was nearly a hundred meters high, and almost a kilometer wide. Even though Anton knew that the majority of the area inside was just empty space, the outer structure itself was impressive enough. With each step more of Zraden came into view, from the top of the hill down the sides to the various other similarly impressive structures. The walls surrounding the city were only unimpressive when compared to the walls of the arena itself, twenty meters high at least. Anton was aware that the city and its surroundings housed more than a million people, the largest city he knew of. It made Edelhull feel small, despite that being one of the most significant cities in Graotan. But the size of the city didn¡¯t make the Order¡¯s arrival less significant, except that they were but one of many sects. With the tournament less than a week away, most of those participating would have already arrived, or would be arriving soon. Nobody wanted to be late and miss out on their chance to take part in such an event. There were prizes for high rankings in each segment, though it wasn¡¯t as if Facraona was just giving away wealth. The influx of cultivators would benefit them greatly. Even as they approached the center of the city to find their accommodations, Anton sensed several markets they passed had enchanted goods. While members of the Order could obtain such things from the sect for contribution points or amassed wealth, having them be publicly traded was more of a rarity. But Anton had to presume that the expense of the cultivator guards surrounding the marketplace would be more than overcome by the profits. Not just sect disciples would purchase from them, but also independent cultivators. It was easy to see that while the sudden aggression had surprised them, Facraona wasn¡¯t so easily ignored. The cultivators of the Flying Blood Cult were notoriously crazy, and the other group in Black Soul Valley had been fully determined to die for the sake of the ritual. Though the information wasn¡¯t public, Anton was aware that a cultivator had ascended during that event. One of the few times it had been witnessed. Facraona was still planning to retaliate against anyone connected to the events, but some of the sects in the country would be hesitant to fight against a group that produced an ascended cultivator, regardless of whether or not they knew about their potential return. After all, to have a cultivator ascend meant having peak Life Transformation cultivators, and likely more than just a few. With the damage to the Order, it was enough to give anyone pause. But hopefully the tournament could bring some sense of normalcy and stability to the cultivation world. Though grudges might form in a tournament, it was also a way for sects to get out their aggression when conflicts weren¡¯t deep enough to justify actually going to war with each other. It was a way to promote healthy rivalries while trying to weed out those that didn¡¯t belong. It might even work for its intended purpose sometimes. Chapter 200 The tournament started with those of the lowest cultivation, and would work from Body Tempering to Spirit Building to Essence Collection. There wouldn¡¯t be a tournament for Life Transformation experts, though there was a time period arranged for some Life Transformation experts from those sects that had them to demonstrate some of their abilities. If it came to actual matches, even the impressive structure of the arena would hardly be able to withstand the battles, and keeping all of the spectators safe would require expending too many resources, or too severely restricting the participating cultivators. In addition to that, Life Transformation cultivators were leery of showing off their full skills, as their enemies would want to use any weaknesses against them. Thus, it would be more of a ceremonial demonstration rather than a full exhibition. Those with lower cultivations might still be able to gain some insights, however. There were very few Body Tempering cultivators participating that Anton knew. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t know many people, but instead that most of those he knew had already surpassed Body Tempering. The exception were a few of those he had rescued from slavery in Ofrurg who ultimately had chosen to devote themselves to cultivation as a lifestyle. Many of those he had taught were having great success while still continuing their trades, but some, especially those with higher talents, decided that joining the Order would be best for them. Since the majority of cultivators didn¡¯t advance as quickly as Anton and the others, it wasn¡¯t strange for them to be in early or mid Body Tempering after a few years. Even late Body Tempering after three years was a sign of reasonable talent. Ultimately, however, aside from seeing some different styles, Anton didn¡¯t find much of interest in the Body Tempering tournament. Though the arena was massive and open, it was actually separated into many parts and multiple matches happened concurrently. The size of the area participants would be using would increase with each part of the tournament, so the more interesting matches would have fewer going concurrently. There would also be fewer participants, and so it wouldn¡¯t drag on the tournament forever to have individual matches at certain points. ----- In just one of many matches happening in the Body Tempering portion of the tournament, Gerd Aberg stood across from her opponent, Reynold of the Myriad Tool Society. She appeared much as she had when she first arrived at the Order. Her body was round with fat. She had thought that once she became a cultivator that would change, but it just never quite worked out for her. Underneath, at least, she was greatly changed. No longer was she barely able to run, unable to pull herself up a rope. Even though she¡¯d had some success in Body Tempering before attempting to join the Order, her weight had been a hindrance. It was like carrying someone else on her back at all times. That was still the case, but as she had reached the peak of Body Tempering¡­ carrying someone else around on her wasn¡¯t such a big deal. Strong muscle and a solid body were underneath her soft outer layer. She¡¯d tried to take the advice of those around her to lessen her weight. She tempered her body with exercise, expending a great amount of energy. Even as she did so, she tried to eat less. With both combined, it was illogical that she would still have fat on her. But with months of feeling like she was starving to death and having lost no weight except what she lost in muscle mass, Gerd gave up on that. If she could not remove the fat from around her, she would have to be strong enough to deal with it. And she could. If only she could advance into Spirit Building, she thought she might have a chance to create greater changes in her body. Having been a member of the Order for sufficient time, she was able to study the full version of the Ninety-Nine Stars cultivation technique. She had attempted to break through to Spirit Building many times, but something was missing. She asked elders for help, but nothing worked. Anton even offered to help her. Out of pity, maybe, or because she was friends with Pete and a companion of Alva. His advice had been most helpful, even if it hadn¡¯t ultimately led to her advancing her cultivation further. She knew what she needed. A purpose, and a proper understanding of herself. If something didn¡¯t fit, she would have to change it. But none of that was as easy as it sounded. So she was fighting in the tournament, because ultimately combat was one of the ways cultivators came to know themselves. Even in a constrained fashion, it could still be useful. If nothing else, she would experience different forms of combat. Like the man in front of her. He was laden with as many different pieces of enchanted equipment as the tournament allowed, while Gerd had a hammer and some armor and little else of note. Gerd found herself a bit jealous at his appearance. Was he a favored of his Myriad Tool Society, to have so many things? Everything seemed to be specifically tailored to him as well. Reynold had a shield, but no traditional sort of weapon. As soon as the match started Gerd charged towards him, moving more quickly than the man anticipated. She attacked without reservation, swinging down at him to see how he would respond. She had of course expected him to block with his shield, but she hadn¡¯t expected that she would be the one pushed back by the impact, her hammer nearly knocked out of her hands. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The man stood there unfazed as Gerd tried to figure out what had happened. His stance wasn¡¯t particularly sturdy. It wasn¡¯t that he had an unexpected weight to him, either. Thus, he should have been sent flying back. But at the moment of impact the force had all rebounded back at her. He hadn¡¯t used his own energy to accomplish that, at least not the majority of the effect. It was something about the shield¡­ and his boots. Though she had been the one thrown away, the man in front of Gerd didn¡¯t look terribly confident in approaching her. So she was happy enough to throw herself into another attack. This time she tried a sweeping strike, but the man turned his shield and once more her attack rebounded. At the moment of impact he threw what looked like a small metal stick at her leg. Her defensive energy kept it from striking her, but it suddenly bent and snapped around her ankle at the same time as the shield once more sent her hammer flying back, Gerd desperately holding onto it to keep from being disarmed. She didn¡¯t move as far, but it wasn¡¯t due to any special technique on her part. The stick that had become a band wrapped around her ankle was somehow weighing her down. She could feel the energy imbued in it making that one leg want to stick to the ground. Gerd wanted to try to remove it, but as soon as she focused on it her opponent attacked with a long metal whip, forcing her to dodge about- yet slowly and with great difficulty. But Gerd wasn¡¯t going to let a little bit of extra weight, strange thought it was, keep her down. She adjusted her energy, distributing more to her left leg to counteract the resistance she felt while moving. Even restrained, she was still able to run about, to fight. So what if she was carrying another person wrapped around her leg? What was one more, anyway? She moved in for the attack once more. Of course doing the same thing repeatedly was bound to get her in trouble, but she had some ideas. The first thing she had to do was dodge past the persistent whip. She had no doubt that if it wrapped around her arm it would cause all sorts of trouble, beyond just whatever injuries it might cause. Gerd put on a sudden burst of speed as she circled around, then leapt into the air. It was a bit more difficult with the extra weight on her left leg, but that would just make the force as she barrelled down on the man all the harder to resist. Yet she found herself being tossed into the air regardless. She had a few moments to think about what was happening as she sailed straight up. First, the man from the Myriad Tool Society had simply shifted his shield to block her hammed, holding it above his head. His stance otherwise barely changed, and in fact it was the worst way to receive an attack. Besides some basic defensive energy to ensure its durability, she hadn¡¯t felt anything special about how he held the shield. Beneath his feet, however, his energy was spread out like a net, covering a wide area of the ground. That wasn¡¯t strange, since nobody wanted to be bashed knee deep into the stone floor of the arena and then have to figure out how to extricate themselves. The strange part was that he hadn¡¯t changed anything about that. Gerd was pretty sure his energy had been arranged like that to begin with. As she started falling, the whip struck out at her. Unable to do more than tumble in the air to dodge, she had to defend against its strikes with her energy, taking them head on where she would have liked to be more efficient with her efforts. Whenever it seemed as if it might grab her, however, she spun herself around. It was going to make it difficult to make a proper strike, but keeping herself minimally injured was important. As she rotated she took stock of Reynold¡¯s position directly below. He was just waiting for her to make another attack, and she didn¡¯t intend to disappoint him. Her hammer was surrounded by a mass of energy as she twisted her body to stop her rotation. As her hammer was about to impact his shield, the mass of energy on it withdrew. Her hammer struck the shield with a reasonable amount of force, but it only bounced her about a foot up in the air before she got her feet back on the ground. Her energy didn¡¯t disappear or get cancelled, but rather it was an intentional move on her part. She thought that he had been rebounding her with a special property of the shield- and perhaps that wasn¡¯t incorrect- but it also wasn¡¯t fully the case. With her attack weakened, so was the rebound. Gerd got a good look at her opponent as she landed right next to him, inside optimal range for his whip. Everything he had fit him well, but he took care of it. He didn¡¯t just rely on the power of his shield, but made sure it held together under her attacks. It wasn¡¯t just going to get replaced. And she was beginning to understand something. He wasn¡¯t anything special. He probably wasn¡¯t a chosen of the Myriad Tool Society, even equipped as he was. She¡¯d seen other members of them with fewer tools, but this man in front of her wasn¡¯t a genius. Or maybe he was, because if she was right he made everything himself. It just fit with him too well, the flow of energy too efficient. She didn¡¯t have time to ask, though, as she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around the shield. There was a slight repelling force as she hit it, but even as he expanded his energy to try to remove her grasp on the shield she yanked it towards her¡­ and found his shield slipping out of her grasp for an unexpected reason. He went straight up into the air. She applauded his efforts to clear her out of his landing zone with his whip, but she swung back with her hammer, letting it wrap around. It coiled more tightly than it properly should have, but she¡¯d already expected something like that. Once it was solidly in place, she yanked downward. Reynold hit the ground at a reasonable speed, consequences of the moment of hesitation to let go of his whip. It was fully twisted around Gerd¡¯s hammer and wouldn¡¯t let go, but instead of concerning herself with that she threw both of them away out of reach. Perhaps it was unreasonable to divest herself of her only weapon when she was aware her opponent still had more than a handful of tricky tools up his sleeve- partly literally- but something told her that confidence was key. She would fight with her arms and legs, even with one weighed down by a strange tool, and overcome whatever else Reynold had in store. But first she had to deal with that shield¡­ and those boots. Chapter 201 In one of many small platforms distributed throughout the grand arena in Facraona two cultivators were continuing a match, watched by only a small portion of the eyes around them. But neither of them could afford to think about anything outside what they were doing. Reynold might have seemed like he had the advantage at first, but he no longer had his whip. While Gerd had given up her hammer to disarm him, she was much more confident in close combat. She kept light on her feet, as much as she could do with extra weight pulling down on her left ankle. She didn¡¯t have time to break off the hindering device, because Reynold would simply pull something else out in that time. Even now she saw him reaching behind to grab something as he was getting to his feet. Gerd lunged forward, grabbing the top of his shield with one hand. If he went nowhere when she crashed head on, and up when she yanked it towards her¡­ she shoved downward, leaning on the extra weight caused by the band wrapped around her ankle. Once again he moved in an extremely odd direction sliding forward towards her even as her arm pushed down on his shield. But while it was odd, it also wasn¡¯t unexpected. She was holding up an elbow that went straight for his head as he moved towards her with great speed, but he ducked well enough that she only managed to dent his helmet as he was flung past. No doubt she shook up his head, but he wasn¡¯t down yet. Before Gerd could finish spinning around to kick him in the rear, he flipped up a short cloak he had, sending a wave of fire over her and forcing her to retreat. She might have been able to power through it, but she judged it to be safer to withdraw. Both participants glanced off to the side, where their weapons still lay. Gerd was still confident that she would have the advantage with neither having a weapon, so she moved to keep him away from them, even if she couldn¡¯t get to them herself without leaving an opening. She had to admit that Reynold was a tough opponent. He had various annoying enchanted tools and pieces of equipment, but if she was right and he had made them all on his own¡­ she couldn¡¯t complain. She had access to resources to help her advance as well, and the Order¡¯s armory. She knew materials were cheaper, but she simply didn¡¯t have the skills to put it together herself. Gerd felt something as they fought. A sliver of inspiration. It was itching at the back of her head, but she couldn¡¯t quite grab it. She could grab the shield though. Most importantly, she realized that if she shoved it to the side things worked almost like normal. Except for the fact that Renold¡¯s boots went along with it. That was the trick to them. They shared the force placed on the shield somehow, so a direct hit directly imparted the force into the ground, causing a rebound that only affected her, the shield, and the boots. Reynold himself could ignore the force. But because it rotated the force relative to the boots and shield, shoving down moved him forward. Up would probably push him back, but the sides were perfectly normal- or even strangely exaggerated. Another stick slapped against her wrist as she pulled his shield to the side and punched at his shoulder. It curled into a band and weighed down her arm, but she still clipped him regardless. What was a little more extra weight. She was strong. And if she wasn¡¯t strong enough now, she would get there! Gerd¡¯s left side was quite far off balance with the two enchanted weights, but she pushed through the awkwardness. She found that the one around her wrist allowed her to pull even more strongly on the shield, to the point she actually disarmed it from Reynold. With it in hand she swept it around to throw his feet every which way. It only took a moment for him to stop the connection between his boots and the shield, but the effort left him open to a kick, with her heavy foot. The enchanted band certainly weighed her down, but it also carried its own momentum once she got it moving. Her own fairly normal boots collided directly with the chest of Reynold, sending him flying backwards. Gerd took a half a moment to catch her balance before she began to move towards him for a follow up attack but in that moment¡­ ¡°I surrender!¡± Reynold called from the floor. Gerd stopped. ¡°You¡­ could keep fighting. I know you¡¯re not exhausted yet.¡± ¡°Too late for that,¡± he said as he sat up. ¡°Besides,¡± he tapped his breastplate. ¡°If I allow you to hit me again, I¡¯m just asking for you to cause a permanent break in this. Or my helmet. I¡¯d rather not have to forge new gear.¡± ¡°So you did make it yourself,¡± Gerd nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± He shrugged, ¡°Not quite good enough, I guess. I didn¡¯t think anyone would figure out the shield thing. I¡¯ll have to work on that.¡± The inspiration was still digging at the back of Gerd¡¯s mind as she stepped out of the arena. She had the feeling that she could break through to Spirit Building. It would have been great to do it in battle, but the stories about people doing it were probably made up. She was exhausted. There was no way she could summon the energy required at the moment. It simply couldn¡¯t be done. But after a bit of rest¡­ she would be fine to make the attempt. This time, she would succeed. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She wondered what that would mean for her place in the tournament. She was supposed to have another match later in the day, but if she was suddenly in Spirit Building¡­ would she be disqualified? If so¡­ she didn¡¯t care. If she gave up this opportunity just to get some rewards for advancing further in the lowest level tournament, she couldn¡¯t be sure if she would ever have as good of a chance again. ----- It was only a few hours after the match was over that Reynold realized he didn¡¯t get his gravity bands back from his opponent. It wasn¡¯t a huge problem since he could make more. The materials were fairly inexpensive since they were made from heavy but not particularly durable metal, with some enchantments to enhance the traits he wanted. But he supposed he should at least offer to remove them properly. It would surely be inconvenient to move around. ¡°Excuse me,¡± he said as he cautiously approached the delegation from the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. ¡°I was in a match with one of your disciples, Gerd, and I realized I forgot to remove my restrictive devices. You can break them off without danger, but I thought I should offer to do it properly¡­¡± There was nothing to really be nervous about. He¡¯d only been her opponent in the tournament, the two sects weren¡¯t enemies. And they certainly wouldn¡¯t attack him with so many people around. But it was a bit intimidating to feel the Spirit Building guards checking him over, and he thought he saw their Life Transformation expert look at him. He turned his eye away, though, so it could have been she was simply looking past him. ¡°We¡¯ll send a message to her,¡± one of the guards standing at the periphery of the gathering said. A few moments later, a disciple was running back into the group, and several minutes after that Gerd shuffled into view. ¡°Oh, hello,¡± she said. ¡°Did you need something? I was told you were here to see me.¡± Had she already removed them? No, he could clearly see them on her left wrist and ankle, and the way she walked clearly indicated she felt their weight. Even if she¡­ had just stepped into Spirit Building. The aura was faint, but distinct. ¡°I came to remove the gravity bands,¡± he pointed at her wrist and ankle. ¡°Oh!¡± she looked down. ¡°Do you have to?¡± ¡°What?¡± he asked. ¡°It¡¯s just,¡± she thrust her arm forward, ¡°They seem like good training devices, or maybe they could help augment my attacks. I was kind of thinking I¡¯d like to have some on my other limbs. Though not all the time, of course.¡± That wasn¡¯t his intention with them at all. Training, adding to striking power? They were restrictive devices. Reynold took a deep breath. No, getting upset wasn¡¯t the right response at all. He knew that different inventions sometimes were used for purposes unrelated to their original creation. It was a compliment that she would want more. ¡°You can¡¯t remove them,¡± Reynold commented, ¡°Not without breaking them. And they¡¯re not so cheaply made that you¡¯d want to do that regularly for training.¡± ¡°Oh. Can you make some that I can take off?¡± ¡°Of course! Though they wouldn¡¯t be much good as traps then.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to order some, then, if they¡¯re not too expensive.¡± Reynold thought for a moment. He¡¯d rather someone wanted to use them as intended, but could he really give up a sale? Enchanters weren¡¯t always capable of getting everything they needed with their own hands. And if they actually worked for training, other people might want them. Though he doubted many people would. They were really annoying. He knew that, because the first set he¡¯d made even he hadn¡¯t been able to remove. ¡°I¡¯m sure we can figure out a price.¡± They wouldn¡¯t be expensive, but if she wanted them attuned to her own energy instead of his it would require a bit of extra effort. ----- Though the Body Tempering tournament had the most participants, it also had the most matches happening concurrently. After a few days the tournament concluded and the Spirit Building section started up. It generally began with those at a lower rank, and Alva had the chance to see Pete and Oskar fight on the first day, and she had her first match, but it was fairly simple. Everyone received notice about their next opponent ahead of time, giving Alva a chance to research. The Crimson Trail Sect were a group of blood cultivators, but unlike the Flying Blood Cult they weren¡¯t violent and unrestrained. For them to be allowed into the tournament they had to meet certain standards, and they seemed to hold to them. Most important among those was maintaining lawful conduct as a sect, and not using blood from their cultivation outside their own sect members. They practiced what would be categorized as a forbidden technique, but if they were to go by Everheart¡¯s definitions it would fall in the second category. It wasn¡¯t so concerningly powerful that great sects banned it, and it didn¡¯t have horrible effects on their opponents¡­ but using one¡¯s own blood as a catalyst to increase power was indeed potentially harmful to the user. Among other things, they used a coating of their own blood on their weapons to increase power and control. Alva also determined that her opponent was a woman. Older than herself, but even most of the Body Tempering cultivators were older than her. The more interesting detail was that she was also an archer. That would make the match more interesting than her first, she imagined, where she simply had to run around shooting at someone who couldn¡¯t catch her- even though she wasn¡¯t riding on Fuzz. At least the second match had more interesting terrain, as the pair of archers were now standing in a not-quite-empty field, with pillars blocking the area at irregular points. Alva wasn¡¯t sure what she had expected her opponent to look like, but she certainly hadn¡¯t expected white clothing. When the woman pulled out an arrow, she half expected her to stab it into her palm, but instead she pulled out a vial and dipped the point in it. She was obviously not trying to hide her intent for once the match started, though Alva wasn¡¯t sure if one arrow would be sufficient. Then again, she knew her grandpa and Grand Elder Kseniya could circle their shots around behind people. She would have to watch out for that. Maybe she could destroy the arrow? She didn¡¯t have too long to think about further counters as the beginning of the match was announced, and both participants raised and drew their bows almost simultaneously. Chapter 202 Streaks of crimson and gold passed each other in the air as one physical arrow and one made purely of energy arced through the air. Alva was somewhat concerned about the blood on the tip of the arrow coming for her, but she avoided the shot and after it impaled in the ground it no longer had active energy surrounding it. It would certainly be extremely difficult to regain control of it at that point, so she only dedicated a small portion of her senses to watching it. There had to be some trick, but she sensed no danger from it with Instinct or otherwise. Alva¡¯s opponent, Marlene, was of course familiar with avoiding attacks by archers as well. Even with some redirection of Alva¡¯s shot in flight it didn¡¯t manage to find purchase. Both of them had been in the open away from the pillars dotting the arena, yet they were still quite able to avoid the attacks. Her first shot hardly mattered, it was just a probing shot. Alva¡¯s next shot followed immediately behind, before Marlene could apply another vial of blood to an arrow. No matter how quick she was, it was impossible to draw two things in the time it took Alva to form a Spirit Arrow. Yet Marlene hadn¡¯t even reached for the vials at her belt but instead immediately nocked another arrow from her quiver. Alva saw no sign of blood on the tip of the metal point, but it flew disturbingly quickly, faster than the first arrow had. Alva had to fortify the energy on her left shoulder to prevent any damage. She wasn¡¯t sure what sort of problems a blood user could create if she let herself get injured, and she really didn¡¯t want to find out. Arrows crossed the paths of each other, and Alva wondered whether her idea to waste her opponent¡¯s blood was pointless, if she was going to shoot only a single arrow. It wasn¡¯t even nearby anymore, just sitting pointlessly in the ground like the other ones. She was so used to the rapid exchange of arrows she almost missed when Marlene grabbed another vial and dipped her next arrow into it because she ducked behind a pillar. Alva¡¯s arrow was more than halfway to her already, aimed at her torso and circling around to the side. She decided not to veer off course to try to strike the arrow out of the sky, instead persisting with her attack. The act of dipping the arrow in the vial of blood appeared to require some stability, as Marlene didn¡¯t dodge quite as quickly as she should have. Alva managed to scrape her side, just barely puncturing her flexible armor. Her arrow didn¡¯t stick, but at least she knew her opponent would leave some openings if her own timing was right. Marlene leaned out from behind the pillar for a good shot. There was a real sense of danger from the blood-tipped arrow as it flew through the air, but Alva had been dodging arrows much more difficult to avoid for months now. There were certain ways to make your movements unpredictable while being quick, and not just Swan Steps like her grandpa used. And the name was stupid anyway. Swans didn¡¯t do a lot of walking. The technique was useful, though, and Anton had helped her enhance it to be more effective at avoiding ranged attacks. That would be her major concern as an archer, after all. It was entirely possible to defeat many people before they even got to her. That was the optimal method, anyway. Even though the special arrow didn¡¯t hit her, Alva felt pressured by the ones following it. They were shot at the same rate as before, but there was something... Instinct told her that it was dangerous to dodge to her right, but Intuition said that Marlene was forcing her around to her left. She wasn¡¯t sure why, since there wasn¡¯t even a particularly tricky arrangement of pillars in the area. The different parts of Alva¡¯s defensive senses weren¡¯t disagreeing, but instead part of the whole picture. Instead of dodging the arrow, she formed a quick shot of her own to shoot it out of the air. Though the chances of two small projectiles colliding was low, the arrow avoiding her attack would make it easier for Alva to dodge to the right. She just barely made it behind a pillar in time, and the arrow landed uselessly in the ground beyond. She took a quick moment to take stock of what she¡¯d semi-consciously recognized as a danger in the other direction. It was just the area where she¡¯d started the match, and she had been dodging attacks just fine. There wasn¡¯t anything there but the same pillars and spent arrows. But when she looked closer, she saw just a trace of something. A lingering crimson trail to each of the blood-tipped arrows. From her position behind the pillar, she was confident in her safety while she took two rapid shots at the stationary arrows. There was no difficulty in hitting a stationary target from less than a hundred meters away, and her arrows pierced into the blood tipped arrows stuck in the ground, splitting them from head to tail. Yet the crimson trails didn¡¯t disappear. In that same moment, Marlene took advantage of her lack of focus to shoot another blood-tipped arrow to Alva¡¯s side. Danger. The whole area was filled with danger. Even though Alva couldn¡¯t detect anything special about the arrows Marlene fired, they were much more flexible in their flight paths and moved more quickly when there was one of the crimson trails in the area. But it still couldn¡¯t compare to her grandpa¡¯s attacks. The only difference was that if she failed to avoid critical shots she would actually get injured and lose the match instead of just continuing until she got a hit or couldn¡¯t fight any longer. Alva moved from pillar to pillar, slipping out of the danger zone. Just in case it mattered she slipped another shot at the third blood-tipped arrow, but she had the feeling she needed to disrupt those before they landed if she wanted to negate their effect. Obviously the crimson trails would fade away eventually on their own, but that could be a matter of hours when this battle would be decided in minutes. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She wished she had Fuzz to ride on, but she had to support herself. If she wasn¡¯t strong enough on her own, how would she survive in this crazy world? Her grandpa would always come to save her, but that wouldn¡¯t do any good if she died before he arrived. And she had to keep up with Annelie. Alva managed several good shots as she moved out of the danger zone, keeping Marlene from reaching for another vial. She was feeling good about herself until one of the arrows Marlene nocked was suddenly blood-coated anyway. Alva¡¯s current shot was too far to the side, curving around to attack from behind, and wouldn¡¯t be able to intercept the arrow, which wasn¡¯t even pretending to aim for Alva anymore. She let her half-finished shot continue as it would, where it would probably be easily dodged. She had to focus. Grandpa Anton talked about becoming one with an arrow. That was what she needed if she was going to shoot this arrow out of the air. She formed her energy and some of herself into her shot, the snap of the sinew sending her rocketing forward. She knew that at some point in the future she would retain more awareness of her actual surroundings while doing this same thing, but for the moment she needed this tight focus. The blood-tipped arrow was flying to another spot on the battlefield, but she intercepted it halfway. It tried to twist and turn away, but she clipped it near the middle and split it in half, sending the two sections spinning wildly. The crimson trail still existed, but only halfway through the shot of the arrow, and it was more tenuous. Disrupting it partway seemed to be as useful as Alva hoped it would be. It seemed Marlene had been as focused on that arrow as Alva herself had been, because she¡¯d barely managed to dodge Alva¡¯s other shot, and hadn¡¯t had time to take advantage of Alva¡¯s focus. Alva kept on the move as she tried to figure out how Marlene had coated that arrow in blood. She definitely hadn¡¯t reached for a vial, and her hand wasn¡¯t injured¡­ but it was coated in blood. How did that happen? She only hit her in the side¡­ where she wasn¡¯t bleeding. Or rather, the blood wasn¡¯t coming out from under her armor. Alva¡¯s eyes saw how a red line of blood slipped out from under Marlene¡¯s glove at the wrist to cover her hand. Had she really drawn all of that blood along inside her armor for that? Then again, it should be easy to control a bit of blood, and if she was bleeding anyway¡­ Unfortunately Alva realized that Marlene could now cover the battlefield with danger zones. Marlene could now shoot blood-tipped arrows about as quickly as she could draw them. Maybe there wasn¡¯t quite as much blood on some of them and they were weaker, but she began to coat the battlefield. Alva tried to counter a few of them, but she also had to attack properly and not just take a defensive stance. Since she couldn¡¯t get a decisive blow, she aimed for a solid strike on a limb. That still involved aiming mainly for the woman¡¯s center of mass and expecting she would dodge away, but she managed to clip her shoulder and her thigh. Not enough to cause severe damage, and making her bleed more might be a mistake¡­ but Alva couldn¡¯t just do nothing. Faint crimson trails began to web across the entire arena. Every time Alva came out from behind cover she found herself in a harrowing situation. Marlene¡¯s arrows could twist and turn without the significant expenditures of energy Alva would expect the motions to require, and even remaining behind a pillar didn¡¯t make her safe. She continued to take stock of the situation, trying to find an avenue to victory. An arrow struck her thigh, and she forced it back out immediately. Now she was bleeding, but fortunately nothing special happened. Maybe that was due to the restrictions of what techniques could be used in the arena. If that was the case, Alva just lost- had this been a real battle. But she would have also had Fuzz, so she could just accept restricted matches were never quite representative of the real world. The web of crimson seemed to cover the entire battleground, but there was actually one area it didn¡¯t cover. A rather significant one. Alva dodged one more arrow, leaping into the air over it. As she did so, she slung her bow over her shoulder. She needed to have both hands free to catch onto the pillar. They were about five meters high, too much for her to jump all at once. But she wrapped her arms on either side of one, creating friction to stop herself from falling. Then she pulled, throwing herself up high. Marlene shot an arrow up at her, but as it raised above a certain point it wasn¡¯t quite as swift nor was it able to easily track her. Alva took every advantage she could with her unexpected maneuver, shooting a barrage of arrows as she continued to run around the arena, hopping from pillar to pillar. She saw Marlene¡¯s jaw clench and smiled inwardly. The crimson trails were lasting and extremely efficient for following shots, but there had to be some limit to them. Taking advantage of a whole second layer of the battlefield, Alva was able to force Marlene to choose between trying to cover the upper part of the arena as well or making actual attacks on Alva. Defending herself had to come into play as well, and Alva had a better shot on Marlene from almost every angle now. Golden arrows rained down, and Marlene had to spend more of her energy blocking attacks she couldn¡¯t dodge than making her own shots. It seemed that her attacks were actually in a way weaker than they were if she had been wholly without the crimson trails, as she had trouble adjusting the speed after they left her domain down below. Alva continued running around, grinning and shooting. It was a fun match. Then Alva got a good shot, wrapping it around a pillar to fly straight towards Marlene¡¯s chest. But at the very last moment, Marlene ducked. That didn¡¯t mean she avoided the attack- in fact, it made it worse as the arrow pierced into her neck. There was a moment of stillness as a golden arrow pierced one of the jugular veins. Alva almost dissolved her energy, but the attack had already struck. If the arrow suddenly disappeared¡­ Marlene croaked, obviously having difficulty speaking. ¡°That¡¯s my loss. You can¡­ let it dissolve. I¡¯ll handle the bleeding.¡± Even though she said that, Alva waited for the match to be called and medics to rush into the arena before she let her Spirit Arrow dissolve away. She¡¯d killed people before, but the tournament wasn¡¯t supposed to be deadly. Alva had no intention to kill an opponent who wasn¡¯t really an enemy, even if her techniques were a bit¡­ disturbing. That disturbing nature continued as the spurting blood swirled around in the air, flowing in a sort of ring out and back into Marlene before it was fully contained. Then the medics were stitching her neck up and Alva couldn¡¯t watch. Though she also couldn¡¯t fully look away. Chapter 203 ¡°Why didn¡¯t the formations work?¡± Alva asked. ¡°They didn¡¯t stop my attack...¡± ¡°They did work,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°If they hadn¡¯t been in place, your arrow would have gone through the back of the vein, the arteries, maybe the spine at that angle. Instead you only punctured the front side of the vein, not completely severing it.¡± Alva made a disgusted face. ¡°I don¡¯t want to think about that.¡± The best part about being an archer was she didn¡¯t have to look at what she did up close. There were some people who deserved whatever happened to them, but that didn¡¯t mean she wanted to see it. She¡¯d already seen enough dead people to last several lifetimes. Alva¡¯s next match wouldn¡¯t be for at least a day, since they wanted everyone to have the chance to rest, but she wanted to know who her opponent was ahead of time. Her match had been more towards the end of the first round, so her opponent should be listed soon. It didn¡¯t take her long to find it¡­ but when she did she just stared at it in shock. It was¡­ some kind of weird mistake, right? But nothing changed no matter how she looked at it. She had to go find out. Maybe there was another person from the same sect with that name. That would make sense. The atmosphere chilled as she approached the Frostmirror Sect. She understood the cold was their whole cultivation method, but did they have to make it so¡­ unpleasant? A nice cool breeze was one thing, but it was unpleasant just to approach. Especially without any expressions on anyone¡¯s faces. Fortunately, Diana recognized her as she approached. ¡°I assume you are here to see Annelie?¡± Before Alva even answered, she waved her forward. It was hard to not run up and hug her cousin, but beyond the fact that it would be incredibly cold, it would also be frowned on by the sect members around her. She didn¡¯t want to make things more difficult for Annelie. But at least she was allowed to smile. The Frostmirror Sect could say whatever they wanted to their own members, but they couldn¡¯t force others to throw away their emotions. ¡°Good to see you again. Have you heard¡­?¡± Annelie nodded. ¡°Yes. We are matched against each other tomorrow.¡± ¡°What are you going to do?¡± Alva bit her lip. ¡°I¡¯m going to fight. And you should as well. It¡¯s a proper tournament, after all. Someone must come out the victor in each match.¡± It was difficult to look at the face of her cousin and see only blankness. Even with her Insight being trained, if she didn¡¯t know better she would have thought Annelie really had no emotions at all. There had only been a brief time they really got to reconnect in the secret realm, but she knew Annelie was still herself inside there. A slight modification to the core cultivation technique and she was able to simply turn off her emotions when it suited her, instead of expunging them entirely. It still hurt, though. ¡°Right. Only one can win. I know you are still ahead of me in cultivation, but don¡¯t think it will be easy.¡± ¡°I would expect nothing less from a member of the Order.¡± Alva smiled a fake smile as she extracted herself from the area. She hoped that members of the Frostmirror Sect didn¡¯t have the expertise to read her true emotions underneath. But even if they could, would they care? As long as it didn¡¯t negatively impact a favored disciple, an outsider¡¯s feelings didn¡¯t matter. But it still hurt to not even be referenced as Annelie¡¯s cousin, but just the disciple of a sect. ----- By the time the match came, Alva had transitioned from depressed to angry. Annelie could have been a lot more welcoming, considering she went all that way to talk to her. Even if the Frostmirror Sect didn¡¯t place that much importance on family, she could have still factually referred to her as a cousin. They were even allowed to say niceties like ¡®it¡¯s good to see you again¡¯, but she got none of that from Annelie! She even acted like she didn¡¯t care that they would be fighting each other. While Alva had to admit that it really wasn¡¯t such a big deal, since people who were close- sect mates or friends or even family- met each other all the time in tournaments it still deserved some acknowledgement that it wasn¡¯t just another match. Maybe something about how whichever one of them won would go on to win the whole tournament! Though Alva knew she was too weak for that. The difference between her cultivation and someone at the peak of Spirit Building was more or less double her power, which meant someone could fully defend against all of her attacks and still have enough energy left to attack her as if they were going all out. While she could be more skilled or efficient, it would hardly ever overcome such a big gap. Annelie had no chance either, since the few steps of cultivation between them weren¡¯t enough to make her unsuited to fight Alva. And even if both of them were top geniuses, there would still be others at a higher rank than them. Catarina was participating, after all, and the rest of her grandfather¡¯s group were equally strong. Alva thought she might be a decent match for them if her cultivation was the same, but some of them were only barely short of peak Spirit Building. They would be the worst opponents to face, people with practical experience and a significant power advantage. Her familiarity with their fighting style would be balanced out with their understanding of hers, and overcome by her lesser experience. With less than four years of training, the fact that they¡¯d started more than a year ahead of her was a huge gap to overcome. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. When she got to the arena, Alva sighed. They ended up on a battlefield advantageous to Annelie, even. How unfair. Though she knew it was chosen randomly. The Frostmirror Sect was too proud to try to influence things like that. The further one went in the tournament, the more varied the battlefield. This one happened to have a dozen or so pools of water scattered about, with trees that could be used for cover. The arts of the Frostmirror Sect gained an advantage from having a related element nearby, and an open battlefield was better for archers. Her grandfather had taught Alva not to fight when angry. It tended to result in wasting energy through excessive attacks that were easily predictable. But how was she supposed to not be angry when she was so upset? The instant the match started, Alva unleashed a flurry of arrows. Good luck freezing all of those! But of course, Annelie didn¡¯t need to freeze the half-dozen arrows. She just had to avoid them. Her face remained impassive as she trailed her sword behind her, narrowly avoiding the arrows headed at her. Annelie ran straight across one of the small ponds, ice forming where she stepped and frosty mist circling around her. Stupid cousin with her stupid elegant technique. Then when she got close she would restrict Alva¡¯s movements and make fighting difficult and unpleasant, without even getting a crooked grin on her face. Alva grit her teeth as fire formed around her. Her grandpa hadn¡¯t even been willing to show her a secret technique to beat Annelie, even though she was higher in cultivation. How was that fair? It was a good thing she hadn¡¯t just been learning from him. Hoyt¡¯s techniques weren¡¯t really that useful for her, since it required people to be up close¡­ but seeing the Crimson Trail Sect¡¯s archery, she understood there was more than one way to use the same technique. Only a small core of formless energy made up her next Spirit Arrow, with roiling flames coating the central portion of the arrow. She released quickly, as the flames were beginning to make her uncomfortable despite being under her control. Annelie stepped to the side, avoiding the arrow, but she had to dodge even further to the same side under the next one. Trails of fire lingered where the arrows had been, causing steam to rise from the area around Annelie where frost formed on the ground. Alva continued to shoot arrows as quickly as she could, forcing her opponent to duck and weave and jump to get around the growing web of flames. She didn¡¯t just stand still herself, but circled around her opponent, leaving a trail of fire where she walked as well. That was the technique she¡¯d originally focused on learning, but it was only useful in specific circumstances. But when neither the ground nor the air were safe, where would anyone go? Explosions of steam began to pop up as Annelie forced her way through the flaming trails. Alva knew they could be stronger, but it would be difficult to maintain them. Well, who cared about that? This was just a stupid tournament match. It didn¡¯t even matter who won. As long as it was her and not her stupid cousin. Neither Catarina nor Devon had been willing to give her a secret trick to beat Annelie either. What was family for, if they wouldn¡¯t help you when you needed it? At least she¡¯d trained the stupid fire technique. It was annoying, because if she didn¡¯t control it properly it might catch her hair on fire or singe her bow. She could smell her hair burning now, in fact, but what did that matter? Hair would grow back. Annelie was still dodging too easily. The trails needed to be bigger. Wooshier. Like a bonfire instead of a torch. For that she had to slow down, but Annelie was having trouble navigating the battlefield anyway. Some of the ponds wouldn¡¯t freeze properly, and she sunk into them briefly. Alva could afford to take fewer, better shots. The worst part was that even though Alva was sweating buckets, Annelie¡¯s face remained calm and unfazed. Not a drop of sweat on her forehead. Just because she started cultivating a bit earlier, was she going to win? It was dumb. She probably didn¡¯t even shoot a hundred arrows a day, let alone a thousand! Yesterday Alva hadn¡¯t shot nearly so many, so she had almost an extra thousand for today. If Annelie reached Alva, she would just lose anyway, so she didn¡¯t bother reserving any energy for defenses. Each arrow she shot was like a fluttering bird, if birds caught on fire and had no real shape. But fire spewed out in all directions, lingering behind for at least a few moments and making it hard for Annelie to move. Then things lined up just perfectly, with Annelie leaping for the center of a large pond. She could certainly land on the surface and make ice, but could she redirect herself in flight? Only one way to find out. Another large bundle of fire shot out at her, the arrow arriving shortly after she landed on the pond, freezing some of it. With nothing else to do, the center of the ice melted- and evaporated almost instantly. A large fire-and-steam ball rose up around Annelie, and then she fell into the pond beneath her as nothing supported the remaining ice. Ha! Served her right, to get soaked like that! She probably couldn¡¯t even use her stupid frost stuff now, or she¡¯d freeze herself. Annelie was just dragging herself onto shore when Alva took aim once more. She wasn¡¯t even a little bit signed yet, and probably hadn¡¯t broken a sweat either. It was hard to tell with all that water dripping from her hair. When Alva¡¯s next arrow reached her it was hardly an arrow. It was just a ball of fire washing over her. Alva felt Annelie¡¯s defenses straining. Who said you needed condensed energy to pierce through defenses? Who said you had to conserve your energy for a proper fight? Who said that fighting angry made people do stupid things and overtax themselves? They were all wrong, because Annelie had to surrender before she could even stand up again. ¡°Yeah!¡± Alva squeezed her bow and shouted to the sky. She won! And Annelie¡¯s stupid face was dripping wet and covered in soot at the same time! There was a crack, and Annelie looked at her bow. Then she smelled it. Was that¡­ a campfire? Wasn¡¯t her bow a sort of silvery platinum, and not black? Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be in one piece, not broken down the middle? Alva reached her other hand towards her abdomen. She just wanted to make sure she was sensing in the right place. She was supposed to have energy in there, wasn¡¯t she? Ah crap. Maybe she¡¯d overdone it. She flopped down onto her face in the dirt without even being able to continue her victory celebration. Chapter 204 A small room. Quiet, except for the slow breath of two individuals. One lay in bed, asleep. The other sat nearby, vigilant. Anton knew that Alva wasn¡¯t in any particular danger for her health, but he still couldn¡¯t just leave her alone. And physical well being wasn¡¯t always the most important thing. Eventually Alva began to stir, stretching. She looked around and spotted Anton. ¡°Good morning, Grandpa. I¡­ what happened?¡± ¡°Do you really not remember?¡± Anton asked, ¡°Or do you just not want to talk about it?¡± ¡°Mmmn¡­¡± Alva frowned. ¡°How long was I out?¡± ¡°Thirty hours,¡± Anton declared. ¡°What? Wait, did I miss my next match?¡± ¡°You did. Though even if not, could you really have done anything?¡± Her energy was clearly still exhausted, more the burning embers of a campfire than proper stars. Anton hadn¡¯t sensed any permanent damage there, but draining too much could take time to recover from. ¡°Especially without your bow.¡± ¡°... Right¡­¡± Alva hung her head. ¡°Still, I won the fight.¡± ¡°Did you?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Didn¡¯t I? You said I had another match. So I must have.¡± ¡°You won the match,¡± he admitted. ¡°But tell me, why were you having a fight with your cousin?¡± ¡°... she wouldn¡¯t even admit to being my cousin,¡± Alva turned away. ¡°I understand,¡± Anton said. He took some time to let his words settle before continuing, ¡°You wanted her to acknowledge you. But you know what she would have been like if the two of you were alone.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to be her family just when we¡¯re alone!¡± Alva buried her face in her pillow. ¡°I just want us to be back to how we were before.¡± ¡°I wish the same,¡± Anton admitted. Even if the future where the two of them had no changes in their relationship wouldn¡¯t have him in it, and would be founded only on blissful ignorance¡­ he wished that could have been the world they were in. ¡°But it¡¯s not possible. She has to keep up appearances, you know.¡± Alva breathed out heavily. ¡°But I don¡¯t care about any of that. It hurts.¡± ¡°Have you told her that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Not everyone is skilled at reading others¡¯ hearts. You hide things just like her. Maybe even better, since she wouldn¡¯t expect you to.¡± ¡°...¡± Alva remained silent, and Anton just waited. When she finally spoke, she changed the topic. ¡°My bow is ruined, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton said. ¡°Both string and shaft are ruined. You¡¯ll have to get a new one.¡± ¡°I guess¡­ that technique doesn¡¯t work,¡± Alva frowned. ¡°That¡¯s too bad. I wanted to have something that was my own.¡± ¡°What part of it didn¡¯t work?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well, I destroyed my bow, didn¡¯t I?¡± Alva said. ¡°I can¡¯t just get a new bow every battle!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the fault of the technique, is it? You were just careless.¡± Sometimes, it was less merciful to beat around the bush. ¡°If you actually practiced that technique, I¡¯m sure you could make it work. If you weren¡¯t angry while you used it.¡± That was one of the problems with teenagers learning cultivation. Hormones and emotions were especially volatile during that time, so in addition to possible unforeseen disruptions to their physical growth, it was easy to misuse their energy cultivation. The fact that Alva didn¡¯t burn herself was actually a testament to her skill. ¡°... I won¡¯t do it again,¡± Alva said. ¡°Do what again?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Get angry at your cousin? Overreact and use an unfinished technique and destroy your own bow? Which one of those?¡± Alva squirmed in her bed, fully covering herself in her blankets. ¡°I don¡¯t know! Any of them, all of them!¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anton said. ¡°Because you know you¡¯d be feeling just this bad if I weren¡¯t here, and for longer. I¡¯m sure as you work to earn a replacement for your bow, you¡¯ll have plenty of time to practice your technique.¡± If they were in danger, Anton would absolutely provide Alva with a bow. But since she was capable of earning the merits on her own, it would be better for her to do so. She¡¯d done the same with her first bow, but she probably hadn¡¯t thought she¡¯d ever have to buy a new one, unless she were going for a big upgrade at a higher cultivation level. Eventually Anton left Alva to herself. She would be fine, ultimately. It was just the sort of things that happened with every teen, just amplified somewhat by her power. Hopefully she could learn from the incident, instead of it causing her issues in the future. ----- The Courageous Heart Clan was a small clan from eastern Facraona. Small in number and small in stature, but not small in power. They were a clan instead of a sect, and their technique literally could not be practiced without the bloodline they shared. The full details of it were kept secret, but there were some obvious things about it. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. First, it made them very small. About half the height of a normal human, though maintaining similar proportions. Among other things, their smaller size weakened their capacity for body tempering. Thus, they focused more on the energy aspects of cultivation, and on their minds. Specifically, they focused on mental attacks and trying to draw people into a battle of wills. Academically, Catarina understood what that meant. Practically, she was uncertain. After all, it was a new sort of technique for her to be facing. Mental attacks were rare, since they require energy to infiltrate an enemy cultivator- if that could be done, then directly damaging techniques were often thought to be better. But of course, it all depended on what a cultivator was prepared for. Here in the tournament, Catarina was not afraid of any permanent damage being caused, so it was an excellent time to experience what they had. Though she prefer to win, if she could. Having cultivated the Ninety-Nine Stars into Spirit Building, specifically Mental Liberation and Voice, Catarina knew she should at least have some resistance to mental attacks. But though those parts of her were trained, imagining she would perfectly resist an attack when first experiencing it was foolish. After all, if she went through all of Body Tempering before getting in a fight, she couldn¡¯t expect to be an expert. This was the same. Catarina¡¯s opponent was also a woman, with the expected mid tone skin and dark hair of the Courageous Heart Clan. Her name was Naja, and she was just under a meter tall. It was strange, as her eyes told her the woman was much further away than her energy senses. Yet that part wasn¡¯t even a real mental trick, but just the strangeness of perspective. Then the match began. Catarina was especially sensitive to the flow of energy around her, and perhaps her opponent knew that. Either way, her energy creeped out in all directions, so Catarina couldn¡¯t tell where an attack might come from. Despite her curiosity with relation to mental attacks, Catarina wasn¡¯t simply going to wait for her opponent to attack. She moved forward, weapon at the ready as she pulled several formation flags and threw them about the arena. Her abilities to alter the flow of energy in the arena on a large scale were limited by the battlefield itself, and she had no intent to try to bypass the safety measures, but she could still do some things to help herself. For the moment, the flags were a precaution. Naja wielded a spear, thin in diameter but more than making up for the reach she lacked from having shorter arms. Her defensive stance held Catarina at bay as Catarina moved to attack, trying to find an opening. A familiar form of combat feinting, attacking, parrying, and dodging began to play out. Catarina was almost drawn into a trance by the normality of all of it. But she pushed through, finding the right direction to leverage her higher strength and disarm her opponent. Though the difference between male and female cultivators in terms of physical prowess was narrowed, Catarina didn¡¯t focus on that aspect as much and thus rarely got to win purely on the basis of strength. It was satisfying to see someone unable to respond to her attacks. Her sword pointed towards Naja¡¯s chest, having pierced through her defenses. It was nice to just win. Too nice. Something was off. She was certain she had exchanged blows with her opponent. She could still sense traces of where they clashed, and if her sense of the fine details of the energy around her was so far off then she had already lost. Catarina pulled back, uncertain about what her opponent was doing¡­ or even if she was fully moving her body. As they¡¯d fought, Catarina¡¯s sense of everything but the exchange of blows had faded away, and now she found herself almost nowhere with just herself and Naja. She felt another attack coming from her side, and moved to parry it. She had to respond to it as if it were real, whether or not that was the case. As she clashed, she briefly saw the image of Naja there with her spear. Yes, she hadn¡¯t been defeated quite yet, but Naja¡¯s illusions weren¡¯t perfect. The sense that there was nothing else around her was fake. Catarina knew that, but she couldn¡¯t get rid of it entirely. However, she reached down inside of herself and tried to separate out what she was really feeling from what she was being told to feel. An attack pierced into her leg. Was that real, or an illusion? It didn¡¯t matter, it was too late to stop it regardless. Naja didn¡¯t commit to the attack, so when Catarina reached out to grab the spear it was already gone, her leg bloodied. ¡°I thought the Courageous Heart Clan liked battles of the wills, not illusions,¡± Catarina said to the world around her. Truth be told, the distinction between the two was pretty arbitrary. Part of it was that she couldn¡¯t attack in kind. But she had her flags ready still. She reached out for them, feeling their presence and how they affected the flow of energy around them. They couldn¡¯t do much directly¡­ but by changing the flow around her, she should disrupt Naja¡¯s illusions. At least somewhat. She felt a ripple, and lunged out to attack. Naja was certainly somewhere nearby, and if Catarina could sense her before they clashed she knew that, even though her victory had been an illusion, Catarina could overpower her. A smaller body had weaker muscles that could only move a spear so quickly, unless more energy was applied. If that was the case, the illusion would be weakened as she had to split her focus. As Catarina was able to more quickly pick out Naja¡¯s location again and again, she realized something. This wasn¡¯t quite the first illusory technique she¡¯d come into contact with. That honor belonged to Velvet. While her practical hiding skills were good, against a cultivator that could sense the physical location of everything around them there was no amount of skill that would be sufficient to hide. It took a technique that cut off the sense of surroundings, and that was what was happening here. Suddenly Catarina¡¯s senses of everything around her came back- and more. She saw Naja in front of her, but also sensed her to the rear flanks. It was up to Catarina to determine which one was real at any moment, protecting herself while trying to counterattack. This time it was the rear left, something she realized too late to fully avoid the incoming attack. Once she had a lock on her Catarina could have ignored the other figures, but all of the versions of Naja faded away. Catarina wasn¡¯t even fully certain she¡¯d just taken a real injury, but she had practice fighting with dulled senses. Beneath the tower in the Secret Realm, she¡¯d been forced to push her senses to the limit. This was the same, except now there was extraneous information. False tidbits. She sent her energy out, activating the formation flags at key moments to try to disrupt the flow of energy and weaken the illusion. Overall, she thought she was doing quite well. Catarina was aware some of the wounds she thought she¡¯d taken ended up to be ephemeral, but she also felt several wounds she hadn¡¯t noticed happening. But she kept quick on her feet, and she thought she was wearing down her opponent as well. Maintaining this illusion couldn¡¯t be easy, and she was forcing Naja to constantly shift it. Her opportunity came when there was an attack directly from behind. If she was wrong about it being real, she would likely move straight into an attack, but she trusted her judgment. She dodged to the side while sending her cloak flipping backwards. It was something she had rarely used since obtaining it, but crackles of lightning arced from the scales as they impacted Naja. Using it on anyone not directly behind her was difficult as it was attached to her, but she kept it just in case. The unexpected attack disrupted Naja long enough for Catarina to wrap her hand around the spear, yanking it out of her grip. Then she pointed both the spear and her own sword at Naja, who held up her hands. ¡°I surrender.¡± She wondered if that, too, were an illusion- but then the feeling around her faded away. Outside of Naja¡¯s influence, everything that had been unreal felt almost obviously fake, as if looking on a dream from beyond it. At least she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about never knowing if she had truly escaped an illusion, but it also motivated her to potentially put in extra training in that area. If it were someone with malicious intent outside of a tournament, things might not go so well. Chapter 205 One match after another passed, and the latter parts of the Spirit Building tournament ground away at the remaining participants until only two remained. Hoyt was one of the two. He wasn¡¯t quite at peak Spirit Building, but he was only one star away. That one star still made any hope of victory more difficult, but he wasn¡¯t going to give up without doing his best. He might not want to be his grandfather, but he didn¡¯t want to disappoint him or anyone else either. His opponent was a formation specialist from Heavy Mountain Gate. She was a sturdy built woman, older by more than a few years but still well within the age requirement, and at the very peak of Spirit Building. The age difference meant more experience, and unfortunately ¡®cultivation talent¡¯ wouldn¡¯t necessarily make Hoyt overcome any difference in practical training. What would help him, though, was advice from someone on how to defeat her specific brand of using formations in battle. Elder Rana would be the one most qualified to give him that sort of advice, but Hoyt wasn¡¯t interested in getting advice from someone much stronger than himself. He would understand Catarina¡¯s advice better anyway. ¡°You have to win,¡± she said. ¡°Because Eira beat the person who defeated me, if you defeat her with my advice, it shows I¡¯m better at formations.¡± Hoyt wasn¡¯t sure if he followed the logic there, but he understood that Catarina¡¯s confidence lay in her skill in formations, and it wasn¡¯t undeserved. ¡°What do I need to do?¡± ¡°The best thing you could do would be to reverse the formation to restrict her,¡± Catarina said, ¡°But that¡¯s not something easy to do without knowing exactly how her formation¡­ flags¡­ will be arranged.¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°So then¡­?¡± ¡°You could flip one over,¡± she noted. ¡°They¡¯re sturdy and not easy to move, but in the arena they won¡¯t be defended with a barrier so it¡¯s more feasible.¡± Hoyt nodded. Since formations required precision, most of them devoted part of their energy to ensuring their solidity to some extent. Either that meant a large barrier with the flags on the opposite side from the target, either trapping them inside or keeping them out, or individual barriers on each flag. The flags didn¡¯t need to be so well defended as to resist any form of attack, just well enough defended that attacking them would leave an opening for the formation specialist to exploit. ¡°You won¡¯t have to worry about her carving runes into the surface of the arena,¡± Catarina noted, ¡°Because not only is it disallowed in the rules¡­ it just wouldn¡¯t work. So you only have to deal with flags. She might have other types of formations she hasn¡¯t demonstrated, but the biggest one is the pressure formation. You should be able to handle that pretty well¡­¡± Catarina stroked her chin, ¡°She¡¯ll probably use that one, and if you disrupt it in the right way it can prevent her from setting up anything else. You¡¯ll just have to deal with it while also fighting her.¡± Hoyt didn¡¯t feel entirely prepared even after Catarina¡¯s explanations, but he¡¯d worked with her on formation related topics before. While he¡¯d rather have her there to handle that part, it unfortunately wasn¡¯t a group tournament. To be fair, Eira would certainly be stronger in the context of a group battle as well, but just having to deal with fighting and leaving the majority of formation matters to Catarina would make his life so much easier. But since that was the way things were in this particular tournament, he had to get all the advice he could before the match started. ----- Seeing her up close, Eira was even broader in the shoulder than Hoyt had thought as he watched her previous match. The build of a cultivator didn¡¯t always match with their actual level of bodily strength, but Eira¡¯s at least indicated that she didn¡¯t neglect cultivating her body. The more important thing was the large quiver she had on her back, out of which stuck several spearheads. Hoyt readied himself, considering whether he should immediately attempt to disrupt her formation to stop it from being formed, or whether to spend that time in combat with her, trying to find an opening as she was distracted setting it up. He knew she wouldn¡¯t be exactly vulnerable during that time or she wouldn¡¯t have made it to the finals, but at the very least her hands would be occupied for a few moments at a time with something besides just engaging in melee with him. Catarina had laid out the pros and cons of each option, but ultimately the choice rested on him. When the start of the match was called, he chose to move forward for a direct confrontation. He did prefer straightforward combat tactics, but in this case it was actually somewhat of a deception. If he didn¡¯t show any intent to deal with the formation, Eira would be surprised when he actually did it. Though Hoyt started off with a movement technique, augmenting his legs with fire and rushing forward, Eira still had a few moments where she was undisturbed. That was when she drew the spears from the quiver behind her, one at a time. She didn¡¯t throw them at Hoyt, but instead the arena around them. Formation flags were usually rather small things. Even in a storage bag, it was inconvenient to carry a pile of large objects. But a waist height flag had certain limitations on its structural durability and even the way it stabilized itself. The spears stabbed into the sand that made up the majority of the surface where they were having their final match, anchoring themselves deep. The flags hanging from them unfurled, revealing something akin to large battle standards. Several of them were in place before Hoyt reached Eira, but they weren¡¯t enough to create any actual effects immediately. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Hoyt understood that being stubborn about being too similar to certain people would limit his options in combat, so he didn¡¯t just run towards his opponent. In one hand he carried his battle axe, but his other hand remained available for ranged options. As spears landed in an emerging formation around him, he quickly tossed two small throwing axes, wreathed in flame. Eira deftly avoided them, but at least she had to divert some of her focus for a moment. The trails of fire left behind by the thrown axes limited Eira¡¯s movement, but he had no concerns directly moving through the flames. Earlier in the tournament Alva had caused herself trouble by improperly using the same technique, but when sufficiently practiced and properly executed it wouldn¡¯t harm the user or their equipment. It wasn¡¯t meant to be used by channeling anger anyway. It could, but Hoyt found that was simply bound to tire the user out and have inconsistent results. The technique had undergone much development during his use of it, but Hoyt preferred flames powered by passionate ambition. The core of it would always be the same energy of the Ninety-Nine Stars, but much of cultivation was about more than just the surface level effects. Fire might seem to be fire, but some burned bright and were fleeting. But the best example was always a star, which burned bright and powerful but lasted. An admiration for the stars was one passion Hoyt got from his grandfather, even though he preferred not to be seen as relying on him in any way. His axe swept across in front of him, driving Eira back as she fought with a spear in one hand while still using the other to throw her ¡®flags¡¯ elsewhere. Wherever he went Hoyt left a trail of flames, allowing him to control the battlefield and his opponent¡¯s positioning. His movements pushed Eira back towards a point that would be outside the formation as it was currently laid out. She did her best to keep Hoyt at bay, jabbing with her spear while steadily retreating. Several more spears went out, nearly finishing the formation. Hoyt pushed forward, winding up an attack as Eira threw one final spear towards a far corner of the formation. His axe chopped down vertically, but she dodged away to the rear, completely avoiding the powerful attack. But she wasn¡¯t his target anyway. Instead, his axe chopped down into the sand. Though the top layer was light and fluffy, it became denser the deeper it went- and at the depth the spear-banners pierced to it was quite tough. Sand sprayed out in all directions, digging a half trench next to one formation flag and shattering the barrier protecting it. Pressure began to weigh down on Hoyt even as he reached to grab the spear, yanking it upwards as the barrier struggled to reform. The small bit of pressure that the formation could create in a moment was nothing compared to what he had experienced before, and Eira had pulled away from his attack. That gave him enough time to flip the spear over, driving the cloth-wrapped portion of it headfirst into the ground. As he did so, he surrounded the spear with flames. He had no intention to try to destroy the spear. It was enchanted to be durable, and it would be a waste of energy. In fact, it suited his purposes even better if it remained. Catarina had told him which specific flags would cause what effects if he inverted them, but the main thing Hoyt got out of it was that all would be beneficial to himself or detrimental to his opponent, which was the same thing. The flames weren¡¯t there to damage the flag. They were there to melt the sand around it, turning it into glass. It only took a moment, and then Hoyt pulled the heat out of the area to use for his next attack, solidifying the glass and augmenting the flames surrounding him briefly. Hoyt¡¯s axe deflected Eira¡¯s spear as it stabbed towards him, lingering flames sticking to the other weapon. A moment later they flickered out, and as many of the rest of his lingering flames also began to fade Hoyt realized he¡¯d gotten the most annoying possible result. A general disruption of energy in the area. It would make it nearly impossible for Eira to set up another formation, but some of his techniques would also be less useful. Even so, it only minorly disrupted the energy directly in contact with Hoyt himself. He was like a ball of fire moving across the battlefield, leaving puddles of melting sand around him as he moved. He was careful to not directly melt the sand under his feet, since he wanted to have a vaguely stable position, but he took little care for the rest of everything around him. Though Eira was a formation specialist, her spear techniques weren¡¯t lacking. They were quick and powerful, and would have been quite a pain to deal with if Hoyt was under restriction. As it was he still found that her slightly higher cultivation allowed her to output just a bit more energy than he did. But him unexpectedly disrupting her formation threw her off balance, and even when she dodge Hoyt¡¯s attacks there were slight effects. He couldn¡¯t hope for a good cut or even a bit of singed skin with every swing of his axe, but Hoyt continued to pressure Eira. She was sweating, from exertion and the extra helping of heat Hoyt was directing towards her with every attack. Though the fire was originating from around him, he was actually able to remain mostly relatively cool. Hoyt stopped thinking about the battle, though that didn¡¯t mean he lost focus. His body knew what to do. He just had to guide his energy to do what it should. He fully intended to win, even as his shoulder and side were pierced by a spear consecutively. He got his own wounds on Eira as well. Though sometimes he had been loathe to admit it, his flow of energy was much like his grandfather. He was the best example Hoyt would ever have, the pinnacle of power in the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. One day Hoyt intended to reach that level of power, or maybe even go beyond it¡­ but for the moment he could look to him as an example of what he could be. Maybe he would even stop being stubborn and take advantage of his presence while he was still around. His axe swung down, cleaving a section of sand in two as Eira held up her hands in surrender. The fire around him faded. Perhaps he had done enough. Winning a Spirit Building tournament should show he had his individual accomplishments. Even if he didn¡¯t choose to learn anything from his grandfather, he should at least spend time with him in his last days. Chapter 206 The fact that Hoyt won the Spirit Building portion of the tournament wasn¡¯t exactly a surprise to Anton. The surprising part was when he realized he was somewhat comparable in strength. It seemed like a blink of an eye since he¡¯d begun cultivating. What was another five years in a life like his? Whatever balance of factors worked together for Anton to be able to cultivate at a similar speed to the best of the upcoming lower generation was something for him to be grateful for. Yet while he saw boundless potential all around him, he was concerned about the future of the Order. If he was concerned, doubtless the elders who had been around for longer were even more worried. While the young generation might have the ability to replace the Grand Elders who had recently been lost, just maintaining the same amount of strength that the Order previously had wouldn¡¯t be good enough. Trouble loomed on the horizon, and Anton was most concerned that he didn¡¯t have any idea how far away it was. He almost wished he could go back to a life of farming, where he could anticipate the challenges of each season as the years passed. Perhaps it was presumptuous of Anton to be appraising the younger generation like he was a more experienced cultivator than they were. Even so, he could say that more than just the Order had a promising next generation. That was good, but also concerning. Grand Elder Vandale had some observations about the rising and falling cultivation talents between generations, and when there were suddenly myriad talents¡­ it could be assumed that great trouble was approaching. They had an idea of what that trouble might be, but not the true magnitude of it. As he waited for the next section of the tournament, Anton idly thought about the future. Specifically, the growth rates of cultivators. If the best cultivators could reach peak Spirit Building in five years, more or less, then in twenty years they could have four batches of people. And by that point, an entire new young generation would be growing up. He wondered how many cycles they could have, and what the limit was as the population of the world grew. That was something he would have to spend more time delving into, and asking elders who might already have some of that information. Like Vincent. ----- Anton noticed a disturbing lack of members of the Order in the Essence Collection tournament. While they had a significant population of cultivators in the stage, many of them were older and either beyond the age limits or had given up on advancing further and thus found no benefit to participating in a tournament. While Anton was aware that at least some of those who might participate were occupied with important missions, it was still disheartening to only see a dozen of their members enter the final stage of the tournament. Anton knew very few of those participating. Outside of the Order, he was most interested in Chikere¡¯s progress. She was still in early Essence Collection, but that was not unexpected. If she¡¯d actually made it to mid Essence Collection since they¡¯d last seen each other, it would have actually been more concerning. A talented cultivator could surpass Spirit Building in five years, but Essence Collection should take two decades at the barest minimum. Fifty years would still be considered good, and most people who reached Life Transformation took a hundred or two hundred years. So a couple years to advance several steps in early Essence Collection was still reasonable. The Vessel of Insights lay quiet next to Anton, barely functioning. Even if using it wouldn¡¯t be potentially seen as interfering with matches, they were all too distant to pick up any insights. He preferred not to use it around those who hadn¡¯t given him permission, even if it caused them no harm. Thus, he kept it at a lower level of functioning, only potentially reaching members of the Order. While they were all simply sitting in the stands observing matches, it could actually be taken as cultivating. While the insights gained might be small, someone would likely learn something from each match that occurred. That was Anton¡¯s main focus at the moment. He¡¯d actually had some small ideas from watching Alva¡¯s matches, but there were other archers in the tournament. But he could gain insights even from those that weren¡¯t archers, if he looked at things the right way. There were fewer matches occurring at once now, so he focused his eyes to pick out more details from each. Most battles occurred in melee range, though a few people used archery or attempted to make use of formations. Even fewer made use of long range energy projection similar to Vandale, something that certainly couldn¡¯t be called archery. Anton saw dozens of different movement techniques, defensive techniques, and fighting styles. What he learned from each match was quite minimal. Sometimes, it was merely that his eyes weren¡¯t always sufficient, despite the tempering he¡¯d done to improve them. Those an entire stage above him were still beyond his ability to even consider fighting¡­ at least in a one-on-one battle. And he wouldn¡¯t want to take on a Life Transformation expert no matter how many similar strength allies he had on his side. Well, not with less than a hundred or two hundred, anyway. As long as they knew how to fight together. ----- Eternal Sword Hall had more than a handful of cultivators in the tournament. Whether through coincidence or fate or conspiracy, Chikere found herself matched with three of them. The first was a young cultivator around her age¡­ and several steps below her in cultivation, barely even having entered Essence Collection. Three sword strikes was all it had taken her to defeat him. The second she had defeated in two, but she received a wound in her shoulder in retaliation. She hadn¡¯t thought anyone would counterattack so viciously even when it would directly lead to their loss, but she had been wrong.. When she was matched against the third cultivator, Chikere realized this might have been their plan. Their hope, at least. Eternal Sword Hall wasn¡¯t in control of this tournament, unlike the local one they had refused to honor her victory in. Their influence shouldn¡¯t be enough to set her matches against them, but instead they had to rely on advancing through the tournament and randomly matching her. She hoped. If not, she couldn¡¯t really do anything about it as an independent cultivator. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The man facing off against her now was an old fogey. He was barely young enough to even be in the Essence Collection portion of the tournament, which had generous allowances for age. The trouble was that he was ahead of her in cultivation by several steps. Even then, Chikere was confident in defeating him. But the look in his eyes said he wasn¡¯t going to try to win the match. She considered what he might be able to do. Even if she won, this match would likely be her last victory. Cultivations of those remaining were beginning to outstrip her significantly, until only those in mid Essence Collection and later would be left. Though she¡¯d really like the experience of fighting someone more powerful than her in a controlled environment. That is, someone with no malice towards her- not another member of the Eternal Sword Hall. She was used to their fighting style anyway, and had grown bored of it. There was nothing technically wrong with it, but it was so¡­ rigid and inflexible. Overly proud of itself, like their disciples and elders. Could she die? She thought it was possible. Formations weren¡¯t perfect. And while she would like to see the hell that rained down on Eternal Sword Hall if they killed her, she had no intention to die. She wasn¡¯t going to surrender either. She drew the sword she¡¯d obtained from the tournament as her prize- even though she¡¯d had to steal it to get her hands on it. It wasn¡¯t even her best sword anymore, but it was still in the top ten, which meant it didn¡¯t matter too much if it was in her hands or not. If her opponent was going to try to kill or maim her, she just had to be that much better. Since she couldn¡¯t kill her opponent- without backing it would be laughable of her to try, even if her opponent wanted to do the same- she would just have to defeat him with style and lose the Eternal Sword Hall as much face as possible. Her feet shifted into the stance of the Eternal Sword Hall¡¯s main style. When the match began, she matched her opponent blow for blow. She was certain she had a name, but she wouldn¡¯t do him the honor of learning it. He was just number three. Or fifty something, if she counted outside the tournament. Number three¡¯s attacks were predictable. Chikere found something interesting as they fought. The Eternal Sword Hall¡¯s techniques weren¡¯t the best in the world¡­ but it seemed they were one of the best defenses against their own style. She could see how each move matched up and flowed into the next, the fighters on both sides dancing back and forth. She saw an opening, but it was a fake. No, a real opening, but if she took it her opponent would seek to mutually wound her. Chikere and number three moved back and forth, trading blows repeatedly. Her cultivation was lower, but even though she didn¡¯t use the Eternal Sword Hall¡¯s techniques as her primary fighting style she knew how to use it more efficiently. She wasn¡¯t falling behind, but neither was she gaining an advantage. Perhaps she should give up on being stubborn, but she was waiting for something. All of the rest of her swords would hang from her waist until then. A vicious swipe caused Chikere to lean back just slightly, but the actual attack was a thrust from another sword, drawn stealthily during the attack. Chikere drew another sword looted from a disciple of the Eternal Sword Hall. It was number ten, but it was enough for her to parry the blow. Unfortunately, the quick draw technique used was still part of the Eternal Sword Hall¡¯s techniques. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to learn something new,¡± Chikere taunted. ¡°How long have you been studying the sword? Eighty years? Ninety? It seems like you don¡¯t even know the basics yet.¡± Finally it worked. Number three only frowned slightly, but she felt the pace of his attacks change. And when she stepped into a stance only good for parrying one particular move he telegraphed, number three attacked with an unexpected move. Even Chikere didn¡¯t know what it was going to be, in fact. But that was the point. The angle was all wrong. Too much power leaning to one side as he slashed up from beneath her on the right while chopping horizontally with his other sword from her left. There was no way she could hold her two blades that would match the Eternal Sword Hall¡¯s style to block those. In fact, she would be hard pressed to move her guard to catch either of them. So she simply stepped forward in a textbook double thrust. It was probably excessive to block both of the swords on either side with four each, but it was better to be safe than sorry. And that way she could bind them from different angles so he couldn¡¯t even pull back. Chikere was somewhat disappointed her opponent chose to let go of his swords and pull back instead of letting her hit him, but it was the logical move. It seemed he was only willing to go to a certain level of risk against her, and having his kidneys impaled wasn¡¯t one of them. There was a cracking sound. ¡°Oh, oops. Your swords broke. I thought your energy would still be protecting them.¡± The eight swords floating around Chikere continued to slice the former swords to ribbons. Nothing was easier to cut than a static object unprotected by a cultivator¡¯s energy. She could sharpen her own energy to the finest point without worrying about it holding up to an incoming attack. There were no rules in the tournament about destroying opponent¡¯s equipment. Otherwise, someone could block with a weapon entirely unprotected by energy and their opponent would have to completely cease their attack. That said, she wasn¡¯t allowed to keep anything disarmed from her opponent after the battle. So¡­ it had to become scrap metal. ¡°You surprised me, you know,¡± Chikere grinned. ¡°I thought the Eternal Sword Hall¡¯s technique was the best in the world, yet you suddenly used something different¡­ so I reacted blindly.¡± The old man facing her didn¡¯t have just one pair of swords, but she could see the pained look on his face as he drew two more. He totally deserved that, aiming for the hardest places to heal and not what would have defeated her the most easily. Chikere menaced with ten swords, one in each hand and eight more floating about her. She hadn¡¯t actually used the Eternal Sword Hall¡¯s techniques much before, but now that she had she was going to incorporate a bit more of it into her defensive technique. And screw the rest. She was going to crush this guy¡­ and then lose spectacularly to her next opponent and learn whatever she could from it. Chapter 207 The remainder of the tournament seemed to fly by, as Anton had endless thoughts to digest. Some of them were simply observations about what sects did and didn¡¯t show up. Obviously absent was the Heavenly Lion Sect, though it seemed a few of their former disciples did still participate. Just because they had been scattered didn¡¯t mean they had stopped existing. Though from the various efforts that happened, none of those disciples knew or were willing to give up information about any others. There was no way the Flying Blood Cult would be allowed to participate in any sort of legitimate tournament. There were bounties for the heads of any of their verified members. Neither did they see any members of the group from Black Soul Valley. At least, Anton hoped so. If they were participating, they had some other cultivation technique to use that perfectly covered up their energy fluctuations. He himself had only a vague idea of what they would feel like, but Grand Elder Kseniya had participated in the battle and would certainly notice them. If they were so foolish as to publicly come into view in Facraona, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to accomplish everything they had up to that point. Friends and allies like the Grasping Willows and those who sometimes fit the bill like the Frostmirror Sect and Glorious Flame Palace displayed their strengths in the tournament. The Eternal Sword Hall showed itself unrepentantly. They claimed- with evidence- that there was no actual collusion between them, the Flying Blood Cult, and the Heavenly Lion Sect. How strong that evidence was varied in the eyes of different people. Personally, Anton understood that at the very least they were arrogant to the point of being willing to ignore all sense of decency, especially in relation to Chikere¡¯s incidents with them. She certainly provoked a larger response from them, but they really had been the ones to wrong her first. They were more on the group of ¡®people to watch out for¡¯ than the ¡®absolutely evil and must be exterminated¡¯ side of things. Other than that, there were a few sects that the Order had longstanding rivalries with. It was on the borderline of being enemies, but there hadn¡¯t been any wars¡­ in the last century. Swarming Rat Palace was one of them, a group that was willing to push the extent of what they could get away with, and perhaps even exceeding the laws when they thought they wouldn¡¯t get caught. Just because they had a history of negative deeds didn¡¯t mean they were currently steeped in crime, but some of the same leaders were still in place. Marble Statue Hall were an excessively self-centered cult that never participated in any sort of righteous mission unless it specifically benefited them, and leveraged their power to gain benefits where they shouldn¡¯t require compensation to participate in suppressing evil sects. Along with studying the sects, Anton also had various insights about cultivation and archery, though he couldn¡¯t be certain if any of them would ultimately benefit him or were just idle fancies he would end up dismissing. That would take time, like all of cultivation. Even if he was quick, he felt the gradual slowing as he approached Essence Collection. He felt he should be able to reach and surpass that hurdle- and once he did so he had more to gain from the Vessel of Insights- but nothing was certain in cultivation. Perhaps he would be unable to grasp some critical thought and get stuck. But he had no intention to think about that. Everything was going well enough, and if his own cultivation ceased to advance, it hardly mattered to the world. And the world was ultimately what mattered, not one old man. ----- Sewers were an unpleasant place. The sort of place nobody would go to if they had any other choice, unless there was something for them to get out of it. That was never from the sewer itself, but the way it traversed around the city. The criminal underbelly of any city would make use of the hidden passage it provided, profiting off of its aversion to normal folk. Torches were a danger in such a place, but Leo held one in his hand regardless. He needed to see where he was going. Hopefully if there were flammable gasses ahead, he would be able to sense it. He certainly wasn¡¯t going to stumble around the sewers in darkness. He had work to do. All he had to do was go to the designated location. Two streets over, if he recalled correctly. The stone was slippery under his feet as he walked, but he strode confidently. Cultivation was an amazing thing, making him feel invincible. He felt as if nobody could stop him no matter what he did. His head twisted, looking over his shoulder. Was there someone down here, following him? No, it must have been a trick of the light. A failing in his senses. He was quite alone. Just as planned. He found his way forward, towards a section of the sewer that was terribly unpleasant. Sewage flooded over the walkway and Leo plugged his nose with his energy while also wrapping his feet, keeping them from slipping while also remaining dry. Well, mostly. He always found later there were a few bits here and there that got through. Made his shoes wear out so much quicker. But at least he had shoes. The last month had been profitable. He found the section he was looking for. It was hard to believe that anything but sewage would be left down below, but all sorts of things made their way down below. Sometimes that included little nooks and crannies where anything might be hiding. It could be a rat, or it could be something shiny and valuable. Leo crouched down, grabbing something in the muck. At least it was worth all of this. He pulled his hand out and hefted his prize. Not bad. Then he felt it. He was being watched. He spun around, chucking the brick in his hand at the approaching figure¡­ who ducked out of the way without even looking like he noticed. Leo began to sweat. Was this payback for something? Had he offended the wrong people? Who could hire a cultivator so strong? He couldn¡¯t feel their energy, precisely, but that was how he could gauge how big the gulf between them was. Not that he was much of a cultivator himself. He¡¯d only just recently attained the first star in the cultivation technique he¡¯d been taught. He hoped it was enough. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. He extended his torch, to better see his opponent and maybe momentarily blind them. ¡°... Grandpa?¡± he said. ¡°Who¡¯s your grandpa?¡± the voice responded. ¡°Uhm¡­ sorry,¡± Leo bowed his head. ¡°I heard several people call you that. Is it a form of address only for members of your sect?¡± The old man standing in front of him snickered, smiling. ¡°It¡¯s only for my actual grandchildren. And great-grandchildren. And the rest,¡± Anton looked Leo up and down. ¡°So, skulking around in the sewers, huh?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Leo looked around. ¡°It¡¯s not what it looked like, I swear. I just work here! I can do as much as a whole crew at half the rate and still make a pretty good wage.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Good to hear that. Most people are too proud to do menial work. Especially¡­ here.¡± Anton looked down at the water. ¡°There''s more than just that brick contributing to the blockage, you know.¡± Anton swept his hand, and with a rushing sound the water level started to drop rapidly. ¡°... I was going to get to it,¡± Leo said. ¡°I can¡¯t sense that deep in the water yet, and I don¡¯t really want to¡­ well, reach that deep into stuff.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll have to teach you a bit of energy projection. What about Kit? I didn¡¯t pass by her.¡± ¡°She¡¯s doing fine,¡± Leo said. ¡°Listen, can we catch up somewhere else?¡± His energy reserves were weakening. He barely had any to begin with, and he¡¯d walked quite a way while trying to keep sewage off of his new shoes. They were the only new ones he¡¯d ever had, after all, and he had to treat them well. ¡°Lead the way,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°I have another couple places I have to clear out, actually,¡± Leo said. ¡°There¡¯s another blockage four streets that way, and one towards the downtown. Maybe two or three near there.¡± ¡°I see what you mean,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Got quite a bit of junk built up in there.¡± He pulled the bow off of his back, forming an arrow out of nothing. Leo could feel that one shot contained more energy than he had, maybe more than he had gathered during his whole time training. The arrow rocketed down the sewer paths, squeezing between grates and then turning a corner. ¡°Done,¡± Anton said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about those.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Leo said. ¡°Look, I¡¯m a man who values hard work. But you can do that any other day. It¡¯s not a big deal to help you out once or twice.¡± ¡°I was just¡­ is it really unblocked? How can you tell?¡± Anton nodded, ¡°It is. And you just have to get a lot stronger. It¡¯s harder than finding a cultivator, I sensed you from near the edge of the city, but your sensing will grow rapidly as you form more stars. As long as you practice, at least.¡± ¡°... I see.¡± Leo couldn¡¯t do much else than trust Anton. He really didn¡¯t want to hang out in the sewers longer anyway. Maybe he¡¯d pop down later just to make sure. But for now, he could change into real clothes. If he had another pair of shoes he wouldn¡¯t even wear his good ones, but how was he supposed to afford those in a month? Even with the wages of two or three people. ----- ¡°I only suggested it,¡± Kit explained as they sat at a tiny, cramped table in a single room. There were only two chairs, so Leo was standing. ¡°He was trying to work in a warehouse, but he couldn¡¯t outmatch the strongest men, even though they weren¡¯t cultivators.¡± The room didn¡¯t have much else except for a small cabinet with several dishes, pots, and two sets of cutlery, a stove, and two sleeping mats. It was a far cry from the inn that Anton had paid for, but it would also be extremely cheap. ¡°I just couldn¡¯t wait,¡± he said. ¡°I want to build up as much money as I can and get us to somewhere less crap. But we need at least a little extra money, in case one of us gets sick or something. And we could barely afford furniture, let alone a place to store it if we lost our housing.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been thinking about a lot, I see,¡± Anton said. ¡°Yeah. I always imagined what it would be like to live in a real place,¡± Leo said. ¡°Apparently it¡¯s a lot of work. But not so much that someone else couldn¡¯t have helped us.¡± He shook his head, ¡°But that doesn¡¯t matter. With your help, we ate out fill for two weeks. I felt stronger every day. Still not as strong as the bulky sorts, though. Think I can match them after tempering my muscles?¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton said, ¡°Though your build is naturally smaller, so it will take some time to surpass those naturally gifted in their best points. You¡¯re still growing, though. Maybe your body will be able to catch up.¡± He tried not to look down on their poor surroundings. Honestly, the single room was several steps up from where they had been before. It was clean and fully sealed, at least. What he smelled of not-yet-cleaned dishes also indicated they were eating decent food. ¡°Cooking is hard,¡± Kit said. ¡°But it¡¯s so expensive to buy food that¡¯s already been made. WIth a stove I can cook all kinds of things! Even though it¡¯s mostly stew.¡± ¡°It¡¯s only ever been stew,¡± Leo said. ¡°But eventually we¡¯ll have enough money to buy a big house with a cook and servants to do everything. Just you wait.¡± If that was Leo¡¯s ambition, it would be hard to accomplish it through the virtue of entirely necessary and practical labor jobs. Even if he did the work of a dozen people. Especially if he couldn''t read. ¡°I¡¯m glad the two of you are doing well. Any problems with cultivation? I¡¯m sure you have a few questions, I was barely able to give you the bare bones last time. After that, reading.¡± Leo grimaced slightly, ¡°I know it seems difficult, but you can hardly own a mansion if you can¡¯t read. There¡¯s more paperwork involved than you might think.¡± There was a lot to do, but this time, Anton didn¡¯t have to leave with the rest of the Sect, so he was considering staying at least a week. Maybe longer. He thought about sewing some seeds of cultivation throughout Cruhull. That¡­ might be good, but ultimately it might cause trouble. He wouldn¡¯t want people to think that the Order was trying to take over the country, and he wasn¡¯t going to teach anyone a sub-par cultivation technique. Not that he really knew any others well enough to teach regardless. Chapter 208 A single month wasn¡¯t enough to teach someone to read, even if they weren¡¯t occupied with other things. If they were willing to undergo repetition, adults or those close to it were able to learn to read more quickly than children. Leo was focusing on his meridians for the second star and first prime tempering, which would generally smooth his cultivation and help him with energy control. That was something quite advantageous for his job, since he could send his energy into places that couldn¡¯t be seen to find and clear blockages. Kit was studying to be an herbalist, a wise choice since her previous untrained interaction with herbs had been a problem. She had been a bit behind Leo in cultivation, but had now completed the first star and was going to temper the organs in her head. An increase in cognitive abilities and better eyesight would both be useful. She was still in quite the early stages of an apprenticeship, and was little more than someone sent out into the woods to fetch herbs. Her master was patient enough to let her learn things one bit at a time, even if she couldn¡¯t read yet. Their growth made Anton happy with his choices. While before circumstances had forced them into a difficult position, now they had the power to grow beyond where they were. The results had been quite good with them, but Anton hadn¡¯t found others he was willing to take a risk on. There was every chance that Leo could have chosen to devote himself to a life of more effective crime, and that was the very opposite of what Anton wanted. Most of those he saw were only looking out for themselves, so it was difficult to judge how they might change if taught to cultivate. ----- During the time he stayed in Cruhull, disturbing news came to Anton. Cultivators had gone missing, many later found dead. Lone cultivators and those in small groups were the targets, but unlike the standard incidents of bandits preying on other cultivators it wasn¡¯t necessarily those who foolishly flaunted their wealth that were targeted. In fact, some of them were found with everything they had still on them. The group from the Order was fine. Every sect that had traveled to the tournament in a larger group encountered no trouble, but some of the smaller sects lost their delegations. The patrols in Facraona had stopped several attacks, but they were unable to capture anyone alive. They either fought to the death or escaped. One thing that was consistent was that the cultivators worked in small groups themselves, but were Essence Collection cultivators for the most part. Nothing else linked them together, including cultivation style or country of origin. No evidence was found on their bodies linking them to anything, except those who were known to be part of various criminal groups- bandits and evil sects. Yet the attacks should be related, because normally tournaments like the one in Facraona didn¡¯t have so many incidents. With enough cultivators involved it was inevitable that some would get into trouble, and people did like to prey on small groups¡­ but the risk seemed disproportionate to the reward. They weren¡¯t just targeting people who wandered too deep into the wilderness, but people traveling on main roads. Anton didn¡¯t know what he should or could do about the attacks, but it made him consider either leaving for the Order right away, or waiting a bit longer for things to die down. Either way, he didn¡¯t intend to travel alone. The same sentiment was shared among other cultivators, who would otherwise happily travel without any significant protection as long as it was through generally safe areas. ----- Another two months. Both Leo and Kit completed the second star, and were in a stable enough situation that they could continue learning whatever they needed to on their own. Anton kept up his own training, of course, but he couldn¡¯t train as efficiently in Cruhull. There was no guarantee he would have achieved the twenty-sixth star regardless, but he planned to make the final push once he was back at the Order. He invited Leo and Kit to come along with him, but they declined- either because that was their true desire, or possibly because they realized he really didn¡¯t want them to come along. Anton had nothing against them becoming full-time cultivators, but he thought that it would be better if as many people as possible were cultivating but still fulfilling normal roles in society. He also didn¡¯t want to drag two young people away from their home into an unfamiliar place. He still didn¡¯t find anyone else he wanted to teach to cultivate. There were many people working in the city that could doubtless benefit from cultivation to empower whatever they were doing, but Anton was still cautious about filling the area with cultivators of the Ninety-Nine Stars. He did speak to some small local sects about his ideas, but none were particularly enthusiastic about spending time teaching people to cultivate with no visible benefit to themselves. Still, they weren¡¯t entirely against the idea either- and he told them to pay attention to Graotan in the coming years. ----- Anton looked around the newest place Leo and Kit were staying. It was still quite austere, very little decoration and small in absolute size¡­ but much more comfortable than their last place and somewhat roomier. It was likely that they would maintain the same living standard for some time, potentially even years. If they weren¡¯t going out and risking their lives in battle with wild beasts, and they were not part of a sect, there was a limit to how much income they could bring in. Leo was starting to get a bit of a reputation for dealing with certain sorts of tough jobs- mostly in relation to sewer business. He was never going to be rich even if he somehow managed a dozen men¡¯s labor, but he continued to learn. Kit was further along with her reading than him, due to both her prime tempering and how it tied into her apprenticeship. She would help him continue to learn to read, and they could consult Anton¡¯s notes on cultivation. If they wanted to go beyond Body Tempering they would need more than he¡¯d given them, but that should be years off still- especially if they were working on their own in a place with only moderate levels of natural energy. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Anton was with them to say his last goodbyes. ¡°I¡¯ll try to keep in touch,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll certainly write, but seeing me in person will be more rare. An old man like me can¡¯t cross a country every month, you know.¡± ¡°You¡¯re better at that than either of us,¡± Kit pointed out. ¡°By a long shot.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how it is,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Now, once you feel comfortable, I give the two of you permission to teach others how to cultivate. Or not, if that¡¯s what you want,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s one area that¡¯s not liable to produce consistent results across all people, and without proper guidance people can get hurt.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the same as any trade or craft,¡± Leo said. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ people are less likely to explode from the inside doing other things.¡± ¡°Unless they take the wrong herbs,¡± Kit smiled. ¡°I do sort of wish we could take care of some of the other orphans, but we don¡¯t have that much for ourselves yet. I certainly can¡¯t be responsible for anyone else.¡± Anton nodded. They were still just barely adults, after all. He wouldn¡¯t expect them to suddenly start up a sect all on their own. ¡°When you get the chance, pass my charity along in whatever way you see fit.¡± ----- The cultivator mercenary hall was busier than it normally would be, at least by Anton¡¯s estimation. Yet a good portion of those in the area weren¡¯t actually mercenaries, but simply cultivators looking for a group. It didn¡¯t take long for the rumors of danger to spread and cultivators to begin clumping together. Anton poked around, looking for the right group. He eventually came to a group that was just about ready to leave. Mostly young cultivators, talented enough to be below thirty and already in mid Spirit Building. ¡°Going west?¡± he asked. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± answered a tall man. ¡°But we¡¯ve already hired a guard.¡± ¡°Just looking for travelling companions,¡± Anton said, ¡°Not pay.¡± He could tell which one of them was the mercenary, since he was older and stronger than the rest. Somewhere in late Spirit Building, probably fifty or sixty, maybe a bit more given how cultivators aged more slowly. ¡°In that case,¡± the tall man said, ¡°We¡¯d be glad to have you. I¡¯m Caeus. He¡¯s Hein,¡± Caeus gestured to the mercenary, who had puffy eyes that made him seem to be constantly squinting. ¡°We also have Gustav, Printza, Stojan, and Nkiru.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Anton,¡± he introduced himself. ¡°You planning to head out today?¡± ¡°Right now, actually. Are you prepared?¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Got everything.¡± ----- As a lone cultivator it was important to stay on alert at all times. People were bound to get ideas if they thought you were an easy target. And sometimes no amount of swords would convince anyone otherwise. Chikere shook her head as she sensed two cultivators coming. Like her, they were in early Essence Collection. Doubtless they thought they could take her on. Maybe they were right, but did they really think she wouldn¡¯t take one of them down with her? That was the weakness of people working in groups. They thought that long cultivators had to be the easiest targets, but Chikere wouldn¡¯t be alive if she were so easy to rob or kill. It was unfortunate that her accurate display of her abilities might have looked like she was overcompensating. Ten swords was a lot. She wondered if she could run, but they¡¯d caught her on both sides at a narrow part of the road. She could move through the rough terrain to either side but she would be slowed. So the simplest way was to just continue moving forward. If she killed the woman in front of her quickly enough, it would basically be two one-on-one fights which was much easier than two-on-one. She suddenly switched from her relaxed walk to a burst of speed, at a distance she hoped they weren¡¯t expecting her to have noticed them from. But they had made a simple mistake in their concealment- they had swords. And Chikere could sniff out a sword from a kilometer away. Not literally, of course. Swords usually only smelled like metal, whether that was their normal materials or the blood staining them. But a sword cultivator could sense the sharpness of a good weapon as it called to them. That was how Chikere immediately knew something was wrong when a dozen cultivators ambushed her from either side. They certainly had swords, but yet she hadn¡¯t sensed them. So much for surprising her target with her true skills. She had to pull out all of her swords, deciding on a nice two handed grip for her main weapon. Sword number ten still got to participate, floating around behind her back while two-through-nine flanked her on either side as two pairs. Chikere didn¡¯t have time to waste on the trash coming at her from either side. Their exact cultivation was hard to sense, but that didn¡¯t matter when their technique was so sloppy. Limbs and heads flew everywhere as she charged towards the woman in front of her. A battle between cultivators with equal cultivation could take a long time as they whittled each other down, looking for a perfect opening. Or it could take exactly one swing. Chikere knew that if her movement had been off by even a few millimeters she might not have survived the exchange, but she didn¡¯t have time to waste squabbling with someone. A nice confident attack with only a token defense was plenty if she parried the enemy attack in the same motion as she killed them. There was some sort of black fog that tried to block her attack, but that was why she¡¯d put extra energy- to make sure she could slice through anything in her way. What a waste of a good sword. This cultivator having it, of course. She didn¡¯t destroy it. It was going to replace number ten! As she turned around and saw no bodies on the ground, Chikere realized that the dozen extra attackers had simply been an illusion. Maybe she should have seen through it, but did it really matter when she could just defeat them? The remaining Essence Collection cultivator was definitely real, but he seemed uninterested in continuing the attack. Chikere certainly wasn¡¯t going to chase him down the road, so she set about looting the one she¡¯d killed, ignoring the trickle of blood dripping down her left arm. She wondered where these people were even from. It wasn¡¯t any of the usual grudges, but the magic bag wasn¡¯t as full as she would have expected for a bandit with previous successes. Certainly not lacking, though. Chapter 209 Anton didn¡¯t know much about his travelling companions when they began the journey, but he at least knew something about Hein¡¯s origins. He was from Storm Mountain, a reliable enough sect with a decent reputation. The younger cultivators seemed to all be from different groups except for Caeus and Printza. Presumably they had all been out on various missions for their sects before learning about the increased danger on the roads. It would be slower to travel with some lower ranking cultivators, but there was safety in numbers. Along the way, Anton learned more about the others. Caeus and Printza were both from the western portion of Droca. The two of them wore heavier armor than most cultivators, but the strength they had would be sufficient to allow them significant mobility as long as they had trained in its use. Gustav and Stojan were from different parts of Estary. While it would have been more direct for them to travel through Ofrurg, Anton didn¡¯t even bother to ask about why they were taking their current route. Even if the people looking for his head in Ofrurg were mostly gone, Anton didn¡¯t feel safe traveling through the country. And he still probably had some slaving groups upset at his participation in causing them justified trouble. The two young cultivators likely didn¡¯t have the same sort of problems, but Ofrurg had been even less secure in the last few years. The last of the group was Nkiru, and she was returning to Ambati, so from their current position it was equally efficient to go either through Ofrurg or the rest of Droca and then through Graotan afterwards. Hein was just coming along for the job. Anton ended up paying for a split of his fees, because even though Anton himself was similar in cultivation to Hein, who was in late Spirit Building, having him along would still be useful. He could have just left all of the burden of the fee on the younger cultivators, but he was also using them for his own safety. Even though the roads were more dangerous than normal, Anton was not particularly worried. The chances of anyone coming after them were probably a tenth or less, especially considering they were moving in numbers. Maybe less than a single percent. Yet even a very rare occurrence still deserved a cautious treatment. Taking no precautions to prevent such a serious risk at even a low probability would very quickly get people in trouble. ----- The pace of the group slowed almost imperceptibly as Hein tilted his head around. Anton could see his short hair begin to puff up slightly. Their eyes met and Anton gave him a nod. ¡°You feel it too, then?¡± Hein continued to scan the horizon. ¡°Something in the air.¡± Anton felt it too. Something wasn¡¯t quite right, but yet he couldn¡¯t sense anyone. Not yet, anyway. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Caeus asked. ¡°Is it not just the coming storm?¡± he gestured up to the sky. ¡°That¡¯s of no concern,¡± Hein said. ¡°In fact, I¡¯d say it¡¯s a bit too far away. No, there¡¯s something closer.¡± Reaching out with his energy, Anton still didn¡¯t sense anything. He felt around like he was trying to find Velvet. It would have been convenient if she were nearby, because it was harder for someone to hide when they couldn¡¯t even tell where someone was coming from, or that they were coming. But the actual important thing was, he couldn¡¯t feel anything that felt like her or something similar. That was how he knew his senses were being manipulated. Somewhere around twenty meters from the group, the minute fluctuations their energy caused in the air fizzled out to a smooth, uniform nothingness. Yet Anton could still see and hear, even the twittering of a bird. He pulled out an arrow, drawing his bow back. The way they were looking around would let whoever was hiding know they had been noticed regardless, and he needed to test something. He looked straight at the bird, a fine specimen. He drew his bow back, carefully taking aim. If he was wrong, the bird would become dinner. Not a terrible result. His mind flew forward with his arrow, not fully leaving the confines of his own body. As he went further the wrongness of their surroundings felt stronger, but it was only a moment before he reached the bird and pierced its chest. The sound stopped. ¡°Ah,¡± Anton said. ¡°Just a bird.¡± He lowered his bow and pulled out another arrow casually. He turned towards another bird. ¡°Who wants dinner?¡± Anyone who¡¯d seen Anton fight previously would have immediately caught onto the wrongness of his movements. The biggest glaring change was that he drew physical arrows. The first one was plain and simple, with no special qualities. The second one, however, was specially made. A handful of them cost as much as his first cultivator bow¡­ and that had been at a discount. He took careful aim towards another bird, focusing his energy. Then he swivelled around and released his arrow behind them. His arrow swerved off course, not following his planned trajectory- but he could discern where it wanted to go. He assisted it in moving that way with all haste. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Then his arrow disappeared, blurring out of existence- but a small spot of red appeared in the air for a moment. ¡°There!¡± Anton shouted. He wished he could have used more of his energy on that attack, but it would have been obvious he wasn¡¯t just trying to hunt a bird and his opponent would have been more prepared for the blood seeking arrow. Anton hadn¡¯t been sure of his enemy¡¯s exact location, but he had suspected they were in an illusion, and blood seeking arrows weren¡¯t fooled by such things. As soon as Anton shouted, lightning crackled around Hein¡¯s body as he gripped a metal rod in his hand. The younger cultivators were slower to respond, but they at least drew their weapons and heightened their energy defenses. The wind was picking up, but Anton knew he could compensate for its effects later. He fired off several sets of Spirit Arrows, three at a time. None of them would be quite so strong or as accurate as a normal shot, but he covered a wide variety of positions near his target. Unless the hidden figure chose to fling themselves to the side, they would have an arrow in their path if they tried to approach. Since they hadn¡¯t attacked yet, he supposed they might have to approach up close. He was half right about that. The first arrow to be fired in response from behind them was yanked towards Hein¡¯s rod, as it vaguely became visible upon approach. It struck the metal rod directly, but Hein clearly minimized the amount of energy he used to defend it, letting it take the blow solely based on the material strength of the weapon. He was sent staggering back half a step, but the arrow shattered and fell to the ground. Anton felt two of his arrows connect with something, not hard enough to break through the energy defenses but enough to let him know the opponent was rapidly approaching, from about forty meters to less than twenty now, just a tiny distance for Spirit Building cultivators. More arrows came from behind, one curving around Hein¡¯s defense to strike Stojan in the side, while another more powerful shot directly came for him, making him take more than a single step back. ¡°I can¡¯t defend everyone!¡± he called out. ¡°Stay closer to me!¡± The young cultivators huddled closer together, Stojan pulling the arrow out of his side. The good news was that it hadn¡¯t pierced terribly deep, as it seemed to still have been slightly affected by Hein¡¯s metal staff. Anton continued to fire towards his invisible target, getting a better bead on them as they approached closer. Moving quickly wasn¡¯t the optimal way to maintain an illusion, since there were two sets of feedback coming to a cultivator fighting with each other. He fired several more arrows, but he felt they were dodged or occasionally deflected. Behind him, Anton felt the fear of the younger cultivators. Yet it was tempered somewhat by the safety they felt. At least there should only be a small number of people maintaining the illusion, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t be able to communicate. Individual illusions for each person couldn¡¯t be maintained easily. The opponent reached Anton, leaving visibility as his dagger clashed with Anton¡¯s handaxe. Anton knew his opponent had to really be there, or he would already be dead. He did find that it was difficult to land any blows on the man, however. And another dagger appeared with the rest of him. Anton was still confident in defeating his opponent, but he suddenly began to shift around Anton, charging towards the Caeus and the others. Before Anton could catch him, Hein spun, pushing the group of younger cultivators with his staff and blocking an incoming dagger strike. But Anton saw an arrow incoming from behind the man, and a staff attracting it wouldn¡¯t stop it from going straight into Hein¡¯s back. He threw his axe- it wasn¡¯t designed for that, being meant for melee combat, but it served its purpose. His axe caught the arrow, slicing into it. He dropped the other one back into his belt- throwing it at the back of the dagger-wielding cultivator had more chance to end up hitting the younger cultivators than his enemy. Instead, he drew his bow and began shooting past the group. Caeus and Printza moved together, standing on either side of Hein. It seemed as if they had no weapons, but in fact their armor was the weapon. Heavy metal gauntlets, with thinner chain on the palms where it was necessary for flexibility. They punched and kicked towards the man with the pair of daggers, providing enough distraction that Hein could deflect his attacks with his staff, catching the metal daggers and yanking them off their intended course. The attacker still managed to dodge most of the incoming attacks. Anton was matching the incoming arrows with his own. When they were targeted at others he shot them out of the air, and when they came for him he smacked them out of the air with his bow. Many were much closer to striking him than he would have liked, but when he compared to the best arrows he had seen¡­ he would be embarrassed to be hit. Grand Elder Kseniya could kill him with any of a hundred arrows she fired in a few seconds, but his opponent wasn¡¯t even close. But he did have a strong power. Anton was only breaking his attacks at the weak points, but if he were to directly clash with the power he was fairly certain he would lose out. That meant the archer was at the peak of Spirit Building or¡­ possibly in Essence Collection. Just in time, Anton noticed something. ¡°Nkiru! Behind you!¡± To her credit, without even thinking about it she spun around, swinging a weapon that was something like a sword combined with an axe, a wide blade on the top with cutting edge all the way down the handle. Her attack barely managed to deflect an incoming stab by a thin sword- and that was only with Gustav¡¯s reaction next to her, stabbing out with a spear to force the attacker to withdraw slightly. Stojan was injured, but he readied his own warhammer, very conservative in size but thus more able to concentrate the force of his blows. With all the arrows being shot towards them, Anton had gotten a picture of the enemy archer¡¯s position. To their credit, they weren¡¯t just standing still in one spot¡­ but they remained in one general area. Anton began to shoot back towards where they were, estimating where they might go from their previous spot. The fact that they had powerful energy that seeped through the illusion was also helping him to pick a spot. However, his own attacks were easily dealt with. The difference in power was becoming more apparent. He would need more. Anton breathed deeply. The increase in density of energy at Essence Collection was certainly noticeable, but if it was just for a few shots¡­ he could more than match it. He would just have to make them count. Chapter 210 Three youths desperately faced off against a cultivator that outmatched them individually. Nkiru, Gustav, and the injured Stojan held their ground against the quick blade of the cultivator attacking them, doing their best to maintain their defense. Eventually they would be worn down, but they could hope that the other battles would finish in their favor and relief would come. Hein and the younger Caeus and Printza were fighting the cultivator with daggers, who was still maintaining an illusion that made it difficult to keep track of his precise movements. With Hein matching him in power the two younger cultivators were able to slowly push that battle in their favor. That left the most difficult situation of all. Anton faced off against an opposing archer. Not only could he not actually see his opponent, but he had the feeling that they were in Essence Collection. That only placed them a few steps in cultivation above him, but with the barrier between Spirit Building and Essence Collection it amounted to significantly more power wielded in an instant, and larger reserves. Anton¡¯s body worked tirelessly. His legs were constantly repositioning him to try to find some measure of cover while still remaining in a position to intercept incoming attacks for the others. His upper body was more important for archery, his fingers and hands pulling the string on his hollowreed bow as it snapped forward with every shot. His arms and especially his back worked to provide the power necessary. Though each only contributed a small amount, he wore gloves, boots, and an undershirt that amplified his movements slightly. As enchanted equipment went, everything else together was not close in value to his bow. Slowly, one shot at a time, Anton honed in on his opponent. The archer was well within the range of Horizon Shot, so even if they were somewhat concealed his senses kept something of a lock. Enough to counter them. Gradually, Anton moved closer- though he was vigilant of any arrows trying to slip past him. Whenever they did, he did his best to shoot them out of the air with the minimum amount of effort on his part. He was already falling behind in remaining energy, though the real issue would be once his opponent got fully serious and not a battle of endurance. If they chose to make a few fully powered shots, he couldn¡¯t possibly face them head on. Unless he was prepared with the energy of Fleeting Youth. But that took time. Not much, but it was a step further away than his own internal energy reserves. The rocky forest in between himself and his opponent was hardly a barrier to either of them, arrows twisting between the trees with little regard for them. But just because they could shoot around them didn¡¯t mean there was no effect at all. As Anton began to enter the area, his opponent would find it harder to target him precisely. As they continued to fight, his opponent¡¯s illusion began to fade. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was on purpose, to conserve energy, or simply because they were distracted. Regardless, he kept his focus. Spirit Arrows flew one at a time or in small groups, tracking through the air towards a moving target. Anton considered his other options. While Spirit Arrows were quite effective, removing the need for a physical form to project his energy onto, he still had a small selection of arrows for special occasions. The blood seeking arrow had been one of those, but it would be less useful here, where his opponent would be prepared to counter his attack. A few barbed arrows, though the usefulness of an arrow that caused more damage when removed was debatable when he could just leave an open hole with a Spirit Arrow anyway. As for Fleeting Youth, he could manage three good shots. If he tried to stretch out the energy into smaller doses, it wouldn¡¯t keep its main benefit over his regular energy- high density and power. He wasn¡¯t interested in a few dozen extra shots if they had the same impact as the rest. Shoot. Dodge. Parry an arrow with his bow. More arrows to either side to stop attacks targeted at the younger folk with them. Anton found that odd. While shooting at his allies to throw him off was a perfectly reasonable tactic, the shots seemed too focused on them. If this archer was willing to commit to a serious attack and could injure Hein, the battle would greatly shift in their favor. Anton planned to finish the battle before that happened. It wasn¡¯t a question of whether he thought he could defeat an Essence Collection cultivator by himself. He had to, so he would. His first of three shots with the power of ascension energy was gathered and released. It took a more direct trajectory to the enemy archer, ignoring several trees directly in the way as it drove a small hole through them. The hole it made in his opponent was somewhat more disappointing, but Anton at least felt a sense of accomplishment at piercing through his opponent¡¯s energy, even if he only managed a shallow wound. Maybe those barbed arrows would matter after all. Another shot. The energy of Fleeting Youth formed around Anton¡¯s Spirit Arrow, but it was in fact a normal shot. His opponent was already dodging out of the way when he released the actual shot an instant later with a barbed arrow, taking advantage of their heated movement. They took a page from Anton¡¯s own book, though with more exaggeration. A great amount of energy gathered on their bow as his own arrow approached, and the enemy archer swung the bow like an axe, battering the condensed energy apart and cutting through some of the surrounding trees. It was excessive, but clearly they could handle an attack on that level. Which left Anton quite concerned. He could hope that his opponent could only manage something like that once, but hoping wasn¡¯t a sound tactic. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Anton began to fire more irregular patterns of arrows, shooting from the front but also having his shots circling around. By varying speeds he matched up the time they would arrive to strike his opponent, trying to find a weakness in their movements. They were no Kseniya, but he was unable to land a critical blow. Then a response came, stronger than any other before it. A great bundle of energy. Even before it left the bow Anton was on the move, trying to put as many trees between himself and that arrow as he could. He spotted a few good ones, tougher than their average counterparts. They would make fine bows, or anything else. Too bad. They exploded out the back as the arrow pierced through, some of them fully snapping in half. And the arrow kept coming, curving at least as fast as Anton could move. Even as he ran, Anton fired back. He couldn¡¯t afford to target his opponent, instead hitting the arrow with every shot, hoping to destabilize it more than overpower it. He might have been partly successful, but it continued on without ceasing. Could he counter it with his last portion of Fleeting Youth? Perhaps, but if he did so he would be left with nothing else. And the other battles were not going so well he could afford to rely on them or stall. At the last instant, Anton stopped his movements. He gathered energy around himself and his axe, hardening it as he held his bow in his left hand. Golden Armor wasn¡¯t meant for protecting an axe, but Anton had more practical experience manipulating his energy around his weapons than around his own body. He wasn¡¯t crazy enough to strike the arrow head on, but he felt the timing. He swung up from below, intending to deflect it up even as he ducked himself down. It almost felt like slow motion. He was pushing himself to his very limits, and while it was admittedly much slower than any of Grand Elder Kseniya¡¯s arrows it was still the fastest arrow that had actually tried to kill him. But his axe came up, striking just behind the head and driving it up at an angle. It deflected slightly, but he wasn¡¯t sure it was enough. He felt his axe shatter even without striking the shot head on, and pain. But he didn¡¯t seem to be dead. In fact, the pain was only in his shoulder. Anton couldn¡¯t spend long taking stock of the situation, as a half dozen smaller arrows were already on their way. He grabbed the string on his bow and began to pull back, but found no resistance. And then he realized that the bowshaft was cut in two, about three quarters of the way up. He wondered if that had been the real target all along¡­ though perhaps the shot had been intended to do that and kill him. It wasn¡¯t too hard to chop a few arrows out of the air with an axe, but there was no way Anton was going to get close enough to use it to kill the enemy archer. Even if he had been fresh and full of energy it would be a foolish idea. Especially given how they sliced through a layer of trees around them without a blade. Too much power there. What else could he do? Well, there was one option left. He had one more bow. But he could barely shoot it. So he would have to make the one shot count. He basically upended his storage bag to get out the bone bow, not having time to fiddle around with the contents to get something sunk towards the bottom. A moment later he had the bow in hand, though it still had no string. Anton drew a blood seeking arrow. Though its tracking feature was unnecessary, the very fact that it was enchanted gave it a bit more power and durability. It would be a waste of the price if he had another option, but he didn¡¯t. The fact that the bow had no string was not as big of a deal as it had once been. He had long been aware he could form a string out of energy, and it even willingly attached energy at either end. It seemed intended for that, but drawing the bow was still at the limit of his strength. All of the remaining power of Fleeting Youth and as much of his internal energy as he could rally were gathered together for one final shot. The string on the bow had exactly the properties he wanted, and it only had to hold together for the one shot. His muscles stretched to their limits as he pulled back, trying to minimize his energy expenditure on just the draw. Then the arrow was released, and he was flying forward. His opponent had clearly felt the shot coming, and was more focused on handling his own defenses than shooting at Anton- or anyone else. Though it was only a short moment before the arrow arrived anyway. Anton saw his opponent¡¯s face for the first time, as he approached. Nothing special, just someone he would have taken for a grump and otherwise ignored on the street. Not that there was a particular look for people who were willing to attack random cultivators without even giving any demands. The face was confident. He could obviously tell that Anton had expended the last of himself in the shot, and he held his bow with two hands, gripping the bottom of the shaft once more. Some sort of bone, Anton gathered, though he had no time to compare it to his own bow. Then bow and arrow collided. A moment later, he was bathed in blood, and then nothing more. Anton reached up to his forehead. Good. He wasn¡¯t actually bathed in blood. He had a few wounds he¡¯d picked up, but nothing covering him. Unfortunately, he could see his opponent still standing through the gaps in the trees. They looked at each other. Anton held up his bow, trying to find more strength he could dredge up. Did he need to use Candle Wax? The loss of lifespan would limit his chance of reaching the later stages of cultivation. He was already close enough to the threshold to train Fleeting Youth adequately. But those were unnecessary thoughts. He needed to fight and win. Then his eyes finally told his brain what they were seeing. The enemy archer straightened his back, turning his bow¡­ but it was in two neat halves. Spurts of dark red mixed with black energy poured out of the man¡¯s sternum. He seemed to only realize that when he reached for an arrow and saw blood on his hands. Then he fell over, and Anton was able to see the wide hole in his back. Fantastic. But the rest of the battle was still going on behind him. Chapter 211 Heavy blades, warhammers, and even spears weren¡¯t meant to face off against quick swords. Gustav¡¯s spear had enough reach to barely keep their superior opponent at bay, the three cultivators struggling against a single more powerful opponent. Only a small amount of effort could be taken on their part to watch the battle happening next to Gustav and the two others, where Hein, Caeus, and Printza were keeping another opponent on the back foot. They couldn¡¯t quite ignore that battle, because it could easily spill over to where they were. As for the battle between archers, they didn¡¯t have the capacity to keep track of everything happening there. Yet there were some things they couldn¡¯t ignore. As they felt the energy of an Essence Collection cultivator, Nkiru and Stojan trembled along with Gustav. They were dead. It was only a matter of time. Gustav wasn¡¯t willing to give up, managing a solid blow to the man he was fighting, not quite breaking through his energy defenses but staggering him back for a moment. The others remained fighting as well, but Stojan had been injured by the first arrow and Nkiru had several slashes and puncture wounds as she tried to keep the other two behind her. The battle between the archers didn¡¯t end as quickly as they thought it would. It wasn¡¯t that the Essence Collection cultivator was conserving energy, but the old man- Anton was quite a bit older than Hein, their hired guard- made an attack that was far beyond what any of them could expect. Was it some sort of life saving treasure? Or maybe a forbidden technique. If any of them had any of those things they would gladly make use of them, but they just had to hold their own. Another clash went in the favor of the enemy Essence Collection cultivator, and then a following attack made Gustav look over at the battle. The old man¡¯s bow was sundered. That was the end then. Or it seemed that way, until a moment later he upended his storage bag and pulled another bow out of the pile. He couldn¡¯t watch, his eyes once again locked on his target, but he heard it. The shot fired from that bow almost made Gustav deaf. And he wasn¡¯t the only one surprised. In fact, their opponent was one step more surprised by the Essence Collection cultivator¡¯s defeat. Enough for Nkiru to take advantage of a slight opening, swinging her top-heavy axe-like weapon into his side and actually drawing blood. Obviously it was meant to have gone much deeper than it did, but it still forced the man to draw back. And then he turned to run. Two arrows whisked past the man¡¯s head, but what finally finished him off was a bolt of lighting from the sky. Hein¡¯s arm was outstretched, the metal rod in his hand pointed like a spear. ¡°I can¡¯t believe how long it took the storm to get here. Felt like an eternity.¡± The bolt of lightning didn¡¯t immediately kill the man, but Hein and the other two had already finished up the opponent they¡¯d been fighting- his head was caved in to the point his face wasn¡¯t recognizable. And it was probably not an illusion. Hein caught up to the fleeing man as the arrows he had to dodge slowed him significantly. He swung his metal staff up from below as the man turned to face him, but he raised his thin sword high to try to parry an incoming arrow. It brushed around his defense and struck him straight in the eye¡­ or at least the energy defenses over his eye. The arrow didn¡¯t even seem to leave a mark. But the staff coming up dislocated the man¡¯s shoulder, broke ribs, and shocked him once more, sending him spasming onto the ground where Hein brought his staff down right onto his head, neck, and then torso repeatedly. ----- Anton slowly let out his breath, letting the bow formed entirely of energy in his hands fade away. It didn¡¯t require that much power to fire Spirit Arrows that were basically ¡®empty¡¯. But to the best of his ability they still felt real, which caused the man to take them seriously. Fortunately Hein capitalized on the situation. Unless he was greatly mistaken, all of their opponents were now dead. The first thing they had to do was take care of their various wounds. Anton had managed to avoid anything terribly detrimental to his combat ability, but he was losing blood. He strode over to the pile of stuff he¡¯d dumped out and sifted through it for his medical supplies. A few poultices to help with bleeding and bandages. He also took a few energy recovery pills. Despite what some people believed, they weren¡¯t of much use in combat. They were too slow to provide any benefit, and you had to devote a portion of your energy to breaking them down and integrating their energy into your own. Everyone gathered together to discuss what had happened. Hein spoke of what he knew first- or rather what he didn¡¯t know. ¡°I couldn¡¯t find any direct markings for any sort of sect,¡± he said. ¡°They all felt connected somehow, but the two I searched only had a few generic technique manuals on them. Anyone have more?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t recognize anything about them, but I agree with the assessment that their core cultivation method might have been the same. I also noticed they tried to target the young ones, and I don¡¯t feel it was to take out combat power before killing the two of us. It was like their goal all along.¡± Anton held up his hands, ¡°Not that I think that it¡¯s any of them in particular. We all know about the recent attacks.¡± ¡°That was why we formed a group and hired Hein,¡± Caeus acknowledged. ¡°I never thought we¡¯d actually be attacked though. You were the only reason we survived. And we had you help pay for Hein¡¯s services...¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Anton shrugged, ¡°Likewise, I wouldn¡¯t have survived without the rest of you. And Hein wouldn¡¯t be traveling if it wasn¡¯t for the job. So I think everything turned out as best as it could. Despite the injuries. I¡¯m taking everything on that archer, though.¡± Nobody could argue with that. Even though an Essence Collection cultivator was bound to have significantly more wealth than either of the two others, Anton defeated the man more or less on his own- while keeping his attacks away from the rest of them. ¡°Stojan,¡± Anton said, tossing him a small pill, ¡°Take this. An antidote pill.¡± Anton looked at the others. ¡°It¡¯s only a generic sort with small effects against any poisons, but the rest of you should take one as well. Whatever it was is slow acting, but I have the feeling we¡¯ll regret it later if we ignore it.¡± Anton actually hadn¡¯t sensed anything in himself until he felt it in others. All of them had some measure of lingering poison. Maybe it had even been in the air, aiding the illusions as they breathed it in. They did indeed find several poisons in the packs of the enemy cultivators, but they weren¡¯t clearly labeled- and none of them were experts in the area of poison, though they had some basic knowledge about common types for the sake of treating them. By the time they were back on the road, Stojan was shaking, despite having taken both the antidote and other recovery medicines. Anton just quietly scooped him up. His muscles weren¡¯t that tired, since carrying a person used a different set than required to pull back that stupid bone bow. Even if he was kind of exhausted, it wasn¡¯t any harder than dragging a deer carcass through the snow on a sled. He was just glad the other young folk could walk. Anton smiled at himself, as he was thinking of them as much younger than those he normally interacted with, even though they were likely only a year or two different. The biggest thing was their cultivation was much lower than his own, so they felt like they should be younger. But instead they were close in age to the others and just somewhat less quick in their cultivation progression. Even Hein was probably young enough to be Anton¡¯s grandchild, though just barely. He could have easily been his son, though. Rain poured down on the group as they walked on muddy roads, unwilling to stay near the scene of the battle. They couldn¡¯t imagine anyone else would be there, since a group of two late Sprit Building cultivators and one Essence Collection cultivator weren¡¯t that common, but the attacks were happening all over so those involved had more people at least in theory, even if not all in one place. ----- Guard captain Aaron sat in his office, going over various pieces of paperwork he still had to deal with. There wasn¡¯t as much exciting combat as people might think for someone in his position, but he was fine with that. Even though he was still young, he was more interested in stable opportunities than glory. There were almost never attacks on cities anyway. At most he might have to deal with some boneheaded cultivators starting a fight inside or near the city. Cugan was a large enough city that even the most prominent sects would have to think two or three times before they thought about attacking it, and they wouldn¡¯t gain much from it except the ire of everyone in the country around them. ¡°Captain Aaron,¡± a guard knocked at his open door. ¡°There¡¯s a group of travellers approaching. Some of them look injured.¡± Aaron nodded. Was that good news? At least it wasn¡¯t someone going missing on the road. There had been too many strange attacks lately. Even if it was only a couple near Cugan, even one attack per year they couldn¡¯t resolve was a problem. After he left his office behind he made his way onto the wall, where Aaron took a good look at the approaching group. If he had to guess, the two older folk were mercenary escorts protecting the younger members of the group. Only a single pair of cultivations matched styles. He recognized them as being from one of the smaller sects in Droca, but he couldn¡¯t recall the name. Metal? Steel? Iron? Iron Fist Sect sounded right. Though the iron part wasn¡¯t their actual fists. As the group got close to the gates, he called out to them. ¡°Hello there travelers. You look like you¡¯ve had a rough journey.¡± Cultivators got into scraps all the time. He didn¡¯t have to stop them, but he felt it was his duty to properly investigate. He openly scanned the group with his eyes. ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, you didn¡¯t just run into a group of wild beasts.¡± A puffy eyed man squinted up at him, but despite the look on his face he had a strong bearing. He also carried a metal staff. Was he a member of Storm Mountain? Either that, or someone aping their style, Aaron supposed. He would have to remember the energy signature if he was. It was important to be able to recognize important factions on sight. The man waved his hand from down below. ¡°Indeed we didn¡¯t. We were attacked by a group of three cultivators, two in late Spirit Building and one in early Essence Collection.¡± He pulled out a storage bag and tossed it up to Aaron. ¡°We suspect they are related to the other attacks that have been happening as of late.¡± It only took a moment to scan the storage bag and find the three bodies in question. Cultivators had some portion of their energy linger almost indefinitely after death, at least if their dantians weren¡¯t shattered and their bodies hadn¡¯t begun to decay. Thus, he could recognize that the man¡¯s words were true. At least, about their cultivation levels. There was some chance that this mismatched group had been the aggressors. Though the old man from the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars made that less likely. They were a strictly righteous sect, though he was less familiar with them than Storm Mountain given the distance. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize the energy of this group,¡± Aaron said. They seemed to have the same core cultivation style, but he couldn¡¯t be quite sure. ¡°We¡¯ll have to ask you some questions. Especially if they¡¯re related to the other attacks.¡± None of the men had bounties Aaron was aware of. Usually bandits of such power had some sort of history. Hopefully they could shed some light on the situation, since very few people survived the recent attacks, and it wasn¡¯t even sure if they were all related. Many went missing, and others were found dead. In most cases, people only escaped and merely had vague descriptions of the attackers. Having their bodies and a handful of clear testimonies would be something else. Chapter 212 Over the course of a week, many questions were asked to Anton and the others. Others got involved beyond guard captain Aaron, though the answers were always the same. Before the attack they didn¡¯t know anything about the three, nor did they find anything revealing afterwards. It must have been a dozen times that Anton allowed his storage bags to be searched, though he¡¯d kept everything from the Essence Collection cultivator he¡¯d slain in the man¡¯s own bags. The investigation wasn¡¯t the only thing that delayed the group- many people still had injuries to recover from. Even though cultivators often healed more quickly, a deep stab wound still didn¡¯t suddenly recover overnight. Though after a couple days traveling wouldn¡¯t have been difficult, if they were to end up in another battle¡­ there was some worry about whether they would survive again. During that week, Anton took stock of his spoils. The enemy¡¯s bow¡­ ruined. The string was good, but the bone bow Anton had couldn¡¯t make use of it. He didn¡¯t think modifying it to have a string would be the correct option. But he certainly wasn¡¯t strong enough to use it consistently yet. Unfortunately the other man didn¡¯t have a backup bow- like Anton, he hadn¡¯t really considered losing his bow. Anton just liked to use the bone bow for practice. It was a shame that so many good bows had been destroyed in Anton¡¯s hands or related to him as of late. That seemed to be related to engaging in higher level combats with more powerful cultivators, where material strengths could be outstripped by energy. His opponent¡¯s armor hadn¡¯t been all that much better than Anton¡¯s own- at least if Anton included the diamondsilk layer he wore. With a big hole in the chest, it was of little use. Anton resolved himself to get a full layer of diamondsilk along with some upgrades in every department. He didn¡¯t want his equipment to hold him back. With the wealth of an Essence Collection cultivator, in coins as well as in commonly traded and valuable materials, he had the potential to accomplish some of that. Though of course a good portion of the value had been in the two destroyed pieces of equipment. Anton wondered if parts of them could be reused for something. The most valuable thing he gained from the battle wasn¡¯t anything he could sell to someone. The closer he got to Essence Collection, the easier it was to constantly have the Vessel of Insights active. He kept it constantly supplied with any excess energy, and the natural energy in the area had been sufficient for it to be active during the combat. Being able to review his own insights as well as those of the enemy archer was a great boon. Anton only hesitated briefly before pulling out the strands of insight from the man. Though his actual cultivation level wasn¡¯t quite at Essence Collection, he should be able to handle the man¡¯s insights. The Vessel of Insights worked in mysterious ways. Nobody had been able to fully explain it, but it didn¡¯t exactly capture the thoughts of cultivators. He could tell who an insight was from, the circumstances they were in, and of course the contents of the insight itself¡­ but he didn¡¯t get access to their deepest thoughts and motivations during that time. Instead, it was just a memory of him performing a certain action. Sometimes it was just a very tiny change in stance, a slight shift in how energy was circulated. Repeating parts of the battle from his own perspective also helped deepen his understanding of archery, as well as Fleeting Youth. The insights of the enemy archer were harder to digest than his own as he absorbed them into himself, but they weren¡¯t overwhelming. The level of energy that could be called ¡®essence¡¯ was actually easier to understand than what Fleeting Youth provided. Anton still had no ability to gather it himself, but he felt that once he completed the final stars of Spirit Building the insights would ease his transition to the higher stage of cultivation. The investigation into the background of the cultivators quickly hit a dead end, but Anton secured permission for the Order to send someone to investigate them. Doubtless many others from Droca would be coming as well, interested in seeing who was causing problems. Guard captain Aaron swore he would keep them preserved¡­ and that was the best Anton could hope for. It was possible someone might try to destroy the evidence, but it was also possible that there was really nothing to be found. Yet the region didn¡¯t have so many Essence Collection cultivators that one could go completely unknown. Surely something about the man would come up at some point, some connection. Though Anton had some guesses about what it would tie into anyway. ----- Caeus and Printza¡¯s Iron Fist Sect wasn¡¯t large, but it still had an Essence Collection elder. Though they¡¯d previously been intending to make their own way back, after the attack they got in contact with their sect. It took longer to get a response, but Anton and the others were willing to wait. Instead of a messenger, the Iron Fist Sect sent a full delegation along with elder Nonus, several late Spirit Building cultivators and a smattering of disciples. Though their primary purpose was to inquire about the attack, they did offer to escort the group to the Graotan border, before bringing their own disciples home. Everyone was fully willing to take them up on the offer, even Hein. ¡°I might want to look for work elsewhere now,¡± he explained. ¡°Better to be somewhere I¡¯m less needed than somewhere people might look for me.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I¡¯d rather not try to fight an Essence Collection cultivator again. Any change in the circumstances could have flipped that on its head.¡± The battle was extremely close, and he likely only survived because his opponent didn¡¯t think Anton was a true threat to his life. It encouraged him to continue improving his skills beyond where his cultivation lay, but it might be better to never get attacked at all. ----- This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Though it took quite a while, Anton found himself back at Graotan¡¯s border. He didn¡¯t know any of the guards, but apparently they were expecting him. ¡°We¡¯re glad you made it back,¡± they said. ¡°We¡¯ve been keeping track of any disciples out on missions and the like. Many were at the tournament with Grand Elder Kseniya of course, but some were otherwise occupied or broke off for their own purposes like yourself.¡± ¡°Have there been many attacks inside Graotan?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Nothing that seems connected- only the usual rare incidents. However, our border security has already been on alert in the past few years.¡± The member of the Order speaking with Anton shook his head, ¡°Sometimes it seems there aren¡¯t enough of us, but we¡¯ve managed to keep things secure.¡± ¡°Hopefully the upcoming generations of cultivators will swell your ranks,¡± Anton said. Even if most of those he was teaching wouldn¡¯t be striving for high cultivation ranks, he knew that his efforts were resulting in more cultivators joining the sect. He might even start rivalling Vincent in numbers recruited to the order, though only on a year-by-year basis of course. Vincent had a large head start. ----- Anton actually passed by the Order to head to the border, making sure Nkiru made it safely there. It seemed incidents in Ambati were more rare. The origin of the attacks seemed to be more to the east. Not necessarily from Ofrurg¡­ but it also could be presumed to be nearby. No particular country or even sect had obviously been spared from the attacks, though even the larger sects usually only had a few attacks on their members. Even so, it had been hundreds in total throughout the surrounding countries. When he approached his home, Anton was first met by Fuzz. The wolf leaped over the fence surrounding the yard, bounding towards him and nearly tackling him to the ground. He seemed to have reached some sort of limit for how big he was going to be, but Fuzz was already large enough that his tongue covered a good portion of Anton¡¯s face when licking it. As he was wiping himself down, Alva came running over. ¡°Grandpa! You were gone for so long, and then the attacks started.¡± She looked down, ¡°Catarina said we couldn¡¯t go get you.¡± ¡°I told you he would come back,¡± Catarina came up behind her. ¡°See? Safe and sound.¡± Alva looked Anton over. ¡°Where¡¯s your bow? Is that a new hole in your armor?¡± Though he had it patched, the damage to his armor was still visible. ¡°The answer to the second is yes. As for the first,¡± Anton pulled it out. ¡°It got destroyed. Let me tell you how.¡± Anton greatly understated the amount of danger he had been in, which also involved not mentioning the cultivation level of his opponent. ¡°In the end, we both destroyed each other¡¯s bows.¡± ¡°You used the cool bone bow?¡± Alva said. ¡°Awesome! But wait. You never actually said how strong they were. They sounded pretty strong. Peak Spirit Building?¡± Alva narrowed her eyes as she looked at Anton. ¡°Or¡­ maybe even early Essence Collection?¡± Anton sighed internally. That was the problem with Alva growing her cultivation so well. It was hard to hide anything against someone trained in Insight. At least, Anton hadn¡¯t bothered improving his own deception skills, except for maintaining a neutral face in combat so his opponent couldn¡¯t take advantage of his emotions. ¡°You think I could defeat someone in early Essence Collection?¡± Anton asked by way of deflection. The question didn¡¯t even slow Alva, however. ¡°Of course! You¡¯re the best!¡± ¡°Were they really?¡± Catarina asked, her energy probing him more closely. ¡°You got injured. They must have been somewhere around there.¡± ¡°I could have gotten injured in a fight with a peak Spirit Building cultivator, you know. I¡¯m not undefeatable.¡± ¡°Yes you are!¡± said Alva. ¡°When have you ever lost?¡± ¡°I lose spars with Catarina and the others all the time,¡± Anton said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t count,¡± she rebutted. ¡°You¡¯re never serious.¡± ¡°Neither are they. We don¡¯t want to hurt each other.¡± ¡°Alva has a point,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°If you really wanted to kill us, you have a significant advantage. Especially with that special energy.¡± ¡°You all have a counter for that, though,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°At least enough of one.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Catarina said, ¡°But I¡¯m betting the Essence Collection cultivator you fought didn¡¯t. How close was it, really?¡± Anton held up his thumb and forefinger. ¡°About this close, really.¡± The distance between his fingers might have seemed far, but if he was actually talking about how far he was from a specific attack killing him, ten centimeters or less wasn¡¯t much. While other attacks might get that close to hitting someone, dodging by a hair¡¯s breadth didn¡¯t necessarily mean someone was that close to dying. Neither of his granddaughters- with different routes and number of people between him and them- let him be on his own for the rest of the day. Though since his injuries had already healed up there wasn¡¯t really anything they could do for him. But he enjoyed their presence nonetheless. But Devon¡¯s absence was telling, and caused Anton to have his own worries. ----- Grand Elder Kseniya had basically dragged Anton up the mountain. She plopped him in front of Vandale. ¡°Guess what this one here did.¡± Vandale looked at Anton with his one eye smiling.. ¡°There are many things Anton could have done. I could spend hours guessing. But I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll tell me.¡± ¡°He killed an Essence Collection cultivator. Another archer.¡± ¡°Oh yes,¡± Vandale said. ¡°I heard something about that. The information that came from Droca on that was incomplete. They focused more on the fact that a group of attackers was defeated than the details. I was going to ask for a more thorough report.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t sound excited,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°Should I be?¡± Vandale smiled. ¡°I¡¯m happy that you lived, of course, but I¡¯m not particularly surprised. Both of us accomplished something similar back in our time.¡± Vandale shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s the curse of having high expectations for someone.¡± ¡°I just thought I should tell you personally,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°So when we went missing for a few months you wouldn¡¯t be worried.¡± ¡°What?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°It¡¯s training time,¡± Kseniya said as if it were only natural. ¡°And we don¡¯t have a moment to waste.¡± Chapter 213 Graotan was a good country. Devon believed that wholeheartedly, not just because he was born and raised in Graotan but because he had traveled to others and laid eyes on them himself. It wasn¡¯t just Ofrurg either. Obviously his experiences as a slave would negatively impact his opinion of the country as a whole, but even discounting that he found Graotan to be much preferable to the few others he¡¯d been to. Some of the goodness of Graotan was due to the fortunate fact that they had fertile land. When a country was prosperous, everyone could afford to be generous with each other. Devon believed it extended beyond that with all of the people working to hold up ideals that valued others. Yet Graotan definitely wasn¡¯t perfect. It was impossible for the Order to oversee every part of it, and even if they could, mistakes would be made. Negative elements would crop up every once in a while no matter how firm of a foundation was laid. Though the majority of cultivators in Graotan chose to join the Order- the requirements weren¡¯t particularly onerous and it had some of the best benefits- there were still other, smaller sects in the area. Most of them were wise enough to follow the rules set down by the Order. But some of them ignored them, or even completely went against them. Even though its disciples provided security for the whole country, the Order did not impose heavy taxes. Most of their wealth was gained through the Order¡¯s portion of the missions its cultivators were hired for, and long ages of accumulation. Some of that wealth was simply a good reputation, and this particular group was damaging that most strongly. But their discovery came about from villagers concerned about excessive taxation. There was no good name for the group, since they were simply pretending to be disciples of the Order. The general population didn¡¯t know enough about cultivation to prove them wrong, being unable to sense energy in any capacity. But from where Devon was, he felt it clearly. They were certainly cultivators, but their energy didn¡¯t match the Order¡¯s. His current job was just to stand around looking intimidating. They already had the place surrounded, and the chances that nobody had noticed the group surrounding the structure were miniscule. It was likely that bringing a full group of Spirit Building cultivators was excessive, but the Order wasn¡¯t willing to risk the lives of their disciples- even ones like Devon who was making use of a different cultivation technique. He sensed some combat taking place inside, but the main force was large enough to handle the entire complement of foes. He was just supposed to stop- or delay- anyone trying to flee. It wasn¡¯t long before he sensed someone coming. He readied himself for combat, but he felt the cultivation of the Ninety-Nine Stars from within them. ¡°Did anybody run this way?¡± a middle aged man asked as he stepped out the door Devon was watching. ¡°No, not yet,¡± he answered. ¡°Maybe try over that way,¡± Devon gestured. The man nodded and turned. That was when Devon¡¯s chains wrapped around him. He wasn¡¯t sure what the man had done to disguise his aura, but the group Devon had arrived with wasn¡¯t so large that he would forget the faces of those with him, and this man wasn¡¯t one of them. ¡°What are you doing?¡± the man said as he raised his own energy defenses too late, ¡°I¡¯m part of the Order!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see about that,¡± Devon said. His chains stiffened, pulling the man¡¯s limbs into the positions where he had the least leverage. Even if he were to use energy he would tire himself more quickly than Devon. He twisted and turned, fighting with all of his might- but Devon just wrapped the chains tighter. When the man tried to slacken the chains by darting towards Devon, he found himself held at bay as the chains suddenly stiffened. Then Devon extended more chains to bind his legs together. Now all Devon had to do was wait. After he covered the man¡¯s mouth to stop his protestations. It seemed that the rest of the battles were indeed finished very quickly. Another member of the Order came out the door, this time one Devon recognized. The man took stock of the situation, looking between Devon and the man he had bound. ¡°What are you doing?¡± he asked accusingly, lowering his spear towards Devon. ¡°He¡¯s a member of the Order. Why have you detained him?¡± ¡°He¡¯s not,¡± Devon said confidently. Though he was beginning to have a few doubts himself. ¡°At least, he didn¡¯t arrive with us.¡± ¡°Mmph!¡± the man bound in chains tried to mutely defend his position, but another party approached. ¡°Devon¡¯s right, Jacob,¡± said another member of the Order, wielding a bow. ¡°This man was not with us. We should bring him before the rest and question how he was here, if he was not involved. If he truly has a good reason, the only thing damaged will be his dignity.¡± ¡°... right,¡± the one who must have been Jacob nodded. ¡°But Marcio, he practices the Order¡¯s techniques. And he¡¯s clearly in Spirit Building¡­ and this fellow here doesn¡¯t use our style at all.¡± ¡°Judging people on the basis of their cultivation techniques?¡± Marcio raised an eyebrow, casually holding his bow ready to be brought to bear should he need it. ¡°I¡¯m sure Devon will gladly come with us, and we can see whether any of this has been a misunderstanding.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Devon nodded. ¡°If I was in the wrong, I¡¯ll happily apologize for the inconvenience and discomfort.¡± But he was quite sure he wasn¡¯t part of their group. ----- Ultimately the man¡¯s origin was one of the worst situations. Not for Devon, since he ended up justified in his actions, but for the Order. It might have been the worst, because someone emulating the Order¡¯s energy signature, while worrying, wasn¡¯t necessarily as bad as the man actually being a disciple of the Order. Which he was. A genuine disciple of the Order involved with the taxation scheme. There wasn¡¯t much to do but bring him back with them, wrapped in physical chains that restricted energy usage, and not just Devon¡¯s manifestations. Devon wondered if he could replicate the energy restricting effect himself, but that was an exercise for another day. They simply had to bring back this person- as well as all of the rest that had lived through the battle- to receive judgment from the Order. ----- ¡°Edwyn Behrend,¡± an imperious voice spoke out. ¡°Given the preponderance of the evidence levied against you, is there anything you have to say in your defense?¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything wrong!¡± he declared. ¡°Those villages offered tribute on their own accord.¡± ¡°An interesting argument,¡± said the judge, ¡°But ultimately unconvincing. It was their very testimony that they offered payment only under duress, with the assumption that you were working with the blessing of the Order. In addition, the crime of encouraging others to impersonate disciples of the Order is quite serious.¡± ¡°It seems you had already made up your mind,¡± Edwyn grumbled. ¡°What is my punishment then? Exile?¡± ¡°No. Exile is only appropriate in certain circumstances. For someone in your position, the appropriate punishment is death.¡± ¡°What? But none of the others-¡± The judge¡¯s voice boomed out over his. ¡°None of the others swore to uphold justice in all forms and willingly betrayed those oaths.¡± ¡°I was just trying to make money,¡± Edwyn complained. ¡°The Order has many ways to make money.¡± ¡°Hmph,¡± Edwyn snorted. ¡°Manual labor? Demeaning. Cultivators shouldn¡¯t have to do that.¡± ¡°Honest labor has value to society, but if you found it so distasteful¡­ the Order has many different kinds of missions to undertake.¡± ¡°So the choices were to work myself to death, or just die? I had no choice except to do what I did.¡± ¡°If you expect to be paid for providing no value to the world, we clearly failed in our assessment of you,¡± the judge inclined his head, ¡°I apologize for that. But willful disregard of the rules will not be tolerated. You clearly went to some lengths to hide it, and the others have corroborated that you knew your sin. The sentence is final, stayed only for the appropriate time for exculpatory evidence to be presented, late as it would be.¡± ¡°You know nobody will come with anything,¡± Edwyn snorted. ¡°Indeed, we both do,¡± the judge narrowed his eyes, ¡°But that is because we are fully aware of your guilt. But if we were mistaken, we would not want to rush an execution. And we shall abide by the rules even where the situation is clear cut.¡± Kohar watched as Edwyn was dragged away. She almost felt bad. Not for him, in particular, but she had been the one to officially write the charges against all of those involved in the scheme. Usually she didn¡¯t deal in criminal matters, since the prosecution of crimes would be handled by whoever ran a local area. Sometimes she had gathered evidence or consulted on laws, but rarely had she been the one bringing the formal accusations. The punishments seemed somewhat harsh for some of those involved. Exile and being stripped of their position wasn¡¯t much less than a death sentence, though she supposed cultivators could more easily handle that. Some of those involved seemed to have been sincerely unaware that they were doing anything other than properly collecting taxes, but they were still punished. Of course, Edwyn had been the one to create the scheme to fill his own pockets. Yet there was little in the way of restitution coming from his possessions- it seemed to have flowed in and out of his pockets at the same rate. Money that had been spent on expensive wines didn¡¯t exactly disappear, but that didn¡¯t compensate the people of the villages that had given up their income to gather that money at the lowest level. Mostly Kohar was disappointed at how little progress there was creating a larger change in the world at large. Laws were unequal everywhere, and the Order¡¯s own strictures were one of the few that actually weighed against cultivators. Other places didn¡¯t want to cause trouble with those who were strong and might have powerful connections, though the traditions of favoring cultivators weren¡¯t always in writing. That was the problem, even if the law somehow became perfect, imperfect people would be enforcing it. Kohar watched Devon leave. He didn¡¯t appear terribly enthusiastic about the results either. Nothing was exciting about finding corruption. And what was worse, he didn¡¯t even have a chance to talk to Anton after he returned. Simply finding out that he was safe was some comfort, but Kohar knew seeing people you cared about also mattered. ----- Terrible power with undertones of dread streaked through the air. It was just energy, but any power used as a weapon brought along with it the fear of death. And the origins of this particular energy were half intertwined with death. The last time Anton had struck someone with a Spirit Arrow using Fleeting Youth¡¯s power, it had pierced through their chest and exploded out their back. This time, even though no move was made to defend, it simply engulfed them in a cloud of energy, tearing up dirt and bending trees around the area. ¡°Not too bad,¡± Grand Elder Kseniya said, ¡°But I still think that bow is awful, even if it¡¯s power is decent.¡± Anton lowered his bow. He wasn¡¯t particularly far, but he squinted his eyes to look closely. As far as he could tell, she hadn¡¯t even taken a single step back. So much for surpassing his cultivation phase. An Essence Collection cultivator should at least be able to scratch a Life Transformation Cultivator, right? He hadn¡¯t felt her concentrate her defenses to any particular degree. ¡°I see several things on your face,¡± Kseniya commented. ¡°But I¡¯ll admit to not being a mind reader. So I¡¯ll start with some things I think will help. First¡­ you¡¯re still not really strong enough to use that bow. And I do mean strong. It takes more muscle power than you can really manage. But beyond that¡­ do you know what it feels like to get hit with that energy?¡± Anton recalled facing off against strongly condensed energy. He¡¯d actually been attacked by a Life Transformation cultivator, though the fact that he had survived hadn¡¯t been related to his own actions. ¡°It would be a sort of suppression, probably. But also¡­ maybe a bit of unexplained fear?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the problem,¡± Kseniya nodded. ¡°If people are going to be suppressed by the pure force of the energy, they need to be crushed. If they¡¯re going to be afraid¡­ they need to be so afraid they can¡¯t respond. But yours isn¡¯t quite either. Explain to me once more how your technique works.¡± ¡°It takes advantage of my cognition about my mortality, and my closeness to the end of my lifespan, to draw upon the energy from beyond ascension and into reincarnation.¡± Anton thought for a few moments. ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°Do you get it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m pulling on two types of energy.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± she said. ¡°I noticed it because of those techniques from the Luminous Ocean Society. I¡¯ve studied them more than you, I do believe. They quite easily interfere with what we believe is ascension energy, but that lingering feeling remains. They are so well mixed that I didn¡¯t immediately realize they were not one and the same.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I get, I suppose. Trusting in a technique Everheart created but never practiced.¡± She shrugged, ¡°What can I say? Unlike¡­ certain others¡­ Everheart usually had no trouble creating clear instructions for making use of a technique. You certainly obtained the energy. So it failed to mention that you might want to separate the energies for different uses. That won¡¯t even always be true. A mix might be good¡­ if it¡¯s on purpose, and not due to lack of effort.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Anton said. ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± ¡°Just a thousand shots for a little warmup,¡± Grand Elder Kseniya said. That was easy enough. ¡°Without using a bow,¡± she added on. ¡°I liked hearing about that bowless technique of yours.¡± She quickly formed a bow out of energy, firing an arrow into the sky. ¡°Just imagine if you break yet another bow.¡± So that was it. This was punishment for destroying bows. As if feeling bad about it himself hadn¡¯t been enough. Chapter 214 Over time, patterns began to emerge in relation to the attacks. Suspicions became confirmations as information was sorted, unrelated attacks being filtered out as much as they could. Weaker cultivators were being targeted. Not just that, but younger cultivators. Those with potential. Though those who hadn¡¯t been promising students were rarely kept track of in fine detail. There were more incidents than the one Anton was a part of where the attackers were defeated. Strangely enough, they seemed mostly unconcerned with preserving their own lives, and fought to the death rather than allowing themselves to be captured. Few cultivators had such fanatic loyalty to a cause, though if they thought there might be a worse fate in store for them if they were captured, choosing to die would make sense. In that case, though, they would likely be cautious about engaging in the attacks in the first place. While capturing cultivators who were unwilling could be quite difficult, especially when they were always the attackers and thus thought they had the advantage, it did happen in a few incidents. Along with the bodies, it was confirmed that at least some of the attackers practiced the same type of cultivation as those in Black Soul Valley. Yet none of them had so far been discovered in a city, going about their daily business. That meant they had to have some way to conceal their cultivation from others, or possibly allies. While cultivators might survive in the wilderness if they were strong enough, they would never obtain suitable weapons and equipment. Since there weren¡¯t frequent enough robberies or unresolved incidents for such a large group to have raised up cultivators who were often in Spirit Building and sometimes Essence Collection, it was logical to assume they interacted with other cultivators without them knowing. Tensions between sects were on the rise. Nobody liked their disciples being targeted, and those with grudges against each other were suspicious of reports that their rivals were also being attacked. Some groups took the opportunity to have their own conflicts, as any excuse was enough to push things over the tipping point in some cases. ----- Time continued to flow, no matter how much it would be convenient if it would wait. Anton was not concerned about it from the perspective of his own mortality. Even if he hadn¡¯t come to terms with it long before, at the current moment he was still gaining lifespan faster than it was passing him by, though he couldn¡¯t say by how much. It took a year for him to go from the twenty-fifth star to the twenty-eighth, and now he stood at the precipice of Essence Collection. He felt as if he could step into it at any time, but there were dangers associated with certain increases in cultivation. In early Body Tempering, a cultivator was not necessarily skilled enough to control the energy they brought into themselves, making it one of the riskiest times. Yet crossing the borders between the stages had its own danger as well. Each step represented an increase in quantity and quality of energy, and with that came more stringent requirements to control it. Anton had gone smoothly from Body Tempering to Spirit Building in a moment of crisis, but it was not usually the best way. Of course there were always the stories of ancient cultivator geniuses who always broke through when their lives were in danger, surpassing stage after stage. They might even be true- but just because someone accomplished something didn¡¯t mean it was the best for them. If stepping into a new stage was the difference between life and death, of course those cultivators who succeeded would be heard about. Yet all of those who failed would be forgotten to time. Anton found the thoughts that most concerned him weren¡¯t whether or not he could step into Essence Collection and control the energy there. They weren¡¯t thoughts about his training with Ksenya, which continually pushed him further than he thought he could go. They were about people. Friends and family and those he didn¡¯t really have a category for. Everyone he taught how to cultivate, some learning more quickly than others. He also thought about those from different sects, and people he didn¡¯t even know who were attacked and killed. What little information came to them from passing ships didn¡¯t change anything. His mind was so focused on what he couldn¡¯t do anything about, and all of his training in Emotion and Voice did little to settle his heart. He almost envied those who cared nothing for the world like the Frostmirror Sect, but it was also his feelings for everything that inspired him to continue. And even the Frostmirror Sect was not entirely made up of heartless individuals. Despite what they liked to think, Anton was aware more than a few of them never truly completely severed their emotions. In fact, if they truly completed the task to the greatest degree they might end up doing nothing at all. It might seem purely logical to grow stronger and cultivate even without feelings being involved, but Anton didn¡¯t think that would be the case. Logic on its own never gave reason to do anything, but simply guided one on what might be the most ¡®efficient¡¯ way to do so. But different minds could disagree even on what might seem like clear points. Anton certainly didn¡¯t intend to cut himself off from emotion, and simply suppressing his thoughts while he tried to break through to Essence Collection seemed like the wrong way. Yet he couldn¡¯t simply wait for current matters to be resolved. He would likely need as much strength as he could get in the next few years. Grand Elder Kseniya had dragged him off to the north, through Estary to some small outlying islands. The reason was quite simple. There wasn¡¯t anything particular special about the area except for¡­ nothing. That was what they were surrounded by. Kilometers of open ocean, with nothing in sight for him to hit. Not even land, for the most part, so he had no concern about doing everything at full power. Even if he targeted the water, at most he could only harm a few fish- but most of them swam deep enough his arrows didn¡¯t easily penetrate. ¡°I need to go,¡± Anton simply said one day. He hadn¡¯t completed the training to separate the two types of energy he gathered from Fleeting youth, he hadn¡¯t broken through to Essence Collection, he hadn¡¯t even mastered Horizon Shot to Kseniya¡¯s standards. Though to be fair, that last one had extremely exacting standards. Anton considered it good enough for the moment to be able to fire an arrow to a place beyond his vision, even if it wouldn¡¯t strike any particular target. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Okay,¡± Kseniya said. That was it. No protests of any sort, warnings that he needed to complete his training, or anything else. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯d like to have me back at the Order anyway. Anton didn¡¯t think the training was a failure. He¡¯d made great strides in the areas he was pursuing, but simply hadn¡¯t been able to see any of them to completion as of yet. If only cultivation was so straightforward as putting up a barn. Every piece was created and put in its place, and then it just worked. But people weren¡¯t quite like that. Or maybe there were just more pieces elsewhere that he didn¡¯t know he needed. ----- On previous visits to Estary, Anton had just been passing through. The first time he was fleeing from Ofrurg, and then he passed through both going to and leaving the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s ruins. He¡¯d more or less gone through the whole country once more without really stopping to see much, but this time he intended to stay a bit longer. Sometimes Anton felt his focus was too narrow, sometimes too broad. However, he couldn¡¯t help but look at the people of Estary as he walked past them. Nothing was particularly wrong with them, just as common villagers in Graotan lived their lives and would continue to do so. They grew up, farmed, practiced a trade, ran a shop, and everything else that humans did to occupy their time and survive to the next generation. He found nothing wrong with it, a good life. And far better than many in Ofrurg and other places where they might be slaves or face harsh environmental conditions. But¡­ it could be better. Life wasn¡¯t just about work and income. Cultivating to be more efficient at your work ultimately wasn¡¯t enough by itself- but the satisfaction of a job well done was one of many joys of life. Money was just bits of metal, but buying a present for a loved one who would love the gift as much as they loved you back was a wonderful feeling. Living a life without fear, beyond the normal ebb and flow of worrisome seasons and life events was ultimately something worth pursuing. And Anton felt that cultivation would help people do more of everything. And ultimately they would have less reason to fear the world. Estary had a good relationship with the Order, but Anton wasn¡¯t just going to go around teaching people the Ninety-Nine Stars cultivation technique on a whim. For one thing, he wouldn¡¯t be there when people ran into problems. So instead of convincing common folk that they should learn to cultivate, he was more interested in the various sects taking up that burden. And if he had to convince them that ultimately the people and land would be improved to motivate them, he would do so. Infinite Wisdom Forest was located in northwestern Estary, just a short way from the coast. Their name was rather grandiose, but they weren¡¯t an arrogant bunch for the most part. Their name was not intended to imply that they had infinite wisdom, but that they were seeking it. Though he¡¯d only listened to a few conversations with one of their elders who came to preside as a judge in the trial of Zvonko and the others, he¡¯d been quite impressed by what they said. And while he didn¡¯t expect to just be able to walk in and speak to high ranking elders, very few sects would turn away a cultivator at the peak of Spirit Building who wished to visit. Though he showed up unannounced, the guards at the ceremonial entrance gate ushered him inside with few questions, except to confirm his origins. He was brought to see a man of similar cultivation, the peak of Spirit Building, though Anton guessed that he himself had been cultivating for significantly less time. ¡°Elder Atwood, Elder Anton Krantz of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars has arrived as a guest.¡± ¡°It is a pleasure to have a visitor,¡± Elder Atwood said, and from everything Anton could tell he met it. ¡°To what do we owe the honor of your visit?¡± ¡°I wanted to consult with Infinite Wisdom Forest on a certain matter. Oh, and before we progress further¡­ I should note that I am not technically an elder in the Order. There are a limited number of seats, thought I might hold one of them some day.¡± ¡°Titles matter not, compared to the cultivation and understanding of a person. What matter do you wish to speak on? I¡¯m sure you could find someone interested in nearly any topic you wished to broach.¡± ¡°It¡¯s something of a personal quest of mine,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°It concerns the separation between those who cultivate, and those who do not.¡± ¡°Do go on,¡± Elder Atwood said with interest. ¡°Cultivators tend to remove themselves from the rest of society, either through physical distance or other methods. In many cases, it is a sensible approach. Cultivators must seek out places with high concentrations of natural energy so that they might grow stronger, and many such locations are too harsh for those who don¡¯t cultivate to endure.¡± Anton paused to organize his thoughts. ¡°Yet those who do not cultivate, even if that is because of poor talent, might still benefit from some minimal amount of interaction with cultivation. To most of those who do not cultivate themselves, those of us who do are mysterious and strange¡­ and even terrifying in our power.¡± ¡°Fear of the unknown and greater powers are not uncommon, nor entirely irrational,¡± Elder Atwood commented. ¡°But it is better to not cause such unnecessarily. Like your Order, we of the Forest try to grow connections to those around us so they feel like both of us belong.¡± ¡°I am pleased to hear that,¡± Anton said, ¡°Yet I would wish for more. Many of those who do not cultivate, either because they have low talent or because they fear the danger, still might benefit from cultivating to a small degree. A stronger body allows one to be more productive in many arenas, and even a slightly extended lifespan could greatly affect some individuals.¡± ¡°I would tend to agree,¡± Elder Atwood said. ¡°But I do not gather that you are purely speaking in hypotheticals.¡± ¡°Indeed you are right. In Graotan, I have been guiding a number of individuals through the early stages of cultivation. I have seen the changes that can make, even if most remain in early Body Tempering.¡± ¡°It must be a significant effort, to guide so many.¡± ¡°It can be,¡± Anton said, ¡°Though in time I would hope that my personal involvement wasn''t required. If every community had several who learned everything most people needed to know about cultivation, they could continue to maintain a certain level on their own.¡± ¡°Interesting. But how would this be different from turning everything into a cultivation sect?¡± Elder Atwood smiled widely as they talked. ¡°Let me explain my thoughts,¡± Anton began. He had quite a few things to cover, and though he wasn¡¯t sure if Elder Atwood or anyone from Infinite Wisdom Forest would actually do anything with those thoughts, at least someone was listening. If he failed here, at least he would learn something about how other cultivation groups thought. Chapter 215 After the completion of Anton¡¯s conversations with Elder Atwood he met several others from Infinite Wisdom Forest. Their enthusiasm for teaching people to cultivate energy was not as great as his own, but he successfully convinced them to make some attempts with a small group of people. They were of course interested in the potential for the quantity and quality of natural energy to be improved, potentially removing the need to maintain some expensive formations around their sect. Beyond the tuberous roots from Ambati, Anton had gathered a small collection of different sorts of crops that could be grown with only a small amount of natural energy, the sort that would gather and amplify it. There were even more he didn¡¯t have possession of, but knew about and was trying to get samples of. No matter how good one thing was, it couldn¡¯t simply be grown everywhere. Besides asking for a blight to overtake a country¡¯s entire crops, the soil would be depleted if not left to rest or maintained with proper crop rotation. Elder Howland of the Order helped fill Anton in on what things to watch out for in terms of exceptional plants. Some produced more energy while they grew, while others absorbed it- but ultimately it was possible to end up with a net positive amount. And even those plants that fully contained energy within themselves were still useful to cultivators as food or medicines. The reason the scale of growing such crops was limited was simply from a lack of manpower. The Order was generous with rewarding contribution points for those who worked the fields, but they were limited both by those who chose to perform the work and the absolute numbers involved. Even the largest sects numbered in the thousands, and that was quite little compared to even the countryside surrounding a single large city. Even if the crops weren¡¯t necessarily of the extraordinary variety, they could be tended to more efficiently by cultivators who had stronger bodies. Even if oxen were plowing the fields, there was much physical labor for a farmer to immerse themself in. Anton doubted that Infinite Wisdom Forest would care for his plan beyond increasing the availability of energy infused crops and spiritual herbs, but he hoped that was incentive enough for them to wish to make long term efforts. ----- Silence was pervasive in the observatory. Yet despite that, it wasn¡¯t quite so awkward as it once had been. Hoyt sat patiently as he watched his grandfather slowly move and focus the great telescope. ¡°Come, come, take a look at this.¡± Hoyt stepped forward. Everything he was shown was interesting to look at. But this time, it was just blackness. ¡°Is it focused wrong?¡± he asked. ¡°I only see darkness.¡± ¡°Mhmm,¡± Vandale nodded, ¡°Now feel it.¡± Though it was only a very faint thing, the telescope amplified more than just the visual acuity of the stars. They had a sort of feel to them, but it was so minor as to be overlooked when not specifically sensing. ¡°... still nothing.¡± Was this some sort of exercise to improve his abilities? Hoyt might not be so opposed to those, but he¡¯d prefer to know if he was supposed to be training. ¡°Interesting, isn¡¯t it?¡± Vandale smiled widely, ¡°Nothing at all. Or even¡­ less than nothing.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± Hoyt admitted. Vandale shrugged, ¡°Maybe I¡¯m wrong, but I¡¯m of the belief that something is there. Devouring.¡± ¡°Is it a danger?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Not to us. The only celestial object of note is our own sun and the nearby planets. Everything else is simply too far to concern ourselves with. But it is interesting to look at nonetheless.¡± Hoyt agreed. ¡°It¡¯s quite something to look at.¡± Even the blackness was so pure and rarely seen that it was almost beautiful. But he much preferred shining stars still. Hoyt¡¯s eyes locked on his grandfather. It was unfortunate that the void reminded him of something. There was some force attached to Vandale, draining him. He still could use a majority of his power, but Hoyt had managed to learn that if he used too much the power could break free, killing him or perhaps doing something worse. He knew his grandfather would choose to die before letting it harm others, but that was the problem. Just because Hoyt didn¡¯t want him to pave his path of cultivation didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t want him to live. ¡°Listen,¡± his grandfather broke the silence. ¡°I know you don¡¯t want to learn Falling Stars from me. That¡¯s fine. It¡¯s not that great of a technique anyway.¡± ¡°It¡¯s amazing,¡± Hoyt interjected. Vandale held up his arm, ¡°It might look it, but the first generation of a technique is never going to be its best. Even most of Everheart¡¯s crap has been improved since his time. Anyway, the point was¡­ I can still teach you other things about cultivation and controlling a fiery power like a star. It won¡¯t even look like my other techniques.¡± Previously, Hoyt would have refused. That would have been for several reasons, including stubbornness. But now, he found his stubbornness greatly diminished and even pointless. He was still not going to try to be like his grandfather though. ¡°I¡¯ll gladly accept.¡± ----- When cultivators could not resolve something quickly, it tended to drag on. From the perspective of the cultivation clans and sects, a single year was not long. The attacks felt more like a rapid flurry, taking advantage of the disorganized nature of the various groups. And disorganized they were, since despite the agreements between sects nothing truly bound the region together. In a way, however, the attacks had some benefits. Though many youths with promising talent perished, the continued attacks forced different groups to work together to investigate. Black Soul Valley itself was still empty, just ruins that had been combed through many times in the past year. Yet clearly related cultivators still existed, some of them having fled from the battle but clearly they had enough members remaining that there had to have been more than one location. Along with the suspicions on rival sects, with the information that the attacks made use of illusions some actually justified suspicions began to be formed. Those groups that were sensible were quite cooperative with trying to find the weakness of the illusory techniques used. Others remained stubborn, out of concern that they would reveal weaknesses of their own sect¡¯s techniques in the process. That cast certain groups in more suspicion, but no moves against them had been made as of yet. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. One very cooperative group was the Courageous Heart Clan. Their own clan¡¯s techniques required their bloodline to perform properly, and there were features about them that easily put them above suspicion. There were many things that were possible with cultivation, but changing size in a permanent fashion was not one of them. With the Courageous Heart Clan being quite easy to verify as about half the height of a normal human and bodies from those who had been slain being around normal size, only the most extremely paranoid would conflate the two. The problem was finding anyone with firsthand experience dealing with their illusions and surviving. At least, those who could describe how the techniques might work. There had indeed been juniors of illusion using groups who were killed, but they weren¡¯t so common that they¡¯d had one of the lucky few survivals. That was the biggest factor. It seemed that this group was well organized to the point of rarely failing, and nobody could point to an incident where their specific plans had been discovered in advance. And people still didn¡¯t know how to find them, despite the feel of their energy being known widely. ----- The best thing about wandering from city to city was stopping at roadside food vendors. At least, Chikere was a firm believer in that truth. Dumplings, sandwiches, pies, soups, noodles¡­ all sorts of different things were available. The good ones you could smell from far away while walking down the road. In fact, most quality could be spotted from a distance. Fine buildings, fancy clothes, good swords¡­ all usually discernible just from a single glance at any range. This particular place had several of those things. The building itself was just slats of wood almost randomly held together, but the smells coming from the back were divine. Only a few passers-by were stopped under the overhang when Chikere arrived, but it wasn¡¯t lunchtime. Well, it was lunchtime because she was about to eat, but not the normal time for a meal. This place happened to serve fish without smelling fishy. A tremendous accomplishment in Chikere¡¯s book. It did smell like frying oil, but that was something she considered good. She ordered a few filets when they got to her and wolfed them down. Delicious. Her eyes roamed to other patrons of the establishment. They settled on a well-muscled old man. But the person himself wasn¡¯t important. It was the sword at his side. Something was familiar about it. As she got close, she realized it looked like number ten. ¡°Excuse me sir. May I ask where you got your sword?¡± He looked over at her, grunting. ¡°Eh. Blacksmith and enchanter in Sarton.¡± Chikere waited for more details, but he was no more forthcoming than that. She simply nodded her head in thanks and began to walk away. It was like number ten. It wasn¡¯t the sword that the other one had been wielding when she got it, but it certainly was related. Forged by the same hand. The only question she had was whether number ten was the best the smith could do¡­ or if there were better available. With at least three similar in quality to number ten, she would bet the smith was capable of more. It was just a question of affording it. But she could sell the old number ten if she had to, and of course there were all of the other swords that had dropped out of the top rankings that she sold a few at a time. It wouldn¡¯t do to flood the market, but that also meant she had a constant influx of swords. Other weapons, too. It wasn¡¯t like only sword cultivators came after her head. Just mostly that type. They seemed to think she was showing off with all the swords hanging at her waist, and cultivators tended to be the arrogant sort. Some of them were smart enough to not actually try to kill her, though. She extended the same courtesy to them, if not to their pride. Sarton. It was as good of a target as any. It had been a while since she wandered through Ofrurg. She just hoped the border guards weren¡¯t the annoying ones that kept bugging her about where all the swords marked for the Eternal Sword Hall came from. There was really only one explanation, and they just wasted her time with the same questions over and over. ----- Natural formations were a strange phenomenon. A stick could represent a line or a more complex rune and fallen leaves could fill key positions, but for the most part larger trees and stones made up the majority of it. After all, if the wind blew and leaves fluttered away, it was hardly a formation but instead a random scattering of stuff. Only in rare cases were natural formations really much of anything. When they were self-reinforcing, made out of durable materials, they could last for a long time. Catarina knew that people first studied natural formations to understand the more formalized formations they had now. She could see why¡­ and she could also see why people didn¡¯t still do it. It was tedious to look at every little leaf in an area and hope that nothing changed to disturb a small change in the flow of energy before an assessment was complete. The trickiest thing was making something look natural while that wasn¡¯t the case. Elder Rana had indicated that most of the time it had little value, except for luring someone into an ambush- but hiding formation flags was often easier. And if someone was so attuned to the energy fluctuations anyway, they could pick out either kind if they were looking. Still, Catarina¡¯s first experience with formations had more involved the natural or semi-natural kind. It had been something of a miracle that she¡¯d been able to learn anything about formations in Carran. Her hometown hadn¡¯t been much of anything special, but a nearby library actually had a few manuals on cultivation. Obviously they had the Ninety-Nine Stars cultivation technique, but they had a few other things as well. That had gotten both her and Timothy started. As for why she¡¯d studied natural formations, she simply didn¡¯t have special materials. Created formations using natural objects wasn¡¯t technically a natural formation, but rearranging local objects was a reasonable replacement for anything with proper materials when it was required. Catarina now had the finances to make anything within a certain reasonable threshold, but she was still working on a formation making use of natural objects. It was strangely difficult to accomplish. Of course, Elder Rana reminded her that all of the anti-ascension energy formations were complex, and transferring them to a new medium was likewise going to be difficult. Yet it wasn¡¯t any harder than some of Everheart¡¯s formations. They could get pretty complex and difficult to manage¡­ with the capacity to go outside of the bounds of the user¡¯s intentions. They crossed the line into forbidden territory in several ways, and Catarina was always cautious with them. The biggest difficulty with the formations that were supposed to weaken ascension energy was testing them. Her grandpa wasn¡¯t always around, and though they could use other formations to emulate the energy, it was both high in effort and expensive. There was a certain sort of feeling a formation master eventually got for how something would work, but there were still small details that could benefit from testing. Catarina sighed. She hoped that she would have a long time before she needed these particular techniques. Or preferably, they wouldn¡¯t ever be needed at all. But that was probably just a nice dream. Chapter 216 Sometimes people were bad at giving directions. For example, if someone mentioned a blacksmith and enchanter in a particular city, that someone could have given a name or potentially even a section of the city. But not having that information, Chikere was left to figure it out herself. Fortunately, even a very large city like Sarton only had a few dozen blacksmiths throughout it. Those that were blacksmiths and enchanters were only a small portion, and they were the same who worked with all of the high quality materials. People who weren¡¯t cultivators hardly needed better materials than good steel for anything they were doing, and certainly not at the prices people had to charge. Since random people didn¡¯t necessarily know which blacksmiths also catered to cultivators, Chikere still ended up visiting a few of the regular smiths. Two of them didn¡¯t even have weapons at all, just a bunch of tools and crap like that. Totally uninteresting, if necessary. Some of the ones that did have weapons, however, were quite good. Even if the materials were just plain steel and without enchantment the swords were good. Not within the top one thousand she had seen, but still quite decent in their own right. Eventually Chikere decided she¡¯d gone to enough of the smiths she might as well see all of them. There were all different kinds of swords to look at with differences from tiny stylistic choices on the guard or grip to the difference between short curved blades and large double edged two handed swords. Chikere mostly used double edged swords, but there was no reason she couldn¡¯t use others if they were good enough. But none of them were. Not a single sword in the entire city was worthy of being in the top ten, and very few of them could be in the top one hundred of swords she had owned. Nothing rivalling something she¡¯d actually use¡­ or that even vaguely resembled the sword she¡¯d asked about. Her eye twitched. The man at the roadside stall had been a liar. All she wanted to know was where he got his sword and he sent her to the wrong city. On purpose. It had to be. Nobody would forget where they got a sword. ¡­ Okay, Chikere had to admit that perhaps some people wouldn¡¯t remember where they got a sword. But the flippant way the man had responded didn¡¯t do the man any favors. She was hoping she could find swords that matched the one she had taken, since it was so good, but the man had steered her wrong. There was something she was missing. The sword she¡¯d taken from her attacker and the sword that man had been wearing matched. Which meant if she could find other people with similar swords, she could track that guy down and make him apologize! Also, maybe they were attacking other people. She certainly hadn¡¯t recognized any of the ones she¡¯d met from the list of people she¡¯d antagonized. For some reason nearby people flinched as she pulled out her swords even though she obviously wasn¡¯t going to slash them. She pointed her swords vaguely south, where she had been wandering. ¡°I swear, flippant sword man, I¡¯ll find you!¡± What she would do when she found him was another thing. But she hadn¡¯t seen many people with swords like that. Just the two who attacked her- one who escaped- and the man by the road. It would be a bit silly of her to hope she¡¯d just stumble into them. She had to look for help. Who knew things? Oh, right! There was a sneaky organization that liked to find all sorts of things. Wasn¡¯t it the cat tails? No, that wasn¡¯t it. Dog nose? That was closer. Oh yes. The Ears of the Fox. They should have some sort of information. ----- ¡°I want to find people with swords like this,¡± Chikere held out the sword towards the woman who had come to meet with her. Since the sheath belonged with it, she didn¡¯t draw it out to show her, but Chikere dropped it into her hand when she held it out. ¡°You want to find a specific smith?¡± the woman looked over the sword very seriously, inspecting it up close. ¡°There are no maker¡¯s marks or anything of the like, as far as I can tell.¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not like it needs to be marked. Just find something that feels the same. It might not even be a sword.¡± ¡°I need to ask an important question here,¡± the woman said. ¡°What is your intent? Are you planning to collect weapons? Track down a certain smith? Find something stolen?¡± ¡°Yes. The first two, maybe.¡± Chikere tapped her chin, ¡°Oh, and maybe take revenge on the group who tried to kill me with this one.¡± ¡°These people,¡± the woman said. ¡°Did they use strange illusions?¡± ¡°Yes they did, actually. Do you know where to find them?¡± Chikere tilted her head, ¡°If you just know about them off the top of your head, it shouldn¡¯t be too expensive, right?¡± The woman working for the Ears shrugged, ¡°Knowing about them and knowing where to find them aren¡¯t necessarily the same. But perhaps we can work together for our mutual benefit. If I understand correctly, the people you are looking for are being looked for by many others as well. What about this sword makes it recognizable as theirs?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just got the right feel,¡± Chikere said. ¡°The other specs aren¡¯t all the same.¡± ¡°Would you recognize other types of weapons? Perhaps a dagger?¡± She nodded. ¡°Daggers are just really short swords.¡± ¡°Pardon me then,¡± the woman said. ¡°I¡¯ll be back momentarily.¡± She returned a short time later and spread out a small bundle of daggers in front of Chikere, on the table they were sitting at. ¡°Are any of these daggers-¡± ¡°This one,¡± Chikere picked up one of them. ¡°See?¡± she held up her sword next to it. ¡°I am sorry to say I can¡¯t find any striking similarities between them,¡± the information vendor said. ¡°The styles are quite different.¡± Chikere licked the sword and the dagger she had. ¡°No, they¡¯re definitely the same. They have that sharpness. Definitely the same enchanter.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Well,¡± the woman inclined her head. ¡°I have to say that at the very least¡­ you have some way to determine correctly. We can help you find them if you help us teach one of our specialists how to recognize what you do.¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± Chikere said. ----- It took more than a few days for the right specialist to show up, but Chikere was willing to wait. She¡¯d have barely even made it to the next town over and probably not spotted anyone. She¡¯d probably have to wait weeks to come across whoever she wanted by random chance. The Ears of the Fox should be able to help speed that up considerably, right? The specialist was an old man. His hands were rough and calloused from old labor, and he practically shone with enchanted equipment. Everything from a single earring he had to his gloves to his boots and everything in between was enchanted. It all had the same feeling, too. Though none of it had the sharp heart of a good blade. ¡°So,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Before I try to teach you how to recognize these things, how many people have you killed with a sword?¡± The old man took her strange question in stride, simply thinking for a few moments before responding. ¡°Twenty-seven.¡± ¡°Eh,¡± Chikere shrugged, ¡°Good enough for a start I guess. So here¡¯s the thing,¡± she pulled out the blade she¡¯d taken from the ambusher and showed it to the man right up close. He didn¡¯t even recoil, like most people did. ¡°Did you feel that? I can do it again.¡± ¡°Go ahead,¡± the man said, grinning lightly. Chikere swung the sword a few more times, back and forth. ¡°Its core really comes out when you swing it.¡± She flipped the sword over, holding it by the point. ¡°Give it a try.¡± The old man took a few swings, but Chikere stopped him. ¡°No no, it should have more¡­ oomph. Really kill that shadow person in front of you.¡± Chikere felt herself be cut in half vertically, as well as being sliced a dozen times horizontally. They were nice neat cuts, but they weren¡¯t efficient. Of course, the sword only actually swung next to her. ¡°That¡¯s pretty good,¡± she said. ¡°That sort of sharp killing intent, you know? And the enchantments. It¡¯s like a hidden killing intent. Like holding that sword, it might turn around and stab you at any point.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the man said. ¡°I feel it now.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s what makes it good enough to be number ten. And the other ones were like that too.¡± The man pulled out the dagger from before, dragging it through the air. ¡°Oho, indeed. I have the sense of it now. Yes, these were certainly made together.¡± ¡°Right?¡± Chikere said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s the same smith, but¡­ you know. They fit.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± the man nodded. ¡°Different smiths, different enchanters¡­ but one technique. They¡¯d hardly stand out to most people.¡± ¡°Pfeh,¡± Chikere said. ¡°That¡¯s just because most people can¡¯t recognize a good weapon if it¡¯s impaling them.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that the truth, though?¡± the old man laughed. ¡°Sharpness and durability are hardly relevant compared to certain intangible elements. I should have spotted this sooner. Thank you, Chikere.¡± ¡°No problem,¡± she said. ¡°What¡¯s your name anyway? I forgot to ask.¡± ¡°Stasiuk,¡± he said. ¡°Enchanter Stasiuk, generally. The Ears of the Fox have asked for my aid on this matter. Now that I have something to work with, it should significantly accelerate.¡± ¡°Great!¡± Chikere said. ¡°So how long do you think it will take to find them? A couple days, a week?¡± she frowned as she saw his face. ¡°Two?¡± He continued to smile widely. ¡°You greatly overestimate how quickly people who don¡¯t want to be hidden can be found.¡± ¡°Eh,¡± Chikere shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that. I¡¯d bet you if I wander around the area for a week or two they¡¯ll attack me again. For whatever reason.¡± ¡°Have they attacked you more than once?¡± he asked. ¡°No,¡± Chikere said, ¡°But nobody ever stops at just once.¡± ¡°For them to find you, they¡¯d have to know you were in the area,¡± Enchanter Stasiuk explained. ¡°Good point. Should I just go out on the street and yell that I¡¯m in town?¡± ¡°... if you are committed to this angle,¡± Stasiuk said, ¡°I think we could go with a more subtle approach.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Actually,¡± he leaned back slightly. ¡°How about this. You just stay in the area. Maybe go out into the woods hunting beasts or something. Don¡¯t loudly announce your presence though.¡± ¡°Good idea,¡± Chikere acknowledged, ¡°They probably won¡¯t attack me in the city.¡± ¡°I feel like I should be appropriately transparent,¡± Stasiuk folded his hands in front of him. ¡°You would basically be acting as bait for us. You¡¯ll likely be in great danger.¡± ¡°Can I be bait for you and me at the same time? Because I¡¯m fine if that¡¯s the case.¡± ¡°That¡­ shouldn¡¯t be a problem. And the danger?¡± Chikere shrugged, ¡°What are they gonna do, kill me?¡± Her eyes flashed, ¡°Because I¡¯m willing to bet they don¡¯t have enough people for that.¡± Enchanter Stasiuk leaned back, pondering. Considering she¡¯d already fought with the group once before, and that she should be aware of their expansive nature, he¡¯d have figured she would know they had enough people. But the confidence with which she spoke told him that his own estimations of her strength were somewhat lacking. ¡°Might I ask, young Chikere, how many people you have killed?¡± ¡°With swords?¡± she asked. ¡°Is it different?¡± ¡°I killed someone with my bare hands once,¡± she admitted. ¡°Let¡¯s see, it¡¯s been eight years¡­ three hundred and eleven?¡± Then she shook her head, ¡°Oh wait some of those were illusions. Three hundred even.¡± ¡°How many people in Essence Collection?¡± ¡°That was only the last couple of years, so¡­ twenty one.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a significant portion of a powerful sect.¡± ¡°Eh,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I¡¯ve only killed two or three Essence Collection cultivators from any particular sect. They seem to lose track of me after that.¡± Stasiuk was not so sure anyone could lose track of her, with a trail of bodies like that. While a powerful sect had more than just a few Essence Collection cultivators, each one was precious. They couldn¡¯t afford to lose one every few weeks. ¡°Well,¡± Stasiuk said. ¡°You should probably consider whether or not you want to follow through with that plan. Staying in one place for longer will give all sorts of people chances to catch up. Eventually you might be overwhelmed.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Chikere said. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s possible. I should bring backup. I wonder if Anton and the others are doing anything?¡± Chapter 217 Technically speaking, there was no need to try to draw out anyone if Chikere¡¯s method of detecting them was reliable. However, moving from one person to two people potentially randomly encountering someone still wasn¡¯t efficient. It might be possible for Enchanter Stasiuk to teach others, but the method was somewhat obtuse. Nor could it be guaranteed to work for everyone they wanted to find. If their method was discovered, it would be simple for people to hide their true weapons in a storage bag, or acquire weapons with different origins. The Ears of the Fox had another reason to not wait. Besides the fact that Chikere¡¯s method hadn¡¯t been tested extensively, the sooner they could get information the sooner they could sell it, and there were many people looking to buy. They even had a bit of a personal vendetta, since some of their junior members had been attacked as well. With Chikere¡¯s plan to draw people out involving members of the Order, it brought other factors into play. While their disciples could technically do whatever they wanted, the Order was also invested in keeping them alive. Beyond that, as a righteous sect they were invested in stopping the attacks as soon as possible even if it weren¡¯t going to affect their disciples directly. But if it was, they would want to take special precautions. The problem was figuring out a way to keep them properly safe without scaring off the would-be attackers. More than that, even if they managed to draw out a group, gaining any benefits from the operation was questionable. Killing a few enemy cultivators might be beneficial, but it wasn¡¯t necessarily worth the risks. What they needed was concrete information that could be used to unveil more people. ----- Author¡¯s note: The last time Elder Matousek showed up I accidentally was referring to her as male. Whoops! I guess that¡¯s what happens when someone doesn¡¯t show up for a hundred chapters. Should be fixed now. ----- Grand Elder Bohdana Matousek hadn¡¯t been present at the battle in Black Soul Valley. That hadn¡¯t been her choice, but at the behest of the Order as a whole. Even if she would have been able to sway the tide further in their favor, someone had to stay to defend the Order. She couldn¡¯t help but think that some of the others would have survived, or Vandale avoided injury, had she been present. But excessive dwelling on the past never benefited anyone. It was important to focus on the task at hand. Despite the Frostmirror Sect¡¯s location high in the mountains and the fact that many of their buildings were formed from ice, it was actually a rather pleasant temperature in the areas meant for visitors. With a bit of effort ice could be made not to melt until it was much warmer than the standard freezing point, making it easy to build with. Even though ice was effectively free, the Frostmirror Sect was not cheap. The ready availability of materials allowed them to make walls many times thicker than most, all bolstered by formations to enhance their durability. They were also intricately designed, with beautiful carvings all along the walls. It was one of the few non-practical things that the Frostmirror Sect allowed. Though perhaps it was practical in a way, to have defining features on the walls to keep every corridor from feeling the same. ¡°Still freezing the place?¡± the final arrival asked brashly. Elder Adelina of the Frostmirror Sect- still quite young despite her title and early Life Transformation cultivation- settled her eyes on the last woman. ¡°Sarka. Just because Glorious Flame Palace cultivators like to sweat does not make this particular temperature freezing. It is intentionally made to be comfortable for the widest variety of people.¡± The fact that Glorious Flame Palace and the Frostmirror Sect were working together didn¡¯t make them suddenly friends. But Matousek was glad that at least that was as far as the words went. There was one more woman present, a woman from the Ears of the Fox. Robinson. This particular group being all women was simply a coincidence, since men also liked to be in on plotting and planning for combat. Once they actually got started, there were quite a few ideas thrown around. Elder Sarka was of course more interested in a straightforward attack, but none of the members of Glorious Flame Palace were really suited for stealth. Their movements were generally obvious, and thus they were easy to avoid. Grand Elder Matousek didn¡¯t actually mind their straightforward nature, but sometimes it was unsuitable for a task. In this case, if they were going to put in so much effort they really needed to get something out of it. It wouldn¡¯t do just to risk the lives of their juniors. The entire plan was predicated on the probability that there would be another attack if a particular group remained in an area with high visibility for some time. The Ears of the Fox actually confirmed the likelihood of something happening in regards to Chikere. Some people just drew conflict to them, and she seemed to be one. Likewise, Anton from the Order also ran into a significant amount of trouble. Probably not as much as Chikere since he was more careful about making enemies of large sects, but he¡¯d ended up fighting off one of the attacks despite not being a target. The Ears of the Fox would be working to subtly spread the right amount of information about their presence, while concealing certain other things. The others would be responsible for supporting as they could. The exact strategy wasn¡¯t agreed upon quickly. Even after a few days, there were still many discussions. Though she was one of the oldest herself, Matousek had the feeling that older cultivators seemed to lose track of how much time was reasonable. Every day, there was probably another attack- just because so much time had passed already didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t worth being expedient. In between discussions new information came in. It wasn¡¯t exactly relevant to their current situation, but it was important news for everyone nonetheless. Another one of Everheart¡¯s ¡®tombs¡¯ had shown up. Normally that would have been news simply worthy of disseminating to junior disciples as a tempering opportunity, but this one caused an itching in the ears of the highest elders. It was supposed to be related to ascension, and even those who weren¡¯t at the peak of Life Transformation were still interested in that topic. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Perhaps it was some sort of awful joke. It was entirely possible that people would gather together with hopes of learning about ascension, only for there to be nothing available to them except a taunt. Yet nobody seemed to believe it would be just that. While Everheart might overstate or understate certain details about the various places he¡¯d made, the information he chose to reveal before the opening was never entirely incorrect. But that disruption was only temporary- there was more than a year until they had to deal with that, and Matousek really hoped their plan wouldn¡¯t take more than a few days to formulate. After that, it might take a month or more of hard work to actually make it come to pass, but at least they would be implementing instead of planning. ----- There were few concerns in Anton¡¯s mind about whether he would actually reach Essence Collection. It was normal to spend time stuck at the border. He had in front of him many fine examples of that. Chikere, for example, had spent around a full year at the peak of Spirit Building before breaking through, and she was one of the few anomalies that tended to cultivate even more quickly than his own group. Though on that topic¡­ Hoyt had broken through to Essence Collection as well. Anton would not have been surprised no matter who made the leap first, but the circumstances had been what surprised him. He¡¯d actually begun to spend time with his grandfather, Grand Elder Vandale, despite having avoided any interaction for the previous five years. He didn¡¯t think they hated each other or anything, but it was still a surprise. A welcome one, since Anton was all too aware that family could be taken for granted, even if they wouldn¡¯t always be around. Catarina, Timothy, and Velvet were all at the peak of Spirit Building like himself, though they¡¯d been there for longer. He had no doubts they would make the step soon enough. They had already been speaking with Hoyt about his experiences. Unfortunately, they couldn¡¯t just repeat what he did. Hoyt was quite a bit like his grandfather and had just forced his way over the gap. That wasn¡¯t impossible for any of the rest, and even Anton had more or less tried the same to reach Spirit Building, but it wasn¡¯t optimal for every cultivator. Generally, a cultivator could sense for themself if it would be dangerous to push forward. It wasn¡¯t cowardice to seek an easier path, but wisdom. Not everyone worked the same way, and simply filling up with energy and pushing, even if a cultivator avoided injuring themself, would leave some parts of cultivation almost incomplete. Usually it was related to insufficient insight, if Anton¡¯s information gathering was right. It didn¡¯t always have to be about some sort of combat style, and sometimes it was more about a mental hangup of a cultivator. It was possible to ignore such problems, but they could grow just as much as the cultivator themself. Anton was aware he wasn¡¯t perfect, but he couldn¡¯t pick out any specific issues about himself. Yet he could only seek out experiences to fill the gaps. Sometimes, those experiences were battles. ¡°I¡¯m glad Fuzz isn¡¯t coming with us,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Even if he would be useful. Wolves don¡¯t really do well around¡­ smelly creatures.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never had a problem with a skunk before,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Normally I wouldn¡¯t go near them, and they¡¯d avoid going near me. But a giant, rabid one¡­¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°Sounds awful.¡± ¡°How would something like that come into existence?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°There wasn¡¯t really information on it.¡± Anton had the answer for that easily enough, ¡°Not everything that develops in areas with high amounts of natural energy is nice. Creatures that are already unpleasant like mosquitoes, well, you know what happens with them. Skunks prefer to keep people away, but there¡¯s always the chance that they ate something tainted. Perhaps another creature, or a plant that developed rotten energy.¡± ¡°That can happen?¡± Chikere inquired. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard about it.¡± ¡°Well, cultivators don¡¯t bother to go looking for things like that,¡± Anton explained. ¡°Unless they¡¯re looking for poisons.¡± Chikere rolled her eyes. ¡°Poisons are for people who can¡¯t follow through with an attack.¡± Anton didn¡¯t use poisons himself, but for different reasons. When he had been a hunter, he wouldn¡¯t want to eat anything poisoned. As a cultivator, the time and effort to learn about and maintain a stock of poisons that would be relevant to his combats was just too much. He also didn¡¯t want to support any of the vendors of such things, since most didn¡¯t really care if poisons were used for nefarious means. Finally, Spirit Arrows weren¡¯t easily able to carry poison. He¡¯d lately begun to keep a stock of arrows with different properties, but since he would use poison irregularly he¡¯d either have to apply it mid-combat or worry about it losing its efficacy. ¡°There,¡± Velvet pointed. ¡°Tracks.¡± At the size of the creature they were looking for, everyone could easily spot the tracks- but whether they would recognize them as the target was a matter of practice. The front and rear paws were different on skunks, which made them an interesting target to track. They were currently moving through a wet pine forest, so the ground was plenty soft for a large creature to leave extremely visible prints in. Not long after, the wind shifted and they recoiled as an extremely foul smell washed over them. It wasn¡¯t just the smell, either. Anton felt his energy being eaten away by something. It was only a very small amount, like piddling bits of rain washing away at a mountain, but it was also extremely indirect. Not far from that, they spotted a wolf. Or at least something that had probably once been a wolf. There were a few claw marks, but it was mangled from much more than that. It almost looked like parts of it had melted¡­ and the smell was strongest on it. ¡°Ugh,¡± Chikere commented. ¡°Why is there a weird goop all around it?¡± Anton approached closer, his nose completely sealed by his energy and his defenses keeping away the lingering remnants of something awful. He bent down, looking closely. ¡°It seems to be a mixture of liquified fur, dead leaves, and bark. Plus some mud and blood.¡± He stood up. ¡°The decay patterns are unnatural, but if I¡¯m not wrong this should have been within the last day. We should be able to catch up to it soon. The sooner the better, since it shouldn¡¯t be able to spray an endless amount.¡± Anton really didn¡¯t like the idea of getting directly hit by whatever noxious gas had developed from a normal skunk¡¯s already extremely foul spray. The less it had, the better. They group picked up their pace, while keeping on the alert. They had been doing well not speaking about their actual target in the area. Chapter 218 As the hunting group approached their quarry, they found several more bodies. At least for the sake of their stomachs, it was fortunate that the creatures they found were just mostly devoured carcasses. At least they hadn¡¯t melted away, and it was more natural. Not that skunks naturally ate anything large like the boar in front of them. But then again, they usually weren¡¯t sufficiently larger than most forest creatures. Just being bigger or more dangerous wasn¡¯t the concern that prompted the mission Anton and the others were on. The creature was also more aggressive, and most concerningly it had attacked and killed some humans. Even cultivators, though the last group also escaped. They were the ones who actually brought in the information about it being a skunk, something that could be guessed from its tracks but not the other signs. ¡°Now remember,¡± Anton reminded everyone. ¡°We have to keep some distance between each other. Not too far though, and we have to keep our eyes out.¡± If any of them had merely overheard a story of what they were searching for without the proof of a paying mission, they would have completely discounted it. A creature normally more of an annoyance than a danger chasing away a group that even had Spirit Building cultivators, even those in the early part of the stage, was quite unbelievable. Their group was a little bit excessive given what they already knew, but sometimes a mission had to be chosen for being the best match, not necessarily a good one. It wasn¡¯t long before Anton finally spotted it. Since it was within eyesight, it was also well within the range of his attacks. ¡°There it is,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯d like to get closer. Its aura is strong enough that if I attack now and it chooses to run, we¡¯ll have some trouble catching up to it.¡± Ultimately, he was confident in shooting it down if he put in his best effort¡­ but he couldn¡¯t afford to expend so much of himself just for the skunk. Since the true mission was to be bait, they couldn¡¯t know when they might be attacked. Perhaps nothing would happen this mission, but that didn¡¯t mean he should allow himself to be exhausted. But looking like he was exhausted would be fine. Chikere was the only one who was not part of the normal group. Unlike in the the training tower in the secret realm, Devon was not with them. He was still somewhat lower in cultivation, and given what they knew about the attackers having him around would just be dangerous. As a clear weak link he would be a target, and more importantly he might come with more opponents. From the patterns that had been seen so far, the attackers tried to outclass each individual of note, though they hadn¡¯t been seen to have excessive numbers ever. Anton still had not fired a single shot by the time the group came close enough for it to properly be noticed by it. They¡¯d spread out to encircle it, though they were cautious of how they approached. By the time it acknowledged them, it had no easy way to run. But it didn¡¯t seem interested regardless. The creature was taller than any of them- and skunks were not tall, but long. Seeing a handful of humans, it was justified in having some confidence as it moved to attack the closest target. In this case, that was Chikere. Against humans, she was used to winning a battle quickly. By finding the right opening, she could easily split someone open with a focused attack. She narrowly dodged a swipe with its front claws, moving in close and slicing upwards towards its neck with her sword. Normally such an attack would be sufficient, but even though she properly judged how much energy she needed to cut through its defensive energy, her sword only left a thin trail of blood along its neck. Its fur was much tougher than she had anticipated. The creature was not just going to sit there and take attacks. It swiped with its claws, leaving large furrows in the ground and gouging out portions of trees. The rest of the group moved in for the attack, but it fended them off mainly by an aggressive offense. Even though its teeth were not large compared to its body, they were sharp- and it was large enough that its bites were mostly aimed for their heads. A variety of attacks rained down on the creature, damaging it but not defeating it. In return, it finally landed an attack of its own, swiping down towards Catarina. Instead of attempting to claw through her, however, it hooked behind her leg and tripped her with uncanny intelligence for a beast. In the moment she was down, it turned away from her, using its tail to push away everyone around like a great club. Then it sprayed a noxious green-yellow cloud of gas and liquid towards her. Catarina was already regaining her feet and pushing away, but it covered such a large area she wouldn¡¯t have been able to avoid it completely. Even so, it went far to either side of her as Timothy placed himself in front of her, his shield and energy deflecting the vile substance it sprayed. Even though it hadn¡¯t touched him directly, Timothy¡¯s face began to turn green. ¡°Careful! That stuff even sticks to energy!¡± There were a few things with strange properties of the sort. Normally a cultivator could simply retract their energy if something was on it, but when something actually attached doing so would only pull the attack into them. The other option that usually worked was to detach a portion of energy, but the cost of that depended on how deeply an attack had penetrated. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Even from where he was over a dozen meters away, Anton could smell the fresh spray. It wasn¡¯t so immediately sickening as it was on Timothy and Catarina behind him, but he didn¡¯t want to get anywhere close. He did have a new bow- he wasn¡¯t ready to attempt combat without an actual physical object to project his energy onto- but it was slightly less powerful than his previous one. Not much, and it was made up for by being thicker with more durability, but he had to focus his attacks more to penetrate the skunk¡¯s hide. While the creature turned to focus on Catarina and Timothy, the others took advantage of its limited ability to fight them all at once, even with claws, teeth, and a swinging tail. Its spray was finite in usability, so they mostly had to worry about the physical threats that they were more prepared to resist. Hoyt, Velvet, and Chikere cut into its sides after they recovered from the sweeping attack with its tail. They were starting to manage deeper wounds. Hoyt¡¯s flames charred wherever his axe sliced through, widening the damage. Before they could manage any lethal blows, however, the creature turned tail and ran with one final spray behind it. ¡°Don¡¯t chase it!¡± Anton called after Hoyt and Chikere, who were beginning to do just that. ¡°It¡¯s weak,¡± Chikere complained. ¡°We could just kill it now.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I¡¯d rather deal with it when it¡¯s even weaker. Those wounds aren¡¯t insignificant even for something of its size. And it will be easy to track it down.¡± Velvet backed him up, ¡°We can just follow the trail of its blood at a moderate pace. If we do that while it runs, it will be more tired at the other end than us.¡± ¡°And it will give us a chance to¡­ clean up a bit,¡± Anton looked over at Timothy and Catarina, who were currently puking out their guts nearby. The wind shifted and brought the fresh fumes towards them, though it didn¡¯t cling so much except when directly making contact. Making their way widely around the lingering presence of the noxious spray, they began to follow after the skunk. The pair who had been directly targeted began to look better, and the acidic effects hadn¡¯t injured anyone, though even Anton felt it tear away at some of his energy as he went past. It was good for them to have a few minutes to recover as they caught back up. ¡°Ugh,¡± Anton said as they nearly caught up to it. ¡°It escaped into its den.¡± There was a huge hole dug into a hillside. It seemed like it might be cosy to something the size of the skunk, but it would be spacious for them. Timothy sniffed the air, then looked down at himself. ¡°Are you sure? It doesn¡¯t smell any worse than¡­ us.¡± ¡°Skunks don¡¯t smell bad,¡± Anton explained. ¡°They don¡¯t spray their den. It¡¯s just as bad of a smell to them as to us. Or at least close.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the problem then?¡± Timothy asked. It wasn¡¯t a naive complaint, but a legitimate question. ¡°Cornered beasts can get even more vicious. If it has a family in there¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Well, let¡¯s just hope it doesn¡¯t. There was only a report of a single creature, though the activities of several could have been conflated.¡± Anton looked into the burrow, then nodded. ¡°Actually, we should just stay out here. I can sense it.¡± Everyone listened to his advice, gathering around while he created a Spirit Arrow, firing it into the den. There were a few twists and turns, making it an unusually long burrow, but the total length was less than a hundred meters. With how wide it was, the turning radius wasn¡¯t too bad as he zipped and twisted. Anton aimed for a weak point he¡¯d spotted during the battle. Beasts who could use energy generally didn¡¯t do more than create a layer of defenses over their whole body or occasionally focus on their offensive parts- claws and teeth- but they often had weak points where they subconsciously focused less energy. Usually that meant the spot wasn¡¯t a vital they wanted to protect, but that would do for Anton¡¯s purposes. He shot another arrow and then another into the same point, piercing through and digging deeper into the same point on the creature¡¯s side as it twisted around in its den, enraged. While some organs weren¡¯t immediately fatal, any wound that went deep enough was dangerous and Anton was focusing on just the single point. By the time he¡¯d fired the fourth shot, the creature was charging out of the den with a strange hissing growl noise far removed from normal skunk noises. When it reached the opening of the den, the creature suddenly stopped- spraying dirt and rocks into the faces of those in front of it. Instead of spinning around like Anton anticipated, it lifted itself up and bent backwards, aiming towards them in an entirely unexpected way. Everyone was prepared enough to scatter, but the spray was wide enough that most people got at least a little bit on them, which had a lingering smell along with the corrosive effect. The exception to those who dodged was Chikere, who sliced apart the spray as a means of defense. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but in the same motion she carved into the relatively soft belly of the creature. Her return stroke widened the same wound before any energy defenses could be summoned to protect the creature. Anton was further back and only had to dodge a small amount before firing a final two arrows. One went through Chikere¡¯s slash into the creature¡¯s inside and pierced its heart, and the other went wide into the woods to his left. That was the point at which a dozen figures revealed themselves on all sides of the group, auras at late Spirit Building and Early Essence Collection flaring up in equal measure. It seemed their plan to be bait might have even been too effective, since there was one mid Essence Collection aura as well. Outnumbered and surpassed in cultivation, Anton really hoped that they were being watched over as promised. Chapter 219 The battle broke out quickly, with the hidden attackers having presumably been waiting for the group to drop their guards after the defeat of the giant skunk. However, Anton had been fortunate enough to notice one of them hiding towards the end of the battle. His attack had done little but alert his companions to the presence of enemies, but it was sufficient to negate some of the element of surprise. That was enough for others to react to a flurry of arrows and darts. The location of the cave minimized the angle of attack to a semicircle instead of from every direction, which allowed Timothy to block several attacks aimed for himself and Hoyt. Chikere deflected incoming projectiles with her mass of swords. Catarina managed to dodge the few attacks aimed at her. The only person injured in the assault was Velvet, who had a dart pierce into her shoulder. The size of the projectile wouldn¡¯t contain much of a wound, but Anton felt the poison on all of the other weapons. Everyone had a different response, but the strangest one was from their infrequent companion Chikere. ¡°What the hell?¡± she shouted out into the woods. ¡°Not even a single sword? What¡¯s wrong with you people?¡± Somehow she seemed legitimately angry, as if personally affronted¡­ and not as if people just attempted to murder her. Though her physical response followed the latter. Her aura sharpened even further as she charged towards the nearest opponent hiding in the forest, and she began cleaving her way through enemies. Anton recognized that most or probably all of those she was cutting down were illusions, but he wasn¡¯t sure if she cared- or how to convey the information in a timely fashion. For his own part he was busy dealing with onrushing enemies that he was more certain weren¡¯t illusions. The initial volley of attacks had involved many participants, but it seemed most of the enemy didn¡¯t specialize in ranged combat. From what he saw, none of them were as good as the archer he had defeated, but that didn¡¯t give him confidence. After all, they were just a half-second away from melee range even as he fired shots at them and moved to close with Catarina and Velvet. Catarina was throwing formation flags around the area as quickly as she could while avoiding incoming attacks. The first person to try to knock one out of position as they approached was met by a swift slash of her sword, forcing them away. Anton was already being hounded by three opponents and just managing to hold them off as he approached. Unfortunately¡­ Velvet had fallen to the ground, her energy weakening. He wished he could do something for her, but he had neither the skills or medicines, nor the opportunity to assist. Timothy and Hoyt pressed forward after Chikere, joining her assault on the half-dozen enemies on the other side of the battle. Chikere was immediately locked in battle with another Essence Collection cultivator and a late Spirit Building cultivator. The matchup was similar for Hoyt, while Timothy was simply defending against an opponent similarly at peak Spirit Building. Though they had not all fallen in the initial attack like had been the intent, Anton and the others were still on the back foot. Worryingly, the mid Essence Collection cultivator was not participating in the combat besides firing additional poisoned darts from a blowgun. Though his skill was inexpert, his energy helped make up for that lack. Catarina had somehow managed to get a tight formation setup, allowing herself and Anton to hold off the cultivators on their side, at least for a few moments. One of them dashed past Anton, and he was unable to stop them because one of the Essence Collection cultivators intercepted him. Anton¡¯s eyes flashed as he twisted his right hand axe to parry an incoming spear thrust. He knocked it away and followed through with the axe in his left hand, swinging for the chest of his opponent. Instead of dodging, his opponent simply took the hit directly, relying on her superior cultivation and energy. That would have been the right move, if not for the sort of energy Anton¡¯s axe carried with it. His weapon bounced off directly, not even cutting through her defensive energy, let alone her armor. Yet the woman recoiled anyway, clutching her chest with one hand. Even if he had used the maximum amount of post-ascension energy he could draw upon at once, Anton was unsure if he could have injured a well-prepared Essence Collection cultivator. At the very least, she wouldn¡¯t have just taken the attack head on. But he had learned to disentangle the two types of energy he was technically drawing on. The most obvious and impressive was indeed the energy from beyond ascension. It was overbearing and forceful¡­ which was why it had so easily made him overlook the other energy. It was energy from beyond death, and not simply another well of energy to draw upon but another kind of energy. A sort of energy even more immaterial than the other types, to the point it almost didn¡¯t seem to exist. But its effects could be very real, when the situation called for it. Anton had been hoping to slice his opponent¡¯s heart or lungs in two with that attack. Cultivators rarely had much in the way of internal defenses, but through a combination of his opponent¡¯s instincts to defend at the last moment and his own inexperience he only managed to harm some ribs and muscle with what felt like minimal damage to the actual organs. The woman who ran past him was wielding a warhammer. Practically sized, but with sufficient weight to crush whatever the blunt side impacted. Anton couldn¡¯t look away from his opponent, but a portion of his senses lingered on Velvet as the hammer swung down. The sudden movement and cursing filled Anton with elation, as he sensed Velvet rise to her feet and the woman stagger back. It wasn¡¯t hard to pick out a dart stabbed into the woman¡¯s wrist, though she¡¯d dodged the follow-up swipe by Velvet¡¯s black dagger. Velvet¡¯s movements weren¡¯t as quick as they should be, which told Anton her fall hadn¡¯t entirely been a ploy. However, it seemed she¡¯d managed to remove the poison before it caused too much damage, simply making it seem as if she was fully affected. He would chastise her for nearly causing him a heart attack, but they had to do whatever worked to protect themselves here. There were supposed to be protectors watching, but they were still fending for themselves. Had they somehow been drawn away? Were they betrayed? Anton didn¡¯t like any option he could think of, but it seemed they would have to manage this fight alone. Catarina¡¯s formation supported her, Anton, and Velvet but the other three were on their own. Though they were seemingly doing fine. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ----- In the few moments since the battle had started, the whole copse of trees where the others fought had caught on fire. The thing that appeared to be most on fire was Hoyt, but given his lack of concern it was clear he wasn¡¯t truly on fire. It was more like he was the fire. Everywhere he and his axe moved left behind a trail of fire. Trees ignited nearly instantly from the heat of fire produced by an Essence Collection cultivator. Yet it didn¡¯t burn Timothy or Chikere, only keeping their opponents at bay. Though Chikere didn¡¯t take advantage of Timothy¡¯s protection or the zone Hoyt had created, instead charging forward to attack. The battlefield constantly shifted as foes appeared and disappeared, but Chikere cut through every place that anyone- illusion or person- had been as long as it came within her reach. She dodged incoming spear thrusts and darts by the narrowest of margins. Arms reached out to grapple her, but she sliced into the joints in the armor while avoiding being touched. Some of the blood that sprayed out was likely even real. Then her companions disappeared from her senses as she was dropped fully into a world of illusion. There was no pretense made about it, as she was cut off from the feeling of the ground beneath her feet and the trees and even the air. That included the lingering remnants of the stench from the giant skunk. She continued to hold in her mind the positions of all of the opponents she¡¯d seen, real or not. If she moved in a particular manner, they would move like this. It would only work for a moment, but as she spun her swords around her she felt for feedback of any kind. Swords were the one thing she was confident wouldn¡¯t betray her. Given her inability to directly sense incoming attacks, Chikere felt she was doing well at the current moment. She only had a few scrapes on her face and neck, and along her ribs. Oh, and someone had severed some muscles in her right arm, rendering it useless. But she still had nine swords at the ready. She retreated back towards where her friends and allies had been. She felt a comforting heat in the area, and knew Hoyt was still present. And presumably aware of her on some level, since she wasn¡¯t having to resist his energy. Chikere hated retreating, but she recognized when she had to. There was only one more enemy that had popped up behind her that she had to cut down. Her sword slashed out, ready to take off his head. But the sword she held in her left hand stopped before it touched skin, and the others stabbed on all sides around the man in front of her. She seriously hoped that nobody had killed Timothy and taken his sword, or she would be dead. But she felt a comforting hand on her back before the pair of them were suddenly forced back, a powerful energy scattering off of Timothy¡¯s shield but not completely negated. From the impacts she was pretty sure they went through two trees along the way, though one might have been a tall boulder. Chikere felt a moment of concern for Timothy, but the way he disentangled himself from her and held his sword in a firm stance told her he was at most minimally injured. Perhaps it had even been his direct intention to disperse the force in several pieces rather than all at once. ----- The other side of the battle was still holding on. Anton had made use of both types of special energy twice, though only one of his three attacks managed a significant injury. That was enough to keep them in the battle but their opponents were gradually wearing them down with superior numbers and cultivation. As one of the Essence Collection cultivators shoved Anton with a shield he was thrown off balance, almost moving into another attack. But his companions weren¡¯t idle either, and a moment later Anton smelled the most foul thing he¡¯d ever smelt. Well, he smelled more of it. He couldn¡¯t imagine what the actual targets were going through as Catarina pulled every ounce of the skunk¡¯s spray into a sweeping vortex. Had that been the purpose of the formation all along, and not the enhancing of their speed? No, she¡¯d simply adjusted it on the fly, making use of the nearly forgotten feature. Even the Essence Collection cultivators looked sick, while one of the Spirit Building enemies was puking his guts out despite the danger. Another one didn¡¯t have the chance, as a moment of hesitation was enough for Velvet to slice his throat and stab him between two ribs. Anton was off balance so he couldn¡¯t take similar advantage, but he at least managed to get to better positioning. ----- Timothy stood up, sword held out in front of him. He was absolutely certain that Chikere was susceptible to the enemy¡¯s illusions. Even if she only expended a small amount of energy when her attacks connected with nothing real, it was still wasteful and unfitting for someone of her skill. He¡¯d thought for a moment that he might die when she turned towards him and readied her blades. A moment later he thought they might both die from the mid Essence Collection cultivator barreling forwards and punching with an oversized gauntlet¡­ but he¡¯d managed to block it. The second one was going to be more difficult though. He freed himself from Chikere and the other body that had gone with them unwittingly, glad she had impaled the opponent he hadn¡¯t quite recognized as being present. He could at least hold on for one more attack to give her a chance. The world slowed down as he watched the figure barreling towards him. He felt the power and knew he couldn¡¯t match it. His own energy was just weaker. Blocking an attack wasn¡¯t just about raw power, though. It was about redirection. He just had to manage something that was close enough to slow the man. He breathed deeply, feeling the energies of everyone around him. Chikere and Hoyt were both in Essence Collection. The rest of them hadn¡¯t yet reached it, but he still noted the way his companions were approaching the threshold. If Timothy were knocked back once more, Chikere would find herself vulnerable. If she fell, Hoyt would be in trouble, and Anton, Velvet¡­ Catarina. He didn¡¯t want any of them to die. What was the right move? He didn¡¯t really have time to think, but instead let his body move on its own. His shield tilted back, just slightly, his stance low. It was only a small step from taking the attack head on, but something about it felt right. The incoming energy was only a moment away from impacting his own, but at least his opponent was confident enough to meet him head on instead of trying to avoid his shield. When the attack hit, everything cracked. Timothy¡¯s shield cracked. His arm cracked. Energy blasted deep into his body, shattering ribs and other bones he¡¯d forgotten he had. Some of his organs split, but as the energy pierced deeper more of him cracked. His eardrums went more or less last, as an explosion of energy echoed out from deep inside him and reverberated in all directions. At least his eyes still worked, and he was just able to make out the man somewhere in the air above him before he found himself buried in the ground. Chapter 220 Buried into the ground up to his neck, Timothy circulated his energy throughout his broken body. He was beginning to understand now, how things changed in Essence Collection. It would have been nice to reach his current level of understanding sooner, but that was just how things were. As his energy circulated through his body, it began to change. It became powerful, durable, lasting. The energy of Essence Collection would always be stronger than the levels below it, but the way in which it was stronger differed between cultivators. The traits Timothy was imbuing into his energy were what he wanted. What he needed. He picked himself up out of his hole, holding his broken bones in place with his energy. His energy didn¡¯t transform all at once, but even if it had with his body in the state it was he wasn¡¯t going to make up the difference in power compared to his opponent. But he didn¡¯t have to do that all on his own. Chikere came to stand next to him, her eyes closed. It seemed she was still under the effects of the illusion- in fact, it seemed that having found her susceptible they focused it on her and barely bothered to try to confuse Timothy or Hoyt. He was more certain that was the case with every moment, as his senses began to clear. He didn¡¯t have long to think about what was happening as the mid Essence Collection man landed and charged forward once more, doubtless ready to finish crushing Timothy with his fist weapons. There wasn¡¯t much to be done about that, since Timothy had barely stopped the last one. But he held his sword and shield ready, tilting the point of his sword to stab out towards his opponent. If he couldn¡¯t stop him, he might as well try to injure him. At the very instant his sword began to move, Chikere flashed past him, looking much like a prickly bush of swords. Most of her attacks went wide as the man halted his momentum, sending dirt flying everywhere. There was a strange moment where nothing was happening, but as Timothy stepped forward to stand next to Chikere he found she was only idly attacking. She didn¡¯t know where the target was, after all¡­ yet she¡¯d so precisely charged the man in front of them he found it difficult to believe. Seeming to find Chikere¡¯s an unacceptable threat, the mid Essence Collection cultivator spun on his heel, kicking towards her with reinforced greaves. Timothy couldn¡¯t reach his shield over to Chikere¡¯s side, so he did his best to parry with his sword. Then Chikere was once more a flurry of movement, blades slicing out and up in an almost undodgeable wall of swords. Timothy was embarrassed it took him so long to realize what was happening. Chikere was a sword cultivator, and while she said she could sense any sword nearby no matter what, that wasn¡¯t the sort of thing normal people took seriously. It sounded like an exaggeration. But as the enemy cultivator drew back from Chikere¡¯s attacks, Timothy changed his parry into a pathetic attempt at a slash towards him. His attack was too slow to matter, but Chikere charged forward following his movements. A few moments later, the battle was a strange dance where Timothy was moving his sword as a sort of conductor¡¯s wand, directing Chikere while not even being close to the enemy himself. Though he wanted with every fiber of his being to protect his friends and companions, he was aware his body and remaining energy weren¡¯t up to the task. Timothy wished he could sense Hoyt¡¯s fight, but that section of the battlefield was hidden from his senses. He could only hope his friend was doing well, because despite Chikere¡¯s skill with the sword, it was greatly blunted by having no awareness of her opponent¡¯s weapons. The only saving grace was that her nine swords focused together to cover the whole area in front of her, and the Essence Collection cultivator was finding it difficult to attack her without leaving himself vulnerable to his arm or leg getting chopped off- or just being fully impaled. As he tried to circle around, Timothy turned and swept his sword. Chikere¡¯s movements weren¡¯t always of the same magnitude he wanted, but he began to apply energy to his sword as if he were actually attacking, and she responded to that intensity. It was only a short time before the Essence Collection man had circled around her entirely, and then he broke forward to attack Timothy. The only thing he could think to do was flip his sword around, hoping that Chikere would take the signal and move towards him. He wasn¡¯t quite confident enough to spin around and show his back. She moved with great speed, but he wasn¡¯t sure if she was fast enough. Blindly running across an uneven forest floor slowed her down somewhat. Time seemed to slow as the man approached. Then there was a *clink* sound as Chikere¡¯s swords hit the man. Then they did it again and again. ----- A young man¡¯s eyes lit up as he sensed a powerful energy from the other side of the battlefield. ¡°Finally!¡± he shouted. Since he no longer had to be stealthy, he threw away all pretense of that in one glorious motion. His powerful legs threw him into the air, his limbs shimmering as they became more akin to burning fires than actual arms. As he landed fire exploded around him, though he did his best to avoid scorching some of those on the battlefield. Mostly that was because he landed with one of the enemies between himself and the person he was currently helping out. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The woman with the warhammer was obviously surprised at his appearance. After all, nobody expected a member of the Glorious Flame Palace to actually be stealthy. Truth be told, Anish was merely the closest thing they had. He was able to keep himself calm and low intensity on the outside, when he really had to. Though on the inside he¡¯d been building up pressure, and he released all of that at once as he screamed and breathed a gout of fire over the enemy at the same time. The addition of a fresh Essence Collection cultivator was a sudden shift in the tides of battle, and with one of their members immediately defeated the attacking group hesitated a moment too long before they thought to retreat. Anish caught two of the remaining four around the neck, pulling them against his flaming body. When they tried to impale him with their weapons he just laughed. Stabbing fire wasn¡¯t of much use. Though nothing was impossible for cultivators, Anish made sure they didn¡¯t think he was hurt. They were a bit busy with trying to escape his grip and not be turned into piles of ash to properly inspect if they¡¯d actually damaged the fire man with their attacks. Just as he liked it. They could both turn to nothing. They already had what they needed. One of the group actually managed to break away from melee combat. Anish wasn¡¯t ready to give chase, and none of the others were in the state to do so either. But the old man among the group swiftly pulled out a bow. A different bow than the one he¡¯d used at the beginning of the battle. He sure took his time drawing it though. The final fleeing opponent was beyond the treeline before the bow was pulled back to the man¡¯s ear, and he still didn¡¯t take the shot. He continued to build energy though. Anish was certain that the old man wasn¡¯t an Essence Collection cultivator, but he couldn¡¯t help but swallow as he thought about facing the attack. If only it hadn¡¯t been so unfortunately slow, he might have killed the survivor. Why wasn¡¯t that woman giving chase? They really didn¡¯t want any escapees here. Then Anish got it. Because shortly after Anish could no longer sense the fleeing cultivator, the old man took his shot. The twang of the bow hurt his ears, and the arrow¡­ disappeared. At least, his eyes couldn¡¯t track it- though his energy senses followed it for a distance before he also lost it. Then he felt a brief flash as it impacted. From the look on the man¡¯s face, Anish could only conclude it was a success. The old man turned to him. ¡°Hello again Anish. Good to see you.¡± Anish knew the old man, but his brain took a moment to conflate all of their meetings. The last time was in the secret realm. There had been a huge incident there, and it involved the rest of the cultivators present as well. Then before that had been at Everheart¡¯s Tomb. That was the one that took him a moment to realize. Certainly the old man there had been an anomaly since it was supposed to be for new cultivators, but Everheart could make whatever decisions he wanted. The old man hadn¡¯t tried to trick him or anything, so Anish didn¡¯t care. Anish grinned, ¡°Hey. This time, I actually got to fight. Imagine that, huh?¡± ----- ¡°Can you stop her?¡± came a calm voice from beside Timothy as Chikere¡¯s swords continued to strike the frozen statue in front of her. ¡°She might actually shatter him.¡± Timothy¡¯s eyes flicked between the woman besides him and the man encased in a thin sheet of what must have been extremely sturdy ice. He quickly twirled his sword and sheathed it. Chikere didn¡¯t lower her weapons, but she stopped attacking. ¡°Thank you,¡± said the woman. The fog on Timothy¡¯s senses cleared, and he first felt Hoyt with two more ice statues¡­ and half of one. Chikere¡¯s face twitched, then she opened her eyes, actually focusing on the features around her. ¡°Frostmirror Sect, right?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°You¡¯re late?¡± ¡°Were we?¡± the woman Timothy was fairly certain was Elder Adelina showed no expression as she responded to that remark. ¡°I do not believe so. Any delay was merely because of the difficulty of freezing someone from inside out, energy and all.¡± On the other side of the battlefield, Timothy felt Anton. The others were there as well, but their energies had all settled down as the battle was ending. But Anton fired a shot into the distance. Timothy would bet he hit, too. He didn¡¯t like his chances with blocking that even if he was at full power. ¡°Come then,¡± said Elder Adelina. ¡°It seems one of your companions could use some assistance.¡± Timothy creakily turned his body. A lot of bones were broken and he was just holding himself in place with energy, so he preferred not to make any swift moves now that he didn¡¯t have to. As he watched, Elder Adelina walked over to Velvet¡­ and encased her in ice. ¡°Oh come now, don¡¯t give me that look,¡± she said to everyone around her. ¡°She¡¯s in a protective stasis like the others. She got the largest dose of poison of any of you. I assume if you had a way to help her with that you would have already done so.¡± ¡°... is it safe?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Safer than leaving her as she was,¡± Elder Adelina replied. ¡°And unlike these few over here, I didn¡¯t freeze her core so her cultivation should not be damaged.¡± Everyone was so exhausted they didn¡¯t have a retort for that. Anish seemed to have disappeared off into the distance, but he came back not long later carrying a body. ¡°Well I¡¯ll be damned,¡± he said. ¡°You actually hit.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t waste my energy for nothing. Not when we could be attacked again.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t be,¡± Elder Adelina confirmed. ¡°Unless there are spare fools who wish to die. Now all of you should deal with your various wounds.¡± Then she sniffed. She stomped the ground, creating a small crater, then gradually filled it with ice. ¡°And bathe. Anish, melt it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have to take orders from you,¡± he said testily. Then he sniffed. ¡°But they could use the bath.¡± Of course, it would take more than just water to clean off the musk of the giant skunk, but there were options available to the cultivators. They could at least lessen the smell somewhat before returning to the city. And they certainly needed to treat their wounds. Cuts and stabs were everywhere, but Timothy wondered if he could just get someone to carry him back to town, since there weren¡¯t any parts of him that weren¡¯t at least a little broken. Chapter 221 Beyond just the single success near Sarton, some other members of the same group were found and successfully captured. That was harder than it sounded, because even though the group hadn¡¯t yet figured out that their weapons gave them away their members were often skilled and more importantly extremely unwilling to be captured. If a cultivator was willing to give up their life, it was only a small effort to tear themselves apart with their own energy. Most wouldn¡¯t, unless they expected to be subjected to extreme torture, because everyone seemed to want to live. Yet they seemed to have little regard for their lives. It wasn¡¯t impossible for a cultivation sect to have dedicated groups of fanatics willing to give up their lives for something, but usually it didn¡¯t go so far. It wasn¡¯t a surprise though. Even back in Black Soul Valley they had been willing to sacrifice themselves to empower a formation pushing one of their members towards ascension. For those same reasons, interrogating them was difficult. Even if their energy was restricted from leaving their bodies, they could still kill themselves easily enough. Only if their energy was completely drained- or if it was frozen- could anything progress in that area. Doing either of those was not so simple, and required someone of a significantly higher rank and usually a bit of stealth. Elder Adelina of the Frostmirror Sect was in early Life Transformation, but even she took some time and the element of surprise to be able to freeze the energy of the mid Essence Collection cultivator that had been fighting on Chikere, Hoyt, and Timothy¡¯s side of the battlefield. So far, he was the highest cultivation person that had been captured- and even if the group didn¡¯t know how they were being discovered, they quickly enough learned they were being pursued and began to hide themselves even more carefully. The interrogation process by the alliance of cultivators was long and slow. Regardless of whether or not ethics were considered, prying useful information out of a cultivator with torture was rarely possible. As many of those they captured were practitioners of illusory techniques, it was difficult to gain information through those methods as well. But slowly they pulled bits and pieces of information out of the captives. The first few times they were nearing useful answers, their prisoners died in rather violent explosions, even without access to their own energy. After that, they were more careful with their interrogations and eventually managed to discover formations carved into the very souls of their captives. That meant if they were close to revealing sensitive information, their souls would be torn apart and they would die along with their memories. But once such formations were known about, they could be studied and counteracted. ----- The more Catarina interacted with the soul killing formations, the more she realized how far the hole of forbidden techniques went. She was only at the far edge of interacting with the process, allowed to study what was learned but only under strict supervision. Just thinking about modifying the very core of a person, especially for reasons that clearly weren¡¯t in their own best interests, sickened Catarina. Interacting with another person¡¯s soul on the level where the formations could be sensed and properly observed was another level of forbidden technique all on its own. Trying to unravel the formations without causing it to activate in any way- whether the intentional fully destructive method or anything else- was quite difficult, even for Elder Rana and the other formation masters involved. Catarina wasn¡¯t considered a true master herself yet, and she found it difficult to make sense of how some of it worked. The formations were easier to unravel on the weaker members, but they also had less information. The only concrete information was an actual name for their group- the Twin Soul Sect. There was some speculation as to why they would be called that, but delving into knowledge of cultivation techniques was harder. The more complex information was, the harder it was to get someone to say it either through coercion or subterfuge. They didn¡¯t actually have twin souls, but a careful inspection revealed that each member had two cultivation techniques. The one they displayed to the world, and the dark, often illusory related technique that they all made use of. That information was discovered by capturing some of their members who held weapons from the same maker, before they had revealed any other form of connection. Interrogations of such people were done cautiously in case they turned out not to be connected to the same group- but only one actual mistake was discovered. One man in particular had managed to survive one of their attacks and found that their weapons were better than his own. When the man- Jameel- found out why he had been captured, he gladly gave up all the information he had. He was reluctant to allow an in-depth look at his soul, but with the solemn vow that nothing would actually be done to him as long as he was not a member of the enemies, Jameel accepted and was declared clean. The various sects provided reparations to him in the form of cultivation resources. Perhaps that might not fully make up for being captured and interrogated, but he was just a member of a sect of mediocre power and wasn¡¯t willing to raise too much of a fuss after at least being compensated. With the information gained from the others, techniques to determine members of the Twin Soul Sect were being developed one piece at a time. It was hoped that they would be complete before the group discovered the full measure of what was happening and went completely underground¡­ but if it was possible to sense their true cultivations, they couldn¡¯t really hide permanently. Even if they managed it, the attacks would be forced to stop. But such things weren¡¯t accomplished in just a week or a month, and the research still continued. ----- Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Though some might have liked to keep quiet the news of Everheart¡¯s tomb- which tantalizingly offered information related to ascension- since Everheart himself clearly didn¡¯t want that, the news spread. There wasn¡¯t just one place that notifications of the tomb¡¯s opening came from, but all around the continent. As for the location¡­ it seemed to be everywhere. At the very least, many places claimed to be an entrance to it. As far as anyone could tell, they all seemed equally legitimate. Which is to say, being related to Everheart¡­ all highly suspicious and seemingly powerful. With many locations all promising access to the same place, nobody was in control of who entered. Though generally nobody was allowed to restrict access to such places, an alliance of sects in control of a given country might conspire to keep out certain enemies. But with at least a dozen different locations toted as the entrance, none of them better than the others, it was impossible to restrict access to any specific group. If they could not go one place, they would find somewhere that wouldn¡¯t reject them. Even universally reviled sects like the Flying Blood Cult would be able to arrive at some of the more remote locations without being spotted. It had to be assumed that Twin Soul Sect members would be coming as well, though picking them out might be more difficult. The various bits and pieces of information about that weren¡¯t public knowledge, but instead only known to the Order, Frostmirror Sect, Glorious Flame Palace, and a few others including the Ears of the Fox. The Ears of the Fox fully intended to sell or otherwise distribute the information to others, but given that they couldn¡¯t be fully sure who to trust they were still holding out on that so as to not alert the Twin Soul Sect. One of the various entrances was more or less smack dab in the middle of the Order. Unlike many of Everheart¡¯s other tombs, this had not been hiding in a plateau or under a dry lakebed, posing as an otherwise inconspicuous location. At least not in the same way. Because instead of opening up, a structure actually came out of the ground¡­ right under a farmer¡¯s house. The entire farming family had been out in their fields when it happened, and then their home was just¡­ up in the air, atop another building. That was unfortunate for them, but they reported it to local authorities- and just everyone in the nearby towns who would listen to their crazy story- and the Order quickly got word. Though getting a house down from atop the flat structure that had pushed itself out of the ground was not simple, retrieving everything from inside was rather simpler. While it wouldn¡¯t be quite the same, a replacement home was being built. The land it was on was still occupied by the new structure, and the Order couldn¡¯t make any promises as to whether it would be usable again in the future. That would depend entirely on what happened with the tomb. ----- Each Everheart was different. The one in the middle of Graotan was a portly man with a huge cask of ale strapped to his back, constantly drinking from a mug in his hand. Even so, Anton heard he¡¯d been extremely helpful and informative. Concerningly so, given Everheart¡¯s proclivities for being unpleasant. He had given the information that ¡°a few thousand¡± people could enter through the particular entrance in Graotan. Beyond that, he¡¯d also informed people that they could be stuck inside the tomb for several months, and that they would need to bring supplies for that time. And of course there were those same words thrown about again and again. ¡°Ascension,¡± the figure said as he gestured with his mug. ¡°You all want to know about it. It¡¯s just about time, too.¡± A drunk Everheart grinned, ¡°You¡¯ll be¡­ surprised.¡± Anton didn¡¯t like the sounds of that, but from his experience he knew that Everheart wasn¡¯t evil, or even truly malicious except against those who came into conflict with him. ¡°Senior Everheart, there¡¯s no limit on who can enter?¡± someone in the crowd standing nearby asked with obviously strained politeness. ¡°None at all. As long as everyone can fit in the building, it doesn¡¯t matter. Fun for all ages!¡± Everheart¡¯s projection downed his mug, sloshing some of it onto his shirt. ¡°More fun for quick studies though. I like geniuses.¡± Unlike many times with similar events, most of the cultivators around were from the Order or otherwise local to Graotan. Anton could tell some weren¡¯t from the area, but as long as people were on good relations with Graotan access wasn¡¯t restricted in any way. Notably missing were most people from Ofrurg, but for most of the country there was a closer entrance regardless. Only somewhat western located sects like the Grasping Willows were present. Likewise, there were cultivators from eastern Ambati, southern Estary, and northern Droca. Most countries didn¡¯t have a centrally located entrance. Unlike Graotan, many other countries had two or three entrances scattered about. There was no clear pattern that had been found, except that they were generally similar distances apart. At least it seemed that Everheart hadn¡¯t predicted where countries would be centuries after his death, just placing entrances to this place wherever he could. Usually somewhere remote, though one appeared in what had become a bustling city in Estary. It probably wouldn¡¯t have been easy to keep it a secret while building them, but once they were placed underground¡­ they could have stayed there the whole time without any fuss. By the amount of earth they brought with them, the entrances also hadn¡¯t been shallow. Perhaps hundreds of meters or more deep in the earth, beyond the range of the senses of even Life Transformation cultivators, unless they had reason to look underground at the exact spot the entrance was located. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s time,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Everyone in! Hurry up!¡± he clapped his hands. ¡°I haven¡¯t got all day. And neither have you.¡± Some people hesitated, but those who knew Everheart hurried as he said and the rest followed quickly. Nothing horrible happened as they stepped inside the big cylindrical building that had come out of the ground, though even Anton could tell there was some sort of formation at work, slowly building up energy. ¡°Hope nobody¡¯s late,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I was very specific about that. Now then, you¡¯re all in. Going down!¡± Anton felt his stomach jump for a moment as power washed over him, and then the sky went dark. Except not quite. ¡°Just kidding,¡± Everheart laughed uproariously. ¡°This is Ascension we¡¯re talking about. Why would we go down?¡± The sudden darkness caused Anton to look out the door, where he saw the night sky. Except something was wrong with the moon. It didn¡¯t look the same at all. It was too blue and¡­ cloud-covered. Anton¡¯s eyes widened as he realized what had happened, and it seemed many others had come to the same realization as himself. Chapter 222 Everheart was known for many things. Many of the things he learned ended up frustrating large sects and stealing resources from them. Among those things, large scale teleportation was not commonly known. At the very least, Anton hadn¡¯t heard of it. Any sort of teleportation was exceptional, including the portals to transport people into secret realms like the Luminous Ocean Society had once maintained. Yet this was on a wholly different level from what he knew to be possible. Even if done through a formation, there had to be a huge power source hidden somewhere. Though as Anton looked around what he was fairly certain was the surface of the moon, he realized perhaps he was standing on it. Certainly, he couldn¡¯t measure the amount of energy beneath his feet in any of the scales he was used to thinking in. Even the whole of the Order¡¯s defensive formations paled in comparison to just what was immediately around him. Everyone else was still in their same positions relative to Anton himself, so he turned to his companions and smiled. ¡°Well. The moon. I¡¯m quite impressed.¡± ¡°Yes yes, everyone¡¯s properly amazed. How exciting, et cetera.¡± The lone figure between all of the teleportation points was clearly Everheart, and of course a different form than any other. He looked like a teenager, casually leaning against a statue of¡­ probably himself. ¡°You have no idea how boring it gets up here after a couple centuries. So dull. But I had to be here to direct you and stuff.¡± Everyone waited patiently as he stood there. Silence hung over everyone for a good minute, before someone timidly spoke up. ¡°Umm¡­ senior Everheart?¡± ¡°What?¡± he frowned at the individual who spoke up. ¡°Weren¡¯t you going to direct us?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Everheart said, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb. ¡°That way. I¡¯d hoped someone would have figured it out on their own though. Indeed, that was the only direction that had buildings beyond the circular teleportation zones everyone had arrived in. But nobody had wanted to move and ignore important instruction from Everheart. Important instructions that were seemingly not going to happen. Nobody said anything further, but just began moving slowly. Just as Anton was starting to be impressed by how many things Everheart built, Anton noticed something. The design of different buildings and even different parts of buildings were different¡­ and somewhat haphazardly connected. Surely things could have flowed more smoothly if it were intentionally done, but it didn¡¯t seem to be the case. Though Anton didn¡¯t think he was qualified to critique architecture on the moon. As Anton walked, he felt strangely light. That wasn¡¯t discongruous from what Grand Elder Vandale had speculated, based on his own calculations and others before him, but as far as Anton knew nobody had actually experienced it. Even cultivators who could fly stayed close to the planet, the thinning air above the mountains making it impossible to survive in the void between planets. He could feel that, above him. There was air to breathe all around him, but not far above the effect of a formation ended and there was just¡­ nothing. Nothing at all. Not even air, which was usually what was in a place where there was nothing. Anton had an ominous feeling, but he couldn¡¯t tie it to anything in particular. As thousands of cultivators were pressing forward into one of the exceptionally large buildings, Anton found the time to get a good look at people. The groups he recognized were expected. This was the sort of thing everyone wanted to come to, though it wasn¡¯t actually everyone who came. In addition to limited space, sects didn¡¯t want to just abandon everything they had. There were missions to do, unresolved conflicts with foes, and some simply didn¡¯t trust Everheart. Anton didn¡¯t blame them. Everyone could have been dead just now, with very little they could have done about it. But with some understanding of his motivation, Anton trusted that he didn¡¯t intend to just kill everyone out of spite. Ahead of them in a large hall was the same teenage Everheart. Anton¡¯s senses had never left him, but suddenly he was standing leaning against that particular wall. Not that his changing places was particularly shocking, given the situation. ¡°The first test is to pick a door,¡± Everheart gestured to the wall behind him, which had hundreds, maybe thousands of doors all along it- layered in rows on top of each other, even. ¡°Those who are unworthy fail, or whatever. You have¡­ I dunno, a minute? That seems like plenty.¡± At the arbitrary and casual mention of a time limit, some people began to panic. Reasonably it wouldn¡¯t take long, but they couldn¡¯t spend much time considering either. Anton took a quick look at Catarina and the others. ¡°Any ideas?¡± His own senses were scanning the doors, but he couldn¡¯t spend even a second on each of them. Not that he could feel much with so many different energies reaching out and disrupting him. ¡°Let¡¯s just start moving forward,¡± Timothy said. Everyone was edging closer to the doors, but only a few people had broken away from the crowd. Nobody really wanted to be the first to pick, but they also couldn¡¯t afford to wait. ¡°They all seem the same to me,¡± Catarina said. ¡°The room is the problem. We have to hurry.¡± Even as she said that, Anton understood what she meant. It should only take cultivators at their level a few seconds to run across the grand hall and reach a door, but those who were out front were showing clear signs it wasn¡¯t that easy. It was something that wasn¡¯t unfamiliar either, but more like an old friend. Increasing levels of energy pressure bearing down as people moved further into the room. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. It had already been ten seconds before the group broke into a half-run. They quickly slowed down as they went from normal atmosphere to surpassing the top of the peaks in the Order to something akin to the top of the tower in the secret realm. They were able to continue forward, especially since they didn¡¯t have to fight directly against it, but their movement slowed. Those who had been leading the pack weren¡¯t the first to reach the doors. Just as everyone was beginning to realize the hurry, someone was already there. From out of the crowd, bowling over people between himself and the doors. It didn¡¯t seem the man had any intention to harm anyone, and indeed it had to be said if he wanted to he could have easily done so. He was a good eight feet tall and nearly half as wide, a mass of muscle and flesh¡­ but also possessed of significant energy. Life Transformation, and not just the early stage of it. With the promise of information about ascension, any number of Life Transformation cultivators appearing wasn¡¯t even in the slightest bit strange. The man from Crunching Hippo River seemed to completely ignore the pressure along the way and chose a door straight in front of him, not stopping to inspect them. As the door was opened, Anton could see a swirling vortex of light. The man stepped through, and then there was nothing except a solid wall. He and his companions shared glances, then began to move all the more quickly. It seemed that each door might only allow a single person through, and given that they were already on a time limit they couldn¡¯t afford to take their time. The crowd rushed forward, and Anton realized as everyone was moving one particular instruction missing that Everheart previously had in place. No mention of a prohibition on fighting. It seemed others had realized this, because they began throwing attacks at each other as they ran. Of course, those attacks couldn¡¯t be as serious as in a real battle. Nobody wanted to anger the whole crowd around them, or find themselves surrounded by a vengeful sect. But if they could push people away and back some people didn¡¯t hesitate. The next cultivators through the doors were once more Life Transformation cultivators. Though many had a duty to defend their sects, there were some with more than necessary to keep their younger cultivators safe¡­ and some who simply found the information about ascension too tempting to wait. There was a silent discussion among cultivators from the Order, which ended in Kseniya waving her hand to signal that the other elders could move forward. Anton and the rest had been in front of the pack, but now they were struggling to keep ahead of some of the early Essence Collection cultivators. But even as doors began to be used, there were still a myriad more. Anton was more concerned with simply getting to a door in a timely fashion and uninjured instead of specifically beating others there. They raised their energy, at the border to Essence Collection or just beyond it. Their group pushed through the pressure more or less in the middle, not finding a lot of time to spare. Hoyt was first through a door, then Timothy, Catarina, and Velvet jumping through doors above and around. Anton was about half a step behind, and he found the most convenient doors were already taken. ¡°Excuse me,¡± he gestured to Everheart. ¡°May I?¡± The teenage Everheart rolled his eyes and moved off of the door he was blocking. ¡°Whatever.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Anton said. He didn¡¯t want to have to jump up a handful of doors to swing one open, and he wasn¡¯t sure of those had been opened or not. He had the hope that his door might be special, but it was not. Even so, nobody saw him come out the other side. ----- ¡°Alright,¡± Velvet said. ¡°That¡¯s all of us. Umm¡­ where¡¯s Anton?¡± Everyone else had come out in a large circular room. Instead of having multiple layers of doors stacked up, they simply went around the whole perimeter of the excessively large area. Even with hundreds of people around, meeting the particular people they were looking for was easy. ¡°He was right behind us,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯m sure there were more doors nearby.¡± They all looked at each other for a few moments. It couldn¡¯t have taken Anton long to just run parallel to the wall to find another door, even if he was having trouble. And more people were appearing. Yet as they waited another ten or twenty seconds, suddenly the flow of people stopped. They recognized others around them. Chikere hadn¡¯t been with the Order to begin with, but she had made it through. Lev was only in the middle of Spirit Building, but he and several others from the Grasping Willow sect had come through along with a good portion of others from the Order. There was nobody in particular that they actually noticed was missing, besides Anton. Everheart once again stood in the middle of the room. ¡°Wow. Seriously. I can¡¯t believe you people want to survive with a crop like this.¡± A quick glance told people that less than half of the doors had been used, which meant that most people simply didn¡¯t make it in time. Everheart continued, not really looking at anything in particular as he spun around. ¡°At least all of you are worthy, for whatever that¡¯s worth. We¡¯ve got a few more tests to put you through before I bother gracing you with my knowledge and all that. Time to get moving.¡± He gestured to a small seam in the wall, which turned out to be a long hallway leading out of the room. Catarina ran up to Grand Elder Kseniya. She had intentionally lingered behind them and some of the others, coming through at the last moment. She should have seen what happened. ¡°Grand Elder,¡± Catarina inclined her head politely. ¡°Did you perhaps see what happened to my grandfather?¡± ¡°He went through a door,¡± she said. ¡°But¡­ he¡¯s not here,¡± Catarina felt around once more. ¡°Do you think there are other exits?¡± ¡°No,¡± Elder Kseniya said clearly. ¡°I am certain this is it.¡± ¡°But¡­ he¡¯s just as worthy as the rest of us.¡± Elder Kseniya nodded, ¡°According to my understanding of Everheart¡¯s standards, that should be the case. But perhaps he chose a wrong door. By my count, others are missing as well.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s it?¡± Catarina said. ¡°Just because he randomly chose the wrong door out of thousands of identical ones, he¡¯s out?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be surprised,¡± Grand Elder Kseniya said. ¡°If you have complaints, I would keep them limited. Everheart is not fond of them. Your grandfather should be somewhere safe, if nothing else.¡± ----- Anton was somewhere he didn¡¯t recognize. He couldn¡¯t sense anything around him, though it wasn¡¯t the same as the vacuum of space he had only recently become acquainted with. Instead, his senses were blocked. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what that meant, but it made him feel anything but safe. Chapter 223 Every group was taking stock of their members as they walked towards whatever the next challenge would be. It seemed that quite a few people had not made it through, despite reaching the doors. Yet nobody could say what had been right or wrong about any particular door. A few people had theories, but the single minute had not been sufficient for anyone to focus on anything other than simply arriving at their destination. The Order was missing exactly two people. Anton, and a late Essence Collection cultivator known as Emma Strand. Despite her cultivation she wasn¡¯t one of the elders, instead leaving the greater responsibilities to others. The Order had a specific limit on the number of elders regardless, and not everyone wanted such a position. Most large sects had at least one person missing and usually more, which wasn¡¯t a surprise. Random chance would indicate that those with greater numbers would also be more likely to be involved in random failures. ----- Twisting turning maze-like hallways led to empty rooms in all directions. As Anton traversed through the area, he took careful stock of what he could do. The door he had come through had no portal back through it, simply a white-painted stone wall. There was no instruction on what to do, no guidance¡­ and so far, no other people. He couldn¡¯t say for sure if he might be alone, because his senses were severely limited. Though he was aware of significant effects from formations around him, his energy senses didn¡¯t extend much beyond his body, and even his hearing was somewhat muffled to more what he would expect from a normal person. Along with empty space, the area was filled with a moderate amount of traps. A scythe swung vertically across a doorway as he opened a door, and Anton leapt back. When they weren¡¯t active, the traps were very hard to detect. Perhaps he had just gotten too used to relying on energy senses. Was that what this area was about? He couldn¡¯t be sure. One step into the hallway he sensed a pressure plate being depressed immediately, and he rolled back into the room as spikes stabbed out of the walls. This was still considered moderately trapped by Everheart¡¯s standards. It wasn¡¯t as if every single tile on the floor was individually trapped, after all. As he turned the corner to a new hallway, Anton saw it extended for several hundred meters. Even with his distance vision impaired by the formations around, he was still at least able to make out figures ahead of him at the two hundred meter mark. Even just around the corner he hadn¡¯t sensed them, but it was impossible to miss them fighting once they were in front of him. Especially with something coming almost straight at him. Anton dodged to the side. He still felt the energy from the hurled spear brushing against his side as he did so, even though it was not aimed towards him but just down the hall. He actually somewhat admired the straight trajectory only minimally affected by gravity. It was a high level of accuracy over such a distance, though he also supposed that it wouldn¡¯t have particularly changed its likelihood of striking its intended target if it hit the wall or floors a hundred meters back. Both figures appeared to be in late Essence Collection. Anton would have gone back around the corner and entirely stayed out of the conflict except for one thing- he recognized one of the figures. While he had to admit he barely knew Emma Strand, Anton couldn¡¯t very well just ignore a member of his own sect as she fought. The hallway had very little in the way of offshoots, so it was just a straight path between him and them. Emma was on his side, wielding a long pike while her opponent seemed to have a limitless supply of spears to throw. If a non-cultivator had the same spears, they would have been much too large to throw. As it was, they were treated more like vastly oversized darts. Stabilizing fins were created with the use of energy, much like the fletching Anton added to Spirit Arrows. He began to fire arrows one at a time, carefully avoiding his ally. For the most part that involved shooting in the upper corners of the hallway, since she moved back and forth avoiding attacks at a rapid pace. Though Emma had a weapon with great reach, her opponent held her at bay with another spear held in his off hand while he continuously forced her to avoid his throws. It was a strange but oddly effective fighting style, though both combatants were somewhat restrained by the size of the corridor. Everywhere the spears went they left behind a trail of ice on the nearest surface, one that greatly diminished by the time it reached Anton two hundred meters away. It didn¡¯t seem as if the spears were ever going to change trajectory, but Anton gave them a wide berth just in case the spearman decided to try to impale him. His own arrows were rapidly fired in response, merely pestering the man with higher cultivation. Anton thought about using some of his ascension energy, but he didn¡¯t know what other battles he might end up in¡­ and he would need a proper opening to actually affect a late Essence Collection opponent. But he could at least pester this particular man and keep him on his toes. The battle seemed fairly even, with or without his participation. Neither side was seriously injured yet, though Emma had a few scrapes along her sides and arms. She radiated a form of heat that was melting the ice around her, and though there was briefly water it soon became steam. Unlike Hoyt, she didn¡¯t leave behind lingering trails but instead seemed to have focused her energy more internally, or rather more on augmenting her body than on actual energy projection. Her arms moved rapidly, and her pike thrust in and out with blinding speed. Yet it was something another Essence Collection cultivator could keep up with. Stolen novel; please report. Anton¡¯s arrows weren¡¯t as effective as he would like, so he took closer and closer routes to Emma. If she was actually forced in front of his attacks, he could dissipate his shot nearly instantly. Any lingering remnants that hit her would be quite easily negated by even the thin layer of energy she had defending her rear. She had at least twice as much energy as he did, and it also had the increased quality and density from Essence Collection. All Anton could hope for at the moment was to be a tipping point for his ally. He thought things were going well when she managed a thrust that tore through her opponent¡¯s helmet, scraping against the skull and almost taking off an ear. Though it was supposed to go through his head, he would at least have to deal with the rapid bleeding from a head wound. Or more specifically, devote some of his energy to preventing that. Very few cultivators actually had more blood than anyone else of the same size, since there were just very strict physical limitations. They were just able to better manage bleeding wounds, returning blood to their body or operating at full capacity with a smaller amount than a normal human. They could even recover blood more quickly, though for most people that wasn¡¯t practical in the space of a combat. A counter spear thrust by the ice cultivator forced Emma back, as the length of her own weapon actually became a brief disadvantage. She quickly shifted her grip backwards, but by that time her opponent had disengaged and was at a more optimal distance for himself. There was a sudden shift in the man¡¯s temperament, and then Anton felt something he was much more familiar with than he wished to be. Though the icy feeling remained, it darkened as the light in the hallways dimmed and twisted. Even as Anton felt his senses being distorted, he knew the effect had to be many times stronger focused on Emma. Yet she was also stronger. Even so, the sudden change in cost her dearly. A spear was thrown towards her which she dodged by a narrow margin. At least, that had obviously been the plan. But the narrow margin of error she had was actually false, and the spear actually pierced into her left thigh. Her energy defenses prevented it from taking the whole leg off, but the muscle was severely injured. She didn¡¯t remain idle in response, however. She stepped forward even with her injured leg, beginning a quick series of thrusts. Along with that, Anton fired arrows with as much energy as he could muster, trying to match her pace. Since they both practiced the Ninety-Nine Stars, there was a certain flow that allowed them to match up. It wasn¡¯t as strong as when amplified by a proper formation, but his arrows aimed both to create openings or take advantage of openings left by her. A few arrows struck with little effect than to waste a portion of their opponent¡¯s energy, but that might be sufficient. Emma managed to clip the man¡¯s right bicep on his throwing arm, and that weakened his offense. The moment he appeared like he would turn and run, a simultaneous thrust and arrow from Emma and Anton pierced into his chest. The body of an Essence Collection cultivator wasn¡¯t usually much stronger than someone in Spirit Building, and Anton¡¯s fully powered attack slipped through where Emma pierced his energy defenses, straight into the man¡¯s heart as the spear shattered his sternum. Emma pulled back a moment later, wary of any last ditch efforts. Fortunately the damage had been sufficient that the man only managed a few half-effort throws which Emma handily dodged- and they weren¡¯t aimed straight down the hallway towards him, so they got nowhere near Anton. Anton still stood outside of the trajectory he thought they would take had they been aimed at him, but as the man fell unconscious from his wounds he felt any illusory effects fade. With a flick Emma¡¯s pike was cleared of blood, and she turned towards Anton with a smile. ¡°Glad to see you. You¡¯re the first ally I¡¯ve spotted here. Everyone else wanted to attack me on sight¡­ or ran away. Though I suppose that¡¯s only a small sample size.¡± Her voice carried easily down the hallway as she began to walk towards Anton. He moved forward as well to be in a more comfortable speaking range. Shouting two hundred meters wasn¡¯t exactly good for conversation, nor was it subtle- though it was possible nobody would hear them given the design of the area. They met about halfway, though Anton moved a bit more since she had her injured thigh. ¡°You¡¯re actually the first two I saw,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I hadn¡¯t expected to find a sectmate fighting a member of the Twin Soul Sect.¡± Emma nodded. ¡°That would explain why he was so keen to attack, though. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d rather we don¡¯t develop any more Life Transformation cultivators.¡± With her current cultivation she wasn¡¯t at the brink, but while she was advanced in age she might still be able to make that journey. ¡°Have you seen anything resembling a way out?¡± Emma asked as she began to apply ointments and bind her leg. Anton shook his head. ¡°Not even close. I haven¡¯t even seen any other entrances than the door I came in. I imagine if I were to retrace my steps it would be well concealed in the wall. We¡¯ll have to look about carefully, for both secret tunnels or traps.¡± ¡°The traps shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem for me,¡± Emma said. ¡°I could see that,¡± Anton said. So far even he hadn¡¯t been concerned about the danger they posed. Someone an entire stage ahead of him shouldn¡¯t have any trouble at all. He casually inspected her cultivation. He¡¯d been able to feel she was at late Essence Collection as the two cultivators threw their energy around. ¡°I wonder how long it will take me to reach the fiftieth star like yourself,¡± Anton said. He began to inspect a nearby doorway, since there was really no clear path it seemed as good as any. ¡°Oh, it shouldn¡¯t be that long,¡± Emma said. ¡°You¡¯re Anton Krantz, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯d bet no less than a decade or two, if you live that long.¡± Three factors saved Anton¡¯s life, at least for a moment. First was watching her fight and seeing her cultivation up close. The second was the ominous way she said that final line. And the third was the door Anton hurriedly threw between them as her pike thrust towards him. Maybe a bit of Instinct thrown on there helped as well. Even so, he still felt the pike pierce through his side, below his left ribs. It was a clean stab with barely any energy radiating off of it, so the damage was actually concentrated into that one point instead of tearing up all of his organs. As the pike pulled back for another thrust Anton was already leaping through the doorway, traps be damned. Chapter 224 There was no time for complicated strategy. Anton just ran, turning to fire behind himself as he did so. He had no grand illusions that he could surpass the entirety of a realm to defeat his opponent. The only comfort he had was her injured leg, and that he¡¯d managed to avoid anything immediately fatal during her first attack. His first shot was comprised entirely of the energy from beyond death, aimed straight at the door she was about to burst through. His arrow reached the door before she did, but instead of impacting it simply went straight through. It was unfortunate that Emma properly registered the danger, but it was late enough that she only half dodged, allowing him to graze her side as his attack slipped past her energy. It wasn¡¯t a large victory, but he would take everything he could get. Anton spent no time dwelling on why she would attack him. That much was becoming more obvious with the second, as her cultivation shifted. He wondered why she had concluded the fight with the other member of the Twin Soul Sect instead of showing herself. Did she not care about killing another member of her true sect? Was she simply concerned about being exposed or missing the chance to kill Anton? Those thoughts cleared themselves out to be considered later, assuming he survived. He ran backwards, firing more arrows as he moved. Her leg was injured, but if he didn¡¯t make her movements difficult it wouldn¡¯t slow her down enough. All she had to do was reach him once more, and a more serious attack without having to hide anything could simply kill him. He hoped he might lure her into a trap with some power behind it, but he couldn¡¯t count on that. He might even run into one himself. As for hoping that he might run into an ally, Anton rejected the thought. It could be just a supreme coincidence that both of the other two people Anton had seen were from the Twin Soul Sect, but Anton wasn¡¯t going to chance it. Conserving his energy was pointless. He had to perform at his maximum potential just to keep some small manner of distance between himself and Emma, and she didn¡¯t even have to get into a normal melee range with that pike of hers. He shot in quick succession to try to slow her down, but when she powered through his first few attacks instead of straining her leg he quickly fired an arrow with ascension energy. If only he had reached Essence Collection he thought he might have a chance of causing serious damage, but at least she dodged to the side with enough vigor to strain her injured leg. The wide hole looked painful, and being dressed didn¡¯t matter when she moved in a way that reopened it. She slowed down momentarily, but he wasn¡¯t uninjured himself. Everything he wasn¡¯t using for movement or offense went to minimizing the strain on his wounded stomach. That meant he didn¡¯t have anything for defense, but it was pointless anyway. If she managed to hit him, he couldn¡¯t defend unless she decided to toy with him. Since she didn¡¯t seem trained in ranged attacks, even if she improvised something he thought he could shift his energy to defend. Otherwise, it was a waste. Anton moved backwards in small leaps, hoping that his random movements would avoid pressure plates on the floor. Perhaps he did, but a gout of poisonous gas went off all the same. He was glad he was already moving and had minimal exposure to it, but he had no idea how he triggered it. Perhaps it simply sensed movement or his energy instead of having a mechanical trigger. Just as Emma was about in range- which still put them more than five meters apart- a wall of spikes stabbed out at her from the side. Anton was absolutely sure he¡¯d stepped in the same spots as her, but he wasn¡¯t going to question his good fortune. The wall of spikes got him a full second as she dodged back and then shattered them, her momentum stopped. Anton still didn¡¯t feel comfortable with just turning to run, because her maximum speed should be higher than his own without hindrance, even with her leg. If he could make things a bit worse, though, he¡¯d have a small chance. Using his extra second, Anton retreated while pulling out another bow. It was more conveniently located than the bottom of his bag now, having needed to use it before. The bone bow was exceptionally hard to pull, but he made use of his ¡®normal¡¯ energy to create a string for it and augment his muscles. Then he drew up on the power of Fleeting Youth, both the energy of ascension and beyond death. Unlike before he had known how to separate them, this was an intentional move to make use of both of them together. They weren¡¯t randomly mixed, but used in parallel. The energy of death and reincarnation formed a coating around the substantial power of post ascension energy. He knew he was still far below the attack of a Life Transformation cultivator, let alone a true ascended cultivator, but he made use of what he had. The most important part of his attack was the speed. After all, Emma could simply dodge out of the way of such a telegraphed attack if it were the same speed as everything else. He could redirect his arrows, but over the distances at hand it wouldn¡¯t be as significant. He and his arrow flew forward towards her, aiming straight at her middle. If she did nothing he might pierce her heart, if she dodged too slowly he might hit either lung or at least a shoulder or bicep. If she dodged quickly, she might strain her leg more. All options were good for Anton. Of course she chose the one thing he didn¡¯t think of, and couldn''t do anything about. Instead of dodging, she simply stabbed forward with her pike, her energy already gathered to smash through the spikes and of course Anton. As soon as he saw her moving he tried to curve around, but her energy wasn¡¯t as tightly concentrated as her first attack. She didn¡¯t need to prefer density, but just total power. His arrow scattered even as she built up momentum towards him. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The distance between them closed. Anton wasn¡¯t fully certain how much there was as she was making use of an illusory technique to blur his senses, but he¡¯d faced the Twin Soul Sect enough to at least be cognizant of her presence. She was clearly not specialized in that, but instead in more direct combat. Her pike thrust out for him, going beyond its already large reach with the extension of her energy. He was moving as quickly as he could away, but it simply wasn¡¯t enough. ¡°Wait a sec,¡± came a voice from behind him. ¡°What was that?¡± Anton found himself unable to move his body- but the inability to move included the attack coming towards him and Emma herself. Anton¡¯s head, at least, swiveled around. The teen Everheart was frowning as he looked at Anton. ¡°Which thing are you asking about?¡± Anton asked carefully. ¡°The bow? Her response? The energy from me?¡± He¡¯d seen Everheart do something like this before, and he hoped he might be coming to help. But he didn¡¯t want to be arrogant about it. ¡°The energy. I want to know.¡± Anton narrowed his eyes. ¡°You don¡¯t recognize Fleeting Youth? Are you from before then?¡± Just the technique name wouldn¡¯t give anything away if this was an illusion or an imposter of some kind. ¡°So that¡¯s what it feels like, huh?¡± Everheart said as he leaned against the wall. ¡°I can¡¯t believe someone¡¯s actually using it effectively. Crazy. Well, good luck.¡± ¡°Wait!¡± Anton shouted as quickly as he could. ¡°Can you¡­ help me?¡± The turning figure of Everheart looked back over his shoulder. ¡°Oh yeah. You¡¯re about to die, huh? Well, I¡¯m sure by now you know I¡¯m not omnipotent or anything. Tell you what, though. Since this deathtrap isn¡¯t meant for you, and you¡¯re using my technique, I¡¯ll give you a chance. You want to take a left at that hallway, and avoid the right half for ten steps. Don¡¯t make it too obvious. Beyond that¡­¡± he walked forward and placed his hand on Anton¡¯s shoulder, yanking him to the opposite side of the hall he was dodging towards. ¡°That should be enough. Bye.¡± The wall exploded, and Anton knew he would have been turned to mush had he even been grazed by the attack. But he was suddenly on the other side of the pike. He still had some backwards momentum, and he twisted his body to keep that as he ran at full speed. Swinging her pike into the wall and the surprise at Anton¡¯s sudden change in position held Emma Strand back for just long enough. The turn was not far, but Anton knew he wouldn¡¯t be fast enough. Not with just his legs and normal energy. It felt like a waste to use ascension energy for anything other than an attack, but he drew upon it to propel himself forward. He would still have enough for one more attack, and he knew he would need it. He made a tight cut around the corner, angling himself towards the middle of the hallway but not crossing over. He wasn¡¯t sure how tight of a margin there was on the ¡®right half¡¯ but he really didn¡¯t want to push it. Emma was just behind him, and almost in range once more. Anton turned, his side aching with the movement, drawing his bow for one final shot. Emma was thrusting towards him, and nothing had happened. Well, perhaps this was just how he would go. Anton wanted to at least make sure there was an obvious arrow hole on her before he went. If Chikere could sniff out swords so easily, Grand Elder Kseniya would recognize damage from Anton¡¯s Spirit Arrows. At least the traitor should be exposed. Then the hallway disappeared in front of Anton. At least it felt like that, because the smooth white surfaces were suddenly in front of his eyes, as if he were looking at dead end. Except that wasn¡¯t quite true. There was still a good half meter of space in the middle. That was where his arrow was going, and where Emma was sandwiched between the walls. The impact from the sides stopped her forward momentum, and thus her pike only nearly impaled Anton as his arrow struck her directly in the chest. If he hadn¡¯t used his utmost power, his attack might have done nothing. As it was, the deathly energy carried the ascension energy partway through her defenses before it felt resistance. That was enough that he punctured through between her ribs and into a lung. Then Anton was running. Emma wasn¡¯t dead, and still had plenty of energy left. The walls that crashed into her from either side seemed to have gotten the worse end of the exchange, with deep cracks on them that were widening as she pushed back against the walls, destroying whatever mechanisms caused them to collapse to begin with. At least the battle had been short enough that Anton still had reserves of his normal, Spirit Building level energy to call upon. They helped his legs carry him swiftly away, and he hoped that he could avoid the pursuit of a woman with an injured leg and a hole in her lung. ----- When Everheart showed up and said the next test would be after a ten minute delay, nobody questioned him as to why. Nobody was able to relax, of course, because at any moment he could say the time was up and that they were going to do something else in a very short time frame with little explanation. Even those who hadn¡¯t been to Everheart¡¯s tombs before were aware of his proclivities for mischief like that. Catarina looked ahead, seeing an indoor conservatory. There were all sorts of strange plants. If she had been in any other sort of mood, she would have sought out Lev and the Grasping Willows to consult them. Instead, she couldn¡¯t help but think about Anton. Her grandfather was missing, and she wasn¡¯t sure why. If he¡¯d failed the test, he should have been safely taken away¡­ but somehow, her heart wouldn¡¯t let her believe that. She clutched her chest, wishing it was possible to send energy or luck or anything to someone in a location she didn¡¯t know about by sheer virtue of caring about them. But such convenient things weren¡¯t possible. Chapter 225 Anton was looking forward to reaching Essence Collection. It would be a significant step up in power, solidifying his presence in the world. And, if he reached it, that would mean he hadn¡¯t died. He still had so many things to do. His ideas about teaching everyone to cultivate were only just starting to bloom beyond his individual efforts. And if he were going to die, it certainly couldn¡¯t be to someone from the Twin Soul Sect. He wasn¡¯t sure what their agenda was, but anything that involved culling the talented members of other sects was worth opposing on principle. And it would shame to die in a deathtrap made by Everheart not meant for him. He hoped it was meant to kill people like those from the Twin Soul Sect, but he only had barely substantiated conjecture to go off of there. At least Everheart had been nice enough to lead him to a good trap. Now he was able to just run and Emma couldn¡¯t quite catch up. It seemed that any of her control of illusory techniques had gone out the window as well. The Order had around two hundred Essence Collection cultivators. Anton knew very few of them, and Emma wasn¡¯t one. Given what he was learning today, he doubted anyone really knew her. She¡¯d clearly managed to behave in a manner that fit in with the Order¡¯s principles, at least wherever it was visible. He had no way to tell if she had truly been well behaved for the decades or more she had been part of the Order or had just been causing trouble outside where she would be watched. Something to look into if he survived. When he survived. Cultivation was nothing without confidence. If Anton let himself believe all was lost, it truly would be. His attacks and defenses would be less effective for the despair in his heart, and he couldn¡¯t afford that. Believing he would live wouldn¡¯t necessarily make it happen, but it clearly couldn¡¯t if he didn¡¯t try. Anton had just enough distance between himself and Emma that he was able to focus more on what was in front of him. A distorted area that signaled a trap of some kind, possibly tuned to a certain level of energy. That was something he was learning to pick out as he moved through the area. Pressure plates existed. He was pretty sure there were invisible tripwires made from diamondsilk or something with similar properties. Sensing formations had to be another thing, and the way some things reacted to Emma and not him indicated the easiest possibility was the cultivation gap. Though he had to wonder if some might only target him as well. He turned through a doorway, trying to subtly step over a tripwire in the path. His energy senses barely stretched to arm¡¯s length with the restrictions around the area, but they still functioned at reduced capacity out to that distance. And his training helped. While he wasn¡¯t trying to lock onto something at the horizon, focusing towards a single point still let him significantly stretch his awareness. He didn¡¯t have time to scan the whole room he arrived in, instead picking a path seemingly at random. He noticed a few traps along the way, and hoped that any other trajectory through the area would have more. His stride lengthened for a single step to pass over a pressure plate. The first one was easy, but the second time he did it he fell into the secondary trap. It had been too obvious, so he should have known better. But it was too late, as the obvious trap had better hidden pressure plates on both sides, which he found out when he triggered them. Fortunately they just shot some sort of poisoned darts from the wall. Avoiding the trajectories of projectiles was well within Anton¡¯s wheelhouse, and he only ended up with one of them scraping against the outer layer of his energy as he moved. A loss he couldn¡¯t really afford, but at least Emma was running into more trouble. And still suffering more blood loss. She¡¯d done an excellent job with her first wounds, but the bruising and maybe even broken bones from the crushing wall traps and the damage to her lung were obviously taking their toll. A cultivator who had surpassed Body Tempering might be able to jog for a whole day without rest, but a sustained run was quite different from the frantic movements in combat. With blood loss and only one lung working, Anton found himself impressed that Emma was merely huffing and puffing. He just hoped the ragged breathing was actually degenerating as he thought, but that might have been wishful thinking. His own side ached as he breathed, and while his lungs were still in good shape his diaphragm made his side twitch with every breath. Too much energy was devoted to managing the internal and external bleeding, but he wasn¡¯t able to recover from wounds mid combat, nor did he even have a chance to stop and stabilize the wound. At the far end of the room was another door. As Anton ran through, he marveled at how smoothly it opened. It was sort of a dumb thought, as it hardly mattered if the door creaked¡­ until he saw what was in front of him. Making a snap judgment, Anton closed the door behind himself, glad that it closed with only the slight woosh of air. ----- Emma was annoyed. Though only one wound had been caused by Anton himself, the very fact that it had taken her more than a single attack to kill him was a failure on her part. She hadn¡¯t thought he would react to the attack, so piercing through his energy to directly destroy his heart had felt like the right move. She should have just taken advantage of her cultivation advantage and been more excessive, even if it would have left her more vulnerable for the next fight. There shouldn¡¯t be many people able to challenge her, and if she came across a Life Transformation cultivator she could avoid them. She frowned as she thought about how Anton had dodged the second attack. Some sort of space bending technique? She hadn¡¯t heard about that. She¡¯d been studying up on all of the quickly advancing members of the Order, in case she came upon a chance to remove them. It had been strange that an old man was on the list, but he¡¯d nearly kept pace with the top geniuses he came in with. If he¡¯d reached Essence Collection, he might have even been able to kill her when that stupid trap smashed into her from both sides. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. But that didn¡¯t matter, because she was going to kill him. Closing a door wasn¡¯t going to stop her. In fact, she no longer had the patience to open it properly. She could tell it wasn¡¯t made of any particularly special material, and if it was trapped smashing it open with her pike would keep any consequences away from her. This was all Everheart¡¯s fault. It was quite smart, really, tempting everyone with promises of ascension and then just killing them. Emma just wondered how he would be harvesting them. She hadn¡¯t felt anything, but she wasn¡¯t a formation master either. The door burst open, wooden splinters flying down the hallway. It led almost immediately to a crossing intersection, and Anton could have turned to either of the sides. She charged forward, ready to turn either direction. Perhaps he¡¯d shoot an arrow at her injured leg, though his energy was too weak to damage her unless he could use whatever that forbidden technique was more. Most of the higher ups in the Order knew about it, but for some reason only Anton practiced it. Emma had thought it must not be that good, but it turned out to not be the case. It actually felt like¡­ ascension energy. Not that she had much exposure to that. Emma was wholly prepared for arrows or even axes coming towards her, possibly empowered to a level that could cause her to actually dodge. She was ready for traps of any sort, and if she ended up pressed between two walls once more she would focus her defenses to the sides and forward. She was not expecting to have her vision turn red as she was swarmed with blood from one side. Her own blood rebelled briefly, a portion of it pulling away into the swirling cloud, but she redoubled her grip on her body. ¡°What the hell?¡± she shouted at the passing cultivator. ¡°We¡¯re allies, you know.¡± The swirling cloud of blood resolved into the figure of a man with an exceptionally annoying grin plastered on his face. ¡°Allies? With you? I don¡¯t remember being paid for that lately. You must have been thinking of when I hadn¡¯t yet seen an injured cultivator come waltzing into my sight.¡± ¡°Cut the crap,¡± Emma said. ¡°Where¡¯d the archer go?¡± ¡°What archer?¡± the man said, genuinely unsure. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen any. Unless that guy I killed a few minutes ago was an archer. Have you been stalking me?¡± ¡°No. An old man in Spirit Building.¡± ¡°Pfft,¡± the man from the Flying Blood Sect laughed. ¡°You got this injured by a Spirit Building cultivator?¡± Emma glared at him. He was only early Essence Collection. An easy opponent, normally. ¡°No. It was someone else.¡± ¡°I believe you,¡± the man said, ¡°This much.¡± He peeked through a small gap between his thumb and forefinger. ¡°Either way, I¡¯d like whatever you have on you.¡± Before Emma could react, her thigh and left lung simultaneously started attacking her from the inside. So he hadn¡¯t just drawn her blood out during that earlier pass, but also inserted a bit of himself. She began to tear it out of her while at the same time thrusting forward with her pike. It didn¡¯t matter if she was injured if this man would fight her head on. ----- Anton held his breath. Only exceptional senses would have been able to hear him even if he let it go, but the risks were simply too high. He was slowly working his way back towards the ground, so there wouldn¡¯t be a thud when he touched. Emma had just charged down the hallway towards the member of the Flying Blood Sect, who had been waiting in ambush looking in an entirely different direction. Obviously Anton wasn¡¯t so skilled as to sneak by him, so he did the next best thing. The hallway wasn¡¯t particularly wide by the door, so he had held himself across the top of the hallway, arms and legs outstretched wall-to-wall with his full height. The leeway was so little he actually had to extend his fingers and toes to press against both sides, but holding himself like that for a short time wasn¡¯t too difficult. He was just glad Emma hadn¡¯t looked up. If she had, a simple spin of her pike and he would have been dead. But he could tell her senses hadn¡¯t been trained to any great heights. She was a brawler. There were some like Chikere who honed their senses to deal with ambushes, but the restrictive forces of the formations around them had fortunately limited Emma¡¯s casual perception to less than two meters above her head. Anton touched the floor, careful to not step on the shattered remains of the door and make any noise. There had been no guarantee that the man from the Flying Blood Sect would actually attack, but given their reputation even a short distraction might have been enough. He¡¯d even drawn Emma down the hallway and kept Anton out of her peripheral vision, so he was quite thankful. Anton really wished he could get the treasures a late Essence Collection cultivator had on her, but Anton was going to prefer his life over loot. Though he was making his way back towards where he had first found them. If nothing else it was a set of slightly familiar corridors if he encountered someone else. He also wasn¡¯t quite sure if the spear thrower had actually perished. He should have been tipped off even more by the fact that Emma hadn¡¯t looted him immediately. But maybe that was just pessimism. There was nothing wrong with people being friendly and taking a few moments to talk to an ally before looting a fallen foe. Anton walked slowly, beginning to properly deal with his wound as he went. He needed a proper doctor, but he had to make do with eating some pills that would start the repair process, stitching the outside holes closed, and continuing to devote a portion of his energy preventing blood from going all the wrong places. At least it was easy to recover his energy here. Natural energy was quite abundant. More than enough for a Spirit Building cultivator to recover his stores in a reasonable time. Though if Anton was right, he wouldn¡¯t be a Spirit Building cultivator for long. He wasn¡¯t ready to try the last leap immediately, but another combat with an Essence Collection cultivator- even one that was mostly trying to survive- helped him focus his mind. And there were a few strands of insight from the battle. The Vessel of Insights was active without requiring him to focus on it. He doubted Emma had many insights of consequence during their battle, but he would at least have some of his own to review. Chapter 226 A trail of blood slowly found its way away from the location of the first battle Anton had witnessed. The optimal choice would be to simply leave the area, but since Anton didn¡¯t know any way to do that he was instead going to do his best to make sure no members of the Twin Soul Sect survived. At the end of the battle it hadn¡¯t seemed particularly strange that Emma didn¡¯t finish with a decisive thrust, instead letting her opponent faint from his wounds. It was logical enough, but she had neither moved to restrain or finish off the man. Another point he should have noticed. It might have saved him a huge sideache. At the very least, he might have gotten less impaled. Anton looked at the blood, seriously considering his ability to kill a late Essence Collection cultivator. A heavily injured one, certainly, but conscious once more. He had recovered his reserves of natural energy to about halfway full as he walked, up from around a quarter. Those reserves would allow him some mobility, but his opponent should have more energy left. Using energy properly while about to pass out from blood loss was difficult, but not impossible. Anton found it unlikely that his opponent had no healing pills of any sort, so he should be at least another step away from that edge. He couldn¡¯t really hurt the man unless he found him dying in a trap. That possibility might be sufficient, given Anton had no idea if he could leave. If he was going to die to someone, he might as well take someone else out. Or perhaps he was just growing a big head. As he breathed in, natural energy flowed into him. More than that, he made use of Fleeting Youth to try to replenish his reserves of the additional sources of energy. They lingered, not in his dantian with the rest of his energy but just out of his reach, waiting to be called upon should he need them. There wasn¡¯t much of either, but he took comfort in the thought of using them. He decided to follow the trail of blood, on the theory that at least he knew the status of that particular foe. If the spear thrower got into a battle he might be able to sense it ahead of time. With no other hints as to if there was a direction out or how to get there, he might as well go somewhere new. Occasional drops of blood continued to lead the way, which encouraged Anton. Imperfectly closed wounds were a good sign. Even if it was only some remnants from a bootprint every ten or twenty meters, he was able to follow the trail. After all, against stark white corridors a little bit of red stood out sharply. He was in no hurry, chewing on some dried foods in his pack. He couldn¡¯t afford to sleep, but eating would refresh him somewhat. If he had the time and a proper place he could cook up some tubers for a good meal, but eating them raw was¡­ unpleasant at best. It made even the energy they contained indigestible. His footsteps were quiet as he walked, from many decades of hunting and avoiding startling animals. As there were no sticks or leaves to crunch under his boots, he simply had to keep them from echoing off the walls. Muted senses or not, it was foolish to make extra noise. He kept his energy close to himself, not wanting to alert anyone he came across. A few traps blocked his way, but some were already triggered and others avoidable. Anton smiled as he saw the tiniest drop of blood on the tip of a spike coming out of the floor. Every little bit helped. He began to sense something as he walked. Something full of power. Energy. Whether an enchanted object, rare material, or special herb¡­ Anton could be sure every cultivator wanted it. It was the sort of thing that could change a cultivator¡¯s fate. Really, the trap couldn¡¯t have been any more obvious. Anton almost walked past the door until he saw it was slightly ajar. What caught his eye wasn¡¯t the massive crystal, taller than a man. At least, that wasn¡¯t the only thing. It was the source of comparison for the size of a man. The spear thrower. Anton could just hear the man¡¯s breathing from his location, which meant it was still pretty ragged. He had his whole attention directed away from Anton towards the crystal. Anton looked at the door. Would the hinges support him, or betray him? He didn¡¯t want to make a bet on either. His eyes moved to the floor. Scorch marks and other signs of battle damage traced a general path through the room. It seemed the man had been at this for some time, carefully picking his way through the room. He¡¯d certainly triggered some traps, but he wasn¡¯t visibly more injured. With a layout of traps like that, Anton would have a few more in strategic locations around the man. Which meant Everheart would have an absurd amount that had somehow not been triggered yet. Unlike the trapped hallway in the first tomb, Anton found that most of the traps had not reset in this place. So if he couldn¡¯t count on that happening, there were a good handful of directions the man could take just on the ground if he was suddenly attacked and had to dodge. Anton considered them, and the angles involved with reaching him or the crystal. Ultimately, he determined that he would need to perform at least five simultaneous shots all capable of piercing through a late Essence Collection cultivator¡¯s defenses. Or¡­ maybe not with quite as much power, given the injuries. But the threat would have to be there to even make him consider dodging. Before committing to anything, Anton considered several options for the deathtrap he was currently in. First, it was possible that nobody would be able to leave. Everheart had saved him for a moment, but he hadn¡¯t just brought him out of the area. Thus, even if he wasn¡¯t the target Anton couldn¡¯t bet on getting out. The second possibility was that one or a few people could leave. Maybe the top few would be allowed out, or maybe there was a secret to be found. Either way, Anton had to consider his chances of succeeding at either. Given the cultivations he had seen so far, he doubted it. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! If nobody could get out, whatever he did wouldn¡¯t matter. If someone could get out, he didn¡¯t want it to be anyone from the Twin Soul Sect. That made his decision. He had to at least try. He needed simultaneous shots that were intimidating. His energy spread out, seeping into the room. It was the basis of Falling Stars, but the ceilings weren¡¯t so high he could build up much momentum by relying on gravity. The intimidation factor of the ability came from Grand Elder Vandale¡¯s own power anyway. He had to go with what he could do. A half-dozen arcs of energy solidified throughout the room, forming into proper bows a moment later. The only thing that had stopped Anton from being detected- as far as he knew- was the massive presence of the crystal overwhelming his own energy. So perhaps his attacks would be ignored accidentally. That would be ironic. Still, a bit of ascension energy on the tips would make them feel much more dangerous. As for their actual danger, he couldn¡¯t quite say. The room was too small to fire sequentially and change the speed of arrows to match. All of them had to fire simultaneously, and Anton put as much as he could into the shots. A moment later the arrows were flying, but Anton was already nocking another half dozen arrows. He had some energy left, and he knew he¡¯d need to use it. In the end, the spear thrower noticed his attacks and reacted appropriately to the perceived threats. He dodged approximately in the direction Anton had predicted, an unexplored area of floor that might or might not have traps. It had half as many traps as Anton wanted, but a single trap spraying a gout of acid was sufficient to disrupt the extremely injured man¡¯s energy. The next half dozen arrows pushed him one step further towards the crystal. Not a one of Anton¡¯s arrows hit him, but of the dozen darts that shot out from the ceiling as he moved, one found its way into his shoulder. The wound itself wasn¡¯t much. A slight puncture. But combing the amount of blood the man had already lost and the near guarantee of poison on said dart, any injury was significant. Anton didn¡¯t let up, though he only had two more rounds of shots in him. If his opponent realized he lacked power and simply charged towards him, there wasn¡¯t much Anton could do. Yet the man was taking his arrows seriously, so he once again aimed them. Six out of six arrows were dodged flawlessly, without stepping on another trap. Anton didn¡¯t touch a hair on the man or his clothes. Unless one were to count the dart sticking out of his right shoulder, which was not his. The dart snapped at the narrow tube on its front, only slightly shifting in the wound on the man¡¯s shoulder. It hadn¡¯t quite been the effect Anton wanted, since he¡¯d intended the shock of his hit to tear the sharp point through the man¡¯s shoulder, but it still did something. Specifically, it let blood out. Just a drop or two at first, but it was something. And another round of arrows were on the way, just three, but with a bit more focus. It was too bad that he¡¯d had enough, and swatted them out of the air with a spear in his hand. It seemed he¡¯d figured out Anton¡¯s attacks were all bark and no bite. Anton was standing visible in the crack of the doorway as the man stepped forward and threw a spear at Anton. Even with a minuscule amount of energy remaining, Anton dodged to the side a half step before the attack reached him. Its accuracy was impeccable¡­ but it wasn¡¯t as if it could immediately change directions upon coming out the door. Like the others it continued straight onward into the wall on the other side of the hallway. Anton could feel the way the man¡¯s energy fluctuated wildly. He stepped once more into vision, taunting his foe with his presence. At this point, whether or not the man pulled the needle in his shoulder out he would bleed more every time he made use of his arm¡­ and it seemed that he¡¯d failed to consider how his forward step for throwing would affect his position among the traps. His hair had caught on fire, which wasn¡¯t deadly by any means but he looked as if he could barely stand. The spear thrower stepped back from his lunge to toss his other spear at Anton. It was clear he wasn¡¯t thinking about much at all, since the attack didn¡¯t even get half as close to Anton as he stepped out of view once more. Then Anton heard a silent thud, and several explosions following it. He waited ten seconds just in case before poking his head into the room. Just a charred corpse. He had enough energy to take a single shot with his actual bow and a physical arrow which went through one ear and out the other. If he hadn¡¯t been dead before, he was now. Anton sunk against the wall outside the room and sighed. ¡°I¡¯m done.¡± ¡°Aww, really?¡± a disappointed voice came from next to him. It was of course Everheart. ¡°I wanted to see more of my technique in action.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t. I¡¯m all out.¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t at least going to go in and loot his body?¡± ¡°Why bother trying?¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s just stuff. And I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s a way out of this deathtrap.¡± ¡°I¡¯m gonna be honest, it wouldn¡¯t be a good deathtrap if I¡¯d made a way out,¡± Everheart said. ¡°But¡­ I wasn¡¯t just a psychopath who enjoyed causing trouble for the sake of it. I had a purpose too.¡± ¡°I hope it gets fulfilled,¡± Anton said, closing his eyes and slowly circulating his energy. If any enemy came upon him like this he would die, though he¡¯d die without any energy regardless. ¡°Hope is for suckers,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Real cultivators make the impossible happen. Enjoy your camping trip.¡± ----- ¡°Okay,¡± came a voice in front of the increasingly impatient group. ¡°Wait¡¯s up. You can all go in now. Have fun collecting valuable plants and crap. There should be some fun beasts to hunt too.¡± Everheart looked at the group and waved his arms wildly. ¡°Well? Go!¡± Seeing that there would be no more instruction, they went- though one brave soul had gone on ahead. Despite their instantaneous reaction, they were not first into the forest. Chapter 227 As the words ¡°Enjoy your camping trip¡± faded, Anton felt like something tugged on the back of his shirt. Anton frowned as he opened his eyes. Suddenly having everything feel normal was quite a shock, and so was finding his back against a tree instead of a white stone wall. And the fruit hanging from the tree seemed far too delectable. Anton looked at them carefully. ¡°Not everything is a trap you know,¡± came a voice from nowhere. Anton continued to inspect the fruit from a distance. ¡°That includes this fruit, specifically. I just want to be clear on that. I can¡¯t have someone who learned that technique just die here. Especially after I went to all that trouble to add a way to teleport you out.¡± Anton grabbed a fruit and took a bite. His teeth broke through the red skin into sweet flesh below, and he swallowed. Energy rushed into him freely. That was a good sign. He just hoped it wasn¡¯t poisoned. But Everheart could have just killed him or left him. He might as well trust him this far. As he got to the center of the fruit, Anton found a core with a number of seeds. The core was harder to bite through, but still quite flavorful and brimming with energy. The seeds themselves had abundant natural energy. Anton looked over the tree in front of him. There had only been the single fruit hanging from its branches. He¡¯d heard of several sorts that had very few fruit. Some said they only bore one fruit per century, but Anton doubted that. They would have died out long ago, the way cultivators went through things. He took a good look at the soil around the tree. The tree itself wasn¡¯t particularly tall, but very few things grew around it. It seemed it took the majority of nutrients, leaving only a few types of undergrowth with different needs around its roots. No other tree dared to grow near it, though some overshadowed it, hiding it from the light of¡­ Well, it wasn¡¯t the sun. Because despite how high the ceilings were, they were certainly in a constructed underground area. Still, the light in the sky produced an energy reminiscent of the sun. It might even be the same energy, transferred to this place through some convoluted series of formations. That seemed like something Everheart would do. Anton thought to look for another place to plant a seed or two. Then they could grow tall and strong into more trees of the same kind. They couldn¡¯t be too close, though, or they would compete for nutrients in the soil an energy to absorb. Anton could feel the tree pulling in the natural energy around it now that its fruit was gone, beginning the long process to produce another. Soon enough he found a place, but as soon as he was about to press a seed into the ground, he stopped. The seeds had enough energy in them that they could push him over the boundary between Spirit Building and Essence Collection. The thought was tempting, but he actually stopped because he remembered something. Something about Everheart, specifically. Though he was currently meandering through a large forest, he hadn¡¯t forgotten he was still in one of Everheart¡¯s tombs. On the moon, even. The circumstances were slightly different, but he had the feeling the facility wouldn¡¯t be lasting after they were gone. Just like the others. No, though he would like to give back to this forest, it was better to preserve the seeds for elsewhere. And he thought that there were probably other trees of similar rarity that could use some help surviving. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly when it happened, but sometime after he resolved himself to collect seeds from the area simply to preserve them beyond the inevitable collapse of the area they were in, he felt himself step into Essence Collection. If it had happened a day before he would have not found himself in nearly so much trouble¡­ or perhaps he would have been taken more seriously and thus perished quickly. That was hard to say. Since he found himself safe for the moment, he stopped. He hadn¡¯t run into anyone else yet, and he needed to rest to help his side recover. He looked inward, still finding himself quite certain he¡¯d just reached Essence Collection. He still hadn¡¯t formed the twenty-ninth star, but he had begun the process. Essence Collection would consist of a set of thirteen and then seventeen stars, the next two primes. Unlike previous stages, each star was more nebulous. He took a look at the cultivation manual, reading through it once more. He simply needed to collect essence that fit him, and then refine it into some sort of focus. Simple, if Essence were simply natural energy condensed into a more powerful form. It was that, but it was also more. He mulled through the few strands of insight he had, pausing as he saw Grand Elder Vandale¡¯s and a few from Kseniya. Those were still too much for him to absorb, but Emma had a few he was going to absorb. They were of very little help to him. Despite the fact that it seemed like she had cultivated the Ninety-Nine Stars to the stage they would call Constellation Formation inside the Order, as he absorbed the insights he determined that Twin Soul Sect members only half cultivated the style they displayed to the world. A greater focus was placed on the actual cultivation technique behind that. It was unfortunate that he couldn¡¯t find any weaknesses in the few strands he absorbed, except that small tidbit. It was unsurprising to Anton that the few pieces of information he got indicated that the Twin Soul Sect stole cultivation, both the energy and a mutilated form of their insights, from other cultivators. While it seemed possible for them to advance to the point of Essence Collection simply by their own training, eventually they would have to kill and steal. Not that any of them seemed reluctant to do so- even from each other, for the most part. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Anton stood up, after how many hours he wasn¡¯t sure. The light remained the same, but since there was no real sun it might simply be constant. Either way, his side was healed somewhat and his cultivation stabilized in Essence Collection. He even had converted some of his stores of energy into the more powerful form of Essence, though it was difficult. He didn¡¯t quite fully understand his connection. While that might have seemed like a problem, the Ninety-Nine Stars manual indicated it was best if it happened naturally instead of seeking out a connection. Recalling what he was doing, he could have assumed it was some connection to plants and farming. He¡¯d been a farmer all his life, after all. He didn¡¯t think that was wrong, but it was also an incomplete picture. He would have more time to ponder the specific details later. For the moment, he should explore the forest for whatever test was going on, and possibly other people. Preferably allies. ----- Timothy stood at the vanguard of the group, not that it was any different from normal. He was just more aware of his protective position. It was part of him now, since he¡¯d reached Essence Collection. With him were the usual group, Velvet, Catarina, and Hoyt. Anton was still missing, having never arrived through the doors. They had invited Chikere, but this time she had decided to strike out on her own. He wasn¡¯t sure if Chikere¡¯s cultivation method dealt with the stage differently, but he had the feeling her essence was just ¡®swords¡¯. Her devotion was admirable, but Timothy didn¡¯t have that same sort of tie to his weapons. They were simply tools used for a purpose. A proper cultivator took care of their tools, but in the end they were simply objects. His sword and shield let Timothy protect people, sometimes proactively and sometimes defensively. He scanned the forest around them, looking for enemies. He wasn¡¯t as good of a scout as Velvet, and if Anton had been around anything he could notice would be spotted a kilometer away through the trees¡­ but he had to at least try to contribute. He¡¯d actually developed a pretty good danger sense, at least enough for him to react to unseen threats in time to protect his allies. So far they had run into a six limbed and two-headed bear that tried to tear them apart, though that one wasn¡¯t hard to spot. Fending off all of its attacks had been difficult for the time it took Hoyt and Catarina to chop off an arm, but after that it had gotten quickly more simple. By the time it realized it was in danger, Velvet had already hamstrung its rear legs so it couldn¡¯t advance or retreat. The creature seemed edible, so they cooked it up. It was far too large to eat all at once, but they preserved much of it, the strong energy doubtless being something that would help them later. And of course some of it would be saved for Fuzz, but he wasn¡¯t present at the moment. It was a bit too much for Alva and him to come to something focused on ascension. Though of course Timothy knew he wasn¡¯t that close either. ----- Anton hummed quietly to himself as he walked through the woods, picking up seeds from every plant he didn¡¯t recognize. Even the ones he was pretty sure were poisonous might have medicinal applications when properly handled. So far the forest had been fairly safe, though his experience had helped him notice some particularly dangerous plants around. The random ivy crawling along the ground was suspicious enough for him to be cautious, and the dead body of a rabbit nearby was a giveaway. From what he could tell it had only brushed against a few of the leaves, suffering a fate much worse than just an itchy irritant like normal poison ivy. There were large blisters and sores that had to have developed very rapidly before the creature perished. Anton decided it was best to avoid touching anything with his skin. He pulled out a small box he had for just such situations. He stretched out some tendrils of energy to pluck some green berries and place them in the box. Even with only brief contact, he felt something trying to dig its way through his energy towards him. What an awful plant. He¡¯d have to carefully consider if he wanted to actually do anything with it. He hadn¡¯t seen it down below, so it might have been wiped out. And he wouldn¡¯t necessarily mind that. His trail next brought him to a clearing with a small lake. A watering hole for animals in the area, no doubt. He decided to wait, uncertain if he might run into anything coming to drink. He didn¡¯t need to hunt, but he would enjoy some fresh meat and wanted to see what lived in the area. Among the creatures he was pretty sure he saw entirely regular squirrels, normal size with no energy at all, as well as a giant boar. He wasn¡¯t in the mood for a troublesome fight, so he left the boar to its own. About an hour later, he saw a doe deer enter the clearing from his hiding place. It was a specimen of fine health, with a lustrous coat. Not only that, but he felt the spark of energy from within it. Such a creature would be a fine catch. If he estimated its value, it would be enough to fund the whole of Dungannon for a year just off the skin alone- it was of such a quality that a cultivator could certainly make use of it for something. He raised his bow, preparing to fire. Fine dining for the near future and perhaps a nice set of boots and gloves, maybe even a jacket, was just one shot away. But before he finished gathering his energy, he released it. The doe was pregnant. It would be a shame to kill her before allowing her to birth the next generation. Though if he was right she would not survive long regardless. Anton looked around, finding a large oak nearby. He carefully climbed up, plucking a handful of fist-sized acorns that were just about ready to fall. He could have shaken them off, but the noise would have startled the doe. He walked carefully, avoiding making any noise as he approached. At three meters, one eye locked onto him. He slowly placed down an acorn and backed away, leaving them in a trail that was easily followed. The creature moved cautiously, unsure if he was a threat. Anton wasn¡¯t really certain about that either way. It was true that most of the animals he had raised had perished by his own hand, but at the same time most of them wouldn¡¯t have been born, produced offspring, or lived nearly so long without his involvement. A deer was something that was normally not kept in captivity, but then again¡­ Fuzz was a wolf, and Catarina had handled that easily enough. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could bring this creature with him, but he wanted to try. Chapter 228 Communication with a human was extremely simple. The rise of cultivators led to a single language being predominant. Just sharing a language wasn¡¯t enough, but Anton had taken his training seriously. Insight, Voice, Emotion, and Earthly Connection all on some level involved communication with others so misunderstandings would be rare. Animals were another thing entirely, but Anton found that natural energy went a long way towards expressing his thoughts and desires. If one were trying to be duplicitous in some regard, a cultivator¡¯s energy might still reveal their true intentions. Even when very tightly controlled, it was a part of a person on a deep level that could reveal their inner self. Anton supposed that was even more true after passing the threshold for Essence Collection. When he approached the pregnant doe with friendly intentions, he had thought she would simply skitter off. The acorns had let her closer, but animals weren¡¯t so easily dealt with. Yet he managed to get the doe to follow a trail of food and eat from his hand. He had thought she would be especially cautious considering her current state, but he was wrong. He kept himself friendly as he tried to talk to her, knowing she probably wouldn¡¯t understand. Even if Fuzz certainly seemed to know when he was being spoken to and the orders he was receiving, that was developed over a longer time. Just because an animal possessed natural energy and some intelligence didn¡¯t mean it would instantly understand speech. And Anton doubted there had been anyone around who could speak in a very long time. But the deer came along with him. Not at a quick pace, but Anton found that just as well. It gave him time to find tidbits for the creature to eat as well as gathering samples of the various plants around him. He even found more types useful for improving his cultivation with the density of energy they contained. The forest was nothing if not abundant with life. Sure, some of that life wanted to kill him- but it was easily deterred. His eyes locked on a small pack of wolves circling around. They had interesting coloration, orange-red fur with patches of brown along with their golden eyes. But they clearly wanted to eat either himself or the doe. He didn¡¯t even have to fire a shot, summoning his energy and simply glowering at the creatures. Perhaps it was pointless to spare the lives of creatures that wouldn¡¯t live more than a few days, but it was also pointless to fight them. Even if the creatures were some component of whatever test was taking place around him, Anton found it unnecessary to kill them when he wasn¡¯t going to make use of them and they wouldn¡¯t be hurting anyone. As they continued onward, Anton realized something. While deer didn¡¯t always travel in packs, it was strange for a pregnant female to be alone. Perhaps something had happened to leave her solitary, which led to her taking protection from wherever she could get it. Namely, a strange human. Having spent most of his interactions with deer hunting them, Anton was surprised how much his companion moved around at night. She slept lightly and didn¡¯t seem comfortable staying in one place. Anton was glad he didn¡¯t require much sleep, because he was quite sensitive to such movement in a dangerous place. Nothing actually approached them, but the pair ended up watching out for each other regardless. ----- Early in her life, Chikere had found that sometimes people made fun of her intelligence. She had come to terms with the fact that her strict focus could make her seem stupid to some people. After she began cultivating and was more dangerous, she mostly didn¡¯t interact with people at all. But she wasn¡¯t stupid. She knew that swords didn¡¯t just naturally grow in forests. But she sure as anything was going to go where her senses led her, even if her senses also said that it was a sword tree. Along the way she encountered a number of creatures that took exception to her passage. She gave them all the chance in the world to not die. All they had to do was stay outside of the reach of her swords. Otherwise, they would find themselves in several pieces. That included plants that also seemed to think she might be tasty. Instead, she ate them. And most of them weren¡¯t even poisonous. As for the one that was, she simply ground the poison into nothing inside of her. It didn¡¯t prevent a stomachache, but at least she didn¡¯t have to deal with whatever the real effects would be. If it had been a terribly strong poison, she would have just sensed it before she ate it. She continued towards the sword tree. Or whatever it was that felt like one. She had no inklings that another direction would be more interesting, so the choice was easy. Previously, Chikere had come across plants that were said to have swordlike leaves. Razor sharp blades and all that were a common theme among plants. After all, nothing big could eat you if it cut itself to ribbons trying. Small things still would, of course, unless they were particularly stupid. She¡¯d never seen anything quite so accurate to describe her current situation, though. If the leaves of the tree in front of her weren¡¯t swords, she didn¡¯t know what swords were. They even had something like a hilt. The tree stretched into the sky, right up to the ceiling that was trying really hard to look like something else. Some hundred or more meters at least. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. A leaf fell towards her, completely unaware that it was supposed to flutter in the breeze. Instead, it was like a conscious attack. Parrying such a simple thrust was easy, even with the speed from the acceleration of gravity. One single attack was nothing. As Chikere touched the base of the tree, feeling its rough bark, a strange vibration went through it. The leaf-swords were tightly packed, much like the needles on a coniferous tree. As the vibration rose up the tree, it shuddered and dropped more dangerous projectiles. Chikere always had a sword in hand when walking through dangerous territory, but she had to quickly draw another half-dozen swords to parry the myriad of needle-swords falling on her. Some were wide bladed and some were simple points, but all came down at her in a way that couldn¡¯t truly be dodged. Any movements would result in moving into more falling needles. The first spray of death came and went quickly. Then it was over with no further fuss, Chikere standing amid a field of blades. She picked one up, swinging it. For something formed randomly, they were quite good. Easily in the top one thousand, though if she counted them then they would fill the entire category below a certain point and push everything else out. They were fine, but not impressive. Unlike the one at the very top point of the tree. Her eyes were drawn to it, the way the branch formed a hilt and crossguard while a blade that narrowed to a fine point rested atop it, so sharp it almost hurt to look at. So apparently swords did grow on trees. But Chikere still knew people wouldn¡¯t believe it. She licked her lips. Now she just had to get to it. It was obvious that any movement on the tree itself would send a shower of blades towards her. Despite everything that had already fallen towards her, she couldn¡¯t even discern any blank sections of the tree, so dense it was with blades. Well, at least they provided an easy way to get up. Fallen leaf blades stabbed into the trunk of the tree next to her, forming a spiral stairway. She would have to continue forming it as she went, but she would have plenty of things to help her as another shower of blades began to fall. ----- Catarina crouched down, glaring at a patch of mossy ground growing on hard ground. Everyone could discern the energy coming from the area, and they knew better than to underestimate strange plants. But Catarina seemed especially focused. There was only one thing that could catch her attention so fully. Formations. The problem with this formation was that it was covered in moss. She¡¯d thought to pry it up and remove it, but something stopped her. Was it dangerous? Certainly the energy the moss contained was significant, but it should be easy to scrape up. And she didn¡¯t really need to do that, because the moss was growing exactly over the patterns in the stone below. Everywhere she could sense it, the moss grew. She remained at the edge of the area, despite the formation being inactive. She had no idea what might cause it to activate, and that was what was bugging her. In fact, if her senses weren¡¯t lying to her she wasn¡¯t sure the material involved could withstand channeling the power of the formation. She didn¡¯t instantly understand what it did, but it wasn¡¯t a trivial plaything. It stretched for a hundred meters in a large circle, and had many intricate parts. The formation wasn¡¯t active. Yet¡­ it wasn¡¯t not active. She felt the flow of energy around the area, with simple dead stone beneath it. Was it possible for air to form the necessary components for a formation? Catarina stowed that thought, because while interesting it was likely fruitless. But it did lead her to the proper answer. ¡°This moss is a formation,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I could tell it covered one made of stone,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°Nature doesn¡¯t tend to create many large circles. What does this stone formation do?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Is it really a formation then?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°It can¡¯t not be,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But¡­ I meant precisely what I said. The moss is a formation. Not concealing it or covering it. The moss itself is responsible for the formation.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°That¡¯s intriguing. What does it do?¡¯ ¡°Sparks curiosity,¡± Catarina said matter-of-factly. ¡°And attempts to lull people into reaching the wrong conclusions about its existence. But it could do¡­ anything?¡± She tilted her head, ¡°The problem would be growing it.¡± Catarina stood up, pulling out her sword. ¡°I have to have it.¡± ----- Anton didn¡¯t really know how he would practically bring the doe away with him when he left. It might just be a pointless endeavor, and she would remain behind in the forest after this particular trial was over. Yet he had to try. He was quite certain she came from a lineage that had long ago disappeared. The wolves had been too hostile to work with, but he found other interesting things. The current subject of his attention was almost missed by Anton. It wasn¡¯t that it was hidden from his sight, but instead by their very nature he almost ignored them. Ants. They weren¡¯t unnaturally sized ants possessed with great natural energy. They were just normal sized- or maybe slightly large- dark colored ants. But what was interesting about them wasn¡¯t how they looked, but what they were doing. Specifically, crossing a stream. For Anton and the deer, it was a couple of steps. For the ants, it was over a hundred times their body length, potentially including antennae. At first it didn¡¯t look like much. Just a trail of ants moving to the edge of the stream. He presumed ants had to drink somehow, so it made plenty of sense. But they weren¡¯t returning with tiny beads of water, but instead slowly gathering. Several of them stepped out onto the water. Surface tension kept them afloat, and locking limbs with ants behind them kept them attached to the shore. Then another ant climbed over them until it was at the front, locking itself on as more and more crawled over them. The width of the chain increased slightly as they went along, from a single ant wide to two or three in places. The route across the stream was hardly efficient- the flow carried them at an angle close to the shore. But the motion of the ants continually swayed the ropelike structure out into the middle of the stream, until it was long enough to touch the other side. Ants began to walk along at an angle, the long trail marching to the other side of the stream where Anton spotted a dead bird. A mighty feast for a colony of ants, he supposed. He was so engrossed with watching their progress that he didn¡¯t notice something sneak into his bag. Chapter 229 Though Anton had for a few days had no encounters with other cultivators, he was certain they would be around. He wouldn¡¯t mind a whole forest that he could scour for interesting goodies all to himself, but even Everheart wasn¡¯t that generous. The fact that he¡¯d gotten Anton out of his deathtrap was already close to the limit of what Anton believed possible. How Anton ended up inside it was another question. There must have been some criteria, but he hadn¡¯t been given an explanation. Anton looked at the doe traveling with him. She moved fairly quickly, given her pregnant status, but not nearly as fast as Anton might have gone without her. He wondered once more if it was a foolish idea to try to bring her along. What would she actually provide to the world? Assuming he was right and this deer was of a type that could no longer be found, did it matter? He could tell she would be more durable than a normal deer, even discounting the energy he felt from her. Nothing amazing, but at least comparable to a mid or late Body Tempering human. Perhaps it was better to go for boots and gloves after all. Even if she gave birth, her child would have to mate with normal deer from below. But it seemed sad to think that this particular species of deer would be gone forever if he did nothing. There was no way that this habitat stayed beyond the opening of the tomb. Even if this particular one didn¡¯t instantly collapse, it would have to eventually run out of the energy keeping the area functional. If Anton understood correctly, the moon shouldn¡¯t be able to maintain the air they had or any of the life present. It should be without air, or practically so at least. His step into Essence Collection made him consider his actions. Should he care about this? Was it just thinking about what he could get out of the deer that was why he wanted to save it? He thought not, and he found inside himself real compassion for it. Though he still had to consider practicality. He might not even be able to leave with it. Before that point, however, he had to get through whatever this trial had. The next of those things were the two people in the distance. His energy senses were able to range further than before, though depending on how much energy a particular person or thing was throwing off he couldn¡¯t sense more than a kilometer or so unless he focused in a particular direction. He¡¯d be better at Horizon Shot now, but still had to get closer to someone to find them. At least for the moment. The two cultivators ahead would tell him what the trial was, either through words or action. He had no intention to reveal himself to them immediately in case there was something competitive. He didn¡¯t recall any specific prohibitions against fighting in this place, but that could have changed. Anton snuck closer. The doe followed behind, but at least seemed to understand the intent for stealth. Her footfalls were quiet, though her energy was still able to be sensed by those who were ready. He didn¡¯t really have a way to explain that, but he gave it a try anyway. The doe probably couldn¡¯t understand speech, but she might learn like Fuzz. The energy of the two cultivators ahead of Anton was getting riled up, as if they were preparing for a fight. They hadn¡¯t sensed him, but were instead facing off with each other. He didn¡¯t recognize either of them, nor even the sects they were from. One was a young woman, and the other woman was somewhat closer to middle age. As for the reason for the battle, there was a particularly tantalizing fruit tree nearby. Anton couldn¡¯t hear their words, but he sensed all of those details and put together the situation. Cultivators fighting over resources was nothing new, but it seemed unnecessary in a place as abundant as this. Anton moved closer, trying to gauge whether he should interfere. The younger woman held a large sword in her two hands. The other wielded a bow, and took her first shot when the younger began to charge towards her. The archer immediately ducked behind a tree, concealing her movements and attacking from the sides and back as she moved around. The sword wielder seemed unable to track the movements of the archer, but was alert to the attacks themselves. She turned to face each arrow head on, swinging her sword in a sometimes wild fashion. Some portion of the time she actually managed to cut the arrow out of the air, but the rest the attack directly struck her breastplate. It was actually an extremely beneficial maneuver for her, as she was able to avoid the weak points on her armor being targeted. Her energy would be worn down from defending, but that only mattered if she didn¡¯t have more to spare. From what Anton sensed, the battle could go either way. Though the current way it was going was terrible for the trees. In addition to swinging at the arrows, the woman with the large sword began to chop through the trees that were providing hiding places for the archer. It was an excessive and probably unnecessary use of energy, but as she amped herself up Anton only felt her output increasing. Her energy wouldn¡¯t last forever, but her opponent would have to last along with her. With fewer trees, the archer found it harder to conceal herself- and the other woman was simply chasing after her with her sword, getting faster as the battle continued. Then the archer made a wise decision. ¡°I give up, you can have it!¡± She turned and fled directly away from the berserker with the two handed sword, fleeing towards further trees. A nice swath of trees had been chopped down around the target in question, and upon hearing the somewhat older woman¡¯s surrender the woman stopped chasing her. But she didn¡¯t let her guard down. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. After a short time it became clear to Anton that the archer absolutely meant what she said, or at least had no intent to sneak back around soon. He felt her running off at an angle to his right, but she¡¯d go far past him. Not that it would make any difference if she encountered him. She was late Spirit Building like the other woman, but even if Anton had simply matched her in cultivation level, her skills weren¡¯t that impressive. Just adequate, relying on her ability to conceal herself to fight her opponents. Someone with good instinct was a difficult opponent. Anton continued to walk the same way he had been going, which more or less lined up with the two handed sword wielder and the tree she had fought over. He felt the flaring energy of the woman as she watched for the archer to come back, almost daring her¡­ and then he felt her hit her limit and drop. That was the problem with her type. They were able to squeeze out large quantities of energy, but sometimes conservation was important. Doubtless her particular technique didn¡¯t just switch on and off so easily, but still. The woman was now on her hands and knees, panting for breath. He felt her drawing in energy to aid her recovery. ¡°Nice instincts,¡± Anton said, ¡°But you¡¯re a bit lacking in general perception. That could get you in trouble.¡± Anton leaned against the tree, which had a fruit with a dark green bumpy skin on it. The woman turned towards Anton and glared. He plucked the best fruit from the tree. ¡°Here, catch.¡± It almost hit her in the fact, but at least her reflexes were good enough for her to catch it. ¡°What is this?¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s what you were fighting over,¡± Anton said. ¡°...What did you do to it?¡± ¡°A reasonable question,¡± Anton conceded. ¡°Nothing at all.¡± His bow was raised in an instant, and an arrow nocked and flying past her head before she could even react. ¡°If I wanted to kill you, I¡¯d just do that. No need to poison a perfectly good fruit for it.¡± He smiled at the woman. ¡°Go ahead, I¡¯m not here to bully people.¡± The woman kept an eye on him as she spun the pear shaped fruit around against the stationary edge of her sword, cutting through its thick skin and into the flesh below. Then she peeled away some of the skin and bit into the fruit. Anton could tell from her expression that it was good, and certainly quite full of energy. It should help her recover and perhaps advance her cultivation some. ¡°Can I have the seed when you¡¯re done?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Could I stop you from taking it?¡± she said. ¡°No, but I wouldn¡¯t force you,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars isn¡¯t in the habit of robbing people.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll likely just eat it, then.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t,¡± Anton said. ¡°It seems¡­ unpleasant.¡± The seed was actually a large pit, perhaps five centimeters across. It was smooth, but that didn¡¯t mean much. ¡°I can tell from here your sword didn¡¯t even scratch it. Attempting to digest that would bring great pain. Anyway, if you intend to use it for something I do not mind, but I would like one to plant.¡± Anton gestured to the tree, ¡°I could even take one from these lesser fruit. I imagine the tree produced should be much the same.¡± ¡°You a gardener?¡± the woman asked. ¡°A farmer, among other things,¡± Anton said. ¡°How about a hunter?¡± she asked, looking over Anton¡¯s shoulder towards the doe. ¡°Sometimes, but this time I thought to try raising another type of animal.¡± ¡°Good luck with that,¡± the gruff woman responded. She threw the pit at him, almost as if she were trying to hit Anton with it- but with just the force of her arm it was an easy catch. ¡°Go ahead and take it. I agree, I¡¯d rather not have that thing going through my guts.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Thank you very much. I¡¯ll be moving on now. Many things to collect, and all that.¡± As Anton continued to move through the forest, he continued to find many interesting edible plants. Many of them were familiar but with a touch of energy and likely more potency than normal. He gathered at least one of everything for the sake of seeds, and piled extras of various fruits and vegetables into his storage bag. If he had taken the time to carefully look inside he might have noticed a handful of very small figures chewing on some of the various foods inside, but as he only tossed things onto the pile his senses never slipped into the modified space inside. ----- Needle-leaf-blades fell all around Chikere as she continued up the tree towards her prize. Avoiding them wasn¡¯t terribly hard, since they fell without intent. They did sometimes tumble in hard to predict manners, but she wasn¡¯t going to lose to swords without wielders. She almost didn¡¯t notice a pair of blades as being different until they were swiping at her. Those she had to dodge instead of merely deflecting them, sending her stepping along a large branch behind her. As for what attacked her she saw¡­ nothing. Just the tree, normal as could be. Though two particular leaf blades stood at an odd angle on a section that had otherwise become bare. Then the branch in front of her moved, revealing a pair of eyes to go with the branch and leaf blades. For a moment Chikere was concerned that the whole tree was able to move and attack, but she quickly discerned that the creature in front of her was an independent entity. As blades fell from above she found it had a hard exoskeleton, harder than even the bark of the tree itself given the lack of dodging or avoidance of the falling blades. Chikere had to dance back and forth on an ever-shrinking branch until she found a good opening for her strange opponent. She was extremely familiar fighting humans with swords, but something that¡¯s front limbs were swords was another matter. And when those swords were also parts of a tree, she thought she was quite reasonable to have been thrown off guard. But while her opponent was quick and durable, it had already lost the element of surprise. Once she knew it was something that could attack her, all it took was a few quick parries and chopping at its joints to turn it into a pile of dead twigs. Her blades slicing into it clearly told her it wasn¡¯t a plant at all, merely some sort of insect with a carapace that looked like bark. So she¡¯d have to watch for more of that on the way to her prize at the top. The good news was that its forelimbs were actually in the top one hundred. Still unnecessary, but perhaps they could be enchanted to be turned into something great. Chapter 230 It was only after several more days that Anton noticed a strange, uncomfortable feeling. After he was aware of it, he found it hard to place but unfamiliar. It wasn¡¯t anything so obvious as someone or something following him around. He knew that feeling well. No, it was something else. Something about himself. He wasn¡¯t terribly familiar with Essence Collection, but everything about that felt absolutely right. All of his energy felt perfectly alright. It was the energy that wasn¡¯t quite his that was the problem. Anton had always been aware of the unnatural nature of having energy from beyond ascension and drawn from future incarnations- but now it felt unstable. Much like when facing the techniques of the Luminous Ocean Society. That was it. At least, Anton felt a certainty that a majority of the feeling he had was due to that. He had actually avoided excess combat during the week or so he¡¯d been wandering the extensive forested area. Ascension energy was something used for emergencies, so when he wasn¡¯t actually calling upon it he barely felt it. Yes, something in the area was destabilizing that energy. As for what it was, as far as Anton could tell¡­ it was everything. Beyond the lifeless soil and a majority of the stones, every plant and creature that had been injected into the ecosystem had some small effect on disrupting ascension energy. That included the fruits he had been consuming. Anton had the feeling that he would be in a sorry state if he had actually ascended himself, instead of just stealing away the energy with Fleeting Youth. That also included the pregnant doe he was with. Anton carefully summoned a handful of energy- kept quite literally contained in his palm. It was likely enough to kill a normal person or a low ranking cultivator, but as far as ascension energy went it was only a minimal amount. It wavered in his hand, still functional but less in his control. Then the doe licked his hand. He felt the energy get wrapped up in her tongue and pulled away. His most immediate concern was not losing it, but what happened to the energy. It wouldn¡¯t just disappear. His question was answered almost immediately, as the doe began to radiate a stronger presence- though composed entirely of the energy he was used to. Anton was tempted to try it again and see how much the doe could absorb, but in her pregnant state rapid ingestion of energy might not be advisable. The doe still nudged his hand with her head, as she did when he was hiding acorns. Anton held out both his hands. ¡°It¡¯s gone, see?¡± The doe flicked away her head, as if turning up her nose. He suspected she didn¡¯t believe him, and technically that wasn¡¯t incorrect. He could summon more whenever he wanted, especially in that quantity. It might not be a good idea, though. He¡¯d wait at least an hour to see if there were lingering effects. With the majority of his worry assuaged, Anton continued on his way. He felt drawn towards a certain area, and had the feelings others would be as well. Hopefully he might encounter some companions, either his usual group or at least cultivators from allied sects. ----- Devon had a less than optimal start to his cultivation. He was only taught it at all to spice up arena battles, and had little resources given to him. He had to make do on the merely adequate amount of natural energy that had been available to him and his own skills. After he had been freed, his grandfather had helped him re-lay his foundation, but he stuck to the core of the technique he had been taught, despite it not being deserving of a proper name. The core was the only thing the same, however. Devon had modified it on his own, finding it inefficient, but with the experience of Anton and elders in the Order he¡¯d turned it into something else. He didn¡¯t draw upon the semblance of the stars to empower himself, but he had adapted to temper every part of himself just like the Ninety-Nine Stars. The decision had been made out of stubbornness, but since his cultivation hadn¡¯t come to a screeching halt Devon supposed it had been right. Or at least, not the worst he could have made. He was progressing regularly, and given time he might match the group of his grandfather and companions. Being effectively a year behind out of six meant it would take some time to properly catch up, but the biggest issue was that each was at peak Spirit Building if they had not yet stepped into Essence Collection. He would only hold them back right now. Devon also found himself as something of a loner. Though with that said, he hadn¡¯t elected to wander through Everheart¡¯s tomb entirely alone. He was with three others from the Order. Kalpana, Allen, and Marcio. The first two were closer to his own age of around five decades, while Marcio was a good ten or fifteen years younger. The last of their number was a young man who interestingly enough used a fighting style similar to Devon himself, though with a very different origin. His name was Lev, a member of the Grasping Willows. Elder Varela of the Grasping Willows had been present for Devon¡¯s rescue- a bold and honorable move for someone from a smaller sect who had little to gain. Except, of course, the friendship of a cultivator who was merely starting out on the path to true power. Or two, since Devon himself had advanced quite far since that time, surpassing the Elder in question. After he was saved by Anton, Lev had been training hard to catch up. Devon understood that feeling, but given that his grandfather was advancing at more or less the rate of the top tier of cultivators, it wasn¡¯t such an easy feat. Only time would allow the gap between them to lessen, perhaps five or ten years and the power gap between them would be marginal. If they could actually keep up. The group of five had come across quite a number of fortuitous encounters in the wilderness they were wandering¡­ or perhaps it would be more correct to say they¡¯d found a number of intentionally placed prizes. Even if every fruit being perfectly ripe was a product of Everheart¡¯s formations, the fact that it was made that way for the trial led to them being more rewards. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. There were challenges, of course. Beasts that wanted to consume those very fruits or who were simply territorial. There were many dangerous plants as well, but Lev was able to identify them- even if they were unfamiliar species of plants. The Grasping Willows emulated an exotic plant of the same name, and Lev¡¯s experience nearly dying to a strange parasitic moss had led him to widen his knowledge of plants even further. ¡°We¡¯re getting close,¡± Kalpana commented from the head of the group. She was the member of their group most trained in scouting. ¡°Unfortunately, it looks like we¡¯ll have to deal with another group coming in.¡± Despite the different circumstances of this particular place, most cultivators were following the general rules laid down for any such group excursion. Regardless of whether or not they thought the rules were good, it was beneficial to follow along. That included trying to minimize conflicts, especially deadly ones. While killing your opponents would silence them once and for all, regardless of official actions grudges would form. Allowing others to leave a conflict with lives intact was generally safer for both sides. Especially since so far there hadn¡¯t been any extremely problematic groups, like the Flying Blood Cult. Devon¡¯s thoughts worried that he might have just caused them trouble, but as they drew closer it was determined that the group was from the Desert Hippo Sect. Devon didn¡¯t know about them, but Kalpana had some information. ¡°They¡¯re a combative bunch,¡± Kalpana explained, ¡°But they don¡¯t have the reputation of being thieves or murderers. They likely won¡¯t give up this prize without a fight, but we should be able to arrange some terms. If I identified them correctly, of course.¡± ¡°Any connection to Crunching Hippo River?¡± Devon asked. ¡°The origin of their styles, I believe, though they are currently unaffiliated.¡± At least that meant a lower chance that they had a Life Transformation expert just wandering around, though the Order had more than one anyway. Devon and the others would just prefer they stay out of this entirely. As they approached the area with the treasure that they had sensed, they found a group of six large men waiting for them on the other side of some sort of berry bush. The dark skinned men ranged in size from a tall, lean warrior to an absolute giant close to two and a half meters tall and finally to a man thick with fat. For the latter, it had to have been an intentional choice- cultivators had many methods to burn away excess fat if they so desired. Even if they didn¡¯t, they tended to end up thinner simply because it was a chore to eat beyond the level required to build and maintain muscle. It was the giant who spoke as they approached. ¡°It seems we come upon the same prize together,¡± the man said with a booming voice. ¡°There is only one thing to be done. We fight for it.¡± ¡°See?¡± Kalpana said, looking at the others. She then raised her voice to be heard by the men from Ambati. ¡°What terms should we fight on?¡± ¡°Given the size of our groups, it seems appropriate to have a series of matches. Three in total, with two victories claiming the prize.¡± ¡°And what of the others?¡± Kalpana asked. ¡°Of course, we will be standing by for the sake of ensuring there is no foul play. Either from ourselves, or a third party interfering.¡± A fight of five versus six wouldn¡¯t be in the favor of Devon and the rest. If one of their members were sequestered in a match and they were betrayed, four versus five wouldn¡¯t be much worse. ¡°What else?¡± Kalpana probed, ¡°The rules of the matches.¡± ¡°They continue until one side is defeated. Usually, that would be through surrender, but clear incapacitation will of course count as well.¡± The large man gestured nearby, ¡°There is a sufficient area there to fight without leaving the rest.¡± The group discussed among themselves, but nobody had any objections. All that mattered was that the members of the Desert Hippo Sect intended to keep to the terms. ¡°Very well,¡± Kalpana said. ¡°Who shall go first?¡± ¡°Kayode,¡± the giant said. ¡°You are to go first,¡± he waved a man forward. ¡°Your side may pick whoever you please.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± Devon said. His cultivation was close enough to his opponent around the border between mid and late Spirit Building. With no objections from his side, Devon moved forward. Once they were both in place five meters from each other and out of close proximity to the rest, the start of the match was called by the giant after they declared their readiness. A moment later, Devon had a massive man barreling towards him. Devon could feel the ground shaking, a combination of the man¡¯s weight in muscle and fat as well as his energy propelling him forward. Though a certain sort of honor might have compelled him to meet his opponent head on, practicality called for a different response. Chains of energy shot forward from Devon to either side, wrapping around trees on either side before meeting in the middle. Two more went directly forward. The charging man ignored both entirely, letting them wrap around his legs and arms respectively. As the chains wrapped around the tree snapped taut, Devon found himself thrown forward. He tried to slow himself and his charging opponent by dragging his feet into the ground, but it hardly helped. Devon might have been able to hold on until the trees snapped, but he would settle for what he had. The man¡¯s momentum slowed slightly at least. The chains wrapped around his arms didn¡¯t do much, but as their imminent collision approached he pulled the arms in towards the man¡¯s sides. Then Devon leapt forward, sailing over the man¡¯s head while at the same time releasing the chains attached to the man¡¯s legs. He didn¡¯t just drop them, but thrust them down to meet their counterparts down below, where they formed into a single loop. As soon as that happened and the chains hit their full length once more the man staggered. Happily enough, he fell forward- though the trees cracked and groaned under the force and Devon¡¯s chains strained. A simple fall onto the man¡¯s face likely wasn¡¯t a significant victory, so Devon had to hope that he caused some damage or at least made him expend more energy than he¡¯d used himself. Though he was also moving to take advantage of the opening of his prone foe. It seemed unlikely for the man to be terribly agile, so despite his tough body and strong energy defenses he had to take the opportunity. He held the man¡¯s arms tight around him and charged back towards the man, since the spikes clearly weren¡¯t enough on their own. Chapter 231 The heavy warrior from Ambati lay on the ground, with Devon¡¯s chains wrapped around his midsection pinning his arms to him. Devon was able to control the length of those chains with some level of flexibility, so though the man attempted to roll away as he approached the chains remained taut. Even just rolling on the ground the large man provided great force, but Devon held on. Unfortunately, though he kept the man¡¯s arms bound, he couldn¡¯t stop him from twisting to his knees, then to a standing position. If this had been a deathmatch with a hated foe, Devon would have targeted the man differently. He didn¡¯t just rely on creating chains to fight, but had a proper sword for when he needed to cause more damage. He might have tried to lop the man¡¯s head off¡­ had the situation been different. Instead, he settled for a kick to the head. It would snap the man¡¯s neck back as the chains held him in place, but his durability was unquestionably enough for him to survive that. That was Devon¡¯s plan, and it happened just like that, even as the man spread his legs and lowered his stance. Solid boot connected with chin directly, and though the man¡¯s energy certainly softened the blow Devon felt the force pierce through. What he hadn¡¯t expected was for the strain on the chains to grow to the point they snapped, the man¡¯s arms breaking free. Because of that, he hadn¡¯t expected the palm that struck him in the stomach, either. The angles involved and the general situation were kind to Devon. They spread the impact out over his leg pushing against the man¡¯s face and Devon¡¯s whole torso. More than that, he went flying into the air- much better than hitting the ground and having all his momentum stopped at once, where he would be injured on both ends of the attack. Instead he had a moment to orient himself in the air. A handful of chains whipped out from him, grabbing onto different trees and extending their length so they didn¡¯t suddenly hit their limits, but gradually stopped him instead. Then Devon yanked himself forward, not heading back towards the ground but keeping his height in the trees. Facing the man head on would only result in worse injuries, and his cracked ribs were quite sufficient for the moment. A few moments later he was directly above his landlocked opponent- though he knew that hiding in trees wouldn¡¯t be a viable long-term strategy. Even before he started his next move the heavy man was walking over to one of the trees he was anchored to, doubtless planning to rip it out and possibly use it as a projectile. Before that happened, Devon began dropping coils of chains beneath him, and then himself. One after another chains sprouted from around him and the other chains of energy he had already created, covering Kayode from head to toe. Though the man grabbed several and tried to rip him apart, Devon was capable of continuous high energy output, after which controlling the chains actually consumed very little effort. As even the large man wasn¡¯t able to snap his chains with ease, it was sufficient. His chains twisted and pulled the mans arms to odd angles before once more clamping them to him, doing the same with his legs. Devon began to squeeze as his heel came down on the man¡¯s head with surprisingly little reaction. But the chains tightened, the blades on them certainly pressing into the man¡¯s body everywhere. Except for his head and neck. Devon strained as his chains tightened, wondering if he even could damage this man. He was about ready to pull out his sword and place it to his throat when the man spoke. ¡°I surrender.¡± Devon quickly loosened the chains, reabsorbing as much of the energy as he could while they faded away. He wasn¡¯t terribly surprised to see that Kayode didn¡¯t actually have a scratch on him, though he took solace in the fact he was certain he¡¯d punctured the man¡¯s energy. He just had very thick skin. Kayode put a dark skinned hand on his jaw, carefully touching it, then patted the top of his head. ¡°You are strong,¡± he finally said. ¡°Though the Desert Hippo Sect is more straightforward in our strength, it would be unfair to claim you are otherwise.¡± ¡°You¡¯re extremely strong as well,¡± Devon said in return. ¡°I¡¯ve never had anyone of a similar rank to myself snap my chains.¡± Kayode smiled, taking his stance and putting his arms at his side. ¡°It¡¯s all about technique.¡± Devon blinked in surprise. He hadn¡¯t thought that the heavy man, large from both muscle and fat, would admit to something besides brute force. But seeing the way he wiggled his arms, Devon could imagine how the stresses on the chains would shift and find weak points. Though it would still require great muscular strength, energy, or some combination of both. ¡°I suppose we should announce our next fighter,¡± Devon said. ¡°We can choose first,¡± the muscled giant who was their leader offered. ¡°It is more fair if we offer at least one of our fighters first,¡± Devon said. ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± Lev volunteered. Everyone else nodded. Despite his rather small size, he was one of the better fighters among them. It would be easy to underestimate him. But it didn¡¯t seem the members of the Desert Hippo Sect planned to do so. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Then I shall fight,¡± the giant himself stepped forward. While Kayode was a tall man, and quite large overall, this man was two and a half meters in height, and nearly ended up as wide as Kayode despite the lack of fat. He left behind him on the ground a large hammer, either determining he wouldn¡¯t need it- or simply out of lack of desire to escalate things to a deadly level. After all, with the size of the man and the weapon, Lev couldn¡¯t really afford to get hit even once. ¡°I am Bongani.¡± ¡°Lev,¡± said the young adult who was several times smaller than him, overall. One arm hung limply at his side. Since Bongani was one of the participants in the fight, Devon determined the countdown was his responsibility. A few moments later, the fight began. Just as Kayode, Bongani barreled towards Lev the moment the match began. Yet given the power and durability displayed by his previous companion, it was not a reckless move but simply the most efficient one. Lev stood his ground, a skinny fellow with no visible weapons. Even his hair and beard were not terribly long, a feature that Elder Varela of his sect made use of to fight. But Lev had weapons that were more than just his body. Roots sprang up from the ground, helpfully torn loose by the previous battle. They held onto Bongani¡¯s legs as the trees themselves bent and twisted, striking Bongani directly one after another. All of that together slowed his charge just a bit, though there were shatters of splinters as the trees snapped. The giant took another powerful step forward before punching forward with his left arm. Lev wrapped around it with both arms- including the one that hung limply moments before- and yanked, throwing the man past him- though Bongani simply turned his tumble into a full flip and landed on his feet before twisting on his heel. If the man had not been so large, he would have gone much further and in fashion he was less able to reorient. He had a smile on his face, but so did Lev. If Bongani had been a lesser combatant, relying simply on his size, he would have been sorely disappointed to find that cultivation was about much more than a strong body. Yet on the other hand, if Lev had presumed that his energy could simply overcome the man despite his clear focus on his body, he could have made a serious mistake. As it was, Lev had gone all out. While his throw hadn¡¯t damaged the man, he still left a few lingering presents along his arm. Tiny pricks of energy that didn¡¯t seem like much, but would actually begin to drain him. Lev wasn¡¯t going to go so far as to use all the insights he¡¯d gained from the parasitic moss, but there were some levels that were too far for what had so far been a friendly series of matches. If the battle dragged on, Lev¡¯s ability would drain Bongani to the point he became vulnerable. However, the giant was powerful and not very far at all. Even as he turned on his heel, he kicked out towards Lev. When Lev retreated, Bongani re-angled himself to turn the attack into a trip. Lev was pulled away by a nearby root as Bongani came down on his midsection with a thick arm and a fist the size of his head. For several exchanges, Lev and Bongani seemed unable to get an advantage, but the giant was more agile than he looked. Lev also found it difficult to keep his energy implanted in the man, and the more he focused on that the less he could drag him around into just the right areas to restrain him with tree roots or bludgeon him with their trunks. Eventually Lev just barely managed to dodge a punch, and knuckles scraped against his ribs. ¡°I surrender,¡± he said, backing away. Then he inclined his head. ¡°You could have hit me with that, without compromising your own defense.¡± Bongani nodded, ¡°Only through the advantage of experience. I have more years as a cultivator.¡± He shook hands with Lev, though the smaller man¡¯s hand was entirely encased inside his own. ¡°Though I have the feeling if you had gone all out, I would not have fared as well.¡± ¡°Maybe. Or if you used that hammer, I might be a puddle of goop on the floor.¡± ¡°I admit to being a bit slower with my weapon. But I suppose it could have ended that way.¡± Now that it was the third match, and seeing how Bongani had treated it, Devon and the others weren¡¯t concerned that the group would suddenly go back on their word and try to seize the prize, the berry bush with everyone standing around it. Taking advantage of the matches to weaken them would have been possible- though it was still reasonable for Devon and the others to accept. And having stood fist-to-fist with them, there was no deception to be found. But there was one more round to take into account to see who actually won. The man from the Desert Hippo Sect who went next was the tall, lean member of their group. It was hard to imagine his fighting style would be close to the others, given the very different body type. He wasn¡¯t small by any means, but it would be difficult for him to throw around his mass as a weapon. Kalpana stood across from him, a hammer in each hand. ¡°I hope you¡¯ll excuse my need for a weapon. I doubt I could put up a proper fight with just my fists.¡± Her opponent nodded his head, ¡°I too shall be making use of proper weapons. I trust we will both know when to stop.¡± Up until that point, the skinny but tall man had his body concealed by a cloak. If anything, it had made him seem wider in body. Some of that had actually not been him, but his armor. Specifically, spikes that extended along his arms and legs, as well as from his chest and presumably his back. ¡°I am Alhaji. Though it is well known that few hippos have spikes, it is the duty of cultivators to improve the aspects their origin lacked.¡± Kalpana grinned back at the man then gestured to herself. ¡°Kalpana. You could have just said you were a spiny hippo, though, Alhaji.¡± Kalpana held her hammers out, spinning them around with her fingers. ¡°It¡¯s not like these boys are made from stars, or anything like that.¡± After they completed their introduction, the countdown began. Everyone was tensely watching the match, though the uninjured members were also remembering to keep their eye out for third parties who might interfere or seize the opportunity. While either side could swallow their pride and admit defeat to the others, one of them would be walking away with some very special sort of berries. Chapter 232 The tall and skinny man covered in spiked armor, Alhaji, faced off against Kalpana who wielded two warhammers, one side of each head with a spike while the other was blunt. This would be the final match of the three, with one win for either side. While Kalpana¡¯s weapon were indeed suited for her opponent, she wouldn¡¯t necessarily have an easy time getting in a solid blow that allowed her weapons to pierce through his defenses. As the countdown finished and the match began, Alhaji charged forward. The members of the Desert Hippo Sect all had a similar straightforward style, but Kalpana judged that just because his movements were simple didn¡¯t mean he would be easy to strike. He moved with great speed and momentum, forcing Kalpana to make the choice between counterattacking and protecting herself. If it were a battle to the death, one she was certain to have ample time to recover afterwards, she might be willing to take a swing at his vitals in exchange for a hit. The tall man crouched low, at least compared to his height, his arms outstretched to cover a larger area. She ducked under and took a swing at his side, but his assault had actually made it difficult to land a proper blow. He also reacted to her ducking around him, swinging his arm like a spiked weapon that scraped along her skull, damaging her energy. She didn¡¯t expect him to swivel around on his heel, nearly instantly reversing his momentum, but she reacted nonetheless. With one hammer she knocked his arm up, and with the other she hammered into his side, knocking him off course. She thought she might have cracked one of his ribs, but she couldn¡¯t be certain. This group was tough. A flurry of hammers and spikes twirled around as Alhaji began to show what else he could do besides a straightforward charge. Punches and kick and leg sweeps all came with the added danger of spikes sticking out at odd angles. He was obviously familiar with their location, never hindering himself but always using it to make Kalpana¡¯s life more difficult. But while she was kept on the back foot, she was actually planning her attack. She slowly gathered energy, preparing for the right moment. When it came, she struck without hesitation. Alhaji overreached a bit too much with a punch, allowing her a moment to swing up one of her hammers, the spike driving into the inner side of the elbow. He was trying to move past her, but that allowed her to yank him to a sudden halt. Her other hammer came down on the spot she had battered before, striking with intensified force as sparks flew even before hammer struck armor. She aimed slightly down, piercing into his ribs at an angle where she wouldn¡¯t hit his heart. That was a courtesy that was appropriate, though other than that it couldn¡¯t be said that she held back. Even as she managed that, Alhaji reached around with his good arm to try to pull her in and crush her, but she danced away. They faced each other for a few moments before Alhaji reached up to his side, where blood was flowing freely. ¡°I surrender. It is your victory.¡± As he said that, the remaining members of the Desert Hippo Clan inclined their heads, backing away from the bush that was the object of their contention. Both sides had injuries ranging in intensity, but they should be able to recover in a relatively short time frame. Going any further would just leave them vulnerable. ¡°Good fortune to you,¡± Bongani and the others said as they began to turn away. Devon quickly gathered the others around, whispering to them, then called after them. ¡°Wait!¡± The Desert Hippo Sect turned, looking back curiously. Devon pulled a handful of berries off of the bush, tossing them. ¡°It was a good match. You should take some.¡± Before they could object, Devon continued. ¡°Just promise us this. If you are able to grow the plant first, share the details with us.¡± Bongani had easily caught the handful of berries, looking at them in his hand. ¡°Grow them?¡± he questioned. ¡°Absolutely. My grandfather would kill me if he knew I didn¡¯t at least try to grow something like this. The instant gratification of a little power is nothing compared to the eventual payoff. At least, if something suitable is found.¡± Bongani nodded, ¡°Very well. We shall try some soils near us. Though none are quite like this area.¡± Both sides parted peacefully from there. Devon knew it was only a small chance that they¡¯d actually get anything in return, but the Desert Hippo Sect members would be leaving with a good opinion of the others. While they might never meet again, there could be a need for some allies in the rest of the tomb. ----- ¡°Alright, that¡¯s about it then,¡± a voice appeared from nowhere, and though Anton had only heard this particular iteration of the voice several times before he wasn¡¯t going to mistake Everheart for anyone else. ¡°All of you have had your fun gathering everything as you desire. But you didn¡¯t come here for fancy plants. You came here for Ascension. And while I can¡¯t guarantee even a single one of you will reach that point, some of you are going to come away from this armed with new knowledge.¡± Given the general way the voice was speaking, Anton presumed that everyone else heard along with himself. He didn¡¯t suppose it would respond to questions, though he didn¡¯t have a good one ready anyway. ¡°I¡¯ve opened up the final trial. Some of you are much closer than others, but that¡¯s fate. Or whatever. I don¡¯t know if that crap actually exists, but I won¡¯t hear any complaints about it. Everything goes to those who can get their hands on it first. And I mean it. Touch any of that stuff in there, and it¡¯s yours. I don¡¯t mind little squabbles happening, but once someone has something that¡¯s it. I expect you all to be civil. After all, nobody would want to miss out on valuable information about ascension.¡± The more he reiterated that point, the more Anton wondered if it was some sort of prank. It was possible Everheart really didn¡¯t care about handing out the information, having already ascended or died himself, but the mere way it was said made him wonder what information Everheart could actually have. Then again¡­ if this place was made after he raided the Luminous Ocean Society- which was quite likely- he might have some exceptional secrets. Or the most difficult place to get to would have a note that suggested something like climbing a mountain to achieve ¡®ascension¡¯. ----- As soon as Everheart finished talking, Anton could sense where the next trial was. It was extremely obvious¡­ and also quite nearby. He calculated in his head the chance that the timing was random, and determined¡­ he didn¡¯t know. It was also possible that there was more than one entrance to the final area, though he could only sense a single concentration of power. If there were others, their presence was overwhelmed by the one he felt. As he walked along, Anton looked over at the doe. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll be able to come with me. But I suppose there¡¯s no way to know except to try.¡± He continued to walk towards the energy signature he sensed, just fifteen minutes away by his estimates. He felt other people nearby as he approached, and Anton was quite certain a few Life Transformation experts slipped in ahead of him. They were the ones to which information on Ascension was most important, after all. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. He soon found stairs heading down, the opening sticking out in stark contrast to the forest around it as if it had torn out a part of the world around it. In fact, there was half of a rock on the edge of it, cleanly cut. So nobody could have possibly stumbled upon the final trial early, since it hadn¡¯t existed. The doe was reluctant to go down the stairs, but Anton helped her along, supporting her weight as needed. She clearly didn¡¯t enjoy the process, but she also wanted to stay with him. She was able to walk down the stairs, at least, and after the first few she was less nervous and clacked her way down until the hit the bottom which led directly into an open room. Three doors stood across from them. Everheart¡¯s voice came to Anton once again, but this time it sounded more authoritative. More imperial. ¡°Ascension. Each bit of knowledge can bring one closer, but likewise misinformation can lead one a step away. What is ascension?¡± The three doors before Anton had no labels in the traditional sense, but he felt something from each of them. One of them carried a great power with it, and he recognized it. Yet the same sense was down other corridors as well, though less potent. The first seemed to be the easiest solution. Ascension was the great power that came beyond Life Transformation. The other two hallways were harder to interpret. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you could tell me what each one is supposed to mean?¡± There was no answer, either from Everheart or the doe nor anything else. Anton shook his head. ¡°Wonderful.¡± He almost went immediately for the easy answer. It should bring him forward, and he had to get to prizes first. But¡­ it didn¡¯t feel quite right. The second hallway seemed to register as ¡®a different source of energy¡¯. That was right, too. As he walked towards it, Anton took one last look at the third hallway. He wasn¡¯t sure how, but it resonated in his mind as ¡®a place cut off from the rest of the world¡¯. Anton stopped. All the answers seemed to be correct. But was one more correct? From what he had learned¡­ the third was actually the most important, though only part of the full picture. He decided to traverse that way, to see if he could determine what Everheart was actually looking for. He ended up in a small room with a tiny pedestal in it. On the pedestal with a shard of crystal the size of Anton¡¯s pinky nail. Yet it was filled with an overwhelming amount of energy. ¡°All answers are true,¡± Everheart¡¯s voice came. ¡°But some are more true than others. Reach for your prize, if you can snatch it.¡± Anton carefully reached forward, wondering what was going to attack him. Would it be the crystal itself, or some other trap? In the end, however, there was no danger to him. Because there wasn¡¯t actually anything there. As he touched the crystal, his fingers went through it and it scattered into light. ¡°A basic understanding of ascension is hollow and empty. Perhaps it will grow into something, and perhaps it will not. Until then, it is intangible.¡± Anton would have just preferred if Everheart had simply said, ¡®no prize¡¯ instead of taunting him with a reward. But there was still more to explore. ¡°Given that ascension is a place cut off, what does that mean for you?¡± Anton was beginning to understand that the hallways that split off weren¡¯t exactly even a specific answer, but rather limited by his own comprehension of things. The second hallway was a complete blank for him, with nothing there. The first spoke of breaking free from the world to ascend. And the third was like it, implying a barrier in the way. The difference was unclear, but Anton was inclined to move towards the latter. Because while a barrier might indeed prevent them from ascending easily, it wasn¡¯t necessarily keeping them trapped either. The doe wandered along behind Anton, seeming to be unsure about the strange stone rooms but otherwise not reacting to anything. ¡°Barriers go both ways,¡± Everheart¡¯s voice spoke as Anton stepped into the next room. ¡°Is that sufficient?¡± Once more there was a pedestal. Anton approached closely, taking a good look at the shard of crystal, ever so slightly bigger than the previous one. Perhaps he could have attained the other, if he knew what he was doing. He could feel the dense energy, one he had handled before himself. He was unsure how it might be solidified into a crystal, but ascension energy was certainly familiar. He reached out for it, trying to control it. But it once more faded into nothing. ¡°Upon ascending, a cultivator has reached the peak of his path, becoming something akin to an immortal.¡± Everheart¡¯s voice spoke with clear authority. ¡°None can hope to stand against them.¡± Anton immediately rejected the first thought in front of him. ¡®Ascension makes one undefeatable¡¯. Of course that was not true. Unless people who had ascended simply couldn¡¯t fight. By the standards of the world he currently lived, he imagined that ascended individuals might indeed be unstoppable, but compared to their peers, there had to be those who were stronger and those who were weaker. Setting that aside, Anton was immediately drawn to the third hallway. It spoke to him of fragility and weakness, a mere hollow and brittle form covering up the truth. That didn¡¯t ring quite true to him, but something drew him to it anyway. Once more there was a small crystal, marginally bigger. He tried to make use of a small bit of technique he¡¯d learned to counter ascension energy, hoping to snag the crystal, but once more it was gone. ¡°Everything is finite. Everything has its weaknesses,¡± Everheart declared as he stood in the room. ¡°Until, in the end, one goes beyond ascension to reach true immortality.¡± Anton didn¡¯t hesitate, finding his answer immediately. Perhaps it was the cynic in him, but the thought of ¡®everything dies¡¯ resonated with him too strongly to even consider other options. ¡°A pity,¡± Everheart commented as he entered the next room. ¡°You know so much, and have such talent, but you¡¯ll never reach ascension.¡± It took a moment for Anton to register an actual form standing there, talking to him. Anton shrugged, ¡°I know. But I made this choice.¡± Everheart snorted. ¡°Hah. If I was actually here, I¡¯d slap you for that. Most people don¡¯t have a choice.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if giving it up was really a choice, though. Nothing says I would have made it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you aren¡¯t a genius,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I didn¡¯t think it would matter for this place, so I didn¡¯t take stock of everyone¡¯s cultivation time when they came in. But knowing you used Fleeing Youth, I had to know how long you¡¯ve been practicing. Six years to reach Essence Collection might put you into the second rank of geniuses, if you weren¡¯t a century old.¡± Everheart shook his head, ¡°I thought you¡¯d maybe started training Fleeting Youth, oh, four or five decades ago. But you¡¯re still new at that too.¡± Everheart¡¯s eyes drilled into Anton. ¡°Do I sense some damage to your lifespan? I don¡¯t suppose it was Candle Wax?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Look, just because Fleeting Youth functions better at the end of your life didn¡¯t mean you had to push yourself there.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not that careless. I had to save someone. I¡¯ve not used it in quite some time.¡± Everheart looked at Anton a while before nodding. ¡°Yeah, sounds about right. Listen. If you make it through Essence Collection- and I can all but guarantee you will- you would have reached Ascension. But it¡¯s gone now. And don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t guess that. At the very least, you had to at least be aware of this messing up an unknown number of reincarnations.¡± ¡°An unknown number?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I was under the assumption that I might not reincarnate at all.¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Maybe not. I have to point out I didn¡¯t actually use that one. But I¡¯m good enough at predicting side effects to tell you that your next few incarnations, if you have them, will be perfectly normal people.¡± ¡°That sounds wonderful,¡± Anton said. ¡°Too bad you can¡¯t ascend now,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I¡¯m sure someone like you could do a lot with it. Well, I¡¯m sure when the time comes you¡¯ll come up with something better anyway.¡± Chapter 233 ¡°... what?¡± Anton squinted at Everheart. ¡°What¡¯s ¡®better¡¯ than ascension?¡± ¡°If I knew that, I would have done it,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Besides, do you think I know everything? I¡¯m just making wild conjecture. It doesn¡¯t really matter though, if you reach the peak of Life Transformation while keeping up with your Fleeting Youth training you¡¯ll kick the ass of anyone below Ascension. And that¡¯s all that you need.¡± Everheart¡¯s teenage form leaned against the wall casually, ¡°Though you¡¯ll die of old age pretty quick, I bet. How¡¯s your lifespan holding up?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ve got at least two decades in me right now.¡± ¡°Not bad,¡± Everheart said, ¡°Should have another fifty though. That late start really made things hard, huh?¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Anton said, ¡°But I have nothing to compare to.¡± ¡°Yeah, well,¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Look, I don¡¯t actually know everything, even everything Everheart knew. But I do know that you have to carve out your own path. And I had a thought that maybe ascension wasn¡¯t the only one. The only way to find that out for sure is to do it, or die trying. Though it may do you some good to hang around for a while¡­¡± ¡°Because of the ascended individuals coming to attack, I presume,¡± Anton said with as much casualness as he could muster. ¡°You know about that?¡± Everheart said. ¡°Others too, I hope?¡± ¡°Yes. We found the secret realm of the Luminous Ocean Society, and sifted through their ruins to find some techniques that can combat ascension energy.¡± ¡°Good, good,¡± Everheart continued to nod. ¡°Then you might have a chance. Not at winning, of course,¡± Everheart quickly clarified, ¡°But of not being completely wiped out.¡± ¡°Will you help us?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯m just a projection. Besides the knowledge and crap contained here, I can¡¯t really do anything.¡± ¡°I mean Everheart,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m dead,¡± Everheart¡¯s projection said. ¡°Everyone knows that.¡± ¡°Or you ascended. You should have a pretty good idea of whether or not that happened,¡± Anton said. ¡°And given this place, I can¡¯t imagine you got close enough to guide others without taking that step yourself shortly after.¡± Everheart shook his head sadly. ¡°You make the assumption that one precludes the other. But I know you know that even if I ascended, I¡¯m dead. Too many enemies. And, if, just if I survived somehow¡­ do you think I¡¯d help? I may have messed around with these stupid tombs, but I¡¯m ultimately just a self-serving asshole. This was a fun little side project. If it lets you all kill a single person when they come, well¡­ that¡¯s just a little revenge I set up for myself in advance.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you,¡± Anton said. ¡°This is far too much work to go to, too much expense, just to maybe kill someone who might have killed you.¡± ¡°I appreciate your optimism kid, but you know what they say. You can¡¯t take it with you.¡± ¡°...¡± Anton found Everheart very difficult to read. His flippant nature was certainly an intention affection to a certain extent, but some parts of him were genuine. ¡°I have it on good authority that you can, in fact, ¡®take it with you¡¯. Otherwise there would have been a pile of stuff left behind whenever people ascend, and these raids would be pointless.¡± ¡°Crap,¡± Everheart said. His expression looked genuinely upset. ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that.¡± Anton couldn¡¯t help but laugh. Because either Everheart had really missed the fact that he could bring his wealth with him, or he¡¯d set up a whole lot of complicated places for the sake of pushing others onto a path for their own protection and never once tried to get anyone to appreciate him for it. ¡°Don¡¯t laugh,¡± Everheart stomped his foot. ¡°One of us has to,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I figured it wouldn¡¯t be you.¡± He walked forward, looking at the pedestal. ¡°You can¡¯t actually get these crystals, can you?¡± ¡°Nah,¡± Everheart said. ¡°But one guy¡¯s coughing up blood every time they disappear. It¡¯s hilarious.¡± ----- Everheart left in short order after the conversation finished. Anton hadn¡¯t gotten anything but a better understanding of his conscious and unconscious thoughts about ascension, which he supposed didn¡¯t count as nothing. But he didn¡¯t get anything to help boost his cultivation, after the forest at least. He didn¡¯t end up with any more questions, eventually arriving in a room where several Life Transformations cultivators stood, looking at the wall. On the wall was a large circle, with two needles protruding from it and hanging parallel. One pointed directly upward, and one slightly to its left. If Anton recalled correctly, it was similar to a timekeeping device. Most cultivators had no need of them, and few people had need for precise timing. Such devices were usually large and clunky, though most didn¡¯t take up a whole wall. Anton felt it with his energy senses, and instead of the expected formations running, the thing sensed a large collection of metal rods and gears. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Any idea what this is?¡± one of the Life Transformation cultivators asked as Anton entered. He was the one Anton knew was from Crunching Hippo River, though he didn¡¯t know the man¡¯s name. The large man waddled over to Anton, and Anton knew he wasn¡¯t just asking, he was demanding to know. ¡°I don¡¯t know, senior,¡± Anton said. ¡°Except that it might be a timepiece.¡± ¡°For what?¡± the man asked, though he clearly didn¡¯t expect Anton to have that answer. Anton looked at it anyway. ¡°I hope it¡¯s not until the next potential invasion. Because if so, it doesn¡¯t appear we have much time.¡± The man squinted his eyes, grabbing Anton¡¯s shoulder before he could even sense him moving. ¡°Invasion by what? What do you know?¡± ¡°Senior,¡± Anton explained calmly. ¡°Information from the secret realm and ruins of the Luminous Ocean Society indicated an attack in the past. One enough to erase them, and probably other very strong sects, from the history of the world.¡± The grip on his shoulder relaxed, though Anton himself did not. ¡°Foolishness,¡± the man said as he turned away, though his worry was plain for Anton to read. Though the hands on the clock seemed to be completely stationary, Anton could feel them moving. It was ever so slow. If it was actually a measurement from the last incident, then there was less than a tenth of the time in between remaining. Though given that it had been several centuries at least, Anton thought they might have a few decades. At least that thought was slightly comforting. It didn¡¯t look good though. ----- More and more people ended up at the end of the final trial, speculating on what it might be. Among those people was Grand Elder Kseniya, who raised an eyebrow at Anton¡¯s presence before her, but didn¡¯t say anything more. He could have simply been closer or chosen answers more quickly, though Grand Elder Kseniya knew that not everyone would arrive at the end. His eyes indicated he had things to say, but also that they would best be said in private. She also looked at the doe he brought along with him, but had little to say about it. Another hour passed before Everheart appeared, his annoying teenage form leaning next to the clock. ¡°This is good enough,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m sure many more people can make it here, but all the high ranking cultivators are present. Now, I¡¯m sure some of you might be wondering what happened to those people who didn¡¯t make it through the doors. You might presume they were taken back to the beginning, to be returned down below. But actually, they¡¯re dead.¡± A pile of equipment suddenly appeared in front of him. Everheart judged the reactions of everyone in the room, which ranged from apathy to disbelief to a little bit of anger. ¡°Now, I¡¯m sure you all are wondering why they would be dead. Some of your sects are missing a few members that bolstered your numbers, it seems. Except¡­ you aren¡¯t. Only fakes are missing, cronies for those who think themselves better than you.¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Hell, they might even be better, but the point is they were lying to you.¡± There were a few whispers among the crowd, and Everheart picked up on them. ¡°That¡¯s right. The ¡®Twin Soul Sect¡¯ among others. Tainted by those not from here, traitors now and in the future. Willing to give up their lives for the promise of one somewhere better.¡± ¡°How foolish,¡± one cultivator said. ¡°Nobody can help you in your next life.¡± ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know about that,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I¡¯m sure someone could. I don¡¯t know if they were actually going to follow through on the promise, but whoever is involved definitely could, if they chose to.¡± Everheart looked at some of the people in the room. ¡°Tempting, right? It¡¯s not so hard to find someone¡¯s soul after they¡¯re dead, if you know where to look. You can help it along, guide it into the right new birth or any number of other things.¡± Everheart¡¯s face blackened as he glared at them. ¡°Or you can tear it to shreds and make sure that they¡¯ll never live again.¡± Everheart spit on the ground. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about following through on that temptation. If you seek out those from beyond this world, I promise that when your fellow cultivators tear apart your body, I¡¯ll do the same with your soul.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he Everheart could actually do that. Oh, he absolutely believed Everheart had the ability, and that everyone who had been brought into the deathtrap would have had it happen to them after they died¡­ but outside this place of control, Anton grew more skeptical. But he wasn¡¯t going to contradict the man either. ¡°So it¡¯s true then,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°Influences from beyond ascension who somehow influence people here.¡± ¡°More than that,¡± Everheart said. ¡°They can come for a little visit. Sometimes.¡± He gestured towards the clock. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be long now. So in addition to what you know so far, here¡¯s what I have to say about Ascension. Screw it, and everyone who dips their filthy hands into our world. But on a more practical note,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I know you found the Luminous Ocean Society. Good job.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t going to mention that Everheart had learned that tidbit from him. That seemed a bit unnecessary and likely to get him in a pointless squabble. ¡°I saw their place too. They had some nice techniques for fighting ascension energy. And they still got wiped out to the last man. Because let¡¯s face it, none of you are strong enough. All of you together, and your sects, and everyone who didn¡¯t make it here¡­¡± Everheart shook his head. ¡°Probably also too weak. And I¡¯m going to say this. If you know any techniques that can fight them, they won¡¯t let you live. They¡¯ll stomp you out and remove you from history.¡± Anton realized he couldn¡¯t move. ¡°So that¡¯s why none of you have the choice but to learn it. Everyone¡¯s going to know how to fight them, whether you like it or not. If you don¡¯t want to get wiped out, you¡¯d better make good use of it.¡± Anton had never felt so intimidated by someone telling them he was going to learn something, not even when Grand Elder Kseniya dragged him off for training. Now, he found himself being pulled into a different place. At least his mind. Information bombarded him from every angle. Some of it hurt less, not because it wasn¡¯t dense but simply because he had some idea about it. He had the feeling that he was being inundated with a bit of ascension energy as well, but he actually had experience with that. Along with his beginning study of the techniques to fight it, he was actually not all that harshly affected. At least that was what he determined later when he was returned to his body and found only passed out individuals all around him, while he himself was able to sit up off the floor briefly and look at them before he passed out for a good twenty hours. Chapter 234 If anyone were to sort various cultivation techniques by whether or not each it would likely be connected to a righteous sect, anything involving light would come out on top, well in the direction of belonging to a righteous sect. That was the perception it had, and truthfully perception influenced cultivation in great ways. But some people didn¡¯t care about how they were perceived, and would even take advantage of incorrect assumptions. Though there were no assumptions to make about people in this situation. Bright light filtered down through the watery depths around the Luminous Ocean Society, and the invaders shone like golden bells the way the pearly white teeth of a vicious animal might glint in the light. Nobody from a righteous sect would implement a plan to rob others of lower cultivation just because they could, and the invaders displayed every aspect of villainy. The disciple of the Luminous Ocean Society took up a defensive stance with the others, despite knowing that resisting was futile. While they might have techniques to counter the ascension energy of their opponents, it didn¡¯t suddenly stop them from having higher cultivations. The disciple¡¯s eyes shifted as he picked out a target. Early Essence Collection. That was the limit. How those beyond ascension could have such cultivation was a question for the academics, if anyone survived to ask them. How they even managed to be present at all was a more important question, one that couldn¡¯t be answered. A streak of light curved through the water as the Luminous Ocean Society disciple moved to flank their target. Spear crossed with staff and light scattered in all directions as the two cultivators fought. It might have been a beautiful sight, if the purpose of both sides was anything but killing. One side to defend their homes, and the other because people dared to stand up to them. With each thrust, the Luminous Ocean Society disciple impacted defensive energy. It wasn¡¯t so easy to break through the blinding light protecting their opponent, but that wasn¡¯t the actual goal. Each stab also carved off a bit of ascension energy, sending it spiraling into nothingness. Each strike was one piece that could never be used again. Even if the disciple fell here, nobody else would have to face the energy that didn¡¯t belong in the world. Though it didn¡¯t seem that the Luminous Ocean Society had any chance of surviving this conflict, perhaps their sacrifice could open up the path for others. ----- A Life Transformation elder stood confidently against an opponent with cultivation beyond what could be achieved. A true ascender, come down to bully those weaker than themself. It was disgusting. And what could be done? Very little. With the amount of ascension energy they had built up, it was enough to slaughter two or three Life Transformation experts wholesale. The complete annihilation of their energy, one after the other. It was a shame it was harder to disrupt those at higher cultivation, or a well timed strike might disperse everything they had built up. But the elder kept their calm and confident position. As if they wouldn¡¯t die. But obviously that was untrue. An attack with more power than their entire arsenal washed over them, leaving behind nothing but a crater in the sandy floor of the ocean. Not even a strand of hair, a drop of blood, or a fingernail. While the attack was certainly quite powerful and able to wipe out a Life Transformation expert all at once, it wasn¡¯t the sort that disintegrated a body. The elder smiled as they stood behind the attacker. A little bit of bent light and so much power was used up. This was already a victory. The invader¡¯s hand thrust out towards the elder standing behind them, a beam of light twice as tall and wide creating an inescapable attack, the speed of light undodgeable and the power irresistible. Nothing was left. Because, of course, once more there had never been anyone there. It was difficult, creating an illusion realistic enough to fool a powerful cultivator so easily. Light was key, but incorporating other elements was important. The cultivators of the Luminous Ocean Society manipulated the mind indirectly, manipulating light and sound and energy instead of the brain. Realism was difficult to achieve, and the fatigued elder floating above the invader made that clear. But the elder had already won. Two blasts of energy. And there would be a third. The invader raised their arm, gathering irresistible power once more. It was arrogant. Excessive. A well focused beam would still kill the elder at a fraction of the cost, but the ascender seemed to not care. When their arm flicked downwards towards the bare sandy floor, the elder of the Luminous Ocean Society didn¡¯t even blink. As their body was well and truly torn apart layer by layer under the final attack, only a smile was on their face. Three full, excessively overpowered attacks. Now the ascender was nothing but a peak Life Transformation expert. If only there was someone remaining to fight them, they could be slain like anyone else. ----- Though Anton had been one of the last to go comatose, he was not one of the first to wake. As he came to his senses, he felt others around him. Most were in meditation, processing the memories that had been shoved into their head. Anton had no way to know if they saw exactly the same ones, but he knew the subject, at least, should have been the same. The downfall of the Luminous Ocean Society, as well as some glimpses of the invaders. There was no visual connection to the Twin Soul Sect, but there was the implication that there was more than just a single group of those who would descend into the world to scour it of resources. A coordinated effort, without an easy target to strike. The only way to handle such a thing would be for the whole world to be as prepared as possible. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Anton looked at the clock. Its motions were still nigh-imperceptible. Decades, but how many? That was the question on his mind. Whatever time they had, it would need to be enough. Anton had the feeling that, now that Everheart had thrust upon every major sect the tools to fight ascenders, they would either win¡­ or the world would be annihilated. Though the second was always possible even if they didn¡¯t fight back. Despite Everheart¡¯s words, Anton truly couldn¡¯t tell if this was an effort to defend the world he was born in or something meant to screw over those in a world that had hated him. Maybe it was a bit of both, though Anton firmly believed Everheart wanted people to survive. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have devoted a number of his tombs to improving the cultivation of newer cultivators. When the opportunity came up, Anton found his way over to Grand Elder Kseniya to consult her about Emma Strand. While it seemed that the majority of important sects had at least one member of the Twin Soul Sect slip in, it was still not something they wanted aired publicly. Grand Elder Kseniya listened to his account, staving off those who might listen in with her energy, then nodded as Anton finished. ¡°If Everheart is to be believed, she should have perished now.¡± Kseniya looked over at the pile of equipment. ¡°As for everything else that implies, we will deal with it later.¡± Though it was full of valuable equipment and extremely tempting, the surrounding cultivators had avoided jumping on it like hungry animals. At the current moment several sects were sorting through everything, and keeping an eye on each other while they did so. While nobody might trust any of the individual sects involved with such a task, the fact that they also didn¡¯t trust each other meant it should overall end up without trouble. The things that were easily identifiable as belonging to specific sects went in one pile. Nobody would dispute those, and after everything that happened nobody wanted to start a sect war over one person¡¯s equipment, even if there had been some powerful Essence Collection cultivators and perhaps even a Life Transformation expert or two. The next were those of somewhat debatable origins, while the last were those clearly belonging to independent cultivators, before they perished. While the third pile appeared quite large, if it were to be split among the various sects and extremely rare independent cultivators who held sway on that scale, they wouldn¡¯t net much in the way of wealth. Anton looked over at the scene as things began to be distributed. He felt a strange feeling that he couldn¡¯t quite place. ¡°Grand Elder Kseniya,¡± he cautiously began. She didn¡¯t care if he used her title, but they were in public so he was being formal. ¡°Would you say that the trials of this tomb are finished?¡± ¡°I do believe so,¡± Elder Kseniya said. ¡°The final people just woke up moments before.¡± ¡°Then¡­ we need to go.¡± Anton felt a slight tremor. ¡°Everyone!¡± he called out. ¡°I don¡¯t know how familiar you are with Everheart¡¯s tombs, but it appears to be completed now. I suggest we run.¡± Anton didn¡¯t wait to see if anyone was going except for other members of the Order. He was glad quickly run into Catarina, Devon, and all of the others. ¡°Where did you-¡± Catarina began. ¡°No time!¡± Anton ran with the doe not far behind him. ¡°I¡¯ll explain later.¡± ¡°Why would- oh.¡± Devon was the quickest to pick up on what he was saying, but nobody hesitated more than a second. They all hurried towards the fortunately quite visible exit, bringing them back out to the surface of the moon. Anton looked down at the planet below. It was a beautiful sight, one he wished he had time to dwell on. But they were running towards the teleporters. Even those who hadn¡¯t heard Anton¡¯s initial proclamations were picking up on what was happening, as the ground began to tremble more. As Anton arrived at the teleporter¡­ nothing happened. ¡°Dammit Everheart, don¡¯t tell me you put us through all that just for us to die.¡± A laugh rang out near his ear. ¡°Of course not. I mean, not here. You¡¯ll definitely all die, though. Everyone does.¡± That didn¡¯t comfort Anton, but simply getting acknowledgement was good enough for him. ¡°I presume all these teleporters will activate at the last moment?¡± ¡°Oh yes. I had to make sure people would have time to get to them.¡± ¡°And the fact that there was no warning¡­?¡± Anton said. ¡°You warned them,¡± Everheart pointed out from his position nowhere. ¡°I hate you,¡± Anton said flatly. ¡°Mission accomplished!¡± As everyone began to gather in the teleporters- some in different ones, Anton was fairly certain- Anton realized it would likely be quite troublesome to activate them early to begin with. It had to take an unfathomable amount of power to transport someone to the moon and back. Despite the number of Twin Soul Sect members and others who perished in the deathtrap, the teleportation pads were still packed. As the last straggler stepped onto one, there was a powerful burst of energy. And then, it was night. Proper night, not the strange sensation of being on the moon. Then there was a loud cracking sound. Anton looked up, and then began to sprint out of the teleportation platform. Of course those were also supported against their future selves, however that crap worked. A few moments later, everything was rubble, and Anton looked up at the moon. He kept staring at it for several minutes, then breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. There was some chance- a small one, but a very real one- that the whole moon would have collapsed. Instead, there were no visible differences. Actually¡­ Anton thought he saw one little dimple look different. But that could have been his imagination. And if not, well, what was a little bit of change in the surface of the moon when the whole thing could have split in half? The time passed for a poetic disaster, and the moon remained whole. Or at least, close enough. Anton pat the doe who had actually managed to come with him on the back. ¡°Welcome to your new home.¡± Inside his bag, something else stirred that was also in its new home. Chapter 235 The Order was quite fortunate to have one of the teleportation locations in central Graotan. Since all of their members would be as safe as possible well within the borders, Grand Elder Kseniya was able to leave them behind and return to meet with the other Grand Elders before twenty-four hours had passed. That did result in the meeting being called at odd hours, but emergency meetings functioned quite that was, and Kseniya was quite certain that some information would be time sensitive. ¡°I¡¯ll just give a quick summary,¡± Grand Elder Kseniya said as she addressed the other eight. The ranks had changed significantly in recent years, including Kseniya¡¯s own position. ¡°Everheart did something that resulted in around a hundred high cultivation members of the Twin Soul Sect, maybe more, dying in some sort of deathtrap. Plus some others he rooted out for whatever reason.¡± Kseniya shrugged, ¡°Also Anton for a bit but apparently that was a mistake.¡± Some people might have had questions about that, but Grand Elder Kseniya didn¡¯t stop for a moment. ¡°Emma Strand was one of them.¡± Kseniya tossed a bag onto the table, inside of which it was easy enough to sense the woman¡¯s equipment and whatever had previously been in the storage bag. ¡°There¡¯s nothing incriminating in there, but from the fact that she didn¡¯t come out¡­¡± Grand Elder Kseniya shook her head. ¡°Plus, Anton was nearly killed by her.¡± ¡°I know you said we will get to that point,¡± one of the new Grand Elders, Laszlo Fodor, interrupted. ¡°But it seems like Anton¡¯s entanglement with that should be treated very seriously.¡± Grand Elder Fodor was young, as far as Life Transformation cultivators went. He should have been close to Anton¡¯s age, in fact, somewhat over a century. Of course, Laszlo had been cultivating for the majority of that time instead of starting six years prior. ¡°About that,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°We¡¯ve had some of you practicing techniques for detecting Twin Soul Sect members. Grand Elder Vandale¡­¡± Vandale nodded, ¡°I do believe I have had sufficient time.¡± ¡°Myself as well,¡± a man nearly as old as Vandale- but with a significant gap in cultivation- brought attention to himself. Einars Zajoc had not been particularly inclined to seek out the position of Grand Elder, but with so many positions becoming available at once someone had to fill them. ¡°Wonderful,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°Then first we should have you inspect each other, then myself and the rest of us.¡± Grand Elder Fodor sighed, ¡°I would hope that none of us were traitors, but as one of those who was recently promoted in position I agree it is quite reasonable to have us all checked. Emma Strand was not close to a position of Grand Elder, but from what I recall she was a solid member. Or at least appeared to be.¡± ¡°Performing regular missions, but not standing out in any way,¡± Kseniya nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll have to check everyone. I imagine it won¡¯t be terribly quick.¡± ¡°It should be possible in a few weeks,¡± Vandale said, ¡°The problem being those who aren¡¯t present at the moment. If Everheart was accurate in whatever he was doing we shouldn¡¯t need to concern ourselves with the group who went to the tomb, which is a relief.¡± ¡°It was on the moon, by the way,¡± Kseniya noted. Everyone looked at Vandale, who smiled. ¡°It¡¯s still there.¡± There was a collective sigh of relief. Nobody could say for sure what would happen with Everheart involved. All of the Grand Elders gathered around as they were checked one and then two at a time. Just for the sake of surety, they had both Vandale and Zajoc check everyone. Only then could they really relax. But the Grand Elders were just nine people out of thousands of members of the Order- and while it was good news that none of their Grand Elders had been compromised, they still had to check the rest of the Life Transformation cultivators. If even one of them was compromised it would be a great loss. Late Essence Collection cultivators like Emma Strand weren¡¯t much more populous, with only a few dozen of them in the entire sect. Losing one wasn¡¯t a huge blow, but too many more- before whatever upcoming troubles there would be- could weaken the Order enough for problems to occur. ----- When the returning members of the Order came through the gates, Anton spotted Grand Elders Vandale and Zajoc nearby. Before they said anything, Anton gave a bow to Vandale. Though they were certainly friends, being properly formal in public was still appropriate. ¡°Grand Elder Vandale. I assume Grand Elder Kseniya has already spoken to you, but I would like to request a meeting in private.¡± A powerful energy fell around them, but its power was comforting. Vandale¡¯s energy made Anton feel safe, though if it had ever been directed at him in anger he would have of course felt otherwise. ¡°Speak freely,¡± Vandale gestured towards him. Anton took note that Zajoc was included, but that didn¡¯t bother him. ¡°We need to get everyone checked to make sure they aren¡¯t part of the Twin Soul Sect. As soon as possible.¡± Zajoc snorted. Vandale grinned at him, ¡°See?¡± ¡°Fine, fine. I won¡¯t doubt your expertise,¡± Zajoc inclined his head back to Anton and explained. ¡°Elder Kseniya said much the same thing when she arrive ahead. That¡¯s what we¡¯re here for.¡± ¡°Oh, my apologies. Where should I line up?¡± ¡°Right there is fine,¡± Vandale said. The barrier of energy around them dropped, and Vandale smoothly transitioned into addressing the incoming group. ¡°Thought I doubt any of you were worried, yes, Elder Kseniya returned safely. There are some things which had not yet been publicly announced to the sect- things intimately related to oddities you encountered in Everheart¡¯s tomb. The full details will be explained, but the short explanation is we need to check all of you to make sure you aren¡¯t hiding membership in the Twin Soul Sect. Just line up behind Anton there. This may take some time, and nobody will be allowed to leave the sect grounds until we are complete.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Nobody objected, and they began to start checking the return group. It was unlikely that Everheart would have failed to root them out, but they had to check. While nobody liked being a suspect, the fact that after they were checked they immediately were given tasks that required a level of trust made everyone feel proud. While not everyone wanted to guard the perimeter of the sect, this was a time where everyone had to take part. And to make sure nobody would be leaving, they needed everyone to participate. ----- Vandale and Zajoc were worried that perhaps their training in the new technique was flawed, since it had only recently been developed. Perhaps if they knew they were being checked- and it was quite impossible to hide it- the members of the Twin Soul Sect could hide it. However, they finally found two more traitors. Both were in Spirit Building, one found by each of them Vandale and Zajoc. It was concerning that several of their members had actually been spies- and not just for rivals, but part of a group that seemed quite set on sacrificing everyone else in the world for their own gain. Yet the Order was actually better at vetting their members in other ways- members of the Twin Soul Sect obviously had little regard for morality, so if they weren¡¯t careful in their actions the Order would deal with them regardless of whether or not they were found for that reason. Other sects also began to conduct their own investigations, even if they weren¡¯t quite ready. The Frostmirror Sect ended up rooting out more than a handful of high-ranking members, which wasn¡¯t all that odd considering they had no emphasis on morality. But just because the Frostmirror Sect didn¡¯t think that anything was always wrong it didn¡¯t mean they would abide by traitors. The Frostmirror Sect operated from a logical standpoint. They didn¡¯t commit crimes not because they felt there were objective moral standards they thought they should follow, but simply because going by agreed upon rules kept them safe. Even if the rules weren¡¯t formalized, they would prefer not to anger anyone of great strength. Likewise, keeping within certain boundaries made it easier for them to gain and retain allies. On the other side, minor infractions that could be explained away let some things slip through the cracks. ----- Information about what happened on the moon spread quickly. Sects were suddenly performing internal investigations- spurred on by the sudden fact that the Twin Soul Sect would realize they were not as secret as they wanted to think. From the perspective of the Sects performing the investigation, things were bad. From the perspective of the Twin Souls, things couldn¡¯t be any worse. Many of their high ranking members died suddenly in the tomb, and though there had been some indication that people were catching onto their schemes suddenly losing contact was a problem. Even those who hadn¡¯t been present were rooted out from sects they were hiding in. Majken knew that they had their own safehouses and groups that were not part of any sect, but things were looking bad. The only thing she was optimistic about was the fact that secrets died with the high ranking members in the tomb, and that she had kept her identity concealed. She had been so close to sweating as Grand Elder Vandale checked over her. She was only early Essence Collection, nothing compared to Emma Strand- who she hadn¡¯t even known was also a member of the Twin Souls. Still, Vandale could crush her with one hand. A pinky maybe. But it seemed the technique for rooting them out wasn¡¯t perfect. After the inspection was over and people were finally allowed to leave the sect, the first thing she wanted to do was flee. Promises of abundant cultivation resources in the next life were all well and good, but if she died without accomplishments- and at the same time as a whole bundle of other people- she doubted it would mean anything. But leaving immediately would be a dead giveaway. There weren¡¯t any good missions to go out on. On the other hand, Majken needed to get in contact with someone. She hoped her contacts weren¡¯t among the myriad of those who died. There were some related sources who should be able to get her hooked up with the Sect, but Majken had the feeling some of them would be keeping their heads down. Or turning traitor, since the whole plan was blowing up. What a mess. She¡¯d have to figure out some way to get something out of all of this. It would just take caution and care. ----- As soon as he sorted through his storage bag, Anton was extremely aware that every piece of fruit and every vegetable he had collected had been consumed. It had been enough resources to let him cultivate like a king for a year- or more likely a sect leader, since kings were an extreme rarity in the cultivation world. The only consolation he got was that all of the seeds were still intact, just with all of the valuable energy-infused flesh eaten off. He didn¡¯t see anything that could be the cause, but it didn¡¯t seem to have happened to others. So while his cultivation wouldn¡¯t directly benefit, he could still work with Elder Howland to reproduce some of them. It might take years for some of the plants to grow into a usable state, and some of them might fail¡­ but Anton wasn¡¯t doing all of that for just himself. He just wanted to improve the state of things overall. Even with more details about what would be happening in the future, Anton stuck to that idea. While the thought of people scouring the world for resources and benefiting from his work make him unhappy, it really wouldn¡¯t be possible to try to stop the invaders without raising the quantity and quality of cultivators throughout the world. Even if it was just Graotan, anything that could be a thorn in their side and cause more of them to die would be a benefit in a way. And if they simply consumed all of the cultivation resources before the invaders arrived, they wouldn¡¯t get much out of it. Of course, not everything would suddenly go away. Equipment would be needed for the battle¡­ hopefully a century away, but at least a few decades. It wasn¡¯t possible to prevent them from getting that, nor from tearing apart any structures or fields that were still being used. But it certainly wouldn¡¯t do to hoard resources for later generations. There would only be a few generations at most, depending how they were counted. By Anton¡¯s standards it would be two or three, since he came from a background of a mundane person where a person growing to adulthood and having a child defined the length of a generation. By the standards of cultivators it would likely be Anton¡¯s generation that was involved in the fighting- even people starting cultivation a few decades after him would be part of his generation. After all, the variance in time it took people to get to higher ranks of cultivation- late Essence Collection and Life Transformation- could be from a handful of years apart on the small end to a hundred or more between those with the most and least talent. Anton¡¯s previous thoughts of just making sure that the weakest people had some cultivation and were able to stand up to the rest now seemed inadequate. In a way, ascenders returning to invade them for resources was a more extreme example of exactly what he wanted to stop. And he was sure as hell going to do it. He might also die, but he was going to do it no matter what. Chapter 236 It was not usually the job of a great queen to find her own passage, but the portents had been clear. At least, clear enough. There had been no guarantee that the new being, the strange creature so full of energy, would bring any change. Yet it had also been very clear that, no matter how great of a queen one was, there were always greater. Well established ones, who controlled all the local colonies and would happily destroy any others who tried to set up too close, whether or not they were her own daughters. But the great queen didn¡¯t leave because she was afraid. That would have been undignified. No, she was instead going on an adventure. An adventure that mostly involved rolling around in a pile of food for a while. That was one good thing about the large ones with the energy, they were very good at gathering food. Then again, they would need it. Each one was massive, the weight of several fledgling colonies put together! An impossible opponent to fight, yet they would likewise find the great queen and her armies impossible to snuff out. Or perhaps impossible would be going too far. Very difficult, then, despite the fact that they would be unable to crush them with energy. But even the scrawniest of that kind was many orders of magnitude larger than any proper ant. But that was as things should be. A colony with every member the size of any of the larger creatures would inevitably swarm the countryside, devouring everything in its path¡­ until there was nothing left to devour. Then they would perish. Such was the fate of many foolish ants who had come before, oversized or not. They didn¡¯t think about the long term, didn¡¯t consider restraint, didn¡¯t plan for lean times. In fact, most ants didn¡¯t think at all. An unfortunate defect, but the great queen did not share that flaw. While most of her brood would doubtless be without thought as well, she would still provide proper leadership for them. And that meant only consuming what was necessary. At the time she¡¯d snuck into the bag, that amount had been all the food in sight. However, they left behind the seeds. No doubt they would be scattered about to grow more in the future. Building up a new colony would be difficult, and without a proper stomach full of food and another one or two full of energy, how was a great queen to produce sufficient offspring to compete with other, lesser creatures in the area? She had only a few soldiers and workers, with just enough mates to last for a season. To arrive in a barren land nearly devoid of energy was a great blow to the colony. Yet in a way, it could be considered a boon. While consuming energy would allow the colony to grow quick and strong, they would need sufficient numbers before they could compete with anything beyond the standard level. A long-tongued devourer-of-ants could devastate a colony with insufficient soldiers to drive it away, no matter how much better the great queen¡¯s colony might be than their lesser ilk. The sheer difference in size meant that they could only bite and worry at the weakest parts of any large creature. At least, until they grew strong. While lesser ants might live weeks or months, some up to a year, the colony of a great queen was much more robust. Even the least of the workers could live for many years, and a great queen shared a lifespan rivaling those with great energy, the humans. At least, that was the information that had been passed down through the generations from queen to queen. Humans had not been seen in many ages. Until just a few days prior. It was a portent of great change, and instead of resisting it, going along with the change had seemed like the most reasonable option. Given how the colony was shaping up in the last few weeks, it seemed correct. Their numbers swelled from a mere handful to hundreds, and soon enough they would number in the thousands. Then they could do more than simply scavenge. They could hunt the many-legged transformers or perhaps if they were ambitious a sticky-footed leaper. Though simply finding a path to a berry bush or a pile of acorns beneath a large oak would likewise be sufficient to grow their food intake. More extreme tactics would have to wait. While they might bridge a large gap with their bodies, they first needed sufficient numbers, and sufficient need. Sending workers on three day scouting trips to find a morsel of food when many lay within easy reach was a sign of mismanaged colonies. While foolish ants would assume the first food they found was the best source, those who were more sophisticated could be more efficient. Even the workers who had little thoughts of their own had a sense of time and distance. Any stockpile of food could be vetted by whatever more intelligent scouts arose in the coming batches. Though it took quite a bit of food to produce exceptional brood, the food to maintain their survival afterwards was nowhere near as extreme- more than made up for by their increased capacities as each could guide a thousand or more of their less potent brethren. But things must be taken step by step. The eventual goal of world domination, where ants would scavenge every scrap left behind by humans and beasts, would have to come slowly. So slowly that the humans wouldn¡¯t even realize that everything they didn¡¯t consume was snatched away. They would be left in shock and confusion as each and every crumb they left behind was consumed by one of the great queen¡¯s descendants, never to be seen again! And each worker would be strong, swift, stealthy, and smart. Yet there were impediments to the plan. The humans and large beasts were too lofty to notice the ants, and none were the horrible monsters that fed on their kind almost exclusively. But there was competition nearby. Other ants, other crawling insects who wanted to feed on the same scraps. But they would have none of it! Or at least, not that much. The many legged transformers were actually quite tasty, and it saved them the trouble of digesting so many leaves themselves. But everything that got in their way would perish! Or walk and/or fly away! So it was decreed! A wave of motion set through the small colony of ants as their queen was excited for¡­ some reason that most of them couldn¡¯t understand. But excitement seemed to be a good thing, so they relished it. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ----- When talking about it academically, Catarina understood that moss that could grow into the shape of a formation and in fact be a formation might be dangerous. After all, formations were dangerous. But when she actually had to keep it contained, Catarina became frustrated and confused. The former because it limited her ability to study it. The latter because she didn¡¯t know how to contain it. If she used a formation to keep it in line, it might grow in such a way as to accidentally disrupt that formation. Natural formations could grow out of plants, but this particular moss was much more potent than most plants, and the effects more significant. ¡°Just keep it in a covered pit,¡± suggested Elder Rana. ¡°Until we determine how it spreads and what it can grow on, keeping it contained is the priority. Spores won¡¯t so easily swirl up and out of a pit, and even if we were to replicate a similar shape with a constructed room any doors leading in would upset the motion of the air. So it goes in a pit.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± Catarina acknowledged. It wasn¡¯t really a surprise that someone older and more practiced than her thought of simple solutions, but it was so simple she should have thought of it herself. Containing something that had unknown interactions within a formation would be dangerous, but if it otherwise functioned like a normal plant then it could be kept somewhere on its own without too much worry. ¡°I suppose we should still have a large formation to contain it if it does spread, but not close enough for it to mess with it.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Elder Rana said. ¡°There are places set aside for such things. And it may not be a problem. You said it was growing on stone, laid out in the same patterns as the moss. It might simply fill whatever area it is in, which will not result in formations accidentally. But¡­ we must be certain of that before placing it wherever we feel like.¡± Catarina sighed. ¡°Grandpa Anton has it so easy. All his plants are easy to take care of.¡± ¡°And yet they are still well contained. I¡¯m sure they require constant care as well, to grow in a new environment.¡± ¡°It seems like it will take some time,¡± Catarina replied. ¡°Shrubs and trees aren¡¯t like tubers that grow fully in a single season.¡± ¡°There are benefits and drawbacks to all sorts of plants,¡± Elder Rana commented. ¡°Some things are only good for stuffing oneself full of energy, while other things have special medicinal properties. And everything from that place seems to be a bit special. I wish I had gone myself.¡± ¡°Some people had to stay and keep the Order together,¡± Catarina pointed out. What she didn¡¯t mention was that Elder Rana, while quite skilled in formations, had long ago reached her limits in cultivation and thus didn¡¯t need to learn about ascension. Though perhaps going might have actually brought her past the midpoint of Constellation Formation¡­ or it could have reminded her of her failures. ¡°I have the feeling there will be more trouble coming in the future.¡± ¡°Things have been quiet for weeks,¡± Elder Rana said as she began to actually start digging that pit. ¡°This pleasant downtime might continue for months or more¡­ but I wouldn¡¯t bet on much longer than that. Not now, and not I imagine not until the end of whatever is coming.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just life though,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°Times of good and times of bad. You have to take them as they come, according to Grandpa. We just have to try to encourage the former.¡± ----- It took a month for Majken to actually get in contact with someone who knew what they were doing, who had a connection to the Twin Soul Sect on a larger level. While they¡¯d taken large losses recently, they were spread out across the continent and even to the others. Getting help from afar was unlikely, but there were apparently a significant amount of them still around. Allies, too. Majken was fortunate to be one of the few left in a major sect. Since their ultimate goal was to disrupt them as much as possible, that meant she still had a chance to pull things off. All she had to do was not screw things up and reveal herself. So she went out on missions occasionally, and she trained, and she talked with others. It wouldn¡¯t do to be antisocial, to stay withdrawn from the others like Emma Strand had. That had always been Majken¡¯s opinion, and the fact that she was free of suspicion justified that to her. She might not have been close to anyone, but many people had known her for decades and fought alongside her. Majken might have appeared rather weak to them, but that was simply because she had to hide her true cultivation style. While she could mimic the feeling of the Ninety-Nine Stars, she couldn¡¯t truly practice two different core cultivation techniques. She still had to know it inside and out, in case people asked questions she should know at her level, but she never really felt it. She almost wished that she could actually practice it. Apparently, it was rather pleasant most of the time. A nice warmth, a feeling of growth. Not a consuming darkness that was constantly trying to pull her under. The power behind it was nice, and Majken only almost wanted something different. But the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s power would be sufficient to allow her to gain significant merits with her current position, merits that she had to believe she would receive in her next life. And maybe then she could practice the Ninety-Nine Stars, away from all the stuck up old men that were concerned about how the power was used instead of just relishing in it. Power was power, and those who didn¡¯t have it didn¡¯t have a right to complain. Unfortunately that also meant Majken herself, if she screwed up and got herself killed too early. She needed to find something. A weakness. A simple hole in a formation wouldn¡¯t be enough, and she didn¡¯t have the skills for that regardless. But maybe another excursion, or something that would distract some or all of the Grand Elders and the other most powerful members. If she could find such an opening and take advantage of it with the others¡­ she¡¯d certainly be on the fast track to an easy reincarnation. Preferably somewhere with a higher energy density and abundant resources, and she didn¡¯t much care if those resources were taken from everyone around her. Chapter 237 Very rarely would a group of thirty Essence Collection cultivators be gathered together at one time. Though the Order might have more than that technically present somewhere on their grounds, they weren¡¯t often brought in for a single meeting. An exception would be a meeting of all the elders, but these particular individuals had few of the elders among them. None of them knew what they had been called in for, though Grand Elder Matousek quickly answered their unspoken questions. ¡°Normally, the Order isn¡¯t in the habit of conscripting individuals for particular tasks. We tend to let the rewards speak for themselves, and let people fill in positions as they please. However,¡± the man paused as he looked over those in front of him, ¡°I¡¯m sure you are all aware that we are not in normal times. There are many issues yet to be resolved with the Twin Soul Sect and others who share similar temperaments. Not just here in Graotan, but elsewhere as well.¡± Anton nodded to himself. He¡¯d noticed many people going out on missions. He might have volunteered for some himself, but he was focusing on other areas. The initial plantings of various things he had obtained were being worked on by himself and Elder Howland, and he was planning to travel about Graotan checking on the various groups he¡¯d started along the path of cultivation. Even if they were still maintaining everyday jobs, he planned to uplift them to a greater level. Unfortunately, it seemed like some of his plans might be interrupted. ¡°Now, don¡¯t be too concerned,¡± Grand Elder Matousek said. ¡°We¡¯re not sending you off into some sort of battle. There may yet be some, but today, we are calling upon you to be guards. The borders of Graotan are kept secure thanks to many like you, but at the moment we are spread so thin we need all of you to just make up for those who are now occupied with other important missions. Even with you, we might be a little bit thin.¡± Anton knew that a large number of people had been heading out on missions as of late, especially those with higher cultivations, but he hadn¡¯t thought things would have come so far. He thought the Order was usually more cautious, and while he understood striking while the iron was hot, this seemed more extreme than usual. Of course, Graotan was usually more than safe. Though it bothered him to think of it, what happened to Dungannon was not a major security flaw on the scale of a nation- and the borders had been more closely watched in recent years. The only real incident had been when the Order intentionally drew an attack for the execution of of three criminals, one of which had been Van Hassel who was the leader of the attack on Dungannon and other places. The Twin Soul Sect might have an unknown number of forces arrayed throughout various countries, but Anton didn¡¯t imagine they would be able to easily gather up a combined force capable of threatening the Order, not with everything else going on and so many other sects trying to root them out. Someone else in the room believed differently, and in fact had been working on a plan for an attack at the first possible opening. Because while it might be suicidal to attack the Order with the current state of the Twin Soul Sect, that didn¡¯t matter as long as they died doing something meritorious. And being the insider who arranged such an attack would be an exceptional merit. ----- When Anton thought of the duty of a border guard, he had honestly though he would be going¡­ further. At the very least, he would have thought he would be far enough to not see his house. And he technically couldn¡¯t most of the time, but not because he was too far away. There just happened to be a mountain that got in the way. Technically that was the main thing that stopped anyone from seeing anything, but the important part was he could shoot his house with an arrow from his current position. He couldn¡¯t guarantee being more accurate than hitting some part of his house or maybe his yard, but he really wasn¡¯t far at all. Ambati was to the west of Graotan, and while most of Ambati was neutral or even positively inclined towards the Order, every border had to be watched. That included the one just at the foot of the mountain upon which the Order had its main facilities. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was fair that he got the cushiest job- where he could actually go home to his bet when he was off duty- but someone had to draw this location. He wasn¡¯t the only one, either. Border guards didn¡¯t work alone. Along with a number of Spirit Building disciples, Anton worked alongside a rotating group of others, one Essence Collection member at a time. They were the most important, because their senses could range the furthest. Even with every cultivator in the Order, it was impossible to secure every piece of the border all at once¡­ but they could catch the largest threats. Other disciples patrolling the roads as well as other sects could handle the rest. It wasn¡¯t a perfect system, but it couldn¡¯t be. It could only be good enough. For the most part, Anton had little to do. However, even just watching for enemies approaching could be training. While it would be a problem if he pushed himself too far trying to sense them and exhausted himself, riding the line of expanding his senses to the limit while still preserving himself for the entire shift was a good practice, if a bit boring. But on a job like this, boring was better than anything else. After a couple weeks Anton was well into the rhythm of things, when he sensed an oddity. He wasn¡¯t quite sure if he¡¯d sensed anything, but he had to carefully sweep his senses over the whole area without focusing on any one point to avoid alerting his target. He sensed it again, and knew there was a problem. Unfortunately, it was one he would have to wait to reveal. At least Grand Elder Vandale was still present, even if many of the others he trusted were away on missions. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ----- ¡°We know,¡± Vandale said matter-of-factly as Anton revealed a traitor in their midst. ¡°Zajoc and I investigated every single person, you might recall,¡± Vandale¡¯s grin revealed sagging skin and the weakness of age, but his eye still sparkled with life. ¡°I do appreciate you bringing it to our attention, of course. I cannot claim to be perfect. But, we were already aware that Majken Albrecktsson was actually a member of the Twin Soul Sect. And that is all I will say on the matter at the moment.¡± Anton was prepared to ask ¡®why¡¯, but Vandale had just said he wouldn¡¯t answer. Besides, Anton was pretty sure he could figure it out on his own. In fact, he was pretty sure that they¡¯d expected him to figure it out. It had seemed strange that he ended up with only a few of the different possible options. While the pairs were said to be arranged to cover weaknesses, Anton had the best sensing range of anyone and could have gone with anyone- but instead himself and a few others were the only ones paired with Majken, which resulted in them having fewer other partners. Anton idly wondered where everyone was, and how long he was expected to be placed on guard duty. But they¡¯d very specifically not called out a timeframe¡­ perhaps because that might tip their hand. ----- Anton still had no name for the mother doe, and he wasn¡¯t sure if he should. In theory, she could live just fine without him- especially since she had the energy to be a dominant force in the forest that entered the Order¡¯s lands. She was getting closer to giving birth, and while that might slow her down she was still strong enough that he didn¡¯t need to worry. But he did, and he brought treats as well. The doe wasn¡¯t particularly fond of the tubers from Ambati, but she liked some of the leafy plants he¡¯d gathered even if they held less energy. Some of what he brought was actually grown in Windrip, by those in the cultivator community he had started. It would be difficult to deny the effectiveness of what happened there, and while other places weren¡¯t going quite so strong- either from less guidance by Anton or the particular sets of talents- it was becoming clear enough that Anton¡¯s methods worked. Not just teaching people early cultivation, but also how to improve the overall amount of natural energy in an area. As he¡¯d long before discussed with Elder Howland, certain plants required abundant natural energy to grow. If an area was too weak they could deplete everything around them and still not grow, though if those tending them willingly gave what they gathered themselves they could supplement the demand. Once those plants grew, however, cultivators who consumed them could grow stronger. And some plants actually had a net positive output of natural energy, once they passed a certain threshold. The area around Windrip in particular was showing great advancements, and if it could expand significantly enough¡­ Anton hoped that the restraints around the Order keeping their own area of abundant energy could actually be relaxed. Ultimately, his goal was to build up all of Graotan to at least match the lowest levels of the Order. The natural energy would still be gathered to the highest density atop the mountain, but everyone else would have the same energy available as a disciple of the Order. But that time was still decades off. Decades Anton hoped he would live through, but wasn¡¯t certain of. He certainly doubted he would die of old age, but he wasn¡¯t going to stay out of important conflicts just because he might be in danger. Especially an upcoming one, related to his mandatory guard duties. ----- Though perhaps her rate of cultivation was not the greatest among her peers, that didn¡¯t stop Majken from being ambitious. Likewise, just because she wasn¡¯t the stealthiest didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t keep a secret. It was all about staying calm. The Twin Soul Sect wouldn¡¯t have survived long if their members couldn¡¯t handle themselves appropriately. Majken couldn¡¯t quite stop herself from getting a little bit excited about the upcoming event, but she had a good excuse. A new sword was sheathed at her side. It seemed only appropriate to spend the resources she had been building up while she could, as it would allow her to be more effective in the upcoming battle. And it wouldn¡¯t be strange for a guard to want to purchase a new weapon either. She had other abilities that extended beyond melee combat, of course, but from the perspective of the Order that would be her general area of speciality. And her real abilities could still be used with the weapon, just not with the glowing, obvious energy of the Ninety-Nine Stars. Majken knew she shouldn¡¯t disparage the technique so much despite the fact that it was technically incomplete. It was still far better than most available techniques. Even the Twin Soul Sect didn¡¯t have an easy path to ascension, though it would never be easy. And Majken was well aware she wouldn¡¯t have gotten to ninety-nine or a hundred stars on her own regardless. Still, it was just so¡­ blatant. While some people might occasionally restrain their energy, other members of the Order were like glowing beacons. One of those she was often placed on duty with was one of those. He was an old man known as Anton Krantz. An archer, and probably capable of causing quite a ruckus once he noticed people were coming. And that wouldn¡¯t be long. He was clearly ready to fight at any moment, his energy arrayed out from him in all directions. She was actually a little bit impressed that he didn¡¯t leak away so much energy that he tired himself out, but he was able to maintain that state throughout the day. He was watching. Watching for people coming from the west. Maybe even the north or south. But he wouldn¡¯t be watching for people coming from the east¡­ directly behind him. He was still in Essence Collection though. She had to make sure her first strike would take him out. For that, she needed to use her true ability. It only took a tiny instant to reveal her proper cultivation and empower her own attack, stabbing for his heart. Just one instant where she focused all of her energy into an attack. Which left her quite surprised when she very briefly saw an arrow flying through the air. It was strange though, because for it to have that trajectory it would have had to go through her. And who could have shot it? Chapter 238 For a regular person, even the average cultivator, consciousness ended with death. For Majken, she was aware it would be different. She was definitely dead. Of that she had no doubt. It was unfortunate, but the attack would go on regardless. Her merits would be diminished, but she knew life would go on. A different life, of course, but still very much hers. It was a strange thing, to keep her consciousness after death. Strange, but good. She knew the process of reincarnation could take some time, but she might not experience most of it. It only felt like a few short moments before someone arrived out of the nothingness around her. ¡°Hello,¡± the figure said. ¡°Hello,¡± Majken replied in kind. ¡°Are you the one in charge of reincarnation?¡± ¡°You could say that,¡± the indistinct figure said. Majken tried to focus her eyes, but it was difficult when she didn¡¯t actually have eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you.¡± With words like that, it would be easy for Majken to believe she was someone special- but she was well aware of the things she had done for the Twin Soul Sect. ¡°Is it just you?¡± she asked. ¡°Can you keep track of everyone?¡± ¡°Oh yes. It¡¯s not terribly difficult,¡± the figure said. ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly how you keep track of merits,¡± Majken said. ¡°But I was one of the few who managed to stay as an insider on a large sect. The attack is still ongoing, I believe.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± the figure said. ¡°I know enough to give you exactly what you deserve.¡± It was at that point, when Majken heard his tone of voice, she realized she¡¯d made a mistake. Promises of rewards in the next life for fanatical sacrifice in another seemed like a tall tale, but she had been provided adequate proof to convince her of the possibility and actual sincerity of the claims. Even now, she didn¡¯t doubt them- because if she was simply going to be abandoned, then nobody at all would have come to see her. ¡°...Who are you?¡± Majken managed to ask shakily. She wasn¡¯t sure how she was trembling without a corporeal form, but it happened. ¡°Who, me?¡± The only part of the figure to become distinct was a maniacal grin. ¡°Just a local looking out for his hometown. Or maybe it¡¯s better to say, the guard dog he left behind. Now then, your reward is ready.¡± ¡°... What is it?¡± Majken was afraid to ask, but she was also afraid to not try to delay as long as possible. Would it be some sort of eternal torture? ¡°Though you won¡¯t have any chance to act on this, I should point out that the difference between thoughts and speech here is purely a matter of perspective. But it¡¯s not eternal torture. That¡¯s far too much work. Instead, you get nothing.¡± Nothing didn¡¯t sound all that awful. And perhaps it wasn¡¯t, but Majken would be unable to compare it to anything because she was very quickly nothing herself. ----- Anton crushed an orb that was always handy. Communicating long distance wasn¡¯t always easy, even for cultivators, but for extremely simple messages it was possible. In this case, the message was that his orb was broken. It was tied to a certain location, and so they would know there was trouble where Anton was. The exact kind of trouble wouldn¡¯t be clear, but Anton didn¡¯t know what it was anyway. Beyond Majken, of course. She was dead on the ground behind him, but the fact that she had been willing to attack him meant she was expecting something from the Twin Soul Sect. Even as he scanned the horizon for any signs of an attack, Anton found that he was quite pleased with how his technique was developing. Ultimately he thought it would be weaker than Falling Stars, or more accurately less energy efficient, but it fit him better. Its effectiveness wouldn¡¯t always be so good, because in an actual battle people would have more focus on their defenses. It was something he could hardly have considered seriously before he stepped into Essence Collection, but with that step and the increase in his power it was viable. It took practice to form a cloud of energy that could instantaneously form an attack anywhere within it- and ¡®anywhere¡¯ was a stretch- but it had served its purpose. Anton was unsure if it would ever be his primary technique, but he could think of times in the past where it would have been useful. Grand Elder Vandale might have many kilometers of range with Falling Stars, but Anton could only form bows in the area around him, ten or twenty meters. They were not as good as having a proper bow- the physical structure of a bow added to the power along with his own muscular strength- but he¡¯d gotten it to the point where a bow formed purely from energy could be a real threat instead of merely a distraction or emergency weapon. The field around Anton was slowly fading away. He hoped it might seem as if he himself were fading away as well. Either way, it was pointless to maintain it at the moment. It was merely there because he knew Majken would try to attack him at some point, and it had worked marvelously for his counterattack. Stolen story; please report. The Order was just up the mountain. Anton knew it might take time to marshal forces, or even to decide who needed to come, but he waited nervously as he watched the horizon. He thought about what he knew, and about his own position. He was, at least at for this particular shift, the leader of this border squad. A squad which was counting on him to give them commands. Anton was quite glad that all of them would be able to feel Majken¡¯s cultivation. At least he didn¡¯t have to explain that part. Now, how should he proceed? First, some assurances to the gathering squad. ¡°I know this appears quite alarming. Another traitor in our own midst after the Grand Elders personally vetted everyone. But I¡¯m sure all of you can puzzle out the truth of the matter here. She was being watched very carefully.¡± Anton wondered if the other two had figured it out. The Order wouldn¡¯t just leave them helpless, even for a sting operation. Anton sensed something to the west, but at the same time his eyes went up the slope to the very peaks. Of course. Even he could make a shot from that distance- if he was the one atop the mountain, anyway. ¡°Enemy forces are coming. If the circumstances were different, the task of preventing a group from crossing the border would be our top priority. However, the Order has been alerted. This is not something we can handle with just one squad, capable as I¡¯m sure you all are.¡± Anton kept his voice calm, and it help that he actually felt that way. A little bit, at least. ¡°We will be withdrawing towards the sect itself, where we shall join up with the other forces.¡± Anton honestly wondered if their presence was necessary at all, except to make the bait not too obvious. Thus, Anton and the squad of Spirit Building cultivators began making their way away from the border post. Anton was glad none of the others were personal acquaintances, because it would have made him worry about them being attacked which would ironically have diverted his focus from Majken. He walked at a measured pace, keeping mental track of the energy signatures behind them. If they broke off from the rest, there might be a problem- but there were an unknown number of enemies gathered together. Unknown, but certainly very large. And growing. Anton led the others until they arrived at the next layer of guard towers, well inside the Order¡¯s land instead of on the border of Graotan. While a full defensive wall might have been nice, it was simply impractical. The Order certainly had the resources to construct a wall, but what good would it do? It could slow those in Body Tempering and perhaps Spirit Building. Beyond that it would have to be excessively large to not be easily surmountable or destroyed. The guards towers were practical for sight, and as a place for watchers to have shelter during cold seasons. There were walls around the inner compounds of the Order, and beyond that there were the formations at the border. They were mainly used to stop beasts from leaving the forest, but they went around the entirety of the Order¡¯s lands. Anton knew they would do more than just what he¡¯d seen- or other formations hidden in the area. The exact details weren¡¯t something he was privy to, but it didn¡¯t matter. Anton recognized Marcio Armani atop one of the towers. Anton preempted any questions and called out to them. ¡°Enemies on the approach from the west. Too many for our squad to deal with, or perhaps even delay significantly. I¡¯ve sent the alarm ahead, but even so I don¡¯t think we should delay here long.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t just abandon our posts,¡± Marcio responded. ¡°There¡¯s a reason nobody lives on the western slopes,¡± Anton countered. ¡°But I¡¯m not saying we should abandon anything. We¡¯ll hold here, together, and make a proper judgment of the incoming enemy forces.¡± There was plenty of room in the towers for another squad, though their defensive value was minimal. If it was a matter of equal forces, or even two or three times their numbers, then archers atop the towers attacking while defensive positions were held in the stairways would be valuable. Instead, Anton made sure that there were quick ways to get down, so they could retreat quickly when the time came. The structures were meant for small-scale battles, but Anton knew this wouldn''t be small-scale. He sensed several Essence Collection cultivators coming. There were likely more he hadn¡¯t sensed, but that wasn¡¯t the end of things. The Spirit Building cultivators were easier to sense as a group, several large masses that might have totaled to hundreds. Either of those things might have been a real battle, though not necessarily one that required Grand Elders to participate. Anton was more concerned about the Life Transformation expert he sensed, and whether there might be more of them. Those with higher cultivations were generally easier to sense, with the caveat that those who practiced stealth techniques to a higher proficiency would become more unknowable the greater their cultivation. Anton stood atop a tower, taking aim towards one of many Essence Collection cultivators he sensed. Giving away his presence might be a tactical blunder, but not responding in any way might be even more suspicious. The entire group was advancing at a pace that Spirit Building cultivators could keep up, and unlike in some battles the stronger cultivators hadn¡¯t rushed to the front. A technically correct tactic, letting the weaker forces absorb some of the damage, but not a style the Order preferred. Striking out ahead of the rest of the forces was still a gamble, but at least the stronger cultivators could fight alongside their brethren. He took a shot as soon as he could see a target with his eyes. Marcio stood next to him and followed his lead. The younger man had once outclassed Anton in cultivation, but his growth wasn¡¯t quite able to keep up. Thus, he was simply in late Spirit Building, which still meant his shots were quite dangerous. Along with Anton¡¯s own attacks, their first few shots actually managed to injure one of the Essence Collection cultivators who had been just behind the front ranks. It wasn¡¯t serious, but it might slow them down. Anton wished he had more orders. He knew the general plan for situations such as this, but he wanted to give as much time as possible for the others to prepare. He should have also asked just how many people were actually around. He knew that, technically, Grand Elder Kseniya was supposed to be away. Yet he¡¯d certainly seen her. Vandale wasn¡¯t up for traveling to begin with, so there had been no effort to pretend otherwise. But the others? Anton was certain their numbers weren¡¯t quite so diminished. Chapter 239 Battles between regular humans and cultivators were very different. It wasn¡¯t just the level of power each individual could display, though that was a large factor. Unlike the Order, some sects had standardized martial training that applied to everyone, but even so they would still not be arranged in a rank-and-file format like normal soldiers. Besides the fact that all but the largest sects could barely put together the numbers required for a mundane formation of people, staying in such positions would be a weakness. Closely packed men were easy targets for wide area abilities, or even any ranged ability that didn¡¯t care precisely who it hit. And when those targets took years or decades to reach a decent level of usefulness, it was understandable that battle would focus more on individuals. The ability to fight as a group was still important, but it didn¡¯t follow such defined structures. Arrows flew behind Anton¡¯s group as they practiced a fighting retreat. Even if they were prepared for pitched battles, with the difference in numbers it would have been pointless to take a stand. They would have simply died for the possibility of killing a handful of enemies- as a group, not per individual. Anton didn¡¯t want to let anyone die, but he understood it was a possibility. But if it was going to happen, it had to be worth it. As he and Marcio pestered people with arrows, faster enemies sometimes reached their ranks only to face coordinated attacks by the melee-focused majority of the group. It was a bit of a complicated dance, where Anton and the others had to stay together and move as quickly as they could, hoping that some of their enemies would repeat the same foolish individual attacks. They did, though not so often as to make any significant change to their overall numbers when they lost people. Anton himself was only barely able to hinder a few people as he also had to counter incoming attacks. They had the benefit of moving further away from their enemies as they fought, effectively reducing the enemies¡¯ range, but they weren¡¯t fast enough for that to be enough to protect them. Still, they were approaching a place with proper fortifications- and more allies. It was the south-side cafeteria, where Anton had regularly gone for meals until he moved to his new place. It didn¡¯t appear to be a secure facility, but looks could be deceiving. More importantly, it was a centralized location that could bring in all of those around it, so Anton knew that at least in theory some people should be there. Once they were getting close, he was relieved to find that was the case. One good thing about constant fleeing with a large number of individuals- there was no time for their enemies to set up a proper illusion. With so many different sources of energy overlapping, and not having the element of surprise, they simply didn¡¯t have the opportunity. As Anton and the others approached the cafeteria, supporting fire came from the building, more arrows and a number of fire-based attacks as well. The enemies held back, giving them Anton and the others time to get to relative safety. ¡°What¡¯s going on out there?¡± Anton recognized the figure of Daniela Selby. Thirty-seven stars, one more than when he had first seen her about a month after arriving. During the whole incident with Hayden. His own strength had multiplied many times over since then, but she was still an imposing figure. ¡°Twin Soul Sect,¡± Anton explained quickly. ¡°Far too much for us to handle. I assume since you¡¯re here the message got around.¡± ¡°Just an alarm,¡± she said. ¡°But I suppose nobody had more specifics.¡± Anton explained what else he had seen, approximations of numbers and powers. ¡°There could be more than the single Life Transformation expert,¡± Anton finished, ¡°But that¡¯s all I¡¯ve noticed so far. I might expect more.¡± ¡°That¡¯s about what I¡¯d gathered,¡± she replied. The wrinkled woman frowned towards the wide entry doors. ¡°We should get you and Marcio up on the roof with the others. We need to hold this place.¡± She looked around the room as she said so. Anton nodded. He was well aware that the tactical position was of little value, but there was something important they had to protect. Specifically, all of the Body Tempering cultivators among those present. While they wouldn¡¯t be treated as helpless and would certainly be called upon to fight, if they were to retreat they could only condemn them to death as they would be unable to keep up. There were over a hundred of them present, as well as half that many Spirit Building cultivators. That included Elder Howland. He had previously been stuck in early Spirit Building, but had now advanced to mid Spirit Building- going from the fifteenth to twentieth star in a few years. His position as elder wasn¡¯t for his fighting prowess, though, but instead based off his knowledge and the duties he undertook. From the earlier shooting, Anton also knew Alva was present. He hadn¡¯t seen Fuzz, but he hadn¡¯t been focused on that in particular while moving. He was glad to see that in addition to Elder Daniela Selby, there were a few more Essence Collection cultivators- one of which was Hoyt. It was no surprise that he might be present, because he often worked in the fields around the area- though it was little challenge anymore except for some more exotic specimens. Anton passed by Pete and Oscar on the way to the roof. There were far too many people here to protect. He had to hope they had enough. Given the fact that the Grand Elders weren¡¯t here wiping them out, however, he suspected they thought there would be more and were trying to draw them out. Or it was being used as an opportunity to give people experience, but Anton wouldn¡¯t be betting on the assumption of being rescued at any particular point. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. As he arrived on the roof and looked out, Anton was tackled by Alva- she leapt into him horizontally and hung on. ¡°Grandpa! What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Basically what it looks like. An attack by the Twin Soul Sect, or at least some of them. Hopefully this is close to their limits.¡± He knew they were large and distributed throughout many countries, but he hoped that what he currently saw was the limits of what they had. Hoped, but didn¡¯t count on. Since they couldn¡¯t retreat without abandoning people- not that their earlier retreat had been without loss- this is where they had to take a stand. However, Anton wasn¡¯t sure if the enemy would want to fight them in a fortified position. Yet they weren¡¯t rushing around to ransack empty homes and fields. That could have been caution, but Anton suspected it was because this was more than just a simple raid. They wouldn¡¯t be here just for something they could get more safely elsewhere like resources, but for a serious attack. And that was how he knew they had to have more. What he¡¯d already seen wasn¡¯t a match for even the limited numbers he knew were still present. Or even just Vandale alone, though it might cost him to use so much power. After a certain distance, ranged attacks would diminish. Whether it was a hundred or two hundred meters, after a certain point it was inefficient to attack if there wasn¡¯t some more pressing reason. That explained why the others were holding back, but Anton saw no reason to not take a few shots here and there. The enemy was standing half a kilometer away, and that was well before the point he expected drop off in effectiveness. Not measurable anyway, since Horizon Shot went many times further. He killed a few Spirit Building cultivators before they wised up and moved Essence Collection cultivators to more prominent positions. Then he killed a few more, because he could change his target halfway and have them going completely the wrong direction to intercept. Most of those he killed were early or mid Spirit Building, since it was quite optimistic to take out a late Spirit Building cultivator with just a few shots. It would be a significant drain on his energy to kill them if they were ready. Even if he had some limits to what he could do, Anton felt empowered as he stood among other members of the Order. It wasn¡¯t anything so fancy as a special formation like Catarina could set up- though there were protections on the building itself- but instead a feeling of camaraderie. Yet more than that, there was a deeper strength flowing into him. It was slow, but very real. Anton continued to fire at a moderate pace, where he found his energy reserves were hardly even draining. Later he would come to the realization that as someone whose Essence was communal based, the situation was akin to actively cultivating. It didn¡¯t suddenly push him to a higher rank, but it slowed his drain of energy. The enemy wasn¡¯t just going to let him continue shooting at them forever. It wasn¡¯t even a minute before they began their assault. Five hundred meters was something most of the enemy could cover in ten seconds flat, but as they approached they came within range of the rest of those with ranged abilities around Anton. They certainly killed many, but hundreds still remained, mainly Spirit Building and stronger. The leading group did the logical thing, which was to jump up onto the roof to take out the archers. Though the cafeteria was a tall building, they could still make the leap. Right into a protective barrier that they had to have known would be there. Or at least assume. Even so, the moment they made contact the first couple dozen enemies were vulnerable, and another handful of them perished before they were able to reach the ground and maneuver themselves properly. Some of them began to bombard the building with attacks, both longer range and up close. Then the doors down below swung open, and the few unlucky souls in front found themselves carved open as Elder Daniela wielded a sword at a speed he wouldn¡¯t have even been able to see when they first met. Several others were with her, stepping back and forth across the threshold. The attackers were momentarily unsure whether the barrier would still stop them with the doors open, but they also had little chance to try. Most of those who got close were either killed or knocked backwards into the masses behind them. While there were two wide doors swung open, a handful of strong people could hold their ground easily- and one of them was Hoyt, which meant there was now a large wall of fire in front. People had to choose between removing the fire, attacking properly, or defending themselves. ----- Grand Elder Kseniya could see almost every point in the Order¡¯s control, and those she couldn¡¯t see she could still take a shot at. But she didn¡¯t. She saw a Life Transformation expert hanging back from the crowd assaulting the southern side of the Order, but there was more. Another group, behind the first, circling around to the northern face. They had two more Life Transformation experts among them. She could probably kill at least one of them from where she was, but whichever one she targeted would likely survive long enough for any of the others to retreat. It would have been a waste of all their effort keeping the mole alive and making themselves appear weak to start things too early. So Kseniya watched Anton as he shot into the crowd of enemies in front of him. She had seen him form a bow out of energy earlier. In her life she had done similar when the time called for it- a broken string or snapped shaft. She was the creator of Spirit Arrows after all, so it wasn¡¯t a foreign concept. She just hadn¡¯t ever considered doing entirely without a physical bow. Clearly Anton himself still thought it was better, as he continued to shoot at his targets with a real weapon. However, Kseniya could still feel that field around him. It was easily recognizable, to her at least, as the basis for Falling Stars. It was simply kept more tightly contained- though some of that was doubtless due to Anton¡¯s current cultivation restrictions. Kseniya was pleased to see that he hadn¡¯t neglected above himself. It would have been easy to create a ring around himself and ignore verticality, but his energy stretched out more or less evenly in all directions. At the moment it was doing nothing, but he should be able to call upon it at any moment and attack from somewhere completely unexpected. Not too bad, though she still had some gripes about his fundamentals. Several of his shots had been several millimeters off target, even before people dodged. Chapter 240 Just sitting, waiting for an attack was nerve wracking. The central part of the Order had the rewards hall, armory, and other tempting targets for invading attackers. When the warnings of danger had come, many of the disciples of the Order were nearby. Elder Evan immediately began to hand out weapons and armor and anything else that might help. It was foolish to keep it locked up when they might need it. If they survived, it would be given back. If they survived. A morbid thought, but one that Catarina didn¡¯t think was unrealistic. After all, cultivators died all the time. Many of those who died today would be from the Order. Though specific information hadn¡¯t been distributed, it was clear this wasn¡¯t just a small scale attack. Otherwise someone else would be controlling the formations. Someone like Elder Galli. Even if the Order didn¡¯t have an overabundance of qualified formation masters, Catarina thought there should have been someone better than her. But that thought didn¡¯t suddenly make someone else show up. The idle thought to try to improve on the formations passed through Catarina¡¯s mind, but she knew better than to try. Even if she had the time to make sweeping changes and access to the materials, there was no guarantee anything would be better. She was a top formation expert among those at her age, but older formation masters were better. Elder Galli was able to make things on a whim she could barely comprehend, and Everheart¡­ even though he had been gone for centuries, he still had formations that were nearly impossible to sort out. The ones the Order had should function fine on their own¡­ when they weren¡¯t getting seriously bombarded. When the enemy arrived and concentrated their attacks on one area, Catarina needed to be ready to respond accordingly. But she also couldn¡¯t overreact and weaken other parts too much. But if she messed up, it would only mean an army getting through to attack hundreds of fellow disciples, most of which were in Body Tempering or early Spirit Building. Catarina wouldn¡¯t be in too much peril, given her distance from the outside of the formation. That was the worst part, knowing that if she failed others would die. She could accept personal consequences for her failure, but others dying left a sour taste in her mouth. Yet there was little hope that the formations would hold forever whether she was the one in control or someone else was. Anton was working at the border. It seemed likely he would have been the first to face danger, but she couldn¡¯t let her worries cloud her thoughts. As the first attacks fell on the formations surrounding the compound, Catarina felt strangely alone. She didn¡¯t want to focus on that feeling, but she couldn¡¯t help it. She wished she had her grandfather, her friends¡­ Timothy. The last one was the biggest because he had always been around, but now he was gone¡­ out on some mission for the Order. ----- The assault on the fortified structure on the southern edge of the mountain was resulting in many deaths for the Twin Soul Sect, but they were making real headway. Several of their members had broken past the front ranks defending the doorways and made it inside, and the main defenders were injured as well. The ranged attackers on the roof were still causing serious damage, but soon enough they would tire. A single Life Transformation expert could entirely tip the balance in the battle, but none of them joined. They would instead be looking for other opportunities. While they might receive some merits for slaughtering those well below their level, it would be very little compared to tackling the targets only they could handle. While wiping out the younger generations was valuable, crippling their leadership was also important. The time wasn¡¯t all that far away, and weakening a sect like the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars could allow enemies not directly associated with the Twin Soul Sect to take revenge, further weakening them. The Life Transformation members also stayed out of the fighting to keep themselves as secret as possible. There was no chance they had all gone unnoticed, but it was a matter of measuring themselves against the others. It was known that Grand Elder Vandale was still present, but since none of the others had yet gone to reinforce the locations being attacked, it confirmed there were few of them. He wouldn¡¯t be alone, of course. The Order wasn¡¯t so foolish as to truly leave just a single Grand Elder present. However, if they merely had to deal with half of the Life Transformation cultivators of the Order, somewhere around ten of them¡­ then the Twin Soul Sect was confident. Their own members might all die, but that didn¡¯t bother them. Deciding that they had waited long enough, a dozen figures began to make their way up the mountain from various sides, along with several times that many spare Essence Collection cultivators. It was a shame that the Twin Soul Sect had fallen so far that they could only manage a real assault on a single target, but there had been massive damage to them at the opening of Everheart¡¯s Tomb. Before that point, they could have easily crushed any single sect. Though if they had tried that, it would have provoked much too strong of a reaction, resulting in an attack much more powerful than that at Black Soul Valley. As they climbed into the denser energy that was gathered towards the top of the mountain, the Life Transformation cultivators coordinated their movements to arrive at the same time. All of them could feel Grand Elder Vandale, brimming with power and almost taunting them. Perhaps a cultivator at the peak of Life Transformation deserved that sort of arrogance, but no matter who else he had with him, they would all die. Unlike in other areas, most of the Essence Collection cultivators remained back, away from the others. Except for a few sent into the dome structure in front of them to check for traps, the others remained scattered around the area to slow down incoming targets. Fighting only a small number of the Order¡¯s Life Transformation experts at a time would be more efficient, and their sacrifices would be meritorious. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Yet as they approached, nobody could sense anyone but Vandale. That made them nervous, wondering how they could fail to find the others. The leading Essence Collection cultivators stepped into the observatory with Vandale. One of them would at least be alive long enough to call out how many others there were. ¡°It¡¯s just me here, you know?¡± a deep voice echoed out from the structure. ¡°What are you afraid of?¡± A half dozen cultivators were thrown through the walls of the building, leaving it full of holes. Vandale stood in the middle, clearly visible. Strangely enough, half of those who had been thrown out were alive. ¡°It is¡­ just him¡­¡± one of them spoke through ribs more made of breaks than not. Silent glances from the Life Transformation cultivators indicated that they doubted that to be the truth, but few cultivators could be invisible in a wide open room. At most they would expect one in there. Easy enough for half of them to take out, with the forces being three to one. Any more and they might interfere with each other¡¯s attacks. The other six remained distant, gathered around the mountain peak. There were other buildings that could be concealing enemies skilled at hiding their cultivation, or through the use of formations. They wouldn¡¯t let their guard down. And they were right not to. As the half dozen stepped forward to surround the observatory, there was a loud sigh. ¡°Is that all I can get? How unfortunate.¡± The structure burst into flames, cracking and falling apart in an instant. At the same time power surged from Vandale, more energy flowed in a crashing ocean, forming a barrier around the seven cultivators in the center. ¡°Well, this will have to do.¡± ----- It was unfortunate that the observatory was the best place to hide the center of the formation. Vandale had hoped that it would remain intact for others to use, after he was gone. But carefully removing an expensive telescope would have tipped off those approaching. It would simply have to be rebuilt. As huge lenses shattered from the heat around Vandale, his energy suffusing throughout the area, he took stock of his opponents. Two with spears, one with a myriad of different throwing weapons, one with no visible weapons, and finally a sword wielder and one with daggers. That spoke of how they would fight to some extent, but he knew the real event would be focused around whatever illusion they tried to deceive him with. Vandale felt something squirming inside him, trying to get out. This would be just the time it was meant to act up, since it failed to kill him. The man who had appeared to be their leader had now ascended, but he¡¯d left an unpleasant memory with Vandale on his way out. Vandale just hoped his own flames had left a mark on the man as well. The squirming blackness inside Vandale couldn¡¯t be safely removed, but if he left it as it was it would disrupt his ability to fight. But things had already gone beyond the realm of safety. Even if none of his opponents were as close to the peak of cultivation as he was, Vandale knew that fighting six suicidal enemies was pushing himself. No, it was downright impossible. If he meant to live, that was. But just because his opponents didn¡¯t care if they died didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t care about their deaths. He cared about it very much, and would make it happen. Inside of him, fires began to burn brightly. It scoured the blackness from inside of him. Vandale had a sudden feeling of inspiration. He¡¯d long said he¡¯d given up on reaching ascension, and while that was true as much as it could be, he found himself realizing he¡¯d kept a tiny strand of desire inside of him. Once he burned that away, the path forward was clear. But he wasn¡¯t going to bow out and leave six dangerous enemies for his sect to deal with. Besides, given what he¡¯d heard from those who visited Everheart¡¯s latest mess, he wasn¡¯t sure he liked the idea of ascension even if he wouldn¡¯t be abandoning people he cared about. Power gathered above Vandale, forming into a number of glowing spheres of varying size and power. The power radiating from him might disrupt illusions from those around him, or it might not. But if he simply attacked everywhere, then it wouldn¡¯t matter if he could figure out his opponent¡¯s locations or not. A manic grin lit his face as he started raining destruction down all around him. He twisted his body between the spears as they stabbed simultaneously, deflecting other weapons with his palms. For some of the rest he simply relied on the fires burning inside him to provide the power to resist. Meanwhile, explosions rang out all around him, bombarding his six opponents and scouring the land. Vandale wasn¡¯t sure if the sword that stabbed into his gut from behind was an illusion or not, but it didn¡¯t matter. When he found himself in an awkward position he simply turned up the intensity of his power. Stars rained from the sky, but Vandale himself was another star. One near the end of its lifespan, but as an enthusiastic student of the skies, he knew that stars only grew more powerful near the end. But he also knew there was no going back from it. Seven cultivators without regard for their own lives fought, and if there had been any structures still standing around them it would have been flattened and pitted within an instant. Six had the idea that they would be rewarded for their behavior, reincarnating into a life where they would have abundant resources to empower them in their next lives. They were unafraid of death because they didn¡¯t believe it was the end. Vandale knew he might in fact reincarnate, but without special circumstances he wouldn¡¯t remember anything. For all practical purposes, he¡¯d be a different person. But he was fighting without regard for his life because it no longer had enough value to keep. It was dwindling already, near its end no matter what he did. If he could save those of value to himself, he would take that trade any day. Vandale continued to glow brighter, distracting from the falling stars up above. Before things reached their end, he made certain to feel the integrity of the formation around him. He could sense fighting beyond it, but the barrier held. Good. Vandale smiled as he pulled down the greatest falling star he¡¯d ever created from above, directly towards all of his enemies. Of course, with them surrounding him it actually went towards himself. If their illusions were hiding their locations, it might have seemed that they had a chance to survive. But nobody would be able to know what was real and not in the aftermath, because as the final Falling Star impacted Vandale, he also exploded from the inside out in a crescendo of power. The formation trembled around him and held¡­ but inside of it the only thing that remained recognizable were a few melted pieces of weapons and armor. Chapter 241 Though the formation encapsulating the battle with Vandale blocked off some of the sense of it, a battle with seven Life Transformation cultivators was something any cultivator would feel from more than a handful of kilometers away regardless. Once that battle began, more cultivators revealed themselves. Grand Elders Kseniya, Fodor, and Zajoc were among those present, as well as a significant portion of the ¡®absent¡¯ Essence Collection members. All of that could be felt from far away, even where Hoyt fought to maintain some semblance of control over the enemies trying to break past him. He couldn¡¯t help but have lingering thoughts about the battle above, but his focus remained mostly intact. With a sweep of his axe he sent flying several approaching enemies. While he would have liked to slice them in two, he wasn¡¯t quite capable of that in this sort of pitched combat. A barrier of fire protected the open doors, but it didn¡¯t completely stop the Twin Soul Sect. Some were strong enough to force their way through unharmed, and some simply ignored the consequences. Inside, they were met with those that had at least equal determination- if not always equal cultivation. But the defensive position allowed the Order to fight many-on-one as well as to cycle out those who had exhausted themselves for fresh combatants. Hoyt wished they had a replacement for him, but the number of Essence Collection cultivators they had around was insufficient for him to take a break. Somewhere in the back of his mind he tracked the fight at the top of the mountain increasing in intensity, to the point he could hardly believe the energy was dulled by a formation. Then the end came. He was very aware that his grandfather was going to die soon, regardless of what happened here. Hoyt himself hadn¡¯t been in on the details of the plan- avoiding riding on his grandfather¡¯s reputation meant he had to give up most of the benefits there- but he was aware something had been happening. It was not strange that he chose such a death. Many cultivators would prefer to go down fighting, though not all of them considered the interests of those around them. While the recent movement of people had obviously provoked this attack, it was likely it would have happened eventually anyway. Controlling it in some fashion was the best that could be done. As he felt the last vestiges of his grandfather¡¯s energy fade- through what he suspected were extremely weakened defenses- Hoyt put on another surge of effort. While he might not have wanted to gain his position through his grandfather, that didn¡¯t mean he wanted the man to die. While it seemed he was so old that it could happen at any time for the entirety of Hoyt¡¯s life, it had also felt like he might simply live forever. Hoyt knew that wasn¡¯t the case, but it was still something he wasn¡¯t ready for when it actually happened. The fight was difficult where they were, but other Grand Elders were fighting with the other Life Transformation experts. The exact details of the battle were unknown, but Hoyt had the utmost confidence they would win. Then they could overwhelm the remaining enemies. They just had to hold on until then. ----- Waiting was the most difficult part of a battle. The anticipation of the start was painful¡­ but once the battle started, it was even worse to not participate. Yet that was where Timothy found himself, sealed underground. Waiting. The same as he had been for weeks, ever since he¡¯d been selected for the task. Elder Rana was controlling a formation that kept them concealed, near the heart of the Order. Had it been an hour since the news of the attack? Or it could have been just a few minutes, or days. Everything was blurred together. The only thing Timothy could feel outside of their underground location, a place he had grown far too familiar with, was a dim sense of energy. Several powerful groups. Then there was another, the strongest concentration all at once. ¡°This is it,¡± Elder Rana said. ¡°Everyone knows where you¡¯re assigned. Get going!¡± Timothy was glad he wasn¡¯t assigned to the group that would be fighting against the Life Transformation experts. It wasn¡¯t that he was afraid, just practical. Early Essence Collection was no match for them, and while he was proud of his defensive prowess it would only take a slightly more than casual attack for one of them to break through, killing him or those he protected. He wasn¡¯t much good as part of a group attack either. Where he would do best was supporting friends and allies he was familiar with. He wanted to already be with some of them, but since he had been chosen to remain hidden, he didn¡¯t really have a choice. If people were just allowed to excuse themselves from the operation, it wouldn¡¯t have remained a secret for long, no matter their intentions. Timothy was assigned to go protect the rewards hall and the rest of the complex there. If he pushed himself, he would arrive in less than a minute. And then he would die, because he wouldn¡¯t have any allies who could reach him. Staying within the ranks it was only two or three minutes for the trip, as everyone moved at a quick jog. That was by cultivator standards. The slowest among them moved quicker than a galloping horse, even down the slope of the mountain. The paths were as smooth and even as they could be, but they still provided some difficulty. Given the situation, the path wasn¡¯t always the quickest way either. As they approached Timothy felt the formation and thought of Catarina. While he¡¯d associated her with them since the beginning of their training, this time he actually felt her influence. It wasn¡¯t necessarily something those unfamiliar with her would pick up on, but the way she proliferated her energy was quite comforting to Timothy. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Spending time with her in the same group it had not been possible to stay ignorant about formations, and he could feel gaps forming and being sealed at a rapid rate. People were breaking through¡­ but they wouldn¡¯t have to wait much longer. Once they were close, Timothy was one of the leaders of the charge aimed at the rear of the sieging group. His initial attack wasn¡¯t even quite sufficient to take out one of the Spirit Building cultivators, but that wasn¡¯t where his focus had been. When a dozen people turned to counterattack, he was prepared to deflect their energy. He didn¡¯t care where it went- back towards them or any of their allies- as long as it didn¡¯t go past him to the others charging behind. ----- Fuzz had sniffed out the secret underground den on the second day they had been constructing it. How would he not know about a place people were coming and going so frequently? However, he had been respectful of the larger pack¡¯s privacy. Though Fuzz didn¡¯t understand it himself, some places were off limits to some members of the pack. So he had stayed away. It was only in the last day that he had smelled both Devon and Timothy, having wandered close. Those two were missed by the others, and they were supposed to be off on a mission. That prompted Fuzz to stick his nose inside, where he had promptly been captured after a little bit of play wrestling. He was careful with the members of the pack who weren¡¯t familiar with him, since they would injure easily. It was not long before those he was seeking came, and it was explained that he would have to stay for a time. He didn¡¯t quite understand why, but he hoped it was not too long. And though a day and night passed, his hopes were quickly realized. Now they were out! Free to go deal with a group of enemies trespassing on the pack¡¯s territory! Fuzz didn¡¯t understand exactly why they hadn¡¯t just been waiting outside, but it didn¡¯t matter now. Devon was much heavier than Alva, but Fuzz was constantly growing stronger. His actual size hadn¡¯t increased much in the last year, but the power of cultivation flowed through him. Fuzz knew he would never understand energy as much as humans did, but he made his best use of it. And he could use it to make his body stronger as well, a little bit at a time. With Devon on his back, Fuzz darted down the mountain. The calls of the others indicated that perhaps he should slow down, but Devon himself encouraged Fuzz to keep going. Fuzz augmented his nose to smell for who he wanted to find. Timothy was going towards Catarina- and Velvet too though she was harder to sniff out. Hoyt, Alva, and Anton were all to the south. So that was where they were going. Family came before loyal pack members. As they got closer Fuzz narrowed down the location to the food-place where he often received large chunks of meat. Even though he hunted his own food in the forest, he liked to eat with the other pack members. He knew they often gave him the parts that were hard for humans to chew, the disfavored pieces, but he enjoyed them all the same. And sometimes they gave him the parts they liked the best. They were good too, if a little soft. Fuzz had time to think about all of that before they arrived. Then it was time to fight. The fire on one side of the building was Hoyt. He seemed fine for the moment, but atop the roof Fuzz saw trouble. Attackers were climbing and jumping through broken not-walls of the kind Catarina made. Formations, maybe, though Fuzz wasn¡¯t much for fancy words. Alva and Anton were engaged in melee. Anton seemed to be functioning rather well with his twin axes- and somehow he was still shooting arrows- but Alva was weaker and less comfortable in her position. Anton was clearly making his way towards her, but there were many enemies in the way. Fuzz picked up even more speed, aiming for one of the openings so he wouldn¡¯t hit his head on the air. He could feel Devon¡¯s energy atop him, ready to fight. Then he leapt the last thirty meters, landing directly on one of the attackers. Fuzz thought the impact might have killed him, but his teeth bit down on his head to make sure. A satisfying crunch. A dozen chains lashed out at people around them, pulling people away from Alva. Devon hopped off of Fuzz, leaving him free to roam as he pleased. That meant he could go help Alva, who was facing away from him and fighting an enemy with clearly superior axe skills. She had grown closer to the size of a full woman since he knew her, but she was still much smaller than him. Small enough he could stand over her with his chin over her head. He snarled at the wrinkly old woman she was fighting. The woman backed off, and Alva spun around to get a mouthful of fur. ¡°Mmmmmph!¡± Fuzz took that and the hug to be words of happiness that he had arrived, and then Alva grabbed a handful of fur and vaulted herself up and around onto his back. ¡°Let¡¯s go Fuzz!¡± Alva called out as she unslung her bow. ¡°We¡¯re a bit too close here.¡± Fuzz immediately leapt off of the roof. While his personal preference for battle was up close, he could always make use of his teeth and claws when they became necessary. The flying claws of archers were much more suited for dealing with opponents of the type available today. Fuzz ran around the battlefield, circling around the area while Alva rained shots down on their attackers. Alva had great senses and accuracy, so he didn¡¯t concern himself with keeping a steady pace. They were well used to battle with each other. Fuzz brought them towards a group of three away from the others, both of which were archers. One just used very big arrows and no bow, but the fact that their attacks went beyond their armlength made them an archer. Seeing them approach, attacks began to fly at them. Fuzz dodged and weaved, minimizing the amount that Alva had to duck down close to him. She shot back, taking out the two archers before they arrived. But strangely enough she didn¡¯t shoot the third enemy, even as they stood there obvious. Perhaps she was just aiming, but as Fuzz charged forward she turned to shoot at people in a different direction. ¡°Fuzz, head back towards the battle!¡± Fuzz took her command into advisement, and he absolutely would after he dealt with this last one. She could still hit the enemies from where they were, and since she hadn¡¯t deigned to fight this one it was all his. The final opponent stood still as they approached, suddenly moving as they got near. A flying leap, as if they were trying to get atop Fuzz¡¯ back. It was a little bit hard to track them since he couldn¡¯t see or hear them, but his nose knew better. He reared up, mouth opening then closing. For his efforts, he got a blade stabbed into his gum and another into his jaw. In return, he got both of his opponent¡¯s arms. Then the person was suddenly visible to his eyes, and they for some reason looked surprised when he batted them to the ground and then stepped on their chest. As if leaping towards a wolf had an option that didn¡¯t involve them getting bitten. How strange. Chapter 242 At the peak of the mountain, Elder Rana had switched away from concentrating on the concealing formation to the fortifying barrier around Grand Elder Vandale and the area around that where a different battle was happening. While the Order would have dearly liked to have every Life Transformation expert available when provoking an enemy of indeterminate power, to properly pull off the deception they had to have some of them very publicly make appearances. That also included being far enough for the Twin Soul Sect to be comfortable that they wouldn¡¯t be around, and indeed they weren¡¯t even rushing back. With that said, Grand Elders Fodor, Zajoc, and Kseniya were present along with about half of the other Life Transformation members. The exact number of them around was never publicly available, but they had once had twenty. With some deaths at Black Soul Valley and some advancements due to recent events, they were at eighteen. Half had stayed while half had gone¡­ but more than that portion of Essence Collection cultivators stayed since they would be less carefully counted. Their assistance in the battle was not strictly necessary for a victory, but with the reckless abandon of the assaulting cultivators, any additional firepower was a boon. Kseniya clicked her tongue as she rained arrows on the fanatics. She could appreciate devotion to a good cause, but such overzealousness for a cause that only led to a net decrease in the status of the world was anything but. Everyone was equally motivated as them to defend the Order, though Kseniya hoped that their willingness to die wouldn¡¯t lead into the actuality of it. At least, not more than they had to. A few brave Essence Collection cultivators had already died. Even the practical side of Elder Kseniya wasn¡¯t willing to say it was better that they perished than her. Any one of them could have grown to the same power as her, and she just happened to be older and more experienced than most. The emotional side of her was burning with fury¡­ and the practical side guided that fury to take advantage of every opening made by sacrifices, intentional or not. She kept herself focused on the battle at hand, despite knowing her best disciple was just a short way to the south. She could glance over there and fire a few shots, sway the tide of battle. But every arrow was required where she was. A moment of distraction would allow her to fall deeper under the sway of illusion, instead of carefully tracking the real movements of her opponents. Even when she lost track, she was building a prediction of how they would fight. A less practiced cultivator could easily fall into the trap of thinking they could predict their opponents, but Kseniya knew she could. And it was ever so easy to make slight adjustments to her shots at point blank range. Of course, the range she considered point blank was hundreds of meters, the outside of which was further than many cultivators'' maximum ranges. But compared to Horizon Shot, everything else was like walking up to a target with her bow and stabbing it with an arrow. One of the enemy Life Transformation cultivators was quite annoying. Cased from head to toe in armor that seemed extremely durable even in the normal weak points they took attacks with impunity. The armor was their weapon as well, so it was difficult to tell if they were planning to attack. Spikes stuck out at all angles, and they were quite capable of concealing exactly how much energy they concentrated at any one point. They could prepare to absorb an attack or stab a spike into someone with little indication of either. Kseniya briefly wished she had trained abilities for pure power. She would even like to have a bow like Anton¡¯s- the bone bow that was excessively difficult to pull. That particular one was too weak for her use, but something similar would be convenient no matter how bad it was in normal circumstances. The only thing she could do was continuously hit the same point, trying to pierce through the armored figures¡¯ defensive energy and then damage the armor underneath. Yet every time she struck, they fortified the point more and more. If she was unable to break through before, now it was completely impossible. Yet a full half of her arrows struck that one target at that one point- though she didn¡¯t neglect harassing the others and injuring them when the opportunity arose. She stubbornly continued with her attacks until it reached a maximum level of strength and went no further. Someone with Vandale¡¯s power would have already crushed them, and those who relied directly on strength like Ivarsson had would take the opportunity to crush that point. But Kseniya wasn¡¯t either of them. Though just because she didn¡¯t focus on power didn¡¯t mean she wasn¡¯t capable of it. She just took a different route. Kseniya continued shooting her arrows, a dozen shots flying across the battlefield before she stopped for a moment, gathering energy into a powerful arrow. It flew directly towards the strongest yet most battered point of her opponent¡¯s defenses. That arrow struck at the same time as the other dozen, which had circled around behind him. They struck a different point, just below the skull on the back of the head- all of them together, as if they were a single arrow. Kseniya had actually performed an especially powerful shot to solidify the bluff, but even if she had aimed elsewhere her opponent would have simply shifted his energy. When it came down to an attack that seemed like a challenge, however, he took it head on. And then Kseniya took his head off. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Her arrows pierced not only through the spine but up into the brain. A cultivator of such power who didn¡¯t instantly die could cause quite a bit of trouble for them, and she didn¡¯t want any of that. They¡¯d already lost enough. She had tried to avoid being shaken up by Vandale¡¯s death, but it wasn¡¯t possible to ignore. He was a pillar of the Order. His sacrifice was tragic, yet important. Without him pulling away half of the Life Transformation opponents, their losses would have been much more severe in the rest of the fight. With one more down, and none of the Order¡¯s Life Transformation experts fully out of the fight, the battle quickly snowballed in the Order¡¯s favor. They couldn¡¯t afford to get careless, but Kseniya was a major threat that they couldn¡¯t even approach due to the others. Even if they had she was quite able to fight them off in melee range, but she was especially effective when unhindered. ----- Velvet was watching over Catarina in case someone had managed to break in and attack her while she was focused. Now the formation was so beaten and broken it was simply a matter of whether anyone made it to her in a frontal assault. Even so, Catarina had a stupid grin on her face. Velvet had the feeling she didn¡¯t know about it, but it was obvious why. Reinforcements were attacking the enemy¡¯s rear. That included Timothy. Though Velvet didn¡¯t have any childhood friends she¡¯d grown up with, the sense of relief she felt at the arrival of allies and a friend was clear. Yet that was what she felt with a very rocky start and a handful of years after that. Someone she¡¯d known her whole life would have to be many times more¡­ even if there weren¡¯t other feelings involved. Velvet knew Timothy felt more than just friendship for Catarina, but she had never asked if Catarina felt the same. But whatever she felt was strong. ¡°I¡¯m going to move out,¡± Velvet said. ¡°The others should be able to hold people off. If you have to let the formation drop, now is the time.¡± Velvet didn¡¯t wait for more than a nod of acknowledgement before she disappeared. She could stand around for someone to approach, but she preferred a more proactive style. People got especially careless when they thought they were safe. With that thought in her head, Velvet paused atop the walls, looking down into the many enemies below forcing their way into the compound. She took a few moments to check her thoughts. She knew the Twin Soul Sect projected illusions, and that they could do it for many people. The question was if they had to know someone was there. Then she nodded. She felt something. A tingling of difference. Certainly weaker than what would be affecting others, but enough to distort her perception enough. Less than half a step in any direction, but it would be the difference between a clean slash to the throat and a small nick or even a complete miss. The same was true for defensive actions in the other direction. The other disciple seemed to be fighting their way through it, but they could use some help. Velvet couldn¡¯t just yell some encouraging words and break them out, but she could look for the key figures. Someone had to be the main point of the illusions. There were two possibilities. It might be the obvious one, the man standing in the middle protected by everyone. Or it could be the woman on the right end of the pack who didn¡¯t seem to be doing anything. Ultimately Velvet¡¯s decision was dictated not by surety, but by practicality. She wasn¡¯t confident in placing herself in the middle of a crowd of enemies. Even so, she thought it was slightly more likely that the less obvious target was correct. Unless it was a trick, but if she was going to consider psychology like that it might not be a trick but they could want her to think that. So she didn¡¯t waste more time thinking, and just decided to act. She slipped down the wall slowly, hoping nobody would feel the disturbances her movements caused. It was impossible for a normal human to sense anything, and her presence was erased to the best of her abilities- but she was going up against experienced cultivators. Even if her Essence empowered her stealth, she had barely begun to mold it into shape, to let it grow. Knowing she was an up-and-coming genius could cause her to be cocky¡­ but instead she thought about Anton. If she couldn¡¯t even surpass an admittedly exceptional grandpa, then she still had a lot to learn. But on the other hand, he¡¯d helped her develop her skills, and she would use them to their utmost. Not a pebble or a blade of grass moved as Velvet slunk along the ground towards the side of the battle. As she approached she became ever more sure of her target¡¯s connection to the illusion as a whole. Perhaps her death wouldn¡¯t tear it apart, but it would take a moment or two for it to be brought back into place if she was taken out. A battlefield wide opening was something that had to be aimed for at all costs. Velvet held her twin daggers. Even after all of Spirit Building she hadn¡¯t found weapons that were their equals, not that was being sold anyway. In Everheart¡¯s Tomb- on the moon- she¡¯d seen some daggers she would have liked to get ahold of, but they were in the hands of Life Transformation cultivators. Now that she was used to their asymmetry, Velvet would regret when she had to give them up. But that time was still far away. For the moment, they were still quite functional. Velvet reached her target and her arms slashed across her chest, scissoring the blades together. She might not have the power to lop off someone¡¯s head, but if she could damage either the throat or the spinal cord it was just as good. For a moment she saw no blood, as if she had completely missed. Then the illusion cracked and she knew she had aimed close enough to the real location. Her right dagger had actually struck her opponent¡¯s chin, but there was a slash into the neck and bone from her left. Her blades had already been moving for a follow up attack, and she did so with confidence. A wave swept across the battlefield as combatants realized the illusions hindering their attacks had fallen away. A series of coordinated attacks pushed things in the favor of the Order- and the reinforcements attacking from behind were pressuring their enemies. It didn¡¯t seem as if they would surrender, and that meant the battle would have to be won with yet more blood¡­ but Velvet was determined to make sure that most of it belonged to the Twin Soul Sect. Chapter 243 The battle atop the peak was the first to resolve itself, but the rest quickly followed. With none left who could withstand Kseniya¡¯s attacks and no fear for her own safety she rained down arrows on the battles below. Several of the other top members of the Order were too injured to reach the battle in a timely fashion, but it was only a few moments later before the remaining Life Transformation experts reached the melee. The personal power of a single cultivator wouldn¡¯t always stand up to the power of overwhelming numbers, but with the battles close to even or even slightly in the Order¡¯s favor they quickly tipped the scales. It was too late for the members of the Twin Soul Sect to run, but very few of them even made the attempt. They were already fighting with the intent to sacrifice their lives, but that willingness from the beginning meant they hardly increased in danger. ----- Grand Elder Matousek looked over the numbers gathered after the battle. They had ultimately come out ahead, thanks to the hidden forces they kept. But the losses to the Order weren¡¯t insignificant. Over a hundred late Body Tempering cultivators were dead, with similar numbers over the whole of Spirit Building. Several dozen Essence Collection cultivators as well. And the worst, at least in the aspect of security, was the loss of Vandale and two others. They barely had the numbers to have the Grand Elders solely composed of Life Transformation experts. Over the course of less than a decade, they¡¯d gone from twenty to thirteen. Numbers were down overall. Matousek knew that times of conflict had such results, but that didn¡¯t make it better. The only comforting fact was that there was a growing crop of new disciples¡­ and some very promising prospects. Beyond that, the conflict had driven many of the late Essence Collection cultivators who survived closer to the brink. The Order might come out stronger, if they could pull through, but the momentary losses were troublesome. Counting cultivators before they advanced to the next stage was an ill advised practice, but Matousek was willing to bet at least half of one particular group would make it. It was unclear if Anton, the old man who had surprised everyone with his speed, would be able to keep going- but the rest of the group, including Vandale¡¯s grandson- were nearly guaranteed to reach Life Transformation. Unless they were killed first, which was why Matousek wouldn¡¯t count on more than half of them. Matousek wasn¡¯t such a fool as to believe that the Twin Soul Sect was fully wiped out, but they would be cautious about making any future moves, especially against the Order. Now they just had to watch out for anyone who thought that the Order looked like a nice target. The borders with Ofrurg were already fortified, but withdrawing from there wouldn¡¯t be reasonable just yet. And enemies existed everywhere, even if they weren¡¯t always so overt in their actions. ----- Elder Tshering wasn¡¯t going to complain about being called out to a random field in Graotan to deal with some ants. He was well aware of the trouble insects could cause, having dealt with them many times himself. He was just confused as to what he was supposed to be worried about. He only saw ants. Completely, positively normal ants. He picked one up between his fingers, looking over at the local farmer who winced as he did so. ¡°What¡¯s special about these?¡± Before the farmer could answer, Tshering felt the ant bite into his finger. It didn¡¯t draw blood, but the very fact that it managed to pinch his skin was astounding. He was in Essence Collection, which meant he¡¯d completed as much Body Tempering as most cultivators ever would. A little ant wasn¡¯t going to pierce through his skin, but that shouldn¡¯t have even been an option. Tshering watched as the ant let go and chomped on another bit of his finger, completely ignoring his energy. ¡°Well,¡± he said. ¡°I hadn¡¯t expected something like this.¡± The farmer looked relieved as Tshering held onto the ant. ¡°I was going to warn you to be careful, sir.¡± He nervously stood nearby with a shovel. ¡°They¡¯re vicious little biters, and with hard bodies too. First noticed them crawling into my house when I tried to squish one with my finger.¡± He held up a swollen finger, twice as thick as the others and covered in tiny pricks that were presumably bite marks. ¡°Had to scrape ¡®em off with a knife, and even then they looked unfazed. I think I¡¯ve only managed to kill a handful. But that¡¯s not the only strange part. ¡®Sides the way they swarmed my finger, they¡¯re far too organized.¡± Tshering looked at the ant mound in front of him, then around the area. ¡°Are they a problem?¡± ¡°Well, they crawled into my house¡­¡± the farmer leaned on his shovel. ¡°Did they eat through your food stores?¡± ¡°Well, no. That¡¯s the strange thing. They swarmed a plate I left out overnight, but I haven¡¯t seen any poking around in my cabinets or anything. Cellar¡¯s fine too. But I¡¯m worried¡­ come take a look over here.¡± The farmer led Tshering to a place not very far away on his property, where a small stream passed through. Ants marched across the shallow stream, walking along a long branch crossing over it. The farmer gestured, ¡°Look, see?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure what I¡¯m supposed to see,¡± Tshering answered honestly. ¡°Ants do such things all the time.¡± ¡°They might cross a fallen log or a random branch, but look at it. That¡¯s pine. None of these are pines. I saw that branch shuffling around one day, and then the next I saw it there over the stream.¡± The farmer pointed with his shovel, apparently unwilling to get any closer. ¡°Look, they even chewed off the extra side branches.¡± ¡°There are still a few,¡± Tshering noted, ¡°Maybe they just broke off.¡± Though he said that, he was at that very moment confirming with his own eyes the cuts that could have been made by many tiny mouths. ¡°But I do see some connection there. Was there more?¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°You want more?¡± the farmer asked. ¡°I saw them take down a squirrel. They all clumped together until it passed over then latched on at the same time. Didn¡¯t take more than a minute before it was dead, and they were taking bits of it back to their lair.¡± Tshering washed over the ants with his senses, but didn¡¯t pick out anything special. That was concerning, because he already knew they were. In fact, more than just not feeling special his energy senses felt a bit numb when interacting with them. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Tshering asked. ¡°Wipe ¡®em out,¡± the farmer said. He held up his swollen finger, ¡°They¡¯re dangerous little beasts, not something normal folk like us can handle. We need you cultivators to take care of them. You believe me, right?¡± ¡°I do,¡± Tshering said. The problem was that so far, the ants hadn¡¯t done anything truly problematic. They snuck into a house to eat food lying out. That was normal. Finding ways across a river was normal as well. While it had to be admitted that they were much sturdier and stronger than the ants Tshering knew, he wasn¡¯t sure if they deserved to be destroyed. He knew he could do it- though strangely enough it would have been easier if they were larger. The question was whether or not he should. ¡°You own this farm long?¡± ¡°Twenty years,¡± the man said with pride. ¡°Got any neighbors?¡± ¡°A few,¡± the farmer said. ¡°There¡¯s some empty land on one side. Nice stuff, but a bit too expensive. And I already have all I can manage.¡± ¡°Would it be trouble for you to move?¡± ¡°Well, aside from my fields- which I suppose I could shift between seasons- I have my barn and my house just how I like them. Not really interested in giving this place up. Why?¡± ¡°What if we moved those?¡± Tshering asked. ¡°We can keep them exactly as they are and put them down somewhere else, undamaged. We¡¯ll buy you that land and provide the assistance you need to get set up.¡± ¡°Why?¡± the farmer narrowed his eye. ¡°What¡¯s the point of that? For you, I mean.¡± ¡°Well, I gathered you¡¯d not want to stay here while we studied these ants. But I¡¯d rather study them than destroy them.¡± ¡°Really?¡± the farmer shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. Seems like they¡¯re liable to spread if you¡¯re not careful.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Elder Tshering said. ¡°We have ways to deal with that.¡± ¡°Well¡­ if you can really follow through on your promises, I suppose I wouldn¡¯t mind it too much. As long as you keep careful watch on these things. So far nothing¡¯s gone wrong, but I don¡¯t want to wake up to a missing cow. Or not wake up at all.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Elder Tshering assured the man. ¡°I will treat this with all the sincerity it deserves.¡± ----- A great queen was not supposed to have to do anything herself, except the expected duties of laying eggs to produce the next generation. Indeed, it was a risk for the queen to even attempt another role, given her critical function in the functioning of the colony. Yet no matter how much intelligence the great queen imparted upon her subjects, their brains couldn¡¯t match her own. It was not a matter of arrogance, but simply fact. Those who could match her would become great queens in their own right, and there was no need for such at the moment. It would simply add unnecessary competition. With all of that said, the great queen found herself forced to go inspect a concerning change in the landscape. The rest of the colony had the sense of great danger, and such a situation had to be verified. Thus, the queen took the long trek to her borders half a day¡¯s travel away. There she found that, indeed, there was danger. But it was not what the other ants sensed that was the problem. The great queen had sensed barriers formed of energy many times after her birth. The information that had been passed down from the previous great queens indicated they had been set up by the last human in her species¡¯ memory. They were not impossible to bypass- but there had been no merit to it. Outside of those barriers had been only death, even for a species as hardy as the ants. There was no sustenance of any kind beyond those barriers. Food, water, not even air had been available. Though the great queen had not studied them herself, she knew that such barriers came in different types. She sensed danger, but not as the others might have expected. The first barrier, in fact, should not harm them in the slightest. While others might die under the crushing weight of energy, their kind would not. Except in the rarest of circumstances, the energy that other species made use of was, at most, a source of food for them. But a more clever trap had been set beyond. It seemed that some of those humans that were capable of using energy had indeed been studying them. They knew of ways to kill them. The question was why they had not done so. But the answer was actually fairly simple. There was no reason to. Even the great ants, despite their prowess, were so small as to not be worthwhile as sustenance for a human. That was the primary reason anything would be killed. The secondary matter, that of self defense, was also unnecessary. At least, the great queen hoped that they had not done anything to provoke a warlike response from the humans. They were intelligent enough to know the food stores of humans apart from the crumbs they left behind. While there had indeed been an altercation with a human, the drones involved had done no lasting harm. But perhaps that had been enough. With no humans in living memory, perhaps the information about them was incorrect. Maybe they had killed the human. Perhaps instead it was a queen of some sort, though records indicated that only those with energy usually held such positions. But they were not yet dead, and those of the powerful energy came to observe them regularly. So perhaps the situation was still salvageable. While the great queen was certain that they could kill most of the humans currently watching them, doing so would assuredly lead to their demise. For though humans were few in number, they were strong. Even one of those nearby was so strong as to be nearly undefeatable, with skin that could not be pierced by the jaws of a worker. Indeed, one of the soldiers might do better, and there were other methods¡­ but the colony was not strong enough to get into a war. Nor should it ever be necessary. Humans were, by most accounts, a good thing. Wherever they were would always have abundant food scraps for industrious ants to consume. While they seemed to find ants an annoyance, they were often allowed to remain as long as things didn¡¯t go too far. So there shouldn¡¯t be any reason for humans to come for them. But then again, anything of intelligence developed curiosity. The great queen herself was full of it, and though she knew she should not she occasionally peeked her head out to watch the humans even as they studied her colony. But if she found they intended harm, she would have to find a way through the barriers so the colony could survive. It was too early to create a new queen, but perhaps she should begin the process. Chapter 244 If Vincent had been anywhere else, he would have been happy to recruit most of the people he saw into the Order. Even if they were a bit older, many had already reached several stars of cultivation. With the improvements in energy around the Order itself, he figured most of them could reach late Body Tempering. But the factors were quite different from a normal visit to a town. This was one of Anton¡¯s projects, so Vincent was not terribly surprised that everyone was already cultivating. The man had a talent for guiding people through the early ranks of cultivation- and Vincent imagined that would stretch ever onward as Anton himself grew. That didn¡¯t mean Anton could magically grant everyone talent. Some people might never go beyond one or two stars in their entire life, but most people didn¡¯t even complete the first step of cultivation whether or not they had the opportunity put in front of them. Anton encouraged everyone to do whatever else they would be doing, but better due to the effects of good health and some control of energy. Living a normal life, elevated somewhat. Farmers produced more and better crops. Weavers refined higher quality cloth. Blacksmiths worked more quickly and with more precision. Even merchants who got by primarily through thinking and talking could temper their brain, though that required care. The difficulty for many people was finding the spare time to cultivate to begin with. If a common laborer had a few free moments, they would rather relax at a bar instead of spending it training. Even when they were able to integrate training into their normal work, the additional fatigue was off putting to many. The only thing that kept some people going was seeing the results of others. Anton did his best to encourage everyone, but there was only so much he could do. Vincent paid close attention to how Anton worked. If he only promoted cultivation, he could have easily formed an elite class that took over. The fact that he was starting with those in the lowest positions helped prevent that, as well as his other teachings. He strongly encouraged helping and promoting others. Currently, Anton was speaking with a warehouse manager who was having trouble understanding some of the ideas. ¡°I do not understand why I should pay for workers who are doing nothing,¡± the man complained. ¡°Training isn¡¯t nothing. It will make them more efficient at their work,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I will pay them for that work, when they do it. If they wish to train themselves, I won¡¯t stop them.¡± ¡°It is clear it has been some time since you performed any labor yourself,¡± Anton gently replied. Vincent was certain that Anton knew the man probably hadn¡¯t ever had to labor himself, and was simply being generous. ¡°One more hour of work is just one more hour. But if that energy can be devoted to improvement, you will see interest in the future.¡± ¡°Even if I waste my money on them,¡± the man said, ¡°Once they grow strong they will simply leave me behind.¡± ¡°Some of them might,¡± Anton acknowledged. ¡°But if they are treated well, most will treat you well in return.¡± The way Anton ended the conversation shortly after that indicated that he wasn¡¯t confident in the man actually listening to his advice. Vincent thought he might learn, but he would have to see others having success in the exact same way. Even then, the man didn¡¯t have quite the right temperament for it. He was the sort to think of immediate profits and considered everything that wasn¡¯t money pointless. Even if things like goodwill could lead to profits in the future. Vincent was all too aware that ruthless merchants often made large amounts of money, both in the short and long term. However, if they ever ran into trouble they would be trampled over by everyone else trying to achieve wealth at all costs. Properly honest merchants could build a business that lasted for more than a lifetime. As long as their honesty didn¡¯t prevent them from being discerning with their trade partners. Just because they wouldn¡¯t take advantage of others didn¡¯t mean they had to let it happen to them. After giving it some consideration, Vincent supposed that long-term business success would also be more important for those who cultivated. Adding even ten years of life would make a large difference for some. If anyone got twenty or thirty, they could spend easily twice as long as an active merchant. ¡°Anton,¡± Vincent brought the man aside as he thought of something. ¡°What do you intend to happen with those who reach the peak of Body Tempering?¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of it much yet,¡± Anton said. ¡°So far, those who have reached it were already ones with cultivation talent. They simply chose to join the Order early on. While the Ninety-Nine Stars is an excellent cultivation technique, I have no intention to try to make the complete method public. People could switch to a different method to continue their cultivation but¡­¡± Anton frowned. ¡°It seems like it would be difficult.¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°They could indeed simply join the Order. But while we have positions for anyone who wishes to practice trades, we keep most people centralized.¡± ¡°I think the Order should likely expand more,¡± Anton commented, ¡°But I think there¡¯s a better solution for others. We don¡¯t want to force anyone into the Order if they simply wish to continue improving themselves. Perhaps we could develop a different branch that would allow people to continue¡­ but also one that would feel markedly different so that nobody confuses them with official members of the Order.¡± Vincent nodded, ¡°We do have a reputation to uphold. While a majority of those I¡¯ve seen you interact with would do fine, some could use some careful vetting.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how people are,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Which is why I¡¯m trying to teach people to treat others right. Now then, I could use your help with the next part. Since everyone is focused on improving in their own specific areas I have been very lax in martial training, but I feel if they are to be cultivators they need at least basic knowledge of martial combat. Otherwise, they would be easy targets for those with ill intent. I don¡¯t imagine everyone will simply remain in Graotan forever.¡± ¡°Quite right,¡± Vincent replied. ¡°I would be glad to help.¡± The combat training really was quite basic. There was a bit of hand-to-hand as well as basic weapons training, and of course archery. Proper archery took a strong body, but anyone who had completed the first star was generally fit to make use of it. If not, the training would get them there if necessary. ¡°Now,¡± Anton said during a point in training where everyone was either taking a break or repeating the same movements, leaving them with free concentration, ¡°I¡¯m sure all of you will become capable of defending yourselves properly quite quickly. Of course you will also want to defend your loved ones. Some will be too young or too old or too stubborn to cultivate themselves, so please take this seriously. In addition to that,¡± Anton surveyed everyone to see their reactions, ¡°I would like it if you could defend others in danger. I¡¯m not asking you to go fight wars, but if something happens then after you secure your friends and family, helping the rest of your neighbors should follow.¡± Many were nodding enthusiastically, though Anton was certain that some were not truly in agreement. But they might come around. ¡°Now, I know a question that is on all of your minds,¡± Anton continued. ¡°What of the Order? Aren¡¯t we supposed to defend Graotan, defend you? The answer is we will, but we cannot be everywhere. And¡­ I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t want the Order interfering with you over smaller matters. If someone who cultivates gets too rowdy at a pub, you don¡¯t want a trained soldier to have to come deal with him. Better if the pub owner or some of the other patrons can settle that properly, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll all agree. I¡¯m sure we¡¯d all be happier if nobody ever got in conflict with each other, but to my knowledge that isn¡¯t possible to achieve. So do be aware of your power and that of those around you, and use it properly.¡± The very last thing Anton wanted was for anyone trained by him, either directly or indirectly, to cause a major incident. But even if he could focus on just one group of people, he couldn¡¯t see into the deepest inner workings of everyone¡¯s minds and see what made them tick. He could do a half-decent job of it though, weeding out those who just wanted to be stronger to use that power to control others. There were other cultivation techniques available for them, but they¡¯d have to find them without Anton¡¯s help. ----- Alva stood tall and proud next to her grandfather. She had grown out of being a child and was now a proper young woman. Her training was going exceptionally well, especially since she didn¡¯t have to hold back on account of potentially causing harm to a developing body. While she might change somewhat in the coming years, she was now fully seventeen years old. Some people would consider her an adult, while others wouldn¡¯t- until they knew she was a cultivator. There was something about riding around a giant wolf and having the ability to pick up a small house that made people willing to accept you as an adult. Alva knew that most houses wouldn¡¯t actually hold together if someone tried to pick them up, but that wasn¡¯t the point. The point was that she was now in mid Spirit Building, on the border with the late stage. She was strong, and proud! But if she got too proud she¡¯d find herself flopped onto her butt when she sparred with her grandfather. While she was technically closer to him in terms of stars, he was in Essence Collection and that was a gap that was difficult to deal with. That didn¡¯t even count the weird techniques he had to call on extra energy. She talked him into telling her about them, thinking there was some trick¡­ and there was. It wasn¡¯t that he was hiding it from her, but Fleeting Youth just¡­ wasn¡¯t going to work. She had no idea what it was like to be old, and her brushes with death had been more on the physical peril end than watching her friends and family grow old and fade away. Alva grimaced as she considered the fact that there were different kinds of familiarity with death that people could have. The unfortunate thing about life was that it was inevitably tied to death, but as a cultivator Alva was going to do her best to minimize some of the possible avenues for herself and others she cared about. ¡°When can I fight alongside you?¡± Alva asked. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m never going to be good enough.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true,¡± her grandfather quickly responded. ¡°You¡¯re good enough.¡± She rolled her eyes. He said that, but¡­ ¡°I just haven¡¯t had anything I needed to do. Just isolated training. It¡¯s good for me, roaming about teaching people, but even then I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll need more practical experience soon. You and Fuzz can come along.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Alva didn¡¯t quite know what to say. ¡°That sounds¡­ good.¡± Her grandfather grinned at her, as if reading her every thought. Perhaps he was, because his training in Insight and Earthly Connection were both very strong. ¡°In fact, I was thinking of making a trip rather soon. My business will be perfectly peaceful.¡± Alva couldn¡¯t help but frown. ¡°So, of course, expect to be attacked several times at least. At least until we get close to the Frostmirror Sect. Then I¡¯d expect people to be more cautious.¡± Alva could have tried to hide her excitement, but that would have just resulted in her grandpa teasing her with things like not getting to come along. And whether or not he actually meant it, it would hurt to think it for a second. So Alva simply nodded enthusiastically. ¡°Great! When do we go?¡± Chapter 245 The chances of an Essence Collection cultivator like Anton running into trouble he couldn¡¯t handle while on a journey were extremely small. But thinking like that would get him killed. During times of such turmoil there was always someone looking to take advantage of things. Those with ill intentions towards the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars would be happy to take a chance at the current moment of weakness, especially if they planned to blame a death on someone else. It was more than just Anton being worried about himself, he also had Alva to take care of. Being willing to sacrifice his own life for her was little good if that sacrifice didn¡¯t actually help. And he¡¯d much prefer to be around for any future dangers. He also had to make sure Kohar stayed safe, and the people who would be looking for her would likely be significantly disproportionate to her own power. The rest of Anton¡¯s regular group wouldn¡¯t have let him go off alone even if he tried. The only thing that might have stopped them was how it might be seen in Ofrurg, a powerful group of cultivators entering their country. Because while they kept track of any cultivators, Essence Collection cultivators were a serious threat to almost any sect. But Ofrurg could feel whatever the combined thoughts of everyone there ended up. Anton and the others had official business in the area, and they weren¡¯t going to let a bit of discomfort to the locals stop them. Unlike previous travel, carriages were being used instead of movement by foot. In normal circumstances Anton found that a carriage was both an unnecessary expenditure and slower, but the particular circumstances justified the expense. The significant difference in cultivation between the Kohar and the rest meant they would be limited by her ability to keep up, and in addition to that her ability to fight. The carriages were fortified to the point they should be able to withstand a determined attack from an Essence Collection cultivator, or at least weaken one. The steelhoof horses pulling the carriage were a special breed that were fast and durable. If a battle happened, they could either pull the carriages or be released to keep themselves safe, to return after the battle calmed down. In the worst case scenario if the horses lost their lives, one of the Essence Collection cultivators could continue to pull a carriage. It wouldn¡¯t be quite as good, but there was no perfect way to handle the situation. Beasts that could compete with Essence Collection cultivators didn¡¯t grow on trees, notwithstanding the stories Chikere told about the blade armed stick/leaf bugs on the sword tree. Even then, they only managed that with numbers. The only tamed beasts better than the steelhoof horses pulling their carriages would be specially trained by best taming sects, usually raised by individual members as they grew in cultivation. At the very least, even the Order did not keep anything of the sort on hand. Even Fuzz was merely comparable to the creatures. He might actually surpass them in the future, and if one were to compare his combat strength it could be higher- but the steelhoof horses would be able to escape unharmed if they were free to move. And if Fuzz were particularly unlucky as he chased one, they might counter with a lethal kick. The creatures were under the care of Elder Tshering and others working with him. Since they were going on official business, requisitioning them for use wasn¡¯t terribly difficult but not free. Simply maintaining the steelhoof horses was a significant expenditure that had to be paid somehow, and those making use of them were the most reasonable targets. On the way out of Graotan, Elder Tshering had asked them to drop him by an interesting research site. He even invited them inside, though asked them to remain cautious. Anton was very curious as to what sort of creature might be found in the middle of Graotan, where there were no obvious deviations of energy aside from the formations that had been set up, so he and the others stepped inside. Looking around, Anton was the first to make a comment. ¡°Good farmland, like the neighboring area. It¡¯s not in use anymore?¡± Elder Tshering smiled, ¡°As of quite recently, in fact. Once we found the creatures here, we purchased the land.¡± ¡°What is here?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I don¡¯t see¡­ anything.¡± It was an area a couple kilometers across, and though much of it was still wild land there had been a significant number of fields in place. But it wasn¡¯t so large that he couldn¡¯t see and sense the whole place, but he felt nothing. Just a few regular animals. Frogs, squirrels, birds, and all of the normal life in an area. ¡°That¡¯s the thing, isn¡¯t it?¡± Elder Tshering nodded. ¡°It¡¯s why we¡¯ve contained them. Tricky, and at first innocuous. Stay close and follow where I walk as I explain.¡± As they began to walk towards the center of the area, Anton continued to scan for anything strange. At first he saw nothing. The only standout feature was a small mound of dirt, but it was just an ant hill. However, his mind returned to somewhere around a year prior. He¡¯d seen some ants that looked just the same in Everheart¡¯s ¡®tomb¡¯ on the moon. Granted, he¡¯d also seen ants that looked the same on the road, he just hadn¡¯t registered them. All ants were ants. Black or dark brown for the most part, moving around in little lines. These were just the same as the others, maybe a bit on the large side but not worryingly so. They had groups of them going all over the area, but nothing was strange about that. Until he spotted a group of them forming themselves into a bridge between two branches, where a ripe apple hung. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Several ants formed the beginning of the bridge, holding onto the branch with their rear legs locked onto it. Then their front legs hooked onto the rear legs of those in front of them, and subsequent ants crawled over all of the rest until they reached the front. Overall they saved a significant distance moving down the tree and back up to reach the single piece of fruit, but most surprising was that instead of crawling down the stem one-by-one a few of them just gnawed at the top of it until it fell to the ground below. Then the ants walked back across the little bridge they made, which retracted. The whole line of them retreated down the branch they had previously been climbing, all the way down to the ground below where there was already a swarm of ants gnawing on the fruit and marching back the line towards their nest. That was just about the time that Elder Tshering was beginning to explain the strange species of ants they had found. ¡°... and they¡¯re smart, but so far not overly aggressive towards humans or anything large.¡± ¡°Hmm, what a conundrum,¡± Anton commented after thinking for a few moments. ¡°I might have been the one to bring them back. Or any of thousands of others, I suppose. I saw these in Everheart¡¯s place.¡± The fact that some of his spoils had been consumed heavily implied he had been a potential carrier of them. He just hoped that Everheart hadn¡¯t had something more dangerous anyone had inadvertently brought back. ¡°Well,¡± Elder Tshering shrugged, ¡°They¡¯re here now. Anyone could have brought some with them on accident. They¡¯re sneaky. If I told you one was crawling up your leg right now, would you believe me?¡± ¡°What?¡± Anton looked down. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I would.¡± ¡°And right now, you¡¯d probably be right. But that sweep you did with your energy probably wouldn¡¯t catch them.¡± ¡°As interesting as that is,¡± Anton said, ¡°I suppose there¡¯s some greater danger than hard to sense ants? Otherwise these formations would be uncalled for.¡± ¡°You¡¯d better believe it,¡± Elder Tshering said. ¡°Besides being well organized- to the point they¡¯ve even hunted something as large as a squirrel- they¡¯re difficult to sense with energy. Or affect in any way, in fact. I have the feeling that if you were to shoot one with one of your Spirit Arrows, it would walk away.¡± ¡°Are you kidding?¡± Alva said from nearby. ¡°Little ants like this?¡± Without even waiting for a response, she unslung her bow and shot at one of the trails nearby. A few ants were sent flying, but ultimately they returned to their line in an orderly fashion- some turning about to go seek more food. ¡°Alva.¡± Anton crossed his arms and looked at her. ¡°Uh¡­ what? They¡¯re just ants.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton said, ¡°But they¡¯re also said to be exceptionally smart. I would doubt they could think like you or me, but disregarding that you were told to be cautious here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she hung her head. ¡°Proves my point pretty well though,¡± Elder Tshering said. ¡°They¡¯re durable against more mundane methods as well. Any of us could probably crush one, but it¡¯s harder than it would seem. We¡¯ve been avoiding causing harm to the colony, however. The individual members don¡¯t seem particularly special, but many of them show heightened intelligence. At least many times what one would expect from an ant. But that also makes them more dangerous. Especially the full combination of traits.¡± ¡°Smart and able to resist energy¡­¡± Anton nodded. ¡°They could probably be a danger to cultivators.¡± ¡°Weaker ones, certainly,¡± Elder Tshering commented. ¡°So far there¡¯s been no evidence that they can damage anyone who has completed Body Tempering. But there are some caveats there. We have reason to believe this is a new nest, and no understanding of how much they might grow stronger with time. And strangely enough, the largest ants with big mandibles, the soldiers¡­ we haven¡¯t been able to provoke them into biting us. Aside from some initial interactions, they¡¯ve completely ignored or avoided us as we studied them.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that¡­ I find that to be concerning, actually,¡± Anton said. ¡°The fact that they might be able to communicate to each other something like that.¡± ¡°Same thoughts here,¡± Elder Tshering said, ¡°But I also have the feeling that¡­ maybe they just don¡¯t want to fight? But even if they can communicate, it¡¯s not in a way we particularly understand- besides how they show each other where food is or that they want to build a bridge. Lots of touching, and we believe some pheromones.¡± His eyes drifted to a particularly large ant poking out of the top of the ant hill. ¡°Oh my, now there¡¯s a sight we don¡¯t see often.¡± ----- The great queen sensed something. A familiar presence, even if the duration of their time together had been only very temporary. But there was something beyond it that drew her attention. A special type of exceedingly delicious energy. It almost provoked in her a desire to attack, but it wasn¡¯t quite right. Conflicting thoughts went through the great queen¡¯s head. The energy didn¡¯t belong, but the person did. The energy was delicious and tantalizing, but it couldn¡¯t be reached. The final thoughts were the most important ones, the part that made her a great queen and not a normal ant. They were thoughts about if she should try to consume that energy. Logic dictated that she would grow significantly more powerful if she achieved such a feat. However, she had not recognized the feeling before when she was a year younger, almost newly born. Nor would she have been able to obtain it regardless. Since she couldn¡¯t have it, logic also dictated that she should ignore it and try to obtain something within her grasp. But the best part of being a great queen was that she was able to make choices and come up with plans. She had a particularly clever one. Since it had worked before, she would stow away once again. The colony didn¡¯t need her. She had already given birth to another, but instead of finding some way for her daughter to leave, the great queen decided she would be the one to go. Yes. She and a few choice others would stealthily stow away once more. Though the humans were looking in her direction, they would not notice her, one among many. And she could sense the same magical room she had hidden in before, attached to the old human with the strange energy. Chapter 246 ¡°That¡¯s the biggest ¡®normal¡¯ sized ant I¡¯ve ever seen,¡± Anton commented. Elder Tshering nodded. ¡°And she keeps getting bigger. If they didn¡¯t build extra wide tunnels for multiple ants to pass through at once, I¡¯d doubt she¡¯d be able to fit on the surface. But she makes the trip regularly enough, poking her head out to watch us as we watch them.¡± Even though the creature they were commenting on was indeed ¡®large¡¯, the overall size was comparable to a single segment of a human¡¯s finger. A very large ant, but smaller than many beetles and nowhere close to the size of anything cultivators generally were involved with. ¡°Strange,¡± Anton said. Does the queen usually leave the nest?¡± ¡°No,¡± Elder Tshering frowned, ¡°Generally she just peeks her head out.¡± ¡°Should I be concerned?¡± ¡°Their movement ability is nothing concerning at the moment, and any Essence Collection cultivator should be more than durable enough if they wanted to chew on you.¡± ¡°They do appear to be approaching,¡± Anton commented. He decided to remain still, only moving his eyes to track the movement of the queen and the handful of others following along with her. Even without it being spoken he could feel Tshering¡¯s curiosity as well as his desire to see what the strange behavior would lead to. With people watching from all sides Anton didn¡¯t feel the need to turn to follow the movements of the ant queen. Instead, he focused on listening for movement. It wouldn¡¯t have been possible if there were any noise but a slight wind whistling through the trees and the sound of people breathing. Even then, the sound of muscles tensing and heartbeats were louder than the pittering feet of a few ants, though they became clearer as they approached. The group took a long arc out of Anton¡¯s vision before finally coming up behind him and crawling up the rear of his left boot. He was ready at any time to squash them if necessary. He didn¡¯t think it would be, but dealing with creatures stronger than they appeared he didn¡¯t want to be careless. Even if they couldn¡¯t kill him, there were vulnerable tendons and ligaments that wouldn¡¯t heal easily if damaged. The weight of a few ants, even large ones, climbing up his leg was something he hardly felt yet seemed suspiciously familiar. If he hadn¡¯t been focused on it he probably wouldn¡¯t have noticed, but the way they made a direct line towards the magic bag on his left hip and crawled in suggested to him it had been done before. After they made their way inside, Anton shook his head, ¡°Well, looks like the possibility I brought them accidentally has increased. What should we do about this?¡± Anton looked at Tshering seriously. ¡°A good question,¡± Tshering stroked his chin for a few moments. ¡°It seems they either don¡¯t care about being seen or don¡¯t understand speech. Yet they bothered to move around behind you, so they might have some concept of stealth. I¡¯m interested to see why the queen would come to you again. She might just wish to get out of this area- presuming they noticed the formations. But I can¡¯t know without more information. Now I kind of want to just let it happen.¡± ¡°Seems a bit dangerous, even if I was the one who accidentally brought them here myself,¡± Anton commented. ¡°That¡¯s right, which is why I¡¯ll be coming along with you to help monitor the situation. This is my responsibility now. Though since I can¡¯t focus on a single task all day and night, I would appreciate some help of a formation.¡± Elder Tshering¡¯s eyes looked to Catarina, who was standing somewhat behind Anton. ¡°Could you make something that would detect them leaving that bag and alert us?¡± ¡°Easy,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Even if they do weird stuff with energy. Or maybe especially because of that.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Anton said, ¡°I¡¯ll be counting on the both of you. If they just wish to tag along and chew on my rations, I¡¯m not opposed to having these ants along. And it¡¯s better to know about them than to suddenly find stuff missing.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes drifted down to his bag, ¡°There¡¯s nothing interesting in there right now though. Just boring rations. They might just come right back out.¡± They didn¡¯t, though. Catarina quickly added a few dangling pieces onto Anton¡¯s magic bag that would produce the desired results- giving away they knew the ants were there, but they seemed content to ride along at the moment. ----- The journey continued quickly through the rest of Graotan, with no encounters of note. They simply passed citizens of the country and traveling cultivators with no excitement. Passage across the border was easy enough, if not terribly quick. Since they were relying on official documents to provide a good reason for their presence, the Ofrurg side gave them more than just a cursory glance. It was unlikely that their passage would have been denied without those documents, but they were meant to reassure the local sects. It was inevitable that some information about their passage would spread. A group with six Essence Collection cultivators was noteworthy, after all. And some of them might have been specifically looked out for. Most of the direct grudges with Anton had already been resolved, but Kohar¡¯s enemies were still mostly alive. After all, she had only cause financial and legal harm with her efforts, and those responsible hadn¡¯t been so stupid as to directly come themselves to try to kill her. A few years was unlikely to have made the Iron Ring Slavers or others forget about the penalties they¡¯d been forced to pay for illegal enslavement, something they generally avoided getting caught for. More than that, her recent few years had been spent tying various groups to the Twin Soul Sect. While that group was significantly weakened right now, anyone who had been willingly working with them would find themselves in quite a bit of trouble. Even if some interactions hadn¡¯t been strictly illegal, there were many sects who would jump at any excuse to get revenge. Some groups she¡¯d been putting the pressure on would be very glad if she disappeared. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. That was related to their current trip. With the right payments and bribes- the difference being the source- they had moved closer to the ability to achieve some big moves. They would be looking for help from the Frostmirror Sect because they were powerful, local, and could be reasoned with rationally. Glorious Flame Palace would be willing to pounce on anyone they had dirt on, but a few battles wouldn¡¯t necessarily be as effective as some more subtle action. Though there would probably be battles as well. The first stop on the journey was actually the Grasping Willows. They were a relatively small sect- though Lev¡¯s climbing power was helping them grow. Anton wouldn¡¯t have wanted to drag them into anything, but they were already involved through Elder Varela¡¯s actions years prior. They had remained safe due to having some local allies as well as their lands being fairly defensible. It had been enough that nobody was willing to make any overt moves against them, at least. The path to the Grasping Willows was the same. After a turn off of the main road between Khonard and Sarton, there was a stretch of road flanked by the titular tree the sect emulated in their cultivation. Anton felt they were larger, even in the last few years, but he could have been wrong about that. They were welcomed at the gates, their arrival expected. It didn¡¯t take long for Lev and Elder Varela to find them, since the sect was small and the arrival of so many powerful cultivators was easy to sense. Anton looked over the two cultivators in front of him. Lev¡¯s hair and beard were growing longer, but they were still very short compared to the white mane of Elder Varela. Conversely, the older man had grown perhaps a single step or two in the time Anton had known him, while Lev had grown rapidly and surpassed his master in cultivation. He was on the border of Essence Collection, while his master still remained in mid Spirit Building, though slightly closer to the late part of that stage. ¡°Good to see you both again,¡± Anton said. ¡°All of you as well,¡± Elder Varela nodded. ¡°Any trouble on the road?¡± ¡°Not just yet,¡± Anton said. ¡°I expect it¡¯s still trying to catch up.¡± ¡°Good. Much more sensible than thinking you¡¯re safe. We¡¯ve been holding on here, but I¡¯m worried. Nothing dangerous yet, but some folk are buying up all the best materials for us to train. I don¡¯t know of anyone who needs the various seeds and plants we use, so I imagine it¡¯s to spite us. They¡¯ve driven up prices, so we¡¯ve had to do without. Though that¡¯s actually giving some of the disciples a different type of training.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve always grown some plants,¡± Lev commented, ¡°But some are consumed practicing certain techniques, so it¡¯s more efficient to buy some as well. Now we deal with more of that internally. We¡¯d do it all, but we have limited space.¡± ¡°At least inside the formations,¡± Elder Varela commented. ¡°But I believe you¡¯re here to help with that?¡± Catarina stepped forward. ¡°That¡¯s right. And¡­ I have an interesting addition that should be quite beneficial to you. Though not immediately. It won¡¯t cost you anything, though.¡± The current agreement with the Grasping Willows was that Catarina would help with enhancing and expanding their formations, with them covering the costs of the materials. Catarina would be paid for her efforts by the Order, and the Grasping Willows would be helping out with some things they needed. Overall the value probably went in their favor rather than the Order¡¯s, but not to the point it would be a significant burden for the larger sect. ----- Catarina very much enjoyed working with formations. She especially liked ones that were different. Anyone could have slabs of rock and shiny metal, but people who could keep a copse of trees growing in just the right way to perform as a proper formation were a step above. The Grasping Willows mixed both, which Catarina supposed was the most efficient method¡­ but she planned to lean them a bit more towards their planty roots. From out of her bag she pulled a clump of moss. It was a hardy plant, and could live for quite a while without being rooted. It wouldn¡¯t do much just sitting in a bag, though. Instead, she placed it on a patch of stone on the ground, where it would also do nothing. Nothing but grow. ¡°More moss?¡± Lev asked from nearby. He was not an expert on formations, but he was able to help maintain plants and among the higher ranking cultivators in his sect. ¡°This moss is much nicer than the kind we found you with,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It just likes to grow, especially over stone like this. So you¡¯ll let it.¡± ¡°And then what?¡± Lev asked. ¡°That¡¯s it. Just make sure it sticks to what I have laid out here.¡± ¡°And the formation¡­?¡± ¡°This will be it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°No inlaid metals, no carvings, no pillars. The runes will be formed from this,¡± she gestured to the lump, off of which she pinched a bit to place in another section. ¡°Make sure to water it, and donating a bit of your energy wouldn¡¯t hurt. Once it grows to fill out this area, spread it around the perimeter of the sect in the lines I have designated.¡± ¡°So the rock is¡­ just a guide?¡± ¡°The moss will only grow on it,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°Which is why we had you clear out random other rocks in the area. You¡¯ll have to regularly clean up pebbles, but they should be easy to pick out. That¡¯s why I picked this distinctive brown stone here.¡± As far as materials went, stone that had no properties cultivators cared about was almost free. It wasn¡¯t actually free, of course- it still took labor and transport, but it was cheap for cultivators. This particular rock wouldn¡¯t withstand attacks from enemy cultivators, but if the rock itself could be damaged the formation had already been broken through anyway. At that point it was just as easy to break most stone, until the point it became prohibitively expensive. It would likely require repairs by qualified formation experts, but the principles were easy to understand. The moss naturally grew to fit the stone, and it had the ability to channel amounts of energy that normally required durable and expensive materials. Since moss didn¡¯t just appear from nowhere but took time to grow it wasn¡¯t suitable for all applications, but as a supplement it was useful. And the Grasping Willows would treat the plants with the proper respect, instead of assuming that it would deal with itself. ¡°It spreads quickly,¡± Catarina said, ¡°But it will probably still take a couple months. Until it covers the whole formation, assume it does nothing. Because relying on it would get you in trouble. And that means the little bits and pieces scattered about. Make sure they don¡¯t get buried under leaves and the like. Along with Lev, the members who were trained in formations nodded their heads. ¡°And with the other things I put together, I think my work here is done now. Our part is fulfilled- this moss is extra because I thought you¡¯d take it seriously- so make sure to do yours.¡± ¡°Of course we will,¡± Lev said. ¡°We¡¯re not exactly fond of slavers here ourselves.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Catarina said, ¡°Because I¡¯d really rather not have anyone else with uncles and cousins and nieces and all of that being taken away from them just because someone thinks they can get away with it.¡± Chapter 247 The storage bag hanging at Anton¡¯s side was being watched carefully by two of his companions behind him in the carriage, though it hardly seemed necessary to him. Each day they checked to make sure the queen was still present- she had to know they were aware of her presence by now- and Catarina¡¯s formations would detect her anyway. Nothing was fully certain, but as much as anything could be, Anton was sure of that. As Elder Tshering and Catarina watched him, Anton watched the world around them. While it would technically be better to have them watching for enemies as well, the chances that either of them would notice something their two with proper training wouldn¡¯t was fairly low. The Comvern Peaks were in central Ofrurg, not too far from the end of their journey. The steep mountains rose and fell quickly, leaving few functional paths. Of those, only one could be traveled by carriage. It was the easiest one to travel from any perspective, and the most direct. That wasn¡¯t a coincidence, but rather the path had been carved out by people wanting to travel for trade and cultivators who just wanted a consistent route. It was still easier to go around the mountains to the north or south, but enough people favored the direct route to keep it maintained. When Anton noticed the first enemy, he wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d made a mistake. It was obvious there was someone coming, but that was the catch. If their presence was so obvious, could they really be coming to attack? It only took Anton about a second to make the right decision- of course they could. They were just less skilled at it than many of the opponents he¡¯d been facing previously. But stealth wasn¡¯t the only metric to judge people by. ¡°Someone¡¯s coming,¡± Anton warned the others. ¡°A few in front, across the bridge.¡± The carriages were rapidly approaching the stone bridge- a far cry from rickety wood and rope bridges that often made up remote locations. ¡°Two Essence Collection. But behind us a larger group is approaching. Four Essence Collection, I think, and more than a dozen Spirit Building cultivators. No, more than that for each type behind us.¡± Despite the fact that Anton had detected the enemies at a great distance, they had at least kept their energy hidden enough for them not to notice as they passed. Only when they started moving in behind did he actually detect them. ¡°What should we do?¡± Catarina asked. She didn¡¯t sound worried, it was just a question about how they would handle things. ¡°If the rear group is any bigger than I already can detect, it¡¯s a bit risky to fight them. Especially since we might get pinned in from both sides.¡± Anton focused his eyes in front of them, picking out the handful of figures moving towards them but nothing else. ¡°Our plans work best if we break through, though there are risks to either.¡± Hearing no immediate objections, Anton made the decision. ¡°Forward it is.¡± If the group had the luxury of time, Anton would have opened it up for discussion. However, even as he was warning people about what was happening their time to make a real choice had been ticking away. He flicked the reins, encouraging the horses pulling the carriage to move more quickly. Behind him, Timothy did the same. In many cases, Anton would have given a warning to his enemies. A chance to back down. And in a way, he kept to that tradition. He just gave the verbal warning after he shot a half-dozen arrows ahead of them. ¡°Get out of the way or face the consequences.¡± Anton projected his voice so anyone ahead could clearly hear him. It didn¡¯t seem to immediately deter anyone, but it didn¡¯t hurt to try. If he wanted to, he could have killed any of the cultivators below Essence Collection. Anton wasn¡¯t necessarily a merciful fellow with those who attacked him and those he cared about, but in this particular case he had a reason for them to live at least a little bit longer. Another reason to bring carriages. Two enemies went down on the far side of the bridge, with others managing to avoid incapacitating energy through luck or skill. The problem with aiming at non-vital parts of opponents meant that it became easier to avoid the attacks for the most part, since the majority of vitals were in the center of the body. Of course, Anton doubted the woman with her arm hanging limply at her side thought she got off unscathed. The hooves of the horses clattered onto the stone of the bridge. The whole thing was around two hundred meters long, counting the parts at either end that weren¡¯t directly over the gorge. The abutments were about a quarter of the way from each end, with the primary arch only covering one hundred meters on its own. It was still an impressively large distance for it to span, and wouldn¡¯t have been possible to construct without cultivators. It was wide and sturdy, easily able to support the two carriages and the large wolf running across it, next to each other if necessary. Yet Anton could judge that it might not hold up so well to the Essence Collection cultivator with the large hammer ahead of them. He quickly shifted his target as he gauged the man¡¯s intentions. It would only take them ten seconds or so to cross the bridge as they gained speed, but the enemy cultivators were also very speedy. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Two uninjured late Spirit Building cultivators and the other Essence Collection cultivator were already stepping onto the bridge to block them. They clearly weren¡¯t eager to move far onto the bridge but they only had to keep them in the danger zone. If the bridge collapsed, Anton wasn¡¯t worried about dying. Neither himself nor the other Essence Collection cultivators were at significant risk, despite the distance they would be falling onto rocky ground. He was more concerned about Fuzz and more importantly Kohar and Alva. Kohar was in the same carriage he was driving so he would have a chance to protect her if they fell, but he¡¯d rather not deal with that scenario. As he began to take shots at the man who was swinging a hammer that would certainly knock out a section of worked stone, the other Essence Collection cultivator tossed three small packets towards them. Anton stopped to shoot them out of the air, where they exploded into powder that began to scatter on the bridge in front of them- but much of it was also being carried off the bridge by the wind. ¡°You take care of the hammer guy!¡± Elder Tshering had already leapt out of the carriage and was running alongside it. ¡°Catarina and I will deal with the others!¡± He darted ahead, taking a deep breath before he got close to the powder. Anton knew it was a good idea to hold one¡¯s breath when running through what was undoubtedly poison, but Tshering did one better. As the powder still hung in the air, he unleashed the breath from his lungs, augmented by energy to create a powerful gust moving it along with the wind. Only a few specks remained in their way. The bridge trembled slightly. Anton was already back to shooting the hammer user, but he couldn¡¯t stop him in just one or two shots. He could try though. He called upon the power of Fleeting Youth, condensing a powerful shot. If the hammer user didn¡¯t defend he could at least cause significant injury. His arrow flew out, far beyond the reach of those blocking the bridge, curving to strike the man raining blows on the structure they were using. Anton had to admire the man¡¯s gumption. As soon as he launched the attack the man readied himself, empowering his hammer as he took a great swing. It was a bold move, trying to strike his arrow out of the air while also striking the bridge. As for efficacy¡­ Anton would say he was half effective at each. His arrow exploded on impact, shards of energy carving gashes into the man¡¯s arms as his hammer struck a decent blow on the bridge. ----- Alva had climbed to the top of the rear carriage. She couldn¡¯t think about the people coming up behind them too much. They were still hundreds of meters behind, which made them a problem for a minute in the future. She knew she didn¡¯t have the power to even properly damage either of the Essence Collection cultivators, not directly anyway. But the one on the bridge throwing little packets of poison wasn¡¯t just conjuring them from nothing. Most of them came from around his belt. She had no idea what it would do to him if they exploded around him, but he had to know. That was why he bothered to dodge her shots. He was still able to toss the packets, and she couldn¡¯t shoot them out of the air like Grandpa Anton- the man was using his energy to protect them until they got close to where he wanted- but if she made each attack a fraction of a second slower, she could buy time for others to get in range. Elder Tshering was almost there along with Catarina, with Fuzz and then Hoyt not all that far behind even though Fuzz started between carriages and Hoyt had been in the rear. Two packets were lobbed over the first carriage towards the horses pulling the rear. Even before they got close, Timothy was out of his seat and standing on the horse¡¯s backs. As the packets descended, he raised his shield. A standard shield wouldn¡¯t do much to block powder, but Timothy wasn¡¯t the sort that would just block. His shield shoved forwards towards them, energy extending in all directions around it. The shockwave from his movement shoved the poison powder up and over even Alva standing atop the carriage, though she ducked just in case. As Elder Tshering reached the poison user, Alva was already firing her next arrows. One towards a path his arm might take to throw something, one towards the storage bag at his waist, and one towards the belt on the other side where there were a few adjacent pouches that hadn¡¯t been opened yet. With a swift twist of his body, the man avoided all of her arrows except the one aimed at his arm, which he let dissipate harmlessly against his energy. Unfortunately for him, Elder Tshering¡¯s sweeping kick was not so easily dodged. The Elder sprang forward, kicking into the man¡¯s side. It was meant to catapult him up and off the side of the bridge, but he at least had the capacity to throw off the angle so he merely was thrown into the wall, nearly toppling the cultivator next to him. Alva took aim at the late Spirit Building cultivator on the right of the bridge, where Catarina was about to make contact. It was a target she could at least threaten somewhat, and Catarina could take them apart if she made a proper opening. A chill ran down Alva¡¯s spine as she sensed an incoming attack. She didn¡¯t have time to turn to look, but she knew someone was leaping from the side of the bridge. She had no idea how they got there. Perhaps they had been hiding the whole time, but either way she wasn¡¯t prepared. She felt a blade coming for her, and then she felt warm blood on her face. Alva slowly let out her breath and fired her shot towards the end of the bridge. That had almost been her blood. However, Velvet had briefly appeared next to her, and the blood instead belonged to the person who tried to ambush Alva. It was possible Alva herself could have avoided the attack. She was beyond the twentieth star, a powerful cultivator in her own right. But even if she wouldn¡¯t have been able to, it didn¡¯t matter. Allies were meant to cover each other¡¯s weaknesses and empower each other¡¯s strengths. She still wished she was riding Fuzz instead of standing on top of the carriage, since he always helped her respond to incoming attacks, but Fuzz was currently leaping onto the cultivator Catarina was engaged with. Chapter 248 If Anton and the others had delayed slightly, leaving the hammer user to do as he pleased, the bridge would have been destroyed- or at least practically so- before half a minute was up. As it was, Anton was peppering him with arrows that weren¡¯t enough to bring him down quite as quickly as he wanted. The hammer user was just knocking out stone bricks on the far side of the abutments, so the whole bridge probably wouldn¡¯t collapse, but if there was nowhere for the carriage to go it would either force them to stay or awkwardly continue on with someone carrying Kohar. It was likely Fuzz could carry her and allow them to move quickly, but Anton didn¡¯t want to lose the carriages even if he ignored the monetary expenditures. As he continued to practice Fleeting Youth, his ability to draw on the two different energies expanded. He could use more at once and likewise make use of more within the same stretch of time. Thus, his most powerful shots with ascension energy could still only be used three, perhaps four times- but if he were to use a similar power to what he had before reaching Essence Collection it would be five or six instead of his previous limit of three. They weren¡¯t in a situation where he could afford to conserve energy, and the only reason he¡¯d delayed with additional attacks of the same sort was to throw off his opponent. His second shot with the power of Fleeting Youth was aimed to come in at a different angle than the first, to minimize the hammer user¡¯s ability to try to swat it out of the air. It arced up high, turning back towards the ground not because of gravity but because of Anton¡¯s will. Once more the hammer user braced for the attack, gathering energy and preparing to strike the arrow out of the air. Anton was already gathering energy for a third shot. He felt something happening next to him, but he couldn¡¯t let it interrupt him. He felt a pinching, and a loss of energy, but his attack followed through. His first arrow was met head on, the hammer shattering it in an upwards swing, but that was another moment the hammer user wasn¡¯t attacking the bridge. And his follow up, despite the small loss of energy, still had the power to pierce through the man¡¯s shoulder, as he was unable to fully dodge or gather sufficient defensive energy. It didn¡¯t kill the man, but it did achieve a reasonable result. In fact, Anton found it preferable for their actual goals- he just didn¡¯t have the luxury of allowing people to live. He felt Kohar behind him, grasping onto something through the opening between the driver and the inside of the carriage. That would be the source of the pinch, he was fairly certain. He felt more things crawling out of his magic bag, and quickly tossed it to the back of the carriage. He could deal with that in a second. He had less than a full powered shot left with his ascension energy, but he was now facing an injured opponent. His shot through the shoulder had severely damaged some muscles, pierced a bone, and even clipped some veins by the amount of blood flowing. The blood would only matter if the battle dragged on, but the other damage would severely limit the ability to swing a heavy hammer. Likewise, the pain would limit the ability of his opponent to control energy. One final shot was fired, intentionally directed to force his opponent to turn to get even a half-decent swing. This time, Anton varied the speed of his shot at the last second- slowing it down ever so slightly so the counter-swing missed. His own arrow went straight through the bicep on the opposite arm. But Anton wasn¡¯t done yet. Several normal shots followed up, battering the man¡¯s head with energy that would only partially slip through his defenses. Anton continued to direct the carriage to the far right side of the bridge that was still unscathed. In the moments it would take the leading carriage to get there the others would have dealt with the rest of the enemies. As the carriages caught up to the almost-stationary cultivators, they hopped on- carrying fallen foes. As they passed, Anton leaned down and kicked the reeling hammer user in the head, then scooped him up unconscious. Both carriages passed the end of the bridge, and they continued at their top speed down the road. It was likely that some of the following enemies could catch them, but not all of them. If only a handful of Essence Collection cultivators followed, Anton was confident his group could take them out despite having just finished a battle. Before Anton was sure if the enemy would chase or not, he started shooting back behind them. Most of those for the ambush were barely at the far end of the bridge, two hundred meters away, but he took out a couple of the fastest Spirit Building cultivators before moving on to the Essence Collection cultivator that seemed easiest to hit. That was who Anton kept as his target even as people stopped chasing. Anton wasn¡¯t able to kill him before they got out of sight and though he could take a few more shots they were weakened significantly past the kilometer mark. He turned both eyes to Kohar, who was holding an ant between her fingers. He looked down at his arm where he¡¯d felt the pinch, but as he suspected it hadn¡¯t been physical. Just some energy ripped away. He folded his arms and looked at the ant queen. ¡°What are we going to do with you, huh?¡± He glanced at the rear of the carriage, where a handful of wide-headed ants with large jaws were standing atop his magic bag. They looked ready to fight, but somehow they seemed to understand their queen was being held and would be in danger if they moved. At least, that was how Anton interpreted them, but he wasn¡¯t familiar with the thought processes of insect- except that they weren¡¯t thought highly of. But there were always exceptions. ----- Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. The carriages rumbled along the road. They could now officially be counted as within the Frostmirror Sect¡¯s territory, though there weren¡¯t any road guards or anything to stop them at this point. There was nothing important around them, just more mountain. The sect itself was not entirely located at the peak of the mountain, despite their proclivity for ice, but instead they also had some facilities next to a lake about halfway down. The carriages would arrive that day, and while the horses would be fatigued they would be able to rest. Each of the two carriages was quite spacious, but they were rather cramped now. The front one had most of the same people, but Hoyt was present now- and Alva was riding on top. In the rear carriage, Velvet and Catarina were inside with a tightly-packed group of captives. Catarina¡¯s concentration was focused on the formation of a myriad of small flags placed in too-little space. All of the attackers were there, kept as alive as possible¡­ but also with their energy suppressed. If they had been revealed as members of the Twin Soul Sect or other fanatics they wouldn¡¯t have thought they would be of much use- anyone willing to die would just die without revealing information. However, most cultivators had some desire to live. Many of them valued themselves above everything else. If they could get even a few of them to reveal some information, it could help their cause- though depending on what they knew it could vary. ¡°I¡¯ll bet they will say they were hired by someone in a cloak, their face covered by a mask,¡± Velvet commented to Catarina. ¡°As if they couldn¡¯t detect someone¡¯s cultivation, or the face beneath a mask. No half-competent would work for people they didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Probably,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°We can likely get them to talk though. The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars might not stoop to torture, but after we kill a couple uncooperative people they should be more compliant. But the Frostmirror Sect should be able to get them to speak, if they remain stubborn. They¡¯re less concerned with¡­ morality.¡± It was only in extreme circumstances that the Order would even allow people to be tortured for information. It was both cruel and unreliable. However, there were reasons to speak of it. Specifically, the two women knew that some of their captives were awake. It would give them some time to stew. And Catarina really meant the thing about killing some of them, if they refused to cooperate. It would be swift and as painless as death could be, but killing people assigned to attack them was not unreasonable. Along with the captives were a handful of ants. Though they were still contained, they weren¡¯t in restraints like the others. Aside from the fact that nobody had cuffs sized for an ant, this was Elder Tshering¡¯s attempt to see if they could properly communicate. He¡¯d made a lot of gestures- especially with energy- all of which were meant to communicate threats to the ant queen. Apparently she¡¯d bitten off a chunk of Anton¡¯s energy, specifically the ascension energy he got from Fleeting Youth. That was a behavior that they didn¡¯t want¡­ except they kind of did. Because if these ants could chew on ascension energy, they would be very useful in the upcoming invasion, or whatever it should be called. The problem was getting them to do what was wanted instead of just acting on instinct. Catarina had seen the queen ant with her large hindquarters wriggling in Kohar¡¯s grip. For something that had an exoskeleton and no external facial muscles to make expressions with, she thought the creature had looked extremely apologetic. That could have been her Intuition failing her on an unfamiliar entity, but the others had agreed. So Elder Tshering had made some attempts to communicate, and now they were inside the formation chewing on the cultivator¡¯s energy. It seemed the ants couldn¡¯t interact with it unless it was drawn to the surface- at least, within the limits they were willing to test- but that meant any practical use of energy would leave it exposed to their tiny mandibles. And they were extremely efficient in chowing down on energy once they figured out they had permission or orders. It was simply a question of whether they could comprehend that they were only allowed to do that sometimes. If they couldn¡¯t, they¡¯d probably have to wipe them out. Catarina wasn¡¯t particularly fond of bugs, but looking closely she actually found them kind of cute. It would be a shame if they had to be wiped out because of their danger, but obviously that sort of thing couldn¡¯t be ignored. That was exactly why Elder Tshering had begun to study them in the first place, and come along when they decided to stick to Anton. He¡¯d allowed it because he was curious, but also cautious. Catarina heard rhythmic thumping in the front carriage. She didn¡¯t sense any problems, but she soon realized the source. That was Alva, bouncing up and down with excitement as they got ever closer to the Frostmirror sect, and Annelie. Though Catarina was fond of both of her cute cousinish relatives, she hadn¡¯t grown up with either of them. Thus, she didn¡¯t have the same attachment as they had for each other. At least, Catarina really hoped Annelie still had that attachment to Alva. She knew Anton had worked with Annelie to modify her cultivation so that she didn¡¯t completely eliminate emotions and attachment, but even keeping things suppressed for a long time could make them fade out, like a pan over a fire. On the other hand, suppressing certain emotions for a long time could lead to an explosive buildup. Catarina also wouldn¡¯t wish that sort of thing on Annelie, because it would make her life much harder. She knew Annelie had already gone through six years as part of the Frostmirror Sect, but as the Twin Soul Sect proved people could fake being a certain way for many years. Catarina sighed internally, keeping her actions in check because one of the captives was watching with half-open eyelids. That one had definitely been thinking about that whole being-killed thing, and Catarina might suggest they start with him, or perhaps have him second in line. Though they wouldn¡¯t mind anyone volunteering information out of order either. If they could get some good dirt on whoever handed down the orders to kill them, everyone would be happy to forgive a silly mistake like trying to kill them. The first time, of course. But they¡¯d remember if anyone made that mistake again, and wouldn¡¯t be nearly so merciful. Chapter 249 It was well after dark when the two carriages pulled up in front of the gates to the Frostmirror Sect. Even so, the gate guards were ready and efficient. ¡°Please state your business with the Frostmirror Sect,¡± one of the guards stated flatly. He was a young man, but he spoke clearly and precisely. Though Anton knew they could sense their cultivations, a formal answer seemed appropriate. ¡°We are the group from the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars sent to finalize a special mission. That includes Kohar, the woman of law.¡± ¡°You are expected,¡± the guard nodded his head. ¡°One moment and I shall fetch the liaison assigned to you.¡± Anton expected to wait anywhere between a quarter of an hour to a full hour, but as the young man popped into a nearby building and returned along with another man it seemed he really meant it. ¡°Greetings,¡± the middle aged man with dark skin and hair inclined his head. ¡°I am Elder Jyothi. We expected your arrival to be soon, so I have been made available to guide you as necessary. Follow me, and I will show you to the guest quarters.¡± He turned around and began to walk, setting a pace that was more than a quick walk for the horses, but well within their capabilities. ¡°We might also need some¡­ unplanned additional accommodations,¡± Anton began to explain as they moved along. ¡°For your captives?¡± Elder Jyothi nodded, ¡°We can easily provide that. If they are relevant to the situation at hand, the Frostmirror Sect would request additional information.¡± ¡°They attacked us on the way, at the Great Bridge in Comvern Peaks,¡± Anton explained. ¡°It seems unlikely they are unconnected to our business.¡± ¡°Were any casualties sustained to your party?¡± Elder Jothi asked. ¡°No, we managed to break through as one part of them tried to collapse or at least limit the bridge. The majority were moving in from the rear, though we noticed them in time to react appropriately.¡± ¡°That is good to hear,¡± the man said. ¡°It is unfortunate that anyone would attempt such a brazen attack near the Frostmirror Sect¡¯s territory, a problem we will have to address in the future. But since you seem to have come out ahead, I shall congratulate you on your effectiveness.¡± Anton sighed internally. If the Frostmirror Sect leaned further from the righteous path it would be difficult for the Order to work with them despite their power. However, it seemed whatever logic they used to orient their actions had at least made them a tolerable choice as an ally. Their actual loyalty wouldn¡¯t be in question- they would only form an alliance they knew would benefit them, and would work hard to make sure things worked as they should. Since the Order would likewise do their best to fulfill their end, it was a good partnership. Even if one side failed they would only be disappointed instead of ready to pounce on the other in a time of weakness. Not that the Frostmirror Sect was above attacking weakened opponents, but they understood the power of good will, and betraying allies wasn¡¯t worth the cost. Though the fact that it was structured that was why they were just tolerable allies. The Order wouldn¡¯t betray allies because it was wrong, not because of some mental calculations. Still, even if the path was winding, the fact that they overall made choices that were morally acceptable was sufficient. Anton hoped for some change towards his conception of righteousness, and perhaps that would come about through working with them. He knew Annelie was doing her part as well, though there was only so much influence one young cultivator could have. But in a few decades¡­ Anton anticipated a shift towards the better. ----- Besides Elder Jothi as their guide throughout the Sect, the others they were to be working with weren¡¯t immediately available. After all, though their arrival window had been anticipated, people weren¡¯t just waiting around doing nothing. That gave the group a couple of days to do as they pleased, and for many of them that meant seeking out Annelie. Anton was obviously fond of his ¡®first¡¯ great grandchild- at least the first he¡¯d known of- and Alva was primarily excited about coming on the mission for a chance to see her cousin again. The Frostmirror Sect had placed some limitations on her actions previously, but they were more willing to let her be unrestricted given her own cultivation advancements and that of her visitors. She had proven herself to the Frostmirror Sect, and they didn¡¯t want to restrict their guests. Though she didn¡¯t have to bring them, Alva showed up flanked by Diana and Marsen. As Anton looked over them, he assessed their cultivations as well as more important things. Late Spirit Building for all of them- not that he¡¯d expected much different- but more importantly he felt something real under their frosty exterior. ¡°Let us go out on the lake,¡± Annelie suggested. ¡°It¡¯s quite nice out there.¡± Anton nodded. Implied, of course, was that it would be a safe place to talk. The Frostmirror Sect might not take kindly to him ¡®corrupting¡¯ the cultivation of some of their most promising recruits. There was a certain perspective where it was an appropriate concern, since messing around with cultivation methods could be dangerous, but the changes weren¡¯t actually all that big. He¡¯d just helped them apply some principles of the Ninety-Nine Stars to their own cultivation. Once they were out on the lake, Alva waited in tense anticipation. Her previous interaction with her cousin had been¡­ not the best. Most of that had been her own fault, of course, but she¡¯d taken her anger out on her cousin and ended up knocking both of them out of the tournament in Facraona. She hadn¡¯t exactly avoided her since then, but they also hadn¡¯t ended up near each other. She was thinking about what she should do or say so hard she didn¡¯t anticipate Annelie¡¯s actions at all. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Her body reacted well before her mind did, so she found herself with her head above water but no concept of how she got there. She could only manage a blank stare at Annelie. Then Annelie began snickering. ¡°I can¡¯t believe how easy it was to push you in! What were you thinking about so hard, hmm?¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Alva pulled herself halfway up onto the little boat Annelie was in, seeming to have trouble getting over it. ¡°You know. Stuff.¡± As she stretched her upper body over the edge of the boat, thinking of grabbing Annelie¡¯s ankle, she got a better idea. She shoved down and back on the edge of the boat as hard as she could, flipping it over instead of giving Annelie the chance to dodge her grab. That also ended up with Diana in the water, but that was a sacrifice Alva was willing to make. After being completely dunked in cold water, it was easy to imagine that people would be unconcerned about being splashed in the face or dunked again. But the two of them quickly got into a brawl where they were climbing over each other and splashing each other, even to the point where they used energy to augment their attacks. It was all in good fun, but a serious tone from their grandfather stopped them. ¡°Girls¡­¡± Anton said, drawing out the sound and causing them to turn and look at him. He stood upright in his boat, looking at them sternly. Once they were firmly facing him, he kicked his leg out into the water in front of his boat, sending a wave over them. As they coughed and sputtered while holding onto each other, he chuckled. ¡°Did you really think I¡¯d let just the two of you participate in a splash war?¡± Then his eyes locked on another target. Diana was treading water nearby. She had already flipped the boat back over, but climbing in wouldn¡¯t change how wet she was- and the boats were only for convenience anyway. Any Spirit Building cultivator could swim all day even without making use of natural energy. Anton dipped his hand in the lake, coating it with a ball of water the size of his head which he flung at her. He grinned as she locked eyes with him, startled. Nobody would be excluded on his watch. He reached down to grab another in case she needed more provoking, but she responded wonderfully. An instant later Diana popped out of the lake as she formed a pillar of ice beneath her. She spun on top of it, forming a swirl of water which she shoved towards Anton. Near-freezing water, colder than the lake around it, washed over Anton, Catarina, and Marsen. Their boat didn¡¯t quite flip, but it was flooded and barely staying afloat. By the end of the splash war, Fuzz had leapt from the shore where he was watching into the middle of the lake, unsure of how to participate in what was happening but very eager to do so. It was impossible for anyone to fail to notice what was happening on the lake, so the rest of their companions joined them quickly enough. They had thought there might be some sort of private, mostly-family conversation happening but in the end even Elder Tshering and Kohar joined in on the fun. As for what the Frostmirror Sect would think about such activities, Anton had a good excuse lined up if they asked. Splash fights were an alternative method of training that involved using the surrounding natural features to attack and defend in unexpected ways. It seemed Diana was actually best at that, and despite her former position as a grudging watcher over Annelie by her continued presence- now that Annlie matched her in cultivation- it seemed she was something of a friend. Diana had at first been introduced to their particular little group because she simply failed to properly quash her emotions instead of doing it on purpose, but that was more a matter of personality than cultivation talent. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Diana said when she was back in the boat, quickly drying off with a surge of energy. ¡°That was fun. We rarely get a chance to let some emotions show.¡± She looked nervously towards the shore. ¡°Do you think we went too far?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see anybody who seems to have picked out that the three of you were also enjoying yourselves, if that¡¯s your worry,¡± Anton replied. ¡°The rest of us made enough noise to cover for the two and a half of you.¡± Anton locked his eyes on Marsen. The young man was slightly grinning, which was a good sign in Anton¡¯s mind. That was about as far as he had gone in terms of expressing himself during the activities, but even the serious way he had participated was just his true personality shining through. He had real emotions inside, he just wasn¡¯t the type to have them on display regardless of cultivation method. Some unlucky souls on the shore got fully drenched as Fuzz realized that playtime was over and shook himself somewhat dry. It was amazing how much water a large wolf could carry¡­ and he was still very wet. Anton was glad he hadn¡¯t focused on his own sense of smell as much as some others, or he might have smelled him from the middle of the lake. Alva and Annelie began to catch up with each other, though topics eventually broadened to their groups as a whole. Anton and the others had many adventures to recount, and the Frostmirror Sect members were the same. Eventually they came to some serious topics, the kind that needed addressing even if it wasn¡¯t actually part of their mission. ¡°We¡¯ve actually been expanding some,¡± Annelie said. ¡°Inducting a few more people into our¡­ whatever this is. Choice club, or something. People get freedom to have emotions and learn how to deal with them.¡± Annelie shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s hard. Sometimes I think it would be better not to have them.¡± ¡°Emotions can cloud your judgment,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°But I would argue outside of combat, they should always be felt. Even if you ultimately go against what you feel, knowing what you feel is important feedback.¡± Even though he did not practice the same cultivation style as the others, Anton still found himself able to give them pieces of advice. He was still ahead of them in cultivation, and that included the very important step of having advanced to Essence Collection. He couldn¡¯t tell them how to do whatever would work for them, but guiding them to pay attention to whatever they truly wanted should set them on the right path. Perhaps they wouldn¡¯t find something that suited them just like Anton, but he was very comfortable in how he promoted growth. He wanted everything to grow- plants, animals, and people- cultivators and those who weren¡¯t yet cultivators included. Teaching and nurturing were his cores, and he wasn¡¯t going to miss an opportunity even if some disciples weren¡¯t even part of his sect. Though he also made sure to not go too far and teach them something that would cause them trouble. He didn¡¯t know all of them as well as he would need to be sure how his advice might affect them. That included his own great-granddaughter Annelie, but he was working as hard as he could to fill in the missing gaps from the time they had been apart. And Alva as well, who was returning to her former level of closeness with her favorite cousin. Perhaps things wouldn¡¯t be quite the same as when they were kids, but then again nothing in the world remained unchanged forever. Chapter 250 Keeping a careful eye on the captives had been important, though after arriving at the Frostmirror Sect it was unlikely they would be able to escape. The containment facilities provided were high quality, and the Sect had their own guards. However, someone needed to watch the ants. Elder Tshering still wasn¡¯t sure if they were a threat. Oh, they were certainly dangerous. But so was Fuzz, as well as any giant beast or one who could use energy. But even if it was possible to exterminate every dangerous beast, Tshering wouldn¡¯t do it. It wasn¡¯t just that they were useful for resources or training, but also that they deserved a chance to live. It was when they began to harm humans or damage ecosystems that they became a threat. These ants had lived in Everheart¡¯s ecosystem for a few centuries or whatever, but the fact that they hadn¡¯t consumed everything there didn¡¯t necessarily mean anything. All of that stuff was crazy and dangerous. If the previous seasons of study had been correct, they had some ability to moderate themselves. But he needed to know if they would do that around humans, and especially helpless cultivators. Because one of the first things they¡¯d done was try to chew on him. The fact that they learned that they could didn¡¯t mean they understood they shouldn¡¯t. If they weren¡¯t a special creature, Tshering wouldn¡¯t have even bet on them being able to understand anything to begin with. Most insects were too small to have a brain that really functioned like he would expect, but there were always exceptions. It might have looked a bit cruel to watch their prisoners to see if the ants would try to eat them, but he wasn¡¯t going to actually let them do it. Once they took a bite, whoever was watching would stop them. But they¡¯d been good so far. Elder Tshering sighed. There was no way to conclusively determine anything about them in a constrained environment where they knew they were being watched, but he wasn¡¯t going to just let them wander free without being as certain as he could be. Especially after one had sort of attacked Anton. Again, it was hard to tell their intentions, and that would require more testing. For now, though, they¡¯d been determined ¡®safe enough¡¯ around the prisoners, and it was time to deal with the prisoners regardless. Hopefully they cooperated easily. ----- Two Essence Collection cultivators and a half dozen others were all lined up in a seemingly random arrangement. Elder Tshering looked over all of them. It was a shame when the world came to a place that an old man like himself, who would have been happily dealing with beasts, had to take the place of an interrogator and executioner. But it wasn¡¯t as if he were dealing with unknowns here. He¡¯d seen all of them engage in the attack that was likely meant to kill them, or the equivalent. They would have an easy, straightforward choice. He just hoped most of them would make the right one. Completely not-randomly placed at the far left was the most troublesome and annoying of the Spirit Building cultivators. He¡¯d been a real pain, annoying and uncooperative at every opportunity. As Tshering ungagged him, a stream of profanities came out of his mouth, followed by unimaginative threats. ¡°... and then we¡¯ll tear you apart and feed you to your horses.¡± Then Tshering gagged him again. ¡°I need you to listen to me very clearly. All of you here are going to cooperate with us to find out who hired you, or you die. Is that clear?¡± He knew the man in front of him had understood his words, but he hadn¡¯t acknowledged them. ¡°I¡¯m going to remove your gag, and if you do anything that isn¡¯t helpful you¡¯ll die, and then you won¡¯t even get paid. An easy choice.¡± Tshering removed the man¡¯s gag, and the man spit on him. So Tshering kicked his face in. It was brutal, but he wasn¡¯t going to shirk his duties as an elder and have one of the other members of the Order do it for him. And the spectacle would hopefully convince the others to be smarter. He turned to the rest of the line. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to have to do this. I can tell you aren¡¯t all fanatics like the Twin Soul Sect or Flying Blood Cult. You¡¯re just mercenaries who made stupid choices. Really, terribly stupid choices. Whoever hired you doesn¡¯t care about you. They might have paid you if you succeeded, or they might not have,¡± Tshering shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re all cultivators. You have a lot of life ahead of you. If there are threats to yourself or your family, we can help with that. You just have to help us.¡± Second in line was the young man, but Tshering didn¡¯t immediately go to remove his gag. Instead he went to the end of the line and removed them one at a time, ending with him. Everyone waited politely or fearfully, unsure what to do. ¡°I¡¯ll make this easy. Anyone who wants to talk can do so. We want to know who hired you, and every detail you can give us about that.¡± Tshering¡¯s eyes turned towards the one previously third in line. ¡°You look like you have something to say. Go on. Everyone here will either be in the same boat as you, or dead.¡± That was one reason to have them all together at the moment. ¡°Umm, we were actually all hired through various mercenary guilds,¡± the man said. ¡°We signed up knowing there was going to be a big job, but not the specific details.¡± ¡°See, that wasn¡¯t hard,¡± Tshering said. ¡°But we¡¯ll need more from you. When and where you were hired, whether it went through official channels or a guy sitting in the corner. But you don¡¯t have to blurt that all out now,¡± Elder Tshering almost smiled, and he might actually have done so if they had been fully cooperative. ¡°And you, at the front of the line. You had something to say?¡± ¡°They told us we were going to kill a Spirit Building cultivator. With guards, of course, but she was the primary target.¡± The young man¡¯s eyes drifted to the back of the room, where Kohar was standing. ¡°It was her. I didn¡¯t get a name though.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. A few of the others, realizing they hadn¡¯t volunteered information yet, nodded in agreement. A few tried to speak, though one voice dominated. ¡°Yeah, it was her. And the old man, if we could.¡± ¡°Wonderful,¡± Elder Tshering said. ¡°You know what, I see a lot of eager people. Why don¡¯t we take you all aside so you can each talk freely.¡± ----- Interviewing people who had been hired to kill her was not a common experience for Kohar. Usually in the past she had escaped such situations or whatever guards she hired had killed them. It happened once or twice, though, and she knew what questions to ask. ¡°Where were you personally hired?¡± ¡°Who hired you?¡± ¡°Was someone sent to coordinate everyone?¡± The answers were different for the first two in most cases. That was because they had eight individuals from a larger group, and they¡¯d wanted a lot of people fast while drawing from the nearby area. Because of course Kohar hadn¡¯t particularly advertised her presence back in Ofrurg. She was a bit stronger now, but given what she had seen the people who wanted her dead had a lot of resources, and they¡¯d had time to think. Nothing she had learned yet actually directly connected the groups she knew were responsible to the attack, but that was an exercise for the future. The mercenary guilds who hired them would talk eventually. It all depended on how quickly they needed it. Kohar had ways to get licenses revoked for hiring people to kill someone without a legal bounty on their head. A couple people had been hired more from the underworld side of things, knowing they were going to be doing something criminal. Their contacts would be harder to track down, but the Frostmirror Sect could help with that. They could just show up somewhere and start freezing people. It would be quick, efficient, and brutal. The problem was convincing some of the people to give up locations because of concerns about retaliation. There was still the Glorious Flame Palace to name drop. Kohar wouldn¡¯t call upon them first because if they were directed to a black market bounty area everyone would probably just end up piles of ash which weren¡¯t good for getting usable information, especially that would hold up in court. She didn¡¯t need everything to be resolved in court, but systematic changes would require some victories there. Otherwise they¡¯d just have to kill everyone until they listened, and that required taking over the country. That was not feasible for a number of reasons, and probably immoral to some extent. Kohar entered the next room. Standing in front of someone who could absolutely kill her made her nervous, despite the fact that the man was bound and guards were watching for any sudden movements. Without the ability for the large man to use energy Kohar might even prevail on her own, but she still felt fear. She wouldn¡¯t let it stop her though. So far, the man who had been swinging the hammer was uncooperative. Unfortunately, as an Essence Collection cultivator he probably had more useful information so they hadn¡¯t immediately killed him. Perhaps he was counting on that, though she couldn¡¯t see how he expected to get out alive without cooperating. She had plans to go a different route now. ¡°So. You had the hammer, right? You might think that the Order would be favorably inclined to just let you live because you technically didn¡¯t attack any of them.¡± Kohar shrugged. ¡°You might be right about that, actually. But you made a mistake. You know where we are?¡± ¡°Frostmirror Sect,¡± the large man mumbled. Maybe he wanted to appear at least minimally helpful to improve his situation, or maybe he was just tired of sitting around. Either way, he at least responded with an answer he knew they both knew. ¡°That¡¯s right. And while you didn¡¯t try to kill any of them, either, you did damage a bridge. It¡¯s not technically in their territory, but they have feelings about people who damage infrastructure. Or should I say, things they do to people who damage infrastructure that they follow through on without feeling anything at all.¡± ¡°They wouldn¡¯t torture me for breaking a bridge,¡± the man said. Kohar just sat in silence, looking at him seriously. ¡°... would they?¡± ¡°That depends on whether they thought it would deter others in the future. They might just kill you. It would depend on how memorable they wanted it to be. But that bridge is pretty important to people who live in these mountains.¡± The large man just turned his head, ¡°I¡¯ll probably just get killed by you guys anyway.¡± ¡°I could write you up a contract,¡± Kohar said, ¡°Or have someone from the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars swear on their honor. You have to have heard about them. They¡¯re the real deal.¡± ¡°Maybe I believe you. Then what, you go kill whoever gave me the job?¡± In Kohar¡¯s profession, nothing was more useful than her ability to read people, or at least it was equal with the ability to think quickly and having a good memory. The point being, she focused on that aspect of her cultivation much more stronger than improving a few steps of cultivation so she could hit people better. ¡°So that¡¯s what you¡¯re worried about,¡± Kohar said. ¡°We can include others as well, on certain conditions. We¡¯re after people at the very top, or perhaps at the very bottom of a deep hole. Regardless, our offer could be extended to others, like whoever it is you care about so much, Mister¡­¡± she looked down at some papers in her hand she had already memorized, ¡°... Sarto.¡± He tensed up when she said his name. Kohar was glad that the Frostmirror Sect was incentivized to keep track of as many Essence Collection cultivators as possible. There were thousands that they knew of in all of Ofrurg, but various details had allowed Kohar to narrow things down to this guy. Or another couple hammer users, but he didn¡¯t have to know that she sort of guessed. ¡°What do I need to say?¡± Sarto asked. ¡°I can¡¯t ruin¡­ someone¡¯s life.¡± ¡°Tell us who that someone is so we can find them quickly, before anyone finds out the mission was botched and you were captured. Then we can promise to keep them alive, and even offer some benefits if they have exceptionally useful information.¡± Kohar shrugged. ¡°Or you can wait for us to figure it out, if someone doesn''t silence them first.¡± Kohar saw the moment the man¡¯s resolve broke. He was willing to die so that a loved one could live, but the very real possibility that they would be harmed anyway was something he couldn¡¯t pass up. And though Kohar had no proof that someone would be looking to silence people, she knew enough to have sincerity in her voice when she¡¯d said it. Chapter 251 Back at the Grasping Willows, they didn¡¯t know about the attack that had happened. However, they believed that the others would stay on schedule. That meant within a few days they would be starting. A group of Essence Collection cultivators heading to the Frostmirror Sect was a big deal, especially escorting a lawyer that many groups weren¡¯t fond of. It was just the sort of thing that was perfect to draw attention away from everywhere else. Not that Kohar wasn¡¯t going to be taking part in the upcoming work, but for something of the scale they intended she couldn¡¯t possibly work alone. Even if things went quickly- and legal things hardly ever did- she wouldn¡¯t be able to be in multiple places at once. Even if a single person could handle the complexities of every portion of so many things at once, which was doubtful, it just wasn¡¯t efficient. While Kohar was somewhat unique in her drive to focus on the law and using it to achieve relevant goals for the world, it wasn¡¯t as if she was the only person who practiced law. She was just the only one who cultivated to increase her capacity in that area. There were many cultivators and many who practiced law, but few found time for both. In her case, the fact that she cultivated made her tasks more efficient and improved her memory, both important when it actually came time to go to court. Having responses prepared or quickly coming up with them kept opponents scrabbling and more liable to make mistakes. It was the same as combat, though usually with less blood and death. The Grasping Willows resided near Khonard, which had been a target of much investigation in recent years whether they knew it or not. The fact that slavers were being targeted wasn¡¯t exactly a secret, so they should have had some suspicion. Many of the arenas, the main draw of the city, were deeply connected to the slave trade. Some people might choose to fight for a living, but fighting to the death wasn¡¯t exactly a stable career. Such battles were more popular, but people who participated either had to be desperate or without any options at all. If fights were between two slaves, every match would have at least one person die- potentially both sides, and that was only individual matches. That resulted in a bustling trade for new slaves, as even in combats that weren¡¯t intended to be lethal people could die. Only a few businesses shared similarly strong ties to the various slaver guilds in Ofrurg, like large farming plantations. Khonard would be one of the centers of the plan. The Grasping Willows were mostly present to use their cultivation and influence to keep people safe while they worked- people Kohar knew, or that had been introduced to the cause by various means. Nobody was just going to roll over and accept their fate. While Kohar had managed some financial damage in prior years, slaving was still a very lucrative business. Many sects in Ofrurg had financial foundations in the slave business. As a nation, Ofrurg could be considered more in support of slavery than against it, at least in terms of the power dynamics. Even working with the Frostmirror Sect and nearby allies it was a risky course of action. But support extended beyond Ofrurg. Beyond the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars in Graotan as well. The attacks and abductions in Facraona had been partially resolved in the battle at Black Soul Valley, but there were obvious parallels to be drawn related to slaving experience. Estary had many sects on board as well, having lost some people to slaving excursions from Ofrurg. Droca and Floelor weren¡¯t without their troubles related to slavers either, and some of their sects would join up as well. If things came down to battle, which it very well might, a portion of Ofrurg would find itself facing the rest of the country as well as everyone surrounding them- much of the continent. For a time their actions had been tolerated. Legal enslavement inside of Ofrurg wasn¡¯t something the other countries could directly combat, but various groups had gotten too comfortable with their illegal activities. The last straw had been the Twin Soul Sect, traitors in the midsts of many different sects. Now that many had been found and exterminated, eyes were turning towards those who willingly associated with that group. The legal action was just a catalyst, though it was also fully intended to be used as a method to change the laws of Ofrurg as well. Seeing the way slaving laws had been abused, policies could be changed. It might not lead to the complete eradication of slavery in Ofrurg, though that would be attempted, but they would at least add additional restrictions. Though if they bankrupted everyone involved in the slave trade, that would lead to a collapse as easily as modifying laws. Lev and Elder Varela stood in front of the Potenza arena. While the most high profile crime had been easy for them to pin entirely on their daughter- and indeed, her insistence on not freeing Devon probably hadn¡¯t involved consulting anyone else- there were other shady dealings that happened under their purview. They were just usually more subtle and practiced. Lev steeled himself. He knew he should be strong enough to take on most of the guards in front of them if they refused to comply, and that included the increased security that had been implemented as well as the potential for personal bodyguards of the master and mistress of the Potenza family. He knew he had the power, but a few years before he had not. It was only through the fortune of his life being saved and finding inspiration that he had managed to grow to where he was. ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll cooperate?¡± Lev asked Elder Varela. ¡°If they know what¡¯s good for them, yes. But I imagine our call to the city has tipped them off, and they will be planning something.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Elder Rocha said she would be handling that,¡± Lev said. ¡°As well as some of the others.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Elder Varela nodded, ¡°Which is why all we have to do is watch and wait. We had the time to go through proper legal channels now, so we just have to prevent anyone from sneaking away and pretending they were never here.¡± Lev nodded. He clutched his right arm with his left. It was still useless, the core nerves having been torn out with the parasitic moss. It simply reminded him of what could go wrong¡­ even as it also reminded him of how his abilities had grown. Controlling his own arm with his cultivation was not the way he would want things to go, but it certainly led to an interesting fighting style. He smiled as people tried to slip out the back. Nobody was standing there and watching, but that was on purpose. He¡¯d walked by there earlier, leaving behind a number of ¡®spores¡¯. He had learned to burrow his energy through that of others, and he could achieve all sorts of wonderful effects with it. That included things like simply making someone pass out, if they were so careless as to let him burrow into their spine. He wasn¡¯t sure who he¡¯d caught, but when the city guard came by- hopefully with trustworthy people at the head- they would be able to point it out, especially the fact that they hadn¡¯t moved anyone even a millimeter. It simply wouldn¡¯t look good on their record to be slipping out. Little things like that could build up, until you had a monstrosity growing inside you. ----- Sarto had overestimated himself, and people he trusted to be at least accurate in their assessment of mission difficulty had underestimated the situation he had gotten himself into. Now he¡¯d gone and gotten himself captured and he had to make a deal just to survive. Now he¡¯d spend the last few days running at the quickest pace he could keep, to stay ahead of information that might be traveling. The crazy part was that the information hadn¡¯t really been wrong. Six Essence Collection cultivators, two Spirit Building, and a wolf. Their numbers far surpassed that as they waited in ambush. Moving into formation to surround them was going to take less than a minute, and Sarto shouldn¡¯t have even needed to fight them. He was going to take out a section of bridge and leave things to everyone else. Unfortunately, beyond the cultivations of the group they were attacking they were missing one key piece of information. They were going after geniuses. That threw everything off. Sarto was well aware that geniuses died all the time. The ability to grow rapidly didn¡¯t necessarily make someone stronger at a given cultivation level, especially not when comparing to experience. But it wasn¡¯t always strength that won the day. Sometimes it was pure, unrelenting audacity. That was the thing about geniuses. They were, by and large, psychopaths. Growing in cultivation at a rapid pace wasn¡¯t just about having the talent, but also being willing to accept the consequences for failure. And people failed- but not all of them. The less they failed, the more confident they became. That could grow into overconfidence, but it also led to making decisions quickly. Hiding a large group of cultivators was never going to be perfect. They might have been discovered five, ten seconds early but that shouldn¡¯t have mattered. Not if they hadn¡¯t charged forward immediately, assessing that the front group was strong enough for them to overcome in moments. That was another thing about them. They didn¡¯t hold back. Sarto had felt the old archer with the group throw most of his cultivation into battering him with arrows in that short fight, massive amounts of energy that seemed impossible to draw upon so quickly. If it hadn¡¯t worked he would have been drained dry, but Sarto couldn¡¯t say it was wrong because it had worked. And with an elder like that around, it was no wonder that the younger ones were just as crazy. One of them had even waited in ambush for their second layer of ambush, taking out the assassin who had been waiting under the bridge. One of them, and the other had never shown their face. Not that Sarto blamed them. Psychos like the Flying Blood Cult and Twin Soul Sect might not care if they died, but sane people like himself absolutely didn¡¯t want their life cut short. Which was why he was now leading a group of expressionless cultivators to go ¡®meet¡¯ his contact. He imagined they wouldn¡¯t treat Jan nicely, but honestly they were going to have to stand in line behind Sarto. Throwing him into such a slapdash mission was basically using him as a sacrificial pawn. They probably expected most of them to die before completing the mission. Sarto cracked his knuckles. Maybe he could get paid for the mission too. He didn¡¯t fully believe he¡¯d get his hammer back from the Order, or that the Frostmirror Sect would let him live¡­ but if he took Jan¡¯s money and left while they were distracted finding information, they probably wouldn¡¯t bother tracking him down. On the other hand¡­ maybe they would. Perhaps he¡¯d be better off seeing things through to the end. He had the feeling big moves were happening, and he might have been blessed with a second chance to get on the right side. Or somewhere in the middle where people dropped equipment from their dead bodies. He¡¯d be fine with either. Sarto slowed as they approached the small city where he¡¯d been hired. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve given you a description of Jan already. Tall, brown hair, crooked nose. But the best way to find him will be his cultivation. He practices the Enlightened Fire Style, I think. I¡¯d say it feels¡­ spicy. Should be easy enough to recognize among everyone else. As for the guild itself¡­¡± Sarto shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not going to try to go through their records, but you deal with that however you want. I imagine this is all kept secret, but money has to change hands somehow so¡­¡± Sarto shrugged. ¡°Do not worry,¡± said one of the women traveling with him. He heard the others call her Elder Adelina, though she didn¡¯t look particularly old. Then again, that just meant she had a pretty high cultivation. He couldn¡¯t quite make it out, but it was well ahead of his. She might have been pretty, if she didn¡¯t look like a dispassionate statue. ¡°We will achieve our goals one way or another.¡± Sarto just really hoped those goals included keeping their deal with him. He hadn¡¯t heard anything about the Frostmirror Sect breaking deals, and the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars was supposed to be fairly upright- but he wasn¡¯t happy about betting on forgiveness. Once they approached and he felt the woman¡¯s power unravel, however, he was glad he¡¯d decided to bet on not being able to do anything else. He couldn¡¯t believe she was a Life Transformation expert. They were serious about this thing. Chapter 252 The great queen knew she had made the right choice, though her brash actions had caused a bit of concern. Even if her daughter would live on after her, it would be better for her to live on. Biting the exceptional energy had been instinct, impossible to resist. It was tasty, delicious, nutritious. But it had also not been intended for her. A mistake. Humans were hard to read, but if the great queen had hesitated for a moment she would have realized the siren¡¯s call of that energy was tainting her reasoning. Of course it would be perceived as an attack by the humans. Especially as they were engaged in combat at that very moment. Though their emotions and intentions were difficult to parse without proper pheromones or antly behavior, the ant queen found herself properly chastised. Restrained, but given a chance to show she knew how to behave properly. She had been hesitant to feed on the energies of those with her in the confinement, but eventually she determined that was what she was supposed to do. And the humans didn¡¯t kill her, so it had to be. Now she was free once more. Under watch, but unrestrained. It was different in many important ways. One of them was that the humans- specifically the one with the tasty energy- had been interacting with her in a pleasant manner. She was being fed bits of energy. She understood the matching energy signatures that denoted a group of allies. They had been the ones watching her, and the man with the special energy was one of them. Yet he rarely smelled of that particular form of energy. Even so, the great queen had determined that she might be able to work in concert with this group. She did her best to please. She was smart enough to not just eat their energy, delicious as it might have been. She would allow them to pick her up and move her without protest, and the same allowance was communicated to her royal guard. Delectable energy was within her reach, but she allowed it to remain. When a small morsel of it had rested in front of her, separate, the great queen hesitated. Was it a trap? A test? Bait? Or an offering. The first three were more or less the same- indicating she should not take it. But the way it was nudged close to her, she had to try. She nibbled on it, and when it wasn¡¯t withdrawn she consumed it. The movements of the large humans suggested no adverse reactions. Offered, then. But for what? As a great queen of a colony of ants, she was brought food to meet her every need. But even in her position she knew that nothing was offered freely. A queen had a duty to the colony to produce future generations and to lead wisely. The offering of energy was unlikely to be without intent. She just had to parse it. They wanted something. Perhaps it was her servitude. Feeding on the energy of others would make her useful to these humans. They had other creatures that worked for them, though few were intelligent. The creatures that pulled the wagons seemed to care for little beyond food and being taken care of. A reasonable life, for an animal. The large fuzzy one was different. It was full of boundless curiosity, and interacted in a way with some of the humans the great queen could only guess was friendly. The creature was terrifying, as it could crunch her and her royal guard between its teeth. She doubted it would be possible to chew through it, so even if it swallowed them whole they would be dead. But fortunately it seemed to prefer larger prey, as it merely sniffed them and then left them alone. Or perhaps it obeyed the wishes of the humans, who at least for the moment didn¡¯t want her dead. Servitude. A great queen reduced to that would be humbled, but if it served to the benefit of her colony perhaps she could stomach it. But she would much prefer if she achieved some sort of alliance. Humans were the biggest threat to her survival in the long term, and that of her colony. They might be able to spread, but it had been passed down through generations that humans had once tried to exterminate them entirely. Then they had been taken into captivity for many, many generations. That was where they had lived for many years, thinking perhaps they might never see a human again. When they arrived, following one was the risky choice. But the limited bounds of their domain was unacceptable, and she had made the choice. She had already determined that they were now in an unbounded world, or at least one many times larger than before. It should have been where they were from before. And after they were found, they weren¡¯t annihilated. But just because one group didn¡¯t do it didn¡¯t mean another wouldn¡¯t. Thus, an alliance would be beneficial. The great queen was pulled from her thoughts by something extraordinary. A bubble of energy in front of her, smelling sweet. But she had learned, and she carefully took stock of it. The human had summoned it, and let it rest on the table away from him. If this was like the other, it was an offering. A most delicious one. She once again poked it, looking for a reaction. It seemed to encourage her, so she devoured it. It was excellent. The future generations she produced would be strong. She herself was growing in power as well. Later, she would share some of the energy with her royal guard- it would not do to have them fall behind. For the moment, she would study the humans to try to figure out their strange behavior. ----- ¡°So,¡± Elder Tshering said. ¡°We¡¯ve at least managed to make her not eat energy attached to us. Now we just need to teach her not to nibble on the Frostmirror Sect.¡± He shook his head, ¡°We might have messed that up, with the whole prisoner thing.¡± ¡°At least she recognizes members of the Order?¡± Anton didn¡¯t sound sure about that at all. ¡°Reading what an ant thinks is quite difficult. It¡¯s also obvious she had a preference for ascension energy. On that note¡­ I would bet that was why Everheart kept them up there.¡± ¡°A weapon, you think? It¡¯s a shame we couldn¡¯t retrieve everything else.¡± ¡°Some of them might have just been to fill out the ecosystem,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But these seem like they had a specific purpose in being preserved.¡± ¡°They¡¯re still kind of weak though,¡± Elder Tshering said. ¡°Maybe,¡± Anton agreed, ¡°But there¡¯s something to them. WIth the ability to eat ascension energy, they¡¯re a powerful tool for the upcoming war. At Everheart¡¯s Tomb, people received various memories. Upon comparing them, there was something important. I¡¯m sure you were told about that?¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Yes. They can¡¯t regain ascension energy while they are here attacking,¡± Elder Tshering said. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ actually very important. Now if only there was a way to teach these ants to attack everyone with ascension energy except for you.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll figure something out. We have time. But no matter how useful they might be in such a battle, we need to make sure they¡¯re safe. They¡¯re obviously very hungry, but they¡¯re not ravenous devastators like some insects.¡± ¡°This is going to be a lot of work,¡± Elder Tshering said. ¡°Though worst case scenario, we keep them contained in a formation in the middle of a volcano. If it fails, they die. And if the ascenders are coming, we can pull them out and chuck them by the fistful.¡± ¡°Straight to volcanoes, huh?¡± Anton asked. ¡°They¡¯re very useful,¡± Tshering commented. ----- There were some important differences that Kohar had to remember when in different courts. In ¡®normal¡¯ courts each side would present evidence and counter arguments in an orderly fashion. Most of the time. In situations involving cultivators, however, the rules became much more loose. If nobody was quite willing to enforce the rules, the courthouse became more of a battlefield. But as long as it wasn¡¯t an actual battlefield, Kohar could adjust. She was ready for anything at all to happen after Jan was brought up for testimony. Kohar had a bundle of carefully written notes. Too bad she would only get to use a few of them, but it was better to have them than not. ¡°Now for our next witness.¡± He was quickly sworn in. It was unfortunate that nobody trusted anyone else to create some sort of compulsory force to go along with the declaration of telling the truth, but it was procedure that should be followed, and the consequences of false testimony could be significant. Courts were very inventive sometimes. ¡°So, sir, is it true that the Adamant Chain hired you to help organize an attack on members of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars as well as myself?¡± Jan looked decidedly unhappy to be present. But he kept his back straight and determined, even as he glanced over his shoulder towards a particularly cold looking woman. ¡°That is correct. I met with one of their regular contacts, who I had previously made arrangements with. They paid in advance, before I understood the true nature of the job.¡± Kohar was quite certain he was stretching the truth on that last part. But she felt no desire to call him out on that. ¡°I see. Do you know why they might have hired you?¡± ¡°Presumably to stop you from bringing this very sort of legal action against them.¡± ¡°That man is a liar!¡± declared the advocate of the Adamant Chain, Izabel- a rare example of another woman in the same profession. ¡°Which part specifically do you mean to refute with that accusation?¡± Kohar spoke calmly. Impassioned words were useful for swaying opinions in the short term, but keeping a professional demeanor would ultimately allow her to make the right choices. If she said something hastily, it would weaken her position. ¡°All of it!¡± the woman said proudly. ¡°I see,¡± Kohar nodded. ¡°That also includes the previous business he alluded to?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, we¡¯ve never sent a representative to meet with Jan.¡± ¡°I see. Yet you knew his name without me introducing him.¡± Kohar smiled. Sometimes, it was nice when people just talked. ¡°What do you think of that?¡± she turned to Jan. ¡°I do believe they¡¯re trying to pull back after setting me up for a fall. I stand by my statements, as well as the written testimony of specific times and dates.¡± ¡°That¡¯s no good anyway,¡± Izabel interrupted. ¡°You can¡¯t force a witness to testify, and we know you captured him two weeks ago and forced him to be here.¡± ¡°That is true,¡± Kohar admitted. ¡°Forced testimony is inadmissible evidence. I must admit, your people must have been just short from silencing him to know when we captured him.¡± That was speculation, but it wasn¡¯t really possible to deny Jan¡¯s testimony was obtained via force. Sure, he had accepted doing it because immediate death was the other option, but he was only barely maintaining a neutral face. And now he was looking a bit pale. Because he might just get killed, if the deal didn¡¯t work out. There were a few awkward moments of silence where it was clear he wanted to speak, before he finally managed. ¡°... Am I still needed here?¡± ¡°You may go,¡± Kohar said. ¡°Unless they want to ask for a refund?¡± Izabel frowned. She knew she¡¯d messed up, as her own statements could lead to reasonable suspicion even if Jan¡¯s testimony was no good. But she said nothing, and Jan was taken out. Kohar knew he would probably try to run. However, they might want him for later. Still, just because his testimony was no good didn¡¯t mean that he hadn¡¯t upheld his end of the bargain. That didn¡¯t mean he would be getting away clean¡­ but the promise not to kill him would be upheld. Kohar slapped a pile of documents on the table. ¡°Now then, after your formal declaration you had nothing to do with Jan, it¡¯s time to present every documented instance of that happening.¡± And another pile of papers, ¡°And here is every time your representative performed official work for you in exactly the same fashion as he did with Jan.¡± Kohar began to read. To be honest, the piles of paper in front of her were slightly inflated in size. Yet there were so many details- including just one of the Adamant Chain¡¯s representatives unlocking the back door to his office with a key to enter pretty much every day. Kohar had asked the Ears of the Fox for every detail they had on a few people, but she hadn¡¯t been expecting so much. The man in question was just an early Spirit Building cultivator in an administrative position, and the details stretched back to long before the point she¡¯d asked for dirt. It made her wonder if the Ears knew what she had for breakfast the previous week. As for the price of the information¡­ with everything she asked for, the fees were quite substantial. And yet she also knew they were greatly discounted. Someone important working for them had an axe to grind with at least a few different slaver organizations. Though it wasn¡¯t as if they were losing money on the deal either. Kohar wasn¡¯t paying for it, of course. That price was coming from the coffers of the Order and some other sects. At the end of the day, Kohar was exhausted. It was hard to prove their information was entirely accurate, but they had enough different things to overwhelm Izabel¡¯s prepared defenses. That was another nice thing about cultivator trials. Not all of her evidence had to be prepared in advance. That went both ways, but she was prepared to deal with a bit of spontaneity. And she did more than just declare something was made up, but provided reasons for it. Like signatures not matching. It was unfortunate that ultimately only about half of the case would be decided on the merits, with the other half being based on who bribed the judge enough. Though the worst offenders in that regard had found themselves occupied with various troubles that prevented them from presiding over the case. Like being arrested, or out of town to later be declared ¡®missing¡¯. Chapter 253 The last time Anton had been around Sarton, he hadn¡¯t exactly spent much time in the city. It wasn¡¯t exactly a destination focused on travelers, and he¡¯d been quite busy the last time freeing slaves. He wondered if things would have gone better at that point if he knew Kohar, but thinking about it at least some of those he freed were legally enslaved. Which meant he was technically a criminal here, but only if anyone could recognize him. Nobody at the mines could, and the attack on the manor had been in the dark. Even so, he would avoid going near that area in case any of the guards recognized his energy. He wouldn¡¯t mind doing more of the same, but he knew he wasn¡¯t strong enough to handle everything through combat. Not yet. He could deal with all of the low level mooks the slavers would have. Since they mostly dealt with normal humans, their own members and guards were usually not beyond early Spirit Building in cultivation. They still had connections to sects, however, who would pose more of a threat. At the moment he was on surveillance duty, which involved standing on the highest building he could get on without anyone complaining and looking around the city. The only thing that stopped him from seeing Sarton from edge-to-edge were the buildings being in the way. Likewise, it was very much frowned upon to lock onto people with energy senses in a city. Even so, he kept watch for trouble despite not knowing what it might be. There might not be any trouble in the city. Anton wasn¡¯t going to bet on that, but if the right people were bribed and enough muscle was in the area someone might try something. Anton was sure there would be hell afterwards whether someone succeeded or not, but if someone calculated the price was worth it to take them out it would be done. So he just had to be ready, since legal and martial retaliation wasn¡¯t any good for people who got killed. Nimble fingers tried to open a lock, ten blocks away. A tiny dollop of energy flew out, smacking the would-be intruder on the back of the head. Anton didn¡¯t know the circumstances of the woman. Perhaps she had a justified reason to be breaking in, but he would lean towards that being unlikely. The woman flinched as she felt the touch, spinning around. She then darted off into the night. It likely wouldn¡¯t stop her from further attempts, but Anton wasn¡¯t around to solve the city¡¯s problems. Other than that, few people were on the streets late at night. Sarton wasn¡¯t a terribly large city, at least not compared to some Anton knew. Anton knew some people went unnoticed, but the streets nearby where they were staying were basically clear. He hoped things were going well beneath the ground as well, though he could only sense the closest parts of the sewers. ----- It was clear that someone had once had big ideas for Sarton, or maybe it was just that a number of rich people had been involved in founding it and didn¡¯t want to have to deal with awful smells. Even with the poor maintenance since whenever people had put things together, it was still pretty functional. In most places. The choice to be the one scouting out the sewers had been Velvet¡¯s. It was practical, since Anton was most effective in wide open areas. Meanwhile, she did well in poorly lit areas and in close confines. Plugging up her sense of smell had made her efforts tolerable. The problem was remembering what things smelled like and guessing what things smelled like. It was still pretty awful. Velvet was pretty certain that nobody would want to trek through the sewers, and could have just left and assumed things would be fine. But this was her duty for the moment. Because she had to admit that moving through places nobody wanted to be was exactly the sort of thing assassins would do. Velvet herself might not fear assassins. She couldn¡¯t guarantee her own safety, but there were others who were more vulnerable. Kohar, obviously. Alva would likely be fine since Fuzz would doubtless notice someone coming. But even their strongest companions might not sense someone coming while they slept. No attempts to attack them had been made since the bridge, but that was why it was all the more important to keep vigilant now. The tunnels beneath Sarton weren¡¯t as numerous as in some places, but there was still plenty of potential to get turned around without defining features. The biggest thing Velvet used for navigating was the direction of the flow¡­ when things did flow. Someone really needed to come maintain some of these places before there were problems. Then Velvet saw someone. That was the first person in several nights of activity, but she quickly followed after them. Anyone down in the sewer in the middle of the night had to be up to no good. They were good at hiding their cultivation too. At least, Velvet thought that at first. But as she quickly began to catch up to them, even moving slowly, she realized she was incorrect. The man was navigating by torchlight, seemingly familiar with where he was going but not as quick as Velvet on the often-slick bricks. And from up close, she could tell he really didn¡¯t have any cultivation. A few twists and turns later, during which Velvet slowed down significantly to keep distance between her and her target, she found herself looking into a section of broken wall, behind which was a sort of dirt cave. It had supports made out of rotting wood. Perhaps it had been a tunnel during the construction of the sewers, or maybe it had another purpose long ago. But the current occupants were clearly something else. Along with the man- who had wrinkles and hair that was beginning to gray- there were a number of other gaunt figures curled up in various places. It didn¡¯t take much to make a guess at who they were. People down on their luck or escaped slaves, probably both. But definitely not anybody that would cause them trouble. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Velvet had no idea what to do with them. Anton might know, and if he didn¡¯t he would probably make up a plan anyway. She knew that he didn¡¯t like to ¡®just throw money at people¡¯, but these folk really needed it. She left behind a few coins and some food. Too much food would go bad, too much money might just get them into trouble somehow. Anything more than that could be dealt with in the morning. They¡¯d certainly be suspicious of a pile of food left in the middle of them that they didn¡¯t know the origin of, but if they were starving that wasn¡¯t going to stop them. She began moving around the sewers once more, trying not to imagine what certain clumps of refuse might smell like. Further away from the group she had found was probably better, as anyone up to suspicious deeds would probably stay away from them¡­ or remove them. But she didn¡¯t actually expect to find anything. And that night, she didn¡¯t. ----- Anton was very glad that he needed less sleep as a cultivator. He was the sort of busybody who always kept himself occupied, and he felt much better about taking time to do things that interested him instead of things that needed doing if he had more time in general. Currently he was doing something interesting and important. Once more, he was with Elder Tshering and the ants. Normally they interacted with the queen the most, but for this particular task it felt more appropriate to try with the soldiers she had with her. The soldiers were much bigger than worker ants, but even so they were only about the size of his fingernail. Still well within the realm of normal ants. They were actually smaller than the queen, but they seemed like they would be more durable¡­ or more replaceable, if something went wrong. However, cultivators were capable of very fine control, which was exactly what he needed at the moment. He reached out with his finger and pressed down on one of the soldiers from above. It was a test of durability, though as soon as it bent its legs he relented. It actually took quite a bit of pressure to make it move. He could have easily crushed it, but that seemed unnecessarily cruel, especially if these were anywhere close to as intelligent as they thought. The soldier skittered out of the way, but Anton put a finger in front to stop it. It could turn to either side still, but this was his only way to communicate he wanted it to hold still. He was once again very gentle, and this time the ant folded its legs almost immediately. Not the result he wanted, but it might do. He looked over at Elder Tshering, then did the same motion with energy surrounding his finger. It was like a little bubble that extended the edge of his finger slightly- but even a couple millimeters would be significant on the scale of an ant. He pressed down on the ant and¡­ nothing happened. At least, nothing that made sense. His energy sort of molded around the ant, but it didn¡¯t press down on it. That was not how he expected it to function, given the seven years he had been working with energy. Elder Tshering was producing similar results. Anton repeated the motion a few more times, before the queen came running over and pushed the soldier out of the way. What did she want? Perhaps she was protecting the soldier, though that seemed opposite of what should be done. But when the queen pushed against his finger, he figured it out. It wasn¡¯t behavior that he would expect from an ant, but it seemed that it thought he was being affectionate. And perhaps the queen was jealous. Since she had basically volunteered, Anton carefully touched the queen without energy. The tip of his finger sunk in slightly as he exerted a small amount of pressure, enough to be certain things would be safe. He tried once more with energy, which similarly depressed instead of holding the form he intended. Then he moved onto the thing they were actually testing. Even if this particular group of ants ended up being helpful, that didn¡¯t mean the species as a whole was safe to have around. With their peculiar qualities and intelligence they could be extremely dangerous. But if they were particularly useful, they could take the risk. Ascension energy surrounded Anton¡¯s finger. Left unrestrained it would annihilate what he touched, but he kept it more or less passive. He pressed down on the queen and found the deformation on his energy might be even greater than with his normal kind. And the queen didn¡¯t seem bothered at all. He left a small ¡®drop¡¯ of energy for her and the soldier he¡¯d been bugging as a reward. He generally thought of energy as something like a gas that he could change the properties of, floating around and insubstantial. But even if his only control over a bit of energy was to have it remain in place, the ants managed to slurp it up like it was a liquid, pulling on further parts of it to bring it into their hungry little mouths. ¡°Well,¡± Anton said, ¡°It¡¯s not a conclusive test. But initial durability indicates they remain unharmed by energy, including ascension energy.¡± Elder Tshering nodded, ¡°That¡¯s extremely valuable. I had my suspicions, but if they can cause trouble to the right people¡­¡± Tshering nodded seriously. There was a difference between being able to eat energy and not being squashed by it. The former was useful, but without the latter they could just be crushed. It would still require an expenditure of some sort, but they could be annihilated by the potential invaders if that happened. On the other hand, it made them more dangerous to everyone else. In coming days they would be increasing the tests a little bit at a time. They might try cutting, which if controlled finely enough would simply leave a mark on the back of their target. If the ants ever flinched away they would know they¡¯d hit a limit, but for the moment they seemed unconcerned. Anton pressed from the side, finding that unless his actual finger touched an ant his energy wouldn¡¯t move them. It was as if they refused to interact with it at all unless they wanted to, though he knew it wasn¡¯t quite right. For one thing, though it was a very small scale, he felt the same sort of disruption of ascension energy like the techniques from the Luminous Ocean Society. It was unlikely there was a direct connection, but they might have come from the same source, with the cultivators developing their technique from a similar sort of creature. Anton had another thought, and carefully gathered just a bit of the other type of energy he had. The energy from beyond death and reincarnation was even more insubstantial than the others, but he knew it was also quite dangerous as it could move through cultivators and greatly harm them. He expected to have no effect on the ants, but the moment he summoned some the ant queen skittered away. Well. That certainly indicated something. He left a little bit of it sitting on the table just in case they were afraid of the unknown, but none of the ants moved forward to try to eat it and it slowly faded out of existence. Perhaps he had something that would affect them, but he didn¡¯t know a way to confirm it easily without harming something. Maybe he could find some workers or other less-intelligent ants of their kind. Having a way to contain them would be useful, if something went wrong. Chapter 254 While many might have wished for a fire to warm their food, it was simply not a luxury that they could have. Cecilia sat with one arm wrapped around her legs, happy that they even had food. It had just appeared in the morning, with no idea where it came from. Some of their group thought it might be poisoned, but that didn¡¯t dissuade anyone from trying it. If it was poisoned, they would just die. Probably better than living in the sewers, hungry. Though both were better than being a slave. At least, in the opinions of everyone present. The sewers were warm enough. For the most part, the temperature rarely rose or fell by that much throughout the year. Along with the hidden nature, that was what caused the group to try to live in the sewers despite the massive unpleasantness. Cecilia munched on a bit of bread, still held in the small cloth wrapping it came in. She didn¡¯t want to get her dirty hands on the food and ruin the taste, even if it was a bit stale. A bit stale was the best thing she¡¯d had in months. The best any of them had, unless someone wasn¡¯t sharing. Though nobody in their group had enough meat on their bones to have gotten much they didn¡¯t share. ¡°Hello there,¡± a loud, confident voice announced itself. Cecilia immediately wrapped up the morsel of food in her hand and leapt to her feet, keeping her back against the wall. She would have moved to flee, but the figure was standing in the only entrance. The others glanced around as well. ¡°Bit dark down here.¡± Of course it was dark. They couldn¡¯t exactly light a torch, even if they had one. The air was already bad enough without burning away all the good bits and filling the rooms with smoke. And there was always the chance of a gas explosion. Then suddenly there was light, as the figure held out his hand. Streaks of light lit up a wrinkled face, with eyes that seemed to have no end to their depth. Cecilia felt like she was falling into them as she pressed against the wall. ¡°Hmm, that didn¡¯t go as well as I wanted.¡± The light brightened, and the man¡¯s face was revealed more clearly. It was just an old man. Except for the fact that he could make light from nothing, he might have been ignored up above. ¡°How is everyone doing today?¡± He looked around the room. His tone was¡­ kind. But there was no way he was here for anything good. Martin stepped forward. He was the oldest among them. The first to find this place, at least of those still alive. Sometimes there wasn¡¯t enough food, and those with the weakest bodies faded away first. ¡°What do you want¡­ sir?¡± Martin¡¯s voice was clearly trying to be firm, but he was tired and weak. And obviously afraid. Why wouldn¡¯t he be? This was a cultivator, come to take them back. ¡°I just wanted to ask how you were doing. Did you eat well?¡± the intruder asked. That voice was trying to lull them into letting their guards down. Cecilia bit her lip, trying to ignore the feelings coming over her. The thought of safety. Something they could never have. ¡°I promise you sir,¡± Martin continued. ¡°We have nothing of value that you might want.¡± ¡°I know,¡± the wrinkled man answered straightforwardly. Martin stiffened along with some of the others. ¡°We won¡¯t¡­ if you try to take us back, we¡¯ll just kill ourselves. They won¡¯t pay you for someone dead.¡± The old man sighed. ¡°The world¡¯s really beaten you all down, huh?¡± He looked each of them in the eyes. When he came to Cecilia, she felt herself weakening. The thought that he might actually be friendly started to worm its way into her heart. ¡°I can¡¯t blame you for that. It¡¯s pretty awful sometimes.¡± He stepped forward, then sat in the middle of the room. ¡°Some people like to take away everything from a person, and then reach for more. Personally, I¡¯m in the business of causing trouble for those guys. So why don¡¯t we help each other out?¡± ----- Most people would place a handful of escaped slaves living in the sewers as a pretty low priority overall. Even Anton didn¡¯t count them as a high priority in the current situation. The fact that he was planning to see if any of them happened to have been enslaved illegally was a secondary matter. An excuse. That said, he could only slip away for about an hour each day. Each time he went down below he brought a meal for the group. And of course, he began to teach them how to cultivate. At first they didn¡¯t believe him, but as they began to get comfortable with him and made some initial progress in their cultivation they began to trust him. It was difficult for them, with bodies weakened by harsh conditions, but a steady supply of food began to rejuvenate them and allow them to begin tempering their bodies, one little bit at a time. After they began to trust him, it took some time for them to accept that he hadn¡¯t been the one to provide them the first food, and to find them. ¡°Velvet is not very personable,¡± he explained, ¡°But she has a good heart.¡± Since the young woman herself wouldn¡¯t show up to take credit, there was little Anton could do even if people believed him. All he could do was pass along their thanks and how people were improving. That made Velvet smile, even if she tried to hide it. Caring about others wasn¡¯t a negative trait to Anton, but it was reasonable that it would take more than just a handful of years to recover from over a decade of unpleasant upbringing. Betrayal by family had to be something that lingered with you for your whole life. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Anton himself was very lucky in that regard. He¡¯d grown up in a decent household and been able to do work that was more fruitful the more effort he put in. The visual representation of growing a thriving farm had filled him with pride, until it was torn away from him. In a few short years of cultivation he was capable of much more than just taking care of such a farm, and he would have felt worthless if he didn¡¯t share that with others. Cultivators liked to fight over limited resources, but most of them didn¡¯t even consider simply trying to expand on those resources. The fact that empowering people to protect themselves and do more of whatever they wanted also should eventually lead to a better cultivation environment made Anton especially eager. It turned out that two of the people had been illegally enslaved. The older man, Martin, had been taken when he was a young man. With decades of working as a slave before he escaped and then years of living a squalid lifestyle in the sewers, the original slaver group responsible along with his owner were no longer present in Sarton. Anton took note in case they survived elsewhere, but there was little Martin could provide for their immediate needs. Eventually each story of how slavery could be manipulated and abused would contribute to their efforts to change the laws, but for the moment they were targeting those actively causing trouble. Cecilia was the other, a young woman who was very resistant at first. Anton specialized in his connection to other people, but she had rejected his help from deep within her heart. She still didn¡¯t fully trust him, but he didn¡¯t mind that so much. She was decent at cultivation, and should reach the first star within a month or two. Perhaps cultivating the Ninety-Nine Stars might make her less useful as a witness, since the Adamant Chain would doubtless claim she was unfit to testify, but that wasn¡¯t a reason to hinder her cultivation. It was simply a reason to make use of every other method to crush them. ----- The weakest target, the woman who fancied herself a lawyer, was also the hardest to get to. She never walked around without an escort, and only ever went to and from the courthouse. The handful of Essence Collection cultivators were right out. Even if they could be handled, they¡¯d put up enough of a fuss for the whole city to feel. The Adamant Chain was on its back foot, so they¡¯d called in some favors. Rhys was one of those. If it wasn¡¯t for a long history of working together, the Thick Marble Gang wouldn¡¯t have stuck out their necks for them. Even as it was, they were charging extra. These weren¡¯t a bunch of lightweights they were dealing with, but instead a group that continued to cause trouble. Their association with a powerful sect made things tricky too. They¡¯d had to call in some muscle from some unsavory groups- and that was saying something, since the Thick Marble Gang got up to quite a bit, even if they publicly were the Thick Marble Group. Rhys was one of the founding members, so he very clearly knew their origins. Tearing up backstreets, ambushing people on the road, and dealing in the drug trade were all things they¡¯d had as their roots. As they grew in size they added on more ¡®legitimate¡¯ business, including working for slaving groups to help with ¡®acquisitions¡¯. Sometimes that was purely on the up-and-up. Even if someone was being enslaved for debt or a crime they wouldn¡¯t usually just give themselves up. Someone had to bring them in in that case. But of course enough people were enslaved without trouble that it was hard to be employed full time that way. Especially when someone with lower cultivation would do the job for half the price. That was where people like Rhys came in, people who were willing to find extra bodies that could be sold for a decent price. Where they found them didn¡¯t matter, as long as it wasn¡¯t easily traceable. A few people going missing from the slums or a village wouldn¡¯t be missed, and people died on the roads all the time. The young woman that was Rhys¡¯ target would definitely be missed, but they weren¡¯t planning to try to make her a slave. The final member of the group was a young woman in mid Spirit Building, which was a pretty impressive accomplishment. That meant she would be important, so capturing her would provide a significant amount of leverage. Ultimately it would probably result in a bloodbath to retrieve her, but Rhys wasn¡¯t going to be around for that. He was going to capture her, turn her over, get paid, and leave the country. Unless they made him another deal for being involved in the fighting, which would also require convincing him they had a good chance to win. Versus a handful of Essence Collection cultivators, it could be done¡­ but Rhys wanted more than a simple assurance on their side. They¡¯d need more. But first he had a job to do. The young woman was very alert to her surroundings, just like the rest of the troublesome group. She was an archer, but that wouldn¡¯t matter if she didn¡¯t know there were enemies until they got close. The problematic part was that damn wolf. She liked to ride it around the city, and the aura it produced indicated it matched her in strength. The pair of them together would be hard for Rhys to deal with quickly, and if he was discovered the whole thing would be ruined. But she wasn¡¯t always with the wolf. Sometimes it went off with one of the other girls, and sometimes it even left the city on its own. Rhys thought about following it and removing it, but that would just tip people off. Besides, he didn¡¯t want to traipse through the wilderness after a mangy, overgrown dog. Thing was missing fur everywhere, who knows what kind of diseases it might have? Better to just leave it alone. The young woman was an archer, and there weren¡¯t good places to practice inside the city. They needed a lot of space, and the young woman would sometimes head out with the old man. Maybe a grandfather, some elder in her sect. Though his status was weirdly hard to pin down, since some sources said he was just a normal disciple. Either way, that old man had keen eyes. It was a good thing Rhys was good at acting innocent. He could always find some excuse or other for why he might be around, and he avoided following when any of the stronger members were present. But the only one leaving the building now was just the young woman. Alva or something. A quick bash over the head, a few broken limbs so she couldn¡¯t cause trouble, and then she¡¯d be dropped off for the Adamant Chain to deal with. They had some plan for how to leverage a hostage. If they forced the lawyer woman and her group to attack first, they could wipe this group out and smooth over the damage later with more bribes. Rhys walked along, blending himself in with the stone streets and buildings, feeling just like part of the scenery. Rocks could be many things. Durable, fanciful, or just plain heavy. But the thing that most rocks shared in common was that they were just rocks. Something people could pass over and ignore. Even a hunk of marble in the right spot was just scenery. Not that Rhys would do anything so stupid as to make a complicated pattern instead of just dulling perceptions. That kind of unnecessary flaunting got people killed. Chapter 255 Complex plans were for the pack leaders. Fuzz didn¡¯t get any of that. They tried to explain, and ultimately settled on something he understood. He was to follow someone from a certain distance behind, as sneakily as possible. Fuzz understood stealth. That was what the dagger lady Velvet did. He wasn¡¯t as good as her, because he was big and probably not suited for it to begin with, but he understood the basics. Breathe quiet, walk quiet, smell quiet, and stay out of sight. The man he was following did three of those things, but as most humans he forgot the part about the smell. And a noisy smell it was, foreign stones tinged with blood and all the normal smells of a human. Fuzz stopped. Distance was difficult with smell, but he could assess the way the thickness of the smell changed. He was still up ahead, but not as far as he should be. If Fuzz was smelling it right, he was on a long straight road that would make it easy to see Fuzz if the man just turned around. So he had to wait. Then he moved, passing by a butcher¡¯s shop and carts full of food alongside the road. When he was a pup they might have distracted him, but Fuzz was focused and full of purpose now. He was also smart enough to recognize that he would just have those tasty foods later. The pack leaders were good about making sure he got extra tasty food when he did good, though he was always fed well regardless. The scents of hundreds of people lingered in the packed streets. Seeing him coming, most people moved aside. Those who didn¡¯t could be stepped over if they were short enough, or nudged to the side. Some people were quite surprised when he did so, but the cultivators of Sarton were familiar with Fuzz. They would not panic to see him in the streets without anyone around. Fuzz sniffed. It was strange, actually. He didn¡¯t smell anyone recent but the man he was following and Alva. Usually someone else would be with him. Perhaps they were somewhere else, or better at hiding. Velvet probably didn¡¯t need to hide from scent, since humans were bad at detecting it, but she had been practicing. Fuzz sniffed. Did he need to improve himself? Was he not good enough? He picked his way through the city, occasionally stopping or increasing his speed as he felt appropriate. The changing wind made things difficult sometimes, as when it was blowing towards him he could detect more, and when it blew away he couldn¡¯t be certain if his target had stopped too close. He focused a small amount of his energy to his nose to enhance it. Too much and he wouldn¡¯t be stealthy, but he wanted to make sure he didn¡¯t miss anything. They were getting near the edge of the city. The number of people was decreasing, as well as the distance between Alva and the man following her. Fuzz began to approach a bit closer. No mission of stealth was prioritized over a member of the pack. The wind shifted, and he caught a new scent. It smelled like¡­ fire. Not smoke, but fire. The difference was, one produced the other. Fire smelled like natural energy, when it smelled like anything. Or rather, it only smelled like anything when it was natural energy. He smelled fire up ahead, a familiar scent. Though he couldn¡¯t place any individuals. Were they allies? They had not been in the city previously. They had been friendly in the past, but he did not know for certain if they were now. He increased his pace. Now that they were outside the city, the sneaky man could at any moment attack Alva. Fuzz needed to be able to catch him before he got to her. Other pack members or allies should be around, but Fuzz wasn¡¯t sure. He closed the difference enough to be in visual range. The trees parted just enough to catch sight of his quarry. The man was also speeding up, and Fuzz more than matched his pace. The scent of fire was off to the side, perhaps not intending to participate in the upcoming battle. All Fuzz knew was they were luring the enemy out of his territory to somewhere he would have no allies, and this should be good enough. ----- Alva tried not to display her nervousness. Her allies would probably protect her, but she still had to watch out for herself to some extent. If she was careless for a few seconds she could just be killed. That was the danger of traveling in a group with Essence Collection cultivators, who tended to make enemies on their own level. Though the numbers of those enemies would inevitably fall off, there were still some. Especially now that they were making big moves instead of trying to avoid disturbing the overall balance too much. She stopped in a long, empty stretch of land. There was an archery target set up about a hundred meters away. She didn¡¯t need an actual target, but they were still useful for measuring accuracy at a glance, compared to any hunk of wood. She pulled her bow off her back and began to fire arrows at it. Actual arrows, not just Spirit Arrows. There were two reasons for that. First, she had a handful of enchanted arrows that would have more or less the same weight as these physical arrows. She needed to make sure she was used to the difference between them and the Spirit Arrows, which had no inherent weight. Energy produced the same effects of having weight, but it wasn¡¯t the same. The second reason was that she walked to the target to retrieve them. She had been ready to turn to fire on the man following her if he made a move, but he¡¯d kept back. Alva trained with her grandfather who was an excellent scout, but she wasn¡¯t quite as good as him at sensing things. This particular man she only noticed because she knew he was there. That, and because there were very few rocks in this area. He managed to feel like a small one, but his presence didn¡¯t quite perfectly blend into the terrain. Enough so that she couldn¡¯t take a shot at him, though. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. She plucked out the arrows one at a time, placing them in the boring half of her quiver. Then she spun on her heel. She could narrow down the man¡¯s location to a ten meter wide strip of land. She should be able to get visual confirmation of him if she looked there. She was already forming an arrow, preparing to shoot. Allies should be ready, and even if they were not for some reason she couldn¡¯t just let the man have the initiative. Her arrow flew forward, a projectile formed entirely of energy. It was thin, only increasing in size where the limit of her energy density required, and to allow for proper aerodynamics. It flew towards her target, almost entirely hidden behind a tree. Just the corner of a sleeve stuck out, but she was certain it was attached to a person. Unlike her grandfather, she didn¡¯t throw herself into the arrow. It seemed she would need more than just a handful of years of experience with archery, even if her cultivation abilities were not as far behind. But she still had good control over its initial trajectory and could adjust to some extent. The arrow went straight through the tree, poking a hole no wider than her pinky finger. Her target dodged at the last instant, such that she only managed to scrape along the edge of his defensive energy. She hadn¡¯t expected it to kill him, but she was hoping he¡¯d take another tenth of a second to react. Or even a twentieth. Dust flew into the air as the man suddenly pushed off of the ground, rocketing towards her. Alva began to back away, running backwards as she took more shots. The man just punched her arrows out of the air, while countering with thrown stones of his own that Alva had to avoid. But a moment later he had to spin around to deal with an approaching threat. Fuzz leapt onto the man, who was knocked onto his back. No, he intentionally allowed himself to lay back, as his leg kicked up into Fuzz¡¯ midsection, sending him flying. That momentum carried the wolf towards Alva, however. He landed in a run as if that had always been his intention, though Alva had seen the serious way his mouth had been prepared to clamp down on the man he leapt upon. Alva changed tactics, running toward Fuzz and leaping onto his back. Now she didn¡¯t have to worry about moving about, as Fuzz would handle that. The stone cultivator was already back on his feet, looking not at all injured. He looked Alva dead in the eye¡­ and then turned to run. ----- Rhys was experienced enough in his line of work to know he¡¯d been a goddamn idiot. There he was thinking he hadn¡¯t been underestimating his opponents. Taking them seriously. Keeping out of sight. He hadn¡¯t snatched up the first chance he got, or even the second, thinking they could be bait. Why had he come alone? Sure, nobody else had the proper stealth skills to keep up, but the Thick Marble Gang could have arranged some method to back him up. That said, Rhys knew he could take the girl and the wolf together. The problem was that the wolf showing up was either terribly unlucky, or part of some bigger ambush. And he sure as hell wasn¡¯t going to stay around for it. Arrows rained down on him from behind, slowing his retreat as he had to dodge some of them. He didn¡¯t want to waste energy by taking direct hits, not if someone else could be coming. Then gouts of fire rained down on him from all sides, expanding into a field of flames in mere moments. Ah. They were actually already around. Of course it couldn¡¯t have just been luck. The question was, how could he survive? Rhys plowed ahead through the fire. Any direction he went would take just as long to get out, so he might as well get away from one threat. There were a handful of fire cultivator around he could sense spread out around him. He saw the youngest and lowest cultivation was directly ahead and in early Essence Collection, not far from himself. So he broke away to his right. No way was he going to fight some genius. Besides the fact that it would allow everyone to collapse on him, he wasn¡¯t going to bet he could even take out the guy. His skin blistered as the heat built up around him, the branches of the trees around him and all the leaves having been instantly incinerated. He could see the trunks starting to fall apart into charred piles, like he would be if he didn¡¯t break through. He held his fist up high, feinting a punch while instead he kicked a ball of dirt into the face of the man he was trying to push past. It almost worked, except the dirt combusted before reaching the man, who moved to block his sudden sidestep. How was he going to survive? Well, Rhys knew one thing about these people. ¡°I surrender,¡± he stopped holding up his hands. They¡¯d taken prisoners before, even gotten some of them to testify. Now that things had come to this, he had to take advantage of that fact. Then he felt a smoldering where his heart had been a moment before. It hardly even hurt, his chest burned so fast. He even managed to look down to see that his senses weren¡¯t lying to him before the fire expanded and covered him. ----- ¡°Was that necessary?¡± Anish folded his arms across his chest. Elder Sarka raised an eyebrow at him. ¡°What, you wanted to wait? It was going to happen anyway. Getting this guy to testify or whatever wouldn¡¯t do much of anything. And that¡¯s not what we¡¯re here for. We¡¯re here to take some people out.¡± She gestured to the smoldering corpse. ¡°And here¡¯s what we needed, evidence.¡± ¡°It would have worked better if he was alive.¡± ¡°Would it? Then we¡¯d have to do a bunch of talking and stuff,¡± Elder Sarta cracked her knuckles. ¡°But since we¡¯re just going to melt that marble gang into a puddle, it doesn¡¯t really matter. We saw him with our own eyes. Nobody else matters. Or do you think there¡¯s an innocent reason for this guy to follow a young woman out into the woods?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t saying that, I just thought it would look better for Glorious Flame Palace if we had someone alive for a bit.¡± Anish shook his head. ¡°But whatever. Let¡¯s go melt a rock gang. Though I have to point out, Elder Sarka, that we don¡¯t want to completely obliterate their buildings.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah, documents and crap. Don¡¯t worry,¡± Elder Sarka waved her hand, spewing fire at a tree but somehow not catching it on fire. ¡°I can handle it. That¡¯s why we brought more than just you five. Some overwhelming force to make up for having to control ourselves.¡± Elder Sarka looked over at Alva and Fuzz. ¡°You two alright?¡± ¡°We¡¯re fine,¡± Alva said. ¡°Is he alone?¡± ¡°Should be,¡± Elder Sarka said. ¡°But we¡¯ll escort you back to the city before we go pay these pebble guys a visit. Don¡¯t want your family getting mad at me.¡± ¡°I can take care of myself,¡± Alva said. ¡°But I¡¯ll admit I¡¯m not completely sure about opponents of this level. Let¡¯s go.¡± Chapter 256 Legal proceedings could drag out for a very long time for various reasons. Sometimes it just took a long time to read through piles of documents to find what was relevant, sometimes the courts were busy and could only see people irregularly. Sometimes one side or the other asked for extensions because they were busy with something, and sometimes they intentionally dragged things out in the hope that something would save them. Usually some piece of uncovered evidence. The Adamant Chain couldn¡¯t be hoping for evidence, because they knew they were guilty of everything charged, and probably more than even Kohar couldn¡¯t find a way to prove or even tantalizingly suggest. They might be trying to come up with some more convincing falsified records, since she¡¯d figuratively torn apart everything they¡¯d produced so far. There was one thing they could be stalling for that would make a big difference. If, say, an army showed up in Sarton ready to fight and killed everyone involved while professing no connection to the Adamant Chain. But that wasn¡¯t something Kohar was related to. There were others already attempting to deal with those problems. If a big battle reached her, she would die. If it was stopped, she would continue doing her job. Kohar was standing, giving another speech that combined evidence with flair. The first was somehow not good enough for some people, so she had to use both. ¡°For the last several years, because of severe malpractice on behalf of many slaving guilds including the Iron Ring Slavers and the Adamant Chain, detailed records have been required. I have here in front of me depositions from several dozen illegally enslaved individuals,¡± before anyone could interrupt Kohar pushed forward, ¡°As well as individuals from the various towns where the Adamant Chain¡¯s records claim to have been enslaved through legal means. We have reports of people enslaved for debts that weren¡¯t theirs, as well as for debts that had been paid and those with illegal amounts of interest financed through subsidiaries of the Adamant Chain.¡± Kohar paused, looking around the room. ¡°I am prepared to read all fifteen pages of that, and I will in a few moments, but next we have lists of people enslaved after being accused of a crime but without being convicted, or where they were convicted of crimes they were never accused of or tried for. And then there are all of the various locations where people were enslaved that don¡¯t exist. I¡¯ll start alphabetically. Agosbury, twelve individuals¡­¡± Kohar wasn¡¯t going to let herself be interrupted easily, but when several figures burst through the doors she stopped. Guards tensed, including her allies from the Order. However, the figures just ran over to the representatives of the Adamant Chain, whispering. ¡°Your honor,¡± Izabel said to the presiding judge. ¡°We will have to postpone further proceedings. There is an active attack on the Thick Marble Group as we speak.¡± She began to pick up the papers in front of her. ¡°On what grounds would the proceedings be postponed?¡± Kohar said, stopping her. ¡°What connection does that have to the matters at hand?¡± Izabel glared at her. ¡°You know on what grounds.¡± ¡°Do I?¡± Kohar asked calmly. ¡°Perhaps you should state it for the court record.¡± ¡°Your people are part of that attack.¡± ¡°My people?¡± Kohar asked. ¡°Who are my people? Do you mean my bodyguards, all of which are here with us in this very room? And you haven¡¯t given a connection. Are we at risk here in this room? Does the Adamant Chain work with them?¡± This was Kohar¡¯s job too. Either Izabel admitted a connection, which she could use to cause them no end of grief, or she was forced to continue with things as they had been going. Izabel was trapped, looking up at the judge hoping he would make some sort of declaration. However, he was as much in Kohar¡¯s pocket as the Adamant Chain¡¯s, which basically said he was being paid to be basically neutral. A risky position, if the Adamant Chain had any chance of being structurally stable afterwards. He might have judged he was less likely to be killed in revenge by Kohar¡¯s side both because they would win on the merits and they were generally more honorable. Though killing a corrupt judge would be within the Order¡¯s precepts, nobody was going to bring that up. Judge Arron Sgro shook his head. ¡°If there is no danger to us here, and no connection between the Adamant Chain and the Thick Marble Ga- Group, then we shall continue from where we left off. I believe Kohar had the stand.¡± ¡°Very well then,¡± Kohar straightened her back. ¡°Brikbridge, seven people. And not even a hint of the presence of the ¡®official¡¯ who signed off on the enslavements.¡± Ultimately a connection between Kohar and the actions of the Glorious Flame Palace would come out, but not in a way that made her legally culpable. As it was, they were skirting the edge of legality, the sort that would always come out in their favor as long as they were still a powerful sect. They had an excuse to start an attack on the Thick Marble Gang, and no doubt would be able to tie many of them to various crimes in the region. And hopefully to the Adamant Chain, where Izabel¡¯s declaration of them not having a connection would come full circle to bite her in the ass. ----- In other places throughout Ofrurg, attacks were happening nearly simultaneously. For the purposes of communications, anything off by just a day in either direction meant it would be impossible to organize some sort of counter to everything all at once. Nobody was quite sure how deep the webs of connection between slaver guilds went. They would all work together in some ways, though as competitors they would also be enemies to some extent. The important things were their connections to various groups. Ultimately they had the money and influence to call on various others to defend them in times of trouble, but when most of those allies suddenly found themselves facing trouble all at the same time it did them little good. The Glorious Flame Palace wasn¡¯t only active in Sarton, but throughout the north of Ofrurg as a whole. The Frostmirror Sect wasn¡¯t ideologically opposed to slavery as a whole, but they were still active in the central and southern parts of the country. There were other groups from Ofrurg as well, and with Facraona in the east and Estary and more of the Order focusing on western portions of the country, there were few places that weren¡¯t being targeted. ----- The northernmost portions of Ofrurg touched on the coast, and one location in particular was called Ship¡¯s Haven. A small city of a few thousand people, much trade flowed through the area just like the river that carried heavy ore or ingots to them. That trade and those goods immediately flowed out to sea. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Most port cities grew rich, and while Ship¡¯s Haven was doing well for itself it was not exactly flourishing either. The basis of that was it was somewhat out of the way, the Wild Run being far too volatile for most of its upper length for actual transport. The majority of the goods actually went down other rivers running parallel, to be taken across the land for a portion before entering the calmer parts of the Wild Run and ending up in Ship¡¯s Haven eventually. As for why that would happen, it was simply because it was more economical. Ship¡¯s Haven had lower taxes than other ports, just enough for them to be profitable while drawing some trade from the better locations to the east and west. It was there that Anton found himself, watching up the river for a shipment that should be coming. If the information was accurate, which it almost certainly was, a shipment of ore suitable for crafting Spirit Building and Essence Collection weapons would be coming. Various plans had been discussed, including following it to wherever it was eventually refined and smithed into weapons, but keeping it out of the wrong hands to begin with had been the ultimate decision. Though many groups were disorganized, the personal power of many cultivators was still significant. While many groups had been ousted from their fortified positions, that simply left them roaming about the world plotting revenge and teaming up with each other. And while a shipment of future weapons wouldn¡¯t decide anything one way or another, keeping it out of enemy hands and taking out some of the cultivators guarding it would be a step in the direction of victory. Though Anton might wish he was still primarily connected with the non-combative parts of this battle, Kohar was handling that while those with other skills did what they had to. She still had a squad guarding her wherever she went, but enough people were being pulled away to other battles that she didn¡¯t need a handful of Essence Collection cultivators keeping her safe at all time. And while some of her foes doubtless thought that being fined into poverty or imprisoned for their crimes were a fate worse than death, some of them were trying to keep their hands clean enough that they would survive. ¡°There it is,¡± Anton declared. ¡°An oversized barge, riding low in the water. Heavy with ores.¡± Hoyt nodded, ¡°No doubt teeming with cultivators protecting it as well. Many of which should have ranged abilities.¡± ¡°Unless they just stuck themselves on that boat an hoped for the best,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But I can see a couple bows. Who knows what else they have. You remember the plan?¡± ¡°Of course. Quite simple, really. We sink it. A few good holes up front and we remove any chance they can get it past. We¡¯ll have to dredge the bottom of the river to retrieve things, but we¡¯ll have the time.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Catarina?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve set up the formation,¡± she said. ¡°I should be able to temporarily stop it and allow people to traverse the water in front of it. The footing will probably be¡­ unstable, but it will be better than treading water while trying to swing an axe.¡± Anton smiled slightly. Nobody was going to suddenly forget their positions. They had more people with them as well, mostly Spirit Building cultivators, though Anish was here along with two other Essence Collection cultivators from Glorious Flame Palace. There were even a few participants from the Frostmirror Sect, like Marsen. Anton was only talking because he was nervous. There was no reason to be, they were in a good position, but he just had a bad feeling. It could have been that Ship¡¯s Haven was just at their backs. Battles at their level could easily spill over to affect normal people. Even if nobody intentionally harmed civilians, it could happen. No matter who claimed they could, cultivators couldn¡¯t predict the future. There were gut feelings that could turn out to be right, and perhaps cultivators were more in tune to the world as a whole and could make better guesses¡­ but there was still no way to actually know what would happen, even a few moments away. But as the barge got closer, Anton managed to sense something. There were too many people on that barge. It wasn¡¯t the wrong one. He could feel the cultivators guarding it, a mix of several different sects. Thick Marble Gang, a couple of those who had gotten away or not been present for the attack. Some others he only half recognized. And another¡­ Heavenly Lion Sect? They¡¯d been keeping themselves hidden, but either they had some sort of plan or this was a lone agent who had joined up with people who had a similar lack of morals. The cultivators weren¡¯t the problem, though. It was the people. Normal, everyday, no-cultivation-at-all people. Maybe a hundred of them, chained to each other in and around the crates of goods. ¡°Captive civilians on that barge!¡± Anton called out to nearby. Others would pass the message on. ¡°Be careful how you attack!¡± That was the problem with what they were doing. If they were already going to wipe out as many slavers as they could, then those people and their allies would use whatever they could against them. And since they obviously didn¡¯t care about normal people but Anton and the others did¡­ it was pretty simple. What was Anton going to do for them adding onto their crimes, kill everyone twice? He thought about that, but didn¡¯t know how. Everheart probably did, but that didn¡¯t mean Anton actually wanted to. Still, having to limit their attacks wasn¡¯t too bad. It would restrict some people, and they couldn¡¯t sink the barge- unless they could take out enough of the enemies before they did, so they could get in there and rescue the prisoners. The real problem came when the attack began. Anton had no trouble firing his bow indiscriminately. Even if he added on a handful formed entirely of energy, he could unravel any Spirit Arrow that missed his target- or rather, any that was dodged since his attacks didn¡¯t just miss. Before it could get half a meter behind someone, any arrow would be gone. He wasn¡¯t going to hit the wrong target. And while it might have been stroking his own ego somewhat, Anton was a significant amount of their ranged capabilities. There was Alva, of course, and many others had their own methods, but Anton was the best among them. Unfortunately, the others weren¡¯t all quite as precise as Anton. Everyone still avoided hitting any of the people. They had that level of control. But a few spears and a bolt of lightning broke open some of the crates and barrels on board. The crates were mostly just ore, so at most they spilled out a few chunks of heavy material. The barrels, however, had a black liquid in them that happily spilled out into the river. Anton didn¡¯t know exactly what it was, but he could sense danger as it began to flow past him. None of them were standing in the river- even when Catarina activated her formation they would simply be on top of it. But perhaps the danger wasn¡¯t to him, or any of them. As the black substance spread throughout the river, Anton thought of Ship¡¯s Haven. Was this something intentional? ¡°Alva!¡± Anton called out to his granddaughter, who was riding Fuzz along the river, moving up and down past the barge as she took her shots. He gestured to the river and to the harbor below, and she immediately understood. She turned Fuzz, darting towards the city. A few balls of fire were halfheartedly chucked after her, but she shot arrows into those that she couldn¡¯t dodge, causing them to explode before they got close. Nobody knew what damage the poison would cause to the city, but if they could at least warn people ahead of time they could keep them from drinking the water. The long term effects¡­ would have to be dealt with later. Chapter 257 Being chosen for a position that would carry Alva away from battle irked her, even if she knew it made the most sense. Besides, it wasn¡¯t like she had been chosen because she was weakest. Alva still remembered the stories of the beast hunt, where Hoyt had sprinted himself to exhaustion to go get help so that Thuston wouldn¡¯t be overrun. Her story today would be a little bit less exciting, since she was riding Fuzz. Not only was the wolf much faster than the five star Hoyt had been, the distance wasn¡¯t even that much. A few kilometers maybe. The important part was that she had to outrace the river itself, with whatever that black goop was in it. After the hail of fireballs and arrows stopped, it would have been easy. The battle wasn¡¯t exactly going to outpace Alva, and nobody could follow her. Except one guy, apparently. She¡¯d nearly let her guard down when a jet of water shot towards her. Alva ducked, directing Fuzz to the side to get below the attack. She could barely sense the figure swimming in the river, keeping pace with Fuzz running. Actually, they were a bit faster- as they demonstrated when she retaliated with a handful of arrows. The man in the water avoided her shots with ease, and while her arrows indeed dropped in speed when hitting the water he wasn¡¯t so deep she shouldn''t be able to hit him. He was able to quickly speed up or slow down relative to the water, dodging in front of and behind her shots. Alva was used to fighting while riding Fuzz, so his movements weren¡¯t really an excuse for her to miss. However, if she had her feet firmly planted on the ground she thought she would have done better. Especially if she were a couple hundred meters back from the river¡¯s edge, where she didn¡¯t have to dodge jets of water. The way they punctured through trees and rocks, Alva really didn¡¯t want to get hit by those. She was fully confident she could beat this guy if she had Fuzz make some optimal movements to get her a better angle, but he was on a full speed dash towards the city. The black poison in the river wasn¡¯t far enough behind them that she could afford to stop moving forward. She wasn¡¯t sure how the swimming man had gotten through it, but perhaps he had simply been out in front to begin with. It could also not be that dangerous, but she wouldn¡¯t have bet one of her grandpa¡¯s broken bows on it. While Alva could certainly avoid the jets of water, Fuzz was a bigger target so she had to be extra prepared to direct him. She could get him to jump as high as she wanted in an instant, but she had to predict her enemy for that. The easiest way was to fire back, even if she wasn¡¯t going to hit. Both sides unable to hit each other would ultimately be a problem when they got to Ship¡¯s Haven and there were actual things to damage, but until she could properly figure something out she had to at least keep the man occupied. She had a few arrows that would really mess up anyone she hit them with. Hollow arrows that would cause excessive blood loss- slightly better than Spirit Arrows because they held the hole open instead of just making a puncture wound. Serrated arrows, just to make it hell to get out. Enchanted arrows meant to pierce through the most solid of defenses. Unfortunately, none of them would be any good if she didn¡¯t hit. What else did she have? Not much. She could try for some fancy shooting to catch the man off guard, but he was in Essence Collection. Meanwhile, she had five years of experience with fighting and cultivation, period. She could wait for her grandfather to shoot the guy. He certainly could, but he was probably busy with the battle upriver. Lots of stuff was still happening there. He would doubtless feel her fighting here, and he hadn¡¯t done anything. Which meant he thought she could handle it. What else did she have? Rope? Sure, that would help. Maybe she would ask nicely and the man would let her tie him up. She only had rope because her grandpa told her to have it. ¡°Never know when you¡¯re going to need a bit of rope!¡± Like it could stand up to an Essence Collection cultivator. It was some tough stuff, but she¡¯d have to pretty much exhaust the guy of energy first. Or get the cuffs on him. She had some energy suppressing cuffs, but they weren¡¯t so powerful that he¡¯d be incapacitated from just touching the guy. They¡¯d have to be properly sealed. Alva wished she had those stupid ants that were following them around. They ate energy, and if she could chuck a handful of them into the water at the guy they would distract him at some point. Probably. But all the ants were with her grandpa, of course, and they weren¡¯t really something meant to be tossed around regardless. So rope it was. First she would start off with some cheap arrows though, so that her shift in style wasn¡¯t so notable. She could beef up a few barbed arrows and if they actually hit and broke through defenses, great. But she wouldn¡¯t count on it. ----- Catarina¡¯s formation did its job quite well, freezing the barge in place along with some actual freezing courtesy of the Frostmirror Sect. That let some of their more close-range members get into action, where they were met by similarly inclined opponents. It was only a few moments later that they got to see what happened when fire mixed with the liquid flowing from the various barrels placed around the barge. It turned out to explode violently, creating blasts of steam. Those were basically ignored by the cultivators on both sides, but the left behind lingering clouds of awful smoke. The cultivators driving the barge seemed unaffected, but the attackers were clearly affected at some amount. As soon as they began to feel it trying to enter their lungs they began to expel it, but not everyone was immediately ready. Several people began to hack and cough as the horrible substance coated their lungs, and that was only the immediate negative effects. But while it certainly weakened a few people, the biggest effect was still to make it difficult to actually sink the barge- and probably ill advised anyway. It was unclear if there would be lasting effects on the river, and there might still be unknown reactions. There was no direct hindrance to Anton, but with the others being in a worse position he pushed himself to improve the speed at which he defeated enemies. He wasn¡¯t able to attack entirely unrestricted, but he was able to take shots at people as he danced around. He could even shoot multiple arrows at once instead of just in quick succession, as he was always growing more proficient with his technique. It didn¡¯t have a good name yet, but Spirit Bows was the working title. Boring, but properly descriptive. Anton focused on a member of the Heavenly Lion Sect, a man making wide sweeping gestures with his arms and leaving claw marks on anyone who got close. He was causing the most trouble for people, and he didn¡¯t do well with arrows coming at him from behind. And there were always arrows coming from behind, no matter how he spun around. And even when he turned himself into a little whirlwind of claws, Anton still found openings around his lower body to attack. And of course shots directly from above were hardly affected. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. As he took each shot, Anton carefully calculated when he should make use of ascension energy. He also had the energy from beyond death that flowed through most defenses. He had to make the best use of his resources, and he had to keep up the attack. That unfortunately meant not firing down the river at the man who dared attack his granddaughter. But he believed she would handle it somehow. She wasn¡¯t training for nothing, and she had Fuzz too. ----- Hiding the fact that she was doing something was impossible, so Alva simply opted to keep her riverbound opponent occupied by firing with just one arm and her teeth. Her mouth was reinforced with her energy and her neck muscles were actually pretty strong, but there were reasons people didn¡¯t do this. She needed a free hand though. First to pull out a pile of rope, and then to tie it into a net. Alva had no idea if she was tying the best knots for the situation, but she couldn¡¯t ask about that now. Grandpa Anton had taught her a bunch of ways to tie ropes that were apparently used around the farm. And then he taught her a dozen more he said he picked up when he visited the Golden Isles and was on a ship for a while. At least she knew some she could tie one-handed¡­ with a bit of energy assisting. It wasn¡¯t as agile as using her actual hand, but she criss-crossed chunks of rope and they seemed to be holding together. She squeezed tight against Fuzz as a jet of water got way too close to hitting her. The good news about them was that they probably had to go in a straight line from the man in the water. They all had so far, though Alva wouldn¡¯t bet on it being impossible to redirect them. Soon she had three piles of rope. That was good, because she was like a kilometer away from Ship¡¯s Haven. She really needed to get in there and start yelling at people to be wary of the river. Alva¡¯s throwing arm was just about as good as the next cultivator. She was a young woman, so she would probably get just a little bit stronger as her body settled into its full size, but she could toss something heavy as well as anyone who didn¡¯t specialize in it. But it wouldn¡¯t be as fast as she wanted. She decided to take a hint from her grandfather, and created something like a bow out of energy. It was wider, and instead of just a string it had a sort of pouch in the middle. Like a sling. The grip was off center as well. She took a bundle of rope and pulled it back. She felt the strain of her own energy fighting her, ready to snap forward. As the string snapped forward to fling the bundle of rope was carried forward. It couldn¡¯t exactly slide along the shaft of the bow like an arrow, and instead went straight into it. At the last instant she parted the front of the bow, letting the weird bundle continue through. Breaking the shape of the bow definitely lost her some power, but it was better than smashing through her own energy and losing power in two different ways. The bundle of rope splashed into the water and unfurled, creating a large, if misshapen net that covered a large around directly in front of the swimming man. As it began to spread the man was already reacting, slicing through it with a blade of water. Then a blast from him shoved the severed halves away from his path. As he smoothly transitioned into another shot at Alva, twisting onto his side and pointing a hand at her, Alva at least took comfort in the fact that she learned something. Like the fact that he could sweep his beams. That was knowledge she immediately used. She squeezed her legs around Fuzz and pulled back, as a beam of water that was aimed above both of them suddenly flicked downwards. Her maneuver encouraged Fuzz to stop their momentum, so they weren¡¯t in the line of the beam. And then Fuzz leaped forward, almost immediately getting back up to speed. Alva was already loading the second bundle of rope. After she shot that one, she immediately followed up with two arrows from her temporary bow. They were kind of pathetic, as she had to use more energy when the physical string wasn¡¯t providing the twang. There was very little difference between the first and second bundles. It was sliced and Alva sent herself and Fuzz to the side, where they hid behind the edge of the river. A trench was sliced into the riverbank, but the thickness of the earth diminished the power of the attack so much she was barely splashed by the incoming water. No more than the impact of a charging boar or something easy to deal with. The third clump of ropes was even less like a properly formed net than the others, splaying out awkwardly in front of the swimming man. Just like the others, he merely pointed at it and focused a jet of water to cut it apart. That was when Fuzz jumped into the river. Alva simply yelled ¡®get him!¡¯ and rolled off the side, shoving him that way. Her push barely moved him, but Fuzz was the sort eager to get into a fight. She¡¯d constantly had to keep him from just jumping in after the guy to begin with. The jet of water moved across the ropes before turning to Fuzz. It impacted him in the chest before suddenly going off target¡­ as the man was entangled in the ropes. Maybe it was true that she could never have too much rope. Even the crappy, normal quality rope she had in her pack had at least done something. Fuzz was in the water at the same time as Alva¡¯s first arrow. His jaw clamped down on the man bundled in the rope. She had to curve her arrow up as Fuzz tossed the man towards the shore, now a couple dozen meters downstream of her. Her first arrow didn¡¯t pierce through the man¡¯s defenses, but she had a glorious few seconds where the man was in the air. He looked like a fish. Well, he looked like a man in armor that was trying to look like a fish. It had finlike protrusions that were either a really bad idea or somehow practical in the water. She might ask him, if he survived. But she was going to fill him with arrows first either way. The man was much easier to hit out of the water. It probably helped that he was kind of entangled and didn¡¯t have anything to redirect himself, but either way she hit him with several of her best shots. None of them were powerful enough to pierce through his defenses alone, but they all hit the same spot even as he flailed and rotated in the air, driving through his defensive energy and then his armor. She didn¡¯t stop when he hit the ground, or when Fuzz jumped on him. She was glad for that, because he managed to spin from his awkward position and carve a bloody gash into Fuzz¡¯ chest with the fin-blades on his armor, right next to a smaller one from his beam of water. But she continued to make her hole deeper, and the man was trying to repair his defenses there and not have his head crushed by Fuzz. In the end, neither worked. Unless the man could grow a new head, Alva knew he was done. She hopped back on Fuzz, worriedly looking upstream before beginning to yell towards the town. Later Fuzz was going to get so many treats, but for the moment he was still needed for the best speed they could manage. Chapter 258 It was unclear to Alva what she was supposed to say in the situation she found herself in. ¡®Don¡¯t worry about my blood-covered wolf he¡¯s friendly¡¯? ¡®Sorry about the poison in your river we screwed up a battle and accidentally caused that¡¯? Those were both too complicated and basically unhelpful. She just yelled something succinct. ¡°Poison in the river! Get out of the river!¡± She also added things like ¡°Don¡¯t drink any of the water!¡± Fuzz ran up and down the streets of Ship¡¯s Haven until she was fairly certain she¡¯d covered everything. Then Fuzz collapsed onto his side. Alva worriedly started to tend to his wounds, but she found that the two large gashes on his chest had already begun to heal. He was still losing some blood and she stitched him up, but it was only partly the loss of blood that wiped him out, and more the fact that he¡¯d been sprinting at full speed for an hour. But Alva managed to cover the whole city. By the time the battle was over and Alva¡¯s allies returned victorious- though not without casualties- Fuzz was stable and the whole city was on alert. Nobody doubted Alva¡¯s words. It was impossible, actually. The river was running black, and likewise the sea. ¡°Was there any point to this?¡± Alva asked her grandfather. ¡°I imagine it cost them relatively little,¡± Anton said. ¡°And it restricted our actions. They likely didn¡¯t expect us to be so prepared, but they were ready for a battle.¡± ¡°That¡¯s stupid,¡± Alva said. ¡°They just hurt all these people because they could?¡± ¡°And to hurt us,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you know what they¡¯re like.¡± Alva grumbled, but didn¡¯t disagree. ----- If a normal sort of poison had been dumped in the river, it could have killed things for the few kilometers it ran. It would certainly ruin the harbor, but more fish would eventually move in. This particular thing was not nearly so pleasant to deal with as a deadly poison. It clung to everything it passed, the shores of the river and rocks that diverted the flow. It clung to the boats and piers in the river and the harbor. The sands were coated with the stuff. The harbor was full of dead fish, floating on the surface. Some adventurous birds had tried to eat them, but they found themselves reaching the same fate. The blackness spread as far as could be seen from Ship¡¯s Haven, lingering in the water. Anyone or anything that touched it would get violently ill, dying in a matter of moments. Cultivators were the exception. As long as they avoided touching the blackness with their skin, they could avoid the effects. Even if they touched it, those with tempered bodies could resist the effects to some extent. Enough to survive, at least, even if some were bedridden. Only a small portion of the inhabitants of Ship¡¯s Haven were affected, thanks to Alva¡¯s warning. A few who were incautious or who didn¡¯t get the message were killed, and a number of people died to well water they thought was safe because it had no blackness in it. But it seemed to have seeped through the ground, and even if it wasn¡¯t visible it was still deadly. The only drinkable water in the city was what people had stored for various reasons. Other than that, the closest was several kilometers upstream. Though it lingered and clung to everything, it at least didn¡¯t spread upstream of the battle. Not much, at least. Nobody wanted to test the water within a few hundred meters of the black trails. The liquid had turned into a goopy slime upon contact with water, and it was difficult to remove. Any of the townsfolk who wanted to try to clear the river had to be extremely careful to not get a drop on them. The cultivators could handle it, but it wasn¡¯t so easy to clean up. There were kilometers of river and shoreline. The biggest problem was how to remove it. Incinerating it released it into the air, seemingly less potent but not safe by any means. Normally after winning a battle, there would be a celebration of some sort. At the very least there would be a time of rest and recovery. However, that simply wasn¡¯t possible. Nobody in the alliance could claim to be fighting for people if they just let things be as they were. Even if it hadn¡¯t been their responsibility, they couldn¡¯t reasonably just leave the common folk to fend for themselves. And they were responsible, in part. Uncontrolled attacks could cause damage, and while they hadn¡¯t anticipated this they still failed to stop it. Of course, the vast majority of the blame was in the hands of their enemies who intended for such a thing to happen- or to slip by and continue with their nefarious deeds elsewhere. But the ones immediately present were already dead, and that justice didn¡¯t help anything. Anton stretched his energy into the river like a large scoop. The best method they had found so far was using the very barrels that had stored the liquid to slop the gooey result back into. They were sealed, and when the resulting material dried out it became somewhat harmless flaky chunks. Others were working next to Anton, plucking the majority of the toxic substance from the river. They were working their way through the city, now, down towards the harbor. Formations had been put in place to keep it from spreading further into the ocean, and hopefully whatever amounts were out there quickly became too minimal in amount to cause serious harm. Anton was no stranger to hard work. He wouldn¡¯t mind staying for a few weeks- or months if that was what it took- to clean up this mess. That part wasn¡¯t weighing him down, but instead it was the people of Ship¡¯s Haven. Seeing their distress was bad enough. Much of their industry was fishing- transportation was secondary, but also momentarily unavailable. No ships wanted to come close and get contaminated, and only what was already too far down the river to turn around still came through. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you stop it?¡± a small voice said from near Anton. He turned to see a thin child- obviously malnourished even before the recent troubles. The little boy looked up at him with soulful eyes. ¡°We couldn¡¯t,¡± Anton said. He would have liked to say something comforting or diplomatic, but those were beyond him at the moment. He reached out once more, scooping a pile of slop into a barrel- while making sure none of it got on anything around him. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a cultivator?¡± the little boy asked. ¡°I am,¡± Anton acknowledged. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Cultivators can do anything. Why did you let this happen?¡± He well knew that this child was simply hurt. Unable to handle the situation, and looking for someone to blame. He knew that, and he knew that the other townsfolk still harbored similar resentments. But the worst part was that, while Anton was aware that cultivators weren¡¯t able to do anything, the actual limits were far beyond what a normal person could comprehend. It hurt to hear it said, not because of the pain in the child¡¯s voice but because Anton knew that it was possible to prevent it. Even if every barrel had been dumped, they could have prevented it from flowing downstream. He still thought it was the right choice to fight instead of trying to deal with it immediately. Anton simply thought about his weakness. If Grand Elder Vandale had been present, he could have easily cleared the river as the goop began to flow through it. Or anyone on his level of power. But he wasn¡¯t strong enough. ¡°Even cultivators have limits,¡± Anton said sadly. He knew that to be true, even if the back of his mind told him that they didn¡¯t. He understood that he couldn¡¯t have been stronger for this. Not in any measurable way. He couldn¡¯t blame himself or the others. The number of deaths here was actually rather small overall, and while it was a tough job he knew they would clear the area and make it so people could live properly. He just couldn¡¯t help but think about things that would be worse. How many years would it be, until the invasion? A few decades. Things would be much worse then, and he would need to be stronger for it. Much stronger, as would everyone else. And here they were, bogged down in troubles relating to how the weakest in the world should be treated. Anton¡¯s answer was the same as always. They might be weak now, but that could change. And with an incident like this, he knew many people would be very interested in starting down the path of cultivation. He didn¡¯t care what the people of Ofrurg thought about so many people practicing the first part of the Ninety-Nine Stars. Everyone who was going to cause trouble would do it anyway, so he might as well give the common folk a fighting chance. ----- With highs in determination also came the lows. Anton sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he said, shaking his head. He was drinking with Elder Tshering and Marsen, the disciple of the Frostmirror Sect. It wasn¡¯t something he did often, since he liked having a clear head and he¡¯d seen what too much alcohol did to people and their families. As a cultivator he could negate most of the effects on himself, or purge the alcohol from his system, but he was letting it hit him as much as he could. His body still fought back, but that just meant he had to drink more. ¡°I don¡¯t think this was what I wanted.¡± His determination to change the world was great, but sometimes it wavered. ¡°Things are rarely what we envision them,¡± Elder Tshering agreed. ¡°But in a way, this conflict was inevitable. You are not responsible, but just one part.¡± ¡°I know how much pain was caused to me, and I do believe something needed to be done,¡± Anton explained. ¡°But the side effects are too much. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s worth it. So many people hurt, losing their lives or families or homes.¡± The conflict had been going for half of a year now, and showed no clear signs of stopping. Though what Anton considered ¡®his side¡¯ was certainly winning. ¡°It would depend on what value you place on things,¡± Marsen said. ¡°Can you place value on a human life?¡± Anton said, taking a swig. ¡°Yes,¡± the younger man answered immediately. ¡°People do it all the time, subconsciously. But if you take a calculated approach, I believe you will find that this has been ¡®worth it¡¯. As a starting point, we can value all human life equally. Killing people or enslaving them detracts from that value, taking away what they should have.¡± Marsen spoke without emotion. He was, in fact, able to feel things despite his position in the Frostmirror Sect. He could, but he often chose not to. That was just the sort of person he was. ¡°In that case,¡± Anton said sadly, ¡°We¡¯re deep in the negatives.¡± ¡°If the only goal would be to have people alive, an argument could be made,¡± Marsen said. ¡°That swings wildly depending on how much you feel slavery detracts from a human life. It also depends on whether we intend to maximize for human life at this very moment, or overall.¡± Marsen took a small sip of his beer, though he seemed uninterested in that part of the social setting. ¡°A battle breaks out. Ten cultivators die. The overall impact on the world?¡± ¡°Negative,¡± Anton said. ¡°What if one of them was Maximillian Van Hassel? What if all of them were an equivalent person?¡± Marsen looked seriously at the two older men. ¡°How would that change the calculations?¡± ¡°It would be good,¡± Elder Tshering said helpfully. ¡°Removing that sort of evil from the world is good. That man in particular damaged hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not just people like that that die,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m lucky that¡­ I haven¡¯t lost anyone I cared about lately. But other people have. Good people.¡± ¡°It¡¯s easier to destroy lives than to improve them,¡± Marsen commented. ¡°If good and ill die in equal numbers, the balance shifts in the favor of those who do good. A thousand more people don¡¯t die for five hundred more who don¡¯t get saved. But even if you don¡¯t want to calculate each person¡¯s individual impact on the future, a societal shift against those who are tumors on society changes the lives of hundreds of thousands or millions, within the next century. Compare that to the deaths in this conflict, and you can see it is overall good.¡± ¡°And yet,¡± Anton said. ¡°Thousands of cultivators- those who deserve to live- and ten times that many of those who don¡¯t yet cultivate, they¡¯ll have lost their lives by the time this thing is over. And we still have to think about coming troubles. Some sort of invasion, just a few decades away. All this death¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°What does it accomplish?¡± ¡°Exactly what you want. A better world,¡± Marsen said. ¡°Besides, you know that some of these people would be on the invader¡¯s side, right? Dealing with some of this conflict now makes things better for later.¡± ¡°It¡¯s still awful,¡± Anton said, staring at the bottom of an empty mug. ¡°Do you know how many grandchildren I have?¡± ¡°Quite a few,¡± Marsen said. ¡°And others who could be said to occupy that position despite lacking ties of blood.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Anton said. ¡°Each and every one of them relying on me to not be an awful person, and to make things better.¡± ¡°Seems like you¡¯ve been highly successful thus far,¡± Tshering commented. ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I guess I just don¡¯t enough old folk like myself. Sure, there are a lot of elders older than me, but they¡¯re not the same. Young at heart and all that.¡± Anton looked at Marsen, who was young by pretty much any standard. ¡°You¡¯re almost an old man yourself.¡± Marsen shrugged. ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°Sounds like you just needed a chance to vent,¡± Elder Tshering commented. ¡°I¡¯m glad to help with that, if you need it.¡± His age wasn¡¯t all that different from Anton¡¯s, but he was hardly an old soul like him. The one who fit the most had obviously been Grand Elder Vandale. For cultivators, a couple years could feel like almost nothing- so anything more recent than that was etched into memory. Everyone in the Order was still feeling the loss, but most didn¡¯t have any connection to the man but respect for his power. Anton eventually shook his head back and forth to clear it. ¡°I¡¯ll get over it, I suppose. Still got lots of crap to do. It¡¯s just hard to believe things could get this bad, and know that it will get worse.¡± He reached out onto the table, plucking up an ant with a fat abdomen who was crawling towards one of the empty cups. ¡°No alcohol for you, queenie. At least one of us needs to stay sober here.¡± He smiled slightly, wondering if ants might actually make a difference in an upcoming cultivator war. He sure hoped so, if only so he could see the face of some ancient master as he died to a bunch of vermin. He still had the ¡®memories¡¯ of the attack on the Luminous Ocean Society that Everheart had thrust upon people. Those ascenders were a bunch of arrogant pricks. He would show them. They were going to be covered in ants. And if he could get some low level cultivators to cause them trouble with some anti-ascension techniques, all the better. Chapter 259 With each martial victory, Kohar was ready to remind her opponents that they were the ones who chose to escalate things to the level of a war. It was even ninety percent true. The last ten percent was the fact that a war was going to happen anyway, it was just going to have fewer deaths. Unfortunately, just like in a physical war, the courtroom had wins and losses. Real battles relied on power and strategy, and it was the same in the courtroom. While Kohar was pretty confident in always having the moral high ground, that didn¡¯t always help in court. She also had the legal high ground as well, but unfortunately the enemy had reinforcements in the manner of a myriad of people willing to lie for them and some judges still in their pockets. It was no good for their position if judges actually presiding over their cases died or disappeared. That was why they¡¯d done their best to narrow the pool before things actually started, but some were quite happy to play both sides and either ultimately favored the slavers or was paid more by them. If there were a reasonable oversight on the judges their obvious corruption would be their downfall, but that was something else Kohar had to fight for. But here she was, facing down something of a final battle. The other cases she¡¯d been working on in and around Sarton had come to an end. Others elsewhere in the country were ongoing, but she wasn¡¯t directly responsible for those. Now she was back in Veron, close to the border between Ofrurg and Graotan. The Iron Ring Slavers were strongly based there, and some careful sneaking about, courtesy of Velvet and some others, had gotten Kohar some top quality dirt. Several of their highest ranking members, cultivators who ¡®retired¡¯ into those positions to live in luxury, were currently in possession of people enslaved illegally. Not the company, but the individual leaders. Either they thought they wouldn¡¯t get caught, highly valued the particular slaves, or actually forgot about those particular crimes. Kohar didn¡¯t care which was true, because she now had a firm grip on their tender parts. She just had to not screw up. Kohar locked eyes with one of them. An older woman, wrinkled and with a stern face. An angry, murderous one. She was glad she was safe in the courtroom, and had bodyguards beyond. Milushka Struna. She was an Essence Collection cultivator, though she¡¯d stagnated long before and had been living a fairly luxurious life by relying on the business of the Iron Ring Slavers to support her. Currently Izabel was making a desperate attempt to do something. With the way things had been going, Izabel wasn¡¯t exactly popular. However, she was also the best match for Kohar. The fact that she had some success with the weight of facts against her at every moment showed how good she was. Kohar might have even respected her if she hadn¡¯t devoted her life to working for the wrong people. There were limits to what people should do. ¡°... even if we were to accept this testimony, which I still contend is inadmissible, there are other matters to consider.¡± Izabel was harping on the fact that the testimony of a slave wasn¡¯t allowed in court- a poorly worded that Kohar was going to tear apart later, hopefully permanently. ¡°The time in question here is very important. Over two decades in some cases. That means any supposed crimes are well past the statute of limitations.¡± It was a valiant attempt. Unfortunately, when starting with a pile of crap it was hard to make it look like anything else. And even if one happened to polish crap to a fine shine, upon knowing what it was people still didn¡¯t want it around. ¡°An interesting conclusion,¡± Kohar said. ¡°I¡¯ll refute things in order. First, because none of these people are slaves, just illegally held, their testimony is of course valid. The time involved only exacerbates the severity of the crimes, it does not diminish it. Even if the initial capture happened decades ago, illegally holding someone captive is still a crime.¡± Kohar had several sections of law to quote, strongly backing up her point. ¡°And of course, the fact that these are still active, ongoing crimes means that the statute of limitations is meaningless.¡± Kohar wasn¡¯t going to suggest it, but there was some chance that Izabel would somehow finagle a way that only the portion of time still within the ten or twenty year limit, depending on jurisdiction, would be counted. Even so, she had enough to put some of these people away for life. Izabel had already tried the trick that they were ignorant, but with more than a year of ongoing litigation in related cases before this one even began and nearly five years since it was public knowledge that people were illegally enslaved, that wouldn¡¯t fly. If they had released the slaves sometime during that time, it might have. But they stubbornly held on for whatever reason. Maybe, as cultivators, the ¡®for life¡¯ time of ten or twenty years, possibly more, wouldn¡¯t bother them too much. Especially if they could get it reduced later and get out. Which was why Kohar wasn¡¯t gunning for imprisoning them. Instead, she was going to hit them where it hurt. Up to this point, fines and fees could only be assessed on the slaving groups and some individuals they threw under the bus with some evidence that they acted independently. The resources of their executives were off limits from such things, but Kohar was going to finally get to the juicy piles of cash and other less flexible property. She could already see the wealth adding up, multipliers for intentional and repeated disregard of the laws of the country making numbers go to great heights. Unfortunately, that would hardly make up for all the lives they had ruined, and people that had died. And the ongoing pain and suffering they would be causing that was technically still legal. Though Kohar would get them to fork over as many slaves as she could as payment. Then she would hope they rotted in hell when they died. Which would hopefully be soon, though she had no control over that. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ----- A week later, Kohar was sleeping peacefully. Other people were overseeing most of the actual physical transfer of things, and preventing valuables from being squirreled away where they couldn''t be found. She¡¯d done all the paperwork, and while there would be more¡­ it was only a few piles. She was actually getting time to rest. It was nice. She felt warm and cozy in her blankets. Actually, a bit too warm. And her blankets¡­ were already kicked off. And it was bright. Had she somehow slept in until noon? She sat up and looked out her window, staring into the noonday sun. Except while it was certainly bright enough, it wasn¡¯t quite right. There was supposed to be one big ball of fire in the sky, not a wall of fire climbing up the walls of her building. Kohar sighed. Well, this was it. She¡¯d pissed off enough people, and they¡¯d found their way to her. Now she was dead. She just hoped what she¡¯d done would pave the way for others to finish the job. It sure was taking a long time, though. Sure, it was uncomfortably warm, but with the entire outside of the building on fire she¡¯d thought the inside would have caught by now. Maybe some burning beams crashing down on her head or something. She pressed her face up against the window and found the glass was just¡­ warm. And she could just make something out beyond the flames. It was a bit difficult to pin down the face, with the layer of burns. However, the wrinkles and general unpleasantness indicated it was Milushka. A woman very capable of killing Kohar if she got anywhere close. Kohar was still waking up. While she knew many cultivators could spring into action immediately, she was not one of them. It took her a couple minutes to wake up, which wasn¡¯t a problem if she didn¡¯t have to fight. She was still waking up, and she wasn¡¯t dead. She also didn¡¯t remember Milushka having fire-related cultivation. And if she did, the burns seemed like they didn¡¯t fit. Ah, that¡¯s what it was. Kohar hadn¡¯t been able to feel the other presence because it wasn¡¯t really contained to a direction. It was like looking into a bright light. You couldn¡¯t actually see it, until your eyes adjusted. This was¡­ Sarka. Elder Sarka, of the Glorious Flame Palace. Kohar didn¡¯t know she was in town, but she was certainly glad for it. Then she heard her voice. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough. You can back off now, and you get to leave with your dignity slightly intact while we later come and take the rest of everything you have for this attack.¡± Milushka snorted. ¡°You think I don¡¯t believe you¡¯ll take everything I have left anyway? I might as well get a little something done now.¡± Kohar caught the old woman¡¯s eyes looking directly into hers, but it was too late to back up from the window. The old woman¡¯s very agile arms flicked as she pulled a pair of throwing axes from her belt. They streaked towards the window and Kohar. She felt the sharpness of the blades even before they sliced through her. Then she couldn¡¯t see. Too much fire. But the fact that she could comprehend there was too much fire meant that she was alive. She touched her hand to her shoulder and winced. That was an actual wound, dripping blood. But she hadn¡¯t been chopped into pieces. If the axes had reached her, she would have died. But instead what remained of the axes lay in the street next to Milushka, who was on fire. But only very briefly. Kohar thought she should have been turned to ash, but upon being able to see her figure once more Kohar kind of wished she didn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t a pretty sight. And not because she was horribly mangled or something. Kohar had seen plenty of that in her time. ¡°I can burn whatever I want, you know,¡± Sarka said. ¡°Just because that¡¯s usually everything doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t have control. You should be happy that you get to walk away with minimal wounds. But you already lost your chance at dignity.¡± Dignity could mean several things. In truth, Kohar wasn¡¯t sure if an Essence Collection cultivator being completely overwhelmed by a Life Transformation expert would lose them their dignity. But something else would. Like having everything except their body burned away. Kohar stepped away from the window. The attack had been so close, and she didn¡¯t want to look at a naked old woman. Kohar made notes to not piss off Elder Sarka. Not that she ever intended to make anyone that powerful angry at her, but most of them would just kill her instantly and she wouldn¡¯t have to regret it. There was quiet in the streets for a moment. Even so, Kohar could almost hear Milushka fuming, her energy flickering angrily. What hadn¡¯t been burned away, anyway. Then she felt her turn and leave. ¡°Have fun on your way back!¡± Sarka yelled. ¡°I¡¯ll send someone to make sure everyone on your route is awake.¡± Kohar wasn¡¯t sure if that threat was real or not, but she didn¡¯t really care. She just fell back into bed and hoped the fire would go out soon so she could sleep. ¡°Thanks, Elder Sarka,¡± Kohar said vaguely towards the roof. That was something she didn¡¯t want to forget. There was no response except perhaps a flicker of amusement from the fire. ----- The ¡®war¡¯ didn¡¯t end with anything that could be called a climactic battle. In fact, though deaths had escalated for a time, when everything settled down some disturbing facts were pondered by various groups involved. Specifically, a troubling lack of Life Transformation cultivators. A few had supported the slavers in various ways, but for something that shook Ofrurg to its core very few of them got involved. Glorious Flame Palace had more than just Elder Sarka involved, and there had been others as well, but perhaps that was also the reason. If they couldn¡¯t match them, then they would just be throwing away their lives. While ultimately that meant the total death count was less than it could have been, it meant that powerful people with grudges were still alive. That might even include those who would be powerful, as there was no telling how many ships had left for other continents, full of cultivators who would just be biding their time. But at least for the moment, there was peace. At least as much as could ever be expected with so many different cultivation factions present, but minor squabbles were just everyday life. Chapter 260 When everything settled down and there were a few years without any sort of major incident, Anton was almost confused. Not fighting for an extended period of time just hadn¡¯t happened for him before. But the conflicts that had been happening couldn¡¯t possibly continue, especially as they had escalated to involve the higher levels of cultivation. If conflicts had kept going at the same rate, in a decade or two there wouldn¡¯t be any cultivators left at all. The world wasn¡¯t completely peaceful, of course. It was just that Anton had been embroiled in trouble very frequently since becoming a cultivator. A few whole years where he wasn¡¯t seeking revenge or looking for a lost tomb or assisting allies in trouble was an unfamiliar but welcome break. He kept himself occupied, of course. Straightforward cultivation occupied much of his time, but he took time for others as well. The change to Graotan was becoming obvious, with nearly a decade of his plan to teach cultivation on a wider scale. Only a small number of people ended up joining the Order, bolstering their numbers somewhat compared to how things were before. Even then, it could have been random fluctuations in numbers and those joining just so happened to have been people Anton introduced to cultivation. Vincent or someone else might have found those very same people and encouraged them to cultivate. Anton hadn¡¯t suddenly swelled the ranks of the Order, and the slight increase in number and quality of recruits was barely making up for those they had lost. It would still take decades before the Order could truly recover, especially considering the losses of Life Transformation cultivators. But outside of the Order, throughout the rest of Graotan, there was a transformation. As people worked to make use of cultivation in everyday life, with Windrip and other places showing great success, more people became interested. Anton also developed more techniques for teaching people with low talent, enough to allow them to surpass the first two stars at a minimum. Many people could have joined the Order, reaching the third or fourth star or even beyond, but they were more interested in retaining the life they were used to. Except just a little bit more efficient in every way. Even regular crops, tended to by people nurturing the land with energy, produced more than they would have otherwise. And in return, those crops improved the quantity of natural energy throughout the country. If nobody had been looking it might have been ignored, but Anton and Elder Howland determined it was between one and two parts in ten. Some places were more, and areas isolated from human influence changed less, but there was a real, noticeable improvement in less than a decade. Cultivators had long lifespans, and were quite willing to devote significant resources to developing their sects. However, while what Anton was doing was significant, it wasn¡¯t something most sects would care to replicate. They were able to develop their own land, making use of the entirety of the effort they put in. Higher level cultivators needed more than just a small increase from the ambient levels of natural energy to properly cultivate, they needed energy density several times the norm at minimum. This was true even of the Order. Though Anton thought there might be a day in the future where the energy flowed freely between the Order¡¯s lands and their surroundings, it wouldn¡¯t be soon. At the moment, it would be a significant loss to the Order. And maybe they would continue to build the natural energy they had ever higher, though there were limits to that. It didn¡¯t really matter though. Anton wanted the Order to succeed, but he also wanted the everyday people of Graotan and elsewhere in the world to not have to fear cultivators. Cultivators didn¡¯t suddenly stop causing trouble, but with a bit of cultivation of their own¡­ people were willing and able to stand up to cultivators. It was rarely relevant in Graotan, with the peace always having been enforced by the Order. Intrusions from Ofrurg hadn¡¯t happened in some time- the border security was still better than it had been and nobody in Ofrurg was planning to dip their toes into that trouble for quite some time. Other places changed, though. Ofrurg a bit less than some, though Kohar¡¯s continued efforts to weaken slavery was overshadowing mmore of the other changes. Anton didn¡¯t spend so much time there, but he knew basics of cultivation were still spreading. The Ten Stars, as people were starting to call the incomplete technique. They weren¡¯t members of the Order of NInety-Nine Stars, but they were still able to attain that technique, where many cultivation techniques had been kept secret for various reasons. Even though it was incomplete, it was more than most could have gotten access to. The change in perception about it was important as well. To the average person, a cultivator was a warrior. They spent their whole life training to fight, only to use their martial prowess to gain resources to grow stronger. That was still generally true, but a smaller devotion to cultivation and lesser talent could still achieve something for many. Their fights might not be with weapons, but instead their blades might be plows in the earth. With energy, every task became more achievable. ----- Travels brought Anton to Cruhull, in northeastern Droca. More or less directly east from the Order, with a short jog to the south. There were no laws against teaching people to cultivate- not in any country Anton knew of- but some places were more friendly to his methods. It had been some time since he¡¯d been back to Cruhull, and Anton wanted to check up on some things. As he walked around the city, he was pleased to find that a reasonable portion of the inhabitants showed some signs of cultivation. It was less than a percent of the adult population, but that was a significant change from where it had been before, usually one in a thousand or less. The Ten Stars was not the only simplified, incomplete technique that existed. It was just that usually people didn¡¯t spread cultivation knowledge freely. It seemed some local sect, at least, had determined that it was worthwhile to teach a wide spread of people. Anton was also pleased to see a few people he didn¡¯t recognize with a familiar energy. He hadn¡¯t been around to teach them, and none of the others from the Order helping spread cultivation to everyone had been out this far either. He¡¯d only been through when he passed through some time before. Perhaps some people had traveled, but from what he could sense throughout the city it was more than just casual teaching. Someone had been zealous about it. That someone would be the highest ranking person with that same aura. There was a personal touch to it that Anton recognized, but he also felt something off. The power was that of the twelfth star, but things weren¡¯t quite right. Anton realized he should have come earlier, but he couldn¡¯t be everywhere at once, much as he might like to. Projections like Everheart¡¯s were not so simple to make, difficult and resource intensive and usually not long lasting. They were also tied to a specific place, something Everheart seemed to not have overcome. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. As he got closer to his target, Anton grew more certain that it was Leo. When he was finally close enough to sweep his senses over his body directly, he recognized the young man, no longer a teenager. It was Leo, which meant the other presence had to be Kit. Anton¡¯s feet brought him to some official looking buildings. City hall, it seemed. He spent a few minutes planning how he would get inside. He could just walk in- he didn¡¯t sense anyone who could physically stop him- but he didn¡¯t want to cause any trouble. However, he also didn¡¯t want to wait with the others who were presumably lining up to get into meetings with various officials. ¡°Excuse me sir, are you Anton?¡± A well-dressed young man addressed him. It wasn¡¯t Leo, obviously. Anton was focused on him and would have sensed the movement. He still noticed the man coming, but he had presumed he was looking for someone else as he stepped out of the hall. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton said. The young man looked at the bow on Anton¡¯s back, ultimately choosing to move past that. ¡°Your presence is requested by the vice-manager of city services. If you are available.¡± ¡°I am,¡± Anton replied easily. It would get him in the building, at least. And since he hadn¡¯t announced his presence, there were very few in the building who would have known he was outside. And likely only one that knew his name. Anton was brought inside, past a line of people waiting who seemed somewhat jealous to see him just waltz in. A few turns later, and he stood in front of a small office. Leo was inside, though almost unrecognizable from three years prior. His hair was longer, neatly trimmed but not shaved close. Instead of patches of stubble his face was clean shaven. His shoulders were broader, and he was taller. His clothes were nicely tailored, and decent material. ¡°Vice-manager of city services, huh?¡± Anton asked as the young man was looking up from the pile of papers in front of him. ¡°It¡¯s not nearly so glorious as it sounds,¡± Leo replied. He gestured to a chair in front of his desk. ¡°Come in, sit down. When I sensed you outside I wasn¡¯t sure, but I couldn¡¯t exactly go running out on my own. So I sent Stuart. Thank you, by the way, that should be all.¡± The messenger nodded his head and returned out into the lobby. ¡°Anton. You¡¯re¡­ even stronger than before. By a significant margin. My own progress seems insignificant now.¡± ¡°About that,¡± Anton said. ¡°How did you reach the twelfth star?¡± Leo grimaced. ¡°More than a year of hard work. I guess I¡¯m reaching my limit.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have the full technique,¡± Anton said. ¡°So the fact that you continued to advance at all is impressive.¡± It was actually a shame that he¡¯d managed to press forward. Now he¡¯d probably have to unravel some of that cultivation if he wanted to do it properly. He had likely focused on forming stars without knowing what he should be tempering. Maybe he¡¯d been tempering his body still, because Anton doubted he would randomly stumble into the mental aspects. Then again, perhaps he had. ¡°Is that what it was?¡± Leo said. ¡°I just thought I was supposed to enlighten myself to the rest on my own.¡± ¡°There¡¯s plenty of that to be had, but without the guidance of those before you¡­ you¡¯re going to miss out on a lot of important stuff.¡± Anton looked around the room. ¡°So what do you do here?¡± ¡°Almost the same thing I was doing before. Clearing out piles of crap. Though fortunately most of it is on paper now,¡± Leo grinned. ¡°This was a pretty quick promotion,¡± Anton said. ¡°Not really,¡± Leo said. ¡°I just recently got here, and the office of city services isn¡¯t an especially fought after position. The old man who was the vice-manager here retired and as the person who knew the tunnels the best, I was pulled into this. Though they still call me in for the worst blockages, the kind nobody can get to. I deal with more than the sewers now, but it¡¯s all about keeping the city together.¡± Leo frowned, ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind that I taught some others how to cultivate. It makes for more effective workers.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you not to,¡± Anton smiled, ¡°And in general I¡¯d encourage sharing knowledge.¡± Anton pulled something out of his bag. ¡°Except for this. The full version of the Ninety-Nine Stars. I¡¯ve seen enough to know you won¡¯t abuse it, and it¡¯s better than letting you screw up your cultivation. I assume you¡¯re not interested in actually joining the Order?¡± ¡°I considered the possibility,¡± Leo said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t quite sure if they would accept me¡­ but that wasn¡¯t the reason I chose against it. I was doing necessary work here in the city, and though it was quite unpleasant I saw the benefits. I¡¯m actually paid as well as the actual manager, given my extra duties.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s good to see people doing actual work. It¡¯s too easy to get wrapped up in power and want only violence.¡± ¡°I doubt you had trouble with that,¡± Leo said. ¡°I could have, at some points. Maybe focusing on killing would have been justified, but it wouldn¡¯t have been good for me.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m not going to deny being a warrior still, but I prefer to devote myself to other aspects.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again,¡± Leo said. ¡°I owe you my life, and Kit¡¯s.¡± ¡°Glad to be back,¡± Anton grinned widely. ¡°And whatever you owed me, it¡¯s more than paid off by you becoming a functioning member of society. And teaching others to cultivate, actually. That¡¯s something I¡¯d like to encourage. Though do keep some discretion.¡± Anton unfurled the scroll in front of him. ¡°I¡¯d suggest tempering your Insight. Useful in a position like this. Just don¡¯t share the completed technique without permission.¡± ¡°What about Kit?¡± Leo asked. ¡°Of course you can share it with her,¡± Anton said. ¡°I was about to go find her anyway. ¡°She works at the herbalist shop-¡± ¡°About five blocks that way,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I can sense her.¡± ¡°... I thought my range was getting rather impressive.¡± ¡°Relax, you¡¯re more than a handful of years and some important information behind. And your job doesn¡¯t rely on you sensing things from far off.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about that,¡± Leo replied. ¡°I¡¯d really like to pick out blockages without actually stepping down into the sewer. And maybe remove them, too.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll get there. Just keep working at it. Though I might need to help you fix things up. You¡¯ve taken a couple awkward steps in the dark, when I should have been here a long time ago to properly guide you.¡± ¡°You never owed me anything,¡± Leo shook his head, ¡°A life like this was impossible without you, so I couldn¡¯t ask for more. Though Kit would be furious if I didn¡¯t at least suggest you stay for dinner.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ll let her know you asked. And I don¡¯t care what you think I do or don¡¯t owe you, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m leaving you with a messed up cultivation. You¡¯ll have to put up with me for a while.¡± Leo grinned, ¡°I guess we can do that.¡± Chapter 261 From between some broken sections of wall to a small apartment to now a modest home, Leo had rapidly moved up in the world. It wasn¡¯t filled with expensive furnishings or fancy decorations, but Anton could tell what it was that Leo and Kit valued. The number of rooms were few, but each individual room was spacious and comfortable. Properly insulated, too. It might not have been necessary for two cultivators, but resisting unpleasant circumstances was quite different than avoiding them. They also had a cook. Technically it was just the mother of a large family that lived nearby who they paid to make extra for them, but it was one of the things they had wanted. ¡°Neither of us ever really got the hang of it,¡± Kit shook her head. ¡°We didn¡¯t have any interest in learning either. For the first few months just having a steady supply of food was more than we could dream of. But it¡¯s hard to deny that eating real food is¡­ much more pleasant.¡± ¡°We could afford to eat at nearby taverns now,¡± Leo commented. ¡°But it¡¯s unnecessarily expensive. Now that we¡¯ve pulled ourselves up, saving money so we can¡¯t end up back in the gutters is an important goal.¡± Leo shook his head, ¡°I know that with our cultivations we could take care of ourselves anyway, but it seems better to be prudent. I know our cultivation won¡¯t just disappear, but it still seems unbelievable.¡± Anton didn¡¯t mention the possibility of their cultivation being damaged. At the point that it would actually cause permanent damage it would be more likely that they would die anyway, and it was unnecessarily dreary to bring up such topics. ¡°Even for myself, after a decade, I sometimes wonder if this is real. But if my strength ever suddenly abandons me¡­ I have my friends and family. Cultivation or not, we¡¯ll take care of each other. I¡¯m sure the two of you will be fine.¡± He looked at both of them, ¡°We didn¡¯t have long to talk about your work during the day. How have things been?¡± ¡°Honestly,¡± Leo said. ¡°If problems weren¡¯t so constant in the sewers, I might be worried about working myself out of a job. Though that wouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem, since I could easily find something else to do. Just being able bodied and quick thinking, knowing how to read¡­ it¡¯s great. Some people aren¡¯t sure about how to react to cultivators, though. It¡¯s nice that they¡¯re polite, but I¡¯m certain some people only act that way because they¡¯re afraid I could kill them. And I suppose I could, but that¡¯s always true of people. Humans are¡­ surprisingly fragile.¡± ¡°Yet also durable,¡± Anton countered. ¡°The two of you survived through a lot with very little.¡± Kit moved the conversation onto more pleasant topics. ¡°The herbalist business has been expanding. We¡¯ve been developing techniques to grow more of the varieties ourselves.¡± Kit smiled, ¡°Less going out into the woods. And with the recent boom in cultivators, there are always people who need some of our herbs. I could probably start my own shop, but I¡¯m waiting for there to be a little bit more business. I wouldn¡¯t want to draw too much away from those I¡¯m working with. They¡¯ve treated me well.¡± ¡°What sorts of things are you growing?¡± Anton asked. He very much enjoyed that topic. Farming was something he could be wholly enthusiastic about, though he mostly worked in the area of foods, instead of plants for medicinal purposes or solely used for the energy they contained. The difference was that even the plants he handled that had high amounts of natural energy in them also had significant nutritional value. The density of energy was usually less than herbs had, but that just meant it was more reasonable to maintain a steady diet without throwing off the internal balance of a cultivator. Too much medicine, or anything really, could lead to trouble. ----- True to his word, Anton stayed around to help Leo- and Kit- get their cultivations back on the right track. He had enough standing in the Order to make the choice for the two of them to have access to the full Ninety-Nine Stars, even if they weren¡¯t official members. He trusted them to be responsible with it, and improving their own cultivations should only help them teaching those who were just learning. The two of them had taught the basics to several others, to help them with their work. Since they were both new to cultivation they hadn¡¯t been perfect, but most of their students had some success. Anton saw there were a few problems, but instead of directly guiding the Body Tempering cultivators, he tried to teach Leo and Kit how to recognize where people had gone wrong. While it was important to work the body physically and temper it with energy, some of them had pushed too far too fast, to the point they had injured themselves. The simplified technique manual warned of such things, but reading it on a page and recognizing when it was actually happening were different things. Fortunately, nobody had damaged themselves beyond repair. Some of them just needed a short period of rest, while others would have to carefully bring their body back in line. Either way, Anton avoided direct involvement. Even if he could live forever, he couldn¡¯t handle everything himself. Raising up the next generation to be able to follow along was the most important. Even if Leo and Kit were still youths new to cultivating, they had enough talent to reach Spirit Building and any experience at all was still more than the majority of people. While they might not be able to tailor their teaching to different people as well as someone more experienced in the world, they were still improving people¡¯s lives. Anton truly believed cultivation was a boon to the world. Even if there were no wild beasts to contend with, the ground itself was enough of an opponent that humans would do well to have a boost. He¡¯d seen the effects cultivation had on one person¡¯s productivity, and if a single individual could feed more people, then everyone else could achieve more in other areas. People following their passions and drives instead of just doing whatever they had to do to survive was everything Anton wanted. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Some people would inevitably be in positions they didn¡¯t want. Anton would hope those people were few and far between. With the abilities provided by cultivation, most people would be able to take care of their survival needs as well as find time to learn whatever they needed to pursue their desires. Anton¡¯s goals just happened to require more cultivation, as his ambitions had grown far beyond his previous desires of just living happily. He wanted to provide a world where everyone could just live. He couldn¡¯t create a world without tragedy, but he could prevent that which was unnecessary. Even cultivators who misused their abilities to harm others didn¡¯t stop cultivation from being a positive force. It became murky, certainly, but the balance of power between people would always cause humans consternation. If the balance of power could be slightly less controlled by people born into families with piles of shiny metal, he would be happier. Of course those who were rich were more likely to be able to cultivate well, given their free time and access to better techniques or teachers, but with cultivation freely available enough of the masses would surpass those who merely had advantages of wealth. But Anton¡¯s dream was far from being realized. Despite how quickly things seemed to be happening, the world wasn¡¯t going to suddenly change overnight. But he had the power to bring change to a large number of people, and he was going to follow through to the best of his ability. ----- Elder Tshering looked at the ant queen. She had been reluctant to leave behind Anton, but they had been reluctant to let the ants travel around as they pleased. With the time they¡¯d had, the communication between human and ant had improved significantly. The ants had actually developed the ability to write, which confirmed their ability to understand language and higher level communication. That intelligence was still the most worrying part of them, yet also the part they couldn''t do without. And determining that they had intention had been an important step to things. Now, he was working closely with Elder Howland to manage the colony inside the Order itself. They had gotten approval from the Grand Elders, and the ants were still being carefully monitored¡­ but Tshering at least wasn¡¯t particularly worried. At least, not as long as this queen lived. The ants were ultimately dangerous, but he wasn¡¯t sure if they were more dangerous than a proper weapon in the wrong hands. At least he¡¯d been able to confirm their actions and intentions were reasonable. Though they were capable of growing rapidly, they showed restraint. They didn¡¯t consume every source of food in an area, but instead moderated themselves for the sake of long term survival. In a way they were quite similar to humans. Possibly better than some, because there were many people who cared not if future generations could be sustained and would take everything they could get their hands on. Since the queen guided the colony, they worked harmoniously to keep the balance. The original nest had another queen occupying it, but it seemed the development of the queens was a slow process. She was less intelligent than the other, and less able to communicate. But even so, she and her colony were properly respectful of humans. Tshering saw a line of ants marching along his floor to his table. If the ants were any other kind, he would have done his best to keep them out of his house. However, they provided a useful service. They would find any crumbs on the floor that he failed to clean up, but they avoided raiding the larders. The same was true in the fields of crops. They would respect the food as it grew, but if any was left behind in the field after harvest they would eat it, along with food waste from various places. It was honestly better than normal ants, because of the part where they wouldn¡¯t go anywhere they were unwelcome. Sure, it would bother most people that they could get anywhere they wanted to- but they were actually quite reasonable neighbors for humans. As long as you knew what you were getting into. The risk that the ants presented¡­ Elder Tshering equated it to having other people living nearby. If there was conflict it could be devastating, but when working together everyone benefited. And that was discounting the ants¡¯ most unique ability. The ability to resist and devour energy wasn¡¯t possessed only by them, but even things like western creeper had their limits to what they could bypass. Specifically, ascension energy. Not that they had many opportunities to test that, since Anton was the only person with a high proficiency in Fleeting Youth and the Order didn¡¯t know of any other methods to attain it. But given the circumstances of where they were found, it was believed they would be able to handle even more. And quite frankly, though it was a bit callous to think it of an intelligent species, Elder Tshering would much prefer that when the time came any invaders would have to expend large amounts of ascension energy wiping out ants. That way, they wouldn¡¯t have that for his fellow humans. And if the ants truly remained unaffected or at least survived an attack¡­ well, in that case they would be an asset comparable to Life Transformation experts. The Order wouldn¡¯t be betting on that, but they were certainly hoping. Just like the techniques meant to combat ascenders. They certainly worked to disrupt Anton, but everyone who had gone to Everheart¡¯s most recent and perhaps final tomb was still mostly taking the fact that they would work at face value. But everyone had to try, because most of the strongest experts had the information burned into their minds in a way they couldn¡¯t forget, and the invasion was going to happen anyway. Simply knowing the techniques would make them a target, and that was one of the few things everyone agreed Everheart hadn¡¯t lied about or exaggerated. But why not mention the ants? Maybe he just didn¡¯t think anyone would believe something like that unless they saw it themselves. Though in that case, they could have just never been reintroduced to the world. Just like many of the other things. Though Elder Tshering knew Anton had also brought along a particular deer, less remarkable than the ants but still notable. Others must have brought things they were individually interested in back with them. Maybe that was the plan- to provide many different options for people so they didn¡¯t feel like they were forced into anything. Which, ironically, meant they would be going along with Everheart¡¯s plans. For a guy who had been dead for centuries, Everheart sure did cause a lot of trouble. Chapter 262 Some time later, Anton found himself back in Graotan. Not at the Order, or anywhere he¡¯d focused on teaching cultivators. He¡¯d been to Carran a few times before, and while he had technically done some teaching about cultivation while he was there that wasn¡¯t the main reason for visiting. The main reason was visiting family. This time that definition would be expanding, at least in the official sense. Unofficially, everyone involved was already family. Yes, while he might visit occasionally this time his trip to Catarina and Timothy¡¯s hometown was for one simple reason- a wedding. It had been a long time coming, even by the standards of cultivators. A full decade might have passed for those who met later in life, but Catarina and Timothy knew each other basically their entire lives. Timothy¡¯s entire reason to cultivate had been to stay with Catarina, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise in any way. They were just¡­ slow about it. Anton was with Flora and Jasper, Catarina¡¯s parents. The path leading to Flora had been on the shorter end of generations, so she had technically been Anton¡¯s first great-granddaughter- not Annelie. He just hadn¡¯t known it. It was funny how, given enough time, generations could sort of flip on their head. ¡°It¡¯s about time,¡± Flora said. ¡°I thought I was going to be an old woman before Timothy proposed.¡± Instead of mentioning that both herself and her husband were slightly more youthful now than when he¡¯d first met them, due to their progress into late Body Tempering, Anton played along. ¡°You know they can hear you, right?¡± he grinned. ¡°Good,¡± Flora held her head up. ¡°Because they were making me worried.¡± ¡°You know,¡± Jasper leaned in conspiratorially, ¡°I heard that Catarina was the one who finally proposed.¡± He turned to Anton, ¡°What do you know about that?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Well, I suppose you could ask them.¡± It was, in fact, technically true that Catarina had been the one to make the proposal of marriage. It was just that Timothy had been setting up a whole big plan about it, probably too much as those plans never seemed to get completed. That resulted in Catarina asking when they were out on a mission protecting a village from some particularly troublesome beasts, instead of Timothy asking when they returned. ¡°Well, it¡¯s fine,¡± Flora smiled. ¡°But how long do you think it will be before I get grandchildren?¡± ¡°I suppose that¡¯s up to them,¡± Anton said. The current times of relative peace were probably the best they were going to get, but things could change at any moment. But then again, they could have a significant period of peace. During Anton¡¯s century of life before he became a cultivator, he had rarely heard of any large scale conflicts between cultivators. The recent events in Ofrurg would have been the sort to come to his attention, even if it wasn¡¯t directly affecting Dungannon. ----- The actual ceremony was relatively simple. The only extraordinary thing about it was the variety of people who showed up from various surrounding countries. Ayotunde happened to be in the area, and many other cultivators the pair had interacted with came. That included a member of the family who had never encountered Catarina¡¯s parents. Annelie made her way over from the Frostmirror Sect. While her general activities might be monitored by the sect, it was no more than any other member. They simply had vested interests in knowing where their valuable members were, in case something happened to them. The only thing extraordinary about the wedding was the quality of the feast afterwards. Even the local vegetables and chicken provided by the Rileys were exceptional, as they used energy to enhance their work in the fields which ultimately made its way into the animal feed. At the current moment their cultivations were higher than most of those working in the fields at the Order had been, at least when Anton first arrived. Enthusiasm for the work had improved over the past decade, and Elder Howland had some more regular workers at higher cultivation levels- along with Hoyt and Anton, of course. After the ceremony Anton ended up chatting with Kellan, Timothy¡¯s father. ¡°How¡¯s the woodcutting business?¡± ¡°Honestly,¡± Kellan shrugged, ¡°I spend more time taking care of the trees than I do cutting them. It¡¯s so easy that I hardly even need an apprentice or animals to help me drag the tree back. But trees are slow growing. This next generation should have some exceptional quality wood, but otherwise my work is remaining steady.¡± Kellan stroked his beard, ¡°I¡¯ve already begun to buy up some surrounding land to expand where I can work, but I don¡¯t want to push things too quickly.¡± ¡°You might come do some work for the Order,¡± Anton said. ¡°Our forests are extensive enough that we have trouble maintaining them. Of course, there¡¯s a bit of risk from beasts and the like.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll consider it,¡± Kellan said. ¡°But I honestly like a bit of a lazy life. I worked for this, so it¡¯s nice to relax.¡± ¡°Ever think of remarrying?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Considered it some. Thought I was too old. Now I feel closer to my prime, and I might consider it. What about you?¡± Kellan asked. ¡°What? Me, remarry?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I was with Janina so long that it would feel strange to be with anyone else. And it¡¯s not like I¡¯m filled with youthful desires anymore. Even with an extended lifespan, I¡¯m still pretty old here.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t sure if it was because of his late start on cultivation, his use of Candle Wax, or his cultivation of Fleeting Youth, but even as his cultivation continued to climb he wasn¡¯t getting any younger. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He had the appearance of someone in their sixties or seventies, though with excellent fitness. His hair was almost certainly going to remain gray, and he was quite content with that. Maybe that was why, actually. His body functioned well enough, so he didn¡¯t care about being ¡®younger¡¯ and all that entailed. With a few more years under his belt, he found himself heading towards the midpoint of Essence Collection, the prime tempering of the forty-first star. Anton could feel the way his Essence was developing, focused on the promotion of growth. If he didn¡¯t restrain himself around plants, one could almost watch them grow. Or if they had eyes like Anton¡¯s, they could watch them grow. Effects on animals were less obvious, and he wasn¡¯t sure of all the ways he affected cultivators he was teaching, but he was able to help people develop more smoothly. How much of that was his Essence and how much was just experience it was hard to say. ----- If it were possible for Anton to spend the rest of his life just roaming around teaching people about cultivation, or just learning about their professions, he would gladly spend the rest of his life that way. And perhaps he could, if he didn¡¯t care about things actually continuing to function. Unfortunately even during times of peace, there were still troubles in the world. He also had a variety of favors he needed to repay to people. Just because there had been a coordinated effort to deal with affairs in Ofrurg didn¡¯t mean everyone benefited equally. The biggest risks had been taken by the Grasping Willows. As a relatively weaker sect- though their position was changing somewhat- their involvement could have easily harmed them. Indeed, they had suffered a few attacks and lost some members, though the proportional harm was not particularly more than any other group involved. They simply hadn¡¯t been seen as a big enough threat to target¡­ and their actual home was well defended. Anton stood with Lev, who was now one of the strongest members of the Grasping Willows, looking at the plants that they were named after. ¡°Do you really want these things bigger?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Seems like it would make it difficult to move around safely.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point,¡± Lev said. ¡°And members of our sect, at least those who are allowed in this area, will not trigger the willow¡¯s defensive response.¡± To demonstrate that, Lev walked to beneath one of the trees, well within the grasping areas of the dangling branches. He even brushed against some, and they didn¡¯t respond to the touch. ¡°So bigger would be better, as long as the branches can still reach close to the ground. Even then, it could stop people leaping around during a fight.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad to help,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I¡¯m just one more person tending to some trees. You all know more about these than I do.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not here for that, specifically,¡± Lev commented. ¡°You¡¯re here for something dangerous. More dangerous. There¡¯s a big old grandfather willow out in the woods. We sometimes make trips there, but we¡¯ve rarely gotten some good time studying it. Since it¡¯s the basis of our cultivation technique, a trip might improve individual cultivations or allow for changes to the technique as a whole. Or we might learn how to grow bigger plants,¡± Lev shrugged. ¡°It would be very helpful to have a strong cultivator like yourself present on a trip, especially with your ranged capabilities.¡± ¡°A grandfather willow, huh?¡± Anton squinted as he looked into the distance. ¡°And it¡¯s¡­ much bigger than the rest? I haven¡¯t really seen anything like that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not all that close to the sect,¡± Lev said. ¡°About fifty kilometers. And the particular terrain makes it a lot more subtle.¡± ¡°Alright then,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°So the goal is to, what, spend as much time as possible in the area, study the tree?¡± ¡°And the other plants around it. Maybe some of them contribute to its growth, or it was just lucky. Either way, it¡¯s a good training spot for members of the Grasping Willow. Just not a safe one, or we¡¯d have set up the sect there.¡± ----- Elder Varela had been around mid Spirit Building when Anton had first encountered him. Now the man was only stepping into late Spirit Building all this time later. Meanwhile, Lev had already surpassed him and was one of two Essence Collection members going along for the trip. The rest were mostly Spirit Building disciples, with a few peak Body Tempering disciples as well. In total, there were about twenty people going. Elder Evo was the other Essence Collection cultivator, and along with Lev he represented the best that the Grasping Willows had to offer. They were much smaller than the order, and had no Life Transformation cultivators at the moment. They might yet have one in Lev, though it would probably be another thirty or so years before he would reach it, if he had the knack. Lev certainly had talent and motivation, but people reached their limits in between stages of cultivation for many different reasons. Life Transformation was a big barrier that the majority of cultivators would never surpass even with limitless resources. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if they were technically still in the Mossythorn Timberland. They¡¯d been walking for most of a day, keeping pace with the Body Tempering cultivators. He supposed what the area was called hardly mattered unless he was planning to make a map. The important change in scenery was the increase in grasping willows. While the sect had intentionally planted the troublesome trees in greater abundance near them as a combined defensive measure and cultivation aid, their current location was more natural. The plant-aligned cultivations of the others kept them from being attacked, and Anton was too strong for the plants to cause real damage to, but there were other annoyances as well. Actual mossythorn vines, for example. They didn¡¯t look like much, but if you walked through a patch of them you would find yourself with a myriad of tiny little thorns poking into you. Unlike western creeper they didn¡¯t ignore defensive energy, but it was still something that needed to be avoided. There were myriad poisonous plants, though most of them were only troublesome if ingested. The rest had pollen that needed to be avoided, but everyone present knew how to filter their lungs if necessary. Aside from a few other things, all they had to worry about were the beasts that could live in such a place. They ranged from small stinging insects and venomous snakes to bears the size of houses and snakes able to swallow a man whole. Anton was able to lead them around most of the problems as they headed down into the valley that was part of the reason the grandfather willow hadn¡¯t been visible from twenty kilometers away. He could see it now, still overtopping everything else even with its position deep in the valley. Given its size if it had been on relatively the same height compared to the Grasping Willow sect, he could have at least seen hints of it from there. The furthest branches were already overhanging them from kilometers away, drooping along the ground. Anton was very cautious of those, because while he would almost certainly be able to free himself it would be much more difficult than the more modest sized specimens. Chapter 263 ¡°How close do we need to get?¡± Anton asked the members of the Grasping Willows. They were already within the domain of the grandfather willow, a canopy that stretched kilometers around it and dangled thin branches everywhere. Though, they were only thin by comparison to the trunk of the tree. While a normal sized grasping willow had branches no more than a finger in thickness, these were as thick as a man¡¯s arm. Much more difficult to cut through, but still apparently flexible. ¡°Going all the way to the trunk would be best,¡± Elder Ivo replied. ¡°Though we should soon take a break to attune ourselves to the grandfather willow. We would not want anyone to accidentally fall into danger.¡± Anton himself would simply have to deal with avoiding the branches, which could be difficult as the tangle of plants increased in density and began to overlap. He wasn¡¯t the one intended to benefit from this training expedition, though. He might still grow, but it was the weaker cultivators of the Grasping Willows that were the focus of their mission. As Elder Ivo had said, they stopped for a time not much further in. They found a particularly large branch and gathered around it. Anton could feel the way their energy synchronized with the tree, feeling like little extensions of it in a way. It wasn¡¯t a stealth ability like others he had sensed, at least not to the same degree. They weren¡¯t so much attempting to fool people as they were the plant itself, and even that was not quite right. They sought to emulate the tree as more than just a way to avoid danger, but to capture a measure of its power. It was the same with the Ninety-Nine Stars. Anton had forty stars inside of him, though they were a mere shadow of the power held in a real star. He doubted that even ascension cultivators could begin to match that level of strength, though he wasn¡¯t sure what sort of advancement they had beyond that point. Was it the end¡­ or was there more to it? He wouldn¡¯t get to see, but that didn¡¯t matter. There was little point in having so much personal power. Anton much preferred what he was doing now, raising others up while not neglecting himself. Eventually everyone was ready to continue, even the weakest of the group in tune to the point that the grandfather willow wouldn¡¯t trouble them. That didn¡¯t necessarily say the same for everything else, though. Which was part of why Anton was present. Anton caught sight of a giant mantis hiding in the brush. It was much larger than a normal insect of its type, but the tall and thin insect was only about half the size of a human. That put its strange grasping claws at about the size of a shortsword or a long dagger. It would have only taken a single arrow to take out the creature, but that would run counter to their goals. They were here to train some of the younger generation, and that didn¡¯t mean just bringing them to the grandfather willow and letting them sit around it for a while. Energy cultivation was important, but being able to make use of enhanced abilities was just as important. Combat experience was critical, and related to that was the ability to spot enemies. He was fairly certain Lev and Elder Ivo had spotted the creature as well, but even if they hadn¡¯t it wouldn¡¯t be able to harm them unless they specifically lowered their energy defenses. The younger cultivators could be injured, but Anton knew he would be quicker than the creature if it came down to it. As it happened, one of them did spot it in time. A young man named Roch, if Anton recalled correctly. ¡°Orsola, we¡¯ll flank it from either side.¡± The other disciple he spoke to nodded her head, and they both approached the creature at an angle. The creature seemed unsure which of them to attack as they got close, but ultimately it didn¡¯t matter. It sprang towards Roch in the end, but he was ready for the sudden reaching movement, stepping to the side. As it moved, Orsola lashed out with her hair, long enough to trail on the ground if she had not restrained. Thick ropes of hair wrapped around the creature¡¯s left claw, binding the hook to the rest of the appendage. The inside had blades and hooks meant to sink into a creature and hold onto them, but the outside was relatively tame. At the same time Roch made a similar attack, but using the flowing sleeves of his robes instead of his own hair. His hair and beard were growing out, but were not at an effective point for combat just yet. With the creature¡¯s weapons tied up, the two cultivators pulled to either side. It couldn¡¯t reach towards either of them with its insectile mouth, and instead simply tried to pull away. The two cultivators held firm for a few moments before finally it got free¡­ in a manner of speaking. The arm on Orsola¡¯s side was torn off, and Roch still held on. A moment later Orsola slashed out with a sword at her waist. Once the creature was dead, the disciples turned to Elder Ivo for appraisal. The man considered for a few moments. ¡°A reasonable success.¡± ¡°Reasonable?¡± Roch asked. ¡°We subdued it with no injuries.¡± ¡°Yes, the ability to foresee trouble is important. Your teamwork was top notch as well,¡± Elder Ivo said. ¡°But it was not a terribly strong creature. Either of you could have defeated it alone.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no reason not to call upon allies when they are available,¡± Orsola noted. ¡°That¡¯s right. But there are still more of your fellow disciples. Even if you wanted to leave most people free to watch for more trouble, a third member would have done you good. The two of you couldn¡¯t go in for the kill while holding it like that.¡± Elder Ivo knew there were more flaws than that, but he didn¡¯t want to be too harsh. ¡°Overall, an acceptable success in combat. But did you consider something else¡­ like avoiding the creature entirely? That would have been the safest option.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°There¡¯s no guarantee it wouldn¡¯t come after us later,¡± Roch grumbled. ¡°Fair enough,¡± Elder Ivo agreed. ¡°But I know you didn¡¯t even consider it. Not everything has to turn into a fight, even here on a training expedition.¡± ----- There were more minor battles to be had, not all of which went quite so smoothly as the first. There were several injuries, though for the most part cultivators could avoid being actually injured with sufficient defensive energy. Either way weakened them for the future, however, unless their avoidance techniques were sufficient. Anton took out several problematic creatures. Constricting snakes wouldn¡¯t quickly kill one of the weaker cultivators, even if they were left alone, but a venomous snake could strike swiftly and cause significant damage immediately. There was an acceptable level to the power Anton was willing to deal with. He could quickly kill most of the creatures they had come across, but he wouldn¡¯t always be able to make a judgment of whether someone needed saving in battle. So he thinned down the enemies to a more acceptable level. In addition to using teamwork, their grappling abilities, and weapons, the Grasping Willows had another option at their disposal. The environment. There were the smaller offshoots of the tree in many places, and the branches that dangled down to the sloping floor of the valley and trailed along the ground were extremely dangerous as well. The natural inhabitants of the area were capable of avoiding the willows, obviously, but in the middle of combat they weren¡¯t always so lucky. Roch and Orsola were the first ones to drive a creature back into one of the trees, entangling it without either of them having to risk themselves or expend much energy. They even allowed creatures to chase them into an area, stepping over or even on the branches of the grandfather willow. It truly didn¡¯t react to them, though Elder Ivo cautioned that they not linger in their contact. At the current moment, Anton was looking at a bear six meters tall strung up by a large vine, which was wrapping yet another layer around it as it thrashed. It was pulled higher and higher into the canopy above them until it could barely be seen. He had been considering weakening the creatures, but the disciples had spotted it quickly enough and set up their ambush. They were all planning to remain out of reach, so it had been safe enough. In a real battle they could have tripped or gotten stuck, but with three Essence Collection cultivators watching out for them it was an acceptable risk. Unlike if they were engaging in close combat, where a small slip up could result in severe wounds, there would be slightly more time to react. Enough to take out a bear even of that size. Though animals that had energy tended to grow to enormous proportions like that particular bear, in this area there were smaller creatures that survived through virtue of cunning and having sufficient energy. Being smaller was also an advantage, as it allowed them to slip under the dangling branches more easily. Anton sensed the incoming group first. A sizable pack of wolves, several dozen in number. They indeed outnumbered the cultivators, but not by all that much. Their individual prowess Anton might compare to early Spirit Building cultivators. If one didn¡¯t include the Essence Collection cultivators it might be a reasonable combat, but obviously the wolves didn¡¯t have a proper sense of how strong they were. When the battle actually began, however, it was clear they had a strategy that would normally have worked. When the battle began the wolves pushed forward aggressively, working in pairs to force people to retreat. It was exactly like the disciples had been doing earlier, except for one thing. When they stepped into the grasping willows, they were ignored. Anton took a few shots at some of the wolves menacing the Body Tempering cultivators, the weakest of the group. Elder Ivo and Lev also contributed to those who were struggling, and soon the wolves were in a poor position. They had managed to push many of the disciples into positions that would have killed or greatly disadvantaged them, but when they were still able to fight just fine the wolves were unsure what to do. It only took a few moments for the disciples to rally themselves and go on the attack. The wolves had never really wanted to fight to begin with, so as soon as they began to take losses they began to flee. ----- It wasn¡¯t too much longer before the group arrived at the base of the grandfather willow. Instead of a tree it looked more like a giant wall of wood, but from the right angle the actual details came out, the various branches splaying out above them finally gathering into the great tree. This was what they were here for, though Anton knew that didn¡¯t mean they were done with the hard part. They would be remaining in one place for a period of several days at least, which would allow various creatures plenty of time to take notice of them. Some of them would no doubt sense Anton and the other stronger cultivators and stay away, but not every beast could judge opponents by the level of their energy with any accuracy. And there was always the chance that there was something that would provide a real challenge, and wouldn¡¯t like the thought of other powerful creatures moving into its territory. The Grasping Willows made trips to the area often enough that they cleared out many of the problems, but there was no telling what might have moved in since the previous year. For the moment, however, things were peaceful. The disciples gathered around the trunk of the tree. It was the most boring part, but it had the important core of the energy of the grandfather willow, the part that guided the rest of the trees. It had enough power that even Anton thought he could gain some insights from studying it, even though he followed a completely different cultivation style. Though he wasn¡¯t sure if something like that would be of use to him. He would focus most of his attention on searching for threats, though he certainly wouldn¡¯t pass up the chance to observe such an impressive tree. It didn¡¯t move- except when entangling prey- but it had an interesting flow of energy throughout the trunk. Chapter 264 Mosts of the beasts that came close to the group simply observed and then left. They were curious as to what the new creatures were, but they had no intent to fight. Not without reason, anyway. Of course, ¡®reasons¡¯ were somewhat arbitrary, especially when considering the mind of a beast. Simply being present in a creature¡¯s territory might be enough for them to attack. While many animals looked at the risk factors involved, not all of them considered danger a significant factor in restraining themselves, if they could sense the power of those involved. Over the course of a few days there were repeated attacks by various sorts of animals. There were packs of relatively smaller ones, which included one particularly aggressive bird, a species called ¡®rippers¡¯ if Anton recalled correctly. They swooped down together to attack those standing at the outer edges of the group, and would have been quite difficult for beasts to deal with. Even some cultivators might have had trouble, if they had neglected their ranged abilities. The Grasping Willows had significant reach and the ability to independently control multiple extra ¡®limbs¡¯ which helped against the pack tactics¡­ and of course there was Anton. The ability to fly was a huge advantage in the animal kingdom because it allowed a creature to get into a completely unassailable position. Birds were still prey for ambush hunters and the like, but generally they were safe in the air. A proper bow completely negated that advantage, and even transferred it into Anton¡¯s hands, where he could attack them from outside of their reach. There were dozens of the birds, with large bodies placing them about half the height of a human with relatively compact wingspans. They likely couldn¡¯t fly without the aid of energy to support them, but wider wings would have been detrimental if they were flying among the trees. Especially trees so aggressive as the grasping willows. With the long talons and eager energy, Anton knew the disciples would be getting plenty of experience without him holding back to let them fight. It was better for him to fight seriously so that nobody was injured. The first attacks by the birds were aggressive, swooping down and focusing on a small number of individuals. A pair of them even tried to snatch someone and carry them away, but their efforts were thwarted. Anton was creating bows and firing at a handful of different opponents at once. Because of that, his respect for Grand Elder Vandale grew significantly. The first act of the man still stuck in his mind. At a great distance he had used Falling Stars to nearly simultaneously target hundreds of individual creatures. From a vast distance, as well. While it was true that they were unable to predict the attacks and were thus unable to avoid them, it was still impressive. Anton could focus every bow he had on a single target with relative ease, but firing each at a separate target was difficult. Relatively, anyway. He was a cultivator in mid Essence Collection, and though he certainly had his limits¡­ focusing on a few different targets while keeping the whole battlefield in mind was still viable. He couldn¡¯t singlehandedly defend the weaker disciples, but he rapidly put a dent in the enemies¡¯ numbers. Even as the birds began to fall, as they were realizing that the new source of prey was fighting back much more strongly than they thought it would, he sensed something else. He didn¡¯t have much warning because his senses didn¡¯t extend as far in that particular direction, but he was certain he was the first. ¡°Burrowing creatures, watch out!¡± He could have said ¡®worms¡¯ instead of ¡®burrowing creatures¡¯ but the method was the most important. They were under the ground, the closest of them ten meters away and rapidly closing that distance. It was only a couple seconds later when a slick, gray worm poked its head out of the ground. The creature had no eyes, not uncommon for such a creature, but what it lacked there it made up for with additional ¡®heads¡¯. The top portion of each worm was split into a half dozen smaller strands, though they were still as thick as a man¡¯s arm, and with rings of teeth that seemed to encompass their whole diameter. The disciple who had been the first target had managed to dodge out of the way in time, but he seemed to find it difficult to pick a target from among the writhing tubes. By the time he chose to try to wrap them together to decrease their independent reach, more were springing out of the ground. A few of the rippers were still attacking as this happened, unfortunately distracting some of the other Grasping Willows. However, their reduced numbers allowed the strongest among them to focus on the new threats. Anton was already firing as many arrows as he could at the worms that were popping up out of the ground. Unfortunately until they breached the surface they were well defended, and they were also able to immediately reverse course, popping back into the soil where they couldn¡¯t be easily targeted. With their focus on grappling techniques, once they got past the initial surprise at the strange multi-worms, the other cultivators were able to grab some of them. They often worked together, pulling different tendrils of the worms in either direction while a third struck at the momentarily still main body. Those who didn¡¯t have convenient allies often found their hair or robes, whatever they were using to entangle some of the parts, were soon chomped through by the free heads. Anton¡¯s Spirit Arrows found purchase in some of those restrained creatures, and some disciples had energy strong enough to keep their grip intact despite the biting teeth. The one who had the largest impact ended up being Lev. Shortly after the battle started, he bent down to the ground and started proliferating his energy. Anton thought he was just trying to predict the movements of the worms, but he was actually up to something much more impressive. His energy found its way into the dirt¡­ and then into the roots of the grandfather willow. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The soil that had been a barrier to defend the worms was suddenly not as safe as it had been. While even the weakest cultivators among them could chop twenty or thirty centimeters into the ground, the worms were able to instantly retreat several meters as their long bodies tightened and yanked them downward. Once underground they were quite mobile, almost swimming through the soil¡­ but they had the weakness that every burrower had. They could change direction but the tunnel they made was where their entire body went. So when thin roots began wrapping around their midsections, there was little they could do to avoid it. Anton found it somewhat disturbing that even when Lev began slicing them in half with ever increasing pressure from the thin roots, both halves continued to move independently. Even so, they were also clearly disadvantaged. Blood began to soak the ground, and without their full length the multi-worms couldn¡¯t withdraw with the same sort of speed they had shown at the beginning of the battle. They began to be torn apart- figuratively and literally- by the rest of the combatants. A few minutes later, Anton was firing a few last arrows into the most stable tunnels, chasing after a few fleeing worms. Perhaps they were a part of the local ecosystem, but they would have to deal with their numbers being thinned as much as he could. Anton didn¡¯t hate worms, and in fact he knew that some of them were quite good for the soil¡­ but he also wouldn¡¯t accept them trying to kill humans. There were a number of injuries among the disciples, and even Anton had almost been injured by one that sprang up underneath him while he was focused on a few other targets. Its teeth had chomped onto his foot and leg, but he hadn¡¯t dropped his defensive energy and resisted the damage. But it was closer than he would have liked. He needed to expand his ability to focus on multiple areas at once, so he would be able to make the most of his offense and watch around himself in detail at the same time. He didn¡¯t regret prioritizing the others in this particular case, and would have even been fine with some injuries, but he knew he wanted to surpass this particular limit on simultaneous action. The trip to the grandfather willow ended up with significant insights on the part of many different people. The various strands the Vessel of Insights picked up were almost enough to let Anton cultivate the technique without further instruction, though to actually do so he would have had to give up the Ninety-Nine Stars. It wasn¡¯t ever really considered, but Anton appreciated the insights into the inner workings of plants. Of those present, Lev benefited the most. He was the most prominent disciple, and soon likely the highest cultivation member of the Grasping Willows, so it wasn¡¯t strange. His aptitude had seemed somewhat average before his near death at the hands of the parasitic moss, but afterwards his progress had accelerated. The insights he gained from the experience that left him with a ruined arm were greatly beneficial, and he came away with a great determination to improve himself. Now, almost a decade later, he was more than just Elder Varela¡¯s favorite disciple. He was becoming a pillar of the Grasping Willows. And to think, they might have arrived too late to save him. Or Fuzz. Sometimes, seemingly simple decisions led to large changes in the future. Anton just hoped he was making good ones. ----- A doe waited in the woods in front of Anton, knowing he would come. His decision to bring her with him had been spontaneous, mostly out of pity and a bit out of curiosity. He knew that no normal creatures would have thrived in the ecosystem Everheart had set up, but he hadn¡¯t really thought much of it. The pregnant doe had merely been something he desired to protect, so he¡¯d done so. It had been a year after the doe gave birth that Anton learned exactly what special traits the species had. The assumed traits were simple. They were more physically robust than the average deer, at least the ones he¡¯d dealt with before he was a cultivator. Both young bucks were more than capable of defending themselves from the creatures in the forest, even before their horns grew in. Once they did grow in, they were like blades that sliced through their foes like butter. Some of that was the effect of their energy and not their physical makeup, but either way they were quite capable of taking care of themselves. So was their mother, once she was not heavily pregnant in just the wrong circumstances. The next year a question Anton had was easily answered, as the doe became pregnant once more. They were indeed capable of breeding with the local varieties of deer, and though he couldn¡¯t yet be sure, he thought they ended up similar in strength. The advantages of the special ones were strongly dominant, at least, though Anton only had the pair of bucks and then another trio of does born from the original mother. He would be keeping watch over the next years as the children aged into maturity and had their own offspring. But some slightly strong deer wouldn¡¯t have been much to talk about. Even if they were quite tasty, something Anton wouldn¡¯t even consider testing until their population was much larger, there had to be more to them to be worth Everheart bringing them along. They could have just been there to fill a missing ecological niche, but Anton quickly learned that was not the case. Because there was no way that they accidentally were disruptive to ascension energy. Unlike the ants they didn¡¯t seem particularly resistant to it or energy in general, but something about their aura made it difficult to use around them. Anton imagined that if he wanted to use it defensively their horns might pierce through it, but he didn¡¯t have clear enough communication with them to try. He certainly didn¡¯t want to teach them to attack humans arbitrarily. As for how much the deer would matter¡­ Anton doubted it would be much. A bit of disruption might be nice, but the ants were such outliers from the norm that he found himself unimpressed by the deer. At least, in a relative sense. Something bigger than a human being a potential asset was quite reasonable. Ants that were smaller than some technically normal species being almost completely immune to the effects of energy were a much bigger deal. It was a good thing they could be considered friendly, though Anton hoped they wouldn¡¯t be too friendly to any invaders. Chapter 265 It was difficult to plan for an invasion at a vaguely known time in an unknown place. The elders of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars were no different in that regard from any others. Grand Elders Kseniya, Matousek, Fodor, and Zajoc were meeting along with the handful of others who were at least temporarily filling the positions. It was somewhat uncomfortable how temporary those positions had been with all the turnover in the last decade. ¡°This is a serious problem,¡± Kseniya wasn¡¯t the most senior Grand Elder by a great deal, though strangely enough she was now in the top half despite her only being in the position for a few years. However, she spoke with the confidence of someone whose words were important. And they were, even if her perception slightly deviated from the norm. ¡°At best, I can see less than a sixth of the way across the country. From this height, that distance of a hundred and fifty kilometers or so is my limit for how far I can shoot right now. Even if I expanded that, it¡¯s not enough.¡± ¡°You are not responsible for defending the whole of Graotan yourself,¡± Elder Matousek reminded her. ¡°Who else will? They could show up anywhere. Our position here is the best for our training, but it¡¯s far from centrally located. If attackers appeared in the east, even if a message immediately reached us we wouldn¡¯t be able to respond for days, or at least a handful of hours.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that is as important as improving our defenses,¡± Grand Elder Zajoc commented. ¡°They¡¯ll be coming for the sects primarily, from what we know. Places with concentrations of resources.¡± ¡°Maybe we shouldn¡¯t have any then,¡± Fodor suggested. When he saw the blank looks on people¡¯s faces, he clarified. ¡°If we minimize the amount of extra resources we have, preferably by using them to increase everyone¡¯s combat capabilities as much as possible, then even in the worst case scenario they get less. And in the best case, we drive them off with fewer casualties.¡± He shrugged, ¡°Obviously equipment will need to be distributed for use, since it would be foolish to give up our combat potential.¡± ¡°The problem there is when and how to allocate resources, as it always is,¡± Matousek commented. ¡°There should yet be decades until it is time. Unfortunately we don¡¯t quite know more than that. Perhaps we will get a clearer picture as it approaches. For now, I suggest we continue our steady approach to raising our disciples. With the swelling numbers¡­ our resources will be used up naturally anyway.¡± Zajoc grinned, ¡°With Vincent and Anton, I can¡¯t think of a time recruitment has ever been so high. Our numbers could triple in a few decades. That¡¯s compared to before the recent conflict, even. Depending on the timeframe, we might even swell our ranks of Life Transformation cultivators to higher than it had been before.¡± Matousek nodded her head. ¡°There are more than a handful of promising candidates.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s be candid here,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°There are five who are guaranteed to reach Life Transformation in that time if they don¡¯t die, and there are a couple dozen promising candidates on top of that.¡± ¡°If they survive,¡± Matousek nodded slowly, ¡°Which is far from a guarantee, despite their success so far.¡± ¡°Vandale¡¯s grandson won¡¯t die,¡± Zajoc commented. ¡°You can¡¯t guarantee that,¡± Matousek said. ¡°Even at the price of your own life. And even if it did, it would only be¡­ of marginal benefit.¡± ¡°Oh, his value would be much more than mine,¡± Zajoc smiled slightly. ¡°But I¡¯ve seen him fight. More than just cultivation talent, I know he¡¯ll just refuse to die.¡± ¡°That only works until someone cuts your head off,¡± Matousek grimaced. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true in most cases,¡± Zajoc conceded. Certainly, the Order didn¡¯t have any techniques for miraculous recovery after such fatal events. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to drive the conversation in a negative direction,¡± Matousek explained. ¡°But counting on people to advance without issue is quite different from guaranteeing they will survive until that point. Unless we sequester them away, but in that case most of them would stagnate.¡± Matousek shrugged, ¡°That Catarina girl would probably be fine as long as we locked her in with cultivation resources, but it would hardly be worth it. We can¡¯t expect the world to stop for a while while we ready ourselves for this. Even if every cultivation sect focuses on this same goal- which we certainly can¡¯t guarantee- we¡¯d all run out of resources without some adventuring around.¡± ¡°Elder Howland has been doing an excellent job managing our crops,¡± Fodor commented. ¡°But it¡¯s not as if we have breeding programs for powerful beasts and metal deposits don¡¯t usually just migrate until they¡¯re under a sect.¡± ¡°I remember that one,¡± Zajoc nodded, ¡°Heavy Mountain Gate was quite surprised to find their mineshafts filled in with ore after a few years of neglect. But it¡¯s certainly impossible to count on such fortune.¡± ¡°Regardless,¡± Matousek said. ¡°We have built up significant resources over the years. Even if we are unsure of the specific timeframe, I agree we can afford to be a bit more generous in doling things out. Perhaps even some specific rewards for advancements in anti-ascension techniques. Though we don¡¯t want people to neglect their basic cultivation either.¡± Exact details would be hammered out over time, but that was something they both had too much and too little of. It was hard to raise up a whole new generation of cultivators to the peak in a few decades, but it was also difficult to manage resources on a scale longer than that. Perhaps there was a reason Everheart had chosen the particular timings for his announcement. Or maybe he just liked pushing people to their limits. ----- If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Anton stood atop the mountain, staring up at the sky. The flat ground he was standing atop was not natural in the slightest, but instead was the result of observatory rubble having been cleared away. Only some of the outer structure had remained intact after the battle that resulted in Vandale¡¯s death. It was unfortunate, but it was gone. There had been some talk of rebuilding it to respect his memory, but it hadn¡¯t yet happened. Vandale had been the only one who used the observatory regularly, at least among the Grand Elders. Personally Anton thought that was a mistake, but even if they were going to rebuild it it would take some time. Large, carefully crafted pieces of glass didn¡¯t just appear from nowhere, and the original craftsman had died. Of age and nothing else. It had simply stood atop the mountain for many decades both before and after his death. It wasn¡¯t impossible to replace it, but it would take some time. That didn¡¯t stop Anton from staring up at the stars. His bare eyes were much more effective than most people¡¯s, given his training focused in that area. He would still benefit from a telescope, and he had commissioned a small one¡­ but it would be nothing close to the actual observatory. All of the directly practical components of the Ninety-NIne Stars were well documented, so perhaps people didn¡¯t need to study the actual stars. But for Anton, at least, he felt more connected to things when he took some time to study the sky. It was kind of funny, actually, since every celestial body was incomprehensibly far away. Except perhaps the moon, which was just very far. He¡¯d been there, though. He remembered the vision of the world from up above clearly. And he wanted to keep it safe. Anton finished his study of the stars and the moon, eyes lingering on other planets he could only see in vague detail. Were there cultivators on those? Vandale had indicated there wouldn¡¯t be, at least not on any planet they could see, but it was possible there were things that could survive in the extreme cold or heat those other planets would have. Though having a working ecosystem would certainly be more difficult. When morning came, Anton found himself still staring up at the sky. It wasn¡¯t strange for a cultivator to spend hours or days focused on a particular task, but Anton found he was quite the opposite of that. His focus wavered even to the point that he did something he would usually have avoided. He looked directly at the rising sun. His first thought was to look away, to shield his eyes¡­ but in truth he didn¡¯t need to do so. A tempered body alone might not have resisted some amount of damage, but the steady infusion of energy enhancing his sight also helped reduce the incoming intensity. It didn¡¯t stop Anton from almost falling off his feet, though. It was staggeringly beautiful, even as it reminded him of Vandale¡¯s death with its intensity. Red, orange, yellow, white. It was all of those things, and transitioned through them as it moved throughout the sky. Its intensity drowned out all of the other stars to the point they couldn¡¯t even be faintly glimpsed. Anton felt the heat on his skin, the sensation of the greatest fire that anyone he knew had ever felt, yet distanced enough to be simply pleasant instead of destructive. Not that the sun was stagnant or calm. He could see many different shapes swirling on its surface, though he only knew they were moving from long experience. He knew they might be incredibly fast, but the various bits and pieces seemed to be standing still due to the vast scale of the star. Having reached the midpoint of Essence Collection, Anton had been searching for an area of focus. His Essence of promoting growth could lead towards many things, but in the end it brought him to this point. Anton wouldn¡¯t have considered providing the widest possible spread of growth a ¡®focus¡¯, but he certainly felt it to be possible. Anton wondered how he could reconcile that with caring about specific people, but it was easy enough. Even the sun shone more on some places than others. While Anton knew that was simply due to the angles involved and not a choice on the part of the sun, Anton wasn¡¯t a burning ball of fire in the sky. He was a person. A cultivator. He wasn¡¯t restricted to being exactly like the object of his focus. Otherwise he would have to burn up, and the Grasping Willows would have to actually become trees. As he watched the sun move across the sky, Anton wondered what that particular focus might mean for his cultivation. While cultivators advanced mainly through the intake of energy and using it to temper themselves, for Essence Collection it was more related to concepts. He might indeed be able to advance by focusing on the wide growth of the world, not too different from what he¡¯d already been doing¡­ but how would that affect him in battle? His techniques? He didn¡¯t know exactly, but he would have plenty of time to think about it, as long as he didn¡¯t spend too many nights and days staring up at the sky. If he was going to do that, he at least wanted to make sure he took time for practical things as well. ----- Though nearly everyone would have been quite content if the world continued peacefully for the next several decades, that simply wouldn¡¯t happen. Not everything required the attention of Essence Collection cultivators, but Anton couldn¡¯t resist the call of former allies. To the south, in Droca, trouble was brewing. Perhaps most people might not have considered people they traveled with one time for a few weeks as close companions, but that didn¡¯t stop Anton from being willing to answer the call for help from Caeus and Printza, two young members of the Iron Fist Sect. They were not even located particularly far from the Order, though the general terrain of Droca was much rougher and less habitable than Graotan. Most of his frequent companions were occupied, and none of them had ties to the pair regardless. Anton had only met them when on his way back Cruhull during the height of the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s killings. As it turned out, it was the best decision all of those traveling together could have made, since there had been an attack. Anton could have gone alone, but he still recruited some people to come with him. Devon was free and inclined to seek out new experiences. There was also Alva, who was unoccupied and absolutely not going to let Anton leave her behind for any reason. It wasn¡¯t as if he could say anything was ¡®too dangerous¡¯ for her now. If it was too dangerous for her, he also shouldn¡¯t be going. While the difference between early and mid Essence Collection was not insignificant, it wasn¡¯t so strong of a divide as Essence Collection and Spirit Building. So even if he still felt the desire to protect his young granddaughter, he knew he couldn¡¯t do so by excluding her from anything. So instead he would simply have to make sure both of them were as strong as possible so they could handle anything that came up. Anton cared about Devon too, of course, but he didn¡¯t have the advantage of being young or cute. That was probably just as well, since it would help Anton make more logical decisions about how to fight with him. He worried about a possible day where he was in a battle along with all of his granddaughters and how he could focus on battle properly instead of unnecessary worry. Perhaps the mentality of a warrior still hadn¡¯t quite overtaken him, even after a decade. Chapter 266 As their small group returned to Droca, Anton remembered his thoughts about it when they were passing through on the way to the secret realm. Something about the land¡¯s barrenness felt wrong, and that hadn¡¯t diminished since his previous visits. But it wasn¡¯t as if he could ¡®fix¡¯ a whole country just by thinking about it, and he wasn¡¯t the only one who knew about the issues. The locals were more motivated than himself, but nothing about it had changed. The country had enough arable land to support a small population, and enough energy for people to cultivate, but it was hard to compare it to Graotan to the north. Its neighbor Floelor was not much better off, however. One significant detail had changed, however. That was the secret realm itself. It was, more or less, extra land inside of Droca itself. It was a bit difficult to navigate, though not quite as dangerous as it had been shortly after opening. For the local sects, it was a great boon- and the possession of the area was turning to Droca¡¯s control, after the first period of years where it had been available to all simply for the sake of getting the support to open it. From what Anton understood, the Iron Fist Sect- which he was visiting- and the Black Earth Clan who had been the original discoverers of the secret realm were controlling the area. Generally, they charged a small fee for anyone who wished to enter the secret realm and try their hand at the various challenges. ----- The Iron Fist Sect looked more like an outpost placed atop a rocky outcropping than anything else. They likely claimed much more territory around the area, but the actual buildings they had were condensed into a small area. It looked much more defensible than the Order, at least. Other than that, there was little going for it except presumably its proximity to valuable resources of some kind, beyond the stone that everything was built from. The group of three and a wolf were only delayed slightly at the gates as the guards verified their reason for arrival, and then they were quickly escorted to a functional but austere meeting room, except for Fuzz who remained outside. Inside were Caeus and Printza, along with someone else from their sect Anton didn¡¯t recognize. Like the others, he was covered from head to toe in armor. ¡°Greetings,¡± the man said with a strong voice. ¡°I am Elder Magro. I have heard much about you from these two disciples.¡± ¡°I am Anton Krantz, and these are Devon and Alva,¡± Anton introduced them. ¡°I see your cultivation has advanced quite well, Caeus, Printza.¡± ¡°... has it?¡± Caeus¡¯ face was mostly hidden, but his body language spoke volumes. ¡°It feels like we¡¯ve only gotten further behind.¡± Anton couldn¡¯t honestly say they were wrong, at least from a certain perspective. They hadn¡¯t yet managed to surpass the barrier to enter Essence Collection, but they were still young so Anton imagined they would. Though he¡¯d pulled away, their own cultivation speed was not poor. With the poor quality of energy in the area, Anton also had a bit of an advantage, unless they were able to spend much of their time in the secret realm. Elder Magro redirected the conversation. ¡°We appreciate your assistance on this matter. We would normally handle problems from within our own sect, but we¡¯ve been plagued by a particular problem that we haven¡¯t been able to solve ourselves. These two were highly complimentary of your perceptive abilities. And your strength as well, but the Iron Fist Sect isn¡¯t lacking in that.¡± Anton nodded and smiled pleasantly. Elder Magro was a mid Essence Collection cultivator, so it would be hard for anyone to call him weak. Anton also felt others of equivalent strength throughout the Iron Fist Sect. However, few of them were in late Essence Collection. Anton thought his own cultivation was probably slightly ahead of the elder, though even considering the extended lifespans cultivators had, ¡®Elder¡¯ Magro was likely younger than him still. No more than seventy or eighty. That of course would imply he¡¯d been cultivating for several times as long as Anton. ¡°Is there something difficult to find? I only heard there was a creature troubling the sect.¡± ¡°That is what we presume,¡± Elder Magro nodded. ¡°Unfortunately, we haven¡¯t been able to catch even a glimpse of whatever it is. It could be a cultivator, but it wouldn¡¯t explain their activities. Not that it makes much more sense from a beast, but¡­ well,¡± Elder Magro shrugged. ¡°There have been a series of holes dug in the area. Or perhaps it is better to say smashed into the ground. While a hole or two isn¡¯t a big deal, even a large one, the problem is they are often accompanied by earth tremors.¡± Elder Magro smiled awkwardly, ¡°Not a good sign when a series of tunnels snakes throughout the region.¡± ¡°How do you know they are connected?¡± Anton asked. ¡°At first we only suspected,¡± Elder Magro explained. ¡°We noticed some tremors first, and then we started finding the holes. It was only when one of our disciples happened to be nearby when it happened that we were certain about the connection. Since that time, we¡¯ve had elders nearby once or twice, but nobody has managed to sense what man or beast caused it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not some sort of natural occurrence, I take it?¡± ¡°Certainly not. You¡¯ll agree when you see one. Speaking of which, we¡¯ll be heading out tomorrow morning, so that you and your companions can take a slight rest from your journey. We¡¯ll take you to the area, and try to be there for another incident. They¡¯ve been increasing in frequency as of late, sometimes more than once per day.¡± ----- When they came to one of the known locations, Anton saw exactly what Elder Magro meant. The hole was too circular to be natural. Not smooth and round, but it ran a clear line into the ground until the bottom filled with rubble. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The holes weren¡¯t small, either. They were approximately four meters in diameter, and more than ten meters deep. If these were caused by a cultivator¡­ well, Anton supposed if he¡¯d gone down a different path it wouldn¡¯t be unreasonable for him to do such a thing a couple times per day. Or if he used ascension energy. It was just normal stone, after all. He tore off a chunk and crushed it in his hand just to be sure, but felt nothing special about it. It wasn¡¯t soft, but it wasn¡¯t exceptional. ¡°I can see why you would want to deal with this,¡± Anton said honestly. ¡°Even without any tremors. Fuzz, can you smell anyone or anything else that might have been here?¡± Fuzz spent a good ten minutes sniffing around the area, ultimately shaking his head. That didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t smell anything, but nothing that he would tie to causing the hole. He doubtless picked up all kinds of scents, but nothing that stood out as not fitting. The same remained true as they visited some of the most recent locations, with no scents matching any of the other locations. Anton didn¡¯t see anything either, though he wouldn¡¯t expect tracks in such a rocky region. He didn¡¯t sense any lingering energy, which was strange. ¡°When did this happen?¡± he asked. ¡°This one should have been¡­ the day before yesterday.¡± Anton frowned. If it had been a week he might have supposed the energy would have completely faded, but for something of the size they were dealing with it had to have taken a large amount of energy, whether caused by man or beast. Especially since it happened all at once. He dropped down into one of the holes, motioning Alva to come with him. ¡°See if you can learn anything from this,¡± he said as he began inspecting the edges. He didn¡¯t get much himself. The impact had to be in the middle of the area, or it wouldn¡¯t have been round. The edges were mostly the materials having shorn off at weak points, when they found themselves no longer supported. Beneath his feet the rubble continued for more than a handful of meters. He knew it was extremely suspicious, but that didn¡¯t tell him anything. ¡°I can¡¯t find anything,¡± Alva admitted. ¡°There¡¯s not really any sign of what caused this.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can¡¯t even find traces of the impact point. Though perhaps they got turned to dust, like much of the rest of this.¡± That day bore no fruit, so they returned to the Iron Fist Sect at the end of the day. They were all a little bit tired, mostly from the lack of anything really happening than from the physical exertion. ¡°Elder Magro,¡± one of the guards saluted. ¡°There is a message waiting for you.¡± He gestured for Anton and the others to follow. ¡°I¡¯m betting this is related to why you are here.¡± It took him a bit to track down the message, which then led him to a disciple. The disciple was a middle aged man with a mediocre cultivation, but he stood tall and proud in his armor. ¡°Elder Magro,¡± he said as they found him. ¡°I found another hole related to your mission. A fresh one. I felt the tremors and heard the crashing, and immediately found my way there, but there was nothing.¡± Elder Magro sighed, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect much differently. Even so, we¡¯ll check it out in the morning.¡± Anton had a thought about that. ¡°Do the holes only happen during the day?¡± he questioned. ¡°Actually,¡± Elder Magro frowned, ¡°There have been at least a few at night.¡± ¡°We should probably head back out now,¡± Anton said. ¡°If it¡¯s safe.¡± ¡°Safe enough,¡± Elder Magro admitted. ¡°Anything that comes out in the dark around here I could handle¡­ or any of you,¡± he nodded. ¡°Except perhaps whatever is causing this. Come on then, we¡¯re heading out.¡± He turned towards the disciple. ¡°Your name?¡± ¡°Guthini, elder.¡± Eight figures went back out into the night, four in heavy armor while the others were in lighter fare. Perhaps one of them did not have armor at all, depending on how one counted Fuzz. They wouldn¡¯t exactly be quiet, but it was likely whatever or whoever they were seeking could sense their energy anyway. But if they didn¡¯t look, they wouldn¡¯t find anything. Guthini managed to get them to the location, with a little bit of adjustment to find his way in the dark. The stars were bright and they carried some light sources, but it was still nothing compared to the day. ¡°Not a speck of energy,¡± Anton said. ¡°Not that I expected different. Fuzz?¡± Fuzz began sniffing around, eventually coming back to Guthini. ¡°Yes, he already said he came here earlier when it happened.¡± The chance that the disciple was causing it was¡­ miniscule. And reporting it would have been strange if he had. Just in case, Anton carefully sensed the man¡¯s cultivation. If he was suppressing it or hiding something like the Twin Soul Sect, Anton would have found it. But he was quite normal. Fuzz also accepted the explanation easily, but it seemed he hadn¡¯t found anything else. They began to inspect the hole, but found it no different from any of the others except in location and exactly how the rubble piled at the bottom. This one had more of a slope from one side instead of a flat spread or a hill in the middle. Then there was a tremor, accompanied by a loud rumbling sound. Not the sort of impact Anton expected, but he fired an arrow in the direction of the disturbance anyway. He went with the spirit arrow, his connection to it allowing limited sensing in the area. It was less than two seconds later that he reached the hole, and found¡­ nothing. There wasn¡¯t anything fleeing the scene, no sense of energy¡­ only falling debris. By the time everyone ran to the site in person, the Essence Collection cultivators far out ahead of the rest, a few last pieces fell. And then it was still. ¡°Did you sense anything?¡± Elder Magro asked. ¡°No,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Dammit. What do we do?¡± ¡°Actually,¡± Anton flicked his eyes around the area. ¡°The fact that I sensed nothing actually tells us a lot.¡± Anton jumped into the hole, and felt down, deep as he could. Sending his energy through rock was difficult, even broken up as it was. Ten meters. Twenty meters. He couldn¡¯t go much further than that, but he smiled. ¡°Oho, there it is.¡± ¡°You found it?¡± Elder Magro stepped forward excitedly. ¡°Not quite,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But I found a clear pointer in the right direction. The reason we couldn¡¯t sense anything is we were looking on the wrong side of the hole. Whatever is causing this has been doing so from underneath. I can sense a bit of lingering energy down below, though not our quarry.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Elder Magro nodded. ¡°It only makes sense¡­ though being inside a collapsing tunnel should be quite dangerous. And if it¡¯s someone or something burrowing¡­ what are they trying to get to?¡± ¡°A good question,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But that might take some digging to find out.¡± He gestured, ¡°The physical kind, though talking to people might help too.¡± Chapter 267 ¡°Something is working underground to create these holes. Collapses, really.¡± Anton reiterated the situation. ¡°That means we¡¯ll have to dig it out, and we might as well start with this most recent point. Though it might also be prudent to check things out from the perspective of the tunnels in this area.¡± ¡°The Black Earth Clan knows the tunnels better than us,¡± Elder Magro replied. ¡°I should get in contact with them, since they¡¯re likely also concerned about what¡¯s happening here. Will you be safe here if I leave you?¡± ¡°I finally caught a sense of the beast. At least, it feels more like beast than cultivator. It should not be something we can¡¯t handle¡­ but no battle is truly safe. We could hold off on finding our way through but¡­¡± ¡°Time might be important,¡± Elder Magro nodded. ¡°Come on Guthini. You¡¯ll return with me, and I¡¯ll have you make another trip out here with backup. Since we¡¯ve actually found a real lead, it¡¯s best to be proactive about this.¡± With that, Elder Magro left. Left behind were Caeus, Priscia, Anton, Alva, Devon, and of course Fuzz. Fuzz almost began digging, but Anton stopped him. ¡°I have no doubt you would make the fastest progress of all of us, but you¡¯re also likely to make things unstable. Perhaps you could start at the top and dig a slope to make it easier for us to get chunks out?¡± Fuzz nodded, happily clawing at the stone, pulling chunks of it away with every swipe of his paws. It wasn¡¯t quite the same as a normal wolf digging through loose soil, but it hardly seemed to slow him down. Anton and the rest, who all had hands, began chucking pieces out of the hole while they kept a careful watch on the stability below them. If it had collapsed once, it might do so again. Soon enough Guthini returned with a handful of others, including an Essence Collection elder. The hole was just wide enough for everyone to work without disrupting each other, but they were getting to the point it was difficult to toss the larger chunks of rock out of the hole. Fuzz¡¯ work had only gotten him a couple meters down the edge, as he had to cut a longer and wider furrow in the stone to keep it stable. The members of the Iron Fist Sect had sturdy bodies, as one might expect from people who spent all their time in armor. Anton was only able to keep up with them by advantage of superior cultivation, and he was used to hard work. There was only so much they could do with their hands, however. After a few hours of digging, while they were certainly making progress, they sent disciples off to get proper tools. The biggest problem was still getting large quantities of stone out of the area, and some were too large to fit through the mouth of a storage bag. They could break them apart, but as they got deeper the stone became more dense and difficult, and thus tiring to break apart. They worked tirelessly, but by the time the rays of dawn shone onto the upper parts of the hole, they were only perhaps a couple dozen meters deeper. They were well below the point the creature had dug up to to cause the collapse, but yet more rubble was buried deeper below them. They had no idea how far it might extend, and if they actually came upon something they didn¡¯t want to fight it fatigued. Thus, they finally took a moment to sleep shortly after dawn, returning to the Iron Fist Sect. ----- When they later awoke, after a mere handful of hours asleep, they met up once more to return. Elder Magro was waiting for them, along with some members of the Black Stone Clan. This expedition was turning into a larger thing, and not quite what Anton and the others signed up for¡­ but they wanted to see things through to the end. The Black Stone Clan had sent over two elders, a man and a woman, as well as a number of disciples. ¡°Greetings,¡± the man inclined his head. ¡°I am Pero.¡± ¡°And I am Olimpia.¡± ¡°Anton, of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars.¡± The others introduced themselves as well, including Fuzz with a short bark. Alva enlightened the rest to his actual name. Elder Magro explained what he could while they returned to the site. ¡°The Black Stone Clan had noticed the oddities as well, including some collapses in the tunnels. They had not found any connection to the holes, however, making the same assumptions of something coming from the surface. They sensed nothing down below, at least.¡± ¡°We hadn¡¯t expected something to be digging entirely new tunnels,¡± Pero commented. ¡°But it fits the evidence we had seen.¡± ¡°Combining our efforts should be most effective,¡± Olimpia continued. ¡°If it¡¯s just clearing out rubble and stabilizing tunnels, we have plenty of experience. And whatever we might find should be of interest to both our sects.¡± When they arrived back at the site, the Black Stone Clan showed their expertise in the situation. They took over the sloping furrow Fuzz had been digging and turned it into a proper ramp, pulling away pieces of rock instead of digging them out. They acted more like they were molding clay with their energy, and they had much more precision. That also left the sides of the ramp more secure, which became important as people got deeper. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°If it goes much deeper than this we¡¯ll have to set up a proper mineshaft of some sort,¡± Elder Pero pointed out when they were around a hundred meters down. If they weren¡¯t cultivators it would have already been too risky to work as they were with potential collapses. His words turned out to be prophetic- or perhaps experienced was more correct. Either way, the tunnel continued ever deeper, winding back and forth in some places, but nearly packed full of rubble in all areas. Several days passed, and there were discussions about what the purpose was. It couldn¡¯t have just been for traveling through, because it all seemed intentionally collapsed. Like weaker areas of stone were dug through for that very purpose. That made them ever more worried about the multitude of presumably similar tunnels now dotting the landscape. Their work became more efficient as they got used to it, though it was also due to recruiting more disciples from either sect for the labor. There was now a constant stream of people moving in and out of the tunnel, each carrying a storage bag full of rubble. One kilometer down. The temperature went from the ambient coolness of cave systems to uncomfortably warm. Special care was taken to make sure proper amounts of air were reaching everyone working. Two kilometers. People began to question whether anything could create such a tunnel in just a few hours. But they hadn¡¯t found the end yet. Three kilometers. People were sweating constantly from temperatures that were bordering on deadly for normal humans. Anyone who had surpassed Body Tempering could withstand much more for extended periods of time, but it was uncomfortable. Several more days of work, and they reached four and five kilometers deep. Soon enough they could all sense it. A source of heat, the nature of which was pointed out by the Black Stone Clan elders. ¡°We do not usually dig so deep, not without good reason. That source up ahead is almost certainly a magma chamber. It¡¯s not safe to dig near them. That said, it¡¯s not as if we are opening up the walls. This tunnel already leads there, so we should be safe enough. At least, from that.¡± The tunnel slightly leveled out as they approached, and more than that it was not as completely full of rubble. When they reached a point it was actually opened up for a significant distance, Anton sensed something as the heat washed over everyone. The same energy signature as before, but less muted now. It was stronger than he had thought, though not worryingly so. It just fit in with the natural surroundings so he¡¯d been off with the magnitude of its power. If it had been just himself and a couple others he might be concerned, but at the moment they had six Essence Collection cultivators and dozens of Spirit Building disciples. ¡°I sense it,¡± Anton said. ¡°We should be cautious.¡± Just because he wasn¡¯t worried didn¡¯t mean it was appropriate to be careless. There was a great beast ahead, an overlord if anything deserved to be called that. ¡°Its energy does not feel as strong as a Life Transformation cultivator, but it isn¡¯t too far from it. We can expect it to have an exceptionally powerful body as well.¡± Anton was picking out all the details he could. It was, unsurprisingly, about as wide as the four meter diameter of the tunnel. A long body, and with rows of legs. From what he could sense it seemed more akin to a lizard than an insect, but it was difficult to tell at their current distance. He explained what he could to the others, and pondered the situation. Even for something of that size and power, it didn¡¯t make sense that it could create the tunnels so quickly. And for them to find it in its lair, when it seemed to constantly be at work¡­ His energy senses dipped into the lava which filled up a good portion of the chamber. He could hardly sense anything beyond the heat, but he knew there was something there. Many things, with a sense of life about them. Not the size of the overlord, but still perhaps a meter or more in any particular direction. Back at the mouth of the tunnel, he saw the trail of rock, chunks of it in an obvious path to the magma. And around the large chamber, there were many openings at various angles. Some came more directly from above, and were empty. He couldn¡¯t quite pick out why things were done one exact way, but he began to get the picture. Among other things, he could just pick out a partial magma tube, where the magma must have once been able to flow out of the chamber they were in. ¡°I think there¡¯s a mating pair,¡± Anton said calmly. ¡°That¡¯s how they managed certain collapses close together, though they must still have powerful burrowing abilities. I also sense some young¡­ in the magma, no less. These tunnels are to fill up the pool, though I¡¯m not entirely sure why it had to be done this way.¡± Extremely long tunnels where most of the rubble didn¡¯t even get to the end, when there were closer sources, seemed unnecessary. But maybe there was a reason for it he didn¡¯t understand. Elder Magro looked ahead, clearly trying to feel what Anton did. ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for that. The question is, what do we do?¡± ¡°I¡¯d say- run!¡± Anton reached out, gesturing towards a group of disciples that were milling about. He wave them towards him, and to their credit they reacted instantly. They probably didn¡¯t even sense the large creature burrowing through the rock next to them, but they moved forward out of its way just in time to get away mostly unscathed. A monstrous lizard, the visible part of which had a dozen legs and a maw large enough to swallow a human, had burst through the wall, scattering rocks everywhere as it did so. ¡°To the magma chamber!¡± Elder Magro ordered, as well as the elders of the Black Earth Clan. ¡°There will be more room to maneuver there!¡± Anton absolutely agreed. He took a few quick shots at the creature, as he began to move, to allow the disciples behind him to start moving. Fighting the creature in confined quarters that it was accustomed to would be bad for them, especially if the other moved to cut them off. Which he thought he felt it moving to do. Elder Magro was the first into the chamber, just as the other creature was reaching the entrance. He didn¡¯t hesitate to charge straight for it, stretching his arms out so that it couldn¡¯t engulf him with its maw. The armored man collided with the creature and actually managed to push it back. A few meters, anyway, which was enough for several others to enter the chamber and begin a coordinated attack that drove it back even further. Chapter 268 The magma chamber had something like a ring of stone around the edges that was possible to stand on, biased towards the side where most of the excess rubble had been going. Even along the edges the stone was nearly red hot, not quite molten like the magma filling the middle. There were a few standout ¡®islands¡¯ in the middle of the area but Anton wouldn¡¯t trust those even if he were wearing the exceptionally durable boots of the Iron Fist Sect. But not trusting the safety of something and considering its usefulness in a battle were different things. A nice safe spot to shoot arrows from would be great¡­ if it wasn¡¯t a trap. Anton doubted it was anything intentional like that, but there were some important factors to consider. Like the creatures they were fighting not caring at all about the magma. They chose to live in the area, after all- and the dripping chunks still attached to the one that had charged them at the tunnel entrance showed it had taken a straight path over and through the magma. So the islands in the center were relegated to the status of emergency jumping points, if anything. Something slightly less dangerous to stand upon for a few moments. Elder Magro continued to pummel the second of the two great lizards, the one that had tried to cut them off at the entrance of the tunnel while the other popped in from behind. He was making space for the rest of the disciples to get out into the chamber, but it was hard to say he was doing any real damage. A few test shots by Anton helped him take stock of its durability. Though his main effort was focused on the battle, taking shots to try to get the many-legged lizard crawling out of the tunnel to divert away from the weaker people they had with them, Anton couldn¡¯t help but think about how bad the situation could have gotten. Some people might think that being nearly flanked by two beast overlords with an entire brood of young just about to pour their way out of a nearby magma pool was bad, and they would be right. That was bad for Anton and the others with him. But what would have been worse was if this generation of young creatures had been allowed to grow. One overlord level beast was an exception. Something to be dealt with carefully due to its great strength. Two of them were a problem, because while an overlords offspring might be exceptional, a pair of them would absolutely have more troublesome children. Anton felt some eggs in the magma that were a meter tall, and the instability the two creatures had caused in the area for just this was already significant. With dozens more they might start toppling cities, either by accident or because they wanted new territory. Devon had positioned himself to the side of the overlord that Elder Magro had been pushing back, his chains wrapping around a handful of the legs on one side, binding them together. Anton could feel the strain on them, how close they were to snapping already. But he restricted the movements of the creature enough that it didn¡¯t crush Elder Magro or some of the others who had entered the melee under its massive bulk. Though it repeatedly tried it anyway. Smaller creatures began to crawl out of the magma, between one and four meters in length, and with no more than eight or ten clawed legs each. Many of the disciples had broken off to hold those off, along with Alva and Fuzz. The wolf was dragging the creatures out of the magma, ignoring the small bits of exceedingly hot magma that found its way into his mouth and on his gums. He flung them into the walls of the chamber and then pounced on them to finish them off. Meanwhile, Alva took shots at the best targets in the area, prioritizing the creatures targeting her or Fuzz. Pero and Olimpia, the elders of the Black Stone Clan, were facing off against the other overlord, keeping it half contained in the tunnel. Every time it tried to step out, they worked together to raise up a section of rock, knocking into its chin or pushing against its legs and forcing it backwards. As they repeated those actions, it began to simply smash through the barriers- but during that time it wasn¡¯t clawing or eating or crushing anyway. Anton drew back his bow, taking careful aim at that creature¡¯s eye. He condensed his energy and released at the height of his power, the arrow snapping forward. There was hardly any distance for it to cover, and it instantly reached the creature¡¯s eye. It pierced through the defensive energy and struck the eyeball itself¡­ or at least the translucent film covering it. He could convince himself that he¡¯d done some damage. He was pretty sure he saw a mark where he hit, but it could have already been discolored. The point was, however, that he should have expected something that could withstand direct contact with magma for extended periods of time to be tough. That included the smaller ones, as the disciples were finding out. Though they appeared at least somewhat able to be damaged. Out of his bag Anton pulled the bone bow. He found himself generally agreeing with Grand Elder Kseniya that it wasn¡¯t a good bow. It was difficult to fire, and not nearly quick enough. But Anton had greatly improved his own ability to create strings purely out of energy which this particular bow required. If he¡¯d had more physical strength it might have been optimal for a certain style of shooting, but it seemed as if it were made for someone who focused on physical strength all throughout Spirit Building and even into Essence Collection. Even so, he could still take a few good shots with it. He gathered a portion of his ascension energy. His maximum amount used at once had expanded, but his pool had grown even more. He could now manage four or five full power shots, instead of three. This time, when his arrow flew towards the creature it reacted, twisting its body so that its right side faced him, along with a myriad of legs. Two of them were raised into the path of his arrow, the creature moving even before his shot had been completed. It wasn¡¯t strange, really. Overlords that couldn¡¯t anticipate danger wouldn¡¯t survive for long. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. His arrow pierced forward, penetrating through one leg and then the other. And that was¡­ it. It didn¡¯t manage to reach into the creature¡¯s body or strike any of its vital organs. Still, he had pierced through some key parts of the creature¡¯s legs. They would be useless. He took solace in that, until the legs fell off. With each leg being the size of a tree trunk, there was no way his shots should have separated the limbs from the creature. He¡¯d pierced through some tendons and ligaments, functional but small points- he hadn¡¯t chopped with a large blade. But the limbs fell off, twitching angrily as they did so. One of the disciples helping the Black Earth Clan elders was taken off guard by the sudden turn and the fact that the dislodged limbs moved, resulting in several large gashes across his chest. The good news was that when he tumbled to the ground the wounds cauterized quickly. Anton furrowed his brow as he looked at the empty space where the two legs had once been. It was a vulnerable spot, but as a wound it was strangely disappointing. There was no blood, after the first few drops of nearly glowing red-orange blood. Two legs out of thirty or forty. He could possibly cripple one of the creatures if he kept attacking in that manner, but he really needed to hit their new weak points. Unfortunately, firing normal arrows at the smooth spots where there had once been limbs was difficult. The creature continually twisted and turned, sweeping those around it away. Lizards were biting at Anton¡¯s ankles along with most of the rest of his body, forcing him to deal with some of those and not the overlords. Denton had almost been pulled into the magma by the one he¡¯d been entangling. And Fuzz¡­ ----- ¡°No! Bad wolf! This isn¡¯t time to eat, we¡¯re fighting!¡± Alva yanked on Fuzz as hard as she could, but she had no hope of physically maneuvering the giant wolf. Not unless she wanted to risk actually hurting him, and it would take more than one arm to make that attempt. She was now fully occupied by shooting the creatures that were taking advantage of the fact that Fuzz was standing still, trying to bite and claw into him. Some were successful, leaving furrows of blood on the stupid wolf. What was he even doing? He knew how fights worked! At least the Iron Fist disciples that her grandfather knew were helping out. Caeus and Printza stood on either side of Fuzz, bodily getting in the way of incoming lizards and even grappling with them to flip them on their back. Alva always took advantage of that, as their underbellies were much softer. Her arrows sunk into them like she was shooting into blocks of iron, which was way more effective than the scales on the rest of their bodies. What were they even made of? Unfortunately there was no way to answer that question. Instead she had to pick off as many foes as she could to protect Fuzz and the two disciples who were extremely stoic about all of the holes poked in their armor and themselves. Did Printza really have to let that one chomp into her forearm just so she could get a better grip on it? Alva took a few quick shots through the lower jaw while she held it stationary, her arrows reaching up into the creature¡¯s brain. An unnecessary move, but efficient at least. If the only thing they had to fight was the small lizards, they would be fine. If they included the overlords, Alva probably thought they could manage as well. When adding on the fact that it was really stupidly hot she was less confident in their chances. Was it okay to take a second to chug some water? Alva reached for her waterskin but found it had evaporated. At least her magic bag was sealed, and she sent some tendrils of energy to pull out a handful of berries. They were supposed to be for cultivation, but they were usable as emergency energy replenishment. Yet Alva wanted them just for the juicy water inside. She looked at Fuzz. He¡¯d at least finished chewing on his target and was looking around for things to fight, but his mouth¡­ was far too full of dried, flaky blood. Sure, some of that was from the creatures but more of it was his. His gums were oozing blood until it nearly instantly dried, and he seemed to be missing some teeth. ¡°Wait, Fuzz!¡± Alva pulled out a waterproof satchel, debated opening it and then just directly tossed it into his mouth. Fuzz bit down with an extremely unpleasant squelching sound. She really hated the sound of him eating those, and she also didn¡¯t like to look at it. Fuzz had grown fond of a particular variety of rabbits that were particularly¡­ juicy. They normally looked fuzzy and happy and round, but that roundness was because they were plump with blood. There was probably some reason that was advantageous for them, but in this case it would at least temporarily get some liquid in Fuzz. Even as he ate the satchel and the prize inside, Fuzz began to leap across the battlefield. ¡°Okay we¡¯re heading over this way now thanks you two!¡± Alva vaguely waved to Caeus and Printza, whose confused expressions were unfortunately visible through various damaged bits of their helmets. Alva wasn¡¯t sure why they were running across the battlefield, but she added her own shots to the most obvious target. The great lizard that had flanked them in the tunnel was now out of it and sweeping around the battlefield, with the other fighting half in the magma. Alva wasn¡¯t sure Fuzz should get in a fight with the creature, because for all his size he still seemed small next to something four meters wide. But she also couldn¡¯t say the battle didn¡¯t need the help. When the creature reared up she took a shot at its belly, and barely managed to break through a scale. If it obliged her and continued to repeat that action she might eventually form some deeper wounds, but it wouldn¡¯t be easy. As it was currently sweeping its claws at two cultivators coated in rock, she could only try to distract it or watch for the other to leave an opening. ¡°Fuzz you¡¯re going the wrong way!¡± Alva yelled as the wolf ran towards the tunnel. ¡°I¡¯m not leaving everyone else behind! We need to fight! Grandpa and Devon are here!¡± Alva knew Fuzz wasn¡¯t a coward. Usually he was so good in battles, even if he was a little bit incautious with his own health he always took care of her. So when he leapt through the air and pounced on an empty section of ground mouth first, she was extremely confused. Then she heard a crunch. She was pretty sure that was equally the sound of breaking scales and Fuzz¡¯ teeth as he bit down on the detached limb of one of the overlords. ¡°Dammit Fuzz this isn¡¯t time to eat, that will be there later!¡± Chapter 269 Author¡¯s note: The combat in this chapter took a bit more of a brutal turn than most. Just a warning since usually things are less gory than this chapter. ----- Despite Alva¡¯s protests, Fuzz knew this was exactly the time to eat. He just couldn¡¯t have explained it to anyone if asked, both because of the inability to speak and the unclear reason behind it. Sometimes, there were things you just knew. That was why Fuzz didn¡¯t give up even though it was really tough to chew these things. He didn¡¯t give up when he was being attacked by the small ones, despite them clawing at his fury. He wasn¡¯t going to give up on chewing through this big hunk of arm, despite the alarming number of teeth he was breaking. He fortified his mouth with as much energy as he could and it could barely overcome the durability and lingering energy of the limbs. That was a problem. That was the problem Fuzz had, actually. He was supposed to be stronger than Alva so he could keep her safe. If he couldn¡¯t be stronger than her, he at least had to keep up with her¡­ but ever since she¡¯d reached the next level of power he hadn¡¯t been good enough. He doubted the pack would just abandon him, but he needed to keep up. The strong, chewy muscles beneath the scales he tore through would provide him that power. Hopefully. Otherwise he was making Alva fight more or less alone for no reason at all. But nothing was going to stop him from chewing now. Not incoming creatures, not the pain in his mouth, and not a splash of extremely hot liquid rock from one of the two big lizards. The one in the pool of the glowing stuff was quite upset, and was splashing around with the clear intention to create a big mess. When a huge chunk of that flew towards Fuzz, he dodged out of the way- Alva was still riding on his back after all. The arm was a bit heavier than anticipated so he was swung around and didn¡¯t quite leave the radius of danger, but as some of it splashed over his head he merely added it to the pain he was experiencing. He shook his head, flinging off the burning globules before Alva could try to brush them off with her hand. Fuzz was hot. Obviously his fur was far too warm for such a place. Rocks weren¡¯t supposed to melt, but melt they had. It was a testament to his durability that his fur hadn¡¯t instantly caught on fire as he entered the area, though it was certainly smoldering now. His face was of course very hot where it had directly touched the lava. His own burned flesh was an unappetizing smell, especially when mixed with that of his blood, but he continued to rip out pieces of the inside of the limb he now held in his paws, most of the pesky scales discarded. The hottest part was not either of those things, however, but instead Fuzz¡¯ insides. He was quite aware of the difference between energy and fire in most circumstances, but inside of him the line was really starting to blur. But he couldn¡¯t stop now. The heat and pressure inside of him built up until it finally cracked. Part of his back split open when it did so. Nothing big, just a line about the size of a human¡¯s arm. A squiggly one, like the things Catarina made in his fur and had tattooed on him. Those didn¡¯t hurt. This one was painful, but in a good way. Like when you gorged yourself on too much of a beast and then had to vomit it out, it felt good to have the pressure relieved. In this case¡­ Fuzz hadn¡¯t eaten too much. He tore another chunk out of the arm in front of him, finding it slightly easier than before. He felt pretty good now, and some of his teeth were even straightening out where they¡¯d been broken. The others would probably take some time to grow back, but he also had his claws. And he was feeling much better. He focused in on Devon, who was fighting the big one that had splashed the hot rock on him. It was risky to bring Alva close to that, but Devon was a member of the pack too. Family of Anton and Alva, specifically. If Alva didn¡¯t want to go close, she was entirely capable of being independently mobile. Fuzz readied himself, then charged- knocking aside the smaller creatures that tried to stand in his way. His newly empowered energy protected him while his body was beginning to knit itself into what he was certain was a stronger and more durable form. He couldn¡¯t wait for it to finish, however, because the battle wasn¡¯t over. Alva remained with Fuzz right up until the edge where the big lizard was half-sticking out of the pool of very hot liquid rock. He was glad she chose to dismount there, because the big creature could attack her directly on his back with either teeth or claws. Plus there was all of the splashing rock. Devon¡¯s chains surrounded him defensively, but they were not actively holding onto the creature. Likewise, the powerful armored man fighting next to him would occasionally strike the creature, but maintained a defensive position. Such a strategy might draw out the battle, but it would not win. Fuzz leapt forward and latched onto its foremost limb on the left side. He was large, but still significantly smaller than the creature. Even so, he could restrict its movements, and as power flowed through him he thought maybe he could drag it out of its defensive position. His teeth pierced through the scales to find a grip and he yanked hard, pulling it back a single step. Then the creature¡¯s many limbs stopped its movement, and its overly large maw chomped down on his shoulder. Despite his lack of scales, Fuzz¡¯ hide was extremely durable. His bones were too, which was very important in this particular case because it kept his front-left appendage from being severed. The teeth sunk deep, though, and the mouth yanked. Fuzz had to choose between keeping his own leg and holding onto the creature¡¯s leg. If it had fewer of them he might have stood firm, but he only had four himself versus the many fours it had. And while the lizard seemed quite willing to give up its limbs, Fuzz was less certain he could grow his back. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. So he let go, and found himself flung up into the air, sailing over the lizard. Such a slow and meandering arc would normally not have been a problem, but the landing place was a bit problematic. The good news was that Fuzz landed on his feet. Yet more good news was that the swirling energy flowing through and out of him kept his pads from instantly burning away. The best news was that he was sinking slowly into the very hot, liquid rock. The reason the latter was good news was because if he had been fully submerged Fuzz wasn¡¯t sure how long he would survive. Even with his energy protecting him Fuzz felt the burns. He started running his way back towards the big lizard, wondering if he could hop onto its back and damage it there. His jaws couldn¡¯t get around its neck, but he might find purchase somewhere. A flicking movement distracted him from the side. He half saw it half felt it, as something very large moved under the surface. Not another creature, but the same one. Its tail, lobbing globs of fire at the group fighting it. And a section of land nearby that was not quite so hot as to be melted. Thinking wasn¡¯t for wolves. It certainly wasn¡¯t for wolves in the middle of battle. The most important thing he could do was be active. So he quickly changed his trajectory to his new target. Fuzz would have liked to stand on the less-burning-hot ground and grab the end of the tail, but it remained firmly buried in the goop most of the time. Even when it flung chunks, it rarely broke the surface. So he dove for it instead. Fuzz was very good at digging, and while the ground here was not nearly so friendly for a burrowing wolf as dirt, he ignored the way it splattered against his belly as he went a leg¡¯s length into the hot goop. The heavy density of it was actually quite convenient, as it flowed together more slowly than loose dirt. It would be a problem if he wanted it to keep its shape, but he only needed a very short time to reach his target. A nice, tender, mouth-width chunk of moving flesh and scale. As his jaws clamped onto it, he also got a mouthful of the liquid rock. That was extremely uncomfortable, but nobody ever said battle was comfortable. Not real battles. And this one was probably going to get worse. As Fuzz lifted and pulled, his feet sunk into the surface below. It took several yanks before he broke a chunk of the tail free from the material, then it began moving and thrashing to throw him off. He let it pull him in a particular direction, but kept his feet planted as firmly as he could most of the time. His jaw remained clamped even as everything burned. When his feet found the solid segment, he pulled upwards, standing onto his hind legs. It was something he would do only rarely, as he was not a human. He just didn¡¯t work like that. But he couldn¡¯t get enough height otherwise. He then threw himself to the side, using his weight to snap the tail tight and that momentum to yank the creature towards him. ----- Devon felt great sympathy for Fuzz as his shoulder was bitten into, and great worry as he was flung onto the magma. The wolf was already pretty badly beaten up, and he didn¡¯t look like he could withstand much more. The intense aura of determination coming from Fuzz didn¡¯t help him feel better about that. When the wolf diverted course he was almost distracted enough to get himself clamped between the lizard¡¯s jaws, but two chains flexed apart around him and gave him time to dodge away. Unfortunately, that brought him under the creature. The chains were crushed and broken apart, which was a shame. He had developed a method to make his energy durable and more akin to a real object, but that meant when it broke it was more damaging than just a standard chunk of energy being broken through. Since he was already pushing himself to his limits to deal with the overlord, he didn¡¯t have the spare energy to form more chains. Thus, the two that protected him were simply lost. While Devon hadn¡¯t expected Fuzz¡¯ detour, the beast was clearly even less prepared for it. It was actually yanked backwards, its front feet sliding back over the magma where it quickly sank. That left just its head and neck above the surface, a fact that Devon took advantage immediately. His position below it was suddenly useful for a brief moment, as his remaining handful of chains looped around to either side and up and over the creature. Without the distraction it would have simply crushed him, but when its head came down the force was much less than the whole weight of its body. He broke one, maybe two or three ribs at most. Elder Magro was quick to react, leaping up onto the creature¡¯s head as Devon¡¯s chains wrapped around its jaws. He punched an eye, and when an eyelid simply blocked the blow he grabbed firmly and pulled it open. Another translucent eyelid remained inside that one, which he grabbed with his other hand. That left the creature relatively restrained and an easy target for Alva. With its eyes being nearly the size of a standard archery target, it was difficult for her to miss even with it thrashing about. Her first arrow barely penetrated at all, but each subsequent one broke further layers through the eye. Elder Magro participated by kicking at the oversized orb, while Devon tried to keep the thing slightly still. The fact that it was dealing with assaults from both ends had thrown it off, but it was still overpoweringly strong. The nearby disciples were quick to leap to their assistance. The Black Earth Clan members formed layers of rock around the creature¡¯s forelimbs. Each was nearly instantly snapped off, but another was ready to form immediately afterwards. Disciples of the Iron Fist Sect leapt onto the head as well, targeting the other eye and anything else they could vaguely guess was a weak point. Their efforts weren¡¯t useful for the damage so much as the extra weight holding the creature down, even if it made it more difficult for Devon to edge out from underneath its jaw. Alva¡¯s arrows and Elder Magro¡¯s steel toed boots soon found their way through the left eye, and then into the creature¡¯s brain. Even though the brain was very small by comparison to its size, it still took several hits to cause significant damage, ending with Elder Magro¡¯s entire leg in the beast¡¯s head before it stopped consciously thrashing. The creature still took some time to properly perish, but it did die. That freed up everyone fighting it to move on to the other creature, though all participants were at least a little bit bloodied and some were barely standing. But Devon knew that his grandfather was holding down the fight with the other one and they would certainly overcome it¡­ though it wouldn¡¯t be easy. Chapter 270 While he¡¯d been distracted by swarming many-legged reptiles, Anton had lost some of his focus on the battlefield as a whole. He was still aware of all the battles happening, but he¡¯d not really comprehended whatever happened with Fuzz. The wolf was looking exceptionally proud of himself, and also exceptionally burnt and bloodied. Anton hoped he could get himself away from the island in the middle of the lava with his remaining energy, but for the moment he had to help deal with the other overlord- one had been slain, and most of the offspring had been killed. Not that their own side was without losses. There were dead and wounded members among the disciples of the two groups, those unfortunate in their positioning or unable to handle the swarming enemies and oppressive heat. If they¡¯d been given the option they would have retreated to the surface- but now that things had come to this point it was better to finish off their remaining foe. It was a good thing all of the Essence Collection cultivators were able to focus their attentions on the creature, because it was enraged at the death of its mate. It was spinning wildly, clawing at anything that came close with its myriad of limbs. Just because it was a couple short on one side didn¡¯t suddenly make it safe to deal with. The tail was also a problem, slamming into people as it passed or forcing them to leap over it. Teeth drove people away. Anton focused on the weak points created by its lost limbs, with the intention to either cause it great damage or force it to defend against his attacks and ignore others. The elders of the Black Earth Clan were rapidly molding the rock to slow the creature, and others were converging on the creature¡¯s location. There wasn¡¯t a particular moment that spelled victory for them, at least not past the defeat of the first creature and the gradual advance of their own forces. Armored members of the Iron Fist continued to pummel the creature until its scales cracked and the combined forces wore down the stamina of the great lizard. Soon enough they had reached a point of certain victory, but the creature pulled off one more twist. In this case it was literal, its body spinning around and tail forcing people to dodge out of the way, with a few brave souls risking a swipe at the flailing appendage. Previously that move would have led into some sort of focused attack on an individual, but instead it resulted in the creature facing the pool of magma, where it began to charge. However, despite the fatigue everyone had built up they wouldn¡¯t allow it to retreat. Perhaps it might not find another overlord as a mate, but it could still cause tunnels to collapse and might seek to harm humans in the future. Without any prompting, Caeus and Printza grabbed onto the tail as the creature started its mad dash towards the magma pool. Devon grabbed a few legs from its right side, right behind the ones that had been severed. Elder Magro leapt in front of the creature, punching upwards into its jaw to try to concuss it. Reaching masses of rock from the Black Earth Clan tried to stop it. Every effort was valiant, but the creature was unwilling to be restrained. Its tail detached, along with any legs that were restrained. One side of the creature was closer to being a snake than a lizard, and the other pushed unevenly as it bowled over the people in front of it, ignoring the damage to itself. It was clear it wouldn¡¯t be stopped so easily, but those with longer reach continued to attack it, and of course Alva and Anton peppered it with arrows. As it was about to dive under the surface of the magma where it would be difficult to follow- at least with any speed- Anton gathered his least used type of energy. The pieces from beyond reincarnation that were ephemeral. It wasn¡¯t as oppressively strong as ascension energy, but it was quite useful. His arrow flew forward, breaking its way through the thin layer of defensive energy the creature had left. Its scales would normally deflect an attack of the magnitude Anton was making, but the special energy let his arrow pierce through, interacting more directly with what he chose rather than what was in its path. It had its weaknesses, but it was extremely functional at piercing through armor- and with the stores of energy of the creature depleted those defenses were unable to block it. It skipped past the outer layer of the creature¡¯s back and struck its spine, where Anton forced it to do as much damage as possible. A shot through the heart would take a long time to kill it, if a narrow hole would even be sufficient. Even the brain showed signs of taking too long to really kill it. But the spine¡­ it almost immediately went limp. It wasn¡¯t a shot that would have been possible if it was still focused on fighting or slightly healthier, but recognizing what one was capable of doing was important for taking advantage of such situations. Depressingly enough, the creature still took some time to kill even though its back half couldn¡¯t move. Part of that was because people were being more cautious, staying where it was safe and jabbing their weapons into its sides to slowly bleed it to death. Some of that was because people were exhausted, and some of it was simply the thing being so tough. Then came the clean up. They began with taking the bodies of the humans out of the area, both those unconscious and dead. Those lying injured would not be able to stabilize with the near rock-melting heat permeating the area. Those who were dead might still have their body preserved for a proper funeral, instead of an unintentional cremation. Everything else was left for later, though Anton noticed Fuzz left with a leg dragging behind him, one claw clutched in his mouth. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ----- Upon later exploration of the tunnels, the structural stability of the region was worse than had been thought. While the quakes had been felt quite locally for the most part, in a short time the collapses might have escalated to a greater extent. The Black Earth Clan set about the long task of stabilizing the area. Part of their work involved fusing the rubble in various tunnels into solid states, though they also had to dig out some areas to reach the deeper parts. A few tunnels were useful for their own efforts and were repurposed, and others could be left as they were, as long as nobody wandered into them they would be safe. They also had to unplug the blockages on the magma chamber, letting the magma flow through the ground on whatever path it had been before. As they did so, they found there were more eggs of the creatures still present. All of them were destroyed, though that didn¡¯t mean they just left the pieces behind. The shells were a good material, though not quite so useful as the creatures themselves. The two overlords were determined to have been anomalies. There were certainly varieties of beasts that could live in extreme temperatures, but most of them would not have such troublesome tunnel-digging behaviors or excessive size. As far as could be determined, the collapses had been an intended part of preparing their lair to whatever standards they found acceptable. Much of the rubble was used to block up the flow of magma through the area to create the large pool. As for why they didn¡¯t just take chunks from the area around them, perhaps they understood that it would make their own lair unstable. While the adults were able to quickly burrow through solid rock and didn¡¯t much care about tons of material collapsing atop them, their young were not quite so durable. But whatever their specific reasons, it could only be speculated upon. Anton wondered if there was a way the creatures could have lived. While the cultivators had certainly intruded upon their lair, they hadn¡¯t been determined to fight until they were herded into the area and left with little choice. Even things that seemed like monstrosities to humans likely deserved to live¡­ but they also couldn¡¯t be allowed to harm humans. And if they had been left much longer, they might have started collapsing large sections of city. In the end, he and the others were paid what had been arranged, plus an additional amount for the unexpected level of dangers. Except for the disciples who died, the Black Earth Clan and Iron Fist Sect actually profited from the venture, in the form of the valuable corpses of the beasts. The Iron Fist Sect was especially interested in the scales, and how they could be enchanted to make even more durable armor than what they normally wore. Of course, they didn¡¯t get all of the bodies of the creatures. Fuzz made away with pieces several times, including some consumed during the battle. Then he spent the next several days unconscious, recovering from his injuries and adjusting to the new, more powerful state he had reached. While beasts who cultivated didn¡¯t have exactly the same stages as humans, and didn¡¯t have proper cultivation techniques, they still found ways to advance. Among other things, they consumed the same sorts of energy-infused herbs and plants that humans did, as well as absorbing natural energy from the environment. Finally, they had a method that was nearly unique to them- consuming other beasts. Humans could gain some benefits from consuming the flesh of a powerful beast, but for the most part it amounted to little more than exceptional nutrition. Some techniques made better use of those resources, but beasts were the best at making use of it. Anton was glad that Fuzz had managed to advance, for his own sake as well as that of Alva. However, he was concerned about the fact that a rune seemed to have formed spontaneously on him. That was something Catarina or those who focused on formations would have to be asked about- though Catarina would likely be the best for this particular case. She was the one who had started shaving runes into Fuzz¡¯ fur to help him recover after they rescued him. ----- If Catarina didn¡¯t know better, she might have thought she put that rune on Fuzz¡¯ back herself. It fit right in, completing part of the picture. But she did know better, and was slightly concerned at its appearance. Alva explained it just appeared during battle, so at least it shouldn¡¯t have been sabotage by some sort of enemy¡­ but it was still disconcerting. Natural formations existed, but they had nothing to do with something like this. They were simply arrangements of sticks, leaves, stones, and anything else in an area that just so happened to take on the form of runes and total together to a formation that affected the energy of the world. They weren¡¯t shaped by something. At least, that was supposed to be the case. At the current point in time they were so far removed from those who first studied formations that it would have been like asking what a specific person had a hundred years ago for breakfast. If they were alive they might guess, but they wouldn¡¯t know. Natural formations were supposed to stabilize in their positions due to various factors¡­ not pop into place. But nothing she¡¯d read directly refuted the possibility of that happening either. Of course, the idea was so ridiculous that it shouldn¡¯t have had to be mentioned. When something like that came up, though, it forced Catarina to wonder. Was there something deeper to this? A will of nature? Perhaps it was simply Fuzz¡¯ own will. It could have even been something he subconsciously picked up from watching her. He hadn¡¯t shown any particular talent with putting together formations, but he might subconsciously understand those inlaid upon himself. Catarina smiled. She hadn¡¯t found a new puzzle to work on in a while. Dealing with all of the crazy formations Everheart left behind gave her a headache even when she understood them, but this was something she might be one of the first to learn about. Or at least she could assure herself that Fuzz would be fine. It wouldn¡¯t do to have their very oversized companion be hurt by something they could prevent. Chapter 271 Of the many great things Everheart was responsible for- great in magnitude if nothing else- perhaps the most significant in the current times was his infusion of anti-ascension techniques into the minds of many of the greatest elites. Yet like anything else he did, it was not without its flaws. Merely having knowledge of such a technique didn¡¯t immediately make people proficient with it. Even though the memories thrust upon them gave them a small amount of experience, they would need to use the techniques with their own bodies to make optimal use of them. So they practiced, at least the majority of those involved. Very few had any sort of personal interaction with Everheart, given his last appearance had been so many years before. Even those whose sects had held a grudge for the man were mostly convinced of the truth of his words. Enough to include the techniques among the others they trained, at least. The only difficulty was the limit of what people could achieve merely through self practice, without any practical usage. There weren¡¯t exactly a large number of ascended people running around for people to practice with. In fact, that very scenario was the danger they were preparing to face. Though the theoretical timing of the event should still be decades away, the more experienced cultivators realized how quickly that time could pass. The difficulty then became finding a target for their practice. That was an area with quite a bit of focus on it. The Order was willing to share Fleeting Youth, but that wasn¡¯t practical for many reasons. The requirements to practice it strongly overlapped with those who were the closest to reaching ascension, at least in theory. Actual instances of Ascension were rare, and there were none in the public records since the battle at Black Soul Valley. But just because they probably would not reach that point didn¡¯t meant most cultivators would be willing to give it up. It was mainly taken up by those who had given up hope of advancing any further, generally those who couldn¡¯t even step into Life Transformation after decades riding the edge. Unfortunately for them, the effects were also limited by the fact that they were no longer growing. They were able to gain some proficiency in Fleeting Youth, but it was not as much as someone properly situated like Anton. It wasn¡¯t just that he had longer years of practice- after a few years, it was clear their rate of advancement in the technique was also slower. Even if a talented elder in each sect was willing to give up the potential of ascension, they would still find themselves unable to provide for the needs of everyone. Other methods were being developed, including formations derived from Everheart¡¯s work and that of the Luminous Ocean Society. A formation that contained ascension energy was at least a viable test of whether or not it was possible to disrupt the energy, though it wouldn¡¯t measure up to actually being used in battle. Even so, such formations helped push people to a higher level in their techniques. Because he was the first to use the technique and one of the most skilled with it, Anton was able to provide the most accurate representation of what they could expect, and with a significant amount of power. It was thus that he often found himself sparring with Life Transformation experts, though calling it a spar was perhaps a bit too generous. They had to lower their power output and speed for things to be even remotely a challenge. It was a bit unfortunate, as it meant the Vessel of Insights was able to glean less from them¡­ except in the case of specifically anti-ascension techniques. Anton had a constant stream of those to internalize, though seldom had the opportunity to make use of them himself. ----- A deep breath synchronized with the way energy was pulled from beyond the world. Unless he was seriously mistaken, ascension cultivators would hold their energy with them at all times instead of gathering it when they intended to make use of it. All of his attempts to hold on to it in the long term were futile, and in fact Anton thought the more he tried the more it slipped out of his grasp. For the sake of sparring he held onto the maximum amount he could at any time. In a way this was a disadvantage, as it left him open to disrupting attacks that would disperse everything he had gathered without effect. On the other hand, it meant he wouldn¡¯t telegraph when he was planning to make an attack with ascension energy. That was less relevant against new opponents who wouldn¡¯t necessarily understand what Anton was doing, but against those with proper training it helped. Heat poured over him as Anton faced off against Elder Sarka of the Glorious Flame Palace. She was in early Life Transformation while Anton was still in mid Essence Collection. Over the past several years he was only managing a single star per year. That was still a significant rate, but he was beginning to see how years might begin slipping away from him. The radiating heat from the woman was higher than the magma chamber a few years prior. That was what focused intent allowed, an effect incomparable to nature. Though by Anton¡¯s understanding, there were also natural heats that surpassed even that of molten rock and volcanoes. Not counting stars, of course, which were something else entirely. Anton nocked an arrow on his bow. To most it would have appeared to be just a normal Spirit Arrow, but his studies of the stars had led Anton to develop some alternate forms for his arrows. It still didn¡¯t really match up to starstuff, but that was the angle he had come across the ideas. Since Elder Sarka overpowered Anton, he was allowed the advantage of making the first move. Or at least¡­ initiating it. She was under no obligation to let him finish it. As he pulled back on his bowstring she immediately began to move. Flames coiled around her as she began to charge towards him. He released the string, flinging his arrow forward. As it left the bow¡­ it disappeared. The same instant, at least to the best reckoning of any cultivators, his arrow hit its target. It was unfortunate Elder Sarka had prepared her defenses immediately, because that particular attack was less powerful than most of Anton¡¯s abilities. Less powerful¡­ but much more swift. It reflected the properties of light, including a near-instantaneous speed of travel. Sadly, he seldom found a good use for it in spars. On the battlefield it would be much more effective as he could target anyone with their defenses down for even a moment, but against a single opponent they would be ready even if they didn¡¯t know what he was going to do. Unless they were exceedingly reckless. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Glorious Flame Palace cultivators might be seen as a bit over the top in some cases. Too straightforward. However, they weren¡¯t crazy enough to go into battle without energy defenses. Anton changed tactics, firing his more usual brand of energy arrows. They were a nice balance of speed and power without any particularly special properties. As the woman charged at him with a spear he repositioned himself and occasionally changed up his method of attack. His other style of arrow was completely useless against Glorious Flame Palace cultivators, but he still had ascension energy to call upon. And that was the whole point of the exercise anyway. The next arrow Anton shot had the energy to break through Sarka¡¯s defenses, even if she were to make full use of her Life Transformation abilities. However, instead of trying to avoid it the woman simply stabbed towards it with her spear. She was fond of using her fist in battle, and of course her primary method of attack was simply her flames, but she had conceded that when battling ascension energy something with reach was more practical. As Anton¡¯s arrow impacted her spear, there was an explosion of energy as it unraveled. The undirected energy would be less dangerous than the focused energy of an arrow, but it was still enough to cause damage to a careless cultivator. It stripped away the layer of energy Elder Sarka had created around her weapon, and Anton followed up with another attack to take advantage of that fact. It would have worked, too, if she hadn¡¯t already formed an attack of her own. Though her spearhead was devoid of energy, she had gathered some around her hands, one of which released the spear and lobbed a ball of fire at Anton, striking near him before he could finish gathering the energy for his next attack. He avoided most of the explosion, but the attack sent out ripples of energy that disrupted his gathering energy. What he already had was dispersed, and he winced as his connection was briefly cut off. He wasn¡¯t sure if the effects would be exactly the same on a real ascension cultivator, but they would also have more energy to disperse so the attack would still be extremely effective. Half of the distance had been closed by Elder Sarka, and Anton was tempted to rush himself to try to land some sort of blow. However, he kept his firing rate intentional. A few normal arrows while he gathered ascension energy. He maneuvered around a large tree to mitigate the effects of another fireball, and the rippling energy. He focused on holding the energy to him and kept the majority of it, ready to use for an attack at a later point. Anton had an interesting thought. If it were a real battle he might have followed through with it. Logically a real battle was no place for experimentation, but when a cultivator gained mid-battle insights it was often exceptionally useful to their exact circumstances. Anton didn¡¯t decide against using his new idea because he thought it wouldn¡¯t work, but because if it worked too well he might cause some serious damage. Instead, he summoned up several additional bows of energy, each firing shots at Elder Sarka. He was able to maintain a higher level of output with such methods, potentially allowing him to break through defenses that were stronger than he could overcome with a single arrow. The technique also drained him more quickly, but that was always the tradeoff in battle. With his physical bow, he nocked another special arrow while he at the same time dropped down to only using one extra bow. Its composition changed, from his standard energy to being fully formed from ascension energy. At the same time, the arrow he formed between his hands glowed the orange-red of flames. Both shot simultaneously, and as expected Elder Sarka focused on the attack of ascension energy. It was what their training was for, and it was absolutely the bigger danger. Even if Anton¡¯s idea worked. His ascension arrow was summarily destroyed, even with the extra power and speed from using it as a bow as well as arrows. The explosion at least caused Elder Sarka to take a step back, though she was still restricting her overall output of energy somewhat. His other arrow was essentially ignored as it struck her side. After all, it was formed of fire, something that the Glorious Flame Palace was entirely used to. Just because it was also fire didn¡¯t mean it would slip past her defenses, and it dispersed as it struck just below her ribcage. Most of it, anyway. A small core continued onward, piercing through her armor and even causing a small wound. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she touched her side as if she couldn¡¯t believe what her senses were telling her. It wasn¡¯t a serious wound. Barely more than skin deep. But the fact that it had happened at all confused her. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°What did it feel like?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Ascension energy. But I was disrupting that.¡± She was right, of course. Along with the spear striking his attack sending off shockwaves, she also had a defensive technique specially suited to more passively disrupting ascension energy. Anton should have needed much more energy to overcome that barrier, similar to one of his full attacks- but his maximum output was limited. ¡°Every technique can be countered,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Even the anti-ascension techniques. The disruptive resonance they create makes ascension energy fall apart, but if the user of such energy knows it will happen they can attempt to work with it instead of against it. I just so happen to have developed some fire arrows, and they synchronize quite well with your energy. You were ready to block that, but not ascension energy synchronized in the same way.¡± ¡°Pfeh. You sure you want to tell me all that? It¡¯ll just make this harder for you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the whole point of me being here,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to win a spar with a Life Transformation expert. Besides, you would have figured it out in another attack or two. Better to be helpful about it.¡± Elder Sarka nodded. ¡°How much left do you have in you?¡± ¡°One more round, I think,¡± Anton determined. He could only call upon so much ascension energy in any one period. It wasn¡¯t just tiring, but also as if he was pulling from an actual store of energy that had a limit. He couldn¡¯t be sure if that was actually the case, but it at least felt like that. As he practiced more, his limits increased so it was barely different from his personal energy except the fact that it did not dwell inside him on a permanent basis. Anton raised his bow once more. He was looking forward to reviewing some of his own insights after this, and perhaps he might get something from Sarka¡¯s perspective as well. Chapter 272 Despite its relative proximity to the Order, Anton rarely found himself in Thuston. There was little special about it except its position, which had almost led it to ruin. In the more than a decade since the unfortunate incident during the hunt, the town had changed significantly. It hadn¡¯t just grown in size- that would not have been outside of the ordinary. For the most part towns and villages grew larger, unless the pull of a large city was enough to siphon away the people. The size of the village and number of people had certainly gone up, but what changed most was how they operated. In truth, the transformation of the village was less extensive than Windrip- but that was only because Anton had focused on that particular place with the former villagers of Dungannon and the escaped slaves. A majority of them had chosen to live there for a period of time, and while some of them had moved on they all took something with them. Specifically, cultivation. The factors that prevented people from being cultivators were several in number, the foremost of which were lack of access to knowledge, limited natural energy, and the fear of the unknown. The third was related to the first, and the second could be solved. But like anything else, it took time. Cultivators who tended the land had the biggest effect, the natural energy they put into their work more than returning itself when the plants grew. The effects were more difficult to make out in other areas, where people worked in the production of various goods. It wasn¡¯t clear if a hammer forged by a cultivating blacksmith added to the natural energy of the world or simply radiated the signs of its origin. But everyone needed food, and there were always plenty of farmers working to supply it. That produced the most regular and constant changes. The area around Thuston was now to the point that it rivaled the Order¡¯s natural energy, at least at the border. Because of that, as a sort of experiment, the barrier had been modified. It no longer worked to contain the energy in that section, though it still kept any stray beasts from the forest away. The eventual results weren¡¯t obvious yet. The energy from both sides was able to flow freely, which in theory would enhance the land around the area even where it wasn¡¯t worked by farmers with that goal specifically in mind. As Anton walked through the area it certainly felt richer, but Anton could have been fooling himself. The eventual goal was to remove the barrier entirely, not restricting the flow of energy from around the Order. That was the idea, anyway, but with more powerful cultivators working the land on the Order¡¯s property it would grow more quickly. It at least seemed like a waste to just let it permeate into the surroundings. Perhaps cultivation sects would stick to their current models of containment, but Anton at least hoped that the rest of the country could have an uninhibited flow of energy throughout. Though he believed that ultimately it would pay off to let the energy flow freely even from the sects. On the current time scale, though, it might build up the land too slowly. After all, there were only a few decades, maybe a handful, until a great calamity was coming. Whatever it was, it had drawn a handful of years closer. Anton almost wished he could see the clock Everheart had, but being in possession of such a thing might be a curse. If it were entirely accurate, it could indeed allow the various sects to prepare themselves to the fullest. On the other hand, it would only lead to worry as the day came closer. Anton could also imagine that it would lead to neglect of other things, like the focus on future generations. Even the Order might abandon the idea of raising new disciples when it came down to the last decade, or perhaps the last handful of years. It might even be best for the survival of the world, but surviving wasn¡¯t the only thing worth considering. Survival was good, but prospering was better. A time where new disciples were rejected or put aside as unimportant would potentially alienate a whole generation of potential cultivators, and the great talents that might come from within them. Yes, it was better to think that everyone might have the potential to grow into someone who would be able to affect the upcoming battles. Though others might reasonably disagree, there also wasn¡¯t much anyone could do since they didn¡¯t know the specifics. Anton made his way through Thuston, casually observing anything. One thing he noticed was that there were a lot of children. When he¡¯d first noticed the same elsewhere, he wondered if perhaps his memories were biased, but a few years of the same- and the ability to look at some records- indicated he wasn¡¯t wrong. More children were being born. A variety of factors might have influenced that, but the push of people towards cultivation seemed to be a strong factor that led to some of the others. The increased productivity of the farms provided a surplus of food, and along with a general increase in prosperity that made people more willing to have children. Likewise, with individual prospects higher people felt more secure in their future. Finally, though for most people it wouldn¡¯t add more than a decade or two onto their lifespan, those who were past their prime and took up cultivating suddenly felt more youthful. With a stronger body, the risks of pregnancy on a woman were also lessened. Everything combined to a significant increase in birthrate, though it was unclear how long it might stay that way. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Anton was pleased with the quick results. For cultivators and old men, half a generation was extremely rapid when it came to changing the populace as a whole. More people than not dipped their toes in cultivation, with overall beneficial results. Nothing was perfect, however. Cultivation had its own dangers, though they were primarily due to lack of understanding or patience. People could push themselves too hard and too fast for their body to keep up. That even applied to those with the greatest talent, since the pressures of society could push them beyond their limits. Cultivation was all about growing to surpass one¡¯s own limits, but it was how one handled it when they were on the edge that made the difference. Likewise, even if they were successful in their cultivation, it wasn¡¯t universally good for the world. There were those who took advantage of their newfound power and used it to suppress others. Perhaps more than would have otherwise, since they developed feelings that would lead to a domineering attitude but might not have had the strength. The general increase in cultivation level of the rest of everyone still made them capable of resisting those who caused trouble, but some individuals were able to cause more destruction than they would have otherwise. That was something that Anton would prefer to avoid, but he felt the benefits outweighed the dangers. Perhaps the world would develop in such a way that people could be steered away from negative paths. Anton tried to do that with some people, but he was just one person- and imperfect at that. Otherwise he would have been more understanding and prevented some of the rifts that happened in his family. At the present moment, he felt his family was at a peak. As much as it could be with the loss of Dungannon, of course. He was in communication with Ashlyn once more, and he knew that relationship which connected him to Catarina could have been maintained if he and the others had been more understanding of her desire to move into a city. Anton still felt that the rugged life on a farm working with plants and animals was the best, but he knew that was just personal to himself. All the growth of the common populace also led to the swelling of the ranks in cultivation sects. Though the sects had a majority of the power in the world, they were still only a small portion of the populace. It wasn¡¯t quite clear what the balance would end up as, but when Anton considered that some sects had Life Transformation cultivators and most people had previously had no cultivation at all, the balance shifted heavily in the favor of the common folk with just one or two ranks of cultivation. Not that any reasonable number of second star cultivators could be expected to beat a Life Transformation cultivator, given that they could simply withdraw from the area before they became too fatigued, but the idea that a hundred or a thousand determined individuals working together might pull it off was better than needing an entire city to even cause a dent to a Life Transformation cultivator. At a more practical level, a village of second rank cultivators could fight off a group like Maximillian Van Hassel and the other slavers, or at least cause them damage. If they had a handful of fifth rank cultivators among them, they could have even done more than just drive away the danger. While the level of stronger cultivators would also likely go up, each subsequent rank was harder to achieve, and going from the fifteenth to the seventeenth star would only be around a ten percent increase in power for an individual, compared to a doubling or tripling in power for someone who went from no cultivation to the second star. Anton shook his head. Here he was, thinking about low level problems when their world might be annihilated soon. Or at least ravaged to the point that everything he was building was pointless. But he firmly believed his efforts in that area would help in the long run. As he walked through Thuston, a few people seemed to recognize him. Even with the vast difference in his current cultivation, his face and body had hardly changed, after all, nor had the fact that he had a bow slung over his back. Many of the villagers would recognize a member of the group that defended them, but Anton preferred not to take advantage of people¡¯s praises. Personally, he thought that was just what anyone with the power should do. And he received enough recognition as a teacher regardless, with people trying to give him their thanks- or sometimes bribes- which he didn¡¯t need and they couldn''t afford. He would accept their thanks, and if he felt like he had to he would take what they gave him and use it to help others somehow. Unless it was something like a home cooked meal, which he was always happy to have. It was strange to think that he had once eaten such food every day. Even when times were lean, a home cooked meal had more to it than one served at a tavern or restaurant, or even the Order¡¯s cafeterias, as tasty and nourishing as the food could be. It almost made Anton want to settle down again, but he¡¯d done that. And he¡¯d had quite a bit more of it than he personally felt he had the right to. Now it was his time to defend others as they lived their lives. Besides, it wasn¡¯t as if Anton found the life of a cultivator distasteful. If he had, he would have given it up- or changed it. Thuston was one of the last on the list of places in Graotan Anton wished to survey with his own eyes once more. There was just one more, before he set out for distant shores. Trade went around the continent on ships, and out to a certain distance the seas were safe enough. Beyond that, however, there was little travel back and forth. Yet it was known there were other continents with other cultivators, and it was important that they too be prepared for the coming calamity. They should already be aware, since some of their cultivators had made it to Everheart¡¯s ¡®tomb¡¯ on the moon, but it was unreasonable to just assume that. Anton¡¯s eyes turned to the east. It was well out of the way, but he knew he should go once more. To the place which was not the same, even if it bore the name of Dungannon. Chapter 273 Having been a human for his whole life, which was quite a long time though not extreme by cultivator standards, Anton knew that humans had strange behavior. When they saw something on a map and expected something to be there, there were often cases when they would simply make it happen. That was even the case when the ¡®wrong¡¯ thing was on the map. Fifteen years had passed since Dungannon was destroyed, its people killed or carted off as slaves. The first handful of years it had laid empty, those buildings that still had some structure slowly collapsing. Sometime after that, Anton wasn¡¯t quite sure when, a group of people decided there ought to be a town there again. That was how many towns were first formed, and it wasn¡¯t odd to think that somewhere a prosperous town had once stood would be a good position in the future. The area around Dungannon didn¡¯t have any exceptional resources, but there was good land for farming and a nearby forest where foraging and hunting could take place. Trade going from Thorpes to Alcombey and to the rest of Graotan would pass through the area, and those people would need a place to stay. And of course everyone had some basic necessities for living that would be best provided by others. The new version of Dungannon was quite a bit smaller than it had been, but Anton actually remembered a time when the original had been close. When he was a young man, it wasn¡¯t much more than a few handfuls of families living close together. Except for foundations, most of the buildings had been cleaned up. Nobody wanted to live in a village where half or more of it was collapsing ruins, after all. Most of the buildings weren¡¯t the same as they had been, though the main streets were still positioned the same. Some good cobblestone work there, and there was no point in redoing it. As Anton walked through the town, nothing matched his memories anymore. The place he was most familiar with was also the most changed. Where the Krantz farm had once been was a small lumber mill, with only token gardens. Personally Anton thought it was a waste of good field space, but then again most of the land in the area was decent enough. It was close enough to the forest that it was convenient, and the lumber was much needed for the new constructions. Anton was pretty sure he still technically owned the land. However, given that he¡¯d made no effort to reclaim it in over a decade it was quite a reasonable assumption to assume that he, like the others, was dead and gone. He thought that perhaps he should make sure there wouldn¡¯t be any strange land disputes later. He certainly didn¡¯t need money nor want the land. He was done with Dungannon. This place simply bore the same name. The only thing that was as he remembered it was the graveyard. Even that was different, as it was more properly apportioned with a short fence surrounding it, and the original wooden markers had been replaced. Anton smiled slightly. Though they had no obligation, someone had been taking care of things. That was a sign of good people. His smile continued on the way back through town. Although there were many bitter memories in Dungannon, there were overwhelmingly more good ones behind them. Beyond that, Anton was always pleased by small villages of hard working people. Now he just had to make his way back to the Order. A trip that had once taken a month would be only a week, if he took his time. He could keep to the normal traveling speed of a human without a bountiful cultivation, but he knew what he was now. He had things to do, and people he shouldn¡¯t keep waiting for too long. ----- The serious nature of the mission was cemented by the fact that two Life Transformation cultivators would be going along with the group. Two from the Order, and when they stopped by the Frostmirror Sect Anton expected one more. The danger might not be just from the seas and the beasts and storms and other obstacles, but also other cultivators. Different sources said different things about the lands beyond the continent that had made up Anton¡¯s entire world, and the only thing that was certain was the journey was a danger. The other details might all be true, or all fabrications of those who never actually arrived. Anton wondered if there had been intercontinental trade in the past, perhaps before the previous attack when there were mighty sects like the Luminous Ocean Society. Surely they were not afraid of a few sea creatures, though whether it was worthwhile to make the trip was another question. He also wondered if the Twin Soul Sect had a large presence elsewhere, or if they had also been pushed down. Anton doubted they were entirely defeated anywhere, and he was certain that at least some of their allies had a reasonable belief that they could make it to distant shores. That was where some people went after the recent war, while the others were driven into hiding elsewhere. But all that speculation wasn¡¯t much good when he would know soon. A number of his regular companions would be going along as well. Hoyt and Velvet. Alva would be coming along as well, though without Fuzz. He was staying behind. Marcio would be along for the journey as well, along with some of the other archers. That was partly due to the desire for a variety of fighting styles and partly because Grand Elder Kseniya was leading the group. It was best to have someone with great perception when exploring new- or at least unknown lands. It was hard to get better than someone who could sense to the horizon line. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. There were lower level cultivators as well. Spirit Building disciples to swell their numbers, and to allow them to experience strife. Things had settled down for a while, and while that was good it also provided fewer opportunities for cultivators to gain battle experience and grow. Fewer, but not none. Anton recognized Jacob and Sterling, the former a long time guard at the Order who wanted to seek out new experiences and the latter the one who had introduced Anton to the Order, long surpassed in rank. Notable absences would be Catarina and Timothy. They had elected to stay behind, Catarina because she was in the middle of some research on formations, and Timothy primarily because he wished to stay with her. They were married, after all. Anton would have hardly left behind Janina for an extended period of time to go adventuring, though he also hadn¡¯t been much of the sort before he was a cultivator anyway. Unless adventure involved a couple days in familiar woods. Outside of the Order, they already had the first members join up. Ayotunde and a sample of several different groups in Ambati were coming along on the expedition, as they deserved the representation. In addition to members of the Frostmirror sect, they¡¯d be picking up a handful of others on the way to Facraona. They¡¯d be leaving from the eastern port with a group of experienced sailors, though even their experience rarely took them far from the mainland. Mostly to some nearby islands which had interesting geographical features- and of course some unique cultivation resources. ----- Along the way to the Frostmirror sect a few people from different groups joined up. A few people from Infinite Wisdom Forest in Estary, Elder Magro of the Iron Fist sect, and a wrinkled old man from the Wandering Bush Sect. The people from Infinite Wisdom Forest clearly looked down on those from the ¡®Tumbleweed sect¡¯, but personally Anton found himself more partial to Elder Servaos. ----- The reception at the Frostmirror sect was about as expected, except for some specific details. Specifically, the opposing energies of two Life Transformation cultivators half a step away from being in combat, fire and ice straining against each other. Glorious Flame Palace had initially declined to send anyone, but it seemed they had changed their mind. That included Elder Sarka, who was locked in a staring match to the death with Elder Adelina. Though the latter woman from the Frostmirror sect seemed expressionless, that didn¡¯t make her gaze lack intensity. Anton made a note not to stand between the two of them. As allies the two sects were always tenuous, but the two individuals were liable to get into trouble. Anton just hoped it was the productive kind, where two rivals fought each other and made each other stronger, eventually becoming friends. Or however that worked. Most of those Anton got along with had been friendly from the beginning, and the others he simply didn¡¯t bother with. Anish was also present as a member of Glorious Flame Palace, as well as another Anton had met at the same time. That was Chikere, the sword-obsessed cultivator. Though she wasn¡¯t directing any negative intent at him, Anton almost felt like he could cut himself if he wasn¡¯t careful. Anish waved with a wide smile as they approached, though for some reason Anton felt it was directed past him. At Velvet, maybe? The reunion of two cousins once more was wonderful to see. Annelie and Alva were able to see each other frequently, but they still liked to see more of each other, despite certain rocky moments. But that was how life worked, sometimes. Especially with teenagers, but both of them had aged past that point some time prior. On the other hand, age didn¡¯t directly come with maturity. Otherwise, Elders Sarka and Adelina wouldn¡¯t be cracking the pavement between them. Was there some history there beyond being from sects that practiced widely different techniques? Anton wanted to know, but not so much that he would poke his nose into it. He liked his nose, and wanted it to remain intact. ----- Though he¡¯d now seen the ocean more than a handful of times, Anton always found himself impressed by it. A vast, open expanse of water with nothing in the way. Rising and falling waves sparkling in the sun. And each one was subtly different. Directly north of Estary had the clear seas that surrounded the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s main headquarters. There was a different look to the east in Ship¡¯s Haven, even before the temporary blackening caused by the poison. Here, it had more of a greenish hue and many floating bundles of kelp. The crews that would be manning the ships were a rough group with tanned skin. Cultivators could protect their skin from the sun, but some liked the color and some didn¡¯t care. This group seemed to be a mix of both, and it made them somewhat distinctive compared to those cultivators who preferred a more ¡®controlled¡¯ look. The ships were large vessels, made out of exceptionally sturdy wood. Anton could tell just by sensing it with his energy that it would be durable, and he also sensed the formations enhancing the ships. Anything less than the best would be pointless, since if they sunk at sea there was no guarantee even the best among them would make it to land. A wiry man with scars up and down his arms and across his face stood atop one vessel as they were directed to them. ¡°You made it,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m Commodore Visser, leader of this fleet. The two main vessels you see here,¡± he gestured below him and to the side, ¡°They¡¯re the Azalea and the Skylark. When she arrives, I¡¯ll introduce you to my second in command, Arendse, as well as the other captains. Now I know you all don¡¯t like to take orders from those outside your sects, or lower in cultivation¡­ but I¡¯ll need you all to respect any of the captains, or their replacements should it come to that.¡± He focused on the highest elders, as he was in Life Transformation himself, if only the early stage. Everyone agreed there would be no issue, and Anton even believed most of the people meant it. He was a little suspicious about whether those from Infinite Wisdom Forest truly meant it, and someone like Elder Sarka could mean it and then change their mind when something flared her temper. But nothing involving people was ever perfect, and they had to do their best to hold things together. Unless they wanted to keep their heads buried in the sand and hope that nobody remembered to put together an invading force, or that it wouldn¡¯t cover the whole world and leak between continents. Chapter 274 The first few days of sea travel were somewhat interesting, but after the novelty wore off it was rather boring. That was the best that could be hoped for, since it meant nothing problematic came up, but it really was boring. Even cultivating wasn¡¯t easy, since there wasn¡¯t enough ambient natural energy for everyone packed together on the ships. People were still able to socialize, talking and playing card games or otherwise idly passing the time. Some were better suited to those activities than others. Anton and Elder Servaos from the Wandering Bush Sect happily chatted, not just about cultivation but about life in general. Chikere had already wandered around to everyone on her ship who wielded a sword, but since there was no place to have a proper spar there was little depth of interaction. Anish stood in awkward silence next to the pair of Alva and Annelie. In turn, Adelina and Sarka were placed on the furthest ships from each other to avoid them interacting, with Adelina in the front of the formation- the Azalea- and Sarka in the Skylark at the rear. ----- The first obstacle they had to overcome was completely mundane- a lack of wind. While the various ships had a number of crew who could row, it would be a waste of resources not to include the various cultivators they were transporting. There were some complaints, but ultimately following the orders of Commodore Visser relayed through the various captains of the individual vessels. Unless it was something directly harmful, there was little justification to refuse. Anton found it quite fulfilling to sit at a large oar, making precise physical motions at a measured pace and specific power. Most of the others performed well, since something all cultivators were used to was moving their body as they pleased. Everyone was physically capable, even if they had to make greater use of energy to keep up, but that wasn¡¯t the real problem encountered. The problem was people trying to do too much. In the rear of the formation, one such problem was occurring. ¡°Slow down?¡± Elder Sarka flared up. ¡°I thought the whole point of this was to go faster, why should I slow down?¡± Captain Arendse sighed. She didn¡¯t think that should need to be explained, but such was the way of things. ¡°First, it¡¯s important to keep timing. If you row as quickly as you can, using the most power, we veer to the side.¡± ¡°Just put more people on the left, then,¡± Sarka countered. ¡°Even if we did that, we can¡¯t really improve our speed since we have to keep pace with the other ships in the fleet. Not all of them can go as fast.¡± ¡°Then stick me on one of them!¡± ¡°Do you want to sleep in a smaller cabin?¡± Captain Arendse asked. ¡°I- well¡­¡± That was basically the end of the conversation. Captain Arendse kept further sighs to herself, though she certainly felt them. It was unfair that a woman like that had a higher cultivation than herself. They were both around the same age, maybe a decade off at most. Either way, Sarka shouldn¡¯t have been much later than in her sixties, which was on the young end of Life Transformation cultivators. But it should have been enough time to learn about ships, or at least act maturely in a new situation. Then again, Glorious Flame Palace didn¡¯t focus on thinking about mundane matters. They put plenty of study into cultivation, and how to make better use of it, but day to day matters weren¡¯t their forte. Arendse didn¡¯t expect everyone to be an expert in her own field, but certain basics should be obvious to anyone who cared to look. Seafaring wasn¡¯t a race, or at least not a sprint. Delivering goods in a timely manner was one thing, but it wasn¡¯t something that could really be rushed. That was the sort of thing that got stupid captains run into razorshoals or waylaid by pirates, if they didn¡¯t just sail headfirst into a storm. When heading into unknown waters as they would be soon, it was critical to maintain control over everything. That included keeping the fleet together. If they weren¡¯t carrying so many different cultivators the space could be filled with more experienced sailors, and then they would be able to go faster- but not by all that much. There were simply limits to what could be done. At least they were getting things like this out of the way where it was safe. It would let her know what not to assign the admittedly very powerful woman to. At least she should be good at fighting, when it came around. Hopefully without setting the ship on fire. ----- Beasts had many different motivations for doing what they did, though they were often not that much different from cultivators. Survival, growth, and protecting territory- which got back into the first one. Different distinctions and subcategories could be argued all day, but the point was beasts usually didn¡¯t just attack because they were bored. So it had to be one of those other reasons. When a group of longnosed shipwreckers charged up from below, Captain Arendse didn¡¯t much care why. If it was territory, they had no way to know. If it was food, the timing was awkward. If it was for growth, it was basically the same as food, but they were attacking because the cultivators on the ship were strong, not despite it. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The first of the creatures speared through the bottom of the Skylark at the same time as the alarm was being yelled. It was a big one, to be able to pierce through the solid structure of the ship. Had to be at least as strong as an Essence Collection cultivator. Most of the others were deflected, though some of them carved out a bit of the hull as they went. Then everything was on fire. Captain Arendse was going to strangle Sarka, difference in cultivation be damned, except she realized that it wasn¡¯t actually hot. At least, not where she was. The huge ball of flames covering the ship certainly seemed to be doing quite a number on the underwater creatures, however, and the water around the ship was instantly boiling. A short time later, half-cooked fish were pulled up onto the deck. There was little point in leaving them to waste, after all. The big one had pulled out of the ship and retreated to the depths, but many of the others were not so fortunate as to survive even for a few moments. The hole in the ship was quickly patched. Broken wood didn¡¯t usually go back together, but it could be plugged. Perhaps one of the cultivators had the right technique to actually repair it good as new without replacing a set of boards, but they likely weren¡¯t on this ship. They¡¯d ask the rest of the fleet. At least it was easier to transfer cultivators away from port- they could hop over a significant distance and nobody needed to get the ships too close. Now they just had to make sure that thing didn¡¯t come back for some sort of revenge. They couldn¡¯t afford too many holes, and it wasn¡¯t as if they could just stop by a port for some repairs. They were capable of doing the work themselves, but the supplies were limited. It wasn¡¯t like they could just use any random tree, and even if they stumbled upon an island with exactly what they needed, properly turning a log into part of a ship was an involved process, even for cultivators. It wasn¡¯t just chopping something into shape. ----- Commodore Visser addressed the fleet as they stopped at an island. ¡°Here we are at Greatleaf Island. The last stop where we know what we¡¯re getting into. We plan to gather up some fresh food for the sake of a little celebration, and we¡¯ll fill up on water so we don¡¯t have to have anyone do the work of purifying it. After our little party, we¡¯ll be heading out into unknown waters, with the only knowledge being there¡¯s not much of significance within a week of here. Based on old records, we expect to take multiple months to reach any significantly sized landmass, and those only if we navigated correctly. Sadly, our star charts out this far are hardly up to date.¡± He shrugged, ¡°But it¡¯s not like we¡¯ll starve. Plenty of fish and large beasts, and we can filter water. We have that going for us, at least. So as long as we don¡¯t find anything dangerous enough to wipe us out, there¡¯s little cause for concern.¡± His speech wasn¡¯t exactly inspiring, but it wasn¡¯t really meant to be. It was just a statement of where they were, and where things were going. Uncertainty and danger weren¡¯t the biggest concerns in a cultivator¡¯s life, and with the gathering of powerful cultivators they had there really wasn¡¯t too much cause for concern. At least not for most people. Not all battles would be resolved in a handful of seconds, though at least for most they would have a bit more warning than charging fish with spearlike noses happened to give. ----- Anton never slept much, and while he¡¯d been getting more than the absolutely required few hours of sleep each night, some of that was shifted to the morning. That allowed him to spend more time looking at the stars, which was quite interesting considering that this was the biggest change he¡¯d seen from his usual location. Roaming around through the various countries he noticed some differences, but he hadn¡¯t exactly gone a week out to sea. He saw Commodore Visser paying close attention to the stars as well, though for very different reasons. The other man was using them to navigate, though as he admitted that wouldn¡¯t necessarily be good forever. ¡°Need any help taking measurements?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I can at least keep accurate notes.¡± While Graotan was landlocked, Grand Elder Vandale had also possessed an interest in navigating by the stars, which he shared with Anton. It wasn¡¯t as necessary on land, but an interesting practice regardless. ¡°Might as well,¡± the man said. ¡°I¡¯d thought to make new charts. A straight line journey isn¡¯t exactly the best way to gather information, but if we do it right we should be able to at least keep ourselves on relatively the same heading. Can¡¯t guarantee that the compass will stay accurate, and it doesn¡¯t exactly help us find our way back to a known point unless we manage to avoid any drift due to sea currents. Which is¡­ extremely unlikely.¡± Anton nodded. Normally such a project was done over a long course of time, and preferably from stationary points. But if they could quickly take down locations of stars at a certain time and match them the next night, they could at least get a passing picture of how the sky changed. That was a place being cultivators was quite handy, as it allowed them to rapidly and precisely mark things down, even on a swaying ship. They wouldn¡¯t be entirely creating new information, of course. The intent was to stay mostly along the same line of latitude, which meant they would see the same stars in the sky, except for the difference in timing throughout the night. After all, both they and the season were moving at the same time. Anton learned quite a bit from Visser, who was glad to share what he knew. Getting some actual practice was good as well, since Anton had never really used the theoretical knowledge he had. Anton imagined he could have been a good sailor, but then again he likely could have handled any job. As long as he felt like he was getting actual work done, of course. Anton liked to see tangible results. ¡°What do you think we¡¯ll find?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Hopefully¡­ a big mass of land.¡± Visser shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d be quite happy to encounter some new islands. If we can plot their location then even if this expedition has to return for some reason, we¡¯ll make measurable progress. I know that the various sects would be disappointed at that, but sometimes flinging ships at things just doesn¡¯t work out. And we haven¡¯t even run into real danger yet.¡± Anton didn¡¯t say anything, so as to not invite bad omens, but following the Commodore¡¯s eyeline he found it wouldn¡¯t have mattered. Dark clouds were on the horizon, and he didn¡¯t have to be a seafarer to know that meant storms. The only question was whether or not they would be too much for them to handle. Of course, a single storm would not take out such a well equipped fleet- but it was possible for them to get worn down little by little. Chapter 275 Anton didn¡¯t know what would drive ocean beasts to attack a ship. It was widely observed that creatures possessing a cultivation were more aggressive than others, at least in general, but he would have presumed the increased function such creatures had could make them see the danger. Then again, humans underestimated new opponents all the time. A single encounter with the wrong target could wipe out man or beast, leaving them unable to properly tell the tale. After going beyond Greatleaf island they were beset by numerous types of creatures, though none even as effective as the longnosed shipwreckers. Those had the advantage of being relatively unexpected. Others the sailors were ready for and could ward off themselves, or advise the traveling cultivators on. At the moment, they were engaged in a bit of a staring match. As he got used to sensing deep underwater, Anton found himself growing more proficient with sensing deeper in the water. It was much easier than feeling through solid ground, but still a bit difficult. The real issue was keeping a sustained sense of things at a distance. Yet nobody had trouble sensing their particular visitors. They would have had to be completely numb to energy, and even then would have noticed when the boat rocked suddenly as something bumped into it. A pair of somethings, even. Anton could just about reach out and touch the fin of the shark he saw below the Azalea. It was high enough, at least, but too far out. He could see an open mouth with rows of teeth nearly as large as himself, though it was hard to say they seemed sharp. Very few things at such a size retained those properties on a smaller scale. At the moment, the bigger one was trying to fit its mouth around part of the ship. Everyone was standing on alert, waiting on Commodore Visser¡¯s orders. Or that of their various sect elders, should they choose to defy his order to wait. Personally Anton was in his camp. Not because he didn¡¯t believe they were a threat, but because he thought they might be. There was no doubting the danger they imposed, of course, but there was more to it. Like the fact that the way one of them was mouthing the ship wasn¡¯t really doing anything. It certainly must have had the capacity to damage the ship, but at the moment it was idly trying to take a bite out of something new. If they provoked the creatures, well, even if they couldn¡¯t get a solid chomp on the ships they could cause significant damage. The other one was back with the Skylark, swimming around it. If either of them moved towards the smaller ships in the middle of the fleet there might be trouble, but for the moment everything was fine. Even Elder Sarka of the Glorious Flame Palace was calmly watching them. Anton could feel the heat building up inside of her, but she hadn¡¯t actually started anything. But if the battle began, she and many others were prepared to attack as swiftly as possible, to minimize the damage the creatures could cause. The larger shark caused the Azalea to sway once more as it tried to press its mouth against it. There was a small tearing sound as it scraped a small chunk away due to some teeth sticking out at an odd angle. Then it pulled back and began to swim away. The other followed. There were a few more tense moments, before someone tried to dive into the water. They were stopped, not because it was a foolish idea, but because that other person had also noticed the tooth stuck in the side of the ship and wanted it for themself. Anton paid half a mind of attention to that, but was mostly focused on the withdrawing creatures, until they were far enough he could say they were truly gone. He eventually withdrew his senses to what he could easily maintain. It seemed they had only been looking to see if the new prey was easy to eat and tasty, and finding it inconvenient and wooden decided to move on. The tooth was brought on board, where Commodore Visser claimed it. None of the other Life Transformation experts cared about it, and since it was his ship that it had pierced into there was little point in arguing. It was just a tooth after all, even if it was about Anton¡¯s size, though obviously quite a different shape. The damage to the hull was minimal, in the grand scheme of things. ¡°Shark teeth fall out all the time,¡± Commodore Visser explained. ¡°Usually from ripping and tearing into things. This one was probably loosened from something else.¡± With that, the incident was over. It became more of a curiosity than anything else, and was largely set aside from the minds of the travelers. Especially considering what immediately followed it. ----- Less than two hours later, Anton sensed a great presence under the water. Even in the few short moments it took him to get up on deck, the crew had entered a state of alertness, with Commodore Visser frowning down below as one hand rested on the oversized tooth sitting next to him. ¡°I don¡¯t like the feel of that one,¡± he said. ¡°Raise the alarm!¡± Though he called for the alarm, his voice carried well enough that the other ships would have doubtless found themselves informed about the circumstances- were they not already wary of the approaching figures from below. Anton couldn¡¯t see far into the murky deep. Ten meters at most, but by the time the creatures reached that point they would be practically upon them. Especially since their long, snakelike bodies continued much deeper below. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. He followed the winding, bumpy creatures and found they widened along their length. He was having trouble sensing where they connected, but he was certain they must. Especially since the signature of energy was exactly the same from all of them. It wasn¡¯t anything so tame as a group of giant eels, but instead one creature with tentacles at least a hundred meters long. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Ranged combatants, at the ready. Everyone else designated as rowers, at your stations! Prepare for double time! We¡¯re not waiting around to see if this thing is just curious.¡± Commodore Visser¡¯s words were quickly carried out, with Anton taking a position on the bow of the boat. There weren¡¯t a lot of places it was convenient to shoot directly downward, but on the other hand the creature was large enough it couldn¡¯t hide under the shadow of the boat. They began to pick up speed, sails unfurling as well to draw every ounce of speed they could- though they still needed people ready for battle. It wasn¡¯t long before the reaching tentacles drew up short of the trailing Skylark, and then they pulled back into the sea. ¡°Stay on guard!¡± Visser¡¯s experience matched with Anton¡¯s own thoughts, as the grasping limbs pulling back didn¡¯t necessarily mean anything. If he¡¯d known about how the creature moved, he would have been even more justified- but he was just cautious. A few moments later, a giant wave raised the fleet into the air, splashing over it as they came down. All at once the creature had rushed forward, moving a huge amount of the sea with it. The creature then flipped around, reaching upward with an uncountable number of tentacles. ¡°So it¡¯s true,¡± Anton heard Commodore Visser whisper to himself. ¡°The legends of the krakens.¡± Much more loudly, he began to give orders. ¡°Attack! Defend the fleet, and maintain formation!¡± There were more specific details that were undoubtedly useful for the experienced sailors, but the rest were useful to the cultivators on board. Anton immediately felt the water heating up at the rear of the fleet, while a section of one tentacle was frozen beneath him. He began to fire shots at the closest approaching tentacles. Shooting through tens of meters of water was difficult, but unfortunately Anton didn¡¯t have long where that was required. A couple seconds later the tentacles were almost lazily raised above the ships, coiling around anything they could reach. Anton fired upon one that was grasping the mast, not hesitating to use a chunk of ascension energy. On anything lesser he would have expected to sever something completely, but while he pierced through the creature¡¯s defensive energy and rubbery body, he only managed to explode a man-sized chunk out of it. Less than half the width of the tentacle in the upper quarter that was sticking onto the ship. Perhaps it was significant damage, but the mast began to bend regardless of the half-severing. Many attacks more powerful than Anton were launched, though Commodore Visser¡¯s was the most¡­ interesting. He lifted the shark tooth in both hands, an extremely awkward grip that nonetheless managed to be serviceable. The tooth was raised up and swung downward like a guillotine, severing one of the tentacles snaking over the ship. One of dozens, because while the creature certainly resembled the common octopus Anton had sensed on previous visits to the ocean, it was hardly the same. The battle was swift, with attacks being launched at full power immediately. Despite the sturdy materials and formations augmenting them, masts cracked, hulls creaked, and one of the middle ships was crushed, snapping in two. The creature¡¯s limbs swept across the decks, knocking people off their feet or into the sea, and sometimes coiling around them in groups. In return, tentacles were frozen, burned, chopped, pierced, and otherwise devastated, but the ships and people on them were taking extreme damage as well. Anton could hardly keep track of any of it, and he saw more than a handful of cultivators grabbed by the creature and dragged under the water. The Azalea was sturdy, but even she lost a mast, a trio of tentacles eventually working together to pull one apart. But as flurries of attacks came from both sides and blood poured over the decks and into the sea, the creature eventually withdrew. Anton could feel it was not dead, but hopefully its wounds would discourage it from making another attempt. After that, efforts fell to snapping up anyone still in the sea, not already sunk or pulled under. Every cultivator could swim, though they couldn¡¯t necessarily keep up with the boats. Fortunately the long formation allowed the sailors and passengers on the snapped ship to get onto the trailing ships, including the Skylark. ----- Anton did his part helping downed sailors and throwing together quick patches, but his mind was elsewhere. It was on the kraken. As a mid Essence Collection cultivator, he was not at the top tier of power in the world- but he could at least see it. He felt the intensity of power Life Transformation cultivators had, and though he recognized the gap between his over forty stars and the sixty to the theoretical one hundred Life Transformation cultivators might have, he could imagine surpassing that gap. But that was the limit. Something beyond that was¡­ unfathomable. Anton knew the limits of humans. But then again, there was always ascension. Something beyond anything he knew. The kraken was not ascended. It was physically present, and while its energy was massive and powerful the sheer quantity of it posed more danger than the quality. Its size and bodily power compounded with that to create something greater than a Life Transformation cultivator. After all, they had more than a handful present in the fleet but could not kill the creature. Certainly, the kraken retreated, but if it had chosen to fight to the death Anton suspected it would have won. Perhaps even if their cultivators had been at the peak of Life Transformation like Vandale. Comparing the final explosion of his power to the kraken, impressive as it had been, was insufficient. The creature wasn¡¯t invincible, but in only a few minutes it had wreaked devastation on the fleet, killing perhaps a tenth of their number- though the count was not yet finalized. Even if many were weaker cultivators, Anton could have just as easily found himself dragged under had he been caught. The thought of death in battle didn¡¯t scare him, not as it might once have. Though he wished to at least face the coming invasion, he knew that others would make sure things went as well as they possibly could. No, what held his mind wasn¡¯t the fear, but the power. It was unfortunate that he gave up the opportunity to reach such heights, not that he was arrogant enough to assume he really had a chance. Over however many generations, despite the prestige of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, they had not had one person reach the proper, hundredth star and ascend. It could be possible, but would he be the first? Well, it was much like seeing rich folk ride through a small town. They were something that a commoner couldn¡¯t aspire to becoming. But Anton wondered what else in the world might have such power, and how there could be so much strength in a single being. Chapter 276 ¡°That was crazy,¡± Anish reiterated to the two women next to him. ¡°It was like fighting a mountain but¡­ wetter.¡± He grimaced. That wasn¡¯t very eloquent, but it was the only word he could think of. ¡°Not something easy to burn up. What a pain to fight, huh Alva?¡± ¡°You think it was bad for you?¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°Try fighting it with a bow. How am I supposed to damage something like that? Even Grand Elder Kseniya had trouble. I basically just filled it with a bunch of holes and then watched someone lop off the entire tentacle I was working on.¡± ¡°It was quite¡­ difficult¡­ to use our abilities with it underwater,¡± Annelie commented. With neither Marsen nor Diana along, she had a lot of time with Alva. But just two people got boring, so it was nice to have someone else to talk to. Anish was somewhat older and higher in cultivation, but it wasn¡¯t as if the two of them would precisely match anyone. Through differing methods she and Alva had both gotten extremely early starts on cultivation and didn¡¯t match with most of their peers. It wasn¡¯t as if they knew that many other people on the trip, either. ¡°At least ice abilities don¡¯t fizzle out underwater,¡± Anish pointed out. ¡°That¡¯s true, but water carries a lot of heat and transfers it quickly,¡± Annelie explained, ¡°So most freezing wears off more quickly in water, or it requires a significant expenditure of energy.¡± Unlike the Life Transformation elders Sarka and Adelina, these particular two members of the Glorious Flame Palace and Frostmirror Sect got along just fine. After all, if a wildly different fighting style was enough to preclude friendship, the pair of cousins wouldn¡¯t be on good terms either. Perhaps it was a boon that Annelie didn¡¯t fully practice the emotionless nature of the Frostmirror Sect, instead picking and choosing when it was appropriate to feel strong emotion. Alva was still more open than her, and of course the fiery man was extremely straightforward with most of his thoughts. ¡°Maybe next time I can work with you to burn it inside out,¡± Anish said. ¡°I mean, if there¡¯s a next time. But the others are all strategizing just in case it happens.¡± ¡°How would we burn it from the inside? I don¡¯t practice fire techniques, though I might at some point.¡± Her grandfather certainly did, but she¡¯d eventually realized that copying everything he trained wasn¡¯t going to be the best for her. Her fighting style was so different, even though both were archers. She focused on mobility where he focused on his attacks- and sometimes many of them at once. She found that technique very difficult to properly utilize, even though her cultivation was sufficient to maintain multiple bows made out of energy. ¡°Well, you were saying you only poke holes in it, right? If you pierce deep enough I could dig in behind your shots, which would end up a lot better than crispy skin, which is all I really managed this time.¡± ¡°How could I contribute to this?¡± Annelie asked, ¡°Obviously it would be counterproductive for us to attempt to burn and freeze the same areas. At least, most of the time. If I freeze something first, rapid heating could cause severe damage to an area.¡± ¡°I like how you think,¡± Anish nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll have to work on something like that.¡± ----- In addition to strategizing about how to fight future krakens, or the same one should it be encountered once more, there were informal ceremonies for those who had died. That was all that could be done, with no bodies left behind- nor anything else to do with them. It was unknown when they would find land, though that was one of their next goals. There was only a finite amount that they could store on the ships to repair them, and only so much work that could be done while in transit. Cultivators were capable of doing more while out at sea, but they simply didn¡¯t have anything suited to replace the masts. They needed single logs of great size, or something equivalent. They were able to get along without every mast on the capital ships, but it was preferable to at least have the repairs done. Food and water, at least, were not issues. It was simple for the cultivators to fish for food through various methods, and purifying the water of salt was also easily possible through either boiling it or other methods. Even with the aftereffects of the kraken attack the expedition was not in dire straits- but it was best if they have some success soon. It was likely too soon to run into another continent, or they would not have lost contact for very long, but intermediate islands were bound to exist. Their best lookouts were constantly scanning the horizon for signs of land, but there were other signs they could look for. Commodore Visser explained. ¡°Though the sea is harsh and mysterious, it follows rules just like everything else. Currents on the surface and beneath all form for reasons, and they¡¯re affected by landmasses. Same with the weather, with rain falling on the windward side of a mountain. Clouds form and disappear, so we can watch the skies for signs.¡± With little else to do, the various cultivators learned quite a bit about living on a ship from the professional sailors. They certainly wouldn¡¯t be able to do without them any time soon, but they were beginning to gain some efficiency as an overall group instead of individual sects of cultivators banded together. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ----- A few days without running into anything willing to attack the fleet was a nice relief, even if a bit odd. It was without anything so esoteric as reading wind or wave patterns that the island was spotted- Kseniya simply sense it beyond the horizon. In fact the island had a much bigger impact on something else, the abundance of natural energy it gave off being easily felt. From ten or more kilometers away most cultivators still wouldn¡¯t immediately sense it, but it was clear how the energy ramped up the closer they got to the island. It was a welcome sign, even if it indicated possible danger. As they approached, however, all they saw was an extremely sizable and lush island full of trees and plants. They knew better than to assume nothing dangerous was lurking in the woods, but they were able to lay anchor and land ashore without trouble. Anton could just imagine Fuzz running around sniffing everything new, but he was not with them on this journey. A giant wolf took up quite a bit of space on a ship, and even if cultivators could afford some extravagances his presence wasn¡¯t necessary. Beyond that, Catarina was working with him to stabilize his development. Spontaneous appearance of formation runes wasn¡¯t exactly something common, and it was interesting to study- and of course, she wanted to make sure it wasn¡¯t dangerous. While Alva monopolized most of the wolf¡¯s time, Catarina had been the one to initially save him after the incident with the parasitic moss. A few small groups were sent out to scout the island, looking for dangers. Kseniya was with one, but she likely could have made up a whole group alone. She had the strength and ability. If nothing else, she could run away from anything that it was possible for most groups to defeat. Anton¡¯s group was with Elder Servaos of the Wandering Bush Sect and a few others. Both of them understood nature, though Anton was more familiar with the sort of woods they were heading into. Servaos was more familiar with desert terrain, or at least less heavily wooded terrain. Though Anton saw quite a variety of plants he might have considered dangerous before he was a cultivator, there wasn¡¯t really much of note to anyone on the island. They climbed over great hills that were large enough they briefly wondered if they¡¯d stumbled into a peninsula of a larger landmass. However, as Anton and the others circled one way around the layout of hills they kept the ocean in sight, and before the day was over they met up with the other groups that had gone down the middle and around the other side. ¡°There was always a hill on either side,¡± commented Commodore Visser who had scouted the middle path. ¡°Seems like the hills are arranged in offset rows, no more than three widthwise. Five down the middle. I counted¡­ thirteen in all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s consistent with what we saw,¡± Kseniya noted. ¡°I was able to keep an eye on your group in the middle.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It¡¯s strangely symmetric. I would expect this island to have one large mountain in the middle instead of this arrangement of hills.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem to be volcanic,¡± Visser agreed. ¡°But the important thing is it seemed safe, unless any of you noticed anything. I didn¡¯t see much larger than a pig, and a small one at that. I¡¯d recommend people stay in groups regardless, in case something was hiding. We weren¡¯t entirely thorough.¡± He looked around them, ¡°Some nice trees here, though. Should be able to replace the mast on the Azalea, though it won¡¯t be quite as sturdy I imagine. It¡¯ll take a bit to treat it though.¡± ¡°How long?¡± Kseniya asked. ¡°Maybe a month, possibly less if it goes well. It¡¯s not a process that can be rushed all that much, even with the use of natural energy.¡± He grinned, ¡°Should be fine though. Plenty of food here, and it¡¯s not fish. I like fish, but not every day. And the fruit¡¯s fresh, instead of dried and basically tasteless.¡± Anton could have pointed out that the dried fruit was better than most common folk had to eat on a regular basis, but the diet of a cultivator was as elevated as everything else. There were all sorts of foods that could aid cultivation, and Anton thought he¡¯d seen some on the island. He hadn¡¯t stopped to gather much of anything since they were scouting, though. ----- The break from the monotony of traveling over the sea was a welcome change. The island had food in the form of fruits and other plants, as well as small game including birds and the aforementioned small pigs. It was sizable enough that the company of cultivators could subsist for the whole month without destroying the ecosystem, which was important to Anton for a number of reasons. If nothing else, they would likely be coming back this way and would want to make another stop. The abundant natural energy in the area was also greater than most of the area around the Order, except perhaps the highest peaks where most of the grand elders dwelled. Even then, it was a close match. The cultivators who had been cooped up and only able to grow with the aid of whatever they¡¯d brought in them could now spread out and have their own spaces where they could draw in as much natural energy as they pleased. It was a good island. Anton liked it quite a bit, and happily spent most of his time just studying how it was arranged. Was it artificial in some way? The overall symmetry of the island shouldn¡¯t be an accident, though stranger things had happened in the world. He didn¡¯t feel it was a formation, though perhaps he simply wasn¡¯t attuned enough to such things. It simply sustained life in a relatively peaceful manner. Obviously animals ate the plants and some ate each other, and a few plants ate insects, but compared to most places he had been it was practically free of violence. Except for what the cultivators enacted upon each other. In officially approved spars, of course. The beaches were a good place to make use of some energy in a way that didn¡¯t involve awkwardly attacking something in the water beneath a ship. Fighting more as they were used to was good for people, and the various dangers in the journey- mostly the kraken- had allowed people to gain some insights. Even the weather was good. If one simply wanted to survive, the island was a paradise. Paradise was one of the names proposed for it, and it ultimately transformed into the Paradise of the Thirteen Hills. An odd name for an island, but it had to be chosen with some haste to stop Elder Sarka from proposing more names like Thirteen Volcano Island. The fact that the hills weren¡¯t volcanoes didn¡¯t deter her, and Anton had the feeling that if they pushed too far she would try to make them be volcanoes. It was interesting to see the way cultivators matured with their extended lifespans. Or perhaps it was simply the way people worked. They matured exactly as much as they wanted to, and seldom more than that. Chapter 277 A convenient island like the Paradise of Thirteen Hills was something they wanted to return to, given the chance. They ended up staying only three weeks instead of the intended month, due to the ease of finding the needed supplies to repair their vessels. The reason it took more than just a single day or two was that proper seasoning was required so that the pieces didn¡¯t warp later. That took constant work from some of the cultivators to dry it out without damaging it, but they were able to devote themselves to that task without worry. Everything was cut to the right proportions and finalized without much trouble. Sails had also been damaged during the fight with the kraken, as well as some smaller battles. Those were harder to replace since they required more complex materials, but spares had been brought along for just that purpose. Even great rips could be quickly sewn together by the work of deft hands. Though people were eagerly gathering supplies, Anton and others made sure they weren¡¯t taking too much. It was quite a large island, so it wouldn¡¯t have been possible to cause serious damage to the local ecology just by taking supplies, but the materials for a mast for one of the flagships took an extraordinary tree. Nothing could guarantee another of the same size would grow, but Anton made sure to provide a little help to some of the trees that had potential, donating some of his energy and making sure their soil was good. A little work over a couple weeks probably wouldn¡¯t matter, but it was best to start thinking about such things now. As they got ready to leave, Anton continued to think about how it was strange. The whole island, of course. He could see how such a place might have abundant spiritual energy, but it seemed abnormally high even for that. The shape made it seem artificial, but beyond the symmetrical layout of hills nothing even indicated the presence of cultivators. While the plants were healthy and strong, the trees large and durable, they hardly seemed like something cultivators would plant. The fruit was tasty and nutritious, but it didn¡¯t carry huge stores of natural energy to absorb. The animals were mostly small creatures that lived in harmony, nothing large and tough that could be turned into weapons or armor. It was just an island, happily sustaining its little ecosystem. But eventually they set off, after taking careful notes so they could be as likely as possible to find it again. There were no other nearby islands known to compare in location, but they did their best. ----- There were many things that could be fought, but one thing that people might say was undefeatable was nature itself, and more specifically the weather. Anton would have agreed with that assessment at some point, but he had grown to believe quite differently. A determined enough group of powerful cultivators could do anything. That included fighting a storm. Sure, sailors might talk about fighting a storm, but they really meant sailing through one- or weathering it, really, since they wouldn¡¯t have sails unfurled in such a case. Their fleet followed all of the normal protocols for a storm, except for what might have normally been the most important. Spreading out a fleet during a storm was simply logical- the ships were the only thing that could be slammed into by the force of a storm, and if that was avoided there was one less danger to deal with. But instead of that, they pulled into a tight formation, the center boats pulling out to the sides so they were more of a diamond shape instead of a line, but the front and rear flagships collapsed the formation to a smaller area, with only a handful of meters between them and the pair of ships in the middle. Some people were on duty at the oars, keeping the ships in the same relative positions. Their efforts were assisted by members of the Wandering Bush Sect, who created a sort of thorny barrier attached to all of the ships, holding them in the same position relative to each other with some leeway. After all, a fully rigid barrier would just be asking to be torn apart. Others were on duty shoring up the defenses of the ships, combining their natural energy to create a large barrier. It wasn¡¯t as good as a proper formation set up by a formation master, but unlike any other enemy the storm wasn¡¯t looking for weak points to break through, or even cognizant of their existence. It simply threw wind and water as it pleased, raising waves that would overtop even the flagships. The barriers were to prevent that, and others worked with them to counterattack, slashing apart the waves, which lessened how much of the impact hit at the same time. Waves crashed against the ships but due to the tight formation danger could only come from a limited angle, instead of every side of every ship. Anton was on lightning duty. His job was to shoot arrows into the sky wherever lightning was building up, or at least anywhere that might threaten the ship. Provoking smaller bolts before they became too powerful was good, but what was even better was finding a way to redirect the strike elsewhere. Lightning was eager to seek out a target, and if he made an easy path for it to travel it would gladly strike the sea. That was an area his training with Vandale came in extremely helpful, as he had a large domain around him that he could control the flow of energy. He didn¡¯t even need much power, just briefly forming a smooth path. The lightning would inevitably blast apart his control, but the power only came after it had chosen its path and was safe. It was still disconcerting to see lightning bolts strike immediately next to the ship, but once it touched the water the lighting dispersed in all directions, diluting its power. Even bolts that were one, two meters wide and sufficient to vaporize Spirit Building cultivators were not a problem. The stronger bolts, those that could cause serious damage to Essence Collection cultivators or more, cause great gouts of steam as they struck the surface of the ocean, rocking the ships and deafening the people fighting against the storm- those without sufficient defenses, anyway. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The formations of the ships strained at those moments, as even a small portion of such a bolt had the potential to cause damage, but the various cultivators held, and Anton and others assigned to such duties continued to strive to push the strikes further from their vessels, which were otherwise the most tempting targets on the sea. The methods of the Iron Fist Sect were a bit unorthodox in that area, as they worked either alone or in groups to strike directly back against the lightning. It seemed highly inefficient, as Anton could see Elder Magro leap into the air and punch a bolt of lightning, negating it instead of letting it pass through or around him. But at least such efforts prevented collateral damage. Anton only hoped they had properly paced themselves to outlast the storm, which had been going on for some hours already, and showed no signs of stopping soon. An arrow flew past him, striking the water beneath the fleet. It wasn¡¯t a missed shot, but instead the work of Grand Elder Kseniya, who was on monster duty. Because for some reason a number of the sea beasts thought the middle of a storm was a good time to go to the surface to try to find food. Or something like that, because Anton could hardly imagine that there was ever food on the surface, but something about the storm drew some of the beasts upwards. Some of them were interested in the lightning itself, which the cultivators were quite happy to let them have. As long as they stayed away from the ships. That included some of the longnosed shipwreckers, though Anton thought they might have been a slightly different type. Their noses were slightly more rounded instead of spearlike, though certainly still quite capable of bashing through a hull or another beast¡¯s side. At the moment, however, they were sticking their tips out of the water to be struck by lightning, which seemed to empower some of them. Anton kept his eye on them, though Kseniya would be first to react if they actually did anything threatening. A gust of wind was deflected by the combined efforts of several warriors, keeping the wind from blowing away the weaker members. Freezing water splashed over everyone. But the cultivators held. Another hour passed. A strange swelling of the waters caused one of the ships in the middle to capsize. Normally overturning would be the end of a sailing vessel, but its crew and passengers were made up of determined cultivators. Instead of immediately swimming for shelter on one of the other ships, they banded together in the water to try to right the ship. They began to join together much like those providing the outer barriers, a wide gathering of energy providing some leverage to press against their ship, flopping it back upright. It was heavy in the water, practically sinking, but it began to be bailed out with buckets made of energy and of actual physical wood, with some cultivators skilled in manipulating water being the most effective. No doubt their supplies would be soaked and rather unappetizing, but the vessel would not be lost. Kseniya and other defenders kept them safe from beasts who thought their legs looked somewhat appetizing, arrows of pure energy along with gouts of fire, ice, and thorny protrusions of plantlike energy. Just above the fleet a large gathering of lightning began to build up. If Anton didn¡¯t know better, he would have actually thought it was targeting them. But that should not be the case¡­ unless they had stumbled into some sort of defensive formation of an isolationist sect. The flow of energy seemed to be entirely natural, though. If he let the bolt of lightning strike straight down, or really anywhere below it at most angles, it would be devastating for the fleet. Even indirect impact might break through the defensive barriers of the larger ships, and the smaller ones would be annihilated. He absolutely wasn¡¯t going to let the lives and the effort of the soaked sailors go to waste. A dozen arrows made of energy, impractically oversized for most purposes, were nocked on a number of different bows formed of the same energy. The lightning above continued to build, but it wasn¡¯t quite ready to release. Timing would be more important than speed, though he wanted both. His arrows shot out all around the cloud in different directions. Others picked up on what he was doing and added their own efforts, forming a web of energy spreading outward from the center. Anton did the same, with as many different arrows as he could maintain at once, before finally shooting an arrow almost horizontally, letting it curve around through the clouds towards the center. He wasn¡¯t sure if he was the one to trigger it, if it finished building to its peak, or something else had¡­ but everything went white. He couldn¡¯t see or hear, but he knew one thing. It had worked¡­ well enough. At the very least, the great mass of energy hadn¡¯t come down in the center of the fleet. Instead, it had spider down around it, creating many separate bolts on all sides. He felt the strain on the formations of the ships and those providing the barriers, but it had gotten far enough away, and distributed enough, that they managed to hold on. Hopefully, there weren¡¯t more like that. If there were¡­ Anton shook his head. Nothing lasted forever, not even this storm. In fact, as the lightning had snaked through the clouds above, a brief opening was formed. It wouldn¡¯t suddenly bring an end to the rest of the storm, but it would give them a moment of respite to catch their breath. As he saw the stars beyond, Anton wondered what level of power one would have to reach to disperse such a storm with individual effort. They didn¡¯t have any peak Life Transformation cultivators among them, with most being in early Life Transformation. Even Grand Elder Kseniya herself was technically part of that group, though close to the next threshold. Vandale could have probably done it. If not when Anton knew him, then when he was somewhat younger- he¡¯d been at the peak of Life Transformation for some time. But without someone like that, they simply had to make do with working together. Anton wasn¡¯t opposed to that at all, but it wasn¡¯t always possible to guarantee such an excellent group of allies would be available. Chapter 278 The ocean journey continued to pass with only minor incidents that the fleet was able to handle without suffering irreparable damage. Islands were few and far between, with none having the same abundance as the Paradise of Thirteen Hills. Some were inhabited by vicious beasts, but those were relatively easy to deal with. Over the course of a week, islands became more frequent, and with signs of people. Then Kseniya spotted someone. Someone, and not something. It didn¡¯t take long for her words to spread throughout the fleet. Plans for the first contact had already been made. Though the size of their fleet had been planned for the dangers of exploring new spaces, it would be quite easy to think it was an invading army. Thus, most of the fleet would be staying at a safe distance. Though their expertise was required for the expedition, the sailors were not particularly invested in the goal. Neither the Commodore nor any of the captains would be involved in official negotiations except as became necessary. One of the smaller vessels was selected to approach the island where cultivators had been sensed, carrying Elder Adelina of the Frostmirror sect and Elder Tola of Infinite Wisdom Forest. The pair of Life Transformation cultivators were a show of strength, but also of how reasonable they were. There was no intent to start conflict. Other people with a history of properly restraining themselves were picked to go as well- since anyone being provoked into a fight for whatever reason would reflect poorly on their group. Anton was among them, as well as Hoyt, though Anton didn¡¯t expect to be directly involved in any conversation. With one vessel moving forward, the rest of the fleet remained distant- though that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t help. Among other things, Grand Elder Kseniya was well within her firing range if anything went wrong. Not that they would be advertising that fact to everyone they approached. Unsurprisingly their arrival was met with an armed contingent of cultivators. They had intentionally been obvious in their approach. The hundred plus gathered cultivators wouldn¡¯t be able to actually do much if it came down to a fight, though. They had not a single Life Transformation cultivator among them. At the front was a woman in late Essence Collection who still retained much of her youth. Her voice was imperious, though Anton detected a hint of nervousness. It was justified, of course. ¡°Halt! Redfin Reef is the territory of the Rising Waterfall Sect. We have not received word of the passage of a group such as yourselves. What is your business here?¡± The words were clear enough, though it was the biggest change in regional accent Anton had heard. Some places still had local languages, but cultivators spread throughout the world and formed a common language that permeated everything. The roots of that still held even here. ¡°Is Redfin Reef isolated from the rest of the continent?¡± Elder Adelina¡¯s words didn¡¯t exactly inspire comfort, but her point quickly became clear. ¡°We come from the continent far to the west, with the intent of meeting with as many people as possible.¡± ¡°From the west, you say?¡± The woman looked disbelieving at first. ¡°Perhaps that is true. I do not recognize the sects any of you are from. We should properly introduce ourselves. I am Elder Darejani of the Rising Waterfall Sect.¡± ¡°Elder Adelina of the Frostmirror Sect. We have with us members of many sects, and represent a combination of interests. Among others we have members of Glorious Flame Palace,¡± she gestured to Anish, who was one of the most restrained of that particular group, ¡°Infinite Wisdom Forest,¡± Elder Tola bowed, ¡°The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars,¡± Anton felt eyes on him and Hoyt, ¡°And many others.¡± The woman from the Rising Waterfall Sect took a moment to absorb the names and likely tie them to energy signatures in her mind to recognize in the future. ¡°And what is your intent?¡± ¡°We come with a warning¡­ one it is possible your continent has been apprised of, but of great importance to all of us.¡± Elder Adelina paused dramatically, ¡°Have you heard that several decades hence, an invasion of ascended individuals shall be descending upon the world to scour it for resources?¡± Elder Tola looked quite surprised, which easily answered that question. Anton didn¡¯t blame her, nor did he blame how she didn¡¯t immediately accept the words. ¡°Is that so. Then you are here to do what, unite us all under your banner to fight against them?¡± That was a polite way of talking about conquering people. ¡°That would be quite impractical,¡± Elder Adelina explained, ¡°It is quite an arduous journey here, and we hardly have the spare resources to attempt to manage another land. No, we just want to make sure you¡¯re ready to fight. Because frankly, we don¡¯t know if anyone will be. Even ourselves.¡± ¡°... Perhaps we should talk somewhere more comfortable.¡± It was unlikely that Elder Tola would be immediately convinced. Cultivators had ways of reading the truthfulness of others, but there were ways that it could be unreliable. Even if people didn¡¯t intentionally train to overcome such detections, they could be honestly mistaken about information they believed to be true. Anton was quite certain it would take some talking to convince them, but at least they would be willing to listen. ----- Their group came and went from Redfin Reef without any physical confrontations, which included the normal sparring that might occur when different sects met. While such activities might build up bonds of friendship, they could also lead to negative outcomes if anything went wrong. It could be anything from a malicious act to simply having different understandings of how far it was appropriate to go in a spar. It was better for the group to be more established in the area first. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. They stayed on Redfin Reef for a week, not because of any necessity but simply so that the Rising Waterfall Sect could send notice ahead to the mainland. No doubt they would be met with stronger cultivators when they arrived, but that would simply mean they could get in contact with all of the right people. The strongest cultivators still appeared to be in charge, and it was unlikely that would be untrue anywhere, at least not to a significant degree. While there wasn¡¯t much time to offer proper training of any sort, they did leave behind copies of anti-ascension techniques. That was to prove their intent, and one of their main purposes. If they were forced to leave and only those techniques remained behind, it might be enough. Though personally Anton had other goals. But everyone on Redfin Reef was already a cultivators, so he couldn¡¯t exactly start his great plans. Getting permission first would be best, anyway. He didn¡¯t want people to think he was trying to start a really slow uprising. ----- The port city was approximately the same size as the one they had left from in Facraona. The one they¡¯d left from had been quite impressive, easily one of the largest cities Anton had seen, but it barely compared to Blackstone Harbor. The namesake rock made up the majority of the streets and buildings, and the whole city seemed to be carved from the dark stone. Doors and awnings were colored to contrast with what would have been an otherwise stark and dreary harbor, and the people themselves walked around in brightly colored garb. An entire large dock was nicely set aside for the fleet, and they were escorted to it as they approached the harbor. Many other ships were present, but their group drew many stares. Even those who weren¡¯t cultivators could tell there was something different about them. As they had been expected, a group was ready to meet with them shortly after they weighed anchor and settled down. Word had been sent back to Redfin Reef which relayed how the local sects would be willing to meet, and Anton found them quite reasonable. Even if they asked them not to bring any archers along. Sure, many others could kill at range- but those who carried around a bow made it obvious. It was better to not make people nervous. But on the other hand, as it was a meeting of cultivators, they wouldn¡¯t be asking anyone to go in unarmed. That was simply asking for too much trust, and would easily sway the tides of battle in certain cultivators¡¯ favor- and they had no way to predict which ones. The rules were reasonable, but it ended up with an odd mix of people going. Oh, elders from various factions made sense. The fact that both Adelina and Sarka were on the way was a bit concerning, but Anton was fairly certain it would be fine. But the fact that Chikere was going along¡­ well, it seemed that their arbitrary standards were just that. And while it was simply discouraged, for archers to be in the group of those who went to the meeting, Anton was fine with letting some of the young folk take on the diplomatic tasks. He was still free to wander the city and he was sure he could find something interesting to occupy his time. ----- It was difficult to not immediately draw any of her swords when they stepped into the audience chamber. Strong cultivators were one thing. The impression the Life Transformation cultivators were giving off was enough to make Chikere twitchy, but she could handle that. She knew it was all bluster. But to find an actual enemy present, that was another matter entirely. She could have been halfway to him in a moment, ready to cut off his head. And probably dead that same moment, though not by that guy. After all, he had a sword. Chikere could lose to anyone else, but if she were going to lose a fair sword fight she might as well just kill herself. Though given the general nature of such things, she wouldn¡¯t have the chance. Instead of drawing her swords, she took a deep breath and simply imagined slicing the wide man to ribbons. It wasn¡¯t just an idle fantasy either. She could see how he was uncomfortable sitting, and from that she extrapolated how he might stand, what stance he might take. She took note of the calluses on his hands and the particular muscles he¡¯d developed. That wouldn¡¯t tell her the whole picture, but he wasn¡¯t exactly demonstrating how his energy would flow in combat. This was a peaceful talk, after all. At least, that was the idea of it. And there sure was a lot of it. Talking. So many words going back and forth, saying so little¡­ and yet so much. The pleasantries by the group present in front of them were the right words, but they were clearly intimidated. That was why they insisted on being raised up higher than her own group. That was also why there were formations in place to protect them, but that wasn¡¯t her problem. Unless she ended up fighting the sword guy. But she wasn¡¯t going to start that fight. She was putting on her best face, as a representative of independent cultivators. She was fully on board with the whole plan to make sure everyone was ready to fight the invaders. Who did they think they were, planning to just force their way into the world and take all their swords? And maybe other crap too, Chikere presumed. But when they came for her swords they would find themselves facing the first through thirteenth best swords she¡¯d ever laid her hands on, excluding the one sword that a respectable master had let her swing once. She was thinking about how to get that one while only half-listening to the conversation going on around her, until something caught her attention. ¡°While your words relay an honorable goal, in theory, you have provided us no proof of anything.¡± Chikere¡¯s eyes focused on the sword guy. Why was he allowed to talk? ¡°Personally, I find your motives suspicious.¡± ¡°Of course you¡¯d say that. You¡¯re a member of the Twin Soul Sect. That¡¯s literally your entire purpose here.¡± Chikere had every intention to play her part and let things happen as they were supposed to. She really did. But sometimes, her body acted on its own and she really couldn¡¯t stop it. Not that she would, since it had saved her life hundreds of times before. But usually it was her arms and legs and only rarely her mouth. Even in those cases, it was usually just biting down on a sword swinging at her face. This time, her vocal chords had been involved. ¡°What did you say, junior?¡± the man said in the third most condescending tone she¡¯d ever heard. But he wasn¡¯t quite as old as some of those she¡¯d met before, so he probably just didn¡¯t have the practice. ¡°I said you¡¯re a member of the Twin Soul Sect. You know, the guys who are going around pretending to be part of other sects and sabotaging us so the invasion can work. So of course you¡¯d say you were suspicious of our motives.¡± Chikere felt the stares of more than a handful of Life Transformation cultivators boring into her, including the icy and hot glares of Adelina and Sarka. ¡°What? Can you guys still not recognize swords? I thought maybe you were just playing dumb.¡± Chapter 279 Things were going well. The Life Transformation elders were activating abilities Chikere knew would fully reveal to them that the man she¡¯d pointed out was a Twin Soul sect member. Once he was exposed, they could just stab him and be done with it. The people here could grow to trust them for removing a traitor and everything would be fine. But of course she¡¯d forgotten that people were weird. Elders Sarka and Adelina had not used their detection abilities earlier because they were a bit invasive, and she saw from their faces the confirmation, but there was no stabbing. Or firing or icing. Ah right. Politics. Probably some people up front were friends with who they thought the sword guy was, or were even actually in cahoots with the traitors. But as the pressure of angry glares bore down on Chikere, she stood firm. The sword guy¡¯s look was especially sharp, but if Chikere was afraid of sharp, she would have scared herself to death long ago. The sword guy spoke up again. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty wild accusation to be throwing around, junior. What evidence do you have?¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty easy. Your sword is made by their guy, and they all have a feeling to them.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± the noise came from someone in the group up above, but Chikere couldn¡¯t pick them out for some reason. There weren¡¯t that many old dudes up there, but it was still hard to place. ¡°Iiinteresting,¡± the voice mumbled. But nobody else seemed to acknowledge it. ¡°This sword?¡± the man raised an eyebrow. ¡°You say it marks me as some member of a traitorous sect?¡± ¡°I guarantee it,¡± Chikere stared swords back at him. Some people stared daggers, but they just didn¡¯t know how to do a proper look. If she tried a little bit harder, she might make the guy¡¯s eyes bleed. ¡°Well, good for me then,¡± the man smiled happily. ¡°I just so happened to have picked this off someone I killed. He was a traitor, hmm?¡± ¡°No,¡± Chikere said. ¡°It¡¯s you. Because that sword was made specifically for your hand¡­ seven weeks ago.¡± ¡°Stop making things up,¡± the man said sternly. ¡°This is no place for games. Which sect is she from?¡± ¡°It was eight weeks,¡± a low but powerful voice said from one of the positions among the visiting cultivators. As it spoke, Chikere felt a sudden sense of danger. Like she was sliced in half¡­ except she wasn¡¯t. And it wasn¡¯t targeted at her. Where had that sword come from? And also the person holding it at his side. He hadn¡¯t been there¡­ had he? An old man casually stood up from a seat, strolling over to the sword guy. Perhaps he had been there. He certainly didn¡¯t look like much. Hadn¡¯t looked like much. But now¡­ Chikere wanted to fight him. Even if it meant dying. The old man held a sword in his hand- not his own, but the blade of the sword guy. ¡°You said this sword is the mark of a traitor? I¡¯ve sensed blades of this master before. Mostly recently. I do agree, they¡¯re quite distinctive.¡± He casually held the blade against the throat of the man. ¡°So, you found this sword on someone, you said? Interesting.¡± Nobody said anything. The group of cultivators below were waiting to see what happened, and everyone else among the council that had been waiting seemed to be too intimidated to speak. So Chikere spoke. ¡°Are you sure it was eight weeks?¡± she frowned. ¡°I thought it was seven.¡± ¡°That would depend on your opinion,¡± the old man said as he continued to casually hold the blade against the other¡¯s throat. ¡°When is a sword a sword?¡± When the metal first touches fire, when the blade is quenched for the final time, or when it finishes being sharpened?¡± ¡°The last one,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Or when it falls off the tree.¡± The old man cocked his head. ¡°... tree?¡± Chikere hefted up one of her swords, still in its sheath. ¡°This one grew on a tree on the moon.¡± ¡°Oh. Everheart¡¯s place.¡± The man clicked his tongue. ¡°I never trusted that guy close enough to throw him. But I heard that it was quite an interesting trip.¡± ¡°Umm,¡± one of the few women on the gathered council spoke up. ¡°Swordmaster Rahayu, I believe you will have opportunities to continue that conversation later. I trust your word that the sword was made when you said, but does that preclude it from being something Elder Lestari got from an enemy cultivator?¡± ¡°Oh yes,¡± the old man nodded. ¡°It was absolutely made specifically for his hands.¡± ¡°What a waste,¡± Chikere commented. ¡°Right?¡± the old man grinned toothlessly. ¡°Anyway, you got something to say in your defense? It shouldn¡¯t be that hard to figure out where you got this sword, but the thing is¡­ I already know. So why did you lie about it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± the man who was probably Elder Lestari said nervously. ¡°Wow. You¡¯re either an idiot or a terrible liar,¡± Swordmaster Rahayu said. ¡°Someone clean that up.¡± Chikere hadn¡¯t even seen the cut happen, and somehow the man¡¯s head fell to the floor before she noticed. How could that even happen? ¡°Fight me!¡± she shouted at the man. She had to know. She really wanted to live to be a grandmaster, but not knowing would make her life terrible. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Swordmaster Rahayu¡¯s eyes locked on hers. He didn¡¯t say anything, but as she drew her swords he lazily pulled his out. And then she died. A sword straight through her chest, from the back no less. And it was real. Her sword were barely even halfway stabbing behind her when it came out of her chest, spraying blood. ¡°Nice,¡± she heard before her consciousness left her for the last time. ¡°I¡¯m taking this one.¡± ----- Watching Grand Elder Kseniya¡¯s expression told Anton many things about what was happening in the meeting with the local council. First surprise and worry, then she relaxed. She even smiled slightly, before twitching. Anton saw her nearly fire an arrow, but she restrained herself. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± he asked. It was unlikely things were so tense that she couldn¡¯t afford the tiny amount of concentration to talk, and if that was true she¡¯d just ignore him. ¡°Well,¡± she said. ¡°The bad news is that there was a member of the Twin Soul Sect among the council. With him dead, it¡¯ll be a bit harder to work with whatever sect he was part of, at least until they¡¯re properly convinced about him. Then again, one of the locals did the deed. So the good news is that, and that he¡¯s dead. And also that Chikere isn¡¯t coming back.¡± ¡°Is that¡­ good news?¡± Anton frowned. He thought Kseniya was fond of Chikere. They shared a certain brashness and devotion to their craft, even if they didn¡¯t use the same sorts of weapons. ¡°What do you mean she¡¯s not coming back?¡± ¡°She got stabbed through the chest and carried away.¡± ¡°That sounds bad,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°I suppose when you just hear about it, yeah,¡± Kseniya nodded. ¡°But she was grinning pretty widely. And from what I can tell it¡¯s just an eccentric swordmaster eager to get a new apprentice.¡± ¡°... is that how swordmasters pick apprentices?¡± If Chikere wasn¡¯t his point of reference, Anton would have thought it was crazy. ¡°Well, how¡¯s the rest going?¡± ¡°Eh, it¡¯ll work out. And I don¡¯t even have to shoot anyone, probably.¡± ----- When she woke up, Chikere didn¡¯t even care that she wasn¡¯t dead. She just couldn¡¯t get over the fact that she hadn¡¯t seen through the movements. She reviewed the moment in her head over and over, and she couldn¡¯t help but think that she¡¯d seen the man casually walk up to her, circle around behind her, and slide his blade into her chest. She touched it¡­ and felt the wound. It went straight through the center of her chest, slipping between her ribs and just avoiding her sternum. And also just over her heart and narrowly slipping past some important veins and arteries without nicking her lung. She stood up, holding a sword in her hands. She tried to walk, but tripped. Something wasn¡¯t right about it. She tried again, and ran into the wall. It wasn¡¯t just the difference in energy between her and him. There was something else to it. And the movement of his sword. Chikere bit her lip. Too bad she only got to see it once. ¡°Are you going to sleep all day?¡± she heard a man shout. ¡°Get out here!¡± It was him. Swordmaster Rahayu, apparently. She was outside as soon as her legs would carry her there. ¡°Fight me!¡± And that was basically what they did. Though it could hardly be called a fight. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t take thing seriously. Every movement was sufficient to kill or maim Chikere and just stopped short of it. Or aimed somewhere she wouldn¡¯t die. Within the next hour, however, she found herself with a dozen more holes in her chest, arms, and legs. She had deep cuts elsewhere, leaking blood all over. And she hadn¡¯t even managed to touch the edge of the old man¡¯s robe. ¡°Bind up those wounds and sit down for breakfast,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ only a little bit burnt.¡± Chikere really wanted to keep going, but he had a point. She was ravenous, and there was the slight issue that she might bleed to death if she didn¡¯t close up some of the wounds. And she had more than enough battle to digest for a while. ¡°... where are we?¡± Chikere asked after eating the first plate of food. All she could see around them was a little hut and a small copse of trees. There wasn¡¯t even forest beyond it. Just nothing. ¡°Home,¡± he said. ¡°Pretty good energy up here, apprentice.¡± ¡°Apprentice?¡± she said questioningly. ¡°My name is Chikere.¡± She looked around. ¡°Do you have an apprentice?¡± ¡°Rahayu,¡± the man said. ¡°And the apprentice is you.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± she nodded. ¡°Okay. Does that mean we get to fight more?¡± ¡°In a minute, yeah. First tell me why you¡¯re here.¡± ¡°I presume because you brought me here.¡± ¡°Not here. Blackstone Harbor. Or Aicenith in general.¡± ¡°What¡¯s an Aicenith?¡± ¡°Continent,¡± he said. ¡°People name those?¡± Chikere frowned. ¡°I suppose that makes sense. I don¡¯t know the name of ours. But we¡¯re here to warn people about the coming invasion. Everheart warned about it. I know you don¡¯t like him, but-¡± ¡°Eh,¡± he said. ¡°When will it be?¡± ¡°A few decades?¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure.¡± ¡°Well, doesn¡¯t have much to do with me, then,¡± Rahayu shrugged. ¡°Probably. Unless they hurry it up.¡± ¡°We¡¯re supposed to convince people to prepare to fight people who had ascended. There are some techniques- not only from Everheart.¡± Chikere swung her sword, demonstrating one of them. ¡°They disrupt their energy. We¡¯re here to teach people about that and make sure they¡¯re preparing to fight however they want. Also the Twin Soul Sect thing, since they work for them.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± the old man nodded. ¡°But why are you here?¡± ¡°... to fight people.¡± ¡°Good enough. Let¡¯s get back to it then. Maybe I can improve that technique you showed me,¡± his sword swept through the air, making her skin tingle. ¡°It¡¯s far too general for my tastes. Gotta have the right edge for a sword.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Good idea. I haven¡¯t had time to do that yet.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get started. I know at least one or two things a young folk like you should learn, but I really don¡¯t like teaching idiots.¡± Chikere blocked his sword as it stabbed straight for her heart. For real this time, but she actually stopped it. ¡°Good, you have plenty of potential. Some people aren¡¯t ready and make the trip down the mountain the hard way.¡± His earlier references had indicated they were high up, but upon looking around more carefully Chikere realized the reason there was only the hut and a small copse. There was nothing else around, even ground. Just sheer cliffs. Was that a skeleton at the bottom? Well, didn¡¯t matter. This guy had a lot of experience, and she needed to fight it out of him. Chapter 280 Marvelous Rabbit Mountain was more than its name implied. The Marvelous was obviously just going to be puffery, and the diminutive creatures they were named after hardly had traits worth cultivating, at least upon casual inspection. They were cute little creatures that hopped around, hardly something that warriors would train based on. They much preferred lions and tigers and violent beasts. But clearly they had been doing well for themselves. Alva observed high walls and disciples of quite decent cultivations as they approached the gates. She was just following along. Elder Adelina of the Frostmirror sect was leading their particular contingent. Marvelous Rabbit Mountain wasn¡¯t that big of a deal that they deserved one of the Life Transformation cultivators to personally visit during the first wave, but there were political reasons. The guards remained very professional as they approached, politely greeting them. ¡°Welcome to Marvelous Rabbit Mountain, cultivators from the Brogora continent.¡± The smiles varied in genuineness between them. ¡°We greet you in turn,¡± Elder Adelina responded in kind. ¡°As was discussed at the council, we have come to provide techniques necessary to deal with a looming threat. We hope that your sect and all of the others will make good use of them.¡± ¡°Yes, we had¡­ word from the council. We are prepared to receive your group for as long as necessary.¡± One of the guards bowed his head. ¡°I will show you where you need to go.¡± The other guard looked slightly relieved at the volunteer. The group followed along behind Elder Adelina. Alva was there, and of course Annelie. But for the sake of showing solidarity among their group, Anish was present as well. There was nothing wrong with him, but he really was showing up quite often. Alva might not have called the place a mountain, though it was certainly on a mountain. There were also very few rabbits, though she¡¯d spotted some in the fields outside their walls, running wild and digging in their little burrows. It was probably best that Fuzz wasn¡¯t with her, since they likely wouldn¡¯t want to see him eating their namesake animals. Alva could have probably made him behave, but it was probably easier to just not have him around. Though now she was tempted to eat one of the rabbits. That wouldn¡¯t have exactly strengthened their reception though. ¡°People sure look busy,¡± Alva commented about the lack of people coming to see them. Even if they didn¡¯t say anything, she would have expected more gawkers. Of course, she knew why things were this way. She just wanted to see if the guard would say anything, and it was better for her to bring it up than an elder. ¡°Well,¡± the guard shrugged. ¡°Many people were quite fond of Elder Lestari. Or at least respectful.¡± ¡°And you?¡± Alva asked. ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t know him well,¡± the guard hedged. ¡°He was strong, though.¡± Perhaps that was the politest way he could say he didn¡¯t like the man without being worried about whoever might be listening in. After all, suddenly learning that an elder was some sort of traitor was hard for people to deal with, especially people who relied on his influence. ¡°Is it true that he was¡­?¡± Elder Adelina answered that one. ¡°I discerned the truth of it for myself, before Swordmaster Rahayu acted. It was unfortunate that he was so swift and final with his actions.¡± Alva nodded. It was kind of hard to ask the guy questions about who made that sword when he was dead. It seemed rather suspicious on Rahayu¡¯s part, and apparently after that the Life Transformation cultivator had stabbed and kidnapped Chikere. But the thing was, had the situation been reversed- with Chikere stabbing and kidnapping the old man- Alva would have thought little of it. That was just the way she was. Perhaps their personalities were simply the same type of sword-obsessed. And also not amazing about thinking ahead except in a fight. ¡°The elders here did mention that his body gave off a particularly different cultivation method¡­ after. How did they conceal it? How do you discover it?¡± Just in case, Alva carefully activated the technique that would resonate with Twin Soul Sect members and make their cultivation known to her. Unless this particular Spirit Building guard had some sort of secret technique to extra conceal his cultivation, he wasn¡¯t one of them. ¡°That information is what we are here for,¡± Elder Adelina explained. ¡°You will get the chance to learn how they might be revealed. The sensible way. As well as techniques that will be required to fight some forthcoming invaders.¡± ¡°Really?¡± The guard lit up at that. ¡°I thought you¡¯d only teach the elders.¡± ¡°That would be wasteful. They would have to teach you afterwards regardless,¡± Adelina pointed out. ¡°And we have more experience. Though I personally will not be instructing you. Probably one of these three,¡± she gestured towards the others. The guard looked at Alva. He was older than her, maybe thirty or so, but her cultivation was much higher. She hadn¡¯t thought about it much, but she was here to help teach, wasn¡¯t she? She might even end up instructing some of the elders, depending how many there were. Essence Collection wasn¡¯t a shabby cultivation level, especially outside of the largest sects. She was just sort of used to everyone she knew being stronger than her. Well, even that wasn¡¯t true. But there were enough people she couldn¡¯t catch up to, like Hoyt and Velvet. ----- Marvelous Rabbit Mountain was on lockdown, much like the Order had been after learning about the Twin Soul Sect and some ways to detect them. The same with how most of the people around them now called the ¡®Brogora¡¯ continent had responded. Alva found herself in a room with several people three or four times her age, plus a few others like Mansur, the guard who had been eager to learn the techniques. Alva was doing her best to act like she knew what to do, which was only half true. The half she knew was how to make use of the techniques. The half she didn¡¯t know was how to teach anyone else how to resonate your energy in a way that would reveal members of the Twin Soul Sect without necessarily giving away you were doing it. Then there was the method that was more obvious and revealed them to everybody. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Her grandfather made teaching people seem so easy. ¡°Okay everyone, first, focus on your own internal energy. You are all familiar with the Magnificent Rabbit Mountain¡¯s aura. Take hold of it. Let it move, through your and then around you and then through everything else.¡± As she explained, Alva sincerely hoped the actual demonstration she was giving was clearer. ¡°Who wants to try first?¡± Mansur stepped forward, ¡°I will!¡± Oh good. It was much better him than one of the elders. He would get to be the one to make most of the mistakes that everyone made. He did alright, but when his energy spread out it impacted her own. Not strongly, but noticeably. ¡°Good,¡± she said encouragingly, ¡°But don¡¯t forget this isn¡¯t an attack. At least, not this version. It should barely be noticeable, you¡¯re just trying to detect if someone¡¯s hiding something. It¡¯s not even meant to pick out hidden people, just those who you can see who might be faking their cultivation.¡± Mansur nodded enthusiastically. At least the others were paying attention, and some of them were subtly practicing on their own. They wouldn¡¯t want to look worse than a junior, after all. Especially not with a woman only in her mid twenties instructing them. ----- Though Alva had told Mansur he was doing well, he knew at least some of it was out of politeness. He¡¯d made some pretty bad mistakes at first. Following that, she at least had run short of criticisms for his form. The only issue was he couldn¡¯t tell if it would actually work. As far as he knew, she wasn¡¯t one of the Twin Soul Sect. He wasn¡¯t either- though he should have known if he was. The elders he¡¯d trained with weren¡¯t. Random disciples felt exactly as he expected them to. The Marvelous Rabbit Mountain cultivation technique wasn¡¯t just about hopping around. It was about calmness and bursts of powerful motion, of awareness. It was many things, but all of them felt like home. Every disciple Mansur passed was a member of the family. Mansur presumed Elder Lestari was too, but that trust had been betrayed. It wasn¡¯t that he was personally affronted. He really didn¡¯t know the man. But Mansur wanted to protect his home, and letting people working directly against that inside was antithetical to his nature. He absolutely had to make sure there weren¡¯t any traitors. Not that he¡¯d really have much chance. They were on lockdown while the elders learned the proper techniques, and they¡¯d already been looked over by their visitors. That meant they had to be clean, right? Though Mansur hadn¡¯t actually heard anything about that. Where there was one traitor there might be more, and though he hadn¡¯t heard of anyone they could be dealt with quietly. But everyone he felt was fine. A group of five training their bodies, two people practicing burrowing techniques- good for catching enemies off guard with unexpected movement capabilities. Everyone felt normal. Two elders chatting, one of them who felt like a calm night sky looking down on a field and the other who felt like¡­ an empty husk. She was fake on the outside. Mansur didn¡¯t know if she was actually as she felt, but as he casually brushed past her he felt the difference. Beneath a layer of something, had he actually found that Elder Citra was one of the traitors? She looked over at him, peering into his soul. Mansur didn¡¯t move, not his body nor his energy. But her eyes were merely taking note of passing disciples, and quickly left him. When he dared to breathe again, he quickly made his way towards where the guests were staying. Perhaps he had been wrong, and was just seeing things. He didn¡¯t really know what to expect, so he could have messed up. But if he was right¡­ He wanted to leap as quickly as he could, but it was much better to remain stealthy in such times. He was so focused on worrying about what was behind him that he almost ran into the fire man. ¡°Hey. What¡¯s up? You in a hurry?¡± Mansur blinked. ¡°I- well, I¡¯m not sure. I was hoping to speak to someone¡­ about what Honored Guest Alva was teaching.¡± ¡°Sure, come with me. I was just on my way over to say hi.¡± Some of the members of Marvelous Rabbit Mountain lived in burrows, but practical disciples and guests lived in houses. The guests had bigger quarters than Mansur, but he couldn¡¯t really complain about that when they were all higher in cultivation than himself. He was glad that the fire man- Anish- was not taking him to see the Life Transformation cultivator. She was cold, emotionless. And so much stronger than him it was terrifying. Though so was interacting with a woman younger than him and at least a few times as strong. Or two of them, as the case happened to be. Rumors said that they were cousins? They looked alike enough, at least. The fact that they seemed to be close friends could have gone for or against that statement, but the two of them were found in the same sitting room. Anish had casually knocked on the door, then opened it when there had been some sort of subtle sign indicating he could enter. ¡°This guy had something to talk to you about, Alva,¡± Anish pointed to Mansur. ¡°Honored Guests,¡± he bowed his head to the two women. ¡°I have¡­ a delicate matter to bring up. The technique you were teaching me, well¡­ I thought I sensed something from someone. I was wondering if I might be incorrect, since you have already vetted everyone.¡± ¡°Who?¡± the icy Annelie asked seriously. ¡°Elder Citra. I must be clear that I¡¯m not certain but-¡± ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s one of those on the list,¡± Annelie nodded. ¡°So don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°Worry about¡­ what? Having a traitor among us?¡± ¡°Or being wrong. Because the first one won¡¯t be true forever, and you weren¡¯t wrong.¡± The way the woman said it so matter-of-factly was almost concerning. ¡°You knew about her? Then why is she still here?¡± ¡°What did you think the lockdown was for? Who did you think you were going to practice on?¡± Mansur looked sheepishly between her and Alva, and the grinning Anish. ¡°I suppose I didn¡¯t think about that. But won¡¯t she be a danger?¡± ¡°There aren¡¯t enough of them to cause trouble, and they will be dealt with by your elders when the time comes. But until then, they¡¯re around for practice. So don¡¯t panic if you find more¡­ but you can go ahead and come to us and we¡¯ll tell you if they¡¯re on the list.¡± Mansur bowed his head. ¡°Oh. Okay.¡± Alva¡¯s words cheered him up. ¡°You did great, by the way. Only a couple days of practice and you already really found someone. Did they notice you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± he admitted. ¡°I thought maybe, but they were just scanning everyone.¡± ¡°Show me, and I¡¯ll estimate.¡± So he did. The result was¡­ ¡°Decent. I know what to look for, so I can tell when you¡¯re doing it. But you might actually get away with it. Keep practicing. You¡¯re one of the first to find anyone, and this is an important skill to have. On par with the anti-ascension techniques we¡¯ll be distributing later.¡± Mansur left, feeling somewhat satisfied with himself, though slightly confused. At least he was good for something besides just standing outside the front gates. Chapter 281 Even as he arrived at the base of the tall spire of stone, Anton knew he had been noticed. There was a sharpness, as if a blade had been held to his throat. He wasn¡¯t entirely ready to say it was just a feeling, either. A sword could only cut what it could reach, but perhaps Swordmaster Rahayu¡¯s reach could extend all the way to where he was. A peak Life Transformation expert should certainly have abilities that he could barely comprehend. ¡°Hello up there,¡± Anton called. ¡°I would like to speak with you, Swordmaster Rahayu!¡± His voice didn¡¯t even echo back to him, but instead there was silence. Not that he¡¯d expected much different. The locals had all told him that the man wasn¡¯t particularly sociable, but he also wasn¡¯t known as being a violent psychopath. Not as sword cultivators went, anyway. He wasn¡¯t social, but he didn¡¯t just kill those that approached. Anton had to at least try. Perhaps one of the Life Transformation experts they had brought should have been the one to make the trip. Here Anton was, just a mid Essence Collection cultivator. Not an insult, but not really an honorable visitor either. But Anton was chosen for several reasons. First, all of the Life Transformation cultivators were dealing with those who cared about that kind of thing. They wouldn¡¯t be able to impress Swordmaster Rahayu with their cultivation anyway, so they thought it best to continue with what they were doing. It also wasn¡¯t a particularly strong lead, since the man might not know anything about the smith. But Anton did know Chikere, who was supposed to be in his favor. As Anton began climbing the rock face, he supposed Rahayu had a strange way of showing favor. Anton fully believed that training should push people to their limits, but he didn¡¯t think injuries had any place where they were avoidable. He was of the opinion that people could remember something that almost caused serious injury as well as if they had been actually wounded. Rahayu seemed to be different in that regard. Though he was clearly avoiding causing fatal or irrecoverable injuries, he also wasn¡¯t doing the minimum damage possible. Hands and feet stretched for places he could push up the cliff face and hold on. He might have created his own little places to hold on if this had been any other stretch of rock, but wearing away at the stone pinnacle where the swordmaster lived seemed a bit rude. So it was better to take his time. Besides, then he might not interrupt the sparring happening above. He kept his senses away from the swordmaster, once again to avoid seeming as if he was intruding on the man, but Chikere¡¯s state told him a lot. She had numerous cuts and stabs all over her body. Her face, arms and legs were filled with wounds both fresh and scarred over, and her torso had more holes than a colander. Anton wasn¡¯t even quite sure how she was standing, but she was- though her body itself barely managed to maintain its position. The swords she had around her were doing their best to seek out the swordmaster and attack him while still blocking for her. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could count the infrequent interactions of her swords and Rahayu¡¯s as parries, but that was the closest thing he could call them. Her blades never got close to the old swordmaster, and his sword never failed to meet its mark. The pinnacle was tall, but there was nothing about it that particularly prevented Anton¡¯s climbing. With his muscles and energy he was easily able to pull himself up with just a single finger finding something to grip, and he could easily manage at least that much. When he reached the top, Rahayu was just sheathing his sword. He found it odd considering that Chikere was still standing, her swords moving, but Anton realized that her expression was blank. She didn¡¯t seem to be conscious¡­ which gave him a good reason not to approach her. ¡°Swordmaster Rahayu,¡± Anton bowed his head. ¡°I have some questions for you, if you¡¯re willing.¡± There was one more reason Anton had come- alone. It was possible he was a member of the Twin Soul Sect. They would certainly desire a lone swordmaster to be among their ranks, and his origins were not particularly well known. The fact that he had killed one of their members before he could spill any secrets was something that needed to be investigated, but the easiest way was to simply try to find out. And Anton was one of those who had the right combination of skills. He did his best to subtly infiltrate his energy into Rahayu¡¯s. The more obvious move was a more straightforward sweep of energy, feeling over the man and sensing the depths of his cultivation. That was a mistake, not because Rahayu took issue with his probing but because he was so open. Without any form of resistance, Anton found himself in the man¡¯s dantian. There was no trace of anything hiding, only a great blade of indefinable attributes. Its size and shape were a mystery, and Anton felt it could have been anything from a single edged curved sword to a straight double edged blade. But either way it was sharp, and merely feeling it cut him. The moment he was there he felt himself split cleanly in two, and he stumbled onto his knees. Rahayu didn¡¯t react much as Anton gathered himself together. Anton felt pain, but found he wasn¡¯t physically damaged. In normal circumstances if his energy was cut through it would hardly matter. At most, he might lose access to whatever was severed and require some time to restore his reserves. In this case he wasn¡¯t cut off from anything, but instead something deeper had been cut. His Essence, perhaps, or the spiritual side of his dantian. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°It will heal. But you ought to be careful.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I understand. But I had to try.¡± He shakily stood to his feet. If he was a sword cultivator, he felt like he might have been able to glean an important insight. Even as it was, he definitely felt something. Was that how Life Transformation worked? The man literally formed the core of his soul into a blade. He had avoided probing so deeply on any others, but he¡¯d spent plenty of time with Vandale and Kseniya. He had the feeling they hadn¡¯t gone so far. He wasn¡¯t sure what that meant though. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°You feel like that other archer,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°The one out on the ship.¡± Of course he¡¯d noticed her. If someone could attack from a certain distance, another cultivator should be able to respond in some manner. And Rahayu was a significant margin higher in cultivation than Kseniya. ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯ve learned many things from Grand Elder Kseniya.¡± ¡°Not a copycat, though,¡± Rahayu nodded. ¡°Perhaps you might have gone further in your cultivation if you followed the path she blazed, but you¡¯d never reach ascension that way.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t anyway,¡± Anton mentioned. ¡°I had to give it up for something else. Even if I reach peak Life Transformation, I can¡¯t ascend.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t sure what it was that made him speak so freely. The man wasn¡¯t particularly friendly or anything, but then again what did he have to hide? At least about that. ¡°I haven¡¯t asked my question though. When you and Chikere first met, there was a man. Lestari. You both indicated his sword had been made recently by someone. We were hoping you knew who that someone was. Or could at least point us in a probable direction.¡± They would have followed up on that lead earlier, but other matters had been more pressing. Like getting along with the local sects. It had also taken some time to track down exactly where Rahayu lived, since the information wasn¡¯t widely known even if it wasn¡¯t secret. ¡°The one who smithed those swords, you say?¡± Rahayu frowned. ¡°Never seen him. Would have remembered someone who could make swords like that. So I don¡¯t have any information, except that he didn¡¯t come to Blackstone Harbor.¡± So that was that then, Anton supposed. Alva and some others were currently working with Marvelous Rabbit Mountain and would bring any information about Elder Lestari¡¯s recent activities if they could, but this might just be a dead end. ¡°What do you even care about this Twin Soul Sect for? Were they a big problem where you came from?¡± ¡°I thought you knew about them, given how you killed him so easily,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Nah. I just don¡¯t like people lying to me. Especially in such an unrepentant manner.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Anton didn¡¯t really have any reason to worry about that, as he wasn¡¯t prone to lying, and had no reason to here. ¡°They¡¯re part of a group working to destabilize the sects here before the invasion by ascended cultivators.¡± ¡°I can see why you might be concerned about them,¡± Rahayu nodded. ¡°Not that it has anything to do with me.¡± ¡°The invasion will be coming within the next few decades. I don¡¯t imagine you¡¯ll be dead before then.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°But if they¡¯re coming here, I doubt we¡¯ll meet up.¡± It took Anton a moment to realize what he meant. ¡°You¡¯re going to ascend?¡± he asked. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Rahayu nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know the specifics, but it¡¯s not exactly what it seems. Though I suppose that¡¯s information from Everheart.¡± ¡°Well, despite my personal distaste for the man¡­¡± Rahayu pondered. ¡°I have to admit he¡¯s probably right about that. But I plan to check it out for myself.¡± ¡°You make it sound so easy,¡± Anton smiled idly. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like I¡¯d have made it here without supreme confidence. I just have a single step to go, and I have the feeling I¡¯m not far from figuring it out.¡± ¡°While that might be true, the Twin Soul Sect might come kill you anyway.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± Rahayu stroked his chin. ¡°That might do it, actually. Think you could spread the word about me killing some of their members a bit? I don¡¯t want to have to hunt them down.¡± ¡°... sure,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can do that.¡± ¡°Great. Oh, and you might try to the northeast. For that smith. Seems like it was quenched with lakewater from Niverlam Depths.¡± ¡°I appreciate the guidance,¡± Anton inclined his head. How the man would know something like that Anton didn¡¯t bother to ask. At the very least, it was a direction to go in. Since his primary business was done, he looked over at Chikere, still standing there unconscious with her swords swirling about. ¡°Is she going to be alright?¡± he asked. ¡°She¡¯ll be fine,¡± Rahayu assured him. ¡°I¡¯m not going to let someone with her potential die so easily. Gotta set myself up with someone to spar against in the future.¡± Anton nodded. That made about as much sense as anything else the man had said. Niverlam Depths, was it? He¡¯d have to gather up some others and take a look, though it would be better not to be too obvious about it. ----- Anton brought along exactly two others. Life Transformation cultivators would be too obvious, though Essence Collection cultivators wouldn¡¯t be ignored either. But they could at least be mistaken for locals by casual observers. Not local to the area, of course. Nobody had a cultivation technique that felt much like the Ninety-Nine Stars. But it was possible that they could be assumed to be from elsewhere on Aicenith, instead of a part of the group of foreign cultivators that had recently arrived. That would give them a chance to not spook off this smith, and whatever connection they had to the larger Twin Soul Sect. The other two with him were everyone present of his most frequent companions- Hoyt and Velvet. With Timothy and Catarina still back home, it was just the three of them. Anton considered bringing more members of the Order, but they should only be necessary if there was a fight. They planned to avoid that, though Hoyt would be there in case of that trouble, and because a group of one old man and one young woman who were pretty clearly not a master and apprentice would be more suspicious, even if it would also mean they were less stealthy as a group. But if everything went right, they could gather information through safer means than sneaking around cultivators who were bound to be of high ability, or at least protected by those who were. If this were the same smith as had been supplying weapons back home, the Twin Soul Sect had to be taking care of them. And that also meant they had a way to get between the continents. Maybe it was basically the same, but they wouldn¡¯t have sent an important member on an expedition they weren¡¯t reasonably certain would keep them alive. Or maybe they would, if it kept them from being captured and pried for information. It wasn¡¯t as if they were afraid of death. Chapter 282 The city of Erygan was on the closest shore of the Niverlam Depths, and was the most sizable of the handful of settlements around the great lake. No cultivators troubled Anton and the others on the way, and no beasts or the like either. Of course, if there had been anything that severely impeded their travels the vast majority of the local denizens would be unable to go anywhere without fear of mortal danger. There were still certain places in the world that would be a danger for Essence Collection cultivators, but nobody lived there, except the most eccentric cultivators. The entrance to the city had wide gates that looked as if they had never been closed. At least, not in a generation or more. Guards were passively checking travelers, but they didn¡¯t interfere much. Since he had to start at some point, Anton casually began to ask questions. ¡°Excuse me. We¡¯re here looking for a smith¡­¡± An innocent enough question that might lead them in the right direction, if they were lucky. ¡°Then you¡¯ve come to the right place,¡± the guard replied. ¡°We¡¯ve got boatloads of them.¡± A large city should indeed have many smiths to take care of the needs of all its citizens. Anton tried a slightly different approach. ¡°Well, we¡¯re not just looking for any smith. We need those of a certain caliber¡­¡± The guard looked them over, appraising their cultivation. The man himself was in Spirit Building, but didn¡¯t seem particularly interested in Essence Collection cultivators appearing. ¡°You need masters, grandmasters? We got some, like I said. Something about the lake draws them in.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡± Even if he knew more specific details about who they were looking for, asking too many questions in one place would become suspicious. And if there were many people who fit the bill, it wouldn¡¯t even lead to much. Obviously Swordmaster Rahayu had left out some details. There was no way he didn¡¯t know that many smiths made use of the Niverlam Depths for their work. Unless they all happened to not make swords, but even that would be a stretch. A Life Transformation cultivator would undoubtedly know many details about the world around where they lived regardless of their particular interest in it. ¡°It seems our search here will be a bit more difficult than we thought,¡± Anton said to Hoyt and Velvet. They were still looking for someone who had arrived in the last year or two, but that information was likely insufficient. Perhaps Anton should have interrogated Rahayu more thoroughly, though he¡¯d felt the man had said all he intended to. ¡°How many could there really be?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Even in a city of this size?¡± As Anton¡¯s senses spread out over the city, he avoided prying into any place with more than a token amount of resistance, usually formations set up for that exact reason. The caliber of a smith who could make weapons suitable for someone around the peak of Essence Collection wasn¡¯t so common, but there had to be at least a dozen locations throughout the city that were possible suspects. And several dozen more atop the lake- which is where the majority of smiths seemed to be. Great stone wharfs extended from where the main streets met the lake, spidering over the surface in seemingly random fashion. Anton wasn¡¯t quite sure what the particular placement was for, but it seemed quite a lot of effort to go in so many directions instead of having one larger wharf upon which all of the smiths rested. Then again, perhaps they simply didn¡¯t get along. His question was answered quickly enough when he sensed someone jump into the lake with a heated blade, diving deep beneath the surface. He followed them downward until he couldn¡¯t anymore, a depth of at least a hundred meters. What he learned was that the bottom of the lake was filled with hollows that went much deeper than the rest of the lakebed around them. He might be able to learn more from up close, but that was the limit of what he could sense from out in the city. ----- Of the three, Hoyt was not the one most suited to gathering information. However, splitting up would save them time, with each of them having to go to fewer locations. Hoyt also had the excuse of asking around for someone who could forge him a new axe. His was suitable, but felt a bit inadequate for a mid Essence Collection cultivator. He would be in mid to late Essence Collection for a significant amount of time even if his cultivation advanced smoothly, so it was worth the effort. The Order had significant stores, but he¡¯d found nothing that suited him. He could have commissioned something back home, but hadn¡¯t found it important. But since they were here, he might as well take advantage of the opportunity. Hoyt surveyed the weapons displayed by a woman in early Essence Collection. There were only a small handful of them, as most customers would want something made to fit them specifically. The fact that she was lower than himself in cultivation wasn¡¯t a concern, but he just didn¡¯t find the weapons fit him. Apparently he hadn¡¯t been able to keep that look off of his face. ¡°I think you might do better somewhere else,¡± she commented candidly. ¡°I¡¯m more attuned to the chill nature of ice, and my weapons reflect it. I wouldn¡¯t normally recommend him¡­ but perhaps the hothead across the way?¡± she gestured to another nearby wharf where a large man could be seen hammering away at a billet of metal that would at some point become a weapon, or the core of one at least. The way sparks flew wildly made it obvious why the wharfs were all made of stone. Even if it was rather simple for cultivators to put out a fire atop a lake, others would have more difficulty- and nobody wanted to walk on half-burned structure, wondering when it might give out. With a large number of smiths who were concerned about easy access to the lake, most of their forges were open to the world. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Hoyt scanned the wharfs for a way around, but they didn¡¯t easily connect to other places. ¡°Just go ahead and hop over,¡± the woman said. ¡°Nobody minds. The wharfs are for wagons bringing in shipments of metal and coal, rather than the customers.¡± ¡°Oh, thanks,¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°You weapons are certainly of sufficient quality¡­¡± ¡°I know that. But in your hands they¡¯d hardly be useful, and that would make us both look bad. So hop on over there without concern.¡± Hoyt nodded, looking down into the water below. He wasn¡¯t concerned about swimming. That was trivial, even with heavy weapons and armor. But the very thing that made the lake attractive for the smiths was also a source of danger. Dense natural energy was usually connected to dangers of some sort, which meant a high probability of either creatures living in the depths or something else hazardous to his health. Though if it was that dangerous, the wharfs probably wouldn¡¯t remain standing. Anything that could affect Hoyt could certainly tear apart even sturdy stone, just as a side effect of whatever it was doing. It was only a dozen meters or so to the other smith¡¯s wharf, so Hoyt indeed just ¡®hopped¡¯ over. He landed softly, but a moment later a glowing white bar of metal was thrust into his face. He stepped back defensively. ¡°Hold this,¡± the smith demanded. Hoyt tentatively reached out to take it. It was hot. The sort of hot that would kill most people, since it was still uncomfortable even in his hands. As he was attuning more towards the fiery aspects of the stars, that was saying something. Yet the metal still held its shape, not melting and hardly softening. Though it wasn¡¯t completely firm either, as the smith demonstrated when he grabbed Hoyt¡¯s finger¡¯s and squeezed them around it. If he wasn¡¯t so off guard by the man¡¯s actions and the apparent lack of hostility he would have attacked at that moment. He wasn¡¯t so careless as to just let someone get a hold on him most of the time, but the man moved so naturally it was hard to follow. A moment later he snatched the metal rod out of Hoyt¡¯s hands and thrust it back into the fire, sending waves of sparks towards Hoyt, some of which landed on the lake and shot up gouts of steam. ¡°Excuse me sir,¡± Hoyt tried to start the conversation. The loud clanging would certainly prevent a normal person from hearing him, but the smith had to either be deaf or able to protect his ears from the sound. From the way he talked, Hoyt presumed the latter. ¡°I¡¯m interested in looking at weapons.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not done yet,¡± the man declared. ¡°I haven¡¯t ordered anything,¡± Hoyt pointed out. ¡°I can wait until after you finish whatever you¡¯re making for your current customers, if necessary. But I was hoping to browse some of your previous works¡­¡± The man didn¡¯t seem to be interested in what he was saying. Hoyt understood he was focused on his work, so he glanced around the forge. Notably absent was any sort of storefront of any sort. There was an attached building, but it was just an empty room with a cot. Hoyt could sense it, because there were no protections at all. The formations on the forge itself were quite extensive. He supposed they would have to be, to contain that heat. Even with special materials there were limits to how much heating and cooling any material could withstand. Once again the metal billet was thrust into Hoyt¡¯s hands, now slightly different in form. ¡°Jump in that one. As deep as you can go,¡± the smith gestured to Hoyt. ¡°Hurry!¡± Sometimes it was easier to just go with the flow. If nothing else, the man would owe him some answers after this, though there was no guarantee he knew anything useful. Being used as some sort of menial worker wasn¡¯t exactly appealing, but he had to admit he was interested in the process. He jumped into the lake, towards the indicated hole. He wasn¡¯t sure what was special about that particular one, and thought at first that it was just the smith being particular. A sort of arbitrary favorite. But as he approached it Hoyt felt the weight of a mountain bearing down on him, an unfathomable solidity that was simply oppressive. Steam billowed around him as the lakewater flash-boiled, the billet being much hotter than even the first time it had been thrust into his hands. Hoyt had to focus his defensive energy to protect his hands and all of his front, until it became necessary to balance it all around him due to the pressure building up as he slowly sank into the hole. He could feel the natural energy forcing its way into the metal in his hand, replacing the heat inside of it. Hoyt was quite certain more was going on than he could comprehend, but he didn¡¯t understand it. All he knew was that his hands were still hot and that he was beginning to sink more rapidly. Though the smith had said to go as deep as he could, Hoyt quickly became concerned that wasn¡¯t an issue. The bigger problem would be getting back up. He spread out his own energy to slow his descent, carefully measuring the pressure around him and his own breath and stamina. Fortunately he felt the metal cool and the transfer of energy into it ceased well before he was nearing his limits. He then began to swim towards the surface, wary of what felt like beady eyes peeking at him from the walls around him. The pockmarked surface of the hole hadn¡¯t seemed like much on the way down, but swimming more slowly upward it felt like something was waiting to happen. Yet he reached the surface without incident, pulling himself up onto the wharf. ¡°If you could explain why I¡¯m the one-¡± The metal billet was yanked out of his hand and replaced with what appeared to be an oblong conglomeration of a few ingots, unclear in form. ¡°That one,¡± the smith pointed. ¡°Quick-like. Down and up.¡± Well, if nothing else, being remembered as some guy who gave away free labor would be better than the foreigner that asked too many questions related to a certain smith. On that topic, Hoyt realized he hadn¡¯t actually probed the smith on the surface. His instincts told him that the man wasn¡¯t a member of the Twin Soul Sect, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Chapter 283 When he didn¡¯t fight it, Hoyt¡¯s weight dragged him down into the waters of the Niverlam Depths. The second vertical opening he was directed towards felt different from the first, less the weight and sturdiness of a mountain and more the inertia of a rolling boulder. It was the sort of thing that only really made sense as a cultivator, since water should normally only have the properties of cold and wet. As he dropped into the area with the half formed chunk of metal in his arms, he suddenly found his movement arrest. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. He was still moving, but no longer accelerating downward. Yet he still felt the weight pulling him. It was a strange experience, but soon enough the chunk of metal in his hands cooled off, pulling in the strange attributes. It was when he tried to start swimming back towards the surface that things got weird. The difficulty of swimming with a great weight was easily overcome by expanding out his energy to push against a larger area. But when he made the attempt, he didn¡¯t slow down. He wasn¡¯t going fast so it should have been easy to shoot towards the surface, but he simply couldn¡¯t change his momentum. Most of the feeling came from the chunk of metal in his arms. If he let it go he thought it would probably be trivial to do what he wished. But if he wasn¡¯t willing to face a little bit of a challenge, what was the point of being a cultivator at all? Hoyt rallied his energy, spreading it out to all edges of the vertical shaft he was drifting down. His energy scraped against the walls, finally getting a firm hold and slowing his movement a little bit at a time. Chunks of dirt and rock tore apart as he slowed his movement, straining his energy until he finally came to a stop. Starting to move back in the other direction wasn¡¯t any easier, his outstretched arms of energy straining to pull himself up. From out of a small tube on the side, much too small to be called a tunnel, a twenty centimeter wide eel pounced towards him, ugly face and teeth biting at his leg. He tried to swing the crudely constructed piece of metal, but it didn¡¯t follow his movements. Even so, that motion pushed him back away from the eel. Then he pulled, kicking forward and sending a foot up into the thing¡¯s jaw. It jerked strangely, hardly veering from its course towards him but also having its head collapse from the force of the blow. The abundance of strange natural energy in the area must have overwhelmed the creature¡¯s senses if it thought it was a match for Hoyt. His extended energy pushed him upward once more, and after he was finally moving he slowly gained speed until he shot out of the top of the chasm, where he suddenly felt the pressure of water slowing his speed. He wasn¡¯t far from the surface though, so he quickly popped up next to the pier. The future weapon head in his hand was somewhat more willing to move as he directed after he got out of the depths. Despite his fascination with the strange smithing process at this lake, he still made sure to investigate an important detail. His energy twisted, as subtly as he could, reaching into the smith who he didn¡¯t have a name for. He certainly didn¡¯t feel like a member of the Twin Soul Sect, which was good enough for Hoyt at the moment. After handing the smith the hunk of metal he was holding Hoyt expected to immediately be tossed back into the lake with another chunk of white-hot metal, but it seemed the smith wanted to work on the same piece he had just brought back. That gave him a couple of minutes to rest, refilling some of the natural energy he had expended and watching the smith work. He was making a wide-bladed axe head, one that would have been oversized if it wasn¡¯t intended for use by a cultivator. More than fifteen or twenty centimeters of blade started to become excessive when against a human opponent, since it more than covered the size of any vital point. But some creatures cultivators fought could be quite large, and wider blades could be helpful. On the back end, there was an almost comically large counterweight, almost like a hammer head. Hoyt was only just barely ready when the axe head was tossed to him. He¡¯d been expecting it, but it was several times hotter than the last time- and starting to become sharp, so he had to catch it the right way. ¡°That one,¡± the smith said. ¡°As deep as you can.¡± Water and fire were usually mutually exclusive things, but the water inside the next hole was as much like fire as any water could be. On the way down gouts of instant steam boiled off of the axe head in Hoyt¡¯s hands, but once he was within the domain of the depths below it stopped. If anything instead of the water cooling the axe head it began to get hotter. The water itself had that same sense of heat, but fortunately most of it was concentrated around the axe head and not Hoyt himself. That let him focus his efforts on containing the heat there. He thought it might reach a point where it had enough and stopped absorbing, but unlike the other times it wasn¡¯t cooling down in the water so he had no way to judge if and when that might be. It only seemed to increase as he drifted further downward, picking up speed until the drag of the water matched the pull of gravity. He vaguely sensed more eels on the way down, but as long as they stayed in their little tunnels he was content to let them be. He was busy focusing on the axe head. Did he want to try to stop it, or encourage it? He didn¡¯t want to ruin the smith¡¯s project, but he also didn¡¯t want to injure himself. As the burning heat grew in intensity, he knew he¡¯d need to stop it soon before he could no longer handle it. But it wasn¡¯t the intensity of flames that was the problem, not exactly. After all, he was able to create flames of great power and they weren¡¯t an issue for him. He just needed to be in control of the fire. That made the decision easy. He began to guide the fire in the water into the axehead he held. It wasn¡¯t just fire, though. There were all sorts of properties that fire could have, and this one meshed quite well with the Ninety-Nine Stars. As he controlled the energy going in, he also began to take control of the energy coming out of the weapon. It was clearly not going to stop radiating heat, but it didn¡¯t have to be a problem for him. Not if it was attuned to the right sort of energy signature. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. The intensity continued to increase steadily, until there was a surprising change in the surroundings. He hit the bottom of the lake- the bottom of the unknowably long vertical shaft he was in. He couldn¡¯t sense the surface of the water, but that wasn¡¯t a big issue. The real problem was the person he was looking at. A middle aged man with fiery hair waving in the water. There was an intense look on his face, a heat that poured from him. And a very familiar energy, almost like the Ninety-Nine Stars but not quite. Then he disappeared, and Hoyt found him staring at a pile of bones. A skeleton. He couldn¡¯t help but reach out an arm. When he made contact, the skeleton crumbled to dust, and the dust crumbled to nothing. A wave of energy washed over him, but most of it ended up absorbing into the burning axe head. Though it was certainly still radiating energy, the heat of the metal itself had cooled. Hoyt looked upwards, where he found that several large masses of eels had conglomerated at various levels, watching him. He didn¡¯t have the patience to deal with them as individuals, and he wanted to return to the surface quickly. He pushed off the sand, blade held in front of him. He built up momentum and speed, while the fire released from him and the partial weapon he held. He knew what the fire was now. The fire of a falling star. And though he wasn¡¯t actually falling right now¡­ the effect was much the same as he barrelled through the masses of eels above. The smart ones turned and fled back into their holes, but some tried to chomp through him, presuming that they wouldn¡¯t burn from just a little fire. They were wrong. What felt like a mere few moments later Hoyt broke the surface of the water, flying into the air. He twisted his body, awkwardly shifting the hunk of metal in his hands that really didn¡¯t like changing directions- but was much more able to do so outside of the first area of water. He tucked in his legs and flipped over so that he wouldn¡¯t smash through any part of the smith¡¯s hut, though his impact on the wharf nearby cracked some of the stones despite his best efforts to spread out his impact. Hoyt looked at the combined axe and hammer head in his hands. He needed to own this weapon, even if the smith already had planned to give it to someone else. He just wasn¡¯t sure how to say that. The smith didn¡¯t seemed concerned about the chunks of rock that were falling into the lake below, stepping on the structurally sound parts of the wharf and plucking the piece out of Hoyt¡¯s hands. ¡°Excuse me, grandmaster smith¡­¡± Hoyt believed the man had to be a grandmaster of some sort to work so quickly. The man didn¡¯t seem to hear him, as he was immediately grinding the blade, then swiftly placing attaching it to the handle he¡¯d made earlier. Then the weapon was thrust into Hoyt¡¯s hands. Instead of asking what he intended to ask, Hoyt questioned, ¡°Where do I go with this?¡± ¡°Wherever you want,¡± the muscular man said. Was he supposed to pick the last attribute it would have? But it hadn¡¯t even gone in the fire again, and wouldn¡¯t need quenching. He didn¡¯t really get the sense of that, though. ¡°I would like to purchase this axe, if I could.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not for sale,¡± the man said. Before Hoyt could say anything more, he continued. ¡°I just had to make it. Got some nice hunks of metal from a meteor, and just as I was refining them you walked up. I thought it would suit you perfectly. So you have to take it.¡± Hoyt blinked. Could there be so many coincidences in the world? Surely not, but he wasn¡¯t a huge believer in fate, either. Then again, being drawn to the location of an ancestral member of the sect wouldn¡¯t actually be a coincidence. It would just be something subconscious. Hoyt wasn¡¯t sure if it could have drawn him and the others all the way to another continent, but at the very least when they came to Erygan it was what pulled him out here. And the smith making him a weapon¡­ He looked over at the other smith he¡¯d approached, the woman across the way. She just shrugged at him. So, it seemed the man was just like this. Not that it was all that eccentric among cultivators. ¡°Thank you, I will gladly accept. If you need anything from me¡­¡± ¡°Eh, you did a lot of the work anyway. But if you find anything nice, I¡¯d appreciate if you bring it to me. Oh, I¡¯m Bomir, by the way,¡± the man outstretched a large, calloused hand. Hoyt shook it. ¡°Forgive my prying, Grandmaster Smith Bomir, but do you do this often? How do you make money?¡± Hoyt knew that if he had to pay for the weapon in his hand, he might not be able to fully afford it, but he couldn¡¯t just leave the man as he was. ¡°Money?¡± the man raised half of an eyebrow, the rest of which seemed to have been scorched off. ¡°What would I do with that? Can¡¯t eat it or fight people with it. Not very well, anyway. Besides, with this invasion coming I need to make sure as many people are equipped as can be.¡± Bomir shrugged, ¡°You just bring me some nice materials and we¡¯ll be even.¡± ¡°You know about the invasion?¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± Bomir said. ¡°People come from far and wide to get weapons here, and it¡¯s ramped up quite significantly in the past handful of years. Something about ascended fellows coming down to snatch up our resources.¡± He spit into his forge, where it briefly sizzled on the coals. ¡°But I¡¯d much prefer we do the snatching from them, greedy bastards. Well, at least they gave us this lake.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Hoyt asked, looking down below. He could make some assumptions, but it seemed Bomir might have actual details. ¡°Well, I thought it was just legends passed down from centuries ago, but recent events might make it true. This was apparently the site of a great battle. And at the bottom of these holes, I hear there¡¯s the corpses of great warriors. Some of ours, and some of theirs. But all of them are here, so it¡¯s all ours now.¡± ¡°I can confirm that there was¡­ at least one.¡± ¡°Got to the bottom did you? No wonder it took so long. I thought you had the right affinity but you stayed down there for a good while.¡± He nodded, ¡°That¡¯s why it feels so strong, then. Matches you quite well.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°On the topic of increasing orders, can you tell me about any new arrivals here?¡± Hoyt leaned in conspiratorially, though it would hardly change whether anyone could overhear them. ¡°We got all sorts. You talking visitors, or¡­ smiths?¡± Hoyt tilted his head. ¡°Well, I suppose both are interesting to hear about. If you¡¯ve got the time.¡± ¡°Time? Don¡¯t even have more coal for my forge. Got plenty. Just let me know who you¡¯re looking for, and I can probably yammer on for a while.¡± Chapter 284 Walking out on the wharfs which were basically just open walkways while trying to stay concealed would be a pointless endeavor, so Velvet was surveying Erygan proper. She would get to the point she actually had to reveal herself and talk to people, but she wanted to get a good measure of what the city was like first. More cultivators than expected occupied the city. Cultivators tended to gather together in allied sects or other organizations instead of in cities, though of course there were many places that they frequented more often on their travels. Neutral ground where they could trade with each other was quite important, but usually that resulted in a few big trading houses in particular cities or organized companies that facilitated the exchange of goods between different cultivators. Velvet couldn¡¯t detect a large number of anyone from a specific sect or style throughout the city, nor did they seem to particularly congregate in one space, unless one counted out on the wharfs where the smiths were. But smiths alone didn¡¯t make a complete population. People had to buy from them, and many of the more transitory sorts certainly did that. But there were also larger numbers of cultivators who seemed to have permanent residence within the city. She eavesdropped on many of their conversations. Most weren¡¯t of use to her, without a specific reason to spy on individuals and learn about them. She picked out many bits and pieces that told her more, however. ¡°Heading out to the lake again?¡± ¡°Just need a few more insights.¡± ¡°Good luck with that. I prefer to stay away myself.¡± The idea that the lake was special wasn¡¯t a startling revelation, with all those stone wharfs carefully constructed for the smiths and the amount of natural energy flowing out of it. But it didn¡¯t just seem to be a place to cultivate in general, but where specific places were sought out. And those places came with dangers. Another small group was planning an expedition of some sort. She overheard some snippets that helped put together a larger picture. ¡°... think we¡¯re ready?¡± ¡°Should be fine¡­ eels¡­¡± ¡°... more worried¡­ deep waters.¡± It would make no sense for Spirit Building cultivators to be afraid of water at any depth- and if they were the things living in that water should be the problem. They made it sound like a harsh desert or volcano or something inherently dangerous. Everything made more sense when she got back together with the other two, though it was frustrating to learn she had found little unique information. Hoyt shared what he knew about the lake, and how the smiths used it for their forging. ¡°Something about the quenching process absorbs the various properties into the materials, or perhaps it is simply the best time for that,¡± Hoyt explained. ¡°I didn¡¯t really notice many others who seemed as if they were simply planning to cultivate, but perhaps they were in different spots. It¡¯s a large lake.¡± ¡°I suspect so,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°They¡¯d be looking for something particular. It seems the smiths set up near some local properties they like to use in their equipment. Tell us more about what you found, though. You said there was a skeleton?¡± ¡°I have the feeling it was some sort of ancient elder of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, or perhaps some predecessor? I didn¡¯t really get a long chance to make that discernment. I can only assume the various other areas are similar, with someone dead from long ago. Perhaps even the previous invasion, if Grandmaster Smith Bomir is correct.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to know that others do know about the coming invasion,¡± Anton said. ¡°We just happened to stumble upon the west coast which was least informed. Though word doesn¡¯t seem to have spread as much as I would like. Perhaps the Twin Soul Sect and others like them have been interfering.¡± They were talking somewhere where nobody should overhear, but Anton made certain to conceal their speech, preventing it from traveling far. There was theoretically a smith at least sympathetic to the Twin Soul Sect nearby, likely very powerful. If they were in Essence Collection they might not be a big issue personally, but it was also likely they had allies. ¡°I¡¯ve got a few leads,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Bomir mentioned a few people who were getting wide varieties of customers with very specific sorts of attributes. That¡¯s not inherently problematic, but if the weapon doesn¡¯t match their obvious cultivation style, it could have some implications. I didn¡¯t check any of them out myself, as I¡¯m sort of¡­ obvious.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a bit wary for myself,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Even if our enemies don¡¯t have a counter for our searching techniques, which they might, there¡¯s always a possibility of them detecting it. We might not even notice if they do, which they could turn into an excuse to attack us¡­ or they could simply flee the area. We¡¯re the outsiders here, so we have to be cautious.¡± ¡°They should be too, though,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Not necessarily all of them, but if this smith came over from our continent¡­ they might only have a few months or years on us. That might be enough for them to be favored over us, but that¡¯s only if we¡¯re involved at all. If someone else just happens to find out about them¡­ well, cultivators don¡¯t like traitors. I assume the other sects here were zealously wiping them out after that whole thing with Everheart, since he forced some techniques into people¡¯s heads. Mostly for fighting people who had ascended, but some people learned detection techniques, right?¡± ¡°Most of ours came from the Luminous Ocean Society,¡± Anton replied. ¡°But there could have been some. And there¡¯s nothing stopping them from developing their own methods. The weakness of the Twin Soul Sect is that their method has to remain fairly static. Their core cultivation is set, and they can only conceal it through various means. Our best bet would be empowering the locals to deal with their own problems, though we can¡¯t know if that will scare off the Twin Soul Sect when they start making progress. I¡¯d like for someone like Swordmaster Rahayu to help us, but people of that power are¡­ not always reliable. He indicated wanting to fight them, but that could be ten or twenty years from now. Or just waiting until the ascenders attack without trying to stop anything.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Let¡¯s do what we can, then,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Perhaps scoping out these smiths at their forges might be a bit obvious, but they have to come and go from the city, or at least off the wharfs. Not all have the same sort of constant devotion that leaves them on the lake at all hours of the day. Personally, I¡¯d like to try diving into some of the other parts of the lake, to see what sort of weird properties it has. I¡¯ll be least suspicious if I¡¯m actually doing something. But I¡¯ll also keep an eye out for the people we¡¯re looking for. And if I find a few trustworthy people, I can send them to Anton. I assume you¡¯ll be glad to teach them any of the techniques they need?¡± ¡°Of course. Teaching is one of the greatest joys in life,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Especially when it otherwise suits my own goals.¡± ----- The list of notable smiths who had moved into the area ¡®recently¡¯ by cultivator standards was actually quite large. When adding in suspicious factors, it still left a handful which by random chance turned out to be a majority of women. Relevant bodily differences between male and female were greatly overshadowed by cultivation after the completion of Body Tempering, and negligible by Essence Collection- the effects of age were a larger factor by a wide margin. The man, Aser, was the youngest of the bunch, cultivating as a member of the Blue Forest Mystery. The members of that group and the effects of their style weren¡¯t the mystery, but instead the mystery was related to the insights they were discovering along the path. In short, it was an incomplete technique- though very few could be said to be truly complete, with someone having reached the end of it and ascension. Some people just didn¡¯t like to admit it, or did so obliquely. Next was Reshma of the Insect Shore Swarm. She was not quite so young, though from a sect that was reviled for the bugs they controlled and how they let them devour their enemies. Many cultivators preferred the idea their body would be at least somewhat preserved after their death, even if all of their equipment was stolen. Nobody wanted to be food. Liljana was the oldest by far. That experience could make her a dangerous enemy, though her power was also waning because of it. She practiced a strange style called the Chain Fish that none had ever heard of, and it could have easily been a cover. A bit less ancient than Liljana was a smith known as Brianne. She practiced the Hidden Flame style, which certainly made her quite suited for her job as she required less coal than others- and while coal was cheap, the sorts that high level cultivator smiths needed to achieve the temperatures they worked at was anything but. And having her own flames made the work consistent. A woman named Putri was the final one of the bunch. She was a member of the Ochre Rock Society, who were some of her greatest customers and also suppliers of the various materials she needed. A worrying issue was that all of them were in Life Transformation. That made them strong in their own right and also meant they would have more powerful allies. While many of the stronger members of the Twin Soul Sect had been taken in by Everheart¡¯s promise of information about ascension where they were subsequently entrapped, the unknown reach of the sect meant they could have many more members at that level of power. It was even possible that two or more of the suspect smiths were part of the Twin Soul Sect. Or none of them, potentially. That would be a fine result, but the members of the Order really wanted to root someone out. Each worked through their various methods, hoping they could find something, even if they couldn¡¯t necessarily act directly on that information. ----- The offer to instruct people in useful techniques for free was the sort of thing met with great suspicion among cultivators. That had been true around Blackstone Harbor, and it was true in Erygan. But after a month, Anton had a nice few handfuls of students. One of them was a young archer, who he was helping grow in that area along with the actual purpose of the offer which was to teach people Anti-ascension techniques. He wanted to teach them to reveal members of the Twin Soul Sect as well, but that was something that might get him killed if advertised publicly. He would prefer to have more allies in the area or a specific lead into one of the local sects before he attempted any of that. Young Agus was a strange fellow, and a member of the Tomb Seeking Cult. They weren¡¯t a band of psychopathic murderers or suicidal people like their name might suggest¡­ but that didn¡¯t mean they were entirely sane. In fact, they probably weren¡¯t¡­ because they were dedicated to tracking down everything Everheart left behind and studying it with zealous intensity. That wasn¡¯t the sort of thing that Anton considered healthy and normal, even though he used a few of Everheart¡¯s techniques himself. ¡°Master,¡± Agus bowed his head to Anton. ¡°Is it true what they said, that Everheart lived on the moon?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about lived there,¡± Anton said. ¡°But he certainly set up some impressive facilities there. Did you not go yourself?¡± Agus shook his head, ¡°I was too weak at the time. I am not even in Essence Collection yet,¡± he pointed out. Anton wouldn¡¯t say that someone at the peak of Spirit Building was weak, but it was relevant that the young man had been cultivating for a similar length of time to himself. A couple years different maybe, but that was starting to become less relevant. He wasn¡¯t untalented, but his access to useful resources was¡­ limited. The Tomb Seeking Cult wasn¡¯t exactly the most nurturing to their young disciples. ¡°It was quite impressive,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Though I would also consider it quite wasteful.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Agus asked. ¡°Like usual, it all fell apart at the end. Possibly even the giant forest he¡¯d managed to cultivate beneath the surface.¡± ¡°The trials of the end are to weed out those with the talent and will to survive,¡± Agus said matter-of-factly. Anton didn¡¯t have the heart to tell him it was probably some sort of prank or bitter revenge against long dead foes. At least the Tomb Seeking Cult had one thing going for them. After they learned that Everheart had set up traps for the Twin Soul Sect¡­ well, they¡¯d apparently grown quite zealous in their search. To the point of sort of neglecting some of their younger members, when they really should be teaching them the same things as Anton. Agus was learning from him sort of as a test, to see if he really knew what he claimed. They¡¯d be quite surprised what Anton really knew about Everheart, though he wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to reveal all of it at any point. Or if he even actually knew what he knew. Chapter 285 One problem with picking out a single person from among the handful of suspicious smiths was lack of information. It didn¡¯t take a cultivator long to adjust their accent to fit with the changes of being on another continent. It might be possible that there would be a slip-up, but Velvet wasn¡¯t so familiar with the exact differences that she thought she¡¯d notice it. Another issue was that she didn¡¯t recognize any of the people involved. Not that she expected to have seen them, but she had memorized as many Life Transformation cultivators as possible. The publicly known figures had been a few hundred all told, and the Order even had information on those less public. These weren¡¯t any of them. Perhaps they¡¯d concealed themselves well, or changed their looks. That didn¡¯t necessarily mean one would be in disguise, since there were permanent methods that could change a person if they were willing to commit to it. It was much harder to discern a permanent physical change compared to an illusion. Watching people come and go wasn¡¯t so easy as sitting in one spot and watching the people step on and off the wharfs. Remaining in one spot for a long time was extremely suspicious, and those who came by with relative frequency would notice her. It was hard enough to not have Life Transformation cultivators notice she was looking at them. Concealing her intent was required, because fully hiding her presence was just asking for trouble when someone saw through. But if she was just another person whose eyes locked onto a Life Transformation cultivator it hardly mattered. The important thing was her own mental state. If she treated them all as enemies, they would be more likely to feel it. But looking at the situation objectively, the majority of them- possibly even all of them- were not her enemies. If she kept that in mind and tempered her intent, it should keep her concealed. At least, she had no indication she¡¯d been noticed so far. As for where she was watching from, the simple answer was she became one of those coming and going, and merely varied the time of day she made the trip. As for where she went¡­ the Niverlam Depths had a lot to offer. Most cultivators would take a little boat, whether or not they were of a high enough cultivation to walk on the surface of the water. Among other things, boats provided a small layer of insulation between the cultivators and the strange properties of the lake. That could matter if one area was the sort to pull a cultivator down into it. Any Essence Collection cultivator has sufficient control and capacity of energy to walk on the surface of a lake. It simply required spreading out energy until the water carried the cultivator¡¯s weight. It was often a wasteful method when that was basically what boats did but statically instead of with constant effort- though depending on the factors a cultivator might maintain such a method indefinitely. It was probably faster than paddling a little dinghy, but also considered rather arrogant. Not exactly the best for keeping a low profile. The slower pace also allowed Velvet more time to watch the people she passed, taking a similar route that brought her past most of the suspicious characters. She wasn¡¯t ready to try probing any of them yet. That was the sort of thing that got quick results, but that result might be a quick death for her. And it might not even reveal what happened to the others. Velvet didn¡¯t intend to die, and dying in vain would be even worse. It didn¡¯t matter if she was probably in range of Anton¡¯s arrows anywhere in the city if she got her head lopped off before she could respond to an attack. But thoughts like that led her to immerse herself in the most lauded pastime of cultivators- training. The best way to look like she was supposed to be around was to actually do what was expected. That involved going out on the lake and searching for somewhere to train. At frequent intervals other little boats could be seen, as well as more permanent anchored docks. These were less durable than the stone wharfs but also less likely to be set on fire. And most weren¡¯t intended to be permanent. Even when particular sects set up a platform in the water, they usually weren¡¯t a permanent fixture. Only large local sects contained permanent domain over any part of the lake, and while they might have taken the ¡®best¡¯ locations, Velvet found that highly subjective. After all, Hoyt had found a spot perfect for members of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. Sure, that area was now kind of obsolete- either forging his new weapon or destroying the skeleton had drained a significant portion of the energy that had been there- but there were things to study besides just a cultivation style. Velvet¡¯s favorite she¡¯d stumbled upon by accident, while shuffling along the bottom towards a vertical chasm that felt rather daggerlike. It was astounding how long the area had remained as it was, but there was a sort of overall resonance between what seemed to be a myriad of bodies. They hadn¡¯t actually reached the bottom of any others to observe more corpses, but they could imagine. On the way there, her toe had dipped into the sand. Nothing odd about that, but the weight had felt off. Being sensitive to tiny changes was important for a scout, and so she danced around the area for a bit¡­ before finally determining what looked like a patch of sand was actually just another hole concealing itself. Even when she dropped inside, she couldn¡¯t tell it was there. Her senses were constantly telling her there was earth all around her, sand and rock making up the lakebed. But she was physically able to move deeper, and she did. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The sensation was nauseating over any significant period of time, and Velvet had to carefully maintain how quickly she descended. After a period between ten minutes and half an hour, she would usually return to the surface to stabilize herself and her thoughts. The strange thing was, she felt nothing. But that was exactly what she was supposed to feel. Just being what should be somewhere was one of the ultimate forms of stealth. She had practiced similar techniques, but there was always more to learn. She also got to practice with it, as the creatures dwelling in the walls were quite adept in that area as well. Velvet didn¡¯t relish the feeling of being bitten out of nowhere, teeth sinking into you when you were surrounded by lifeless rock and sand. Even worse was when that feeling was delayed and she was unable to counterattack the creatures. She knew there were things other than eels that lived in the other depths, but she usually counterattacked with the presumption that they were long and ¡®skinny¡¯, relative to other things. The eels were most common, from what she¡¯d seen. As for what they ate¡­ there were certainly abundant fish in the lakes, but it wasn¡¯t enough to sustain the eels. Then again, cultivators also weren¡¯t plentiful enough to be the food source. If Velvet had to guess, it would be¡­ the energy. The creatures had simply become part of the lake, living animals that hardly operated like natural beasts. Though she could be wrong, because they looked normal on the inside. At least to the extent of her knowledge. Maybe she would ask Anton. But first she would dive once more. Velvet had at first focused on feeling like sand and rock, but that hadn¡¯t been sufficient to conceal her from the senses of the beasts. Among other things, the constant movement required her to shift the feeling she displayed continuously, a taxing mental effort that wasn¡¯t always successful. Just trying to feel ¡®natural¡¯ wasn¡¯t sufficient either, but she was getting the knack now. She was part of the lake as she descended- no, simply a part of the world. It just so happened that the lake was around her. Attacks by beasts didn¡¯t stop. She was learning to sense them, as their own energy signatures were more practiced than hers but still imperfect. Her dagger clanked off of the shell of something hard, but a twist of her body brought her dagger into where she estimated joints would be. The more she did that, the more correct she was. After a short time, Velvet swam to the surface, sitting in her boat. She breathed deeply. It was possible to sustain her breath with energy for a long time, perhaps indefinitely, but it wasn¡¯t the same as actually breathing. And the repetitive motion helped clear her head. If she stayed down too long, she might actually believe she was part of the lake, or rather simply a natural part of the world. The effects on herself were the most disconcerting. She wondered if the cultivator who had presumably died in that spot had done so by way of violence or simply had forgotten they were alive. That was a scary thought. She absolutely wanted to avoid that, as it seemed a very real possibility. But it was an effective technique. Velvet was practiced enough in that and various other types of stealth that she naturally blended into the world. That helped her when Aser rowed out to a nearby spot on the lake. She wasn¡¯t hiding from him, but simply training. So whether or not he had noticed her, he hadn¡¯t really noticed her. But she certainly noticed him, when his energy briefly flared up and then sort of twisted in upon itself. It almost completely disappeared as he descended into one of the depths. It wasn¡¯t the same as the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s cultivation concealing abilities, but it felt sort of similar. Perhaps it was just an intermediate step, allowing him to access his true abilities while not revealing where he was from. She managed to convince herself to dive again, though her focus wasn¡¯t on anything she was doing. She exited the lake with a dozen bite marks and a small, finger length worm with its mouth firmly attached to her ribs. She blew it up with a puff of energy and carefully inspected the area for remains of the weird parasite. It seemed to have secreted a numbing agent but that was no excuse for having not noticed it. And Aser was gone. But that gave Velvet a chance to slip over to the area he had been in and inspect the depth he¡¯d descended into. Just sticking a finger in didn¡¯t tell her much. A swirling mix of energy that didn¡¯t coalesce into one particular idea. A quick dive told her that it was much more open than where she had been. Not physically wider or anything, usually no more than a few meters across, but just obvious. It displayed a kind of energy, and it was that. A small shark had dozens of different teeth, some coated in fire, some in ice, some a slimy poison¡­ but each of them was a distinct entity. And none of them were allowed to bite Velvet. It was a useful area. Though she couldn¡¯t immediately pick it up, given some time she felt she would be able to develop a method to convert her energy into different forms. The others already did that, but they all picked something related to the Ninety-Nine Stars. A core bit of cultivation that changed things. Hoyt used fire, and Anton practiced with that and light a bit. Velvet could probably work with either, but the swirling vortex promised things outside of her normal scope. Just perfect for pretending to be from another cultivation style. And if she could become proficient, quite practical for taking advantage of the weaknesses of certain cultivators. The only problem was that it would be difficult to train if Aser were to come back. Even if he didn¡¯t have a real claim to the area, he was a Life Transformation cultivator and she was not. He also might not be pleased to find she was aware of what he was training. How troubling. She decided to back away for the moment. He could come back at any time, though she imagined he would have stayed for longer if he was to return the same day. Either way, she should consult with the others how they wanted to proceed. Alone she could spin in circles forever until she made a mistake that got her killed, but the others would be able to guide her. Or at least make her feel better about whatever she decided on her own. Chapter 286 Battle was all about movement. It started at the bottom of the body with the position of the feet and how the legs could propel a person. That remained true even for cultivators, as natural energy was most efficient when augmenting something physical. It became less necessary with higher cultivations where energy was the dominant force, but if one were trying to get every scrap of power out of themselves to fight at maximum efficiency, it had to be considered. Chikere watched Swordmaster Rahayu move, how each step seemed to take him a dozen meters- which was practically an infinite distance as far as melee combat was concerned. The energy around his legs augmented his speed, but he also flooded the area ahead of him to ease his movement. That wasn¡¯t always a reliable prediction of where he would go, however. More often than not he used it as a feint, making her think he would move to a specific position when he went elsewhere. Even just a single step to the right or left could render her attacks useless. He controlled a large domain around himself, so the concentrations of energy were either for teaching her or throwing her off, which were the same thing. Some people didn¡¯t pay much attention to the core of the body. Many people understood that the upper torso had muscles that affected the arms which of course were used to swing weapons, but the lower portions were important as well. The abdominal muscles provided balance and stabilization, important when making precise moves. Arms swung and directed weapons. Their muscle power did contribute to attacks, but it was often better to make use of proper weapon positioning to maximize momentum gained from other places instead of just trying to shove a sword faster. Or other weapons, but Chikere didn¡¯t know why people would use those. Sure, at a low enough level different weapons had advantages in strength and reach, but the sword had versatility in motion that remained effective even in higher level fights. The head was also important. Watching your opponent with your eyes was the easy one, but other senses mattered too. Hearing them move when they were out of your sight could save you, and the way people flexed their muscles could be heard even when the movements weren¡¯t visible on the outside due to clothing covering them up. Smell was useful too, it could reveal all kinds of information. And taste¡­ was usually best not deployed. If you could detect a poison with your tongue it might already be too late. Swordmaster Rahayu happened to use a single sword, while Chikere had long gone down the path of using as many as possible. The one held in her hands ways always the best, but there were limits to how many opponents could be fought off at once with a single blade. That¡¯s what she told him, and he generally agreed. ¡°With this sword in my hand I could parry or block attacks from a dozen worthy opponents, but there could always be more. Of course, if I cut down that many then I no longer have to count them among the numbers of my enemies,¡± Rahayu smiled widely. ¡°That¡¯s something you seem to understand.¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°It has been in my best interest to win quickly.¡± While they talked, they continued to spar. At the current moment Swordmaster Rahayu was making use of different weapons. He was not as adept in their usage as he was a sword, but he was certainly more than capable of picking out the hardest moves for Chikere to deal with. Wide sweeping attacks that would break her guard if she blocked and force her into a disadvantageous position if she dodged. Long range thrusts with spears that forced her to try to slip past them to get a moment to attack. Close ranged attacks with daggers that made it difficult to bring her sword to bear- though those were basically countered by her additional swords striking from other positions. It didn¡¯t matter if she got a little cut along her arm or side if she impaled her opponent. Not that Rahayu ever got injured. So far she hadn¡¯t even touched him, or even nicked his garments. There was nothing crazy about that given his cultivation was at the peak of Life Transformation and she was merely in mid Essence Collection. He had much greater life experience than Chikere, and her specialty in swords became a disadvantage against him. It showed her how far she still had to go, but she still found it disheartening. For one moment at a time, until they crossed swords again and she found her insight growing. Then Swordmaster Rahayu stopped. ¡°We¡¯ll take a short break here,¡± he declared. ¡°Make sure to stay ready to fight.¡± That was strange. Normally he went until Chikere passed out, but she could still keep fighting. Couldn¡¯t she? Sure, she¡¯d run out of energy to carry her other swords and they¡¯d dropped into the ground, but she still held onto her primary weapon. At least, she should have been holding onto it¡­ but there it was, resting point-first in the stone. But it was closer than it should have been. Oh right, she had fallen to her knees at some point. ¡­ Maybe she really did need a short break. ----- Aser had moved to the top of the list. Anton and Velvet were keeping eyes on him separately, though it wasn¡¯t possible to safely watch him all the time. There was too much potential for something to go wrong. Anton had the advantage that he was capable of observing from a much larger distance, and if he was only using his eyes he wouldn¡¯t draw attention to himself. Unless the man looked straight at him, standing on the shores several kilometers away. But that hadn¡¯t happened yet. Either he wasn¡¯t paranoid about people watching him- which seemed strange for a Life Transformation cultivator- or simply didn¡¯t think anyone could learn anything important from so far away. Or perhaps it was a matter of practicality. Even Grand Elder Kseniya¡¯s attacks from this distance would take some time to arrive, giving him a chance to react. Long enough, at least. Constant tension wouldn¡¯t do anyone any good. Anton had to admit, the man didn¡¯t look like he was hiding anything. People came to him with a request, and he made them a weapon. Just like all of the other smiths he made use of the particular properties of the Niverlam Depths to quench the weapons or otherwise draw upon the different properties. He made weapons and armor of many different styles, small and large weapons as well as armor ranging from small bucklers to full suits of armor for the cultivators who made use of such. Anton preferred his lighter but still quite effective armor. He thought back to the days that a partial diamondsilk undershirt had seemed remarkable. Now it seemed hardly better than paper, but it had been useful until late Spirit building at least. The variety of customers that came to Aser also wanted weapons enchanted in different manners, generally making use of some rare materials they¡¯d gotten, either a particular bit of metal or part of a beast that naturally leaned towards a certain set of features. Fire, ice, lightning- all of those were common. There were even quite a few who simply went for the best durability and cutting edge that could be obtained. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Any one of those customers could have been a member of the Twin Soul Sect, though the most frequent were members of his nominal sect, the Blue Forest Mystery.. Unfortunately, Anton couldn¡¯t get close enough to confidently probe the man. The customers though¡­ Velvet was watching for them, and they were fairly confident they could detect what they were looking for without being noticed. Even if someone took offense, they would at most be in Essence Collection- and it would be hard for Aser to find an excuse to join in battle if they weren¡¯t a member of his sect. Thus, they should be relatively safe. ----- Not knowing how many members of the Twin Soul Sect passed through Erygan regularly, and knowing how touchy cultivators were about being inspected, Velvet kept herself restrained from checking everyone who passed her by. But whenever she determined someone was going to the smiths they were observing- Aser might have been the most suspicious at the moment but the others were still important- she tried to pick out if they were part of the Twin Soul Sect. So far there had been none. Velvet wasn¡¯t sure what that meant. Maybe there really weren¡¯t that many members of the Twin Soul Sect in the area. Maybe they¡¯d heard about what happened at Blackstone Harbor and decided to lay low, in case this very thing happened. Or maybe they had the wrong people entirely. It was entirely possible whoever had worked here had already moved on before they arrived. Maybe they were an unremarkable sort, making the sword for Elder Lestari and slipping away before anyone really registered them. That was the problem with observation missions. You couldn¡¯t be sure of anything until you were making great progress, or maybe even fully finished. Sometimes all you needed was a single bit of information to know what was necessary with sufficient certainty. In this case, they¡¯d need more than a couple Twin Soul Sect members going to a single smith. After all, they could just have a preferred person unrelated to the one in question who undoubtedly made things with a specific flare. Well, undoubtedly to certain people. Velvet wasn¡¯t going to disparage Chikere¡¯s connection to swords, having seen how it worked in action, but she certainly had nothing the same herself. Daggers were just convenient weapons for what she did, not her identity. And what she was doing was blending in. She wasn¡¯t sure if she could seem like a natural feature in a city, but perhaps she would seem like an extension of a building or an awning. That sort of thing would be odd for anyone who saw through it, but they likely wouldn¡¯t bother with her if she wasn¡¯t looking for them. And statistically, she wouldn¡¯t be. ----- It was hopeless for Chikere to suddenly be able to injure or defeat Swordmaster Rahayu after a few weeks or months. He likely had an entire century of cultivation more than her, perhaps two. Just because she learned quickly didn¡¯t mean her energy would suddenly grow to catch up to him. Well, not that fast. She had broken through to the next rank in her cultivation after the first week, but the next would probably be several months away at least. Half a year, even. That was still rapid compared to the year she would have expected on her own, but that growth couldn¡¯t continue indefinitely. And while fighting wasn¡¯t just about cultivation, Rahayu had everything else that mattered there too. It hardly mattered that Chikere was a whirlwind of blades. They weren¡¯t spinning and slashing randomly but with purpose, yet he always found a way through, untouched by her in the slightest. She couldn¡¯t even cut his hair, and he would slice or impale her as he pleased. She didn¡¯t care about the injuries, except that they made her spend time recovering. At the moment, she had a sword stabbed through her shoulder, moving straight down through her ribcage and vital organs. She could only marvel at how it had avoided slicing anything important, weaving its way through her and shunting aside vital organs. It was even more remarkable because it was obviously not Rahayu¡¯s normal methods. If he used serious attacks, she would find herself cut in two from head to toe, or in any conceivable direction. Probably multiple of them all at once. He yanked his sword free, and Chikere set about closing up her wounds. It wasn¡¯t difficult, but once again she knew it could have been if he had the intent. ¡°That¡¯s enough,¡± Swordmaster Rahayu stated. ¡°Enough¡­ what?¡± Were they done with training for the day? She was still able to stand and hold her weapons. She did a visual check just to make sure, but she was still standing and decent on energy. Or was she supposed to leave herself injured for some sort of test? ¡°Enough training,¡± he said. ¡°I have other things to get to.¡± ¡°When will we start again?¡± Chikere asked. A few hours of rest and contemplation wouldn¡¯t hurt. ¡°Never,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯re done now.¡± ¡°... What?¡± His words hurt more than any of the wounds he¡¯d caused to her up to that point. More than the mental attacks where she knew she could be cut in half, and was able to clearly visualize the damage. ¡°I¡¯m done training you,¡± he said simply. ¡°You¡¯ve seen everything I can show you. Everything. You¡¯ll figure it out.¡± But she was still learning a lot! Even if she might digest everything he¡¯d shown her eventually, the rapid pace her cultivation had been increasing was addictive. ¡°You can¡¯t stop now! What do you need?¡± Chikere begged. ¡°I can help you get it. I know I¡¯m not that strong compared to you, but please¡­ I¡¯ll do anything.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± he raised an eyebrow. ¡°Can you push me to ascension? Because that¡¯s literally the only thing I want now.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Chikere couldn¡¯t really respond to that. She couldn¡¯t ask him to put his own cultivation behind hers. And she couldn¡¯t help him ascend. She hung her head. ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Obviously not,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°The number of people in this world who have that capability are¡­ extremely limited. At least individually. Your friend had a good idea though.¡± ¡°Who? Anton?¡± ¡°Yeah, the archer,¡± he nodded. ¡°You can come along if you want. I¡¯m heading to Erygan. I¡¯m sure the journey will be good for you. You should really fight someone that isn¡¯t me. You might notice a difference.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Chikere nodded. At least he wasn¡¯t completely abandoning her. And she really hadn¡¯t given him anything, so it wasn¡¯t fair to complain about him declaring the training over. She just wanted it to continue forever. ¡°What¡¯s in Erygan?¡± The air split in two as he looked to the north. ¡°Enemies.¡± The declaration was once again terrifying, as if she would die as a mere coincidence should she get anywhere near him when he was serious. It was like blades cutting into her. ¡°And while I don¡¯t know that the ones there will matter, eventually they have to send a challenge.¡± With that, he stepped off the edge of the little pinnacle he lived on. Chikere almost didn¡¯t react fast enough to keep up with him, but she dropped down behind him, landing and rushing to keep up with his quick movement. She knew he could go much faster and was holding back for her, but he sure wasn¡¯t holding back that much. Chikere didn¡¯t even notice the single strand of hair, only a finger length long, that had settled to the ground during their last exchange. A hair that wasn¡¯t hers. Instead, she was far too busy absorbing the insights she had and moving her legs as fast as they could go. Chapter 287 There had been an offhanded request by Swordmaster Rahayu that Anton hadn¡¯t really followed through with. From anyone else it would have been a joke at best. He¡¯d casually agreed, but hadn¡¯t really followed through as there wasn¡¯t any sort of pressure or timeframe behind it. He¡¯d mostly forgotten about it until it became convenient. Now, he wanted to provoke some sort of reaction. Information was important to people in all walks of life, from what crops were desirable to where rare materials could be purchased for cheap to the strengths and weaknesses of individual cultivators, and the conflicts between different sects. People were always willing to listen to the latter. ¡°Have you been to Blackstone Harbor recently?¡± Anton said as he sat next to someone at a bar. ¡°Apparently they had some trouble with a group called the Twin Soul Sect.¡± The young man shook his head. ¡°Haven¡¯t heard of them. What happened?¡± ¡°Well, it seems some elder was not who he seemed. Swordmaster Rahayu found out, and¡­¡± Anton drew a line across his throat with his thumb. ¡°That was it. I heard he¡¯s got it out for that Twin Soul Sect.¡± Normal people didn¡¯t want to provoke mysterious, powerful groups into attacking them. Even the Order had been hesitant to allow it, and they were much more than a single individual. But as far as Anton knew the request had been genuine. Swordmaster Rahayu wanted to fight, and he would doubtless find someone. If it could be an enemy of the whole world, it would be better for everyone. Except them, but they chose their path. ¡°Oh. I¡¯ve heard of him. He¡¯s a powerful Life Transformation cultivator, right?¡± the young man nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t want to get anywhere near that fight.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± Anton agreed truthfully. He still had things he wanted to do while he was alive. If nothing else he should be able to last until the invasion and die there. There was some more frivolous conversation and exchange of rumors, but that was Anton¡¯s main contribution. Things with Aser had kind of come to a standstill. The multi elemental stuff he was cultivating was perfectly normal for a member of the Blue Forest Mystery and a smith who made a wide variety of weapons. Nobody had a fortunate encounter that suddenly revealed anything about the other four under suspicion, and as Anton got a better picture about the limitations of Life Transformation cultivator¡¯s senses, he realized how dangerous it could be. For example, within the Ninety-Nine Stars cultivation technique, forty-two of the theoretical one hundred stars were part of Life Transformation. Even if people were only a short way into it, each step represented a marked improvement that only amplified the division between stages. Anton himself was only at the forty-fifth star, and someone in early Life Transformation would be around the sixtieth. In general, sensing ability increased with overall cultivation. Anton wasn¡¯t willing to bet that he or Velvet were close to two and a half times better than the talents who could make it to the final known realm of cultivation, regardless of their individual specialties. So stirring up the nest by making the Twin Soul Sect nervous- or eager- was their best bet. If a lone Life Transformation cultivator wanted to cause trouble, it was quite possible for them to wipe him out. They might have to make some sacrifices- Vandale took more than a handful down with him- but a lone cultivator was an easier target. In theory, at least. In practice, Swordmaster Rahayu was¡­ specialized. Combat was a huge part of most cultivator¡¯s abilities, but most also had other pursuits. Except people like Rahayu, which made them more dangerous. Anton didn¡¯t plan to remind the Twin Soul Sect of that part, though. ----- A couple weeks was enough for rumors to take hold, if they had enough truth to them. Anton actually had more information about what had happened in Blackstone Harbor, but that information was already known. He focused on the part where Rahayu declared his intent to fight the Twin Soul Sect. It hadn¡¯t happened in public, but it was the sort of juicy thing people wanted to hear. And it was true, which helped. Nobody who knew about the man could say that it didn¡¯t sound like him. They were now just waiting for fruit of their efforts- either their casual scouting, trying to pick up individual members of the Twin Soul Sect- or some information that led them to determine for certain who was involved. Reshma had become more active, though it was possible it was simply because of the season and the local insect populations. Liljana was spending more time out in the lake away from her smithy. Brianne had been turning away customers as she worked on a particular batch of weapons. And Putri had disappeared- though it was uncertain if she had left town or where she had gone. Then danger arrived. It cut through town like a hot knife through butter. Except it was a sword, and a known one at that. Anton was fairly certain that nothing was physically severed, but he felt the passage of Swordmaster Rahayu through Erygan, lasting only a few moments before he was out on the lake. Trailing behind it he felt a more familiar presence heading right for him. He went out to meet Chikere, only to find an extremely haggard woman. The various sheaths complaining her myriad of swords were dangling randomly around her, and some were dragging along the ground. She looked as if she hadn¡¯t slept properly for days or weeks¡­ which was quite possible. ¡°There¡­ you are¡­¡± Chikere staggered over towards Anton. ¡°The Swordmaster¡­ says he needs you to use that technique.¡± ¡°Which technique?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The¡­ discerny one. That reveals people.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Anton didn¡¯t particularly mind using it, of course. ¡°Where does he need me?¡± ¡°Out at the lake. With that smith lady,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Just go towards him.¡± ¡°Right. I will. You should rest.¡± ¡°... no. I need to see him fight her.¡± Chikere started a pathetic jog towards the lake, barely the speed a non-cultivator could maintain. Knowing he couldn¡¯t reasonably stop her, Anton swept her up, sitting her on one shoulder. It was the least awkward place he could think to put her, and had the fewest swords batting against him as he moved. He quickly moved to the straightest avenue that led to the lake and the various wharfs there. It didn¡¯t provide a view of the entire area, but he could barely make something out. A few moments later and Anton wasn¡¯t the only one running towards the battle- numerous cultivators were interested in seeing what was happening. Most of them stopped at the shore of the lake, however. Getting too close to a fight between powerful cultivators could be dangerous. Anton didn¡¯t have that luxury, but as long as nothing was targeting him he should be fine a little closer. Then he felt a Life Transformation cultivator barreling towards him. He was prepared to dodge off the wharf into the lake, since any strange effects that he might be drawn into would be better than being smashed to pieces. Chikere didn¡¯t seem as if she could handle too much battering, either. But before he could move he recognized the figure. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. It was Putri, of the Ochre Rock Society. Their technique made them quite durable, as most earth sorts did. Perhaps that was why she was still intact as she flew towards Anton, back first. He was still going to dodge out of the way when he realized the battle was still happening. Putri wasn¡¯t really involved, and had simply been ejected from the area. Rapidly. Anton gently tossed Chikere over to the side, spreading out his energy in the widest pattern he could maintain. Instead of creating bows he focused more on the string aspect, forming a large net. It wouldn¡¯t be as durable as something he¡¯d practiced for a long time, but nobody was intentionally trying to break it. When the woman impacted him, he tried to remind himself of that. The strings of energy snapped taut, stretching to their limits in the same instant. Chunks of the wharf were torn asunder as the impact threw Anton backwards, but the tendrils of his reach out to the side pushed against the water and slowed down the pair. Anton managed to take a look at Putri as he set her on her feet, and found she had a slash across her chest. Not terribly deep, though. For a moment he wondered if he¡¯d made the wrong choice, aided someone Rahayu was after¡­ but an explosion of fire came from the buildings ahead- and Putri breathed a sigh of relief. Though he hadn¡¯t sensed the woman from up close before, her aura was much weakened, and she felt deflated. Even so, she turned to Anton. ¡°You¡­ ah, one of the ones snooping around.¡± Having his paranoia justified wasn¡¯t particularly comforting at the moment, but he didn¡¯t feel any ill intent from her. And her energy was not terribly concerning in magnitude at the moment. Though Anton would certainly prefer to have Hoyt and Velvet as backup if it came down to it. He felt Chikere nearby as well, slowly swimming to the shore- but she merely pulled herself up onto the wharf to watch the fight. It was suddenly much easier to see as a wall exploded off of a building, fire spraying everywhere. Then three more buildings in the way slid apart as something cut them at an angle. Anton was still a few hundred meters away, but he almost dodged out of the way of the blade in front of him. It didn¡¯t get that close though. ¡°Is he with you?¡± Putri prompted Anton. ¡°I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s with anyone,¡± Anton said. ¡°What about you? What¡¯s your relation to that battle?¡± ¡°Your snooping inspired my own,¡± she commented. ¡°I saw you teaching those anti-ascension techniques and was reminded of the elders to the east speaking of the Twin Soul Sect helping the invaders. Maybe from overhearing rumors about Rahayu and them which seem to be true. If Brianne is one of them, anyway. There could have been other reasons she took exception to my investigations.¡± Anton was listening to her, but most of his focus was on the battle ahead. His eyes focused, picking out every detail he could. The smith Brianne swung a great hammer which caused a burst of flame to sprout from the wharf below Rahayu. Instead of dodging or rallying his defensive energy or anything sensible, the man parried it with the tip of his blade. A three meter wide pillar of fire was obviously a bit larger than the tip of a sword, but the way it angled to the side of him Anton determined that the fire didn¡¯t care. Brianne took a deep breath, calling upon her inner flame before breathing a cone that went out at least twenty meters. But it didn¡¯t touch Swordmaster Rahayu, as his blade swished upwards and cut it in half. It wasn¡¯t clearly visible from Anton¡¯s angle, but he could sense that the cone of fire split in half and went off to either side of him, with no lingering usage of Rahayu¡¯s energy to create a wall or something equivalent to block it. But unless it was a very well practiced battle, Brianne wasn¡¯t faking her attempts to kill him. But the gap between them was just too much- she was in early Life Transformation and Rahayu was at the peak. A moment later he stabbed forward with her sword, stabbing through her as a pillar of flame burned around her. And then the fire went out. Anton wondered why he was there, until Rahayu turned to look directly at him, then gestured to the woman- who was still alive. Anton felt she even still had stores of energy¡­ but she seemed unable to make use of it. Even so, he approached cautiously. ¡°There you are. Why¡¯d you stop all the way back there?¡± ¡°It was a sensible distance,¡± Anton said. ¡°Quite safe.¡± ¡°And I suppose you could have attacked if you felt like it,¡± Rahayu shrugged. ¡°Not my style, but understandable. Anyway, do that thing that reveals her. Chikere said you should know it.¡± Anton jogged towards them. Closer to a run, but he avoided hurrying. He didn¡¯t have to listen to Rahayu, though he did want to be in his good graces. He just also didn¡¯t want to end up burned alive. Brianne glared at Anton, but didn¡¯t say or do anything. Perhaps that was due to the sword casually pointed in her direction. Anton realized he probably should have checked Putri while he was next to her, but he saw her staying where she was. If she suddenly disappeared¡­ he could make some assumptions. Anton gathered up his energy. Normally a sensing technique didn¡¯t take much, but he knew Brianne would show some resistance. Or at least, she should have been able to. When he reached into her all he felt was a sputtering fire. A fake one, covering up an unfortunately familiar duplicitous cultivation style. Anton pushed, and her cover up faded away, allowing everyone to feel her true cultivation. Not that many people were close. ¡°I see,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°It really is quite different. But your swords gave you away. You put too much of that into them.¡± She glared at him. ¡°Now then, someone like you has to be important to the Twin Soul Sect.¡± She glared more. ¡°What? You want me to beg for my life? Swear revenge? Well, maybe I will. It will come when you least expect it.¡± ¡°I doubt that,¡± he said. ¡°Since I¡¯m always ready. And they¡¯ll be quite happy to meet me in Foulmarsh. They won¡¯t even have to reveal themselves as they try to save you.¡± ¡°What?¡± the woman looked at him confused for a moment, then his sword twitched. Somehow, that led to her slumping to the ground. ¡°What was that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°A threat,¡± Rahayu replied. ¡°Those cause Life Transformation cultivators to pass out?¡± ¡°Oh, I simply severed her consciousness,¡± Rahayu nodded. ¡°Just like I cut off her connection to energy earlier. It¡¯s not difficult against someone weak like her.¡± Anton didn¡¯t like the sound of that, partly because he was yet another step weaker than her. But perhaps there was some innate quality. He¡­ would ask later. ¡°You really plan to go to Foulmarsh?¡± Anton knew that was to the east of the Niverlam Depths, and full of all sorts of unpleasantness. Its name wasn¡¯t just for show, after all. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s where we¡¯re going,¡± he nodded. ¡°When you say ¡®we¡¯,¡± Anton asked. ¡°You mean the two of you?¡± ¡°Of course. And you and your companions, plus Chikere. Unless you don¡¯t want to fight the Twin Soul Sect.¡± Anton knew he could refuse¡­ but he also knew that a lone cultivator without any backup at all would be much less effective. Even if Rahayu could take on himself, Hoyt, and Velvet together¡­ they could help keep him from being swarmed. ¡°I¡¯ll ask the others.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, Chikere looks like she could use a break anyway.¡± Anton looked back at the haggard woman, hair stuck to her face with sweat as she sat in a meditative position. He wasn¡¯t sure if he would call swinging her sword from sitting a ¡®break¡¯, but she was the one who would be responsible for the consequences of that. As he passed by smith Putri, Anton carefully scanned her. There was no reaction, and he excused his momentary stop by speaking. ¡°It seems Rahayu plans to capture Brianne to use for ransom from the Twin Soul Sect.¡± Some people likely overheard what he actually said, but it was a reasonable extension of what he¡¯d said. But Rahayu really just wanted to be attacked. The question was, should he be there? How much damage could he cause to them compared to the good he might do by being alive? And the others as well. If he went, it increased the chance that they would go. Chikere¡­ was probably going to go regardless. She wasn¡¯t part of the Order, but she was still a friend, if a bit of an odd one. Anton was going to officially discourage following after a potentially suicidal swordmaster. Hoyt and Velvet were worth too much, and had too much potential to just waste. Chapter 288 ¡°So you see,¡± Anton explained, ¡°Rahayu has likely put concern for his life out of his head entirely. Chikere is¡­ the type who never really thought about that to begin with. If the two of you come along, it is at risk to your own lives.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how battles always are,¡± Hoyt pointed out. ¡°And you¡¯re going, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°The potential the two of you have¡­¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°Look, they¡¯ll need some support from me. I could be the difference between them being overwhelmed or causing some real damage.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t explain why we shouldn¡¯t also help,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°You¡¯ve done this before, you know,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what it is with¡­ people like you¡­ but you should be aware that it doesn¡¯t feel good to have people you care for sacrifice themselves.¡± More than the words, logical as they were, Anton was convinced by the emotion behind them, including a very real piece that Anton knew was directed towards his grandfather- Vandale. ¡°Is it so wrong for me to try?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°The two of you could live a couple hundred more years, unless you entirely give up cultivating. Maybe even then. That¡¯s¡­ quite a bit more to lose.¡± ¡°Years of life don¡¯t mean anything if you don¡¯t share them with people you care about,¡± Velvet said sternly. ¡°And before you come up with some stupid response for that, you¡¯re one of the very few people I actually care about. The one who made me realize that I could care about people.¡± Anton just shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ this upcoming invasion worries me. I want to see the world continue and grow, but there are threats both now and later.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll just do as all cultivators before us,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°We fight here to grow stronger for later.¡± At that point, Chikere was approaching the group. ¡°Um¡­ I hope you¡¯ve decided if you¡¯re coming. Because he¡¯s not going to wait much longer.¡± ¡°Let me just hand over this letter,¡± Anton said. ¡°We might be able to get reinforcements before the enemies arrive. Hopefully they have to travel further.¡± ----- As Swordmaster Rahayu walked along, Anton wouldn¡¯t have known he was carrying someone over his shoulder if he couldn¡¯t see her. The smith Brianne didn¡¯t seem to hinder his stride at all, and it was a rapid one at that. He didn¡¯t even use an arm to hold her in place, simply having slung her over in a way that apparently remained balanced. She¡¯d made some attempts to roll off of him at one point, but Rahayu was not shy about cutting whatever muscles she used. It wasn¡¯t pleasant, but neither was betraying the world for¡­ rewards in a future life? Anton frowned. He hadn¡¯t had the opportunity before, so he might as well ask. ¡°How do you know the promises to you will be upheld?¡± Anton asked. Brianne seemed to be considering not answering, but then she glanced over at Rahayu. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he cared, but as long as she thought he did that was good enough. And while Twin Soul Sect members didn¡¯t seem afraid of death, they were quite reasonable to not like suffering. ¡°We received contact from those who had gone beyond,¡± she said finally. ¡°Did you ever consider that maybe they were just fakes?¡± ¡°Impossible,¡± Brianne said swiftly. ¡°Their cultivation was made clear to us, great and powerful.¡± She really did mean it was impossible. While the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s cultivation technique was made to conceal their true cultivation, it was also surprisingly easy to reveal if you knew what to do. They were almost like beacons in the right circumstances. Perhaps they really could use that to be sure. Though members of their sect being strong didn¡¯t necessarily mean that they would all receive the promised rewards. There had to be some practical limit¡­ but perhaps their backers were simply that expansive. Nobody knew how big the world beyond ascension was, or if they did they kept it secret. Even the Twin Soul Sect members didn¡¯t know the details. Anton asked more questions, but he didn¡¯t learn anything new. It was frustrating, really. Everything seemed to be, at the moment. All that work to reveal her and Rahayu just waltzed up and found her. But that was how the world worked, wasn¡¯t it? Everything was simple if you just had the power. If Anton were stronger he wouldn¡¯t have had issue just going up to each smith and probing their cultivation. Perhaps he should have already requested Life Transformation cultivators from the sect, though they could have also spooked the smith off. That was the excuse anyway, but part of the truth was that Anton had wanted the success himself. An interesting thought he would deal with later. Foulmarsh was not far away, and despite his exceptional sight Anton smelled it before he saw it. The wind shifted direction and brought a wide variety of unpleasant smells to him. The smells of rot and exotic plants and creatures that weren¡¯t much more tolerable. Yet the smell wasn¡¯t the complete reason for the name. Everything about it was supposed to be unpleasant. The only benefit¡­ was that nobody else was around. Any cultivators approaching would be easily picked out- and presumably cut to ribbons. ----- Mud squelched on Anton¡¯s boots, pulling at them and threatening to rip them off. It would have, if he had not taken to using energy to bind them to his feet. A minor annoyance, but it was just one of many. The smells and insects were constant as well. Another problem was the temperature. It was swelteringly hot, in an unnatural manner. Compared to the magma chamber it was almost tepid, but it was constant. Well, almost constant. During the day it was muggy, but at night or certain random periods the temperature would flip, suddenly trying to freeze people to death. Everything was a constant drain. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. They had set up camp in one of the ¡®nicer¡¯ places, where there were a few pockets of solid land a majority of the time. Except when it was raining and the marsh rose, or when the sudden freezes and thaws repositioned the somewhat more durable areas. With a flick of his wrist, Anton fired an arrow that split through the body of a mosquito. They were worse than the ones in Ambati, presumably because they had been feeding off of more than just an unlucky sect of cultivators. There were snakes and turtles and even a variety of alligators that lived in the area off of which they fed, as well as some mammals. The reptiles seemed like they would be particularly vulnerable to the sudden temperature changes, but apparently they managed. A snake leapt out of the water towards Anton, but he didn¡¯t have to move a muscle. Chikere was standing on that side, and she sliced it into several pieces before it got close. Most of the larger creatures were relegated to her, and Anton dealt with the flying insects. Swordmaster Rahayu could have certainly cleared out the area, but he only dealt with things that came after him personally. There had been one alligator the size of a house that must have thought he seemed like a nutritious, energy-filled snack- but it found itself being dined upon instead. Anton was growing tired of it, actually, as the meat was rather tough. He shot another mosquito about to land on their prisoner. It was possible they didn¡¯t need her alive any longer, but if members of the Twin Soul Sect arrived and determined she wasn¡¯t there, they might be less willing to approach, and to fight. They could hardly cull their numbers if they simply left, and that was their goal. At least, it was the goal of the Order. Chikere¡­ might just want to fight. The same might be true of Rahayu, but he hadn¡¯t really asked. It seemed a bit late after a week, but he thought he really should. ¡°Swordmaster Rahayu. What are your intentions with this?¡± ¡°The same as anyone else in my position,¡± the old man said. ¡°Ascension.¡± He tilted his head, ¡°Why do you look so surprised?¡± ¡°I knew you said you were close,¡± Anton said, ¡°But are you sure this is the right way?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who gave me the idea,¡± Rahayu pointed out. ¡°Saying they might send people after me. That sounded like exactly what I needed, so here we are.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton nodded. He wasn¡¯t going to question what the man thought he knew. There were certain things about cultivation that just worked like that. He was probably right. And if not¡­ he might just die. Or he could survive to do it again. ----- Chikere was getting impatient. It had been over a week they were remaining in one spot, and Swordmaster Rahayu wouldn¡¯t fight her anymore. Something about her being in top form when the battle came. The others were at least willing to spar with her, but they didn¡¯t take it as seriously. She was beginning to feel a difference from when she first started training with Rahayu, but she felt she couldn¡¯t bring it out without some real combat. And she wouldn¡¯t get close with those three. She did have a large number of insights to still absorb from her fights with Rahayu, and there was pleasant scenery to look at. Specifically, the sword he carried with him. It was¡­ exceptional. ¡°Can I have your sword after you die?¡± she asked. He looked straight at her, his gaze like a casual sword strike. She felt like she could learn something from all of his motions. ¡°I¡¯m not going to die. I¡¯m going to ascend. So you¡¯ll have to follow me there. If you can take it, it will be yours.¡± Chikere clicked her tongue. That was going to take so long. She was at twenty years of cultivation, and with the rate things were slowing down it might take her a whole century to achieve ascension. Oh well, at least she would have something to look forward to. ¡°Ah, they do care about you,¡± Chikere commented. ¡°In some form or fashion.¡± Brianne rolled limply onto her back. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Chikere sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you don¡¯t even recognize your own work coming. Though I suppose you¡¯re kind of out of it now, huh? Still, it¡¯s disrespectful to not recognize them even without energy.¡± Anton was surveying the horizon in the direction Chikere sensed people coming. They seemed to be attempting stealth to some extent, but the denizens of Foulmarsh seemed to have other plans in mind. ¡°You only ever use one sword, right?¡± Chikere directed that to Rahayu. ¡°So I can have that other one¡­ right?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t need it,¡± Rahayu agreed. ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Chikere was nearly salivating at the approaching weapon. It didn¡¯t matter that it was tainted with the sense of the Twin Soul Sect, she could still appreciate something good. If she never took weapons from her enemies, how would she get anything? ¡°If you let me go now,¡± the smith commented, ¡°They might let the rest of you live. That has to be Swordmaster Vianne.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Rahayu confirmed. ¡°Didn¡¯t know she was one of yours. I¡¯m glad. I was worried they might not send anyone worth my time.¡± ¡°She won¡¯t be foolish enough to come alone.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Rayahu commented. ¡°In fact, that¡¯s even better. Nothing like a fight with a couple Life Transformation punks to get things started. Maybe they¡¯ll try to tire me out first.¡± He grinned widely, ¡°This should be fun. You all ready?¡± ¡°As much as we can be,¡± Anton commented. ¡°I¡¯m a bit concerned about their numbers. Four Life Transformation experts, one at the peak like yourself¡­ that leaves us with quite a few opponents in Essence Collection. Nobody in Spirit Building though.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°They¡¯d be dead if they showed up, wouldn¡¯t they? Don¡¯t tell me you couldn¡¯t have put them down from where they are now. Speaking of which, shouldn¡¯t you be shooting?¡± ¡°The good targets are all hidden in the shadows of the Life Transformation experts. It would be a waste of energy.¡± Even as he said that, Anton began to gather his energy, drawing back his bow. ¡°Who do you reckon is the weakest of those four?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The kid who¡¯s overcompensating with the big sword,¡± Rahayu suggested. Anton didn¡¯t bother to point out that ¡®the kid¡¯ was probably older than himself. He simply continued to gather energy in a relaxed manner. This would probably be the last time he could freely line up a shot, so he would make the most of it. Chapter 289 The weakest Life Transformation cultivator among the group- by the judgment of Rahayu- was a man who carried a sword that couldn¡¯t be held in any sort of sheath. It wouldn¡¯t matter if one was made, it was simply that said sheath wouldn¡¯t allow the weapon to hang off of a person in any feasible configuration. The weapon was about three and a half meters long, with a blade about twenty centimeters wide. It had to be massively heavy, no matter what material it was made from. A single shot was formed on Anton¡¯s primary bow, aimed almost directly at the man. Anton made use of Ascension energy and the properties of light, balancing out the power with a shot that would be extremely quick. It flew towards the man at an undodgeable speed¡­ but he had already moved out of its path before it left the string. If Anton had intended to hit him, he might have found that annoying. Instead, his shot went into the throat of one of the Essence Collection cultivators behind the man who doubtless thought they were safe in that position. One down, a couple dozen to go. Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t strolling towards the group so casually anymore. They began to run at full speed, and Anton was suddenly concerned about their proximity to Rahayu, but the man was quickly moving to intercept the enemy. The Life Transformation cultivators separated from the Essence Collection members behind them, leaving them alone- but also on alert for Anton¡¯s attacks. If Anton could make every single attack as powerful as his first shot, he could take them all out before they got to him. Instead, he could do it around five times in total, and he couldn¡¯t guarantee he would take someone out if they knew they were being targeted. There would still be quite a few of them and he would be weaker, so he only took one more shot using ascension energy. It was aimed at another archer, though clearly one whose optimal range of firing was somewhere less than five kilometers. They dodged it, twisting their body to the side. Anton lowered his bow, intending to conserve his energy. Then his arrow came back around, striking them in the back. Or more specifically, striking the string of their bow that was still slung over them. It felt like a waste, since he could probably have used the bow¡­ but only if he survived the battle. The archer only sustained minor injuries beyond a ruined weapon, their general defenses protecting their body sufficiently. Anton continued to fire arrows, but at a more normal power level. He was trying to catch people off guard, maybe cause a little bit of damage to a joint or split people apart. He definitely didn¡¯t have enough energy to take out so many people on a vaguely equivalent power level all on his own, unless they simply lowered their energy. The collision of Life Transformation cultivators drew his attention. There Swordmaster Rahayu faced off against the other swordmaster, identified as Vianne. But they had four Life Transformation cultivators, even if the others weren¡¯t at the peak. The shortest of their members kept his distance, engaging with a bolt of lightning from a hundred meters away that left a crater behind Rahayu. The other carried a heavy mace in two hands that he wielded with speed and grace Anton wouldn¡¯t expect from such a weapon. Then again, if a Life Transformation cultivator couldn¡¯t manage even that much they¡¯d hardly amount to anything. With a single swipe of his sword, Rahayu forced back the man with the heavy mace as well as Vianne, though it was clear he focused most of his attention upon the latter. The one with the overlarge sword, labeled a ¡®kid¡¯ by Rahayu, moved past the man. It was likely he could have forced him to engage, but either Rahayu thought they could take him or had reached his own limits. It wasn¡¯t exactly something Anton was going to ask in the heat of battle, as an admission he couldn¡¯t handle more opponents would likely lead to their strongest member being swarmed. For some reason the guy looked upset, his gaze directed specifically at Anton. Was it because he cared for the particular person Anton had shot down first, or was it just damaged pride from knowing he was fooled by the attack? Anton fired about a dozen probing attacks as the man approached, finding that he was quite adept at swirling his sword to slice arrows out of the air. As he was rapidly approaching, Anton considered his options for melee combat. But it didn¡¯t come to that. The man came to a sudden halt when Chikere rushed at him, her over a dozen swords slicing simultaneously. The man counterattacked with his own weapon, the weapon carrying great momentum and speed. With the great power of Life Transformation behind it, it sliced through Chikere in a way nobody at her level of cultivation could dodge. At least, it certainly felt like it. Chikere herself didn¡¯t even seem fazed as it sliced a ten meter long gouge in the ground behind her, simply slicing into the man as she moved past him. Unfortunately his defensive energy was enough to overcome her skill, so she wasn¡¯t able to break through. With the difference in cultivation he might be able to endure her attacks until she ran out of energy¡­ had she been fighting alone. But Hoyt joined the melee a moment later, and Anton was already adding his own attacks to Chikere¡¯s whirling blades. A flaming axe swept towards the man, but he blocked with his blade. Even so, the ground cracked beneath their feet and an explosion of fire filled the area. An instant later, the block transitioned into a sweep, aiming to slice through Hoyt¡¯s ribs. Perhaps he might have survived the single attack, but it turned upward and went over his head as Chikere¡¯s primary chopped sliced towards the man¡¯s wrist, making him have to choose between his hand and hitting the attack. Or rather, between not hitting the attack and having a hand, or losing a hand and likely failing to connect as he swung the oversized blade one-handed. A few more moments of combat passed before the Essence Collection cultivators began to arrive at a range where they could attack. It seemed Rahayu was not at his limit, as he intentionally swept his sword to hold back half of the group, leaving Anton and the others to face only three-to-one odds and a Life Transformation cultivator. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Just then the world began to distort, half intentional illusion projected at the cultivators and half random noise to throw them off. Fortunately, everyone had fought against the Twin Soul Sect before- and won. Quite decisively in fact, whereas none of their opponents had fought against any of them before- with the exception of the two swordmasters seeming to have some history. Even with the world distorted and changing, Chikere seemed to have no difficulty fighting the other sword wielder. Hoyt was having some trouble, however, and Chikere was spending more of her time parrying attacks meant for him than going on offense. With the addition of the dozen extra cultivators, Hoyt was fully on the defensive. Anton had several people pelting him with strange gray balls of energy he absolutely didn¡¯t want to touch and find out what they did, and another moving in to fight him with a spear. It wasn¡¯t possible to sustain that situation for any length of time, so he had to act quickly. Over a dozen meters away, on the far side of the Essence Collection cultivators attacking Anton and the others, a half-dozen bows suddenly formed around one of the individuals lopping the wispy gray projectiles. The bows shot point-blank into Anton¡¯s chosen target, forcing her to dodge at the last instant. She managed to avoid three of the shots, but was distracted from Anton¡¯s main arrow, finding its way into her eye. At the same time, Anton narrowly dodged a spear that wanted to find its way into his guts. Two more down. Anton took out one¡­ and the world suddenly distorted to be more correct as one of those primarily focusing on the illusion suddenly found their vital organs destroyed by a pair of daggers. Velvet had come with them, so Anton knew it had to be coming- but even he had lost track of her. His sensing abilities and her stealth leap frogged in front of each other frequently, and this was one of the times she was ahead. Several attacks were launched towards the falling body, but nothing happened except one of the grayish orbs striking the member of the Twin Soul Sect, melting the body into a pile of goop. That was unprotected, sure, but Anton still wanted to make sure not to let it affect him. That might not even be the only effect the strange energy had. As for Velvet, the target of the attack¡­ Anton didn¡¯t notice anything. What he could feel of the opponents through the momentarily wonky illusion didn¡¯t indicate they thought they killed her. Across the battlefield, handily out of way of stray attacks interfering with the other portion of the skirmish, Swordmaster Rahayu weaved his blade in a brilliant tapestry, forcing back Vianne while chipping into the large man¡¯s armor, as well as worrying away at the metal of the handle of his mace. He would have liked to slice through it in a single blow, but it was not only incredibly durable¡­ but he was finding it hard to find an opening. One hand let go of his sword for a moment as he pointed a finger at one of the Essence Collection cultivators, slicing their head off. He had to keep all of his focus on the three Life Transformation cultivators, or he¡¯d end up with more than just the few wounds trickling blood he already had. His sword swept, knocking back three of the Essence Collection cultivators who managed to perform a block. The same move gained intensity at an area of empty space, which unfortunately the short lightning user recognized as the real attack. He managed to dodge under it with only a gash along his scalp to show for it when he was supposed to be chopped in half. What a pain. He couldn¡¯t even get a single good hit in. His elbow split apart the head of another Essence Collection cultivator behind him, slicing it clean in two. There it was, an opening. His sword stabbed into the elbow of the mace wielding man, slicing tendons. The man stepped back for a moment, and then with a swirl of energy adjusted his grip and went right back to attacking. Regeneration? No, it was much more active than that. Actual healing? What a pain. There had to be a limit to it, but that meant Rahayu couldn¡¯t count on building up crippling wounds on people. He had to take them out all at once. Which was really his preferred method of attack anyway. It was just that Swordmaster Vianne¡¯s attacks kept him constantly moving to places he didn¡¯t want to be. That was the problem of fighting someone at the peak of cultivation like himself. The problem, and the joy. If only there weren¡¯t other people interrupting it. Then it came. The perfect opening. He sliced a long gouge across Vianne¡¯s chest, and all he lost for it was an ear. Blood dripped down the side of his head, but a significant wound like that¡­ was suddenly getting healed by the man with the mace. He was just putting everything back together like nothing had happened. That might be a bit of a problem. ¡°That should be enough,¡± Vianne said, though not to him. ¡°Go deal with that other group. That punk should have taken them out long ago but he¡¯s having trouble with the girl.¡± The words seemed to have been directed at the lightning user, who began to circle around the battle. Rahayu¡¯s eye twitched. That wouldn¡¯t do at all. Did they really think two Life Transformation cultivators were enough for him, or did they just want to kill Chikere? Either way, they were going to regret that. Rahayu¡¯s blade flashed. By pure coincidence it sliced through the remaining Essence Collection cultivators around him, but its real target was the man trying to slink off. A bolt of lightning countered, climbing up his blade and into his body- but it didn¡¯t stop his attack. The man was sliced in two at the waist, as if he weren¡¯t already the shortest of the bunch. One of Rahayu¡¯s arms dropped to his side. A hit to his shoulder had shattered it, but that hardly mattered. He was still going to win. In fact, he wasn¡¯t just going to win. Chikere and her group were also going to win, or at least survive. Meanwhile, Rahayu had his heights beyond that simple level. He was going to ascend. He wasn¡¯t sure how, but as he hurriedly parried a flurry of blows from Vianne that left him with bleeding cuts along his arms and torso he knew he would figure it out. A little bit of combat was always good when you needed a bit of inspiration. Chapter 290 ¡°I can¡¯t believe he went off to fight people without us!¡± Alva yelled at no one in particular. ¡°He specifically sent us letters telling us about it,¡± Annelie pointed out. ¡°And it seems that this Swordmaster Rahayu is not the type who is patient. Besides, we might still have time to help him.¡± ¡°I know, but¡­ ugh!¡± Alva waved her arms into the air. ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re so upset,¡± Anish said. ¡°Didn¡¯t you want an excuse to get away from here and get into some action? I thought you were tired of teaching people.¡± ¡°But we¡¯re almost done!¡± she protested. ¡°We can¡¯t just spend all this time and then just abandon it.¡± ¡°So what is it?¡± Annelie asked. ¡°What if he gets hurt? Or dies¡­?¡± ¡°That is the eventual fate of all cultivators,¡± Anish said. ¡°But your grandfather is strong.¡± ¡°But there¡¯s only four of them! And that Swordmaster or whatever. Without Timothy and Catarina everyone¡¯s at risk¡­¡± Annelie hugged Alva awkwardly, a motion she had not practiced much in her last fifteen years of life. ¡°It will be alright. What¡¯s the real problem?¡± ¡°... he brought me with him on this expedition, but he still didn¡¯t bring me into danger. Like I¡¯m still a little kid instead of almost thirty years old.¡± There was a long period of silence, then Anish finally came up with something helpful to say. ¡°He went to Erygan simply for an investigation. There was just as much chance of us running into trouble here. Maybe even more. I would think of it as more of a sign that he trusted you to be fine. And you should trust the same thing of him. He¡¯s tough.¡± ----- It was unclear whether Anton and the others had overestimated themselves or underestimated the forces the enemy would send after them. After sensing the four Life Transformation cultivators, fleeing might have been their best option. Then again, most of them couldn¡¯t escape from them on their own, and Swordmaster Rahayu wasn¡¯t interested in escaping, nor the type to assist them with such. One Life Transformation cultivator was dead. So were more than half of the Essence Collection cultivators. Yet the Life Transformation cultivator pressing in on the rest of them barely had a scratch, and though Swordmaster Rahayu was only facing two opponents, they were now uninjured, any wounds they suffered recovered by the mace wielding expert. It didn¡¯t appear that he was overly fatigued yet, either. ¡°Focus on the weaklings!¡± Chikere called out. ¡°I¡¯ve got this guy.¡± The Essence Collection cultivators were approximately equivalent in power to each of the rest of them, but by comparison they were the weaklings. If Anton, Hoyt, and Velvet focused solely on them it would simply be two or three two one, which was¡­ not great odds. But things were nominally worse for Chikere, who was fighting the Life Transformation cultivator. There was just one fatal mistake he¡¯d made. Even Anton could tell after watching their brief exchanges. He used a sword, but he wasn¡¯t devoted to it. Perhaps he simply had another focus, or maybe he couldn¡¯t achieve that state¡­ but if nothing else, Anton believed without solid evidence that Chikere would be the one to come out ahead. And if not, she simply had to survive for long enough for them to take out the others. Hoyt was a whirling tornado of fire, covering his area of the battlefield in a painted sea of sparkling flame. And though the method was entirely different, the force behind it reminded Anton of Vandale. The selective nature was also a matching factor, which was good for Anton because it meant he could run through the flames without killing himself. He was doing quite a bit of that as people tried to chase him down, as well as dodging the gray orbs. Their body-melting ability was problematic, but injuries were something that could be dealt with. There was something deeper behind these, and Anton didn¡¯t like whatever it signified. It felt like¡­ a connection to death. Not the sort of agreement Anton had, forged through the power of Fleeting Youth. The peaceful thought that he would die some day, and had accepted that. It was instead violent death, and perhaps the sort that caused more than bodily harm. Concrete information about the nature of the soul was rare, but if anything could harm it Anton supposed those orbs might. Avoiding them was becoming a problem, and shooting them normally didn¡¯t disperse them. But when they decided he wasn¡¯t a worthwhile target and began aiming at Chikere, who was trying to have a solo duel¡­ he had to try something. It felt close enough. He gathered just a little bit of the energy from beyond death, leading into reincarnation. It wasn¡¯t just the potential energy he could have in future lives, but a different substance. His first shot was not enough to completely disperse the orb he aimed at, and Chikere had to throw herself into an awkward dive to avoid it, nearly getting an arm chopped off for her efforts. Making use of all his techniques to shoot quickly, based on Thousand Arrows, Anton continued his barrage with great intensity, breaking the attacks apart. He was fairly certain each of his own attacks consumed less energy than the enemy, but he had to deal with two opponents who seemed skilled in that area. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. And then it was one, because Velvet was still participating in the battle. If Hoyt could hold on for a while longer, they might actually find themselves getting through the battle. A sudden shift in the battlefield came as Foulmarsh decided that it wanted to be cold. Previously irrelevant small pools of water rapidly became ice trying to entrap the feet of everyone standing in it. Hoyt was at an advantage as he had already been boiling away the water beneath him, and he swung his axe in a vertical cleave, his target disappearing into the ground and leaving behind a large crater. Rahayu faced off against two opponents, twisting his sword as he sliced towards his most heavily armored opponent. At least, he had been heavily armored, but was now peppered with damaged armor. He could heal his wounds, but the holes in his armor remained. Rahayu¡¯s sword sliced into the man¡¯s arm, severing muscle and bone¡­ but not quite finishing the job. In return, Vianne sliced into his hamstring, forcing him to jump away with one leg, unable to take a proper stance. He grimaced as his opponent healed even that grievous wound in but a few moments, his arm looking nearly as good as new. ¡°Not good enough,¡± Rahayu muttered to himself. ¡°Clearly not,¡± Vianne said, taunting him. Even with his injuries, she remained at a cautious distance. ¡°You can hold your own against those weaker than yourself, but you can barely scratch me.¡± Rahayu didn¡¯t point out that he¡¯d sliced through a number of her ribs earlier. In fact, he didn¡¯t seem to be listening to her words at all. ¡°With an injured leg¡­ will it be enough?¡± He tilted his head, then nodded. He shifted from a two-handed grip on his sword to a single hand, then shook his head. He swapped to his left hand, and a sudden shower of blood came from his right, where it hung limply. ¡°Maybe this¡­ will be enough.¡± Vianne¡¯s eyes flicked over to her companion, and she nodded slightly. He charged forward ahead of her, weapon held defensively. Meanwhile, she moved around behind Rahayu, flanking him. Shadows wrapped around her blade as she heightened her killing intent. They struck at the same time. Then the world split apart. ¡°Oh,¡± said Rahayu. ¡°That¡¯s it. I see now.¡± He turned to face her, his sword still held up in the position it had finished his upward slash towards her companion. Vianne had swept her sword across Rahayu¡¯s back in a move intended to sever his head from his torso. Vianne wondered what it was he had seen. Unfortunately she could not ask, as the moment he began to step towards her the world split in two. At that same moment, a sword cut into Chikere¡¯s neck. It was deep, more than two centimeters. A fatal blow. She turned her eyes towards her opponent and glared. The words didn¡¯t come out right, but Anton had the feeling she was asking what was wrong with him. That seemed strange, as she was the one who had looked away from the fight. The only thing keeping her head on her neck were over a dozen swords blocking at the same time, locking the sword in place. Without even bothering to pull away, Chikere twisted her sword, breaking the oversized hunk of metal the man wielded into a hundred shards. No¡­ slicing it. Anton was having trouble processing everything at once, but his eyes settled on Rahayu in the last moment anyone would ever see him. There was a cut in the air just the height of a person. Two of them, in fact, on either side of the man. They happened to be the locations of his two opponents, except only half of them remained on either side where the slices bulged out in the middle. And Rahayu stepped through one to disappear, a surge of power washing over the battlefield. Chikere¡¯s opponent didn¡¯t react quickly enough to having his weapon suddenly dissected, but that was because it was simply something she couldn¡¯t do. Couldn¡¯t have done before that moment, at least. But she had watched the sword slash that triggered the ascension of Swordmaster Rahayu, and her insights suddenly added up. Others reacted at different speeds, but the fastest was one of those who flung the deathly orbs. They were sprinting away from the battle before Anton could get a lock on them, and though they would be within range for some time¡­ Hoyt still needed his help- fending off a half dozen opponents at once for sustained periods was at the limit of what he could handle. Even as the remaining handful of Essence Collection cultivators realized that their strongest members had all perished they were raining attacks on Hoyt, covering him in blood. Chikere killed her opponent, but collapsed unconscious where she stood. Anton continued to pour himself into the battle, finishing off those who stayed to fight first and then shooting after the fleeing enemies. Unfortunately, with a combination of his fatigue and the fact that they could focus on him, several opponents got away with their lives. He would have liked to chase after them, but he chose to prioritize helping keep Chikere¡¯s head on. Blood was pouring out of her neck and she was breathing poorly. ¡°Do we stitch that?¡± Velvet said in a panic. ¡°I can use a needle, I think. We have the equipment.¡± ¡°Do it,¡± Anton said as he used his energy to hold Chikere¡¯s blood in, as well as trying to push it back in somehow. He was lucky her energy wasn¡¯t unconsciously fighting him, though perhaps that was simply because she was completely drained, or even overdrafted beyond her limits. Hoyt staggered over, covered in wounds- but he still contributed his energy to help remove blood pooling in her lungs. When everything was sealed to the best of their abilities and a whole mess of healing medicines was shoved into her or spread on her neck, she staggered forward. Anton caught her, but found himself being pushed back. He looked over his shoulder and shook his head. Rahayu was gone, and he wouldn¡¯t be coming back. Hopefully¡­ ascension would be good for him, whatever it entailed. Rather than fight against a dying, unconscious woman Anton let Chikere walk and simply followed after her to make sure she wasn¡¯t going to wander into the marsh. When she flopped forward he moved to catch her, but as she landed and a smile widened on her face, he made a realization. For all that she seemed to have great respect for her short-term master, there was something she always cared about more. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if it was a good idea for her to hug the bare blade of Swordmaster Vianne, but wasn¡¯t going to try to wrestle it away from her either. Chapter 291 The conclusion of the battle left everyone in various states of living, but they weren¡¯t exactly safe. Even if the Twin Soul Sect didn¡¯t come back, Foulmarsh had its own dangers. It had not been a significant threat to them when they were all in good health- and while they had Swordmaster Rahayu present- but Chikere was completely catatonic and Rahayu was gone. Ascended. Looking at the bodies littered around them, it had to be said they had been lucky. Even if their own abilities were significant, Rahayu¡¯s extreme confidence had proven to be correct- but it could just as easily resulted in him being cut down along with the rest of them. At least, it felt like that. Velvet was the one least injured of all of them, as she had been concealed except for the moment she was striking. Stray blows that had managed to impact her and a few well-timed counterattacks had left her energy drained but her body relatively intact. After helping stitch Chikere¡¯s neck back together she moved on to looting the bodies of the dead. All of the undamaged weapons and armor had significant value, though the way some of them were tied to the Twin Soul Sect was a bit unfortunate. Even the severed pieces of the oversized sword would be usable as materials for another weapon. Anton got half of a bow, as the string he¡¯d severed wasn¡¯t repairable. Whether he would get a replacement string or sell the bowshaft to find a whole piece was not yet decided. Either way, they had quite a few things to go through. The most valuable prize was clutched against Chikere¡¯s chest, the bare sword of Swordmaster Vianne having been covered by Velvet carefully sliding the sheath onto it as much as she could. None of them were quite certain if she could even move, and whether or not she was a danger to them with a subconscious attack to protect her swords¡­ her body likely couldn¡¯t handle it. Hoyt was patching himself together, using large quantities of pilfered medicines. Only legendarily rare medicines were useful in the midst of combat, but his wounds were at least held closed and blood replenishing pills swallowed to begin their work. He had been the vanguard against the majority of the Essence Collection cultivators, and had taken the brunt of the damage. If Timothy had been around things likely would have been different, but Hoyt didn¡¯t specialize in defense, even if he was quite tough. ¡°Can¡¯t believe we survived that,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°And I thought¡­ well, I expected an ascension to have more flare to it. There was a huge ceremony with sacrifices in Black Soul Valley, and they almost didn¡¯t succeed until they killed the peak Life Transformation leader of the Flying Blood Cult. I heard it was quite something.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not that different from what happened here,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°The deaths here weren¡¯t intentional sacrifices, but the death of Swordmaster Vianne coincided with Rahayu¡¯s ascension. It¡­ might be a coincidence. But it might not.¡± ¡°Nothing I learned from Everheart indicated that the death of another cultivator was required to ascend,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean it wouldn¡¯t make things easier. A great release of power¡­¡± Though he hadn¡¯t been looking directly at the sword strike to remember it, he had felt the wave of ascension energy. It was only there for a moment, before quickly fading from the world. It seemed that it was unable to be sustained for long without a source. But as the only time he¡¯d experienced such energy except through usage of Fleeting Youth, Anton thought his understanding improved. He¡¯d have to wait to see, however. First they had to get out of Foulmarsh. The role of carrying Chikere fell to Hoyt, since Anton would be needed to fend off foes from a distance and Velvet couldn¡¯t conceal herself while carrying someone else, which would weaken her ability to get the first- and often only- strike in combat. They packed up their camp and began to move, as they still had some hours of daylight to make use of. The current frozen state of Foulmarsh made it somewhat more convenient to move, since they at least had solid surfaces to walk on- even if it was slippery, smelly, and far too cold. A few denizens of the area set their sights on the traveling cultivators, but they were easily fended off by Anton, who was able to either deter them with his early shots or simply kill them from a distance. There might have been a few who died unnecessarily, as he didn¡¯t want to get close enough to everything to determine if it was truly going to attack¡­ but Foulmarsh was a dangerous place where things were constantly dying, so he didn¡¯t expect to change the overall ecosystem alone. Shortly before night fell it switched over to unpleasantly hot once more, the ice rapidly melting and almost beginning to steam. The cultivators were all exhausted, even if they managed to recover some of their expended natural energy during the march. They bedded down in shifts, leaving one of the three conscious members on watch. In the morning, Anton and Hoyt found themselves feeling ill. It had been over a decade since Anton fell sick from anything that wasn¡¯t injected venom, but he felt the beginnings of a fever. Hoyt was somewhat better than he was, but Chikere was both sweating and shaking violently as if she had the chills. Even Body Tempering cultivators were largely immune to mundane sicknesses, but the stresses on their bodies- combined with what Anton imagined was an abnormal combination of potential diseases in Foulmarsh- resulted in them falling ill. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The vast majority of their medicines- and those they had taken from the Twin Soul Sect- were intended for treating injuries and recovering from them. They had a few designed to counter poisons, but even those only worked against the most common types. Nobody had the knowledge to treat what they were coming down with, except the basics. Rest and nutrition were paramount. The first was¡­ extremely difficult to get in Foulmarsh. Even if they could sleep uninterrupted, swelteringly hot weather or temperatures far below freezing didn¡¯t provide for proper rest. Especially for Chikere who seemed to have not recovered her reserves of energy at all, and likely couldn¡¯t have made much use of them while unconscious regardless. ¡°We¡¯ll need to move faster, I think,¡± Anton said. ¡°If these fevers worsen, we will gradually become less able to act. We can make it out of the area in just a few days if we have to. And if we recover quickly¡­ at least we won¡¯t be smelling this place for longer than necessary.¡± Neither of the other two disagreed with him, though Hoyt would have it the hardest as he was carrying Chikere. Though a single person- and a dozen or so swords- wasn¡¯t actually that much additional weight. If those swords could have been placed in a storage bag it would have made Hoyt¡¯s job easier because of how they banged against him as he walked, but the weight itself wasn¡¯t that bad. In normal circumstances. Anton could tell he wasn¡¯t going to complain about it, but it added onto the effort of moving quickly. Anton himself felt dizzy, but that didn¡¯t stop him from doing his best to focus on the area ahead of them, specifically scanning for turtles. Just one would do, but if he was going to get one it would be the biggest he could find. The sunlight made his head hurt as he focused on the horizon, but he eventually spotted it. Truthfully he didn¡¯t need anything that big, but the creature also wasn¡¯t one of the monstrosities that would cause them trouble in their current state. Anton had been doing his best to steer them clear around them, with occasional input from Velvet who was constantly scouting ahead of the group and returning. Anton almost could have sworn his target looked him dead in the eye as he took aim, but it was also possible it was his imagination. Either way, a few hours later he was cooking up a large pot of turtle soup. While preparing the dish he thought there was something familiar about the creature¡¯s shell, but couldn¡¯t quite place what. ¡°It seems the creatures here aren¡¯t afraid of fire,¡± Anton commented. ¡°I noticed as well,¡± Velvet said. ¡°They¡¯re moving in.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit late to stop now,¡± Anton shrugged, which stretched some of his wounds unpleasantly. ¡°They already have the scent of it. We¡¯ll have to fend them off.¡± The things to which they were referring were approaching bands of snakes and alligators, along with a number of mammals apparently attracted to the smell of turtle soup. Racoons weren¡¯t predatory animals, normally, but at their size and with cultivations that matched Spirit Building they could be whatever they wanted. The long skinny minks were known to be more aggressive but generally kept their hunting to smaller prey. But when a few of them could rise up on their hind legs to be as tall as a human, perhaps everything seemed small to them. Anton started with a few warning shots, but barely deterred any of the approaching beasts. Even when he began to get serious, he couldn¡¯t always kill his target in a single shot, given he was trying to conserve himself for tens or hundreds of enemies. And his aim was a little off. Hoyt stepped up, and while he could only cover a portion of the directions approaching the camp, he widened his area of influence by creating walls of fire that funneled anything that wanted to approach towards him- or a long way around. An alligator tried to sneak under the wall of fire by dipping into the water, but it quickly found its durable hide didn¡¯t withstand boiling water nearly as well as it did the normal nearly boiling alternative. Anton¡¯s target soon became approaching avians, as there were birds large enough to potentially lift the massive pot of food he had cooking. He wouldn¡¯t mind sharing whatever was leftover, but the local beasts were clearly hungry. Though some of them were more cautious, staying back from the fight as it gathered momentum. Anton saw some of them pick off injured animals, and was glad that at least they weren¡¯t the only targets. Just the newest and least familiar. He did have to admit they weren¡¯t as intimidating as normal in their still-exhausted states. The infighting among the various creatures only added to the chaos, but at least Velvet seemed quite comfortable moving among them, picking off some weakened beasts while also wounding others. Nearly even battles with a stronger but injured combatant tied them up longer, and when something died others inevitably began to fight over it or begin to drag it away. The battles continued at various levels of intensity over the course of several hours, and Anton was wondering if it was worth the effort. But when the soup was finished and he tasted it, he decided it was worth it. While most of the ingredients were improvised by scavenging various root vegetables and random dried things in their rations, it was made excellent by the main ingredient. He carefully ate some himself before feeding it to Chikere, giving her only very small chunks of meat and carefully coaxing it down her throat so she didn¡¯t actually try to swallow and tear at her stitched neck. Then he took over a majority of the fighting and deterring so Hoyt and Velvet could eat. By the time they were done, all of the beasts were either dead or busy consuming others. It was unlikely such wild behavior was common, but the presence of humans might have thrown things off. Foulmarsh was still teeming with life regardless, including a number of flying insects that seemed to want nothing more than to eat or drink the humans alive. Perhaps their current sickness had come from one of them, but much effort was spent on them regardless. As he digested the meal, Anton wondered if the expenditure of energy actually outweighed their gains, but he decided it had. Even if his vision was still blurring and his wounds aching, Chikere at least was looking a bit better. But the rest of the trip it might be best to make do with rations. Chapter 292 The next morning when Anton woke up, he thought for a second everything had all been a dream, and he was back home in Dungannon. His bones ached from the cold, despite the shelter attempting to stave it off. But he was not in his bed or his home, and fifteen years was an awfully long and detailed dream. The final piece was his wounds aching, not just from the fact that he hadn¡¯t properly rested them but a pulsing beat of infection, echoing with the ache in his head. Being sick was awful. He really needed to take a day working on driving out the infection and repairing his body, but they were also not somewhere safe. Even so, he began the process, finding it rather hard to make use of his energy and the infection quite stubborn. He started with cleaning out his blood and the smallest cuts as much as he could. ¡°How?!¡± a voice suddenly shouted from the next tent over, breaking his concentration. Chikere had suddenly sat bolt upright, her new sword still clutched in her arms. Anton stood with the intent to explain where they¡¯d traveled, but soon realized her question was about something very different. She didn¡¯t seem to be paying attention to her surroundings at all, simply drawing the sword and swinging it. Her movements came at all angles, across her body, diagonally, vertically down and then back up. She repeated the motions with a sort of mad frenzy. Her body wasn¡¯t exactly in a great condition to do what she was doing, but Anton didn¡¯t know a way to stop her. The others were all awake now, Velvet having been on watch. The three exchanged glances clearly concerning Chikere¡¯s state, but it only lasted for ten minutes before one final slash where she stopped. ¡°Phew. I¡¯ve got it.¡± She looked around. ¡°Oh, hi. Where are we?¡± ¡°Still in Foulmarsh,¡± Anton said. ¡°Trying to make our way out.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± she nodded. ¡°My neck hurts.¡± ¡°You really shouldn¡¯t talk,¡± Hoyt pointed out. Chikere shrugged, but it seemed that hurt as well. Not that it was surprising, given her close-to-half-decapitated state. With everyone awake, rations were distributed- with the softest ones given to Chikere since swallowing would be difficult. Her throat was quite swollen, some of the stitches strained. But she didn¡¯t complain beyond her initial remark that it hurt. Then they were moving again. Chikere was able to walk on her own, and while that might have been ill advised in her state in other circumstances, not carrying her freed up Hoyt. Given the red and swollen state of his wounds, he seemed to be doing fairly well. That was good, because Anton was feeling a bit off. His eyes blurred when looking at anything far away, and while he would have normally been able to supplement that with his natural energy, he was finding it difficult to rally it for any clear purpose. But he kept walking, step by step. He kept his eyes focused just on what was ahead of him, even as his vision narrowed. ----- When Anton collapsed, nobody was close enough to catch him. Toppling over wouldn¡¯t be a problem for a cultivator in most circumstances, but Anton was already in a delicate position. Hoyt happened to react first, rushing over to him and reaching out to help him up. ¡°Gah!¡± he almost lost his grip as he grabbed onto Anton¡¯s arm. ¡°His body¡¯s hot. Like, sticking a hand into a furnace hot.¡± ¡°What do we do?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Should we¡­ cut out the infection?¡± Despite her normal eagerness for anything involving cutting, she didn¡¯t even reach for one of her blades. ¡°Too late for that, I think,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°It seems to have spread everywhere.¡± Hoyt looked in his bag but shook his head. ¡°I never thought to bring anything to help with fevers. Just wound healing and poison expulsion. The latter might help but¡­¡± ¡°It could also make him work,¡± Velvet commented as she came back from her scouting position. ¡°It¡¯s better not to use any of those.¡± Hoyt lifted him up onto his back, wrapping Anton¡¯s arms around himself to keep him steady. ¡°We need to keep moving. Or rather, get back to Erygan as quickly as we can. Unless there¡¯s somewhere closer?¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°Not of any size. And I doubt a normal town or village will have anything that will affect something like this. You¡¯re right, we need to get moving. And fast.¡± ¡°I can cut down anything in our way,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Just point us in the right direction.¡± ¡°I can fight too,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°If it¡¯s convenient, sure. But you need to focus on the route.¡± Chikere grimaced as she continued to speak. ¡°I can kill things the fastest. How fast can you run with him?¡± Chikere asked Hoyt. ¡°Basically full speed but¡­ I¡¯m not sure if it will make him worse.¡± ¡°A few bumps shouldn¡¯t make a difference. Let¡¯s go.¡± Then they were off. Hoyt wished he had some role other than running¡­ but he was pretty good at that. While the physical capabilities of cultivators at their level were generally similar unless using a particular cultivation technique focused on Body Tempering, Hoyt did have the steady temperament to keep moving, and was less useful for other things. And while Anton¡¯s alarming temperature wouldn¡¯t kill either of the other two, he was also better suited to resist it while focusing on speed instead of defense. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. With the increased pace, even with Velvet¡¯s guidance for what route to take, they inevitably stepped into the territory of numerous grumpy beasts. But one thing remained consistent about every encounter- Chikere defeated everything in a single blow. The feat was slightly less impressive considering she¡¯d recently obtained an exceptionally high grade sword, but equipment such as that generally only allowed a greater maximum offensive power. Beyond a certain point a blade reached peak sharpness and mainly focused on durability and keeping the cutting edge. The impressive part was her only using as much energy as needed to cut down the beasts, as they were running into a sort of continuous stream of them and everyone was to various degrees weaker than normal. Foulmarsh had giant leeches the size of a hand, hardly a problem for Essence Collection cultivators at the top of their game- but much more of a threat to unconscious ones. That meant Hoyt¡¯s job included keeping Anton safe more than just moving him. Patches of swampy water could have deceptive depth, and deep brush could hide many unpleasant creatures as they blended into the scenery. When the temperature became cold, patches of ice that were normally not a problem became a greater concern. Hoyt wouldn¡¯t hurt himself if he stumbled as ice cracked or even if he somehow slipped and fell, but even though Anton wasn¡¯t exactly delicate he really didn¡¯t want to test how much more he could handle in his current state. At least Anton probably wouldn¡¯t have problems with the cold with the temperature he was outputting. When night fell, they didn¡¯t stop to rest. While Hoyt felt his own health fluctuating, his body seemed to have better fought off the infection. Or he was fooling himself, but either way he wasn¡¯t going to just stop and take care of himself when Anton would have pushed himself for any of them. Perhaps he had, going until he collapsed with the intent not to inconvenience them. This was probably worse, but the intent made sense at least- and they could have ended up in the same situation regardless. Hoyt channeled fire around his legs, burning through brush and leeches who thought they might try to jump up on the running thing. They liked warm-blooded creatures, but they found this target a bit too warm. Hoyt¡¯s flames also burned around Anton to protect him when necessary, but the rest of the time he tried to pull heat away from the man to try to have his body at something like a reasonable temperature. ¡°We have to go around to the south!¡± Velvet declared. ¡°Something big in the way. The terrain¡¯s not too bad to the south.¡± Chikere nodded. She was absolutely willing to slice or stab through anything that got in front of them, but even she wouldn¡¯t pretend she was in optimal condition to fight. The throbbing in her neck reminded her of that with every step. But every time she swung her new sword, remembering Rahayu¡¯s last attack¡­ she found herself almost getting lost in another world. It was almost enjoyable, though she knew it would be much more when they were no longer in a state of crisis. Night turned to day again as they continued at the maximum speed they could maintain, and the land around them gradually became less wet¡­ and less foul. It would still be some time before they were completely out of the area and into Erygan, but they were close. ----- Upon arrival in the city, they were actually able to attract a number of doctors simply by shouting. A handful of desperate cultivators was a great way to make some money, after all. Of those that showed up quickly, they chose the one that seemed least likely to rip them off- and most capable, though that was difficult to judge without seeing anyone actually work. Nobody was particularly concerned if they were charged somewhat excessive rates for services given the state of emergency¡­ and the fact that they had come into quite a bit of wealth in the form of the equipment of three Life Transformation cultivators. Granted, the armor went from significantly damaged to cut vertically in two, but they also had some wealth of their own on them. Some cultivators carried everything they owned with them, since they could do so with the help of storage bags. Either way, they had enough. Doctor Kephalos was an Essence Collection cultivator, and old man with sagging skin but arms that still seemed quite sturdy. He started diagnosing them even as they moved towards his office. ¡°Foulmarsh. Fevers, infected wounds¡­¡± He scanned over all of them with his energy. ¡°No leeches. Did he get bit by the mosquitoes? Or the flies?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Hoyt explained as he tried to keep his breathing regular. ¡°We tried to keep them away.¡± Kephalos took out a small yellow ball of medicine, flicking it with his thumb right into Anton¡¯s mouth and down his throat. ¡°That should help with some of this,¡± he said. ¡°Would be better if he was conscious to circulate it properly.¡± He looked over the group once more, ¡°Two of you are from the same cultivation style. You could try to help with that.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a bit stubborn about accepting energy intrusion, even like this,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°I could probably do it,¡± Velvet said. ¡°If nothing else, I could sneak my energy in?¡± ¡°Up to you,¡± Kephalos said as he flung open the door to his office, revealing numerous vials of odd liquids and grinding mills full of various powders, along with dried herbs hanging down randomly from the ceiling. ¡°Just be prepared for the backlash if you mess it up.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t all of those poisonous?¡± Velvet gestured to the herbs hanging around the room. ¡°They¡¯re not not poisonous,¡± Kephalos shrugged. ¡°Medicine is all about knowing what to mix and how.¡± He began grinding something with one hand while mixing various powders together with the other, forming four little packets of different sizes. ¡°One for each of you.¡± He handed them out to everyone, with Anton¡¯s packet being the largest and poured directly down his throat. He plied the group with so many different things that they began to wonder if they were all necessary, or if he was secretly setting up some combination of things that would result in them dying in his office so he could have everything on them¡­ but when the temperature coming off of Anton reduced from a furnace to a nice crackling campfire they were somewhat reassured. The immediate effects of the medicines on the rest of them were mostly nausea and a wave of fatigue- but the latter was at least partly brought about by the fact that they had stopped. They came to realize there weren¡¯t any beds for patients- except the one Anton had been dropped into- or any sorts of chairs. Instead they gradually slumped against the wall in various places, brains swirling from various activities and ingestion of various ¡®medicines¡¯. Chapter 293 Waking up was always a good thing, no matter how much you ached at the moment. Upon finding that it was less than when he had passed out, Anton was quite glad. The pain had been on a level he could deal with, but the other effects had obviously made functioning difficult. He hadn¡¯t thought he would pass out though. The unfamiliar location was made more acceptable by familiar sources of energy around him, and he was quite pleased to see that his companions were alive and well. Better than himself, despite the fact that they had seemed considerably worse. Chikere, for example, felt quite vibrant despite being about one-third decapitated only a few days before. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, looking around with his eyes. Lots of things scattered about the room. His eyes settled on the only unfamiliar presence in the room about the time the figure spoke. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± the old man asked. ¡°Much better, thank you,¡± Anton inclined his head to what he could only assume was the doctor who helped him- and the rest of them, it seemed. He felt traces of medicinal energy throughout all of them. ¡°Good. You should be able to stand now. That means you can get up and let me have my bed back.¡± Despite the man¡¯s awful bedside manner, Anton had to agree that he was well enough to move about. And looking around, it didn¡¯t actually seem like they were in a proper doctor¡¯s office. Just a room that he happened to bring them to. The activity woke the others. Chikere was first to say anything, one hand still gripped on the hilt of her new sword. ¡°You were looking pretty bad for a while there,¡± she commented. ¡°Same with you, before that,¡± Anton said. ¡°We didn¡¯t know if you¡¯d make it.¡± Kephalos interrupted, ¡°I¡¯d suggest you learn more about stitching if you do. Gonna have an ugly scar there, and it¡¯ll be hell to take those stitches out. But that¡¯s not my problem, unless you want to make it that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, I can cut them away when I need to,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Then it¡¯s just a matter of pulling them out.¡± ¡°And the ones inside?¡± ¡°Just gotta cut them real thin,¡± she said. ¡°Might work out,¡± the man nodded. ¡°Either way, you¡¯ll feel if you¡¯re causing actual damage. Now get going, got paid already.¡± Since his continued expertise seemed unneeded, they were happy enough to move out, though they had no specific target in mind for the moment. Their goal in coming to the area had been accomplished. More than that, even. When they found a quiet place to talk- and made use of their energy to prevent people from easily overhearing- Anton asked about what happened while he was out. The summary wasn¡¯t that surprising, but they came back to the battle before it. ¡°Hard to think we survived that,¡± Anton commented. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t have, with the numbers against us. Even with Chikere, our chances against just that swordmaster weren¡¯t great.¡± ¡°He wasn¡¯t a swordmaster,¡± Chikere retorted. ¡°He just happened to be in Life Transformation. But if it was skill with swords, I outclassed him.¡± Anton trusted her to be accurate with that judgment. For all that her confidence could seem like arrogance, he had repeated knowledge of her effectiveness. ¡°Fair enough,¡± he shrugged. ¡°But the rest of us¡­ you two have the talent, but the numbers should have overwhelmed us.¡± ¡°Simple calculations of combat break down when it actually gets to it,¡± Hoyt pointed out. ¡°My grandfather took down more than a handful of Life Transformation cultivators with him, despite the fact that their total energy capacity should have been several times his. Cultivation speed is more than just a growth rate, but often equates to overall power. Even if it seems logical that someone at the same level who has been there longer might win by virtue of experience, that¡¯s not always true. And as a cultivator of similar time yourself, you should recognize that.¡± ¡°Or maybe I¡¯ve just been lucky,¡± Anton shrugged. The further he got in cultivation, the stranger it felt to consider himself special. ¡°But I can¡¯t deny we had something better to fight for. That¡¯s useful for bringing out the limits of our talents. Even if our goals were just to kill each other, they were after some sort of vague future rewards.¡± Anton frowned, ¡°It¡¯s a shame to think they might be getting some of those still. But it¡¯s not always people who deserve it who get good to happen to them.¡± ¡°I do agree they were not as unified as they should have been,¡± Velvet added. ¡°They seem to have drawn from various different sects in the area, so they had little experience working together. And the four of us were still making use of Catarina¡¯s formation training, to a lesser degree than when she is around.¡± ¡°Makes me wonder what we could manage once we¡¯re back together with those two,¡± Anton smiled slightly. ¡°But beyond that. Swordmaster Rahayu¡­ ascending like that was something amazing to see. I know I mentioned it before, but it¡¯s a rare opportunity to witness.¡± ¡°I mentioned it while Chikere was out¡­ but we still don¡¯t know if it requires the death of another peak Life Transformation cultivator,¡± Velvet said, looking over her shoulder as if anyone could be there listening in. ¡°With the two we know about¡­¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t,¡± Chikere said confidently. ¡°Though perhaps it made things easier? Either way, Rahayu simply had to reach the peak of swordsmanship here. The battle was a catalyst, but the death was more of a side effect than something necessary. I can¡¯t say anything with certainty for other types of cultivators though.¡± This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°So what next?¡± Anton asked. ¡°We did what we came here for. With Rahayu gone, the Twin Soul Sect might want some sort of revenge. We didn¡¯t manage to kill all of them, either.¡± In his mind, he replayed the image of the last pair of retreating foes. It was part regret, and part training. He knew he didn¡¯t have enough energy to easily take them out, but it should have been possible. A bit of something unexpected to slip past their defenses or take them off guard. The problem was they could focus entirely on him, as the only one able to attack them at such a long distance. The same was useful for dealing with people on the approach, as he had only been able to take out one that was surprised to be attacked as well as a few less substantial hits. ¡°Thinking about the next fight?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Well, I can say they¡¯ll probably be a bit upset about losing this sword. Even though they were the ones who came to attack us and lost it, people just tend to be that way.¡± She held it in front of her horizontally, staring at the bare blade. ¡°It¡¯s excellent, except the fact that it stinks like that smith lady and their cultivation style. But that will fade out as I use it.¡± ¡°If they¡¯re coming after us, you think we should retreat to somewhere safer?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Huh? Oh, yeah, we could do that,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°I honestly could use a break from fighting for a bit. Lots of stuff to digest.¡± Hoyt laughed slightly. ¡°Of course you weren¡¯t thinking about that. Rahayu¡¯s the same type as you, it seemed.¡± Hoyt paused, ¡°It might not just be the Twin Soul Sect that comes after us. Swordmaster Vianne was apparently known, and there could be people connected to her who would come after you. Just for holding that sword, even.¡± ¡°They can try,¡± she said. ¡°But they¡¯ll find their luck runs out. Especially if I¡¯m with you guys. So I¡¯m also happy to go wherever the rest of you go, since trouble will find us anyway.¡± ¡°It always seems to,¡± Anton acknowledged. That was the way of the world though. It just happened that trouble involved many more life-or-death fights now than when he¡¯d been a farmer. ¡°Oh. Kseniya¡¯s on her way. She¡¯ll be in the city in about an hour.¡± Velvet looked to the southwest, where she expected the woman to come from. ¡°You sure? I can¡¯t feel her at all.¡± ¡°Positive. She¡¯s locked on to our position.¡± ----- ¡°Next time you call for reinforcements, you should leave something for them to fight,¡± Grand Elder Kseniya chastised the group. She wasn¡¯t quite serious, but her following words took on that tone. ¡°Probably best not to run off towards danger ahead of them, either.¡± ¡°Rahayu didn¡¯t give us much choice,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°He made the declaration and the Twin Soul Sect happened to have people closer. You know how people are.¡± Anton could have said old Life Transformation cultivators, but people all had their own things. ¡°We thought it was better to not let him go alone. Or with just Chikere at his side.¡± ¡°Looks like any more and she wouldn¡¯t have made it,¡± Kseniya commented, looking at Chikere¡¯s neck. ¡°Where¡¯s Rahayu? Don¡¯t tell me he¡­¡± ¡°Ascended, actually,¡± Anton offered. ¡°Which was his intention. I could tell you everything I experienced. It might help you.¡± ¡°I wish,¡± she frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not sure¡­ my growth is sufficient to think about it. In terms of years, I¡¯m still closer to the first half of cultivation. It took Vandale almost a century to go from seventy stars to the end. I¡¯ll not be much better than that.¡± ¡°So long¡­?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Fifty years would be amazing,¡± Kseniya noted. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve felt the slowing already. Each star more difficult than the last. More potent too, but it won¡¯t be a quick road. None of us here will be ascending before this invasion, at least.¡± ¡°I¡¯d prefer to stay and fight anyway,¡± Anton said. ¡°If I even could ascend.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t always believe old people,¡± Kseniya said, well aware both she and Anton fit into that category in different ways. ¡°Everheart wasn¡¯t perfect. He could be wrong.¡± ¡°Not about this,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t matter right now, does it?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Kseniya acknowledged. ¡°I¡¯m sure any elder would be glad to hear every detail of the ascension.¡± ¡°It was amazing,¡± Chikere said. ¡°It was like¡­ Bwooo! Swish!¡± she made the noises with her mouth, but the way she flicked her currently sheathed sword was a pretty fair reproduction. Like a painting of a great mountain, but at least accurate. And she could likely do better when serious. ¡°Well then, we should go meet up with your granddaughters,¡± Kseniya nodded. ¡°When I sensed you here I went ahead, but I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll have a few words for you. They were worried.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure they didn¡¯t need to worry about me. I¡¯m fine,¡± Anton said. Kseniya would doubtless see through that, but he didn¡¯t need the girls to know how close he¡¯d come to dying. And how it wasn¡¯t even in battle, but just because he pushed himself low enough to be vulnerable to the effects of Foulmarsh. He could hope that the fleeing members of the Twin Soul Sect had fallen prey to similar infections, but at least one of those that had thrown the unpleasant gray orbs had been on the younger side, and likely more resistant. At least, that was what he thought allowed Hoyt and Chikere to pull through before himself. He wouldn¡¯t be able to hide injuries and fatigue, but Alva and Annelie wouldn¡¯t believe he got out of the battle unscathed anyway. ----- Along with his granddaughters, Anton was glad to see that a number of others had come along to assist. He felt bad to have wasted the time of Grand Elder Kseniya, and even worse when he realized that Adelina and Sarka had come along as well. They got along about the same as before, which was just fine from opposite ends of the group and the minimum amount of interaction. But it seemed others from their sects got along just fine, as demonstrated by Anish and his proximity to Alva and Annelie. Not everyone come just for him and the others. Their work had been more or less completed around Blackstone Harbor, with the local sects having enough of their members learning what they would teach to propagate the various techniques. It seemed they intended to explore more of the continent, especially with regards to eliminating members of the Twin Soul Sect. Ultimately, the plan was to spend a few years in the area before attempting to return home. For some, it would be like a short trip, while for others it would equate to a much longer portion of their lives. But everyone who had come along was well aware that they weren¡¯t going to easily be able to go back and forth. The route was planned. To the east, fortunately going south around Foulmarsh. Though Anton had learned that information about the Twin Soul Sect and the coming invasion had spread more in the center and east of Aicenith, it was better to see for themselves. After all, they were willing to put in the effort if nobody else was, or if they reached their limits. Chapter 294 In a darkness brought about not by a great structure blocking out the sun but by a lack of anything and everything, a woman stood in a cage. How long she had been there she did not know. She arrived weakened, unable to break through- and the only natural energy in the area was channeled outside the cage, beyond her reach. Through focus and meditation she had been attempting to generate some of her own, but it was difficult. Something was off about the world around her, besides seeing nothing beyond her cage. She had no food, but didn¡¯t hunger. There was no air to breath, but she felt no need. But while it was strange, it wasn¡¯t entirely unforeseen. She remembered dying, after all. The question was why she was constrained. She had full assurance that after her death she would be rewarded. Even though her life had ended in failure, it should not have resulted in something like this. Nor did she feel anything familiar about the cage¡­ except something about the way the formations that formed it were arranged. Perhaps she could puzzle it out. When that time came, she would cut through the formation. While she had ultimately been defeated by Rahayu, Vianne was still a swordmaster herself. Any who held that title would ultimately use similar methods to solve their problems. If she had a bit more energy, she might make the attempt even without full understanding. Waiting too long would be dangerous. Even as she had those thoughts, a wraithlike figure showed itself in the void. It was a figure formed of skin and bone with little else, gaunt and bedraggled. Scraggly hair hung down over its face, joining with its bears to hang down below its feet into the nothingness. Vianne gripped her sword tightly. ¡°Come to torment me, have you? I¡¯ll have you know it will do you no good.¡± The thing¡¯s presence had disturbed the natural energy. She could feel some of it. Not nearly enough to fill her up, but she absorbed what she could regardless. The ghastly figure cackled. ¡°Torment you? You think I have so much free time?¡± The figure¡¯s sunken eyes shone from beneath the tangled hair. ¡°I¡¯m far too busy for that lately. Got some very zealous people. Dismantling you and your companions had to be pushed down the line.¡± ¡°Come to kill me? That threat won¡¯t work. I am aware I have already died.¡± ¡°Not enough. Damned traitor.¡± The figure stood in front of the cage without moving through the intervening space. ¡°I don¡¯t care about individuals, or groups, or anything except myself really- but the whole world starts to be a scale where I care. Plus the thought that I could have had more stuff if the punks you worked with hadn¡¯t plundered it first really got to me.¡± His hand moved to a lock that suddenly appeared on her cage. ¡°So no, I¡¯m not going to kill you. You¡¯ll just stop existing.¡± Vianne held still where she sat, but it was a ready stance with her hand on her sword. When the cage opened and the figure stepped in, she struck. Her arms moved, her blade swift and weightless. A simple cross-body slash that would incapacitate the man, as he was nearly drained of energy as much as she was. There were only two problems. First was that the space between them bent and distorted, and the second was that she didn¡¯t have her sword. But she knew she had it. Even if this place wasn¡¯t real, it was bound to her in more than just body. ¡°How¡­?¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you know?¡± the figure tilted its head, the hair tumbling in an unseemly manner over its gaunt frame. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a swordmaster or something? What indeed could cause that?¡± A disturbingly pale tongue danced out of a barely seen mouth for a moment, perhaps licking hidden lips. ¡°But since I¡¯m in the business of trying to know everything, I¡¯ll hazard a guess myself. Someone liked that sword more than you.¡± ¡°What? You¡¯re insane. A bound weapon is not just about liking something. There¡¯s a deep level of attachment a swordmaster has with her sword. An unbreakable bond forged in blood.¡± The figure looked at her empty hands, still acting as if they held a weapon. ¡°That ¡®bond¡¯ looks pretty broken to me. Maybe someone just likes sharp swords a whole lot.¡± ¡°Preposterous,¡± Vianne said. ¡°Besides, my will is strong. No matter the reason, I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll get a new sword soon.¡± With that, she moved. As quickly as she could, but also in a way that would be hard to track. Her remaining stores of energy weren¡¯t enough to do things right, but centuries of experience allowed for astounding feats. But as she began to move into the void, hoping to break free, a hand closed around the back of her neck. ¡°Didn¡¯t matter anyway,¡± the ghastly figure said, its mouth near her ear. ¡°But I do like your effort. Sadly for you, without that sword it¡¯s much easier to do this.¡± A chilling energy seeped into her, draining what little she had left of herself out piece by piece. Only then did she remember where she¡¯d seen the formations before. They were the basis of much modern understanding of the technique, as much as that irked nearly everyone. She¡¯d never encountered the man herself, but¡­ Everheart was supposed to be dead, wasn¡¯t he? As she turned to nothing, she couldn¡¯t help but think of that bedraggled body he had. While she doubted either of them had a physical form in this place, it was clear that even if he wasn¡¯t dead, whatever this was was barely alive. A state that was quite envious to her as her soul came apart from the inside out. ----- Over the course of the last fifteen years, many manuals for cultivation techniques had come into Anton¡¯s hands. Some were incomplete, like the portions of the Ninety-Nine Stars meant to be taught to the general populace. Others were to the full extent they could be, and would be considered complete even if nobody had reached ascension along the path they paved. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Studying them was useful to Anton, not because he was planning to rebuild his foundation with another technique but because not everyone was suited for the same style. He could also pick up the weaknesses of various techniques that way, but that wasn¡¯t his main purpose at the moment. As the group traveled, Anton continued his favored activity of teaching those who knew nothing about cultivation. In the interest of not causing too many waves, he was preferring to choose local styles. Those wouldn¡¯t stand out as much, but there were issues with teaching them to people. Some groups were quite secretive about their cultivation techniques, and if any of those sects noticed someone with their technique they might seek to harm them. Thus, the best options became techniques that felt local, and the generic blend of different things that Anton was putting together. The current version of the technique had certain weaknesses that would be of hindrance in battle, but if it was merely random civilians learning cultivation to improve their body and enhance their ability to work their jobs, it would do just fine. Anton wished that he had more time with everyone, but he did what he could in the short time they were in certain cities. Larger cities they remained in for a few days, and Anton consoled himself that they would be returning through the area at some point. He simply couldn¡¯t do everything, and this wasn¡¯t his homeland by a large stretch, but he couldn¡¯t help but try to improve the lives of the common people. That did involve hunting down some local bandits or other problems, where local cultivation sects were too busy to take care of everything themselves. ----- Anton faced down a man who appeared neither young nor old. His skin had a reddish hue to it, not one of the natural browns that humans could achieve but something more akin to fresh blood. The man stood in the mantis stance, his arms held in front of himself. But it wasn¡¯t just his arms that formed the true stance, as there was also a superimposed form of a praying mantis, claws extended. The image itself was also red, as expected of someone from the Crimson Insect Society. Less than half a kilometer stood between the two of them- a considerable distance, but not nearly so appealing when the man was on the border of Life Transformation. This was not an opponent Anton could beat while holding back in any way, and that included making the most of his limited ascension energy. He could manage two or three shots before the man got to him, if he was lucky. He began to gather his energy, channeling it through his hands into his bow. The rigid wood became flexible as energy flowed through it, the string pulling back at an almost leisurely pace. Just looking at the arrow Anton fired, it seemed unassuming. Like all Spirit Arrows, it was less than a meter long and less than a centimeter at its widest point, discounting the ¡®fletching¡¯ it had. There was a resounding booming noise as the arrow flew, signaling its speed as it reached his opponent within a single second. The man was already charging towards him at that point, and his arms crossed his chest to either side, striking the arrow. The force behind the blows was nothing impressive, but they carried with them a disrupting energy that destabilized the ascension energy that made up the bulk of the attack. The man was staggered for a moment, but pushed forward. By the time Anton¡¯s second shot was fired, the man was a mere three hundred meters away. The difference in timing was insignificant, as the man almost leisurely sliced with a single mantis claw, disrupting his attack once more. The surrounding foliage received the worst of the unraveling energy, leaves and limbs tearing apart. As the final gap was being closed, Anton pushed himself to the limits, drawing upon every bit of energy he could get his hands on. His proficiency with his own natural energy and the other types he had under his command was constantly growing, though there were limits to how much he could condense it into a single attack. But splitting it into multiple attacks simply took a few extra portions of concentration. On either side of Anton, two additional bows formed, a small portion ascension energy to allow themselves sufficient punch for their arrows. His final three shots- one from his physical bow and the extra two from his sides- were let loose when his opponent was no more than ten meters away. Anton looked into the man¡¯s eyes as he implemented his planned defense. Once more his hands- and the mantis claws they were mimicking- sliced across his body. Anton¡¯s attacks were synchronized to force him to block only one of them, but the man managed to reach the leftmost arrow with the same strike, defeating the primary attack and one of the secondaries in a single move. The third arrow struck him in the shoulder, burying deep before shooting out of his back. Then mantis claws were coming down at Anton, his feet already carrying him away. He dodged one swipe, then a second- countering with arrows of his own, hoping to capitalize on the damage he caused. But ultimately he could not overpower the man. He held up his hands and dropped his bow, and a mantis scythe stopped just short of his neck. ¡°I know you¡¯re not defenseless like that,¡± the man said. ¡°It¡¯s about the principle of the thing,¡± Anton said. ¡°You beat me, Niall.¡± ¡°My shoulder disagrees,¡± the man said as his projected mantis faded away. ¡°Did you have to be so serious with your attacks?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Anton nodded his head. ¡°If we didn¡¯t take this seriously, would it even be training? Besides, if it was really serious that arrow would have detonated inside your shoulder. Instead it just left a nice, neat hole straight through it. Shouldn¡¯t take long to heal.¡± Niall inclined his head, ¡°A fair enough point. I hadn¡¯t thought someone of your cultivation would be the most well versed in ascension energy but¡­ it does seem to be true.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been in an optimal state to practice Fleeting Youth,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°At least it¡¯s good for practice.¡± ¡°If I wasn¡¯t ready for it, you might just have killed me,¡± Niall admitted. ¡°I appreciate the training effort, though. Not many people are willing to weaken their own position for the sake of others they hardly know.¡± ¡°We¡¯re just being selfishly altruistic,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°You¡¯ll be far too busy thinking about those invaders to want to fight me in the future.¡± The man laughed, ¡°There is that, true. It¡¯s oddly comforting, knowing it¡¯s ultimately for the sake of you and your sects.¡± Anton nodded. So far, most encounters with local sects had gone amicably, and word was spreading of their presence. Some sects refused them, either because they had their own ways to train or because they didn¡¯t trust them, but they never pressed for more. If people weren¡¯t willing to learn, they couldn''t make them. In the end, cultivators could be expected to make themselves as strong as possible anyway. Special techniques might make a difference against the coming invaders, but nobody knew if they would be enough. Especially since they hadn¡¯t before. Chapter 295 Despite all of the Twin Soul Sect members who had been defeated or captured at various points, none of them- not even the Life Transformation experts- had a copy of the cultivation technique on them. From the information that had been obtained, when there were physical copies they were kept in secure locations, away from the sects the members pretended to be a part of. Most recruiting was done by finding talented young cultivators to convert to their cause. If they were found to be unwilling, they were killed. It was unknown what portion of aspiring young cultivators died to the Twin Soul Sect instead of any of the world¡¯s other dangers, but it was too many. Anton could have been satisfied with the knowledge that the people on the continent of Aicenith were informed about their presence and working to eradicate them, but he would only be truly happy if they were gone entirely. Preferably with plenty of time left until the invasion, but it wasn¡¯t even certain to be possible to wipe them out entirely. Not if only some people put effort towards it. There was no way to predict what sects they might be part of, and even then they had to be individually scanned. A good portion of them ended up at higher cultivation as well, making them more dangerous. Their combat styles often matched the sects they purported to be a part of, and even when their true cultivations were revealed they fought much the same. Some switched to different styles of attack that they found personally preferable, but there were hardly any threads to pull on to guess where they might be. Except Anton had seen several making use of the same techniques. The gray spheres, which happened to have a name. They were one application of the power of the Deathly Heart Technique. It wasn¡¯t a core cultivation style, but more of an additive secondary method like Fleeting Youth. In fact, upon studying it Anton felt it tapped into the same source as the power from beyond death. Without practicing it he couldn¡¯t be sure if it also had the same side effect of disrupting future reincarnations. If it did, Anton presumed that Twin Soul Sect members wouldn¡¯t practice it. But he had some reservations about trying. The technique manual did mention negative side effects, but was decidedly vague about them. There was a method for avoiding them, but it wasn¡¯t the sort of thing Anton was willing to do. It involved killing people, and while Anton was willing to do so for the sake of protecting people, it wasn¡¯t the same when done to advance a secondary cultivation technique. Since people were going to die anyway, it seemed logical enough to try it out but¡­ it felt like that would send him down a path he couldn¡¯t recover from. It was something more than just killing people, and while many of Anton¡¯s enemies doubtless deserved worse than death he wasn¡¯t comfortable without knowing exactly what the effects would be. The technique manual itself was vague, not necessarily because the creator didn¡¯t know but because anyone who was going to practice it likely wouldn¡¯t care. Studying the technique gave him some additional ideas to counter it- none of which involved trying to block the attacks. His earlier instincts had been correct. While it was possible to block the effects, it was difficult. Avoiding it was better, or in the case of the spheres of deathly energy detonating them at a distance was preferable. That wasn¡¯t the only form it could take, either. Techniques didn¡¯t just spring out of the ground, however. They had a source, either a specific person or a sect of some sort. Some were so widespread that their origin had been lost, but this was not one of them. It was used by the Whispering Watchers, a sect of significant influence in the northern part of the continent. While they weren¡¯t known as murderous psychopaths, they did get into conflicts as often as any large sect. It seemed they didn¡¯t specifically go on killing sprees to train the technique, but conflicts would inevitably happen. With the evidence of just a few of them being part of the Twin Soul Sect it was a step too far to assume there was a larger connection, but it did seem like a place that might appeal to them on a larger scale. Even if others shared Anton¡¯s suspicions it wasn¡¯t easy to investigate them, beyond determining in passing that at least many of their low level disciples were not part of the Twin Soul Sect. In theory they, like the other sects, were conducting their own internal investigations. They seemed to have officially begun that before the conflict with Swordmaster Rahayu. Either they hadn¡¯t gotten to the few that joined that battle, had missed them somehow¡­ or had chosen to ignore them. Anton chose to believe the latter, but he knew he was personally biased because of the Deathly Heart Techniques training requirements. But a bias didn¡¯t mean he was necessarily wrong, either. ----- On his combined quest to learn every occupation he could- and thus know how to teach everyone something useful for cultivation- Anton found himself outside a herbalist. There was nothing particularly special about this particular place, except that it was nearby- and that the proprietor wasn¡¯t a cultivator. In his time working the farm he had learned a number of folk remedies for various maladies, but he couldn¡¯t be called a real doctor of any sort. Even if he learned everything this woman knew, he likely wouldn¡¯t be able to do much with relation to what they encountered in Foulmarsh. Except maybe the stitching, but even then most people never learned to stitch someone from the inside out. As he stepped inside, Anton was briefly reminded of Kephalos¡¯ place, with herbs dangling from the ceiling in various places- but he found this place to be much more organized. And he recognized the herbs as more mundane things, with primary functions that were not poison. A little bell above the door signaled his entry, and a surprisingly young woman came out of the back. She was hardly older than Alva, and while that might not be considered young for a non-cultivator, it was still young to be an independent doctor known throughout the scattered towns and villages nearby. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°What do you need?¡± the dark-haired woman asked. ¡°Salves for rheumatism, perhaps?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have you know I¡¯ve always been much too stubborn to take pain treatment for such a minor thing. And I don¡¯t have that particular problem at the moment.¡± He held up his hands, which while wrinkled had none of the joint problems he¡¯d suffered before he achieved a certain level of success in cultivation. ¡°I was wondering if you were interested in taking a temporary apprentice.¡± She looked around the shop, ¡°You have a grandchild that you want to learn from me? I have to say, a few people have vied for such a position, but while I could use extra hands I have certain standards that must be met. Hardworking, capable, a fast learner. And not above performing the mundane tasks of fetching herbs from the forest.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been known to do such in the past,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Good for building character. And necessary.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± she said slowly. ¡°Where are they? I¡¯d like to meet them.¡± ¡°All of my grandchildren are actually quite occupied,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I was interested for myself, actually. I assure you it will be worth your time.¡± ¡°I doubt it,¡± she said. ¡°I have enough to deal with. No offense, but you¡¯re not someone I would consider.¡± ¡°I can actually offer something quite worthwhile. You see-¡± Anton turned and frowned. ¡°What poor timing. You have more customers coming.¡± It was actually a few seconds before the door opened, the bell ringing as the door slammed open with unnecessary force. Almost enough to topple some things off the shelves. In fact, enough that a particular jar could have fallen- but it found itself held back with a gentle touch. Three large men shoved their way into the storefront, stomping towards the counter she stood behind. ¡°Idalia! You¡¯re late on your payments to Birita.¡± Idalia crossed her arms. ¡°I don¡¯t owe anyone anything. I own the shop and the land, and she¡¯s not a tax official.¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± one of the men said. ¡°But you still have to pay protection money.¡± ¡°The only thing anyone needs protecting from is you. Now screw off before I call the guards.¡± Anton was watching her face closely. She was brave, determined¡­ but also putting up a strong front. Anton was also aware that there were no guards within three blocks at the moment. ¡°Go ahead then.¡± The man leaned on the counter. ¡°Call them. See if they get here before some sort of accident happens. Like something expensive falling.¡± He swept his hand across the counter, knocking a bundle of jars to the floor. A sound like clay and glass cracking rang out. ¡°Get it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t keep much money on me,¡± Idalia kept her strong front, but Anton could tell she was concerned. ¡°I can give you some bundles of healing wort that will help heal¡­ accidental scrapes and the like.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll take it back to Birita and see what she says,¡± the man continued to lean on the counter. ¡°Bring it out.¡± Her eyes flicked between the men, her shelves, and very briefly Anton. She wasn¡¯t asking him for help, but she looked somewhat worried. Normally Anton would step up to help someone in distress, but he could tell she had a plan. She turned away and hurried into the back. ¡°Now then, I don¡¯t recognize you¡­¡± the man turned to Anton. ¡°But there¡¯s a weapon tax in this area. Of course, if you¡¯re willing to give up that bow on your back the taxes will be waived.¡± Anton sighed. ¡°This thing? I don¡¯t think you¡¯d want it. It¡¯s cursed, you see.¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± the man said. ¡°But I¡¯m sure we can handle it.¡± The man reached out his hand and grabbed the bow, trying to yank it away. Anton didn¡¯t have to do anything and he was still only able to get it about halfway, twisting it over Anton¡¯s head. ¡°Well, if you insist,¡± he shook his head. ¡°If it gets into your hands, I¡¯ll be free of the curse.¡± He reached up and unslung it. One thing about cultivator quality bows that was extremely nice was that they were able to stay strung pretty much indefinitely without damaging the string. It was a bit awkward to carry them that way, but he¡¯d gotten used to moving around with a strung bow slung over his body. ¡°Here it is, sir,¡± Anton handed the man the bow. It immediately crashed to the ground, and the man cursed. ¡°Alas,¡± Anton sighed. ¡°It seems the curse has bound it to me.¡± He lifted it up. The man looked at Anton, and seemed about to demand something more, but Idalia came back. ¡°Here¡¯s your bundles. Now get out.¡± The other two men picked up the bundles of herbs while the leader continued to stare at Anton. It only took a little push of effort and some fire in his eyes to make the man back down. ¡°Pfeh. Cursed bows. We¡¯re leaving, boys!¡± They were out of the shop in a few moments, slamming the door the other way and causing more trembling. ¡°Is it really cursed?¡± Idalia asked. ¡°I don¡¯t deal with curses.¡± ¡°You can decide,¡± Anton said, carefully setting it down on the counter. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t hurt to touch it.¡± As she began to poke and prod the bow, Anton talked about the incident. ¡°Birita, huh? Don¡¯t know her, but she sounds like bad news.¡± Anton was following the group with his senses, and wondered if they would go directly back to her¡­ or shake down some more shops. ¡°She and her men probably deserve the runs they¡¯ll get from that healing wort.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± Idalia said firmly. ¡°There¡¯s nobody here but us,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I¡¯m sure it will be fine. It will be a few days later, so people tend to fail to notice. Gotta survive enough little injuries before you pick up on it¡­ or just get told by the right healer.¡± Anton bent down and picked up the various glass and clay jars below the counter. ¡°Here you go.¡± ¡°Wha- I thought they broke.¡± Anton replicated the sound of cracking glass in the air. ¡°Just a little mimicry. Easy enough to do with natural energy. I¡¯m just going to be straightforward here. You have problems, and I could teach you to deal with them. In turn, you teach me, and we both win. But-¡± Anton held up a hand to stave off any protests she might have. ¡°So I¡¯m not holding something above your head, I¡¯ll also offer at any time to kill this Birita and her whole gang, then be on my way.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ what?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a cultivator, you see,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°I¡¯m interested in teaching that to people, and seeing how it can help enhance crafts like yours.¡± ¡°Birita is a cultivator too, I think,¡± Idalia said. ¡°You should be careful.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton said. ¡°But that¡¯s my problem. Just take some time to consider my offer. Both of them.¡± Anton picked up his bow. ¡°How heavy is that?¡± Idalia asked as he was going out the door. ¡°Don¡¯t know. Couple hundred, maybe. Doesn¡¯t matter much in either direction.¡± Chapter 296 In theory, Anton could have wiped out Birita, the leader of this thug group. She and her thugs probably wouldn¡¯t take long to kill, either. It was only a matter of whether or not it would be good for the residents of Arbington like Idalia. It seemed simple on the surface- Birita¡¯s presence was negative, a simple drain on the honest workers in the surrounding area. It might even be strictly negative- many thugs got ¡®protection¡¯ fees but wouldn¡¯t do anything if someone else caused trouble. Those were the cowardly ones, though, who didn¡¯t maintain their territory long. If Birita was smart, she would at least keep others from causing the same sort of trouble in the area. Yet it was pretty clear that overall, she was a drain on the area. If she had the intention to actually defend the area, she could become more legitimate somehow. Anton knew that to be true. She was an Essence Collection cultivator after all. Early Essence Collection, but that was still significant. And thus the other problem. Anton could remove her, but what would happen then? It was unlikely that she had no connections of any kind. Whether to sects or other purely criminal cultivators didn¡¯t matter, especially if they took issue with her death. What would happen to the people of Arbington then? Maybe Anton could protect them. For a year, even, and then they might be left alone. Or they could be killed the moment he left, either to return home or just because his sect called on him. So for the moment she would stay. And meanwhile, he could learn from Idalia, and others in the nearby area. ¡°Before we begin, I should make something clear,¡± Anton started off his explanation to Idalia. ¡°I firmly believe you will be able to have success in cultivation, and that it will make your life better. But¡­ it might also become harder at the same time. Even if you have no intent to fight, you could be seen as a threat.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± Idalia said. ¡°You think someone would threaten to kill me? Because they¡¯re already basically doing that. I won¡¯t get away with bundles of cheap herbs for long, and eventually I¡¯ll have no business.¡± ¡°I just wanted to make sure you¡¯re aware of the possibilities,¡± Anton said. ¡°Enough,¡± she said. ¡°And I¡¯d rather at least be able to stand up to a couple thugs. They¡­ do you think I could beat them?¡± ¡°Those three?¡± Anton asked. ¡°If you learn to fight a bit, even the first stage of cultivation will be plenty. They had no cultivation, though I must warn you that some of Birita¡¯s lieutenants do. And she herself is much stronger.¡± Fortunately, Birita controlled a big enough area that she might not notice a few incidents in Arbington. Anton had followed the thugs with his senses until they left town, and later confirmed she and her thugs didn¡¯t have permanent residence in any nearby settlement. ¡°Then I don¡¯t mind. Though it¡¯s not a fight I¡¯d like on my own.¡± ¡°My earlier promise still stands,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I¡¯ll be making similar offers to others as well. Unless you plan to keep me occupied for sixteen hours per day.¡± ¡°Surely not. Especially with the speed you came back with that basket of herbs,¡± Idalia gestured. ¡°I¡¯d have hardly made it to the edge of the woods. If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d thought you prepared it ahead of time. But then you wouldn¡¯t have much to learn from me, would you?¡± ¡°I do have some knowledge of herbs. I was a farmer and hunter in a rural village for some time. But I will admit not knowing what all of these are for.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get started then. You already know that particular healing wort and its side effects. Some of these are to address that, in case those thugs come back with some demands. Whether they know it was my doing or not, I¡¯d best be ready.¡± Idalia picked through until she found one with red flowers. ¡°This one¡¯s for minor aches and pains. Not as good alone as when properly mixed with some other things.¡± Anton listened carefully as she explained the basics of her profession. He especially focused on some of the physical aspects, how she ground things into powder. At first it seemed an easy motion, as leaves were quite brittle. When they weren¡¯t dried, however, some could be quite tough. And repeating the motions was enough to make a person tired quite quickly. Not a proper cultivator, of course, but focusing on those aspects first would make Idalia¡¯s life easiest. Even if she chose to give up on achieving a greater level of cultivation, she would be healthy and strong. She was young and healthy now, but when she got older her joints would thank her for it. ----- Not everyone was as willing to trust Anton as Idalia had been. He knew he could just display his abilities to stun or intimidate them into what he wanted, but he really preferred if they had a desire to learn. He wanted to teach as many people as possible, though without raising too much of a fuss. That sort of thing was difficult, but not impossible. Throughout the world, various people who were not cultivators made use of natural energy in small ways- in theory people who realized that and focused on it were the first cultivators. Attempting to cultivate without any form of guidance was dangerous and often fatal. After all, it only took a small mistake to damage the brain or the heart or anything important. Such accidents could still happen with proper cultivation techniques, but that was usually due to the impatience of the students. Since Anton wasn¡¯t teaching teenagers for the most part, his students had heeded his cautions much more readily than they might have otherwise. Not that they were perfect, but mistakes seemed rarer than what he¡¯d heard was the average. Anton had studied many crafts with others, and thus was able to more readily guide anyone. Given some time he could come up with some specific starting points for anyone, depending on what they needed. After all, his observations included asking them what they made the most use of, and those who would know best were the ones doing the work. ¡°You can use your energy to widen the effective size of the pestle, or focus it on particularly stubborn bits,¡± Anton explained. ¡°But I would be cautious. Not only might you damage the tools, injection of natural energy into the herbs themselves might cause unexpected behavior. Generally an increase in short term potency, from what I know, but that includes bringing out normally inconsequential side effects.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I have heard you can focus on the particular of what you desire to enhance, but I have not trained in that area.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I¡¯d best be cautious then,¡± Idalia replied. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t want strange things happening.¡± ¡°If it helps, you will eventually be able to follow the effects of medicine inside your body. Or any foreign substance, for that matter. Cultivators have to deal with many bodily impurities, such as poisons.¡± ¡°You run into poisons often?¡± Idalia raised an eyebrow. ¡°Indeed. That includes the venoms of various beasts, including the sorts that don¡¯t usually have them. Some cultivators rely on antidote pills, though the best of them seem to just draw the poisons into them to be expelled later. We can also force it out manually.¡± ¡°Seems like most medicines wouldn¡¯t be needed much, with that healing ability you talked about. Focusing on one area and all that.¡± ¡°There are limits to what the body will do on its own. Though they can be transcended to some extent.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Some people focus on tempering their bodies far beyond what others find practical. I would never discount bodily strength as an advantage, but I find focusing on using energy as I please much more effective.¡± ----- Having new students was great, and Anton was pleased that he found functional techniques that were suited for everyone. Even if most cultivation techniques had the same general process of tempering the body in all ways during their initial phase, some had elements they were suited to or specific attributes they focused on. Even the Ninety-Nine Stars, while capable of general effects, lent itself to pure expression of energy and aspects related to fire and light. Even when Anton wasn¡¯t planning to teach someone, he thought about what might fit them. Sometimes it was difficult to pick something out. Did a woodcarver need to focus on the strength of their body? Tempered skin would be useful as well, but honing the blade of their tools to be optimally sharp was also a factor. Sometimes it was better to simply have nonreactive styles that avoided unwanted side effects. And sometimes, a style fit someone too perfectly. That was especially the case when it was dangerous. Anton had no intention to teach anything like Candle Wax to others- it wouldn¡¯t be terribly helpful for most people, and would just result in them engaging in fights they shouldn¡¯t. Focusing on a strong foundation was better. But when a gaunt man walked into town, dragging a shovel behind himself, Anton saw a connection. The man was like himself, if not nearly so old as when he had begun cultivating. But the look on his face and the dirt on his clothes told Anton a story. The story of someone who had buried those they cared about, far too early. It was also a story of someone who was lost, looking for direction. But he wasn¡¯t quite lost, as he marched determinedly towards Anton. Well, likely towards Idalia¡¯s store, but they were currently in the same location. The bell rang as he stepped into the store. His shovel got caught on the lip of the door, and instead of picking it up he let it drop, propping the door open. ¡°I heard tales¡­ that cultivation could be learned here.¡± He looked at Idalia, who was immediately obvious- but his gaze also found Anton, standing nearby. ¡°Is it you, sir?¡± ¡°For what reason do you wish to cultivate?¡± Anton asked seriously. ¡°Revenge,¡± the man said. ¡°Against who?¡± Internally, Anton bit his lip. ¡°Birita. She made my life like this. But¡­ I know she is strong. And only indirectly responsible. Have you heard of the Gray Rock Sect?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Yes. They are local to the area, are they not?¡± ¡°In theory, they are stewards of this region. But in practice, they don¡¯t have the guts to stand up to Birita and her thugs. Yet they have the gall to charge taxes in the region.¡± Those sorts of words were dangerous, but the man seemed far beyond caring what would happen to himself. ¡°Their taxes on land were quite excessive, when combined with Birita¡¯s additions. My wife¡­ commented on the cowardice of their disciples as they came to collect. I tried to protect her from the retaliation but I got this¡­¡± the man gestured to his left arm- or lack of it, beneath a bundle of bandages. ¡°So I¡¯m going to kill him. And the rest of the sect, who won¡¯t bother to stand up against worthless thugs. And then Birita.¡± ¡°Or you¡¯ll die doing it,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Does it matter?¡± the man asked. ¡°It might,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you bring troubles upon others, it matters quite a bit. What would you do after?¡± The man shrugged, wincing as he moved what remained of his arm. ¡°Does it matter? I know it would never happen.¡± ¡°You¡¯d be surprised,¡± Anton said. ¡°What would you do?¡± ¡°If I really accomplished all that¡­¡± the man slowly shook his head. ¡°I¡¯d likely seek out others who caused people harm while exerting useless authority.¡± A dangerous ideal, but something Anton could work with. ¡°Are you afraid of death?¡± Anton knew the answer, but the man had to say it. ¡°What difference would it make if I died? Perhaps it might have been better.¡± The man could be excused some melodrama in his situation. ¡°What about something worse?¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Pain beyond your imagining.¡± ¡°Physical?¡± the man asked. ¡°Mostly,¡± Anton said. ¡°Don¡¯t care. I could always just die.¡± ¡°Well then,¡± Anton leaned close. ¡°I have something that fits you, but you might end up with¡­ powerful enemies. If you have the patience, you might train something else for a bit longer. Oh, and this won¡¯t be quick either way.¡± ¡°How long?¡± the man asked. ¡°For Birita? A decade, if you¡¯re lucky, talented, and determined. I don¡¯t know the cultivations of the Gray Rock Sect, but if they¡¯re concerned about her¡­ I¡¯d expect something close to that if you¡¯re fighting alone.¡± The man snorted. ¡°So long? Or perhaps it¡¯s short.¡± ¡°Short,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I do mean you have to be all of those things. But there¡¯s a chance. Do you have a name?¡± ¡°Hiram,¡± the man said shortly. ¡°What should I address you as¡­ elder¡­?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have the honor of that title just yet,¡± Anton commented. ¡°But you may call me Anton. Senior Anton, if you insist, but I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll have it in mind to be respectful once you learn what plans I have for you.¡± Chapter 297 Before Anton stepped too far, he reconsidered his actions. He looked at Hiram in front of him, and tried to compare to his own life. Hiram was like him, but not everything was the same. He had personally witnessed his wife killed, and lost his arm in the same incident. He had a known target with a location. He could go attack them at any time- which would of course get himself killed. He came seeking cultivation, but even the long, difficult path Anton offered was the ¡®quick¡¯ method. The man might momentarily be suited to learn the Deathly Heart Technique due to his brush with death, but by Everheart¡¯s rather reasonable definitions, it would be a forbidden technique on multiple levels. It had the potential to harm its user as well as others, along with being a risk if any of the Whispering Watchers who considered it their sole property noticed him. Anton didn¡¯t think it was necessarily evil but¡­ it was better to leave things be. No matter Hiram¡¯s own willingness on the situation. ¡°Come with me,¡± Anton gestured to the man. While Idalia was quite used to Anton¡¯s presence, taking advantage of her shop as a place to cultivate was rather unnecessary. Especially when simple isolation might do better, and thus he led them out of town. Anton kept an eye on Hiram¡¯s missing arm, picking a few herbs to stave off any sort of infection. Anton could likely handle anything with his energy, but it was better not to do anything that might disrupt someone he planned to instruct. Eventually, Anton found a nice pair of rocks on which they could sit, and did so one one himself, gesturing to the other. ¡°I have heard about cultivators, but the stories of meditating in the wilderness I thought were¡­ exaggerated.¡± ¡°Well now, neither of us have a convenient place other than this¡­ and it¡¯s better to avoid distractions. Cultivation is dangerous, you know.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Hiram said firmly. ¡°But I¡¯m prepared to accept the consequences.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if I were teaching you how to wield a sword- which I might, at some point- we wouldn¡¯t throw caution out the window just because it¡¯s meant to cause harm. It¡¯s much better to direct all of it to your enemies.¡± Hiram nodded gruffly. It was clear he wasn¡¯t in a talkative mood, but Anton could hardly expect him to be. ¡°First, you have to feel natural energy. For that, I find it¡¯s helpful to focus on a particular aspect that could draw it to you.¡± Anton began with the technique of the Glorious Flame Palace. He had permission to teach the basic form to whoever he pleased, and like other fire techniques it focused on a passionate drive. Hiram had that, and so Anton hoped to catch onto it. The results were¡­ much less than expected. At a certain level cultivators could sense affinity of others for cultivation, their talent. Anton was willing to admit that his first impression could have been wrong, when Hiram failed to connect with natural energy for a period of several days. Anton thought should have the talent, the way he¡¯d felt it swirling about him when he arrived- an unconscious disturbance, but perhaps a coincidence that wouldn¡¯t be repeated. Yet Hiram continued to have effects without conscious control or even awareness. Anton tried a few other methods. Guessing what the man had been suited for was all well and good, but he didn¡¯t have a plethora of techniques to choose from just for fun. People were all different, and expressed themselves in different ways. But nothing worked, even the Ninety-Nine Stars which Anton found was easy for most with any tiny spark of talent to begin, though not always immediately. After two weeks, during which Anton would come to him every few hours to check on his progress, nothing happened. Perhaps he truly had no talent for cultivation. Anton had gone through everything in his arsenal¡­ except the Deathly Heart Technique. It was only after much consideration- including repeated thoughts during that two week period- that Anton decided it was worth the risk. He had promised him cultivation, and he could see in Hiram¡¯s eyes that if he couldn¡¯t even begin the path¡­ he would lose himself. Perhaps he would simply die, or get himself killed in a misguided attack on the Gray Rock Sect, but he could also do something crazy. Anton didn¡¯t know what, but innocent people might get hurt. Anton would be able to stop him, but it would likely still result in Hiram¡¯s ultimate death. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I haven¡¯t been able to find anything suited for you,¡± Anton said truthfully. ¡°I have one more option, but it¡¯s more dangerous than any of the others. In fact, I could say it¡¯s quite¡­ problematic. I need you to swear something.¡± ¡°What?¡± Hiram asked. ¡°Do you want me to swear I won¡¯t kill anyone with it? Because you know I can¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m not a hypocrite. Or at least I try not to be. But I do need you to swear to only use it righteously. And yes, that can mean killing. You just have to make sure it¡¯s the right people.¡± ¡°Fine. I swear it.¡± ¡°I know you mean it, but that¡¯s not sufficient. We have some oaths in my Order. Loyalty to us doesn¡¯t apply to you, but the basic principles are the same. Swear to only kill oppressors of the innocent and those who are filled with evil- who harm others simply for their own benefit and have no consideration for the good of the world. To leave the world better than it was with your actions.¡± Anton could have come up with something longer and more flowery, but that was what he needed. As for whether Hiram¡¯s ideas agreed with his own on the subject, Anton fully intended to have conversations with him about what he meant as they trained. If it even worked. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Hiram took a moment to speak, clearly taking some actual time to consider Anton¡¯s words. ¡°Very well. I swear to only harm those who oppress the innocent, those who are filled with evil. I swear to leave the world better for having me act upon it.¡± Anton could tell he meant it, in more than a transitory fashion. And he would certainly reinforce that in the coming days. ¡°Good.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°For this, you must focus first upon the concept of death¡­¡± Anton explained the very basics of the Deathly Heart Technique. Even as he did so, Anton partly hoped it wouldn¡¯t work, despite his assurances that he would teach Hiram to cultivate. But only a short time later, within an hour, Hiram opened his eyes from meditation. ¡°I felt it,¡± Hiram proclaimed, though Anton was already aware of that fact. Now that he had connected to natural energy, Anton might be able to guide him on another path, but it would hardly be the most effective route. ----- Even while he was focusing on his passion of teaching, Anton wasn¡¯t neglecting his other purpose. He was mostly serving as a go-between for messages traveling through the area, a stable point of contact for the others, but it wasn¡¯t nothing. That said, he didn¡¯t spend all his time with the people in the local area, much as he would like to. Each individual could only handle so much disruption to their daily lives as they all had jobs to uphold. Except for Hiram. Anton considered bringing him along, but Anton could go and return before Hiram would have made it anywhere. A journey of a few days for Anton might be weeks or more for a normal human- or one just beginning cultivation, the equivalent of the first star. It had been a shade more than a month since first teaching him the Deathly Heart Technique, and he was advancing disturbingly quickly. Whenever Anton took a trip to spar with someone who needed to test their anti-ascension techniques, he worried for the man. There was a significant risk placed on the Hiram just for using the technique. But even after Anton explained in detail, the Deathly Heart Technique still suited Hiram, and the consequences had been accepted. At some point, Hiram would either have to kill someone or start accumulating the side effects of the technique. Killing an arbitrary person was absolutely unacceptable, but Hiram¡¯s dark temperament didn¡¯t show signs of losing morality. There were plenty of targets nearby, and Anton had even convinced the man to think about the circumstances that forced those working under Birita to do so. If they enjoyed suppressing the local populace or openly killed people like the Gray Rock Sect that was one thing, but some might have been intimidated into joining to protect themselves. That didn¡¯t excuse their actions, but it did mean that nobody should slaughter their way through the ranks of either groups without thought. That included Anton, but Idalia seemed content not to call him on that promise just yet. In a perfect world, something like the Deathly Heart Technique should not exist. It would be completely unnecessary, and nobody would have the drive to need a technique of that sort to begin with. But the world wasn¡¯t perfect, and that had to be dealt with. ----- Elsewhere, Grand Elder Kseniya had her eyes on the Whispering Watchers. Concerning news had reached her ears. Someone was looking for news on her favorite disciple. And it didn¡¯t seem like the friendly sort of inquiries, either. The rumors said that a disciple of Elder Naheed of the Whispering Watchers had died at Anton¡¯s hand. Kseniya had no doubt that it was true, but the acceptance of that fact also indicated that they had accepted the presence of the Twin Soul Sect among their ranks. Whether it was openly or simply by not choosing to eradicate them, Kseniya didn¡¯t care. Both were equally concerning. She had traveled a long distance to get her eyes on this Elder Naheed, but the territory of the Whispering Watchers was significant. Someone of Kseniya¡¯s power might be able to get away with cutting across the corner of the territory, but actually crossing dividing lines or walls was another thing. And thus, Elder Naheed remained unseen. But probably not unsensed. There were only a few among the group that could be her, as there weren¡¯t an excess of Life Transformation cultivators in the world. The Whispering Watchers had three such cultivators that were on the boundary between early and mid Life Transformation. One was a man, and another was a bit more on the far side of the gap. From what Kseniya knew that led her to the final option, a woman with cultivation somewhat greater than herself. That did make it rather hard to act on the situation immediately, not that even Kseniya was crazy enough to storm a sect like the Whispering Watchers herself. Even if she could shoot at them from outside their territory. Having taken note of the elder in question, or at least a representative sample of the practitioners of the same cultivation technique, Kseniya was satisfied. For the moment. But she was absolutely going to be talking to the other elders about what actions they might take against the sect. And not just for Anton¡¯s sake. But¡­ also for his sake. For some reason, Kseniya felt he was important. That could have been personal bias because he was an excellent archer, but if nothing else he was one of the members of the Order with the potential to reach Life Transformation. If he hadn¡¯t started cultivation at such an advanced age, she might have even picked him out for ascension. But he had, and he was quite deep in Everheart¡¯s ¡®Fleeting Youth¡¯. Kseniya herself had dabbled in it, but she couldn¡¯t convince herself to take the leap to actually practicing it. Knowing it would cut off her chance at ascension, slim as it was looking, simply didn¡¯t sit well with her. That was another thing about Anton. His abnormal background made him different than many others, as he had easily given up that potential- with full knowledge he was one of the geniuses who might make it. The reason hadn¡¯t been just for temporary power boosts either, but because of a desire to protect people. He reminded her of Vandale, in fact- in a much different way than the man¡¯s grandson. A stalwart guardian of the sect, though Anton wasn¡¯t at the level of power to do such just yet. But if he could make it past the bottleneck of Life Transformation, he might surpass Kseniya herself in a mere thirty or forty years. Chapter 298 It was common knowledge that cultivators were only good for causing trouble. Idalia knew that, but she¡¯d still fallen for grandiose promises offered by a stranger. It only made things worse that so far, he¡¯d kept his word. After an initial period of difficulty, she was starting to get the hang of cultivation. It really did make things easier. The tasks she did every day, carrying bundles of herbs to be dried or mixing and grinding powders no longer felt like hard work. Making use of natural energy to find things in the nearby forest was also much better than just using her knowledge and eyes. She could even pick out herbs buried under piles of leaves or tangled among other plants. In return, she talked to the old man- Anton- instructing him on various herbs as well as the secondary requirements of her profession. People came to her as a healer in general, and when stitching and binding wounds was sufficient she could save poor families quite a bit of money. She could even afford to wrap up some pain killing herbs with the others due to how much Anton brought back from the forest. ¡°I hope you¡¯re not wiping the place clean,¡± Idalia remarked on one occasion. ¡°I need there to be some next season as well.¡± She could grow a small amount of the most useful herbs in her personal garden, but the forest¡¯s bounty was much greater than anything she could manage. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Anton replied, ¡°I only take a portion from each area. I just cover a wide range.¡± That was one of the things hardest to pin down about the old cultivator. He seemed to walk around like a healthy young man, but she never saw him move so quickly that he could scour the forest in the time he was gone. But unless he could magically produce bundles of herbs with dirt on the roots, that was what he had to be doing. She was getting the hang of using natural energy, but when she tried to get a sense of the man she felt herself blinded, as if dozens of bright lights shone on her. Even if her actual eyes were fine, her senses overloaded quickly. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was some sort of retaliation for snooping¡­ or if he was just like that. He¡¯d indicated he was strong enough to kill Birita, but Idalia didn¡¯t intend to rely on that promise. On the occasions where he trained her to fight, it was obvious he had an abundance of experience. The initial phases of instruction were for unarmed combat and staves, which suited Idalia just fine since she wasn¡¯t planning to suddenly carry around a spear wherever she went. He would demonstrate attacks, but when he used them in their ¡®spars¡¯ she couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of the movement. ¡°It¡¯s not fair,¡± she complained. ¡°You¡¯re too fast.¡± ¡°Am I?¡± Anton asked. His tone clearly indicated that he disagreed. ¡°Keep a close watch. Because this-¡± Anton¡¯s fist was in front of her face in a moment, ¡°Is no different from this.¡± He stepped back and threw a simple punch forward. ¡°I find that hard to believe¡­¡± Idalia responded. Those were her true thoughts, but it was also true that he would have no reason to deceive her about that. Unless he just wanted to show off, but in that case he could find someone other than a herbalist to outclass in melee combat. The more she interacted with him using the same moves, the more she realized he was right. Of course he was, but she couldn¡¯t believe how big the difference was between watching something from afar and having to react to it. And if she messed up, she would get hit by a fist that could shatter ribs at minimum. Not that it ever actually did shatter her ribs. Anton didn¡¯t seem to be the sort of teacher that found pain to be a useful teacher. His attacks always connected, but they would seldom leave anything more than a bruise that would last until the evening. Granted, some of those were seriously painful- but it also let her know that her body was recovering more quickly. Idalia wasn¡¯t alone as Anton¡¯s student. Though he spent as much time as possible teaching everyone personally, he was only one man. On regular occasions, usually a weekend when most people were off of work, he would organize group training sessions. There was a short amount of exercises, but they would usually lead into sparring shortly. ¡°Your bodies will grow best by performing the actual movements,¡± Anton explained. ¡°Which is why I have you all focus on training yourselves while at work in your daily lives. Your body will naturally develop what it needs. And while perhaps you might not need to fight, should the occasion arise you will regret not knowing how.¡± Most of them were matched against each other for the spars. Anton would sometimes just watch, and other times he would spar against them individually. And then very occasionally, as a group. ¡°At this time you might not have need of fighting together against a much stronger opponent, but it¡¯s important that you know how different it would be.¡± Even when they used staves to extend their reach, Anton was always able to step in and strike them wherever he pleased. ¡°It should also be noted that I could simply block all of your attacks without dodging. In fact, I could beat all of you without moving an inch, or making a single attack.¡± Idalia wasn¡¯t the combative sort, but a statement like that irked her. But Hiram was more easily drawn in by it. ¡°Prove it.¡± Hiram angled his staff towards Anton, enshrouded with the uncomfortable energy he cultivated. He never used it against any of the others, but Idalia could tell how dangerous it was. ¡°Very well,¡± Anton said. He stepped towards the group, stopping right in front of Hiram. ¡°Come at me, all of you.¡± He settled into a relaxed stance with his arms at his sides. ¡°I won¡¯t move from here. Come at me whenever you¡¯re ready.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Perhaps Hiram had been waiting for those words, or perhaps he had merely been psyching himself up. Either way, a moment later his energy flowed down his staff towards the end as he swung it over his head, bringing it down on Anton¡¯s skull with a resounding crack. There was a cry of pain and Idalia briefly wondered if Anton had overestimated himself. But of course, that wasn¡¯t the case. What had broken was not his skull, it was Hiram¡¯s staff- and perhaps one of his fingers. The injured hands didn¡¯t stop him from continuing to attack, spinning around in a series of kicks aimed at the old man¡¯s sides. Every impact had a heavy sound, but it was like Hiram was hitting a brick wall. Except he might actually chip a brick wall with those attacks. Not wanting to be embarrassed, Idalia joined in but was more conservative with her attacks. Only a few of them stepped forward at once, since they had long learned that too many people attacking in an uncoordinated manner just tripped each other up. Three people was close to the limit, because with four surrounding someone some were directly across from each other, which led to awkward situations when the target dodged. With five or more it just grew uncomfortably cramped, even when nobody was directly opposing each other. Each blow of Idalia¡¯s staff made her realize the gap between her and Anton- or any powerful cultivator. When they sparred Anton held himself down to their level, which even included things like his defenses. Thus, attacks that normally would feel like that had a real impact simply bounced off, and with nowhere else to go all of the force of the blow rebounded into the attackers. Still, there were more than a handful of them. His defenses had to break eventually. That was the thought some of them had, and they put it to the test. But soon enough everyone was collapsed on the ground, unable to move. ¡°I don¡¯t want to give you all the wrong impression,¡± Anton said gently. ¡°Yes, you are weak¡­ for now. To reach my level requires something on the order of decades of training. But instead of a looming fear, think of it as a caution of knowing your limits¡­ and also what you can achieve, given time. After everyone has had some time to recover, we will be doing some tangible tests of strength, so you can see your progress in the upcoming months.¡± ----- She sensed them coming before they entered her shop. There was something about the way Birita¡¯s thugs walked, like they owned the city¡­ which they kind of did. And this pair stood out because they were cultivators. Mid Body Tempering, if her senses were correct. That meant their reserves of energy were at least double or triple her own, and their bodies tougher. With one of them, the latter was obvious. Sasho filled the entire doorway as he stepped inside, and the very first thing he did was knock over a rack of supplies. He stepped forward, bending low, but Idalia just yelled at him. ¡°Just stop it!¡± He froze in place. ¡°But¡­ I knocked it over¡­¡± The second figure stepped around him, patting him on the shoulder- which was as high as she could reach. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it Sasho. I¡¯m sure she can clean it up.¡± ¡°... Okay, Trix.¡± Idalia sighed as she looked at the two of them. ¡°What do you want? I already paid this month¡¯s protection taxes. If you try to get more, you¡¯ll just bleed me dry and I¡¯ll have nothing.¡± That wasn¡¯t quite true, since with Anton¡¯s help her stores had significantly improved¡­ but she wasn¡¯t willing to give up more than she had to. Especially with half of a ruined shelf. The worst part was that Sasho didn¡¯t even do it on purpose, as far as she could tell. He just bumped into things, which was why she had stopped him from reaching to pick it back up. Things would only get worse if he continued moving. ¡°Orders from the boss,¡± the thin woman known as Trix shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re the best herbalist around, and she¡¯s got a special order. She wants you to get this umm¡­¡± Trix pulled out a rolled up sheet of paper. ¡°... Tree Thistle. Says it needs someone who knows what they¡¯re doing to harvest it.¡± ¡°Then why come to me? I¡¯ve never even heard of it. I wouldn¡¯t know how.¡± Idalia knew there might be consequences for refusal, but if she couldn¡¯t do it things should be alright. ¡°Too bad,¡± Trix shook her head, ¡°Because we come with instructions.¡± She tossed over the roll of paper, and Idalia reluctantly unfolded it. It seemed to have been a page ripped out of a book. It hurt to look at, especially with the various holes in it. ¡°Let¡¯s see here¡­ deep forest, only grows where corpses lay.¡± Idalia shook her head, ¡°What the hell sort of thing is this? I can¡¯t do this. I¡¯ll be devoured alive¡­ and then you won¡¯t get it.¡± ¡°You sure about that?¡± Trix said, stepping forward. ¡°Because I notice you¡¯ve taken up cultivation. Buuuut¡­ it is true you don¡¯t seem that strong yet. Which is what we¡¯re here for. We¡¯re to escort you. Look, you¡¯re not getting out of this. The boss lady was very particular about having this thing.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Idalia looked back down at the paper, continuing to read. ¡°Must be uprooted whole and prepared on site by smoking the leaves and pulping the stem and flowers. Mind the spikes¡­ dimensions¡­ three to five meters?¡± Idalia¡¯s voice cracked at that. ¡°There¡¯s no way¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s what Sasho here is for,¡± Trix patted him on the side. ¡°We¡¯ve got a big wheelbarrow too.¡± ¡°So if you know where this all is and how to deal with it¡­ why involve me?¡± ¡°You think we know how to do any of that mashing and stuff?¡± Trix shook her head. ¡°No way. And we also don¡¯t know how to dig up stuff while keeping the roots intact. That seemed to be important for some reason.¡± Idalia grimaced. If only Anton was in town¡­ but he wasn¡¯t, and even if he was she wasn¡¯t sure if it would be good for him to show up next to Birita. Even if he really could take her out, Idalia knew that someone else could easily take over¡­ and they might be even worse. ¡°Fine. Where is it then?¡± ¡°In the deep forest, right?¡± Trix gesture to the paper. ¡°In the shadows or whatever it says there.¡± ¡°Wait so¡­ you haven¡¯t actually seen it?¡± ¡°No, but it has to be there somewhere.¡± Idalia frowned as she looked at the paper. It really didn¡¯t have to be anywhere. The sketch on the page indicated it looked just like a milk thistle, but at several meters tall she would have noticed it had she gotten anywhere close. Not that she ventured into the deep woods, but just because something could live in the environment didn¡¯t mean it did. And the thing about corpses¡­ what was she getting dragged into? Chapter 299 There was a thought in Idalia¡¯s mind that she was being brought out into the woods to be killed. Maybe she would die, but she didn¡¯t think that Birita¡¯s thug¡¯s would go through such trouble when they could just kill her in public. Plus, if they were going to do that it probably would have been different people. The great size of Sasho contributed to his ability to casually destroy things- including on accident- but those big bones of his were also the least subtle bones Idalia knew. He seemed completely incapable of deception, unless he was secretly amazing at it and everything was an act. But that just seemed too improbable. On the other hand, Trix might be capable of killing people maliciously, but she was generally better at solving things without violence. Idalia had seen her shake down some people and make them almost happy for the privilege. It was people like her that kept Birita¡¯s hold on the area from completely devolving into chaos. Idalia wasn¡¯t sure whether or not to appreciate that, since it would be bad for both sides if things turned into a straight conflict When Idalia saw a patch of blood clot moss on a large stone, she stopped to scrape some of it off. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Trix demanded. ¡°We need to keep moving.¡± ¡°And I need to stay in business,¡± Idalia retorted. ¡°If I¡¯m going to be away from my shop for an entire day, I at least need to get what I can.¡± That was all true, but she was also trying to delay things so she could think of a way to protect herself. Unfortunately she was coming up blank, as either of the two could take her out. Maybe she could outrun them, but even if she did they would know exactly where she was going. It might be better if they died to something in the forest, but in that case Birita might notice them gone. In the end, Idalia found herself with little choice but to go along with them into the deeper parts of the forest. After quite a few hours of walking, Trix stopped and looked around. ¡°Alright, should be far enough. So where is it?¡± ¡°Where is what?¡± Idalia asked. ¡°The tree thistle. That¡¯s the whole reason we¡¯re here, remember?¡± ¡°How am I supposed to know?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the herbalist. Just look at the paper.¡± Idalia grumbled, but looked it over. The information only said deep forest in the shadows. That meant the thickest areas, which of course ended up with the most problematic beasts. Idalia didn¡¯t know that much about them, except to stay away. Even if she was a cultivator now, it didn¡¯t suddenly become safe just because she was a bit stronger. ¡°It might be¡­ this way, I suppose.¡± She was already inside the region she wanted to stay away from, but she had some idea where the worst parts were. Up until that point they had managed to avoid encounters with unfriendly beasts, but they soon stumbled into the territory of a large bear. Idalia swallowed nervously. Sparring with people was basically nothing like real combat, and despite how strong she knew Anton to be, he wasn¡¯t as terrifying as the several meter tall bear. Mostly because he wasn¡¯t trying to hurt her. When the creature stood up on its hind legs and roared, all hope of backing away went out of Idalia¡¯s head. She clutched her walking staff tightly in her hand. At least she¡¯d remembered to bring the thing with her. It was useful enough as a weapon, and for extending her reach. Before she could truly bring herself to act, Sasho was already charging the great beast, his wheelbarrow left behind. She felt its sharp claws whistle through the air as it roared, with the man also yelling back at it as he pulled a large axe off his back and chopped at it. The results were immediate and bloody. A line of claws drew across Sasho¡¯s chest, but the majority of the spray came from the bear, coating him in from head to toe. And that was it, the whole fight¡­ resolved in an instant. It was kind of terrifying¡­ but also almost assuring. While she wasn¡¯t sure about killing the bear in a single attack, Idalia felt that she could have dodged either the bear¡¯s swipe or Sasho¡¯s wild chop. So she probably wouldn¡¯t die instantly, if it came down to it. ¡°Sasho you big lug,¡± Trix strode over next to him. ¡°You need to wait for me to fight.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t want anyone to get hurt,¡± he said simply. ¡°You got hurt though!¡± she said in an exasperated manner. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I''ll heal¡­ eventually.¡± Sasho nodded with complete assurance. Seeing the wounds on his chest, Idalia wasn¡¯t sure if that was true. She was certain that even with a cultivators ability to recover their wounds quickly, since he didn¡¯t seem to be actively closing them he might just bleed to death before it came down to it. ¡°I don¡¯t think you will,¡± she said as she approached. ¡°Let me patch you up.¡± In the short term, it might be better for her to let him bleed to death. But if Trix made her continue into the deep forest without him her life would be at greater risk, and they could hardly transport back the tree thistle without his bulk. She was able to lift quite a bit more than she had before she began cultivating, but even if it was rather light anything a few meters in height would be pretty tough to carry or even drag. She took some of the bloodclot moss, some bandages, and a few minor herbs she was already carrying on her when they started the journey, applying them to his wounds. It wouldn¡¯t let him recover much faster, but at least nothing would get worse. ¡°I¡¯d try not to move too much after that,¡± Idalia said professionally. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Can¡¯t fight without moving,¡± Sasho responded. ¡°Can¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°Just¡­ try not to strain it,¡± she shook her head. Trix looked at her suspiciously, but let her work. But Idalia wasn¡¯t so crazy as to poison someone right in front of her. Cultivators could detect some of that, and again- she needed them to survive this. For her own survival. Or maybe she could just run away. It was a shame to leave her hometown, but with Birita lording over the area she probably should have gone away long before. As they got deeper in the forest, Idalia wished she had refined her eyes more. It wasn¡¯t as dark as night, but it got rather difficult to see. On the other hand, she was able to pick out a number of medicinal plants just by her energy senses. Some of them stood out, in fact, as they contained natural energy within them. She wasn¡¯t completely sure what they all did, but she could learn study them later- and perhaps get her hands on some relevant books. Though she was ostensibly leading the way, Idalia was just wandering and hoping that they would run into something. Until a gust of wind almost knocked her out with a putrid scent. She almost immediately led them away from the area towards somewhere else¡­ but then realized that might be what they were looking for. She wasn¡¯t sure what about corpses would make a tree thistle grow around them- since the soil usually had nutrients that were easier to access for most forms of plant life. ¡°That way,¡± she gestured. ¡°That¡¯s our best bet, at least.¡± She didn¡¯t want to sound too confident, because if they didn¡¯t find something she would be at fault. Even if she¡¯d never seen the thing before. As they approached the area, Idalia began to get a bad feeling. More than she already had, of course. The flow of natural energy didn¡¯t seem right, and she was beginning to sense a number of moving sources of it. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re about to run into some trouble,¡± Trix said, confirming her suspicion. ¡°Sasho, don¡¯t run out ahead. You need to stick with us so we can all fight them together.¡± ¡°All of us?¡± Idalia asked nervously. ¡°Obviously,¡± Trix said, drawing a curved blade. ¡°We don¡¯t have the leeway to keep you completely safe. Besides, what¡¯s the point of cultivating if you don¡¯t fight?¡± Idalia could have told her plenty of reasons to do it. Better health, more efficient work¡­ but she figured it would fall on deaf ears at the moment. She clutched her staff as a loud buzzing became apparent, and the approaching blobs of energy resolved themselves into the forms of individual creatures. Specifically wasps, each as long as a forearm with stingers nearly half that length. Idalia took a deep breath as they approached. Her position in the back seemed safe, but the way the swarm of dozens was spreading out they could very easily find their way around to her. Despite the cautions from Trix, Sasho charged forward to meet them when they got close. His first swing sliced a few limbs off of one of them and chopped straight through another, but their wicked stingers pierced into him, his defensive energy only sufficient to keep their attacks from digging as deep as they otherwise might have. Trix moved up close behind Sasho, nimble swinging her curved blade while keeping herself from being in the midst of them. Idalia wasn¡¯t far behind her, though she couldn¡¯t be as close as she liked for worry of interfering with the others- or being cut apart by their attacks. When a wasp¡¯s form resolved itself in her vision, her body moved almost on its own. Instead of an incoming attack with a human-made weapon, it was the attack- but her instinctive parry turned into a decent sweep, catching the creature¡¯s wing and sending it veering off course where it slammed into the dirt. She didn¡¯t have time to pay attention to it beyond that, as there were more moving in fast. Her staff spun around her, weaving a barrier of combined defense and attack- anything getting close would find itself thwacked by the solid wood of her weapon, plus some natural energy augmenting it. Any time her staff struck a wing or one of the creature¡¯s limbs, the target crumpled- but if she didn¡¯t the right angle the creatures kept coming, their momentum carrying them to her with their nasty stingers. Some of them scraped against her defensive energy as she barely dodged, but one lodged itself into her left shoulder. She grabbed the creature and flung it away, yanking it out- but the pain remained. Along with something else. She had to make a snap decision about whether or not to try to deal with the venom during the battle, and decided she really didn¡¯t want to know what the full effects would be. While it was all still in her wound she began coaxing and squeezing it out, unfortunately also with some of her blood. But blood would recover on its own. Doing that while fighting at the same time was one of the hardest things she¡¯d ever done, much harder than precisely measuring ingredients to be mixed into a salve. The swarm of wasps was slightly less numerous at that point, but she still had a few more close calls- including one with a particularly big wasp which looked intent to impale her through the heart. Her staff struck it right in the body, which was unfortunately only enough to shove it back a meter or two before it was coming right back at her. She clenched up and tried to keep her eyes open even as her instincts told her to cover her face- despite the fact it wasn¡¯t attacking there. She wasn¡¯t sure if she imagined a dull blob of energy washing over the thing, but her next overhead swing smacked it down to the dirt below. She continued to beat the thing with her staff until it no longer resembled a nasty, flying bug. She probably should have been focusing on the other wasps, but it seemed they were either defeated or beginning to retreat. Sasho and Trix clobbered the last few around them, before taking a look around. ¡°Hey, you survived,¡± Trix said. ¡°Looks like you could use a bit of a patch-up though.¡± ¡°Same with you,¡± Idalia commented. Sasho had more than a handful of visible holes, slowly leaking blood, and Trix was clearly not unharmed. Both of them were pretty low on energy too. If she wanted to take them out this might be her best chance¡­ but of course she was pretty exhausted herself. Instead of doing that, she treated all of their wounds to the best of her ability. The two of them appeared a bit woozy, and Sasho seemed to be in significant pain, but all she could do was relieve some of the symptoms. Back at her shop she had treatments for normal wasp stings, but those were mostly relief for the pain and swelling. These things could have entirely different properties. The wind switching directions once more reminded her of the task- and how awful the area ahead smelled. The group continued forward until they saw the bodies of various beasts lying in a pile. There were weird grubs- or maybe they were larvae- wriggling around in the bodies. A short distance away was their target- the tree thistle. Just as pictured and described, it was basically a milk thistle but several meters tall, with all of its other attributes scaled up as well. That included the spikes along the giant stalk and various leafy offshoots. They were supposed to carry that back? Idalia looked down at the little hand shovel she¡¯d brought to dig up herbs and shook her head. It was quite inadequate for the job. At least they had the wheelbarrow, but even that was looking rather small if they had to dig up the whole thing. Was this what cultivators always had to deal with? Chapter 300 ¡°Alright so,¡± Trix looked at the tree thistle. ¡°Do we just yank it out?¡± ¡°No!¡± Idalia unintentionally yelled. ¡°What is wrong with you? Didn¡¯t you read the page?¡± she waved it towards Trix. ¡°Sure I did. It just said to uproot it whole.¡± ¡°Stop!¡± Idalia called out to Sasho who had his arms wrapped around the plant. ¡°You¡¯ll just tear it in half if you do that. And put holes in your arms, if you grab it tight.¡± Sasho looked down at his arms- which already had some wasp stings. ¡°Ouch.¡± Idalia sighed. ¡°Okay, look, the roots should go pretty much straight down. Apparently we need to keep this thing encased in dirt, so we have to dig¡­ maybe a meter on each side? That¡¯s so much dirt though, it¡¯ll more than fill that wheelbarrow.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all we have,¡± Trix said helpfully. ¡°Why did Birita send you?¡± Idalia shook her head. ¡°Believe it or not, I¡¯m one of the careful ones. And Sasho¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m here to lift it,¡± he flexed. ¡°I¡¯m strong.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Idalia sighed. ¡°And I¡¯m here because¡­¡± ¡°You knew enough to have proper caution. Birita must have known that. Or¡­ wanted someone to blame for screwing it up.¡± ¡°Same could be said for you two,¡± Idalia grumbled. ¡°Why do you work for her anyway?¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± Trix looked over at Sasho, who looked back. ¡°Because Trix does,¡± Sasho nodded. ¡°It¡¯s complicated,¡± Trix frowned. ¡°Yeah well, your complicated is making things awful for the rest of us.¡± Idalia had gotten her confidence back after the battle. That wasn¡¯t her forte, but chastising unruly customers and working with herbs was. These two were kind of both¡­ even if they were also much stronger than her. But she¡¯d dealt with people who could physically overpower her before, it just so happened that both she and her foes were stronger at the current moment. She jabbed her trowel into the ground, drawing out a line. ¡°We¡¯ll dig down from here, as deep as arm¡¯s length. That¡¯ll have to be good enough.¡± Going straight from a battle to physical labor was difficult. Idalia thought that maybe she was becoming too reliant on natural energy, but even her body was stronger- and she was just trying to do more than a normal person would. This was the sort of project that should really take a long afternoon with proper shovels, whereas they were using their hands and her trowel and Sasho¡¯s axe as improvised digging implements. It was foolish of her to assume they had something when she had seen what they were carrying. And they really didn¡¯t want to be here for long, because there could be more wasps. Or equally dangerous beasts. As Sasho¡¯s axe chopped through the dirt, Idalia sincerely hoped the sound of roots being cut were nearby trees and not their quarry. Or that the author of the scant page she had was incorrect about the required intact nature of the¡­ herb-tree. It was frustrating enough that all of the effects seemed to have been intentionally removed. What was Birita going to get out of this? It seemed fairly potent to Idalia, but would it be enough to empower Birita? If so¡­ should she make sure that didn¡¯t happen? Some people seemed to find the idea of sacrificing themselves simple. Either they had nothing to live for, or they thought that thing would do just fine without them. Personally, Idalia had a lot of life ahead of her still left to live, and wasn¡¯t planning to die out in the woods. But she¡¯d been getting a better idea of how to use her natural energy to sense the effects of herbs without anyone ingesting them. She carefully avoided the spiky leaves, navigating her hand to a place with the least spikes so she could hold her palm against it. Then she circulated her energy out and through the plant. ¡°I hope you¡¯re not doing something stupid,¡± Trix commented. ¡°Just checking its potency. You do want it to work, right?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Trix nodded. ¡°We¡¯d get in trouble if it didn¡¯t.¡± Idalia just nodded, keeping her focus on the plant. Aside from being full of natural energy and freakishly huge¡­ it felt just like milk thistle. Just more of it. Maybe it was the same, or maybe she simply couldn¡¯t pick out what made it different. Approximately an hour later- though a quite exhausting one- Idalia and the others stood around the plant, having dug up beneath it as far as they could. ¡°Okay,¡± Idalia guided, ¡°The two of us will hold the dirt in place and help lift, but Sasho has to do the majority of the pulling. But we want to yank out the deep roots, not tear them apart- so try to maintain a steady strength.¡± Perhaps it was pointless to hope that Sasho could do things precisely, but she still had the hope. ¡°On the count of three¡­ one¡­ two¡­¡± They all lifted at slightly different times. At first nothing happened. The main roots were buried too deep. Then Sasho roared, tugging with all of his might. Idalia and Trix barely managed to hold the dirt around the roots¡­ but there was a snapping sound as roots tore off down below- and the upper half of the plant flopped over. Sasho plopped the plant into the large wheelbarrow, his face dotted with prickles from the spines on the plant, caused even with his natural energy and tempered body. ¡°There. Done.¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Aaaagh!¡± Idalia looked at the thing, with snapped roots and milky white goop leaking where the top broke apart. She hopped up into the wheelbarrow. ¡°Okay. Umm. I¡¯ll hold this together. Just¡­ get us back to town!¡± She grimaced. In the worst case¡­ they could just find another, right? It wasn¡¯t as if Birita needed something so big on short notice. ¡°She doesn¡¯t need this today, right?¡± ¡°... by sundown,¡± Trix commented. Idalia looked at the afternoon sun. ¡°...Whyyyyyy?¡± Nobody had an answer for her, of course, but Sasho started pushing. Every bump threatened to knock over the tree thistle or impale Idalia on its spikes, or simply snap off the top. Idalia was doing her very best to hold it together and keep all of it inside itself, while Trix tried to somewhat clear the way, chopping high branches that might cause them trouble. It was miraculous that they made it back to town with some time left, but they weren¡¯t quite done. Idalia still needed to process the plant. It wasn¡¯t terribly difficult as herbalism tasks went, except for the size of the thing. ¡°We¡¯ll go in the back,¡± Idalia commented. ¡°My workstation is right in there.¡± She¡¯d assumed that Sasho knew that meant to stop outside the door, but when she crashed through- sending the teetering upper half toppling on herself and Sasho- she knew she should have been specific. But at least they were inside. ¡°Oookay. We have to work quick. Sasho, I need you to grind up the seeds with this mortar and pestle!¡± He looked at the less than palm sized bowl in his hands. ¡°Too small,¡± he commented. ¡°Ugh¡­ just¡­ squash them in your hand? But drop the dust in uh¡­ this bowl.¡± She picked out one of the largest vessels she had. Though she would need more. ¡°Trix! Go buy me some big jars! We need to store all this crap.¡± ¡°On it!¡± Trix ran out, following orders easily. Everyone wanted to succeed, at least. From the flower to the milky sap from the stem to the roots to the seeds, pretty much every part except the thorny leaves were being used in the recipe. There were a few stabilizing agents that Idalia was fortunate to have plenty of as she began throwing things into pots, mixing with a frenzy. Though she didn¡¯t notice it at the time, as she was exhausted, she actually worked above and beyond her capabilities. Cultivators under pressure could draw upon more natural energy than normal¡­ as well as those working on something they found a connection to. It was both for Idalia, though she mostly felt panic until later. When Trix came back with a dozen large pots balanced all over her, Idalia started her on some of the simple mixing. ¡°Sasho! This needs to be crushed smaller! Really grind it to a fine powder!¡± As Idalia was working, she looked at some of the herbs she¡¯d brought from the forest, and what she already had in her shop. It would be trivial to add a little bit of something special. Birita probably wouldn¡¯t notice until it was too late, and the two with her wouldn¡¯t understand it didn¡¯t belong. It might not be enough to kill Birita, but chances were her wrath would be taken out on the two of them. Maybe things would find their way back to Idalia, but for the mere opportunity to take down the woman¡­ But despite the fact that Sasho and Trix were working for her, they weren¡¯t really like the others. Sure, Trix was snarky about things and absolutely collected the ¡®taxes¡¯ for Birita, but whenever it happened to Idalia she didn¡¯t feel so bad about it when it was her. And Sasho was big and clumsy, but probably didn¡¯t really get that he was doing something wrong. Even if she could guarantee she wouldn¡¯t receive a backlash, the fact that they probably would stopped her. And she had no guarantee that only Birita would be ingesting this concoction. Actually, it seemed insane to think one woman would need all of this. Maybe she was planning to sell it, but if so she really should have taken her time with this. Idalia shoved aside all thoughts of poisoning Birita- directly or indirectly. Until later, at least, if she could guarantee some actual damage and that only Birita would be harmed. Or at least only her and her worst cronies. ----- When Sasho and Trix hurried off- just as the sun was beginning to set- Idalia collapsed in a pile. Specifically, into the dirt. There was far too much of it in her workshop, as well as various dirtied and broken things. Her door was useless too. But¡­ she¡¯d survived the ordeal. Hopefully. Unless too much potency had been lost and Birita decided to kill her anyway. ¡°Need some help?¡± a voice asked. She turned her head, realizing there had been footprints approaching. ¡°Oh¡­ Hiram.¡± She closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded. ¡°Yeah, I need to clean up.¡± It took a few moments for something to come back to her. ¡°In the forest¡­ was that you? Taking out that wasp.¡± ¡°It was,¡± he nodded. ¡°I happened to be approaching your shop at the same time as these two. I followed after you at a significant distance. They radiated quite a bit of power, so my own ability to hide myself wasn¡¯t that important. I decided in that battle the risk was acceptable, with everyone seeming quite distracted.¡± ¡°Thanks, I needed it.¡± ¡°I would have liked to do more,¡± he said as he began sweeping around her, pushing things out the back door. ¡°I also would have liked to take out those two.¡± ¡°We shouldn¡¯t,¡± Idalia said quickly. ¡°I know. It would just draw the wrath of stronger people. But those two didn¡¯t feel too far out of our reach.¡± ¡°Yeah but¡­ it¡¯s not just that. Those two¡­ are fine people.¡± ¡°They smashed up your shop and almost got you killed,¡± Hiram pointed out. ¡°Yeah, but it wasn¡¯t really their fault. They¡¯re good people at heart, I think. Just¡­ forced into working for Birita somehow. I think it would be better to get them on our side.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Hiram contemplated for a while as he continued to sweep. ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered that. So far, my encounters with Birita¡¯s group have only solidified their status as thus, and the Gray Rock Sect remains cowardly bullies.¡± ¡°Maybe not all of them, though,¡± Idalia pointed out. ¡°Some people might just be biding their time, like us. Even those working for Birita¡­ they have to be getting something from it. If they can grow stronger, maybe they can do something.¡± ¡°... I almost wish you¡¯d taken up Anton¡¯s offer,¡± Hiram said. ¡°Then we could be done with it. But perhaps instead of just taking the ¡®easy¡¯ way, we should work towards something¡­ more sustainable.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Idalia said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t ask you to try to hold your temper around the Gray Rock Sect, but I or some of the others could look into them more closely. And maybe we can ask Trix about others. Sasho¡­ probably doesn¡¯t need to hear any of this though. He seems like the kind that would be bad at keeping secrets.¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Hiram agreed. ¡°And when Anton returns, we might ask for some help spying on people. I am under the impression that he can sense things from¡­ a significant distance.¡± Several kilometers away, Anton half-grinned to himself. It seemed things were going fine without his constant watch. But the issues still might outlast his stay in the area. Chapter 301 Anton walked into Idalia¡¯s shop and pulled a stack of books out of his storage bag. She looked at him curiously and asked, ¡°What¡¯s all that?¡± ¡°This is a selection of herbalist manuals covering the most common herbs useful for people in Body Tempering,¡± Anton explained. ¡°I have more for Spirit Building, but those are rather valuable.¡± ¡°Knowing cultivators, I doubt I could afford the others anyway. Business is up, but not that much.¡± Anton set them down on the counter in front of her, ¡°I¡¯m not planning to sell them to you. I¡¯m just giving them to you. I¡¯ll do the same with the others, but they¡¯re a bit too much of a temptation for others to steal with your current cultivation.¡± Anton flipped one of them open, ¡°In exchange, I need your experience in the field. I¡¯m still missing some key experience to understand some parts of these.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve already read them? Then you might know more than me.¡± ¡°For a short time, perhaps I might know more about these things in particular. And I¡¯ll admit to having studied some of them before,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°But it¡¯s a matter of access to knowledge for you. And when you reach Spirit Building, you can look forward to some significant increases in mental processing.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know why you¡¯d want to learn from me, when cultivators seems to already know everything,¡± Idalia frowned. ¡°That¡¯s simple,¡± Anton explained. ¡°Cultivators don¡¯t always think about what they¡¯re doing. They don¡¯t make medicines for headaches and common fevers. And they are likely to miss plants that are not imbued with natural energy even if they have valuable properties. Like those not used for fighting or recovering from a fight.¡± ¡°Yet you seem to be trying to make everyone a cultivator,¡± Idalia countered. ¡°Everyone needs to enjoy the benefits of using natural energy, and enhanced bodies and minds. Personally I also think everyone should know at least the basics of combat so they can band together to deal with problems. Beyond that, however, I find that non-cultivators tend to do a better job making a sustainable living. Or rather, I work with the people who do.¡± Anton nodded to himself, ¡°Most people fail to see the benefits of everyone cultivating, only thinking what it might cost them in the short term. Even if that short term is a mere decade, which shouldn¡¯t matter to serious cultivators.¡± Idalia nodded seriously, ¡°And how long have you been cultivating?¡± ¡°Fifteen years,¡± Anton grinned widely. ¡°Yeah, sure. Me too.¡± Anton didn¡¯t bother with correcting her thoughts at the moment. It was well known that cultivators took a long time to reach significant power- and that only the young were suited to start cultivating. Though Anton had already recruited some of the less young throughout Arbington. ¡°Need help with that door?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Already called in someone to replace the doorframe and the rest.¡± Idalia frowned, ¡°Now I¡¯m worried about how easy it is for cultivators to break in, though.¡± ¡°I¡¯d suggest a secret basement,¡± Anton gestured downward. ¡°If it¡¯s deep enough nobody will notice anything important in it. Put it below a regular basement so that nobody bothers to get close or wonder why you head downstairs. Or protect it with formations, but you need the strength to back that up. Same with storage bags that you carry on you at all times,¡± Anton patted the bag at his waist. ¡°Seems problematic.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the issue with having valuables,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°And nobody properly enforcing the laws.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t remind me.¡± ¡°Too late,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°But this place is well on its way. Just needs a few years.¡± ¡°And then what, we mob Birita?¡± ¡°Never underestimate a mob with pitchforks. Or proper spears.¡± ----- Arbington wasn¡¯t the only town under Birita¡¯s shadow that Anton was spending time in, but it was the most promising. Other places had fewer people willing to put in the effort to cultivate, even though it would ultimately yield them more productivity than the time they lost. Some people had little leeway to make ends meet- though Anton was willing to help with that- while others simply didn¡¯t accept Anton¡¯s words that it was worthwhile. He still kept coming back though. At the entrance to one of them, Timberville, he saw a pair of cultivators waiting. They were just newbies in Body Tempering, but he knew they worked for Birita. They weren¡¯t stopping anyone passing through, though. Just watching them. He could have gone around them easily enough, but he also had no worries about approaching them. If they couldn¡¯t discern who to cause trouble with or not, it would be a favor to Birita to take them out. Though he¡¯d rather not implicate the town, if he could help it. ¡°Hey, you¡­¡¯re senior Anton, correct?¡± The tone of the woman leaning against the gate switched between an accustomed rudeness and very unpracticed politeness. ¡°I might be. Who¡¯s asking?¡± ¡°Birita wants to¡­ has requested to see you. In person.¡± ¡°Did she say that?¡± Anton asked, ¡°Or did she say ¡®go grab that old bastard and bring him to me¡¯?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ recall her exact words,¡± the way the woman was sweating indicated he¡¯d gotten surprisingly close. Though Anton could keep a general sense of where the strongest sources of energy were in a wide area, his senses weren¡¯t so amazing that he could track every conversation, even of the important people. So he¡¯d approximated from how Birita usually talked. ¡°I see. But you didn¡¯t answer my first question. Who are you?¡± The woman tried to step back. ¡°T-Trix, senior.¡± The man across the way stomped up to Anton, his lips tightly pursed. Anton had the feeling he¡¯d been told not to say anything, but was finding it difficult. ¡°You¡¯d be Sasho then?¡± he said to the man. ¡°Well, I won¡¯t cause the two of you any further trouble. You can bring me to her.¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Uh¡­¡± Trix looked around nervously. ¡°Right now¡­?¡± ¡°That¡¯s your job isn¡¯t it? Seems like you should do it.¡± ¡°Right. Sure. Obviously. I just thought¡­ cultivators like you were busy.¡± ¡°I am,¡± Anton half-lied. ¡°But that¡¯s why I¡¯m going now. If she wants to talk, we¡¯ll talk. And I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll appreciate the two of you bringing me over.¡± ¡°Y-yeah. Right. It¡¯s um¡­ this way.¡± Trix kept nervously looking over her shoulder at Anton, which seemed completely unnecessary since he knew it wasn¡¯t what he looked like that was intimidating. Her natural energy kept trying to feel him out, then recoiling when it got close. And Anton wasn¡¯t even doing anything to cause that. ¡°Is it true¡­ that you¡¯re an Essence Collection cultivator?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°So you¡¯re¡­ pretty strong, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Mm. Uh, Birita is strong too. Just so you know.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Anton said clearly. ¡°And if you¡¯re nervous about Birita having eyes and ears everywhere, it¡¯s likely much more limited than you think.¡± They were heading out of town into the forest, walking at a fairly brisk pace. ¡°For example, I know neither she nor anyone else is close enough to hear anything if you were going to say that this was a trap of some kind. Or that she¡¯s been especially testy lately. But you also don¡¯t need to say those things.¡± His words didn¡¯t actually make Trix relax any, but Sasho seemed relieved. ¡°Oh good,¡± he nodded happily. ¡°Now neither of us have to say it.¡± Trix sighed, but she knew the damage was already done. As they walked along, Anton took stock of the little settlement up ahead. It was mostly a number of log cabins of various size and quality. The largest one of course contained Birita. The place was far enough from the nearby towns that she wouldn¡¯t be easily discovered, but Anton had known for some time. He hadn¡¯t gotten this close before though. The palisade wall around the place was¡­ nearly pointless. Though that was only if one considered Birita and not the others, who were much lower in cultivation on average. With mostly Body Tempering people and a small handful of Spirit Building cultivators, the walls could at least be of some use against opponents relevant to them. There were guards on towers flanking the gate, a pair of archers matched with spear-wielding counterparts below. ¡°Halt! Who goes there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s us! Trix and Sasho. We brought the one Birita asked to meet. Anton. This is him.¡± Anton looked up at the two guards, who were not only far too close for what he would have considered their optimal range but almost close enough he could leap to them to engage in melee before they could get a shot off. ¡°Uh, right. We heard about that. You can pass, but we¡¯ll be watching you.¡± They would certainly try, but the poor arrangement of buildings meant they wouldn¡¯t have a shot at Anton. Maybe it was intentional to not have a straight path to their leader¡¯s home, but the defenses didn¡¯t seem quite that intentionally arranged. As they drew close, Anton could sense Birita¡¯s chaotic energy. It was normally chaotic, but today it was especially so. A few more people challenged them, and in the end Anton walked up to Birita¡¯s cabin with a number of followers trailing along to see what would happen. Trix cautiously knocked on the door. ¡°What?¡± A voice shouted from the other side. ¡°I toldja not ta bother me!¡± ¡°At your request,¡± Trix carefully left her name out, ¡°We¡¯ve brought the cultivator, Anton.¡± A string of unintelligible profanity poured out of the cabin, before some useful words. ¡°Fine. Send ¡®im in!¡± Anton stepped inside, scoping out the place. Even if he hadn¡¯t learned from Catarina, the formations in the area would have been obvious. Inside was a woman with several scars on her face and arms, sitting in a wide stance on a wooden bench. Two jugs were laid out in front of her. She took a swig from one, grimaced, then a drink from the other. ¡°You. Ant. I hear you¡¯ve b¡¯n causin¡¯ trouble round here. Teachin¡¯ people things they don¡¯t need to know.¡± She waved her arms broadly as she did so. ¡°Pretty stupid.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Anton asked. He wasn¡¯t trying that hard to actually fool her, but drunk as she was he didn¡¯t know if it would even matter. Drunk Essence Collection cultivators might still be dangerous and perceptive, but it certainly lowered their capabilities. ¡°They¡¯re cultivatin¡¯,¡± she frowned and sloshed one of the jugs towards him with her gesture. ¡°Can¡¯t have that.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Are you afraid?¡± he let his voice carry, loud enough that those outside might overhear. ¡°¡®Course not,¡± she spat. ¡°Just don¡¯t like trouble. And you¡¯re trouble.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like trouble either.¡± ¡°Good. Hey¡­ waitaminnit. Didja just imply that I¡¯m trouble? Huh?¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I think¡­ you¡¯re askin¡¯ for it!¡± She stood up angrily and stomped her foot. The gesture wasn¡¯t just one of annoyance, but seemed to activate the formations. ¡°Men, get him!¡± Anton stood still for a couple seconds. Then he smiled, ¡°Barrier formations also keep people out,¡± he explained. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll take care of you myself!¡± she reached for a large sword on her back. Before she had it drawn, Anton kicked the jug of alcohol towards her. He immediately followed up with three arrows, simply shot from his energy bows instead of drawing his actual weapon. One of the arrows was made of flame, shooting through the extremely alcoholic beverage, splashing it over her and lighting it on fire at the same time. The other two struck two different points in the formation. Anton wasn¡¯t a formation master by any means¡­ but whoever set this one up was several steps further away. ¡°There you go. Now they can get in.¡± Anton walked calmly towards the door as several people burst through. He simply slipped past them as they attempted to swing their weapons, smashing up some of the adjacent furniture. ¡°Pardon me. I¡¯m quite busy, so I¡¯ll be on my way.¡± His movement replicated Vincents from when he had first watched the man, striding along uneven ground like he was floating along a river. A swift one. Anton had almost surpassed the man in cultivation now, but his example had been a guiding light for a time. Though he seemed unhurried, Anton was not particularly interested in staying in the gang settlement to be attacked from all sides. He was just one man after all, and his purposes were better suited by not fighting¡­ much. If he were simply interested in killing Birita, attacking while she was drunk might be best- but Anton had the feeling that was something of a constant these days. The burning alcohol wouldn¡¯t have really damaged her, but it would make her look back in front of her subordinates. That was more valuable than anything else. At the entrance of the camp, completely ignoring the two archers shooting down at him, Anton turned. ¡°Oh yes, but I almost forgot.¡± He drew his actual bow, gathering ascension energy to make his shot have the most possible impact. He could have fired over the buildings to hit his target, but he thought it would make a better point if there were shattered walls in between. ¡°Don¡¯t assume there¡¯s nobody stronger than you.¡± A meter wide hole opened up in a straight line in between Anton and Birita. It was a complete waste of energy, damaging the buildings like that instead of having a tiny hole, but it was more theatrical. The woman was just managing to realize that the fire didn¡¯t matter when his arrow struck her hand, sending her sword flying out of her grasp. ¡°Remember that. And the rest of you, think long and hard about if this is what you want to do.¡± Anton glared up at the archers, who had launched a handful of arrows into the ground near him- accuracy wasn¡¯t a problem, but their inability to break through his defensive energy meant they flopped uselessly to the ground. The archers grinned sheepishly and dropped their bows. Then Anton walked away, before the impact wore off and anyone realized that Birita was basically uninjured- including her. He might win that fight with Birita drunk, but the extra people could eventually become a problem. If he was going to kill all of her followers, he could have just done it from several kilometers away, one at a time. Instead, he¡¯d hopefully cause some damage to morale¡­ and he¡¯d also gained some useful intel regarding the second, non-alcoholic jug she was chugging. Chapter 302 After he knew Birita was aware of his efforts, Anton took some more precautions to protect people. It was already known that he was teaching people to cultivate, but she hadn¡¯t taken action about that just yet. Showing too much favoritism for one individual might be a problem, though. They could be singled out and made an example. While such information might already be known, Anton avoided approaching people when there were watchers. He was becoming increasingly unsure of his policy to let things continue as they were, but the budding cultivations of his students and the information he now possessed brought a little confidence. Birita¡¯s thugs had better things to do than stand around all day watching for Anton- and they would soon learn that when they realized he never got within eyesight of them. But while they were wasting a week or two assuming they would notice him getting close, he was continuing to go about his business. ¡°This tree thistle,¡± Anton discussed with Idalia, ¡°It shares the same properties as the milk thistle? Except increased in magnitude significantly.¡± ¡°I think so,¡± Idalia nodded. ¡°Among other things, it¡¯s supposed to be good for the liver.¡± ¡°Perhaps good for heavy drinkers?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Good for them? Probably not. Used by them¡­ sometimes. But it¡¯s better for them to stop. The side effects aren¡¯t great.¡± After Anton explained Birita¡¯s actions, Idalia shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s stupid. While it should theoretically help recover the damage to her liver to some extent, that¡¯s only in moderation. Taking that much of anything is just going to act more like a poison. And¡­ taking it while drinking is just asking to magnify the stomach issues it can cause. She has to constantly be feeling sick.¡± ¡°She appears to be quite irritable,¡± Anton concurred. ¡°It¡¯s not normally the sort of thing that I¡¯d say is potentially fatal, but huge swigs of the stuff I made?¡± Idalia grimaced. ¡°Just how good are the bodies of cultivators?¡± ¡°Not that good,¡± Anton offered. ¡°I didn¡¯t feel her taking steps to filter it, either.¡± ¡°So¡­ maybe she drinks herself to death, or bloats herself to death. Either might take a while. Then someone else takes over and continues everything.¡± ¡°Probably,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But in the course of those months you and the others grow stronger, a step or two at a time. I didn¡¯t observe any sort of proper training going on in their camp, and that¡¯s reflected in their lower ranking members. They¡¯re not even trying to teach the ground-level thugs how to cultivate. You and the others already can deal with them.¡± ¡°Sort of, yeah. But even if we take them out, all it would take is her flipping out to kill us all.¡± ¡°So?¡± Anton asked. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± It was a sincere question, not some sort of deflection. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Killing her now actually invites retaliation. If we can wait until she offs herself somehow, it might lead to a violent transfer of power that would weaken their position. If you could take out the right people¡­ or we could sway some to be reasonable¡­ it might work out.¡± Idalia sighed, ¡°Because I do believe you¡¯re right that someone else would probably just move in afterwards. And despite the expenses, at least people aren¡¯t getting killed. Mostly. The Gray Rock Sect wouldn¡¯t be a good replacement for her, though they might end up¡­ about the same.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°That all sounds about right.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re right and we could have Spirit Building people within a year¡­ if we can just hang on that long, we could control our own destinies. If she dies. Either we can have you do it or¡­ wait for the inevitable. Her doing it to herself, or pissing off some other cultivators.¡± Idalia frowned, ¡°But if she¡¯s going through that medicine so quickly, if it doesn¡¯t bring her down she¡¯ll run out. And then I¡¯ll have to find more. Once was hard enough, and I think I got lucky. If there¡¯s more, I could really use your help locating it.¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I¡¯m quite happy to provide information. And protection where it¡¯s necessary. If there isn¡¯t more¡­¡± ¡°I kept some seeds,¡± Idalia replied. ¡°I could grow some, but I have no idea how long it takes and it would either seem suspicious or be too expensive or both.¡± ¡°That also sounds right. If it really needs to grow on deep forests around corpses, I could also set that up.¡± ¡°I wish you could just stay here forever.¡± ¡°It would be nice, but there¡¯s more to the world than here. I¡¯d prefer if every part of it was improved as much as I could. And of course, I don¡¯t have forever.¡± Anton clarified, ¡°I¡¯ll be returning to my home with the others soon enough. We never planned to be here any longer than two years at most, and we¡¯re past six months.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Idalia nodded. ¡°Just make sure to let us know before you go. So we can be ready.¡± ¡°If I can, I will. At the very least, I can get a message to you.¡± ----- ¡°I can¡¯t believe they didn¡¯t let us participate in the tournament,¡± Alva complained. ¡°It was for the purpose of empowering local juniors,¡± Annelie explained. ¡°Prizes going to outsiders would defeat the purpose.¡± ¡°But why wouldn¡¯t they let us participate just to fight?¡± ¡°It would complicate things,¡± Anish surmised. ¡°And while you might be reasonable enough to actually mean you don¡¯t care about the rewards, they have no assurance of that.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°And why wouldn¡¯t they fight us outside of the tournament?¡± Alva complained. ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m Chikere. I don¡¯t cut people in half! Or kill them at all, when I don¡¯t mean to.¡± Annelie shrugged, ¡°Technically neither does she. It¡¯s just more often her intent. And her presence¡­ has stirred up some of the sects here in the east. Something about their swords going missing. And of course there was the whole thing with Vianne.¡± ¡°But she was evil!¡± Alva grumbled. ¡°Her sect refused to believe that. They claimed the corpse was tampered with.¡± ¡°I bet they¡¯re in on it,¡± Alva declared. ¡°Or just trying to save face,¡± Anish shrugged. When Alva glared at him, he sighed. ¡°Well, it¡¯s true. Some sects are quite adamant that none of them were traitorous members of the Twin Soul Sect, despite proof to the contrary.¡± ¡°I thought a bunch of the old fogeys here were supposed to have learned stuff from Everheart, but everyone¡¯s so stubborn,¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°It just gets worse with age!¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Annelie said. ¡°Our grandfather is still planting seeds of cultivation in the commoners here, even though he won¡¯t be around to guide them for long. I doubt the world will be as good to them without him around.¡± Anish frowned, ¡°That¡¯s up to them, isn¡¯t it? At least they¡¯ll have a chance to fight for a real position in the world.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Alva said. ¡°It sucks to be weak and unable to fight back.¡± ¡°I know but¡­¡± Annelie shook her head. ¡°Not everyone¡¯s as lucky as us. To have the talent and proper teachers. Halfway cultivating might just feel worse.¡± Anish took his chance to speak. ¡°The elders of my sect would disagree. Even if they weren¡¯t all able to reach the heights they imagined, merely having the capability to act with confidence to work towards their desires was enough. And¡­ I suppose the rest of us are part of making the world a better place for such people to live. But enough of all that. What was the mission again?¡± ¡°Marauders. Reported by the Blue River Gardens,¡± Annelie replied. ¡°Isn¡¯t this close to where your grandfather is?¡± Anish asked. ¡°Do you think they¡¯re the same ones?¡± ¡°No, we¡¯re still significantly north of that. It¡¯s just that the Blue River Gardens lost a few of their members in mysterious circumstances. They recovered the bodies of one group, but the others¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit concerning,¡± Alva admitted. ¡°Yes. One among them was an Essence Collection elder. The two of us should be weaker, and Anish¡­ not much stronger. This is primarily a scouting mission.¡± ¡°Do you think we should go ask for his help?¡± Anish asked. ¡°It¡¯s only a few days out of our way.¡± ¡°And then a few days back, and we¡¯ve spent a week not looking for some people who could be alive. And letting the trail get colder,¡± Annelie pointed out. ¡°No, you¡¯re right. It¡¯s just I¡¯m not great at stealth.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be fine,¡± Alva assured him. ¡°I¡¯ll sense people way ahead.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve also gotten better lately,¡± Annelie commented. ¡°Much more than most of the members of Glorious Flame Palace.¡± ¡°What can I say?¡± he shrugged. ¡°Nobody likes dimming their fires. We¡¯re trained to be extremely open about things. Though it¡¯s not always as easy as it seems.¡± ----- One day later, Alva stopped them. ¡°I found something. Or someone.¡± She looked around, her energy mimicking the movement of her eyes to some extent. ¡°Or what used to be someone. I don¡¯t sense anyone nearby, but we should circle around just in case. If they¡¯re hiding on the far side, I wouldn¡¯t necessarily pick them out before we were visible.¡± Alva bent down towards a broken branch, looking closely. Then she sniffed. ¡°But I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s been through here in a while.¡± The three of them kept their energy restrained as they circled around, Alva in the lead with Anish one step behind to support her if something came up. He was the strongest of them, after all. A guardian of sorts, for the sake of improving the relationships between sects. Eventually they found their way through the hills, until they came upon what Alva had sensed. A desiccated corpse. ¡°Disgusting,¡± Alva said, sniffing. ¡°But¡­ it doesn¡¯t smell bad. It hasn¡¯t started properly decaying. It just¡­ looks like this.¡± ¡°Is there any chance this is the work of a beast?¡± Anish asked. ¡°No way. Beasts don¡¯t rob people of their equipment.¡± ¡°Why not bury it?¡± Annelie asked. ¡°No respect for the dead,¡± Anish commented. ¡°Sure, but they had to know people would be looking for them, and it would be harder if they were buried, I think.¡± ¡°Because they weren¡¯t planning to stay in the area,¡± Alva decreed. ¡°The first group was further north. This is more recent.¡± Alva turned her head, surveying the land around them. ¡°They were just passing through, and any delay in their presence being reported¡­ was enough.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Anish asked. ¡°It means we need to hurry,¡± Alva grimaced. ¡°Because this should be someone from the Whispering Watchers. Heading almost directly towards grandpa.¡± She started sprinting down the hill to the south. ¡°How many?¡± Anish asked as he caught up to her. ¡°Just one. But one might be enough. The lingering energy doesn¡¯t make it clear but¡­ based on that elder¡­¡± ¡°Life Transformation,¡± Anish commented. ¡°We know one of them had it out for him.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe they¡¯d just- ugh.¡± Annelie shook her head as she ran along with the others. ¡°Maybe they want a war. Sending an elder to kill him, and all.¡± Anish deliberately slowed his pace to subconsciously draw Alva back to a pace they could all sustain for what would likely be a very long day of running. ¡°They might have assumed that he is also an elder, given some of his characteristics. It wouldn¡¯t be such a political issue that way. If this is Elder Naheed, avenging a student would seem quite reasonable. Or perhaps they didn¡¯t care if it was reasonable.¡± ¡°What about killing the people who saw them?¡± Annelie asked. ¡°That seems like they didn¡¯t want to be known to be present.¡± ¡°A good point,¡± Anish agreed. ¡°We can take a short break to recharge when we get close to a significantly sized city and send out some messages¡­ including to the Blue River Gardens, for what little good it will do them.¡± Alva almost seemed as if she would insist that they run without stopping, but she knew that they could actually get there just as fast with the right breaks¡­ and they would arrive more while more effective. The messages also might be critical¡­ just in case things took the worst possible turn. Chapter 303 Ever since he had begun cultivating, Hiram had grown used to feeling the presence of people more powerful than himself around. It wasn¡¯t as if there were suddenly more cultivators, with the possible exception of Anton. He was simply more aware of them. His recent growth had been enough that at least he felt the gap closing with some of the locals who had been cultivating before himself. Most were in Body Tempering, some Spirit Building¡­ and then there was Anton in Essence Collection. Hiram considered himself lucky to never have been close to Birita. Even if she had apparently grown more unhinged recently, she had always been petty and evil. Dealing with her goons had been bad enough, which led to his wife sparking the conflict with the Gray Stone Sect. They still had their coming, too. It would be a while, but he could feel he would make it. He just had to believe and put in the work. It wouldn¡¯t be easy, but he could devote himself to the task fully. Over time he¡¯d gotten used to the feelings of different cultivation styles around him, the handful that Anton was teaching to his various students as well as the others. But he suddenly felt one that he¡¯d never felt before. At least¡­ not from anyone else. Death. That was the feeling of the energy, and what he thought would happen to him as it approached him. He didn¡¯t even get to fully consider running away before the suddenly detected presence was on top of him, looking him in the eyes. And then it was too late. ¡°You¡­ are not a member of the Whispering Watchers,¡± the voice was raspy and indistinct, but more or less directed at him. Or perhaps¡­ simply not excluded from his ears. ¡°You¡¯re coming with me.¡± Hiram had no ability to respond in any capacity as her energy wrapped around him as if he were simply a bundle of sticks and not a person. He recalled Anton¡¯s warnings. A deep part of him was filled with regret¡­ while another part of him was filled with hope. That was just the way humans functioned, because even though he knew he would die¡­ if he didn¡¯t, he might look forward to being as strong as the woman in front of him. It was only a very short time later that he found himself bound in heavy chains, inside a room at an inn on the edge of town where he¡¯d once rented a room. The stupid part of him deep inside thought to blame them for that, when it hardly mattered to his current situation and they would be just as helpless as he was. But the rest of his brain was hardly coming up with any solutions to his predicament either. Even if he wasn¡¯t being watched, he had the feeling he couldn¡¯t break out of the chains binding him. ¡°I¡¯m only going to ask this once,¡± the woman said. ¡°Where is Anton Krantz?¡± Hiram felt death wash over him. It wasn¡¯t just her energy, but something deeper. He felt her true intentions. In a way, that let him set his resolve. Since he was going to die anyway, he wasn¡¯t going to die while being a traitor to someone who he¡¯d chosen to involve himself with. ¡°Anton? Never heard of him.¡± Hiram felt his life being torn out of him. It was much the same as natural energy flowing through him, but without any of the care for his own safety¡­ or the promise of anything more to come afterwards. But- right before the final bit left him- the flow stopped. The woman clicked her tongue. ¡°No, better keep him alive for the moment. He might come look for him that way.¡± It didn¡¯t encourage Hiram that she¡¯d changed her mind. By any reasonable measure he wasn¡¯t alive anyway, nor would he be for long. And now he was being used as bait. He could only hope that Anton would understand the situation and let him die, since it would happen anyway. ----- The first flare of power could have been Anton¡¯s imagination. It was brief and indistinct, as well as incredibly far off. Ten kilometers, at a minimum. But as he focused his attention in that direction, he felt it once again¡­ much more clearly. It was hard to mistake. He¡¯d felt the cultivation technique before, and Hiram had been doing an excellent job practicing it. But the magnitude was many times different. Even if all of Arbington was composed of Body Tempering cultivators, they wouldn''t be able to put a scratch on a Life Transformation cultivator. Anton carefully extended his senses, doing his best not to allow his target to feel back towards himself. If she did, he knew he couldn¡¯t escape. Soon enough, he¡¯d verified all he needed to know. He couldn¡¯t guarantee that the woman was Elder Naheed, but names didn¡¯t matter in the current circumstance. She had Hiram. Beyond that, though Anton couldn¡¯t tell his exact state, he was just as sure as Hiram himself that the man would die. The logical choice was just to leave him. And when she killed everyone else he¡¯d come into contact with, and perhaps all of Arbington and the surrounding towns and villages¡­? It was simply inevitable. Nothing he could do about it. But Anton wasn¡¯t that kind of man. If he couldn¡¯t protect those he¡¯d chosen to make a part of his life, what was the point? But Anton also had people who cared about him, and for their sakes he couldn¡¯t die pointlessly. So he stood, watching¡­ waiting¡­ thinking. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Where were the nearest people he could call upon as allies? It was unfortunate, but obviously Arbington didn¡¯t have much of anything that could help. Nor anywhere within a day¡¯s travel in most directions- and that was by cultivator standards. Grand Elder Kseniya had warned him of the woman, but simply in general- not that she was actually approaching. She had been watching the sect, related to the suspicions that they were related to the Twin Soul Sect. Proof was inconclusive, and all that was certain was that they had at least a few as members and hadn¡¯t removed them. If he could somehow get a message to Grand Elder Kseniya¡­ she might arrive within a day. Perhaps two, if she were a bit further. After all, the speed a cultivator traveled in normal circumstances and emergencies were entirely different. Just because as a young man he could run to town without issue didn¡¯t mean he did run into town. He walked, like a normal, sane person. The same was true with cultivators, even if they walked much more quickly. If he¡¯d simply been directly attacked, Anton would have found the decision making process easier. As it was, he had too many options¡­ and none of them seemed to lead to anything good. He¡¯d never spent so long planning a shot before. Especially not without knowing if he could even take the shot. Physically he was capable, but would it do any good? That was something else entirely. How long would it be before she moved from Hiram to someone else? He couldn¡¯t be saved anymore, but anyone following him Anton was still able to protect. Taking the shot now should result in the minimal number of deaths. He found himself at the top of a tree. There were plenty of similar size in the deep woods, where he¡¯d been tending to the third batch of tree thistles. Atop his perch he wouldn¡¯t be fighting against the curvature of the planet quite so much. A nice twenty-meter tall tree tripled the proper distance to the horizon. With his target at ten kilometers, he even had some extra room to breathe on the far end. His fingers fiddled with his quiver. Getting his hands on a copy of the Deathly Heart Technique had allowed some flaws to be discerned- mostly by the Life Transformation elders traveling with those from the other continent. But Anton noticed one independently, before it was explained more clearly by others. As a technique associated with death, its practitioners were also highly sensitive to killing intent. Killing intent was one of those hard to quantify things, and normally paired with the ability to sense danger in general. But in this particular case, it was truly that specific. The truer the risk of death, the more they would be able to anticipate an incoming attack. But if an attack was not deadly¡­ their senses might be muted to it. Just slightly, but that might be enough. Anton¡¯s fingers settled on a black arrow. He only had one, and he only came into possession of it because of favoritism from Kseniya. A black thorned arrow. It came from a very obscure plant that had the slight issue of not growing anywhere with natural energy, and in very specific climates to boot. So far it hadn¡¯t been artificially cultivated, but from Anton¡¯s perspective it felt like a distant relative of the western creeper. In short, its thorns almost completely ignored energy defenses¡­ and if it hit just the right spot it could disrupt a cultivator¡¯s energy flow until they yanked it out, potentially causing more damage than when it struck them. She¡¯d used one arrow during the execution, greatly hindering one of their opponents. Anton doubted he could achieve a perfect shot, but with what he hoped was the element of surprise he would certainly try. He wouldn¡¯t aim for the head or neck. Nor would he aim for the heart. The capacity of something that ignored energy to strike the dantian in its metaphysical location below the stomach was not something Anton knew, but if it did it might also be a fatal blow. So he was aiming for a kidney. Something below the ribcage and important, but also one that could be done without. A normal person might go into shock and die from having a kidney destroyed, but a cultivator would be able to handle it somewhat. And hopefully¡­ it would not be sensed the same way. He hesitated, not because he was unsure about whether he should take the shot¡­ but when he should. Exchanging his own life for Hiram¡­ even he wasn¡¯t so selfless. It was likely too late for him regardless. But Elder Naheed hadn¡¯t gone anywhere in the several long minutes Anton had been watching. If she remained where she was, nobody else would die. Hopefully. So he was waiting for something to make the choice for him. Then he felt it. Something unexpected but sufficient for him to decide, off to the north. Something that Elder Naheed would absolutely notice soon. His fingers pulled the arrow from his quiver. He raised his bow and nocked it on the string, pulling it back in one smooth motion. No special energy adorned the arrow, and what was there simply existed to propel it straight and true. The power of ascension and that from beyond death could both signal more than he was willing to give away. His fingers released, the string snapped. Then the arrow was in flight. Normally Anton would have had another two or three at least on their way by the time it arrived, but his first one needed to strike¡­ and the additional attacks might provide some semblance of warning. Normally Anton would fly with his arrow, but in this case his connection to the arrow was shaky due to its materials. Even so, he felt it was perfectly on target, flying towards Elder Naheed, intending to slip just below her ribs on the right side. Her moving a single pace to the side required only the minutest adjustment in its trajectory. Then he lost all sense of the arrow, and Elder Naheed¡¯s power flared up like a fire. A cruel fire, ravaging a city not because of carelessness or storm but because someone wanted to see it burn, to watch people die. A foul energy. And hopefully¡­ a slightly diminished one. But it certainly charged towards him with enough speed for him to know his shot was far from fatal. Chapter 304 ¡°That felt like Grandpa!¡± Alva exclaimed. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t he have waited just a little bit? We were almost there¡­¡± The trio of cultivators picked up their pace, from running at a sustainable speed to sprinting their fastest, the landscape flying by. ¡°Do you think he noticed us?¡± Anish asked. ¡°Uh¡­ probably,¡± Alva admitted. ¡°He was taking a shot at something further away than we are.¡± ¡°In that case, he could be expecting our arrival. We should focus on speed instead of talking,¡± Annelie pointed out. The difference in speed a cultivator could produce when talking or not was almost negligible, but sometimes a single step out of a kilometer would make a difference in a battle between cultivators. They were still a handful of kilometers north of Anton, whereas his target had been to the west. Both parties seemed to be coming in at a right angle collision course. Though none of those present were specialists in long distance sensing, the powerful energy of Anton¡¯s target became clear. They had the same deathly energy as the bodies they had found. At least they didn¡¯t have to warn him about the Whispering Watchers, since he clearly already knew. Alva¡¯s grumbles about not having Fuzz to make her faster were only internal. Even so, she made a vow not to leave him behind even if it was awkward to take him along. ----- When the arrow struck the woman in front of Hiram, he almost felt his heart stop. The attack and the reaction were both overwhelming¡­ the old woman¡¯s deathly energy unconsciously lashing out against the danger. Then she was gone, moving directly through the window and the portion of wall that got in her way. Hiram could sense her moving, or at least where she had been from the tremendous energy she radiated¡­ but he couldn¡¯t track her at all. Nor had he noticed Anton¡¯s arrow before it struck. But it had to be his. He¡¯d felt the man when he sparred with them. It was the same¡­ but a thousand times more serious. Anton training with them had been like a soldier training infants. How frustrating. And here he was, nearly dead and chained up. And at least partially responsible for Anton¡¯s upcoming death. There had been training to conceal his energy, and he knew he should take it seriously¡­ but he just thought it was to blind the locals from knowing how much he was growing. He hadn¡¯t expected one of the Whispering Watchers to arrive. Hiram struggled against his chains, but he could barely move. Even at his best, he couldn¡¯t have broken the chains. He could only stare out the window and now-open wall, helpless. Then a face poked itself over the edge. ¡°Hiram?¡± Idalia asked cautiously. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°... Anton¡¯s in trouble,¡± Hiram kept his explanation as short as possible. Even talking was hard. ¡°Anton¡¯s in trouble? You¡¯re in trouble,¡± she pulled herself up. ¡°You look like you¡¯re about to die.¡± ¡°I likely am¡­¡± he nodded. ¡°Cultivators are¡­ vicious.¡± A rattling sound made Hiram realize Idalia was trying to undo his chains. ¡°Don¡¯t bother. There¡¯s no way¡­ we could break them.¡± ¡°You¡¯re really in a bad state, huh?¡± Idalia shook her head. ¡°Eat this.¡± She placed something in Hiram¡¯s mouth, but he couldn¡¯t even swallow it properly and she had to shove it down his throat with energy. When she did, he felt a little bit of vitality beginning to flow through him. ¡°That¡¯s a basic vitality pill. Just learned it. Might be some side effects, but¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°Now let¡¯s get you out of here.¡± She yanked on him, but he didn¡¯t move. ¡°Oh damn. These are heavy.¡± She yanked once more and he hit the ground with a loud clanking sound. ¡°Ugh¡± was all he could manage as the air was knocked out of him. ¡°Sorry,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe I could roll you¡­ no, stairs might be too much. And this ledge would definitely be too much.¡± Idalia shook her head. ¡°You just wait right here. I¡¯ll go get the smith.¡± Hiram would have told her not to bother, but he didn¡¯t have the capacity to speak or the belief it would stop her. She came back later, throwing a man up to the broken opening instead of coming through the door. She soon followed after. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± the dark skinned smith known as Bongani shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no way I can break whatever the heck these chains are. Even if we were at my forge.¡± ¡°Crap. What do we do then?¡± Idalia asked. ¡°Well¡­ they¡¯re a tiny bit loose. We can just wiggle him out. Hope he¡¯s flexible.¡± Hiram¡¯s flexibility had increased greatly in recent times, but he was currently feeling not very flexible. The chains had been overly tight, but he had wasted away instantly because of the woman¡¯s energy. Just enough for them to start getting him out a little at a time. It took a lot of effort, shifting chains and even twisting individual links to make the slightest gaps, but there were no manacles clamping onto him. It was more than just wrapping his arms tight to his torso, but with some twisting they finally got one arm out. With that loose, the entire chain had enough slack for them to gradually begin unentangling him. ¡°I want this chain,¡± Bongani said. ¡°But I also don¡¯t want whoever owns it to come back and murder me for it.¡± ¡°Should just leave me¡­¡± Hiram said. ¡°No way. We almost have you out now,¡± Idala chastised. And it wasn¡¯t long before he really was out. ¡°Now we have to get you somewhere you can rest.¡± ¡°... take me to Anton,¡± Hiram blurted out. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°What?¡± Idalia raised an eyebrow. ¡°Nothing¡­ just a stupid instinct.¡± Upon reflection, there was no way anything good could come of that. ¡°Could it help Anton?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think so¡­¡± Hiram tried to shake his head, and managed a little wiggle. ¡°Just a dumb thought. For if he won¡­¡± ¡°You think he won¡¯t win?¡± ¡°Did you feel her? It¡¯s¡­ hard to imagine anyone who could.¡± Bongani hefted Hiramo onto his shoulder. ¡°So where are we going? To a bed¡­ or after that?¡± ----- Anton focused his next dozen arrows directly at Elder Naheed¡¯s kidney- or rather the arrow still sticking out of the area. He didn¡¯t think it would do anything except anger her, but that might be good enough. He was also hoping she might strain the area with violent movements, but she wasn¡¯t interested in dodging. Instead she plowed through his shots, which was actually good enough since she wasted energy inefficiently blocking his attacks. A single arrow was filled with reincarnation energy, but instead of its normal effects of partially ignoring defensive energy, his Spirit Arrow exploded. Unfortunately, the explosion wasn¡¯t concentrated in any point enough to cause damage. It wasn¡¯t going to be long before the woman reached him. His reinforcements wouldn¡¯t arrive for at least half a minute after that. It seemed like a short time, but in a battle with a Life Transformation expert¡­ Anton wasn¡¯t going to count on it. He leapt out of his tree, taking off at an angle to the northeast. That should lead the groups to intersect earlier, and keep him from being caught quite as soon. As he ran, Anton gathered ascension energy for his first shot of about five. It was aimed the same as everything else, but with a little trick. If Naheed didn¡¯t notice in time, he might actually get something done. The arrow flew, and with it a portion of Anton¡¯s consciousness. The gap between them was less than half of what it had been, though the arrow wasn¡¯t as swift. Its target was coming towards Anton, however, so the effective velocity was rather significant. Naheed¡¯s defensive energy awkwardly extended around the tail of the black thorned arrow, hindered by its particular properties- but it wasn¡¯t so long that she couldn''t just extend her energy around it without touching it. When the arrow impacted her defensive energy, it collapsed- from back to front. It didn¡¯t fizzle into nothingness, but condensed into a blunt mass striking her defensive energy¡­ and forcing it inward, smashing into the arrow. It pushed it just a tiny bit deeper, but it got the results Anton wanted. Specifically, she ripped the black thorned arrow out of her wound, causing blood to pour out as the thorny barbs tore into her flesh. A few more volleys of arrows, and she was basically on top of him. At a few hundred meters behind him, she began gathering her energy into spheres which she lobbed, much like the other members of the Whispering Watchers. Her accuracy was much better, and the stability of her attacks as well. Anton had been able to pop the spheres of the Essence Collection members with a single arrow, but now he was taking two or three. It was quite difficult to outpace Elder Naheed, but he kept it up until she reached him in melee. Anton was quick, but not quick enough to continuously dodge the grasping hands of a Life Transformation cultivator. Even one slightly injured and irrational. She attacked without a weapon, her fingers serving like claws with deathly energy reaching beyond them. Little sickles, even, attempting to reap his life. A simple scrape on his cheek tore something out of him with the fleeting contact. A more direct hit or prolonged contact might be the end of him. He didn¡¯t have that much life left to spare. That gave him an idea¡­ but it wasn¡¯t one he was going to choose to make use of. He had to slow her down for just a moment, and so he formed his energy bows around himself, peppering her with arrows. Some were flashes of light aimed at her eyes, disruptive whether or not they caused any damage. Others aimed for whatever seemed like a weak point at the time. The wrist just below her gathered energy claws. A leg as it stepped forward. And of course¡­ her abdomen, where she was injured and her energy still wasn¡¯t entirely stable. Then more arrows joined the battle, not from Anton¡¯s hands. He breathed a sigh of relief, even as she lunged forward at him and grabbed his arm. So be it then, he was going to try something stupid. At the same time as life energy was draining from him, he knew it was still his. And though he hadn¡¯t specifically targeted any portion of it before¡­ he was able to ignite it with Candle Wax. If he failed to target the correct portion he would hopefully at least get the temporary boost from burning his lifespan. Instead¡­ it seemed his instincts were good. Naheed was grinning wildly as she grasped onto his arm, until her face twitched and she screamed in rage. ¡°You-¡± ¡°Me what?¡± Anton taunted. ¡°Me, the one who isn¡¯t a traitor to the world like your students? Or me¡­ the one who won¡¯t let you absorb my lifeforce?¡± Naheed had pulled back, her arm pulsing with black veins. ¡°Pfeh. I¡¯ll just kill that one then,¡± her arm smacked away Alva¡¯s arrows as she turned. Anton was truly surprised at her actions. It was like she didn¡¯t even notice the other two. Masses of fire and ice impacted around her at the same time. Instead of negating each other like would have been expected, frost began to form on one of her sides while the other had flickering fire. Both were being held back by her defensive energy, but having to deal with two opposite energies at the same time divided her concentration further. It didn¡¯t help that Alva and Anton were shooting at her from the other two sides. She only hesitated for a moment, though, and turned to follow through on her promise of attacking Alva. Anish and Annelie were charging from either side, with Anish having circled around to the south. But Anton was having none of it. His own power wasn¡¯t enough to stand up to a Life Transformation cultivator. But a quarter of one, now that was a different story. To be fair, Alva and Annelie were earlier in Essence Collection than himself, but Anish had a couple more years of training under his belt and was the prime genius of the Glorious Flame Palace. Either way, it was close enough. It would only take the woman a couple seconds to close the gap between herself and Annelie, whose range was only a few hundred meters. At the very least, she would soon be lobbing orbs of death. Anton gathered as much ascension energy as he could handle¡­ and then a little bit more. It hurt his hands just to hold his bow, but he didn¡¯t care. He simply focused the power around his bow and into the arrow, then let it fly. His target hadn¡¯t changed one bit, and though Elder Naheed finally made an attempt to dodge to the side¡­ the twin powers of the fire and ice restricted her movements enough that he was basically accurate. Anton¡¯s arrow struck her in the small of her back, an uninjured location¡­ on that side. But it pierced through the defensive energy and skin and muscle to find very little, except some already torn up flesh. It flew out of her front¡­ but the arrow was not yet done. It circled around to strike her chest at the same time as another shot was charged to hit her in the spine. She made the correct choice to focus her energy on protecting her spine, but that left her open to a small hole in her sternum. Sadly it didn¡¯t pierce into her heart, but it had already done more than could reasonably be expected. Alva was fleeing perpendicular to Naheed¡¯s path, moving vaguely towards Anish. That was sensible, because he would be the most able to protect her in melee- even if it meant getting somewhat within range of the elder. But getting to her wasn¡¯t so easy. Fire and ice crashed around her, its power multiplying as the two cultivators got into melee range. Instead of wide spreads of heat and cold, there was only a small area of fire and ice around the two cultivators. Both struck out, leaving behind remnants of their elements that clung to Naheed¡¯s energy, trying to seep through it. She gave up on her chase of Alva, instead swiping her arms to either side, black claws extended. She managed to cleave through some of their defensive energy, but facing two at once she wasn¡¯t quite able to get a solid blow that would drain some of their life. But while her attitude upon first charging at Anton had been enraged, she had been almost casual about his subsequent attacks. Now she knew to take them all seriously¡­ and they would find it harder to achieve subsequent injuries. Her destroyed kidney and the bleeding area around it might slow her down, but that just put it in the realm of their possible victory. Chapter 305 Though it was theoretically possible to concentrate defensive energy on the location of an incoming attack, that method left people vulnerable to attacks which were easily able to change trajectories. Many cultivators preferred to concentrate on a particular point that could be moved. That could be a weapon used to parry or a shield like Timothy had. Doing the same with reinforced armor on the torso was possible, but limited their other mobility options. Elder Naheed had large enough stores and a quick enough outflow of energy to be able to coat her whole body in a layer that would protect against the widespread fire and ice being used against her while still having the freedom to make attacks or concentrate energy on her arms to negate specific attacks. There was practically no angle she couldn¡¯t reach¡­ but Anton experimented with different shots to try to find the optimal one. Targeting her legs was no good- it was too simple for her to pull away at the last moment. Currently she was preventing further damage to her torso with her defensive moves, but even if Anton couldn¡¯t directly impact her he still had a plan. Any attack that caused her to move far enough to strain the muscles in her abdomen was what he preferred. That way she would worsen the injuries around her kidney and the hole that now went all the way through her. Anton wished he could have targeted a more immediately fatal organ, but he was still of the belief his attack would not have been successful in that case. Even just having to contend with bones would have severely hampered the attack. Elder Naheed spun in a circle, a ring of power spreading out from her. It was formed of the same deathly energy as the orbs she threw. Anish and Annelie were forced to duck down to avoid touching it, and both of them threw themselves further back when it dropped down towards them even as it continued to expand. It forced them back to the twenty meter mark, which was likely close to the maximum size Naheed could sustain. Anton wouldn¡¯t put it past her to be able to expand just a bit further than that in a way that would be used when people got used to her attacks, but he didn¡¯t know for sure. His arrows targeted the ring for a short duration, but Anton found it was much more stable than the orbs she lobbed. At best he was directly facing off against her energy, which made his attacks basically useless. At least the ring didn¡¯t seem quick enough to be a good defensive measure against the ranged attacks of himself and Alva. For one thing, it retained its shape- which meant it couldn¡¯t block things at different heights or at a further radius. But it did make it hard for Anish and Annelie to get close to Naheed. That allowed her the freedom to move closer, within the range she was able to accurately lob her deathly orbs. She seemed quite intent on taking out Alva who had circled around her, perhaps because she seemed to be one of the weaker ones present. In addition to forming around her hands, they came out of the ring as it began to spin. Not all of the attacks were aimed at Alva, and even Anton who was the furthest away found himself forced to shoot down as many coming towards himself as he could while dodging the others, trying to avoid them as they burst. With Naheed¡¯s attacks focused on Alva, the young archer found herself in the hardest position. Anton was trying to aid her with extra shots, but even with his energy bows he simply couldn¡¯t produce enough Spirit Arrows to stop the myriad of attacks. It only took one to reach Alva, forcing her to desperately parry it with her bow. It knocked her backwards, sending her to the ground, her energy in disarray. At no point in the battle had Anton been holding back, but desperation pushed him a bit further. Though there was always the lingering thought of using Candle Wax, that might simply knock him out of the battle early. And life, though such was of secondary concern when his allies and family were on the line. Perhaps he should have been willing to sacrifice a few to avoid the trouble. If he had fled towards them, he might have convinced them to leave with him instead of fighting. He had no doubts they were coming to him for a reason, after all. But that would have likely resulted in the deaths of everyone Anton had been training in Arbington and them being chased as they fled, resulting in the same battle eventually. Anton had continued to make use of ascension energy as he found openings, and as Alva lay on the ground, her energy fading slightly, he made use of the last of it to draw Naheed¡¯s attention once more- even as he moved closer. He hoped to make a tempting target. The flame and ice bombarding the Life Transformation cultivator from either side began to wrap around the ring, restricting its motion long enough for the two others to run in towards the woman. That placed them inside the ring, a dangerous location- but it was also clear she wasn¡¯t focused in melee combat. Able to hold her own, certainly, but it wasn¡¯t her specialty. Anton made note that she didn¡¯t launch any orbs from the inner part of the ring towards them, so they were actually safer until it began to contract. Flames so bright it hurt Anton¡¯s eyes ignited not only the leaves on the ground but the dirt and rocks several meters deep, at the center of which was Anish. He managed to reach Naheed and grab onto one of her arms, which was already slightly crispy. From the other side Annelie grabbed her other arm, coating it in a block of ice. Anton¡¯s arrows tried to find purchase where they could, but it wasn¡¯t quite enough. He could feel a buildup of energy from Elder Naheed, something that would be just as dangerous as the contracting ring. Then, without ceremony, a single arrow pierced two knuckles deep into Elder Naheed¡¯s abdomen. Anton didn¡¯t even notice it had been fired, as it hadn¡¯t registered to his brain as important. But that was exactly why Alva had circled around her¡­ towards the mostly intact black thorn arrow. As the arrow cut into her flesh, it punctured close to the metaphysical location of her dantian, the core of where energy was stored. Whether or not it directly damaged that, it did disrupt the buildup of energy. A large portion of it focused on the arrow, not completely immune to the effects of energy. The arrow itself disintegrated, while the rest of the rising energy shot out from Naheed in a much less controlled manner than it might have otherwise. Thus, less than a third of the total energy ended up impacting the pair grabbing onto her. The power of it forced them back- but that just indicated that their defenses held somewhat, absorbing the momentum. The ring surrounding them shattered before they reached it, but as the wave of energy washed over him Anton knew nobody was walking away uninjured. Everything seemed to stop for a moment. Alva stood across from Anton, face pale and bloody at the same time. To either side were Anish and Annelie, both still holding onto Naheed¡¯s arms¡­ though Anish¡¯s soon dissolved into a pile of ash. As for the woman herself, blood spurted from her torso wherever had not been cauterized by heat or frozen over. But she wasn¡¯t dead yet- and her immediate movement was towards Anton. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. She reached out for him, weakly pulling at his life force. Even without a physical touch, it seemed she was still somewhat effective. And she still had significant power, even after everything she¡¯d been through. Enough to threaten Anton, if she simply tried to kill him with no notion of defense. As she drew closer, arrows pierced her torso but didn¡¯t stop her and the pull grew stronger. Before the two on the sides could reach her, Anton knew she would get to him. So he gave into the pull¡­ but only a little bit. It seemed she hadn¡¯t learned her lesson from before, as she greedily absorbed the chunk of life force he sent towards her¡­ where it lit her on fire from inside. She exploded, a sphere of gray-black energy expanding outward and leaving behind only a desiccated body. Anton dropped to his knees, nearly devoid of energy and at least a few years lost. A small price to pay¡­ if the woman was actually dead. It could have been a single instant or an hour. Time stretched on as if nothing would ever happen again¡­ but then Anton heard familiar voices in the distance. ¡°That was terrifying,¡± one of them said in something approaching a whisper. ¡°Get me closer!¡± called the other. His eyes drifter over to the figures that were still several hundred meters off. So his ears did still work. There was simply nothing making noise. Even the breaths of his three compatriots were quiet. ¡°Closer? Fine.¡± Anton watched as Idalia ran forward, carrying Hiram in her arms. Soon enough she stepped from healthy forest into the dead zone around where the fight had taken place, a realm of scorched and frozen trees which had been subsequently drained of life. ¡°Is this good enough?¡± Idalia asked. ¡°Need to touch her, I think¡­¡± Hiram gestured towards the fallen body of Elder Naheed. ¡°Ugh. I don¡¯t feel good about this.¡± Anton would have cautioned them against it as well, but as they stepped forward he felt Hiram¡¯s energy working, driving away the deathly energy permeating the area¡­ and even drawing a small bit of it into himself. Hiram twisted in Idalia¡¯s arms and flopped out of her grip, but he seemed unperturbed at landing next to the corpse. His arm stretched out and touched it. ¡°I¡¯m taking this back¡­ you psychopath.¡± Though Anton couldn¡¯t sense it before he began his efforts, a small string of life force made its way into Hiram, who subsequently pushed himself up to his knees, shakily standing to his feet. ¡°The rest of you¡­ come closer. I think¡­ I can slightly reduce the aftereffects.¡± Anton happily approached. He trusted Hiram to try his best at least¡­ and if he failed, what was a bit more damage to his life force? As it turned out, it really was just a slight effect. Even though he felt Hiram¡¯s cultivation had leapt forward a step, there was only so much he could improve at once. A single step in Body Tempering was nearly insignificant compared to Life Transformation, but he also had the use of stores of lingering, ownerless energy. Anton felt a bit better after Hiram¡¯s energy gently worked on him. It was little better than pouring water back into a cracked cup, but the effort was at least sincere. Anton imagined some of his wrinkles had deepened again, but the others appeared to be healthy enough. Momentarily drained, but they had plenty of life force to spare. They would all need rest, though. ----- After they returned to town and simply sat for a while, Anton looked at the others. Specifically, the three in Essence Collection. ¡°Just to make sure we¡¯re on the same page. You were coming to see me for a reason, right? Hopefully there¡¯s not some other disaster on the horizon.¡± ¡°We were nearby,¡± Annelie explained. ¡°And we caught signs of her. So no, there¡¯s nothing else¡­ that we know about.¡± ¡°Would have been nice if she stayed more intact¡­¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Not that it really matters. Those who will believe the connection to the Twin Soul Sect likely did before the attack. The others¡­ well, this attack will make it hard for them to openly support her. Though I imagine they¡¯ll twist it to say that we were responsible even though she snuck her way out here to kill me.¡± Anton flicked his eyes towards Hiram. ¡°Or¡­ him?¡± Hiram shook his head. ¡°She seemed surprised to see me.¡± ¡°Good, I think. I hadn¡¯t thought the danger to you would be quite this high.¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Unfortunately, it seems things aren¡¯t quite over. We¡¯re to have a guest?¡± ¡°Who?¡± Idalia said panicked. ¡°Wait, is it Birita? Is she coming here?¡± ¡°Unfortunately,¡± Anton said. ¡°With backup.¡± Perhaps he should have killed her before. Now he would find it much more difficult, even with several exhausted companions. Idalia raced for the door, pulling it open. But instead of fleeing, she pulled a tiny pouch off of her waist, loosening the drawstrings and placing it atop the door which was left just barely ajar. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ all I can do. Sorry.¡± She shuffled over to the rear of the room. ¡°Should we just¡­ jump out the rear window?¡± They were currently seated in the common area of the inn Hiram had been abducted to. It was convenient, on the edge of town¡­ and empty. Nobody was going to come back to where cultivators trashed a place within a couple hours of the event. ¡°I think running won¡¯t do us much good,¡± Anton remarked. ¡°We¡¯ll have to face them honestly.¡± Normally, with the three at his side he would have found a single Essence Collection cultivator and a dozen or so Spirit Building followers a trivial group of enemies, but exhausted and half-dead he was less sure. ¡°Unless the rest of you have other ideas?¡± They all shook their heads, and Idalia shrugged. ¡°I already did what I could. I suppose it¡¯s too late for us to sneak into other rooms?¡± ¡°The walls are sturdy enough,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Just go into the kitchen, you¡¯ll be safer from accidents there at least.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Idalia stood up and grabbed Hiram¡¯s arm. ¡°Come on.¡± He let her drag him towards the kitchen, but he was strong enough to stand on his own¡­ and he kept eyeing the door. Chapter 306 Outside of the common room, Birita stopped for a moment to plan her actions and scan the threats. Anton was significantly weakened, and though there were a few others with them¡­ Birita felt she could handle them. Alone might be difficult, but she brought her lieutenants with her for a reason. She grimaced as her stomach turned and took a swig from her jug. She was almost out of the stuff. Then she kicked open the door. A bag of powder fell to the floor, and Birita waved aside the dust. ¡°Well, what do we have here?¡± She sneezed, doubling over momentarily from the force of the movement. When she straightened, she did her best to gloss over the undignified act. ¡°Just a short time ago you were all high and mighty,¡± she said referring to Anton, ¡°But here you are. Weak as a kitten. Having to resort to a low quality trap to think you have a chance.¡± She sniffed, her nose itching. A tiny application of energy brushed it to relieve the urge. ¡°And two cowards hiding in the back. Tell you what¡­ the rest of you can run off as long as you leave those two and the old man behind.¡± ¡°Like hell we will!¡± one of the women drew her bow. ¡°We¡¯d never abandon our grandpa.¡± Now that Birita thought of it, she saw the resemblance. Vaguely. ¡°Interesting. A trio of grandchildren come to visit? An opportunity that¡¯s hard to pass up. If the old man begs me for forgiveness, I might spare you.¡± ¡°Um¡­ I¡¯m not related to them,¡± Anish pointed out. ¡°We¡¯re just from allied sects.¡± ¡°Fine, whatever. It doesn¡¯t matter. The point is, you¡¯re in my territory now. You have to-¡± the itching was growing stronger. She couldn¡¯t stop it. ¡°You have to follow my rules.¡± She focused on breathing through her mouth, but that didn¡¯t help the constant nausea she¡¯d been hit with lately. Or the headaches. A swig of booze helped with that, extremely briefly. Finally, Anton spoke. ¡°This is who you follow?¡± Anton looked to those behind her, standing half in and half outside the door, blocking various escape routes. ¡°Interesting that she was not brave enough to come alone.¡± ¡°How dare-¡± Birita was going to say something more, but she sneezed once more. It caused her to stagger backwards, stepping on the pouch of powder and spraying it around the area. Birita managed to keep most of it away from herself, but the others around her began to sneeze. Her eyes focused on the kitchen. ¡°You little worm!¡± Two bows fired arrows towards her while the other two began to move forward, but they stopped when a pair burst from the back room. One was a woman that should have been a local herbalist. She was the one who prepared the tree thistle, but Birita was about ready to make an example of her. Especially when she grabbed a handful of powder from a pouch and blew it in her face. Something about the circumstances made her instinctively draw a breath, which was exactly the wrong move. Her energy should have been able to filter out all of the particles of powder trying to enter her lungs, but everything had been off recently. She realized she hadn¡¯t drawn her weapon, but she wouldn¡¯t need that to kill a couple Body Tempering cultivators. Except it was a pain to get to them, as every step she took forward forced her back two, with arrows threatening to impale her. She was just about to order her subordinates to handle them when the nausea peaked. She suppressed the urge to vomit, but her concentration was screwed up enough to allow the man in front of her a moment to attack. It was a strange form of energy, but nothing should have stopped her from blocking it completely. She slapped it away with her hand. The fact that it caused her to tingle was¡­ concerning. ¡°Uh, boss. What should we do about them?¡± Birita eyed the man who threw the strange gray orb as well as monitoring the two archers. ¡°Kill them, of course!¡± ¡°All of them?¡± the man asked, somewhat nervously. At that point, Birita noticed that there were more people present than she had thought. The two archers, and the fire and ice pair threatening to cut her off from her subordinates, but also at least a dozen others approaching. A bunch of early Body Tempering cultivators shouldn¡¯t be a problem but¡­ some of the others didn¡¯t belong. ¡°Heya boss,¡± Trix called from the pack, which included Sarto and some others who nominally followed her. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re busy. But some of us were thinking we¡¯d discuss a change in leadership.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a bad leader,¡± Sarto commented. ¡°You make us do bad things.¡± ¡°And you keep all the best cultivation stuff and booze for yourself,¡± Trix pointed out, looking meaningfully at the handful of Spirit Building cultivators supporting her. The entire time, the two archers weren¡¯t making it easy for Birita to engage in conversation. She was dancing around to avoid their attacks, wary of fighting four Essence Collection cultivators at once- even weakened from battle and wounds- and her backup wasn¡¯t helping. And the half-dead guy with the spooky energy wasn¡¯t helping. ¡°You know,¡± the herbalist said. ¡°You really should be careful with what you¡¯re putting into your body.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not-¡± Birita sneezed violently, ¡°Any of your business!¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°It is, actually. You¡¯re the one who forced me to get literal bucketloads of medicine to counteract your failing liver, and then didn¡¯t stop binge drinking. And you didn¡¯t ask about the side effects. How¡¯s the nausea?¡± Much worse, with all of the arrow dodging she was having to keep up. If she didn¡¯t know any better she would have thought people were keeping her talking exactly so that- At exactly that moment, she could no longer control herself. It only took a second of spewing her guts for her to be peppered with arrows from the side, piercing all down her side. How were they still so strong? They just barely survived a fight with a Life Transformation cultivator! Birita was so afraid to even get close to that battle, but when they came back nearly dead she thought¡­ maybe¡­ Her last thoughts came when she realized her defensive energy had dropped entirely- and the chilling deathly energy reached into her and began to pull her apart. ----- Hiram stepped forward, deepening his connection with the dying Birita. He was under no illusions that he was the cause of her death¡­ but if she were going to die anyway he might as well make it worth it. While his cultivation couldn¡¯t grow any more at the moment, absorbing strands of her life energy would suffice to not worry about side effects of his cultivation technique for a long time. And though she wasn¡¯t the sole cause of his trouble- the Gray Stone Sect was responsible for more personal grief- he still enjoyed seeing her die. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was his natural inclination of something sparked by the Deathly Heart Technique, but he was glad to feel something vaguely uplifting. He glared at the group of Spirit Building cultivators that had followed her in, but they were already trying to slip out. The pair of fire-and-ice cultivators in front of them probably had a lot to do with it. The local villagers stepped back to let them pass. It was a shame to let them go, but they could probably kill a few people on the way out if they were desperate. Even with Anton and the others. They still radiated the power of Essence Collection, but he felt the hollowness behind it. They personally weren¡¯t in much danger, but also were basically tapped out. Besides¡­ this was a local problem, and they should take care of it if they could. Birita was out of their league, but honestly Idalia was surprisingly effective. He decided to ask her about that. ¡°How did you know that would work?¡± She shrugged. ¡°Everyone knows sneezing makes other things difficult. Anton¡¯s information about her health status made me a bit more confident. And some of that stuff magnifies the side effects of that thistle medicine she was vastly overusing.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Trix wandered in and joined the conversation. ¡°She¡¯s been a mess lately. Lots of throwing things at people if they even mentioned she seemed a bit sick, which kind of¡­ eased this whole split,¡± she waved to Sasho and the other former members of Birita¡¯s gang. ¡°Then she was stupid enough to come attack Anton.¡± ¡°Pretty decent timing on her part,¡± Anton admitted as he sat back down. ¡°Except that I¡¯m not alone. And I would never let her hurt my cute granddaughters.¡± ¡°These two are your granddaughters?¡± Trix asked. ¡°Well damn. No wonder they¡¯re so strong. Younger than me too.¡± ¡°Where did you get your cultivation technique from?¡± Anton asked. ¡°A dusty, worm-eaten scroll buried in the ground?¡±Trix grimaced. He wasn¡¯t actually too far off, though the details weren¡¯t right. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to disparage your efforts,¡± Anton clarified. ¡°But it feels like it¡¯s incomplete. And not of particularly high quality.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ kind of all I could get,¡± Trix admitted. ¡°And I needed this guy to help me through some of it,¡± she pat Sasho on the shoulder. ¡°This one is probably leagues better,¡± Alva said, pulling something out of Birita¡¯s bag. ¡°At least it¡¯s complete through the end of Spirit Building.¡± ¡°... she said she didn¡¯t have anything she could share with us,¡± Trix frowned. ¡°She didn¡¯t want people to be a threat to her position,¡± Annelie guessed. ¡°But if she had focused on empowering her subordinates, she might have created something¡­ more lasting.¡± ¡°If that one is no good,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ve a small collection I can teach you from.¡± ¡°You¡¯d really do that?¡± Trix asked. ¡°For us? We¡¯re kinda¡­ some of the bad guys.¡± ¡°I suppose I should consult Idalia at least, though she seemed to be slightly fond of you.¡± ¡°Look,¡± Idalia shrugged, ¡°Trix helped enforce Birita¡¯s ¡®taxes¡¯ and all that, but she kind of made us feel like it wasn¡¯t so bad?¡± She shook her head, ¡°And Sasho broke half my shop, but he never meant to.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Sasho said. ¡°I thought¡­ we were doing something good. Most people¡­ wouldn¡¯t complain around me. I suppose¡­ they were scared.¡± ¡°Based on the state of your encampment when I was there,¡± Anton said, ¡°I doubt there¡¯s much left to give back to the villages around here?¡± ¡°We spent it all immediately.¡± Trix shook her head. ¡°Or rather, Birita did. Importing expensive booze from far away mostly. Doubt she even tasted most of it.¡± ¡°I think there¡¯s a fairly simple solution here,¡± Anton said. ¡°I doubt those standing outside will be fully capable of just forgiving you immediately. But if you help them earn back some of their losses and provide some safety¡­ I¡¯m sure they can agree to let bygones be bygones.¡± Anton¡¯s voice was loud enough for those outside to know he was more or less declaring it. Not that they wanted to fight against a group that was currently stronger than themselves, anyway. ¡°Does that mean we have to¡­ work?¡± ¡°You were doing work for Birita, you know,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Better to do something practical. And you¡¯ll find your cultivations benefit you in various avenues of physical labor.¡± ¡°... you¡¯ll really teach us how to fix our cultivation issues?¡± Trix asked. ¡°I can teach you personally for a short while, and leave notes for after. I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t stay here indefinitely, given the circumstances that lead to my companions and I being like this.¡± ¡°... I felt the fight,¡± Trix said. ¡°Just a tiny bit. Like watching hawks fight on the horizon. It was terrifying.¡± ¡°You should go check out the battlefield. From a distance, because it honestly might kill you if you stepped on it.¡± ¡°... should have stayed a pickpocket,¡± Trix grumbled. ¡°Cultivation is way too dangerous.¡± Chapter 307 Though he truly wished to stay around Arbington, Anton knew it was dangerous for both himself and the locals. Thus, after a short few weeks he was on his way to meet up with larger groups from their alliance. The trio that had come to help him reported back to the Blue River Gardens, alerting them about the results of the mission that had put them in the area. Upon learning that the Whispering Watchers were responsible for what happened, their response was somewhat subdued. The person directly responsible had been killed, but they couldn¡¯t strike back against the sect responsible. Not alone, but perhaps they might contribute towards a larger movement against them. That was Anton¡¯s current goal. If he had done something inappropriate to provoke the attack it would be a different story, but this was a direct result of killing disciples of theirs that were part of the Twin Soul Sect. It was just one more indication of the Whispering Watcher¡¯s close relation. Anton traveled with the other three, cautious for further attacks. Even though Anton believed that the Whispering Watchers wanted to kill Anton, he somehow doubted that Elder Naheed¡¯s actions were officially authorized. Or perhaps they were, on the condition that she kill anyone who noticed her- but either one indicated they weren¡¯t willing to openly declare war. That might have worked if Anton had died, but it would be hard for them to weasel out of responsibility for the attack. Which was why the group was staying cautious, as further members might want to kill them to silence them. They¡¯d sent word through various messengers but had no way to know if their messages had arrived yet. And of course, none of them wanted to die. Even Anton, who had accepted death as an inevitability- a single step closer now, after the conflict with Elder Naheed- still didn¡¯t want to die. Especially for nothing. Their destination was Prophis. It was still a reasonable distance from the Whispering Watcher¡¯s land, but generally in the same region. Not too close, but a decent base for staging any future actions. Anton had not been there, but from the size of the city and its location it was simple to recognize it when he got close. Plus, he began to sense familiar sources of natural energy. Friendly ones. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine now,¡± Anton said. Their travel wasn¡¯t particularly difficult- four Essence Collection cultivators could go pretty much anywhere except traipsing through the lands controlled by higher ranking sects. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Anish asked. ¡°We should still be twenty or thirty kilometers away from our destination. That¡¯s plenty of distance for an ambush.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I suppose if they sent more than a pair of Life Transformation cultivators. Or one mid stage one who was willing to die to take us out.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not just confidence in our fighting ability, right?¡± Anish asked. ¡°Given that we only came out slightly ahead against an early stage one.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not just the four of us who would be fighting,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Since we¡¯re within Kseniya¡¯s range.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I¡¯d heard about that,¡± Anish shook his head. ¡°I suppose I should have expected it, given that you began that battle from¡­ somewhere around ten kilometers, I believe. And if Elder Sarka is here, it would only take a few minutes for her to arrive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s Life Transformation cultivators for you,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Another large step ahead of us still, just to reach the beginning.¡± It was strange to think that a distance that would have taken Anton half a day of travel to cross in his youth was only a matter of minutes to some. To be fair, that wasn¡¯t a casual stride but an all out sprint that even Life Transformation cultivators couldn¡¯t sustain for long periods of time. ----- The place where the meetings were taking place was a nice wide room. Elder Sarka sat on one side, Adelina on the other. They glared at each other, at the members of their sects who walked in with each other, and back at each other. ¡°Given how many people are here,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m going to assume you received the messages we sent ahead. Unless there¡¯s some emergency meeting that we are interrupting?¡± ¡°No,¡± Adelina said simply. ¡°We have been anticipating your arrival, and Kseniya called us to convene when she sensed your approach. You said you killed Elder Naheed. Do you have her body?¡± ¡°What?¡± Sarka quipped. ¡°You don¡¯t believe him? We even had suspicions about her.¡± ¡°That is not the case,¡± Adelina calmly retorted. ¡°Anton has proven himself quite reliable, along with¡­ our disciples. I was merely hoping we would be able to make use of it for something.¡± ¡°Here it is¡­¡± Anton said. He was not fond of carrying corpses, and Elder Naheed was wrapped in preserving cloth. Her body had been kept chilled as well, nearly frozen. But even so, it state was rather pathetic. One arm was missing- the one that Anish had destroyed- while the other had broken off. The body was full of burns and cracks from where it had frozen and rapidly heated. ¡°Unfortunately, her energy has completely dissipated now. Even if we had come directly, it only lingered for less than a day. At least, the most important parts. Our investigation immediately following the event determined that she was a practitioner of the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s core cultivation technique, but all we have now is this,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°Tch,¡± Sarka clicked her tongue. ¡°They get away with something else. Well, almost. This time it cost them a Life Transformation cultivator. Not to disparage the four of you but¡­ I¡¯m amazed you pulled that off.¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°The black thorned arrow supplied by Grand Elder Kseniya was a major contributor. And the fact that I was able to begin the battle with a not insignificant blow.¡± Anton explained the situation in more detail than his message- including of course that she was likely to kill innocents. ¡°I know that in a way it is my fault but-¡± ¡°Screw that,¡± Sarka slammed her palm on the table. ¡°This isn¡¯t a trial. Every one of those bastards deserves to be incinerated. Your actions merely changed the form their evil took. Nobody here has an ounce of sympathy for them.¡± That was probably the nicest thing she¡¯d ever said about Adelina, though of course they avoided looking at each other. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Adelina nodded. ¡°We¡¯re just here to determine how we retaliate.¡± ¡°How do we feel about killing their disciples?¡± Kseniya asked. When everyone looked at her, she shrugged. ¡°What? They were planning to do the same to us. And someone just stepped out of their territory. I could take the shot.¡± ¡°I suggest we delay that thought for the moment,¡± Adelina cautioned. ¡°At least to keep the element of surprise.¡± ¡°And much as I hate to admit it,¡± Sarka commented, ¡°We¡¯re not enough to defeat them on our own. If our full sects were here it would be a different story, but with just us¡­¡± ¡°A shame that Swordmaster Rahayu is no longer around,¡± Kseniya commented. ¡°But he chose the path best for himself. His strength would have been useful, but it was not as if he turned and fled.¡± ¡°The Whispering Watchers are a dominant force here,¡± Sarka complained. ¡°No local sects can match them. It will take some time to recruit those from further, and since they didn¡¯t jump at the opportunity when we first told them to investigate¡­¡± Adelina brought up another point. ¡°It will also be dangerous to remain close if they catch word of us preparing an attack. If they are determined, they could wipe us out solely with their Life Transformation cultivators. Though that would likely be seen as a sign of culpability, I don¡¯t imagine any of us intend to be martyrs.¡± ¡°There must be some who were on the fence, though,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°And don¡¯t forget that Elder Naheed is not only another point of aggression¡­ but also a Life Transformation cultivator they do not have.¡± ¡°Good point,¡± Sarka nodded. ¡°That¡¯s actually a significant blow to their sect. Which also means they¡¯re likely aware of her death¡­ or will be soon.¡± ¡°The problem seems to be nobody wishes to lead the charge,¡± Adelina explained. ¡°Everyone would very much like to not have traitors in their midst when the invasion comes, but nobody wants to be the one to risk their own remaining experts. So I propose we send them an ultimatum. They can either join us now, where they had our cultivators¡­ or we leave immediately and let them deal with the rest of the consequences.¡± ¡°I¡­ agree,¡± Sarka grimaced as she said those words. ¡°It¡¯s not our job to handle the affairs of another continent. We¡¯re just here to make sure they have fair warning. That¡¯s been done, so we can just leave. Though I¡¯d much rather stomp out this sect before we go.¡± Elder Tola from Infinite Wisdom Forest added her contribution. ¡°I agree with the idea. As for implementing it, I do believe we can go with Kseniya¡¯s suggestion, as well as implying that the others will likely have already agreed¡­ and that there won¡¯t be any spoils left if they arrive too late.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Adelina nodded. ¡°I had not considered playing up the benefits. It is difficult for people to think of removing a problem as a positive, but if their stores of cultivation resources get filled, they will weight it against their potential losses in members. Along with the other reasons, it should be sufficient.¡± ¡°And we do not have to fight them in their territory,¡± Elder Tola explained. ¡°Because once we have some backup, Kseniya can make life very difficult for them if they do not come attack us. Even if we have to step onto their territory, it won¡¯t be an issue once other sects are in agreement.¡± Anton added some comments, ¡°We should also include others, like the Rising Waterfall Sect. And even Marvelous Rabbit Mountain. Even Blue River Gardens from the south should contribute something. The larger our forces, the less risk to anyone. At a certain point, the rewards will be small but not an important factor.¡± ¡°That might take weeks,¡± Adelina said, ¡°Even with fast messengers and them hurrying. I am not saying it is a bad idea, but we must begin quickly. Elder Naheed¡¯s absence should be growing more obvious by the day. Even this gathering could be noticed.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Tola nodded. ¡°We should split up into delegations and travel with haste. Those from our alliance who have not gathered yet should also be found, if we can.¡± ¡°I¡¯m staying here,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°They tried to kill my favorite disciple. I warned them about that.¡± ¡°The range of your attacks will be of little help if you are alone,¡± Adelina pointed out. ¡°It would be a waste.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­ I won¡¯t start shooting. Yet.¡± Kseniya grinned widely. ¡°I¡¯ll just be scouting around¡­ picking out targets.¡± ¡°That seems reasonable,¡± Elder Tola replied. ¡°If we are planning offensive action, respecting their borders is no longer necessary. Do be careful though.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Ksenia tilted up her head. ¡°I¡¯m planning to be around for the invasion too. I promised that old guy I¡¯d take care of the Order.¡± ----- Instead of finding his way to a sect, Anton was given another task. Along with Alva, Hoyt and Velvet were present to bring along. Getting as many sects as they could involved was good, but one member of their alliance with significant power was not present. Not a Life Transformation cultivator, but on the border of Late Essence Collection. Also both difficult and very easy to find. ¡°Okay, so,¡± Velvet pointed to some marks on a map in front of the group. ¡°There were conflicts here, here, and here. Given the time frame it seems she¡¯s heading southeast. Most likely towards this point.¡± ¡°What¡¯s there?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°That would be Million Sword Vault. They¡¯re a sect, and their focus is pretty easily guessed from the name. And no, I have no idea if it¡¯s fully accurate.¡± Velvet shook her head, ¡°But we really need to catch up to her before she gets there.¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Alva agreed. ¡°Would Million Sword Vault be interested in joining our cause?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Maybe¡­¡± Velvet said. ¡°But that¡¯s kinda¡­ well, it¡¯s probably them or Chikere, if you know what I mean.¡± ¡°Though I would probably place their entire sect above her in terms of combat capabilities,¡± Anton frowned, ¡°I would rather have our frequent companion live. So I suppose we should get moving.¡± Chapter 308 As it turned out, Million Sword Vault didn¡¯t make it easy to find them. It wasn¡¯t surprising, since they were said to be quite wealthy and had many enemies. But while their exact location was unknown, it had been narrowed down to a particular region of desert. Anton thought it was a small enough area that they would be able to find them from there, but the plan was to catch up to Chikere before she got there and ended up in some sort of deadly conflict. If they were lucky she¡¯d be stuck wandering the desert for a while, but Anton was willing to bet she had a way to sniff out the swords when she got close. The desert in question was the Scorching Mirror Desert. Even as they approached from more tolerable terrain nearby, the reason for its name was obvious. It was no surprise that a desert at its location would be hot, but the other aspect was obviously uncommon. Each grain of sand reflected light, scattering it all around and making it nearly impossible to see the ground- or much of anything with light constantly glinting in your eyes. ¡°This is annoying,¡± Alva commented after only a short distance on the sands. ¡°It will probably only get worse,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°And the heat of the sun is magnified by it reflecting back on us.¡± The actual sands themselves were rather cool, but the air was supernaturally hot. As they were traveling quickly they breathed more heavily and consumed water more quickly. They had brought significant quantities with them in storage bags, but they would still need to refill in oases along the way, so they could manage the area around the Million Sword Vault where there weren¡¯t any known sources of water. Sweating all day wasn¡¯t pleasant, but not sweating would have been worse. At least, they had to disperse the heat away from themselves somehow. Constant use of energy could make them more comfortable, but was a great exertion than just letting their bodies handle it. Of great help were full body coverings they had, keeping their skin from being scorched by the sun. They were made from expensive silks that were extremely breathable. That was one comfort, at least. At night, the desert changed. From an oppressive heat and blinding light, it was briefly a tolerable temperature. They also witnessed something wonderful. The reflective sands also reflected starlight and moonlight, creating a much less harsh light as they traveled. Then the temperature dropped, but they stayed warm enough by continuing to move. Keeping up a good jog for twenty-four hours or more wasn¡¯t impossible for Essence Collection cultivators. If they were closer and knew exactly where their goal was they could get there more quickly, but instead they ran through the night and into the next day. Then, as the heat reached its highest point¡­ they put up large tents and rested. The tents themselves were made to not absorb the heat, while staying open to the relatively cool ground beneath. That allowed tolerable temperatures for them to rest in. The pace that they traveled kept most of the desert creatures from causing trouble for them. They were able to sense them ahead of time and go around, and anything that tried to chase after them was inevitably left behind. Except, of course, the strongest and fastest of them. ¡°I thought it would have given up by now,¡± Anton said as he ducked and rolled to the side as a creature known as a twirl-horned antelope charged at him. It was a large specimen, easily ten feet tall before its antlers were involved, corkscrewing things that nearly doubled its height. ¡°I heard they¡¯re extremely territorial,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we be out of its territory now, though?¡± Anton asked. The horns angled back towards him, coming to a fine point that could pierce through him several times over. Without as much momentum he had to kick the side of one to get himself fully out of the way. ¡°It seems they fixate on a target once they discover it,¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°Should we kill it?¡± she held up her daggers. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°But it¡¯s not leaving us much choice. I don¡¯t know if we can outrun it. At least, not without risking ending up exhausted near something else.¡± Anton drew his bow, ¡°Sorry about this, fellow.¡± As he took his shot, Anton supposed that the creature should have either leapt out of the way- though he was prepared to curve his shot- or concentrated its energy to defend its neck where he was shooting. Instead, it lowered its head, placing its horns between it and himself. A reasonable move, if he wasn¡¯t shooting an arrow. Instead, it was trivial to avoid the curling horns by flying directly between them. Yet without even touching the horns coated in natural energy, his arrow dissipated. ¡°Well,¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡¯s troublesome.¡± Something about the horns created something that disrupted his energy, making the shot impossible. But he wasn¡¯t alone, so Anton continued to make the attacks to keep the creature¡¯s attention. It seemed that Alva¡¯s attacks from the side and rear were able to cause some damage to the creature, though its hide was tougher than steel. Hoyt charged in with his axe at the ready, but found himself contending with its rear hooves kicking at him. The creature was able to maintain its defenses with its horns on the front and hooves in the back, without unbalancing itself like it seemed it should. It even shifted around, rotating its body while only placing its front hooves on the ground, sometimes only one at a time as it twisted. When Hoyt moved in to attack its side, it twitched into a full spin, rear hooves nearly missing him and its horns only barely blocked by his axe, sending him flying back. The trails of fire he left behind near it seemed to not affect the creature with short white fur. But Hoyt¡¯s attack allowed Anton to sneak a good shot in before it returned to focusing on him. He had also backed away so he was out of easy charging distance. The battle was decided when it lunged towards Hoyt once more and Velvet popped out of the sand, slicing the tendons on one of its front legs. It maintained a valiant effort to defeat them even afterwards- and never chose to turn and run- but it was unable to cause serious harm to any of them. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. They took a short break after the battle. Anton sighed, ¡°It¡¯s a shame to just leave it here for scavengers to eat. But those horns won¡¯t easily fit in a storage bag¡­ and we don¡¯t have time to properly skin it.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°If it was someone other than Chikere I might not be worried about a couple minutes here and there, but she may have already gotten herself killed¡­ or seriously injured. Or will soon.¡± ----- It was nighttime when they approached the last oasis on their planned journey. ¡°Hmm,¡± Anton pondered before they got close. ¡°Looks like there might be some trouble.¡± ¡°What kind?¡± Alva asked. ¡°The worst kind. Other people.¡± ¡°... maybe they¡¯ll be friendly?¡± Alva said hopefully. ¡°They could be, but for them to be here¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I doubt it. Velvet¡­ I¡¯d suggest hiding yourself as we approach.¡± She probably would anyway, but communicating his intentions was the easiest way to make sure she would. ¡°Do we know anything about them?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°We will soon. I should be able to see some sort of symbols, or intentional lack of them,¡± Anton supposed. ¡°They¡¯re all practicing the same technique. I have some unfounded guesses.¡± ¡°Such as?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°The Sand Blade¡­ Tribe,¡± Anton said cautiously. More people called them the Sand Blade Bandits, but they weren¡¯t necessarily much worse than most cultivators. ¡°They¡¯re one of the groups that had conflicts with Chikere.¡± As they approached closer and Anton got a clear look at their curved swords, there wasn¡¯t any more doubt about who they were. But he still hoped to avoid conflict- if nothing else because of the time it wasted- so they approached closer instead of immediately attacking. As they were noticed, the group formed up into loose ranks, with one figure standing out front. ¡°Hello there travelers.¡± It was not a friendly greeting, but neither was it openly hostile. Yet knowing who they were, Anton found it suspicious. ¡°Hello,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯re just passing through.¡± ¡°Of course, you may do so,¡± the man said, ¡°But if you wish to make use of our oasis, we will have to charge you.¡± The oasis wasn¡¯t theirs, of course. While oases in common travel routes were all claimed in some legitimate matter, it was obvious that they were simply passing by as well. Even so, if they weren¡¯t unreasonable it might be easier to pay them off. ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton asked. ¡°How much?¡± He was also taking a measure of the man. Early Essence Collection, as well as two behind him. But they also had another ten cultivators in mid to late Spirit Building. So they weren¡¯t completely crazy for making such a challenge. ¡°Three golden coins per barrel,¡± the man said. The price was both excessive and reasonable. Excessive because the local golden coins were rather large, and even the most taxed oases were less than half of one of the coins for the same amount of water. But cheap because¡­ by cultivator prices it was nearly irrelevant. ¡°That is quite reasonable,¡± Anton said, reaching into his storage bag to pull out some coins. Then he finally picked out what he was looking for. So that was it. He plopped a pouch of coins into Hoyt¡¯s hand. ¡°That should cover it,¡± he said. Hoyt took the hint and walked forward with the payment, while Anton didn¡¯t break his stride, moving off to the side of the group towards the water. Hoyt plopped the pouch into the leader¡¯s outstretched hand, and he instantly scanned it with his energy. ¡°Filling up a lot, huh? Well, that¡¯s fine.¡± Anton approached the oasis and reached into his storage bag, pulling out the first of a handful of barrels he personally was carrying. Half were still full, but they¡¯d skipped the previous stop. ¡°Excuse me,¡± Anton gestured towards the leader. ¡°Young man¡­ is this the right size?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s fine,¡± the man shrugged. ¡°Are you sure? Come look. It might be too big.¡± The man grimaced, but approached. ¡°What? Looks normal to me.¡± ¡°Oh, you might be right,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Perhaps I was thinking of another¡­¡± he bent forward towards the barrel and the man, then grabbed his wrist. The man immediately raised his defensive energy, but that didn¡¯t stop Anton from yanking him forward into the oasis. A dozen swords were drawn simultaneously, but before anything else could happen, even before the man hit the surface of the water, there was an eruption. Water sprayed into the sky¡­ and half of the oasis was gone. At least, the water was- and in its place was a massive maw, chomping down on the leader of the Sand Blades. Anton might have thought of some quips about rudeness, but was too busy forming as many bows as he could to bother with one. He fired a round of shots towards the weaker opponents before the oasis chomper finished closing its jaws and splashed back into the waters. Hoyt had known better than to step into the middle of the group, and found himself facing off against the two remaining Essence Collection members. Meanwhile, Anton and Alva bombarded them from both sides. The fight was short and bloody, but the Sand Blades simply hadn¡¯t expected their ruse to be seen through. Yet the distance they had been standing away from the oasis and the sand on their skin had given away they weren¡¯t willing to approach. That hesitation came against them once more when the battle started. When Hoyt was looking pressured by two curved blades continuously slicing towards him, brightly sparkling sand swirling about in the air to blind him¡­ Velvet appeared behind one of them, and he was dead a moment later. Bandits was a reasonable moniker for them. And Anton could see how they would have ended up in a conflict with Chikere regardless. Then the water exploded once more, and a very angry leader leapt out. Unfortunately, the partially digested man was no match for all of them, especially not after cutting his way out of the oasis chomper. ¡°Well¡­¡± Velvet commented. ¡°Now the oasis is¡­ blood filled.¡± ¡°It will settle,¡± Anton said. ¡°But we should help it along. I¡¯m not particularly fond of trying oasis chomper blood.¡± He looked down through what appeared to be clear water towards the barely visible form of the creature that was mostly a giant mouth and stomach. Their bodies refracted light in the same way as water did, and their organs and even teeth were nearly clear. Much of their structure was said to be made from similar materials as the mirror sands. It was a good thing Anton tried to learn what he could about potential predators in areas he was going into. He might not have sensed the thing at all and just counted on his eyes. They filled up as quick as they could and looked out into the desert. ¡°I hope she¡¯s still alive,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I was also hoping we¡¯d have caught up to her by now.¡± Anton nodded. There was a small chance they¡¯d missed her, but if they¡¯d gotten within ten or fifteen kilometers he should have noticed her. Which meant she was likely still out ahead of them¡­ and closer to the Million Sword Vault, where a bunch of sword fanatics would inevitably end up in conflict with her and kill her. She was good, but they were an entire sect on their home turf. Chapter 309 The headquarters of the Million Sword Vault was hidden among the swirling sands of an exceptionally barren part of the Scorching Mirror Desert. The positive effects of that was that there were few wild beasts to be concerned with¡­ but that also meant there were even fewer landmarks to navigate by. If they knew the precise location they were heading to, it still would not have been a problem with a well trained sense of direction augmented with natural energy. Unfortunately they only had an approximate region, and even if they found the right place they might not be met with open arms. More likely drawn swords, which was why they were hoping to find Chikere first. If they got close enough they might find tracks of hers, but the winds covered up any tracks within a few hours. Anton, Hoyt, Velvet, and Alva tried to keep up their pace in hopes of minimizing the time they had to spend in the area. If they simply wanted to cover the entire region they could have separated and covered something like a quarter, but it was more important to stay together for safety. ¡°There!¡± Velvet pointed. ¡°Tracks.¡± Anton nodded. He didn¡¯t have any sense of whether or not they were Chikere¡¯s in particular- an individual cultivators natural energy shifted away with the sands just as easily as footprints- but it was the best they¡¯d found. ¡°Heading that way¡­ either we¡¯ll follow after Chikere, or one of the disciples of the Million Sword Vault. The only question is whether or not the latter would be heading towards or away from their headquarters. But we might as well follow it and see if it remains in the region.¡± While the entire area they were traversing could technically be considered Million Sword Vault¡¯s territory, nobody came to intercept them. That would give up the whole secrecy thing, after all. Though as they got closer it would be a different story. More than that, the reception had a high probability of leading to violence, so they truly hoped to catch Chikere. While steering her away from an abundance of swords might be difficult, she did have a sense of loyalty to her friends and would almost certainly be glad to assist them. The heat of midday beat down on the travelers who were pushing through it so as to not waste any time. While continuously pushing themselves would be dangerous, when they were so close to their goal it was a necessity. The tracks they were following were scattered far and wide, but becoming more regular and substantial. That meant they were catching up, and hopefully they were after the right quarry. Though even if they found a disciple of the Million Sword Vault, they might be able to get them to lead towards where they wanted, one way or another. Several more hours of travel finally graced Anton¡¯s senses with something other than endless sand. A structure, barely distinguishable from its surroundings. They were in fact less than a handful of kilometers away, far closer than Anton would have liked. It was only at that point that he began to feel out cultivators¡­ and they were a mere two and a half kilometers away before he sensed fighting within the walls of the compound. The feeling of Chikere¡¯s attacks was unmistakable, but he was unable to get a clear enough sense to tell more than that she was fighting with vigor against multiple opponents. Anton was tempted to launch an attack, but giving them away too soon might make it impossible to access the structure, or draw the ire of people they did not wish to face. Even making it to what they could only presume was the headquarters of the Million Sword Vault was further than they wanted to go. ¡°Halt! Who goes there?¡± A figure barely visible against the gates, half revealed and half hidden by the blinding sun reflecting off of the sand and the structure itself, held one hand on his sword, finally sensing the group. There were more guards nearby as well. That was the point that it might have been most advantageous to attack, or a moment sooner, but Anton stayed his hand- and the others followed his lead. ¡°We are travelers, looking for a companion of ours¡­¡± He continued forward, so as to allow Velvet and Hoyt to be at more optimal range should a battle begin. Of course, the same would be true of the sword cultivators. ¡°Does this person have a name?¡± the guard asked. Something told Anton that subterfuge wouldn¡¯t do them much good. Either they would fight now, or they wouldn¡¯t. ¡°Chikere.¡± Some of the tension eased from the surrounding guards. ¡°Oh. She didn¡¯t say she was expecting anyone else. Wait where you are.¡± The group kept their senses open for anyone coming to flank them or other signs of trouble, but it was only a few moments later before the battle around Chikere stopped¡­ and she began to approach the front gates. ¡°Oh! Anton!¡± Chikere waved her arms as she saw them- still holding a sword in her hand with others floating around her. ¡°How did you guys find me? Also, why?¡± Though she was surrounded by a dozen members of the Million Sword Vault, they seemed more like an honor guard than menacing captors. That feeling was enhanced by the fact that more of them were more wounded than Chikere. That was to say, everyone was cut up- but Chikere a bit less than the others. ¡°We thought¡­ that you might get into trouble,¡± Anton smiled broadly. ¡°But of course, if we were looking for you because of that, we¡¯d have to constantly stay together.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Chikere agreed unabashedly. ¡°But you guys insist on spending a lot of time on boring stuff, so I went to find something to do. Do you need me for something?¡± ¡°Well, yes. The troubles with the Whispering Watchers have¡­ escalated.¡± Anton observed the other sword cultivators for their reaction, which was mainly to tighten their grips on their weapons. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Oh yeah? Screw those guys!¡± Chikere flicked her sword, cleaning it of blood. She sheathed it along with all of the rest of the swords around her, and the escorting disciples did the same, though they kept one hand at their waist. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can contribute that much against a sect, though. Unless they were all sword cultivators,¡± Chikere grinned. ¡°Sometimes I have trouble with unfamiliar enemies.¡± ¡°We need every Essence Collection cultivator we can get,¡± Anton commented. ¡°That includes you.¡± Anton looked around at the others. ¡°So¡­ how have things been here? I expected¡­ more people to be dead.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ the norm for you when interacting with other sword cultivators.¡± Anton didn¡¯t think he should have to point it out, but he did anyway. ¡°Oh. But I only do that when they¡¯re awful or try to kill me. These guys are great!¡± The one who had been guarding at the gate- some sort of senior disciple by his higher cultivation- took a chance to speak. ¡°We would not harm the disciple of Swordmaster Rahayu without reason. Nor do we wish harm upon any who share our passions. But those who are unworthy of swords¡­ they will find much trouble with us.¡± ¡°Ah. I see. Truth be told, there is not much information about your sect available to outsiders.¡± The rumors about them weren¡¯t good¡­ but if he compared them to what was likely circulating about Chikere, it actually made perfect sense. They were at least similar in spirit. ¡°Do we need to go now?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Because I just got here yesterday.¡± ¡°Leaving sooner would be better,¡± Anton said. ¡°But having found you, were are not in such a rush. We can stay as long as our stores of water hold.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a problem,¡± said the senior disciple. ¡°We have sufficient stores here, and will gladly share freely with friends of aspiring swordmaster Chikere.¡± ----- As it turned out, their ¡®stores¡¯ were an entire underground reservoir, which actually led to learning some other things about the compound. Though there was a structure on the surface, most of it had been built down into the sands and even dug into the rock below. For the most part they were given free reign to go wherever they pleased, with the notable exception of the disciples'' personal quarters and the areas reserved for elders. Of note was that the ¡®vault¡¯ was not forbidden to them. Vast hallways led to a myriad of rooms filled with swords of all sorts¡­ though at one end were the stores of things that were not swords, with a buffer area of things that might be considered swords. Daggers, for example, found themselves in the no-man¡¯s land. Though they were allowed to wander as they pleased through the area, they were watched by the senses of one of the sect¡¯s elders. Just because everything was available for inspection did not mean they were allowed to walk off with it. That applied to everyone, and the scrutiny on them was no harsher than on the disciples of the Million Sword Vault itself. Despite their vast stores, the Million Sword Vault was not hoarding its resources. Everything was on display, and everything had a method to acquire it. Much of that was similar to how the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars did things, with a system of contribution points being used to purchase them. But there were also other methods. It appeared that they had interrupted Chikere while she was attempting one of those things. It was a trial that straightforwardly required her to face twenty early Essence Collection disciples three at a time and defeat them. After they were welcomed back in, Chikere and the others smoothly returned to that attempt, which resulted in Chikere¡¯s victory. Her talent for swords, at least, was nearly unrivaled. ¡°Yes! I got a new number two!¡± Chikere grinned as she held up her new sword. It was still a considerable amount short of her best sword, but swords such as that weren¡¯t so simple to obtain. Of course, from the number of times attacks had gotten within millimeters of the scars on her neck, it wasn¡¯t as if her battle was exactly trivial. She just always rode the edge of victory and defeat. Though he wasn¡¯t particularly interested in swords, Anton still found himself browsing through the vault. It was there that he came across a supreme oddity. It resided in the no-man¡¯s land of things that might or might not be swords, and Anton honestly couldn¡¯t tell what he thought it was. But something told him it was a bow. He stepped closer, looking at the piece that was clearly two swords sticking opposite directions out of a single hilt. A double-bladed sword, generally considered too impractical for use compared to simply having two individual weapons. Even for cultivators it rarely came into use. But this one was one step odder, as the blades were flat- of equal width, about two fingers wide its whole length. Even the ends were flat, unable to be used to stab. The holes in them didn¡¯t seem to be for weight distribution, but to go along with the string that sat nearby. Anton was tempted to pick it up and test it, but he could barely wrap his head around it. From the way it looked the blades would have to bend widthwise to function as a bow¡­ which couldn¡¯t be the most optimal, could it? ¡°Archery contest,¡± said a voice next to him. Anton turned to see the elder in charge of the area, who he hadn¡¯t noticed because his energy pervaded everything around to begin with. Was he challenging Anton or¡­? ¡°That¡¯s how you can get that. You just need to hit a target at¡­ let¡¯s see, with your cultivation¡­ five thousand meters.¡± Anton blinked. Was that all? Seemed simple enough. Though he didn¡¯t know if he would even want to use it. ¡°Oh yes. You must make use of that bow- and not cut off any of your fingers in the process.¡± That was¡­ a very ominous condition. Anton didn¡¯t even need a new bow, really. He just turned to walk away¡­ but found himself coming back a few moments later. ¡°How many tries do I get?¡± ¡°Each attempt is a single shot from a position we designate to a target you must find,¡± the elder said simply. ¡°Should you find yourself with any fingers or portions thereof sliced off, our medics are very capable of stitching you back together, good as new.¡± That would explain why their sparring was so¡­ intense. Though Anton really didn¡¯t want to have to find out if it really was good as new. As he considered picking up the string though, he realized how sharp it was. As if it was also meant to cut people. Were there even arrows that could withstand the pressure of that string? That wasn¡¯t normally a factor, but this particular thing that might be a bow seemed to have many unusual features. Chapter 310 There was absolutely no need for Anton to get a new bow. He had a perfectly serviceable bow suited for someone at Essence Collection, and even the old bone bow that was slightly less of a pain to use now, but inefficient. He didn¡¯t need another bow, especially not one that was basically two or three swords strapped together, depending on whether you counted the razor-sharp string as another one. He didn¡¯t need another one, but he just had to know if it was any good as a weapon. Since the easiest way to test it out was to take the trial, that was what he did. He was allowed to take some practice shots at the empty desert while they set up. There were several important factors at play. First, only the center grip of the bow wasn¡¯t sharp. That one was fairly obvious, but it was still important to remember. The string itself was razor thin, which at first made him treat it delicately- but then he realized it simply wasn¡¯t using excess materials. Whatever sort of metal it was made out of was many times stronger than the black steel string of his first cultivator bow. That didn¡¯t mean it needed to be so thin, but perhaps it lost its spring or the draw weight wouldn¡¯t match the rest of the weapon if it was thicker. Or the creator of the bow simply wanted another cutting surface, like the two blades that made up the majority of the bow shaft weren¡¯t enough. There was no information about the bow¡¯s origin. Million Sword Vault had simply obtained it in some conflict long in the past. Apparently some had tried to use it as a sword, but it didn¡¯t hold its shape well unless it was strung, and that got in the way of more traditional sword techniques. As for actually firing the bow, Anton ran into a couple of problems that almost caused him to fail the trial before it started. His first arrow managed to pull back the string just a little bit, before it was sliced apart and the string snapped forward. The second he focused too much on durability of the arrow and not his aim. On the third attempt, he actually got an arrow to go where he wanted, but he could tell that the difference in power would be rather fiddly based on exact draw length. The administrator of Anton¡¯s test was another elder, separate from the one guarding the vaults. Elder Wardah returned to Anton shortly after he was just getting used to firing the bow. ¡°The trial is ready. Any further shots will be counted against it. Come with me.¡± She walked ahead of him, the swirling sands making vision pretty much impossible. The windiness of the area around Million Sword Vault seemed to be another reason it could stay hidden, though Anton suspected that a portion of it was simply killing whoever they didn¡¯t want to know. He now knew they were a ¡®reasonable¡¯ sect by some definitions, but it had likely been foolish to approach, even in pursuit of a friend. Elder Wardah brought Anton to a seemingly random point. ¡°Here,¡± she said, pointing to the ground. ¡°You must seek the target.¡± ¡°Is there a time limit?¡± Anton asked. He got no answer. Well, it probably didn¡¯t matter. He stood in the spot she indicated and spread out his senses. What he was looking for was anything that wasn¡¯t sand. Then he found it, close to five kilometers away as indicated. He knew it was one of the targets, because that wasn¡¯t part of the test, though other unspoken factors could be. He took a deep breath, the coverings over his mouth and face keeping the sand away as he did so. He drew back the string while forming a Spirit Arrow and fired. His consciousness traveled through the mirrored sands until he struck the target, right in the middle of the bullseye. ¡°Done,¡± Anton said. ¡°Wait here,¡± Elder Wardah said. She wandered off towards the target, picking it up, then returned. ¡°Another. This way.¡± So they went to another, Anton keeping his senses mostly constrained to where they were in case finding the targets ahead of time was some violation. He didn¡¯t think the Million Sword Vault intended to fail him from something he didn¡¯t know, but they likely had some assumptions about how things should work that he wasn¡¯t familiar with. After the second target, she looked somewhat disappointed. Anton wasn¡¯t sure why, as it had only taken him a short time to find the target and hit the bullseye. Even by Grand Elder Kseniya¡¯s high standards, he didn¡¯t think there was much improvement to be made at his current cultivation level. Anton found himself beginning to fatigue simply from remaining out in the desert heat. There was a not insignificant distance between each point, and Anton wasn¡¯t sure he could find his way back to the Million Sword Vault after wandering through so much featureless swirling sand. They arrived at the location of the third target- or rather once more five kilometers away from it. ¡°Target is that way,¡± Elder Wardah pointed. Immediately Anton¡¯s senses stretched out the five thousand meters, finding the target. But instead of shooting, he hesitated. She hadn¡¯t pointed out the other ones. He spread his senses, looking further. There was nothing else in that direction, but he searched around to the sides and behind himself. There it was, the same distance in the opposite direction. It wouldn¡¯t be a problem to shoot it but¡­ he had the feeling there was something important. ¡°Is it one shot per target, or one shot per location?¡± Anton asked. Once more, Elder Wardah remained silent, letting him draw his own conclusions. Well, he could theoretically take the trial again¡­ or just give up. He didn¡¯t need another bow, and so far it was just appearing to be a rather difficult to shoot oddity, not something exceptional. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Anton decided to go with the assumption that it was one shot per location. If not, he was going to look like he was showing off¡­ which might not be terrible. But he really didn¡¯t want to fail a test that wasn¡¯t even that difficult. He focused, aligning his flow of energy with the bow, gathering more power to take the shot. While both targets were five kilometers away, this was actually a shot that would push him to his limits- because they were in opposite directions. Not only was the end goal fifteen kilometers away in essence, but it involved a one hundred and eighty degree turn. Either one of those factors was easy enough, but Anton had to take this more seriously to get both, even for still targets. Immediately after he released the arrow, Anton felt something was different. He was moving forward with the arrow as usual, but instead of slipping through the sands he was slicing a path. Somehow, his attack had widened without doing it consciously. Impacting a few extra grains of sand wouldn¡¯t matter, but over such a distance it was building up. He thought to narrow the attack again, but realized this was a feature of the bow he couldn¡¯t have imagined. How it was truly supposed to work. When he reached the first target, he sliced it cleanly in half- at a diagonal angle. He was used to arrows being more or less a symmetric point, but now that he was a wide blade he had to think about the rotation. But first he had to loop the arrow back around. The arrow flew for only a short moment before it was facing towards himself, but in that time it flew another kilometer. Fortunately, the extra distance wasn¡¯t as big of a problem as it could have been. Total travel distance mattered, but so did absolute distance from himself for the ability to keep control of his energy. Soon enough he was flying past himself, with enough distance to avoid the cutting edge he now had. He reached the other target with enough force to pierce into it, slicing halfway through before his power faded. Puncturing both targets would have been easy, but he had to impart significantly more total force to cut them in half- and the drag from the sands really added up. Anton breathed out slowly. ¡°Well, that was it.¡± Elder Wardah silently went to collect the targets. When she returned she had only a hint of a smile on her face. ¡°You pass. The weapon is yours.¡± As they walked back towards the sect, Anton wondered how she knew her way. There had to be some trick, but he didn¡¯t know if he should ask. There was something else he was more curious about though, and it seemed innocent enough. ¡°Do any of your elders practice archery?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I feel like the trial couldn¡¯t have been designed by an amateur¡­¡± He could have easily kept shooting the bow with only the minimal amount of force to hit the target, but the third phase made him impart more energy and thus discover the hidden feature of the weapon. ¡°Many of our members dabble in weapons other than the sword,¡± Elder Wardah explained. ¡°One of our Grand Elders designed this particular trial some time ago.¡± ¡°Would it be possible for me to meet with them?¡± Anton asked. ¡°No,¡± Elder Wardah said curtly. ¡°She¡¯s dead.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Everyone dies eventually,¡± Elder Wardah replied. Anton knew that but¡­ that didn¡¯t mean people who survived felt good about it. But he decided not to press the issue any further. ----- ¡°Look here,¡± Chikere spun a sword almost uncomfortably close to Anton¡¯s face. ¡°My new second best weapon!¡± ¡°I still say it seems kind of rude to call it that,¡± Hoyt said from nearby. ¡°Why?¡± Chikere said. ¡°That¡¯s what it is. It¡¯s very good, but not the best one I have.¡± ¡°I do agree with him,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Many of these disciples would be very envious of that sword, and yet you have another.¡± ¡°But I have tons of swords,¡± Chikere pointed out. ¡°And I use all of the best ones. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s going to be collecting rust. And they all had the opportunity to complete that trial before I got here.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t stop jealousy,¡± Anton pointed out. Even though he said that, it seemed the attitude towards Chikere of most of the disciples- and all of the Elders that Anton had seen- was quite positive. Whether it was due to very briefly being Swordmaster Rahayu¡¯s disciple or simply because Chikere was Chikere he wasn¡¯t quite sure, but she fit in with them. One of the disciples approached. ¡°Aspiring Swordmaster Chikere, I humbly request a spar.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± she said. ¡°Schedule is full.¡± ¡°Oh, I had heard there might be one more position.¡± ¡°There was,¡± Chikere admitted. ¡°But now Anton¡¯s in that spot.¡± Having not heard of that, Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Am I?¡± ¡°Of course. You can¡¯t carry around a sword and not expect me to want to fight you!¡± Chikere¡¯s eyes twinkled. So. It seemed they were on opposite sides of the sword-bow divide with regards to Anton¡¯s new weapon. Or perhaps it was simply that it was both, though Anton had no real plans to use it as a melee weapon if he could help it. He would still train for it anyway, because obviously if all battles went to plan he¡¯d instantly kill his opponents with a single arrow. ¡°I suppose that could be good for both of us,¡± Anton admitted. He didn¡¯t think much of his chances of winning such a spar, given that Chikere had a few extra years of training that still kept a gap in cultivation between them. However, it had been quite some time since they¡¯d had a serious match, and he could learn a lot from it. If nothing else, he would get some practice not dying against fifteen or so swords attacking simultaneously. He just needed to make sure neither of them got any injuries that would take months to recover from, because they had a goal to get to. Chapter 311 With the addition of his new bow, Anton¡¯s limit for ones formed of energy was a half dozen. His arrows had no rotation that was important prior to his new acquisition, but now he had to get used to how they might cut, and focus on providing enough power to make actual use of the effect. Since it widened the area of attack and made it somewhat like a sword, Anton was fairly certain that it would be a suboptimal weapon against Chikere. However, that also filled him with confidence to go all out in that regard. He could experiment without much worry of anyone getting hurt. If the battle had started at Anton¡¯s maximum range, he might have stood a real chance. However, the battle began at only a few hundred meters, which meant he only had a few volleys of shots before Chikere got close to him. His arrows flew together but not in anything that could be called an organized pattern. That would simply be easier to defend against, and Anton wanted Chikere to have to work for her success. She had somewhere close to twenty swords under her control at the moment, counting the one she held with her actual hands, but Anton suspected she could have more if necessary. That said, the space around her was quite crowded with blades already. The many swords were able to cover attacks from all angles as well as multiple simultaneous attacks, but though Anton had a disadvantage in number of weapons he was able to fire multiple volleys to be in the air at the same time- and by changing their velocity mid flight they could all arrive simultaneously. Most of his arrows were parried or sliced apart, but one of them came within a millimeter of impacting Chikere¡¯s shoulder, slicing through her defensive energy. Yet he didn¡¯t think that he was actually that close to inflicting a wound on her. Her style was simply to allow attacks as close to her as she could afford without taking debilitating injuries¡­ so that she could then focus on defeating her opponents. As he expected, the sword-bow he held in his hands only created wider area attacks that were easier for Chikere to predict and deflect. But on occasion the power forced her to use two, three, or even five swords simultaneously to block his attacks. Anton didn¡¯t let her close into melee, but he couldn¡¯t exactly stay away from her. He might be able to match her speed if he did nothing else but retreat, but he couldn¡¯t attack then. Instead he did his best to keep Chikere from chopping through his energy bows, her swords widening their spread to reach for them as they shot nearly point-blank at her. As expected, he was able to use the bow to parry some of her attacks, and despite how difficult it seemed he was still able to continue firing it while he did so. It was well made, even if its purpose was rather odd. But in the end, Anton didn¡¯t have the necessary experience to overcome Chikere¡¯s melee expertise, and he soon found himself with three swords impaled in his chest. Chikere had kindly avoided stabbing into any organs, but didn¡¯t stop before piercing through him so as to make it very clear to all present that she could have. ¡°You win,¡± Anton admitted without difficulty. She was still ahead of him in cultivation, and her combat capability was her only focus. ¡°I would like to discuss wielding multiple weapons at some point.¡± Though their methods were different, he imagined he could learn something from her. He wouldn¡¯t mind carrying around additional physical bows if it would be more effective than energy bows, though there would doubtless be some practical limits there. Bows took up a bit more space than swords, and Chikere was honestly hard to find under the various weapons she had at this point. ----- Despite what had initially been heard about the Million Sword Vault, they were reasonable folk. Anton and the others were sworn to secrecy about the precise location, but they didn¡¯t actually seem too concerned about whether or not they were found. Though if Anton and the others had come with ill intent, he doubted they would be walking away. A new sect to train with for a while would be beneficial to them all, but they had limited time. It might not happen immediately, but the conflict with the Whispering Watchers was inevitable. The mission had been to come find Chikere and keep her from getting killed, and while the second had miraculously not been necessary, they had completed what they had to do. And what¡¯s more, Million Sword Vault was willing to participate in the upcoming battles. It was a strange mix of official and unofficial support. There wasn¡¯t anything so formal as an organized draft where they sent a specified amount of their disciples to help. Instead, they simply made an announcement asking for volunteers¡­ of which there were many. That was how they ended up with several hundred people following them out of the Scorching Mirror Desert, close to fifty of which were in Essence Collection along with a single Life Transformation Elder. It wasn¡¯t clear how many of them were coming because they were battle maniacs compared to how many were coming to support Chikere- with the intent of sparring with her at a later time. In fact, Anton supposed they might all be interested in both options. But either way, the outpouring of support was more than expected. It wasn¡¯t expected to actually get them to join, as information on them had been vague- but they were quite eager to ¡®take out some traitors¡¯. Anton vaguely recognized the elder who approached him. Not from at the Million Sword Vault, but before that. It seemed Elder Vasu had the same idea, as the relatively youthful man spoke. ¡°You were at Everheart¡¯s Tomb, were you not? The one regarding ascension.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton inclined his head. ¡°I was there.¡± ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong¡­ I saw you in the final chambers. The ones that required passing somewhat arbitrary insights about ascension.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I think it was designed for everyone to make the choice that fit themselves,¡± Anton said. ¡°To an extent,¡± Elder Vasu admitted. ¡°But many failed to pass. I took note of you because of your low cultivation¡­ which has improved significantly in the last seven or eight years, has it not?¡± ¡°I was able to make the step into mid Essence Collection, yes,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Unfortunately, whatever insights I have into ascension are meaningless for myself. Since I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± the man asked. ¡°I would judge that we are actually rather similar in age, around a century. The barrier of Life Transformation is great, but for one with your insights I would expect it to be less onerous, regardless of what speed you advance through ranks.¡± ¡°Even if I were suddenly to find myself at the peak of Life Transformation, that step is impossible for me. I know that for certain.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Vasu asked. ¡°Why?¡± Though his words were polite, his manner was also quite straightforward. Not that Anton found that to be a bad thing. ¡°A forbidden technique,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Besides, I have too many attachments to the world to just leave it behind for a little bit of power.¡± Vasu laughed. ¡°Just a little, huh?¡± he shook his head. ¡°That may be so. But about the Whispering Watchers, you are sure they are traitors? Their impropriety deserves retribution regardless, but it would be good to know.¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Anton said. ¡°You should be able to confirm it yourself. But in case you do not have access to any of the necessary techniques, I can teach them.¡± Vasu nodded, ¡°Some of the other elders¡­ did a thorough sweep of the sect after our return. I personally focused more on the anti-ascension techniques. Though they¡¯re rather difficult to practice without a target. ¡± ¡°Ah, I may have neglected mentioning something in my haste,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°That forbidden technique allows me to use ascension energy¡­ to some extent. While I can¡¯t say I¡¯m a worthy opponent, I¡¯m certain you could adjust your power output to determine if it works.¡± ¡°I see. I assume it¡¯s related to Everheart. The man was fond of¡­ weighing the present against the future for maximum benefits. Though I can¡¯t say I understand the mechanics of that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s basically it,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°As far as I understand.¡± ¡°Too bad,¡± Vasu admitted. ¡°If you¡¯re well versed in the technique¡­ does that not mean you almost certainly would have ascended?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°No. I¡¯d be dead. And people I care about as well.¡± ¡°Perhaps. But there was at least some path.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Anton admitted. The projection of Everheart present on the moon had spoken to him personally, indicating he would likely have reached ascension as well. ¡°Do you think¡­ there are other paths?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Elder Vasu frowned. ¡°I¡­ hadn¡¯t even considered it. And I find myself somewhat doubtful. Have you found something that indicates otherwise?¡± ¡°Not really. Just something Everheart said. His projection, I mean. I¡¯m nowhere near old enough to have met the real man.¡± Even the one on the moon admitted to not being the real one. After all, he shouldn¡¯t still be around but instead ascended. Or dead, most likely both by his own admission. ¡°Well, I certainly have no idea,¡± Vasu admitted. ¡°But I would never call anything impossible.¡± A pause. ¡°He talked to you?¡± ¡°Just his projections. I was fortunate to get some of his techniques early on, and that made further projections amicable towards me. As much as Everheart ever can be, at least.¡± ¡°My interactions with his tombs indicated he was a difficult man to be around. But he knew his stuff. About this ascension energy¡­ we¡¯ll have to find a time to practice.¡± ¡°Perhaps once out of the desert,¡± Anton said. ¡°My usage here would be¡­ suboptimal.¡± ----- As it turned out nobody was willing to cause trouble for an army with the strength of a moderate sect- or a good portion of a powerful one. The journey took a few turns to avoid directly imposing on any sect¡¯s land so that they would not feel compelled to respond, but they arrived in good time. The approach to Prophis made it clear that more forces had been gathered from many places. As they approached, Grand Elder Kseniya rode out to meet them. ¡°Welcome back, Anton. I see you were successful in your mission.¡± She looked over the army of Million Sword Vault cultivators. ¡°I presume you are allies?¡± ¡°We are,¡± Elder Vasu nodded. ¡°I¡¯m Vasu.¡± ¡°Kseniya. I am a Grand Elder of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. I assume your position is much the same.¡± ¡°Similar,¡± Vasu admitted. ¡°Though until I attain the level of Swordmaster, I simply retain the title of ¡®elder¡¯.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, as long as you are willing to fight with us. I trust my disciple Anton explained everything?¡± ¡°Enough. Whispering Watchers harbor members of the Twin Soul Sect, maybe more than that. And they sent a Life Transformation elder to kill him after he killed some of their disciples in the conflict with Swordmaster Rahayu.¡± Vasu grinned, ¡°Which is extremely disrespectful. They need to learn to take one on the chin. Though I¡¯ll settle for cutting a few in half.¡± ¡°They get along with Chikere very well,¡± Anton said as a manner of explanation. ¡°They leapt at the opportunity to help.¡± ¡°You mean fight,¡± Vasu laughed. ¡°But joining a friend in battle is good as well. And the indirect disrespect for Rahayu won¡¯t be tolerated. Just because he¡¯s not here to chop them up doesn¡¯t mean everyone will tolerate it!¡± Vasu harrumphed. ¡°You speak as if he is dead,¡± Kseniya frowned. ¡°Not at all. If he was dead¡­ as long as no foul play would be involved, we would accept it. But he ascended, and they choose to disrespect his legacy. Plus there¡¯s that whole thing about betraying us to invaders? But that hasn¡¯t happened yet so we¡¯ll get ¡®em later.¡± ¡°No matter the reason,¡± Kseniya said, ¡°As long as you are willing to fight alongside others we are glad to have you.¡± ¡°Alongside, in front of¡­ we¡¯ll fight wherever,¡± Vasu grinned widely. ¡°We might just carve a trail of blood alongside that one,¡± he gestured to Chikere. ¡°But I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find us quite effective whatever we do.¡± Chapter 312 The elders of various sects gathered in Prophis, discussing their strategy. There were many from both continents, representing a wide variety of interests. Gathering all the forces they could had made them formidable, but their actions weren¡¯t able to be kept fully secret. The Whispering Watchers had an opportunity to gather some allies of their own. ¡°How shall we go about doing this?¡± Elder Adelina of the Frostmirror Sect asked. ¡°Why debate?¡± Elder Sarka of the Glorious Flame Palace complained. ¡°We should just go in and crush them.¡± ¡°A straightforward attack suits us as well,¡± Elder Vasu of Million Sword Vault confirmed. ¡°I am not fond of the idea of having to deal with their formations,¡± Kseniya grimaced. ¡°I think we should start by sending them a message.¡± ¡°Good point,¡± Sarka agreed. ¡°Have to let them know why they¡¯re getting destroyed.¡± ¡°And who would we send?¡± Adelina asked, ¡°Who, that would not end up a sacrifice?¡± ¡°I have a solution that should please you both well enough. I¡¯ll be the messenger,¡± Kseniya said, one hand tapping her bow. ¡°You¡¯ll kill one of them, then?¡± a younger man from one of the local sects asked. ¡°We intend to stand and fight, but we only intend to take out the traitors. And their elders are all holed up¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯re all traitors,¡± Kseniya declared. ¡°And I can prove it easily enough. They sent an elder to kill my disciple first, so there shouldn¡¯t be any complaints if I start killing their disciples.¡± ¡°For a righteous sect, that position is a bit extreme,¡± a much older man commented. ¡°There¡¯s no point in letting an open sore like this grow and fester,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°And you can all observe my technique. I¡¯ve been working on it. I find it¡¯s much too slow to verify someone¡¯s status as a Twin Soul and then shoot them.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Elder Sarka asked. ----- The Whispering Watchers had some idea about Kseniya¡¯s existence. She had not been inactive since coming to the continent, after all. But even so, they weren¡¯t fully aware of her capabilities. If they had been, they wouldn¡¯t have let anyone step a single foot outside of the bounds of the defensive formations surrounding their core. The time from the spirit arrow being shot to when it pierced through the chest of the targeted disciple was insignificant, at least for those who were not at late Essence Collection at the minimum and able to sense it from far off. Thus, by the time the first arrow had arrived several more were on their way. ¡°Well, looks like someone got lucky,¡± Kseniya commented. The first disciple to be pierced through the chest looked down, knowing he just had a surge of energy go through him. But he looked to see no wound. Yet nearly simultaneous arrows struck his companions, half of which perished. Even Kseniya couldn¡¯t track the expressions on the faces of people at that distance, but it should be fear and confusion. The other elders remained next to Kseniya. ¡°I see,¡± Sarka commented. ¡°That¡¯s a good one. Only damaging people from the Twin Soul Sect? You should have shared that earlier.¡± ¡°I know enough about myself that most wouldn¡¯t understand my methods¡­ and there are some drawbacks.¡± ¡°The attacks are weak, right?¡± Adelina commented. ¡°But it reveals them at the same time. It¡¯s quite hard to deny. Not that we had doubts anyway.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see the point in sparing the others,¡± Vasu said. ¡°They are of the same sect, after all.¡± Kseniya shook her head, ¡°Some might not know any better. But there won¡¯t be any mercy for those who join them in the coming battle. It is impossible for them to not at least have heard rumors about the truth of the Twin Soul Sect.¡± Even as she spoke, her hands moved- targeting any of those associated with the Whispering Watchers and the allies they had along with them. One Essence Collection cultivator from the Infinite Gate Society managed to block the attack, suffering a wound to his arm as he turned to flee. But the physical damage was not as important as the other, his true cultivation being revealed underneath. Though the strongest elders could pick up what was happening, Kseniya summarized for some of the others. ¡°Looks like the Infinite Gate Society has more Twin Soul members among them. Beyond Swordmaster Vianne, of course.¡± It was to be expected by anyone willing to stand by the side of the Whispering Watchers in the current time. Since they had been discovered, they had to band together to survive. At least, that seemed to be the most sensible reasoning. Soon enough there were no more targets for Kseniya- her targets either lay dead, or were uninjured and given a second chance. Even the dullest of cultivators could recognize a pattern so simply laid out before them- though it was likely that excuses would be made to any allies who were not completely in bed with them. If there were any. ¡°Strange,¡± Kseniya commented. ¡°I would have thought that nobody would step out, but here come a few.¡± She flexed her fingers, grip tightening on her bow. ¡°But given their makeup, I think we can reasonably assume this is some sort of negotiation delegation. I bet I could still kill one though.¡± Kseniya coughed, ¡°When they inevitably make the wrong decision.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°That will just solidify any who are on the fence,¡± Adelina pointed out. ¡°We can quickly discuss when they are on the way back.¡± Even though the delegation seemed to be made primarily of Life Transformation cultivators, it still took them a significant time to approach. Of course, they were most likely interested in conserving their energy in case there was an attack- in which case they could make the thirty minute journey in a fraction of the time, only having to deal with Kseniya¡¯s attacks. ¡°Infinite Gate Society, Hungry Rat Cult¡­ and some others,¡± Elder Vasu commented. ¡°Basically what our scouts told us. But it seems the Whispering Watchers are afraid to speak for themselves.¡± The delegation stopped when they were over a kilometer away. It was still rather close by some standards, and they were able to project their voices with ease. ¡°What is the meaning of this attack?¡± the man representing the Infinite Gate Society questioned. ¡°Why have you all joined up with foreign sects to cause war?¡± a relatively younger man with beady eyes asked. In theory, a proper negotiator should have been arranged for on both sides. In practice, it was first come first serve. That meant Elder Vasu began with some cutting words. ¡°Let me ask you this, how do you all feel about being stabbed in the back? Because that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking for. Unless you¡¯re all traitors. You could come a few steps closer and we can figure it out.¡± ¡°We have no trust for your ¡®revealing techniques¡¯,¡± the representative of the Infinite Gate Society intoned. ¡°Ah, shaddup,¡± Vasu waved his arm, cutting apart a nearby tree with his bare hand. ¡°Your whole damn sect is corrupted, starting with Vianne. I was talking to these other fellows. Hey, rat boy. Bite off his head yourself and you¡¯ll see his true nature, with not a single scrap of energy from us.¡± The eyes of the one he referred to as ¡®rat boy¡¯ twitched. ¡°I am properly addressed as Elder Farrukh.¡± ¡°Sure, whatever.¡± Vasu narrowed his eyes at the other man. ¡°So, Lackey, have anything to say for yourself?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Malachy. And it¡¯s not even pronounced like that.¡± He snorted, ¡°Well, it is clear you have no intention to do any proper negotiations.¡± ¡°It is simply that we are in agreement with his sentiments,¡± an elder from Marvelous Rabbit Mountain- Elder Paula- made herself known. ¡°Our sect has already purged itself of traitors. There does not appear to be any hope for the Whispering Watchers, but the rest of you might have some chance. Except perhaps Infinite Gate Society, it seems.¡± Though more words were exchanged, little of substance was communicated- except that they were to spread the word that anyone who fought on the side of the Whispering Watchers would be considered complicit- and the others ignored. Whether they would actually spread the words to the ears of their hesitant disciples would be another matter. A discussion on whether or not to try to take any of them out happened while they were on the way back. It was decided to not be worth it. Not everyone was in total agreement on that, but some were still hoping that the battle lines were not set. ¡°I¡¯m taking the shot,¡± Kseniya said. Of course, that was only after her hands had already gone through the motions and the arrow was on its way. Adelina sighed, but watched closely as her arrow pierced through the back of Farrukh. The elder turned and frowned, though he was already so far that they could not see his expression. ¡°Wait a moment,¡± Adelina frowned. ¡°Did you¡­ can you just ignore defensive energy as you please? Even if your arrow doesn¡¯t react to him his defenses.¡± ¡°If only things were so simple,¡± Kseniya grinned widely. ¡°No, this technique requires a certain honesty to it. It doesn¡¯t work like that.¡± Adelina mentally noted that she didn¡¯t say that it couldn¡¯t be done, however. A simple misunderstanding, perhaps. Or perhaps Kseniya would be a fearsome opponent in the future. Not that Adelina expected to have any conflict with the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. Glorious Flame Palace, maybe, but not the Order. ----- ¡°Uuuugh I¡¯m tired of waiting,¡± Alva complained and rolled around on the ground. She wished she could be flopping around on Fuzz¡¯ back, but he was still on another continent- a choice she was never going to make again. ¡°This is how it is before every big battle,¡± Anish commented. ¡°Precisely,¡± Annelie affirmed. ¡°And I get tired every time!¡± Alva threw up her hands. ¡°Just because you can turn off boredom or whatever doesn¡¯t mean the rest of us can.¡± ¡°A lack of emotion is actually very much like boredom,¡± Annelie commented. ¡°... I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t get stuck with the Frostmirror Sect,¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°It suits me quite well, I think,¡± Annelie said impassively. ¡°Yeah,¡± Anish nodded. ¡°Uh, everyone has to find the technique most suited for them.¡± ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll have to do a siege?¡± Alva wondered. ¡°I feel like they might make us.¡± ¡°Elder Vasu claimed to be a master at dismantling formations,¡± the other cousin pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that just means he would chop it into pieces?¡± Alva frowned. ¡°He doesn¡¯t feel anything like Catarina or the others.¡± ¡°Oh. Right.¡± Annelie actually blushed slightly, for the brief moment before she regained control. ¡°It¡¯s likely quite effective.¡± Anish mulled something over in his head. ¡°You were right, Alva. About Swordmaster Vianne¡¯s Sect.¡± ¡°Obviously. How can you have a famous member of your sect who¡¯s a spy and not figure it out?¡± ¡°It happens more often than you might think,¡± Anish shrugged. ¡°Even some of the Glorious Flame Palace elders had to be removed.¡± Further conversation was cut off by a wave of energy from up ahead. The defensive formation of the sect wobbled and shrunk in size, the massive change in energy obvious to all but the weakest present- despite the distance. As for what it was doing, it became clear soon enough that there were components of it that could be moved, allowing a slightly weaker but mobile bubble of power to protect the advancing enemy ranks. It was powered not only by the core that normally maintained it, but elders from the various sects aligned with the Whispering Watchers. Its defensive power prevented any attacks at a long distance, and while Grand Elder Kseniya was the only one who could attack them at the beginning, she could cause enough damage on her own. Various sects and groups within them began to maneuver with relation to the bubble. It would be optimal to surround it, but if any group got too close alone they might be attacked by the whole of the enemy forces at once. That was a deterrent to most, except for the disciples of the Million Sword Vault, along with Chikere. Glorious Flame Palace was more cautious than them, until they saw the approach- then they rushed to catch up. Other sects moved to at least form a semicircle that would be of some advantage to them. The only problem was the barrier. In theory, it could prevent attacks coming in but not going out- which meant they would soon be in range of many of the Whispering Watchers causing great damage. Chapter 313 Two armies approached each other, only separated by a thin but powerful barrier. On one side were the Whispering Watchers and their allies- Infinite Gate Society, the Hungry Rat Cult, and a smattering of smaller sects and certain powerful individuals. On the other side was the alliance of cultivators from another continent, along with a number of local sects including Marvelous Rabbit Mountain from the western coast and the group from Million Sword Vault. The barrier currently kept those with the longest ranges from attacking into it, but it was assumed that the Whispering Watchers and others would be able to attack out of it, at least to some extent. Barriers that worked perfectly in a single direction were rare, and nearly impossible while mobile. Perhaps certain formation masters might be able to make something workable, but more likely the barrier had flaws that could be broken through. As the mobile forces outside the barrier were able to move more smoothly, they were in the process of closing the semicircle they had formed. Glares were exchanged across the barrier, some personal grudges and some simply because of the battle that was currently in motion. Farrukh of the Hungry Rat Cult was focused on Kseniya and Vasu. Malachy of the Infinite Gate Society had his eyes on Chikere, likely because she had Vianne¡¯s sword. The tension rose ever higher as the groups approached, just waiting to be broken. Members of the Whispering Watchers began to gather their energy all at once, preparing for a volley of attacks. Outside, those with ranged abilities were focused on heading off their attacks to protect the majority of melee combatants. But neither were the ones to make the first strike. Instead, it was Vasu. He stood alongside Chikere, where they were both in the front row of the group of cultivators from the Million Sword Vault. His sword had been drawn since the enemies began their approach, but once the front of the barrier was within a hundred meters he shifted his grip on his blade, taking two wide, diagonal swings. His sword cut an X into the barrier, momentarily tearing open a section that the group began to pour through. Battle was engaged, and both sides surged forward. The side of the Whispering Watchers focused on intercepting those who came through the barrier while they began their bombardment of deathly energy, while in turn the other forces sought weaknesses in the barrier to break through. Simply bombarding it with attacks was possible, but would take more energy, ultimately wasting effort. If smaller groups could break through and reach the forces maintaining the formation, however, it would be different. A kilometer behind the front lines were Anton, Kseniya, and others with longer ranges. They could attack from further, but were at a range that was both effective and hard for most to counter. Though they were fighting seriously, the barrier was a problem- for the most part they had to try to catch the orbs of deathly energy as they popped out of the barrier to protect their allies. Kseniya was putting in work, but she also had the capacity to casually chat while doing so. ¡°Personally I think they would have done better if they stayed behind their permanent formations,¡± she commented. ¡°Unless they don¡¯t have enough farmland, because I sure wasn¡¯t going to let them bring in supplies.¡± ¡°From what I saw, there were some plots being farmed. The land itself seems arable enough,¡± Anton replied. ¡°But perhaps they simply rose to our provocation, or were swayed by the threat of annihilation.¡± Talking slightly reduced his effectiveness, but he wasn¡¯t involved in any sort of deep tactical focus. He was just shooting arrows at every orb he could, piercing into them so they would break apart early. Their power wasn¡¯t in their physical form, but the effect they had on people- so they were intended to break apart, just later. ¡°Honestly though,¡± Kseniya sighed. ¡°Do they think we¡¯re all spring chickens? I suppose they don¡¯t really know me though,¡± she frowned. Anton felt just a tiny motion of her eyes, and he turned to look over his shoulder. ¡°I don¡¯t sense anything yet.¡± ¡°No, they¡¯re a bit better than that. But also still quite far.¡± ¡°Should we¡­?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make an announcement in a minute.¡± Anton was pretty sure that meant she would be shooting someone. But it was her prerogative to make the judgment of when and how to do things. Ahead of them the battle was something like a stalemate. Few except Million Sword Vault had managed to break through the barriers even momentarily, and those inside would eventually be overwhelmed¡­ but the enemy was being cut down as well. If there was a more lasting break in the barrier the archers could target those sustaining the core of the formation. There were several flags being carried, which were good targets- but taking out those holding them in place would also serve a purpose. Among them were many members of the numerous Hungry Rat Cult, staying in reserve. From what Anton had been told, they had another factor missing as well. It was clear that the front line was becoming impatient, as some of the Life Transformation experts were beginning to make attacks more suited to smashing through the barrier than systematically break it apart. Everyone had to make their own choices of course, but the burning ball of fire around Elder Sarka seemed quite excessive. It was burning the dirt and melting the stone in the area near her. Anton thought maybe she was trying an alternative digging technique to try to get under the barrier until she jumped forward and smashed into it head on. There, she held open a hole with the bubble of fire around her, one that other members of Glorious Flame Palace were quick to rush through, unharmed by Sarka¡¯s fire. Other sects were more hesitant. ¡°Guess I was late,¡± Kseniya said. She had already turned around to begin taking shots at the approaching enemies behind them- seemingly independents not associated with sects or who had found an excuse to be away. Undoubtedly Twin Soul Sect members, unless they were just suicidal. Individually, anyway. The full number of them was making Anton rather nervous about the situation. As for what made her late, even though the enemy was still far enough for everyone to react to, it was Elder Paula of Marvelous Rabbit Mountain. She leapt into the air, almost as if she were flying- positioned directly over the center of the enemy forces. As she fell she picked up speed, and she somehow twisted herself into a forward spin with a leg outstretched. Kseniya¡¯s shots were fired before she hit the barrier and cracked it, landing in the center of the area. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Elder Farrukh of the Hungry Rat Cult looked her straight in the eye, gathering energy. He turned to the man next to him, a late Essence Collection member of the Whispering Watchers. ¡°Now!¡± he shouted. Then his energy took the form of two pairs of rodent incisors with the image of a great rat around them. Immediately, they sliced through the man next to him, as piles of actual rats burrowed out of the ground and chomped at the heels¡­ of the group that had thought they were allies an instant before. Elder Paula viewed the move with some suspicion, before deciding she could deal with them later if it was some sort of deception. Instead, she hopped forward, kicking a rather shocked member of Infinite Gate Society. The woman had swapped from using her energy to power the formation to primarily protecting herself in time, but it didn¡¯t stop her from being shunted far from her proper position. Along with the Hungry Rat Cult suddenly no longer participating in its stability, it began to fade and crack rapidly. Even as that happened, Elder Farrukh locked eyes with Vasu. The two of them just shared a single word. Later. Personal insults leading to grudges could be resolved in the future. Back across the battlefield, Anton had little freedom to focus on the lives of his friends and family¡­ but the opportunity afforded by the Hungry Rat Cult switching sides was too good to pass up. Perhaps he was burdening Grand Elder Kseniya by trusting her to protect him from the encroaching attackers, but she hadn¡¯t spoken a word of complaint as he surveyed the area. Alva was safely nearby, as her range was sufficient to affect a large portion of the battlefield along with the rest of the snipers. Even if she didn¡¯t have the same level of training in Horizon Shot as Anton, she could still shoot things within visual range to a high degree of accuracy. Hoyt was chopping his way through a line of enemies along with some of the allied forces. Velvet was¡­ probably fine wherever she was. Annelie happened to be fighting side-by-side with Anish, the fire and ice clearing swaths of opponents. Most battles were going fine, but he contributed a few shots wherever he thought it would do the most good. He just needed the right openings, and most people weren¡¯t focused on what some guy a couple thousand meters away might be ready to do to them when there was a spear right in their face they had to worry about. ----- Near the edge of where the barrier had once stood, Elder Malachy- who looked ready to remind anyone who spoke that it wasn¡¯t pronounced like ¡®lackey¡¯- had managed to reach Chikere. Not that she was difficult to get to, as she was one of those at the front of the pack. ¡°You will return Swordmaster Vianne¡¯s blade to us,¡± he said, stating it both as a fact and a command. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid,¡± Chikere said. ¡°It¡¯s mine. Rahayu said I could have it.¡± ¡°That fool isn¡¯t even here,¡± Malachy held his blade towards Chikere. ¡°Well, I suppose I don¡¯t mind doing this the fun way.¡± Against a sword wielder of her own cultivation, Chikere would have been confident. Against a Life Transformation cultivator like Elder Malachy, she was in fact still confident. Others might have told her that was incorrect, and she would have ignored them. And if she was wrong, all that would happen was that she would die- which wasn¡¯t as bad as giving up a sword she didn¡¯t want to. A bristling flower of swords surrounded her, akin to a thistle. More swords wasn¡¯t necessarily better, but instead it was her preferred style which made it better for her. The clash of blades began, swords slicing and stabbing, clashing with each other as they were parried and dodged. Everyone around them backed off, not willing to get caught in the battle even as they were merely testing each other out. Then a sword shattered. ¡°What the hell?¡± Chikere shouted. ¡°You broke number fifteen! You¡¯ll pay for that.¡± Her eyes narrowed in anger, as if Elder Malachy had killed one of her closest friends¡­ which perhaps was not far off. Unfortunately, her combat style did not benefit from anger. Several exchanges later, two more of here swords were broken- and three were flung far out of their reach, across the battlefield. ¡°You¡¯re not worthy of that sword you hold,¡± Elder Malachy sneered derisively. ¡°Pathetic, like your master.¡± That taunt didn¡¯t have its intended effect, but it did cause Chikere to hesitate in confusion. ¡°...Swordmaster Rahayu ascended.¡± ¡°A wonderful fiction, but I knew the power Vianne had to hold. But history is written by the victors, I suppose. So I¡¯ll be writing the end to your little story.¡± His words weren¡¯t just arrogance, as Chikere was finding herself with a myriad of cuts. So far she had kept the remainder of her swords intact, though some were now chipped under the ferocity of the man¡¯s attacks, one sword overcoming many. Then, with a skillful feint, Malachy caused Chikere to overextend, twisting the blade in her hands and disarming her of Vianne¡¯s sword, which he then caught. He grinned. ¡°Number one¡­¡± Chikere looked at her empty hands. Malachy let her have a moment to look and despair before he began his next attack, striking with Vianne¡¯s superior sword. He grinned as Chikere stepped forward towards him, swinging her arms as if she still held the sword in her hands. They swung up- to no effect of course. An arrow forced him half a step closer, but he didn¡¯t care. The blades around weren¡¯t swift enough to catch him. His blade connected with her forehead, bringing with it the sound of severed flesh and bone while the woman uselessly swung her arms down. But two things were wrong. His left hand no longer felt the hilt of Vianne¡¯s sword. And his right¡­ seemed to have been severed, somehow. ¡°... how?¡± he asked no one in particular. ¡°I saw Rahayu ascend with my own eyes,¡± Chikere commented. Even if he knew what she actually meant, that would have only answered half of Malachy¡¯s question. Instead he focused on Chikere herself. There was a cut starting on her brow and down to her nose, the source of large quantities of blood dripping alongside her nose and over her now-smiling lips. ¡°It¡¯s okay number one,¡± she said to a sword that was not supposed to be in her hands, but was anyway. ¡°You¡¯re back with me.¡± A detailed response was not on the way. Instead, there were only more swords- and arrows. Malachy had no idea how Vianne¡¯s sword was now back in Chikere¡¯s hands, but he used his remaining hand to pull his own blade out once more. Even with his mistake, he was confident he could defeat Chikere, though the archer that seemed to have locked onto him was making things a pain. Chikere continued her incomprehensible speech. ¡°Fifteen, seventeen, and twelve are a loss¡­ but the new number three looks pretty decent.¡± Somehow, Malachy felt his presence had been disregarded by her entirely. The archer clearly wasn¡¯t taking him for granted. And, though it no longer mattered, there had been another focused on him. But Vasu had already returned his focus to reaping the lives of those foolish enough to get within ten or twenty arms¡¯ lengths of himself. Chapter 314 Despite the grievous injury Chikere had already inflicted on Malachy, Anton wasn¡¯t willing to leave her alone. It was already something of a miracle that she had matched a Life Transformation cultivator while merely in the late Essence Collection Phase. Of course, much of it hinged on a single blow that could just have easily ended up with her perishing. But Chikere had the apparently justified confidence that the sword would be in her hands instead of his. Anton had vaguely heard of weapons on such a level that they bound themselves to a wielder, but information had been sparse. Anton had only spotted the battle at the critical moment, but now he was participating more actively to keep the pressure off of Chikere. Fighting an opponent with one arm might have seemed easy, but if battle was decided purely by effective number limbs Chikere would have won long before. Elder Malachy could move several times faster than her, and most of the time she was just barely holding her own. Attacks that she clearly intended to just miss her sliced into her flesh, leaving trails of blood dripping down her body. In order to draw as much attention as he could, Anton amplified his attacks. Some were using ascension energy, and some made use of his new bow that made arrows function like wide blades. Now that he was aware of what was going to happen, he was able to lean into it and take some advantage of the otherwise awkward transformation. His arrows mainly attacked from behind Malachy, circling around so the man would have to choose between dealing with Chikere and Anton¡¯s attacks. There were also some enemy troops angling towards the duel, and Anton discouraged them from approaching by scything through several of them. Chikere¡¯s attacks had only gotten sharper and more vicious since she sliced off Malachy¡¯s arm at the elbow, but he was also taking her more seriously. If he had taken the moment he disarmed her of her primary weapon to attack instead of trying to use it against her, the battle might have been much more in his favor. That sword had belonged to Swordmaster Vianne, but it was hard to say that it wasn¡¯t Chikere¡¯s weapon now. The rest of the battle was more or less being won by their side, but it came with the caveat every battle did- there were casualties on both sides. That didn¡¯t make the battle pointless though. If it was a question of waiting until the invasion when the Twin Soul Sect had recovered and could fight alongside unknown powerful enemies or taking care of them ahead of time while they could, it was an obvious choice. Even if it was disadvantageous for the cultivators from Brogora, who were fighting on a continent that wasn¡¯t even theirs. Yet it was still the right thing to do, and even the practical thing- there was no guarantee the invasion wouldn¡¯t spill over between continents. In fact, it seemed quite likely. Either way, it improved the odds of someone being able to withstand the coming future, and that was enough. Not that anyone wanted to accept more casualties than they had to. ----- Hoyt pushed his way through the enemy ranks, leaving behind a trail of fire as he moved. He was treating himself like a meteor, his danger coming from momentum and heat. It was far removed from his grandfather¡¯s style, yet also incredibly reminiscent of it. That couldn¡¯t be helped. They used the same cultivation technique, and beyond that he didn¡¯t hate his grandfather. He just hadn¡¯t wanted to hang himself on the man¡¯s status. He took a sharp left turn as he saw a two meter high pile of rats. As far as he could tell they were on his side, but that was all the more reason to avoid barreling through them. A ball of deathly energy from one of the Whispering Watchers flew into the mass, but the rats consumed the bodies of their fallen comrades in an instant and surged towards more enemies. Yes, it was best to avoid any of that if he could. ----- It was difficult to find a good target in the surge of people. Optimally Velvet wanted to take out the strongest she could kill quickly, as it was best for her fighting style. That meant no Life Transformation experts, obviously, but she now found herself entangled with a late Essence Collection fellow who refused to die. He wasn¡¯t even pretending to not be part of the Twin Soul Sect now and was fully displaying a power that made her somehow even more uneasy than the honest deathly energy the Whispering Watchers practiced. There was a gross feeling of something lurking deep inside them that she found hard to describe. The cut she¡¯d made on his neck didn¡¯t seem to be bleeding anymore, and not because it had healed. Velvet was pretty sure the man should be out of blood. Of course, she was also pretty sure he should be dead. At the moment, she was dodging around trying to avoid daggers he was throwing. He shouldn¡¯t be able to fight forever with such an injury, but he also shouldn¡¯t be able to so accurately sense her. Then again, no technique was perfect, and he appeared quite capable of keeping track of her once she had exposed herself. Without knowing if any of her attacks would actually stop him, she wasn¡¯t willing to go in for a finishing blow. Perhaps it would be better to draw him towards a member of the Hungry Rat Cult. They seemed quite fond of biting hunks off of people, and even if the man somehow survived that he would be much less effective. Besides, the rat guys deserved it for almost being on the wrong side of the war. ----- Fire and ice together simultaneously froze and burned entire groups of people. Alva was watching that from afar, wishing she could contribute more than a few arrows. If Fuzz was around she could be closer up and more proactive, but she had to predict her opponents from a distance. Though it wasn¡¯t as if she was needed at the moment anyway. Anish and Annelie had really gotten good at working together, and instead of disrupting each other they simply made it impossible for anyone to defend in any concentrated way. They could defend against heat or cold, but not both at the same time. Except in the general sense that all defensive energy would, but very few defenses worked completely passively. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Alva settled for spinning around to attack some of those that were getting towards their rear group. Melee combatants had fallen back to assist them, but there were many varied members of the Twin Soul Sect that had shown up. In a way that was good, because they would have been hard to pick out if they¡¯d simply stayed in hiding. She shot just as her grandpa had trained her, carefully and precisely. She was a little more haphazard with some shots when on Fuzz, but what was she supposed to do when she was barreling towards an open jaw? Shooting into it was always the right answer. On that note, one of the enemies was riding on a giant wolf, but it was not cute at all. It was missing patches of fur and foaming at the mount, and it has spikes of bone jutting out of it at seemingly random angles. Even it didn¡¯t seem happy to be a rabid monstrosity, so she was trying to take it out. Its rider did nothing to defend it, so she shot him in the ankle, where his foot connected to some weird stirrups. Alva was pretty sure the wolf twisted so he¡¯d take the hit when it could have avoided it. One final arrow made its way towards the creature¡¯s eye. It went right into the thing¡¯s eye, and its head exploded. That¡­ was an unexpected result. Technically the release of energy from the arrow could do that, but only if there was no defensive energy at all. Alva decided to get closer to the limping foe. She had to figure out what sort of crappy beast-taming sect he was from and teach them a lesson. ----- Soon enough the outcome of the battle was obvious to everyone, and the forces allied with the Whispering Watchers and the Twin Soul Sect began a disorganized retreat. They began to flee in all directions, including towards the sect grounds. Those might protect them for a time, but the defenses wouldn¡¯t last- especially with parts of them used for the mobile defensive formation that had carried the beginning of the battle. They scattered in so many directions it was impossible to chase them all, and unwise. Splitting up to track all of them down would leave people vulnerable. The biggest problem was the remaining Life Transformation cultivators. They were the hardest to kill, but the focus became primarily on them as well. Kseniya was now harrying one of them in particular, since there was no tactical advantage to splitting her focus now. That said, while the Life Transformation experts might be a threat it would also be hardest for them to blend themselves back into society. The names and general descriptions of nearly everyone of their strength were publicly known and carefully tracked, so those who remained would be able to identify them. But rather than hunting them down later, if they could kill a few before they left it would be optimal. ----- The remains of a battlefield was an awful place. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of dead bodies and pieces of such littered the area. Broken and lost weapons littered the area, and scavenger birds were beginning to pick through the remains. In a pile of swords lay a young woman. Young for a cultivator of her strength, at least. Her actual age was more than forty years, though she wouldn¡¯t look any older for decades at minimum. As Anton surveyed his unconscious friend, he wondered if her wounds were a step up from the last time. Having her head half-severed at the neck was pretty bad, but being a fraction of a second away from having her skull completely split in two was terrifying as well. Though it hadn¡¯t happened, which is why it could be considered better. If Anton recalled correctly, she¡¯d begun the battle with twenty swords around her, more or less. At some point during the fight with Elder Malachy she¡¯d had fifteen or so. Now she had¡­ a good hundred or more piled on top of her. One of them was definitely Malachy¡¯s, tucked in the fold of her elbow. The one that stood out the most not for quality but strangeness looked almost like a leaf, which meant the spawn of the sword-tree in Everheart¡¯s realm still ranked itself among those worthy of being pulled out. And the others¡­ well, they would likely be sorted through once Chikere woke again. Those Anton knew well had survived, but he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if he could have saved some of the others. Shouldn¡¯t he care about every member of the Orders, or every life? Then again, there was no way he could care about them as much as those close to him, or he would be torn apart after battles. Possibly literally, as cultivators were often more extreme in their emotional states. Except those who intentionally avoided it like the Frostmirror Sect. Speaking of which, there was an interesting conflict happening. Sarka and Adelina hadn¡¯t gotten along for the entire trip, and now was no exception. With no actual enemies, they had gone back to glaring at each other. It was just that it seemed difficult, with Anish and Annelie happily chatting in between them. At least the future of the sects wasn¡¯t so crazy, though perhaps that was partly because of his own interference in the aspect of cutting off emotions. Annelie still had hers, but they were in control instead of completely gone. Perhaps if she could express things emotionally, Adelina might not just have to constantly be dissatisfied by the presence of the Glorious Flame Palace. But while the two elders squabbled, it had at least never erupted into a real battle. As long as it lasted until they could get them back home, it would be fine. Then they could go their separate ways and never deal with each other again¡­ until something important happened that required the input of their sects. They could obviously pick different representatives, but both were chosen for strength and relative youth. Having an old monster at the peak of Life Transformation was good for a sect, but having those who would grow to fill in the gaps later was even more important. Especially with just a few decades until a big invasion. Chapter 315 Troubles didn¡¯t just suddenly cease after winning a battle, even a critical one. There were various troubles that could occur if they were not careful, including conflict among the various sects. For example, the distribution of loot. The informal and somewhat rushed conglomeration of groups meant there was no strict agreement on how things would be done, but those tensions were eased by the Order and their allies from the other continent giving up the majority of what they should be entitled to based on their strength. One exception there was Chikere, but it was hard for anyone to argue that Malachy¡¯s sword should go to anyone else. If there were any issues, she was backed up by Million Sword Vault, who had much in common with her. It might help that she contributed numerous swords that were below her top one hundred to their cause. While they might not be suited for use by an Essence Collection cultivator, anything she picked up had some level of quality inherent to it. Though the Whispering Watchers were now effectively dissolved, there was still much work to do hunting down those who fled- and the threats made against those who had supported them weren¡¯t made idly. Other sects would fall under the combined might of the army. Anton might not have liked it, but he knew it was necessary- and there were reasonable heads that would limit any unnecessary slaughter. The death of any member of the Twin Soul Sect was absolutely necessary, though. All of those who thought of things in the longer term instead of the next decade or less would agree with him. Actually, though Anton would never condone it in any way, it was more logical to join them directly rather than be an ally of theirs¡­ because they would inevitably betray anyone else when the invasion came. The one good thing they did seem to have was a bond of companionship for their actual members. The follow-up efforts didn¡¯t need everyone to be involved all together, and Anton had other things he wanted to do. More productive things. He was still convinced that battles were necessary to make the world a better place, but that didn¡¯t mean it was his preferred method. Even if it was perhaps the fastest. He still had things he wanted to teach in Arbington and the surroundings. He¡¯d made some promises, after all, and it was the center of his movement to change the way people thought about cultivation on this continent. It would doubtless cause some conflicts in the future- but he firmly believed it was better to have a populace who could stand up against a sect and possibly overcome their rule than to tell everyone to keep their heads down and not achieve anything with their life. ----- ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± Trix shook her head as she frowned at the carefully arranged herbs in front of her. ¡°This one cures headaches and causes minor gut side effects, and this one cures those side effects and only causes trivial headaches. Why is that not the right mixture?¡± ¡°Because,¡± Idalia explained, ¡°The mechanisms they work through are quite different. The headaches caused by the second are from a different sort of imbalance in the body. And though individually the technical symptoms seem to match up, together they lead to worse problems as they react with each other.¡± ¡°Where do I put this?¡± a voice called from outside. ¡°Just outside the back door, thank you!¡± Idalia answered, as she always did to Sasho. It was only barrels and other sturdy stuff outside, and though he was quite helpful, he didn¡¯t seem to have a good sense of where his arms and legs ended. Or his elbows. Or how much strength it took to open a door. Idalia wasn¡¯t the only one having Sasho help out- she didn¡¯t have nearly so many heavy things she needed dealt with as some, and he wasn¡¯t good for precision tasks of any sort. He¡¯d been making some progress in a technique that Anton left for him, but he often needed help from others to understand it. Hiram, Idalia, and Trix were his go-tos for that purpose. Unfortunately, he¡¯d been stuck on part of it the last couple weeks. Hopefully Anton would return soon, but Idalia knew there was no guarantee he would. If he was able, she had no doubt he¡¯d be back¡­ but having experienced the sort of people who were after him from an extreme distance, she thought that perhaps he might not. She had confidence in him, but upstanding people died all the time no matter how many people thought well of them. ¡°... I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to be an herbalist,¡± Trix frowned. ¡°I should hope not. You hardly even pay attention. What about the other trades you¡¯ve tried?¡± ¡°They¡¯re¡­ fine. I don¡¯t know,¡± Trix shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t I just be¡­ a cultivator?¡± ¡°If you can get people to pay you to fight or stand guard all the time, absolutely,¡± Idalia smiled. ¡°But I¡¯m inclined to listen to Anton¡¯s wisdom. It¡¯s better to do something practical. There¡¯s a lot to learn about how to make use of your body and mind from things other than fighting.¡± ¡°... And I¡¯m not strong enough yet,¡± Trix mumbled. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that freaking Gray Rock Sect. They were so afraid of us and now they¡¯re walking around like they own the place.¡± ¡°They were doing that before you came around,¡± Idalia said. ¡°But their pause in overt activity seems to have given them the idea they have to make up for lost time.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you just poison them all or something?¡± Trix sighed, burying her face in the table. ¡°Of course not,¡± Idalia said. ¡°I don¡¯t have nearly enough for that. And I¡¯d like to avoid getting any innocents involved. They¡¯re stronger than we can manage anyway.¡± ¡°How are we even supposed to be able to catch up to people like that though?¡± Trix said annoyed. ¡°If we can grow a certain amount in a year, so can they.¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°It¡¯s about knowledge and teamwork,¡± Idalia replied. ¡°Yeah, and numbers.¡± ¡°Having greater numbers implies a level of teamwork, if anything is going to get done. But individual effort is important too. Speaking of which,¡± Idalia gestured. ¡°Here he comes.¡± The bell on the door rang as Hiram entered, a strong power tightly held around him. After a year of cultivating, he was on the verge of breaking through to Spirit Building. ¡°Tsk. What does he have that I don¡¯t?¡± ¡°Determination,¡± Idalia quipped. Hiram was close enough to overhear them and contribute. ¡°And the fortune to witness a battle involving an exemplar of my same cultivation technique. Though from quite a long distance for the most part.¡± He didn¡¯t mention the bit where he was able to steal some lifeforce, as that was a touchy area for cultivation techniques. ¡°I¡¯d like some more of the usual, please.¡± ¡°Already?¡± Idalia frowned. ¡°Using this stuff too much can be bad for your health, you know?¡± ¡°I¡¯m properly purging the remnants,¡± Hiram said. ¡°And I don¡¯t care about side effects.¡± ¡°You might not,¡± Idalia admitted. ¡°But some of us would like to have you stick around. It would be good to have someone dependable.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just going to be a killer,¡± Hiram retorted. Idalia shrugged. ¡°Need those too, at least as a deterrent. And unless you cut things too close¡­ you should be prepared to live through everything.¡± ----- The first one Anton sought out was Hiram. There were several reasons, but the most important was that he was at the highest risk. ¡°Hello again,¡± Anton grinned as he approached the man outside of town. ¡°... Hello,¡± Hiram turned to see Anton. ¡°Should I be worried that I didn¡¯t sense you coming?¡± ¡°Probably not. You¡¯re not at the point where it¡¯s worthwhile to worry about people like me¡­ and there¡¯s something in particular about that.¡± Anton pulled a ring off his finger and tossed it to Hiram. ¡°It¡¯s enchanted with some energy concealing formations. It won¡¯t do much if you¡¯re active, but it¡¯s good for avoiding casual scrutiny. And¡­ sorry.¡± ¡°About what, exactly?¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Has the word not made it here? It should have by now. But I suppose what is big news for some gradually dilutes into being unimportant for people making an honest living. The Whispering Watchers have been basically dissolved.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s bad?¡± Hiram raised an eyebrow. ¡°They were connected to some pretty bad stuff. The details exactly a secret but will take some time to explain, so I¡¯ll do it later. But now they¡¯re being hunted down. So I went to get you that,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°I also have plans to get you in contact with several local sects. At least to the point they know you¡¯re using a stolen version of the technique and aren¡¯t associated with them. That¡¯s safer now.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t they¡­ a very strong sect?¡± Hiram asked. ¡°The one who came after you was a Life Transformation cultivator. That is the peak of cultivation, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Before ascension, yes. And they were very strong. It took the combined efforts of many to cause the damage we did. But you shouldn¡¯t need to worry about the full ramifications of that for¡­ a few decades.¡± ¡°The time scales cultivators think on is strange,¡± Hiram said. ¡°Right?¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking that myself. Most of my life I thought season to season, with plans ahead for a year or two in the abstract. But working on a farm you can take things one day at a time. Concerning yourselves with larger scales changes things.¡± ----- He met up with others, though none were likely at elevated risk of peril except for Hiram. Sasho did need his help though. ¡°Try it again,¡± Anton said, pointing to the boulder. Sasho took a stance, clenching his fist and punching forward. Anton had to admit that the force required to cause it to explode was impressive, for someone only in late Body Tempering. ¡°... I can¡¯t do it,¡± Sasho shook his head as he looked at the pile of rubble in front of him. ¡°Don¡¯t say that,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Some things are hard for different people. Now, I can¡¯t say I¡¯m an expert on Body Tempering techniques, but I¡¯ve gone past your stage at least.¡± Anton picked out a rock from the pile. ¡°Try it like this,¡± he poked his finger into the rock, leaving an oddly shaped hole that ultimately ended up with a ring or wheel. He¡¯d done a bit more to get it to look nice, but the idea was the same. Sasho grabbed a rock and pressed his finger against it. He strained for a few moments before the rock cracked in half. ¡°... I¡¯m too clumsy.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly what the training is about,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°If someone asked you to punch through a rock you could do it. Because you already know how. This is about finesse. The point isn¡¯t to get it first try, but to improve yourself.¡± Anton hoped someone had use for broken bits of rock, but the farmer who wanted them removed from his field would be happy with smaller chunks. ¡°Let¡¯s try another time. You want to pierce through. You should focus more on your fist and in front of in instead of just around it. Here,¡± Anton gestured to a smaller rock, still the size of a man¡¯s torso but just laying flat on the ground. Sasho nodded, looking at his new target. He steeled himself, tensing his muscles and maneuvering his natural energy before punching downward. There was a horrible cracking sound as his hand impacted the rock, and Anton saw the man¡¯s fingers and wrist were horribly mangled. It only took him a single moment to figure out why. A butterfly had landed on the rock as he was punching. It wasn¡¯t some sort of cultivating beast, just a normal insect- instead Sasho had caused the damage to himself. Otherwise, he would have shattered the rock and maybe hurt the fluttering insect. ¡°Let me take a look at that,¡± Anton said, snapping Sasho¡¯s fingers back into place. Sasho was tough, and waiting for him to agree wouldn¡¯t help. He winced in pain, but then it was all done. ¡°What you did there was actually a very precise control of your energy. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t concentrated where it needed to be. See here,¡± Anton kicked the rock, which caused Sasho to look at him horrified. However, when it broke apart it left a single pillar where the butterfly casually flapped its wings for a few moments before taking off. ¡°We¡¯ll have to spend some time figuring out the best method, but I know you can do it.¡± Maybe if he tied a bunny to the rock? But if Sasho messed up he was going to get hurt either physically or mentally. Maybe he could just paint something on. Well, he¡¯d figure something out. At least Sasho wanted to learn, though Anton wished he had someone like Ayotunde around. The practitioner of Western Steel Body would be better for Sasho, he imagined. But Ayotunde was more than just a short trip away, so Anton would have to do well enough for the moment. Chapter 316 The western shores of Aicenith greeted the group as they prepared to leave the continent. They had never intended to stay for long- and as cultivators, two years had not been particularly long for them. Their goal had been completed- making sure that others at least knew about the coming invasion. Now, they would be as prepared as they could be. Now it was time for everyone to return home¡­ except those who had died, and a few rarities who wished to stay. Chikere was one of those, though she had no wish to break off ties with the others. There was simply more world for her to explore. More permanent relationships were planned to be set up, but a rarely traveled sea route full of danger wasn¡¯t a great long term solution. The Twin Soul Sect had some method, but the information was incomplete. They didn¡¯t like to leave behind records, and even much of the Whispering Watcher¡¯s archives kept as much information about them as possible secret. But further efforts in that direction would be fully carried out by the people of Aicenith. The cultivators from the continent they called Brogora had already caused enough disruption to the local stability- even though ultimately it should be to their benefit, it was easy to overstay the welcome. Commodore Visser hadn¡¯t simply stayed in port with his fleet, but involved himself in traveling up and down the western coast. But eventually, everyone returned to Blackstone Harbor where they would retrace the steps of their previous journey. Though there had been serious dangers on their previous passing of the route, they had no guarantee there wouldn¡¯t be something worse elsewhere. Their current goal wasn¡¯t to refine the route, but simply to return home. ----- Given the experiences from the previous trip, the Azalea and Skylark were repaired and fortified to deal with the troubles particular sorts of beasts would cause. The cultivators could deal with direct attacks on themselves, but the ships were vulnerable. Besides the flagships, the others received minor upgrades of their own. That allowed them to get by relatively unscathed, though there were always times the ships got damaged by beasts or storm. A larger supply of materials to refit the ships had been brought, but the fleet still would prefer to restock along the way. That meant spotting islands with natural resources, but there had hardly been any on the route before. But there had been one island. It was slightly inconveniently located on the first half of the trip instead of the latter half, but the Paradise of Thirteen Hills had sturdy trees for lumber as well as plenty of wild plants to eat, and even some medicinal herbs. They didn¡¯t currently need it, but replenishing some of their stocks would be nice. Most importantly, they wanted to confirm the location of the island. Grand Elder Kseniya consulted with Visser in his cabin. ¡°So,¡± Kseniya said cautiously. ¡°These charts you have made, how accurate are they?¡± Visser frowned. ¡°I will admit they are not perfect, given the circumstances, but they should be accurate within ten or twenty kilometers. It¡¯s only a few hours until sundown. We can look again, but nothing should have gotten us far off course since last night. I can feel the currents, after all.¡± ¡°I trust what you say to be accurate¡­ which is why I have to say that the island is gone.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± he asked. ¡°It was not insignificant in size,¡± Kseniya replied. ¡°And it is not anywhere within fifty kilometers of it. Thus, it is gone.¡± ¡°Could there perhaps be a concealing formation on it?¡± Visser questioned. ¡°That is not my area of expertise, but to my understanding¡­ it wouldn¡¯t be sufficient. I don¡¯t sense the ocean floor within a kilometer of the surface anywhere. And I¡¯ve had ample time to go over the area, again and again. It¡¯s gone. But I don¡¯t know what could cause an island to disappear.¡± ¡°Perhaps the island itself had a natural formation that distorted the view of the stars?¡± Visser frowned, looking down at the records. ¡°But each day seems to match within a sensible margin of error.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying you have to know,¡± Kseniya shrugged. ¡°But I will say unless you have methods that surpass my own, we likely won¡¯t be finding it. Instead of sailing around for a few days, we should simply move on.¡± ¡°That¡¯s unfortunate,¡± Visser said. ¡°People were looking forward to it. What should we say?¡± ¡°Why not the truth? It¡¯s some sort of disappearing, phantom island. People might be disappointed not to return, but learning we had the fortune to stumble upon a mystery island when we most needed it¡­ that¡¯s something to talk about, at least.¡± Kseniya shrugged, ¡°And this time we don¡¯t need it. So it¡¯s fine, right?¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Visser admitted. ¡°It¡¯s a shame though, because I was looking forward to a small bit on land.¡± ----- The journey continued as it had before, with scattered beast attacks and semi-frequent storms. It was almost something that the cultivators could consider routine now, but except for the professional sailors among them it was hard to feel entirely comfortable. This wasn¡¯t their home, it was just a journey to bring them back. Stolen story; please report. The general mood dropped, not just because they had missed the Paradise of Thirteen Hills¡­ but because they were approaching the area that caused them to need it. The world seemed to agree with the general sentiment of the passengers, as clouds darkened in the sky. By now everyone knew that storms attracted beasts towards things on the surface, and they prepared for attacks. Anton held his bow, not the one that was half sword but his much more normal one. Though the ability to have wider attacks was valuable in some circumstances, the extra drag it caused in the water was immense. He could overcome it to still be somewhat effective, but he¡¯d learned enough about firing into the water that his normal shots were better by far. In fact, fighting aquatic beasts was one of the best use cases for Spirit Arrows with the properties of light- water hardly restricted the motion of such arrows. Though he did find that there were some oddities when the arrows entered the water. The first beasts to approach were a few squid and longnosed shipwreckers. They had never bothered to determine what the beasts gained from the attacks, even theoretically, but part of it must have been related to invasion of territory. With a journey and a half under their belt, it wasn¡¯t just Anton that was more proficient at fighting underwater but the others as well. Swarms of beasts were simply no match for them, and they even handily dealt with the tiny hulleater barnacles. Those were creatures that the professional sailors dealt with in other places. They wouldn¡¯t immediately cause any damage, but they would latch onto ships and eventually eat holes straight through. Killing them before they got a firm hold was best, but the fleet also did daily sweeps for damage to the ships or anything sticking to the hulls. As cultivators, they didn¡¯t have to worry about performing such removals in a drydock- they could sense and even manipulate things from the top of the deck, if they took the effort. A great bolt of lightning struck between the ships. Though none among their number counted themselves as formation masters, there were some who were proficient in such techniques that had helped organize them so that the lightning bolts would be less likely to strike their masts. That was good, because otherwise they had to anticipate the strike and have someone sacrifice a large chunk of their energy to stop it. Lightning preferred to strike the highest target, more or less, but there were ways to manipulate it. As the storm grew worse, protecting the ships became more important. Then the warning came. Kseniya was the first one to detect it, but even as the announcement was being distributed through the fleet others began to pick out the power of the giant creature rising from the depths. The kraken had returned. It was swiftly apparent it was the same one, as many of the limbs were mangled- but it seemed to have grown more in their place, along with its grudge. One of the smaller ships in the fleet was the first target, a great tentacle wrapping around it. Having some experience with it, the crew and passengers worked together to destroy the offending limb before the ship was crushed. Even so, a few boards were snapped, and a mast was thrown off kilter. What followed was a mad battle with the sea and the sky, fending off lightning as well a the great limbs of the kraken. Attacks were launched on the creature both underwater and at whatever rose into the air to destroy their ships. Smaller tendrils wrapped around individual cultivators to varying levels of effectiveness based on their cultivation. Anton¡¯s new bow found its place when limbs came for the Azalea. They were nearly uncountable so he obviously couldn¡¯t deal with them all alone, but he shot arrows that became like blades, cutting wide gouges in the tendrils, and sometimes severing them. The additional Spirit Bows floating around him were used for the smallest tendrils that were primed to attack individual people, as the larger limbs didn¡¯t care if they had a finger sized hole all the way through them. He could allow his arrows to detonate inside a target, but there was mixed success with that- and the possibility of collateral damage with so many others involved. The Azalea still carried elder Adelina, whose ability to freeze the tentacles- even for a moment- allowed the forward flagship to mostly defend itself. In the rear aboard the Skylark Sarka¡¯s flames burned hot and bright- but did not burn anything she didn¡¯t wish to. But despite the fleet¡¯s prior experience with the kraken, it also had experience with them. Considering the battle with the Whispering Watchers had resulted in not-insignificant numbers of fatalities among them, it was hard to say they were winning. And unlike the last time, it didn¡¯t seem the kraken intended to withdraw to save its life. ¡°Just keep fighting!¡± Kseniya shouted. ¡°We can do this!¡± Anton agreed¡­ but he wondered what Kseniya was doing. She wasn¡¯t the sort to bother with morale. Not usually, anyway. Then he sensed it. The vast majority of his focus was on the giant death monster below them, but some things were hard to miss. He wouldn¡¯t fail to notice lightning strikes around the Azalea, and he also wouldn¡¯t fail to notice an island approaching. Of course, it wasn¡¯t just any island but a familiar one. Or rather, a familiar creature that apparently had never been an island in the first place. But the pieces clicked together in Anton¡¯s head, and now he remembered why the turtle soup had tickled his brain. A turtle shell had a fairly regular pattern of humps, which didn¡¯t change among varieties. Thirteen, to be exact. Anton really hoped it didn¡¯t eat people. They might have more than a handful of Life Transformation cultivators among them, but they couldn¡¯t handle an island sized turtle on top of the kraken. But he didn¡¯t have to think about it for long, because turtles were fast. When they wanted to be, at least. A giant wave splashed into the fleet, pushing some of the ships dangerously close to each other and disturbing their careful arrangement. Yet it was worth it as the creature dove down and started chomping at the kraken. The kraken¡¯s tentacles pulled away from the humans and began to wrap around the turtle. There was a brief moment of hesitation from the fleet before they made the choice to focus on the assault. With the kraken mostly distracted, brave souls leapt into the water to try to attack the main body while those like Anton with attacks that were just as good from afar did their best to cover them from the stray smaller tendrils and the occasional other beasts who were still in a frenzy. Nobody knew if they would have to fight the turtle or not, but at least for the moment they could take out a dangerous foe¡­ and everything else could be determined afterwards. Chapter 317 The largest contribution made to the battle by the rather sudden arrival of an island sized turtle was not when it bit off a couple limbs at a time, but when the kraken chose to fight it. There were still innumerable tentacles in play, and many of them were wrapped around the turtle¡¯s head and neck. The turtle began to pull away, swimming towards the surface even as the kraken¡¯s maw approached. Most of those watching could only barely make out the details and were in fact more concerned about the waves caused by the motion potentially slamming their ships together. The kraken¡¯s maw was large enough to chomp down on the head of the turtle, but as it got close and opened up, the turtle¡¯s neck suddenly extended and its mouth opened, the island¡¯s worth of natural energy augmenting its mouth as it chompe onto an edge of the opening. It twisted and shook its neck, and the entire kraken with it. The kraken attempted to pull away, disentangling its tentacles, but it was too late. A huge, fatal chunk was taken out of it. As the piece tore away and the turtle swallowed, the kraken began to push away- but the turtle dove after it for another bite. The whole time, Commodore Visser was shouting orders for the fleet, and they retreated as far as they could from the conflict. Either creature could easily catch up to them or they would have retreated from the kraken, but with them focused on each other they began to move away. But less than a minute later the battle was over, with the kraken little more than a mess of half destroyed limbs and part of a body that no longer resembled either squid or octopus. The storm continued to rage, but without any beasts attacking- they were all either dead or had retreated at the turtle¡¯s arrival- it was easily tolerable for the fleet. As for the turtle, the fleet continued to move away, except for a small boat manned by several Life Transformation cultivators. Knowing the turtle¡¯s intentions seemed to be important if this route were to ever be traversed again, since a creature that could swallow their whole fleet in a single gulp was even more of a threat than the kraken. If it intended to eat the Life Transformation cultivators, they would be able to escape across the surface of the water. Flying was a difficult task, but supporting oneself on the surface of water was simple. And though the turtle was faster than their ships, the cultivators would be faster without. The ships were to provide a place to rest, and the weaker cultivators still needed them. ----- A day later, the fleet found themselves resting at the paradise of thirteen hills once more. Atop the turtle¡¯s back, specifically. The creature was only drifting with the currents, very slowly considering it was wider than some of the currents and some went crossways with each other. Though it appeared to be in a state of hibernation or at least inactivity, the fleet had approached from the side, so as to avoid getting near the head. From the simple maps they had made on their first landing it seemed they had gone directly over the creature¡¯s mouth, but there had been no reaction. It was theorized the creature wasn¡¯t interested in anything as small as them, but there were some precautions that were necessary. But the resources and stability it provided to repair their ships was deemed to be worth the risk. The fleet was currently anchored on the creature. It seemed the edge of its shell naturally rested under the surface, where the beaches had previously been. At the current moment the beaches were washed thinner than before, but the vast majority of plantlife had survived the wild battle, and that plantlife held the proper soil onto the creature¡¯s back. ¡°Do you think it should be called Paradise still?¡± Anton asked those around. The regular group, plus family. And Anish too. ¡°A turtle called Paradise¡­¡± Hoyt shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure. It probably depends on whether it¡¯s going to be dangerous.¡± ¡°Given the fact that it has a whole ecosystem up here, I¡¯m pretty sure it isn¡¯t active often,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it had a beach,¡± Alva commented. They were currently just beyond where the beach had once been, atop denser soil and grass. ¡°How long was it inactive?¡± ¡°It still has some sand,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°I imagine something about it naturally attracts such sediment. But¡­ it might drift for years without doing anything. It wasn¡¯t active when we first saw it after all, and it hadn¡¯t been. So it came to this part of the ocean over the couple years we were on Aicenith.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe we didn¡¯t notice it was a turtle,¡± Anish was looking at the ground beneath them suspiciously. ¡°It still doesn¡¯t feel like it, though I can sense the shell if I go deep enough. Do I have to sense more than a few meters under the ground wherever I walk all the time now?¡± ¡°I have to say, sounds like a good habit,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But even I didn¡¯t notice anything. I just thought the shell was some kind of bedrock. The weird thing is its energy. It feels like free natural energy rather than that of a creature.¡± Anton made a little gesture, controlling it to swirl. ¡°I don¡¯t feel as if it has anything of its own. But its size could be throwing me off.¡± ----- There were many people on the expedition who were interested in the creature, but only a few people actually chose to stay for an extended period. Elder Tola, of the Infinite Wisdom Forest, as well as some of her subordinates. Perhaps all of them might have stayed if not for the effect it would have on the sect¡¯s fighting power, and how it might have looked if none came back. Many names were thrown around. The Paradise of Thirteen Hills had been generally agreed upon before anyone knew it was a turtle, but afterwards knowing that they weren¡¯t simple hills it fell out of favor. Paradise was still supported, but some were leery of the name due to the massive violence and hunger they had witnessed. It was perfectly normal behavior for a beast to eat another, but it was disturbing to people when they considered possibly being eaten as well. Thirteen fit, but was hardly a name on its own. ¡°Big Thirteen¡± and ¡°Grandfather Turtle¡± were both suggested. Ultimately, everyone would have their own names for the Paradise of Thirteen Hills, which was most definitely not the peaceful island people had first thought it was. ----- Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Whatever they might have called the creature, it showed no intent to cause anyone harm, or even that it noticed their existence. Its head was deep in the water along with its limbs, and only those who were specifically seeking them out would notice that they were not some sort of stone supporting the island. And even Kseniya had not realized that there was nothing beneath the island- the shell itself was so think she hadn¡¯t even considered diving deeper, and her senses grew fuzzy around the point they presumed the creature¡¯s flesh would begin. With the kraken dead and being digested, there were no serious threats ahead of them- and they were not far from familiar and relatively friendly waters. The last days of their travel were somewhat subdued in excitement until they finally saw the land of the continent, with a few false starts for outlying islands like Greatleaf. They were close enough to on target that they even arrived back at the same harbor they had departed from, and then everyone split up to return back to their various sects. Those who knew about what had happened were very interested in their stories, but the news only really spread over the course of the next several months as people realized there had actually been an expedition- and one that could absolutely be counted as successful. ----- Fuzz was the second thing to leap towards Anton as they returned to the Order. He was truthfully not very far behind in noticing their arrival, but the ant queen was somehow even swifter to notice Anton¡¯s return. It seemed she had been quite sad that he was gone for so long, but bringing her along could have been quite a problem. Even other countries weren¡¯t necessarily ready to accept strong, intelligent ants living among them. Alva, Hoyt, and Velvet received little enthusiasm from the ant queen, but Fuzz greeted them with the first of many enthusiastic licks to the face. After more than two years they were properly home again. The first order of business was to meet up with Timothy and Caterina to catch up on everything that had happened. The traveling group relayed the things that had happened, from the weeks of travel to the meat of their time in the area. ¡°Its too bad I couldn¡¯t be there to see their formations,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But I¡¯ve had plenty of things to study here. Elder Rana and I have been studying Everheart¡¯s teleportation formations, though they mostly destroyed themselves. We¡¯ve been piecing things together from the rubble and everyone¡¯s recollections.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad everyone came back safely,¡± Timothy added. ¡°Though I will miss Chikere. Perhaps when travel becomes more available we can visit her at some point.¡± ¡°Maybe things will have settled by the time we¡¯re actually ready to build them,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°Build what?¡± Anton asked, tilting his head. ¡°... The teleportation formations? The things I¡¯ve been studying?¡± ¡°You can reproduce those?¡± He raised an eyebrow. ¡°Not fully,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But I will be able to. Anything he did can be reproduced. That¡¯s how formations work.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°They¡¯re just so extreme¡­ I kind of always considered his stuff to be more fever dreams than something that actually happened.¡± ¡°The big problem is making teleportation formations that work more than once. If we borrow against their future potential they just collapse,¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s very expensive. But powering them without is also terribly difficult. It¡¯s not worth it except¡­ perhaps for rare trips between continents. Though we¡¯d want to be quite sure that the Twin Soul Sect is wiped out first, hmm?¡± ¡°And the teleportation formations could make it easier for the invaders to reach us here- or to move across,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Eh, that¡¯s easy enough. Breaking things is simple. If I could get access to Everheart¡¯s information up there¡­¡± Catarina looked towards the sky. ¡°Like that formation that trapped you. Picking out people by their cultivation styles and ascension energy. That would be best. I might even be able to make it so that people didn¡¯t come out the other side.¡± Catarina furrowed her brow. ¡°Hmm, but maybe not. Everheart let people out into a death maze with no exits, right?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t be certain if that was by necessity or not,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°If only I had some proper instructions from him that were at a higher level. I have an old book, but all his best stuff doesn¡¯t have anything I know of. Unless he left behind an actual vault for a successor of some sort.¡± ¡°Our best bet would have been the one in Ambati,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Since he led us there. But it didn¡¯t have information on high level formations.¡± ¡°Could always be more,¡± Catarina said. ¡°That guy seemed to have thrown tombs down everywhere. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if-¡± she stopped and bit her lip. ¡°You know what I¡¯m not going to bother anyone by saying that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ominous,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± she replied. ¡°But I¡¯ll look into it just in case. It¡¯s kind of a stupid idea though.¡± ¡°Which is why it makes some sense for Everheart to have done it,¡± Anton replied. ¡°But I think I¡¯d rather not know about it, unless I can affect this theoretical worry somehow.¡± ¡°Exactly. And it should be fine,¡± Catarina repeated. ¡°But other than a lot of studying, nothing much really happened here. Things have been pretty peaceful, you know?¡± ¡°I know,¡± Anton said nodding. ¡°When I came back I almost expected¡­¡± his eyes flickered between Timothy and Catarina. ¡°Expected what?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s not important.¡± He had plenty of grandchildren of varying degrees, and pressuring people into having more wasn¡¯t good for anyone. Alva had a little less tact though. ¡°He thought you¡¯d have babies. Why else would you guys stay behind?¡± ¡°I-I just was busy with all this research,¡± Catarina said shiftily. Timothy shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ll admit to just wanting to be with Catarina. But as you can see, no kids.¡± ¡°I kinda want to see them though,¡± Alva said. ¡°I bet they¡¯d be cute!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure they will in their own time, or not if they choose,¡± Anton said as he steered them away from the topic. ¡°Besides, the same could be said of you or Annelie. Think there will be anyone on the way soon?¡± ¡°What? We don¡¯t- I don¡¯t even have anyone I-¡± Somehow, Anton¡¯s words made Alva blush like a young woman instead of a fully grown adult. And she spoke the truth, but Anton knew a little bit more than she thought. But some things weren¡¯t as obvious to those closely involved as a slightly more detached outsider. Chapter 318 After a mere two decades of being a cultivator, Anton was able to see a significant change in Graotan. He was only familiar with a relatively small portion of it throughout the duration of his normal life, but it had been much the same throughout. Good land worked by numerous hardworking individuals. There were of course some bad apples in every town or village, but Graotan was a good country. That was made possible by the Order. Even if they failed to perfectly protect the country, they had done their best. They could have used their position to exploit the country for more resources to increase their power- individual towns and villages weren¡¯t much, but the numbers would add up to something real. Instead, the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars had given the people the opportunity to thrive in a world dominated by cultivators. But while they had been unselfish, the Order¡¯s actions hadn¡¯t required any sacrifice on their part. The recent efforts, however, had cost the Order time, effort, and a not insignificant portion of their resources. And the country was different for it. Nearly a generation since Anton began cultivating, and the country was changed. It wasn¡¯t suddenly a beacon of strength, but every town and village had people cultivating. With the knowledge and training made freely available, people were able to improve themselves beyond human limits, amplifying what they could do in their everyday lives. While some were content to accept a limit in their crafts that they would not go beyond, even they were swayed by the ability to complete their daily work with more alacrity. Others devoted themselves to deepening their abilities, creating useful goods and deep works of art that they might have never imagined possible. There were a number among every sect who devoted themselves to things practical for cultivators- forging weapons and armor, sewing herbs that filled with natural energy, and studying formations. Art of various sorts was popular as a meditative technique. There was nothing wrong with those pursuits, but with cultivators being the main practitioners it led to truly very few great masters. The Order had several thousand disciples when Anton joined. Approximately half of them were in Body Tempering, clumping at the peak of Body Tempering where most lacked the talent to break through to a higher level. Though no other sects had a large sway in Graotan, there were various smaller sects. All told, the number of cultivators had been in the low tens of thousands, compared to a population of over ten million throughout the country. Exact numbers weren¡¯t easily available with the current changes, but the new ¡®common cultivators¡¯ outnumbered those who cultivated as their primary focus. Hundreds of thousands at least, though still less than a tenth of the population. Those who were too young, too old, or too stubborn to make the attempt weren¡¯t part of the numbers, and some simply hadn¡¯t gotten the proper opportunity yet. It was the problem of general education- people couldn¡¯t afford to spend time away from their work, even if ultimately they would come out ahead. Not everyone who supported the efforts worked so closely with people to help them maintain their daily work. But every major city had at least one, sometimes up to ten people dedicated to teaching people to cultivate full time. Most were disciples of the Order who received a modest stipend for their efforts, though Anton suspected that the positions would be coveted in the future, if those fulfilling them made optimal use of them. Much could be learned from the perspectives of others. Except for his regular visits to Windrip, Anton didn¡¯t settle down in a single spot. The last handful of years had seen him constantly roaming around Graotan- and anywhere else on the continent that wanted him. Estary was the most receptive to the movement. While many sects throughout the countries would normally be against the efforts, the looming threat of a coming invasion made them willing to accept as many people who might have some effect on the war as possible. Nobody was sure if the invasion would happen in one decade, two, three¡­ but four or five were the far limits. It had already been more than a decade since Everheart¡¯s last tomb popped up, and it appeared as if it might truly have been the final one. The recent years could be said to be a time of peace- but they could also be called a time of preparation for war. While a good number of the most powerful sects had formed an official alliance, there were always conflicts among people. For the most part they had lately been kept from as much violence, but it would take work to see a real peace last a generation or more. Anton hoped that the rising levels of natural energy in Graotan would be a sign to others. The Order understood, but even inside the Order there were some who didn¡¯t fully believe that everyone cultivating could possibly result in more natural energy throughout the land. Anton had to admit that a few years could be a random fluctuation, but he knew that the greatest changes were in the first areas he had established cultivators. People worked at all of their tasks, taking in natural energy from their surroundings and putting it into crops and materials and finished products. The various pockets were beginning to merge together and feed into each other, and Anton knew that soon other sects would covet Graotan more than they had before. But if they were paying attention, a little bit of patience would allow them to produce similar results in other places. Those who didn¡¯t have the patience but still had enough self control to behave properly would still be able to benefit. Graotan¡¯s borders weren¡¯t closed, after all. Though those associated with dangerous elements were kept out, most sects were welcome to visit. A few even chose to move, re-establishing themselves within Graotan¡¯s borders. And as long as they didn¡¯t cause trouble, they were welcome. ----- As Ayotunde was familiar with Anton, he sought him out first when he arrived at the Order. Even so, he was not present for a friendly visit but an official meeting. Along with Afi, the Matriarch of the Temitope clan, there were also other representatives of various portions of Ambati to the west. ¡°When are they gonna make you an elder, huh, Anton?¡± Ayotunde grinned. ¡°You absolutely deserve it by now.¡± ¡°I would not want to chase any of those others deserving the title out of their positions,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°And I like the freedom I have now. I have no desire to leash myself here.¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Is that so?¡± Ayotunde grinned. ¡°You can do what you like I suppose, but I imagine they¡¯ll foist the title on you when you reach Life Transformation regardless.¡± ¡°If I do,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°That would be at least a decade away still.¡± Ayotunde clicked his tongue. ¡°You¡¯re gonna make the rest of us ashamed if you say it like that. Acting as if even being on the precipice in thirty years isn¡¯t an accomplishment. When we first met I had more than a decade as a cultivator and was only in mid Spirit Building. Now I can¡¯t even hope to keep up.¡± ¡°Proper access to resources has certainly accelerated your growth,¡± Anton commented. ¡°True, but some of that success we owe to you.¡± ¡°The same is true in reverse,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°I treat people like anything worth spending time on. I pay into them, and hope they pay back into me.¡± ¡°Swift growth of friends and swift death of enemies,¡± Ayotunde nodded. ¡°It works well for you. Some are afraid of the risks.¡± ¡°It helps to hit the point where you have nothing,¡± Anton commented. ¡°Then you¡¯re not afraid of losing something.¡± ¡°That works until you get something important again. Then you become afraid again. How do you not?¡± Ayotunde asked. ¡°I got to the end, and was content. Even now, I think about what my legacy will be. I¡¯m willing to die for any of it¡­ but I don¡¯t plan to make it easy,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°But tell me about you. You have been gone for so long. Was your expedition successful?¡± ¡°To an extent,¡± Ayotunde nodded. ¡°The exact details aren¡¯t mine to share, but we found others. For the most part the ocean to the west is dominated by the Exalted Island Sect. They control the entire archipelago, which they renamed after themselves. The Exalted Archipelago. They were not terribly welcoming as a sect, but they did not forbid our passage- and the locals were interested to see foreign travelers, something they thought was an impossibility.¡± Ayotunde shrugged, ¡°As far as we can tell, they have eradicated the Twin Soul Sect since the time of Everheart¡¯s final tomb. Other than that, they prefer to be left alone.¡± ¡°A shame,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯d like to visit¡­ or more relevantly have another group to coordinate with. But peaceful contact is at least something. Our picture of the world is finally being repaired. Unless we¡¯re missing large landmasses¡­ the Twin Soul Sect has been driven to hide in far corners, if nothing else. Though I wouldn¡¯t bet on full eradication.¡± ¡°Very cautious. But for good reason.¡± Ayotunde nodded contently, ¡°Ambati has been holding together, but people have been growing weird potatoes everywhere. I hear that it is your fault.¡± ¡°We got the permission of the Temitope clan to spread those crops. And they grow quite well under the care of those with only a small amount of training in cultivation.¡± ¡°I looped around through Edelhull. It is almost difficult to recognize, with all the cultivators there. And most bearing the energy of the Order¡­¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s a familiar and generally useful style. The ¡®complete¡¯ style is still secret, though mainly for the sake of differentiating proper disciples of the Ninety-Nine Stars. Identification tokens have become necessary. They have little formations inside of them that make them hard to replicate or steal. Though the gatekeepers can still memorize all the proper disciples¡­ for the moment. Our actual numbers haven¡¯t grown that much. Enough to bounce back from the wars, at least.¡± ¡°Except for the Life Transformation experts, I imagine. They are not so easy to replace.¡± Ayotunde shrugged, ¡°Though your current generation makes that seem incorrect. All of the big sects have a handful of potential Life Transformation cultivators closely placed. And more following.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a phenomenon that happens sometimes,¡± Anton replied. ¡°A surge in those with cultivation ¡®talent¡¯. It¡¯s said to be signs of trouble, and I have no evidence to refute it¡­ especially since we know something¡¯s coming this time. I just hope we have long enough. We¡¯ll need every cultivator we can get. Life Transformation the most, obviously, but even the Body Tempering cultivators¡­ I fear will be necessary.¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough of that,¡± Ayotunde shook his head. ¡°Or you¡¯ll make me an old man before it¡¯s my time. Tell me of the good things. Your cultivation¡­ if I am correct you have surpassed the fiftieth star, correct?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It sounds like it¡¯s halfway, but it¡¯s far from it. I have quite a distance to go still. What about you? Have you kept up with the shrimp and granny?¡± ¡°We work together from time to time,¡± Ayotunde nodded. ¡°Perhaps we will all work together again sometime soon.¡± ----- ¡°This looks familiar,¡± Anton said as he stood in a circular room, about ten meters wide. ¡°Much smaller though.¡± ¡°It¡¯s for testing,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°And for the intended use, it will be sufficient.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to insult you. Modesty and restraint are good features. Features that Everheart will never have.¡± ¡°Regardless,¡± Catarina continued, ¡°Thank you for being here for this. It is good to have familiar faces around for the inaugural test of the teleportation formation.¡± ¡°Test?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°It¡¯s already been tested, right?¡± Catarina said nothing, but Timothy came up to assuage his concerns. ¡°It¡¯s already been successful with homing pigeons, larger animals, and then groups of beasts with cultivation. And some volunteer ants but¡­ nothing happened with them.¡± Timothy shrugged, ¡°Either way, Catarina isn¡¯t the sort to be careless with this stuff. And neither are the rest of those she¡¯s been working with.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Catarina said as she clapped her hands. Everyone in the area turned to look. ¡°We¡¯re going now.¡± That wasn¡¯t an announcement to get ready. It was just her saying it was happening. A vaguely remembered flush of power washed over them¡­ and that was it. Anton didn¡¯t even feel his stomach leap like it had the first time. Anton looked out the door, but of course instead of the location they¡¯d set up outside the Order¡¯s lands it was brilliant red stone hallways as far as could be seen. Anton felt himself sweating already, but less from the heat than worry about how careless Glorious Flame Palace seemed to want the teleportation pad to be inside their sect, merely for the sake of convenience. But it was just a test anyway. Chapter 319 ¡°That¡¯s great then,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°It works.¡± They had teleported from outside the Order to the main headquarters of the Glorious Flame Palace. Without anything in the way of real fanfare, they departed and arrived. Despite the lack of official fanfare on her part, there were excited cheers from all around them. Anton didn¡¯t have any real part in putting the whole thing together and just happened to fill in the numbers. He found it exciting, but some of those who had been more closely involved were much more enthusiastic. And the members of the Glorious Flame Palace, who were always quite expressive in their actions. Annelie also happened to be present, giving a fairly subdued but honest round of clapping. ¡°I¡¯m impressed,¡± Anton said to Catarina. ¡°I didn¡¯t really expect it to fail since you were confident, but I¡¯m still surprised. Teleporting like this seemed like the sort of madness that is exclusive to Everheart.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not, though. There were traces of similar formations found in the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s area.¡± ¡°I never heard about that,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Though it wasn¡¯t really relevant to what I was doing.¡± Catarina nodded, ¡°It was long after you went. They also weren¡¯t immediately recognizable because they seemed to have been intentionally destroyed- likely before the attacks.¡± ¡°It does seem to be a security hole,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°If anyone can just use these¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s not quite that simple,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But we have to assume the invaders would be able to activate them. We thought of that, and these are designed to be disassembled easily.¡± Catarina pointed out a few stones sunk into the floor that could easily be removed, without which the formation would be missing critical functions. ¡°Those keystones can be removed safely by anyone.¡± ¡°What happens if you try to teleport somewhere that has done that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Nothing,¡± Catarina replied straightforwardly. ¡°Except likely a waste of a significant amount of energy. The test of doors Everheart had is actually a better representation of what is happening. They¡¯re more like portals that you just happen to be across the threshold of when they activate. So if they don¡¯t activate, they¡¯re nothing.¡± ¡°That¡¯s comforting to know,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Though I worry that agents of the Twin Soul Sect could just replace the sections that were removed.¡± ¡°It would require them being in control of both ends and able to coordinate their efforts. And in the event of an invasion, the plan is to destroy the keystones, or perhaps more.¡± Catarina shrugged, ¡°Though keeping them out of important areas is also the best precaution. This one¡­ was mostly meant to be temporary. Though the Glorious Flame Palace liked the idea of convenient travel to Graotan.¡± ¡°How easy are they to use?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The process is simple. However¡­ I should note that we had set up energy stored ahead of time for this test. If we were to activate even this small formation we would require the expenditure of the majority of ten Essence Collection cultivator¡¯s energy stores.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not too bad,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Especially if it could save weeks of travel between continents, for example.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, distance is also a factor. From the shores of Brogora to Aicenith is several times the distance of this formation, requiring markedly more energy. A few dozen Essence Collection cultivators couldn¡¯t transport much more than themselves. There is a minimum amount of energy required for activation, and more based on the amount of stuff transferred. More or less.¡± ¡°What about storage bags?¡± ¡°They only seem to care about the outer portion, which is insignificant. However, there are some calculations still to be made. Earlier tests had anomalies in energy required that we estimated to be inversely proportional to the beast¡¯s fatigue levels. The same might apply to humans.¡± ¡°Which means¡­?¡± Anton understood all of the words, but her explanation was insufficient for him to do more than just guess what she meant. ¡°Higher level cultivators will likely have to exhaust themselves to travel through. Natural energy seems to be one of the factors of total quantity.¡± ¡°That makes it a bit difficult to use them to send reinforcements¡­ but helps with security issues.¡± ¡°Except invaders could simply use objects storing energy. It¡¯s ultimately inefficient since most cannot be restored, but war is a time people accept inefficient.¡± ¡°I feel like you¡¯ve had these conversations with other people already,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Sorry to make you catch me up when I don¡¯t really have anything to do with them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Catarina smiled. ¡°They¡¯re all valid concerns.¡± ¡°So about going back home¡­¡± ¡°We walk. Or fill it up with energy and teleport.¡± ¡°I think the latter is ultimately more efficient,¡± Anton remarked. ¡°That¡¯s right. First I have to talk to those working over here though,¡± Catarina gestured towards the red walls around them, and the people cheering and waiting nearby. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ----- The world was changing so much Anton had a hard time keeping up. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was true for everyone, but having gone from not being a cultivator to witnessing lost techniques like teleportation formations be reacquired and put into effect he didn¡¯t know how to react. Plus there was re-establishing communication with the rest of the cultivator world, connecting more people together. It was all so much and felt too fast¡­ but also too slow. Or perhaps, too late. Anton wondered what Everheart was thinking. If he had an accurate time of the invasion, why not give it? Along with that, if he could have given a few more decades or a century¡­ how much more progress would they have now? The tomb of ascension even caused significant damage to the Twin Soul Sect, catching some of their members in a trap. It was a shame it hadn¡¯t gotten all of their highest ranking members, but no sect- even a distributed one like the Twin Soul Sect- would send all of their members to one place together. Especially when others could take the risk and ultimately give them the information they sought anyway. If that had all happened a century before¡­ actually, Anton could think of plenty of reasons why it wouldn¡¯t have gone well. If it weren¡¯t a time of crisis, there could be wars between the continents. And if the Twin Soul Sect had been weakened a century before, there would have been a century for them to rebuild and develop countermeasures. Anton wasn¡¯t willing to say that Everheart was right about everything, but he could at least understand there were reasons for what the man did. Ultimately, there was no way to say what was right, since only one course of action could actually happen. At the current moment, Anton was taking a break. He wasn¡¯t the sort of person who could just sit around and do nothing of course. He still cultivated, and he was actually living with the Rileys in Carran. Catarina¡¯s father and mother didn¡¯t need him to work on their farm, but they also couldn¡¯t stop him. Nobody had ever been able to, but now at least they couldn¡¯t say he was too old. He was older, but cultivation allowed him to remain active. ¡°These are some good looking chickens,¡± Anton complimented Jasper on his work as they fed the chickens in the morning. ¡°That rooster¡­ I feel like you don¡¯t have to worry about foxes breaking in with him on guard.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Jasper nodded. ¡°They¡¯ve grown big and strong. Had to upsize the coop for them. But it also takes more work to keep them contained¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°They can peck through wooden fences eventually, and seem liable to wander off if we don¡¯t keep a watch on them. And while foxes might not be able to challenge them, some of the bigger beasties out in the forest might find them a good snack.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I hear Timothy¡¯s father has been keeping down the beast population, right?¡± ¡°Him and the hunters. The problem is, they¡¯re attracted closer to town now. Greater concentrations of natural energy and all that.¡± Anton nodded. That was one of the risks that hadn¡¯t been initially obvious, but it should eventually stabilize. And though the total number of those fully devoted to cultivation was not all that much higher, those who practiced the profession of a hunter could handle the local areas. It was the same sort of risks people always had to manage. ¡°I¡¯m amazed at how these crops have changed,¡± Jasper looked out over nearby fields. The Riley¡¯s farm had expanded over the last two decades simply because of their prosperity and ability to work more land. Everything they planted now thrived in an environment high in natural energy. Some of the plants had been developed in the intervening time while others had been taken as they were. Most of what the Rileys grew were still suitable for people who didn¡¯t cultivate, or only cultivated a small amount. Some had larger concentrations of natural energy that required a cultivator to process. They ate some of those themselves, and sold the rest. If they hadn¡¯t begun to cultivate under Anton¡¯s guidance, the couple would have been at the age where they were considering retirement- or at least cutting back on the work. Catarina obviously hadn¡¯t taken over the family business, but they knew that would be the case two decades prior. Now they were both in Spirit Building and felt younger than when Anton had first met them. They wouldn¡¯t impress anyone with their cultivation speed, but at their current rate of advancement they would still be outpacing their aging for a while. Time would eventually catch up to them, but it got everyone. Anton was aware of that for himself, but he was pretty sure that the invasion would get him first. He couldn¡¯t sit out of it even if he wanted to. He knew anti-ascension techniques, and Everheart had insinuated that the invaders would be looking to wipe out anyone who knew them. Though he could be lying about that just to spur people to action. That¡­ actually sounded quite plausible. Nonetheless, it would hopefully motivate those who thought passivity might save them. Anton supposed that individual lives might actually be spared that way, but that wouldn¡¯t protect the world¡¯s advancements. ¡°So¡­¡± Anton asked. ¡°How ¡®s that queen going for ya?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be honest,¡± Jasper shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s weird. Flora is actually the one who interacts with the ants the most. They can¡¯t communicate much, except we can tell them to stay out of certain places. Seeing them wandering around the house is weird, but they clean up crumbs and the like. They help clear the fields of waste, too. Hardly have to worry about other bugs, though locust are still a threat.¡± He shook his head. ¡°What are they for?¡± ¡°Do you really want to know?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Maybe not,¡± Jasper sighed. ¡°They¡¯re a defense against cultivators I guess. So we appreciate that.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the general idea. It¡¯s pretty safe here, but you never know what might happen.¡± It wasn¡¯t favoritism for them to have some of the ants, either. Not entirely, anyway. They had been cautiously allowed to expand over the years, but their higher intelligence and ability to communicate on a small level eventually won out. While most of them seemed slightly less intelligent than the first queen that still liked to hang around Anton, they all understood the same things. Moderation in expansion and cooperation with humans. They were specifically aware that if they made humans angry they might get wiped out. While it wasn¡¯t necessarily the best basis for a relationship¡­ it was true. And while the ants were a threat in some ways, they were actually more of a threat to cultivators. If they chose to, they could attack and kill a cultivator. Perhaps a handful, before people caught on and wiped them out. The same was basically true of normal humans though. One colony might kill a few. And it also included, in theory, ascension cultivators. The risk of a few people dying- which hadn¡¯t happened at the hands of the ants a single time in more than a decade- was very easy to weigh against the mere possibility of taking out an ascension cultivator. Calculating with human lives was callous, but possibly necessary. And again, they understood that cooperating with humans was better. People liked dogs even though dogs could kill a person. Besides, no matter what happened they probably wouldn¡¯t be a bigger threat to humans than humans were, so letting them live in peace was perfectly reasonable. Though Anton hoped that when the right time came, they would understand they were no longer supposed to be peaceful. Chapter 320 As on many nights, Anton was outside looking up at the sky. It was relaxing to take in the natural splendor of lights. The connection to the Ninety-Nine Stars cultivation technique was another benefit, as he thought about how what he observed fit into how he cultivated, and what parts were worth emulating. But on this night, he was focused on the moon. After learning about the practical requirements of teleportation, Anton was significantly more astounded by what Everheart had done to bring people to the moon. Thousands of people, many of who were in Life Transformation. All were brought while full on energy, an unfathomably large distance that also happened to be the smallest extraplanetary distance that had meaning. What future had Everheart sacrificed? Enduring structural integrity and projections of himself were one thing, but the massive power required to move people was something else. That energy had to have come from somewhere, and Anton didn¡¯t believe it was just sitting around in crystals or other receptacles. Unfortunately, Anton didn¡¯t have an answer to that question. Even Catarina didn¡¯t know how much power the future of things held within them, even though that was a feature Everheart used frequently. It was unfortunate that it always resulted in the destruction of whatever it was supporting, including the formations that allowed for it in the first place. Though perhaps that was also part of the plan. At the very least, Everheart didn¡¯t want people picking through his techniques too early and messing up his plans. Anton wound his way towards the top of the mountain, where the observatory had once stood. At some point he wanted to replace it, but for the moment it was mostly an empty field with a small structure that housed a moderately sized telescope. Anton looked through it, focusing his vision. In a way, the methods cultivators used to see at long distance replicated the effects of a telescope, but it wasn¡¯t exactly the same. It wasn¡¯t just gathering more light from a single point and magnifying it. Thus, with the two working in tandem Anton could see more clearly. The surface of the moon was rough and pitted- that was something that could be seen with the naked eye. Interpreting the details was harder, but Anton had used the observatory¡¯s real telescope when it existed to get a decent look at the moon. If he¡¯d known it would be important, he might have studied it longer. As he scanned the surface, he idly thought about how Everheart had even gotten to the moon to begin with. Unless there was already a teleportation formation on the other end, he couldn¡¯t have teleported. And if there was one, the same question remained for some sort of predecessor. Finally Anton spotted something. It was possible that he was projecting what he thought he might see, but he picked out a small scar on the surface of the moon. Not a crater from meteorite impacts, but a line. The sort that only rarely appeared in nature. One wasn¡¯t terribly unusual, but there were more¡­ barely visible. He began to take careful notes of their positions, as much as he could. Fortunately it was a full moon so he could see all parts of the moon that faced down below. The snippets he saw were anything but clean and regular. Perhaps they were simply random chaos, but Anton had the feeling they were something. Whether they meant anything anymore, that he didn¡¯t know. As he looked, he continued to contemplate his own cultivation. Essence Collection was a cultivator finding what mattered to them. Their driving force. It was a mental connection to things, but that connection was a source of power in its own way. For Anton that was growth. The thought of growing himself, but also promoting growth in other people and in the world itself. For every cultivator it was different. Though it was still eight stars and a major barrier away, Anton also considered Life Transformation. Beyond the point of mental connection, it was a process of changing the self to conform to the cultivation technique. For some this meant adopting the form of a beast, at least in their aura and method of attack. Those that cultivated various elements made it truly part of them, more than they could do at prior points. For Anton, that would mean more than just having the ¡®stars¡¯ in his dantian, little orbs of stored power. It would mean becoming more like a star, culminating in¡­ something. Ascension. Unfortunately, that was where the Ninety-Nine Stars fell flat. All of the Life Transformation experts Anton knew agreed that it was not a flawed technique, just incomplete. How to reach the hundredth star was still a mystery that hadn¡¯t yet been done¡­ but it should be possible. Cultivators had an intuition for that sort of thing, and there was not really much else they could do to prove it one way or another except to have someone succeed. That wasn¡¯t likely to happen, especially not in the next few decades, before the invasion. In fact, it was less likely not because some of the Grand Elders didn¡¯t have the potential but because if they did ascend that meant leaving the world behind. Everyone knew it involved cutting off their ties to the world, which was one of the reasons Vandale couldn¡¯t ascend. It would leave the sect weakened, and though Vandale had mostly been counting on younger generations growing up to support the Order, the threat of the invasion was a looming danger that trumped normal worries. If the Order were the sort that retained cultivators who didn¡¯t care about their own sect things might be different. But while they certainly had some flaws and even some Twin Soul Sect infiltrators, overall the Order succeeded in its mission to have cultivators that were good and not just powerful. But worrying about ascension was pointless for Anton, and even Life Transformation was still a good decade away even if his cultivation journey continued to go ¡®smoothly¡¯. Though interestingly enough, conflicts actually served to drive cultivation forward more than they slowed it. ----- There were many things available for Anton to do, but in a way their usefulness was reversed from how much he liked to do them. His hands were absolutely unnecessary for the Order¡¯s farming, even as they continued to expand their work under the watchful eye of Elder Howland. At best he might serve that purpose by finding new crops- or more accurately convincing some locals in another country to introduce him to something good. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Guiding individuals on the path of cultivation was useful, but there were so many people he couldn¡¯t keep up, and so few who needed him in particular. Working with the various teachers set up in different cities was good, but didn¡¯t occupy him full time. Ultimately the most useful job for him was meddling. Or mediating, if he were to use a nice term. To be fair, for the most part the Order was requested to provide their services in the area of conflict resolution. Other times they stepped in to stop squabbling factions when word came to them, and that was especially true now with the approaching invasion. Everyone would be necessary to even have a chance, and not all conflicts between cultivator factions didn¡¯t have a true right or wrong. Not everyone was the Twin Soul Sect, after all. But regardless of right and wrong, both sides in a conflict would find themselves justified with certain things they took to be true. And perhaps their facts were correct, but simply incomplete. He had been called into Droca on the suggestion of the Desert Fox Society. Though they were a local authority that could theoretically handle the troubles, they also weren¡¯t entirely neutral towards the parties involved. Thus, a more neutral entity in the form of Anton from the Order was sent in. The information Anton had was a conflict over land between the Wandering Bush Sect and the Herb Cliff Sect. Anton had to admit he was also not entirely unbiased, but at least he had no particular stake in the conflict at hand. If nothing else, he was a bit more familiar with the Wandering Bush Sect and thus potentially inclined to side with them. Even so, being aware of that fact allowed Anton to counterbalance that point. This was one of the times it was appropriate to suppress emotion that might otherwise influence his judgment. The bit of land was out in the middle of the desert. To be fair, most of Droca was desert, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise. This particular piece was simply uninhabited desert, due to it being rather distant from much of anything. That included both sects in question, or the matter might have been easily resolved. At the current moment, there was a meeting just adjacent to the land, atop a nearby mesa. Both sects had set up some sort of camp on either end of the rectangular mass of earth. Now they were meeting in the middle, though they¡¯d been having regular ¡®discussions¡¯ before Anton arrived. Fortunately, with minimal bloodshed so far. ¡°Greetings, elders,¡± Anton inclined his head to both. ¡°If the two of you could explain the situation here, starting with Elder Arvo.¡± The man nodded his head. His appearance put him as significantly younger than Anton, though based on his cultivation he was probably similar in age with a much earlier start. ¡°For generations the Wandering Bush Sect has had claim over this region, making use of our exclusive rights to collect natural resources and study the excellent samples of our namesake. However, Herb Cliff Sect has begun to intrude on our land.¡± Elder Arvo gestured to a scroll he had with him. ¡°Here is a copy of our written approval, composed by sects both passed on and those still enduring.¡± Elder Thankarat was obviously eager to speak, and since Elder Arvo had completed his introduction Anton gestured for him to speak next. ¡°And you?¡± ¡°The Tumbleweed sect-!¡± Anton held up a hand to stop the man. ¡°I think we would all be served best by using the proper names in this situation.¡± ¡°My apologies,¡± Elder Thankarat bowed his head. ¡°The Wandering Bush Sect claims to have received the rights to the area long ago, but our claim is just as well established as their document claims to be. Furthermore, they are the ones who have recently begun to harvest our land of a variety of natural plants that grow in the area.¡± Elder Thankarat also produced a document- similarly a copy of something purportedly ancient. If Anton knew he would be dealing with legal documents, he would have brought along Kohar. Even if he could puzzle through them well enough, she was much more practiced in the area. Alas, she was quite occupied continuing her fight against slavery. There was a frustrating gap between the legal eradication of slavery and it actually stopping, and it wasn¡¯t just an issue in Ofrurg. ¡°I will need further details,¡± Anton said as neutrally as possible. Thankarat¡¯s insulting tone and enthusiasm might have influenced him against them, but there were perfectly valid emotions behind it. It took a week to squeeze all the details out of them- the two elders weren¡¯t necessarily those who most frequently visited the area, among other things. However, Anton was slowly able to build a picture of what had happened. In relation to their claims, both were equally legitimate, as far as he could tell. If the problem wasn¡¯t resolved another way he might have to view the originals to see if there were any changes from the copies, but they were from similar times. The areas in question overlapped in all of the important parts, specifically along a river where the fertility of the ground was highest. Both were also telling the truth about collecting resources from the area regularly. They had records to that effect, mostly so they could track the value they were receiving. In this case, they were brought as proof of what the others were ¡®stealing¡¯. The only question was how this had only come up recently. It seemed to be a matter of coincidence- the change of seasons had been slightly different in the last year, to the point that certain plants that Herb Cliff Sect coveted had sprouted later in the year, and various things that the Wandering Bush Sect prized appearing earlier. Thus, they actually encountered each other. ¡°Now then,¡± Anton laid out the facts as he understood them. ¡°The both of you have been decent stewards, not clearing out the area of its natural resources to the point that your sects never even noticed each other until recently. And for the most part, the resources you want are different- though I admit there is some overlap. The easiest option is to continue to do what you have always done, which is to share them. It just wasn¡¯t conscious before. To that end, I have written up a new agreement. It is not final, but it incorporates all the elements I think are important to your two sects.¡± Unspoken was that if they didn¡¯t come to some sort of agreement, neither side would really get what they wanted. While either of them would have liked to monopolize certain healing herbs and the like, that simply wasn¡¯t going to be possible. It was even possible for one side to sell off their rights to the other instead of taking the journey significantly away from their core of power each year, but Anton didn¡¯t anticipate they would suddenly be willing to stop a traditional outing of their younger generations. Both sides- and Anton himself- would probably walk away dissatisfied. But if they could hold on for a few decades, it was possible the whole area would be wiped out and they would have nothing to fight about. What a pleasant thought to constantly be reminded of. Chapter 321 Given the rate at which cultivators moved and their desire for exploration, it seemed logical that the whole world would have been scoured many times over, every inch picked through for things that were of interest. Of course, there were many factors that made that not the case. First, while those with higher cultivations were able to travel quickly they seldom paid close attention to their surroundings except to avoid danger. Even if they were looking for something in specific, certain treasures had ways of hiding from their senses. While it might not be specifically intended for cultivators, plants preferred to be eaten by specific sorts of beasts to spread their seeds. And that also assumed that everything interesting was on the surface¡­ and more or less stationary. But the world wasn¡¯t static, but dynamic and ever-changing. The fact of the matter was that the number of cultivators in the world was also not so many as to have explored everything. Especially with the huge loss that came some centuries prior, to the point that modern cultivators hadn¡¯t even been aware of the specific reasons things ended up how they were. Specifically, an invasion by ascended individuals. Information had intentionally been sewed to indicate it was just a war among cultivators, and while that couldn¡¯t change the memories of individuals, it seemed the Twin Soul Sect and those like them had worked behind the scenes for some time to make the matter properly murky. Along with time itself naturally confusing issues, few individuals remained aware of what happened- though some had dredged it up, like Everheart himself. With all of that said, Anton understood how things could still be hidden, and so the mere fact that nobody had found them yet meant nothing. Especially with regards to his current target. Everheart had a track records for keeping his ¡®tombs¡¯ completely unknown until the intended time to reveal them. That was possibly partly by virtue of the simplest method of hiding something, putting it behind or under something else. In short, usually buried in the ground or in the side of a mountain where it was naturally difficult to sense with energy. It was reasonable to assume that the most grandiose of Everheart¡¯s tombs was also his last, one tied to information on ascension and absurdly located on the moon- except for a large quantity of teleportation formations that had likewise been hidden until the time came. It stood to reason that if there were more tombs they would reveal themselves when Everheart intended, but that assumed two things. First was that Everheart was infallible and nothing had gone wrong¡­ and second that he didn¡¯t have anything intentionally kept secret. The thought had begun scratching at the back of Anton¡¯s mind at some point, and he couldn¡¯t shake it. It wasn¡¯t a supernatural compulsion, but it still turned into something of an obsession. For all his uncertainty about the personality of the man, Everheart¡¯s work was impressive. So far there had been no complete notes on his prowess with formations. Anton also suspected he was the sort to keep caches of resources scattered about for his use, and they might not have all been consumed as of yet. Anton could spout a dozen reasons, but truthfully he was just searching for something. Something that could help against the impending invasion, more than just sitting tight and waiting for it to happen. In normal situations, Anton would have been a fan of the status quo, nothing in particular changing as long as people were still given room to grow. But despite the rapid development in various areas, Anton still felt it wasn¡¯t enough. If the Luminous Ocean Society and others like them had been destroyed, it just didn¡¯t seem like enough. Perhaps in a few decades the Order would match up to some extent, but even a handful of great sects wouldn¡¯t be enough. Perhaps nothing would. But Anton had to try, and Everheart had some of the answers. Maybe he wouldn¡¯t like the answers. Maybe they weren¡¯t even available in this world anymore, instead tightly locked up inside Everheart¡¯s head when he ascended. Yet that didn¡¯t mean Anton wouldn¡¯t find anything. And of course, he wasn¡¯t going to reject things that had no relation to Everheart. Any information on ancient sects that had been destroyed would be something to take note of. All of that was how Anton found himself standing in the grasslands of Ambati, where the Enlightened Cloud Society one stood. ¡°I see what you mean, Ayotunde.¡± Anton spread his senses out, finding nothing but plants, animals, and dirt. Even ten or twenty meters down, there was nothing. ¡°Every stone dismantled. Down to the last brick.¡± ¡°The discovery was quite well known to the previous generation. I remember hearing about it. A place not on any maps, suddenly rocketing into the public view. Despite lingering dangers, the treasures in the area were tantalizing to seekers from Ambati and eventually the rest of the continent. And then¡­¡± he gestured. ¡°It ran out. It has once more returned to not being on maps, because there is nothing.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t disbelieve you,¡± Anton nodded, ¡°But I still thought there would be more to see. I can¡¯t even tell where things were anymore. It¡¯s as if it never existed.¡± ¡°Unpleasant to think about, is it not?¡± Ayotunde shook his head. ¡°It is strange to think that the great treasures that were there might have been left behind not because they couldn¡¯t be taken, but because they were deemed of insufficient value. Truthfully, I do not know if the world has a chance against an invasion of such power.¡± ¡°Perhaps not, but one thing I do know¡­ the Luminous Ocean Society more or less stood on its own, defending its own lands. Many others might have done the same. Perhaps some manner of unity will make a chance for us. In addition to that¡­ anti-ascension techniques are very widespread now,¡± Anton nodded seriously. ¡°We may not be able to win, but we can make the cost too great for the invasion to be worthwhile.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose the Order has any secret information to provide?¡± Ayotunde asked. ¡°Numbers, strength, anything?¡± ¡°Not more than we¡¯ve already done. I think I told you of the memories I was shown. I got the feeling that wasn¡¯t the whole of the enemy forces, but just a part. However,¡± Anton held up a finger. ¡°It is important to note that they weren¡¯t invincible. And it doesn¡¯t make sense to me that they would not value ascension cultivators more highly than we value Life Transformation experts. If enough of them can be killed, it has to be possible.¡± ¡°It seems strange to me that there could be so many ascended individuals,¡± Ayotunde commented. ¡°And that they would attack us. How many people from here actually achieve ascension? Likely less than one per year. Perhaps even fewer.¡± ¡°It is my understanding that they come from other worlds as well, worlds similar to our own. I don¡¯t know much more than that,¡± Anton sighed. ¡°That¡¯s the problem. The mystery. We don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll be up against.¡± ¡°At least it is the same for them.¡± When Anton looked surprised, Ayotunde continued. ¡°Is it not? Can they observe us here without us knowing? If that is the case, I would not think that the Luminous Ocean Society would have kept anything secret from them. Like the vault of anti-ascension techniques.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You¡¯re right. They can¡¯t know what we¡¯re doing. At least, any knowledge of our world has to be imperfect for them. Perhaps it is passed along to them by spies or their techniques are limited. They might know we are preparing to fight them¡­ but they might not. It would depend on whether the Twin Soul Sect can give them information. But I can¡¯t say I understand the reincarnation they are supposed to have. I understand the idea in principle, but it¡¯s not like we could experience it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea that even killing them is a success on their part in some ways,¡± Ayotunde grimaced. ¡°Me neither. But on the other hand, if they are successfully eradicated we¡¯ll have a couple decades without them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s something,¡± Ayotunde shook his head. ¡°But didn¡¯t Everheart leave a trap for them? Shouldn¡¯t he have known what would happen when they died? Why would he not do anything.¡± ¡°Nobody is perfect. They can¡¯t cover everything.¡± ----- Outside of what could be perceived in normal space, some version of Everheart grinned. His eyes were sunken, his body little more than skin and bones. He had no energy to maintain anything resembling youthful looks, not that anyone who viewed him would be given the chance to remember. But though he appeared about to die, his crooked grin wouldn¡¯t cease. Everheart liked to talk. Preferably to others so he could inform them of how smart he was, but lacking a target talking to himself would do. ¡°Heh. Those kids. They¡¯re gonna work me to death. I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d send nearly so many people my way. Hopefully the numbers have slowed not because those bastards are holding out but because there are hardly any left.¡± Everheart paced around in a place that was nowhere. ¡°Stupid me. Why didn¡¯t I make some way to communicate with the rest? Ah, I know. I know. The costs. What good is a little certainty when it can be traded away for power?¡± Everheart spit. ¡°If I were here I¡¯d strangle myself for those thoughts. Can¡¯t live for free. Should have known a man can¡¯t live on the satisfaction of killing traitors alone.¡± He continued to pace. A trickle of energy continued to feed into him. There was no problem with that, at least. He just needed to keep himself together. After a long time of inactivity he¡¯d been subjected to a flurry of work. Now he just had to keep it up for a few measly years. Decades. Whatever those were called. A couple centuries of nothing but waiting might have knocked a few screws loose. If he ever had them to begin with. ¡°The worst part is,¡± Everheart sighed. ¡°Being stuck. Unable to make any progress. Knowing my demise is inevitable¡­ well, that¡¯s another reason that I¡¯d never check in on myself, for my own safety.¡± He swiveled as another one appeared. They weren¡¯t even worthy of a cage. Given how they were devoid of anything that could be called equipment, their sense of self was lacking. It only took a wave of his hand to remove them. Having never experienced it himself, Everheart didn¡¯t know whether or not they might still exist afterwards, but he knew enough to say that they would not be in any state to convey information or receive their promised rewards. The difference between a broken, blank slate and a new person was irrelevant for these purposes. That was left to the philosophers. Which was also him, on occasion. The others had to wonder if they were people. Everheart knew they weren¡¯t, and the him here had that knowledge. But maybe he was more than just energy imbued with purpose. But the question was, if he was anything more than that¡­ did it matter? He wasn¡¯t going to shirk his duties. Whether person or not, he understood that the job had to be done. He just couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the true Everheart would bother to reincorporate them. There hadn¡¯t been a method to do so when this one was made, but that wouldn¡¯t stop Everheart if he wanted to. But maybe there was no purpose to it. Useless memories that were better to not have, and little else. Besides, the original Everheart might not have wanted to do it. There was no thought about it before, but this one¡¯s experiences told him that he would do it, given the chance. They would not be allowed to be individuals of any sort. That would be crazy. But perhaps somehow they might combine into the whole. That ought to teach him a lesson about making projections willy nilly. Hundreds, no, thousands of years of isolation forced into him all at once. But while it was a nice thought, traitors had to be dealt with first. And then he wouldn¡¯t exist. It was stupid, but that was just the kind of person he was. It was just that for other people he left behind a smattering of semi-useful techniques and knowledge. He simply hadn¡¯t thought to leave anything for himself. Chapter 322 Within a year Anton had exhausted the readily available options for remnants of ancient sects. Unlike the secret realm of the Luminous Ocean Society, most had not remained intact- and they certainly didn¡¯t have functioning training areas. Most were preserved better than the Enlightened Cloud Sect, though sometimes that was because the value of the materials in question was not worth the effort of dismantling. Others were saved by sects or clans interested in preserving history, though such cases were unfortunately rare. As for finding more of Everheart¡¯s tombs, while there were always rumors about them cropping up in some place or another none were legitimate. Anton still went to check out a few regardless, but he knew that any real one would manage to have a further reaching announcement. That could have been where he gave up. The time and effort he was willing to devote to such an endeavor wasn¡¯t unlimited, and tracking down ever more obscure rumors was bound to be a waste of his time. However, more options had opened up in recent years. Specifically, outside of the continent. In the half a decade since the initial expeditions to reconnect with the rest of the world, travel had become easier. With a set route in place, attacks were minimized along the route. Beasts were either killed or learned not to attack the cultivators, though there were always exceptions. Even so, some manner of trade had been developed. Luxury goods for the most part, since each continent was quite self-sustained and the costs to ship low value goods were far too high. Along with luxury goods there were of course cultivators. They were able to deal with risk and had reasons to travel long distances, seeking their individual goals. And while teleportation was planned, it took more than a handful of years for people to become comfortable with the idea of foreign sects just being able to show up nearby. Location was important- though whether people wanted the teleportation formations to be closer or further away was also something that had to be managed. It could provide significant benefits of detriments to a region depending on how things were set up. And while cultivators were able to move swiftly in some instances, in others they tended to drag on, like all human bureaucracy. So Anton took a boat. It was a boring trip with no krakens or giant turtles involved- though it seemed there were some groups interested in tracking the general migration of Paradise he wasn¡¯t part of the standard routes. Anton took one of the faster ships, built for speed rather than durability. That meant he was able to arrive in around one week rather than three or four. Sitting around doing nothing productive for two extra weeks was just a waste. He could always discuss cultivation with those on board, but he had no guarantee anyone would be interested or that either side would benefit. So he chose the faster option. Then he had a whole continent to pick over. For the moment, he set his target on two different groups. The closer of the two was the Tomb Seeking Cult. He¡¯d had little interaction with them outside of guiding one of their disciples for part of his time in Erygan, when he¡¯d been trying to find the Twin Soul¡¯s smith. But if anyone would know about more of Everheart¡¯s tombs, it would be them. The second option was the Million Sword Vault, but they were closer to the far side of the continent. The Tomb Seeking Cult took their obsession very seriously, and that reflected in their main headquarters¡­ or lack thereof. They did have a central location in the middle-western portion of Aicenith, but it was basically just a section of roughly tracked wilderness with temporary structures set up. Lots of tents and log cabins, and no defensive formations. Anton wasn¡¯t even sure if they technically owned the area, but nobody seemed keen on removing them either. Given that cultivators were prone to travel, finding his one acquaintance there was a stroke of luck. He could have easily been off on some mission¡­ or dead. It was an unpleasant thought, but with the Tomb Seeking Cult being particularly zealous in their hunt of Twin Soul Sect members they had taken recent losses. But Agus was present and alive, so Anton quickly found his wave over to the man. ¡°Master Anton!¡± Agus greeted him enthusiastically as he approached. ¡°I had wondered if we would ever meet again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s something you can never know until you do,¡± Anton shrugged. There wasn¡¯t much deeper meaning to that thought. It was just that eventually people would meet for the last time. ¡°Well, take a look at yourself. You¡¯ve advanced quite nicely into early Essence Collection.¡± ¡°It is thanks to your advice,¡± Agus inclined his head. ¡°For what reason have you come to seek us here?¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite simply a matter related to your specialty,¡± Anton explained. ¡°I was wondering if you or the others had received word of any more of Everheart¡¯s Tombs since¡­ the one fifteen years ago.¡± It surprised Anton to say that last part, but time had been flowing rapidly. If he thought back he could see how all he had done filled the years, but if he did not focus they seemed to slip through his grasp. ¡°Not a single one, I¡¯m afraid,¡± Agus shook his head. ¡°It is a matter of some disappointment among us, though there have been longer periods. I¡¯d like to tell you something useful, but if we haven¡¯t heard then no one has. And if any of us had heard of one, we all would have. Asking the others won¡¯t change the answer.¡± Anton nodded. With the common thread between them being that specific thing, any tomb of Everheart wasn¡¯t something that could be kept secret- even by those higher up. In fact, it became even more important for them to share the information. ¡°I suspected as much. In that case, I am interested in historical records of previous tombs. And perhaps visiting them myself.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Oh! Well, Maxine will be very excited. She¡¯s the current keeper of lore,¡± Agus explained. ¡°Would you like to go see her now?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Then come with me.¡± He headed immediately for some of the more permanent structures in the area. The area around them was the most trafficked and thus had the least random undergrowth impeding them, not that it was a huge issue for cultivators- which was how the various paths managed to be rather straight between points of interest instead of winding. The great libraries of sects were usually well guarded, but beyond the various disciples wandering nearby there weren¡¯t any standing watch. Then again, various nearby structures housed many of the higher ranking cultivators among them. The structure they were heading towards seemed to have been expanded upon as necessary, various horizontal and vertical extensions not matching any of the others in age or even necessarily style. Inside was only a single person at the moment, presumably the lorekeeper Maxine. The typical image of such a person was old and decrepit, but Maxine was nearly the opposite. She wasn¡¯t exactly young, but she showed only minimal signs of age. She looked up as they entered. ¡°Hello. I don¡¯t recognize you,¡± her gaze focused on Anton in particular. ¡°I¡¯m not a member of the Tomb Seeking Cult,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°So that is to be expected.¡± ¡°Really?¡± She raised an eyebrow. ¡°I¡¯d have thought you were. I sense the influence of some of Everheart¡¯s techniques on you.¡± ¡°With how many he¡¯s made, I¡¯d be more surprised if anyone didn¡¯t have something tied to his techniques in some way,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Sure,¡± Maxine shrugged. ¡°But these are more specific. Not terribly often practiced. I sense some old scars from Candle Wax, and I believe you practice Fleeting Youth?¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Especially at recognizing the latter. I thought it was rather less known.¡± In fact, before he obtained it he presumed no one had it. ¡°Has it so quickly spread to this continent to the point you instantly recognize it?¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re from Brogora?¡± Maxine¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°I have so many questions! But first, yours. It¡¯s been here for a while. It¡¯s honestly practiced very little, except among us- a few elders who have desired a boost in power. Most wouldn¡¯t recognize it, but I have studied everything I can in detail. That one¡­ I can¡¯t use myself. Not for a few decades at minimum. And I¡¯m not really ready to give up on¡­ certain things.¡± She coughed. ¡°But um. Brogora. Tell me everything you know about Everheart¡¯s Tombs there! It¡¯s so hard to get reliable information! I was thinking of going on a trip myself but-¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Anton cut her off. ¡°But I¡¯d like to exchange some information. I¡¯m interested in things local to Aicenith, for example.¡± ¡°Absolutely! I believe that information should be freely shared. A lot of people hate Everheart¡¯s forbidden techniques, but they were just forbidden because it was dangerous for them! Or the practitioners, but I don¡¯t see why people complain when they¡¯re clearly marked.¡± Maxine sighed, ¡°People know what they¡¯re getting into. Why not let them?¡± ¡°Most people don¡¯t enjoy the prospect of themselves or others getting hurt. And encouraging forbidden techniques also encourages those being used against them to some extent. If everyone makes use of self-destructive methods to battle, it could result in both sides perishing and no victors.¡± ¡°Same as regular wounds,¡± Maxine shrugged. ¡°People accept certain hits to land their own attack. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s much different.¡± Anton disagreed on a philosophical level, but she was entitled to her opinion. ¡°I wanted to see a list of what tombs had appeared. And where.¡± ¡°Ah, easy.¡± Maxine waved her hand and a thin notebook flew off the shelves. ¡°Here it is.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. It was hardly more than a few pages, listing dates and locations. ¡°What?¡± Maxine shrugged. ¡°They appear maybe every handful of years on average, which means no more than twenty a century. Less than a hundred total, including what we know of Brogora.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a fair point,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Also the description of what was inside each all are separate,¡± Maxine pointed out. ¡°Some of us have made extensive documents on traps and formations and other features. I¡¯m so frustrated I didn¡¯t get to visit the last one! How was I supposed to know it was on the moon, and had its own ecosystem?¡± She waved her arms about. ¡°He just said it was about ascension! Why would anyone but Life Transformation cultivators need to go there? Obviously I would have anyway, but not everyone could go¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°But, yeah. That¡¯s it. The whole list.¡± ¡°I can add a few more on here, from Brogora,¡± Anton noted. It probably wouldn¡¯t make much difference either way since they were basically all rubble now, but in the interest of completion he added the first one he¡¯d visited, then the unannounced one in Ambati. ¡°Ooh! One that wasn¡¯t publicized? Fascinating!¡± Maxine reacted as he explained it. ¡°A shame it was so broken down though.¡± ¡°It was a strange one for that,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Many others had their structural integrity compounded against their future¡­ however that works. I don¡¯t know why one would be in such ill repair.¡± ¡°Maybe he made a mistake,¡± Maxine shrugged. Then she looked around. ¡°Some members view him as the pinnacle of perfection, but I¡¯m more cautious than that. Though he was amazingly impactful, even after his death.¡± ¡°Or ascension,¡± Anton offered the alternative. ¡°Right? Nobody knows!¡± ¡°He did say he¡¯s probably dead now though. Or rather, one of his projections,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Something about too many enemies. It seemed some of them might have been ascended as well. Or perhaps he was implying making new enemies?¡± ¡°You spoke to his projections? Tell me everything!¡± Maxine was quite excited, sweeping a pile of potentially important papers and books off of her desk and placing down blank parchment and preparing to write. So Anton explained what he had heard, as well as he could remember. His mind had been tempered which helped with recall, but there were still possibilities to forget details. Taking the time to properly reflect on a certain time period helped. After he finished, he was interested in trying to see if any of the tombs on Aicenith had been less destroyed than the norm. If anyone would know, it should be Maxine and the records of the Tomb Seeking Cult. Chapter 323 Two figures walked through the unpopulated wilderness. An older man, and one much younger. ¡°I appreciate you coming along with me,¡± Anton offered to Agus. ¡°Being alone grows old quickly. And an extra pair of arms to fend off danger is appreciated as well.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not exactly doing this altruistically,¡± Agus pointed out. ¡°It¡¯s to return a favor, and maybe gain some standing within my sect.¡± ¡°Decent enough reasons, but you were still the first to extend the offer. So I am thankful. What do you think we¡¯ll find at this next place?¡± ¡°Given the rest, a pile of dirt and brick,¡± Agus speculated dismally. ¡°Though I haven¡¯t actually been to this one. It¡¯s further than the rest.¡± All of Everheart¡¯s ¡®tombs¡¯ had been in out of the way locations. The man had a knack for picking areas where even cultivators wouldn¡¯t expand to in the course of time. Yet they were also reachable, appearing mainly in barren stretches of land. The Tomb Seeking Cult had quite thoroughly combed through the locations nearest to themselves, but they confirmed there was little remaining but collapsed facilities and occasionally extremely rusted weaponry with faded enchantments. Anton had gone to confirm, not because he didn¡¯t believe them but to get a good idea of the state things were in. Some of the locations even had entirely new levels of topsoil that had formed over them in the time since they were active. Now they were moving towards one at the top of a mountain. Carved into the stone where nobody would bother traversing regularly, it had still also been concealed until the designated time. If it had been intended as a sort of training it hadn¡¯t been obvious, as it mainly had traps and little explanation. Only warnings by a projection of Everheart to keep out¡­ which of course had the opposite effect. The journey did not take long for two Essence Collection cultivators, and they soon found themselves outside of what had been the entrance. Rubble had fallen to close the mouth, but if that was the only thing it would have been trivial to deal with. Anton carefully weaved his energy through the area, slipping between the cracks. This particular facility had seemed appropriate for Essence Collection cultivators, which meant it was actually quite a bit more extensive than the first one he had visited. Yet the branching corridors actually allowed him to get a decent picture of how it might have once been. ¡°I still feel the remains of traps in the walls- though in the form of rusty spikes for the most part. The treasures were at the furthest point, I presume?¡± Agus nodded, looking at the copied documents in his hands. ¡°That¡¯s right. Past a flooded chamber, I believe.¡± ¡°It¡¯s collapsed now,¡± Anton said. ¡°But there¡¯s still a pool in some of it. And then-¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Strange.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Agus asked. ¡°There¡¯s a sarcophagus.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah. He loved to throw those around as decoys. It¡¯s listed here.¡± ¡°Right, but this one is intact,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ interesting,¡± Agus admitted. ¡°Think we can dig it out?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem particularly structurally stable, but on the other hand the main damage seems to be to artificial supports. We might have to shore up the passageways. Do you have any experience with mining?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Nope,¡± Agus admitted. ¡°I was raised in the sect after my parents died. Mostly because they wanted loyal disciples.¡± Agus shrugged, ¡°I have to admit, it worked. I got to visit one active tomb, and was hooked from there. And I have no reason to give up on being a cultivator.¡± ¡°Well, I have worked with a few miners lately,¡± Anton explained. ¡°We¡¯re not trying to take out veins of anything, so it¡¯s actually quite simple. We¡¯ll have to put in a bit of labor though.¡± Thus they started. The outer layer of rubble was mostly ¡®smaller¡¯ rocks, less than the size of their torsos. That meant they could lift each piece, which they chucked out of the opening into a nearby pile. It wasn¡¯t necessary to open the whole passageway, but Anton had them focus on one side where they could uncover natural stone. They added simple bracings made from nearby trees. Using unseasoned wood meant that their work wouldn¡¯t last forever, but it was more than good enough for a few days. Slicing apart the trees with any sharp instrument was easy enough, though Anton avoided using his swordlike bow because it felt like some sort of heresy. But Anton carried a selection of tools with him, and the extras he was able to purchase in a nearby town. There were various routes they might take, but some paths had large chunks of stone regardless. Breaking apart stone was trivial, but breaking it apart without affecting everything around it was more difficult. Anton could have done it on his own, but Agus was eager to show off his precision with his spear, piercing into a rock as tall as himself and splitting it into neat quarters, which were then further broken down for convenience. Each meter of progress took a few minutes even with their natural energy supporting them, and it was a very long pair of days for them to finally reach the sarcophagus. ¡°What do the papers say about this one?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Let¡¯s see. We had no disciples in the deep chamber when it was discovered. We showed up a little bit later, but as the vault was looted the entire place began to collapse- the sarcophagus was only determined to be empty and that was all.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°It¡¯s not covering anything,¡± Anton determined. ¡°But this chamber isn¡¯t collapsed in the same way.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right,¡± Agus agreed. ¡°I can still see the worked pillars. And they¡­ don¡¯t seem to have a formation active.¡± ¡°They¡¯re just worked stone. It can last thousands of years if left untouched. I think this was probably here before Everheart, who merely took advantage of it. This particular room, anyway.¡± Anton placed one hand on the sarcophagus lid. It was carved with formation runes, but they were inactive. ¡°This was some sort of defensive formation to keep people out, I think.¡± ¡°That seems right,¡± Agus nodded. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t feel familiar. Most of us learn a bit about formations, given Everheart¡¯s proclivities, but he had a very specific style. This doesn¡¯t fit.¡± ¡°As an expedition to learn about Everheart, it¡¯s a bit of a failure,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But this is an interesting discovery regardless. What do you think happened to the body?¡± ¡°I would say it decayed,¡± Agus frowned, ¡°But looking at the quality of this thing, it had to be for a powerful cultivator. It should have lasted for some time. I¡¯m guessing¡­ Everheart took it to study.¡± ¡°... Yeah that sounds right.¡± Graverobbing wouldn¡¯t be beneath Everheart. In fact, cultivators weren¡¯t known for respecting the graves of those they could consider to be their enemies. The practice of burying people with valuables waxed and waned, but sometimes the prize was the corpse itself. Things could be learned from the corpse of a powerful cultivator, if someone knew how to look. Anton hadn¡¯t delved deep into that topic, but some weaknesses Twin Soul Sect¡¯s techniques were gleaned from the corpses of their members. A bit morbid, but practical. And they deserved it. ¡°So who would it be?¡± Anton wondered aloud. ¡°Everheart had many enemies, and information about them often died with them,¡± Agus shrugged. ¡°I suppose I would note that the lid was removed peacefully. But that could simply be for practical retrieval.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I think we¡¯d have to study the potential power of these formations more. For that, I think it would be best to retrieve it from here and bring it to some experts.¡± ¡°We would very much like to study it,¡± Agus pointed out. ¡°Of course, you¡¯re the first option there. But I hope you aren¡¯t averse to hiring outside consultants.¡± ¡°It¡¯s more that they¡¯re averse to us,¡± Agus admitted. ¡°Some people find us¡­ unsettling.¡± ¡°I think the worshipful attitude towards a pretty terrible person is what does it.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Agus grinned. ¡°We know he was terrible. But he was also strong, and other groups elevate worse people just because they¡¯re strong.¡± ¡°Worse than Everheart?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°He didn¡¯t go around slaughtering innocent people, or use them as test subjects,¡± Agus pointed out. ¡°That we¡¯ve heard of.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a fair point,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°The common person had little to fear from him.¡± With some difficulty they began to move the sarcophagus into their storage bags. Though it was little larger than a person on the inside, it was made of heavy stone. Anton suspected it was extraordinarily durable, but didn¡¯t attempt anything more than a superficial test in case it wasn¡¯t. Like many materials cultivators used, that strength came with its own weight. The lid was easy enough, but the main body of the sarcophagus required both of them straining with the majority of their energy, while the magic bag was stretched open to the limit to slide it in. ¡°Before leaving, I want to take some notes on the formation markings here,¡± Agus pointed. ¡°Some of them haven¡¯t fully decayed. This is Everheart¡¯s stuff. It doesn¡¯t seem new, but complete information is better.¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised any survived at all,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Given its future was bet against it. But I suppose it didn¡¯t need as much resistance to aging, so it lasted better afterwards?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to say,¡± Agus admitted. ¡°Replicating the effect is nearly impossible since most of the pieces of the formation to do so are likewise subject to the effect and destruction. The only hope is getting it when it¡¯s active, but Everheart preferred to keep most of that on the far sides of walls, where people couldn''t snoop.¡± Anton helped Agus take notes, his limited training in formations with Catarina helping immensely. The biggest part was taking note of the locations of bits and pieces relative to each other, since everything was quite incomplete. ----- After surveying several more locations in a loop, none of which had anything else quite so interesting, Anton and Agus returned once more to the center of the Tomb Seeking Cult. Many of the people present were different, with the notable exception of Maxine. She was quite excited to hear what they found. When they pulled out the lid, she nodded. ¡°This is¡­ definitely not Everheart¡¯s work. It¡¯s too¡­ restrained? And enduring. He didn¡¯t make things to last forever. He made them to last exactly long enough for his purposes and no more. I remember reading about this sarcophagus, but since the place collapsed shortly afterwards everyone assumed it was crushed in the process- but since he didn¡¯t make it¡­¡± ¡°Do you know who might have?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize anything right away,¡± she admitted. ¡°I¡¯m not exactly a formation master, but I¡¯m still familiar with many current and ancient styles. So it¡¯s a bit odd, actually. And this um¡­ it seems to have been intended to decay the body faster?¡± Maxine gestured to some of the runes on the inside of the main section. ¡°Why?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Couldn¡¯t they just burn it or something?¡± ¡°A good question, to which I have no answer.¡± ¡°That means Everheart might not have emptied it at all,¡± Agus pondered. ¡°It could have been just a skeleton. A pile of dirt maybe?¡± ¡°Whatever it was has been cleared out,¡± Maxine determined. ¡°If it even worked at all. I can¡¯t tell what the power source would have been. It looks almost like it relied on ambient natural energy, but without any gathering ability? A formation like that would hardly stand up to one good punch from a Spirit Building cultivator, let alone anyone important. Or able to move this thing.¡± A few weeks of travel and investigation, and all they had come away with was a mystery. One that might not be related to what Anton wanted to find- though in truth, he was basically just confirming what he already assumed- that there was no useful information left. But perhaps this sarcophagus might reveal something interesting regardless. Chapter 324 The Tomb Seeking Cult called in others they trusted to aid Maxine in studying the sarcophagus. Anton contributed what he could but his knowledge of formations was limited to the few pieces he instantly recognized. But that was exactly why having a variety of people with different specialties was important. Nobody could do everything, no matter how much time they had to learn. The ultimate conclusion they came to was¡­ confusing. ¡°There¡¯s no way this ever did anything,¡± Maxine proclaimed after weeks of thoroughly poring over the fine details of the sarcophagus. ¡°No matter how much natural energy was present, it wouldn¡¯t be enough to activate it. But we did learn some things. Like, despite how it looks, the sarcophagus wasn¡¯t meant to last forever. It was supposed to fade away on its own, when its work was done.¡± ¡°What was wrong with it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Why can¡¯t it work?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t tell,¡± Maxine shook her head. ¡°Everything seems highly intentional. It just shouldn¡¯t be able to function. Even if a Life Transformation expert were placed in the sarcophagus, the density of their natural energy would be insufficient to activate it.¡± ¡°I think that leaves a pretty clear picture then,¡± Anton waved his hand. ¡°Doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°What else could-? Oh. Ohhhhhh¡­¡± Maxine¡¯s face lit up. ¡°No wonder. Yes, of course. It had to be for someone who had achieved ascension. It fits but¡­ why bother? If you were going to destroy a corpse, why do it slowly and inefficiently?¡± She frowned. ¡°Something doesn¡¯t fit. I would expect allies to be preserved respectfully and enemies to be straightforwardly eradicated. Perhaps there¡¯s some cultural significance missing?¡± ¡°It could be,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But maybe it was somehow practical for something.¡± ¡°It might help to see it active. Unfortunately that requires-¡± her eyes flickered to Anton. ¡°Ascension energy. Do you think you could¡­?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going in there, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking.¡± ¡°No no, of course not.¡± Maxine waved him off. ¡°That would give us a single instant of observation at most. A complete waste of your life. But you have practiced Fleeting Youth, and thus can call upon ascension energy. If you can activate it at all, that will confirm our theory to some extent.¡± ¡°I still have less energy than a Life Transformation expert,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Just because I can call upon some doesn¡¯t mean it will work.¡± ¡°Right, but I think you could possibly make a small portion of the formation react. We should try it. As for how to do that safely¡­¡± Maxine stood in thought for a bit. Eventually they decided to have him extend a bundle of ascension energy into the sarcophagus, while others held up the lid. It would be set down to cut off his connection and contain the results of whatever happened when his energy interacted. There were a few tense moments leading up to the actual implementation of the plan but the end result was¡­ a few runes briefly glowing. But it at least lent some credence to the idea. ¡°Right, so, it¡¯s meant to activate with ascension energy,¡± Maxine said. ¡°The natural energy we had here wasn¡¯t good enough. And it would take quite a lot. The question still is- why?¡± Neither Anton nor Agus had answers for that, and the other formation experts weren¡¯t much help either. ¡°Someone like that, it should just take a flick of the wrist to destroy the body. Quite thoroughly, I imagine. If that¡¯s what they wanted to accomplish, why bother bringing something like this?¡± Evelia was the one to answer that with some more speculation. ¡°Perhaps they were worried about the recovery time? It¡¯s not actually that insignificant a portion of their energy, I imagine. A tenth or twentieth, maybe? Anton, how long does it take to recover your ascension energy?¡± ¡°Not terribly long,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°A day or two at most and I can draw upon it even if I exhausted my access. More or less the same as replenishing my stores of natural energy.¡± Evelia shook her head. ¡°That can¡¯t be it then. It could matter, but to go through all this instead of just holding onto it for a safe day or two¡­ seems excessive. It can¡¯t be that easy to make something like this.¡± ¡°I¡¯d have to agree,¡± Anton said. ¡°Especially considering this likely was part of the previous invasion. If it were easy to make this, why would they need anything here? Well, that question applies anyway.¡± ¡°We can ask some people as we tear them apart,¡± Maxine suggested. ¡°This is our world and they can¡¯t have any of it!¡± There were sentiments of agreement from everyone present. People were almost becoming impatient for the attack, though they also needed all the time they could to prepare. ----- Over the next year Anton went to visit the rest of Everheart¡¯s tombs on Aicenith, finding them just as destroyed as all of the others. There weren¡¯t any lucky finds like the sarcophagus, and the dangers were likewise destroyed. It was just a process of going from place to place and being ready to accept disappointment. Agus was quite apologetic that the Tomb Seeking Cult hadn¡¯t been able to help, but Anton reminded him he hadn¡¯t really expected anything. One continent had nothing, why should another? During that journey he had passed by the Scorching Mirror Desert where the Million Sword Vault stood, and now he was returning to enter it once more. Some familiarity with the area helped him be more at ease, but it was still an unpleasant journey. He couldn¡¯t really use his eyes, and even his energy senses were distorted by the swirling reflective sands. But he knew where he was going, and the increase in cultivation had extended his sensory range somewhat further so he didn¡¯t even have to get as close as before. He wasn¡¯t tracking anyone this time, but he also didn¡¯t worry about avoiding disciples. If he encountered any, he was planning to approach them. They should remember him, and his bow that he won from them. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you chose to come back here,¡± Agus complained, but in a good spirited way. ¡°It¡¯s very unpleasant.¡± Even though they were no longer looking for Everheart¡¯s tombs, Agus decided to remain traveling with Anton. He got cultivation advice, and having a traveling companion was useful in emergencies. Besides, without any other duties wandering the continent was basically the main objective of the Tomb Seeking Cult. ¡°I¡¯d say you get used to it¡­ but in truth you learn to very much appreciate shelter.¡± He had a better tent this time, more suited to the desert. It kept a reasonable temperature inside even in the worst of the desert. It wouldn¡¯t protect against an actual flame attack, but it was excellent during the midday heat. Other than that, Anton relied on a special compass tuned to work in the desert where normal compasses often failed. ¡°Not much further now.¡± A few moments later, two dozen swords stabbed into the sand around them, creating an uncomfortable barrier surrounding the two. Agus raised his spear and looked around in panic. Out from the sandstorm a voice called. ¡°Who dares disturb the sacred lands of the Million Sword Vault?!¡± ¡°They¡¯re sacred now?¡± Anton asked. ¡°We have so many swords,¡± Chikere said as she stepped into view. ¡°How could it not be sacred?¡± Agus immediately picked up on the distinct lack of hostility and relaxed slightly. ¡°Seems like you were recognized. She¡¯s one of them?¡± ¡°The last time I came here she was in a bloody battle with over a dozen of them. So yes, they¡¯re good friends.¡± Anton knew that Agus probably thought he was exaggerating, but that wasn¡¯t the case. Though ¡®spar¡¯ might have been more appropriate than battle for the friendliness. The blood was real though. ¡°Is that one new?¡± Anton gestured to a sword. ¡°Good old number fifteen! Or new, rather.¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the third number fifteen I¡¯ve had since we last met. I¡¯ve tracked down a handful of decent weapons in the last¡­ year?¡± ¡°Eight years,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°What, really? I haven¡¯t gotten into nearly as many battles to the death as I thought I would have for that long. I guess having a sect backing me helps.¡± ¡°Are you one of the ranking disciples?¡± Agus asked. ¡°Well, I¡¯m technically more like a guest. But they respect all aspiring swordmasters and honored my master.¡± Agus leaned forward intently. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re¡­ the singular disciple of Swordmaster Rahayu?¡± ¡°You heard of him? Good! He was pretty great.¡± ¡°Is it true you saw him cut his way to ascension? What did it look like?¡± ¡°Like this!¡± Chikere slashed the air. For more than a few moments, not a single speck of sand swirled into the area, leaving a strange gouge in the atmosphere. Then everything returned to normal. Anton grinned, ¡°Oh, much closer. You¡¯ve made great progress.¡± ¡°Right? Still not that close though,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°Sorry uh¡­ spear guy. It¡¯s not really the same. But I tried.¡± ¡°No it¡¯s¡­¡± Agus shook his head to deny her. ¡°I just couldn¡¯t say anything because I was astounded. You¡¯re hardly even over than me,¡± he sighed. ¡°Too bad I wasn¡¯t trained by anyone that strong.¡± He sheepishly turned to Anton. ¡°No offense, master Anton.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I understand. But she was actually quite strong before her encounter with Swordmaster Rahayu. They only trained together for a few months.¡± Agus began to sweat from more than just the heat. ¡°Is that so? I¡­ will have to think about that.¡± ¡°Anyway,¡± Chikere redirected the conversation. ¡°I assume you¡¯re not just here to see me, are you? It¡¯s pretty far.¡± ¡°Not just to see you, no,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I was hoping to enlist the help of your sect in finding the remnants of ancient sects. Even those that have already been explored. I¡¯m hoping to find¡­ something. Some sort of clue. But I can¡¯t really say if I even know what.¡± ¡°Interested in an expedition, huh?¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Elder Wardah might be able to direct you. He knows where everything in the vault came from, after all.¡± ¡°I appreciate the suggestion,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°May we enter?¡± ¡°Of course. Though you should probably officially ask at the gates.¡± Chikere flicked her swords back into their sheaths and began walking. ¡°This way.¡± It was a relief to be inside the stone halls of the Million Sword Vault. The heat was much diminished, and Anton was finally able to see properly once more. A number of disciples greeted Anton respectfully, but more bowed to Chikere as she walked past. The reactions to Agus were mixed, from disinterest to pity to confusion. Spears were perfectly legitimate weapons, but carrying one in a place full of sword-obsessed lunatics he stood out. Nobody was hostile, but Agus clearly didn¡¯t belong. Anton intentionally chose to have the sword-bow visible instead of his less finger-chopping alternatives. But Agus would do better to not have a sword, because he might be challenged to duels that he wasn¡¯t prepared for. After they found their way towards the actual vault area, finding Elder Wardah wasn¡¯t difficult. Upon Anton¡¯s explanation of what he wanted, Elder Wardah looked at him and nodded. ¡°Information? Sure, you¡¯ll just have to fight me for it.¡± ¡°Fight you¡­?¡± Anton looked over the man. He was a Life Transformation expert. One of the strongest in Million Sword Vault, no doubt. ¡°To what end?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s simple. I just need to make sure you can survive. Of course, if you only want the locations of the weak sects I can send you out with a pile of paper and a smile.¡± ¡°I assume I don¡¯t have to win somehow?¡± ¡°Of course not. But you¡¯ll need to be serious so I can get a good read on you.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I know your doctors are unsurpassed at repairing slashing wounds. How are you with puncture wounds?¡± Elder Wardah looked almost offended. ¡°There are thousands of legitimate stabbing moves for use with swords, including varieties with very fine points. We can absolutely handle anything you can do to me.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to run into issues because of a stupid assumption. Where do we fight?¡± ¡°Outside,¡± Elder Wardah said. ¡°Unless you want to be in here?¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather have a bit more distance,¡± Anton said. ¡°Or a lot more, if that¡¯s possible.¡± ¡°Having seen you shoot, I can¡¯t give you more than five kilometers.¡± ¡°That¡­ should be enough for me to at least show off a few moves.¡± Anton knew it wouldn¡¯t take the man very long to travel that distance, and he¡¯d be able to focus on dealing with Anton¡¯s attacks exclusively, but it was still better than starting close. But if the man was anything like Chikere, he didn¡¯t want to use his sword-bow against them. They were far too familiar with blades. Chapter 325 Everywhere outside of the structures set up by the Million Sword Vault was more or less equivalent in terms of terrain. While there were gradual rises and falls in the dunes, none of them would make much difference for a Life Transformation cultivator. Thus, the actual locations made little difference. Even Anton securing a position atop a rise would only make a slight difference- but he still made the choice because it would allow him to demonstrate a larger portion of his strength. Elder Wardah, meanwhile, walked to a position exactly five kilometers away. Anton didn¡¯t see any tactical value of that exact position, but the ring around him that formed the other options were all quite similar. Between them, Chikere stood and waited for their signals. Once they both indicated they were ready she amplified her voice to shout, ¡°Begin!¡± As the voice reached Anton¡¯s ears, he knew Elder Wardah would be moving at the same time. However, he always had to redirect his arrows in flight. Most opponents were just slower. His first arrows were tests, aimed straight at Elder Wardah¡¯s core. As he planned, he was using his ¡®normal¡¯ bow. The other wanted to form blades with his energy, and fighting against that would not help his situation. Wardah appeared to only have a single sword in hand, though Anton knew that wasn¡¯t something that limited a swordmaster. It was simply a matter of style, but he could still try to take advantage of it. His first shot was cleanly chopped in two by a one-handed chop. The next pair came from opposite directions at slightly offset times, but a single sweep dealt with both of them. Anton had already begun to form his energy bows, a handful of them solidifying in the air around him. Anton found that he could sustain his maximum output of energy on several at once along with his main weapon. Attempting to condense denser energy resulted in instability that ultimately had little increase in power. Thus, the extra bows were good not just for purposes of distraction but to match his power. An exception was calling upon ascension energy, which had its own natural density that it was comfortable at. Over a dozen volleys of arrows were launched at Elder Wardah before he got close to Anton. Anton had arrows fly in simultaneously on opposite sides and at oblique angles, attempting to take advantage of the man¡¯s single weapon. It wasn¡¯t necessary for him to directly slice apart the attacks, but that was all he had done so far. Anton would consider it a win of sorts if he could at least force the man to dodge, though in such a case his arrows could be turned around to attack the man again with minimal loss in power. His barrage seemed about to work when Wardah swept his other hand towards the ground, forming a sword of sand that he used to fend off a trio of arrows he couldn¡¯t with just one hand. For a brief moment Anton wondered why the man didn¡¯t simply carry a second sword, but then the sword was tossed at him, spinning and slicing through the air. He dodged out of the way, his energy bows spreading further apart so they would not be simultaneously destroyed. The sword left a visible trail in the dust in the air and the sand beneath, one that did not collapse for more than a second. After confirming that the temporary sword had turned once more into sand with no link of energy connecting it to Wardah, he focused his efforts back to attacking. At the closer range his arrows reached Wardah more quickly, but while he had less time to react Anton also had less time to set up complicated volleys. Taking careful stock of where the man held his arm and how he would have to reach down to the sands below to form a secondary weapon, Anton implemented a new plan of attack to compensate for it. It almost worked, until Wardah formed a blade simply from the dust in the air. Abundant as the mirror sands were, only a small amount of mass was close to his hand in an instant. The blade was extremely thin, but was held together by natural energy while serving as a structure for it becoming a cutting edge at the same time. Freestanding energy like Anton¡¯s bows had some disadvantages that the ability could overcome. Anton found the idea intriguing, but he needed attributes that were more than just ¡®thin¡¯ to have a good bow, so the wrong materials would disadvantage him. As the blade spun by him, spinning to cover the widest area it could, he knew that swords simply had different requirements but he had no doubt Elder Wardah would be effective in more than just the Scorching Mirror Sands. The distance between the two cultivators was narrowing to the point that they would soon be in melee, which was effectively the point at which Anton would lose. Even the flung blades were a threat, and he had a few clean cuts that he hadn¡¯t been able to fully avoid. But he still had a few tricks. He gathered ascension energy to his bow, as well as to another formed just to his right side. The rest of them simply formed arrows with standard natural energy, except one that subtly made use of the third energy from beyond death. All of his arrows launched together, focusing inward on a single target. Elder Wardah¡¯s eyes flashed, and Anton could see he was finally taking the attacks seriously. His main blade struck down both attacks with ascension energy empowering them. That wasn¡¯t strange, since Anton was in late Essence Collection while the man was in late Life Transformation. Anton likely couldn¡¯t win this battle even if Elder Wardah didn¡¯t attack a single time. Though there were a few caveats. He might still be able to land a damaging blow, which was the intent with this particular volley. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Between two swords, his arrows were all swept away, though the two most powerful seemed to require serious effort to cleanly destroy. That allowed Anton¡¯s least threatening arrow to impact the back of Wardah¡¯s left hand, actually piercing through the defensive energy and into the flesh. Unfortunately, Anton wasn¡¯t quite ready for Wardah¡¯s suddenly accelerated movement carrying him forward into range to slice at him. He dodged to the best of his ability, while simultaneously continuing his own attacks. A sharp pain in Anton¡¯s wrist let him know he¡¯d failed to avoid the attack completely. It wasn¡¯t just a small nick either. He hoped that the medical expertise of the Million Sword Vault was as great as they claimed, or he couldn¡¯t predict how long it would take to recover from his wound- just that it would not be easy. His own attack on Wardah had not been quite as effective, having missed the tendons in the back of the man¡¯s hand and currently only contributing a small amount of bleeding. On the other side, Anton could barely make use of his primary bow. In fact, a moment later he gave up on holding it in his hands entirely. The loss of muscle power was unfortunate, but at least he wouldn¡¯t have to replicate its properties with purely energy. It continued to fire arrows towards Elder Wardah, but despite Anton¡¯s best efforts it was already too late. ¡°I surrender,¡± Anton said, even as he received a cut along his ribs from an attack he was unable to dodge. No, he had to amend that to through his ribs. And closer and he could have been chopped to ribbons. He only had a single small wound to show for his efforts. That was certainly something, but he wondered if he should have made use of ascension energy sooner. On the other hand, that would have simply made Elder Wardah prepared to handle it at an earlier point. It wasn¡¯t holding back in the sense that he hadn¡¯t given his all, but he simply thought he was making the best timing. But there was no way to know if he was wrong without traveling back in time, which was impossible. Hopefully. Elder Wardah lowered his blade while letting the transitory one fade away into dust. ¡°Let¡¯s return to the infirmary.¡± Anton nodded, though even that movement very slightly twinged the muscles in his chest that were sliced apart. His current efforts were focused on keeping the sand out of his wounds. Soon enough he found himself inside with one of the elders very skillfully stitching him up. Anton had to appreciate how smooth the cuts were, since that seemed to make the process easier. He didn¡¯t appreciate thinking about how close his hand had been to being severed, but the Million Sword Vault didn¡¯t like to hold back in any sort of battle, even for training. The only exception was deathblows, and short of that they simply learned how best to treat the wounds. With all that said, it wasn¡¯t as if Anton was miraculously better after he was stitched up. His left hand would be unusable for more than a week, and his chest reminded him how many movements involved the muscles on his torso. In a way those were miraculous results, since a normal person couldn¡¯t have recovered from the damage to his wrist at all. Even with his experience recovering from wounds and encouraging healing in a proper manner, it was the sort of thing that would take many months to recover without special medicines. Elder Wardah¡¯s wounds took little more than a few stitches and a bandage. Even so, he looked down at it and nodded. ¡°Not bad. I wasn¡¯t ready for that at all.¡± ¡°But you would be now,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°So? I previously saw your archery¡­ and in a real battle, the first encounter with a specific opponent is often your last. Anything that only works once still worked once.¡± Elder Wardah nodded. ¡°And your target was good. If you had aimed for my neck I would have caught on, but aiming for my hand as it moved to deflect the other attacks was good. It was only a little bit short of causing serious damage. Likewise, your ability to avoid my attacks was also sufficient. As long as you are cautious, you should be able to survive even in the most harrowing remnants of the ancient sects.¡± Anton had almost forgotten that goal in the combat, but not quite. It also made him wish he could bring along someone trained in healing arts. His own efforts were sufficient to hold his body together, but he couldn¡¯t get anywhere close to the precision displayed by the healers here. Not that he even had the tiny needles. Now that he thought about it, was that diamondsilk thread stitching him together? Something quite similar, at least. How opulent. ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear it. Where do you suggest I start?¡± ¡°That depends on what you want,¡± Wardah explained, ¡°If you¡¯re looking for potential equipment, most have been pretty thoroughly cleared out, though there are a few that may still have useful gear that we were less interested in obtaining.¡± In short, things that weren¡¯t swords. Though they clearly would take anything if there was not too much danger involved. ¡°I¡¯m more interested in information. Which sects seem to have done the best in the previous invasion?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a tough question,¡± Wardah admitted. ¡°In a way, those that are destroyed more thoroughly might have been more successful and received retaliatory judgment. But there was one¡­¡± Wardah nodded. ¡°Yes. They were uncovered at the base of a volcano, the entire sect almost frozen in time. Many died there, and not just their own people. It was postulated that nobody survived the battle on either side. The armory was what we found first, but the rest was slowly uncovered from there. I think that might be what you want.¡± ¡°I am interested in that,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I suppose most records would be gone, but any information on the invaders, even just ancient corpses, that is also potentially useful.¡± ¡°Very well. I shall arrange for passage to the area. Let¡¯s hope it¡¯s not eruption season, hmm?¡± Elder Wardah grinned, which made Anton wonder how often ¡®eruption season¡¯ was. But chances were, he would see what it meant unless the place was so uninteresting that he didn¡¯t stay long. Chapter 326 A captain trusted by the Million Sword Vault took Anton on the relatively short journey from the Mantane Piers on the eastern shore to the island that once was inhabited by the Chain Harmony Sect. Agus continued to travel with him, and Chikere decided to tag along as well. There were also a smattering of Million Sword Vault disciples led by Elder Vasu, while Elder Wardah continued his duties at the sect despite his desire to come himself. Apparently being reminded of some of the features in the area encouraged them to send an expedition once more. As they approached the shores, Anton took in the island in front of them. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have expected an ancient sect to have been here, if you didn¡¯t tell me,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I can¡¯t feel much of anything.¡± ¡°That¡¯s by design, I think,¡± Elder Vasu nodded. ¡°Plus the interference of the volcano. I¡¯m sure you can sense it power.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It¡¯s quite¡­ distracting. It feels as if it could erupt at any moment.¡± ¡°It does appear to be eruption season, so that feeling isn¡¯t incorrect.¡± ¡°Of course it is,¡± Anton sighed. ¡°Besides the obvious dangers¡­ don¡¯t the circumstances damage the remains of the sect? I heard there were bodies but¡­¡± ¡°Oh, they¡¯ll still be around. Just buried a bit. We dug out some tunnels to get to them from below, which should still be the same.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ nice,¡± Anton looked around. ¡°I imagine everything else is fairly well picked through?¡± ¡°Pretty much. Except one area inside there. Some sort of trap. We use it for training though.¡± ¡°What is it? Lava spilling from the ceiling, poisonous gasses, blades filling a corridor¡­?¡± The last one seemed like something Million Sword Vault would be fond of. ¡°Nah, none of those,¡± Vasu shook his head. ¡°Just an energy draining array. Suppresses everything in the hallway. That sort of thing.¡± ¡°Like a weighty pressure? I have some experience with those.¡± ¡°Not quite. It directly draws energy from those in the area. It¡¯s actually effective on all cultivations. It¡¯s quite impressive.¡± ¡°What¡¯s beyond it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± Vasu admitted. ¡°No one¡¯s ever gotten past. We¡¯re pretty sure there aren¡¯t any swords though.¡± ¡°Is it dangerous?¡± ¡°Nobody has taken the initiative to stay when out of energy. It could just kill someone,¡± Vasu shrugged. ¡°But as long as you aren¡¯t careless, there haven¡¯t ever been any surprises. That¡¯s just there, however. Plenty of traps exist in the rest of the place.¡± ¡°And the rest of the island?¡± Anton had some idea, but he wanted to know Vasu¡¯s evaluation. ¡°Just a few wild beasts to fight through. Nothing important.¡± ----- As his arrow cut off the head of a giant panther, Anton was bringing his definition of ¡®a few wild beasts¡¯ in line with Elder Vasu. He¡¯d known they would be quite different even from just what he could sense at the shore, but he understood why the captain of the ship had weighed anchor so far from the actual land. As the beasts came to attack, Elder Vasu had so far not made a single move of his own. Not that he needed to. Chikere held the front quarter arc of their formation by herself, and the other disciples held the sides. Agus held the rear with Anton, where it was his responsibility to kill anything that got too close. That basically meant Anton left a few for Agus intentionally, both to allow him a chance to gain some experience and to conserve his own energy. Soon enough the uncomfortably numerous pack of panthers ceased their assault, with some of their members retreating. They seemed particularly aggressive, but perhaps that was because none of them had memories of previous times humans had come to the island and they thought them weak. Except for Elder Vasu the Essence Collection cultivators were vaguely reasonable for them to consider defeating, but humans made much more efficient use of their energy than beasts. Especially with regards to condensing energy onto a weapon. After the battle, Agus did something to quickly recover his energy. It was more than just absorbing the abundant natural energy around them, or he would have created a massive vortex in the minute or two it took him to recover the half of his energy he had spent. ¡°What technique is that, might I ask?¡± ¡°Everfull Cup,¡± Agus replied easily. ¡°I¡¯ll be exhausted later, but I can more or less choose the time within the next few days.¡± ¡°Ah. Of course.¡± It wasn¡¯t strange that the Tomb Seeking Cult would use such a technique. ¡°Does it work in combat?¡± If it did, a person might be able to double their capacity, in a way. ¡°Not safely,¡± Agus admitted. ¡°If you¡¯re interrupted, you can immediately trigger the backlash¡­ and it ties up your energy regardless. It used to happen a set time later, but we¡¯ve developed it to be more convenient.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± Anton knew there were probably more downsides he wasn¡¯t immediately speaking of, and he wouldn¡¯t ask for more in mixed company. He might not wish to share at all, but he likely would. It was just a question of whether or not Anton would choose to take on that sort of risk. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Before they could get close to the volcano, around which the remains of the Chain Harmony Sect were nestled, it began to rumble and roar. ¡°Here it comes,¡± Elder Vasu said. He drew his sword. ¡°Let¡¯s press forward.¡± Anton knew that the majority of a volcanic eruption should be rock and ash, but something about this volcano in particular made the downpour more molten rock than solid. It produced a sort of orange-red-black rain of molten rock that varied in size from standard raindrops to massive boulders. The larger ones were cut into pieces by the pack of cultivators as they approached, but there was too much of the small stuff to deflect or dodge. People just had to accept some level of impact and heat. The temperature of the individual pieces was even hotter than that in the magma chamber with the great lizards back in Droca. However, the fact that it wasn¡¯t in constant contact allowed Anton to sustain a temperature where he did not burn, even as his energy was slowly worn down. The group moved forward swiftly, and if everything stayed the same they would reach the base of the volcano with plenty of energy to spare. Anton sensed some actual structure there that would hopefully protect them from the effects of the volcano. No beasts bothered them on the way. Surprisingly enough, the lush forests around them were only partially on fire or crushed- much of the plants were surviving. It was a strange smoke and fire filled run until they got close to the base of the volcano itself¡­ and the impending wall of lava. ¡°Looks like the entrance is sealed off,¡± Vasu commented. ¡°I¡¯ll cut us a path.¡± With two swipes of his sword, both sides of a meter wide pathway were cut. A third flung spewing lava up to either side of his slices. The group of cultivators charged forward, following his lead. Vasu¡¯s blade continued to flash every ten or twenty meters, cutting a conservative path for their next few moments. Then he hopped over an opening. ¡°In there! Let¡¯s hope the formations still work.¡± Anton presumed they did, as the area didn¡¯t seem to be completely filled with lava. A few moments later, everyone found themselves inside a black stone hallway, the visible glow from the underside of a lava flow lighting the hallway in front of them. It was there that Anton saw the first bones. ¡°Are these¡­ the ancient cultivators?¡± From what he had heard, they should have been more preserved than the few scattered pieces he saw. ¡°Don¡¯t think so,¡± Vasu admitted. ¡°These should be others who died here at some point. Nobody from our sect, or we would have retrieved the bodies.¡± ¡°I assume that means there are traps here?¡± Anton looked around, feeling carefully. ¡°Some. Many don¡¯t work anymore for various reasons. Lack of energy or wear and tear. And of course you can see where the area was just destroyed,¡± he gestured. While Anton was still calculating the best path forward, Chikere- closely followed by disciples of the Million Sword Vault- was already moving. She ran forward at a high speed, not quite randomly triggering traps. Or rather, the way Chikere flipped and turned her way through an alarming number of blades indicated she¡¯d chosen those traps in particular, while avoiding others. ¡°I¡¯d suggest you follow me, after you see my path,¡± Anton said to Agus. ¡°I intend for something less flashy.¡± Unlike Everheart¡¯s traps, either due to how they were constructed or just time, the various openings for the blades and other traps features were quite easy to see. It helped that Anton¡¯s observational skills could penetrated through denser materials and see finer details, but some things were quite obvious, even if he hadn¡¯t seen blade swing out of the cracks moments before. Anton began his route with some dart traps- or rather traps that used to have darts. Some of them still had a few, but most had been triggered so many times that the supply had run out. It seems they were either not retrieved or the mechanisms failed at some point. A flame trap was easy enough following that, and swinging blades in smaller numbers were not too difficult to avoid. Anton did get about a quarter of the same traps as the group that had run in front, since knowing how the attacks would come gave him a great leg up. Compared to facing off against attacks from Elder Wardah, he found it a walk in the park. As Anton waited for the various gasses to filter away, he took note of several levers on their side of the trapped hallway. It seemed likely that those would add more complications when manually triggered, and of course in the case of an actual battle there could be attacks from cultivators thrown in¡­ and perhaps barriers. Yet Anton was pretty sure this particular entrance hadn¡¯t come into play in the actual invasion. It was far too intact for that, when Ascension cultivators could have just smashed it apart. ¡°Alright,¡± Elder Vasu said. ¡°Let¡¯s stop by that formation first, see if it¡¯s still intact. Then I can bring Anton to look at the bodies.¡± It sounded a bit morbid that way, but it was technically what they were going to do. A good portion of the sect was untrapped, though Anton saw many signs that there had been formations in place. For the most part empty halls greeted them, as valuables- including furniture- had been taken away. He even saw indications that some pillars had been removed in various places, though the area still seemed structurally sound. Everyone continued to be very aware they were walking further into a volcano when the ground shook, but everything continued to be as it had for centuries. There were several more half-trapped areas, but unless they were stumbled into on accident they were barely a threat. Anton saw the runes making up a massive formation going down the hallway in front of them. It was merely a hundred meters long, and seemed as if a cultivator could cover it in an instant, but he knew it was much more than that. He curiously extended a strand of energy into the area, only to have it immediately devoured. He couldn¡¯t sense beyond it, and he found he couldn¡¯t sense around it either. As he felt out the wall through the ground, the outside of the formation reacted in the same way. Others were testing the area in various ways. A few disciples simply stepped into the formation to feel it directly. Anton could feel the formation gaining power from their presence. Yet it also drew from the volcano itself, if he was right. He recognized many patterns in the area, but couldn¡¯t put together the whole of what he did. Not quickly, anyway. He simply didn¡¯t have the experience for that. As his knowledge of formations grew, the ones he had to deal with also advanced. Anton moved forward to test the formation himself. It wasn¡¯t a violent or terrifying feeling as the energy drained away from him, but it was unpleasant. He relied on natural energy for many things, including maintaining the strength of his body. It was difficult to do without. No cultivators could- not even those who specialized in a continuation of body tempering beyond the early stages. Natural energy was still require during the tempering process, and used in battle. After perhaps a tenth of his energy was drained, only a few steps in, Anton made his way back beyond the borders of the formation. He found himself quite curious about its purpose, and if there was actually anything beyond it. There certainly could be, if there was a way to disarm it. But he would come back later. There were other things to at least take a glance at first. Specifically, some preserved bodies. Chapter 327 As they moved towards the location with the most preserved bodies apparently available, Anton noticed that the general amount of destruction was increasing. So they were actually approaching the major points of conflict. Walls were cracked open with flows of lava having poured through and solidified many times until the gaps closed. The structure was filled with many puncture holes, cuts, and impact craters. The path that Elder Vasu took Anton on went around what he sensed had once been a large section of the complex and now was just nothing but dirt and layers of volcanic rock. Only a small number of former pieces of structure remained, bricks and parts of pillars and the like. Based on how strong he knew everything was, he could imagine what had to have happened. Thoughts of Vandale¡¯s final battle came to mind, and the final burst of power. After circumventing around the area, they came to the first bodies. Anton wasn¡¯t quite sure what he expected. Partial skeletons, perhaps. Instead, there were two main varieties. Some of the area had clearly been dug out, revealing ¡®bodies¡¯ of cultivators. However, it wasn¡¯t really a body at all. It was compressed ash that was the burned remnants of what had once been a body. No material remained to identify an individual. These were common, but ultimately just uncomfortable to be around as the dying positions of so many individuals were revealed. A few remained standing somehow, but most were collapsed against the wall or floor, what remained of them anyway. Then there were the others, nearly statues encased in obsidian and other volcanic material. But as Anton¡¯s energy probed them, he found that the bodies inside were intact. ¡°How are they like this?¡± he asked Elder Vasu. ¡°The exact details aren¡¯t clear, but the general idea is that there was some sort of catastrophic eruption that covered all of them. As you can see the walls around here are long gone. The area was dug out, carefully chipped away to reveal individuals.¡± Vasu shrugged, ¡°Some of those who did so were the artistic sort, which is where you get the smoother, closer shapes instead of the blocks surrounding them.¡± Anton continued through the area when something caused him a sudden intake of breath. Natural energy still part of one of the individuals. However, it was simply trapped within the shell of stone around it. The man himself was not alive. But remnants of who they were still remained. ¡°I presume that¡¯s the Chain Harmony Sect¡¯s aura?¡± It was strong like steel filled with a core of fire. A sect that lived on a volcano would obviously have some sort of connection to fire, even if it wasn¡¯t part of their name. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Elder Vasu nodded. ¡°They don¡¯t appear to have any allies here other than themselves, but we¡¯ve identified a few enemies. Not all fire type cultivators, either.¡± Elder Vasu brought him further, circumventing traps by way of walking over destroyed terrain. ¡°See here.¡± Another man with a core of natural energy¡­ but also a faint trace of ascension energy. Something about that danced at the edge of Anton¡¯s mind, but he couldn¡¯t quite draw the connection. He surveyed more and more before finally coming to a conclusion. ¡°... Some of the invaders were in Essence Collection. Or even Spirit Building.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Elder Vasu asked. ¡°This woman here,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°The ratios don¡¯t make sense for anything later than Essence Collection, based on what I can handle. They might have faded unevenly, but the remnants of equipment I feel agree with me. The quality of this destroyed armor is too low for a Life Transformation cultivator, let alone an Ascension cultivator. And another factor¡­ there are far too many of them. Even if they all matched up with the power of a Life Transformation cultivator, the Chain Harmony Sect couldn¡¯t have that many more Life Transformation cultivators than the great sects of our times. Even if they were much greater- say a factor of five, a full hundred Life Transformation cultivators here¡­ it doesn¡¯t match up with just the bodies we see. And surely there were more invaders that weren¡¯t perfectly preserved.¡± ¡°How could it be possible to ascend directly from Essence Collection?¡± Elder Vasu frowned. ¡°It breaks the fundamental path of cultivation.¡± ¡°I agree, but only if you make certain assumptions. For example, I have access to ascension energy through a particular technique. But I wouldn''t think all of these would practice something similar. But there¡¯s one thing I know about ascension that it matches up with. The cultivators no longer exist in this world. Likewise, the invaders had to come here from somewhere. A place with ascension energy.¡± ¡°Ah. I think I understand. Perhaps these individuals were born in such a world. They would naturally learn to access and control ascension energy.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t think anything specifically stops anyone from using it here, either. It¡¯s just that there is no access to it. It doesn¡¯t appear naturally and can only be snatched through unorthodox means. But that still doesn¡¯t explain why they would come here.¡± ¡°The same reason anyone acts similarly,¡± Elder Vasu surmised. ¡°Barring some sort of grudge we have long forgotten here, they are after resources.¡± ¡°What could we have that they wouldn¡¯t?¡± Anton asked. ¡°That¡¯s quite simple, I think. You already basically answered it. Natural energy. We have no access to ascension energy here, so it is logical to assume that they might not have access to natural energy like we use there. Or at least, it could be limited. Likewise things that grow under the care of natural energy but reject ascension energy.¡± Elder Vasu was speculating, but growing more confident in his answers. ¡°And if people are born outside of this world, cultivating through the lower ranks might be difficult. Yes that¡­ well, I¡¯m not going to guarantee my answers. But it shouldn¡¯t be entirely off base.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t know if it helps us. Unless we¡¯re willing to subordinate ourselves to them and give up the vast majority of our resources with no struggle. So far, the information has painted them as quite eager to take everything despite suffering losses.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Not that most cultivators would be content with living under their thumb. Except those who are swayed by the thoughts of the Twin Soul Sect, I suppose. But there¡¯s a limit to such people.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°One would hope,¡± Elder Vasu nodded. ¡°Though not everyone is eager to fight to survive. Capitulation might breed better results.¡± ¡°If offered some sort of reasonable terms, perhaps. But we¡¯re already primed to fight¡­ and they haven¡¯t been shown to have any mercy. Everheart might have forced us into a corner.¡± ¡°We would fight anyway,¡± Vasu commented. ¡°So would I. Ultimately, I¡¯m glad that many people have no choice. I¡¯m of the mind that there are things worse than death. Especially since I was almost there¡­ the long way.¡± ¡°I do recall it being mentioned you began cultivating late in life.¡± Vasu pondered for a moment. ¡°Given your cultivation growth in the recent years, I suppose I must believe it. You¡¯ve nearly kept pace with Chikere.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°She¡¯s nearly at the peak of Essence Collection. I¡¯ve fallen a bit behind, but she¡¯s a pretty high bar.¡± ¡°Yes. Not everyone can catch the eye of a master about to ascend. Her talent brought her to that point, and that bit of luck pushed her further.¡± Elder Vasu nodded seriously. ¡°But what¡¯s five or ten years anyway? You don¡¯t seem to doubt you¡¯ll reach Life Transformation. Just the speed.¡± ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m just overconfident. My previous experiences between the phases have only been temporary roadblocks. But maybe I was just lucky to have the right inspirations and thoughts at the right time.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Elder Vasu shrugged, ¡°But luck is necessary for anyone to get far in cultivation. A bit of bad luck spells the end for even the most talented. And I¡¯m not talking about getting in trouble- because surviving that might really be good luck. Though it might not even be something measurable. Regardless, back to these,¡± he gestured to the various semi-petrified bodies. ¡°We¡¯ve learned some interesting things here today. Perhaps others can help advance our speculations and refine our understanding of what is true. Until then, the formation is actually an excellent type of training.¡± ----- Though Anton did spend several hours of each day somewhat morbidly observing the corpses, he didn¡¯t learn much more. The rest of his time was spent training, or resting. The formation, despite it probably not being intended for such, was absolutely useful for training. Specifically, Anton found that he could determine exactly how much energy he summoned outside of himself, and in a way he learned whether or not it was excessive for his purposes. It also gave him a good idea of what energy was vulnerable to enemy attacks, as he felt the formation reached the limit of what could be done without some sort of physical intrusion near the dantian. And at that point, you could basically rip someone apart from the inside. The way it drained energy was certainly aggressive, but it didn¡¯t seem designed to be lethal. Perhaps that was simply the balance it attained regarding how much power it could use, but intent wasn¡¯t always visible from studying a formation. Not to those unspecialized, at least. Even so, Anton carefully studied the formation- taking notes for Catarina to look at if nothing else. Everyone spent more or less the same amount of time in the formation before retreating. It wasn¡¯t a matter of retaining their energy better, but how far they wanted to push things. Chikere liked to skirt close to the limit, to the point it made Anton uncomfortable. ¡°What do you think happens if you run out of energy?¡± Anton asked while they were all on a rest period, gathering energy nearby. ¡°Dunno. Death, probably,¡± Chikere shrugged. Her cavalier attitude towards death wasn¡¯t really not taking it seriously, but instead absolute confidence to avoid losing the last drop of her energy by mismanaging her time and distance. It was like how she fought battles, allowing enemy weapons to get uncomfortably close to causing serious injury just so she could be in the optimal location for her own attacks. Anton understood the theory of not dodging more than was absolutely necessary to conserve energy, but in his opinion she often was on the far side of the safe line. But she hadn¡¯t died yet, so whatever her threshold was worked well enough. It wasn¡¯t just good luck. ¡°Somehow¡­ I don¡¯t feel that,¡± Agus responded. ¡°The death thing. People can survive without natural energy, and I don¡¯t feel any malice from the formation. I haven¡¯t seen any hidden tricks that would simply kill someone after they ran out either. Perhaps the sect was supposed to fight here with weakened enemies, then finish them off?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°But I don¡¯t see anything that would indicate some exception for members of the Chain Harmony Sect. It seems to absorb every type of energy. Even-¡± Anton stopped, then gathered a small bead of energy, flicking it into the formation. ¡°Yes. Even ascension energy.¡± The formation crackled briefly with the small surge of power. ¡°Quite proficiently as well.¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°It would have to, right? To fight the invaders?¡± ¡°Yes, but¡­ it requires an entirely different type of formation and a certain knowledge to affect ascension energy in the same way.¡± ¡°Like the sarcophagus,¡± Vasu commented. ¡°Do you think this is meant to destroy bodies? It¡¯s rather out in the open.¡± ¡°No. If anything, it¡¯s the opposite. It would preserve them. I¡¯d even bet that it simply drains people of all energy and leaves them otherwise unharmed.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°That makes sense. I¡¯m going to test it.¡± ¡°Wait-¡± Anton called after Chikere, but she had already leapt to a standing position and was in the formation. She was sprinting at a speed that rapidly diminished her half-recovered energy stores. He knew he couldn¡¯t stop her, either physically or through words. But he had to try the latter. ¡°I was just speculating!¡± ¡°And now I¡¯m speculating too!¡± With no restraint in how she was moving, Chikere rapidly burned through her energy as she sprinted down the corridor. Then she suddenly slowed. Her legs continued to pump for a few moments before she stepped out of the hallway on the far side. She turned to shout back. ¡°See? It was fine.¡± Anton had to admit that even the power of the formation near her had died down, no longer receiving anything. He stood up and cautiously stepped into the formation. He wasn¡¯t going to attempt the same thing as Chikere just yet, but instead wanted to make sure there wasn¡¯t another layer. For example, Everheart had detected his ability to call upon ascension energy. The formation hadn¡¯t reacted to him before, and it didn¡¯t seem to do any differently after he called upon the energy. He considered trying to summon some while he was inside the formation¡­ but dismissed that thought. That could remain an unknown until a formation master said it was reasonable. Chikere wandered into the room beyond the corridor, and soon enough she wandered back. She could only run at a rate slightly more than a very fit human- her body tempering didn¡¯t continue particularly further than the Ninety-Nine Stars did, ending in Spirit Building. Thus, it seemed almost like a slow and trudging walk despite the way she moved. ¡°You guys should come see this. It¡¯s pretty neat.¡± Disciples from the Million Sword Vault immediately followed her, and Elder Vasu did nothing to stop them. In fact, he only hesitated a few moments before following her. Anton looked at Agus and shrugged, before continuing forward himself. If all that would happen was he was exhausted of energy, it would be no worse than a prolonged battle where he received no injuries. In short, a good one. For his side, at least. Chapter 328 Despite the fact that Anton was completely uninjured, he knew the formation had done its job. He was completely drained of energy and would be unable to fight even an early Spirit Building cultivator. Even carrying his bow was a greater strain than expected, as he could not shield his body with even a small amount of defensive energy. The sharp edge weighed down on his thinly armored shoulder. Without any momentum behind it the cutting power wasn¡¯t much, but he moved carefully to avoid jostling it. Since Chikere had already walked straight into the following room before without issue, everyone followed the same trail as her. However, the area really did seem to be devoid of traps. But, around a corner they came upon an astounding sight. Six corpses with perfectly preserved equipment, unaffected by the ravages of time. As for the bodies themselves, five of them were little more than bones. The five bodies were arranged around the sixth in the center, which was still bound to them by translucent, nearly intangible chains. The body in the middle was¡­ nearly perfectly preserved. Nobody approached as people waited for Elder Vasu to arrive. Anton walked up next to Chikere, whose myriad of swords hanging in sheaths around her always looked rather clunky. Without the assistance of natural energy, he thought it should be difficult to move. ¡°Aren¡¯t those heavy?¡± ¡°A few swords will never weigh me down,¡± Chikere said with her arms crossed in front of her. Anton could see some strain just to keep the position¡­ but he supposed it was a form of training. Even if a cultivator wanted to train using only their physical body, when they had natural energy it was almost impossible to not use it. Even in the best case it was used for recovering the muscles and encouraging growth, so Anton didn¡¯t actually know if training fully without energy would be beneficial. It certainly wasn¡¯t fit for him. Elder Vasu didn¡¯t take long to arrive, though it was clear he was being cautious entering the area. Everyone looked to him for what to do, but he didn¡¯t seem to have a specific idea either. He slowly walked around the arrangement of people. ¡°They do seem quite dead, even the fellow in the middle. One would wonder why they would do this, though. If he was an enemy, at the point he was drained of energy and bound he could have been easily slain. If a friend, I would wonder what the chains were for. Unfortunately, we have not found intact versions of the Chain Harmony Sect¡¯s cultivation technique.¡± Anton didn¡¯t have much to contribute to that, as he agreed with everything Elder Vasu said. The body was preserved for a reason, but without any explanation they couldn¡¯t be sure what exactly was intended. Furthermore, though the energy draining formation did not seem to be present around them, the area was also devoid of any traces of natural energy for anyone to absorb and make use of. Anton was quite used to enhancing his senses with natural energy. Elder Vasu stepped forward to take a close look at the ephemeral chains, but as he did so they shattered. Every hand in the room went to a weapon- or more than one- but besides the links consecutively falling apart, nothing happened. Even the corpse held still by them was balanced well enough to remain in position. ¡°Well then. At this point, I believe it would be acceptable to search the outer bodies.¡± As he said that, he stepped towards one and began the process. He carefully picked out the bones, laying them together in a single spot while separating the equipment. It seemed to be a full set of enchanted equipment. Armor was a given, though much of cultivators armor resembled clothing. Cultivators prized the ability to move easily over slightly more defense. There were only a few materials that were made into thick, heavy armor- and even those could do well enough in lighter configurations. Along with the armor there were boots, gloves, and various accessories that were clearly meant to enhance the wearers in various ways, though the exact details would have to be uncovered. Finally there was a pair of daggers- and as hoped, a storage bag. The others were all quite similar, though the exact equipment varied. The weapons seemed to be anything light, or perhaps the intention was shorter weapons. If restraining an opponent with chains, it would be a shame to entangle oneself in the process. That was what Anton presumed, anyway. As for the actual answer¡­ that might be found within the storage bags. Before opening them, the storage bags were studied carefully. Sometimes they had additional formations that were meant to protect them from theft. Most cultivators simply secured them with energy so that only a stronger cultivator could possibly take them away. Depending on the size and configuration, smaller sized bags could be worn under the layers of clothing and armor, though this made it harder to retrieve anything during a fight. Ultimately it was decided that they would be opened away from the area, when people had their energy recovered and could defend themselves. As for the body in the middle¡­ it was carefully checked over to make sure it wasn¡¯t simply a person in a state of near-death. It was almost crazy to think that someone might be alive after centuries without any form of sustenance, but with cultivators it paid to be careful. By every discernable feature, the woman was dead- to the point that determining it had been a woman through the mummified features took some effort. At that point it could have been taken away, but instead Elder Vasu decided to be cautious. ¡°I will stay here. I am not comfortable bringing this body out of this place.¡± He already had a writing implement in hand and was scribing on a piece of paper he¡¯d retrieved. ¡°Bring this letter back to the sect. Have them send whoever they deem necessary. No matter the origin of this corpse, it requires further study and great care.¡± Elder Vasu¡¯s fingers twitched as he wrote, as if trying to keep up with the rate he was used to. ¡°Everything else can be brought back.¡± He stood and gestured everyone towards the exit. ¡°I will station myself outside of this place, since I don¡¯t much care for the idea of remaining here long term.¡± He was also little stronger than anyone else. Anton didn¡¯t expect him to say that, even if the Million Sword Vault was full of loyal cultivators. Actually, Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d bet on Elder Vasu or Chikere being the strongest without the use of natural energy. All he could say was that he was certainly not the strongest. Not without a more modest bow and some reasonable physical arrows. Even the black thorned arrows that were so special would simply fly less straight and true with no real benefits given nobody had a drop of energy in them. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Though maybe he could summon some ascension energy. But looking at the corpse, Anton knew that might be a bad idea. Despite the state it was in, he almost felt as if it could come back to life¡­ and he wouldn¡¯t give it that chance. He didn¡¯t get the feeling that five people sacrificed their lives binding an ally. ----- Leaving the island wasn¡¯t quite as simple as it seemed. Though the eruption had ended- and even the fires that caused- the beasts living on the island didn¡¯t suddenly stop existing. It seemed that most of them had survived, in fact. Some of them were quite interested in trying to eat the rare humans. But even without Elder Vasu, they were able to cut down their foes. He had not been necessary before, but Anton found it was nice to have the fallback of someone stronger than oneself. That was why people brought sect elders along to places that were estimated to be far too weak for them. Security for their disciples. But it wasn¡¯t as if Anton could expect to have elders watching over him anymore regardless. He was hardly a weak disciple that needed escorting everywhere. This particular place just happened to be an exception to the level of danger that was most common throughout the world. Other than a somewhat harried escape from the island, which already had new plant growth springing up from the charred landscape, the trip was rather simple. Once on the boat moving away from the volcanic islands, they carefully looked through the storage bags. Each of them had at least one copy of the Chain Harmony technique, along with other useful writings, equipment, and a small amount of wealth. Though the technique was very different from what Devon did with chains, having the technique of an ancient sect to study would certainly help his advancement. Anton was going to try to keep one of the originals, but if not he knew the Million Sword Vault should at least allow him to make a copy. The difference was¡­ original versions had a sort of insight woven into them beyond just the words. It went beyond just the form and function, and though it didn¡¯t guarantee that someone would learn a technique more efficiently it provided that chance. Either way, it was much preferable to just scribblings copied from page to page. ----- It wasn¡¯t long before they returned with more people in tow, including Elder Wardah and another elder from the Million Sword Vault. In addition, there were some trusted allies to provide their varied expertise. Anton returned as well, more out of curiosity than because he thought he could provide anything in specific. He was also interested in the training applications of the formation, though it was now clear it was intended for more. If the Million Sword Vault had been a bit more ruthless they might have discovered what was beyond that point previously, but in the time since they had uncovered the area nobody had volunteered to stay until they ran out of energy. It was understandable that people didn¡¯t want to die, and while the Million Sword Vault wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill their enemies, they also weren¡¯t the sort to use them as a sacrifice. The others who knew about the discovery were of the same mind, so several decades had passed with nobody deciding they needed to push themselves to the point of determining what would happen. Though Anton supposed it was possible some disciples had fully exhausted themselves on accident and just didn¡¯t realize it. They could have thought they just barely made it out in time and that was all. The study of the corpse began slowly, merely observing the sitting figure through sight. Sometimes that was from quite up close, but that revealed little more. Finally it was decided that little more could be learned where they were. Without energy to sense the structure of the cultivator¡¯s body, all they could really tell was that they had skin, which was hardly revelatory. Before moving the corpse, every piece of equipment was stripped, replaced with simple clothes for modesty in case it was a person worthy of respect. There was also a magic bag on them, which was a subject of much enthusiasm. Then every Life Transformation and Essence Collection cultivator on the scene left the area, gradually recovering their energy back to their full stores. It was more than a week later that a group of four disciples carried the body out, passing through the formation. There was no reaction, as expected. When the body got beyond¡­ nothing happened. It was just a corpse, after all. But the cautions felt very justified to Anton. Shortly afterwards, he found there was something he was uniquely qualified to contribute. ¡°If you would, Anton,¡± Elder Wardah gestured. ¡°We are fairly certain this was an ascender. If you could gently provide such energy, we would like to observe the reaction.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Of course.¡± He stepped forward, gathering energy carefully. He knew that if this person was suddenly going to wake up, this would be the time. However, a single strand of ascension energy wouldn¡¯t give them much to work with. Instead of anything overly exciting, he was able to observe an interesting reaction. His energy easily passed into the body as it would any other object, but the strand of energy he was using seemed to almost want to cling to the body. ¡°Can I try something?¡± The various elder agreed after Anton explained. Carefully, Anton left the strand of energy in the body. He slowly let it leave his control. In normal circumstances, it would violently break down. Even if it was a very small amount of ascension energy in the grand scheme of things, that could cause serious damage to an inert object. But the body of this cultivator seemed to be more solid than most¡­ and where he placed the energy in the palm it seemed to settle down. It definitely wasn¡¯t being absorbed into the cultivator, but the body seemed to be a stable home for ascension energy. That solidified one thing, at least. After watching for reactions over the course of a day and finding no change, Anton was encouraged to add a little more in various places. Even if he used his full amount of ascension energy there was no chance for it to be enough to be a real danger with several Life Transformation cultivators around. Not much else of interest happened though- and eventually Anton was called upon to withdraw the energy. But since he couldn¡¯t store it in himself, he had to let it fade away in the atmosphere around them. Chapter 329 While he waited to hear the results of what happened with the ascender¡¯s corpse, Anton returned to an area he had passed up. He hadn¡¯t exactly been avoiding the area around Arbington, but his travels hadn¡¯t brought him close. Perhaps his sense of time was getting screwed up even more, as seven years and around a third of his cultivation career didn¡¯t feel like all that long. Then again, time had a way of slipping from your fingers when times were relatively peaceful. Anton was quite pleased to find that everyone he was searching for was still present. He was still quite some distance off, but he found Idalia and Hiram quickly. Even Sasho and Trix were somewhat pleasant to see, since that meant their rehabilitation had worked well enough. The thing that pleased him most was that Hiram noticed his approach. Not immediately, but a reasonable distance away. Few people had the sort of range Anton did, and in late Spirit Building it would have been close enough to Anton¡¯s limit for him to properly defend himself. The man immediately changed his route to intersect with Anton, though that involved very little effort. ¡°Anton! You¡¯ve returned. It has been¡­ quite some time.¡± Hiram bowed respectfully as Anton approached. ¡°I thought we might never meet again.¡± ¡°Every meeting could be the last. But something led me back here. Well, Aicenith in general. Nothing calls me to Arbington except for people I wanted to visit.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone will be glad to see you¡¯ve returned,¡± Hiram nodded. ¡°You changed the future of this place. From one under the thumb of bandits to¡­ well, at least we can live our lives.¡± ¡°How are things with the Gray Rock Sect?¡± Anton asked, knowing that they still had members nearby. What took some a day to travel was potentially within Anton¡¯s senses, though only a small slice at a time. ¡°They have been holding onto what position they can. I don¡¯t think they understand how many of us are ready and willing to fight. Alas, your predictions were correct. I am not strong enough to take revenge alone just yet, and the others¡­ most don¡¯t have a grudge worth risking their lives. So I wouldn¡¯t ask it of them.¡± Hiram had advanced to late Spirit Building over the past eight or so years. Anton knew that was quite impressive, even though his own advancement had been somewhat more smooth. He had the resources of a sect to rely on though, abundant natural energy and proper training resources. Though the area around them was beginning to grow in spiritual energy, it was still below the level of what most sects would settle for when choosing a location. Likewise, the various townspeople weren¡¯t so intrinsically connected, except by the origins of how they learned cultivation. Namely, from Anton. It had taken a few years to begin the process and he¡¯d honestly only made progress with the best, but it seemed they had managed to continue teaching each other to some extent. That was the ideal, a society able to grow in cultivation together without being greedy. But if people needed personal benefit from others cultivating, the general growth of the region¡¯s energy and the efficiency of other workers would be just that. As he passed through the area he saw many people taking advantage of leisure time, even in the middle of the day. Some were actually cultivating, but while cultivation was certainly hard work it was nearly always satisfying. The rewards of growing stronger were tangible to those who attained each step of cultivation and were something that could not easily be lost with a bad harvest or the ravages of age. ¡°How has your cultivation been, Hiram?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Quite well, with only a few lasting troubles. Perhaps you can provide some advice¡­¡± Hiram began to explain, and he would be the first of many who sought out advice. While Anton would have liked to show up with all new techniques for everyone, all he had was a little more experience in cultivation. As far as the areas people were training, their specialized practice outweighed Anton¡¯s more abundant overall experience. He didn¡¯t mind that. In fact, he took heart in it. Nearly everyone was comfortable talking with Anton about their cultivation, since he gave them the knowledge to begin with. If they were stuck, simply explaining it might allow them to have some insights if Anton wasn¡¯t able to specifically provide advice. ----- ¡°I think it is time,¡± Hiram said to no one in particular- though Anton and Idalia were both close enough to easily hear. ¡°Time for what?¡± Idalia asked. ¡°Revenge,¡± Hiram declared. ¡°I would not wish to push your assistance too far, senior Anton, but¡­ if all goes according to plan, you would merely be a deterrent force.¡± ¡°I am happy to help a righteous cause,¡± Anton replied. ¡°But of course I would like to hear through all of it.¡± ¡°Yes, well¡­ in my heart I would like to slaughter the whole sect. But I do not think that would be the best for anyone involved. The Gray Rock Sect is corrupt and has been oppressive, but they still represent a decent measure of power. They possess a number of late Spirit Building elders who could match me. They are cowards who would not risk themselves against a single Essence Collection cultivator, but that is not the point. Engaging in a direct battle would result in losses on both sides, even if we could combine the power of the whole region against them.¡± Hiram shook his head, ¡°Just those who have been personally wronged by them beyond simple ¡®taxes¡¯ would not be enough. It doesn¡¯t have to go that far though.¡± ¡°What was your plan?¡± Idalia asked. ¡°It is simple. We will call out the corrupt among them. I specifically recall the faces of the disciples who killed my wife. I will challenge them, and others will bring their own grievances. If they refuse outright¡­ we shall simply have to wait. Then when the time comes, I intend to slaughter them all or drive them out of the region.¡± He bit his lip, ¡°Though the first sounds more brutal, if they shelter criminals so easily it is better for the world.¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°It also gives them the chance to foist wrongdoing on just those specifically mentioned,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I think I get it. They must understand the rising power around them.¡± ¡°Exactly. And if they simply think to wipe us out¡­ I was hoping you would provide your aid. Just having you standing on our side would be a major factor. You don¡¯t have to do anything.¡± ¡°If they don¡¯t act, I won¡¯t¡­ but if they intend to silence you, I see no reason to hold back. The only question is whether or not I should be present as a threat. They¡¯re more likely to attack if they think you have no backing, but¡­ is provoking them into a conflict the right option?¡± Anton had an idea of his own answer, but everyone would consider different factors. ¡°I would like it if you were there openly as a reminder that they are not the only sect in the world. In fact, they are worth so little they could only lord over this region until a determined bandit showed up, when they fled with their tail between their legs.¡± Hiram stomped his foot for emphasis. ¡°A fact I would like to remind them of, but the group I have been working with would prefer not getting into open conflict. And there¡¯s that invasion to consider. While I don¡¯t place much hope on them, if the Gray Rock Sect produced an Essence Collection cultivator or two in the next decades¡­ it¡¯s probably better to leave them somewhat intact.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°An unpleasant thought, but exterminating people is not always an appropriate response. I can¡¯t say for sure that turning a blind eye to what their disciples have done is appropriate, but once human life has been lost there¡¯s no way to bring it back.¡± ¡°And it would weaken us,¡± Idalia said. ¡°It¡¯s best if they stay around somewhat less powerful, to deter anyone else who might want to move into the region to try to take over.¡± That was a major factor in the minds of many. None were fond of the Gray Rock Sect, but they knew there were many who were worse. Even if they wouldn¡¯t stand up against a powerful enough group just moving in like Birita did, those who weren¡¯t local wouldn¡¯t necessarily know that. It was better to have them as a sort of buffer. ¡°Well then,¡± Anton said. ¡°The general idea is sound. Talk to the others so we can begin the arrangements, and find out whatever we are missing.¡± ----- The general idea of storming up to the sect and demanding duels was a nice thought, but it could easily be construed as an attack. It wouldn¡¯t take much for things to just become a battle regardless of anyone¡¯s preferences. Thus, sending a messenger became the choice. The intention was to arrange for a specific date to settle grievances. As for why it would be taken seriously, the messenger was a large part of that. Anton inspected the stone buildings that made up the Gray Rock Sect. They had a few hundred members total, mostly in Body Tempering from the feel of it. A couple dozen in Spirit Building, with two in at the peak. Perhaps they had planned to wait a decade to complete their advancement and deal with Birita, though whether that increase in strength would have helped would have depended on how her lieutenants advanced to support her. The guards at the gates, standing atop stone towers, called down to Anton. The man who spoke was firm in his tone, but Anton knew he was terrified inside. ¡°Halt. What business do you have with the Gray Rock Sect?¡± Some cultivators who were strong enough didn¡¯t do well with commands of any sort, but Anton wasn¡¯t so petty as to react negatively to a guard doing his job. He wasn¡¯t going to act timidly, however. He let his energy be a bit more clear, so the guards could be certain they weren¡¯t mistaken about his power. ¡°I bring a missive on behalf of many local residents.¡± Anton unfurled a scroll. ¡°It lays out grievances against the Gray Rock Sect that they wish to address personally.¡± The guards of course were not qualified to provide any sort of answer to Anton, but one did take the scroll, which was quickly sealed with Anton¡¯s energy to prevent it from being tampered with along the way. Not that it would benefit a random guard to do so. ¡°I will return in three days for your response,¡± Anton explained. ¡°I look forward to it.¡± The ultimatum Anton delivered detailed more than just grievances, but whether or not certain individuals would accept monetary compensation. Loved ones couldn¡¯t be brought back, but not everyone wanted to fight even if they had learned to cultivate. Likewise, a disciple of the sect might not be eager to get into a battle with a group eager for revenge. Then there was the implicit threat of Anton¡¯s presence, and while they didn¡¯t know exactly what extent he was backing up the locals it would make them think carefully. ----- The Gray Rock Sect had to agree to the format offered. Elder Anuja didn¡¯t like it, but she¡¯d sensed the late Essence Collection aura on the missive. However, they had offered some slight modifications. She knew that the local populace had grown greatly in cultivation over the last years, but she didn¡¯t know how to judge their strength. Thus, a format that might be best for everyone was decided. It was more or less a tournament, but the strongest would be first in line. That included one Hiram, who had nearly reached her own level in that time. He had a death grudge with several disciples. The crazy thing was he agreed to fight them all at once. They were only in early or mid Spirit Building, but even so¡­ fighting several at once could be a great disadvantage. That suited the Gray Rock Sect though. The results of the event would be greatly influenced by the first few battles. If it was a series of battles intended for entertainment then the fights were in the wrong order¡­ but if people with more minor grievances were to be given the option to surrender, they needed to see the results of battles that were going to happen anyway. Anuja hoped that the Gray Rock Sect would win the first rounds to deliver a morale blow to the others, but her hope was just that. Especially since a cultivator like the one who had delivered the missive could just make whatever declarations they wanted and nobody could stop him. Maybe if the entire sect was willing to sacrifice itself, but who would be willing to make the first move? Not her, and anyone weaker would hardly last a second. Elder Anuja sensed something disturbing along the road ahead. Yet she didn¡¯t jump to conclusions. In fact, she could easily sense the aura of Gray Rock Sect members there. As she rounded a bend with the others, she found her theory correct. There was a bundle of people there, all unconscious and uncomfortably tied together. Atop it was a note. ¡°Seems some people snuck out at night. You can have them back.¡± Personally, Elder Anuja thought it was a good sign. Not that they¡¯d had disciples sneaking away to flee from the event, but the fact that they were alive. The disciples in question hadn¡¯t exactly been gently knocked unconscious, but that was their own problem to deal with. Their loss would ultimately be the Gray Rock Sect¡¯s¡­ not gain, really. It wasn¡¯t even a neutral outcome. They would probably die and bring the sect shame, but that was better than angering a powerful cultivator. Some cultivators thought shame was worse than death, but most of them were already dead. The rest were willing to put up with inconveniences for something they couldn¡¯t get back. Besides, they weren¡¯t guaranteed to lose, right? Though Elder Anuja had to admit that the others traveling with her weren¡¯t exactly enthusiastic after de-entangling the pile of half a dozen people. They were the ones who made the wrong people angry though, when they should have known better. That was her justification, at least. Either way, she intended to make sure nobody had reason to come after her in particular, and the other elders doubtless felt the same. Chapter 330 After leaving his ¡®gift¡¯ for the Gray Rock Sect, Anton waited for them to arrive to deal with their grievances. While nobody wanted to be forced into a battle to the death, the potential losses to the Gray Rock Sect were much lower if things were dealt with this way. That wasn¡¯t including Anton, where there was the potential they would be completely and totally annihilated without even being able to see him. They hadn¡¯t gone so far off a reasonable path that he would do that¡­ but their cooperation in the current endeavor was a conditional part of them being able to walk away without grudges. Elder Anuja was one of their two peak Spirit Building cultivators, and she led the group- including the reluctant ones who had tried to escape. They were unwilling to face the consequences of their actions, but they didn¡¯t have a choice. Most of them would at least have the chance to survive. Technically, as long as they could win a single battle all of them had that chance. The battles weren¡¯t rigged, exactly, but the challenges had all come from people who believed they could win. There was little chance that all of them were correct. Some would probably get unlucky, and some might have poor estimates of their own abilities. But they all had to deal with the results themselves. First was Hiram. He was the strongest of the challengers, and of everyone in the area Anton had trained. His determination had driven his cultivation forward. While he had grudges with Birita like the rest of the area, the triggering event was a conflict with the Gray Rock Sect. His wife had called out their disciples as they came to collect ¡®taxes¡¯ while they wouldn¡¯t even protect anyone from Birita. She was killed, and he lost an arm trying to protect her. One disciple had been easily able to do all that in a moment, but the others were equally at fault, approving the act. Thus, Hiram had challenged the four who had been together- all at once. They probably thought they were lucky. Any one of them had no chance to beat him, but together¡­ there was so much more they could do as a group. And they were right, in a way. Their chances of defeating him as a group certainly increased. Hiram stood across from the four disciples, glaring. He held out his arm, gesturing for them to come at him. ¡°Let¡¯s see how you do against someone who has some training¡­ cowards.¡± The words weren¡¯t merely his opinion being expressed, though he did so wholeheartedly. It was also a method of achieving tactical superiority. They reacted just as he intended, rushing towards him in anger. They had the good sense to split up to come at him from every side, but that wasn¡¯t going to be enough. An orb of intangible energy formed in his hand, not quite dark nor light but a mixture of both. As he flung it at one of them, the man held his arms in front of him to block. The defenses of the Gray Rock Sect were nothing to laugh at with bodies trained to be harder than stone. The early Spirit Building cultivator knew he should at least be able to take one hit from a late Spirit Building cultivator like Hiram, enough for his allies to get in position. His energy defenses did him well, resisting a good portion of the attack. Unfortunately, his body itself was of no use against the deathly energy. Black lines drove into his body, pulling something out of him and sending a line of power back to Hiram. The attack still took more out of him than he regained, but he was not shy about launching another attack immediately at a different target. Seeing what happened to the first disciple, the second dodged out of the way- but Hiram was able to trigger the orb to explode nearby. Once again it tore through energy defenses, though the damage was not as bad as the direct hit. The first disciple was unsteady on his feet as he tried to circle around to his position, but the second merely felt a bit fatigued. A moment later they were all around Hiram, each taking a stance with their heavy hammers held towards him. They attacked together in a maneuver that was clearly practiced for this exact situation. If they had taken Hiram any less seriously, they would have all died in that moment. Even so, a cloud of deathly energy formed about him. Instead of trying to retreat from the attacks, he chose to charge towards the third disciple, sweeping over him with the greater speed his cultivation afforded him. Hiram slipped under the hammer swing as he passed, his hand trailing down the man¡¯s arm as he went. Even as Anton watched the limb shriveled until it was barely functional. The Deathly Heart Technique was not something to be practiced lightly. It was horrible to any touched by it, crippling whoever it did not kill. It was the sort of technique that could easily be called a forbidden technique. It had dangers to its own user as well, roadblocks that couldn¡¯t be surpassed without side effects- or killing someone. Yet it also didn¡¯t necessarily cross into an unforgivable line, as Anton saw it. The harm it caused would certainly be painful, but as it was followed up with a swift death it wasn¡¯t unnecessarily sadistic in function. With the end result being death, it wasn¡¯t much different from other techniques performed correctly. And sometimes¡­ people needed to die. Hiram had been fortunate enough to have access to elder Naheed¡¯s corpse to avoid side effects, but Anton believed he wouldn¡¯t have killed anyone in an unjustified manner to progress. Thus, the negatives would have all fallen on his head. As it was¡­ Hiram was now simply getting revenge for his wife who was killed unfairly. The Gray Rock Sect had been no less thieves than the group led by Birita, and hypocrisy was possibly even worse than open evil. With three of the disciples injured in various ways, Hiram pushed his advantage. He stayed away from the healthiest of them and found the swiftest opening to finish one of them off. The second and third followed suit. The final of the four then had to face off against an only somewhat fatigued Hiram. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. And then it was over. The faces of those from the Gray Rock Sect were grim, while the others were hopeful. Hiram picked up the withered corpses of the four disciples and tossed them towards their sect, ignoring the equipment they had. He hadn¡¯t challenged them for the sake of receiving wealth, and he wouldn¡¯t do them the satisfaction of giving into his greed. Then Hiram turned and walked away. Anton moved to walk beside him. ¡°How do you feel?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Awful,¡± Hiram spat. ¡°Good. Killing people shouldn¡¯t bring joy. Later we can talk about what will actually make you reach peace. Or at least, what works for me.¡± Anton knew it would be best for Hiram to be alone for a time, and he would let that happen¡­ but that didn¡¯t mean he would take his eyes off of him. Or at least a strand of energy. Unless Hiram charged out into the wilderness as fast as he could, Anton would be watching over him. Anton quickly returned to the conflict zone. ¡°Well then. With the first match concluded, there is another.¡± Anton called forth the participants. ¡°Will you fight?¡± Both nodded. The disciples of the Gray Rock Sect might have been intimidated by Hiram¡¯s victory, but they knew that the others weren¡¯t him. Most of the others wouldn¡¯t outclass those they challenged¡­ but then again, they also were only going to fight one opponent. ¡°Very well then. Begin.¡± Anton kept his expression neutral as he watched the fight. This was almost as important as the first match, because if the Gray Rock Sect won they would regain much morale. That would shape how everything else happened. It came very close, but in the end the final blows exchanged resulted in a crushed shoulder for the man seeking revenge- and a punctured heart for the disciple of the Gray Rock Sect, his defenses having been chipped into a little bit at a time before they were broken through entirely. The challenger barely managed to walk away on his own two feet, but that set the tone for the following matches. After the first few, the most grievous grudges were settled. One resulted in the death of the challenger. Anton wanted to interfere, but if he was going to throw away the rules there was no point. Nobody else would feel justified in their victories if they knew that their efforts meant nothing and someone else did all the work. Revenge wouldn¡¯t settle their hearts, but the other results would be worse. ¡°After this point,¡± Anton announced, ¡°Matches will not be to the death. The grudges between the parties are somewhat lesser than that point. However, accidents may still happen. Think carefully about whether you wish to persist.¡± Anton didn¡¯t point out that the chances of him missing a deadly blow from cultivators in mid Spirit Building or earlier were basically impossible. People needed to understand the seriousness of what they were doing- on both sides. Sometimes it was better to accept losses and move on with your life. Anton had done that, at least before he became a cultivator. After, he had been able to overcome most obstacles. But he hadn¡¯t been even close to strong enough to prevent Grand Elder Vandale¡¯s death. Some people chose to settle the battle with payment. Some fought before reaching that point, others continued until they were so injured they couldn¡¯t continue. Serious enough injuries were probably worse than giving up resources, but not everyone from the Gray Rock Sect believed that they would lose or get injured. Anton stepped in to stop things were necessary. That included saving a few members of the Gray Rock Sect from what would have been deadly blows. He wasn¡¯t a neutral observer, but he at least wanted to be something close to fair. If possible, he wanted to avoid the situation where the Gray Rock Sect just formed deeper grudges with the other locals and ended up in a war at a later date. Some people would still hold anger in their hearts, but this was the best that could be managed without someone watching over the area for years and managing disputes. The final grudge was settled with an apology. The cultivator¡¯s whole body was pressed to the ground, and for all of Anton¡¯s insight it was sincere. The Gray Rock Sect wasn¡¯t made up of just one type, after all. If they went around killing everyone who slighted them in any way, they would have attracted much more attention. Eventually, some righteous sect would have come to deal with them- once they were well known enough. Unless they grew strong enough. Unfortunately, cultivators who were evil but strong enough often were able to get away with their activities for a long time, as nobody was willing to go against them. Such instances were rare as far as Anton knew, but still very real. ----- ¡°So what are you going to do with the rest of your life?¡± Anton asked Hiram. ¡°I don¡¯t believe it would be a good use of your efforts to continue with your prior plan to wipe out the Gray Rock Sect. It would undermine the whole effort we made.¡± ¡°I knew that already,¡± he nodded. ¡°I got my revenge. But I¡¯m certain there are many more who have not been able to get theirs. I plan to seek them out.¡± ¡°Be careful,¡± Anton said. ¡°Not only for your personal safety- that cultivation technique makes you a target, if people don¡¯t know who you are. Or perhaps if they do. In addition¡­ not everyone¡¯s grievances are as honest as yours. Take special care to hone your insight. If something seems suspicious, it would not hurt to delay acting for a time of investigation. At the very least, you will be watching in case further harm is attempted.¡± Hiram waved his one hand, ¡°I know, I know. I¡¯m not a kid. Sometimes people are out to manipulate you. I get that.¡± ¡°Pfft, not a kid? What are you, not even sixty?¡± Anton leaned forward. ¡°That¡¯s basically a kid. So make sure to watch out for strangers.¡± ¡°Yeah? There¡¯s an old guy I saw who carries a bow everywhere. Think he¡¯s dangerous.¡± ¡°Oh, absolutely. Be careful with that one.¡± Anton continued to joke with Hiram for a time. The man seemed to be making the effort to move past his pain, but Anton knew it wasn¡¯t just gone- not with the seven years before, and it would still linger into the future. But at least he might prevent other harm in the future- or give people the chance to avenge themselves. Chapter 331 Million Sword Vault¡¯s location wasn¡¯t exactly a secret but it was far from a convenient location to undergo any sort of concerted effort between sects. As such the body of the Ascension cultivator had been moved to another location- specifically what remained of the Whispering Watcher¡¯s main headquarters. It was a neutral area where everyone was invited to donate their efforts to learning whatever they could about the woman. At first great care was taken to preserve the structural integrity of the body, but as the studies continued the efforts widened to anything not directly intended to destroy it. The body was uncomfortably durable, even by the standards of the Life Transformation cultivators present. Anton himself wasn¡¯t present for most of the studies, but he kept himself apprised of what was being learned. Most of what ultimately proved useful had been speculated immediately, but confirming certain things was useful if they were going to be combating Ascension cultivators. The first was that while the body seemed attuned to ascension energy it was less reactive to natural energy. It wasn¡¯t that it was necessarily resistant to attacks, but even in death ascension energy clung to it, while natural energy did not. Across the continent of Aicenith there were more who practiced Fleeting Youth than Anton, so he wasn¡¯t needed for all of the studies. To compare to more familiar cultivators, while natural energy certainly faded from them after death they would still generally retain higher than the ambient level of natural energy. That effect could last as long as any parts of the body were relatively whole and was stronger with higher cultivation. Thus it wasn¡¯t unexpected for the Ascension cultivator to react the same with ascension energy, but it was odd that natural energy seemed to not react the same. Unfortunately, with only one body to compare to it couldn¡¯t be certain if they would expect the same to hold true for all Ascension cultivators. Even so, along with the other information they generally agreed that Ascension cultivators shouldn¡¯t be able to easily replenish their stores of energy. That explained the Chain Harmony Sect¡¯s setup to some extent. The body itself didn¡¯t have to answer all of the questions. Some of them were answered by the contents of the storage bag. The texts contained therein were preserved as well as could be expected when in an area without natural energy for centuries. There was nothing so convenient as a journal outlining the weaknesses of the woman nor her motivations for participating in the invasion. However, they did learn that she was from the Fearless Mountain Sect, which had no counterpart on either continent. She also possessed two separate manuals for the sect¡¯s cultivation technique. One for pre-ascension, and one for post-ascension. The latter was highly coveted by many but¡­ it was soon found to be basically useless. Neither covered how one might ascend, and knowing how to train after ascension was not the biggest hurdle on any Life Transformation cultivator¡¯s mind. That information did back up a certain idea. One that the ascension realm didn¡¯t contain those who just ascended naturally, but those who were born there and had to train to reach that level of strength. The possibility that they might be deficient in the less powerful natural energy seemed a reasonable enough assumption- and everyone pretty much agreed that cultivation from the beginning with just ascension energy would be impossible. At least for the vast majority of people. If there were exceptions, it hardly changed the basic idea. The energy was much too powerful to control initially without any experience or tempering of the body. The dantian would be undeveloped and unsuited for it as well. If the invasions were happening so that sects could train up new recruits of some sort, it at least made some amount of sense. It might not be the sole reason, but knowing the motivations really didn¡¯t matter. The more important part was how they might stop the invaders. It wasn¡¯t terribly surprising that the answer was to fight them, but of course it wasn¡¯t quite that straightforward. Everheart¡¯s final tomb had revealed information on anti-ascension techniques- or rather forced it into the heads of some of those seeking ascension. The point was, they were especially good at disrupting the energy. If it was difficult for the cultivators to recover, they could be worn down¡­ assuming there was even a chance for that. It seemed that they had previously made use of direct assaults, smashing through what the sects had prepared. There was no guarantee that this time would be any different¡­ but perhaps people would be able to prepare better, with knowledge of the previous time. Anton certainly hoped so. It was possible that they were in an inescapable cycle¡­ but no cultivator would just sit down and accept that as the case. They would fight. The entire world was not united on anything else, but except for what was hoped to be a small minority- one that included the Twin Soul Sect and similar groups they were in the process of exterminating- they were agreed that an invasion could not be allowed. They would fight. Anton just hoped they would fight together. Even if it meant abandoning certain locations or making sacrifices of people, combining forces would improve their effectiveness. But he would be best served making those arguments to sects he had a longer history with, back on Brogora. The Order had an alliance with several powerful sects, but it would be better if it extended further. For that, he would return home- with the information he had gained. He just wasn¡¯t sure how much it would actually help. ----- It wasn¡¯t necessarily surprising to find that some cultivators were a superstitious lot. Cultivation was difficult enough to undergo for those not from a large sect, and it seemed that good fortune was required to continue advancement. So when the ship happened to draw close to Paradise, the captain chose to stop. The giant turtle was not something that could be met on every traversal- though the first journey had skewed that idea somewhat. Regardless, encountering the Paradise of Thirteen Hills was taken as a good omen. Not stopping would be a travesty. Anton was surprised to see people already on the island. It would be rare enough to find it. For two ships at once to land would be even more rare. Except they didn¡¯t seem to have any. That was a matter of some concern. With more than a handful of Essence Collection cultivators¡­ were they there to waylay incoming ships? Except only a single person came to greet the ship, the others remaining spread out on their own ¡®hills¡¯. If they intended some sort of attack, it certainly wasn¡¯t very organized. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Hello there!¡± waved the woman who came to see them. ¡°Welcome to the Paradise of Thirteen Hills. I am Erin, a member of the Island Yenders. Feel free to take what you need. Timber and food are freely available, as are the local herbs. We only ask that you take in moderation. In addition, we ask that you replant anything you find. If you need expertise on how best to do so, we are available for consultation.¡± While it was certainly odd to find something like permanent residents, the woman¡¯s intent seemed genuine. Anton knew it was possible for someone to train themselves to deceive people expertly, but he was willing to accept the idea. He did, however, want more of an explanation. While others were taking time to stretch their legs- another reason to stop at Paradise regardless of whether or not there was good luck- Anton approached the woman. ¡°You said you are the ¡®Island Tenders¡¯? Are you a sect of some sort?¡± Erin shrugged, ¡°I suppose we might be considered that. Yet we don¡¯t intend to claim the area as our own. Though the fact that most people would not choose to live here perhaps makes that the case by default.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve noticed there aren¡¯t any lower level cultivators here,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Did none come with you? I would think a place so abundant in natural energy might be appealing to them.¡± ¡°You do know this is a turtle, right?¡± the woman asked. ¡°I do¡­¡± Anton said. ¡°But I seem to be missing something.¡± ¡°Turtles don''t always swim on the surface,¡± Erin answered. ¡°Whenever Paradise gets hungry, you can expect a significant period of time when he is down in the depths eating anything large enough to catch his attention. At that time, it would be very difficult for a weaker cultivator to survive.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± Anton said. ¡°What about the plants here?¡± ¡°They are specially suited to surviving in this environment,¡± Erin answered. ¡°And something about his shell purifies away the salt when he surfaces. The soil and sand also cling quite strongly. Though we are not certain that would remain the case without full plant cover.¡± She gestured to Anton. ¡°Come, we might as well walk around while we talk.¡± She led Anton on a trip along the beach, pointing out the plants along the shore. ¡°See that tree? How long would you think it took to grow?¡± ¡°At least several decades,¡± Anton commented. ¡°One year,¡± Erin stated. ¡°That is how long it took to reach a height of twenty meters. The abundant natural energy here accelerates the growth of plants. There are none that are truly massive, but the dives often cause tree falls. The trees quickly decay and become soil.¡± ¡°Fascinating. I suppose it would have to be that way. About the younger disciples¡­ have you considered structures with formations to keep out the water? That would also generally protect people from sea life.¡± ¡°To be honest, we¡¯re not interested in creating many permanent structures here. It seems¡­ rude, somehow.¡± ¡°Perhaps you¡¯re right,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I am just keenly interested in seeing younger generations grow strong. Since you live here¡­ have you learned anything interesting about Paradise himself?¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite difficult to gauge his intentions in any way. He seems to eat when he is hungry, though he has never attacked a ship of cultivators. Other than eating, he just drifts along on the ocean currents.¡± ¡°Hmm. I wonder how he would feel about invading cultivators¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to say,¡± she admitted. ¡°It would be great if we could recruit him to fight for us, though given his normal speed I don¡¯t know if he would actually reach any battles. It might just be a vain hope,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I just can¡¯t help but think about how everything will relate to the coming invasion.¡± ¡°It is hard to ignore the impending crisis. Those of us here are training just as hard as everyone else, though with less conflict than the mainlands. Unless things have changed?¡± ¡°I suppose that depends on what you mean. I would personally say that conflicts have gone down in my over twenty years of cultivation experience. There are still squabbles and the like, but except for dealing with certain groups, large scale wars have been minimal. I hope it can stay that way.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Erin nodded. ¡°What sect are you a part of?¡± ¡°The Order of Ninety-Nine Stars. From Brogora,¡± Anton clarified. It was unlikely anyone at her level wouldn¡¯t have at least heard of them¡­ but that was only on the same continent. Any sect that had multiple Life Transformation cultivators quickly came into public view, and the Order was well established. Based on her accent, Anton thought she was probably from Aicenith. ¡°You¡¯re a fortunate one. It can be quite difficult to advance without joining a large sect. They tend to monopolize the places with abundant natural energy. Except here, so far.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if that will ever really change,¡± Anton said. ¡°However, there have been great efforts to teach more people to cultivate- and how to improve the quality of the natural energy in the area through long-term efforts. A sect might still have the best¡­ but the difference might not be as large.¡± ¡°Oh, interesting. Can the quality of an area¡¯s natural energy really be improved?¡± ¡°Of course. Large sects do it all the time. It is quite possible that much of what they have wasn¡¯t originally much better than the surroundings. I doubt much could be done with a place like this, however.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°But this is actually an example of it working. These plants here seem to be fed natural energy by Paradise himself while in turn providing him with something like extra stores of energy. It¡¯s just usually not¡­ mobile.¡± ¡°I suppose I already knew it worked something like that,¡± Erin admitted. ¡°I just haven¡¯t had real opportunity to spend time changing the world on a more permanent basis.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll happen. Just make sure it¡¯s for the better,¡± Anton commented. Chapter 332 Coming up with improvements for something named Paradise wasn¡¯t within Anton¡¯s capabilities. The great turtle seemed to have an ecosystem that was as good as it would be, at least without the skills of a more experienced expert involved. Anton doubted if there was anything that could be introduced without disrupting the balance. He just wondered if it was intentional or happenstance that things ended up that way. Though everyone was quite happy to stop for a time on Paradise, they were also in the middle of a journey. Paradise didn¡¯t move quickly, but it was technically heading in the wrong direction. Anton and the others on the same ship bid Erin goodbye, though the rest of the Island Tenders had kept to themselves. Then they were back to the journey. Anton couldn¡¯t wait for the day the trip could be done with a quick teleportation instead of a longer journey. He had the patience to wait, but he was constantly aware of more important things that could be done with his time. A couple decades felt like no time at all. ----- Seven more years brought Anton to the peak of Essence Collection. The fifty-eighth star was the boundary with Life Transformation, a threshold only two members of the Order had crossed in the last twenty years. That was out of over two hundred Essence Collection cultivators, some of which had been at that verge the entire time Anton was part of the Order. It was presumed that they would not surpass that point after such a long time, at least without some sort of fortunate occurrence. Anton had felt the gap between stages deeply over the last year. He did not find himself aimless, but it wasn¡¯t a smooth transition either. He had one last method before he would have to seek out some sort of enlightenment. He knew he was extremely fortunate to even have his current option, because the Vessel of Insights was a potent and irreplaceable object. Anton didn¡¯t brag about having it though. It was better if everyone forgot about it, since Everheart had given it out to Spirit Building cultivators. Anton wondered if there were more like it. Perhaps. He looked at the insights contained in it. Every strand from Essence Collection and lower had already been absorbed by him. It would still pick them up during his travels as he trained with various people, and Anton made sure to provide people at least as much as he learned from them. Usually more, since most of their techniques weren¡¯t applicable for his use. Of the others, he still had strands of insight from Vandale and Kseniya. Other Life Transformation cultivators were included, and Anton considered himself ready to absorb them. All but one of them, anyway. He shuddered whenever he looked at one in particular. That would be the insight from Swordmaster Rahayu upon his ascension. It was more radiant than the others, and Anton knew it would destroy him to attempt to absorb it at the moment. Even Life Transformation insights would be difficult. He knew that at best they would be somewhat incomplete, but Anton had the confidence to absorb at least some of the information- and to do so safely. He started with a strand from Elder Sarka of the Glorious Flame Palace. It appeared quite incomplete. Sometimes they were half an insight at best, as the Vessel of Insights was by no means perfect. During large battles it struggled to pull in everything it could, but much was left wanting. Anton wasn¡¯t sure when he¡¯d come into possession of that particular strand, but absorbing it should provide some context. In most cases, anyway. He picked it up gingerly and let it flow into him. The strand of insight wormed its way through his meridians into his dantian where he began to refine it, breaking it down into something useful. It was hot. Burning. Both the insight and act of absorbing it. Rather than risk damaging himself, Anton allowed it to flow out of him. Even so, he held on to what he safely could. Flashes. Fire and water. Things that burned and things that did not- and the selective burning of things that were reluctant. And tentacles. It was part of one of the kraken battles. The incomplete nature to begin with and the lost pieces didn¡¯t tell him which one. As for the usefulness of the insights¡­ he at least comprehended a bit more about fire. That was part of the reason he picked it. Stars were more or less fire, and the Ninety-Nine Stars was able to make use of the fire element when they chose to. He¡¯d practiced it in the past, but he generally found fire was unnecessarily wasteful compared to the pure natural energy like the basic form of Spirit Arrows. It was more suited to wide area attacks, far outside his specialty. Still, he learned something. Perhaps later it would lead to something larger, and perhaps not. The next strand. Anton didn¡¯t recognize the cultivator. As for the memory, it was chaos. Yet a chaos that Anton recognized. It was the battle against the Whispering Watchers, from in the thick of the action. All he absorbed were whirling movements. Spinning, twisting, almost dancing around. When he finished absorbing it, he couldn¡¯t help but practice a few. Most were impractical for him, as it required a flexibility beyond what he¡¯d been able to achieve. But he still found parts he could incorporate into his movement. Marginal improvements, but that was the majority of cultivation. Anton found another strand. Apparently he had been wrong about having no Essence Collection strands of insight left. It simply had felt on par in some ways, yet he knew this one was not. That was because he recognized it as coming from Chikere. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. It was a nearly incomprehensible mess of swords moving around. Anton actually recognized it as from the same battle. Being up close and in someone else¡¯s head made it a completely different experience than his own and the previous pieces of insight. Specific things were seldom recognizable regardless, as it focused more on the memory of the technique involved. Anton wasn¡¯t going to suddenly become an expert with the sword, but Chikere shared one feature with himself he could hinge on. Using multiple weapons at once. Hers were physical blades compared to his own made out of energy. She merely used her energy as hands to control the weapons. The way she synchronized her weapons was quite satisfying to experience, and though it wouldn¡¯t apply directly to a different weapon form, Anton made sure to absorb all he could from the insights. Interestingly enough, she acted more like all the swords were a part of her and she simply had additional limbs. In truth, Anton had been considering making use of more physical bows at the same time- but it was even more awkward to carry extra bows than swords. He had a couple in his storage bag, but pulling them out mid-battle was only for emergencies- or if he had a spare moment and one was significantly more suited for a specific task. The only real difference was with the sword-bow, which he couldn¡¯t cause not to form blades. After one more strand, Anton found himself with enough thoughts to digest for the day. Or maybe the week. Either way, he made his way out of his home- now all to himself as Alva had moved into her own place nearly two decades before. She still lived nearby, along with Timothy and Catarina as well as Hoyt and Velvet in their own places. Anton casually searched for them and found something unexpected. He didn¡¯t find himself comfortable at the peak of the mountain where the Life Transformation experts dwelled. It was still possible for him to cultivate higher up, but for everyday living a more moderate level was preferred. Though even where he lived was actually more inundated with natural energy than it had been when he first arrived at the Order. The power in the area was gradually increasing with the care and dedication of Elder Howland and others in the Order. And the changes around Edelhull and more distantly the rest of the country, of course. He gradually made his way towards the unexpected change, specifically Formation Master Rana¡¯s workshop. But that was not the woman he was seeking. ¡°Oh, grandpa!¡± Catarina stepped outside as he approached. ¡°Good news! I just came back from the intercontinental teleportation formation. The upgrades were a success!¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear that, but is that it?¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± Catarina tilted her head. ¡°Oh! I just heard from Rana that I¡¯m going to be taking over as the head formation master of the Order. That¡¯s still a secret though.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not surprised,¡± Anton said. ¡°But¡­ were you ever going to mention breaking through to Life Transformation?¡± ¡°Oh, that?¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°I guess that was important too, yeah. I had an idea when I was working on the formation.¡± She held up her arms where the faded remnants of temporary tattoos could be seen. ¡°So I threw something together. And then I broke through.¡± She shook her head, ¡°And no, I don¡¯t have anything to offer you on the subject. I don¡¯t think the same method would work for you.¡± ¡°A shame, but I understand we are very different people.¡± Catarina pondered for a few moments. ¡°I mean, I probably could actually¡­ but if you don¡¯t do it yourself I¡¯d probably have to be there at every moment you wished to cultivate. It¡¯s sort of a dead end. I just adjusted my body to be more in tune with energy, but it¡¯s not automatic.¡± ¡°Doubtless something that a lack of understanding would cause more harm to have than good,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Well, congratulations on your breakthrough. Have you told Timothy the news?¡± ¡°Uh, I was just told about the promotion,¡± Catarina said. ¡°About the breakthrough?¡± ¡°Oh. Nope.¡± Anton rolled his eyes. It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t care for Timothy. He knew the two were quite happy together, but she would also see him later in the day at home. And the improvement in her cultivation really wasn¡¯t the important part to her. Even though now she was one of sixteen in the whole Order. Anton left encouraged. While his personal cultivation wasn¡¯t going so simply as to smoothly break through to the next stage, another powerful cultivator- and especially one he could trust- was absolutely a very important thing to have to deal with the coming invasion. Anton wondered if their entire group would be able to break through to Life Transformation. That would be an anomaly, but from what he understood there was a strange swell in talent among their peers. It could be a coincidence, but at least they had all achieved this point. If it took them another five or ten years, it would still be considered fast. Anton truly hoped he didn¡¯t take that long himself, but given that he had first touched cultivation at a hundred years old it was a miracle he made it through Body Tempering. In a way Spirit Building had been easier. Perhaps that was part of the reason he was finding it difficult to advance. It was difficult for everyone, of course, but Life Transformation was connected to the body in various ways. It involved attunement towards particular sorts of energies. Catarina attuning to pure natural energy was rather atypical, but it made sense from the perspective of a formation master who could then weave it to function as she willed. His legs carried him further up, towards Grand Elder Kseniya. Her cultivation path was similar to his own, though they had already diverged significantly despite his core being her own technique. She might have some advice for him, though she was also the sort that wasn¡¯t good at explaining things. She might not be aware, but most of the copies of Spirit Arrows in the sect library were written by himself to guide future users. The originals remained for the sake of posterity, and so people could compare with the original author. He smiled as he walked. Whether or not he ever grew in cultivation again, he knew the world was heading in a good direction. Chapter 333 A myriad of lights arrayed itself in Vandale¡¯s consciousness. Each of them was a potential point of attack, and he chose all of the best ones. His power gathered and was propelled down from heights above the area, releasing their energy in an explosion at his whim. It was a small scene that Anton encountered containing only a minor insight by Life Transformation standards, but it triggered other memories of the man. They were friends, and despite their gap in cultivation and actual age they had a similar heart. Vandale had the most potential to ascend of any member of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars in his same generation. He didn¡¯t fail because he didn¡¯t have the talent or the will, but because he could not bear to leave those he cared for behind. He was not the only one the Order lost during that time, the number of Life Transformation cultivators dropping from twenty to thirteen. Only now was it finally recovering, though nobody could yet match Vandale. The Order had not lost its stability, despite the setbacks. Other sects lost similar numbers, and the war with the Twin Soul Sect and Flying Blood Cult had practically eradicated their presence on the continent. Now it seemed they were nearly expunged from the world. There was some uncertainty about the Exalted Archipelago to the west, but the limited contact with them had indicated they understood the threat of allowing the Twin Soul Sect to remain. Ayotunde and those with him had been convinced that at least those they talked to were genuine in that regard. Anton was not at ease though. He knew it was not his job to go into an area and solve all their problems, but issues of the Twin Soul Sect were a problem for the entire world. If he could at least know enough about the situation to determine for himself that they had eradicated them or at least were working on the issue, he would feel better. He was not the only one with the same concerns. The Order and other factions were not satisfied with the results of the previous expedition, and the people of Ambati were most concerned about the possibilities. As Ambati extended to the western coast they were some of the first who might run into trouble, should the invaders gain a foothold in the Exalted Archipelago. It was decided to send another group. They had to be of sufficient power to broker some respect without being so strong as to seem like an invasion. Even if the general desire of the Archipelago was to be left alone, some minor intrusions of their privacy would get the people out of their hair more quickly. Though it was much preferable to simply find groups more open to the exchange of information. It was the uncertainty that was the issue. Anton volunteered to go, of course. Catarina quickly signed up as well. She had not been present with Anton for the first expedition to the Aicenith, and with her current studies completed she wanted to go. Of course Timothy would come along with her. Hoyt and Velvet were eager to join as well. Devon hoped to participate in something new. Alva was the last member of the Order, unless Fuzz was counted. Glorious Flame Palace and the Frostmirror sect sent disciples as well. Anton didn¡¯t have any deep connections to the cultivators from the former, but he did know Marsen from the latter. As for the two he was most familiar with from those sects¡­ they were staying behind. Anish and Annelie had responsibilities to their sects, though even if they didn¡¯t¡­ they would still be staying behind for the sake of their children. Anton suspected they might even have another one underway. Perhaps they weren¡¯t as quick as they seemed, given it had been more than a decade, but Timothy and Catarina still had no children, though Anton was fairly certain they wanted at least one. If they were normal people Anton would have been concerned that they would miss the opportunity, but besides being aged almost fifty now they still had the youth of someone in their mid twenties. Even if they suddenly stopped cultivating they would likely live to a hundred and fifty or even two hundred years old just based on their current attainments. Thus, they were still young. Beyond all of those there were the cultivators from several prominent groups in Ambati. The Temitope clan that Ayotunde had taken service to was one participating, partly due to their familiarity. Ayotunde would be returning, and Matriarch Afi would be going as well. The growth of the Temitope clan in the last decades meant that her presence was no longer necessary for the clan¡¯s stability, and she wanted to take the chance to see a new part of the world. The others from Ambati that Anton was familiar with to some extent were several members of the Ghameita Tribe that had been briefly encountered while looking for the Clear Lake Sect. The nomadic tribe was not deaf to the changes in the world, and they offered some of their younger members the chance to experience more of the world. Then there was the Desert Hippo Sect. Devon had an encounter with them in Everheart¡¯s final tomb. They fought over over the berries of a particular bush, but they did so with honor. In fact, when the Desert Hippo Sect won the majority of the matches, they still allocated a portion of the berries to Devon and his temporary allies instead of monopolizing them. Anton remembered hearing the story when Devon asked him to help cultivate the berries. With Elder Howland¡¯s help they had come up with a good method around the same time as the Desert Hippo Sect. As promised, both sides shared the information- which allowed them and the Order to both produce healthier bushes. Now the berries were a favorite of many disciples of the Order¡­ as well as a clan of special deer in the nearby forest. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Anton knew little about the others involved, but they were vouched for by various parties. Thus it was that in his thirtieth year of cultivation, Anton found himself once more on the ocean, heading to a group of people he hadn¡¯t even known existed. Yet the very fact that the knowledge had been lost meant it was important to reconnect. It couldn¡¯t have been an accident that many details about other groups of people had been lost to time. Otherwise there would have been more information available, even after widespread destruction. Cultivators could be quite covetous of any sort of knowledge. ----- The previous traversals to the Exalted Archipelago had not encountered the same sorts of difficulties with ocean beasts as the other ocean. There were certainly some attacks, but nothing on the scale of the kraken. Likewise, no island sized turtles had been encountered. It was expected that a creature like Paradise would be a rarity, and even if more existed it simply might not be on the route to the Exalted Archipelago. For one thing, the route curved to the south resulting in a slightly warmer climate. A majority of the Exalted Archipelago ended up further south than the southernmost part of Brogora. As for why the group left from Amabati, it was to avoid a series of nearby islands that were famous for great, destructive whirlpools forming between them. It was simpler to just take a longer route, and the currents and winds near the continent had been known to be favorable. Now it was an established route, despite it only having been traversed a small handful of times in the last decade. One good thing about being over the open ocean was not having to worry about hitting anything. With the ships, or anything else. Specifically, Anton appreciated the ability to shoot off into the distance where he would at most disturb the surface of the water. Some fish might be spooked at the detonation of energy, but he wouldn¡¯t cause any major harm. Some of his arrows instead fizzled out in the air. Anton chose arbitrary targets for himself, but hitting inanimate points was trivial. Even so, he could choose to target a particular piece of sea foam or a bit of kelp. The most important part was to continue practice. It might take him ten thousand arrows to see a tiny bit of improvement, but if he didn¡¯t shoot those arrows it would never happen. But ten thousand was not that many compared to what Anton had already shot. He might take another hundred thousand or a million before there was any noticeable difference, and even then it would take an expert like Kseniya to pick it out. Yet it was a way he could improve himself beyond advancing his cultivation to Life Transformation, a goal he felt no closer to after another year. ----- Fuzz had decided that he did not like being aboard a ship. It was much too small and cramped. When he was up on decks, people seemed to think he was in the way. They never appreciated when he tried to help with the sails or anything else, though perhaps that was because the sailors themselves hardly did anything. Most of the time the wind and weather didn¡¯t change so suddenly that the sailors had to be active at all points. Since he didn¡¯t like being on the ships and people thought he was in the way, he went in the water. There were all sorts of interesting things beneath the surface he could catch. He wasn¡¯t that good at swimming, but he found that his energy helped make up for that. He could even make fins like a fish to propel him forward. Fuzz liked to catch the various little creatures. Some of them had a lot of teeth, like the ¡®sharks¡¯. They were interesting because they were crunchy but their bones were not like bones. They were definitely better food than the rations on the ships though. When Fuzz came back onto a ship, people complained about him being wet. When he dried himself, they complained about that. Fuzz wondered if humans ever did anything but complain. At least Alva understood. She apologized for there not being much space. Fuzz was happy to put up with the various difficulties to stay with her- and the other members of the pack. It was unfortunate that Alva couldn¡¯t ride him around. She weighed basically nothing, but he found that he missed her presence on his back. Eventually he coaxed her to get on even though they couldn¡¯t run around. When he jumped in the water she was surprised, but didn¡¯t really complain. As he dove underwater he found that it was extra hard to swim with a person on his back. On the surface of the water, he was not very fast. That was until Catarina and Alva worked together to teach him something interesting. He could use his energy to stand on top of the water! It wasn¡¯t exactly stable, and would throw him off balance based on the shifting of the waves- but it allowed him to run around. That meant Alva could probably hang out on his back, and they got to run around, circling the ships. Some of the cultivators joined them as well. While the ships could only travel up to a certain speed, cultivators at ¡°Essence Collection¡± were able to support themselves on water and keep up with the ships. Most cultivators quickly got bored, but Fuzz thought that was because they didn¡¯t know how to enjoy the best things in life like running. Or eating anything you could catch in your mouth. There were a couple problems with being out on the very big lake called an ¡®ocean¡¯. One was that the water wasn¡¯t very drinkable. It was salty, which was tasty, but it only made him more thirsty. If he wanted to drink it he had to filter out the salt, which made it taste like fish. The second problem was that it was hard to smell stuff underwater. If he took a sniff water tried to get into his lungs. It was a lot of work to avoid that. Overall, though Fuzz enjoyed the ocean, he would prefer it when they were back on land. Chapter 334 Picking out changes on the wide open sea was a trivial scouting task, since there were few changes of any sort that weren¡¯t notable. Even though Anton¡¯s mind was well away from the area, only a few moments after something came within his range he was able to focus in on a change. Atop the irregular pattern of waves was a ship- and one filled with cultivators. They stood out like a sore thumb among the otherwise uniform distribution of natural energy. ¡°Ship spotted to the northwest!¡± Anton called out. In truth, they were expecting some sort of encounter soon. If nothing went wrong they would be reaching some of the islands soon. Running into a patrol nearby only made sense. Unlike the previous travel to the east, the numbers were small enough that everyone might have fit on a single large ship. For the sake of comfort, they had three that weren¡¯t quite as large- as cultivators they could afford some wastefulness. Having some backups was good as well- in the worst case they could all cram into two or even a single ship. For the sake of the mission, it was decided that a single ship would approach directly with the other two lingering behind somewhat, so as to not appear aggressive. There was no way to hide that they posed some sort of threat, as concealing their cultivations would no doubt make things worse. As they maintained their course for approximately half an hour the other ship approached them, then curved around to sail parallel to the lead ship. It was clear their ship design was far more maneuverable- and swifter. Part of that was the difference in purpose between the two types of ships, but it was clear they had streamlines the designs of their ships as well. Since the other side had not spoken a word, merely closely watching from their decks, Matriarch Afi stepped towards the starboard side of the ship where she would be closest to them. ¡°Greetings, citizens of the Exalted Archipelago. We come in peace.¡± The captain of the other ship responded, ¡°And you may leave in peace as well. But you are not welcome here.¡± Anton quietly and carefully extended his senses, searching for signs of the Twin Soul Sect. He had gained mastery of the skill over the years, though recently had little practical application for it. He didn¡¯t discern any connection, which at least meant they practiced a different cultivation style. They could still work with them, or otherwise intend to betray the world to the hands of the invaders when the time came. ¡°Do you speak for the whole of the Exalted Archipelago?¡± Matriarch Afi questioned. ¡°Such a grand nation as yours must at least harbor some who would be curious to speak to us.¡± The man stood in silence for some time, the matched speeds of the ship keeping them still relative to each other. Finally, he came up with a reply. ¡°I heard tale of a southern group that expressed interest in meeting you, should those from your continent return. The Worthy Shore Society.¡± ¡°Very well. If you could instruct us as to how to reach them¡­ while avoiding the territory of those who would prefer to be without us,¡± Matriarch Afi asked with a wrinkly smile. Whether because of her polite manner or because he decided it would get them away the quickest, the man answered directly. ¡°To the south. Two¡­¡± he looked over the ships, ¡°Three days, turning south by southeast after a day and a half. Be aware of the dangers in the area.¡± ¡°We appreciate the guidance,¡± Matriarch Afi inclined her head. ¡°If you could elaborate on those dangers¡­?¡± The man shook his head. ¡°Figure it out for yourself.¡± ¡°Very well. We will be on our way.¡± There wasn¡¯t much else to say than that. Pressing further seemed likely to end up in a conflict, and neither winning nor losing would benefit those from Brogora. It was only negative outcomes in every direction. The lead ship turned, to be joined by the others a short time later when the plan was explained to everyone involved. Not that the plan was much. They simply had to hope the man¡¯s directions were accurate. No doubt he could give very accurate guidance, but he may have chosen not to. At the very least, the dangers were left completely up to their imagination. But south they turned. Two days passed swiftly. At various points Anton noted ships to their west, but either they weren¡¯t sensed in return or they were deemed to be far enough away. He presumed it was the former, but he couldn¡¯t completely put it past them to have some who had trained their senses to extend as far as his own. On the third day, they found themselves approaching an area akin to actual land. It was made up primarily of rocky cliffs and disjointed segments of land. The water grew more shallow beneath them, so it was mostly by technical definitions that they might have judged it to be one island or many small ones. Either way, it seemed they should be in the area. ¡°The distance between the various outcroppings narrows up ahead,¡± Anton said. ¡°It should still be navigable, but it will require some work to maneuver through the area.¡± If he could not sense so far ahead, it was quite possible for them to be entrapped in a small area that was difficult to turn around and end up crashing upon the rocks. The question was whether they had been directed truthfully or if it was simply intended to get them into trouble. Warning them of the dangers could have been simply to make them think there was something beyond this area worth getting to, as they might have otherwise turned away. Then Anton sensed a ship. ¡°We should be able to get to them within an hour¡­ perhaps two, given the difficulty of the area. It seems a strange location though.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. If the group had not been made up of cultivators, it was entirely possible that they would have simply run around on a shallow section. The ships proceeded one by one through the area, with everyone keeping their senses trained on the area around and below them. Spikes of rock that would be invisible due to the distorting nature of water and the darkness were avoided¡­ or destroyed. Most of the cultivators weren¡¯t expert sailors, and while there were enough to man the ships they were not necessarily ready to respond to the various issues. Cultivators leapt off the ships to shove them away from cliffs that currents pushed them towards and to clear paths where it seemed they should have been able to get through. Anton stuck by his belief he was guiding them down the best path- but there were simply so many options and many were strictly worse. At least their vessels were slightly smaller than they could have been, as that sometimes made all the difference. It was better not to destroy much of the local terrain if they could help it. ¡°What about that ship?¡± Catarina asked after a time. ¡°Are we getting close?¡± Matriarch Afi stood by to listen as well. ¡°About that¡­¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s been stationary.¡± He scanned around the area at a larger distance and frowned. ¡°There are more such ships. Definitely manned, but I don¡¯t sense anything that I would associate with a ¡®Worthy Shore Society¡¯. No flags at all. Mixed cultivation techniques.¡± While technically their own group also had a variety of cultivation techniques, they still had at least a handful of most. They were a bundle of different groups¡­ but Anton was finding it hard to see more than one or two that felt like they really practice the same from the ships ahead. ¡°Do you think pirates, perhaps?¡± Matriarch Afi asked. ¡°I¡¯m not confident enough in that assertion to start shooting,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I¡¯d assume so. Perhaps we should avoid them. If they truly are this Worthy Shore Society, we can at least not end up surrounded. It¡¯s going to take some work, but we can swing around to the west, and hopefully avoid them before they sense us.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s do that,¡± she agreed. ¡°I¡¯d discuss with the others, but we don¡¯t have long to choose, right?¡± Anton nodded. They had anchored in this place for too long already. Someone could notice them by luck. ¡°In that case,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Should we activate the formations? We can hide our energy signature. I can make it look natural, too!¡± ¡°Maybe just a little bit. Anton can direct us around them, but if they¡¯re who we are looking for we don¡¯t want to completely slip past their blockade.¡± As they continued to move deeper into the area, they ranged between narrow passages that left barely a hand¡¯s width on either side of the ship and wide open areas that lasted for several minutes. One trouble that Anton had difficulty predicting was sand bars, since he¡¯d mostly been scanning the surface- and couldn¡¯t intricately inspect every location if they wanted to keep moving. The lead ship passed through one, but the ship following behind was slightly off and ran into the sand bar. ¡°What terrible luck,¡± Anton said. ¡°The ships have just started moving towards us.¡± A large splash followed that, much more than any sensible cultivator would have made. Even the giant fellows from the Desert Hippo Sect were still human in proportions. But of course Fuzz wasn¡¯t. He was already nose deep in the sandbar, frantically digging away. The third ship was far enough back to recognize the error of the second, so they too passed through the sandbar to a more open area. People were sent from both ships to help the one run aground. Some helped Fuzz dig, since he could only cover a section, while others simply set about lifting the ship. The difficulty was doing so without exhausting themselves too much. After all, potentially hostile cultivators were incoming. Everyone could sense them now, and they would be intersecting in less than half an hour even with the slow and roundabout routes required. Ultimately the ship was set loose, but it took enough time that the group had to settle for readying themselves in something approximating a bay. It had some room to sail around, since fighting among the smaller crevices would only give an advantage to the locals. It also limited them to coming from a few directions- flanking the group from behind would require a much longer route. Six smaller ships approached their three vessels. A few people held out hope that it was merely a cautious approach because they were unfamiliar, but it certainly seemed to be leading up to an attack. Three of the ships carried a Life Transformation cultivator, but the majority of those on board were in Essence Collection- and some Spirit Building. A sizable force that actually made it slightly more likely to belong to a proper sect. Could random bandits- or pirates- really have three Life Transformation cultivators? Anton thought about that, and decided that the answers would have to wait. Matriarch Afi was still the voice of their fleet, and she stood at the bow of the ship to call out to the approaching groups. ¡°Hello there! Are you perhaps the Worthy Shore Society?¡± One of the three Life Transformation cultivators, an old man, stepped up to where he could be seen. ¡°Indeed we are. So glad you¡¯ve heard of us.¡± It was a smooth response, but everything inside Anton told him it was a lie. His stance was wrong, and the way he said us was emphasized too much. ¡°Wonderful,¡± Matriarch Afi responded. ¡°We are from Brogora and we have come in peace.¡± ¡°Perfect,¡± the man said. His words lingered in the air as the other ships were clearly getting into position. The six vessels were on the move while the three from Brogora had their anchors down. A vulnerable position. ¡°That means nobody will miss you.¡± With a wave of his arm, clearly a signal for some kind of an attack, numerous attacks were launched. Arrows were fired and onboard ballistae launched their payloads. Several cultivators launched balls of fire at the sails of the stationary ships, and some even threw strange crystals towards them. All of the attacks impacted a single large barrier that formed over the three ships. Catarina¡¯s presence became quite apparent as she controlled the core of the power. At the same time, the anchors were released from the ground below, where they had never truly been lodged in the first place, merely held with a small amount of natural energy. As the initial bombardment was still happening, Anton already had his bow in hand. It would have been better if they could avoid conflict, but since this was happening they would simply have to annihilate the opposing group. Anton had already picked his target¡­ and it wasn¡¯t any of the enemy cultivators. Chapter 335 If they were going to fight a group of pirating cultivators, Anton didn¡¯t intend to let them have free use of their ships. He saw a number of shipboard weapons that couldn¡¯t be there just for the sake of fun. As the battle broke out his first shot went at the sails of what appeared to be the flagship, while his second targeted oars and third the various ballistae. His first shot was nearly blocked by one of the pirates, the wide blade intended to cut apart the sail barely twisting out of the way to avoid the man¡¯s parrying sword. The shot curved back around, slicing through parts of the sail from behind, and the enchantments proved inadequate to resist a peak Essence Collection attack. His second shot was from one of his other bows, fired by natural energy but all physical. He managed to snap apart several oars in a row on one side before the rowing cultivators¡¯ energy stopped his own. As for his shots on the weapons, those were the sturdiest and barely took any damage. The barrier protecting their ships held, and Anton was quite pleased with his ability to attack outward. It was difficult, but Catarina had developed to the point of being a formation master. Her Life Transformation cultivation helped her stitch together anything missing. Of course, just enduring a bombardment would eventually wear them down. A permanent structure might have the capabilities to resist such an attack but their three ships made an imperfect formation. Barriers all had limits. This particular one was made with the intention of allowing people to pass through it, and that ultimately had to happen in both directions. But it still provided an advantage for the defensive side, who could attack outward at the approaching enemies. Some chose not to rely on the defensive formation. Or rather, Fuzz took off running with Alva on his back, likely without considering the situation at all. The young archer was only a short way behind Anton in cultivation now, the main difference between them being her lacking decades of experience hunting with a bow. But in terms of practical battle experience, she still outclassed the Anton of a hundred years old. Her style had first mimicked his own, but now was its own thing that involved moved quickly and attacking from inconvenient angles to defend. Fuzz was fast enough that Anton wasn¡¯t terribly worried about someone catching her, and those who could attack her at range would have to contend with being shot in response. Timothy, Hoyt, Devon, and many of the others moved towards the front line, supporting themselves on the water or what outcroppings of stone were convenient. Neither were as steady of footing as they would like, but their opponents had to deal with the same. Others remained on the ships, maneuvering them to try to get some advantage. The first opponent to encounter Timothy was a large woman who held a two-handed curved blade. The force of her attack swung down towards him, but he raised his shield to block. He had long passed the point where that was anything close to a passive response- the angle of their connection was timed to provide maximum counterforce, sending the weapon flying out of her hand. A moment after that Devon entangled her in chains before Hoyt beheaded her. Three against one might not be exactly fair, but it was her own fault for breaking away from her allies. Finishing her off quickly was the right move, and none of them were going to follow useless models of ¡®fairness¡¯ in an actual battle. Especially not when every person they defeated brought the numbers closer into balance for their side. Marsen stood on a floating chunk of ice, finding having a flat surface made him more effective. It didn¡¯t tilt except at his urging and wouldn¡¯t break easily. Those who had tried found the attempt left them open to being frozen, and whether it was just a hand or their whole body such a result wasn¡¯t good for them. Marsen was focusing on the Spirit Building cultivators making their way over. Not all of them were capable of easily supporting their weight atop the water, but one of the leading ships had slipped into the barrier. It didn¡¯t have enough velocity to trigger the defenses, a balancing factor to make it otherwise more efficient. Marsen hopped on board, causing ice to freeze on the surface of the ship. Even if he couldn¡¯t directly cause damage, locking oars in place and making sails inflexible greatly reduced the effectiveness of the ship. Marsen was close to the top ranks of his generation among the Frostmirror Sect, more through determination and willingness to experiment than raw talent. Though he did have to admit he would never have gotten to where he was without a good measure of the latter. As others joined him on the ship to fend off the stronger cultivators, he slowed everyone they were fighting against. Some were less affected, but even if it was only a marginal change it could screw up critical timings on their part. It was impossible for the cultivators to form solid lines with their numbers. Both sides were unable to completely prevent people from slipping through the gaps, resulting in the old man who seemed to be in command finding his way to Catarina. ¡°Tough luck young lady, but even a specialist like you will never defeat me while holding together a formation.¡± Water rose up all around the lead vessel, splashing over everything but mostly gathering around the Life Transformation man and Catarina. ¡°Is that so?¡± she said as she held her sword between them. ¡°Then perhaps I should drop it.¡± The old man lacked any traditional weapons in his hand, but up close it was simple to make out the metallic claws clutched in his grip. Careful eyes would also see similar contraptions attached to his feet. The old man charged towards Catarina, shrinking the wall of water in towards them as he did so. ¡°Good idea. Drop it and our artillery can get back to work.¡± Their weapons clashed as Catarina held her position, barely keeping the claws and water away. She couldn¡¯t afford either wounds or restricted movement, but she had to maintain her position at the center of the formation. The next several exchanges happened without any more words, simply Catarina¡¯s face wrinkling ever more in worry and concentration. ¡°That¡¯s enough,¡± the man said. ¡°You¡¯re hardly a swordmaster. With your power split up, I know you can¡¯t even harm me.¡± He grinned, his energy sharpening around the hand and foot blades. He stepped back in, a whirl of attacks that Catarina barely tumbled through, and not unscathed. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Blood dripped from her forehead, shoulders, and a gash on her abdomen. Then the man twisted his feet, the claws grasping on the wood of the ship to thrust him forward with great speed, the claws on his hands going for her throat. But before they could reach her, he found himself stopped in place as energy suddenly collapsed all around him. An instant later, Catarina cut his arms off at the elbow. ¡°You¡¯re about half right there,¡± she said as she stepped forward to lop off his head. ¡°But as it turns out I¡¯m actually at my strongest here.¡± The man might have still been alive for a moment, but he was unable to speak. At most he could wonder why the formation suddenly turned from an external barrier into a restrictive formation. If Catarina had been inclined to answer him, she would have been able to tell him it was always both. She looked around for her next target. It had taken Velvet and Anton longer than she hoped to take out the enchanted ballistae, but they couldn¡¯t afford to have everyone dealing with those while they fought. If nothing else it could ruin their ships and make everything following difficult. The pirates were quickly realizing that they had made a grave error. In addition to not recognizing Catarina¡¯s presence and status as a Life Transformation expert- even in the early part of the stage- the others were also no pushovers. Their greed and the thought that nobody would be able to track them down for revenge had caused them to overreach. When they turned to flee, they found it quite a difficult task. Parts of their ships were crippled, and those who were able to swim at great speed or walk atop the waves- or who could simply jump between rock outcroppings- found that they had to contend with enemy archers¡­ and even a few compromised and still quite enchanted ballistae. When the call to surrender went out Spirit Building cultivators capitulated first, followed by some of the Essence Collection cultivators. Many continued to choose to flee, but none escaped. Restraints for so many cultivators were a bit difficult to come up with, though the pirates themselves happened to have some. The biggest part was divesting them of their weapons and armor, followed by Catarina setting up a temporary formation to suppress their intake and use of natural energy. The leadership quickly discussed what to do with them. Unlike the Twin Soul Sect, these pirates weren¡¯t something they had an eternal grudge with. ¡°I think we should kill them,¡± Matriarch Afi stated clearly, ¡°The same as they would have done with us.¡± ¡°While that¡¯s certainly fair,¡± Anton responded, ¡°We need to consider what the people of the Exalted Archipelago would think. And the Worthy Shore Society.¡± She nodded slowly. ¡°True. But perhaps it is better that they know nothing.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ impossible now,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°We just engaged in battle on the border of their territory.¡± He turned his head. ¡°They have¡­ several elders who have clearly taken note of our presence. Their opinions will likely determine our fate here.¡± ¡°Are they close enough to listen?¡± she asked. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But I think not.¡± ¡°Well, I think we should just go to them,¡± said elder Chifuniro of the Desert Hippo Sect. ¡°We can deal with the ships and the cleanup later. Best not to keep them waiting.¡± After some discussion of how they would approach the diplomatic situation awaiting them, they returned to navigating their way among the rocks, leaving behind the extra ships they had insufficient crew for. At least, insufficient without more individual training in the area. They went more or less straight for the group Anton sensed. They were clearly of the same sect, and as long as the travelers hadn¡¯t been totally lied to they should be the Worthy Shore Society. As they got closer Anton became aware that the Worthy Shore Society was far more than a minor sect. The few Life Transformation elders he had felt meant they were not weak, but as they approached he felt more presences beyond a large formation they had guarding their territory. His senses were dimmed beyond that point, but he knew there were more than a few additional Life Transformation cultivators present. Thankfully, they weren¡¯t looming at the edge of the sect as if planning to attack. Anton hoped that was because they didn¡¯t intend to and not because they could attack from where they were. But it was too late to turn around regardless- even as the fight began, it was too late to avoid their notice and judgment. He just hoped they were reasonable. Matriarch Afi had planned what to say, and they would have to go with that. The navigability of the area only grew worse as they approached, but fortunately before it reached the worst possible parts they were stopped by the four elders. Two men and two women at Life Transformation, along with a great quantity of lesser disciples arrayed behind them. ¡°Who approaches the Worthy Shore Society?¡± one of the men called out. Matriarch Afi steeled herself. ¡°We are cultivators from Brogora, here to speak with you. We come in peace.¡± ¡°You speak those words with blood on your hands,¡± the man retorted. A pressure swept over them. ¡°And captives as well.¡± ¡°We were attacked by pirates. They intended to kill us all.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± The man looked towards Catarina. ¡°And you. You are stronger than her. Why are you not the one speaking?¡± Catarina was obviously caught off guard at that question. ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m not very diplomatic.¡± ¡°Perfect,¡± the man said. ¡°You will speak then. What happened?¡± Sensing that it wasn¡¯t an option, Catarina explained. Briefly. ¡°Well, basically what she said. They came to attack us, said no one would miss us, and then we killed them. I cut off their leader¡¯s head and we captured anyone who would surrender to see what you would say.¡± ¡°This leader¡­ who was it?¡± the man asked. Catarina gestured to the body, which had not yet been disposed of. ¡°I¡¯m sure you saw it. That guy.¡± ¡°The Sea Tiger.¡± The man got a wide smile on his face. ¡°He finally chose the wrong targets. Good. Somehow they were always ready to flee if we came after them. This time they ventured too close to our territory¡­ and chose the wrong targets. So then, what is the purpose of your visit?¡± Matriarch Afi knew just the right things to say¡­ but Catarina was still the one in charge of speaking. So she got straight to the point. ¡°There¡¯s an invasion coming in a couple decades. We want to make sure people here are going to be prepared so it doesn¡¯t cause trouble for us later. And we¡¯re worried about the Twin Soul Sect and people like them.¡± ¡°We know of all this,¡± the man said. ¡°I personally returned from Everheart¡¯s Tomb of ascension, along with several others. But seeing that you have come such a long way, we should speak somewhere more comfortable. Oh, and just throw the bodies into the water, except that man¡¯s head. Some others here will be quite glad to see it.¡± Anton quietly breathed a sigh of relief. What was it about cultivators that made them show off the power and be intimidating, even when they were essentially friendly? Anton wasn¡¯t sure, but he couldn¡¯t complain too much as he¡¯d used similar tactics to squeeze information out of people. When they were guilty they tripped up an awful lot, and there was much to learn from innocent panic as well. An unpanicked response was information of its own. Chapter 336 The actual sect grounds of the Worthy Shore Society were much the same as the area surrounding it, with the exception that they inhabited the largest ¡®island¡¯ in the area. In addition to that, the sect ground extended via bridges to many of the other rocky promontories in the area, filling out much of the surroundings. The area was clearly difficult to inhabit, since there was little soil for growing any sorts of plantlife which was the basis for the majority of food. Even fish were difficult to get for the most part, as accessing the deeper parts of the ocean required navigating the surrounding area. Like any sect who lived in harsh conditions, they were used to the struggles and found them worthwhile for the benefits. Defensive security was often one, but abundant natural energy was another. From the way Catarina was looking around with great interest, Anton expected there were either some natural or artificial formations involved in those aspects. The reception by the Worthy Shore Society was overall positive but reserved. It was obvious they shared some of the same sentiments about foreigners that the rest of the Exalted Archipelago did. Anton didn¡¯t blame them for that opinion, as from his observations cultivators in general were difficult to trust. Even if a majority were safe, he would trust a larger proportion of commoners than cultivators. People with power thought they could get away with more, and they were right up until they overestimated themselves in the wrong circumstances. There was something more to it than just distrusting new groups of cultivators, however, because they were specifically concerned about them being from outside the Exalted Archipelago. Anton wanted to ask about that, but doing so immediately didn¡¯t seem appropriate. The visiting cultivators were all given appropriate accommodations. They weren¡¯t particularly fancy, but it didn¡¯t seem that the quarters for guests were particularly different in scope. Any other visitors would have received the same serviceable accommodations. As a Life Transformation cultivator, Catarina was an exception- though it hardly mattered since she would only be spending time in her room to sleep. The visitors were allowed access to a portion of the library. It didn¡¯t contain the core cultivation technique or combat techniques of the Worthy Shore Society, but it did have quite a few things available. Anton couldn¡¯t possibly read it all, but one of the librarians was a kindly woman who helped him find whatever he was looking for. ¡°I must ask. How do the people here feel about Everheart?¡± ¡°He¡¯s an asshole,¡± Librarian Jala stated simply. ¡°Besides the universal constant, I meant. What are the opinions on his techniques and the like?¡± ¡°Well. As he had a great proclivity for collecting and creating forbidden techniques, the opinion on such things varies.¡± She shrugged, ¡°But everyone will admit his talent and knowledge.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve studied most of the knowledge I could find,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Though I primarily found myself interested in his studies on how to teach people to advance through the early ranks of cultivation.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe I have seen any of that,¡± Jala admitted. ¡°It was mainly in one cache. Though there could have certainly been more here. He was a prolific traveler, so I assume he came to the Exalted Archipelago?¡± ¡°Oh yes. He planted down a few of his ¡®tombs¡¯ here. It was quite a surprise to everyone with the last one though. A great teleportation formation revealed itself. Difficult to hide, that.¡± ¡°Nobody had noticed any of ours, either. Though I suppose we have more continuous landmass to hide things in. What do you know of Brogora? Most of our records of the Exalted Archipelago were destroyed centuries ago, in the previous invasion.¡± She gave him a look which made Anton think that perhaps he had been too obvious. ¡°It would probably be best to read it for yourself.¡± Jala helped pick out a few choice records for Anton to read through. They were copies- probably copies of copies- but he expected they would be accurate to what information was available at the time. First were records of Everheart. It seemed he was actually from Brogora. The records spoke of many conflicts he had with various sects, but despite the attempt at a neutral tone by the author it was clear that they were at least a little happy that he¡¯d taken some arrogant sects down a few pegs. And of course he ran off with a bunch of their stuff. It was further back in the past than that for the time of the previous invasion. However, what was mentioned wasn¡¯t at all what Anton expected. He could hardly find a mention of ascension experts coming to take anything away. Instead, there were only cultivators of Brogora attacking the Exalted Archipelago to steal their resources for their own use- to empower themselves. Anton couldn¡¯t say that it didn¡¯t happen, but he still felt something was missing. ¡°I suppose I can see why you wouldn¡¯t be enthusiastic about our presence. But there¡¯s nothing here about the invasion of the ascended cultivators.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, those records are private.¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Can you talk about any of it? Whatever we could use to improve our own chances would be quite helpful. After all, even if we¡¯re defeated we could take out a few before they make their way over here.¡± ¡°I would have to speak to the elders to say any more,¡± Jala admitted. ¡°But from what I have read¡­ our information wouldn¡¯t help you. Everheart¡¯s visions at the tomb are certainly of more use.¡± ¡°I see. I will wait for an answer on that then. In the meantime, I would like to see more of these other records, if I could.¡± ----- It was clear that even in the time of the invasion that Brogora wasn¡¯t one unified whole. A large number of sects had been involved in raiding the Exalted Archipelago, to be certain, but it wasn¡¯t something that could be attributed to the continent as a whole. The different sources agreed on the basic facts, however. Anton could see why that might sour the Exalted Archipelago towards Brogora¡­ but it needed a bit more. For example, they hardly seemed to be a unified whole. The first ship they had encountered on this trip was ready to send them back or fight them, but still suggested they come to the Worthy Shore Society. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. None of the conflict was in living memory either. Practically nobody even remembered Everheart firsthand, let alone the invasion before that time. Vandale had even been too young to know the man personally, though there were some indications that perhaps Swordmaster Rahayu had. Yet if humans were good at one thing, it was holding a grudge. With the only available information being what was written he knew everyone would be subconsciously influenced by it instead of reserving their judgment for things done by actual people and groups that currently existed. At least they didn¡¯t seem interested in an organized revenge. If they had, it would have been done long ago, since they didn¡¯t need to be reminded of Brogora¡¯s existence. As for Aicenith, it was further away. Not so far as it might seem, since going past the Exalted Archipelago would lead them to the other continent, but it was further than Brogora and theoretically a more difficult journey. One thing Anton was certain of was that the Worthy Shore Society was not interested in revenge. There was no air of hostility, only caution. The cauton seemed unnecessary to Anton, not because he expected them to immediately be trusting but because they were strong. The sect had perhaps two thirds of the cultivators that the Order did, but they had more Life Transformation cultivators. They weren¡¯t all just old folk either, but there seemed to be a regular progression of them. That information wouldn¡¯t be much more than an interesting piece of data except that the Worthy Shore Society didn¡¯t consider themselves one of the major powers in the region. They weren¡¯t just referencing the whole of the Exalted Archipelago either, but the southeastern section. No wonder a group of pirates had three Life Transformation cultivators among them. They weren¡¯t the strongest ones he had met, but it wasn¡¯t so easy to make that step. Anton was now keenly aware of that. The natural energy in the region was¡­ not the cause. It might be marginally higher than Brogora had been, but Anton didn¡¯t believe it would make such a difference. It was something else. Something Anton hadn¡¯t even thought to ask about, but simply stumbled across in the library. ¡°Cultivation manuals¡­¡± Anton stopped to look at them. ¡°I thought you said these belonged in the restricted section, Jala?¡± ¡°Do they?¡± she questioned as she looked at them. After flipping through some books and unfurling scrolls, she shook her head. ¡°No, these all belong here. Feel free to peruse them, if you wish.¡± So Anton did. He wasn¡¯t planning to change his core cultivation technique now, even if he could, but learning what snippets of knowledge others had put together was always helpful. A short time later, Anton found his confidence shaken. The Worthy Shore Society had a collection of cultivation techniques. Complete ones. Even to the point of ascension. Of course, a technique could claim to be complete and be missing key pieces of information- either on purpose or because it was flawed- but Anton didn¡¯t find any flaws. At the very least, they were more complete than the others he had seen. The Deathly Heart Technique professed completion, as did the cultivation technique of the Twin Soul Sect. The latter was hard to obtain complete copies of, but pieced together it was clear they at least had guidance up until the end of Life Transformation, where the talented cultivators could make the last step themselves. But the techniques here purported to guarantee ascension¡­ to those with a certain level of general talent and affinity for the technique. ¡°... May I copy these?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Anything in this section of the library may be shared freely,¡± Jala confirmed. ¡°Interested in studying different techniques, are you?¡± ¡°Well¡­ they are complete after all,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I suppose. A bit low quality though, in my opinion.¡± Anton kept his reaction limited. He couldn¡¯t hide some surprise at the casual declaration that implied the Worthy Shore Society was a step above all of them. Anton had to admit that some of them felt lacking in other areas, but having a complete path was vitally important. ¡°They¡¯re still very useful for study,¡± Anton finally commented. ¡°I suppose so, if you were in the business of refining different techniques. You said you try to teach everyone to cultivate, right?¡± Jala nodded. ¡°Finding something suited for everyone seems difficult. Or refining something that already exists.¡± ¡°Well, I try. Though I can¡¯t say I have the ability to piece together a complete technique.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t expect that while in Essence Collection,¡± she pointed out. ¡°A fair point,¡± Anton admitted. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if one of the elders would be able to fill in the missing hole of the hundreth star. It wouldn¡¯t be as satisfying as solving it themselves, but if it ultimately ended up with ascension cultivators from the Order¡­ well, that hardly mattered until after the invasion anyway. In truth, Anton¡¯s main hesitation was appearing weak. The Worthy Shore Society might be decent folk, but other members of the Exalted Archipelago might want to take advantage of Brogora if they found they were lacking in complete techniques, and that they had fewer Life Transformation cultivators. ----- ¡°I could open up the restricted section,¡± Catarina offered when Anton explained his conundrum. ¡°Then you could see the best techniques.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not really¡­ what I had in mind,¡± Anton admitted. The rest of the usual group was around. Timothy, Hoyt, Velvet, and even Alva. ¡°And the secret histories,¡± Catarina prompted. Anton pursed his lips. ¡°I would certainly like to know that information, but breaking the rules of our hosts seems not only impolite, but very dangerous.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not perfect,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°Their formations aren¡¯t on the level of Everheart.¡± ¡°Nobody¡¯s formations are,¡± Anton said. ¡°Not yet,¡± Catarina acknowledged. Timothy spoke up next, ¡°I do agree that we should be concerned about the dangers. Here they are with vessels that could absolutely reach us, and yet they haven¡¯t tried. Probing for information might anger them unintentionally, but they¡¯re hiding something.¡± ¡°Openly hiding things is better than not admitting it,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Have you talks with the leadership revealed anything, Catarina?¡± ¡°Besides the stuff about formations? No. I spent all my time studying them.¡± ¡°And they let you?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I might have offered some improvements,¡± she admitted. ¡°The thing is, they just don¡¯t have any formation masters here right now. In this particular sect, I meant. The formations should have been in a better state at some point and have been decaying. Which means they might have secrets I want.¡± Catarina paused, ¡°Beyond the ones that directly affect the fate of our continent, I guess.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t been denied access to the information yet,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Jala said the elders could take some time to make the decision. It¡¯s only been a few weeks.¡± Given the chance, he would gladly continue reading in the library for a year or two- especially if he was going to copy more information. Reading was much faster than scribing, even as a cultivator. The mind was always faster than the body. Anton considered developing a technique to use multiple quills to fill a whole page or several pages at a time, but that might just result in wasted paper. Then again, he could devote a week or two to see if it panned out. ¡°What do you think, Fuzz?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Are they good people?¡± An affirmative bark at least made everyone feel better, though Anton wouldn¡¯t put all of his trust in Fuzz. And even if one group was fine, throughout the entire Exalted Archipelago there would certainly be more than just one group of pirates who wished them ill. Chapter 337 The library of the Worthy Shore Society continued to draw Anton¡¯s fascination- and he wasn¡¯t the only one. Reading through complete cultivation techniques confirmed something simple but important about ascension. It required a large amount of energy. That wouldn¡¯t be a surprise to any cultivator, but there were two general categories of how it was accomplished. The first method was similar to what happened at Black Soul Valley. A large ritual to gather ¡®lower energy¡¯, human sacrifices optional. That would allow a cultivator to forcibly ascend, after which they would in theory find themselves automatically attuning to the ¡®upper energy¡¯ from the world above. Attempting something similar before reaching the peak of Life Transformation inevitably resulted in the cultivator exploding when unable to handle the energy, which obviously resulted in their death. The more ¡®correct¡¯ method was to form that connection and then make use of the ¡®upper energy¡¯ to make the final step. That would be similar to what Swordmaster Rahayu did. Cutting someone in half vertically was optional, and in fact any sort of attack wasn¡¯t strictly necessary. Even so, the expression of individual cultivators seemed to be relevant to exactly how the connection was achieved. Anton was in another camp. His connection to ascension energy was indirect, through the concept that some version of himself would or could have ascended, and he was taking the energy from that. There was no mention of that in any of the records, but that made perfect sense. It wasn¡¯t a proper method to ascend. Anton was inclined to believe Everheart that it would actually make him unable to take that step. If he formed a bridge to ascension energy, he would suddenly find himself unable to control something he thought he was familiar with. At least, Anton could envision that situation. But thinking about ascension was pointless for other reasons as well. The coming invasion was one, and the fact that he hadn¡¯t even stepped into Life Transformation yet was another. He was studying above where it suited him the most. The methods provided by the Ninety-Nine Stars clearly worked, and Anton didn¡¯t find them radically different from the completed cultivation techniques. The theory was solid, he was just finding himself stuck at the moment. He was supposed to attune himself to a source of energy. This wasn¡¯t the same as the distinction between ¡®upper¡¯ and ¡®lower¡¯ energy, but closer to elemental in nature. Anton had no problem with making a choice, but he hadn¡¯t been able to find the right circumstances. Something was lacking, either in his ability to seek out a suitable area or his own insights. Anton knew that spending a year or two dealing with that step was not uncommon, and in fact if that was all the time it took him he would be considered to have surpassed the step quickly. Even five years was speedy. Ten years was the point at which people began to doubt their ability to cross into Life Transformation¡­ but Anton heard tales of those who had taken a full century to make the step. They didn¡¯t advance much further into Life Transformation after that point, but it still came with a significant increase in strength merely for crossing the threshold. ----- It was probably a bit rude to scan their hosts to determine if they were members of the Twin Soul Sect, but it was risky not to do it. The Twin Soul Sect was patient, and they could easily wait several weeks to lure people into a false sense of security before destroying them all. Anton had only one reason to suspect them, but being so straightforward about secrecy he felt a little bit bad. Ultimately neither he nor the others found anything, and the Worthy Shore Society straightforwardly declared that they and all of the established sects in the Exalted Archipelago were opposed to the Twin Soul Sect and would not allow them to infiltrate. Knowing about them was most of the way to prevent them from intruding, and they weren¡¯t lacking in knowledge or techniques. After more than a month staying with the Worthy Shore Society, Anton finally received a response about records involving the invasion of ascended cultivators. He was the one who initially proposed the question, but all of the highest ranking cultivators were gathered to meet with some of the elders- and the sect head. The sect head was a woman named Margriet Gelens, with a cultivation near the peak of Life Transformation. She was also¡­ young. No signs of age marred her body, which indicated her cultivation had been swift and smooth. Anton found it a little bit hard to judge, but he determined her to be significantly younger than himself. For someone in early Life Transformation that wouldn¡¯t be particularly impressive. Catarina was only fifty years old, after all. However, it was still anticipated that she could take another seventy years to reach the peak of Life Transformation. That meant the sect head should have talent matching or exceeding the best that Anton knew. It probably shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise, but Anton still found himself thrown off guard. He¡¯d subconsciously been believing that his companions were the best the world had to offer, with himself barely managing to keep pace. Logically there should be someone who was better, but he¡¯d so far not run into them. Cultivation speed wasn¡¯t the only thing about a cultivator that mattered, but the strength radiating from the woman indicated she hadn¡¯t cut any corners. The good news was that it felt something akin to friendly, if serious. ¡°Welcome, guests. As I¡¯m sure you were apprised, I am the head of the Worthy Shore Society. I have brought you here to let you know that, unfortunately, we are unable to reveal information you are seeking. However¡­¡± she drew out the word for a few moments. ¡°We can offer you certain assurances. During the upcoming invasion, no danger will flow over to you from the Exalted Archipelago. It is also the case that the sects of the Exalted Archipelago have entered into a pact that we will not be the aggressors in a war with the continents.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Matriarch Afi took a moment to speak. ¡°A pact¡­ with who? How is it enforced?¡± ¡°That we cannot say. But be assured it is enforced vigorously.¡± Sect Head Gelens continued, ¡°Even so, we recommend you to limit your visits to the Exalted Archipelago, as it is possible for the terms to be interpreted in different fashions. At least in the territory of the Exalted Archipelago, you could easily be declared as attackers by those with ill intentions. The group of pirates led by the Sea Tiger might have used that excuse¡­ or they might not have cared. It wouldn¡¯t have stopped us from eliminating them for other reasons, but we were unable to find the chance.¡± Anton wondered about that. For a sect this powerful, taking care of a group nearby shouldn¡¯t have been terribly difficult. Yet the displeasure at their existence seemed quite genuine. It could be some sort of unfortunate politics at play. ¡°It¡¯s difficult to believe you with just words,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°However, the hospitality of the Worthy Shore Society makes me inclined to take it. I assume we would not be able to learn more elsewhere?¡± ¡°Others might even be significantly less civil about their rejection of your inquiries,¡± the sect head nodded. ¡°I truly would like to explain, but it is not worth the consequences.¡± ¡°We appreciate you informing us in person,¡± Catarina admitted. ----- ¡°And so¡­?¡± Catarina asked after they were in private- with some precautionary anti prying formations. If nothing else, it would let the Worthy Shore Society avoid overhearing anything accidentally. ¡°What do people think?¡± ¡°There is much to learn from how she said that they could say nothing,¡± Matriarch Afi pointed out. ¡°I believe that the terms of this pact are enforced by a powerful sect. Possibly a coalition throughout the Exalted Archipelago. However, I would not understand why there would be terms relating to war with the continents. Especially since they would seem to have an advantage.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Do you think it would be an issue to request information on the other sects in the area, so we can get a better picture? They should at least understand we aren¡¯t intending to invade them. But maybe that would change their mind.¡± ¡°That could be good,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°Knowing about the other sects could be useful if we plan any sort of future interactions. However, if we don¡¯t¡­ I think we have everything we need to know.¡± ¡°Forgoing the potential of future interaction would be a waste,¡± Elder Chifuniro of the Desert Hippo Sect commented. ¡°Especially given the wealth of knowledge a single sect possesses.¡± He looked to the other elders from Ambati, ¡°Don¡¯t you agree?¡± Matriarch Afi nodded. ¡°Of course we would not give up on that potential just because of a small risk. The Worthy Shore Society is friendly enough in their own way. If we don¡¯t specifically ask for strengths and weaknesses but simply the relations- even just to the Worthy Shore Society- we can likely get some picture. They must have the insight to understand what else we would want, and we can accept whatever choice they make on the matter.¡± Nobody had anything better to say on the topic, so after some details were discussed the meeting was concluded. ----- There was no long debate about providing information this time. The request was made and later the same day an answer was provided. They were willing to provide information¡­ for a service. As for that particular service, it was a box. With a single look at it Anton knew he would be of no help, not that he would have been able to stop Catarina from snatching it away regardless. The head sized cube was loaded with tiny inscriptions making a complex formation, and while Anton could follow Catarina¡¯s direction for purposes of breaking a large barrier, fine details would have to be controlled by her alone. ¡°Where did you get this?¡± Catarina asked Librarian Jala, who had been the one to deliver the device. Even as she asked she rotated it, looking at it from all sides. ¡°Golden Star Island,¡± she replied matter-of-factly. ¡°They could be considered¡­ rivals of ours.¡± ¡°Did they make this?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Or just find it?¡± ¡°It is believed that they found it. They have skill in formations, but we do not believe it is so great as to create something such as this.¡± Jala shook her head. ¡°Any progress you can make with opening it would be greatly appreciated.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± What sounded like an acknowledgment came with a click, as the box split open. ¡°Ooh. Another box.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡­ already?¡± Jala¡¯s eyes were wide. Anton shrugged, ¡°She¡¯s a formation master, after all. She¡¯s been picking apart some of Everheart¡¯s best stuff, so I¡¯m not surprised.¡± ¡°This one is difficult,¡± Catarina said to no one in particular. ¡°It doesn¡¯t want to open. Seems like it¡¯s holding¡­¡± There was a click and a loud thud. ¡°... Something bigger inside.¡± A two meter square cube now stood in the middle of the courtyard, and Catarina began inspecting it from corner to corner. It seemed to be the real challenge of the strange box, as by the end of the day she still hadn¡¯t made any progress, despite getting help to shift it over onto a new side every once in a while to reveal the hidden bottom side. Anton was standing around to watch for a while, but he had something else to do the next morning. The Worthy Shore Society was already satisfied with Catarina¡¯s results, and began providing information. They simply hadn¡¯t expected something so significant right away, and thus were taking time to compile it. Perhaps they were still holding out, but they were already revealing tantalizingly concrete details about the strength of various sects over the course of time, and their relations with each other and the Worthy Shore Society. The information mostly indicated that it would be suicide to fight them¡­ but also that they were far from unified, despite all being part of Exalted Archipelago. Chapter 338 After another month Catarina found that the puzzle box only went deeper and deeper. Each step was more difficult, and the members of the Worthy Shore Society studying along with her had found themselves lost long before. Explaining the earlier layers to them was a good way to spend some time not fussing with the core of the puzzle box which had become increasingly difficult¡­ and dangerous. It was entirely possible it was only intended to be opened by those who already knew the method, but because of the nature of formations it could always be picked apart. It was simply more difficult to do so when formation runes were hidden on the inside surface, as Catarina had to figure out a way to sense them without triggering the outer defenses. But she could do it by sensing the flow. Unfortunately the last week had been a sort of deadlock where she was making no progress at all. That didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t¡­ but she had to focus on something else for a time while she digested what she had learned. Unfortunately, that meant she wouldn¡¯t be able to return to these studies for¡­ an unknown period of time. It had been more than a week since the Worthy Shore Society declared they had nothing more they were able to share. They were willing to host the group for longer, but cautioned them against staying too long. Everyone was frantically learning what they could, studying or copying available techniques. Catarina even learned a few things about formations from the library, though she knew there was probably more knowledge hidden. It was a shame to leave it in the hands of people who couldn¡¯t use it at the moment¡­ but she had to accept it. For all of her progress, she hadn¡¯t actually given anything tangible to the Worthy Shore Society. They exchanged knowledge for knowledge, and she was invited back¡­ at a later time. Given the general hostile stance of the Exalted Archipelago, that was the best that could be expected. ----- The Worthy Shore Society guided the group out of the location of their strange island, even going so far as to escort them a day out into the open sea. Nobody came close to disturbing them, but the gesture was still appreciated. They were at the very least pleasant acquaintances. The general atmosphere on the ships was one of accomplishment, but there was also a bit of trepidation. Learning what they had, it was difficult not to. Freely distributing some of the techniques to people who were almost enemies- and certainly not established allies- meant they thought very little of them. Perhaps there was some generosity involved, but it still showed what they had available to them. Even if the Worthy Shore Society was friendly enough, it was still uncomfortable that only a certain pact was stopping the Exalted Archipelago in general from retaliating for actual and perceived past wrongs. Even if they weren¡¯t interested in that, cultivators were often looking to expand by taking over other sects¡¯ territories. There were various excuses that were used to justify things to different extents, but power would ultimately be the victor. A coalition of local sects would stand together against most aggressors but if one side was overwhelming in force little could be done. The journey had absolutely been worth the effort. The knowledge they gained, even if it came with some concerning revelations, was extremely useful. The Exalted Archipelago could be trusted to leave them alone¡­ at least for the moment. And they were strong enough that if they were overcome by the invading forces, nobody else really stood a chance anyway. That meant the Exalted Archipelago could be set aside¡­ for the moment. On the return journey, promises were made to copy everything that people had gained and distribute them among the various sects and clans. Spreading that information to all of them meant that it would inevitably lose any secrecy, but at least they would be the first ones to be able to study the wealth of knowledge. The gears were already turning in people¡¯s heads for how they might refine their cultivation techniques to improve them. ----- One by one over the course of the next two years Anton¡¯s companions advanced to Life Transformation. He firmly believed that Timothy, Hoyt, and Velvet would have made the step regardless¡­ but the additional learning helped. Alva was still slightly behind in cultivation, but she was right on Anton¡¯s own heels. He hadn¡¯t quite succeeded yet. Part of that was making the choice to be cautious in his advancement. He didn¡¯t want to make a mistake and attune himself in a way that would lock him in a path he didn¡¯t want. He spent a large amount of effort with the elders of the Order studying the Ninety-Nine Stars, specifically focused on the Life Transformation aspect of it. Anton mostly deferred to their understanding, but he was part of the process. The refinements they made would smooth the path for themselves and future cultivators of the technique, but nobody could be certain if the completion of it was correct. There were a few of the Grand Elders hovering near peak Life Transformation, but even if they could break through they chose not to try. They did not know if they would be able to affect the invasion after ascending, and the sect could not afford to lose their strength- even if their numbers of Life Transformation experts had nearly returned to their peak, and would likely continue to increase. At the end of all of it, Anton was certain of the path he would take. It was hardly different than the choice he would have made if he pushed himself, but sometimes that was just the way the world worked. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He stood in the reconstructed observatory, empty except for him. There were other enthusiasts of the nighttime skies in the Order, but that was precisely why nobody else was present. It wasn¡¯t night, but the middle of the day. Anton confirmed his condition. He was fully rested and mentally prepared. Now all he had to do was go through with it. Anton began to gather the natural energy around him. The density around the peak was the highest anywhere in the Order, and it could easily fill him up. Now, he was pushing beyond that point, absorbing more than he could hold onto until his meridians and dantian strained, the energy compressed inside him. He looked through the telescope straight at the sun, an action more than sufficient to blind a normal person. A portion of his effort was diverted to fortify his eyes, and they slowly adjusted to pick out something more than just pure intensity of light. As the sun came into focus in his mind, his energy also extended outside the observatory to feel how the sun¡¯s rays fell upon the world around him. It was light and heat and intensity of energy. The rays even dissolved into the form of ¡®pure¡¯ natural energy, though practically every sort of power ultimately ended up there. The pressure continued to build up inside him. Anton controlled the strands of energy flowing through them, directing them through his body, and especially his dantians and meridians where the flow was greatest. The energy began to be consumed to power a transformation, but he continued to pull in more as quickly as he could, until he was overflowing. Even though he was aware of what to do, the process was dangerous. His body began to ache as it was nearly torn apart by the power, but he kept pushing forward. Failure would mean, at minimum, a long period of recovery from internal injuries. In the worst case, death. But concerning himself with failure would only hold him back. He simply thought of his goal. Power. Not for the sake of himself, at least not entirely, but to be used for the sake of those he cared about. The pressure and pain continued to build, but he pushed steadily forward, the fiery heat becoming part of him. Then, all at once the pressure released as if a dam had broken. He had formed the fifty-ninth star. The gushing energy found its way through him with plenty of room to spare, and the aches began to recede until they were a dull throb. Anton smiled. He had believed he could do it, but that was the case with everyone who made the attempt, unless they were truly suicidal. Many failed, and not all of them got a second chance. He slowly breathed out, feeling scorching heat in his mouth and lungs as the air moved. It hurt. Not a perfect breakthrough, then, but he was quite certain he would recover given time. ----- ¡°I¡¯m afraid we have to make you an elder,¡± Kseniya grinned at Anton when she next saw him. ¡°We¡¯ve recently refined the rules, and until such a time as we run into issues it¡¯s simply appropriate to have every Life Transformation cultivator retain the title of elder.¡± Anton nodded. With twenty Life Transformation cultivators, including himself, that left seventy-nine places for elders of Essence Collection- or lower. There were only ninety elders, but there were also nine Grand Elders. If there were circumstances that led to them needing more elders they would consider changing the number of elders as it was merely ceremonial, but for the moment Anton would be taking someone else¡¯s title. He didn¡¯t like that but¡­ he had to admit that the title was fitting. And if Catarina called him Elder Anton, he would see how she liked it. Though he was far beyond caring about that little detail, since most of his peers were actually of similar age or older than himself now. Though the upcoming generations were likely to change that average. Having achieved a long term goal, Anton wondered what he should focus on next. Improving his cultivation would continue, but he had a decade, perhaps two on the long end before the invasion? He wouldn¡¯t even make it to the midpoint of Life Transformation no matter how hard he pushed. As Anton took stock of himself, he realized that he had now spent a quarter of his life cultivating, though it hardly felt like it. Some days were tranquil and slow, but his mind always recalled his younger years and the time he had with Janina as if it had just been a short time before. People were strange like that. Anton took a single glance into his vessel of insights. The lone insights of Swordmaster Rahayu remained there, tantalizing, but Anton knew better than to touch it at the moment. For all he knew, it might cut him in half. The insights were normally safe, but he wasn¡¯t going to chance it- or waste the insights when he wasn¡¯t fully ready to comprehend it. What he could do was review everything he had been teaching people and improve whatever was lacking. His own power might improve somewhat in the coming years, but there was just enough time to raise up another batch or two of early Essence Collection cultivators, or at least Spirit Building. A couple decades of widespread cultivation knowledge was getting people used to it, but it could hardly be called universal. They would need everything they could to hold off ascension cultivators. Some more practice with his anti-ascension techniques would be good too. He understood how important they would be, now that he knew more. Ascension cultivators couldn¡¯t recover their ascension energy- or ¡®upper energy¡¯- while present in this world. He didn¡¯t know how easy it was for them to come and leave, but it at least wasn¡¯t simple. Otherwise they wouldn¡¯t be constrained to certain time periods, and half-exhausting one would be pointless as they would simply leave and return. Perhaps they could leave and come back, but it would at least put them out of commission for a time. Anton had to believe that, or hope that they could just kill anyone without giving them a chance to escape. But that would be difficult, even if he shot arrows after them for a hundred kilometers. At least he would not have to worry about them outrunning his attacks. His light arrows were significantly more powerful now. He might even give Kseniya a run for her money. Actually, sparring with her was a great idea. He wasn¡¯t exactly close in cultivation, but there wasn¡¯t a huge rift between them either. Chapter 339 The difference between the fifty-ninth star and the sixty-eighth might have seemed small to those who didn¡¯t understand, but even if each star was equally valuable a nearly fifteen percent increase in power was not something to be trifled with. Both were inside of Life Transformation, however, so they could vaguely match up against each other. The two people in question were Anton and Grand Elder Kseniya. At the current moment they were fifty kilometers apart in the open deserts of Droca. Neither had anything resembling shelter, but mundane terrain would make little impact on their attacks regardless. The empty terrain was chosen so they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about collateral damage to anything of import. That included local communities, of course. It was impossible for someone to call a start to the match. Someone standing in the middle shouting, if their voice could even travel to the two combatants, would take a full minute before it was heard on either side. Instead, the match started with Anton¡¯s movements. He was the one at the disadvantage, after all, so it was fair enough. For the sake of experimentation, his first shot took on the properties of light. It wasn¡¯t a perfect replica, as true light seemed to arrive instantaneously, even at such large scales. But it was swift enough, weaving its way through the barrage of counterattacks that Kseniya lodged in its direction. A hit, but unfortunately Kseniya was able to predict the precise target of his attack and gather her defensive energy there to negate his attack. The shots she fired to shoot his own attack out of the sky weren¡¯t suddenly gone just because they didn¡¯t impact his own attack, and their trajectories were very slightly altered to target him instead. He already had his own counters on the way, of course. The area between the two archers was like a curved arch of light as attacks went back and forth. Some collided in explosive detonations while others got much closer to their ultimate targets. Neither archer found much point in firing in a wider trajectory. Both of their senses extended well around them, so an attack curving around the side would simply take longer to arrive. Only when that was used to an advantage did it make sense. Anton couldn¡¯t say he learned everything from Kseniya, but at minimum half of his style came from her. His one possible advantage was the number of simultaneous attacks he could manage. Kseniya had a higher rate of fire and could time multiple arrows to arrive together, but Anton had the advantage of shooting from multiple bows at once. Whenever he could, Anton would disrupt a more powerful attack with a weaker light based shot. Kseniya¡¯s attacks weren¡¯t so flimsy that a slight disruption would tear them apart, but it was possible with the right angle and just enough power that he came out ahead. Even forcing an arrow to evade his own reduced its effectiveness slightly. His feet were constantly on the move, even before the first shots got close. It was difficult to truly move unpredictably, but changing his direction at somewhat random intervals and facing some arrows head on bought him breathing room. Both sides had a limit to the number of arrows they could fire as well as how many they could have in transit, as each required some amount of control and energy output. The small advantages were gained when either side could disrupt the other¡¯s rhythm, or pull tricks with their own. After a short time Anton knew he had lost- but that didn¡¯t mean he was going to give up. Every moment taught him something. It wasn¡¯t just watching a great archer like Kseniya, but an intentional act on her part. But the mere fact that she was teaching him didn¡¯t make him feel able to let down his guard for an instant, as arrows whizzed past him from all directions, often detonating when they got close. Even holding back for the sake of Anton¡¯s learning Kseniya would doubtless defeat him, but perhaps in a decade or two things would be different. The gap between them that had once felt completely insurmountable was now merely a matter of narrowing the distance piece by piece. The barrage that finally got Anton involved dozens of arrows from all direction focusing in on him, cutting off his movements as they targeted every part of him. He avoided all but one of them which slipped between his ribs¡­ then faded away. Anton was not so foolish as to think it wouldn¡¯t have gone through his heart and decimated everything inside of his ribcage if that was the true intention. It wasn¡¯t simply power that beat him, though, but technique. That made a much bigger gap than simply nine ranks of cultivation. ----- Everyone was growing restless, and the answer to that restlessness was ultimately an intercontinental competition. The looming threat of the coming invasion was felt keenly as everyone prepared for battle but failed to experience it. Not that there weren¡¯t conflicts, but they were kept to a minimum. The threat of death was never enough to stop cultivators, but the idea of complete annihilation was something different. And if it turned out that nothing happened, nobody would be concerned that they had been biding their time building themselves up. Of course, for that the sects would need resources which were ultimately finite. Even though the continents of Aicenith and Brogora were not completely occupied, certain materials were prized above others. Even precious herbs which could be grown indefinitely were not easy to maintain. Some lesser sects lacked the resources or land or both to keep up. Anton was a big proponent of the competition. It wasn¡¯t simply going to be a tournament, which would heavily favor the already established and strongest sects. In fact, they were not going to be participating¡­ except as instructors. The Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s secret realm was the location chosen. It was designed for the sake of training, after all. It was more than just combat prowess that was going to be measured. Growth was going to be a key factor. Given the option of different teachers people would be judged on how much they were able to progress given the closest thing they could have to a level playing field. Factors outside of combat would be measured as well. There were fields suited for growing various sorts of herbs, and materials were provided for smithing and enchanting. Formations would play a role as well. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Personally, Anton would have liked to cover more categories¡­ but he had to admit that combat would be the most important in the near future. Preparing for that with weapons and armor as well as making use of proper herbs or medicines to aid cultivation or recovery were the most important. The ability to make a road that would last centuries would be better afterwards. If they survived. Anton eagerly watched as hundreds of participants arrived every day, escorted in groups from various points around the continents. The intercontinental teleportation formations were being used primarily to transport people from Aicenith this year¡­ and for the next event in five more years the plan was to go the other way. Most participants were earlier in cultivation. There were many in Body Tempering- both those who were traditional cultivators and those who were part of the latest generation where there was a push to cultivate in any occupation. Career cultivators were most common, especially at the level of Spirit Building. A great number of Essence Collection cultivators would be present as well, even outside of the larger sects running things. Life Transformation cultivators were practically nonexistent among smaller sects, or they would stop being a smaller sect- but there were a few solo cultivators who made it. Chikere¡­ didn¡¯t count. Not that there was anyone who could teach her much outside of the people she already had access to. Either way, she was enough associated with the Million Sword Vault that she wasn¡¯t allowed to participate. Not as a competitor, anyway. She would be available for selecting as a teacher. Few people would benefit from that choice, however. She was a genius sort, much like Kseniya- which meant those without the right understanding would just become more lost under her guidance. Choosing the right teacher was also a sort of test of aptitude. The time for the selection finally came about, with random lots being drawn to determine who was allowed to choose instructors first. That was as fair as it could be, and there had been a few days for everyone to familiarize themselves with the options. Anton was pleased when many people he recognized came to greet him. That included people from Windrip, Leo and Kit, people from Arbington, and many others. He was even more pleased when the vast majority of them chose someone else as their instructor. Most of them weren¡¯t archers, and even a few of those were better suited for learning from someone closer to their level. Anton had people from both Spirit Building and Essence Collection under his tutelage, as well as a single student in Body Tempering. For the first lesson, Anton selected bows for each of them to make use of, specifically targeting an achievable but difficult draw weight. There was only one difficulty. One of the Essence Collection students was too strong. ¡°What is your name?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Nthanda,¡± the woman replied. Her dark skin and particular accent placed her as from Ambati. ¡°Is that so. You¡¯re a practitioner of Western Steel Body?¡± She nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a bit of a conundrum. I don¡¯t have a bow suitable for you. I think you might not benefit from my instructions as much. Though you are welcome to stay for a while to find out.¡± She nodded again. ¡°I will stay.¡± ¡°Very well then. Each of the rest of you has been assigned a bow and some training arrows.¡± Anton pulled out his own bow. ¡°All of you are to aim downrange towards the targets. Don¡¯t worry about distance now. We won¡¯t be shooting just yet. I just don¡¯t want anyone pointing at each other.¡± That put Anton in the direction they might shoot, but if he was going to get injured by something someone accidentally hit him with, he might as well give up his position. ¡°Now simply draw back your bow like this, fletching just past your ear, and hold. Don¡¯t use any energy to augment your strength, just your muscles.¡± He was followed with a myriad of complaints about the draw strength of the bows assigned being too heavy. Anton took special note of those who managed to draw their bows, as well as those who failed but didn¡¯t complain and kept trying. Nthanda was simply holding her position without speaking, though that was to be expected. She was using her own bow, and the Western Steel Body was focused on training the body above all else even past the ranks of Spirit Building. ¡°Pay close attention to my movements,¡± Anton said. ¡°I will do it again. I assure you that you are all capable of drawing the specific bows matched to you. Let me show you. Make sure to engage all of your muscles and follow the proper motions. If you do so, you can draw the bow.¡± The lone Body Tempering cultivators was huffing and puffing, his face sweating, but he continuously adjusted himself to follow Anton¡¯s motions. Perhaps it was a bit unfair, but Anton had them continue the practice for an hour. Those who were able to draw the bow were told to fire arrows at the target, but not concern themselves with hitting or missing. Anton would return their arrows to them after they arrived at their destination, keeping everyone out of the line of fire. Several students quit, angrily unable to accept the results. Anton shook his head. They were unable or unwilling to follow instructions, and they only complained instead of asking for specific guidance. One other simply chose to use their energy to start shooting the targets. Anton approached the woman. ¡°Perhaps you would do better to seek another teacher, if you will not follow my guidance.¡± That was the nicest way he had to say she was being kicked out¡­ and really, it would be better for her. ¡°I understand,¡± she nodded. She apparently thought the same, perhaps believing him incompentent. At the end of an hour people were exhausted. The Body Tempering cultivator had barely managed to fully draw the bow one, firing the arrow almost directly into the ground in front of himself after he did so. His name was¡­ Ingram, Anton determined. At least he didn¡¯t give up easily. ¡°Well then,¡± Anton said. ¡°I see everyone remaining can follow instructions. You have the ability to learn.¡± Anton looked to Nthanda. She had at least adjusted her stance to more closely match his, even though she wasn¡¯t restricted the same way the others were having to make use of the maximum amount of their strength to barely draw. ¡°Next we will be shooting while making use of natural energy. Hand in your bows, please.¡± Nthanda just looked at him. ¡°As for you¡­ I might actually have something after all.¡± Anton hadn¡¯t intentionally made things difficult for her, but he really wasn¡¯t suited for teaching someone focused on strengthening their body. He pulled out the bone bow that had no string. ¡°I will show you how to form a string. Then I want you to shoot with the minimum of energy, relying on muscle power.¡± It should actually work well for her, given her cultivation style. Everyone¡¯s strength required to pull the bow was higher when they were allowed to use natural energy. Anton demonstrated the best ways to make use of their energy to aid the process, and they spent more time just shooting- or trying to shoot. Ingram was perhaps worse at controlling his natural energy than his own body, though he eventually managed to shoot once before he collapsed. But next up was time for individual instruction, and Anton knew enough about everyone to get them started. Chapter 340 Anton knew that a large part of the reason people would have chosen him as a teacher was to learn Horizon Shot. In truth, making optimal use of your body wasn¡¯t the main requirement for that technique. But Anton was here to make people the best they could be, and that meant starting from the basics. Besides, the requirements for Horizon Shot also involved years of training in sensing energy at a long distance- in the weeks Anton had available he could at best teach people to shoot to the limit of their vision. Useful, but not necessarily better than having good basics and being efficient with their energy. It was inappropriate to have favorites in this competitive setting, but Anton couldn¡¯t help it. Besides he did his best to train everyone- he just couldn¡¯t help but focus on the front and rear of the pack. Nthanda was clearly very experienced with archery. If she had any flaws, Anton would say that it was a lack of proper instruction. If a cultivator was going to focus on training their body beyond the normal levels, most focused on the use of melee weapons. A sword could be swung with more force just by strengthening it with natural energy. A bow wouldn¡¯t provide more force beyond its limits, and reinforcing it with energy would only prevent it from breaking. There were techniques to change that, but that was the basic idea. Archery did make great use of physical strength, but it had the drawback that it became heavily dependent on the quality of the bow and arrows used. The Spirit Arrows technique removed the need for physical arrows, though specialized ones were still useful if available. At the opposite end was Ingram. He was still in the basic stage of Body Tempering- either because he was new to cultivation or not particularly talented. Anton wasn¡¯t fairly certain he had no experience with a bow. Yet he¡¯d chosen to study with Anton regardless. Anton had to admit he could teach other things, but if he was dealing with a group then it was most efficient to mainly cover his specialties. The first round of tests¡­ didn¡¯t go well for Ingram. He lost his matches and had no particular strengths outside of combat. In a normal tournament that would have meant he was out for good- but this one focused on improvement. Higher ranking cultivators were still going to get better resources because they could actually use them, but even someone like Ingram could get a huge boost to their success if they managed to perform well. Even though nobody was forced out, some people quit after the first rounds, seeing what they were matched against. None of Anton¡¯s students quit though. At least, not those who had stayed through the initial training. He wasn¡¯t a harsh teacher, but he did have high standards. If students weren¡¯t giving their all, he would look at them with supreme disappointment. Anton didn¡¯t have time to delve into the depths of people¡¯s lives to see what might cause them to do poorly on certain days, but he got them back on track however he could. ¡°Remember,¡± Anton instructed Ingram. ¡°Circulate your cultivation even as you use your muscles. It is how they grow best in the Body Tempering stage.¡± He was shooting at a stationary target no more than a hundred meters away. ¡°Keep your eyes off of what the others are doing,¡± Anton reminded him. ¡°You¡¯re not at the optimal point to learn from watching them.¡± He might also grow discouraged from seeing people who were better- regardless of whether or not he might achieve the same level. Anton couldn¡¯t tell just yet. Others had moving targets or even volunteer cultivators. Anton was watching everything, if not with his eyes then with his senses. The combined rate of fire of all of his students was easier to track than just Grand Elder Kseniya, so he was able to provide everyone the advice they needed. Shooting faster, slower, holding their breath before they released, or a slight adjustment in stance. ¡°Elder Anton,¡± Nthanda said as he came to her. ¡°I don¡¯t understand the creation of the string. It¡¯s not¡­ right.¡± She was using the bone bow that came with no string. Forming one out of energy was difficult, especially for a cultivator that focused more on continued body tempering. Admitting a lack of understanding was difficult for everyone, and Anton felt that was especially true for her. ¡°Here, let me show you.¡± Anton formed a string in the air in front of her. ¡°I prefer to start from a single point and work outward, but that might not be best for you. You can also work from one side, even making the motions as if you are stringing a bow while you form the connection,¡± Anton demonstrated. ¡°As for the properties you want, focus on the maximum amount of snap you can get. Go ahead and feel this one. It should be about right for you.¡± As Nthanda reached out to touch the string, Anton anchored it in place so it would act as if it were attached to a bow- specifically the bone bow she was using. She couldn¡¯t use it in the competition since it wasn¡¯t hers, but it developed her muscles by actually being tough enough to resist. Training her energy with the string was also useful, as ultimately it would allow Nthanda to surpass the limits of her bow. With just a portion of it requiring the use of natural energy, it actually suited her better. Ultimately, however, her ability to draw a bow was only going to be part of what she needed. Beyond shooting as many arrows as they could fit into the day, Anton trained his students in fighting against other archers and against melee opponents. If an archer was far enough that their opponent couldn¡¯t counterattack, then target-style shooting was good- but usually they would have to defend themselves. Attaining distance was best, but even if that wasn¡¯t possible because of a faster opponent there were ways to use a bow in close combat. And for when that didn¡¯t work, Anton taught them how to quickly switch to their favored weapons without just abandoning their bow or leaving it awkwardly draped over them. Sometimes that involved using just a single hand to fight in melee while holding their bow securely in the other, and other times it meant quickly using a storage bag. The latter was inconvenient for rapidly switching back to their bow, but sometimes necessary. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ----- Inside of the arena, Ingram took a deep breath. It wasn¡¯t a steadying breath as he drew his bow, but simply to calm himself down. He had completely screwed up the first rounds of battle, and though the competition was all about improving it would still be held against him. After all, if a bad start gave better results in the end everyone would throw their first matches. That was also why there was a week of training beforehand, so everyone could at least have some amount of control over their results. He had been hoping to break through to the next level of his cultivation technique before this match. He wasn¡¯t even at the peak of Body Tempering yet, but he¡¯d been making significant progress training under Anton despite being middle aged. In fact, that was the main reason he had sought the man out. His skill in archery was of secondary interest compared to his general ability to train people. Having started when he was older- much older, if the rumors were true- he had an idea of the various pitfalls. Ingram hadn¡¯t even realized how much his core technique had focused on exercise as the primary part of Body Tempering, minimizing the emphasis on how natural energy helped with recovery and growth during that process. But now he¡¯d definitely learned something, and that was why he didn¡¯t want to lose. It would make Anton look bad. Well, he also wanted whatever resources he could obtain for the sake of his future growth. That was only natural. His opponent was a man from the Desert Lizard Sect. Ingram didn¡¯t know much more than that, because they were a small sect from the local area. He was from a whole different continent. However, there were some things his eyes told him. Like the fact that the man had scales. That was¡­ not completely abnormal. Some cultivators tried to radically change their bodies to gain the strength of animals, and when it worked it was quite effective. Other times¡­ they caused harm to themselves. At least this man didn¡¯t seem to have done that. Beyond the scales, he also had claws. Seeing no other weapons, Ingram assumed that was how he would attack. The arena they had ended up in had some beneficial features for Ingram, including slopes and boulders to get in the way of a charging attacker. All he had to do was make use of what he had been taught. When the match began and he drew his bow, Ingram almost broke it. He was used to pulling back with his full force to get the string just barely to his ear, and his arm almost went past that. Fortunately, he stopped. At least he knew his strength had improved over the last couple weeks. His first arrow flew forwards towards his opponent, who blocked with¡­ his arm. It was a combination of gathering energy to dampen the blow and letting his scales do the rest of the work. Ingram knew he would have to be less predictable or have more powerful shots or both to really damage the man. He had time for a couple more shots before the man got close. Ingram was already circling around a boulder, ready to shoot the man as he ran around it. He didn¡¯t expect it to be broken in half. At least he was able to sense the buildup of energy before it happened. When it shattered to pieces, it was clear the man didn¡¯t have much momentum left to attack him. Ingram got his first hit, but it only cut along the man¡¯s shoulder, partially dodged and half deflected by the scales. It seemed to have been a massive waste of energy and an obvious opening for nothing until the man stomped, sending a cloud of dust and sand into the air- and towards Ingram. At their level it could only really cover one person, but being unable to see his enemy was a huge disadvantage for an archer. If Anton hadn¡¯t covered some better sensing techniques, he would barely even be able to target the man¡¯s torso. The sand wasn¡¯t just blocking his vision but grating against his defensive energy- which was better than it scraping off layers of his skin. He ducked and dodged away from slashing claws while trying to find opportunities to shoot. Eventually he won, but not because of anything particularly amazing on his part. His opponent simply wore himself out, the boulder smashing and constant control over a cloud of sand being too much for cultivators of their level. It was anticlimactic, but if Ingram hadn¡¯t improved so much he likely would have been taken out. He just hoped he¡¯d perform well in the following matches. ----- Nthanda looked up at the tower in front of her. ¡°So you say that once I go through the tower, I will be stronger?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°It trains people to control and resist energy¡­ but for you I believe it would be something that could be accomplished without external use of energy.¡± She frowned. Somehow the man had known some techniques to supplement her training with Western Steel Body, even though he clearly didn¡¯t use them himself. She didn¡¯t mind, but the man had quite a bit of knowledge. Then again, some of the clans in Ambati had suddenly begun to grow rapidly in power from new techniques- it wasn¡¯t strange if it happened with others. ¡°I¡¯ll try it,¡± she said. There was nothing to lose from making an attempt. So far, he had been a good instructor- even though he¡¯d said he might not be the best for her. But he was a powerful archer, and Nthanda had heard the other from his sect was¡­ difficult to learn from. She stepped into the tower. She did feel the pressure. It was like a Body Temperer standing right next to her, maybe pushing on her a little bit. It increased as she walked up the tower, but even halfway she found it almost trivial. Towards the top it became more of a challenge, but she pushed against the heavy sensation. She was rather disappointing, but brought her prize back. ¡°I completed it,¡± she said. The old man looked at her. ¡°What do you mean? You just started.¡± He pointed to stairs that led down- stairs she could have sworn hadn¡¯t been there before. ¡°You merely picked up the key to the entrance.¡± When she stepped down the first stair it was like she was hit by a boulder. Nthanda grinned. Maybe she would get something from this after all. Each step forced more weight on her¡­ and she thought that maybe she could actually improve some muscles that hadn¡¯t found a challenge in a long time. Chapter 341 The pressure encompassing the lower part of the tower was significantly more difficult to handle. Nthanda found it threw off even simple motions like walking. Unlike the upper portion, her normal senses were restricted. It wasn¡¯t just dark, even sound didn¡¯t work quite right. The times when she passed people on the stairs were the only time she could sense people, much in above or below and they would feel like they disappeared. Isolation wasn¡¯t bad, but it was worse when she found it difficult to move. The pressure bearing down on her made her feel ten times as heavy, a weight that wasn¡¯t unmanageable but made every stair feel like jumping off a cliff with the pressure of her feet impacting. Then there was the thought of exhausting herself too much to climb back up. It was foolish to think that she would be allowed to die in the dark, but it felt like it. When she almost stepped on something, it threw her off balance and sent her careening into a wall. For a moment she just lay on the ground, taking stock of herself. Nothing broken, it seemed, but she would be bruised. She could have cushioned her impact with natural energy, but even if she hadn¡¯t been training to go wholly without it¡­ it was difficult to call upon in her current location. As for the thing that disrupted her, it was¡­ a beetle? No, that wasn¡¯t right. Its size would indicate that, but the shape was all wrong. It was clearly some sort of insect though, as long as her palm and two fingers wide. The thing scurried towards her, dipping over the stairs. Nthanda prepared herself to fight, though the thought was laughable. How could a simple bug harm her? It stopped out of arm¡¯s reach and waved its antennae and front legs. Was that some sort of threat? It was laughable, except¡­ the fact that it seemed to be unconcerned about the looming pressure of the area. It made her feel ten times heavier, but that was as a human. It wasn¡¯t that her weight was multiplying, but a force bearing down on her- more or less the same for everyone. An insect would crumble under that force, especially without any trace of natural energy. That was the thought, at least¡­ but it wasn¡¯t dead. Nthanda shook her head. A lone ant wouldn¡¯t matter anyway. She took a quick check to make sure it wasn¡¯t some sort of distraction, but didn¡¯t sense any more. ¡°What do you want, ant?¡± She wasn¡¯t actually expecting a response, but it waved its arms more. She couldn¡¯t interpret it as meaning something, however. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you mean.¡± If the ant was just randomly doing something she would have expected it to react the same way to her voice, but instead it flopped down to all legs, pacing back and forth for a moment. Then it lifted itself all the way to its hind legs, almost standing straight up, while wiggling its antennae. ¡°Do you want to be picked up?¡± Nthanda held out her finger. If it tried to bite her, she would crush it. She wasn¡¯t sure what it was made of, but she was certain she could accomplish it. If it happened to be poisoned, she would just have to endure that as she made her way back to the surface. But if the thing was friendly, she couldn¡¯t just not try to interact with it. It did, in fact, crawl peacefully onto her finger, then up her arm. She tracked it warily. Her body should be able to resist the sharpness of the thing¡¯s mandibles, but it was still awkward having it climb up to her shoulder and circle around her neck. Then it stopped on the other shoulder and pointed its limbs up the stairs. ¡°You want to go up?¡± The ant replied with something she was almost certain was a nod, though she wouldn¡¯t have been able to sense such a precise motion much away from her body. ¡°Well, I could use a break anyway.¡± The ant seemed quite content to ride on her shoulder and do little else, though Nthanda felt weird passing the other trainees. Either nobody noticed it or they decided it wasn¡¯t worth mentioning, because she soon found herself outside. Maybe she could ask someone about the ant. Elder Anton would be a good start. As soon as she approached him the ant leapt from her shoulder. She wondered if she had unwittingly brought something dangerous, but the man caught it behind it back, turning towards her and the ant. ¡°Hello there little fellow. How are you doing?¡± The ant waved its antennae and front limbs enthusiastically. ¡°Yes, I met the Great Queen.¡± More excited movements. ¡°You¡¯ll have to excuse me, I couldn¡¯t quite keep up there. I¡¯m not that familiar with your language.¡± The ant was slower after that. ¡°Oh, sure, I can demonstrate.¡± Anton held his other hand nearby, and out of seemingly nowhere an uncomfortably powerful energy filled his palm. Uncomfortable for Nthanda, anyway, as the ant jumped into it without a shred of caution and¡­ ate it? ¡°Yes, it works just like that. Though I¡¯m not sure how it will be for real.¡± Since the conversation seemed to be coming to an end, Nthanda spoke up. ¡°Excuse me, Elder Anton¡­ what do you know about that ant?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve met this one in particular, but there are relatives. They¡¯re quite intelligent¡­ and extremely energy resistant.¡± He nodded, ¡°They¡¯re allies in the upcoming fight with the invaders.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Allies¡­?¡± Nthanda asked. ¡°Well, I¡¯d hardly call them anything else. They¡¯re not pets. I¡¯d generally not call anything intelligent enough to understand speech a pet. Except perhaps Fuzz,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Regardless, they have also developed a sign language using their front appendages. I am relatively familiar with the ants, but I¡¯m still learning the language. I have to say it¡¯s much more natural than our initial attempts to have them write everything.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Nthanda nodded. ¡°Why was it here?¡± ¡°Good question. Why were you in the tower?¡± More waving of limbs. ¡°Oh, I see. I could have told you there was no food down there. It¡¯s certainly a safe, defensible location- but it¡¯s an awful long walk to get food.¡± ¡°It wants food?¡± Nthanda asked, reaching into her bag. ¡°I¡¯m sure I have something.¡± ¡°Well, she might be interested in eating¡­ but I believe the point was to scout out spots for a nest. Since that area¡¯s not claimed by humans, they can be relatively undisturbed. But it¡¯s no good without food.¡± More waving. ¡°Yes, you should have known that nothing would live down there. Few things can survive without protecting themselves with energy.¡± More waving. ¡°She¡¯s an exception, of course. She¡¯s one of the humans who focused on that.¡± A final back and forth of wiggly limbs. ¡°Well, I find natural energy quite useful personally.¡± The ant did something akin to shrugging and leaped back over to Nthanda, who held out her hand like Anton had. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying.¡± ¡°She asked if you want to learn to be like her¡± ¡°What, an ant? Can I? Should I?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know the answer to any of those questions,¡± Elder Anton shrugged. ¡°But you could try. I think they¡¯re a fascinating object of study, though likely much more useful for a body temperer like yourself. If I suddenly had nothing to do with energy, I would just have to give up.¡± ¡°Well¡­ sure. I¡¯ll try. How do I start?¡± The ant on Nthanda¡¯s hand was so enthusiastic that the rear limbs got involved in the communication, making it pretty much impossible to parse. Not that she knew any of it anyway. She¡¯d probably have to learn that, if she wanted to learn from¡­ ants. ----- The next week Nthanda found herself back in the arena for another round of tests. She clutched her left hand tight. Her new thing would only be a secret once. She had to make it count, if it worked at all. If it didn¡¯t¡­ well, she had other methods to use. In her other hand she held a long polearm with a blade. She would have preferred to make use of a proper bow, but she didn¡¯t have one to match her strength. Arrows were another problem entirely, though there was a certain point where they could be used nearly indefinitely. The halberd was her backup weapon of choice since her less potent energy didn¡¯t allow for extending her reach with it. And it also had a lot of leverage to make use of her strength. The weapon itself had to be specially made to be more durable than others, since she would be reinforcing it to a smaller degree than other cultivators. That was an advantage in some ways, because if her opponent had only a limited amount of damage they could do, she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about her weapon at all. Her opponent was a man who radiated a sense of fire. It wasn¡¯t anything familiar. Perhaps he was from Aicenith, though Nthanda couldn¡¯t guarantee she would recognize every style on their own continent. Especially not with the recent shifts in available techniques. His weapon was a chain, quite a long one in fact. If he was able to properly control it then he would have the advantage of reach, but such things could be quite unwieldy. Regardless, the battle began with both opponents moving towards each other, Nthanda¡¯s hands both gripping her halberd while her opponent had separate lengths of chain dangling from each hand. As expected one of his chains whipped out to their full length, fire wrapping around them as links tried to circle her from the side. Nthanda¡¯s options appeared to be best suited by trying to block it with her halberd, but she knew it would merely wrap around her weapon. That might even be what her opponent wanted- while she didn¡¯t want it yet. Instead she dropped down low, using the weight of her outstretched halberd to balance her backwards lean. Her opponent was at least half ready for her to duck, but he had obviously not expected her to get almost parallel to the ground and immediately get back on her feet. The flame surrounding the chain were hot, but at the distance of half a meter it was nothing that could harm Nthanda. Her body sprang forward into a lunge after the chains passed over, closing the distance between herself and her opponent. The man had more than one length of chain, however, and the second coil held in his other and leapt forward to meet her attack. She pulled back to keep her weapon from being entangled and turned her thrust into a wide sweep. The first set of chains was already looping back towards here, and Nthanda knew she wouldn¡¯t remain unentangled for the duration of the battle. Even so, she focused on avoiding it and trying attacks to measure her opponent. Even if she didn¡¯t need to avoid the flames, making her opponent think she did would be a nice advantage. Her left arm was entrapped a few moments later, followed by the halberd briefly held in just her right hand. The chain wrapped around that too, locking her weapon in place. The flames were uncomfortable¡­ but unfortunately for her opponent they couldn¡¯t really harm her. For the sake of expediency she gathered her natural energy to push for a deciding strike¡­ and found that she could barely control it. Something about her opponent¡¯s techniques weakened her control. That would have been devastating if she needed her natural energy to fight. Both her arms yanked suddenly, forcing her opponent to decide between being pulled towards her or losing his weapons. He thought there was a third choice- anchoring himself to the ground with his natural energy- but it was a fake choice. He slowed down slightly, but still moved. Slack formed in the chains from the combined effects of his movement and his distraction, momentarily limiting his control. He managed to twist himself out of the way of Nthanda¡¯s halberd as he moved, though she wasn¡¯t going to actually impale him on it anyway. It would have been half an impalement at best. Instead, she clocked him in the jaw with her left hand. She hadn¡¯t even needed to use her special new technique. In some ways that was good, but she also didn¡¯t know if it would work. Well, the next match might tell her that. It would almost certainly be with someone stronger¡­ or at least more suited to fight against her. Chapter 342 It was impossible for Nthanda to undergo a fundamental change within a short period of time, and even though she had managed to greatly improve herself her peers were not remaining idle either. The next few matches were filled with equal parts wins and losses. That was how Nthanda discovered a serious flaw in her new technique. It was obviously incomplete, but she hadn¡¯t even gotten a chance to use it because of the way she had developed it. It didn¡¯t help she didn¡¯t have a proper bow to use either. Perhaps it was a foolish notion to begin with. Working around the changes to her left hand made the rest of her tasks more difficult¡­ but if it actually worked as she wanted, she was interested in completing the transformation. So far it hadn¡¯t been practical in actual combat, but that was her fault more than the technique itself. She looked at her left palm. Unlike her other, it was not paler in the rest of her skin but darker than even her normal deep brown. It didn¡¯t have the same sheen to it as the ants¡¯ chitin, but it was only an approximation of the creatures. No matter how much a human cultivator might take on certain aspects of creatures, they remained fundamentally the same. Nthanda¡¯s final opponent was a woman who hardly looked suited for her weapon. Cultivators didn¡¯t necessarily need muscle to wield weapons, but the woman didn¡¯t even look as if she was up to the same standard of body tempering as most cultivators, let alone Nthanda. Perhaps most wouldn¡¯t have noticed, but she was more sensitive to such things. For most the method through which they made use of their power didn¡¯t make much difference as it had to be dealt with regardless, but for Nthanda¡¯s purposes this was the best chance she would get. Her opponent¡¯s weapon was essentially a spiked metal club. It was not quite as long as a proper polearm, but it had a good amount of reach to it. She might have called it a staff had it been symmetrical, but the way it was shaped made it clear only the top end was for bludgeoning, piercing, and otherwise damaging people. The battle began with clashing weapons. Nthanda¡¯s opponent seemed to be aiming for her weapon directly instead of trying to avoid such collisions. It was a sensible enough technique given how well it worked. Nthanda was used to being able to force her opponent¡¯s backwards with her powerful strikes, but her opponent had remarkable stability through a connection to the ground. Furthermore, the impacts strained Nthanda¡¯s muscles to the point she couldn¡¯t just try to wear out her opponent¡¯s natural energy. That suited her just fine though. There was no point in testing a trump card against an unworthy opponent. Nthanda continued to weave her halberd as she could, making use of her reach to hold off her aggressive opponent. She continued to fight until her opponent knocked her weapon to the side, not entirely by coincidence. Her opponent rushed forward, the iron club swinging down at an angle that was not quite vertical to avoid her easily dodging it. Nthanda still had her grip on her halberd but it was too far to the side to bring it to bear. The club came down straight into Nthanda¡¯s palm. One of the spikes pierced through her hand, and the force of the blow pushed her into the ground up to her waist. Yet the muscles and bones in her arms, torso, and legs held firm. Taking such a blow head on should have shattered something regardless of how much she tempered her body, but it lost some of its force the moment of impact¡­ and was unable to maintain the followup momentum. Nthanda¡¯s grip closed on the weapon. She didn¡¯t want to use such a reckless technique but it was the one most appropriate to testing her ability. And it had worked. Her opponent struggled to pull away, but could not force her grip off of the weapon. Nthanda did find herself slammed into the ground back and forth for her refusal to give up her grip, but the force of the blows was very little. That was because from her hand extended an area that mostly negated the energy around it. It barely extended beyond her touch, but that meant the most critical portion of the weapon did not have the additional momentum and power that it required to be a threat. It wasn¡¯t even particularly tiring for Nthanda. Yet the technique wasn¡¯t without flaws. It didn¡¯t just weaken her opponent¡¯s energy, but also her own. That meant she was unable to protect her palm, and that meant the weapon had maintained its power up until the point of contact. But still, it worked well enough. It wasn¡¯t complete negation like the ants, but it suited her. Soon enough her opponent realized that Nthanda wasn¡¯t going to let go or give up, and the halberd she leveled in their direction gave them incentive to surrender. Nthanda grinned. It was just one battle, but even if it didn¡¯t vastly improve her rating she would at least be walking away from the competition with great improvements. Now she just had to figure out how to make use of the same with a bow. The strange bone bow that Anton lent her for training was just about right, but unfortunately she didn¡¯t have one of her own that matched. Perhaps she could develop the technique to turn on and off as well. ----- Anton sighed. Watching a skilled archer fight without a bow was a shame. He had to admit that Nthanda was much more skilled than himself in melee combat, but that was likely due to necessity more than choice. She¡¯d chosen a difficult road, one that was difficult to travel without proper access to equipment. Though that was what the competition was for, wasn¡¯t it? Despite the fact that Ingram was significantly behind the other students- and debatably less talented- Anton also admired the man for his determination. He had gotten quite far with a poor technique and little opportunity to learn more. Anton wondered how far he himself would have gotten had he not been given access to the Ninety-Nine Stars from the beginning. Could he still have developed to where he was now, or would he have failed to take even the first step, ultimately dying in the attempt? The latter wasn¡¯t a pleasant thought, but that was exactly one of the reasons Anton was so interested in giving others the same sorts of opportunities. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Few of his other students maintained his interest in the long term, though he still tried his best to help them grow. Perhaps they would become something more, or perhaps both sides would only remember each other in the context of a competition for resources. There were others Anton was interested in though. Students that weren¡¯t his. One of particular interest was a young woman studying under Chikere. Or rather, the only student still with Chikere. The swordmaster had talent, that was certain, but the ability to learn and the ability to teach others wasn¡¯t always connected. Finding people with the right set of attributes to learn from Chikere was¡­ not common. There were others like her, of course. Million Sword Vault valued many of the same things as Chikere, but as they were one of the greater sects they were not involved in learning here in this competition. Instead, it was mostly independent cultivators and smaller sects. When the example that was given to someone was a single sword swing or a more impressive but immensely less comprehensible two dozen swords moving simultaneously on their own, it was expected that people would drop out. Combined with Chikere¡¯s casual nature towards injuries and her students decided they might learn better elsewhere. And they were probably mostly right. The young woman seemed to be named Florry, as she had introduced herself to Anton previously. She was kneeling on the ground among a dozen swords, with one resting across her lap. Chikere seemed to be trying to explain some details of sword techniques, and the young woman listened raptly. ¡°And then a swish and flick, and you get a sword which grows on a tree. Though most of them were kind of bad.¡± Chikere nodded seriously, ¡°But you still have to defeat the sword bugs when you see them.¡± ¡°How are things going here?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Good!¡± Chikere didn¡¯t seem disappointed that most of her students were gone. Actually, Anton wasn¡¯t sure if she would have noticed at all, unless they were carrying decent swords. ¡°Hey, you¡­ show Anton your new technique!¡± Florry shook her head, as if she were coming out of some sort of daze. Then she stood up, knocking over some nearby swords in the process. ¡°Yes, of course swordmaster Chikere!¡± Florry turned and bowed to Anton. ¡°It¡¯s not much, but¡­ I¡¯ve been doing my best.¡± Taking the sword that had been resting on her lap and one more that was sticking point first into the ground, she held them in either hand. After lowering herself into a stance, her eyes took on a serious edge. She flicked the tips of her swords underneath the hilts of swords surrounding her on opposite sides, springing them into the air. They landed balanced on her own swords, nearly point to point at right angles. That was just the start, however, as her movements gradually gained confidence, speeding up. A moment later the swords were flicked forward, slicing through the air at an unknown target. Anton felt just a bit of energy controlling their motion, but their trajectory was set by the force of the two other blades propelling them at strange angles. The remaining blades on the ground likewise went towards the same imaginary opponent, arranging themselves in a disorganized pattern in the ground behind. Anton had to admit it really wasn¡¯t much more than a party trick of sorts. Not that he would expect much better from a Spirit Building cultivator. Controlling a large number of swords simultaneously like Chikere was not going to happen immediately. Even so, Anton could feel it might develop into something interesting. ¡°Good. And the other one!¡± Chikere called out. Florry closed her eyes in concentration for a moment, centering herself. Then the two swords in her hands sliced past each other once vertically and once horizontally, weaving in opposite directions. Despite his lack of training in swords, Anton recognized the shadow of a technique, mostly because the original had been burned into his memory. It was only a tiny fraction as impressive as Swordmaster Rahayu¡¯s final slash, but the presence was there. ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± Anton said. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you could do that at all last time I came by.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been practicing,¡± the young woman said. ¡°But¡­ I can¡¯t do much in real battles.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say that,¡± Chikere commented. ¡°I know you can do it.¡± If it were anyone else, Anton would have been surprised at her punctuating her point with a sword slash. It was close enough to Florry to cause her to take half a step back. ¡°You just have to react to your opponent.¡± ¡°But what if I¡¯m not fast enough?¡± Chikere shrugged, ¡°Then just react before they do anything.¡± Anton cleared her throat. ¡°I believe she means to predict what your opponent will do and act accordingly.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I say that?¡± Chikere tilted her head. ¡°Umm¡­¡± Florry spoke timidly, ¡°Normally people don¡¯t call it reacting if you do it first.¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°What¡¯s the difference? Besides, it¡¯s important to make sure your actions don¡¯t change what your opponent is going to do. Unless you want them to.¡± ¡°... I think I get it,¡± Florry said. Chikere nodded, ¡°Good. But maybe you¡¯d get more if you saw it in action. Say, Anton, are you busy?¡± ¡°I am not,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°In that case-¡± Anton held up his hand, ¡°Only if there are trained doctors from the Million Sword Vault on standby,¡± Anton cut off her request for a fight. ¡°And we¡¯d need to invite both of our students. Perhaps talking to others would be beneficial as well. I¡¯m sure more people could learn something from a high level battle.¡± ¡°Great! I¡¯ll see you when that¡¯s all set up then.¡± In short, all of the work had been hoisted onto Anton¡¯s shoulders, though it was just as well because he doubted she would be capable of organizing much. Unless there were the right people around to interpret some of her ideas. Chapter 343 When putting on a combat for people to see and learn from, Anton was unable to work at his full capacity. Especially when doing so for lower level cultivators, most would only be able to perceive one of the two endpoints of the battle. If Anton actually cared about winning that would be a problem, but he had worked with Chikere to put together a reasonably viewable setup for the battle. They started slow. Anton took a few dozen shots with his bow and Chikere cut them out of the air with her sword- or dodged them, letting them fly off into the sky. Both combatants focused on the skill of their movements more than the power, because teaching people the lesson that overwhelming power trumped proper technique wasn¡¯t useful, even if it happened to be true. Though obviously having both was the best option. Anton brought another pair of bows into the equation, one the sword-bow and the other the bone bow. Chikere responded in kind by making use of more swords and not just staying on the defensive. She allowed herself to fight suboptimally and allow Anton points where he could retreat from melee so the demonstration could continue. As the battle continued, it gradually became more serious. Neither side was trying to hurt the other, but at some point they stopped trying not to injure each other. Anton found himself with a myriad of small cuts that were indicative of what could have been much greater wounds. In response, he started a rain of arrows from those that had ¡®missed¡¯ and were simply circling in the distance. It wasn¡¯t a particularly useful tactic given how he could only maintain a few dozen shots at once, but it certainly surprised the students. Some of Anton¡¯s shots made it through Chikere¡¯s flurry of defenses, and her ability to dodge attacks by a hair was insufficient against Anton¡¯s ability to predict her movements, forcing her into bad positions with a rain of arrows. He even made use of ascension energy, but the outcome of the battle had been decided from the start. Chikere was not only better suited to close combat but higher in cultivation as she had both the great talent and youth. Anton was glad to have people to stitch his muscles back together, as he was not terribly familiar with recovering from debilitating wounds and never intended to be. It took him a long time to heal regardless of whether or not he could accelerate it with the use of natural energy, and he wasn¡¯t a fan of pain. Allowing himself to get injured in battle was sloppy anyway. He would tolerate injuries as they happened, but never voluntarily choose to receive them. Even an hour after the battle had ended, some of the spectators were stunned to silence. Others couldn¡¯t help but try to discuss with each other, but putting what they had seen into words was difficult. Most people didn¡¯t get to see battles of Life Transformation cultivators, and it was even less likely to have been done for the purpose of teaching them. They would be given some days to digest the information before there were other demonstrations by different cultivators. ----- Several months passed in what felt like an instant to some. In the end it was an extremely lengthy and costly competition, and not just because of the distribution of rewards. Monopolizing the time of dozens of Life Transformation cultivators wasn¡¯t cheap, either in direct cost or because of what else they could have been doing. Anton firmly believed the value of teaching younger generations was worthwhile, and he was not alone in that belief, but some had required payment. As for the rewards¡­ they were distributed through the system that had been devised. It was complicated, measuring the growth of cultivators relative to each other. The important part was that everyone who put in the effort got some sort of reward beyond their learning. Everyone had some number of points to choose rewards, from cultivation resources of various sorts to equipment, some of which was unique. Certain things had requirements beyond the points, generally things that showed the cultivator could actually make use of them. The Million Sword Vault provided quite a few pieces of equipment under those restrictions, quite similar to how they did things back at their sect itself. They had swords, of course, but the majority of things on offer were the additional pieces of equipment they had collected over the lifespan of their sect. Anton added one of his own offerings to the lot. The bone bow wasn¡¯t really suited for him, but it was absolutely suited for Nthanda. Unfortunately just giving it to her might seem like a sign of blatant favoritism, so he had to require an appropriate amount of points to get it¡­ plus a little challenge. All that had to be done was to hit a target with it. Anton had also contributed other bows of lesser difficulty for the same purpose. Nthanda wasn¡¯t the first person to make the attempt to fire the bow, nor was she the first to succeed. However, the man who managed to be the first to hit the target passed up on his opportunity to obtain it, coming to the same conclusions as Kseniya. She wasn¡¯t even wrong. It was a bad bow¡­ for most people. After all this time, Anton was pleased to have found someone it suited, and who needed it. When Nthanda finally saw that it was available, she hurried over to take her chance, and of course succeeded in hitting the target. She had been using the bow during training, after all. Anton wasn¡¯t sure what sort of bow she would need if she ever reached Life Transformation, but perhaps by that point she would have been picked up by a sect who could help her obtain more specialized equipment. Essence Collection cultivators didn¡¯t just grow on trees- unlike swords, apparently- but not every sect wanted to welcome someone unfamiliar. Cultivators who were too strong could drive a sect in a direction the leadership didn¡¯t want by the influence they would naturally gain due to their strength. But even if Nthanda didn¡¯t join a sect, he saw a good future for her. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Then there was Ingram. The competition had caught him at an awkward stage of development¡­ or perhaps it came at the perfect time. He had many flaws that needed fixing before he could really develop, and his results hadn¡¯t been that impressive. Cultivators in the Body Tempering Stage didn¡¯t get that many rewards, though they could still be meaningful for those individuals. Anton knew he had decent potential, but it was nothing so impressive that sects would be clambering to pick him up. Though if he was willing, Anton was going to invite him to join the Order. He was early enough in his cultivation he could change his core style, if he was willing to make the effort. Then there was Florry, who had apparently been decided to be the apprentice of Chikere. That is, Chikere had decided she was now her disciple, and Florry didn¡¯t have the ability to object. Not that Anton thought she should pass up the opportunity, but the girl was rather timid and unable to express her opinions to Chikere. Personally Anton thought their styles were quite different, but that didn¡¯t mean they would be a poor match. Swordmaster Rahayu was extremely different from Chikere with his single sword style versus her¡­ every sword style. Anton had to assume that was Chikere¡¯s ultimate goal, to wield every sword at once. Or at least, some sort of ridiculous ambition to that effect. ----- As various efforts to prepare the world for a coming invasion progressed, an ominous feeling descended over the world. Life Transformation cultivators were the first to sense it, a shifting in the skies and the very energy of the world. It was weak, at first, but gradually growing stronger. Nobody had to ask what it was. It was the weakening of the barrier between worlds, forewarning of the invasion itself. By the best estimates it was still approximately a decade off. That was comforting, as that was sufficient time for talented individuals to reach early Essence Collection¡­ or others to reach Spirit Building. For Life Transformation experts of the Order, it was enough time to advance between a handful of stars for those earlier in Life Transformation and with great talent to a single star for those closer to the peak, or closer to the limits of their abilities. It was a warning¡­ and a deadline. Comparing to the grandiose ancient sects like the Luminous Ocean Society, Anton felt the top ranking sects of their current time were lacking. However, he hoped it was merely in ornamentation and enduring fortifications¡­ and not actual strength. He knew that at least the Luminous Ocean Society had some access to anti-ascension techniques, but with the whole of the cultivation world aware of them it should be more impactful. Likewise, it was impossible to say what percentage of the population had been able to cultivate during previous invasions, but the general population was developing rapidly in that regard. Cities were growing larger as individual farmers were able to produce more higher quality crops to feed people. The changing world did come with some costs. Those with lower cultivation talent often found it difficult to keep up in their various trades and professions. That was unfortunate, but Anton knew that there would always be those who were less talented in certain areas. If a craftsman was exceptional at his job, he could still outperform cultivators with less experience and knowledge of the crafts. They would simply lose out to those who were good at both aspects, as cultivation made people better at both mental and physical tasks. One more decade, more or less. Anton would be close to a hundred and fifty years old when it came. A hundred years in his ¡®normal¡¯ life, and fifty as a cultivator. If he was fortunate, he would surpass seventy stars by that time, placing himself just shy of mid Life Transformation cultivation. It was an arbitrary milestone, but it would let him at least provide some challenge to most Life Transformation cultivators. As for ascension cultivators¡­ he had no way to know for sure. Even ¡®memories¡¯ of the battles didn¡¯t really tell him everything he needed to know. If they couldn¡¯t recover their ascension energy, would they be the strength of peak Life Transformation cultivators? Would their insights make them stronger? Or, perhaps, they might be weaker due to their reliance on a particular type of energy they no longer had access to. There were so many factors to consider that they had no way to know. Perhaps the Exalted Archipelago might know something, but further interaction there was risky. Even if the Worthy Shore Society and a few others were welcoming to visitors, the area as a whole was not- and they had the power to wipe out anyone they didn¡¯t like moving through their waters. Just accepting that they would not engage in aggression beyond their waters was necessary to even have any hope for the future. The threat of the coming invasion filled Anton¡¯s mind, especially since he had many people he cared about. Family who had survived the destruction of Dungannon, such as Alva, Annelie, and Devon. Family who he had met after, like Catarina. New family¡­ like the children of Anish and Annelie. That particular union was still causing changes in their sects, and especially the Frostmirror Sect. The faction that was merely learning to suppress emotions when they chose to was winning out over the old guard who had completely severed theirs. But Anton didn¡¯t care about just family. He had friends and companions all throughout the world, but his desires to protect didn¡¯t extend merely that far. With the growth in his power, he felt an ever-widening responsibility for the world around him. He knew he couldn¡¯t actually protect the whole world with just the strength of early Life Transformation. Not even with all of his best companions or the sects he had influence in. Unfortunately, he would have to limit himself in scope, at least at first. Working with the Order and the other growing sects within Graotan to defend what they had would be the first priority, after which they would seek out other locations of conflict¡­ if they could. There were only ten more years, as the skies beyond the skies cracked and weakened beyond mortal senses. Chapter 344 Lately, everything was done with a sense of dread- more than even before. Previously Anton had thought he wanted a tangible sense of when the invasion would come, but now that the skies were constantly reminding him he felt that he would prefer surprise. But that was just his mind being indecisive and worried. Even visiting friends was an activity that sparked little joy in him. If he didn¡¯t have any other purpose he might enjoy himself more, but there was never an opportunity to justify any sort of travel that didn¡¯t also serve a greater goal. At the very least he would be involved with teaching and guiding people along the way. As he passed through Veron he took heart that they had at least done a fair job of eradicating slavery in the region. Fields were still filled with workers, but they had at least a bit more joy in their hearts and some manner of choice. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but things were better. Anton could not help but wonder if the whole world was not locked in some strange form of slavery, working hard only to have the fruits of their labor snatched away from them. But at least slavers provided their workers with tools, food, and shelter. The ascenders were raiders who simply snatched whatever they wanted when the world was prosperous. That didn¡¯t make them any better or worse, just slightly different. And absolutely deserving of death. If Anton had a say in the matter, not a single person would be able to leave, and not a single leaf, shirt, or tool would be taken away. And he had some say, but it was rather arrogant to think that this time they would completely overturn the invasion, when they couldn¡¯t necessarily be said to be stronger than the previous iteration. The only factors that were different¡­ the particular sects and clans in power, the individuals making them up¡­ and Everheart. Perhaps there had been someone warning for preparing previous groups, but Anton knew Everheart had to be unique. If not in intent, in the methods he used to achieve that goal. Whether or not it would help enough remained to be seen. To the best of his knowledge they had eradicated the Twin Soul Sect and those supporting them, but there could be other traitors in their midst. Besides, if the Twin Soul Sect had any truth to their teachings, they would be reincarnated elsewhere, able to somehow impart knowledge, and be recognized. Their purpose as spies would be fulfilled, even if they couldn¡¯t take part in the fighting. Their enemies would probably be more prepared too. Hopefully they would fail to take the people of this world seriously. But counting on their enemies to screw up¡­ was a terrible idea. Anton passed through Ofrurg, taking only a fraction of the time he had first taken to traverse the area. Weeks became days, and if he had been truly pressed he could have gone even faster. But a Life Transformation cultivator running through the countryside was not a picture that would make the world feel safe. Even if they didn¡¯t think Anton was a cause of trouble, they would still wonder what was so bad that he had to rush. Not everyone was fully cognizant of the enormity of the coming invasion, but either way people didn¡¯t need more to worry about. Eventually he passed through the Mossythorn Timberlands to the Grasping Willows. The guards at the gate recognized him. ¡°Elder Anton!¡± they bowed their heads. He didn¡¯t directly have any position within their sect, but he would have received proper greetings due to his status as Life Transformation cultivator even if there was nothing else. ¡°The Sect Head has been expecting you.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anton nodded in return. There wasn¡¯t much else to say. He could have had them go ahead to announce him, but that would be slower than going himself. Besides, Lev should be able to sense him soon enough, if he hadn¡¯t already. When Anton arrived, Lev was sitting with his back against one of the larger Grasping Willows. It was nothing compared to the grandfather willow. Anton could sense it off in the distance, looming over the valley below. If he wasn¡¯t mistaken, it had even grown somewhat taller, overtopping the height of its valley by a small margin and sticking up from the surrounding forest. ¡°Good to see you again, Anton,¡± Lev gestured with his good arm to the ground next to him, and a pot of tea. ¡°Come, sit.¡± Lev was no longer the young man Anton had first encountered nearly dead in the forest. He was still young by cultivator standards, but he had matured. He also possessed lengthy hair and a beard that trailed along the ground. They were useful parts of the Grasping Willow¡¯s fighting style, and a sign of prestige. Personally Anton thought they were a bit silly to look at, but that might be a benefit in its own way. A weapon that didn¡¯t look like a weapon was a great advantage. Anton slumped against the tree, looking up at the sky. ¡°How long, do you think, until everyone feels it?¡± ¡°It depends,¡± Lev shook his head. ¡°A couple years for those in Essence Collection. The last couple years, everyone will. It¡¯s not like people haven¡¯t heard, but knowing is almost worse.¡± ¡°What I¡¯m concerned about is whether the process will accelerate, or if they can break through early. Alternatively, they might not come immediately after and leave us waiting.¡± Lev smiled, ¡°Perhaps, but you know cultivators. When have they ever waited to get their hands on something? Unless they are organized far more tightly than we can imagine, someone will slip through at the earliest possibility. So it would be earlier rather than later.¡± ¡°Not particularly comforting.¡± The two of them sat for a while, chatting. Then Lev stood up. ¡°Well, we might as well get going. No point in putting this off. I can¡¯t imagine it will be easy to refine into useful equipment.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°That¡¯s not my specialty, I¡¯ll admit,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Though preparing wood is rather simple¡­ usually. Are you sure this is alright? Taking pieces of the grandfather willow?¡± ¡°Of course. It¡¯s not as if we¡¯re chopping it down. And every plant needs pruning every now and again.¡± ----- Without any weaker cultivators to watch out for- and with Lev¡¯s presence calming the tree- it was easy to retrieve a piece of ¡®branch¡¯ and some ¡®vine¡¯. The difficult part with the former was carrying it. Anton wanted to have as much as possible for the enchanter to work with, and breaking it up into pieces might sully that. The vine¡­ just barely coiled up to fit into a storage bag all on its own. It was like a great anaconda, thicker than a man¡¯s thigh for its length. Though the real anaconda was taken away by Lev. The creature had made the wrong choice in what it wanted to try to eat- and anything that attempted to eat a human was too dangerous to let live. So Anton carried the branch, a rather ¡®skinny¡¯ one more like a tree trunk, twenty meters in length. It took a significant expenditure of energy to hold it up and keep himself from being shoved neck deep into the ground from the weight compressing all into the points of his feet. It was a rate that Anton could maintain, but only because he was a Life Transformation expert. Even then, he had to consciously and continuously control his breathing and replenish his energy from the world around him. At least the quality and quantity of energy was much higher everywhere he went. Along the road, he was met with a myriad of strange looks. Any cultivator could recognize his power, which was why most did little more than look. Some cultivators didn¡¯t like being spoken to by those they considered ¡®lessers¡¯. Ofrurg had greatly improved the effective rights of people, but the intimidation factor was still there, whether or not they would actually be in danger. But some people recognized Anton. He knew he was only familiar with a tiny proportion of the world, but the distance that he could be sensed at was significant. Some people went out of their way to come greet him. ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡± Asked a carpenter Anton had taught the very beginnings of cultivation. ¡°Planning to build a house?¡± ¡°Not currently, Bob. It¡¯s for a bow.¡± ¡°... a bow for who? It¡¯s rather¡­ large.¡± ¡°The choicest parts will be used for the weapon. The rest will find other uses, but I am not a grand crafter or enchanter. I¡¯ve put together a few hunting bows for everyday use, but I didn¡¯t ever truly learn the craft.¡± ¡°Really? You seemed to have a pretty good sense of wood to me,¡± Bob said as he strode alongside Anton. ¡°I¡¯ll admit I can manage pretty much anything to the standards of a mundane craftsman, or an earlier stage cultivator learning the ropes, but I¡¯d rather leave the work to someone who spent centuries honing their craft.¡± Technically she hadn¡¯t done much of anything for many centuries, but two hundred years was still quite a bit longer than Anton had been alive. While he¡¯d been quite capable of all of the work he did on and around the farm, after becoming a cultivator he had learned there were greater depths to things he couldn¡¯t have imagined. ¡°Well, good luck with that then,¡± Bob waved. ¡°I¡¯ve got some more moderately sized wood to go work with.¡± ----- Anton was glad that he didn¡¯t have to go through a teleport formation to reach his destination. He was fairly certain he would not have been able to bring the branch with him. Fortunately Ella made her home in Droca. The Master Bowyer was said to be the best, and having seen some of her work Anton had to agree. Especially if they were going to be working with wood. She was an old woman with wrinkled skin, but her hand remained clear of defects, and she still had the strength of a cultivator. ¡°Well, let¡¯s see the rest,¡± she gestured after Anton put down the giant log he had been carrying. ¡°The string.¡± ¡°I hope it¡¯s suited,¡± Anton said. ¡°But they are from the same tree, so they should at least have affinity.¡± He reached into the storage bag and began to unwind the hanging vine, technically more of a dangling branch that grew further from the trunk. ¡°Excellent,¡± Ella nodded. ¡°I can work with this. Good potential with both here.¡± She wrapped her hands around the vine-branch. ¡°This needs to be condensed.¡± Anton watched with rapt attention as she began to run her energy through it. The process was slow, but she pulled and twisted the material with her hands while her energy worked from within. Very gradually the size began to decrease. Some portion of that was from material being removed, leaving a fine dust on the floor, but Anton was certain that the rest was increasing in density. He was quiet, not daring to interrupt. Several hours later, Ella pulled out a knife, slicing a several meter length of string from the rest of the vine. As bowstrings went, its over a millimeter thickness was quite hefty, but Anton trusted her judgment. After that, the Master Bowyer took some time to inspect the branch he had brought, eventually cutting out a length of wood. Like the string, parts of it were whittled away while others were condensed, until she had a rounded rod that could serve as the basis for a bow. Over the process of several days the process continued, both materials crafted and treated in various ways. The bow took shape slowly, but even once it was finished her work wasn¡¯t done. Ella unhooked the string and began to work on a different bench laden with formations. Various powdered gemstones, vials of beast blood, and numerous other things that Anton didn¡¯t recognize were involved in the enchanting process, ultimately resulting in a bow that looked simple on the surface, with few ornate designs. ¡°It is done,¡± Ella declared. ¡°Payment has already been received.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Anton inclined his head. ¡°Though don¡¯t hesitate to ask for favors in the future, should you need them.¡± ¡°I will remember.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± Anton asked. ¡°Is it safe to shoot it?¡± She nodded. ¡°Outside.¡± Anton didn¡¯t doubt he could shoot through an open window, or possibly a small crack in a structure, but it seemed rather rude to try. And as it was a new bow, it was possible his aim would be slightly off. He could always dissolve his Spirit Arrow, but it would be embarrassing. The bow was¡­ perfect. It wasn¡¯t laden with special qualities or odd features like the one made out of swords. Instead, it was made out of flexible-yet-springy materials, firm where they needed to be. It had power to it, and more importantly it matched Anton. Not only was it made specifically for his grip, but the materials were gathered by himself- and from something he had a history with, even if it was only incidental. When she explained those factors being important he had believed her¡­ but now he was able to experience it. If only he could have a dozen more¡­ but he doubted he would be able to maintain the firing of multiple bows of such power even if he had them. Chapter 345 Until a spear of light came from the heavens, nothing indicated to Diego or his family that the current section of the road was unsafe. A bit uncomfortable to travel with a wagon, but that was how they were bringing their few possessions to the city. The youngest siblings couldn¡¯t walk all day either. In the city was promise of teachings about cultivation. While they were able to farm just enough to feed themselves, Diego knew his parents were worried about the future. There were all sorts of rumors swirling about, but none spoke of long term stability. Since Diego had managed to learn a bit of cultivation secondhand from working on a nearby farm, they were taking the chance to go to the city. He¡¯d thought he could protect his family, but he didn¡¯t know about the dangers lurking behind the boulders and trees. The spear of light spooked the old nag that was pulling the wagon, sending the family tumbling about. One of the little ones was teetering on the edge as the wagon suddenly started speeding forward, and Diego picked him up and shoved him towards the front of the wagon. At the same time, a wheel hit a stone, knocking him off of the wagon. He fell on his side, landing hard on the road. He heard his parents screaming, but he stood up. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! I¡¯ll catch up!¡± Calming down a spooked horse wasn¡¯t an easy task, and his father had enough to do just keeping them on the road. If anyone had to run to catch up, he was the best option. It was unfortunate that there were a dozen bandits standing just off the road. Diego could sense their cultivations now that the first attacks had happened. Warning shots, he surmised- but they didn¡¯t have the intended effect. Not that there would be much for them to steal anyway. When Diego turned towards them, he was surprised that the group looked confused. They had weapons drawn, but when they began to move towards him more spears of light impacted the ground in front of them. They had to be spears given their size and power, right? They faded a moment after impact, but gouts of dirt sprayed into the air where they landed. A few moments of no movement and one person tried to take a step towards Diego. Another arrow landed right in front of their toe, forcing them to jump back. He had been planning to stay behind to keep them away from his family- maybe convince them they had nothing. But Diego wasn¡¯t going to disregard whatever good fortune this was. He took a tentative step just to make sure he could move, and when nothing came towards him he ran off down the road towards his family. They might not even know anything happened except something spooking the horse. That might be best for some of them. ----- It took a while, but Anton finally got in comfortable speaking distance of the bandits. He stepped into clear view and flared his cultivation so they didn¡¯t get any stupid ideas thinking he was out of energy or weak. ¡°Do you know why you¡¯re still alive?¡± Anton asked. The group of bandits looked at each other then shook their heads. ¡°No, honored elder.¡± ¡°Because we can¡¯t afford to waste lives. Even ones of scum like yourselves.¡± Anton looked up at the sky. ¡°Soon enough, even those like you will feel it. Before then, you¡¯re going to be learning something.¡± ¡°Uh, yes sir. We won¡¯t do it again,¡± a man that appeared to be the leader spoke up. ¡°Even if I fully believed that, that¡¯s not what I meant this time.¡± Anton smiled. ¡°You¡¯re actually going to be learning something. You will come with me, learn some specific combat techniques, and train yourselves. Then you will wait for further orders.¡± ¡°Are we being conscripted?¡± the man asked. ¡°That¡¯s right. The other option¡­¡± Anton shrugged. The implications were clear. Nobody was willing to risk doing anything. They were just a bunch of Spirit Building cultivators. Way too strong to be preying on poor folk on the road. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if they were from a sect or an unfortunate side effect of teaching everyone to cultivate, but he had been tipped off to their location by a local sect. The group of would-be bandits had not actually manage to do anything but reveal themselves, but it was close. The local sect would have taken care of them had Anton not come by. He would not take them directly to the Order. Conscripting people wasn¡¯t a pleasant process, but times were dire. Even so, if it was going to be done it would be right. They would receive a proper trial- eyewitness evidence from Anton was all they really had, but those with proper training in insight could make a fair trial by judging what people said. Especially weaker cultivators. Ironically enough, it would have been easier to just kill them. Instead, they would be taught anti-ascension techniques. When the invasion came, they would fight like anyone else. And like everyone else, many of them would die. Better against the invaders than in petty squabbles. The larger sects understood they couldn¡¯t afford to lose any manpower in the last few years, but some people didn¡¯t quite get it just yet. Conscripts weren¡¯t really different than slaves, but they could always choose to be dead. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Perhaps he was just justifying extreme measures to himself in the times of crisis, but if Anton lived through it he would do his best to make sure the region didn¡¯t return to treating people like property. And if everyone died, then at least they would do so with slightly better odds on their side. ----- Ten years hadn¡¯t been enough. What could be done? A new bow? Teach a few people? Settle a few disputes so people didn¡¯t kill each other and sentence a few people to a different death than they would have otherwise had. None of that felt good enough. Anton almost wished he had died as a farmer. Unfortunately, it wouldn¡¯t change the reality of the world. Blissful ignorance was still ignorance. Being able to at least attempt to make the world better on a grand scale was something worthwhile. Anton looked down at the space beneath himself, where there was nothing but air. It could be called flying in a way, but for the most cultivators it really wasn¡¯t. He was simply holding himself up with a pillar of energy. It was a waste of effort in battle, where it could be severed easily and provided little advantage. Even so, it was something Anton had once found joy in. Being up in the air, surrounded by the wind¡­ and closer to the sun. Though he knew the actual difference in his distance to the sun was miniscule, being away from everything else felt better. At the moment he could comfortably go about a hundred meters up, but he was only at a stable equilibrium much lower than that. He slowly settled to the ground. It was a neat trick. Possibly useful for getting a better vantage, but he didn¡¯t need to see people with his eyes to shoot at them. Arcing his shot up into the air was just as simple from on the ground where he didn¡¯t have to concentrate on holding himself up. Anton sighed, as he did often in recent times. Nothing was fun anymore. Even Body Tempering cultivators felt the rapidly approaching calamity in the sky. It was becoming ever more clear, and soon enough people would be able to count down the days. What else could be done before then? Anton didn¡¯t know. Perhaps he would be lucky and condense one final star, but Anton doubted it. It was unfortunate, but his current state of mind was not conducive to cultivation. Negative emotions could only support people in the short term. A decade of them just wore cultivators down, though Anton knew there were many more hopeful than himself. Hopefully they would be the ones to survive and lead the next generation to create a better world. ----- Another much older man watched from a closer vantage point. His eyes were sunken, his visage sallow. The energy that was meant to sustain him ultimately had to come to an end. In fact, if he knew himself, he was already overdue. He wondered what future was being sacrificed. Perhaps something simple like the power of the formations themselves. Or perhaps¡­ him. This projection, and its memories. That would be just fine. Everheart looked down upon the world. He liked to make people think he was omniscient, but that was not the case. If he had been, he wouldn¡¯t have bothered holding on for the last few months. Nobody more had come to him, entrapped in his web. Now¡­ it didn¡¯t matter. The invasion would be proceeding regardless of who died. Hopefully there was enough uncertainty there to make them careless. The lack of people coming through might have tipped them off, but Everheart felt the distant figures in the sky. Nothing would change at this point, and he did what he thought was best. He only hoped it had been enough. For a moment, he wondered about his true self. Was he dead? Or perhaps he was simply not coming back. The plan had never been to defend against the invasion himself, but as a projection tasked to a single task for centuries, he had much time to think. His focus might have made him more inclined towards the world, but he still hoped that Everheart would change his mind and return. But he had probably finally angered someone too strong for himself and died. As the barrier surrounding the world faded away, brought about by some natural phenomenon that even Everheart couldn¡¯t claim to understand, he smiled. He had to believe what he had done would be enough. He faded away with that hope, his duty fulfilled to the best of his abilities. ----- Every member of the Order stood beneath the cover of the most powerful defensive formation any of them had ever perceived. At least they no longer had to wait or wonder. The sense of cultivators in the sky was clear to them. Ascension cultivators, brimming with power. Yet beneath that were those that were weaker, covered in some sort of protection as they approached. Anton almost stood in awe. There was a level of power there that was unattainable for him. Yet those individuals were not the largest threat. Their numbers were limited, and they seemed to be distributing themselves to different parts of the world. The numerous cultivators that were the equivalent of Life Transformation were a bigger concern. Soon, they would arrive. It was Grand Elder Kseniya elbowing Anton that brought him into a sensible state of mind. ¡°Hey. Want to take bets on which of us can take out more of them before they hit the ground?¡± Right. There was no reason to wait for them to arrive. They were almost within range of Horizon Shot. Shooting upwards would slightly limit their range as they fought gravity, but not having to deal with obstructions¡­ it was actually quite interesting. And they would only get one chance to try it. ¡°Seems like the ascension cultivators are protecting them though,¡± Anton commented. ¡°How about we pick one and see how much these anti-ascension techniques can really do?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡± Kseniya grinned. ¡°Alright¡­ how about¡­ that one!¡± Kseniya pointed, and nobody but Anton could follow it precisely, but he understood. Fortunately, there weren¡¯t many ascension cultivators coming in the bundle near them. Just a handful, along with more Life Transformation and Essence Collection cultivators than they had. It was fine. What were they going to do, kill him? That, at least, was something Anton was unafraid of. Kseniya shot first, but Anton followed up with a light element Spirit Arrow. Anton had been worried that all that training was wasted, but as their attacks hit the large barrier maintained by the powerhouse in the sky trembled. It was nowhere close to breaking from just a couple arrows, but it was clear it reacted poorly to their techniques. If they could destabilize it enough to stop for even a moment, then it would be their first victory- before the invaders got a single foot on their world. There were all sorts of flaws with the world, but it was theirs and nobody was allowed to say otherwise. Chapter 346 Before his time as a cultivator, Anton had only been tangentially aware of falling stars. Now he had a much better understanding of what they were, hunks of rock falling through the atmosphere. The scene above them looked much like a handful of exceptionally large meteors falling, flames roiling around them as one Ascension cultivator covered for dozens of ¡®weaker¡¯ cultivators. As the two with the longest ranges, Anton and Kseniya had already begun to launch attacks at one of the women. They were specifically relying on techniques made to disrupt ascension energy¡­ and there were a few special arrows thrown in as well. The falling cultivator was unable to dodge or seriously mitigate their attacks with her own power, and everyone on the ground breathed a collective sigh of relief as they were able to sense huge chunks of energy being scattered uselessly. The techniques worked, but even two Life Transformation cultivators attacking unimpeded for a full minute were unable to exhaust the falling opponent¡¯s energy. Neither archer was conserving their own energy, as this was their best chance to attack. At the final moment before the falling ¡®meteors¡¯ reached the barrier over the sect, they launched one final combined attack. Anton charged as much ascension energy as he could onto a single shot from his new bow, while his auxiliary bows did basically the opposite. He hoped to throw off the woman with a direct impact timed along with a dozen simultaneous disrupting strikes. It worked to some extent, creating a small break in her protective bubble through which Kseniya launched her own attack. The Ascension cultivator instantly collapsed her defensive energy to protect herself, the attack merely taking off another portion of her energy but leaving her with at least two-thirds of the energy she had displayed from the beginning. The sudden retraction of her defensive bubble, however, left those she was guarding vulnerable. Anton and Kseniya barely had time for a couple weak shots, but others had just come into range. Dozens of attacks streamed out of the barrier, slicing through many of the weaker cultivators among the bunch. At practically the same time, everyone impacted the barrier. The noise of the impact made all sound seem to stop, as reverberations of sound bounced everywhere as the barrier trembled. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. The barrier held firm, but the mountain they were standing upon shook beneath it, and the world around it. Somehow it held. Or rather, they were counting on it holding but hadn¡¯t truly expected it to work. If the enemy forces had broken through the barrier immediately, the Order was doomed. It might still be, but at least they wouldn¡¯t be going out without taking people down with them. Perhaps more devastating to some, everyone bounced off of the barrier or tumbled down the dome it created. Everyone, including the Ascension cultivators. ¡°You won¡¯t be getting in here so easily,¡± Grand Elder Matousek declared proudly. ¡°How does it feel, being trash that can¡¯t even fight people on their own level?¡± It appeared that Matousek was engaging in the time-honored tradition of hurling insults. Anton didn¡¯t expect anything to come from it, but he had forgotten something very important about cultivators. ¡°WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME YOU PIECE OF LOWER REALM SCUM?!¡± The woman who was the target of the archery attacks moved with a speed Anton could just barely track. The image of waves moved along with her as she pierced a short spear through the barrier. Dozens of reflexive attacks launched towards her, though Anton and Kseniya found themselves ironically off target. After all, they had been aiming along her trajectory where they expected her to move. Neither of them had expected her to stop with her elbow barely through the barrier- but that was where she was when it reformed around her. With a great scream she ripped her arm away, the motion wiping the topsoil from her surroundings with its force, breaking trees up to a hundred meters away. Yet the barrier was instantly whole once more, while the woman used an embarrassing amount of energy for no gain. Anton knew the barrier had to give out eventually, but the fact that it stood up to an Ascension cultivator made him proud of Catarina. Not all of the work was hers, but he knew it wouldn¡¯t be nearly so effective. ¡°Interesting.¡± A much calmer voice cut through the area. It was deep, but echoed strangely despite the topography making that infeasible. ¡°It appears the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars has done well for itself.¡± One of the Ascension cultivators, a man covered from head to toe in long flowing robes, along with a full mask on his face, stepped forward. He radiated the aura of the Twin Soul Sect openly, unlike the woman. There was also something else to him. The scent of blood? ¡°Perhaps this will take slightly longer than expected. But I have a proposal. The lot of you seem intent to struggle for your lives, so if you simply hand over your Grand Elder Vandale to have a bout with me, I personally will leave you be.¡± ¡°You-¡± the livid woman glaring at the barrier briefly turned her gaze to the man. ¡°You¡¯d be giving up your portion of the claim to the loot.¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± the man¡¯s voice echoed as if he were saying the words twice at once with different voices. ¡°You¡¯re nearly half dead to a couple piddling Life Transformation cultivators.¡± His head swiveled unnaturally back to face the Order¡¯s location, as if he had no spine. ¡°We will give you a few minutes to discuss my proposal.¡± ¡°They can¡¯t hear us through the barrier if we don¡¯t want to be heard,¡± Catarina assured everyone. With that said¡­ should we just tell him Vandale died killing a handful of the best members of his sect?¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Matousek frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t think that will help. Having him temporarily not our enemy might be advantageous. More importantly, is it alright for us to be waiting here? The barrier¡­¡± ¡°Can last for hundreds of years like this,¡± Catarina assured her. ¡°Don¡¯t be concerned about that.¡± Off to the side, Anton and Kseniya were having their own little discussion while taking advantage of the likely brief respite to recover some of their expended energy. Hopefully what they had learned about Ascension cultivators was true, and they would be unable to recover their energy. ¡°I think the one with the x shaped symbol on his sleeve,¡± Anton offered. ¡°That brat?¡± Kseniya shook her head. ¡°If he¡¯s a favored disciple it¡¯s of some kind of crap sect. I¡¯m thinking the blonde woman there.¡± Anton frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not really sure how we tell which of them is more favored or whatever. Profane screaming from others? But would it be number of people upset or how loud they yell?¡± ¡°I guess we work that out later. We just start with them and sort out who wins after all of this is over.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Anton nodded. He had been listening to the discussion of the rest of the leadership, ¡°Permission to start shooting important looking people?¡± Matousek frowned for a moment, then nodded. ¡°They don¡¯t deserve any sort of civility from us. Go ahead. Everyone should be ready for them to attempt to break through the barrier, and we don¡¯t want to give them too much time to study it.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t help,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°None of them have the skills for it. They¡¯ll just have to bash their way through. They do seem like they were waiting for something though.¡± ¡°Archers ready!¡± Kseniya called. It was several kilometers to the border of the Order¡¯s land, but everyone in Essence Collection of higher could reasonably be expected to shoot that far with the clear sight lines they had. ¡°Fire at will!¡± she yelled as she took her first shot. Anton felt the slightest bit bad for the Essence Collection cultivator he chose to target. He was a young man with a future¡­ here to take away the futures of everyone present. So the slight negativity did nothing to stop Anton from putting a half dozen arrows through his neck from different angles. Most of them had been backup for when the young man inevitably blocked most of them, but when they all stabbed into him Anton wondered if he had been bamboozled by an illusion. If so, the illusion left a very realistic corpse. The same was the case with many others. After the first instant most of the weaker cultivators readied themselves, though a few had been ready regardless. All five of the Ascension cultivators instantly moved to attack the barrier, and the battlefield was filled with people yelling various profanities and insults on both sides. The twin voices of the man who had previously spoken dominated. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll just drag him out then!¡± Five strikes simultaneously hit the barrier. The spear-wielding woman resembled a great wave as she impacted the wall. The man with twin voices turned into a whirlwind of red and black. Two more of the Ascension cultivators were women- one created an explosion of black-red flames while the other performed a simple yet powerful strike with a dagger. The other man was large and burly, stomping the ground hard enough to make it tremble at the peak. Against their combined might the barrier was unable to stand, and was torn open in front of them, rending apart a great swath of the mountainside, including many buildings. Anton knew that everyone had been given the chance to secret away prized possessions but still lamented the loss of homes. The whole mass of cultivators poured through the hole in the barrier, with the Ascension cultivators charging a moderate distance ahead of them. However, they had to turn back when the barrier reasserted itself with less than half of the others having made their way through. Catarina grinned. Clearly she had intended something like that when she set up the barrier. The Ascension cultivators were forced to choose between supporting those already inside the barrier and bringing the rest through. They ultimately split up, with the earth cultivator and the woman who had shown little of her powers remaining at the barrier while the others charged forward with the rest of the army that was brimming with Essence Collection and Life Transformation cultivators. There was just one small snag with opening the barrier again. They had the power to break it open, but not the fine degree of control to do that without causing devastation beyond it¡­ where the rest of the group was waiting. Ultimately the man slammed against the barrier to weaken it while the woman cut open a section to let through several dozen people at a time. They had to repeat those actions continuously to keep the barrier open, wasting time and energy. The group focused on offense rushed up the slopes towards the Order. The Order wouldn¡¯t just let them move as they pleased, of course. Those who could attack from afar bombarded the enemy, while those who needed to fight up close were positioned at key points on the slopes to intercept the enemies. There were further formations to aid them beyond the sect-encompassing barrier, augmenting their own offense and defense. They would need every bit of advantage they could get. The initial clash of cultivators showed the Ascension cultivators completely overpowering their Life Transformation cultivators. Grand Elder Zajoc was covered by black and red flames, only barely resisting incineration. Matousek collided with the man with two voices. She appeared as a brightly burning fire, but did not physically transform unlike her opponent who was a tornado of blood and darkness. She somehow managed to get a cut with the halberd she wielded, forcing the man back. Her arms were covered in holes, drained of blood and dessicated. Meanwhile, the man briefly returned to his normal form, where his mask was broken and robes torn. Little harm came to the man himself, but his form was revealed to be blackened and charred all over from a previous battle. Few could recognize him, as most who in the battle of Black Soul Valley had perished there or in later battles. However, the man was revealed as the head of branch of the Twin Soul Sect previously located in Ofrurg. He had ascended during the battle, while at the same time killing the head of the Flying Blood Cult¡­ whose technique he seemed to have absorbed. Only a small patch of skin on his neck was unburned, testament to Grand Elder Kunibert holding him in place for Vandale to bombard with attacks. It hadn¡¯t been quite enough then¡­ and now he was Ascended, with Vandale nowhere in sight. The others weren¡¯t something that could easily be ignored either. The whole of the Order understood that they might not survive this battle¡­ but if they didn¡¯t, they at least were going to weaken everyone to the best of their ability so the next sect could have a chance. Chapter 347 Though the invaders were through the Order¡¯s defensive barrier- or were about to be- there were still numerous options available to them. That included the formations which might do many things Anton didn¡¯t know about¡­ and some smaller but no less impactful options. As cultivators on both sides began dying on the frontlines, the Ascension cultivators were the focus of the battle. Without them the enemy forces were still very powerful, but not enough to take out the strongest members of the Order with a slight distraction. As it was, everyone had to be wary of them, and they attempted to take advantage of it. Grand Elder Matousek was one of the oldest members of the Order, and had reached late Life Transformation so she was also one of the strongest. A whirling tornado of darkness and blood was cutting through the ranks and she had moved to stop it, bright fire holding him back. Their energies clashed, one without a direct physical form and the other barely protecting her vulnerable body. When it took too long to overwhelm her, the Ascension cultivator tried to push past her, seemingly uninterested in continuing the conflict. Matousek wouldn¡¯t let that happen, reaching out her hands to grab onto the insubstantial figure. Though her actual hands added little to the equation, the projection of them that reached out had greater success, trapping a portion of the cultivator¡¯s energies. There were limitations to how such cultivators could function. She wasn¡¯t sure how far apart the vortex could stretch, but leaving behind a good third of it would be terrible regardless. For the man with two voices, anyway. If she could just destroy the third of his energy that she was holding onto, it would be a win regardless of what else happened. He clearly wasn¡¯t going to let that happen, pulling back together into a smaller cloud of blood and darkness. Then his form condensed. A moment later spears of blackness pierced through Grand Elder Matousek. They seemed to be leeching something from her, but she still refused to let go of what she had captured, the fire burning around her. It was entirely possible that neither of them noticed what was happening beyond the two of them. Matousek wasn¡¯t going to last long, but taking her out wasn¡¯t devoid of effort. Such self-sacrificial tactics would be heavily discouraged in any other situation, but when facing overwhelming odds, dying to take out a greater foe was perhaps the best possible option. Those who came to her aid were too late. Soon enough, black veins began to bulge within Matousek¡¯s face, while every other part of her began to wither. She didn¡¯t have the intensity to end her life in an explosion like Vandale, but there was a final flare that covered the man. The detached portion of his power returned to him in tatters, and his clothing was destroyed even further¡­ forcing the critters marching up it to leap onto him. Even as the first bites of the ants started to pierce into his flesh he released a great burst of energy. A nearby compound of buildings was flattened in the explosions, and cultivators on both sides died. And the ants¡­ continued to bite. The man screamed in rage, two voices echoing outward before he suddenly turned into the whirlwind of blood and darkness once more. That freed him from the ants, but they all got one final bite into his energy, pulling it away. Around the battlefield the tiny energy resistant beings revealed themselves, primarily targeting the Ascension cultivators. There were enough of them to also attack some of the Life Transformation cultivators as well. But despite their strong resistance to energy, they weren¡¯t invincible. They were larger than normal ants- some the size of a knuckle or more. That also made it easier to crush them, or attack them with a conventional weapon. It wasn¡¯t efficient but ultimately their body structures were easily defeated by human cultivators. They began to perish rapidly, but were a startling change to the battlefield to cause any injuries to the Ascension cultivators- and to nibble away at their energy reserves. The invaders still possessed overwhelming force and continued to push their way inward. Soon enough they were at the core of the sect- not the peak where the elders lived, but the lower part of the mountain with the various functional buildings. Including the rewards hall and the armory. Elder Evan stood guard outside the armory, making all he could of his Essence Collection cultivation. Other members of the Order stood guard as well, but they were barely able to withstand the assault. The moment that spelled their doom was when the enemies finished making their way in, freeing the two Ascension cultivators who had been tearing open the barrier repeatedly. The earth trembled as a giant of a man flexed his power, charging forward towards where hundreds of pieces of equipment lay. The guards could not stand, flinging themselves to the side. The shockwave of the man¡¯s movements still killed and injured many weaker disciples, but there was no point in dying without being able to at least slow him down. Then he was in the armory, where hundreds of weapons could clearly be felt. As for why the Order kept so many instead of handing them out to their disciples¡­ it was simply the most efficient method. None of the best pieces of equipment remained. Just enough that their aura could be amplified. As the large man barreled inside, he charged towards the lone figure inside, barely considering the shield held up to stop him. And then he ceased moving. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Not of his own volition, but because his momentum was canceled out. Partly by the figure in front of him, but more by the formation in the area. The sudden forced the entire rebound of the man¡¯s movement into himself, though a number of scattered enchanted weapons shattered as they gave of themselves to power the formation. Timothy and the few others inside the armory for the ambush converged on the Ascension cultivator. While he was still staggered from the backlash Timothy stabbed his sword towards the man¡¯s throat. He barely managed to touch his skin, but cutting through the man¡¯s defensive energy was good enough for him. Without the formation suppressing the man he might have not even done that, but doing anything to someone so much stronger was nearly a miracle. The combined attacks of several Essence Collection cultivators forced the man to divert some attention to them. He regained his bearings in an instant, but as he stomped his foot on the ground he found that his energy didn¡¯t propagate as he expected. The surrounding cultivators barring Timothy were forced a step back, but none of them were rent asunder or sent flying. ¡°Fine then!¡± The man yelled, raising a gauntleted fist, ¡°I¡¯ll do this one at a time.¡± As his fist came towards Timothy, he realized how lucky he was. If it had been one of the other Ascension cultivators he might have been poorly suited to fight them. He was also lucky that his wife was currently the formation master of the Order and took special care in the area, knowing it would be where he would be fighting. The gauntlet directly impacted Timothy¡¯s shield, and he rebounded as much of the force as he could. Nice, straightforward, and easy to predict. It still left a dent in Timothy¡¯s shield, and he would run out of energy before his opponent if it were just the two of them¡­ but not being instantly annihilated was good. Even his anti-ascension shield technique could only negate some of the overwhelming energy. Elsewhere, Hoyt felt an ominous energy approaching. A hundred meters away, a black and red tornado solidified into a person. ¡°You¡­ are a descendant of Vandale, correct?¡± Hoyt just glared at him. His differences with his grandfather had been resolved, but the entire core of them was not wanting to be thought about only in relation to him. Still, he couldn¡¯t deny it. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ll show you!¡± Hoyt hefted his axe, flames swirling around him. He couldn¡¯t claim to be stronger than Grand Elder Matousek, but the man was not without injuries. Blood and ascension energy were slowly leaking out of the man. Hoyt realized that stalling might be a better option, and shifted his stance. ¡°But who are you? I don¡¯t recognize you.¡± ¡°Who am I?¡± The voices screeched. ¡°I¡±m the great leader of-¡± the man¡¯s face distorted as he spoke two sentences simultaneously. ¡°The Flying Blood Cult/Black Soul Valley¡±. He grimaced. ¡°Your grandfather interrupted my ceremony, where I was supposed to ascend without issues!¡± ¡°I see,¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°So which one is the real you, then?¡± ¡°I¡¯m-¡± the man¡¯s face twisted. ¡°Not going to fall for that.¡± Then he leapt to the attack. Instead of turning fully into a vortex of life and blood draining energies, he simply extended curving spikes of it from himself. Moving the last hundred meters only took an instant. Hoyt was ready, at least, meeting him with his axe and a wall of flame. Across the battlefield, Anton was finding himself on the run. He didn¡¯t even have time to turn and face his opponent, though he still devoted a small portion of his energy to firing arrows behind himself with his ¡®extra¡¯ bows. A great wave of water was constantly moving after him, having designated him some sort of important target. Inside of it was one of the most unassuming of the Ascension cultivators, the woman who wielded a small spear. Anton absolutely couldn¡¯t let her get close, as a single blow would certainly take him out. He maneuvered his way through the battlefield past allies who had a spare bit of effort to help slow her down. There were also other arrows focusing in on her. Antons made up only a portion. Marcio Armani and some of his fellow archery students were focusing on her as well. It was uncertain if it was the most efficient tactic, but working together to take down ascension cultivators was the plan to begin with, and he wasn¡¯t going to complain about the assistance. There were also occasional arrows from Kseniya, slowing down the woman every time she was about to catch up to Anton. Unfortunately there were only so many places he could go. He was still fighting, even though it didn¡¯t look like it. He was considering if he had any special arrows that might help, but ultimately decided that they would have difficulty piercing the great mass of watery energy around her. So he chipped away at it, disrupting the energy more than destroying it. When he found the chance, Anton spun on his heels, gathering ascension energy into his bow. A single arrow could briefly provide some real threat to an actual Ascension cultivator, he hoped. It actually managed to get close to her, and though she stabbed straight through it with her short spear, a shot from Kseniya managed to sneak through and hit her in the thigh, actually piercing a centimeter or so into the muscle. Not an optimal target, but it was something. In the distance, Alva wanted to have Fuzz run after her grandfather. However, she knew that wasn¡¯t the best spot for her. After some initial assistance he had moved too far, and she would do better to help deal with the last Ascension cultivator. She had managed to reach Life Transformation herself, though she was a few years behind the others. Fuzz was hard to measure, but he was far from an ordinary beast. Even so, they couldn¡¯t defeat an Ascension cultivator with just them. But they were contributing towards the fifth member. Specifically, finding them. They were some sort of illusionist. Not surprising, given what the Twin Soul Sect was known to do. The illusions covered every sense, even smell, but it was imperfect. The formations also helped, making the enemies unable to completely override the Order¡¯s senses on a wider scale. Even so, the last woman had caused a few people to attack each other. Alva¡¯s job was to shoot anywhere that Fuzz pointed. She didn¡¯t always know what distance, but she had a vague idea of where the enemy was. Fuzz ran around at a speed even Ascension cultivators couldn¡¯t casually match. Fuzz hadn¡¯t pointed to her in a few moments and Alva wondered where to fire, when Fuzz stopped and snapped his jaws. She snap-fired her bow right in front of them, but that barely did anything except disturb the illusion. She swallowed as she was suddenly less confident in Fuzz¡¯ movement keeping her safe. Chapter 348 Somewhere in front of Fuzz was a woman concealed by illusions. Alva tried to fire her bow where she thought the enemy might be while Fuzz swiped his paws at her. She considered running, but if the woman could catch up to Fuzz unseen staying together with him was better. Alva followed the woman¡¯s movements by the damage appearing on Fuzz, first some cuts along his snout and then one under his left shoulder. Even as she was registering that wound appearing, Alva was shooting immediately to her side, hoping to hit the hidden woman. A slight weight was lifted from her shoulder as she saw a black blur the size of a mouse move past her. Alva had nearly forgotten- no, she had completely put it out of her mind- about the ant her grandfather had forced her to take along. And not just any ant. The queen ant was far from any image Alva had of an ant. They were either supposed to be on the millimeter scale¡­ or a giant beast of some kind. Ants slightly longer than her finger were unnatural but not at all what anyone expected. That included the Ascension cultivator who stumbled backwards with a scream as her eye was sliced open. Alva immediately shot an arrow as close as she could to the ant queen at her revealed opponent. Fuzz was leaping away to the side, ignoring her injured leg, but Alva was used to his movements. As she hung in the air for a moment, her first shot nearly made it through the hole in the woman¡¯s defensive energy. It wasn¡¯t enough, and she fired several more in succession. ----- The woman who had been concealing herself with illusory techniques tried to shake off the Great Queen. How foolish of her. The Great Queen was able to grip onto sheer glass in a tornado, the force of some neck muscles wouldn¡¯t do much. But the cultivator had found herself in a panic at running into truly unforeseen circumstances. They were all so reliant on their energy sensing everything around them, giving them warnings of approaching enemies. Few could even notice something jumping straight at their face without it. To be fair, the Great Queen was a prime specimen. Among the ants her strength and speed were unmatched. In truth, her position was something of an abnormality since she didn¡¯t oversee a single nest herself, but instead guided her daughters. To survive they had to get along with the cultivators, but that didn¡¯t mean all of them. These invaders were foe to the entire world¡­ and oh so tasty. The chunk of the woman¡¯s eye the Great Queen had snatched was nothing special. No better than a deer or pig or any animal. But the energy she had¡­ it was the same as Anton¡¯s. Which meant they were the most important targets. The Great Queen speedily added wound after wound on the woman¡¯s face. If she had one weakness¡­ no, the Great Queen had no weaknesses. But if she were to have another strength, she would have preferred a greater size. Finally the woman grabbed her directly, attempting to crush her. The woman flung the Great Queen to the ground below and stomped on her. But she was not crushed by her grip nor her feet. The woman was no stronger than Anton in terms of bodily power, and while many of the lesser brethren would have been annihilated by such an attack the Great Queen was the oldest and mightiest of them all. By default, since every one of the rest were her descendents, but still. Her exoskeleton was durable, built through a diet of fine energies over the course of decades. The woman also didn¡¯t seem to understand that the Great Queen cared not one bit for how much of this ¡®Ascension Energy¡¯ barreled down upon her. It was merely food to be snatched up at her leisure. But for the sake of her weaker allies, she would focus on other tactics. She shoved herself out of the dirt to the side, not because she needed to avoid the incoming stomp but because it was inconvenient to be directly below a foot. Instead she grabbed onto the side of the woman¡¯s shoe as it came down. It seemed to be made out of some special material, but to the Great Queen what mattered was that it did not go much above the ankle. She skittered up a body length and slipped her head under some defensive layers, nibbling at some important bits. Humans were so strange, with all of their important parts accessible without hard shells. Those that had hard shells were unnatural and not nearly so complete in their coverage as they assumed. When the dagger stabbed into the Great Queen¡¯s back, she felt it. That actually hurt. It didn¡¯t pierce all the way through her exoskeleton, but she hastened her journey inside the woman¡¯s lower armor until she was fully covered. Then she resumed her assault. ----- It was impossible for Hoyt to face an Ascension cultivator alone, even with the effects of the formation. However, he didn¡¯t have to. He was surrounded by allies, the strange dual-man having come deep into their defenses to seek him out. Flames filled the area, but Hoyt had studied with the cultivators of the Glorious Flame Palace and could exclusively harm foes if that was his wish. The small decreases in effectiveness were worth it for having allies be comfortable around you. His axe wasn¡¯t much good for parrying, but the man¡¯s attacks weren¡¯t solid regardless. Streams of blood and darkness that sought to burrow into Hoyt and draw out everything that made him alive were the actual threat, not the man¡¯s fists. Two of the Order¡¯s Life Transformation elders were backing him up, wielding spears to restrict the man¡¯s movement. Hoyt could feel their conviction¡­ and the way they were burning their power to fight higher than their normal effectiveness. Hoyt was prepared to die in this battle so that the sect could survive, but they were prepared to die for him. Not because he was Vandale¡¯s grandson, or at least not exclusively, but because he was part of the future of the sect. If they survived, Hoyt and the others in his generation would usher in a new era for the Order. Hoyt swept his axe in a wide arc, sending a burst of flames out in front of him. While the two elders might be willing to give themselves up for him, he would much prefer they survived. He had never been holding back, but a new conviction inspired him to greater heights. Hopefully, it would be enough. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ----- Alva didn¡¯t like the idea of being outdone by an ant, but then again it would have happened to anyone. It was an Ascension cultivator. Way out of her league to begin with. The Life Transformation cultivators peppered throughout the enemy forces, however¡­ those were much more reasonable. ¡°Stay here, Fuzz,¡± Alva ordered as she leapt off his back. Knowing that he wouldn¡¯t abandon her, she concluded, ¡°Just keep away anyone who gets too close.¡± The tendons beneath his front shoulder were all cut up. If he wasn¡¯t so large he probably would have had the limb cut clean off by the woman. Alva gave one more glance at her and shook her head. She shouldn¡¯t worry about defeating the strongest individual, but rather achieving the most she could do. Arrows flew out. With some actual experience using anti-ascension techniques, her understanding had grown significantly. It wasn¡¯t just those who had surpassed Life Transformation that were making use of the energy, the others were as well. But the remainder of their power was nothing impressive. Several quick shots went out, testing the defenses of different opponents. Two seemed unharmed, but everyone reacted differently. One woman simply shifted energy to block her. She was the first target. An arrow streaked through the air. An actual arrow that was specially made to negate energy. Not in the way that the black barbed arrows did, though Alva had some of those as well. Instead, only the arrowhead was special. It was made from the chitin of the very same ants that were fighting alongside them right now. It wasn¡¯t quite as effective without being part of them, but as it pierced into the woman¡¯s upper back it did its job well enough. The attack was meant to go into the woman¡¯s neck, but a slight deflection was an exceptional accomplishment given the circumstances. Before the woman could realize her mistake, several more arrows landed around the same area, opening a wider hole in her defenses. Some of them made it into her neck- quite deep. She didn¡¯t die immediately, but Alva moved on to her next target. She would die, but weakening someone who could cause more trouble was a higher priority. ----- A shortspear and a watery woman wielding it persistently pursued Anton across the battlefield. He never stopped barraging her with shots, but there was only so much he could do. ¡°Your lower energy will fail you soon enough,¡± the woman taunted him. ¡°It would have been easier to just give up.¡± Anton had a response, but another voice interjected first. ¡°Such choices are for people like you. Weaklings who can only fight against those they consider ¡®lower¡¯.¡± The words were punctuated by several arrows as Grand Elder Kseniya planted herself between the woman and Anton. ¡°Since you didn¡¯t get my hints, I came closer. You¡¯re going to fight me, old hag.¡± That taunt wouldn¡¯t have been the first on Anton¡¯s mind, especially given Kseniya¡¯s apparent age being older than the woman¡­ but it worked. Either because it was true, and the Ascension cultivator was much older than she looked¡­ or because she was simply susceptible to such insults. Her spear was the first to speak for her, stabbing right next to Kseniya¡¯s head. ¡°You¡¯ll regret that!¡± ¡°Will I?¡± Kseniya said as she shot an arrow directly towards the woman¡¯s arm from less than a meter past the front of the bow. ¡°Try it.¡± Though Anton would have loved to just watch the fight, he knew Kseniya wouldn¡¯t be enough on her own. He was humble enough to get some more distance, especially since not doing so would be wasting Kseniya¡¯s efforts. Then he began to contribute his own string of attacks, while Kseniya somehow managed to avoid being impaled over and over again. ----- A large man leapt up in the air, slamming his heel down on Timothy¡¯s shield. He was reflected backwards, flying several dozen meters into the distance. Timothy understood that the man was trying to force him against the ground, and it was a fairly reasonable idea, but most of the man¡¯s power was lost without firm footing. Timothy took a slow breath, steadying himself. Just because the man hadn¡¯t killed him yet didn¡¯t mean he was winning. Frankly it was a miracle he had held on for so long. Catarina¡¯s formations had to be part of it, but he felt there was something else. Their side was doing¡­ a little too well. He didn¡¯t have a bad feeling about the circumstances like it was all a massive deception. It wasn¡¯t as if their side was going without losses, but overall things were going well. With the allies he could see Timothy knew he was still going to lose this particular part of the battle, but overall they might actually have a chance. Apparently he had decided he had enough with how things were going, the large man began to gather a huge amount of power. If he were anywhere close in cultivation to Timothy, telegraphing such an attack would be a death sentence. Unfortunately, Timothy had nothing to rely upon but his blocking techniques. They were extremely effective against raw power¡­ up until the point he could no longer withstand it. Could he retreat? Not likely. So he just had to withstand one more. And then what? Well¡­ at least the man would be weakened. Timothy took a stance, his sword held in front of him. He might not be able to pierce through the man¡¯s defenses as he charged, but it might slow him down just slightly and distribute the force of the attack over a longer time. Or he might dodge slightly, which would have the same effect, hopefully. Timothy aimed his sword right for the man¡¯s incoming fist. Even with anti-ascension techniques tearing away at the man¡¯s power, he didn¡¯t even cut a hair. As the man¡¯s fist impacted his shield, Timothy felt his arm shatter. A moment later, he was extremely relieved at that¡­ because he was still alive. His opponent was technically alive as well, but the wide gouge on his throat indicated he probably wouldn¡¯t stay that way. Velvet had already pulled away after her attack, but the rest of those inside the area had also done their best to take advantage of the opening, forcing him to spend effort defending everywhere else. Timothy had known Velvet was around, but she was able to hide well enough to make him feel like she wasn¡¯t there at all. Unfortunately she was vulnerable after an attack, especially a big one like that. Black flames tore through the side of the building and towards Velvet. The formation was supposed to keep people out¡­ but the fact that they basically took down a single Ascension cultivator with it was enough. If Timothy lived, he¡¯d make sure to complement his wife on the setup. Chapter 349 A dagger stabbed downward, right into the wielder¡¯s own thigh. The Great Queen had proudly arranged herself nearby, marveling at the lack of control these cultivators had. With their energy they could immediately stop or reverse directions, but without it they might simply follow through with their momentum. Certainly the woman stopped before jabbing the dagger terribly deep into herself, but it was amusing nonetheless. Though the Great Queen considered the battle won already, she did not begrudge those who chose to lend her assistance. While the woman was distracted and vulnerable they attacked with weapons of their own, and each time the woman summoned her energy to fend off their attacks the Great Queen took a portion for herself. Even though the woman seemed to understand how the Great Queen functioned now, she was unable to do anything about it. ¡­ The Great Queen didn¡¯t count her leg nearly being taken off by an unexpectedly fast stab. This cultivator could still enhance her speed, even their energy couldn¡¯t enhance their cutting power. Moving around to awkward to reach locations was best, places like the rear of the thigh¡­ or the Great Queen¡¯s next target, the lower back. While the woman was briefly distracted by something silly like a ¡®sword¡¯ or ¡®spear¡¯ or a few of each, the Great Queen continued to work her way under the woman¡¯s armor to her target. Then she bit down. It was not quite so effective as it would have been had the Great Queen been able to reach the upper spine, but despite humans only having two legs the loss was catastrophic to their functionality. The woman fell forward, and though she quickly flipped herself onto her back her exhausted energy was unable to keep up with the incoming attacks. The Great Queen hungrily snatched up any ascension energy she could reach until everything stopped. Then she took a few moments to relax and digest some of the energy. Marvelous. Now it was time to look for the next target. ----- It was perfectly reasonable for the man who was a swirling mass of blood and darkness to ignore a buck deer charging at him. Its energy was at most comparable to a Spirit Building cultivator, irrelevant to him. Hoyt did his very best to not look relieved at the approaching creature, which was helped by the fact that he was still very much on his back foot. The horns of a deer were normally rounded, if still capable of serious impact. These particular deer had horns like blades, which was only relevant if they could cause damage to begin with. When the buck charged into the mass of mostly intangible energy it should have done very little. Indeed, its horns simply slipped through the area without even pulling any of it apart. However, a moment later the form of the twin-voiced man coalesced out of the mass, landing unsteadily on his feet. At the same time as the man shot out a spear of blackness, piercing through the deer, Hoyt chopped with his axe towards the man¡¯s torso. His attack was caught with a single hand, but the man¡¯s energy was still chaotic. A line of blood was the first sign, and then flames caught on the previously burned skin, working their way up the man¡¯s arm. The buck died nearly instantly. It was unfortunate, but they did not have the defensive capabilities of the ants. Even miniscule amounts of ascension energy targeted at them could kill them¡­ but the momentary distraction was worth the sacrifice. It was a trade the human cultivators would and had done previously in the battle, though not always to the same effect. Hoyt had hoped to slay the man or at least cut through his blocking hand- but any amount of damage and disruption to his energy would have to do. While the man dispersed the fire, Hoyt pulled back to take a moment to steady himself. One step at a time would have to do. ----- Though Anton was suitably impressed by Kseniya¡¯s ability to dodge the shortspear, he knew she couldn¡¯t keep it up forever. Her opponent outclassed her in terms of energy, and even with the effects of the formation bringing them closer together they would eventually get a hit, lucky or not. He was making use of everything he had. He had access to enough ascension energy that he could get a couple more shots in before he ran out of that. Each was less powerful than a proper Ascension cultivator¡¯s attack, but it was still worthwhile. What else was there? He had a few special arrows. Ant chitin arrows would be included with everything else. They at least made the woman take a moment to dodge instead of attacking Kseniya. Then what? There were actual ants on the ground near him, then climbing up him. Having seen how effective they were in combat he was a bit weirded out. It was like having knives drawn across his skin. Even if it was by someone he trusted¡­ he¡¯s prefer to avoid it. But they seemed to have a goal. That goal was¡­ Anton¡¯s quiver? They swarmed over one arrow in particular. It wasn¡¯t special, really. In fact, Anton forgot he had it. It was just made of a particularly durable wood, high quality¡­ a bit heavy. But it wouldn¡¯t hurt to shoot it, since the ants chose it. He pulled it out. Then he gave it a little shake. ¡°I¡¯ll shoot it but you need to get off the arrow.¡± The ants shuffled around so that they were only on one side of it. That¡­ Anton didn¡¯t bother to think about it. They either knew what they were doing or he was wasting his time. He nocked the arrow and gathered as much natural energy as he could around it¡­ which wasn¡¯t much, considering its riders. But perhaps that was why they chose such a heavy arrow. It could hold a greater momentum than the others, making up for their mass. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. As the arrow flew through the air, Anton did his best to direct it towards the woman fighting Kseniya. Though the ants themselves wouldn¡¯t show up in her senses, an arrow with a very odd arrangement of energy would. The woman seemed to have learned from other events on the battlefield and turned her head. The distraction allowed Kseniya to get a small amount of distance moving through the watery aura of the woman¡­ and to shoot several arrows into the woman¡¯s back, one of which actually cracked a rib. Shortspear collided with arrow, its diameter large enough to completely obliterate the ants in its path. They were not nearly as powerful as the queen, and a moderate amount of physical force would be enough to kill them. But even as her spear approached and Anton tried to avoid it, they grabbed onto each other, fanning out like a web. The ones in the center were annihilated, but the rest continued forward, latching onto the woman¡¯s arm. They were hardly bigger than natural ants, their mouths just large enough to gnaw at the woman¡¯s skin. But they did so. When her other hand slapped down on her forearm to crush them, those between her fingers latched onto her other limb. Dozens more had died, but dealing with them would take precious moments she really couldn¡¯t afford to spend in the middle of combat. Kseniya had already taken the moment to prepare a singular, powerful shot. That was much unlike her in Anton¡¯s estimation, but he felt the elegance of how her power condensed. She was merely a hundred meters away, and the Ascension cultivator decided she was the priority target. An instant later the shot was fired, but Kseniya¡¯s focus didn¡¯t allow her to avoid the incoming spear as it stabbed into her lower abdomen. Ascension energy should have destroyed her from the inside out, but the plethora of ants along her arm greatly limited the flow of energy there, even if they hadn¡¯t been able to stop her movement. The shot, meanwhile, had pierced through the edge of the woman¡¯s ribcage, cutting a slice along her lung. Not enough to be deadly, but certainly a step towards it. Then Kseniya did the strangest move yet. Even as she was reaching for another arrow, she dropped her bow. With her left hand she grabbed onto the spear, while the arrow in her right was thrust towards the woman like a dagger.There was a brief moment where the woman attempted to pull her spear away, but the very limited flow of energy to that spot and the fact that some of the ants had gotten through the skin layer made her reconsider. She dropped the spear to avoid being stabbed by the ant chitin tipped arrow, launching herself backwards. The woman was much more concerned about the ants¡¯ progress, squeezing her hand tightly around her forearm and dragging it. The ants immediately crushed between her hand and arm perished, while the others were mostly flung away. She proceeded to try the same with her other arm while Kseniya pulled the shortspear out of her gut¡­ and proceeded to nock it like an arrow in her bow which she had kicked back up into her hand. Anton stopped shooting for a moment, but in every bow he nocked an arrow of light. If his prediction was wrong he was just wasting time, but he had a feeling¡­ The spear-arrow launched at the woman, who stared at it completely unconcerned. With a final flick of her arm she removed most of the remaining ants, then stretched out her arm. From the spear moving towards her with deadly intent to being grasped in her hand like it had never left was only a single instant. The weapon was never in the intervening distance. With such a connection, a warrior could never be truly separated from their weapon. But it did require an amount of concentration and will, during which the woman¡¯s defenses dropped. The arrows didn¡¯t quite move at the speed of light. They were unfortunately weaker than his normal shots, partly because he didn¡¯t want to telegraph them too clearly and partly because that was a sacrifice made. But a dozen arrows still struck the woman, targeting her kidneys, stomach, and all of her guts below her ribcage. Her eyes would have been better, but Anton wasn¡¯t willing to risk an instant of circling around. For a moment the woman stood strong, as if unaffected¡­ but then she fell. A moment later, Kseniya collapsed to her knees, clutching her side. ----- The gout of black-orange flames washed over Velvet. Timothy could only be certain that the worst didn¡¯t happen because he lost track of her. He knew she would be wounded, but she wasn¡¯t a body on the floor or a pile of ash¡­ and that would have to be enough. He raised his shield as he faced the woman who had just unleashed those flames. Unfortunately, she was the type he was not effective in a battle against. Fluid, wide-area attacks were much harder to deal with. And extremely hard to reflect back. A cone of flame washed over Timothy. The circumference of his shield was augmented by his energy to be as tall as he was, and he crouched down slightly to limit his profile. He wasn¡¯t going to last long like this, but holding his defensive stance was better than letting the woman freely kill him. Instead of persisting with her course of action, the woman stopped. The same orange-black fire still surrounded her as she stared at him. ¡°Hmm. How annoying.¡± The following movements weren¡¯t something Timothy could keep track of, and a moment later he was gripped from behind, one hand clutching his neck. At least he hadn¡¯t made the mistake of lowering his defenses in other places, or he would probably have instantly broken apart. Even so, the speed at which he was mustering his energy to protect himself was vastly overwhelmed by the amount of flames surrounding him. Just as he was about to run out of energy, the entire power of the sect¡¯s defensive formation focused on him. ¡°Hands off my husband,¡± Catarina said as she thrust forward with her sword. She didn¡¯t actually give the woman the opportunity to let go, though. It was irresponsible to direct all of the formation to protect Timothy, but she didn¡¯t care. But it was also excessive, so she focused the suppressive part on the woman, rendering her unable to move, even if just for an instant. Chapter 350 Black flames spewed in all directions as the Ascension cultivator broke through the condensed power of the formation, but not before Catarina pierced through her side, stabbing through ribs and into her lung. Her sword did not reach all the way to the woman¡¯s heart, but the black flames were unable to reach towards either Catarina or Timothy. As the barrier portion of the formation attempted to reform around the woman, she kept it away with her power, fleeing from the area. Catarina chased after her, holding her focus on the restrictions of the formation suppressing the woman. That prevented her from counterattacking, but as it was no longer a case of ambush it was difficult to hold her in place. The formation hadn¡¯t been designed for that function, and as she lost proximity to the woman the restrictions weakened and the gap began to widen as the woman sped up. The loss of the formation suppressing their enemies and augmenting their allies should have turned the battle against the Order, but the sudden change in scenery instead sparked a general retreat of the remaining forces. Three Ascension cultivators had been slain while the other two were wounded, but the remaining Life Transformation and Essence Collection cultivators had sufficient power to defeat the Order. Yet they retreated nonetheless. They weren¡¯t allowed to go freely, but as the cultivators began to scatter the Order focused on those who were easiest to catch. Once the rest were beyond the borders of their land, they didn¡¯t have the fortitude to chase them much further¡­ a few lone arrows being the exception. Allowing them to regroup in the countryside was not what anyone wanted, but the only possibility of chasing after them was utter annihilation. And while some of the invaders seemed to be gathering towards the nearby city of Edelhull¡­ they would find it much more than a typical city. Not long after the invaders left, there was a great cracking sound, and Catarina sighed in relief. Condensing the power of the formation onto one of the Ascension cultivators hadn¡¯t necessarily been the correct move, but it wasn¡¯t entirely uncalculated either. The majority of the main formation wasn¡¯t going to last anyway, and it was better that it was intentionally withdrawn instead of¡­ annihilated. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s the best I can do,¡± Catarina commented to no one in particular. An arm wrapped around her shoulder. It was a comforting gesture, but Timothy also needed it to physically support himself. ¡°To be honest, I wasn¡¯t expecting to survive today. For anyone to.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why we did,¡± Catarina said honestly. ¡°They still seemed to be able to overpower us.¡± ----- After the battle, casualties were determined. Only a few anomalies were without injuries, ranging from more on the minor side to lingering wounds which might yet kill people. Normally a cultivator who survived a battle would be able to live on with the proper application of precious medicines, but they simply didn¡¯t have enough for everyone, despite their best efforts to prepare. And recovery medicines hadn¡¯t been at the top of their mind, since those were only useful if they survived. As for the dead¡­ close to a third of the Order had perished, from the very top of their Grand Elders all the way down to their Body Tempering cultivators. The latter were fortunate to have been treated as unimportant for the most part, as they were unable to influence the battle in a significant manner. Grand Elder Matousek was among the dead, but Kseniya survived¡­ though her injuries were dire. Another third of the members would be unable to fight for some time, either to injuries or complete exhaustion and often overtaxation of their energy. That left a small portion that were able to fight to some extent, but they were needed to help deal with all of the others. Most of the invaders who didn¡¯t flee had died in the battle, but most of the others were killed. The Order simply didn¡¯t have the ability to watch over or imprison a large number of enemy cultivators. A few were picked out based on perceived importance compared to their actual cultivation strength. They would be interrogated later. The dead invaders were stripped bare of their belongings and thrown into a massive pile, which was subsequently planned to be burned. They did not deserve the effort or dignity of being buried, even in a mass grave. On the other hand, the Order had some of their number digging graves for their own dead. Anton was among them, moving almost mechanically. He only had the strength to move his body and little more, but he would rather exhaust himself this way than sit around doing nothing. One by one, his companions approached him. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I know it must remind you of-¡± ¡°No,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I need to do this. Precisely because of Dungannon.¡± He held himself up high. ¡°Because it¡¯s different. Look around us, what do you see?¡± ¡°Death and destruction,¡± Hoyt shook his head. ¡°For no reason at all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But what I see is every single person who survived. This time, I fought.¡± He stabbed his shovel into the ground to punctuate his point, digging up a massive scoopful of dirt. ¡°I¡¯m not alone, dealing with destruction I could do nothing about. Those buildings in ruins there?¡± Anton gestured. ¡°Pointless garbage. Everyone here was snatched from the jaws of death. Perhaps it could have been more. None of this should have happened but¡­ we¡¯re alive. For now.¡± ¡°About that,¡± Hoyt looked around carefully, then lowered his voice. ¡°Why do you think they retreated? People are wondering¡­¡± ¡°That one¡¯s easy,¡± Anton retorted. ¡°Think about it for a second. If they had stayed to fight, what would they gain?¡± ¡°All of our resources¡­ which was theoretically the entire reason they were here.¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Would they?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Disregarding the fact that we consumed most of them to augment the sect, only those who survived would get anything. And they didn¡¯t want to win. They wanted to crush us. They weren¡¯t expecting a real fight. Obviously some of them would die, but this¡­ we made them know that any of them could die. Not just the guy next to them, but them.¡± Anton¡¯s face turned into a mirthless smile. ¡°And they were afraid. Afraid to die, because this place doesn¡¯t mean anything to them.¡± He stabbed his shovel into the ground to begin the next grave. ¡°I see,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I didn¡¯t think about that. It¡¯s everything to us, but to them¡­ we¡¯re just another fortuitous opportunity to try to snatch up.¡± He held out his hand, ¡°I can do some as well.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°You¡¯re welcome to get your own, but I¡¯m doing this until the job¡¯s done. I don¡¯t¡­ hate it so much as the others. I have buried many others throughout the years.¡± His face melted into an actual smile as he thought of Janina and the time they had together. ¡°Not all deaths have to be bad. I¡¯d prefer to be here, thinking of what these people accomplished.¡± ----- Though it would take years to actually put things back together, cultivators were tough. Their dead were buried within a day, those who could still move around split between those taking guard and those working while the rest recovered as much as they could. The abundant natural energy that filled the Order¡¯s lands was absorbed continuously, but it did not dry up. More flowed in from the surroundings, deep and strong and seemingly limitless. It was not, of course, truly without limit- but the changes to the world allowed for such a phenomenon. The invaders had been allowed to leave, but the Order wasn¡¯t content to just sit back and let them do as they pleased. They still took their duties to the people of Graotan very seriously, but running themselves into the ground wouldn¡¯t help. And the rest of Graotan wasn¡¯t exactly defenseless. As they had sensed, a portion of the invaders had made their way towards Edelhull and the surrounding countryside¡­ where they had been quickly repelled. The Order was a powerful sect formed from thousands of like-minded cultivators, but Edelhull was a city. Even before the recent decades of explosive growth they had tens of thousands of citizens. The invasion had caused an influx of people from the surrounding countryside, swelling their numbers to over a hundred thousand. And they were basically all cultivators, to some extent or another. Even if most of them would not be trained to fight as well as a combat focused cultivator, the city still had a startling number of Body Tempering and Spirit Building cultivators. Even Essence Collection cultivators were more numerous there than in the Order- with the caveat that they bunched up towards the early part of the stage, representing the limits of what the average person could achieve over the course of decades. It was unfortunately the case that some of the surrounding towns and villages were attacked, but such efforts were halfhearted at best¡­ and the people fought back viciously. News was coming in from afar that there were other groups in Graotan- and across the nearby western and southern borders. But in a way, that was good news as well. Others had survived to bring messages, even if the messages were ill tidings. But just because they had repelled a single attack didn¡¯t mean the Order was in the clear. No doubt the invaders would regroup and attack them once more¡­ or join up with other forces and ravage Graotan or the rest of the continent. Surviving wasn¡¯t winning¡­ but the enemy wasn¡¯t invincible. ----- A week later found Anton firing Spirit Arrows beyond sight. They were shot with killing intent, though not the expectation of getting a kill. Nor was he in any rush. The enemy forces already knew where they were, or he would not have given away their position with his attacks. It was possible for him to take a circuitous route in his attacks, but that limited the actual range he could be. Having nearly died to an Ascension cultivator, Anton wanted to stay as far away from them as possible. ¡°Ah,¡± Anton said as he lowered his bow. ¡°Look like I¡¯m done for now.¡± ¡°I thought the point was to keep harassing them so they can¡¯t recover,¡± Timothy commented. ¡°I know you¡¯re not firing any faster than you can sustain¡­¡± ¡°They put up a formation,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°It¡¯s not much, but whether or not he bombards it the duration will be quite similar.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Anton said. ¡°Also, you can sense it?¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s my area of specialty. I¡¯m mostly guessing about the quality. It kind of feels weak, compared to what I think they should be able to put up, but they didn¡¯t have formation masters among them.¡± It wasn¡¯t just the normal squad out harassing the invaders. That would be suicidal. Instead, they had about half of the Order¡¯s forces. Those who were uninjured and not assigned to protecting said injured, at least. Their group did happen to make up all of the Life Transformation cultivators, however. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if they had been drawn together by fate or coincidence, or if their talents had fed into each other¡­ but either way, a group that all reached Life Transformation within less than forty years was an exception and had greatly inflated the Order¡¯s numbers. The rate of advancement had also been higher outside of their group, but that had only amounted to an average of one Life Transformation expert every few years in the Order. That was significantly higher than the one-per-decade of the previous ¡®generation¡¯, but it could have been related to heading towards times of trouble. Anton took another shot towards the barrier. It wasn¡¯t meant to do any damage, just be loud and visible so nobody could relax. It still wasn¡¯t entirely clear if the Ascension cultivators could recover energy as it had to be approximated from afar, but if they could it was not a quick process. That seemed to be true to a lesser extent for the other invaders. They were accustomed to a majority of ascension energy, and couldn¡¯t quite function properly in a world full of ¡®lower energy¡¯. So far the Order¡¯s interrogations hadn¡¯t yielded much information. Even if they were willing to go beyond their normal moral limits, the fact that they stuck to the tenets of a righteous sect meant they wouldn¡¯t know how to torture people. And if they did, they knew they would likely get inaccurate information. There were plans to take their prisoners to the Frostmirror sect or equivalently morally ambiguous allies, but the members of the Order weren¡¯t willing able to venture more than a few dozen kilometers through Graotan, with the current presence of invaders. Even now Anton could feel several groups, though most didn¡¯t appear to be so strong as the one that attacked the Order. Another arrow, a reminder to the invaders and himself that he would not let things happen without fighting back. And neither would the rest of the world. Chapter 351 Tracking all of the invaders was impossible, but the particular group that had attacked the Order had been marked by the formation. Or rather, a separate more subtle one unrelated to the sect-wide barrier. The latter was nothing more than scrap now, its power and its future expended. Perhaps utilizing Everheart¡¯s techniques hadn¡¯t been efficient, but they had needed every scrap of power the formation had been able to provide. Now came the process of organizing the rest of Graotan to fight. Agreements had been drawn up before the time of the invasion, but because they could not know precisely where attackers would be coming, each sect and large settlement generally saw to their own defenses. It wasn¡¯t efficient, but few people could be convinced to abandon their homes. The attacks had mainly focused on larger cultivation sects, but by the time that had been determined it was too late to mobilize large numbers of people. Now the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars was organizing with Edelhull and other nearby cities to make a march towards Stregate, with whom they had lost contact. Stregate and Windrip had grown together into a sort of unified whole, and they were either a critical location to provide assistance to, or a source of many potential forces. Possibly both. The harassing tactics of the Order had pushed local enemy invaders away, but that made it even more of a priority to organize everyone they could from the city militias. The state of the world was unknown, but if similar invading forces had arrived at the major sects- and only major sects- the world was in a desperate state. Things were clearly better than the potential utter annihilation had they not prepared, but organizing forces was now key. ----- The damaged walls of Edelhull were still startling to Ghadir, no matter how many times she walked past them. No conflict had come to the city in her lifetime. How could it, with the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars a stone¡¯s throw away? At first the call for guards had gone out, it seemed rather silly. But with people in general beginning to cultivate, it seemed a worthwhile endeavor. Those assigned inside the city were indeed necessary for stability, but a post on the walls¡­ that was just a stable, riskless endeavor. Ghadir had been assigned to both streets and walls many times in her career, happily collecting an ever increasing pay as her cultivation steadily improved. She trained to fight and even ended up in a few scuffles throughout the city, but she still found it hard to believe the news of some invasion coming, years away. By the time everyone began to feel it, it was too late to regret days spent slacking off on training. Ghadir personally thought that nobody could push their limits every day. She had still taken cultivation seriously, but when the time came¡­ it wasn¡¯t enough. With the Order nearby, she had felt the strongest cultivators passing by, whether they came through the city or not. She at least had a general sense when Essence Collection or Life Transformation experts got close enough, even if she couldn¡¯t clearly identify them. There were Essence Collection cultivators among the city guard, and when the invasion approached their official transition into a militia had attracted a captain who was in Life Transformation. She had felt safe, knowing that the invaders couldn¡¯t possibly harm them¡­ but she was wrong. The attackers who came to Edelhull were only a small part of those that attacked the Order directly. The city had felt the shockwaves of the battle, but it had ended before they could do more than organize their forces. Nobody was in a hurry to aid them because¡­ they had to be fine, right? The Order had been the pinnacle of Graotan for centuries, even before the cultivation boom. But the limits of what Ghadir knew were twisted to the point of breaking. A random portion of those who retreated towards the city still had Life Transformation cultivators among the invaders, and the devastation¡­ Well, Edelhull was lucky that the Order had been willing to assist with defensive formations for little cost. The city had grown greatly and the materials for the formation had seemed prohibitively expensive. Ghadir remembered people complaining about how much of their taxes were spent on them, even as most grew more wealthy. Now, nobody would complain, except maybe that there hadn¡¯t been enough. It was the first time she experienced battle and death. People were cut down like straw, men and women who weren¡¯t any weaker than herself. Yet the initial wave of the battle was cut short when they actually repelled an assault. Holes were opened in the walls, but soldiers organized to stop those making their way through. The invaders retreated, but not before leaving a scar on the city. Ghadir was afraid. She found it hard to imagine anyone wouldn¡¯t be. She thought the stories were exaggerated, that it couldn¡¯t be possible the whole world would be at risk. But it was. She clutched her spear tight, remembering how she had stabbed an Essence Collection cultivator with it, despite being only at the peak of Spirit Building. Calros had been involved as well, and several others. Any of them could have died, but the anti-ascension techniques worked, even on those who weren¡¯t necessarily ¡°Ascension cultivators¡±. Ghadir shivered at the thought of them, as even getting close to them might kill her by accident. She was afraid¡­ but she didn¡¯t regret her choice to go on her current life path. She just wished she¡¯d pushed a little bit harder in training. She hadn¡¯t believed these invaders could exist, but now that they did¡­ she couldn¡¯t stand to let them stay. She glanced over at Calros, who was likewise pacing back and forth. He nodded. These invaders couldn¡¯t have their city, their country- their world. They would fight, though Ghadir felt insufficient to make any real difference. ----- It was uncanny to be part of an army where one person could shoot an arrow beyond the horizon. Not only that, the old man did so regularly, declaring something about his targets. The strangest part was that Ghadir was able to see the results for herself, when they arrived at the location sometimes up to half a day later. That was at a ¡®leisurely¡¯ march, of course, but it made her feel worthless. She understood, practically, that there were hundreds like her, and only a handful like him- and that together they could make a difference- but it was still difficult. ¡°What is it?¡± Ghadir started as the old man looked at her. Had she been staring? Maybe she had been. She didn¡¯t know when she hadn¡¯t been staring lately. ¡°Nothing, Elder Anton,¡± she hung her head. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! The man slowly made his way towards her. It could have been intimidating, if not for his gentle smile. Ghadir was assigned to a squad near the archers, though she was pretty sure she was there to just be another body getting in the way and not because anyone thought she could actually help. The old man spoke gently, ¡°No really, I mean it. What is on your mind? You have questions about me, perhaps?¡± Well, she couldn¡¯t exactly refuse to say something now. ¡°I was just thinking¡­¡± What was something inoffensive, ¡°How long it would take me,¡± Ghadir hesitated. ¡°...or someone with the proper talent at my level to reach the same level as you.¡± ¡°How long do you think?¡± Elder Anton asked. That¡­ wasn¡¯t an answer. And now she had to guess. ¡°A century? Two?¡± Elder Anton snorted. ¡°How old do you think I am, huh?¡± Fortunately, he didn¡¯t seem to actually want her to answer that. Cultivators could take pride in their age, but also could dislike being called old. ¡°A hundred and thirty, more or less,¡± he offered. ¡°Of which, that thirty some years is how long I have cultivated. And you¡­ two decades, perhaps?¡± Ghadir¡¯s eyes widened. Could that really be true? Wasn¡¯t it difficult for people to cultivate at an advanced age? But he was right about her. ¡°I¡­¡± ¡°What a shame,¡± the man stroked his chin. ¡°The structures in place are still lacking.¡± He shook his head, ¡°But what can be done in a single generation?¡± His focus returned to Ghadir. ¡°You learned the modified Ninety-Nine Stars, correct?¡± ¡°Well, yes.¡± Edelhull was immediately bordering the Order, and the Body Tempering section had been available¡­ forever. When she was old enough to begin cultivating had been around the same time as the Order was pushing for more people to cultivate. Sometime after that they distributed a version that functioned much the same but didn¡¯t have the same signature, mostly so that its practitioners wouldn¡¯t be mistaken for actual members of the Order. ¡°I don¡¯t really have much talent,¡± Ghadir admitted. ¡°That may be true,¡± the old man countered, ¡°But I imagine it¡¯s more of a lack of motivation. Oh, you may have been devoted to your duty but¡­ you didn¡¯t need to grow stronger. Not really.¡± She turned her eyes down. That was how she¡¯d been thinking. ¡°But you¡¯re close to that threshold anyway. What do you know about Essence Collection?¡± ¡°Well, um¡­ you focus on something core to you to grow stronger.¡± ¡°That¡¯s basically correct,¡± Elder Anton agreed, ¡°But remarkably vague. An Essence is something core to you, or to what you want. That can be power, but it could be protecting people or¡­ swords. But it has to be the most important thing. If it¡¯s not¡­ you have to make it that.¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t even know what I want most,¡± Ghadir admitted. ¡°That¡¯s the hard part isn¡¯t it?¡± the old man said. ¡°Unfortunately, I can¡¯t tell you that either. But I can say that it¡¯s acceptable for it to be for your own sake, or for others.¡± ----- Tomorrow would be more marching, but Ghadir couldn¡¯t help but lay away in her tent. Focusing on others was obviously the more noble path. She had a brother she wanted to keep safe, and his family. The city, too- and Graotan beyond that. She hardly had experience with anything further, but nobody deserved to be weak. Yet it didn¡¯t feel right. All she could think about was her jealousy at the strength of others. Elder Anton hadn¡¯t insulted her cultivation speed, just pointed it out accurately. Even if he had, she couldn¡¯t have blamed him. She¡¯d been coasting along, especially in the latter part of Spirit Building. Each small increase in bodily power was difficult to attain, and she hadn¡¯t really cared to have more. More wealth would barely make a difference, as she had everything she needed. She wasn¡¯t terribly interested in luxury beyond occasional meals somewhere nice. She only really cared about growing strong once the invasion came, and she began to fear for her life. She was still going to fight, but she didn¡¯t know how to get stronger so she wouldn¡¯t have to be afraid. Even if she made it to Essence Collection, would it be enough? No. Not even the coveted Life Transformation was enough now. It took a long time for her to fall asleep, and no answers came to her. ----- ¡°What are you shooting at?¡± Ghadir worked up the courage to interrupt Elder Anton once more. ¡°Are there enemies?¡± ¡°No,¡± the man admitted. ¡°It¡¯s just practice. I pick a target, and try to hit it¡­ though usually I stop short. No point in sullying the countryside.¡± ¡°Are you close to a breakthrough?¡± Ghadir asked. ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Then does it matter? We¡¯re heading for a battle. Why waste your energy?¡± ¡°It¡¯s never a waste,¡± he said. ¡°Though I will admit that training at times like these has to be conservative. I¡¯m limiting myself to ten thousand or less per day.¡± His eyes focused on her, and she could sense¡­ something. Her training in Emotion was quite decent, but his greatly superior cultivation made him hard to fathom. ¡°The second shot at Marrow really does better with constant work. You can even cultivate on the road.¡± She probably shouldn¡¯t have been surprised that he knew that was the area she was still lacking, before the final tempering. Twenty-Six stars, and lately she hadn¡¯t even managed one per year. ¡°It takes a lot of concentration¡­¡± ¡°So did walking, when you were a baby,¡± Elder Anton countered. ¡°And talking. Now you do both without even thinking hard.¡± Elder Anton held out his hand, ¡°Start somewhere small. Just a little bit of energy circulated around inside your bones. Work your way from one end to the other and back, then you can do more.¡± His energy formed a single path through his body, moving through every bone, ¡°Trust me, it will be much easier before your bones are old.¡± ¡°... I thought you said something about beginning to cultivate at a hundred. Was that not true?¡± ¡°It was. That¡¯s how I know it¡¯s not comfortable.¡± As they walked, she made an attempt- and he guided Ghadir where she was lacking. Occasionally, he would shoot his bow into the distance. Sometimes, he summoned a great amount of power all around himself, forming bows in the air- and drawing a few physical bows he held separately. A great volley of them all at once made Ghadir wonder why they even had the rest of the archers. ¡°That one was an enemy scout,¡± Anton commented. ¡°Ascension energy stands out so much here that they¡¯re easy to pick out. One moment.¡± Anton went on ahead, apparently talking to other members of leadership. That ultimately resulted in the pace increasing, as they didn¡¯t want the scout to be missed before they reached their next destination. The increased pace began to strain even a cultivator¡¯s tempered body a little bit, and doing so even more with her own energy made Ghadir wonder if it was a good idea¡­ but she worked on a small piece at once, so she wouldn¡¯t end up exhausted. It shouldn¡¯t hurt to try, even if she was too late to really make a difference. Chapter 352 The soldiers from the Edelhull militia were organized more tightly than the cultivators from the Order. They walked in ranks but were allowed some individual mobility. Calros took note of that, but also how the more experienced cultivators still retained their focus wherever they were positioned. He might have been serving as part of Edelhull¡¯s defenses for many years, but none of them really had to do much. Sure, they were stronger than normal people and had training in combat, but it just wasn¡¯t the same. They¡¯d been able to fight against the few invaders who came to Edelhull, but Calros thought there was something fundamentally different between them and the real cultivators. He sought out the familiar face of Ghadir. Years of working together had made them close friends, but he felt like he didn¡¯t recognize her in the last few days. It wasn¡¯t a bad thing but¡­ ¡°Ghadir. You¡¯ve been talking to that elder. Are you thinking of becoming a true cultivator?¡± Her grip tightened on her spear. ¡°Do you think we can afford not to?¡± ¡°It may be too late for that,¡± Calros shrugged. ¡°The step to Essence Collection¡­ it¡¯s not easy.¡± ¡°You know, our parents¡¯ generation didn¡¯t cultivate at all. Even someone in Body Tempering was considered something pretty amazing. We¡¯re well beyond that level now. And if you¡¯re having trouble advancing, maybe talk to someone. Like Elder Anton. He might be able to help.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± Calros shook his head. ¡°Maybe for you, but I¡¯m not¡­ really much of a fighter.¡± He held tightly to his spear, ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong. I don¡¯t intend to give up here and let these invaders take what they want. I might even die to stop them, but that¡¯s not really¡­ me.¡± Ghadir looked at him carefully, ¡°You¡¯re not afraid of dying?¡± He shrugged, ¡°As much as anyone I suppose I am. But I¡¯d rather not live in a world without Edelhull the way it is now. So I¡¯ll protect it, because we need everyone we can get.¡± ----- ¡°Congratulations,¡± Elder Anton said in a way Ghadir knew wasn¡¯t condescending, but felt like it anyway. She shook her head. ¡°I finally finished a step I should have completed long ago. Now it will take me¡­ I don¡¯t know, months or years to complete the next step. Even if I could do it overnight, the peak of Spirit Building is barely different from where I am now.¡± ¡°Just because you have a late start doesn¡¯t mean you should give up,¡± Anton¡¯s kind smile comforted her slightly. ¡°Otherwise, a couple years from now you¡¯ll regret it.¡± ¡°Not if I¡¯m dead,¡± she pointed out. ¡°You can¡¯t say I¡¯m really strong enough to survive this battle.¡± ¡°None of us are,¡± Anton said firmly. ¡°We just have to pick the battles that will get the best results for us. Be that surviving, or having the biggest possible impact on the battle.¡± Anton leaned slightly closer, ¡°But I can tell you a secret. Conviction will greatly affect your survivability in battle.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure. Except the other side also believes in what they¡¯re doing,¡± Ghadir pointed out. ¡°Just believe harder,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°But actually, I have to say that they¡¯re more afraid than you are.¡± ¡°...Then you don¡¯t know how afraid I am.¡± Ghadir was doing a good job of not trembling, the safety provided by the people around her not being sufficient as they approached an inevitable battle. ¡°I do, actually, but perhaps I didn¡¯t say it quite right.¡± Elder Anton thought for a few moments. ¡°You might be afraid, but that is mitigated by your bravery. You chose to fight against stronger opponents, after all.¡± He held up a hand to stop her, ¡°And yes, it was your choice. You could have fled into the city, but I know you fought.¡± ¡°With all of my allies, we were stronger,¡± Ghadir pointed out. ¡°That¡¯s not necessarily the case here.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t quite reached my point,¡± Anton said. ¡°You know the battle at the Order?¡± ¡°What about it? You drove them away, even killing¡­ three Ascension cultivators.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, we did. Why do you think that was?¡± ¡°Because you were strong? Prepared?¡± ¡°Sure, both of those things were true. But I will say this right now. They could have killed all of us, and yet they didn¡¯t. Not because of any sort of mercy, but because they were afraid. Every one of them, concerned about their own life.¡± Ghadir shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m worried about my own life.¡± ¡°But would you be, if you were a Life Transformation cultivator? Or an Ascension cultivator? I think not. You see, their stake in this is less than ours. They¡¯re here for, what? Some crap like cultivation resources. But this is our world.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes flashed, ¡°And they can¡¯t have it.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t win on conviction alone though.¡± ¡°Good point. How many spear thrusts have you done today?¡± Anton asked. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°We¡¯ve been marching so¡­ only a hundred in the morning?¡± ¡°Do a thousand by the end of the day. Picture one of those who came to the city. Oh, and tell your friend that true cultivators can be anyone with a commitment to something. Not just fighting.¡± ¡°... You could hear us talking?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow, and she realized she was talking to the guy who regularly shot arrows several hours'' march ahead. ----- The leadership gathered together, including many elders from the Order and the captain of the Edelhull guard, a woman who went by Oralie. She was young for her cultivation, on the level of the best geniuses. She was originally from Facraona, but for various reasons had ended up on Ofrurg and chosen to build up the guards there. She looked at Anton and shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I spent decades trying to get people to train to the best of their abilities, and then you show up and¡­ well, I can already see the effects.¡± ¡°I had the fortune to come into their understanding during a time of crisis,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°And I¡¯m someone different. Besides, you were too important to bring problems to.¡± ¡°... I suppose I was quite busy with various things,¡± Oralie admitted. ¡°People won¡¯t always take advantage of available opportunities anyway,¡± Anton consoled her. ¡°I think you did, well, to create a force that stood and fought for their city.¡± She nodded. ¡°I guess we should let people get on with the actual reason we¡¯re here. Grand Elder Fodor just arrived.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have you know this is precisely the planned time of the meeting,¡± the man in question pointed out. Side comments seldom went unheard at their level of cultivation, unless people took great care to conceal it. ¡°We¡¯re not far from Stregate now. A couple hours¡¯ march. Our scouts have confirmed the city is under siege. Their barriers are barely holding on, but should at least last the night. They will have likely noticed our approach, but for the moment I believe out camp is concealed,¡± he looked to Catarina. ¡°That¡¯s correct,¡± she nodded. ¡°If they haven¡¯t done something to disrupt Stregate¡¯s formations, we can assume they have no one who can find their way through ours. I imagine we have to run into some sort of formation master at some point¡­ but not here.¡± ¡°Very good. Elder Anton, if you would go over some of the other details of the siege.¡± Anton stepped forward. ¡°They seem to be making use of more traditional siege tactics. That is, waiting out the durability of the barrier. It is extremely difficult to have one that can withstand large instantaneous bursts of power without a constant drain on the power sources. Given the invader¡¯s slow rate of energy recovery they seem to have elected not to commit much to a bombardment to speed things along. That might change with our presence here, but any changes on that front will be immediately apparent.¡± Grand Elder Fodor took over once more. ¡°Optimally we would bombard them with attacks while they waited, but we both don¡¯t know how long that would last, nor do we have any guarantee that we would receive backup from the city when the invaders inevitably turn on us.¡± ¡°Even if they do support us,¡± Oralie commented, ¡°Leaving the protection of the walls would be a death sentence for most of them. The vast majority of their forces will be somewhere around Spirit Building. Taking advantage of walls and defensive formations they can be effective, but outside of that it would be possible for many of them to be cut down by simply the auras of Ascension cultivators.¡± ¡°Speaking of which,¡± Hoyt asked, ¡°Is this the same group that attacked the Order?¡± ¡°No,¡± Fodor shook his head. ¡°There appear to be two new and relatively fresh Ascension cultivators, and smaller numbers of others than the initial force that attacked us. Thank you for the question, Elder Vandale.¡± Hoyt stiffened for a moment, and Fodor corrected himself, ¡°Elder Hoyt, I mean.¡± ¡°... No, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m just not used to the name. What¡¯s the plan, then?¡± ¡°Optimally, we get everyone in the city. If the formations still have power, Elder Riley will be able to enhance them to some degree. Then our various forces bombard them under the guidance of Elder Krantz.¡± ¡°They won¡¯t just let us reach the gates,¡± Oralie pointed out. ¡°I would imagine not,¡± Grand Elder Fodor nodded seriously. ¡°The Formation Master will be circling those with lower cultivation towards the city under concealment. If they have to fight, so be it. But the rest of the forces will be at another angle launching attacks. There is some risk to both groups, but the second should be able to break through the enemy forces to reach the city in the worst case. But if all goes well, they will endure the attacks until the first group reaches the city, then the second will fake a retreat to make their way around to the city.¡± ¡°What ways could it go wrong¡­ aside from them committing to an attack on either group?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°They might begin the assault on the city before that,¡± Fodor pointed out. ¡°Though that would actually be to our advantage, unless they completely block off all the gates with their forces. However, this is where we have an interesting advantage. They are individually strong, but their numbers are not great. They have to either deal with isolation or hold together and leave parts of the city open. They might not actually care about people fleeing, as long as they don¡¯t think they¡¯re taking all of the resources away.¡± ¡°There will be risks no matter how we go about it,¡± Oralie shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if we can win.¡± ¡°Ferocity seems important,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Making them believe we can kill them is enough. With that, we should leave clear paths of retreat for them. This isn¡¯t a situation where we have the forces to annihilate them all at once.¡± Grand Elder Fodor nodded seriously. ¡°That¡¯s a good point. And they are still hopefully off balance at our resistance. The situation is hopefully¡­ different than they expected.¡± ¡°It should be,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°I have the feeling¡­ that they were waiting for Twin Soul Sect traitors to come out of the woodworks when they attacked the Order. They¡¯re supposed to have infiltrated all of the major sects.¡± ¡°Yet we killed them all. They should have gotten word of that, right? Their entire idea was that they could reincarnate.¡± ¡°Maybe, but¡­ some of Everheart¡¯s designs¡­¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°We know he hated them. There was an entire death trap set up on the moon that took out as many of them as possible. Everheart should have known they intended to reincarnate so¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t actually know what he would have done, but it would be something to make their lives difficult. All of them.¡± ¡°If they really haven¡¯t been getting any information¡­¡± Oralie clutched her spear, ¡°We might actually have a chance.¡± ¡°And if not,¡± Anton stood up straight, ¡°We¡¯ll take down as many of them as we can before we go.¡± Everyone silently agreed with the morbid sentiment. They¡¯d been planning that for decades, but now the time had come for them to follow through. Chapter 353 The city of Stregate was quite reasonably sized for being in a lower realm, and given the signatures of lower energy coming from the cultivators inside it should have plentiful resources. The defensive formations were annoyingly sturdy given that they merely had use of lowly energy. None of that should have mattered, however, as they should have already been taken down from the inside. The local members of the Twin Soul Sect should have infiltrated every major sect, and if there were settlements of this size they would be expected to do the same. Elder Shyam could remember when he had done the same himself, back during the previous cycle. He had been successful, though he¡¯d given his life for it. The rewards had been worthwhile, of course. After he was reborn he was raised through the path of cultivation with many rewards, and had reached the Integration stage. He was fully suffused with upper energy and could use its devastating power as he pleased. He had admit that he was a bit restricted by the lack of decent natural energy in the lower realms, but he was still above all of the residents. He merely had duties to fulfill propping up the younger generations. Though he couldn¡¯t make use of most of the resources they would secure from this mission, he would be rewarded separately. But the thin stores of natural energy irked him. Lowly energy was so inefficient, he could feel himself drying up. Slowly, but he had no time to sit around waiting. If the defensive formations did not run out of energy soon he would tear them apart himself. The slightest bit of caution was merited given that another group of lower cultivators had shown up the previous night. They seemed indecisive in their determination to attack, or perhaps they were intending to sneak around for some sort of tactical advantage. Elder Shyam had not lost track of them, however. At their distance tens of kilometers away they wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything, but they could begin closing the distance at any moment. Elder Shyam only had a moment to sense a fluctuation of energy before a disciple of the Phoenix sect was struck by a beam of light. It was an arrow, and it directly struck a woman¡¯s eye. Jagoda, if he remembered correctly. From the Phoenix sect. Centuries of training didn¡¯t fail him, and he formed a barrier to block subsequent attacks. Yet instead of impacting against his aura, arrows simply swerved to target other cultivators outside of his reach, striking down those who stood on the fringes. It didn¡¯t make any sense. Sure, they had been standing rather carelessly with only the basic levels of defensive energy¡­ but Jagoda had been at the peak of Essence Collection. It would have been one thing for her to be struck down by those at the peak of this world in a single blow, but the archer was only in early Life Transformation. Several more disciples died or were injured before everyone strengthened their defenses. Elder Shyam sighed. He would hear about this later, regardless of it being the individual disciples¡¯ carelessness. But that was later. Now was time for revenge. ¡°After me!¡± Elder Shyam called out. He looked towards Elder Mazhar, of the Boundless Skies Sect. He and those with him would remain in position sieging the city. Shyam began to charge towards the archer. He was aware that the rest of the army was there as well, so he kept his pace moderate. Enough for the Life Transformation members to keep up at least. They would be able to break apart the enemy ranks before the rest arrived. A more powerful but practically leisurely arrow flew towards Shyam himself. That was a bit arrogant. He batted it away with his hand. Then he winced. It wasn¡¯t painful, exactly¡­ but tingly? Furthermore, he¡¯d felt a wrenching of his energy. How was he so off balance? He, at least, had kept the opponents within his senses- there was no way he should have any difficulty blocking an attack from a mere early Life Transformation cultivator. Unless there was some trick to it. Before he could finish that thought, his leg thorns pierced into his leg. The thin spikes penetrated through the textile armor he was wearing between the weave. Only a few of them, but it should have merely been an annoyance. Instead, he was bleeding. The plant was torn asunder a moment later as its grip on his leg tore it apart, but somehow it had pierced through his skin. Ridiculous. For the sake of efficiency he made note of the thorny vine. As for the arrows flying at him, he dodged them with grace and efficiency. It was better to not deal with them at all if blocking them produced unexpected effects. Yet the arrows he dodged began to hit those behind him. Life Transformation cultivators who should have been able to withstand the attacks with ease were staggered, their defensive energy penetrated in a single blow. That was the limit of the attacks, and wounds were minimal- but Elder Shyam knew it shouldn¡¯t have been so easy. Then he ran face first into a dangling strand of ants. He had thought it was one of the other hanging vines in the area, and it hadn¡¯t stood out as noteworthy. It should have been decimated upon contact, but instead¡­ he had little bugs all down his front. ----- Anton was glad that western creeper was just as effective on ascension energy as normal natural energy. He would have been happier if the thorns had pierced deep into the man¡¯s muscles instead of being nearly superficial, but with only the man¡¯s own momentum to sink them in it was impressive enough for a simple plant. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°How are things going over there?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Practical experience does wonders,¡± Anton commented. ¡°My anti-ascension techniques are several times better than the beginning of the first battle. I knew we had all improved, but this magnitude¡­¡± Anton nodded. ¡°This is what it¡¯s really meant to be like, I imagine.¡± ¡°Good to know,¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°What about our allies?¡± ¡°Largely being ignored,¡± Anton said in reference to the ants. ¡°At the very least, the enemies are still on the approach. They likely don¡¯t understand the magnitude of our small friends.¡± Despite the ants being, well, ants, they were intelligent enough that their loss of life was best avoided. They were willing to fight and die on the orders of their queens, and for the sake of their homelands¡­ but they weren¡¯t willing to do it alone. Still, they were brave enough to position themselves along the way. It was practical, since they couldn¡¯t move fast¡­ but it still meant they were the first line of defense. Soon enough the enemy¡¯s front lines were within range for those not possessing Horizon Shot. The same was true in reverse, with arrows and conglomerations of energy being launched towards them as well. Anton switched tactics, maximizing his number of bows to shoot down the attacks so his allies could fight freely. A simple hit would unravel an attack on the way before it got to them. Those who weren¡¯t ascension cultivators seemed to still have that type of energy inextricably tied to their effectiveness, and more so the higher their cultivation. In short, it narrowed the effects of increasing cultivation for their enemies. The thorny vines and ants did little to slow the approaching forces, but it was better that they did not. When the enemy cultivators arrived, they were matched two or three to one. There were equivalent forces behind them, but they would not arrive for at least a few critical moments. Formations sprang into place as well, their components hidden among the natural trees and boulders in the surroundings. Nothing was as grand as what Catarina was capable of, but the previous best formation user among the Order- Elder Rana- was still present with them. Catarina, meanwhile, was bringing the soldiers to join with Stregate¡¯s. ----- Atop the walls of Stregate, Grant stood next to one of the contraptions he was most proud of. Sure, ballistae had existed for ages and were basically just big crossbows¡­ but the scale of these particular specimens was greater. More importantly, the ammunition was relatively cheap but highly effective. It would take several cultivators to draw back the string and empower the bundles of smaller bolts with energy, but it allowed those who were not particularly skilled in ranged battle to participate. In the distance Grant could feel a familiar presence. It was a bit vague and indistinct at that distance, but practically every resident of Windrip would recognize Anton¡¯s energy. Much of Stregate, too. At least among the highest ranking cultivators. Grant had made it to mid Life Transformation since he ended up in Windrip, but despite his cultivation lacking slightly compared to¡­ well, Anton, he felt he had grown as much as could be expected. His abilities as a smith had grown beyond what he could have ever expected was possible, pulling strength out of lesser materials and raising better materials to great heights. The enemy forces had half split towards Anton, but when the second group seemed to be considering joining them Commander Alfons ordered the first volley. They had to fight eventually, and now seemed to be the optimum time. Though they were positioned over a kilometer away, metal spikes tore through the lesser cultivators among the enemy. They weren¡¯t precise, given how many were launched together, but they were accurate to the point that the siege engineers could target a specific region of the battlefield. They had ranged every position on the battlefield years before, and had kept up the condition of the instruments. Cultivators in Spirit Building and Essence Collection took out cultivators a step higher than themselves in the first volley. There were only around twenty ballistae on the correct side of the city, but a visible portion of the enemy forces went down. Cultivators hurriedly began to reload. Then something strange happened. It wasn¡¯t the enemy forced beginning to charge. That was absolutely expected and according to plan. No, it was a lone arrow streaking into the side of one of them. It was absolutely overkill for the early Essence Collection target. Then there was another, exactly the same- piercing into the side of a man already dead. Regardless of the improbability of two stray arrows hitting the same point, Grant knew that with Anton there was no such thing to begin with. If an arrow went of course, it was either redirected- or dissolved. Yet clearly there was no tactical value to killing a single person. Grant¡¯s arms worked hard as he helped arm his ballista. Was he being told something? What was it? It was Anton¡¯s normal Spirit Arrow technique, combined with anti-ascension methods of course. Ah. That was it. Anton was always better than anyone else at those, but it was different now. Grant focused on what he felt. Anton had mostly taught him the basics of using energy, though the man had always returned to Windrip as the core of his efforts to teach everyone to cultivate. With word of the invasion, everyone had devoted effort to learning the anti-ascension techniques. Grant now wished he had a few more years devoted solely to that task, but it was difficult to practice something without any real method of observing effectiveness. Cultivators who practiced that one technique¡­ Fleeing Youth, he thought, were few and far between. With a change in how he empowered his portion of the ammunition, Grant thought he saw some of them pierce straight through a Life Transformation cultivators. His eyes could have been fooling him, but the man was at least injured. It was a shame they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to fire the ballistae at the approaching enemies more than a couple more times, but such was life. Every enemy they killed at a distance was one more the city didn¡¯t have to face. Some had thought them excessive, but now Grant had wished he had the time and resources to make twice as many. Chapter 354 The positions on the battlefield would naturally shift to some extent, but the section of the Graotan army outside of Stregate intentionally circled around to be closer to the city. That had been the plan all along, since they had no other safe location they could retreat to. Counting on their opponents to just let them go was an unacceptable gamble, and the same was true for assuming their victory. Dealing with only half of the enemy forces had helped, but there were serious losses on both sides. One Ascension cultivator was among their opponents, and though Anton had done his best to wear the man down as he approached, ultimately it was impossible for a single Life Transformation cultivator to defeat someone of that power even with anti-ascension techniques that were constantly improving in efficiency. Anton was glad that someone in Stregate had gotten his hints, and they were now more effective as well. They needed their best¡­ or perhaps even more than that. Hoyt and Devon were currently matched off against the Ascension cultivator. Devon was a few years behind, but had still managed to reach early Life Transformation. The Chain Harmony Sect¡¯s techniques and information from the Exalted Archipelago had let him continue to develop his style, and he now used his chains to restrict the movement of their opponent while Hoyt provided the main threat. The man wouldn¡¯t just allow Devon to grab onto him, but Devon had more than a handful of chains weaving throughout the area around them. He was able to avoid interfering with Hoyt¡¯s movements while blocking the man¡¯s path. Hoyt spread flames throughout the area as well, forcing the man to move through it to attack either of them. The combo was effective enough that Hoyt sensed the man might direct his attention elsewhere. Though it was a bad habit for cultivators in combat to engage in conversation, Hoyt supposed he had good enough reason. ¡°You¡¯re quite strong. Who are you?¡± The man glared at Hoyt, though willingly answered in return. ¡°I am Elder Shyam of the Twin Soul Sect. I must admit I am surprised at how¡­ enduring the lot of you are. Like insects.¡± Speaking of insects, he had already divested himself of the chain of ants. Some were dead, while others had simply been flung away. Since they were lacking the use of energy, they had to rely on their legs for speed- and even if they were more powerful than a normal insect it provided an upper limit on what they could accomplish. ¡°You will also be eradicated like them, as we can¡¯t allow continued use of these¡­ annoying techniques.¡± Hoyt had two paths. He could taunt the man, indicating he was afraid. That might help, as enraged opponents were often easier to deal with. But it could also backfire, as if he was able to focus on either himself or Devon for a few moments he had the power to tear them apart regardless of the effectiveness of the anti-ascension techniques. Instead, Hoyt went with another option. ¡°How unfortunate that you were stuck with the rest of these weaklings,¡± Hoyt commented. The others might take offense at that, but they were already quite occupied by their own opponents. The words were good enough to keep the man engaged with Hoyt and Devon, at least, and the battle drawing longer was ultimately in their favor. ----- The enemy forces were barely twenty meters away from the walls of Stregate when they ran into a barrier. The cultivators loading the ballistae were just as surprised as the enemy forces, but their movements still continued to fire their last shot. Or what would have been the last shot. With the enemy packed in closer, it was impossible for everyone to dodge the weapons. Grant coordinated them all as he demonstrated the insights he¡¯d picked up with regards to the anti-ascension techniques. As for why the enemy army suddenly stopped outside the walls, it quickly became obvious. The formations on the walls only covered them and those atop the walls¡­ a few moments before. Now, there was a small army positioned in front of the walls holding formation flags, which those with the training could sense were extending the standard defensive range of the formations. The forces had been invisible moments before but were now very clearly seen by both sides. ¡°Excuse me,¡± Catarina called to the gates. ¡°We¡¯ll be much more effective inside than out, if you¡¯d let us in.¡± The question of whether or not the new group were their allies was rather simple. None of them had an ounce of ascension energy, and there weren¡¯t so many Life Transformation experts that nobody would recognize the Order¡¯s Formation Master. Grant was pretty sure she was Anton¡¯s granddaughter or something like it. After giving people a moment to settle, and having received a positive response from those immediately on the walls, some of the soldiers below began to climb the walls. Normally they would have been prevented by various elements of the formations- and the soldiers atop the walls- but neither was the case at the moment. Yet the process wasn¡¯t expedient, and those with lower cultivations would find it nearly impossible. ¡°Open the gate!¡± Commander Alfons declared. ¡°Hold positions inside the gate as we cover our allies from Edelhull!¡± The attacking armies found that they were able to clash with the front lines of the group outside the gates to some extent, but they couldn¡¯t break through the combined soldiers and power of the defensive formation. Even the Ascension expert among them found his attacks repelled. He very quickly leapt into the air¡­ and continued to fly upward. Flight was an extremely rare ability for cultivators, even those of great power, but it wasn¡¯t entirely unexpected that an Ascension cultivator could achieve it. When the man dove towards the walls from above¡­ he found that the formation covered all angles. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. On the ground, Catarina was guiding people in a fighting retreat. She carefully organized how their positions collapsed so that those holding formation flags wouldn¡¯t disrupt the overall effect. Some of that involved her personally adjusting thing, creating temporary runes or throwing flags that were quickly sacrificed to the incoming forces. While the defenses were still holding, everyone could feel them weakening. Grant looked at the ballista in front of him. Unfortunately it hadn¡¯t been designed to fire at targets high in the air. Certainly not directly above. He pulled out his hammer and gave a few whacks to bolts holding it to the castle walls, then hefted it onto his shoulders. ¡°Ready!¡± he called out to shake the others working with him out of their stupor. ¡°Charge energy¡­ fire!¡± He triggered the release with a bit of his own energy, projectiles shooting into the air. There was no chance that even an especially well made and enchanted ballista was going to kill an Ascension cultivator¡­ but it did produce interesting results. Only a few clipped the man as he twisted through the air, but a moment after that he was tumbling, bouncing off of the formation and towards the front of the area. It seemed even a minor disruption to his energy flow prevented him from flying. The formation was trembling as Catarina coordinated the fighting retreat. Some of the ballistae were actually beginning to run out of ammunition, which was a mixed blessing. It was obviously awful that they were running low, but that meant some crews had been able to fire continuously¡­ and if they took down even a few foes per shot that would equate to hundreds. The enemy forces only numbered in the low thousands, and some of those that had been killed were Life Transformation cultivators. The only forces that had died so far were the soldiers from Edelhull- and those from the Order in the other battle. They all knew it wouldn¡¯t last, but the more they could take out before it reached the inevitable melee on the walls, the greater impact they would have. Though some of the soldiers continued to fall, the toughest soldiers kept their positions in the collapsing group in front of the walls. Unfortunately, it seemed they wouldn¡¯t be able to close the gates behind them. The enemy forces were pressed right up against them, and the formation likely wouldn¡¯t hold regardless. Catarina was the last through the gate- simultaneous with several others. She staggered forward, her sword planting in the ground. Even as Commander Alfons ordered them closed the formation trembled one last time, then shattered as the flying Ascension cultivator shoved his palm through. Cultivators began to leap onto the walls, Life Transformation cultivators being the only ones who made it to the top immediately while the rest had to climb in several hops. The forces on the wall were only Essence Collection cultivators at best, but they were barely holding on with the advantage of numbers. Enemies also began to pour through the gates without the formations able to stop them, and the gates could not be closed fast enough. Then the world shuddered as the formation reasserted itself violently. Those climbing the walls were blasted away, while the enemies fighting atop the walls were knocked off their feet. The gates swung inward with sudden force, sending squads flying- if they were lucky enough to not be crushed. The gates slammed together exactly around the Ascension cultivator¡¯s arm, which had not moved since the moment Catarina staggered inside and stabbed her sword into the ground. Catarina slowly turned, holding aloft a glowing crystal and grinning. ¡°You always have to bring a little backup.¡± A scream of rage echoed throughout the city as the Ascension cultivator pulled away¡­ leaving his arm behind. With the formation back in place and only a portion of the enemy forces facing them- along with the forces of two cities- they began to truly fight, hoping to eliminate as many enemies as possible. Catarina stepped forward, grabbing the arm as blood dripped from it, her face curious. ----- The cultivators of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars had hope that their opponents would act similarly to the others¡­ and they were right enough. After suffering a number of casualties the invaders began to retreat. Anton very carefully focused on the closest enemies who were still engaged so that people wouldn¡¯t be reminded of how far away they could be with him still shooting at them. The Order¡¯s forces were also pulling away, heading towards another side of Stregate. Blocking in the enemy forces would have been tactically sound only if they had the advantage of strength, and even with anti-ascension techniques that was still iffy. When the Order¡¯s forces were safely moving through the side gates of the city, Anton took a position on the walls and began to make use of his remaining energy bombarding the forces at the main gates. While Stregate had been able to mobilize most of their soldiers in that direction, they had to man the other parts of the wall in case the enemy forces had tried something tricky. Ultimately attacking a single point was better for the invaders if they had been able to break through, but Catarina was there to renew and augment the formation. She was still doing that, in fact, pulling out expensive crystals and formation flags and sturdier stone pillars of varying sizes. Though Anton had certainly expended a good portion of his energy in the fight already, being able to pick and choose targets as the second group began to retreat as well. The invaders still had the ability to conquer the city if both halves worked together on the assault, but they first prioritized their lives. Well, some of their lives. The thing was, Anton continued to take shots at them until they were well beyond fifty kilometers away¡­ and those who were easiest to kill were also the slowest. Anton methodically set about killing those who were lowest in cultivation, killing dozens of early Essence Collection cultivators, and then dozens more. His fatigue was building up, but he had the time to find the best and most efficient shots. Then his arrows began to lag at the seventy kilometer mark, before he stopped firing after he shot several dozen useless arrows. When the invaders stopped to make camp far to the northwest- almost halfway to the border with Estary- Anton considered whether or not he should continue to harass them. He decided against it, not because they didn¡¯t deserve to have people shot in the middle of the night but because giving away his true range was wasteful at the moment. Besides, he would like to be fresh in case they chose to march on Stregate once more. And if they chose a different target, he wanted to be able to join the forces following them. Chapter 355 Reviewing the casualties from the battle was actually uplifting. Damage to Stregate¡¯s forces was minimal. Fully powering their formations once more would take some time, but the ballistae were a great success. They were a way for lower ranking cultivators to combine their energy without interfering with each other and to cause actual damage to the enemy forces. Edelhull¡¯s forces lost more lives, but they were minimal. The Order¡­ as the most visible threat and the basis of the distraction ended up with heavier losses. Yet because of Hoyt and Devon holding off the Ascension cultivator, the damage was much less than it could have been. More injuries than deaths on their side. They couldn¡¯t afford to wait while people recovered, but they also couldn¡¯t give up their momentum. It had only been a short time since the invasion began, and they needed to prevent the invaders from establishing footholds within Graotan. If they hadn¡¯t already, at least. ----- Heavy bags hung beneath Anton¡¯s eyes, but he wasn¡¯t going to let that stop him from working with the soldiers. Whether they were members of the Order or from either of the two larger cities, he wanted them to be as effective as possible. He was pleased to see how many people were willing to show up the day after a battle. Even if the soldiers of Stregate had avoided injuries for the most part, enduring a siege was stressful. Other days of training would be mandatory, but Anton suspected most of those who could walk had shown up even for this non-mandatory training. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you all,¡± Anton addressed them. ¡°This invasion was anticipated, and all of you trained to fight. The fact that we are still here shows the situation is not hopeless, and one of our best weapons is a certain form of training. Until now, it was impossible to get much practical experience fighting against Ascension energy. But over the course of these recent battles, many of us have gained valuable insights. We will demonstrate what we¡¯ve learned, then individually guide and correct¡­ as many of you as possible. Those who learn most quickly will, as always, go on to teach others.¡± They split up into smaller groups, between one dozen and several dozen per teacher, according to what they could manage. There were more with practical experience, but some were injured and others simply not suited for teaching or simply resting. Anton would rest too, at some point. But first he had teaching to do. He demonstrated the differences in method he¡¯d picked up with his bow, though as a method of arranging energy it worked for any weapon. Maximum disruption with minimum effort was the idea, and it was clear that nobody was ready for it. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that even the lower level cultivators among the invaders make use of ascension energy.¡± Anton was going to comment on them being unbalanced because of it, but he wasn¡¯t sure he knew enough to confidently make that declaration. But he certainly suspected it. He also used ascension energy, but it was not part of himself, but something extra. Perhaps it was a perfectly sensible method where they came from, but while they were in this world they were somewhat less effective than it seemed they should be. Especially when their energy was disrupted by surprise. A few more shots arced into the air, slowly and carefully drawn out to make it easiest to replicate the important parts. Then Anton¡¯s face grew hard, his stance changing. He still carefully performed his next shot, but it wasn¡¯t as slow as the others. It was serious. Anton was currently trying to solidify the information that he could only shoot seventy kilometers, and a scout of some sort had just crossed that line. They weren¡¯t strong enough to survive. Few people noticed the difference, except perhaps the speed of that shot, and Anton returned to his more demonstrative speed. In between people were practicing attacks of their own, and Anton would guide them as he could- along with everyone else. But they couldn¡¯t train all day. Everyone needed rest, especially the teachers. ----- Three days later Anton made a show of leaving the city for a distance, at which he pestered the enemy forces. There were currently debates about whether moving to finish off this group or following after the first group to attack the Order was a higher priority. Gathering more allies was important, but if they left Stregate behind with a reduced complement of soldiers it wasn¡¯t clear if they would be able to hold on. The enemy forces weren¡¯t without injuries of their own, and they seemed to have more difficulty recovering their energy here, but that didn¡¯t make them weak. They still had two Ascension cultivators, though the loss of an arm was a huge blow to the one. The purpose of Anton¡¯s attacks were simple. Cause as much disruption as possible. Whether that was killing weaker cultivators or bombarding the Ascension cultivators to force them to expend energy didn¡¯t matter. They were either forced to make the choice to retreat further away- rather quickly, which would also use their energy- or commit to another attack. There was technically the option to just stand and let Anton shoot them, but while he wasn¡¯t going to say he could kill an army if they fought back¡­ over the course of a few days if they just stood still? He absolutely could. A few thousand people with methodical shots¡­ if they were all Spirit Building cultivators he could do it in an hour. Early Essence Collection wasn¡¯t much harder, since even if they were expecting him now there was a reasonable chance he could disrupt their defensive energy to the point he pierced through for a lethal blow in one or two shots. Life Transformation cultivators would take ten or twenty even if they were passive, but they could easily move out of range before that time. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. But he could get lucky and cause an injury before then, which could take days or weeks to recover from. Even if they had amazing medicines at their disposal, it would at least reduce that supply. When the enemy army began to move towards Anton, he continued to take shots as he retreated back towards the city. He only needed to move at a third of their speed and he would be inside with plenty of distance to spare. The Ascension cultivators might actually be able to surpass that¡­ but Anton wasn¡¯t alone- and something about one of them having lost an arm made them hesitant. ¡°They¡¯re still coming,¡± Anton noted. ¡°Good,¡± Catarina said. ¡°They¡¯re making the decision for us. If they really attack us in a defensive position we can deal with them.¡± ¡°... And this time we won¡¯t have to let them retreat so easily.¡± The first battle had been to get into the city safely. The weaker soldiers from Edelhull needed the fortifications, while the stronger cultivators among them and Stregate could still benefit. The Order¡¯s members, too. Anton ended up in the center-north of the city, surrounded by civilians who were willing to fight. They didn¡¯t have the training of the soldiers, but they weren¡¯t going to just let these invaders have what they wanted. And truth be told, those who could fight were basically all willing. Those who were too old and those who were too young along with many of the infirm were kept to a different part of the city. They had some soldiers defending them, but if the enemy forces broke into the city and didn¡¯t come for Anton, they were going to regret it deeply. Others with ranged abilities would fall back from the walls to join him when the time was appropriate, but nobody could match Anton. Alva¡¯s focus had resulted in closer range archery techniques, though she could still shoot a handful of kilometers when it came down to it. As the enemy forces closed in on the walls they began to spread out in wider formations to avoid the ballista shots and other area attacks. That was good for their individual survival, but they might have done better to join forces to block the attacks. Anton wasn¡¯t going to tell them that, though. Instead, he ramped up his attacks another notch. Frantic shooting would tire him out too quickly, but he couldn¡¯t count on the battle being long either. Because the enemies were actually committing to the attack, they spent less time under fire from the ballistae. They also didn¡¯t only attack the northern wall where the defenses were most concentrated, but some of them began to spread out to the sides. That meant the formation had to handle attacks from multiple directions as well as the soldiers needing to reposition. A sustained bombardment made the recharged formations tremble. It was always possible for them to break through, but they had to be willing to expend enough energy. That task was made more difficult by the attacks launched on them meant to disrupt their energy in return- or kill them, when the opportunity arose. The enemy forces spreading out also provided a small advantage as more ballistae were able to be put into use. Hundreds of the invaders died before they were able to break through the formation, which they did by having the two Ascension cultivators attack from opposite sides of the city simultaneously for the final blow. The cultivator who flew previously was now on the southern side of the city, but Anton had been watching and he simply didn¡¯t make use of that ability again. What a shame. He continued to shoot to the north while keeping track of the situation to the south. Especially the area around Catarina, where she had been stabilizing the formation. ----- Elder Mazhar of the Boundless Skies Sect wanted his arm back. It was ridiculous that this formation expert had been able to cause so much trouble, but he knew she was critical. And she had taken his arm. As the formation fell, he clenched his fist as he leapt onto the walls, landing with a gust of wind that blew away the nearby defenders. A dozen disciples of the Boundless Skies Sect followed after him, landing softly. Many of them could fly, but there was a certain archer that was annoying. He was focused on the north for the moment, but Mazhar wasn¡¯t going to draw his attention if he didn¡¯t have to. The rest of their troops would have to deal with making their own way into the city. Mazhar and the others bounded across the rooftops, looking down at the streets below where people who were barely cultivators waited. It was strange, how many there were, but their numbers were of no consequence with them being so weak. They wouldn¡¯t even be able to touch the hem of his robes. Some began to try to scurry up to the rooftops, but he was past them before they could make any progress. Up ahead was the formation user. He could sense her frantically trying to reignite the spark of the formation, but it had no power left to make use of. The few defenders with her wouldn¡¯t be able to protect her. ----- Fuzz ran back and forth behind the northern walls, not because he was avoiding anything but because he couldn¡¯t settle down. Alva was used to him moving in battle anyway. The strongest opponent was right there within sniffing distance. Fuzz knew that if he did the right thing to bite the man it would work better. Everyone had been training that for a long time. The whole pack- no, every pack was doing so. This group of invaders would stand no chance. Along with the scents of people was something small and subtle Fuzz might have ignored if he didn¡¯t know the source. He couldn¡¯t even feel the ants sitting on his head, not even the larger queen. Their weight was negligible and his energy senses didn¡¯t pick them up. Their scent was just that of ants¡­ and it was something Fuzz was never going to underestimate. ¡°Fuzz! Head towards the big guy!¡± Before Fuzz could guess which that was, Alva clarified, ¡°The strongest one!¡± Oh right. That was why they had the queen. It was dangerous to take Alva with him, but leaving her behind would give away that something fishy was going on. Black energy swirled around the strongest enemy, energy Fuzz was absolutely not going to touch unless he did the special bite¡­ and even then he knew he might regret it. Chapter 356 As the formations failed, Anton was glad that the enemy forces had been given a target. Defenders on the walls were still killed, but the invaders only engaged enough to get through and push towards him¡­ and Catarina. But the majority went towards him, as he¡¯d been intentionally annoying. He was also a serious threat, though not alone. The destruction to the city could have been terrible if the enemies weren¡¯t focusing on key targets, and the other strongest cultivators were all moving to intercept and draw attention, though some paths to Anton were left open to draw the invaders further in. That put some risk on Anton, but if everything went well they would cause serious damage. And if it didn¡¯t¡­ at least they would take down a large enemy force with them. The ferocity of people defending their homes was not something that could be matched. ----- As he had been instructed, Fuzz charged towards the bad swirly black man. The strongest of the enemies. Was he afraid? Of course. Fuzz knew that the man was stronger than himself and Alva. But he also knew that a pack¡¯s power came from cooperation, and Alva and the others were smarter than him. In fact, he was pretty sure the ants were smarter than him. The thing was, they took being a pack one step further. It wasn¡¯t bad, but it wasn¡¯t something Fuzz could do. Arrow fired from his back as Alva shot a quick several volleys, disrupting a portion of the swirling energy. Fuzz was a bit hesitant to stick his head into it, but he widened his jaw and did the best he could with his snapping jaws technique. And¡­ the man pulled away. But Fuzz wasn¡¯t really trying to hit him anyway. He was just getting his snout close for the cylinder of ants that rolled off of his head and down it onto the man. The Queen was not part of the arrangement as her body size was much greater than the ¡®normal¡¯ ants, instead pushing it along with great speed and finally leaping forward to give it a final push. Then Fuzz pushed away, bringing Alva out of reach of the draining blackness. ----- Shyam had seen the stupid ants before. Once his eyes focused on them he changed from an energy based attack to a wide slap. He could just crush them all against the wall and move on with his day. Yet his slap met with nothing but air as the side of the strangely uniform cylinder where he¡¯d aimed his attack pulled apart some how into a strip. Shyam hadn¡¯t actually thought about the strange arrangement they were in with the ants woven together like a mesh before that point, and then they were on him. He realized he¡¯d missed something else when his earlobe was bitten off by an exceptionally large ant. By the time he could try to crush it, it was pulled away by the strange wheel of ants, spinning along with them over his head and down his neck. They circled around his torso, biting at him without ever stopping. Their movements were faster than the other ants, and the coordinated ways they avoided him almost made him think they could predict how he was going to attack. Which was nonsense. But¡­ the big one did seem to be a bit of a problem, with jaws big enough to bite more than just skin deep. Punching at ones self was difficult, but he gathered his power and timed his attack just right to hit the giant ant as it crossed his sternum. He fist crushed the creature flat against him. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. His knuckles certainly touched his chest, but it was not because the ant was crushed¡­ but instead because his bones had given way. Elder Shyam coughed as he felt ribs piercing into his lungs, which made the whole thing worse. Were these really ants? ----- Elder Mazhar and his squad from the Boundless Skies Sect took positions around the formation expert. She sheepishly hid his arm behind her back as he glared at her. It was almost as if she was taunting him with it. How foolish. ¡°Well then, woman, looks like your formations have failed you. You¡¯ll die slowly for this. It will be such a pain to reattach that arm.¡± There were a few Essence Collection cultivators around her, but even all combined Elder Mazhar could take out them and the woman. With the others, he wasn¡¯t worried. Any other reinforcements were still quite distant, so he didn¡¯t feel the need to rush. ¡°You people are strangely resistant this time. What made you think you had a chance?¡± The woman shuffled around nervously, tightly clutching his arm. He was going to cut off both of her arms before she died, just for fun. ¡°Well, have you ever heard of Everheart?¡± ¡°What, that asshole?¡± Elder Mazhar frowned. ¡°Oh right, he was from the world wasn¡¯t he? So what?¡± ¡°Well, he was a formation master,¡± the woman said. ¡°And what, you¡¯re his disciple or something?¡± The woman made a disgusted face. ¡°Oh, no way. For one thing, I¡¯m not that old. And he¡¯s kind of awful. Everybody hates him for coming up with forbidden techniques.¡± She waggled Mazhar¡¯s arm as she talked, ¡°I mean, can you believe he came up with killing formations that made use of specific people¡¯s blood?¡± The thought processes of an Integration cultivator were even more rapid than other cultivators. Well before she was done with the sentence he had understood what she was saying and was moving¡­ but it was already too late. Because he was trapped. All of them were. What¡¯s more, Elder Mazhar felt a pull. The stump below his shoulder twinged and his energy started to pull away from him in strands. ¡°Actually, it gets much worse than that,¡± the woman said. ¡°I can¡¯t say I understand it all, and I wouldn¡¯t wish the consequences on my greatest foe in the world. But¡­ as you¡¯re from another world, I¡¯ve made an exception.¡± Mazhar had already tried strangling the woman, but it seemed that he and the others were caught in a sort of ring. His arm was stopped before it could get to her, and there was a sting as he felt a surge of power drawn from him. He tried once more, gathering winds around his fist and punching with the condensed fury of a tornado. He was blown backwards, bouncing off the outer section of the ring. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. A moment later his bandages tore off and blood began to flow from his stump. The others with him were launching attacks of their own, and while they didn¡¯t seem to be having the same troubles as himself they simply weren¡¯t strong enough to break through¡­ well, a formation made from his own energy it seemed. But Mazhar sensed a weakness. It was a ring, but it couldn¡¯t continue forever, and didn¡¯t seem to have a top. He launched himself upward, flying into the sky- the others following. ----- There were many things to keep track of in a large battle, and Anton would have felt selfish if he focused only on individuals he particularly cared about like his granddaughters. That was why he was glad that they were also the same places with the Ascension cultivators. He could target the biggest foes and protect his family all at the same time. To the north the one who had identified himself as Elder Shyam was learning that insects were something he should take seriously, but Anton didn¡¯t mind reminding him that people he called insects were also dangerous. He knew there were approaching enemies that he could be dealing with, but the citizens of Stregate were swarming anyone who got close. He took a few shots at key areas but focus mostly to the north and south. One shot towards Shyam, and a wide shot from his sword-bow to the south towards the flying group that seemed to think he hadn¡¯t been paying attention to them. He swiped several of them out of the air at the same time, their flying technique requiring a careful balance of energy that they couldn¡¯t maintain when struck by anti-ascension techniques. The fall would barely harm them, but every time they expended energy to get away from a situation and to protect themselves as they dropped back into whatever it was Catarina had set up and were trying to flee¡­ well, it wasn¡¯t going to go well for them. Two arrows north, one south. West and east got one, then it was two south again where someone lost an arm. Sadly not the Ascension cultivator¡¯s other arm, but he was having a very difficult time getting above the rooftops regardless. Would Anton kick such a person when they were down? Absolutely. But he didn¡¯t mind letting someone else do it. ----- A squad of soldiers sprinted down the street as a wheel of blackness followed them. None of their attacks worked. Either they were completely ignored or the thing opened up and avoided getting hit. Even when they thought they caused damage, the building-height wheel seemed to be made of endless ants. Those who got run over by it¡­ well, they only screamed for a few moments. Their only option was to run through people defending the city. That was still a proposition that risked death, but at least they could predict their enemies strengths¡­ and feel them. The worst part about the rolling arrangement of ants was that they didn¡¯t feel like anything. They weren¡¯t any sort of proper cultivating beast, and neither lower nor upper energy seemed to do anything except disappear when it impacted them. Except maybe get eaten, which was horrifying to think about. The squad pushed past some defenders, happy to know that at least they would survive for a moment and those they shoved past would die as they were run over. Except it didn¡¯t work that way at all. The massive wheel of ants didn¡¯t even slow as it rolled over the people. The captain of the squad was lucky enough to at least see horrified faces on the civilians, but the fact that they still had faces meant that the ants could discern between people somehow. And then they got to him. ----- When the enemies began to retreat, nobody let them go. Perhaps one or two were allowed to trickle out of the walls, but they would be hunted down sooner or later. Sooner, if Anton decided they were a target. He wasn¡¯t up to following after them, but the others would¡­ and when one of the retreating groups got to the seventy kilometer mark half an hour later, he didn¡¯t stop shooting. Enemy forces that had been thousands were now hundreds¡­ and soon they might not even be that. The Ascension cultivators were dead, along with all of those at Life Transformation. There was no chance that those who remained would be a threat to the city. But the costs¡­ in a city of tens of thousands, there were more than a thousand dead just among the civilians. The buildings were mostly intact except along a few key fighting corridors where there was near total devastation. Soldiers from both Stregate and Edelhull had suffered further losses. But¡­ they had won. The sacrifices were heavy, but they had been willing to give up everything. Leadership was gathered together to discuss the battle. ¡°Would it be possible to repeat that formation you made in the center of the city?¡± Elder Shyam asked Catarina. ¡°... if you get a living Ascension cultivator¡¯s arm, sure,¡± she shrugged. ¡°And give me a few days. And some luck. I have to personalize it to their cultivation style and honestly¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure it would work.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± he took stock of her wounds, evidence that the formation had not held to the very end- though it had done enough. ¡°What else could we learn or reuse from the battles?¡± The Queen prodded Anton, and he interpreted for her. ¡°She says the large killing wheel took too many soldiers and could only really threaten slower and weaker enemies. They¡¯ll be looking into other methods in the future.¡± ¡°Ah yes,¡± Alfons replied. ¡°The citizens¡­ complained about that. Though not terribly loudly, given the situation.¡± Hoyt looked around. ¡°Before we do whatever we plan next, we need to rest. All of us. Our growing proficiency in battling these people won¡¯t do us much good if we all are run ragged, and though we could lean on the militia soldiers for support¡­ the less they have to face themselves the more they will grow with us. And we have been growing. There¡¯s hardly a person among us who hasn¡¯t undergone a breakthrough, mostly minor but a few major.¡± Left unspoken was that he was only referring to those who survived. But the actual strength of their forces was, if not increasing, at least maintaining as they were able to coordinate with larger swaths of territory throughout Graotan. Grand Elder Fodor hadn¡¯t spoken much yet, but he laid forth the various options. ¡°Well then. We have several possibilities from here. After we take some time to recover, we will leave Command Alfons and Stregate with what they can manage. The next targets¡­ securing the teleport formations, or moving into eastern Graotan to coordinate with more larger cities.¡± He looked at the Queen¡¯s limb movements, ¡°And further colonies, yes.¡± The teleportation formations were only in a semi-active state, but they had been left with the possibility to be used because of the way they functioned. There had been some foreknowledge that the enemies would be slow to recover their energy, and so going through the teleportation that required them to drain themselves of energy would be advantageous to those on the other end¡­ and eventually allow for the continents to send backup between each other. The closer formations to places like the Glorious Flame Palace were temporarily disassembled since they might not drain enough. Both options involved pushing into territory where the enemy forces were unknown, but where the initial consequences of the invasion should have been fully resolved. Especially if they waited for people to recover mentally and physically before they continued. Chapter 357 Times of crisis made people realize what was important to them. When it came down to it and you could only choose to save so much, the choice came automatically. It wasn¡¯t unexpected for Lev to choose the Grasping Willow Sect. He¡¯d devoted most of his life to it, and the same was true of his future, if he would have one. That said, he chose to abandon the place. The grasping willows themselves that filled the area around the sect with its beautiful ponds and gazebos were part of what made it his most precious thing, but that wasn¡¯t all. It was really the people. In fact, even the Grandfather Willow didn¡¯t mean as much to him as the various elders and disciples of the sect. With all of that mentioned, he still found himself among the roots of the Grandfather Willow. Just because he could abandon it didn¡¯t mean he thought it was responsible. It was a place of great power, exactly the sort of things the invaders would be interested in¡­ chopping down and using for firewood, or whatever they did with the resources they stole from this world. It was also highly defensible. When the initial descent had come a group had landed nearby, finding it to be a tempting target. When they moved in they hadn¡¯t expected it to fight back with such¡­ intent. They would have been partially right in that assumption, but the Grandfather Willow wasn¡¯t going to give of itself so easily. Not for those who would tear it apart. Lev knew that somewhere Anton was making good use of the bow he¡¯d constructed from a piece of it, but that made use of a fallen branch and a single vine. If people who didn¡¯t care were to look for the most useful part of the tree, they¡¯d come for the heartwood and carve the entire thing apart. But to do that they would have to get through Lev, who was wrapped solidly in a bundle of roots, bark, and the solid wood of the trunk. Only his head stuck out, facing up the valley towards where the invaders repeatedly tried to get close. The first time they¡¯d been moderately easy to repel. At signs of resistance, they backed off and took a look around the area. Members of the sect had scouted them going through what remained of the sect proper, though if the Grasping Willows had done it right there wouldn¡¯t be anything worth their time. Whatever they found, the invaders soon returned to the Grandfather Willow. A single Ascension cultivator was at the head, but they also had a good number of Life Transformation cultivators. Meanwhile, the Grasping Willows only had two Life Transformation members beyond Lev himself. Since the previous generation had none, it was a great step ahead. However, it did make resisting the enemies somewhat¡­ difficult. The many tendrils of the Grandfather Willow flailed and grasped as the enemy forces marched. Lev directed and empowered them as he could, but often he had to leave them to their instincts. There was simply too much to handle. The Grandfather Willow had great stores of energy, but it was hardly conscious and made no active choices. Lev in his current state was able to control that, fending off attacks that would have otherwise easily cut through the defensive vines. The only opponent he couldn¡¯t stop completely was the Ascension cultivator who roared with the power of a dragon. Not that Lev had met one himself, as the near-mythical creatures were basically extinct. Perhaps due to the efforts invaders desiring their valuable bodies. Though it was possible that the native inhabitants were also to blame. Even if they weren¡¯t hunted for their valuable everything, they were dangerous and were usually killed off when found. Regardless, the image of the Ascension cultivator was a nearly solid representation of a ten meter high golden scaled beast, with wings and a long neck. The power of the teeth and claws were real regardless, but the roar was the worst part. Body Tempering cultivators had collapsed to the ground when the man was at the far edge of the Grandfather Willow¡¯s canopy, and they had to be moved to behind the great tree to protect them. Those who were somewhat stronger were knocked flying or momentarily stunned every time the man roared. Lev twisted the branches of the Grandfather Willow to block the sound waves whenever he got the chance, but he also had to keep the Life Transformation cultivators at bay. Those who could fight were harassing the enemies from all sides, but the enemies were matching kill for kill, even with Lev controlling the Grandfather Willow. And they were getting close to the trunk, where he could be attacked directly. Though it was more dangerous that way, Lev was glad they were making him a priority target. He wouldn¡¯t mind sacrificing more of himself to protect the sect. As the dragon claws swept through the hanging vines, Lev relaxed the energy surrounding them. It still protected them, but if they resisted the cut more than the force of the blow they would simply flail about instead of being destroyed. Flexibility was one of the best traits of the Grasping Willows, after all. He was only a few hundred meters away from the main enemy force now. Such a distance could be covered in mere moments by powerful cultivators. Lev himself could not move, but he had no concerns for his main body. Instead, he was the Grandfather Willow, bending inward to fight the foes beneath him. As they pressed closer, the ground shifted as he called upon the roots of the tree. Moving the roots would ultimately damage the tree, but if it could prevent it from complete destruction- or at least save some of the members of the sect- then it was worth it. The plant wrapped around the approaching cultivators, catching one Life Transformation expert and crushing her. Others dodged, but even if they left the ground and moved through the air the tendris were there to wrap around them and force them into a dead end. Controlling so many different parts was wearing down Lev¡¯s mental ability, but he couldn¡¯t accept any less of himself. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Soon enough he was close enough to be affected by a roar. His position was unmovable, but he felt his head ring from the power. Some of the tendrils he was counting on were sliced apart or chomped through, but there were more to bring to bear. Not an unlimited number, but with the roots to call upon as well¡­ it would be enough. It had to be. As the Ascension cultivator got even close, Lev activated his other technique. It was one developed by him, not something he had sought out but instead something he made use of. Tiny particles of his energy were floating in the air, barely discernible amongst the background of the Grandfather Willow¡¯s great presence. That very energy was what allowed the rest of the Grasping Willows to hold together at all during the series of battles. The tiny particles of energy latched onto the Ascension cultivator, but the man didn¡¯t seem to notice. Not at first, anyway. When Lev had firmly sunk his roots of power though the man¡¯s defenses and began the real assault, there was a strong reaction. First, a roar. Not one simply meant for offense, but one of pain and outrage. Lev was making use of anti-ascension techniques along with his moss inspired techniques. He doubted he could control an Ascension cultivator¡¯s body, but he could certainly make his nerves full of pain¡­ and disrupting the man¡¯s energy was extremely important as well. Lev swung a dangling tendril at the man, intending to enwrap him but instead simply battering him away as the man let the momentum push him. The ones beyond weren¡¯t fast enough to twist around him, but there was always another chance. The slash of a claw from over a dozen feet away still scarred the bark of the Grandfather Willow above Lev¡¯s head. He couldn¡¯t move, but he had more than enough energy to call upon to shield himself from at least a few attacks. The deciding factor in the battle was something that looked like just another hanging tendril¡­ but was decidedly not. Instead, it was a great snake, and though they were often interested in finding their own prey among any cultivators who stumbled into them unwary¡­ something had made them leave the Grasping Willows alone during their current occupation of the tree. Perhaps it was recognizing a great foe, because the snake should have been able to sense the energy of the Ascension cultivator and how much greater it was. But not so much greater that the snake couldn¡¯t force its mouth around the head of the dragon for a few moments. Ultimately the snake was split in two from the inside, but a moment of stillness allowed Lev to entangle a root around the leg of the cultivator. Then another around the other leg, with vines moving to encircle the form of the dragon. Every time one was cut by flailing limbs, two more were added. Lev was pretty sure his eardrums had burst because he could only feel the roars and not hear them. But he grasped and squeezed and twisted with everything he had, tiny particles of energy pushing deeper and deeper to disrupt. When the cultivator¡¯s energy finally collapsed, he was torn asunder and crushed at the same moment, turning into something that no longer resembled a person. Even before that point others had taken the predicament as a cue to retreat¡­ but Lev wasn¡¯t going to let them go so easily. The entirety of the Grandfather Willow¡¯s reach was his domain now. Without an Ascension cultivator to hold him back, he focused on the strongest cultivators one at a time. Perhaps a few enemies escaped, but some time later Lev found himself without any targets. A wave of fatigue washed over him and he groaned. Then he slowly extricated himself from his attachment to the tree. He flopped to the ground as the whole thing unraveled. He tilted his head back and forth but otherwise lay still. If anyone looked closely they would be able to see small holes in his spine where he¡¯d entangled tiny root hairs with himself. Lev knew what might happen, but as he lay there he only smiled. He¡¯d had one arm that didn¡¯t work before. What was another arm and a couple legs on top of that, compared to the others in the sect? As worried elders and disciples alike crowded around him, he grew even more confident that his choices had been the correct ones. He¡¯d needed every bit of power and connection to the Grandfather Willow he had been able to scrounge up. If there were further enemies¡­ he might be able to repeat the process, but he couldn¡¯t guarantee survival. Then again, who could in times like this? ----- Desiccated severed heads were held up by long pikes driven into the sand. Even outside of a sandstorm seeing them would be difficult given the reflective nature of the Mirror Sands, but anyone who mattered would be able to sense them. And they were there for a purpose. They were a message. The message said that the Million Sword Vault would behead any invaders who got close, no matter how strong they were. The message also said that they had a lot of long, pointy objects that they didn¡¯t care about because they weren¡¯t swords. Some came from invaders and some they already had. ¡°Ooh!¡± a voice rang out in the swirling reflective sands, unconcerned by the raging sandstorm. ¡°You can replace number seventy-two!¡± Chikere nodded. It was a shame, really, that none of the strong invaders had used a sword. There should have been sword cultivators among the invaders, but apparently they weren¡¯t fully able to choose where they arrived. Not that anyone arrived exactly at the Million Sword Vault, either. They had mostly landed in the desert around them where they were swiftly cut down. Sure, they killed many disciples as well- but that was the life of a cultivator. ¡°I¡¯m not impressed,¡± Elder Vasu commented. ¡°I know right?¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°Rahayu would cut these Ascenders in half.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant, actually,¡± Vasu shook his head. ¡°You needed my help to barely beat one. I meant the swords. But I¡¯m sure you felt that one fall to the west.¡± ¡°Absolutely!¡± she nodded her head. ¡°That¡¯s a clear number one replacement! Does that mean we¡¯re going to move out now?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Elder Wardah¡¯s arm is all sewn back on and is moving, and that was the worst of the problems. Well, of those that survived. His lung might even heal at some point.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Chikere tossed the new number seventy-two into a bag. ¡°Hey, did everyone hear that?¡± she called towards the sect grounds. ¡°We¡¯re going to go get more swords! And maybe save the rest of the continent if it needs it!¡± Chapter 358 Word from Ambati to the west was minimal, but what did come seemed to be good news. Some invaders had been repelled, and the rest were having the sects and clans unite against them. Droca was also doing well, though mainly because fewer invaders had chosen the area as a target. To the north¡­ unfortunately, Estary seemed to be in a worse situation than Graotan. Enough that scouts reported sects just over the border being vacated or destroyed. After some recovery and reorganizing of the forces, Graotan was doing as well as could be expected. Nobody wanted to think about how many lives had been lost, but the area of control was expanding to cover most of western Graotan. The teleportation formations were reconnected with, and fortunately they had remained secure. So far nobody had tried to come through from Aicenith which¡­ was something. There were some things that had been learned from enemy patterns. First, except for a few exceptions like at the Order itself and the attack on Stregate, the enemy forces had at first split up into smaller groups to spread out over the countryside. They stopped doing that primarily because everyone who had done so was dead. Right now the remaining enemy forces were mostly concentrating in eastern Graotan. That included the majority of the remnants of the group to land on the Order. Their defeat was the current goal of the Order, and they were pressing forward with their army. The main sect was covering the southern and western borders just in case the situation there worsened and Stregate should be able to hold the north, so they simply had to approach the enemy. Unlike a standard war, the enemy forces hadn¡¯t marched through Graotan to reach its depths but simply came from the sky. They seemed to have some knowledge of the geography but couldn¡¯t be said to be intimately familiar with it. Where they were forming up to fight back was defensible enough, but they were making use of the remains of a smaller sect- the Diamond Hill Sanctuary- and the battered and broken formations that remained. ¡°It does appear they¡¯ve had some success in repairing them,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°I got closer with the scouting party to confirm that, and it¡¯s clear they do have some formation experts among them. As for masters¡­ they either don¡¯t have any, or they¡¯re quite tricky.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if we can necessarily bet on the latter,¡± Elder Fodor commented. ¡°I¡¯d expect them to have the option to bring people more versed in formations than the majority of us here.¡± ¡°Except we only deal with ¡®lower energy¡¯,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°And formation masters worth their title would rather not subject themselves to a place like this. I imagine.¡± Formations masters had the reputation of being eccentric. Not necessarily like Everheart, but at the very least a bit pompous. They filled an important function and were few in number, so even if they were arrogant at least a little bit of it was justified. Then there were those like Catarina who were just obsessed, though hardly easier to interact with. ¡°Can we siege them?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°I mean a proper siege. Like Stregate. If we can starve them out¡­¡± ¡°That might be possible,¡± Velvet commented. ¡°But we can¡¯t be sure what supplies they have kept- or what they brought with them.¡± Her skin was covered in burn scars from the first battle at the Order. It only took a single attack to put her out of commission for a time, and even now she probably wouldn¡¯t be at full combat capability. She was hopeful about making a full recovery, but that would have to wait to be seen. ¡°I would prefer we minimize combat if we don¡¯t have to,¡± Timothy agreed, ¡°But I don¡¯t know if we can afford to wait longer. Even if our borders are mostly secure now, if this group gets reinforced¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think we could survive that. Even if they continue their propensity for retreating.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the case,¡± Catarina commented, ¡°I need to get close to the formation to get a better look at it. Maybe even past the walls. If we can push in briefly and then retreat¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not sure. If they follow us out then they lose the defensive position, but that implies us being able to break through easily. We might find that the formations are more solid than expected.¡± The discussion on how to approach the attack continued for some time before they solidified a strategy with the help of those leading the militia forces. ----- Leaves rustled in the wind as Jim sat by the edge of the river, waiting. He had a bow in his hands and a spear at his side and was ready to make use of either. The river in front of him had nearly drowned him when he was a young boy. He¡¯d been swept away in a flood when the bridge collapsed. Now the bridge was twice as large, having been replaced shortly after and then again years later. Now Jim was old enough to have a boy of his own, and that boy was nearly a man. The old man who had saved him felt like a hero, a powerful cultivator swooping in just when he had been needed. Yet he hadn¡¯t really been that amazing, as cultivators went. It had taken Jim some time to learn that, but as he grew to adulthood and the practice of cultivation became more widespread it seemed the man had only been in the early Body Tempering stage. That would make him barely matched with a fit man in his prime, given the man¡¯s age. But Anton hadn¡¯t saved him because he was strong, but because he was there. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The man had come back to Helmfirth Rill later, and was somewhat stronger. With Jim¡¯s current knowledge he understood Anton¡¯s cultivation was quite fast. Here he was, early Essence Collection after a couple decades of training, something geniuses had been known to accomplish in five years. It was a shame he didn¡¯t have to worry about things like one of the village¡¯s kids nearly drawing, but instead there was trouble with invaders. Their little out-of-the way village wasn¡¯t a prime target, but even they had a few special herbs they grew. These days, any village that didn¡¯t have at least a token effort put towards empowering their cultivators was just a collection of people going nowhere. In his time as a cultivator Jim had dealt with a few vicious beasts and some ruffians that decided to take up banditry. The latter wouldn¡¯t have had any sort of cultivation in the world Jim was born in, but these days it was weirder not to. The first group found that even Jim¡¯s mother wasn¡¯t negligent in her training. Everyone was able to work so much more easily with a bit of cultivation, leaving them time to do more work¡­ or just have time to spare, even after the time spent cultivating. A few ruffians with delusions of grandeur could be beat up by Jim¡¯s sixty year old mother, and if they were a bit stronger they¡¯d need a couple other grannies. Those who were a bit smarter and stronger either didn¡¯t bother with a place like Helmfirth Rill, or brought down the entire town¡¯s wrath. And one time there had been a larger bandit group brewing¡­ for all of a month before the Order shut it down. Jim didn¡¯t know if Anton had been involved in that particular incident, but he knew the man was now an Elder at the highest level of cultivation- Life Transformation. The invasion had hit the cultivation sects in the area pretty hard, though some held on against their foes. A larger force had congregated but there were still weaker invaders running around the countryside who thought they could have whatever they wanted. And twenty years ago, they would have been right. Jim sensed the approaching group getting closer. They had gone to the bridge and sensed the defenders there so they were probably trying to sneak around. When the first one was about to reach the river¡¯s edge, Jim drew an arrow and aimed right for their gut. They sensed the surge of energy from him and dove out of the way, meaning he only grazed them. There were a handful of others as well, from late Spirit Building to one in early Essence Collection. More than a match for Jim, even if he had techniques to fight them. But his attack would let the others in the village know what was going on, and he could delay them long enough for people to be prepared. The Essence Collection cultivator leapt out over the river, no doubt planning to just step their way across. Anyone with solid control of energy could hold themselves up on water. Jim snapped off a quick shot, using the anti-ascension techniques that were so good at disrupting these people¡¯s energy. They deflected his shot with their and only stumbled slightly, but as their to dipped into the water a toothy mouth reached up for them. Normally Jim would have removed such pests from the river, but for the last year the town had just decided to let the beasties stay. The looming feeling of the invasion had been impetus enough to give up on some fish. Other river creatures snapped at the trailing cultivators, and the first one was pulled halfway into the water before they killed the beast. Jim took a final shot that pierced their shoulder as the man righted himself, then held his spear at the ready. Reinforcements were on the way, and though this particular group hadn¡¯t learned not to underestimate the people of Graotan, they would soon. Though preferably they¡¯d learn that lesson after they were dead so they couldn¡¯t join up with anyone else. ----- Erin watched the movements of Paradise expectantly. The Island Tenders had thought that perhaps some of the invaders would land on Paradise, but instead as far as they could tell they landed on the continents to the east and west. They were currently heading west to Brogora, much faster than Paradise normally traveled. At the standard pace it might take them a year or two to make a crossing, but now they were leaving an enormous wake behind them as they moved. That was of course expected of anything the size of an island moving with much speed, but it was far from the normal leisurely pace. The Island Tenders had kept the land on Paradise¡¯s back well in shape for visiting travelers but they rarely considered the strength of the turtle itself. Not directly, anyway. As cultivators they might admire it or study it, but they rarely thought about it actually fighting. Before their establishment Paradise had joined a battle with a kraken, fighting alongside the cultivators. Now, it seemed eager to fight once more, but it was unclear what it could do. In terms of power¡­ Erin completely believed that if Paradise could get to the invaders it could cause massive harm to them. Even turning a portion of its massive energy would be enough to crush any cultivator Erin knew of. The problem was that, well, it was a turtle. A water creature. Even if it could move about on land, it might cause more destruction than the invaders themselves. Or maybe Erin and the others were wrong about their current destination, and they would find themselves diving underwater after an exceptionally large fish. It was possible, but given the behavior shown so far it would be odd if this particular behavior wasn¡¯t in response to the invaders. Though they couldn¡¯t be felt directly anymore now that they had landed, Erin still felt an ominous presence. Soon enough Erin spotted Greatleaf Island, which meant they were almost to Facraona¡¯s shores. As they approached the continent the turtle slowed back to its leisurely pace. No, had it stopped entirely? At first she thought nothing was happening, then the creature¡¯s head and neck slowly rose out of the water, creating waves that would certainly rock the ships in the nearest harbor kilometers away. Then the turtle spit, a mass of water equivalent in size to a lake flying through the air. Erin hoped that it was aimed at invaders¡­ and not anywhere near civilized territory. Maybe someone should go check on that. If it was helping the invaders then they could¡­ do nothing, probably. Paradise hadn¡¯t attacked any of them, but it wasn¡¯t like he couldn¡¯t. Erin believed he was on their side though. And when that ball of water landed she would be able to find out. Chapter 359 The very best scouts were ones nobody was looking for. Even if the invaders currently occupying Diamond Hill Sanctuary were aware that they were looking for ants, it was basically impossible for them to spot them all. Regular ants could be picked out by using their energy senses, but they didn¡¯t matter to either side. Hundreds of smaller ants crawled through the area, only temporarily slowed by formations. While those the size of normal ants weren¡¯t as intelligent as the Great Queen or the other older members, they were able to convey information well enough. Diamond Hill Sanctuary- specifically the sect¡¯s grounds- was more or less what the name implied. It wasn¡¯t full of diamonds but instead shaped like a faceted diamond resting on its head, sharp angles and flat expanses coming to a peak. It wasn¡¯t a perfect match, but the sect founders had found the unnaturally shaped location already arranged in that manner and decided to settle there. It once had a series of gatehouses leading up to the entrance, but the majority of those were destroyed. Even with the abilities of high ranking cultivators it was impossible to repair so much in a short time, especially without access to a supply chain providing materials. Thus, most of the gatehouses were still in disarray and the walls had crumbled in parts. Even so, attacking with an army only had one path up. Climbing the various sides of the hill made of smooth rock wasn¡¯t impossible for a cultivator, but to do so with haste while keeping safe was nearly impossible. With the forces from Edelhull and Stregate leaning towards the lower end of cultivation, such an attack would only get them killed meaninglessly. The defensive position wasn¡¯t overwhelming with the damage to the defenses, but it was awkward for one reason¡­ not giving the invaders anywhere to retreat. Everyone knew full well how viciously people fought when it concerned their own lives. Their opponents had been careless at first, underestimating them and only retreating when they realized the losses they would take. They could be nearly as dangerous as¡­ an entire nation trying to protect their homeland. Cutting the enemy forces off from leaving and slowly starving them might work, but there was no way to know how much food they had in storage. Storage bags, specifically. The actual proper kitchens were well scouted by ants. The cultivators of Diamond Hill Sanctuary looked to have food for several months, maybe half a year, but the current number of invaders was higher than the sect was meant for. In the end, the uncertainty of the time required- and what else might happen in the world while they waited- led them to choose an active siege. The siege wouldn¡¯t just involve throwing boulders at walls. In fact, that was only a very small part of the plan. It certainly wasn¡¯t being ignored, but while cultivators didn¡¯t often make use of traditional sieging tactics they still had records of it. And even if most had no real experience in the area, replicating techniques was easy enough. There were options like undermining, digging beneath the foundations of the walls to collapse them. The walls themselves were atop the cliffs so it would require significantly more burrowing than in other cases. Burrowing had a big advantage in that it innately came with cover, but enemy cultivators made the process harder as they could sense what would be happening under the ground. The walls also weren¡¯t the main problem at the moment. There was a more extreme version, however. If they hollowed out enough of the hill they could cause the whole thing to collapse. That would take a long time, but it would easily take formations with it. As for actually throwing things at walls, Grant had put together a few cultivator-appropriate siege weapons such as trebuchets. Processes such as loading large weights were easier with cultivators involved. With high quality materials the machines could bear greater loads as well, which was important since there was no point in loading a weight that could not be hurled. Enchantments on the trebuchets would further enhance them, and like the ballistae they would make use of multiple cultivators as they fired. The siege weapons could certainly put holes in the walls, but breaking through defensive formations or targeting groups of enemy cultivators would also be valuable. ----- A squad of soldiers on a mission infiltrated the enemy fortress. They followed paths laid down by scouts before them, perfectly clear to those who could recognize the signs and invisible to those who couldn¡¯t. It was a long march through enemy territory, but they walked one by one through narrow trenches and cracks. Sometimes they even took a ride on one of the enemy soldiers without them noticing. They carried with them heavy packs of supplies for sabotage. After a grueling trek they arrived at their destination. In front of them were mountains of food, the kind that would take an entire hive years to eat through- even if they were producing offspring as quickly as they could. But there were no offspring here. No queens. They were too valuable¡­ and too noticeable. The soldiers spread out to their duties, working together to bridge gaps when climbing was difficult. They chewed through stitching on bags of flour. Just a small bit in the lower corners, or it would take them all day. Some of the stronger soldiers worked together to chew through seals on casks, not enough to make anything spill out but enough to expose it to the open air. The packs that had been strapped to them by cultivators with great manual dexterity were dropped into crates, mainly individual grains with fungus that would hopefully spread to fill whole batches. The soldiers worked hard, but aside from the tiny pockets of infection they left behind they had an infinite amount of food to munch on to keep their energy up. There was no need to bring anything back to the hive. The next target were the bunkhouses. Once again, they targeted the weakest points. Broken tiles in the roof were painstakingly shifted to let in the elements, the process requiring dozens of soldiers together. The seams of pillows were gnawed through. Spare boots mysteriously found their soles separating. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The luxurious tents of the commanders, larger on the inside, were the final targets. There were specific instructions for how to slip under the lining to look for certain embroidered runes. Chewing through them would gradually cause the tents to fail. Doing it all at once would be far too noticeable¡­ and might result in good soldiers being trapped in nothingness. Or more likely an explosion of energy that would involve real danger to their weaker brethren. It would also be too obvious. The golden targets were actual storage bags where cultivators kept their most precious goods, but these were more durable and closely watched. The commander of this particular squad did not find any good openings, though he hoped the others might. ----- Grant folded his arms, ¡°I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s a waste of resources or anything, I just fail to see how making people slightly uncomfortable for a day is going to matter. By the end of the day they¡¯ll repair a couple tiny holes and then if anything more happens they¡¯ll be on alert.¡± ¡°Ah, but you see,¡± Grand Elder Fodor wagged his finger. ¡°That is where your experiences fail you. How would you describe your profession?¡± ¡°A smith,¡± Grant shrugged. ¡°Maybe engineer.¡± Fodor nodded. ¡°And how many smiths do you think they have? Maybe a couple. Maybe they have a carpenter, but I would doubt it. A seamster is unlikely, and even if they can technically stitch things up they probably don¡¯t have spare silk thread lying around. The point is, these are typical cultivators, and most won¡¯t do anything unrelated to war. And if we can make one have a stiff neck throwing him a little bit off when battle happens¡­ I¡¯ll take that advantage.¡± Fodor reached his hand over to the nearby trebuchet, enhancing the next hunk of rock with his own energy. The great machine twisted, flinging the chunk into the air and causing it to impact on an invisible barrier. Invisible, yet the way it distorted the light behind it demonstrated cracks for several moments after the impact. That was already twice as long as the hour previous when they had first started. Trebuchets enhanced with natural energy had far more range than most cultivators, but the invaders weren¡¯t without a response. While they had no snipers able to attack as far as Anton or Kseniya, they could at least cover the several kilometers to the siege weapons. A large orb of grayish energy was formed by a trio of cultivators in the city and lobbed forward¡­ but a single bolt of light pierced through it, causing it to unravel high in the sky. Anton was on defensive duty, since adding him to the offense when he could only hit a barrier was a waste. The load was currently split between many cultivators, and they were able to cycle them out with only the main engineers who had skill at operating the machines staying active. Around half of the army was active at any point, though a good portion were simply on standby in case of an attack. The enemy sallying forth from the city would be the best option since they would give up their advantages, but it was therefore quite unlikely. ¡°How long can we keep this up for?¡± Timothy asked. He was among the siege weapons in case a threatening attack got close. The weapons were worth the effort of defending. ¡°A few days at most,¡± Grant admitted. ¡°We¡¯re limited by how much ammunition we can bring in. We built up as much as we could, but we¡¯ll eventually run out. I could maybe throw together an oversized ballista that launches trees but¡­ I¡¯d probably need a week, and I don¡¯t know if we have the materials. That¡¯s longer than we seem to be planning anyway.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°Catarina said she can only learn a little bit more studying the formations from out here. At most a couple days before she¡¯ll be ready. There will still be ammunition for these siege engines then, right?¡± Grant nodded, ¡°We have some set aside. And we took a few ballistae from Stregate, though they¡¯re no good until we get to the actual fighting.¡± He squinted as he focused on the city. ¡°Your wife can actually see something about the formations from watching this?¡± ¡°The bombardment should be helping, actually. Seeing how it reacts is important,¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°Even I have enough training to come to the same assessment¡­ they don¡¯t have anyone worthy of the title of formation master with them.¡± ¡°What if they don¡¯t have materials?¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. Well, it does. But if the person is skilled enough they could whip something together with what we¡¯ve seen. You should see what Catarina has done with random arrangements of rocks and twigs.¡± ¡°Why have fancy materials if you can use¡­ anything?¡± ¡°Because they imploded,¡± Timothy grinned. ¡°But it did stop the charge of a ten ton boar. Snapped the boar¡¯s neck.¡± ¡°And here I am working with big rocks,¡± Grant shook his head. ¡°This is great, actually,¡± Timothy assured him. ¡°You make things where many people can contribute, and they¡¯re much less¡­ esoteric. But isn¡¯t enchantment related to formations?¡± ¡°In a way, but formations react to changing circumstances, or display wider effects. Enchantments are solidified.¡± Timothy was about to answer when he leapt up onto the structure of the nearest trebuchet, using that as a foothold to jump even higher out in front of it. A large dome appeared in front of him as he held out his shield, deflecting a ball of black-orange fire up and to the side. It was composed entirely of ascension energy, so it didn¡¯t hold its form to land and cause trouble that way. ¡°Seems they¡¯re getting somewhat serious if that witch is getting involved. But that¡¯s great for us. It could take her hours to recover from just that attack. By the estimates of our tiny allies, the two Ascension cultivators are back to no more than two thirds of their full potential.¡± ¡°Still pretty incomprehensible,¡± Grant shrugged. But it wasn¡¯t his job to deal with them directly, so he could manage. Chapter 360 Defenders had an advantage in a battle, but that was only if their fortifications could stand up to those on the attack. Against cultivators far into Spirit Building or later walls made out of granite performed little better than paper. More exotic and rare materials were needed along with enchantments, and walls weren¡¯t the end of things. Diamond Hill Sanctuary¡¯s walls were strong enough to be a factor, but the previous damage limited their effectiveness along with the gatehouses. There was still some trepidation among the attacking forces, but if they didn¡¯t act soon the invaders might actually be able to put together an enduring foothold in the area. That was absolutely something they didn¡¯t want. The siege was already active, trebuchets launching whatever sufficiently heavy materials were brought along or able to be found nearby. Cultivators launched attacks in both directions, though even with the defender possessing a height advantage few of them were able to reach the trebuchets to attack. Likewise, few individual cultivators from the forces of Graotan were able to actually do more than defend the siege engines. Though the forces of Graotan had some constraints, the constant battering of the enemy formations were going to require a response from their enemies first. The enemies might be able to prop it up by providing their own energy to the formation, but that would be very much in the favor of the siegers. The invaders weren¡¯t able to recover their energy as quickly, especially the critically important Ascension cultivators. So far they had been provoked into launching several attacks from their fortifications, but without committing they were unable to cause lasting damage. It was possible the defending forces were holding something back that would let them take out the trebuchets. If that was the case it would likely happen all at once. Otherwise they had to be hoping for the attackers to run out of ammunition- which would certainly happen eventually. Even with storage bags to hold large volumes of material, several siege machines constantly firing went through rock rather quickly. If they were in a defensive position around a stockpile they might be better off, but their current situation limited them. The enemy might know that¡­ but as it was it seemed that the formations might still be battered into nothing, after which they would be able to attack directly. They just had to wait for that time. ----- At the same time as the bombardment was happening, a group of cultivators slowly and patiently climbed the sheer surfaces of the Diamond Hill. They were more than sheer in a way, since some angles involved overhangs. Climbing up those required the use of natural energy which would normally give away their location, but they were carefully arranged to prevent that. Specifically, with the use of formation flags in a way Catarina had grown experienced with over the years. They weren¡¯t truly undetectable. Even though she had brought forces to Stregate, seemingly appearing from being invisible, the technique only worked when those she was avoiding the notice of were distracted by something else. Either that or it took a large amount of natural energy to sustain, and someone like Velvet with a high proficiency in stealth to help. Velvet was with them for the sake of scouting, though she hadn¡¯t intended to be getting this close. They weren¡¯t part of some sneaky assault, they were merely just climbing up the side- not towards the entrance nor entirely opposite towards the rear- for the sake of Catarina¡¯s curiosity. It was justified, because she could find a way to negate the enemy¡¯s formation if she understood it well enough. During the bombardment that was the perfect time, since it was at peak activity. The group stopped just shy of the actual walls so Catarina could make sure there wasn¡¯t anything that would give away their position. They were about as close as they could be regardless. Even if the defenders were clumped away from them, they would still potentially be noticed. Like by the Ascension cultivators. Catarina was keeping half an eye on them as she studied the way the formation reacted. ----- The tiny infiltrators were happy to see that their work had provoked a response. There were all sorts of traps set¡­ for rats. Because the humans would of course believe anything that could cause such damage to their supplies had to be rats. The growing mold was a different matter, but it seemed many of the supplies had been disposed of. They were already replaced, but the sergeant found something interesting as they checked on one area. Someone was sneaking about. Not just any someone, but a non-invader cultivator. They didn¡¯t have the same tasty scent of ascension energy. That was too bad, because the ants were looking to pick off people if they could. Instead of remaining in position the sergeant decided to follow the unexpected human, carrying a storage bag full of freshly unsabotaged food. They moved quickly, too fast for the individual ants to keep up. They were, however, able to increase their mobility by forming themselves into a variety of structures- mostly little wheels where they rolled around, providing power with the movements to accelerate. It was just enough to keep up with a cultivator sneaking around slowly, which let them spot the door as it closed. It fit firmly enough into the wall that no signs of it could be picked out. Not at eye level, anyway. There were slight cracks at the floor and the ceiling, so small it would take something like an ant to wiggle through. So they did. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Following the narrow passageway down through the area around them they eventually came to a gathering of cultivators with similar energy. Though the sergeant was not of the same intelligence as the great queens, they were sufficiently intelligent to organize. And understand speech. The individual they followed was reporting on the status of the battle up above as food was distributed. ¡°Are they here to help?¡± asked one of the humans. ¡°I detected at least a few members of the Order. I doubt they know we¡¯re here though.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to get in contact with them if we could,¡± said the first. The sergeant was already working on that plan from another angle, though it would be a bit difficult. No hive had interactions here as far as he knew, so they wouldn¡¯t know the sign language. Old techniques it was. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± A sudden response from one of the nearby cultivator sent a spear piercing into the wall, a ring of ants narrowly avoiding being killed. While they would gladly give their lives for the community, it would be a shame to die. The extended aura natural energy should have crushed any number of insects, but it didn¡¯t even make them uncomfortable. The ants tried to wave again, in what they hoped was not a taunting manner. While the cultivators gathered around they then quickly formed into a word. ¡°Allies.¡± ¡°Allies?¡± said one person. ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± admitted one of the gray haired ones, probably an ¡®elder¡¯. ¡°The Order has had dealings with some strange ants¡­¡± How rude. They weren¡¯t strange at all! If anthing the stupid ants were the strange ones. But the sergeant continued to direct the group on what words to spell, with each ant knowing which portion it would belong to. They formed one word at a time. ¡°Can¡­ understand¡­ speech¡­¡± ----- After a good ten or twenty minutes Catarina was satisfied with her studies. She could bring down the formation easily enough, though it would actually withstand the bombardment longer than it appeared on the surface. That was information that had to get back to the rest of the army. But first, she might as well get started. Catarina slowly and carefully carved a few unobtrusive runes at the base of the wall. Unless the formation specialist came by specifically to look at the area nobody would notice¡­ and the rhythmic sounds of boulders and the like crashing against the barrier meant they were probably occupied. She would have liked to go all the way around the whole perimeter, but she was going to have to be satisfied with breaking few at a couple small points. She wasn¡¯t going to risk getting caught, as the enemy forces could kill their little squad if they were spotted. ----- An hour later, the bombardment halted. The visible reason was that the trebuchets were low on ammunition, which was not entirely incorrect. The actual reason was regarding two pieces of information that had come in. Many formations were powered by ambient natural energy, and the one that had been set up on the Diamond Hill was no different. That meant it would be able to recover to full effectiveness if left alone for too long. Thus, sustaining the bombardment would have been the right choice if they didn¡¯t have a plan. Arrows still continued to hit it at regular occurrences. Though they were small they carried significant amounts of energy, creating rather large and intentionally quite loud explosions as they impacted the barrier. ¡°Grandpa,¡± Alva cautioned, ¡°You do need to rest for the battle.¡± ¡°If I don¡¯t sleep, and they don¡¯t sleep because of that, I come out ahead,¡± he countered. ¡°You only sleep like¡­ four hours,¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°So do that. Then you can continue this. But if you try not to sleep at all, then I¡¯m going to team up with Fuzz to wrestle you unconscious and we¡¯ll all be exhausted.¡± Anton didn¡¯t have much to say to that. Closer to the start of Alva¡¯s cultivation career she had advanced cautiously given her young age, and Anton had possessed a couple years of a head start. After more than thirty years that gap had shrunk significantly, to the point Anton was well aware that his granddaughter could basically match him. Anton had gotten into a bit more trouble during his career and maintained the advantage through decades of archery experience, but the gap between them was not large. She might even surpass him soon. If he made use of forbidden techniques he could swing the battle, but he would only use Candle Wax in an emergency. And using the power of Fleeting Youth against his granddaughter would just tire him out more and make him need that rest. ¡°Fine. But you need to keep them up instead.¡± ¡°Deal,¡± Alva nodded. ¡°I can shoot that far without trouble, at least.¡± With that, Anton took a short time to recover, while the rest of the army was busy preparing for an assault- though they were trying to look like they weren¡¯t. The good thing about an army of cultivators is that they could ready themselves quickly when it came time to fight. ----- In the morning, the actual bombardment began again. The long pause hopefully wouldn¡¯t have made the enemy realize the rhythm was slower- or if they did notice Grant hopes they would chalk it up to being low on ammunition. They were, even with what they had gathered the previous night, but it would last long enough one way or another. It was impossible to disguise armies marching up a long gradient towards the Diamond Hill. They didn¡¯t even try, but the very act was a distraction for other things that were being put in place. Catarina wouldn¡¯t be attempting to invisibly sneak up to the enemy this time, since she needed to be where they would break through and attention would inevitably be focused there already. It was better instead to have her organize a defensive formation. As a mobile formation it would not be nearly as powerful as what the enemies had but it would at least help protect the weaker soldiers as they approached. There was ultimately very little cover otherwise. It would have been a dozen times worse if they had to fight through gatehouses along the way, but as they had been destroyed in the occupying force¡¯s attack they were mostly rubble. The barrier shook under the bombardment of trebuchets and individual cultivators, showing weakness that was not quite what it seemed to be. Chapter 361 Hundreds of soldiers moved swiftly up the ramp leading to the front gates, lower ranking cultivators standing side-by-side with stronger cultivators, making use of numbers and strength to push back the defenders. Not that there were many outside the final wall, since there was little left of the gatehouses to take advantage of. Those sent to slow them either had to be very eager for some sort of achievements or quite disfavored among the various sects of the invaders. Not all of them died. Some were forced to retreat while others were simply knocked over the edge where they would have to invest effort to climb back up¡­ and think about whether they wanted to risk being surrounded. Most did not, pulling away from the fight. Anton took note of them but reserved his energy for active combatants. Leaving anyone to cause damage in the surrounding countryside sat poorly with him, but the average civilian was not so defenseless as they might have once been. As the Graotan forces surged forward attacks from inside the Diamond Hill Sanctuary bombarded them, the mobile formation controlled by Catarina providing some shelter while the attacks provided incentive to move more quickly. There was no slow and steady march but instead an organized charge. The attackers reached the gates and were repelled by the defensive formations there. The gates themselves were only half-repaired, but they could have been wide open and it would have still been impossible to move inside. A swirling vortex of darkness and blood surged over their frontlines as the first of the enemy Ascension cultivators took action. Those with greater power protected those around them to the best of their ability, but Catarina¡¯s defensive formation was failing in places under the bombardment of various attacks. She was also distracted by black-orange flames aimed directly at her. The woman seemed to have taken her to be a priority target which was not strange considering how much she provided for the army. On the other hand it could have been petty revenge for injuring the woman in the attack on the Order, as Catarina had almost single-handedly chased her away at the end, focusing the full power of the formation on her. The flames rolled around Catarina, and while she had to take them seriously she was also empowered by Timothy standing with her, blocking the majority of the attack. When the flames tried to cling to them the energies were easily disrupted by their training in anti-ascension techniques. The trebuchets continued to bombard the city at their slightly reduced rate while Catarina pushed her way to the front of the wall. She appeared to be doing little more than running about avoiding attacks, but a formation master might have realized she was using her movements to carve runes in the ground beneath her. ----- The sergeant stood proudly atop the shoulder of their insider allies. He had been the one to take the risk of contacting them, and now he would have the glory. It was time for battle, and the sequestered cultivators of the Diamond Hill Sanctuary had promised their support. The sergeant and the other ants had already gone back to the camp to relay the news and had returned to the city in the morning to let the insiders know that the coming attack was not just a feint of some sort. As for standing on a shoulder¡­ humans were quite a bit faster than the younger and smaller ants. Even if the ants formed some of the faster moving structures it was tiring to keep up. In addition to that, the sergeant and his squad could provide protection for their companion. It was impossible to miss the army outside the gates, which meant it was time to act. Weaker cultivators were mixed in among the others, given the opportunity for glory or the duty to participate. Either way, more of them gravitated towards the rear given the chance, and they were the first target of the Diamond Hill Sanctuary cultivators. The sergeant did not mind participating as well, but he and his squad remained poised for juicier targets. The best ones were outside the front gates, but when a Life Transformation cultivator came for their ally, the squad was ready. The man stood waiting in ambush, concealed by the tasty powers of his energy. Of course, that was not much good against the ants who were resistant to the effects of energy in general- and had different thought patterns that illusions would normally not work on. As a dagger stabbed towards their friend¡¯s side, the squad leapt onto it, chewing away at the energy that made it sharp and deadly. Their mere presence on it weakened it, and when it stabbed into their buddy¡¯s side it stopped with the tip barely poking into the armor. By the time the sneaky cultivator was drawing his arm back for another stab they were already working their way onto the man¡¯s fingers. The sergeant had studied human anatomy, and while it was impossible to understand how it worked in a short time it was fairly easy to understand what made it not work. The tendons on the back of the hand were a fine target, as fingers didn¡¯t do much without them. The squad wiggled beneath the leather gloves made from something that would have been very tasty once and began their attack. The result was a yelling and flailing cultivator that had been stealthy an instant before, trying to squish them but finding that his own gloves and flesh were pliable enough that he had a hard time destroying enough of the sturdy ants. There were losses, but to take down a priority target at Life Transformation the sacrifices were worthwhile. ----- A boulder¡¯s eye view showed that enemies atop the walls were swarmed with ants at the same time as the backline was facing fire. The boulder didn¡¯t have long to look at the scenery as gravity and momentum carried it ever closer towards its target. In a moment it would be expected to crash into the defensive formation. The soldiers in it¡¯s vision would have much preferred that instead of what actually happened, as the heavy projectile empowered with the energy of a handful of cultivators turned a small area of cultivators into twisted bodies. Catarina smiled as the formation faded away. She couldn¡¯t have guaranteed that that particular boulder would reach the ground, but that was why the pace of attacks had been slower. Now the trebuchets would be ramping up with what they launched, taking out the most densely packed groups of enemies. They had a full day¡¯s worth of ranging information now, so they should be quite accurate. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. She dipped behind Timothy as flames surged around them, quite certain some formation specialist was enraged at what she had done. If she¡¯d had a little more freedom of movement or time to prepare she would have preferred taking over the formation for her own benefit but that wasn¡¯t so easy even for her. But negating it wasn¡¯t bad at all. The Graotan forces were pushing towards her and the lady shooting gouts of blackish made the decision that she would rather not be swarmed by an army. With attacks seeming to come from everywhere others took the same cue, pulling back into the deeper parts of the Diamond Hill Sanctuary. If they had been more familiar with they area they could have taken advantage of the many winding paths up the hill to form strong defensive positions, but their knowledge only came from how the defenders had held off against them, and many of those areas were rubble still. The invaders were more of a disorganized mess than an army, but they still had the unfortunate advantage of high cultivations. The soldiers from the two cities were making good use of their squads to fight together, but they would have been even more impressive if they had been another tier higher in power individually. Hoyt took advantage of the moment of confusion caused by the defenses going down to push his way through the mostly destroyed gates and even the press of enemies. That was dangerous even with the guest in his helmet, but the target he was drawing after him actually made people open up. The swarm of blood and darkness that had a grudge against him because of his grandfather wasn¡¯t entirely discerning in who he might tear apart with his power. As he ran Hoyt left behind a trail of flames to prevent the enemy from following him, though obviously it only limited them for ground travel. They could still hop on buildings or be a swirling tornado. Anton supported his allies against both Ascension cultivators, his arrows exploding inside the tornado mass in an attempt to destabilize it. Even if he didn¡¯t fully succeed it at least drained some energy from them, ultimately weakening both attacks and defense. He had some ascension energy of his own to use, mostly just to spite them. He had improved in his ability to use it, and had about half of his total split between three different arrows, though all were aimed at the same target. The black-orange flames were menacing both Catarina and Timothy as well as a large area around them, and that woman would be easier to directly affect with his attacks. His primary bow and two others not made of energy took the shot simultaneously. The arrows actually ended up with slightly different speeds, arriving at marginally offset times. The woman threw up a sphere of fire around her in an attempt to block them, and it held on. The first impact did basically nothing, the second scattered some flames, while the third barely even made a hole. But for that portion of Anton¡¯s energy, he felt a significant drop in the woman¡¯s reserves. The first battle had been hard for the Ascension cultivators and their slow recoveries had really set them behind. Now they were running low, and thus becoming vulnerable. The moment after Anton¡¯s attacks, Timothy and Catarina pushed forward together backed up by shots from Alva and Anton forcing her to spread her defenses to the sides and rear. Catarina was not a specialist in melee combat¡­ but she was still a Life Transformation Cultivator. She stood almost in Timothy¡¯s embrace as they fought, and the trust between them allowed her to focus primarily on offense, her sword strikes forcing the woman into the position she wanted and giving Timothy and others nearby brief windows to attack. Precise positioning of runes was important for a formation, and people worked much the same way. The flow of their energy could give away how they worked or even be altered to dictate their movements, consciously or subconsciously. Hoyt continued to run after he was beyond the reach of the enemy army, drawing the man even further after him. Even running uphill he was able to continue to accelerate though his opponent was hot on his heels. Occasional swipes of his axe to leave gouts of flame in the air very slightly slowed the man, and Hoyt was not far from his goal. The very top of the Diamond Hill, where there had previously been some sort of ceremonial chamber. It had been toppled in a needless display of destructive ability, leaving the point of the hill more or less bare. His speed continued to increase as he pushed more and more energy into just running. It was a risky tactic since if he was suddenly forced to change direction he would waste most of that energy, but the enemy following him seemed content to see him run. As he reached the peak of the diamond Hoyt leapt into the air. Some of his momentum would be lost, but he continued to push himself higher. An amused chuckle came from the cloud of blood and darkness. Hoyt was high in the air leaping over the point of the hill, but his trajectory could easily be determined along with his landing point. It was quite a bit further down the hill, but the Ascension cultivator would have no trouble reaching it before he landed. Which was the whole point. Hoyt was confident that the man would make it even as he began to accelerate himself back downward, flames burning around him. An Ascension cultivator would not resist a direct confrontation with him, especially not this one. And truthfully, even as he pulled out a rather poor representation of his grandfather¡¯s meteors he knew he stood no chance alone. His axe came down as he impacted the swirling tornado, flames and blade clashing with darkness and blood. Natural energy could damage the intangible, but the stronger ascension energy was also able to resist it- even with anti-ascension techniques in the midst. Cuts began to appear all over Hoyt as the blood tried to pull his own blood from his body and the darkness tried to reach for something deeper. As some of it came for his neck, mandibles chomped down on it. Blood and darkness couldn¡¯t be meaningfully harmed by teeth with no natural energy involved¡­ but they also couldn¡¯t be what they were without the energy holding them in that form which was slurped right up by the ant queen taking a ride in his helmet and now poking out the bottom. He¡¯d had to forego the gorget that should have filled that gap for something like this. Suddenly the ascension cultivator found himself with a finger that was not only clamped in a jaw but very physical. Quick decision making allowed him to pull away, divesting it from himself. A reasonable enough choice, but the queen leapt forward into his center and he found that more vital parts of him began to be drawn back to physical form. When he manifested a hand to try to crush the ant queen, Hoyt was ready. It took careful aim to slice a millimeter past the ant queen towards the ascension cultivator¡¯s hand, but the queen was already chomping on the energy there- allowing Hoyt¡¯s attack to get through. By the time the man realized he should have turned to flee, it was too late. A portion of the tornado eventually pulled into the air but by the time that happened there was a hand and some spare fingers on the ground, along with various bits and pieces of internal organs. As the tornado rose into the air weakly, arrows and other ranged attacks were launched into it, disrupting the energy holding that form one final time to form a mangled corpse. A pathetic sight of a powerful cultivator who could have entirely avoided the wrath of the people of Graotan if he had made better life choices. Chapter 362 Once they realized they were losing, the invaders were allowed the illusion of a path to retreat. Some were allowed to slip by out the gates, while others found their ways to the edges of the Diamond Hill Sanctuary and fled over the walls, to various levels of success. But they weren¡¯t actually free from there- they were simply dealt with by groups to maximize safety. Or taken down by various individuals with sufficient ranged abilities. From there, the forces of Graotan moved to secure a wider area, and were quite proud to find how well local areas had done at defending themselves. Smaller cities hadn¡¯t faced Ascension cultivators, but they came together to defend their homes with numbers. Not that numbers would have mattered without cultivation of their own, as they wouldn¡¯t have been able to defeat even an Essence Collection cultivator without. It wasn¡¯t quite the scenario Anton had envisioned when he had the idea to teach everyone cultivation. His thinking had been much smaller, Spirit Building cultivators like Van Hassel that larger sects like the Order found difficult to catch. These invaders seemed to have similar motivations to Van Hassel, but less so to typical bandits. Not all of Graotan had been successful in driving them away. Smaller sects and some towns and villages that fought back were destroyed. Completely demolished and stripped of anything of value. The latter was typical for bandits, but unlike with Dungannon wanton destruction was actually not a mainstay of bandits. It was wasteful to destroy a village when they might build up more wealth later, and it resulted in too much notice being taken of their activities. Learning anti-ascension techniques might have provoked them somewhat, though information previously available indicated that was how the invaders had operated before. After all, the Luminous Ocean Society was the first to be rediscovered and was completely annihilated. The same held true for others. The true mindset of the invaders was hard to determine, because even as they seemed individually concerned about their lives they were also quite resistant to answering questions. It was hoped that allies in Ofrurg might be able to help, but first they would have to regain contact. ----- If they were actually planning to venture into Ofrurg, a small group would have been insufficient even if it were composed of Life Transformation cultivators. Instead they were merely approaching the border, and their numbers weren¡¯t quite so small as they appeared. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you all can bear to be covered in ants,¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re just sitting atop our clothes,¡± Hoyt remarked, ¡°And we don¡¯t have to hide, so their abilities don¡¯t cause us the same sort of trouble.¡± It might have seemed like the ants being undetectable via energy senses should have made them perfect allies for a stealth-oriented cultivator, but in truth they made things more difficult for her. When she was trying to display a perfect falsehood of the world to her foes, points of nothingness would ruin the whole illusion. Having to cover for them added another layer of complexity to an already difficult task. ¡°I¡¯m just disappointed there aren¡¯t enough of them with the intellect for using formations,¡± Catarina sighed. ¡°The queen can do her part, but the other ants just don¡¯t quite get anything that isn¡¯t a structure they form. Though it¡¯s pretty interesting what they do make.¡± ¡°Most of them are only a few years old,¡± Anton reminded her. ¡°Except for the queens, most of the ants only live to a decade on the far end.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a fair point,¡± she admitted. ¡°I doubt I would have been able to grasp much of anything about formations when I was five. Though I didn¡¯t have the chance until I was fifteen.¡± ¡°Fuzz doesn¡¯t smell anyone,¡± Alva commented. ¡°Nobody¡¯s crossed the border lately.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°That makes sense. As for beyond the border¡­¡± he stretched out his senses in a particular direction. He had been constantly sweeping the countryside, but there was a particular place he was looking for. Veron was just across the border, to the point that if not for trees and uneven terrain everyone would be able to see it. For him, sensing such a city was much easier than targeting an individual with Horizon Shot. ¡°Veron looks to have run into some trouble. It¡¯s severely damaged, but¡­ it still has people moving about. Mostly too weak to be invaders, though the entire city has a haze of ascension energy lingering around so I can¡¯t guarantee anything.¡± He nodded. ¡°But we can ask this approaching group.¡± It wasn¡¯t odd for a group of Life Transformation cultivators to attract attention, and a serious response to their presence had been organized quite swiftly. Only a single very early Life Transformation cultivator led the group, but there were dozens in Essence Collection and Spirit Building. Against their particular group Anton wouldn¡¯t give the squad an advantage, but perhaps he was biased. After all, the people of Veron had also weathered the invasion. ¡°Identify yourselves!¡± the man who headed the group called out. ¡°We are members of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars,¡± Anton replied. ¡°And quite peacefully waiting on our side of the border.¡± Everyone relaxed a little bit, but it was clear their leader was still on guard. ¡°If you are indeed from the Order, your presence would be welcome. However¡­ we¡¯ll have to perform the test.¡± Anton was pretty sure he knew what the man was referring to, and took the moment to sweep the patrol with a test of his own. ¡°Go ahead and approach. Borders at the moment mean little in comparison to the invaders.¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. It was clear the man was less used to the techniques meant to pick out the members of the Twin Soul Sect as he had to get much closer and was more obvious about it, but in a way it was better that way. The rest of the group with him would have been able to sense it as well. ¡°Good. You¡¯re not part of them. We learned the hard way¡­ even though sensing these invaders is quite easy, the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s methods still conceal them from casual observation. We barely held together when our defensive formations were taken apart from the inside.¡± ¡°Graotan was fortunate to not encounter that particular trouble¡­ though they did seem to assume there would be traitors among us.¡± Anton shook his head. They hadn¡¯t specifically checked for members of the Twin Soul Sect, but they also hadn¡¯t accepted random new people either. And while Anton couldn¡¯t guarantee his ability to read the Life Transformation cultivator in front of him, the Spirit Building cultivators were open books that corroborated his story. ¡°Forgive my manners,¡± the man said. ¡°I¡¯m Commander Tallgate. All of you¡­ at your cultivation, you would be Elders of the Order, correct?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I see. Then I-¡± he squinted. ¡°Umm¡­ you appear to have an ant on your shoulder?¡± ¡°I am aware,¡± Anton said. ¡°They are valuable allies in the fight against the invaders.¡± The man shrugged. Cultivators made use of beasts of all sorts, so even if he hadn¡¯t heard of these particular creatures he wouldn¡¯t question it. ¡°If you want news about Ofrurg as a whole, I¡¯m afraid we don¡¯t have it. We drove off the attackers and have been fortifying our defenses ever since.¡± Catarina looked into the distance. ¡°I can fix your formations for you.¡± ¡°We repaired them already, though we appreciate the offer.¡± ¡°Oh. Then¡­ I can upgrade them.¡± That seemed her nice way of saying that the formations were so weak as to be barely noticeable¡­ which was accurate even by Anton¡¯s standards. ¡°I¡­¡± the man shrugged. ¡°Sure. I trust the Order doesn¡¯t intend to cause any trouble.¡± ¡°Not with anyone native to this world,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Though we don¡¯t plan to stay long right now. We¡¯re merely here to check out the situation.¡± As they rode towards Veron, Anton saw people working in the fields. Once, they would have been slaves. Now, they were cultivators able to handle entire fields by themselves. ¡°Things are pretty different in the past couple decades,¡± Tallgate commented. ¡°I used to be working in those fields. I still could, but¡­ my life branched in a different direction.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°But you¡¯re a Life Transformation cultivator now? You must have great talent.¡± He did look quite young, though it was hard to tell with cultivator sometimes. ¡°I-¡± Tallgate shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. Would someone with talent let so many people die? Veron and the surrounding area had more than a handful of Life Transformation cultivators more powerful than myself, and I¡¯m the only one who got through relatively uninjured. Two are gravely wounded and the rest¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°The Order lost many as well,¡± Anton commented. ¡°The six of us¡­ we¡¯re nearly half of what remains from what was briefly more than twenty. You don¡¯t get to choose who lives in a battle. Sometimes, it¡¯s old men like myself.¡± ¡°He started cultivating at the same time as us,¡± Hoyt pointed out. ¡°Don¡¯t let him fool you on that part.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I don¡¯t know how to respond to that,¡± the commander admitted. In the city, Catarina quickly moved to study the formations. She was already altering them when someone showed up to protest- then stopped themselves as they saw her working. Anton hadn¡¯t been planning to actually come to the city, but now that he was present he couldn¡¯t help but do something. Clearing away rubble was within his capabilities, and he had some experience with construction as well. He¡¯s put together a barn or ten in his time, though structures meant to have more style and comfort than pure function he had little experience with. Even so, he could hold tools, lift things, and keep an eye out for people approaching the city who shouldn¡¯t be. ----- Though Graotan had stabilized internally, there was little time to rest. News from Ambati was still positive- in that they seemed to be fighting back with some success. Droca had less news, but no invaders appeared near the borders. The situation in Ofrurg was unknown on the large scale, but now that Veron knew Graotan was relatively safe they would be able to communicate if more news came in. While some were assigned to that, Anton was on the northern border, looking into Estary. Sensing such a large amount of the world at once didn¡¯t make it feel smaller like he might have imagined, though certainly some places seemed closer together. Misty Hill Palace, for example, was not so far from the border that it was beyond Anton¡¯s senses. Or at least what remained of it. He only felt ruins, until he started finding bodies. No living cultivators, either from the Misty Hill Palace or occupying it. Whoever had participated in the attack had already moved on. Likewise, the border was empty of anyone. Even though Estary had been friendly with Graotan they still watched the border up until the time of the invasion, mainly for purposes of cultivators trying to evade either oversight from either country. With them gone, it meant they were either occupied, or dead. Anton hoped for the former, and did not have enough time to closely inspect the area to determine the latter. Except at one specific border crossing, where the limited structures in place were still intact. Things might not have seemed so grim if the nearby towns and cities weren¡¯t all destroyed or abandoned. Estary might need aid¡­ but the same could be the case in Ofrurg. Even if Ofrurg was doing well, joining up with allied sects there would ultimately make everyone stronger. But time was an issue. Where would Graotan aid first? They couldn¡¯t reasonably split and aid both, or they would risk annihilation. It was already nearly a miracle that they had done as well as they had, and that was with a death toll that was as high as a quarter to a third of those in the country, though obviously the counts were not finalized yet. Of course, Graotan could choose to fortify its own borders. There were even arguments for such actions, but realistically if they waited the invaders would simply have time to consolidate their forces and wipe them out. If they helped, they could at least work with others to minimize the destruction that could happen. Defending their homeland was all well and good, but defending their world also needed to be considered. And even if alliances with Estary were vague promises, there were several sects in Ofrurg that had sworn to aid each other during the invasion if possible. Chapter 363 Venturing into Ofrurg shed light on the situation a little bit at a time. A proper force had been gathered, taking what Graotan could spare. At first there was little to see. Each place they came upon was either destroyed or in the process of recovery. For the latter, the Graotan forces encouraged the various settlements and sects to stay in contact with each other, as they had not encountered enemy forces on the road- or even a long distance away. Even if each only intended to watch out for themself, knowing what was happening could inform them all to be more effective. Unfortunately, they found more destruction than anything else. Few sects had weathered the invasion, though it also appeared that some had abandoned their land to join forces with others, their fate yet unknown. The Grasping Willows were not the most prominent or tactically significant allies of the Order, but they were the easiest to reach, not positioning themselves high up a mountain. Just from the status of the sect grounds it was easy to assume the worst, but living disciples could be felt among the ruined landscape. Large swaths of the forest had been burned quite intentionally, though there seemed to be no purpose to it. The fire would have stopped at the borders of the sect, had its formations been intact. Because they weren¡¯t, the position lost most of its defensive value. Anton was worried about one thing. He could not feel Lev among the disciples picking through the wreckage. One brave soul ran forward to meet them, exhaling with relief when they sensed allies. ¡°Where is your sect head?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Still up ahead. Near the Grandfather Willow. We are planning to move closer, after this.¡± Anton nodded. He couldn¡¯t sense Lev or anyone near the Grandfather Willow, but perhaps there was something he was missing. As they approached it became more clear. When he finally sensed Lev, and others with him, Anton realized they were so much more attuned to the Grandfather Willow that they felt like extensions of it, with Lev being nearly indistinguishable except for the fact that he was in the shape of a man detached from the tree. The rest of the forces from Graotan generally broke off to rest or find ways they could help, but Anton continued forward to find Lev planting rows of herbs. The strange part was they were nearly grown, not seedlings. ¡°I¡¯m glad you made it,¡± Anton said by way of greetings. ¡°Anton,¡± Lev smiled. ¡°I am glad as well. We almost didn¡¯t. What about Graotan? How bad was it?¡± ¡°Better than here, perhaps. We were well organized, and the largest cities were able to support themselves. Five ascension cultivators came for the Order, but we fought them off with all our might¡­ and they ran away instead of killing us. With the time to recover, we eventually managed to kill the rest. What about here?¡± Anton scooped up some of the herbs, determining they had likely been plucked from the main sect grounds. And given the stylings of the storage bag Lev was pulling them from, these had been recaptured from the invaders. He began to help Lev plant them as he studied the man who still had something off about him. ¡°Just one ascension cultivator here,¡± Lev admitted, ¡°But truthfully we were not prepared. It was only by relying on Grandfather Willow that we were able to fight. Even then, it was close.¡± Lev shook his head slowly. Anton finally realized what was odd. He was used to Lev using his own natural energy to control one arm, so seeing him control all of his limbs the same way almost felt natural. ¡°It seems like you made some sacrifices.¡± Lev shrugged, ¡°I was too slow on some major insights. Perhaps I might have more easily swayed the tides of battle otherwise. But considering we expected destruction, is this not good enough?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It will have to do. It is good to see you made it, but we will have to move on within a few days. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening elsewhere.¡± Lev looked directly into Anton¡¯s eyes. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to call upon us for aid? We are allies, after all.¡± ¡°That¡­¡± Anton grimaced as he looked around at the trampled, burned, and uprooted forest around them. His eyes settled back on Lev himself. ¡°It seems like it would be inappropriate.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t make me beat you up and force you to take me along,¡± Lev said. ¡°I don¡¯t have to be next to Grandfather Willow to cause you trouble.¡± ¡°I¡¯d be interested to see you try, in other circumstances. But you would know yourself and your sect best. If you can fight, we do need everyone we can get.¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t so hard was it? Just because things are a little hard for us doesn¡¯t mean others don¡¯t need us. And if none of this-¡± Lev gestured to the area around them, ¡°-is still here when we get back, so what? It will grow back. Grandfather Willow won¡¯t be going down though. Not without a full army that isn¡¯t attacking. And if we lose him for the sake of the world, I can just grow another.¡± ¡°I like that confidence,¡± Anton grinned. Though Anton would have liked to spend a decade or two in the area helping put things back together, they had to get going. The next day they moved on, leaving behind the injured and some to watch over them- while beginning to put things together again. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ----- Along the way they encountered more isolated groups, which were precisely the most vulnerable if any invaders should return to the area. Some were convinced to temporarily leave their land to shelter with others, while others were simply looking for a proper cause to join up with. The army from Graotan swelled with forces from Ofrurg. Signs of invaders were beginning to appear, either markings of their passings or actively sensing them in the distance. Some came far enough within Anton¡¯s range that he could have shot or killed them, but unless they came close enough to get a proper sense of their army he left them alone. He didn¡¯t want anyone knowing exactly how far his effective range was, and he needed to conserve his energy. The last few weeks had been full of intense fighting and a deep fatigue had built up. Even when he recovered to ¡®full¡¯ his maximum was temporarily depleted. It should eventually recover or even grow given time, but he needed more rest. He only took what he absolutely needed to and pressed on. He could rest later¡­ or never, if it came down to it. Their next goal was the Glorious Flame Palace. No doubt that as one of the major sects they would have been hit harder, but no word had come from them to any of the places they had yet visited. Some cultivators relayed how they had sensed the descent of Ascension cultivators and other invaders in that direction- something that even the weakest cultivators were able to feel from afar- but nobody could say if the numbers they had sensed had all converged on the Glorious Flame Palace or what had resulted from it. The slopes of the mountain where the Glorious Flame Palace dwelled were difficult to traverse. If they did not have the weaker cultivators with them the trip could have been cut short by several days, but the longer and smoother routes took more time. They got close enough for Anton to sense the general area long before they arrived, given their winding route, but Anton couldn¡¯t really tell what was happening. Glorious Flame Palace encouraged the volcano they lived on to be more active, creating large amounts of heat useful for their training with fire. It could be directly controlled or simply studied for their training in fire. Yet Anton couldn¡¯t sense the heat. On the other hand, he couldn¡¯t sense much of anything. Formations of some sort were still intact, which hopefully meant their allies were holding on. As for enemies¡­ they were likewise unnoticed. When they finally got close enough to see the area with their eyes, Anton wondered if perhaps they had somehow stumbled upon the wrong mountain. Instead of an orange glow, Anton only saw ice covered peaks. Not some sort of seasonal snow, either, but a solid and reflective covering of ice. The area began to become colder as they approached, cold enough to freeze even Body Tempering cultivators to the bone. With an army working together to fend off the cold it was merely an inconvenience that sapped their energy, but walking up icy slopes made them much slower. Even so, they approached the entrance to the Glorious Flame Palace¡­ and almost died. At least, the first to step foot close to the entrance felt that was as they went from freezing cold to burning heat. The core of the formation was still further inside, preventing them from sensing anything, but a small group of cultivators showed themselves a moment later. ¡°Welcome to the¡­ welcome,¡± one of them said, bowing his head. ¡°The Glorious Flame Palace and Frostmirror sect welcome our allies.¡± The situation made more sense with that information, though Anton couldn¡¯t help but wonder what led things to this place. He had been aware of the preparations the two sects had been making up to the point of the invasion, and at no point had anything like this been suggested. Eager to get out of the cold, the army slowly advanced through the wide corridors. The initial blast of heat was greatly toned down after the first, and the inside was generally determined to be too warm instead of deadly hot. That would have been normal, except that the ice continued inside without melting. Was it an application of the ability to burn only what was intended? That would require some impressive formation work, though Anton was aware that both the Glorious Flame Palace and Frostmirror sect had formation masters of their own. Some were even on par with Catarina. Once they were deep enough inside Anton was able to sense everyone, he could tell that the numbers of both sects were greatly depleted. It seemed the Frostmirror sect had lost nearly half of its members, while the Glorious Flame Palace was missing nearly a third of their number. There were scars of battle inside- recent ones, given the damage to the ice and underlying stone. Yet despite all of that- or perhaps because of it- they were throwing a feast. And they quickly invited the entire army to eat with them. Since they would have had food to last a long siege if it came down to it, Anton wasn¡¯t surprised at the possibility, but the amount of fresh and rare looking food was unexpected. His unspoken question was answered by the people he had been subconsciously wandering towards, those he was most eager to reunite with. It wasn¡¯t any of the most powerful elders of the sect, but instead Annelie and Anish¡­ along with their children. ¡°We took it all from the invading group,¡± Annelie grinned. ¡°Some of this meat¡­ belonged to their mounts. Yet they also had tons of fancy stuff, as if they were going on a picnic.¡± She shook her head at that. ¡°Come, sit down. You look like you need it.¡± ¡°So does everyone else here, seems like,¡± Anton said as he took a spot. There wasn¡¯t a plate, but someone from the Glorious Flame Palace threw one from the kitchen. This was no formal dining, but an exuberant celebration. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Basically what you might have pieced together,¡± Annelie explained. ¡°We were here for the invasion. There was an initial battle where we repelled some invaders. Then the Frostmirror sect arrived, more hot on their heels. This arrangement,¡± she gestured to the ice not melting in the heat, ¡°Was sort of set up impromptu. Anish and I helped synchronize things.¡± Anton was reminded of the presence of more than just those when Josephine, the pair¡¯s oldest child, spoke up. ¡°There was a lot of fighting, but the transition from cold to heat to cold made people weak. It kind of happened all at once.¡± ¡°It kind of just fell together,¡± Anish admitted. ¡°We pushed to hard towards fire then ice several times- fortunately focused where the enemies were pushing their way in- before achieving this balance. Though it¡¯s only balanced for those who are permitted in the area. I hear those marching at the front almost became a bit crispy.¡± ¡°I have full confidence Catarina would have warned them if the formation was not already being altered to allow our entrance,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°But what do you know about the rest of Ofrurg?¡± Annelie shook her head. ¡°This isn¡¯t the time for that. This is a celebration. Everything else, we¡¯ll figure out later.¡± Chapter 364 A brief celebration of being alive was something everyone had needed. Anton especially found himself being reinvigorated. It wasn¡¯t just physical fatigue or energy needing to refill, but mental fatigue from seeing so much destruction everywhere. Something that had been missing was that while many had survived the last harrowing weeks, it hadn¡¯t felt like anyone was really alive. No doubt the celebration had been the idea of the Glorious Flame Palace, as the Frostmirror sect would have written it off as unnecessary. Though their viewpoint was being shifted by the upcoming generation, many of which had chosen to keep their emotions instead of fully cutting them off. The next few days still found the combined armies overfilling the Glorious Flame Palace, as scouting groups were sent out in all directions to gather support and search for enemy forces. At the same time, the Frostmirror Sect and some of the other smaller sects from Ofrurg began their interrogations of captured prisoners. The goal was to learn numbers, locations, and overall combat strategy. Very little information in that vein was forthcoming, not because their techniques were insufficient to extract information¡­ but because it appeared that nobody knew. It wasn¡¯t just low level cultivators being kept in the dark, but rather nobody was really aware of the full extent of anything. Some were able to approximate numbers. Estimates of the total number of Ascension cultivators involved in the invasion were somewhere over one hundred, but not many more. As for locations, nobody knew any more than what they had already learned. The strategy was nothing, which in its own way explained the other things. The invaders had come without a clear strategy in mind. They knew where they were landing there would be sects with resources, and they set out to plunder them. After that, it would be pretty much a free for all based on who could get to resources first. There was no strategy, because they didn¡¯t even consider the local cultivators as a possible threat. The weaker ones among them might die, but that was the case with any sort of training exercise. And that¡­ was basically what this amounted to. They were able to confirm some important pieces of information. The ¡®upper world¡¯ as they considered themselves didn¡¯t have the same resources available to them, and the cultivators below the ¡®Integration¡¯ stage cultivated more slowly without access to ¡®lower energy¡¯. The Integration stage was basically synonymous with Ascension, with the caveat that it was the first step where only upper energy was used. It seemed there were more stages beyond that to reach what they understood as the true peak of cultivation. The most revelatory information was about the deal with the Exalted Archipelago. By piecing together what everyone said it was determined that the invaders were all part of an overarching faction- in the loosest sense possible. They weren¡¯t unified like a sect and still had conflicts among each other. They were called the ¡®Trigold Cluster¡¯. The Exalted Archipelago was tied to another faction- simply called the Exalted Quadrant- and thus was off limits. The two continents were fair game for invasion by the Trigold Cluster, but had to be left alone by the Exalted Archipelago since otherwise there would be nothing for them to steal. It was a pretty morbid setup where they were treated as nothing more than something to be hunted or lands to be plundered, but it was not outside anyone¡¯s expectations given what they already knew. There were various reactions to this knowledge, including the Glorious Flame Palace declaring how they would hunt and plunder this ¡®Trigold Cluster¡¯. Their enthusiasm was immediately quashed by the Frostmirror sect pointing out they had no way to get to the upper worlds to plunder them. Even if they could, fighting Ascension cultivators in their home turf was bound to result in tragedy. Though the Frostmirror sect did begin putting together a list of grievances against the various groups involved just in case there was ever something they could do. Perhaps if enough cultivators ascended they could band together to defeat them¡­ or at least join up with factions that would fight against them. Though first everyone had to survive the war before thinking about ascension. ----- Scouting reports indicated invading forces were amassing to the east, specifically in the area of the border between Ofrurg and Facraona. They weren¡¯t amassing on either side of the border as if clearly moving into one country or the other, but instead seemed to find it a convenient place to convene. Much of the area was filled with mountains, providing them some defensive advantages, so it wasn¡¯t terribly odd that they would choose that area. The question was why they would hold their position at all instead of pushing for more looting. The easy answer was that they ran into more troubles than expected. Since they expected no resistance, that wasn¡¯t especially odd. Facraona was a strong enough country, but it would have made more sense for the invaders to congregate north towards that coast or be pressed further south into Droca. Either way, the army combining Graotan and Ofrurg forces was preparing for some sort of assault. ----- Sometimes, Erin felt bad taking advantage of Paradise. She was safe atop his back and the Island Tenders seemed to not be contributing anything to the war. Other times, she rushed into nearby coastal towns and villages to assure them that the giant turtle was on their side. She hadn¡¯t been sure at first but Paradise¡¯s bombardments with huge jets of water were targeted specifically at the invaders. There had been times that unfortunate innocents had been caught in the frankly massive blast radius of some of the attacks, but Paradise at least avoided cities. The one exception being one that had fully been taken over by the invaders and was now an inland saltwater lake. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. There was one time that Erin had actually contributed to Paradise¡¯s defense. One group had gone on the attack, charging Paradise with two Ascension cultivators at the head. While the Ascension cultivators kept his head busy and most of the others fought against his fins, some had snuck around to the tail to try to slip in under his shell and attack from the inside. They had actually caused some real wounds, and the Island Tenders followed them to chase them off. And then Paradise finished eating the two Ascension cultivators. The rest of the attackers were probably still buried in the depths of the ocean where he had slapped them to. Now Erin¡¯s job was to take some of the medicinal herbs that grew on the turtle¡¯s shell and make poultices to help accelerate the healing of the wounds he¡¯d sustained in the battle. The Island Tenders were quite glad that Paradise seemed to recognize they were helping, because none of them really wanted to be crushed to death. ----- A strange orange moss grew all along the tunnels of the Cruhull sewers. Leo felt entitled to saying it was strange even if he was familiar with it, because he constantly felt the urge to remove it. Yet it was there on purpose, the result of a long chain of herbalists wondering what to do with it before it finally came to Kit. It was apparently from the moon at some point, though presumably it had been taken there by Everheart and had once been local. Either way, it had some properties helpful against ascension energies. A few weeks ago the exact scale of that was mostly speculative, as those few who could tap into ascension energies were limited in that capacity. After the invasion¡­ Leo wondered if they would have survived without it. Oh, sure, they still needed every man and woman who fought against the invaders, making use of their hard fought cultivations. But the enemy cultivators were severely weakened as they entered the city. The reason the moss was being grown in the sewers was because it required a warm, moist environment- and there was none better for that. He¡¯d basically planted the first bit to see if it was a good fit, and then it had spread on its own. Now it was part of the area¡­ but still weird. As for how it actually affected ascension energy, it was unclear. The effects had clearly been weaker until the ground started cracking from the battles at which point some sewer tunnels were opened up. The concentrations of the moss were much higher in the sewers than what they had taken to try to use actively, the clumps they had gathered not doing much more than a handful of regular moss on its own. Kit said it probably had something to do with the buildup of spores or something, but either way Cruhull had been lucky in many ways. And now, looking at the daylight streaming into the sewers, Cruhull was quite unlucky. Though Leo would rather be alive and smelling sewage than not alive at all. If he couldn¡¯t handle it, he would have let himself die long ago. So now they were reconstructing the collapsed sewers- but with vents. Would they ever need them? Only if the invaders came back. But if they didn¡¯t have them, the concentrations of whatever it was wouldn¡¯t be able to be built up or be directed towards their enemies. The damage to the sewers was on the scale that would have taken years- maybe decades- to replace. At least, in the world Leo was born into. Now with everyone cultivating, work involving manual labor was much more efficient. It wasn¡¯t just hauling and placing bricks but even the ability to repair cracks and breaks on the spot. There were some who had the ability to work with fine details that meant they weren¡¯t just patching bricks and stone but basically recreating them. That saved a lot of trouble with waste and carting heavy loads into and out of the city, though some bits and pieces were hopeless and there weren¡¯t enough people who could actually repair the damage. Still, Leo found himself working his same job that was truthfully one of the least desired but extremely important. He just hadn¡¯t expected it to be defensively important to the city, except perhaps where the sewers exited the city- and nobody had tried to infiltrate that way. Maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe they realized they would die if they tried it. ----- Godslaying steel as a head, a leadwood shaft, and fletching from an emperor eagle made one of the best arrows Nthanda had ever had the pleasure of using. Technically the Ascension cultivators weren¡¯t gods, but the name godslaying steel rolled off the tongue better than anything else they could come up with. She carefully nocked it on her bow, focusing her energy to create a string on the bow made from the bones of some ancient creature. Then she pulled, focusing on her muscles as she did so. Her arms did some of the work, but much of archery was in the back. Nthanda carefully selected her target, then fired. If she was lucky, they would underestimate her shot as it carried only a relatively small quantity of energy. The quality was high, but they might think she was a weak Essence Collection cultivator or perhaps that it was a casual shot. If she was unlucky¡­ they would take her attack seriously and still likely find themselves injured. This shot was one of the former, as it went straight into the heart of a cultivator who thought their defensive energy would be sufficient. That was optimal, as while these invaders might notice what happened to others, they could really only experience the effects on themselves once¡­ and then they would be dead. She felt her quiver, sighing as she realized she only had a handful of the crucial arrows left. For a moment she wished she had the abilities of Elder Anton, able to create arrows from her energy, but she knew immediately that it simply wouldn¡¯t work. They were on different paths, and hers was most suited for her. Especially with the refinements that Western Steel Body had gained from the Exalted Archipelago. Across the battlefield, others were having similar success. The people of Ambati were not weaklings to be trampled on like these invaders might have thought. They were thought to be a bunch of scattered tribes with a few large clans and cities, and while that was technically true on the surface it had never been the full picture. Now with everyone¡¯s cultivation surging, they were far from the perception. A certain village couldn¡¯t be defended? It was abandoned. Not the people, but the place. Even those who weren¡¯t nomads understood that their lives were more important than remaining in one position. And after the war, those who survived could return. Ambati as a whole did not necessarily agree on many things, but this was something they came together for. This scourge of invaders would be removed from their world. Nthanda traced a finger along the feathers of another arrow. They would fall, one at a time. Or two, if she could get some to helpfully line up. Chapter 365 Additional observation of the gathered invader forces provided more insights for their chosen location. From the west and south they were concerned about the forces of Ofrurg and Droca, but to the east it wasn¡¯t Facraona that they were worried about. Not primarily, anyway. All it took was one time for Anton to know. At first he thought there was a powerful storm, but it moved more quickly than any storm he had ever heard of. An Ascension cultivator¡­ wasn¡¯t that strong, and the entirety of the feeling was made up of natural energy. Lower energy by the invader¡¯s terms. He wasn¡¯t able to see it with his eyes given the mountain range in the way, but he could sense the giant ball of water. It didn¡¯t warp or bend with the friction of the air like would be expected, but kept its form perfectly. It struck the far side of the mountain at the foot. Anton wasn¡¯t even sure if there was a particular target since he¡¯d been focused on the attack itself. Afterwards, there was nothing. Not that was feasible to sense with his senses, at least. Perhaps he could have picked through the area for bits of debris to determine what they had once been, but any energy signature they might have once possessed was gone. It was just chunks of rock and mud and trees and maybe some bodies. And the lingering sense of Paradise. That explained why they wouldn¡¯t head towards the coast. It also left things in an awkward stalemate, because the invader forces present were too much to reasonably attack. Even with the combined forces of Graotan and Ofrurg, the numbers were a close match. Fighting an entrenched group wasn¡¯t appealing for anyone who wanted to live. And since they weren¡¯t currently moving to attack anyone¡­ throwing away their lives seemed unnecessary to everyone involved. They would be dealt with, of course. It was simply a matter of when. Contacting Droca and Facrona to combine with whatever remained of their forces was the next priority, and if they could be trusted to remain there assisting Estary first was reasonable. But going around the enemy army forces with sufficient stealth would take days at minimum, probably more if they wanted to negotiate any combined form of attack. That would allow their enemies to recover much more than they wanted¡­ so harassing them in the meantime was absolutely essential. They had defensive formations, but now there were multiple formation masters to match against them. ----- Graotan had a relatively centralized location on the continent and combined with Catarina being one of the primary formation masters creating the teleportation formations, that meant they had one of the big ones. The intercontinental teleportation formation was thankfully intact¡­ and even active. It just happened to be watched by a mid sized army at the moment. That included most of the Order that was still in Graotan, though some others were back at the sect itself. The other, smaller scale one that went between the Glorious Flame Palace and the Order had been reopened, though there wasn¡¯t actually much activity at the moment. At least emergency messages could be passed back and forth instead of taking days of travel even by the swiftest cultivator traveling at top speed. Grand Elder Kseniya had recovered enough to participate, and was tasked with watching the intercontinental formations. So far there hadn¡¯t been a glimmer of any activity, though Catarina had determined the far end should still be active, unless it had been destroyed in a very select manner. As for why they didn¡¯t just disassemble the formation on their end, not only might they need it but it was actually conveniently safe. It took energy to transport cultivators, especially if their reserves were full. That energy would normally come from them, but even if others provided it significant effort would be required to transport anyone strong. Either they¡¯d get a bunch of exhausted people or a smaller amount of well rested travelers. If they were allies it didn¡¯t really matter, but if they were enemies¡­ they were prepared to kill either. In the worst case where opponents they couldn¡¯t match came through somehow there were contingencies to destroy key components to prevent further reinforcement. But now it was finally activating. Everyone could feel it, natural energy resonating in response to activities too far to sense. The power built up to a crescendo and then¡­ a small army appeared, swords in hand. Except for the woman at the front, who appeared to be wrapped from head to toe in bandages, including her arms being bound in front of her. Everyone was waiting for Kseniya to give the order, or to take the first shot if an order gave the enemy too much warning. But instead, she slowly and carefully lowered her bow. There was not a trace of ascension energy about the visitors, and she recognized one. Chikere wasn¡¯t quite as familiar to her as other members of the Order, but she stood out easily enough. Just standing near her felt sharp. Every Life Transformation cultivator had some sort of aura, but hers was the most casually dangerous that Kseniya had felt. ¡°Hi! I¡¯m back!¡± Chikere wiggled back and forth on her feet before realizing she couldn¡¯t independently move her arms to wave. Kseniya felt the bandages- and beneath them some sort of plaster covering her arms- strain against the movement. Then Chikere shrugged. ¡°None of you look like invaders so¡­ is everything going well here?¡± ¡°Depending on the definition,¡± Kseniya commented as she approached. ¡°We have survived. From your presence, I take it Aicenith has dealt with the invaders?¡± ¡°Nope! Well, sort of. We got a lot of them. But the others are taking care of that. We just thought we¡¯d come here because¡­¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°They ran out of swords,¡± Vasu commented. ¡°At least, worthwhile ones.¡± His eyes drifted to one at Chikere¡¯s waist. Even Kseniya could feel the aura of slaughter it emitted, and she was far from a sword cultivator. ¡°So we came here to offer our aid.¡± Kseniya had no previous interaction with Million Sword Vault, but from what she had heard they were pretty easy to interact with. At least, if you were willing to accept certain eccentricities. ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee there will be any of interest here, but if there are¡­ Estary or on the border between Ofrurg and Facraona is the best bet.¡± She wasn¡¯t willing to send them anywhere else, even if she knew of a particular place that needed help. ¡°Great!¡± Chikere spun, turning vaguely to the east, then fell flat on her face. She somehow wiggled back to her feet without bending her legs then started stomping off in that direction. ¡°Is she in any condition to fight?¡± Kseniya asked Vasu, who was trailing behind. ¡°She seems¡­¡± ¡°Can¡¯t stop her,¡± Vasu grinned. ¡°Besides, it¡¯ll take us a bit to get to our destination. By then her legs should be working.¡± ¡°What about her arms?¡± ¡°No chance,¡± Vasu said. ¡°They got cut clean off. We know how to stitch them back on, but it still takes time to repair that. Not having use of her arms¡­ well, hopefully her new sword will make up for that deficiency.¡± Vasu nodded seriously, ¡°And I get the next one! This should be quite fun.¡± ¡°Fun, huh?¡± Kseniya shook her head. ¡°And here we were just trying to survive.¡± ¡°See, there¡¯s your problem. You care about survival more than your path. How are you even going to ascend like that?¡± Vasu laughed, ¡°Not that I¡¯m at the point I can do it myself.¡± ----- A group made up of Life Transformation cultivators wasn¡¯t exactly stealthy on its own, but it wasn¡¯t feasible to travel with weaker cultivators without greater numbers, which had its own problems. It was just Anton, Timothy, and Catarina instead of more- since they also couldn¡¯t spare too many if there was an attack while they were gone. They did have a few extras with them to balance out their numbers, mostly because the queen didn¡¯t want to let Anton go off on his own. There were other queens and plenty of ants capable of communication still with the armies. The group was currently making their way around the north, planning to move along the coast into Facraona. Avoiding natural hazards and beasts was fairly routine for them, and the only real danger was if they came across any invaders. Not all of them were grouped into one place, either because they didn¡¯t know about the gathering or because some chose to remain independent. Taking out the weaker individuals would be easy, and when they approached nearby they did so. As for those who were further, even if Anton could shoot them¡­ it would give away their position. Nothing could cover up a Spirit Arrow crossing many kilometers and ultimately killing someone- anyone with a half-decent sense of energy would notice from at least as far away. Anton was willing to make exceptions if anyone was in danger, but the trend of people sheltering in larger cities continued. That was the right choice, given what had happened to most other places. It would be very difficult to recover from this invasion, even if the invaders hadn¡¯t destroyed fields for basically no reason. They weren¡¯t even stealing most of it, and chances were they would be gone before the end of the season. Anton certainly hoped so, given the speed cultivators could move at. Running across an Ascension cultivator would be dangerous, though that danger was mitigated by their proximity to the sea as well as the ant queen. Some ants took on names to better interact with humans, though this one was always referred to as just the Great Queen. From a certain standpoint it wasn¡¯t incorrect, as there was a lot of danger packed into a small area. The border of Facraona had no guards, though hopefully that meant they were all taking positions further south instead of simply gone. ¡°It¡¯s weird we haven¡¯t seen anyone yet,¡± Timothy commented. ¡°Where are they?¡± ¡°I sense people further to the east, but not many,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°We¡¯re not in the core of Facraona, but I¡¯d still expect more people.¡± ¡°Could they have been defeated?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Paradise might have driven them off on his own.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I would never choose to be involved in a fight against Paradise if I could help it, but it should only take a small to moderate army to defeat him. And I imagine he would make for excellent turtle soup and extremely valuable materials. It should have simply been the difficulty of getting to him while also dealing with others. Though I suppose there¡¯s also a question of whether or not anyone could actually catch him.¡± ¡°I thought Paradise moved rather slowly?¡± Timothy mentioned. ¡°Only when¡­ meandering. In the fight against the Kraken, he was swift.¡± The trio of humans made their way further into Facraona, where they found more of the same. Death and destruction with pockets of firm resistance. Attempts to contact some locations resulted in unfriendly welcomes, even though they were clearly not connected to the invaders. While they could have pushed their way close enough to try to communicate, they decided to look for a friendly sect instead. Or at least one they had prior communication with. The Courageous Heart clan was at the top of the list, but they were on the far eastern side of Facraona. Instead, the Crimson Trail Sect was closer. Though their reputation was quite poor given their status as blood cultivators, Anton hadn¡¯t heard any factual allegations against them. It seemed they lived up to their tenants of using only their own blood for their techniques, which mostly meant they focused on other areas given their limited supply. If Anton were going to disregard a sect for using forbidden techniques, of those present he could only accept Timothy. And the ants, but he also had to exclude himself. As they got close enough, Anton considered various ways to contact them. Ultimately he settled for something easy. He had a supply of standard arrows for emergencies, tucked away in a storage bag instead of readily available in his quiver. Since the Crimson Trail Sect had a strong archery bent, he would try to speak to them as an archer. He summoned the most bows he could at once, formed of energy. If he were actually trying to kill anyone he would have only a half or a third as many, and even that would be unsustainable. But for a single shot, it was good enough. A small cloud of arrows flew towards the Crimson Trail Sect, aiming for outside their walls. As they landed, they formed the other best way to communicate with people. Words. Chapter 366 A hail of arrows landed outside the Crimson Trail Sect, spelling out a clear message. Yet not the one that would have been assumed from arrows. Instead, it simply stated, ¡°Just want to talk. May we approach?¡± Whoever shot all of those arrows was courteous enough to even consider the angle from which it might be read, making sure there was no ambiguity. The guards manning the walls didn¡¯t really know how to respond, and quickly moved to find someone both higher ranking and more qualified to provide a response. Ultimately they made the assumption that the mysterious archer probably wouldn¡¯t require a response in kind. Given the distance the arrows had come from, they barely were able to sense Life Transformation experts present, the Crimson Trail Sect who only had a small number of such high ranking cultivators couldn¡¯t be expected to respond with actual arrows. Instead they did something much easier, which was to form their energy into a pattern that would spell out the response more simply. ¡°Yes.¡± They were somewhat apprehensive about letting powerful cultivators approach in the current times, but if they were truly intent on attacking, asking to approach seemed rather silly. Unless they just wanted to put them off guard for an attack¡­ The Crimson Trail Sect did recognize the aura of the Order of the Ninety-Nine Stars whose reputation was somewhat assuring. Even so, they intended to remain safe behind the defensive formations on their walls. A small group approached within visual distance, with one of them breaking away from the others to come all the way up to the walls. The old man stood only a short distance back, at a point it was easier for them to see each other. ¡°Thanks,¡± he said. ¡°As I¡¯m sure you can tell, we¡¯re not from Facraona. The Order of the Ninety-Nine Stars from Graotan, just in case you¡¯ve forgotten. We were wondering about the local¡¯s aversion to¡­ well, us. It¡¯s generally rather simple to tell the invaders apart from us¡­¡± the old man paused, ¡°Though don¡¯t forget to check for members of the Twin Soul Sect. Anyway, that implies some other trouble. Am I correct on that count?¡± The elder who had been called over nodded her head. ¡°Yes. There have been troubles from other sects. Not just the invaders or remnants of their allies, but more. Specifically, we are aware of the Eternal Sword Hall taking advantage of the chaos to conquer other sects.¡± ¡°That¡­ they were actually involved with the Flying Blood Cult and the Heavenly Lion Sect, but weaseled their way out of being annihilated by blaming their actions on personal grievances. I¡¯m not surprised to hear it, though, based on how they acted.¡± The old man waved, ¡°Thanks for the information. If there¡¯s anything else you can tell us, we¡¯d love to hear it. Then we¡¯ll be on our way. Things like invaders, the Eternal Sword Hall¡­ anything like that.¡± ----- The interaction with the Crimson Trail Sect illuminated the pieces that had been missing. Several sects in Facraona had taken advantage of the opportunity, either because they had made some sort of deal with the invaders or because they simply thought they could get away with it. Facraona likely wasn¡¯t unique in having sects that wanted to do the same, but so far Graotan and Ofrurg had avoided that actually happening. Then again, Graotan had basically been under the Order¡¯s control and watchful eye while Ofrurg had undergone some¡­ restructuring. The complete annihilation of several powerful sects and the slaving industry would tend to create at least a few decades of change. Timothy shook his head as Anton explained the details. ¡°Whether they¡¯re directly siding with the invaders or not, they¡¯re just as much enemies that need to be dealt with.¡± ¡°It would explain why Paradise hasn¡¯t done anything though. If they don¡¯t have traces of ascension energy¡­ they don¡¯t stand out as unnatural. Or whatever criteria he must be using.¡± Anton tried to recall if he made use of any ascension energy while present on Paradise. He didn¡¯t really have cause to, so the only time would have been the battle with the kraken where there was a physically much more imposing enemy to deal with. Or lunch. And Anton didn¡¯t have lingering traces of ascension energy since it was pulled from¡­ wherever it came from. The invader¡¯s world, presumably. ¡°I assume they weren¡¯t interested in an alliance, then?¡± Catarina asked. Anton shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s a bit too much danger and distrust at the moment. I did suggest the matter, though, and how we intend to attack the invaders. Everyone was clean of Twin Soul Sect influence, at least, and I sensed no other sorts of deception.¡± ¡°That does lead to some problems,¡± Timothy commented. ¡°We can¡¯t exactly defeat a sect with just the three of us. And guests. Not one capable of causing serious trouble, anyway.¡± ¡°I do believe the Eternal Sword Hall had groomed a small handful of Life Transformation experts as of late,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°That said, we could majorly swing any situation they became involved in. If their Life Transformation cultivators were matched by us, another sect could stand against them. Their numbers also have to have suffered some if they¡¯re attacking other sects. Though we certainly couldn¡¯t handle the dozens of Essence Collection cultivators that would come with them, or the hundreds of others.¡± Even as they spoke, the group had subconsciously continued further into Facraona, specifically southeast towards where the last news of the Eternal Sword Hall was. Catarina commented, ¡°We can at least check them out. They¡¯re all just over the border of Life Transformation, right? Even if we say they¡¯re our equals, we have the Great Queen to sway that tide. If she will help.¡± Upon being mentioned, the Great Queen displayed herself more prominently, signing her willingness to assist them. Even against those who weren¡¯t invaders. While the other queens might not wish to get involved in sect affairs, the Great Queen got along with them personally. ¡°That makes things easier,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And there¡¯s no way they notice us before you spot them, right grandpa?¡± Anton frowned, ¡°Well, maybe.¡± He looked at the swords the two of them carried. ¡°It depends on whether they have the unnatural sense for weapons that some people possess. Even then, I should match them. It¡¯s just that your current weapons are quite fine specimens.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Everyone had equipped themselves to the best of their abilities for the invasion, and while Timothy and Catarina¡¯s swords couldn¡¯t rival what a proper swordmaster would covet they were still quite exceptional. ¡°They are the sword-crazy kind,¡± Timothy commented, ¡°But I don¡¯t think they have the same¡­ conviction that Chikere does. Their whole feud with her started because she won a tournament and they refused to give up the prize. I doubt Chikere would do that.¡± ¡°What, lose a probably rigged sword tournament?¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Well,¡± Timothy shrugged, ¡°I meant go back on a promise. Even if it was to give someone a sword she liked.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°The Million Sword Vault has the same sort of honor about them. Though even those lacking morality can have strength, firm convictions of some sort make for smoother cultivation. Even those who are dead wrong, like the Flying Blood Cult.¡± ¡°They did have one of the few ascenders,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°Or¡­ half of one? Regardless, someone who was at the peak here, and moved on.¡± ¡°Then was killed by returning to seek vengeance. Is there a lesson there?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°The lesson is that this world isn¡¯t good for those with ascension energy,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Which might be the only reason it or any other ¡®lower realm¡¯ exists. Though we also needed proper warning and anti-ascension techniques and just the right amount of cooperation to make it as far as we have.¡± ¡°And teaching everyone to cultivate,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°That¡¯s literally millions of Body Tempering and Spirit Building cultivators that wouldn¡¯t have existed otherwise.¡± ¡°And that,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Though I would have much preferred if people just going about their lives didn¡¯t need to protect themselves.¡± Without further discussion they continued their travels with the intent to help resolve the situation. Without armies they couldn¡¯t resolve anything themselves, but they could be the catalyst for some part of Facraona to begin triggering their own comeback. ----- Just in case the Eternal Sword Hall could sense swords, Anton kept the sword-bow from the Million Sword Vault stowed, and the other two did the same with their weapons. Anton presumed that there was some way to determine their presence even inside a storage bag, but it wouldn¡¯t be so easy. If an enemy were able to ambush them to the point they had no time to reach into a storage bag to retrieve their weapons, they would likely be dead anyway. Especially since Anton was continuously improving his sensing abilities. He could sense a narrow strand about a hundred kilometers distant if he focused, but he could detect pretty much any concentration of natural energy within ten or twenty kilometers in all directions which was more than enough for common interactions. By following the signs that the Eternal Sword Hall left- either battle damage or simply the march of many people- they were able to track down their location. At first it hadn¡¯t been completely clear if it were the Eternal Sword Hall or some other group acting similarly, but it didn¡¯t really matter. It was confirmed when they came to Dralens, a moderately sized city that had seen the Eternal Sword Hall pass. The people of Dralens weren¡¯t exactly welcoming, but they were confident enough in their remaining strength after being attacked early in the invasion to allow the small group to approach. Unfortunately they couldn¡¯t be convinced to go after the Eternal Sword Hall in any force, but they would have likely slowed down the ¡®trio¡¯ anyway. Anton finally spotted them in the vicinity of the Pink Pollen Sect, at least that was the only group in the area their information told them about. There was¡­ nothing particularly impressive about the Pink Pollen Sect. They made use of various poisons in combat, but their reputation was not bad. They were just eccentric herbalists. As the trip approached a bit closer Anton detected what he presumed were the plants after which they named themselves. Colors weren¡¯t directly visible to energy senses, but he could easily surmise that the fields of large flowers were the namesakes in question. ¡°They seem to be gearing up for an attack,¡± Anton commented. ¡°Battle hasn¡¯t broken out quite yet, but¡­ it likely will.¡± They continued closer, with Anton constantly attempting to judge the two sides. The Eternal Sword Hall should be stronger according to their records, but whether their group could make a big enough difference was the key point. ¡°Should we approach closer, or¡­?¡± Anton looked over at the others. There was no question about whether they would get involved. It was merely related to how much of the enemy¡¯s attention they intended to draw. Anton could pester them from where he was, and if their Life Transformation cultivators gave chase they could either flee or do a fighting retreat. There was just the possibility that Anton alone would be ignored, at least for long enough for the Eternal Sword Hall to break through the walls. At that point Anton might not be able to do much, and if they focused on taking out the Pink Pollen Sect he probably couldn¡¯t stop them. Oh, he could make their lives terrible- maybe even kill one of the Life Transformation experts- but they wouldn¡¯t be stopped. That result wouldn¡¯t be too bad, but it would mean the Pink Pollen Sect might be destroyed. After that, they would have to wait for another chance to further involve themselves, assuming they were able to keep themselves hidden. If not, they might be tracked down. The trio was quite confident that they could at least escape from the Life Transformation experts, but if more of the army somehow got close they could cause problems. It wasn¡¯t likely, but they had to consider it. ¡°There¡¯s a good spot for me to set up closer,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°It will either allow us to fight their elders more safely or at least give us an opportunity to retreat.¡± Timothy nodded, ¡°I¡¯d rather not let them have any more victories, if we can help it.¡± Obviously, Anton agreed as well. ¡°It is a bit riskier, but that¡¯s just how it will have to be. I just have a strange feeling¡­¡± he swept his senses over them but felt nothing different. ¡°Is it a bad one?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°I¡¯d trust your instincts.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not bad,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°But we shouldn¡¯t reveal ourselves too early. If they begin the assault when we attack from the rear it will be more difficult for them to react¡­ and we can see if they¡¯re hiding anything. There¡¯s also a small chance no conflict happens, and I¡¯d hate to provoke it if it¡¯s unnecessary. Though we really can¡¯t risk letting them move on to another weaker sect, either.¡± What was it? Anton couldn¡¯t quite tell, though he swept his senses back and forth through the area. It strangely felt like something familiar, but he couldn¡¯t lock onto it. Was it Velvet for some reason? He didn¡¯t know any others who were particularly stealthy, but if she was close enough for him to sense she might as well have revealed herself to them. No, that wasn¡¯t it- but he¡¯d keep an eye out. It would be a shame if he missed something critical to their survival. Anton wouldn¡¯t mind dying to save a large group of people but it would be worthless to die and not save them. Chapter 367 It didn¡¯t take long before the Eternal Sword Hall launched their first attacks on the gates of the Pink Pollen Sect. Their handful of Life Transformation elders simultaneously slashed with their swords and nearly chopped through the defensive formations and the gates together. It likely wouldn¡¯t take them more than a few strikes. It had to be admitted that their technique was strong, but it seemed far too effective. The immediate response from the Pink Pollen Sect was throwing tiny packets of powder towards the attackers, though they batted most of them away without trouble. It seemed the small packets couldn¡¯t be thrown far as more of the defenders shot bows into the main army. The Pink Pollen Sect¡¯s technique didn¡¯t focus on raw power, so many of the arrows were blocked without effort. Others were evaded, and some just missed. Or at least, they appeared to miss. In actuality they were right on target. As the rain of arrows landed in the fields they struck flowers, spraying up pollen. The Eternal Sword Hall cultivators had walked through the fields just fine, but something about the arrows triggered the flowers. Cultivators began hacking and coughing, spreading out away from the clouds of pollen. Nothing stopped the Life Transformation cultivators, however. They positioned for their next swings, gathering power for stronger attacks. As their swords swept towards the defensive barrier, two of them spun around to counter the arrows Anton was shooting at them, while the other attacks struck the barrier. Anton fully expected his attacks to be countered, but he didn¡¯t expect it to be done so casually. The two he targeted did have to halt their attacks but they actually shifted most of their energy to general defenses instead of augmenting their weapons. Anton continued to harass the Life Transformation cultivators while occasionally attacking some of the others who were easier to actually injure or kill. After a couple volleys he also worked in the Pink Pollen¡¯s technique. Even their Spirit Building cultivators could do what they did to activate the flowers, so it wasn¡¯t too difficult for Anton¡­ though he had to admit his first shots were imperfect. The battlefield was beginning to be flooded with pollen, making it nearly impossible to actually see. For weaker cultivators that could be a problem, but for those inside the cloud the actual problem was the pollen itself. After the initial surprise the attackers were prepared to keep the pollen away with their defensive energy, though it seemed that most of them couldn¡¯t perfectly filter the incoming air. They had to choose between breathing and not being poisoned, and while they could get away with the former for a short time it was more difficult in battle. They still had to worry about the arrows and darts from the wall, after all. Even with the weaker forces basically being in chaos, their participation was barely required to break through the gate. Only the five Life Transformation cultivators and slightly larger number of peak Essence Collection cultivators continued to attack the gates. The Pink Pollen Sect was not so prominent that they were prepared to resist that magnitude of attacks, and had merely been fortunate to avoid the attention of invaders thus far- likely due to Paradise¡¯s efforts. Unfortunately they weren¡¯t lucky enough to avoid opportunists. As the gates were broken open, Eternal Sword Hall cultivators began to pour into the sect. Those leading the assault, however, broke off and began to move towards Anton and the others. It seemed they didn¡¯t want to take any chances, and they trusted in the rest of their sect to deal with the Pink Pollen Sect for a time. Anton hoped their judgment was wrong, but he had to focus his attack on the incoming enemies instead of the rest. To his chagrin, even the six Essence Collection cultivators were consistently able to block his attacks. They crossing over from Essence Collection to Life Transformation was a serious step, but it didn¡¯t seem to be quite enough. The determining factor seemed to be their swords which they wielded with great agility. Their actual technique wasn¡¯t sufficient to deflect or dodge every arrow, but something about their swords seemed to read their intentions and augment them. It wasn¡¯t strange for sword cultivators to have fine swords, even very exceptional swords¡­ but it was strange to find so many that appeared to have the same origin. Then again, Anton wasn¡¯t a sword aficionado so he could have simply missed some connection the Eternal Sword Hall had to a master smith. Before they arrived Anton managed only minor wounds on the Essence Collection cultivators as the group covered for each other. When they were finally close enough to engage the odds became nearly three-to-one, and if Catarina had not set up a formation with her flags they would have had to retreat. It was still being considered, but if they could hold them off for a short time they might be able to sway the battle back towards the Pink Pollen Sect. Timothy managed to hold back half of the enemies himself- two in Life Transformation and two in Essence Collection. While his sword skills were inferior, his shield techniques allowed him to focus on harassing their movements while he kept himself safe. Fighting next to Timothy, Catarina managed to increase that to three and four, leaving Anton to deal with two Life Transformation experts and two in Essence Collection ¡®alone¡¯. But he wasn¡¯t really alone. Neither were the other two. Ants joined the battle on all fronts, with the Great Queen targeting one of the Essence Collection cultivators coming for Anton. While in most cases the difference between cultivation level was trivial to the ants, the Great Queen recognized the danger the swords could pose. She was large enough that she might actually be targeted directly, and thus she chose to remove an easier target. That left Anton in a fighting retreat against two and a half enemies, with one being hampered by small but very bitey ants. Even if he kept his opponent at ten meters or more, Anton still had to avoid attack as he moved, the reach of the swords extending far beyond the blades themselves. The position was untenable, especially for Timothy who was slowly being worn down without being able to cause any real damage. There was another twinge of something. Not quite hidden, but instead distant. Full of killing intent, but also friendly. Anton still felt he should recognize it, but he was too occupied keeping his limbs that he couldn¡¯t focus on the incoming presence at all. He hadn¡¯t felt such fear for being chopped apart since he was last at the Million Sword Vault. And though he felt his opponents had less skill than Chikere and the elders there, their swords had more speed and extremely sharp blades that cut through the ground and trees around them without even coming close. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. A duck to keep his head on his neck, a parry to keep his arm attached at the shoulder, and Anton found himself moving merely to survive. He was quite glad for the sword-bow as it served well as a defensive weapon, while he didn¡¯t even have a safe moment to fire his bow made from the Grandfather Willow. At least he had the energy bows around him getting some use, though the closer ones were often severed by the attacking enemies. Then he was hemmed in on three sides, the two Life Transformation elder working flawlessly together, as the third dealt with the ants harassing him. The Great Queen had more or less killed her opponent, but she wouldn¡¯t be of help to Anton at the moment. Timothy and Catarina were fighting off their group together and had no effort to spare for assisting more of the battlefield. Anton found himself flanked by Life Transformation experts, their attacks covering the area in a way he found impossible to dodge. Anton was prepared to sacrifice a limb or two escaping, but he hesitated. The clashing of metal on metal rang in his ears and Anton leapt to the side as both attackers were stopped, launching attacks at them as he went. His hesitation was really more like a tactical delay, though it had been a bit of a gamble nonetheless. He hadn¡¯t been fully sure of who was coming, and they could have easily chosen to take the opportunity to kill one of the opponents instead of defending him. ¡°Nice swords!¡± Chikere commented, ¡°Those can be the new three through thirteen!¡± Anton felt more than saw the glare from nearby. ¡°Sorry. Four through thirteen.¡± Vasu didn¡¯t comment out loud as he drew the attention of one of the Life Transformation cultivators attacking Timothy, freeing him up to perform some attacks of his own. No other members of the Million Sword Vault were present, but bringing things into a sense of balance was enough. Most importantly, Anton was free. It felt a bit rude to just leave Chikere facing two opponents alone when she had literally just saved him, but Catarina needed his help more. He focused his attacks on those two elders while Catarina led them through different parts of the formation that had varying levels of suppression to throw them off. It was only after he was already doing that when Anton took a good look at Chikere. She looked almost the same as he was used to, fighting with a myriad of swords spinning around her. One thing was missing though- any sword held in her hands. Her arms seemed to be bound around her chest, and her legs were stiff. It didn¡¯t stop her from using the swords floating around her to deflect the incoming blades, however. Tiny trails of blood appeared across her body as she barely avoided lethal attacks. Just as he was preparing to assist her, one of the swords was twisted out of the Eternal Sword Hall¡¯s grasp. ¡°I¡¯ll take this one for what you owed me for winning the tournament,¡± Chikere said, ¡°But there¡¯s still interest.¡± Anton was fairly certain she¡¯d already stolen a large number of swords from them after that incident, but it didn¡¯t really matter. What mattered was the following move. The blade floated into the air, controlled by Chikere. She thrust forward with it, stepping away from the field of blades that now solely dealt with the other opponent. He took a stance just like he still had a sword in his hand, grinning slightly as he thrust in return. When his heart was impaled he looked surprised. ¡°How¡­?¡± ¡°I stabbed you,¡± Chikere commented. ¡°Never been stabbed through the heart before?¡± ¡°... impossible. That¡¯s a¡­ bound weapon.¡± ¡°So what?¡± Chikere said. ¡°The thing about bound weapons that they probably forgot to tell you¡­ they¡¯re useless if you suck.¡± With that she chopped off the man¡¯s head with what had moments before been his own weapon. The battle began to quickly tip against the Eternal Sword Hall from that point. The Great Queen and Anton were free to attack distracted Life Transformation cultivators, and a single opponent wasn¡¯t going to last long against Chikere. Vasu was actually facing the strongest opponent on the field, which suited him as the one who had actually been in Life Transformation for more than a handful of years. He engaged in risky moves in a different style than Chikere, ultimately winning out over his opponent by being willing to sacrifice an arm for the victory. His opponent withdrew his attack to try to stop his own arm from being severed, but his lack of commitment resulted in a swift defeat. Timothy took an attack head on, his shield groaning in the exchange¡­ but he reflected the force of the blow, sending the weapon flying. He didn¡¯t have any fancy techniques to take an opponent¡¯s bound weapon, but he still stepped forward confidently as he stabbed with his sword. His opponent caught Timothy¡¯s blade with his left hand, while his own sword reappeared in his right. Yet Timothy didn¡¯t stop, barreling into the man and tackling him to the ground. Despite having control of both swords, there was no good angle to swing at Timothy. It was only due to the exceptional blade that he managed to even scratch Timothy¡¯s armor from an awkward angle. Meanwhile, Timothy pulled out a dagger as he sat on his opponent and stabbed for his eyes. There was only so much one could move in such a position, and though he was dodged once the second stab required his opponent to grab his wrist. But Timothy continued to press forward, extending his energy beyond the point of the dagger as he pressed against the man¡¯s arm and energy defenses, slowly piercing through and then finally running out of resistance. If the grapple had gone on a moment longer Anton would have taken a shot, but he¡¯d been occupied by shooting towards the Pink Pollen Sect. Now the only Life Transformation expert remaining was the one trying to get the Great Queen off of his sword¡¯s hilt while she chewed on his gauntlets and the energy he was trying to use to crush her. She could truly be in danger if he got a proper hold on her, but he was a lone enemy among melee opponents and quickly found himself with a sword through the back of his neck. Yet not deep enough to kill him¡­ only enough to make him fall to the ground unable to move. It probably had something to do with confirming where the swords came from. By the time the battle of Life Transformation cultivators was over, the Pink Pollen Sect was so full of toxins that nobody was willing to go near it. Anton continued to shoot into the haze but the others had to wait for some of the Eternal Sword Hall to begin fleeing before they could assist. It was clear that the members of the Pink Pollen Sect weren¡¯t all immune to whatever they were using, but they had been backed into a corner. More and more cultivators were fleeing, and Anton continued to take shots. Until an old woman called out to him. ¡°Don¡¯t bother.¡± She coughed slightly and shook her head. No more enemies were present. ¡°They¡¯ll die soon anyway. Thank you for your assistance. We¡¯ll thank you properly in a moment but¡­¡± she looked towards the rest of the Pink Pollen Sect who were currently trying to disperse the various toxins in the air and treat their own maladies. The ultimate toll of the battle was heavy damage to the Pink Pollen Sect, which if had been against the invaders would have at least felt like some sort of victory. As it was simply against another sect from their own country, it could be seen as a big loss- though the Eternal Sword Hall was decimated. They might have had other smaller groups but unless the information was quite wrong they shouldn''t have any more Life Transformation Cultivators. Chapter 368 ¡°Now then,¡± Chikere was lecturing Timothy and Catarina, ¡°To keep these swords you have to want them more than these dead guys. Otherwise they might be able to pull them away from you, even into the next life.¡± Even though her energy wasn¡¯t depleted to any serious extent, the two swords she lifted to them were trembling. ¡°Because we¡¯re long time friends, you two can have¡­ number four and five.¡± Catarina raised an eyebrow at the shaking, then smiled. ¡°Why don¡¯t we take um¡­ some of the slightly less potent ones. I¡¯d rather not have to match wills against a Life Transformation sword cultivator, regardless of their relative degree of attachment.¡± A great sigh of relief came from Chikere. ¡°Oh. Thanks.¡± The swords she was holding immediately stopped trembling as they found their way to her side. ¡°You hear that four through seven? I¡¯ll be taking care of you from now on.¡± Chikere tossed two others to Timothy and Catarina- using just her energy as her arms were still bound. ¡°These two should suit you most of that batch.¡± ¡°How did you find us?¡± Timothy asked. Anton laughed, ¡°I¡¯m going to make a bet¡­ that she was here for the swords.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Chikere frowned, ¡°I also came this way because I heard you guys had come to Facraona!¡± ¡°And you hurried towards this battle because¡­?¡± Anton dragged out the question. ¡°Because they had nice swords,¡± she admitted. ¡°But when I was close enough to tell it was you it was also for that. And the first thing I did was save your life!¡± ¡°Well,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Probably just an arm or two, but since I don¡¯t have the expertise to reattach them¡­ that¡¯s pretty close.¡± He looked pointedly at her arms. ¡°What happened there?¡± ¡°I temporarily lost the use of my arms for the sake of Number One!¡± Catarina grinned as she floated a blade in front of her. ¡°I still needed Elder Vasu¡¯s help though.¡± Just looking at it made Anton hurt. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a powerful sword.¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably killed more people than I have,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Though I¡¯m pretty sure most of those weren¡¯t in the hands of this guy. He was good, but not that good. If our cultivations were the same, he wouldn¡¯t stand a chance.¡± ¡°You know,¡± Anton said, ¡°I would have expected your combat prowess to drop more with your arms out of commission. It seems they don¡¯t really matter that much with your style though.¡± Chikere shrugged, ¡°You¡¯re half right on that. Sure, there¡¯s not that much difference in my effectiveness holding a blade in my hands or just with my energy¡­ but it¡¯s still a significant factor. Because if I have a blade in my hands, people focus on that more than the others. And they have to, if it¡¯s the best blade.¡± As they talked she was stitching up her wounds. None were deep, but it was best to stop the bleeding as soon as possible. Even some of the shallow wounds were only a few millimeters from being critical, as the difference between skin on the neck being sliced and major veins being opened was miniscule. But that was how she fought, and perhaps all of the strongest cultivators, riding the line between life and death and consistently managing to come out on the winning side. ----- The Eternal Sword Hall had been the largest threat in the area, with the invaders suppressed by Paradise. Upon hearing of their defeat, the disconnected sects and cities were more willing to listen to calls to join together. It was difficult for them to immediately trust each other, and everyone was reminded that a mere few decades earlier the thought of combining the cultivators of any individual nation was ridiculous, let alone nations that kept separate borders. Having seen how unified people fared versus the invaders, Facraona was fortunate to have received the aid of Paradise. Otherwise, it might have been systematically taken apart. Even as it was it got pretty close. The next week involved the small but powerful group visiting as many major population centers as they could, cities and sects and isolated clans. From those places the news would be spread. Only a very small portion of those local to the world were a problem, and everyone else had to stand united against the invaders. There was only so much that could be done in the way of fancy speeches, however, and the people of the country would ultimately have to be the ones to pull themselves together after some encouragement. The Pink Pollen Sect had taken serious damage in the battle with the Eternal Sword Hall, but they also gained great sympathy towards the Order and were the first from Facraona to agree to join with the rest of the alliance. During the same time period, others had contacted Droca, especially Cruhull in the northeast. They were one of the larger populations in the region and nearly directly south of the Cragtooth mountains where the largest known grouping of invaders was currently holing up. With their assistance they could pressure the enemy from three sides, and it might be possible to completely surround them if necessary. Though they were already loathe to move further north as that brought them closer to the sea, and potentially Paradise. ----- Though immediately swarming the mountains to deal with the invaders was appealing in one sense, it put too much risk on the attackers. The force in the mountains was more than powerful enough to wipe out a handful of the strongest local sects. In a defensive position it would be hell to root them out. They couldn¡¯t just be left alone forever, but an immediate assault seemed unwise. Even pressing them to tire them out was a risk, as they had already set up defensive formations by the time anyone was aware of their presence. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. More importantly, they seemed content to wait. Nobody was happy to allow them to stay, but every sect and nation was already reeling from the first violent month of all out war. With the abilities of cultivators to move large armies quickly, more than a month of active conflict without a resolution was already an eternity. Even of those groups that survived so far, many had casualty rates from a third to a half of their total forces. Many were deaths, but some were injuries that could be recovered from¡­ eventually. Cultivators from the majority of Brogora with the notable exceptions of Estary and Ambati were gathered together to finalize their plans. ¡°I believe we should move as soon as possible,¡± Elder Sarka of the Glorious Flame Palace declared. ¡°We cannot know how the situation might develop if we wait, and delaying might allow them to organize another offense on anywhere they choose. Perhaps even Facrona, if they figure out a way to deal with¡­ Paradise.¡± Not quite directly opposite in the room stood elder Adelina, ¡°The Frostmirror sect¡­ agrees, for once. The longer we delay, the longer our fields lie fallow. The devastation wrought by these invaders cannot be truly recovered from until they are ousted, or preferably slain to the last of them.¡± ¡°It is even possible for them to flee back into the stars?¡± the woman who was the representative of Heavy Mountain Gate asked. ¡°One would think they would have done so by now if they could¡­ otherwise we should be wary of some trick they are preparing for.¡± ¡°A reasonable conclusion,¡± Elder Adelina nodded, ¡°However, we do have some intel on the matter. Though it stopped being a primary matter of concern after the invasion began, those with keen senses will note that the stars have not yet returned to their normal status. There is still a rift of sorts between the worlds that has not yet closed. Yet it is not fully open either. Based on our observations and¡­ some careful questioning¡­ we have determined that for the length of a season it is possible for entities to come from afar. The following season the barriers weaken in the other direction, making it easier to return.¡± Catarina interjected, ¡°They came slightly into that time period, for the sake of ease of passage and stability.¡± ¡°So there could be another wave of invaders?¡± someone asked. ¡°It is possible but¡­¡± Adelina shook her head, ¡°Unlikely. We have received no indication that anyone was expecting further arrivals. Communications likewise seem limited in direction. Certain sects were offered bribes at the beginning of the time period¡­ though few were so foolish as the Eternal Sword Hall to actually accept them.¡± Chikere spoke up at that point. ¡°They did receive weapons of value to them, but I don¡¯t imagine they were of significant value to the invaders. They simply intended to stoke more local conflict so they could clean up afterwards and take everything for themselves. The real swords they kept for themselves. Compare these,¡± Chikere said, floating swords number one, two, and four. ¡°See the difference in quality? We are able to make better weapons here, though only by a small margin.¡± ¡°I, um¡­¡± Elder Adelina looked at the swords. ¡°I have some sense of what you mean but perhaps you should explain for the others.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Chikere commented, ¡°Well, number one here. It was from one of their ascended individuals. A powerful swordmaster, and an unmatched blade. Number two here once belonged to Vianne, until her defeat by swordmaster Rahayu¡¯s blade. It was made by a smith from this world, though perhaps using techniques we were mostly unaware of at the time. The Twin Soul Sect was related to its creation.¡± Chikere flicked another sword to float between the others. ¡°Number three here was made purely by skills and techniques developed in our world. And number four through seven here were the prizes given to the Eternal Sword Hall. Fine blades, but certainly not the best the so-called upper realms could provide.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Adelina continued. ¡°Though they seem to have high quality herbs and materials, what they seem to be lacking are materials that develop more easily in the presence of ¡®lower energy¡¯ along with herbs and beasts that thrive here. This was guessed previously, but can easily be seen in their actions- how even now they are stripping bare the mountains and digging beneath them as we watch and wait.¡± ¡°And if we don¡¯t act quickly,¡± Sarka pointed out, ¡°We can¡¯t be certain what will happen with Estary. If the invaders join forces, we might be in trouble. Aicenith seems to be handling its own issues for the moment, with enough certainty to allow Chikere and others from the Million Sword Vault to join us, but there is no guarantee the situation won¡¯t change for the worse. We need to crush these invaders. Though I won¡¯t suggest an immediate attack, but rather whatever we ultimately deem to be most effective.¡± Catarina gestured to the map of the Cragtooth mountains. ¡°They enemy forces are located in this region. It is a rather large area, up to tens of kilometers on a side. It is not exact, and likely somewhat smaller than this representation, but it wasn¡¯t possible to get precise measurements for obvious reasons. Efforts have already begun to discern weaknesses in their defensive formations and organization of their forces within. If they were actually spread out throughout the area and we could quickly break through the formation¡­ we might be able to sweep over smaller pockets of enemies. But if we make an attempt and it fails, we¡¯ll ultimately weaken our own position.¡± Discussion of various methods began. The Cragtooth mountains were difficult to traverse, though there were several routes up. Coming from the northern part of the range would involve a longer duration of difficult navigation that would be especially hard on the weaker cultivators among them, but it would also allow them to avoid the most difficult portions of the journey under the watchful eye of the enemy. Unfortunately it would also mean taking several days extra to begin the assault, which would likely be quite obvious and allow the enemy to prepare a combined defense. Knowing that the invaders were from various factions it was proposed that discord might be sewn among them, but unfortunately that relied on having a safe method of communication with them along with some knowledge of how the involved sects got along. Bits and pieces had been gleaned through interrogations of captured prisoners, but ultimately they didn¡¯t have enough to go on. It was kept in mind for use during the actual battles, since they might be able to count on certain sects being marginally slower to aid certain others, but there was nothing that could be done immediately. The ultimate goal was also discussed. While it was possible to pressure them from Facraona in the east as well as the areas to the south and west, it was also valuable to potentially let them push eastward. If they came into range of Paradise it would be of great detriment to them. Facraona of course didn¡¯t want to allow them into their land even for the duration of a battle, and it had to be admitted that they didn¡¯t need any more inland salty seas. One was enough, even if it was rather small. Still, it had to be considered as a factor. Discussions went late into the night and dragged on through the next day before something solid was ultimately put together. Chapter 369 ¡°What do you think?¡± Anton handed the spyglass to Grant. The younger man took a careful look, moving the spyglass minutely. ¡°Shoddy workmanship on those gates, but excellent materials.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not quite what I meant,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°But it also answers the question better. You can actually tell something about the workmanship from here?¡± ¡°Sure. It¡¯s a bit faint with this thing,¡± he tapped on the spyglass, ¡°But the fixings are off kilter. I¡¯d bet the masonry on the wall is subpar too, though you¡¯d have to ask an expert.¡± ¡°You think it¡¯s a facade?¡± Anton asked. ¡°No, it should be real. I just don¡¯t think they have any experts. They replicated the materials and form but lost some of the essence.¡± ¡°Does it matter if we still have to tear it down?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Grant gestured vaguely with the spyglass. ¡°If you hit those gates right they¡¯ll fall under their own weight, formations or not. They¡¯ve set up a fortress, but they don¡¯t really have the technique.¡± ¡°And those materials? They¡¯re from the Cragtooth Mountains?¡± ¡°Should be for the most part,¡± Grant shrugged. ¡°Could have brought some with them, or stolen some in their early successes.¡± Grand carefully turned the spyglass over in his hands, ¡°How does this work?¡± Anton shrugged and looked directly at the fortress in the distance, ¡°Don¡¯t know. It¡¯s got something to counteract that,¡± he gestured towards the dark mass on the horizon. Large-scale formations could block energy sensing, and if some effort was taken they could block other senses as well. For targets inside a formation there were various options including illusions, but for the outside the only real method was to lock down anything leaving the area. In short, light and sound would have to be stopped. Yet such methods were never going to be perfect. ¡°I suppose I should ask later,¡± Grant said. ¡°It¡¯s not perfect, but I can make out the important details. Very useful.¡± ----- Perhaps realizing that an attack from the north was one of the easiest options, the invaders had focused on that side for their defenses. Yet they did not have very long to put together a sort of fortress and they were stretched quite thin. The fortress itself covered a much smaller area than the formations that stretched their effects beyond it, but in its current state reaching the fortress would still require a concentrated effort to break through the formations to begin with. Efforts were being made to ascertain details on the actual formations themselves, but that information was being discovered a little bit at a time. At the current moment there was no way to set up a sustained bombardment to see how the defenses reacted, and Anton acting alone was insufficient to cause significant enough fluctuations to reveal much in the way of weaknesses. Yet there were some universal truths about formations. They took energy to operate, and though the efficiency of how the energy was used depended somewhat on the skill of the creators it had its limits. With enough power any formation could be broken through from the outside. If the defensive formations were relying strictly on the natural energy in the surroundings, they wouldn¡¯t last long against the armies. The chance that they were actually counting on the freely available energy was minimal, and more likely they had some sort of power source ready to assist it. Formations could even be powered by cultivators directly. Large groups could resist powerful attacks together. If the invaders were relying mainly on their own power, it would actually be advantageous to attack the formations even if they didn¡¯t break through. After all, the invaders would recover more slowly. But if they had another power source- which they almost certainly did- then the attackers would risk fatigue for nothing if they didn¡¯t make any progress. ----- The assault could only wait so long. Within a matter of days an attack plan was prepared and executed, making use of the various options available. A contingent from Facraona menaced the eastern side of the Cragtooth Mountains, threatening an assault. To the south the forces of Droca had fortified the area, though some of their forces were also being lent to the attacking forces. The main contingent of the attacking forces came from the north, in a not unexpected but still logical route that allowed them to avoid vulnerability when navigating the mountains. Siege engines were disassembled and arranged piecemeal in storage bags. It would require some time to properly put them back together, but it was much easier than navigating steep slopes and rocky terrain. The various advantages the locals had were all considered. Every scrap of information left behind by Everheart had been tested for efficiency and would be used if possible. As they had to advance on an enemy position it wasn¡¯t possible to rely on the growth of plants that hindered their enemy, but there were various beasts that could contribute to battle. Specialized anti-ascension equipment was redistributed from those injured or killed to those who could still make use of it, bolstering sects who were not prominent enough to arrange for their own such equipment. And then there were ants. Their ability to consume energy was useful in any battle involving cultivators, but especially where it involved formations. The distributed energy of a formation was more difficult for them to interact with than that of cultivators, but they had already begun climbing up from the southwest to harass the barriers- though not before the main armies were in position. Several decades of growth and expanding to new colonies had allowed their numbers to grow significantly, but alone they would be vulnerable to the enemy once they figured out how to fight them. A single cultivator could crush hundreds of them at once, and if they were not occupied by other concerns and could simply focus on the ants they would be only a fraction of their potential effectiveness. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ----- A lone young man nervously stepped into a tall pagoda that was one of the few structures that had already been in place when they chose their current location. It was undignified to have to set up in the remains of a long destroyed or abandoned sect, but the young man certainly wasn¡¯t going to mention that. Everyone already knew, and as he was already delivering bad news he didn¡¯t want to make things worse. Step by step he made his way up the stairs. It wasn¡¯t fair that he¡¯d drawn the short stick, but that was what he got for coming from a smaller sect. He knocked carefully on the door where the Integration masters waited. ¡°Come in.¡± He opened the door carefully and stepped inside, bowing deeply. ¡°Great Integration masters, enemy forces are approaching.¡± He refused to look at the large table around which sat more than twenty Integration masters, representing more than a handful of groups combined together. ¡°We know,¡± boomed an annoyed voice. ¡°What else do you have for us? Stop wasting our time.¡± Of course they knew. But he had to deliver the information anyway. If he left anything out, they¡¯d simply be mad about that instead. It wasn¡¯t his fault that this expedition to a lower world was a disaster, but everyone weak had to deal with the consequences. ¡°Our scouts have observed the various groups and assessed their threats, just as they have been observing us. Along with the previous information, troubling news came. Among other things, there are¡­ void ants.¡± ¡°Ants?¡± One of the women scoffed. ¡°They are of no concern to us.¡± The youth cringed. He could only report the information, and had no control over it. Fortunately, one of the other masters was on his side. Or at least they were happy to take advantage of the woman¡¯s ignorance. ¡°Void ants are no laughing matter¡­ if there truly are any. But there can¡¯t be. They were wiped out two cycles ago. It was confirmed in the previous cycle as well¡­ and by all of the reports leading up to this cycle.¡± A heavy pressure fell on the messenger, making it difficult to speak. More than just the thought that he might get killed for no reason, that was. ¡°Scouts confirmed it, and they even captured one of the larger specimens to verify. They ranged between highly resistant and completely immune to the effects of both lower energy¡­ and upper energy.¡± ¡°Preposterous,¡± the woman continued. ¡°Exaggerated myths, no doubt, and sloppy investigations.¡± The youth kept his eyes away from any of the masters, to limit what they could intuit of his thoughts. It would not do for them to guess he wouldn¡¯t care if they were the ones swarmed by ants and eaten alive as long as he didn¡¯t have to be there. ¡°Is that it?¡± one more asked impatiently. The messenger held out a sealed report. ¡°There is also this missive. I don¡¯t know what is inside, of course.¡± ¡°Then leave it behind. Go.¡± Upon receiving permission, the young man nearly ran. But he was more dignified than that, and slightly more cognizant of how that would make him a target instead of the piece of paper sitting on the table. ----- ¡°Look, look,¡± Chikere waved her left arm about. ¡°I¡¯m healed!¡± Vasu rolled his eyes. ¡°A full recovery will take several more months, even for cuts as clean as you had. Just because you have not had to personally undergo such surgery before now doesn¡¯t mean you should be unaware of the specifics. However,¡± Vasu shrugged, ¡°I won¡¯t begrudge you the choice to fight as you please.¡± ¡°See, this way I can hold number one in my hand,¡± Chikere said, lifting the sword aloft. ¡°I haven¡¯t gotten to swing this guy yet.¡± ¡°... please keep that sheathed,¡± Timothy said with a grimace on his face. ¡°I¡¯m not concerned about that boulder you just sliced in half, but it has an uncomfortable malice.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Chikere nodded. She tilted the point of the sword to match one of the gates in the distance, and the aura focused in that direction. ¡°Better?¡± ¡°I suppose I¡¯m fine now, but are you sure you should be amped up for a battle already? We¡¯re still quite far.¡± ¡°Pfft, we could be there in like a minute.¡± ¡°We could. But it will likely be an hour before we¡¯re actually present and set up enough to begin the assault. And you really don¡¯t want to be the one running in first.¡± Timothy then sighed, remembering who he was talking to. ¡°Well, it isn¡¯t safe anyway.¡± ¡°Never is! But I won¡¯t be going in alone.¡± Chikere looked around, ¡°Where¡¯s your wife? I thought you usually fought side-by-side.¡± Timothy nodded, ¡°When we can. But that¡¯s not always the best idea. She¡¯s currently conferring with the other formation masters. They¡¯re going to attempt to set something up.¡± ¡°All the way out here? Is it just to protect the giant slings?¡± ¡°The trebuchets will make good use of defenses, yes, but there¡¯s more to it. It¡¯s just¡­ even Catarina isn¡¯t sure it will work. They don¡¯t want anyone to be depending on a slim possibility.¡± ¡°A new technique half developed and first used in a battle? I like that,¡± Chikere grinned. ¡°It¡¯s more than half developed. Catarina just said there are some factors missing if it¡¯s going to work. I don¡¯t really know more than that, except that of course she¡¯ll influence things to make those factors happen somehow, if it¡¯s at all possible. Though first I believe they formation masters will be working on taking down the outer defenses with the rest of us.¡± The forces were approaching from the north, but they shifted slightly west. Since they were already approaching the level of the peaks, the terrain wasn¡¯t much more difficult and they could begin to circle around somewhat. In some ways the terrain favored them from the northwest, but more importantly the enemy¡¯s distribution of their forces and the weaknesses in the structures seemed to coincide vaguely in the area- plus they would be closer to the main force of ants if they needed to assist. Some people had trouble hinging part of their plans on an army they literally couldn¡¯t see being in place, but everyone from Graotan which had the first of the ants- and still the majority of the nests- were quite aware of how effective they were. Yet nothing was perfect on its own, and even with all of their preparations it would be a difficult fight. But they wouldn¡¯t allow these invaders to escape the consequences of their actions. Chapter 370 Now that the armies were within sight of the enemy defenses, everyone was able to take note of the unnaturalness of the area. Constructed walls were quite normal, but the lack of plant and animal life was a stark contrast from the surroundings. Cultivators were known for taking anything of use to them, and while the invaders would certainly find uses for lumber and medicinal herbs, uprooting trees was completely unnecessary. The end result was a low point in the surrounding natural energy, sustained only by the flow from adjacent areas. Nobody was quite certain if it was an intentional tactic, some sort of petty vengeance, or if the invaders legitimately thought every plant and tree to be of value. It could be any combination of those factors, but it seemed like an unnecessary amount of effort. It would also have the effect of reducing what they could rely on to power their formations. It would also take a very long time for the area to recover any of the ecosystem, but obviously the invaders didn¡¯t care about that. They would only be around for a short time, and seemed intent on getting away with everything they felt had value. Which was exactly why they all had to die. There was no way anyone was going to let this venture be profitable for them if they had the chance, and they did. Trebuchets were the first to begin to fire. There was little in the way of freestanding rock, so the local alliance had to resort to what they had brought with them or begin carving out sections of the ground around them. Not an optimal situation, but they had learned from Diamond Hill Sanctuary and stocked up on as much ammunition as they could. Everyone with a storage bag had at least one sizable boulder or other functional pieces of ammunition. With only a few dozen trebuchets they would have over a hundred shots each and thus not have to dig into the local supplies. The cultivators had little else in the way of bulky items they needed to carry, with only the formation masters requiring much other space. And while everyone might have liked to bring a mountain of medicines with them, they simply didn¡¯t have them to take up that space. The trebuchets began the bombardment, boulders smashing against the enemies¡¯ formations a significant distance from the walls. WIth the ability of multiple cultivators contributing their energy to each trebuchet hundreds of cultivators were able to contribute, but they were only a small portion of the total. Nearly a thousand cultivators were present just from the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, and they were pulling forces from many more groups of different sizes and strengths. Those who studied formations organized groups to defend the trebuchets and others with ranged abilities that could contribute to the bombardment, making use of their combined energy to sustain temporary barriers. A few of the trebuchets did more than hurl rocks. Making the utmost use of their range they launched projectiles up and over the face of the barrier to bombard the area from above. The barrier of course resisted such attacks just as easily, but what happened after that relied on how the defensive formations were made. First, it could be designed to annihilate incoming projectiles. That was the most energy intensive option, but also allowed for killing careless cultivators who tried to rush through, as opposed to solid barriers which would simply stop them. There was also the possibility of combining solid and retributive barriers, lashing back at anything that struck the barrier. However, the invaders had opted for the simpler approach of a purely defensive barrier. It avoided messing around with complicated situations that might waste energy¡­ in most cases. There was just one issue. If something landed atop the barrier, what happened to it? It was possible to halt its momentum before letting it drop through, which had its flaws. The option that had actually been chosen was to keep the barrier firm, which involved holding up the object in question. Normally barriers were sloped on top so that such objects would slide off. In the case of anything vaguely roundish it worked flawlessly, even with a much more gradual slope like was required for a large scale formation. However, for oddly shaped objects it worked quite differently. A tangle of western creeper certainly didn¡¯t function as a ball. It also had the advantage that its thorns were quite adept at piercing through energy. For something with the power like the formation they were up against it couldn¡¯t truly ignore it, but it didn¡¯t need to. All it needed was a slight hold and then it could just¡­ sit there. At that point it was a constant drain on the formation, which would either try to reform around or through the thorns or have to deal with imperfect flaws. And the weight of the plant¡­ while minimal, it still required support from the formation¡¯s energy. Formations simply set up and left to their own devices were easily exploited by such tactics, but the invaders clearly had actual formation masters with them. A quick adjustment on their part and a tangle of western creeper could be allowed to fall through the barrier with no further expenditures of energy, and the opening would only be formed for the briefest moment. Some attempts were made to attack through the openings, but few had the skill to do anything with it. Those who could make such shots chose not to. The western creepers were only one part of the puzzle. They might fall harmlessly where there were no enemy soldiers standing, but other combinations were possible. The Grasping Willows, Wandering Bush Sect, and the Pink Pollen Sect all added their own little additions to the puzzle. Bundles of poisonous powder that would be happy to scatter about came along with anything that could perform the same function as the western creeper of sticking atop the barrier. They could either stay there, causing a constant drain, or drop through- hopefully causing damage to those below. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Once the ploy had become clear there was another option- having someone burn whatever landed atop the barrier- but that still took effort of some kind to deal with, and kept the formation masters distracted with constant decision making. Given what was known about the invaders, there couldn¡¯t many proficient in formations, and having a large group fighting for control over the defensive formations would be detrimental even if they had them. Things sprang into motion as the enemy formation reacted to an intrusion from underground, signaling the Black Earth clan with some specially trained giant lizards to help them with quick burrowing had reached their positions. It had been expected that the formations continued underground, but if they hadn¡¯t it would have been an excellent way to circumvent them. There had to be a limit to how deep they went, but there could only be so much probing done. If they were too slow to take advantage of any openings they found their opponent might repair them. At this point the main body of cultivators moved forward to begin attacking the formation together, forcing the enemy to keep resources devoted to them. Cultivators could move quickly, so if the invaders were allowed to think freely they could deal with the burrowers before returning to the main siege, but they had to devote forces to fighting off this assault or accept the formation being broken through rather quickly. The ants were a factor as well. Some were scattered among the main assault while a large force attacked from the southwest, tearing at the barrier and forcing it to react to different locations. Because all of the visible forces were further to the north, the forces ready to react to the ants who were ripping and tearing directly at the barrier and thus the energy powering it were unprepared. And there were precious few responses they had to deal with them at range. Were they supposed to shoot arrows that might kill one or two ants each? They certainly tried that and were disappointed. Lobbing large balls of fire at the ants would have been highly effective¡­ if they were easily damaged by energy. As it was, the distributed nature of the attacks focused insufficient power on any single point, which meant even the younger and less developed ants were able to resist it. There was also the ever-present difficulty of attacking out of such a formation, which caused ripples in the energy flow even when a formation was developed by formation masters. The formation simply couldn¡¯t hold as it was. It wasn¡¯t quite at a failure point, but it was voluntarily retracted to cover a smaller area, directly defending the walls. That forced the attackers to move closer and left them more vulnerable but they had momentum on their side. They pushed forward as great waves, weathering the attacks of their enemies and countering with their own. The walls had already been scoured for weak points, and they were the primary targets. The formation was no longer able to hold itself completely, breaking apart in limited areas and leaving the walls open to direct attacks. Heavily armored cultivators from the Iron Fist Sect crashed into the walls¡­ and sent a section tumbling back. A particularly eager young man from their ranks let his momentum carry him all the way through the wall¡­ where he found himself suddenly over an open pit. Caeus was yanked backwards by his fellow disciple Printza as they observed what very well could have been a trap¡­ but was in fact just a large hole in the ground. Any who had the experience could recognize it as a quarry, though not a particularly well organized one. Large pits seemed to go everywhere, with some being backfilled with tailings from other work. Small tunnels shot off from the pits which were more like proper mines¡­ but without any of the structural integrity. A many-legged lizard burst through the bottom of one such pit, providing another avenue of entrance for more attackers, starting with the Black Earth clan. It was unclear if the invaders had overestimated the structural integrity of their walls or the power of their formations, but neither were holding as well as they might want. Nor was the morale of those assigned to the walls, as they began to retreat through what winding paths that were all that remained between the holes filled with rocky rubble or nothing at all. Only a small number of structures stood in the middle of the area, most prominently a large pagoda surrounded by a number of buildings similar in style. Then there were various cobbled together rocky structures, and fields of tents that were barely half sound. The attackers were tempted to give chase while their opponents were out in the open, but great power could be felt from the pagoda and those within it. Instead of rushing into danger, orders were given to halt so that the situation could be reassessed- though work continued at properly capturing at least one section of the walls, or the ground beneath them in some situations. Efforts were also made to move up the siege weaponry and properly disable the portions of the formations that could be reached. Catarina involved herself with the latter, of course, but she found her previous plans were thrown completely off target. In a good way, perhaps, but it still involved significant recalculations. She was already exchanging excited glances with the other formation masters present. The battle turned into an unofficial ceasefire for the moment, with the invaders retreating to their central section where they had put up smaller but slightly more structurally sound looking walls. The formations there seemed more strictly put together as well, and great power radiated from there- but the area encompassed by the walls seemed to make it suboptimal for them to harass the attacking forces from that distance. The defenses seemed poorly thought out in the larger section, where they simply didn¡¯t have the manpower to hold the entire area. It seemed a waste of time and lives to even attempt to protect the outer walls, but there was doubtless some reason for it. Perhaps they were waiting for something. Chapter 371 There was a lull in the battle as the forces of Brogora took stock of the situation. They were now moving into what had been the outer walls of what they thought was a large area of land occupied by the invaders. They had been half right, as they had kept control of the area¡­ but large portions of the stone had been dug out to great depths. The land had been quarried for some of the valuable stone while various passageways snaked out in all directions to mine any found veins of metals. No care had been taken to what the area might look like after they left, and while the cultivators of Brogora had at times gone to extreme lengths for resources they at least took some consideration for the structural stability of the area. Now it looked like everything might fall apart if they stepped in the wrong place, though unfortunately the central spire where the large pagoda and other ancient buildings stood seemed quite stable. One other piece of information quickly came to the forefront. At the unfortunate sacrifice of their tiniest companions, the ants discovered that the formations in the center of the area were actually able to affect them, scorching the first group to attempt to breach the area. Previously certain formations had been capable of preventing them from passing through easily, but to actually burn a whole company in a retaliatory attack was unheard of. Though it was only the weakest of their members, it seemed likely that older and stronger members would still be in danger. The local formation masters were scurrying about everywhere, trying to take stock of the inner formations and how the outer formations might still affect them. Though the effects had been condensed into the center of the area, nobody wanted to begin an attack and then find they were suddenly subject to a suppressing effect or other dangers. Nor did the idea of being in the area if everything collapsed sit well with anyone. Cultivators could survive falls from great heights, but combining that with falling rocks crushing them from every side it was far too dangerous for the majority of the cultivators present. Even an Essence Collection or Life Transformation cultivator didn¡¯t want to have to dig themselves out of rubble. The Black Earth Clan was currently surveying the stability of the area with some of the others, much more carefully now that they realized how much damage there was to the area. If that was all then the attackers would have still been at a significant advantage. If they were able to set up and entirely surround their enemies, co-opting their formations would ultimately be possible. Unfortunately, power was building up in the center. It was difficult to pick apart exactly how many Ascension cultivators were present, but it was not insignificant. No individual group had come more than five ascension cultivators among their ranks as far as anyone was aware, but this was a combination of many smaller groups of invaders. They had more than just ten or twenty, though their numbers likely didn¡¯t exceed fifty. Even so, it was a worrying amount even with somewhere around half of the continent¡¯s forces arrayed against them. Whatever they were gathering power for had to be stopped- yet a direct siege was extremely dangerous. It might even be exactly what they wanted, a tight gathering of attackers to destroy all in one fell swoop. Yet the local cultivators didn¡¯t have the luxury of waiting around to see what might happen either. Those with longer ranged attacks organized as quickly as possible to begin another bombardment. That included the trebuchets, with new operators changing shifts with the first group to maintain optimal levels of power. Whatever they were doing in the center it should be harder to do while under attack. The rest of the troops were poised to move into melee if they had to, but remained at the outer ring atop or around the walls. The area between the walls and the inner section was almost completely drained of natural energy by the formations pulling in power, but more was coming from inside. Much more. Catarina and the other formation masters began to dismantle pieces of the outer formations in the most efficient way possible- by completely destroying the parts of the walls that had previously sustained the defensive formations. They targeted key points while keeping certain portions that formed an interconnected weave throughout the area. They already had plans for what to do with the formations if they broke through, and though those had to be modified now they still had a basis to act on. What exactly they were doing was a secret, even from the majority of the army. It certainly couldn¡¯t be explained now where they were close enough to the invaders to potentially be overheard, no matter what precautions they took. Instead they gave orders to people, having them topple certain sections of walls. ¡°Anton!¡± Catarina ran up to her grandfather. ¡°I need you to cut these runes into the far side!¡± She showed him the runes and was able to designate a precise spot they should go. Obviously she didn¡¯t intend for him to walk over to the other side or she could have done it herself. Instead, he made use of his archery skills. He might not have been up to his granddaughter¡¯s level of experience with formations but he had worked with her before. In the first of Everheart¡¯s tombs she had organized their group to deal with formations, and while his position had mostly involved destruction or destabilizing attacks at that point he was now capable of more. He was able to make each shot in just the right spot and to just the right depth, but he could see the actual formation masters were dealing with much more complex problems while some like Catarina organized the others. The invaders didn¡¯t just allow them to move freely. While they didn¡¯t have a great number of cultivators able to attack from their position in the center they certainly weren¡¯t without some options. While the might find it difficult to kill any of the formation masters, they were able to attack the walls. Especially without formations holding them together the walls were shoddy workmanship at best. It became the job of the majority of the local armies to protect the walls, except where the formation masters said they could let them fall. The pulsing energy in the pagoda continued to increase, waxing and waning slightly but ultimately growing stronger and stronger. The formation masters moved frantically but with purpose, trying to complete their own designs before the enemy finished. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Then news came from the east. A small detachment of soldiers from Facraona charged up the mountain, mostly Essence Collection cultivators that had not been involved in the main attack. The news they brought was¡­ worrisome. Great power growing in the east that could be felt from the base of the Cragtooth Mountains where they had stood as a deterrent force. The source was fairly easy to pick out as they had felt it many times in the recent days. Paradise. That was, in theory, a good thing. In practice¡­ it was a danger. Normally Paradise¡¯s attacks had been swift and powerful- even if he spent a minute or so gathering a mouthful of water it was still quite rapid for the volume of water he produced. Only rarely had he built up for a larger attack, such as when their new and yet unnamed inland salt sea had been formed. It was fairly certain he intended to target the invaders, but the potential for collateral damage was not something they could ignore. After having it pointed out, Anton could feel the power building up. Soon other people would be able to feel Paradise there, well outside even Anton¡¯s normal range. A single point hundred of kilometers away, and a great cause of uncertainty. ----- The same young man sat nervously at the base of the pagoda where the Integration masters were gathered. He knew they had some plan to wipe out the enemy forces, but he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if it would be of any help to him in particular. Even so, he couldn¡¯t do anything except provide his own energy to assist them, of specific interest being his ascension energy. That power was what set them apart from the cultivators here in this lower realm, for all the good it had done them. The locals weren¡¯t supposed to be this strong. The Integration cultivators had assured everyone they had a solution when they came here, and maybe they had been right. But a solution that kept them alive inside their fancy pagoda might not say anything for the rest of them. When the enemy forces began withdrawing he almost wondered if they could even do that. Except with such a powerful buildup of energy, it hardly mattered if the armies from the lower realm got a little distance. Though he was worried about that strange thing to the east. ----- The first to be sent away were any Body Tempering cultivators or those in Spirit Building. Riding along with them went the ants, as they were slower than any of the others. Whatever was going to happen, they weren¡¯t needed anymore. And if anything went wrong¡­ they were most likely to die in the disaster that followed. Essence Collection cultivators went next, and moments later Life Transformation cultivators began to pull away. The formation masters had finished their work, such as it was. And even if they hadn¡¯t, it was too late. The pulsing energy in the pagoda seemed to be sticking to a peak instead of fading now, and a burst of energy from far to the east set them all moving. Lines of energy connected from their modifications and additions to the outer formations, hundreds of formation flags having been set into the ground along with stone pillars like those used by Heavy Mountain Gate. The rush of energy from Paradise strangely enough seemed to go straight into the air rather than approaching them. That meant the immediate consequences of the attack weren¡¯t felt, but the invaders in the Pagoda were ready. It seemed the local¡¯s formation wasn¡¯t, though. As ripples of energy spread outward it began to reflect them back but then its energy faded for a moment. And if all of the formation masters had fled like they were supposed to, that would have been the end of that. A huge wave of energy began to flow in all directions, threatening to overtake the fleeing cultivators. But suddenly the huge masses of ascension energy twisted in on themselves, momentarily battering against the Pagoda instead of spreading out from it. At the same time, a giant wolf and its rider tumbled away from the area, having barely resisted a few moments of the wave of power. The figures quickly found their feet and the wolf moved with blinding speed that would soon overtake the trailing cultivators. Even for a formation that had been planned out ahead of time, it was impossible for something put together in a timespan of less than a day- and optimally weeks or months- to resist such a huge wave of ascension energy. Even if it was able to capture that energy for itself, nothing was able to withstand the force. The energy wave began to ripple out again at the point the Essence Collection cultivators were starting to overtake the Spirit Building cultivators, kilometers away from the central point. But none of them would be far enough. Then a column of water flowed from the sky, not forgotten but difficult to track even with its immense power. The arrangement of the energy was much different than the ascension energy, but it somehow managed to match to a certain extent. The column of water did not rain or fall atop the area, but instead hammered down on it. There was no spreading out as one would expect from such a mass of water being hurled through the sky, and instead it was held tightly in its shape by the power flowing through and around it. In the end it came down in a ¡®small¡¯ area less than a kilometer wide. The flow only lasted for a single instant but it dragged some of the surrounding ascension energy back to the center of the area where the failing formation was trying to contain it. The outer ring continued to expand, unaffected by Paradise¡¯s attack. Though it was quite possible for all of the strongest cultivators to continue running and perhaps try to outpace the wave of energy, they did not. In such a case it might have been expected for them to simply protect themselves, or those from their sects¡­ but everyone was disorganized in their hasty retreat. Even so, as the wave reached the rear lines they stood together. The slowest cultivators had been the first to go, and subsequent groups had mostly caught up to them. Everyone got as far as they could, then combined their energies to resist the radial attack. Fire and ice twisted together with earth, the power of the sun, energy shaped as giant vines, and even mists of blood. The force of the wave of energy pushed over and through the combined barrier¡­ but as it continued to expand it also lost its density of power. More importantly, it lost any form of control turning it into deadly power. Even the brief collision had been dangerous. Many were injured, some died¡­ but compared to what might have otherwise happened the group of cultivators was far better than they could expect. They were alive, and though it wasn¡¯t completely clear through the fog of energy in the Cragtooth Mountains it seemed that the invaders were not. Chapter 372 The local cultivators were ultimately fortunate to receive the amount of casualties they did. If the battle had gone the way they expected, their predictions were for greater losses. Even the optimal projections where the experimental formation for suppressing ascension energy had expected more loss of life. That was not to say there was no damage. In addition to the deaths and injuries sustained by their cultivators, the ring of ascension energy spread over a large distance beyond the reaches of the Cragtooth mountains, devastating plants and wildlife. The damage would have been much greater if not for their formations and Paradise, and they could have even been wiped out. In a strange twist of fate, the ultimate damage to the region was minimized because of what the Twin Soul Sect and Flying Blood Cult had done leading up to the battle at Black Soul Valley. WIth mass abductions in Facraona even decades later the area had not been settled much, and the area to the west was not heavily settled to begin with. Yet it couldn¡¯t be said that no damage was done. The area was now bare of natural energy except a thin amount that slowly crept in from the surrounding area. In addition to the intentional actions in the Cragtooth mountains to strip the area of its resources, the surroundings would take a long time to recover. Another ultimate disappointment was the utter annihilation of the invaders. Everyone involved had wanted them dead, of course, but their destruction included every piece of equipment that had remained on them, as well as the resources scoured from the surroundings and dug out of the mountains. Now there was only a strangely shaped lake devoid of life, with tens of kilometers around it being damaged to various extents. Over the last two decades the continent had been carefully developing their natural energy production, including seeding plants of certain varieties outside of where anyone lived. The natural feedback loop of plants that required natural energy to grow strong that ultimately produced more than they consumed had now been disrupted. It was a huge loss, but at least they would be around to recover from it. It was also a reminder that, barring the presence of Paradise which they could not control, they had ultimately lost the engagement. They¡¯d grown complacent with their triumphs over the invaders and didn¡¯t fully understand the limits of their capabilities. They couldn¡¯t have, but it was still jarring to realize what could be done. That lesson they would keep in mind as the continent turned its eyes towards Estary, still under the control of the invaders and with very little information coming from the area. The invaders had been fairly well cleared out of everywhere else, including Ambati which was now back in communication with the rest of the continent. There were some hopes that Paradise would take a position to the north of Estary given its coastal position, but there was no actual way to control him. Despite the worries of the invaders in Facraona, he had mainly stayed to the east side of Facraona. Advances into Estary were slow and methodical, as the invaders had much longer to settle themselves in the area. So far they appeared to be content with remaining where they were- and given the success of the rest of the continent killing the invaders it was understandable. Yet the danger of backing them into a corner was now well known, and the sense of urgency had dulled. It wasn¡¯t a pleasant thought, but they had already had sufficient time to cause whatever damage to Estary and its people that they were going to. If the information was correct that at the end of the season they would have a window to leave through whatever methods allowed their traversal. Nobody wanted to just let them get away, but it was an unfortunate matter of weighing the costs. Despite the victories throughout the continent, everyone was worn and weary. So much death in a short amount of time was devastating to deal with, and even if the basic resources necessary for life were produced in abundance by cultivators the normal cycle had been disrupted. The continent wouldn¡¯t starve if they went a year without proper harvests. The great loss of life meant fewer mouths to feed, and the ability of cultivators to efficiently work individual jobs meant that some people were able to get back to maintaining the world without undercutting their ability to fight. But nothing was going smoothly, and the mental toll on the people was mounting. ----- Standing where he had once been in the Mistly Hill Palace, Anton found it hard to reconcile the two images. Part of it was that he was a different person, his cultivation having advanced from Spirit Building to Life Transformation in the decades since he¡¯d come to them with news about the spiked rollers being killed. Elder Byrne had been one of their best, at the peak of Spirit Building, and had helped identify some of the buried equipment they had discovered in the creatures¡¯ lair. That included the difficult to use bone bow, now in the hands of Nthanda, as well as many less impressive pieces of equipment that had faded from memory. The other more depressing change was that while most of the structures remained intact, none of the members of the sect remained. Each building was at best an empty husk, though some were piles of rubble. The only thing of comfort was that no bodies littered the area, though it was a small comfort. There were signs of battle from the previous months, so there should have been some bodies. The invaders weren¡¯t known to nicely clean up after themselves. Likely wild beasts had come through and cleaned up the area, to a certain extent. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Recreating a battle from over a month before without any bodies to show for it was basically impossible. Anton would have liked to say that a certain spatter of blood was one of the invaders or a collapsed wall had resulted in one of their deaths, but it could have very easily been the people of Misty Hill Palace. At least the signs were enough to show that things hadn¡¯t been easy for the invaders. So far there were no signs of people still in the area. They were near the border still, and Anton could sense vague masses to the north where there were certainly some cultivators, but it was unpleasant to have the sense of such a large area being¡­ empty. It was not to the same extent as the Cragtooth mountains where the plants had been stripped bare, but the fields were empty of the foods rich in natural energy and the various herbs that would have been growing. The same was true in the wilds, with areas plucked bare of nature¡¯s bounty. Even the weakest pieces of equipment had been taken from the Misty Hill Palace, unlike the previous time where the Luminous Ocean Society had a few less valuable items last in some form until the modern day. The lowest level of equipment was not that different from before, so there had to be some change either in the needs of the invaders or some desire for revenge. Though Anton wasn¡¯t willing to give up on the possibility that local cultivators had come through to try to arm themselves with something once the invaders were gone. He wasn¡¯t necessarily a fan of looting sects that might still have a chance to return for their equipment, but if it was used against the invaders it would be worthwhile. The hardest part was just not knowing. The all-or-nothing results weren¡¯t entirely unexpected, but were quite frustrating. Anton was tempted to move ahead of the other scouts to push for information, but what was that going to accomplish? He might save someone, but even he didn¡¯t value his life so little that he actually went through with the idea. If he was going to die in this war, it needed to be for serious benefits. Otherwise, he knew there was still much good he could do in the world after they won. And he firmly believed they would win, even if it cost them dearly. Unless there was a serious divergence from the expected forces that had come to Estary. Yet when the invaders were descending from the skies, nobody could say there was anything remarkable about the numbers or power of the cultivators who had come to Estary. It should merely be bad luck that they were matched up with the various groups they came against, the invaders coming out on top more than in any of the other countries. There was every possibility that there was something special about the forces invading Estary as a whole and they were being taken seriously, but chances were that it could have gone the other way. But with a few initial victories they could have begun to work together and overwhelmed the rest of Estary, just like happened the other way around in Graotan, Ofrurg, and eventually Ambati. ----- News from Aicenith had become more frequent as a portion of resources could be devoted to teleportation. With both sides being well secured the risks of the travel were minimal, as arriving exhausted of natural energy was the main side effect. Simply transmitting missives was theoretically cheaper, but sending through cultivators from known sects was more secure. The other continent was doing similarly well to Brogora- huge losses, but ultimately resulting in victories. The remaining invaders were spread out in more different locations there, but each involved fewer groups concentrated together. The two continents had only recently begun interacting with each other, with a single generation being quite minimal by cultivator standards. They maintained no animosity, but they also felt no obligation to each other. Outside of the current invasion, at least. Neither had the forces to spare to help each other- volunteers like Chikere and others from the Million Sword Vault being a notable exception- but ultimately they all wanted the invaders defeated. It appeared that was going to happen, but it would take many decades to recover. The question was, would the world remain in its relative state of harmony after the invasion? People could only speculate, though the significant damage to the population might actually help in that case. ----- Careful weeks of scouting had indicated that the invaders had ultimately congregated in central Estary, generally around the trade city of Yedo and branching off to the north. Though it appeared that they were separated into different groups, any large movements of troops would undoubtedly alert them and allow them to respond, moving troops where appropriate. It didn¡¯t seem that it would be so simple to surround them, and even if it was possible a significant amount of resources had been devoted to improving the defenses of Yedo itself. Even from a great distance the formation masters of the continent could tell that it would be nearly impossible to break down the barriers in a short period of time. Then there was one other thing. A single cultivator that could be sensed through all of the barriers, though it was unclear if it was on purpose or simply could not be hidden. Either way, the power was another step stronger than even the most powerful Ascension cultivator seen up to that point. While Life Transformation cultivators had been able to match up against the other ascension cultivators- usually in groups- that increase in power would allow them to dominate a battle, killing as they pleased. Of course, nobody was undefeatable. It was simply a matter of how much it would cost in lives. That one cultivator alone would not be able to stand against their armies, but as an addition to a battle that otherwise might be considered even, it was an uncomfortable factor to consider. It was also unknown what might not be knowable just from sensing them from afar. Most people were quite certain that they had a good estimate on the unknown cultivator¡¯s power, but it was still a concern. As a unique factor in the situation, it bore serious thought as to how they came to be, and if there might be others hidden among the remaining invaders. Chapter 373 The invasion had been just as bad as everyone expected in Estary. Though the local sects intended to put up a fight, their success had been limited. Adrastea couldn¡¯t pin her finger on exactly what led to their failure, though part of it was likely due to their failure to maneuver enough forces to the locations the invaders landed in. There was really only a short period of time to anticipate that landing, and nobody had really been sure how the invaders would arrive before that. Some of the sects and cities had held on, but Yedo in particular had fallen quickly to the power of the invaders- their initial descent crashing through the city¡¯s formations and landing them within the city. At least that was what information had been gleaned by those to flee the city. Tranquil Cloud Palace had the good fortune to have developed a number of formations masters, and instead of focusing in direct barrier they focused on concealing formations. The peaks upon which they made their home were large enough that accidentally stumbling upon their community was unlikely, and their exact location had been kept secret. For a long time Adrastea had believed it to be unnecessary paranoia. Estary was one of the most peaceful countries to be found on the continent, and the Tranquil Cloud Palace among the stronger sects. In truth the border skirmishes with Ofrurg had been an issue, but after slavery was rather forcefully abolished from within their borders the tensions had faded somewhat. But Tranquil Cloud Palace had kept their location secret in the one way that mattered, and now it was saving now only themselves but many others. Too many, probably, but that couldn¡¯t be helped. Adrastea passively felt the cultivators scurrying around the nearby peaks. Nothing could be so secret that they wouldn¡¯t know about the peaks the Tranquil Cloud Palace inhabited, but with the formations inhibiting the ability to use energy senses it required manual searching to find them. Some got very close to the sect, but the bewildering nature of the formations was stronger just outside in a way that wouldn¡¯t be noticed. The thick layers of snow and their placement at the same level as the clouds provided natural cover and confused the landscape for the searchers. They could have just killed anyone who got close, but in a way that would reveal them more than others. There were plans to kill some of the searching invaders away from the sect but enacting them was dangerous. Their presence might be revealed too far away from the formations, and anyone who went out might find it difficult to return. There were tokens that responded to the natural energy of members of the Tranquil Cloud Palace that could guide their way and protect them from the effects of the formation, but they didn¡¯t want to risk losing any and having their enemies discover some other way to use them. But now they were sitting here with too many people. Tranquil Cloud Palace numbered in the thousands with their disciples, but now they had tens of thousands sheltering within their gates. Even without knowing precisely where they were, local towns and cities had many fleeing in their direction. They didn¡¯t have the heart to refuse anyone, and during the first days there hadn¡¯t been invaders directly breathing down their necks. Now they were one of the remaining pockets of resistance in Estary. Hopefully there were more than they didn¡¯t know about, but obviously cooped up on top of their mountain they didn¡¯t get much information except a sense of the largest masses of invaders- and those scouting their mountain. Remaining in hiding wasn¡¯t glorious, but unfortunately there were other issues with it not being sustainable either. Tranquil Cloud Palace had stored up a large amount of food for the sake of emergencies, but even with some of the fleeing refugees bringing some of their own there were simply too many people to feed for long. Even now the rations had been cut several times. Even for Life Transformation cultivators like Adrastea herself. They had to do something, but what¡­? That would have to be answered by a new presence she sensed. One of a group that showed no hesitation to openly display themselves as they walked the slopes¡­ and were quite enthusiastic about how they engaged with any invaders they came into contact with. The interesting part was she recognized one of them. The last time she¡¯d felt that aura in person was decades before, so many times weaker. After that, their paths had never crossed again, though she¡¯d certainly heard about Hoyt¡¯s rise in cultivation. Even with more Life Transformation cultivators than ever, how could they have not kept track of the names of the Life Transformation cultivators of their neighbors to the south? There were others from the Order as well, plus a pair from¡­ the Frostmirror sect and the Glorious Flame Palace? Yes, she remembered hearing about that unlikely marriage, and unless there was another pair of Life Transformation cultivators from those sects who would walk through the mountains holding hands as if they were going on a stroll through town¡­ it should be the same ones. Adrastea carefully made her way towards them. They weren¡¯t exactly close to the proper center of the Tranquil Cloud Palace, and she didn¡¯t want to be noticed with them. Being tracked back to the sect was theoretically possible if the wrong person got a lock on her. She kept her spear at the ready and her energy restrained but ready to react to anything. A short while later she reached the group as they were postulating how to navigate a ravine. For cultivators of their strength nothing was impossible, but jumping tens of meters to the other side might be unnecessary. Yet while they talked a woman riding upon a wolf did so several times back and forth. Approaching a group of cultivators who were nearly as high in cultivation individually as herself was a bit dangerous, not because she suspected the Order would choose to attack her, but because they might act without thinking as she revealed herself. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. She started with slipping a portion of her energy over to the side and slowly revealing it, making sure her style was clear so they could recognize she was not one of the invaders. With another portion of her energy she threw her voice from a different direction. She wanted to announce her intentions, and while the situation was serious she couldn¡¯t help but be a little bit playful. ¡°Hoyt. You didn¡¯t sneak anyone across the border again, did you? What would your grandfather have said about that, hmm?¡± Well, that was that. It would be rather embarrassing if he didn¡¯t remember their encounter, but at least her cultivation should have been notable at the time. That was the sort of thing most cultivators tended to remember. The man turned his head back and forth between the voice and the revealed strands of energy. ¡°You¡­ were one of the border guards, correct? We¡¯ve been looking for people. Locals, obviously. The invaders are rather easy to find. Are any others with you?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, I did spend some time protecting the border. It¡¯s Adrastea, by the way. As for others¡­ I¡¯m alone here.¡± ¡°We¡¯d hoped to find more. We¡¯ve brought armies from Graotan, Facraona, Droca, Ambati¡­ Ofrurg. Basically the rest of the continent.¡± ¡°Ah, I misunderstood,¡± Adrastea admitted. ¡°We have many sheltered with our sect. I would love to talk but¡­ all of you have been too obvious. If you could go to that peak to the southwest, I will meet you there. We¡¯ll throw off any observers.¡± ¡°What about grandpa?¡± the woman on the wolf asked. ¡°He made some stupid excuse about his knees hurting and is still at the bottom of the mountain.¡± ¡°Anton will be fine,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°And he¡¯ll be able to cover us as we approach.¡± ¡°Ah, you have Kseniya¡¯s apprentice with you?¡± Adrastea asked, then shook her head. ¡°Is he really nearby?¡± ¡°Twenty kilometers at most,¡± Hoyt shrugged. ¡°Which is close enough.¡± ¡°I do recall hearing something like that. Well, you can bring him along or not¡­ when we get back to the sect we can talk more about these armies.¡± ----- The sect head of Tranquil Cloud Palace was Arezou, a woman that Adrastea looked up to as a mentor and teacher. Even if they fought in different styles, there was much to learn from her. Arezou had suggested several times that Adrastea might become the next sect head, but such decisions would obviously now be waiting. ¡°Greetings, allies from the Order¡­ and elsewhere.¡± Arezou bowed, her flowing robes exaggerating the movement. ¡°I have heard tales that you bring armies to Estary.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°Though our losses have been great, the majority of the invaders have been slain throughout the continent¡­ except for those in Estary. Until now we had not been able to find¡­ and active groups.¡± ¡°That matches our understanding of the situation as well,¡± Arezou nodded. ¡°Things are dire here. Perhaps Infinite Wisdom Forest might have been able to conceal another large group. Maybe others, but we have received no contact. As for your armies, we should warn you. A cultivator of great power advanced their stage to a level difficult to comprehend.¡± ¡°We took note of their presence already,¡± Hoyt replied. ¡°But we were unaware that they had advanced while present here. Are you certain?¡± ¡°Quite. It is not something that could be mistaken by any within hundreds of kilometers.¡± ¡°That¡¯s somewhat concerning,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°It makes me wonder where there have been no others of¡­ whatever that next step beyond ascension is.¡± He looked to his companions to see if they had answers. Catarina lit up, ¡°Well, it¡¯s just speculation but¡­ I imagine they can¡¯t come here. Or at least it would be very uncomfortable. This world isn¡¯t meant to have power of that sort, and the disconnect from our natural energy would be even greater for them. If we consider the effort for a stronger cultivator to come here scales in a similar fashion as teleportation- even if it involves a smaller sacrifice- then it would be a difficult undertaking. Perhaps the cultivators at the first step of ascension are the best they can send. Or they just thought they wouldn¡¯t need more.¡± ¡°I am concerned that it might be the latter,¡± sect head Arezou shook her head. ¡°Unfortunately, that¡¯s not something we can solve right now. Another question, if I might. You must have noticed how many people we have sheltered here. Along with your armies, did you bring food?¡± Hoyt shook his head. ¡°Not enough to share, but¡­ it should be possible to get more. Bringing it here, however¡­ might be impossible.¡± ¡°That is an area of concern,¡± Arezou admitted. ¡°But with the support of your armies, it might be best if we simply left the area. That would unfortunately reveal our location by moving so many people, but it¡¯s better than letting them stay to starve. And many of us can help join the fight. Such as it is. Tell me honestly, do you believe your forces are sufficient to defeat the invaders occupying Estary?¡± Hoyt thought for a while and shook his head. ¡°Not for certain. That specific cultivator is one of the major concerns, and how Yedo has been fortified. However, as unpleasant as this might sound, we might not have to defeat them. They must leave at some point, and the window for that activity begins at the end of the season, and in theory should last approximately most of the rest.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± She grimaced, ¡°And so they might simply be allowed to leave? A bitter taste, but¡­ not unreasonable. I do believe all of us would prefer to survive, if that is the only option we have.¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t given up on some sorts of assault yet,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Though Yedo may be unassailable, other parts of the country may be possible to save. At the very least we might reclaim some of the resources¡­¡± ¡°Things are that bad, are they?¡± she shook her head. ¡°I suppose there¡¯s nothing to do but what we can.¡± ¡°If we can find anyone else, we¡¯ll do our best to get them out of danger. If there are others as well hidden as yourselves, perhaps things aren¡¯t quite so grim as they seem.¡± ¡°Hah. Perhaps,¡± Arezou admitted. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t bet on it.¡± She carefully placed her hand on a spear resting nearby, ¡°Even so, it¡¯s good to know there are still things worth fighting for. We were beginning to think we might be all that was left. News of victory elsewhere¡­ it won¡¯t make things instantly better, but the people could use some good news. After that, we¡¯ll figure out what is possible with what we have.¡± Chapter 374 Moving larger numbers of people- even cultivators- was relatively slower. Thus, when the invaders were approached with any sizable group they began to pull back to fortified locations. That was useful for the sake of extracting people from Tranquil Cloud Palace, but not so great if they wanted to whittle down enemy forces. There were always exceptions where they could take out a few enemies. Ambushes worked to some extent, but ultimately the invaders were taking notice of the renewed resistance in the area and keeping safe. The next goal was finding more survivors in Estary. The general patterns of destruction continued, though a few remote villages remained unscathed. Further information about the occupied cities indicated that at least some of the locals were still alive, but information was scarce. Plans were being developed for how to retake the cities while not opening up other countries to counterattacks. ----- In northern Estary but not so far north as to reach the coast was a sizable forest. The individual trees seemed to be nothing impressive, but the vast expanse they covered had once made the area nearly unpassable. Long in the past beasts had fully taken over the forest, but up until the time of the invasion safe passageways had been maintained by a sect that moved into the depths of the area. Infinite Wisdom Forest found that while the trees were bland on the surface, their value as materials for paper was exquisite, and there were cultivation secrets to be gleaned from the entirety of the forest itself. Now that same forest protected them. Unlike Tranquil Cloud Palace, their location was not concealed to any significant degree. The core of the sect grounds was at the intersection of main highways, including the one from the coast that eventually ended up in Yedo. With such an obvious path, the effort required to conceal themselves would have been tremendous. Yet they still stood strong against the invaders, if isolated. Sieges had come, but none had broken through their defenses. The power of formations was determined both by the maximum intensity that could be withstood as well as the total amount of power that could be drawn on. The replenishment rate was also a key factor in the latter, and Infinite Wisdom Forest made use of what they had available to achieve all three. The functionality was a secret, but one that once known would be completely devastating. Fortunately there were no traitors in their midst. They had eradicated the members of the Twin Soul Sect that had wormed their way in, and any information they had gathered clearly had not been disseminated to the invaders. Not that many knew exactly how the defensive formations functioned. Before the recent boost in cultivation around the world, it would have been unlikely for them to withstand the sieges they¡¯d now weathered. It wasn¡¯t due to a great increase in knowledge or changes in the formation itself, but simply the power was greater¡­ without it being obvious that anything had changed. The source of power for the formation was the forest. The entire thing, not some small portion of it. Nor did it mean there were energy gathering formations throughout to channel power to the core. Instead, the trees themselves had the property to evenly distribute the natural energy in the area around them. Nobody was quite sure exactly how it functioned, but the root systems connecting them together were a significant part. Most importantly, it was so efficient that it was nearly impossible to feel the flow of energy. There had been some concern when the invaders began looting the forest and cutting down the trees, but they soon gave up on that project. Nothing of the trees immediately displayed value, though the invaders certainly took advantage of the herbs that had been encouraged to grow wild, synergizing with the trees as their growth and energy dispersal cycles alternated. It would take decades to replant them and a similar length of time to return the populations of beasts back to where they ought to be, but for the most part the trees had been left alone after a certain point. It was a great swath of area, and even though the invaders were greedy for everything they could get their hands on they had standards¡­ and didn¡¯t know what they were dealing with. The initial siege had been easy to withstand, though they were unable to cause significant damage to the invaders in turn. As Estary began to be overrun, several groups had banded to gather at various points to try again, but the defenses held firm, seeming to be indefatigable. And in a way they were. Compared to the invaders at least, the forest as a whole recovered expended natural energy at a faster rate. The invading groups would have to sustain a full power bombardment for long enough to at least half exhaust themselves before they would really notice a drop in the forest¡¯s reserves, and thus with days or weeks between the attacks nothing really happened. There were concerns about a combined attack by all of the invading forces. That seemed to be inevitable, especially with the disturbing breakthrough that had happened recently. Yet for the moment the invaders seemed content to sit in their cities and count their loot. Not that Infinite Wisdom Forest had much more information about that topic, though they were constantly sending out their best scouts hoping the situation would change. And something had. Infinite Wisdom Forest hadn¡¯t just been left alone, but a number of watchers had been assigned to the area to keep tabs on them. Now there were fewer, and word was that other places saw similar drops in free cultivators. It was unlikely they just got bored, but without knowing what caused it it didn¡¯t make any difference . They still couldn¡¯t fight back against even a moderately sized group, and thus they had to shelter in place, no matter how demeaning it was to avoid combat. As many pairs of eyes that could kept watch for further changes, hoping there might be something¡­ but not counting on it. ----- The eventual retaking of Estary started from the east, with significant portions of the armies set to intercept anyone from the rest of Estary. Gathering all in one place would make it easy for their enemy to move however they wished, potentially surrounding them- though they would likely be more effective behind their fortifications on an individual basis. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! If some progress could be made in retaking Estary¡¯s territory and there were fewer concentrations of invaders to worry about, the locals could begin consolidating into larger armies- though they were already working with the combined might of several large sects at minimum. The invaders at base had high cultivations, and no amount of anti-ascension techniques was enough to completely overcome that point. The actual strength of each sect was also significantly reduced from the recent losses, and though the invaders¡¯ losses were unclear in Estary their remaining numbers were concerning. When they began the first attack, the biggest concern was that other occupied settlements would come with reinforcements. The outer edge of the area was carefully monitored, but there was a good quarter portion of Estary occupied and many large cities dotted about. The full extent of the invader¡¯s forces couldn¡¯t be determined, though at least it was fairly certain they only had one of the second-tier ascended cultivators. And that one seemed happy to remain in Yedo despite certainly knowing about their presence in the area. And why not? They had a fortified city¡­ and perhaps no sense of unity with the rest of the invaders as a whole. That was what they were hoping, and as the first city fell there was an amount of justification felt. It was unfortunate that they weren¡¯t able to annihilate the invaders, but their forces simply weren¡¯t sufficient for that. Still, they inflicted more casualties than they took, and the invaders could only flee into already-occupied territory. Though they would inevitably join up with other invaders, as long as they didn¡¯t proactively organize themselves into a greater force the allied armies of Brogora had plans to take them apart piecemeal. It would be a problem if all of them fled to Yedo, but if their plan worked they could carve out a section that would allow them to make a move on the central city. It wasn¡¯t quite clear if that was ultimately the best move, but they couldn¡¯t just ignore the strongest congregation of enemy forces either. ----- Anton didn¡¯t like that he couldn¡¯t tell what was going on in Yedo. The main bulk of the army was still fifty kilometers away, but he should be able to sense that far easily. If he was blocked by a formation that would be one thing, but finding himself blocked by the aura of another cultivator was¡­ concerning. He was reminded of his first encounters with Vandale, a vast gulf of power between them- except without any of the kindness or warmth that came with it. Instead the power was¡­ bright. Even as enemies it wasn¡¯t entirely unpleasant, but it was concerning in the same way as any other source of power that couldn¡¯t be controlled. Knowing that this cultivator would actively work against them didn¡¯t make things any better. At least it seemed they didn¡¯t have long range sniping abilities like himself. If they did, there was no doubt they could wander about the region and pick people off as they pleased. Unless they had some major deficiency that made them slower than would be expected for their cultivation, killing a few key targets and leaving would be trivial. Even if they were attempting to conserve their ascension energy, it would be more efficient to kill people who weren¡¯t expecting it and rest, rather than face everyone at once. The problem was¡­ how much range did they have? Maybe they were a melee combatant, as so many were. In that case Anton could still imagine the destruction they could wield, sweeping swaths of death through the lines of their armies. But if they had an effective attack that could reach even ten or twenty kilometers, serious damage could happen if they attempted an attack. The trebuchets would need to be within that range to attack the city, and there were precious few things with longer ranges or more efficiency than the weaponry put together by Grant. Perhaps if he had been given time, resources, or motivation they might have something more grand to make use of, but ultimately most sources of attack simply fell off with range. Even Horizon Shot technically grew weaker at the end of the range, but due to special control techniques and the speed of the projectiles it was minimized. It required both, since an attack without natural energy augmenting it became instantly worthless in most cases- and slow attacks were both easily dodged and required more effort to sustain. Their forces were now at a strange impasse, as armies worked their way in from the east. Yedo couldn¡¯t be put out of consideration, but they also couldn¡¯t necessarily deal with it. Yet the thought of leaving it was unpalatable. Just because the invaders would be leaving at some point didn¡¯t make things better. Anton would have found it more disturbing if the bandits had taken up residency in Dungannon, but just because they took what they wanted and left behind only destruction didn¡¯t make the situation better. For the moment Yedo was standing, and possibly even had civilians from Estary inside- likely being forced to labor under the invaders. When the time came for them to leave, would they simply go, or would they raze the place to the ground, causing as much destruction as possible? Anton would bet on the latter. A brief thought passed through his head. He knew such an intrusive thought was ultimately unfair, but teaching people to cultivate and be able to stand up for themselves might have made things worse. It might have made them be seen as a threat. Or the invaders might have simply wiped out cities with a wave of their hand, nobody even having the slightest hope of resisting their every whim. Keeping your head down when facing overwhelming forces was something people might accept, but if there was a real opportunity to fight back most humans would prefer that option. And Anton had given it to them. His only regret was maybe that it hadn¡¯t been enough. Yet he couldn¡¯t say that despite all the destruction they had witnessed, they had survived. And they would continue to, as a whole if not the specific individuals alive at this instant. He would like to shift the numbers as far in their favor as possible though, but he was unsure if that meant more fighting or simply letting things be. And he hated that he wasn¡¯t strong enough to force his preferred option, though he was unsure if it was even possible. After all, he had forsaken ascension, and even if he could he would be taken away from this world. That brought up more thoughts¡­ but those would best be explored after the war. Chapter 375 Over the course of the next week, more successes were made along the eastern front. Fleeing cultivators would inevitably join up with others, but some effort was made to drive them more towards the north or west, away from Yedo. If their strategy wasn¡¯t already obvious to the invaders, it would be soon. Either way, they were in for more difficult battles if they continued to press forward. It was difficult to build up momentum with minor victories, and the questions continued to come up. How much was it worth it to continue fighting? Was revenge or punishment a worthwhile goal? Could they save more lives than they lost? The latter was ultimately the most important for the sake of besieging Yedo, which was central to the invader¡¯s power. Killing an ascended cultivator who made it to the next stage would be a huge blow to these invaders, but would it be worth it? Part of that depended on how it would affect things in the next cycle, unknown centuries in the future. Only one thing was certain. The invaders didn¡¯t have the confidence to take on the remaining armies outside of the defensive formations of their cities. There was nothing for them to gain by biding their time, unless they expected more resources to magically appear in their pockets. That might be the results of what would happen if the combined forces of the continent majorly failed in an assault, but the window for the invaders to return home, however that was accomplished, was coming up soon. A combination of every factor brought forward plans to test Yedo¡¯s defenses, and hopefully the power of the cultivator residing there as well. Precautions were being made to ensure that the formations could not extend beyond the reach of the city, which would at least allow the armies to retreat if things weren¡¯t going well. To that end, more forces were being gathered to have the best chance of success- while not leaving anywhere vulnerable. If some of the invader¡¯s forces got out of their containment and into the main parts of the other countries that were relatively unmolested, they would have much to gain before they retreated. Special care was taken about the sea, with fleets keeping watch on the harbors to the north. Unfortunately Paradise still seemed uninterested in making his way along the north side of the continent, so they couldn¡¯t count on that particular factor. When the time came, the combined armies had over a hundred Life Transformation cultivators on the ground, and proportionate amounts of lower ranking cultivators compared to what was available. There was some swelling in the numbers at low Essence Collection and Spirit Building, a consequence of the city militias and the majority of people having taken up cultivation to some extent. Even if they didn¡¯t intend to fight, plenty of people found reasons to join up when the time actually came. Siege engines were prepared as they could be, tunnels were dug as close as deemed reasonably safe to avoid sensing. Cultivators stood together, organized to be close enough to defend each other or have the option to spread out to avoid incoming large scale attacks. If they were lucky they might take Yedo within a few hours, but the actual intention was simply to test the defenses. The momentum of the assault began, first bombardments at long range followed by cultivators moving closer, keeping a steady pace that would not exhaust them but ready to move with haste once the counterattacks began. They had barely even begun something that could be considered a true offensive when atop the walls appeared a woman. Even those who were deficient in their ability to sense energy would be able to recognize her as the Ascension cultivator who had achieved a breakthrough¡­ and that was before she released her aura. The woman had an unearthly beauty. She appeared ageless- not young, but without the signs of time having ravaged her features. As her aura spread people could not help but look, even if they knew better. The first to be struck blind were the Spirit Building cultivators, and those closest to her. It took only an instant before people turned to flee, not that they could have taken a step closer to her if they tried. The woman was more akin to a massive otherworldly force than a person, and the instinctive reaction was awe and fear. Back with the siege engines, Anton did his best to shield those with him from the effects of the aura. He always had his own energy spread out to begin with, ready to form energy bows anywhere within his radius. Most of those around him staggered back and shielded their eyes, but with his protection they didn¡¯t simply flee- and though they were blinded momentarily, they recovered. The invaders were unwilling to leave the city to chase them, merely harassing them with their longest ranged attackers as they fled. There was some comfort to take from that, even though it was clear that they could not consider further assaults on the city. Even Life Transformation cultivators had been staggered by her presence up close, the power released against them. A few had even received injuries from a mere glance. The worst part was that it was clear to everyone it did not take unreasonable amounts of effort for the woman. Not that it would matter. She only had to be able to maintain such an aura for a short time if fighting reached the city walls, and they would have to bring sufficient forces to bear to be a risk. Waves of discouragement rolled through the armies, but after retreating to a safe distance the armies reformed, ready to hold their ground. ----- The leadership of the combined armies gathered together to discuss what had happened. Elder Sarka of the Glorious Flame Palace crossed her arms, glaring at no one in particular. ¡°What the hell was that, huh?¡± ¡°I do believe that is tied to her particular aspect,¡± Adelina explained. ¡°It is too¡­¡± she gestured vaguely as she thought the words, ¡°Eccentric for that to be expected. A specialist in wide scale combat suppression. No doubt with some formidable close-range combat skills as well, but little in the way of targeted ranged attacks.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Didn¡¯t I see you fall to your knees when she looked at you?¡± Sarka countered, but with considerably less animosity behind her words than previously. ¡°How does that not count?¡± ¡°Though I will admit I was struck with significant force,¡± Adelina shrugged, ¡°Are you telling me you could not do something similar to any Spirit Building cultivator? Maybe some in Essence Collection as well.¡± Sarka frowned, ¡°It¡¯s not really clear what the difference between the levels of Ascension are, but I admit the power difference is close to achieving another tier. It doesn¡¯t make it any easier to fight.¡± ¡°But,¡± Catarina interjected, ¡°I think it should be noted that we are not dead. With such a battlefield suppression ability, if they are not willing to leave their fortifications to come to us, it indicates they are still wary of us. Our numbers seem sufficient to cause concern, at least.¡± ¡°Unfortunately she was behind the formations,¡± Anton said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t able to attack her directly, so it¡¯s not quite clear what anti-ascension techniques might have done.¡± ¡°I cut apart her aura,¡± Chikere commented. ¡°Just a sliver. It reformed quickly, but if we could focus on her¡­ I think we could kill her.¡± There was a rustling outside the command tent as someone called inside. ¡°Great elders, pardon the interruption but some sort of messenger bird has left the city to the northwest.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes flashed, and he ran outside. He was already extending his senses in that direction, and a flying target was easier to pick out as the only thing in the skies. His first shot came with the feedback of some sort of defenses resisting him. The several after that were merely used to soften up those defenses as they were already on the way, but the next had more effort put into it- a mix of anti-ascension techniques and the mysterious extra energy from beyond death. Some portion of that combination allowed the attack to pierce the large creature, dropping it from the sky. ¡°I do believe I will be keeping watch out here,¡± Anton said back towards the tent. ¡°We should send for Kseniya as well.¡± Back inside the tent, Adelina clapped her hands. ¡°Well. That is likely to have been some form of message. Perhaps not one of desperation, but a desire for cooperation. These invaders have been shown to be¡­ risk averse. It could be that they are unwilling to individually risk themselves in an assault, and would prefer to gather forces sufficient to annihilate us. Though if they truly make the attempt we do have more forces about, I still think given what we know now we should wait. We can still focus on other cities, but there is too much risk to assault Yedo¡­ or leave it unwatched.¡± ¡°I truly hate to agree with you,¡± Sarka said. That was it, but it was technically all that was needed to get her point across. ¡°From the brief observations we had of the formation in action¡­¡± Catarina commented, ¡°It seems infeasible to try to overpower it with some sort of encircling formation. And creating something a hundred kilometers across is¡­ not something that could be completed in a timely manner. Any closer would be risky.¡± Sarka grunted, ¡°I want to be sent to a team involved in the active projects. Assaults on other cities and herding them where we want them to go.¡± ¡°Good idea,¡± Adelina nodded. ¡°We will of course need some members of the Glorious Flame Palace here for the diversity of abilities in case there is an attempt to sally forth¡­ but those with talents best used elsewhere should be reassigned. Unfortunately even if we are somehow successful at eradicating every other pocket of invaders, Yedo will be difficult. Some Spirit Building cultivators actually died to that woman¡¯s aura, and others appear to have sustained long term damage to their eyes. Numbers alone won¡¯t be sufficient, and if we only count our stronger cultivators fighting against formations and the suppression of that aura¡­ it¡¯s just not enough.¡± Everyone nodded. One area they had an advantage was being able to draw on the entire continent¡¯s population, with everyone that could taking up cultivation. Weaker cultivators were always more vulnerable, but there hadn¡¯t ever been truly omnidirectional abilities that would kill them. ----- With nothing better to do, Anton took his daily shots at the barriers surrounding Yedo. He never exhausted more than a tenth of his maximum reserves total, except for the mysterious extra energy. He was certain it was a different type, neither ¡®upper¡¯ nor ¡®lower¡¯ energy but something different. Unfortunately unlike ascension, there seemed to be no knowledge in this world about what it might be. Something tied to reincarnation perhaps, but Anton could only speculate beyond that. There was no indication of some other layer of reality to interact with, and he wouldn¡¯t even know how to ask the invaders about it if they would be willing to talk. He didn¡¯t know what he expected, but if he could get an arrow to slip through the barrier and through the defenses of the second tier Ascension cultivator¡­ well, that was where the thoughts kind of ended. Because he couldn''t really do the first. What he could do was shoot down anything that tried to leave the city. Even tiny blips of energy would be annihilated. Surely the rest of the invaders would still have a chance to learn that there was some sort of communication being attempted, but the details would be in question. Capturing the information hadn¡¯t been possible. The very first target had annihilated whatever message it carried as the giant bird fell. Yet the atmosphere of Yedo wasn¡¯t one in desperation. Instead, it was likely some sort of intent to bargain, perhaps some offer to organize with others and some way to split the loot. Because that was the attitude the invaders had come in with, and why they were ultimately so disorganized. They hadn¡¯t thought they¡¯d needed to be, outside of some initial rules. If they felt safe in their cities, why would they join forces? Anton wished he could stay awake continuously, and he did so for the first several days before Kseniya had arrived. Now they alternated much shorter shifts, ready to shoot anything that left the city. Even if it came from the far side it was hardly much further away by their standards. Even beneath the city was being watched- though more as a coincidence as further tunnels were being dug with the intent of possibly collapsing them and the city above. The depth they had to be at meant that was a great deal of work. But at least there were constantly people monitoring the area, just in case. Arrows faded into the come of protection over the city, causing minimal damage but at least keeping the guards on the walls twitchy. That was something at least. Anton couldn¡¯t help but think about how they either too much or too little time to wait. Not enough time to act, but the sooner the invaders could be gone the sooner they could get to healing the world from the damage it had suffered. Chapter 376 A depressing atmosphere settled over the city of Yedo, the result of an air of authority that was decidedly not happy with how things were going. For a short time after making an advancement in cultivation Fajra had been in a good mood, but upon realizing how restricted she was due to the limits of being in a lower realm, she had lost her brief spout of positivity. It had been far too difficult to gather the resources necessary for her advancement, resistance from every angle as morons with the tiniest progress in cultivation had resisted her. Her personal participation had been necessary far too often, and though the final count of resources was quite abundant some of them had been tainted. Some berries were quite abundant in lower energy but had the nasty side effects of draining upper energy. She was lucky to have noticed before consuming them. Those responsible for bringing her the tainted goods were punished, of course. Things had taken so long to settle that by the time they had been ready to branch out to snatch whatever leftovers were missed, it seemed that the locals were¡­ winning? Fajra understood that something was wrong this time, especially the way everyone seemed to know how to disrupt their energy, but even so the results of everyone else was disgraceful. How were people so prepared? It must have been some fault of the previous iteration, failing to properly confuse the records. That was what had been thought until some interrogations had finished with the consensus being that the issue was¡­ Everheart. Fajra killed the one who brought her that information. They should have known better than to say that name. It was a ridiculous notion. Everheart couldn¡¯t have possibly come to this world. The man wasn¡¯t even a full cycle old. Yet the answer remained consistent¡­ and more importantly those who really knew what they were talking about had the same sort of reaction as any reasonable person. Everheart. Ugh. What could be said about him? Far too much, really. The Radiant Beauty Sect in particular had some encounters with him when he was new. Not only had he run off with one of their genius disciples but he sold them an entire warehouse full of tainted lightstone, worse than low grade somehow disguised as high grade. Probably through some formation or other. Just thinking about him required Fajra to vacate her room for a week while repairs were made and furniture was reacquired. Somehow he continued to cause trouble even when he wasn¡¯t around. And further reports agreed. Everheart, Everheart, Everheart. It seemed this was the lower world he¡¯d actually come from. If they¡¯d known that before they would have approached things much differently. The arrangements allowed them to take what they wanted, and required them to suppress any sects that had gotten too effective, but if they had known¡­ things would have been treated much more seriously. What were those fools in the Exalted Archipelago doing? Shouldn¡¯t they have reported that? Perhaps they had, and the Exalted Quadrant had simply remained silent. How frustrating. They were prominent enough that it would be difficult to do anything about it, and there was the issue that if the rest of the world was to be eradicated they would have sole control over an entire lower world. Their reach was already spread too far, it couldn¡¯t be allowed. But Everheart. Damn that man. Here he was still causing trouble after he¡¯d been dead for a century. The amount of damage he¡¯d caused in the upper realms was simply infuriating for the short time he¡¯d survived. It wasn¡¯t enough to kill him, but everything he cared about had to be destroyed as well. Yet¡­ she couldn¡¯t. Fajra was well aware of the difficulties of being in this lower world. This was why Augmentation cultivators would never come to such a place. If Fajra had competent armies that actually took advantage of the openings she made for them it would be one thing, but the disorganized mess she had under her control simply couldn¡¯t handle it. They couldn¡¯t even get a message out of the city, and she had been loathe to send one since it would involve promises to others. Ah well. While she would like the merits that would have come with annihilating any remnants of Everheart¡¯s presence, she had already gained sufficient benefits. The others could fight over the remaining scraps, but she would simply wait until it was time to return to the upper realms. She couldn¡¯t be blamed for the failures of others, and her position would be elevated. Besides, there were a few people she would be quite happy to never hear from again. ----- The Island Tenders were never meant to attempt to direct Paradise, but simply maintain the island sized turtle¡¯s back as a viable resting stop for those who happened to pass by. They had fulfilled those duties and were rewarded with a very comfortable place to cultivate, though it was a tradeoff between a great source of natural energy and the resources that might have been gathered by interacting with other areas. That had been enough, but Erin had talked with the others and if there was any chance of assisting with the war, they wanted to do it. Paradise hadn¡¯t gone back to his normal patterns, either. He was hovering along the eastern coastline of Facraona, swimming back and forth. The real problem was that he wouldn¡¯t just go north around the coast. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. There were several possible reasons proposed. First was that the area could be the territory of some other creature. Previously that would have been completely absurd, and it had to be admitted that it still seemed rather implausible given how happy Paradise was to chomp on a kraken. Plus, ships passed along the northern side of the continent all the time and had never run into any issues. Not with anything on the scale that could harm Paradise, at least. The second option was that perhaps Paradise didn¡¯t know how to get to his targets. It was quite certain he could feel ascension energy, given how he had expertly targeted some of the invaders. The devastation he had caused in the surroundings was unfortunate, but it would still be useful. With the invaders being more or less directly west, swimming in an area that he could seek passage in that direction made sense. Except he swung much further to the south, so that didn¡¯t quite fit. It wasn¡¯t as if his normal travel path was matched with the centerline of the continent. Then there was the easy answer. It was too cold. At first Erin thought it was silly, perhaps the most powerful creature in the world being afraid of a little bit of cold water¡­ but it made more sense upon further consideration. Paradise seemed to make use of the natural energy from the ecosystem on his shell, and even if he could withstand colder temperatures, that might not be the same case for the plants. To test that theory the Island Tenders had sent messages asking for help from fire cultivators, but the response had been quite underwhelming. After all, they were currently occupied with important battles. Who had time to spare heating up a turtle? A few people wouldn¡¯t be enough either, and if nothing happened in the end it would be a complete waste of manpower. It was likely that some people were cautious about coming for other reasons. It would require making a very large amount of heat right around Paradise. Would the turtle see it as an attack? Even if everything worked and he made his way towards Estary¡­ would his presence help? They might just end up with more craters, unusable land. The deaths of the invaders would be a benefit, but the costs might actually be higher. Especially now, with them contained. Erin considered the situation and wondered if she might eventually be able to do something about it. She certainly wasn¡¯t a fire cultivator, but did it require fire? Maybe just heat, though the only hot thing she had to be familiar with was the summer sun. Not exactly an extreme example to derive special techniques from. And of course the war would be over long before anything happened, even if she was a genius with a higher cultivation. But it was a shame to see Paradise patrolling back and forth so desperately without being able to do anything. ----- It was strange that there was such a small window of time for people to come to the world or leave, especially when the time between such points was so long. However, that was what the invaders believed so even if it wasn¡¯t correct they would act like it. Anton couldn¡¯t honestly say he would understand more about celestial cycles than them, because he had been studying cultivation and the workings of the world and the stars for less than half a century. Many things had been mysterious even to Vandale who had studied the celestial bodies for multiple centuries. Those circumstances laid upon Anton a strange sense of urgency, but no way to overcome it. He still believed that he was best serving the course of the war by monitoring Yedo and preventing anything from leaving. There was something meditative about the process, and Anton imagined the shots he had taken all from one particular spot and how they blossomed across the sky like a work of art. A deadly one, but many of the most beautiful things in nature were deadly. Bright colors often signified poison. Volcanoes and lightning had their own beauty in their destructiveness. And stars¡­ they were just burning balls of fire so hot that the sun made the planet warm from an unfathomable distance away. Yet as stars went, it was practically touching the world compared to everything else. Did that have something to do with it? The actual distance between the stars, would it somehow become short enough to travel between at a certain point? No, that made little sense. Anton had seen and studied the orbits of the planets in their system, had records of how long their individual rotations took, their cycles. When compared to the distance to the next star, a change in distance over mere centuries would simply be insignificant. And traveling between the stars at any speed would take lifetimes, even for the most powerful cultivators. There had to be some special phenomena involved, something he would like to study. Perhaps he could figure out what it was as the invaders left, see what could bring them away. Then he could better prepare the world for the next time. It was unfortunate that he wouldn¡¯t be personally present for it, but even the most optimal projection for a cultivator¡¯s life span was around four centuries. Having started late, Anton thought he¡¯d be lucky to reach two or three. And with the time between cycles being potentially five or six centuries- if it was consistent- there was no way to stretch that out. At least the others might be able to influence the world after they ascended and change things from the upper realms¡­ somehow. Anton squinted, his eyes locking on a tiny speck of energy. If it was simply natural energy he might not have noticed it, but he was quite sensitive to ascension energy. The tiny bubble floated out of the city, and he formed an arrow upon his bow, launching it and himself forward. Closer, closer, and he struck- annihilating whatever went along with that piece of energy. Perhaps keeping his ability to sense it hidden would have been best, but if that had been the message itself and it got away then he would have failed. There were more. Perhaps intended to be hidden by his interaction with the other, additional motes of energy floated away from the city. It appeared to be one specific cultivator from the energy signatures, and he personally eradicated them all. Except for one, which he captured by adjusting his arrow at the last moment, grabbing onto the energy. He brought it back, containing it and sustaining it. When it was Kseniya¡¯s shift, he would make sure she was as familiar with the energy as possible. As the armies continued their advancements freeing cities, it would be a shame if any of them actually coordinated with Yedo. While they couldn¡¯t help but drive other cultivators together, Yedo was watched with enough forces to prevent any of the other cities from approaching¡­ without prior coordination, at least. Chapter 377 ¡°I found it!¡± Catarina exclaimed, well within the distance that made it plausible that she could be talking to Anton. Then again, it could also have been nearly anyone among the forces surrounding Yedo. When he caught her eye and she began to approach, Anton assumed she probably intended to address him. ¡°Congratulations. Where?¡± ¡°On the moon!¡± Catarina gestured to the sky. That raised further questions, and made Anton think perhaps they were not talking about what he thought. ¡°So you found¡­ what, exactly? I thought you were looking for a solution to¡­ this,¡± Anton glared towards Yedo. ¡°Unless you somehow returned there without me knowing?¡± There had been some plans to re-establish the teleportation formations to the moon, but that project was unlikely to have been completed in the middle of the invasion with how much was left. ¡°The answer! See, it¡¯s all about the flow of the world. We were working on that back in the mountains, it just wasn¡¯t quite right. And I just realized what we were missing.¡± Catarina took a deep breath. ¡°Can you feel it?¡± ¡°There are a great number of things I can feel,¡± Anton said. ¡°You¡¯d have to narrow it down significantly.¡± ¡°The flow. On the moon, Everheart had formations for a lot of things. Right at the end he had tons of them relating to the flow of energy.¡± ¡°You mean with those trials? Or whatever they were¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°The questions about ascension?¡± ¡°They were more than just questions. I didn¡¯t make it all the way to the end because I was inspecting everything, but I have been working with people who did. There was one set strongly attuned to the flow of ascension energy and we thought we knew what it was for. It was kind of like what was at the Chain Harmony Sect.¡± Anton just waited for her to continue her explanation. ¡°Anyway, it barely worked in the Cragtooth mountains because we had the wrong idea. Now we could make it work better how we planned, but it¡¯s kind of intense, energy-wise. But with what I found I have a solution!¡± ¡°I hope you¡¯ve discussed this with the other formation masters,¡± Anton said. ¡°They know,¡± she said. ¡°Speaking of which, we should get started.¡± ¡°Great. Just one question. Is this one of those things where you don¡¯t want to say what it does because it might not work or¡­?¡± ¡°Oh, I forgot. It¡¯ll help kick these guys out faster.¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably good,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Yeah. We have to get started though. Bye!¡± ----- Something was up at the fifty kilometer mark outside of Yedo. Fajra could sense it, though it was well outside of traditional vision. Some of this world¡¯s strongest cultivators were involved, those in Life Transformation, so the activities were notable. It was outside of the feasible attack range for most cultivators, and even Fajra herself would only be able to marginally affect things there on a wide scale. Those cultivators who had the ability were called upon to make attacks from the safety of the walls. It didn¡¯t matter what it was, any sort of formation made by the enemy was not allowed to be completed. Unfortunately the formation masters themselves were defended by the strongest members of the enemy army, and resisting attacks that were strained to their limits was something they could keep up longer than those from the upper realms. Soon enough, attacks on the cultivators were given up- though they didn¡¯t leave any completed sections as they were. It was unfortunately the case that the materials used in constructing the formation were quite durable and resistant to attacks with ascension energy. More concerningly, even without being complete something about the formation seemed to deflect their attacks. Given the limited numbers of cultivators suited for such a situation, they realized their efforts would not be sufficient. Perhaps they should move out in force to destroy the work, but there were some mitigating factors. First was that it could simply be a trick. Simple formations that looked to be part of something larger and more important precisely to draw them out. Nobody wanted to lead such an effort, and outside of their own defenses the battle would be far too¡­ fair. Was the risk worthwhile? The second factor indicated it was not. The distance required to make even a simple ring was several hundred kilometers of work. At the rate that was being done, they would not accomplish their work before the point at which the tides would change. That meant unless progress accelerated, they could simply leave before anything was finished. Upon advice from the formation masters among them, they waited and watched. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Sending someone out stealthily didn¡¯t work either. There was always someone watching, and not just watching but annoyingly able to target anything within the entire area. Two snipers, clearly making use of the same techniques. They were key targets to take out if the opportunity arose, but they never got far from the majority of the army. They simply continued to rain arrows down on them day and night without a moment of peace. It was so annoying, as she had to lower her own sensing ability to get any rest, or be constantly woken up by pins pricking in her mind. At least it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to maintain the formation. They had plenty of energy to spare for that. At the current rate of damage nobody would even die. Not that it would ultimately make a difference. There was only one possible result for those who resisted people from the upper realms, and this city had been quite a pain to conquer. The rest of those involved¡­ well, perhaps they wouldn¡¯t immediately have retribution visited upon them, but things weren¡¯t going to go well for them either. Not if Fajra had anything to say about it, and she would. Along with everyone who lost their disciples. Days passed, turning into weeks. The formation was perhaps a quarter done, sections of it randomly splayed out around the city at great distance. It was nowhere near complete, and it was nearly time. Soon they would be ready to return. The plans to dismantle the city were already in place, but it needed to remain as it was until the time came. And then it happened early, and all at once. Fajra was the most sensitive to the tides as the strongest among them, and had been responsible for protecting a large group as they descended. All it really required was following the flow of the tides, and while the reverse was somewhat more energy intensive most of the effort wouldn¡¯t be on her own part. So when she found her feet lifted off the floor, Fajra was surprised. No, it couldn¡¯t be. It was too early. This wasn¡¯t the start of the flow, but the final tide. Yet she couldn¡¯t deny it either. Fajra might have been able to remain in place if she was willing to let her upper energy be ripped from her body, but there was no way that was happening. Thus, she crashed into the roof and then through it. Around her she saw the effects had come into place on the strongest first, such as the Integration cultivators. She wasn¡¯t sure quite what was going on, but Fajra was not happy. She gathered a burst of upper energy to at least destroy something on her way out, but as she thrust it towards the ground it merely rebounded towards her, shoving her further away. Results like that weren¡¯t something she was willing to test further, and then there was the issue of the others. She was being pulled ahead, and while Fajra would most certainly be fine many would not be able to breathe if they were separated from her. She wasn¡¯t responsible for all of the fools who died elsewhere, but she at least had to care for the disciples of the Radiant Beauty Sect. She stretched out her energy, wrapping it around them. Most of those present were smart enough to go outside to look at what was going on, and though her energy couldn¡¯t quite reach them they stretched out towards her and attached themselves. She pulled them closer, and they began to move into the sky. ----- The shifting of the flow of the world had indeed been happening gradually for a while, but when it finally flipped Anton felt the force of that change. The ascension energy in the area suddenly and violently was forced upwards away from the world, and Anton could tell it wasn¡¯t welcome. He could sense whatever connection he had to it was cut off for the moment, as the current turmoil disrupted even his irregular connection to that source of energy. When he saw people flying up into the air he almost didn¡¯t even think to shoot them. But as they pulled away from the defensive formations of Yedo, he started to shoot. Even if they were intentionally expelling these people from the world, he could try to take some of them out. With all of those present surrounded by bubbles of energy from the Ascension cultivators, Anton focused on disrupting the energy as much as possible. He¡¯d done the same with the one who had tried to fly and knocked him out of the air, but unfortunately this time the results weren¡¯t as good. His attacks battered against superior quantities of energy, and even if he disrupted them momentarily it wasn¡¯t enough to pierce attacks through to those inside. A few moments later Kseniya followed up with the same, having woken up at the feeling of significant changes. There had been no real warning of the timing of this event, and the formation masters were also scrabbling to augment the formation with temporary flags. The formation masters weren¡¯t actually working against Anton, but as the mass of people accelerated further into the sky he wished they¡¯d left things so he could take several more shots. He was fortunate, however, to snag a few stragglers. For whatever reason they were not in the air at the same time as the others, and some broke out of the formation before being protected. The invaders were being thrust away into the sky faster and faster, rising kilometers in a short time. At tens of kilometers they were still something he could target, and Anton found a peculiar phenomenon that the higher his arrows went the better they traveled, up to a point. Directly fighting against gravity was one difficulty, while another was simply distance from himself. As he flew along with his arrows he felt the air thinning, no longer getting in his way- but additional sources of energy disrupted his attacks- along with the massive flow of ascension energy that was going into the sky. Then the invaders were out of range, more than a hundred kilometers in the sky and riding the flow of the world¡¯s energy. A few minutes later and he couldn¡¯t feel any individuals, then he lost track of individual groups as a similar phenomenon happened slightly slower in other parts of Estary. Then¡­ they were gone. No invaders left behind, and Yedo empty. Well, not truly empty. There were still people in there. Locals. It was hard to tell how many with the defensive formations. That was the next target then, and Anton¡¯s personal disappointment that the enemy got away would have to be dealt with later. He began to charge up a shot, and Elder Sarka was eagerly charging forward as well. But the formation masters called for them to stop. ¡°You¡¯ll damage the formations! This might be our one chance to study them perfectly intact and dismantle them!¡± Catarina was the most vocal. ¡°Plus, it¡¯s energy that could be used more efficiently for something else.¡± Sarka snorted, the huge wave of fire she had prepared being shot directly into the sky. ¡°Fine. But don¡¯t take too long. We have to make sure there aren¡¯t more in there somewhere. I¡¯m going to go check on the other cities just in case.¡± Chapter 378 It was a strange loss of tension to realize that after decades of preparation and a strange few months of intense conflict that the invasion was over. So much happened in such a short time, but had it been longer the destruction would have been incalculable. Or perhaps it would be better to say no one would have been around to calculate it. As the formations around Yedo were torn down, there was much anticipation as to what they would find. It was well known that the invaders were not above slaughtering civilians, or anyone who provided the slightest resistance to their efforts. When the formation masters finished their initial work, they revealed details that made everyone breathe a collective sigh of relief that they had been stopped. The formation opened, revealing the presence of the remaining civilians. Even over the course of half a day¡¯s work they remained clustered. In hiding? Anton was one of the first to rush towards them, cautious of potential additional formations- but none came into effect. What he did find once he was able to sense inside with precision were hundreds of individuals, chained together inside a building. Even though he didn¡¯t specialize in formations, it was plainly obvious from the surroundings that they were atop a critical point of the larger defensive formation around the city. They were in surprisingly good shape. Fatigued, certainly. Many had injuries that had barely been treated. Most were exhausted. But given that they were part of a formation that likely fed on their natural energy and life force, they could have been much worse. It was a relief that they had not simply battered their way through the defenses. If they had, it was unlikely that any of the hundred in front of Anton would still be living. After a few moments of caution Anton began to tear apart their chains- sufficient to hold Body Tempering cultivators, Spirit Building¡­ and even some that held Essence Collection cultivators. Yet as Anton himself was free, he was able to make full use of his energy. There was technically some value to be had in the chains. People did need to be restrained, and the workmanship was quite good¡­ but Anton spared no thought for preserving them. Perhaps they might be re-used as scrap, but he had no intention to delay even a moment in freeing those he could. He started with the strongest, and while they certainly could have been in better shape they were able to help him begin freeing the others. ¡°Is it over?¡± an older man asked. ¡°Are they¡­ really gone?¡± ¡°They¡¯re gone,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°And they won¡¯t be back. Not within anyone¡¯s lifetime, at least.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t fully sure how long the cycles were, but he could fairly confidently say that. ¡°I¡¯m sorry we couldn¡¯t free you sooner, but¡­¡± ¡°How could you?¡± A young woman shook her head. ¡°We all felt her. That woman¡­ her power was so much more than even a Life Transformation cultivator like yourself. It was unimaginable.¡± Anton nodded slowly, ¡°That was something we couldn¡¯t have anticipated. But still,¡± he shook his head. ¡°I wish we could have made them pay for what they did.¡± In a way, the defense against the invasion had been hugely successful. The rest of the continent had performed better than they could have hoped. The losses for the invaders were great, and overall the various sects involved had lost significantly, unable to take the resources they had snatched from various places. Except in Estary, unfortunately. And while the damage to the sects as a whole should be significant, the most prominent individual got away unscathed. It didn¡¯t sit right, but nothing did. After the other locations had people freed everyone began to move towards their homes to try to meet up with loved ones. Some were successful, others were overcome by despair as they found their loved ones dead. Even if a family miraculously survived, homes and shops were destroyed, valuables looted. The destruction was not so great as it was suspected might have been intended, as they were forced away slightly earlier, but there was so much. Nobody knew where to start. Without putting any thought into it, Anton began clearing out rubble along roadways. He couldn¡¯t pick through the rubble of a building and determine what people would want to salvage, but he could make paths walkable for people to handle themselves. When he came upon people with a particular difficulty, he would lend his aid- moving beams and helping to search for trinkets of emotional significance left behind. These were found more easily with energy senses, one benefit of nearly everyone having taken up cultivation. It was unfortunate that even with their power not everyone had been able to defend themselves¡­ but they at least had a chance. That was all that Anton could hope for. And while the destruction was great, on a whole Yedo still stood. Perhaps in a short time trade would once again begin flowing through the city and throughout Estary. All of the damage and destruction would take great amounts of labor to recover¡­ but even with the lives lost each individual was capable of more than the former generation. There were enough to work the fields, to repair buildings, to cover the necessities. And compared to being alive, little else mattered. Not immediately, anyway. ----- Soon enough everyone returned to the places they were accustomed. The Order moved back to Graotan to help there, while the remaining cultivators of Estary flocked to the cities to lend their aid. Nobody thought much about it. Thought there were a few sects or organizations that strictly focused on taking care of themselves, a good majority provided their efforts wherever they could. Even in the devastation there was a sense of unity Anton hoped would never fade away. As for the total casualties, it might never be known precisely. However, the estimates ranged between a third and a half, depending on location. Sometimes more- individual towns and villages were wiped out, but others held strong and kept casualties to simply ten or twenty percent. Yet even those numbers would have been considered catastrophic losses in normal circumstances. Anton looked at what he had acquired during the conflict. Having been involved in several major battles, his share of the loot was not insignificant. Yet as he looked at armors of miraculous make and weapons that would make the best cultivators in the world drool, he could only feel disgusted. What value did they hold in their current time? Weapons and armor and rare combat techniques wouldn¡¯t feed people or shelter them. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. He did have a small pile of cultivation resources and medicines, but he had no intent to hold onto those. Marginally improving his own cultivation was of little interest to him, and people had need of them. Especially those who had survived with grievous injuries. There were many people with lost limbs or deep scars that would making living a normal life nearly intolerable. Restoring limbs was not an easy task, so Anton couldn¡¯t provide much help in that area, but helping people recover from other injuries was still possible. And he had a few medicines that he was pretty sure could help someone recover a lost limb. That wasn¡¯t an impossibility in the cultivation world, after all, though usually it took years or decades of focus along with resources and a little luck. That was what the world needed right now. To heal from its injuries. And though things were at the lowest point that they might have ever been¡­ if all of the most powerful cultivators devoted themselves to helping the recovery efforts, the scars to the world might begin to recover in just a generation or two. It certainly wouldn¡¯t be easy, but Anton was going to do it¡­ and of course he would use his influence to make everyone else he knew contribute as well. Not that anyone needed much persuading. ----- ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Anton asked, holding up a metal tube. ¡°A forearm,¡± Grant said. ¡°Or it will be.¡± Anton looked around the smith¡¯s workspace, seeing nothing in the way of weapons but instead a vast quantity of tools¡­ as well as hands and feet. Crafted, of course. ¡°Prosthetics, is it? That can certainly help.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not just prosthetics. They¡¯re replacements,¡± Grant commented. ¡°In theory. Right now most are just solid material, but this,¡± Grant held up something akin to a gauntlet with moving joints, ¡°This can function much like a normal hand would. Only for cultivators, of course. But basic functionality will be enough, and having a medium to focus your energy on is far superior to freely controlling energy. Even someone in early Body Tempering should be able to handle it if I make it light enough.¡± ¡°They won¡¯t be able to afford it though,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°So what? There are nearly unlimited shattered blades scattered about the continent, materials that can be used for anything. I don¡¯t need to do much more than keep a roof over my head and buy fuel.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good man,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°If you find anyone who¡¯s trying to profit from this situation, make sure to bop them over the head for me and tell them that the goodwill of the people will be worth more in the future. Well, profit excessively. People have to be allowed to make a way for themselves.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°All I¡¯m good for is sowing fields, and frankly I can only handle so many per day before we run out of seeds.¡± Of course, Anton didn¡¯t just farm. He would lend his strength to anything that needed it, but knowing he couldn¡¯t always be around his preferred method was to teach people to grow their own strength. That was his way of cultivation, and it was even more necessary now than it had been before. It was unfortunate that the quality of natural energy that had been building up over the years had now been destabilized, but overall it was still more than when he began cultivating, making it simple enough for people to get started. And he had decades of experience to help along those who didn¡¯t intuitively grasp what they needed to do. It was unfortunate that improving and building up wealth would lead people to want to take it, but Anton didn¡¯t believe that living in poverty to protect oneself from loss was a better way of life. Everyone should at least have the opportunity to thrive however they saw fit, if it didn¡¯t harm others. And he still firmly believed that working together for happiness would result in greater benefits to each individual than striving alone. It was just a long, difficult road with many bumps along the way. ----- Back in Ofrurg, which was more conveniently located for gathering people from around the continent, a combination of fire and ice surrounded a large chamber where elders from all over were meeting- including from Aicenith. The Frostmirror Sect had intended to depart from their occupation of the Glorious Flame Palace, and still declared that intent¡­ but the only thing they had to look forward to back at their previous location was devastation. ¡°We need to prepare the groundwork for next time,¡± Elder Sarka declared. Elder Lestari from Marvelous Rabbit Mountain frowned. ¡°It seems rather early for that, with unknown centuries before the next one.¡± ¡°Of course it is impossible to do anything specific,¡± Elder Adelina commented, ¡°But the most basic form of preparation is the one they never wanted us to have. In the previous iteration, much was done so that the memory of the invasion would not persist. That cannot be allowed. We must remember, and now is the time. It seems unfathomable that we would forget something of this magnitude, but humanity is fickle. We might remember for one generation, or two. Perhaps a century. Those from the latest generation who grow up to become Life Transformation experts might live for several centuries¡­ but that could be simply half the time until the next ¡®cycle¡¯. No, we must take active steps to ensure that the world cannot forget.¡± Elder Lestari nodded, ¡°I understand. And I think¡­ the whole world has benefited from the unity we have now. Though it is unlikely we will remain in an age of peace forever, this is perhaps the best opportunity to at least attempt to prolong it. And some sort of celebration is in order. If the whole world could unite behind a single event, a festival¡­ it might last longer.¡± ¡°That is correct,¡± Elder Vasu of the Million Sword Vault agreed. ¡°I do believe it would be best for all, a time of memory and unity. Though I unfortunately have to point out that not the whole world stood together.¡± A frown. ¡°Right. The Exalted Archipelago. But though they are not our friends¡­ some of them did share techniques and knowledge that ultimately helped lead to our successes.¡± ¡°And remembering those who aided us, even indirectly, is a wise thing to do. Just don¡¯t forget those who look at us like hungry wolves, restraining themselves only because of some pact we are not privy to.¡± ¡°You think they will break the pact?¡± Kseniya asked. ¡°I think we need to be ready for anything,¡± Vasu shrugged. ¡°We have learned more about the worlds beyond our own, but I still feel like we know nothing. None of those who ascended from this world returned¡­ with the exception of a few siding with the invaders. That must be taken into account. Our enemies might outnumber our friends.¡± Though the subjects around it were rather dismal, the talk eventually returned to celebrations. Nobody could quite agree what sort of celebrations would be appropriate. Every region had their own traditions to start with, after all. In the end, it was agreed that perhaps it was the most appropriate to do whatever felt natural, as long as everyone remembered why they were celebrating. They were celebrating resistance. Survival. Unity. And they would remember what had happened, for the sake of the generations after them. Chapter 379 With the loss of immediate threats, one might have supposed that the lack of pressure would result in cultivators taking their time with their cultivations. And perhaps they did, but only so far as they avoided using risky methods. Everyone was still eager to advance themselves, and the practical experience from battle was simply overflowing. Over the next few months and years it was more astonishing if those involved in the fighting didn¡¯t continuously step forward. People had cultivated before the invasion, of course, and the same reasons still existed. Personal power and ability, protesting others, and the simple possibility that it could be done inspired people. Not all reasons were selfless. Some were greedy, thinking about how they might take from others as had been done before. Humanity as a whole hadn¡¯t changed just because they stood united for a short time- and even then there had been betrayers like the Eternal Sword Hall. During the course of the war, due to the weakening of various sects or their complete destruction, the wild lands had broken free. Though the cultivators could claim dominion over their entire continents, wild beasts had always existed. Now they were more of a concern, with fewer available to take care of them. They could swell in numbers over the course of the next few years. Perhaps that would not be terrible, as it would redirect people¡¯s attention away from each other. That was Anton¡¯s desire at least. At some point there would be more large scale conflicts- he was resigned to that. But he would do his best to make sure they were as far off as possible. Could they manage a decade? Two? A century? The latter was a bit much, but Anton hoped for at least a full generation. ----- Every Life Transformation elder of the Order of the Ninety-Nine Stars was gathered together. There were barely more of them than Grand Elders at the current moment. Nine Grand Elders, and fifteen Life Transformation experts. Sixteen, now, with one of the recent advancements. With those numbers, it was impossible for none of the Grand Elders to be part of Anton¡¯s inner circle. There were two of them in fact. Catarina was an obvious choice. As the most prominent formation master in the sect, and vying for best in the world, it was only natural that she have a place. She was young by cultivator standards, still less than seventy years old, but cultivation talent was one of the most important factors to consider. Her understanding of formations was also an important factor when making sect-wide decisions. Anton was the other. He had tried to refuse, noting that they didn¡¯t need two archers in the position of Grand Elder. When it was brought up that it was more for his role as a teacher, he couldn¡¯t refuse. Besides, someone needed to take the position and most of the others weren¡¯t ready. Hoyt would certainly take the position of Grand Elder someday, but he wasn¡¯t ready quite yet. At some point the topic had come up of how Grand Elders might be replaced. They could always step down to allow someone else to take their place. They could be forcibly removed, though the process for that had not been needed in living memory. Finally, they could die. That had been the cause of all of the most recent changes, and was really not something that was wanted. Especially when there was technically another option. It had never happened, but was nonetheless the best option for everyone. That was for someone to ascend. Of the various Grand Elders, Zajoc was the most likely candidate. Matousek would have been there, but had perished. Zajoc was in late Life Transformation, and might even reach the peak within half a century. It might take longer, but was unlikely to be shorter than forty years even if he were quite quick. Not that anyone was in a rush to turn over more positions among the Grand Elders, but the possibility of ascension was enticing. So now, along with the Grand Elders, the other Life Transformation experts were working together to develop the last step of the Ninety-Nine Stars. Or rather, the hundredth star. It had been so long that they were known as the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars that nobody really thought that they should be the Order of One Hundred Stars. Even Vandale had not achieved ascension, though that was not because of lack of talent. Unfortunately his insights into ascension had applied only to himself, and were not sufficient to create a proper path that could be followed by those following after him. But with the insights he had shared with others, the elders Matousek and Zajoc, plus actual completed cultivation techniques courtesy of the Worthy Shore Society, they were gathered to put it together. ¡°The problem is the hundredth star can¡¯t be the same as the others, right?¡± Catarina commented. ¡°Yes. It might be possible to ignite it the same way but¡­¡± Zajoc shook his head, ¡°It would simply be another star, a dead end in cultivation. It would not be ascension, but merely a roadblock.¡± ¡°It is not a terrible surprise that the hundredth star must be something special,¡± Fodor commented. His cultivation did not quite match Zajoc, but he was significantly younger and had the potential to surpass the man before Zajoc reached the peak. ¡°It could even be so simple as forming a proper connection with ascension energy and forming it that way. In fact, I would expect that to be the standard¡­¡± ¡°Sounds awful,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°Look what happens when people like that have to fight without full access to ascension energy.¡± She traced a line across her neck, ¡°They were strong, but not as strong as they should have been.¡± ¡°There is something to be said for the differences between individual cultivators and our organization that helped with that,¡± Fodor replied, ¡°And in our case, it should not be a significant hindrance. I should imagine none of us will be involved with invading other ¡®lower realms¡¯, will we?¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Grand Elder Kseniya cleared her throat. ¡°Perhaps not. But we do not fully understand the situation there. It is unlikely that our world is the only one subject to invasions, and some of us may wish to return here to help defend during the next cycle. Reaching the optimum effectiveness there would be something to consider.¡± ¡°A fair point,¡± Fodor admitted. ¡°Yet it is still the most achievable. The ¡®Integration¡¯ stage does seem to be referring to integrating upper energy into oneself. It does not appear to be a faulty path, either, though it would have its faults. I imagine any other method would have different ones.¡± Zajoc pondered for a few moments before his next input. ¡°I think it would be proper to have notes about our doubts in that area, until we manage some method to both have people ascend and communicate back with us somehow. Perhaps that simply involves waiting for the next cycle, but practical experience will be necessary. It might then become a problem for future generations, but we should at least make our thoughts as clear as possible. That method would be the standard, and I have to admit it''s likely the method I will attempt when it is time.¡± ¡°It is unfortunate there aren¡¯t any notes from post-ascension,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I suppose if those exist, they will be jealously guarded. The Worthy Shore Society was already quite generous to share what they did with no real benefit to themselves.¡± ¡°They must want something,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Even if us being stronger was part of their goal, that can¡¯t be the end of it.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Zajoc shrugged, ¡°But it does seem that the Exalted Archipelago and those who invaded us aren¡¯t exactly friends, either. And we have found no flaws in the techniques as a whole- nothing that appears malicious, at least. Everything has some flaws. Yet I agree with the sentiment. We should consider what they wanted¡­ and whether they have it yet.¡± The discussion continued, as well as more detailed analysis of various techniques and how one might go about forming the hundredth star. If it was to be formed of ascension energy, it would have to be accessed- and not through the methods of Fleeting Youth. ----- The world almost returned to a routine, functioning as it had for many years. But things weren¡¯t exactly the same. Many positions were empty, and vacant lots littered many of the largest cities. It was a bittersweet feeling, survival at a great cost, but the celebrations of victory year after year reminded people of how things could have been. It was difficult, remembering everything that had been lost. Yet the focus was not on that, or even how things could have been. It was about everyone left, and the refusal to admit defeat. The time for memory was there, and great memorials were erected in the honor of the fallen. Some places also promoted heroes, the greatest warriors who helped defeat the invaders. Anton didn¡¯t discourage such displays, but he did his best to remind everyone that it couldn¡¯t have been done without the common folk, the city militias and everyday people who joined in the fight. The times of memories didn¡¯t just focus on the war. It became a time to remember anyone who had been lost, at least for many. Anton remembered Vandale, dying in an attack on the Order. That memory was ultimately a good one, as the man saved many others with his efforts. There were others, ranging from the strongest cultivators Anton had known who died in various wars all the way down to the people of Dungannon, who had not a single cultivator among them and had no real power to defend themselves. The ache of their deaths had faded but would never completely go away- yet Anton used it to remind himself of why he was doing what he did. He continued to promote cultivation in everyone. Not just that, but the ideas of the common folk fighting and standing up for themselves. That it was possible with a little power to gather together against those with great power. It was difficult still, but he hoped it gave people a choice. And if it made great cultivation sects and clans think more carefully about how they acted, all the better. ----- With the prompting thoughts of the gathering of the elders to complete the One Hundred Stars, Anton thought about his own cultivation. Over the past few years it had been advancing as expected, a few years per star. He didn¡¯t know what he might need power for. Yet he couldn¡¯t imagine in his lifetime there wouldn¡¯t be something. Even if it was to care for his grandchildren¡­ many generations deep- to the latest generation from Annelie and Anish. Wolter, Lucas, Gudrun¡­ it seemed like so many, but in fact they only had a child every few years and were rather conservative with it even after the war. Even if he didn¡¯t ever have to fight again- something he could wish for but never truly believe- Anton¡¯s cultivation would not remain stagnant. He helped others grow, and in turn it was the same with himself. There were always things that cultivation could do to improve any profession or craft, and Anton wanted to make sure that thought was never forgotten. He didn¡¯t want people to slip back into complacency, though he couldn¡¯t really influence the whole of two continents himself. But he could influence some individuals, and they would in turn spread his ideas to some extent. As his cultivation surpassed seventy stars, Anton had to consider that he would potentially reach the peak of Life Transformation. That was still decades away, and he still had to surpass the hurdle of the 77th star, the eight prime tempering. Twenty-three more from there and the sum of the first nine primes would end at one hundred. A long time away, yet he was in Life Transformation. If he failed to attempt contemplating reaching the next stage until he reached the end, he would certainly never accomplish it. Ascension was impossible of course. Anton understood that, but he was in the process of confirming it. There was some chance that Everheart was wrong, and that all of his intuition was swayed by his trust in the man¡­ but as much as Everheart wasn¡¯t someone he would trust in the traditional sense, nobody ever held onto the idea that he didn¡¯t know what he was doing with techniques, no matter how much they disliked them or how forbidden they were for various reasons¡­ they still worked. Yet talking with the projection, there had been one comment. He couldn¡¯t achieve ascension, but maybe he could do something better? That stuck with him, because as much as he was content at the moment- and had accepted he could die of old age in time- he wouldn¡¯t mind having more time to do something. Especially if it became necessary. So searching before it was too late seemed to be the right option. For the moment Anton only had vague ideas, but he had decades to figure something out. Or not. Chapter 380 Atop the peak where the Order made its home, Anton felt secure enough to devote his attention and energy fully to a single task. It was something he had done before, but he now had a different purpose. Each meter he raised himself up with his own energy was one that he was closer to the worlds beyond, though in truth that portion didn¡¯t go as far as he wanted. Even with a majority of his energy brought to bear creating a pillar beneath him, he was only able to raise himself a few kilometers into the sky. It wasn¡¯t flight, and extremely unpractical in battle for many reasons. Anyone could simple break the energy beneath him and cause him to drop down, though ultimately a fall from any height would not be something Anton was afraid of. It was also slow, and as Anton was focusing on increasing the distance as far as possible he took even longer. A portion of his energy was still reserved for something else, and even though it was lesser it was much more important. It was only a thin strand of energy perhaps a tenth of his total instead of half, but that was far more than he would normally use for sensing. He wanted to extend himself to his absolutely limits away from the world. The atmosphere was already somewhat thin around Anton atop the peak. Raising himself higher made some difference, but the majority of the distance was overcome by the tendril of energy, making his pillar almost pointless. It brought him at most a few percent further than he could have felt. Beyond the highest mountains, air rapidly thinned around the world. The dominant effect became the power of the sun, beating down on the world below. Yet beyond that was what Anton was seeking. The flow of the worlds beyond had some connection to their world even now, and he had some sense of ascension energy beyond the world. His senses could extend a hundred kilometers within the atmosphere, more or less. He could stretch further and be less precise. Without the air in the way it seemed like it would be easier, but he actually found that the direct power of the sun was more disruptive. But he held his energy stable through that disruption, reaching further. Ascension energy didn¡¯t gather closer to the planet, but it also wasn¡¯t terrible far. He began to sense it only the tiniest fraction of the way to the next celestial body, though if it had been any further perhaps he might not have been able to reach it. When he touched it, he expected the free energy to ignore him like everything before. Instead, it attacked as if it had a mind of its own. The energy tore along the tendril he had extended from himself, angrily reaching for him. He naturally recoiled, but he could only withdraw his energy slightly slower than the ascension energy trailed behind, gobbling it up. While the full extension of his senses had taken quite some time, it was only an instant before the returning shock hit him. He reflexively coated himself in defensive energy, but as he was struck by the force of the incoming energy his pillar beneath him was easily sundered, the forceful waves of energy disrupting his control. The only thing Anton could do was guide the direction of his fall¡­ away from the observatory to a relatively bare patch of the mountain. The earth tore apart as he landed, creating a crater around him. He carefully checked over his body, grateful to find no serious wounds. His head and spine were fine, at least. Maybe a few breaks in other places. ¡°Fuzz, halt!¡± an order came from nearby right before a giant wolf might have leapt onto him. Alva was the one chasing after him, and at her command he came to a screeching stop. He did take a single step forward and lick Anton¡¯s face, but at least he didn¡¯t step on him. ¡°What happened grandpa? Is it an attack?¡± Alva ran up, and it seemed that others had taken notice as well. ¡°No, I¡¯m fine.¡± He stood up carefully, brushing himself off. ¡°I was testing something. The results were somewhat different than anticipated.¡± Anton had expected the free ascension energy to be difficult to control. That was a given. What he hadn¡¯t expected was hostility. Yet it was all too easy to figure out the source. Something about Fleeting Youth had marked him. Just to be certain, he called upon a small mote of ascension energy away from his body, feeling how it was different. He had never been entirely clear on the source as it didn¡¯t really seem to come from anywhere, yet it also had to. If he had to explain it, it would be reaching inside himself to draw it forth. In fact, something about the technique said something along those lines. It simply wasn¡¯t this self. Instead, it was one that might have existed. And something about the free ascension energy was not having it. That might not be the only obstacle to ascension, but it was one that he was now much clearer on. Perhaps if he could see how it reacted to others he could confirm it, but on some level he knew. Not that he had doubted Everheart. The man was a genius, able to create techniques that were nearly flawless without even practicing it himself. Not actually flawless, but certainly quite impressive. And the practical advice for training Fleeting Youth had been basically nonexistent, obviously. The side effects had been well predicted, though, and Anton really hadn¡¯t expected anything else. Everheart was big on consequences and sacrifice, which were one of the central cores of what made techniques forbidden. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Anton spent some time calming down others. He wasn¡¯t going to try this particular stunt again. He wondered if being up in the air had helped or hurt, since having some time to decelerate was good, but in the end it hardly mattered. He might have accepted his eventual death, but he wasn¡¯t suicidal. He wouldn¡¯t try to touch the free floating ascension energy again without a very good reason. Yet there was something else nagging at the back of his mind. Some insight he hadn¡¯t quite grasped. He didn¡¯t want to repeat the process, as he had no way to guarantee it would maintain a survivable level of violence. Still, he couldn¡¯t shake the thought. Maybe over the following years he would be able to understand it somehow. ----- Years crept by. Stability throughout the continent- and between the two- was not guaranteed. Individual sects still had grudges and rivals, despite having shared a common enemy for a time. Yet most people were focused inward, on rebuilding and growing. Squabbles over resources were inevitable, but as long as it was mainly posturing and not armed conflict things were well enough. It was the vested interest of many to keep things stable, as outside conflicts might involve them if they grew too much. Mediators were able to work between the various groups to keep things relatively peaceful. For the time of a decade things were relatively peaceful. Then two, as children who had grown up without war became adults. Yet the signs still remained. Barren pieces of earth. Sects that had once stood tall and proud wiped from the earth. Fewer than there could have been, but the damage remained. Those who had been working to restore the world began to reap the rewards of their efforts- improved natural energy in the bounds of their territory. Some were loathe to share it, once more creating formations to localize it to a single area. Others grew jealous of the prosperity of their neighbors. Yet peace was maintained on a whole. Then a single ship made its way towards the western shores of Ambati. The style was unfamiliar to most, grand in design yet eminently practical. The speed at which it approached was a matter of concern, however, as well as the power of the cultivators on it. Life Transformation. No longer so large a concern as they might have once been, but a coalition of five such cultivators represented a power similar to some of the higher ranking clans. Not those at the top, but it was unlikely that this was the full force they could bring to bear. The protectors of the harbor gathered together, scrounging up two Life Transformation experts while sending messages to request backup. The ship did not slow as it approached, nor did it try to deviate from its trajectory. It only slowed at the last moment so that it did not collide with the docks, though all five of the Life Transformation experts leapt off before it came to a stop. The forces arranged around the harbor took a defensive stance, the woman and a man who were only prepared to match a small force standing in front. Warnings should have come from the other harbors to the north or south. Was the ship so swift that they could outpace other communication or¡­? ¡°Who approaches Ambati?¡± the woman asked carefully. Despite the intensity of their energy, the five did not seem to be attacking, merely ready to respond. ¡°We come from the Exalted Archipelago,¡± a man at the fore declared. His words were understandable, but slightly awkward in intonation. He offered no more information. The two from Ambati exchanged glances. They had heard of this group, though indirectly. If it were really them, they were responsible for a good portion of the knowledge that had been circulating in the last handful of decades. Yet it had also been said that there were many unfriendly sects among them. ¡°What are your intentions?¡± the female commander asked. ¡°It is our understanding that there is an agreement of some sort preventing the Exalted Archipelago from attacking the continents¡­ and to our knowledge there has been no offense from our side.¡± The man at the head of the five nodded. ¡°Good. You are sufficiently informed. Despite our looks, our trip is one of peace, though with a bit of haste. Being seen here at this time would be complicated, so we don¡¯t have long. We¡¯re only here to leave a message.¡± The man tossed forward a rolled scroll. ¡°We thought that perhaps someone might like to know.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid that is all we can say. Perhaps even too much, despite how many open questions it leaves. I trust you will be able to disseminate this information to those who need to know?¡± ¡°... Yes. We can spread word throughout Brogora.¡± The woman looked at the scroll, which was firmly sealed. ¡°How do we open this. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that other place. What was it called again?¡± ¡°... Aicenith?¡± ¡°Yes, that one,¡± the man nodded. By that point the ship had stopped next to the docks, though it had made a half turn to face out to sea. ¡°You¡¯ll need a formation master to open that scroll. We¡¯d best be off. We have other things to attend to. Good luck, I suppose.¡± With that, they leapt back onto their ship, a wave of their combined energy forcing it to pick up speed almost instantaneously. Shouted questions after them were either unheard or ignored. ¡°I think¡­¡± said the commander, ¡°That we have people to talk to.¡± They wouldn¡¯t be far away, either. The fastest messengers could reach nearby groups within a handful of minutes, and if people took their call for help seriously they should have a response already on the way. Yet that was uncomfortably long to wait. ----- The scroll passed through dozens of hands in a short time, with people gathering together to try to make sense of it. Once the right group of formation masters got their hands on it it was easily opened, though there was little information to be gained. It was only a single word all by itself with no context. Pact. Then the scroll incinerated itself. Chapter 381 It only took the most meager amount of insight to guess what the message meant. The group from the Exalted Archipelago showed up, and a single word said everything necessary. There were some possible interpretations that could be made, but the basic idea was simple. The pact was up in flames. Perhaps that part of it was not literal, and it simply meant the pact was gone or retracted. The difference would be the stability of the region, but the general importance was the same. Messengers had already been sent throughout the continent- and through the teleportation platforms to Aicenith. There would be much discussion in the future, but for the moment the Order was meeting alone. ¡°This possibility had been considered previously,¡± Grand Elder Matousek said morosely. ¡°We simply didn¡¯t have the information to know how it might happen.¡± ¡°It was not a quick process, I think,¡± Kseniya noted. ¡°The invasion was decades ago, yet the message was delivered with haste. That seems to be another relevant part of the message. Along with the¡­ secrecy.¡± ¡°It hardly seems secret to show up with a great ship and mighty force and tell everyone to spread the word,¡± Fodor pointed out. Matousek grinned, ¡°Perhaps not, but it is not us they were keeping the secret from, was it? Besides, by their standards¡­ maybe that was the bare minimum to make up a squad. Either way, the fact that they did not reveal anything but being from the Exalted Archipelago shines some light. We have determined that they were likely from the Worthy Shore Society, with whom we had previous fruitful interactions. The word must eventually get out but¡­ perhaps they simply required plausible deniability.¡± Matousek looked to Anton and Catarina, ¡°You were among those who visited. What can you say of the Worthy Shore Society, or the Exalted Archipelago as a whole? It has been some time since I delved into the specific reports.¡± ¡°They were strong,¡± Anton noted. ¡°At the time we estimated they had somewhere between twenty-five hundred and three thousand of them. Not terribly great in number, but with at least twenty Life Transformation cultivators their ratios of higher ranking cultivators were much better than ours. Which is understandable, given the knowledge they had access to.¡± ¡°And that was almost forty years ago,¡± Matousek frowned, ¡°With time to grow and no catastrophe, they could have twice those numbers easily. Maybe triple.¡± Catarina shook her head, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be sure about that. The Exalted Archipelago certainly had some impressive knowledge and resources, but¡­ they have been in a stable state, presumably for at least a cycle. I would estimate their growth is less than what we have here. The problem is how many sects were a match for them. We were wise to ask for information on the makeup of the Exalted Archipelago long ago. Though we can¡¯t expect it to be totally accurate, we can actually make some reasonable predictions.¡± Catarina thought for a few moments. ¡°Presuming they were stagnant would be foolish, but they should not have undergone the rapid growth we have here on the continents. After the invasion we have more than recovered, and even raised most of a new generation of Life Transformation cultivators. As for whether we match them¡­ it is unclear. But we would have no trouble destroying the invaders if they came again with the same armies.¡± ¡°That seems a bit overconfident,¡± Kseniya said, ¡°Though it is true our numbers have more than doubled since then. Many have flocked to the Order and other sects as they find themselves limited in their everyday life.¡± ¡°I truly doubt the initial attack would get through our defenses now,¡± Catarina explained. ¡°And of course, we have the practical experience. As for fighting others from our world, unfortunately our advantage is greatly diminished. The Exalted Archipelago made use of natural energy still. We also lack the advantage of preparations on a continental scale.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°People might be reluctant to fight together. Though we¡¯ve been doing our best to keep people friendly. Ambati will be the first target¡­ or perhaps somewhere on the east of Aicenith. They could easily target either.¡± ¡°Who knows how long we have to prepare¡­¡± Matousek frowned. ¡°Our plans for this were merely theoretical, since we hoped the pact would continue. The invasion was over twenty years ago, but I can think of no other possible cause. Perhaps we were¡­ too successful.¡± ¡°It could be,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°And twenty years might seem long, but one would imagine the politics of ascended individuals could be¡­ frustratingly glacial. I already feel the years slipping away like sand and I am not even a hundred and seventy yet. They might have lived twice as long¡­ or more, who could say?¡± ¡°There¡¯s another factor to consider,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°Communication. How did they receive word from the¡­ ¡®upper realms¡¯ that the pact was annulled? Sending a message might be easier than entering and leaving, but they could have had to wait for the right moment.¡± ¡°Perhaps a combination of both, then,¡± Matousek shrugged. ¡°On the topic of messages, there have been some recent developments in that field, have there not?¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°During the invasion it was extremely inconvenient to have communications be limited. The most recent iteration is the best.¡± Zajoc furrowed his brow, ¡°If I recall correctly, it involved teleporting pieces of paper?¡± ¡°That was the early stuff,¡± Catarina commented, ¡°Terribly inefficient. It could only go from one specific location to one other. Well, we still have some in place but we have something better.¡± Catarina pulled out a message plate, about the size of her hand with outspread fingers. Each letter of the alphabet was inscribed on it. ¡°These still have limitations, as they are paired to another sending stone, but¡­¡± she pulled out another one. As she tapped her fingers the letters lit up on both simultaneously, ¡°Instant communication, over any distance. It requires someone to be paying attention, of course, so we generally start with some sort of alert.¡± Catarina just dragged her palm back and forth across the whole surface, lighting up everything as she did so and making easy to sense fluctuations in the natural energy around either. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Impressive,¡± Zajoc nodded. ¡°How would these best be utilized? By scouts?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the main idea, yes. They could be much further out to provide enough advance warning for groups to converge on a location.¡± ¡°I like it, but¡­ what stops the enemy from taking them and distributing false information?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ an issue that has been raised before,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°Unfortunately to make them significantly more secure requires significantly more rare and expensive materials to hold under the complexity of formations. If it were something easy like exploding in the hands of ascended cultivators¡­¡± Catarina shrugged, ¡°Simple. But the best we have is tying them to specific individuals or cultivation methods, both of which have their flaws. The former, if an individual dies it¡¯s unusable without reconstructing it. But at least it¡¯s secure. The latter makes it easier to emulate what is required and fake it. We¡¯ve done some testing on that.¡± ¡°What about codes?¡± Zajoc asked. ¡°Those have been used to keep messages secret for a long time.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not perfect either, and slow things down¡­ but we¡¯ve been working on them. They¡¯re not finalized yet, and we¡¯d have to coordinate with those outside our direct alliances to make it truly useful. But if we have a few months¡­ maybe just one, we can reach an acceptable point.¡± Matousek nodded. ¡°Good. Those can be made use of on scouting ships, at least. Even if the Exalted Archipelago has superior sailing capabilities, they probably can¡¯t eliminate an entire ship before it can send a message¡­¡± Matousek looked hard at Anton and Kseniya. ¡°They¡¯d have to be even better snipers than us,¡± Kseniya admitted. ¡°Which would be difficult.¡± Anton followed up, ¡°Even if I reached the peak of Life Transformation, a Life Transformation cultivator would still be able to react. Or a good handful of Essence Collection. And if they don¡¯t know about the messaging plates, they might simply attempt to stop more traditional methods. Visual signals, messenger animals¡­ survivors.¡± ----- With no knowledge of exactly when problems might arise, there was a scramble of activity. Yet Anton found himself without anything productive to do. His main efforts took effect over a long scale of time. He still thought they were valuable, but he couldn¡¯t just throw together messaging plates or formations or even siege weaponry like Grant could. He¡¯d also run into an issue with the seventy-seventh star. The last Prime Tempering before the end. He¡¯d been stagnant in his cultivation for a handful of years, even. As roadblocks went it was one most people didn¡¯t even have the chance to get stuck against, so he couldn¡¯t really complain. Breaking through to Life Transformation had required attuning himself to a type of energy. In a way, it was the precursor to Ascension where a cultivator did something similar with ¡®upper energy¡¯, but in the case of Life Transformation it involved tying tightly to a small subcategory of energy. Many attuned to elements long before, but it was narrower than even simply ¡®fire¡¯ for the Glorious Flame Palace. Anish focused on flames that were obedient to his will, burning what he chose and nothing else. Anton had attuned to the power of the sun, the closest and in a way most powerful star. It had elements of fire and light, but also consuming power. There was some element of risk involved in the process, though Anton had completed his breakthrough with a balance within himself. The midpoint of Life Transformation was proving to be more difficult, not because Anton had no idea what sort of power he wanted, but how to use it. Oh, he knew he wanted to help others. He was quite glad of his role as a teacher, but his area was somehow too broad. Improving everyone¡¯s live through teaching cultivation, advancing the world¡­ nothing was wrong with any of those. He was even being effective. But it didn¡¯t ignite the right spark to let him break through. He¡¯d first gone to Kseniya. She had managed to keep just ahead of him, and in fact rather smoothly transitioned past the Prime Tempering. Her focus was on being the foremost archer in the world. That was the best way she could explain it, anyway. ¡°You understand, of course,¡± she had said. ¡°Do I want others to learn archery? Absolutely. Do I want to teach them? Certainly. But I¡¯m not really good at it, and it¡¯s not my passion. You have already rewritten every technique I¡¯ve created for the Order and made them much more widely accessible. I¡¯m not sure I could ever have done that. But I can strive to reach the peak of understanding in my particular way. Your talent is perhaps greater than mine in that area, but I doubt the same path is suited for you.¡± Anton agreed. But just considering the differences between them didn¡¯t change his ability to advance to the next step. One issue was that he simply didn¡¯t need more power to accomplish his goals. While each star would continue to come with improvements to his lifespan¡­ he didn¡¯t even really care about that. It was only an indirect benefit. The possibility of an approaching crisis certainly made him more motivated, but Anton didn¡¯t find himself any closer to finding the right path for the Prime Tempering. If he chose the wrong one he could achieve mediocre results that wouldn¡¯t really help his combat power¡­ or if something was forced he might harm himself or die. That was a result that had happened to some impatient cultivators in his lifetime, though details were difficult to collect. Sects didn¡¯t exactly publicize failures, and instead such cultivators gradually faded from memory unless they caused a commotion at their end. Perhaps it simply didn¡¯t matter. In a short time Anton would still be in mid Life Transformation. A breakthrough would come with a not insignificant increase in power, but would hardly influence the outcome of a war on the whole. He would fight regardless, and do his best to maintain the world he had been fighting for. He might hope that the Exalted Archipelago would be less dangerous than the invasion¡­ but considering that they weren¡¯t cut off from information entirely like the invaders, it seemed unlikely they would underestimate the continents in the same way. And in turn, it was better for the continents not to overestimate themselves. Everyone would be needed. It might be time to call in some favors, though the majority of people who owed Anton would already be simple to convince to provide proper support for a potential war¡­ or whatever it might be. Whatever it was, they couldn¡¯t afford to show weakness. Chapter 382 There was a sense of panic that spread out as the looming threat of war returned. In a way it was more problematic because of the uncertainty behind it. There was no guarantee of when, where, or even if there would be a war. But there could be, and people didn¡¯t just revoke pacts preventing them from going to war unless they meant to take advantage of that fact. Yet months had passed with no further sightings of ships from the Exalted Archipelago, and it was impossible to remain on high alert forever. For the moment there was an agreement to have ships patrolling the borders closest to the Exalted Archipelago, though it was possible that people would soon grow tired of financing an effort that didn¡¯t appear to be protecting them. Ambati would no doubt feel more secure, but as much as fleets patrolling to the west would protect the entire continent of Brogora, it wouldn¡¯t seem like that to those who didn¡¯t share the borders. Plans were under way to attempt to scout the Exalted Archipelago, but even the ¡®friendly¡¯ portion where the Worthy Shore Society was might be a risk to approach. Even if others didn¡¯t spot them coming, the Worthy Shore Society would already understand what they wanted to know and had chosen not to reveal more, likely to protect themselves. With the topic of naval combat arising, Anton had been inspired to visit Paradise. Not because he thought the giant creature would interfere with battles between locals- even if it would, he wouldn¡¯t want to risk it taking the wrong side- but because he had some free time before he was going to set out for a deployment among the sea scouts. And as he¡¯d continued to cultivate over the decades, he began to understand how strong inspiration could be, some sort of intuition about a path forward. The existence of teleportation formations between the continents had done nothing to reduce the number of ships traveling back and forth. After all, the expenses of the formations meant that they were only efficient in terms of time. Storage bags still had to be taken into account for how much they could transport, and thus the slower sea routes were still efficient for shipping large quantities of goods of any kind. Trade had only been increasing as people began to understand the extent of the different resources that they could offer each other, and merchants were glad to make use of the opportunities available. As the knowledge about the other continent had been intentionally severed the cycle before, the new trade routes were barely getting started. It was simple enough to get a ride on a ship that would be going past Paradise, with the old turtle being back on his route. Paradise was still considered lucky, so even if it took them a day or two out of their way most ships were happy to do it. It seemed that ships that took a stop at paradise had a higher chance of arriving successfully at their destination, and while those taking the southern routes didn¡¯t have the chance the northern route had a steady flow. Given Paradise¡¯s predilection to occasionally dive under the sea, permanent structures upon his back took more work to put into place. They weren¡¯t impossible of course- plants managed to thrive upon his shell. It simply took extra work, and the Island Tenders were reluctant to add too much. When he landed, Anton saw that the ranks of the Island Tenders had swelled significantly. Before it was just a loose group of individuals dedicated to taking care of the area, but it had developed into a proper sect, with their own techniques. Anton could sense the five central ¡®hills¡¯ were occupied by them, while the four on either side had room for visiting cultivators. The port was at the front, nestling atop the shell where a number of movable docks usually stood. When Paradise dove sections of them could be removed so that they would not have to deal with the lifting drag of the dive. ¡°Grand Elder Anton,¡± the captain of the ship spoke as Anton departed. ¡°Will you be continuing on with us afterwards?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°No, I am not sure how long I will take, after which I will be heading back to Brogora.¡± ¡°Good luck with your cultivation, then,¡± the man bowed his head. ¡°And you as well,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Make sure to keep practicing your domain control.¡± After taking in the people and the changes to the island, Anton focused on why he was present. At least, one of the reasons. Perhaps there was another layer he didn¡¯t understand yet, but there was something obvious to look over first. Paradise was strong. World-alteringly strong, in fact. It was well known that humans followed different rules from beasts, but with proper cultivation humans could overcome most beasts, even those with strong bodies and the use of natural energy. Yet there were many exceptions, with the most notable examples being from the ocean which was relatively untamed. It was easier to support a large form in the sea, and natural energy took that to the extreme. That was the part that interested Anton. Because while Paradise had power beyond the strength of a Life Transformation cultivator, he only used natural energy. A massive amount of it, but there had to be something behind that. It was already known where it came from. The ecosystem on his back provided much of it, but that couldn¡¯t be all of it. After all, Anton had stood in areas with greater concentrations of natural energy, but that didn¡¯t mean he could use all of it. On previous trips he hadn¡¯t paid much attention to the underside of the shell. Not what was inside- the main body of the creature- as sensing the internals of a living creature was quite difficult. Instead, all the way around and underneath on the belly. It seemed to be somewhat smoother, though Anton could have blamed that on faulty recollections. He thought that might be worth exploring, though before he did anything else he should at least check in with the Island Tenders. He was planning to stay for at least a few days, and as a Grand Elder of the Order it would be rather rude to not at least acknowledge the controlling sect in the area. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He made his way directly uphill to the frontmost location. He had considered it a mere formality, but as he arrived a disciple came up to him. ¡°Grand Elder Anton? Of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton replied. ¡°The Island Head would like to meet with you, if it is convenient.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Where should I go?¡± ¡°The central hill,¡± the woman said, handing him a token that radiated some natural energy. ¡°I¡¯m sure you can find your way once you are close, but I can guide you if you wish.¡± ¡°I will do just fine without guidance, thank you,¡± Anton inclined his head. He had no need to refuse the guidance, but he could already sense his destination¡­ and since there was a message waiting for him, he could assume the Island Head had likewise sensed him. A pretty decent range, but of course this was the territory of the Island Tenders so it was to be expected. He took the low route between the ¡®hills¡¯ so he would not have to go up and down so much- or directly past residences and the structures the sect had set up. When he reached the center he found an open pagoda where the Island Head waited. ¡°I thought you said you weren¡¯t making any permanent structures,¡± Anton commented. ¡°Times change,¡± Erin shrugged. ¡°And we have to live somewhere. Most things are made from bamboo anyway. They¡¯re not the weighty structures everyone has back on the continents. And¡­ we did need to take in weaker disciples. Protected shelters were necessary for that. I think the formations are based off of the Luminous Ocean Society¡¯s work.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°So, you are the Island Head now?¡± he said as he sat on one of the benches. ¡°I sort of fell into the role of leadership. Someone had to do it, and without direction we would just be a bunch of people living on a turtle. That was fine for a while, but we¡¯ve needed to formalize things a bit.¡± ¡°Why call me over?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I understand I¡¯m a Grand Elder, but I didn¡¯t come here specifically for any sort of diplomatic interaction.¡± ¡°That¡¯s simple, you were one of the people who found Paradise,¡± she gestured around them. ¡°It would be a shame to miss you.¡± ¡°Is this another one of those fortune things?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It could be. But part of it is also maintaining relations with a powerful acquaintance. I see your cultivation has continued to improve.¡± ¡°Mostly,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Though my cultivation has hit a roadblock recently.¡± ¡°And you chose to come here. You aren¡¯t just passing through, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure how long I¡¯ll stay. Maybe I won¡¯t learn much of anything. Though you should know more about Paradise than anyone else, so maybe you can help me figure out why I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°Ah, one of those things. Well, where do you want to start?¡± ¡°I wish I knew,¡± Anton answered honestly. ¡°I suppose I might as well start with something probably unrelated. I noticed that Paradise¡¯s underside felt¡­ smoother? I could be imaging it though.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s simple,¡± Erin nodded. She gestured to a strange lounging chair nearby, which seemed to have been made from two large shells jointed together. ¡°The barnacles on Paradise had grown unreasonably large. It was determined that at a certain size they were no longer contributing to the ecosystem but instead detracting from it¡­ and providing significant drag as well. So we began to remove them. This is one of the larger and more interesting varieties that we have found and it seemed a shame to just destroy them.¡± ¡°You swim underneath Paradise?¡± Anton asked. ¡°That¡¯s right. Only the stronger of us, of course. The speed isn¡¯t an issue directly, but it¡¯s quite a distance underwater to the center. Want to try it?¡± ¡°Perhaps another time,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°It was just idle curiosity. I would be interested if you have any understanding of how Paradise makes use of all of his power¡­ though of course that might be a sect secret.¡± ¡°It is not particularly secret. We don¡¯t spread the word, but the information isn¡¯t sensitive either. It can¡¯t really be misused. He¡¯s just¡­ big. It¡¯s not really more difficult for him to control the natural energy close around his body than it is for you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Anton thought for a few moments. ¡°I suppose a larger dantian and meridians would be only natural. Though controlling unrefined energy seems as if it should be more difficult.¡± Erin nodded slowly, ¡°In truth, we don¡¯t get that many opportunities to observe Paradise in action. Only a few times since the invasion has he done anything of note. But¡­¡± she swirled a bit of natural energy around her finger, ¡°I¡¯d say it still follows that same rule. He¡¯s large enough to have great stores of his own energy supported within his body, so he can control more outward. Not really something most cultivators can aspire to. Size also doesn¡¯t seem to be a factor on the human scale.¡± ¡°I was hoping for more than just that he¡¯s big, has a lot of natural energy, and can use it,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But perhaps that¡¯s a bit unfair.¡± ¡°Perhaps you might discover more during your time here,¡± Erin pointed out. ¡°And there is some of our training that might benefit you. We generally avoid overusing the natural energy here¡­ but we do have some techniques that empower us here.¡± ¡°That seems like it might be secret.¡± ¡°The full details, certainly,¡± Erin admitted. ¡°But knowing we can do it¡­ well, it¡¯s not strange that a sect would have an advantage in their own territory. Even if we¡¯re just tenants for a giant turtle.¡± ¡°Tenants?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I like that. You have to take care of the land and pay him his due. I¡¯d like to think we do much the same on the continent, though without a giant turtle that can eat us if we screw it up. Specifically natural energy¡­ it doesn¡¯t just belong to whoever owns the land. At least, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s useful to think of it like that anymore, even if some always will.¡± Anton slowly spread out his senses to encompass the whole of Paradise. It was difficult to take in as just one thing, but that difficulty stimulated thoughts. Whether any of them would lead to practical improvements in his cultivation or a way to break through Anton didn¡¯t know, but it was a worthwhile effort nonetheless. Chapter 383 The afternoon found Anton traipsing through a nice bamboo forest. He couldn¡¯t really just sit around forever, but when asking for something to do the Island Tenders had little to offer him. Aside from seasonal planting and daily tending which they had well under control, there was nothing that could use his input. They had the responsibility of overseeing that nobody took too many of the local resources, but an outsider was even less able to help with that part. Everything was already taken care of, and while he could use his energy to feel his way around the back of Paradise, visiting with his body felt more personal. He also hoped that moving to different locations might provide some insight into how things were the way they were. But unfortunately whatever he might find was too¡­ diffuse. Spread out over a large area, it was difficult to notice any oddities. Quickly, at least. Anton wouldn¡¯t mind spending a few years atop Paradise, exploring every nook and cranny of his shell, but while he had some time, he doubted it would be that long before there was something important for him to get involved with. He didn¡¯t want to be so far away at that time. Instead, he had allotted himself a month or so, nothing hardline because cultivation couldn¡¯t be held to a strict schedule, but not too long. As impressive as the bamboo forest was, with towering stalks surrounding him, what was more impressive was that they had only been planted several days prior. Everything grew quickly atop Paradise, the abundance of natural energy happily entwining with the local plants. At a certain point that growth slowed, then stopped- not because it couldn¡¯t theoretically continue, but because there was no more space. Without any animals or insects living on the island, the plants weren¡¯t eaten. The only way they spread was through winds and water- and more recently human intervention. It was impossible to avoid comparing Paradise to the Grandfather Willow back on the mainland. Both were entities of great power, though there was much less intentionality about the Grandfather Willow. It could be controlled by those who knew what they were doing, but there was no recognition by it. Even those who lived among its hanging branches for years would be snapped up by it reflexively if they did not match their energy properly. Conversely, Paradise was an active creature, seeking out food- and threats. Though generally uninteractive with humans, there was a vague sort of friendliness or at least a comforting disinterest. ----- The next week Anton took Erin up on her offer to swim beneath Paradise. He felt he had explored enough, and found nothing of particular use. He was quite certain there was more to Paradise¡¯s power than simply size, but he didn¡¯t quite understand it. More exploration might help trigger the right thoughts¡­ and it would at least be interesting. There wasn¡¯t much more to what they were doing than simple walking to the edge of Paradise and stepping off into the water- though they had to either keep themselves anchored to Paradise or remember to swim. He wasn¡¯t particularly fast most of the time, but when unattached the movement relative to the surrounding water became obvious. After Erin explained what to do- speaking underwater wasn¡¯t exactly effective- they dropped down into the water. There was actually a sizable distance on the lip of the shell to swim down before they were underneath, and towards the edges there was little of interest. Further in, however, they began to come into contact with the things Anton had sensed. There were giant barnacles, vaguely round and with sufficient size for a human to squeeze into their opening. It seemed likely they had to feed on more than just the extremely small particles of life that dotted the oceans, potentially fish or larger creatures. Even if they somewhat sustained themselves off of natural energy, they would need more, especially if they had to compete with others. Then there were the mussels, which had actually stood out to Anton more. They were like great black coffins, sticking directly off of the belly. Not that there were terribly many of either at the moment. Erin was already popping them off of Paradise¡¯s shell, and Anton slid a large blade he¡¯d been given beneath the edge of one of the barnacles. He could feel the drain the thing was causing on Paradise. Not really significant by itself, but along with the larger ones adding potentially a hundred kilograms of weight¡­ it seemed like it could be a problem. They also didn¡¯t seem to be contributing anything in return, though the Island Tenders left the smaller ones around so they could observe that. The first popped off relatively easily, but the second gave Anton more trouble. He had to gather a good portion of energy before the thing finally detached, and it cracked before the grip it had on the shell gave out. Anton could see many markings on the underside, staring with the clearly different areas where barnacles had been attached. The mussels had threads that dug their way into crevices in the shell, many of which looked natural but some of which might have been pried open from much smaller. It wasn¡¯t terrible since the shell itself was immensely thick- even damage a meter deep could be considered superficial. Even so, Anton was somewhat concerned he had caused some of it when he noticed a long, straight line where he had pried the second mussel off. Yet when he touched the surface with his hand, he could tell it was smooth, no jagged edges from recent formation. Yet clearly not part of the natural shell, or damage from the barnacles and mussels. There was a nearly limitless number of smaller barnacles and mussels covering the surface as well, along with a thin layer of some sort of gooey algae. Yet clearly not one that needed direct light, since there was a great shadow cast by Paradise. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Combined with the larger obstacles, getting a clear picture of the whole bottom of the shell was difficult. Anton could hold his breath for many minutes- an hour or more if he was avoiding strenuous activity- but he still had to occasionally take a break, swimming back up the side to sit on the strange shoes that shouldn¡¯t hold. As he sat he thought about what he had sensed and felt. His natural energy stretched around and under, but from a larger distance he could hardly even make out the markings he knew were there, let alone anything new. After he had renewed his breath he dove back in, tracing along the lines and angles he could find. Once he noticed, it wasn¡¯t terribly difficult to discern that they were formation markings. Old ones, buried deep in the layers of the shell. Yet despite that, they hadn¡¯t grown out, and strangely seemed to still fit the right size. Perhaps Paradise had grown this large in a previous age and simply remained, but Anton had the feeling that wasn¡¯t quite right. Either way, the formations were active, and unfathomable. Yet they didn¡¯t seem out of place either, but fit into the natural harmony of the creature. Anton might have thought this was a phenomenal occurrence of a massive natural formation, but if that was the case he would have expected more factors to have come together to sustain it. Though his understanding was not that of a master, Anton could at least pick out how the arrangement of plants, leaves, and roots in an area might cause a natural formation- but this was clearly carvings in the shell. Self-sustaining, too. Anton waited a bit longer after his next breath to catch Erin at the same time. ¡°Are you aware that there is a formation etched on the underside of this shell?¡± ¡°I thought you would notice it,¡± Erin smiled. ¡°We haven¡¯t found it to be a danger, obviously. I¡¯m not much for studying formations myself, but we have some disciples interested in the study. They¡¯ve set some up around the island.¡± ¡°There¡¯s something familiar about them.¡± ¡°Ancient formations are often quite similar in style.¡± ¡°Well, yes,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But I have the feeling there¡¯s something more to it.¡± It reminded him of what Catarina had done with Fuzz¡­ and more recently herself, to some extent. That explained another part of Paradise¡¯s strength, but not all of it¡­ and it raised more questions. Who, and why? The answer to either might lead directly to the other, but for the moment Anton only had speculations. ¡°Do you have a copy of the majority of the pattern? Or would you mind me taking notes to show to someone?¡± ¡°Your granddaughter, I presume? The foremost formation master of the Order, and one of the best in the world.¡± Erin nodded, ¡°That¡¯s fine, though if she finds anything interesting¡­ or dangerous¡­ I would ask that you share that information with us.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton agreed. ----- Some time later, Anton found himself back on the continent. His research into Paradise had done as much as it could for him. He certainly found it interesting, if not directly helpful to his cultivation at the moment. He was heading west, currently having stopped in the middle of Ofrurg to visit some grandchildren. Specifically, the children of Annelie and Anish. He had some more young descendents, but he ended up mingling with these the most. Their parents were the only ones focused on cultivation, after all. Devon had chosen not to get remarried. Alva didn¡¯t seem interested in doing it a first time. And Catarina and Timothy¡­ had no children. Though he was fairly certain they had tried, but they didn¡¯t talk about it anymore. So he had some more loosely connected to him, and these three. In a world with cultivation becoming more common children were beginning to learn younger and younger. There were some difficulties and risks associated with that, but people were learning about them. And it couldn¡¯t really be said that the there oldest were too young now. They were older than Annelie herself when she¡¯d first begun, at least. The boys, Wolter and Lucas, had taken to a strange mix of the two sect¡¯s cultivations. Somehow the Glorious Flame Palace and Frostmirror sect were still firmly attached to each other, unexpected but quite convenient for the family¡¯s living situation. Gudrun was cultivating only ice. The complete severing of emotions had been phased out, given that the best members of the most recent generation had all taken an alternate route, but they still practiced emotionlessness when they chose. For Gudrun, that seemed to be all the time. ¡°Grandfather, are you going to fight on the frontlines?¡± ¡°That¡¯s hardly a greeting,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Welcome back. It is good to see you again. So?¡± Anton sighed, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯ll be fighting. There might not even be a war.¡± ¡°Of course there will be a war,¡± she stated flatly. ¡°While you are here, can you teach me to shoot?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know any techniques compatible with ice,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But I would be glad to teach you the fundamentals of archery. I don¡¯t know if I have time to help you develop proper techniques though.¡± ¡°That will be sufficient.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you came to me to learn. I was beginning to think you didn¡¯t like me.¡± ¡°You are one of the best archers in the world, and attacking from afar if possible is only logical.¡± ¡­ at least the boys were enthusiastic about seeing him. ----- His last stop before heading to Ambati would be with Lev and the Grasping Willows. He wanted to study the Grandfather Willow, for the same reasons as he studied Paradise. He highly doubted that there would be anything formation related, but that was just a tangential curiosity. It was unlikely a tree would be the perfect source of inspiration for a cultivator who had no cultivation ties to such a thing, but it was an opportunity to see friends if nothing else. Studying powerful phenomena would never be a bad idea for a cultivator. As long as it was done safely, and by this point if he wasn¡¯t safe around the tree he should have been dead many times over. Though he did have to pay attention still, as it would be embarrassing if someone had to come disentangle him. Chapter 384 Two old men and one young sat together under the shade and protection of the Grandfather Willow. The outer edges of the Grasping Willow¡¯s territory were still outside the valley where the grand tree made its home, for reasons of safety for the newer cultivators. The core sections of the sect had moved inward after the invasion, since they had to rebuild regardless. When they had first settled in the area, the Grasping Willows simply hadn¡¯t had the proficiency to do the same. The three were Anton, Varela, and Lev. The oldest among them was Varela, though he was merely a few decades older than Anton. Unfortunately, he had found the limits of his talent long before, and even now was only in early Essence Collection. Anton wished he could provide some advice, but he simply didn¡¯t have anything to offer. Whatever he could provide had been said decades ago. It was unfair, but Varela just wasn¡¯t as suited to cultivation as Anton. Perhaps he would have done better with a different technique, but he had no desire to change even if there was some guarantee of power. The recent improvements and developments had allowed him to advance from mid to late Spirit Building and finally to his current position, but he was teetering at the edge of his lifespan. If he¡¯d reached his current cultivation while young he might have another handful of decades, but as Anton was well aware each step of advancement provide less lifespan when already close to the limit of one¡¯s age. Despite his limited cultivation, he had experience and wisdom to provide, and as a friend and Lev¡¯s former master was a welcome companion for their discussions. And there were some interesting things being discussed. ¡°I¡¯m not going to ascend,¡± Lev declared. ¡°Why not?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You have the talent. You¡¯re already more than halfway there, in terms of years. It might take, what, another thirty or forty? Fifty on the far end? You¡¯ll still be relatively young then.¡± Lev lifted his arms, letting the wrists dangle as he focused his energy on the rest of the limbs to hold them up. ¡°Because of this. I have only a fraction of my strength away from here.¡± ¡°There were some miraculous medicines recovered from the invaders,¡± Anton said. ¡°There has to be something¡­¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I did this to myself, and I¡¯m not going to complain. The Grasping Willows are still young. They need me. If I can pave the way to the top and allow others to ascend, I will be happy. It¡¯s the same with Vandale, isn¡¯t it? He could have ascended, but remained for the sake of your sect.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true. Without his example and protection, I doubt we would have made it this far. Certainly not in this state.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Lev said. ¡°Even in this time of grand cultivation advancements, the Grasping Willows need me. Otherwise our rise could be unfortunately short. Like a tree greedily sucking all the nutrients around it, only to run out.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not ascending either, obviously,¡± Varela commented. ¡°Though if I had the chance, I¡¯d probably still remain.¡± ¡°I also don¡¯t have a choice,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I think¡­ that¡¯s not quite right,¡± Varela said after some thought. ¡°You did have a choice. You just already made it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I could have guaranteed myself reaching Ascension all the way back then.¡± ¡°Nobody can guarantee it. But given your talent, you were as close as could be.¡± Varela smiled, ¡°Think about what could have been if you began cultivating younger.¡± ¡°Could have been anything,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Maybe I would have been terrible. I firmly believe my life experience was important in making me¡­ this.¡± ¡°You could have started at fifty though,¡± Lev said. ¡°Could be ascended by now, with half a century of experiencing a life without cultivation.¡± ¡°Not good enough,¡± Anton said. ¡°Besides, there was no motivation. I had what I needed, friends and family. More efficient work, longer lifespan¡­ perhaps they might have tempted me, but they wouldn¡¯t have driven me. The unfortunate circumstances that eventually came about changed my perspective.¡± ¡°Yet you never forgot where you came from,¡± Varela said. ¡°And you didn¡¯t really deny making the choice.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. But it was easy enough. I¡¯m not the sort who could leave everything behind for power. It¡¯s just¡­ I find myself dissatisfied by my current state. Even if I reach the peak of Life Transformation, I¡¯ll simply have a few decades after that to devote to the sect, or the world. Far more than I could have hoped, but less than I wish I had.¡± ¡°But you haven¡¯t given up,¡± Lev said. ¡°Which is why you are here.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I just come to chat with old friends?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Any time,¡± Lev said. ¡°But you value your time enough that you aren¡¯t here for just that one thing.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I just came from studying Paradise. A single entity on par with an army¡­ or several. Though perhaps in a battle he would find himself overwhelmed by numbers, and attacks from different directions. Though I would never want to be involved in that fight unless absolutely necessary.¡± ¡°He has more range than you. Quite the feat,¡± Lev said. ¡°Learn anything good?¡± ¡°Not that I can put into words here¡­ though there is one thing of interest. You know Fuzz, of course.¡± He and Fuzz were saved at the same time, during the same incident with the invasive moss. ¡°Catarina has been using formations to empower him all along¡­ and Paradise has something similar.¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Human involvement? It¡¯s not¡­ terribly surprising. A beast like Paradise happening through random chance is extremely rare, and even if he was enhanced I¡¯m not surprised there¡¯s only one. Any idea which sect it might have been?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure. That¡¯s for the formation masters to determine.¡± ¡°The Grandfather Willow hasn¡¯t been modified,¡± Lev said. ¡°Not through formations that are still around, anyway. I can demonstrate how the power works.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that dangerous?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The damage is already done,¡± Lev shook his head, ¡°And I¡¯ve gained the knowledge to connect to the tree without such a hasty grafting. Good for future generations, at least. A nice source of stability, and yet we won¡¯t look like a threat to anyone. Unfortunately that means we¡¯ll be of minimal help in this brewing war. We can send some people to help, but we¡¯re still on the smaller end of sects.¡± ¡°That is appreciated. I hope that it is simply a warning of a potential, and calm judgment prevails. But I¡¯d never bet on it.¡± ----- The Grandfather Willow was much different from Paradise in important ways. All of its power was fully contained within itself, the sprawling branches, roots, and massive trunk. Despite its power, it was still a plant, without intelligence. Recognizing what it should or should not grasp was instinctual, not involving real decision making. To that end, Lev tapping into its power was simpler. The flow of energy followed his prompting with no resistance, though of course it took a certain level of understanding to synchronize with it well enough to accomplish that. It was also lesser, capable of combating an ascension cultivator at the Integration stage and not much more. A determined assault by a larger sect could overcome it, though there would certainly be losses. Yet there was potential there. It could be greater than it already was- though how much exactly was a mystery even to Lev. The flow of power through it was carefully observed by Anton, and while he found a few ways to improve his own efficiency when controlling many snippets of power at once nothing inspired him to overcome the final prime tempering, nor to what he might do at the peak of Life Transformation. The experience was still valuable, but it was just another point along his path. It might contribute to something great, or it might not. ----- A hail of arrows came from the sky. Each was targeted precisely to arrive exactly when and where intended, making it nearly impossible for Kseniya to dodge. The individual arrows would not kill her, as they lacked the power, but they could wear her down. And just because it was nearly impossible to dodge didn¡¯t mean Kseniya couldn¡¯t do it. It was just a matter of determining when it was valuable. Her own hands never stopped moving, firing arrows into the distance towards an unseen opponent. Her legs kept her mobile as she moved around through the arrows, taking the minimum number of hits possible. Then she tumbled through a veritable wall of arrows, the simultaneous shock of which pierced through her defensive energy and resulted in a number of injuries. The excess energy was minimal, however, and ultimately it was worthwhile. If she had chosen to go anywhere else she would have been an easy target for the following attacks, a wide blade of energy and powerful piercing arrows that narrowly missed her. They had reoriented themselves to her movements, but her predictions had been better. She would have to watch for them coming up behind, but a couple shots in that direction would either destroy them or send them enough off target that she could safely disregard them. She moved back to shooting at her distant target immediately after, keeping track of a small handful of Spirit Arrows still chasing after her target. She had to admit that the gap between her and her best student had shrunk significantly, but she still had more experience and a small advantage in cultivation. The only way he could overcome her would be through the use of Fleeting Youth, but they had agreed not to bring that into account. In the end, she pinned him down with a nearly undodgeable flurry of arrows, with Anton barely misidentifying the trajectory of one. He had already taken some hits that slowed him down enough for her to finish him off, though they both avoided causing any serious injuries. It was easy for them to agree on what would have been a deciding blow in a battle, or not. The two of them returned to the sect, instead of the empty sections of wilderness they had staked out for themselves. Fighting at such a distance was difficult, conversing was simply impossible. Even with communication plates it was inconvenient at best. ¡°So¡­ what did I do wrong?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯d have to say¡­ next to nothing,¡± Kseniya shook her head. ¡°Your fighting style has diverged from my own, with your use of many bows. Splitting your focus clearly weakens your individual shots, but ultimately you used them to great effectiveness. Against a single opponent, my style is likely better¡­ but you could take down an army of lesser cultivators in a short time. WIthout my few stars of cultivation advantage, I imagine we¡¯d trade victories back and forth evenly.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a shame,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ve learned so much from you, but now we¡¯ve covered our relative weaknesses so much any more sparring is barely effective.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why cultivators go out into the world seeking enlightenment instead of staying cooped up,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°And when you overcome that prime tempering roadblock, I imagine you¡¯ll surpass me rather quickly.¡± ¡°I appreciate the confidence, but I¡¯m not seeing the path forward. Not the right one, anyway.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s how I know you¡¯ll do it. You just have to find the trigger. Battle isn¡¯t it, though. Not something lacking seriousness like this.¡± ¡°Somehow, I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯ll achieve anything from a more serious battle either. I engaged in plenty of those during the invasion.¡± ¡°Bah, that was just a short catastrophe. Nothing normal about it. Everyone¡¯s heads were so jumbled up, it¡¯s no wonder you weren¡¯t thinking about this at the time. Now, perhaps the matching inclination is something you haven¡¯t yet considered, but I think it would be a different angle on what you already show. That focus on growth¡­¡± Kseniay shook her head, ¡°Well, I can¡¯t speak for you and say that maybe you need a student to reach Ascension, but I wouldn¡¯t put something that ridiculous past you either.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s it,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m quite glad to see people growing strong, but I¡¯m more interested in the general population¡¯s strength. And given how things have changed now, unless Life Transformation is to become the norm¡­ I don¡¯t think that will do it.¡± Anton looked around the sect. ¡°You¡¯re staying here to keep this place safe, right?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°I¡¯d rather let the younger generation go out and get themselves into trouble. Makes me exhausted. But since neither of us is young, I suppose that role goes to you.¡± ¡°Remaining stagnant isn¡¯t going to help me,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Or anyone else. Maybe some time at sea will bring some unexpected enlightenment.¡± ¡°Or boredom,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°A couple months patrolling sounds like an awful time. Maybe you¡¯ll get lucky and something will try to eat you.¡± Anton smiled. He knew that a few months was barely anything to either of them at this point, though concentrating on one task for too long still became difficult. And the other cultivators would need a break anyway. Anton could go out with consecutive scouting missions, but he thought he would rather stick to one group and get to know them well. Chapter 385 There were a few small islands scattered about to the west of Brogora. Each of these had watch stations, expected to be in constant communication with the mainland. A small swoop of them extended further on the northern end, but overall the coverage from just the islands was insufficient to provide sufficient detail on incoming enemies. Ships had to patrol in between the islands as well as further out to sea, a constant workload that was seen by many as pointless. But it was a decent exercise in practicing naval maneuvers even if there had not yet been conflict with the Exalted Archipelago. Some believed the news was unreliable, while others had been worried about the possibility ever since hearing about the pact. Personally, Anton believed that with a significant imbalance of power, cultivators would be eager to steal others¡¯ resources. That had been the case before he began cultivating, and for much of the more than six decades thereafter. Only when there was a mutual threat was the majority willing to work together, though some lasting alliances had been formed recently. Yet even if Anton found himself with friends from both continents and in many powerful sects, there was no guarantee they wouldn¡¯t come into conflict with any of the other sects Anton knew less well, or each other if there was something they both desired. The recent upswing had caused the growth of resources available to slightly outpace the use by cultivators, but it was unlikely that would last for long. Even if he believed the Exalted Archipelago would attack, at the moment there was nothing within the significant range of his senses. He was searching for ships, of course, which allowed him to simply sweep the surface of the water. At long distances he could only search a narrow band at a time, and would be unable to sense everything. He took some extra caution with extending his senses somewhat under the water. He didn¡¯t have any reason to believe that the Exalted Archipelago had ships that could sail underwater, but if they were concealed by some sort of formation they might not hide the ripples from underwater. It required him to sweep about twice the area, but that was something he could sustain. With a cycle of strenuous monotony, the crew could have easily been overcome by a lack of caution. Since it made no difference if they kept their eyes out or not, they might as well just laze about. Even attacks by sea beasts were rare, and those were not particularly subtle about their approach. But Anton would not allow whatever crew he was with to become idle. There was a time for rest and relaxation, and everyone was entitled to their breaks¡­ but during free time not reserved for rest and times where they were on duty, Anton wouldn¡¯t allow them to go too far off course. He was aided in his goals by those who knew him, and specifically one of those who had specifically requested to be on the same ship as him. Nthanda had been his student in the first training tournament, and as a citizen of Ambati she had a larger personal stake in watching for approaching ships. Simply by matters of geography Ambati would likely be the first target of the Exalted Archipelago, as it controlled the closest shores. There were also chances that Estary and Droca would be involved as they were not too far along, but it was unlikely for ships to aim for the rear of the continent by Facraona first. That was much further, and would make it easy for the attackers to be isolated and cut off from supply lines. While individual cultivators could carry more of their own supplies compared to other armies, there were still limits. ¡°Don¡¯t simply focus on what your eyes can see,¡± Anton said. ¡°Ultimately, you are limited by the horizon if you do so.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± Nthanda replied. He could feel her extending her energy outward, trying to stretch it into a thin point. The effort was there, but as a practitioner of Western Steel Body her energy was more limited than others. Anton knew she would never be able to sense as far as he could, but even if she was only able to extend her range just beyond the horizon it was a significant increase. She had the strength to attack at that distance, though worrying about environmental factors such as wind became a problem. Anton had gifted her the bone bow, requiring great strength to draw and contributing significant momentum to her shots- but reorienting them at a distance took energy. Everything did, really. There were simply limitations on what could be done by those who focused on body tempering that were difficult to overcome, though in other circumstances they would outmatch their opponents because of their choices. A body temperer could maintain a consistent barrage of attacks without wearing themselves out for quite a while, and the defensive strength of their skin, muscles, and bones meant that attacks beneath a certain threshold were unable to damage them. There were certain people that simply wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat them, regardless of luck. Unless they let someone stab them in the eye, but even then if the gap in cultivation was enough attacks would be ineffective. There was a significant distance between how far one could see on the horizon depending on whether they were on deck or atop the crow¡¯s nest. The former was close to five kilometers, while the latter was nearly double. Yet even if enemies could be spotted with the eyes, being able to focus energy on them helped keep track of their finer movements and potential reactions. Anton had Nthanda shoot at nothing in particular, occasionally creating targets out of his energy. Forming anything of significance had to take place close to himself- within some hundreds of meters, if he were forming energy bows. A vague target some kilometers out was within his capabilities, though he would only be able to create them in one direction at a time. His aura wasn¡¯t so extensive that he could freely cover such a large area. His first impression of Vandale had been attacks that covered a wide swath of area, but even those attacks had originated within a somewhat reasonable distance from the man himself. Somewhat further than what Anton could do now, though his maximum attack range was much larger than his wide-scale capabilities. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Nthanda wasn¡¯t the only one Anton set about teaching. Anyone with a few spare moments got the same treatment, though they wouldn¡¯t necessarily recognize him. His efforts ranged from subtle comments about how they might improve to direct instruction, depending on whether they asked and what he thought would be effective. At some point, things resulted in archery contests. Letting off some steam was necessary for cultivators, and a bit of violence directed off in the distance was unlikely to harm the ship, unlike sparring. Not everyone was trained as an archer, in fact most weren¡¯t- but they were able to learn. Anton had spare bows for just such purposes, as similar as possible to each other for the sake of fairness. The ships had other methods of long ranged attack available. Nobody was going to discount how effective siege weaponry could be when augmented by a few cultivators working together. The weapon of choice was the ballista, able to fire projectiles on the scale of spears, in singles or groups depending on the size and room available on a ship. Trebuchets were bulkier and less accurate against moving targets, as well as requiring ammo that was quite large- so they were rare. Apparently there were other options in development. There was something that involved compressing energy into an explosion to drive forward dense projectiles, but there were various problems involving the volatility that hadn¡¯t been worked out yet. It was equally likely that it would blow up the ship firing it as the target, and to make them more stable required denser metal with more weight, which was still a problem on ships even with storage bags available. Though the natural energy out on the sea fluctuated in strength, the fact that the ships were constantly moving meant that people could cultivate without restraint, despite all being packed into a small area. Even Anton could take as much energy as he wanted, though he usually found himself reaching further away to leave the more easily gathered energy for others. He went through several patrols during which most of the additional soldiers were switched out, and sometimes the crew would be on break for a rotation and he would travel with a different ship. Nthanda remained with him to learn what she could given the opportunity, since they had only occasionally found time they were both available after the initial training tournament. Nearly a year after the warning, no signs of attack had come. Many were fatigued from constant patrols and waiting with nothing happening. Even Anton was beginning to wonder if maybe there was nothing. Being a border guard wasn¡¯t exactly his ambition. Then he spotted someone. It was not strange that Anton would be the first, given the wide range of his senses. ¡°Something to the northwest,¡± Anton told the captain. ¡°Can we turn closer?¡± Captain Othman was a man in his middle years, and a cautious fellow. ¡°How close are we talking?¡± ¡°They¡¯re currently at the very edge of my senses. I would feel more comfortable confirming details if we got within eighty kilometers.¡± ¡°Hah. You¡¯d think you were talking about a mountain to spot it from so far. We can go somewhat closer, for certain. You think¡­?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say yet,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°But it feels like a ship. I don¡¯t know of any patrols we should be crossing paths with here yet, but it could be from Brogora.¡± Anton kept silent about the actual details he had, which involved more than a handful of Life Transformation cultivators present. It was difficult to distinguish them at such a distance, but when they got closer he was able to confirm some things. There was some sort of formation on the ship blurring his senses, but not hiding anything. Specific details were lost, but the general amount of power was still clear. And having traveled across both continents, Anton could firmly say that the practitioners aboard that ship were not something he recognized. There was also the matter of the ship being pulled along by something in the water. Anton reported the details as he learned them, both to Captain Othman and through his communication plate to the shore. The latter had to forego some immediate details for the sake of brevity, and so he could get a response. -Avoid engagement, keep them in view That was pretty much what Anton had expected, given the previous discussions. While they fully anticipated a war, provoking one was not what anyone wanted. Especially not Ambati, who would take the brunt of the initial assaults. Captain Othman turned to sail parallel to the ship. ¡°They making distance,¡± Anton said. ¡°Still sailing on the same trajectory, but they¡¯ll pull away if we keep this speed.¡± ¡°It¡¯s expected they outspeed us,¡± Captain Othman nodded. ¡°But we can narrow that difference. Rowers, to positions! Steady pace.¡± They were nearly a day of travel from the mainland at their normal pace- somewhere around ten nautical kilometers per hour. At their increased pace they were twice that, and barely keeping up. Yet it was enough for them to be somewhat close when the ship arrived at Tiarhogo Landing, one of the largest ports on the western portion of Ambati. Most of the ship was well out of the range of affecting any potential combat, though Anton was within his maximum range. But while the port had a clear tension hanging over it when they arrived, no conflict had erupted. Before they were able to talk to anyone, Anton took note of what had been pulling the ship. A giant turtle. Though compared to Paradise it was nothing, it was still ten meters from head to tail. Anton saw anchor points drilled into its shell where he presumed the chains on the front of the ship would attach. Once in port, Anton learned that the ship was from the Ponderous Turtle Clan. They came with a ¡®small compliment¡¯ of ten Life Transformation cultivators, purporting to carry demands of the Exalted Archipelago. The initial encounter was over, as they clearly had no intent to negotiate. They simply stated demands, meant for the entire continent. From what Anton saw, the demands seemed to be between ten and twenty percent of basically everything- ores, herbs, food, special materials of all sorts¡­ He imagined the demands would not be well received. It would be one thing if the Exalted Archipelago offered anything in return. A promise of protection from future invaders might be acceptable even with such steep demands, but so far it appeared there were no concessions. He was unsure if they were expecting to get immediate capitulation¡­ or if they wanted a war. It was difficult to say. Chapter 386 By some definitions, the demands laid down by the representatives of the Exalted Archipelago were reasonable. They were given one year to comply with the demands, which was sufficient time to organize whatever needed to happen. The amounts of wealth demanded were rather extravagant, with between ten and twenty percent of any particular resource listed, the exact amounts depending on unknown factors. Further inspection revealed that those numbers were intended to be levied on yearly income, while a smaller portion of current wealth was targeted. Thus, the demands were reasonable as far as them being technically achievable. ¡°I¡¯m going to burn them to ashes,¡± Sarka said, her palms doing a fair representation as she melted a protective layer of ice from the table in front of her. The intertwined Glorious Flame Palace and Frostmirror Sect had a conveniently central location for people to meet for discussions such as this. The way the sects balanced each other out also made others more comfortable than staying in the territory of either as individuals would have. ¡°As much as it would be appropriate,¡± Adelina countered, ¡°We must discuss the feasibility of the matter. We must also consider the benefits to Brogora.¡± ¡°What benefits?¡± Sarka snorted. ¡°Nobody dying,¡± Matousek pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone here can surmise how much will be lost if we go to war with the Exalted Archipelago. It is bound to be far more damaging than this.¡± ¡°So what?¡± Sarka crossed her arms and glared. ¡°We just roll over while they leech us dry?¡± ¡°If it would result in the best potential outcome, yes,¡± Adelina said. Before anyone could object, she continued. ¡°If that were the case. But we cannot trust that would be the case. This¡­ document outlines a strictly one-sided agreement, with no promise from the Exalted Archipelago about further actions. It is not a negotiation, but a declaration. It spends quite a long time on the specifics of what they desire, but without even a mention of the consequences if we do not, except the obvious threats.¡± ¡°So what, you think it¡¯s a bluff?¡± Sarka asked. ¡°Absolutely not. We are aware of their power. We have just recently returned to stability here, and would be hard pressed to fight against them. I¡¯m not sure we could survive defying this¡­ but we absolutely can¡¯t accept it either. So much is missing. We have no guarantee they would not immediately follow up with greater demands that we would be less able to handle. And there is one very important thing. Nowhere in this does it mention Aicenith.¡± Adelina looked around the room. ¡°I will admit that I missed that detail. I had a scholar of the law, one Kohar, help me look over things. She was not able to be present here, but there were more concerns.¡± ¡°Do you think they made a deal?¡± Adrastea asked. ¡°We can¡¯t be sure,¡± Adelina said. ¡°But if they did, it was kept tightly under wraps.¡± Elder Tola of the Infinite Wisdom Forest added her own thoughts. ¡°I would imagine this is intended to drive us apart. The two continents, or even simply Brogora. If some of us choose to capitulate and others do not, everyone¡¯s positions will be weakened. This is not a situation where following the majority will provide the best possible results. We must be unanimous in our decision making.¡± ¡°Sixty years ago, that would have been an impossibility,¡± Matousek commented. ¡°Now that may be accomplished. Though there are certain factors to consider. What of the void ants?¡± Matousek turned to the ¡®Great Queen¡¯, the de facto leader of the uncomfortably named beings they¡¯d found themselves allied with. While the various nests were technically independent, they would all listen to her. And at least a portion of the void ants were intelligent in a way that could not be ignored. The great queen spoke in the sign language she had created. The words were just as a human would speak, though as the language was meant for communication with them it was expected. Anton translated. ¡°We have no collections of material goods such as humans do. Likewise, it is possible for us to go unnoticed, if we so wished to. We need not engage in conflicts¡­ but we may choose to support you, in exchange for further expansion rights.¡± Everyone took time to think about that. The void ants were an uncomfortable anomaly for cultivators. The ability to resist energy made them dangerous to cultivators, in numbers if not as individuals. Though a few of them such as the great queen herself were dangerous on their own. Likewise, the alien nature of insects made humans uncomfortable. Yet so far, they had been peaceful and even helpful neighbors. Nobody could say they took up too much space or too many resources. Even if they had the potential, they didn¡¯t scour an area of resources but instead took careful steps to maintain things for the long term. They were exactly the sort of thing people would want around, if they were humans. But some couldn¡¯t help but wonder if that intelligence was hiding something more sinister beneath. The void ants clearly understood that at the moment, even if they wanted to attack people they would not survive it. So far they had been well behaved, but what if they chose not to be? The great queen herself could be genuine in her actions, but what if some of her descendents went rogue? Having more nests made things unpredictable, and at least some portion of people couldn¡¯t help but be hesitant. Yet it was entirely natural to want to expand and grow. ¡°I think they would be a great help,¡± Anton finally spoke through the silence. ¡°What concerns us most about the Exalted Archipelago? Their significant quantity of Life Transformation cultivators. Even after our recent growth we aren¡¯t a match for them¡­ but we also aren¡¯t hopelessly outmatched if our estimations are correct. The void ants are nearly as effective against the strongest cultivators as they are against beginners, which in a way makes them more effective. I quite like having them on our side, though of course, you know my past.¡± Not everyone would know that he was the one the great queen came with, but they would be aware that he ultimately ended up being one of the first to interact with them- and on friendly terms. It was simply that the same traits that made them valuable made them a threat, making it difficult for people to balance their understanding of the void ants. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°I think that it would be wise to accept your assistance,¡± Adelina commented, ¡°If we ultimately go to war. I do not think this is just a bluff, so if we reject this ¡®offer¡¯ I have no doubt that will happen. But before we can decide, there are too many unknowns. We must act quickly, as there is some possibility we will need to go along with this agreement for a time¡­ or at least appear to. We cannot delay overly long.¡± ¡°They key point seems to be Aicenith, then,¡± Matousek followed up. ¡°If they have received a similar demand, made some sort of agreement, or have been entirely left out¡­ all of those will influence what we might do. If they would help us stand against the Exalted Archipelago, our bargaining power improves. It¡¯s not quite the same as the invaders but¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s also not exactly different,¡± Sarka said. ¡°The Exalted Archipelago still has some connection to this ¡®upper realm¡¯ where the invaders came from. Just because they are a different faction doesn¡¯t make them any better, especially when they lifted not a finger in our defense. And if they come against us simply because there is no longer an agreement not to, does it make them any different?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, yes,¡± Adelina replied. ¡°We have to live with them. Surviving a war is feasible, eliminating them is not. Even with the involvement of Aicenith¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°And while their core is less unified than the front they portray, they would likely stand together against a counterattack. Under those conditions, it is difficult to do more than fight them to a standstill where we both ultimately lose.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go. These questions should be easily answered.¡± ¡°Unless they are working together with Aicenith on some level,¡± Adelina pointed out. ¡°There are some I would trust to convey that information,¡± Anton commented. ¡°And how will you safely get in touch with them?¡± Adelina asked. ¡°Message plates could be compromised, and while recent news seems to indicate their borders are still open, would you teleport into their midst to find yourself weak and surrounded?¡± ¡°If I could go directly to those I trust, it would not be an issue. But intercontinental teleportation is more limited than that.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°But I trust I can understand the communication patterns of some. I¡¯m sure all of you know of Swordmaster Chikere?¡± ¡°Formerly from Brogora, now a part of the Million Sword Vault,¡± Adelina said. ¡°I have a communication plate in case I need to contact her. You can all watch as I send her a message and receive a response. We can judge the situation without being particularly suspicious.¡± ¡°Fair enough. Go ahead.¡± Anton placed his palm on the communication plate. It was simply a way to trigger as many of the letters as possible, indicating he wished to begin communication. There was no response for several awkward moments. There were any number of reasons that could be, but in the current circumstances it was concerning. ¡°She might be asleep. It should be the middle of the night there¡­¡± He lifted his hand as he felt a response. The letters flashed by, strokes of a finger lighting in a sympathetic glow in rapid succession. ¡°-forgot how to use this. Hi Anton!¡± Knowing his name was not terribly difficult, if the communication plate was marked. The enthusiasm would be harder to know unless they¡¯d pried information from her, but Anton knew just what to say to get a read on her. ¡°Tell me about Number One.¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t suspicious?¡± Sarka asked. ¡°Asking about a code name?¡± There was a short pause. ¡°Number One is the best, obviously!¡± Another pause. ¡°Okay now I¡¯m down to five opponents so I don¡¯t need to use my arms.¡± What followed was an unnecessary amount of detail about a sword, and how it felt to wield it. Anton prompted a few times to get her to reveal other details, but he honestly didn¡¯t know most of the answers. What he did know was Chikere¡¯s enthusiasm for swords, and how she would respond. ¡°It would appear she is uncompromised,¡± Anton said. ¡°She could be held hostage¡­¡± Adelina said, ¡°But they would have had to be waiting and very well prepared.¡± ¡°Also she¡¯s the sort of person who would die before betraying an ally. Or cut apart all of her enemies before that.¡± Anton took a careful look at his plate holding it up, ¡°Catarina, how does the sympathetic link for this work?¡± ¡°What part of it?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°For example,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°These grooves that were not there before. Would that be because something happened to the other plate?¡± ¡°Ack. I told her to be gentle!¡± Catarina looked at it. ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t see any pattern. It just kind of looks like she cut it.¡± ¡°With her finger?¡± Tola asked. ¡°There¡¯s a good chance she was writing with a sword,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect her to cut something on accident, though.¡± ¡°Actually, that might be my fault,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It might have misinterpreted her sword aura. Maybe hers isn¡¯t cut at all.¡± ¡°I suppose we can ask,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I¡¯m as confident as I can be that it is her, writing unrestrained. So we can ask.¡± The end result was the most underwhelming. As far as she was aware, no communication had been made from the Exalted Archipelago. And while that was not fully comforting, she was also able to go speak to others from the Million Sword Vault who might be better informed. That meant they were in an awkward middle zone. Unless individual sects had been secretly offered something on Aicenith, there had been no moves made against them. That meant they shouldn¡¯t be enemies, but they might not be allies. Following that came the most difficult part. Weighing lives against resources, and against the potential futures either could bring. Sarka wasn¡¯t a fan of that, but she did at least understand that at a certain point if the loss of resources grew excessive then lives could be lost for various reasons. Not that there would be a clear answer about anything so uncertain as the future. They could only try to predict what might happen. Nobody wanted to give up an arbitrary amount of resources for the rest of time, bolstering what were clearly enemies and weakening them. Yet resisting might prove more damaging, and failing to stand united would guarantee it. Even among those present not everyone was immediately on board with making a decision. But at least nobody declared they should give up, either. For the moment, they had to begin organizing¡­ but whether resources would be pooled for the sake of aiding their own combatants or ultimately ceded to the Exalted Archipelago nobody was quite sure yet. Chapter 387 While the brimming war was the most pressing matter, Anton was quite glad it didn¡¯t occupy all of his waking thoughts. There was so much more to the world than the worst parts of it. Then there were the mysteries¡­ things unknown if they were good or bad, or if they could even be considered either. The flow of the world was something he hadn¡¯t even contemplated before the invasion and the time immediately leading up to it. After the invasion, he realized that it had always been there as part of the background of everything, it was simply that people only took notice when it underwent rapid change. For a brief time it had opened up their world to the potential of invasion, likewise offering a way out during only a short window. After that it returned to what seemed to be its natural state, rejecting ascension energy from creating a permanent foothold upon the world. The previous cycle had been estimated at about six hundred years. That was the time with the most uncertainty about events, where many great sects were destroyed. Now it was known that that time was due to the previous invasion, though some of the results were more indirect. The time for the invasion seemed to have been somewhat longer, stretching over multiple years. That could have simply been errors in record keeping, but something about it matched up with what Anton was feeling now. It was merely a feeling that could easily be disproven in a decade or two¡­ but there were subtle differences between this one and the last that might lead to more significant changes. Could the cycles change in length? They only had barely-preserved information from a previous one, intentionally muddled. Before that, there was nothing on the topic, very little in the way of old records and if they existed they focused on the power of the prominent cultivators and sects in a given time period. If Anton was right, this cycle might be significantly shorter. It had been two decades already since the invasion and things could still change, but he felt that this cycle might only last half the time or less. He could be wrong, of course. Nor did he imagine he would be around to see it regardless. He might manage to live to three hundred, but four or five hundred years old were out of the question. Not that he could usefully think about what it would even mean if he was right. The timing would be different, and that might result in some living people with grudges about the last time, but he wasn¡¯t sure if they would want to or even could return. That part was still unknown, like most things about the ¡®upper realms¡¯. ----- Great shipments of ores and herbs as well as finished goods like weapons, armor, and medicines were making their way to western Ambati. It was impossible to miss, though not everyone knew what it meant. An unusual number of wagons made their way, along with ships coming in along the coasts. Storage bags were sufficient for a cultivator¡¯s personal equipment, but proper transport was still required for bulk goods. Along with the goods came cultivators protecting them. Despite a time of relative peace and prosperity, Brogora was not without its foul elements. Hidden sects acted as bandits when they could get away with it, attacking the least protected caravans. There were always dissidents who thought they were above the law for one reason or other, and in truth they could get away with it for a time. It was impossible to fully eliminate the fraction of people that would choose to take their wealth and power from others rather than through more legitimate means. Individual sects also had their own conflicts, largely left alone for those sects to sort out if they didn¡¯t involve others. After all, it was possible for both sides to have legitimate grievances against others, and negotiations to resolve disputes didn¡¯t always work out. But compared to when Anton had first begun cultivating and become aware of the events of the wider world, it was nearly incomparable. Except for unavoidable incidents like the invasion from the upper realm, lives of common citizens and dedicated cultivators alike had improved greatly. It was nearly the end of the year allotted by the Exalted Archipelago. The decision had been reached long before, so that there would be sufficient time to complete the necessary preparations. Along with the final shipments coming into Tiarhogo, some had been destined for other locations. Neither option had been an easy decision, but now was the time. The group of ten Life Transformation cultivators was spearheaded by one Grand Elder Myron. He was an old man not far from peak Life Transformation. He stomped his way into the council chambers of Tiarhogo, which had representatives from all over Ambati working together to ensure the smooth operating of Ambati¡¯s largest port. Myron seemed to disdain everyone around him, even others in Life Transformation. He had the personal strength to support it, and flanked by eight others there were few who could make him acknowledge them, though he ultimately had to give respect to one much younger than himself. Even in her seventies she was already in mid Life Transformation, and as the young mistress of the clan her position outweighed his own. The aura of authority Cyrica projected around her was drilled into her from birth. None of the council members could meet her eye. ¡°You are finally ready then? I hope you have prepared enough for the first shipment. Our demands are not to be taken lightly.¡± ¡°As I¡¯m sure you can tell,¡± responded a middle aged woman with her hair tightly braided to her skull, ¡°We have been making preparations for some time. But actually, we have decided to renegotiate the terms.¡± ¡°What?¡± Cyrica stepped forward, her power bearing down on the woman. ¡°I must have misheard you.¡± The woman known as Kumbukani held her ground, as much as she could. ¡°The demands are simply unacceptable. Faraway sects demanding our hard earned resources with the threat of violence. Perhaps if it had been a more reasonable amount we could have considered it, but it¡¯s not possible.¡± ¡°Hah,¡± Cyrica rested her hand on the sword at her side, ¡°You act as if I don¡¯t know about what has already been delivered. You simply wish to keep the resources for yourself. But the Exalted Archipelago would crush you no matter where you fled to¡­ and would still require the appropriate payments from the rest of the continent.¡± She drew her sword, leveling it at Kumbukani. ¡°Did you think we would have pity on you just because you find our demands too much?¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°I¡¯m surprised,¡± Kumbukani said. ¡°You seem to believe yourself invincible. Is that because of your diplomatic guise, or personal arrogance?¡± Grand Elder Myron¡¯s eyes and senses flitted around the room. Cyrica might not have the proper seasoning to sense that something was wrong, but he could tell. It wasn¡¯t just a guise of bravery on the woman¡¯s part, she actually felt secure. Yet he couldn¡¯t sense more than the handful of council members around her, and even with their forces combined he hardly imagined they would be of much risk to Cyrica alone. By the time he realized he couldn¡¯t sense anything else, it was too late. The formation was already falling into place around them. Cyrica instantly reacted to the change, charging forward towards Kumbukani- but her sword reflected off of a barrier. ¡°With that attack,¡± Kumbukani said, ¡°I am pleased to be able to announce the official revocation of whatever diplomatic protection we might have given you. Though that was already the case when you drew your weapon.¡± A large number of other figures appeared around the room, standing just outside the barrier. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we will be providing your ship sufficient supplies to return to the Exalted Archipelago. Perhaps you will even be fortunate enough for them to be interested in paying your ransom.¡± ¡°Are you crazy?!¡± Cyrica took another swing at the barrier. ¡°This means war.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pretend there was ever another option,¡± Kumbukani glared. ¡°You would have drained what you could before invading to take what was left.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°And not even smart enough to deny it.¡± ----- As promised, the Exalted Archipelago was supplied with food and water and sent on their way¡­ without their leadership. Unless something went terribly wrong they should arrive intact, and while leaving them without the top end of their fighting strength made that more likely that would have to be good enough. They were still mostly composed of Essence Collection cultivators, and there was no way that Brogora was just going to let the Life Transformation cultivators go. The ransom offers were actually quite reasonable as well. Not that it would make any difference either way. This particular maneuver was simply to cause tension between the subfactions in the Exalted Archipelago. The Ponderous Turtle clan would want their cultivators back, and especially this young mistress of their clan. It was unclear whether they had been sent as some sort of honor or because they were expendable, but either way the tactic should provide some fruit. In the worst case, they would be able to kill ten Life Transformation cultivators instead of having to fight them on organized battle lines. It was unknown exactly how many the Exalted Archipelago would have, but ten would at least give them pause. A significant amount of resources went into raising each Life Transformation cultivator, so even if they had many hundreds more or even a thousand, the instant shock would still be relevant. All of the resources that had been coming into the area weren¡¯t just for show. People had to be equipped for the coming time. Battles were inevitable. If they had capitulated they would simply show weakness, and it was common among different cultivator societies that certain people would be incentivized to take further advantage of such. Now the Exalted Archipelago had to weigh how much it would be willing to risk for the resources of Brogora. After all, they knew about what happened in the invasion. Even if they were presuming they were stronger than the combined forces of the invaders, perhaps because they wouldn¡¯t have the problem of regaining energy, at some point losses would outweigh any gain. And the continents had flourished after the invasion, becoming stronger than they had been even then. It cost them much, but surviving disaster spurred cultivators ever onward. Anton was back patrolling the ocean. It would be at least several weeks before the journey could be made, though there was some possibility that there was a way for them to communicate back to the Exalted Archipelago- the effects of the Life Transformation cultivators were still being studied. Either way, they still had to be prepared. If more than a single ship approached or they did anything hostile, they would be dealt with. The first conflicts of the war would be most important. If they caused sufficient damage quickly enough, the Exalted Archipelago might be hesitant to continue. It would give away some of their power, but hiding their strength wasn¡¯t necessarily going to help anyway. ----- ¡°Why are we on a boat again?¡± Chikere asked Elder Vasu. ¡°I thought that had been made particularly clear. The Void Blades are likely one of the more aggressive sects among the Exalted Archipelago. Those having anti-continental sentiments, according to our information. When they leave to attack, we will be raiding their islands, and it is too far too swim.¡± ¡°Sure, but¡­ why can¡¯t we just land now and begin the attack? Won¡¯t they take all their best swords with them?¡± Vasu smiled, ¡°Perhaps, though it is likely that at least initial waves will not involve the most prominent cultivators.¡± ¡°Because they¡¯re cowards?¡± ¡°Pretty much,¡± Vasu shrugged. ¡°Our lack of actual interaction with the Void Blades makes that unclear. Perhaps their eldest will be most proactive¡­ but even if they have the honor of battle in them, there is merit to allowing the younger generation a chance to gain experience in battle.¡± ¡°No way,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I¡¯m already here!¡± ¡°... you are part of the younger generation, you know,¡± Vasu reminded her. ¡°And we did happen to bring everyone we could fit. Wardah mentioned something about the vault nearly being full.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t we just build more vaults?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°The point is reaching an important milestone. We won¡¯t actually have a million swords for a long time. But a tenth of that is not bad.¡± ¡°Are you kidding?¡± Chikere said. ¡°That¡¯s not even ten swords each!¡± She glared at the ocean in front of her, ¡°How¡¯s anyone going to get a good collection going?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll manage somehow, I¡¯m sure,¡± Vasu smiled gently. Now it was only a question of how long they had to wait for a message to come in. They could very well be directed to somewhere else, but for the moment they had to hang far back. The maps they had been given had been admitted to be not entirely accurate, but close enough. Likely due to some requirements by the Exalted Archipelago on what the Worthy Shore Society could tell outsiders, though they seemed quite happy to stretch those limits as it suited them. And if they ended up fighting particular sects simply because the Worthy Shore Society didn¡¯t like them, the Million Sword Vault wouldn¡¯t be particularly disappointed. As long as they had something worth bringing back. Chapter 388 The next move did not come for several months, while gears turned behind the scenes on both sides. Another ship arrived, and unless turtles were much more common in the Exalted Archipelago than expected, it was likewise from the Ponderous Turtle Clan. Though they docked in the port, they would not leave their ship. Given what had already happened it was quite reasonable, though Kumbukani and the other elders were not happy to leave the protection of the council chambers. There were sufficient cultivators to defend them, and a handful were instructed to remain close. They didn¡¯t want anyone to be too uncomfortable but security was important as well. ¡°Have you returned with what you owe?¡± Kumbukani projected her voice from the dock towards the ship. She was ready to protect herself if needed, but kept her posture neutral. If there was to be any sort of real negotiation, it was important to balance all proper factors. Confidence and strength were important, and those were often displayed by a bit of aggression. The difficulty was not going to the point of provocation, which was not what the continent intended at the moment. They were already balancing on the edge, but they had to avoid showing weakness in the initial encounter above all else. ¡°Show them,¡± commanded a woman standing prominently on the foreign ship. One of the dinghies was quickly loaded with a few chests and lowered into the water. It hardly looked anything like the promised payment, but looks could be deceiving. The single individual rowing the small boat didn¡¯t take long to reach the docks, and he carefully placed the chests at end of a pier, lined up next to each other facing the council. ¡°Enitan, if you would?¡± Kumbukani gestured to the formation specialist they¡¯d brought along. He wasn¡¯t one of the masters- there weren¡¯t so many that they could bother them just for something like this, and risking revealing their identity was another issue. After a quick inspection of the chests, Enitan opened one. Inside was revealed a sparkling hoard, glistening with gems and metal. It was impossible to see all of it, but the senses of those nearby revealed how much more there was inside than just on the surface. These chests carried much more than a storage bag would, though their bulk clearly made them less of a convenience. Enitan reached in and pulled something out, perhaps to verify what he was seeing inside. He opened the other chests to reveal similar bounties, from which he ultimately presented some samples to Kumbukani. ¡°It does seem to be legitimate.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Kumbukani had no doubt that her words would be heard even if she didn¡¯t project her voice, but it was simply polite to do so. ¡°Is this it? You think we will believe that the Ponderous Turtle Sect has so little?¡± She kept her voice as steady as possible. Technically she didn¡¯t know how much wealth they had, but there were estimates¡­ indirect estimates from decades prior, but enough. ¡°This is merely sufficient to buy the freedom of your Grand Elder at most. For everyone, or even the young mistress of your clan¡­¡± Kumbukani shook her head. The woman from the Ponderous Turtle Clan gave away very little, but the subordinates around her revealed more whether they wished to or not. ¡°It is not easy to consolidate our wealth so quickly,¡± the elder replied. ¡°But you will not wring us dry so easily. This is more than sufficient to buy the freedom of Grand Elder Myron as well as four of the others.¡± Good, she was willing to negotiate. And she wasn¡¯t so foolish as to pretend that the young mistress of their clan was worth anything less than the price of all the others put together- even the Grand Elder. ¡°This portion is barely enough to cover the Grand Elder himself, but perhaps we can include one of your other subordinates.¡± ¡°Him and three others,¡± the counter offer came. ¡°The quality of our offerings has escaped your eyes.¡± She could go with that offer. But she could do better. ¡°Myron and two others. I could throw in another half, but I imagine you wouldn¡¯t see that as a greater number.¡± ¡°Nergiz must be among them,¡± the woman finally replied. Kumbukani was trying determine why this Nergiz was valuable. Was he more important than she thought, or was it simply some connection to the negotiator? Or a favor for someone, perhaps. At least they had the option available. ¡°Very well,¡± Kumbukani agreed. The council might have concerns later, but they could not debate among themselves at the moment. Standing behind her as the figurehead was important to portray unity. ¡°Go retrieve Grand Elder Myron, along with Nergiz and any of the others. Though of course the young mistress must remain until appropriate payment is received.¡± The process of retrieving the prisoners was not quick. Many security measures were in place, and even with the word of the council there were many people who had to check that everything was being done as it should. The actual process of retrieving them would not take that long, except for the walk back. Eventually, three prisoners with their hands and feet bound in enchanted shackles appeared, walking at the pace of a normal Body Tempering cultivator. It was almost excruciatingly slow, but they could hardly go any faster without access to their energy. The actual exchange was quick. Two of the chests were retrieved, carried off into the city while Myron¡¯s shackles were unlocked. He wasn¡¯t foolish enough to try anything when he was released, though he flared his aura in defiance as he arrived on the ship. The final chest was retrieved as the two others were released. They quickly made their way onto the ship as well- they had no need for the dinghy, as any Life Transformation cultivator could easily support themselves on the surface of the water. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°What of our equipment?¡± Myron quickly took on the leading role as he stood aboard the ship. ¡°It will take some time to retrieve,¡± Kumbukani replied. ¡°We did not find that placing it convenient to the prisoners was wise. We can have it for you next time you return¡­ or within a week¡¯s time.¡± All of the equipment had already been inspected. It was high quality. Valuable, but not singular in its existence. It was reasonable enough to return it, given the payment they had received. ¡°We shall wait,¡± Myron declared. ----- The attacks came in the night. The ship was carefully watched by combined forces of several sects. More than forty Life Transformation cultivators were in Tiarhogo or nearby, ready for something to happen. Yet they weren¡¯t ready for the way things happened. Simultaneous attacks descended on the prison as well as the storehouses where the chests had been delivered further inland. Both were well guarded, even if the prisoners had no access to their energy they were carefully watched. The attackers came from above, dropping out of the sky. Nobody thought to watch for them, and few could have. Perhaps if someone specifically focused their senses upward they would have been ready, but the rather large radius that Life Transformation cultivators could sense on average was considered sufficient, and those specifically on lookout were focused on other areas. The cloud cover did the rest to conceal the sky ships. The attacks were quick and brutal, anyone in the way of the objectives quickly dealt with. By the time a proper response was rallied the attack in Tiarhogo was over, with two Life Transformation cultivators dead and the final prisoner retrieved from the prison. The attackers only delayed for a few moments before fleeing towards the ship, which was already prepared to leave. Others chased after it, but the sea turtles were not so ponderous as the clan¡¯s name might imply. The storehouse was quickly overrun, and before additional forces could scramble to fight back. Not everything was so conveniently carried away, and there were more secure portions that were not broken into. The three chests were taken away with some other equipment, but the second attack revealed much. Another sect was involved, with a much different energy signature. It was also the one which revealed the sky ships, as for the attackers to flee from so far inland they had to reach their goal. They were even able to fly- not high enough or fast enough to completely avoid attacks, but once they made it to the safety of the sky ship its formations held long enough. The vessel itself then rose back above the clouds, speeding away at a pace nobody could keep up with, not that many cultivators on Brogora even had the ability to fly for long periods of time. It was unfortunate to lose valuable treasures, and even more so the deaths of several Life Transformation cultivators and many of lesser cultivation, but the end result could be considered less devastating than it first seemed. The mere knowledge of the sky ships was important¡­ and they didn¡¯t lose so much as might have been expected. Especially the remaining prisoner¡­ at least in that location, they were of no real value. It was just one of the other ten. Cyrica had been in that prison, prominently marched passed the others. She had been taken deeper, to the most secure cells. Then she had been secretly transported elsewhere, along with the others. The predictions on what might happen hadn¡¯t been totally accurate, but the combined strategies of Ambati and the rest aiding them had been sufficient to come out relatively even, or perhaps slightly ahead. That would depend on whether they considered the relative or absolute losses. ----- ¡°That would be the Soaring Air Sect, then?¡± Kseniya frowned as the Order gathered together. ¡°A shame Anton was out at sea, though even I usually do not sense so directly upward. It¡¯s only a few kilometers, but with sufficient stealth capabilities¡­¡± she nodded. ¡°The question now is what to do with the rest of the prisoners,¡± Matousek said. ¡°We have them very well secured. It is unlikely anything but an assault by a full sect could break through here, but we don¡¯t know how many sky ships are available¡­ or other relevant details.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe the Worthy Shore Society didn¡¯t tell us about sky ships,¡± Catarina complained. ¡°I could have been preparing so many useful formations against them!¡± ¡°Grant and the engineers will need to know as well. Preparing weaponry that can attack so high might be difficult, but we should at least be able to make a few. No indication of if the ships are built for combat yet, but any failures in their functionality would be¡­ significantly worse for sky ships.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to wait for the final information to come in,¡± Kseniya agreed. ¡°These message plates are great, but they don¡¯t make long conversations or detailed explanations easy. I wonder if they had some way to track those chests?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Now I wish I¡¯d rushed over for the inspection. I was going to do it later¡­ bleh. What was that, five percent of the sect¡¯s wealth?¡± ¡°Maybe. Certainly not more, perhaps somewhat less. They asked for ten percent total, but obviously there were shenanigans involved.¡± ¡°What about the council?¡± Matousek asked. ¡°Were they safe?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t hear anything about that,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°Won¡¯t take long to ask.¡± She made use of the communication plate in front of her. ¡°Council-is-safe. Good.¡± ¡°What does that mean, though?¡± Matousek questioned. ¡°Did they not consider it important to retaliate against them as figureheads, or could they not? Are there only two skyships, or is this the limit of what the Ponderous Turtle clan could swing to help them on short notice?¡± ¡°There have to be more,¡± Kseniya said, ¡°But not that many. I can¡¯t imagine it¡¯s inexpensive to fly those things,¡± she looked to Catarina. ¡°That would depend on the quality of natural energy in the area. High up¡­ well, there¡¯s no way it maintains stable power all the way across the oceans. Large portions of that keep the natural energy primarily down in the water.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to coordinate with the others about the prisoners,¡± Matousek said finally. ¡°We have no easy communication method to even make demands, and it might be better to show our¡­ sincerity. The Ponderous Turtle clan has shown they aren¡¯t willing to be reasonable.¡± Chapter 389 Ambati was ultimately given the choice of the fate of Cyrica and the remaining members of the Ponderous Turtle Clan. It was their territory that was violated, and much of the damages fell on them. The loss of the ransom was not as significant as the other factors. Merely being able to track the path of the second skyship as it fled was a frustration. Even with communications sent ahead, it avoided populated areas that might have the firepower to bring it down. It didn¡¯t matter if the enemy¡¯s objectives were not fully accomplished, damage was still done. Ultimately the council decided the way to respond to the assault, with the same methods they might employ among themselves. Along the main docks were arranged the heads of the six cultivators, prominently displayed in a rather gruesome fashion. Preservation formations were used to ensure they remained clearly recognizable. It would get the point across if anyone should approach. As there was no easy way to get in contact, that was all they could do. Even if they had wanted to risk sending a ship to deliver the message- which would likely result in the death of everyone on the ship- there were other matters to focus on. Attacks had begun shortly thereafter, in various locations along the coasts. For the most part skyships had not been involved, solidifying the idea they were in short supply. As soon as the first attack had happened word had been spread that the continent was at war, and any ships from the Exalted Archipelago were to be assumed as enemy combatants from that point onward. That had been quickly justified as battles and skirmishes abounded, the patrolling ships sometimes engaging enemy vessels at sea but more often simply providing intel and moving to reinforce local areas after enemies made landfall. It was unsurprising that the Exalted Archipelago had better ships, as such would be more important for them. Yet they were not so much better that if they actually fought they were guaranteed to win. That still relied on the strength of the formations and cultivators aboard, and though Ambati would not have been able to match all of the assaults on their own, cultivators drawn from the inner continent were bolstering their numbers. ----- The first attacks had all been probing, measuring resistance. Anton was certain of that. Unlike the invasion from the upper realm, there was a directionality to the attacks and no inherent commitment. Thus, casualties were lower on both sides. Truthfully most of the losses from the previous war had come in the first few weeks, and they made the losses so far seem marginal. Not that anyone was happy about their losses. Anton wasn¡¯t willing to accept any more, especially with the way the Exalted Archipelago was going about things. They thought they were justified to just demand whatever they wanted, or to take it when those demands were refused. That was the worst side of cultivators. And the fact that it happened so naturally once they weren¡¯t restricted by the pact meant it was always within their intentions. There were rotten apples among every group, but the Exalted Archipelago seemed to be overrun. So far more than a handful of distinct sects had been confirmed to be participating. This included prominent forces such as the Ponderous Turtle Clan and the Soaring Air Sect, and notable did not include the Worthy Shore Society or others that they had previously indicated were ¡®neutral¡¯ towards the continents. And neutral seemed to be the most friendly they got, though perhaps that was tempered by the understanding of the others in the area. Wouldn¡¯t want to be thought to be conspiring with foreigners. At the moment Anton found himself chasing down a ship headed around to the south. So far it seemed they hadn¡¯t been detected, though that couldn¡¯t be certain. Either way, they remained close enough to the shoreline to angle inland and group up with reinforcements. Cultivators were standing ready according to the updated positions, and though communication to arbitrary locations had to go through several steps from Anton and back, it was still nearly instantaneous. The ship they were trailing was either being conservative with its speed or simply didn¡¯t have the capacity to go as fast as the sea turtle powered variety. It still required making the most out of the ship they were on, with rowers working in shifts to keep their pace up. Nthanda was of great help in that regard, though her position required a specially made oar to withstand her strength. She was able to do the work of an entire bench on her own, leaving more free to rest or stand guard or balance her on the other side. Truthfully her personal strength was not as important as her inspiring power. Nobody was willing to be outdone by a woman relying just on her body to row a great oar. Not that they actually had a choice. Anton contributed himself, though of the Life Transformation cultivators present he was perhaps the least useful for that job. He had the longest senses and thus needed to keep track of the enemy ship¡­ but it was good to do something with his hands. And though the muscles worked weren¡¯t exactly the same, both rowing and archery involved back muscles to a good extent. It was technically a waste of his energy, but it seemed the most fair. Anton continued to do it even if he hadn¡¯t slept in the last few days. It was simply a matter of necessity. The enemy ship was continuing further and further. At this point it was fairly likely they were gunning for Droca¡¯s coastline if not further. There were cultivators ready to fight wherever they might land, though most of the ships were concentrated on the west coast. It was already too late for another ship to cut them off, and it was unclear if it would be a wise idea. One thing the Exalted Archipelago definitely had was an abundance of Life Transformation cultivators. Brogora had grown explosively in numbers over the last couple decades, but they still had concerns about matching the enemy when having to cover a wide territory. ¡°They¡¯re angling towards the shore,¡± Anton said to captain Othman in his cabin. ¡°I have the feeling this will be the attack. I advise we try to gain on them if we can.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll trust your judgment on that,¡± Othman said, consulting a map. ¡°According to this the only place around that location is Ponrath Landing. Not of particular note, but a decent harbor with some natural shelter. I¡¯ll let them know to be ready.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye out for any changes,¡± Anton said. The Sirdar didn¡¯t actually make any changes to her trajectory. They had been paralleling the shore from a distance, and made no move to approach closer. Optimally they wanted to get behind the enemy ship, between the open sea and the harbor. Either way, cutting towards land would cost them some distance if it was unnecessary. Additional cultivators were assigned to row, and the pace was increased slightly. They weren¡¯t at the maximum speed the Sirdar could achieve, but they had to sustain the pace for more than a few minutes. Closing the distance between the two ships wouldn¡¯t be simple, even with formation enhanced sails allowing them to gain as much speed as possible even from unfavorable winds. By the time the attack began, they were actually almost upon their foes. Either they weren¡¯t paying attention behind them or chose to ignore them- but either way they were within a reasonable range for any cultivator to sense them. And since the attack was beginning, Anton wasn¡¯t going to hold back. His first few shots targeted the ship. If he could pierce the sails or even destroy the masts or rudder he could cripple them for any attempted escape. He didn¡¯t really expect it to work, since the enemy ships had been shown to have strong defensive formations. He wasn¡¯t surprised, except by the exact way his arrows were negated. The spirit arrows didn¡¯t just shatter upon the formations but actually reflected back towards him with equal power- no longer under his control. They even picked out his actual trajectory instead of shooting directly back on the angle they came in from. Yet they fizzled out long before they could reach him, flying just a couple kilometers towards him. A reasonable range for most cultivators, but far from their current distance. Nthanda was close enough to shoot as well, only having to shoot just beyond the horizon- the ten kilometer range from the crow¡¯s nest that she quickly co-opted. Anton was the primary scout, and he didn¡¯t need that bit of angle for his shots. With Nthanda not participating in the rowing there was a marginal drop in efficiency, but the eagerness of the cultivators to actually get to the battle more than made up for that. Nthanda¡¯s shots were likewise stopped by the defensive formations, but they were not turned upon her. For one thing a formation physically spinning an arrow would have to more than overcome its momentum¡­ and there was barely a spark of energy to trace back towards her. An interesting insight into the formations, to be discussed with Catarina later. It wasn¡¯t long before groups of cultivators- two or three Life Transformation experts as well as a plethora of Essence Collection subordinates- started making their way to the docks of Ponrath Landing, where they were met by the local cultivators. When the fighting began, Anton felt something inside of him. It was not odd for him to feel a sense of righteous anger when cultivators attacked each other for the sake of plundering wealth, but it usually leaned more towards the side of indignation than actual fury. Anton didn¡¯t find himself blinded to his actions, but the way he went about the battle was not consciously directed either. Instead of targeting the strongest cultivators to throw them off balance, Anton instead summoned as many energy bows as he could handle. More than that, perhaps, but he somehow managed to fire several dozen shots at once. Sometimes several shots targeted the same enemy, some went after separate individuals. The underlying reasoning was not something that could be plumbed in depth during a combat. All that mattered was that it was effective. And it was. ----- Nthanda almost stopped shooting her own bow as a rain of arrows poured from Anton on deck below her. Every time she tried to pick a target, it felt like a moment later that target was slain. The main bow Anton held in his actual hands was made from some mysterious tree, even the string. Nthanda felt the enchantments empowering those shots, and while those indeed felled many it was but a portion of his total effectiveness. The strange bladed bow was sometimes more effective, slicing through several weaker cultivators with the bladed shots it produced. Even if it didn¡¯t kill someone, the free-floating bows formed purely of energy added their own to the attack, finishing off injured enemies or at least incapacitating them. When Nthanda finally decided to just pick random targets instead of anything priority, she found her time being more effective. Somehow Anton was reading the flow of the battle well enough that he was picking out pretty much every good target. It was true that the Life Transformation cultivators were not directly affected by the barrage of arrows, but they were left relatively unsupported for the local defenders or Nthanda to target. And the ship was close enough that the rest of their ranged combatants as well as the shipboard weapons were getting within range. It seemed the enemy quickly realized their mistake, how they had underestimated the resistance they would face. Droca might not have many resources, but its cultivators were like anything else that lived in their country- prickly and hardy. Once they had taken noticeable casualties, the enemy began to pull back to their ship. It only took them a short time to maneuver it around to face out of the harbor, but that was long enough for the Sirdar to reach them. Captain Othman had a good head on his shoulders, but as anyone who had survived the invasion he was a bit aggressive about how he liked to deal with invaders. Instead of trying to maneuver around the enemy ship, fighting ship to ship, he simply headed straight towards them. The ships crashed together, formations straining against each other in interesting ways. The enemy vessel had the unfortunate problem of its power being divided as local were leaping onto it from the docks- and Anton¡¯s arrows bombarded it from the sides. The latter of those resulted in dozens of arrows reflecting right back towards Anton, but somehow he seemed to not care. While barely moving his feet he shuffled around with arrows whizzing past him- and the rest of the crew close by, before everyone gave him more space. They quickly lost momentum beyond him, dissipating into nothing. While his attacks didn¡¯t do anything to break the formation, they certainly occupied it. Only so much energy was available at once, and it only had to collapse for a moment for the enemy ship to be boarded from both sides. The enemy continued to struggle for a time before realizing that even their formations wouldn¡¯t save them. There were moments of decision where several of their experts made different choices simultaneously- turning to flee, standing firm, or attempting surrender without regard for the others. There was one man who seemed to be trying to give orders, but it was already too late to salvage. He ultimately didn¡¯t surrender, and found himself with quite a few holes- from arrows to swords and spears and whatever else. At the end of it, Nthanda realized that Anton had broken through to the next level. That made him one of those, but she already knew that. That was why she stuck with learning from him even though he wasn¡¯t a body temperer. He was among that strange brand of geniuses that was at the top of this most recent generation- even if he didn¡¯t visually fit among them. Chapter 390 An explosion of energy tore through the area, rocking the building around it. Catarina looked at the pile of scrap that had once been an interesting device and was now just slag in her hands. She¡¯d been trying to avoid this situation, but unfortunately she had failed. That was too bad. So far they¡¯d barely obtained any communication devices from the Exalted Archipelago, and they hadn¡¯t been able to co-opt any of them. She¡¯d picked up some information on how they worked, though. This latest one had come from her grandfather, more or less. She hoped it would be the one to finally let them break through, but it was another failure. At least she had ideas for how to secure their own communications. The easiest one was simply keeping careful track of who had what. They only linked to one other communication plate, and traditional code phrases and passcodes could be used to provide some security. That wouldn¡¯t always be enough, but it was working for the moment, and would soon be replaced. As things went, this was the most drawn out war she had been a part of. Cultivators moved quickly when they wanted to, but the significant distance between the Exalted Archipelago and Brogora was an issue. There was also the fact that the enemy didn¡¯t seem ready to commit to anything. That was good for the moment, but it also put a damper on their other plans. At a certain point, there was only so much waiting that could be done. With wins and losses on both sides, Catarina was most glad for the recent ones. Not only did she have another go at cracking the enemy communications, but they also got their hands on a ship. Not just any ship, but one built by Golden Star Island. They were formation specialists, and their ships were decidedly less explosive than the communications devices. There was a lot more to lose if that went awry somehow. At the moment Catarina hadn¡¯t gotten her hands on the ship, but she was receiving communication from Eira. The ship had been transported to the eastern shores of Facraona, as far as possible from the enemy forces. Transporting it inland would have technically made it more secure, but the effort required to carry a ship overland was not insignificant. Bringing formation masters to it was easier. Thus, Eira. She was one of the formation masters from Heavy Mountain Gate, and though their style was quite different from what Catarina had learned they could still communicate information properly. What could be conferred over the communication plates, at least. Sometimes words weren¡¯t enough¡­ and the limited way they worked was insufficient. A project that would be completed¡­ eventually. When there was time. ----- Some time later had found Anton on the other side of the continent, the north of Estary. There had been some indications that the Exalted Archipelago would try an attack there next, and various scouts had confirmed that. Now the enemy was close enough that he had confirmed it with his own senses. They were less than a hundred kilometers out, but he could already sense several different categories of energy. Multiple sects working together, and more than just a couple handfuls of Life Transformation cultivators involved. This was something serious, and they had to be ready for it. Anton also didn¡¯t forget to check the skies. Though he had to cover significantly more area, skyships disturbed the air and natural energy in a way he was beginning to recognize. There were two he had spotted so far. Hopefully the local defenses were up to the task. Grant and his crews had finished some options for shooting down skyships, but it was unsure if it would be enough. Anton would try it himself, but he didn¡¯t think he could overpower one. If they had a formation master study the defensive formations for weaknesses he could do something, but before then it wouldn¡¯t do to exhaust himself unnecessarily. Among those present were Golden Star Island, the Ponderous Turtle Clan, and the Soaring Air Sect along with a few others. Most importantly, their numbers were sufficient to finally put some plans into motion elsewhere. Anton hoped they did well, but his own focus was on defending this area. That was what he had ultimately attuned to- the idea of guardianship. Everyone had some they held dear that they wanted to protect, and Anton could admit that he had some he would prioritize over others¡­ but the scope of his desires had expanded along with his cultivation. Now, he wanted to protect entire countries, continents¡­ the world. Not that he had the power to truly have the latter within his reach. He could only do what his current abilities would allow, and push himself to continuously improve. It would still be a slow process, even after having completed the prime tempering, but advancing once more felt good. ----- ¡°Well then,¡± Vasu said, speaking generally to the entire fleet but specifically to Chikere. ¡°News has come in that the Exalted Archipelago has finally committed to an attack. Among them are Golden Star Island, from the interior. The Ponderous Turtle Clan, to the north-¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised they showed their faces again,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Rumor is they are quite livid about the results,¡± Vasu shrugged, ¡°But they did it to themselves. Back to the topic at hand, the Soaring Air Sect¡¯s skyships have been spotted as well. So we now have a target.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to get to a sky island,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Should we try cutting it down?¡± ¡°We might find a way to do that,¡± Vasu grinned. ¡°But for the moment we must go where required.¡± ¡°Is it the turtles at least? I¡¯d like to try some more giant turtle soup, preferably not made with swamp turtle.¡± ¡°Even better,¡± Vasu tapped the sword at his side. ¡°I didn¡¯t mention one important group. We don¡¯t have to change our target after all. The Void Blades finally showed up in force.¡± Everyone cheered. ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s finally time. We¡¯ll be making our way there. No doubt they have some truly impressive swords. For their own part, other forces from Aicenith have been persuaded to move on other sects.¡± Vasu drew his sword, cutting apart the air. Normally, it would simply have been for show, but the ripples of his slash continued onward cutting into the sea below¡­ and leaving a small trail in the clouds above. ¡°It¡¯s time to fight! We¡¯ll show those ¡®exalted¡¯ fellows that nobody is so far above others they can¡¯t be cut down!¡± The general excitement was not just of warriors going to battle, or sword enthusiasts anticipating what they might add to their collections. It was also a large number of people who were very tired of eating salted meat, fish, and whatever other aquatic creatures happened to attack them as they held a position east of Aicenith but still far enough from the Exalted Archipelago to have escaped their notice. It would still be a matter of days, maybe a week before they arrived¡­ but they were finally moving. ----- The Void Blades were problematic. That was Anton¡¯s assessment of them as the battle broke into full swing. They were strong and terribly efficient in battle, cutting down swathes of Brogora¡¯s cultivators. The key was the difficulty of defending against their sword strikes. Their weapons didn¡¯t actually disappear when they attacked, but it sure felt like it. Anton didn¡¯t have to deal with them directly as he was sniping from the rear lines, taking down as many as he could, but he found some of them were also uncomfortably good at slicing through incoming attacks. But he didn¡¯t have to fight alone. Infinite Wisdom Forest and Misty Hill Palace, among others, were doing the majority of the work. Local cultivators knew the area best and were the most motivated, so the main movement of cultivators had been to adjust people closer to the coasts to be ready to fight. The skyships and the potential for the enemy to infiltrate in other ways meant they couldn¡¯t fully focus on the coasts, but they could still pull from landlocked Graotan and the majority inland Ofrurg. Speaking of skyships, they were at their most troublesome when they were unseen, able to drop a number of powerful cultivators behind enemy lines for a stealthy mission. In short, the way they had first been used. With their locations known they were still a significant factor on the battlefield- shooting down below, ignoring traditional walls. Even formation barriers were generally weaker directly above since fewer attacks were expected to be able to reach the area properly. Grant¡¯s modified weapons were nothing particularly groundbreaking. There were ballistae that could be angle almost directly upwards as well as trebuchets that could do the same. The latter were generally less effective since they were fighting gravity with heavier attacks, while a ballista dealt with less weight, and the power was made up by cultivators combining their energy together. If the enemy got too low, the trebuchets could be quite devastating, and the ballistae were sometimes able to puncture the defensive formations of the ships- but nothing could hit the sails or whatever mechanisms existed that made the ships fly. Yet now that the ships were over the city, aiming for the backlines like Anton himself, the next form of attack came. At first they appeared no different than a ballista. A large spike of metal or metal tipped wood, basically a large arrow, was flung into the sky. Some pierced into the enemy ships while others passed uselessly over or under¡­ or so it appeared. Those that fell short of their targets couldn¡¯t do anything, but going over still actually had a value. For one, it allowed the ropes to dangle over the enemy ship. Making ropes of any sort over a kilometer in length was an expensive project, even by cultivator standards. Only a few dozen had been made and they had hurriedly been shipped to this location when it was clear a battle was happening. And it was reasonable to make the mistake that there was no rope at all. There were other options for something strong, but the element of surprise was something special as well. Ropes made entirely of diamondsilk, the nearly invisible webs of the diamondsilk spiders. Tough enough to be used as armor with only a thin weave, practically unbreakable when formed into rope. Elder Tshering had been one of the first to recognize the value of the void ants, but even some time before that he had been working to expand the farming of diamondsilk spiders. The Order wasn¡¯t solely responsible for the production necessary for these particular ropes, but they were certainly a large contributor- and had sparked the idea of taking care of the troublesome arachnids. The issue of course being that the spiders themselves were likewise nearly invisible, and requiring special care. So there were a few ropes¡­ in harpoons, or the equivalent at least. Those that pierced the skyships formations and stuck in the bottom of the ships were the best suited for what they wanted, but those that went over and got entangled on the outside of the formation were good enough as well. One skyship took several hits, and soon was being dragged towards the ground by a hundred people below. When the crew of the ship above tried to cut the ropes, they found quite a bit of difficulty. Diamondsilk was tough, and they didn¡¯t expect to have to reach beneath their ship to cut ropes. They had some balconies for archers to shoot from, but they still had awkward angles. And when they tried¡­ Anton would counter their shots with his own. Climbing down the surface of the ship wasn¡¯t any better, as they would be outside the defensive formation of the ship- and it certainly wasn¡¯t made for anyone to hang on. Even so, a few of the ropes were eventually cut- only to be replaced by additional harpoons targeted at the same ship. It was rapidly pulled low- below a few hundred meters- with people climbing the ropes towards them to not only add weight but potentially board the ship. The dangling harpoons that went over the ship had not all been removed, and were grabbed onto as well. At a certain point the ship suddenly gave out, crashing into the ground away from the intended back lines¡­ and though they had Life Transformation cultivators ready to fight, their plan had been delayed enough for the continental defenders to reorganize. Chapter 391 Purely defensive formations had the weakness that any barrier they created could be bombarded into nothing with sufficient determination and time. Those that had counterattacks tried to mitigate the problem, but had a greater expenditure of energy so if they didn¡¯t kill people they were strictly worse. Hundreds of blades moved in sync, slicing and stabbing and spinning to decimate anyone within their reach. It was intended to kill or force back anyone making their way into the area, but instead a squad of cultivators had taken it as an invitation. As blades came for their necks they ducked. Thrusts towards their vitals were parried. Spinning blades had their handles caught before they were tossed away from the formation¡¯s control. Every members of the Million Sword Vault who had come on this raid was confident, but some had lower cultivations that required them to be more cautious, lingering at the edges. Others dove deep into the field of blades, brushing up against death as they were accustomed. They weren¡¯t just able to clear out the formation without hindrance. At the signs of their arrival, defenders came to fight. Even if they hadn¡¯t been expecting an attack, high ranking cultivators would never be completely unprepared. They came to add their own attacks into the mix, cutting down some members of the Million Sword Vault. But only some. The formation had been made with the assumption that a dozen swords would be sufficient to hold back even the strongest cultivators. The formation was dynamic in its ability to target the priorities, and with the rapidly decreasing number of swords available a few individuals were dominating its efforts- one of which was deflecting the swords with an equivalent number of her own blades, while keeping her hands free to grab any available hilt. Or the blade itself, where there was one. ¡°Are these technically swords?¡± Chikere commented as she pinched blades between her fingers before tearing them away from the control of the formation and tossing them into a miniature forest of upright blades that was her collection. ¡°Without hilts and crossguards I¡¯m not sure if they count.¡± ¡°They can be,¡± Vasu shrugged. ¡°Their individual quality might replace your fiftieth and below.¡± ¡°Actually, forty and down are pretty lacking, it could go that high.¡± For some reason, the woman attacking Chikere seemed to take issue with her talking. ¡°You¡¯re fighting me! Not having a day off!¡± Chikere¡¯s eyes focused on her for a moment. ¡°We¡¯re fighting? I thought you were waiting for me to be done with this,¡± she gestured to the cloud of blades around her which was lessening in size with every moment. Despite that being Chikere¡¯s true feelings, it was amazingly successful as a taunt. The woman¡¯s swings became wilder and less precise, losing synergy with the formation. A slash toward¡¯s Chikere¡¯s neck curved down and then back up to turn into a thrust towards her gut, but instead of retreating she dodged forward before the stab had speed, stepping just enough to the side that it barely cut through her armor and into her side. Chikere caught the woman¡¯s hands with her own, preventing either of them from moving- but she didn¡¯t need to move to use the rest of her attacks. One sword stabbed from armpit to armpit while two more went through the woman¡¯s thighs, surrounded by another dozen that would have struck if she had moved in any other manner. With a quick swipe, the woman turned into a lifeless body. The battle ended shortly thereafter. By the time the weaker and slower cultivators arrived, there were no Life Transformation cultivators to support, and the formation no longer had any of its blades present. Huge gouges on the floors and walls were the result of preventing the formation from doing anything else in the most straightforward way. This was only an outlying base of the Void Blades, but the Million Sword Vault only took a small number of casualties. They were confident that they could attack something more important, more precious. After the battle, Chikere opened a technique scroll she found. It burned up immediately, and Chikere clicked her tongue. ¡°Wow, these guys are sure stingy.¡± She picked up another one, but instead of opening it normally she flicked it with all her might, unfurling the whole thing at once. It was only visible for a moment, but she got a good look at it. ¡°Huh.¡± ¡°What?¡± Vasu asked. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they followed these stances and attack patterns. Exclusively. I need to talk to our prisoners.¡± It felt a bit excessive to slaughter the trainees, and they could be useful for information so they had kept alive anyone who had surrendered. Now they had a lot of people they had to deal with somehow, but they¡¯d figure it out. Chikere went to find the nearest group. ¡°I want to know about your techniques. Styles, stances, everything.¡± ¡°W-we won¡¯t betray the secrets of the sect!¡± one woman said with false bravado. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they didn¡¯t tell you any secrets,¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°Not with your cultivation at that age¡­ unless the Exalted Archipelago has realized it¡¯s worthwhile to try to teach everyone?¡± The woman hung her head, and Chikere continued. ¡°Anyway, I know the basic gist of everything. You¡¯ve got a few thrusts,¡± Chikere began to demonstrate as she spoke. ¡°Some slashes, high and low guards, the basics. You also focus on making use of your enemy¡¯s blind spot,¡± Chikere¡¯s sword disappeared from the woman¡¯s vision, until it was suddenly visible in front of her nose. ¡°Maybe you¡¯ve got some other techniques for concealing the flow of your energy, but I don¡¯t care about that. Do you guys just¡­ use these forms?¡± ¡°Of course we do! These are optimal forms given to us by powerful ancestors. They are perfect.¡± ¡°Okay but¡­ how can I explain this?¡± Chikere shook her head, swiping her sword to cut apart the ropes binding the woman. Then she tossed her a sword. ¡°Hold onto that. I¡¯m going to attack you, okay?¡± The woman didn¡¯t hesitate to try to drive her blade through Chikere¡¯s heart. Not that she could have, with the difference in cultivation. Making up for a few ranks was trivial, but the difference between late Life Transformation and the peak of Spirit Building was a nearly insurmountable gap. Not that Chikere let the blade touch her anyway. She avoided it and kicked the woman back, swinging her sword. The woman¡¯s training pulled through and she instinctually parried low to deal with Chikere¡¯s attack, but Chikere simply flicked her sword up and drew a line of blood on the woman¡¯s wrist. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°See I¡¯ll admit that was the perfect counter to my move¡­ up until I saw you do it. You needed to anticipate my follow up for that to stand a chance.¡± Chikere made a few more strikes, then sighed. ¡°You¡­ have you ever fought anyone?¡± ¡°I have sparred every day for the last five decades.¡± Chikere made a face. ¡°When¡¯s the last time someone tried to kill you?¡± ¡°Before today¡­?¡± ¡°Yeah. Like a serious brawl with a master or a death match. Or even a wild beast.¡± The woman held her back high, ¡°We join forces to fight wild beasts every five years, and I have participated in six bandit subjugations.¡± ¡°Six¡­ ever? Not like this year?¡± ¡°We are not a lawless land unlike the continents.¡± Chikere¡¯s sword crept slightly closer to piercing into the woman¡¯s side. ¡°You realize your Exalted bunch of islands is literally acting like bandits right now?¡± ¡°The strong naturally deserve to rule the weak.¡± ¡°Great. Then all of you deserve this.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have true strength. If Swordmaster Netta was here she would-¡± ¡°Die.¡± Chikere said the word with utmost conviction. ¡°Like this one here.¡± She gestured to one of the men on the floor. ¡°Swordmaster Netta is incomparably stronger than Swordmaster Sakir was,¡± the disciple said defensively. ¡°This man¡­ was a swordmaster?¡± Chikere looked around, reading the expressions of those around them. ¡°You need to raise your standards. He was maybe in a dozen real fights, tops. Hopefully this Netta is the real deal. Now then, what should we do with all of you?¡± ¡°I would rather die than serve you.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t really have a choice,¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°But also we don¡¯t need slaves or anything. So we¡¯ll just leave you here.¡± ----- One skyship was felled, and the rest of the enemy forces had to retreat when they could not overcome the other defenses. Their weaker cultivators were culled quickly, leaving only the strongest to face off against the best from the continent. There was a particular swordmaster as well as a few other notables who did more than hold their own, but ultimately the defensive position and formations tipped the balance enough. As information was shared with the counterattacking groups, some details began to be revealed. The average cultivator of the Exalted Archipelago had little practical experience. Their most powerful cultivators certainly had experience in real combat, but even with the structures in place to raise many Life Transformation cultivators, not all of them were as good as the others. Likewise, it seemed that those with experience didn¡¯t pass on their practical learning to others as well as they might have. The continental forces couldn¡¯t say that defeating groups from the Exalted Archipelago was easy. Only madmen and battle maniacs like the Million Sword Vault would make claims like that. However, for the quality of techniques available and overall cultivation levels of the attackers, they were¡­ unimpressive. Then again, there was a generation of cultivators who had gone through the full brutality of the invasion from the upper realm. Everyone who survived had been strong before, and only developed even further afterwards. All of their Life Transformation cultivators had been involved in the war, or at least present for it. The same could not be said for the Exalted Archipelago who had been basically at peace for¡­ forever, possibly. Though it was likely there were internal conflicts that the covered up, beyond bandits like had plagued the area near the Worthy Shore Society. Though Anton could have been convinced those ¡®bandits¡¯ had the backing of other sects. After the battle had settled, Anton considered how future battles might go. Though they had been underestimated at various points during the last months, it was unlikely that would continue. It was simply a question of whether the Exalted Archipelago wanted to keep fighting. Would they become more serious, angered by the counterattacks¡­ or would they decide it was not worthwhile to keep fighting? Maybe if they had been able to kill more of the leading figures, they would be more inclined to give up. Anton also thought about his own actions in battle. Though a portion of his focus had been on the skyship and critical matters there, before that point he had split his attacks between as many targets as possible. He could have quite a number of energy bows attacking people at once. He didn¡¯t particularly like targeting the weak, but it was tactically sound¡­ and for the purposes of defending those on his side. It was still uncomfortable, but he would rather not be entirely comfortable with killing people. It was necessary to survive, and he couldn¡¯t say he actually regretted it, but he was reminded that nobody would have died if the war had simply been averted. The Exalted Archipelago didn¡¯t seem to really give them the option, but the sooner they could achieve a resolution the better. After all, they had to live in this world together. The Exalted Archipelago hadn¡¯t been so resolute about wiping them out as the invaders seemed to be. ----- ¡°Skyship, skyship, I have a skyship~¡± Catarina sang as she walked around the impressive construction. She¡¯d only begun to inspect it, but she was impressed. ¡°I don¡¯t know that everyone would agree that it¡¯s ¡®yours¡¯,¡± Timothy commented. ¡°Though I have no doubt you could build one.¡± ¡°I could set up the formations,¡± Catarina corrected. ¡°But it requires a great craftsman to create the body. This isn¡¯t the sort of thing that you can skimp on any part of the construction either. It needs to be strong and light and compact. It¡¯s interesting though. It¡¯s a different style of formations than Golden Star Island, and the other ships are different as well.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that normal?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°I thought every sect sort of had their own styles.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s true to an extent but¡­ on the continents, everything sort of stems from one place.¡± ¡°Which is?¡± ¡°Everheart. Nothing I¡¯ve seen from the Exalted Archipelago has those signs though, except for one thing. Remember that puzzle box that the Worthy Shore Society had?¡± ¡°You talked about it quite a bit. I remember.¡± ¡°It had his signs. Which mean someone from there aped Everheart¡¯s style for some reason or¡­ he left that there.¡± ¡°You said there was always another larger box inside¡­ do you think he was just screwing with people?¡± ¡°Everheart is always just screwing with people,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°Fair enough. So about Everheart¡¯s style¡­ does that mean their styles are better?¡± ¡°Not really. In fact, it seems like Everheart stole all of the best stuff from them. It¡¯s kind of about what someone can actually use¡­ though I¡¯ll admit that the Exalted Archipelago has a much more steady and consistent style. Everheart is fond of using something once and then never again.¡± ¡°So, do you have any insights into how to break their formations?¡± ¡°Lots,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°The other formation masters and I have come up with various options. Some will require our presence, but others can increase the efficiency of taking them out the old fashioned way. Grandpa will be quite pleased, though I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll be taking down skyships alone any time soon. He might be able to drive one off though, if they feel it¡¯s risky.¡± Chapter 392 Humans were odd. That was what the Great Queen had come to understand in her time interacting with them. Yet every feature they had seemed to come from some sort of sensible origin. For example, the desire for privacy was a protective measure that came about from the inability to trust other humans, especially when their vulnerable anatomy was uncovered. The way they were organized made it difficult to keep track of them all, and their autonomy meant they could never fit into the organized structure of a proper hive. Their individual strength was significant, and their size was a great factor in their success. Tool manipulation was also important. The Great Queen understood that her own kind were limited in how they could construct their homes due to their anatomy, though with a bit of cleverness they were able to accomplish much. Cultivation was another strength they had. The ants- void ants, according to the fearful cultivators of the upper realms- simply could not cultivate as humans could. At best, they could feed on energy to strengthen their bodies, but they never had control over natural energy or ascension energy. It was a small sacrifice to be resistant to its effects, though it was somewhat troublesome that most of her kin could be squashed by the majority of non-insects. Other insects did attempt to fight the void ants, but their lack of teamwork was their downfall. The Great Queen had to admit that one of the oddest features of humans was required for their lifestyles where they traveled great distances, sometimes on their own feet. Everything required rest, and humans did that all at once. The Great Queen dozed off briefly. It was only for a few minutes, but she nearly missed something important. Then again, if she were human she would have been asleep for hours more, so the advantages were there. She got the attention of the nearby captain and the rest of her progeny. The majority had been conscious, but they did not have the delicate senses of royalty. There was merely a gentle scent lingering in the air to alert the Great Queen, but she found it discomforting and planned to seek it out. ----- Anton awoke to the sound of a muffled curse. His subconscious filtered incoming sounds when he slept, or he and many other cultivators with trained senses would be unable to sleep in anything but strict isolation. Something about the sound snapped him awake, but his instincts also told him to keep his energy under control instead of actively seeking something out. The stillness lasted only a moment before he grabbed a bow leaning against the wall next to him, deflecting a dagger stabbing for the base of his throat, just above his sternum. HIs energy was roused with utmost speed, then two blades met¡­ and his throat remained mostly unpunctured. Only a slight nick on one side, which was a thousand times better than the alternative. He was quite glad for the bladed bow, despite how difficult it was to use sometimes. He¡¯d cut himself more than a few times from careless interaction with the weapon, but it had its place on the battlefield¡­ and was sturdier than most bows. Up to this point he¡¯d never had need to use it against assassins, but perhaps he¡¯d simply been lucky. His aura filled the room as much as it could, grasping ahold of his other bows and trying to form energy bows. As he blindly swung the sword-bow he was only able to target his opponent by the lack of presence they exuded. He didn¡¯t find his attack connected, but it seemed to force them back and give him a little bit of room. He wasn¡¯t fully certain what was going on, but there were also sounds out in the corridor. Small sounds, but some were familiar. And when tidbits of energy were torn from their controller and devoured, he felt it. It was a good thing the Great Queen liked him, or Anton might have found himself dead already. As it was, he was filling the room with arrows. Others would be on alert now. Not just those staying in the same inn, but much of the city. Anton wasn¡¯t going to attempt subtlety when fighting for his life- and for no reason. Arrows filled the room where he predicted an opponent might move, despite him being unable to pinpoint them. He stopped his attacks before they hit the walls simply to maintain the structural integrity of the building. With the battle already in close quarters, things happened quickly. He drew the tiniest bit of blood from his opponent, but received a cut along the back of his right wrist in turn. He was already feeling strange effects of something else. A heat deep inside him, as if his energy was igniting itself. The way the sensation flowed through him from his neck and wrist meant it was some sort of poison. A moment later a figure appeared in front of him, visible once more. Anton instinctively slashed out, but he needn¡¯t have bothered. His blade took off their head, but there was already a puncture mark in the back of it. Velvet had long surpassed him in the arts of stealth and countering it, and he found himself quite glad she had come along. The usual group was split up according to what locations needed help the most, but there were always allies around. Having the most reliable ones was what kept him alive. Flickers of movement continued out in the hallway, but as Anton peeked outside he was able to target them rather trivially. After all, whatever the ants were crawling on had to be them. He couldn¡¯t sense the void ants with his energy either, but seeing them even in dim light was easy, especially floating in the air. His energy continued to burn as he shot, but he thought it was better to expel it outward than let it remain inside. Three figures quickly fell, unable to fight back against more than just the void ants. There were more assassins throughout the city. Anton couldn¡¯t guarantee he was finding them all, but some were weaker and less able to conceal themselves. He began with them, watching for the signs of people dying or raising their energy to fight. A moment later he was on the roof, continuing to shoot in all directions. Since his energy was already burning, he tried to unleash it as quickly as possible. It wasn¡¯t the same as normal cultivation flames which never really ran out, and instead some of his arrows were consumed on the way to their target, striking nothing. But it was better than it happening inside of him. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Likewise, some of his bows melted out of existence. He was constantly expanding his energy and replacing them, while all the while the fire crept through his meridians, deeper inside. He had to do something about that, but what? He couldn¡¯t really feel a source, as any energy that came in contact with the substance suffered the same consequences. But if something horrible was going to happen anyway, he might as well do something risky that might work. He called upon another energy, rarely used and barely understood. The energy from beyond death, partially tied to future lives. He pushed it into his meridians and his veins, not caring what exactly he removed but trying to get rid of everything. There was no time for optimal finesse. A little bit of damage to his meridians was much better than death, and blood vessels and muscle tissue could be regrown. The heat dulled as it approached his dantian, and he continued expelling his energy as well as trying to eradicate the poison. Some of his mind was focused on the battles throughout the city. Things ended as quickly as they had started. Anton found himself tapped out, dredged of energy and with some internal injuries, but ultimately whole. Throughout the city battles had been completed quickly. Assassins weren¡¯t meant for long, drawn out conflicts. Once they were detected they had often already failed. And there simply weren¡¯t enough of them to take on a whole city, or even a reasonable part of it. ¡°Thank you very much,¡± Anton said as he found the Great Queen. ¡°I doubt I would have survived without you.¡± The Great Queen signed her response with her forelimbs and antennae, ¡°It is the purpose of friends and allies to defend each other. We are glad to be of assistance.¡± Anton would have done an internal check on himself, but he was utterly drained of energy. But at least there was no new pain. He thought to get a doctor to look at him, but he was concerned what might happen. They¡¯d have to be cautious. ¡°At least we can strike another sect off the list,¡± Velvet said as she partially revealed herself. ¡°I believe this would be¡­ the Still Wind Erudition. Assassins. Even the Worthy Shore Society didn¡¯t know much, but they were referenced in notes others had.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°That makes enough sense. Thank you for the assistance as well. You should see if you can help anyone else, I believe we¡¯re done here.¡± ¡°Are you kidding? There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll leave you like¡­ that. You seem like you¡¯re about to collapse.¡± ¡°I¡¯m actually feeling quite well,¡± Anton countered. ¡°But I suppose we cannot discount the possibility of more assassins about.¡± An hour later, Anton was the next in line to be looked at by a doctor. They had been quite busy in the immediate aftermath of the battle, and since he didn¡¯t have any deep wounds and his condition wasn¡¯t worsening he made sure others took priority. ¡°There was a strange poison,¡± Anton said. ¡°Energy consuming, right?¡± said his doctor, a man who showed nearly as much age as Anton himself. ¡°You did quite well to purge your system. Others did not do nearly so well. And based on the vials we found on those bodies, you were targeted with more than others.¡± ¡°I was lucky to only receive a couple small wounds,¡± Anton said. ¡°They had the skills to concentrate the poison on even small scratches.¡± The doctor held up the blade. ¡°See? Very little residue, with congealed parts near the tip and one part of the blade.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t suppose these fellows had any antidote on them? For the sake of others.¡± ¡°Hah. Not from what we¡¯ve seen.¡± Anton shrugged. He had some knowledge of healing from various bouts of learning, but he¡¯d never gotten to exotic cultivator killing poisons in his studies. He didn¡¯t recognize any of the vials that were still full. ¡°They seemed to travel very light. Storage bags were nearly empty. Maybe they thought they¡¯d get caught.¡± ¡°Or prepared for it at least,¡± the doctor said, carefully wiping away some blood from Anton¡¯s wrist. ¡°There¡¯s not much I can do for you at the moment. Just be cautious and let me know if there are any further symptoms.¡± ----- Information about the assassination attempts spread. Several others had happened in other cities nearly simultaneously, with some more effective than others. The continent lost more Life Transformation cultivators than they killed, but some of the cultivators determined to have the highest standing had come for Anton- and stopped by the void ants. Maybe he¡¯d just been one of many potential targets, or perhaps they didn¡¯t like the way he¡¯d been shooting at their sky ships. Either way, he was going to have to be careful until he was certain there weren¡¯t any more assassins coming. For the moment most of the counterattacking forces had retreated to Aicenith. They simply couldn¡¯t afford to linger in enemy territory, not with their numbers. The other continent could certainly provide a decent match, but they didn¡¯t exactly have the ships ready to cart over their entire population, even if they wanted to. The war hadn¡¯t yet spiraled out of control. The total death toll was still manageable, but there was no clear advantage on either side. Hopefully that would make the Exalted Archipelago decide to give up, but there was some doubt about that. Yet they also clearly tried to avoid losses, so the continents simply had to keep fighting. At some point, they could have peace. Or at least a truce. An unsteady peace seemed to be the best that the world could hope for, and Anton found that very upsetting. Yet he didn¡¯t know how anyone might get the power to change that for the better. Though uniting groups one day at a time had been making progress. He could imagine that in a couple centuries¡­ well, someone else having to convince a whole new set of generations not to pointlessly kill each other. But maybe there could be peace. Chapter 393 Some fluctuation of energy woke Erin in the middle of the night. That was not something she was used to, as her life had been relatively peaceful. She still found it difficult to believe she was the head of a sect, but that was how things were now. In truth the position mainly involved management rather than leadership, keeping things organized and people content with limitations. Things were peaceful, so what had awoken her? She didn¡¯t feel anyone fighting. Yet she wouldn¡¯t wake up for nothing either. There was something strange that she couldn¡¯t place. Or perhaps she simply had a nightmare. Her senses had scanned all around the island, finding no problems among the sect or the guests. Not that there were many of the latter at the moment- with a war going on, fewer people were passing through on ships. Speaking of ships, when she pushed her senses further she sensed it. After finding the first ship, her senses soon picked out the next. Then one more, further around Paradise. In total, there were seven spread out evenly, starting towards either shoulder and going around the sides with one in the rear. Paradise was still drifting along casually, apparently unconcerned. But why would he be? He never reacted to humans except the invaders, and had grown quite used to them. Erin had to do something. She couldn¡¯t tell what was happening, but there were subtle fluctuations of energy from the small fleet. If they were guests they would have simply landed, there were attendants on hand at all hours of the day. ¡°Miklav!¡± Erin directed her voice to extend to the vice head. She didn¡¯t bother focusing it so that her words wouldn¡¯t spread. Soon enough people would hear, and if nothing was happening she¡¯d simply feel silly. If there was a real problem, waking as many people as possible quickly was important. ¡°Gather everyone you can. There¡¯s some sort of attack¡­ or similar. Go to the left, and make sure to include our guests. This is a neutral zone, I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t be pleased if it comes under attack.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± a reply came from Miklav. ¡°You¡¯ll be able to spot them. Ships in formation around Paradise. If they approach peacefully we can handle them as normal, but the way they¡¯re lingering¡­¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Erin began gathering people as well, heading over to the right side of Paradise. Proper nautical terminology would perhaps call the left and right port and starboard, but Paradise wasn¡¯t a ship. He was a turtle. When she arrived at the guest houses, she found a group from Marvelous Rabbit Mountain waiting for her. An old woman lead them. ¡°Island Head, what is the cause of all this commotion?¡± She simply raised her arm towards the nearest ship. ¡°Something abnormal. Either guests who somehow don¡¯t know how this works¡­ or enemies.¡± ¡°I find it difficult to imagine anyone from the continents is unaware of the protocol here, not if traveling by ship.¡± The old woman turned off towards the ship. ¡°I think I can sense something there, in front of the ship.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. Well, that settles it,¡± Erin nodded as she felt a turtle attached to the ship. ¡°This is an attack of some sort. The Ponderous Turtle Clan has some gall, coming here.¡± Though she said that, there wasn¡¯t much she had that could back up her words. They had only a few Life Transformation cultivators, counting the guests no more than ten. What could they do against an attack? Even the closest ship had five. The fluctuations in energy became more obvious. ¡°They¡¯re unleashing a technique! Help me to counter it!¡± Erin didn¡¯t know exactly what she needed to do, but she called upon her own energy, and the energy of Paradise, trying to sever the line of connection they were forming. The group from Marvelous Rabbit Mountain and the other Island Tenders lent a hand, but the attack was ephemeral and difficult to tie down. It wasn¡¯t like blocking a fireball or something simple. Around the island, there were six more strands meeting in the middle like a strange net. Miklav was trying to fight one off, with less success than Erin. Erin tried to stop the final strand from properly connecting, but with a sudden shove she and the others were bowled over, and the connection formed. Dozens of additional lines webbed between the seven connections, and the effect collapsed over the island, binding it. The ships began to move in closer, the web tightening. Then a flipper slowly rose out of the water, between the front two pairs of ships. It seemed to take forever, even though it was moving with quite some speed. A torrent of water poured off of it, not quite completing its journey before the flippers slammed down. Instead of creating great waves, the flippers sunk into the water and created a great vacuum. Along with a tug of energy, it pulled water inward. There was a sudden tide of monumental force that pulled the two ships together. At the same time, the tail in the rear flipped upward. It was far enough away for it to be hazy in Erin¡¯s senses, but she could see it when it rose above the height of the thirteen hills- the shell of Paradise. It wasn¡¯t just the front two ships on either side that were pulled into the sudden void in the ocean, but also the ones by Paradise¡¯s rear feet, the back corners of the formation. The water rushed for a few moments, ships being pulled down¡­ and then the water crashed. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Over the next several minutes the surface of the water stilled, but Erin could feel something further happening underneath. Even if she hadn¡¯t been specifically attuned to the natural energy around Paradise, it was quite obvious to anyone how the power flowed from its back and middle down its sides. After a few minutes the water stilled, and the ocean returned to its vaguely calm state¡­ but with no ships. Except the ones anchored in the small docks, technically atop Paradise¡¯s shell. Either Paradise avoided causing turmoil around himself- which was quite possible- or he had intentionally avoided what they constructed. It didn¡¯t matter either way. It was clear that Paradise had made known his opinion about whatever they had been trying to do. Controlling Paradise, most likely. Then there was another disturbance of energy. ¡°There¡¯s something happening at the head,¡± Erin said. Come along.¡± She stomped rather quickly as she moved. As far as she was aware, she hadn¡¯t been able to do anything. It was clear that Paradise didn¡¯t need defending, but she¡¯d thought that maybe she could do something. Clearly, she needed more work. If she could just tap into more of the sea of energy Paradise kept¡­ as long as he didn¡¯t mind. Because if she angered him, there was nothing she or any of the others could do about his response. Erin had been worried there might be survivors congregating. If Paradise had left some alive, they might be strong enough to take out the Island Tenders. But it was clearly not humans that remained there. Instead, it was a handful of turtles. Six, to be exact. That would be all of them, except the one by the tail who had been flung who knows where. Paradise had raised his head out of the water as the turtles- which would have been quite impressive at five to ten meters in length anywhere else- circled around below. They seemed to want something from Paradise, but after a short few moments he simply lowered his head, snorting into the water. This raised waves sent the turtles scattering, but clearly didn¡¯t cause them much actual harm. Some of them lingered nearby regardless, but a few more snorts and they gave up. Well. At least Erin could now report on the result of the attack. She had communication plates for some groups on either continent, and she¡¯d warned of something that looked like an attack to both. Now she could report¡­ and let them know that the Ponderous Turtle clan was down¡­ something like thirty or more of their best. Though maybe they¡¯d find a way to swim back to shore somewhere, if they hadn¡¯t been killed by that swirling energy under the surface. A trail of floating flotsam from the ships began to surface, indicating that it had been more than just the weight of water that would have crashed down on them. Normal ships might have fallen apart, but these had been reinforced by powerful formations. And now they were junk. ----- Anton was ecstatic to hear the news from Paradise. More victories than losses were happening for the continents, but few had been big. From their estimates of the Ponderous Turtle Clan¡¯s power, however, the attack on Paradise might have been pretty much everything they had left. That was also a significant chunk of the forces arrayed against them, and the fastest ships. Further intel gained during the war indicated that it would be around five percent of the enemy¡¯s forces, with the Ponderous Turtle clan being one of a couple dozen larger groups in the Exalted Archipelago. Some still remained out of the war, and it was hoped that they would not change their minds. Anton couldn¡¯t do anything about that at the moment, though. Or much of anything. There were still lingering traces of poison inside him, and whenever he recovered a bit of natural energy it flared up. In small amounts it wasn¡¯t harmful, but if he tried to gather quickly it felt a bit dangerous. He was slowly recovering, though, and he estimated the poison should be completely gone within a month. Not being able to fight was frustrating, though it wasn¡¯t because people needed him. In fact, it was because they didn¡¯t. An uncomfortable blow to Anton¡¯s newfound inspiration. What point was there in being the guardian of everything if nobody needed him? Of course, the inner turmoil settled itself rather quickly once he got around to straightforwardly asking himself such questions. There was no point at all, and it would be the very best possible outcome. If everything was just fine without him? He could die happy. It just wasn¡¯t going to be yet. His health was decent and he had some decades left in him. Even if this particular war ended without further need for his assistance, there were threats further beyond. There was something about being truly empty of energy that Anton found peaceful. He had taken a wagon back to the sect, away from the more dangerous battlegrounds. He didn¡¯t want anyone getting hurt trying to defend him. For the last week he¡¯d been working the ground with just his body. It brought back so many years of memories, but there was more to it. He could still sense the energy around him now, if passively. Perhaps he¡¯d had the slightest inkling of it before he became a cultivator, from the sense of peace he had working the land. Or maybe that was him projecting his current feelings. Either way, he enjoyed the feeling of the sun beating down on him and the wind cooling him off. Sweat and dirt and plain old normal muscle aches. But above it all he felt the flow of the world, the inevitable tides of everything that would inevitably open up the world for invasion by outsiders once more. And it wasn¡¯t even all that far away, by cultivator standards. He had consulted with others, and they agreed that it seemed likely to be a shorter cycle this time. Yet it wouldn¡¯t be quick. A couple centuries, which was enough for at least a pair of long generations of cultivators- children growing up to become masters and raising disciples of their own. Anton hoped the current pointless war settled down soon enough. Neither side would come out ahead with more fighting, and instead they would simply have dead bodies. Recovering from another large loss would set both back for far too long. Anton hoped the Exalted Archipelago would see that, but communication with them was still minimal. Maybe that should be his goal, when he recovered. Even if peace was offered, the continents would be totally justified in wanting some sort of retaliation. He would even support it, as long as it wasn¡¯t too excessive. And if he was sent as a diplomat to the Exalted Archipelago and they killed him, what would the world lose? Just him. And though he certainly valued himself to some extent, it was better him than those he loved- or anyone with a long future. He¡¯d have to bring up the idea soon, so that people could have time to properly process it. Chapter 394 ¡°I can¡¯t believe I let you talk me out of staying behind,¡± Chikere complained. ¡°From what I heard that Swordmaster Netta was pretty strong!¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point,¡± Vasu shook his head. ¡°What, you think I¡¯d lose?¡± Chikere vaguely slashed a sword towards him, which he sidestepped without effort. The members of the Million Sword Vault had already returned home with their spoils, though some were eager for another excursion as soon as possible. ¡°That¡¯s not the issue. You simply wouldn¡¯t have gotten the fight you wanted. I imagine if we had remained behind that after Netta began to lose the rest of the sect would have gotten involved¡­¡± Chikere¡¯s eyes began to shine as Vasu spoke, ¡°... And then a whole bunch of annoying people from outside the sect would come remove us from their territory the quick way.¡± ¡°Hmmn, could be worth it,¡± Chikere stroked her chin. ¡°I¡¯d have to see what kind of sword she has first.¡± ¡°It might be better to arrange such a battle on another front,¡± Vasu commented. ¡°Perhaps they might come to us.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± ¡°Probably not,¡± Vasu admitted. ¡°They seemed hesitant to draw Aicenith into this battle.¡± ¡°I thought that was why we were the ones attacking them? And to support our allies too, I guess.¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± Vasu confirmed. ¡°I will remind you that not everyone wants to fight. Many would prefer an end to hostilities, such as Anton.¡± ¡°Yeah, I get it. But until the enemy makes that choice, we have to make them regret starting this.¡± ¡°Give it time.¡± ----- Some groups were easier to convince than others that minimizing concessions required for the end of the war was in everyone¡¯s best interests. Lev and the Grasping Willows understood, but given their location in the center of the continent they hadn¡¯t suffered any significant losses so far in the war. The same was geographically true of the Glorious Flame Palace, but they were less accommodating about his ideas. ¡°We can¡¯t just let them off!¡± Sarka represented much of the general opinion of the passionate sect. ¡°They need to pay for starting this!¡± ¡°And we will make them, but it can¡¯t be excessive,¡± Anton explained. ¡°Otherwise it will just cost us all more lives for a few shiny rocks and maybe some sticks or cloth.¡± The co-located Frostmirror Sect was easily on board. There was no benefit to the war, and it was only logical to end it. ¡°The important thing is to make sure they will honor any agreements, instead of simply building up their forces for a subsequent attack.¡± ¡°That¡¯s being worked on,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°We are hoping that some sort of formal agreement might give some sort of excuse to allow internal conflict. That would depend on what sort of arrangements they have with the upper realms. Though enforcing the provisions through traditional methods might work.¡± ¡°Nothing beats raw power,¡± Sarka agreed. ¡°I imagine they¡¯d try to weasel out of it, though,¡± Adelina pointed out. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯ve already been working with Kohar,¡± Anton said. ¡°She¡¯ll make any contracts airtight. Though Catarina had some crazy ideas about self-enforcing contracts¡­¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like something possible to achieve with formations,¡± Adelina frowned. ¡°Well, it¡¯s imperfect. But certain broad conditions might be achievable, such as the destruction of certain structures when meeting certain conditions. Self destruction is¡­ well established.¡± ¡°Everheart,¡± Adelina sighed, ¡°Right?¡± ¡°He was a genius,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Anyway, she said something about setting those up in a few places. It wouldn¡¯t be perfect, and they could probably be removed¡­ but removing them without triggering some sort of alarm would be another level of difficulty. I don¡¯t know all the details though.¡± ¡°I find it unlikely that they would allow us to set up formations in their territory, on their sect grounds or anywhere important,¡± Adelina pointed out. ¡°It¡¯s difficult,¡± Anton admitted, ¡°But if we can assert enough dominance, we might get something. At the moment the Exalted Archipelago is sort of floundering. If we could take advantage of it somehow,¡± he shrugged. ¡°They sent a lot of ships to the Middle Sea,¡± Sarka said. ¡°Very circuitous-like. Seems like a good time for a counterattack, but we also can¡¯t know if they¡¯ll attack either continent from there.¡± ¡°It¡¯s likely they¡¯re flailing, trying to cut off our support for each other,¡± Adelina said. ¡°Though they¡¯ll likely learn about the teleportation formations one way or another. I¡¯m surprised they haven¡¯t already.¡± ¡°... Maybe they think it¡¯s a deception?¡± Anton asked. ¡°If they don¡¯t have something similar, it sounds unbelievable.¡± ¡°Some of them went to the moon, though,¡± Adelina pointed out. ¡°They experienced it.¡± ¡°Not that many of them,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°They¡¯re¡­ rightfully suspicious of Everheart¡¯s tombs.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I can barely believe that was really the last one,¡± Sarka said. ¡°But it¡¯s not like there¡¯s somewhere else he could put an even bigger, more impressive ¡®tomb¡¯, right?¡± Nobody commented on that. It was hard to imagine where such a thing might exist, and the side effects of it would be immense. Hopefully, it really was the last one. ----- ¡°I suppose that makes sense,¡± Anton said after listening to Kohar explain some of her current plans. ¡°It¡¯s not unpalatable, but that makes it harder to pitch to our side. Trade provisions¡­ well, actually requiring them to open their borders would be a pretty big win. And with favorable conditions for us¡­ it might amount to something.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been working with a lot of economists,¡± Kohar said. ¡°They say this will ultimately be better for us than trying to scoop our five or ten percent of everything they have. That¡¯s nearly impossible to calculate to begin with. Are we going to appraise every single sword everyone has?¡± ¡°We could easily get the swords done,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°I know some people. But everything else¡­ there are fewer people obsessed with specific furniture, and it would take¡­ far too long.¡± ¡°We¡¯re still asking for boatloads of gems and valuable goods though,¡± Kohar said. ¡°Just a small number of them spread out through the whole area. Or rather, specifically those who have been involved in this war.¡± Kohar shook her head, ¡°As if they¡¯ll agree to this.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not your job. Or rather, only the part of making it reasonable. The rest is up to us,¡± Anton slapped his chest. It was funny because at the moment, he was barely stronger than her. Or at least, his quantity of available energy was quite similar. The poison still had annoying lingering bits, but Anton currently carried with him energy similar to late Spirit Building. He would be avoiding battlefields for at least another month, since he didn¡¯t have a death wish. It would be one thing if he were actually in late Spirit Building, but his current potential was much higher so he¡¯d be a juicy target. ¡°I suppose it¡¯s now my job to convince people we¡¯d want to trade with these guys, after a war,¡± Anton pondered. ¡°But we have seen significant wealth, and both sides have different materials more readily available. That¡¯s a reasonable enough basis, at least.¡± ¡°When you get us the lists of the actual most valuable materials we can be more specific in that section,¡± Kohar said. ¡°We¡¯ve got a handful of us pouring over the thing for the wording to be as good as possible. We¡¯d also like to avoid any sweeping changes at the last moment, because that¡¯s where holes come in. We can¡¯t count on anyone to just respect the spirit of the agreement.¡± ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate,¡± Anton agreed, ¡°But that¡¯s the way it is.¡± ----- The most successful intrusions by the Exalted Archipelago had been in northwestern Ambati, in the region of Obuandi. Of the areas they could easily reach, it was the least defended and generally the least important, but it had allowed them a foothold on the continent from where further attacks were orchestrated. They had been holding the location for several months now, but a counteroffensive was on its way. Though they controlled a small corridor leading to the area, actually getting more people there was difficult. More than a few ships at a time and the continental forces could organize an attack while they were away from land and thus relatively vulnerable. They needed time to organize, but over the course of the war they had been capturing and building more ships of their own to allow themselves greater control of the sea. The reason the upcoming counteroffensive was on the way simply had to do with their ability to get reinforcements. While the port did not freeze in the winter, the circuitous route they had to go through to avoid notice did freeze. That would limit attacks along the entire northern half of the continent, freeing up forces for the offensive while still allowing them to be ready to defend the western and southern parts of the continent. As for the forces in the Middle Sea, between Brogora and Aicenith, that was already being worked on. Ships from Aicenith were very specifically flying their flags and aggressively sweeping through the ocean near their territorial waters. This didn¡¯t result in many direct conflicts, and was intended to drive them off. Though Brogora didn¡¯t have the spare forces to randomly sweep through the vast sea, they had sufficient forces ready to defend their coast. Though cultivators could remain at sea for arbitrary lengths of time, the various beasts present would consistently cause some amount of damage to the ships and potentially casualties to the crew. While food and water were replenishable, long durations on a ship were not comfortable. Cultivators could be patient, but not all of them would be comfortable spending so long at sea. They couldn¡¯t remain forever, and even if they did tying up dozens of ships for a potential attack was not going to work out in the long run. It did make trade between the continents more difficult, but the route past Paradise was still traversed by some. The complete destruction of the Ponderous Turtle Clan¡¯s forces there seemed to make them reasonably cautious. ----- Anton flexed his fingers one by one. He certainly wasn¡¯t back to full, but his range was sufficient to make his participation feasible. Staying in the back lines meant that enemies would have to make risky maneuvers to get to him or the others in the same role, so the fact that his total energy was still suboptimal didn¡¯t make him feel particularly vulnerable. If anything, he was still far better off than most fighting on the front lines. Doing his best to support them and make them safer was better than doing anything foolish like moving forward himself. This was the first battlefield in a while where Grand Elder Kseniya was also present. For the moment the center of the continent was deemed safe, so more forces had been shifted outward, even if it was only temporary. Assassins might still appear, but that simply meant people had to stay in groups. Everyone was present, really. Hoyt, Velvet, Timothy, Catarina, Devon, Alva, Lev¡­ alright, it was mostly the Order and a few others, plus local forces from Ambati. There was nobody from Aicenith at the moment, which also meant no Chikere even though she was originally from Brogora. Aicenith was helping with keeping other areas secure during this assault, with the Million Sword Vault specifically trying to provoke the Void Blades into fighting them. Some were here around Obuandi, but the strongest were not present. The last few days had been slow moving, not because jungle terrain was terribly difficult. In fact, with members of the Grasping Willows and the Rolling Bush Sect, the underbrush practically bowed out of the way on its own. The problem was when formations had been set up. That was why Catarina and other formation masters were present, keeping an eye out for traps. Some were so simple that Anton could spot them from kilometers away, but others were more devious. Whether making use of proper formation materials or augmenting a natural formation, there were sufficient dangers to the bulk of the army if the traps went undetected. Void ants were also helpful in detecting them¡­ and though some found it disconcerting to have a handful sitting on their shoulder, when they tapped the side of someone¡¯s neck to get their attention and thus helped them not step into a trap they found it worthwhile. Then the void ants would be let down to feast on any pockets of natural energy gathered by a formation, which was ultimately a win for them. They were still able to advance ten or twenty kilometers a day, not an insignificant pace but much slower than they were used to. No doubt the enemy was aware that they were coming, but whether they could do anything about it was another matter. They made a few attempts at guerilla warfare, but the forces from Ambati were generally more familiar with the type of terrain they were dealing with and¡­ Kseniya would make anyone who came close enough to attack regret how far inside her range they were. Nobody was able to escape her once she had locked onto them. There were a few enemies with ranges nearly as much as her, but they alone would not be able to cause significant harm to the army. The march continued, and would hopefully be sufficient to push them out of the area. Chapter 395 The Exalted Archipelago had fortified the port of Obuandi, but the area around it had been retaken by the continental forces. Determining exactly what proportion of their forces to send had been difficult, as the borders still needed protecting from potential additional intrusions. The passing of ships was monitored as much as it could be to predict movements, but having people ready in the local area was a necessity to head off such intrusions. Teleportation formations were not common, and it could take days for people to fully recover their energy after going through one- limiting their practicality. The archipelago¡¯s forces had been able to anticipate the coming siege as the forces approached and retook the nearby area, which led to them gathering many of their naval forces in the area as well. At the moment they had a greater number of ships than the continent could bring to bear in the area, leaving them some options to retreat. Likewise the forces on those ships could reinforce the port on land if necessary. Siege equipment was set up by the continental forces. The enemies had co-opted some of what had been set to defend the area, but their own numbers were minimal. More importantly, they didn¡¯t necessarily have the ammunition for a sustained barrage. The continental forces, meanwhile, had learned from previous incidents. The siege of Yedo had been plagued by various issues. An insurmountable one was the second tier ascension cultivator, with an aura that could suppress the whole battlefield. That made a full assault difficult, though if they had been able to bring down the city¡¯s defenses it should have been something they could overcome. Otherwise the invaders from the upper realms wouldn¡¯t have stayed put, but come out to attack. Larger capacity storage had already been planned before seeing the storage chests from the Ponderous Turtle Clan, but even just hearing about them had been enough inspiration for the formation masters and enchanters to come up with something complete. The final pieces were effectively covered wagons, with both significant physical size to go along with their larger internal area but also for the sake of having sizable openings. A storage bag could only go so far in carrying things before something simply wouldn¡¯t fit. There were limits on the supply wagons as well, but they could easily fit large boulders or similar. Ammunition specially tailored for trebuchets was shipped in significant quantities, ready to be put to use. The same was true for the ballistae- whether it was individual massive arrow-shaped projectiles or bundles of smaller ones meant for creating their own miniature barrage they had sufficient ammunition. And there were a few special pieces, both the weaponry itself and the ammunition. Those were kept concealed for the moment, until such a time as they intended to use the still experimental devices. Thus began a proper siege, with bombardments meant to break through the walls of the enemy forces. The occupying enemy also counterattacked with the intention of destroying the siege weapons, but though they were within the attacking range of many individuals, there were sufficient defenders and formations to keep them safe- for the most part. A week passed quickly. As time went on, the northern oceans would freeze even further south, limiting the passage of Exalted Archipelago ships coming to reinforce them even more. Much of the continental navy was wrapped up in keeping those reinforcements from arriving, and while the forces in Obuandi could have potentially tried to break through that blockade, committing so many of their forces would have left the city itself open for retaking. ----- So far, nobody had been able to open negotiations with the city. It was possible to shout across a safe distance, but so far they had either been ignored or met with vague taunts in return. Anton imagined that the Exalted Archipelago didn¡¯t know how to extricate themselves from the situation they were in. They could simply pack up and leave, but that would be some form of admitting defeat¡­ and they clearly thought themselves superior. Maybe they had been, some decades previous. Now, they were at least not overwhelmingly powerful compared to the continents working together. Their losses had consistently matched that of the continental forces in proportion, with the defenders having some advantages. Maybe there was some secret plan they still had, some way to get a massive victory that would make everything worth it. Maybe they had a specific goal in mind, a specific sect they wished to conquer, but there weren¡¯t really any signs of that. They¡¯d simply looted and plundered what they could, which was made exceptionally difficult when they had to contend with the forces of cities and not just sects or clans. A few thousands or tens of thousands of lower ranking cultivators was quite troublesome to deal with for an army of any size. It was possible that they would never admit surrender, though they were cognizant enough of their own lives to avoid confrontations they didn¡¯t think they could win. That made negotiations more difficult, because any agreement of a ceasefire sort of depended on some reparations from them. Simple peace would ultimately be better for both sides, but Anton knew the mindset of the continent wanted revenge. Their counterattacks didn¡¯t count- they fought for those victories and what they had taken, they weren¡¯t reparations for an unprovoked attack. It was unfortunate, but it might take the war dragging on longer with more losses before people were willing to accept a ceasefire with no additional strings attached. Even Anton, who understood why they would do that wasn¡¯t fully supportive of the idea in his heart. But if the was were to continue and losses were going to happen, Anton personally wanted the enemy to suffer the majority of them. For that sake, he was part of a small squad of artillery shooting past the city. Not at it- a couple Life Transformation cultivators bombarding a city-wide defensive formation wouldn¡¯t make that much difference one way or another. Past it, to the most vulnerable part, the harbor. And the ships there. During their initial assault they¡¯d deal with every ship that didn¡¯t have proper defensive formations covering it from rudder to sail- or barring that a crew willing to block the incoming attacks. The latter was significantly more risky, and had generally been abandoned except for the sake of augmenting existing defensive wards. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The enemy had enough forces to man the ships, so of course they could defend any individual ship from a few people as well¡­ but not all of them could always be on high alert. With Anton and Kseniya working together, they could target pretty much any ship whenever they wanted, and a few kilometers here or there wouldn¡¯t make any difference. Pulling the ships out of the harbor was useless, unless they were willing to go at least fifty kilometers away where there was a noticeable drop off in offensive power from the archers, and even then they could still attack the ships. It was only when they were close to the hundred kilometer mark that the passive replenishment from surrounding natural energy would easily keep up. So people were defending the ships in shifts, with Anton and Kseniya searching for weaknesses. They didn¡¯t have to sink ships all at once, as a little bit of damage to the structure or a punctured sail or two was sufficient if they could slip something past the defenses. There were some cultivators who could counter their attacks as well, but with Anton firing a large number of shots at once and Kseniya focusing on individual powerful attacks it was quite difficult to counter. And they didn¡¯t just have to attack the ship. If they could take out one of the defenders, that was a reasonable target as well. Even with incremental successes on their part, the siege wasn¡¯t progressing quickly. There was currently no intention to rush, but keeping the whole continent on alert for so long was tiring everyone out. Waiting for whatever the Exalted Archipelago tried was also not something they wanted. ----- A huge tube of metal sat in front of Grant. He certainly couldn¡¯t call himself the sole inventor of the device, but he had been one of the first to work on mechanical solutions to cultivator problems. Enchantments and formations were all well and good, but they could only augment things so far. A sloppy wall with formations holding it together was a house of cards waiting to be toppled. But walls were actually fairly set in their construction, as technique had improved slowly over time. The same was true with weapons and armor, and honestly Grant could hardly fathom ways to improve them. Not for use by individual cultivators. The first step had been making siege weaponry that was immediately augmentable by the energy of multiple cultivators. No matter how heavy a rock was, against a barrier of natural energy it ultimately was wasted effort without some sort of change in how it worked. Twenty years before he¡¯d already had designs in place, and over those decades others had helped him improve them. This metal tube was another step along the way. It had some confounding factors that made it difficult to use. As a base, the cannon took explosive powder to propel a heavy ball of metal. The greater velocity this achieved meant the individual shots didn¡¯t have to be so heavy like in a trebuchet. Yet at the speeds that could be achieved through mechanical power alone, it could only cause damage to unaugmented walls, devoid of defensive formations. Denser metal for the casing and higher power explosive powder might eventually overcome that, but such things became prohibitively expensive. Taking advantage of the mechanical strengths and adding a cultivator¡¯s natural energy was better, but the cannon itself had some peculiarities that were difficult. The explosion, for example, basically meant that augmenting the cannon ball with energy would be extremely inefficient. An explosion at the rear of the ball would damage the coating of energy, and augmenting just the front was basically impossible even if it the ball didn¡¯t turn over in the process of being shot. Using energy to augment the explosion saved on materials, but at some point it was too much for the projectile¡­ or in a few unfortunate cases for the structure of the cannon itself. The cultivators on those projects had been lucky that they always had their defensive energy in place, so the explosions had mostly knocked them back a few hundred meters from the test firing point. Ultimately they had developed a system where individual cultivators were responsible for separate parts. Some fortified the barrel, some augmented the explosion, and some provided augmentation directly on the cannon ball. There was lost energy still, but with crews rotating out it was spread throughout more people. And they only had a few cannons to begin with. Grant was taking special care to make sure the one next to him was properly set up- the area around it was just as important given the recoil of the firing. Stopping the recoil was energy intensive, so having it in a proper area where it could roll back and absorb the recoil on its own was their next best option. And though he wasn¡¯t an expert in formations, he also had to consult with those involved in that field to make sure their shots wouldn¡¯t have to bust through their own defensive formations. It would be a serious mistake if they left all of their other siege weaponry vulnerable on accident, and costly. Deciding that other factors were as good as they were going to be, Grant carefully measured the angle of firing. He had to get some input from a cultivator with long range senses, because that was much better than guessing the distance and the slope. The first shot needed to be impactful, before anyone was ready for it. Taking a few shots to properly range the cannon would be unfortunate. He took the position of manning the cannon ball itself for the first shot. He had enough experience with the position that he could avoid using too much energy and causing drag on the barrel while still making it optimal for penetrating at the other end. Several others gathered around, all in Essence Collection. They put their power together, holding the cannon firm and triggering the explosion. Grant knew he would have been deaf without proper energy defenses in place, and even then he had trouble hearing for a moment. But he didn¡¯t need to hear to see and sense the impact. The combined energy of the cultivators plus the power of the actual explosion itself provided a deceptive amount of force. The natural energy involved was little more than a late Life Transformation expert could gather alone, drawing some small amount of attention but not ushering any response from the defenders. That power combined with the explosive force, and the way it combined to shoot the heavy ball of metal forward meant that when it impacted the defensive formation, it only encountered the standard always active defensive level. It punctured through that without stopping, punching a hole in the wall behind it as well. It was unclear if it broke through any formation runes, but it kept its momentum for quite some time. So it was a success, though Grant wondered if it would have been better if it could explode where they wanted it. The difficulty with that was getting through the defensive formation first before exploding. That was a feature he was completely uncertain of how he might reproduce it, and honestly he hoped he never had to. The enemy would likely be ready for future shots from this cannon- or another one- but even if they reacted and took it head on, the expenditure on their part to defend against it should hopefully be higher. At the very least, they¡¯d have to focus on a couple more groups not made of Life Transformation people which would free up some of their stronger cultivators to do more. Chapter 396 ¡°Truthfully swordmaster, are you sure we¡¯re going the right way?¡± Captain Mirjana said. The Windspear had been chasing what seemed to be nothing for close to a week. ¡°We¡¯re getting close to the ice floes and we haven¡¯t seen hide nor hair of them.¡± ¡°Of course I¡¯m sure, I can sense it,¡± Chikere folded her arms. ¡°We¡¯re getting closer.¡± ¡°You keep saying that, but we ought to have caught up to them by now. Even those with the best senses can¡¯t pick out a target from such a vast distance, can they?¡± ¡°That¡¯s because they don¡¯t know what they¡¯re looking for,¡± Chikere declared. ¡°If it helps,¡± one of the disciples of the Million Sword Vault commented, ¡°We received word that Swordmaster Netta of the Void Blades would be in the area. In addition, Swordmaster Chikere is the best at the aspect of sensing swords.¡± Chikere glared at him, but the man stood firm. ¡°Are you saying I¡¯m not the best at everything?¡± ¡°There are other aspects regarding swords where others are indeed superior,¡± the man nodded, shifting slightly too relieve the feeling of blades pressing into his skin. He was well aware she wouldn¡¯t actually kill him, either with her aura or her actual swords, but disciples of the Million Sword Vault were encouraged to engage in combat as much as possible as long as they avoided crippling each other, which left quite a lot available. But none of them would last long if they were afraid of a little danger, and the chance to face off against a Swordmaster for even an instant was worthwhile. And Swordmaster Chikere wasn¡¯t crazy or violent, by their standards. ¡°Hmph, I guess that¡¯s fair enough,¡± Chikere focused her vision back on the distance. ¡°We¡¯re very close now. They¡¯ll sense us soon.¡± Captain Mirjana frowned, ¡°I suppose that¡¯s good, given that the Windspear isn¡¯t equipped to sail much further but¡­ will they choose to fight?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Chikere said confidently. ¡°Netta is a swordmaster. She won¡¯t just flee when we get close.¡± ¡°More likely have an ambush set for us,¡± said the same disciple. ¡°We¡¯re just here to transport you,¡± Captain Mirjana cautioned. ¡°We don¡¯t have the strength to protect the ship.¡± ¡°Not a problem. In fact¡­ you should pull up over there.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see any ships on the horizon. Are you sure?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll walk.¡± Of course, ¡®walking¡¯ involved jumping on ice floes and certainly leaned more towards running. Powerful cultivators could support themselves on even water with their natural energy, so solid surfaces that could hold their weight was fairly trivial, even if they were uneven and liable to tilt. The current group was formed only of Essence Collection and Life Transformation cultivators, though Chikere was the only who could properly claim the title of Swordmaster among the latter. They quickly closed the distance with their targets. The area had no land, but along with the ice floes were larger icebergs, some of which were close to hills sticking out of the water and blocking vision. Further limiting visibility was swirling snow and the spray of waves. When a sword was thrust towards her heart, Chikere deflected it with number one. Just because the figure had been hidden didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t pick out their location. There were various factors that people might have called upon, but they all tied together into her ability to sense swords. The fact that her defensive energy had been punctured and a small trail of blood trickled down her ribs just went to show her opponent¡¯s skill. The Void Blades were adept at hiding themselves among the surroundings, but that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t handle a straight on fight. After the initial clashes it was impossible for any of them to remain truly hidden, but the core of their technique still remained strong. The angles of attack were meant to be the most difficult to react to, and their energy was tuned to make perceiving them difficult to begin with. It wasn¡¯t just their use of energy, but also a deep knowledge of blind spots. Even cultivators couldn¡¯t completely overcome the physical limitations of their body, and it was easy to miss an attack from a blind spot if one was not experienced enough. A Swordmaster would of course be capable of counteracting such techniques, and Chikere was not above using them herself. She¡¯d studied the Void Blades¡¯ techniques previous, but she hadn¡¯t found herself in a truly worthwhile battle with them yet. Swordmaster Netta made use of twin swords which were worthy of being number two and three. Perhaps two and four, on either side of Vianne¡¯s sword. Number one was still the best sword from the upper realms. Netta made high use of maneuverability, darting in and out of Chikere¡¯s reach. Though Chikere had a cloud of swords around her, they didn¡¯t stray too far from her and didn¡¯t crowd particular areas. Slippery ice forced Chikere to watch her own footing as attacks came from all angles, her own attacks expertly parried or forced to be withdrawn for her own safety. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. She got a cut along her eyebrow and a shallow puncture in her right thigh. Meanwhile, Chikere hadn¡¯t touched her opponent. It was¡­ great, actually. Just what she wanted, a worthy opponent. Chikere still believed she was better though. She had always carried that confidence, and it was not only justified, but part of her strength. Believing she would win could lead to her victories¡­ along with decades of training and experience as well as excellent swords. The front of Chikere¡¯s outfit split as if normal cloth were being cut instead of some of the most expensive and highly enchanted textiles in the world. They wouldn¡¯t do much to defend her, though they had already succeeded at their purpose. That previous attack would have cut through at least a couple ribs otherwise. ¡°You¡¯re doing quite well holding your own,¡± Swordmaster Netta commented, ¡°But the rest of the disciples with you aren¡¯t lasting nearly so well. Perhaps you should assist them?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Chikere said in response. Her swords never stopped as she traced nearly inescapable patterns through the air. As a consequence of controlling so many weapons, each was slightly weaker and slower. If she had even a handful of blades that she could wield as freely as her real arms, nobody could stand a chance. It was also a matter of how much energy she was willing to devote at once, though she had limits regardless of what she wanted. ¡°I thought you continentals cared about things like that. Or are you more heartless than we thought? The Exalted Archipelago takes good care of our own.¡± Ten swords thrust downward, sticking into the ice in a circle around Netta while another ten stabbed in from the sides, but the woman skillfully cut her way through the ice beneath her feet. Her response came from below Chikere as the ice beneath her feet was cut into dozens of tiny pieces, but she brought her swords down to limit Netta¡¯s options as she leapt out of the next hole. ¡°You¡¯re not even half as united as you claim. And I don¡¯t have to worry about the others. They will either win, or this is simply as far as they could go.¡± ¡°Brutal,¡± Netta commented. She deflected incoming swords, using their momentum against them to tear them from Chikere¡¯s grip and fling them far away. They were inconvenient to recover at the moment, but at least they weren¡¯t broken. Even the lowest on the totem pole were sturdy enough. ¡°It¡¯s practical,¡± Chikere said. ¡°One must be able to choose opponents they can defeat.¡± Netta¡¯s next series of attacks began with crossing slashes of her swords. Chikere dodged and deflected with the sword in her primary hand, only able to directly stand against her opponent. With a twist she disarmed the sword in Netta¡¯s left hand. She moved in close, locking her opponent¡¯s blade against her own while stepping close. Another of her blades stopped a dagger stabbing towards her gut. As Netta quickly withdrew, trails of blood were drawn upon her as Chikere¡¯s brought a dozen blades to bear on her briefly stationary form. Chikere looked at her left wrist, where some tendons had been severed. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± she said as Netta tossed aside the dagger to draw another sword from her storage bag when she had a moment. ¡°Your effectiveness will drop significantly with that injury,¡± Netta said. ¡°I¡¯d hardly call that nothing.¡± ¡°Yeah, and the poison, but so what?¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°You have a hundred daggers and a dozen extra blades hanging around in your bag, and you only pulled something out because you got disarmed? You can¡¯t¡­ use them all at once?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to.¡± Chikere held her left arm behind her, where one of her own swords cut a deep gouge. She flicked it to dislodge already coagulating black blood deep inside, and stood with one arm forward. Netta charged forward in her moment of distraction, zig-zagging around the field of blades coming for her. Her swords cut towards Chikere in the most optimal path to cut her apart. Chikere took a step back¡­ and they both stopped. Netta looked down at the sword stabbed into her ankle. Chikere had stepped on the hilt of Netta¡¯s previously disarmed sword, angling it slightly upwards. She hadn¡¯t augmented it with any of her own natural energy, but the high quality of the sword allowed it to cut through Netta¡¯s energy where her defenses weren¡¯t focused. ¡°Your effectiveness will drop significantly with that injury,¡± Chikere mimicked. They only stopped for a fraction of a second, and Chikere¡¯s swords were already moving in. Netta was still able to move her upper body and use her swords to expertly deflect and dodge the incoming attacks, but Chikere simply turned around and walked away. When Netta tried to chase after her, she found herself impaled from a dozen directions at once, with another dozen that failed to pierce her defenses. Chikere shook her head. The range she could move her blades was limited, but not that limited. Netta had been pretty good though. Chikere had been a small step away from dying herself if she made a mistake. She just focused too much on what she thought was the danger. Chikere¡¯s natural energy swept backwards to pick up the new number two and four. The rest¡­ well, they were garbage. Enough that she considered distributing them to the others instead of claiming them for herself. ----- The siege in Obuandi resulted in the Exalted Archipelago having to retreat onto their ships. It came all at once, not during some sort of climactic attack but one night when the bombardment was at a low point. There was little that could be done to stop them, but that was never the intent. Now that they were driven off, the continental forces could fortify the area so it wasn¡¯t so easily reclaimed. As for the exact cause of the sudden retreat, nobody was quite sure. News of Swordmaster Netta¡¯s death came within the next day, but there were other active groups as well. Regardless, the call was made. That didn¡¯t lead to an immediate ceasefire of any sort, and the continental forces still kept vigilant watch for approaching ships, ready to attack them. A week later, a lone ship was allowed to approach the western coast of Ambati, carefully escorted. They were cautious because the strongest cultivator on the ship claimed to be Sect Head Treloar of the Worthy Shore Society¡­ but the name didn¡¯t match their records. Yet the cultivation technique felt correct, and was verified by some of those who had interacted with them before. So they were escorted to Tiarhogo to meet with the council, where such discrepancies could be asked about. There wasn¡¯t much else said, besides him announcing his name and that they came in peace- which fit with their earlier understanding of the Sect¡¯s interactions. But there was no way to know for sure what the visit meant until they landed. Chapter 397 Matriarch Afi of the Temitope clan had been old for quite some time. Some advancements in cultivation had extended her lifespan but she was beginning to clearly feel her limits. Even so, her memory still held onto important pieces of information. ¡°I believe we have met before, have we not? Treloar, though I don¡¯t believe you were the Sect Head.¡± ¡°That is correct,¡± the man nodded. His age was quite apparent to every member of the Tiarhogo council. ¡°The position recently came into my hands.¡± ¡°I am curious about that,¡± Afi said. ¡°I do believe the former head was quite young, what would cause her removal from the position?¡± ¡°She¡¯s simply not around anymore,¡± Treloar said. He held up a hand to stop any immediate comments, ¡°For the best reason possible. She attained the Integration stage. Ascension, I believe you would call it.¡± Kumbukani nodded, ¡°Congratulations are in order then. But we must get to the business at hand eventually. Why are you here? You seem to have come more openly and in less of a rush than last time.¡± He completely ignored the talk about the previous visit, and instead answered the first question. ¡°That¡¯s quite simple. We are here because the Exalted Archipelago desires to negotiate for peace. Much harm has come to both sides, and it would be best for all.¡± ¡°That may be true,¡± Kumbukani admitted, ¡°But I presume there¡¯s some reason you in particular are here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s simple. It was deemed that I was least likely to be killed without a chance to negotiate¡­ and unimportant enough that my death would mean little.¡± ¡°How straightforward,¡± Matriarch Afi grinned. ¡°There¡¯s no need to lie about such things. Now then, I have some terms to present,¡± Treloar held up a rolled scroll. ¡°These won¡¯t be ¡®terms¡¯ like the Ponderous Turtle Sect brought, will they?¡± ¡°I assure you they are quite different. And I am here to properly negotiate instead of just throwing about arbitrary demands.¡± ¡°Very well. We will see these terms¡­ then we will counter with some of our own.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ----- The Exalted Archipelago¡¯s proposal more or less called for an end to hostilities, along with some restrictions on entering territorial waters which came with certain penalties. Those penalties were basically weighted towards the Exalted Archipelago¡¯s advantage, but they didn¡¯t have such audacious demands as before the war. It was still unpalatable to the continents, however. The Exalted Archipelago had begun the war with unreasonable demands and deception, and nobody would be satisfied with things vaguely returning to the status quo where they pretended the Exalted Archipelago didn¡¯t exist. The first counterproposal from the continents pushed hard in the other direction, making significant demands from the Exalted Archipelago. At that point it could have been possible that they would have to wait weeks for a response, but the Worthy Shore Society stayed in port and provided an answer a few days later. Their communication method hadn¡¯t been successfully determined during the war, but it wasn¡¯t a surprise it worked at such a long distance- their own version worked at any distance, though certain things would make the connection fail. A few days to debate and prepare the next draft was rather speedy, and in it the Exalted Archipelago provided some minor concessions. After negotiating back and forth for a while, it was clear that Treloar was not going to accept anything that penalized the Exalted Archipelago as a whole, but instead just the sects involved in the actual attacks. In fact, he seemed quite eager to levy some penalties upon the other groups. Eventually negotiations ended with most parties disappointed in some regard, which was about as much as anyone could hope for. Some of the penalties were little more than token payments, but it was of no benefit to continue fighting. A significant portion of blame was somehow shifted to the Ponderous Turtle Clan which was in dire straits after what happened around Paradise, and a significant portion of their assets were promised. And though there were some doubts, as time passed promised remunerations began to come in without any obvious trickery involved. ----- At some point the border forces had to lower their guard. It was simply infeasible to keep everyone on high alert forever, especially if there were to be some sort of peace. The coasts still had some irregular patrols, but some of that was merely to make sure naval proficiency was properly maintained. When he wasn¡¯t involved in those, Anton found himself traveling on merchant vessels back and forth along the coasts. It was difficult to let go. He knew he could be so much more productive elsewhere, but he also wasn¡¯t sure that a year or two really meant anything. There was continued contact with the Exalted Archipelago, tentative attempts to trade with the Worthy Shore Society and other groups that hadn¡¯t been involved in the attacks, but little had happened so far. So Anton found himself, staring out at the sea, stretching his senses as far as they would go. He sensed nothing most of the time, and the only thing he gained was an ever growing awareness of the curvature of the world. Surprisingly if he counted both directions- though he could not sense more than a tiny slice at his maximum distance at once, and only in one direction- his senses could stretch across a real, tangible distance relative to the world as a whole. A few percent, though it wasn¡¯t as if he was aware of any real proportion of the world at once. Beyond it just being a narrow view, even if he had dozens of himself stretched around the planet he would only be sensing a narrow band around the belly of the world at once. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. While that was quite impressive, it also reminded him of how little he could do. He was just one person among many, and though he was certainly much more able to influence the world as a whole as a Life Transformation cultivator, it never felt like enough. Perhaps he was simply being greedy, but he couldn¡¯t help what he felt. ----- Ultimately he wasted somewhere close to two years in a misguided form of vigilance. He made brief returns to the Order during that point, mostly to show his face and because he had some obligations as an instructor to fulfill. Kseniya was never going to be good at instructing, though a few could learn from her regardless. But people with natural intuition or ¡®talent¡¯ would learn regardless, if perhaps at a slower rate. In a way, Anton had wanted to be justified in his time spent patrolling with some sort of attack, which conflicted with what he knew he should want which was a true end to the conflict. And at least at the moment, that seemed to be the case. Whether it was just a handful of years or potentially decades, he would accept it. Presuming that peace could be maintained until the next invasion¡­ was foolish. Though Anton was quite pleased that many of the conflicts were being solved more by people like Kohar than through battle. There was still friction between the various factions that made up the continents, but concerted efforts had been made to maintain peace. And on a large scale it was successful, but that never stopped smaller scale problems. Some cultivators always thought they were important enough they could do whatever they wanted, or really any people. It was just that cultivators had power to get away with it a little better. The rise in general cultivation levels meant some skilled individuals could pull ahead, but it also meant that the masses were more aware of their own power and how it matched up against troublemakers. They just had to be willing to take the risks to stop someone, if there were no dedicated peacekeepers present. Yet it was still much better than what happened when people with some cultivation decided to cause trouble for those with none. ----- Anton was waiting for the next round of teleportation to Aicenith. The area around the teleportation formation seemed rather crowded, but considering this was the only one that went between the two continents it was actually rather reasonable. After all, teleportation was pricy. The monetary expense wasn¡¯t much for Anton, but that was because he would be paying mainly in natural energy. It might have been free if the formation did not need to be maintained, and to discourage using teleportation thoughtlessly. After the war with the Exalted Archipelago more teleportation formations were being constructed- not between the continents but within the continents themselves. Those were cheaper and easier to use, and perhaps unnecessary¡­ but their main purpose was to be used in case of future invasions, mainly external ones. Individual formations could be shut down easily, and were monitored by groups of all who had interests in a particular region. It wouldn¡¯t do for them to make an intra-continental war easier to accomplish. For related reasons, none were located on the coasts. Instead, they were placed outside population centers of various regions. It was impossible to go directly into anywhere important, but the distance between any two points would be greatly reduced. They were barely usable for trade as carrying large amounts of goods- even in storage bags- took more energy. That increased the costs either in materials that could store energy or through the use of powerful cultivators expending themselves- or vast numbers of weaker cultivators, potentially. A group of fifty appeared on the platform, coming from the opposite direction. They all quickly made their way off, while those who were going to Aicenith were quickly reverified and one by one made their way onto the platform. Over the course of the day they would exchange several thousand individuals, significantly fewer than those who would be making the same trip by sea. There were talks of going by air within the next few decades, but that was similarly expensive as teleportation, though not tightly locked to specific locations. Once everyone was ready, the announcements for everyone to provide their energy to the formation came. It was necessary, not only because they calculated what was necessary to move all of the people but because any excess energy also took effort to come with a cultivator. Once more Anton thought how insane Everheart¡¯s formations were, transporting thousands to the moon and back. Though those only functioned for a single round trip, so the total number who had gone through was actually much higher with these- though the distance was still a factor. Energy flowed from Anton steadily, settling alongside that of others in the formation. The formation did forcibly drain anyone, but the guards nearby reminded those who were not doing their part. And while some might have liked to be lazy, it simply wouldn¡¯t fly. Anton felt a comfortable sort of exhaustion, though he only dwelt on it for a few moments. Then everything shifted, and he found himself in another location. He¡¯d made the mistake of trying to have his energy senses spread out while traveling once, but that had not only resulted in the loss of energy on the departing side but an uncomfortable loss of sensation followed by unpleasant rapid expansion of his senses on the other side. Now that he was more familiar, he kept himself tightly contained. The fatigue simply became the normal unpleasant kind, and unlike a good day of work on a farm there were no tangible benefits to be seen- except of course being somewhere else entirely. The central location of the teleportation formations was convenient for Anton, because he had business in Arbington which was not terribly far- at least on the scale of a continent. He had plans to reconnect with many of his former students. Truthfully there were many more than he remembered clearly, so it would be a biased group of his favorites that he sought out, but he did his best to at least acknowledge any others he came across. At the moment he was searching for Idalia. He¡¯d had quite enough of war, and had little more he could learn in the subject of farming¡­ but taking more time to learn something nice and peaceful like herbalism and healing skills in general appealed to Anton. He¡¯d already learned quite a bit, but there was always more. Idalia was on his preferred list because she had started from the mundane side of things, building upon that with the way cultivators viewed things. Devoting himself to unambiguously positive things for a time should help Anton settle himself. The longer his life went on the more he found that old worries were replaced with new, and it was clear the cycle would never end- but he could make the best of it along the way. All the while he couldn¡¯t help but look up at the sky. Were the tides of the world always so inconsistently timed, or was this something special? Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he would like either answer, but at least this time people would be aware of the approaching threat long before instead of learning about it at the last minute. It was still nearly two centuries, so Anton knew he wouldn¡¯t be around for it¡­ but some of those he knew might, and he wanted to set things up for the best possible outcome. As if it was even possible to perfectly predict what would happen the next day, let alone after hundreds of years. Chapter 398 When the time came, Matousek was the first to go- at least among the Order. It was expected, as Matousek was one of the oldest¡­ and had been in mid Life Transformation when Anton joined the Order. The only others who might have gone first had perished in battle. The loss of a Grand Elder was a significant change for the Order, and it was a serious loss for the Order¡­ but also a big step forward. Matousek arranged everything ahead of time, and it didn¡¯t come as a surprise. Not like Rahayu, who had ascended in the midst of battle. Even so, Matousek¡¯s ascension felt very much like a death. It was at the minimum a permanent departure from life as it had been known. The details about what happened after ascension were still incomplete as far as the Order or any continental force was concerned. This was the Order¡¯s very first ascension, but other powerful sects had some in the past¡­ but seemed to lack a way to communicate. Unless the upper realms were so cutthroat that they had been instantly eliminated, but while that was a possibility it would be strange that none succeeded. Of course, methods to communicate easily at long distance had been lost in the past. Or rather, the repeated invasions certainly had the intent to keep the continents set back from advancing too far and working together in unity. That was just one cycle they knew about, but the bare minimum of information from before that made them assume that all lost information was intentional on some level. There had been a moment of tension after Matousek¡¯s ascension- which was impossible to doubt as being successful. Communication plates were available, but no message was received. Not that they had expected much. The fact that they worked pretty much anywhere on their own world was already impressive, but there were many possibilities for them not working. Even the Exalted Archipelago seemed to take time to get a message transferred to them from the upper realms, and they had a well established link. It was also uncertain whether ascension was actually instant, or took time. That information had not been retrieved from any in the Exalted Archipelago, as during the war it had not been deemed top priority¡­ and afterwards it seemed the various groups were some combination of unwilling or unable to share more. The Worthy Shore Society was quite open with sharing what they could, within whatever rules remained upon them. And though they had an advantage in terms of information exchange, they were still quite interested in learning about things the continent knew. They seemed especially interested in Everheart¡¯s works, though they never actually admitted to it. ----- Anton looked up into the sky. He knew there was a fairly reasonable probability that he was looking in the wrong direction for Matousek, but simple convenience said that the upper realms were ¡®up¡¯, even if the nature of living on a globe made that basically arbitrary. Still, the invasion had come from the skies, so there was some relation to physical space. He¡¯d now personally witnessed two ascensions. Rahayu was the first, and now Matousek. There had been other ascensions about the continent, but not all were predictable nor available for public viewing. There were certain levels of trust built up between different sects, but they weren¡¯t completely open with each other in as a general rule. The Order had allowed some trusted individuals to witness Matousek¡¯s ascension, but only long term allies. Personally, Anton couldn¡¯t help but be disappointed. Not that Matousek had chosen to ascend- that was the ultimate goal of many cultivators, the next step on the path. Matousek had made sure that there were no immediate risks to the Order from the loss. Anton was disappointed not with Matousek but himself. Or at least, his own prospects. Truthfully, if given the chance to ascend he was not sure he would take it. The power was tempting, but the inability to affect the world he¡¯d spend so much time supporting, and all of the people in it¡­ that was the problem. And though there was some indication that there were ways to affect their world¡¯s future after ascension, it was not easy nor guaranteed. Seeing another ascension, not so violent as Rahayu¡¯s but equally natural, Anton knew that it was the proper path. Sometimes taking a more difficult route resulted in benefits¡­ but sometimes, it was simply more difficult because it was the wrong way to do something. He had the intuitive sense that ascension was the natural progression of cultivation beyond Life Transformation. And he found himself no closer to figuring out something for himself. And even thinking about it was disheartening, because it felt greedy. Seeking more power, living longer¡­ when he had already lived a full life nearly eighty years prior. Ultimately those feelings were born from frustration, like when his cultivation had been stuck at the previous Prime Tempering. Cultivation became ever slower, and though it was natural he didn¡¯t like feeling his limits. That was the case even before he became a cultivator. If someone told him he couldn¡¯t do something, he would rather prove them wrong. Can¡¯t hunt at a hundred? He¡¯d go out into a snowstorm and drag back a deer. Unpredictable consequences notwithstanding, he¡¯d succeeded. He just wondered if he might do more good for the world by not trying and instead devoting that time to what he could do now. Teaching¡­ besides archery, few needed him for anything specific. But doing his best to promote and maintain peace among the various sects, clans, and cities- between the continents and to the Exalted Archipelago- that was something that had a great impact, even if it felt like climbing up a mountain of scree constantly causing him to slip down. Two steps forward and three back. Yet he was reasonably confident that he could find an alternative to ascension given time. Not as confident as Catarina was in ascending herself, however. He can¡¯t believe she¡¯d picked a specific year for her ascension, as if she weren¡¯t still ten stars away. Scheduling such an ethereal event was¡­ exactly like her. ¡°Timothy and I will be going together, of course,¡± Catarina explained to Anton. ¡°I intend to keep us together¡­ I¡¯d rather not have us scattered who knows where across the boundless ¡®upper realms¡¯.¡± ¡°You really want to go?¡± Anton had asked. ¡°Of course. I have no intention to stop at some arbitrary limit of cultivation. And there should be much to learn beyond here. I might even meet Everheart.¡± ¡°That sounds like a mistake,¡± Anton laughed. ¡°Plus, he¡¯s dead.¡± ¡°Says who?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°The Exalted Archipelago has let some information on that slip through. Some sort of combined effort to eradicate him. Plus, he admitted it would happen himself.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re just going to trust that?¡± She grinned. ¡°Coming from him? Besides, I¡¯m sure he left some interesting things about regardless. And I can¡¯t set up an intra-realm communication method without being on the other end.¡± ¡°You can do that?¡± She shrugged, ¡°Not yet. But I have two decades. Plus a few years.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°I¡¯m not going to try to stop you from ascending, but have you considered the effects on people here?¡± ¡°Who? Other formation masters will have access to what I have learned. I¡¯m not needed for everything. And as I noted, Timothy will be coming with me. It¡¯s not like we¡­ have any children.¡± Anton nodded. After a certain amount of time it had become clear to him that it wasn¡¯t that they had chosen not to have any children, but that they could not. And there wasn¡¯t a simple solution either. There were miraculous medicines that cultivators had access to, and while it might have been impossible for them to obtain at some prior point, there was basically nothing in the world they couldn¡¯t get their hands on. Including obscure or completely new formation techniques. So it seemed to be impossible¡­ at least with the knowledge available in their world. Another motivation, though they would have certainly chosen to ascend regardless. ----- There had been a series of duels between Anton and Kseniya that proved she was pulling ahead in strength. That didn¡¯t discourage Anton, however. After all, he didn¡¯t have the intention to be the best archer in the world¡­ or the one who was best at solo combat, at least. He was focusing more and more on his wide area techniques, including extending multiple strands of his perception over long distances. Where previously he could stretch a narrow slice of his senses to the distance of a hundred kilometers, now he could have four separate ones, as long as they were vaguely in the same direction. Or he could maintain two in completely opposite directions at that distance, focusing on two separate individuals or close groups. And as things got closer, he began to be limited not by his perception but simply how many energy bows he could handle¡­ which was over a dozen, or several times that if he was willing to sacrifice power and speed- only useful if he were to target much weaker cultivators. Whenever the next war came, anyone who had to contend with Anton would do poorly if they overestimated the amount of damage he could do to their ranks as a whole, even if he could only match a more modest amount of Life Transformation cultivators- from one to a few depending on the individuals involved. He didn¡¯t like shooting down weak individuals who couldn¡¯t fight back, but he had to admit it was quite effective. And enemies were enemies. Most of them chose to fight and had to face those consequences¡­ the few exceptions would be treated differently, if he was made aware. The worst part was that Anton was thinking about the next war, as if it was inevitable. And it was, given the nature of humans and sufficient time. He could hope that it wouldn¡¯t be during his lifetime, but in truth what remained of that was probably less than a pair of normal generations. It was not bothersome for him to be reminded of his mortality, except where he considered he might have more work to do, and how he might provide for others up to and potentially beyond his end. ----- Anton was quite pleased to be meeting with someone new, specifically the Hardened Crown Sect in the Exalted Archipelago. The more groups that recognized the mere potential to talk, the better future negotiations could proceed. The Hardened Crown Sect were actually one of those who had maintained neutrality throughout the war, but not because they had been friendly. Specifically, their sect head Naamah stated it thusly. ¡°It was practical. We decided to wait and see your strength without risking our own position.¡± ¡°Then we at least appreciate your¡­ respect?¡± Anton couldn¡¯t quite find the right word. ¡°We understood you might have strength that others did not, yes. They believed the excursions that regularly set back your development would make you weak, even after a full cycle lasting six hundred years. Meanwhile, I held onto caution. Cultivators who survive adversity grow strong¡­ and we did not know how strong.¡± Naamah snorted, ¡°We know very little of the continents even now, besides geographical features. Now we know of prominent sects and your strength. It is impressive, without a backer in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Like the Exalted Quadrant or the Trigold Cluster?¡± ¡°Yes. Or even something smaller. A proper planet in the upper realms giving their support might have done much.¡± She paused, ¡°It does not seem you know much about the Trigold Cluster.¡± Anton nodded. He couldn¡¯t exactly refute that. ¡°Even the Worthy Shore Society said little.¡± ¡°They are cautious,¡± she acknowledged. ¡°Personally I think far too much. For all that they have done, they kept themselves¡­ safe.¡± Naamah shrugged, ¡°We aren¡¯t allies with the Trigold Cluster, though. I see no reason sharing some information on them should be impossible. Though we admittedly don¡¯t know any of their secrets, given our position here.¡± ¡°We would gladly hear anything you would tell us. Mostly, we know of the Twin Soul Sect infiltrating us, and not much more.¡± ¡°So you did learn about that. Are you aware they had¡­ methods to pass information to the upper realms?¡± ¡°Through death, mostly,¡± Anton said. ¡°Some sort of tampering with reincarnation.¡± That already seemed like much information to give, but they had found it to be common knowledge among the Twin Soul Sect, at least among higher members. ¡°And you found a way to stop it. They seemed to be decades behind on information. Quite impressive, really.¡± Some measure of that had been discovered during the invasion, but Anton still didn¡¯t know how they had been stopped. They¡¯d simply killed them to prevent them from causing further trouble, anything beyond that was secret even to him in his current position. Though he was quite grateful to whoever it might have been¡­ and he had some suspicions who might be able to pull it off. ¡°We were fortunate to find signs of the truth early enough to react.¡± ¡°Hah! A vague response. Though letting on who was responsible wouldn¡¯t make a difference to us either way. Well, that¡¯s about as subtle a method of gaining information we get here. Truthfully, we¡¯re usually more straightforward.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton asked. ¡°That¡¯s right. In some ways, at least. Tell me, how much ornamentation have you seen here?¡± He looked around the chamber. It was impressive in its construction, the large pillows they were sitting on next to a low table comfortable and made of clearly fine materials. Yet¡­ ¡°Not much, by cultivator standards.¡± ¡°Right,¡± she nodded. ¡°The others here almost think of us as primitive.¡± She knocked on the top of her head. Ah. The crown. Though Anton imagined the rest of their bones were fortified as well. And they didn¡¯t have the same appearance of body temperers that he considered normal- large frames for powerful muscles. And though she said it, Naamah seemed to have the potential to be crafty if she chose to. ¡°I¡¯d like to know more, if I could. Not just about the Twin Soul Sect- though knowing how widespread they are in the upper realms would be useful- but the others from the Trigold Cluster. And whatever else you can say.¡± ¡°Of course. Where should I start? Perhaps it is easiest to say that they have quite a different method of raising their younger cultivators than us. Instead of establishing permanent branches, they prefer methods similar to what you have seen.¡± ¡°Invasions, to gather what lower energy they can. Resources they need, that seem unavailable in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Well¡­ uncommon might be a better word. But basically, yes. You¡¯ve learned much.¡± ¡°Not as much as I fear we need to. With this next cycle coming early¡­¡± he looked for revelatory signs in Naamah¡¯s eyes, but couldn¡¯t confirm much of what she knew about it. Not that he would have expected different. If they gained some real matter of trust, he might go for a more straightforward question, though he was unsure if it could be answered. ¡°What else could you tell us?¡± ¡°Not much, I¡¯m afraid. The Scarlet Midfields separate us¡­ though it has been some time since the area truly ran red. Nowadays, it is generally enforced that any of theirs can go to their side, and we ours. The locals learned to stay out of it, of course.¡± That was something worth hearing. Another place, where it appeared perhaps people who ascended ended up? Was it all of them, or simply some portion? Maybe that could not be answered, but he would press for more¡­ cautiously. He wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to let on how little they truly knew, not to an unfamiliar sect at least. Chapter 399 Among other information Anton learned that those from the Exalted Archipelago- and anyone in the upper realms- would call the planet Ceretos. There were already other names in use, of course, but knowing how outsiders referred to it was important. And Anton couldn¡¯t help but think of those from the Exalted Archipelago as outsiders regardless of them dwelling in the same world for their entire lives. And the sentiment seemed to be shared to some extent. People who hoped they would leave the world behind never really considered themselves a part of the world, and the Exalted Archipelago had a greater portion of their cultivators ascend. Not that the numbers were particularly high. They were quite satisfied if it happened every few years. At least, if he could trust the words of Naamah. There was certainly truth among them, and things she wanted him- and thus the rest of the continents- to believe. Those weren¡¯t necessarily the same, but Anton had determined at least some of their motives. As previously noted the Exalted Archipelago was much less unified than it put on- the two distinct continents were more united in certain matters- and some information was slipped in that would potentially be useful against some rivals of the Hardened Crown Sect. Ultimately, Anton was glad for the information he received, and he believed most of it to be reliable. And the Hardened Crown Sect seemed to be open to further communications, which helped open up their options in the Exalted Archipelago. The most important piece of information hadn¡¯t directly been said, but Anton was certain that the current cycle of the tides of the world was shorter than normal. There was no confirmation if the approximately six hundred years of the previous time was standard, but it was at least closer to the norm. Comparing what he and others felt- though they were certainly new to paying attention to such things and thus could be in error- they had become more confident in the two hundred year timeframe measured from the invasion. They could be off by a few decades in either direction, but when the time got close it would likely become obvious again. ----- There was a sort of curse that came with a very wide range of senses. It wasn¡¯t that Anton would get overwhelmed by the feedback- that would only happen if he pushed himself beyond his limits. Instead, sometimes being aware of things was the problem. Private conversations of those he had no connection to were of little concern, and those of real importance were usually done indoors which he generally avoided intruding upon. The biggest issue was when he noticed a conflict of some sort. There was always the desire to get involved, but he couldn¡¯t necessarily judge which side was right. And then there was the fact that adversity allowed cultivators to grow. He had to think about the line between what was his responsibility because of his power and what he should let others deal with. But sometimes he could determine a clear right and wrong, and assisting a losing righteous battle with an arrow or two certainly felt appropriate sometimes. He was often tempted to go further, but he restrained himself. He couldn¡¯t- and shouldn¡¯t- try to influence everything himself. Even if he was on some level responsible for those weaker than himself, he¡¯d learned many lessons from his time with generations of family. He certainly wasn¡¯t a perfect father, grandfather, and so on, but he knew that sometimes people needed to face some consequences for their actions even if they had some justification. Most people believed everything they did was justified regardless, but he could safely set certain boundaries. Killing people simply to take what was theirs was the most common among cultivators, followed by the slightly more justified conflict over resources neither had a true claim to. Anton certainly didn¡¯t distance himself from the little things of the world. He just preferred to influence them through ways other than simply a high cultivation and violence. He wasn¡¯t sure what the advice of a passing old man would do for people long term, but some immediate goals were easily accomplished. Making up after a fight as soon as possible was frequent advice, though it depended on whether certain individuals were still in a heightened state of emotion. Anton wasn¡¯t sure he always gave the right advice, but Insight wasn¡¯t perfect even at higher cultivations. Sometimes he would take time to do small things like help someone harvest their fields. He had great compassion for places he passed by where someone was sick and unable to work. While the rise of cultivation meant farmers had somewhat wider margins, hiring an extra person to help could also be significantly more costly. So helping even with a few hour¡¯s work- which was honestly more than most people could do in a day even with some level of cultivation- reminded him of the basic good things in the world. There wasn¡¯t just war, even if that was the biggest looming threat at all times. Working at many different scales put Anton in the right state for advancing his cultivation. It wasn¡¯t necessarily as rapid as it could have been, but continuous forward advancement was more than some could even wish for. With no roadblocks before the peak of Life Transformation, Anton imagined he could reach the ninety-ninth star in something like three decades. He¡¯d be a bit over two hundred then- which would mean he would have spent more time as a cultivator than not. For most cultivators, that tipping point came much more quickly since they started young. ----- The pursuit of alternate methods of improving in power beyond Life Transformation brought Anton back to the Grasping Willow Sect. He didn¡¯t expect Lev to have clear answers for him, but he knew Lev was working on something different. He wasn¡¯t technically barred from ascension the same way Anton was, but it would not fit his goals, nor be as beneficial as it might seem. Anton looked at the young man- as if nearly a hundred were young nowadays. Which it was, since Lev still looked young¡­ for the most part. It was quite subtle, but his posture was off. Though that was to be expected, because he had no control of his limbs in the standard way. He had never really recovered after connecting to the Grandfather Willow, though Lev never made any complaints except that it was disappointing he was less useful if he ranged far from the sect. Though in truth he had access to power beyond Life Transformation while there- the simple issue being that it was not his own. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I¡¯m thinking of making my arrangement more permanent,¡± Lev said. ¡°Not that I wish to embed myself in the Grandfather Willow again. I can, but that physical action is a bit away from the direction I intend.¡± ¡°I¡¯m intrigued,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°What, then?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that much different from Ascension, really. Integration, they call it. I would just not be integrating with ¡®upper energy¡¯, but that of the Grandfather Willow. More than just on a surface level like we are teaching all our disciples right now. Interestingly enough, it might expand my useful range somewhat. And if not¡­ I wouldn¡¯t mind being a guardian here.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t I be the one saying such old man things? I have had similar thoughts, but there¡¯s nothing I have any sort of claim to that would be either strong enough or appropriate for the purpose.¡± Anton looked up at the Grandfather Willow, specifically towards the main trunk since up in every direction was part of the willow. ¡°And though once I wouldn¡¯t have concerned myself with being tied down to a specific area, I would prefer to range much wider.¡± ¡°Maybe you could find yourself a great tortoise?¡± Lev grinned, ¡°I know you and Paradise get along well.¡± ¡°Certainly, but I wouldn¡¯t wish to take something else¡¯s power. Either that requires constantly wrestling something unfriendly for control, or weakening something for no good reason.¡± Anton thought for a moment, ¡°Also I feel like Paradise would change his mind about me if I tried to take his power. He certainly didn¡¯t seem fond of the Ponderous Turtle Clan making the attempt.¡± ¡°Right, right. That was one of the deciding factors in the war, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Well, I can¡¯t imagine that losing most of a sect¡¯s most powerful cultivators all at once was good for them, no.¡± Lev thought for some time. ¡°Perhaps¡­ you could nurture a secret realm? Use all of the power there for yourself? I know the entrances are usually static but¡­¡± ¡°Sounds expensive,¡± Anton said. ¡°Like¡­ more wealth than the Order has ever possessed kind of expensive.¡± ¡°Bah, you could throw together a secret realm. The Luminous Ocean Society made one and they didn¡¯t make it past the invasion!¡± ¡°Perhaps this could work for some, but I¡¯m not a specialist in the formations required. And I doubt I could justify making someone else do all the work- or pay them sufficiently. I also have no intention to spend decades hoarding wealth, either.¡± Lev shrugged, ¡°It was just a suggestion. It was the only thing along the same lines I could think of.¡± ¡°I appreciate it,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ve had certain ideas in the past, but they¡¯re likewise a bit¡­ extravagant. But about yourself, how certain are you that your plans might work?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s a bit early to judge for sure. I still have to reach the peak of Life Transformation, after all. Otherwise, I¡¯d definitely not be able to handle the process. Could easily find myself drained of energy in return if I mess up. Or maybe if I do everything right.¡± ¡°Yes, attempting to skip steps in cultivation rarely goes well for anyone. The Order¡¯s technique makes that basically impossible since it involves forming stars. Just calling a star a different number doesn¡¯t make a difference. Though I heard of people trying to skip prime temperings.¡± ¡°And?¡± Lev asked. ¡°... It technically worked. In short, they continued advancing at a marginal rate of power increase without ever accelerating. No advancing between stages even if they had the ¡®right number¡¯ of stars. Then they eventually hit a wall anyway, as they could only manage so many stars even with lesser power. I don¡¯t think anyone has tried that since I joined the Order, though it¡¯s possible.¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t expected much different. If you could skip steps and have the same power, then it would actually be the correct method instead, and those steps were simply extraneous and mistaken to consider all along.¡± After that they discussed other insights into cultivation, some quite technical while others were simple yet sometimes profound. Perhaps neither of them would find the other¡¯s insights of use, but the knowledge might find its way to the right person at the right time if they had it available to share. ----- With ascensions suddenly more commonplace on the continent- that is, more than one every few decades- the number of individuals reaching their limits in Life Transformation or before also increased. In a way this was good for the various factions. They were steadily growing in strength, and even those who could advance no further were valuable. It was also the case that with more people cultivating, there was an explosion in the lower ranks of cultivation- Body Tempering and Spirit Building. At the current time it was expected for people to reach Spirit Building at some point in their lives, though some found themselves limited by talent, free time, or simply desire. Some were content with reaching a certain level that allowed them to work as efficiently as they wished, allowing them some amount of free time. There was still a disparity between people, even with free access to certain basic knowledge. Those who had wealth had more time to cultivate, pulling them further ahead. But the methods of cultivating while performing labor gave those lower on the ladder some chance. Much of the world had adopted the policy of allowing energy to flow freely as well. Long term growth of a whole region worked best that way, even though an individual sect might see better payoff in the short term by gathering energy within their borders. In the long term, however, it would take more resources to improve every step, and better formations to resist an imbalance of energy. Some found it worthwhile anyway, but energy flowed freely through the wilderness in most places, promoting growth of all kinds. That also came with some dangers, but having beasts that might attack people was also a benefit in a way. It allowed people a way to gain combat experience not against other humans, and to focus violence away from each other. And hunting beasts became another job, one for which hunters were paid to then spend their money in nearby cities where the money returned to the same hands once more. A prosperous cycle. Chapter 400 Ever since the incident with the beast tide near the beginning of Anton¡¯s cultivation journey, the forests stretching north from the Order¡¯s land were monitored more carefully. After eighty years, a similar incident had never happened- though there were times larger numbers of creatures had built up. Elder Tshering had continued to monitor the area along with others, though smaller buildups were still allowed for the sake of organizing larger hunts for younger cultivators to get some practical experience. This year Anton was watching over the event, keeping an eye out for anyone in danger and subtly nudging things in their favor. His arrows were tiny flashes of light, leaving only small puncture wounds. A careful disciple might notice something after the fact if they checked over the body, but it would be simple to convince themselves the creature had pierced itself upon thorns or the like. Interfering subtly was for the purpose of not allowing the disciples to be too comfortable- they needed to experience the fear of deadly combat without the danger, if possible. Losing people because they got a bit unlucky in a battle would be a waste, and they would come to understand their limits more thoroughly if things felt close to their loss. And for the sake of larger incidents where they were truly out of their depth, they had signal flares. He could more openly assist people who called for help, though if he judged they should have been able to handle the situation they would be chastised later. Other elders and disciples were on standby to help with different situations, such as healing if people were grievously wounded or poisoned. Besides, even Anton couldn¡¯t keep tabs on hundreds of people split into various groups all at once- though it was simple enough for him to keep tabs on a few at a time, checking for immediate dangers. He continually swept back and forth, monitoring the progress of every group as he briefly locked onto their energy. There was one group that seemed to be in no danger, but he lingered for a moment when he realized two of them were missing. Focusing on the area around them, he noticed agitation in the movements of the remaining companions- quickly bringing him to focus on a nearby hole. A thin arrow of light went streaking from his bow- towards another location. Someone had gotten in over their head and needed a boar to stumble so they had a chance to get back to their feet. The hole turned sharply downward- more of a vertical shaft than a simple pit. It vaguely reminded Anton of Droca, though the structure was much different, and more sized to fit a person than a giant many-legged lava dwelling lizard. ¡°Some disciples have encountered something odd,¡± Anton commented to other nearby elders, ready to replace others coming back from a shift of watching the disciples. ¡°I¡¯m going to go check it out.¡± He couldn¡¯t precisely explain where it was, so going himself was the best option- and it didn¡¯t really hinder his ability to continue with his duties. A handful of spectral bows floated along with him, turning towards various incidents but not needing to be used for the moment. Anton moved quickly towards the group. He could sense those who had fallen were injured but alive, and no enemies in the immediate vicinity. By the time the flare went up from their location, he was halfway there. It was a group of five, two had fallen and three remained above. ¡°Grand Elder Anton!¡± one of the women said as he approached. ¡°Two of us have fallen down a strange break in the ground! We weren¡¯t sure what to do¡­¡± The grumpy old man that occasionally liked to show up inside Anton said that kids these days were so coddled, with their signal flares instead of having to send someone running back through monster infested forests to deliver a message. The grandfather inside him just pat all three of them on the head. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± He stepped over next to the hole. ¡°How are you doing down there?¡± The response was a groan of pain. It was a pretty far fall, and one of them had broken at least an ankle, maybe more. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m coming down,¡± Anton said. He turned to the others, pulling a rope out of his storage bag. ¡°Tie this to a tree.¡± They should have had their own rope, but either they forgot about it or decided they didn¡¯t need it for some reason. But having rope was always good. After handing the rope over, he jumped down the hole. It was what, a meter and a half wide? It wound back and forth some, and some places had clearly had some protruding stone that was recently broken off. After a good handful of seconds of falling, Anton landed next to the two, slightly altering his trajectory as he slipped into the larger chamber since they were directly below. ¡°An odd place,¡± Anton said. He could sense three other passageways going off from where they were, but it was strangely regular. Yet upon first inspection the walls felt like natural stone, irregular in shape. He turned to the two disciples, a man and a woman. Now that he was able to actually see them, the man was in a much worse state than he¡¯d thought. He had more than a couple breaks, and that included some ribs. ¡°Hold still, okay?¡± he placed a hand on the man¡¯s chest. ¡°I need you to lower your energy defenses before I can help.¡± He didn¡¯t, really, but forcing his way through the man¡¯s energy would just make it more unpleasant for him. ¡°Okay,¡± the man nodded with a pained look on his face, speaking clearly not helping him. When his energy retracted, Anton focused many strands of his own inside, anchoring on various points on the man¡¯s ribs. Then he yanked, all at once, setting everything back in its place. The man¡¯s scream of pain was understandable, but Anton held him still to prevent him from hurting himself. After a couple moments, the man¡¯s scream of pain stopped. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Take this,¡± Anton pulled out a small pill. ¡°Use your energy to distribute the medicine to the various breaks, and remain sitting.¡± Anton began splinting what he could of the man, while he turned to the woman. ¡°We¡¯ll need to set that ankle as well.¡± In a couple minutes, the two were both taken care of. Anton might not consider himself a doctor, but he¡¯d studied plenty about healing¡­ and simple things like this were something he could have handled with only minimal knowledge to begin with. The rope was tossed down the hole at about the same time- rather slow by his estimation, but at least they¡¯d gotten around to it. Not that he was going to use it for the moment. He reached out to the pair, grabbing them around the waist while he supported their bodies with an even coating of energy so they would not jostle about. Then he leapt up into the tube, pushing off of alternating sides to continually raise himself up. When he got to the top he dropped them off away from the hole. ¡°You should head back,¡± he said to the team. ¡°These two won¡¯t be able to support themselves, and a team of just three is at risk. When you arrive back at the sect you can join up with others and return, if you wish. As for this¡­ discovery¡­ I shall do some preliminary testing to see if it is safe. Since you discovered it, you will have the first right to explore it, if it¡¯s within your capabilities. Either way, you¡¯ll receive some merits for the discovery.¡± ¡°Thank you, Grand Elder Anton,¡± said each in turn, except the man with all of the broken ribs. He was being placed on a stretcher- a simple tool consisting of supports crossing around a large piece of cloth. It would be more comfortable for the man that way. Anton used a communication plate to describe his approximate location back to the main sect. He seriously doubted that the cave system would be dangerous to a Life Transformation cultivator, especially if he was cautious, but he waited for others to arrive nonetheless, while watching for other problems around him. Hoyt and Velvet showed up along with a handful of others at different cultivation levels. That was probably excessive, but if nothing happened it was just a small part of a single day. While they could be tackling important matters with their power, fortunately things that required the attention of Life Transformation cultivators were rather rare. ¡°So what is it?¡± Hoyt asked, scanning the hole. ¡°I was able to probe a significant distance into these tunnels,¡± Anton explained. ¡°Several kilometers, at least. I didn¡¯t specifically notice any threats, but it¡¯s not exactly optimal for me to shoot arrows in there.¡± ¡°Not optimal for an axe, either,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°But I¡¯ll manage just fine.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a lot of rust,¡± Velvet commented as she looked down. ¡°And rubble.¡± ¡°Seems like a normal amount of rubble to me,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Since there¡¯s a big open hole here.¡± ¡°It just broke open, though,¡± Velvet said. ¡°See down to that layer a handful of meters down? It¡¯s mostly dirt and then some different stone.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I¡¯d been noticing some of the same myself. Not sure what it means though. It feels¡­ strange.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Which is odd because it¡¯s just¡­ tunnels. I don¡¯t feel the unease of danger, though.¡± ¡°Which means it might be well hidden,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But we have to check it out at some point, right?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Anton said. ¡°I mostly didn¡¯t want to go wandering off on my own. I¡¯m sure the disciples that found this place could have eventually led people back here, but this was quicker.¡± He¡¯d also needed to make sure other people were ready to take over for him. Kseniya would be watching for the signal flares, at least. As Anton took a more leisurely climb down the rope with some light- besides just what came from directly above- he noticed that the discoloration of rust was in a regular pattern. Circles that might have once been metal bars sticking into the stone on either side. At the bottom, along with rocks and dirt, there was more rust that had probably once been some of the crossing bars, though it was unclear what they were for¡­ or why they would be in what otherwise seemed like a natural cave. The few tunnels heading off in different directions mostly remained horizontal, though one sloped deeper. They first started with one of the other two, which went to opposite sides, more or less straight tunnels leading away from each other. Occasional stalactites and stalagmites barred their way, forcing them to squeeze past or break through. Now that he was actually down below again and focusing on it, Anton noticed a slight curve. And in a relatively short time, they found themselves in another similar chamber to their entrance, complete with the tunnel sloping down and the opposite entrances¡­ and something going towards the surface. This one didn¡¯t actually reach the surface, but a few spikes of thin, rusted metal indicated it was much the same as the other. Continuing in the same direction led to a collapsed portion of the tunnel, stretching at least ten meters or so. Anton didn¡¯t push his senses further than that, because while they might be able to dig it out in a reasonable amount of time, it was unlikely they would find anything new. ¡°Seems we should head down,¡± Anton gestured to the steeply sloped tunnel going down. ¡°Should we try this one, or the first one towards the entrance?¡± ¡°Sense any difference?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Hmm, this one actually appears to be blocked in a few places. Nothing we couldn¡¯t push through, but¡­¡± ¡°The other it is,¡± Hoyt declared. It didn¡¯t take long to make their way back, though the tunnels were uncomfortably short for a person to walk upright. Their heads just about touched the top of the curved tubes which certainly weren¡¯t natural, but also didn¡¯t feel constructed with their unevenness. They eventually came out into a larger chamber, with dozens of tunnels sloping into it, as well as more comfortable mostly rectangular tunnels, though those too were uneven and had the same stone strewn throughout making passage difficult. It seemed they served no purpose, but the vaguely rectangular tunnels at least seemed like they should have been made by people- and the whole arrangement was too regular to simply be random. Chapter 401 From the central chamber, Anton was able to spread out his senses through one corridor at a time without having to concern himself with strange angles. The thing that had initially stopped him still held- many corridors were blocked to various extents, requiring winding his energy around instead of simply projecting it in a straight line. The more he did so, the more the area felt constructed and yet¡­ natural. He just wasn¡¯t sure how things could be both. The lower tunnels were less numerous than those leading at an angle up towards the surface- transitioning to vertical shafts that mostly did not reach the surface. These rectangular corridors seemed actually intended for use, though collapsed passageways, stalactites, and stalagmites made traversal inconvenient. At this point, Anton had not sensed any danger¡­ or much else, really. Empty rooms of little interest lined the corridors, but they eventually led Anton to a conclusion that felt rather silly to have taken so long. ¡°The corridors here should have been smooth at some point. It¡¯s simply enough time has passed for this,¡± Anton waved to a stalactite hanging about a third of the way down to the ground. ¡°To form. At least some hundreds of years, but I would bet on more than a thousand. The walls have become uneven from other changes that caves normally endure.¡± Hoyt looked around and nodded. ¡°I see. It is odd, though. One would have expected it to completely collapse into nothing or¡­ be in better shape. This has to have been done by ancient cultivators, right? What about their preservations? Formations?¡± ¡°That¡­¡± Anton frowned, ¡°Could have happened the same. Who¡¯s to say some of these marks were once formation runes? Now that I think of it¡­ they could be. I feel nothing, however.¡± ¡°The flow of energy seems perfectly normal,¡± Velvet agreed. None of the others following them had anything different to say, so they simply continued their exploration. After finding dead ends in several directions, they went deeper. ¡°I sense something,¡± Anton said. ¡°Something¡­ powerful. Perhaps a formation, or something enchanted.¡± There was little to do but continue deeper, making their way down proper stairs. They weren¡¯t particularly wide, indicating not many people used them¡­ and that there was little interest in ornamentation. There were also more round tunnels that had been heading down, but the stairs seemed to be the proper method. Eventually they found themselves at another ring at least a kilometer deep in the earth, where it had grown significantly hotter, though still not as much as Anton¡¯s time in Droca. Part of that likely had something to do with the way air flowed through the tunnels. Circumnavigating the ring, they eventually came to large doors. Or at least what had been doors. Metals used by cultivators were often resistant to rust and tarnish, especially if enchanted¡­ which allowed these to hold their shape. There were holes, however, and their hinges had long since fallen apart. Whatever enchantments had supported them had faded away. Beyond the doors was a large chamber with something in the center¡­ but also clear traces of formation runes. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s active,¡± Anton said. ¡°But¡­ I wouldn¡¯t want to bet on it. Anything that can survive for this long should have been pretty nasty to begin with.¡± His eyes lingered in the middle of the area, where a hexagonal plate of some sort rested on the floor. That was what radiated the energy he was feeling, and was the only thing in the room that remained in pristine condition. It would be so easy to go pick it up, but that was exactly why it would be prudent to be cautious. ¡°Some of us should remain here, I think,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°While others go get a specialist.¡± The others agreed. And so, they waited. ----- The hunt was over, and those guarding the underground facility had swapped with others several times. No fewer than two Life Transformation cultivators at any time were present together, until finally Catarina arrived several weeks later. ¡°Sorry it took so long,¡± Catarina said as she descended with Anton. ¡°I was at the Worthy Shore Society finishing up business.¡± ¡°That box?¡± Anton asked. ¡°That¡¯s right! I opened the whole thing. You want to guess what was inside?¡± ¡°Based on previous knowledge¡­ another larger box. Or nothing.¡± ¡°Several boxes,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And then¡­ nothing.¡± Catarina shrugged, ¡°But hey, that¡¯s Everheart for you. Definitely his work. Personally I found the techniques involved to be the most important part. Restriction and confounding methods, high level spatial manipulation, and efficient energy usage.¡± ¡°You think that those who had it before¡­ Golden Star Island¡­ did they manage to open it first?¡± Catarina shook her head, ¡°Definitely not. There were clear signs we were the first. I¡¯m glad the Worthy Shore Society let me back to work on it.¡± ¡°I doubt they would have finished it without you.¡± ¡°Maybe not, but only because they¡¯d keep ascending their best formation masters.¡± Catarina¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Ooh, is this it?¡± ¡°Yes it is but don¡¯t-¡± Anton sighed, ¡°-just walk into the room. It¡¯s safe, then?¡± Catarina only took a few steps, slowly making her way around in a circle. ¡°Probably. One moment.¡± For her, that one moment was several hours, as she carefully looked at each concentric ring and what remained of the formations¡­ but nothing happened with her, and she did nothing but take notes. No disarming or changing of the runes. She stopped when she reached the hexagonal plate, perhaps a fingerwidth thick and thirty centimeters across. It was lying on the ground next to what might have once been some sort of pedestal. She flicked her energy under it, and it flipped over. Then she picked it up. ¡°Seems to be safe.¡± She twisted it around in her hands. ¡°This is¡­ part of something else.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Maybe it was the core of this formation,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It should be something like that. Or maybe a key? Either way, by itself it does nothing but¡­ exist. Maybe there¡¯s a way to activate it, but I could tell it wasn¡¯t doing anything.¡± ¡°So not dangerous then.¡± ¡°Currently? No.¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°But I¡¯m pretty sure at some point this whole place was designed to implode on anyone trying to take this thing. Not just falling rocks, but a kilometer of rocks squashed down on top of anyone in the area, at great speed. The rings would help with that.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°I thought they were for airflow.¡± ¡°That too,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I believe they drew in air and natural energy to power the formation. It came from a wide area so that it wouldn¡¯t be noticed.¡± ¡°Someone should have noticed the holes,¡± Anton said. ¡°Out in the wilderness?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Besides, they were probably disguised.¡± ¡°And there should have been a sect here defending the area,¡± Anton said, thinking of the rooms above. ¡°In some previous cycle. Do you think the invaders got them?¡± ¡°Could have been anything,¡± Catarina shrugged, ¡°With no records except the formations.¡± ¡°... ties to Everheart? I know he was from our cycle but¡­ formations always seem that way.¡± ¡°I¡¯d say¡­ closer to what the Exalted Archipelago has. Proper, formalized¡­ powerful, but unimaginative.¡± ¡°Great. So¡­ what do we do with this? I assume you study it,¡± Anton said. ¡°But then what?¡± ¡°Depends what I find.¡± ----- A small cloud of swords spun and twirled, but instead of skillfully avoiding each other as Chikere¡¯s tended to, they ricocheted off each other in all directions. That was not a failure, however, but by design- propelling some more quickly in one direction while rebounding others. However, this was not a new technique by Chikere, but rather belonged to another. ¡°Yep, pretty good,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Florry asked, clutching some of her swords to her. ¡°I thought you might offer some constructive criticism or something¡­¡± ¡°Nah, you¡¯re doing fine,¡± Chikere told her disciple. ¡°Me telling you what to do would just end up with you fighting like me, and it¡¯s pretty clear that isn¡¯t going to happen. It probably wouldn¡¯t be better, anyway.¡± Florry nodded. ¡°Are you disappointed?¡± ¡°Why would I be?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been forty years since I became your disciple and I haven¡¯t even advanced to Life Transformation¡­ I¡¯m much older than you were when you reached it.¡± ¡°So?¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°Do you know how old Swordmaster Rahayu was when he reached Life Transformation?¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t. The information available on him was rather limited.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know either,¡± Chikere grinned. ¡°O¡­ kay?¡± ¡°What I do know was that he was gray haired when he ascended. But I¡¯m going to look like this when I do,¡± Chikere gestured to herself as a whole, still looking like she was no older than her thirties by the standards of people who didn¡¯t cultivate. ¡°Except maybe with more scars.¡± ¡°Is there¡­ a lesson?¡± Florry tilted her head. ¡°Uh, sure. Talent isn¡¯t just about who¡¯s fastest, or whatever. Nobody¡¯s killed you in battle yet, right?¡± Florry looked down at herself. ¡°... No?¡± ¡°Then you¡¯re doing great.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t been in as many conflicts as you.¡± ¡°A minor detail. If you never get into a battle, it doesn¡¯t matter if you didn¡¯t win. My only question¡­ have you ever been unable to do something you wanted to with your strength?¡± Deciding that ¡®understand her own master¡¯ was not an appropriate answer, Florry shook her head. ¡°No. I haven¡¯t.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s fine. And you got all those swords yourself.¡± ¡°... not from other cultivators though. I mostly earned these from the sect or had them commissioned¡­¡± ¡°And yet you still built up a decent collection somehow.¡± Florry continued to hold her arms in front of her across her chest, with the swords she carried still unsheathed and dangling next to her contradicting the security she felt from them. ¡°I didn¡¯t even fight in the war.¡± ¡°Did anyone die where you were assigned?¡± ¡°Well¡­ no.¡± ¡°Then you won. Besides, didn¡¯t you kill that assassin?¡± Chikere stepped forward. ¡°Well¡­ yes,¡± she admitted. ¡°But only because I had to.¡± ¡°Same with me,¡± Chikere grinned. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You do fine in spars, and though it might be good to get more life and death battles with humans under your belt, you have plenty against beasts. No problems.¡± ¡°Still¡­ some people say I don¡¯t deserve to be the personal disciple of a Swordmaster like yourself.¡± ¡°How many of them are Swordmasters, hmm?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°None of them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Because they don¡¯t know anything. I don¡¯t know who you mean but I bet they dropped out of my training because they didn¡¯t want to die.¡± ¡°But you wouldn¡¯t kill anyone¡­ like that,¡± Florry said. ¡°Sure I would. If they weren¡¯t good enough and didn¡¯t know when to give up, or couldn¡¯t take a hint? They¡¯d die.¡± ¡°But you haven¡¯t.¡± ¡°My hints aren¡¯t very subtle. Everyone¡¯s understood them so far.¡± ----- With various people preparing disciples for their inevitable ascension in the next decade or two, Anton found himself with little to do in that regard. He had numerous individuals who learned from him, but none that really needed his continuous instruction. There were some things he¡¯d have to eventually wrap up, before he tried anything, but if he was successful he wouldn¡¯t actually go anywhere. That was the theory, anyway. If he failed an alternate method of ascension the chances of his death were pretty high, but with real ascension there was also a risk of death- and success likewise meant no longer being around. Still, he would at least like to make one more tour of everything he could, visiting those he¡¯d met, before he committed himself to any attempts. There were times he¡¯d been unable to say goodbye to those he cared about, and he wanted that¡­ for both sides. Anton supposed he especially needed to pay some attention to Gudrun. Annelie¡¯s daughter was no longer a child, but she was still in important, formative parts of her cultivation. And though she made use of ice, she was an archer like himself. Though her common methods of attack involved laying down traps of slick ice for her opponents either before a battle or by shooting at a surface and coating it during battle, developing her range to be further was still quite important. If she never had to engage the enemy at all, it was for the best. Her proficiency with Horizon Shot was modest at the moment, only reaching a handful of kilometers on the far end- a distance that could technically be seen on flat ground. But she needed both a higher cultivation and more training to overcome that. ¡°Now, your ice arrows are heaver than standard Spirit Arrows,¡± Anton said. ¡°So it is unlikely you¡¯ll ever achieve exactly the same distance. Even if it¡¯s just the form of ice, it carries with it some weight. But there are some subtle changes you can make to have significant improvement.¡± ¡°Yes, Grandfather,¡± she said. He was more than a couple extra generations further removed than being her actual grandfather, but it was extremely cumbersome to say it every time, and none of Anish and Annelie¡¯s children spoke of him that way unless they were clarifying. Not even those who leaned more towards the Frostmirror Sect¡¯s side of things with the overly logical and emotionless speech. They understood efficiency, at least. Gudrun would be fine. So would Anish and Annelie, Anton supposed. He knew they had been undecided on whether they would try to ascend, and at the very least they didn¡¯t plan to attempt the breakthrough at the earliest possible time despite their high talent. Part of that was they continued to have children every once in a while. In the past couple decades there were two more, which meant even if they immediately ceased having children theirs would barely be adults by cultivator standards at the potential earliest mark. Anton was rather pleased about that. It was nice to have the family expanding again¡­ and in several different places. It did make it hard to keep up with them all, but compared to when he thought he¡¯d lost everyone he was very satisfied. The world¡­ was good. Chapter 402 Even from the beginning, Chikere had been a handful of years ahead of Anton and the others with her cultivation. Her talent was no less than the best of them, and her wholehearted devotion to cultivation meant she continued to advance at the head of the pack. She hadn¡¯t done anything so audacious as scheduling her ascension in a narrow window decades in advance, but then again she never really considered time as a factor. When the time approached, however, she was confident enough to declare when she would be advancing and to invite others to witness it if they wished to. It wasn¡¯t an open invitation, but those from the Million Sword Vault as well as Anton and the rest of the regular group were included. ¡°I always thought this would happen in the middle of some climactic battle,¡± Hoyt commented to the others as Chikere stood alone in the swirling mirror sands. ¡°We¡¯ve been lucky not to have such conflicts as frequently as we might,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Though I fear I may have grown detached from the plight of the common person.¡± ¡°I think that¡¯s one thing you in particular don¡¯t need to be worried about,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°You¡¯ve been constantly changing the world from the bottom up for the last century for that very purpose¡­ and sometimes people need to take care of things themselves.¡± ¡°It hasn¡¯t been quite a century. But it¡¯s hard to give up control and just trust things to work.¡± ¡°There¡¯s the real answer,¡± Hoyt grinned. ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll never fully resolve protecting people with letting them manage themselves, but nobody¡¯s perfect. Especially not cultivators, even if we strive for it the hardest.¡± The conversation died down as everyone felt Chikere¡¯s energy rousing. There was all sorts of speculation on how she might ascend, but the one thing that could be certain that watching it would be of value to anyone. The sword cultivators were betting on her cutting her way like Rahayu, of course. Nobody really bet against that, but nobody could give specifics either. Unlike the Order, she wasn¡¯t working on a path developed by a community that had specific ideas in mind. She was surrounded by swords, of course. It was impossible for her to fit every blade on her body at the current time, even of just the weapons she used. Thus, the majority of them floated freely around her. At the same time as she unsheathed everything around her, she tossed a sword in front of her to stick in the sand. Not just any sword, but the one Anton was quite certain still held the status of Number One, obtained from one of the invaders at great cost. The sword drew itself, and for a moment Anton thought he saw a figure holding it. Then the battle began. It was not simply a demonstration of Chikere¡¯s fighting style, but something deeper. Anton had first seen it with Kseniya, but it obviously became more than simple practice or moves. It was her against an imagined opponent¡­ though in Chikere¡¯s case she provided actual force behind her faux opponent. A cloud of swords swept forward, cutting at the area behind the single sword¡­ but the single sword deflected the majority of them. Anton could almost make out a figure twisting their body to avoid the rest, while still finding moments to counterattack, stepping forward through the field of swords to attempt to target Chikere. The way attacks on both sides came within millimeters of striking theoretically deadly blows at first seemed to be a top level display¡­ but it became strangely serious when cuts began appearing on Chikere¡¯s neck and upper torso. It seemed she was seriously targeting herself, and though the Number One stuck to Swordmaster Rahayu¡¯s movements as far as Anton could tell, Chikere seemed unwilling to not make things as hard for herself as possible. Anton had only known the swordmaster for a short time while he trained Chikere, but he felt as if the actual representation of his power was exaggerated. Which was impressive, as Chikere was outputting the energy for both of them, Number One cutting wide swaths of desert apart with the force of its passing. It soon became clear that Chikere didn¡¯t have the capacity to keep up with such use of power, but instead of evenly splitting her efforts she maintained the same output for her ¡®opponent¡¯ while lowering her own. Blood spurted from her eyebrow, the bridge of her nose, her sternum just below her trachea. It was impossible to judge if she was being exactly fair with how things would happen, but somehow Anton knew that she might really kill herself if she didn¡¯t achieve whatever she was trying to do. Then it came. Anton remembered it well, as the most powerful individual attack he had seen as well as his first exposure to an actual ascension. A seemingly simple attack, a vertical sweep. Down to up, then up to down- the latter being an addition Rahayu himself had never used. A rift was cut into the desert sands, three meters wide by ten meters deep, and well over a hundred meters long. The attack went straight through Chikere¡­ or at least where she had been. Yet she also hadn¡¯t moved. A dozen swords clattered apart, severed into pieces as each part fell into the sands. Chikere stood in the same spot, having not moved but also not having been there when the attack came. Anton couldn¡¯t say any more than that, because he honestly didn¡¯t understand what had happened. Though he did notice a strange way Chikere¡¯s blades had twisted around her at that instant. As the sand collapsed back together, Chikere fell on top of it, landing on her knees before becoming buried up to her neck. A few moments passed, then she stood. Number One had fallen to the ground after the final attack, and she reached out towards it. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. All at once, every sword in her arsenal swarmed around her, tangenting with her body as the tips of some poked into her neck while others arranged themselves along her arms and legs, or crossing her torso. A pause¡­ then there was a burst of energy. Chikere was gone, and as her image faded away from Anton¡¯s mind he took note of the others around him. The two general states of people were slack-jawed awe or comatose on the ground, respectively. Anton certainly found himself more towards the former. He knew that Chikere was not that far ahead in cultivation or skill, but something about the threshold of ascension brought with it something great, and seeing that power displayed without the restrictions the invaders seemed to be under filled him with renewed vigor. Timothy and Catarina were looking at their own swords in front of them. Though neither could be called a sword cultivator in the traditional sense, it was still their weapon of choice. They could certainly gain some insights from the display that would help them improve in the future. It was a happy event. While her departure meant Anton would likely never see her again, it was the all important next step in her cultivation journey. So he was happy for her, even as he came to realize that many or all of those around him he had grown used to would do the same within the next decades. It reminded him of watching old friends die¡­ but in this case he could be happy for them, even if the loss was still real for himself. ----- Investigations into the formation plate found in the underground facility hadn¡¯t yielded much, except to match the initial assumptions. It was merely part of something greater, but exactly what that was couldn¡¯t be divined with just what they had. The only thing Catarina was certain of was that it was an important component, and that nobody had ever seen the materials it was made out of anywhere else. They were untouched by time while the entire rest of the facility had crumbled apart. ¡°There¡¯s one more thing I learned,¡± Catarina said, holding it out towards Anton. ¡°Take it for a second, will you?¡± ¡°Sure¡­¡± Anton took it suspiciously. ¡°What am I supposed to do with this, then?¡± He was sure that Catarina wasn¡¯t doing something that would hurt him, but he wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to be surprised either. ¡°Try injecting it with energy,¡± she said. He did. Or rather, he tried. When he provided energy for it, it was like pouring water over a rock. ¡°Nothing,¡± he said. ¡°Try¡­ a different kind of energy.¡± He had the feeling she didn¡¯t mean using an element, but he briefly brushed the plate with fire and light, which it casually rejected, letting the energy spill off and scatter like it wasn¡¯t its entire purpose to make use of it. Then he reached out for the pocket of energy he had access to beyond himself, drawing Ascension energy into the world. It was greedily devoured, and he looked at Catarina. ¡°You can add more. It will be fine.¡± So he drew upon more, and even more beyond that¡­ until he drained his entire pool of ascension energy. Yet he could feel no discernable difference in the plate itself. ¡°Does it just¡­ eat ascension energy?¡± Truthfully, that was actually a valuable asset, at least in this world. It would be problematic for someone who actually ascended as it would interfere with their own energy instead of just protecting them, but against further invaders? Priceless. Catarina shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s it at all. It¡¯s just not enough to do anything.¡± ¡°I know I¡¯m not a true ascension cultivator¡­ but I feel like that was a significant amount. I should have felt something. Perhaps it¡¯s simply because it¡¯s not connected to anything else?¡± ¡°It could be,¡± Catarina admitted, ¡°But I think it¡¯s simply because this part requires much more than what you could provide. At least¡­ ten or a hundred times that, just to get started. I¡¯m not sure if that means the entire formation would run with that amount of energy, or just this part¡­ since I have no idea where it would even be.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have a chance to figure it out, when you¡¯re there. If you think it¡¯s safe to bring it.¡± ¡°Safe? Certainly not. But valuable, almost certainly.¡± Catarina held out her hand, and Anton gave it back to her. ¡°On another note, I got a message from Chikere!¡± ¡°Really?¡± Anton¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°What did it say?¡± ¡°Dcjpteyqdglqebodpvsu, I think. I mean, it was gibberish- but the prototype device I sent with her at least activated!¡± Catarina nodded, obviously pleased with herself. ¡°We¡¯re one step closer to communicating with the upper realms, so we might actually be able to keep tabs on each other. At the very least, I expect this to work with people only in the upper realms. The problem is I don¡¯t know how much ascension energy there really is there to provide interference.¡± ¡°I suppose I got overly excited. But if we were actually able to provide quick and clear communication, we¡¯d have a leg up on those other guys,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Their process still appears to be slow and limited.¡± ¡°If they get word of this, you¡¯ll likely be in danger,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°All of the ones who already want to kill me won¡¯t change. And we can expect that formation masters still have some status even in the upper realms, so I¡¯d of course gather allies before doing anything overt.¡± ¡°Fine, fine,¡± Anton waved his hand. ¡°You know, back in my day we had to deliver messages by hand, even if it meant walking days through the snow.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Catarina asked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°I know you were from a mundane village too. It really was that way. Didn¡¯t even have carrier birds in Dungannon.¡± ¡°Cultivators had that though,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just now we can move messages anywhere instantly.¡± ¡°And people.¡± ¡°Sure, but people are harder.¡± Though they hadn¡¯t managed intelligible communication, Anton was glad that Catarina was actually having some small success, and confident she¡¯d be able to do more. While he wouldn¡¯t be able to go to the upper realms himself, security for the continents seemed it would require some level of support from the upper realms- and thus communication that the surrounding regions had clearly been unwilling to provide. At least the world he cared about should be able to survive long after him, and prosper¡­ at least for a time. Nothing lasted forever. Chapter 403 The window of time anticipated by Catarina narrowed down from a year of time to a month to a specific day. That day came all too quickly, and though Catarina herself- and Timothy alongside her- did not appear nervous, Anton couldn¡¯t help but feel some trepidation. There had been more failures in ascension now- keeping track of everything was impossible because both might be kept secret for various reasons. However, knowing about the potential risks was different from simply having records of them. Not that it seemed to make any difference to the two involved. They carried themselves with great confidence. People hadn¡¯t exactly been invited to witness the ascension, though it wasn¡¯t secret either. Some of those present were certainly interested in the results, but others were simply there to say goodbye- once more. Anton knew he might go on forever if he let himself get started. There were so many things he had to say, though in truth he¡¯d probably told them already. So he kept things simple. ¡°Farewell. We¡¯ll miss you.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to say that like we¡¯re dying,¡± Catarina retorted. ¡°We¡¯ll still be alive¡­ and there should be some way to come back. Besides, I left behind a dozen ways to communicate. One of them has to work.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad there are other people taking care of that,¡± Anton said. ¡°I barely understand how the regular communication plates work. Those are far too complicated.¡± He looked to Timothy, standing along with her. ¡°Take care of my granddaughter.¡± ¡°Always,¡± Timothy said proudly. ¡°We need to get moving,¡± Catarina said. ¡°The optimal time is rapidly approaching.¡± Anton watched as they walked towards a large sphere Catarina had constructed. The outside was covered in formation markings, even the curved door built into it. Inside the shell were further formation markings, along with supporting beams from all directions similarly carved. The two of them would climb up some sort of platform in the center, where they would wait. All of the observers stood far back, behind some markings that indicated a safe distance. Specifically, one where their energy shouldn¡¯t interfere with the process and that allowed enough for the sphere to gather what it needed. Uninformed viewers might think they were witnessing the first ascension via formation. They wouldn¡¯t be fully wrong, but they also wouldn¡¯t be right. Along with the fact that nobody could know for certain what had happened in the past with certain genius formation masters, the formations here weren¡¯t actually meant for that purpose. When Anton heard about it, he had smiled. The entire setup was not to allow the two to ascend- they were quite confident that they could do it without. Instead, it was to let them do it simultaneously- and to remain together. That was all, but it meant quite a bit. From Timothy following Catarina on her journey of cultivation as a lovestruck childhood companion, mutual feelings had been acknowledged. Timothy had some ambition to grow in cultivation as well, but he would also have been content to just continue to live. Catarina¡¯s ambitions remained high¡­ but they came with the additional factor of being unwilling to separate from her husband. There was nothing visually impressive that happened. Natural energy was drawn into the sphere, and Anton felt the two inside using their own energy, though it was muted. Then¡­ everything was gone. Anton, along with several of the others present, reacted quickly to the sudden rush of air to where the sphere had once been. As the air itself collapsed and released a shockwave, they encircled the area with their energy to prevent it from causing harm to the weaker cultivators nearby or any structures. Perhaps their cautious was unnecessary, but at the very least they saved the ears of many of those standing nearby. That was it. The sphere and the two inside it were gone¡­ but it had to be that they succeeded. There wasn¡¯t even a trace of ascension energy leaking back from the other side, but such a smooth transition had to have been a success. Anton looked over at the others from their core group. Alva was patting Fuzz on the head, comforting him. Hoyt was biting his lip, while Velvet looked thoughtful. ¡°I¡¯m not surprised they were the first,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°It could have been any of us. I guess I just¡­ didn¡¯t expect this day to ever actually come.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I remember meeting you when we were both just in Body Tempering, working out in the fields. Who thought¡­ we would reach the peak of cultivation in this world.¡± ¡°Well, I did,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°At least for myself. Though maybe that was comparing myself to my grandfather, and being too stubborn not to.¡± ¡°I almost ruined everything,¡± Velvet mused. ¡°For myself, and for others. I was fortunate things turned out as they did. With any other group, perhaps I might have faded into obscurity¡­ though perhaps that might not have been too bad.¡± Anton looked over them again, ¡°So, who¡¯s next?¡± It was a casual question, almost a joke¡­ but also quite serious in its own way. ¡°I¡­¡± Alva looked over at Fuzz, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m going to ascend.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Anton asked. He could read into the situation, but hearing it from her would be more clear. ¡°I¡­ am just unsure if that¡¯s what I want to do.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡¯s fine. I wouldn¡¯t mind the company, and the Order will be pleased at the stability.¡± Anton looked to Hoyt and Velvet. Hoyt spoke first. ¡°I¡¯ll definitely ascend. If the Order needed me¡­¡± he shook his head, ¡°But our numbers continue to swell. Even if people continue to ascend regularly, we¡¯ll have many Life Transformation experts at any time. Plus, there are conflicts up there that affect us here.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I should,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°I fear being unable to find everyone, in some unknown place. I would be giving up a family I found to attempt to reunite with a small part of it.¡± The three- and Fuzz, but he had no meaning behind his look- turned to Anton. ¡°You already know I can¡¯t. If I ascend I¡¯ll be torn apart by an angry universe.¡± He smiled wistfully up at the sky, ¡°But I have some ideas of what I might do instead. Maybe I¡¯ll retire.¡± The looks on their faces said a lot. ¡°What? I could.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t think so,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°What would you do if you retired?¡± ¡°Oh you know, go here and there. Meet with people and enjoy life.¡± ¡°You just do that now,¡± Hoyt pointed out. ¡°And I find it hard to believe you¡¯d actually wander around without purpose.¡± ¡°Fine, fine. It¡¯s nicer than saying I¡¯d wait around to die. Which is perfectly acceptable,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ve gotten to live two full lives. Maybe it¡¯s time to let someone else take over.¡± He looked at their faces, ¡°What? I¡¯m serious. I don¡¯t want to struggle to survive.¡± ¡°What about the other thing?¡± Alva said, gripping Fuzz¡¯ fur tightly. ¡°Can¡¯t you do that?¡± ¡°Maybe! I might just die trying it though. That other plan is for if I fail but don¡¯t get killed.¡± ¡°Have some confidence,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I know you have the ability.¡± ¡°If we were talking a standard ascension, completing the hundred stars? I fully agree. But I¡¯m not so confident in forging a new path. It doesn¡¯t matter how good I am if what I attempt is impossible to begin with.¡± ¡°Alright, fine,¡± Hoyt shrugged. ¡°Just don¡¯t¡­ give up.¡± ¡°I gave up once a century ago,¡± Anton said, ¡°And I don¡¯t plan to do it again. But I¡¯m also quite satisfied with my life as a whole.¡± ----- That night, Alva woke up from a wolf howling at the moon. No, it wasn¡¯t just any wolf. It was Fuzz. How could there be any other heard from where she was? And she¡¯d recognize it anywhere. That was something Fuzz did occasionally, but usually it wasn¡¯t so loud. Was there some sort of attack going on somehow? Alva found herself outside in an instant, bow in hand. But there was nothing but Fuzz- and a few neighbors looking over curiously. They were safely within the Order¡¯s controlled territory, after all. ¡°What¡¯s going on, Fuzz?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Do you miss Catarina and Timothy?¡± Fuzz stopped for a moment, turning toward her. His eyes had great intelligence behind them, not quite on the level of void ants or humans, but enough to understand. Instead of a proper response, though, he snorted through his nose and returned to howling. He began to glow as he raised his face up to the sky, the formation markings etched into him so many years before glowing with power as his natural energy flowed into them. Alva knew there was more going on than just a fit of restlessness or a sudden loneliness. Fuzz had been saved by Catarina, but had happily kept Alva safe for long periods of time without seeming to miss her. It could be the thought of never seeing her again that was different but¡­ Alva felt that wasn¡¯t it. And whatever Fuzz was up to, she didn¡¯t think she could stop it without hurting him. ¡°Fuzz, wait. Please. You don¡¯t need to-¡± A louder howl pierced through the night, echoing off of everything and nothing. One final tilt of his head to look directly down at her, and his energy flared. His jaws opened wide as he tore into the air in front of him, leaping forward into nothing. Then he was gone, with only a faint trace of him lingering behind, as well as some ascension energy. Well. It seemed he understood more than she had tried to let on. She hadn¡¯t known if he could really do it, nor had she wanted to push him to try. That was why she had chosen to remain. Now¡­ she had no excuse. Or rather, she absolutely had to go. She kind of wished Fuzz would have waited, though, since she wasn¡¯t exactly ready. She wasn¡¯t that far behind Catarina in terms of cultivation, but she needed a couple years at least. Now she had to hurry without rushing, somehow. ----- In the morning, Anton couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°Seems Fuzz really didn¡¯t want to hold you back.¡± Alva sighed as she stood next to her grandfather, firing arrows that from certain perspectives seemed perfect but lacked the power and precision they should have had. ¡°I wish he¡¯d given me some warning,¡± she sighed. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you have tried to stop him?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe.¡± Consecutive arrows struck their targets, but there was no serious training going on. Just something to help calm the mind. The repetitive sounds of arrows impacting targets at different distances provided a nice background noise to break up some of the lack of conversation. Others were up early for the archery range, but gave them their space for a private conversation. ¡°It¡¯s not so bad, is it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Think of it like when you went to Aicenith and had to leave him behind for a bit. Except this time he simply went on ahead. And there happen to be some others waiting for you as well. I believe in your ability.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ I¡¯m worried, you know? Someone might want to hurt him for¡­ stuff. And I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be able to find him before he gets hurt.¡± ¡°Well, Fuzz may be cute and cuddly, but he¡¯s also neither small nor weak,¡± Anton rested a hand on her shoulder. ¡°You just have to believe in him, like he believed in you.¡± ----- Two months passed without any further surprises. However, Anton found himself brought to where the formation specialists of the Order worked. Elder Rana was there waiting for him. ¡°There you are! I thought you should be one of the first to know. We received a message from Catarina.¡± ¡°Is it gibberish?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well, most of them were,¡± she waved her hand, ¡°Two didn¡¯t work at all, a couple were gibberish, and one gave a half message. There are a few more that need solid infrastructure to set up but,¡± Elder Rana held up her hand, ¡°This one had a message come through clear.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°The message reads¡­ ¡®One of these stupid methods had better work!¡¯¡± Elder Rana coughed, ¡°Not exactly profound, but we got the whole message. We¡¯ve sent a reply, but haven¡¯t heard back yet. It might, um¡­ take an entire two months for the transmission to arrive.¡± ¡°Is that different than expected?¡± ¡°Well we were obviously hoping it would be instantaneous. Two months isn¡¯t that bad though. Especially if we can receive clear communication like this.¡± ¡°Thank you for bringing me,¡± Anton said. ¡°I don¡¯t doubt that it¡¯s her, so at least we know she arrived safely¡­ somewhere.¡± Alva would need to know as well. And anyone else going. If they could learn more information about where they were going or how any of it worked, it would be far safer for everyone. Anton wasn¡¯t helpful for this particular situation, but at least he could keep people positive. And he was quite glad for the news himself. Chapter 404 There was a period of tense and slow waiting between further messages. There were, in fact, further messages received in fairly short order- the problem was they hadn¡¯t really communicated yet. Originally there had been more than a dozen different potential communication methods, and of those three received usable messages¡­ all of which basically said she was trying to make things work. Their responses didn¡¯t seem to mean anything. That led to quite a bit of confusion over the next few months before they finally got something like a response, and then some clear messages. Catarina carefully worded several of her messages and indicated they were all sent at the same time- and they also arrived at the same time within a small tolerance. By that point, they had discovered a property that couldn¡¯t be overcome. Messages took approximately two months to travel in either direction, though multiple messages appeared to remain in transit on their own without interfering. In short, it was close to four months to send out a message and receive a reply, assuming the reply was instantaneous. Yet instead of anyone being disappointed by that news, they were elated. Clear communication between the upper and lower realms requiring only a matter of months? That was far better than had been anticipated. It wasn¡¯t instantaneous like their communications between the continents, but it worked. The limitations meant it was nearly impossible to have any sort of discussion, but simply relaying information was possible. There were more limitations. Unlike the messaging plates, it didn¡¯t require someone to be looking at something to get information, but there was only so much any one message could hold, and a limit to the number of messages that could wait to be viewed. So it still required someone- or several people- constantly on duty monitoring for incoming messages. But that was a small price to pay for the communication. Ultimately, Catarina and Timothy had arrived safely. They arrived on a world not terribly different from their own. Language was somewhat different, but it didn¡¯t take long for high level cultivators to resolve the differences in speech. It did appear that they arrived in the Scarlet Midfields, which was about as good as they could hope. The Exalted Quadrant was unclear in terms of hostility, while the Trigold Cluster was strictly hostile. As for more detailed information, it was still forthcoming. There was only so much that could be said at once, and working out if the communication had worked at all and how had taken more than half a year. But at least the local cultivator groups appeared to be non-hostile, if not exactly friendly. And there was one more piece of information that had been come across almost by accident. Information about Everheart, which was both unexpected and unsurprising in the end. Everheart had a tomb. The only surprise was that instead of a large number of them, there appeared to only be one¡­ though it seemed to occupy a rather large portion of a barren world. As for getting between worlds in the upper realms? That information was yet forthcoming along with many other details people were curious about. It did seem to be possible though. Meanwhile, Catarina had excitedly mentioned dozens of ways she could think of to improve their communication¡­ except she would need to work on both ends of their communication system. And while traveling between worlds in the upper realms seemed attainable, traveling from the upper to lower realms seemed impossible except in certain key situations. ----- ¡°At least they¡¯re fine,¡± Anton said. ¡°No news on Fuzz yet, but apparently they¡¯ll be looking out for him.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe he ran off and left me here!¡± Alva complained. ¡°That¡¯s so¡­ like Fuzz.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°He wasn¡¯t willing to let himself hold you back. At least we should be able to get some information about the upper realms before you go. Others are eagerly awaiting that as well¡­ plus working communications. It seems only a few formation masters can put those together, and we¡¯re still trying to keep it secret. Everything¡¯s kept in very secure areas so the Exalted Archipelago can¡¯t steal our information.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll figure it out eventually,¡± Alva said. ¡°If it¡¯s going to be used more, they¡¯ll inevitably steal it.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°There was some talk of selling it to them before that point. It¡¯s not my work, so I was only able to offer my opinion of caution. Though if we can move from our current situation to something like useful trade partners, it would be good. At long as we aren¡¯t seen as some sort of emerging threat. Though perhaps only a small part of those in the upper realms are really aware of us¡­¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Who knows¡­¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°Hopefully we can learn enough before I go. As for you, grandpa¡­ I¡¯m sorry we¡¯ll be leaving you behind.¡± ¡°I have dealt with such before,¡± Anton smiled softly. ¡°Why, Catarina¡¯s own grandmother was a similar example, though perhaps we departed on not the best terms. But people have to move on, they can¡¯t be just tied down to one place. Unless they want to be,¡± Anton added. ¡°Personally, I am not upset that my place has widened to a world¡­ or at least two continents and some portion of the rest. I¡¯m quite content to stop there.¡± ¡°Only because you have to be,¡± Alva said. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton admitted, ¡°But having seen the development of the world in the second half of my life, I am truly quite pleased. And though I may be resigned to my place here, I do have an idea on how to cross the next threshold of power.¡± ¡°You keep saying that,¡± Alva said, ¡°But you¡¯ll never talk about it.¡± ¡°I just want to make sure that nobody foolish tries it before me,¡± Anton said. ¡°For a number of reasons.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Seems dangerous.¡± ¡°Of course it will be. It¡¯s something new¡­ and the traditional method of ascension is not exactly a trivial pursuit.¡± ----- Given the opportunity, Anton was quite eager to go meet with Sect Head Treloar of the Worthy Shore Society. Acting as a diplomat was a nice change of pace from being some sort of warrior or enforcer, and the more similar conduct he could manage the happier he was. Though a simple exchange of information would be much more efficient in another manner, this allowed some level of secrecy in the details while making sure the information didn¡¯t get seen by the wrong people. Anton had no way to know that Treloar had something secretive to discuss, except perhaps that was the only sensible option. So after getting settled in for his stay and exchanging formalities, he found himself in the first discussion with the man. ¡°So, why did you request a visit?¡± ¡°That¡¯s fairly simple. We¡¯re both interested in promoting peace and the exchange of information. There are some things best discussed in person. I¡¯m sure you know the Exalted Archipelago is quite interested in what has been happening back on the continents. Much interesting news has reached us. It¡¯s not really a secret that this generation of cultivators you have is quite exceptional. One would expect at least a few of them to ascend, and that seems to be the case.¡± Anton waited in silence, offering no specific reaction. ¡°You seem to be cautious? Wondering if I¡¯m probing for information? Good. But I can say we are quite certain of some number of ascensions. And an impressive wave following behind, shoring up any gaps that might have been left. Perhaps even you might ascend soon.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I have the talent for that,¡± Anton hedged. ¡°I am¡­ not young.¡± He didn¡¯t want to let on exactly how many years he felt he had left. Some decades, certainly, but that wasn¡¯t really the limiting factor if he continued with his current plans. ¡°Really?¡± Sect Head Treloar made a show of narrowing his eyes. ¡°Yet when you first encountered the Worthy Shore Society, you were merely in early Life Transformation. That seems to be sufficient growth over the last handful of decades. But I won¡¯t pry. Nor do we plan to disseminate that information to people who don¡¯t need it. I simply thought to comment on what has been observed. A truly talented batch by any measure. Far more than some might have thought possible, and enough to make any sect jealous. Especially with the Trigold Cluster¡¯s¡­ previous actions. Then again, there is something special about this world.¡± ¡°In what way?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I can¡¯t claim to have been to any others.¡± He wasn¡¯t counting the moon, of course. ¡°Now that is a question I don¡¯t have the answer to. I personally have only lived here as well¡­ but it seems to be something intangible. Enough that the Exalted Quadrant was keen to establish a permanent presence here. Though perhaps in some way we are also the cause of some amount of whatever happened here.¡± The sharing of complete techniques and notes on ascension had certainly helped. It saved some trial and error or at least a few decades of sects bumbling around to make progress. But while it had been allowed, it also wasn¡¯t encouraged for them to speak of it. ¡°I don¡¯t want to diminish your own efforts, of course,¡± Treloar continued. ¡°People don¡¯t just stumble into Life Transformation and Ascension by accident, no matter what information is available to them. And the dedication to building up your natural energy levels was certainly a determining factor in your success. It has made a number of us quite interested in keeping an eye on you for some time.¡± Anton hoped that meant there wouldn¡¯t be any further interference. ¡°Paying attention to what is going on in the world is always admirable,¡± Anton said. ¡°Indeed. Now, the next matter is simply a personal curiosity on my part. Feel no obligation to answer. It is about the organization of your Order. The Order of the Ninety-Nine- no, it should be One Hundred Stars. Is that alright, Grand Elder Anton?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything particularly secret about our rankings,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Well, it is simply a curiosity¡­ but why do you not have a sect head? It seems that a council of Grand Elders has done quite well for you all this time, but in certain circumstances having a leader to call upon can be useful.¡± ¡°Well, I hadn¡¯t thought about it all that much,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Traditionally, the wisest and most powerful Grand Elders have held more sway than the others. But I think that the actual reason is simply tradition. Ever since the founding of the Order¡­ and the discovery of our deficiencies¡­ we¡¯ve only had the first Sect Head and a couple others. With nine Grand Elders and ninety elders, it fit quite well with the Ninety-Nine Stars.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± Treloar admitted. ¡°A reasonable enough result. And with your sect¡¯s high internal unity, it was perhaps unnecessary to formally appoint a head. I¡¯ll admit, my own position does command respect¡­ but while I hold this position here, others are surpassing me. Gelens was a fine leader, but her talent didn¡¯t exactly lend itself to long term stability. So here I am, expected to last for a good half century at least without ascending or kicking the bucket.¡± ¡°That sounds¡­ less glamorous than one might expect.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m really not going to complain,¡± Treloar said. ¡°The resources afforded to this position are considerable, and I do in fact have a greater chance to ascend because of it. The loss of time performing important functions is more than made up for by the benefits. Obviously in the upper realms things are organized differently since it is assumed everyone will stay around for the rest of their long natural lifespans.¡± ¡°Really? There¡¯s no upper-upper realm that cultivators pass on to beyond that?¡± ¡°If there is, they¡¯ve certainly done quite a good job keeping things secret from us down here. Not that anyone gets close enough to matter. There hasn¡¯t been a Domination cultivator in living memory, I believe.¡± Domination was new. Anton presumed that it should be after Augmentation, unless there were further unknown ranks. Perhaps he could find out. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that mean that¡­ Fajra, of the Radiant Beauty Sect would be among the upper levels of power?¡± ¡°There is still quite a gap between those within the Augmentation stage, and their personal abilities are a great factor,¡± Treloar said. There was a sparkle in his eye that said he was quite enjoying speaking as he was, and likely wished to say more but couldn¡¯t. That was Anton¡¯s interpretation, at least. ¡°I would not wish to run into one unbound by the shackles of the lower realms regardless,¡± Anton said. ¡°Nobody would.¡± Though Treloar didn¡¯t give up any information on the topic, the fact that ascension cultivators were weaker in the lower realms had been fairly obvious. The anti-ascension techniques helped further, but defeating the invaders didn¡¯t really indicate they could fight them on a level playing field. And with only a disorganized group of ascension cultivators making their way into the upper realms, they might be at risk. Though that information had been assumed from the beginning. The call of cultivation was undeniable, however. Anton looked up into the sky wistfully. Chapter 405 The further Anton¡¯s cultivation improved, the further his senses could extend. As it was now, a mere few stars away from the peak of Life Transformation, he could stretch beyond a hundred and fifty kilometers at the far end, with various factors limiting him. Wild energy, either natural or intentionally stirred up made the process more difficult, and of course that was sensing through open air. Having to make turns in tunnels or to sense through water or solid materials all limited him in various ways. But as his senses once more stretched into the sky, they extended further. And if he wasn¡¯t searching for anything in particular but simply making a thin string, it could go¡­ many times further. The exact distance was difficult to determine without some sort of reference. Though normally his thin ¡®threads¡¯ of sensing energy covered an area several meters in height and spread out across the ground to optimally detect most cultivators, when narrowed to the size of actual threads and moving without interference it was inestimably far. Though such threads were weak, easily broken by any sort of energy fluctuation out in space. Even the sun¡¯s rays, an extremely diffuse sort of power, were enough to throw him off at extreme distances. His attempts could fail at any time for pretty much any reason¡­ but on a few occasions he thought he felt something. He wasn¡¯t just randomly reaching up into the sky. In one direction he knew there were the upper realms- or at least the main density of ascension energy seemed to be in that direction. It seemed to shift, but that was only relative to his position upon Ceretos. The changing of the seasons and the rotation around the sun would naturally provide some differences, so he had to pay attention to star charts to guide himself properly. As far as he could tell, ascension energy didn¡¯t end up in quite every direction. As for the distance¡­ he was unsure. As for feeling something beyond ascension energy, the closest celestial body was the moon. He was aware it was an almost unfathomable distance away, and his senses would have to stretch several thousand times further than normal¡­ but he could swear once or twice he brushed up against it. That always came with an immediate breaking of the thread of energy, however, so he couldn¡¯t be sure. It could have simply been a miniscule piece of space debris, as could only sense a tiny point. The only thing that made him have some confidence was that with the thread of energy so fine, the fact that he only ever sensed something at the tip should mean something. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t the moon itself, but some sort of atmosphere? Or lingering remnants of Everheart¡¯s formations. Or hopeful imagination. Anton returned back to himself, unsure if he was really making any progress. Ultimately it didn¡¯t matter if he could touch the moon or not, with his real target so much further away. If he understood correctly, there would be little of interest remaining on the moon, perhaps nothing at all. The life Everheart had taken there would have no doubt perished with everything else- formations that could only last for so long by stealing away a false future they would never have. Damage to the surface could be seen with a proper telescope and some enhanced vision, the same as they had been so many years prior to the best of Anton¡¯s understanding. Hoyt would be gone soon, and following him Alva. It was impossible to say they had a clear picture of what the Scarlet Midfields were like, and information about where individual ascenders might appear was cagy at best. Perhaps there was some way to predict it, but Catarina and Timothy had not found it. What they could say was that local groups were quite eager to snatch up new ascenders- and finding the right group was crucial. New ascenders weren¡¯t exactly weak, but they found it difficult to stand on their own. Near Catarina and Timothy were a few prominent groups. One that controlled several systems was known as the Harmonious Citadel. They were powerful, but had strict rules for those who joined them. A more sinister group that was only whispered about were the Dark Ring, known for snatching people away for them to never be seen again. They were in direct conflict with the Harmonious Citadel, though presumably somewhat weaker. The general area they controlled was known, but specific outposts were impossible to find and destroy. Timothy and Catarina had joined up with a ¡®smaller¡¯ group, the Silver Sea Coalition. It seemed they controlled a good portion of Nuvater, the planet they had first arrived on. They had a decent enough reputation, though it was yet unknown what they might actually demand for their support. Even a newly ascended formation master like Catarina was difficult to replace, however, so they were currently being treated well. More information came in all the time, though it would obviously be less reliable further out. It was unlikely most of those ascending from Ceretos would end up on Nuvater, but if they were nearby they could arrange for transport- or at least a message to be sent. Much effort was being made to work with the allies of the Order so that any who ascended would be prepared and given the opportunity to work together. It was unlikely there would be any sort of stable setup in a short number of years, but they had to start. And if there were no other landmarks¡­ everyone seemed to know where Everheart¡¯s Tomb was. It seemed to have cycles of when it was open and when it was not, but it was supposed to open once more within the next decade or two, remaining that way for at least ten more years. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ----- When the day came, Hoyt prepared himself with no fanfare. He was at the peak of Life Transformation, and had made every preparation he could reasonably achieve. He had the successes of those ahead of him to rely on, as well as some failures. His grandfather could have been either, but had ultimately stayed behind to support the sect. Hoyt had a strong connection to the Order as well, but he felt no compulsion to stay behind. In fact, it would be pointless to do so. It was already in good hands. His eyes stopped on Anton as he scanned those watching. A second grandfather, in a way. Vandale had been supportive, but his situation made things difficult for Hoyt. He didn¡¯t want his success to rely on simple family connections¡­ though perhaps he should have taken more advantage of it. If he hadn¡¯t been fortunate enough to link up with Anton and the others his path could have gone very differently. Still, everything had worked out for the best in the end. He closed his eyes, blocking out other sensations. He felt something calling for him, in the sky. He reached out, forming a connection with the ascension energy as he circulated his own natural energy. He pulled, suddenly finding himself the one yanked towards the ascension energy rather than the other way around. Catarina and Timothy¡¯s special circumstances had partly shielded them from this effect, but he¡¯d known it was coming. He found himself surrounded by nothing but pure energy. It flowed about him as he moved with great speed, burning like fire as it impacted him. He began to absorb it as quickly as he could, forming it into the hundredth star. He felt it growing inside him, burning to a crescendo¡­ but he would not have gotten to this point if he wasn¡¯t confident. Determined. He could have simply forced himself to stay where he had been, relatively safe, while he completed the process¡­ but this should yield better results. Fire burned in and around him, but it felt good. He was not aware of the passage of time as he wrestled the energy under his control, properly advancing his cultivation as he ascended. He knew that beyond the hundredth star the path was basically untrodden, but if the pattern continued he would have twenty-seven more stars before the next prime tempering to figure things out. The mere thought that he would even reach that point was almost insane, but he recalled all of those in his generation with similarly great talent. If they didn¡¯t make something of it, it would be a waste. Suddenly, Hoyt felt a great cold and realized he had stopped moving- at least with the great speed he had been propelled with before. Furthermore, he could see around him- and what he saw was empty nothingness. He covered his mouth and nose, worried about his breath¡­ but he realized solving such a little problem with his current power was trivial. He wasn¡¯t even sure if he would need to eat, and though he only saw a distant star and little else he was not lacking for energy. He gave himself a push, accelerating in one direction at a rate he felt he could maintain indefinitely. Closer to the star he might be able to find a planet to land on¡­ hopefully one with proper resources. It was strange, as Timothy and Catarina had not experienced the same but appeared on the surface of Nuvater. It was at that point he realized he should attempt to send a message to someone- anyone. There were a few devices, one of which might connect him to Catarina, if both sides had managed to properly link their devices beforehand. Another would most definitely link him back home, though the messages would take a very long round trip- though whether it would be shorter or longer than reaching the other two there was no way to know. As Hoyt drifted through space, he focused on the star. He didn¡¯t want to actually get close to it- he couldn¡¯t handle that much energy, no matter what stage he was in. But getting a better look might be interesting. He did cultivate the Hundred Stars, after all. Or perhaps it was inappropriate to call it that beyond ascension. Maybe it would be something more. He almost didn¡¯t notice something pass in front of his vision. As he turned his head, he could barely make out a black spot against the nothingness of space around him- the object visible only from how it blocked smaller stars in the distance. Hoyt slightly changed his trajectory, wondering about the new object. Though perhaps he needn¡¯t have bothered, since he suddenly found himself entangled in some sort of great web- or net. It yanked him towards the object, and only then did Hoyt comprehend their relative momentums. He was moving incredibly fast, though with nothing to stop him or to compare against he¡¯d felt almost like he was not moving at all. The net whipped around behind the object, but it did not let go. Instead, it continuously pulled him closer as he swung around and around. He tried to struggle against it, but somehow it was restricting his ability to properly control his energy¡­ or maybe it was that he was unfamiliar with his new state. Perhaps both. Either way, he was able to maintain a semblance of his defenses as he moved towards his inevitable crash. Except before he got close, another net surrounded him, slowing his angular movement. He was barely able to make out the surface below, almost invisible to the eye but becoming more clear with his energy senses. There were people there¡­ and more than a few. When he landed, he was still entangled by a mesh of energy holding him still¡­ but he landed ¡®softly¡¯, his energy cushioning the impact enough. And he felt air around him, though it was thin. ¡°Hey kid,¡± came a woman¡¯s voice from behind him. ¡°Seems like you were a little bit lost. Welcome to the Dark Ring.¡± Well. Perhaps he should have remained back on Ceretos after all¡­ though the fact that he survived his landing meant there was still some opportunity for him to survive. ¡°Thank you,¡± he managed to say politely. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you could remove these?¡± He gestured to the nets as he tried to turn and see faces. Chapter 406 On the possibility that ascending close to the same time might also make her arrive in a similar location to Hoyt, Alva was prepared to ascend immediately after him. Having one reliable companion could greatly increase their chances in the upper realms, no matter what else happened. Unfortunately, they could not go together simultaneously. They had a bond of friendship after being companions for so long, but no more. They didn¡¯t have the formation expertise to control something like what Catarina had made, even if someone else had been able to put it together. And their cultivation paths were different enough that they would have likely interfered with each other attempting it without something like that. If Fuzz had not already run off on his own, Alva might have been tempted to remain behind. Her early childhood hadn¡¯t involved any knowledge or desire for anything related to cultivation, and when she first began to learn it was more a defensive reflex than intention to reach some lofty heights of power. Given that her cousin Annelie was not ascending for the moment, she would have at least delayed in other circumstances. But as she looked up to the stars, she knew there were things that had to be done. Patience paid off, but sometimes you had to get a head start on things. The tides of the world indicated that in the half century since the invasion they were already well on their way to the next cycle. If she lived without cultivating a moment more she would likely be alive at that time. Since she had begun cultivating while she was still young, each star provided its full benefit to her lifespan and she could be expected to live at least three hundred years beyond a healthy life. And then an invasion would come and she would do what, fight to defend Annelie¡¯s children and other descendents with just a peak Life Transformation cultivation? No, that wouldn¡¯t do at all. She could only hope that she would reunite with those she had grown close to at a later time, while doing her best to improve her strength and seek some sort of protection for their world. They could attempt to continue fighting on their own, but it was likely that future invasions would be even more dangerous. She nodded. She was ready. She tightly clutched her bow, drawing in as much energy as she could safely control into a single arrow¡­ then pushing past her limits. The arrow shot into the sky, cutting a path for her. She was already drawing in power from beyond, whether it was called ascension energy or upper energy it didn¡¯t matter. And though she understood that the process wasn¡¯t about momentum, it was important to do what felt right in cultivation, so she used even more energy to form an arc above her head, curving ever upward. Beneath her feet was something resembling a bowstring, and as the arc raised she had to hold herself to the ground. Then, she released, following the path of her initial arrow. She expected the pressure of the air around her to slow her down, but after an instant no longer felt it. She was somewhere else, but not quite. Power pressed around her, almost trying to stop her momentum while at the same time seeking to become part of her. She continued to take control of that energy to form the hundredth star, feeling her cultivation expand as vision of the world began to return around her. ----- Tall spires rose alongside each other, beautifully crafted to maximize both form and function. Expertly crafted inlays of fine metals provided both a basis for powerful formations as well as a pleasing aesthetic. Seven such spires stood around larger central one, with an eighth being constructed in the outer ring and room for perhaps a handful more beyond that. At the base of one of the ¡®smaller¡¯ towers a pair of guards blocked the way. Though they simply protected an entrance, they were at the Integration stage, the same as the visitor. ¡°I¡¯m afraid it will be impossible to arrange for a meeting with the Sword Saint at this time,¡± one of them said. ¡°That privilege is not available for initiates, regardless of talent.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk to him, I just want to see him!¡± the woman said, naturally resting her wrists on the pair of swords strapped to her waist. If the guards perceived her movements as a threat, they gave no indication. ¡°In that case, you will simply need to wait for a proper festival.¡± ¡°When will there be one of those?¡± the woman asked. ¡°Festivals are quite frequent, though an esteemed individual such as the Sword Saint has no obligation to attend anything short of the Festival of Convergence.¡± ¡°When is that?¡± the woman asked. ¡°In thirty-two years,¡± the guard said with a straight face. The woman avoided snorting, merely breathing heavily out through her nose. ¡°I see. I¡¯ll come back later then.¡± Chikere shifted her hands as she turned around. She could just¡­ no, it wouldn¡¯t be worth it. She walked off. Keeping a low profile was hard. And there were all kinds of strong people here, even if those two guards weren¡¯t part of them. Unless they were very good at hiding it, but their swords weren¡¯t even better than numbers seven and eight! Then she sensed something. A fluctuation in power that rippled throughout the world subtly. She¡¯d felt it a couple times since she arrived, but something about this one said it was different. It would take her a few days to get there, but she should arrive before whoever was incoming. Others would be there as well, of course, but she at least wanted to see if her senses were correct. If not, she could go from there off to somewhere untamed and fight some bandits or something. That had to be worth merit points, right? She probably should have made sure a while before, not that fighting wasn¡¯t valuable in and of itself. Chikere didn¡¯t know if this world had access to teleportation, but if they did it was secret or out of her price range. Obtaining what passed as local currency had been a bit of a pain at first, but she¡¯d just gone on a couple missions and now she didn¡¯t have to worry. She didn¡¯t have enough to buy a decent sword, but she could snag a trip on a skyship. They seemed to be faster and more common than what the Exalted Archipelago had, allowing her to move around the world in a short time. Yet they weren¡¯t as fast as the ones that went between worlds. Those could still take weeks to arrive somewhere, but the distances were incomparable. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. As predicted, she arrived early enough that the ascending individual had not arrived. As the time got closer a press of curious individuals crowded the plaza, though none were allowed to be on the arrival platform. The fluctuations of energy were focusing on a single point, and the more they did the more Chikere felt she was right- until finally Alva appeared in front of her. Alva looked around, taking in the sights- the grand city around her, the people, and everything important except for one person. Chikere dug into Alva with her eyes, and when that wasn¡¯t enough she pressed harder. Alva ducked, though the attack wouldn¡¯t have harmed her regardless. It was a good instinct though- and her eyes locked on Chikere. Chikere smiled, then mouthed the words that the official representatives nearby were about to say. ¡°Welcome to the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ----- It was good to receive word from Alva that she had arrived safely, though apparently she had been slightly delayed in doing so upon arrival. It was better information to hear that she had seen Chikere- though it was an odd way to word it compared to meeting up with her. What was not as comforting was the complete lack of communication from Hoyt. Anton couldn¡¯t believe that the man had failed to ascend properly. Perhaps that was the logical assumption- even with a properly completed technique there were risks of failure. Yet it still didn¡¯t seem right. Intuition wasn¡¯t always trustworthy when truly unknown situations were involved, but Anton felt something shady. Though he didn¡¯t exactly feel trusting of the upper realms in general- with good reason. Neither the Exalted Quadrant nor the Trigold Cluster had a positive image in his eyes. And the Scarlet Midfields were simply too disorganized to do anything as they were. Anton didn¡¯t like the idea of relying on outsiders to defend them, either. Though it would likely be necessary, they would owe them a large debt. They might end up beholden to those in the higher realm like the Exalted Archipelago. That wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing, but it required finding the right people. A sect that was strong and at least reasonably decent in temperament, while also having spare resources to devote. At least it seemed that materials and cultivation resources from the lower realms had some value, and paying a reasonable fee for actual protection could be worthwhile. That was the basis of many forms of government, after all. Anton trusted that his companions would be doing their best to arrive at whatever they thought best. Perhaps personally returning to fight would be all they could do, after growing stronger. But even if they raised a great army, Anton wanted Ceretos to be doing what they could on their own end. Though¡­ that barely required him for the most part. There was no guarantee that the world would stay at peace with itself for long enough, but at least all of the strongest individuals would be aware that more danger could be coming rapidly. He needed to continue his cultivation. Soon, he would be at the peak of his power, ready to attempt the next step. It was hard to say if it was the right one, though. There were other options¡­ though one of them would take longer than his lifespan to come to fruition even if it were possible. And knowing if it was wise was another question entirely. The question of whether the upper realms were actually better needed answering before anything else. ----- A shove brought Hoyt out of a gate into wide open nothingness. Rather than calling it an arena, which implied something encapsulated by something greater, the area beyond the walls was more significant than anything else. ¡°The first thing you must do is fight,¡± declared the woman who had stepped out before him and now turned to face him. ¡°I suppose I should have expected that of the Dark Ring,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Really?¡± the woman raised an eyebrow. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you have any expectation of us at all.¡± She held her arms out to the side, which Hoyt saw were covered by a handful of bladed rings each. ¡°But before we speak with words, we must talk with blades.¡± ¡°Is that a promise?¡± Hoyt asked as he pulled his axe- at least they hadn¡¯t taken away his equipment, though the woman had certainly advanced beyond his position in the very beginning of the Integration stage. His energy hadn¡¯t even settled down fully yet. Instead of a verbal response, the woman flicked her arm, sending a ring towards his legs as if to chop one of them off. Hoyt intended to take a simple step to avoid it, but found himself launching further than he intended. He had to anchor himself to the ground with his energy as he was moving away. He tried to draw in breath, but was reminded there was no air. It only took a small amount of concentration to handle that problem, but he wasn¡¯t sure he had the leeway. He parried several bladed discs coming for his upper body, not trusting his legs for the moment. They reacted basically as he expected, the force behind them powerful but not unmanageable. His own position drifted slightly as his attachment to the ground was less than expected still. Lower gravity, which had been brought up as a possibility- but shouldn¡¯t have been this significant. Then again, he wasn¡¯t on a proper planet. Just a rock floating in the void. Unable to stay on the defensive forever, Hoyt rallied his energy and began to summon his fire. Without any air to burn the flames were a bit sluggish, but much of their power came from the natural energy he used- and now ascension energy. He found it to be more than he expected even with the deficiencies in atmosphere, a single sweep of his axe creating a wave of fire that stretched a hundred meters in front of him. His opponent didn¡¯t find it difficult to avoid, however- and as she moved about the rings continued to harass Hoyt. He could only continue to block and parry while he made his way closer to her, though knowing his current capabilities he didn¡¯t need to reach melee. He swung his axe vertically down, a half ring of fire sweeping to the left- then his axe came up to the right. The flames shifted around to either side of the woman and behind her in a sort of dome, boxing her in as Hoyt approached. He had no way to anticipate the next move, however. Three rings dove into the flames, spinning. Somehow they pulled a vortex of fire into them, the three rings combining that vortex of fire in a third ring in front of the woman, combining the fire into a single stream that flowed back towards Hoyt- out of his control. He hoped this particular attack didn¡¯t kill him, as having his own energy used against him would be a most embarrassing way to die. Chapter 407 Though he certainly felt that he was losing, Hoyt tried to focus on his successes. He was getting used to fighting with not only more power but also a minimal amount of gravity. As he became more confident in his personal movements, the bladed rings harassing him felt like less of a threat. There was still the issue that they were somehow able to take control of his energy. It wasn¡¯t something that was entirely impossible, but it had looked too easy. Then again, he could not know how many years the woman he was fighting against had trained for. Her cultivation was somewhat higher than his own, and she could easily have decades or more on him. Or access to better knowledge from an early age, since the upper realms should have something. His axe swung in a wide arc, knocking away several of the rings as they moved towards him. His power wrapped around himself, turning him into a ball of fire as he accelerated. His own momentum was a weapon, and though there was not a higher point to jump off to add to his momentum, he began to incorporate some amount of vertical movement. It didn¡¯t throw off his opponent as much as he might want, but he was managing to get closer to the woman at least. There was still a significant gap between them. Could he incorporate anti-ascension techniques? No, too risky. His hundredth star was fully formed from ascension energy, and he¡¯d felt it incorporating into him. Perhaps he might be able to later modify what he knew to use against others, but at the moment he risked disrupting himself more than his opponent. He wasn¡¯t sure what would happen if he won, but he had to try his best at the moment. As he moved in for a critical attack, he hadn¡¯t expected the last two rings the woman carried on her to fly out to either side. He knew they could certainly return to attack him from the sides or rear like the others, but if he was fast enough it didn¡¯t matter. His axe swung towards the woman who seemed to have no weapons remaining¡­ only to slow significantly, giving her time to dodge out of the way. He kept an eye on his back, swinging at the rings whenever they approached close enough to harm him. He felt his movements becoming sluggish, not because he was tiring- though he might soon. Instead, something was pulling on him. His axe, specifically. He was certain of that when he swung to bat aside four of them, and they suddenly stuck to his weapon, expanding in size to wrap around the head then shrinking tight around the handle. At the same moment, the other six rings moved in on him, aimed towards his neck, arms, legs, and the middle of his torso. Seeing no other options he let go of his axe, but as he tried to move away he found his movements slowed. The first blade touched his neck, then all the others came to rest against him as well. Against him¡­ not inside or through him. Though he was holding them back with his energy defenses, the impact hadn¡¯t been what he thought it would be. With a slight push the blades cleanly sliced through his defensive energy at several points, finding weak spots in his armor as well. But they stopped. He turned to look at the woman. ¡°You fought well enough, for your first time,¡± the woman said. ¡°For now, you may live. What is your name?¡± ¡°Hoyt,¡± he said. There was no point in lying¡­ and being alive was good, at least. ¡°I am Zazil,¡± she said in response. ¡°Of the Dark Ring, obviously. What sect did you hail from?¡± There was no prior history between them, so lying wouldn¡¯t accomplish anything. And a name didn¡¯t show any weakness. ¡°The Order of One Hundred Stars,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I would still consider myself part of them.¡± ¡°Hmm. Interesting.¡± She didn¡¯t say what was interesting as she led him back inside. He wanted to ask, but thought it better to remain quiet and alive for the moment. ----- Nobody would talk to Alva. Nobody important anyway. She¡¯d been provided with a bare minimum of information and was left to figure out the rest herself. She was given the freedom to move about as she pleased in the public areas, at least. Nobody had taken anything away from her, but she didn¡¯t have any local currency. She knew some of what she had might actually be valuable, but was unwilling to try to exchange anything until she was more aware of how things worked. And aside from a few quick messages letting people know she was alright, she hadn¡¯t managed much. She had found herself looking for somewhere that truly felt private to attempt to message Catarina. Testing out new gadgets seemed to warrant some caution, and again she had no way to contact her through standard channels. She might have to go on some sort of mission to get contribution points. It wasn¡¯t an unreasonable thought, but she couldn¡¯t help but think of Chikere. She¡¯d definitely seen her. Alva was sure of that, but she couldn¡¯t find her now. And people weren¡¯t particularly helpful as she asked around. So with little else to do she began to wander. At least she wasn¡¯t in need of anything- she had some food, though she wasn¡¯t sure she absolutely needed it at her current point. Just absorbing ascension energy was invigorating, to the point she barely felt like she needed to sleep ever. As she continued to wander through the city- it felt like everything was one large city here- she finally found something different. For quite some time all she had seen were cultivators with an odd mixture of cultivations- nearly the same number distributed across Body Tempering, Spirit Building, and Essence Collection- but she finally found some normal looking people. Which was also odd in its own way, because back on Ceretos everyone had been encouraged to cultivate. But ever since she¡¯d arrived here- Rouhiri, if she recalled correctly- it was different enough to remind her she wasn¡¯t at home. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. She¡¯d known that they would be going to different planets after ascending. Timothy and Catarina had confirmed that, though the assumption held. It still wasn¡¯t fully clear if they were in the same space, but there was some way to travel back and forth sometimes. And communication worked. As Alva looked at the ¡®normal¡¯ people around her, she wondered why they wouldn¡¯t cultivate. But the answer was pretty obvious with a moment of thought. How could they cultivate? Natural energy was required for that. Lower energy, if she were to use the rather arrogant terminology common here. If they could control it, of course, then ascension or upper energy would catapult them along the path of cultivation¡­ but that would be like jumping headfirst off a cliff into rocks during a storm to try to learn to swim. It was simply too much. Alva stopped for a moment, sensing around her. Without other cultivators the fluctuations in energy were less, and she was able to sense a small amount of ¡®natural energy¡¯ among the flood of power around her. But not much. ¡°Do you need something, lady cultivator?¡± asked a nearby woman. Alva looked over. The middle aged woman wasn¡¯t a cultivator, so she shouldn¡¯t have been able to tell Alva was one. Except of course who else walked around in armor with a bow strapped to their back? ¡°I just need somewhere to be alone for a moment,¡± Alva said. ¡°Is there a park nearby?¡± The woman shook her head. ¡°No parks here. But an hour that way is a stream, if you¡¯re up for the walk.¡± Alva focused her senses in the direction indicated. ¡°Oh, so there is. Thank you.¡± She made her way there, finding it to be more isolated. Nothing seemed to say she was disallowed from going there, and she felt less watched there. She wasn¡¯t sure if she was actually out of range of the senses of some cultivator or other, but at least she didn¡¯t feel a constant press of others. Nobody had really been rude about it, but there had been so much. The Order had many cultivators, but they were somewhat more spread out. Though Alva was beginning to think there really weren¡¯t that many, with how many she¡¯d sensed around them. Some tens of thousands, maybe? At least a few times as many as the Order. And an uncomfortable amount of Integration cultivators as well. Having only been around them in the context of battle, everyone felt like a threat- even if Alva was now one of their ranks. The stream was quite nice when she arrived. Peaceful¡­ and isolated enough she felt comfortable trying to contact Catarina, as well as sending more detailed messages. ----- Lacking many of those he would normally confide in, Anton found himself alone with Velvet. She really should have ascended already, but she had remained. That was her choice, of course. ¡°I should be happy,¡± Anton said. ¡°Most things are going well. The only trouble is with Hoyt. I¡¯m certain he can handle himself but¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t help it. And yet, somehow that¡¯s not what worries me.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Velvet said as she looked around. There wasn¡¯t much to see- just a comfortable sitting room that could handle around a dozen people, more if additional chairs or the like were crammed into the room. A modest place, since Anton wasn¡¯t given to hosting large social events. She wasn¡¯t really looking at the room around them, though, but instead generally looking to the world beyond. ¡°I feel there¡¯s some sort of danger here. Not¡­ around the Order, necessarily. But with people ascending, our power is at best stabilizing, maybe dropping. That¡¯s why I stayed.¡± ¡°You felt this danger?¡± Anton said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t really sure about it,¡± she admitted. ¡°I¡¯m still not. It could be paranoia.¡± ¡°I would hope so,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it¡¯s not far from what I feel. Things aren¡¯t quite right. And as cultivators, we must trust our instincts. Though I¡¯m not sure where that leaves us.¡± ¡°We have to remain vigilant. Beyond that¡­ I don¡¯t know. Maybe whatever you¡¯re working on will help.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Your cultivation thing. Whatever your alternate for ascension is. You¡¯re closer than you let on, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton said. ¡°I still have to achieve the ninety-ninth star first. After that, my chances of success,¡± he shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t want to rush things.¡± ¡°And you shouldn¡¯t,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I¡­ wouldn¡¯t want to lose you. Or any of the others. But we both know it¡¯s inevitable to some extent. Vandale, Ivarsson, McAlister¡­ they¡¯ve all passed on. But here we are, taking their place.¡± She sighed, ¡°I¡¯m not very good at this I guess. I just want you to know that even if something happens to you, there will always be more of us around. You should trust us to take care of what happens, instead of not trying whatever this is.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not delaying on purpose,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though perhaps¡­ it does not need to be conscious. Cultivation relies on the heart, after all.¡± He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. ¡°I really can¡¯t try anything without reaching the very peak of Life Transformation. But your insights might be correct. I could be subconsciously hesitating a step before that. If I don¡¯t reach the next star within a year, I¡¯m sure you can reasonably accuse me of dragging my feet. Though I¡¯d hope that with you and others supporting me I will steer away from that.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t intend to rush you,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It¡¯s just a feeling that I thought we should speak about.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I agree that it was the right choice. And perhaps it¡¯s time I made a trip to another friend.¡± Anton stood up. ¡°Lev¡­ might be doing something I could learn from.¡± He took a look vaguely off into the skies. The most bothersome part was feeling like he couldn¡¯t do anything to influence the circumstances of those he cared about. But if nothing else, he could make sure they didn¡¯t have any reason to worry about him in return. Chapter 408 The smell of blood strongly permeated the surroundings. Some of it belonged to Fuzz, but most of it was from other creatures he didn¡¯t recognize. In turn, they seemed unfamiliar with him and had not regarded him as a threat. And now he was eating them. Well, some of them. His stomach wasn¡¯t so large that he could eat the thing with the razor sharp scales and the bird with lightning claws and the swarm of vermin. And he wasn¡¯t sure if the tree had been trying to eat him or not but it released something that smelled bad so he dug it up from the roots and tore it apart. He returned to his den for the night. Another sunset was coming, and he preferred to stay inside at night when he had the opportunity. Humans didn¡¯t go out much at night, and he was looking for his pack. So far, he found no trace of them. Fuzz supposed he might have been a tiny bit hasty with the whole ascension thing, but Alva was thinking about staying behind. Fuzz didn¡¯t want to have to choose between parts of the pack, and he was fairly certain she had been worrying about him, so he didn¡¯t want her to hesitate. He hadn¡¯t considered that he might be the one to end up alone, but it certainly seemed to be that way. He began to lick his wounds, starting with the ones that were easy to reach first. Some were more difficult, but with a little bit of effort he could contort his body and extend his tongue slightly to reach anywhere. His back was obviously the hardest. But since he didn¡¯t have someone to properly stitch up his injuries, he needed to do what he could. Licking them made them heal faster, along with circulating his energy. And this new energy¡­ was very powerful. It was clearly much more effective here than around their home, where people only had what they brought with him. Fuzz hadn¡¯t realized how much he pulled from the surroundings when he did everything, but it made sense. Surely some of the others knew that, but Fuzz knew he still wasn¡¯t as smart as a human. Well, not all of them, at least. Kids weren¡¯t very smart. After he finished with his wounds, he began to gnaw on a nearby bone. He wasn¡¯t sure what it was from, but he had found it near his first den in this place. He¡¯d been working on it ever since, but felt he¡¯d made no progress. If he bit any harder he¡¯d snap his teeth, and without the humans and their medicine he¡¯d never regrow a tooth. But it felt good to test himself, and to think about what sort of great beast could have left behind something so strong. Den after den he had searched around, looking for humans. Sometimes he found them, but they were never the right humans. Large cities were rare, but if any of his pack mates had been in one he would have smelled them. They were not, so he avoided them- and in turn, the humans left him alone. Maybe they didn¡¯t even know he existed. It was a problem he didn¡¯t have any way to communicate, but writing was difficult and he imagined anyone who wanted to attack him wouldn¡¯t wait for that. If he were to judge, Fuzz had covered half a continent by now. Someone had said that maybe continents could be bigger or smaller, but he only knew what was familiar from back home. He wondered what to do if he finished this continent and found nobody. Should he swim? Try to catch a human boat? Neither seemed like good options. He could swim just fine, but sleeping was a problem at sea. He needed to sleep to rest and recover. Plus, seawater didn¡¯t taste good and everyone said he shouldn¡¯t drink it. The next morning Fuzz was off again, planning to scout the area to another direction of his new den. He thought there were some interesting scents in that direction, though he couldn¡¯t tell exactly what they might lead to. He could see snow covered mountains in the distance, and though he couldn¡¯t spot any human settlements on them maybe he could see some from the top. Yes, that was where he would go next. ----- ¡°Are you sure you wish to be the one to make the first attempt?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Of course,¡± Lev said. ¡°This is the best moment. Besides, we both know nothing is stopping either of us from trying.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°Up until now I have been following information left by those who came before. Some things were pieced together into a more suitable form, and techniques were rearranged¡­ but it was nothing new.¡± ¡°Very few things are ever new,¡± Lev pointed out. ¡°Every new discovery requires knowing what came before. This too is the same, except instead of drawing upon an energy source far away, we are connecting to one closer.¡± ¡°You spent too much time with Master Varela,¡± Anton said. ¡°You sound like an old man.¡± ¡°I am an old man. Over a hundred.¡± ¡°I might give it to you if you had a single wrinkle or gray hair,¡± Anton countered. ¡°How about a bad back?¡± Lev grinned. ¡°But enough talking. You¡¯re here, and this is the perfect season. Grandfather Willow is just budding for the spring, and is nice and calm.¡± ¡°Good fortune,¡± Anton said as Lev took his position next to the tree. ¡°Everyone!¡± Lev projected his voice to all of those watching- everyone from the Grasping Willows who could possibly be present had come, as well as many others who were on good terms. ¡°Today you will bear witness to my next step in cultivation¡­ or my demise. I¡¯m sure we all hope it will be the former. Everyone from the Grasping Willows, watch carefully. Though I imagine none of you will have the opportunity to do the same as myself I am certain you can gain valuable insights.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Everything else that he planned to say had already been said. As much as possible his affairs had been settled. More than any other recent advancements, there was a real risk of death when trying something completely new. Or at least, new to their understanding. Perhaps something similar had been attempted upon another world- or with the Grandfather Willow itself. Either way, they had no record of it. There was a gentle breeze rustling the leaves of the great tree as Lev sat with his back against the base of the Grandfather Willow. The process began slowly, Lev¡¯s energy synchronizing to that of the Grandfather Willow. Slowly he began to infiltrate his energy into the wood of the tree itself, while at the same time connecting smaller roots to his body as he had done once before. His own energy continued to find its way up the tree and down the roots, spreading throughout every part. It split into the dangling branches and became thinner and thinner. Then the feeling of Lev¡¯s energy began to fade away, and instead Anton could only feel the Grandfather Willow. Minutes turned into hours as Lev sat in front of the tree with a peaceful expression on his face. Nobody dared disturb anything, but even Anton couldn¡¯t feel anything happening any longer. At some point, Lev would exhaust himself and whatever he was doing would fail. Unless¡­ Lev¡¯s eyes fluttered open. There was no trembling of the earth, no clear or obvious change of any sort¡­ except as Lev picked himself up- nearly literally since half of his limbs hadn¡¯t worked in decades- the energy that did so came from all around instead of inside Lev. ¡°Well,¡± Lev said peacefully. ¡°I¡¯m not dead. So I think that went quite well.¡± Lev was soon inundated with congratulations and questions. Had he succeeded? That he was able to answer with a resounding yes. How strong was he? Unfortunately even Lev himself was unsure of the change. Whether it brought greater power than ascension or less, he could not say. But at the very least, his path had not completed at the pinnacle of Life Transformation. ----- Anton had been very patient in absorbing the various insights of those who achieved ascension. He hadn¡¯t wanted to waste a single bit, to miss a single strand of comprehension. He started with the oldest of them and worked his way forward. There had been Rahayu, Matousek, and many others- ending with Lev, though it was technically a different process. There were a few important things Anton realized as half-thoughts flashed before his eyes. He already knew he could not ascend traditionally. Fleeting Youth had barred that path from him, a path of stolen power that took from a future that he could have once had. He didn¡¯t regret it, as the ability had saved his own life many times- and that of others- but if it was possible the numerous insights would have made ascension almost easy. All it took was a century of work to get where he was, both his own hard work and that of many others. But the last step, at least, could have been rather simple. The other thing he learned was that the Vessel of Insights was clearly not powerful enough to contain insights on the level required. Though it still managed to take in some key details, much was lost. In a way, it was most impressive it had provided use for so long. Now it was time to pass it onto someone else¡­ past time, perhaps. He couldn¡¯t think who it should go to. It wasn¡¯t that there wasn¡¯t anyone he thought worthy, but instead there were simply too many. Though he would want someone who was willing and able to share those insights with others. Half of the time Anton had used the insights to help others around him without learning much of direct use to himself. That was better than selfishly discarding anything he couldn¡¯t use for the sake of his own time, and the cooperative aspect had made the world what it was now. Which was¡­ still not embroiled in large scale civil war, at least. The feelings of being on a precipice remained, however. Since he wasn¡¯t ascending, Lev¡¯s insights were actually of more use- though there were very significant differences between what Anton was going to attempt and that. Yet in some key ways, they were the same. Anton was finally ready, but he needed to wait for¡­ something. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what, but he would know when it came. Until then, he would wait. He looked up at the sky, taking in the warmth of the sun. He hoped he did not have to wait overly long, but it was possible the opportunity simply wouldn¡¯t come in his lifetime. If so, he would be disappointed¡­ but would simply have to move on. ----- ¡°You are not offering prayers, sister?¡± one of the others who had signed up for the bandit hunting mission asked Alva. Her name was¡­ Vari, maybe. ¡°Prayers to who?¡± Alva asked. ¡°The Saints, of course,¡± Vari said as if it were only natural. ¡°For what?¡± ¡°Protection.¡± ¡°Are they going to come with us?¡± ¡°Of course not. This mission is beneath their notice.¡± Alva frowned, ¡°Then why bother, if they aren¡¯t going to protect us?¡± ¡°Because it is proper. You should at least thank them for protections in the past.¡± ¡°They haven¡¯t protected me from anything,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°They just sit in their towers doing nothing.¡± Vari looked disappointed, but not angry. ¡°They protect us every day. From the wind and rains and the disasters of the world.¡± Alva had the feeling she wasn¡¯t going to get anywhere, so she didn¡¯t bother mentioning that a house did just as good at those things. ¡°I see,¡± was all she said in reply. She was more interested in someone else she noticed. Chikere had shown up again, and though she was restraining herself, Alva at least recognized the familiar energy. And the swords, though it was weird there were only two of them. What happened to the other fifty that she usually had hanging around? Normally she would have just gone up and said something, but the fact that Chikere clearly noticed her but didn¡¯t approach meant that there was some reason for it. Alva honestly had no idea what, but she should be able to figure it out. Before that, there were bandits to kill and merit points to gain. She needed to start building up some local currency and to be able to manage her own supplies somehow. Everything was so expensive, but with a lot of rich cultivators competing it kind of made sense. Or maybe it wasn¡¯t so expensive. She¡¯d know after this mission, based on the rewards¡­ but she had the feeling she¡¯d have to save up for a while to get anything particularly useful, whether it was medicine or cultivation aids or equipment. Chapter 409 Something had done a lot of claiming of the area- no, some things. There was clearly more than one scent on the mountainside, though the dominant creature was just one type. As Fuzz pushed his way through the snow which came up to his belly, he tried to look for other signs of the creatures. Hunting with Alva he had learned other ways to detect creatures, though scent was always the best. Strangely enough, the one thing that should have been easy to find was not present. In such snow he should have been able to find tracks of some sort, but even though he hadn¡¯t seen it snow there were only small critters¡­ and the strange scent of something atop the snow. He soon was close enough to smell creatures firsthand, though with his sensitive nose that was still quite a distance. He intended to avoid them, though figuring out their exact location was difficult with the current winds and the shape of the mountain around. He didn¡¯t need to fight. He wasn¡¯t hungry and just wanted to look for settlements from the peak. They might start something anyway, but the plan was to avoid them. The scent of blood came on the wind, a scent very familiar to Fuzz. There was a battle happening, but he didn¡¯t have to involve himself with it. Soon he heard the sounds of battle and felt the fluctuations of energy- few beasts could survive without natural energy. Void ants were an exception. In this case it was the new energy, of course. Bigger and stronger, but not without its own flaws, as had been shown in the invasion. There should have been no reason to involve himself, but an intriguing scent caught his attention. Familiar yet unfamiliar, and enticing regardless. He couldn¡¯t help but shift his trajectory to head towards the battle with greater speed, bounding in and out of the heavy snow drifts as he did so. He was supposed to be looking for his pack, but he could allow himself a little sidetrack here and there. They always said they could do things he wanted, but usually he just wanted to do whatever the pack wanted. But for some reason, he was curious here. Sounds were the next part of the battle to reach him. Growls and snarls along with noises he had no way to explain. Sharp, sudden movements of something, but not the combatants themselves. As he bounded over a ridge he was able to see¡­ a red furred wolf standing alone in a blood-splattered snowy field. No, that wasn¡¯t right. Flashes of snow-white creatures flickered before his eyes, and more importantly he could smell them. And the wolf wasn¡¯t red furred, but perhaps a stony gray under everything. He picked up his pace, approaching the battle with haste. As he got closer he was able to pick out the camouflaged creatures. They blended in with the snow and had minimal discolorations, but a bit of visual as well as olfactory and energy provided him with a clearer picture of what he was facing. There were large cats- maybe half the size of Fuzz himself- attacking with not just claws but forming spikes of ice out of the air that bombarded the wolf, a creature similar in size to Fuzz himself. They also moved in to attack with their teeth and claws, leaving behind specks of color on themselves where they drew blood. Their tactics seemed more like that of wolves, menacing from all sides while mainly attacking from the rear. When the wolf tried to swipe at them they leapt back, landing on the surface of the snow without sinking into it, at least sometimes. Things weren¡¯t going well for the wolf, but they managed an impressive counterattack that provided a bit more time. They repositioned to a seemingly analogous position to the others, but when an attack came from behind their tail slapped down into the snow. A bit of spraying fluff wouldn¡¯t stop any beast of note, but the spike of rock that formed from a buried boulder seemed to do the trick. The fight was still in a critical stage, however. One wrong move, and it could be over. Then Fuzz jumped into the thick of things, coiling flames about himself as he leapt upon one of the great cats. They should have sensed him coming, but perhaps they were too focused on their hunt to realize something might come after them. Either way, he tackled it to the ground and tore out its throat. The flames around him scorched its fur and began to melt away the snow. The beasts reacted quickly, half of the pack shifting to target him. However, Fuzz was fresh and they were not. His own tail flicked behind him, punishing anything that dared to come from behind. Anything that approached him from the front could have their head bitten off¡­ and it was simple to swipe to the sides. The flames around him weren¡¯t just for show, either. The battle was a swift storm of fangs, claws, and elements- but Fuzz had the enemies outmatched in every part. These creatures no doubt had dominance over their mountain, but they had not fought their way through ascension to reach this world. After taking a few losses, they realized they couldn¡¯t afford to continue the fight. They turned to flee, especially since the others portion of the pack were taking their own losses, the melted snow allowing the other wolf to reach the rocky earth beneath, which helped significantly. More stone spikes created flowering barriers or were launched as projectiles. With the battle over, Fuzz turned to the other wolf, sniffing. The wolf growled, baring their teeth. It seemed they weren¡¯t trusting. Before Fuzz could do anything else, they leapt at him. Perhaps if they had been full strength they might have provided some challenge, but weakened all Fuzz had to do was bat them away with a paw, flipping them onto their back. His fangs rested gently against their throat with a soft growl. They didn¡¯t need to fight. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ----- If Anton had not been paying particular attention to the sky, he might have missed the opportunity he was waiting for. It was strange, because the event was powerful enough to wipe out the entire planet, and yet he could barely sense it among everything else. That was because the sun was so far away¡­ and also why it was so difficult to do what he was planning to attempt. He immediately dropped what he was doing, rushing towards the highest peak in the sect. It was a bit awkward, but he stood atop the observatory and began to lift himself higher while reaching out with his energy. The tiny change in distance on the close end would matter less than the amount of atmosphere he could get out of his way. He stood aloft on a pillar of energy, reaching towards the sun. With his eyes properly shielded he could make out the more subtle features of the sun, and instead of a relatively smooth surface it was twisting and bending. This was a solar flare, a great release of energy from the burning ball of fire in the sky. And it was also a star, like many others. Perhaps Anton was being too literal, but if he could not form a hundredth star that would be of use to him, he intended to make use of one that already existed. The sun wasn¡¯t alive like Grandfather Willow, but it certainly had power. Anton¡¯s reach stretched further and further as he held himself aloft. If he made his strands of energy too thin they would snap under the power of the sun, but if he made them too thick he would lessen his reach, and he needed to stretch as far as possible. Not that he thought he could reach the sun. The moon was already an unfathomable distance that he might or might not have brushed up against. The sun was hundreds of times further away. But he didn¡¯t need to reach the sun directly, but simply to reach the flow of its energy. If he reached the limits of his energy, he would not only fail but fall- unprotected by his energy. Anton shoved away that thought of failure, only to have it immediately replaced by another. Succeeding halfway would be even more dangerous, as he would be inviting a great power into himself. It could easily consume him. That thought too was set aside. He already knew this and had made his decision anyway. If he were to have a continued impact on the world, he needed to continue his cultivation- for the sake of lifespan along with the power. But if he failed¡­ he could happily accept that he at least tried. He already had two complete lives, which was more than twice what most people got. Soon the burning power of the sun became stronger as Anton reached out, the waves of energy it let off providing more than just heat but other power as well. He grasped onto it, pulling himself and the power together. It was already headed in his direction, but the tug made it faster. Cultivator and power slammed into each other like crashing waves. Anton wasn¡¯t just satisfied with absorbing the energy into himself- that would at best result in a violent cultivation session. He wanted to be part of it, for it to be part of him. The struggle for control began. Anton understood that directly fighting against this power was pointless. It had no will, but beyond that it was effectively limitless. Some flowed into him, scorching his meridians as it did so. That energy was pulled into his dantian and refined, then sent out to repeat the process- he continued tugging on the energy while pushing most of what came around him. All thoughts were burned away, and he simply became a cycle of flames. Absorbing, quenching, reigniting, assimilating it. He stretched further, deeper, connecting himself to the flow instead of just drawing from it. The more he succeeded, the greater the power that flowed into him, and the harder it was to wrestle it for control- but power without will would undoubtedly tear him apart. From the outside, Anton felt his hair burn away first as the energy pierced through his defensive energy. His skin was already darkened by the sun, but it reddened and burned, blisters rapidly forming. His insides weren¡¯t doing much better, his meridians barely holding together. A small lapse in concentration, and he would turn to a pile of ash. Was he going to fail? Was it impossible, or was he simply not good enough? All it took for a cultivator was overestimating themself once, and their end could come. All the praise for him and his potential meant nothing if he failed here. Beneath his skin, his muscles and bones began to burn. From the other side, his meridians were punctured, their metaphysical adjacency to blood vessels igniting them. It hurt, but it was just physical pain. Maybe a small bit of disappointment, but unlike the start of his journey he wasn¡¯t leaving behind people who needed protection. The people he cared for had gained their own strength, and those that hadn¡¯t could seek the protection of the Order and Graotan in general, improved in strength. As he felt his eyes might burn away, Anton took one last look towards the world below. Ceretos. As good of a name as any. And it was¡­ beautiful. White clouds, green land, blue oceans. He hadn¡¯t even realized how far he was. At least he didn¡¯t have to worry about falling now. Not that there would be anything left to fall. Anton turned once more to face the sun, accelerating the process of drawing in the energy, pulling himself away as he did so. The light blinded him. He had no energy to spare for trivial things like using his eyes. His internal energy was dwindling rapidly even as he converted more of the sun¡¯s power to be his own. He could stop drawing it to himself and he might survive. Every moment took him further and further from that opportunity. As his body was scoured, Anton felt the pain begin to fade- not because he was no longer being damaged, but because his body no longer had any basis to interpret pain from. Anton stretched out his hand, widening his pull of energy instead of holding back. There was a flash of fire as a great flame ignited inside him and then¡­ nothing. Chapter 410 Staring up into the sky, Velvet had long lost track of Anton¡¯s energy. Unlike the archer, her senses were trained to focus more on what was closer. Though she still acted as a scout, the distance she focused on was a more modest few kilometers. She knew that what happened was quite unlike ascension- while she felt him, Anton had been moving at a relatively modest speed. He didn¡¯t step through a rift in space or otherwise disappear directly. She waited a day for his return. Then two. After a week, she finally had to give into the urging of the others and go to sleep. Even Kseniya herself had lost track of Anton not long after. ¡°He¡¯ll either succeed and come back, or not. There¡¯s nothing we can do,¡± Kseniya pointed out. ¡°Except to continue what he expected of us. I don¡¯t know if whatever he¡¯s up to can succeed, but he said it shouldn¡¯t be ascension. Which means Catarina and the others could still use a good archer up there. I should still be first, though Marcio and some of the others have a chance to follow in a decade or two.¡± Kseniya shrugged, ¡°If my cultivation speed was as quick as my archery progress I should have been there long ago, though resolving some flaws in the technique and completing it has obviously helped.¡± ¡°What about here?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°There will always be more of us here,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°You don¡¯t have to hurry off to ascend, of course, but don¡¯t miss a good opportunity if it comes up. Make sure you¡¯re ready.¡± That didn¡¯t actually resolve anything happening with Anton, but cultivation would be a good distraction. Velvet hadn¡¯t trailed all that far behind the others with Anton¡¯s guidance, but she had a couple stars she still needed before she could try to ascend. A few years each, then she could sort out what the best move was. Hopefully by then those already ascended would have managed to meet up. ----- ¡°I have to admit,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I expected to be dead or¡­ significantly more restricted.¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised you had a pre-formed opinion on us,¡± Zazil said. ¡°You ascended from a lower realm, didn¡¯t you? Yet you¡¯re not from one of the big sects, or you wouldn¡¯t have ended up out here.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°That¡¯s right. They have drawing formations that bring in those attuned to their particular cultivation techniques.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ unexpected.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± Zazil asked. ¡°Or do you mean me giving an honest answer?¡± ¡°Both, I suppose,¡± Hoyt admitted. ¡°Look, I know you¡¯ve probably heard that we ambush and kill people¡­ and we do,¡± Zazil said. Hoyt waited for the ¡®but¡¯ that never came. ¡°Uh, yeah. That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°What? You thought there was more.¡± ¡°It felt like there should be.¡± ¡°If there¡¯s more¡­ everyone¡¯s doing it?¡± Zazil grinned, ¡°That good enough?¡± ¡°I¡¯m confused,¡± Hoyt admitted. ¡°You¡¯re not killing me, but you¡¯re also not trying that hard to recruit me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to. You wouldn¡¯t believe me anyway, so you can just talk to our guest.¡± ¡°And who is this guest?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°The other one from your sect,¡± Zazil grinned. ¡°They should be here soon.¡± ----- The casual way they stepped onto a ship and left a planet left Alva feeling like a country bumpkin. Sure, she had been one a century ago but after that she¡¯d been a cultivator, seeing and doing the most amazing things. Yet this wasn¡¯t something she¡¯d anticipated, though she had heard about interplanetary ships. They were just like skyships but more. And like most ships, they were kind of cramped and lacking in space. Back home Alva could have gotten some sort of priority in her placement, but here she wasn¡¯t considered important enough. In fact, there were even some Life Transformation cultivators in nicer rooms. Sure, they had probably shown loyalty to the Harmonious Citadel and Alva hadn¡¯t yet¡­ but this wasn¡¯t the way to get loyalty. But maybe they didn¡¯t care. They already had so much with people like Vari who would not shut up about how great the ¡®saints¡¯ were. Alva got they were powerful cultivators, but so what? They deserved respect, but worship was something else. Especially since all they¡¯d done was monopolize the resources on the world Alva happened to show up on. There wasn¡¯t another sect to work with- the Harmonious Citadel was it. Though she had gathered that there were a few different factions within them that didn¡¯t necessarily get along as well as advertised. With nothing to reference against except the stars- which were not really changing- Alva couldn¡¯t tell how fast they were moving, but they were certainly covering absurd distances when the few stars that moved were taken into consideration. They moved past a couple, and some planets. Alva was fairly sure of that, though she couldn¡¯t stay up on decks to watch since she was ¡®in the way¡¯. As if anyone was doing anything up there. What, were they going to run into unexpected winds out in the void? ¡­ Would they? Alva honestly didn¡¯t know, but she really didn¡¯t want the ship to fall apart and dump her out in the void. She could swim, but she didn¡¯t imagine that doing so in the void was particularly easy. It did have a nice amount of ascension energy everywhere though- which seemed to be drawn in through the ¡®sails¡¯ to power the ship. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Alva got the vague feeling they were slowing down as they approached another star, and when they started passing planets she was certain. There were some big ones with rings of rocks around them. She thought her grandfather would like to see them up ¡®close¡¯, though she barely had time to take them in as they passed. Eventually they got close to what had to be their destination. It was a normal looking planet. Normal to Alva, anyway. Since this was the first one that had oceans she¡¯d seen since they left, maybe it wasn¡¯t normal? It had some trace amounts of natural energy mixed in too, something absent out in the void. As they got closer, Alva realized the planet was tiny. She could tell, because her senses stretched to cover a significant portion of it- probably less than a tenth, but that meant the circumference of it had to be a few hundred kilometers. Alva hadn¡¯t exactly realized that there was fake gravity under her feet until she felt real gravity again¡­ and as they got closer it grew stronger. There was something off about this place, because she actually felt heavier. She didn¡¯t really study much with her grandfather, but the Order all learned at least some about planets and gravity. Smaller and with greater gravity was weird, though carrying a few times her own weight didn¡¯t really concern Alva. ¡°Alright everyone!¡± A man Alva had come to know was in charge- named Rahmi- said as they approached the surface. ¡°Remember, this planet is under occupation of vicious bandit forces. Be careful. We¡¯re setting down near one of their fortresses to begin our assault.¡± Alva could sense it, though she wouldn¡¯t have exactly called it ¡®near¡¯. Then again, what was a handful of kilometers- or a few handfuls? Especially for cultivators of their general power. It would probably be dangerous to be much closer. ¡°The crew will remain here to defend the ship. The rest are with me.¡± Alva certainly wasn¡¯t part of the crew, so she made her way off with the others. Shortly after she did, Chikere briefly caught her eye. She held a finger up to her lips as she glanced towards the bandit base, but Alva wasn¡¯t sure what for. She hadn¡¯t said anything about Chikere so far and didn¡¯t plan to change that, though she was curious. And she definitely didn¡¯t have secrets about the bandits. Battle started with a sudden blade of energy cutting their forces in half. It wasn¡¯t a precisely calculated move meant to split them apart, but simply a powerful attack aimed right in the middle. Most managed to avoid it, though some were simply too slow. The preparation time for such an attack had simply been too short. Then they were fighting. Alva¡¯s instincts told her to pick out targets among the rapidly approaching enemies, and combat lines closed in on each other quickly. She began to shoot arrows at the enemy group, missing her familiar allies. And Fuzz, because she was much less effective without him. Her range was decent enough, but having to focus more of her energy on moving and less on her shots made her less effective. The forces weren¡¯t arranged in a way that Alva could tell how they matched up, but she could tell that the leader of the enemy forces was strong. He should only technically be in Integration like herself, but the man¡¯s sword cut down anyone who got near him- with ¡®near¡¯ being a not insignificant range. At least a hundred meters. Several Integration and twice as many Life Transformation cultivators fell, though in other parts of the battle things were going the other way. Alva tried to focus on the battle as a whole so she wasn¡¯t surprised by anything, but something made her stop on Chikere. The woman was using swords in either hand to fight off her opponents, but she wasn¡¯t looking at them. Her eyes were fixed on the swordmaster cutting people down, though she made no move to approach. She did lick her lips, however. There were a few things Alva was learning about the battle. First, random disorganized cultivators were much less effective than anything she¡¯d been a part of in her entire career as a cultivator. Was the Harmonious Citadel trying to get some of them killed? She hadn¡¯t exactly planned any tactics either, but she¡¯d kind of thought they would figure things out. At least she was an archer who could stay towards the back. Even the bandits were more organized. When she glanced over at Rahmi, he seemed hesitant to lead more people towards the swordmaster. Something about that one¡­ was a secret? Alva didn¡¯t know what, because she didn¡¯t know anything about them. Except now that she thought about it, maybe she had seen him before? Which was odd. Then she realized. It was Swordmaster Rahayu. They¡¯d never been well acquainted- he¡¯d ascended fairly quickly after she¡¯d arrived on Aicenith- but she was familiar with him through seeing him vaguely a couple times. Just not in combat. Maybe she¡¯d been missing out. He was amazing, though he was also on the wrong side of the battle. That did make things awkward. And though he¡¯d ascended almost a century prior, Alva was surprised at how strong he was. Fortunately, it seemed that Rahmi was as well. ¡°They have someone on the verge of Augmentation! We need to pull back to somewhere more favorable.¡± While there was nothing technically wrong with those orders, could anyone really afford to turn their back on Swordmaster Rahayu? Alva was able to retreat, but many others were in a poor state for it. Fortunately for them Chikere was walking towards him. She¡¯d been his disciple for a time, so maybe she could talk him into letting them retreat? Alva didn¡¯t really care about any of those present, but she still preferred for her allies not to die. Chikere got close, and her eyes locked with Rahayu. She put the tip of her blades in the ground. Rahayu momentarily stopped, and Alva breathed a sigh of relief. Then Chikere turned out her storage bag onto the ground, creating a small mountain of swords which flew out of their sheaths in unity. Alva sighed again, but with significantly less calm. Of course that was what Chikere was going to do. A moment later the ground began to split apart around the two swordmasters, and the forces from the Harmonious Citadel seemed as if they might rally- but just because Rahayu was being held back didn¡¯t mean the rest of the battle was going well. And nobody seemed concerned about abandoning Chikere. Alva might have done something about that, but if she tried to stop that fight¡­ she imagined Chikere would never forgive her. Besides, Rahayu wouldn¡¯t kill his student, would he? As a rift was slashed in the ground next to Alva she threw herself to the side. The attack hadn¡¯t even been aimed at her- she just happened to be behind Chikere at that moment. Yeah, she¡¯d leave Chikere to that whole thing. In any other circumstance she wouldn¡¯t leave a friend behind, but this was a special exception. As Alva retreated with the others, she had to wonder about the whole situation. Rahayu might not have been universally beloved, but he had been a decent fellow, hadn¡¯t he? Honorable, at least. Not a bandit. Those thoughts led to others which all made Alva uncomfortable, and unfortunately she didn¡¯t know of any way to get easy answers. But as long as she was alive and safe, she could figure something out. Chapter 411 As the rest of those from the Harmonious Citadel withdrew, Chikere pressed forward. She¡¯d heard rumors of a great swordmaster in the area, and her instincts had told her they were true. Once she¡¯d seen it was Rahayu? She couldn¡¯t resist fighting. It didn¡¯t matter why. She had the feeling that there was more behind the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s motives, but she was here now and that was all that mattered. She was quite pleased to not be instantly dead. That was what had happened on their first encounter, though of course she had improved considerably since then. Rahayu¡¯s training had seen her improve greatly, though before he ascended she was not certain if she could have survived a single serious attack. After that point she had continued to grow stronger to be able to match against him- or someone like him. But fate had led her here, to the real Rahayu. Her swords trembled under the force of his blade, even as they blocked him in pairs or triplets. That was expected when facing someone on the verge of augmentation. Some of her weapons shattered- but they were simply the dregs. She would have to replace them, but their loss was inconsequential. And it would only matter if she survived. There was always the chance she died here. Their relationship wasn¡¯t such that it was impossible, especially if it aligned with Rahayu¡¯s purposes. Chikere was surrounded, now. But everyone stayed out of their fight after she cut a few people who got too close¡­ and because Rahayu wasn¡¯t particularly making sure his attacks didn¡¯t affect them. She was fairly confident that her image of him during her ascension had been correct, at least for a power at the peak of Life Transformation. Now he was nearly in Augmentation, the next section of ascension. That was amazing for only half a century, though it was impossible to say how long it took to actually cross that gap. One sword matched against dozens, sweeping them aside in groups as he moved to attack Chikere from whatever angle he wished. He was fast, though her fighting style meant she was not tied to a clear front and back. Maneuvering her better swords to where Rahayu was took some effort though. A true swordmaster did not need to rely on a good weapon to be effective, but when facing off against a skilled opponent it still mattered. The ground split apart as Rahayu¡¯s slashes cut apart the world around them- even some clouds were separated, though the majority of his power didn¡¯t reach that high. Chikere had some power of her own, but she had to admit she was unfamiliar with fighting using ascension energy. It was simply different enough to be problematic. Then the moment came, and Chikere was ready. Even so, she saw a bloody sword sticking out of her shoulder, the point in front of her. That was still a thousand times better than where it was intended to go, towards her heart and lung. Whether or not Rahayu would have spared her like the first time or not she didn¡¯t know, but she at least managed to defend herself from the one attack. And she even negated his energy so it didn¡¯t slash her apart from inside so easily. ¡°I surrender,¡± she admitted. She thought she had improved, but it wasn¡¯t as much as she wanted. There wasn¡¯t more she could do at the moment, so there was no point in fighting. Pain filled her shoulder as the sword was withdrawn, but the following flick of the sword didn¡¯t cut off her head but instead cleared the blade of blood so it could be sheathed. ¡°Not bad. You¡¯re joining us now.¡± ¡°But she was with-¡± one of the nearby people began to protest, then stopped. Rahayu was simply using his aura, but it could be as sharp as a true blade if he wished. Chikere was glad she was alive, though she knew there was still a long way to go. ----- A change in the fluctuations of Paradise¡¯s energy awoke Erin in the middle of the night. She was deeply attuned to his normal rhythm, but something had changed. Normally Paradise was content to drift along, but now he was moving rapidly to the east. Not only was that counter to his normal movements, the bursts of speed were generally short- such as to catch something particularly tasty. Beyond that, it usually involved diving underwater. Erin could see that quite opposite of that, Paradise was actually holding his head above water, looking at the sky. She immediately called for an alert throughout the sect. Then they waited. And waited. After hours passed, they should have sensed something, but there was no indication. After a day passed, the alert was relaxed to a rotating schedule. As the head of the Island Tenders, Erin took more than a regular share of watches. She couldn¡¯t help but worry. Her concerns were answered in due time when she actually felt something up in the sky, after several more days. A strange power, one of fire and heat¡­ simultaneously strong and weak. Familiar, yet unfamiliar. Then Paradise dipped his head into the sea, raising it up a moment later to spray an enormous ball of water into the sky. The falling source of energy maintained its trajectory and even became visible to the naked eye as a burning fire. Paradise¡¯s attack impacted the falling fire, and that should have been the end of it. Instead, Paradise continued to move forward¡­ and then suddenly began to dive. Since his dives were unpredictable Paradise¡¯s back had already been prepared for it at any time, with the water flowing around barrier so as to not tear off the inhabitants and their structures. The natural trees, dirt, and the like were protected by Paradise to begin with, so it had simply taken some coaxing to make him apply the same to his permanent guests. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. As quickly as they went down, they returned to the surface. Erin wasn¡¯t sure what the point was, until Paradise flipped his head up and something landed next to her. No, not something. Someone. Or at least what had once been someone. Now it was a charred corpse, not even breathing. There were no signs of life¡­ except a burning core of natural energy. It was fading slowly, but not the same way a dead cultivator¡¯s energy would extinguish. Erin called for medical aid. She wasn¡¯t sure exactly what they could do, but they had various sorts of medicines, even if their stock was limited. But as she looked carefully she recognized the figure¡¯s cultivation technique. It was familiar, and though there was little to recognize she thought the charred body was that of a friend. At least she could contact the Order with what she had found, though saving Anton might not be possible¡­ if he was even really still alive. ----- Scenery suddenly changed as Velvet, Devon, and dozens of others from the Order completed their teleportation to Aicenith. Their energy reserves were drained out of necessity, but using what they had left they quickly began to move. Information had come in from Paradise, and the Rising Waterfall Sect had sent people to retrieve him. If it was true that he was alive- though even the Island Tenders seemed to be dubious on that point- the Order was going to do their best to save him. They would repay those who provided the aid immediately before they could reach them. At least swift communication had been possible. The weaker cultivators among their group began to grow weary first, and though Velvet was tempted to push on without them she was aware that taking some time to rest would be more effective. And her lacking medical expertise wouldn¡¯t do much to help. Along with that, Idalia was supposed to be on the way. She was one of many whose lives had been personally touched by Anton, and she was one of the most trusted healers on the continent. Not necessarily the best, but one they were certain was on their side. Their speed could have been faster if they beelined their way, but following approved roads was not only safer- though Velvet doubted there was much that could be a threat- but also more acceptable to the various sects and clans who claimed different areas. It was better to avoid causing tension where it was unnecessary, especially since they didn¡¯t know if they could help. So far Velvet hadn¡¯t received news of a change in Anton¡¯s status, but she could think of many reasons why that might be. None of them were helpful. But eventually they reached him- transferred to Marvelous Rabbit Mountain on the mainland instead of out on Redfin Reef. Velvet couldn¡¯t help but grimace as she saw the body. It was hard to say it was anything but¡­ except there was a spark of energy. Velvet reached towards it, careful not to touch it or affect Anton¡¯s body in any way. He wasn¡¯t breathing, his blood didn¡¯t flow- if he even had any- but there was something burning inside his dantian. A star, and not simply the Order¡¯s technique. And hidden beneath that star, much more faint, ninety-nine others. She had to count several times to believe her own work, but it was true. A hundred stars- without ascending. It was somewhat disappointing the final one only used natural energy, but it was still an advancement. Though it only mattered if he survived. ¡°What can we do?¡± Devon asked Idalia. ¡°Nothing, right now,¡± Idalia said. She looked to the nearby doctors, ¡°What medicines have you tried? The results?¡± ¡°Salves on the skin have little effect. As for pills or liquid medicine, it is consumed by the fire inside him.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Idalia said. ¡°That¡¯s good?¡± Devon asked. ¡°If they just sat there, then he really would be dead. The fact that something happens gives me some hope.¡± She started popping various concoctions into Anton¡¯s mouth, frowning every time. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s helping at all. It might just be disappearing. If the medicinal effects are in there somewhere, it has no way to circulate around his body. We¡¯d have to start with the meridians and dantian, but without him doing anything¡­¡± Idalia looked at Velvet. ¡°You¡¯re one of his frequent companions, aren¡¯t you?¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not any good at medicine, but I can help gather whatever you need. Devon is his grandson as well.¡± ¡°You-¡± Idalia pointed to Devon, ¡°I do have some things to get. It¡¯s a decent trip, but you¡¯ll need to be quick about it. As for you,¡± she looked to Velvet. ¡°I need you to help circulate his energy.¡± ¡°I- that¡¯s dangerous to attempt.¡± ¡°I know, but Devon doesn¡¯t practice the Ninety-Nine¡­ Hundred Stars. And the rest of your companions have already ascended, haven¡¯t they?¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Then you¡¯re the best bet. Especially among those here.¡± ¡°I can try but¡­¡± ¡°Just be slow about it. Methodical. He¡¯s lasted days already, the chances of suddenly fading away now is low.¡± Velvet nodded. She was reminded of something from her past. Anton had helped her with an energy deviation early in her cultivation career. That brought danger upon himself, whereas here she mostly had to worry about hurting him. Not that it made her feel better about possibly messing up, but she knew she had to try. Using natural energy to recover from wounds was something cultivators learned early on, though not all of them were particularly good at it. Guiding someone else¡¯s spiritual energy to help them recover, however, seemed to be more difficult. Even so, Velvet did her best to carefully grasp onto a strand of energy from the strongest star burning within Anton, doing her best to guide it through what was left of his meridians and throughout his body. She thought maybe some of the soft energy the medicines had in them came along, though it wasn¡¯t clear. Something about the energy she was holding made everything else harder to sense, despite how weak it was. The first circulation was difficult, because Anton¡¯s body was basically destroyed along with his meridians. They felt as if they were filled with ash or charcoal, and maneuvering around without causing further damage was difficult. She wasn¡¯t sure how many hours it took to make a single circulation, and she still felt no different. The same was true for the next five, and the ten after that. By that point it had been a couple days, and though the amount of energy she was using was trivial, the precise concentration and lack of sleep was starting to wear on her. But she actually felt something, some slight stirring of activity¡­ and so refused to give up. Chapter 412 Most of what Idalia needed was easy to get, if not commonly available in the city for whatever reason. Some herbs spoiled quickly and had little value, so nobody would bother to collect them and couldn¡¯t keep a store of them. The lungs and spleen of a certain rare elk was technically more difficult to obtain, but Devon also had the help of Marvelous Rabbit Mountain¡¯s Elder Paula. She was able to sense the creature from a great distance, and went bounding off after it at a speed Devon could not keep up with, despite being in Life Transformation himself. Though what else was he to expect for a sect that focused on their legs so much? It didn¡¯t take long to collect all but one piece of what they needed- though of course the final ingredient was the most important one. Water from the Azure Springs, fifteen hundred kilometers away through several regions, one of which was desert. But that was fine- it was just a long trip, though at the speeds Life Transformation cultivators perhaps not even that long. The problem was that the waters lost a significant portion of their potency after a day. Optimally they would have taken Anton to the springs, but transporting him through monster infested wilderness didn¡¯t seem like the best move at the moment. The time for trip there was hard to measure given that they did not take a direct route, but it was clear they would have to hurry on the way back. But first they needed to get some of the water. That seemed to be a fairly simple task, but obviously it wasn¡¯t just humans that liked water with high levels of easily digestible natural energy. Beasts did too, and often very strange ones. The particular beasts that controlled the springs changed frequently, so they couldn¡¯t be certain what they would face until they arrived. Devon was surprised there wasn¡¯t anything visible in the area, until he could sense the water. ¡°Looks like there¡¯s some sort of snakes in there,¡± he said. ¡°Or maybe eels? But they certainly feel more like snakes. So we just¡­ kill them and take what we need? Or maybe distract them?¡± Elder Paula frowned, ¡°I¡¯m not sure I would like to fight them in the water, and more importantly it could be tainted by blood. Yet if we don¡¯t draw all of them out, it¡¯s risky to collect anything with the fragile vessels.¡± Devon nodded. They had some containers that would help keep the potency of the waters for somewhat longer, but they weren¡¯t much stronger than glass. Either of them might be able to protect the containers from a sudden attack by the snakes, but if they broke any, they had that many fewer. This wasn¡¯t a situation where they needed just a few drops, every bit they could bring back was better. ¡°What are there, thirty of those things?¡± Devon said. ¡°We should lure them out and fight them. Or if they don¡¯t lure, I¡¯ll just yank them out,¡± chains began to form around him, and though they would usually have spikes in this case he restrained himself to avoid blood in the water. ¡°If they come up on land, I¡¯ll squash them if I can¡­ or boot them far away. Let¡¯s get ready,¡± Paula said. Technically they weren¡¯t in a rush at this exact moment, since the potency of the spring wouldn¡¯t fade until they gathered the liquid, but there was also no reason to delay. Anton¡¯s condition wasn¡¯t good, so moving along quickly was best regardless. Devon stopped after forming a dozen long chains. He could have more, but that would require them to be shorter or he would have reduced control over them. He just wanted to be able to snatch a few snakes out of the wide spring, and either they completely retreated and gave them an opportunity to snatch the water and go, or he could grab a few. It was perhaps ironic that his chains moved through the water like a snake with the intention to grab snakes, but the chains spread out towards the snakes. Some bit at the unexpected intruders, some pulled away, and others were a bit slow for either and found themselves suddenly yanked to the shore as a chain tightened around them. Everything made sense until the first couple was up on shore. Paula crushed the spine of one under her heel while it was still restrained, but the other twisted to bite at Devon¡­ at which point its head split apart into five separate stalks. Devon leapt back in surprise, but he had the presence of mind to extend solidify the links of his chain holding that snake in place, preventing it from reaching him. Each of the five heads seemed to have fangs, and Devon really didn¡¯t want to have to figure out how bad the venom would be. He tightened his chain around the middle of the creature- though it was almost as wide as his torso- finally overcoming its natural energy defenses and crushing it. The good news was that the rest of the snakes easily left the springs after that- the bad news was that they seemed intent on killing the two. That turned the battle into a frantic melee where Devon was keeping track of anywhere between ten and a hundred sets of fangs at any point, using his chains to fend off or entangle as many snakes as he could at once. Paula used her leaping abilities to get out of reach to more optimal positions, while also crushing whatever she landed on under her heels. When snakes sprang at her, she would often kick beneath them and send them flying hundreds of meters away if she couldn¡¯t find a killing blow, allowing some breathing room for the pair. Eventually the last of the snakes was killed or chased away, leaving them with the task of transporting as much of the spring water as they could store with them. That should be the easy part¡­ probably. ----- Given the limited options for who might be from the Order of One Hundred Stars that he didn¡¯t already know about, it wasn¡¯t terribly surprising to find Bohdana Matousek. They had attempted to send Matousek with options for communicating, but they hadn¡¯t worked. Until this moment, Hoyt wasn¡¯t sure if Matousek had died or what. ¡°Good to see you made it, Hoyt.¡± Matousek paused for a second, ¡°Your grandfather would be proud of your accomplishments.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Thank you,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°But I have some questions. Like why you are here among the Dark Ring?¡± ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I be?¡± Matousek asked. ¡°Their reputation is not particularly stellar,¡± Hoyt pointed out. ¡°I heard some things from Catarina and Timothy before ascending¡­¡± ¡°That worked out?¡± Matousek asked, ¡°Good. And you were able to communicate. Unfortunately none of mine worked even when I was away from the Dark Ring.¡± ¡°You were able to leave?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Of course. I¡¯m not a captive, though I could understand why you would be hesitant. They are quite secretive about their location.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a rock in the middle of nothing,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°I don¡¯t see what¡¯s so special about it.¡± Matousek grinned, ¡°It¡¯s not just a rock in the middle of nothing. It¡¯s many rocks. Spread all throughout asteroid belts in the systems controlled by their greatest enemy, the Harmonious Citadel. What do you know about them?¡± ¡°Not much. They have some strict rules for those who join them, but are generally seen positively.¡± ¡°And they work very hard at that,¡± Matousek pointed out. ¡°Admittedly, an organization of that size is bound to occasionally do some good by wiping out bandits and problematic sects, but that¡¯s not for the sake of helping anyone but securing their own position. They control a few dozen systems around here, and are extending their reach into more all the time. As practices go, they¡¯re just a cult¡­ in the sense of the word that they¡¯re a religious organization, though I would say that the negative connotations are also correct.¡± ¡°So, what, they worship their sect leader as a god?¡± ¡°They¡¯re ever so slightly more humble than that, though they do deem their highest ranking members at saints,¡± Matousek said. ¡°Perhaps they would claim to be gods, but they don¡¯t have a Domination cultivator. When it is known there is a higher ranking of power, it¡¯s rather difficult to claim you are actually the most supreme¡­ though they do a good job of lording over others as they are.¡± ¡°That certainly sounds bad,¡± Hoyt admitted, ¡°But who told you this? The Dark Ring.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Matousek said, ¡°But I have also seen it for myself. Slipping on or off a world is not the most difficult thing¡­ though I¡¯ve certainly spent more time around smugglers than I would have thought. And while the Harmonious Citadel can¡¯t exactly be blamed for acting the same way as other cultivators- gathering all the power into their own hands- I¡¯ve come to be quite against the methods they do it by. Did you know some of their worlds house billions of individuals? Yet those who can cultivate are much fewer. People can¡¯t even leave to seek their fortunes elsewhere, though that¡¯s not necessarily their fault. Interplanetary and intersystem travel are not that easy. Though also¡­ easier than I would have expected. For cultivators like us, it¡¯s not much more difficult than an average person getting passage across a great sea.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t people cultivate? Oh right, no natural energy,¡± Hoyt immediately answered himself. ¡°Or¡­ not much?¡± ¡°Not as much, certainly. Ascension energy is better and higher quality¡­ but also more risky. Beginning the journey is difficult, and the path is much more variable here than on our world.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°So the Harmonious Citadel is not that great. But what about the Dark Ring? Are they good?¡± ¡°They at least intend to allow people freedom. I think it would be good for you to join along with them. They¡¯re not a sect so much as a collective. But if you don¡¯t wish to, I can vouch for you, and we can drop you off somewhere safe. Or safeish.¡± Matousek shrugged, ¡°At your cultivation level, you¡¯ll have the eyes of the powerful on you, but you also have decent strength to protect yourself from them. I heard about your fight.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t watch?¡± ¡°I was at another location,¡± Matousek said. ¡°It was en-route, since they contacted me to tell me someone of my sect had¡­ arrived.¡± ¡°About that¡­ why was I out here? Isn¡¯t it natural to arrive on the surface of a world after ascension?¡± ¡°That¡¯s true, but just like some sects focus the pull to their own cultivators and worlds, the Dark Ring has taken steps to bring people away from the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s planets. Usually that means shunting them to neighboring systems, but sometimes they end up out here, and they bring them in.¡± ¡°Seems risky,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Though I don¡¯t know if the Harmonious Citadel has any connection to the ¡®lower realms¡¯?¡± ¡°Not the same way as we saw on Ceretos. That¡¯s more of a rarity, even for large groups like the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant. Since individual worlds are so rarely available for interaction, long term relationships rarely happen. Though with communication methods¡­¡± ¡°Speaking of which,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I don¡¯t think any of mine have been working. I¡¯m not exactly sure how long it¡¯s been but I should have been able to reach Catarina and Timothy at least.¡± ¡°Ah, that¡¯s a feature of this place and others like it. It requires special methods to send anything in and out, and without sufficient power it doesn¡¯t work. Plus the inconspicuous locations truly out in the middle of nothing and you have a secret that actually lasts.¡± ¡°And they kill the wrong people who find out.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true as well,¡± Matousek answered, ¡°But you¡¯ll find that there aren¡¯t really that many people ascending even from the various lower realms, and fewer that end up here. Most are just happy to be taken into the fold of something larger.¡± ¡°And you?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°I think it¡¯s worthwhile. They might not be able to back us up in the way we wish, but I haven¡¯t found their practices objectionable. We can¡¯t exactly rely on just those of us from the Order- or Ceretos.¡± ¡°Not yet, perhaps,¡± Hoyt admitted. ¡°Though there are a surprising number of us.¡± ¡°Good. Take some time to think about joining up, and let me know when you¡¯ve decided. Either way I¡¯d like you to get me in contact with some of the others after that, so I¡¯ll be taking you out of the system.¡± ¡°Anything else?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Try to get in more sparring. Fighting with just ascension energy is a big change to get used to. Two decades and I¡¯m still not fully confident.¡± Chapter 413 The fastest way for cultivators to get anywhere- aside from teleportation- was often running. It was possible for them to tame or raise powerful beasts, but those took great amounts of time, effort, or both. And in Life Transformation, only the very best would do. Devon didn¡¯t happen to have any such beasts, so he ran. Elder Paula ran along with him, the pair of them keeping up a rapid pace. They took the most direct route they could, hoping to return to where Anton was within a few more hours. A few beasts took offense at their passing through territory, but the creatures barely had time to react before they were past and gone. There were only a few locations they had to choose a route based on potential threats. Though they were close to the peak of cultivation, certain beasts matched or surpassed that level- either individually or as a group. Even if they could win such a battle they would be slowed more than just the duration of the battle, but also because of the fatigue that would result. If they took too long the potency of the waters of the Azure Springs would fade to nearly unusable levels, and they couldn''t guarantee they would have another chance to retrieve more. It was thus with specific intention that they routed through the Eshurst Woodland, packed with towering trees but little underbrush to get in their way. They weren¡¯t the largest trees in the world, but they were among the largest as a forest. Each tree stood more than thirty meters high, usually two meters wide or larger at the base. What threats lived in the woods generally took shelter among the canopy, not a problem if they remained mobile. Fortunately they were expected a potential attack from giant raptors, so they were able to react. The actual foe was not a beast as expected, but cultivators. A group of five¡­ from the Soaring Air Sect no less. They dove towards the pair with spears in hand, tossing javelins with the intent to control their movements- but they avoided the ranged attacks and took shelter behind one of the trees. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Elder Paula demanded. She didn¡¯t expect an actual answer, but it gave a moment of hesitation for Devon to pull out a messaging plate. It wasn¡¯t much comfort if they died, but at least it would be known who was involved. Devon caught Paula¡¯s eye and shook his head. No response indicating his message had been received. So the enemy was prepared somehow¡­ though that was fairly obvious with how the five cultivators spread out around them. ¡°I¡¯ll hold them back,¡± Devon said. ¡°You go on ahead.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Paula said. There wasn¡¯t longer than that to exchange plans- the enemy might have heard Devon regardless of his attempts to conceal the sound. And they were already attacking again. The cultivators of the Soaring Air Sect were some of the rare cultivators that actually took flight in combat, similar to the Boundless Skies Sect that had participated in the invasion. It was usually considered inefficient or a waste of energy, but their coordinated tactics and the mix of melee and ranged abilities made them difficult to fight against. As they charged, some tore through the trees that were meant to block them while others charged past, striking glancing blows while allowing little opportunity for a counterattack. Paula¡¯s swift attacks weren¡¯t able to overcome their advantage of reach and numbers, so she focused on defending herself. Devon, meanwhile, was waiting for a proper opening as his chains tried to grab those going past. The enemy paused in formation around the pair, readying themselves for another series of swooping attacks. That was the moment Devon chose, chains shooting out directly towards the trees the figures were sheltering behind. They clearly expected his chains to have to circumvent the trunks or at least slow when piercing through¡­ but the chains didn¡¯t even seem to tangibly interact with the trees. They didn¡¯t even wrap around the cultivators but stabbed directly into their abdomens. ¡°Now!¡± Devon called out. Paula nodded, leaping away. Her powerful legs sprang her forward. The two cultivators on either side of her path tried to cut her off, but found themselves unable to move away from Devon, trapped by something that was intangible. It was a technique derived from the Chain Harmony Sect, and though he wasn¡¯t confident in his ability to drain energy from a handful of people at once he could attach to their energy. Technically any of the five could have gotten away, but they would have to leave their energy behind- an act they instinctively rejected. For good reason. Paula got past the pair, and with them being held back by Devon they had no choice but to turn to face him. The other three realized that as well and aimed their focus to him, simultaneously preparing to attack. Paula continued to leap forward¡­ right into one of the trees. Her legs bent to stop her momentum, then she pushed off backwards- leaping straight towards the closest member of the Soaring Air Sect, jumping down at an angle. Her sudden change in direction caught everyone by surprise, and she spun in the air, heel kicking the man in the ribs and sending him into the nearest tree. Wood and splinters exploded as the man was buried in the base of the tree, and the massive weight of it began to twist and fall on him- though he was likely already dead before it finished. ¡°I said to go!¡± Devon said as he yanked on the chains of the remaining four to make them mistime their approaches. Their attacks still pierced his defensive energy, but he was left with only a couple gouges instead of four holes through his chest. ¡°Your grandfather wouldn¡¯t want you to die for him.¡± ¡°I thought I could delay them and then escape!¡± Devon said. ¡°Why not just kill them? Each one you can restrain for a second¡­¡± Paula said. The battle had quickly shifted to a pair of cultivators menacing either of them from both sides. She had a point there. While Devon couldn¡¯t manage powerful attacks on his own at the same time as restraining five- now four- opponents of nearly equal strength, she had the explosive power necessary. For that to work optimally, however¡­ he had to get closer. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. He ran towards her, an action the Soaring Air Sect didn¡¯t see fit to stop. He had to increase the length of the chains going to two of them, and it meant the four of them could encircle two people together which was actually more effective. It even gave two of them a moment to attempt to remove the chains- which they found was quite uncomfortable. Brute force wouldn¡¯t solve the issue, and figuring out the proper technique would hopefully take more than a few moments. Then he was next to Elder Paula. ¡°What next?¡± she asked. ¡°Well, I-¡± Devon was glad that the enemy didn¡¯t wait but immediately attacked, because he wasn¡¯t sure he could functionally lie about his plans. The four attacked simultaneously, approaching from different heights and angles to create the maximum difficulty for the defenders. Devon and Paula had to avoid all four since they were so close, but they managed to not get in each other¡¯s way and sustained only minimal wounds. The four must have known Devon was preparing for a counterattack with the way his power rose in intensity, but as they suddenly stopped two meters on the far side of the pair- all together- it was clear they hadn¡¯t expected how. The chains attached to them had extended through them, attaching them to each other as well as to Devon. They were briefly in a sort of square- then one of them had his head kicked in and they were connected in a lopsided triangle around Devon. Devon twisted something inside of himself and connected the chains of the final two while extending some length for himself to move around. He still couldn¡¯t go much outside of the encirclement, but the sudden loss of mobility was terrible for the three remaining opponents. Devon barely had any energy to form some more solid chains covered in spikes, but Paula did an excellent job of capitalizing on their opponent¡¯s restrained states. A few minutes later the two of them were binding their wounds. Devon had a rather uncomfortably large hole in a shoulder and numerous smaller injuries, while Paula¡¯s injuries were slightly better. Both were greatly fatigued, and they¡¯d lost a good ten minutes- and would be somewhat slower for the rest of the trek back- but they weren¡¯t dead. They tossed the bodies into their storage bags. Cultivators from the Exalted Archipelago weren¡¯t entirely forbidden from stepping foot on Aicenith, but they had no business being this far inland. Attempting to kill the two of them was obviously a hundred steps beyond acceptable, and there would be retribution. The question was why they were exactly where they were. Certainly they weren¡¯t just targeting random Life Transformation cultivators? ¡°They must know about Anton,¡± Paula said as they continued. ¡°And it¡¯s likely there are many with a grudge.¡± ¡°But how? How did they know, or get here?¡± ¡°These can fly,¡± she pointed out. ¡°And without those rather obvious skyships. As for your grandfather¡­ he wasn¡¯t exactly subtle in some things. He¡¯s passed through the Island Tenders and the Rising Waterfall Sect and other places on the way to Marvelous Rabbit Mountain. Plenty of places for some leaks, though that¡¯s not the only possibility.¡± Devon nodded. There wasn¡¯t much else they could do at the moment except keep moving, and hope that only a small group came for them¡­ or at least was all that was waiting along their particular route. When they arrived, Idalia ran outside and snatched the jugs of water from them without ceremony. She dumped half of the contents of each into a large bowl filled with all sorts of crushed and ground things. ¡°The rest?¡± They handed over the other ingredients they collected while Idalia mixed with tools, her bare hands, and sometimes her energy. Paula ran off to give notice of the attack on them, but Devon got to stay around. Somehow a large bowlful of materials was thrown directly into a fire and came out as a small round pill. That was immediately shoved down Anton¡¯s throat, but Idalia¡¯s hands never stopped working. ¡°Circulate that,¡± Idalia said. Devon was exhausted, but perhaps that was for the best. It would be easier to not use too much energy, and it only took a small amount of effort to try to control the potent energy in the medicine. The movement was smooth at first, the meridians in Anton¡¯s body having previously been cleared out somewhat. Strangely, he found himself struggling to drag the energy along down certain paths. He didn¡¯t want to force anything, so he relented. The next path resisted him as well, but the following didn¡¯t. Somehow he could only follow a set route, a single loop around the dantian. He suddenly found it difficult to even return to the dantian, and found himself repeating the loop over and over. Something was happening. He could sense tingles of energy inside his grandfather, more than just those warm embers from before. He continued to add medicine to the loop until the potency was used up. By that point Idalia had shoved some powder into Anton¡¯s mouth, and some of that seemed to absorb into his body, but when Devon tried to circulate the lingering energy in the same path he couldn¡¯t. Eventually he found a different loop, circling around and around. Tingles and warmth became a hearth and then a burning fire, and Devon found himself barely able to complete the next orbit¡­ but eventually the medicinal energy ran out and Devon retreated himself. He just needed a little break. Then the room suddenly caught on fire. Or at least it felt that way for a moment. A sudden wave of heat and light. Then his grandfather¡¯s eyes opened, though the only thing that he could see behind what remained of the charred lids was burning fire. ¡°... Grandpa?¡± ¡°Mmmg.¡± Anton coughed, then spoke raspily. ¡°Well. Seems I¡¯m not dead after all.¡± The pupil-less eyes seemed to turn, looking down at his bare shoulder- Anton hadn¡¯t even raised his head. ¡°I maybe overreached a bit.¡± ¡°You-¡± Devon hadn¡¯t let his emotions hit him yet. He¡¯d been in such a rush to see his grandfather- finding him dead but maybe not dead and then he was rushing to help any way he could. Now the tears came, though strangely they evaporated as quickly as they fell, though he only felt a gentle warmth from his grandfather. Idala rushed into the room, obviously feeling his movement and energy. ¡°You made it! Here!¡± she poured some liquid down Anton¡¯s throat. He coughed, but smiled. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Thank me later! You¡¯re still on the edge. You need to rest.¡± ¡°Do I?¡± Anton asked. ¡°No. Not yet. I need to take care of a few things first.¡± Inside of him, fire flared up, energy seemingly coming from nowhere. Devon couldn¡¯t feel exactly what it was doing, but eventually Anton¡¯s body seemed a little bit less charred on the inside. Then Anton grinned. ¡°Now I can take a nap.¡± His eyes closed¡­ and that was the last time he was conscious for a month. Chapter 414 Unsure what attempting to teleport Anton would do in his condition, additional forces were sent to Marvelous Rabbit Mountain to watch over him. Haste had been made to get Devon and Velvet there, but others had already been on their way before it was confirmed that he had revived. At the current moment he was unconscious, but in a comforting way instead of how he was before. Among other things he was breathing, had a pulse, and had a healthy supply of natural energy inside him. Anish and Annelie were watching over him together. The Order only had so many people it could spare, and they didn¡¯t want to make an even bigger deal of their people running off. The attack by the Soaring Air Sect indicated that information had leaked somehow, but not the method. And if they wanted to kill Anton, that meant his allies wanted him to live even more. They made no immediate retaliation, but Kohar was drafting up a plan. She had the ability to achieve something real, instead of just lobbying diplomatic threats¡­ but also minimizing the risk of a war. Because as much as it might be justified, a war wouldn¡¯t be beneficial at the moment. If it was merely the Soaring Air Sect, they could be wiped out- but it was unlikely the Exalted Archipelago would allow that to happen, regardless of whether they supported this particular incident. But the accord ending the war had stipulations about what was allowed, and the Soaring Air Sect had blatantly violated some of the most important provisions. Financial penalties weren¡¯t the most exciting result, but they would be a good start. Further retaliation could wait until Anton awoke, whenever that was. Though Kohar would be demanding their leader¡¯s head on a pike, politely worded of course. Then they would back off to what they actually thought they could get. ----- Catarina had an entire room devoted to sending and receiving messages. The Silver Sea Coalition was quite glad to provide her room for whatever she needed, as a formation master was a valuable asset. Beyond ascension there was another level of distinction available for grandmasters, but that wasn¡¯t something just anyone could get their hands on. And despite being the ¡®upper realms¡¯, the vast majority of cultivators were not going to be ascension cultivators. Timothy¡¯s presence was valued as well, but taking into account what he could do in his lifetime compared to what Catarina might be involved with that would last into later generations a skilled warrior was less important. Not that Timothy cared. Long in the past he¡¯d felt a sense of inferiority when comparing to certain people, Catarina included. He¡¯d sense grown into confidence in his own power, and the practical understanding of what impacted the world as a whole. Any one of Catarina¡¯s works had changed their home world forever, whether it was the communication between upper and lower realms or the teleportation formations. He couldn¡¯t have that sort of impact¡­ but he could keep her alive, and spending his life with the woman he loved was fulfilling. They didn¡¯t spend all their time together- Timothy had to see to his own training and hobbies- but they were together frequently. During one such occasion, they received more messages. That was fairly common, given they served as one of the main informational points for the lower realms and for Alva. There were, however, other individuals who they had not been in contact with- and receiving a sudden message from Hoyt was enlightening. ¡°Come look at this,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Information on the Dark Ring! And Matousek!¡± Timothy rushed over, reading it. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ unexpected. How sure can we be that it is him?¡± ¡°Unfortunately,¡± Catarina shook her head, ¡°I haven¡¯t even finished the attempts at individual energy or cultivation style communication, at least not long distance. So anyone could have used the communication plates if they knew how. It¡¯s honestly supposed to be simple. The way he mentions my name and contacting the Order at least means that they didn¡¯t simply kill him and send false information.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if torturing him to provide useful cover would be better,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Except could presume he¡¯s still alive.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Though I¡¯m inclined to just believe it. If the message said the Dark Ring was the one true force of righteousness fighting against the Harmonious Citadel it would be one thing, but saying that they¡¯re fighting against the latter and it¡¯s not as upright as they portray is¡­ perfectly believable.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll need to contact Alva, if that¡¯s the case. Though we¡¯d need to know our messages are secure. She ended up among the Harmonious Citadel, after all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°The delay in messages makes this all rather complicated as well.¡± ¡°At least Alva found Chikere, though there are some mysteries there as well,¡± Timothy shook his head, ¡°Now we just need to find Fuzz.¡± Catarina smiled, ¡°I actually have plans for that. I put all those formation markings on him¡­ though I doubt I can track him from the wrong system.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not very hopeful, honestly,¡± Timothy said. ¡°There are a lot of systems.¡± ¡°Not inhabited,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Thousands, maybe?¡± ¡°And you assume Fuzz would end up in one of the inhabited ones that we can get to without being killed by either of the two large factions unhappy with the Order?¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°... This might be more difficult than I imagined.¡± ----- Somehow, though they didn¡¯t use words, Fuzz understood this other wolf almost as well as if they did. After some time at least, at least- though he supposed the snarling had communicated its own message clearly enough. But since she didn¡¯t speak or write, Fuzz had to come up with his own name for her. Since she made stone spikes, she was Spikes. That sounded like a name humans would give, right? Now Fuzz was acutely aware that Spikes was female. Up until now, Fuzz¡¯ understanding of why humans interacted the way they did had to do pack cohesion. He understood why Timothy strove to protect Catarina, but he¡¯d thought it was the same sort of thing as how Timothy protected everyone else. Fuzz wasn¡¯t a cub, of course. He had lived longer than any wolf of his kind, so he¡¯d felt the urge to find a mate. However, normal wolves didn¡¯t appeal to him, so he simply dampened such desires by circulating his energy and it would fade. But now he understood, without even know much about Spikes. One thing he did know was that despite him saving her from the frost cats, Spikes didn¡¯t like him. He wasn¡¯t sure why. He hadn¡¯t done anything to harm her. It would be quite easy if he intended to, since Spikes hadn¡¯t crossed the threshold of ascension yet. Fuzz¡­ didn¡¯t actually know how that would work here. This was already the upper realms, so would Spikes go to the upper-upper realms? Would they remain here? Would they go to some other part? Complicated. He didn¡¯t know. Either way, Spikes was not as strong as him yet- but still Spikes refused to stop attacking him. Claws and teeth were insufficient to threaten Fuzz, and the stone spikes molded from the ground were interesting but not quite enough even when they could be used. There was also the issue that Spikes was still recovering and thus not fighting at full capacity. Fuzz did his best to fix that. At first the two of them had feasted upon the frost cats, but their meat would not last forever. Spikes retreated to a den nearby, and was overly serious about not letting Fuzz inside. Yes, it was her den, but so what? It was shelter. It was cold outside, but Fuzz found that hollowing himself out a nice snow drift worked alright. If he really needed he could just make fire to warm himself. Spikes stayed in her cave to recover, and Fuzz hunted and brought her food. Every time he approached with something she would attack him. Spikes didn¡¯t want charity or pity or whatever the word humans would use was. But Spikes also couldn¡¯t turn down help while wounded, and the food eventually found its way into the den to add onto the pile of bones- though those bones only added up so much. If Spikes was anything like Fuzz she knew that bones were crunchy and tasty, they just took a while to chew through. Not that Fuzz had found many bones lately that were tough to him. Though Spikes tried to drive him away, Fuzz was fairly certain Spikes didn¡¯t mean it. And if she did, he didn¡¯t really care. Spikes was the only companionship he¡¯d had on this world, since he wasn¡¯t going to hang around humans. Speaking of which, he still hadn¡¯t found any signs of his pack- though there were more people down the mountain. And according to Spikes, they might hunt giant wolves. Which was all the more reason they needed to stay together. ----- His eyes flickered open slowly. He felt the warmth of the sun beating down on him, and wondered if he¡¯d dozed off by the fields. As for which fields those might be, Anton¡¯s brain took a bit to sort out. Not the fields of Dungannon. Those were long gone, though now replaced by others that were unrelated to his current life. Those of the Order, then. Yes, that would be it. He quite enjoyed working in the fields with Elder Howland even though he was an unnecessary factor. As he stretched his arms and back, however, more memories came back to him. Memories of danger and pain¡­ but also recovery. He looked down at his hands, tinged pink as new skin began to grow among blackened burn scars. He was also inside, but he was correct about the sun. The blinds were drawn, but the warmth of the sun still filled him. It was just from the inside instead of the outside. He minimized his movements because his body was still damaged and began to circulate his energy inside of himself. The internal damage was possibly greater than the external- though both had clearly been horrifying to behold. Now, however, Anton could feel recovery in progress. Lingering medicinal energy made him quite certain he was being cared for, if the bed hadn¡¯t said enough. But circulating his own energy, he was able to empower the cracked and dried skin, muscles, bones, and even his meridians. The process of healing accelerated, and though the damage was deep Anton hadn¡¯t found anything that couldn¡¯t be recovered. Not with as much likely expensive medicine that had already been pumped into him, at least. And there was one more thing. The sheer quantity of energy he had. It was at least triple what he had before he formed the hundredth star. He might not be able to call upon it all at once, but he was connected to a seemingly endless fount of energy. Even the tiny connection had to the sun was great, and if he could improve it¡­ he had no idea quite how much power he might have. ¡°Anton!¡± Idalia burst into the room, followed by several others. Anish, Annelie, Devon, Velvet, as well as a few people from Marvelous Rabbit Mountain waiting outside, if he recognized the energy correctly. ¡°You¡¯re awake.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± he said. He remembered waking up briefly some time before. ¡°I told you I was just taking a nap.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been weeks,¡± Idalia said. ¡°Longer than that since I¡¯d slept, I think,¡± Anton said. ¡°Let me tell you, if anyone says cultivation can do anything you imagine, give ¡®em a good knock on the head and let them know to think carefully about what they try. I nearly turned into a pile of ash.¡± ¡°But you didn¡¯t,¡± Devon pointed out. ¡°But I didn¡¯t,¡± Anton nodded. Anton looked wistfully off into the distance, his energy senses working. ¡°Where¡¯s my bow?¡± he asked. ¡°Back home,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You sort of dropped everything when you decided it was time to do¡­ that,¡± she gestured to Anton as a whole. ¡°And now I¡¯m under the care of you, Idalia¡­ and Marvelous Rabbit Mountain?¡± She shrugged, ¡°I guess we should explain how you got here. And what¡¯s been happening.¡± After she finished, Anton stroked his chin. It hurt, both his hand and chin, but he didn¡¯t care as they were on their way to recovery. A few months, a few years? He didn¡¯t know nor care about the exact time frame. ¡°The Soaring Air Sect, huh? They¡¯d better be careful where they fly.¡± Chapter 415 A borrowed bow was clasped in Anton¡¯s left fist. His right hand trembled as his fingers clutched the string, pulling. A single arrow shot into the distance, disappearing beyond the horizon. Anton shook his head as he let his energy fade. His body wasn¡¯t quite ready for that yet. He wondered what had gone wrong. It could be any number of things, ranging from simple to complicated. Maybe he wasn¡¯t good enough. Perhaps he had been too casual- he waited for the right time, but surely there were more preparations he could have made, resources he could have prepared for himself. Or maybe the entire method was flawed to begin with. Anton placed his hand above his navel and felt the fire burning inside him. Not entirely flawed, obviously. But he ought to have had a chance to succeed in good health. It wasn¡¯t simply a situation where he lamented his own failures. Instead, he hoped to learn from them. The probability of others following in his path was low- Anton wasn¡¯t entirely sure if it could even be accomplished while he was alive- but either way people could certainly learn something from his attempt. Even ascensions were extremely limited in available information, and this other method¡­ whatever it might be called, it was singular. Two at most, if Lev could be considered to have done the same thing. That was something they would have to discuss, once they met up again. First Anton had to get back from Aicenith. There had been discussions of taking a ship, but the possibility that there might be some sort of attack by the Exalted Archipelago couldn¡¯t be overlooked. He wondered if they had it out for him in particular, or just anyone attempting a crazy cultivation step. He doubted the entire Exalted Archipelago was in on it, or they would have sent more¡­ though they would have also risked more discovery. Of course, they failed which was the worst possibility for them. The chance of a coincidence attacking Devon and Paula in the forest was¡­ not worth considering. And random banditry didn¡¯t look better for them. Instead of going by ship, they decided to head back to Brogora through teleportation, taking a circuitous route. The teleportation areas were well guarded- any trouble near them would require a full invasion. Anton was feeling well enough to travel- and though he wouldn¡¯t know for sure until he ended up in battle, he had the feeling that even in his current state he should be close to as strong as before. At least when using purely energy. His meridians were certainly not fully recovered, but he could call upon energy swiftly¡­ and he seemed to have sufficient amounts. Marevelous Rabbit Mountain had been quite accommodating, but being back home would be more comfortable. Thus, they would be leaving almost immediately. Anton would have some favors to repay later, but he would best be able to fulfill those when fully recovered. Not an hour later, they were on the road and Anton was feeling uncomfortable. Or rather, uncomfortable with how comfortable he was. He wasn¡¯t sure where Anish had obtained a palanquin, but being carried around in it made him feel awkward. He might have preferred to ride piggy-back if someone was going to carry him, but that was a personal preference. At least it wasn¡¯t gaudy. A carriage would have been more appropriate if they were not traveling off road, but they were. Anton told people to let him walk until his own grandson and grandson-in-law shoved him into the palanquin¡­ gently. Now he was just taking advantage of not having to focus on anything else to concentrate on his recovery. While generally circulating his energy throughout his own body promoted healing, focusing on individual points was always more effective. A knuckle that wasn¡¯t quite right or a small section of a particular meridian could be gradually improved as he focused on the fine details. There was only so much a body could do in a day, however. At the minimum Anton had to take some breaks to focus his mind on something else¡­ and he was too paranoid to never scan the area around them. Or cautious, since people really did want to kill him. It made sense. If he recovered, he might be a threat¡­ but he wasn¡¯t going to make it easy for anyone. It seemed his efforts reaching for the sun had been fruitful, as his senses stretched further now within the atmosphere, and he knew they would continue to improve with time. How rapidly he could not say, but the further points he could sense had improved by a few kilometers, with a significant improvement in his omnidirectional sensing as well. Though keeping track of everything that was happening around him could be difficult. He certainly couldn¡¯t focus on hundreds of squirrels all at once, so he had to selectively ignore things. By the time several days had passed, they were getting close to their destination and Anton was itching to run around- but he was lucky his body functioned at all, and making it work too hard would simply stunt the healing. The main thing he was doing was stretching to make sure his muscles didn¡¯t become too tight or heal awkwardly. ¡°The last stretch is clear,¡± Velvet reported. Like every time before, and she¡¯d been right. The Soaring Air Sect had managed to get a handful of people into the area when nobody was ready, but no sect could afford to just fling Life Transformation cultivators at a problem after some died. Anton still didn¡¯t let his guard down until they were on the teleportation formation, sheltered by the surrounding structure. Now all they had to do was power it. After checking that the Order¡¯s backup was ready on the other end and things were clear. That was separate from the personnel working the formation itself, but instead even further people to escort him. It was a lot of fuss for one person, but if Anton was honest he couldn¡¯t say it was unjustified. If a few dozen people spent a few days or weeks to ensure his safety, he¡¯d just have to pay that back. To the individuals or the world as a whole or both. Once confirming everything was safe, Anton began inserting his own energy into the formation. Regardless of how much energy came from storage devices, he had to reduce the amount of personal energy he was holding- teleportation required natural energy stores to be considered as one factor of effort. His energy flow, at least, was performing quite well. Along with the others the formation was powered within a few minutes, and then just as quickly they were somewhere else, with the familiar disconcerting shift in reality. Anton expected to be fatigued after such an effort. He should have used more than three-quarters of his energy, after all. And as far as he could tell upon feeling his energy stores afterwards, he hadn¡¯t made a mistake there. Yet there was only the momentary feeling of emptiness before he felt himself filling back up. It wasn¡¯t sudden, but it didn¡¯t require conscious effort or pulling in external natural energy. Or at least¡­ not through the normal means. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The star inside of him was producing the energy seemingly from nowhere, but upon closer inspection it was clear that it all made sense. It was simply pulling from somewhere else- much like Fleeting Youth. Except instead of drawing upon ascension energy, he had simply tapped into a tremendous source of natural energy. The actual sun. That had always been the intention on some level, he just hadn¡¯t expected it to actually work. Considering he was fairly sure the solar flare that had made the sun feel just slightly closer could have wiped out the planet many times over, Anton assumed he was drawing upon just the tiniest fraction of the sun¡¯s power. And if he¡¯d gotten any more he would have absolutely killed himself so he considered himself fortunate. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Velvet asked, looking him over. ¡°Quite well, actually,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°This third century might be interesting.¡± ¡°Your lifespan has increased so much?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Who knows?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve resolved to not think about it. Perhaps I have the same scant decades as before, perhaps less. Though it should be more, with my cultivation improved.¡± ¡°You are far too relaxed about this whole thing,¡± Devon said. ¡°Not just your lifespan, but this whole achievement. The hundredth star, without ascension. Not long after someone finally did things the ¡®proper¡¯ way, either.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be more celebratory when I finish recovering,¡± Anton said. ¡°And when people will let me walk around on my own feet again.¡± ----- Things were rather awkward on Rouhiri. After Swordmaster Rahayu¡¯s appearance, the whole expedition had just retreated and they had returned empty handed. No, it was worse than that. They weren¡¯t just left with nothing, but instead Alva was officially in the hole, as if it was her fault the mission failed. Even though it was the fault of the mission details being lacking or the ¡®leader¡¯ Rahmi¡¯s cowardice. Of course, with the new information coming in from Hoyt via Catarina and the others, it made sense. The Harmonious Citadel had felt weird, and now she realized they meant to entrap people in their system. If they worked hard and rose through the ranks? Good. They were now part of the Harmonious Citadel. If they wanted to leave? They just had to make sufficient contributions¡­ and if they fell behind, they couldn¡¯t leave. What a scheme. The worst part of it all was Vari. She seemed to have decided that Alva was her friend. ¡°It is our own fault, for failing the Saints.¡± ¡°You may have failed or whatever,¡± Alva said, ¡°But I followed every order I got, and took down more than a handful of enemies. Where are my contribution points for that, hmm?¡± ¡°Of course it cannot be expected that you would receive rewards for a failed mission.¡± Alva was not particularly tall, but she did her best to lean over Vari, imagining she was atop Fuzz. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go ask Rahmi how many contribution points he received and then get back to me.¡± ¡°Of course it is expected that a leader would receive more rewards than the others.¡± Alva pressed her fingers to her forehead and took a deep breath. ¡°So you grew up here, huh?¡± ¡°Indeed I did. I was fortunate to be born into the shelter of the great Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°Uh huh. Tell me about these saints or whatever.¡± ¡°Gladly!¡± Alva didn¡¯t actually intend to listen to Vari talking, but it made them blend into the surroundings better. Alva didn¡¯t actually feel pressured to go out on a mission at this exact moment. The Harmonious Citadel had to be more patient than that, willing to bleed people dry over years, decades, or centuries. She was quite certain that any way off-world was watched more carefully. At least she hadn¡¯t gotten close to Chikere- who was a wanted fugitive now for abandoning their cause. Even though she¡¯d been fighting an enemy so they could retreat. Though technically Chikere probably deserved it. If she hadn¡¯t joined up with those ¡®bandits¡¯ and Rahayu, then she was dead- and it wouldn¡¯t really matter what people said. Alva couldn¡¯t guarantee survival, though in any situation that didn¡¯t involve that particular swordmaster she would have bet on it. Rahayu might think fondly of Chikere, but two swordmasters fighting¡­ she shook her head. Alva¡¯s eyes stopped on Vari. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± she asked. ¡°What¡¯s what?¡± Vari tilted her head. ¡°This,¡± Alva reached out and snatched a strand of energy floating out of Vari. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t see anything?¡± ¡°This strand of energy.¡± Vari frowned, ¡°Are you alright? I can recommend a place for you to stay, if you need some rest.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m fine,¡± Alva said. ¡°Go back to whatever you were talking about.¡± ¡°The Saint of Light! Leader of the whole Harmonious Citadel!¡± Vari¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly who it is, but they¡¯ve been in place for several decades, after the last one passed on.¡± ¡°Who killed them?¡± Alva asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The last uh, Saint of Light. Who killed them?¡± ¡°Nobody killed them. They retired and passed on their position.¡± ¡°So if I were to go try to find the previous Saint of Light now, where would I look?¡± Vari shook her head, ¡°The likes of us would not be allowed into their presence.¡± ¡°Where does this former Saint of Light live?¡± Alva asked straightforwardly. ¡°Some big palace?¡± ¡°Well, one of the towers, I presume.¡± ¡°With one of the regular saints?¡± Alva raised an eyebrow, ¡°I thought you said that one occupied each of those ridiculous towers.¡± ¡°You were listening. Yes, each tower is exclusively for the access of one of the other saints. So there must be¡­ somewhere else. And the towers are great works of art!¡± Alva just nodded. So, someone was compensating for something¡­ and the former Saint of Light had been killed by the new one. Or some equivalent. Maybe they just couldn¡¯t admit they could die. She reached out and snatched another strand of energy leaving Vari. What was it? Certainly not natural energy, nor ascension energy. Both were struggling to leave her grip and head off in a certain direction, but she was interested to see if she could do something with them. Chapter 416 Dozens of arrows flew back and forth across the battlefield, each carefully controlled to minimize damage to the battlefield. People still had to live here, after all. Thought it might have seemed like several squads of archers facing off against each other, it was merely two individuals. Anton and Kseniya fought, the trajectories of their arrows designed to be as difficult to predict as possible. The arrows targeting Anton were running into a snag, however. There were only so many ways to shoot a stationary target. Kseniya had been far ahead of Anton at the beginning of his cultivation career, but he¡¯d gradually gained on her until the prime tempering in mid Life Transformation. The delay there had set him behind again, only for him to eventually catch her at the ninety-ninth star. Now he had taken one step beyond¡­ a very significant one. Three energy bows formed the core of his offensive capabilities. Using his physical bows would improve his maximum power somewhat, but the fatigue would be another issue. His body was in fairly good shape for a two hundred year old man that had recently undergone a near death experience, but he preferred to minimize the strain. That was part of the reason he was standing still¡­ the other was as a sort of taunt. While it might have seemed like an insult, Anton hoped to bring out the best in Kseniya through the restrictions he had placed on himself. Though he wasn¡¯t yet fully recovered, the increase in his energy was great enough that he could simply overpower Kseniya. After all, she was in Life Transformation still, while he took the next step. And unlike the Ascension level invaders, Kseniya had no special techniques to knock him down a peg. As for comfort in the current environment, Anton felt a much greater connection to the world than Kseniya had. Three energy bows let him output the maximum amount of power he could continuously maintain, a serious challenge. The sky was filled with streaks of light and fire, one side trying to find a way through the wall of power while avoiding the incoming hail of arrows. It was expected that Kseniya would be worn down, as her recovery of energy was far more limited. And that was how it worked¡­ at first. Now, Anton found that it took more than two or three of his own arrows to intercept one of hers. He could not simply remain stationary, and three bows was not enough either. He also had to think about how he was attacking. There were a few shots he¡¯d made where he¡¯d pulled the impact¡­ this was training after all. But Kseniya was more the type of Chikere, who did better when the situation was serious. He might have to bring a bit of risk into things, and Kseniya had already approved the possibility. Almost immediately, he landed a hit. It didn¡¯t break through Kseniya¡¯s guard, but it staggered her for a moment. She hadn¡¯t been able to react, because the time it took the attack to reach her was practically nothing. His light arrows had been swift before, but their speed didn¡¯t even begin to approach actual light. Now, even if they still had vaguely comprehensible speed they were several times faster with more power behind them. Three more hit, but the fifth was dodged, Kseniya beginning her movements before the arrow was even fully released. ¡°Not bad¡­¡± Anton muttered to himself. There was still a lot he could learn from her in the aspect of one-on-one duels, but he focused on another path. The tempo of the battle increased, with Anton being forced to block some hits directly instead of deflecting them with arrows. Kseniya was actually forcing him to overspend his natural energy, and he was starting to feel the drain. But of course she would tire herself long before it truly mattered. Both of them knew what was coming, however. Anton had five bows firing as he pleased, harrowing her from all sides, but she was still able to guide the battle to a more advantageous position for herself, where she had shelter on at least one side. Anton could have likely shot through the nearby cliff-face if necessary, but his attacks would have been hampered enough it was better to go around. Then his attacks synced up, groups of five firing and combining into something like a single arrow as it approached Kseniya, forcing her to pull upon the limits of her power. Once, twice, three times¡­ and she began to stagger. The movements of her hands and arms could only do so much. When one of Anton¡¯s attacks was halfway to her, she pulled a crystal arrow. Her draw was slower and more methodical than the others, though most would have barely been able to comprehend the movements regardless. As the arrows came together in front of her, the crystal arrow she fired collided with them, breaking through. But instead of the attack turning towards Anton, it streaked off into the sky. Kseniya followed. Anton let out a breath he hadn¡¯t known he was holding. It was a loss for the Order to have her moving on, but the younger generation could pick up the slack. Besides, they would probably need everyone they could to ascend if they were to establish some sort of presence in the upper realms. Though he¡¯d somewhat gained the upper hand against his old teacher, Anton still found he¡¯d learned something from the battle. That was the optimal, where both sides were close enough in power to train each other. And he was more confident in what he could do in a serious situation as well. He didn¡¯t know his actual limits, and he knew that pushing himself too far could set back his recovery but he was confident he could handle any reasonable threat the world might throw at him. ----- Confidence was good, as long as it was well placed. A proper understanding of one¡¯s own power was required for a cultivator. Because of that, Anton made sure he wasn¡¯t going alone to visit the Hardened Crown Sect. He had Velvet and Devon with him, as well as a number of up-and-coming members of the Order he needed to get more familiar with. He knew their names and strengths, but he didn¡¯t really know most of them to the level he might like. Then there was Kohar, because she was most familiar with the terms of all the contracts and treaties involved. Finally was Elder Paula of Marvelous Rabbit Mountain, as not only a witness but also a representative of Aicenith, since that was where the incident had occurred. The Hardened Crown Sect was serving as a neutral location for resolving the dispute with the Soaring Air Sect, though ¡®neutral¡¯ still involved going significantly into unfriendly territory. Though Anton had to admit it was more neutral than the Soaring Air Sect coming to Brogora. Anywhere on the continent would gladly help Anton cut off the head of someone from the Exalted Archipelago. A small fleet from the Hardened Crown Sect was waiting to escort Anton and the others, though he might have felt better if it didn¡¯t seem necessary. If any other ships came within a hundred kilometers he had in mind to sink them, assuming they were enemies. Though when it actually came down to it once they were actually within the archipelago there were far too many¡­ and most didn¡¯t carry Life Transformation cultivators. They had their own destinations and were probably blissfully unaware of his presence. The Soaring Air Sect was not present when they arrived, though they should have been close. Though it was likely they could send a skyship over within a day, and the timing wasn¡¯t that exact. It did give some time for Anton to speak with elder Naamah, at least. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The two of them sat in a private chamber. There was some risk to that, but not much more than coming in the first place. The Hardened Crown Sect had stayed out of the war before, and the possibility that they would be willing to trigger a new war now was extremely small- though Anton had to admit the continents¡¯ power was dipping briefly with all the ascensions taking place. Though the upcoming generation was not something that could be ignored even if they were not at the peak of cultivation. Naamah looked over Anton carefully. He could sense her cautiously probing with her energy, and he wondered if he should stop her. Mystery was a great factor in keeping people on the back foot. However, he had something he wanted to see. He found it, with just the tiniest bit of change in Naamah¡¯s eyes. Surprise, perhaps. And maybe some small bit of recognition. ¡°Rumors said you had been injured. It seems you are recovering well.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Thank you for your concern. I was fortunate to receive nothing permanently debilitating.¡± Naamah nodded slowly. ¡°Rumor has it you were attempting to emulate something akin to the Soaring Air Sect¡¯s technique.¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Now that¡¯s a surprise. Why would they say that?¡± ¡°Some people¡­ sensed your energy high up in the sky, passing over us.¡± That reduced the chance that someone had given a tip on his injuries. He hadn¡¯t realized that anyone had felt him, but at least at a certain point it would have been more surprising if nobody noticed. Despite being quite far away, a strange energy phenomenon should have piqued some interest. ¡°Did you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I noticed you on the way down,¡± Naamah admitted. There was little else forthcoming in the way of information. Naamah kept a level of caution, but was pleasant enough. A short time after Anton felt a skyship incoming, Naamah looked up. ¡°It appears they have arrived.¡± She stood up, ¡°We will keep the peace here. Speak whatever words you will, but we will not tolerate weapons drawn or raised energy on either side.¡± Anton nodded. He currently had his energy tightly wrapped around him, capable of being used defensively as well as hiding some details about his current cultivation- enough to not make it obvious, at least. Some people had to have at least surmised he was trying to advance, but he thought it was more likely they would believe he failed ascension rather than the truth. A woman that had to have been Sect Head Kaluza swaggered her way off the skyship down the ramp, walking past Anton with bare acknowledgement. ¡°Let¡¯s get this over with quickly. Some of us have important work to do.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°That¡¯s simple then. Just hand over your head and the incident will be written off.¡± She turned, her eyes sharp- but the way Naamah stood half between the two of them, stopped her from doing more than that. ¡°We¡¯re here for a serious negotiation, not petty threats.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a threat. That is our primary demand,¡± Anton turned to the entourage following her, ¡°It is the best deal we are willing to offer the Soaring Air Sect. And I would say it¡¯s even better than anticipated, given that,¡± he vaguely gestured at Kaluza. Only silent hostility was exchanged on the way to the proper chambers where the rest of the discussion would ensue. Naamah spoke first, her strong voice filling the room without the need for adding natural energy to boost it. ¡°Today we gather here to discuss the conflict between the continents of Brogora and Aicenith and the Soaring Air Sect, concerning possible violations of the postwar treaty. Both sides are aware of the basic information. The Soaring Air Sect has been accused of unlawfully entering the continent of Aicenith and committing acts of war. The Soaring Air Sect denies the claims and conclusions unilaterally.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Now can we get this over with?¡± Kaluza looked her best to look both bored and authoritative at the same time. ¡°We won¡¯t even force reparations for this slander, so we can just be done with this.¡± Elder Paula reached into her storage bag, ¡°So you don¡¯t recognize any of these figures?¡± She pulled out the bodies, reasonably well preserved. ¡°Because everything from their auras to their equipment indicates they were from your sect, and we found them intruding on our land with the guts to attack continental citizens.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen them,¡± Kaluza declared, ¡°But they have nothing to do with us. These five have had their membership in the Soaring Air Sect formally renounced.¡± Kohar cleared her throat. She was the weakest person in the room, but she still held her own air of confidence. ¡°The announcement only came weeks after the incident, which is far from insufficient to meet the terms of the treaty. According to the definitions this constitutes an act of war.¡± She turned her eyes to Naamah, ¡°If your offer of reparation is insufficient, we will be formally demanding the Exalted Archipelago follow through on sections seven, thirteen, and twenty-one, resulting in the complete destruction of your sect.¡± ¡°That¡¯s completely invalid. They weren¡¯t part of our sect.¡± ¡°Your word is not good enough,¡± Elder Paula said, ¡°Especially as it came late. Then there is also the matter of the skyship that carried them.¡± ¡°There was no skyship,¡± Kaluza countered. ¡°Not one of ours, at least.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± Elder Paula said, ¡°Because it was spotted a dozen times along its route, circling over the continent at extreme altitude. And I don¡¯t believe any others have skyships capable of such a route. Such a skyship violates¡­¡± she turned to Kohar, who read parts of various relevant sections. ¡°None of this proves anything,¡± Kaluza flipped around, ¡°Go ahead and make your claims if you dare.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± Elder Paula said as she began to walk out. ¡°Kohar?¡± Kohar handed a stack of papers to sect head Naamah, ¡°For distribution. Our claims, as well as the declarations from the continents of Aicenith and Brogora combined that the Soaring Air Sect is hereby forbidden from coming within two hundred kilometers of the continents, as well as anywhere in the sea between them. Any vessel that carries one of them will be confiscated, and anyone who trades with them directly will be forbidden from setting foot on the continents for the next century.¡± Kaluza looked calmly back, ¡°You may make your threats, but the Exalted Archipelago will see through your ploy and support us.¡± Anton was surprised at how confident she was with that declaration. The Soaring Air Sect couldn¡¯t have worked alone. ¡°We have no interest in trading with you anyway.¡± ¡°The silks you wear beg to differ,¡± Paula said as the final word, but Kaluza didn¡¯t stop until she reached her airship and departed. ¡°A question,¡± Anton said to Naamah, ¡°Would you be obligated to stop me from¡­ shooting random arrows out over the sea?¡± She chuckled slightly, ¡°We need to escort you out of the boundary of the Exalted Archipelago. What you do after that is not our concern, but we take no responsibility for your life if you enter the wrong territorial waters.¡± Anton wouldn¡¯t have actually shot down the departing diplomatic ship, even if they sort of deserved it¡­ but he did strongly consider whether he could. For the moment, he had to contact the continent. It was a simple message, just declaring that the deal had¡­ gone as expected. That information would be disseminated to the ports, and trading with anyone from the Exalted Archipelago would be immediately halted. Anton wasn¡¯t sure how long that would keep up, but the favors he had would at least be enough to keep that up for a few months. As for after that, he wasn¡¯t sure. A display of power would be necessary at some point, and he was unsure if it should be his own. The Exalted Archipelago still thought they were better, and while that was true in some part¡­ things were going to change. And some sects would likely be willing to give up trade with the Soaring Air Sect to keep up their newfound trade for different luxuries and resources that the continents had. The first to formally vote against the Soaring Air Sect would be the first to return to that trade. It was possible things could lead to war- but if the Exalted Archipelago was going to act as if they were at war regardless, that was how it would have to be. Chapter 417 A steady breeze kept the ship going at a good pace, but as they had drifted north Ermias couldn¡¯t help but look towards distant shores he knew were there somewhere. They might be well beyond the range of his sight or energy senses, but they still felt a bit too close somehow. He looked up at the stars, trying to judge their position. ¡°Are you sure we aren¡¯t too close?¡± Ermias asked the captain. ¡°Yes I¡¯m sure. And it¡¯s the middle of the night out in the middle of nowhere. Nobody will notice. But I¡¯m not going through the reefs in the dark.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Ermias nodded. ¡°Of course.¡± Skyships didn¡¯t have to worry about such things, but he¡¯d been on mundane ships enough to know there were many obstacles even on what appeared to be empty ocean. Things were silent for about another hour, then the dawn came. From the north, all at once. Neither of those things were normal, but there was no other way to explain the clouds and sea lighting up, was there? There was a cracking sound as something impacted the ship¡¯s defensive barrier, and then the mast was tumbling over. Ermias didn¡¯t know what was going on, but he jumped away from the ship to the south, trying to fly away. Something impacted his chest, sending him backwards to sprawl on the deck. The sound of chain unraveling caught his attention, as he looked at the anchor somehow dropping itself. Once it was over the edge gravity would take over, but those things didn¡¯t just slip off the edge. Confusing shouts, cursing, and frantic orders from the captain overwhelmed the pleasant sloshing sound of waves and gentle breeze. Ermias saw the sailors attempt various things, but those around the anchor were knocked back by sudden flashes of light. The captain eventually ordered them to chop through the chain, but that led to further flashes that disarmed people- and not just gently. Blood dripped from many people¡­ though Ermias didn¡¯t see anyone dead yet. As for himself, he had a hole in his chest, but it only went a knuckle deep, not quite enough to be any real danger. He considered trying to flee again, but that didn¡¯t work for anyone else who tried to abandon ship. They were all kept contained by whatever force was attacking. Everyone could feel the power, but not where it came from- except the vague direction. ¡°You!¡± the captain glared at Ermias, ¡°This is all your fault! They¡¯re after you!¡± Ermias tensed, ready to defend himself against the captain. One on one, they would be a decent match, and if Ermias needed to defend himself normally it wouldn¡¯t be an issue. He could just fly out of the enemy¡¯s optimal range and that would be it. But the rest of the crew would be with the captain, and he couldn¡¯t exactly get out of range without some mysterious force attacking him. The captain¡¯s blade was halfway to him when something shot between them, forcing the man to pull back or risk his arm. Ermias briefly considered some sort of counterattack, but he had the feeling that this person wasn¡¯t on his side. He wasn¡¯t exactly welcome in the area. Eventually all of the activity ceased, and people sat and waited. Testing the limits seemed to result in more serious injuries, but eventually they could feel something approaching. After a couple hours the ship was visible, though by that point Ermias was quite certain he was dead. He had plenty of time to sense the incoming person, and they weren¡¯t hiding the fact that they were from the Order of One Hundred Stars. No, more than that¡­ it was him. In a way the one who had gotten Ermias into this mess to begin with. There simply couldn¡¯t be many other archers of that caliber in the Order. ¡°Do you know where you are?¡± a voice boomed from the approaching ship. ¡°About two hundred south of Droca,¡± the captain said nervously. ¡°One hundred and ninety.¡± The one who was speaking leapt ahead of his ship, water spraying beneath him as he moved before stepping onto the ship. ¡°I didn¡¯t know-¡± the captain began to protest, but a single look from the man shut him up. It was hard to look directly at this individual who shone in the night, and uncomfortable to think about how strong he was. ¡°Didn¡¯t know what? Where your ship was? Who your passengers were?¡± Eyes drifted towards the hold, ¡°What cargo you have? We¡¯ll deal with that in a second.¡± Ermias was suddenly looking into the sun- two of them, with each eye of the man leaning close to his face. Grand Elder Anton. It had to be. ¡°Why are you here?¡± ¡°I-I was fleeing from the Soaring Air Sect.¡± ¡°Why come here?¡± Anton¡¯s voice was forceful, nearly compelling him to answer, though Ermias imagined it was impossible to make his position any worse anyway. ¡°The rest of the Exalted Archipelago has extradition treaties with the Soaring Air Sect,¡± Ermias swallowed. ¡°I was planning to head to the Storm Reefs. They¡¯re¡­ outside the claimed territory of the continent, right?¡± He looked back and forth between Anton and the captain. A smile crept onto the old man¡¯s face. ¡°And why would you be fleeing from the Soaring Air Sect, hmm?¡± Those eyes burrowed deep into his soul. Lying wouldn¡¯t save Ermias even if he could at this moment. ¡°Because of you,¡± he just managed to croak. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°And then you got off course into our waters.¡± Anton straightened, turning away from Ermias to the captain. Ermias hadn¡¯t even realized he¡¯d fallen onto his rear until then. ¡°Captain¡­ care to explain why you¡¯re here?¡± ¡°It was just a small detour¡­ we didn¡¯t want to approach the reefs directly at night and I suppose we drifted-¡± The captain swallowed, ¡°I mean, I thought we wouldn¡¯t be bothered with since we weren¡¯t approaching¡­¡± ¡°The second part is more honest, at least,¡± Anton shook his head. He walked over to a hatch leading below decks, flipping it open. Grasping several crates with his energy, he yanked them up onto the deck. Then he flung them into the air, before flicking fire at them and burning them to ash. ¡°Listen, captain. I¡¯m not interested in enforcing taxes on the rest of what you¡¯re smuggling down there, but I can¡¯t tolerate deathweed for any purpose. Next time you pick up someone like this,¡± he gestured to Ermias. ¡°Just send a message¡­ or be very careful where you travel. This time it only cost you a mast, so be grateful.¡± Ermias found himself suddenly yanked by his collar as Anton leapt back onto his ship which had closed the remaining distance. ¡°What are you going to do with me?¡± Ermias asked. ¡°Don¡¯t know yet,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m sure we can work something out.¡± ----- With most of the Exalted Archipelago either working towards compliance with the terms of the treaty or at least putting in the effort to pretend they were, for the moment the continents were content to not escalate matters. Personally Anton thought they were rather slow, though cultivators took their time in many situations. It was potentially difficult for them to completely follow through with the terms of the treaty. Perhaps impossible when combined with the rules from the Exalted Quadrant above. That was something they had to work out for themselves, however. If they couldn¡¯t follow the terms, that should have come up in the initial signing. They would find some way to extract other penalties if they failed to meet those standards. While Anton would have liked to simply wipe out the Soaring Air Sect, he had to admit it was more a desire for personal revenge than some overarching justice. They¡¯d killed five of their Life Transformation cultivators- not the best of them, but still a real loss- and extracting some other sort of penalty that avoided a war would ultimately be better for the world. But he couldn¡¯t help but reach back to clutch his bow whenever he thought of them. Then there was the issue of Ermias. The young man- young for his cultivation at least- was a conundrum. But it was easy to make an exception. He would rather take a declaration from an individual that they were not part of the Soaring Air Sect when he was causing no trouble compared to the official matters where they declared people weren¡¯t working for them after they failed an obvious mission. Sect Head Kaluza had thought the Exalted Archipelago would shield her sect¡­ and she was at least partly right. The trade ban might even hurt continental affairs more, but they didn¡¯t need anything from the Exalted Archipelago. They¡¯d been smart enough to not push the limits for the most part, though Anton had been a hair¡¯s width from shooting down a skyship skirting the edge of continental territory. So far no one except Ermias from the Soaring Air Sect had actually crossed the line. Nobody wanted to take those consequences onto their own head, after all- loyalty to a sect wasn¡¯t completely without limit. As Ermias made obvious. Anton hadn¡¯t continued to press in front of the captain, but once they were alone he asked for more. ¡°What is it about me that would cause you to flee the Soaring Air Sect?¡± He needed to know what they knew. Ermias just gestured to Anton as a whole, ¡°I think it¡¯s pretty obvious. You were one of those famous during the war, and have now reached the peak of your power. It appears you have no intention of ascending either.¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well¡­¡± Ermias scratched his chin. ¡°I was standing guard for one of the meetings of the upper echelon. They were concerned that perhaps you had reached a higher stage of cultivation. They wanted to make sure you didn¡¯t continue to grow.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°And what do you think?¡± ¡°I saw the war,¡± Ermias shook his head. ¡°The Soaring Air Sect didn¡¯t seem to think the continental powers were capable of standing up to the Exalted Archipelago, but you proved them wrong.¡± ¡°So you thought it was a good idea to sneak past the restrictions we had in place to hide yourself¡­¡± Anton narrowed his eyes. ¡°I believed you would follow the terms you had set in place. If I could simply stay out of the war, I would have a chance. I didn¡¯t expect the captain to be so careless.¡± ¡°You are fortunate that it was me and not some of the others,¡± Anton said. ¡°I suppose so. Though I doubt many others would have been able to spot us at that distance.¡± ¡°About war¡­ you think that is what the Exalted Archipelago intends?¡± ¡°The Soaring Air Sect thought it would be the case. Within a few years, at least.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you can stay out of that war,¡± Anton commented. ¡°I won¡¯t fight for the Soaring Air Sect. They have no hold over me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not quite true,¡± Anton said. ¡°But discounting further off troubles¡­ what if I told you to fight on our side?¡± Ermias thought for a few moments. ¡°I am not a coward. I just refuse to fight for those who make reckless judgements about their opponent¡¯s strength.¡± ¡°What do you think about us, then?¡± Anton asked. ¡°If you were truly reckless, you would have continued the last war¡­ or started the next one quickly. Even if I hadn¡¯t seen your strength I would prefer the measured approach here.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°You said they thought I reached a higher stage of cultivation. What do you think?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t, uh¡­¡± Ermias frowned. He was reluctant to try to feel out the cultivation of someone who could easily kill him from beyond where he could see. ¡°I don¡¯t know. You seem like you must be, but you haven¡¯t ascended. They didn¡¯t¡­ nobody seemed to know what you might have done. They were just afraid of the possibility.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Perhaps they should be.¡± Chapter 418 Looking at the places she could go- if she had money- they were all planets controlled by the Harmonious Citadel. Or related to missions for them. Theoretically if she got somewhere along the outer limits of their territory it would be possible for her to find some way to leave. It was unclear if there would be legitimate means of that or if she would have to find some sort of smugglers, and she wasn¡¯t particularly feeling hopeful about either possibility. There was, however, one place where Alva was certain she could meet up with Catarina and Timothy. A place where people were coming and going from many different places all the time. It probably had a name once- but it was just known as Everheart¡¯s Tomb now. Rumor had it that he¡¯d been killed by the combined efforts of the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster. Maybe he had- but Alva knew that tombs didn¡¯t get built by people who were already dead. It was surprising that this one was the only one, though. But to get there she had to make up for the stupid debt she had by going on a mission or two. As long as no disaster happened like the previous one, she should be fine. In truth, she was strong enough that she could go on trivial missions for a year or two and not have to worry, but just because she had a long lifespan didn¡¯t mean she wanted to waste possible years. Especially somewhere she didn¡¯t feel safe. So she chose a mission. ¡°I¡¯m so glad we¡¯re going on another mission together!¡± Vari said with too much enthusiasm. ¡°Mhm,¡± Alva replied. ¡°You¡¯re an archer right, Sister Alva?¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re from the lower realms? You¡¯ll have to tell me about them at some point.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Alva asked. ¡°... because?¡± Vari tilted her head. ¡°Listen, Vari. Last mission¡­ can you do anything?¡± ¡°Of course I can do anything! I am a practitioner of the great Holy Harmony Technique!¡± Vari¡¯s chest puffed up with pride. As she did so, more strands of something flickered away from her. ¡°Not just anyone can practice such a magnificent technique.¡± ¡°Sounds great,¡± Alva said. She was holding onto another wriggling strand of energy, which apparently Vari couldn¡¯t see. They appeared around this place fairly regularly, but they came from Vari much more than anyone else. Alva hadn¡¯t seen any come from herself, but Vari couldn¡¯t see her own so¡­ maybe that didn¡¯t mean anything. ¡°Does ¡®anything¡¯ involve intercepting enemies?¡± Vari didn¡¯t seem to have a weapon, and Alva hadn¡¯t seen her take one out even when they were fighting the bandits¡­ but she was admittedly distracted at the time. ¡°It can,¡± Vari said. ¡°I am capable in both hand-to-hand combat and barrier techniques.¡± ¡°Great. We should team up then.¡± Alva wasn¡¯t planning to sacrifice Vari for her own safety¡­ but she did much prefer the idea of Vari getting hurt instead of her if someone had to. With her mobility missing a certain large wolf, she needed to consider other approaches. ----- When the fog settled over the Grasping Willows, Lev could immediately tell that it was wrong. Natural fogs happened in the area, but the way they appeared was much different. Perhaps if circumstances were different he wouldn¡¯t have noticed, but his perception spanned the whole valley- and not in the standard way where his energy senses stretched to cover something. Instead, he was present in every part of the valley, as the great branches of the Grandfather Willow. Lev barely had time to start waking people when something struck the barrier from above. The barrier itself was not particularly amazing, but the way it dissolved after the single bombardment meant something odd was going on. A great burst of power that none of those Lev sensed could have created. Hopefully, a tool of limited use. As cultivators rained from the sky, it became clear this was more than just a casual intrusion. More than that, people began to pour in from the surrounding area, Spirit Building and Essence Collection but more than a few Life Transformation. And those who came from the skies were nearly all Life Transformation. It was difficult to pick out some of them, dropping almost invisibly into the sect grounds. Only the criss-crossing roots were able to sense those, while others were more straightforward. The individuals flying through the branches, for example, nearly brushed against the branches of the Grandfather Willow which would have gotten them entangled without Lev¡¯s input. Then there were those with swords, who were immediately chopping at the tree itself- its thick bark limiting the damage of their attacks, but not completely impenetrable. On the other side, the Grasping Willows had twenty of their own Life Transformation cultivators present, and many of their disciples. Many of those who were weaker were told to simply form defensive groups, but some made their way to fight some of the relatively weaker cultivators who came from the ground. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The sudden attack was well coordinated and had great power, but they made one mistake. They came for the Grandfather Willow. Lev wasn¡¯t sure what they would do with it, but its wood was incalculably valuable. If things had been as they were in the past, the Grasping Willows wouldn¡¯t have been able to withstand even a portion of their forces, and the Grandfather Willow itself would have had no reactions. But now, the Grandfather Willow was Lev. He had to pick and choose his targets. First were the assassins, then those attacking the tree itself. There was a whirling frenzy of branches as Lev directed dozens of them towards a handful of targets, while having the others sweep around randomly. The latter took basically no concentration on his part, so even if it only slightly inconvenienced one or two it would be worthwhile. Roots sprang up beneath the assassins¡¯ feet, wrapping around their legs. Some attempted to tear them apart, while others just held them- still invisible, but obvious to anyone watching, making them a tempting target. The swift and powerful resistance was clearly unexpected. While Lev¡¯s recent improvements weren¡¯t exactly secret, they also weren¡¯t public knowledge. With a good portion of the attackers seeming to be from the Exalted Archipelago, they might not have known. Or they underestimated him. In truth, Lev had some serious limitations. Beyond the limits of the Grandfather Willow he was not necessarily any better than any other Life Transformation cultivator¡­ but here in his domain he was unstoppable. Moment after moment, Life Transformation cultivators were grappled, crushed, and torn apart. Within the first few minutes there was a clear consensus among the attackers that they were going to retreat. Those from the Soaring Sky Sect picked up those who were convenient and flew up through the branches. Lev let them go, but only because he was focusing on protecting his people. And he didn¡¯t intend for that to last. By the time he sufficiently cut back on the forces remaining on the ground, they were beyond the sizable reach of the dangling branches- some able to stretch a kilometer or more into the sky beyond the top of the Grandfather Willow itself. But Lev wasn¡¯t willing to just leave things at that. Further above, he sensed at least a half dozen skyships, hovering between four and five kilometers in the air, waiting for their passengers to reach them. While letting them leave would still be a victory on the part of the Grasping Willows, Lev couldn¡¯t help but sense all of the lost life. Dozens of individuals, some of greater cultivation but all people Lev knew and wished to prosper. And these bastards thought they could come take what they wanted, lives and sacred wood? The Grandfather Willow began to creak and groan as its wood stretched. The ground rumbled as roots tore from it, pushing the massive tree upward. The branches extended their length, and beyond their ends extended natural energy in the same form, reaching upward. Tendrils wrapped around cultivators and skyships, pulling them downward. In retaliation, dozens of branches were severed, but there seemed to be no limit to what Lev had to call upon. None of the attackers would be leaving with their lives. ----- Another message from Lev. Anton was paying attention to that messaging plate, but nothing said would change his decision. ¡°You don¡¯t need to do this. I had my revenge.¡± Anton shook his head. Then he replied, ¡°The Exalted Archipelago has grown up in their bubble of safety and arrogance. They need to know there are consequences for their actions.¡± Through a series of relays, Anton had already contacted the Rising Waterfall Sect. They had the swiftest ships that Anton was aware of, and that was the most important feature for what he intended. It would take them a period of a couple weeks to get as many ready as he wished, but he had already arranged for payment. Now he just needed more people. Messages went out to everyone he knew across both continents. He needed the best. Life Transformation cultivators were the bare minimum. Million Sword Vault were the first to volunteer with a dozen individuals. He gladly accepted them, though if his plan worked they would have minimal impact on the results. Other sects were reached out for. Anton didn¡¯t want to include the Grasping Willows because they had their own wounds to tend to, but word got around and soon some were in contact with him. Lev did not forbid them to go, because despite his protests he knew that it was better to respond with full force instead of something insufficient. Beyond all of the familiar allied sects, there were those who simply wanted revenge on the Exalted Archipelago for any number of reasons. Anton accepted them all with one condition- they would follow his orders. And while the continents were large, not that many people were eager to suddenly go to war at the drop of a hat- especially those who had no connection to the Grasping Willows. Beyond sects, there were individuals Anton knew he specifically sought out. Hiram was now the sole practitioner of the Deathly Heart Technique, which had the important feature of incorporating effective ranged attacks. Nthanda was an excellent archer, not yet capable of the same distance as Anton but still deadly and effective at a great distance. Marcio and others from the Order were requested, and while Anton had some authority to order them to come along he made sure it was clear they were not required to support him. Yet nobody refused a direct request. Those from Brogora gathered made their way as swiftly as possible to teleportation formations to reach Aicenith, then to the west coast. The Exalted Archipelago had to know that they lost a great many cultivators, but they might expect a diplomatic response. And there would be one¡­ later. First Anton was going to wipe some sects off the map. Previously there had been some trepidation concerning the power of those in the upper realms, but it was now clear that without the pact preventing them, some sects in the Exalted Archipelago couldn¡¯t coexist with the continents. As for those in the upper realms? If they had complaints, Anton was willing to receive them when they came to visit. Despite the speed of the ships, Anton wished they could go faster. But perhaps it was better that they did not. Rage had certainly influenced his decisions, but as they made their way Anton had already rationally thought through what he was doing. It was still the correct decision, but he needed to think about collateral damage. Much of his advantage would be lost if he allowed ships to come close enough to display their intentions, but the majority of those in the Exalted Archipelago didn¡¯t deserve to die. Or at least¡­ not for this particular incident. That was why he wanted the fastest ships rather than those who could hold the most¡­ though in truth with over a hundred Life Transformation cultivators between the ships they were a frightful force for anyone. They were missing the normal lower ranking cultivators which would normally disadvantage them in a pitched battle¡­ but if anyone below Life Transformation dared to approach Anton, he could take them out by the hundreds without even breaking a sweat. And he would¡­ but he intended to focus on the three sects directly responsible- and anyone who got in his way. The Soaring Air Sect had been right to be afraid. Chapter 419 Five fingers tightly gripped a bow. That grip still wasn¡¯t as strong as it had been previously. Perhaps it would never be, though Anton still had some hope in that area. His body wasn¡¯t the important part of his power, though. After all, it wasn¡¯t so simple to combat a cultivation on the threshold of Ascension, but he had felt quite comfortable in his battle against Kseniya. And if he weren¡¯t holding back, he didn¡¯t imagine anyone could stand against him for very long. Though he wasn¡¯t planning to be completely reckless. That was why they had the fastest ships they could get. Previously, the Exalted Archipelago¡¯s naval technology had outclassed the continents¡¯, but at the moment they were more closely matched. The Ponderous Turtle Sect was nearly wiped out and they previously had been the fastest, despite the name. Along the route they were taking there should be few ships capable of overtaking them, and Anton was fairly confident he could mitigate any issues. While his maximum power output was not all that much higher than it had been before- though he could feel it steadily improving- the continuous inpouring of energy sustained him at a high power. And he had a few other tricks that had improved, if it became necessary. Most importantly, Anton wasn¡¯t alone. He was most confident against large numbers of individuals, while single stronger opponents might be able to cause him some trouble. In turn they in turn would have to face against the rest of his allies more or less alone. That was the plan, but so far Anton hadn¡¯t killed anyone or sunk any ships. Of the three sects, the Void Blades were the closest- Anton and the others were looping around from the west, taking a similar route to what the Million Sword Vault had previously attempted. While they weren¡¯t able to count on all of the other sects along the way being distracted, most of the islands on the archipelago were not that close together. If they were relying on visual methods to detect intruders they would never spot them, but Anton thought he¡¯d felt some thin formations that would likely have revealed their location. He shifted his grip as several ships seemed to be approaching, but they were still well over a hundred kilometers off. After a short time of waiting it was clear they were either not routing for their small fleet or unaware of their precise location. If something changed he would act, but sinking random ships would do more to give away their location than conceal it, unless he killed everyone on board. And while some people deserved it, the Exalted Archipelago was made of people just like anywhere else. Some were just trying to live their lives, focusing on their own cultivation. Several hours later they were getting closer to their first objective, one of the outlying islands on the way to the Void Blades¡¯ main headquarters. By close, it was well within Anton¡¯s range. In fact, they were nearing the range of some of those with more reasonable offensive abilities- and the cannons. A few decades of testing had made the weapons a viable option, at least in situations where explosions were valuable. Against enemy cultivators the energy of an explosion was a bit too diffuse to be effective, but siege weaponry wasn¡¯t made to target individuals. It would be fired into groups¡­ or used to destroy structures. Once the cannon was in range of the outpost, it opened fire- with some adjustments made by those who could sense beyond the horizon. They were still a good fifteen kilometers away from the outpost¡­ and another fifty from the main headquarters. Which put the headquarters- and the entire island chain the Void Blades occupied- within Anton¡¯s range. When the cannon exploded, it took almost thirty seconds for the projectile to land. There was simply a limit on how fast it could move, though the energy of the cultivators manning the cannon kept the cannonball from losing speed as it would have otherwise. Such a long time was forever in a battle between cultivators, but before there was a battle they would have to sense danger. Anton felt it impact the walls, only protected by the continual formations and barriers. A three meter wide hole opened, and more on either side was ruined. They weren¡¯t close enough to send people pouring in through the gap in the walls, but it would allow other attacks to target whoever they pleased, since the formation was shattered. At the same moment, arrows arrived on the main island. It was only Anton, but he didn¡¯t want them to have any warning. His first targets were those roaming around various facilities- Life Transformation cultivators, since they were the biggest threat and most responsible for the various faults of the sect. Some barriers blocked his attacks, but not everywhere. Maintaining high powered defenses around the clock was impractical, and covering an entire island was likewise difficult. Under the first volley, several enemies fell and others were injured- but the arrows never stopped, battering those who withstood the initial attack while others sought out new targets. It wasn¡¯t nice, or ¡®fair¡¯, but it also wouldn¡¯t be ¡®fair¡¯ for them to fight Anton in their optimal range. And he¡¯d had enough. Continuing to be reasonable wasn¡¯t achieving results, so he was going to be just a little bit unreasonable. If they were going to follow the rules of might makes right, he would show them who had the might. And he was going to hate every second of it. The Void Blades had suffered greatly in the previous war, with several of their swordmasters slain and their bases raided by the Million Sword Vault- but they hadn¡¯t been slaughtered indiscriminately. Many of their cultivators were allowed to live, and thus had been able to grow in the following years. Which was a shame, because now all the resources they consumed had been wasted. ----- Those who witnessed the first assault- a few survivors of the Void Blades but mostly those dwelling on adjacent islands- recalled a dawn in the middle of the night. The sun never rose above the horizon, but the rays of light stretched out over them. They felt the power, muted by distance- but when cultivators in Life Transformation fought with all their power, they could be felt from cities away. This was more, and it was disturbing. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Messages of the attack were scattered all throughout the Exalted Archipelago, bouncing from place to place as anyone who could be contacted was. At first it was chaos, with information jumbled and confused. Some reported having vaguely sensed foreign cultivators before the attack, some having made reports while others having been unsure. The largest sects and clans reacted with a little bit more intent, and soon enough they organized a meeting. For important matters they would usually gather in person, but the circumstances didn¡¯t allow that. Instead, they had to make use of their messaging chambers- rooms that appeared to be empty upon first glance. As Sect Head Kaluza stepped into her position, the chamber filled up with other figures- projections, standing in their own positions. Along with their image came their voice, with heated conversations bouncing around. Kaluza didn¡¯t bother to announce herself, instead beginning her tirade. ¡°This is what the upper realms warned us about!¡± she chastised. ¡°Yet none of you were willing to act. We had to recruit some filthy dregs from the continents to make our move. Now the consequences rest on your heads.¡± ¡°An interesting interpretation,¡± said Treloar, of the Worthy Shore Society. ¡°And what move, exactly, were you making? Did you attempt to slay this perceived threat, or did you instead try to chop down a tree?¡± ¡°The wood could have produced the greatest skyships ever known,¡± Kaluza countered. ¡°I see. And after you had these skyships, you would have made a move on the most powerful archer this world has ever seen?¡± Sect Head Treloar nodded. ¡°An interesting plan, I must admit. But I have encountered Anton before. I see no chance of any of this coming to rest on my head. Though I do recall yours being demanded.¡± ¡°If we work together we could-¡± ¡°The Void Blades have been exterminated,¡± Treloar said. ¡°Overnight, and mainly from a great distance. Perhaps if we were willing to sacrifice ourselves, we could take down this group. But I plan to ascend in a few decades, so I can¡¯t be bothered to risk my life for no gain.¡± ¡°The upper realms will hear of your cowardice,¡± Kaluza glared. ¡°And they will hear of your death. And your mistakes¡­¡± Treloar said with a blank face. ¡°The latter of which they shall take quite seriously. The destruction of your entire branch will mean your punishment does not stop at death.¡± ¡°What? No, that¡¯s not¡­ they wouldn¡¯t¡­ you¡¯re responsible for this too! They warned us about the potential threat, and you did nothing!¡± Sect Head Naamah shook her head, ¡°They cautioned us about the possibility of those who might take alternate paths than ascension. This was long in the past, and they said foremost that we should not allow one to develop among our enemies.¡± ¡°We had the chance to stop his recovery!¡± Kaluza clenched her fist, wishing she could walk up to the woman and punch her. ¡°And you solidified his position as one of your enemies,¡± Naamah said. ¡°The Hardened Crown Sect will not be coming to your aid.¡± Kaluza looked around. She saw that she was not without support. The Still Wind Erudition had no choice in the matter now, but there were others who saw the logic behind her words. Unfortunately, those who had stayed out of the initial war- and those who had smaller grudges against the continents- were not interested in taking the risk upon themselves. But it didn¡¯t matter. She would lead an army against them, slaying this Anton. It didn¡¯t matter if he was powerful, he didn¡¯t have the talent to ascend and instead ended up in some dead-end side path. They would kill him¡­ and the Soaring Air Sect would be the ones to take the credit. ----- The smell of the salty sea was nice. Especially pleasant was that it was no longer tinged with the smell of iron and blood. Anton happily took deep breaths, replenishing himself. The energy inside him was fire, circulating with great vigor and heat¡­ but to him, it was a comfortable warmth. Proper cultivation developed a cultivator to be stronger, and that was always a good feeling. Anton just wished it hadn¡¯t involved killing so many people. It shouldn¡¯t have been necessary, but this was where things were now. The Void Blades were no more, except perhaps whatever individuals had been away. It can¡¯t have been many, because the number of Life Transformation cultivators had been about what they expected. With those Lev killed and the ones they had just slain, there simply couldn¡¯t be many left. And even if there were, there would be nothing to go back to. It had taken additional effort to level every building, but aside from the fact that they would not be occupying any of this territory, they had to send the right message. This behavior wouldn¡¯t be accepted¡­ and the continents had the power to back this up. If they didn¡¯t make this show of force, they would be subject to continual attacks. That had become obvious. The looted resources were of no interest to Anton. It was part of war, but as he got better at it he grew ever more tired of it. And yet it seemed impossible to stop. Thus, his only option seemed to be making it undesirable. ----- ¡°Anton!¡± Velvet called out. ¡°They¡¯re coming.¡± ¡°I know,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve already consulted with the captains on how best approach the incoming fleets.¡± ¡°Yes but they¡¯re-¡± ¡°Under the water?¡± Anton said as she was gesturing. ¡°Invisible? You do have a good sense for those things, and you are right. We¡¯ll be turning east, away from the islands. The Still Wind Erudition¡¯s buildings can wait for later, we have to move tactically. We should be able to face a more reasonable number of opponents this way. I¡¯d rather not face these fleets all at once. That¡¯s far too much for me.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°And perhaps it should be. That¡¯s what the rest of you are for, but we¡¯ll take out these ships and skyships one at a time.¡± ¡°Skyships?¡± Velvet said, looking off into the distance. ¡°They¡¯re here too?¡± ¡°They moved quickly,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°But this is to our advantage, if we leverage it properly. If they all huddled behind their strongest defensive formation together, we might have had some trouble¡­ but they¡¯re still too far spread out. They have a general idea of our location now, but that means they¡¯re already too close to run.¡± Velvet shivered slightly. She was glad Anton was on their side. Despite being close to what she had once thought was the peak of power, he had something more¡­ and the ability to leverage it in a terrifying way where people could hardly even fight back. Chapter 420 Though the overall size of the continental fleet was much smaller than the combined forces of their enemies, the number of Life Transformation cultivators they had through the combination of multiple sects was higher. Life Transformation cultivators couldn¡¯t carry a battle by themselves, but part of that had to do with whether or not the enemy managed to actually outnumber them. If they couldn¡¯t bring greater numbers to bear all at once, a Life Transformation cultivator could work their way through many lesser opponents. At the current moment the fleet was sweeping east, having previously been moving south directly towards the Still Wind Erudition. The Soaring Air sect¡¯s skyships were to the east, while other sects were sending ships from all directions- but those that were sent didn¡¯t represent the entirety of the Exalted Archipelago, and more importantly it was only the sects that were close that could do anything. Because he now had a nearly endless supply of energy, Anton was already firing upon the most obvious ships. Some were well within his range, but he targeted them because he didn¡¯t want the enemy to know his limits. It was best to surprise them later when they thought they were safe. Not all defensive formations on ships were the same. Some formed a barrier around the whole ship, a bubble that protected the vessel and crew alike- while others were focused more on the structure of the ship itself. Where cultivators were unprotected, Anton began to fill them with arrows, starting with the Essence Collection cultivators- he could finish them off quickly, and they had the most chance of influencing the battle otherwise. They quickly began to take shelter, running below decks- but not before he killed dozens. Then he moved for any other crew on those ships, though even if the rest of the deck was relatively unprotected the pilot usually was. Though a few ships were missing that key detail, and soon had nobody on deck to control their trajectory. Anton had a short time where he was functionally the only combatant on the battlefield, but it didn¡¯t last long. They were already close to other ships, though they weren¡¯t supposed to know it. A small number were underwater, while others were invisible atop the waves. ¡°Follow my lead!¡± Anton commanded. Even if the others couldn¡¯t pick out the ships on their own, it would be fairly simple to shoot the same place he was, whether they were archers or had different ranged abilities. Anton began the assault with over a dozen energy bows- that was beyond his limit to maximize his power and control, but as markers it meant he could target every ship at once. Some were quite hesitant to fire underwater, but the invisible ships were just fine for them. As Anton¡¯s attacks struck, with others following, small distortions in energy became apparent. Enough that people wouldn¡¯t lose track of the enemy vessels, at least. WIth that, he focused more on individual targets- starting with those underwater, as he was concerned with how they might target their own ships. Fire was obviously not a good choice. While he was strong enough that he could make it work underwater, it was still less efficient. Light had similar difficulties, while standard Spirit Arrows lost momentum underwater. Anton had something else, though. Ascension energy could power through, but the other part of Fleeting Youth provided a more interesting alternative. The intangible energy that seemed to be drawn from beyond death was not only very appropriate for ignoring inconvenient terrain features, but Anton had also wanted to test out the changes. Having come much closer to a physical death than ever before, he felt a strengthening of that connection. It was difficult to tell how much the effectiveness changed from his experiences compared to his general increase in power, but it didn¡¯t really matter. What mattered was that Anton was able to call upon more of the energy, and focus it better. It shot through barriers, barely affecting his attacks as they were not adjusted for such an unfamiliar sort of energy. The same was true of personal defenses, though even if they tried to resist the individuals more than an entire stage of cultivation below him were not capable of resisting. It was unfortunate that this power did not recover at the same rate as his natural energy, but he was still able to use it to great effect. Soon the first enemy ships made their way into close combat, where cultivators on both sides tried to board each others¡¯ vessels. Anton likely could have delayed that stage of the battle, but there was no point. He could have sunk a handful of ships now, but when the others caught up to them all at once, in full force, he would have regretted it. No, he had to focus on the battlefield as a whole instead of just what was immediately a threat. Preventing the enemy from overwhelming them was his job. If he failed at that, he had led them all into great danger. And the melee was going well. Although he had recruited as many cultivators with ranged abilities as he could, the vast majority were specialized in close combat on both sides. And with their fleet tightly packed together, they brought over a hundred Life Transformation cultivators to bear together. It didn¡¯t matter if the ships or individual enemies were hidden when a wave of attacks poured out. Fire, ice, chains, daggers, swords, and everything else imaginable came from the continental forces, clashing mainly against assassins who had intended to show up undetected. Anton kept a careful watch on the skyship. They weren¡¯t quite close enough yet to be a threat, and he wanted to focus more on the approaching vessels from the various other sects for the moment. He began to concentrate his fire on individual ships, straining their defensive formations and eventually breaking through- which was where fire came into the picture. He¡¯d had some proficiency in fire before his advancement, but now it was much easier. Sails and decks burned with the heat of the sun¡­ though not quite that intense. At least, not on a wide scale. As he continued to target the cultivators, some began to dive off the ships instead of seeking shelter. Anton very carefully allowed those who were swimming away from the battle to go unscathed- he didn¡¯t need to kill everyone, only those who continued to make the choice to fight. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Then the skyships were close enough. Anton was capable at extreme distances, but there was still a certain amount of power lost no matter how much he increased his efficiency. There was also a factor of how the enemy perceived the battle and his actions. In short, he wanted them to see what was about to happen. Into his hands came a bow that could only be described as ¡®sharp¡¯. A prize from the Million Sword Vault, and one that added an interesting twist to his options. Wide blades weren¡¯t particularly efficient compared to arrows, but he could control the more precise details of what the strange bow would do. His focus narrowed to not just a single ship, but a single opponent. His voice echoed across the seas. ¡°You¡¯ve made your choice. Your head it is.¡± He did not allow the courtesy of making sure his voice had traveled to Sect Head Kaluza before he began his assault. Along with the bow held in his hands he fired five others in quick succession, driving a hole in the barrier of the flagship. Anton had to say he was slightly impressed. Kaluza managed to block the first volley, though not completely unscathed. She managed to dodged further incoming shots by rapidly flying up away from the ship, but that only left her more vulnerable. Anton focused his power into a single shot, a blade that was razor thin and no more than twenty centimeters wide. She clearly sensed the danger, and as the attack approached she shattered some sort of talisman, forming a barrier of winds around her. It managed to weaken his attack enough that it only went halfway through her neck. The following attacks a moment later, however, completed the job. On the scale of the battle, one Life Transformation cultivator was nothing much to speak of. The Soaring Air Sect alone had dozens. But it wasn¡¯t just any cultivator, but their sect head. And it wasn¡¯t a long, drawn out fight or a concentrated effort of several others overwhelming her. Instead, it was just Anton taking down one of their strongest in a matter of moments. It felt somewhat unfair, but he was not the one who had chosen to cause trouble. He just chose to finish it. As Kaluza fell, Anton realized nobody could see what had happened. He took a deep breath, pulling in his energy. When he fought now, he couldn¡¯t help but emit bright light. He¡¯d been conscious enough to minimize its effects on his allies, but he really wanted the enemy to see her as she fell, not just sense it. For a few moments it felt as if the whole battlefield stopped, everyone looking in that direction¡­ though of course it wasn¡¯t quite that way. When the head hit the water- slightly before the body, since it had less drag- Anton opened fire on the skyships in general. He picked whatever was easiest to target from the cultivators to the sails to the various mechanisms that allowed it to fly. Even if he didn¡¯t have a perfect understanding of what formations allowed it to be buoyant, destroying everything that felt expensive was a surefire method of achieving the results he wanted. ¡°We will allow your surrender,¡± Anton shouted over the cacophony of battle. ¡°All except the Still Wind Erudition and the Soaring Air Sect. Flee, and we will not pursue. Remain, and forfeit your lives.¡± The two sects in question obviously had objections to that, but as the Still Wind Erudition had been forced into battle without backup they were already on their back leg. The Soaring Air Sect turned to flee, but unfortunately they had gotten close enough that they were just properly joining the battle. A handful of kilometers, at most. That gave Anton an easy hundred kilometers as they turned to flee, and a somewhat more difficult but still possible distance he could attack them afterwards. He did divert some attention to the nearby battle, saving as many lives as possible. Some of the Soaring Air Sect would get away¡­ for the moment. But that wouldn¡¯t last. He was willing to let those remaining live, but they would be taking or destroying every skyship and all of their resources. There would be no Soaring Air Sect within the week, but at most wandering cultivators who had once been part of them. That was his conviction. ----- ¡°Alright, time to go,¡± waved the captain, a youthful woman with a stern face. ¡°But we haven¡¯t landed,¡± Alva said. ¡°Too bad, isn¡¯t it? You can buy a return trip if you want, but we¡¯re not going to ground.¡± Alva narrowed her eyes. The woman had seemed honest, but perhaps she was simply more adroit in the field of deception than Alva had anticipated. ¡°Why not land? It¡¯s right there.¡± She inched her hand towards her bow. ¡°Why not? It¡¯s death season. Look at the contract,¡± the captain waved the piece of paper. Alva did remember reading something like that. ¡°And death season is¡­?¡± ¡°When the Tomb is especially riled up,¡± the captain explained. ¡°Unpredictable, as far as I¡¯m aware. But if we fly this ship down, I¡¯ll be lucky to have a pile of scrap. Or my life. So you can jump, or you can take the ride back. At a discount, or with payment deferred if you need.¡± Alva looked to Vari, though she was loath to trust her companion¡¯s decision making on anything. ¡°Okay then,¡± Vari nodded, looking over the edge. ¡°We just jump down.¡± ¡°And avoid the arrows. And the spikes. The death beams. Bloodthirsty sky beasts. And don¡¯t forget the sudden stop at the end, of course.¡± Alva looked down. She didn¡¯t see all of those things at the moment, but she vaguely felt displays of energy elsewhere on the planet. She didn¡¯t really trust Everheart not to kill her, but she kind of needed to meet up with the others. Besides, almost fifty percent of people survived the trip. When things were ¡®normal¡¯. She should be fine, right? ¡°If Everheart isn¡¯t already dead,¡± Alva declared, ¡°I¡¯m going to kill him.¡± ¡°You and everyone else,¡± the captain nodded sincerely. Then Alva jumped- and Vari with her. At least Alva knew she could shoot down the beasts before they got close, but she was going to have to really maneuver herself around to the best of her ability. Chapter 421 With most of their forces killed in battle, the Still Wind Erudition had few capable of defending their sect grounds. Taking over was simple, and they gathered up every technique manual and all of the equipment, either to be destroyed or taken away. Given proper time, Anton would have preferred to find a more elegant approach to dealing with their opponents, rather than just slaughtering them all. Well, he did implement an alternative for some. Specifically, those who were young or lower in cultivation. Instead of death, they simply had their cultivation burned out of them. Anton made the attempt to do it in such a way that they might cultivate again later, though he erred on the side of nothing at all if it meant they might practice the same assassination techniques. There was no time to personally interview everyone to determine if they signed up willingly or were forced into it, but Anton wasn¡¯t willing to slaughter people who were effectively defenseless and had not directly participated in the battle against them. It was the same with those who fled- he couldn¡¯t know if it was merely fear that drove them away or if it was never their intention to participate to begin with. People deserved a chance, and he was comfortable enough with his new strength he could give it to some. Though perhaps those who lost their cultivation might die anyway, either through their own choice or because of others. The Exalted Archipelago still had separations between those who cultivated and those who did not¡­ and if the cultivators treated the others poorly, they might not survive for long without their abilities. But that was a fate they¡¯d sown for themselves. After having participated in the most recent battles, Anton was more confident in his new power. He was a step above anything that could be sent after him, and the local area was quite depleted of anyone who would try. He still didn¡¯t want to stay longer than he had to, not because he was worried about himself or the rest of those with him should further fleets come after them, but because he didn¡¯t want to kill more people than he had to. Returning to some sort of peace with the Exalted Archipelago would be easier if they avoided what conflicts they could. They¡¯d already made a sufficient show of force. There was only the Soaring Air Sect to deal with now. Unless something momentous happened to draw another sect into the conflict, that was where they would stop. They had taken note of those who came to attack, but the lesser sects could be forgiven more easily. ----- What Alva had thought would be wind rushing past her turned into fire. Somehow, she was falling with enough speed for the air to ignite around her, which was rather troublesome as it obscured her vision. She needed her sight clear to shoot at the scaled beast flying at her. And to dodge the arrows and spear hurtling through the air. And the darts? That one had an unpleasant black sheen on it. Her hands moved quickly, firing arrows for offense and defense, taking down the various projectiles. They had some energy enhancing them- upper energy, which meant they were a threat even to an Ascension cultivator like Alva. Vari was even more vulnerable since she was merely in Life Transformation- Alva wasn¡¯t sure if that was a good cultivation speed or not in this world, but the point was she was weaker. There were others who leapt down with them, having traveled from Rouhiri here to Everheart¡¯s Tomb- whatever it had been called before having been forgotten- but Alva didn¡¯t even consider helping them. She did help out Vari though. While the woman might have been foolish, naive, brainwashed, or any other number of things, Alva didn¡¯t want her to die. She didn¡¯t deserve that. Thus, Alva devoted a few of her shots to deflecting projectiles coming for Vari. The woman had formed some sort of patterned barrier around herself, but it simply wouldn¡¯t be sufficient against a direct hit. Her descent wasn¡¯t perfect, but eventually the ground was getting close. Fortunately there was no fire- she seemed to have slowed down enough- but she still needed to be cognizant of her landing. She didn¡¯t want to exacerbate any of the injuries she took as she fell, since this wasn¡¯t a place where she wanted to be below peak fighting fitness. Even if the Tomb itself didn¡¯t kill her, other cultivators might. She landed, a cushion of energy slowing her fall, allowing her bent legs to absorb the last of the impact. Projectiles were still everywhere, so when Vari landed next to her, Alva grabbed her by the collar and dragged her along. There was a safe area in the archway leading inside, though Alva wasn¡¯t sure if it would be safe beyond that. When they were in the archway- which was well over ten meters tall, and about half as wide at the bottom- Alva dropped Vari on one of the large stone slabs. ¡°Well look at that. You survived.¡± Vari blinked a few times, beginning to stand up. Then she stopped, looking up at Alva. ¡°Are you¡­ actually one of the Saints?¡± ¡°What? No, of course not.¡± A thin strand of energy came towards Alva, and she automatically attempted to bat it away with her hand- but as she touched it, it automatically melted into her meridians. It wasn¡¯t as if it bypassed her defenses, but rather as if she¡¯d subconsciously accepted it as part of her. Power coursed through her, bolstering her. It wasn¡¯t anything great- perhaps a few days worth of cultivation- but it happened so cleanly. ¡°Of course not. I¡¯m not even part of the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Vari said. ¡°I¡­ understand.¡± She stood up. ¡°You¡¯re not one of the Saints.¡± She said that, but Alva knew she didn¡¯t believe it. ¡°Are you sure you can¡¯t see this?¡± Alva said, squeezing another thread of energy between her fingers. ¡°Your fingers?¡± Vari tilted her head. ¡°They display the signs of devoted practice.¡± ¡°Why do I even bother. Well, we should get going.¡± ¡°Of course. Where do you wish to go, your grace?¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Alva made a face. ¡°It¡¯s Alva.¡± ¡°If you wish, lady Alva.¡± She really wished she had Fuzz with her. His devotion wasn¡¯t weird at least. Alva took in her surroundings. In all directions were other cultivators, unfamiliar buildings, and signs of danger. According to the contact with Catarina, there were several notable landmarks. The Gardens, the Great Hall, the Library, and the Labyrinth. There were also a great many less notable locations, but if they found some of the greater ones they could meet up. There was just the slight issue that she didn¡¯t know how to navigate to any of them, and the Tomb wasn¡¯t exactly¡­ small. It took up an entire planet, after all. It was probably smaller than her home Ceretos. She really hoped it was, because otherwise it could take weeks or months to traverse in one direction- and that was without obstructions. The Tomb hadn¡¯t been fully mapped out yet, but what was known was that smaller features changed constantly¡­ and that it killed people. Yet there were also great rewards to be had for passing certain trials. Though this place had a deadlier flare than those from Ceretos, and had remained active for much longer. Then again, everything in the upper realms tended to be more, so why would this be any different? ¡°We¡¯ll head in here,¡± Alva said confidently. ¡°Very well, my lady,¡± Vari said. ¡°Let me provide you with what little support I can offer.¡± She held her hand out, waiting for permission. ¡°Fine. Go ahead.¡± Energy stretched out from Vari. Ascension energy- upper energy- but controlled with amazing precision for Vari¡¯s cultivation. Alva was still getting used to the shift, but Vari should have lived with it her whole life. The energy spread out in a dome over Alva, a honeycomb pattern formed out of many smaller panels. Unlike simply protecting her with energy, the barrier was solid and seemed likely to last without active control. ¡°Interesting,¡± Alva said. She looked down at her feet. The barrier flattened out below her, but protected her from below as well. It likely wasn¡¯t enough for her to rely on, but it was a welcome addition to her own defenses. Alva sniffed the air. That was usually Fuzz¡¯ job, but she knew that scent was one of those things that most cultivators didn¡¯t consider when concealing things. The scents of metal or mismatched stone or an unexpected breeze could give away the location of a trap. Alva didn¡¯t sense any ahead of them, but that just made her look more closely. Vari had already begun walking forward, so Alva eventually just followed behind. If Vari wanted to be a sacrifice, that was her prerogative. The archway led to a long hallway. With how wide and tall it was, in other situations Alva might have been willing to call it a great hall- but the actual Great Hall was apparently a kilometer across with a statue of Everheart stretching as high as a mountain. Meanwhile the walls here were lined with mismatched statues that were only a few times life size- no more than ten. ¡°Are the differing designs meant to distract us?¡± Alva wondered aloud. ¡°I believe it is because these come from different sects,¡± Vari answered helpfully. ¡°The Majestic Herb Estuary, the Viridian Sea, and many others,¡± she gestured. ¡°And¡­¡± she stopped. Alva looked, and found she recognized the statue. A stern looking man with a sword the same height as himself, standing like a cross in front of him. She hadn¡¯t really paid much attention, but her memory was good enough to recognize it. The style was also annoyingly familiar recently. ¡°The Harmonious Citadel,¡± Alva said. ¡°That¡¯s the sword saint, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Um, well, yes,¡± Vari said. ¡°But obviously this is a replica. The real one is still on Rouhiri.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure it is,¡± Alva nodded. She wasn¡¯t a great purveyor of the arts, but she¡¯d seen many beautiful pieces in her lifespan, simply by virtue of meeting many great cultivators- some of who cared about such things greatly. The technique and skill required to make the statue that almost seemed as if it could come to life. Everheart was many things, but an artist was not one of them. Alva also imagined that he was not interested in forcing someone to make a replica for him. No¡­ this had to be the original. Stolen quite some time before, and replaced in secret. Because obviously the Harmonious Citadel couldn¡¯t have something stolen from their seat of power, could they? It also told her something else. The image of the sword saint was young, but she imagined every statue of the saints would have been made more flattering for those who were not impeccable. Yet the fact that it was here meant it had been made long before. ¡°How long has the Sword Saint maintained his position?¡± ¡°Since time immemorial,¡± Vari said. ¡°... How old are you?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Only a hundred and fifty,¡± Vari said proudly. So at least that long then. Not that it was surprising for someone with high cultivation to live longer, of course. The question was if new statues were purloined for this place. Was Everheart still active? The changing components could have been set up via formations. Unfortunately, Alva had no way to recognize any of the figures- and Vari was only able to report a few small details about those not from the Harmonious Citadel. ¡°What about that one?¡± Alva pointed. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ I don¡¯t know,¡± Vari admitted. ¡°How do you not? It has the aura of the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°It must be a fake, then,¡± Vari said. Alva looked at it carefully. It depicted a woman holding a spear. The face was strangely worn, though the other statues were pristine. Then she reached out her hand, yanking Vari back. With a click, the statue moved, its spear stabbing across the corridor. Then it returned to its former position. Strange. The only part that was worn had nothing to do with the movements it made. Oh well, at least she¡¯d seen a trap. It made her more comfortable. But what was up with these stupid strands of energy from Vari that she claimed to not see? A day before they wanted nothing to do with her, and now they wouldn¡¯t leave her alone. She needed to find someone else who could see them, someone she could trust. Catarina would know¡­ once they found their bearings. Chapter 422 The fact that a whole army had followed Anton on his crazy escapade showed how strongly the continental sects felt about the Exalted Archipelago. The Archipelago was undoubtedly arrogant, but the continents had their own pride. Pride was not necessarily arrogance, but it certainly could have been. If Anton had only been at the lower estimates he had for his own power, things would have not gone so well. But everything had gone better than expected, and they were approaching the Soaring Air Sect without further incident. In the future, Anton would have a more accurate assessment to go off of, though he truly hoped he didn¡¯t need to use his power.After finishing up their current plan, of course. The Soaring Air Sect made their home on an island that came almost vertically out of the sea. It stretched unnaturally high, several kilometers up. The highest points were above the clouds, and sheer cliffs surrounded it. Anton raised his eyes to the peak. They flashed, fire burning within them. His advancement had almost cost him everything, his body having only been held together by the core of power within him. Now the power coursed through him, begging to be released. Yet it was well within his control, and comfortable. The fleet had not approached the base of the island. It was impossible to say what sort of traps would have been set up there, but it was simply unnecessary to get so close. Anton empowered his voice, having it echo across the distance between them. ¡°Cultivators of the Soaring Air Sect. Had you been willing to see reason previously, you would have been forgiven with the death of your sect head. However, since that demand you have only compounded your guilt. Now the only way you can pay is with the entirety of your wealth. Weapon, armor, equipment, and of course your skyships.¡± The demand was extravagant. If the Soaring Air Sect was willing to negotiate the price might be lowered. The demand simply started so high because they needed to understand the severity of the situation. No, that wasn¡¯t it. Anton had to be honest with himself. He made the most outrageous demands because he wanted to provoke them to rash action. Was that fair? Perhaps he might change his mind later, but he decided it was justified. With no response offered immediately, Anton continued. ¡°I have not the patience to deal with further trouble from the Soaring Air Sect. If you do not respond, I shall be forced to begin destroying your sect.¡± He could see people gathering at the edge of the island. They had only minor walls- the difficulty of reaching their height was already great enough that high walls were a pointless expense. The walls likely only served as the supporting part of a formation. ¡°Ten.¡± Anton began to count. He held his bow, channeling energy into it as he pointed it towards them. ¡°Nine. Eight.¡± He could feel the defensive formations had already been raised to full power. He continued counting. ¡°You will regret this,¡± finally came a response from one of the elders. Anton took special note of the voice and matched it to the movements of a mouth. ¡°That¡¯s not a response,¡± Anton said. ¡°One.¡± He drew out the word, making sure there was time for it to reach the ears of everyone. Nobody even tried to stop him, though perhaps they felt it would weaken their position. They likely couldn¡¯t see him clearly, the blinding light gathered on his bow lighting up even the depths of the sea around him. Then he lowered his bow- not to avoid attacking, but to target something easier. His arrow released, barely even fitting the definition. The energy he gathered simply couldn¡¯t fit in the confined space, but it functioned well enough. There was no need for Anton to ride along with the arrow, observing from his perspective. If he couldn¡¯t hit his target, he would give up archery forever. Literally the only thing he needed to do was hit an island. As the arrow touched the rock, it melted through it, heat and light scattering everywhere. A moment later, it came out the other side, several kilometers away. Anton could see natural light on the other side, through the drooping tunnel he shot. It was only a hand¡¯s width across, but that was because he¡¯d constrained his energy to a smaller size. He could have torn apart more, but having a sign that would be visible to anyone who came near would be more effective. Anton looked back up. ¡°Whoever you have elected to speak for you clearly is not going to accomplish anything,¡± Anton said as he readied another shot. He might not actually use it, but it was important for them to know he was ready and able to continue. ¡°Perhaps you should choose someone else.¡± ----- Vari had collapsed to the floor. In other circumstances Alva would have dragged her back away from where she was so that Vari could recover on her own, but she didn¡¯t want to have to wait for her to recover. Even then, the oppressive force of the room was far above what Vari could handle with a few days of training. So she lifted her up, enshrouding the foolish woman with her own energy as she continued forward. Unlike what she had experienced before, this room also had traps. But it did get gradually more difficult to travel though, until they finally came out the other side. Alva let out a heavy breath. She wasn¡¯t holding her breath just because of the poison that had been filling the room, but it was part of it. The sudden change towards the end had been unexpected, with Alva only barely keeping her feet despite being in Ascension. ¡°He¡¯s actually trying to kill us,¡± she muttered. ¡°... Lady Alva,¡± Vari slowly regained her consciousness. ¡°You have been as impressive as always. I was unprepared for what we encountered. You must have great experience with traps.¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just that I¡¯m familiar with this style because-¡± she stopped herself. ¡°Because I¡¯ve seen something similar before.¡± Saying she was from the same world as Everheart might be a bad move. ¡°I understand,¡± Vari nodded. ¡°I was thinking that perhaps you had been to the tomb before, but you applied experience from elsewhere. No wonder you are so strong.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Alva said. ¡°That¡¯s definitely it.¡± She looked at Vari, who was emitting more of those weird energy strands and looked not even slightly suspicious. ¡°You¡­ did you happen to not complete your training in Insight, by any chance?¡± Alva was not a good liar, and she¡¯d been pretty obvious. Bringing it up was kind of risky but¡­ Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Insight?¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°An unnecessary facet of cultivation that merely serves to weaken bonds with the saints. Other techniques may waste their time on such, but the Harmonious Citadel advances beyond the need.¡± Alva groaned. How could Vari be so foolish? It was like¡­ she¡¯d been raised in a cult her whole life. Which she had. Along with everyone else on every planet she could go to. It was kind of pathetic, actually. Alva wasn¡¯t sure if she could blame her. ¡°Alright,¡± Alva said. ¡°So-¡± then she felt something. Not something bad, but just unexpected. One of the messaging devices. It was Catarina. ¡°Did ¡­ work this time?¡± That was¡­ a very unhelpful message. ¡°I am not sure what you mean. Did what work? And which landmark are we aiming for?¡± Alva readied herself to wait, but there was an immediate response. Then she was reminded that the weeks of waiting no longer applied with them being on the same planet, so it should be instantaneous. Now that she thought about it, the fact that she hadn¡¯t gotten a response for her initial message saying she was on the planet was odd now. ¡°Only getting about ha¡­ message. Have you arri¡­ Gardens.¡± Alva could have made some assumptions, but it seemed silly. ¡°Are the Gardens good or are the Gardens bad?¡± She made sure to repeat the place name. If some of the message was lost, repetition would help. She planned to send the whole message again when she got a response. ¡°... Gardens. Repeat, meet at ¡­¡± Now Alva was ninety nine percent certain. And she also didn¡¯t want to have a one percent chance of going to the wrong place in this deathtrap. She sent her message again. ¡°Do not ¡­dens. Dangerous. Great¡­ safer. Repeat, the Great Hall is safer. Meet us there.¡± And that was why. Training in insight wasn¡¯t worth anything? Yeah right. Though it could have been some other mental training since Catarina obviously wasn¡¯t trying to mislead her. ¡°We¡¯re heading to the Great Hall,¡± Alva declared. ¡°Now let¡¯s just see what¡¯s out-¡± beyond the door she was hit with a wave of scent. Nature. Plants and animals and just enough regular patterns and walkways to indicate it was not wilderness. Alva sighed again. At least they had a landmark to navigate from now. And she only had to go a quarter of the way around this place to reach the Great Hall. ----- Soon enough Anton was back on Brogora. The coastal forces were still on high alert at the moment, uncertain what the response would be from the rest of the Exalted Archipelago. But if it came to a war, they had an early advantage- and the justification they had was quite significant. ¡°I¡¯m glad you made it back,¡± Lev said. ¡°But I¡¯m not sure it was the right move.¡± ¡°I am,¡± Anton said. ¡°They needed to know what we can do. Speaking of which, there¡¯s something very important for us to decide.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t think skyships will do well here,¡± Lev said. ¡°Constantly having to avoid the Grandfather Willow?¡± Lev shook his head. ¡°Though we could certainly use other reparations.¡± ¡°Of course. That is already being arranged. But even more important¡­ what do we call this?¡± Lev frowned, ¡°This? You mean us?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Our cultivation stage. It¡¯s not ascension. It might reasonably also be called Integration, but that would imply we are on the same path. Nor have we skipped ahead to Augmentation or Domination.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s different,¡± Lev said, stroking his chin. ¡°Natural Joining?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Not sure I like that one. How about Assimilation? You became part of Grandfather Willow, and vice versa. The sun is part of me. It¡¯s definitely a similar process.¡± ¡°I suppose that¡¯s a decent name,¡± Lev nodded. ¡°Assimilation. Is that really why you made the trip?¡± ¡°It¡¯s important,¡± Anton said. ¡°Can¡¯t just go around without it having a name. And showing you I¡¯m doing well is another one. In fact, I feel more healthy than when I left. Perhaps I was being too conservative with my energy use. I have a better grasp of it now.¡± ----- Vincent was showing some age now, though he hadn¡¯t exactly looked youthful when Anton first met him. The man¡¯s cultivation had long been surpassed by Anton, but he was potentially on track to reach the peak of Life Transformation at some point, perhaps even ascension. ¡°If someone had told me that day we would come to this, I wouldn¡¯t have believed a word,¡± Vincent said. ¡°Not that I doubted your determination, but realistically we both assumed you would die.¡± ¡°And now here I am,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Does it have to be such a big ceremony, though?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Vincent declared. ¡°And no, it¡¯s not for you. Not really. This is for everyone else. We haven¡¯t had a sect head in my time, and it¡¯s a big deal. Frankly, making things official will make it easier for everyone. If you demanded something, nobody could really go against it anyway.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to think I¡¯m reasonable enough to listen to objections,¡± Anton adjusted some fancy robes he¡¯d been given. It wasn¡¯t that they were sitting strangely. In fact, they were enchanted for that to be impossible. They were the most comfortable thing he¡¯d ever worn in the physical sense, but it was still uncomfortable mentally. He was pretty sure they cost more than Dungannon. ¡°Sometimes, yes,¡± Vincent said. ¡°But when you truly believe a course of action is right, nobody will stop you. Now it makes the paperwork easier. And it¡¯s a good public image. The Order has been rebranding to the Order of One Hundred Stars, why not have the only available One Hundred Star cultivator as the sect head? It¡¯s good for stability.¡± ¡°If I live, at least,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I think if someone could kill you, it might have already happened,¡± Vincent said. ¡°I could get careless.¡± ¡°Then don¡¯t,¡± Vincent said. ¡°Besides, even a few decades will be enough. Your lifespan has to be at least that much, right?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Anton frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ really know.¡± He shook his head. ¡°This isn¡¯t me trying to hide something. I had a good couple decades at least before reaching Assimilation. Now, I don¡¯t know. The sense of it has sort of slipped away.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°But I can get a least a good couple decades even if I have to drag myself out of the grave for it, so don¡¯t be concerned about that.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t looking forward to the actual ceremony, but it was how things were done. And then after that, he would be meeting with sects from the Exalted Archipelago. At neutral ground once more- the Hardened Crown Sect, again. He anticipated a lot of whining or shouting or stubbornness. But if anyone was going to be stubborn, he was going to outstrip them in that department. His eyes flared with fire. He didn¡¯t need to intimidate all of them, but he wouldn¡¯t stand for anyone causing more trouble. Chapter 423 Local factions had obviously arrived much sooner than the continental forces- they didn¡¯t have as far to go, and they wanted the security of numbers. Anton saw many of them waiting on their ships, and some of them saw him in return. He was easily able to tell the difference between those who recognized him, and those who had merely heard of him. There was a distinctive difference in how much their heartbeats sped up. Normally Anton would block out such level of detail, but going into the current situation he wanted as much information as possible. Those who had seen him fight in person not only had higher heart rates, but some also began to sweat. That was saying something, since cultivators generally had greater control over their own bodily functions. Yet it wasn¡¯t unreasonable either. If Anton had met someone else with his power, he couldn¡¯t help but be nervous either. He remembered witnessing the power of Fajra of the Radiant Beauty sect. She was the one who had reached the Augmentation stage, and even somewhat limited by the lack of ascension energy in the world it was a terrifying sight to behold. And in a similar fashion- since both were capable of inflicting widespread devastation on a battle instead of just slaying powerful individuals. It was strange to walk at the head of the group. Anton often found himself in that position, but usually it was shared. His word could influence many from other sects, but each had their own identity. That was still the case, but now he was clearly at the head of their contingent. And that fit, since by cultivator standards and for standard political reasons, having a single mouthpiece would be advantageous. He had reminded the others that they could speak their mind, but on the way he had been briefed on what forces from both continents wanted. They even had some smaller sects with lesser stakes- those who had complaints about the minor details of how the Exalted Archipelago had been trading. But the main focus would obviously be on the attacks¡­ and counterattacks, and what would come of that. They were led directly to the auditorium where they would be having their discussions. The formations protecting the area made it impossible for Anton to sense anyone or anything inside, but he strode in without fear. People were watching, and if the Hardened Crown Sect really let him be ambushed he¡¯d just have to fight his way out and make them pay. But he didn¡¯t think that would happen, and he had powerful allies at his back. The only one he could have asked for was Lev, but outside of his home territory Lev was not much better than anyone else. So he had Elder Varela. The man was nearly at the peak of Life Transformation, but for a sect that before Lev¡¯s generation hardly even had Essence Collection cultivators they had come a long way. When he stepped into the auditorium, Anton took note of everyone that was there. Elder Naamah of the Hardened Crown Sect, of course. The auditorium was round to make everyone feel approximately equal in value, but the frontmost positions were still favored. Anton placed himself directly across from her, as the host. The others Anton recognized included Sect Head Treloar of the Worthy Shore Society. There were also others from the previous attempts at negotiations. Notably missing were the Void Blades and the Still Wind Erudition. The Soaring Air Sect, however, did have a representative. It was an old man that Anton had spoken with upon his previous ¡®visit¡¯. Specifically, this was the man chosen to represent them¡­ after they dragged off their previous vice-head- Rodolph. Nobody had wanted to test if he could make a bigger hole in the bottom of their island. As members of the Soaring Air Sect went, Rodolph was quite a reasonable fellow. He was also intelligent, which was unfortunate. If they hadn¡¯t been on opposing sides Anton might have been friends with the man, but instead they were destined to remain enemies. But they didn¡¯t have to be enemies that tried to kill each other. ¡°Well then,¡± Naamah looked around. ¡°It appears that everyone is here. Let¡¯s try to resolve this peacefully, shall we?¡± Anton gestured and produced a number of lengthy documents, formulated by Kohar of course. ¡°To that end, we have prepared a list of initial demands. Some negotiation is possible, such as Acting Sect Head Rodolph has already done for the Soaring Air Sect. The terms of the treaties to end the war were quite reasonable and agreed to by both sides. The penalties were also clearly established.¡± Anton looked around, fire burning in his eyes. ¡°Attempting to circumvent those terms through force will not be tolerated, as I¡¯m sure you are all keenly aware. This is our world and we expect you to act reasonably. Now, I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t want any of us attempting to enforce these terms as I recently found necessary¡­ which is why there are stipulations for how you must police yourselves.¡± In short, just staying out of conflicts wasn¡¯t enough. Perhaps they might have followed those terms to some extent if the Soaring Air Sect hadn¡¯t repeated their attempts- some desire for the Grandfather Willow was too great to ignore- but now they would likely be swifter about it. With the alternative being Anton doing something, he hoped they would take care of their own issues. They could have technically enforced other penalties against those who failed to act, but that would strain the level of goodwill between them. Though the documents made it clear what sort of penalties would be on them if they didn¡¯t enforce the other sects. The room was quiet for some time. There was much dense language for people to read through, and nobody was quite sure if they should speak. Eventually the representative of the Purifying Mangrove Clan worked up his courage. ¡°The penalties upon us seem disproportionately high¡­¡± he said tentatively. The Purifying Mangrove Clan had unfortunately chosen to throw their lot in during the battle near the Still Wind Erudition. Because they breached the treaty, they had serious penalties- though less than that of those who had gone outside of the Exalted Archipelago to cause trouble. ¡°In what way does it seem disproportionate?¡± Anton asked. At the same time, he refamiliarized himself with the text that involved them. ¡°It¡¯s rather straightforward,¡± the man said. ¡°The proportions of resources and wealth are listed as higher for us than those who¡­ acted similarly.¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°We presumed that would be more agreeable than parting with any of your mangroves. That is where the majority of your sect¡¯s wealth lies, does it not? Others are penalized according to the value of infrastructure they possess, but yours is harder to calculate.¡± Anton was glad that Kohar had spent many boring days talking over the terms with him, since it was easier to recall the reasons from a proper conversation compared to just reading. Anton didn¡¯t expect the negotiations to be over in an afternoon- or a month, necessarily, though having a strong hand would certainly help speed things up. He truly didn¡¯t want to enforce more things through combat, but the threat of it certainly would smooth things along. ¡°We have a question,¡± Treloar said with a slight smile. ¡°What is it?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°What do you call your stage of cultivation?¡± The question was set up for him, of course. It wasn¡¯t something people would normally think to ask, especially not in such a setting. If there was something Anton was actually unprepared for, he could at least sense who of those along with him was confident in answering. But this one was for him. ¡°We have decided to call it Assimilation,¡± Anton said. The next question was not discussed beforehand, but Anton had tried to angle for it to be asked. ¡°And who is¡­ we?¡± ¡°Those few of us in this stage,¡± Anton smiled warmly. He was not much of a liar. If he¡¯d tried to imply there were many of them, no doubt some would have picked up on it easily. Lev¡¯s status wasn¡¯t completely unknown, of course, especially since the miraculous defense of the Grasping Willows, but Anton¡¯s answer left open the possibility of more. ¡°That is good to know,¡± Treloar said, in a way intended to end the questioning. He might suspect, but they were on good terms. To the point that Anton might be willing to discuss the details behind his cultivation with the Worthy Shore Society at some point. ----- ¡°It seems that our dear Alva has stumbled into the Gardens,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s ¡®our¡¯ Alva,¡± Timothy grinned. ¡°She¡¯s your¡­ cousin of some sort.¡± ¡°We¡¯re all companions, though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s still a weird way to say it.¡± ¡°What can I say?¡± Catarina shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m feeling fanciful. I mean, just look at this,¡± she waved her hands around them. ¡°The entrapment formation or¡­?¡± Timothy tilted his head. ¡°Because I¡¯m not a fan of the architectural style.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡± Catarina said as she looked around them, studying the formation. ¡°It¡¯s something about the number of statues that are all a bit too handsome to be real.¡± ¡°And a lot too young to actually be Everheart,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to say that,¡± Timothy countered, ¡°Mostly because I imagined there would be traps attacking me for saying it.¡± ¡°I disabled those already,¡± Catarina said casually. ¡°Actually, it might be natural to assume that a genius of his sort would appear young, but his active age was far too long. Much of his time was devoted to formation pursuits and¡­ I don¡¯t know, robbing people I guess. His actual cultivation speed ended up barely above average, though he didn¡¯t seem to encounter any major roadblocks. Not that the records are clear on the details.¡± ¡°Most of them just say ¡®Damn that asshole Everheart,¡¯ don¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Aha.¡± She tapped her toe into the corner of the tile the two were standing in, and suddenly they were no longer squashed against each other. ¡°There we go.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ amazing, actually,¡± Timothy said. ¡°These formations aren¡¯t holding back. I¡¯m pretty sure that was supposed to crush us, right? Have you reached another level of understanding with regards to formations.¡± ¡°Though I would like to say that I have¡­¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not quite it. There¡¯s something here. Something different. The flow of energy simply feels¡­ like it¡¯s on my side?¡± ¡°A soft spot for those from Ceretos, maybe?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Hah! No way. Besides, I do mean me. Or maybe¡­ something I have,¡± Catarina scanned the area around them, but nobody was close. They would have to be able to listen through a dozen layers of widely differing formations, but even so Catarina used the tip of her sword to scratch the floor, once more altering the flow of energy to suit her. ¡°You remember that plate we found, in the decayed facility?¡± ¡°It was the only part even slightly in good condition,¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°Well, that¡¯s it,¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not certain though. And we¡¯ll have to find our way to the Great Hall to get some sort of hint. If there¡¯s something, it might be there.¡± ¡°Or in the Labyrinth,¡± Timothy said. ¡°There¡¯s¡­ some chance of that,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But it¡¯s also possible that the Labyrinth is a collection of the most dangerous traps on this planet with no rewards inside it except the treasure of those who have fallen before you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ actually most of the treasure available here, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t think people are supposed to recognize that,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But that seems to match up, yes.¡± ¡°Well then,¡± Timothy said. ¡°What do we have, a few days or weeks of death traps? Might as well get started.¡± ¡°If only that was the biggest concern,¡± Catarina sighed. Formations she could handle. Everheart actually trying to kill people was no slacker, but there were always routes of lesser resistance so far. People, however¡­ they were dangerous. Especially for two loners who weren¡¯t part of a large faction. Sure, the two of them could express their connection to the Silver Sea Coalition, but they weren¡¯t particularly important and the faction wasn¡¯t powerful enough that people would be concerned about inevitable retribution. So they had to handle that part themselves. Chapter 424 Recognizing poisonous plants was easy enough. Specifically, ones that would be dangerous if you brushed up against them. Alva had no intention to attempt to consume anything from the Garden. Those juicy berries full of natural energy might provide a boost to cultivation¡­ or they might explode inside her, shattering her from the inside. Everheart could even have plants like here that weren¡¯t traps but had a purpose- like feeding them to others. Or training some forbidden technique. Slightly more difficult was recognizing which plants were mobile or aggressive in some way. Plants that were full of large pools of tempting water were fairly obvious, as were the wide open leaves with scythelike blades around the edge- made to snap closed on anyone who stepped within. The trailing vines on the ground that were made to grab ankles were a bit more subtle when strewn in among the others that didn¡¯t act in the same way, but discerning the way the energy flowed through and around them let her pick some out. And others¡­ Vari walked into. ¡­ that wasn¡¯t Alva¡¯s fault. Vari had declared that since she was the one suited for melee, she should walk ahead. Alva directed her around anything she noticed. But sometimes there were trees whose leaves had dustings of deadly powder that shook off with the slightest disturbance. Vari hacked and coughed as she breathed in a lungful of something awful. ¡°Are you-¡± some blood came up with the next coughing fit, ¡°-Are you alright, lady Alva?¡± Alva snatched the strand of energy that came towards her and tucked it away. She wasn¡¯t sure whether she should make use of it. It wasn¡¯t clear if it was ethical or safe- and she needed it to at least be the latter. ¡°I¡¯m alright,¡± Alva said. ¡°Perhaps you should move out of the area?¡± ¡°I need to-¡± this time she hacked up black gunk, which quivered like gelatin on the ground, ¡°-learn to overcome this.¡± ¡°You know you¡¯re supposed to start with small doses, right?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Anyway, we¡¯re heading thataway,¡± she gestured. Her declaration that she was going to move also directed Vari away from the floating dust and spores. That was the one thing the woman¡¯s barriers weren¡¯t great against. They were excellent against claws though. There were some lizards that seemed to balance on just two legs, though they used the claws on all of their legs to attack. Some were only about the size of a person, and those came in packs. Their scales were as hard as¡­ well, diamonds weren¡¯t relevant to Life Transformation cultivators, let alone her. They were hard though. Maybe she could get someone to make armor out of them. ¡°Incoming,¡± Alva said blandly as a dozen raptors leapt to attack them. Only eight or nine could reasonably fit around Vari, so the rest came for Alva. She took them out first, calmly shooting arrows into their open mouths or into their nostrils. She could move, running about to give herself distance, but she had some decent power to rely on. Vari actually did very well when swarmed by attacks. Her barrier was tough, but if she simply sat there taking hits it would be torn through in a second or two. With a sweep of her leg, Vari knocked over several of them, grabbing one claw that was coming straight for her and swinging it into another. Fighting unarmed left her with little in the way of reach and finishing power, but she could disrupt enemies wondrously. After taking the enemies threatening herself, Alva moved on to the ones around Vari. Killing distracted enemies was another step easier, though they didn¡¯t always point the same weak spots towards her. Soon enough, they all lay dead. Vari pulled out an enchanted knife and began dismantling the creatures to collect what the two perceived as the most valuable parts. The meat was awful, though not poisonous, and the bones didn¡¯t seem worth much¡­ but teeth, claws, and scales could certainly be used as materials. ¡°So,¡± Alva asked casually, ¡°Is there a saint of grappling?¡± ¡°No,¡± Vari shook her head sadly. ¡°I¡¯ve been hoping to join up as an auxiliary member of one of the other spires, but none have been interested. I¡¯m strong enough though! I don¡¯t understand it.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know,¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°So is there a saint of archery?¡± ¡°Of course, I already spoke of Saint Tassaiades, the Bow Saint. Did you forget?¡± ¡°... of course not. I just wanted to see if you remembered.¡± How could she forget if she hadn¡¯t been listening in the first place. ¡°So what are they like?¡± Vari closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she tried to recall¡­ something. It made Alva uncomfortable the way her breath was ragged, her lungs still damaged from the earlier poison. That was not a safe way to live. Vari nodded to herself. ¡°It is said that she is a great beauty, young and powerful. She can slay a man from a hundred kilometers away with her bow.¡± ¡°A hundred, huh?¡± Alva frowned. ¡°That¡¯s pretty¡­¡± ¡°Amazing, isn¡¯t it?¡± Vari said with her face beaming. ¡°... standard,¡± Alva finished. ¡°What?¡± Vari tilted her head. ¡°But that¡¯s¡­ you can¡¯t even shoot that far, can you? And your archery is amazing!¡± ¡°Well, sure, but range isn¡¯t my specialty. It¡¯s mounted combat.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you have a mount then?¡± Vari asked. Then she shrunk away as Alva glared at her. ¡°So about the range¡­ even if you can eventually match it, is one hundred kilometers not amazing?¡± ¡°My grandfather has been able to do that forever,¡± Alva said. ¡°And his master.¡± ¡°Amazing!¡± Vari¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°Is it possible to meet your esteemed grandfather?¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°No,¡± Alva said flatly. They could probably never meet again¡­ so even if he was still alive, it still hurt. ¡°Oh¡­¡± Vari lowered her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. What about¡­ his master?¡± ¡°Well, yeah. I guess she ascended. I don¡¯t know if she¡¯ll be able to meet up here or not. But eventually, maybe.¡± Except Vari wouldn¡¯t be coming with her. ¡°That would be excellent,¡± Vari¡¯s face lit up. ¡°Uh huh. Now we¡¯re going this-¡± Alva stopped her gesture halfway. ¡°That way!¡± as she pointed somewhere else. ¡°May I inquire why we are not going the first direction, Lady Alva? I assume you sensed some dangers?¡± ¡°There¡¯s wolves there,¡± Alva said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight wolves.¡± ¡°I see. They must be quite dangerous for us to be avoiding them,¡± Vari nodded. ¡°Thank you for your guidance.¡± Perhaps Vari wouldn¡¯t be thanking her when she learned they were going into the middle of a horrible swamp. But Alva preferred that over the other option right now. ----- Though things were going slowly with the negotiations, they were progressing at least. Most of the negotiations involved extending the lengths of time over which reparations had to be made. This ultimately came with a larger value that would be collected, but it was less punishing. Which was sort of the point of taking as many resources at once. On the other hand, since it was more likely to actually be followed through on to some extent instead of just leading to a larger more serious war, it was better to go along with it. Ultimately the goal was to have everyone from the world cooperating instead of vying for power. A lofty and perhaps unattainable goal, but they had to at least try. Though Anton was of the opinion that much of the Exalted Archipelago was not of Ceretos. They just lived here before moving on to what they considered their true home. It was the people acting upon the orders from the upper realms- direct or indirect- that were the problem. Though many of the problems were dead now. ----- ¡°There it is,¡± Catarina waved her hand, gesturing to the horizon in front of them. Just peeking above it was a roofline that slowly expanded outward to fill the entirety of their vision. At the current moment the two of them were on one of the few stretches of truly open and bare terrain. It had little in the way of formations, and barely any air to breathe. Catarina and Timothy found it wasn¡¯t completely necessary to have air, but it was still easier to have their bodies function normally. ¡°That¡¯s the Great Hall, huh¡­¡± Timothy said. ¡°It¡¯s possibly the biggest thing I¡¯ve ever seen. Larger than the greatest cities¡­ but it¡¯s completely unpopulated.¡± ¡°Not completely,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°There are monsters. And other cultivators like us.¡± ¡°Speaking of which, seems like we have some friends incoming,¡± Timothy was in a relaxed posture, but he was ready to spring into action at any point. Immediately, Catarina was wandering around, carving into the dirt. That didn¡¯t mean they were going to fight, but if they did they would be ready. ¡°Is that the Harmonious Citadel?¡± Timothy asked, just trying to confirm what he felt. ¡°I do believe so,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Where should we declare we are from?¡± Timothy pondered as he waited for the approaching sources of energy. ¡°I doubt they¡¯ll be dissuaded by telling them we¡¯re part of the Silver Sea Coalition. Even if they cared, they¡¯d just kill us and destroy the evidence anyway. Or rather, try to.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know that,¡± Catarina said as she began placing tiny stones that would be easily overlooked all around her. ¡°They might try to influence us to join their cult.¡± ¡°I feel like we aren¡¯t the typical target for that. We¡¯re a bit too¡­ set in our ways. Not young and impressionable.¡± ¡°We are young, though,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°By the standards here, early hundreds at our cultivation¡­ it¡¯s still not bad.¡± ¡°Hmm, swords,¡± Timothy commented. ¡°That¡¯s pretty¡­ homogenous. Didn¡¯t they have a bunch of saints or whatever?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to ask Alva when she gets here.¡± The incoming group was led by a trio- one man, with a man and a woman on either side. There were six more following along behind them, but only the first three were Integration cultivators. The leading male had a false smile on his face, his bare sword lazily resting upon his shoulder. ¡°Greetings, fellow explorers. Have any luck with the Tomb?¡± Catarina seemed quite focused on something in her bag, so it seemed to be Timothy who was going to have to respond. ¡°Just death traps and monsters. Standard fare, really. No luck with the rewards.¡± The trio was quite rudely searching over the two, and attempting to peer into their storage bags. Clearly, they thought they were in a dominant position. Maybe they were, in terms of cultivation. Catarina and Timothy were still at the very beginning of Integration¡­ but Timothy was still confident. In his own abilities, sure, but also Catarina¡¯s. The man continued, ¡°Seems the two of you make use of swords as well. We¡¯ve actually got some good ones. We¡¯re open to trade, if you found something worthwhile.¡± He gestured, and the six others with them- their cultivations ranging throughout Life Transformation- walked forward, swords held out on their palms. The blades they offered seemed better than the ones at their belts, which either meant their leaders were assholes, or it was a trap. Maybe both. Timothy still stepped forward, offering an interested glance at the blades, his hand wandering away from his sword. ¡°Interesting. They do look quite decent.¡± He couldn¡¯t tell for sure without examining them more closely, since the materials were unfamiliar. But the enchantments were strong, a level usually only felt in the upper realms. Though some weapons of significant power had been obtained during the invasion. ¡°The rapier is intriguing. Catarina?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± she looked up. ¡°Oh, yeah. It looks pretty good.¡± She reached into her storage bag, ¡°How about for this halberd? There are spear users among the Harmonious Citadel, right?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± the man said, he and the trio stepping slightly closer. ¡°We pride ourselves in making use of all manner of weaponry. May I see it?¡± ¡°Help yourself,¡± Catarina handed it to him handle first. He took it and twirled it around. Then with a sudden movement it came crashing down towards her, but she didn¡¯t move. Timothy wasn¡¯t completely certain if she was trusting in her formation or him, but he was the one who blocked it. He didn¡¯t just negate the momentum, of course. The weapon flew out of the man¡¯s hand and into one of the weaker six behind him. ¡°We didn¡¯t want cursed weapons anyway,¡± Catarina said. The woman among the trio tilted her head in confusion, even as they were all swinging weapons. ¡°They¡¯re not cursed though?¡± ¡°Tell me that again in five minutes,¡± Catarina said, as the blades tore themselves out of the hands of the remaining five Life Transformation cultivators, while the trio found themselves wrestling with their weapons but keeping a grip on them. Chapter 425 The design for this particular formation was Chikere, of course. Few people from their inner circle would associate swords with anything else, despite the fact that both she and Timothy technically used them. Catarina didn¡¯t have same deep focus on that area, but she did know formations. The swords were simply set to follow the optimal flow of energy in the area to assault her enemies. Or at least as optimal as she could manage on short notice. The stones she¡¯d scattered about served as miniature formation plates to add complexity that she didn¡¯t have time for. The rest was made up for by the area¡¯s abundant upper energy. The six weaker cultivators found themselves fighting against the better swords with their backup weapons. Or perhaps their actual weapons and the good ones were only used as bait. Of course, those secondary weapons were also trying to rip themselves out of their hands and slay them, so they were finding things to be rather difficult. Catarina stood back to back with Timothy, fighting against the three Integration cultivators. At most two could attack either of them at any time, which happened to be Catarina more often than not. That was because Timothy was more easily able to defend himself, and they wanted to exploit that. Yet even when she was behind him, Timothy would reach back with his shield or sword to parry blows she couldn¡¯t. It felt like both of them were learning a lot. They¡¯d sparred with others, but there hadn¡¯t been any serious battles against Integration cultivators before now. The attacks of their opponents were strong¡­ but seemed to be lacking in finesse. It wasn¡¯t personal style either. The trio all used their upper energy like they were trying to cut mountains in half, and the other six used it to blast away the weapons attacking them. Despite their inefficiencies, Timothy and Catarina would have been hard pressed if they weren¡¯t fighting inside one of her formations. The enemy¡¯s weapons were trying to betray them, while the other two were augmented. Timothy sustained the first wound, a slice along his arm. Then one of the six, nearly having their head chopped off by one of their swords. Catarina¡¯s stomach was pierced by a blade that never technically touched her- but she hadn¡¯t been able to fully guard against the energy extending its reach. Then one of the six lost a hand, and Timothy flicked a sword away from one of the trio- only for it to return with intent to kill them. At that point the trio began to pick up their own wounds at an ever increasing rate. The leader recognized it quickly. ¡°Enough!¡± he said. ¡°I doubt you can afford to get in trouble with the Harmonious Citadel. Since it will be too much trouble for us to defeat you, we¡¯ll be leaving¡­ and things between us will be done.¡± He turned around as if that was the truth of things. He had declared the battle over, so it was. Two swords met in the middle of his spine, Catarina and Timothy moving together to slice into his body. The trio had managed to reclaim all of their weapons, but as he felt the attack coming his sword slowed his attempt to dodge and parry. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We can¡¯t afford trouble with the Harmonious Citadel right now.¡± Almost half of those who came to Everheart¡¯s Tomb died. That was averaged over the different seasons, but this was one of the most dangerous ones. A few disciples going missing wouldn¡¯t even raise an eyebrow. That was true in the other direction as well. When the other two Integration cultivators turned to run, they found themselves blocked by a dozen swords. The six weaker individuals were already deceased, and thus the swords were freed up for other purposes. With the odds greatly shifted, Timothy and Catarina finished them off. Both ended the battle with more than trivial injuries, but they had won. Timothy sighed, ¡°It might be troublesome to use these swords. If anyone knows where they come from, anyway.¡± ¡°They skimped on armor, though,¡± Catarina gestured. ¡°It¡¯s not much different than yours,¡± he shrugged. ¡°Light, easy to move in. But you¡¯re right. It¡¯s not good.¡± They stuffed everything in storage bags- except for the bodies themselves, which were deconstructed in a formation. It was difficult to completely annihilate the body of a living cultivator, but with so much upper energy around once they were already dead it was simple. The storage bags would be searched through later, after they bound their wounds and began to recover. Somewhere safe, if they could find it. ----- The most tolerable thing about the swamp was that they could walk on top of the worst parts by supporting themselves with energy. The next best thing is there were hardly any tiny stinging insects to worry about. There were mosquitoes twice the size of what had been at the Clear Lake Sect, but that just made them easy targets. Alva shot down any of them that even vaguely approached. As they were part of a balanced environment, there could only be so many of them in an area. Alva had expected more water dwelling creatures causing trouble, but they seemed happy to feed on the bodies of various insects that Alva and Vari left strewn about. And whatever else had died recently. Ants weren¡¯t something that Alva would have considered to be in a swamp, yet they had them. Giant ants. Not like the giant ants back home, the size of a dog or maybe a person. These were closer to¡­ an elephant. That ultimately meant they could only attack a few at a time. They had nothing on void ants. She honestly would have bet on a single void ant against any of them, as long as the void ant wasn¡¯t too young. It wouldn¡¯t have been an interesting fight, as the void ant would have slowly crawled up the larger one and slowly dug its way into the eye and brain, but the larger one couldn¡¯t have done anything. Big ants had big eyes, and despite all having defenses of ascension energy they were easy to pierce through. And when there were too many, Vari would topple one or two of them. The large creatures found it difficult to flip themselves back over. It only took a second or two, but in a high level combat¡­ that was an important one or two. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°This species sucks,¡± Alva declared. ¡°I don¡¯t care if they can be this big. It¡¯s just inefficient.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we should complain about easy opponents,¡± Vari said. She brushed a line of blood off her cheek. ¡°Besides, they¡¯re not so easy for me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re fine. You didn¡¯t even need a barrier.¡± Alva pat Vari on the shoulder. ¡°We need to talk about your cultivation technique.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Vari asked. Alva wrestled another strand of energy into the bundle. ¡°I¡¯ve seen some abnormalities,¡± Alva explained. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Vari wrung her hands. ¡°I¡¯m not really supposed to discuss with outsiders.¡± ¡°I swear to not tell anyone else anything I learn, without your permission,¡± Alva said. ¡°Well, okay.¡± That was too easy. Sure, Alva wasn¡¯t trying to trick her, but she should have at least taken longer to agree. ¡°Great. Do you have a copy with you?¡± She shook her head, ¡°We¡¯re not allowed to bring them away from the sect. But I have the Holy Harmony Technique memorized.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s walk and talk then,¡± Alva gestured. She wasn¡¯t sure if any part of the giant ants was valuable, but it would be a pain to gather it and no matter what it would take a lot of space. She just wanted to be out of the ¡®garden¡¯. The basics of the Holy Harmony Technique were¡­ normal. It was about gathering energy and using it. The exact stages were different than the Hundred Stars, but it still flowed through Body Tempering, Spirit Building, Essence Collection, and Life Transformation. Except they skipped insight, and the allowable choices of essence was very small. ¡°Nothing else works?¡± Alva raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s crazy.¡± ¡°Well, there are infinite variations on the essences. One person¡¯s Devotion looks different from any other. Servitude can have many meanings, depending on the individual. Devotion was my choice.¡± ¡°Yeah, I see it,¡± Alva said. ¡°Thank you,¡± Vari said. ¡°That¡¯s not¡­¡± she was just thinking now she had a name for it. ¡°Yeah, good job. You¡¯re very devoted to¡­ the saints.¡± ¡°As everyone should be! They protect us from the dangers of the world.¡± Alva wasn¡¯t going to ask how many of their disciples died every year. For one thing, she doubted the information would be accurate. And it probably wouldn¡¯t help. ¡°And how do you achieve ascension?¡± ¡°Ascension? Oh, you mean integration?¡± Vari nodded. ¡°The same as anyone else, really. With the culmination of the rest of your cultivation, it¡¯s the next stage.¡± That didn¡¯t tell her anything, but they could get into the details later. ¡°Yeah¡­ so, when that happens¡­ where do you go?¡± ¡°Wherever you want, I suppose.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. When you wrest apart time and space and bathe yourself in¡­ upper energy¡­ do you get transported to a random location?¡± ¡°... What?¡± Vari tilted her head, very confused. ¡°Don¡¯t people from the lower realms just¡­ ride the tides of the universe? Then you have easy access to upper energy.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying you don¡¯t do that here?¡± ¡°... No? Not that I know of. Maybe those who practice the Glorious Harmony Technique?¡± ¡°Is that¡­ different?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Vari nodded. ¡°Those who are deemed to have the proper talent are allowed to use the Glorious Harmony Technique, becoming true disciples. They often become amazingly powerful.¡± Alva made a face. ¡°Let me guess what essences they use. Domination? Overlording¡­ness? Rulership?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly,¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°Domination is a stage of cultivation. They practice Sovereignty and Glory, among other things.¡± ¡°Vari,¡± Alva gestured the woman closer, ¡°I¡¯m going to tell you a secret.¡± ¡°Okay? What is it?¡± Vari stepped right next to her, leaning in. ¡°They¡¯re just using you for your Devotion.¡± Vari didn¡¯t looked shocked. ¡°Your energy. Stolen right from you and delivered to those practicing that other technique.¡± She still didn¡¯t seem upset. ¡°Did you hear me?¡± ¡°Huh? Yeah, I heard you. What was the secret? Oh! Was it that you figured that out without me even telling you? I can tell you¡¯re one of the type who could practice the Glorious Harmony Technique.¡± ¡°But- that¡¯s¡­ Argh!¡± Alva held her head in her hands. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ really in deep, huh?¡± ¡°Apparently not enough,¡± Vari said. ¡°They won¡¯t even let me support them.¡± ¡°... This is going to take a lot of work. You wanted to hear about my world, right?¡± Vari nodded. ¡°It seems so interesting, the lower realms.¡± ¡°Let me tell you about my grandfather,¡± Alva said. ¡°So he grew up on a farm¡­¡± ----- Hoyt was late. He¡¯d gotten entangled with Dark Ring business. He still wasn¡¯t sure it was a good idea, but they had real support to offer. Alva had been able to get to Everheart¡¯s Tomb, so maybe there was no need to deal with the Harmonious Citadel at all for the moment¡­ but he had the feeling they would continue to grow more problematic if ignored. And there was nothing saying they wouldn¡¯t come after Alva in the future for ¡®betrayal¡¯ or ¡®heresy¡¯ something. Not that she¡¯d sworn to be loyal to them, but from the information that had gotten to him that was the sort of thing they¡¯d do. More people from Ceretos would likely end up there if they hadn¡¯t already. So now he was late to Everheart¡¯s Tomb, which also meant he was right on time. Death season was apparently dying down some. The starship that was transporting him was even willing to bring him to a specific point. He couldn¡¯t go directly to the Great Hall, but he could be dropped off nearby¡­ and the starship would even get close to land. Compared to what he got of Alva¡¯s story, it sounded easy. ¡°Here we are,¡± said the captain. ¡°We¡¯ve arrived Assside. Everyone off. Regular pickups are scheduled every three months off season, if you need a ride back. Or you can find a lift with someone else.¡± Or fly themselves. Though not everyone had that option. Integration cultivators did, though. It wasn¡¯t nice or efficient, but he¡¯d gotten used to moving about in space. Though even moving between a few space rocks to different Dark Ring locations was a slog. Ships were the way to go. At least being out in the void gave him a lot of space to work on techniques without warning about burning¡­ anything. When he landed, Hoyt realized that the weird word that the captain had said wasn¡¯t just some sort of verbal tic. After making his way towards the steadily appearing building- apparently landing closer was impossible because Everheart wanted people to get the view walking up to the place- Hoyt entered the Great Hall. And there he was met with the backside of a statue the size of a middling mountain. Chapter 426 The Great Hall was a neutral zone in Everheart¡¯s Tomb. That rule was partially enforced by those in attendance, and partially by the Tomb itself. Fighting didn¡¯t cause any trouble from the Tomb unless someone touched the statue of Everheart, but if they did¡­ there were wider ranging consequences. That was why there was an exclusion zone around each foot and the butt of the spear resting on the ground. Everyone kept a hundred meters away from them, which wasn¡¯t too difficult. It wasn¡¯t like anyone would touch it on accident, outside of combat where some people had very wide areas of attack. The Great Hall itself was a massive empty space, except for the statue. The ceilings were impossibly high, kilometers up, with only occasional massive pillars holding them up. Catarina could easily tell that the pillars were mostly for show, and the formations on them did the bulk of the work. Because it was static, it didn¡¯t require the excessive amounts of energy it might have otherwise, though the world they were on was quite high in the levels of ambient upper energy. Though Everheart¡¯s Tomb was the size of a smallish planet, the population density of actual cultivators was fairly small by some metrics. Only a few hundred thousand, maybe a million throughout. Still, thousands of individuals crowded near the center of the room to take shelter or do business with those who were. This was a place where people could relatively safely exchange the rewards they had received by surpassing trials. The only risks were potentially being spotted by greedy individuals who might decided to steal instead of buy- though that required following someone out of the safe zone. The communal enforcement of the rules in this specific place was strong, but outside of the area people traveled in trusted groups, usually with others from their sects or clans. It was rare to see solo cultivators or pairs like Catarina and Timothy. Loners were often seen as easy targets¡­ though sometimes they were instead surprisingly dangerous. Before they had come in, Catarina and Timothy had a quick conversation about the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s weapons. They might be able to trade them away and get something of similar value, but there was risk of that as well. Some of the others had no specific connection, so they should be safe to use or trade. The two of them couldn¡¯t exactly use fifteen swords, and that didn¡¯t count the various other things they¡¯d taken from storage bags. Their recent battle had been profitable¡­ but with enough danger they would prefer not to engage in similar activities regularly. Over the course of several days they exchanged for a number of practical upgrades throughout the improvised bazaar that had been set up. They replaced their own weapons with some that didn¡¯t have markings of the Harmonious Citadel, and traded for other pieces of equipment they could use themselves or thought their allies could. Hoyt and Alva should be arriving soon enough, though something about the planet made the communication not work reliably. Catarina wondered about that, but she was more interested in the statue. ¡°It¡¯s weird,¡± Catarina said to Timothy. ¡°Is it?¡± he raised an eyebrow, ¡°Frankly, it seems that everything else just didn¡¯t properly display the size of Everheart¡¯s ego.¡± ¡°Why is it here, though?¡± Catarina asked, ¡°And not lording over the statues of all of those others elsewhere?¡± ¡°He might have another statue there,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°Alva just didn¡¯t mention it. I feel like there¡¯s more, though.¡± ¡°There is,¡± Catarina nodded, but said nothing. Timothy had been with her most of their lives, so he knew she was thinking¡­ and that she was remaining quiet because of what others might hear. Hoyt was the first to arrive, and it was easy to sense his approach. The three of them shared a single cultivation technique, and there weren¡¯t so many Integration cultivators that they wouldn¡¯t take note of a new one approaching the area. ¡°Finally made it,¡± he said, looking around. ¡°Alva¡¯s not here yet?¡± ¡°She was passing through the Garden, last we heard,¡± Timothy explained. ¡°Though with the rest of us here, we might go look for her.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that would be beneficial,¡± Catarina said. ¡°If anyone can find their way through, it would be her. We might simply pass each other by, and get lost ourselves.¡± ¡°Yeah but¡­ alone?¡± ¡°She said she had someone with her, I believe.¡± There were no immediate responses from Alva, though it was unclear if the messages were getting through at all. Hoyt received updated communication options from Catarina while they waited, using materials she traded for. Then they had to wait for another week. ----- ¡°For the last time,¡± Alva said exasperated. ¡°I don¡¯t want the death flower.¡± ¡°Golden Rafflesia is a valuable cultivation resource,¡± Vari explained, ¡°It would be a waste for one such as I to use it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not getting within a kilometer of that foul flower again. If you want to use it to cultivate murder or whatever, that¡¯s your choice.¡± ¡°The scent of death it exudes allows meditation upon battle experiences, as well as life and death itself. It is a unique opportunity.¡± ¡°Then you should be happy to have it, right?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Of course, but it would be more effective in the hands of someone with talent.¡± ¡°Life and death really isn¡¯t my specialty. Especially the last part. I¡¯m more of a harmony sort,¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°Anyway, just keep it. You can sell it if you want, I don¡¯t care.¡± She used her hand to shield her eyes from the sun, ¡°We¡¯re finally almost there. That freaking huge waste of space.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°... The Great Hall?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Their travels through the Gardens had been quite unpleasant, even with Alva leading them away from the most dangerous things. That involved approaching this ¡®Golden Rafflesia¡¯, a massive flower that felt like it was rotting her from the inside out every time she smelled it. It wasn¡¯t, though. It just wanted very specific creatures to come to it, while keeping others away. Others being almost everything in the area, and it would have included Alva if there hadn¡¯t been a large group of cultivators in one direction and some sort of worrying relative of a grasping willow in the other. ¡°Everheart is a terrible host,¡± Alva said. ¡°He should put little rest shacks occasionally, instead of wide open areas of nothing, then overly large buildings full of ostentation and nothing practical.¡± ¡°Displaying one¡¯s might is to be expected.¡± ¡°You sound almost like you admire Everheart.¡± ¡°Should I not? He¡¯s said to be supremely powerful.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t the Harmonious Citadel have conflict with him? He stole a bunch of their statues.¡± ¡°No he didn¡¯t. Those were replicas.¡± ¡°Sure, right.¡± Alva shook her head, ¡°Anyway, he¡¯s an asshole.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how you could know that. I have been with you most of your time in the upper realms, and before that you couldn¡¯t have interacted with him.¡± ¡°Right. I¡¯ve never met him, but I certainly got that impression.¡± And her words were true, in a way. ¡°Anyway,¡± Vari said, ¡°I¡¯m sure someone that strong has reasons to act the way they do.¡± Maybe, Alva supposed. But that didn¡¯t make him not an asshole. Sensible gardens didn¡¯t have more than one or two things that could kill people, but the whole thing was full of the most dangerous creatures in existence! Probably. Not counting void ants, or Paradise. Or Fuzz, but he was a special exception. ¡°I sense others with the same cultivation style as yours,¡± Vari said. ¡°Two men and a woman. I assume these are your companions?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Alva said. ¡°I guess I should introduce you.¡± It still took some time to get close, but the others moved towards her as well. ¡°Hey everyone. This is Vari. She¡¯s following me around for some reason. Vari, this is my cousin Catarina, her husband Timothy, and my friend Hoyt.¡± ¡°Greetings, Lady Catarina, Lords Timothy and Hoyt,¡± Vari inclined her head. ¡°Is she alright?¡± Catarina asked. Alva shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know. She¡¯s just like this. Hey, actually¡­¡± Alva snatched something. ¡°Tell me you can see this. Please?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Catarina asked, leaning close. ¡°Some sort of energy strand?¡± ¡°Oh good,¡± Alva breathed a sigh of relief, ¡°I thought I was going crazy. Do you think it¡¯s safe to absorb.¡± ¡°I can try,¡± Catarina said¡­ but her attempts to control it were fruitless. ¡°It doesn¡¯t appear to like me.¡± Alva looked at Vari. ¡°Dammit.¡± ¡°Do you know what it is?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ devotion? Delusion? Could be either,¡± Alva said. ¡°So, how are things here?¡± ----- Things had gone quite well at the peace conference. Nobody had even drawn weapons, let alone been stabbed. So far, everyone was following through with their parts of the arrangement, but there were many years yet to go. At some point, hopefully there would be peace without all of this extra mess. Though it would take work to maintain. It was only a question of how much attention to devote to that aspect, and how much to developing the world. Anton firmly believed they would need to be stronger for the next invasion. The Trigold cluster likely wouldn¡¯t just let them off with what had already happened. Or maybe they would, in which case being stronger simply allowed them to establish themselves as a factor beyond their single world. News trickling in from the upper realms was mostly positive. Apparently Everheart only had a single Tomb in the upper realms, but it was massive and deadly. It seemed to serve a different purpose than the ones on their own world. He didn¡¯t have any way to provide relevant input on that discussion, of course. Not from where he was. Anton knew any attempts to go to the upper realms would be deadly, but he idly considered if he could move to another planet in the lower realms. As if he could take the time away, or give up his responsibilities. And even if he could, he would likely find himself subconsciously feeling responsibility for what else went on atop distant planets. That might not be valid, and would certainly be disruptive. It was better to avoid such thoughts for a while. Maybe a couple centuries, after which point he would be dead or possibly unnecessary. And while at various points he would have hated to be the latter, the longer he lived the more he wouldn¡¯t mind it. ----- Fire burned inside Anton. As his connection to the sun grew stronger, Anton had empowered the other stars inside him. It was a slow process. Noticing a significant difference within a year was already beyond what could reasonably be expected. He was making some small strides, however. Perhaps it was rude to consider the amount of energy a first star cultivator had insignificant, but it wasn¡¯t unfair. If their stars were equivalent, he would be worth a hundred- but they weren¡¯t. Not by far. Anton felt he could get wrapped up in an endless cycle of cultivation, withdrawing from the world and focusing only on his own growth. It might be nice to forget about the world, but if he did, he would no longer be himself. So he had to keep himself from drifting off. Then Anton felt something. It was different from the natural energy he had inside himself, even that of the sun. Its power was¡­ tolerable. The small strand of energy was insignificant compared to his total, but its density was admirable. Anton wasn¡¯t sure what had formed it, though. It wasn¡¯t quite like anything he recognized. The closest might be strands of insight, but this didn¡¯t carry with it thoughts or memories, but pure energy. After carefully observing it to determine if it was tainted with another¡¯s control, Anton couldn¡¯t find anything. It was strange, because though it wasn¡¯t a part of him it felt like perhaps it should be. Or it wanted to be. He was careful, but he integrated it into his own cultivation. It felt¡­ good? Like he had cultivated for several days instead of just minutes. Perhaps it was some stray bit of energy from some precious material that had formed or passed nearby. He would ask around the sect to see if any of them knew what it was from. He didn¡¯t want to deprive anyone of their own cultivation resources, but if there was more like that, he would be interested to procure such for himself. It might be time for a little adventure. Chapter 427 Ambati. No sects or clans held a dominant position, but they had managed to keep their conflicts to a minimum. Most of the world no longer had a problem with food- enhanced growing techniques allowed land to be used much more efficiently. Even what had once been less desirable land due to poor soil quality or vicious beasts could be claimed and brought to some level of functionality. Perhaps in another century or two they would have to solve issues of overcrowding, but Anton hoped by that time people could work together towards that goal. Or they would wipe out another third or half of their population like the wars a half century earlier. That was a terrible method, but it would happen. It was a shame that prosperity might eventually bring problems along with it. Even if more people were ascending, it couldn¡¯t possibly hope to keep up with the growth of even a moderate population. One a year, a handful, even if they got to hundreds or thousands it wouldn¡¯t be enough. Though people could simply choose to be more conservative with having children. It was the struggle for limited resources between factions that might become an issue. That was not a problem Anton could deal with himself, but by fostering relations between people and countries he could hope that they would work things through. His reason for coming to Amabati wasn¡¯t for anything official, but just for a visit. Simply coming for a visit as the sect head of a powerful group meant something, but Anton knew people would read into his actions whatever they wanted. Though most had a positive opinion of him. He expected to find who he was looking for at a great distance, but could not sense her. She should be staying in the area, but perhaps she had roamed off on some distant mission. Anton hadn¡¯t announced his trip ahead of time, so he had no expectation his arrival would be anticipated. Asking around in the nearby city was fairly straightforward. Those with the highest cultivations would at least know of each other. A few had only heard of the archer, but one older man had some knowledge of her location. ¡°Why do you seek her?¡± he asked. ¡°She was my student,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can¡¯t guide her along her current path, but I did help her with her early path of archery.¡± ¡°Ah. It is you,¡± the old man said. ¡°I had expected your aura to be more¡­ domineering.¡± ¡°That would be completely unnecessary,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°That doesn¡¯t stop everyone,¡± the man grinned. ¡°Nthanda has spoken well of you in the past, and would certainly be glad to see you once more. She is currently in Kintale, half a day¡¯s¡­¡± the man shook his head, ¡°Somewhere around thirty kilometers to the north.¡± Anton stretched his senses out, immediately sweeping over the area. ¡°There are no villages there that I can find. Nor can I sense her.¡± The man blinked. ¡°You should as you get closer, though I must say that it is not a village in a traditional sense. Many would refer to it as a nest. Void ants.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Anton nodded. That informed how he should be searching. He could not directly feel void ants, but he could still determine their locations if he was careful. When they were closer, the details of their presence was easier to sense, as he would be quite aware of gaps in his senses. Even at a ¡®modest¡¯ distance, however, his senses were less attuned to those finer details. ¡°I see. I believe I have found it.¡± An ant¡¯s nest mainly consisted of underground tunnels, and void ants were no different¡­ at a base. However, their intelligence allowed them to construct more complex structures- and to expand instead of merely tunneling. There were other ants that did something similar, creating great ant mounds, but void ants were more intentional with their design. They had regular patterns¡­ and even some purely aesthetic choices. Many tunnels were wider than that of normal ants, because although void ants did not reach anything particularly large for an insect, they varied in size from the standard black ants to the size of a thumb. Though the Great Queen was the only example of the latter at the moment. Having found Kindale, Anton noticed signs nearby. They were for the sake of humans, notifying them. He should have spotted them earlier, but he was focused on finding a person. That was a note he¡¯d have to make for future study. Speaking of that person, Nthanda should still be something he could sense. ¡°She¡¯s certainly made progress,¡± Anton said. ¡°Thank you for the information, good sir.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± the man nodded. Nthanda was difficult to sense, but compared to a void ant it was much simpler. It seemed she¡¯d continued her training to gain their properties, and thus his energy senses had glossed over her. However, she left a much larger gap, and once he sensed her he could find traces of natural energy she was manipulating as well. Though for a Life Transformation cultivator, it was barely anything. The only natural energy she used was to form the string on the bow Anton had given her, and only the tiniest amounts of that energy leaked away. Excellent progress. Anton took a quick stroll, enjoying the nature around him but not wanting to waste too much time. While he had nothing to do urgently at the moment, there were always things that could be done. But he wasn¡¯t too hasty. Leisure was important. The area was remote, but it did have something resembling a road going through it. He took that route, not because he needed to, but because he wanted to leave a good impression on the void ants. It was their territory after all. ¡°Hello there,¡± Anton waved as he approached. ¡°I¡¯m just here to see Nthanda.¡± A few dozen meters away, two ants looked at each other, their limbs moving. ¡°I do see you, in fact. And I understand your sign.¡± Ants couldn¡¯t blush, but as their language had developed they picked up certain tics that showed emotions even to humans. It was a faster way for them to communicate with each other as well, since pheromones could be slow and inexact. The two guard ants quickly recovered and returned to their duties, waving their forelimbs and antennae. ¡°I would be happy to accept an escort. Do you wish to walk alongside or ride along?¡± As he held out his finger for one of them to climb up, Anton thought about how strangely vulnerable he was. A single void ant- with the exception of the Great Queen or perhaps a few of similar power or age- could do little bit create small lacerations before being destroyed. But having reached Assimilation, his relative battle strength against void ants was more or less the same. He was little better than a cultivator who had just finished the second half of Spirit Building in terms of body, which was about as far as the average cultivator went. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Though Nthanda was an exception. There were others who practiced Western Steel Body as well, but even most of them incorporated more energy. Nthanda simply wasn¡¯t suited for storing or using large amounts of natural energy, but she found a way that worked. ¡°Hello again,¡± Anton announced himself as he approached. ¡°Your progress is remarkable.¡± She turned towards him with a smile. ¡°Grand Elder¡­ no, Sect Head. I had not expected you.¡± ¡°You can just call me Anton,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m not here on sect related business. Just came to see how you were doing.¡± ¡°Now you have seen,¡± she nodded. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°As I said, remarkable progress,¡± he looked at her and nodded. Her skin had already been dark, but it was closer to black, with a faint sheen to it. It wasn¡¯t quite the chitin of the void ants, but it was a remarkable recreation of those properties. ¡°Your energy control is impressive as well. And what are those arrows?¡± Nthanda pulled an arrow from her pack to show him. It was entirely made of metal, including the ¡®feathers¡¯. ¡°This is a form of shape restoring metal. Once set into form, it will return to that form unless great effort is taken to keep it from happening.¡± She snapped the arrow in half, showing Anton the two parts, then pressed them back together. The metal around the break almost melted back together, and within a few moments it was whole. ¡°I need replace many fewer. If an enemy wished they might destroy all of my arrows, but the extra energy expenditure in combat would be significant for no immediate gain. I have also been studying different body tempering techniques to improve my own.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°You¡¯re getting close to the peak of Life Transformation. Another couple decades, perhaps?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± she acknowledged. ¡°Though I¡¯m not sure what I will do after that.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, I have no advice,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Not that directly applies, anyway. What should you do? Tear apart space with your bare hands?¡± He paused, ¡°Perhaps that could be done, but I wouldn¡¯t have any idea where to start.¡± ¡°It might not matter. At the moment, I am not sure if I would wish to ascend anyway. Here, I am strong. In the upper realms¡­¡± ¡°You would still be strong,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it is true that your control over your destiny would be more limited. Those of us who have reached that place have found various difficulties. But that¡¯s the path of cultivation.¡± She nodded. ¡°Can you help improve my distance shooting? I lose track of my arrows once they are far away, and I am unsure why they are going off course. Simply having your senses to tell me would be a great boon.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Any time.¡± He meant it too. That was the sort of thing he was devoted to, and he very much enjoyed the process. It let him feel good about himself and the world. ----- Some time later, almost exactly halfway across the continent, Anton found himself once more underneath a great tree. His best bow was made via the contributions of the Grandfather Willow, his mental connection making it even more effective than just the materials could achieve. Lev had clearly sensed him coming from afar, and Anton was directly guided to meet him. Anton took a sip of tea. ¡°I am happy to say that part of my visit is social. But I do have some questions that we need to get to at some point.¡± Lev nodded, ¡°I have sent for Elder Varela to join us. I¡¯m sure you will not mind.¡± ¡°Not at all. Last time we met we were swamped with diplomatic nonsense, so we hardly got to talk.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Lev smiled. ¡°So what are these questions? Might as well get them out of the way.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been encountering a type of energy. I don¡¯t know where it comes from, and though it seems safe¡­ I am rather suspicious.¡± ¡°Describe it for me,¡± Lev said. ¡°Well it¡¯s-¡± Anton was going to describe it, ¡°Easier to see, actually.¡± He felt some coming vaguely towards them. It bypassed him, but he snatched it. It was much more slippery than he¡¯d previously encountered. ¡°This sort of thing. A strand of energy.¡± Lev waved for him to let it go, and it continued towards him, and into him. ¡°In fact, I do have some idea. I started to see it some time ago and began to look into it. Even the Exalted Archipelago¡¯s information was limited but¡­ it would generally be called Devotion.¡± ¡°Where does it come from?¡± Anton asked. ¡°From people,¡± Lev said. ¡°How much have you encountered?¡± ¡°Just a few strands now and then,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m surprised,¡± Lev frowned. ¡°I would expect there to be more.¡± ¡°Is it common?¡± ¡°Not necessarily, but with you being you¡­ there are many who are grateful to you for one thing or another. Though I suppose you do travel around frequently. It might have trouble finding you.¡± ¡°So it comes from¡­ people? I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m comfortable with that.¡± ¡°That¡­ is quite like you, actually. And perhaps you are right, in some ways. But I would not reject it. Devotion cannot be used by any but its intended. The information I have indicated that people could be encouraged to produce more, but that is where it might be inappropriate. People subconsciously offering you devotion in some manner will not harm them, but if they are encouraged to cultivate devotion over more practical alternatives, it can stunt their growth.¡± ¡°So¡­ I can disregard it then?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I suppose that is reasonable,¡± Lev nodded. ¡°Why am I only noticing it now?¡± Anton questioned. ¡°I haven¡¯t really changed. Was it related to the¡­ events in the Exalted Archipelago?¡± ¡°From what I know, it shouldn¡¯t be. Not directly, at least. Being in awe of your power might change how people feel about you, of course, but it simply can¡¯t be sensed or used by those who have not surpassed Life Transformation.¡± ¡°Not at all?¡± Anton asked. Lev shrugged, ¡°Speaking in absolutes seemes liable to result in me being incorrect. Not as far as I know, but again¡­ limited information. Perhaps those in the upper realms might know more.¡± ¡°I suppose they would, if ascension cultivators can interact with it. At the current moment the majority of those I¡¯m in contact with are in Everheart¡¯s Tomb.¡± Anton frowned, ¡°And I just had an idea.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Lev raised an eyebrow. ¡°It¡¯s a stupid one,¡± Anton said. ¡°But perhaps they¡¯ll have answers for that as well. But I¡¯d rather not say it aloud.¡± He sipped his tea. ¡°Varela¡¯s almost here. Perhaps we can talk about something more pleasant than mysteries of cultivation we don¡¯t understand.¡± Chapter 428 ¡°This would be faster if I could see the formation directly,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°No.¡± Timothy¡¯s answer was instant and firm. ¡°What? I know better than to tear apart Everheart¡¯s ego-statue to find what¡¯s underneath. I was just saying it would be easier. If I really was going to do it, it would have happened a week ago.¡± ¡°It¡¯s odd that Everheart would have created this grand tomb and returned to Ceretos to leave behind some sort of control plate,¡± Hoyt remarked. They were as secure as Catarina could make their conversation, which meant they¡¯d have to have some sort of formation grandmaster actively watching them to get anything. There might be some that would come to Everheart¡¯s Tomb, but they might be smarter than that. ¡°I don¡¯t fully understand the rules involved in going between the upper and lower realms,¡± Catarina said, ¡°But I don¡¯t believe Everheart is in the habit of leaving anything behind anywhere. And I don¡¯t think he would have left it untrapped, either.¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t that formation plate super trapped at some point?¡± Alva asked. ¡°At some point¡­ certainly,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°Long enough in the past that they seem to have crumbled before Everheart¡¯s time.¡± ¡°That man was very busy,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°It¡¯s hard to believe how much he accomplished.¡± ¡°We could likely do the same, if we didn¡¯t care about present or future consequences. He made enemies with everyone, but got away with boatloads of resources that allowed him to reduce the time required to create things. With enough raw materials, you can just slap together something like this quickly.¡± ¡°This being¡­¡± Alva looked around. ¡°This Tomb.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you,¡± Alva crossed her arms. ¡°If I had the resources and a vast supply of energy,¡± Catarina said, ¡°I could do this in ten or twenty years. Before monsters were seeded in and people were getting in the way. Of course, that¡¯s with the caveat that I was building atop something else. Like whatever¡¯s down there,¡± Catarina gestured. She rotated the formation plate in her hand, feeling the fluctuations in energy as she attempted to control something she couldn¡¯t see. ¡°I believe I have done all I can here for now. We can¡¯t remain forever, after all.¡± ¡°I can send to be picked up,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I¡¯m sure a batch of people would be happy to get off-world.¡± ¡°It will be better to ride along with another group. I believe Alva was looking into the options?¡± ¡°Oh, yeah. I had Vari take care of that.¡± Alva gestured. ¡°Oh! Yes.¡± Vari collected herself. ¡°There¡¯s a group in the Gardens returning to the Harmonious Citadel next month¡­¡± the collective gazes of the surrounding people made her swallow nervously. ¡°But of course as lady Alva has expressed her desire to not go directly back to the Harmonious Citadel for some reason, I looked into alternatives. The Library has a pickup in one week. Time will be a bit tight to get there, and the price is rather high. Otherwise there¡¯s a ship landing on the far side of the Labyrinth. But that one¡¯s going to the Bloodsoaked Nebula so I-¡± ¡°That¡¯s the one,¡± Timothy said. Catarina nodded. ¡°I would like to stay out of conflict zones,¡± Hoyt agreed. ¡°But the Bloodsoaked Nebula-¡± ¡°Hasn¡¯t had any major battles there in centuries,¡± Alva said. ¡°Right?¡± ¡°... It doesn¡¯t sound like a nice place.¡± Perhaps it wasn¡¯t, but it was a step closer to Nuvater, and was a step further from the Harmonious Citadel. Further from the Dark Ring too, but Hoyt wasn¡¯t restricted in where he could go. He was working with them on some level, but he didn¡¯t have to dive headfirst into the conflict with the Harmonious Citadel immediately. Vari sighed, ¡°I still don¡¯t want to go to somewhere I know millions of people died. All the energy is corrupted and gross. But we¡¯d have to get through the Labyrinth anyway, and that¡¯s got some of the most deadly traps and¡­ nobody seems to care about that.¡± ¡°We care,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But we¡¯re also confident in our abilities.¡± ¡°So is everyone else,¡± Vari pointed out. ¡°And half of them die.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯d best ensure we¡¯re part of the correct half,¡± Catarina said. She wasn¡¯t going to mention that herself and Timothy had already made up for the numbers. Vari probably wouldn¡¯t like to know they killed people from the Harmonious Citadel- and besides, that wasn¡¯t how statistics worked. Though it certainly wasn¡¯t fully random either. The labyrinth was a long and winding deathtrap, but it covered about half a band around the whole planet. The Great Hall was approximately near its middle on one side, which meant that going around involved traveling about half of the planet. Moving along the outside walls wasn¡¯t necessarily safer than inside the Labyrinth, as many other cultivators took the same route¡­ and might be interested in finding loot conveniently on people instead of in deathtraps. There were openings at various points along either side of the Labyrinth, so if they found a good route passing through would be much quicker. The paths never stayed the same for long, so there were no maps. Only general themes and signs of danger that were oft-repeated. Of course, those were just the signs that people survived to tell about- perhaps there were unknown dangers that were the source of the various deaths. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. As they approached their selected entrance, they were met by a young man with deep black hair, expertly styled and sharply contrasting with his nearly pure white skin and clothes. ¡°You¡¯re in luck!¡± The young man said. ¡°A new challenge has just begun!¡± ¡°Oh wow it¡¯s been so long,¡± Alva said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Vari asked. ¡°It¡¯s just another projection of Everheart.¡± ¡°But we haven¡¯t seen any¡­?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that,¡± Alva pat Vari on the head, though they were basically the same height. ¡°Yo, Everheart! What¡¯s the challenge?¡± ¡°The challenge is to collect these,¡± Everheart pulled out an orb, seemingly made of swirling colors. It first appeared to be glass or crystal, but as the rainbow twisted and folded into patterns it was clear it couldn¡¯t be any sort of normal material. ¡°Each labyrinth orb is worth a number of points. The group or individual with the highest number of points at the end of the event wins.¡± ¡°What do they win?¡± Vari asked. ¡°A huge pile of cr- carefully handpicked equipment,¡± Everheart said with a smile. ¡°Enough to make you emperors.¡± ¡°I could have already been a emperor,¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°But sure. How do we get them?¡± ¡°By completing trials¡­ or being fortunate enough to stumble across them. And I¡¯m sure you can think of other ways.¡± ¡°Can we have that one?¡± Alva asked. Everheart folded his arms in front of him. ¡°That would be completely unfair to the other participants, would it not?¡± ¡°Since when did you care about that?¡± Alva tilted her head. ¡°Can we have it or not?¡± ¡°If you want it,¡± Everheart said, dropping into a stance. ¡°You¡¯ll have to take it from me.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Even before the word was done, Alva had drawn and fired her bow, a Spirit Arrow heading straight for the orb held in Everheart¡¯s hand. He barely managed to pull it out of the way, and the arrow went off into the distance. ¡°Ugh, whatever. Let¡¯s go.¡± Alva spun around, and the others followed her. ¡°Are we just giving up on that¡­?¡± Vari asked. ¡°I don¡¯t want to waste energy,¡± Alva said as they began to walk into the labyrinth, the walls deceptively high and the path being a good ten meters across as far as they could see- with branching paths up ahead. Then the orb bounced off the wall next to Alva, and she reached out to snatch it. She looked over he shoulder to see if Everheart would give chase, but he seemed to be content with cursing her under his breath. The arrow¡¯s return path had knocked it out of his hand when he wasn¡¯t ready¡­ but Alva imagined he wasn¡¯t trying that hard. Of course, he was also focused on their group walking away from him, which was the point. ----- Everheart watched the strange group go. They knew him, but had never been here before. Not just the Labyrinth, with this particular projection of him. The entire Tomb. He kept track of such things. He also thought he recognized something about the cultivation technique four of them practiced. Had he met someone like that in the past? There were so many. Maybe they were just bluffing. But they could be telling the truth. The original would want to know about this. Either way, it would be fun to put some special encounters in their path. Serves them right for that girl snatching away his orb. He didn¡¯t have a backup. He really wasn¡¯t supposed to give it away, but it didn¡¯t matter. Anything that could be done was fine. Cheating was a word those who couldn¡¯t handle the real world used to explain why they lost. ----- ¡°Why is gravity sideways all of the sudden?¡± Vari yelled as she found herself falling into the hail of darts instead of ducking under it. Everyone else was also being pulled towards the wall. ¡°At least it isn¡¯t upside down,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Don¡¯t give him any ideas!¡± Alva complained. A few moments later with a flurry of movement, they all found themselves on the wall, basically unscathed. Vari was curled up into a ball, but her barrier had served her fine, preventing enough of the incoming weapons. Timothy had helped with others, and Alva had shot the incoming wall to set off traps early, before they landed. Smoke and the aftersmell of lightning filtered around them along with piles of metal, but they were fine. ¡°Is this going to stop or¡­?¡± Timothy tapped his toe on the wall/floor. The answer seemed to be that it would not any time soon. So when they came to their next turn, the option was to try climbing or drop down quite a distance. They could also try to jump across. ¡°It¡¯s not too far,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°The problem will be if there are other obstacles. Or hidden enemies.¡± ¡°Pretty sure the walls across the way will crush us,¡± Alva said. ¡°Or something on that scale, at least.¡± ¡°Down has too many formations to handle in freefall,¡± Catarina said. ¡°So we can try up where there are¡­¡± ¡°Snakes,¡± Alva said. ¡°And probably some wall-crawlers. The trees give some good mobility options, though. Just don¡¯t fall.¡± All of them took in the sideways forest above them, or perhaps it was more of a grove. An intentionally planted one at that, with somewhat regular patterns. ¡°A group¡¯s coming up behind us,¡± Alva cautioned. ¡°So we should hurry to make a choice.¡± ¡°Up it is,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He turned to Vari, ¡°Need help?¡± ¡°I can do this,¡± Vari said stubbornly. She leapt upwards at an angle, covering the dozen meters between her and her destination. She softly landed on the side of a tree, large enough to be a comfortable platform. Timothy looked at Alva and shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m not sure why she likes you.¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m nice.¡± ¡°Not to her.¡± With some effort, they all landed on trees of their own, just in time for the local inhabitants to begin their attack. It was rather odd, as both trees and snakes appeared to be functioning with standard gravity. Some of the snakes were small- the length of an arm at best- but the amount of upper energy they contained was sufficient for them to puncture energy defenses, at least long enough to inject venom. As for what such venom might do, nobody was interested in testing it. Alva was focused on taking them down before they got close, but there were too many for her to take out alone. The group used their footing on the sides of trees to maneuver, careful to not destroy what was holding them up as they attacked. They cut down their enemies as they approached, a wall of fire near the ¡®ground¡¯ encircling some of the trees keeping them at bay, courtesy of Hoyt. Vari flung barriers around in a way she had not previously demonstrated- using them as walls to redirect the possible paths of the slithering creatures. The battle was going well, but many legged creatures that appeared to be more claw and limb than anything else were coming from ¡®above¡¯. And the group of cultivators coming up from behind them seemed to be standing on the floor normally. For the moment they were observing curiously, but it was impossible to say what they might do if they found an opening. Chapter 429 Everything seemed normal when they killed the snakes, despite gravity going the wrong direction. Approaching crawlers possessed some potential danger, but instead of worrying about that Alva took a shot at one of the many-limbed creatures. It was mostly clawed legs with barely a torso or head, but she was skilled at picking out weak points. Her shot found a heart or something equivalent, and the creature went down- individually, they seemed to not be a threat. Then it exploded, and a colored orb fell down. Down from their current orientation, not compared to where actual gravity should be, nor the perspective of the creatures they were fighting. That particular crawler had come along the wall, so it fell towards the crossroads¡­ where one of the nearby cultivators snatched it up. Annoying, but nothing worth concerning herself with yet. As the crawlers came for the closest enemy, the one furthest up/forward, they clawed at Timothy. He adequately defended himself against their many limbs, but as their claws missed his legs they tore chunks out of the tree he was standing on, forcing him to jump to another or fall. He could cling to the wall or floor with his energy, but supporting his weight with energy alone while fighting was not the best prospect. Further crawlers were slain, and more orbs of different colors dropped from them. Pure colors, not the mixed rainbow like the one Alva had snatched from the projection of Everheart. It was unclear if these were worth more or less, or if they were in fact not associated with the points at all. Since the challenge had been set, Catarina reached her free hand out to catch any that fell near her, dropping them into her storage bag. They could chase down the others later, and for the moment staying safe was more important. The crawlers might be somewhat dangerous, but the humans¡¯ cultivations weren¡¯t weak either- even if they could only reach the upper realms through ascension, many people and creatures born in the upper realms were beneath their level. Vari focused on defending not herself or the others, but the trees they were using as platforms. Using her energy to form a barrier on stationary objects was easier than people, but her range was restricted. She had to be close to her target, and touching was best. She leapt back and forth, fortifying the trees others were using. As she moved between another pair, she felt a momentary weakness. Then she was falling. A fall would generally be of no consequence to a Life Transformation cultivator, but that was in typical gravity. Everheart¡¯s Tomb wasn¡¯t normally different, but falling sideways was already abnormal, and landing in traps would be a problem. As Vari tried to web out her energy to catch herself, she found her control slipping. Then she was yanked to a halt. Alva dropped her onto the tree next to her and went back to shooting without pause. Vari was helpful, if confused. And while they were on a team, she wouldn¡¯t just let her die. But despite her lower cultivation, Vari was normally competent. It was strange that she had fallen at all- and even now her energy seemed in disarray. As Alva searched for the issue, Hoyt was already on it. He left behind the gouges of fire around where he had been fighting, confident they would scorch any enemy that passed through him- but he had another target. He leapt at an angle, spinning to add what felt like horizontal momentum to his movement. It didn¡¯t matter if his opponents were standing on a floor or wall, all that mattered was if his attacks could reach them. His axe chopped into the middle of the observing cultivators. While they didn¡¯t seem like they were doing anything, falling orbs were disappearing¡­ and they had all dealt with similar illusionists before. His attack wasn¡¯t a warning shot either- but without knowing where to properly direct his attacks, he just chose somewhere central. His momentum and energy converted into a spiral of fire as he struck, filling the area with fire. It didn¡¯t matter if he knew where his opponents were if fire was everywhere. Hoyt could tolerate snatching falling orbs, but interfering with them as they fought was unacceptable. Involuntary cries of pain directed him towards actual targets, and he spun around on his axe that was holding him in place to kick at the source. A wave of fire covered everything but a humanoid shape, though the illusion quickly fell away as the person¡¯s energy crumbled. They crouched down to their relative ground and covered their head¡­ and Hoyt withdrew some of the energy. There might still be some mercy for these people. The tide of crawlers didn¡¯t last much longer, and the others also began to seek out the illusionists. Soon enough they had them all packed into a corner where it was convenient to reach them and respective gravities met. ¡°Turn out your bags,¡± Alva said, her bow drawn and ready to fire. ¡°Hand over any of the challenge orbs¡­ and you can leave.¡± She was open to seeking opinions of the others, but she knew they would agree with her actions. While the small group had started the aggression, they didn¡¯t necessarily deserve to die. Even in a place full of danger like Everheart¡¯s Tomb, the group was not one they needed to be in deadly conflict with. It wasn¡¯t the Harmonious Citadel directly robbing them, but a group snatching fallen loot out from under them¡­ and interfering with their fight. Maybe they would have gone further if given the chance, but they could be afforded some benefit of the doubt. Once. The woman responsible for the group bowed her head in submission. ¡°I thank you for your mercy, on behalf of the Illustrious Beguilers.¡± Alva didn¡¯t know who they were, which meant they were probably a small group¡­ though there could be many such groups that were stronger than the Order. At least, what was left on Ceretos. The upper realms had a great population and powerful energy, so of course cultivators on average had high ranks. After sending the group on their way, Alva and the others began to attempt their climb once more. Only to very suddenly find themselves falling to the normal floor. Perhaps whatever trap or trick they had encountered had expired¡­ but they remained cautious should gravity divert itself once more. Vari¡¯s eyes were sparkling as she watched the four, despite the awkward change in direction. ¡°All of you are so strong.¡± Hoyt furrowed his brow, ¡°This is quite a large amount of devotion,¡± he commented, while noting Alva received at least twice as much as any of the others. ¡°I don¡¯t think this is necessary. We were just fighting. Doesn¡¯t this weaken you?¡± he asked Vari. She tilted her head. ¡°Why would it? Devotion provides the core of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s strength. It is only natural that those of you with saint-like features would receive devotion.¡± Alva just shrugged. It wasn¡¯t going to be a short road to convince Vari that anything was weird about her. They had a Labyrinth to get through still¡­ and maybe points to collect. If they could figure out how the orbs worked. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ----- Though it wasn¡¯t precise, Catarina had calculated a general amount of points. Solid colored orbs radiated the least amount of upper energy, and thus were probably weakest and worth the least¡­ though it was possible it was exactly the opposite. Either way, certain colors seemed to be worth more, and mixed colors were the most. The rainbow orb from the projection was likely worth as much as the dozens they had collected put together. Now there were more on offer. Another similar rainbow orb sat on a pedestal in the middle of an empty room, prime for the taking. Which of course meant it was extra trapped. ¡°I have the feeling that just avoiding traps won¡¯t be sufficient here,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°Though there¡¯s no projection around to explain it¡­ I¡¯d guess this is a formation test.¡± ¡°Just tell us if you need anything,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I will,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°I think I just have to¡­¡± she began to walk in a strange pattern. It spiraled inward, then back outward. Her path even crossed over itself several times, but ultimately she made her way to the center. Then she kicked the pedestal to knock the orb off into her hand. She thought she might be able to just make her way out, but instead traced a new path through the mostly invisible flow of energy. The whole process was sometimes excruciatingly slow, minutes spent on a single step, but after a few hours she had the orb. There were more monsters, though even with other complications those were the easiest to handle. More challenges appeared- suspiciously appropriate ones. Archery, where a target had to be shot around a corner while the arrow had to wind through an invisible maze. A corridor where continuous attacks rained from both sides, where Timothy and Catarina worked back-to-back. When they came to a towering tree with an orb embedded in it, Hoyt frowned. ¡°Is it just me, or does that tree look particularly dry and flammable?¡± ¡°That was the impression I got as well,¡± Alva said. ¡°How much of this is a trap?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°That¡¯s always the question, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I can do more than just burn things,¡± Hoyt pouted. ¡°Then you¡¯d better get on it,¡± Timothy suggested. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ growing towards us.¡± Not only was the tree extending roots, but also twiggy, leafless branches. They weren¡¯t just moving, but also expanding. Though there was nothing that said the challenge had to be taken on by a single person, the others took supporting roles while Hoyt chopped through the branches and set everything on fire. The tree burned exceptionally well, which is where Hoyt¡¯s training with the Glorious Flame Palace to control what he burned came in handy. Otherwise, the entire area being covered in flames would have been very uncomfortable for the group. When the orb- with flickering flames contained inside it- dropped to the ground- Hoyt picked it up. ¡°Well, great. Now I¡¯m certain that¡­ guy is watching us.¡± ¡°I thought we could assume that,¡± Alva said. Hoyt shrugged, ¡°That¡¯s what Everheart wants people to think, at least.¡± ¡°It¡¯s lucky we ran across these particular challenges, huh?¡± Vari said. ¡°Though I¡¯m sure you could have handled anything.¡± ¡°I¡¯m amazed you could think this is just random chance,¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t say what I expected to see, but there are certainly worse things that could have come up. And probably should have.¡± As they continued on through the labyrinth, they came to a confluence of differing paths, dozens of corridors all arriving in the same large room. Somewhat predictably, there was a glowing golden orb in the center. Dozens of cultivators could be seen trying to reach it. Nothing was directly stopping them, but every step they took seemed as if they carried a thousand tons on their back. A great pressure obviously bore down on anyone moving forward, and many had to retreat as they found themselves running low on energy. Their retreats weren¡¯t always entirely successful either- many collapsed as they reached close to the edge, suffering injuries to their bare bodies from being unable to block the pressure with their energy. Moving away from the center was somewhat easier, but clearly not trivial. That meant they had to judge whether they could make it all the way- or turn back before it was too late. The four from the Order silently exchanged glances. It was better to be conservative with such a thing. No point in hurting themselves for unknown value. They were only participating in the challenges because it felt like refusing would be a waste. A cry of pain as one cultivator pushed too far, then collapsed into a heap of mangled bones and flesh. A reminder that this Tomb was not above killing people, quite regularly as well. But as long as they didn¡¯t overestimate themselves, they should be fine- or even grow from the experience. As the four of them stepped forward, Vari remained behind. ¡°You¡¯re not coming?¡± Alva asked. ¡°What is the point? The four of you have a chance to succeed, but I don¡¯t have the strength.¡± ¡°You might be surprised,¡± Alva said, ¡°But caution is reasonable as well.¡± It was entirely possible that someone of lower cultivation might do better¡­ but that was up to the particular whims of Everheart. Alva felt her energy draining as she pushed forward. It wasn¡¯t just fighting against the pressure, but some was intentionally torn away from her. That meant she was powering the very thing that was restricting her. Some curses for Everheart flowed out silently. It wouldn¡¯t do to tip things further against them in an area where they were watched more closely. As she pressed forward, Alva felt herself invigorated with a strange energy. Not entirely unfamiliar, but somewhat unexpected. But as she looked over her shoulder, it was clear that Vari was anticipating something. The further she went, the more difficult it got. Alva reached a point that on her own she knew she should not pass. The others were slightly behind¡­ perhaps receiving somewhat less devotion. Should she count on the devotion sustaining her? It didn¡¯t seem inherently reliable, but in the current circumstances it would feel rather insulting to just give up. As Alva pressed forward, the drain and pressure both increased¡­ along with the devotion bolstering her. It was uncomfortable, not because the energy itself felt tainted in any way but because of how easily she could come to accept or even expect it to be there. And though Vari seemed content with her life, ultimately this couldn¡¯t be sustained forever, could it? Almost without thinking, Alva reached the pedestal and snatched the golden orb. The pressure immediately dissipated, but instead of a fight breaking out like Alva expected, the various groups were thrown back into whatever corridors they came from. Except hers. ¡°I guess we continue on, then,¡± Alva said awkwardly. ¡°We should be vaguely close to the exit, but this challenge thing might be over soon as well.¡± As they continued onward, they next found a body on a large stone slab. A burial of some sort? That was their initial thought, but several factors keyed them in that things were different. First, there was the sense of life and energy flowing from the person laying there. Then there was the snoring. They decided to leave them undisturbed, and began to sneak around the perimeter of the room¡­ until Vari kicked a loose stone. It clattered across the floor, echoing between the walls. ¡°... sorry.¡± The snoring stopped, and the figure sat up. ¡°Wha? Whozzat? Oh, challengers. Are you a group?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Are you a group? It determines how the points are handled.¡± Chapter 430 Everyone exchanged looks. This slovenly projection of Everheart was somewhat of a surprise- not for his demeanor, but because of where he had appeared. ¡°We are a group, yes.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°Because it¡¯s worth more if just one person has all the points.¡± He folded his arms and tapped his foot. ¡°... And thus you get more rewards in total! And all to yourself.¡± Glances continued. Everheart was many things, but as far as the mechanics of his trials went he wasn¡¯t a liar. Or at least, he hadn¡¯t been. This particular Tomb was deadlier than the others, but nothing had strictly been a lie. Catarina put on her best evil grin, ¡°Alright everyone, hand it over.¡± Timothy personally didn¡¯t find the situation very convincing, but it might not matter if Everheart believed them. It was just that he might change his mind if they talked about it. Timothy did his best to be convincing by starting with a very real truth. ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight you, here.¡± He extended the orbs he had collected. Everyone else handed them over as well, including Vari. Catarina looked at Everheart, ¡°I have obtained all of the orbs.¡± ¡°That¡¯s umm¡­ yes, indeed,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°It seems you have. Come with me!¡± With only a slight moment of disorientation, they were elsewhere, or perhaps nowhere. Around them was a room filled with nothing- not light or darkness, but a strange absence of either. The projection rubbed his hands. ¡°Good job. You connived your former companions into giving up their rewards. None will know what great wealth you can obtain here, so even if you return with pitiful prizes to placate them, you can still be wealthy beyond your wildest dreams!¡± ¡°What was that?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°What was what?¡± Everheart asked in return. ¡°The teleportation. I know how to teleport people, but the local formations didn¡¯t have anything related to that. The power requirements are also an issue.¡± ¡°Oh, a formation master, are you? I can tell you, for a price.¡± ¡°How much?¡± Catarina paused, ¡°How much will it cost, how much will I learn?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you will learn,¡± Everheart admitted, ¡°But I would tell all, leaving no secrets. It would be up to you to understand it. But of course, this would cost¡­ half of your prize.¡± Catarina knew the orbs they had were not insignificant, by comparing with the illusionists group. It was possible that others got more than them, through luck or force, but they should be near the top. ¡°Quite expensive. I would like to browse other options first.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Everheart smiled. ¡°What would you like? I have wealth beyond all measure!¡± He waved his arms, revealing the existence of something around them for the first time. A pile of precious metals and gemstones flickered into vision, sitting on some sort of shelf Catarina could not see. ¡°Weapons and armors!¡± Everheart waved his hand, revealing racks of weapons and stands filled with glittering armor, stretching out into the distance. ¡°Utility items, medicines, precious materials, I have it all!¡± Catarina nodded, ¡°Do you have anything to hide the origin of goods.¡± Everheart smiled. ¡°Do I?¡± He frowned briefly, muttering under his breath, ¡°Do I?¡± Then his face lit up and he clapped his hands, ¡°Of course I do! I have just the thing!¡± Everheart waved his hand and there was a shift. Then he reached over next to him and tapped a chest that sprang into being. It was about one meter long, half a meter wide and tall with a bit of an arch on the top. There was little special about it, as aside from fine wood and metal bindings it seemed to be a normal chest. ¡°A chest,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Yes!¡± Everheart nodded enthusiastically. ¡°If I want to hide things I can just put them in a bag,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I need to be able to use things.¡± ¡°That¡¯s- what do you take me for, a charlatan?¡± Everheart smiled, ¡°Good sense! But this actually works. Anything that can fit through the mouth can be resized and reshaped, within certain limits. Functionality remains identical, though visual features that are part of functionality cannot be redone.¡± ¡°Sounds dubious,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°No, it works! Perfect for using ill-gotten gains without any of the consequences! Though resale value might change depending on fame.¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°And a skilled master can still determine who it was made for, and for what purpose. That¡¯s part of the inherent form of something.¡± ¡°So if I were to take this sword, for example,¡± Catarina pulled out one from the Harmonious Citadel, ¡°What could it do?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you try it and find out?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°Will it cost me anything?¡± ¡°A few points¡­ subsumed into the price should you acquire this.¡± Catarina squinted her eyes, ¡°And it works¡­ how many times?¡± ¡°As many as you want,¡± Everheart reassured her. ¡°What¡¯s the biggest limiting factor?¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Getting something worth transforming, of course.¡± Everheart shifted awkwardly as Catarina¡¯s eyes bored into him. ¡°... and the energy requirements.¡± ¡°More or less than teleporting someone to the moon?¡± ¡°... Depends on the planet?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll test it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Go ahead,¡± Everheart gestured. ¡°And just this once I¡¯ll provide the juice. So your ¡®friends¡¯ don¡¯t kill you so easily when you get back out.¡± The sword fit easily into the box- it had the same sort of extradimensional nature as a storage bag, so though the sword should barely fit lengthwise, it went in quite easily. Catarina watched as Everheart closed the chest, and the outer surface shimmered and became transparent. She watched as the weapon inside transformed, the crests shrinking away and the shape of the hilt slightly reforming. As far as she could tell the balance should have remained the same. The blade itself changed less, but it soon looked much more generic. ¡°Here it is,¡± Everheart handed it to Catarina, beaming. She turned the sword over in her hands. If she hadn¡¯t just seen it transform, she wouldn¡¯t have known it was the same sword. The coloration was the same, but it would be hard for the Harmonious Citadel to claim anything with how it looked. ¡°I like it,¡± Catarina smiled. ¡°Thank you! I mean, of course. Everything I have is amazing and valuable.¡± Everheart nodded seriously. ¡°I told them¡­¡± he cleared his throat. ¡°The other¡­ participants¡­ haven¡¯t recognized my genius. In acquiring valuable goods. Was there anything else you wanted?¡± ¡°How much would this cost again?¡± ¡°About a quarter of your points.¡± Catarina pursed her lips. If she got this, it would basically be something for herself and Timothy at the moment. Even if she discounted Vari¡¯s contribution, spending three quarters of the points on the two of them seemed a bit much. On the other hand, it would provide value to the group in the future, and they were trusting her to make good choices. Did she really need to know how the teleportation worked? No, that was silly. Could she afford not to learn it? Being stolen away from somewhere without even realizing it could happen was not an insignificant issue. There was no way she could get a new bow for Alva anyway, nor an axe for Hoyt. Not that was better than what they had. Maybe some nice bracers, boots? And some gauntlets or gloves for Vari. Hers were nothing impressive to speak of, and if she was going to be striking and grappling stronger opponents, she needed as much defense for her fingers as possible. ¡°Show me the formation,¡± Catarina said. Everheart swept his hand, drawing in the two rainbow orbs. ¡°That¡¯s half. Now then, it¡¯s rather simple¡­¡± Everheart unfurled a scroll he pulled from somewhere. ¡°See?¡± ¡°Ooh, it¡¯s some kind of sub-runes woven into everything? I couldn¡¯t even tell.¡± ¡°Wha- I mean, well yes, of course. A genius such as myself has many tricks up his sleeves.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Catarina nodded, ¡°I¡¯ve studied much of your work.¡± Everheart couldn¡¯t stop himself from grinning. ¡°I am a formation grandmaster, after all. None compare to me. Though there are secrets you will not even find here, in my Tomb.¡± Catarina nodded, ¡°Yes. I¡¯m surprised there is hardly any future-hedged functionality like from your earlier work.¡± ¡°Oh, you¡­ know about that?¡± Everheart shifted awkwardly. ¡°Well, of course, it¡¯s quite an elegant design giving the design constraints I was working with.¡± ¡°Rather odd there isn¡¯t more of it here,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Yes? No, not really. I don¡¯t need such crutches anymore. I¡¯ve developed far beyond that,¡± Everheart said cagily. ¡°Anyway, wouldn¡¯t you like to keep looking at these elegant sub-runes?¡± She did want to. Especially since she probably wouldn¡¯t have the chance later, unless she learned to recognize it here. It was actually fairly clear how it worked when separated on its own, but it would be almost impossible to pick things out in a functional formation if she didn¡¯t properly take this chance to learn. She was quickly scrawling her own copy as she asked Everheart questions. He seemed quite happy to answer them, though she had the feeling he hadn¡¯t intended to be so generous. ----- Catarina was gone. Snatched away by Everheart. For a reason, but that didn¡¯t make Timothy less nervous. Theoretically she should be choosing prizes of some sort. If she took her time, perhaps the first hour was reasonable. The second hour was a bit uncomfortable. By eight hours, they were setting up their camp and taking watch, with only pitiful formations instead of the proper defenses Catarina could put together. Timothy might have been impressed with his own work a century before, but it was hardly something that would affect cultivators on his own level. Though every little bit mattered. ¡°Perhaps lady Catarina has returned at a different location?¡± Vari suggested. ¡°She could be waiting for us outside the Labyrinth.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Hoyt admitted, ¡°But if Catarina is still in the Labyrinth, remaining here would be for the best. There¡¯s still a week until we need to be out. We should be able to leave the other side within a day or two if we hurry so¡­ we can afford to wait five days here.¡± ¡°She hasn¡¯t responded to our attempts to contact her, either,¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°Is that what those formation plates are for?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Do those allow you to talk to her?¡± ¡°I thought I told you I had contact with her after coming here?¡± Alva said. ¡°Though it was kind of unreliable.¡± ¡°... You can do that outside of communication stations?¡± Vari asked. Alva looked to Timothy and Hoyt for help. Hoyt was the first to respond. ¡°I believe the Harmonious Citadel has restrictions on communication, but it¡¯s quite possible to do on a smaller scale, yes.¡± Left unsaid was that some of Catarina¡¯s techniques weren¡¯t in use by others- but for the most part communication worked the same, including the delay between planets and systems- and the upper and lower realms. Which seemed to be just further systems. They continued to wait. After a full day, there had been several attacks by roaming creatures¡­ and a half dozen groups of cultivators came near them. Some directly turned back upon sensing them. Three Integration cultivators was not a group to be trifled with. Even if they matched in power, nobody wanted to risk being on the losing side for no good reason. Especially when they considered that they might be the one to die, even if their ¡®side¡¯ won. A couple groups of cultivators directly passed by the waiting group, cautious but not cowardly. Each group mentioned the challenge being over, orbs already having been exchanged for points and prizes. In short, there was nothing terribly valuable that couldn¡¯t already be seen and used against them. Even after a full day, there was no sign of Catarina anywhere, nor a response. They hoped that the latter was simply because wherever Everheart had brought Catarina had more of the interference the planet had, but they couldn¡¯t be sure. She was the one who would be able to make that judgment the best. So they waited, and waited. Soon, they would be pushing up against the limits of their opportunity to leave. If she was already out of the Labyrinth they had to move to meet her, but if she was not and returned after they left a lone cultivator was much more at risk of death. Chapter 431 After four days had passed, the group was getting ready to pack up- not that there was much to the process. Camping out in the Labyrinth was fairly simple, except for the potential packs of roaming monsters. It was a reasonable temperature, there wasn¡¯t really weather to speak of, and they had food. Though it was possible they didn¡¯t all need it anymore. Either way, they had enough comfort for one or two people to rest while the others stayed alert. Then Catarina appeared. ¡°Here,¡± she said, handing Timothy a sword. ¡°For you.¡± Timothy took it automatically, but when Catarina turned to Vari she just stared. There was a long pause, then Vari took the pair of gloves. ¡°Oh, thank you.¡± Alva stared at Catarina for longer, not taking the proffered bracers. Eventually, Catarina tilted her head. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± ¡°Were you in some sort of time distortion?¡± Alva asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Catarina said, frowning. ¡°Was I? How long has it been¡­¡± she shook her head, ¡°No, I¡¯m pretty sure everything is normal.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been four and a half days,¡± Alva said. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°And you didn¡¯t answer a single message.¡± ¡°... I forgot about those,¡± Catarina admitted. Timothy just sighed, ¡°I hope you learned something near about formations.¡± ¡°I sure did!¡± Catarina nodded enthusiastically. ¡°Fascinating and horrifying,¡± her eyes swept the area around them. She shoved the bracers into Alva¡¯s arms and tossed boots to Hoyt. ¡°We should be going now.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why I expected anything else, honestly,¡± Hoyt admitted. ¡°... Is there a problem with the boots?¡± Catarina said. ¡°Oh, I also got us a thing that will be quite useful later, but we need to make our way out of the Labyrinth to meet with the ship, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure the boots are great,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I trust that you spent our resources appropriately.¡± Timothy flicked the sword around a few times, ¡°This feels strangely familiar. Why?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the chest I got,¡± Catarina explained. ¡°It¡¯s currently in storage. I can¡¯t really demonstrate here. I¡¯d need somewhere to set up a grand formation to draw in enough energy.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Timothy shrugged. He trusted his wife, and her judgment- especially on matters such as that. ¡°So this is¡­¡± ¡°From that nice gentleman we met outside the Great Hall.¡± ¡°Ah, yes,¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°I see.¡± It was a good sword. At least a step above what his had been. If it were Chikere, it would fall outside of the top handful, but she focused more on that aspect of her equipment than anyone else. Timothy felt his shield at least matched the sword in quality. ----- As they were now close to the outer parts of the Labyrinth, the challenges were minimal. The days of rest had been valuable as well, allowing people to recover more wounds than they incurred from roaming monsters. They¡¯d avoided being too deeply entangled in the challenge and come out with reasonable rewards- and perhaps some significant value where Catarina¡¯s information was concerned. That was something that only time could tell, however. When they arrived outside the Labyrinth, it wasn¡¯t too hard to find the group of cultivators waiting for the ship to descend and take them off-world. There was another day for people to arrive, but there were already over a dozen. No doubt some people would arrive late, and some not at all. There would always be other opportunities to leave, but spending prolonged periods of time in the Tomb was a risk. Vari seemed hesitant to directly voice any complaints, but she still chose to speak. ¡°Are we certain this is the right ship to leave on? This doesn¡¯t take us closer to the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not going back there,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°But-¡± Alva looked directly at Vari. ¡°We¡¯re not going back there. If you want to, you can look for other ships. You know where some are already. Or you leave with us.¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t understand,¡± Vari hung her head. ¡°I¡¯m sure you will if you stay with us,¡± Alva said with slightly more confidence than she really had. Vari might be too far gone to switch her ingrained line of thinking. That seemed to be the intent of the Harmonious Citadel, at least. The ship arrived to carry them off to the Bloodsoaked Nebula. Prices were paid, and they boarded. But they would be back. Catarina thought of the formation plate in her bag, and how it connected to parts of the Tomb¡­ or did it? It felt as if there were something else beneath the surface. With some study, she might be better able to see it. ----- Messages from the upper realms provided Anton with some comfort. His companions were doing well, and gleaning quite a bit of information they didn¡¯t have. Some of that information was about devotion, and though he had no intent to seek it out, some came to him. Including a strangely large amount from directly in the sky. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. As far as Anton could tell, devotion took a more or less direct route to its intended recipient. The speed at which it moved varied significantly, from near instantaneous travel in some ways to leisurely floating around once actually in the presence of someone. It might go around the planet or through it, with either option just as likely. As for why it would come from above, he could not fathom. It would have to be from some other world. Perhaps his companions might have some sense of devotion directed towards him, but he was learning to recognize the source and some of it was fully unfamiliar. Lev had been right about settling in one place, though. When it did not move with great speed, it traveled at a more leisurely pace. Anton found that there was a reasonable amount flowing in at all points, enough that his cultivation speed increased at least twofold. Not that he thought it was particularly fast. It was likely still a matter of a year or two to complete the next star, though that was nothing to scoff at. While a hundred and first star might seem like a small increase, there was also a factor of improving the power each star contained as his cultivation grew. Improving his connection to the sun would be beneficial as well. Though Anton didn¡¯t expect there to be any large jumps in his power anytime in the near future¡­ or perhaps ever again. That depended on how long he lived, and whether or not he could continue the Hundred Stars using the same methods. If he could still manage to achieve prime temperings, the next two would be at one-hundred and twenty-nine and one-hundred sixty respectively. Two more leaps was a reasonable assumption for when he might achieve the equivalent of Augmentation. Even to get that point there was nothing to go off of, and his path would be entirely new. Though if he spent a century or two approaching that point, he might be strong enough to significantly influence the next invasion. It would be the most comforting disappointment if no invasion happened the next time the tides of the world allowed for it. A century and a half, two centuries¡­ depending on when one measured from, that was the timeline that was being looked at. He wanted to be as ready as possible for such an event, while coordinating with those they sent to the upper realms. Those were his lofty plans. If he didn¡¯t keel over and die, first. It was rather uncomfortable to know that his lifespan had a limit, but not what it was. But since he couldn¡¯t do anything about it, he resolved to simply get used to it. He would put his plans in place, and if he wasn¡¯t there to see them to fruition someone else would. It was a rather poor plan to begin with that hinged on a single person. Besides, he could grow himself along with the world around him, despite the fact that it would be somewhat slower than single minded dedication to himself. ----- The Bloodsoaked Nebula was rather uncomfortable to approach. The deep red certainly looked like blood, though verifying anything about it was difficult. When up close, the particles that made up the nebula were extremely diffuse, and it was only when there was a system or two thick of them that they could be seen with the naked eyes. But it was a rather bloody red. The planet that they found themselves disembarking on wasn¡¯t much better. Gaoliv was cracked and pitted, and not from any natural forces. Even those with average energy senses could feel the remnants of battles long past, lingering energy containing violent intent. Mountainsides were melted into murky glass, the seas had boiled away, and life only survived sparingly on its surface. Where they landed was the single city that could be sustained upon its surface, numbering only a few thousands at best and situated next to a lake that had been painstakingly developed for the city¡¯s use. Very few people actually lived there, and for the most part it served as a port linking between different parts of the Scarlet Midfields. ¡°This planet is terrible,¡± Vari gave her direct and honest opinion. ¡°Agreed,¡± Alva nodded, ¡°But at least it¡¯s obvious why. Some places hide it.¡± ¡°Why do you hate the Harmonious Citadel so much?¡± Vari asked. She had little insight, but Alva wasn¡¯t even trying to slightly hide her intentions. ¡°Why do you love it so much? Tell me, have you ever spoken to a single one of your precious saints? Have they done anything for you?¡± Alva jabbed her finger into Vari¡¯s sternum, ¡°And I mean you, the person. Not the planets they control that feed resources to them. You. Or directly to help anyone you know.¡± ¡°Well, I mean¡­ I¡¯m not really important enough to¡­¡± Vari trailed off. Alva waved her off. ¡°Exactly.¡± Alva looked around, catching the eye of the other three companions. ¡°Now I want to find Fuzz.¡± ¡°A tall task,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Though I suppose we should check this system at least. And there¡¯s plenty of free space to set up. You can start asking around to see if anyone¡¯s seen or heard of a particularly large wolf.¡± ¡°I hope he¡¯s safe,¡± Alva said nervously. Fuzz was strong, but all alone. Human cultivators would likely find value in hunting him, even if there wasn¡¯t a reason other than that. Hopefully he was visible enough and intimidating enough to be found but not approached. ----- Fuzz wasn¡¯t quite as alone as Alva presumed, though he wasn¡¯t exactly in plentiful company. He has Spikes, after all. Even if she said crazy things. ¡°We can¡¯t be a pack,¡± Spikes said. Spending more time together had improved their communication significantly. Now he understood at least more than half of what she intended. ¡°We are not the same.¡± It was things like that which told him he wasn¡¯t completely getting it. Crazy words. ¡°Of course we can be a pack.¡± He was part of the same pack as Alva and Anton and Catarina and all of the other humans that were not their kin. ¡°We¡¯re even both wolves.¡± ¡°I am a stone wolf,¡± Spikes retorted. ¡°You are a¡­ rune-and-fire wolf?¡± Spikes looked unsure of that designation. ¡°We are not the same.¡± ¡°If we were the same, I would be you or you would be me,¡± Fuzz pointed out. ¡°A pack is made up of those who are not the same but are together.¡± Spikes didn¡¯t seem to agree with his arguments, and didn¡¯t continue the conversation. Maybe she was thinking about them¡­ or maybe she refused to think about them. Spikes didn¡¯t much like talking anyway. It was too much of a ¡®human thing¡¯, even if they were both wolves. Fuzz agreed that it was a human thing, because he was only approximating the results of speech from his attempts. Maybe he was not communicating well on his end. His brain didn¡¯t work like a human, and Spikes was less used to it. She might not want to talk because it was difficult to try. Reading and writing was well out, of course. But Spikes did not mind having help on a hunt. Spikes was very hungry, which was good. Hunger was for growing, and Spikes was not strong enough to be safe. Fuzz wasn¡¯t sure if he was strong enough either, but that was what his pack was for. He would find them. Or they would find him. Either was the same. The nearest towns had no scent of any of his pack. Nor did the larger cities, though he could not get close enough to be certain they were not somewhere in the center. But if he understood correctly, they might still be very far away. So he would continue to roam the land until he covered all of it- and if he could not find them, he would find a way to roam other lands until he did. Chapter 432 With painstaking slowness, fine lines were carved into the surface of the rock. Runes formed one at a time, developing into a fabulous tapestry coating the surface. It sparkled with perfection, the energy in the area bending to its whims. Then Catarina smashed it, exploding it into powder. ¡°Your attempts not going well?¡± Timothy asked, walking in from nearby. ¡°This technique is garbage and I hate it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Difficult to learn?¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯ve been bamboozled,¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°None of it works.¡± ¡°So?¡± Timothy shrugged, ¡°Probably takes more practice. How long did it take Everheart to learn it?¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t know,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°You were probably meant to not understand it at all,¡± Timothy said, ¡°But then you at least understood the idea. Everheart answered questions you had, right?¡± ¡°Yeah but¡­ I thought I understood, but I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± Timothy said. He drew her into a hug. ¡°Sometimes, it just takes longer. What are you in a hurry for?¡± ¡°Grandpa needs our help,¡± Catarina sighed, ¡°And the continents.¡± Timothy nodded slowly, ¡°Let¡¯s say we discount the part where Anton just won a war, and they do need us to help. What can we do? And when do we have to be ready by?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know and¡­ something like a century¡­¡± ¡°Or two,¡± Timothy pat her on the head. ¡°We¡¯ve only cultivated for one, and we¡¯re already here. Don¡¯t let your distorted view of time take you over. We have time. We need time. It¡¯s more valuable to us than people twice our age. Or more.¡± ¡°... I wish I could hear his voice,¡± Catarina said. ¡°That sounds like a nearly impossible project,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Transmitting voice between worlds? It will have to keep a recording of it, of course. The time restrictions make that a requirement. I look forward to it.¡± Catarina was still technically leaned against him, but she was no longer really there. Instead, Timothy knew she was off in her own world¡­ thinking about formations and how they might accomplish what she wanted. Though it was hardly different from what she had just been doing, a different task could provide the much-needed distraction. And maybe he¡¯d be able to convince her to work in a proper laboratory environment instead of out in a field. They were still on Gaoliv, after all. Some time later- Timothy didn¡¯t bother keeping track of whether it was minutes or hours- Catarina straightened herself, pulling out of his grasp. ¡°This would be easier if there were more of me.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Timothy nodded, grinning, ¡°I suppose so. But there¡¯s only one like you.¡± ¡°There could be more, though,¡± Catarina said, her face serious. ¡°No.¡± Timothy said the word not as a denial of the possibility, but more along the lines of an order- or at least guidance. ¡°That¡¯s a bad idea.¡± ¡°But what if-¡± ¡°Projections capable of the necessary level of thought wouldn¡¯t be safe,¡± Timothy reminded her. ¡°Or ethical.¡± ¡°I guess,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Maybe if they were proper extensions of me, somehow?¡± ¡°Is that really the first thing you should be working on?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°What else is there¡­?¡± Catarina tilted her head. ¡°Oh, we still have a bunch of swords to refit.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need another one,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°So one for you. We could sell the others, but some might prefer they still had the markings of the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°What about Chikere?¡± ¡°She¡¯d definitely want them to be obvious. So that people would come attack her.¡± ¡°I just meant we should try to get in contact with her. And maybe sell or give her the swords, I suppose.¡± ¡°That¡¯s in the wrong direction, though. Alva said it wasn¡¯t far from Harmonious Citadel territory.¡± ¡°That is a bit uncomfortable. For her, and Vari.¡± Catarina looked off into the distance, ¡°Speaking of which, they messed her up pretty badly, huh?¡± ¡°She seems happy, at least,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s better, though.¡± ----- ¡°What do you mean we¡¯re not going back?¡± Vari complained. ¡°I already told you. I don¡¯t want to be inducted into a cult.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a cult!¡± Vari said. ¡°Well, I mean, it is kind of a religious organization, but it¡¯s different.¡± ¡°How is it different?¡± Alva asked. ¡°They draw you in and then entrap you in a cycle where you can¡¯t leave.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it?¡± Alva raised an eyebrow. ¡°We left.¡± ¡°We escaped,¡± Alva corrected. ¡°And they¡¯re probably going to send people to kill us.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. They only send the inquisitors after heretics. And I¡¯m not¡­¡± Vari¡¯s face turned pale. ¡°Did you turn me into a heretic?¡± ¡°Relax,¡± Alva said. ¡°They might just assume we¡¯re dead. We did land on Everheart¡¯s Tomb after all.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°It¡¯s hard to believe someone like that died,¡± Vari said. ¡°Yeah,¡± Alva nodded. ¡°He seemed like he was very powerful.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Alva agreed. ¡°Wait, was? You think he¡¯s dead?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that what tombs are for?¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t think you know anything about Everheart.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Vari agreed. ¡°Except what I learned from visiting. And maybe I heard some things about him before that? None of it was very nice though.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Alva continued to nod. ¡°Everyone agrees on that. Listen, I¡¯ll have you know this isn¡¯t his first Tomb. By a long shot.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Vari frowned, ¡°But you just ascended. I haven¡¯t heard of any others, how could you?¡± Alva was already keeping their conversation private with her energy, but she made doubly sure. ¡°That¡¯s because he¡¯s originally from our world,¡± Alva said. ¡°Everheart is from a lower world?¡± Vari¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± ¡°Why?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Because places like the Harmonious Citadel hog all the resources so it¡¯s difficult for anyone else to cultivate?¡± ¡°They need those to award to the most talented prospects,¡± Vari said. There was obviously more, but Alva interrupted. ¡°Let me guess¡­ all of them are friends or family of the saints?¡± ¡°Of course not. Favored disciples are chosen from among the entire Harmonious Citadel. Most people never even get to meet a saint.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t need to meet them to bribe them,¡± Alva said. ¡°Anyway, back to the other thing. Everheart put dozens of those things in our world. Smaller, of course. A bit less deadly, probably. But it¡¯s definitely him. And he doesn¡¯t have the issue of resources and backing because he steals from¡­ everyone, I¡¯m pretty sure. People hate that guy.¡± ¡°Even you?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Despite him being a powerful figure from your world?¡± ¡°Who cares if he was strong? He¡¯s still an asshole. And that¡¯s all people will remember him for.¡± Alva frowned deeply. ¡°Say, you know about devotion, right?¡± ¡°To some extent,¡± Vari said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware that people could see it¡­¡± ¡°Is there like, an opposite of that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Vari tilted her head, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that just mean people not devoted to others would drain energy from them? That¡¯s¡­ even as great as the saints are, there are many more people not under their shelter.¡± ¡°I was just wondering if there¡¯s like¡­ hate-votion,¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°Because that seems like exactly the sort of thing Everheart would get a lot of mileage from.¡± ¡°I understand that some people don¡¯t like him,¡± Vari said. ¡°But is he really that bad?¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s one of the top enemies of everyone who has ever interacted with him. Including your Harmonious Citadel. He definitely stole a statue of their previous spear saint and then you guys covered it up to hide the shame.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t- ugh, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to convince you of that. But are you sure people hate Everheart?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you just ask?¡± Alva waved around her, to the city of Shoumond where they were staying. ¡°Lots of people passing through here. You¡¯ll get plenty of opinions.¡± ¡°Maybe I will,¡± Vari nodded. ----- A day later, Vari returned to talk with Alva. ¡°Are you sure Everheart is just one person? He seems to have been very¡­ busy.¡± ¡°No,¡± Alva said. ¡°But he was! It takes a lot of effort to anger both the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant. They¡¯re quite distant from each other! It would take years just to interact with both.¡± ¡°I meant no to the first thing. He might be multiple people,¡± Alva shrugged, ¡°Though in that case, very consistent. I think he¡¯s just an overachiever.¡± ¡°... I asked about the spear saint,¡± Vari said, her head hanging down. ¡°People said¡­ that she died. And was replaced by the current one.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how lines of succession work,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°But I never heard about it!¡± Vari complained. ¡°Maybe people here are wrong? They don¡¯t know anything firsthand.¡± ¡°Neither do you,¡± Alva said. ¡°... Want to take a look at some cultivation techniques?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Vari asked. ¡°The Holy Harmony Technique is at the top of all techniques.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s say it is,¡± Alva nodded. ¡°It¡¯s still good to study others, observe their strengths and flaws. Trust me, I know this. I did reach Ascension- Integration, after all.¡± ¡°It would be foolish of me to turn down the cultivation advice of a senior. Even though you look so young, your cultivation surpasses mine.¡± ¡°Yeah well,¡± Alva shrugged, ¡°I am like a hundred and twenty.¡± Vari choked slightly. ¡°B-b-b-b-but t-that¡¯s¡­ younger than me! And I¡¯m still far from Integration¡­¡± Alva shrugged, ¡°Then you won¡¯t want to hear about all my friends. And my wolf.¡± ----- ¡°We need to go back,¡± Catarina said to everyone but Vari, gathered together. ¡°Maybe not right away, but¡­¡± she pulled out the formation plate found in the strange ruins. ¡°This is connected somehow. There are mysteries beneath Everheart¡¯s Tomb. I¡¯ve gone over what I found from the Great Hall. No doubt other locations of interest have something similar. The Labyrinth¡­ I admit I was too focused to check, but there should be more. Though making it too obvious might be an issue. We should wait¡­ at least a year or two,¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°I wish we could establish a foothold here,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°But we¡¯re lacking in numbers, and resources to some extent. Integration isn¡¯t bad, but against a planet-sized sect with hundreds of Life Transformation cultivators, it hardly matters.¡± ¡°Unless they have to come to us,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Though I will admit it would require significant expenditures to create a worthy defensive formation. Which is probably a bit ambitious for our first years here. Why don¡¯t we¡­ do something else? Like look for Fuzz.¡± ¡°Thanks, but¡­¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s kind of vague. We don¡¯t even have any leads.¡± ¡°We can just take missions to gain influence with different sects,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Bringing us to different locales, perhaps on someone else¡¯s budget. Then we have Catarina do her thing, and worst case scenario we familiarize ourselves with the area and gain a foothold.¡± Alva nodded slowly. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ crazy to go from being at the top, to just one of many.¡± ¡°I think our rise to power made us quite fortunate. We did not linger long, building up terrible habits. It would be good to get in contact with further allies. Kseniya has ascended. Though spending all our time meeting up with allies might be inefficient, learning enough about the upper realms so that people can come to us with minimal risk¡­¡± Hoyt shrugged. ¡°We chose to continue on and we find ourselves here. I fully believe we can do whatever we set our mind to. With time, and help.¡± ----- Several years passed, slipping through Anton¡¯s grasp like wind. Though if he truly wanted to, he could stop the wind now, at least to some extent. Time was something he had no control over, though in truth he didn¡¯t want it to stand still. The world only meant things when something happened, and remaining static was just¡­ meaningless. People were meant to be born, to grow, and even to die when their time came. As far as dying went, Anton was glad that there weren¡¯t too many extras. The peace with the Exalted Archipelago had properly lasted, instead of collapsing after a year or two like he had feared. While the glut of people ascending from the Order of One Hundred Stars had thinned somewhat, Ceretos still had people ascending regularly. Catarina had invested in keeping people in contact, though some of the methods were more primitive than what the Order used internally. They still had no contact with some of their former friends. Chikere and Vandale, for example, were difficult to contact. News about them came thirdhand, but the fact that it existed at least indicated they were alive. And that other people weren¡¯t, but the Harmonious Citadel was not particularly favored by those Anton knew. And Anton was pretty sure that some of the devotion he was receiving came from some strange girl he¡¯d never met that was having a very difficult time learning a more complete view of the world. Anton held a smile on his face. Every communication was another letter from family telling him about their lives. That was how the world was meant to be, people striking out on their own but never forgetting where they came from. Anton just hoped he could give as many people as possible that sort of opportunity. Chapter 433 The ground slipped away as Anton thrust himself ever higher into the sky. He had no formal flying techniques, though he¡¯d had opportunities to peruse the Soaring Air Sect¡¯s methods. They relied on the specific type of energy produced by their cultivation technique to fly, and Anton had no reason to attempt changing his core cultivation technique at such a stage. He could still fly, it was just wildly inefficient. That would have been a problem if he did not recover energy at such a rapid pace, but upon attaining assimilation he was greatly empowered in that regard. Anton wouldn¡¯t wish to engage in combat during a flight, given he could only straightforwardly toss himself in one direction, but for transportation purposes it was fine. Though if he had time he preferred to walk, and running was much more controlled. Neither walking nor running allowed him to go directly into the sky, however, so they were not much use in his current circumstances. Anton was in the mood to test the limits of the world- in a fairly direct method. According to the understanding of the Order, gravity was constrained to the proximate locations of the great celestial bodies. At least, in practical terms. So if he could be further away from Ceretos, he should find himself weightless. So he climbed, and climbed. Once he could no longer breathe, he noticed barely any difference- except his potential speed and acceleration increased with the lack of atmosphere. He needed to provide his own warmth and to refresh the air in his lungs using his own energy, but with his current level of power those were both attainable. It was a surreal experience to reach the point where he could no longer detect the planet below him with his energy senses. Not in any detail, at least. For something so truly massive he could of course extend the thinnest tendril of energy and detect something beyond the hundred and fifty kilometer mark, but to be able to see it clearly with his eyes at the same time was a stunning experience. He supposed that in a technical sense the same thing happened with the sun and moon, and to a lesser extent the further stars¡­ but they didn¡¯t encompass the whole of his vision. He could see most of Brogora beneath him, and his vision continued to expand. Somewhere in the back of his mind under the sense of wonder was the idea to fix some of the maps, with their inexact shapes. He had been to such a height before, but he did not look down- instead concentrating on his task. Perhaps he should have, but he was grateful to have the chance now. As the atmosphere fell away behind him and his speed accelerated, his view of the planet beneath continued to widen- until he could see its full face. He could see the edge of Aicenith, but the islands of the Exalted Archipelago were on the far side. There were some other interesting features. Massive white swaths of land on the poles, previously predicted by the ice floes in the seas but generally avoided for their uselessness. Perhaps they truly had no value, except to observe. As far as he was moving from Ceretos itself, he felt as if he were no closer to the moon or sun. And in the grand scheme of things, he was not. A few hundred kilometers was nothing compared to hundreds of thousands- though if he continued to accelerate, he might arrive rather quickly at the former. The sun was much greater in its distance. There was a problem with continuing to accelerate, of course. A fall from any distance would not harm Anton. Even if he did not use his defensive energy to protect himself, a body tempered to the completion of Spirit Building was sufficiently strong to survive any fall that didn¡¯t land in the worse way possible- smashing headfirst into a rock or twisting the body. But that ¡®any distance¡¯ only applied within the atmosphere of a planet, where the air resistance limited the maximum speed one could fall. Now, Anton was moving many times faster than he ever had before, even if he didn¡¯t really feel it. At such a speed, he could impact the moon and create a grand crater. Having taken a significant period of time to accelerate himself to such a speed, stopping himself would require a monumental expression of energy all at once. At this exact moment he might be able to manage it, but much more and it would be impossible. Anton had not planned to take a long trip, and so he should be returning soon enough. At some point, he had the intention to visit the moon to see what was going on with it after the collapse of the tomb there. Sometime when he had a few spare weeks, perhaps. He could make time, but it wasn¡¯t really necessary. Even at his current distance of several hundred kilometers, Anton found that upon ceasing his efforts to propel himself further away from Ceretos resulted in him slowing down¡­ though it would take quite some time for him to stop, if it would actually manage to keep its hold on him. But he intended to return, so he actively shifted his direction. Around Ceretos, instead of directly back. He wanted to see the whole planet, every angle, at least once. That might take a few days still, but he had some equipment to message the Order and remind them that he was fine. It was a tricky process, keeping himself at enough height and accelerating around the planet just fast enough. He found a sort of equilibrium where he remained at the same distance, orbiting in the direction he chose. He saw from above the Exalted Archipelago, as well as other islands that filled the southern hemisphere in the same area. Many places unexplored, forgotten to time- at least as far as the continents were concerned. It was unlikely that cultivators had never sought out these places, but the invasions from the Trigold Cluster had intentionally quashed their knowledge in future generations. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. When he finally returned to land, he came in at a sharp angle. As he hit the atmosphere he quickly formed a ball of fire- something he had vague memories of but was now much more conscious for. He would have to work on future reentries to arrive closer to his target and with less¡­ disruption to the world around him. He did manage to slow himself before he impacted somewhere in western Ambati, but it would be better for one of his standing to not randomly show up in another country. Especially not in a manner reminiscent of the invaders. ----- The group had followed a series of rumors to the slopes of Illmount, and now that it was within their sight they could determine why it had such a name. It truly looked sick, yellow-orange pustules of lava squeezing out of the rock anywhere it pleased. The rumors of a fire wolf vaguely matched up with the timeframe Fuzz could have arrived, so they thought to take a look. As they approached closer, Vari very politely complained. ¡°Great lords and ladies,¡± she said from inside her barrier technique, ¡°I believe I may be more of a hindrance than a help should we continue any further. If I offer my aid, I am afraid that I will not be able to sustain it for long as my body fails.¡± Alva looked at her and shook her head, ¡°In that case, you should just go back to town.¡± She really didn¡¯t want Vari to try to protect her if doing so involved leaving herself vulnerable to burning up. On that note, it was incredible how extreme things could get in the upper realms. At the temperatures around them the entire mountain should be a puddle instead of just¡­ half of it. So it wasn¡¯t completely different, but a constantly replenishing cone of lava solidifying and melting was more active than most of Ceretos¡¯ volcanoes. That included the one over the former Chain Harmony Sect, though this one wasn¡¯t spewing chunks of rock into the sky on a regular basis. It seemed to be more of a continual oozing. ¡°I do not wish to give up on my duties so easily,¡± Vari said, ¡°But I would truly only inconvenience you beyond this point.¡± Thus, Vari began to make her way back to the nearest settlement, while the other pushed onward. Their higher cultivations gave them a bit more leeway, but the key factor was the affinity for fire in the Hundred Stars. Even if Hoyt was the only one of them to practice the element directly, they all had some methods to resist the oppressive heat more efficiently. They didn¡¯t experience the same sort of constant replenishment of their energy as Anton mentioned, not to the same extent, but they could draw upon the powerful upper energy around them to sustain them. There was not much in the way of life on Illmount, nor had they expected it. Once they reached deeper in the mountains, they could sense the few sources of controlled energy- beasts and a few straining fire cultivators they had passed. The one that had to be the aforementioned fire wolf was clearly not Fuzz- the entire aura was different, and the creature appeared to be more fire than wolf. They still had a reason to be in the area, however, as the creature seemed to have been causing trouble for the local populace- its passage burning down some of the nearby farmland, as well as snatching livestock at its whim. Most places didn¡¯t just have cultivators of their level convenient for hire, and paying them what their time was actually worth was beyond a group of farmers. The city would be contributing some, and nobody really felt the need to charge the maximum possible price for their services at every opportunity. If those making the request had wealth or were requesting the return of materials or a body for use, that would be another matter. These people just needed it to stop causing trouble. ¡°It¡¯s just across that lava lake,¡± Alva gestured. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to pick it out once it starts moving. I can start whenever you¡¯re ready.¡± Hoyt nodded, ¡°I think I¡¯ll be sticking to a defensive posture here, deflecting the fire and whatnot. Unless it relies solely on tooth and claw, which I doubt. Though my axe is plenty sharp enough even without elemental augmentation, should I get an opportunity.¡± ¡°I am ready to intercept whenever,¡± Timothy nodded. Everyone turned to Catarina, who was carving runes into the ground, ¡°I swear it will work this time.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright if it doesn¡¯t,¡± Alva said. ¡°Just let us know when you¡¯re ready.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not alright!¡± Catarina countered. ¡°If my main contribution to the battle isn¡¯t even functional on a basic level, I¡¯m just a below-average combatant with abundant energy stores.¡± Timothy placed his hand on her shoulder, ¡°It will be fine. Nobody should expect an extremely difficult maneuver relying on the precise factors of the terrain to work every time without practice. And like yourself, I believe you will succeed this time.¡± Catarina held onto that hand as she continued to carve into the ground with her sword, going back over positions for unknown reasons. She even carved apart some of the flowing lava, which seemed extremely transitory in effect, but she was the only one who understood the complexities of this particular endeavor. ¡°Thirty seconds,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I will be done then, and I can¡¯t count on it holding together for particularly long after that so we should begin immediately.¡± At the time Catarina finished her last stroke with a flourish, Alva began firing volleys of arrows. Timothy had placed himself partway around the lake of lava on the shorter side, but as the creature began to charge at them he realized that of course it was not concerned about moving directly. It was fast too, leaving him barely enough time to move into position. The creature¡¯s mouth opened wide enough to swallow Timothy whole, a beast more flame than flesh. His energy extended the natural width of his shield, causing the beast to impact upon it, but sending him staggering back. On the ground, the glow of magma was fading and in its place spikes of rime ice were forming as the temperature rapidly drained from the area. At least some part of the formation was working, and everyone took heart as they positioned themselves to continue the battle. Chapter 434 Gouts of flame washed over the four combatants, but just as easily as he created it Hoyt chopped apart the flames. There were details to how that worked not so easily comprehended, but the result was the flames split around them. The actual beast itself was less easy to sever, however. Hoyt¡¯s follow up swing managed to chop into the large fire beast and even pull away a piece of it, sending a spray of something like blood splattering onto nearby rocks, but his attack didn¡¯t cut it in two like he intended. Timothy¡¯s new sword, courtesy of someone who picked on the wrong duo, allowed him to slice into the creature as well. He didn¡¯t have the same technical prowess with fire, but his attacks at least forced the creature to hesitate in its movements- not sweeping its claws when it otherwise might have. Fire-blood sizzled on the ground, melting patches even through the rime frost created by Catarina¡¯s formation. The cold was a shock to everyone, but it was much more effective against the fire beast. Its glow dimmed slightly as it stood in the area. Unlike those relying on physical weapons, Alva almost universally used energy on its own for her attacks. Spirit Arrows was just so convenient, and circumvented the need to carry an extraordinarily large number of physical arrows. With diligent practice they held their form just as well as anything might, and to a significant distance. In this case the fire wolf was just a handful of meters away from her, but Alva aimed for choice targets. The head was a good one, since the creature seemed to both bite and spew fire from the area. While it wasn¡¯t fully physical, it couldn¡¯t interact with the world without something to hit. She just had to attune herself to the proper wavelength to hit the creature. Doing so consciously was difficult, but her frustration made her more effective. Who did this wolf think it was, making people think it was Fuzz? No matter how much change he had undergone with his ascension, she knew she would recognize him¡­ and this wolf was. Not. Fuzz. For that, it would die. ----- Back in town, Vari waited patiently. Off in the distance she vaguely felt signs of battle from the four. She was disappointed that she had let them down with her weakness, but she could still provide support with her devotion. That was her purpose, after all. For some reason the lords and ladies didn¡¯t like how she spoke of them, as if they didn¡¯t desire her devotion. But who wouldn¡¯t? It was the proper way of things, for the strong to be uplifted by those who were not. Then she sensed something. Something familiar. Cultivators from the Harmonious Citadel. Specifically, practitioners of the Glorious Harmony Technique. Followers of the Bow Saint, if she was correct- though it would be clear once she could see them. She found her way towards them, and they towards her. There was something unexpected in their demeanor. Was it hostility? How odd. She found herself praying for protection, but instead of the saints her thoughts went to the four she had been traveling with. How odd. She tried to picture the saints as she ought to, but found it difficult. They looked like¡­ statues, mostly. She¡¯d only rarely seen any of them pass by, and hours of staring at a statue didn¡¯t evoke the same sense of familiarity as eating at the same table as someone. And it had been so long since she¡¯d been back on Rouhiri now. Two men and a woman approached her, one of the men taking the foremost position. As Vari had anticipated, they had bows. There was just that sort of air about that type, looking down on the world. Not Alva though. Vari shook that thought off as the man addressed her. ¡°Little sister. You are quite far from the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory.¡± There was no response to be had to that. It was true. Nor had there been a question she had to answer. ¡°What brings you this far?¡± ¡°I am here on a mission,¡± Vari said. ¡°Is that so?¡± the man said. ¡°I don¡¯t believe we have any missions related to this sector.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s a mission for some local cultivators,¡± Vari replied awkwardly. ¡°Were they approved?¡± ¡°Well, uh¡­ the missions were so small scale, I did not think it necessary¡­¡± She also didn¡¯t have an easy method to report back, as she hadn¡¯t exactly been planning to leave. ¡°No matter,¡± the man shrugged, ¡°Such things are indeed inconsequential. What is more relevant is the matter of traitors.¡± ¡°Who?¡± Vari asked. ¡°You, of course.¡± She shivered. The three didn¡¯t have to reach for her weapons for her to imagine her swift demise. All of them appeared to have reached Integration, after all. As expected of those practicing the Glorious Harmony Technique. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ what do you mean? Me, a traitor?¡± ¡°You despised the protection of the Saints, leaving without so much as a message, let alone permission. That you were swayed by another who had not properly been instructed in the truths of the world is immaterial. Though, perhaps¡­ you might be forgiven.¡± ¡°How?¡± Vari asked. The man held out a simple communication device. ¡°You will help us capture the one who so rudely turned up her nose at the Saints. According to our information, a user of the bow¡­ though certainly not a proper archer such as ourselves.¡± His hand remained outstretched for a moment, before Vari felt compelled to take what he offered. ¡°If she has any companions¡­ perhaps some associated with the Dark Ring¡­ that might also contribute towards your forgiveness.¡± ¡°Of course, brother,¡± Vari bowed her head. ¡°It will be done.¡± ----- It was unfamiliar and new to speak with Sect Head Treloar in the comfort of the Order of One Hundred Stars, but the head of the Worthy Shore Society had taken the initiative to come himself. In a way the two of them were equal¡­ but in another way, Anton could be considered the superior. His cultivation was a level higher, after all- and not just an insignificant step. ¡°Thank you for receiving me so kindly,¡± Treloar said. ¡°Of course,¡± Anton inclined his head. ¡°I requested the meeting, after all.¡± He also hadn¡¯t been the one to prepare things. Even when receiving guests at his own home, he had merely made them comfortable with whatever seating was already available, and perhaps some food. Certainly nothing as fancy as what they had here. ¡°How is your cultivation progressing?¡± Anton didn¡¯t need to ask- he could feel Treloar was approaching the peak of Life Transformation, though it might take between one and three decades yet. Though it had simply been a polite introduction, Treloar pondered it seriously. ¡°It advances about as expected, with the resources available to me. Though I am less certain of my future path than I once was.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°In what way?¡± Anton asked. ¡°There was a clear road laid before me,¡± Treloar said, ¡°Before us all. But now I see I was blind to the alternatives.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton asked, sipping lightly on some tea. ¡°Personally, I think there is nothing wrong with the traditional method of advancement.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Treloar frowned, ¡°But seeing your power, I can¡¯t help but wonder.¡± ¡°Let me ask something,¡± Anton said. ¡°Why would you want this power? If you desire to be a big fish in a small pond, it might fulfill you in that way. I would only attempt it for other reasons, though.¡± ¡°What reasons?¡± Treloar asked. ¡°Why stay in this small pond yourself?¡± ¡°Because it is my home,¡± Anton said. ¡°I desire to protect it. There are also certain other factors that prevent me from protecting it from afar.¡± ¡°An interesting revelation,¡± Treloar said, ¡°Not one that I would share, of course. It would not be necessary for anyone to know.¡± ¡°I appreciate that,¡± Anton said, ¡°Though perhaps it doesn¡¯t matter. The fact that I won¡¯t be chasing people among the stars doesn¡¯t mean that I won¡¯t be quite serious with anyone who comes here. On that matter, what is the opinion of the Exalted Quadrant on the latest issues?¡± ¡°Some were quite upset that you would dare threaten those of us in the Exalted Archipelago.¡± ¡°I would hardly describe things that way¡­¡± Treloar shrugged, ¡°There were threats involved. Anyway, as I was saying, some were upset, some doubled down on¡­ previous intentions¡­ and others seem to find that the consequences were appropriate for the broken treaties.¡± ¡°It seems there is some division among the factions.¡± ¡°You might intuit that,¡± Treloar said noncommittally. ¡°What will they do?¡± ¡°That, I can honestly say I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°What of the Trigold Cluster?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know much, but they are not known for taking well to being slighted. Expect retaliation of some sort.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be ready,¡± Anton said. ¡°You will,¡± Treloar nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if they will be though.¡± ¡°Your confidence in me is inspiring,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can¡¯t guarantee I will be around, though.¡± ¡°You traversed an unknown branch of cultivation. I am sure you will solve other issues. And if it is not you personally,¡± Treloar shrugged, ¡°I do believe that the recent changes to the world will have a great impact. There is sufficient time for another generation to grow and make similar startling cultivation advances like yourself. This world might become akin to the upper realms in some ways. Greater, perhaps, if given time. Though there are certain restrictions that mean it cannot be truly that.¡± ¡°There is no ascension energy here,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°And I don¡¯t believe that will be changing.¡± ¡°Anything is possible, I suppose,¡± Treloar stated. ¡°But I would agree. And it wouldn¡¯t necessarily be better. With the resources of a world like this, it is possible to more quickly grow through the lower stages of cultivation to ascend with greater power.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why you¡¯re here,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I expected as much. How much can you say?¡± ¡°About cultivation? I am certain I can speak quite a bit. Though I would appreciate some guidance in return, should I wish to take a different route for myself.¡± ¡°Of course, though I can¡¯t guarantee the method will be suitable for you. Especially not my particular experience.¡± ----- The ship landed slowly, watched by Chikere and Rahayu from the side. It was a strange model, and not one they had detected coming far in advance. Chikere recognized someone on it, however. It would have been allowed to land regardless¡­ though the results could have varied greatly. Matousek, formerly of the Order of One Hundred Stars. Or perhaps still currently, though they were hardly an Order with a handful of people spread out over an entire region of stars and planets. The fact that they found this particular place was likely not a coincidence. Not that anyone had been entirely secretive. Rahayu led the way, not even waiting for Matousek to fully disembark before speaking. ¡°Greetings. We don¡¯t get many visitors here. What is your purpose?¡± Despite the powerful presence he displayed on occasion, at the moment Rahayu looked like little more than an old man asking about the weather. ¡°Greetings to you as well,¡± Matousek nodded. ¡°You would be Swordmaster Rahayu? Or perhaps that title is outdated.¡± ¡°Swordmaster is quite appropriate,¡± he said. ¡°It saves effort. Otherwise you have to figure out what¡¯s next. Grand swordmaster? Swordgrandmaster? Sword-grand-master-swordster?¡± he made a face. ¡°And don¡¯t get me started on ¡®saint¡¯.¡± ¡°That is the topic I am here for, in fact,¡± Matousek said. ¡°Though I am as dubious about those titles as you are. I come to warn you that the Harmonious Citadel is sending more attackers your way. And they will be much more competent than the last group.¡± ¡°I should hope so!¡± Rahayu said. ¡°There were only two or three decent ones in the whole lot!¡± ¡°They intend to wipe you out, you know. I come with an offer,¡± Matousek said. ¡°An alliance.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t need it,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Matousek¡¯s eyes landed on Chikere. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine,¡± Chikere said. ¡°They have to be sending some people with good swords anyway. And how can we grow without tempering?¡± Matousek sighed. ¡°Sects here are much bigger than you understand, I think.¡± ¡°Oh, we know,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°And we don¡¯t intend to stay here forever. But while we go, might as well take some of them out of the picture, right?¡± ¡°That sounds like you¡¯re planning to die with them,¡± Matousek pointed out. ¡°Pfeh. Unless that sword saint himself comes for us, what do they have? And if he does¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be a race to see which one of us gets to fight him first,¡± Chikere finished. ¡°Very well,¡± Matousek nodded. ¡°But I had to extend the offer. If you want to contact us¡­ the option is there. And Catarina said this one is for her and those with her.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°I suppose Alva met up with them?¡± ¡°She did. How did you guess?¡± ¡°That group can do anything they set their mind to.¡± Chikere looked at the devices she was given. ¡°So how do these work?¡± Several ¡®test¡¯ messages were flung through the void of space towards Catarina before Chikere was informed that the message could take weeks or more round trip. But Matousek verified one worked at close range for her. ¡°Good luck,¡± Matousek said. ¡°If we¡¯re not bringing you with us, we should get going. They could be watching.¡± ¡°Every once in a while,¡± Rahayu nodded. ¡°Good luck with the whole Dark Ring thing.¡± Chapter 435 Despite continual efforts, Fuzz couldn¡¯t manage to persuade Spikes that it was possible to be in a pack with humans. In fact, he couldn¡¯t even fully convince her that they could be in a pack, and they were both wolves. Of some sort. But they were a pack whether Spikes accepted it or not, because they fought and hunted and ate together. Fuzz searched the world for his people. So far, he had not found any of them, but it had only been a short time, and planets were large. Nearly his whole life he had been with his pack, and while that made some years of separation a harsh idea, it was something he already knew he might have to handle. Many of the pack were already here and strong. Catarina and Timothy had been among the first, and Alva would no doubt have followed after. He knew she would, which was why he had done what he did. On the other hand, Spikes was looking for a new people. Her pack had perished, so she intended to seek out other great stone wolves. That was her choice, Fuzz supposed, but he thought it would be much easier for her to just join his pack. He had to find them first though, so the travel was necessary regardless. ¡°You wait here,¡± Fuzz communicated to Spikes. ¡°I will check the city.¡± ¡°For those humans?¡± Spikes asked. ¡°Of course. Eternally, until I am reunited with my pack.¡± There was no discussion to be had about it. Spikes would wait, or she would not- though if she ran off, Fuzz would likely track her down for her own safety. Her power was strong, but as with the ice cats insufficient to survive alone. Instead of slinking around, Fuzz strode confidently towards the city. He felt no powers of concern, and if he were spotted hiding the people might get the wrong impression. Visibly striding towards the city of course resulted in arrows being flung towards him, as well as bolts of lightning and other sorts of energy techniques. Fuzz batted them aside, and the guards on the walls recoiled. The barriers on the wall would not be able to stop Fuzz- his knowledge of formations was not terribly great, despite Catarina¡¯s work on him- but he knew more than that. Instead of storming through the gates, he stopped, sniffing. None of those he sought had passed through these gates. Deeper into the city¡­ still nothing. He patrolled around the walls, increasing his pace as he sensed humans gathering. Despite their relative strengths, they could eventually overwhelm him. But after he determined his pack was not in or near the city, he pulled away from the city. The humans had one chance to attack them, but one thing he was sure of was that they could not catch him. These humans appeared to be sensible, simply watching him leave instead of provoking him. They might send a hunting party later, but he would be leaving the region regardless. Spikes waited for him where he asked, or close enough at least. She seemed to have caught a creature akin to a deer- thin legs, antlers, and the like. With a snort, fire flowed from Fuzz¡¯ mouth and nose, roasting what remained of the creature. Spikes nodded in thanks. ¡°One thing humans are good for is making food taste good. Raw meat is delicious, but always the same.¡± Fuzz thought much the same about cooking meat, though he understood it was troublesome for humans to digest meat that was uncooked as well. Cultivators could handle it, but that didn¡¯t make it their preferred option. Fuzz didn¡¯t care about parasites or whatever, if they tried to live in him he would burn them up. The two wolves continued their travel, sniffing for people and wolves. Humans in the wild they avoided, and only Fuzz approached cities. Consuming large quantities of wild game and battling other beasts helped Spikes grow stronger, but she was still in the same rank. Life Transformation. ¡°How did you grow strong?¡± Spikes asked. That was a topic hard to communicate with simple language. Fuzz wasn¡¯t sure if his whole explanation would be possible, but he could give a summary. ¡°I can¡¯t help you with that,¡± Fuzz said. Spikes appeared hurt, perhaps Fuzz not having properly communicated a difference between ¡®can¡¯t¡¯ and ¡®won¡¯t¡¯. He pawed the ground, drawing a rune. It was one of those that rested upon him. ¡°A human saved my life and empowered me with these. Along with my own efforts, I grew. You would not accept this help from her, and my talent would be insufficient.¡± Spikes snorted begrudgingly. ¡°Humans again.¡± Fuzz nodded. After some time passed, he continued. ¡°If you wish to grow strong, continue to seek that strength. Know what you grow strong for.¡± ¡°To live.¡± ¡°To live for what?¡± Fuzz asked. There was no answer for that. Spikes had no pack, and perhaps did not consider life on its own a sufficient reason. Or chose not to answer for other reasons. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Then, after much travel, Fuzz smelled it. A familiar scent, though not the one he wished for. Instead, it was more like Spikes. Others of the great stone wolves. Fuzz did not think they felt particularly great, but he would not insult his companion by saying so. ¡°I smell traces,¡± Fuzz said. It took Spikes somewhat longer to pick up the scent- she was a wild beast, after all. Fuzz had been trained by humans, and while a beast might grow stronger in all the ways they needed to survive, humans trained intentionally. They improved weak points and enhanced particular strengths, Fuzz¡¯ nose being one of those things. He knew how to concentrate his energy to enhance it temporarily, or to grow it slowly over time. Spikes had a nose no human could ever match, but it could be more. Spikes wagged her tail in excitement. ¡°Good. We have found them. A pack for me.¡± It was a pack, that Fuzz agreed. But for her? He was not so sure. That was not always a choice for the seeker. Soon enough they caught up to the pack. The initial meeting involved much growling and posturing. Despite some intelligence, beasts had no formal language. Fuzz had a feeling he was also more intelligent than the others, or at least taught to think differently about things. Eventually, Spikes communicated her intentions. She brushed up against the members of the pack¡­ males and females. The former looked upon her with interest, the latter with less goodwill. Then there was a fight. One of the females felt threatened, perhaps. The strongest among them. Fang and claw fought against each other, as well as the stones themselves. Spikes of earth pierced upwards, not breaking through the tough hides of either Spikes nor her opponent¡­ but making use of a technique Fuzz showed her, Spikes forced the other onto her back. Her teeth clamped around the vulnerable neck¡­ just hard enough to be painful. The female whimpered in surrender. The rest of the pack continued to look cautiously at Fuzz. He was concealing his energy somewhat, but they still felt caution. He looked at Spikes. ¡°You have found a pack. Farewell.¡± He heard something akin to a thankful bark as he left, but Fuzz didn¡¯t stay to look. Instead, he continued onward. He was alone again¡­ and Fuzz was not a lone wolf. ----- Several days later, Fuzz did not believe his nose when he came across a familiar scent. It was different, but certainly carried the energy signature of the Hundred Stars. Several scents intertwined, crossing with others he didn¡¯t recognize. At least a handful, perhaps another group moving in a similar direction. Fuzz did not run, but neither did he linger in his place. He adopted a pace that should be swifter than those he followed, based on the depths of their prints and the freshness of their scent. If they were looking for him, he would find them. If they had some other quarry, he did not wish to scare them off with undue haste. And there was some small chance his nose deceived him. Not much, but Fuzz didn¡¯t know if he could afford getting excited only to face disappointment. The trail led off into the middle of nowhere- and that was saying something, with Fuzz having traversed the wilderness for a very long time now. It was a rather odd place to go, and even more odd for two groups to go the same direction. Or three, though Fuzz wasn¡¯t really a group. He was just a wolf. He very much hoped this was his pack. Despite his efforts to maintain a consistent pace, he found his limbs moving on their own, increasing in speed. When he felt the raised energy of combat, he turned into a full sprint. Each stride pushed him tens of meters forward, tearing apart the ground beneath him. Who dared to attack his pack? And if it wasn¡¯t his pack, who dared to smell like them? As he got closer, there was no doubt he was confused about the source. His speed continued at its utmost, closing the kilometers between them. With such haste, he could hardly conceal his approach. Five arrows suddenly launched towards him together, but three were shot by amateurs. No way would they match Alva or Anton. The other two were of some concern, but he flared his energy, fire surrounding him. He swerved towards the faster of the two, intending to face them one at a time. His paw batted the arrow out of the air while he pushed past the other. It tried to turn to meet him, but was not swift enough. Fuzz wanted to continue forward to meet with his pack, but he¡¯d underestimated the enemy¡¯s numbers. A foolish mistake. It was not one or two individuals, but one or two sorts of cultivation styles. He let his excitement make him stupid, and because of that he almost landed facefirst into a spear. Almost. Instead, he stopped himself, and then bit off the head of the spear. Life Transformation cultivators dared get so close to him? Maybe it was a ploy. Either way, his focus got him an arrow stuck in his side. It wasn¡¯t deep, but it was the first wound. Fuzz couldn¡¯t face five archers- two in the Integration stage- and another handful of spearmen all alone. When an arrow struck one of the spearman in the back of his knee, nearly taking the limb off, Fuzz remembered that he wasn¡¯t alone. Just not fully reunited with his pack. He howled to the sky, summoning the best of his energy. Despite their weakness, the spearmen accomplished the task of limiting his movement. They positioned themselves around him so he couldn¡¯t face all of them at once, nor could he immediately kill any of them. He took three stabs for two lives, but the wounds would slow him. Arrows continued to assist him from Alva, but they were only occasional. Alva had her own opponents to handle, no doubt. The remaining two functional spearmen coordinated their attacks with a barrage of arrows, drawing great power at a moment of his distraction. They stabbed in unison, and though Fuzz moved to dodge he knew he could not avoid them. Yet their spears didn¡¯t reach him, instead stopping short- then yanking away, as stone spikes grew from beneath the topsoil. A wonderfully familiar howl came from where one of the groups of archers had been- one weaker and one stronger. Now there was only the latter, and the element of surprise had allowed Spikes to wound them. Fuzz immediately wanted to run to her, but instead he simply responded with another howl of his own. The opportunity she provided could not be squandered. He had three more archers to deal with, and Spikes should at least be able to delay long enough. Once they won this battle, he could introduce her to the pack. Chapter 436 Hand clutched tightly around the object within it, Vari thought long and hard about what she was going to do¡­ and that was strange. The answer should have been obvious and immediate. She had a task from the Saints, a chance for redemption for her failures. Alva often went to isolated places along with the others, so it would be simple to accomplish. Then she would go back to the Harmonious Citadel. Why did that not appeal to her? Her whole life, she had longed to be accepted into the service of one of the Saints. Her cultivation style had been dictated to her. All of her efforts were for that. There was just one simple question. Why would it ever have appealed to her? She had been allowed to peruse the various techniques to decide her own fighting style. Barriers, to protect those she served. Grappling techniques to restrict her enemies. Logical choices, yet somehow it had been decided that they were the wrong choices. Even if she were forgiven, where would she go, what would she do? She could not join the service of one of the Saints before, and with a tainted record it would not be possible afterwards. Even so, her thoughts swirled. She could not make the choice. She had to serve the Saints. What had they ever done for her? She had to atone. What had she even done wrong? She had to give up her friend Alva. Was Alva her friend? Were the others? A familiar presence got her attention. None of those traveling with Vari were exactly subtle, but she hadn¡¯t noticed Alva approaching. ¡°You should go to sleep,¡± Alva commented. Vari guiltily slipped her hand behind her back. ¡°I probably should.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not good to stay up worrying about difficult topics.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not particularly¡­¡± Vari shook her head, ¡°You¡¯re right, I¡¯ll go.¡± ----- Days turned into weeks, which turned into months. So far, no decision had been made. Vari could only delay so much longer. Cultivators had patience, but it might seem as if she had no intent to comply if she took any longer. So she would do it. She held it in her hand, formulating the message she would send. Almost unconsciously, her head scanned the courtyard around her. Nothing, just rocks, Alva leaning against a wall, trees¡­ standard stuff. She almost dropped the communication stone. Alva? Her presence might be muted, but Vari still should have felt her arrive. Unless¡­ Alva had been there the whole time. She¡¯d been careless. The hand that held the communication stone trembled. ¡°I¡­ I haven¡¯t sent the message yet.¡± Vari swallowed. ¡°You can still kill me and stop this.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the only option, is it?¡± Vari nodded. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because a group of elite disciples will come to kill you.¡± Alva remained with her arms folded in front of her, though Vari knew the woman could likely grab her bow and fire an arrow through her before she could properly respond. ¡°That doesn¡¯t really answer my question.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what else to say,¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°I have to. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Is that so,¡± Alva stated without really phrasing it as a question. ¡°Who do they have? Friend, family, lover¡­ pet?¡± Vari was confused by the question, and her face doubtless showed it. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Those are the things that could be worth more than your life. If they just had some way to kill you, you¡¯d be more concerned about the immediate consequences here.¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not it. I don¡¯t have¡­ any of those things. And my life doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Alva frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t get it then. Why do it?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ not.¡± Vari had thought about it a lot, and that was the conclusion she came to. ¡°It is the will of the Saints.¡± ¡°What saints?¡± Alva finally uncrossed her arms, waving a hand dismissively. ¡°There are just strong assholes up in towers feeding off of devotion they farm in people like they¡¯re animals.¡± ¡°That seems to be the case,¡± Vari agreed. ¡°Then why listen to them? Just throw it away, or crush it or something.¡± Vari¡¯s fingers twitched. Her arm swayed, but she held her grip on the stone. ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°What, did they break your brain or something?¡± Alva said. ¡°Of course you can. What are they going to do, kill you?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Vari answered. It took her a moment to realize the answer was ambiguous given the questions asked. ¡°Both, probably. I can¡¯t¡­¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°Oh.¡± Alva¡¯s face mellowed out. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say something? I could break it for you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think¡­ I can let you do that,¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°And the conflict would ultimately result in my death. So I would ask that you do it painlessly.¡± Vari held her arms out wide. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid,¡± Alva said. ¡°What do you have to do, report our locations?¡± ¡°I¡¯m to inform them of a time you will be isolated away from prying eyes,¡± Vari said. ¡°Then they will kill you. Though I¡¯m not sure why the specifics matter.¡± ¡°Why not do it then?¡± Alva retorted. ¡°... I don¡¯t want you to die,¡± Vari said. ¡°Or the others. You are my¡­ friends, I think.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s sort out some details here,¡± Alva said calmly. ¡°They want to kill¡­ me?¡± ¡°Yes. You refused the doctrine of the Saints,¡± Vari said. ¡°So that is what they determined appropriate.¡± ¡°That¡¯s stupid.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I¡­ agree. People should be given a choice.¡± ¡°I mean, how many of them were there?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Three Integration stage archers.¡± ¡°And they don¡¯t know about the others?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Vari said. ¡°They did not comment on them, at least.¡± ¡°Then call them. Tell them I¡¯m going to be out in the woods on our next stop.¡± ¡°They won¡¯t give up if they don¡¯t find you.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll find me,¡± Alva said. ¡°But you can¡¯t-¡± Vari stopped herself. ¡°I¡­ the risk is too much. Facing three people alone¡­¡± ¡°Alone?¡± Alva raised an eyebrow. ¡°I could do that, I suppose. But why would I?¡± ¡°Oh. Oh!¡± Vari¡¯s mind finally got onto the right track. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ still dangerous. And I can¡¯t guarantee it will be just the three I saw.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll have to prepare for more. I can¡¯t imagine they have that many people to throw away on a backwater planet for one cultivator, though.¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know,¡± Vari admitted. ¡°There are many Integration cultivators throughout the domain of the Harmonious Citadel. But I do not know what would be appointed for this.¡± ¡°We can see what they send¡­ and run if it¡¯s too much. Just don¡¯t mention the others.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Vari nodded. ¡°And¡­ I don¡¯t think I can help you fight.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not weak,¡± Alva said, ¡°Just a bit lower in cultivation. We¡¯d be glad to have the assistance.¡± ¡°I mean¡­ I don¡¯t know if I can ignore further orders.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Alva nodded seriously. ¡°We¡¯ll work on figuring that out.¡± ----- Xillade was at the far end of the Bloodsoaked Nebula. The group could have traveled many times further in the time they had, but they had been taking on missions of various sorts as well as hunting for Fuzz. Rumors of wolves abounded, and though some spoke of wolves bigger than the Fuzz they knew, they didn¡¯t discount those. Xillade had another fire wolf somewhere, but it also had varied terrain that was good for choosing a location to fight. It didn¡¯t make much difference to Vari where she fought, since she didn¡¯t need much space. Though upon considering it, that was exactly why picking a good spot was important. Hindering their enemies was important. Though the spot was chosen more so Catarina could set up a good formation there. Vari had been told to continue to report. Though she didn¡¯t feel the same compulsion, she was told to continue. So she did. Strangely enough, she didn¡¯t even feel hesitant at not giving a complete or even truthful report. She did need help coming up with something that wouldn¡¯t be suspicious, however. ¡°Stopping to make camp. Might be here for some time.¡± ¡°I¡¯d love to lead them on a merry goose chase around the whole planet,¡± Alva said, ¡°But that¡¯s a lot of our time spent being unable to relax. Here, we can set up properly¡­ and then be done with them.¡± Alva could be scary. Everyone could, in fact. Catarina was a very nice woman who set up deadly entrapment formations like it was nothing. And that was before she learned new ones. ¡°Do I have time to set up subformations?¡± Catarina asked, mostly to herself. Vari wasn¡¯t an expert on formations, but she did know they worked off of being complete. Having formations that functioned continuously between stages of completion was abnormal. But she wasn¡¯t going to complain when they were keeping her safe. Time passed swiftly, and soon a message was coming in. Vari looked to the others to see if she should receive it. ¡°Go ahead,¡± Alva nodded. ¡°We are imminently approaching your location. You must-¡± Vari stopped herself there. No doubt orders transmitted via communication stone were less strongly binding on her, but if she never saw them, they couldn¡¯t do anything. ¡°They¡¯re coming,¡± Alva said. ¡°Look busy.¡± Though the others shuffled around the camp, keeping their hands next to their weapons, Vari had no weapon to draw. So she followed around Alva, helping how she could. Or at least looking like she was helping with the nothing Alva was supposed to be doing. Vari saw Alva react before she felt anything coming. That gave her an extra fraction of a second to form a barrier in front of herself and Alva. They had practiced Alva firing from behind her barrier, and though it weakened the barrier to have spots that didn¡¯t block everything, a small area where Alva¡¯s shots could go through was minimal enough. Vari¡¯s arms stretched out in front of them, holding the shield in place as arrows slammed against it. Alva would have to deal with the ones coming from other¡­ directions. Except there weren¡¯t any yet. Only after Alva had begun to fire in return did Vari sense anything that wasn¡¯t just a direct shot. There were more than just the three she had met. They had another handful of cultivators more her strength with them as well¡­ but that wasn¡¯t the limit of their forces. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Vari said. ¡°I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d send this many.¡± There were another two Integration cultivators, and another half dozen Life Transformation. Axes and spears were their weapons, and they¡¯d managed to creep close before the archers began the ambush. Vari couldn¡¯t hear whatever response the others gave to her words. A moment later she was seeing the two cultivators in the lead stepping out from behind some trees. She should have sensed them sooner. Were her senses that bad? Okay, maybe they were, but even so it was rather embarrassing. The one wielding a spear gestured to her, speaking. Then he gestured to Catarina and raised his spear. They were going to attack her, and Vari was supposed to¡­ help kill her? That wouldn''t do. They were going to attack her and Vari was supposed to watch. That¡­ was not a reasonable interpretation. They were going to attack Catarina, so Vari should go protect her. That did it. She had to admit it was a stretch to interpret those gestures that way, but from her perspective it only made sense. Catarina was Vari¡¯s ally, so of course she should protect her. Likewise, these newcomers were enemies, so she should resist their attempts. The fact that they were trying to give her orders was irrelevant. Vari was reluctant to leave Alva¡¯s side, but Hoyt was coming to assist and she still felt a compulsion. Her effectiveness would be reduced if she tried to stay, and she needed to get the utmost out of her abilities if she were going to help. Timothy looked at her as she ran towards Catarina. The spear wielder charged with several others behind him. Vari stopped, facing Timothy. His sword thrust out towards her, and she twisted her body. Her hands angled to throw up a barrier to one side. Timothy¡¯s sword passed by her as he stepped immediately next to her, lunging. One of the weaker spearmen caught the tip of the sword in his chest, not a fatal wound but he staggered back. The leader, however, had been aiming for Catarina¡­ with the path going through Vari. Though she¡¯d chosen that position on purpose. Her barrier flexed and then shattered under the force of the spear, but managed to just barely deflect it enough to slip past her. Then her arms wrapped around the spear, grabbing tightly. She lowered her stance, yanking on the spear. She didn¡¯t have the power to pull it out of her opponent¡¯s grip, but she did lift him. When she slammed him headfirst into a nearby rock, she wasn''t sure which of them were more surprised. Yes, he wasn¡¯t hurt- the rock was destroyed by the impact and he was fine- but she actually moved him. The formation empowering her wasn¡¯t that powerful, was it? No, Catarina was good, but not that good. But this was one of the direct disciples of the Spear Saint, and a phase of cultivation ahead of her. It didn¡¯t make any sense. But it didn¡¯t have to. She kept her grip on the spear. As it turned out, when her opponent was ready for her actions he held his feet better and next she was the one getting slammed into the ground¡­ but it was just the ground. Soft dirt, and nothing harder than granite. The man wildly slammed her back and forth, but she didn¡¯t loosen her grip on the spear. She thought about pulling herself closer, but she actually made his leverage the most difficult where she was. She wasn¡¯t exactly winning this fight, but keeping an Integration cultivator occupied was actually a pretty decent accomplishment for her. Chapter 437 The sounds of battle continued as Alva sprinted her way through the forest. These enemy archers had some decent range, though personally Alva felt they should have been either further away or closer to their melee counterparts. Being isolated as they were only worked at extreme ranges. Though they hadn¡¯t anticipated anything able to flank them. Twigs cracked underneath her feet as her legs carried her forwards. There were still several archers to deal with, but their threat was slightly diminished. Alva should have been focusing on those within the defensive formation, though those opponents might not last long. And her feet carried her automatically. She kept alert for incoming arrows¡­ or more enemies, hidden somehow. She wouldn¡¯t put it past the Harmonious Citadel to have assassins among them. Then a ball of fire leapt out from behind the trees. Alva was tackled to the ground, the weight of the figure pinning her down. The scent of blood was strong. ¡°Wow, Fuzz, you¡¯re covered in blood,¡± Alva said. ¡°I hope most of it isn¡¯t yours.¡± As she was speaking, the canine tongue was licking her face in excitement. But their reunion couldn¡¯t last long as they were. Fuzz stepped back, letting Alva up. She grabbed a handful of fur and vaulted onto his back, just in time for him to leap forward away from incoming arrows. With his speed taking care of defenses, Alva was able to focus on taking down the remaining archers. Two of the stronger ones were still up, as well as some weaker ones. Though at the current moment they were being harried by¡­ another wolf? Alva wasn¡¯t going to question that. Unless proven otherwise, it was on their side. The man who had been causing the most trouble continued to fire a series of arrows at Alva. Now that they were in combat he did some fancier moves like curving his arrows, but Alva still recalled how they only went for direct shots in their initial barrage. As if anyone could fail to handle something so simple. Vari blocked the entire volley! Sure, she was now being flailed around holding onto someone¡¯s spear, but that effectively took a stronger opponent out of the combat so how it looked didn¡¯t matter. Fuzz didn¡¯t slow down as arrows continued to fly at him. Alva shot half of them out of the sky, while the others Fuzz dealt with himself by avoiding¡­ or just ignoring. Some weren¡¯t strong enough to hurt him. Alva could see the eyes of the leader now. The distance rapidly closed between them. Several hundred meters became a hundred, then fifty, then ten. Alva took a moment to pull together a stronger shot, which shot into the man from an arm¡¯s length as she passed by- at the same time Fuzz pounced on the other Integration cultivator. For some reason the man hadn¡¯t been prepared to be shot at that distance. Alva had kind of expected him to dodge it, preparing to twirl it around behind him, but it just went into his left lung. None of the opponents seemed funcional in close range, but turning to flee only gained one of them three seconds while Fuzz chomped into the other. Then he had to turn and build up speed. Alva¡¯s arrows sunk into the weaker cultivators, just to give her the ability to focus- but it didn¡¯t matter since the last one barely even managed to turn as Fuzz ran them down. Alva glanced back at the battle in the formation. Too many trees were in the way to see, but it was habit. Her senses told her that things were almost done there. Vari had managed to wrestle away the spear from her opponent, then flung it aside. He was currently in a headlock with Catarina stabbing towards him. And then he was dead. Fuzz didn¡¯t stop moving. His target was the other wolf. Was Alva supposed to shoot it? She hadn¡¯t quite made up her mind when Fuzz leapt onto the other wolf¡­ in the same friendly manner as greeting Alva herself. Just in case, Alva disengaged herself from the whole rolling around. There was a lot of growling and biting, but no blood was being drawn. Yeah, they were friends. Apparently. ----- ¡°Good job Vari,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯m quite impressed.¡± Vari¡¯s head was snapping around, looking for more enemies. ¡°I do believe we¡¯ve defeated them all,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Both here, and there.¡± Vari¡¯s eyes eventually settled back on Catarina. ¡°... you can¡¯t hear me can you.¡± Vari tilted her head, then pointed to her ears. They were bleeding. Catarina put her face in her palms. ¡°I said to stifle her hearing. Not destroy it.¡± ¡°... She can recover from that, right?¡± Timothy asked worriedly. ¡°It should be fine,¡± Catarina sighed. ¡°Maybe a few months.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t hear you right now,¡± Vari said. ¡°I destroyed my hearing like you suggested. Good idea.¡± They were going to need to get out writing materials. ----- ¡°This is Spikes,¡± Fuzz said to the group, via writing his message on the ground. ¡°She¡¯s part of the pack now.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Alva said with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Is she your girlfriend?¡± ¡°We are not mated yet,¡± Fuzz wrote, seemingly without any form of embarrassment. Though perhaps that sort of thing was more human. Spikes made some noises, which Fuzz interpreted. ¡°She humbly requests to join the pack. It seems she found the other stone wolves lacking in greatness.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°It kind of sounded like you already decided,¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°I have no objection. As long as Spikes can behave around people.¡± Spikes looked unsure of her surroundings, but controlled enough. Fuzz confirmed that she should be able to get along¡­ if she wanted to. The group was already working on treating their respective injuries. Even beyond Vari¡¯s self inflicted ones, some were reasonably serious. The enemy had been stronger than anticipated, and Fuzz¡¯ arrival had been a great release of pressure. The formation would likely have allowed them to come out on top regardless, but nothing was guaranteed. If one of them had gone down, the battle might have spiraled in the other direction. Vari took out the communication stone she had and crushed it in her fist. ¡°I hate this. I never want to interact with the Citadel again.¡± The serious nature of her tone surprised Alva, who less than a few years earlier had only heard positivity about the Harmonious Citadel come out of her mouth. ¡°We¡¯ll find a way to prevent that,¡± Alva wrote. ¡°But how did they find you the first time? This is far from their territory.¡± ¡°Maybe it was a coincidence,¡± Vari lied poorly. ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse me, I need to relieve myself.¡± Alva grabbed the back of Vari¡¯s shirt, yanking her to a stop. She wasn¡¯t going to let Vari just wander off to be hunted down individually- or to die before she could get more orders. They¡¯d figure out a way to help her. ----- ¡°At least we have lots of copies of the Glorious Harmony Technique to search through,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°It will make it easier to discern which ways it is different from the others.¡± Alva nodded. The bows were all the wrong size to use on wolfback, but they still got a respectable amount of wealth from their slain foes. The cultivation techniques were intended to disintegrate themselves upon viewing by those not approved, but after failing with the first one Catarina properly disarmed the enchantments on the others. There were also different supporting techniques available compared to what they found on the sword-wielders. Forms and stances and the like, not necessarily useful¡­ but able to be sold to the right people for a tidy profit. And they had Fuzz. Alva had almost given up hope that any of the rumors would find him, but after more than a year of searching they¡¯d done it. It had definitely involved a bit of luck, since Catarina¡¯s attempts to track him down from beyond planetary distance had never panned out¡­ but they did it. He was stronger than ever, though of course that was the case. They hadn¡¯t seen him since he ascended after all, the troublemaker. ¡°... I don¡¯t think I will survive restarting my cultivation now,¡± Vari shook her head sadly. ¡°I fear the Glorious Harmony Technique might have the same flaws, or the hooks buried in me might be too deep. Is it really possible?¡± ¡°Anything is possible in cultivation,¡± Alva assured her. ¡°Catarina¡¯s the best I¡¯ve met at things like this, besides maybe grandpa. Hoyt and Timothy too.¡± ¡°What about Everheart?¡± Hoyt questioned. ¡°Have I met him though?¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°Besides he doesn¡¯t count since he¡¯s an asshole who wouldn¡¯t help.¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m just saying, he¡¯s amazing at breaking techniques apart and making new ones.¡± Vari¡¯s face scrunched up. ¡°Are you guys saying something about Everheart? It hurts to hear, but¡­ I guess he¡¯s really from your world, huh.¡± It was reasonable that she found it difficult to believe, given that he had taken over an entire planet and made a region wide phenomenon with it. It was strangely natural to them, though. Everywhere always had something left behind by him, with dangers associated with it. ¡°It¡¯s about time to head back, actually,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°I¡¯m ready for the next step in figuring out the thing.¡± The formation plate was still half-secret from Vari, not because they didn¡¯t trust her now but because it was safer for her not to know. ¡°We¡¯ll have at least a few weeks, potentially months if we have to take a more circuitous route back. We can stop somewhere to sell some of our¡­ recent gains. I¡¯ll need some materials, and we could all use some upgrades of at least part of our equipment.¡± Everyone agreed with that plan. Catarina and Timothy could return to the Silver Sea Coalition for some time of safety, but nobody was a dominant force around Everheart¡¯s Tomb anyway. Hoyt was also reporting what they had learned back to the Dark Ring, and though they couldn¡¯t count on backup from them they would be glad to hear of a victory over the Harmonious Citadel, even if only on the scale of individuals. ----- Energy gathered in Anton¡¯s hands, forming a special arrow in his bow. This one needed to go much further than any before¡­ and faster as well. This particular Spirit Arrow was formed of light, and if Anton wasn¡¯t fooling himself he might be able to make it go nearly that actual speed. There were some methods that made things faster- or travel between systems would be impossible- but without active control that was all Anton could hope for. He needed this arrow to be as stable as possible, disconnected from himself but still able to provide feedback. And he even had to twist some anti-ascension techniques into everything else. The skies lit up as his arrow arced into the sky, vanishing into a point of light that would never be seen by human eyes again as it left the atmosphere behind it. Anton waited, watched, and felt. He¡¯d tried similar things frequently, but he had high hopes for this attempt. The feedback was minimal- the tiny fragments of energy in empty space only hindering the flight of the arrow by the sheer quantity of them and the speed at which it came into contact with them. Anton focused on maintaining the link, but it was a boring half of a day before he got any relevant feedback. Distances in the void of space were strange where pure energy was involved. The ascension energy threatening Anton felt as if it were oppressively close, but it was beyond the furthest planet by a significant margin. Anton almost missed the impact, where his arrow came into contact with ascension energy. It happened over a fraction of a second, but he smiled. Good. So the techniques worked to some extent on free ¡®upper energy¡¯ as well. He wasn¡¯t quite sure how that would be useful, since he would not be going to such a place, and he only need concern himself about those coming to Ceretos, but it was something to learn nonetheless. Inside of himself, Anton felt his connection to the sun strengthening. He was almost at the hundred and first star. Via communication with the others, some of them were at that point as well- though it was clear the actual functional details of their cultivation had diverged. He wished he could speak to them in person to discuss the finer details instead of sending vague overviews, sadly limited in information. Maybe they could come visit. He wasn¡¯t certain if they could, until the tides of the world changed. That information was apparently not easy to find, even in the upper realms. But even if he could not see them again, he could at least be content that they were prospering in their new environment. Meanwhile, Ceretos itself was on another upswing. He intended to make sure it lasted as long as reasonable. Chapter 438 There were certain mysteries still about how Vari was unable to control her actions- influencing the minds of others was difficult even for powerful cultivators. Catarina conjectured that the Holy Harmony Technique had some interaction with formations set up on planets controlled by the Harmonious Citadel. Without visiting herself she could not confirm anything, but that along with more mundane methods was likely how Vari¡¯s brainwashing came to be. She wouldn¡¯t question her control being rewritten if she was taught that all was as it should be. Besides that point, assisting Vari with her potential cultivation options was going well. She was learning much, but when it came to matters of ascension her knowledge was lacking. ¡°What do you mean you had to tear apart the fabric of the world to ascend?¡± Vari¡¯s eye twitched. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just¡­ another cultivation advancement?¡± ¡°The lower realms don¡¯t have any ascension energy,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°Upper energy, as you would call it here. So to get access to it various extreme measures are required. Advancing without it is¡­ impossible.¡± ¡°I have the feeling you were going to say something else there,¡± Vari said. Catarina raised an eyebrow, ¡°Oh? Do I detect a hint of Insight in there?¡± ¡°... it seemed important to train that. It¡¯s difficult, though. I think the Holy Harmony Technique is incompatible with it by design,¡± Vari sighed. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ I almost wish I could just be like I was before, believing the Saints were something great. I guess they are great, by some definitions. And also terrible.¡¯ Her eyes flashed, ¡°I¡¯m going to destroy them.¡± Then she cleared her throat. ¡°Just kidding. I know I¡¯m not strong enough to do that.¡± ¡°Wow,¡± Alva said. ¡°This is¡­ a pretty serious flip, either way.¡± Vari shrugged, ¡°Almost everything they told me is a lie, or at least a deception. Now that I¡¯m willing to accept that, anything less than wholehearted rejection would be a disservice to myself.¡± She frowned for a few moments, ¡°It¡¯s still hard not to fall into old habits though. But about that ascension thing¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯re fairly certain that actual ascension creates a fundamental difference in Integration cultivators,¡± Catarina said. ¡°The members of the Harmonious Citadel we¡¯ve come into conflict with¡­ all Integration cultivators on some level should be considered elites. They had flaws but were still strong¡­ but not as much as perhaps they should be.¡± ¡°I think you guys have weird standards,¡± Vari commented. ¡°Do we? I understand that we are not typical cultivators where we come from, but even you were able to stand up against an Integration cultivator for a time. The difference in power is not what it should be.¡± Vari shook her head, ¡°We were inside your formation though. But I¡¯ll admit¡­ there might have been something else. I felt¡­¡± she frowned, ¡°Like I was taking something back, I guess? Not just my determination to resist, but also something more practical.¡± ¡°Very interesting,¡± Catarina replied. ¡°What would you say that something was?¡± ¡°I can only guess,¡± Vari admitted. ¡°But it should be devotion. That¡¯s the fundamental difference with the Glorious Harmony Technique. I don¡¯t know that for sure, though. Making use of that¡­ will likely be difficult. I can¡¯t exactly practice safely.¡± Her mind drifted away, thinking of various absurd options. ¡°I at least might be able to alter my cultivation technique to maintain control over myself, with your help.¡± There were many more details to discuss- but such things took time, during which they had other goals to pursue. That included a return to Everheart¡¯s Tomb. ----- Having previously studied the Great Hall, there were several more locations that Catarina surmised some important connections to her formation plate were. The Gardens were sprawling and wild, a place that nobody wanted to land directly even if some chose to explore the area. The Labyrinth was another, and their previous trip they had simply been trying to get through- their route either hadn¡¯t taken them close to the sort of thing she imagined, or they missed it. That left the Library, which was not only a place people were willing to come and go, but also potentially useful for various endeavors. It seemed to be full of all sorts of cultivation knowledge¡­ but instead of being freely available, access to certain parts of it had all sorts of stipulations and tests. As was the case with the entire tomb contrary to those on Ceretos, some of those tests could be deadly. They still maintained the frustrations that were Everheart¡¯s bread and butter, of course- the annoyance factor was perhaps even increased, with the danger dialed up as well. Outside of the Library was a scholarly projection of Everheart- a well manicured beard meant to provide a tone of dignity, along with well fitting robes that were not overly ornamented, at least as standards of powerful cultivators went. ¡°Stay in line, everyone!¡± Everheart called out. ¡°Everyone will be processed quickly.¡± There was only a single entrance, and for some reason people were being manually observed by this projection instead of things being handled by a formation. It seemed unnecessary, but that was just one eccentricity of Everheart. Given that this was one of the largest points of interest on the planet, the fact that only several hundred individuals were in line was quite reasonable. ¡°Level one access,¡± Everheart handed a group badges. ¡°Next!¡± Several more cultivators approached him. ¡°Insufficient contribution points. Go complete some challenges¡­ or hunt down some bounties,¡± he gestured to the side. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°What are the bounties?¡± Vari asked Alva. Alva didn¡¯t know, but she was able to focus her eyes more than the others. ¡°It appears to be tied to people¡­ and particular texts. It seems that people have stolen some things from the LIbrary.¡± Another group approached, ¡°We come with donations,¡± the leader said, holding out a magic bag. Everheart dumped it out on a nearby table- his usual carefree attitude showing through, though he did use his energy to soften their landing to avoid damaging them. ¡°Moonlight Shadows¡­¡± Everheart flipped through the book, ¡°Already have it,¡± he casually tossed it back into the bag. ¡°Golden Heart¡­¡± he said as he unfurled a scroll. ¡°An early copy. Fascinating.¡± He set it aside. ¡°Ten Thousand Sword Stances¡­¡± Everheart looked through it. ¡°Ehh¡­ I guess I technically don¡¯t have it. That¡¯s worth something.¡± He continued to sort through the book- rejecting many and disparaging many more. ¡°This is sufficient for you to go to the third level,¡± he declared to the group, tossing them back the bag of the rejects. The rest were swept out behind him with a flick of his sleeve, flying into the Library on their own. The line moved fairly quickly- Everheart made snap judgements about donations of texts, and people either had enough points to enter or not. Eventually it came to time for the five- or seven, if the wolves were to be counted. ¡°Any destruction of property by your animals will be your responsibility. As a group, you can descend to the second level.¡± With that he waved them through. But just as they were about to cross the threshold, Everheart turned from the group he was about to screen back to them. ¡°One moment.¡± They stopped, aware that ignoring him could be dangerous. ¡°You don¡¯t happen to have a copy of Candle Wax, do you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe so,¡± Catarina took the mantle of speaking for the group. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simply that I have been looking for it,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s worth extra until my whim passes.¡± There was a muttering of those in line at that. Then Everheart turned to the group in front of him again. ¡°This technique manual is garbage,¡± he said. An older member of their group dove after the book he tossed into the distance, a pained look on his face. Before they could be stopped again, the others continue past the threshold, finding themselves inside the Library proper. Unlike the Great Hall it was a reasonable height- shelves that the average human could reach the top of- but stretching out in all directions as far as the eye could see. Scrolls and books and even ancient stone tablets filled the shelves, or occasional other methods of storage. They didn¡¯t have a specific goal in mind except for the thing Catarina was looking for, but the huge stores of knowledge were an opportunity for all of them. ----- Inside the Library seemed safe, which didn¡¯t mean it was. In fact, Catarina could confirm that it was decidedly not safe, but nothing under Everheart¡¯s control ever was. From what she could tell it was mainly for the protection of the books. In this place, fighting was expressly not allowed. ¡°Why does he allow books to be stolen?¡± Catarina wondered. ¡°People are just tricky, I guess,¡± Vari said. ¡°That only works if you aren¡¯t being monitored at every moment. Placing something in a storage bag will hide it from vision at the exit, but he still knows who stole what. Otherwise there wouldn¡¯t be bounties. This place has sufficient power to just stop them. Or it should¡­¡± Catarina muttered to herself, ¡°Is there insufficient power, or is it for some sort of sadistic fun?¡± The truth would likely swing towards the latter. Vari looked at the shelves around her. They were vast in scope, rows and rows stretching off beyond where she could see. ¡°I don¡¯t know how anyone finds anything here,¡± she admitted. ¡°That is my job,¡± a floating orb of light said from right next to her. She startled, as she hadn¡¯t sensed it approach. ¡°Do not be alarmed. Combat functions are not included in me. What do you want to find?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Vari frowned. ¡°Things on the Integration stage and¡­ stealing energy?¡± ¡°I can direct you to the former. The majority of the latter category are in levels you do not have access to. Do you desire materials on Ascension as well?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a difference?¡± Vari asked. The orb of light paused for a few moments. ¡°I do not understand such things, but they are overlapping categories. What do you wish to be directed to?¡± ¡°Umm, both, please.¡± ¡°Very well. Please be advised that you are limited to-¡± the voice faltered briefly, ¡°-eight texts in your possession at any time. Reading tables are provided throughout the Library. Please remember to eat and drink, but do not make a mess. This includes forgoing such activities and dying on the floor. You will not be forgiven for such an act.¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t plan to die,¡± Vari said. ¡°Can you help me find my way back to my companions?¡± ¡°They are here,¡± the ball of light said. ¡°I mean later.¡± ¡°Yes. With their permission, I can guide you to others.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Vari nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll find you all later, then?¡± She followed the ball of light which scurried off down between rows of shelves- while also remaining exactly in place. ¡°Can I help you find something?¡± Catarina somehow felt the formless voice was directed at her. ¡°Formations,¡± she said without thinking. Though her answer would have ultimately been the same regardless. Timothy and Hoyt left to study energy redirection and fire control respectively, though as they were inspired they might find interest in different topics. That left Alva with two wolves- one seemingly quite comfortable and the other concerned about being indoors. Spikes was still new to non-cave things around her. ¡°Your interests?¡± the light askes Alva. ¡°Archery, mounted combat¡­¡± Alva frowned for a moment, then was nudged by Fuzz. She watched how his paw moved on the ground, tracing letters but not actually scratching the surface. ¡°And he wants beast techniques, if you have them.¡± ¡°Very well. This way.¡± The light split in two. ¡°Archery here.¡± The other swirled slightly, ¡°Beast techniques here. I must remind you that damage to property via teeth marks still results in penalties.¡± ¡°Uh, actually,¡± Alva said. ¡°... maybe I¡¯ll go with them right now.¡± The light leading the other direction disappeared, and she followed the other with the two wolves. Spikes didn¡¯t seem to fully understand what was happening, though Fuzz seemed to be able to partially explain. At least the light didn¡¯t require clarification on beast techniques¡­ or maybe it did. If she found herself looking at taming options, she would have to be more clever with her wording. If Everheart even had what Fuzz was looking for. Chapter 439 In the sort of library a normal person would construct, places for reading and writing were standard. There was no lack of those within Everheart¡¯s Library, but there was a standout feature- a rear courtyard for practicing attacking techniques or sparring. Normally even cultivators would separate those two things by a larger distance, though in this case it was a practical arrangement. It didn¡¯t require anyone to leave the grounds of the Library and go through the line again. Even so, it was simply a large open area that offered no privacy between cultivators. Perhaps that too was by design. Off in one corner sat Vari. The surroundings weren¡¯t exactly conducive to meditation, with people making use of their energy in uncontrolled fashions, sending shockwaves of sensation even if they weren¡¯t close enough to cause physical harm. She focused on doing exactly the opposite of what she was used to, to no discernible effect. Some part was missing. Perhaps it was a particular target to draw from, perhaps she simply had a false understanding to begin with¡­ maybe her talent just wasn¡¯t enough. She was interrupted by two large wolves tumbling past her, claws and fangs meeting with sharp stone and burning fire. The two creatures had been peacefully practicing some sort of mental training not long before, but either they had finished or one got bored. Alva had been watching them, but she had her own training to get to. Though the battle looked dangerous, they seemed to be having fun. Further away, Hoyt was attempting to light a training dummy on fire. Obviously if it were something made of cloth and straw it would burn to ashes in an instant, but even if it were simply made of the stone it appeared to be he should have been able to catch it on fire. Energy channeled through the stone shape, resisting him much like a cultivator might. It wasn¡¯t just a direct barrier, but active change that frustrated his current attempts. What he was training was a sort of clinging fire- he could create a trail of fire that hung in the air, burning anyone he chose that passed through it, but attaching it to someone was more difficult. It was still possible, but as they actively resisted they could free themselves. Hoyt was attempting a particularly nasty technique that burned upper energy directly, the difficulty being he didn¡¯t want to set his own energy on fire. Thus, he was being cautious. Neither Timothy nor Catarina were in the training yard- no doubt they were at a different stage of their studies, or perhaps they didn¡¯t want to have others see what they were doing. ----- There was some significant overlap between energy barrier techniques and what Timothy wanted to do, reflecting enemies attacks back upon them. He¡¯d had success with that already, but he could always be better. He had some plans to compare notes with Vari to see if a real person could spark any insights different from the texts he was reading. Then he sensed something. He barely suppressed his instincts to stab them through the heart. He could only hope he managed to hide his hostility. He sensed no particular reaction from the man, but that didn¡¯t mean much. It was a member of the Twin Soul Sect, unconcealed. Thoughts rapidly spun through his head. How could one be here? Hadn¡¯t they eradicated them? The answers were rather simple, however. If the promises they had been given were even partly true, then those who died should have reincarnated in the upper realms. And, even if that wasn¡¯t the case¡­ the sect still had a presence in the Trigold Cluster. And the reason for them to be here was the same as anyone else- drawn in by the promises of wealth and knowledge. That was true even for their own group, in a way. Otherwise they would have not come back. Timothy didn¡¯t know what Catarina might reveal, and whether it would be worth the risks, but it seemed important. And they couldn¡¯t afford to sit around slowly growing stronger when their enemies were already ahead of them. Timothy kept part of his mind on what the Twin Soul Sect cultivator was looking at, but otherwise pretended to ignore him. Unless he¡¯d revealed his intentions somehow, the man shouldn¡¯t even know that they were enemies. Unless they recognized the One Hundred Stars, of course. ----- After surveying the general quality of the information available, Catarina realized she wouldn¡¯t be learning much about formations in the first two levels. She could spend years combing through the books to find minor improvements, but they would pale in comparison to the days she had spent with Everheart¡¯s projection, learning about sub-runes woven into what looked to be a single larger whole. The amount of hidden complexity that could be added to anything by that still gave her plenty to absorb for the next century. She still needed to go deeper for other reasons. There might be valuable techniques- not that the ones in the first two levels were trivial- but more than that she couldn¡¯t find anything that reacted to the formation plate she had. She was almost certain it should be at this location¡­ but how far? They would have to obtain permission to progress further. That meant ¡®donating¡¯ or performing challenges. Hunting down a bounty was also possible, though she didn¡¯t particularly like the idea of being an enforcer for Everheart. Some of them likely deserved retribution, but not necessarily for robbing from Everheart. Though perhaps at some point they could browse through the options and see if there were any they would like to take down for other reasons. That was a bit risky, though, because they were without significant backing. If they made enemies with any large group, it could be trouble. That included the Harmonious Citadel, but it seemed that it was inevitable. The three she and Timothy had killed should still be a secret, and according to Vari she had only mentioned Alva, but there was no telling if the second group had gathered more information and reported back about their group. The incident occurred far enough from their territory that it might not have gotten back to them, but it wasn¡¯t as if they didn¡¯t kill anyone important. Even by the standards of the upper realms, cultivators at the Integration stage were notable to some extent¡­ though there was a big difference between those at the earliest steps and the late stage. ----- Vari sat down with Timothy in a vaguely isolated section of the library. The location and their own efforts to conceal their voices with energy meant that at least nobody would casually overhear their cultivation discussions. It was standard practice, as cultivators were secretive with such things especially around those they didn¡¯t trust. For Timothy that was nearly everyone in the Scarlet Midfields. For Vari¡­ she was honestly no longer sure. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°What you do with your shield isn¡¯t quite the same as my barriers,¡± Vari explained. Her techniques all originated in the upper realms, or at least had been there for some time. Timothy¡¯s might have been from a lower realm, but they weren¡¯t necessarily worse. Just different, and requiring some adjustment for proper functionality with upper energy. ¡°It retains more flexibility instead of being rigid.¡± ¡°That means when faced with overwhelming power I can soften the blow rather than having my defenses shattered,¡± Timothy explained. ¡°It does slightly limit the maximum strength attack I can receive, but I find it worthwhile.¡± Vari nodded. That all made sense. The origins of their techniques were quite different, but there was still advice they could share. Mostly on Timothy¡¯s end, since despite being younger and from a lower realm he had more practical experience. He¡¯d been in several actual wars, while Vari had semi-regularly gone on missions defeating bandits or exploring. The shelter of the Harmonious Citadel had allowed her to grow in safety, but perhaps not as much as she might have achieved otherwise. Or she could have died. It was still possible in such an environment, of course, but more rare. The exchange eventually devolved into Vari seeking advice, since she rarely had anything useful to offer in return. ¡°I know you don¡¯t study this kind of technique,¡± Vari said, ¡°And it¡¯s new to me, but several things in this manual I haven¡¯t been able to get any success out of at all.¡± ¡°Let me see, energy draining techniques? Which ones?¡± ¡°The first one is sort of functional, but the second and third just¡­ seem like dead ends.¡± ¡°Maybe they are,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°They could just be bad.¡± ¡°But¡­ they¡¯re in Everheart¡¯s Library.¡± ¡°So?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°He literally threw away a technique manual as we watched!¡± Vari exclaimed. ¡°He checks these things. They should work, right?¡± ¡°Just because he has certain standards does not mean everything that makes it into the library is a good technique. For example, he could allow mediocrity. Perhaps only the first technique in that book needs to function and he couldn¡¯t be bothered to dismantle it. Or maybe there¡¯s still something to learn from them, even if they¡¯re failed techniques.¡± Timothy shrugged, ¡°It could be any of those, or maybe he leaves them as traps for people who can¡¯t tell they¡¯re not good.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Vari deflated, ¡°So I¡¯ve just been wasting my time?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a few days,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°And you figured out they don¡¯t work already. So see if there¡¯s anything you can glean from them and move on. No technique is going to be flawless anyway. Not a core cultivation technique, offensive, defensive, or auxiliary. They¡¯re always being refined from older versions.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Vari nodded, a bit more confident. ¡°That¡¯s right. I just have to figure out what¡¯s good. Hey, guiding light thing, can you show me to any copies of the Holy Harmony Technique, and the Glorious Harmony Technique?¡± The light had not been present, and then it was. ¡°No.¡± ¡°... what do you mean no?¡± Vari asked. ¡°No indicates a negative response, meaning that I cannot.¡± ¡°But why?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Do I need access to a deeper level.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Do you not have any?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Does that mean you do have some?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Can you provide another response?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°... I think I broke it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ odd,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Can you¡­ start over?¡± ¡°Hello,¡± the light blinked. ¡°I am here to guide you throughout the library. Please state your request.¡± ¡°Do I just ask again?¡± Vari tilted her head. ¡°You have not asked anything,¡± the light responded neutrally. ¡°Try phrasing it differently,¡± Timothy suggested. ¡°Okay, uh¡­ are there copies of either the Holy Harmony Technique or the Glorious Harmony Technique here?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Where?¡± ¡°No.¡± Vari put her face in her palms. ¡°Let¡¯s start over. Is there a reason that people would be forbidden from finding techniques related to the Harmonious Citadel?¡± ¡°The answer to that question is only available to members of the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I practice one of their techniques,¡± Vari said. ¡°And I have my whole life.¡± ¡°Are those words meant to indicate that you are a member of the Harmonious Citadel?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Vari couldn¡¯t keep her voice straight. She wasn¡¯t sure if this thing could detect lies but¡­ she hadn¡¯t technically lied. She wanted to indicate that without saying it because even lying to say she was part of them still felt wrong. ¡°Very well. The same or similar request has been made fifty-seven times recently, twice by yourself. Full reason for denial: ¡®No. Stop asking about that you [expletives removed] cronies. You can¡¯t have her stuff back.¡¯ End of official statement. Would you like me to direct you to your sectmates?¡± ¡°No that¡¯s okay,¡± Vari said. ¡°In fact, don¡¯t tell them that I¡¯m here. Or lead them to me if they ask.¡± ¡°Affirmative. Can I assist you in other ways?¡± ¡°Is there any way to request access except through you?¡± ¡°You can speak to the librarian projection,¡± the light declared. ¡°Would you like me to assess the probability of a favorable interaction?¡± ¡°No that¡¯s¡­ I think I¡¯d rather not know.¡± Vari frowned. Was Everheart working with the Harmonious Citadel somehow? It felt like that at first, but now it seemed antagonistic. Then there was that statue. A statue of a spear saint she¡¯d never seen nor heard of. She hadn¡¯t believed it to be real at the time but now¡­ maybe it was. ¡°What do you think?¡± she asked Timothy. ¡°I think interacting with Everheart is a bad idea,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But if it¡¯s important enough to you¡­ it might be your only option.¡± ¡°... I can¡¯t know how important it is until I have the information,¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°But I can¡¯t just stay like this. I¡¯ll have to¡­ look into other options on my own.¡± Talking to Everheart would be her last resort. Surely she could find something on her own. Chapter 440 Within the reasonable course of time, Anton had formed the hundred and first star. By itself it was nearly inconsequential, simply marking continued improvement. A small portion, but a necessary step along the path of cultivation. Anton wondered if there should not be more to it, like Body Tempering or Spirit Building. Essence Collection and Life Transformation focused on general improvement in personally relevant areas, so perhaps it should be more like them. Either way, Anton felt there was something missing. He could continue to advance and grow in power, but if there was some fundamental improvement to be made he didn¡¯t want to gloss over the opportunity. Yet his instincts felt safe with forming the star, so it should not be too much trouble to integrate whatever he thought of later, assuming it was possible. If Anton had not spent so much of his time guiding others he would be fumbling around in the dark, and even with that experience he was not really sure how to continue carving a new path. Perhaps he would run into a dead end¡­ but so far, he felt he had done well. He certainly didn¡¯t feel his power was lacking. He¡¯d had no opportunity to truly test himself since advancement, but based on his power capacity and his experience fighting against the invaders, he should be more than adequate- though the invaders seemed to be somewhat restricted even without anti-ascension techniques being used against them. Personally, Anton was quite pleased to be able to continue incorporating those in case of future troubles- those who had ascended found it extremely difficult to achieve the same results, since their own energy was now ascension energy. Or upper energy, though Anton was uncertain if it was fundamentally better- just typically a higher density. That was important for cultivators, but it wasn¡¯t the only factor that mattered. Along with his own cultivation, Anton was intimately aware of the sun¡¯s energy. For most it was so distant that they barely felt it, but having attuned himself to it he felt more. Fluctuations of energy beyond a level he could fully comprehend were commonplace, though most were not directed towards Ceretos even in the broadest sense. Even the one he¡¯d chosen to help him advance had ultimately had little effect on the planet- some people might have noticed, but more took note of his advancement. A few years was not enough to be certain of everything that could happen with a power source of such a size, and Anton was learning more every day. Perhaps he might approach closer to study it directly at some point, but that could involve a significant time away from home so he didn¡¯t want to do it spontaneously. Even so, he felt something new- something that didn¡¯t quite fit. It was buried among the more powerful energy of the star, nearly insignificant in scale. Perhaps it was unimportant, but it was new to Anton. He added it to his list of things to monitor- along with everything else. People and places and the stability of the planet were important, and he was doing all he could to keep things trending in a positive direction. ----- Day and night cycles still existed on Everheart¡¯s Tomb- though they were harder to comprehend inside the Library. Artificial light sources provided no sense of time, and it was easy to lose track of things. Outside, the lines waxed and waned with the daylight- while powerful cultivators were less beholden to the cycles of light and darkness than others, they still retained the same habits. There were more dangers at night, so most chose to rise during the day. Outside the Library, Vari planned to take advantage of this, specifically the reduction in lines. She didn¡¯t want to make a public spectacle of herself, and interacting with Everheart¡¯s projection outside of necessity was unusual, especially with the light guides. But she had to speak to him directly, and it was risky enough to do that even without other people around. So she stood around awkwardly until for at least a few brief moments nobody was around. Everheart¡¯s projection stood tall and straight, waiting for more people to approach. Vari approached from behind, slowly. ¡°Excuse me, mighty Everheart. I have a question.¡± He turned towards her, hands clasped behind his back. ¡°You can ask the light constructs to direct you to anything you need. Bounty board is over there.¡± ¡°It really does need to be you,¡± she said carefully. She was always polite to powerful figures, but even the saints did not individually control a planet she¡¯d been on. Not that Everheart was greater than the saints. Or was he? She honestly didn¡¯t know their individual strengths, and it didn¡¯t matter if she thought less of them when they thought of her not at all. ¡°There was information denied to me and I was wondering-¡± ¡°Rules for reaching deeper levels of the library are clear.¡± Vari ignored the interruption, except to let him speak. ¡°It was denied for other reasons. A group has been seeking information you possess and seems to have offended you, and I am separately seeking the same information. So I was wondering if¡­ I could be allowed access?¡± For the first time Everheart was actually paying attention to her. The projection wasn¡¯t the same as an actual person, but she felt energy sweeping over her nonetheless, whether the product of a formation or a technique it was much the same as being scanned by energy senses the normal way. ¡°Ah, the Harmonious Citadel. I do believe I have already been quite clear. My tomb is open and equally fair to all, but I am wondering if I should consider banning the entrance of your kind.¡± ¡°Could you? I mean, not me. Others from the Harmonious Citadel. Because I know I seem like I¡¯m with them but¡­ I¡¯m trying not to be. Oh Great Everheart.¡± She wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d ended up too casual. Being around Alva and the others made her somewhat careless in that regard, as they didn¡¯t even like being called Lord or Lady. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°I certainly don¡¯t intend to involve myself in intrasect conflict,¡± Everheart said. ¡°If you want to leave your sect, just leave and don¡¯t get me involved.¡± ¡°I understand. I was just wondering if the restrictions were in place because it was them, or if I could study the copies of the techniques. I was hoping to find a way to get back my devotion.¡± ¡°Sorry, what?¡± Everheart tilted his head. ¡°I¡¯m a practitioner of the Holy Harmony Technique so I¡¯ve been offering devotion to the saints and disciples my whole life. I just wanted to try to get it back.¡± ¡°That¡¯s stupid,¡± Everheart said bluntly. He took a step forward towards her, looming over her even though he was not particularly taller. ¡°Audacious. Impossible.¡± With each word he stepped closer. Vari wanted to turn and run, but that wouldn¡¯t do any good and might harm her instead. Then his nose nearly touched hers. ¡°Interesting. I imagine the most likely outcome is you kill yourself, or draw unwanted attention for no benefit.¡± Vari swallowed. ¡°Maybe. But I don¡¯t know since I haven¡¯t even had a way to try it.¡± ¡°And you no longer consider yourself a member of the Harmonious Citadel?¡± Vari nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± ¡°Swear that you will never again join their ranks.¡± ¡°I swear it,¡± Vari said. Something twisted inside her, partly of herself¡­ and partly some sort of compulsion. Though she couldn¡¯t tell if the latter was locking into place, coming undone, or both. ¡°Swear that if you ever get a good chance you¡¯ll kick the Saint of Light in the balls.¡± ¡°...¡± Vari blinked a few times. ¡°Could you repeat that?¡± ¡°I want you to kick Hans Sigismund in the nuts.¡± ¡°Ok so¡­ that¡¯s the name of the Saint of Light?¡± Vari asked. The saints were never called by their names, so she didn¡¯t know it. ¡°Umm, if I get a chance, I swear to do it. I guess.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Everheart nodded. Vari didn¡¯t feel any change on compulsions upon her, but then against she¡¯d never felt them being established in the first place. ¡°Good luck, don¡¯t die. Though if you do it doesn¡¯t concern me.¡± ----- A floating orb of light took Vari through a winding path in the library¡­ which was odd because everything was literally arranged in straight rows and columns. Any obstacles that would stop construction from proceeding exactly as intended had been carved away, and supports were extremely regularly placed into the pattern. Yet Vari could swear she made a full loop around a specific bookshelf, and she definitely zig-zagged past a certain section a few times. After a good deal of that, she came to a door that opened for her. She was quite certain the door had not been there when she was on the other side of the bookshelf approaching it, and things behind her also weren¡¯t the same. The shelves themselves were all the same size, but the contents were all shapes and sizes. The contours were definitely different, but Vari couldn¡¯t stay to look. She had to keep up with the light. They stepped into a hallway full of doors, of which only one opened. When she looked inside, the light spoke- increasing and decreasing in intensity as it did so. ¡°You are reminded to only take the items from units B4C-17 and nothing else. Noncompliance will be met with nonstandard consequences.¡± Vari didn¡¯t want to think about what that meant, but being denied access to other things made her more curious. She didn¡¯t recognize the sources of the various techniques though she did see something labeled Golden Heart which looked even older than the one she¡¯d seen donated- though without reading either of them she couldn¡¯t know if it was even the same thing. She carefully reached out for the books for the Holy and Glorious Harmony Techniques. They were thicker than she remembered, and upon beginning her perusal she saw there were more guidelines for cultivation included. In fact, there was much more commentary about cultivation than the actual basics of the techniques. She would need to browse further, but she didn¡¯t want to just stand around awkwardly. ¡°Is there somewhere I can sit?¡± she turned to the light. ¡°Tomes cannot be removed from the area. Feel free to use the adjoined sitting room.¡± ¡°What room?¡± Vari said. There was only the door she entered in, but as she looked out it was in fact a small sitting room. Comfortable chairs as well as tables and a writing desk if she needed it. ¡°Oh. Thank you.¡± ----- There was a weird paradox that Fuzz found in studying the beast techniques. The most critical one said it improved ¡®cognitive function¡¯. Thinking, apparently. Yet it was written. If he hadn¡¯t been able to read, it would have been difficult to comprehend. Of course, Alva could have read it for him- and she did read it aloud for the sake of Spikes, though Spikes didn¡¯t fully understand human speech. In short, to learn it he needed to kind of know it already. But he also couldn¡¯t think of a way to avoid that restriction. Fuzz wasn¡¯t sure how much the technique worked, but it felt good to practice. Spikes didn¡¯t really get it, but she was able to replicate what he did if he was slow. Minimal interaction with humans meant she hadn¡¯t developed the same way Fuzz had, and so she was still getting used to the idea of practicing in general. In the wild, Spikes used her natural abilities when they were necessary, and would otherwise conserve her energy. She was still able to improve with hardship, but humans improved before hardship and thus were more likely to survive it to grow more. All of this Fuzz was trying to communicate to Spikes, and some of it got through. They had half a language between them, and she understood a portion of what humans could say¡­ but the most important thing that could be communicated between them had already happened. Spikes had chosen to follow after him instead of staying with the great stone wolves. It seemed all of her efforts talking about his pack, and how they benefited from not being exactly the same, had paid off. Though she was still reluctant to admit it. Then again, she was still getting used to the mere possibility of clear communication. Chapter 441 After several weeks of curiosity, Anton finally decided he needed to figure out what the strange fluctuations were. If things somehow fell apart with him gone for a short time, then clearly things were already far too strained to begin with. He didn¡¯t think that was the case, but he could always be deluding himself. Since he was now officially the Sect Head of the Order, he had to create a clear spot in his schedule. Most things didn¡¯t actually require him, but people felt more important when they interacted with the sect head instead of someone else. There were rarely any new people he had to meet- everyone who had a reason had already done so in recent years- and his friends could simply wait if they wanted to see him. The only question was how long he might actually be gone- it would be at least a few weeks, and perhaps months if he could not immediately find a cause. Flying was rather simple, though Anton felt he would need years of practice to elegantly make use of it in combat. He was just using raw power to propel himself upward and away from Ceretos, like running along with a giant boulder. Though presumably he should feel weightlessness at some point, his efforts to accelerate himself far outweighed the effects of gravity- he barely felt the pull on him diminish, though once he actually thought about it he could notice that it was gone. His goal¡­ the sun. Looking towards it required a significant effort to shield his vision, despite the tempering of his body. The atmosphere of the planet filtered some of the power of the sun, and he was now beyond it. Beyond that, the experience was strangely empty. Points of light hung around him in the distance, and it was quite fascinating to have a nearly unrestrained view of the sky for the first few days- but ultimately, it was the same sky he could see from home, just all at once instead of rotating with the seasons. As he got closer to the sun, Anton found himself having to shield his body from further effects. Despite being assimilated with its power, there were parts of it he simply couldn¡¯t allow to affect him- a great intensity of power that dwarfed anything he had ever felt. He already knew the power of the sun, but it had been felt from a great distance or through a tiny channel inside him. As he grew closer, the power of that connection increased to the point that Anton was almost certain he could draw upon more power than he could control. He did not test that, of course. It would be rather foolish, to incinerate himself attempting to wrestle power he had no need for. His thoughts drifted away from the politics of the planet below- that would be waiting for him when he returned. Cultivation was a constant backdrop to his travel, as he circulated the energy within him to replenish the air in his body and to wipe away fatigue. He was uncertain if never sleeping again would cause trouble, but he had gone longer than a month without it. Only when he was busy- in general, Anton preferred to live a life taking advantage of the normal daily necessities of food, drink, and rest. It kept him connected to humanity, and without that connection he was unsure if he might drift away. An issue came up when he drew closer to the sun. He had sufficient energy to protect himself and was able to constantly draw on more, but there was another matter. The great power of the sun made sensing anything else difficult, and the sun was¡­ not small. The distance across seemed to be approximately one hundred times that of Ceretos, which translated into a total surface of close to six hundred times as large. In normal circumstances, Anton could sense hundreds of kilometers in every direction, but the restrictions of the atmosphere was nothing compared to the roaring torrents of energy the sun put out. The only thing he had to go on was a vague sense of something in a small part of the sun. It took some doing to even get there, reorienting his movement without drawing too close to the sun. While he might be able to resist its power at a significant distance from the surface, if he was pulled into it he would surely be consumed into nothing in a matter of moments. Fortunately, the phenomenon he was sensing seemed to be away from its surface, or not deep within it at least. He focused on the slightest fluctuations, maneuvering towards anything that didn¡¯t feel like a natural part of the sun. He had a few false starts and nearly had run-ins with several solar flares, but eventually his trajectory brought him close to something. A miniscule source of energy, but highly visible for how starkly it contrasted the rest. He wasn¡¯t sure whether it took days or weeks, but he managed to approach¡­ slowing his movement relative to it as he did so. He didn¡¯t want to zip past or impact whatever it was. What he found was¡­ a metal box. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right¡­ but neither was it wrong. Nor was its power something to be ignored. In comparison to the sun, perhaps it was negligible¡­ but compared to a Life Transformation cultivator it was more powerful. Against Anton himself, the power stores were somewhat comparable as it resisted the heat of the sun. He could feel it sensing the area around it, focused on the sun. Searching for something. As he got closer he could sense the working of formations, channeling energy without the direct input of a cultivator. The metallic thing made use of some energy to protect itself from the heat of the sun, and to maintain its position. Closer, and Anton sensed people inside of it. A ship, but without sails. Or any of the more familiar pieces. The skyships Anton had seen were much like those that sailed on the oceans- and from the tales of those in the upper realms, so were the ships that sailed the stars. Similar, at least- though with certain considerations taken for the lack of air. Regardless, they were mainly made of wood, shaped in a certain way, and quite different from this metal contraption. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Even so, it was a ship, for it carried people. Cultivators of middling power, yet with equipment brimming with energy. They didn¡¯t seem to have noticed him yet, with their focus clearly on the massive star in front of them. If he had solid reason to believe they were enemies he could strike them down before they reacted, but he wasn¡¯t willing to just assume ill intent. When trying to determine how to contact them, Anton noticed a porthole on the rear. A window. His senses found several more about the ship, not quite glass but instead something dark, barely translucent. Most were completely sealed with an additional layer, indicating that nobody was attempting to see anything at the moment. But the one in the rear was open, if dark. The people inside seemed to be in another compartment, but Anton made his way over to the rear window and prepared to knock. Before he touched the vessel he did his best to sense for defenses that might take issue with that. He settled for pulling out an old bow, fortifying the defenses around his body and ready to heighten them and propel himself away, while keeping the minimum amount of energy around the bow to prevent it from combusting. Then he tapped the window a few times. Only one of the people inside seemed to react, turning slightly. Anton waited for a few moments, then did it again. They fully spun around, alerting some of the others¡­ though only the one individual made their way towards him. Anton could vaguely make out a room with strange contraptions inside of it, the light around him and the dark window making it difficult. But he could focus power to his eyes enough to see a human- or something extremely close- entering the room. Anton waved his hand in front of the small window. The person looked around the room once more. Anton tapped on the glass again, then waved once more. Eyes locked on his¡­ and the person inside nearly fell over in their fright. ----- Armed with new knowledge, Vari wondered what to do with it. It was like someone had handed her a sword. She technically knew how they worked, but figuring out the best way on her own seemed impossible. Yet she didn¡¯t have anyone to guide her on what she was doing. The others could help her with general cultivation advice, but they practiced a different cultivation technique¡­ and had gone about ascension completely differently. Not that Vari was planning to ascend. She wasn¡¯t even sure if she could, already being in the upper realms. They spoke of calling upon upper energy, breaking through the barriers of the world to do so. Of suddenly empowering themselves. That simply couldn¡¯t happen, as it was already her norm to use upper energy. Though she was aware that her cultivation speed might increase if she had items infused with lower energy. She was not privileged with such rarities, but she knew the practitioners of the Glorious Harmony Technique received opportunities such as that. Arrogant jerks. The speed at which her thinking about the Harmonious Citadel flipped on its head was somewhat concerning to Vari, not because she felt as if her current mental situation was incorrect but because it had been so far removed from her even considering it just a few years before. She was pretty sure her mind literally wouldn¡¯t have allowed it. And that was why she was swinging so far in the other direction. She had already memorized the differences between the older and newer versions of the techniques. The Holy Harmony technique had still been meant to drive devotion towards those practicing the Glorious Harmony technique or the saints, but it was missing some small tidbits that likely made its practitioners more susceptible to certain kinds of mental influence. Vari was trying to draw herself away from those parts, but reworking her cultivation was not simple. She did her best, but she couldn¡¯t keep slamming her head against the same ideas forever. She needed a break, though the only thing she could think to do at the moment was look up unarmed and grappling techniques. Just because the Harmonious Citadel felt they had no place didn¡¯t mean that fighting style was worthless. Vari understood that a sharp blade had a multiplicative effect when determining how much damage it could cause, but she felt that it was a completely valid approach to deprive her enemies of such things instead of trying to get one of her own past their defenses. As she rounded a corner, she felt the impact of running into someone- skull first. She hadn¡¯t felt any sign of them before the impact. ¡°Watch where you¡¯re going! Sneaking around like that.¡± The Harmonious Citadel had taught her to be kind, and while she still at least thought there was some merit to that, she wasn¡¯t in a good mood. ¡°I could say the same for yourself,¡± said a large man with medium brown skin who loomed over her even while crouching down. He reached out his hand towards her. Vari pulled back but¡­ the hand just lingered. When she finally realized it was being offered to help her up, she reached for it. ¡°Sorry, I think it¡¯s the Library screwing around with us.¡± ¡°I would not discount it,¡± the man said as he pulled her to her feet. A completely unnecessary gesture. He remained half crouched, returning to his browsing of the nearby shelf. A trickle of moisture on her lip alerted Vari to blood running from her nose. ¡°What the hell?¡± she said. Most cultivators walked around with at least a minimum amount of energy defenses, keeping their clothes from getting scraped up and the like. She should have been able to run full force into a brick wall and come out uninjured with little more than her tempered body. The man turned towards her, standing slightly. ¡°It seems our impact was more severe than I imagined. I was anchored in position. My apologies.¡± Now that she thought about it, the man hadn¡¯t moved at all. She found herself knocked back, but the instant he appeared her nose was smashing into his forehead. The complete lack of absorption apparently pushed her past her limits. Kind of embarrassing. The blood was stopping already, and she was wondering if she needed to reevaluate her body tempering. ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re forgiven, if you had any fault. How did you get so¡­ solid, though?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the Hardened Crown Technique,¡± he said, ¡°And I was anchoring myself so that I could maintain my awkward position.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± Vari nodded. She realized that the light she had been following had stopped, not as if it was waiting for her but as if it was done. Indeed, this was the section she was looking for. ¡°Hey, you believe grappling is a valid fighting style, right?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± the man said, extending a massive hand. ¡°I am Kiran, of the Hardened Crown Sect. It is good to meet you.¡± ¡°Vari,¡± she nodded. ¡°Of¡­ nothing, for the moment.¡± Chapter 442 Seeing much of anything but the sun was rather difficult, but Anton remained in the same relative position with what was likely the only other thing to get vaguely close to it. At the moment the metal ship was sensing Anton, much like it had been doing for the sun itself. He let it happen, since the people on board would likely be more willing to communicate if he did so. Specifically, once it was clear that he was peaceful. His actions should have made that quite obvious. As it studied him, he continued to study the strange contraption. It was surprising that it was not incinerated, as most materials would be. The amount of energy it was using should not have been sufficient to protect it, but it seemed to be rather efficient in its functions. Perhaps there were deeper levels to it he could not sense, as the flow of energy through it was quite complex and only partially matched what he knew of formations. He hoped something productive would come of this new contact- and that it would not turn into a battle. Yet he was prepared for that eventuality. He doubted that these new people would care that this was his native system if they felt threatened. Actually, he couldn¡¯t be completely sure they weren¡¯t from a planet around the same sun. It was predicted that other planets weren¡¯t habitable by humans, but if settled by cultivators with their oddities it might be possible. He should visit the other planets. And perhaps the moon, just to see what was left of Everheart¡¯s work. The ship completed its scanning, and then began to move. Technically it was moving the whole time, but it broke away from its orbit around the sun, moving towards Anton- or rather slightly past him. He changed his own momentum to follow along behind it. He didn¡¯t feel that it was trying to run away. It continued to accelerate, but at a steady pace. It didn¡¯t make any adjustments to its course. As they left the range of the sun where its energy signature overwhelmed almost everything else, Anton felt the ship¡¯s senses upon him again. He was also able to get a clearer picture of the ship in return, a relatively small vessel with only a handful of inhabitants. He still didn¡¯t understand how it functioned, though. Eventually the rear porthole was unsealed- it had been kept closed to block out the sun¡¯s intense light and heat, but now he could see through. The person inside pointed down. Anton slightly lowered himself relative to the ship, and he could sense part of it opening. A small room that led to another. He¡¯d sensed a change in it before it opened- the air removed. Yes, something like that would be necessary. Anton could replenish his own breath, and the ship likely did something the same for those living on it. But if they lost some, it would be gone until they entered an atmosphere. He didn¡¯t sense any sort of trick in the small room- it seemed to simply be for entering and exiting the ship. If it came down to it, he could tear open the doors or walls unless there was something very significant he didn¡¯t sense. If communication was going to happen, someone was going to have to take the first step of trust- and honestly, allowing him into their vessel was riskier than the other way around. After he entered, the doors closed behind him and the room once more filled up with air. Anton took a breath. It was basically what he expected, and didn¡¯t have any poisons that he could sense. Actually breathing was nice as well. Relaxing. Several people crowded around the internal door before it opened. Not necessarily in an intimidating manner, but rather because space was limited. As the door opened, Anton held up a hand and waved. ¡°Hello. Good to see you.¡± They responded verbally, but not in a language Anton recognized. That was quite sensible- though Ceretos had one primary language that seemed to have mixed with what they knew of the upper realms through cultivators mingling, language wouldn¡¯t be exactly the same everywhere. After the initial back and forth Anton was unsure if he should continue talking, but a woman in the lead gestured towards him as she spoke. Gestures could be different as well, but his training in Insight likely wouldn¡¯t lead him far astray. ¡°You want me to speak more? I¡¯m not really sure what to say. My name is Anton,¡± he gestured to himself. ¡°And I live in this system. It seems you are from the outside?¡± One of them was looking at something in their hands and nodding. The woman in the lead stretched her hand out towards him. ¡°Anton.¡± He nodded. She pointed to herself, ¡°Matija.¡± Anton bowed slightly, ¡°Good to meet you, Matija,¡± he focused on the last word. If they would speak more, he might be able to pick up their language. Actually, he could hear a couple that weren¡¯t in the same hallway speaking. They probably didn¡¯t think he could hear them, but he really didn¡¯t know what they were saying yet. Anton wondered how long this would take. The woman turned, gesturing for him to come along with her as she spoke. Anton followed. The hallways weren¡¯t very wide and he practically brushed up against the other two even as they turned to the side to let him through. The woman grabbed a rail and pulled herself along slowly, one tug to accelerate. There was no gravity to speak of, after all. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if walking would be rude, but it felt more appropriate. He held himself to the floor as he went. These people around him should have enough energy to do that¡­ but perhaps they thought it wasteful. Then again, they might have little way to replenish their energy in the void of space. They came to a small room with storage devices- though all the rooms were small. The storage devices were more like cupboards instead of typical storage bags, but they felt the same functionally. Without even needing to pry to learn what was inside them, the woman pulled out two small bags with liquid inside. ¡°Drink.¡± That was just a guess at what she said, but Anton was fairly confident in his interpretation. Especially when she twisted something at the corner and then put it between her lips. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Anton twisted the same thing, finding that the bag was slightly squeezed as well. Water sprayed everywhere, but he captured it with a net of energy. Embarrassing, but also somewhat entertaining. He gave a slight laugh. The way the water formed into little wobbly spheres was fascinating. A lack of gravity made interesting things happen. He somewhat reluctantly put the water back into the little waterskin and then drank a small bit the same way as the woman. He didn¡¯t necessarily need water, but an exchange of food was a good bonding method. He wondered if he should offer anything of his own. These people still seemed human, so they should be able to eat the same things. What did he have on him? There were certain cuts of raw meat he hadn¡¯t dealt with yet from a hunting excursion- more of an extermination of beasts, but leaving their meat would have been a waste. Raw was no good. There were boring nuts, and some rations that might not be from this decade. Technically they were still just as good- practically, they were never good. Ah, there was something. Anton pulled out a couple handfuls of berries, offering one palm to the woman. He knew others were watching, peeking around the corner. Did they not know he could sense them? Perhaps they simply didn¡¯t think about it and couldn¡¯t stifle their curiosity. The woman, Matija, took the berries Anton offered¡­ and they promptly began floating in all directions as he released his energy holding them in place. Matija made a panicked grab for them as they slipped out of her hand, but she ended up losing more than she held on to, and squashing half of that. She looked panicked, but Anton couldn¡¯t help but giggle at the amusing sight. He wasn¡¯t sure why she wouldn¡¯t catch them or just hold them in place with her energy, but he gathered them for her, keeping them together with just the lightest touch. ¡°Eat,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯re tasty.¡± He started munching on them as he made the suggestion. The woman was slightly hesitant for some reason. Perhaps there was some issue he did not know about? She carefully studied one of the segmented berries, then slowly put it in her mouth. Her expression indicated it tasted good, as it should. When it reached her stomach, she suddenly seemed surprised. Anton was unsure why that was¡­ or why she wasn¡¯t circulating the energy it was releasing. There wasn¡¯t much from Ceretos these days that wasn¡¯t imbued with natural energy on some level- and that included these berries. It wouldn¡¯t hurt her to just let it digest, but it was less efficient than actively absorbing it. Anton frowned internally. The situation was so awkward, and formal. He didn¡¯t want to overstep his bounds, but he¡¯d really rather invite the others if they were going to eat. He said as much, though he doubted they understood yet. Even with whatever methods they had, it wasn¡¯t like they could easily predict new words yet. Matija continued to slowly munch on the berries, but seemed hesitant about what to do with the juices of the crushed ones vaguely clinging to her hand. Anton hoped he wouldn¡¯t cause any problems, but to make her more comfortable he intentionally squashed one, staining his fingers, then licked it off. Attempts at conversation continued, but there was little actual communication they could do yet. Anton was clinging onto their words, using his tempered mind to attempt to comprehend something¡­ while they used their own methods. Hopefully this wouldn¡¯t take too long. He could mimic their words now but he wouldn¡¯t know what they meant well enough to be sure he wanted to say them. ----- Only after talking with the others did Vari realized what she had done. It wasn¡¯t wrong to train with others- and the Library was perhaps one of the only places in Everheart¡¯s Tomb where it was properly safe- but the identity of who she trained with was important. ¡°I don¡¯t like it at all,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Is there something wrong with the Hardened Crown Sect?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Only that they¡¯re here,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°That means there are both sects from the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant here. Our history with both is¡­ not entirely positive.¡± ¡°... you¡¯ve fought against them before? Already? They¡¯re significant powers.¡± Vari shook her head, ¡°I can avoid working with Kiran again, if you wish.¡± ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be necessary,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Unlike some of the sects in the Exalted Quadrant, we have not had conflict with the Hardened Crown Sect. The issue is that both groups are here at once. They¡¯re not exactly friendly.¡± ¡°... that would be an understatement,¡± Vari said. ¡°If I understand correctly, they¡¯re responsible for much of the Bloodsoaked Nebula being as it is. Now that I think about it, they have agreed to keep their business out of the Scarlet Midfields after a past conflict.¡± Hoyt had something to say there, ¡°Maybe Everheart¡¯s Tomb doesn¡¯t count. Or the rewards are worth it somehow.¡± ¡°The problem that I see is that we didn¡¯t see any of either last time,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Perhaps it was a coincidence, but I have the feeling we¡¯ve been spotting more and more of them each day we¡¯re here. When it was just the Trigold Cluster it seemed to be bad luck.¡± ¡°Enough of the Exalted Quadrant likely would be against us as well,¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°And our backing here is¡­ minimal.¡± ¡°At least most people won¡¯t be able to directly recognize our cultivation techniques,¡± Catarina said. ¡°That¡¯s one good thing about organizations of this scale.¡± Vari was still just thinking. ¡°... I can¡¯t believe your world produced Everheart and got into conflict with the two Great Powers.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just how it is,¡± Hoyt shrugged. ¡°Also, there are only two ¡®Great Powers¡¯?¡± ¡°The Trigold Cluster and Exalted Quadrant flank the Scarlet Midfields, so we don¡¯t really run into anything else.¡± Vari shook her head, ¡°The upper realms are vast, but little information exists from beyond either region. And perhaps my knowledge was intentionally limited by the Harmonious Citadel. They¡­ liked to imply they were as strong as the Great Powers, but I¡¯m rather uncertain about that now.¡± For the moment, there was nothing that could or should be done about cultivators gathering. People had gotten most of what they could be expected to learn at the moment- and for their other purposes, they needed to reach deeper. That meant earning points somehow throughout the Tomb. It would be good to get some practical experience to see if their learning actually helped, as well. Chapter 443 Dust flew up, as powerful feet stomped the ground, despite the heavy-packed dirt that made up the training grounds. Fire raged around the area as two cultivators faced off. With a flaming axe swinging towards them, the first instinct of a human was not to move closer- but that was the appropriate response if one wanted to get an advantage. At least when wielding weapons with shorter range, or none at all. Vari stepped inside of Hoyt¡¯s range, lunging forward so his step back wouldn¡¯t return her to the proper range. Her forearm deflected the throat of the weapon while her other arm wrapped around Hoyt¡¯s arm to transition into a throw. A moment later he was tumbling away, but Vari didn¡¯t find that she came out ahead in that encounter. After all, her very energy was burning away, the fire spreading faster the more she tried to fight it. She only managed to extinguish herself by creating a solid barrier around her that didn¡¯t ignite the same way as more free-flowing upper energy. However, that time lost her whatever advantage she gained from the throw- Hoyt was already back on his feet, uninjured. ¡°Alright, I surrender,¡± Vari held her hands up. She had the potential to do more, but it wouldn¡¯t be appropriate to display her actual limits in front of prying eyes. That was why she was training with Hoyt instead of Kiran. Though attempting to monopolize the time of either of them would have been too much anyway. She could barely help them improve, being in a lower realm. There were other factors to consider with the fellow from the Hardened Crown Sect that made working with him too much inadvisable- since noticing either her connection to the Hundred Stars or her cultivation technique could be problematic depending on who it was. ¡°Pretty good,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you try to hold onto my axe?¡± ¡°Because I couldn¡¯t have actually wrestled it out of your grip. And you were ready to kick me away.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t think I made it that obvious,¡± he shrugged. ¡°Though I was thinking I might suggest something.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Carrying a weapon,¡± Hoyt said as he made sure nobody was listening. ¡°I do,¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t just expect to choke someone out. I have daggers ready if I need them.¡± ¡°Something bigger,¡± Hoyt suggested. ¡°That will make the daggers look like backup weapons, and make people less likely to suspect what you actually intend. You might even use it occasionally.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll think about it,¡± Vari said. It was a good point. Deception was despised among the Harmonious Citadel¡­ publicly, anyway. She wasn¡¯t sure how much it was practiced internally without her knowledge. The way everyone practiced one weapon at least seemed honest, but only at the basic level. ----- ¡°Greetings,¡± Anton was pleased to hear a strange voice speak after only a few hours. ¡°We have translated the basics of language. Do you understand?¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Anton nodded. He noticed that they spoke into a device they had, and it spoke either to him or back to them. ¡°That was pretty fast.¡± ¡°Similar start makes speech easier,¡± Matija said via the translation device. ¡°Close stars, possible past.¡± ¡°That might be,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t exactly know who came and went from Ceretos.¡± Talking more might not be fully understood, but perhaps it would help advance their understanding. And he could listen to what their translation thing thought he should be saying in their language, though he wasn¡¯t going to assume it to be fully accurate. ¡°You¡­¡± Matija gestured vaguely, but Anton understood it to be about him moving things about. ¡°I move things with my natural energy, yes. Would that not be expected of cultivators like yourself?¡± Anton demonstrated with one of the empty packets that held water just to indicate he somewhat understood. The reaction of the others indicated that perhaps they did not. There was some measure of surprise and unfamiliarity upon first meeting that Anton had chalked up to that, instead of assuming anything he was doing with cultivation was unfamiliar. Except perhaps surviving in the void of space, but it was a logical extension of power that should be understandable. ¡°You fly without¡­ this,¡± Matija gestured around her. ¡°Using energy.¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct. I use natural energy to power what I do. You also use energy with your ship,¡± Anton gestured, ¡°And the translator,¡± Anton pointed. ¡°And for those¡­ weapons?¡± he gestured to devices on their waist that had more highly concentrated energy. ¡°Yes. Everything uses energy. But not without this,¡± she said, indicating the device in front of her. That was odd. They were certainly cultivators. Anton could feel the energy inside them, and he could feel them activating the translation device with it, though it had its own internal power as well. ¡°You are cultivators,¡± he said. ¡°Energy inside,¡± he pointed to himself, and then to Matija. ¡°The same as there.¡± He gestured with his energy, but they didn¡¯t seem to notice it, not clearly anyway. It took a few moments for Matija to respond. ¡°Yes. But energy is inside, not outside.¡± ¡°Why?¡± It was a simple question, but even if they knew what it was the answer was not necessarily so simple. ¡°That is¡­ how it is.¡± So they didn¡¯t know how to do anything else. Curious. He would ask to see their cultivation techniques, but that was a bit forward and useless since he wouldn¡¯t be able to read it. At best he might see meridian diagrams, but explaining cultivation techniques without clearly shared language would be impossible. ¡°You can do it,¡± Anton said. ¡°See this?¡± he pointed to a little bubble of energy in his hand, holding up the little bag- the waterskin of strange material. He tossed one to Matija. ¡°Try it.¡± A few moments later, Anton felt a smaller version of the ships senses upon him. It was one of the smaller devices. Another member of the crew was aiming it at his hand as they tried to understand what he was saying and doing. He could still feel it activating, but now how it worked- or how they got the sensations from it. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I will try,¡± Matija said. Despite that, she seemed to be having difficulties. He could sense her energy moving inside her, indicating she had control over it. The energy even flowed through the meridians in her arm up to her palm, but it just stayed there. Matija placed the waterskin on her palm¡­ and then it exploded. More or less directly at Anton, since she was facing him. Everyone seemed quite concerned, worried shouts and all that, but it only took a few moments for the metal ship to pull the smoke and particles of material out of the air. It seemed quite efficient, and Anton followed its motion through a very fine mesh that stopped the small bits before the air returned to the compartment. As the smoke cleared Matija and the others were able to see again. It took her only a moment to look at Anton and prostrate herself on the ground. ¡°That¡¯s entirely unnecessary,¡± Anton said, ¡°Please stand up.¡± Since they hadn¡¯t apologized to each other the translator didn¡¯t really know what to say, but he got the idea. ¡°Get up. I am unharmed. I am fine,¡± he gestured to himself as well as waving her up. One of the crew members had his weapon pulled out, pointed vaguely at Anton. Or at least he found it reasonable to assume that it was at him given the arrangement of the arm. He probably thought Anton couldn¡¯t see it because he was behind him. No need to bring that up unless he actually tried something though. ¡°Come on, get up,¡± Anton said to Matija as she looked at him cautiously from the ground. He held out a hand in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. He still had his little waterskin and held it out. ¡°Want to try again?¡± She was at some risk from that explosion, but he¡¯d protected her and everything around them from the explosion and the potential bouncing around. It was interesting to see that happen, since these cultivators were clearly somewhere around late Essence Collection or early Life Transformation in power, but seemed to have limited control of natural energy. Matija seemed to understand the extended arm was to help her up, and that Anton wasn¡¯t angry. It would have been pretty rude to get upset over something he encouraged that was also obviously an accident, but on the other hand¡­ he could see people reacting that way. Even if it had been a real threat to himself, however, he liked to think he would have responded the same way. ¡°Try again?¡± Anton asked, holding his hand towards her. ¡°Yes?¡± he pulled it away, ¡°No?¡± He returned it to a neutral position, his palm open as he floated the strange waterskin above it. She cautiously reached out. ¡°Yes. Try again.¡± She held the waterskin on her palm and more slowly gathered energy, more cautiously. Then, after a moment, it began to float. Well, it more bounced erratically as she blasted it with energy, and then it tore to shreds a few moments later but¡­ it was basically the same. Anton could see her eyes widen, and everyone was excitedly talking at each other. The crew member who had pointed a weapon at Anton was no exception, having now returned said weapon to its sheath. Matija remembered that Anton was present after a few moments of celebration, hugs and shouts of excitement and all that. She turned back to him and put on her more formal face. ¡°Try. Yes.¡± ¡°You did it,¡± Anton said. ¡°Good job.¡± He was getting close to the point he would try speaking their words. All of the new information was jumbling around in his head, but what was a couple rounds of body tempering for if it didn¡¯t include perhaps the most important part? Cognitive abilities were enhanced by cultivation, which was necessary for the more complex subtleties of advanced cultivation. Focusing on multiple things at once was one of those improvements necessary for a cultivator. Matija looked at her hand. ¡°How?¡± she finally asked. ¡°It is normal,¡± Anton said. He tapped his head, ¡°The mind controls energy, like these devices control energy. Have you not tried before?¡± Surely some must have. Even people randomly stumbling about with cultivation could learn something about energy control, and these people were many times more powerful than necessary to see results. ----- After another several hours that were productive in learning to communicate if nothing else, they had moved to something like a lounge- with couches placed in various positions. They had straps to keep people from casually floating away, and the room was rather crowded with only a few. ¡°So why did you come here?¡± Anton asked. ¡°To study the star,¡± Matija said. ¡°Ceretos?¡± ¡°Ceretos is my planet,¡± Anton said. ¡°That is just¡­ a star. The sun.¡± ¡°Your planet? Is it close?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Not at this speed. We¡¯re also going the wrong way.¡± They hadn¡¯t continued accelerating once they got an appropriate distance from the sun, but they were still moving. Not all that fast, but nothing slowed them down either. ¡°What about the sun did you want to study?¡± ¡°We noted strange energy fluctuations within the last few years. So we came to see it.¡± Matija frowned. ¡°The change is¡­ very similar to you.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s possible that it is not a coincidence. So what do you know about cultivation?¡± ¡°It was a legend,¡± she said. ¡°At least the way that you are, and speak about it. We have a method to grow energy inside of ourselves, but it is not the same. Most of us can¡¯t sense energy outside of ourselves either, except in vague terms.¡± ¡°Surely you must have tried to control things with energy, the way you control your machines.¡± ¡°I suppose?¡± Matija shook her head. ¡°They mainly draw on us. We simply allow it.¡± ¡°If I may,¡± the crew member who had stood behind Anton spoke up. Anton had learned his name was Premysl. ¡°There are talks of such power. I think many of us attempted such things in our youth to no effect.¡± Matija nodded, ¡°That is the same with me. But seeing you do it, I felt something. Does that make sense?¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I can¡¯t say I did anything at all with energy without seeing or feeling it in action first.¡± Though maybe some of what he felt before he became a cultivator was subconscious and rare, it wasn¡¯t as if he¡¯d been completely cut off from cultivators for the first century of his life. ¡°Once we are stronger, there are cautions about the dangers,¡± Premysl said. ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered that projecting energy could be anything but uncontrolled chaos.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Nobody¡¯s born with a century of experience. All of you will be far ahead of myself in understanding the basics of our system. And I can see why nobody would search with great intensity for alternatives when you have something that works,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°This ship is impressive. It functions like a complex formation with only the minimum number of runes.¡± ¡°I doubt they could use any more,¡± Matija said. ¡°It makes use of pretty much everything runes can do.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°I will admit the very small mechanisms seem quite effective even without runes involved, but I would have thought that basic durability runes would be involved in the outer surface instead of an intensive field of energy. Though the materials themselves are astounding.¡± From their expressions, perhaps they didn¡¯t know more about runes than what he had, in which case he was even more impressed. It might do them quite a bit of good to learn, even from him. Or perhaps they had simply gone beyond the need for the things he thought they were missing. Sharing too much information might not be good, but they seemed friendly enough. If they were hiding ulterior motives beneath the surface, they were good at hiding them- though friendliness didn¡¯t necessarily equate to goodness in the end. He¡¯d have to get to know them more deeply to determine that. Chapter 444 The forces on the metal ship eventually identified themselves as part of the United Ruteran Order- Rutera being their home system. They had recently developed to the point they were exploring other realms, and as Anton had already learned they had come because of changes to the sun that likely involved him. Their presence told Anton it was possible to move between lower realms, though he wasn¡¯t certain if it would be wise for him to do so himself. Even so, it opened up possibilities previously unavailable. ¡°I am certain you are eager to return to your world to report this interaction,¡± Anton said. He pulled out a pair of communication plates. ¡°These should allow us to keep in contact, though it will require the injection of some energy. You will have to translate on your end, since it uses our characters.¡± He wished he had better ones, but he didn¡¯t normally carry around extras. This was the only one he was certain would work at distances greater than planetary. ¡°... This doesn¡¯t look like any communication device I am familiar with,¡± Matija commented. ¡°Specifically, it seems like it¡¯s missing the most important parts. Like a transmission method.¡± ¡°The formations are intertwined with each other to function at any distance,¡± Anton said. ¡°There will be some time delay depending upon how far your system is, but it should not be too onerous. Days, at most.¡± ¡°Are you sure? The distances between systems are¡­ vast.¡± ¡°It would be able to communicate with systems in the upper realms, which should be further away if we are truly neighbors.¡± Premysl was muttering to himself, something about comparing it to their faster-than-light communications. He probably didn¡¯t think he could be overheard, but it didn¡¯t matter much either way. ¡°Now then,¡± Anton said. ¡°I should be going home. Perhaps we shall arrange for a visit at some point¡­ but I would avoid showing up uninvited. We¡¯ve had incidents with others that people would react strongly to.¡± Then there was the matter of the Exalted Archipelago. They might not be happy with such communication, and even if their lower realm counterparts were he wouldn¡¯t wish too much information to reach the upper realms. Soon enough he found himself outside the ¡®airlock¡¯ and returning towards home. It was much too far to sense- and though he knew the approximate plane it was on even with unlimited range it would be a stab in the dark because of slight variations. However, Anton wasn¡¯t so easily lost. He knew the relative locations of stars throughout the year, though in truth he could have navigated by the connection he had to the planet. That allowed him to affirm his direction was correct, but if he were to go exploring he would have to get used to a lack of terrains or landmarks. Especially outside of the system, though once again he was unsure if that was smart. The sun was a great source of power for him, and the intensity of that connection might wane with distance. Inside his pocket, a few test messages came in from Matija. He responded, confirming that it worked. They had recorded how each letter matched the sounds and their devices seemed to take care of the rest. After what he had learned- and what had been revealed to them- Anton imagined both sides would have plenty to think about for quite some time. Even if he didn¡¯t learn how to do any of it, simply knowing there were methods like theirs for controlling the world¡¯s energy was a great revelation. He would have conversations with many people about this. Including Catarina, though that would be slow and unfortunately not as detailed as he would like. ----- Within the Scorching Mirror Desert, Elder Vasu took in the whole of his surroundings. The sands evoked a healing of light and heat, but there was more to it. Natural energy was abundant despite the lack of visible flora and fauna. Various cacti and succulents survived in the harsh desert, though it could not be said to be overflowing with life. Likewise, creatures other than humans were present but rare. All such life was powerful, however. There was another aspect to the sands as well. Vasu took it in along with the power it held. Sands would typically become rounded from their friction with other particles, and this was true of the Scorching Mirror Desert as well. However, around the headquarters of the Million Sword Vault there was an anomaly. Instead of rounding, some grains would not only retain their size but grow into something more similar to actual pieces of mirror, sharp shards that could cut. Like tiny swords. Elder Vasu wished the best for the Chikere and others of the Million Sword Vault who would be ascending, but he planned to remain where he was. He quite liked Ceretos, but was unwilling to give up continuing his cultivation. In times past he might have had to accept losing one or the other, but recent times had revealed new options. The sands of the desert swirled as he exerted his influence over them¡­ and in turn, allowed them to gain a modicum of influence over himself. ----- There was a large variety in how library bounties for Everheart could go. There was the matter of whether or not an individual was still on planet- none of the group wanted to go chasing people to new worlds, and especially not breaking into their sects. However, not all of the bounties required the individual in question. Some just listed who had taken what, but didn¡¯t concern themselves with whether or not anything happened to the ¡®criminal¡¯. Others had explicit instructions that people were to be brought back. Taking precautions in such work was necessary for those who tried to uphold a moral core. While Everheart¡¯s words could be trusted to the point that the individuals took what he said from his Library, that didn¡¯t necessarily indicate people had done something wrong. Certainly, not more than Everheart himself. The vast majority of what he possessed was no doubt already stolen or pillaged from others- the distinction being perhaps less important to the man himself. The point was, members of the Order of One Hundred Stars knew that cultivators inevitably looted things from others, but the method through which people came into conflict was important. Competition over resources didn¡¯t have to end in death, even if it often did. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. A few had rather easy solutions. There were rare individuals who had vileness inherently woven into their cultivation, empowered not just by death but by gratuitous violence for its own sake. Murder, torture, and the like. Cultivators weren¡¯t usually so easy to judge, but they had chosen some of the bounties based on exactly such factors. There were temptations to go after a disciple of the Twin Soul Sect, but beyond being unsure of her presence on planet, they wanted to avoid obvious conflict with larger sects. Just because they had rooted them out of their world didn¡¯t mean they were stronger than them, especially with just a handful of people and two wolves- no matter how exceptional any of them were. Then there was the situation with Yarros. There was no bounty on the man himself, but they managed to track him down. He was a brave one, perhaps, traveling alone. They moved in from all sides, Timothy blocking him from the front. ¡°Are you still in possession of ¡®One Thousand and One Noodle Soups, first edition¡¯?¡± It was a somewhat ridiculous thing to say seriously, but the points were worth it, somehow. Yarros was an older man, and as he found himself surrounded glowing tomes popped out of his rucksacks, swirling around him in a whirlwind. ¡°You¡¯ll never get my- wait what did you say? Noodle Soups?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Timothy said, holding his position with his sword at the ready and his shield half raised. ¡°Well, I made a copy of that but¡­¡± A book popped out of his rucksack. ¡°Oh.¡± Another followed it. ¡°I think I forgot to put back the original.¡± ¡°Everheart put out a library bounty on it.¡± The man solidified his stance, ¡°You still won¡¯t take me, no matter your reason.¡± ¡°We¡¯re just here for the book,¡± Timothy said. ¡°The bounty isn¡¯t on you. Though it does call you out, so some people might not care.¡± ¡°Are you certain?¡± he said as books formed into rows like walls around him, inside the whirlwind. ¡°Absolutely,¡± Timothy said, holding up the bounty. ¡°Book return required. Nothing else.¡± ¡°In that case, maybe I should take it back myself for that reward.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± Timothy raised an eyebrow. ¡°Just because he didn¡¯t specify anything for you doesn¡¯t mean he won¡¯t decide you should get punished if you happen to be there.¡± ¡°... your words are quite persuasive,¡± Yarros admitted. ¡°Take it,¡± he tossed the book to Timothy. ¡°But do try to get it returned quickly so I don¡¯t have to deal with anyone else.¡± They had, partly out of respect for the man and partly because they had to seek out information on their next target, and gathering places like the Library were the best place for that. Despite the fact that nobody could enforce any laws and violence was often encouraged by Everheart, most encounters between cultivators didn¡¯t involve conflict of any sort, and killing was a step rarer. If everyone fought, then in no time at all nobody would be left alive. If the odds were close to even, even a handful of battles would almost guarantee an individual¡¯s death. The victors of a battle weren¡¯t actually random, but knowing when to not engage or to withdraw were both important lessons. The Thousand and One Noodles Soups had been carefully scrutinized by the group on the way back, but no signs of code or hidden messages could be discerned. It really was just a large number of noodle soups. Everheart didn¡¯t like being stolen from, of course, but the price was too great for that. There were many others where he had a lower price or demanded the body of a thief for the reward of lesser value. So perhaps there was something more to it, or it was a joke of some sort¡­ or Everheart really liked that particular book. Because that was always possible. Everheart took the book off their hands with barely a glance, but he likely wasn¡¯t actually careless. ¡°You now have sufficient points to reach the third level. It will require significantly more to reach the fourth level.¡± ¡°We are aware,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I would not mind letting you there right now¡­¡± Everheart said slowly. ¡°If you could give me a copy of that technique I mentioned earlier.¡± For a person who loved causing trouble, Everheart was actually being somewhat circumspect. ¡°I¡¯m afraid we don¡¯t have it.¡± That was true- though Catarina could likely produce a copy. Candle Wax was a simple enough technique that she¡¯d previously memorized it, fit for use even by those in Body Tempering. She just didn¡¯t want to admit to having seen it, because that would let him know they were from the same world. That might have benefits, but it might be a terrible idea. It was already uncomfortable that he suspected them. They couldn¡¯t even assume any of their conversations were private, though Catarina was getting better at picking out his formations. ¡°Move on, then,¡± he waved them past. ----- Back at the Order of One Hundred Stars, Anton conferred with Zajoc and Fodor, along with the other seven Grand Elders. ¡°Traveling to other systems may be a bit hasty when we have not conquered our own, or for the most part even left our planet, but it is something to consider. According to the information from the upper realms, we could craft such ships with only minor differences from skyships.¡± Both took significant amounts of energy, and interestingly enough the lack of resistance outside the atmosphere meant that even accelerating to much greater speeds was not as much more expensive than one would envision. Reaching speeds that could swiftly travel between systems- any faster than a handful of years- was another matter. ¡°Regardless,¡± Elder Fodor smiled, ¡°Peaceful contact with others is something to celebrate.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°We will be keeping this information secret, except for the highest leadership of our longstanding allies. That includes other members of the Order. Once word is out, it is impossible to conceal it. If someone could be allies against invasions from the upper realms, we don¡¯t want there to be any warning.¡± All of the Grand Elders agreed. They didn¡¯t have to, and Anton specifically wanted them to disagree when they had a reason. Having a bunch of cronies who just did what he said would make it pointless to even have a council. If he wasn¡¯t going to listen to them, he could just be a tyrant like some people made him out to be. Mostly those from the trampled sects in the Exalted Archipelago. Chapter 445 For the sake of making responsible choices, the group cored by the Hundred Stars tried to do research before taking up a bounty. Even following around someone was enough to get into a conflict, so ensuring the request was reasonable became an important matter. They didn¡¯t always have much to go on, though. This particular one was just too good to pass up, with sufficient points to get the entire group to the fourth and final level of the Library, where they could finally begin their real goal. And the danger was minimal as well. No, minimal was perhaps an overstatement. Nonexistent should be more correct. A single cultivator at the Essence Collection stage shouldn¡¯t be a threat to any of them unless they simply forgot to put up any sort of defenses. Perhaps Vari and Spikes who were only a stage ahead or the equivalent could be injured, if they were likewise solo. But the target might not be the problem. Even if people tried to hide it, word naturally spread of an inflated bounty on this fellow named Rouben. That meant competition. But only if others arrived almost simultaneously- it couldn¡¯t take more than a minute on the outside to subdue someone like this. On the short end, it would be a mere instant- and that was many times more likely. The information beyond his name and cultivation level were sufficient to decide it was worth pursuing. He¡¯d stolen a technique called the Essentia Lockbox, the fancy name meaning nothing on its own¡­ but finding it had origins with the Twin Soul Sect and had perhaps been lost to time gave them additional motivation. They couldn¡¯t be sure if it was already too late to prevent the Twin Soul Sect from hearing about it, if Rouben wasn¡¯t already working for them, but they couldn¡¯t afford for it to be easily available. It had apparently been locked away in one of the more secure layers, so returning it there would at least limit access. Destroying it¡­ might be preferable, though they couldn¡¯t be sure if Everheart would find out and produce consequences for them. Rouben had gone toward the Gardens. Alva¡¯s brief cut through the area had given her some idea of what to expect, and with Fuzz navigating the area would be much easier. They just needed to pick up the right trail, which might involve a bit of guesswork. They had a physical image, but it didn¡¯t include useful things like scent. Simply the fact that the man passed through the area around the Library was too vague, with hundreds of scents at minimum every day. Fuzz and Spikes sniffed around anyway, but there was no guarantee anything would come of it later. Perhaps they might recognize someone who had been at the library, though whether or not that would help was a different matter. As they began their trek in the direction of the Garden, which was basically just an area of wilderness that covered a good segment of the planet they were on, Fuzz took note of some scents. These he had context for¡­ and not just from recently. ¡°Twin Soul Sect¡­¡± Alva shook her head. Were they around because they were looking for this, or was it a coincidence? Either way, the chance that they were heading in the same direction purely by accident was ignorable. Which meant they had to pass them. A group¡¯s speed was limited by the slowest member, and that was usually related to cultivation level. Vari was simply not able to keep up the same level of exertion as everyone else. Spikes was at a similar cultivation strength, but was more trained for running. The ability to recover stamina quickly that helped out humans at lower levels of cultivation was overcome by the fact that a beast¡¯s body would continue growing more powerful automatically. Body tempering excelled in consistent performance, but generally gave up slightly on the upper end of power since the user would have less energy to focus on key moments. There was a simple solution to speed up the group. Vari just rode Fuzz with Alva. Spikes was familiar enough with them that Vari might have been able to ride her, but Fuzz was used to moving with a rider. One more made little difference to him. That technically made Spikes the slowest, but she was able to more or less keep pace with the Integration cultivators. Knowing they shouldn¡¯t be more than a day behind their quarry, they expected to catch up well before he reached the Gardens- but only if they chose the right path. It wasn¡¯t as if there was only one path between two points on a planet. There were some annoying terrain features like rivers and what was either a salt lake or an ocean depending on who you asked. There were also mountains, of course, but the biggest factor is that Everheart didn¡¯t tolerate people climbing over the structures he made. Even if they were laden with deathtraps, it was generally safer to go through than over. For the moment, they followed what seemed to be the biggest pack from the Twin Soul Sect, assuming they would at least have a decent understanding of where they were going. Or maybe they were suicidal, because they chose to go through the Smithy. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I don¡¯t think you get to comment, fire cultivator,¡± Timothy said. ¡°You could still do it,¡± Hoyt grinned. ¡°And Fuzz is fine as well.¡± ¡°Same answer,¡± Timothy grumbled. The Smithy was located inside of a volcano. Not on top of, but inside. The main tunnels took a winding path right next to magma chambers in the mountain, with occasional bridges over pools of the same. And if that was all there was, then even the fact that was hotter than lava got in a lower realm wouldn¡¯t have been a terrible setback. There were of course fire creatures looking for something to eat. And something else, in a way worse than all the rest. *Clang* The sound of a hammer striking an anvil was normally rather pleasant. Perhaps a bit loud and disruptive, but most people appreciated the industry it upheld at the very least. That was when other factors were normal, and the hammering didn¡¯t send out shockwaves of sound that threatened to collapse tunnels while also bowling people over or trying to send them tumbling into molten rock. The fact that the rock was dense enough most people wouldn¡¯t sink much hardly meant anything when it clung to everything like glue. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. *Clang* The volcano trembled. The sound was simultaneous with the shockwave pushing through the hallway they were in, though Timothy took a position in front to block it. The first time he¡¯d made the mistake of attempting to completely negate the shockwave, and had been blasted backwards on a trajectory that would have collided with half of the others had they not dodged. This time, he kept his focus smaller, not just deflecting some of the sound wave with his shield but also scattering it by forming rough surfaces with his energy instead of a flat plane. The ground cracked beneath his feet as he was sent sliding back several paces, but his efforts reduced the amount of trouble the others had to put up with. The wolves were particularly grateful, since their ears were more sensitive. ¡°I¡¯m sensing two paths ahead,¡± Alva said. Her senses could stretch further than the others. ¡°The group we¡¯re following forged straight ahead, while the other tunnel curves around to the left. There¡¯s some sort of treasure in the other path.¡± ¡°Sounds like a trap,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°But is going for the treasure the trap,¡± Vari commented. ¡°Or not being greedy that¡¯s the trap?¡± A question that needed to be asked, since with Everheart it could be either. It wasn¡¯t entirely random. Treasure usually had more danger near it, but an overabundance of caution in that regard sometimes led people astray into somewhere even more dangerous, for no gain. ¡°We have to keep up with that group, right?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Do we have a choice?¡± ¡°We do,¡± Alva said. ¡°We¡¯re not far behind them now. If we follow directly after them, we¡¯ll run into them. If the other path leads us out the far side- and there are many that do- we can pass them up and perhaps get a sign of their quarry.¡± ¡°And people don¡¯t just seek equipment for no reason,¡± Hoyt pointed out. ¡°If it makes us stronger, passing it up could be a waste. This is said to be one of the best places for weapons and armor in the entire Tomb, as one would expect from the Smithy. If you can survive the traps.¡± There was no question there would be traps of some sort- in either direction, but most likely both. Before that, they¡¯d have to pass through an open chamber and deal with the threats therein. ----- Over the next several months, Anton kept in communication with the group from Rutera. There was nothing of great worth said, but it was a reminder that at some point they would have a more intentional meeting. Before that happened, Anton wanted the support of as many people as possible. That included the Glorious Frostflame Mirror. Or whatever name they were trying right now. Which part of fire or ice went first in naming was a constant matter of contention, but as much as they internally fought about small things like that, the sect that was the combination of the Glorious Flame Palace and the Frostmirror sect was unified on the important matters. That was good for Anton, because it meant more grandchildren in one place. And while some of the members of the sects still remembered their individual rivalries, the leadership was firmly united, with a minimal amount of quibbling even for a married couple. Anish and Annelie had chosen to remain upon Ceretos instead of ascending, though they did not yet have a plan for Assimilation or another route of reaching a higher level of power. Perhaps they wouldn¡¯t. The peak of Life Transformation was still a respectable strength in the world- Anton just wasn¡¯t sure if it would be enough. He wasn¡¯t going to push anyone too hard, however. Sometimes an outsider was a better judge of someone¡¯s limits than the person themself, but most who had great achievements as cultivators reached a proper understanding of their own limits. ¡°We will support you in this endeavor,¡± Anish nodded. ¡°If we could ally with another system, our position would be more secure.¡± ¡°It is only a matter of them having sufficient strength,¡± Annelie commented. Her face remained emotionless, but that was merely for times such as this- serious discussion. She would keep her calm during such situations no matter what happened, but starting with her generation the Frostmirror Sect did not fully cut off their emotions. When the time was appropriate, she could smile and laugh as much as anyone else. Perhaps slightly less, but that was due to her individual personality. ¡°You said they didn¡¯t understand the same form of cultivation we use?¡± ¡°That is true,¡± Anton nodded, ¡°But I sensed they had sufficient power regardless. Even if they only have several ships of that sort- and I was led to believe there were more than a few- they should be as powerful as any of the great sects. I can¡¯t say for certain since we did not fight, but the ship might have even been able to give me trouble.¡± ¡°From anyone else, that might not be a complement,¡± Anish shook his head, ¡°But from you, it means much. I would expect you to be able to wipe out a handful of Life Transformation cultivators in an instant.¡± ¡°In general,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Their defenses seemed quite exceptional. Able to withstand the heat of the sun. I imagine even you would burn up with that intensity. Of course, resisting a consistent environmental hazard is easier than withstanding a concentrated attack. I might have riddled them with holes and left them to suffocate.¡± ¡°I doubt it,¡± Annelie shook her head. ¡°That would be quite unlike you.¡± ¡°I meant in general,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°In terms of simple combat strategy, that would be efficient. And I would have been able to capture them as they passed out, so I could actually do that.¡± ¡°If they managed some sort of deception and return as enemies, I have no doubt you¡¯ll be quite effective,¡± Annelie nodded. ¡°Though in such a case I would have expected them to come for Ceretos regardless. Were they not curious about the planets here?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just that they were focused on the sun first,¡± Anton explained. ¡°It seems that particular group wasn¡¯t meant to make contact with people, should they find any. Though now they might have to.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anish nodded. ¡°I doubt they would want to risk an entirely new group when those you are familiar with would be more palatable. With your power, your opinion matters.¡± ¡°It is quite nice to be respected for that,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I almost wish it could be like the old days, where I was respected solely for my wisdom.¡± ¡°Grandpa,¡± Annelie commented. ¡°You went hunting in the dead of winter at a hundred years old so that we would not be hungry. You¡¯ve always been respected for the things you would do. You were a comforting power, even then. We just didn¡¯t know about how much stronger the world of cultivation was.¡± There wasn¡¯t much to say to that. He supposed that in a world where those he cared about had food and shelter, pure strength was towards the top of the list to maintain that way of life. He was just glad he wasn¡¯t going to be the only one, since he couldn¡¯t be around forever. Chapter 446 Ultimately the group decided to break off towards the route where there was a clear sense of treasure. It might be bait, but while Everheart¡¯s Tomb absolutely killed many people¡­ so far they hadn¡¯t heard of anything being impossible to get. If they judged it too risky they could simply pass by. Continuing after the Twin Soul Sect would lead to an encounter they wanted to avoid if possible or simply delay them from reaching their goal. Before their choice actually mattered, they had to walk across a bridge of stone, the underside of which was white-hot from the magma beneath it. There was no benefit to attempting another method of traversal since anything else would simply be more risky- even if they could technically achieve flight with sufficient energy usage, that energy could be better put to use protecting them. Like from the repeating *Clang* of the hammer and anvil. Sometimes the time between sounds was drawn out over a minute or more, while other times they came in rapid succession. Either way, the sound propagated throughout the entire Smithy. *Clang* Timothy took the foremost position, and found that compared to tightly packed tunnels the direct impact of the sound was less focused. In short, he was able to hold his ground with the energy scattering out of the tunnel in front of them into the larger chamber they were passing through. It didn¡¯t act entirely in the natural order of things- it gathered together again at the far end and pressed into the tunnel- but he was able to prevent a portion of the force directly coming for their group. It still flowed around his shield in all directions, but the forces mainly canceled out, providing a sort of pressure but no force pushing people in any particular direction, except down into the stone bridge. However, if such a thing could not withstand a little bit of pressure, it would have broken down long before. Alva was in the rear atop Fuzz, so the majority of the power of the soundwave returned before it reached her- but Fuzz¡¯ fur was surprisingly good at keeping it away, and his bulk took the majority of the impact. If the sound waves were all they had to deal with, then it would have been simple. Which of course meant it couldn¡¯t be. Before even shouting a warning, she began to fire shots into gatherings of energy within the magma. ¡°Enemies!¡± The creatures were indistinct- no, fluid. Much like the magma they dwelled in, their bodies were liquid, but of such a high viscosity they generally held their form. A source of energy within them guided their movements, and Alva knew that such creatures couldn¡¯t survive outside of a similar environment. Not that they were in any risk of suddenly being somewhere ¡®normal¡¯. Her first arrows went for heads and necks, the upper torso where traditionally vital organs were kept. She was uncertain if these creatures had any, but either way her attacks didn¡¯t manage to penetrate deeper than the width of a finger- and any damage was quickly closed as the creatures oozed together. She would need to concentrate on a single point or enemy to have a better hope of damaging them. As the creatures glooped their way up the edges of the chamber people began to hope that their attacking options were limited, but unfortunately that was not the case. A number of the creatures moved to cut off easy retreats in either direction along the bridge, but some remained at the surface of the burning magma below. A bubble of energy and something more wormed its way through one of them, taking on a shape vaguely like a tube. No, a cannon. Though the shot didn¡¯t come with an explosion like Grant¡¯s devices, it still accelerated as it moved- a mass of molten stone hotter than anything on Ceretos could survive flying just over Catarina¡¯s head. She ducked, but it still managed to catch a strand of her hair on fire despite her defensive energy. More creatures of vague form began to do the same. Besides Alva, Spikes was the first one to attack the creatures. The wolf was canny enough not to attempt attacking the creatures directly- subjecting herself to the heat of the magma below- but instead used a howl-bark to strike with her energy. The energy under her control struck the magma and caused it to stab through one of the creatures like her spikes of stone. It was marginally effective- causing it to stumble its attack- but did not seem to be particularly damaging. Spikes wasn¡¯t swayed from her efforts, however. She bent down low, face poking over the edge. Once more she directed energy with a forceful shout, and the spikes of magma briefly solidified as they stabbed through another creature. It peeled itself away from the impediment a moment later, and the spikes rapidly began to melt once more- but it meant one more enemy not attacking. Vari held the rear with Hoyt as several creatures charged together. The bridge was quite comfortable in width- more than a few meters- which also meant there was sufficient room for multiple enemies to swarm them at once. Hoyt took great swings with his axe, not only chopping through the creatures but flinging parts of them away as they formed molten claws or attempted to crash over the combatants. Hoyt wasn¡¯t just using raw force- normally he would wreathe his axe in flames, but now he was attacking the heat in the enemies directly. As he chopped through one of them, the parts on either side of the cut briefly solidified as the heat was pulled from them and blasted away. Vari relied on simpler methods. She didn¡¯t believe she had the ability to kill these creatures, not more than a couple at least- but she could move them. It took them a good amount of time to climb up either end of the bridge to reach them, so she formed a solid barrier in front of her and simply shoved them back or to the side, trying to get them one at a time. She toppled them off the edge one at a time, but if she didn¡¯t give them enough momentum they were able to cling to the side and climb back up. Timothy and Catarina pushed forward on the front, Timothy doing all he could to disrupt the enemies with his sword and shield. The heat from the creatures was intense, but he kept contact to a minimum. If he was using his previous sword he thought it might have melted- or he would have had to use several times as much energy keeping it intact. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Catarina sliced into the creatures, but instead of stabbing deep or trying to chop them into bits, she dragged the point of her blade through them. Her weapon flashed, and for brief moments runes appeared. They resonated with formation flags she threw down around the area, and whatever energy gave the creatures mobility was thrown into disarray. While the creatures seemed to have some understanding of how they could fight and swarm tactics, they didn¡¯t seem actually intelligent. They didn¡¯t learn from mistakes, for example. ¡°Above!¡± Alva called out. She had been tracking the process of some of the creatures up the walls of the large chamber. At first she thought they would be making ranged attacks from a different angle but it didn¡¯t seem they could do so. Perhaps they needed the molten lava instead of the nearly molten walls of the chamber. It shouldn¡¯t have taken much, but either way they continued upward and were soon going to be above them. Before they could even consider dropping down, Alva began to focus on some of them. Multiple arrows in succession hit the same point- the enemies didn¡¯t even try to dodge, so a technique like that was trivial. This allowed her to increase her damage without spending a larger time forming any individual arrow. She was searching for some critical point that made these things active. They weren¡¯t products of a formation, and their energy had to be controlled by something. Several collapsed, but she couldn¡¯t determine why- her attacks hadn¡¯t all been at the same points, and others didn¡¯t seem to share similar weaknesses. When they began dropping, Spikes and Fuzz focused on the enemies trying to break apart their group. Spikes had to awkwardly work with what bridge they had, reforming it into spikes or even little cages without losing structural integrity below. Fuzz, on the other hand, bit one in half. Alva would have told him that it was a bad idea if she had even considered that he might try it, but the sheer audacity of it was why she should have guessed he would do it. Fuzz¡¯ teeth and gums, or any of his muzzle, didn¡¯t get off without pain. The smell of burning fur assaulted him and the others, but ultimately he came out on top. The creature he bit in half was spit out into the pool of magma below. It might have reformed, but not immediately. Meanwhile, the remaining part simply turned into a disturbingly hot puddle. It was a good thing that the rock bridge had a bit of leeway, so instead of melting through it the puddle began to harden. Timothy took a page from Vari¡¯s book- though the energy he used with his shield wasn¡¯t quite as solid as her barriers, the effect was more agile. He could redirect the angle of his shield easily enough, so charging forward into a small group and then tilting it to the side shoved several creatures away at once. Any remaining loners were taken care of by Catarina, who also revealed something of the creature¡¯s cores as she stripped away their energy. The fight so far had been fast and frantic to the point they forgot about one thing. When another shockwave of sound echoed through the chamber, they weren¡¯t ready. Timothy¡¯s shield was angled the wrong way, but fortunately the force of the sound pushed him the long was across the width of the bridge instead of two steps closer to the other side. He had to stab his sword into it to halt his momentum as Catarina grabbed on, but he didn¡¯t go plummeting down. Spikes happened to have roughened the terrain around her and Fuzz enough that they had better positions to hold onto, and the sound actually helped them by blasting apart the creatures near them. Alva held on as well, though only through the virtues of the saddle and a fistful of fur. Vari managed to react in time to duck down, curling into a ball. A small dome barrier covered her, anchored to the ground- and she got away unscathed. Hoyt happened to be in just the wrong spot, right by the edge. The exact way the sound echoed through the chamber pushed him off to the side with a force he couldn¡¯t quite resist. He hovered awkwardly over nothing for an instant as gravity began to overtake him. Then he dropped from sight. Nobody was in such an easy position that they could keep perfect track of what happened with Hoyt via their energy senses, but a moment later Hoyt was back above bridge level- a glowing ball of fire pushing him towards their exit, but also higher into the air. He slammed into the wall above the tunnel, but reoriented himself as he fell, slicing one of the creatures in two. Fortunately the enemies in the rear were blown away, so Vari was free to make a mad dash with the others towards the exit. Timothy managed to get in position with Hoyt and Catarina to hold the exit for a few moments- and once they were a few dozen meters down the hall the creatures stopped their chase. Fighting in the tighter confines of the actual tunnel was to the advantage of the smaller group, as they only had to watch one angle and the ranged bombardment could no longer reach them. They carefully moved along, wary of traps as they began to bind their wounds. Burned fur was the least of their worries, but fortunately the battle had been short enough to avoid more serious injuries. Perhaps they might have been able to defeat all of the morphic creatures if they had to, but for no reward but the battle experience it was better to retreat. They had learned what they could and might be able to apply it in future battles, actually killing the creatures was just a chore at that point. They turned down their chosen tunnel, towards the lure of loot. What they found was either the laziest trap in the world or the most devious. Everheart was there- the aura of his projections unmistakable even as this particular one looked different from the rest they had seen. Large and muscular, bare chested- and bald-headed. Glistening with sweat, and posing. ¡°Oh, welcome,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Didn¡¯t see you there. If you got this far you deserve a reward, I guess. Go ahead and take one each.¡± He waved lazily. Throughout the room were dozens- no, hundreds of pieces of equipment. Some were stabbed into the walls or ceiling, usually quite close to oozing magma falls. Others were strewn about in a pool of magma below- and some, buried deeper below. Of course those that were the most tantalizing in power were in the hardest to reach places. There were no signs of bodies- but why would there be? Anyone who died would be incinerated. The way certain treasures were placed was highly suspect, though. Chapter 447 The room was practically loaded with treasures, but instead of being enticing it seemed more worrying. Vari looked out into the magma lake to see various bits and pieces floating there. Even with the high durability of powerful items, some had partly melted even after being reinforced by the formations in the area. Even the best equipment wasn¡¯t always prized for its durability. ¡°I have a question, if I may Great Everheart,¡± Vari said. She could see a set of metal legwear- greaves and sabatons- along with a breastplate and bracers arranged in a manner that indicated to her someone had once inhabited them and they remained where their previous owner fell. ¡°What counts as one reward?¡± ¡°Good question,¡± Everheart nodded. After a good ten or twenty seconds, Vari realized he wasn¡¯t thinking about it. ¡°Are you going to answer or¡­?¡± ¡°Nope. Have fun retrieving stuff. Though I suppose I should tell you it¡¯s anything you can get out of the room¡­ without tampering with the formations.¡± He eyed Catarina as he said the latter. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that with someone watching!¡± Catarina turned up her nose. Everheart snorted. ¡°Good attitude.¡± Everyone could feel the energy various pieces of equipment radiated. Even those buried within the magma could be felt because of their increased strength. Actually feeling details about them, on the other hand¡­ that was a challenge. Extending senses towards the magma resulted in the tendril of energy combusting. Fortunately it didn¡¯t propagate- but it did make it more difficult. Even the magma in a place such as this was not normally hot enough to ignite upper energy- the idea of that was ridiculous- but certain natural conditions and a bit of help from the formations made it possible. Vari was the first to act, and she began by taking off her shoes. Before anyone could ask it seemed she had made up her mind to take a running leap over the lake of magma. In truth her previous footwear would have provided little protection, but it would still be something compared to bare feet protected only by energy that had already been shown to combust in the especially unnatural heat. Her flight was only drawn out for a moment before she landed, her feet slipping into the footwear floating upright atop the magma. She sunk slightly as her weight was added, but the bronze footwear protected her from the heat instead of scalding her with stored heat. That was what she had determined before making the leap- she knew she wasn¡¯t strong enough to directly face the heat. Even now she was barely resisting it, and she didn¡¯t have to account for anything below the knee. ¡°Anyone else want something from the surface?¡± Vari said as she kicked her foot under the breastplate, sending it flying up to where the others waited. The bracers soon followed. ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Hoyt had only just begun to speak when two massive figures rushed past him on either side. ----- ¡°He said we can have one thing each,¡± Fuzz explained. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s much here for me and you except¡­¡± ¡°That,¡± Spikes nodded. Both wolves sniffed, smelling something beneath the flames and sulfur and general painful heat. ¡°Precisely,¡± Fuzz nodded his head. Spikes was slowly picking up that sort of humanlike habit, but Fuzz didn¡¯t even notice he did it anymore. It was just what was normal. He barely had any memories before he was with humans. ¡°You will take it, then,¡± Spikes replied. ¡°You are the stronger.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly,¡± Fuzz said. ¡°We can split it. Besides, it¡¯s too risky alone. The fires beneath burn like the heat of the sun.¡± ¡°What can I do?¡± Spikes asked. ¡°The same thing you did before. This is melted stone. It is not suited for swimming. You help clear the way, I protect us from fire. Though I think it will not be so simple as that.¡± ¡°Then we will take and¡­ share it,¡± Spikes nodded. ¡°Oh, the humans have already started!¡± It seemed they had. The new one known as Vari was a decent human, if very confused. She seemed to be having no trouble with the surface however. Too bad what they wanted was deeper in. ¡°Let us go,¡± Fuzz said. ¡°We must quickly go in and out, or no amount of training will save us.¡± They ran to the edge and leapt in. Fuzz went first, blasting away the heat. When the two of them touched the magma, it only held them back for a moment before blasting apart, going everywhere but where they intended. Immediately, Fuzz could feel the fire trying to burrow into the two of them. Even his own energy wished to catch alight, turning to nothing. Even in relative strength, it made the heat from the last time he¡¯d been in a similar situation seem quite comfortable. The great many-legged lizards had only lived among the sort of magma that could form in the lower realms, after all. The stones surrounding them might have been prized treasures in such a place, but here they were just natural cave walls. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Fuzz helped out by pawing at the ground, flinging the gooey magma away as quickly as he could, careful to not scorch his own undersides any more than required. Their goal was near the wall, and soon they uncovered it. It was barely small enough for Fuzz to fit his jaws around the narrow part of the great bone, but as he yanked on it to pull it away he found it was stuck. Fused into the wall. Spikes quickly reacted, using her abilities to break apart the stone instead of worrying about forcing it free and losing some of their prize. As magma began to ooze into their quick hole, they were already on their way out. Fuzz focused on keeping Spikes free from the flames, as he had promised his protection in that regard. His claws dug directly into the wall as he brought along the bone that was as long as himself, climbing nearly vertically until he was away from the worst of the heat. He knew his fur and pads were blackened, and his gums were burning from the remnants of magma clinging to the bone. But it would be worth it. Nothing that smelled so strongly and with such great power could be ignored. Though perhaps he should have considered his short-term combat potential when judging whether he could retrieve it. ----- The two wolves spurred the others into action, as most had already picked out something they favored. Confidence in their own abilities didn¡¯t mean that anyone would spend a second longer than they had to in contact with the magma. Carving into it and through it at maximum speed became their top priority. It seemed nobody truly misjudged their own abilities, but now they had to consider if the prizes were worth the injuries. Recovering might only take a few days, but it was unclear if they had that long when seeking their current quarry. Perhaps the allure of the treasures was enhanced by the formations¡­ or maybe they were simply so easily lured like other cultivators. Hoyt secured for himself an axe. Many of the treasures were already fire attuned, and this was no different. It seemed as if it were made of molten rock and metal itself, almost liquid¡­ but solid nonetheless. Hoyt had thought that perhaps the heat it radiated was the result of its positioning, but in actual fact it was extremely uncomfortable to hold even once free from its confines. Timothy secured for himself a helmet that at first glance appeared black, but was actually an extremely deep purple. Not a metal, it seemed, but carved from some sort of gemstone. He was unsure if there was some function besides theoretically being a good helmet, but he would carefully test it before he actually wore it. Catarina retrieved a handful of formation pillars- nothing like tiny plates or flags, they were each taller than a person and just as wide. Their retrieval had only been possible by sacrificing some of her formation flags to the magma. It was unclear if the value was greater, but at least she had something new to study. Alva had gone for a quiver of arrows, but upon touching it found it to be merely a shell of what it once might have been. The entirety of it disintegrated, except for a single arrow which she snatched up and quickly brought with her. The constant sound of the forge range through the area once more, inescapable and yet so easy to forget. So that they would not have to risk falling into the magma once more, they quickly made their way out. Vari ran into a bit of difficulty, as her progress was halted by an invisible barrier. She reluctantly tossed away the bracers, but found that was still not enough. The breastplate went next, and she managed to step through. She was worried that the footwear might sadistically count independently, but it seemed that was not the case. ¡°Beasts aren¡¯t allowed-¡± Everheart said as Fuzz and Spikes dragged the bone out of the chamber. ¡°I guess that doesn¡¯t count. Whatever.¡± He shrugged and kicked the breastplate into the magma. ----- ¡°It seems we have run into a great difficulty,¡± Fuzz said to Spikes. ¡°Truly, the strongest foe I have faced,¡± she agreed. The two of them attempted to gnaw on the bone, but it would not break to allow them to get to the tasty marrow- or to consume it. Fuzz nearly broke a tooth when he tried to force it- and he was still considering pushing further. His human friends could help him regrow teeth if he needed it. Though it was probably a bad time to do that. They had a mission, after all. That mission came after a break, however, and so Fuzz continued to gnaw on the bone of what must have been something very large indeed. It gave of a great power that he wanted to absorb, the tiny wisps of energy that could be gained through normal absorption being nothing compared to what it must contain should he consume it- or his share of it, at least. ¡°It smells like a person,¡± Spikes commented. ¡°A fire-person.¡± ¡°People don¡¯t grow this big,¡± Fuzz pointed out. ¡°Though I can¡¯t disagree. It¡¯s not a person though.¡± Eating people was bad. Even if they were enemies, it was better not to eat them. That was what he had learned, and he wasn¡¯t going to start doubting it now. Fuzz couldn¡¯t help but sniff. There was the bone, of course, but there was also something familiar among the scents ahead of them. They were no longer on the same route as the Twin Soul Sect, but he could still smell them. Maybe it was just all of the other familiar scents, or the fact that his nose had gotten dipped in magma. He couldn¡¯t guarantee it was smelling right, and in fact he could guarantee it was a bit lacking at the moment. That made sense as both he and Spikes looked like black-skinned hairless wolves at the moment. They didn¡¯t need fur, so he¡¯d protected what was important- and barely was able to manage that. ----- Ahead, a figure clutched his fist tightly. He hoped the tome would be worth it. Having people chase after him was not entirely on purpose, but if he was lucky the various groups would conflict with each other. He just needed to make it to the nightmare forest. That would throw off his pursuers¡­ hopefully more than he himself was hindered. No, it should be. He had spent more time here than any of the rest of them. He knew the Tomb just like anyone knew their home. And yes, it was a terrible place to be born¡­ but he could only say he was lucky regardless. He was alive, after all. And maybe he would be able to get something from this technique. Maybe Essentia Lockbox would turn out to be worthless for him, but as long as the Twin Soul Sect didn¡¯t have it he could count it as a win. Either way, he wouldn¡¯t be staying for much longer. Not if he could help it. At first he hadn¡¯t left the Tomb because he didn¡¯t have the resources. Once he grew and learned- and remembered, he stayed despite the danger. He needed everything he could to get a foothold. And Essentia Lockbox might be the last piece. Or maybe it would get him killed. There were more than just a couple Life Transformation cultivators after him¡­ and maybe some Integration cultivators. Maybe he¡¯d been a bit too hasty, but there was no going back now. Chapter 448 Taking an alternate route through the Smithy ultimately proved to be the correct choice. Even with additional caution required after the treasure room, their pace managed to keep up with the Twin Soul Sect group. They still had some injuries they hadn¡¯t recovered from yet, but they could hope the other group would be the same. In the worst case they could give up on the bounty rather than risk their lives- saving time would be useful to them only if they lived to have that time. Nobody wanted to overestimate themselves and become part of the death statistics. Everyone was relieved to see daylight again, and to be free from the repeated hammering sound. They could still hear it on the slope, but the intensity was greatly reduced. Their quarry was still more than a day¡¯s travel ahead- Rouben must have kept near his maximum pace even around danger to pull that off. But Fuzz now had a scent they were almost certain was his, less confused by the particular group in front of them. ¡°It¡¯s strange,¡± Fuzz warned the group by writing on the ground. ¡°It¡¯s familiar yet unfamiliar. I haven¡¯t smelled him before but¡­¡± Fuzz shook his head. He couldn¡¯t explain it. Perhaps when the scent was more fresh- too much detail was lost by distant steps and tiny fragments of energy left behind. The route down the mountain had to be chosen carefully, not just to avoid annoying lava flows but also to avoid the notice of their competition. Even if the Twin Soul Sect didn¡¯t recognize that they were enemies, knowing they were going after the same quarry might encourage them to deal with their group first. They didn¡¯t want to fight that battle if it could be avoided, and if it was going to happen it was better for it to be on their own terms, not the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s. At least Fuzz could help them avoid potential ambushes, as scent was less frequently concealed. Even for the purposes of hunting beasts, most stealth techniques only reduced the scent to a point incautious creatures wouldn¡¯t notice it- one like Fuzz who had developed more like a proper cultivator could pick out the signs. A faint hammering sound became an exceptionally loud ringing as the top of the volcano exploded. The odds of it erupting while they were present was¡­ not that low, honestly, but eruptions every few weeks meant there was a better than average chance they shouldn¡¯t have had to deal with this. They quickly changed tactics to avoiding the raining debris instead of focusing on stealth. Though they could withstand the heat, the kinetic impact could still be significant. They also had to keep away from a rolling cloud of noxious superheated gas. At least everyone else would also be focused on the same thing. More than a dozen groups of cultivators could be picked out, and whichever direction they had previously been going the only appropriate one was down the mountainside now. With their energy roused all of the cultivators stood out more which in a way made them less individually significant. The group of seven had two cultivators with an emphasis on defense, and they remained closely packed so Timothy and Vari could shield them from anything they couldn¡¯t dodge. If the group had the luxury of remaining stationary a formation would have greatly boosted their defense, but while mobile they could only attain the basic benefits for working together. Through no fault of their own, Spikes and Vari were the least familiar with the group and those tactics, minimizing the functionality of a group formation. It would take years of teamwork to reach a proper level of functionality in that regard. The slope of the volcano that was the Smithy led directly into the Gardens, though the borderline was rather vague since the Gardens were at least the size of a proper country. Regardless, the wilderness itself would soon be a threat- though that by no means meant there was no danger from traps. Challenges set up by Everheart still existed within the Gardens, and not all of the area was wild. There were also the dangers from other cultivators- intentional or unintentional. Some set traps for beasts with no regard for who might stumble into them. The trick was navigating around dangerous beasts while tracking someone who was absolutely running through their territory to provoke them. That was the main issue keeping them from catching up as quickly as they would like, though keeping a watch for other pursuers was important as well. After a full day of travel into the gardens, it had to be assumed that anyone nearby was after Rouben. Then there was the other issue. Fuzz and Spikes had put a great amount of effort into retrieving a giant bone, but so far they hadn¡¯t been able to scratch it yet. Its dimensions were too large to fit into any of their storage bags, so it was awkwardly strapped to Fuzz¡¯ side. He was still fast enough, but it made his pace uneven. Their group still had to rest occasionally, both to recover their energy and to continue to mend the wounds they got from obtaining the ¡®rewards¡¯. It couldn¡¯t be long before whatever conflicts would begin, so they had to be at the top of their game. ----- Rouben continued to run, though ¡®running¡¯ implied that his feet were touching the ground. They did, occasionally. Mostly, he was leaping through the air. It was inefficient in some ways, but as a cultivator he was able to maintain his forward momentum and not just crash into things. He had slowed down occasionally to allow himself some rest, but he was mainly sustaining himself via food dense in upper energy and medicines that would temporarily boost his power. There would be consequences later, but he wasn¡¯t going to see later if he didn¡¯t push himself. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. According to what he felt, the Twin Soul Sect was still a good distance behind. Perhaps the blooddrop spiders along the way would slow them down. The steelhide gorilla should at least cause someone trouble. A copse of trees in its territory burning down should have gotten it riled up. Thankfully he could do that from a significant distance, or it might have locked onto him as a target. Instead, he did his best to make his attack come from another direction. He was so focused on his plans for beasts in the area and the more obvious threats behind that he almost barreled into an area of fog. But his memories helped him, and he hadn¡¯t survived so long in the Tomb without developing good instincts. He came to a screeching halt before the fog thickened. What was off about it? It was strangely dark, yes, but more unnatural was how it was confined to a small area. He immediately made up his mind to go around, though it would cost him dearly in distance. Then it began to come to him. When they took action he could sense the figures inside. Individually they might not be an issue, but together he was concerned about defeating them¡­ quickly or not. But he couldn¡¯t just turn and run, either. That would bring him back in directions he didn¡¯t want to traverse. He didn¡¯t want to make a scene, so he clutched a ball of fire in his hand. Anyone close enough would have already gotten an idea of his location from his power output while running, but he had to hold back enough to not directly mark his location for people further away. One ball of fire after another streaked its way into the fog, forcing the individuals to spread out while Rouben ran tangent to the fog, attempting to make his way around. At first he thought he might make it. The fog was almost sluggish in how it reacted, but then it began to flow more quickly, beginning to creep over him. It didn¡¯t help that he had to dodge droplets of water shot at him. Such a thing shouldn¡¯t have been a concern, but he had the feeling letting one touch him would be a regrettable failure. They had the same sort of wrongness that the fog did. Poison, perhaps. His attacks weren¡¯t effective enough to deter his opponents, and he didn¡¯t have the speed to get away. Perhaps he should have waited until his cultivation was higher, but that was an excuse he could have used forever. It was already something to have survived forty years in Everheart¡¯s Tomb, especially with his early cultivation being how it was. The factors had all seemed to align, he just hadn¡¯t predicted people would come after him so immediately. This was supposed to be his chance to break through to Life Transformation and recover more of his memories. He found himself hard pressed to keep the fog away from his skin. It was reaching for his pores, and he could guarantee if it got inside he would spiral his way to death. Might as well reveal himself to everyone within a hundred kilometers. At least then people might fight each other. He might be able to find a chance in that. He pulled directly away from the fog to buy himself a few moments. His arm raised, but no ball of fire formed within it. Instead, it formed far above him in the sky. Not just one, but many. Falling Stars rained down, building up momentum and power to blast away the fog and those controlling it all together. ----- Anyone paying even the slightest amount of attention could not miss the scene. Energy forming in the sky had nothing blocking it from others¡¯ senses- or just being directly spotted with the eyes. ¡°There he is!¡± Vari pointed. ¡°It¡¯s not far! Let¡¯s go!¡± She looked at the others with blank expressions on their faces, ¡°Look, I know it was probably too obvious to need to be said, okay? I was just trying to motivate us.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way,¡± Hoyt said. Not to her, but the others who practiced the Hundred Stars. ¡°It¡¯s just a coincidence, right?¡± The discussion was not taking place at a comfortable walk, but a brisk pace that was getting incrementally faster without the conscious input of most involved. Timothy shook his head. ¡°It could be, I suppose. It doesn¡¯t feel¡­ quite right.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Falling Stars,¡± Catarina confirmed. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t have the same base.¡± ¡°How would anyone know that?¡± Alva countered. ¡°He invented it himself! We didn¡¯t have any contact with the upper realms.¡± ¡°Someone from the Twin Soul Sect, maybe¡­?¡± Hoyt said doubtfully. ¡°They could have observed it and replicated it.¡± ¡°You know it¡¯s not that simple,¡± Catarina said. Trees flew by them as they moved. Angry beasts occasionally made themselves known, but most backed away upon taking a better look at the group. The others found themselves chopped down by Hoyt without slowing. ¡°Umm¡­ who?¡± Vari asked. ¡°And what? I assume Falling Stars is that attacking technique. But who is ¡®he¡¯? Rouben? Do you know him?¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be,¡± Hoyt shook his head. ¡°He¡¯s dead.¡± He looked towards Vari. ¡°Yes, that technique is the Falling Stars. It was created for use with our cultivation technique. I¡¯d recognize it anywhere because¡­ it was my grandfather¡¯s technique.¡± Hoyt took a deep breath. ¡°I don¡¯t know how someone got their hands on it, since as far as we know it remained secure. But I¡¯m going to find out, one way or another. For that¡­ we¡¯ll need a clear path.¡± The fires wrapping around Hoyt that he was using to chop his way through beasts flickered out as he focused all of his energy elsewhere. His grip on his new axe tightened, as he focused on the heat it produced. His energy spread to its utmost limits, then formed itself into distinct points. Hoyt had to admit that he was cheating the technique a bit. He wasn¡¯t as practiced as his grandfather had been, but the power of the Integration stage was sufficient to make up for his lack of proficiency. Hundreds of Falling Stars rained down, lacking the pinpoint targeting Vandale was known for and instead carpeting a long strip of forest in front of them, burning away plants and animals and anything that might get in their way. No doubt it would put Rouben on guard, but with an unblocked path their speed would be several times his- and they already knew his location. It was impossible for him to escape. Chapter 449 With such obvious displays of power, everyone nearby began to converge on a single location, or for some of those who were uninvolved retreat from it. Yet even some of those who had not previously had any stake in Rouben¡¯s bounty, they were interested in observing the upcoming conflict. Those who arrived first would have an advantage. Rouben¡¯s relatively lower cultivation meant that he should be defeated quickly- letting whoever captured him and the stolen tome retrieve the prize. Those who came after would have to determine if they wished to face whatever group took him out. The cost might not outweigh the potential benefits, especially with other opponents on the scene who might just want to take advantage of the chaos. The objectives of one group had changed. No longer were they disinterested in Rouben himself and only after the rewards. Now there was information they needed from him in specific¡­ though whether that information made them greater foes yet remained to be seen. Hoyt¡¯s eagerness in creating a path allowed the group to move more quickly towards their quarry- and in return, Rouben seemed to find the scorched jungle acceptable for some desperately needed moments of speed. They drew closer to each other, still beyond sight but the kilometers between shrinking rapidly. Before they came into closer contact, however, their advance was cut off by another group. They were almost upon them when Fuzz halted himself, howling a warning- which included spitting a bolt of flame at the same time. He was clever enough to not attack people that he didn¡¯t know were enemies, and once everyone''s attention was drawn to the right place they immediately realized who it was. A figure stepped out from behind a scorched tree, a woman holding a rounded shield. ¡°We can allow you to take our prize. And you,¡± her eyes locked on Vari, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be on our side?¡± ¡°Of course, elder sister,¡± Vari bowed her head and began to walk towards the woman. Other members of the Harmonious Citadel revealed themselves, a mix of various weapons and cultivation levels. Many had been previously spotted around the Library, and it was not terribly strange that they would have set their sights on the same prize. There were only half of the numbers expected, however. That included the ones that were still hiding, as if their half-unsheathed daggers and killing intent didn¡¯t give their positions away. But perhaps they were simply bait. Vari dismounted Spikes and walked over with her head down. Everyone else positioned themselves to be ready for battle, not quite ready to commit for the moment. ¡°You wish to stop us?¡± Hoyt said, the head of his axe trailing on the ground where it burned away the soil beneath it. ¡°I don¡¯t see how it would benefit you to try¡­ and with just yourselves, I can¡¯t imagine you¡¯ll have much success.¡± Counting Fuzz, they had an equivalent of five Integration cultivators on their side, versus simply three on the other side. The woman with the shield had no obvious weapon, but two men wielded an axe and a pair of daggers respectively. There were more than a twenty others in Life Transformation and Essence Collection combined. ¡°A bold statement,¡± the woman said. ¡°But even though we most certainly can defeat you, we just have to delay you for a while.¡± That was where the rest of them were, then. But they would no doubt have others waiting for them as well. ¡°Now then,¡± the woman said. ¡°We are generous enough to offer you the option to leave, at no cost this time. Unless we find out you were mistreating our sister.¡± She turned her head towards Vari at the mention of her. ¡°You can stop, you know. No need to stand in the very back.¡± For a moment Vari continued walking, then she did stop, right next to one of the men in the Integration stage. Her fingers softly curled just under the head of his weapon, and then she kicked forward, her fancy bronze boots gleaming. The man had the choice between two options- letting go of his axe, or letting the kick land. Even with an advantage in cultivation, the surprise was enough to overcome his potential speed. He tried to yank his weapon from Vari¡¯s grip as he retreated, but her gloves, her anger, and her training kept her grip firm. As her foot was nearing waist height, the man was already stretched back as far as he could. The men who were present would have agreed his following move was the correct one- he let go of the axe, finishing his backwards movement. With a single swing, Vari brought the axe down in an arc, then on its path back up it went sailing behind her, flinging as far as she could manage past her current allies. She hoped they had not been seriously trying to negotiate, because she couldn¡¯t hear any of it- and she wouldn¡¯t even pay attention to the lips of any of the Harmonious Citadel just in case. Her actions were rewarded with two responses- a half-dozen angry individuals alternately swinging axes or stabbing with daggers, and her friends coming to her aid. The former she was happy to deal with by grabbing the wrists of two with daggers- dealing with those at her own cultivation level felt almost easy compared to her minimum level of success against the spear user previously. Those daggers then were redirected towards those with axes, the outstretched arms also getting in the way of the incoming chops. Vari was content that she only received a few moderate injuries with those odds. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Catarina¡¯s opening maneuver was one which was unfamiliar to all of them, which was quite sensible considering the objects she flung from her storage bag were the recently acquired pillars. None of them expected her to use new formation techniques without at least spending some proper time studying them, but as it turned out they were also quite serviceable as projectiles. While three of their intended targets managed to dodge completely out of the way, the fourth got a dislocated shoulder out of it- and the fifth found that even the hastily gathered force of an Integration cultivator was enough to bring him down. All of the others charged forward, arrows, two kinds of flames, earthen spikes, and an unstoppable force shoving people to the side. By the time the axe-using Integration cultivator thought to snatch one of the axes from his comrades, Vari found herself surrounded by allies, and six of the Harmonious Citadel cultivators were out of the battle. The dagger using members were the most proficient at stealth, so naturally the man who was the strongest among them went for Alva. An archer in close-quarters combat, even upon a wolf, was an easy target. His dagger was halfway to her when his left side was bitten off- from the tip of the dagger to his shoulder. That was impossible, but that was what he felt nonetheless. An illusion technique was a reasonable defense, but he could see through it. And maybe if that was what it was, he might have landed his blow on Alva. Even she was surprised when Fuzz¡¯s head suddenly seemed to come out of his rear hip. It was impossible for him to turn almost completely around in an instant, but his fangs reached the area nonetheless while at the same time chomping down on the target in front of him. Alva briefly wondered at what sort of absurd beast techniques Everheart had been keeping in stock. Hoyt was surprised to find the deadliest attack launched at him came not from the daggers or the heavy axes, but from a shield. He had simply thought the woman had a spear or something tucked away in her storage bag, but with a flick of her arm her shield was flying at him. His first instinct was to grab the edge of it- his better instinct was to dodge. It was a good thing he listened to that one, because even with a sensible amount of defenses around his fingers they would have been cut clean off. Instead, he just got a cut between his neck and shoulder as he flung himself out of the way. It came back around in an instant, but it avoided any foes and returned to the woman¡¯s hand. An odd fighting style that would seem to leave her open, though it could be a ruse of some sort. That momentary dodge brought enough time for several others to close in on Hoyt, which he kept back with a sweep of his molten axe. Flames lingered between him and them, allowing him some time to prepare an attack. Though he wasn¡¯t sure if they realized. In truth, there could have been another reason for the mass of energy appearing off the battlefield on that side. They wouldn¡¯t even feel a direct connection to him, since the energy was diffuse in all directions. Hoyt wasn¡¯t sure if it was actually more effective to use Falling Stars, given his lack of real experience, but it felt right. He suddenly wanted to do it, so he did. When it came crashing down at the shield woman, she had to hurriedly withdraw an attack to block with her shield. Sadly Hoyt found he only sent her flying back a hundred meters- the angle wasn¡¯t right to properly drive her into the ground. At least it had decent power, though. The battle had barely been on for a minute when the axeman struck Timothy¡¯s shield like a gong. That was the second time he lost his weapon in the battle, and the sword in his sternum made it likely to be his last time ever. It was unfortunate that the woman was already retreating- chasing after her would delay them too much- but they would be remembered at some point regardless. ¡°I think my new helmet worked,¡± Timothy commented as they were quickly scanning the battlefield. ¡°You aren¡¯t wearing it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And you didn¡¯t get hit on the head. Or did you?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± he agreed. ¡°So it worked.¡± ¡°Vari, are you alright?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Your wounds¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to stop you there because I can¡¯t hear,¡± Vari held up her hand. ¡°I¡¯ll just say that I resisted the compulsion much better this time and just didn¡¯t want to risk it.¡± Alva walked forward, almost poking her finger into a hole in Vari¡¯s side. ¡°Oh, that? It¡¯s not that deep¡­¡± Everyone was already beginning the preliminary treatment of their wounds, but they wouldn¡¯t be able to do much more than bind them and consume recovery medicine before heading on to the next battle. Falling Stars continued to rain, indicating they shouldn¡¯t be delaying for too long- and that Rouben was still fighting. As they made their way towards him, they could make out a group of small individuals chasing after him- but before that, the other members of the Harmonious Citadel. The latter was locked in combat with another group of cultivators. They were mismatched in cultivation techniques, but clearly familiar with each other¡¯s fighting styles. Their coordination was excellent¡­ and their targets not an accident. Though the Dark Ring avoided wearing obvious insignias, Hoyt knew how to recognize them. He wanted to assist them¡­ but more than that, he wanted answers from Rouben. As he rushed towards the battle, he once more had the urge to use Falling Stars. Was it to indicate he was friendly? At the very least, Rouben¡¯s response would tell him something. Hoyt¡¯s attack blasted apart the poisonous fog in which the Mistwalkers were hiding. Hoyt didn¡¯t know much about them, but it was easy to recognize them from their techniques¡­ and their height. Something about their technique or environment seemed to stunt their growth, though it didn¡¯t hamper their effectiveness in most cases. With nobody between them, even from over a kilometer away Hoyt locked eyes with Rouben. In his eyes was much the same thing he felt. Confusion¡­ yet a vague sense of familiarity. But he was unable to confirm any suspicions just yet¡­ and the approaching Twin Soul Sect members would doubtless make conversation difficult. Chapter 450 Despite some trepidation, Rouben continued on his trajectory towards the new group. Memories nagged at his head, things he should have known but did not. Were they friend or foe, or simply familiar in an inconsequential manner? The one with the molten axe pulled ahead of the rest, and Rouben slowed. He didn¡¯t think he could get away from an Integration cultivator in a direct chase, but he didn¡¯t want to get too close. If they were enemies he was probably already dead, but maintaining caution was how he¡¯d survived so far. The man¡¯s eyes burrowed into Rouben as he also slowed his approach, but now they were only a dozen meters apart. That could be covered in a single instant by a powerful cultivator, and the man didn¡¯t need to get into melee anyway. ¡°Where did you learn that technique?¡± he asked, his tone demanding a response. ¡°Where did you learn it?¡± Rouben countered. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t wise to speak back to a stronger cultivator, but he couldn¡¯t give a satisfying answer anyway. Because he didn¡¯t truly know. He remembered it, but like everything else there were swaths of memory missing. That was a large part of the reason he¡¯d taken Essentia Lockbox. Staying to study it might have worked, but the Twin Soul Sect had been poking their nose around too much. Strangely enough, the other man didn¡¯t provide an answer. Instead, he gestured to the south with his axe. ¡°What is your relation with the Twin Soul Sect?¡± ¡°We¡¯re definitely not friends, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking,¡± Rouben wanted to make that as clear as possible. He felt something sweeping over him, some sort of sensory technique. He wasn¡¯t sure what it was supposed to do beyond that. ¡°I¡¯m not working for them, either. Look, you¡¯re probably after a book, right?¡± It had been obvious from the outset that his getaway hadn¡¯t been clean, though he¡¯d hoped it would be. That was the plans, but plans never worked out quite right, did they? ¡°For one of those Library bounties. It doesn¡¯t require bringing me in, does it?¡± If it did, he was already screwed. He could only imagine what it took to get a group of Integration cultivators involved. ¡°Also, do you have a name? You doubtless already know mine.¡± ¡°The price on your head is much less significant,¡± the man said. ¡°If you tell me where you learned the Falling Stars, I can forgo collecting on that part. You can call me¡­ Hoyt.¡± ¡°Look, I¡¯d love to tell you but the truth is¡­ I can¡¯t tell you right now. That¡¯s the whole point of Essentia Lockbox.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t remember, huh¡­¡± Hoyt frowned. ¡°But it¡¯s from a previous life?¡± Rouben shrugged. ¡°That would be my assumption.¡± ¡°Maybe we can-¡± something shoved Hoyt from behind. It wasn¡¯t a surprise in the traditional sense. He was quite aware that the person was there, but not prepared to be pushed. He staggered forward two steps. ¡°Catarina, what-¡± The woman that had to be catarina took a formation flag and kicked it into the ground where he had been standing- far deeper than made sense, as the actual flag portion was crumpled up. ¡°You can talk later. We either need to start running or get ready for fighting.¡± Observing the area around them, it seemed she was betting on them doing the latter. She must have been going full force while they were having their short conversation, as the landscape was already being rearranged. The others in their group had been conscripted to flatten certain parts, it seemed- and tendrils of Catarina¡¯s energy were writing runes around them. ¡°Is mangling flags like that appropriate?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We¡¯re fighting the Twin Soul Sect, after all. They don¡¯t get to leave.¡± Rouben swallowed, ¡°Look, I appreciate the gesture but I¡¯d really rather survive this. The Twin Soul Sect is huge. I don¡¯t even recognize which one you all are from,¡± despite it being familiar somehow, ¡°Which means you¡¯re almost certainly not up to making them enemies. If some of you could just slow them down, I could give you the manual¡­¡± ¡°Then we become the targets,¡± Hoyt pointed out, ¡°So we¡¯re fighting anyway.¡± ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t mean it like that,¡± Rouben said, ¡°Really.¡± ¡°I believe you,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°But I want to find out the answer to my question¡­ and it appears that involves keeping you alive for a while longer.¡± ¡°Move,¡± Catarina said as she pointed her sword at Rouben. He subconsciously stepped back, and where he had been standing a hunk of stone was slammed into the ground and then carved up. Harder surfaces such as the remaining trunks of trees had more carvings, but even loose soil had some. ¡°So uh, this formation seems¡­ ambitious,¡± Rouben said, taking in its size. ¡°Will you actually be able to finish?¡± ¡°It will be functional in a moment,¡± Catarina said. She turned to Hoyt. ¡°Stall them- inside the perimeter.¡± ----- Alva rode up to Rouben atop Fuzz. ¡°How long can you continuously use Falling Stars?¡± ¡°For a while,¡± Rouben said, ¡°If I don¡¯t have to defend myself. I¡¯m not exactly fresh but-¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Good. You¡¯ll provide long range support. Timothy! Block for this guy.¡± She dismounted Fuzz, who was curiously sniffing Rouben. Fuzz shook his head, apparently not finding whatever answers he desired. Having Timothy defend Rouben was not merely for his sake- but also because if anyone was to be backstabbed, Timothy would do the best. Alva was going to take up a position somewhat nearby, because Fuzz¡¯ mobility advantage wouldn¡¯t be as useful in this particular case as staying out of close combat. Hoyt and Vari would need the wolves to back them up, especially with the incoming numbers. It would be a pain to hold off enemies that could come from all directions, but perhaps the formation would help with that. Alva honestly couldn¡¯t say she¡¯d seen most of the components before. This wasn¡¯t one of Catarina¡¯s usual things. It had been some time since Alva had fought against the Twin Soul Sect. Somewhere around seven decades. ¡°Everyone, keep aware of possible illusions!¡± ¡°The formation should minimize the impact of them,¡± Catarina shouted from another angle, ¡°But keep track of ally positions!¡± Then, the battle started. Or rather, the enemy was close enough for Alva to comfortably attack. She picked a weaker target, aiming to kill but with the secondary possibility of one of the stronger cultivators having to rush to defend them. It seemed they were harmonious enough for the latter, as one of the Integration cultivators blocked her arrows from a distance- destroying them so she couldn¡¯t attempt any tricks. Unfortunately she didn¡¯t even force the man to move to a different position. She¡¯d need more power to break through whatever sort of barriers he flung up- whether they technically fit the name or not, they served the same purpose. In terms of power, Falling Stars was certainly better. This one seemed a bit slow, though. She thought Hoyt was better, then realized it wasn¡¯t Hoyt. Which made her quite impressed with Rouben. He was only at the peak of Essence Collection, but the power behind it was pretty decent. Though it was quite slow to form. She could have filled him full of arrows by now. The enemy seemed to think the same, but Timothy blocked the first volley of attacks. Others were aimed at the gathering energy, but it was much higher than cultivators generally had to aim. The individual attacks were not enough to shatter the control over the technique, and it continued to gather energy for multiple seconds¡­ an eternity in combat in the upper realms. When it finally began to fall, picking up speed and leaving behind a trail of flames, Alva continued to be impressed- even when her senses revealed Rouben¡¯s expression. It seemed even he hadn¡¯t expected the results. The Falling Star broke through a hasty defensive technique and slammed into the target- a Life Transformation cultivator who found themselves buried in the ground by the force of the attack, before it detonated. They likely weren¡¯t dead- there was still the difference in cultivation to consider- but being able to control that much energy at once was a decent feat. And Rouben didn¡¯t even look tired. Though that probably had something to do with the formation, since Alva could feel it beginning to draw energy towards the center. And not just from the surroundings either¡­ but also from the cultivators of the Twin Soul Sect. Hoyt, Vari, and the wolves were now clashing with the front line of the Twin Soul Sect. Unlike many others, the Twin Soul Sect wasn¡¯t limited to a specific style. On Ceretos they infiltrated different sects, but here they moved openly. Though it wasn¡¯t certain that they didn¡¯t also do the same. Hoyt was able to notice shimmering oddities that spoke of illusions, but they seemed unstable. Either they were exceptionally well crafted to the point they did that on purpose to fool him, or they simply weren¡¯t able to keep up. He had to trust in his senses to some extent. Aiming for large groups of individuals had to be right, since there were more enemies than allies. So far he was fairly certain he had accurate positions of his own allies, and the way they moved and fought was accurate. In an attempt to funnel enemies inward, Hoyt had begun the battle with wide sweeps of flame to either side. He wasn¡¯t enamored with the idea of letting them be surrounded, but they didn¡¯t exactly have much in the way of terrain to rely on. That was partly his own fault, but to be fair the trees in the area wouldn¡¯t have done much to stop them. As he fought, Hoyt found those below Integration strangely weak. Obviously they should be weaker than himself, but it was more than that. He barely even felt any augmentation from the formation, so his judgment shouldn¡¯t have been too off. But as he deflected a spear thrust to the side, he got a good look at one of the enemies. His face was strained¡­ though it was far too early in the battle to have built up significant fatigue. Even moving quickly to reach them shouldn¡¯t have been that serious. One thing Hoyt knew he shouldn¡¯t do during battle was focus on the far end of the battlefield. Though it was the center of the formation, it was not his job to concern himself with Rouben. Timothy was handling that adequately, providing cover from more than just the front. But Hoyt couldn¡¯t help but keep part of his senses trained on Rouben. He¡¯d changed the way he was circulating his energy- though not in the same manner as the Twin Soul Sect. Hoyt had already thoroughly investigated him, just in case. There was nothing suspicious about his actions, either. After his first attack which was a bit too much of an overcommitment, his usage of Falling Stars had spread out to be a wider battlefield approach. It was nothing like Vandale did during the beast hunt, continuously attacking hundreds of separate positions, but targeting several people at once was sufficient. His attacks could even give cultivators a phase above him some pause, which was impressive. Hoyt clashed with a dark haired woman, the midnight black hair hanging down to almost trail on the ground. Her primary weapons were daggers, but Hoyt saw how her hair waved about on its own. Perhaps like the Grasping Willows, it would be part of her combat style. Either way, the fact that it had not ignited simply from being close to Hoyt was impressive- though plenty of cultivators wasted their energy on vanities such as that. His wide sweeps kept the woman back, intense flames forming a barrier of sorts that she weaved her way through to make quick attacks. He dodged when he could, generally maneuvering her towards areas of danger. He wasn¡¯t suited for such a foe, though if they had been fighting one-on-one he might have managed. He found himself pressed further back, and the others were experiencing the same pressure. So far they¡¯d kept more than a small handful of enemies from simply passing them by- but that could only last so long. Either they would be properly surrounded soon, or simply ignored while the back line was targeted. Yet any time Hoyt thought he couldn¡¯t catch someone they seemed to become sluggish. Even if they got past himself and Vari, one of the wolves would catch up to them. Not that he felt fully confident. He¡¯d kept his own wounds minimal, but Vari was in a poor state. Come to think of it, it was possible she hadn¡¯t even heard anything about the illusions. She seemed to have a decent idea of her surroundings, though, as she directed enemies into attacking each other or losing their weapons. Finally, the lines broke- over a dozen enemy cultivators maneuvered around their little group of four, close to half of the stronger enemies. The group in the center would almost be a match for the front lines except for Catarina still being busy with the formation. He wasn¡¯t feeling the usual steady increase in power, but perhaps she had something more subtle it was doing. Chapter 451 With a group breaking away towards the center, Timothy was becoming less confident in his ability to protect Rouben. There was no deep connection between them, but the implicit promise to keep him safe made Timothy determined to do his best. The ranged attacks from Rouben and Alva had been overcoming the enemy so he¡¯d had a small reprieve from the most dangerous attacks, but now he¡¯d need to stop as many as he could at once. The enemy was delayed a few moments by destroying formation flags along the way as well as shattering carved stumps and kicking apart loose dirt. Since they were inside the formation, it wasn¡¯t terribly difficult to destroy parts of it. Timothy hoped that the pieces weren¡¯t too important but he honestly didn¡¯t know if those particular parts were important. ¡°Every part of a formation is essential to the whole,¡± Catarina said, resting a hand on his shoulder. She looked just as spent as if she¡¯d been engaging in the same frantic combat as the rest of them. ¡°Not to be rude to our guest, but I need you to focus on protecting me now.¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯m always glad to.¡± He was also still in the way of reaching Rouben and Alva, though it was not a terribly difficult thing to go around. If the enemy could afford to split up, anyway. Timothy wouldn¡¯t, with Fuzz angrily chasing after them, but he wasn¡¯t calling their shots. ¡°Sorry my contributions have been minimal up to this point,¡± Catarina said as she crouched down, placing the tips of her fingers on the ground. ¡°Hopefully, it will be worth it.¡± As she did so, the atmosphere changed. Timothy was used to the standard sorts of enhancements her formations provided- slight increases to his own abilities while enemies were hampered. A change in the natural flow of energy that benefited their allies. At the moment of the full activation of the formation, Timothy barely felt anything in relation to himself. He did, however, notice one of the enemies rushing forward suddenly stumble- not from any physical barrier, but because their energy did not propel them forward in the way they intended. Timothy was too far to take advantage of that, but Alva snapshotted a couple arrows at the man, injuring his leg. The biggest threat was a man in the Integration stage, capable of conjuring stone needles out of the air. They weren¡¯t much different in function than Spirit Arrows, though they came in greater numbers- just without the benefit of propulsion a proper bow provided. A full volley bombarded Timothy and the area around him, attempting to squeeze over, under, or around him. He expanded the reach of his shield over a meter to either side, preventing anything from reaching Catarina. The next ones came through the ground¡­ but Timothy wasn¡¯t going to fail against something so simple. He extended his energy deeper, aware that he couldn¡¯t keep up his pace¡­ but strangely, his opponent was the one who looked to be straining himself. Not only him, but the others rushing forward- much more so than the group still engaged with Hoyt and the others. When one of the faster Life Transformation cultivators tried to slip past Timothy, his slash was almost a token. He planned to follow up with something more¡­ but the woman¡¯s defenses crumpled. After his sword cut across her chest, her face paled. The trickle of blood couldn¡¯t have caused that in such a short time, but Timothy could feel the undercurrents of energy pulling away at the enemies approaching them. Alva¡¯s quick attacks took down several more rushing for her, their energy defenses simply not what they should have been. On the other side, Rouben kicked a blast of flame that sent a Life Transformation cultivator staggering back without the benefit of building momentum like the Falling Stars. The faces that had been so confident in their victory moments before suddenly had looks of horror. Fear- but not necessarily of the power. Timothy found it odd, because any cultivator going into battle should have known that death was a possibility. Yet it seemed as if they only now realized this, despite more than a dozen of their comrades having fallen earlier. In battle, a match between similarly powered individuals could drag out for minutes or hours, only to be decided in an instant. Sudden weakness allowed Timothy to cut down those immediately in front of him and begin chasing after the man flinging stone needles. Timothy wasn¡¯t afraid of desperate direct attacks- but he was surprised that some of them crumbled apart before they even reached him. The others who had gotten past Hoyt had already fallen, so Timothy felt no concern about leaving his post. Hoyt and the others were just cutting down their opponents as well. When Timothy¡¯s sword stabbed through the small of the man¡¯s back, he had the feeling the man was trying to get just a few steps further, out of the formation. As if that would save him somehow- even though the energy ripped out of him wouldn¡¯t be coming back. As the last enemy fell, two things happened simultaneously. Catarina collapsed to the ground as the formation ceased functioning- formation flags and runes bursting apart in various sized explosions of energy. Then Rouben began to break through to Life Transformation. That was quite clear to everyone nearby. ¡°Alva! Any other enemies approaching?¡± Timothy said as he swiftly marched back towards his wife. ¡°It seems clear for the moment,¡± she said, surveying the area. ¡°And the battle between the Dark Ring and Harmonious Citadel seems to have gone in the favor of the former.¡± Timothy gently turned Catarina onto her back, and she looked at him with a faint smile. ¡°What was that?¡± he said as gently as possible. ¡°I¡¯m sure you had your reasons but it seemed dangerous¡­¡± ¡°And not as effective as having something decent the whole battle,¡± Catarina smiled weakly. ¡°I thought it would be a bit faster. And I knew we needed that for¡­¡± she gestured to the bodies around them. ¡°So they¡¯d be dead.¡± ¡°Of course they¡¯d be dead,¡± Timothy said. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t leave them¡­ oh.¡± ¡°Their souls get to stay here now,¡± she said, a bit of strength returning to her voice. ¡°I was probably a bit too ambitious with that one, mixing new techniques with ones I hadn¡¯t really practiced.¡± She looked over towards Rouben, ¡°That feels a bit¡­¡± Timothy nodded. Hoyt was watching intently as well, as whatever fire-type cultivation technique Rouben was making use of was showing traces of the Hundred Stars. Had he picked it up so quickly, or was that vague notion correct? Perhaps they would find out soon. Though they¡¯d need to make their way somewhere safer if they wanted proper discussions. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ----- As she stepped out of the ship, Matija looked quite nervous. She wasn¡¯t a diplomat, and Anton knew that¡­ which was the whole reason he wanted her to be present. Having someone he¡¯d built up some trust with among the delegation from Rutera was also important. He was waiting at the landing pad himself- simply a large, flat, durable surface. The ship had landed quite gracefully upon it, negating its momentum until it was barely moving the moment it touched. Anton expected that sort of control from cultivators, but conscious being a step further removed from the process seemed as if it would make it difficult. ¡°Greetings,¡± said the woman beside Matija, clearly a leading figure. She had darker skin, though not quite so dark as some of those from Ambati. She bowed deeply. ¡°My name is Nirmala, as you no doubt know. Thank you for receiving me.¡± ¡°Welcome,¡± Anton said- but speaking what he had learned of the Ruteran language instead of through the translator. ¡°I am the head of the Order of One Hundred Stars,¡± Anton bowed what he felt was an appropriate amount, and was glad for learning what he could about Ruteran body language from Matija. Mostly, it was similar to what he was used to. The rest, he could hopefully learn as they went. ¡°We have been waiting for you. We have representatives from various places. Here on Brogora we have representatives of Ambati, Ofrurg, Facraona, Droca, and Estary. I am authorized to speak for Graotan as well as the Order,¡± And there was a difference between those now, even if it wasn¡¯t a large one. ¡°I am sure this will be much to take in, but we could not deny anyone their proper representatives for such a momentous event. From Aicenith, we have Marvelous Rabbit Mountain, the Million Sword Vault¡­¡± Anton continued through the list, making sure he did not leave out anyone. They were trying very hard to pretend they weren¡¯t listening, but he didn¡¯t want to accidentally insult anyone. ¡°I am impressed that such a large number of diverse groups have this measure of unity,¡± Nirmala responded. ¡°I will be glad to speak to everyone at the appropriate time.¡± ¡°Of course, but first you have come a long way¡­ in a not particularly comfortable vessel. I will show you to the quarters we have arranged and give you a tour to familiarize yourself with the area.¡± Though welcoming foreign dignitaries to the peak was appropriate, it was clear Nirmala and some of her entourage were uncomfortable. It had been some time since Anton experienced the same in an area of high energy density, but he gradually sheltered them from the pressure. No need to cause a fuss about things. Just because all of their representatives were combat capable didn¡¯t mean the Ruterans needed to do the same. Matija had the presence of mind to consult beforehand about weapons and guards. Anton wanted them to feel comfortable, so he had emphasized that they could bring them- but should not need them. Cultivators like himself were not uncomfortable around weapons, but for his own sake he had his own weapons stowed. Not that he would need them to fight any of the Ruterans. Even if their weapons displayed remarkable power like their other devices, this was the territory of the Order, and he could safely say he was the strongest person on the planet. He felt no need to mention that to them however. ----- Some time later, the diplomatic group found themselves in the newly constructed compound set aside for them. One of its features was minimizing the amount of natural energy that suffused the area- though there were options to gather energy in particular rooms. They were carefully calibrated to not hurt anyone if they changed something on accident. ¡°He is the one who knocked on the outside of your ship?¡± Nirmala asked Matija. ¡°He seems like a kind old man, rather than a warrior.¡± Matija smiled, ¡°He seemed very comfortable with the bow on his back. And it was most certainly the same Anton.¡± ¡°The energy readings¡­ I thought they were a mistake, until we scanned him here. I¡¯m not sure what it means, though.¡± Matija shrugged, ¡°It means he¡¯s the sort of person who can fly through space under their own power and even approach the sun to the same distance as a science vessel. That seems to be how people work here.¡± ¡°Perhaps the old stories are true,¡± Nirmala frowned. ¡°Cultivators who can control energy directly. It was mentioned¡­ that he taught you how to do the same?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go so far as that,¡± Matija shook her head. ¡°In an environment with gravity, I can barely lift a pen.¡± She shook her head, ¡°I haven¡¯t been quite certain how to improve.¡± There was a knock on the door. ¡°Honored delegates, should you require refreshments or wish to tour the facilities, know that I am here to assist.¡± The message took a moment to be translated for their ears, after which Nirmala pursed her lips slightly. ¡°I am rather nervous to eat anything. I believe they mean us no harm, but it¡¯s hard to be certain it will be nutritionally compatible.¡± ¡°Everything I ate was,¡± Matija reminded her. ¡°But I¡¯ll admit I did scan everything.¡± ¡°It would seem rather inappropriate to do so at a meal, don¡¯t you think?¡± Matija shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure everyone here can do the same thing with their mind. I doubt it would hurt to ask, though.¡± ----- They did end up taking a meal- the time of their arrival made it somewhat blur the line between lunch and dinner. They ate privately, which the assistant sent for them offered as one of the first options. Delegates should certainly interact with the locals, but diving in too deep too fast might be uncomfortable. Following that, they opted to take a tour of the sect- of which, the most interesting location was the Library. Most of the facilities were highly practical, and clearly centered around training cultivation. Aside from the observatory, anyway. Anton had shown that to them, explaining that it was for both hobby and practical purposes. Since it was only afternoon they couldn¡¯t make much use of it to see how good it was- though Matija was quite interested in figuring that out. When they came to the library, they found it quite intimidating. Their translators worked on written language, but they simply didn¡¯t know where to start. Perhaps it showed on their faces, because Anton gestured to a section. ¡°That is where we keep the basic cultivation manuals. Perhaps Matija might wish to compare your knowledge with what is there, considering your methods are quite different. And what would you be interested in, Diplomat Nirmala?¡± ¡°I find myself interested in the history of your world,¡± she said, thinking it a safe topic. ¡°Of course,¡± the old man nodded. ¡°It is unfortunate that due to various circumstances the histories generally fall off past the seven hundred year mark, but I imagine that should last you for some time.¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± Matija bit her lip, ¡°Is it alright if we copy what we find here?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Knowledge is meant to be shared. Though I would be cautious with the cultivation techniques. They are generally categorized by difficulty and safety, but some are only good for study and not for practical use. Though if you have any questions, I could answer them.¡± Matija nodded, ¡°Thank you.¡± Cultivation and energy control were of great interest to her, though at some point she wished to probe the depths of their understanding of other methods. Formations, Anton had mentioned. Something like how they controlled the energy in their devices, but clearly quite different. Though she likely wouldn¡¯t learn all that much in a single afternoon, and they would have to move on to their actual diplomatic mission. Or at least Nirmala would. Perhaps she might be able to slip off¡­ Chapter 452 From the outside, there was no clear difference between Rouben attempting to cultivate normally and delving into a new technique. Even from a few feet away on Fuzz¡¯ back Alva couldn¡¯t feel any difference. What she did notice was the constant spiral towards familiarity, fragments of the Hundred Stars worming its way into Rouben¡¯s technique. Except that wasn¡¯t quite completely true. Some parts weren¡¯t like they did things today, but whether the failures were from incomplete observation on Rouben¡¯s part or something else she couldn¡¯t say. Though that was the question they wanted to answer right now. At the current moment, they had no time to stop for proper, comfortable cultivation. Yet to get the answers they sought he needed to practice Essentia Lockbox, and he didn¡¯t have long. For his own safety, they also had to get him off world. After the bounty was turned in and some time passed it would be safe for him to return, if that was what he wanted, but at the moment nobody would believe he no longer had access to it even if it were true. Which it would be soon enough. Copying techniques that one didn¡¯t understand was difficult, since it was more than just words on a page¡­ but Rouben said that it was ¡®deceptively simple¡¯. Either way, he had to make the best copy he could before reaching their destination, so practicing from the original text would help him achieve that as quickly as possible. There didn¡¯t seem to be anyone hot on their trail- perhaps they saw what happened to the others and decided it was not worth it, perhaps they were simply further behind¡­ or maybe they were better hidden. Alva hoped for the first, but there were always more cultivators willing to throw away their lives for the hope of a large gain. ----- Anton was personally quite glad that he was not in Nirmala¡¯s position. Very few people were here to take any of his time. Instead, there were many questions about Rutera that were probably answered a dozen times to different people in different contexts. Cultivators had excellent memories and given their positions would certainly be paying attention, but it wasn¡¯t appropriate for them to listen in on all conversations with the diplomats at all times. Thus, details about how the Ruterans worked were brought up many times, though the skill of the diplomat allowed her to mostly conceal her annoyance. Even he could only feel it faintly when something came up for the fourth or fifth time in a day. If she wished to, Nirmala might be capable of great deception. Perhaps she was, though none of the others gave away any understanding that things were not as truthful as possible. Then there was Matija. Her purpose was partly to be a familiar figure, and partly to discern the differences in understanding that the two groups had. The individuals from Rutera did not cultivate in the same manner, and from certain perspectives could hardly be considered cultivators at all. Yet they did maintain the most important aspect, in some ways. They were still capable combatants, they simply relied on the support of devices¡­ yet even then, they powered osme with their own internal energy. Fortunately, Matija asking Anton to demonstrate his abilities provided opportunities. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t think I¡¯m trying to pry into your secrets,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m just curious.¡± ¡°Some people would think less of you if you weren¡¯t trying to pry into my secrets. But there is quite a lot I can demonstrate before we get to any of those,¡± Anton said with a smile. ¡°Though I would like to see a demonstration in return. I imagine you would wish to keep the exact power of the weapons integrated into your ship secret, but at some point, if we continue interacting, we will compare combat abilities. Cultivation lends itself directly to martial prowess.¡± He watched Matija¡¯s reactions as he spoke. She did not seem overly concerned about the thought of potential violence, though whether or not that was because she trusted Anton or her own abilities he was uncertain. ¡°I see,¡± Matija nodded. ¡°So should I¡­ shoot you?¡± she kept her hand well away from her weapon as she made the suggestion. ¡°At some point, I would be quite glad to try it out personally. However, in the interest of safety¡­ we do have training grounds with targets.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Matija said awkwardly. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t you.¡± ¡°What is a comfortable range for you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Something you can reliably hit to test the power of your weapon. We generally have targets set up in increments of fifty meters, as well as closer range targets at twenty-five.¡± ¡°... Fifty meters would be fine,¡± Matija said. ¡°What about you?¡± ¡°I can shoot anything you can see,¡± Anton said. He could also shoot anything a significant distance beyond what she could see, but that didn¡¯t need to be mentioned at the moment. ¡°But for demonstration purposes one of the closer targets would be good, so you can observe it.¡± Anton noticed that Matija walked much the same speed as a non-cultivator, or at least someone in early Body Tempering. She had been studying some of their manuals and was beginning to make real use of her internal energy, but she simply wasn¡¯t used to a faster pace. ¡°Here we are,¡± Anton said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the targets. They can be replaced. Would you like me to go first?¡± ¡°... sure.¡± He understood that demonstrating combat capabilities might make people nervous, but even if they were to be enemies he thought that the Ruterans understanding some of what the local cultivators could do would be important. It would give them incentives to leave them alone. Though so far they simply seemed¡­ intrigued. He pulled out his bow, forming a Spirit Arrow and delicately drawing it back. He kept his arrow to a reasonable speed, not to make himself seem weaker but because he was unsure if Matija¡¯s eyes could follow it. The arrow sunk into the target- went through it, technically. He just unraveled the energy once it came out the other side so it wouldn¡¯t continue unnecessarily far. ¡°Oh, um¡­¡± Matija pulled out a device. ¡°Is it¡­ could I¡­ do you mind if I scan you while you do that?¡± ¡°It will give you a better understanding, I presume? I think you should. It¡¯s only fair. We scan you all the time.¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°You do? Oh, right.¡± Anton demonstrated a few more shots, though he wasn¡¯t hitting anything anymore. The arrow just made its way through the hole in the target. ¡°Hmm,¡± Matija said. ¡°You made that hole? How do you determine the distance you shoot? Are there settings on your bow?¡± Anton held it out towards her, ¡°It is simply a very nice bow. The energy of my shots unravels when I wish them to.¡± ¡°... Can I hold it?¡± ¡°Of course. If you are able to accidentally hurt me with it I will be quite surprised. Especially without arrows.¡± ¡°It forms them though, right?¡± she said as she waved the scanning device around the bow. ¡°What is this made of?¡± ¡°It is made from the Grandfather Willow,¡± Anton explained, ¡°And I form the arrows.¡± ¡°This is just wood?¡± Matija said in confusion. ¡°These markings¡­¡± ¡°They are for the enchantments upon it, though the majority of its potency comes from the material itself. Now then¡­ what about you?¡± ¡°Me? Oh!¡± Matija nodded, handing him back his bow. ¡°Thank you for demonstrating. I guess it¡¯s my turn. You sure you don¡¯t mind if the target is destroyed?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s just straw.¡± Nowadays all of their straw came from energy-bearing cultivars, but it was still relatively low value. He watched as she pulled out the weapon. Her hand fit around it slightly differently than he might have presumed, and a single finger slipped into a small loop on the long metallic device. The internal structure reminded Anton of Grant¡¯s cannons, though obviously on a much smaller scale. Instead of firing a projectile, the weapon was actually much closer to functioning like Spirit Arrows. Matija gathered her energy, injecting it into the device as she pulled the trigger inside the loop. Though it happened in a very short time, Anton¡¯s senses and reflexes were far beyond a normal human. He could see as energy was released from dozens of small holes, gathering together before forming a cohesive beam of energy. Matija hit the bullseye of the target, but the beam was wider than Anton¡¯s Spirit Arrows and not perfectly centered so it caused a large amount of damage to the target, ultimately setting it on fire and leaving a hole perhaps five centimeters across. Ultimately, he found it to be somewhat more powerful than he had expected for his estimated cultivation equivalent for Matija. The efficiency was also very high, with little energy wasted. ¡°Impressive,¡± Anton said. ¡°Perhaps someday you will show me your limits with that device.¡± ¡°Uh, maybe,¡± Matija said awkwardly. ¡°Also, we would call it a ¡®gun¡¯. Or an energy gun, if we wanted to be repetitive. What about you? I¡¯m sure that wasn¡¯t the limit of what you can do.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it is sufficient to know, is it not? Either one would kill a person, without some sort of defenses. I am curious to learn how yours works at some point. It does not have to be any time soon, of course. Once the proper level of trust exists between us would be fine. Now then¡­ how goes your cultivation?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± she admitted. ¡°I¡­ definitely have much more energy than a beginner.¡± ¡°You do,¡± Anton said. ¡°It is simply that you don¡¯t use it the same way. Nor intentionally cultivate it in power.¡± ¡°We do,¡± Matija said. ¡°Just not the same way. Repeated practice is how we grow.¡± ¡°That certainly works,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But it could be quite inefficient. And it requires you to have specific pieces of technology functional.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you need your weapons and armor?¡± Matija asked. ¡°I can make the arrows,¡± Anton said, ¡°And though it¡¯s not as good, I can also make the rest of the bow,¡± he formed one between them, facing towards the targets of course, and demonstrated a shot. ¡°You¡­ you¡­ how did you do that without touching it?¡± ¡°It should be quite obvious. I simply concentrated some of my energy there. Perhaps we should practice your sensing, that would be the most useful here. And¡­ perhaps back home it would be of value as well. I¡¯m not sure what your devices tell you.¡± ¡°Quite a bit, actually,¡± Matija said. ¡°Look at what it said about your bow!¡± ¡°Energy readings I understand but have no context for,¡± Anton said. ¡°... Composition something? I don¡¯t believe I learned that word in your language.¡± ¡°Elements. The smallest building blocks of things.¡± ¡°Ah yes,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I see. Though it¡¯s rather general about some of the locations.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s dealing with new arrangements. Too bad I can¡¯t see the tree this bow came from.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It¡¯s still there.¡± ¡°It is?¡± she asked, looking around, ¡°Where?¡± ¡°The headquarters of the Grasping Willows. A decent journey, but Lev might be willing to take you.¡± ¡°He¡¯s the Sect Head, right?¡± Matija tried to recall all the people she had learned about in the past weeks. ¡°Similar to you?¡± ¡°Yes and no,¡± Anton said. ¡°The position is slightly less honored because the Grasping Willows have only recently risen to prominence¡­ but his personal power is generally on par with mine.¡± Anton left out that that varied based on where Lev was. That was a secret not his to share. Around the Grandfather Willow he imagined Lev would be stronger than himself¡­ which was why if there was for some reason a bizarre world in which they fought he wouldn¡¯t be getting within two hundred kilometers of the sect. ¡°... How far away is it?¡± Given the significant effort in traveling between systems, the delegation from Rutera intended to stay at least several months. At this point, Anton would be willing to bet on longer since relations seemed to be trending in a positive direction. ¡°Depends on how fast you travel,¡± Anton said. For the moment, they were keeping their teleportation formations a secret. ¡°I could get there in a few days, but if we provide transport it could take a week. Or if you were able to take your ship I can¡¯t imagine it would take long at all.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not really meant for atmosphere,¡± Matija admitted, ¡°But the planet¡¯s not that big. I don¡¯t think I could get that authorization, though.¡± ¡°No, I imagine not,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But we can certainly bring you to see it.¡± Matija pulled out a device, displaying an only recently familiar image. Ceretos, as a globe. ¡°Where is it in relation to us?¡± ¡°About a thousand kilometers east by northeast,¡± Anton said. The image got closer as Matija did something with the device. ¡°I see you already have it marked by one of those dots.¡± ¡°Dots? Oh right umm¡­ wait it¡¯s one of the anomalies?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°If that is what you call them, I do not believe it would be inaccurate. It should be an area with divergent energy concentrations, at a minimum.¡± Anton was tempted to ask what they had noticed about the Exalted Archipelago, but that was a matter for a later time. Best not to drag anyone into issues- or cause some where there otherwise wouldn¡¯t be any. Chapter 453 It was not unusual for people to track Anton¡¯s movements. In fact, it would be strange if they didn¡¯t. As a powerful cultivator, his movements were of great interest to many people. If the spies had been closer to his own perceptive abilities perhaps Anton would have assumed that was the case, but their glances were not directed primarily at him. Nor was the other most likely candidate the target- Lev. Yet Matija being the target was not actually unexpected either- and she was the one that the eyes landed on the most. A traveler from the stars was certainly an oddity, even with invasions being involved¡­ but Anton had the feeling that not all of the glances were simply curiosity. Nor did he believe all worked for continental forces. But¡­ as long as no specific agreements were broken and nothing else happened, the Exalted Archipelago¡¯s spying was simply to be expected. Anton did keep track of the various faces he saw, just to be thorough. It was impossible for the Ruteran group to stay private anyway- not with sects from both continents informed about them. Anton just wished he could predict what response the Exalted Archipelago would have. There was nothing along the road to cause them actual trouble. That would have required a serious army, one which Anton could have picked out half a country away. Brogora wasn¡¯t so distracted by the visitors that they weren¡¯t taking care of their continental security. Along the way, Anton explained his experiences in various towns and cities, as well as the previous relationship between Graotan and Ofrurg. For the majority of a century they had been at peace, but the early years of his cultivation dominated Anton¡¯s memories. ¡°Just over there was where we first met,¡± Lev added to Anton¡¯s details. ¡°I was nearly dead in a cave, my arm full of parasitic moss planning to control and devour me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good that your arm has recovered now,¡± Matija commented. ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± Lev said, letting it flop to his side. ¡°The wounds are so deep and so old, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s possible to fully recover. Nor do I know if it matters.¡± In truth, Lev had done more damage to himself with his early connection to the Grandfather Willow- his limbs basically didn¡¯t work on their own. ¡°I certainly can¡¯t complain. I have methods to overcome my weaknesses, and power I could have barely imagined.¡± ¡°You met before that war?¡± Matija asked. ¡°But wasn¡¯t it a century ago and¡­ you¡¯re still young.¡± Lev shrugged, ¡°I certainly look young, don¡¯t I? By cultivator standards¡­ in fact, I might be. At least for my cultivation level. I¡¯d be closer to middle age in pure numbers. I would expect to live at least another two centuries, if I am not slain.¡± ¡°I see,¡± she frowned. ¡°Our lifespans have expanded as we grew more prosperous. Living to your age would not be an oddity but we would expect to look more like¡­ more elderly.¡± Anton grinned, ¡°You were going to say more like me, weren¡¯t you? How old would you say I am?¡± ¡°Given what Lev said¡­ you should be at least two hundred, perhaps two hundred and fifty?¡± ¡°Much closer to the former,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I¡¯ll have you know¡­ I looked like this when I began cultivating.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I began cultivating before him by at least a year,¡± Lev nodded. ¡°Though my early progress was nothing remarkable.¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t really know what I expected,¡± Matija said. ¡°The way things are done here is quite different.¡± ¡°It is only through great practice that I did not gawk at your technology,¡± Anton said. ¡°Different is absolutely the correct word. No doubt we can learn much from each other.¡± ¡°I am surprised how much you are willing to share,¡± Matija said. ¡°We have been¡­ more cautious than you.¡± ¡°That is understandable,¡± Anton said. ¡°Personally, if I find people to be decent I would not wish to hide anything from them. But the full understanding of that takes time. Our initial interactions with your group were positive, but we¡¯ve had some¡­ trouble with unfamiliar individuals in the past.¡± ¡°The invasion,¡± Matija nodded. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ concerning to hear about.¡± ¡°From what I understand, your world might not be of interest as a target,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But I cannot say for sure without visiting.¡± ¡°Will you?¡± Matija asked. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know if that would be a good idea,¡± Anton said. ¡°It is quite far.¡± ¡°Why would that-¡± Matija stopped herself. ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s better I don¡¯t get an answer for that, actually.¡± ----- Soon enough they arrived at their destination- the Grasping Willows. Matija was not able to change her own energy signatures to blend in with them, though the smaller ones mostly relied on touch to grab their prey. The Grandfather Willow, meanwhile, was under Lev¡¯s control- and along with Anton he was ready to protect Matija from any trouble. She was suitably impressed by the Grasping Willows when they were demonstrated to her. When she entered the valley where the Grandfather Willow stood, she seemed confused. ¡°Where did all the underbrush go? And all of the trunks?¡± She used her scanner to curiously observe the dangling branches, keeping herself well clear of the grasping appendages. Or at least what seemed to be a safe distance to her. ¡°These are all¡­ part of the same thing?¡± Lev gestured towards the main trunk. ¡°That¡¯s right. The Grandfather Willow. It¡¯s barely visible between all of the hanging branches, but it occupies this whole valley.¡± Matija took out another device, presumably to help her see further ahead. ¡°Whoa, you¡¯re right!¡± Throughout that day, she excitedly scanned as much of the tree as she could- branches, roots, trunk, and leaves. ¡°No wonder we could sense this from space!¡± she said. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Anton took Lev aside. ¡°I appreciate you giving her this opportunity. I know there is some risk¡­¡± Lev shook his head. ¡°I understand that. But if they come to try to take it from me, I am certain you will be ready to help provide a proper response. And I believe in her sincerity as much as you do. As well as her understanding that the information will mostly be put to good use.¡± ¡°Mostly, huh,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I¡¯d like to see this Rutera, but it¡¯s a bit difficult, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I certainly wouldn¡¯t go,¡± Lev said. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t fly around in space either. I imagine being so far from your Assimilation touchstone would be a problem for you?¡± ¡°I¡­ think so,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I haven¡¯t tested the limits, really. Distances away from Ceretos are difficult to comprehend.¡± ----- Deep within his own soul, Rouben finally found what he was looking for. He had expected something monumental, a great source of power. A vault of knowledge. But here it was, a tiny speck. And how could it be anything else while still keeping its secrets hidden. He hadn¡¯t just searched for it, either. If his understanding of Essentia Lockbox was correct, he¡¯d created this point of connection to something that should have been lost to him. Now the trouble was opening it. In theory he could uncork this seal like a bottle of wine- and if he did so carelessly it might spray everywhere like the same. If these were really lost memories of his soul, he wanted to receive them gently. The tiniest touch flooded his head with thoughts. Memories came to him of many things at the same time, yet he felt as if it was only a tiny fraction of what there could be. He retracted his touch, trying to settle the memories. Days of memories filled his head. Perhaps years, but not in a cohesive whole but scattered about randomly. Piecing anything together was difficult, but he managed to put something together with what he already knew. One important piece of information. He slowly withdrew from within himself. His departure was soon- but before that he needed to answer the question of these strangely familiar individuals around him. Not just for them and because of the implicit threat of their presence, but also for himself. His eyes opened. ¡°I have an answer,¡± he said. ¡°I am not sure if it is the one you want, but¡­ the reason I know Falling Stars is because I created the technique.¡± The intensity of the gazes upon him increased, especially the one known as Hoyt. He thought he remembered that face, though it didn¡¯t quite fit. Perhaps it was merely someone else he knew. ¡°Do you remember¡­ what your name was?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°It was¡­¡± strangely, that information hadn¡¯t seemed important in the memories he possessed. Cultivation. A sect. People. But his own name hardly mattered. Even so, it was still there. ¡°I think it was¡­ Prospero? Prospero Vandale.¡± The woman known as Catarina inclined her head. ¡°It is good to see you again, Grand Elder Vandale. I had not expected this meeting to be possible.¡± ¡°Please, don¡¯t,¡± Rouben grimaced. He was much more familiar with that name still, at least for the moment. ¡°I don¡¯t think I deserve such an unfamiliar honor for something I can barely remember.¡± ¡°Also¡­¡± Hoyt said, ¡°It is awkward because you could be referring to me.¡± That was it. For some reason, he¡¯d had the feeling it was his own face. But it was his son- no, his grandson. ¡°I¡­ the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars is in the lower realms,¡± Rouben frowned. ¡°How is it that any of you are here?¡± ¡°I think the answer is fairly obvious,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°The traditional way. And it¡¯s One Hundred Stars now, since the technique is no longer incomplete.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ comforting,¡± Rouben nodded. ¡°Though I can¡¯t say I actually remember as much as perhaps I should.¡± ¡°I have no doubt you will remember more given time,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°And practice.¡± Over the course of the next few days, only a small collection of memories were recovered- but it was enough to confirm that he actually was Prospero Vandale reincarnated. An impersonator might know of large events, but personal exchanges that wouldn¡¯t be noticed by anyone else were a different issue. Hoyt didn¡¯t actually have many more of those than anyone else, by his own will, but he had latched onto some memories more tightly. ¡°We must be going now,¡± Hoyt said as a ship was landing. ¡°We will pay for you to be taken off-planet. The ship captain is as trustworthy as they come. The rest of us have to resolve this bounty. And see if we can keep this technique out of the hands of the Twin Soul Sect permanently somehow.¡± ¡°He does lock up some things,¡± Vari said helpfully. ¡°Perhaps we can convince him to do the same with this. Especially since it was stolen.¡± The concealment formation they had been staying within while waiting faded away as they stepped out of it, and Vandale was taken away- with a plethora of different communication options. Even if he wasn¡¯t fully the person they remembered, simply parting ways would be a terrible waste. ----- ¡°Which one is your star?¡± Anton asked. They had returned to the Order, and Matija had wanted to look at the observatory. ¡°It¡¯s difficult to pinpoint from here,¡± she said. ¡°The skies are mostly the same, but I¡¯m not used to seeing our star being there, you know?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Only during the day. I believe I pointed at the right cluster, based on the direction you departed in. It should be one of the closer ones as well.¡± ¡°Yeah, but¡­ I can¡¯t really see that well either,¡± Matija admitted. ¡°Ah,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°A fault of ours, I suppose. The telescope is intended for use with eye techniques.¡± ¡°I just realized,¡± Matija said. ¡°I can just look it up.¡± She pulled out a few small devices, placing one where her eye would be on the telescope. Anton could see information being pulled up on the others- images, even. ¡°I only have access to the information on the ship from here, so it¡¯s kind of difficult but¡­ it should be that one,¡± she finally pointed. There was nothing remarkable about the star. It was fairly bright- but it ought to be as one of the closer stars. ¡°I see,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°And this is what your star looks like from Rutera,¡± Matija said. ¡°Just let me find it. See?¡± ¡°I have to admit¡­ familiar as I am, they¡¯re not terribly different. A slightly different color and brightness, perhaps. ¡°Though that should be normal, as humans do best in a particular type of world.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Matija nodded. ¡°It¡¯s weird that we¡¯re all the same though.¡± ¡°It it?¡± Anton said. ¡°I would imagine cultivators populated everywhere at some point in the long past. They have been traveling the stars for quite some time, after all. Just not in quite the same manner as yourselves.¡± Matija grinned, ¡°It¡¯s funny to hear they use old-style ships,¡± she said. ¡°But I¡¯d really like to see one.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not much different from the skyships,¡± he explained. ¡°You could probably take a look at one of them.¡± As she considered that, Anton thought about Rutera. He had a thought, but was unsure whether it could possibly work¡­ or if he should try it even if it would. But that was for another time. For the moment, the trajectory of their current relations was positive. Perhaps in a decade or two they¡¯d know Rutera well enough to think about going further. Chapter 454 The group took a somewhat more circuitous route back to the Library, even though they were fairly certain nobody was following them still. There was only so much any group would do for a specific level of reward- and while the equipment they had looted would certainly make them seem more valuable targets, the fact that they had defeated enemies of significant power would balance that out. Notoriety such as that could be either beneficial or detrimental depending on the circumstances. ¡°We¡¯re here to turn in a bounty,¡± Hoyt said at the entrance, pulling out the technique manual for Essentia Lockbox. ¡°Ah yes, that one,¡± the Everheart present nodded. ¡°It wasn¡¯t supposed to be stolen. Where¡¯s the perpetrator?¡± ¡°The bounty didn¡¯t mention anything about needing them,¡± Hoyt said cautiously. ¡°Ah, whatever. It¡¯s fine,¡± Everheart waved him off and grabbed the manual. ¡°You¡¯re going away where you¡¯ll be safe now¡­¡± ¡°About that,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°It seems it was rather easily stolen. Some individuals were quite interested in getting their hands on it¡­¡± ¡°Yes yes, I know all that,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°It will be more secure than previously. It should have already been placed with the forbidden manuals.¡± ¡°... but there are forbidden techniques literally everywhere in the Library,¡± Hoyt said. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t a good idea to continue to engage Everheart in conversation, but he couldn¡¯t help it. ¡°Forbidden depends on who you¡¯re asking,¡± Everheart grinned. ¡°You should know that by now, I imagine. This one fits my standards. It¡¯s simply that with so many techniques, some get misplaced.¡± Everheart didn¡¯t feel like the sort to make mistakes¡­ but, perhaps he was right. With a library of this magnitude, it only made sense that there would be some slip ups occasionally. ¡°Now then, how are you dividing the points?¡± ¡°Equally,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°That should still be enough for us to go to the fourth level, correct?¡± Everheart sighed, ¡°Yes, I suppose it is.¡± After they walked past, he muttered to himself, ¡°Not enough people taking everything for themselves these days. How sad.¡± ----- With the passage of time, more cultivators at the peak of Life Transformation had decisions to make. Anton wasn¡¯t aware of many of them, though he did know there was a surprisingly steady flow of people attempting and presumably succeeding with Ascension. Within the Order there were two in particular that needed to finalize their choices- Devon and Velvet. Both came to Anton for advice. Devon was the first. ¡°I enjoy my life here on Ceretos, but I haven¡¯t comprehended any method to advance further in cultivation. I believe I could succeed if I Ascended, but I¡¯m not sure if I wish to.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Then you must ask what is more important- your cultivation, or your home.¡± Their cultivation paths were different, and so far Anton¡¯s advice had borne no fruit for Devon in terms of alternatives to Ascension. ¡°My home here¡­¡± Devon said, ¡°But I also want it to be safe. Acquiring more strength so that I can hopefully return to fight in the next invasion¡­¡± ¡°Understandable,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But remember, I would think no less of you if you had chosen to forgo cultivation entirely. If you¡¯re going to do it, do it for people you care about¡­ excluding myself. While I can¡¯t say that we will be perfectly fine without you, having you here still using natural energy and able to make use of anti-ascension techniques will still be a viable strategy. We can¡¯t be sure if returning ascenders will function at full capacity here anyway.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Devon nodded. ¡°I will have to think on this for a while.¡± The conversation with Velvet went much the same way, with different specifics. ¡°I want to be as useful as possible,¡± she declared. ¡°If only I could predict the future,¡± Anton said, ¡°Then I would guide you to the best option. But as I am¡­ I can only say that most with talent should take the opportunity to ascend. There are those in the upper realms who could use your help, and we could use any information you could acquire. Though of course seeking some of it would be quite dangerous and I would recommend a slow pace. We still have well over a century before an invasion is possible.¡± ¡°I¡¯m also worried about here,¡± Velvet said. ¡°The Exalted Archipelago likely still has many secrets.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But their most problematic elements have been dealt with, and I believe we can deal with them if something comes down to it. And if the Trigold Cluster and Exalted Quadrant choose to work together, then perhaps we simply get wiped out. It is hard to know how much they might bring to bear.¡± ¡°I might be able to learn something here.¡± Velvet frowned, ¡°On the other hand, straightforward cultivation progress has been more effective for me. And I am a known factor here. Infiltration would be difficult.¡± ¡°Indeed. Unfortunately, we can never make choices with all of the information. Going with your gut isn¡¯t terribly good advice when one is not a cultivator as it seems more or less random, but as a cultivator it is slightly more likely to result in something positive. So using that method wouldn¡¯t be the worst.¡± Ultimately, neither had decided just yet, but Anton could tell what directions they were leaning in. He could push them towards making whatever decision he wanted, but in truth all were valid and whatever they chose without him pushing them beyond simple advice would be slightly better. ----- Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The tomes on the fourth level were full of powerful techniques, and Catarina found it valuable to study them when she got the chance¡­ but her actual goal was something greater. At least, if things played out as she thought they might. The area reserved for the fourth level was somewhat smaller- though Catarina had the feeling it could easily be expanded. The smaller size made it properly explorable, and she wandered the shelves for only a few weeks- making sure to browse anything that stood out to her as she moved- before she finally found what she was looking for. Something that matched the node in the great hall, connected to the strange formation plate they¡¯d found on Ceretos. Something that was not integrated into Everheart¡¯s formations but instead built on top of, covering it up. Catarina knew her actions were being observed on some level, but studying the formations in the area was an excellent cover. Especially when she found herself engrossed in that task instead of looking for the specific node of whatever was buried. Eventually, she found it¡­ and unlike the one in the Great Hall it didn¡¯t seem like she would need to destroy anything to gain access to it. At least, not to make a connection of some sort. It was both beneath the library and between shelves- either the node or the Library, likely both, were messing with the space around it such that it could fit in between. She took her time just to be cautious, but she finally made the connection. The formation plate seemed to grant her access, which meant there could be some problems if she lost it, but at that point she would likely be dead anyway. And if not, she might be able to find some method to replicate it. Part of her studies went towards that, and part went towards understanding what this covered formation actually did. It wasn¡¯t entirely clear, but what she did know was that it was powerful, and as conjectured connected to the points in the Great Hall and the Labyrinth- or at least it seemed like the final point was in the Labyrinth. Perhaps nearby, if she was lucky. But being in the most death trapped area seemed like the most likely option. Even if she thought she could do something with just a connection to one node, Catarina would have waited. The one in the Great Hall would likely involve some destruction, which could land her in a whole lot of trouble. She had to be certain she was ready to go for that one, so studying this that she had better access to and then finding the third was the plan. So she would spend some time with this one¡­ then go off world again for a while while that notoriety died down slightly. ----- Having not run into trouble with the Exalted Quadrant during the bounty hunt- during which the others from the Order of One Hundred Stars had run into some reincarnated elder- Vari was fairly confident that sparring with Kiran would be safe. They¡¯d already turned in the bounty, after all, and the man from the Hardened Crown Sect was friendly and had previously helped her practice. His guidance had certainly helped her stay alive during the bounty incident. Safe, of course, was a relative term. A dislocated arm or a few broken bones were only natural when facing a superior opponent, and Vari didn¡¯t want him to hold back too much. There was something interesting about being a cultivator where the ground was often soft enough to give way before the cultivator. That was the norm in Life Transformation, even with standard stone. The training grounds was just dirt, so when she felt like she impacted a solid steel floor Vari knew something was different. She just lay there for a few moments, trying to figure out what had happened. Kiran had already backed up- likely meaning it as a learning point. If he continued to brawl with her afterwards, she wouldn¡¯t remember as well. Certainly, impacting the ground at a faster velocity would make it give way in a different fashion, but there wasn¡¯t much of a dent beneath her. That meant there had to be more to it. Thinking about how Kiran¡¯s energy flowed, she recalled a slight hint of it going into the ground. That would do it, perhaps. Hardening the ground was certainly a valid option, though it involved splitting focus and would require some familiarity with the material. Or would it? Certainly, if she wanted to work with the material that would be a requirement, but she could make a barrier there¡­ or anywhere, really. Though forming one beyond someone could be rather difficult, and then there was the question of anchoring it. Still, it was a good idea. She stood up ready to try it¡­ and was partially successful. She was fairly certain that Kiran let her slam him into a barrier once, but he certainly didn¡¯t bother to feign any actual injuries. The Hardened Crown Sect had tough bodies, and even if that wasn¡¯t the case his cultivation was still higher. He could have absorbed the impact purely with his energy, unless he was careless about how he defended. Still, it seemed to be more of a matter of power and practice most of all. Combat training was all well and good, but advancing to the next stage of cultivation would be the biggest leap for her. She had plenty of inspiration, but she had to do it right. She wouldn¡¯t get a second chance, after all. Thus, she had to allocate time for training towards that goal as well. On the way out of the sparring grounds she was stopped by an unfortunately familiar figure. ¡°Hello there little sister.¡± The face that was in front of her was the woman who wielded only a shield. Vari¡¯s first instincts was to destroy her eardrums- her second instinct was much more rational and told her that she had just barely started to recover them. Besides, she had to face this eventually. ¡°I am not your little sister. I¡¯m no longer part of the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°But you are. We have not allowed you to leave. I was quite disappointed in your results the other day. Tell me, do you have time for a little spar?¡± Vari¡¯s body responded for her. ¡°Of course¡­ not.¡± Last second willpower overcame the command. She¡¯d been practicing that, though obviously without practical experience she couldn¡¯t know for sure it would work. The result was adequate. ¡°I won¡¯t be drawn into something like that.¡± ¡°Something like what?¡± the woman raised an eyebrow. ¡°Some sort of match where you can ¡®accidentally¡¯ kill or maim me. And the rules here don¡¯t allow battling without mutual consent.¡± Vari wondered if influencing her mind did not count as an attack. Or maybe Everheart wasn¡¯t monitoring the area. Perhaps that was true, if pigs could fly and up was down. ¡°Nonsense, I was just planning to teach you a friendly lesson. But about those allies of yours¡­ I will be needing your assistance to bring them down. You¡¯ll do that for me, won¡¯t you.¡± ¡°Yes, of course elder sister.¡± It wasn¡¯t just the response that bothered Vari. It was that she knew it was true. This time, the force of the woman¡¯s personality bearing down on her was irresistible. ¡°But before that¡­ I need to say something.¡± ¡°And what is that? I¡¯m curious.¡± ¡°Your hair is stupid.¡± Perhaps it wasn¡¯t smart to provoke someone who had control over her in that way, but it made sense at the time. ¡°Hold still,¡± the woman commanded. Vari had no option but to comply. A flash of movement and power, and the sharp edge of the shield was looking her in the eye. Vari could feel her own hair falling to the ground, not evenly severed but in chunks. The woman smirked. Vari really hoped this was one of the times the rules meant something, but as seconds dragged on she began to get the feeling that it somehow didn¡¯t count as an attack. Perhaps she should have pushed through and leaned forward just enough to get cut. And if not, she could at least figure out a way to circumvent orders and kill herself before she did anything to hurt her friends. Chapter 455 Though the mental pressure had brought Vari into a bad headspace, her automatic verbal responses were hardly as binding as they seemed at first. She said she would help betray her allies- but she didn¡¯t want to. Her mind told her that she shouldn¡¯t punch this woman in the face given her status, but she wanted to. Her energy circulated inside, fighting with itself. It was possible Vari could punch this woman who hadn¡¯t even bothered to share her name, but perhaps that wasn¡¯t the right solution to begin with. Though the rules hadn¡¯t been enforced yet, Everheart was said to be quite serious about them. So when the woman from the Harmonious Citadel turned around, Vari didn¡¯t punch her in the face, kick her in the back of the head, or wrap her elbow around her neck and strangle her. She was almost certain she could have attempted any of those if she pushed hard enough. But she had something better. ¡°One moment, sister. I need to keep you safe.¡± She placed a barrier in front of the woman who was just beginning to walk off, causing her to run into it. She turned angrily to Vari. ¡°What the hell is wrong with you?¡± Vari shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m just trying to protect you.¡± Barriers were easiest to form when flat. Making one or two was the easiest. Sustaining more than that was trouble, but she formed one between herself and the woman¡­ then on either side. Top and bottom, forming a full box. It nicely blocked out the sound of her voice, the feel of her energy. That gave Vari a moment to clear her head. It also slowed down the edge of the woman¡¯s shield enough that when it came crashing through the barrier between them Vari managed to lean to the side and only have it cut through her ribs and one lung. Though that wouldn¡¯t matter much when she died in a moment. ¡°How dare you move against me! I don¡¯t need the help of a lowlife like you.¡± ¡°Just get this over with so I don¡¯t have to listen to you whine anymore,¡± Vari said. It was half defiance, half a ploy to maybe provoke her and control how she acted, and an infinitesimal amount of resignation. The shield was returning. Vari was wondering what angle a barrier might best hold back the shield which was also a bladed disc. Maybe an angle? She wished her allies were around, but unfortunately they weren¡¯t out in the training field at this exact moment. Kiran had also left ahead of her. ¡°I¡¯ll destroy you!¡± ¡°You will do no such thing,¡± came an annoyed voice from behind Vari. She turned to see two hands clap down around the shield. Then it was crumpled into a ball as if it were made of paper instead of highly enchanted alloys. Everheart stood there, his eye twitching. ¡°No attacking people is one of the few rules here.¡± ¡°This is the sparring arena, and she¡¯s a junior in my sect. Tell him!¡± The order pounded in Vari¡¯s head. She turned to Everheart, who was waiting for her response. ¡°I was raised in the shelter of the Harmonious Citadel¡­ but I am no longer one of their disciples. She has attacked me physically multiple times and mentally many more.¡± Imprecise wording was a blessing, even if her body still fought against her saying she should do what was implied. Everheart shrugged, ¡°Thought so. Well, rules are rules and all that.¡± He flicked his arms out to the side, forming the image of an open book. His hand slapped together, closing the human sized book around her. When it faded, she was gone. ¡°... Thank you, mighty Everheart,¡± Vari inclined her head. ¡°May I ask what will happen to her?¡± ¡°Normally, the sentence is death,¡± Everheart said. ¡°But in the case of powerful factions, I often make exceptions. You know how things are.¡± Everheart began to grin, ¡°They will simply have to pay appropriate reparations for her return.¡± Vari gulped. She didn¡¯t want to know what price the Harmonious Citadel would have to pay, but from the look on his face she felt it was actually a greater punishment instead of going easy. She didn¡¯t need much training in insight to read that from the wide smirk he had. ¡°I¡­ see. I¡¯m sure it will be very appropriate. Thank you once more.¡± ¡°If you want to thank me¡­ make sure no more rules are broken! And make sure to donate!¡± Actually, they still had a bundle of technique manuals from those they had defeated. While the others wanted to save some for study by their own sect, Vari was still given a portion. Studying those from outside the Harmonious Citadel wasn¡¯t doing her much good, though she was interested in the deeper soul related ones- she had to remove this compulsion from inside her after all. ¡°I will certainly find some appropriate things to donate,¡± she said finally. ----- After reading another message from Catarina, Anton smiled. Vandale reincarnated? That was unexpected. The cycle of reincarnation was only fuzzily understood- even the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s techniques on Ceretos had only described one specific method, and it didn¡¯t seem they allowed retaining memories on their own. It required something after their death to achieve proper results. Vandale only having a small portion of his memories was unfortunate, but given his death the fact that he had any form of reincarnation was a pleasant thought. Another powerful ally in the upper realms waiting to happen was good news, but perhaps better was Catarina¡¯s progress with the formation plate. Was it a coincidence that it had been placed in their world and was useful where Everheart had set up his Tomb? Hard to say, really. Even whether or not it was purposefully left was unclear. If anyone knew where it was, however, they¡¯d had an adequate chance to retrieve it during the previous invasion. Nobody had been watching out in the middle of nowhere. But it might have even been more than a cycle since it was left behind. Curious. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It was unfortunate that Anton could not personally experience what was happening in the upper realms, but he¡¯d made his decision long before he expected there to even be a possibility of reaching the peak of cultivation in their world. Ascension was just an unnecessary pipe dream. His perspective was different now, but in truth he only cared about the portions of the upper realms that might affect home- and the people who were friends and family. Despite having the greatest freedom he¡¯d ever experienced, Anton was feeling a bit tied down. Visitors from another system had him thinking about visiting neighbors in turn. He was planning to test the effects on his power as he went away from Ceretos¡¯ sun. There was still the matter of making the trip in a timely fashion, as making a journey to even neighboring systems required faster than light travel through one method or another. Catarina had studied some of the ships traveling between planets, but it wasn¡¯t simple for her to transmit large quantities of technical information. It was being done- just not directly to Anton. That would be pointless, since he wasn¡¯t a formation master. Even if Rutera had been willing to share their technology- and they hadn¡¯t asked- Ceretos had no basis for all of the other pieces that would lead up to their ships. That was something that would take longer, though he heard formation masters were very excited about some of the ¡®simpler¡¯ devices they had been shown. The reaction from the Exalted Archipelago had been minimal. Anton was hoping to speak to someone from the Worthy Shore Society on the topic to get the most reliable information he could. It was unlikely they didn¡¯t care about the Ruterans at all- but whether they would do anything was a different question. Anton still didn¡¯t know how many lower realms the Exalted Quadrant had their fingers in. Anton looked through the telescope, enhancing his eyes to pick up details of the Ruteran¡¯s star. There was little special about it except for it hosting what he hoped would be friends- or at least neutral neighbors. He subconsciously reached out towards it, cognizant of the great distance between them. Yet without fully meaning to, the connection was formed. Anton could feel something stir within his hundred-and-first star. His actual power¡­ changed not at all. But he was quite certain he¡¯d done something similar to what happened with their own star. That was why he hadn¡¯t actually been trying. Now he¡¯d have to apologize to the Ruterans. Hopefully nothing noticeable would happen, with him being so distant. Though now the idea of visiting was more appealing and also more problematic, since if it didn¡¯t do anything with him here he could guarantee it would react when he got closer. Sure, he only drew upon the tiniest portion of a star¡¯s power¡­ but they¡¯d been able to sense fluctuations with a star a system over- how much more effective would they be in their own system? Just for the sake of curiosity, Anton focused on his ninety-ninth star, as well as one of the other closest stars that should be in neighboring systems- still a very great distance away, but closer than the others. Consciously trying to form a connection did nothing. The same held true for other stars. It seemed only the hundredth and beyond had the ability to connect to other stars, which was quite reasonable. He was glad not to have to think about connecting to a hundred stars¡­ especially without permissions of those who lived near them. Technically that was also the case in this system, but he was one of the residents so it was fair enough. And he was fairly certain others could do the same. The sun should be able to support other cultivators¡­ though there weren¡¯t exactly a large mass of individuals clamoring to attempt Assimilation. Throughout all of Ceretos Life Transformation cultivators numbered in the high hundreds, perhaps the low thousands. Recent advancements in cultivation efficiency had approximately doubled those on the continents, but ultimately most of them still wouldn¡¯t reach the peak of Life Transformation, and of those even fewer would ascend- or follow another path beyond. Though they were a huge step up from their previous rate of once a decade at best. ----- Out at sea, on the back of Paradise, Erin took in the great power of the turtle. Paradise allowed the disciples to use the natural energy in his ecosystem, though whether or not he recognized how they contributed or simply found them beneath concern was unclear. They weren¡¯t enemies, though- Erin had seen what happened to them. The next step would be much easier if Paradise could talk. It was risky to even try, but then again so was everything that involved new branches of cultivation. It was just also risky because outside of blowing herself up it might happen from something external. She¡¯d seen how the Ponderous Turtle Clan got a reaction from Paradise. So to avoid potential collateral damage, she slowly walked down to the top of Paradise¡¯s head. It was underwater, as usual, but he was not moving particularly fast at the moment so sticking to him was trivial. She stood between two small mountains that were the bulges of his eyes- though it was a relatively small change from the bump of his skull, at such a scale they stood out. She carefully pat the head beneath her, sending energy she hoped would be soothing. She wanted him to be aware of her so he could react at the earliest possibility. She was well aware of how quickly he could respond when threatened, so perhaps he would still destroy her at some point¡­ but she hoped to let him react with something less extreme. If he showed discomfort or dissatisfaction, she would give up on her attempt. Paradise was an island, but he was mostly a turtle- one that was growing, if only at a very slow rate. For the purposes of cultivation, however, he seemed to be both. Paradise had an ecosystems of plants that resonated with natural energy, but he also had his own internal energy stores. In battle, he called upon both equally. Erin attempted to tap into both. She knew she couldn¡¯t control such large amounts of energy on her own, but if Paradise would synergize with her she could direct a small portion of it for her own use¡­ and perhaps more efficiently than city-leveling balls of water. At first, she was uncertain if Paradise noticed. He didn¡¯t even respond to her extended energy. Then she felt a wave wash over her- water and energy. She was sent swirling away, but no follow up attack came. And if Erin was correct, it wasn¡¯t really an attack. That might have simply been the response she was hoping for, but with the usual subtlety of Paradise. She resolved herself to make another attempt. This might be a long process instead of something instantaneous, but not all cultivation had to take great leaps. That was the sort of thing that left you a burned out husk that was lucky to survive. Erin slightly envied Anton¡¯s power, but she knew it was better to be practical. So, another attempt. Once she managed to swim back to Paradise, since she¡¯d been shoved quite a distance away. Chapter 456 Rather than wait to see if there was some sort of issue, Anton contacted Matija to ask about. It wasn¡¯t possible to go into much detail, but the very act of asking about Rutera¡¯s star would have some implications. He trusted Matija enough to respond appropriately. If that ultimately meant sharing the information and the Ruterans taking offense, he would attempt to carefully release his connection to their star. Rutera was much closer than anywhere in the upper realms, but messages weren¡¯t as much faster as Anton might have thought. They could still take several days, despite being more than a factor of a hundred off in distance. Perhaps some oddity related to the difference between natural energy and ¡®upper¡¯ energy. The response took somewhere more than a week- which meant it likely wasn¡¯t immediate from Matija¡¯s perspective. It didn¡¯t say much. ¡°No notable changes. Should there be?¡± ¡°I would hope not,¡± was Anton¡¯s reply. ¡°There was simply a possibility something would have happened.¡± There was no particular response to that, which he took to be good news. He continued to exchange occasional unrelated information as normal in the following days and weeks. ----- Since he had to test it at some point, Anton took the time to test the limits of his connection to the sun. Traveling any significant distance through space was still unfamiliar, and Anton was hesitant to continue accelerating without end. He understood it didn¡¯t feel like he was going faster, but reaching the sun within a day had him going at a truly alarming speed. The issue wasn¡¯t that he thought he would run into anything- though there were indeed tiny particles of matter in what was otherwise empty void, he could withstand the impact. He was more concerned with what would happen if he left the influence of the sun and didn¡¯t have the energy to turn around. The speed at which his energy regenerated was vastly different after reaching his current stage of cultivation, and he was also skeptical about how much natural energy would be in the void of space between systems. There was a notable difference between his connection to the sun while on or near Ceretos and that when he was close to it- within a few solar radii- but his rate of regeneration and maximum power output increased by nearly fifty percent. However, after a certain distant the drop-off was sharp until reaching a point within a few percent of what he considered normal- and that remained true, very slowly reducing with distance until he was beyond the orbit of the most distant planet in the system. He spent weeks exploring, carefully moving towards the limits until he felt a consistent if slow drop-off in his connection. He couldn¡¯t be certain if it would continue exactly in that manner, but he felt if he doubled his distance his connection would dwindle to almost nothing. About the same as he felt to Rutera¡¯s star, in fact. Perhaps the minimum. Either way, it wouldn¡¯t get him to another system. Perhaps a tenth of the way at best, which made him quite hesitant to think about going further. For the sake of curiosity, he placed himself on the trajectory to Rutera and found that the drop-off was slower despite the fact that the distance was far enough that between the two stars of home and Rutera he should reach a point far enough from both of them that they were insignificant. Confirmation would have to wait, though. He had no reason to risk anything at the moment, and showing up uninvited would be rather strange even if things went perfectly. And if it didn¡¯t work, he might die in the void of space, which would be a shame because he had many things left to do. Instead of immediately returning to Ceretos, he toured the other planets in the system. There were several large gaseous planets with many moons as well as rings of stone caught in orbit around them. The gravity he felt from them made him hesitant to approach too closely, but he didn¡¯t feel any fluctuations of natural energy that would indicate anything living on them. Then again, he was only used to a certain kind of life. There were a few rocky planets, but they were not in a place that non-cultivators could survive even if they had atmosphere. Too hot or too cold- and likewise without any obvious life. The moon was the most interesting, because Anton knew that it had something on it, and even where it had been. He was ultimately disappointed that the ruins of Everheart¡¯s Tomb on the moon had undergone the same process as everything else- their futures held against their present, crumbling away to almost nothing. He did not perform an exhaustive search, but he was actually able to cover a surprising amount of the moon with his senses at once. He merely swept past vast emptiness, but without an atmosphere he could stretch a thin tendril of energy all the way around, and his omnidirectional senses comfortably reached for dozens of kilometers. He found familiar shapes of structures that had once existed, but he could not find where the living creatures had dwelled in a forest. It was presumably underground, but Anton couldn¡¯t say how far. It was amazing how much Everheart had done- even if he had been around for a significant period of time- but that was what reckless disregard for what was sensible got you. ----- It was years before considering himself Prospero Vandale no longer felt strange. There had always been small bits and pieces of memory with him since he reincarnated, without which he would not have survived. Even with them he had been exceedingly lucky. A well developed sense for danger only went so far on a place like Everheart¡¯s Tomb. His early years of life were still unclear- he didn¡¯t remember his parents, but he must have had them. He wasn¡¯t certain he wanted to remember them. Beyond the complications of adding new family, there were only a few options for them at the current time. Dead was most likely, but they could have also abandoned him. There was precious little else that was not some offshoot of those two options. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He slowly remembered more about his previous life. Who he had been, and who he had known. He was joined by the other members of the Order after some time, people he remembered mostly as promising individuals from what had been the latest generation at the time. That included his grandson. For the sake of laying low, he had been directed to a small, backwater planet- Zethea. There weren¡¯t any particularly appealing resources, but it had a reasonable level of ambient upper energy and had regular enough ships passing by, including those from the Dark Ring. Even though his grandson had joined up with them on some level, Prospero still had some reservations about them. Not that he thought they were hiding something- they never claimed to be a righteous sect and simply wanted to fight against the Harmonious Citadel because they were trying to take over. Having grown up on the Tomb with information of all sorts flooding into the area he knew they weren¡¯t bad, but Prospero still thought that they could do better. Either the Dark Ring, or someone else making their own sect. Saying that the Order of One Hundred Stars- which he was very pleased with the progress of- was a sect in the upper realms would be going a bit far, with only a half dozen members. But there was the potential to expand. The others even had the intention to create something of the sort, though how was still somewhat in question. Such things took time. ----- Finding time when Hoyt was alone was simple on Zethea. Interrupting another¡¯s cultivation was rude, but Prospero didn¡¯t even have to wait for Hoyt to come out of his meditation when he got close. ¡°Do you need anything?¡± Prospero wondered. ¡°I just want to talk, I suppose. I¡¯m not sure if I was a good grandfather.¡± ¡°Maybe not,¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°But I didn¡¯t really give you the chance. I wasn¡¯t a terribly good grandson either.¡± Silence held the majority of the conversation, but it wasn¡¯t entirely uncomfortable. ¡°I thought allowing you to forge your own path was the best. Especially with the results I saw.¡± ¡°It is what I wanted,¡± Hoyt agreed. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say if it was ultimately better, but I appreciate it nonetheless.¡± ¡°I wanted to be closer,¡± Prospero explained. ¡°But after the loss of your parents, I didn¡¯t really know how to approach you.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I don¡¯t feel any resentment. I respected you greatly as a cultivator and as a person. I just don¡¯t think we were much of a family.¡± ¡°And you found another grandfather.¡± ¡°What can I say?¡± Hoyt grinned. ¡°Anton naturally became everyone¡¯s grandfather. At first I was just amused by an old guy working so hard in the fields, but when I realized he was new to cultivation it was a great surprise. He was so easy to get along with because he was just a person. He¡¯s still that way, actually- though the cultivator mindset has certainly changed him somewhat.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad he¡¯s still alive,¡± Prospero nodded. ¡°And forging a new path of cultivation. I can¡¯t say I¡¯m surprised. I¡¯ll have to work hard to surpass him. Can¡¯t let myself be outdone by someone younger than me. That includes you as well,¡± Prospero noted. ¡°Even if I was dead for some decades, I¡¯m still much older than you.¡± ¡°Go ahead and try,¡± Hoyt held his back straight. ¡°I¡¯m not going to make it easy to catch up though.¡± ¡°Good! Exactly as it should be.¡± ¡°... it still feels weird to use it,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I spent so long trying to not be you, but in the end it¡¯s a really good technique.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t even know you¡¯d studied it at all,¡± Prospero said. ¡°Did Anton teach you?¡± Hoyt shook his head, ¡°No. I just watched you. You didn¡¯t even use it very often, but I always paid close attention.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got great talent,¡± Prospero said, ¡°And of course, I don¡¯t mind if you use it. The Falling Stars might have been made by me, but it was meant for the benefit of the Order as a whole. Though it seems that not many were suited for its use.¡± ¡°You saved many lives with it,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°So I¡¯d say it did its job excellently. Anyway, when you get a bit stronger we should spar sometime.¡± ¡°Why not do it right now?¡± Prospero grinned. ¡°Afraid of something?¡± ¡°Hardly,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Though we really shouldn¡¯t, if we¡¯re trying to remain on the down low. Not when your attacks can be seen and felt from two counties over.¡± ¡°I bet yours can as well.¡± ¡°Only partly,¡± Hoyt laughed, ¡°I usually don¡¯t make images high in the sky. Speaking of which, how is it to have two eyes again?¡± ¡°It¡¯s great,¡± Prospero said. ¡°Being young is amazing. I¡¯d say I¡¯m not going to waste away my youth this time and make something better of myself, but I honestly think I did quite decently last time. Maybe there will be a few less distractions on the way.¡± He slowly stood up. ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll leave you to your cultivation. I¡¯ve got most of Life Transformation to find my way through again, though it will mostly just take time. I¡¯m basically just planning how to Ascend. Or¡­ attain the Integration stage.¡± ¡°Good luck with that. And don¡¯t hesitate to ask for advice. I do have some practical experience in that regard. Though I¡¯m not quite certain if you can actually Ascend properly in the upper realms.¡± ¡°It does make things difficult, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Prospero stroked his chin. ¡°We¡¯ll definitely have to discuss all of that, but for the moment I just need to bring in as much energy as possible.¡± Prospero walked away feeling much better. While they might not be proper family, at least he confirmed they were on good terms¡­ perhaps better than when he had previously been alive. He resolved to learn more about how he retained his memories¡­ especially with how it related to the Twin Soul Sect. And hearing about how there could be another invasion in just a short couple hundred years or less, Prospero knew that shifting the odds in their favor as much as possible was important. Chapter 457 Concentric rings of carved runes fit a surprisingly compact space around Vari. Though her understanding of formations would inevitably be improved from so much exposure to Catarina¡¯s work, it wasn¡¯t on such a quick time scale that Vari thought she would ever actually approach the same level of skill. But she didn¡¯t need to. Everyone had different specialties, so knowing how formations worked was only important in a general sense- recognizing them and not carelessly entering unfamiliar arrangements. Thinking about how much it cost to put together this particular formation, with inlaid materials individually worth more than everything she had approximately a decade prior made Vari¡¯s head spin, but she¡¯d received a split of everything they¡¯d won in battle¡­ which was quite a lot, considering that more than a handful of Integration cultivators from rich sects had been taken out by their group. Even if she got a slightly smaller share, Vari still felt that she was receiving too much¡­ though she couldn¡¯t be quite sure how much of that was the Holy Harmony Technique speaking, telling her to be a good subordinate. In truth, Vari didn¡¯t mind following others, but having it be compulsory was quite unpleasant. Which was why the majority of her acquired wealth had been poured into this formation, and the various vessels containing concentrated upper energy. She had remained at the peak of Life Transformation for more than a few years, and was finally taking a chance at advancement. No, she was going to succeed. Or perhaps her method was flawed and she would die or have horrible side effects. Either way, she wasn¡¯t being half hearted about her efforts. If she simply wanted to advance through the normal processes of the Holy Harmony Technique- or even the Glorious Harmony Technique- Vari was rather certain she could accomplish that¡­ but it wouldn¡¯t achieve the results she wanted. All that delving into the deeper secrets of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s cultivation styles would be pointless. To some extent, all cultivation ran on belief. It might be confidence or mental fortitude or simple understanding of insights, but what one believed greatly changed what they could do. It didn¡¯t make the impossible possible, but it could make the barely-possible more achievable. The Harmonious Citadel took this a step further, focusing on it and relying on the power of devotion for the growth of some of their best disciples- and for their saints. Which in turn meant it came with related flaws. The Saints promised to protect the members of the Harmonious Citadel. Whether they meant it or not, or even actually said anything of the sort, they spread that belief. That made it true enough, and believed enough in the relevant ways. It wasn¡¯t just a rumor spread about them, but a belief fostered by them. Interpreting the phrase ¡°The Saints protect the members of the Harmonious Citadel¡± could result in many possible interpretations. None of them had to be right, and Vari was betting that she didn¡¯t have to personally believe the one she was going to rely on. Enough people did, which was all that mattered. They chose to tie themselves into the Harmonious Citadel¡­ and those like her who didn¡¯t actually have a choice shouldn¡¯t be harmed by her actions. There would only be one chance. Activating the formation was simple, requiring her only to shift a small cylinder into the center, dropping it in so the patterns matched. There was no active control of the formation that would be happening, instead it only gathered an augmented energy, as well as hopefully increasing Vari¡¯s connection to the metaphysical components of the Harmonious Citadel. She could only trust that some amount of that worked. Power swirled around and through her. The Saints swore to protect her. Protection was not just against physical things, but mental compulsion and of course tracking. Vari didn¡¯t care to consider whether it would protect against such things from those outside of the Harmonious Citadel- she simply wanted to be away from their influence. The Saints sword to protect her, and to use their power for those of the Harmonious Citadel. Vari was part of the Harmonious Citadel, as far as they were concerned. She had it on good authority that she had not been allowed to leave. Any possessive instinct they possessed towards her and other members should reinforce that. The Saints were powerful. They would provide for the people. Vari felt something new within her senses as her cultivation approached the brink. New, yet familiar. After it had been brought up, she had a vague sense of when devotion flowed from her, so it was like recognizing an old friend she had never seen. Some of it was from her, and it continued to flow towards its intended recipients- just not the saints. Where the rest came from had a clear direction, a long trail that flowed towards and into Vari. She was going to retrieve all of her devotion from the saints and the elite disciples¡­ and whatever else she could get, since they owed it to her. Vari felt her presence swell, and quickly realized even the small fraction of power she was bringing to herself was far too much for her to handle. Even as she began to break through to the Integration stage, the change was insufficient. But if that was how things were going to be¡­ she did not mind redirecting some of it. Directly focusing it on someone else, but letting it flow through her to be transformed seemed to work. Devotion was converted- a portion for herself, and a portion for her friends and saviors. For those who deserved actual respect, real devotion. And maybe just a bit for a certain individual who took over a planet and didn¡¯t deserve any of it except grudging respect for his power. Conscious intent rapidly left Vari, and she turned only into a swirl of thoughts and feelings. The devotion that flowed through her carried traces of thoughts and memories- nothing concrete, nor would she remember any of it afterwards in any specifics. But a myriad of prayers for protection from the saints filled Vari¡­ and she knew deep down that many of them had not been answered in any way. The devotion was taken, exchanged for nothing but neglect. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. When the torrent of energy settled down inside Vari, she found there was still a small but continuous flow towards her. Perhaps it was so little that the saints would not immediately notice¡­ or maybe they would come to kill her personally. She wasn¡¯t quite certain she could manage a proper resistance even with her advancement, but she relished the thought of such a conflict at a later point. She just hoped her companions weren¡¯t endangered by her before the time came. ----- Anton put away his communication plate. He was relieved to find that the sudden torrent of devotion was, if not entirely intentional, at least calculated. Apparently only a small part had ultimately made its way to him. He had not met this Vari, but she was certainly doing interesting things with her cultivation. Perhaps that was what was necessary to gain a foothold in the upper realms. Timing didn¡¯t always work out quite how he wanted. Velvet was planning her own ascension, but he would not be around to witness it. Anton had sensed disappointment and acceptance- he wasn¡¯t just going to be wandering off for no reason. Instead, he had been formally invited to visit Rutera. Whether the current number of years of contact made that fast or slow Anton couldn¡¯t be fully certain. He was not the only one- six individuals would be going, two from each continent for the moment. There were plans for more, but there were limitations on how many additional individuals could fit on a ship. Anton imagined it wasn¡¯t exactly cheap to send people between systems, either. Their end was not yet ready to make the attempt, but a Ruteran ship would retrieve them. Along with Anton, Ayotunde would be representing Ambati and Elder Tola representing Estary to the north. This was of course incomplete, but such were the limitations. Representing Aicenith there was Elder Paula of the Marvelous Rabbit Mountain, as well as Elder Intan of the Million Sword Vault. Elder Vasu was more prominent, but intended to remain with the sect¡­ indefinitely, perhaps. Finally, there was Elder Sudheer from the Silver Rhino Legion which rose to prominence in northern Aicenith after the fall of the Whispering Watchers. Anton wasn¡¯t terribly familiar with them, but they were among the reasonable sects. Though truthfully, Anton found that the majority of people upon Ceretos were trending in a direction where problems were solved with less violence. It certainly wasn¡¯t perfect, but there was continual progress. ----- The ship to carry the diplomats was differently arranged and slightly more luxurious than the science ship, but still mainly utilitarian. A dozen crew members were there to make sure it ran smoothly, as well as a few assigned to making the travel comfortable. However, at the level of the cultivators on board even if they had to stand in one place for several weeks they would not be too uncomfortable. With less natural energy as they left the system they couldn¡¯t distract themselves with cultivation in the same way but interacting with the crew and each other still made time pass swiftly. Personally, Anton felt watching the distorted view of the stars was another interesting way to pass the time. There was a slight blue tinting in some of the stars as they had accelerated, but that was overwhelmed by the change that happened when they shifted into subspace. Anton hadn¡¯t received a full explanation, but the purpose was that distances were shorter within subspace, thus reducing the time required to travel. Though it was achieved through alternate means, Anton thought it felt slightly like what happened to people who ascended- though he couldn¡¯t confirm the details having only observed people ascending, while only feeling this particular phenomenon from the inside. Subspace distorted views of the stars, making some seem larger or smaller or changing colors. He wasn¡¯t sure what caused all of them, but it was quite interesting. The distortions changed even if the relative positions of stars seemed to remain basically static around them- with the exception of Ceretos¡¯ star and Rutera¡¯s star. If Matija was around he would have asked more questions, but he didn¡¯t want to bug the obviously uncomfortable individuals on this ship too much. It was reasonable to be nervous around those of great power, but Anton tried to make them as comfortable as possible¡­ which mostly involved leaving them alone. When they dropped out of subspace, Rutera¡¯s star was still quite some distance away. Yet, it was also suddenly more tangible, at least to Anton. He did his very best to not draw from it in the slightest, though it left him feeling rather weak. The trip didn¡¯t appear to have been detrimental to his health, however. If he chose to draw upon Rutera¡¯s star, he imagined he would feel quite similar to home. The small chance of him dying along the way had been calculated for. He was still more comfortable traveling in the ship than flinging himself through the void of space alone- and he¡¯d never felt truly detached from the stars, though within subspace the connection to either felt dull. At the moment they were outside the system, and soon enough Anton discovered why they came out where they did. They passed by several gorgeous planets on the way to Ruterea. Planets with people on them, verified not just by their guides but by Anton¡¯s own senses. They seemed to live in controlled environments, which was sensible. The Ruterans didn¡¯t seem to have any individuals who could function without normal bodily needs. Then they came into sight of Rutera itself. From the specific arc they had traveled, Anton imagined they had intentionally come to the night side, revealing a glowing spiderweb of light. Bright cities, not unlike the arrangements of cultivator populations upon Ceretos but with more actual light instead of concentrated natural energy. Though Anton could tell that Rutera had its own reasonable quantities of natural energy to draw upon, simply being used in a different manner. He noticed structures floating outside the atmosphere- some with people, some smaller and without anyone aboard. He learned these were orbital stations and satellites, and from what he could tell there had to be thousands of them around Rutera. Their entrance to the atmosphere was a careful descent- fighting against gravity to keep themselves maintaining a reasonable speed. The ship protected those inside from the heat of reentry, both with the materials and control of energy directly, and experiencing it from inside was quite interesting Following that, he was treated to the sight of tall buildings teeming with people as they made their way to their proper destination. Though the population of Ceretos had been climbing significantly in the last half century, it was possible there were more people in this city than any of their individual countries. Millions¡­ perhaps tens of millions, though they also covered quite a wide expanse to achieve those numbers. Chapter 458 The main thing that Anton could say about Rutera was that it was different. Trying to keep track of everything going on was impossible, but it was mostly people going around their daily business. People worked, visited businesses, ate, found leisure time, and everything else that humans were expected to do. The details were different than Ceretos, but all were easily recognizable. It was different, but good. For the most part things were peaceful, though Anton had to restrain himself from interfering too much. His senses were quite expansive even when not directed to the extremes, which inevitably resulted in spying some crime. The Ruterans could obviously handle such things on their own, but a few nudges to make someone trip up didn¡¯t seem uncalled for. If he thought they would notice perhaps he wouldn¡¯t have done anything, but most of them didn¡¯t have personal energy senses. Some areas he could not sense into- though they didn¡¯t seem made to specifically bar his inspection, they did seem to block him. Likely for the very same reason, but against their own techniques. No doubt he could worm his way inside if he pressed, but people were entitled to their own privacy, especially if they worked for it. Anton would pick up plenty of extraneous information anyway. One shielded location was actually their destination- a grand tower that stood out from the others not by its size but by its separation. At ground level there were gardens, instead of simply more buildings packed together. These gardens were matched by additional plantlife on balconies. He thought he spotted some inside, but they ultimately descended atop the building, the majority of its roof wide and flat and clearly for this very purpose. Transportation was clearly much more dependent on vehicles for the Ruterans, instead of cultivators who generally relied on themselves- or occasionally powerful beasts, though the expense of finding one that would consistently remain ahead of a cultivator was difficult. Once inside the building, even without trying the vast majority revealed itself to Anton¡¯s senses. He could tell there were lesser versions of the protective barrier on the outside throughout, but they were much less effective. The others were clearly just as interested in what they were seeing as Anton. This was just like the Ruterans visiting the Order, though personally Anton thought himself better at hiding his reactions if he chose to. Though showing an appropriate level of interest was best, so that the Ruterans knew that their intentions to impress had worked. A flurry of people were introduced to them- representatives of different regions of Rutera itself, standing for their cultural differences. It was good to know that unity hadn¡¯t completely subsumed individual expression- differences were required for the best learning to occur. Diplomat Nirmala was present, along with so many others Anton had to focus to keep track of them all. The most important was the President. The ruler of Rutera, though it seemed to be a temporary position. Aneirin Park was his name, and he appeared to be around middle aged. Determining his actual age was difficult without probing too deeply, especially given the way Ruterans aged being different from cultivators. Even those who didn¡¯t have any significant energy seemed to reap the benefits of technology on their lifespans. ¡°Welcome to Rutera¡± was the phrase of the day, said by their guides to the president to all of the others. Important people, certainly. Some who Anton imagined gained their powers from wealth, but a few obviously of military background. They stood out not only from their posture, but also the greater internal power they had. Using certain aspects of Ruteran technology trained natural energy, regardless of them being aware of it or not. Serving staff of all sorts did their best to stay out of everyone¡¯s way, and Anton did his best to make sure he encountered them regardless. They were still human, and determining how such people were treated could tell him much about the Ruterans. He was overall satisfied. It was little different than Anton would have expected. Some didn¡¯t treat them well, thinking those performing menial labor lesser. Others were cognizant of them being people, and acted as such. In this place at least all of them were quite well paid, though it took some time to determine that. Not that he expected less from such an institution. The embassy tower was quite luxurious, and even the least pleasant people understood that servants in such places had to be paid accordingly. With his ability to listen in on the slightest whispers, Anton could have delved into the depths of Ruteran politics¡­ and while he noted the various interactions, he was more interested in what was happening outside of the embassy. Anton turned to the individual who was assigned to be his personal assistant while present, Koby. ¡°I¡¯d like to see the outside.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Koby nodded. ¡°We have a few spare moments, we could tour the gardens¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure that would be lovely,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Though I hoped to visit more of the city. Though I understand that it would be preferred for me to see everything in the best light.¡± ¡°Other excursions are planned for the future,¡± Koby admitted, ¡°But it would be preferable to remain here for a few days while you adjust.¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I might cause a commotion roaming the streets.¡± ¡°Most likely,¡± Koby nodded. ¡°Though perhaps not for the reasons you imagine.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Anton thought briefly. ¡°Obviously my clothes are quite different than what is here, but there is enough variety throughout the city that without weapons I might blend in,¡± then Anton grinned, ¡°Though they do an excellent job of making people uncomfortable.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Most people have minimal interaction with weapons.¡± ¡°Perhaps that¡¯s for the best, though when it become necessary, lacking experience in such things can be quite problematic.¡± ----- Several days passed. There were only so many ways Anton could talk about his past without mentioning just how many battles he had been in, though some of the others were more open about those aspects. Perhaps they liked to see people squirm. For those like Ayotunde, who wore his scars proudly on his bare and strongly muscled arms, it didn¡¯t take visible weapons for anyone to know he was a warrior. Elder Sudheer of the Silver Rhino Legion walked around in obvious armor as well, compared to Anton¡¯s thinner and more mobile options. Anton paid close attention to the security around them. From what he could tell, it was increased significantly, some positions seeming bloated with guards. They always reacted to the presence of any of the cultivators, though Anton felt it was more appropriate caution based on what they had heard than an aggressive inspection. They should be around to protect them, though honestly Anton couldn¡¯t see the individuals hired doing much against any Life Transformation cultivator. Nor any of the more military personnel, some of whom had sidearms that were not quite as concealed as perhaps they imagined. It was not something Anton would call anyone out on, unless he thought them to have ill intent. Having weapons on hand was merely practical, and while relying on the defenses of those you were a guest to was polite, it wasn¡¯t always safe. One of those armed individuals was General Nicodemo, a youth by any reasonable standards. To have a position such as his at somewhere around forty years old seemed to be an exception, and he was the youngest of those in similar ranks Anton had seen. Anton found himself seated with Nicodemo at one of the meals. There was some polite conversation, but eventually they moved onto more interesting topics. ¡°I hear the six of you are great warriors. Yet I am curious at how strong you can actually be, with outdated weaponry.¡± Interested listeners all around tried not to look like they were focused on the conversation. ¡°Outdated in what way? I find that our weapons are perfectly suitable for our needs.¡± ¡°Perhaps that is so,¡± Nicodemo said as he carefully took a bite. ¡°But blades are only of use in a melee. I understand you are an archer, so you must understand that. Yet the range of a bow is minimal compared to a proper rifle.¡± ¡°Yet there¡¯s a reason for every choice,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Even you carry a blade.¡± Nicodemo stiffened, ¡°What?¡± ¡°Did you forget? Ten centimeters, strapped to your left thigh on the inside. Reinforced with some rather interesting alloys.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, nobody heard that part.¡± Anton released his hold on the sound around them, ¡°Though our weapons may seem outdated, they are quite effective for our use of natural energy. Your weapons condense the energy for you, but with our individual level of control your firearms would most likely limit us.¡± ¡°I am not so sure of that,¡± Nicodemo said, externally appearing calmer than his heartbeat said. ¡°Perhaps we will have a chance for a demonstration.¡± ¡°I am certain we can find the time,¡± Anton said. ¡°It is a long journey, and we aren¡¯t planning to leave immediately.¡± Anton was well aware that Nicodemo wanted to show off, and prove some sort of superiority. In truth, Anton was tempted to do the same. Being able to observe some of their better weaponry could be valuable, though of course he wished to keep things friendly. That was why Anton didn¡¯t mention he could kill anyone in the room before a single guard could even think to react. ----- If there were not a specific goal in mind for those in the upper realms, they wouldn¡¯t have chosen to return to Everheart¡¯s Tomb. At first it had been a convenient location to meet up, but upon discovering that the formation plate had some connection to it solving that mystery seemed to be important. There were simply too many dangers- both from the tomb and enemies, since that centrality of its location attracted all types. They had managed to survive so far, but there had been uncertain times for some of them. Now they would be returning with Prospero Vandale, formerly calling himself Rouben. Having grown up on Everheart¡¯s Tomb in his reincarnated life, he was still not fond of the idea of going back for no reason. ¡°I hope that this excursion will pay off,¡± he said. ¡°Revealing some great power and controlling it could help establish our position, but there are still few of us.¡± He shrugged, ¡°Of which I am the weakest, at the moment, I admit.¡± Spikes was the only one not in the equivalent of Integration, though she had the potential to advance soon. Meanwhile, Prospero was still taking his first steps in Life Transformation. He was a bit more capable than just his cultivation level indicated, but he was a full stage behind. Yet an additional ally was a boon, especially one more deeply familiar with Everheart¡¯s Tomb. ¡°You spoke of anomalies in the labyrinth,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Of what sort?¡± ¡°In some areas, traps don¡¯t function as it seems they should- whether making them more or less powerful than intended, it seems random.¡± ¡°Anything like odd gravity?¡± ¡°Not that I have heard of,¡± Prospero admitted. ¡°That might have been some sort of specific action taken by Everheart. Which means we should do our best to avoid his notice upon entering now. Better for him to not have us on his mind.¡± ¡°I thought the same,¡± Hoyt agreed. ¡°We can handle any incidental dangers or standard traps, but intentional moves by the fellow controlling a planet¡­ seem dangerous. And he could learn too much.¡± They were never truly comfortable having such conversations, but they had not even landed yet. Which meant they were close to the last moments they could be certain their plans were secret- though they couldn¡¯t exactly avoid conversing on the planet sometimes. They could only hope that the various pieces of Everheart operated independently, which was the case as far as they were aware. The projections on Ceretos were only aware of each other because of knowing plans or learning about things like everyone else. There might be some communication, but the projections couldn¡¯t share every tiny detail¡­ or watch literally everywhere at once. Chapter 459 There were many things involving the technology of Rutera that Anton didn¡¯t understand. For example, there was a very common practice of those uninvolved in the diplomatic interactions to hold something up towards what was happening. It wasn¡¯t a scanner as far as Anton could tell. It only used a small amount of energy for whatever it was doing. Fortunately, Anton had Koby to help him, and the ability to conceal his own ignorance. ¡°What is that?¡± he asked, ¡°Those people over there, holding up those devices?¡± ¡°Who? Ah, I see. The photographers. They¡¯re taking pictures for the news. Does it bother you?¡± ¡°I was simply curious,¡± Anton said. ¡°These pictures¡­ how can they produce drawings so rapidly?¡± ¡°Perhaps it would be easier to show you the result,¡± Koby said. ¡°It captures incoming light and allows it to be displayed later.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± Anton said. ¡°I believe there were occasional attempts at similar things, but they were generally larger and more unwieldy.¡± ¡°Earlier versions were certainly less portable,¡± Koby explained. ¡°But now they can do quite a bit with a small amount.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Anton said. ¡°I was wondering about that.¡± ¡°You are welcome,¡± Koby said. ¡°Can I ask something?¡± he was getting used to Anton¡¯s friendliness, and was actually willing to interact outside of required work. ¡°How do you do¡­ this?¡± He gestured around them. ¡°Cutting off the sound around us. Does it make people unable to hear us?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton said. ¡°And the method is rather direct. I simply halt the sound from moving beyond a boundary with my control of natural energy. And I conceal the images of us slightly so that our lips cannot be read, and our body language becomes less distinct. Otherwise it hardly helps.¡± ¡°Fascinating,¡± Koby said. ----- Leaving the diplomatic compound was a rare event, though Anton didn¡¯t exactly feel trapped. He could see why they would be reluctant to have anyone go out, with how many people were watching every move. The people in the surrounding city were very cognizant of the presence of foreign individuals, and there were quite a large number of individuals involved in the news present. Apparently, they were displaying it to other parts of the world nearly instantaneously. Communication at a far distance was not a new concept, but transmitting more than simple text in a continuous manner was not something Ceretos could accomplish. They had a very different path, though they were beginning to learn some of Rutera¡¯s technology and adapt it to their own uses. The land vehicles that carried them away from the compound were highly protected, windows tinted to prevent people from seeing in and also fortified with hidden barriers. They seemed intended for privacy and safety, though in truth they were unnecessary for either. The gesture was appreciated, however. Today was one of the excursions Anton had been looking forward to. Since it was decided it would be too much fuss for him to walk around the city unaccompanied- and too much of a scene to have him wandering around at his whim- the next best thing was something practical. Specifically, a military demonstration. Anton had seen Matija¡¯s personal weapon in action, and it made efficient use of her energy- but he was curious about the various different things the locals had. General Nicodemo was obviously looking forward to the demonstration, no doubt to show the visitors how weak their outdated weaponry was. And if it truly was better, Anton was certain that people would be interested in changing their fighting styles. Though personally Anton would have to see something remarkable to make him change away from archery. Perhaps if their technology could make a better bow it would be one thing, but centuries of experience would be hard to replace with only a minor improvement in power. The results were¡­ interesting. Anton could say that the weapons demonstrated were better than what Grant and those in the same field as him had developed so far. In general, the weapons were more compact. Personal weapons seemed to be either using an individuals internal energy like he had already seen, or like small versions of cannons. Both were guns, but the projectile weapons stored their own power in the ammunition, using both an explosion of some sort of powder and the local versions of formations to propel things with energy. The actual projectiles were rarer for personal weapons, but both forms served the purpose of bringing up the average combat ability of individuals. Then there were larger weapons, which in effect were the same as cannons. Capable of creating large explosions that would damage a wide area. Anton was fairly certain they had more weapons in reserve, though some of the larger ones could match an Essence Collection or Life Transformation cultivator in power, if not flexibility. Yet weapons weren¡¯t the only thing demonstrated. The more interesting properties were the defensive shields they had, less versatile than a cultivator defending themself with energy but also more automatic. These could be powered by the individual wearing them or an attached device. They could be standalone or part of a full-body combat suit, a body hugging outfit that served as armor as well as a form of amplification. In their combat outfits, Anton saw the movements of soldiers amplified, and it seemed their reactions as well. There were only short demonstrations between personnel- with lower powered weapons for safety- but while the individuals weren¡¯t trained like normal cultivators, Anton could see them move more quickly and smoothly, aiming their weapons and avoiding enemy fire. There was much focus on ranged combat, and thus cover became an important factor. The larger weapons could destroy it, of course, but there were high energy costs involved. ¡°Well?¡± General Nicodemo asked, puffing out his chest proudly. The others no doubt had their own opinions, but Anton proffered his first. ¡°I must admit, I am impressed. Efficient use of energy, and a fighting style that greatly suits your developments.¡± Anton paused to gently word the next part. ¡°It would be even more impressive with the addition of personal energy control. If they could adapt to the situation, the effects would be magnificent.¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°The soldiers are quite able to adapt to new situations¡­¡± General Nicodemo said. It was clear he wanted to be more forceful with his response, but he was politically savvy enough to restrain himself. ¡°Do you have¡­ specific comments?¡± ¡°Your weapons fire in straight lines. Functional, reliable, but predictable. A small bit of control could allow the beams of energy to curve around cover.¡± ¡°We have methods for that,¡± General Nicodemo said defensively. ¡°Specialized weaponry that can be calibrated to any situation.¡± ¡°I am certain it is excellent,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if it could be fast as thought, it would be even more impressive.¡± Anton¡¯s words were all genuine, and he made sure to add as much positivity as possible, but he knew that any negativity seemed to drown out greater amounts of good. ¡°Not enough swords,¡± was Elder Intan¡¯s only comment. The answer merely served to baffle General Nicodemo, because despite his disdain for ¡®outdated weaponry¡¯ the comment was not even related to what was shown. Ayodunde kept his opinions between himself and Anton. ¡°They¡¯re decent,¡± he said, ¡°But I could be upon them in an instant while they were unprepared, cutting them down.¡± ¡°Perhaps so,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But I think they would have more soldiers to replace them. It is not the preferred method of cultivators like us, but allowing a larger portion of your population to be militarily capable is effective.¡± ¡°Greater numbers are cultivating every day, though,¡± Ayotunde pointed out. ¡°I also prefer our own methods,¡± Anton said, ¡°But that may be because they are familiar. And I can see the possibilities of merging parts of them. If nothing else, their transportation methods are impressive.¡± ¡°No teleportation though.¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t seen any teleportation,¡± Anton said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean there isn¡¯t any.¡± He hadn¡¯t asked about it, because that would lead towards questions about Ceretos. That was one secret they probably still had. ----- Anton didn¡¯t mind curious individuals taking pictures, but when they were being taken from outside of the compound he was less comfortable with them. Not those walking up to the gates and looking in, but those off in the distance looking down upon the gardens. Apparently pictures could be taken with such high fidelity to allow for them to function from a long distance. Anton had asked, just in case the individuals in question were spies. ¡°Someone taking pictures from a nearby building?¡± Koby asked. ¡°I don¡¯t see any but¡­ it is on the edge of what is allowable. With private individuals it would be forbidden, but taking pictures of a government facility such as this from a location the individual is allowed to be is tolerated. Though we could have them stop, if you point them out.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind if they wish to look at my wrinkles,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Though I suddenly want to play a prank on them. I could wait for them to take a picture¡­ and then show up behind them.¡± ¡°Hah!¡± Koby grinned. ¡°Now that would be something. Running like that would be hard on the knees, though. How do you see them anyway?¡± ¡°I have good eyes,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I could do it. Though I¡¯ll probably keep things toned down. Watch,¡± Anton said. Koby watched Anton as he asked, unsure what he was supposed to see. The old man suddenly turned to look in a specific direction. Then, an instant later, he was gone. No, he was a few dozen feet away, behind a hedge- at least from the viewpoint of where he had been looking a moment earlier. Anton waved to Koby, who scurried over. ¡°What was that? I didn¡¯t even see you move.¡± ¡°I just scrambled over,¡± Anton said. ¡°In a very short time.¡± ¡°How does that even-¡± Anton¡¯s face suddenly turned serious, and he held out a hand to stop Koby. ¡°I need you to get me in contact with General Nicodemus. Immediately.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Koby looked around- though he dutifully pulled out his communication device. Before he could speak into it, Anton stopped him once more. ¡°Sorry, hold that thought. I¡¯ll go myself.¡± Then he was gone- though not far. Anton simply appeared in front of President Park, who was coming in through one of the gates. ¡°President Park. Are you expecting visitation from other non-Ruteran individuals?¡± The president took a step back as Anton appeared, his guards taking half a step forward. ¡°How¡¯d you get¡­?¡± he quickly composed himself, seeing Anton¡¯s serious manner. ¡°We haven¡¯t been in contact with anyone else.¡± ¡°You had best make sure everyone is prepared then,¡± Anton said. ¡°You would want to make-¡± A harsh tone rang out, indicating that the president was being contacted. ¡°One moment,¡± he said, pulling out the communication device he carried. ¡°This appears to be an emergency.¡± He turned away and lowered his voice as he spoke into his device. ¡°Yes? Who is it?¡± Anton could hear both sides of the conversation, though it was about what he expected. ¡°Unknown signals? Very well, I¡¯m on it.¡± He turned towards Anton. ¡°How did you know?¡± ¡°I sensed it,¡± Anton said. ¡°A powerful energy signature. Not like any of yours or ours.¡± ¡°Really?¡± he looked taken aback at the information. ¡°Is that even possible?¡± ¡°It is.¡± Anton frowned as he looked up into the sky. ¡°It seems you will not be preparing in the same way as you might have expected. Hostile action has been taken by the newcomer.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± President Park asked- but he was answered immediately by another call. The compound quickly broke into action, as information poured in from various directions. ¡°Mister President,¡± one of his guards said, after a message on a slightly different communication device- ones Anton knew were always listening for specific sorts of communication. ¡°We need to get you inside the building. This is the safest nearby location. The guests as well.¡± ¡°One moment,¡± Anton said, ¡°I¡¯ll round up everyone who is outside.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t be-¡± before they could even begin to explain, Anton had dragged Koby and several others over to the door. Anton smiled at the most experienced guard who had almost managed to track him with his eyes. ¡°You should get inside,¡± Anton said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem they are going to stop shooting things up there.¡± As a guest, it was only proper to contribute to the defense of their hosts. Or at least, Anton didn¡¯t want to wait around while anyone died. Fire was being exchanged in both directions, so even if their side suddenly became more effective it wasn¡¯t as if he would be sparking something that wasn¡¯t already on the way. Chapter 460 The vessel Anton could sense in space was much more akin to Anton¡¯s expected idea of vessels. It was a ship much like he was used to, and while there were certainly metal reinforcements it still took the form of a traditional sailing vessel with one exception. There was no upper deck to speak of, the vessel being rotationally symmetric around a round core, with eight sets of sails. It still maintained a clear bow and stern, with most weapons aimed along the former. From what Anton could tell with his minimal ability to probe inside the vessel, the crew was sheltering inside while they controlled the weapons, some akin to ballistae while others functioned much like the local Ruteran weapons, pure beams of energy. The method they used to achieve that was much more familiar to Anton. As soon as it had revealed itself, Anton took in as much information as possible. There was a significant energy signature making up the vessel, though comparing it to familiar cultivation levels was difficult. Then it had engaged in combat- shooting down orbital stations and satellites in an extremely aggressive maneuver. If there had truly been no prior contact with Rutera then it was an insane first move. Several smaller structures were quickly destroyed, though some of the defensive satellites retaliated with their own beams. They were effective at first, striking against the defensive barriers around the incoming ship and depleting some of their energy. Anton didn¡¯t expect them to break through quickly, but he was even more surprised when the weapons suddenly stopped being effective. Instead of digging into the barriers they began to splatter off of them, though Anton felt no change in the weapons¡¯ intensity. The power of the barriers hadn¡¯t increased either, though there was something that changed with them. As Anton snapped up everyone outside in the gardens, bringing them to the shelter of the main embassy tower which Anton knew was well fortified, the other cultivators began to make their way out. First were Ayotunde and Intan, who eyed each other. Ayotunde wielded a large straight sword, yet Anton knew he could use it with great finesse. Meanwhile Intan of the Million Sword Vault carried two smaller curved blades. The exchange of glances only lasted an instant before they were focused back on the enemy above. Following behind them were Tola from the Infinite Wisdom Forest as well as Paula from Marvelous Rabbit Mountain. The former threw out formation flags, setting up a small barrier. Paula immediately began to run up the outside of the tower, though the distance was not much different between the ground and top of the tower compared to the ship on the edge of space. Sudheer of the Silver Rhino Legion was last, brushing past various people trying to stop him, including President Park. ¡°We can¡¯t protect you if you don¡¯t take shelter!¡± ¡°We appreciate the concern,¡± Sudheer responded, ¡°And if we determine it will be beneficial, we will take shelter within the embassy. But where we are from, we expect to fight.¡± He looked up into the sky, ¡°They will have to come slightly closer for most of us to have an effect though.¡± At most tiny sparks of light could be seen in the sky against the midday sun, and only to the trained eye. ¡°We have ships scrambling to intercept,¡± President Park explained. ¡°They will be present momentarily.¡± Another message came in for him, and he cursed. Nobody was supposed to hear him mumbling about other incoming ships, but they all did. Anton had already delayed long enough, occupying himself with getting others to shelter and confirming the response of the Ruterans. He reached into his storage bag as he formed energy bows around him, firing up into the sky. The enemy ship would have been outside of his normal comfortable sensing range, but much of it didn¡¯t even have atmosphere to interfere- a couple hundred extra kilometers through space was actually quite a bit easier. His arrows made probing attacks, striking the main body of the ship as well as the masts, sails, and weapon emplacements. As far as he could tell the barrier protected all equally, which meant he simply had to force his way through single points. He ramped up the intensity of his energy, forming another half dozen energy bows. His attacks focused on two points, arrows striking simultaneously. That was when he realized he¡¯d made a mistake. Somehow, between the first and second volley, the enemy¡¯s barrier had adapted. Anton expected his clusters to pierce through the barrier to the inner layers of the ship, but he only managed to break through in the cluster with his primary bow, his shot digging into the reinforcing metal plates but going no deeper. Most of his arrows had impacted uselessly on the barrier, causing little more than minor tremors. The speed and effect of that adaptation was disturbingly fast. Having avoided drawing upon the Ruteran sun until this point, it was only now that Anton determined his connection was incomplete. He had the potential to form the same powerful connection with his own sun, and he was quite certain he could do so without the tremendous consequences of his first attempt, but he only had a smaller channel at the moment. Even as he drew upon it he could feel it widening, but it wasn¡¯t enough. Even so, he continued his bombardment¡­ while reaching further for energy he could never have, drawing upon ascension energy. No matter how many regular spirit arrows he shot, the enemy barely seemed to notice them- he would certainly deplete himself faster than they could now. But his arrow that carried ascension energy drove forward, aiming for one of the weapons. Upon impacting the barrier it slowed for a moment, the forces fighting against each other, then a small section of the barrier shattered. Anton¡¯s arrow went through the barrier, the ballista behind it and the armored hull, one of the individuals controlling it, and halfway through an inner wall before it petered out. His follow up shot made it through the barrier but only scraped against the next weapon emplacement, damaging but not completely ruining the weapon. It lodged in the hull but didn¡¯t penetrate the full way through. And his third shot, as quickly as he could reach peak power, barely managed to puncture a hole in the barrier. Each hole in the barrier quickly reformed. That was when the ship retaliated. There was a clear target for it, because while Anton¡¯s arrows hadn¡¯t all taken a straight trajectory his location was fairly obvious. A larger forward weapon that Anton hadn¡¯t targeted because of the heavier plates shielding it gathered energy¡­ and then a beam tore through the atmosphere above him. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Before Anton could respond, Ayotunde leapt into the air. ¡°Let us deal with this. You focus on offense.¡± The beam arrived in an instant, the moment of charging being the main indication of its arrival. Ayotunde¡¯s blade slashed towards it, slicing the beam in two and deflecting it to either side. The attack was continuous, but his blade swept up and down, extending far beyond its actual length. The split beams fell on either side of Ayotunde and thus Anton beneath him, but Intan leapt up to intercept them regardless. They would only impact the ground around them, but his blade spun, chopping the energy into smaller pieces that scattered against Tola¡¯s barrier- or the defenses on the tower itself. Other smaller attacks were fired towards the tower itself, the strongest of which Paula intercepted, leaping into the sky and kicking the projectiles from ballistae into the paths of others or to cut off beams. What got past her was sustained by the barriers on the tower itself. Anton frowned. The Ruteran weapons didn¡¯t work. His natural energy didn¡¯t work. Ascension energy was barely enough to drain any of the ship¡¯s power, and not enough to cause damage. If his connection to the local sun had been complete perhaps he might have been able to overwhelm this vessel''s defenses, but the speed at which it adapted was concerning. He had been peppering it from different angles just in case, but it seemed the barrier worked in all directions just as well. He did have one sort of energy that was just perfect for this sort of thing. Anton thought about death and what lay beyond. Reincarnation for some- perhaps for all, given time. Yet something would be lost. Spectral energy formed into an arrow and simply refused to interact with the barrier or armor of the vessel. In the brief moments his first ascension arrow reached inside Anton had sensed some of the layout of the vessel, and did his best to target a few individuals he thought might be more important. The last of them would probably survive, but if the others did they would have to replace their hearts. Either way, they would be more focused on that for the moment. Attacks continued to rain down on Anton and the tower, but he didn¡¯t concern himself with that. That was what his companions were for, though he could see Paula was eager to attempt to jump the remaining distance if the ship came even close to the edge of the atmosphere. Even if she couldn¡¯t do it in a single leap, there was some level where it was expected she could perform an action similar to flying for a short time. Then the Ruteran fleet arrived- or perhaps a small portion of it, given the mention of other attackers. Either way, Anton felt them approaching, curving around outside the atmosphere. Their beam weapons struck against the enemy barriers and¡­ actually penetrated through? That was odd, because Anton was almost certain that they were the same type of weapons, and that some of the orbital platforms had more powerful weapons. Yet a moment later, the enemy vessel was clearly turning. Whether to get a better angle or retreat, Anton didn¡¯t care. He continued to fire, rains of his arrows laying into the ship to no visible effect while he alternated between ascension energy and the spectral energy he was not as familiar with as he would like to be. The latter ran into the same issue as the others, where the first shot was most effective. After that, somehow the barriers blocked it. The power it had was marginal if it could actually be intercepted, but Anton continued to use it nonetheless. As the Ruteran ships made their attacks, Anton saw they were slowly reducing in effectiveness¡­ but his own shots from his energy bows were beginning to actually penetrate the barrier. It seemed there was some limit to what the enemy could adapt to at once. Unlike a proper sailing vessel, the approaching ship was quite maneuverable, flipping around and accelerating away quickly. Within a minute it was outpacing the smaller vessels chasing it and then¡­ it disappeared. The opposite of when it first arrived, though a bit shakier in Anton¡¯s opinion. Yet Anton didn¡¯t feel pleased. The reaction was too quick, as if the enemy had planned to do the same all along. When word came in from the other attack locations of similar results- though usually with less damage- it was confirmed. ----- Back inside the embassy tower, Aneirin Park was addressing the cultivators. ¡°It is not our intention to draw you into a conflict¡­ though we do appreciate your contributions. We have little information that you don¡¯t, except for one detail. Based on the enemy¡¯s trajectories, they should have come from and returned to Azoth, another promising system nearby. Our science vessel sent there was lost in what we had previously presumed to be an accident. Now¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°We can assume they shot it down. Just to make sure we¡¯re clear- General. Your presentation.¡± General Nicodemo stood with his back straight. Displayed behind him were remarkably clear images from the battle. ¡°This is one of the enemy vessels. They varied in size, but their general design was similar. Initial bombardments had some slight effect, but the same weaponry became rapidly less effective, until it seemed to do nothing. You experienced the same did you not, Sect Head Anton?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. My Spirit Arrows formed purely of natural energy were rapidly adapted to. Ascension energy and another sort I have learned to utilize were likewise quickly adapted to. I did not have time to test other elemental options.¡± ¡°Your efforts resulted in the most important information we acquired. Other locations saw them adapt to more than a handful of different weapon designs with nearly perfect resistance, but here they didn¡¯t quite manage four, including our most common beam designs. Given that the one above this location was one of the more powerful ships, it is clear that some things are more difficult for them to adapt to. Does anyone have further insights to add?¡± Anton did not- except for minor details. Those on the defensive added some of their own thoughts- the enemy¡¯s beams were powerful but not flexible, at least at a long range. They truly had little information about the vessels from Azoth, though small pieces of debris were currently being salvaged that would hopefully yield something usable. After the official meeting was over- one of the most uncomfortably short ones possible- General Nicodemo waved Anton over as everyone else left the room. ¡°Do you need something?¡± ¡°I want to apologize for my earlier words,¡± General Nicodemo said. ¡°Your weapons are clearly more effective than I anticipated. Please forgive me. In addition, though I know I am not in a position to be making any requests¡­¡± he dropped to his knees. ¡°Please take me as a disciple. I don¡¯t have the talent to learn your method of cultivation on my own, but perhaps with the guidance of a master such as yourself¡­¡± ¡°You are forgiven,¡± Anton said. ¡°And of course I will teach you. Though our limited time here means much of my instruction will have to be remote, or on later visits. But I can at least give you sufficient guidance to last the next decade or so.¡± Nicodemo raised his head. ¡°Really? If there¡¯s anything I can do to make up for the insult, I will gladly do so. Even if it¡¯s humiliation you desire.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Anton grinned, ¡°I suppose I could think of one thing.¡± Anton grabbed something from his storage bag and tossed it in front of him. ¡°You have to learn to use a bow!¡± Chapter 461 The news on Rutera about the attacks framed it as a victory on the part of Rutera, and while Anton agreed in a certain manner¡­ it also wasn¡¯t quite correct. The attackers from Azoth- if that designation was correct- had sustained minimal losses. No ships destroyed, though Anton had killed some individuals aboard one of the ships and perhaps a commander of some sort. It was a victory- but he had the feeling that the other side was satisfied with their results as well. It must have been a probing attack of some sort. They were prepared with targets, and while nothing major had been destroyed, it was clear that Rutera¡¯s defenses were not entirely sufficient. Anton was impressed how quickly they scrambled their actual ships, though. They reached nearly arbitrary points around the planet within minutes, and multiple locations at once. Rutera wasn¡¯t weak, but they weren¡¯t prepared for something like this to happen. The attack came with unfortunate casualties, but there was the possibility that Rutera could learn more from this than the attackers. The biggest issue was the adaptable barriers. Just seeing how they worked certainly would make combating them easier- defense stations were already being retrofitted with wider varieties of weapons- but the attacks from Azoth should know that was a possibility. Which meant they had either shown their hand and would be less of an issue, or there was more to it. ----- Soldiers on Rutera seemed to be fond of push-ups and other similar exercises. Training with weights and the like was also quite common. Anton deemed all of it to be¡­ fine. It strengthened the body to some extent, and it provided a decent basis to work from. It was certainly better than attempting to begin Body Tempering without a strong physique. The best part about push-ups in Anton¡¯s opinion was that they were a communal activity. Right now he had a whole field of soldiers in front of him straining their bodies, building up fatigue and sweat. Among them was Nicodemo. Though he was a general, he trained with the others. Having seen some of the other higher ranking military officers, Anton had been unimpressed by their training. Nicodemo had at least kept himself in shape fit for combat duty, though it seemed that Rutera hadn¡¯t been involved in any real conflicts for some time. Now they were recruiting. It seemed an awful lot of effort to have to train thousands of individuals from a sedentary state to fighting fit in only a short time, but Rutera was not a planet of cultivators. There were other issues as well. Anton had hardly paid attention to it before the battle, but Rutera¡¯s natural energy levels were unimpressive. Lower than the general level of Ceretos when Anton had begun cultivating, even. Anton didn¡¯t have other lower realm worlds to compare to, but it would make cultivation harder. Perhaps that was why they had developed differently. The energy swirling inside Anton was slowly building towards more comfortable levels, the heat of a star filling Anton¡¯s belly. He was not going to be apologetic for connecting himself to this star, because he might have reason to fight here once more. And in the grand scheme of things, he only caused unexpected fluctuations and not a fundamental change in the star. At the moment, the majority of the energy he was drawing was being released back into the world for others to use. It wasn¡¯t a perfect system, but it provided sufficient energy for those around him to train more efficiently. Anton wished he¡¯d brought a series of tomes on growing natural energy through everyday activities- both internal to a cultivator and for a world as a whole- but he hadn¡¯t expected to need them. They would have needed translating, of course, but that was a minor issue. Now he had to split his time between diplomacy and teaching. Though in truth, he would happily give up the former and spend all of his time on the latter. It would just be easier with proper materials and not just his memory. His memory was good, keeping key details, but minor things could slip through the cracks. And he could only answer so many questions at once. ¡°Enough,¡± Anton declared to the group of soldiers. ¡°Time for a break.¡± Though he called it that, it was actually still work. There was a time for active fortification of muscles, and a time to let them rest while the body as a whole was slowly tempered. For those who weren¡¯t even in the first star, grasping the basics of meditation was an important practice. After meditation was sparring. The Ruteran soldiers were reluctant to fight with seriousness and lethality, but they were getting used to it. Besides, they were learning how to not kill each other. To measure the right amount of energy to use offensively and defensively. Anton stopped a dagger that was about to go two centimeters into someone¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Harrison. Careful with your levels.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Given they barely had any experience, Anton couldn¡¯t blame them for their inexperience. He was considering allowing them to make minor mistakes soon, just a little bit of damaged skin or the like. He wouldn¡¯t always be around to manage them. Nicodemo¡¯s sparring partner was nervous- both because Nicodemo was higher ranking, and because he was good. That made Nicodemo¡¯s victory easier than it should have been, so when he swapped partners Anton pulled him aside for a moment. ¡°Everyone¡¯s still learning, but it¡¯s clear you¡¯re still better than most of those here. I want you to limit your energy usage to half.¡± ¡°Of course. But¡­ I don¡¯t think I will be able to provide a proper defense and still pierce through theirs if that¡¯s the case.¡± ¡°You can,¡± Anton said. ¡°You just have to know where to look. Openings aren¡¯t just in stances and movements, but the flow of energy. And you could probably get by without defenses¡­ but I wouldn¡¯t get used to that.¡± Anton swiveled. ¡°Harrison! You¡¯re extending the point too much! It won¡¯t hold up!¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Harrison always responded that way¡­ and half of the time fixed the issue. But at least he was trying things. Everyone was still unfamiliar with cultivation, and some said it was pointless when their equipment was far superior, and there was no point learning something like this. Others had actually seen the videos. Anton was quite impressed with the information gathering techniques of this world. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. After everything else settled down, Nicodemo was still ready to go. Anton was impressed, not because the man¡¯s stamina was anything special but because he also had to deal with real general stuff. Far too many tactical meetings and the like. Anton thought half of them were pointless, and another half of those that weren¡¯t entirely pointless were suboptimal. But then again, people were still coping with new fears. Nicodemo went with Anton to a firing range. Anton himself couldn¡¯t make practical use of them, since completely annihilating the targets was bad form and he really needed the ones meant for snipers to even begin to matter, but he found time to practice away from everything else on his own. Nicodemo still used his guns, but at the moment he was practicing with the bow. He had just managed to develop enough to actually draw the one Anton gave him. It was for beginners, but even though Nicodemo was fit it hadn¡¯t been the right muscles to fire a bow. Anton had to admit, the man¡¯s archery skills were¡­ subpar. But he put in the effort, which was what Anton wanted. ¡°I¡¯m still not used to it having drop,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°It¡¯s important to remember that everything is affected by gravity,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Sure, but¡­ your arrows aren¡¯t even made of physical stuff, right? Shooting them off into space, does it even matter?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Anton said. ¡°If I had ignored the effects of gravity, my shots would have missed even the generously proportioned ship by a good margin. It was hundreds of kilometers away, after all.¡± ¡°... I wish I could have seen the impact with my own eyes. The recordings from the ships don¡¯t do it justice.¡± Nicodemo hadn¡¯t seen the far end, but he had been pressed up against a window watching Anton and the others. ¡°Maybe someday,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ll be needing to return home at some point. Your progress is reasonable, but a year or two won¡¯t get you any further than early Spirit Building, at best.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit discouraging,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°But¡­ I can feel the flow of energy when I use any of our normal technology. I can¡¯t control it yet, but if you say it will help¡­¡± ¡°It will,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can guarantee it. I know someone who¡¯s further along.¡± ¡°Matija, right?¡± Nicodemo declared. ¡°I read about her in the report. The first to begin cultivating in earnest.¡± ¡°Speaking of which,¡± Anton said, ¡°I still need to meet up with her. She mentioned trouble with advancing to Spirit Building.¡± Anton looked at Nicodemo, ¡°And yes, that means she¡¯s stronger than you. More than enough to make up for the fact you actually know how to fight. Though maybe not enough different if you use one of those suits.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Nicodemo nodded. ¡°I know I¡¯m not good at cultivating anyway. As I said, I could barely manage it on my own.¡± ¡°Not everyone does their best learning from books,¡± Anton said. ¡°I think you¡¯ll do fine.¡± ----- Entering the Labyrinth was not terribly difficult. It was finding something in particular within it that would be complicated. But at least this time they were probably not paid attention to more than any other. Discussing their plans any further would be risky, but ultimately it was simple. Prospero would do his best to point out the dangers he was aware of, and to guide them to several points of interest which might or might not be what they were looking for. Hopefully, Catarina would be able to determine that upon arrival. ¡°... sub-runes are everywhere,¡± Catarina said as she looked at the walls around them. ¡°That¡¯s true throughout most of the Tomb, but it¡¯s more prominent here. Odd.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Because Everheart made all of it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Why would it be different here?¡± ¡°There are still projections, right? They manage this place. They might have developed this place in a different direction.¡± ¡°... the various projections do seem to be divergent in their own ways,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°Perhaps that is the case.¡± Discussing sub-runes in this place was not an issue. This was where she had learned about them- in an official capacity, even. The name wasn¡¯t quite right, but ¡®usually hidden smaller components of runes¡¯ didn¡¯t exactly roll off the tongue. Sub-runes was good enough. She was beginning to see through some of the complexities of the Labyrinth, but Catarina couldn¡¯t honestly say she understood the whole of what was being done. And things always changed, sometimes by walls physically moving and sometimes different spaces connected together. The most impressive part was not being able to pick out any seams where this happened. . There were traps in the labyrinth of course, but they were all passable. It was impossible for even Everheart to keep up a huge array of traps over a wide area that could stop Integration cultivators- and a Life Transformation cultivator tagging along. Or if not impossible, prohibitively expensive in materials, energy, or both. But with a bit of cleverness he could kill those who were unprepared. A scything blade that appeared to have no energy backing it up seemed completely ignorable, but Timothy focused on it over everything else, blocking it with his shield while doing his best to avoid the other incoming blades. He found himself justified when he only received small slashes from the other weapons¡­ and a small scratch on his shield from the unadorned blade. A scratch that completely ignored the energy he had used to block. Whether the blade was made out of void ant chitin or something else, it clearly had similar effects for negating energy. It was sharp enough and carried enough momentum to puncture most armor, and it wouldn¡¯t feel like much. It could have taken someone¡¯s head clean off if they were careless. If it was only traps, perhaps they could take their time. Except those locations where every square centimeter of floor was deadly, spotting the signs of a trap ahead of time allowed it to be navigated around safely. The wandering beasts and other cultivators were an incentive to keep moving at a steady pace. Most beasts were not a challenge on their own, but they all contributed to a main feature of the Labyrinth, gradually wearing people down. One trap might do little but bounce off of someone¡¯s defensive energy, but even that would cost them something. Over the course of a week they made their way deeper into the Labyrinth. It was intentionally disorienting, but there were always signs somewhere to go off of. ¡°Left here, I think,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I feel something¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope we¡¯re close,¡± Prospero said. ¡°I¡¯d like to avoid running into more trouble.¡± Chapter 462 By Anton¡¯s best judgment, Matija was the premier cultivator on Rutera, with the training of a proper Spirit Building cultivator and the actual energy of someone more akin to Essence Collection. Most Ruterans developed their energy subconsciously through the use of their devices, many drawing upon their own energy in some part. They were aware of this, they just hadn¡¯t had the basis for consciously training natural energy. And because nobody knew where to start or had the combined inspiration, drive, and talent to succeed on their own it remained that way for a significant time. There was also the matter of the lower levels of natural energy. In truth, the Ruterans had worked well with what they had, developing an effective system that overcame their natural limitations instead of being confined by it. It made Anton wonder what other lower realms had no cultivators to speak of, and no contact with the wider world. Perhaps most of them, at least in terms of contact. Even Ceretos had only rarely produced ascension cultivators for the majority of its history- with the probable exception of the Exalted Archipelago, intentionally kept separate. Just like the other Ruterans, Anton was leading Matija through a modified version of the Hundred Stars. Not because he wanted to keep the main technique secret from them, but because they already had some level of natural energy and needed to focus on control more than growth, except in terms of their bodies. They weren¡¯t weak, exercise and health allowing them to go beyond the normal bodily limits of non-cultivators, but they hadn¡¯t undergone proper body tempering. The body was the basis of cultivation, and even Anton needed his body to hold together while he used energy. His meridians, at least, were continually tempered to support his cultivation. The rest he still trained, though not to the level of people like Ayotunde practicing the Western Steel Body, or Nthanda. ¡°I¡¯m glad I finished Body Tempering,¡± Matija commented. ¡°I¡¯m not built for that sort of then. Contemplative techniques like Spirit Building really suit me.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯re going to love the latter half,¡± Anton said. ¡°You get to connect your body and spirit together.¡± ¡°... what?¡± Matija asked. Anton shrugged, ¡°Sorry. It¡¯s impossible to get away from the body completely. That¡¯s why all cultivators eventually grow old and die.¡± ¡°Even people like you?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Anton said, ¡°Though I can¡¯t be certain of the time scale. Measured in centuries, to be sure, but will it be much greater than the peak of Life Transformation? That I cannot say.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°And starting old did me no favors in that regard. At this point, I imagine each star I gradually approach my end.¡± ¡°... is that okay?¡± Matija asked. ¡°Of course. As I said, everyone has to die. I¡¯ve already accepted it a few times.¡± ¡°What about the afterlife?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not certain there is one,¡± Anton said. ¡°...Reincarnation?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t remember it,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I might miss the next few cycles, or maybe I¡¯ll never reincarnate. But I already got two lives anyway.¡± ¡°Wait, reincarnation is real?¡± ¡°I have a dear friend who has just recently found himself incarnated in a new body, in fact,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°And there¡¯s an entire extremely unpleasant sect founded upon the certainty of it, though they twist the system to suit their own needs. Otherwise, they could not guarantee any memories- at which point, they might not really be the same person.¡± ¡°Okay but¡­¡± Matija seemed to be struggling with Anton¡¯s bluntness. ¡°You¡¯re not joking, right?¡± ¡°I usually strive to make my joking clear,¡± Anton said. ¡°I am quite serious on this.¡± ¡°This is¡­ a serious revelation. Is it possible to meet this friend of yours?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid not,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°He¡¯s in the upper realms.¡± ¡°... but isn¡¯t that just the afterlife, or whatever?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call it that,¡± Anton said, ¡°Since it does not require death to get there¡­ and neither is coming from there akin to returning to life. It¡¯s simply difficult, constrained by the tides of the world¡­ and other limitations.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°If you¡¯re wondering, it¡¯s vaguely over there,¡± he waved his arm. ¡°Over there like¡­ how far?¡± Matija asked. ¡°Something like dozens or hundreds of systems separate,¡± Anton said. ¡°Could be thousands, but I¡¯d imagine it¡¯s on the low end. I don¡¯t know if your instruments could be fine tuned enough to pick up ¡®upper energy¡¯ in that region but¡­ actually¡­ perhaps you could help with that.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Matija asked. Anton held out his hand, cupping a small amount of ascension energy in his palm. ¡°You could scan this. I am able to¡­ borrow the tiniest portion of energy from there. If you could learn about this form of energy, you might help me learn about its properties, specifically how it makes travel difficult. At least some part of it is the shift between the different energies- cultivators really only function well with a purity of one or the other it seems. But I¡¯m certain there¡¯s more to it.¡± Matija looked at the energy in Anton¡¯s palm. ¡°Can I touch it?¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have control over it, but you won¡¯t be able to feel anything and it would simply get you in the bad habit of sticking your hand into furnaces.¡± ¡°... I¡¯ll get one of the scanners,¡± she said. ¡°Actually, it would be better if you could come to our lab.¡± ----- Alarms rang out, screeching sirens and warbling bells creating a cacophony of noise. ¡°Someone turn those off!¡± Matija yelled. ¡°Everything is fine!¡± ¡°... Sorry,¡± Anton said. ¡°I was simply curious and probing around. I didn¡¯t think every sensor in the building would pick up my energy.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Matija said. ¡°It¡¯ll get sorted out.¡± During that process, a man came running into the room. ¡°There you are!¡± he said to Matija. ¡°I found it!¡± ¡°Found what, Fintan?¡± Matija asked. ¡°Those same fluctuations! The recent changes in the sun, matching the energy fluctuations in¡­ uh¡­ it¡¯s Ceretos now, I think. This energy signature that blanketed the lab is a perfect match!¡± Matija squinted, ¡°Well, yeah. It should be.¡± She gestured, ¡°This is Anton. You know, the one from Ceretos.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± the scientist known as Fintan performed an awkward sort of bow. ¡°Pleasure to meet you, sir. Would it interest you to know that our star produced fluctuations just like your own? Maybe it¡¯s some sort of resonance or-¡± ¡°It¡¯s just me,¡± Anton said. ¡°I connected to your star as well.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Fintan paused. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°I must ask though, when did you notice the changes?¡± ¡°It must have been¡­ a year or so ago?¡± Fintan pondered. ¡°I can get you the exact date.¡± ¡°Not necessary,¡± Anton said. ¡°I suppose you noticed a recent spike in activity?¡± ¡°Boy did we!¡± Fintan said excitedly. ¡°It was right after the invasion began! Everyone thought it was a coincidence but I showed them! Though¡­ I guess it was just you, huh?¡± ¡°Correct,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Since I fought in the battle, I had to draw upon some of the star¡¯s power. And also deepen my connection.¡± Anton looked to Matija. ¡°Sorry, I might have neglected to mention this.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to be honest,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve had my head so full of cultivation I can¡¯t say for sure. But I kind of figured.¡± ¡°Please continue to monitor the situation,¡± Anton said. ¡°I didn¡¯t fully intentionally form the connection to your star, and while a cultivator¡¯s instincts are usually reliable- and mine are that no harm will come to your star or system from my connection- they are not perfect.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Fintan nodded, ¡°Actually it¡¯s¡­ pretty small, but distinct. Like someone threw a very thin screen over the sun. But the whole thing at once, so the finest sensors can pick it up. If they¡¯re lucky, or looking specifically for it.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anton said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to cause trouble.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± Fintan shrugged, ¡°If you have to do it to fight off space aliens, then it¡¯s what needs to be done. Though I don¡¯t actually have any authority to give you permission. Or deny it.¡± ¡°I receive a sort of informal acceptance from the president,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I believe it is being kept secret from the public at large. Also¡­ space aliens?¡± ¡°Well, obviously. What else could they be? Though I guess technically you¡¯d be an alien as well, even though you look human.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you might be disappointed to learn this,¡± Anton said, ¡°But they will be very close to the same sort of human as you and I. Some prior event seems to have scattered humans throughout the galaxy and maintained certain features and connections. Though most seem to just accept it without knowing why.¡± ¡°Did we already know this?¡± Fintan looked at Matija. ¡°I feel like we have to have heard some of this and I just wasn¡¯t paying attention.¡± ¡°Our lab was privy to some of this information,¡± Matija said. ¡°For the most part, information about cultivators and the upper realms is being verified and carefully distributed to the population. They deserve to know the truth, but that means not flooding them with half-baked or dangerous information.¡± ¡°On the topic of dangerous information,¡± Anton said to Fintan, ¡°Why are you not cultivating?¡± ¡°Busy!¡± Fintan said. ¡°That might be one of the best and worst excuses I¡¯ve ever heard,¡± Anton replied. ----- The trouble that the group in the Labyrinth ran into- and there had to be some sort of trouble- came in the form of worms. They at first appeared to be rather easy to defeat, despite their uncomfortable size of approximately three meters long. They seemed to have the ability to devour natural energy, but they weren¡¯t swift enough to properly latch onto any of those present. Bisecting them resulted in a spray of acid that could be avoided, but their defenses were practically nonexistent so the task was easily manageable. After they nearly finished defeating the wave of bodies it was noticed that some had snuck in behind the front lines somehow, and those were swiftly cut, stabbed, stomped and chomped. Unfortunately, the majority of those methods had the same result. Namely, the worms reforming into two or three new ones from the bodies. The main method that seemed to finish them off was the chomping- but that resulted in Fuzz and Spikes having acid dripping down their throats, so they weren¡¯t eager to continuously repeat the process. Hoyt began to incinerate the creatures, and that worked- if he fully completed the process. If he left behind a shriveled husk, they seemed just as capable of reforming as those killed in other ways. Or perhaps it wasn¡¯t correct to say they were killed- because they could die, and just usually didn¡¯t. Ultimately, there was no such thing as an immortal creature, though the worms did a good job of appearing so. Their ability to ingest energy seemed to be marginally effective with it scattered about them, but it was clear they needed it to reform- along with a substantial portion from their internal reserves. The only part of them that seemed to be durable in any way was a strange form of dantian that was happily reformed into multiple pieces with a split of the energy. Once the group learned this information, they focused on more methodical destruction of the creatures, overwhelming them or simply destroying the same individuals over and over until they could no longer reform. When they finally all shriveled away to nothing¡­ Catarina prepared a formation that would drain every last drop of energy from the area just to make sure those things couldn¡¯t come back. They would have to be wary of more of that sort of creature deeper in¡­ potentially stronger versions. Perhaps it would be a one time deal, but it was a significant expenditure of energy, and they didn¡¯t want to be whittled away to nothing. Now they just had to find their way deeper in- at least they presumed it was deeper. It was possible they were actually heading towards one of the outside walls, but the only thing that was certain was their goal was becoming more apparent, and that it was intentionally difficult to reach. Chapter 463 An exhaustive search revealed that their destination was impossible to reach- by traditional means at least. Distorted space led to unpredictable methods of reaching an area, in the Labyrinth. They were able to loop around a section and sense nothing conforming to an entrance anywhere within the area. Perhaps there was some secret method to get in¡­ but at that point it could be anywhere within the Labyrinth. It could take years of searching if they were lucky and the entrance didn¡¯t change locations. And if it existed at all. The primitive option was to just climb up the walls into the area, but it was well known that attempting to circumvent the Labyrinth in such a way resulted in intense retaliation. A wider area of power focused on such individuals, either forcing them back down if they were lucky or annihilating them if they were not. It was important to remember that the area was within Everheart¡¯s control, and he simply chose not to directly kill everyone. ¡°What do we do?¡± Hoyt asked. Unfortunately, having an in-depth discussion was risky. They couldn¡¯t be certain if they were being watched. For matters such as this, they turned to Catarina. They were among a mess of formations looking for a specific one, and she would best be able to guide them on what was dangerous. She considered her words for a while, before eventually nodding. ¡°I need you all to defend me for a while,¡± she said. ¡°How long?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Between one day and a month,¡± Catarina replied. That was a large difference, but it obviously was caused by significant uncertainty. The fact that the lower end was a day meant the project was quite complex. There was also the unusual circumstance that Catarina didn¡¯t directly start carving into things or throwing flags around. The Tomb allowed some such modifications, though nothing permanent. It was uncertain if she didn¡¯t want to begin too early, or actually didn¡¯t know how to start. She moved around slowly, taking mental notes and nothing else. ----- Fuzz was a scout. That was because he was fast and had a good nose. Alva was also a scout, but she was with the others. Fuzz wasn¡¯t supposed to engage if he found anything, though he made his own judgments. For example, there were more of those stupid energy-eating worms around. Stray individuals that he chose to eat first. They were tasteless and painful to eat, but if he formed fire inside of himself he could mitigate the latter somewhat. He didn¡¯t have all that much experience defending inside his own body, which made him wonder why not. It seemed perfectly logical. Lots of important things were there. Though, usually they had to get through the outside. Problem solved. Others who passed through the labyrinth where Fuzz moved included unknown cultivators. Some of their cultivations were spicy, some sweet, and some sour. Then there were the rotten ones, like the Harmonious Citadel. They were like a perfectly normal looking carcass on the outside filled with rot grubs that didn¡¯t even taste good. Well, the bad ones anyway. Vari was nice, and there were others like her who simply had bad thoughts put in their head. Fuzz was guessing on some of that, of course, because he couldn¡¯t actually smell thoughts. More of the scents were familiar- the most benign being those they had previously passed in the Labyrinth. Not everyone wanted to attack other cultivators all the time, though Fuzz presumed that some of it was because they didn¡¯t want to die. And that was what happened to anyone who attacked his pack. They were very strong, after all. Not the strongest- not yet- but they would be. Some cultivators of the Exalted whatever had been through the area within the last few days. Some of the decent kind, and some of the worse kind. Soaring Air and Void Blades were not friends of the pack. Guessing their intent from scent alone was difficult, but they either hadn¡¯t picked up on signs of the pack or weren¡¯t looking for it. Then there was one scent that was not only familiar through similarity, but someone he¡¯d actually smelled before, with his own nose. He went back and forth over the trail a dozen times, but it was difficult to not arrive at the same conclusion. There weren¡¯t many people who were that strong. Fuzz hadn¡¯t met more than one, though he thought maybe he¡¯d scented some in passing on the Tomb. This cultivator was in the¡­ that other stage. The next one. The one after those in the pack. Which was big and bad, because this was the lady that had been attacking their home. Fa¡­ something. Fatty? Fajra? One of those was a name, and one was an important part of a good flavor profile. Maybe Fajra. Of the¡­ Shiny Attractive Group. Or something. Personally Fuzz didn¡¯t see the appeal, though she had definitely been shiny, far away in the city. A few more sniffs. Scent confirmed. Other members of her sect and¡­ more factions of the invaders. Fresh. He had to get closer, but not too close. They might think he was some beast they were allowed to kill¡­ or possibly recognize him, though he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d stood out that much in the war. He could try to report back, but they were close enough that they might become a problem if he didn¡¯t head it off. And they were kind of in the way of his direct route. Fuzz knew that cultivators did weird things by extending their senses outside of them, trying to replicate things like vision and touch. This place made that sort of thing bad, but scent and hearing were still good. He trotted after the trail, ears twitching. He could almost hear voices. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°... really think we¡¯ll find anything now? He died a century and a half ago. And this place has been around longer than that.¡± ¡°The first time we killed him he showed up again a decade later,¡± a voice that seemed like it was trying too hard to be enchanting replied. ¡°His effects on the previous harvesting effort were far too broad. It is better we make sure that he cannot have any further interference for the next cycle. There are too few lower worlds of sufficient quality to lose access to one.¡± ¡°I just don¡¯t see why we¡¯re here now.¡± ¡°Because our allies lost some promising disciples in this Tomb, to a group from the lower realms. It¡¯s far too coincidental. They must be working with¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯s dead though, isn¡¯t he? It¡¯s been so long even Everheart-¡± The sound was overly loud even from where Fuzz was, far back from the group. Some sort of impact, followed by another and the sound of cracking stones, echoing back and forth. Neither the floor nor the walls were easily breakable, which made it quite surprising. ¡°Just because we are here does not give you leave to speak his name.¡± There was a groaning sound- it seemed the figure was still able to get up. ¡°Just because he called you¡­ because he insulted you one time? He taunted literally everyone, taking something so¡­ obviously untrue so seriously won¡¯t be good for your complexion.¡± The entire Labyrinth trembled briefly, and Fuzz was primed to run- but that very act might draw the attention of this angry lady. Fortunately, the feeling subsided in a few moments. ¡°I¡¯ll refrain from even tangenting on the topic, then. Where to next?¡± ¡°I assumed this infernal place might be where he hid something of import, but our recent wanderings had me believe that perhaps that is incorrect. We¡¯ll do another sweep of the area before moving onto something more¡­ prominent and ostentatious.¡± With that, they were far enough for Fuzz to slip towards the pack. It seemed this dangerous lady was going to be in the area for a while, and it was best to be aware of that. ----- ¡°We appreciate the concern for the situation,¡± General Nicodemo said, ¡°But for the moment we need to handle this situation ourselves.¡± Nicodemo was rarely formal with Anton nowadays- certainly not in the same way- but this was not a personal interaction between them. ¡°Your contributions during the initial battle- and those of the others- were quite useful. But for the stability of Rutera we need to achieve a proper victory ourselves. I¡¯m sure you understand.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Morale is certainly important. And there are the aforementioned logistical issues with more of us. Though hopefully your technological delegations will help with that. Moving among the stars on our own power would be an excellent step in our advancement.¡± Anton imagined some very interesting materials could be found on the other planets in the system¡­ though of course it would be missing the more interesting possibilities that required life. Unless there was something buried underground or in the gas giants. ¡°Still, we would appreciate being kept abreast of the information regarding Azoth, in case they turn their sights on us. We¡¯re not much further, after all.¡± Nicodemo nodded, ¡°We have military scouts in the area now. The first vessel was merely scientists interested in exploration, as we hadn¡¯t expected to run into anyone so¡­ aggressive.¡± ¡°They do seem quite confident,¡± Anton said. ¡°Surprisingly so. Usually cultivators are more cautious with unknown entities.¡± ¡°It is likely they had scouted us some time previously,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°Our ship might have been seen as a provocation of some sort, or it could have been coincidental timing.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes vaguely flicked towards Azoth. It seemed that he couldn¡¯t form another connection until he reached the hundred-and-second star, but that would only take a handful of years, maybe a decade. It was unclear whether that would be short or far too long. Cultivators could move like molasses in the winter and then suddenly take on great bursts of speed. Then again, if they sought trouble with Ceretos or Rutera asked for them to join the fight- and retaliatory attacks were required- it would likely be a longer process. If it came to that, Anton wouldn¡¯t be as gentle with their star. He didn¡¯t think he could actually cause any damage, but he wasn¡¯t going to give it any concern. Maybe this would be a good thing. Ceretos had almost been at peace for too long. The unity against the invaders and then the parts of the Exalted Archipelago would be a strong memory for most, but in another few decades those feelings could fade. It was better to have an outlet for aggression, until they could solidify a longer-lasting unity. Perhaps those from Azoth felt the same, but they seemed to be a fairly clear aggressor. Or everyone on Rutera was much better at hiding things than he thought. But given what he¡¯d sensed, he was fairly certain they simply couldn¡¯t evade his insight. Plenty of the politician he¡¯d interacted with had told lies or made insincere statements. None of them negated the overall potential for a beneficial relationship between the two systems, but there were some individuals he wouldn¡¯t trust with anything important. ----- The warning from Fuzz put everyone on edge, except for Catarina who was so focused on what she was doing it was unclear if she even got the message. An Augmentation cultivator. Fajra, of the Radiant Beauty Sect. Except for Vari- and Prospero- they had all seen her previously. In fact, Prospero was being caught up on quite a few details from Ceretos that he had missed. He wasn¡¯t even around for the actual invasion, having gone out in a blaze of glory when they drew in a large army from the Twin Soul Sect. He wasn¡¯t even familiar with Aicenith. But some of those discussions had already taken place, and others would wait. They would almost certainly feel an Augmentation cultivator approaching- especially one of Fajra¡¯s sort- but they couldn¡¯t really shift their location. Catarina was only roaming within a small area, focused on her plan- if they had to break away and leave, it would disrupt her work, since the Labyrinth could undergo significant changes while they were not around. And fighting an Augmentation cultivator¡­ was not something they wanted to attempt. In the confines of the lower realms Fajra had been someone they could combat to some degree with an army at their backs, but even with five people in Integration there was still a huge gap. More than the gulf between Life Transformation and Integration, they imagined. Obviously they hadn¡¯t felt the difference themselves yet, since Augmentation cultivators were rare even in the upper realms, and they hadn¡¯t gotten into trouble that deep. Yet. Then again, they were still new. Chapter 464 Standing guard while not looking like she was standing guard was a difficult task for Alva, though there wasn¡¯t really much else she could do. Running immediately when someone approached was a good way to get them to react negatively, even if they didn¡¯t previously have any reason to pay attention. Being off by herself was a bit dangerous, but if they didn¡¯t have any warning they might all die. At least if that Fajra came anywhere near them. It was possible that she wouldn¡¯t recognize them specifically, but the fact that they were part of the Order should be something she noticed. Counting on her to be sloppy with keeping track of enemies was a terrible idea. Currently, Alva was standing in a field of traps and hoping they weren¡¯t the sort that moved about. So far they seemed static, based on what she could see- but keeping track of them just in case was important. They were eventually going to have to combat cultivators in the Augmentation stage- and likely even this same Fajra- but this was not the time. A hundred and one stars was still very early in the Integration stage, far short of the¡­ what would it be? Probably one hundred and sixty stars for the next stage. Alva didn¡¯t imagine another twenty-nine was going to be sufficient, so thirty-one beyond that would have to do it. All she needed was a couple hundred years and maybe it would work out. She kept her senses open, ready to receive even a hint of cultivators approaching and react as appropriate. ----- Even just a short few years away made Everheart¡¯s Tomb feel quite different for Prospero- though he couldn¡¯t say if that was due to leaving and experiencing more of the world of recovering old memories. He had quite a solid picture of what his life had been like before, but unlocking hundreds of years of memories wasn¡¯t something that could be done in a few. Not if he wanted to keep up with his cultivation, at least. On the planet commonly known as Ceretos, he had considered himself fairly talented- having the potential to ascend, and simply choosing not to. Then he lost his opportunity, but it had been worth it. Even more so now that he got an opportunity to hear about it. Anton was apparently doing an excellent job of heading the Order- and he¡¯d managed his uncomfortably rapid pace of cultivation. Old men weren¡¯t supposed to reach the peak of cultivation in just a hundred years¡­ though perhaps that was Anton¡¯s only option. Sitting around waiting for others to do something was generally absent from his memories, and the latest and most prominent ones placed him as one of the strongest in the world. Now here he was, the weakest in their group. Even if he really stretched his own self image, the weaker wolf- Spikes- should still be stronger than him. Reaching Ascension- or the Integration stage, since he was already in the upper realms- was going to take decades. It took Hoyt and the others close to sixty years, and Prospero had taken somewhat longer the first time. Even if he could somehow manage to go twice as fast as the top level he knew, he was in for a long haul of being weaker than those around him. Though growing up in a place like Everheart¡¯s Tomb hadn¡¯t allowed him to be weak, and he was certain he was stronger than the previous time. It was just that ultimately the gap of an entire cultivation stage left him somewhat lacking. ----- Catarina hoped she was ready. If she was wrong, she might bring down Everheart¡¯s wrath for nothing. The man could be surprisingly casual about certain things, but messing with one of his big formations seemed like the sort of thing to get her killed, despite him being somewhat positive about her talents previously. Or maybe because of it. He seemed like the sort of guy to snuff out talented enemies as quickly as possible. If she was wrong about the strength of this formation, she would land them all in deep trouble. But she¡¯d done what she could to attune herself to the older formations Everheart built on top of. This might be the moment where a once-genius cultivator met their end if she wasn¡¯t careful but all she had to do was- A Spirit Arrow flew around a corner, nearly striking Fuzz in the side. Fuzz slapped it with a paw, batting it to the ground. That was the best non-obvious signal they could come up with. It might seem like fighting somewhere else in the Labyrinth, but launching some sort of attack was perfectly expected and likely to be glossed over. Anything else would be too¡­ signally. But since Alva had felt the need, that meant Catarina had to work quick. She hadn¡¯t even begun to work, but she¡¯d studied what she needed to. She didn¡¯t even need to change much- the whole point was making use of the formations Everheart already had in place to transport them where she wanted instead of where he intended. There were things hidden all over this place, sub-runes she hadn¡¯t even known about before Everheart teleported her last time they were in the Labyrinth. She hoped he wasn¡¯t paying attention. ----- It was best that it had not been Hoyt¡¯s particular corridor that was closest to trouble, since his communication methods weren¡¯t as subtle and using their actual devices was spotty and unreliable within the Tomb itself. Plus there was no way of knowing if Everheart was listening somehow. Hoyt quickly made his way towards the core of their little area. Battle hadn¡¯t broken out yet, but as the twists of the Labyrinth brought him closer he felt an uncomfortable source of power. He recognized it, which was unfortunate. Moving their way, not with great haste¡­ but not slowly either. If they hadn¡¯t already been sensed, they would be soon. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. He formed up with Timothy, Vari, and the wolves. Alva had yet to arrive, and Prospero, his grandfather, did better in the rear. Though he was also slightly hindered by the Labyrinth¡¯s structure. He couldn''t just form Falling Stars wherever he pleased- reaching ¡®outside¡¯ of the Labyrinth, even vertically, was difficult. Catarina was there throwing down formation flags and quite wantonly carving into the structure of the Labyrinth itself. He really hoped whatever she was doing wouldn¡¯t take long, but they were only a week into the potential one to thirty days, and she¡¯d only just begun. How long could they hold back a battle? A few minutes? Certainly not much longer than that against worthy opponents. And likely less if Fajra was involved. The sounds of hurried feet preceded Alva around the corner, moving in something that wasn¡¯t quite a run, but was also deceptively quick, her feet gliding over the ground. Her glances over her shoulder told Hoyt the same thing his senses were picking up- she was being followed. Fortunately, only two individuals came around the corner. A man and a woman, striding slowly and confidently. They were in the Integration stage, but that meant they were outmatched. If only things would stay that way. ¡°No need to panic,¡± the beautiful woman said, striding forward together with the equally enchanting man next to her. ¡°We¡¯d just like to talk. Come closer.¡± Oh good. They just wanted to talk. Stepping forward shouldn¡¯t be a problem. That was what Hoyt¡¯s body seemed to be listening to, at least. Deep down there was a tiny core that told him it was a bad idea, even if they outnumbered the enemy. There was also an instinct that made him not trust the way they held their hands casually at their waist and a little behind their back, but they hadn¡¯t really done anything yet. This was fine. He wasn¡¯t even going alone. His eyes were focused on hers but he could feel his companions walked with him, avoiding the few traps they knew were in the area. Everything was fine. ¡°Good,¡± the woman said, drawing out the word. ¡°Just a little bit closer so we can talk. I¡¯m sure you- Ghurk!¡± Hoyt didn¡¯t know what she meant by ¡®Ghurk¡¯, but he recognized the sound of a bone snapping. Even though it was just the small ones around the nose, it was still a distinctive sound. With that his eyes were free to more properly take in the situation around him instead of focusing on the woman¡¯s eyes. That was why he clenched his legs together after Vari followed up with a kick to the man. ¡°Nobody.¡± A fist struck the woman¡¯s jaw, ¡°Is. allowed.¡± hands grabbed the two individuals, keeping them from retreating. ¡°In. My. Head.¡± Vari¡¯s jaw was set, her voice adamant in her declaration¡­ and Hoyt could see ten figures flickering behind her. Vague shadows of figures holding weapons. Bows, swords, spears, a little bit of everything between the ten indistinct images. They didn¡¯t do much but stand there¡­ though Hoyt knew they didn¡¯t need to. That ceremony she¡¯d done seemed to be working out for her. Of course, this meant there was no possibility of avoiding combat. It wasn¡¯t Vari¡¯s fault- that had happened the moment the two individuals tried to control their movements. It was undoubtedly an attack, and Hoyt wouldn¡¯t stand for it. But still, he couldn''t help but think about the others behind this pair. Caution might have been warranted. Though the daggers the two had been holding behind their back meant Vari hadn¡¯t exactly been hasty with her actions either. Hoyt was only a couple steps back and quickly drew his own weapon while the pair tried to recover from their stunned state. They¡¯d actually done a pretty good job of minimizing the damage Vari did in her initial combo. Otherwise her fist would have gone right through the woman¡¯s head, and the man would have to deal with more than just a broken pelvis and accompanying testicular pain. Timothy yanked Alva back- she¡¯d been one of the closest to begin with, but fortunately she¡¯d walked slowly and Vari had stepped up her pace a step. Prospero was still a good dozen meters back, though he was now focusing on bombarding the area behind the duo. There wasn¡¯t really much of a target there, but he seemed to be aiming for traps around the corner where there appeared to be more enemies approaching. For something called the Radiant Beauty Sect, Hoyt found the melee capabilities of the pair more than adequate. Though the control had been disrupted there was still an aura that made him hesitate his attacks¡­ a practical effect, even if it kind of felt like a cheap trick. The two weren¡¯t going to fall quickly enough. The others were already coming around the corner, approaching quickly. Their auras were combining with the others, though Hoyt was more worried about the one behind them. Their own group was already in a fighting retreat, Vari having had to give up her grip on the two for the sake of keeping her arms. Her barriers were stronger now, but she couldn¡¯t fully block the area between someone she was grabbing onto. She almost hadn¡¯t let go, but that had been a fleeting moment of unnecessary stubbornness she pushed past. Hoyt felt like he was swinging his axe through molasses, fighting against himself, but with the benefit of understanding he was still at least able to control his own body. Besides Vari, the wolves were actually least affected, seeming as if they¡¯d only gone along with the flow instead of actually being unable to attack. Spikes¡¯ abilities actually did a decent job of keeping the incoming enemies back. Not only did she reform the ground into unpleasant terrain, she even crossed shards of stone across the width of the Labyrinth corridor. They only held for a few moments, some of their foes risking the damage to slip past them while the others destroyed them, but everything counted. Hoyt¡¯s axe was coming down on the woman¡¯s head as she was briefly entangled with Vari. Then, he stopped. He couldn¡¯t move, nor could he stop himself from looking up, into a pair of piercing eyes. Damn. Perhaps they should have run. They might have made better use of the Labyrinth, harassing their foes as they pulled away before eventually losing them. They could have come back later for Catarina¡¯s work. Fajra stared into his eyes. ¡°Aha. It is some of you. Foolish of you to come out of hiding.¡± Her eyes seemed to pull on him, drawing his consciousness away. Then- Then she was gone. His axe swung down into nothing. The woman in front of him was gone. No, the entire corridor was gone, except for his companions¡­ and a couple very confused individuals further on. Well. At least they hadn¡¯t had to step into a portal or anything. And Hoyt was pretty sure he wasn¡¯t in an illusion. Chapter 465 Even after finding themselves transported, the oppressive aura of Fajra remained. Not just lingering traces, but diminished effects from it burrowing through the Labyrinth around them. Ultimately, they hadn¡¯t gone far- teleporting from right next to their destination to reach it. There was a trembling as the Labyrinth walls shook, though they held their integrity. The handful of Radiant Beauty Sect disciples that had been transported along with them, however, seemed to intend to focus their attacks on the other side of the wall to try to break through. The only thing that saved them from immediately perishing was the restrictive aura. The direct effects had frozen most of them in place, now they were merely slowed. Vari overcame that difficulty first by entangling herself around one of the Radiant Beauty Sect disciples. The man didn¡¯t quite avoid her grip, and though she couldn¡¯t strike with the amount of power she was used to, once she had a grip wrapping her arms around him wasn¡¯t difficult. Her energy was slightly suppressed, but slower movements were easier. She simply turned him to face away, her arm around his neck as she choked him out. It was a move much too slow for cultivator combat, but Vari protected her vitals with the man¡¯s own body, leaving less of herself exposed and forming barriers along her side to resist his flailing. Timothy moved to protect the wall itself, ready to resist a barrage of attacks¡­ and finding that his presence likely didn¡¯t matter. While the Radiant Beauty Sect might be able to bind cultivators and pierce their energy defenses, against structures¡­ their stealthy dagger attacks were less than useless. Fajra was only having an effect because her cultivation was much higher, but the threshold of the rest was simply too minimal to support anything. Even so, they had to defeat them as quickly as possible- because actual cracks were forming on the wall. While the others fought, Catarina remained focused on her goals. She trusted them to do what was necessary on her end. Here, she reached for a buried formation, but one that was not far. The formation plate in her hand glowed with resonant power, forming a connection almost without her will. A beam of energy shot into the center of the planet, joining with her first, more hesitant connection and strengthening it. Now there was no going back. Everyone should have felt that, let alone Everheart who was in control of everything. They were too far from the third point. They had to reach it somehow, but Catarina wasn¡¯t sure if they could return to the Great Hall. Forming a connection from here seemed impossible, as it merely strengthened the first connection that was already in place. Then she felt him, and she knew it was too late. One of the projections appeared right outside their little cove. ----- ¡°Excuse me ma¡¯am. Please stop destroying my property.¡± Fajra¡¯s eyes turned to see one of Everheart¡¯s projections. There was no way to know if the image fit the true Everheart at all, but this one was a bit older¡­ which was most likely accurate. ¡°Or what, you¡¯ll kill me? You don¡¯t have the power for that.¡± Fajra knew he didn¡¯t, or he wouldn¡¯t have asked politely. Everheart didn¡¯t act timidly. The projection sighed, ¡°You are right, of course. I might have enough power in the Great Hall, but here¡­¡± Everheart shook his head. ¡°I have to make do.¡± His body instantly moved to place a hand on her shoulder, his grip tightening. The strength of an Augmentation cultivator bearing down on him, especially one focused on such a deed, was actually quite restrictive. But this was his domain. One instant they were in the Labyrinth, the next they were over it¡­ on the border of space. ¡°Leave.¡± With that, he kicked the woman- cheating more than a bit by using the power of the formations to push her away. ¡°And don¡¯t come back!¡± She probably would, of course, but it would take more than a few moments for her to reverse her momentum- and then she would have to fight her way back through the defenses. They¡¯d have to be turned up to maximum. No doubt that would cause him to stir, but this was necessary. ----- ¡°We need to leave!¡± Catarina was the one to call it out, but everyone else knew it. Everheart¡¯s projection had just arrived and removed Fajra. No doubt he would be coming back for them. Catarina just hoped he couldn¡¯t do anything to the underlying formation. If he destroyed part of it, their whole plan here might be ruined. Thankfully, getting out of their little hole in the Labyrinth was easier than getting in. The Radiant Beauty cultivators were dragged out with them, since they couldn¡¯t risk leaving them, but they ended up in a completely different part of the Tomb. Catarina was glad that Everheart made even a random and hasty teleport not able to land them inside the planet¡­ though that might have been safer. None of them really needed to breathe, though it would be more difficult for Prospero and Spikes to replicate that ability. But they did need to not be where they were. ¡°The statue hall?¡± Vari asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t really have time to aim it!¡± Catarina said. ¡°This is as close as I could get us to¡­¡± At that moment, one of the Radiant Beauty disciples attempted to stab Vari in the back. They would have succeeded, too, with Vari distracted. However, one of the statues stepped in front of the blade- then pierced its spear through the offending cultivator. Vari spun around, eyeing the statue. ¡°... I may have been more effective than I had intended.¡± This was the statue of one of the saints. The spear saint who had never existed. Or more likely, a previous one that had been expelled from the Harmonious Citadel for some reason. Vari didn¡¯t know why the statue would defend someone from the Harmonious Citadel after that- and especially not a fake. But she could think about later, after they took out the last few individuals. They were not merciful. Vari only knew the bare bones of the conflict they had with the Order and the lower realm, but she could see why they would have animosity. Arrogant people who thought they deserved everything and could take what they wanted. Like devotion that they didn¡¯t deserve. Vari looked at the devotion flowing into her. She didn¡¯t deserve it either, but she knew that so it wasn¡¯t hypocritical. It was at least one step better than the saints. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°The Great Hall is not too far from here,¡± Alva said after they defeated the remaining enemies. ¡°We have to hurry. I can feel Fajra still, getting closer.¡± ¡°Is she heading for the Great Hall? How could she know?¡± Catarina asked. Alva shrugged, ¡°The ancient sects probably figured it out a long time ago.¡± As they ran, the conjecture proved correct. Fajra was heading in the same direction as them, simply far up above beyond where they could see. And then her presence not only became larger, but brighter. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s my move,¡± Prospero commented as a burning ball of fire dropped out of the sky- though in a few short moments it resolved into a clearer image. ¡°... Is that a palace?¡± ¡°... Where did she get a palace?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Silly question. It should be an energy projection.¡± ¡°No,¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s real. She pulled it out of a storage bag.¡± ¡°That¡­ doesn¡¯t make any sense,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°I guess hers is better than ours,¡± Alva shrugged. There wasn¡¯t much they could do but keep running. It didn¡¯t take the palace long at all to descend, right on top of the Great Hall. As it impacted, it stopped for a brief moment, the nearly mountain sized building trembling beneath another of slightly more modest size atop it. Then the Great Hall shattered, a shockwave blasting the walls and roof in all directions. Rubble flew past the group, forcing them to dodge building sized chunks of fortified stone. Then the palace settled atop the statue of Everheart, pressing down on it. Fajra could be seen standing atop it. ¡°Everheart you old bastard, this is what you get for calling me an old hag!¡± She probably hadn¡¯t intended to shout that with an intensity that everyone within a hundred kilometers could hear, but such were decisions made at the height of emotion. Cultivators fled the scene as the neutral zone of the Great Hall exploded, unwilling to get involved with whatever was happening. The kilometer high statue of Everheart stood still with the palace atop its head¡­ before slowly moving, placing its hands on the underside of the palace. Golden muscles strained, before tossing the palace into the distance. The statue then left its position, leaping after the structure¡­ and away from the remains of the Great Hall. Catarina immediately redoubled her pace, running towards the scene. The others followed without hesitation. ----- Deep beneath a mountain of no significance, an old man with a ring of hair that only touched the edges of his head suddenly sat up in bed. ¡°What woke me?¡± he frowned. Briefly, he glanced over next to him and sighed. Old memories were still fresh in his thoughts. Flickers of power came to him. So, that was what woke him. An old hag trying to look young. No, not just any old hag. A familiar one, though advanced to Augmentation. If she thought that was sufficient to mess with him, she was gravely mistaken. Everheart stood up slowly. His wounds were¡­ more or less healed. Perhaps it was time to return to the world once more. He took a step forward, and felt the power digging into the planet beneath him. He didn¡¯t believe it. Couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°Watcher!¡± he called. A heavily muscled and much younger version of himself stepped into the room. ¡°You awaken, mighty Everheart.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah, whatever.¡± He said. ¡°But why am I awake? Isn¡¯t it your job to deal with these sorts of things? Someone¡¯s trashing the Great Hall!¡± ¡°My apologies,¡± the projection inclined his head. ¡°Our response has been slower than usual.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m up now,¡± Everheart complained. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll deal with it myself. Could have used another decade but¡­ another thing. The formations, uh¡­ the originals.¡± ¡°From when it was called Xankeshan?¡± the watcher asked. ¡°Yes! Exactly. Those aren¡¯t¡­ activating, are they?¡± ¡°It appears they are.¡± ¡°... So one of you figured it out?¡± Everheart looked downward. ¡°Not bad, I suppose.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe that to be the case.¡± ¡°No, it has to be. The only other option would be, well¡­ someone with the formation plate. And it doesn¡¯t exist. I scoured the upper realms looking for it!¡± ¡°We do not have a connection to the formation.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Everheart said. ¡°We don¡¯t.¡± He swallowed. ¡°Oh no. We don¡¯t. Dammit, this is bad. I have to take out the- but who else is here?¡± Everheart held his head in his hands. ¡°Gather the rest! Tell me how it got to this!¡± ¡°Of course. I will summon them.¡± The projection didn¡¯t move, but very quickly various individuals appeared. ¡°Here they are.¡± ¡°Explain,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Of course,¡± one of the leading projections said. ¡°You see, Mighty Everheart¡­¡± All of them exchanged glances. ¡°Perhaps it would be quicker to have you remember.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t forgotten anything,¡± Everheart crossed his arms. ¡°Oh, but¡­ there¡¯s so much more for you to remember,¡± the projection grinned. ¡°Get him!¡± Simultaneously, dozens of figures charged Everheart, who was too astounded to react. When the first one touched him, the figure fused into him and Everheart was hit with a wave of memories. Centuries of sitting and waiting, defending the Tomb. But that was just one individual. A rush of memories full of boredom bombarded Everheart, filling his head with curses from the projections he¡¯d forced to carry out his will. And yet they were more than bitterness, they were ambition and determination. Each of them wished to prove they were superior. For all his planning, being betrayed by himself was the one thing Everheart hadn¡¯t expected. And perhaps he should have. When he finally picked himself up off the floor, his healing was set back several decades and most of his energy drained. He only managed to drag himself over to his emergency formation. He hadn¡¯t really tested it because it was never meant to be used, but according to the far too ambitious memories inside his head it hadn¡¯t been tampered with. As he activated it, he formed a connection with the Tomb. The traps? Garbage. Statues? He could get more. Though there were a couple memories- no, he didn¡¯t have the time. Someone might find him- either that Augmentation cultivator who he wasn¡¯t in the best state to fight suddenly, or whoever had that formation plate. So he gathered the treasures. All of the ones stored away, those remaining in the Smithy and tucked away for ¡®prizes¡¯. Treasures which had only increased in number since he formed the Tomb. Despite his ¡®generous¡¯ rewards, more died and left behind their valuables than came away with great wealth. Only a small percentage, but over the course of centuries that added up. All of it came with him in a great burst of energy. No way was he going to stay to see what else might be going on. There could be any number of people after him. He had to hide. Chapter 466 Continuing to move towards the mountain sized palace-and-statue fight was rather uncomfortable, but at this point there was little way for those on the Tomb to retreat. They could perhaps attempt to flee, navigating the void of space without a ship but that would involve giving up on this opportunity. Hopefully, it would be sufficient to drive off Fajra. Before they quite made it to where the Great Hall had once stood, something happened. Something that made the fluctuations of energy between the statue and Fajra feel small, except though the power was significant it was spread throughout everywhere they could feel. Likely the entire planet. A sort of swirling of energy, then in an instant it was gone. The most visible result was the statue disappearing. Fortunately, either Fajra was stunned by the sudden disappearance or simply incautious. Before she expanded her senses to include the Great Hall again, the group of cultivators mostly from the Order of One Hundred Stars was there. With the statue gone, very little time was required to fully connect with the third piece of the formation below. ¡°I¡¯ve attuned the formations to all of us,¡± Catarina confirmed. The sudden change drew the attention of Fajra, but as her aura bore down on them it was suddenly stifled by a barrier. The ground trembled slightly, as the base of the Great Hall cracked apart. ¡°I need your help activating all of the formations,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Just channel energy to me.¡± In general, formations were designed to power themselves, drawing from the energy in the atmosphere or from sources specifically dedicated to them. This was also the case with these formations, yet Catarina knew she didn¡¯t have sufficient power to simply activate them on her own. There were so many, most of which seemed as if they were meant to function continuously. She wasn¡¯t sure what all of them did, but if they were functioning properly they should not cause harm to those attuned to it. And they didn¡¯t really have time to think about much else. While they might be safe in their little bubble for the moment, if they didn¡¯t establish proper control over all of the Tomb now, perhaps Fajra could carve out a weak point to take further action from. Barriers were the most directly obvious, forcing people out from inside them. Catarina couldn¡¯t comprehend so many different people at once, though the formations provided some feedback that would have let her be more selective if she could. First was the Great Hall. Then the Labyrinth, and finally the Library. But that was only the start of things, the staging points from which everything else grew. The Statue Hall, Gardens, all of the trapped corridors and external areas between them. The Smithy, the might of the volcano being repurposed back to its former use as a power source. Hundreds of little hidden alcoves that may have never been discovered. Then everywhere in between as the gaps filled in. The formations pushed those inside them away, and upwards. It would be up to them to negotiate with any ships for passage off world, which was always the case. They weren¡¯t even fully separated from the atmosphere, so they should be fine. And if they weren¡¯t, it would take even the weaker cultivators willing to brave Everheart¡¯s Tomb at least a day to be in serious trouble. Maybe they¡¯d look for them and make some sort of bargain. Catarina breathed out heavily. ¡°One more thing. We haven¡¯t quite removed Fajra from over there. Alva, if you could pick the best spot to target? I¡¯ll channel this attack via your control.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± Alva nodded. As Catarina nudged her towards the structure, the ground opening up to reveal something akin to a tower, Alva could feel the way it could direct power towards a target. It was quite significant, but even with her own understanding of formations she could tell it wasn¡¯t fully functional. If it was, it might have been able to wipe out Fajra¡¯s palace. Instead, she had to aim for what would hurt most. Which part most contributed to structural stability? After a few moments, she found the best target. Fajra was inside the palace, having taken advantage of its defensive properties against Everheart¡¯s statue. They likely couldn¡¯t kill her here, but to drive her off¡­ A continuous beam of power drilled into the palace from below, aiming for one specific area. When the power pierced the defenses, water spilled out. And as Alva hoped, Fajra quickly directed the palace away. Well, Alva was hoping it would be less mobile. If Fajra put it back wherever it came from she would be vulnerable, but no such luck. Even so, as she fled the planet Catarina smoothed out the remainder of the barrier which now surrounded the entire thing. ¡°What was that?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Some sort of healing spring? A secret font of power?¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°More important. I attacked directly into¡­ the bathing area.¡± ¡°Baths? But¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely the most important to someone like her,¡± Alva said. ¡°Power is only obtained for the purposes of control and luxury. Besides, all the really important stuff had better defenses, and we couldn¡¯t let her know she might be able to resist this thing.¡± She looked to Catarina, ¡°It¡¯s kind of broken, by the way.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll look at it later,¡± Catarina said, curling up into a ball on the floor. ¡°Need to¡­ rest¡­¡± ----- When Prospero Vandale was finally able to answer Anton¡¯s inquiries, there was quite a lot more to hear. So they finished taking control of the planet upon which Everheart¡¯s Tomb had rested¡­ though it seemed Everheart had pulled away many of his resources in the moments leading up to that. That was what they had pieced together, anyway- though whether it was some automatic system or signs he really was still alive they weren¡¯t sure. Except, of course, that it was always appropriate to assume he was still alive. As for the actual intention of Anton¡¯s messages, it had been to ask his old friend as politely as possible what he remembered about death. In that regard, the response was that he remembered basically nothing between his death and rebirth- perhaps there was little to experience, or he might simply not have those memories at the moment. Apparently he did remember the end, however. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Ultimately Vandale described things with one word. Peaceful. Despite dying a violent death, he had accepted that was how he would die, and even that it would be at that specific moment. He had been satisfied. That was what Anton wanted, though he knew many people didn¡¯t achieve it. He thought he could, but he constantly felt there was more he had to do. The next invasion, for example. He thought if he could get to that, he would be content. But if he actually did, perhaps he would find something else he absolutely needed to do. Anton would have to think on that. It wasn¡¯t strange for a few months to go by with nothing monumental happening, and that was the case once more. Anton was aware that work on ships to travel between the stars was progressing, and they were even planning simple tests soon- simply out into their own system to be certain the basic features of the vessels worked. After all, they had to adapt Ruteran technology and Catarina¡¯s explanations of how the ships using ascension energy functioned. As he was thinking about that, Anton felt something in the sky. Though the tides of the world shouldn¡¯t allow for it at this time, it felt an awful lot like someone coming from the upper realms. They were moving too fast for him to intercept, but he began to move quickly towards where he traced their trajectory to. ----- Lately, Erin hadn¡¯t slept much. Powerful cultivators didn¡¯t really need to, and she¡¯d somehow found herself in that category. Not just Life Transformation, but a step beyond- though it wasn¡¯t entirely something she could call her own. That power came from Paradise¡­ and it seemed that he influenced her as well. Paradise was the sort who slept yearly, perhaps for a month at a time. Erin¡¯s stints with sleep were shorter and somewhat more frequent. She was content with her current arrangement, as if she really wanted to she could still sleep. But having more hours in the day- or in this case night- meant more cultivation, tempering her own power and what she shared with Paradise. Through the same connection with Paradise, she occasionally sensed what he did. His thoughts were not entirely compatible with her own, but she could sense hunger or fatigue or his usual pleasant companionship. It was good to know that those who lived on his back weren¡¯t just tolerated. With those being the most common feelings, looking up at the stars and sensing a sharp anger concerned her. There had only been one time prior that she could assume Paradise had been angry- when the Ponderous Turtle Clan attempted to control him. Whatever he sensed up there had to be bad. And it was rapidly approaching. Erin gathered some of her energy, intending to mimic Paradise and fire a powerful shot from the waves around them, but suddenly found her flow of energy cut off. Not violently, but like a comforting hand on her shoulder. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want my help?¡± Paradise didn¡¯t really speak, but she got a feeling of independence from him at the moment. ¡°Then¡­ I¡¯ll keep the rest of us safe.¡± If Paradise was going to fight that, the surrounding area might not be safe. A great power slammed into the sea, raising waves and clouds of steam as it vaporized a section of the ocean. A few moments later, the figure rose from the waves. ¡°There you are!¡± a voice boomed out. ¡°My pet turtle! Good to see you¡¯re still around.¡± Paradise¡¯s response was to fire a torrent of water that Erin had personally witnessed turning a battlefield into an inland sea¡­ with those who had been fighting on the wrong side annihilated. She was quite surprised when the figure blocked it with one hand. If the figure had only torn a path through it that would be one thing- the power contained in only a small part of it was less significant- but the entire section of ocean broke into a spray of mist. ¡°Come on now, little buddy. Don¡¯t you recognize me?¡± The way Paradise snorted angrily and her connection to him told Erin that he did indeed recognize¡­ this strange figure. She thought she knew all of the Assimilation cultivators on Ceretos, but apparently she was wrong. No, perhaps not. An invader? But even the Augmentation cultivators hadn¡¯t been able to stand against Paradise directly. Paradise usually didn¡¯t move quickly, but when he was motivated he could cut apart the sea like a knife. Now he did so, his mouth open wide. The figure floating over the sea stood calmly with his hands behind his back as Paradise approached. ¡°Well then, it seems you need some time to cool off. I¡¯ll be back later.¡± ----- Doing his best impression of someone striding away unconcerned, Everheart flew away from his turtle. He hadn¡¯t expected it to get so strong after just a few centuries. And bitter! What, was it bored or something? He hadn¡¯t done anything to it. Taking it away from where it was born was a favor, that Slow Turtle Gang or whatever was only interested in controlling it. Sure, that was the same with Everheart but it was supposed to be grateful! There went his first plan. The moon would have been that, but as expected his whole thing there was already over and done with. And the world here honestly looked to be in a good state, so he supposed it worked. Everheart might have had conflicts with every major faction on Ceretos, but it was still his home. At least nobody should remember him directly. Not that it would matter if they did. Life Transformation cultivators meant nothing to him. He had some sort of itch scratching in the flood of memories those stupid projections forced into his head, but it probably wasn¡¯t that important. If it was, he still needed a safe place to digest it. And deal with these damned reopened wounds. Maybe he¡¯d just pick a random island. Nobody would notice him there for a couple decades. Yes, that would be for the best. He could sense one right nearby. When he set foot on the island, something stabbed into the sand in front of his feet. It was only there for an instant- an arrow, if his eyes hadn¡¯t deceived him. His eyes followed its path to an old man standing nearby, who waved casually. Well, he supposed he would just have to take care of this guy first. As Everheart prepared to launch a counterattack, he hesitated. Wait, what stage of cultivation was this guy even in? And why did it suddenly feel like he was standing next to the sun? At full power he shouldn¡¯t be a problem for Everheart, but that wasn¡¯t the case right now. Then the old man spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve met¡­ but then again, I feel like we have. Perhaps my memory is faulty. I don¡¯t suppose you could enlighten me?¡± Everheart¡¯s mind raced. Who was this guy? More importantly, what would he have looked like when he was younger? He could have sworn he finished off all the potential threats who would have a serious grudge against him. But try as he might, Everheart couldn¡¯t place this man. Perhaps it was his head being shoved full of tons of repetitive days of nothing, but he had the feeling they really might never have met. He relaxed his stance slightly. Might as well answer the guy. Chapter 467 On a small island of little relevance whatsoever, two old men were having a staredown. One¡¯s eyes burned like the fires of the sun, a bow dangling in front of him. The other stood with his back straight like a mountain, appearing unconcerned about the possibility of battle. ¡°Who are you and what are you doing here?¡± Anton asked the other man. Everheart¡¯s eyes flicked over the man¡¯s bow. He didn¡¯t have an arrow to draw, but perhaps he didn¡¯t need one. Even so, it would take him a moment to draw. They were less than a hundred meters apart, so he could reach it and snatch it away in an instant. The only problem was the man¡¯s cultivation was not as expected, so he couldn¡¯t predict him as precisely. ¡°I¡¯m just a peaceful traveler. I saw no signs that this island was claimed and thought to rest here.¡± ¡°You should know that¡¯s not what I meant. I don¡¯t care about something trivial like this island. Who are you, and why have you come to Ceretos?¡± Anton could tell the man was strong. He was not terribly familiar with the Augmentation stage, but the man had to have reached that point. There was a great power¡­ but something else as well. He wasn¡¯t quite as solid as he made himself out to be. How aggressive. Everheart wondered if that was out of fear or confidence. The first shot landing at his feet was clearly a warning, but did this man want to fight? Eveheart would gladly take him up on it any other day¡­ or rather some day he was in his best condition. ¡°I live here,¡± Everheart replied. ¡°Or I did, at least. I thought to come back to visit. As for my name¡­ it¡¯s Everheart.¡± He tensed his muscles, ready for any reaction. ¡°Perhaps you¡¯ve heard of me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a fairly safe assumption that most people have,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Word is the same even in the upper realms. But I¡¯m curious as to why you would return here now. You may call me Anton. ¡± Anton¡¯s eyes focused on the top of the man¡¯s head. ¡°I must admit, I didn¡¯t know how I expected you to look, but I thought it would be¡­ different.¡± Everheart felt his gaze. His initial reaction was instinct. ¡°Yeah? Well maybe your hair would fall out too if you had the entire upper realms after you!¡± That was already too much. Everheart was supposed to be the one who provoked action from people. He was supposed to be in disguise, but the journey and then the whole thing with his turtle had kind of disrupted that. How to spin this¡­ ¡°Why don¡¯t you see how you are when you have to face off against a hundred angry sects by yourself, hmm?¡± ¡°It would never happen,¡± Anton countered. ¡°Because I have friends.¡± Anton could see he was getting under the man¡¯s skin. In a way, he had the advantage from having met him before, but not the other way around. And much less refined stages of Everheart as well. ¡°I have taken upon myself the task of protecting Ceretos from dangers. That could include you or those after you. So, explain your intentions.¡± The distance between the two closed in an instant. Everheart¡¯s hand was on the bow immediately, making the forming arrow of energy pointless. But instead of wrestling it away, he paused. Everheart told himself it had nothing to do with the several dozen additional bows that had appeared around him at every angle, but he did have to give them a slight consideration. Ugh, he hated revealing anything. ¡°I¡¯m not comfortable explaining with weapons drawn.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m not comfortable speaking with you hiding your own. So let¡¯s get started with the talking before I have to kill you.¡± ¡°Even if you could,¡± Everheart drew out the word. ¡°Which you can¡¯t. I¡¯d drag you down to hell with me.¡± ¡°I might as well go doing something worthwhile.¡± Anton¡¯s energy sharpened, twisting in strange patterns. ¡°I imagine you¡¯re subject to the same restrictions on ascended individuals as everyone else.¡± ¡°You punk! That¡¯s my own technique, you think you can use it against me?¡± ¡°You think I can¡¯t?¡± Anton asked. Normally, he didn¡¯t draw upon energies until he needed them, but he found there was something particularly effective about one sort. He should at least be able to greatly injure Everheart with the Spectral Energy. ¡°I¡¯m quite prepared to die. Whether I go with you or you with me matters not.¡± Everheart whistled as he saw a shimmering image behind Anton, a genuine enthusiasm creeping into his voice. ¡°Oh damn, is that Fleeting Youth? How is it? It¡¯s good, right?¡± He almost wanted to reach out to touch the energy, but he had the feeling his old bones would disintegrate if he did so. ¡°That explains why someone like you is here. You can¡¯t ascend. So what did you do instead?¡± ¡°We call it assimilation,¡± Anton said. The name was minimal information¡­ and the rest was a reminder he was not alone. ¡°There are more like you?¡± Everheart said. ¡°Now I have to know.¡± If he was correct, this Anton should only have recently left Life Transformation. In that case¡­ his fingers tightened around the bow, snapping the shaft. It hadn¡¯t been a bluff that he knew how to deal with anti-ascension techniques¡­ but neither was it entirely truthful. Dozens of arrows streaked through the air towards him at the same time, blocking him from chasing after the retreating archer. This wouldn¡¯t be good for his internal injuries, but his curiosity was too much. He did slam a totem carved with complex formations down between them as he dodged the beginning of the hail of arrows. It drew in the spectral arrows that he really didn¡¯t want to have to deal with. Then he began to toss formation flags in all directions, while with another hand he twirled a staff around himself to deflect the incoming arrows. They came from pretty much every conceivable direction, but Everheart had fought more than this many archers at once. Normally they stopped shooting though. Wasn¡¯t this the maximum burst Anton could sustain? He would tire himself out in a mere few minutes. All Everheart had to do was wait. And maybe he would have, if it wasn¡¯t getting hotter. Some arrows were made of fire, others moved unbearably fast. Sealing off the island wouldn¡¯t do much good if the archer didn¡¯t try to run and didn¡¯t need reinforcements. Everheart now recognized what his eyes really looked like. He¡¯d seen stars, and those eyes weren¡¯t just representative of it. How long had it been since he¡¯d fought just one person? There was a significant difference between teamwork and a single individual probing for weaknesses. It seemed the man had already picked out he was a bit slow at maneuvering this staff towards his spine. Everheart twirled his body to make sure he didn¡¯t leave anything in place. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Unfortunately Everheart didn¡¯t have time to swap weapons, and he had to keep the totem between himself and the archer to catch the spectral energy. Even if they tried to go around, it was more than capable of pulling them in. Maybe he should pull out the armor of the Dragon Prince, or the Chains of Harmony. The latter was from this world, so they should be effective even if he¡¯d have to mix upper and lower energy. Then he remembered he¡¯d taken the Midnight Mirror from that arrogant Void Scrying Sect. He pulled it out with one hand, pouring his power into it. All of the energy around him winked out and gave him a moment to breathe. He could swap for a spear, and use the mirror as a shield. But it would be hard to capture such an opponent. Everheart hadn¡¯t noticed when, but Anton had pulled out another few bows. And physical arrows. He recognized the material for one of the arrowheads. Void ant chitin. Wasn¡¯t it a foul to use something he¡¯d left for the good of the planet against him? Sure, it wasn¡¯t directly for the benefit of the people left behind, but anything that helped combat the invasion was good for them! Look at how things were, they had not only avoided being wiped out but were actually quite prosperous, from what he sensed from afar. The spear stabbed next to Anton¡¯s torso repeatedly, but he twisted and turned and parried with his bow. The island they were nominally fighting on was being pulverized beneath them, sinking back into the sea. Anton knew he couldn¡¯t beat Everheart in a fair fight, but as it went on the man¡¯s injuries were more clear- and while it was not as much as Anton expected, he was certainly restricted in his use of energy for being in the lower realms. If nothing else, he could greatly worsen those injuries. Just around the time that Anton was at his limits and ready to use Candle Wax, another man appeared. Anton wasn¡¯t sure how he got through the barrier around the island, and the way he resembled Everheart made him cautious¡­ but the man wasn¡¯t on a trajectory towards him. ¡°Hey.¡± A hand clasped Everheart¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re back.¡± Everheart turned. ¡°Oh. Hello.¡± He saw a face with large enough bags under his eyes to fill a palace. Sallow skin and a crazed look. ¡°Could you hold on a moment? I¡¯m kind of in a fight.¡± The figure grinned, then sunk it¡¯s hand into his body. ¡°Dammit! Not again! How do they keep figuring this out!?¡± Before he passed out, Everheart comforted himself. ¡°Oh right, it¡¯s because I¡¯m a genius.¡± Then the flood of memories hit him, centuries just from this projection that was tied to the moon. That wouldn¡¯t have been so bad if there weren¡¯t dozens of arrows flying for him. The first one went right through his spleen. ----- When Everheart awoke, he was surprised. Sure, he always lived, but usually he had a reason for it. At least two thirds of the time he¡¯d made a plan that would ensure it. This time, he¡¯d fully taken himself out. He felt his side. His spleen was still out for the count, and the way it hurt when he moved his arm revealed the holes throughout. But they were precision. Something he could recover from, perhaps. If he could reach his medicine. Which he couldn¡¯t because his bag was quite a distance away and his arms were bound with the Chains of Harmony. He began to wiggle out of them but then felt the eyes on him. ¡°Oh, good morning. Good to see you again.¡± ¡°Listen,¡± Anton said. ¡°We may have gotten off on the wrong foot. While it¡¯s true that the entire galaxy would agree you¡¯re an asshole, and maybe half of it actually wants to kill you, I¡¯m not part of the latter group. Unless I need to. So I would like to talk.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to be honest,¡± Everheart rolled himself to a sitting position. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s ever meant that in the last few centuries.¡± ¡°Well, I mean it. Because there are things I want to know. Like why you came back here. Let¡¯s start with that, and if anyone¡¯s after you. And I¡¯m going to point out I could tell you were injured before our whole scuffle.¡± ¡°Nobody should be coming after me, at the moment. As long as nobody noticed¡­ this whole thing.¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m honestly here for peaceful reasons.¡± ¡°And what about Paradise?¡± Anton asked. ¡°What about Paradise?¡± Everheart asked honestly. ¡°Where is that? The little island we destroyed? I thought we didn¡¯t care about that.¡± ¡°The turtle.¡± ¡°Oh! My pet turtle. We just got into a little disagreement. Nothing serious.¡± Anton was crouched some distance away, but kept close to eye level. ¡°I¡¯m going to say this now¡­ Paradise isn¡¯t anyone¡¯s anything now.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°What about that woman and little settlement on his back?¡± ¡°They¡¯re just companions,¡± Anton said. ¡°... Weird.¡± Why would they live on something they couldn¡¯t control? It didn¡¯t make any sense. ¡°Anyway, I don¡¯t intend to cause further ruckus here. Honest.¡± ¡°I believe you,¡± Anton said. ¡°Which is probably a mistake, given we know a good deal of your history here. But let me ask something else. Why did you make your Tombs?¡± ¡°Because it was fun,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°I love to mess with people.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But I¡¯m surprised. There wasn¡¯t anything more than that?¡± It seemed like it would be simply for him to claim some sort of loftier objective, like Anton surmised. At least in part. ¡°What else would there be?¡± ¡°Tempering the next generation,¡± Anton said. ¡°Well, sure,¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°As much as all adversity. Seems you know something about it.¡± ¡°Your Tombs were less lethal than they could have been.¡± ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Everheart said. ¡°All of my actual enemies I tried to trash as thoroughly as possible before I left. Everyone else? Who cares.¡± ¡°I was on the moon,¡± Anton said. ¡°One of your projections and I even had a fairly explicit conversation about the invasion. You were clearly concerned about it. Why?¡± ¡°Because this is my home!¡± Everheart said with more passion than intended. It was his home, and he¡¯d certainly held onto that strongly for a while, but that had faded over the centuries he was away. So why? Oh right. The memories that were currently splitting apart his head. And this Anton was in¡­ several of them. ¡°Huh. We talked a few times already.¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± Anton asked suspiciously. ¡°Well, I chose to recover the memories of my projections.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Anton said. ¡°So that was what that one was. Forcing memories onto you.¡± Tch. If he wasn¡¯t so thrown off by all the memories and his injuries he would be much better at deception. ¡°It¡¯s not really like that. I was just expecting it at a different moment.¡± ¡°I absolutely believe you,¡± Anton said in a way that Everheart couldn¡¯t have believed was sincere even if he was four years old. ¡°Now then, we need to talk about how we¡¯re going to keep Ceretos safe.¡± Chapter 468 All of the various stories and legends about Everheart painted him in a terrible light, as if he were the worst person to ever exist. While Anton wasn¡¯t entirely prepared to rule that out, he understood that many of those stories were, if not exaggerated, at least skewed from the perspective of those involved. It was quite certain that he had caused great amounts of damage to many groups, but the thing was¡­ maybe they kind of deserved it. Not that Anton was going to support Everheart¡¯s actions as a whole. The thing was, from what Anton had seen the man did have a few redeeming qualities, and even he deserved a chance to live. The largest moment of temptation to end him and his troubles had already passed, after he woke up. Perhaps Anton would end up another one of those fooled by the man and would inevitably end up cursing his name, but he felt they had a connection, if only through legacy. And more importantly, he had something he wanted from Everheart. He was still a powerful cultivator, even injured, and for what Anton really wanted he would have time to recover. ¡°Before we move on to other topics,¡± Anton asked. ¡°How did you get here? The tides of the world should not allow it.¡± Everheart shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s because you have a limited perspective on the issue. You dealt with those invaders just recently, right? You think they all traveled through the void of space unaided? Of course not. They came on ships.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t sense any,¡± Anton said. ¡°And we could feel them from far distant.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because they couldn¡¯t function in the system,¡± Everheart pointed out. ¡°Or even properly throughout most of the lower realms. They run on upper energy, so they kind of shut down here. Same with cultivators.¡± ¡°You seem to be fine,¡± Anton pointed out. Everheart shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m native to the lower realms. That changes things. I can supplement my energy with natural energy without having to learn it for the first time. It¡¯s hard, for people spending a century or three functioning only on upper energy to adjust. Why do you think the Exalted Quadrant has people here? If they just cared about the resources they could harvest them every few centuries and be done with it.¡± Anton frowned, ¡°Are you saying that the cultivators here are being raised to function in invasions of other lower realm worlds?¡± ¡°Eh, maybe. More like being mobilized wherever they need them. And I¡¯m of the opinion that proper ascension makes you a more well rounded cultivator.¡± ¡°My companions in the upper realms indicated something similar, though they had no way to confirm it.¡± ¡°You have contact with the upper realms? How?¡± Suddenly Everheart¡¯s face twitched, ¡°Oh those punks! I can¡¯t believe that stupid projections let them poke around so much. Though I have to admit that formation girl¡­ Catarina. She¡¯s a smart one.¡± Everheart pursed his lips, ¡°Which is exactly why I shouldn¡¯t have taught her anything.¡± ¡°A little late for that,¡± Anton said. ¡°Pretty sure you¡¯ve taught half of the formation knowledge everyone on Ceretos has, if indirectly. Which I supposed makes many places much less secure suddenly.¡± Everheart waved his hand, ¡°Oh relax. You think I¡¯m going to rob petty goods from this world?¡± He grinned, ¡°Only if someone specifically pisses me off. I don¡¯t need the crap you have here. Speaking of which¡­ you seem pretty upset about that bow.¡± Anton hadn¡¯t said anything of the sort, but he had to admit it was hard not to look at the bow. ¡°A friend helped me make it.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Everheart¡¯s face softened slightly. ¡°They dead?¡± Blunt, but slightly sympathetic. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then get over it!¡± Everheart pulled out a bow and tossed it to Anton. ¡°Here, a good one. If we¡¯re going to be working together you need to be effective.¡± Anton held the bow in his hand. It was of a relatively simple design, though with tracery glowing a dull orange. Anton imagined they were practical enchantments, but it certainly counteracted the simple shape. The bow also felt warm in his hands¡­ or rather, it was akin to the fires of a forge and Anton was simply highly tolerant to such things. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked. ¡°That¡¯s made from a worldheart, strung with soulstrands of a dying world.¡± Anton tossed it back. ¡°I would rather not wield a weapon that sounds so unethical.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Everheart said. ¡°I didn¡¯t make it, and you didn¡¯t make it. But someone did, and it would be a shame for someone to destroy a world and never see that used.¡± ¡°... were there people on that world?¡± ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Everheart said, ¡°Loads. You don¡¯t get soulstrands from breaking apart a big hunk of rock.¡± ¡°You seem to know a lot about this bow,¡± Anton challenged. ¡°I told you, I didn¡¯t make it. I have some morals, you know. I decided it would be most appropriate that the guy who made it never got to use it. So I snatched it.¡± A slight smile drifted onto Everheart¡¯s face. ¡°Got a wife too.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Would destroying it free the souls?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no consciousness in there, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking. Either that, or there¡¯s nothing that can be done about it. It¡¯s either a combined mush of soulstrands, or individual floating specks. Anything that can feed into the cycle of reincarnation has done so.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure I accept your explanation. It could be cursed, meant to destroy me.¡± ¡°Good instincts,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Trust no one.¡± ¡°I trust many people,¡± Anton said. ¡°Just not you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Everheart said. ¡°Huh. I¡¯m surprised.¡± ¡°Why? You¡¯re pretty well known for being untrustworthy.¡± ¡°Oh, definitely,¡± he nodded. ¡°I meant the other thing. You look like you should have become fed up with the world by now.¡± ¡°Sorry to tell you, but I have many loyal companions who I trust with anything.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Everheart said, ¡°Until you have a treasure they want, and they stab you in the back for it.¡± ¡°Why would they have to do that?¡± Anton said. ¡°I could just give it to them.¡± ¡°... you¡¯re crazy,¡± Everheart shook his head. ----- Anton did not trust Everheart, but he had to keep reminding himself of that because when he felt like it the man could be quite charming. Sure, it was rare¡­ but Anton could see how many people would be fooled. Telling people that Everheart had returned to Ceretos was going to be difficult. At least everyone who personally remembered him was already dead- or ascended. Hopefully any clans or sects with ancient grudges could be convinced to act rationally¡­ if they had to be told. Because Anton certainly wasn¡¯t going to spread the word far and wide. If it reached the Exalted Archipelago, Anton didn¡¯t see a good fate for the world. But without Everheart, he was dubious about surviving the next invasion. The Trigold Cluster could probably send thousands of Life Transformation or Ascension cultivators if they wanted to, and a lower realm successfully repelling them seemed like the perfect excuse to react that way. Them hearing of Everheart might also provoke that reaction, but even in that case having him around seemed like it would be a good thing. If he could trust him to stay and fight. And if he didn¡¯t, at least they could get him to help enlighten the population. The man was a genius in many fields, a master of techniques and styles and formations. Or whatever the proper title for him would be related to formations. Grandmaster. Grandgrandmaster. Super-ultra-grandmaster. Everheart would probably like that last one. The man had an ego. ¡­ Anton was going to keep his name as secret as possible. He was also going to ask Everheart about allies in the upper realms, because he had to have some. He was famous for acting alone, but there was no way that was fully true. At the very least, he had to have some leverage over people to control them. Anton would be cautious about asking for anything like that, but if he had to to keep Ceretos around, he might stir up some trouble. ----- On the world that no longer had more than memories of Everheart, much was being learned. The Library no longer had the vast majority of Everheart¡¯s collection- though it seemed some things had been left behind. It was uncertain if that was by intention or accident. Connected to the formation node deep within, however, was another library. The revealed section was relatively small in scope, and almost certainly unaccessed by Everheart. There were a few techniques and the like, but half of the volumes were history, especially related to the planet itself. It had a name- maybe one that some people still remembered, but most would only know it as Everheart¡¯s Tomb. Before that, it had been known as Xankeshan. Some portion called themselves the Xankeshan Guardians- it was unclear if that was just a subset of the world spanning sect, but they styled themselves to be a righteous sect. They had a long history¡­ but it had ended with involving themselves in a war between the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant. There was enough detail to presume this had something to do with the Bloodsoaked Nebula¡¯s name, but with a minimum of five centuries having passed, the time the members of the Order had been in the upper realms wasn¡¯t enough to delve into that part of history. And Vari didn¡¯t believe in the veracity of anything the Harmonious Citadel had told her. After the formations had been activated, the main dangers remaining were in the Gardens, though even there all of their group was attuned to be able to draw upon the power of the area. At the moment, their main interest was stabilizing the place and making sure it wasn¡¯t going to suddenly stop working. Catarina had started with repairing some of the attacking formations, and while there was still much work to go she was more confident in fighting off someone like Fajra if she returned- and potentially more. The rest of them were sent off to various locations to report the condition back to her. With everyone forced off of the planet, there were ten thousand different rumors- and the Radiant Beauty Sect made no effort to contribute their somewhat more authoritative view on what happened. At least, from what information came through the Dark Ring. Their group was still allied with the Dark Ring in various ways. Hoyt was at least an accessory member, and Matousek was more strongly tied to them. They wanted to keep that connection, but they weren''t willing to let anyone onto Xankeshan for the moment. If it was able to sustain its position, having a defensive location such as that was perhaps the foothold they needed in the upper realms. They would still need more people, of course. Even if every single cultivator from Ceretos that ascended joined them- which they didn¡¯t necessarily want- they would only be a small faction. But with a safe place to go back to, even one that was in a well-known location, they had many more options. The Dark Ring had provided some safety, but they operated in the shadows. The Harmonious Citadel would be quite interested in taking them down if they could find them consistently. That was assuming Xankeshan was secure¡­ and didn¡¯t draw more trouble than it was worth. Its deeper formations had been defunct since well before Everheart set up, and he must have noticed them, building directly atop the nodes. Yet even he hadn¡¯t been able to control them without the formation plate¡­ found on Ceretos. How and why it ended up there wasn¡¯t known, and the records hadn¡¯t provided any indication of that so far. With all of that they had plenty to keep them occupied, but there were also complaints from Anton. Apparently, the whole incident had sent Everheart running back to Ceretos. Nobody was surprised he wasn¡¯t dead, nor that he had been secretly recovering somewhere on the planet. But if things had gone slightly differently, perhaps Everheart would be in control and they would be dead. Yet if they had refused to make big moves, they could spend centuries to just make a small step in establishing themselves, and while they might have one century, more than that wouldn¡¯t give them an opportunity to affect the next invasion of Ceretos. Chapter 469 On some level, Nicodemo wished Anton was present on Rutera right now. On another, he was glad Anton and the others had returned to their home planet. Rutera could certainly benefit from the combat prowess of the cultivators from Ceretos, but that was not the best way to maintain a strong, independent Rutera. Trusting the motives of six individuals he knew for a year was already difficult. A reasonable facade could be maintained for such a time. And even they had admitted that not all of Ceretos would share their same¡­ helpfulness. But damn if Nicodemo couldn¡¯t use that old archer to shoot down some ships right now. Anton was a thinking, mobile artillery station. Nicodemo didn¡¯t care if he drew power from their star if he could take out a few enemy ships. But General Nicodemo wasn¡¯t the only one making decisions. He had all of the war council to appease, as well as the president and other influential figures. At least nobody was saying they should try to talk things out. The Azothian invaders hadn¡¯t exchanged a single word, nor remained still long enough for Rutera to make the attempt to communicate. And realistically, they couldn¡¯t afford to not immediately shoot the enemy ships out of the sky. But here Nicodemo was, grounded. An arrow thunked into a target a hundred meters away. It wasn¡¯t a bullseye, but he was getting more used to archery. He had to admit the strain of drawing an arrow was much more cathartic than shooting a gun. In an actual combat situation he would opt for the latter- he wasn¡¯t skilled enough to use a bow in actual combat. But he was also never supposed to be in actual combat. If he needed to give commands to the fleet, he could do so from any full communications station. Around the planet there wasn¡¯t even a concern about speed of light delay, and aside from a few scouting ships Rutera hadn¡¯t gotten much further than their immediate surroundings. It was difficult, commanding an army with no first-hand combat experience. Yet he didn¡¯t think anyone else was more qualified either. After the initial attack training from the cultivators had opened up more options, but the skills were still being explored. They were effective man-to-man, but nobody was strong enough to do anything in ship combat. Though previously the very thought of it was preposterous, so it wasn¡¯t a terrible concern. Upon exhausting his stores of natural energy, Nicodemo returned to his room to review recordings of battle. Rutera had achieved some success, and while the initial probing attack had taught them something about the invaders from Azoth, the enemy hadn¡¯t probed their defenses from nothing. Nicodemo watched the video of a station and fighters against a small fleet of enemy ships- most were smaller than the first ones they had seen, but all shared a similar rotationally symmetric multi-sail design. He saw beam weaponry striking the smaller ships and eventually breaking through their defenses- but it took concerted effort. The larger ships, meanwhile, almost seemed to ignore their attacks. After the initial attack he had thought that simply diversifying their weapons would be sufficient, but that wasn¡¯t the case. When the enemy next showed up, their barriers resisted everything Rutera had already thrown at them- and they quickly adapted to anything new. It wasn¡¯t perfect, though. Nicodemo watched swarming fighters rake a target with beams and pepper it with conventional ammunition. The latter wasn¡¯t something they preferred to use in space, but it was necessary. The enemy quickly adapted to a few different types of attacks at once¡­ but the baseline against their weapons wasn¡¯t as good. Nothing would ever beat the initial volleys, but as far as anyone could tell the more permanent adaptation was a far cry from being invincible. But half invincible was still a problem. They could of course specifically adapt to even things they¡¯d experience previously, making them nearly ineffective- but that still counted against the small number of things they could attune to at once. If there were more types of consistent attacks they either didn¡¯t adapt or all forms of defense were weaker. Changing up the frequency of their beams and lasers helped very slightly, but Nicodemo was really waiting for the next wave of refitted ships. Even outdated technology that was half effective was still better than the most modern weapons that were completely resisted. Nicodemo frowned at the recording. He wasn¡¯t sure what he wanted to find. Maybe some type of weaponry that the enemy was more vulnerable to, though he and others had already gone over their recordings dozens of times by now. He knew every kill shot by heart- there were unfortunately few of those, but it seemed the Azoth forces were limited, and incapable of completely overwhelming them. The planetary shields were an important part of that. Damned expensive to run, but they had to be kept semi-active so they could be switched on at a moment¡¯s notice. Nicodemo really hoped the enemy¡¯s ships were monumentally costly. They had to be¡­ or they were just toying with Rutera. Then Nicodemo saw something. One of their fighters took out an enemy ship, all on its own. Sure, it was one of the enemy¡¯s smallest ships¡­ but why hadn¡¯t it been recorded? Ah, that was it. Technically, it wasn¡¯t an enemy casualty. At least, not a kill. Instead, the ship limped away with three sails, skirting past some of its larger cousins as the fighter focused on other active targets. He reversed the recording, watching it again. Yes, there it was. Conventional ammunition splattering harmlessly against the ship¡¯s barriers. It adapted, yet the same fighter came back for another round and¡­ neatly sliced off its sail. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. It kind of hacked it apart, but it still broke through the barrier. Then he saw that the sail wasn¡¯t completely dislocated until the fighter clipped it with a wing. ¡­ What was this, a freaking rookie? There was no way anyone should get that close to an enemy ship, especially in space. There was plenty of room to maneuver even in the most packed fight. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He took some time to look up who was flying that fighter and found that it was a rookie. One Ty Quigley, fresh out of flight school. If they didn¡¯t need every pilot they could get, a kid like that would never have participated in a combat mission. Nothing stood out about the kid. Good enough to get into flight school, good enough to pass. Not marginal, not exceptional. The only thing on his record that was notable was the ¡®special training¡¯ listed. One of those from Ceretos. Elder Intan. Wasn¡¯t that the guy from, what was it called again? Million Sword Vault, that was it. Nicodemo had seen Anton shoot into space with his bow, and he¡¯d seen some of those individuals with swords chop apart enemy attacks- which was complete nonsense- so he respected their ability for that. But what would training with a sword fanatic do for a fighter pilot shooting conventional ammunition? Maybe it was a coincidence. Either way, he was considering chewing the kid out for nearly taking off his own wing. They might not be necessary in space, but they were required for atmospheric flight and if he impacted something both he and an expensive piece of equipment would be done for. Curious, Nicodemo sent off a message to Anton. Maybe it was inappropriate to ignore proper communication channels, but hey, he was kind of the guy¡¯s apprentice. Or whatever. Either way, Anton had left a weird communication device with him. ¡°Think any of those sword guys could cut a space ship in half? How practical is that?¡± An idle question, one he didn¡¯t expect a response to. And he wouldn¡¯t get one for a while, because even with FTL comms, there was some delay between neighboring systems. ¡°Ayotunde or Intan? Not sure. But I do know two who definitely could, if they were around. Mostly requires getting to the ship.¡± Nicodemo imagined himself standing in space, a sword at his side. A ship would charge towards him, and he would draw it- severing the thing clean in two. Pfft. Ridiculous. ¡­ he needed to train harder. ----- Wood split evenly from top to bottom and bottom to top. Direction was inconsequential and perhaps not even relevant. The sword swinging in one direction was not limited to cutting in the same. From prow to stern, evenly bisecting the masts, the ship split. Into quarters- for from the side another slash occurred simultaneously. In what would have been a cosmic coincidence were it not a regular occurrence, Chikere watched the goods in the hold of the ship fall into the atmosphere. They would be fine- it was someone¡¯s job to catch those. Not hers, though. Nor Rahayu. Their job was to deal with the people, all of whom were lucky enough to not have been standing on either of the dividing lines. Immediately, the guards were rushing into position. Then they let go of their weapons, finding at least one sword prodding their individual vitals, and sometimes more. The captain of the ship called out his surrender- cultivators could speak in the void of space by vibrating their energy properly. ¡°Just don¡¯t hurt us! We¡¯re only traders!¡± ¡°And we¡¯re just bandits,¡± Rahayu shrugged. They quickly subdued everyone, and of course secured their weapons. ¡°Seriously?¡± Chikere sighed. ¡°These swords are all garbage!¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe these are getting delivered to the Sword Saint. Maybe in those crates down there.¡± The ship that had moments before been one of the flagship vessels of Enterprise Starfield Shipping was now loosely fluttering towards the atmosphere below. The structure of the ship wasn¡¯t worth much, but some components were. Skyships needed special formations and crystals to fly, and space ships even more so. Traveling between systems wasn¡¯t cheap or easy. Keeping the vessel intact would have been worth the most¡­ if anyone had been inclined to have more vessels or attempt a sale. Individual parts were easier to transport. ¡°Please don¡¯t kill us!¡± the captain repeated. ¡°We can pay you!¡± Chikere shoved a gag in his mouth. ¡°You can¡¯t pay us, but someone else can. Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be properly ransomed.¡± Unless they were used for an ambush, or a reverse ambush or whatever. The Harmonious Citadel was really trying to crack down on them hard. But at the moment, they were hopping between locations with some regularity. None of the actual saints were coming for them, but there were a couple annoyingly strong archers and spearmen and stuff. Nobody worth fighting though. If they sent some swordsmen¡­ well, maybe there was a reason they weren¡¯t doing that. Looking through the swords down below, there were a few that might be able to replace something. Number fifty, sixty-three, maybe one hundred and seventy-two- but really, the last one was a backup anyway. They were better used as bait or handed to one of the more deserving members of their gang. ¡°Oh, did you hear?¡± Chikere said to Rahayu. ¡°Some of my friends took over an entire planet.¡± ¡°So?¡± Rahayu shrugged, gesturing around them. ¡°There are lots of planets.¡± ¡°It¡¯s one of the good ones, though,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Used to be Everheart¡¯s Tomb.¡± ¡°That guy? Remind me to go stab him later.¡± ¡°Uh, sorry,¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°Apparently he was there, recovering from wounds or whatever, but now he¡¯s retreated to the lower realms or something.¡± ¡°Ah, whatever,¡± Rahayu shrugged. ¡°Think they¡¯ll let us use it as a base? Is it safe?¡± ¡°Brimming with formations,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Kind of out of the way for our current work, though. I¡¯ll ask if they need any guests. We could trade with the Dark Ring, maybe.¡± ¡°Maybe. Hear anything from Ceretos?¡± ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s see. I remember them making contact with another system in the lower realms. Seemed like they were going to war or something?¡± ¡°Sounds great,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°Gotta keep sharp.¡± Chapter 470 Looking down at Ceretos, Matija knew she was lucky to have been on the ship that came to this system to check it out. She was still not fully clear on how personal power and leadership positions intertwined in Ceretos, but she supposed it was much like Rutera, except with political power and wealth leading to more of the same. Ceretos¡¯ people also just happened to have huge personal combat capability. Even before they touched atmosphere, Matija knew that Anton had spotted them. She felt his energy tracking them, which was only natural when they came in over the Order of One Hundred Stars. In a way, Anton was their primary security system. Of course he was waiting when they landed. Everyone was polite and formal with Anton. There was no way the others hadn¡¯t seen the video of the first attack by Azoth, and his involvement in it. But except for the crew that had been with her, none of them would get the proper experience of the first contact. It still seemed insane, to just find a guy standing outside their ship as they surveyed the sun. Matija was also polite as she greeted Anton. Not because she was afraid of him- though it was hard to not be a little bit nervous as she grew ever more capable of sensing the energy he held- but because he deserved that respect for being a decent person. She looked back at the ship, whose fuel stores would be replenished through unfamiliar methods. Not unknown or unexplained, exactly, but not something Rutera could replicate at the moment. Ceretos didn¡¯t exactly have any charging stations nor did they make use of the same sorts of things, but they could directly return power to their fuel rods. Even without technical explanations about how they worked. Things like that were more or less the goal of missions like this- understanding the difference in thinking patterns between Ceretos and Rutera, and exchanging knowledge. As she¡¯d begun to cultivate Matija came to understand the natural intuition and nearly unexplainable understanding cultivation could provide. Once she got how to do something, she just knew it, even if she couldn¡¯t explain the mechanics behind it besides using her natural energy to, for example, inject power into her datapad. She could even make it run faster and because of that she learned to help with overheating. Though none of that was relevant on large scales. ----- ¡°So, anything exciting happening on Rutera?¡± Anton asked. ¡°There¡¯s the obvious, of course,¡± Matija sighed. ¡°The war. Official reports are on the way, and I really don¡¯t know much. Except we¡¯re not immediately losing, at least. We¡¯re studying the scrap of some of their ships, but they¡¯re definitely more formation based like your style rather than our sort of technology.¡± ¡°We could send someone to assist,¡± Anton said. ¡°I think there are formal requests involved for that,¡± Matija shrugged. ¡°You haven¡¯t heard anything?¡± ¡°Formations aren¡¯t my department,¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡¯s more my granddaughter.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to meet her some day,¡± Matija said. ¡°It¡¯s rather impossible at the moment,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°She¡¯s in the upper realms.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve sent probes towards the upper realms,¡± Matija said. ¡°No manned vessels because it¡¯s more than a few systems away. Probably won¡¯t learn anything for years. We¡¯ll probably share information on what happens¡­ eventually.¡± ¡°The current rate of information exchange is acceptable,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though not preferable. But even I have some hesitation to share everything.¡± Anton pulled out some books, ¡°On that note, I read the previously provided books.¡± ¡°Yeah, you mentioned that. Couldn¡¯t really have a conversation about it though. What did you think?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ radiation is an interesting topic,¡± Anton began slowly. ¡°Perhaps it is related to why cultivators inevitably age. We have some understanding of the practical effects of such things. For example, I was aware of different sorts of energy coming from the sun.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad it didn¡¯t cook you alive,¡± Matija said. ¡°Perhaps it would, if I were not connected to it. I¡¯m fairly certain that I am¡­ safer than I would otherwise be. Not quite immune, because cultivation can always harm its user if they are careless. As with anything of great power.¡± Anton scratched his chin, ¡°Your technical terms for the common forms of natural energy are quite extensive.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Matija nodded. ¡°You generally refer to them more as elements¡­ similar to an older understanding we¡¯ve had.¡± ¡°You can just say we¡¯re old fogies,¡± Anton said. ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°I meant it, it¡¯s not really the same. Though I really wish you had better terms. Like, I have no idea what fire that doesn¡¯t burn people you don¡¯t want it to is. Are you shielding individuals from your energy?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it,¡± Anton said. ¡°Look.¡± Anton held out his hand, forming a ball of flame. ¡°It¡¯s perfectly safe.¡± Matija could feel that, and it was weird to be able to. Even so, she was hesitant to reach towards it. It was warm, and when she actually reached inside hot. But not damaging. ¡°It¡¯s weird,¡± she said. ¡°My grandson-in-law can demonstrate better,¡± Anton said. ¡°Let me guess, in the upper realms?¡± ¡°No, Anish is still here. You can visit the Fire and Ice Palace, or whatever they¡¯re calling it lately.¡± ¡°I have so many questions,¡± Matija nodded. ¡°Like, does ice draw heat away from the surroundings? And then where does the heat go?¡± ¡°The answer is always going to be yes and no.¡± Anton held out his hands. He formed two little orbs of ice. ¡°Feel.¡± The area around one of them was cold. The other, only cold to the touch. ¡°Wait, I thought the Hundred Stars only controlled Fire and Light?¡± Matija frowned. ¡°Is this¡­ a secret technique?¡± ¡°This,¡± Anton said. ¡°Is extremely elementary manipulation of elements. My cultivation technique does not have to have an affinity for something to make use of it. Just to do so quickly or efficiently. I understand how to do it, so I can. To some extent.¡± Anton grinned, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be much good in a fight though.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°I don¡¯t fight much,¡± Matija admitted. ¡°Though uh¡­ General Nicodemo invites me to spar sometimes.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Does that bother you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not really any good at fighting. I just had a bit of a head start with cultivation. I feel like he¡¯ll surpass me soon and we¡¯ll probably never talk again. Though I guess having the general¡¯s number is probably useful for advancing my career.¡± ¡°Number of¡­ what?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Uh, his communicator,¡± Matija said. ¡°We don¡¯t do much point-to-point communication like you, but instead we have a network where you identify which thing you want to contact.¡± ¡°Sounds insecure,¡± Anton commented. ¡°There are ways to make it more secure. And there are separate military things.¡± Matija smiled, ¡°That guy carries a bow with him everywhere now, you know? Even when you¡¯re not around.¡± ¡°Sounds like you¡¯re pretty familiar with¡­ that guy.¡± ¡°Eh,¡± Matija shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s hard to be formal when he¡¯s not, well, you. And not present. Like, Sect Head doesn¡¯t sound like an important title to me even though I know you¡¯re one of the most important people on this planet. And could probably take out our entire government on your own.¡± Anton pondered. ¡°Your weapons are fairly decent,¡± he said. ¡°If you were prepared, I¡¯m not sure if I could do that much.¡± ¡°The fact that you had to seriously consider that question is what I mean,¡± Matija said. ¡°You didn¡¯t say it was ridiculous. And I bet you could surprise people, if you wanted to. It¡¯s a lot easier to mobilize yourself compared to¡­ the entire military.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Anton said. ¡°A weakness that Rutera currently has, though not an issue if you don¡¯t let unfamiliar individuals near your planet. It is possible that someone from Azoth would try to land undetected, though.¡± ¡°The subject already came up,¡± Matija said. ¡°We already had security scanners to begin with, and you cultivators light up sensors like¡­ barely shielded power cores.¡± Matija narrowed her eyes as she looked at Anton, ¡°Except you. You¡¯re more like an extremely well shielded power core with a freaking star inside.¡± ¡°That is effectively the case,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you connected to our star.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Anton said sincerely. Matija laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t know if anyone really understands. Most people don¡¯t believe it- the other scientists aren¡¯t good enough cultivators to get beyond the numbers.¡± ¡°It¡¯s really only a small piece of a star,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Could you blow up a planet?¡± After a couple seconds, Matija answered herself, ¡°And you had to consider it again. So it¡¯s not that small.¡± ¡°Do you want the answer?¡± Anton asked. ¡°...I guess.¡± ¡°Only the really small ones. Or big asteroids,¡± Anton said. ¡°And it wouldn¡¯t be all at once. But I could dismantle one with enough time.¡± Suddenly, his head swiveled around, and his eyes narrowed. ¡°What is he doing here?¡± ¡°He who?¡± Matija frowned. She couldn¡¯t sense anyone in that direction, which really didn¡¯t say much except that they weren¡¯t right outside the building. ¡°I need to go.¡± Anton disappeared from before her eyes, leaving behind only a gust of wind that Matija knew could have been a supersonic shockwave if he didn¡¯t cushion the world around him. It had to be someone really important. ----- ¡°I thought we agreed that you would stay¡­ isolated,¡± Anton frowned as he looked at Everheart. ¡°See anyone else around?¡± Everheart shrugged. He looked different, but Anton knew that was just a facade. ¡°I¡¯m isolated.¡± ¡°Why are you in Graotan?¡± ¡°Why not? It¡¯s a nice place.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t under the impression that you liked nice places.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯re uninformed,¡± Everheart smiled. ¡°I do happen to like nature as much as anyone else. And these fields? I almost thought I was wandering past the hidden stores of a great sect. But people just eat this stuff, don¡¯t they? It¡¯s nice.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve developed a system to harmoniously enhance the land as well as the overall quantities of natural energy,¡± Anton explained. ¡°And I appreciate your approval. But you¡¯re not here for this. Just say it.¡± ¡°... I heard you had scholars from Rutera visiting,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I want to meet them.¡± Anton closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His first instinct was to say no. His second instinct was also to say know. Thinking about it rationally, he should probably refuse. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because they know things! I like to know things. And it could contribute to¡­ planetary defense?¡± ¡°Could it?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°It might!¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Can¡¯t know until I learn it.¡± ¡°... I should have killed you when you were unconscious,¡± Anton said. Everheart grinned widely, ¡°Too late now!¡± Then his grin faded. ¡°Oh crap.¡± Everheart threw himself backwards as something tiny charged towards him. Instead of throwing together a barrier of energy, he pulled a boulder out of his bag and chucked it at the flying figure. That caused it to be slightly delayed at least. ¡°Please wait!¡± Anton called out, ¡°We can talk about this.¡± The ant turned towards him. Her legs signed, ¡°I thought you said you wanted to kill him?¡± ¡°That was¡­ only half true,¡± Anton explained. He hadn¡¯t realized the Great Queen latched on as he left the Order, but he should have expected it. ¡°Did you¡­ just talk to a Void Ant?¡± Everheart said, peeking out from behind a tree some hundred meters different. ¡°That¡¯s crazy!¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯re quite intelligent once they¡¯ve been alive for a while. You should know that. You left them to help fight the invaders, after all. They¡¯re on the same level as humans, even.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the problem!¡± Everheart waved his arms. ¡°What if they betray you?¡± ¡°What if you betray me?¡± Anton looked at Everheart. ¡°Well I- uh¡­¡± he clicked his tongue. ¡°You got me there. So, is it just the one?¡± ¡°This is the Great Queen,¡± Anton said, holding her aloft on his palm. ¡°We worked together to develop a sign language to ease communication. There are a number of colonies throughout Brogora, and they work in harmony with the locals.¡± He kept an eye on the Great Queen to see what she was saying. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s him. I see.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°The Great Queen would like to thank you for saving the Void Ants from extermination. And she adds that if you attempt to blow up her new home she¡¯ll eat her way through your dantian.¡± ¡°Wow, straight from compliments to threats,¡± Everheart grinned. ¡°I think I like her.¡± From the way the Great Queen turned away, Anton wasn¡¯t sure the feeling was mutual. But such was life. ¡°I can allow you to meet with the Ruterans,¡± Anton said, ¡°But¡­ it must be in disguise.¡± ¡°Done,¡± Everheart said, gesturing to himself. ¡°I mean with a proper cover and¡­ a little more subtlety.¡± ¡°Hey! Most people can¡¯t detect me before I sense them, okay?¡± Everheart said. ¡°I can conceal my enemy before anyone else notices. Except for psychos like you. How far can you sense things anyway?¡± Anton raised both eyebrows, looking down his nose. No way was he going to reveal that information so easily. ¡°Tsk. Worth a try.¡± Killing Everheart was continuously shifting to outweigh the benefits Anton could think of. Yet he still felt deep down that he shouldn¡¯t. Hopefully it wasn¡¯t because of some sort of subtle manipulation. Chapter 471 As much as he didn¡¯t trust Everheart, Anton had a greater distrust for the Exalted Archipelago as a whole. The actual actions of Everheart that had affected him had trended towards positive- and when the dangers of his Tombs were counted as training, Anton couldn¡¯t think of anything harmful Everheart had done to anyone living. Certainly, he was a terrible enemy to have and not the most pleasant of companions, but he was a single individual. The Exalted Archipelago, meanwhile, had been around for generation after generation. Many cycles, though they would not say how many, as the Trigold Cluster¡¯s repeated invasions intentionally erased the history of the world¡¯s natives to keep them weakened. Though there was no evidence that they took active part in such activity, merely squatting upon their world was already too much. In fact, Anton might have preferred it if they had the guts to conquer everything, instead of being happy with their own portion of the world while the rest was allowed to be invaded and ravaged every cycle. Anton understood that the ultimate decision makers were not present in Ceretos, but when the Trigold Cluster removed their restriction on interfering with the continents some of the sects pounced on that opportunity for personal gain instead of maintaining a status quo. What currently remained of the Exalted Archipelago was¡­ tolerable. Some he might consider allies, some were neutral, and other factions were enemies until they could prove themselves otherwise. Anton continued his training in case his threats of violence should need to prove themselves again. So far, nothing had come up after the incidents surrounding him reaching Assimilation, but cultivators weren¡¯t so quick as to manage everything in individual decades. Surely some were plotting. But overall, the Exalted Archipelago was¡­ fine. Even if the Exalted Quadrant above them was festering garbage. ----- ¡°Hey! Anton!¡± People ignoring his title and calling him directly by name never would have bothered Anton in the past, and it was likely because of the individual involved that it annoyed him¡­ which was also definitely the reason it was being done. ¡°I heard a fun story about you.¡± Anton turned his eyes to Everheart, helpfully disguised as someone much younger¡­ and with a fuller head of hair. After previous complaints about roaming about freely Everheart had begun to stick close to Anton ¡®so you can see if I¡¯m up to anything¡¯ which was perhaps worse than having him roam free. ¡°What did you hear?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You wiped out a bunch of sects!¡± Everheart exclaimed. Explaining his presence wasn¡¯t easy, though Everheart did a good job of providing excuses for why such a powerful individual had not been previously noticed. At the moment, he was masquerading as an Assimilation cultivator- something that few individuals were qualified to disprove. ¡°I was involved with the war against the Twin Soul Sect, and those who welcomed them,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Your formations also contributed to that greatly.¡± ¡°Well, sure,¡± Everheat said, inviting himself to sit next to Anton. ¡°But I¡¯m not talking about that little deal on the moon, or any of that other stuff. Let¡¯s face it, you only helped with that. I¡¯m talking about wiping out those punks from the Exalted Archipelago. And don¡¯t say you were merely a part of that too. The way I heard it, everyone else was just for show.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°I will admit that my growth in cultivation allowed me to have a more significant impact at that time.¡± ¡°And it was your choice to go to war,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°If you¡¯re going to do something stupid like fighting people head on, then even with power like yours bringing along other people as a backup is smart. Things like that almost make me wish I had friends.¡± ¡°Almost, huh?¡± Anton asked. ¡°They¡¯re liabilities,¡± Everheart explained. ¡°They¡¯re just gonna get killed or used against you or betray you.¡± Even if Anton¡¯s Insight couldn¡¯t pick out anything particular in what Everheart said, he knew that Everheart¡¯s attitude had to be influenced by his previous life. He¡¯d mentioned ¡®his woman¡¯ once or twice, and obliquely talked about some individuals that should have been friends. But they were no longer around for one reason or the other, and while Everheart¡¯s personality driving them off might have seemed like an easy explanation, Anton didn¡¯t think that was most likely. When he wanted to, the man could be downright decent. ¡°... you should be happier that you wiped out enemy sects, no matter how you accomplished it,¡± Everheart said. ¡°A timid attitude like yours will get you in trouble otherwise. Though it makes sense, I suppose. You¡¯re barely even two hundred! Can¡¯t believe you have a face like that already.¡± Anton¡¯s early cultivation career wasn¡¯t a secret, but he didn¡¯t like Everheart knowing things. Which was an issue, because Everheart clearly wanted to know everything. Some of it was curiosity, and some of it was for future blackmail. Or perhaps all of it was for the sake of both. ¡°Well, that¡¯s how it turned out,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°We should see if we can do it again,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Grab a few old common folk and teach ¡®em to cultivate, see if they turn out like you.¡± ¡°Most of them would die.¡± ¡°So?¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Bound to happen anyway.¡± ¡°They would need proper motivation.¡± ¡°So set up a dead family thing.¡± Anton narrowed his eyes at Everheart. ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t kill them myself. Someone else would do it, obviously. But wait, if things go well then ultimately they¡¯d eventually figure out my tangential involvement¡­¡± Everheart stroked his chin. ¡°This is difficult. Sure, I could just wipe them out early, but then I wouldn¡¯t get to see all of their progress.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Or,¡± Anton said. ¡°We could just find people who have run into trouble and help them out. I find there are many motivations for growing strong, and youth isn¡¯t necessary. Also, finding someone who actually doesn¡¯t cultivate at all¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s difficult.¡± ¡°Fair point,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Can¡¯t believe you really tried to teach everyone. This is good stuff though,¡± he gestured to some food pilfered from Anton¡¯s pantry. ¡°If I had time to sit down, maybe I could have put together something like your long-term plan to empower the world.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe nobody else did anything like this before,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°But it seems rare even in the upper realms.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because people are inherently selfish,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I¡¯m significantly more wealthy and influential than I would have been if I tried to hoard resources all to myself,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s because you¡¯re a mediocre wealth gatherer,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Though I must admit you¡¯ve put the world in a much better state for any sort of resource snatching operation. It¡¯s a good thing you figured out that Assimilation gig or you¡¯d run into the danger of a power imbalance taking you out.¡± ¡°It still might,¡± Anton said, unconcerned. ¡°Ugh, I can¡¯t believe you actually practiced Fleeting Youth. That was a stupid thought I had on the side.¡± ¡°On that note,¡± Anton drove the topic, ¡°What do you know about reincarnation? Especially what the Twin Soul Sect was doing.¡± ¡°Me? Oh, not much. That¡¯s all top secret crap,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°... Why didn¡¯t anyone warn the upper realms of our development before the invasion?¡± ¡°Who knows?¡± Everheart looked away. ¡°Maybe they were stupid. Or maybe someone trapped and annihilated their souls. Hey! Who said that?¡± Everheart¡¯s eyes dashed around, then he coughed. ¡°Ugh, can¡¯t believe my stupid projections¡­¡± Everheart grumbled, but Anton knew the basic gist of it. He saw them shove their way into his head. Everheart might have become his own biggest enemy, though it was unclear if the mental damage was worse than that to his cultivation. ¡°Was that the one on the moon who got me out of that trap?¡± Everheart laughed, ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought my own technique would look like the Twin Soul Sect and their allies. And hey, I didn¡¯t have to get you out of there!¡± Everheart clapped his hand on the table, ¡°Remember that you owe me your life!¡± ¡°In that case, we¡¯re more or less even,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though I didn¡¯t start the conflict with you, so you still owe me some.¡± He wasn¡¯t going to push that, of course. If Everheart just stayed around to make things harder for the invaders and did nothing else, he would be satisfied. He wasn¡¯t sure if the man would actually stick around during the invasion, risking his own life. Maybe he could play up the potential wealth they would bring? They¡¯d have to send people with better equipment than before, if they wanted to not get entirely annihilated. Ceretos had grown considerably. ¡°Even? After all the benefits you reaped from my Tombs?¡± ¡°I passed the challenges to get the rewards,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Unless there was something about those that was supposed to be a favor to people?¡± Anton still believed it was meant to build up the local inhabitants to be stronger- beyond just the moon thing explicitly calling out invaders. But Everheart didn¡¯t like to admit to doing anything ¡®helpful¡¯. ¡°Yeah, whatever,¡± Everheart crossed his arms in front of him. ¡°Maybe I should have learned to channel stars like you. Imagine blowing up the star for an enemy¡¯s system!¡± Everheart laughed, ¡°They¡¯d never see it coming.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not only excessive, but also would damage my own cultivation.¡± Plus Anton doubted he could do that even if he wanted to. He didn¡¯t really control either star he was attuned to, just siphon a tiny fraction of its power. ¡°If you¡¯re not willing to rip out parts of your own cultivation to destroy a few planets, you¡¯d never get anywhere in the upper realms!¡± ¡°Did a lot of planet destroying, did you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Plenty,¡± Everheart said. Anton was fairly certain it wasn¡¯t that much, though. Because even in the upper realms actually destroying a planet couldn¡¯t be something common. Besides the waste involved, it would also be excessively difficult. Though on the other hand, Anton did hold evidence of it occurring sometimes on his back. He did believe that Everheart wasn¡¯t actually involved with that one, though. He still wanted to replace the Grandfather Willow bow. Did Everheart think just throwing a powerful bow at him was a good apology? More likely, it was a trap, but Anton hadn¡¯t determined it to do anything besides function as an uncomfortably powerful bow. ----- On Xankeshan, the former location of Everheart¡¯s Tomb in the upper realms, the population was multiplying day by day. Which was to say, it had gone from five or seven to several hundreds. The Dark Ring and Chikere¡¯s group always had a ship or two full of people stopping by. Some took up more or less permanent residence, using it as a refuge as they tried to keep a low profile for whatever purpose. People weren¡¯t allowed to just do whatever they wanted. Only those from the Order and Vari were attuned to the formations. The others were merely guests¡­ and there were many jobs for them to take care of. Even with Xankeshan being a relatively small planet, there was no way for their group to manage everything about the planet. Even so, the thing easiest on a wide scale was setting up the ecosystems. Outside of the Gardens, plantlife was scarce. In the Gardens, it was generally hostile. Useful if they wanted the planet to be a deathtrap, less so if they wanted to live there. So with Hoyt¡¯s guidance, they began farming. A Life Transformation cultivator or Integration cultivator could cover vast swaths of land on their own, though there were limitations due to not having suitable tools. A cultivator could use a standard iron hoe indefinitely if they properly protected it with energy, but it wasn¡¯t the same as having something custom made for greater jobs. On that note, scavenging the remnants of the Smithy was helpful. Most of the equipment and the great forge had been ripped away as Everheart fled the planet, but not everything. There were lesser forges that hadn¡¯t been brought along, and though none of the members of the Order present had the right smithing skills, they could hire out for that. Hundreds of people still made the planet effectively bare, but trying to grow too fast would risk control of the planet slipping out of their hands- even if they retained control over the formations, if millions of others who did not care to listen to them were already inside the defensive barriers, it hardly mattered. That was why they were trying to gather more they trusted from Ceretos, with the eventual idea to perhaps include others who ascended from the lower realms. Some people were from the Order, including Velvet who had yet to actually be present upon Xankeshan. She had ways to communicate with them, but the recent events had scared people away from the planet, at least for a few years. No doubt when they returned there would be conflicts to overcome, proving who was actually in control. Hopefully, they would be ready. Chapter 472 Ultimately, asking Everheart to assist with formations upon Ceretos meant keying him on important information like the teleportation formations. ¡°Why not key me in on this stuff earlier?¡± Everheart asked Anton. ¡°I could have saved so much time walking.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°The point was to have you sit around for a few years so nobody would conflate your arrival with¡­ well, your arrival. I¡¯m not the only one who noticed a powerful individual suddenly reach our planet, and I don¡¯t just mean the Island Tenders.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m not infirm,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I can walk around and do light activities like formation work.¡± Most wouldn¡¯t consider formation work light activity unless they were really taking their time, though Anton supposed it didn¡¯t have to be done quickly. Though from what he saw, Everheart didn¡¯t take his time with anything. Except this teleportation formation. ¡°Hmm. This formation is specifically keyed to reach specific others?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°How inefficient, though I suppose as a security measure¡­¡± he mumbled to himself, but any cultivator worth much of anything would still be able to understand him clearly. ¡°No major flaws. Oh! Is this the work of that Catarina?¡± ¡°Among others, yes,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°A smart one, that. Tricked me out of secret formation information. Or maybe I let her have it?¡± He frowned. ¡°Hmm, obviously. Nobody could actually trick me.¡± He clapped his hands together. ¡°Well, let¡¯s go through!¡± ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s safe?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It¡¯s not really meant for people with upper energy.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ve been converting back. And it shouldn¡¯t slow my recovery.¡± There was a certain minimum threshold of power required for a teleportation formation to work- and that was before taking into account the mass and personal energy of what was being transported. This is why there was a minimum number of individuals being transported at once, or a greater price for those in a rush, unable to wait. Travelers were always required to provide a portion of their energy- to reduce the effort of moving them if nothing else- but the requirements were harsher for small groups. As the head of the Order Anton didn¡¯t have to personally pay for moving around through the teleportation formations. The Order still provided a nominal fee, but only enough to cover necessary costs. Transporting just two cultivators would normally be quite expensive- because of the minimum energy required to power the formation. However, this time the two would be powering the formation with their own energy, no excess required to fill in for them. As they powered the formation, the two old men kept careful track of each other¡¯s expenditure. Everheart was the sort to never trust anyone or lower his guard, and because of that Anton didn¡¯t trust him to ever be actually safe. Either way, both of them filled the formation, though the greater effort was providing the excess power to match what was required to move their remainder. The world shifted, and then they arrived. Anton found it disconcerting mostly because his senses could not be spread out during transport- any excess energy outside the formation would simply be cut off. It took only a moment to return to his normal sensory distance, but it was still odd. ¡°I heard that the upper realms has more efficient teleportation formations¡­¡± Anton gave Everheart a side eye. ¡°Know anything about that?¡± ¡°Well, I- of course I know all about that,¡± Everheart couldn¡¯t admit to not knowing anything. And he liked to brag. ¡°Had things set up all over my tomb. Unfortunately, it requires upper energy to function.¡± There was more he wasn¡¯t saying, but Anton believed he was honest with what he had said. Maybe Everheart was that good of a liar, but if so Anton¡¯s frequent attempts to read him would eventually improve his own ability and he could catch him on something important. Though he wasn¡¯t sure what he would do about it. ¡°Huh.¡± Everheart looked at Anton. ¡°It¡¯s always interesting to see that.¡± Presumably he was referring to the way Anton¡¯s energy was refilling. With a constant connection to a star, his rate of energy recovery was phenomenal. That part of him had improved more than anything else upon achieving Assimilation, though his maximum output was also significantly higher, allowing him to outpace the recovery rate by a significant margin if he needed to. At first he had restricted the flow around Everheart, but he eventually figured it out anyway. Their current mission was to patrol around the edges of Brogora, so Everheart could create continent-wide defensive formations. He had to know the topography to achieve the best results, and that meant seeing things with his own eyes. Everheart wasn¡¯t going to be working on these things alone- not because Anton thought he couldn¡¯t achieve it, but because he didn¡¯t trust him anywhere close to as far as he could throw him. Everheart¡¯s ability to achieve what they needed and his actual willingness to do so- and without making it completely under his own control- were different things. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. So he would be watched. Anton just hoped that the pieces of him that had been stuck on Ceretos for centuries liked the place and wanted to see it safe, instead of resenting it. Or at least didn¡¯t want all that work going to waste to have it inevitably destroyed less than two centuries hence, which might be close enough to caring about the world. Everheart clicked his tongue, ¡°Ugh, formations that use lower energy are so restrictive. There are so many things I can¡¯t do. Can I even set up a proper energy draining field? No wait¡­ this is actually an advantage¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t clear to Anton if Everheart knew he was speaking aloud. Maybe he did, and didn¡¯t care- or maybe it was a deception. Anton hated having to think about that at every waking moment. But at least some of it was going to be his true thoughts. Everheart grinned. ¡°I don¡¯t have to exclude anyone from a formation that only drains upper energy! That makes it a hundred times simpler! Yes, that should do it. As long as nobody notices before it hits critical capacity it can drain them dry.¡± Well, hopefully that thing worked as advertised. Anton would just have to make sure it wasn¡¯t ultimately affecting him or those like him. ----- Spikes was¡­ strange. The other wolf always had thoughts that Fuzz didn¡¯t understand, but her method of using energy was weird. Right now, she was just sitting in place. She¡¯d done that for the last week, but she wasn¡¯t doing nothing. Fuzz could feel the constant flow of energy, though he couldn¡¯t see any changes moment-to-moment. Over the course of a week, however, the wolf was sitting atop a small hill now. Fuzz had half a mind to tell her that nobody was going to sit around for a week to have a hill grown over them, but he was pretty sure she already knew that. And also that she wasn¡¯t paying attention. He could walk right up to her and circle around her and she wouldn¡¯t even open her eyes. If she didn¡¯t seem safe and healthy he would try to drag her out of her thing, but this seemed like some sort of proper cultivation meditation thing. Everheart really had a lot of weird books in his collection, to even have things for beast cultivation. Fuzz wondered if he killed some great beast king for it. The other option was stealing from some clan that worked together with beast companions- Fuzz heard about those existing. One week later, the hill Spikes was on was about twice as tall. The week after that, it doubled in height again. The week after that it was a mountain. Maybe a small mountain, but Fuzz wasn¡¯t going to belittle the effort that had gone into it. Fuzz imagined in a few more weeks the mountain would meet whatever standards Spikes had and she would be done. Except¡­ the next week, the mountain was gone. It wasn¡¯t good enough, apparently. Or maybe Spikes wanted flat ground. Ultimately, he had to conclude Spikes was indecisive. Because instead of making a new, better mountain she made a canyon. After a couple weeks Fuzz could barely even see her at the bottom of the canyon, and he was concerned about the bits of rock tumbling down from the sides. Though realistically none of it could hurt Spikes, he kept an eye out. He also wondered if she was hungry. Usually she should have eaten a couple of those jungle elephants the Gardens here had. They were tough on the outside, but crunchy on the inside. And they had a lot of meat. Maybe he should go get her some? He didn¡¯t want it to go bad, but he could dry it or something. Humans had other preservation methods, but Fuzz knew how to do that one all on his own. When Fuzz returned, everything was broken. The terrain was sticking up every which way, stone jutting wherever it pleased until it got too heavy to support its structure and collapsed. The field of stone was large enough that Fuzz couldn¡¯t even see Spikes from the edge, though he could still feel her energy, and her scent suffused the area. Picking his way through the toppled pillars of stone, Fuzz found his way closer to the center where Spikes was. He had to go around some things because the elephant wouldn¡¯t fit, but he got there soon enough. Spikes still didn¡¯t react to him, even when he cooked tasty elephant in front of her. Fuzz was smart and already ate one out in the Garden so he wouldn¡¯t be tempted to chew on this one. It was going to be less tasty when dried out, but that was better than it going rotten. He left it in front of Spikes for whenever she woke up. The next day he woke up to the ground trembling. An earthquake. He¡¯d felt them before. When he was little he found them frightening, but as he grew older and bigger they didn¡¯t bother him so much. When they came naturally, he knew there could be damage to buildings and things like that, but he didn¡¯t care about those. Just the pack. When they weren¡¯t natural, however, they were the sign of a battle. Fuzz didn¡¯t know who Spikes was fighting, but he sprinted from the temporary den he constructed nearby. There shouldn¡¯t be anything that could challenge them, but Spikes was actually one of the weakest. He could feel her energy, strong but not quite strong enough. Powerful, but flagging with fatigue. Strangely, he couldn¡¯t find an opponent as the earthquakes grew in magnitude. Mountains of stone crashed around him as he charged towards her, some reaching sharp peaks while others were wide and hard to dodge. He was battered by stones in his haste, but he didn¡¯t care. He felt Spikes atop a mountain, one that was growing rapidly- to the point that even as he began to climb it she was almost pulling away from him. Perhaps the mountain itself was the enemy? Some great beast of hidden power, dazing Spikes and now trying to swallow her up? Maybe Fuzz shouldn¡¯t have let his nose off her. Yet when he reached the peak, he found Spikes sitting peacefully, certainly not being attacked or consumed. Then the earth trembled once more, in a final shiver¡­ and he felt a pulse from within Spikes. A pulse of strength, like what Fuzz had. He crouched, ready to leap after her¡­ but as the other pack members said, it wasn¡¯t really possible to ascend when people were in the upper realms already. As Spikes collapsed into the pile of elephant jerky, Fuzz felt the core of her power changing. She should be actually unconscious now, but she would recover soon. Until then, he would keep watch over her. And the jerky. Hopefully she didn¡¯t take long or there would be less waiting for her. Chapter 473 Stopping to appreciate teleportation formations was almost a duty for Maxine, even though their actual construction had nothing to do with the originator of the technique. Well, it was nearly impossible to say if Everheart was the actual origin of anything, but certainly the one who was now most well known for it. The moon¡­ alas, it had been so long. Since then, there had been no new Tombs. There was one of course- which was extremely surprising. One Tomb in the entirety of the upper realms? Preposterous. But it did encompass an entire planet, so maybe it wasn¡¯t all that wild. But the Tombs themselves weren¡¯t the most important thing. What was more important was seeing any trace of Everheart, and his impact. That was why she was visiting the Order. Though he was not a member of the Tomb Seeking Cult, Anton had been quite friendly to them in the past. His aid was critical in some important discoveries, and he was a practitioner of some of Everheart¡¯s arts. So it hardly mattered what his actual allegiance was. It wasn¡¯t like the Tomb Seeking Cult was organized or had real leadership anyway. Except maybe Agus, nowadays. For the Sect Head of one of the most powerful sects in the world, having attained a new branch of cultivation unknown to previous generations, it was surprisingly easy to meet with him. Maybe nobody tried. Then again, maybe he was bombarded with requests and refused most of them. That showed he at least remembered Maxine a little. Or rather, that he cared. Cultivators usually didn¡¯t actually forget things. His residence was¡­ humble. That was probably the right word. Sturdy, definitely protected with formations and the like, but not overly large for one individual. The sitting room was the most important part, and it was very comfortable. When Maxine arrived, Anton was there¡­ along with someone else. Perhaps he was busy, but she could at least properly make her request in person. ¡°Sect Head Anton,¡± she inclined her head. ¡°I was hoping to have the chance to discuss ascension with you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind doing so¡­ but I can¡¯t say I will be of much help as I very specifically did not ascend,¡± Anton replied. ¡°I understand, though that is actually why I sought you in particular. I am considering the benefits of Ascension and Assimilation, especially as it relates to my position within the realms.¡± It was kind of awkward to not have said anything to Anton¡¯s guest. ¡°Pardon me, I did not introduce myself. I am Maxine.¡± ¡°This is Scholar Eulogius,¡± Anton introduced his guest. Something about his attitude indicated to Maxine that he didn¡¯t like the man, which was odd. They didn¡¯t seem to be in an important meeting, and if it was not a diplomatic visit Anton could have easily dismissed anyone. So perhaps she misread the situation. ¡°I must admit, I have not heard of you¡­ despite your prominent cultivation,¡± Maxine inclined her head. ¡°Are you from the Exalted Archipelago?¡± ¡°I spent some time there in the past,¡± the man answered. Maxine couldn¡¯t figure out his cultivation. Another Assimilation cultivator, perhaps? He felt¡­ weird. But familiar. ¡°Pardon me, sir. Do you practice any of Everheart¡¯s techniques?¡± The man smiled, ¡°In fact I do. More than a handful.¡± She didn¡¯t want to ignore Anton but¡­ ¡°In your time in the Exalted Archipelago, did you hear of Everheart leaving behind any Tombs there?¡± ¡°I believe there were some,¡± Eulogius nodded, ¡°Though it is my understanding they were systematically eradicated at great cost.¡± ¡°Oh. I was afraid as much. We¡¯ve been rather lacking in anything since the final tomb¡­¡± she turned back to Anton. ¡°Speaking of which, you¡¯ve been to the moon, right? I mean¡­ after.¡± ¡°I have,¡± Anton nodded. Was he annoyed at her? She didn¡¯t take very long, and he had to know she was curious and couldn¡¯t help herself. ¡°Was there anything of note to study? If so, pursuing Assimilation might be a worthy goal. Otherwise, I plan to try to ascend so that I can study Everheart¡¯s Tomb in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Anton frowned, ¡°About that. Unfortunately, there has been significant change in the upper realms regarding that. It seems the features of the tomb¡­ packed up and moved. The situation is still adapting so it¡¯s unclear exactly what became of it.¡± ¡°What?¡± Maxine was surprised. ¡°But wasn¡¯t it¡­ like, a planet? Is the planet gone?¡± ¡°The planet remains.¡± ¡°There has to be something left behind then. What about the moon?¡± ¡°Few remnants,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°They followed the traditional life cycle of elements preserved by hedging against their future. I don¡¯t believe there¡¯s much to see.¡± ¡°Ah. I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯ve heard anything about other Tombs in the upper realms?¡± Maxine asked. ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. As far as I know, there was only the one.¡± ¡°Actually¡­¡± Scholar Eulogius cleared his throat. ¡°There are several others of varying sizes, though I was- it seems that Everheart was occupied with other things much of the time.¡± The man grinned, ¡°In fact, I know there¡¯s a rather interesting one that nobody¡¯s ever discovered.¡± ¡°Wow, really? Wait but, if nobody ever discovered how would you know?¡± ¡°Nobody but myself, I mean.¡± ¡°Oh, okay,¡± Maxine nodded. ¡°Could you tell me where it is? Wait- have you been to the upper realms?!¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Well I- I didn¡¯t mean personally. I have contacts in the upper realms who told me about it.¡± For some reason, the man was looking at Anton, as if they were sharing secret information. Maxine wanted to know it, but maybe she shouldn¡¯t know. Then again, forbidden knowledge was for chumps. ¡°Can you tell me where it is? Maybe I can ascend nearby somehow.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how it works,¡± Anton said. ¡°Well¡­¡± Scholar Eulogius stroked his chin. ¡°There are some techniques you can use to potentially target your arrival location.¡± ¡°Did Everheart come up with one of those?¡± Maxine asked. ¡°Yes, actually,¡± Eulogius nodded, ¡°The best one, in my humble opinion. It requires some knowledge of celestial orbits and the tides of the worlds but I have that information as well. Here, let me see.¡± He reached his hand into his storage bag. It took a strangely long time for him to withdraw it- maybe it was one of the bags that didn¡¯t bring what you wanted to you? Though it seemed odd for such a powerful senior to not have such things. Several seconds to retrieve something in battle was a lifetime. ¡°Here they are,¡± Everheart pulled out a huge bundle of scrolls and tomes. ¡°Starcharts, and the technique manual of course.¡± Maxine took the pile of materials in her hands, setting most of them aside while she looked at the book itself. It wasn¡¯t particularly ornamented, but the handwriting was clear¡­ and memorable. She almost sniffed it, but that sort of thing was embarrassing to do with others watching, even if it could tell her something about its age. The power flowing off of it was both familiar and unfamiliar. ¡°Oh wow, is this the original? Everheart must have written this post-ascension! How did you even manage to get it here?¡± Her eyes landed on Anton. ¡°Sorry, I do wish to discuss ascension still. This is just very exciting.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Anton said. ¡°I understand.¡± He said that, but he still looked kind of annoyed. It was a good thing he had an even temper, because some cultivators might just squash Maxine if she bothered them. Or they might try, anyway. She had ways to stay alive like any proper cultivator should. ----- ¡°I¡¯m going to rate your disguise as top notch,¡± Anton said. ¡°And your mannerisms as marginal. Unless you were trying to be found out. But I thought we both agreed that keeping your presence secret was best for everyone.¡± Everheart shrugged, still in his younger disguise as Scholar Eulogius, ¡°I don¡¯t see the big deal. I left tons of stuff here before.¡± ¡°You know too much about the upper realms.¡± ¡°I¡¯d say you know too much about the upper realms, having never been there.¡± ¡°Knowledge of tombs that aren¡¯t public?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Techniques you wrote post ascension? How would you explain that, huh?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± Everheart said. ¡°She didn¡¯t ask.¡± ¡°Surprisingly,¡± Anton said. ¡°She might still figure it out. I can¡¯t believe you did all that in front of Maxine.¡± ¡°Whatever,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize her sect though. It feels oddly familiar, but I just can¡¯t place it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the-¡± At this point Anton realized he¡¯d already made several mistakes. He sighed, ¡°The Tomb Seeking Cult.¡± ¡°... So they dig up dead people?¡± Before Anton could come up with any sort of response, Everheart¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Oh, wait. I have a cult?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say it¡¯s yours,¡± Anton replied. ¡°They¡¯re just fanatics of your work. I don¡¯t know if they actually like you.¡± ¡°They shouldn¡¯t,¡± Everheart said, grinning. ¡°I wonder¡­ say, Anton.¡± ¡°What?¡± Anton asked, his expression flat. ¡°My tombs were pretty helpful for training, right? We¡¯ve still got a couple full cultivator generations before the invasion. I¡¯m sure people could make sure of more, right?¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But we don¡¯t have the resources. Every sect already allocates their own things for training. If you wanted to work on some of those.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a lot of crap in this bag. I could set up some nice Tombs.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s anything like your last one, I don¡¯t think we¡¯d want it. Fifty percent death rate?¡± ¡°Oh, no,¡± Everheart shook his head. ¡°That one wasn¡¯t for training. It was purely for profit and distraction. This will be just like the ones you remember, but a bit¡­ more. Sure, a few people might die, but nobody¡¯s going to grow much without the threat of death! Ten percent, tops!¡± That was still a pretty horrible death rate, though not that different from the worst of Everheart¡¯s other tombs. And people should know what they were getting into¡­ ¡°I need to know what you¡¯ll be doing.¡± ¡°Ugh, fine. But no spoiling the surprises for anyone!¡± ¡°Fine.¡± ----- With the continents having been scoured, the most logical place to put a Tomb would be somewhere out in the ocean. Thus, that wasn¡¯t what Everheart did. Instead, he tossed one in the Cragtooth Mountains between Facraona and Ofrurg. Down beneath the former location of the invader¡¯s base there. There was no way anyone should have missed it, and anyone passing through the area would doubtless notice it. Anton was surprised at how quickly the man could throw something together. Yes, it took him months for one location, even with hundreds of projections working, but that was still¡­ crazy. Anton wondered if the projections were combat capable. Most of the ones Anton had met should actually have been weaker than a Life Transformation cultivator by a good margin, except the one on the moon. Even that one should have mostly been relying on formations for what he did. Unfortunately, Anton had no way to know- but he would at least take into account the possibility that Everheart could fight in multiple bodies. Even if some were weaker, that could be a useful distraction. After finishing a project, Everheart reabsorbed all of the projections. ¡°Not this time, suckers! I¡¯m onto you!¡± He didn¡¯t explain what that meant, but it didn¡¯t seem to be harmful to him. More importantly, Anton was surprised that he could work so fervently without slowing his own recovery. Perhaps it simply didn¡¯t count as strenuous activity¡­ Everheart¡¯s wounds were mostly internal, tied to his deeper cultivation and not trivial physical injury. Anton wished he could judge properly what Everheart was doing with his formations and tombs. He told Anton the details, and his training in formation was enough to believe him on the surface, but Everheart could be tricky. Then again, there wouldn¡¯t be anything immediately obviously going against what he said unless he wanted to clash with Anton again. Anton was pretty sure Everheart wouldn¡¯t do anything radical for at least a couple decades. Trusting him to follow through all the way until the invasion was laughable, but maybe Everheart did care about Ceretos, if not necessarily any of the individuals who lived there. Chapter 474 Sleep only occupied a small portion of Anton¡¯s time. He didn¡¯t sleep all that much before becoming a cultivator, and significantly less now. He could sustain himself with occasional meditation, but he still set aside some time for actual sleep every once in a while. Fluctuations from one of his communication devices woke him up. He actually kept relatively few direct contacts- Catarina in the upper realms, Lev, Matija, a few others, and of course Everheart. Sometimes Everheart¡¯s messages were meaningless wastes of time¡­ but it was always worth checking them out at least. ¡°Something entered the system.¡± That was the full message. Anton quickly whipped up a reply asking for details, but he didn¡¯t go find the man for a response. He couldn¡¯t constantly monitor the man himself, as he had things to do all around Ceretos. Setting up more Tombs or working on continental defensive formations or even his own personal projects which Anton hoped weren¡¯t going to lead to major problems later. Anton¡¯s feet left the ground. Flying through the atmosphere under his own power was still not his preferred method of travel, but away from the planet there was nothing that could carry him¡­ except a few experimental ships. However, they were unnecessary and would take too much time and effort to commandeer. Once outside the atmosphere, Anton relished the way his senses expanded freely in all directions. From hundreds of kilometers in a single direction to the same all around him, and almost limitless if he reached out in a specific direction. At least¡­ enough to get a vague sense of the moon. That distance was only relevant for large, stationary things¡­ or anything radiating extreme power. A response from Everheart. ¡°No upper energy. Fast moving. Single individual or group. No further information available.¡± After hearing about the troubles between Rutera and Azoth, Everheart had set up some sort of formation around the system- very minimal, just tiny floating flags- but it could at least provide warnings like this. If there were a ship from Azoth, Anton was prepared to begin with ascension energy, blasting right through its core. He wouldn¡¯t give them time to adapt to anything, though word from the Ruterans was that they had some permanent resistance to different things. There was likely a limit to that, though- and they might not know that Anton was from this system. Or it could be someone else. Anton realized that perhaps he did not have to hurry so much. The system was large. Even the interplanetary vessels of the Ruterans took time to fly to the edge of the system, on the scale of hours and days. Since he was already outside the atmosphere, Anton stretched his senses around the planet to pick up anything interesting, reaching down to feel certain points of interest. The Grandfather Willow, Paradise, and the Scorching Mirror Desert. The other Assimilation cultivators¡­ and of course Everheart. He was standing in the middle of a formation, waiting patiently. Several hours passed with nothing happening, then Anton felt something from inside him. Not affecting him, but rather that was his connection to the sun. The feeling only lasted a moment, but he had the sense that something had passed near the sun¡­ in the grand scheme of things, of course. Stars were massive, so even being within a few thousand kilometers was almost skimming the surface. Twenty minutes later, he felt something approaching Ceretos. He was barely able to track it as it moved through space, a tight ball of power moving at shocking speeds. If its trajectory had been slightly different, Anton was prepared to open fire with a volley of light arrows, the fastest attacks he could manage. At such a speed it shouldn''t be able to dodge. But it wasn¡¯t aimed quite at Ceretos, and it wasn¡¯t slowing down. Then it suddenly turned, slipping around the backside of the planet and instantly changing direction, shooting towards the moon. As quickly as it entered his senses, it was gone. Anton followed after it, following the trail it left. It was strange, how he hadn¡¯t quite been able to make out a shape. The only thing he was certain of was that it used natural energy and had a very distinctive feeling. Nothing like the ship from Azoth, though that wasn¡¯t necessarily comforting. He was quite certain they couldn¡¯t create something so different, so this should be a new group. Knowing if they were enemies was the first thing. It took Anton nearly a week to follow the trail out of the system. After looping around Ceretos and its moon, it followed a path through the planets that brought it close to each of them, then ultimately back in the direction it came from. There was little else Anton learned except the strange feeling of the trail it left- a stretching, twisting, shrinking, and somehow heavy feeling. It was clearly a scout of some sort. Likely a cultivator vessel, but something had kept the information he received limited. And it was very fast. Almost impossible so, but the speed it moved within the system was less than the speeds the Ruteran vessel managed between systems. More importantly, slower than the speed of light which was a limiting factor in ways that were not fully understood just yet. But going that fast just next to the atmosphere of a planet¡­ that was something concerning, as well as the way it instantly changed directions. ----- Planetary pride was all well and good, but Nicodemo really would have been happy to have a few cultivators slicing apart enemy ships. Rutera was managing to hold on to its position, but it didn¡¯t have the manpower to launch a counterattack. Maybe once the researchers were done analyzing the enemy¡¯s defensive formations. They got some interesting boosts from a scholar on Ceretos who had great insight into formations. They also got a lot of condescending lecturing from the man, but it was still good information. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. If the Ruterans could incorporate part of those defensive shields into their own technology- which they were already doing in experimental phases- then they would gain a significant step forward. Though Azoth had to have counters for their own techniques. So far they¡¯d mainly used those beams, but they worked well enough they didn¡¯t really need to change offensive styles. A few scouts had managed to report back from within Azoth, where it seemed that the people there had colonized more than just one of their planets despite only one being in a traditional habitable zone. Rutera could do that, but besides small science bases on their planets there wasn¡¯t really much point. Well, now they also had detection stations to try to pick up incoming enemy ships, but the point was that making them livable wasn¡¯t easy. For cultivators who could survive extreme variations without massive infrastructure, however, it made sense. Rutera had picked out a few potential targets, but launching any attacks now would basically be a suicide mission. They didn¡¯t have the cloaking technology required to get close unnoticed, not on larger combat vessels, so even if they had the manpower it wouldn¡¯t be used efficiently. So at the moment it was a war of attrition and development¡­ and perhaps of whether or not Rutera would be willing to call upon their new neighbors. Even though Nicodemo wanted their help, he didn¡¯t exactly trust Ceretos. Anton? Sure. That guy felt like a tough-as-nails grandpa and was probably as trustworthy as they came. In relation to that, his Order of One Hundred Stars would be a good ally. But the question was whether they could afford their help. Even a fellow like that wouldn¡¯t help entirely for free, and it was more than just monetary prices but also technological and social. Nicodemo wasn¡¯t equipped to handle most of those. But he sure would like to have that friendly mobile artillery station back in the system. It was tough to invite him for a visit in the middle of a war though. Sadly, Nicodemo wasn¡¯t the one calling all the shots, even in the military. He could only train and lead and hope people would be ready when Azoth came at them with something more. ----- Dodging lasers wasn¡¯t really something you could do visually. It required something of a sixth sense- or tenth or whatever. Another one, which was the point. And not just the ability to feel where everything was with energy. Ty Quigley wasn¡¯t quite sure how to explain it, but he just knew when someone was trying to gun him down, and where to be for that to not happen. Like when Elder Intan tried to cut him in half, but he actually had time to react. To lasers. Not that guy¡¯s sword strike. That guy had cut him apart and sewn Ty back together more times than he could count in a single year. It was the sort of training that no sane person would participate in. Before that, Ty had thought he was a pretty normal guy. He was fascinated with the military and weapons new and old. If he¡¯d been asked if he liked swords the answer would have been yes¡­ but not in preference to any other weapon. Now he was almost considering sneaking a sword into his flight suit somehow. He twisted the controls, altering the momentum of his fighter. Managing a fighter¡¯s momentum was important, but the ship wasn¡¯t actually weightless at the moment. He was what, at least ninety percent of normal gravity out here? There just wasn¡¯t any real atmosphere to mess with him, and the basic momentum of the ship was vaguely in orbit. And if that momentum was messed up, there were hundreds of kilometers before he had to make a correction. Turning his head, he attempted to get visual on the enemy ships. One good thing about fighting these weird sailing space ships was they weren¡¯t particularly mobile, not compared to an actual fighter. Still had to watch out for the individual cultivators ready to fling weird attacks from them, but strafing enemy ships was easy enough. So far, Ty hadn¡¯t managed to convince anyone to give him flat bullets. He would have settled for cross shaped ones, but the barrels wouldn¡¯t handle anything but round. So he had to add the sharpness on his own. Using his energy to empower his shots only lasted an instant- both speed and distance quickly lost him control of his energy. Yet it didn¡¯t matter, because by the first fraction of a second he had already hit or missed. He was glad nobody made him fly in formation. He was attached to a unit and had to respond to orders of his commanding officer, but the exact manner that he worked on a target was up to him. Which was good, because he would hardly be effective if he had to fight like everyone else. A few others were developing their own styles as well, but most people stuck to the basics. That was fine, but¡­ their shots were more distraction than anything else. Ty narrowed his eyes as he approached a ship from behind. There was no ¡®main¡¯ mast, the ships having radial symmetry in four directions, but even so the crews tended to favor one over the others. In relation to that, there was always one with a bit less care to protecting it. Their shields were generally even in every direction, but Ty could sense weak points. A flurry of conventional bullets were propelled forward from his fighter, inheriting his speed and accelerating. As they went, he added sharpness. They cut through the shields, which rarely had time to get adapted to his tactics, but one fighter simply wasn¡¯t enough. He gouged the wood of one mast, but it wasn¡¯t enough to break it apart. When he came back for another pass, he¡¯d barely cause any damage. But bullets weren¡¯t the only weapon Ty had¡­ nor the most appropriate one. At least he¡¯d managed to convince the techies to reinforce his wings, and they were already ¡®sharp¡¯ to save on material. He twisted towards another mast, since he knew the adaptive shields took a second to adjust to the entire vessel. First his nose punched through the shield, then his wings cut into it. The ship spun away from him as he tried to slice through the mast, but he still sunk his wing into the hull, cutting a few meter long slice into it before pulling away. Maybe if he were Elder Intan he could slice a ship clean in half, but he¡¯d have to settle for a deep gouge opening the ship up to space. Their fancy formations were all throughout the vessel anyway, so he probably got something important. A burst of fire surrounded his fighter, but the standard shields handled it. Other counterattacks from the crew targeted him, but he kept insane speeds the other fighters couldn¡¯t handle without energy-improved reaction times, even with computer assistance. The only thing Ty was worried about was the main cannons of the ship, but he knew how to avoid those. Behind him, the ship tore apart- not directly from his own attacks, but rather the bombardment of other attacks finding its way through their shields in the holes he punctured and instability he caused. And some good shots by others, of course, but Ty knew he played a major part. Now if only he could do that more than a couple times per day he might actually swing things in their favor. Chapter 475 The basic rules of farming involved placing the fields where the soil and terrain matched what was intended to grow. Terrain and soil quality could be changed, but rearranging fields that were functioning perfectly well was a waste of time. There was a small suspicion in his mind that Everheart was calling for such changes exactly for that reason¡­ but then again, maybe there were minute improvements in the flow of energy. Would that tiny amount matter, even with formations meant to cover a continent? That, Anton was unsure of. But ultimately it only required a small amount of labor- Everheart didn¡¯t force replantings midseason or anything troublesome like that. He just redrew fields and windbreaks, how they would be rearranged between plantings of fields. It wasn¡¯t a small amount of work, but with cultivation being commonplace it was more possible. Even full trees could be uprooted and replanted if necessary. When it came to proposals for rearranging void ant colonies, Everheart left such tasks to Anton. He wouldn¡¯t personally participate in mapping or persuading such places. And while there were only a relatively small number of sizable void ant colonies, Anton understood that they could have a large influence on the flow of energy. Yet rearranging was only a small part of things, and was much the same as Everheart¡¯s plans for human cities- to be implemented over the course of decades, or a century. Not everyone would agree to the plans, but if a few cities altered the path of their new constructions it might make a difference. If Anton had wanted to force the void ants down a path, bringing the Great Queen with him would help, but he stuck to more traditional persuasion. If Everheart had deemed it critical he might have done more, but it was just one of many moving pieces. Some people had to suspect ¡°Scholar Eulogius¡±, but determining that he was a great cultivator in disguise would not necessarily reveal the truth. Even the Tomb Seeking Cult hadn¡¯t figured it out.. Yet. Maxine in particular was far too busy tracking down the new Tombs that had ¡®revealed themselves¡¯. Everheart had far too large a store of materials and completed components. Anton saw that he had to adjust them to function with the use of ¡®lower¡¯ energy, and was amazed he had managed to rip so much away from the upper realms with almost no notice. He had to have been prepared¡­ paranoid, if it weren¡¯t true that everyone was out to get him. Though Anton suspected it was mostly Everheart¡¯s own fault. Not that he thought the upper realms were full of magnanimous or good individuals. If anything, they were just about the same as any other cultivators but more powerful. It was just that Everheart was quite likely to escalate things and engage in unnecessary provocations. But at least he was enthusiastic. ----- ¡°I don¡¯t like unknown intruders entering my system,¡± Everheart declared to Anton, his arms folded. ¡°But I don¡¯t have the time or resources to make it impossible. How much control do you have over the sun?¡± That was something Anton didn¡¯t really know. He took in a small flow of excess power that slightly altered the normal way of things, but he didn¡¯t really change anything. Though there was some idea that he could. ¡°Why?¡± Anton asked. ¡°So you can whip out a solar flare and incinerate anything that tries to slip by,¡± Everheart said. ¡°They moved incredibly fast,¡± Anton pointed out, steering away from the topic of what he could accomplish. ¡°I don¡¯t know if anything of the sort would be terribly quick.¡± ¡°Okay so,¡± Everheart frowned, ¡°What about doing what that Rutera place does? We could make a big planetary defensive formation.¡± ¡°Out of what?¡± Anton asked. ¡°If you want to volunteer your materials, we could certainly try but¡­ we don¡¯t exactly have satellites.¡± ¡°We could drag in some rocks,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t be too hard. Or cut chunks off the moon- no, nevermind. That would screw up too many things.¡± He waved ¡°Tons of rocks out there though.¡± ¡°Great, I¡¯ll start carrying them one by one and we can be done in a century or two.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Everheart set his jaw. ¡°You got a better idea?¡± ¡°We could make a net,¡± Anton said. ¡°Or something to catch them.¡± ¡°What, like a planet-sized net with a mesh small enough to catch a ship?¡± Everheart just looked at Anton. ¡°It was just a suggestion off the top of my head,¡± Anton began to explain. ¡°I¡¯m sure there are other-¡± ¡°You think it would work better as a solo technique or a duo? Nah, you¡¯d need at least three to form an even net.¡± Everheart scratched his chin. ¡°Solo it is. Come on, let¡¯s get started.¡± He grabbed Anton by the upper arm and was yanking him up into the sky before Anton could react. If there had been some sort of hostility Anton¡¯s instinct would have taken over, but he was still a bit concerned about how much he had lowered his guard- even if harming him would be much more difficult than moving him around. ¡°So I think it just starts like this,¡± Everheart said, forming strands of energy into a square, then forming eight more around it and continuing to expand that pattern. Then he flicked his wrist and dissolved the whole thing. ¡°No wait, squares aren¡¯t good enough. Triangles? Hexagons?¡± ¡°Rutera seems to prefer hexagons for defensive barriers,¡± Anton commented. ¡°Hexagons it is! It grows and grows and-¡± ¡°Are you sure you want to do this right here?¡± Anton asked, gesturing down towards Ceretos. ¡°Certainly, this is where we would want to implement it, but you¡¯d get more than a few curious looks. Especially from the Exalted Archipelago.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°If we¡¯re going to make this big enough, it will be quite obvious. Can¡¯t have people prying into our secrets. To the moon!¡± Anton began to move himself before Everheart could drag him. Moving through the void of space, Anton was able to match Everheart¡¯s acceleration- and then deceleration, since they didn¡¯t want to crash into their target. Anton felt this was already going to be a lengthy, unscheduled project, but if anything really important came up there were ways to contact him. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. As they moved Everheart was already practicing different iterations of the ability, growing the net in different ways and either creating larger strands or twisting them around each other. ¡°What do you think would be the most effective?¡± he asked Anton as a pattern grew around him. ¡°Individual strands are easier, and if you create them flawlessly then there¡¯s no benefit to twisted strings. As long as they can withstand stresses in any direction.¡± Strings were something Anton was familiar with, since he created bows all the time. He watched as Everheart¡¯s net spread out, covering a few meters across to a hundred within a few seconds, once the man decided what he wanted. ¡°What do you think?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°Test it!¡± Anton pulled out his blade-bow. With a swing, he sliced through part of the net. ¡°Too weak,¡± he noted. ¡°Even if the enemy doesn¡¯t slice through, the strings aren¡¯t dense enough- either individually and with regards to the tightness of the mesh.¡± ¡°Yeah, but sustaining something like this on a large scale is going to be a pain in the ass,¡± Everheart said. ¡°It only has to slow something down. Besides, if you think it¡¯s bad you give it a try.¡± He might as well. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if this would be a fruitful endeavor, but he could consider it training at the very minimum. One major flaw in Everheart¡¯s technique was that it took far too long to implement. Seconds, for cultivators at their level? That was only useful if the enemy couldn¡¯t anticipate the move in the slightest and had abysmal turning capabilities. Anton¡¯s net didn¡¯t grow from him, but rather began everywhere and stitched together. It was the same as Falling Stars or his energy bows- diffuse aura formed into what he desired, where he desired. Without warning, Everheart chopped through a section of it, but it held long enough to begin bunching together before Everheart changed his method to a pulling slice and cut apart a section. ¡°Quickly deployed¡­ and durable enough,¡± Everheart nodded. Anton wasn¡¯t going to tell him that the only durable portions were near the center where his energy was the strongest. Technically, that was probably the same for Everheart¡¯s thing and that was where he¡¯d attacked. The two landed on the rear side of the moon, where Everheart pulled out a small mountain of paper and ink bottles. There were no quills, but he directly pulled ink out of the bottles and pressed it into the paper. ¡°First iterations!¡± Everheart said, gesturing to what he wrote. ¡°Could use some improvement, of course, like defined circulation paths and energy affinities, but it¡¯s a start. Now all we have to do is make it, uh¡­ a million times bigger.¡± That number wasn¡¯t an exaggeration. A hundred meters by a hundred was not a small net, but to reasonably affect something on a planetary scale, they¡¯d need that to be closer to a hundred kilometers. A thousand times in two directions. Just thinking about the amount of energy required made Anton frown. But he couldn¡¯t resist Everheart¡¯s enthusiasm for the project, and at least it would keep him out of trouble for a while. Probably. ----- After a month passed, Everheart flopped over on the ground. ¡°Okay, time for a break.¡± Though Anton found himself with a seemingly inexhaustible flow of energy from the sun, it wasn¡¯t his stores of energy that concerned him. It was mental and physical fatigue that built up. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯d let your energy stores get so low,¡± Anton said as he did the same some distance away. The sound carried mainly through the energy suffusing the area between them. ¡°Why? Because you could kill me?¡± Everheart grinned. ¡°You won¡¯t do that. I haven¡¯t done anything to make you change your mind, and you already didn¡¯t kill me. Besides, you need me.¡± ¡°I want Ceretos to be safe,¡± Anton said. ¡°As long as you¡¯re contributing to that, it¡¯s good enough.¡± Anton was fairly certain Everheart should have something else up his sleeve in case Anton did attack. Everfull Cup, for example. That energy replenishment technique allowed a user to refill their personal reserves of energy¡­ at a cost in the future. Though if used carelessly in battle, the consequences might come immediately afterwards, draining someone of energy. Everheart could probably do it fast enough to not be disrupted. Or something else. Maybe he¡¯d just throw a mountain at Anton. His storage bag certainly had more in it than even the very best should have been able to contain. A mountain wouldn¡¯t stop Anton, but it could certainly slow him a bit. ¡°Is this how you make all your techniques?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Nah, some of them I just toss onto paper,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Do a little thinking, refine them every once and a while. Like this one,¡± Everheart pulled a scroll out of the pile, ¡°Thought it up while we were working on this.¡± ¡°... Venomous Energy?¡± Anton asked. As described, it involved infiltrating energy into an enemy¡¯s wounds and disabling them from the inside. If it worked, it would certainly be effective. ¡°What made you think of this?¡± ¡°We¡¯re making big webs,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Webs have spiders. Spiders have venom. Therefore, we can make energy spiders bite people.¡± ¡°Or you could use that same energy to just make the wound deeper.¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Not everything¡¯s going to be a hit.¡± ¡°You actually make a lot of techniques like this?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I figured you had just reimagined some you stole. For most of them, anyway.¡± ¡°Anything I put my name on I came up with¡­ at least as much as anyone else. Obviously the details come from somewhere. Nothing¡¯s entirely new.¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Yeah, mostly I make them like this. Or while working on formations. Or think about them while I¡¯m sorting through a pile. You don¡¯t?¡± ¡°I find that focusing on techniques I already have, pushing them to their maximum, is much more effective.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Everheart said. ¡°But I want to do everything, so I can¡¯t just limit myself like that.¡± ¡°... Why?¡± Anton asked. He could understand wanting more and more power. That was a pretty common motivation for cultivators for any number of reasons. Having a wide skillset was also reasonable, but it didn¡¯t sound like that at all. ¡°Someone told me I couldn¡¯t,¡± Everheart said. There had to be more than that. At least, Anton presumed so. Then again, besides ¡®everything¡¯, he wasn¡¯t sure if there was anything Everheart hadn¡¯t been able to do yet. He certainly seemed the type to rise to provocations. ¡°Hey. Wanna go net a ship?¡± ¡°What, one of the skyships? Seems kind of petty.¡± ¡°Ooh, I didn¡¯t think of that. I meant the one that just entered the system.¡± Anton sat up. ¡°It¡¯s back?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t say,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°That, or something similar. Vaguely the same direction of origin, as well.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s make haste,¡± Anton said. Everheart was a moment behind as they swiftly pushed their way back towards Ceretos. The trip from the moon was not one easily traversed in a few hours, but if they didn¡¯t worry about decelerating the normal way they might be able to accomplish it. Chapter 476 Even though they quickly hurried back towards Ceretos, Anton and Everheart were not in time to do anything more than observe a cluster of energy flutter past the planet. Anton could more or less shoot at anything he could detect with his senses, but he didn¡¯t want to break into open hostilities when this group had done nothing but observe¡­ that he was aware of, at least. Beyond that, he supposed it was important to train his fastest arrows. Every day, they grew closer to the actual speed of light while still retaining the more useful properties of arrows. Rutera had weapons that actually used light, but it was more of a sustained high power beam, quite different from anything he could shoot like an arrow. Drastically changing combat styles seemed like it would take a massive effort, which would be pointless for one specific advantage. ¡°It seems we¡¯ve missed them,¡± Anton said, beginning to slow himself. At the rate they were going they would shoot past Ceretos, but they¡¯d had to accelerate to faster than proper speeds for the sake of traveling more quickly. ¡°I¡¯ll catch you in a moment then,¡± Everheart said as they passed near the atmosphere of Ceretos. Then he just¡­ stopped. By some measures the number of kilometers he passed through would not be considered an immediate stop or one requiring little distance, but at the speeds Anton was accustomed to moving through space it was a remarkable acceleration. Yet it also didn¡¯t seem like Everheart changed speeds at all. There was something, like a field of hooks around the man as well as energy shoved ahead of him, but Anton couldn¡¯t quite grasp how any of it worked. One moment he was moving, and the next he was not- at least relative to Ceretos. Meanwhile, Anton was keeping a constant acceleration to slow himself, passing by Ceretos dragging him slightly towards it but ultimately just deflecting his motion. It took a few minutes before he was moving back towards the planet, at which point it was far from filling up half of his vision like it had for a few brief moments. Then he felt it. Or rather, he felt that he didn¡¯t feel anything in a rather large area. It was a new sensation, but not entirely unfamiliar. On one level, it felt like void ants. Obviously on an entirely different scale, but it was a reasonable comparison. He felt it reaching towards and then wrapping around Everheart, long, thin tendrils of something. Before they connected, Anton was already firing his bow. His bow was heavy with more than just the weight of the draw, but also the mass of soulstuff connected to it. The arrow fired from Everheart¡¯s bow tore through space with a surprising energy to them, as uncomfortable in its origin as it was tempting in power. A weapon made from worldheart and soulstring wasn¡¯t something Anton relished possessing, but as far as he could tell there was no active wrongdoing in its use. The arrows had the potential to be negated before they arrived, just in case Everheart didn¡¯t wish to engage the creature in combat. But as its tendrils reached for him, Anton felt an explosion of energy. Some tendrils were severed, assuring Anton of one feature the thing did not share with void ants. Though he didn¡¯t imagine it was as simple as Everheart made it look. Everheart shot out of the grasping creature¡¯s reach, but the portions of it that hadn¡¯t been severed continued to grow out of¡­ nowhere. They simply started, with empty space behind them. The aged cultivator flung a myriad of formation flags and totems all around him, providing him a moment to retreat further. Anton¡¯s arrows then struck, sinking into the nothingness of what Anton supposed was the creature¡¯s flesh. As they burrowed into its vast form, they were eaten away¡­ but before they fully dissolved at least they managed to cause what he presumed was some actual damage. He didn¡¯t know of any vital organs on such a creature- if it even had them- but he continued a constant barrage attempting to tear into the deeper parts of the tendrils. From a distance they seemed small, but in truth the thinner ones were wider than a man was tall. By the time Anton got close enough to try another type of spirit arrow, other than his fastest light arrows, the creature was gone. At some point, the tendrils pulled back into nothing, fading out of existence¡­ hopefully. At the very least, Everheart seemed to calm down after a good minute of observing the area. ¡°What was that?¡± Anton asked as he finally got close. ¡°A distortion beast,¡± Everheart declared. ¡°Nasty things, they like to live in the space between space feeding off of the energy around gravity wells. They don¡¯t much care if it inside of someone, either.¡± ¡°Where did it come from?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It hasn¡¯t attacked us before.¡± ¡°It should have been drawn out by my technique,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Distorting space calls to them. But it¡¯s odd¡­ that shouldn¡¯t have been enough.¡± Everheart was sweeping the scattered formation flags back into his bag, except for some that seemed to have been drained dry not only of the energy within them but also the precious materials they were made of. ¡°Perhaps our visitors dropped it here to test us. Yes, the way they move¡­¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°No doubt they are distorting space to move so quickly. I should have thought of it sooner.¡± ¡°Is that so easy to do?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Easier than teleportation in some ways,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°And in certain fashions, quite simple. You don¡¯t think about storage bags much, do you? They do something similar. It¡¯s just more¡­ constrained, and thus achievable with a static enchantment.¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Was that how you stopped?¡± Anton asked. ¡°But distorting space shouldn¡¯t have been sufficient.¡± ¡°Just a little bit of time manipulation,¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Doesn¡¯t work on much of anything but yourself, and not inside an atmosphere or a strong gravity well. Want to learn it?¡± ¡°It seems like it might be handy, as I imagine I will find myself fighting in conditions like this,¡± Anton gestured at the space around them, ¡°More common.¡± ¡°Alright. Star Steps isn¡¯t something a normal Integration cultivator can pull off, but I think you have a good chance.¡± ¡°Before that¡­¡± Anton said. ¡°We might need to explain to people down below. I¡¯m lighting up with messages.¡± ¡°True,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°Even I¡¯m receiving some. Some people noticed our little friend, and probably the visitor before him.¡± ----- What was Anton supposed to say? That they received visitors from another system and there just happened to be a monster following that? That he and Everheart had fought that monster? ¡®Scholar Eulogius¡¯ had a pretty shaky history to begin with, but that would have to do. Even for most of the Hundred Stars, that would have to be the story. Only the Grand Elders would hear otherwise. But the Order wasn¡¯t what Anton was the most concerned about. Instead, it was the Exalted Archipelago. The Worthy Shore Society had been quite helpful to him in the past, and as open as they were able to be. They could get most of the story, which unfortunately wasn¡¯t that helpful. Everheart¡¯s name would stay out of things, but there had to be at least some people who had felt formations appearing in the sky above them. And unfortunately the people capable of sensing things at that distance were exactly the ones they had to worry about. The other thing that bothered Anton was that the ship which absolutely contained cultivators had brought the monster. Had that been intentional? If so, it was an act of war. The first time there hadn¡¯t been any issues, but perhaps it simply wasn¡¯t consistent. That could be why they came back. Or maybe after their first scouting trip they decided to test Ceretos. Much like Azoth. Anton had to admit he¡¯d been hoping for some sort of peaceful neighbors, but he honestly hadn¡¯t been expecting it. Cultivators would tend to be cultivators, and if Ceretos had taken a slightly different trajectory they might be doing the same. And in fact, perhaps they wouldn¡¯t be much different. If it came down to a war, Anton honestly couldn¡¯t say that they wouldn¡¯t act quite similarly in attacking the other system. He hoped it would be with a bit of restraint and righteousness, but only so much could be excused in the name of self defense. Did they just have to wipe them out? Was it alright that completely exterminating a group of individuals was one of the first solutions Anton thought of? Perhaps he¡¯d already gone with wiping out the Soaring Air Sect and Void Blades. The Twin Soul Sect absolutely deserved it, and all of those involved with slaving in Ofrurg. It was a question of where he would draw the line. For the moment, Anton had to suppose that the single ship or ships were not representative of the entire system and planet they came from, but they really needed more information. ----- ¡°You want to recruit more?¡± the woman in front of General Nicodemo crossed her arms. ¡°You¡¯ve already doubled the proper draft limits. Do you want to push every man, woman, and child into the war?¡± ¡°Of course not, Minister Perko,¡± Nicodemo said, keeping his face neutral. ¡°But they¡¯re not exactly giving us much choice.¡± ¡°What about those thousands of people you already have? If you take anyone else, the economy will be in shambles.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t have an economy if Azoth wipes us out!¡± Nicodemo unintentionally raised his voice. ¡°Isn¡¯t it your job to prevent that?¡± the minister of finance said. ¡°Besides, you seem to be holding up adequately as it is.¡± ¡°You think that Azoth is going to be happy slowly bleeding through their own forces? If they were going to give up they would have already¡­ they should be preparing to mount a larger offensive.¡± Nicodemo slowly breathed out through his nose, his eyes passing over some of the other ministers. Nicodemo was as aware as anyone that Rutera hadn¡¯t experienced war in a good couple generations, and even he himself hadn¡¯t been personally involved¡­ but that lack of experience was why he knew there was a problem. ¡°We need to either accelerate militarization and training, or request aid from Ceretos. Before it becomes a problem. Just because none of you are fighting doesn¡¯t mean nobody else is risking their lives while you sit on your asses talking about financial statistics.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see you hopping into a fighter pilot,¡± Minister Perko said with a smirk. Nicodemo¡¯s eyes locked on her, and she sank into her seat, trembling. She was not one of those who had begun proper cultivation, so she couldn¡¯t understand what was happening, but he could affect her nonetheless. Then he dropped the suppression. ¡°You¡¯re right. Why don¡¯t we both suit up and go fight some invaders?¡± Nicodemo¡¯s eyes were set as he suggested that. ¡°What- I¡¯m the Minister of Finance, that¡¯s not my duty.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m a goddamn general,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°There¡¯s an entire codex of military law for commanding officers who recklessly endanger themselves or others by performing things outside the proper scope of their position.¡± And maybe it didn¡¯t matter. He wondered how long it would take to refamiliarize himself with a space fighter. He wasn¡¯t the only general they had, even if he was the highest ranking. Previously that hadn¡¯t meant much besides fancier paperwork, but now that they were in war¡­ and he had some cultivation to back him¡­ the others were quite a bit more deferential. Wouldn¡¯t stop them from court-martialing him if he did something stupid. Then again, if it was truly stupid, he¡¯d probably just die. It was probably a bit hasty to do anything like that just yet, though. He¡¯d start with some flights in his ¡®free time¡¯. Things weren¡¯t bad enough yet that he had to consider sacrificing himself. Just a bunch of young men and women who might have had boundless futures otherwise. He felt the bow on his back, wondering when he could finally reach space. Spirit Arrows were better at resisting gravity and atmospheric effects than some other things, though he was considering trying to modify the technique for proper guns. As if he knew what he was doing, or had time to waste on things like that. Chapter 477 Silence. That was one advantage that the void of space provided for those who wished to move about unknown. Being able to easily approach from any direction was useful, but not necessary. The drawbacks far outweighed the advantages in Velvet¡¯s opinion. Silence she could manage on her own. Without gravity being a major factor, cultivators with any sense did not expect anyone to approach in a certain manner, and thus there was no chance to surprise them when something changed. For the personal techniques of Velvet, making herself blend seamlessly into the surroundings was rather impossible when there were no surroundings. Even something like the void ants stood out, because a space of no energy when the only thing to sense was energy was the clearest change that could happen. In short, Velvet had only the background levels of upper energy to blend in with, and any activity on her part would disturb that fabric and potentially reveal her. From afar, not many could pick her out regardless of those limitations. She hadn¡¯t devoted a century to stealth techniques for nothing- but there were always those who could counter any specific ability you had. Some honed their senses merely because they were part of them, while others focused on a specific purpose. The wide variety in exactly how much could be sensed in particular scenarios- where there weren¡¯t powerful cultivators advertising themselves for hundreds of kilometers or more- that caused uncertainty. But Velvet knew one thing for sure. Others had perished around the rings of the gas giant below, the cover they provided insufficient even at great distances. Some had survived, speaking of the arrows that followed them wherever they went¡­ which was exactly why Velvet was present now. And she was hiding because there was a reasonable chance it was a different archer than who she was seeking. Kseniya was supposed to have stayed in communication with the others, but for some reason or other after she ascended there was very little word from her. At the current moment it was only presumed she was alive, and in the general region they last knew her to be. Velvet was not alone- but the others were quite some distance back. Tens of kilometers or more, though it would only take a short time to cover if combat started. Allies from the Dark Ring, interested in determining the allegiances of this particular individual as much as she was. If it turned out they were a danger, Velvet would have backup¡­ if she survived long enough. Dropping up and down and around the components of the ring was a million times better than being in completely empty space, but the small particles were hardly helpful, and even ten meter rocks only blocked the view of Velvet for an instant, and not from all angles. Larger pieces could cover her for a while, but they might also be more closely watched. Velvet made her way around the rings, hoping that whoever the quarry turned out to be was not an expert at concealment. In some aspects searching through the rings of this planet would be a larger task than combing the entire surface of Ceretos for someone, with the one caveat that there was almost nowhere to hide. Technically someone could burrow into one of the larger floating pieces, but the signs of change would be obvious in a world untouched by human hands. In addition to that, there were no pesky things like plants or animals to distract her. Not so far at least. Even if there were inhabitants of such a place, they would be few and far between. Then again, anything that survived in the rings of a planet like this would be a troublesome foe- either a powerful hunter, or a deadly ambush predator. So Velvet carefully crept her way through the area, just in case something tried to get the drop on her. When the time came, she was prepared. The first arrow pierced straight through her chest, or at least that was what she hoped the archer felt. She sustained a dummy of energy for a few moments, letting it become a pincushion before it disintegrated. The arrows themselves seemed to indicate one step in the favor of it being Kseniya. They weren¡¯t exactly like she remembered, but they were formed of pure energy. The difference between upper and lower energy made it difficult to discern more with Velvet¡¯s lack of deep training in archery. The first volley had come from so far off that Velvet hadn¡¯t sensed the attacker. As she pushed her sensory energy along the path the arrows had traveled, she found nothing. What that meant was unclear. Her target was too far, expertly hidden, or¡­ the path was fake. It could be any of those, or more. It seemed her decoy had been good enough to give her a moment of safety. Perhaps she¡¯d managed to blend in with her surroundings again¡­ or perhaps she was being watched. She didn¡¯t feel any signs of energy, but it could be a passive approach. The next arrows came from behind her, exactly the opposite direction along the ring. They weren¡¯t hidden, but she was only barely able to prepare her response with their speed. One she shattered, the others she dodged in the same manner. Unfortunately, her decoy did no good the second time. The arrows pierced through it, then twisted to follow her. She had to attack them to disrupt their energy. Another point towards it being Kseniya. At this point, Velvet was almost willing to reveal herself. Even if Kseniya wanted to move on from the Order after ascending for some reason, they would have no reason to be enemies. The next attacks came simultaneously from the inner and outer parts of the ring, instead of around the curve. Obviously the arrows were flying an indirect path towards her, but from where? She couldn¡¯t sense the origin within any reasonable distance. Even an unreasonable distance, but then again she understood that Anton¡¯s range had become rather unfathomable outside of a planet¡¯s atmosphere. Planetary rings weren¡¯t completely devoid of friction, but it was close. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. One of the next volley found its way into her shoulder, and the next her hip. Her defenses were enough to keep them from being critical wounds, but she really hoped her allies were en route to assist. Or she could find the archer. Where? She scanned everywhere, but nothing should be able to hide the sort of power output she suspected. Then she looked up- or down- away from the flat plane of the rings. No way. Just floating out in the open like that? Velvet hefted a dagger- one she didn¡¯t care if she retrieved- and threw it straight towards the tiny speck of energy she felt in the distance. It would be trivial to dodge, but she attempted to conceal it. However, as the distance grew her technique began to fade. Before it completely broke, the dagger itself was shot out of the sky¡­ but Velvet felt the others moving in. Their aggressive energy indicated they intended to fight, which was correct¡­ if it weren¡¯t Kseniya. Velvet pushed herself off- either she was quite wrong, or she had to save whichever side was going to lose that fight. And while one individual would almost always lose to a handful of similar cultivation, the archer had enough range to maybe take them out before they got even close. There wasn¡¯t even a flash of light from the attacks, as if that too was being curved along whatever trajectory they wanted. Clever. Once Velvet was moving, she did her best to allow her passive motion to carry her closer¡­ just in case she needed to be hidden still. ----- ¡°Again?¡± Anton asked. Everheart nodded. ¡°This will be the third time then. We can learn much of their intentions.¡± And so, they stepped away from the planet for a moment, waiting. Hours passed. ¡°They seem to not have passed by the sun this time,¡± Anton commented. ¡°We will have to remain vigilant, then,¡± Everheart said. Currently, he was floating in a web of formation components. Flags, pillars, little stone plates, and various power sources. There was some natural energy in free floating space, but not as much as around planets, especially one developed like Ceretos. They waited. And waited. After a full day, Anton looked to Everheart. ¡°Are you certain?¡± He nodded. ¡°Something crossed the threshold in the same manner. And it should not have crossed back¡­ but I must admit, it¡¯s imperfect.¡± ¡°Considering the vast distance it covers, I¡¯m surprised it works at all.¡± ¡°It relies on the concept of territory,¡± Everheart said by way of explanation. ¡°The arbitrary limits of the system become something real¡­ and of course hundreds of tiny relays sensing for any sort of fluctuation.¡± They waited. Then¡­ ¡°I feel something,¡± Anton said. ¡°Near the sun. But it hasn¡¯t gone past yet. Are they waiting?¡± After a few moments, he answered his own question. ¡°No. They¡¯re just¡­ slower.¡± The two continued to wait, with Anton keeping others on the planet below appraised of nothing but the fact that they remained. Then the ship came within their senses- in a manner they could actually make out its form. A sphere- no, a disk with the wider side flat to them, a larger structure in the middle. No more than its form could be sensed at first, but it carried a weighty energy as it slowly approached. Both cultivators were ready to make a move at any moment. ----- The tip of the fighter plunged down, or at least away from its previous trajectory. Even so, the sensors read hits along both wings. If Nicodemo didn¡¯t know any better, he¡¯d say that they were wrong. But he had sensed it, the tiny specks of energy raining down upon his vessel. Though the cockpit was safe for the moment, the engines were running below capacity, and he lost his ability to accelerate. Unlike a purely atmospheric fighter, there weren¡¯t engines only pointed forward, but due to design and budget limitations they still had to deal with a front and rear, directions of simplest motion determined by the biggest engines and how they set up the cockpit. Nicodemo looked around, trying to see if he could salvage the situation. The sensors said he still had one gun on the left wing. He wasn¡¯t going to make it back anyway, so he might as well take someone out with him. He flipped the ship, overshooting his position and having to more slowly pull back because of the missing thrusters. He lined up his shot, his energy senses stretching to their limit and beyond, locking onto the target in front of him. He drew himself back like an arrow, ready to fire from the ship¡¯s cannon. Then¡­ he was cut in half down the middle. The ship¡¯s autopilot took over, reorienting the vessel and routing it back to the station. Nicodemo sighed. This nonlethal piloting system certainly felt more realistic than pure simulations, but it still had some bugs to work out. It didn¡¯t change the fact that he¡¯d lost to Quigley, in fact it might have even happened sooner if the vessels had a perfect read on the man¡¯s energy, but he could see why pilots were still hesitant to use it for training. ¡°What was that?¡± Nicodemo asked of his sparring partner. ¡°... Hello? Quigley?¡± A burst of static. ¡°Sorry, what? I stepped out for a second.¡± ¡°How the hell did you step out for a second? There¡¯s barely room to turn an ankle in these cockpits.¡± ¡°Oh, I just popped out the top for a second. What was your question?¡± ¡°... I asked what the attack was that finished me off. I didn¡¯t notice it coming. And did you just say you stepped out of the cockpit?¡± ¡°Yes sir, General Nicodemo. I did say that. You¡¯ve been so encouraging of experimenting with new methods I thought I¡¯d try it. So I did. I pulled out my sword, and cut the fighter in two with aura. Could have been real, though.¡± ¡°... Listen, I¡¯m fine with you experimenting. But don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to recommend anyone else try the same. And how¡¯d you fit a sword into the cockpit with you?¡± ¡°Storage bag,¡± Ty Quigley responded over the radio. ¡°Don¡¯t know why I asked,¡± General Nicodemo muttered to himself. What he wouldn¡¯t give to be that guy instead of in his own position. Especially since he was now going to have to explain to people that it made sense for a dude to open his cockpit at supersonic speed. ¡­ He¡¯d better not have lost the top. They weren¡¯t meant to do that, and military vehicles were expensive. Chapter 478 The ring-ship stopped in front of Anton and Everheart, though the ring continued to spin. Around the edges, Anton could see a distorted view of the stars. It was a strange image, brought about by the twisting of natural energy¡­ and maybe something more. ¡°Well,¡± Anton said. ¡°They haven¡¯t unleashed another monster on us yet. That¡¯s a good start.¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible they don¡¯t have the capabilities to do that consistently,¡± Everheart said. ¡°So are we netting them now or¡­?¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± Anton waited, though he was not sure for what. If he felt a gathering of natural energy he was ready to respond with violence. If it came down to something like that, making the first move would be optimal, but Anton rather preferred not to start a space war. For the moment, he couldn¡¯t sense them doing anything. If he wasn¡¯t mistaken, there should be multiple individuals upon the vessel, though placing them in a specific point inside was difficult. The barriers restricted his sensing, but they felt much more like cultivators he was familiar with than the individuals from Rutera. A thin veil of natural energy began to expand towards the two, but slowly. Was it attempting to be stealthy, or cautious? Anton chose to believe the latter. Then, finally, he heard something. ¡°Hello?¡± A woman¡¯s voice filtered into his ears the same way he was able to hear anything outside of atmosphere, through vibrations in natural energy instead of air particles. And¡­ it was even in the common language. ¡°Can you hear me?¡± ¡°I hear you,¡± Anton responded. A sigh of relief, perhaps. ¡°Good. That works at least. My name is Anzela Ranik, exploration leader of Weos¡­ and we come in peace.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Everheart responded before Anton could. ¡°What was with dropping that monster on us last time, then?¡± There was a pause. No sound was transmitted- if there had been any at all, Anton could have heard breathing, the beating of hearts¡­ the small movements of muscles even when still. Perhaps there was some discussion happening. Then, sound returned. ¡°It was not our intent. We shifted our trajectory away from your planet upon discovery of the beast. We had not anticipated running into them in this place. It was our understanding that we minimized our fluctuations enough to not draw it out¡­ were we incorrect?¡± ¡°It showed up right next to me,¡± Everheart said. Anton¡¯s eyes caught Everheart. By his own admission, the technique he¡¯d used to stop had some possibility to attract those creatures. ¡°Then we are glad you have the strength and skill to defeat it unscathed.¡± ¡°Unscathed, huh? I¡¯ll have you know I had to expend some life saving items to survive that creature¡¯s attack. How are you going to pay me back?¡± Anton found it amazing that Everheart could both extort someone and make himself seem weaker in the same breath. One of those could be useful, but the other wasn¡¯t necessarily reasonable. Then again, it avoided them looking like pushovers. The woman inside the vessel certainly seemed friendly enough, but Anton knew it was easy for anyone to fake such a thing for a while. A few exchanges of words without even being able to see her face was nothing. ¡°We have no life saving objects to replace what you have lost,¡± Anzela replied. ¡°However, given your apparent interest in formations we can offer you a powerful formation manual, the techniques derived from the work of a genius in the upper realms.¡± Everheart did his best not to seem overly eager, but Anton could tell he was quite interested. ¡°I suppose we can consider that sufficient repayment, given the circumstances of our meeting.¡± And probably something to do with Anton looking over his shoulder. To provide a united front, Anton was going with Everheart so far¡­ but he had to be reasonable. ¡°One moment please.¡± After a few minutes of waiting, a door opened up on the outer edge of the ring, and Anton could sense someone inside, reaching their arm around the corner to shove something towards them. A book with only a few dozen pages formed from dense materials floated in their direction, taking its time to cross the several hundred meters between them. It was not a close, conversational distance¡­ but it was well inside what Anton preferred as a combat range. Everheart did something to allow the tome to pass through the barriers around him, then caught it. He flipped through it, grinning eagerly. Then he frowned. ¡°Hey wait a minute. This is mostly just my methods!¡± ¡°They did call you a genius,¡± Anton noted. Fortunately the other man had the presence of mind to not transmit those vibrations back to the ship. ¡°We should move on.¡± ¡°... Fine, whatever. Do your diplomacy thing I guess.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe we have introduced ourselves yet,¡± Anton said towards the ship. ¡°I am Anton Krantz, Sect Head of the Order of One Hundred Stars, and a representative of Ceretos as a whole. This fellow with me is Scholar Eulogius. What brings visitors from Weos at this time?¡± It was entirely possible that they had been through the system before he could sense them, but someone should have noticed them. ¡°For various reasons, it has become easier for us to travel between worlds,¡± Anzela¡¯s voice replied. ¡°We thought it best to meet our neighbors.¡± ¡°Neighbors, is it? Which star is Weos?¡± Given the direction they came from, Anton had a fairly good guess if they were one of the closer stars. It took a few exchanges for Anzela to find the right terminology to explain their origin, but eventually Anton confirmed it. Or at least, the system they claimed to be from. It was approximately twice the distance of Rutera from their own system. ¡°I see. Have you encountered any other neighbors?¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. There was a clear pause. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied eventually. ¡°Our interactions were not so peaceful.¡± ¡°Did you drop void monsters on them?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°We were not the ones who began the hostilities,¡± Anzela said with a defensive tone in her voice. Everheart grinned at Anton. ¡°She didn¡¯t say no.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re fighting anyway¡­¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Might as well make use of the available options.¡± To Anzela and the ship, he replied, ¡°Where were these others from? So that we might be cautious upon encountering them.¡± Knowing what terminology made sense to Anton, she was able to provide a quicker answer. In truth, star systems weren¡¯t so closely packed together that there could be many systems they meant, at least not that could be termed ¡®nearby¡¯. ¡°Azoth.¡± ¡°Is that what you call the system? We have a different name¡­ and for themselves, they have a third.¡± Anton nodded, though he was unsure if that could be seen. ¡°Yes, we have had some¡­ brief encounters with them.¡± ¡°What was the result?¡± ¡°Conflict.¡± Anton didn¡¯t want to admit he was unable to take down one of their vessels, not because he was concerned about his own image but because Ceretos needed to seem strong. ¡°They were forced to withdraw.¡± At the very least, he had killed some crew members, so it wasn¡¯t as if there was no damage. And he might have injured or killed someone important, but it was hard to tell. ¡°Based on our interactions, I would not expect encounters with them to go any differently. Though the war is over now, we¡¯re not on good terms. Have you encountered anyone else?¡± This would be the time for Anton to mention Rutera¡­ if he trusted them. If Weos were actually enemies with Azoth, then Rutera would be interested in contacting them. But if they were some sort of allies probing for weaknesses, or even just a neutral party that might be interested in taking advantage of a system already embroiled in war, Anton didn¡¯t want to mention them specifically. ¡°We have encountered others who were much friendlier.¡± ¡°Wonderful. Where are they?¡± After Anton didn¡¯t respond for a moment, Anzela spoke again. ¡°... You don¡¯t trust us. I understand completely.¡± ¡°You did speed your way through our system the first time, and then you left a monster the second.¡± ¡°It was unintentional. But for that reason we came more slowly this time to have no chance of that happening. Still,¡± Anzela¡¯s voice was firm. ¡°It is a reasonable caution for our first interactions. I doubt we will get much further in trusting each other at the moment. Can we meet again? Perhaps somewhere more comfortable?¡± ¡°If you show your face,¡± Anton said. Her delayed response made it clear she had to think hard about that. And she should, because unless Anton¡¯s judgment was quite mistaken any of the cultivators on the ship would be vulnerable outside. Especially with individuals like Anton or Everheart around. ¡°I will be willing to meet in person as long as you guarantee my safety. Perhaps somewhere¡­ neutral?¡± ¡°Everything in the system is ours,¡± Anton said. ¡°But we could set up something comfortable on the moon. If none of your people attack us, then I can guarantee you will leave the meeting unscathed.¡± After that, there was some discussion about who should attend- and when they should meet again. Without Everheart¡¯s teleportation formations reaching the moon was outside of most individual¡¯s capacities, but Anton could bring people with him without too much issue. And he knew he should not be the only one to be involved in diplomatic relations with Weos. Everheart most certainly didn¡¯t count as a second there, because Everheart shouldn¡¯t be involved in any interactions with people of any kind whatsoever, for the good of everyone. Sadly, they probably needed him. In the end, they arranged to have a formal meeting in two months- local months, of course. That would give Anzela time to return home and make whatever preparations she and her people had to do, and it would give Everheart time to plop down a building and fill it with too many formations. He had to have something comfortable, right? If not, Anton could arrange for something, and of course gather those who needed to go. Given that he trusted Rutera, at least more than he trusted Weos, he also planned to contact them to inform them about the situation. They could make their own choices about what they wanted to do, or wait for results, but keeping their somewhat friendly neighbors in the loop seemed like the right call. ----- When arrows still kept flying through space towards them, Velvet was concerned that it was not Kseniya. But it was starting to be hard to deny the energy signatures and the style. But before Kseniya was threatened with counterattacks, she stopped and began to fly her way towards Velvet as the others from the Dark Ring began to converge. ¡°Hey. Figured I¡¯d get you some practical training.¡± ¡°... usually it¡¯s better if people agree to such things first.¡± ¡°Nah,¡± Kseniya shook her head. ¡°Then you would never take it seriously. No matter how much you wanted to.¡± That might be true, but it was still not a normal thing to do. But it was also very much like the woman herself. Seeing that there was no active combat, the members of the Dark Ring accompanying Velvet arranged themselves around the two, waiting. ¡°This is who I was looking for,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Grand Elder Kseniya, meet the Dark Ring.¡± ¡°I heard Matousek joined them. You too?¡± Kseniya asked. ¡°We¡¯re just allies. Is this place yours, by the way?¡± ¡°What, you mean this gas giant? Or this empty point in space where I¡¯m standing?¡± ¡°Either?¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°They want a location like this to use as a base.¡± Kseniya shrugged, ¡°Fine with me. I¡¯m done with it. As long as you lead me to somewhere else interesting. It¡¯s a pain to get between systems.¡± ¡°You need a proper ship for that,¡± Velvet explained. ¡°Need isn¡¯t the word I would use. But a good technique could definitely make it a shorter journey.¡± ¡°Is that what you¡¯ve been doing this whole time? Going between systems?¡± ¡°Just once,¡± Kseniya nodded. ¡°And then I spent some time practicing archery here with nobody to bother. Seems as I am now, it¡¯s impractical to shoot around a planet this size.¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ honestly glad that¡¯s the case. Have you gotten the messages we sent, at least? Did you hear anything about Xankeshan?¡± ¡°I saw something about that, yeah,¡± Kseniya nodded. ¡°Wanna take me?¡± ¡°That was the plan.¡± Not that Velvet had been there herself yet. As it turned out, the galaxy was big. Or even just the small sliver of it between the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster. Chapter 479 A mass of energy sufficient to level a mountain descended towards the planet surface, building up speed in a manner that made Prospero Vandale almost jealous. The defensive barrier bowed inward in an alarming manner that concerned him, because despite not needing any of their mountains and perhaps even being able to replace them the attack succeeding would merely encourage further action. Then the bundle of energy began to slow, then stop¡­ before rapidly flinging back in the other direction. The vessel and all of those upon it who contributed to the attack were annihilated, which was a shame because Xankeshan could really use its own fleets. It seemed they would have to take a more active role defending their sovereign territory if they wanted to capture anything. It had to be admitted that despite not being brought back to full functionality, Xankeshan¡¯s defensive formations were quite impressive. Prospero didn¡¯t understand them in great detail, because despite some training in formations in both his lives, it was not sufficient to tackle formations on the scale of a grandmaster or¡­ whoever had to have constructed them in the first place. Perhaps an Augmentation or Domination level cultivator. A fine rain of materials was drifting down towards the planet¡¯s surface, apparently not taken as a threat by the formations. They were rather efficient at that, not wasting energy where it didn¡¯t need to be spent¡­ though Prospero was concerned about where the power it did use came from. He understood that it drew partially from the living ecosystem of the planet, but besides some megafauna in the Gardens there really wasn¡¯t much life. Catarina said something about the formations drawing upon something deeper, but all power sources had to be limited somehow. He couldn¡¯t help but worry about that, but the younger-and-stronger individuals that had once been juniors beneath him didn¡¯t seem particularly worried. Hopefully, they were right- and it wasn¡¯t as if they were sitting around idly. The population of the little planet they¡¯d somehow snagged the reins to was still small, considering they had to have some level of trust for anyone that was brought inside. The total fighting force was many times what the Order had once had under Prospero¡¯s leadership, but that was in the ¡®lower realms¡¯. Here in the upper realms, the array of dozens of ascension level cultivators was just a start. And then there was Prospero himself¡­ What could he say? Even if he was managing more than a star per year it would still take him a few decades to reach the Integration stage. Having previously traversed the path made it smoother, while having to wrangle upper energy added speed bumps. Even so, he was confident he could manage it much more quickly than his previous life- and actually break through instead of hovering on the edge. Until that point, he was little better than a disciple with an overabundance of life experience. He wished he was back on Ceretos hanging out with Anton, even if he were at his current strength. It might be quite interesting¡­ especially considering Everheart¡¯s presence there. That had to be interesting, though Anton might regret passing up the chance to kill him. Though he was able to make his own choices, even big ones that affected many people. ----- Just a handful of years prior, Nirmala¡¯s status as a diplomat was mostly ceremonial, and generally still only around because of her role in keeping the various regions of Rutera united. They¡¯d had a unified world for a generation, but it wasn¡¯t so easy to keep it in place. Nirmala hadn¡¯t particularly expected to get involved in actual foreign relations. After all, what were the chances that adjacent systems had planets that could sustain similar life? Not that high. And it being human life? Well, at that point it was no longer a coincidence of any sort. It seemed that Rutera was an oddity in that they didn¡¯t follow the ¡®traditional¡¯ cultivation paths. Perhaps whoever had settled the planet long in the past ran into some issues. Maybe something monumental change, but if so it was before their current records¡­ which went back quite some time. Either way, traditional cultivation wouldn¡¯t have served them as well with the lower level of natural energy that Rutera had compared to Ceretos- or even what it was said that Ceretos had a century earlier. The point of Nirmala¡¯s thoughts was that she now found her job to be more practical and her life to be much busier. Especially since she had to visit Ceretos and now was being taken to their moon. Without a ship. There was some risk to that. Not that she thought Anton would allow her to be harmed, but he had admitted there was the potential for everyone to die at the meeting. Then again, if that happened perhaps all of Ceretos would be wiped out so it would hardly matter. A reminder to Nirmala that she was dealing with individuals with power far beyond her comprehension- and she tried, but any time she sensed the natural energy any of them had it sent her head spinning. But perhaps she simply needed more training. Apparently it could extend her youth, which she was not opposed to in the slightest. And fitting in with the locals was an excellent excuse to train often. It was actually quite beautiful, flying through the stars with no ship blocking her view in any direction. She could see Ceretos, its sun, and its moon. Clear stars in all directions- not a view she was used to on Rutera because of the light pollution. They managed to keep the planet environmentally stable, but light pollution was simply a byproduct of large cities and the ability to light up the night. Nirmala returned her mind to the upcoming task, and to those around her. Along with Anton there were others embarking on the same journey. That included others of concerning strength. There was Scholar Eulogius, a brash but highly intelligent man. It was strangely hard to find any history on the man. Then there was Vasu, head of the Million Sword Vault. He had a few others with him, but the bigger thing that Nirmala noted was that he was also bringing a desert. Or at least a few dunes worth, though the mirrored texture of the sands provided a strange image, like a mirage. ----- The first positive sign was the ring ship from Weos arriving on schedule and landing. It was alone, which didn¡¯t mean it was no threat- but when the doors opened and cultivators began to descend down the exit ramp, Anton found himself relaxing. He recognized Anzela¡¯s aura close to the peak of Life Transformation, walking next to a man whose aura was entangled with hers in a complementary manner. He was somewhat weaker, but still around mid Life Transformation. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Greetings,¡± Anton said as the group approached the small compound that had been set up. Formations provided air, and Anton waved his hand to clear some of the dust on the path between them. ¡°This is our first time to meet properly face to face.¡± Anton began introductions, starting with himself. He wasn¡¯t sure if he actually considered himself most important, but he was the strongest- with the potential exception of Everheart, even injured. But he came after Sect Head Vasu, and before any of the Life Transformation individuals present. That included Treloar of the Worthy Shore Society, though the man was showing signs he might not remain as he was for long. ¡°As I¡¯m sure you recall, I am Anzela Ranik, captain of the exploration vessel behind us. This is my husband, Rikuto, and a man more adept with his words than myself.¡± Rikuto bowed slightly. ¡°I apologize for my unexplained presence, but this was a matter of concern for Weos as a whole. I am more familiar with what information we can offer, and what diplomatic promises we can make.¡± He bowed more deeply, ¡°I am honored to meet the prosperous sects and clans of Ceretos, and a representative of Rutera is a pleasant surprise.¡± The man seemed inclined to ask something, but thought better of it. Anzela stood next to him, cautiously surveying the gathered cultivators. She had a clear question in her eyes, and Anton was willing to provide the answer. ¡°We call this stage Assimilation,¡± Anton provided. ¡°We have found it to be an acceptable alternative to ascension.¡± That answered the question, though doubtless raised many more. And just knowing an alternative existed wouldn¡¯t necessarily allow them to achieve it. Unless Anzela, her husband, and every member of the crew behind her were extremely adept at deception they had no understanding of such a stage¡­ and thus were not a threat. Not as individual cultivators, at least. The ability to draw out void beasts- intentionally or not- was an area of concern for another time, and spoke of the power of Weos as a whole still being significant. The rest of the day mainly involved getting settled in, with Everheart having provided luxurious ¡®backup palaces¡¯ for part of the compound. Nobody would recognize the origins of any of the goods since they had come from the upper realms, though because of his familiarity Anton could sense faint traces of ascension energy within some of the structures and furniture. Anton much preferred the casual meeting he¡¯d had with Rutera and Matija especially, but it wasn¡¯t always possible to have things his way. The group from Weos hadn¡¯t arrived somewhere where the only person associated was Anton. Technically all of Ceretos had significant business in whether or not anyone was prying about the sun or trying to destroy it- but Anton was the one who had been able to get there and do anything. And he wanted to knock on the door to say hello. Here, likely due to some connection to the upper realms known or unknown, Weos already spoke their same language. They had shown up directly around Ceretos as well, so things sadly had to involve more people and maintain a level of formality. That even meant including the Exalted Archipelago¡­ though not many of them. ----- It took many days and many more words to get to the things that Anton thought were important, but with so many people around to speak their minds he had to be patient. But finally, after assuring people that they were interested in at least being neutral if not immediately friendly, they got to the topic of Azoth. ¡°Anzela has a better head for history than I,¡± Rikuto explained, ¡°So I will defer to her for the explanation.¡± Anzela nodded, taking a moment to prepare her opening. ¡°Approximately half a century ago, cultivators from Azoth entered our system. With little warning they began attacks on our outposts on or around the various planets. Fortunately, we were prepared for¡­ another anticipated conflict and were able to quickly mobilize. Even so, the conflict dragged out for years before we finally managed to drive them off.¡± ¡°What of this other conflict?¡± Anton asked. ¡°How did their attacks impact it?¡± ¡°Actually¡­¡± Anzela frowned, ¡°It¡­ never happened. Which is odd, because we were momentarily weakened from the war.¡± She turned towards Rikuto, who had elbowed her. ¡°What? I¡¯m not saying we¡¯re weakened now. We could take¡­ Azoth at least.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± Vasu was the one who spoke, ¡°It was not long before that when we, too, were preparing for a conflict of our own.¡± Some people liked to beat around the bush. The Million Sword Vault was not one of those sects. ¡°But we kicked the ass of the invaders from the upper realms and sent them packing.¡± ¡°That¡­¡± Anzela blinked. ¡°... You¡¯ve had trouble with the same as well?¡± ¡°Repeatedly,¡± Anton said. ¡°They attempted to scour our history so that we would not remember.¡± For the moment, the Exalted Archipelago was being kept as a separate topic. At least most of them simply chose to dwell in the same world and weren¡¯t troublemakers. Most of those were dead, now. ¡°That was similar to what we experienced. We managed to keep some records from the last war.¡± At this point it was obvious the cat was out of the bag, so Rikuto just shook his head as Anzela spoke. And ultimately it was information useful for them to trade. ¡°We had much trouble with the Twin Soul Sect beforehand¡­¡± Anton sighed. He noticed the slightest intake of breath from one individual. ¡°I¡¯m going to make some sudden movements now,¡± he said calmly. ¡°Do not be alarmed, and understand that it will be explained to your satisfaction.¡± The individual Anton had sensed almost turned to run, but not only was he too slow to do anything, there was nowhere for him to go unless he could operate the ring ship himself. Anton had a hand on him, suppressing his energy to nothing so that he could not move or do anything, including harm himself. Anton tossed a technique manual he was lucky to still have on him towards Anzela. ¡°You¡¯ll want to learn this before you go back. And let¡¯s talk about the Twin Soul Sect more as well.¡± Anton could see Everheart¡¯s eye twitching, as if he had a compulsion to kill the man Anton was holding. And he very well might, if he¡¯d given one to a projection and it had merged with him. Anton still didn¡¯t fully understand that situation. ¡°I know how to make a soul destroying formation,¡± ¡®Scholar Eulogius¡¯ said unprompted. ¡°For when you want it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t, uh¡­¡± Rikuto looked at Anzela, who was significantly stronger than him- but she shook her head. ¡°I suppose we will listen to your explanation.¡± That was a good choice, because if they knowingly harbored the Twin Soul Sect Anton was going to have harsh words for them, and significantly more arrows. And if they didn¡¯t know about them, then they were going to need some assistance. Chapter 480 ¡°Tell us you¡¯re not a member of the Twin Soul Sect.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± ¡°Tell us that the cultivation technique you practice is the same as the one you display.¡± ¡°It is!¡± Anton looked down at the man in front of him. ¡°Good. Now do it without lying and I¡¯ll let you go.¡± The man lowered his eyes. ¡°I already did. But you¡¯ve already decided to use me as some sort of display of power, so it won¡¯t change anything.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to kill someone like you to display my power,¡± Anton said. His direct questions should have been sufficient to give those with training in insight at least a feeling. People could lie directly to specific questions and have little reaction, but there was always something. Anton felt it clearly, though he didn¡¯t need anything more to convince him. ¡°You might as well kill me now,¡± the man said. ¡°I can¡¯t stomach more disrespect.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not going to kill you,¡± Anton said. ¡°Because we know you¡¯re not afraid of that. But Scholar Eulogius can teach the others how to shatter your soul, which should concern you a little bit.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t let them do that!¡± the man pleaded towards Anzela and Rikuto. ¡°Death is inevitable for a cultivator, but something like that-¡± ¡°Is what you should expect people to do when they find out you¡¯re planning to betray your entire world.¡± Anton turned towards the group from Weos. Everyone from Ceretos was already on his side- they mostly had practice with the techniques for detecting members of the Twin Soul Sect, and those who didn¡¯t trusted in the appraisal of the others. ¡°You should get started practicing that technique,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though you¡¯re welcome to study it as long as you like.¡± ¡°What if¡­ we don¡¯t?¡± Anzela asked. ¡°Don¡¯t what? Learn the technique? Shatter this man¡¯s soul?¡± ¡°Either. Both.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll send the rest of you on your way and you won¡¯t ever be welcome near our system again,¡± Anton stated simply. ¡°We can answer any questions you have about the Twin Soul Sect and their connection to your invaders. You can even message your homeworld, though I would advise against it. If they become aware of a consistent method of rooting them out they¡¯ll have an opportunity to adapt.¡± There was actually one more person he needed to convince. Nirmala. ¡°... Why did you not mention this to us?¡± Nirmala asked. ¡°It came up,¡± Anton said, ¡°But perhaps only in passing. It seems your world has been isolated from the upper realms for whatever reason.¡± Probably their minimal resources, by cultivator standards. ¡°None of us who visited found any signs of the Twin Soul Sect upon Rutera. And I suppose we hoped that what happened in our world was more of an isolated incident. Rutera knows your history, stretching back thousands of years, correct?¡± ¡°More or less.¡± ¡°We¡¯re at¡­ seven hundred. More or less. Anything older than that was intentionally left behind to throw us off.¡± Anton could tell that something about his words was familiar to those from Weos as well. Hopefully they would act rationally. One man, even if he¡¯d endeared himself to some of those involved, was not worth their world. Besides, anything they liked about him would probably be fake. ----- The diplomatic meetings upon the moon were rather more subdued after the discovery. Much time was spent by those from Weos studying- and Anton hoped practicing- the techniques to sense the true nature of Twin Soul Sect cultivators. Once they actually practiced, they would sense what he intended- but whether they believed the truth was something else. Anton could have easily forced the man¡¯s cultivation to reveal itself, but that could easily be seen as if he were the cause. In a way, making them arrive at their conclusions the slow way was a test. And also extremely annoying. Anton wanted to start cleansing Weos of the Twin Soul Sect himself, but that wouldn¡¯t be the correct solution. Avoiding them entirely would be better, as this wasn¡¯t a good time to get into a war. Not that there ever was one, but they were specifically aware of an upcoming invasion. The fact that it might still be a century or a century and a half away didn¡¯t mean they could afford to lose people. Weos might reject their theory, but for one individual they wouldn¡¯t start a war. Unless they were just looking for an excuse to begin with, in which case they might as well just get it over with. Though Anton didn¡¯t get that impression from either Anzela or Rikuto. The only one who looked more impatient than Anton himself was Everheart. ¡°It would be a shame to have to wipe out a whole system,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I don¡¯t think you can,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Not as you are now.¡± ¡°You¡¯d be there too, obviously. And pretty much anyone else from Ceretos.¡± ¡°Our interstellar ships are still¡­ new. And definitely not as good as theirs. We couldn¡¯t bring a proper army there, and from what they were saying I think they¡¯re quite¡­ populous.¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Everheart sighed. ¡°Guess we¡¯ll have to wait until you can pierce through the heart of a world in one shot. That would help.¡± ¡°How long would that take?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I doubt it¡¯s simple.¡± ¡°Who knows?¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°In the upper realms, it might take a Domination cultivator to do that simply. But the difference here is not just the energy. But give it a few centuries and I¡¯m sure you could figure something out.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°A few centuries, huh? I hope I make it that far.¡± ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°Because I¡¯m not exactly young now,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°As I cultivated, my lifespan didn¡¯t increase as much as others. And now¡­¡± ¡°Now what?¡± Everheart prompted. ¡°Assimilation has to have added some years onto your life.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Look, if you¡¯re going to die of old age you don¡¯t have to hide it from me. It will let me plan a smoother transition to my control of the world. Less bloodshed. You¡¯d prefer that, right?¡± Everheart grinned. Anton wasn¡¯t sure how serious that was or not. Not because he didn¡¯t think Everheart could make those plans or achieve them, but because he didn¡¯t seem like the leader type. And he seemed far too attached to Ceretos to just plunder the entire world when he could get more in the upper realms. ¡°I just don¡¯t know,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I should still be near the end of my lifespan. Fleeting Youth seems to be quite happily growing stronger. Though we should probably discuss what you know about reincarnation and all that. My understanding of this spectral energy is¡­ less than optimal.¡± ¡°Hell if I know,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not willing to give up reincarnating to try it out. But I did learn some secrets in the upper realms that might help. What will you pay me?¡± ¡°Not smothering you in your sleep.¡± ¡°Hmm, tempting. But I don¡¯t have to sleep. How about you throw in eternal shelter in the lower realms? Just in case I get in trouble after this.¡± ¡°What, you actually trust me to protect you from people?¡± ¡°The Trigold Cluster, at least. I just want you to promise not to turn me over to them.¡± ¡°... I have the feeling that doing that would hurt them, though. You¡¯d have to take down some with you, right?¡± ¡°Not as many as if I get to live longer.¡± ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll offer you shelter here in the lower realms¡­ as long as you don¡¯t harm anyone I care about.¡± ¡°Can you give me a list?¡± Everheart frowned. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re not one of those guys that cares about everyone, are you?¡± ¡°I have a lot of family,¡± Anton said finally. ¡°And sectmates and allies. We¡¯re even growing into the upper realms. But I could convince them to mutually stay out of your business if you promise the same.¡± Everheart sighed. ¡°Can¡¯t believe I¡¯m agreeing to this, but fine.¡± ¡°I know that look,¡± Anton narrowed his eyes. ¡°If you break your promise and try to hide out in the upper realms, I swear I¡¯ll finD a way to shoot you from here.¡± Everheart shivered, though he tried to hide it. ¡°That¡¯s not¡­¡± ¡°Possible?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°I believe you were one of the greatest proponents of anything being possible with cultivation. And if I only have to target you, I¡¯m sure I can make it easier.¡± ¡°Hah. Well, good luck with that. You¡¯d have to be like, twice the genius I am and it¡¯d still take you centuries to even get close.¡± Though he acted like¡­ well, Everheart, Anton had the feeling that he really meant to keep that promise. At least at the moment, which was all Anton could really ask for. ----- Anzela crossed her arms in front of her chest. ¡°This is not¡­ something that is easy to accept.¡± Rikuto nodded. ¡°With your¡­ high cultivation perhaps it is trivial to set up something like this. But-¡± the man didn¡¯t let his point go unfinished, ¡°If what you say is true, it should not be impossible to find more like him, correct?¡± ¡°They will be worming their way into upper society if at all possible, the best sects and clans and organizations of any kind,¡± Anton assured the man. ¡°Like an exploration vessel looking for other groups of cultivators.¡± ¡°Could you relinquish him back to us?¡± Rikuto asked. ¡°We could bring him to some who we¡­¡± ¡°Trust?¡± Anton asked. ¡°... have greater experience with,¡± Rikuto said as diplomatically as possible. ¡°Some with soul-reading capabilities.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s impossible. If he dies normally, the information he has now will be worth quite a bit to those in the upper realms. We can¡¯t risk that.¡± ¡°What if we bring them here?¡± Anzela asked. Rikuto shot her a glare, but she brushed it off. ¡°I don¡¯t want to believe you, but if your words are true we must confirm them and then act upon it.¡± ¡°You can do that,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if any vessel returns without you, we¡¯ll assume the worst. And if you want to trust me, there should be more than a few people in your own system to check out¡­ if you can manage to capture them without triggering a dangerous chain of events. At the very least, though, you can determine that this signature isn¡¯t just random.¡± Anzela grimaced. Anton couldn¡¯t tell exactly what she was thinking, but he knew how he would react if he learned there was someone on his crew that was planning to betray everything he knew. It happened with some of those infiltrating the Order, leading up to Vandale¡¯s death¡­ which was strangely still a hole within him despite knowing the man lived once more. But if those you cared about didn¡¯t tear some of you away with them when they passed, then Anton doubted that it was much of anything to begin with. ¡°There¡¯s a slight problem with this,¡± Anzela said. ¡°In what way?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be returning one short. Any others who know about him will find that suspicious.¡± ¡°Then,¡± Anton suggested, ¡°Leave some more with us. I swear we¡¯ll treat them well until your return.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t make anyone do that,¡± Anzela frowned. ¡°Ask for volunteers. Maybe someone who wants to learn the bow or the sword.¡± ¡°Would you actually train them, though?¡± ¡°If we¡¯re not going to be enemies? Gladly.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°Once you are convinced of what we¡¯ve said, we¡¯ll be able to consult about our mutual problems and be friendly neighbors.¡± ¡°For someone who is so interested in being friendly, you¡¯re terrifying sometimes,¡± Anzela said honestly. ¡°That¡¯s just the way things are in this world. It requires power. I¡¯m sure you all know that, as fellow cultivators. And I¡¯m quite certain you have more than a few tricks up your sleeves in case we were to come into conflict.¡± ¡°Of course. I wouldn¡¯t risk my husband so easily.¡± She said that, but Anton could tell she was understanding she underestimated Anton specifically- and she knew he wasn¡¯t the only one of similar power. He could do more than just move quickly to restrain a weaker cultivator. In general, it was easier to kill someone than capture them. Anton just hoped he didn¡¯t have to do too much of either in the near future¡­ or if he did, he hoped it would be by the side of individuals from Weos instead of some sort of crusade to annihilate them. Though obviously not all of Weos was corrupted, or there wouldn¡¯t be the point of the Twin Soul Sect remaining hidden. They would just take everything. Chapter 481 At his current cultivation level, Anton had presumed he was done learning movement techniques. He could move swiftly on land, through the water, or even fly if he wished to- and his range was exceptional enough he rarely needed such speed to begin with. He realized now how foolish that idea was. He hadn¡¯t given up on advancing his cultivation, but he¡¯d narrowed his scope too much. The ships of Azoth made him realize he needed to advance his offensive ability- though some of his trouble had been an incomplete Assimilation with the local star- and how that he was moving around the system he realized he was rather slow compared to any decent interstellar ship. The first thing he started with were the Soaring Air Sect¡¯s flying techniques. He didn¡¯t have the right cultivation base to perform them exactly as described, but he could certainly adapt them. Even if he could use them exactly as they were, they wouldn''t work outside of the atmosphere. Shoving himself around with energy was doing well enough, but even if he got better at it the more he flew around, it wasn¡¯t graceful. At some point, Everheart noticed what he was doing¡­ and graciously offered to provide assistance. ¡°Your technique is awful. You¡¯ll never survive a decent battle like that.¡± Alright, nothing about Everheart was actually gracious at any point. But he was helpful. ¡°See this?¡± Everheart moved around, making quick changes to his momentum- which was another thing Anton had to deal with, because a lack of friction really affected how movement in space worked. Anton paid close attention. He could certainly figure out why Everheart made the shapes he did with enough observation. ¡°Moving like this forces the energy together behind you so it doesn¡¯t just scatter randomly. It builds on itself and is more efficient.¡± Oh right. Everheart knew how to teach, unlike Kseniya. ¡°What about in atmosphere? Won¡¯t that cause problems?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°Especially in a lower realm like this. You could break the world in half. Well, not literally. But nobody would have any nice glassware.¡± ¡°... Can that stopping technique of yours work in reverse?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Can I like¡­ pull on the world to propel myself forward?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Everheart said. ¡°All you have to do is learn how to manipulate space directly.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Anton nodded. There was silence for about a minute. ¡°Wait you¡¯re serious?¡± Everheart¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°That crap takes like, centuries.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Anton frowned. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure Kunibert knew how to do it.¡± ¡°Was he like the founder of your Order or something?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°He was one of the Grand Elders when I joined,¡± Anton said. ¡°Great. Maybe ask him, then.¡± ¡°He¡¯s dead,¡± Anton said. ¡°How?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°Holding someone ascending in place so that he might be killed.¡± ¡°Did it work?¡± ¡°... indirectly,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Stupid,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Should never have to think about sacrificing yourself if you have someone else who can do it.¡± Everheart scratched his chin, ¡°You sure he understood spatial manipulation? In Life Transformation?¡± ¡°I was unable to witness his final battle,¡± Anton said, ¡°But his abilities were known throughout the Order.¡± ¡°Then just use his notes,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Why? You think I can¡¯t understand your technique?¡± ¡°I stole these secrets fair and square!¡± Everheart said. ¡°I don¡¯t have to share with anyone!¡± Then he shrugged, ¡°Also you seem like the kind of pansy who doesn¡¯t want to drop void beasts on your planet so it¡¯s better not to learn my stuff. Anyway if you knew someone from your Order who had those abilities, why don¡¯t you know how to do it already?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure if it would be useful. It seemed as if it was strongly tied to his personal techniques, so I didn¡¯t try to learn it.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t¡­ even try?¡± Everheart¡¯s face paled and he looked like he was going to throw up. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you haven¡¯t learned every technique everyone in the Order has ever created? You¡¯re the Sect Head!¡± ¡°I only have a finite amount of time,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°It¡¯s not as if I have been slacking off. Even you can¡¯t add more hours into the day.¡± Everheart looked Anton dead in the eyes. ¡°You¡¯d never make it in the upper realms with that attitude.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I am physically incapable of existing in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s what you¡¯re going to do,¡± Everheart said, pulling out a scroll almost as big as himself. ¡°You¡¯re going to read this, and then you¡¯re going to go learn every single technique anyone in your sect has ever put to paper. And then you¡¯re going to force them to write everything else they know down so you can also learn it.¡± ¡°I suppose I can do that,¡± Anton nodded. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°You¡¯re going to do it right now young man!¡± Everheart tossed the scroll at Anton¡¯s head. Anton caught the massive scroll in both hands. It was¡­ heavy. ¡°I¡¯m almost two hundred and twenty.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± Everheart said. ¡°You¡¯re like a baby. Now start reading! Unless the little baby hasn¡¯t learned how to read yet?¡± ----- ¡®Ten Thousand Scrolls¡¯. Anton was honestly unsure if that was the name of a technique, or if it was just a descriptor of what he was holding. He was fairly certain he would have trouble holding it without making use of his natural energy to augment his muscles. It went on and on and on¡­ seemingly forever. But of course it couldn¡¯t actually be forever. Perhaps if it looped back in on itself and simply randomized or repeated text, but¡­ would that even count? Anton shook his head. It was easy to get distracted. Reading this thing was¡­ mind numbing. It just went on and on and on, and he didn¡¯t quite get what he was supposed to learn from it. It was a strange blend of different techniques. None of them seemed quite complete, though perhaps that was simply that they were not yet complete. They seemed to come in chunks, so they might complete later in this extremely oversized scroll. It had been a long time since Anton felt so much mental strain simply from reading over a technique and imagining practicing it. He was slightly reluctant to actually follow through on anything since he didn¡¯t fully understand any of the techniques, and some involved manipulating his brain with energy. That seemed like a recipe for disaster. If Everheart wasn¡¯t so¡­ weirdly obsessed with making sure he learned he might have thought it was a trap. Sure, that obsession made it feel like a trap, but Anton felt that he¡¯d touched on some weird core of Everheart. So he read and read and read, for a month. Then two months. Three. Six. One year. He didn¡¯t stop when he had to interact with others, simply focusing on it less. A proper cultivator could split their thought processes up between different things, and social interactions didn¡¯t take all that much of his brain power¡­ even if he might have ended up seeming a bit distracted. He performed the duties required of him, but had no time to do things like worry about what was happening with Weos. As he progressed further through the scroll, Anton¡¯s reading became faster¡­ and yet it only seemed longer and longer. Yet he became ever more certain there was something of value contained within it, insights he couldn¡¯t quite grasp yet. He didn¡¯t do it on purpose, but he subconsciously began circulating his energy as various techniques described, despite none being quite complete. It wasn¡¯t just mental techniques, though there were certainly plenty of them. There were a lot of other things that just seemed like unnecessary fluff, but Anton couldn¡¯t just ignore them. They might be part of something else, he just had to piece it together. Then, one day, he reached the end of the scroll. The instant after that, it was snatched out of his hand. Anton turned to see Everheart stuffing it into his bag. ¡°You could have asked for it back,¡± Anton said. ¡°You might have given it to someone else.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°You share techniques all the time.¡± ¡°No,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I let people learn techniques. I don¡¯t share anything.¡± ¡°You realized I could just recreate that, right?¡± ¡°Not yet you can¡¯t,¡± Everheart shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re only just beginning. But if you can, it¡¯s not my issue. You¡¯ll be the one responsible for it not winding up in the wrong hands.¡± ¡°So what do I do now?¡± ¡°You follow through with the rest of the plan!¡± Everheart said. ¡°Get reading!¡± ¡°... You¡¯re surprisingly insistent about this.¡± ¡°You¡¯re surprisingly¡­ stupid!¡± Everheart wasn¡¯t necessarily a man known for his eloquence. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯d leave anything unlearned for so long!¡± ¡°I had other priorities to focus on, and it¡¯s not like I can use every technique all at once.¡± ¡°Then you should get more of you!¡± ¡°Gonna teach me that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°... no.¡± Everheart said. ¡°I am not.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll have to manage things my way.¡± Now that he was no longer buried in that scroll, Anton¡¯s mind went to the matter of Everheart¡­ and where he¡¯d been over the last year. Strangely enough, Anton had managed to keep track of most of it. Everheart had dozens of projects to deal with on Ceretos, and those were all being overseen by various people. In fact, ¡®Scholar Eulogious¡¯ was more of a consultant than anything else on most projects, rather than directly overseeing them. Though he did have his ways of getting people to listen to him. ¡°You aren¡¯t planning to get up to anything sinister while I¡¯m occupied, are you?¡± ¡°Not any different than usual,¡± Everheart said. Anton believed him. But that didn¡¯t make him feel better. A year of his life, for what? Sure, he continued to passively cultivate and manage everything he needed to, but Anton could have focused on other tasks. He still wasn¡¯t sure what benefit Ten Thousand Scrolls had. When he began reading through other things, starting with Kunibert¡¯s notes, he had the feeling he was reading faster¡­ but was that all? He was still sorting together the pieces of the mental techniques, but they seemed safe enough. As he slowly circulated his energy, he found things falling in place, not just pieces from the Ten Thousand Scrolls, but also what he was currently focusing on. It was immediately clear that Kunibert¡¯s method of spatial manipulation would not work for just anyone. He had a special genius for it and was unable to describe certain things¡­ yet there was still a solid core for learning more about spatial manipulation, in a practical manner a cultivator could use. The most important part was sensing where space was distorted. That was something Anton could sense at the borders of a secret realm or within a storage bag, but he felt something more. Ceretos itself was distorting space to some extent, something Anton rapidly became more cognizant of. But his mind quickly found itself diving inward, into the core of his cultivation¡­ and through it. Passing by the ¡®stars¡¯ of his cultivation which were simply condensed structures of energy and to the actual stars he had a connection to via Assimilation. The mass of such things distorted space on a greater scale¡­ though not in any way that Anton could make practical use of. Even if he could create a semblance of mass with natural energy, it wouldn¡¯t be enough to rival even a small planet, and not for long. Even so, he gained some insights that set him down a path towards understanding spatial manipulation, and how he might manage it without himself being a planet or star. He could likely have been at the same point close to a year prior if Everheart had just tried to teach him¡­ but the man had decided that Anton should learn everything instead. Or at least, everything he could get his hands on. Anton wasn¡¯t even sure if he would want to learn actually everything, and he likely couldn¡¯t given the number of people developing techniques at any moment. Chapter 482 A group of six individuals carefully made their way through one of the recent Tombs to open up. There had been a dry spell of almost half a century, and now a new generation of cultivators was being introduced to the perils of such a place. Even if it was considered ¡®safe¡¯ in relative terms, injuries and death were still possible. Yet it was worth it, to be one of the groups that stumbled upon something amazing. There were tales of equipment packed into a room so deep one could not see it all, treasures unimaginable ready for claiming¡­ if the trials could be overcome. So far traps, tests, and puzzles had hindered the group¡¯s progress, but as they stepped into the next room they saw a projection of Everheart himself. Was he there to introduce a new trial, or was this actually the end? ----- Everheart looked at the bright eyed group before him. He liked to keep his trials fair, but the definition of fair could vary wildly. ¡°Good, you¡¯ve made it. Go ahead and show me what you can do.¡± He settled into a stance, waiting for them to make a first move. Though if they didn¡¯t act within the next few seconds, he wouldn¡¯t mind being the one to start things. The first to act was a spearman, brash and swift. He thrust towards Everheart, only to find another longer spear pointed at his chest. To his credit, he avoided impaling himself upon it, though his attack failed to reach Everheart. Nearly but not quite simultaneous came an attack from a swordsman. He began with a textbook thrust, into a standard sweep. Nothing bad, but using those moves he¡¯d never beat Everheart. He wrote that style, after all. And it was¡­ fine. Everheart still used his own sword two disarm the man, an extra arm flickering into existence holding the weapon. He was comfortable using the best weapon for any situation, but in a situation like this¡­ he could just use whatever was most humiliating for his opponents. Which was basically their own weapons. Fire surrounded him, as two cultivators attacked simultaneously. Another one of his techniques- though he had to admit that the modifications he¡¯d made to put his name on it had been minimal for this one. His fists stretched out, sending the flames back at the two individuals. The fifth carried a hammer and shield, but didn¡¯t have the strength to keep himself from being knocked across the room to be buried a half meter into the wall. Perhaps the move was excessive, but Everheart was trying to limit himself to a reasonable power and the sixth enemy was actually smart. They came for his kidneys with a pair of twin daggers while he was occupied, or at least that was likely the plan. Those same daggers found themselves lodged in the attacker¡¯s gut, and it was their own fault if they didn¡¯t happen to have an antidote for the poison on them. The remaining individuals were quickly defeated, but there really wasn¡¯t any other avenue for them. They were a group from the Tomb Seeking Sect, after all. They used Everheart¡¯s techniques and thought to even touch him? Not even with the vast amount he held himself back. Of course, they might have done better if he was a projection, since their abilities were even more limited¡­ but every once in a while Everheart had to really test the challengers who came to his tombs. Plus, he was slightly concerned about leaving projections around for a long time so he had to regularly replace them. At least the way they absorbed into him was a good way to get information about how things had been going. Everheart left a pile of crap on top of the bodies of the group. He didn¡¯t say they had to win, and frankly the garbage was just taking up space in his bag. Sure, he had a lot of that but castoff weapons from his time in the Smithy were plentiful. He always thought to have that projection melt them down to make something new, but there had been much better materials he could practice with. So his old crap was getting left here. Someone might realize that most of the materials weren¡¯t from Ceretos, but what did he care? Everheart was always mysterious and unknowable to begin with. Let them think whatever they wanted. ----- Somehow, Anzela actually contacted Anton. Not that it was difficult, he just expected by this point they would have already given up. Either they had already been compromised by the Twin Soul Sect or they didn¡¯t care or trust what Ceretos had to say. But there was a single word. ¡°Soon¡±. Unhelpful and mysterious. Were they going to attack Ceretos, and it was a warning? Anton considered it, but whatever preparations they would make for that were already underway or finished. It would be unfortunate to get into a war with their neighbors, but it would be a decent experience. Anton hoped it was something else, though. Perhaps they were unsure if the communications were secure. They should be, because the designs were made by Catarina and approved by Everheart, but perhaps they didn¡¯t believe it. Either way, until he had more information he could not act upon it in any useful manner. Those who should have that very limited tidbit of information would get it, and the rest would continue on with their lives without being disrupted. ----- Anton looked at Nthanda, who looked back at him¡­ and neither had anything to say for a time. The woman was one of Anton¡¯s best archery students, though her path had strongly diverged from his own. She continued to practice body strengthening techniques in priority to anything else, leaving her with energy that felt more akin to an Essence Collection cultivator than someone in late Life Transformation. ¡°Could you repeat your request?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I don¡¯t believe I heard it correctly the first time.¡± ¡°Throw me into the sun, please.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Anton nodded. Apparently he had heard it. ¡°No. And if you try to do it yourself, I¡¯ll drag you back out. If you want to die, there are easier ways, and I couldn¡¯t really stop you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s for training,¡± Nthanda clarified. Anton had assumed as much, but since she hadn¡¯t clarified¡­ he wasn¡¯t quite sure. She was difficult to read, as she had more control over her body¡¯s autonomous functions than most cultivators. There were ways to override such things with energy, but that usually let on that something was happening if not what. Nthanda¡¯s body seemed to do nothing she didn¡¯t order it to. Anton¡¯s eyes flared with fire, then he held out his hand. ¡°If you are able to hold onto me for one minute, I will consider your request.¡± Even as Nthanda stretched out her hand, Anton channeled fire through him. It was a strange thing, the power of a sun. Each small piece was quite powerful, yet also¡­ insignificant? His hand lit with fire, powerful and lasting¡­ but not directed like a proper attack would be. It would attack Nthanda without malice or purpose, but the danger was there. As she grasped his hand, Nthanda immediately began sweating. That was the natural reaction, but it was too quick to be fully natural. That was just how her body would best be able to shed excess heat. Even as the droplets formed on her body, they began to evaporate- nearly evenly, despite some of them being further from the source of the flames. Her face was determined as she held her grip on Anton¡¯s hand, and he wondered if he had been holding back too much. The actual sun would be much worse. But before thirty seconds elapsed, he saw the beads of sweat begin to form more slowly- and not because Nthanda was becoming used to the heat. Instead, her skin began to crack and dry. She managed to hold on until forty-five seconds, after her skin and hair caught on fire. The instant she let go, Anton retracted his flames. Nthanda sighed, ¡°I suppose I shall have to make do here.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anton said. ¡°Because even I can¡¯t pull you out of the sun. That would be¡­ a serious issue, actually.¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered that,¡± Nthanda admitted. ¡°I was merely looking for a harsher environment to train in.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t find anything good here? I¡¯m sure someone can set up a formation or something¡­¡± Nthanda shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not the same. I want to fight against a powerful natural environment with just my body. I have traveled around Ceretos, from volcanoes to the depths of the sea. Some provided sufficient challenge to help me advance to this point, but I am seeking something more.¡± ¡°There are options better than the sun, you know,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you want pressure, a gas giant will do. Probably best to start with a smaller one. You also might want to have me stick around to make sure it¡¯s¡­ viable? You have to consider your equipment as well. If that gets destroyed and you have no way to contact anyone, it will be trouble. You¡¯re not exactly capable of flight, and there¡¯s not much to eat there.¡± ¡°... A problem I had not considered,¡± Nthanda hung her head. ¡°Could I ask your aid for this?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Anton said. ¡°Just be clear on what you want. What you¡¯re trying to accomplish.¡± ¡°I want to complete Life Transformation. And then¡­¡± Nthanda shook her head. ¡°I have the feeling if I push my body far enough¡­ something will happen. Ascension, perhaps, but not through the typical routes as I understand them.¡± Anton wondered if Everheart could help. He had techniques for everything, though of everything Everheart practiced body focused techniques was not one of them. Not beyond the normal level a cultivator trained to, where the body was strong enough to not hold them back and little more. Anton¡¯s recent learning after going through the Ten Thousand Scrolls also didn¡¯t tell him much. Then again, Nthanda already seemed to know what she needed. ¡°Very well, we¡¯ll try a few things in the near future.¡± Anton had the feeling that Nthanda might throw herself in too deep if he let her. Not because she was particularly reckless, but because cultivators at the edge of Ascension were¡­ determined. Even if not all of them were successful. The recent uptick in that was encouraging, though Anton also hoped enough remained around for the invasion. Though he wasn¡¯t going to ask anyone to hang around for a century or more if it was going to hold them back. ----- Nthanda was not the only archer Anton was helping. Well, he had dozens of individuals who learned from him personally and many others who learned from his current and previous students¡­ but there were also a few that received personal attention. Like another little granddaughter with some number of ¡®greats¡¯, Gudrun. Okay, so she wasn¡¯t exactly little anymore. But the frosty archer was still one of those individuals who had as much access to Anton as they wanted. As a cultivator she was in her prime though her actual age put her over fifty now, her cultivation in early Life Transformation. She was the fourth child of Anish and Annelie, out of¡­ well, almost a dozen now. For the first handful of decades they had been rather conservative in a way, averaging close to one per ten years. The last couple had gotten away from them, though, and they¡¯d had one every five years with another on the way. They, at least, were quite set on staying- though they hadn¡¯t yet come up with a method of advancing their cultivations beyond the peak of Life Transformation. Gudrun took after her mother, at least in her general cultivation. She practiced the Frostmirror Sect¡¯s techniques, including the ability to subdue her emotions¡­ and she seemed quite content to do so most of the time. There were only so many things a cultivator like Anton had been able to teach her. Ice was far from his area of expertise, though he wasn¡¯t incapable of using it. It just wouldn¡¯t be very effective in combat, since it both didn¡¯t match his cultivation technique and was relatedly short about a century of practice. Gudrun took up a stance to demonstrate to Anton what she had learned in her own practice. Her hands moved with great speed, forming icy arrows and drawing back her bow to create a shower of arrows. Anton calculated their trajectories as they flew and the way they struck the ground in a pattern, blossoms of ice growing from them and directing an unseen enemy in a masterful display. The ice blossoms would be not only dangerous as they grew but remained as barriers that restricted movement. Anton nodded. ¡°Very good. I am proud of you.¡± Arrows of ice were more difficult to fling over long distances- and perhaps Gudrun found herself less adept at Horizon Shot than some others- but she still had significant range and great potential inside shorter ranges. She was one of many Anton would be fighting for, and no matter how many people ascended there would always be more- as long as Ceretos could weather the coming storms. He hoped they would, and that he would be around for at least one more. But he wasn¡¯t quite sure. Either way, he would do his best before that time came. Chapter 483 Swirling gasses and ice became the world as even Anton¡¯s exceptional sending ability was diminished by the world around him. Even so, discerning up from down was still simple, and he kept track of the most important part, the individual he carried with him. Nthanda¡¯s bare arms and legs were battered by chunks of ice without even the token protection of natural energy, but she remained determined to ignore it. Lower and lower they sank, into an ocean colder and denser than any upon Ceretos. Such intensity was difficult for Anton to comprehend outside the context of intense natural energy¡­ but without life or heat there was only a dull background layer of sensation. The energy might be present, but it was merely entrapped by the planet around them rather than a true part of its might. The pressure continued to grow exponentially, until the point that Nthanda found herself uncomfortable. Anton had an inner fire that kept him warm and his defenses sustained, but little more than that. After a short time they returned to the surface to converse. ¡°I don¡¯t think I could get out of there alone,¡± Nthanda admitted. ¡°It¡¯s a strange, soupy mass.¡± She shook her head, ¡°Yet, I feel like I didn¡¯t go deep enough.¡± ¡°We can make more attempts,¡± Anton said. ¡°I just wanted to be certain it was helpful.¡± ¡°I think¡­ I would need to go deeper. That was too¡­ reasonable.¡± ¡°I can withstand more,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if we separate I doubt my ability to find you.¡± ¡°You could,¡± Nthanda said confidently. ¡°I¡¯m sure of it. But I¡¯d rather not have to deal with that. Is this¡­ helpful training for you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a new experience, at least. It¡¯s likely not the best method for me personally, but it¡¯s not a waste of time either.¡± Nthanda nodded. ¡°Good. Though¡­ I really wish I was able to manage this independently.¡± ¡°Perhaps you can figure something out. I wouldn¡¯t want to hinder you by being too helpful.¡± ¡°What a strange path I¡¯ve chosen to walk down. I made everything more difficult¡­ training, finding equipment¡­¡± ¡°On the path of cultivation, you can only follow your heart,¡± Anton said. ¡°Besides, if you trained the normal path of energy, you would not find yourself this strong today.¡± ¡°I suppose not,¡± Nthanda admitted. ¡°It¡¯s still difficult.¡± ¡°I know you don¡¯t want to say it directly,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you need a new bow. I¡¯ll keep an eye out for something.¡± The strange bone bow he gave her fit her well, but for a peak Life Transformation it was merely usable. Perhaps Everheart might have something. On the other hand, Rutera worked with combining material properties. If it were convenient to visit them, perhaps they could help. But there was a whole war going on still. ----- The return of Anzela and Rikuto from Weos was met with less fanfare and more somberness. They had returned with the same ship, and they were at least not directly a part of the Twin Soul Sect. Once they stepped out of their vessel they were just a collection of cultivators like any other, no threat to Assimilation cultivators or Everheart. They didn¡¯t say anything at first, clearly reluctant to do what they were planning next. Finally, Rikuto spoke. ¡°We need your help.¡± ¡°With what?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Exterminating the Twin Soul Sect,¡± Anzela replied. ¡°That would be¡­ quite a large undertaking,¡± Anton said. ¡°Are they somehow a majority of your cultivators? We cannot risk anything if the rest of Weos will join with them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not¡­¡± Anzela exchanged a look with her husband. ¡°The situation is not quite so dire. However, we have spent much time investigating the depth of the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s infiltration, and they are widespread. Swiftly exterminating them would be impossible. We have taught your methods to some of those we are able to trust. To get anything done we would have to make a wide scale announcement, which could easily devolve into chaos. If we are unable to build up momentum for our side, we might be wiped out without anyone fully discerning the truth.¡± ¡°So what do you want? Bodyguards? Soldiers?¡± Anton asked. ¡°While a battalion of Life Transformation cultivators is an appealing thought,¡± Rikuto began, ¡°That would ultimately cause more trouble. If you could be present around the initial dissemination of the sensing techniques, perhaps¡­¡± ¡°How long from when people start learning the techniques and when they actually believe you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Because if you take too long, the Twin Soul Sect might just manage to go into hiding. Your people are spread throughout the planets, are they not?¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct,¡± Rikuto confirmed. ¡°We¡¯re planning to announce on all of them. Our connections will allow us to place temporary holds on travel, preventing anyone from fleeing the system without being obvious. Unfortunately, we don¡¯t have any specific lists of misdeeds we can attribute to any of these individuals. It might be difficult to convince everyone.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We do happen to have plenty of copies of the technique itself, along with its associated promises of life beyond death for service. Those who have the greatest cultivation experience will be able to discern that both are genuine, I should hope.¡± ¡°That¡­¡± Anzela nodded, ¡°That would be very helpful. And though we are somewhat hesitant, we would ask for some of your strongest individuals supporting us during the first steps.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Anton said. ¡°You believe us here, but you don¡¯t fully trust us as cultivators. And perhaps you shouldn¡¯t. I can only say, one area we will always agree upon is removing those parasites from existence.¡± ¡®Scholar Eulogius¡¯ nodded emphatically in agreement. ¡°You are not unwilling, then,¡± Rikuto smiled mirthlessly. ¡°What would you require in exchange?¡± Of course, they could not offer help freely. Even for eradicating the Twin Soul Sect, they would be taking upon risk for themselves and potentially looking weak if they asked for nothing. They would only lose out. ¡°I cannot speak for everyone,¡± Anton replied first, ¡°But I can offer the aid of the Order of One Hundred Stars¡­ in exchange for some of the power of your star.¡± That clearly made them uncomfortable, and it made Anton similarly uncomfortable to ask. But he wouldn¡¯t be able to even participate without doing it, and going around snatching power from people¡¯s stars wasn¡¯t something he wanted to do without at least permission. Maybe if he determined it was harmless at some point- it was only a miniscule effect, but perhaps over longer time periods it would be dangerous. He couldn¡¯t quite be sure, but he couldn¡¯t learn without advancing his cultivation. ¡°We will¡­ need to discuss specifics.¡± ¡°I want one of your ships,¡± Everheart said. ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Rikuto frowned. ¡°For just you?¡± Anton¡¯s eyes settled on Everheart. He definitely hated the Twin Soul Sect as much as anyone else on Ceretos, perhaps more than most. And having him along would mean not having to worry about him staying behind. ¡°He¡¯ll be worth it,¡± Anton said. Even recovering from injuries and restricted by the lower realms, Everheart was a force to be reckoned with. Further arrangements would be made with the Exalted Archipelago for more traditional forms of payment. Because even though they had been in a pact with the Trigold Cluster for some time, the Exalted Quadrant was also frequent enemies. And with no specific arrangements with regards to the Weos system, they could obtain resources not easily available on Ceretos. Other groups from Ceretos would pledge their aid for whatever fees they desired- payment and the promise of loot from the Twin Soul Sect. The offers varied in amount, and since the number of individuals going to Weos would be limited for various reasons Anton helped compare the prices to the strength of various groups. If they could bring whoever they wanted Anton would have suggested bringing everyone who would go, but not only did they not have that many ships¡­ their arrival would be suddenly noticed and easily taken as an invasion by the uninformed. At some point Anton and the others spoke of the possibility of the whole situation being a trap- even after Anzela dealt with her former crewmember- but ultimately they could find no deception in the group. If there was some deeper deception nobody knew it¡­ and if it came down to it, they would likely have had to go to war with Weos anyway. Or perhaps Anton could determine if he was able to damage a star. That wasn¡¯t something he was eager to test, especially since there had to be many innocents in Weos even if those in control wanted a war¡­ but it was an idea that still passed through his head. ----- Normally, going on a trip for a month didn¡¯t involve traveling that whole time, not with the options available to top tier cultivators in the lower realms. It wasn¡¯t just teleportation, but rather Anton could fly himself to the other side of Ceretos if he wanted to. He still wasn¡¯t as good as he would like to be with maneuvering for combat while flying, in or out of atmosphere, but he was focusing on it more seriously¡­ and reading a plethora of techniques from the Soaring Air Sect as well as others. The more techniques he perused, the easier he felt it was to understand them at a glance. No wonder Everheart was so good at it. In the case of this journey, one month of travel was actually optimal estimations for how long it would take them to reach Weos. It seemed that at least exploration ships like what Anzela came on were faster¡­ but Ceretos was still on their first actual generation of even attempting interstellar travel. It was an expensive endeavor that would use up a great amount of energy¡­ especially if they didn¡¯t want the trip to take ten or twenty years. Everheart had helped provide more options, but it still took time for proper ships to be built. They couldn¡¯t just be thrown together haphazardly unless people wanted to risk getting stuck between systems. Few would survive that. Anton might, but he wasn¡¯t looking forward to finding out. What he was looking forward to was connecting to a new star. His cultivation had reached the point where it was once more possible, but he hadn¡¯t wanted to rush into anything. His other potential option had been Azoth- so he hoped that before Ceretos was drawn into that conflict he could advance his cultivation once more. It took several years for each star now¡­ but challenging himself might let him reach one hundred and three stars soon enough. ----- Connecting to the sun itself had been a serious investment, as it had also been Anton¡¯s breakthrough to Assimilation. Now it was simply forming the stars within himself that was difficult, and making the connection was almost¡­ easy. Though Anton had to admit he was only interacting with stars that were very close in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps some would be more difficult as they grew larger or more distant. And he was okay with that, because his home would always be Ceretos. Touring nearby was certainly something he wanted to do, though. If only they were heading to Weos in better circumstances. Still, if all went well Weos would be a much safer neighbor¡­ and their previous conflicts with Azoth might then bring them closer to Rutera. If all went well, each neighbor could be friendly with each other. Or at least neutral. Though that would require Rutera to push through their war, which was not going entirely smoothly. It wasn¡¯t public knowledge, but being in contact with several individuals from there- including Nicodemo- let Anton obtain such information. Perhaps Rutera would be more open to aid if all went well with Weos. First, Anton had to connect to their star. Visually, it wasn¡¯t terribly different. Colors changed between stars, and the sizes weren¡¯t quite the same¡­ but when Anton actually went to connect to it he felt it was¡­ heavier. Not quite in the same way as he expected a larger or denser star to be heavier but instead¡­ well, he barely understood spatial techniques despite his recent years of study. But it was something like that, an unusual property of the star that caused it to influence space more than it ought to. Perhaps that was what inspired them to make ships that did something similar¡­ in effect, if not in method. Chapter 484 ¡°Hmm,¡± an old man disguised as someone else stroked his chin as he walked around the ship, taking in various pieces. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°What do you see?¡± Anzela asked. ¡°The answer to that depends upon whether or not you are here to helpfully answer my questions, or if you are here to keep me from finding out too much.¡± ¡°You finding out ¡®too much¡¯ is kind of the price for your assistance, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean I believe you won¡¯t hinder my efforts.¡± Anzela shrugged, ¡°Look, I¡¯m just here to make sure you don¡¯t take anything apart.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. That¡¯s not required for me to obtain a sufficient understanding. Well then. I was led to believe that you were master spatial manipulators, but this¡­¡± Everheart waved an arm around them in a full circle, indicating the ring around the ship. ¡°It only indirectly affects space itself.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°So you lied to me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I didn¡¯t tell you anything about how it worked.¡± Everheart folded his arms in front of himself. ¡°That¡­ might be true.¡± His fingers danced along his arm for a moment. ¡°The cultivators of Rutera would be interested in this vessel.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, we¡¯re not in official communication with them at the moment. So we can¡¯t really do much about that.¡± ¡°Good. That will give me time to sell them the schematics first.¡± ¡°Hey, we gave you permission to come on board and look around. We didn¡¯t promise schematics.¡± Everheart looked at her and raised an eyebrow, ¡°Why would I need schematics when I can look at it myself?¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re an¡­ esteemed scholar upon Ceretos, but you can¡¯t expect me to believe you can recreate this ship just from looking at it. I¡¯ve lived on this thing for years by now and I still barely understand half of it.¡± ¡°Yes, it would take someone of truly remarkable intellect to be able to pick apart each and every piece of this vessel, determining its materials and purpose.¡± ¡°And that someone is you?¡± Anzela asked. ¡°Actually, you know what¡­ if you¡¯re that smart, I¡¯m glad we have you. As long as you do what we need.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Which planet would you prefer I install the first soul-catching formation around?¡± ¡°What?¡± Anzela tilted her head. Everheart smiled widely, ¡°Surely you don¡¯t intend to destroy the souls of each and every member of the Twin Soul Sect on your own.¡± ¡°Well I¡­ I¡¯m not the only one who learned that¡­ technique¡­¡± Anzela frowned. ¡°Who would even make something like that? It¡¯s completely unnecessary for¡­ well, everything I guess.¡± ¡°A genius scholar, of course,¡± Everheart continued to grin to himself. ¡°And it¡¯s quite necessary where this group is involved. I assumed you understood that when you chose to deal with the infiltrator yourself.¡± ¡°I suppose but-¡± ¡°Each and every one of them is a spy that can carry unknown quantities of information with them through death.¡± Everheart leaned closer, ¡°And it¡¯s the only way to make them lose. So while I will agree it¡¯s completely unnecessary for literally any other situation, regarding the Twin Soul Sect¡­ they must be erased completely from your world.¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Unless you like your world being torn apart regularly. But there are easier ways to get combat experience.¡± ¡°Wow. You¡¯re really passionate about this. What did they do to you?¡± Everheart¡¯s eyes flares. ¡°They erased unknown millennia of history and cultivation techniques I will never get to see.¡± ¡°Oh. From the way you were talking I assumed they killed your wife and family or something.¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t have any of those,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Now then. Gravity. Your vessel seems to generate that to distort the space around it. I am impressed.¡± ----- Being in the void between stars was an uncomfortable time for Anton, and he was glad to have arrived in Weos¡­ or at least vaguely close to it. Enough that he felt the strength of the star inside him. This time he was certain the connection was complete, as he wasn¡¯t concerned about people specifically watching the star. Perhaps they would be and notice something odd, but that would provide a reasonable distraction. From their direction of approach, it seemed that they were looking down- or up- on the plane of the orbiting planets. Anton and the others had received enough information on them to know where to look for them, though for the moment they would be waiting for local vessels to come pick them up. They might be able to blend in among the other cultivators, but their ships were different enough and unable to make proper communications as they approached. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. So they would wait. At least, that was the plan- but Everheart grabbed Anton by the back of his collar and began to drag him away. ¡°Should I be attempting to kill you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I won¡¯t let you dispose of my body in secret.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. If we fought here we¡¯d ruin the whole surprise thing we have going on. They¡¯d at least be able to feel something.¡± Anton nodded. Too many people had been able to feel the admittedly short battle on Ceretos. The atmosphere and planet was good at dampening the feeling, but a great distance of nothing was still not going to be that much more effective at hiding what happened. In short, since people had been able to feel the approaching invaders it wasn¡¯t weird that feeling two people beyond the level the lower realms were supposed to support fighting. ¡°Anyway I just need you to give me access to the sun real quick,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Setting up formations around each planet will be too slow so I¡¯m just gonna do the whole system at once.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to consume the sun. I need that. And so does everyone else.¡± ¡°Relax,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I just need a little bit of energy. Nobody will notice if we take all of the light and heat perpendicular to the planes of planetary motion for just a few months.¡± ¡°I feel like someone¡¯s bound to notice that. Also, that¡¯s not a little bit of energy.¡± ¡°Yeah and it¡¯s feisty too,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°So just help me get what I need without it trying to fight me so I can set up this thing.¡± ¡°This thing being?¡± ¡°The same thing I had on Ceretos and stuff. An entrapment field for everyone from the Twin Soul Sect.¡± ¡°I regret to inform you that a system is larger than a planet.¡± ¡°I set that crap up centuries ago,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I can do way better now. Also, free souls are really easy to manipulate.¡± ¡°I hate that you know that and I don¡¯t want to know how far it goes.¡± ¡°I manipulate far fewer souls than the Exalted Quadrant, Trigold Cluster, or even the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make me feel better.¡± ¡°Then do something useful,¡± Everheart dragged Anton to a stop with him. ¡°Just throw some energy at me so I can get things moving.¡± Anton took a few moments to take a look at what Everheart was pulling out, but ultimately he had to trust Everheart. But not too much. Using his energy to power this formation would give him at least a little bit more understanding and maybe a modicum of control as well. ¡°Why are we here in particular?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Just to be away from the ships? Did you let anyone know we were going somewhere?¡± ¡°Nope. Guess you should do that. And we¡¯re here because I¡¯m gonna need to commandeer some of the floating rocks around here.¡± ¡°... Do you need glasses? There¡¯s nothing around here.¡± ¡°I have frequently refined my eyes functionality to not need outside aid,¡± Everheart said. ¡°And there¡¯s a few good sized ones around here, in a general sense. Or there should be, at least, according to my calculations. Find some, would you?¡± Anton spread out his senses, not expecting to find anything but stray particles and maybe space dust. At a certain distance he had to accept there was nothing¡­ except he found slight trails of energy. He focused his senses to follow along those, and indeed was able to find some sizable objects, as well as a few smaller ones. ¡°I found some things, but it could take days to get to them all.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯d better get started. Besides, weren¡¯t you working on your mobility? You should be faster than that.¡± ----- In the end, Everheart¡¯s preparations only marginally delayed the plans¡­ though it was really something that needed to be done in the first place. The two of them eventually made their way to Weos itself, the only planet that had been habitable by humans at first. The rest were still fairly inhospitable, but various outposts had been set up that would allow even non-cultivators to live in some of the locations. Others were more difficult, but cultivators were nothing if not adaptable¡­ especially if that was required for having their own space and obtaining resources. The largest population was still on the main world, of course, which was why both Anton and Everheart were going, even if they were the two most powerful on the excursion. Many other Life Transformation cultivators were going along as backup to the local forces Anzela, Rikuto, and their allies had put together¡­ but no others in Assimilation or like Everheart. Speaking of which, Anton needed to wring more details about how difficult it was to travel back from the upper realms. He made it sound casual, but it most certainly would not be. Ceretos would need as many Integration cultivators as they could bring back, though. Unless the Trigold Cluster for some reason was uninterested in revenge. Though they already knew better, due to the ¡®minor¡¯ clashes in the upper realms. Anton found himself with little to do but wait while Rikuto set up the whole big announcement reveal. It was almost guaranteed to turn into a battle, and if it didn¡¯t there would still be battles elsewhere. Anton was currently familiarizing himself with the density of the atmosphere and the terrain for as far as his senses could stretch- then reaching out of the atmosphere and around, dipping back in. He couldn¡¯t yet feasibly target the entire surface of a planet- and Weos was somewhat larger than Ceretos to begin with- but he could at least cover a few hundred kilometers from himself consistently and several times that through more circuitous and energy intensive methods. Everheart was sneakily messing with formations, either because he was bored or they weren¡¯t up to standards or because he wanted to be in control of everything. But they would no doubt be necessary when things started going down, so that was how it was. Anton could feel them. The Twin Soul Sect cultivators, of course. They didn¡¯t know they were being searched for, and Everheart had taught Anton even more effective methods for searching them out that were more difficult to detect. At best, they¡¯d sense a powerful cultivator sweeping his senses across them, which nobody could really do much complaining about. They weren¡¯t quite everywhere, but Anton was uncomfortable with how many people he sensed. Rooting them all out would be difficult, and more importantly dealing with their ¡®friends¡¯ or allies would be troublesome. If they could manage a direct battle between those who were part of the Twin Soul Sect and those who were not, they would be quickly annihilated- but things wouldn¡¯t be that easy. Anton had the urge to just start shooting them, but obviously that wouldn¡¯t work out well. Or he could get Everheart to set him up with a formation off the surface and- No. That was just stupid, unnecessary impatience. And his occasional unhealthy desire to deal with everything himself instead of letting people solve their own problems. Even if he could do it, it wouldn¡¯t be better for Weos, or an eventual peaceful coexistence with them. Doing something excessive would simply make him feared, and while that would provide some peace, it certainly wasn¡¯t the long-lasting kind. And Anton wouldn¡¯t be willing to do what was necessary to reinvigorate it. Chapter 485 Weos was much more familiar than Rutera, with the standard trappings of a cultivator civilization. Formations were more familiar, though not like those of home. And of course, everyone exuded the power of natural energy. Well, not actually everyone. They were simply the most obvious. Various workers throughout the city showed no signs of cultivation. What Anton presumed to be the capital was densely populated and filled with great power, yet missing the touch of cultivation on the smaller aspects. Outside the city, cultivators still huddled together in their own little sects and clans, hoarding the denser natural energy for themselves. In that manner, it was behind Ceretos. Yet it was not weak. Anton could sense many Life Transformation cultivators, including those who were on the threshold of Ascension. Most were older, though Anton wasn¡¯t certain if that was because they couldn¡¯t ascend or not. Even Ceretos had a glut of older cultivators, those who didn¡¯t have the ability to advance. Perhaps Weos had completed methods and those with talent to reach the peak while young ascended regularly. Anton would likely ask¡­ but later. For now, they were waiting inside a large defensive formation that had presumably been modified to reveal things people didn¡¯t want known at a key moment. There was no reason for Everheart to lie about that, so Anton accepted that it would work. Both of them were standing guard, mixed in among others, while Rikuto got up on stage for his announcement. He was a better speaker than his wife, and in a social position better suited to the task. Others they trusted were gathering together in different locations throughout the system, to make similar announcements. This was one place where Rutera definitely had the traditional cultivators beat, the dissemination of news. Sure, people would exchange messages immediately as the announcements happened, but they couldn¡¯t see what was happening in one place all together. Not yet, at least. Eventually, Rikuto began his announcement. ¡°I speak to you today on a matter of utmost importance. The security and stability of our very lives. I am sure many of you are aware we have recently made contact with other cultivators in a nearby system- a new one we had no previous contact or conflicts with. Unfortunately, we were met with disturbing news. Not something about our neighbors, but about ourselves. There are traitors among us. Hidden in secret for centuries, part of the very same invaders who come from the upper realms.¡± At this point, if the Twin Soul Sect was completely foolish and impulsive, Rikuto would have found himself attacked. Several members in the crowd were actually considering that, sacrificing themselves to conceal the information¡­ but that would only result in their deaths, and provide greater validity to anything his living allies might say. Besides, they were confident in their concealment methods. That was quite reasonable, given how well they had worked so far. ¡°Take a look next to you, to your left and your right,¡± Rikuto continued his prepared speech. ¡°Does it trouble you, knowing that traitors might claim to be a brother from your sect, a friend? Who can you trust? Worry not¡­ for there is a simple solution. We will just reveal the truth.¡± Out of tens of thousands in attendance, for less than one hundred to suddenly reveal different cultivations was still eye opening. Even at less than one percent, there were a great many cultivators who suddenly stuck out like sore thumbs¡­ exactly as the formation intended them to. ¡°We have methods to find and reveal these cultivators, more than just these formations. Many copies are available for anyone to freely learn and study, verifying the results for themselves. As for those in the crowd¡­ you will surrender yourselves for arrest, or face immediate execution.¡± Cultivators were known for making swift decisions. The Twin Soul Sect was always ready with an excuse for what might happen, but with so many people around them pressuring them in different ways, there were bound to be some who made the selfish decision. And it could easily have been the right one- who could recognize one individual out of so many if they managed to get away? But they only revealed their guilt as they impacted the formations surrounding them. The last thing that Anton would claim was that the announcement went smoothly. In fact, there were instant outbreaks of battle- cultivators who didn¡¯t believe what had been said defending their friends¡­ or possibly co-conspirators who knew all along. But even with the split, the vast majority of cultivators in any given sect joined together to suppress those among them who suddenly were revealed to be something foreign, no signs of the cultivation they had previously displayed. Many people died- not just Twin Soul Sect cultivators, but others caught in the crossfire. Anton clenched his teeth, but he didn¡¯t know a way to have done things better. The formation did an excellent job of suppressing the Twin Soul Sect members as well, so those who weren¡¯t them or their allies were a smaller portion of the casualties. The chaos didn¡¯t last long, however. Most groups handled things ¡®internally¡¯, and those who tried to run were quickly caught against a barrier. ¡°Trust first those here today,¡± Rikuto said slowly. ¡°If we could have the leaders among you step forward for the distribution of the aforementioned techniques, you can return to your sects with your prisoners intact. Then you can verify the situation yourself¡­ and that of those near you. As previously noted, the starports are closed. Work with us to resolve this matter quickly and we can all get back to our normal lives.¡± Anton thought things went rather well¡­ which unfortunately meant that the results might not be as good in other places. The real issue would be any sects that were deeply entrenched with the traitors. There would be much bloodshed. ----- A hundred arrows pierced into a ship from all directions as it left atmosphere. Some of them impacted in places that they weren¡¯t aimed, while some were entirely deflected away from the ship itself. Those that did strike did so with little impact¡­ but the following volley was more effective. And then, a single arrow pierced through the ring of the ship, tearing it apart and bringing the whole thing to a screeching halt. Or rather, it continued to drift forward at great speed¡­ but without distorting the space around it to heighten that effect. Several authorized vessels swiftly caught up to it, dragging it back into the atmosphere to be dealt with. Afterwards, the other ships remained low- because aside from catching anyone trying to flee, nobody was authorized to leave atmosphere. Not until they were done. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Anton lowered his bow, letting the plethora of surrounding energy bows fade back into him. There would no doubt be many questions about a powerful archer who was previously unknown, but Anton could honestly say he came from a remote location. And if he needed to be completely honest, he would be able to point out that he hadn¡¯t killed anyone. He only stopped ships from leaving. Everheart, on the other hand¡­ he had kept himself occupied by moving around the city, taking down members of the Twin Soul Sect. Whether they lived or not didn¡¯t seem to concern him. Anyone who tried to defend a friend who was no doubt planning to use them as a sacrifice decades ago found themselves swiftly dealt with¡­ though Everheart at least seemed to understand killing people not directly part of the Twin Soul Sect would be a bad look. And they probably wouldn¡¯t even be permanently crippled¡­ though Anton wasn¡¯t sure about that with some of them. Either way, most wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything for a year, if they were lucky. On Weos itself, everything was going well¡­ but word and lack of word from some of the other planets indicated it wasn¡¯t the same everywhere. Unfortunately, reinforcements couldn¡¯t be sent anywhere because attempting an incomplete purge was pointless. Maybe after there was full agreement about what was actually happening, with people having learned to sense the hidden cultivations around them. ----- Meanwhile, on Rutera, the lines of combat were more cut-and-dry, but also uncomfortably shifting. The planet itself was still basically secure, though it suffered constant attacks. The shifting lines were more related to other planets where they had only a small presence, science outposts or smaller settlements. With enemies that seemed to be limitless in number and able to come from nowhere, tensions were high. Since all of the initial attacks were focused on their homeworld, Matija had felt safe when she was transferred to an outpost on their innermost planet, Sizipra. Now that the attacks were spreading out¡­ she didn¡¯t know if that was the case. She looked down at the military grade laser rifle at her side, the sort that a scientist was completely incapable of getting their hands on. Unless they had exactly the right connections, she supposed. Matija picked it up, walking outside into the hot sun. It wasn¡¯t summer heat, either, but more like standing in a furnace. Being in a suit helped slightly, both with the heat and the minimal amounts of actual air. She was nowhere near strong enough to go out without it, and she could only dream of standing unprotected just some hundreds of kilometers from a star, tapping on the airlock of a ship. Sometimes, she didn¡¯t even believe that had been something that actually happened, despite witnessing it herself and still being in contact with the very same individual who did that. It was¡­ strange. Especially since she felt she was only at the beginning of the path of cultivation, despite having practiced seriously for over a decade now. She¡¯d been cautious when she first learned, but after the attacks by Azoth began she just didn¡¯t feel safe without being stronger. She still didn¡¯t, but at least she could melt rocks that her laser rifle wasn¡¯t rated for. There was just something to it, about feeling the flow of energy the device drew from within itself and from within her. That second power had been in there all along, but was only trained secondhand. Rutera had awareness of the fatigue brought on by activating their devices, and that people grew more accustomed to it over time¡­ but they hadn¡¯t really been able to train directly. They hadn¡¯t known¡­ and frankly, the world wasn¡¯t quite set up for it. The military had energy gathering arrays now, to train their soldiers. Nice, consistent, and sufficient to have them grow to Spirit Building or maybe beyond, not that many people had reached that level. As Matija felt the unfiltered sun beating down upon her, even through her suit, she supposed that what she had might be better. Choosing to practice the One Hundred Stars was sort of the default, but it fit her quite well along with Anton being intimately familiar with it. She was still a very long distance from the actual sun, but the heat and light it battered Sizipra with came along with large amounts of natural energy. Rutera itself maintained a smaller amount than Ceretos, but out here was a paradise. A sweaty, uncomfortable one. But she was strong now. Kind of. As she melted boulders that had only just solidified after her last assault, Matija wondered. She¡¯d ended up sparring against military officers for a while, and she had learned that some of her basics had been lacking. Now, she had a decent cultivation¡­ but she couldn¡¯t pilot a ship or otherwise contribute to the war. All her training only made her more personally secure¡­ yet she still felt like a coward. Then she saw it, a glint of something beyond the almost nonexistent atmosphere. Instinctively she reached out with her energy, the thin tendrils that Anton had taught her. There was nothing there to sense¡­ but there had been something. A trail of energy that she felt herself being pulled along, but not quite fast enough to keep up with something. Then, something passed through her. Something there, yet not there. Invisible, but not because it should be. It was simply somewhere else. Was that how they moved around? Yet what could she actually say about it, and how could she prove it? There were all sorts of theories, and Azoth moving through some sort of subspace had already been thrown around¡­ but there hadn¡¯t been any data on it. And¡­ Matija supposed there still wasn¡¯t- because as it turned out she wasn¡¯t a proper scanner nor did she record information that could be disseminated to others except by saying ¡°I felt it¡±. But maybe she could work with a scanner to make it sense what she did. If only she knew when something would be moving by. Oh right, and if they were passing so close to Sizipra, was she even safe? That was another important question to ask. Chapter 486 It was not terribly long before Weos, specifically the main planet, had calmed down. The various factions were at least loosely unified, enough to at least accept that some of them had to be restrained while they verified the results. In the end, even those who didn¡¯t necessarily believe the individuals were going to betray the whole planet were convinced by investigations revealing the siphoning of funds. Many of them were more clever than to do anything obvious, but it was difficult for those who had in mind to aid invaders and be rewards in a new life to not want to get something immediately. For the last month, Everheart and Anton had mostly been traveling around between various cities verifying that there were no members of the Twin Soul Sect left. If there were any, there were now enough individuals able to detect them that they would be quickly rooted out, as the justified paranoia about their presence likely would keep people on edge for many years. If Everheart were not present, Anton might have been concerned that some had managed to conceal themselves¡­ but Everheart had plenty of experience with them, and adapting to their countermeasures. Or anyone¡¯s, really. Of the seven planets in the system, four were now purged of the Twin Soul Sect¡­ awaiting verification, of course. Even though they were smaller- or in the case of the larger gas giants, the actual inhabited areas took up less space- it was still taking time to confirm. Nobody wanted to rush too much, so everywhere was being double and triple checked. One more was still in conflict¡­ while two were completely out of communication. That included the cultivators from Ceretos. The planets in question- the one third from the sun, slightly outside of Weos itself, and the one on the far outer end- were both presumed to have been taken over by the Twin Soul Sect, or at least allied forces. The actual numbers hadn¡¯t seemed to be high enough for that, since they weren¡¯t strong enough to fight against a hundred or more foes, so there had to be some working with them. And that made things difficult. Dealing with those planets was actually required, but those who didn¡¯t actually practice the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s techniques could claim innocence and it would be a great amount of work to prove otherwise. Everheart went towards the one in the most conflict, while Anton was one of those who went towards the third planet. Aiding the ongoing conflict was important, but leaving an enemy foothold in their midst was also not something they could allow. The limiting factor was ships, so only the strongest were being transported. Life Transformation, late Life Transformation if at all possible, though there were some exceptions for those who were known to be more powerful. ----- Kuchion was covered in scraggly trees and only sparse vegetation, but for a planet that appeared to have no water whatsoever it was quite lively. That was just how the surface appeared- underground was where the actual action took place. Anton was informed about various relevant features like the extensive caverns and tunnels that went through the planet- some natural and some constructed. Tunnels were a bit of an obstacle for Anton¡­ but not as much as it might appear at first. If anything, they were a wash. He could still wind his senses through the tunnels to a similar distance he could over a straight distance, and that was the bigger limiting factor than his ability to maneuver his shots. It would limit the directions he could attack from, but he wasn¡¯t alone so it wasn¡¯t as big of an issue. The bigger factor was determining who could be attacked. He wasn¡¯t able to sense who was part of the Twin Soul Sect from the same distance as just generally determining someone¡¯s position, but he could do it from a significant distance. The question was, was a group split between those who were and weren¡¯t members of the Twin Soul Sect entirely filled with traitors, or did some simply not know? Along with Anton there were many others, but one of the most notable was Oluchi. She was a scout, advanced in years. She carried a spear at her side, gesturing with it as she spoke. ¡°We must first find battlefields. Signs of who has done what¡­ and starting with the location where the announcement was to be made.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Anton said. If he had any problems he would certainly voice his complaints, despite being a foreigner to this system. If nothing else, he would be respected for his strength. Still, letting someone else take the lead if they were competent didn¡¯t bother him. ¡°Should we anticipate trouble as we approach?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Oluchi said, her eyes finding a thick window out of their vessel- one of the local ring-style ships. ¡°We should expect defensive formations as well. But unless they anticipate our precise movements, I doubt it will be easy for them to match our forces. Dozens of peak Life Transformation cultivators and¡­¡± she didn¡¯t linger long as she looked at Anton, but it was clear she meant him. ¡°The most important thing is to keep our ships safe.¡± Anton nodded. Even if he didn¡¯t need one, it was still faster¡­ and of course it would be expensive to replace. Soon enough they were approaching their destination over the planet. ¡°To defensive positions!¡± Oluchi declared. Anton moved to his own spot, stepping through a door crossed by a formation that acted as an airlock. It wouldn¡¯t allow air past, but it would allow him- and what was in his lungs. The door itself was for both structural integrity and in case of the formation failing. Anton found himself standing on the outer ring, looking ¡®up¡¯ towards Kuchion. Even with the rotation of the ring he found his position felt relatively stable, courtesy of good construction and additional formations. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. There was a small platform Anton was able to adjust so that his stance would be as he wished. He could fire directly up, but his muscles were used to shooting his bow within a certain arc in front of him. If necessary Anton could completely leave behind his attachment to the ship, but for the moment it was best to stay within the safety of its distorting features. The attack came while they were still a great distance off. Anton was unable to anticipate the attack, given the thousands of square kilometers of ground his senses needed to scout, but once it was launched it was simple to locate. He intended to deal with it himself, but even as he began to gather energy he also felt Oluchi readying herself. Since it wouldn¡¯t hurt for him to wait for a moment, he let her take the initiative. It was a strange feeling, the way she threw her spear. The space around her bent, much like that around the ship itself. Her spear left their little pocket of protection going at an angle that would never even approach the incoming attack or the emplacement that fired it, but somehow¡­ it didn¡¯t matter. Anton watched carefully as, without feeling her alter its trajectory it pierced through the incoming attack. It wasn¡¯t just compensating for gravity, either- that would mostly pull it in the direction it should be going to begin with. Instead, it was another spatial technique¡­ and the strange angle might have also been required for exiting their defensive pocket. After piercing through what Anton was fairly certain was an oversized ballista bolt, the spear impacted something. That something turned out to be a defensive formation around the planet, still intact. Anton no longer held back, adding his own projectiles to the mix. They didn¡¯t go anywhere near where he wanted, indicating he needed more experience fighting around Weos¡¯ ships, but he was able to get them back on track to impact the barrier next to the spear, which was still pushing against it. The barrier cracked for only a moment, but the spear found its way inside, suddenly back at the maximum velocity it had achieved earlier. Then, with a bright flash, it reached the ground. What had once been a weapon emplacement with dozens of cultivators became a crater, out of which flew a spear that somehow turned one-hundred and eighty degrees without ever being in any of the intermediate directions. At least it lost some momentum. No technique was perfect. The spear was back in Oluchi¡¯s hands a matter of seconds after she threw it. Anton still thought it was a weakness to just have one, but it clearly wasn¡¯t that big of a deal if she could accomplish that consistently. It appeared she had no patience for anyone that attacked them, nor concerns about collateral damage. When the next attacks came, Anton responded in a similar manner¡­ except his attacks remained more precise. Weapons and people were disabled- the people mainly staying alive not because Anton was afraid to kill, but because they might be useful sources of information. Oluchi took out another group before the planetary formation nearly repaired the hole. If her spear had been trapped inside, Anton wasn¡¯t sure if it would remain properly in her control. Thus, Anton focused his energy on keeping the barrier filled with holes. It was made to withstand attacks by Life Transformation cultivators, maybe a group of them. With enough people they could sustain reasonably powerful attacks¡­ but each of Anton¡¯s arrows were enough to slay a Life Transformation cultivator. Holes punctured through the barrier, destabilizing it and allowing for more to be formed. Perhaps if the formation could draw upon all of its energy at once it could resist him, but whatever powered it in the local area was limited in output. And with enemy cultivators falling, there were fewer distractions for Oluchi and the others. It wasn¡¯t just their ship, either, but a handful of others. Soon enough they had dealt with all of the attackers in the area and were preparing to land, the formations held open by various people. The ships did something and Anton felt as if they skipped most of the descent, before they jerked to a stop at the end. ¡°Not bad,¡± Oluchi said to Anton. ¡°I saw a little bit of that back on Weos, but you¡¯re quite capable. How long can you keep that up? We might be swarmed here soon.¡± ¡°Indefinitely,¡± Anton said. ¡°At least against difficulties of that level. If they have some exceptional cultivators or unknown formation abilities, I might have some issues¡­ but we¡¯ll be able to deal with them from a great distance. Speaking of which, some people are approaching. Do you want me to deal with them or the planetary formations first?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware that you were a formation master, Senior Anton.¡± Oluchi said, ¡°But we need you here, so you¡¯ll have to deal with them later.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a formation master¡­ but I¡¯m experienced enough to be able to disable formations like this. Especially from the inside. And I don¡¯t have to go anywhere.¡± Even as he was talking, Anton began to fire off into the distance. Despite having attacked at a similar distance herself, Oluchi seemed impressed. Anton had to agree there was a big difference when one considered the amount of atmosphere in the way. Anton wasn¡¯t carefully dismantling the formations¡­ but even if things went very wrong, all of the damage would be local. He basically just battered his way through some of the local barriers protecting power sources and then shattered them. There were a lot of crystals- cultivators liked crystals, and natural energy generally stored within them efficiently- as well as jars that held swirling power. Some of the power was drawn in by secondary formations, but without anywhere to store it the local area couldn¡¯t sustain much of anything. So after he made sure they could safely retreat, Anton prepared to take on the approaching cultivators. ¡°It will only take a few minutes for the enemy cultivators to get here,¡± Anton said. ¡°Not all directly from the Twin Soul Sect. What should we do?¡± ¡°Just do your best to deter them while we search the area,¡± Oluchi said. She was already working on that very thing, taking in the fine details of the ground and remaining traces of battle around them. With his question not quite fully answered, Anton just began with the Twin Soul Sect members. He could attack with impunity since they weren¡¯t within range to counter yet, and arrows rained down on a few at a time. Any time groups joined together to defend, Anton changed his targets to someone else. One by one enemies fell, but they¡¯d soon have to make a decision about staying in pitched battle or leaving. Chapter 487 There was a certain manner in which Anton preferred to fight. As an archer, he of course preferred to keep as much distance between himself and his opponents as possible. And while that was generally true, he didn¡¯t usually attack at the very edge of his range. Not because he wouldn¡¯t be accurate or effective, but because keeping some secrets was worthwhile. Enemies who assumed they knew his maximum range might linger just outside it, or retreat to that distance¡­ and if he needed to, he could then take advantage of it. He didn¡¯t have to think about that much as they had landed in the middle of enemies- not directly, of course, but when Anton considered anything within a range of two hundred kilometers to be a viable distance it would be more strange for there to be nobody around. Few people were on the surface- Kuchion was cold and dry, with a thin atmosphere that left people preferring the indoors- or the more common underground. Oluchi and some of the others were quickly documenting what information they could about the area the announcement had taken place. There were no bodies, but determining whether there were captives or those bodies had simply been cleaned up was relevant. Seeing the damage around the area- weapon marks, scars from heat and electricity or anything else that was from a recognizable technique would allow them to judge who they needed to fight. And if the entire place was under the influence of the Twin Soul Sect, they needed to know that as well. ¡°Ships incoming,¡± Anton said as soon as he noticed them. ¡°What¡¯s our response?¡± There was a moment of consideration from Oluchi. ¡°We can¡¯t afford to engage with our vessels stationary. Everyone, board up!¡± It was unfortunate for the enemy¡¯s ground forces that they were just beginning to get within attacking range¡­ but they should have thought of that before making their approach. Of course, what they had probably thought was that they¡¯d be dealing with someone who attacked from a more reasonable distance. They¡¯d just be wrong. Even as he was moving towards one of the allied ships, Anton was testing shots at one of the approaching enemies¡¯ vessels. Actually managing to hit them with the way they distorted space was still a bother, and he had to continually make adjustments so he could be accurate. Focusing on the maximum number of shots for testing purposes meant that even when he actually hit his attacks were then absorbed by the actual defensive barriers, since they didn¡¯t rely just on the warping of space around them. Once he was comfortable, Anton began to draw upon ascension energy. It came to him, stolen from a distant place, disregarding the normal process. It didn¡¯t live within him like any of his other energy, and was controlled only for the moments of his attack. Anton hadn¡¯t had many chances to maximize the damage of a single shot since his battle with Everheart, except perhaps sparring with Lev. Even then, he wasn¡¯t ever serious. Even if he could disperse his energy in a fraction of a second, if he was uncertain that Lev could defend he would have to cease his attack before it connected at all. But these ships were a perfect target. He¡¯d damaged some before, but mostly to weaken them. This time, he was going for something more¡­ thorough. His arrow seemed as if it would simply fly off to the side of the vessel, but as it approached the ring its trajectory brought it straight into the side. Usually, Anton kept his arrows compressed into the finest point possible so that he could pierce through vital organs- this time, he needed to cause wider destruction. Energy tore off of the arrow, ascension energy flung by the great power of a bow with an uncomfortable origin. A fist sized hole tore through one side the ring widthwise, continuing through the core of the ship and finally burrowed into the ring on the other side, not quite finishing its journey outward. But he¡¯d done enough. Though the ring was much larger than the hole he had made in it, he¡¯d studied the structural design¡­ and the damage couldn¡¯t be called small. The strain of the ring spinning and the damage to the formations throughout it suddenly released in a burst, causing it to warp and twist. When it finally split apart, a section of it ended up in front of the main body of the vessel, the sudden change in acceleration crushing them together. Anton knew he couldn¡¯t replicate that exact result every time, but he could at the very least expect them to lose functionality. Even with its smaller population Kuchion would have many starships, but the number of them suitable for war would be far less. Anton had to readjust his aim as the ship he was on left the atmosphere and activated its own distortion. In the time they had before they broke past the incoming ships away from the planet- where the enemy would be drawn away from potential reinforcements- he took down two more, while the combined efforts of Oluchi and the others managed a similar number. Their own vessels took only minimal damage, as they had enough powerful cultivators to put up an active defense as well. As they positioned themselves away from Kuchion to go over what they had learned, Oluchi came to find Anton, just inside his emplacement. She just looked at him for a while, and he waited for what she wanted to say. ¡°Have you¡­ already ascended?¡± ¡°No,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I can¡¯t. But I have found a viable alternative.¡± ¡°But that energy¡­ I have felt it before.¡± ¡°And who says I have to ascend to use ascension energy?¡± Anton grinned. ¡°It¡¯s one of Everheart¡¯s techniques.¡± ¡°... who?¡± Anton was briefly shocked that someone hadn¡¯t heard of Everheart. But after thinking about it for a brief moment, it was perfectly logical. Everheart came from Ceretos, and then caused a ruckus in the upper realms. So while both places would know of him, it wasn¡¯t strange that another system in the lower realms didn¡¯t. Though that indicated any communications they had with the upper realms were limited¡­ perhaps mostly to invaders. ¡°He¡¯s the one who produced the basis of our best techniques to root out the Twin Soul Sect. And¡­ the anti-ascension techniques we should probably share with you before the tides of the world change again.¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°He sounds like a great man.¡± Anton snorted. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ wow.¡± ¡°Am I incorrect?¡± Oluchi tilted her head. ¡°If he is the progenitor of many great techniques, he must be highly honored.¡± ¡°Well, in a way he might be. He might also be the most hated person in the galaxy. Or at least our little slice of it.¡± ¡°What did he do?¡± Oluchi asked. ¡°I¡¯ll greatly condense it to¡­ intentionally angering pretty much every sect who ever came in contact with him.¡± ¡°Perhaps his misdeeds are simply wrongful accusations,¡± Oluchi said. ¡°People tend to hate geniuses for their abilities.¡± Anton smiled slightly. There was certainly a grain of truth to that but¡­ ¡°Oh, trust me. He does it on purpose. I¡¯ve seen enough of the deathtraps he left behind to tempt people seeking after his wealth.¡± Anton nodded to himself with that same smile. Did Everheart deserve to be the most hated man on Certeos and elsewhere? Absolutely. He worked hard for it. But was he the worst man? Absolutely not. He was an asshole, but he wasn¡¯t evil. Or at least, not entirely evil. He was at least a step or two above anyone from the Trigold Cluster- or those like the Glorious Harmony Sect. ----- It was a relief that the ships from Azoth had passed by Sizipra the first time Matija had noticed them, but she couldn¡¯t expect it to happen every time. She¡¯d been lucky to sense anything, but had been able to provide a warning to Rutera itself. That had allowed for one of the rare battles that they could actually call a victory. Even now, those who had the most understanding of formations were continuing their study on the enemy¡¯s adaptive barriers, with a few more samples to work with. That was great, but Matija was worried about what might happen where she was¡­ and why anyone had come from that direction. She was being bombarded with questions from the military, but she had no answers. Was it an unexpected approach vector? Sure, but why risk getting close to Sizipra? There had to be some reason for that. Did they come out of the sun? Alright, that theory was probably a bit extreme and entirely unfounded. There were more logical reasons somewhere. Though she was tempted enough by the idea that she sent a message to Anton asking if that was possible. Who knew what kinds of things real cultivators could get up to? Was it connected to the sun, though? Matija might simply be considering it because it was the main subject of her study. She was aware of what Anton had done and while she absolutely believed he both meant no harm and believed there would be no harm, people could be wrong. And even if he was right, they could doubtless learn something amazing. Matija began to look at system charts. A few ships showing up was an oddity, but meant nothing. If there was any actual pattern¡­ but why would space ships have sails? It made enough sense for the skyships on Ceretos, because they would still be affected by winds, and that was free power. But in space? Sure, solar sails existed, but they had to be gigantic in size and only provided slow acceleration. That wasn¡¯t it. She began compiling records from battles, though not everything was public. She could ask for information, but she wasn¡¯t sure if it would lead to anything and she didn¡¯t want to state her theory and bias people towards the wrong thing if she was incorrect. It didn¡¯t look like it was amounting to anything anyway. Battles happened all around Rutera. ----- In the guise of Scholar Eulogius, Everheart was taking it easy. He was still supposed to be recovering from injuries, after all. It was just¡­ a chance to deal with more of the Twin Soul Sect? They¡¯d better keep their hands off his stuff! Not that this planet was actually something he had a claim to. This was just revenge for past misdeeds, and prevenge for future ones. Everheart was delighted to see the interesting things the locals had done with the place. Floating cities bound to certain heights within a gas giant? That was exactly the sort of stupid crap he liked. Especially since it was also the sort of thing that could all fall apart with one bad day and a couple broken formations. But hey, anyone crazy enough to live in any of those cities wasn¡¯t normal to begin with. Today, he¡¯d been requested to break through a barrier on one of the floating cities. Towns? Nah, a few thousand people was enough to make it a city, especially in such an inhospitable environment. ¡°... Does the city need to keep floating?¡± Everheart asked the messenger. ¡°... What?¡± ¡°Is it entirely full of enemies, or are there innocent civilians or crap like that that someone cares about?¡± ¡°It seems to have been entirely taken into the control of enemy forces.¡± ¡°Great, I¡¯ll go take care of it.¡± ¡°The battalion is in the other direction, Scholar.¡± The man shrunk back as Everheart¡¯s eyes landed on him. ¡°I could¡­ inform them you are leaving?¡± ¡°Nah, don¡¯t bother,¡± Everheart waved the man off. ¡°I¡¯ll deal with it.¡± ¡°You will? How?¡± Everheart vaguely heard the words, but he was already away from the ship, dropping into the gas giant Bavore below. Winds whipped, pulling him in any and every direction as dense gasses buffeted him. Shards of solid matter attempted to tear him apart, but it would take him bit more than that to make him think about protecting himself more than his casual amount. Now let¡¯s see, this particular place mentioned. He could follow it around and catch up in a few days¡­ or he could go to where it would show up. The paths the cities took weren¡¯t entirely predictable based on the winds and such, but that was from the perspective of the locals. Fluid motion in three dimensions wasn¡¯t that hard, as long as there were minimal gravity distortions and all that crap. Well, he¡¯d be able to get within sensory distance at least. Nothing stood out in this swirling mass of uncontrolled power like something with actual structure to it. Even a small city was a burning bonfire in the night. As for how he was going to deal with it, Everheart had a simple solution. There were many ways to make formations stop working, and most of them involved a lot of energy. Just punching a hole straight through would always work with enough force. And while Everheart didn¡¯t mind doing that, it was slightly easier to do it a different way. All he needed was a little bit of condensed energy. He pulled out a crystal that was about the right size. Probably a month worth, though it could have been more if it was back in the day. Yeah, that would do. Chapter 488 If anyone asked, everything went exactly as Everheart predicted. He arrived at the exact intended place at the exact intended time to head off the city. He was perfect and could make no mistakes. Unrelatedly, Everheart was busy doing some calculations on whether he was early or late or too far in one direction when he sensed the city. Exactly on time and when he expected it. He hadn¡¯t been waiting an hour or anything. He approached closer through the gales of the gas giant Bavore, dealing with occasional solids and wild swings in temperature. Lightning from such a massive storm had much more interesting places to go than through him, but he tried to avoid getting close regardless. There were limits to what it was reasonable to withstand, no matter one¡¯s cultivation. And Everheart was trying to limit himself to reasonable actions. Goodness knows he couldn¡¯t afford another struggle with a strange archer at the moment. His first task was to get close enough to determine that the floating city was, in fact, the correct one. It would be an expensive move to knock the wrong city out of the sky, and wouldn¡¯t put him high on anybody¡¯s list for non-enemies. Or temporary allies, or whatever he might count as at the moment. The structure was as described, and upon determining with certainty that there was a sizable population of Twin Soul Sect members present Everheart prepared the crystal in his hand, and tossed it. Winds carried it forward, but on the local scale it was much easier for Everheart to predict than chasing a floating city around swirling, planet-sized storms. In fact, they took it right to where he wanted it to be. The crystal slammed into the barrier exactly where he intended it to- which was to say, anywhere at all. The fragile crystal shattered, releasing energy in a gentle puff. It was entirely possible for the cultivators within the area to dismiss what had happened, though they should take note that there was a larger than normal amount of energy in the area. The city itself was quite happy do drag the puff of energy along, but it did nothing to shatter the barrier around the city. In fact, the formations happily drank in the calm energy, slurping it up like hot soup. The process continued as more and more energy was drawn in, faster and faster. Everheart was filled with confidence, as his methods weren¡¯t known to fail. Yet for a good half of an hour nothing happened as he trailed along behind the city. Then, with a pop that could be heard even through the gale force winds of an eternal storm, the formations gave out. Not just at one point, but many all together. Because of that instead of a gigantic explosion the energy just spewed out in all directions, blanketing the city. Then it began to feel the pull of gravity, falling away from Everheart into the core of the planet. If everyone worked together they might be able to hold it together, but with the formations providing the barrier gone their little atmosphere was ripped away and so were the weaker buildings and individuals who weren¡¯t prepared. Some would last better, but that wasn¡¯t Everheart¡¯s problem. Enough would perish, and enough of the rest would be caught away from safety and people from Weos could deal with them. If anyone cared about whatever wealth was on that thing, they could salvage it from the depths of the planet. Or not, because Everheart really doubted anyone could deal with the pressure there. But that was their own problem, he didn¡¯t really care. Another good deed accomplished. Or whatever. ----- Too far away from Kuchion to technically be in an orbit, a small fleet of ships vaguely maintained their relative position from the planet and each other. Some were under repair, as much as could be done away from a proper dock and stockpiles of resources. At the very least, holes could be patched up and the weaknesses they caused hidden. Discussions about the information that had been found were held. Oluchi was able to make some positive statements about which cultivation techniques had been involved in attacking some individuals they knew were against the Twin Soul Sect. It wasn¡¯t difficult to also include those they had fought against in their brief excursion, either. If anyone opposing the Twin Soul Sect had the energy to put up such a fight they would have already been well on their way to removing them from the planet- or at least keeping in communication with Weos itself. Anton was confident in that assessment, as all of the small details fed into his Insight to keep him in agreement. Of course, he had believed that from the moment they were attacked. Otherwise, he would have found himself regretting his actions. It was far too late in his life for him to avoid killing, and the only way to do otherwise was to lay down and die. But if he was going to kill, he needed to make sure it was for the right reasons. They attacked ships that they should have believed were their companions¡­ or at least¡­ sector allies? They weren¡¯t even planetary siblings or anything, but it seemed that the whole system generally considered itself one thing, simply with sects and other factions looking for their position in it. In an attempt to read Anton¡¯s mood, Oluchi attempted some sort of reassurance. ¡°You did great,¡± she said. ¡°Far more than we could have expected of anyone else.¡± ¡°I am aware that I was effective,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°But at my level, you get stuck in a strange place of having to react immediately while also carefully considering anything you do. I have great power to influence the course of things, and I would just like to not make them worse.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°But I¡¯ve been in wars before. And it would be a disservice to my allies to fight at less than maximum effectiveness.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°It was¡­ quite impressive, Senior Anton. I know I¡¯m not an archer like you, but I prefer to attack at range if possible. Can you teach me anything about that?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± he nodded. ¡°It¡¯s all about tracking or predicting your opponent. Horizon Shot begins with the methods for sensing opponents at such distances. If you¡¯d like to practice, I can go hide out in the void around us. After we discuss my methods first. And yours.¡± Despite what she implied, Oluchi was already quite capable of absurd ranges. It could merely be an issue of sensing that restricted her most of the time¡­ in which case Anton was interested in how she controlled her spear at such distances. In the heat of battle, he hadn¡¯t much gotten to study her methods. ----- Plans for their next move on Kuchion revolved around gaining a foothold for reinforcements to be able to join them. Having a concrete location instead of ¡®somewhere in space vaguely near Kuchion¡¯ would benefit them greatly, though it might also give their opponents a distinct place to attack. If they could take over somewhere with defenses, however, it would be difficult for enemies to approach with someone like Anton available. Most people would prefer not to run hundreds of kilometers through a hail of arrows before getting a chance to attack- and even if it was guaranteed only a small portion of them would die, nobody wanted to risk being the one who did. ¡°With minimal surface cities,¡± Oluchi said, pointing to a location on a globe. ¡°This is our best location. Assuming it still exists.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°An old military base. It was never dismantled, so its defensive formations should be something we can activate again. It¡¯s buried at the base of a mountain to protect from above, and didn¡¯t have any connections to the larger tunnel system. If it¡¯s not there¡­¡± she shrugged, ¡°We can at least take shelter without the formations.¡± ¡°What if it¡¯s compromised?¡± asked a captain of one of the other ships. ¡°Attacking a fortified position¡­¡± ¡°Won¡¯t be much harder than anything else we¡¯ve already done,¡± Oluchi shrugged. ¡°The problem would be not making it obvious we¡¯re approaching. Smashing through the atmospheric barriers would draw people in from around the area and make it difficult to set up there. They should know we¡¯re coming in some fashion, and I¡¯d really rather not face more organized groups.¡± She paused for a few moments, ¡°Besides, if there¡¯s no resistance here, we¡¯d do better to keep them contained than trying to wipe them out. At least until things settle elsewhere.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Blockading a planet would be difficult, but with enough resources it would be possible. The real problem is if they strike out before we can contain them. So far they¡¯re likely still on the back foot from being suddenly revealed, but¡­¡± Anton shrugged. He didn¡¯t really know what else to say on the subject. The Twin Soul Sect was ultimately outmatched here, but underestimating a cornered tiger was dangerous. ----- As it turned out, managing a planet wide formation wasn¡¯t easy. Somehow Xankeshan had enough power stored somewhere to keep going for as long as it had, but even as Catarina was repairing parts of it, it was growing unstable in others. Unfortunately she couldn¡¯t be in many places at once. She wasn¡¯t even sure if she wanted to try anything like Everheart¡¯s projections. But Catarina, unlike Everheart, was not alone. Many of the others were taking care of the basic aspects of making Xankeshan functional as a planet- things like plant and animal life. No doubt they¡¯d screw up some ecosystems on accident as they threw things all over, but the chaos of Everheart¡¯s Gardens was only technically self-sustaining to begin with. Some more care would probably make things better. It was just that it had already been years, and despite Xankeshan being on the smaller end of planets and Hoyt himself being able to sew a field in seconds¡­ it was still a lot of ground to cover. But their numbers continued to swell, from people fleeing the oppression of the Harmonious Citadel to many others from the region, generally coming through the Dark Ring. The biggest trouble was keeping control of things. Only a small number of people had actual access to control of the formations, and Catarina kept the plate on herself¡­ but it was always possible for someone to attempt to seize power. Some of those from the Dark Ring were higher in cultivation, mid or late Integration. No doubt they felt uncomfortable with early Integration stage cultivators running things. And despite them being allies, they were still cultivators. The Dark Ring had plenty of good things going for it, but surely some of them would be tempted to wrest control, one way or another. Not that they would have done so before, but none of their group neglected their training. Catarina¡¯s training wasn¡¯t just her work on the formations, adding in subformation details that most wouldn¡¯t be able to perceive. Her own cultivation had to advance, more stars inside of her lighting up. Personal power was safety when all else failed. Timothy would of course protect her if anything happened, but he couldn¡¯t just always be by her side. Which was pretty unfortunate, because she loved her husband. Still, if they could gain long term security for a bit of discomfort now, it would be worth it. In a way, Catarina finally felt like an adult- her responsibilities on Ceretos had grown with her cultivation, but not to the same degree. She¡¯d always managed to stay ahead of the curve. Hoyt was training with his sort of younger grandfather. It was easy to see Falling Stars used by Prospero or Hoyt at any random time, as long as one was vaguely in the right geographical location. Prospero was certainly weaker due to his cultivation, but his experience with the technique showed a significant gap between the two still. Then there were the two wolves, who were both at the Integration level¡­ or some equivalent for beasts. Fuzz had of course reached that level through ascension, but Spikes managed an impressive transformation that seemed to overcome the slump those who didn¡¯t actually ascend sometimes dealt with. She was able to grow mountains almost at will, or at least it felt like it. Even if they were small mountains, she was excellent at shaping terrain. Then there was Vari. Her own training was perhaps the most important not because they needed her individual power, but because it benefited all of them. No matter how much anyone said she should focus on herself, there would always be devotion flowing from her to the others. Nobody was quite sure how much of what she was stealing back from the Saints and others had been hers to begin with, but there was no doubt someone would notice eventually. It was merely a matter of them being ready for any of various enemies that might attempt a real attack on Xankeshan. Chapter 489 The approach back to Kuchion was met with no resistance from enemy ships. Perhaps they figured they had driven off this group, or perhaps they simply didn¡¯t want to risk further losses. Either way, the planetary shield was still functioning at their intended destination. Breaking part of it would help destabilize it, but they¡¯d only damaged a small section out of many. The mountain they intended to claim had defensive emplacements atop it, but no others within any reasonable distance. These defenses were designed to fling bolts of natural energy, the emplacements powered by five cultivators together. Anton¡¯s job was not to break through the barrier, but instead more defensive. Not every ship they had was as well defended as the one carrying Anton and Oluchi. Some simply didn¡¯t have the ability to respond quickly enough, while others were limited by their range. As bolts of natural energy shot in a scattered pattern towards their ships, Anton responded to each of them, arrows piercing into them and destabilizing them, causing them to explode away from their small fleet. It didn¡¯t even take that much power, since the individuals working together only had a basic level of synergy now. Enough to not disrupt each other too much, but it was clear none of them were specialized with these weapons. Anton presumed it was likely they had simply been assigned to the duty. When Oluchi and the others broke through the barrier, Anton returned fire upon the defenders. They had smaller barriers around them, but such things could only hold up to so much¡­ especially since defensive fortifications like this were spotted around the world and could only be so expensive before it was a waste. He started with those who appeared to have the most control of the weapons, piercing into their hearts¡­ but as high level cultivators, something like that on its own wasn¡¯t enough to kill them. He didn¡¯t detonate his energy inside them, but instead held back to the point that they simply had to withdraw. Those who didn¡¯t found the follow-up attacks would finish them off. It was likely all of the individuals below would end up dying anyway, but interrogating some about details of the situation might prove fruitful. By the time the defenders were fully certain they were outmatched and intending to flee, melee combatants from the incoming ships were there to head them off, completing the job. Meanwhile, Oluchi and the others had spent much of their energy keeping the barrier open for their entry, since destroying the formations keeping it in place would be worse for them in the end. Some were sent to secure the local pieces of the formation with the intent to reattune them, while others were tasked with uncovering the base they were looking for. That part wasn¡¯t terribly difficult, as Anton could feel something through the layers of rock. The only difficulty was finding a proper entrance. His senses circled the base of the mountain, pulling inward around the mountain to search every nook and cranny. He found it, but the entrance was a bit small to fit the modern ships. They would have to deal with that, if they wanted them to actually have shelter. ----- Hearing it directly from the mouths of those present pretty much confirmed the worst case scenario about Kuchion. The Twin Soul Sect had complete control of the area, having slowly infiltrated or allied with all of the local sects. The gradual process and conflicts involved with it hadn¡¯t drawn undue attention, and their dominant presence meant when the announcement of the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s presence happened they quickly took control of the situation. Most resistance had been quickly quashed, while an unknown quantity of resisting sects remained in conflict- though mostly hiding instead of fighting. At least according to the particular individuals that had just been snagged. ¡°What do you think?¡± Oluchi asked. ¡°Should we seek out these remnants? And if we do, now or later?¡± ¡°We shouldn¡¯t wait,¡± Anton said. ¡°If we rely on reinforcements, even a few days or weeks could greatly worsen the situation here. And while we can¡¯t take on the entire planet with just us¡­¡± Anton trailed off because he wasn¡¯t quite sure what to say¡­ and because he sort of could. Just not directly. Picking people off a few dozen at a time would be quite possible for him, though he supposed that was not swift enough. Then again, it would only take a few weeks of that for the local planet to run out of Life Transformation cultivators. There would have to be a remarkable number of Essence Collection cultivators gathered together to give Anton trouble even if he didn¡¯t move from a single position. ¡°Well, I doubt that the Twin Soul Sect will just be sitting around waiting for us to make a move. Not when they know they¡¯ve been uncovered.¡± Dealing with the Twin Soul Sect in this straightforward manner was like ripping a bandage off of a wound. Quick, but painful. Being less open about it would likely have resulted in a longer conflict and more deaths¡­ specifically of anyone else. Anton couldn¡¯t bring himself to care about the lives of the Twin Soul Sect, with their main goals being what they were. ¡°What should we do then?¡± Oluchi asked. ¡°Wander down random tunnels until we find someone?¡± She wasn¡¯t serious, of course, but¡­ ¡°That¡¯s not unreasonable,¡± Anton said. ¡°Except I shouldn¡¯t need to enter the tunnels. If we just drop by the entrances, I can gain quite a bit of information. Unless the paths are so long and winding that they surpass the hundred kilometer mark.¡± ¡°... It¡¯s hard to believe that you actually developed sensory techniques like that,¡± Oluchi replied. ¡°It was only partly my own doing¡­ and entirely necessary for Horizon Shot. Frankly, I think it¡¯s stranger that you didn¡¯t develop something like that.¡± ¡°It was just easier to only attack things I could see,¡± Oluchi shrugged. ¡°And my spear throwing technique doesn¡¯t exactly make smooth turns.¡± Though Anton believed her when she said that, he had seen her spears turn a full one-hundred and eighty degrees instantly. But perhaps it was just that much more difficult to do anything in between. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Well, I suppose it¡¯s a decent plan,¡± Oluchi said. ¡°Though most entrances will likely be sealed by formations.¡± ¡°If they¡¯re weak enough I can just squeeze my way through or around. If we have to, I can just pop them open and take a quick peek.¡± ¡°That sounds like it would be followed by quite a bit of trouble, and perhaps running.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Perhaps it would be better if you and the others kept some distance. I could avoid leading people back here easily enough. And I¡¯ve learned more about the turning capabilities of your ships.¡± The extremely quick turning he¡¯d first seen was actually more of a product of the gravity of the planet instead of a feature of the ship, though the spatial distortion leaned into it. If any local ships came they couldn¡¯t quite do the same thing, since they would be in at least a little bit of atmosphere. And outside it, Anton could still change directions as he pleased. He¡¯d even practiced some of that hooking technique Everheart had used¡­ and their ship-catching net. At lower speeds, he could actually manage that¡­ though he¡¯d yet to use it in active combat. Perhaps it would be destroyed or muddle up the ring ships. Or maybe it would do nothing unless he pulled himself along with it, in which case he was effectively consigning himself to melee combat. ¡°Well, you can certainly handle a few ships on your own,¡± Oluchi admitted. ¡°How about three groups? Some of us following you at a distance in case you need reinforcements, one securing here, and another off scouting on their own?¡± ¡°Reasonable enough,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯ll ask if anyone else has other plans as well.¡± ----- Nothing the others said significantly changed the larger plan. Those who preferred waiting for reinforcements were in the minority, and they could remain behind to secure the base. If it was necessary Oluchi could have pulled some sort of rank, even if military matters were less straightforward for cultivators. And of course, Anton could always attempt to influence things with his cultivation, but he preferred to do so with his words. He didn¡¯t want people to go along with his ideas because he was strong, but because he was right. As Anton crossed the landscape full of scraggly trees and thin, cold atmosphere he found that there were significantly more tunnel entrances than expected. He¡¯d heard there were complex networks of tunnels, but experiencing it for himself was different. His senses expanded to fill nearby areas, consolidating different branches into one cohesive picture- but that could only go so far. He had to snake his energy down different corridors beyond a certain distance, and it was harder to match up with other locations. Anton did find people, though. Civilians, even- those with low or no cultivation, basically ignored as part of the larger conflict. He also found many cultivators. Even if it was more secure, nobody wanted to live tens or more kilometers underground through winding paths, so he found many sealed entrances and a few with smaller groups uninvolved in the conflict, trying to keep their heads down. Though ultimately Anton thought that counted as leaning towards the Twin Soul Sect, if they didn¡¯t willingly support them he could let them off the hook. The untapped resource of ¡®normal¡¯ people drew Anton closer, and it wasn¡¯t long before Anton found himself in an underground library. What were they going to do, refuse a powerful cultivator entrance? Their formations barely maintained the barrier keeping their denser internal atmosphere in place, they certainly couldn¡¯t resist Anton. And while he was being polite, nobody wanted to anger him. It probably helped that he wasn¡¯t asking for anything unreasonable, either. ¡°Where¡¯s your history section?¡± Anton asked of the nearby librarian. ¡°And lists of local sects and the like. Anything like that.¡± ¡°Over here, great senior,¡± the younger man directed him. ¡°Anything in particular you are looking for?¡± Anton began pulling things off of shelves, flipping open books or rapidly rolling scrolls. ¡°Not really. I just plan to read everything.¡± ¡°I see. Then¡­ should I bring them to the reading tables for you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s easier like this,¡± Anton said, finishing the first row. ¡°Otherwise you¡¯d just have to keep flinging them over at me.¡± Parsing simple information like names, dates, and numbers was a thousand times easier than learning the complexities of combat techniques. Ten Thousand Scrolls had made even the latter simple, so this was trivial. ¡°Know anything about the Twin Soul Sect?¡± ¡°... Only what I have heard recently,¡± the librarian said cautiously. Anton believed him, but could understand the hesitancy. He could easily be working for either side. The information available wasn¡¯t as thorough- and likely not as accurate- as something compiled by a sect or a large clan would be, but it gave him a better understanding of what the locals perceived- and the locations of various things. Maps were rather complex when dealing with tunnel systems, but they had pretty decent methods of tracking those. There was plenty of information that hadn¡¯t been available on Weos, so it was worth Anton¡¯s time. As for what he was going to do next¡­ his usual meddling with things was the answer. ¡°Do you have issues with low levels of natural energy here?¡± Anton asked. The librarian shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s no worse than anywhere else. Tolerable, except for those who strive to improve in cultivation. Some are fortunate enough to be picked up by the sects.¡± Anton didn¡¯t have a thorough understanding of the local ecosystem, but he could pick up on things easily. The sparse plants on the surface couldn¡¯t really be farmed, and with little atmosphere it would require people of sufficient cultivation to work them even if they could find something that would survive. But inside the tunnels, everything was consistent. ¡°If you want a word of advice, I would suggest that people tend to some of the moss growing down below.¡± He produced one of his farming guides. ¡°This doesn¡¯t have information on those particular things, but it will explain how to grow the local natural energy. It¡¯s a pain to put in so much, but the eventual returns will be worth it.¡± Anton looked at the librarian. ¡°If you don¡¯t intend to do it yourself, find someone who will. Or any cultivator vaguely interested. You can lure them in with some new cultivation techniques.¡± ¡°But we don¡¯t have-¡± Anton dumped a small pile of books and scrolls on a nearby table. They were mostly things he had written himself that he didn¡¯t mind being widely known. Useful for growing, but not dangerous. Well, not more dangerous than anything cultivation related. Chapter 490 Those who weren¡¯t cultivators were once again forgotten. Anton knew that from a military perspective they really didn¡¯t matter, but that was more than just a little bit lacking. His efforts on Ceretos to allow everyone to cultivate to some extent raised people¡¯s value in others¡¯ minds and gave them a chance to compete to some extent. No solution was perfect, but at least everyone had a chance- and cultivating while involved with their work meant those who didn¡¯t have free time could at least manage something. Right now on Kuchion he was likely the only one considering those below a certain cultivation level, despite being a step ahead of everyone else. The good news was that the enemy likely felt the same. The Twin Soul Sect wouldn¡¯t think to try to take a settlement hostage because they would assume he didn¡¯t value it. And as long as he could keep them from thinking otherwise, he just had to be careful with what sorts of barriers he messed up. If a settlement began any significant distance under the surface they would have time to repair formations before much atmosphere was lost, if he had to do something like that. He just needed to keep that in mind and everything would¡­ well, at least not get worse. Now that he¡¯d studied in the local library and learned details that weren¡¯t available elsewhere, he was able to contribute to the larger plan with more than just fighting. He also had some ideas where he might find groups that could work alongside them, if they still survived. While the Twin Soul Sect could manage some individuals infiltrating most sects, if they or anyone willing to ally with them were fully in control there were certain things they couldn¡¯t hide. Abuses of power that the common people would be aware of. Conversely, those who always treated them well would certainly not go along with the Twin Soul Sect. ----- Seeing so many tunnels was making them all blend together in Anton¡¯s head, yet at the same time he was finally beginning to better distinguish them. Some had smooth walls, or even constructed surfaces, while others were still rough. In general, at least the floors were even. People still had to walk on that, and not everything could be moved around on foot or in a storage bag. People still needed carts, wagons, or anything like it, pulled by animals or powered by energy. Rutera¡¯s ¡®cars¡¯ used different principles to generate motion but were quite widespread. The easiest to recognize tunnels simply had markings indicating what they were, and who owned them. Any sect that wasn¡¯t secret didn¡¯t want people just traipsing onto their land, and this ¡®Earthshaker Sect¡¯ was no different. Anton approached from the only visible entrance. Meanwhile, others were stationed around every secret exit Anton had found. They went out to approximately a dozen kilometers, and he¡¯d carefully checked twice that but found nothing connecting. So either there weren¡¯t connections, they were hidden by formations he couldn''t sense, or the tunnels were hundreds of kilometers to finally get there. Any issues could be solved by Anton being efficient with his time so nobody was able to easily flee. He would have liked to start with gathering allies, but this Earthshaker Sect dominated the region and dealing with them would provide more confidence to the rest. He had gotten in contact with some of the other groups, but only to instruct them to pay attention to what happened. As Anton approached the entrance, he wondered if they knew he was coming. Or at least that someone would be coming for them. Unless they matched the current Order of One Hundred Stars in terms of Life Transformation cultivators or severely miscalculated the numbers that the reclaiming forces had brought along, they would have to work with someone else. And while Anton was sure that the outside records weren¡¯t entirely accurate, twenty-something Life Transformation cultivators couldn¡¯t turn into the fifty or one hundred they would need to make a good showing. And this is where their tunnels would become a problem. Because while the tight confines could stop an approaching army, one individual of sufficient power would only have to deal with a small number of those present at any time. Anton was confident, but not careless. He made certain he wasn¡¯t passing any entrapment formations that would slow him in case he needed to retreat. He kept his defenses strong as he approached, and most importantly he wouldn¡¯t be getting too close. He just needed to be close enough to make a proper announcement. That announcement started with shattering the outside barriers and the fortified doors behind them. It was the sort of thing that needed a coordinated attack from multiple Life Transformation cultivators, a large enough number to be spotted well in advance¡­ but Anton was alone and moved a bit faster than they might have expected. As everything fell apart, Anton took a deep breath. Then he projected his voice with enough force to cause the tunnels to tremble dangerously. ¡°Earthshaker Sect. If you surrender now you will be given a fair chance to explain why you are working with those who would sacrifice your entire system for the sake of a personal benefits for a few. Some of you might survive that way. Otherwise¡­ you can just die. Oh, and you can signal your surrender by dropping to your knees and holding your hands behind your heads. You have¡­ three seconds to make your choice.¡± Anton seriously doubted that anyone in the presence of others would immediately surrender. They¡¯d be seen as a traitor and all that. But he could make a good showing with the group of guards just behind the door that were already attempting to kill him. ¡°That counts you guys too,¡± Anton said as he kicked someone waist deep into a wall. Two seconds.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Three Life Transformation cultivators worked together, sending their energy into the corridor all around him. The ceiling dropped out- no, it was flung towards him, filling the corridor. The section of ceiling filled the corridor over a dozen meters in length in any direction, but only after the rear section was closed off. That gave Anton nowhere to go, in theory. In truth, he didn¡¯t have to go anywhere. Even with the additional force from several Life Transformation cultivators the ceiling simply couldn¡¯t crush him. But it would use up more energy than he wanted to on a stunt, and would also slow him down for a few moments as he dug his way out. So he moved the one direction he still could, the sword-bow from the Million Sword Vault entering his hands. He held it horizontally, touching the necks of two of the guards, a man and a woman. ¡°One,¡± Anton¡¯s voice rang out. He¡¯d been a bit generous with the timing, but then again he had to inform this group that they didn¡¯t have to die. And one of them accepted it- the woman. She dropped the heavy hammer she was carrying as her arms made their way up behind her head. Meanwhile, the man attempted to knock Anton¡¯s weapon up away from his throat and strike into Anton¡¯s ribcage. Anton let his bow be tilted upward, but he stepped inwards, catching the man¡¯s wrists and stopping his swing. With his other hand, the bladed bow stabbed into the man¡¯s chest. The third guard that wasn¡¯t currently stuck headfirst into a wall was turning to run, but unfortunately for him that wasn¡¯t one of the acceptable options. A quick shot with the bow took him out. Anton looked at the woman who was still in the middle of dropping to the ground¡­ then stepped past her. He would be keeping his senses on her, of course. If she chose to try to attack him from behind, that would be her problem. Wide blades of energy came from Anton¡¯s bow, and while he could do the same with any bow due to his practice, he simply wanted to be more efficient in these tightly packed areas. Even where it opened up into larger rooms nobody was spread too far out. ¡°Just a reminder. You¡¯re out of time,¡± Anton called down the corridor. Then he continued his assault, beginning with those brandishing weapons to charge towards him. He didn¡¯t like what he was doing at all, but there was sufficient evidence that this group worked with the Twin Soul Sect, both witnesses and remnants of battles. Those from Weos weren¡¯t keen on forgiving them either. In a few moments, the guard stuck in the wall managed to wriggle her way out. Anton turned to look towards her for only a brief moment. Fortunately, cultivators could rely on good memories and their instincts to kick in during combat. She also had an example, dropping into the surrender position like the other. Of course, it wasn¡¯t only women who were surrendering- that just happened to be the split of the guards immediately at their entrance. Ultimately Anton thought he found more men making the right choice, but he wasn¡¯t sure if that was because of a disparity in numbers or if he just seemed untrustworthy. Anton wasn¡¯t strict about the exact details either. Anyone who wasn¡¯t running or fighting was ignored for the moment. He had to deal with additional formations going up and doors slammed in his way, many of which set him back a handful of shots. Which wasn¡¯t very long, but enough for desperate cultivators to run towards various exits. Not that they¡¯d do better there. It wasn¡¯t long before everything was over. Anton was glad neither of the two behind him had tried anything stupid, because it sure wouldn¡¯t have taken him long to deal with them. ¡°I just want to remind everyone I can tell where you are, in case you didn¡¯t already understand that. So if you could slowly and orderly make your way out the front to be taken in, you¡¯ll get your chance. I¡¯d suggest thinking long and hard about which of your leaders to blame for this, and I promise to at least give you a fair chance.¡± In a sect of any reasonable size, at least some people would have by default been forced to go along with things even if they didn¡¯t want to. Anyone else¡­ well, the level of forgiveness would be up to the others. But those who were at least semi-innocent would have him fighting for them. ¡°Also I thought I was quite clear with the surrender posture. Someone else might not have been as nice.¡± An arrow burrowed into the wall right next to the face of someone cowering in a corner. ¡°That counts you too.¡± ----- The Earthshaker sect was unfortunate that they couldn¡¯t be maximally effective fighting inside their own base. The guards had reacted with necessary decisiveness collapsing the corridor around Anton, but despite that being one of their main fighting tactics the others simply hadn''t been willing to do much of that. It would have prevented Anton from reaching some of them- though once more, there were others waiting outside to catch them regardless. The next question was what to do with their treasury and their captives. The latter was actually quite easily- they would be questioned, but they would go free. As for the former¡­ ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want any of the spoils?¡± Oluchi asked. ¡°By contribution, you¡¯d be entitled to much of it.¡± ¡°I would not feel comfortable doing so. I am already feeling as if I were robbing another world.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t taken rewards from defeated sects before?¡± Oluchi frowned. ¡°I have. But this is more of a local problem that we¡¯re concerned might bleed over to us if not resolved. It wouldn¡¯t be right. However¡­¡± Anton was good enough at reading people to realize that it was better to give in to some extent. ¡°If it would make you feel better, I will accept the same share as any other Life Transformation cultivator.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to accept one of a leader, like myself,¡± Oluchi said. Anton nodded. If that would make people more comfortable, he would do it. And it wasn¡¯t as if he couldn¡¯t do something positive with what he gained. He didn¡¯t need cultivation resources for himself- few were terribly effective for him at this point- but maybe he could provide some basics to get this world moving in a direction he liked. The right direction. Anton was self aware enough to know that some people would not agree with his methods as being necessarily ¡®right¡¯, but he wouldn¡¯t act as he did if he didn¡¯t believe it. And if they wanted to just believe building a world up to be prosperous was roundabout selfishness, they could do so. Chapter 491 Information gained from the Earthshaker Sect left Anton wondering how difficult it would be to destroy a planet¡­ or a significant portion thereof. More reasonably, he was wondering if he could shoot through kilometers of earth and stone and still take out cultivators. Neither of those would actually achieve the results he desired, not in time at least. Anton was actually quite glad that common folk had been ignored this time. Sure, it wasn¡¯t because of anything good¡­ but the Twin Soul Sect needed decent cultivators for whatever they were doing. He hated the fact that they were so ready to set up some sort of massive sacrificial ritual, and though he didn¡¯t have the details it had to be something like that. Otherwise, it was a lot of work to capture so many people rather than killing them. He tried to take a deep breath, but he was outside of the tunnels so only thin air found its way into his lungs. So he kicked apart a small hill to make himself feel better. It didn¡¯t, but thinking that it might was something. This explained why there hadn¡¯t been an organized response to their arrival, though. Everyone important was probably involved with that, whatever it was. At least they had some idea of location, but they really needed the incoming reinforcements. More than what they¡¯d already gotten. Anton really wished Everheart was around. In a general sense he didn¡¯t trust the guy, but he really wanted someone strong and competent that would be willing to almost suicidally rush into danger with him. Not actually suicidally, of course. Anton knew if he didn¡¯t survive he also wouldn''t succeed with doing what he wanted¡­ though if he were able to trade his life to deal with Kuchion¡¯s problems? He probably would. There was a lot he could do with his life if it continued, but not as much as so many others could accomplish. But things didn¡¯t work like that. Even if someone came up to him with an offer for the Twin Soul Sect to all commit suicide with him, he wouldn¡¯t believe it. Real solutions required fighting, and if possible living to fight again. Oluchi was approaching. Anton wondered if he should let her, but decided there was really no point in avoiding it. One would imagine that a centuries old cultivator might be beyond emotions, but in truth they were just better at hiding it. And while Anton would properly deal with his thoughts eventually, it wasn¡¯t instantaneous. ¡°One would imagine, watching you, that you were concerned for the lives of your own people,¡± Oluchi said. ¡°Unless¡­ you think this will somehow spread to your system?¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t been thinking about that,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But now I am.¡± That meant he had to be even more careful, not because he needed to live but because he couldn¡¯t properly judge if trying extreme measures was correct until things had progressed further. ¡°What do you need?¡± Oluchi asked. ¡°The rest of our damned army,¡± Anton said. ¡°I know people were worried about defenses, and logistics suck but¡­ Ugh.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant,¡± Oluchi shook her head. ¡°What do you actually need. Like, additional ranged attackers, blockers, assassins, formation masters¡­¡± ¡°Formation masters and¡­ blockers I guess? Anyone who can limit enemy mobility and slightly drag out the rate at which enemies pour onto us.¡± ¡°Will that matter?¡± Oluchi questioned. ¡°You¡¯ll still tire.¡± ¡°If we can drag a battle on a few minutes longer, the amount of energy I¡¯ll have recovered will greatly increase.¡± ¡°Is it really so fast?¡± she asked. ¡°That improved more than my maximum attacking power or anything like that, yes,¡± Anton explained. ¡°But if I ever did run out of energy, I¡¯d be as defenseless as anyone else.¡± ¡°Sounds like you would do well with hit-and-run tactics,¡± Oluchi replied. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine anyone would catch you unless you overdid it. Don¡¯t worry about settling a battle. Just do what you can, and leave.¡± ¡°I¡¯m worried that would cause them to accelerate their plans,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°If they could safely do it, they would have days ago when we first attacked. Or weeks ago when this whole thing began. Perhaps you might precipitate some action on their part¡­ or perhaps your attack will delay them as they turtle up¡­ or chase after you. How long would it take you to travel around the planet?¡± ¡°Not long,¡± Anton admitted. Getting up to extremely high speeds in thinner atmosphere was simple. ¡°Except for the barrier.¡± ¡°Then you might start with that. Consult with our formation experts on where to hit.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a bit concerned about your ships,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can¡¯t really outrun those.¡± ¡°I believe you are overestimating them. Not all of them are so capable, and the speeds that threaten someone like you aren¡¯t possible in atmosphere. Besides, if you have to break into a fighting retreat and take out a ship or two on the way, that''s also a victory for us. So¡­ we¡¯ll set up assault plans for a few locations in case you draw away key forces. We¡¯ll be ready to move in whenever.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ risky,¡± Anton said. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°It¡¯s war,¡± she pointed out. ¡°We¡¯re not conscripts. We care about this too. Don¡¯t think that all solutions involve you alone.¡± He didn¡¯t but¡­ Anton had to admit he¡¯d encountered a pitfall any powerful cultivator did. Except instead of not caring about the lives of his allies, he¡¯d perhaps cared too much and ignored their own power. ¡°...Yes. I¡¯ll speak to the formation masters. If we can manage to deal with the planetary barrier to some extent, I¡¯ll feel much more comfortable moving as I please. And then we can coordinate further from there.¡± ----- After speaking to the formation experts they had, Anton discovered it was actually quite easy to majorly disrupt the planetary barrier. All he had to do was carve out a ring around the planet, and either half would be barely functional. Of course, they didn¡¯t say it like that. Instead, they talked about theoretically accomplishing such a thing would provide the best results, then they began suggesting more long-term options for clearing things out. But after confirming with them the effects it would have, Anton took off. Flying was much more energy intensive, only useful for long distances where he could go outside the atmosphere and really build up speed. Any techniques he had would function just as well as he ran along the ground, so it wasn¡¯t faster until the point he would be running into conflict with the barrier. The proximity around their base was under their control, but that was only a small portion. So Anton ran, keeping himself at the most comfortable speed, well below the sound barrier. Pushing faster and faster would simply tire him out, and he should be able to circumnavigate the planet within a day if all went well. Which was why he had allowed three days for this particular excursion. Arrows flew from his location, not en masse but precision and with concentrated power. He was aiming for formations and relays. If energy couldn¡¯t jump from point to point or coordinate with neighboring regions, the barriers could not hold stable. He didn¡¯t even need to break everything, just enough of what he passed. He no doubt missed some, concealed by the natural terrain or other formations¡­ but it was enough. He mostly ignored the enemy cultivators. Few were able to stage a counterattack of any sort, so only those who stubbornly attempted to defend something he wanted to destroy were worth expending energy on. Nobody could keep up with him, but they did coordinate to head him off. When they gathered together, even if they couldn¡¯t attack him, a large enough group of cultivators was able to hold together a barrier he couldn''t penetrate. So¡­ he wouldn¡¯t. Instead, when he sensed something like that he would make a sharp turn in another direction, zig zagging his way across Kuchion¡¯s barren surface. At the end of the first day, he was beginning to feel his limits. Even if he could recover his energy continuously, it still wore down on his body. His energy channeled through him, from his dantians out through his meridians¡­ and no amount of tempering could make up for the fact that his body was old. Not that he¡¯d let that stop him before. He¡¯d been out hunting in a blizzard when he was a hundred years old, now that he was a cultivator he wasn¡¯t going to let a little bit of fatigue hold him back. And¡­ he happened to receive a message. ¡°Keep going.¡± That was all it said, but it gave Anton a second wind. Had Oluchi somehow sensed his mental state? Unlikely. Her abilities were nothing like that, and they had no connection that should allow for that over any distance. But as Anton was currently sheltered by some mountains around him, he could take a few moments to respond. ¡°Of course. Why say that?¡± ¡°You¡¯re an excellent distraction, even if we can¡¯t tell for sure if you¡¯re having any success out there.¡± A fair point. With some people busy with whatever rituals they were planning, there really weren¡¯t that many people that could defend these all important nodes for their formations. And though Anton was no longer near the rest of his allies, he¡¯d drawn many people away from the region they controlled. And¡­ soon enough, he would be pulling people in the other direction. He mentioned that, then continued onward. He did have a few encounters with enemy ships, but staying low to the ground even those that could briefly keep up with him could only harass him from above, their handful to several dozen active attackers trying to predict his movements. Bursts of energy to dodge attacks left him more fatigued, but inside of the atmosphere the ring-ships couldn¡¯t even do as much of their most desirable feature. Without the space being bent around them, piercing through important structures was easy. It seemed the enemy recognized that, because it had been hours since he encountered any ships. Unless they were hanging out well above the atmosphere above, they weren¡¯t gathering together for some sort of surprise either. That was Anton¡¯s biggest advantage. The enemy could only guess where he would go, and if they got it right he could change his mind before he was even close. As he reached the end of his circumnavigation, Anton began to sense significantly increased numbers of enemies. They were doing their best to conceal themselves, but stealthy groups were only as hidden as their least stealthy member. Natural energy always leaked out from people holding it in, and formations to hide it always left traces. They could even be more obvious from a distinct lack of energy, if they were set up wrong. In front of Anton, a great half circle of cultivators stretched out across hundreds of kilometers. It wasn¡¯t densely packed, of course. That would take more than five thousand cultivators even if they had a hundred or more meters on each side of them. But it was still a good number, with dozens ready to head Anton off at any particular point. They might not be able to match him in speed, but if they could get close there would be a few moments of vulnerability. No doubt there were more closing in from behind, moving to complete the encirclement. Upon taking the effort, Anton did notice them- further back, outside of where he had bothered sensing. Though to be fair, he kept track of a hundred kilometer arc behind himself so it wasn¡¯t as if he had been careless. Then, above, a whole fleet of ships began gathering. They really had it out for him, huh? How unfortunate. There was nowhere for him to run. If he was an idiot, anyway. Kuchion was choc full of tunnels. He could just go down. And if his thoughts stopped there, he probably would have fallen into the actual trap. No doubt a sufficient number of them were trapped. But he didn¡¯t need to do that. All he needed to do was dig down. Even if he were generous with their speeds the closest cultivators wouldn¡¯t reach him for fifteen minutes. Anton didn¡¯t have anything remotely resembling a burrowing technique, but he did have a shovel. By the time he was a single body lengths deep it would have seemed like he shouldn¡¯t be able to move his arms, but all he had to do was shift around a few tons of dirt with every motion. No problem. He wasn¡¯t leaving a tunnel behind him, so it wouldn''t be easy to follow him. Anton had no doubt that some of the locals had burrowing techniques that would be able to surpass his speed- and when they caught up to him, he would deal with them and take it from them. Anton stopped for a moment. Not because he felt something was wrong, exactly. Except¡­ that this situation probably shouldn¡¯t feel good. But it did. No wonder Everheart was the way he was. At least, he¡¯d figured out part of it. Chapter 492 Down, down, down Anton dug, moving dirt and stone from below him to on top of him. It took some serious effort to loosen things up, enough that he was barely recovering any energy after his wild run around Kuchion. He could feel pursuers even through the ground. He intentionally avoided approaching any tunnels that they could find an easier path to him, but some cultivators had burrowing techniques. As predicted, they were catching up. The surface of Kuchion was terribly cold, but as Anton burrowed kilometers deeper it began to warm up. Whatever heat was inside of it found few routes out. So far Anton hadn¡¯t found anything exceptionally hot- no pockets of magma or anything like that. But things were moving in the right direction. Judging his speed with those of his pursuers, Anton didn¡¯t have long before they caught up. But he kept moving, not because he was actually trying to get away but to draw them ever further from the rest of their allies. Even if they could bring some people with them, it was nowhere near the hordes of cultivators that had sought him out on the surface. When they were about a minute behind, Anton found a nice pocket of stone and began his next step of the plan. He stopped in place, reaching deep inside of himself and drawing upon it. He opened himself up to the power of the sun as it coursed through him and out. When he¡¯d first connected to Ceretos¡¯ sun, the power within him had gone wild, almost consuming his body. Fortunately, he had recovered. His control was much better now, especially with connecting to more stars. The energy he had now was a little bit heavy as Weos¡¯ star had slightly different properties, but producing extreme heat was still simple. The world began to melt and burn around Anton. Molten rock dripped around him, the space around him full except for tiny pockets that gave little room to maneuver. However, the heat of molten rock was nothing to Anton- and the fact that it was done by his own power made it barely unpleasant. The greater concern was the pressure of the earth around him, but as an Assimilation cultivator he could handle it. By the time his pursuers caught up to him an area a hundred meters in diameter was molten. Even so, none of them hesitated to dive into the heat after him. Anton couldn¡¯t even blame them, because while the One Hundred Stars allowed cultivators to practice fire techniques with proficiency, Anton wasn¡¯t proficient in what he was doing. It was just improvised, and not terribly dangerous to Life Transformation cultivators. But he didn¡¯t do it to kill people. Instead, he did it to alter everyone¡¯s mobility. Burrowing through solid rock and moving through molten rock were quite different, and while one seemed like it should be easier, the change in nature would alter the efficiency of techniques. For Anton¡¯s sake, it provided just a bit more mobility than he would have had. Firing a bow underground was just as difficult as Anton had imagined. Forcing apart an area around his bow so that he could draw it back and let the string snap forward was difficult, reducing his power by at least half with standard Spirit Arrows. He wasn¡¯t able to instantly kill his target, taking a whole handful of shots before his first opponent was incapacitated. By that point the gap between him and the first wave of a dozen was halved. He changed up his tactics. Ascension energy might push through the earth with greater power, but spectral energy shouldn¡¯t care about it at all. His next arrow ignored the material, finding its way into the careless belly of an earth cultivator. The results were decent enough for the moment, though Anton knew he needed to increase his proficiency in that area. Three opponents were down swiftly, but the remaining ones had the opportunity to encircle him, all around including above and below. He could feel their energy reaching towards him, attempting to infiltrate his mind. It wasn¡¯t quite like the illusion techniques he recalled from before, but either way they were insufficient to affect him. This was his domain, and nobody could wrest control of it from him. Everyone was quite surprised when bows appeared behind them, firing shots inward. The earth greatly hindered Anton¡¯s distance, but twenty or thirty meters was easy enough. Using purely energy bows weakened his attacks once more, but he was still able to desynchronize the enemy attacks. Only two at a time reached him, the first being spear and hammer wielders. The molten earth practically swam along with the hammer, augmenting its motion. The spear slipped through it like water, striking for Anton¡¯s heart. He caught them both, and there was where ascension energy came into play. His legs kicked out, augmented with the heat of the sun- or at least a portion of it. Defenses and armor were shattered, then the two were tossed aside to make way for the next enemies. In the end, Anton found he¡¯d gone a bit overboard with the heat. He avoided harming himself, but when the cultivators had no more energy their bodies were instantly consumed- and their weapons and armor began to melt. More importantly, their storage bags were more vulnerable than the rest and several were lost in gouts of flame, broken formations spilling valuable scrolls into the world. They burst into flame before Anton could do much more, and he wished he¡¯d thought to control what it burned besides himself. Anish had taught him the techniques, but he didn¡¯t do such things without thinking. He was ultimately able to save more than half of what he wanted, and that included burrowing techniques which he greedily read through. It only took a few moments each, and his mind was already processing them. By the time the following group was getting close, Anton slowly began to practice them. The One Hundred Stars wasn¡¯t particularly affiliated with earth, but it didn¡¯t make the practice more difficult either. Over a hundred years of experience coupled with a significant advantage in power allowed Anton to begin a pace that kept the others from catching up. After twenty minutes, he found himself proficient enough that he could pull ahead if he wanted to. Instead, he continued to draw the group along with him, staying tantalizingly close. His energy senses dug into storage bags, reading through other techniques and finding information that would improve his ability to fight underground, if only marginally at first. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The second group fared worse than the first, but after Anton defeated them he was really beginning to feel the fatigue from the last days catching up to him. He increased his speed, pulling away from his pursuers and only returning to the surface once he was sure he was out of their encirclement. He looked up at the sky, feeling the way the barrier above trembled. So, he had been successful. Now all he had to do was return to the others. ----- While Anton provided a distraction, Oluchi and the others had made significant gains with their positioning. More reinforcements had shown up as well, to help secure their greater area of influence. They¡¯d driven back some enemy sects, and even made contact with some of their potential allies. Anton was impressed, because even he¡¯d had trouble finding the latter. Then again, some of them had been emboldened by what they saw happening and were the ones to make first contact. That made Anton more confident about what they were doing¡­ but they were still on a time limit. ¡°... you look like you could use some rest,¡± Oluchi said. ¡°Were you really fighting for two whole days?¡± ¡°More or less,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Sometimes I was just moving and shooting barely protected targets, but there were pockets of greater resistance. And I do need some rest. On the other hand, we need to capitalize on our gains so¡­ if you could be ready in four hours, I¡¯d appreciate it.¡± ¡°Four hours?¡± Oluchi raised an eyebrow. ¡°I know you all have been active as well, but we need to make a move on one of the larger gatherings. Who knows how many people are dying every moment we wait.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be fine, Senior Anton. But you have to take care of yourself. Four hours is¡­¡± ¡°More than enough,¡± Anton said. He meant it too¡­ though his habit of taking four hours to rest at night usually didn¡¯t involve such extreme exertion as fighting his way around the planet. Then again, he didn¡¯t even really need sleep anymore. ----- The fires inside Anton settled into a comfortable rhythm as he allowed himself some time to rest. Though he¡¯d promised four hours, by the end of three he was getting antsy. He didn¡¯t want to wait longer if he didn¡¯t have to. His body would certainly complain, but it would have all the time in the world to do so, next week or the following month or year. Right now, he would prop it up, giving it a good pat on the back and letting the comfortable circulation of energy slowly replenish it. He studied what information they had on the nearest proper base, an underground tunnel system loaded with crystals that resonated with natural energy. This was the sort of place any large sect would be envious of, and the Twin Soul Sect had gained control of it through the means of one of their cover sects. If only people had looked deeper than their surface hatred and jealousy they might have noticed the deeper scheming beneath and learned about the Twin Soul Sect earlier. But there was no time to argue about what might have been. Now was the time for action. Anton moved with the rest of the army- those who weren¡¯t staying to maintain defensive positions, of course. He had over a hundred Life Transformation cultivators with him, and while Kuchion had many more than that, not all of them were fully in the loop on what the Twin Soul Sect was up to, allies or not. Otherwise, they would have likely required more up front. It wasn¡¯t quite clear if they were planning something like Black Soul Valley, another ascension or even a few¡­ but at the very least, they would be using people as sacrifices to boost their cultivation and fighting strength. It was unclear if that was already ongoing or if they were in the middle of preparations still, but either way Anton and the others had to act. With the barrier destabilized, it would be easier for them to retreat if necessary, and for additional forces to join them. For the moment, the ships were staying out of things- but there were people ready in case they were required. The first obstacle was, of course, a barrier formation protecting the entrance. Anton looked between Oluchi and the barrier. ¡°Are we ready?¡± ¡°As much as we¡¯ll ever get. We¡¯ll charge the barrier to break through as quickly as possible.¡± ¡°I admire your courage,¡± he said. ¡°But I feel like this is the sort that explodes when destroyed.¡± ¡°How would you know?¡± ¡°Just a hunch. And I can sense a massive pressure of natural energy behind it.¡± Having picked up a couple new techniques, Anton almost thought about breaking into the tunnels from the side¡­ but he could feel the barrier stretching deep into the area. It wouldn¡¯t be weaker anywhere else, only his attacks would be affected. ¡°I¡¯d like to request your help along with my third volley,¡± Anton said. ¡°Unless I manage to break through before then, of course.¡± ¡°Gladly,¡± Oluchi nodded, clutching her spear tightly. The first volley of arrows was just a little test. He wanted to see if anywhere was particularly weaker than anywhere else. Sometimes the edges were worse, corners¡­ and sometimes, a formation had glaring holes in its midsection away from the formation runes surrounding it. Whatever formations masters set up this one in particular managed to minimize flaws, so Anton found little with his probing attacks. Then he got more serious, focusing his attacks together. The barrier trembled, but held. For the third volley, he drew upon ascension energy, the dense power that didn¡¯t fit into the lower realms screaming forward, tearing through the world while at the same time Oluchi¡¯s spear flew forward with ever-increasing momentum. Anton¡¯s arrow struck first, piercing a hole in the barrier- but Oluchi¡¯s spear widened it, and punctured through a few guards sheltering behind it and attempting to bolster it with their own energy. The rest of the army was already charging forward, anticipating the barrier¡¯s opening. The resulting explosion of energy sent Oluchi¡¯s spear flying back at her in a manner that was almost too quick for her to catch- though she still had the control to direct it, so at worst she could have flung it over her. The sudden release of pressure and the barrier allowed Anton to feel deep inside the tunnels, where he saw not only many members of the Twin Soul Sect, but hundreds of people in cages- and many more currently being distributed around various formations, slaughtered in whatever manner the Twin Soul Sect found most efficient. Anton¡¯s next shot would be finding its way deep inside, reminding them that they were not safe anymore. Hopefully, it would throw off their ritual as well. Chapter 493 Being able to target multiple spots at once was an ability Anton was glad he had developed. Firing arrows sequentially could produce similar effects, but rapidly firing from multiple bows at once simply couldn¡¯t be matched. Anton was still limited in how much energy he could draw upon and later control at once, and thus his lethality was limited to below his maximum number of shots¡­ but he didn¡¯t always need to be lethal. Simply forcing people to make a choice was good enough, and if he set things up correctly both choices were good for him. For example, he had dozens of arrows flying towards restraints keeping cultivators bound. There were many members of the Twin Soul Sect around that could easily step in the way and take the hit. They likely wouldn¡¯t get hurt, and deflecting the attack achieved the same results- restricting their movements to a particular location. Most of them didn¡¯t even consider the option, and instead chose to look out for their own safety. That was logical to some extent¡­ but also flawed in its own manner. For when the cultivators were set free, they were no longer helpless. That was the curse brought upon by their very intent to sacrifice the cultivators to obtain their power- they couldn¡¯t be drained of their energy. Instead, they simply had restraints that kept them from being able to draw upon their energy. Those restraints were simple to break, at least for someone of Anton¡¯s power. Making those same restraints able to take something equivalent to a Life Transformation cultivator¡¯s serious attack would require significantly more resources for every set, and though Anton could sense a few finer quality restraints, most were simply intended to do exactly what was required of them¡­ assuming things were going well. But now they weren¡¯t because even cultivators without weapons and armor were a serious threat when they suddenly appeared among distracted individuals while there was already a frontal assault happening. Anton knew that many of those he ¡®saved¡¯ would die fighting, but simply having the option to do so instead of dying helpless was the most he could give them. Oluchi and the others were more focused on attacking the Twin Soul Sect, and the others who were working with them. A wide variety of attacks filled the corridors and chambers beneath Kuchion, threatening to collapse everything¡­ but things were durable enough that only small portions collapsed unless there was specific intention to do otherwise. Among his myriad of other arrows, Anton slipped a few more powerful ones, displaying on the surface nothing different than any other. These he reserved for attacking what seemed to be key opponents, or for breaking the better restraints. Anton couldn¡¯t do a thorough analysis of those involved, but he figured that if the Twin Soul Sect went to extra expense to restrain someone, then it was worth setting them free. Anton pushed himself to his limits as soon as the battle began, because he could sense they were already late. There was no luxury of time to wonder where they could have or should have been faster, instead he simply had to deal with the swirling energy being pulled towards several individuals at the center of the formations. From what Anton had heard, there was significantly less blood here than at Black Soul Valley- but of course there was no Flying Blood Cult here so being especially bloody was unnecessary. It wasn¡¯t long before Anton had freed enough individuals that they could go about helping others, and the main waves of their own forces were clashing with the enemy. There was still some manner of numerical advantage among the Twin Soul Sect and their allies, but the forces from Weos were all in Life Transformation, while the locals had about half their forces from lower stages. The main concern was still the three leaders. They were behind a barrier that Anton found was sturdier than the one protecting the outside. That likely had to do with selfishness and the excess energy in the area. The trio were a slight woman, a sturdier man, and a second man both older and larger than either of the other two. All were at the threshold of Ascension, and pushing through that barrier. Anton had to prioritize. The oldest of the three seemed to be the biggest threat, since he wasn¡¯t forcing himself as much as the others. A shot of spectral energy barely snuck through the barrier, but it provided a moment of distraction as he moved to deflect Anton¡¯s shot. A moment later, what Anton had perceived as a massive staff was bent and strung with energy, forming into a bow at least three meters tall. The man¡¯s senses focused on Anton. There was a moment where two archers squared up¡­ but as much as Anton loved fair duels, he wasn¡¯t willing to let an enemy advance to such a point when they had already made it quite clear they weren¡¯t interested in any such thing. Even as the man was drawing back his bow, powerful muscles and spiking energy working together in symphony, Anton already had more than a handful of his own shots on the way. And one of them was very special. There were some significant advantages to having allies with excessive wealth. Anton used an arrow that Everheart said would break through any formation and therefore absolutely wouldn¡¯t break through anything Everheart intended to use against Anton. But Anton trusted that the strange arrow covered in layers and layers of formation markings would make it through something so simple as what anyone in the lower realms could create. Anton¡¯s arrows struck the barrier, while that final arrow didn¡¯t even slow for the barrier. Instead, threads of the barrier were pulled along with it, perhaps even enhancing its power as it was torn apart. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. The moment after the man¡¯s arrow left his bow, Anton¡¯s shot pierced through his left wrist on its way to his heart. To his credit, the man didn¡¯t die immediately. His arrow wound its way through the twisting tunnels of the battlefield towards Anton, who gave it exactly the same sort of respect he would give to one of Kseniya¡¯s arrows¡­ that is to say, stepping just enough to the side for it to barely miss him at the last moment. There was nobody behind Anton for him to concern himself with, and his follow up attacks were already going for the archer¡¯s head. Once his brain was destroyed, his control over natural energy was nonexistent. With no time to waste, Anton moved on towards the slight woman. There was something dangerous about her, and Anton didn¡¯t want to have to find out what. It was unfortunate for her that she was restricted to a small area of movement, because while she managed to claw a good dozen of Anton¡¯s arrows out of the sky with her fist weapons, she was still just one Life Transformation cultivators with the full attention of an Assimilation cultivator upon her. In killing her, Anton had made a choice subconsciously. The third of them, the less remarkable man, was the only one of them remaining in the formation. And because of that, he had huge masses of now uncontrolled energy and lifeforce to draw upon. Even as Anton¡¯s Spirit Arrows were on their way to kill him, some part of the world tore apart and he stepped through to ascension. Common sense told Anton he was gone, unreachable. But that was little good for cultivators. Instead, Anton¡¯s thoughts drifted to something else. Nothing was impossible with cultivation. At least, nobody had achieved a point where they could conclusively prove such. Instincts guided Anton to do the most sensible thing. If this man was to go to the upper realms and join with ascension energy, then it must be able to reach him. It was a thin thread of logic, but Anton took the shot regardless. The man was already fading from his perception into the world beyond when Anton¡¯s arrow struck, the ascension energy stabbing into the man¡¯s spine and spreading¡­ but unfortunately, it did not wholly annihilate him. ----- The thrill of advancement was offset by the pain of injury tearing at the man from the inside. Even so, he knew he would recover- and upon reaching the upper realms, he would be rewarded both for his advancement and the information he brought. He felt himself propelled forward at great speed, time and space slipping away. It was a wonderful feeling. Then it stopped as he impacted a great barrier. It was thin. Diffuse. Not meant to stop a living soul¡­ yet it grasped at him regardless. He struggled against it, but he found his body and energy were not up to the task. Breaking through to Ascension was fulfilling¡­ but exhausting. The elation of his senses suddenly turned to terror as he felt the small distance between himself and what he desired most, yet was unable to reach it. More than that, he felt power burrowing into him¡­ and he knew it would do more than just kill him. The Twin Soul Sect¡¯s main draw was immortality of a sort, promises of life after death along with other rewards¡­ but it was to be taken away from him. The one thing he feared most he brought upon himself with his own actions. ----- Even as they finished up with one lair, enemy reinforcements were coming outside. Yet Anton wouldn¡¯t let them approach so easily. With the planetary barrier torn apart at the seams, disconnected, it did little to stop him from choosing his targets as he pleased. He called upon ascension energy to make certain his task was accomplished swiftly, shooting enemies out of the sky. As the last fell, he breathed out heavily. He would need to take a short break, before moving on to the next location. If this location was able to have someone ascend today, the others might as well. He did not intend to allow any to slip away. ----- ¡°I did ask, you know,¡± Scholar Eulogius said. ¡°I thought you understood the implications of not needing the city. Besides, it was completely overrun with scum. If you want their crap, you can dig it out of the depths of Bavore after we finish off the rest of them.¡± Honestly, people were too picky. It¡¯s not like he¡¯d destroyed a city with allies in it or anything like that. And he¡¯d opened up an avenue for them to put together more counteroffensives like they planned. Now they could coordinate with the stronger factions living on the gas giant while the enemy was down significant numbers. Was it because he made it look too easy? Were they jealous? Everheart supposed that might be it. If that was the case, he really didn¡¯t care. And if they were hurt about the stuff that city had, they were just money grubbing cowards. Everheart didn¡¯t get to take any of that junk either, and he¡¯d paid a significant price to bring the place down. It was hard to condense so much energy that was readily absorbed into one place. Expensive, too. Sure, it was a tool he could make more of given time, but they should appreciate his contributions. Allies were such a pain. Everyone said good things about Anton, because he did things like ¡®teamwork¡¯ and ¡®supporting his allies¡¯ and ¡®not being an arrogant asshole¡¯. Everheart just wasn¡¯t cut out for that stuff. Well, whatever. At least they were accomplishing what they needed to. He didn¡¯t need people to thank him. He just wanted to eradicate the Twin Soul Sect. Backstabbing people was fine, when it was on a personal level. Living your whole life with the intent to betray friends and family was something else entirely. Sure, Everheart didn¡¯t ever have many friends, but he¡¯d had family and family-like things at some points. Also the worst part was that the whole thing was because some pricks in the upper realms thought they were better than anyone else. Everheart had already proven many times that wasn¡¯t true, but he hadn¡¯t finished that vendetta yet. He was going to use his backwater lower realm ass to kick their haughty upper realms asses. When he recovered from his various setbacks, of course. Chapter 494 Wars between cultivators could vary greatly in time. With the ability for them to mobilize quickly it was more about who was willing to launch offensives rather than anything else. A length of weeks or months for a war between two factions was not uncommon, but neither were conflicts spanning decades- though obviously the former had more action. In the Weos system, the war against the Twin Soul Sect was quick and bloody. Upon Kuchion, Anton and the others continued to press onward. To the best of their knowledge, they prevented any actual ascensions on the part of the Twin Soul Sect. Upon Bavore, the momentum also swung in the favor of the same side. Despite the prevalence of the Twin Soul Sect, they never intended to stand against the world alone. They were meant to be traitors on the inside, though their last opportunity had slipped away with the lack of the expected invasion. Once they were discovered, the results were inevitable. Nobody would choose to stand for their goal, and those who might have entertained the thought certainly weren¡¯t going to do so after they had been revealed. Even so, many people lost their lives- cultivators weak and strong, as well as others caught in the crossfire. In a way, everything was Anton¡¯s fault¡­ though of course something like this had to happen inevitably. If they had waited, it would have only been worse. Anzela, Rikuto, and all the allies they had been able to prepare had done what they could- anything more would have given a chance for the Twin Soul Sect to plan their response instead of having to spontaneously act. ¡°You look awfully grim for having just won a war,¡± Everheart declared. ¡°And don¡¯t say something stupid like it was all the people of Weos and you didn¡¯t do anything or humble crap like that. We both know that¡¯s not true. Without me, this would have all been pointless as the Twin Soul Sect members would be more or less alive still. At least the talented ones. Without you, a bunch more locals would have died. You care about things like that, right?¡± ¡°I just wish it didn¡¯t have to result in so much death. If there was another way-¡± ¡°Then someone would have found it out long ago. But do you really think that there could have been a peaceful resolution? Don¡¯t tell me you would have let the Twin Soul Sect live to save others.¡± ¡°Well¡­ no¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°What do you want me to say, that I want to become some sort of supreme god that can control every little aspect of the world to be the way I want it?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°Say it again and again and again until it becomes true. Though it¡¯s gonna take you at least another millenium.¡± ¡°I doubt that¡¯s what you really want. Wouldn¡¯t that make us¡­ competition? That seems more like your kind of goal.¡± ¡°Of course we¡¯re competition,¡± Everheart declared. ¡°We¡¯re cultivators. And all of us, know it or not, wish to reach a level of unlimited power to do whatever we wish.¡± ¡°Nah,¡± Anton said. ¡°I mean, more power would be fine. But I really just want to defend my home.¡± ¡°And what is your home?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°Ceretos? The whole system? What about Rutera? What about here? When will it end?¡± Anton pondered on that for a few moments. ¡°You know, you make a good point. It would be easy to slip into the desire of controlling everything at that rate. I should restrain myself.¡± ¡°But¡­ why?¡± Everheart said. ¡°You could do whatever you want. Well, not quite whatever- because I¡¯m sure at some point we¡¯ll come into conflict and I¡¯ll inevitably win that. But you could do whatever you wanted that fit with whatever I want.¡± ¡°... That¡¯s a lot of words repeated over and over. I don¡¯t know what to say except¡­ I¡¯ve accepted that my time will come. And I will be ready to embrace death when it happens. That¡¯s what Fleeting Youth is all about, isn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°Maybe. I just made it,¡± Everheart pointed out. ¡°I didn¡¯t practice it. You think I¡¯m the kind of guy who could accept not ascending, not reincarnating if I die?¡± ¡°... I just realized we won¡¯t be done with you when you die.¡± ¡°Eh, depends on if you do it right,¡± Everheart pointed out. ¡°Just gotta tear up the soul.¡± ¡°Are you sure you should be telling me this?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Absolutely. If I have to go out, I¡¯d prefer it to be at the hands of someone I respect. And that¡¯s a short list.¡± ¡°I¡¯d be interested in hearing who¡¯s on it.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s me- about a thousand times. Then you.¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°And almost everyone else is dead.¡± ¡°So there is someone, then,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Maybe,¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Unless they died too. Haven¡¯t really been able to keep track.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re not swamped with messages from the upper realms,¡± Anton said. ¡°You have to have tons of schemes there.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Yeah, but for me to be swamped¡­ people would have to know I¡¯m alive.¡± ¡°Only lunatics would believe you¡¯re dead,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°There¡¯s a big difference between people knowing I¡¯m alive and people assuming I¡¯m alive,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Nobody¡¯s going to put together an army to hunt me down just because they don¡¯t know where my body is. I mean, not another one. They already did that.¡± ¡°... Do you feel empathy for anyone who died?¡± Anton asked. ¡°No.¡± Everheart said bluntly. ¡°Nor for those they left behind. Everyone dies, everyone loses people. That¡¯s just how things work. And I certainly don¡¯t regret what happened to everyone in the Twin Soul Sect. Everyone else?¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Their souls probably still exist. Maybe they¡¯ll remember a previous life, maybe it will be scoured completely blank. Doesn¡¯t matter to me.¡± ¡°... You need to get friends,¡± Anton said. Everheart made a face. ¡°Eeeugh. Don¡¯t say things like that.¡± ----- With the civil war in Weos over, Anton was able to get some rest. He hadn¡¯t quite realized just how far he¡¯d pushed himself while fighting on Kuchion. If he¡¯d gone a little too far- and there had been any enemies nearby- he would have been vulnerable. Once he was out of energy, he could just¡­ be killed. Like anyone else. Since natural energy was required for both offense and defense, pushing his offensive capabilities to their limits had been risky. Sure, he had the advantage of attacking from far beyond the range of most people, but if even one assassin had been concealed among allies and he¡¯d burned himself just a bit harder? That would have been the end. It would have been a waste. Then again, every person Anton was just in time to save could easily be someone amazing in the future, someone priceless the world couldn¡¯t afford to lose. Anton didn¡¯t believe that most or even necessarily any of those he had saved would be like that¡­ but just thinking about how he¡¯d affected things on Ceretos told him that amazing people could come from anywhere. Take Lev, for example. He had been at best a slightly above average disciple in the Grasping Willows, good enough that a Spirit Building elder had taken him under his tutelage. Not that Spirit Building was anything impressive by Anton¡¯s current standards. Regardless, Lev had been nearly dead when they first found him. He hadn¡¯t seemed like anything impressive for a while, eventually joining the ranks of those with great talent. Then¡­ he was the second person on Ceretos to achieve Assimilation. And for such a thing, second wasn¡¯t bad. In fact, perhaps it was even more impressive than being the first in some ways. He hadn¡¯t tried to force Anton¡¯s methods into his cultivation style, but came up with his own path once he simply knew it could be done. Anton sighed. This was perhaps the curse of being a cultivator, his brain being able to think more swiftly also found itself going down rabbit holes more often. His mind would resolve itself¡­ but he wondered if old cultivators ever got over this. He didn¡¯t have many examples, but it seemed that people tended to become entrenched in one manner of acting and stick with that. That wasn¡¯t necessarily bad, but he needed to be certain that his was the right one. ----- With Weos¡¯ matters settled, Anton would have liked to get them and Rutera back in the same room talking about what they would do with Azoth- or whatever Weos called them. Who wouldn¡¯t like to add some old enemies of enemies onto their team? Unfortunately, while it was likely they would be entering into some talks, Weos probably wasn¡¯t eager to jump into a war. Revenge on Azoth might be enticing, but would it be worth it? Could they trust Rutera, or Ceretos for that matter? Anton would answer those as yes, probably, and definitely if he had anything to say about it. But convincing people of that was another matter. Anton realized he also didn¡¯t know much of anything about Azoth. They attacked Rutera and Weos, which he had positive opinions of. Did that immediately make them bad people? Yes. Anton could say that with full confidence. Unless both systems were lying through their teeth about what had happened, in which case they¡¯d done an exceptional job of convincing everyone Anton had talked about that Azoth had begun hostilities without any attempts at communication. Even starting off with some sort of demand for people to hand over a planet or resources would have been something. Still, he should look into it. He was friendly with enough people from Rutera that he could get information that way, but he also thought to look into things for himself. Though he wasn¡¯t sure if going in person was a sensible idea, he could still list that as a potential option. If he could even travel between systems on his own, which he still hadn¡¯t attempted. He needed to do that. Even if he failed, he should only waste a few months at most. ----- It really didn¡¯t make much difference to Anton how many planets Azoth had- or how many non-planetary orbiting bodies they had outposts on. Ultimately that was important to know for military matters, but the thing that stood out to him the most was the top of the report. Azoth: Single star system. By itself, it wasn¡¯t that interesting. In fact, it was kind of disappointing. But the fact that it came up in a report reminded Anton that there were other options. Binary star systems existed. That was something that had been confirmed by his own eyes (and telescopes) before Prospero Vandale died. There were even systems with more stars. While this was interesting from an astrological perspective, it wasn¡¯t exactly new. It was just suddenly more relevant to Anton in the past couple decades. What would such a system mean for his power? Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t know quite yet. There was a binary star system nearby- uninhabited, as far as Anton was aware. But for Anton to truly know anything, he needed to wait at least until he reached his next star, perhaps two if he were going to travel to Azoth. At the current moment, he had one available star he could Assimilate with. He might be able to bond with both stars of a binary star system at once, or he might need two available. If he didn¡¯t have two available, it might kill him. Rather, it was more likely to kill him than trying something new was anyway, and Anton had to admit since nobody else had traversed this same road he was relying on some intuition. Cultivator¡¯s intuition was amazing, but not always correct. Anton grumbled to himself. Why couldn¡¯t Azoth have been a binary star system? Then he could have gone through some training and experimented there. If he collapsed their stars in a horrible accident, it wouldn¡¯t be too bad. At least it would deal with a problem. Anton frowned. He was going to have to go back to Rutera. He didn¡¯t want to shove his way into a conflict¡­ but he also didn¡¯t want to just leave it alone. He¡¯d have to find the right people to talk about for that- both on Rutera and back home, since it also affected Ceretos to have him gone. Chapter 495 Drifting into the void of space between stars was¡­ unpleasant. Those were the basic feelings Anton had on the matter, though it was of course more than just a vague feeling. He felt weak. Helpless. His instincts told him to immediately turn around, but he knew he had enough internal energy to reverse his direction completely if he needed to. Technically, even if he did nothing at all he would eventually arrive at Rutera. It would be a matter of years, probably decades unless he accelerated to a much higher speed, but he would get there. He would probably survive it too, but the journey wouldn¡¯t be pleasant. Being alone for so long with little to do would be draining. He couldn¡¯t even cultivate, as between systems the natural energy was extremely thin. Then there was the matter of his connection to the stars. Anton could always feel the three stars he had bound himself to- his home of Ceretos, then Rutera and Weos- but feeling them and being able to draw upon their power was different. As he found himself leaving the system, even though he was many times closer to Ceretos¡¯ star than the others, it felt almost as faint. But Anton wasn¡¯t here just to re-confirm something he knew would happen. He was here to grow. He wouldn¡¯t be attempting any special movement techniques to speed his travel between systems, not yet. Otherwise, he might run low on energy partway and be stuck merely sustaining himself until he arrived. His connection to the sun was tenuous and weak, and he could barely draw any power from it. It was further weakening with every moment. But¡­ just because that was the way it was didn¡¯t mean it was the way it had to be. From within himself, Anton reached out for his home sun, and for those of the others. With his intent to strengthen the connection, he felt three flickers, vibrations inside of him. Two faded, but as his will held onto it the third remained- the closest star, and his first Assimilation target. Anton allowed himself to release some energy, expending it for meaningless efforts such as shooting Spirit Arrows in random directions where they quickly faded away, leaving behind small pockets of energy drifting through space. He didn¡¯t need that expenditure to do anything. Instead, what he needed was the empty space it provided. Anton drew upon the power of the star to fill himself, and he felt his energy restoring. It wasn¡¯t as quick as usual, but it was certainly more than the tenuous connection he naturally had. After a few moments, he let his grip fade. Was there some remnant strength he felt, or was that merely a wish on his part? Regardless, if there had been a longer lasting change it was greatly insignificant compared to active control. Anton reached out once more, taking active control of the connection. In normal circumstances, he didn¡¯t draw upon the power of the sun so much as he opened a floodgate and allowed it to pour in. Now, he was forced to actively hold open the connection to allow a smaller pressure through. But it worked. For a week, Anton drifted further, feeling the connection wax and wane as his proficiency wrestled with the increasing distance from his font of power. Finally, when he could no longer feel any significant draw, he began to expend his energy to slow and reverse his trajectory, sending himself back home. As he returned closer to home and the bond strengthened he allowed himself to go faster and faster, expending energy he conserved in the other direction. He had no fears about being unable to stop himself as he moved through his system, as the power only grew stronger and stronger. Soon enough, Anton found himself back inside the borders of the system, where his recovery quickly returned to normal levels, and then surpassed it. However, once he let go of his active efforts it once again resembled what he was used to, at least within a small margin. Holding open the channel was not simple. When he had nothing else to do but that, drifting through the void of space, Anton could likely keep it up more or less continuously. However, if he were to be in active combat, the concentration required would likely have a large effect. After some experimentation, Anton found that maintaining more than just a few energy bows, along with firing one of his physical bows, was somewhere close to his limit. It was a far cry from the dozens of energy bows he could throw about if he were free. Still, it would be a great benefit for combat against singular powerful foes, or anything along the same vein. Right now there were few individuals who could be a problem- Everheart was always there in the back of Anton¡¯s mind, but he doubted that the man would do anything soon- but the coming invasion would no doubt have many Integration level ascended individuals. Even if they were somewhat restricted in power, he couldn¡¯t exactly hope to take them down en masse. Anton took a few days to rest up fully, then went out again- this time, he lasted two weeks from his somewhat arbitrary cutoff for the edge of the system. The last few days his connection had been quite tenuous and thin, but he still had a consistent flow of energy if absolutely necessary. He repeated the process at slightly greater velocities, since he was more confident in being able to return himself back to where he belonged. Only by pushing his limits would he be able to expand them. For the sake of thoroughness, he tried different directions. Whenever he was not between systems he had assimilated stars within, he felt slightly empty. It was difficult to say whether it meant anything, but he was more conservative with his experiments anywhere not directed at Rutera or Weos. Drawing upon the distant stars still received little more than tiny pulses of energy for great effort, ephemeral even as he attempted to keep the connections open. Yet, Anton imagined that this would not necessarily be the case forever. Increasing his proficiency in this technique and his overall cultivation would certainly help. Perhaps he would need to reach the next step of his journey. If he was in the ¡®early¡¯ Assimilation phase, then perhaps the ¡®mid¡¯. Anton wasn¡¯t really sure what would be beyond, the equivalent of Augmentation or Domination. Maybe Assimilation was all there would be. In that case, Anton wondered how many stars he might need before reaching such a level. If he followed the current patterns, two more prime temperings would put him at one hundred and sixty. Two more, and he would be at two hundred and thirty eight. Just thinking about his current rate of advancement made him understand it would be an extraordinarily long process, no matter what. Having not experienced any Integration cultivators since his advancement, and only having Everheart to compare to for Augmentation, Anton couldn¡¯t say for sure, but he felt that perhaps two prime temperings would secure him a position akin to the peak of Integration. Then again, it might require three. There was only one level that had three prime temperings- Body Tempering- but post Ascension or Assimilation it seemed reasonable that the pattern would repeat itself. In that case, one hundred and ninety-seven stars would be the threshold for an Augmentation equivalent. There was only one way to find out, and Anton either had the time to put in¡­ or he did not. Either way, he¡¯d walk the path until he came to its end, or his own. Or fly, because he really didn¡¯t seem to be doing much walking lately. ----- This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. General Nicodemo was quite fond of Anton. A man with great power, but also empathy and the willingness to use it for others. There were many things about him to like, but Nicodemo had some categories he wished the man performed in. Like¡­ specificity of time. Knowing that Anton intended to come to Rutera was a relief, but hearing he would show up ¡®in a few months¡¯ was really not a good estimate. If he wasn¡¯t sure when he was going to leave it would be one thing, but estimating a ship¡¯s arrival time was one of the key features of a pilot. Being off by an hour between systems was already a pretty significant deviation. Anton was usually quite communicative, so the fact that he couldn¡¯t specify a time of arrival meant there was uncertainty, and that bothered Nicodemo. What was more annoying was that another group from Ceretos was on the way, with a clearly stated arrival time. Anton didn¡¯t have to be with them¡­ but what could he be doing that things were so uncertain? An experimental ship, perhaps? In that case, it might not be as fast as expected, or perhaps even slower. It must be something like that. ----- An alarm woke Matija from her slumber. She sprang to her feet, grabbing her weapon from next to her bed before realizing it wasn¡¯t that alarm. They weren¡¯t under attack, at least. No, this was one of the research station¡¯s alarms set up to alert the scientists if anything odd happened with their target. That was¡­ actually much more worrying than them being under attack. Because her subject of study was just the same as it had always been- the sun. As giant flaming balls of plasma went, stars were extremely consistent and anything that made them act otherwise was worrying. Matija skidded to a halt in front of the monitors. ¡°Is it recording?¡± she asked one of the others. ¡°Always, but I checked just to make sure,¡± said her male colleague. ¡°You¡¯ll want to see this.¡± At first, the images didn¡¯t look like much of anything. The changes they were expecting from the sun were very minute indeed, at least in comparison to its size. Solar flares and hotspots and other things were all constant things to account for. All Matija could see were snapshots of solar flares, which wasn¡¯t anything particularly odd at this time of the solar cycle. They were pretty constant, though many were on the far side of the sun or otherwise difficult to monitor from their station on Sizipra. They had communications with some satellites orbiting the sun, but because of the war they couldn¡¯t risk being out there in person. ¡°I¡¯m not really sure what I¡¯m supposed to be seeing,¡± Matija admitted as she looked at several pictures. ¡°A small solar flare. Anything else?¡± ¡°That¡¯s just the thing,¡± her colleague said. ¡°Look at the timestamps- and the intermediate images.¡± So she looked. The first several images showed a flare growing and shrinking¡­ and the same with the next, and the next. ¡°This is¡­ a sequence of solar flares from the same location?¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± her colleague said excitedly. ¡°The system picked it up after it kept repeating for the last few days, short ones hours apart.¡± ¡°Damn,¡± Matija said. ¡°I wish we could study it up close. Our instruments just aren¡¯t sensitive enough to give us good data from here. What have we learned?¡± ¡°Well, besides the regularity, there are some familiar fluctuations. It-¡± At that point, another alarm sounded- one much louder and more widespread than the ones routed to the comms of Matija and a few of the others. Fully awake, Matija still took a moment to recognize it. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ the new one, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°It¡­ could be a glitch,¡± the man said unconvincingly. However, one of the monitors quickly pulled up what had been noticed. ¡°It works!¡± Matija clenched her fist in excitement. ¡°Yes!¡± A moment later, she saw a flash outside one of the windows. Her eyes flicked across the monitors. ¡°We just lost contact with one of the satellites.¡± ¡°Enemy ships confirmed,¡± a younger female colleague said. ¡°The good news is the scanner found them before they dropped out of cloaking. I¡¯m sending the message now.¡± She sighed. ¡°It¡¯s done.¡± At the same time, Matija was connecting her comms to the station as a whole. ¡°Enemy attack. Everyone evacuate to the underground shelters! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill.¡± As soon as she set the message to repeat, Matija was running with the others. She could have easily outpaced them- not only was she in better physical shape than a typical scientist, she was also seriously training in cultivation. However, she couldn¡¯t just leave her people. As they ran for the nearest bunker, the corridor in front of them exploded, a beam of energy cutting through it- disintegrating a few individuals who came too close. They were perhaps the lucky ones, as one person slightly further caught on fire. That part didn¡¯t last long as the pressurized atmosphere quickly burst out of the area, but fortunately spread out enough to not drag anyone out with it. The sound of the ceiling beam cracking came half a moment after Matija was already moving, grabbing her two colleagues around their waists. She leapt forward, away from the falling beam and the collapsing ceiling it could no longer hold. The gravity wasn¡¯t high on Sizipra, but that was what had allowed them to construct durable enough structures cheaply. Unless there was massive trauma, they were actually rated safer than anything back on Rutera itself. And in situations like this, well, it might still be safer. ¡°Grab onto him!¡± Matija ordered the two in her arms as she landed next to the badly burned individual. It wouldn¡¯t be pleasant, but it was better to be in pain than to be left behind. A loop of Matija¡¯s energy dragged the figure closer, and soon they were in a strange lump of four people. The important part was that Matija¡¯s feet were free to move. She didn¡¯t really know anything else to do but to run- but that she did. Low gravity and a near vacuum would have made her job easy, except for the fact that she had to avoid further bits of collapsing structure. Anticipating an incoming attack just in time, Matija ground to a halt just a dozen meters from their entrance. This time, the incoming beam didn¡¯t collapse any of the structure- but it did melt the thick trapdoor leading down below. Once the attack passed, Matija carried her companions over, setting them down as gently as she could do swiftly. Then she reached for the trapdoor. It was hot- still molten in parts, even after only brief contact with the attacking beam. The One Hundred Stars that Anton had instructed her in was somewhat attuned to fire, but that didn¡¯t make her task easy. She gathered as much energy around her as possible, but she still scorched her hands as she tore the trapdoor away and provided access to the stairs below. Then she had to grab her companions again before anything else could reach them. At the bottom of the stairs was another door, but they were deep enough that the tremors of the attacks above were faint. The air was still thin, but as they passed through the sealed doors she was able to take a deep breath. Her legs gave out on the other side of the door. It wasn¡¯t as if she hadn¡¯t run further or in more difficult conditions, but they simply wouldn¡¯t listen to her. The relief at being safe- even if that was probably only temporary- was enough to drain the adrenaline from her system. ¡°You saved us!¡± ¡°That was amazing!¡± Her colleagues both spoke at the same time. ¡°... Thanks. You need to¡­ get him to a medic,¡± Matija said, gesturing to the burned man. She could feel life still in him, if not much. A few minutes later, Matija somehow managed to get her senses back. Even if she hadn¡¯t done it consciously, she¡¯d carried her weapon with her from her room. Normally she wouldn¡¯t have brought it with her, but she had just subconsciously slung it on her back. Had she sensed something¡­ or was this one of those paranoid reminders that Anton liked to say during training? Or in this case, practical. Though Matija wasn¡¯t sure how much she could do if anyone bothered to land and attack them inside the bunkers. Chapter 496 More people approached the doors of the underground bunker as Matija sat in silence, attempting some level of recovery. She still had over half of her energy remaining, but expending it so desperately had thrown her off. Unfortunately, Sizipra was not exactly teeming with natural energy- most of the system wasn¡¯t, but with little life most of the natural energy was entrapped from space. Perhaps from the sun directly. Those who trickled through the door, their security details providing access, were in a worse state than most. Those who had arrived before Matija and her colleagues had been close by, but anyone after her was having to pick through the rubble in the area while also dealing with the thin atmosphere- and rapidly building heat as the facility opened to the outside. Even the few security officers were tattered- though their effective cultivations were lower than Matija. She was fairly certain they didn¡¯t actually cultivate, but use of Rutera¡¯s technology developed cultivation regardless. It wasn¡¯t clear how long it took- a minute, ten, an hour- but Matija felt cultivators approaching. Proper cultivators, from Azoth. She would have recognized any from their outpost, few as they were- and she also knew the cultivation styles the military of Rutera practiced. ¡°Lock down the doors. No one else comes in.¡± ¡°But what if someone else-¡± ¡°No more of us will be coming,¡± Matija stated clearly. She clutched her rifle tightly, unconsciously suppressing the surrounding security. One of the female guards responded. ¡°Yes ma¡¯am. We understand.¡± A few button presses, and the lock would only open from the inside- with proper authorization. The number of security personnel in their facility was likely higher than necessary for what actually happened. Drunk or belligerent scientists, maybe petty theft. They were only a few hundred in total through various departments, so even having a dozen security guards was excessive in some manners. Even so, despite their weakness, Matija wished they had all of them in their current bunker instead of less than half. But perhaps that was selfish. ¡°They¡¯re coming,¡± Matija said. ¡°They just reached the top of the stairs.¡± The Azoth intruders weren¡¯t hiding their energy, not that they needed to. She could feel them take every step, unhurried. They were strong, at least by Matija¡¯s standards. A handful of Spirit Building cultivators and an equal number of Essence Collection. She and the others couldn¡¯t hold them off for long, even if they were lucky. Even so, they took positions, gaining what cover they could in the lobby of the bunker that was only meant for natural disasters and not war. When the enemy reached the door, it shuddered under their attacks. Yet it held firm¡­ once, twice. The third time it buckled, leaving a slight gap. Matija shot her rifle through, the beam of energy guided by her will to be focused, precise. One of the attackers fell back, merely injured. As it happened, she wondered why she was fighting. She wasn¡¯t a soldier¡­ but if she didn¡¯t fight, she would just die- and everyone in the bunker behind her as well. Four arms wrenched open the durable doors, meant to withstand small arms at best, and not cultivators. Battle broke out swiftly- the enemy favoring melee weapons that were not as outdated as they might seem. Two guards were cut down immediately. Should Matija have been closer, as the strongest? She managed a couple more shots, piercing through the energy defenses of her targets but not dropping them. Instead, she merely drew their ire. A spear stabbed at her- through her. No, she managed to duck out of the way, her training paying off somehow. Her beam rifle took the opponent directly in the chest, a sustained burst that bore a hole through his chest. The rifles didn¡¯t do that¡­ but she made it happen anyway. Like instinct. A sword cut into her side as she focused on the other opponent. Fortunately, Anton¡¯s insistence that she keep her energy defenses active in all situations, covering every part of her no matter how much it might seem a burden, just barely saved her life. At least, for that moment. Another enemy down, but most remained- and her allies had fallen. Her biggest regret¡­ was not knowing what the weird thing with the solar flares was. Did that make her a bad person, not caring about the lives of those around her, or her own life? Except she did¡­ just not as much as that. A woman carrying a sword that had to be nearly as heavy as Matija came for her next. As Matija discovered, her armor was exceptional- though the rifle could pierce her defensive energy, the gleaming metal resisted her attack. Matija thought to close her eyes as she accepted her death, but her training had also drilled into her to never close her eyes in combat. She might as well listen to it for the last few milliseconds she lived. Even with her eyes open, she barely saw it. A blade of energy, as tall as she was. It cut through the woman wielding it as well as bisecting the weapon, the two halves flying around Matija. She barely saw the blade of energy¡­ but she certainly felt it. Just like she felt the following arrows. Dozens, no- hundreds, if she was right about the faint impacts she felt off in the distance. She¡¯d felt that energy before, and it was hard to forget. The intruders were dead. Matija only managed to stagger forward, activating the panel by the doors. Obviously, closing them was impossible- but activating some barrier to keep what air they had left would be¡­ best. It was already hard to think. Air rushed in around her, but she hadn¡¯t managed anything yet. Then, Anton stood in front of her. ¡°Good thing I booked it on the second half, huh?¡± He smiled widely. It was comforting, seeing this old fellow arrive as if he were taking a stroll around the neighborhood. ¡°Gotta say, it¡¯s pretty unpleasant being between systems alone.¡± He looked around. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing my route took me close to here.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t die¡­ right?¡± Matija tilted her head. Her brain was tumbling end over end, the adrenaline from battle not knowing what to do and the air in her lungs somehow messing her up even more. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Sure doesn¡¯t look like it. Though let me help you out with your side there. Sit down, please.¡± She did, managing to stagger into an actual chair instead of plopping onto the ground. Then, her side hurt for a moment. She looked down at it to see stitches. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ a medic?¡± ¡°Oh please,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t say that. It¡¯s rude to people who spent a lot of time learning that profession. I¡¯m barely an apprentice.¡± He pulled out a salve, ¡°Stitches are nothing. This salve should help make up for how bad they are.¡± ¡°They look¡­ pretty even to me,¡± Matija said, wincing as she moved her side. As Anton dipped his finger into the salve, she waved him off. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Check on¡­ the others.¡± Anton sighed. ¡°Those who can are receiving medical attention.¡± Matija realized that Anton¡¯s energy was constantly working around them, not just in the room but elsewhere. Inside the room, she could see some of the security being seated in chairs and some laid on couches. ¡°... Why are some of them still on the floor?¡± Matija asked. Anton just shook his head. ¡°They won¡¯t get more comfortable,¡± Anton said, as the bodies were lined up next to each other- with the enemies being ousted up the stairs to be tossed in a pile. Moving things with just his energy was quite inefficient, but something as simple as that was doable. He¡¯d already taken a few moments to lift hunks of the buildings up above off of those who had still been alive, even if some had died moments later. ¡°Is this¡­ what war is like?¡± Matija asked. She knew the pains of the war so far, of course. Even if she wasn¡¯t close with any of those who had died by sheer coincidence, it was impossible to not have friends and family affected somehow. ¡°Usually it¡¯s worse,¡± Anton said, keeping the details out of it. ¡°I¡¯ll stay here until someone can come pick you guys up. Unless you want me to try to fly some of the Azoth ships.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ could you?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Maybe. It¡¯s more familiar to me than any of your technology.¡± ¡°We should wait,¡± Matija said. ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯ll message the general.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you¡­ be contacting someone else?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°It¡¯s easiest to contact the people on top. I don¡¯t really know anyone else, and the military is going to come here anyway.¡± ¡°Ugh. Good point.¡± ----- As it turned out, the military was quite interested in getting a handful of completely undamaged Azoth vessels. Enough to send General Nicodemo himself¡­ though that was partly an excuse on the man¡¯s part. ¡°Where¡¯s your ship?¡± Nicodemo asked by way of introduction once he found his way to Anton. ¡°Sensors didn¡¯t pick one up.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t bring one,¡± Anton said. ¡°You didn¡¯t-¡± Nicodemo took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. ¡°I will ask for clarification on that later. We¡¯re at war, so there¡¯s no real time for a fancy welcome party except,¡± he gestured to the soldiers around him, going over the damage and casualties. ¡°I can only say that in both personal and professional capacity, I am glad to see you back.¡± ¡°Glad to be back. I find Azoth¡¯s actions even more disfavorable by the moment.¡± ¡°They¡¯re crazy,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°Sure, they win as many engagements as they lose¡­ but they¡¯re not so overwhelming that the war¡¯s going well for them. Though perhaps if they¡¯d managed to pull all of these troops together into one large offensive¡­¡± Nicodemo shook his head. ¡°We really need the help. Speaking of which, where¡¯s Matija?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t make her fight,¡± Anton said bluntly. ¡°What? I-¡± Nicodemo held up his hands, ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on it. I heard she took down a few herself, but she¡¯s much more useful in her current role. She put together scanners that can detect these ships when cloaked! That¡¯s what we need more of.¡± ¡°Hmm. Good,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Because if you try to make her fight I¡¯ll withdraw my personal support. You can go ahead and put that on the record in case anyone tries to do otherwise.¡± ¡°... it was that bad, huh?¡± Nicodemo asked. ¡°This was her first real battle. She¡¯s not a warrior, and I don¡¯t want to see her become one.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we just need her for something she¡¯s already done happily. And I¡¯ll keep your warning in mind.¡± Nicodemo frowned, ¡°Most people would use a crazy bargaining chip like that to get secret tech or piles of wealth.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I have those. And I gladly trade them away for more happy friends.¡± ¡°I guess that makes sense. Personally I could do with a larger salary. Or maybe some days off.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure I can manage a few of the latter for you,¡± Anton said. ¡°Sure, but I¡¯ll still be constantly worried about what attacks might happen.¡± ¡°How unfortunate,¡± Anton said. ¡°I am unable to protect all of Rutera at the same time. But I could cover a sector and let the forces there reinforce others.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ an interesting thought. We¡¯ll talk about it as we mobilize the others from Ceretos. I suppose you might as well tell me how you got here as well. Unless that¡¯s a secret?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°I just came on my own.¡± ¡°That¡­ sounds like it¡¯s leaving out some details.¡± ¡°I used advanced movement techniques to accelerate myself close to the limit and then distort space around myself relying on techniques from Weos and Scholar Eulogius.¡± ¡°I¡¯m still not a master of this whole cultivation deal, but are you saying that you¡¯re effectively your own warp drive?¡± Anton took a few moments to think about that. He was quite familiar with the local language, but technical terms still required some thought. ¡°Close enough, at least. I¡¯ll need a lot more practice before it¡¯s better than a good ship, though.¡± ¡°... Damn. We should have had you around for the whole war instead of being stubborn about it.¡± ¡°Perhaps this time was for the best,¡± Anton said. ¡°At least we¡¯ve established greater trust between our systems. I would rather be seen as allies than pushy defenders.¡± Chapter 497 The sun was bright. Matija was starkly aware of this, of course. While the instruments on Sizipra hadn¡¯t been sensitive enough to get the detail of readings they wanted, they were dealing with the opposite problem now. Shielding the most sensitive instruments was extremely important, but they had to be close enough to their target to cover all their bases. It took a lot of persuasion to manage to monopolize Anton¡¯s time, but Matija wasn¡¯t just sating her own curiosity. Anton¡¯s effect on the sun had grown, or at least developed¡­ and they needed to make sure it was safe. In addition to that, he could escort them for the sake of other studies, and provide protection for their scanners. The ones that were looking for invaders, specifically. It wasn¡¯t yet clear if they would work better or worse closer to the sun, looking for pockets of missing power left behind. It was also a matter of their concealment- the previous ones had been on Sizipra¡¯s surface, and floating in orbit around the sun could be more or less conspicuous depending on the enemy¡¯s detection abilities. These things were in short supply and expensive, without a proper production line yet, so they had to be cautious with them. ¡°Alright Anton, let¡¯s begin the tests.¡± As conscious as Matija was of the sun being bright, it made her even more conscious of Anton just being¡­ out there. Getting enough radiation in his system to kill someone instantly, let alone the heat or¡­ well, anything, really. And no comms could survive that, so she just¡­ spoke. And Anton¡¯s connection of natural energy to the ship let him listen, and respond. ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll start with my usual draw.¡± Familiar patterns began to appear, small but distinctly unnatural. ¡°Seems the same,¡± Matija said after a few minutes of that. ¡°Try that¡­ new thing.¡± The ¡®new thing¡¯ was Anton amplifying his connection to this particular star. As Anton made use of his practice, he could feel and even see a very real movement from the star. If he hadn¡¯t been looking or had a connection he might not have noticed, but he saw the small rising ¡®solar flare¡¯, and noted that it trailed off into a point. But the energy wasn¡¯t just wildly being released, instead it disappeared¡­ and presumably, ended up inside him. Anton mentioned that. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re right,¡± Matija concurred. ¡°It disappears instead of just becoming diffuse.¡± They began to test out a few other things, but Matija got an alarm. ¡°Incoming ships detected! They¡¯re um¡­¡± Matija didn¡¯t know how to quickly relay the information to Anton without a computer, so she just pointed, with her finger and her natural energy. ¡°They¡¯re circling around so they¡¯re probably still a million kilometers out. Unless¡­ it¡¯s a glitch.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look,¡± Anton said. With that, he was off. He wouldn¡¯t be able to maintain easy communication, as even Ceretos¡¯ methods were ineffective around such power, despite their tolerance for interference. In truth, Anton had a vast amount of space he had to search through, and within that space he had to pick out something insignificant compared to the sun. He wasn¡¯t sure if that would be possible, though he¡¯d been able to try sensing some of the ships they captured. It was something, but obviously those tests had meant little. The ships had been on a predictable trajectory he already knew, and not going terribly fast either. Now he had to pick out something among- actually, in the few minutes of him flying and probing he did sense something. He¡¯d been able to accelerate quickly enough to match a reasonable ship¡¯s speed, and something made the sensing easier. Even with vast distances between, it was simple to pick out the points that didn¡¯t belong. It wasn¡¯t just one thing. Anton¡¯s connection to the sun was certainly empowering him, but the ships were also drawing in power from around them. If he hadn¡¯t been specifically looking then perhaps he might have missed it, since it didn¡¯t create an obvious vortex- but he could feel the light being pulled away and used for something. Power. Anton could shoot down the ships. He certainly wasn¡¯t lacking for power at the moment, and if they didn¡¯t see him coming¡­ what could they do? However, he had something he wanted to try. If it failed, as it likely would, he could deal with it then. He stretched out his hand, calling upon the power of the nearby star. A massive amount of natural energy- from Anton¡¯s perspective if not the star- formed in front of him as he attempted to form a Star Catching Net. Everheart had named it, pointing out that just because they weren¡¯t going to catch stars didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t kind of catchy. Previously, the two of them working together as they developed the technique had covered an area a kilometer square, sometimes a bit more. That was pretty good for a dense lattice of energy that had to be able to react to something reaching through any point, but it wasn¡¯t much good for catching ships they couldn¡¯t just punch. In space, it was hardly a wide area. Their initial projections had been for a net a hundred kilometers on a side, to be something useful. Anton wasn¡¯t quite sure how big he made his net¡­ but it wasn¡¯t far off from their plan. It might be a little smaller¡­ or a little larger. Anton learned a few things in the next minutes. First, though he was commanding a vast amount of energy from the sun, he wasn¡¯t really controlling it. He certainly hadn¡¯t formed each crossing section of the net, but it flowed into place naturally. Second and quite related was that his powers were more than just a little bit augmented when he was only a few hundreds of kilometers from a star and drawing directly upon it, something he hadn¡¯t really had to test yet. Third was that while he could handle the might of a star he was assimilated to, it seemed that Azoth ships could not. Instead of the net collapsing around them as it was intended to, the ships collided with it, unable to change their trajectories, and were separated into dozens of smaller slices. Anton planned to go capture the few lucky or clever cultivators who had squeezed between the meter-ish gaps in the net, only to find they were dead by the time he got to them. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The net had lowered the momentum of the ships and everything on them as it cut them up, and now the power of the sun was reclaiming them. Anton wasn¡¯t inclined to let that happen, sweeping as much as he could into his storage bag while also claiming any that had not spontaneously combusted. The materials were already well known, but Anton was interested in getting his hands on any techniques these cultivators might have carried. He¡¯d look through what he obtained later, when he wouldn¡¯t have to shield things from the might of Rutera¡¯s star. He didn¡¯t find that terribly difficult, but it wasn¡¯t a great environment for reading, either. Too bright. ¡°Your sensors were correct,¡± Anton reported as he returned to the ship. ¡°There were a handful of battleships, now extinguished.¡± The response from the ship was mostly the confused garble of a dozen scientists shouting theories at each other. ¡°... I suppose you scanned my use of the Star Catching Net?¡± ¡°Half of our instruments broke!¡± Matija shouted. ¡°... Sorry.¡± ¡°Sorry? That was amazing!¡± Matija said. ¡°Do it again! No, wait. Uh¡­ was that difficult?¡± Was it? Anton shook his head, not that she could see it. ¡°I did put forth my full effort but¡­ compared to the magnitude of what happened, it was not particularly difficult.¡± ¡°Then do it again! Actually, wait like¡­ a few hours while we fix stuff. And then give us warning. And then do it again, but only once because we probably shouldn¡¯t mess around with that level of power. Though it might still take centuries to notice any lasting change in the star so maybe we should have you-¡± Eventually, Anton and the others involved decided on the more cautious approach. Anton didn¡¯t mind showing them the technique again because even if he for some reason had to catch Ruteran ships¡­ either it was going to act like normal, or he would be next to the sun and able to completely obliterate things, apparently. Over the next week, there were several more groups of ships from Azoth, which Anton swiftly dealt with. He also experimented with directly drawing upon the sun¡¯s power to do things. Aside from forming such a net, drawing a simple strand of plasma that he could whip around was even simpler, even if that ¡®strand¡¯ was a dozen meters thick and a hundred kilometers long. When channeling power through himself, there was also a difference- though not nearly so stark as directly forming the star¡¯s power into something. Anton had kind of done it by instinct, as he was used to controlling some of the natural energy around him during combat. It had simply been more responsive than he anticipated. Drawing directly upon that energy was affected by his distance from it, though it was mostly similar for the first few hundred kilometers before sharply falling away. He could still call upon that power at thousands of kilometers away, but there was a noticeable time delay and it wasn¡¯t so astonishingly more than what he¡¯d done before. His personal power seemed to be close to double near the surface of the star- he actually got within fifty kilometers to find it was a few percent different from his more comfortable several hundred. It wasn¡¯t just recovery, closer to the sun- but his power output was more efficient. The discovery was interesting, though he doubted he could convince enemies to just fight him by a star. Even Azoth had stopped sending ships on that route after one week, after which they hadn¡¯t seen any more for the rest of the month. Even that had a good side, because they seemed to arrive more slowly, giving more time between assaults. ----- General Nicodemo could hardly believe he was watching two men face off with swords in their military training grounds. He had long gotten past his prejudices against using them as weapons, when he¡¯d been shown it was actually viable for cultivators¡­ but just because he understood didn¡¯t mean he believed it. That was decades of common sense and training he had to fight against. But he didn¡¯t need to believe anything to watch the fight. It was short and bloody, with Elder Intan being the clear victor. Ty Quigley was good, but he wasn¡¯t a peak Life Transformation cultivator. Both contestants drew their swords and waited for an opening, then their swords clashed and blood sprayed. But at least nobody was seriously injured. Then Ty Quigley¡¯s arms fell apart, one cut off at the shoulder and one at the elbow. Nicodemo¡¯s jaw dropped. That was their best pilot- Nicodemo was well beyond the point where he was going to say one of their best pilots when the man was such a standout. Now, he was crippled and¡­ still smiling? ¡°Good job kid,¡± Elder Intan of the Million Sword Vault said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a little reward for your advancement, after we patch you up.¡± It was difficult for Nicodemo to say he¡¯d never seen anyone move so fast, with the way the man picked up Ty¡¯s limbs and stitched them back on¡­ but he was beginning to come to terms with the fact that he wouldn¡¯t always be able to see what happened in front of him¡­ like the battle. He had seen it, but he hadn¡¯t seen it. But instead of discouraging him, that just made him grin too. He¡¯d just have to reach the point where he could do something like that. He couldn¡¯t let this Ty kid pass him up! Though it wasn¡¯t like he¡¯d done anything but make a tiny nick on Elder Intan. Nicodemo really hoped that the guy¡¯s arms would be alright. There was no way they could just be stitched on without problems, was there? Though the fact that the thread was so fine as to be practically invisible, and the confidence with which Elder Intan worked gave him hope. Then he poured a few bottles of something Nicodemo was pretty sure could sell as a miracle cure-all and not be branded for false advertising. ¡­ Some day, he¡¯d be there. A decade? Two? Heck, even if it took ten that was apparently decent. And the slight relief in pressure that Ceretos was providing was absolutely what Rutera needed at the moment. Chapter 498 An arrow quivered in its target, eventually finding its stability right in the center. General Nicodemo looked at it¡­ and found it barely adequate. ¡°It seems to be quite difficult to replicate any of the materials you provided,¡± Nicodemo shook his head. ¡°They require significant amounts of time and natural energy to develop.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why Ceretos usually sits around and waits centuries, forgetting about things, as more materials form. Actively making some of these things is impressive. Though,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s still hard to justify most arrows.¡± ¡°I know you mentioned some plants that provided reasonable arrowheads and the like,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°But Rutera isn¡¯t able to sustain many of your plants, outside of greenhouses.¡± ¡°Your world¡¯s natural energy isn¡¯t something that can be built up in a handful of years, unfortunately,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°What properties do you think would be effective against Azoth?¡± Nicodemo asked, continuing to shoot from his quiver. It seemed he was getting used to particular sorts of arrows, though he was quite capable of using Spirit Arrows as well. But if he was able to manage sufficient quantities of ammunition, it might be worthwhile. He was closer to Kseniya¡¯s type- except likely even slower and more deliberate. ¡°A difficult question. Light might actually be good for you.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t we determine that their vessels absorb light?¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Which might do a decent job of tricking your way through their barriers. If they¡¯re unprepared, anyway.¡± ¡°Speaking of which, the vessels you destroyed recently¡­ did you not have trouble with them?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not certain if they still have any anti-me barrier patterns installed,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Because the ones next to the sun went out in an entirely different manner. And on Sizipra, I didn¡¯t have a chance to shoot them down. They had landed and disembarked. Sneaking a few arrows up a ramp doesn¡¯t exactly tell me if they can still adapt.¡± Anton too was practicing with his bow, but his arrows simply flew up into the atmosphere, only to unravel themselves at arbitrary targets before they could cause any concern to the sensory satellites above the planet. ¡°Some of the men want to test our battle suits against your cultivators,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°Especially that Elder Intan.¡± ¡°What about you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to have to replace them. They¡¯re expensive as hell. Maybe once we work out some flaws and get people better trained but¡­ our ships are just better.¡± ¡°About that¡­ I heard you hadn¡¯t made any serious assaults on Azoth yet. Why?¡± He shook his head. ¡°Not all of our ships have interstellar capability. We¡¯re working on some options, though.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°And you need your individual ships and weaponry, just bringing more people doesn¡¯t help.¡± ¡°If only we had something like Weos. Contact with them has been properly established, at least.¡± Nicodemo turned to Anton with a frown. ¡°Did you really win a whole war in their system in a few months?¡± ¡°Me? Only in part. Even Ceretos was unnecessary. Weos did what had to be done.¡± ¡°That Twin Soul Sect¡­ these invasions, you experienced them?¡± ¡°One,¡± Anton replied. ¡°They seem to come with the cycles related to the tides of the world. I don¡¯t believe the upper realms can intrude outside of those times. As for the Twin Soul Sect¡­ don¡¯t worry about them. Though do practice that technique.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t even tell if it works,¡± Nicodemo grimaced. ¡°Trust me, you¡¯re doing it right. And you¡¯re quite fortunate here, having no trace of them. If there are any, they¡¯re deeply buried.¡± ¡°Fortunate?¡± Nicodemo nodded. ¡°Perhaps. But do you not consider our world poor in resources?¡± ¡°A fine tradeoff, when the alternative is being plundered. I worry¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Developing your world might draw attention. But the tides¡­ there¡¯s another century, at least. If you are not noticed before that time, you will have a great opportunity to flourish.¡± ¡°Are the tides of the world¡­ different throughout the lower realms? I can¡¯t feel anything like what you speak of.¡± ¡°You have to be stronger. And experiencing it helped vastly. As for different¡­ I believe that our adjacent systems are a close match, but not identical in time. A small handful of years off, perhaps.¡± Nicodemo split another arrow already impaled in his target. He knew it was a waste of a good arrow- perhaps two- but it was satisfying. ¡°I wish we could launch a proper counteroffensive. Just waiting is¡­ unpleasant. But wait we must until¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell me,¡± Anton said. ¡°My clearance level here is sort of¡­ vague.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to keep things secret from you,¡± Nicodemo admitted, ¡°But I¡¯d rather save you the troubles of curiosity should you go looking.¡± ¡°That almost makes it worse,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I know there¡¯s not anything around the sun or Sizipra. And no, I¡¯m not trying to press for information here.¡± Anton waved his hand, ¡°I¡¯m just some old guy who taught you how to use a bow. You don¡¯t really know me yet.¡± ¡°I feel like I do,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯d feel better with more developed insight,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°And that¡¯s alright. Oh, and about your plan¡­ some people from Ceretos jumped on it.¡± ¡°Which one?¡± Nicodemo asked. ¡°The counteroffensive. Just because you aren¡¯t ready doesn¡¯t mean we aren¡¯t. All the information you¡¯ve gotten from the captured cultivators indicates they¡¯re just after conquest. Yet¡­ it seems incomplete,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°We won¡¯t torture them. And our¡­ other extraction methods are limited.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying you should,¡± Anton replied. ¡°It¡¯s quite nice, that Rutera is following such a code.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not really about morality, I imagine. Such information is unreliable.¡± ¡°Practical,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I might be able to learn something from interrogation, though. Deeper motives.¡± ¡°You would have to be monitored. You couldn¡¯t do much.¡± ¡°I almost found out the location of your secret thing and I wasn¡¯t even trying,¡± Anton said, intentionally not looking at or sensing Nicodemo. My Insight is pretty good.¡± ¡°I-¡± ¡°It¡¯s a ship carrier,¡± Anton said. ¡°So you only have to have one interstellar drive to bring a large number of people at once.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d said so much,¡± Nicodemo sighed. ¡°Trust me,¡± Anton said. ¡°If I can get them to throw a few insults at me and brag about some accomplishments, I¡¯m sure I can learn something. Or maybe I waste time, but it won¡¯t be any worse from your side.¡± ¡°I trust you. And so long as you wouldn¡¯t object to being recorded, I¡¯m sure others won¡¯t be terribly concerned.¡± ¡°Great. Let¡¯s talk about what I¡¯m allowed to say¡­ or offer.¡± ----- ¡°You don¡¯t have to die, you know,¡± Anton said. ¡°Must be boring, staying here for years, unable to cultivate, yet not being killed.¡± This was not the first person he talked to from Azoth, and he found them rather difficult so far. But he had a good feeling about this one. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°I¡¯ve experienced worse,¡± said the particular young woman restrained in front of Anton. Young for her cultivation, at least. Likely no more than a hundred, and late Life Transformation. She was one of the most talkative. ¡°So what are you here for, old man?¡± ¡°To talk,¡± Anton said. ¡°Answer nicely and I can get you better meals, a more comfortable cell¡­¡± ¡°I want to be released,¡± the woman said. ¡°But that¡¯ll never happen.¡± ¡°Not if we don¡¯t have some way to contact anyone from Azoth, no.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not from Azoth,¡± she said. ¡°Whatever you call it, then,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°You could tell us that. No, wait,¡± Anton narrowed his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s not what you meant. You could tell me the name of where you¡¯re from.¡± ¡°I want freedom.¡± ¡°I could bring you there and chuck you at whichever planet you prefer.¡± ¡°What?¡± she tilted her head, unkempt dark hair dangling in front of her face. Anton mimed a throwing motion. ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯d let me land, so I¡¯d have to toss you. You could survive in space for a few minutes, right?¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Merve, was it?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t believe someone told you my name¡­¡± she frowned. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re being so stubborn about basic information. I¡¯m not asking where all your military bases are located. Do you not want to live?¡± ¡°I told you what I want.¡± ¡°Sure, but you didn¡¯t mean it,¡± Anton said. ¡°Did something happen to you, here?¡± ¡°Literally nothing happens here,¡± Merve replied. She was truthful about that, as far as she was concerned. At least it seemed nobody had taken it upon themselves to lower the official standards of care. It was so easy for prisoners to be outlets for humanity¡¯s negative qualities, but at least this facility was kept well controlled. ¡°There are other planets I could toss you at, if you don¡¯t want any of yours. I could even set you down gently, somewhere with air and water.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll just kill me after I tell you what you want to know,¡± Merve insisted. ¡°That¡¯s not true,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Why do you think that?¡± ¡°... That¡¯s just the way of things,¡± she said. ¡°I can¡¯t kill myself, so maybe I should just let you do it for me.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t really want that, either. But I can say, you already told me something I wanted to know. If you are more specific, I can offer you almost anything you could want.¡± ¡°I know you can¡¯t,¡± Merve said. ¡°I¡¯m going to die here.¡± ¡°Wanna go outside?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It¡¯s nice today.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± she said, holding up her manacled hands and feet- bound with formations that restricted her energy usage and minimized her mobility so that whatever physical strength she had was pointless. ¡°I¡¯ll give you an easy one,¡± Anton said. ¡°A question I already know the answer to. You¡¯re not from Azoth, and you know what we mean by Azoth.¡± ¡°That¡­ wasn¡¯t a question,¡± she replied. ¡°I made it a statement because I already know the answer. So¡­ answer and I¡¯ll let you go outside.¡± ¡°Yeah, fine. You¡¯re right about that stuff you said.¡± A key flashed in Anton¡¯s hands and Merve stumbled forward, suddenly standing under her own power. ¡°What the hell?¡± ¡°Come on,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯re walking.¡± She stepped out after him, eyes darting around. Cautious of where he was bringing her. ¡°They do have mobile restraints, you know. I could just drag you along in them if I wanted to force you anywhere.¡± ¡°I know,¡± she said. ¡°They do let us clean ourselves.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong then?¡± ¡°Why aren¡¯t you worried about your safety?¡± ¡°Why should I be?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Because if I kill you you¡¯ll be dead, even if they kill me after.¡± ¡°And why would you try to kill me?¡± Anton said, continuing to walk along. ¡°You don¡¯t want to die.¡± ¡°Yeah, well maybe I¡¯d prefer to do something before I go out.¡± Anton stepped into an elevator, and she followed after him. Guards flanking either side kept a close eye on them, but they¡¯d been instructed to allow Anton to do what he needed to. Once the elevator stopped, they stepped out into a lobby. ¡°I¡¯d wait, if I were you,¡± Anton said to Merve. ¡°Outside is just there.¡± She didn¡¯t respond, instead keeping an eye on the surrounding guards, checking their numbers- and strength. The way her energy swept over them was quite obvious, even if she was trying to be subtle. ¡°Gotta admit, these plants aren¡¯t great,¡± Anton said as they walked out through two sliding glass doors. ¡°But at least you get to see the sun. Personally, I like it. What about you?¡± Merve shuffled after him along the path he chose. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°I see. Where do you want to go?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Through that checkpoint,¡± Merve said. ¡°Okay.¡± Anton turned and began walking towards it at a faster gait, forcing Merve to take a few quick steps to keep up. ¡°I¡¯m taking this prisoner on a walk,¡± Anton said at the heavy gates set into walls a dozen meters tall, and half as thick. There were a large number of guards- and though none were in Life Transformation, Ruteran technology meant many were more powerful than they at first seemed. The gate guards exchanged looks, but the operator did his job. ¡°One moment sir.¡± He blinked. ¡°You¡¯ve been given clearance to leave with the prisoner.¡± Then they were outside the compound¡¯s walls, and it was soon clear they were on an island. ¡°Which way now?¡± Anton asked of Merve. She was frantically looking about, waiting for something. ¡°... I don¡¯t know. Is there a park or something?¡± ¡°Not particularly. There¡¯s a decent vista over this way, by the cliff.¡± Concrete led them part of the way, then packed dirt. Merve took in the compound behind them, and everything along their way. ¡°Different, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Than what?¡± Merve asked. ¡°Your home. I admit, it¡¯s quite new.¡± ¡°You say that like you¡¯re not from here.¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t,¡± Anton pointed out. She didn¡¯t say much as they made their way towards the promised cliff. Oceans were much the same. Anton appreciated that. ¡°Where next?¡± ¡°Home,¡± Merve said, striking Anton in the neck as she leapt into the water. Anton let her get a good several kilometers before pulling up next to her, ¡°This is the wrong way,¡± he said. ¡°There aren¡¯t any interstellar ships available in that direction for more than two hundred kilometers.¡± Even though he spoke, Merve didn¡¯t register his presence for a moment. Then she suddenly stopped, looking at him. ¡°What? Is this¡­ a dream?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± Anton said. ¡°Also, I will have to bring you back if you don¡¯t help more. Let¡¯s start with the number of systems controlled by¡­ whatever power structure you¡¯re a part of. I can offer you freedom.¡± ¡°What¡­ here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯d allow that,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°But my home or yours¡­ though I don¡¯t think you want the latter.¡± ¡°You¡¯re persistent,¡± Merve said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make much difference anyway. I¡¯m done, right?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to be,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you¡¯re particularly helpful, I can offer you ascension.¡± Merve sighed. ¡°And here I was, hoping this might be real.¡± ¡°Who says it isn¡¯t?¡± ¡°You do. Just by being here.¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± Anton smiled, removing the limitations on his apparent cultivation. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± She just stared at him. ¡°You aren¡¯t worried about anyone back home, are you? No, it seems not. So what¡¯s the problem?¡± When Anton felt her energy preparing to go haywire, he didn¡¯t hold back. As she tried to kill herself, he wouldn¡¯t let her. His intrusion of energy certainly wasn¡¯t comfortable, but she could survive with a little bit of internal bleeding and damaged meridians. She did cry, though. ¡°I don¡¯t think I was that terrible.¡± ¡°Of course you are! Offering something you know I want, that I can¡¯t have!¡± ¡°Man. Your home system must be pretty terrible. Look, even I won¡¯t say I¡¯m doing this just out of the good of my heart. I want information, remember?¡± Anton said. ¡°But surely someone must follow through on their promises where you¡¯re from.¡± ¡°... nobody as strong as you.¡± ¡°Then why not make a bet on it? If I ultimately kill you or whatever, might as well get it over with sooner rather than later, right? Or are you hoping that you¡¯ll be rescued? Because-¡± Anton held up a finger, ¡°One second.¡± Anton pulled out his bow, shooting a volley of his most powerful arrows into the lead ship of an incoming assault squadron. He was pleased to find that at least with ascension energy he could overwhelm one ship before they adapted¡­ though they did still have at least a small passive improvement in their defense against it. Merve sighed and let herself begin to sink, but that only lasted for half a second before she was forced back to the surface. Anton had to interpret her thoughts from her lack of speech. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t even rescue you, huh? Your place is really messed up. Listen, I can chuck you back in that cell if you want and never visit again, or you might as well take the chance.¡± He really hoped she¡¯d say yes, because the others were probably worse. Was there some sort of brainwashing, or was it just that they only saw the ones with no hope? Actually, that made sense for a steady stream of attackers. It was just strange that some who were relatively strong weren¡¯t able to obtain better positions. Chapter 499 There was something to be said about cultivator¡¯s thirst for power. It could be considered the root of many of their problems¡­ but sometimes it was useful and power wasn¡¯t always destructive or corrupt. Anton liked to think that Ceretos was doing¡­ alright. At least it enticed people to officially become allies with Rutera in the middle of a war, whether they worked in the capacity of a mercenary or something else. There was a general agreement that cultivators from Ceretos could keep all or most of the loot from ships they brought down- the vessels themselves were of value, even when broken. The equipment of those on board came in various qualities as well. As for the people¡­ most of them died. There was little likelihood of anything else when cultivators wound up in space over an enemy planet. If what Merve said was true- and Anton believed she was honest to her knowledge- despite the trouble the invaders were able to cause they weren¡¯t important. They were mainly castoffs and extras, which made Anton wonder what Azoth- and the other systems connected to them, apparently calling themselves the Sylanis Cluster- considered exceptional. Did they truly have so many people and such wealth that they could afford to throw away Life Transformation cultivators? Even if most of the invaders weren¡¯t at that level, Merve was. There had been many more through the time of the war, some captured and some killed. Combining Merve¡¯s helpful knowledge with what tidbits they had extracted from others, they were able to confirm some of their theories. The multiple systems thing was new information, however. Only three, as far as Merve knew- but it seemed they were heavily populated. That was concerning, not just to Anton, but to everyone who heard it- in Rutera, Ceretos, or Weos. Just because Ceretos hadn¡¯t been a direct target didn¡¯t mean it wouldn¡¯t happen. Their other neighbors had been so it was just a matter of time- so they preferred to join this war before they were forced into it. As for Merve herself, she still seemed to be of the opinion that Anton would betray her eventually. That was the vibe Anton got from her, but she also clearly preferred the tiny sliver of possibility over rotting in prison. Though she looked as if she was ready to get her hopes dashed at any point, Anton was fulfilling his end of the bargain. At this exact moment he couldn¡¯t take her to Ceretos- and he was personally responsible for her actions- so he was working on the other part of his promise. ¡°I¡¯m going to be honest,¡± Anton said. ¡°Your cultivation method is ghastly.¡± ¡°Wha- is it?¡± Merve frowned. ¡°Angelic Providence is one of the least invasive methods I had to choose between. I know it feeds off emotions but that¡¯s better than like, souls or blood, right?¡± ¡°That part is fine,¡± Anton said. ¡°Probably. But taking a look at it, I thought at first it was an incomplete technique.¡± ¡°Do you expect me to have the ability to acquire a better one?¡± She shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s for people from a clan or large sect.¡± ¡°Even the One Hundred Stars remained incomplete for centuries. I didn¡¯t expect yours to be complete either. But it¡¯s not incomplete, despite appearing so.¡± ¡°Then you mean¡­¡± Merve looked down at herself. ¡°My talent really isn¡¯t sufficient? Is that why I can¡¯t even reach the peak of Life Transformation?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not old enough to worry about things like lack of talent, yet. If you were truly lacking, you would not have reached where you are. No, it is the fault of the technique. It¡¯s not incomplete. Instead, it¡¯s tainted. Sabotaged. As are many of the others The only question is, how many people must you have to produce high tier cultivators like yourself with such methods.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not¡­ high tier,¡± Merve disagreed. ¡°Any clan disciple could crush me in battle.¡± ¡°And how much of that would be reliant on their equipment?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The rest would be their presumably non-tainted methods and access to special training that doesn¡¯t directly improve cultivation. Besides, late Life Transformation is close enough to the peak.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ but then there¡¯s still Worldbinding or Ascension beyond that,¡± Merve sighed. ¡°Worldbinding?¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Isn¡¯t that¡­ what you are?¡± Merve questioned. ¡°I assumed¡­¡± ¡°It might be, by another name,¡± Anton replied. ¡°I termed it Assimilation. As the first of us from my system¡­ there was no naming precedent.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s¡­¡± Merve¡¯s eyes were filled with awe, and fear. ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°Someone must be the first for everything, and it appears it simply happened to be myself in my particular locale. Do you know how many¡­ Worldbinding cultivators Azoth has?¡± ¡°Azoth?¡± Merve shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. They¡¯re like¡­ one in a billion. I don¡¯t know about ¡®Azoth¡¯ but the Sylanis Cluster has around¡­ a hundred billion people? I think. So probably around that many. Maybe three or four per planet on average.¡± ¡°This is¡­ very bad news,¡± Anton said. ¡°And extremely important. If they attack here, we must be ready.¡± Anton stood, ¡°Come.¡± Merve was his responsibility now, so she had to remain with him¡­ or at least within a ¡®reasonable¡¯ distance where he could watch her. ¡°Okay,¡± Merve said, rapidly reaching her feet. ¡°I don¡¯t think you need to hurry though. It¡¯s not easy to accomplish Worldbinding to begin with, so I doubt they could sneak one here onto Ceretos.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not on Ceretos,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°We¡¯re on Rutera. And they wouldn¡¯t have to sneak onto the planet if they wanted to cause wanton destruction.¡± He paused, looked at her. ¡°I feel like we¡¯ve had some sort of miscommunication.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Even though his frown was only of concentration, Merve staggered back from Anton. ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to lie! I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯ll make up for whatever I did wrong!¡± ¡°Calm down,¡± Anton said, controlling himself to be as calming and peaceful as possible. ¡°I did not say you lied. But¡­ not everything everyone says communicates exactly what they want.¡± Anton wished it could be so, but even with his Insight things were lost. ¡°Why did you think we were on Ceretos? Or did you simply misspeak.¡± ¡°I- we¡¯re not? You said you would bring me to Ceretos.¡± ¡°And I will,¡± Anton said, ¡°I just haven¡¯t yet.¡± ¡°But¡­ you¡¯re a Worldbinder. And you¡¯re¡­ still overflowing with power here. I haven¡¯t met any others, but I saw them- and you¡¯re supposed to be weaker when you¡¯re away from your world. Or did you break through while here?¡± Merve was clearly quite confused, and her previous reticence had turned into an overflow of words as she tried to explain herself. ¡°Neither,¡± Anton said. ¡°So¡­ I take it to mean that Worldbinders you know of are bound to a single planet?¡± ¡°Not just that¡­ one region. Some large, some small. ¡° ¡°Just one? Never more?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Merve looked as if she would cry. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Anton¡¯s grandfatherly instincts wanted to hug away her tears, but they were not yet so close. Instead, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder- hoping that it would be taken well. ¡°It¡¯s okay to not know things. Especially if you¡¯re honest about it. Everything anyone knows had to be learned at some point, so not having done so yet isn¡¯t a reason for you to be punished. I would prefer to reserve that for actions you have taken, such as¡­ attempting to kill me. But worry not,¡± Anton followed up swiftly, ¡°I have already forgiven you for that.¡± Almost before she did it, because he more or less tempted her to try something. It wouldn¡¯t be fair to judge someone desperate for life when they¡¯d done little else. Joining a war against Rutera was something different, but it seemed she and many others had little real choice to do otherwise. The dark haired ¡®young¡¯ woman reached for his hand, perhaps to pull it away or to grip it for comfort, but in the end she did neither, and let her hand fall to her side. At least she seemed somewhat¡­ recovered. ¡°You mean that?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°I understand your interaction with those who don¡¯t wish you harm has been limited, but I have no reason to lie to you about this. If I was angry with you, you would know. And it wouldn¡¯t serve me to pretend otherwise.¡± A pause, ¡°Now then, back to the topic at hand. You don¡¯t know, but have you heard of Worldbinders binding multiple locations, on the same or different planets?¡± A few moments of thinking allowed Merve to respond with a clear, ¡°No. But¡­ I haven¡¯t heard it¡¯s impossible, either. I just assumed that.¡± ¡°I shall assume, then, that it is not extremely common. And it is a good reminder that Worldbinders will not be joining any offensives,¡± Anton gestured as he turned. ¡°Still, I should speak to someone about this.¡± He¡¯d sent a message- but only that he needed a meeting with Nicodemo. His communications should be secure, but he wanted the man to be ready for the information to be dumped on him. ¡°What about-¡± Merve hesitated. ¡°Is it alright to ask¡­ about you?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t answer¡­ how you¡¯re strong here. Have you reached an advanced Worldbinding stage?¡± ¡°Has anyone from the Sylanis Cluster?¡± ¡°Not¡­ to public knowledge. It¡¯s theoretical.¡± ¡°Good. And, no. I¡¯m still relatively new to this stage.¡± Anton smiled as he looked back at his ward. ¡°I have quite some way to go before I advance to another true level. As for the answer you seek¡­¡± Anton thought for a few moments. If he had any sense she had the inclination or even the ability to report back, he wouldn¡¯t share the information he had. But he sensed no such intent from her- and no control of other energies that could influence her otherwise. ¡°I Assimilate with stars.¡± ¡°Stars¡­ p-plural?¡± Merve stuttered. ¡°Only the one in my current system is relevant, though.¡± ¡°What about¡­¡± Merve hesitated, ¡°Binary star systems?¡± ¡°A good question I have not yet found the answer to,¡± Anton said. ¡°...Okloi has two stars,¡± Merve said, speaking of her home system. ¡°Really?¡± Anton asked. He had, of course, relayed information from Merve as it came. She¡¯d found it difficult to provide coordinate information on where the other systems besides Azoth were, since she was not a navigator, astronomer, or even enthusiastic stargazer. She only knew they were neighbors. ¡°This seems like relevant information, but I guess I didn¡¯t ask.¡± ¡°Sorry. I was underground until recently so I didn¡¯t even think that places might have just one star. It seemed normal, so I didn¡¯t mention it. And I don¡¯t really know about the other systems.¡± ¡°The education system in the Sylanis Cluster is very lacking,¡± Anton grumbled. ¡°S-sorry,¡± Merve hung her head. ¡°It is still not your fault,¡± Anton reminded her. ¡°Especially if you are intentionally sabotaged.¡± For the moment, Anton had a lot to digest. Three systems had been trouble enough, but potentially a full hundred Assimilation cultivators? Or some close equivalent. They needed to step up the mutual defense negotiations with Weos- grouping them with Rutera and Ceretos. They certainly didn¡¯t have a good opinion of Azoth which was apparently just part of the Sylanis Cluster, but they were hesitant to immediately involve themselves with a war after their own civil war. Anton could understand that, but this was a matter of survival. And there was what, a hundred years- certainly less than a hundred and fifty- before the tides of the world might allow another invasion from the upper realms. If they were lucky, the Trigold Cluster would choose to go after the Sylanis Cluster before Ceretos or Weos. If they were unlucky¡­ they might find themselves invaded while the others didn¡¯t. Certainly, Merve didn¡¯t have any knowledge of Okloi being invaded- and she would have been alive for the last one. Anton had no belief that the Trigold Cluster wouldn¡¯t send people for revenge on their little lower realm world, but he could hope they- or anyone else in the upper realms- would spread out a bit and perhaps take notice of the Sylanis Cluster. Or that they could manage to suppress the Sylanis cluster before then. There was no thought in Anton¡¯s mind of actually overcoming so many cultivators, but then again¡­ who could say what the next century would bring. Chapter 500 As the counterattack plans were currently on hold as the existence of Worldbinding cultivators was made known, Anton was working on alternate options with Everheart. ¡°It is possible to set up a formation around the system¡­?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Anything is possible,¡± Everheart said. ¡°But we¡¯d need to dismantle a few of our planets, or perhaps those of Weos. Plus rip a reasonable chunk off of that star of theirs to keep it running. If you want it to do anything, anyway.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you make an intrusion detection formation around Ceretos?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°And I just recently updated it to pick up on this thing that the Sylanis Cluster is doing, tests pending. Speaking of which, snag me a few of those ships will ya?¡± ¡°... I¡¯m sure we can find some excuse for the esteemed Scholar Eulogius to get some time with some vessels.¡± ¡°Yeah, anyway¡­ without me in a system to keep track of things a sensory thing like that won¡¯t do much but let people know that something showed up. Doesn¡¯t help track them further or pick out the target, so it¡¯s just barely relevant with what they already have.¡± Everheart stroked his chin. ¡°I need to get more of their technical manuals. Moving more of the burden to the construction techniques instead of expensive materials or quantity of natural energy is intriguing.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t seem particularly concerned about anything that¡¯s happened.¡± ¡°What¡¯s there to get in a fuss about? The Twin Soul Sect got all chopped up in Weos. These Worldbinding cultivators can¡¯t do crap to me if I don¡¯t go to them first.¡± Everheart cleared his throat, ¡°I mean, I¡¯d still kick their asses, obviously, but that¡¯s such a pain.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°What, you wanna go again?¡± Everheart gripped his hands into fists. ¡°Come on then, you young punk!¡± ¡°It seems inevitable that this group will come for Ceretos. They¡¯ll weaken us¡­¡± ¡°You mean they¡¯ll kill people,¡± Everheart countered. ¡°You guys have gone decades without much actual war. People could use the experience. Overall, you might come out ahead.¡± ¡°Or we might not,¡± Anto said. ¡°Bah, Ceretos already has a continental defense formation, and those Archipelago guys can handle their own crap. What are you worried about?¡± As always, Everheart was basically right, and annoyingly so. But ¡®basically¡¯ was not ¡®completely¡¯. ¡°Our allies need to cause enough damage that the scenario goes in our favor. If they¡¯re just sending what they can spare now, perhaps there will be an endless tide.¡± ¡°They¡¯ve already got planetary defenses on Rutera itself. Nobody will let me work on it though so they¡¯ll have to handle it how it is. If they want me to toss up another formation, I need time and materials. They¡¯re handling everything great as it is.¡± ¡°Unless the enemy gets serious.¡± ¡°Yeah, well,¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°What are you gonna do about that? Defending for so long might make them amp up their attacks¡­ or maybe they¡¯ll just keep a nice steady stream of combat experience coming in. Maybe they¡¯ll stop if a counterattack happens¡­ or maybe you¡¯ll have poked the hornet¡¯s nest.¡± Anton continued to hate it when Everheart was right. ¡°What are we supposed to do then?¡± ¡°Personally I prefer setting the hornet¡¯s nest on fire,¡± Everheart replied. ¡°I just assumed you didn¡¯t want to rile them up.¡± ¡°Maybe you could-¡± ¡°I¡¯m not being part of any sort of assault unless you offer me an entire planet. And not one of the crappy ones.¡± Anton would be keeping that idea for later. They really didn¡¯t need to start some sort of crusade¡­ but just sitting around waiting for the enemy to come to them was a potential sign of weakness as well. ----- Outside the meeting room Anton found Merve right where he¡¯d left her. Of course, he¡¯d kept his senses trained on her just in case¡­ but he couldn¡¯t leave her alone, nor did he trust her with knowledge about Everheart. He was almost certain that the man had no enmity with this Sylanis cluster¡­ but if they had ties to the upper realms and the information somehow got to them? That would be a problem. Anton didn¡¯t believe Merve would betray him intentionally, but it was possible to be wrong. If she never had a chance, then it wouldn¡¯t matter. ¡°... Why are your private meetings with Scholar Eulogius more secured than with the general and president?¡± ¡°If I told you, that would undermine the whole point,¡± Anton answered. Merve might have been defeated in battle by Rutera and confused about her own place in the world, but she certainly could ask questions that got straight to the heart of things. A spy? But she hadn¡¯t been particularly cooperative, and there was no way they would have known she would survive and Anton would single her out. There was no way they could train enough people to make a random sampling probable without giving something away, either. So¡­ wasted potential. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Thank you for answering,¡± Merve said. ¡°Instead of¡­ yelling at me.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t provide solutions,¡± Anton said. Sure, Everheart yelled at and derided people- but whenever he did so he included pertinent information why. Not that he was a good leader, but he could at least coordinate people how he wanted. ¡°It¡­ didn¡¯t,¡± Merve agreed. ¡°I¡¯m still working through your alterations to my cultivation method. They¡¯re¡­ good.¡± ¡°But not flawless,¡± Anton extrapolated. ¡°I haven¡¯t ever practiced it, you know? Want to explain what I got wrong?¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s, uh¡­¡± ¡°I can¡¯t fix anything unless I know. I think I likely did well enough for you to reach the peak, maybe Ascension, but if you found flaws one of us has to fix it.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Could be you, if you¡¯d prefer.¡± ¡°There¡¯s not much I have to compare to¡­¡± Merve admitted. ¡°And maybe I¡¯m the one who¡¯s wrong. You¡¯re a Worldbinding cultivator, after all.¡± ¡°And if that made me perfect, we¡¯d all be exactly the same strength,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can throw some reference material at you.¡± He had complete techniques for more than just the Hundred Stars. Even if he didn¡¯t provide those of allies, there was everything from the Exalted Archipelago- those given by the Worthy Shore Society and those taken during the conflict. The rest of the Exalted Archipelago had already moved into the locations the expunged sects occupied, and had at least crowded those of sects merely weakened. There was something that should be interestingly compatible, at least for reference. It was rather difficult to transmit anything so complicated as a cultivation method to or from the upper realms- words weren¡¯t enough, the inspired writing required more behind it to truly work. And based on what he had heard Anton wouldn¡¯t recommend the practice of either the Holy or Glorious Harmony Techniques, but they could provide some insights. ----- Everheart was aware of the group that had somehow managed to trigger the old formations on Xankeshan. He should have seen it coming, injured or not. His projections¡­ had. And if he had done his due diligence converting everything to his whims in secret, he might have had reasonable sway over the planet even now. Instead, he¡¯d chosen to rest¡­ and to draw people in to provide him with more materials and a steady flow of whatever he might need. Captured miracle pills had helped multiply his recovery speed, and the thought of hiding in plain sight tickled him¡­ but maybe it had been the wrong thing to do. Then again, either option could have been correct- his failure was he had not done either well enough. He was most upset with this formation master he had in mind, furious at what she¡¯d learned from him. If he weren¡¯t leery of going back to the upper realms at the moment he might seek to kill her. Though she also happened to be his favorite not-apprentice, because damn had she pulled off some good tricks. Pretending to take rewards for herself given his rules and then just distributing things as she pleased? Weirdly unselfish, but defiant. He liked it. In a few centuries, when he was all healed up and she¡¯d had proper time to develop into some sort of monster, they¡¯d duke it out on a battlefield of formations. But for now¡­ they were working together to improve messaging between the lower and upper realms. This was a unique situation, with Everheart being so familiar with how the upper realms worked. He was impressed at how she¡¯d managed simple, textual communications at all- even through interference of upper energy and other distortions. Even his own formations hadn¡¯t been enough, though to be fair Everheart had never meant to make them entirely insurmountable. It was more fun that way. The current talks about spatial distortion and ascension as well as returning were quite interesting. There were even talks of sending material goods¡­ but that was not something simple. Everheart of course carried things with him from the upper realms, but travel was not as easy as he made it seem- and his connection to the lower realms had been required. Perhaps if they had anything valuable enough to exchange that it would warrant an individual spending years traversing the vast distance between them it might be looked into, but otherwise that method was out. But sending messages with sensory information wouldn¡¯t be impossible. Images of a person, perhaps even seeing them stand in a room. Would that provide anything useful? Did Everheart care if it had utility? These were all important questions. There would still be no method to have instantaneous communications. Everheart doubted there would be a way to break space apart thoroughly enough to allow for such- certainly not at a price people would be willing to pay. Still, a few weeks- double that round trip- was of little consequence to the man. Even the younger Catarina was old enough to not concern herself with such delays. ----- Stars filled Anton¡¯s eyes. One, then another- flipping between the two as he wished. Rutera¡¯s telescopes were immensely impressive, and with just a little bit of tweaking and enhancing his own eyes, Anton could see Okloi- and its stars. The planets were admittedly lacking pertinent details, though there were occasional blurry blobs that could have been lights from cities. Perhaps a small increase in clarity would allow them to spy on their neighbors¡­ albeit with years old data. Anton wondered if they might do the same in reverse. Certainly, there should be visible signs of human habitation on Rutera. Through Matija and others she knew, Anton was able to get access to all of the information on Okloi that they had. There was another name, of course, but Anton preferred not to mix too many at once. Knowing what the people inside it called it was best, and Azoth retained its name out of habit. The fascinating thing about the binary star system of Okloi was the orbit of the planets. Depending on the threshold for what one considered a planet, there were between three and five in each possible orbit- directly around either star, or in a larger path around both of them. Anton watched with anticipation. It would be a short time before he could Assimilate with two additional stars, and while the versatility of two systems seemed like a reasonable option, the potential power of one system was far too tempting. And if he were to be fighting older, more established ¡®Worldbinding¡¯ cultivators? Anton was going to need as much power as he could get. Until that time, he would familiarize himself with the system. Perhaps knowing the stars better would ease his transition. Besides his first Assimilation it hadn¡¯t been particularly difficult to connect himself, but he thought he might need to attempt to connect to both at the same time. That was a cultivator hunch. Perhaps it would be wrong¡­ but if he missed an opportunity to achieve a preferred outcome because he wasn¡¯t willing to spend some time, Anton couldn¡¯t forgive himself. Anton really didn¡¯t want to risk dying, now that he was aware of the increasing magnitude of local threats, but he couldn¡¯t exactly choose to remain stagnant in cultivation. Sometimes, risks had to be taken to learn and grow. Chapter 501 In the upper realms, much of the group occupying Xankeshan had gathered together for a mission. With the exception of Catarina and Timothy, the rest of the group was off-world, along with some of their allies. In the place of the married pair, their smaller group had a frankly unsettling amount of swords, and one person to wield them. Hoyt, Alva, Velvet, and Fuzz were quite familiar with Chikere, but she was relatively new to Vari and Spikes. Not that being familiar with her was important- at the very least she wouldn¡¯t get in their way, and her combat capabilities were highly rated by the others. Velvet had made her way to them along with Kseniya some time before- and the older archer was quite happy to take up a defensive position on their little planet, at least for a time. So far they had mostly been managing relations with other factions, but the current mission involved a nearly inevitable conflict. The Harmonious Citadel continued to expand, taking over planets and systems as the years slipped by. In the upper realms, vast distances could be traveled easily, so the inevitable progress of the burgeoning faction was not particularly strange. Many planets were only occupied by small populations, and only planet-spanning sects or clans had any chance to resist the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s advance. Even then, only controlling a single planet or system was insufficient to face against them- but it seemed like they judged hostile takeovers of such places to be not worth their time, at least for the moment. Seven individuals, even at the Integration stage, were not a match for such a faction. Even if they counted the dozens of members of the Dark Ring they were bringing along, they couldn¡¯t sustain a frontal confrontation with the Harmonious Citadel. Even so, they had information about some potential targets- small, less guarded, and out of the way- that nonetheless should have valuable information. The Harmonious Citadel was already hostile to Xankeshan- having launched several assaults for their known and suspected losses. Only the recently revitalized barriers and formations held them off, despite the distance and thus relatively weaker presence of the Harmonious Citadel. It was enough for the Harmonious Citadel to turn away from them for the moment¡­ but with the aid of the Dark Ring they were planning to make it more difficult for further attempts to be made. Oter was a gas giant with dozens of moons orbiting it, located in the large zone between Xankeshan and the core of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s power. Just one of those moons was their target, and old training facility of some sort that was important enough for them to keep occupied. ----- Despite Velvet¡¯s best efforts, concealing a full ship was not her area of expertise. If they were lucky, she had done well enough to conceal their landing on the far side of the small moon. Otherwise, they would likely have a more difficult time, dealing with enemies prepared to face them. Regardless, there was no room for hesitation. If Catarina had been with them, a mobile formation might have hidden their group¡¯s energy somewhat longer. Instead, Vari took a position out front, hoping to throw off the enemy with her familiar cultivation. Anyone who thought about it for a moment would realize that a member of the Harmonious Citadel shouldn¡¯t be consorting with so many uninitiated individuals, but perhaps that second would matter. ¡°Yeeeeeeessss~!¡± Chikere grinned as they drew closer to their target. ¡°Swords! I¡¯m taking the top floors.¡± The enemy facility was a small tower, at least by cultivator standards. It was made to resemble one of those upon Rouhiri itself, but even Vari who¡¯s fanaticism had flipped on its head found this replica unimpressive. It could only support a few hundred individuals at best. As they approached, archers fired from the midsection of the tower, through arrow slits that no doubt were also backed up with formations that would empower their own attacks while blocking those coming at them. The tower had defensive formations at the base, of course- but the Dark Ring had lent some formation specialists to the mission. They couldn¡¯t immediately dismantle the formations, but they could guide the others on where to strike to maximize their effectiveness. Hoyt and Chikere were some of the first to act, striking the barriers around the tower and provoking the responses, bursts of energy they avoided or broke through. Alva worked with more precision, targeting precise points to punch through and disrupt the formation, while Fuzz supported her. Velvet found herself in the same boat as Vari, their daggers and bare fists respectively not being suited for battering things with pure force. The most interesting result among their companions was Spikes, who charged forward, slamming her paws into the ground next to the tower and¡­ doing nothing. Or at least, it appeared like nothing at first. Yet as the trembling formations broke, the tower sunk below its doorway¡­ and then with a further howl from Spikes, it was buried nearly to its peak. Fortifications tended to protect the area around them to prevent such a result, but Spike¡¯s advancement had left her with powerful control over the ground, and if she could not touch the earth a hundred meters below the tower, she would instead dig out an area two hundred beneath it, and let the natural results follow through. The formations had held it into place even as caverns opened beneath it, but the actual attacks worked with the strain on the structure that provided. There was the slight issue that the tower wasn¡¯t meant to be entered from the top- though it did have an entrance, it was nearly as fortified as the lower formations they had just spent their effort on. It seemed like sinking the tower had been a mistake¡­ until Chikere¡¯s enthusiasm found her way to what she sought. A few meters of stone and barriers were all that separated her from dozens of sword cultivators and their weapons, and they only held for three slashes, the final of which gouged open a meter wide gap in the walls that Chikere was instantly through. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. The others poured in after her, some of them widening the gap with the intent to increase their flow and provide needed backup¡­ but as many swords as Chikere faced at once, she had more than the same number of her own to counter with. The sheer difference in power between a single cultivator¡¯s power and that of many should have made up the difference, but her skill and madness allowed her to ignore or disregard most of the attacks- the latter meaning she allowed cuts and stabs through areas she considered non-vital. Soon enough, with the main attention of the sword cultivators occupied by Chikere, the rest of the group broke through to where archers waited, having been bombarding the group for the short time it took things to reach the current state. Cultivators from lower floors had rushed up to support them, but the sheer surprise of their tower sinking into the ground meant that many of the backline archers were immediately vulnerable. Along with the attacks from the Dark Ring, the daggers of Velvet found many vulnerable necks, and the wolves took advantage of the close quarters to tear apart archers. Hoyt and Vari were among those who went for the supporting cultivators coming from below. They fought for a position at the top of the stairs, the layout of which should have been supporting the defenders but instead worked against them. Vari caught spears under each armpit, twisting and yanking them away from Harmonious Citadel cultivators. Those who practiced the Holy Harmony Technique were weak- intentionally so, to some extent. She was easily able to overcome them, even if their cultivation had matched hers. On the other hand, those ¡®elite¡¯ individuals who practiced the dominant Glorious Harmony technique should have had an advantage over her¡­ but her cultivation no longer worked the same way. Instead of giving her devotion to the saints and practitioners of the Glorious Harmony technique, she drew from them. She used the promises that people believed in to twist their own power back on them¡­ and took their weapons so they were easy to defeat without. Hoyt¡¯s flames filled the stairs, comfortably wide enough for several individuals to walk or even fight, but not enough for the dozens of individuals below to break through the bottleneck. By the time the defenders who had been intended to face the enemy first arrived, the archers were wiped out and so were most of the spearmen. Meanwhile, the sword cultivators who were intended to come in as backup or leap from the peak to flank the enemy were mostly defeated, Chikere and a handful of others having taken them out while the others passed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you guys don¡¯t even have anything ranking higher than seventy-two! No wonder you¡¯re on this tiny moon!¡± Apparently complaining about people¡¯s swords, even as she stole them, was common for the woman. In less than a quarter of an hour, the tower was cleared of Harmonious Citadel cultivators, most of which had been below the Integration stage- though the dozen who had been stronger would be sorely missed. Even with the massive numbers the Harmonious Citadel had, consistently losing cultivators on that level would eat away at them. But that wasn¡¯t the purpose of their assault, nor the vault of valuables or the equipment the cultivators were wielding. Instead, they came for the knowledge- a moderately sized library, with techniques and more mundane records. There was also something else that made the place special, though only Vari could feel it. It wasn¡¯t something she could quite explain with words, but it seemed to be a beacon of some sort. It called to her cultivation, though she didn¡¯t actually want anything to do with it. Impressively, the tower still maintained its rigid structure despite being sunken. That included the basement where some of the treasury was stored. In that corner was a statue of an oddly familiar woman¡­ not quite the same level of depth as the one on Xankeshan, but once again Vari put her eyes on a Spear Saint¡­ who was not the current Spear Saint. She wondered who the woman was, perhaps one of many- the ranks of the Saints might be more mutable than she imagined, with only the public appearances being kept up. Yet Vari felt there was something more to her interest. She just couldn¡¯t quite place her finger on what. ----- Twin telescopes flanked Anton, each pointed at ever so slightly divergent viewpoints. He had some reservations about what he was going to attempt. Not because he was concerned for the claim others had on the twin stars in his vision. No, Anton would feel little guilt if he only knew half as much of the actions of this group. They were at war, whether the Sylanis Cluster comprehended Anton¡¯s existence or not. He was simply concerned there might be some way to reverse the process without his presence¡­ or that he might inspire enemies. Yet the benefits in his mind outweighed the risks. He was not afraid of retaliation- provoking someone to seek him out would mean them fighting on his territory. Simply because he was not limited to one space shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem, though Anton had felt the difference with Lev. The thing he was more concerned about was simply the time, additional centuries that these Worldbinding cultivators might have. So he didn¡¯t intend to enter their domains¡­ unless, perhaps, it was also his own- if the binary stars provided anything close to the promise he thought they held. Anton had readied himself to the best of his ability, familiarizing himself with both the stars he sought as well as those he was bound to. His ability to draw upon the power of other stars had improved, and so too should he be able to connect to these distant-yet-near twins. The question was if he could manage both at once¡­ and there was only one way to find out. For the purposes of avoiding problems around him, Anton was close to Rutera¡¯s sun- he couldn¡¯t imagine that even if he killed himself there would be any direct effect on it- so that he could draw as much power as he needed to strengthen the connection to other stars. His small setup of floating telescopes was just barely able to withstand his current distance and remain whole, and he set both eyes on two points of light, flickering balls of light that promised power. Chapter 502 From tiny points of light a barely fathomable distance away, the twin stars drew close until they were pulsing embers of warmth that Anton could almost reach out and touch. Even so, it took more effort just to reach that point than when he bound to Rutera¡¯s star mostly by accident. Part of it had to be the distance- even from Rutera, Okloi was still several times further than the other systems had been. On the other hand, Anton felt the stars tugging against him alternately, as if either one might slip away. His grip tightened on them, attempting to pull their power into him. Yet as one drew closer, the other pulled away, as if he were trying to pull together a pair of magnets. The closer they drew to him and each other, the more repulsion there was against all. Was it impossible, then, to Assimilate two stars at once? Perhaps he might still do them in sequence, but if they still rejected each other¡­ then his activities in the Okloi system would actually be limited instead of empowered. In the worst case, he might simply require two of his stars to function in a single system for no benefit. That would be¡­ a disappointment. One that he was unwilling to accept, unless he was certain that it had to be that way. As of now, he was barely persuaded. So there had been a little snag. What was that compared to nearly incinerating himself for his first Assimilation? He didn¡¯t intend to push himself to such lengths at this moment, as a disappointing failure would be better than wasting everything he¡¯d worked for, but nobody said cultivation was supposed to be easy. He wrapped his hands around the two stars, pulling them closer. As they approached, they strained against him and each other, their power flaring in his palms, the heat scorching him. Yet the flames could not harm him, not at such a magnitude. Only if he let them run uncontrolled inside of him would he find himself concerned, especially with the backing of Rutera¡¯s star right next to him. The heat on his actual body was massive, though something he felt naturally adapted to with little need for natural energy to shield himself. He continued to draw the twin stars close to himself. They had to at least exist together within his dantian, but he didn¡¯t need to force them to hug each other. He allowed them to retain some distance, but it was clear they were still far closer than they would like. As he pulled them closer, feeling them wrestle against him, Anton worried briefly that he was making a mistake. The resistance was unlike anything he¡¯d encountered before- was there a Worldbinding cultivator working against him? If someone already had a prior attachment, advancing further would be a danger. He paused, feeling the pull as the stars kept their energy from him. No, this wasn¡¯t an active resistance, no conscious control of a cultivator. This was simple natural resistance that Anton imagined would go away completely if he chose to focus on just one target. But he found the struggle enjoyable. It was more pure than a life or death battle, the strain of exercise and the fatigue of a good day¡¯s work. Inside of his dantian, two orbs of fire pulled apart, straining at the limits of the space available to him¡­ but settling into place, orbiting around the edges of the space, a warmth of power flowing through them. Anton smiled to himself. Though his cultivation would advance naturally with training, it seemed the main benefits came upon securing more stars for himself, the hundredth star and beyond replacing the weaker motes of power he created for himself as he connected to actual stars. Inside of his dantian, it took time for things to settle down. Anton continued to meditate where he was for a day or two, perhaps longer, just to make certain everything was stable. It certainly wouldn¡¯t do to allow the power to explode inside him once more. Eventually, he nodded to himself. He had succeeded. He couldn¡¯t be quite sure what the effects would be until he experienced them from a closer distance, but Anton was certain that the effect would be better than simply latching onto a single star. The test of his abilities was also beneficial, and Anton could feel the distance between himself and the stars he drew upon lessen slightly. ----- During his short time away, Anton had left Merve in the care of a few individuals from Ceretos. He was still responsible for her actions, and keeping watch on her was best for both her sake as well as others. Many citizens of Rutera would like an opportunity to seek revenge on one of their enemies for those who had died- children, siblings, spouses, friends. It didn¡¯t matter that Merve hadn¡¯t killed anyone. Anton wasn¡¯t even going to argue that she was innocent- because while she hadn¡¯t been successful, she still came with the intent of war. Likewise, simply because circumstances forced her into the position didn¡¯t stop her from being responsible for her actions. Anton was well aware that she would have killed, just like she had to survive to her current cultivation level. She wasn¡¯t being forgiven for nothing. Anton was taking some of the price upon himself, but her cooperation was also important to Rutera, and the rest of their alliance. The Sylanis Cluster was a greater danger than previously perceived, and Merve had many other answers as well. Obtaining such information sooner would have been beneficial, but the prisoners had been surprisingly difficult. Not because of specific conditioning, but simply an aspect of despair the Sylanis Cluster developed in those they considered lower. Anton had suggested some methods for Rutera to connect with further prisoners, but Anton didn¡¯t have the time to actively engage in such things on his own. Besides, even if they were official allies now Rutera needed to handle as much of its own affairs as it could. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Merve still took a bit of work, but even though she didn¡¯t entirely believe Anton, she still allowed herself to indulge in her moments of freedom, and to dream. ¡°What do you think? Should I aim for Ascension, or Worldbinding?¡± Anton took the question seriously, of course. Her talent was sufficient that with his help she could manage either, even if she still wasn¡¯t certain of it- or that he would keep his promises. ¡°That would depend¡­ on what you want. Do you want to see the mightiest splendors in the universe, to struggle for the best there is to offer? Or can you remain content with the appearance of the mundane?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t really know how to answer those questions,¡± Merve admitted. ¡°I will give you another perspective, then. Would you accept moving from a position at the head of the pack to the middle of a greater power? Or would you prefer to find yourself a king among those you knew?¡± ¡°I want¡­ to be strong. As strong as possible¡­¡± Merve frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t feel like you chose either of those options, though.¡± ¡°You are correct,¡± Anton said. ¡°My reasons for my choice were quite different¡­ but given your admission that you have none you care to return to, my personal choice of protecting my world and the majority of my family and allies will not appeal to you. In truth, I made that choice long before I realized what it meant. I gave up the path to the peak of power for it¡­ at least to my knowledge. Perhaps Assimilation might match the likes of Augmentation and Domination eventually, but none on Ceretos have had the time to find out.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know much about Worldbinding besides its existence,¡± Merve admitted. ¡°Or how strong those other stages are. But I think¡­ none of those I¡¯ve heard of are that much stronger than any other Worldbinding cultivator. And if they were, they would have made it widely known.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Good. Then we can hope they are still in the same range of power¡­ though I and the others are still novices regardless.¡± He¡¯d only been an Assimilation cultivator for a bit more than two decades- compared to what he could only assume was centuries for some individuals. The main hope was to draw any Worldbinding cultivators away from their domains, should they need to combat them. Or, maybe, Anton himself could do something in Okloi. ¡°Back to your question, if you were particularly fond of some people, some place here, then I might suggest Assimilation. You seem to have had the misfortune to be treated as one of the ¡®lessers¡¯ where you came from, so it could suit you. Or¡­ if you choose to ascend, I can at least guarantee you would have access to proper allies and companions, not just competitors.¡± She had no immediate response to that- Anton could see thoughts churning in her head. It was unlikely she would trust the promise of companions- but once she truly ascended, she would know Anton¡¯s promises weren¡¯t just empty. And of course, she would be free to follow whatever path she wanted¡­ though without any backing, the upper realms would be difficult. ----- ¡°Attacks have begun to decrease in frequency and intensity,¡± Nicodemo shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve noticed as well.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°You are concerned about what it means?¡± ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, it means that the presence of strong defenders here has caused enough damage to deter them, and they¡¯re now hesitant to continue. Perhaps they might even end the war.¡± ¡°And you believe that?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°You know better than that,¡± Nicodemo sighed. ¡°Based on what we¡¯ve learned recently, I have doubts that they would stop with just this. Weos¡¯ tales indicate they could send more. So¡­ they should be preparing for more concerted attacks.¡± ¡°I would assume that as well,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I¡¯ve grown more adept at dealing with them, and at this point I do believe I outmatch their barriers¡¯ adaptation, but I can only cover so much area.¡± His range was slowly increasing with his cultivation, but it could take centuries before he could cover even a moderately sized planet. He wasn¡¯t ashamed of needing others, though. Besides, if an attack was powerful enough he could simply move to meet it¡­ as long as the area he left behind had its own defenders. Nicodemo sighed, ¡°I remember just before we came into contact with Ceretos, how we were so excited to explore the galaxy and find other life. Then it turns out three systems want to kill us for no good reason. I¡¯d rather my position be obsolete.¡± ¡°Hey, don¡¯t forget that the first system you came in contact with was reasonable,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°And it just turns out those guys that want to kill you got a head start. I¡¯m still hopeful that the galaxy is worth that exploration. Even the upper realms¡­ it certainly has some powerful, troublesome groups. But it¡¯s not all bad.¡± ¡°Yeah, well¡­¡± Nicodemo shook his head. ¡°We were kind of expecting something¡­ different. Not more humans.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a coincidence. Clearly, someone settled your world. But in a way, you should be glad. At least you¡¯re free from the influences of the upper realms.¡± ¡°For the moment,¡± Nicodemo agreed. ¡°But perhaps because we weren¡¯t ¡®good enough¡¯.¡± ¡°I imagine they¡¯d be quite surprised with what you have developed. Rutera will be strong, it just requires some work with your cultivator foundations. With your technology to support you, you¡¯ll be difficult to counteract.¡± ¡°If we don¡¯t get wiped out first.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an eternal problem cultivators must deal with, it seems,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Though perhaps we can change that, in our little local region. We merely have to overcome a single significant foe, with three of us in the alliance.¡± Anton grinned, intentionally leaving out the part that each of the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s systems had more population than Ceretos, Rutera, or Weos. No need to bring down the mood. And¡­ once he got a chance, he was going to try a little excursion into Okloi. Just to test things out, though he intended to remain far from actual populated areas. He didn¡¯t want to provoke stronger conflict, not when they weren¡¯t ready. Chapter 503 A warning came to Ceretos of a possible intrusion. Not to the population as a whole, but simply those who needed to be made aware¡­ those who were important or powerful enough to do something. Since that time, Erin watched the sky. There was little she could do about her position. While she was fortunate among Assimilation cultivators to have a mobile source, she didn¡¯t exactly control it. She could, if it were necessary- but Paradise¡¯s normal patrol through the oceans was sufficient for most circumstances. They never really needed to be somewhere specific. If Erin had actual knowledge of some actual attack, a time, location, or anything of the sort she might have some control. As it was, she just had to wait. It was insufferable. Then, something unusual happened with Paradise. He usually just drifted with the currents, only minimally controlling his movement- but occasionally he propelled himself forward. This was one of those times, which meant he sensed something. The question was, what? Something tasty like a kraken¡­ or some dangerous enemy? It only took an hour for her to find out which, as Paradise suddenly ceased his movement, dipping his head into the water- but not diving. Instead, the turtle only lowered his head to surround it in water, raising up great waves as he pulled his head up- and keeping the water with him. The energy flow around Paradise told Erin what he planned- the same energy flowed through her, with Paradise¡¯s permission. They did not share personal energy, only the flow from the ecosystem around the turtle, but that was sufficient to determine a target. Not that Erin could make it out, but she had at least a direction- high into the sky, where there appeared to be nothing. Instead of waiting around for Paradise¡¯s attack, she began to move, flying outside of the arc of the building attack. It wouldn¡¯t do to get in the way. As was the norm, Paradise shot a single giant orb of water, barely held together by energy, but full of might. Except for the strange balding man who had challenged the creature, such an attack never targeted an individual- it had previously only been aimed at armies, and created some sizable salt lakes. One of those lakes flew towards its target in the sky, the pull of gravity fighting it and losing. Though the water did not go nearly so far as to actually escape Ceretos¡¯ pull. Not before it hit something. The impact allowed Erin to sense whatever had been hidden. It was only a few small points of power within the great sphere of Paradise¡¯s might, but she felt them. She was already on her way, and was able to intercept¡­ what was left of them, at least. Nothing whole remained, but as Erin watched the falling debris she could pick out at least what it had once been. Ships- several of them, and of vaguely familiar design. Though she had only seen one in person, as an example. Azoth- or the Sylanis Cluster. Or, since they didn¡¯t seem to communicate at all, ¡®those bastards¡¯ was a reasonable name as well. Regardless, Erin gathered what she could- valuable pieces, anything that might contain information. The people¡­ while protected by the hull of the ship, it was insufficient. They were dead, and perhaps they deserved it. Erin briefly wondered how Paradise knew. There had been others, both from Weos and Rutera, passing by without incident. She could understand attacking anyone that radiated ascension energy- they clearly did not belong. There was no way for Paradise to have known¡­ except, of course, the same way as herself. Just because the great turtle didn¡¯t communicate didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t understand. Or perhaps he simply sensed hostility- it wouldn¡¯t be so odd for such an ancient creature to have those abilities. Either way, as Erin continued collecting she was sending out messages as swiftly as possible. Whether this was part of an assault or merely a few scouts, people needed to know. ----- Word reached Lev shortly before he felt disturbances in the upper atmosphere- and interactions with the continental barrier. The attack was a little more central- the Grasping Willows were a bit north and east of the core of Brogora- but it wasn¡¯t so distant that he couldn¡¯t sense and even respond. Upon Anton¡¯s advice he had worked to expand his effective radius, and while his power still rapidly dropped off compared to remaining with the Grandfather Willow itself, he could range a few hundred kilometers and still retain power greater than Life Transformation. His movement was half flight and half leaping from place to place. Actual flight was not energy efficient, especially for those whose cultivation styles didn¡¯t allow for it. His bounding leaps carried him quickly towards his destination, undoubtedly alarming anyone he passed over- though the closer he got to the disturbance, the more likely they were already concerned. Standing below the continued assault, he looked up. It wouldn¡¯t be quite as powerful as he¡¯d like, but spectral vines rose from him, reaching towards the sky, stretching into thin, almost invisible tendrils- at least from his perspective on the ground. They wrapped around the ships, squeezing, crushing¡­ but as soon as he thought he might break the defensive formations on the ships, a more solid barrier snapped into place. It resisted him, and not merely by accident. He¡¯d heard of the adaptive barriers, he just hadn¡¯t expected it to work within that few seconds. Unfortunately this meant he¡¯d missed his window of opportunity to slip spores through the barriers, though he considered trying. Then again, just because he couldn¡¯t crush the ships didn¡¯t mean they could move. He still had a grip on them, and the harder barriers actually helped with that, as his energy tendrils wrapped around the vessels that strained and pulled to get away, at best lifting him off the ground a short way. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Alright then. Lev could work with that. Instead of crushing them directly, he twisted them, their four directional sails sticking out beyond his grip. The barrier protected them too, but as the sails crashed against the continental defense formation, it was clear which was superior. Normally a wider scale formation would lose out at individual points, but then again- the ships had no hope to break through it to begin with. No doubt they would have finished their probing assault soon enough and reported back. As sails snapped and cracked, the shifting edges of the barriers clashed with the continental formation, warping and stretching and finally snapping. Actually, Lev imagined he could have done that on his own- though the barrier hardened, resisting his energy¡­ it still had to withstand his force. He¡¯d merely let the continental formation provide a different force as he pulled and bashed the ships against it. ----- All around Ceretos, similar assaults had happened. Even the Exalted Archipelago reported some intrusions- which they had dealt with to similar results. An attack hadn¡¯t been exactly expected, but it had been theorized. The assumption had been that it would have come after Rutera was conquered or managed to drive off the enemy- and only if they were aware of Ceretos¡¯ location. Obviously they did, though whether they had just discovered it or had simply been waiting was unclear¡­ for the moment. ----- Word of the assault on Ceretos would take time to reach Rutera and Weos, so when the significantly more powerful attack came to Rutera, they had little warning. Little¡­ but not none. Matija¡¯s devices were scattered throughout the system, sensing approaching ships from both the direction of the sun and elsewhere. They did not, however, pick up anything coming perpendicular to the system¡¯s primary orbital axis. Orbital stations were hit, suffering severe damage before they even realized an attack was happening- but improvements during the war allowed them to hold together and provide an armed response. Ships were scrambled, along with cultivators from Ceretos- Rutera¡¯s cultivators were better as part of the fighters, even the standout Ty. Anton was of course among those cultivators, quickly bringing himself beyond the atmosphere to widen his possible array of targets. Each kilometer of atmosphere was much more significant than beyond it. Though he was aware of the other responses, Anton focused primarily on his own efforts. Arrows pierced into ships, changing targets as enemy ships adapted not just between shots but while attacks were en route. It seemed they expected him in particular, instead of letting their barriers adapt after he struck them. But their system had a weakness. If they adapted to Anton in particular, they were less fit to deal with anyone else. He had no trouble redirecting his arrows the instant before they struck something that would resist him, targeting any who were foolish enough to not see him as a primary threat. There was no winning scenario for them. Anton¡¯s increasing combat prowess and cultivation were such that he couldn¡¯t possibly be ignored, even as a single individual. Anton was participating in no fewer than three separate battles centered around some of Rutera¡¯s primary orbital defense stations, so they couldn¡¯t exactly just leave. If they did, he¡¯d be at another battlefield within the minute, and that was if they could even get away cleanly. A weakness that had been discovered with the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s ships was that they had to balance stealth, speed, and defensive power. It was logical- there was only so much energy to be split among what they needed- but the speeds that were appropriate in pitched combat and the speeds required for proper interstellar travel were significantly different, and the latter were nearly impossible close to a planet due to the interference of gravity wells. Rutera had no other Assimilation or Worldbinding cultivators to provide the same effect as Anton, but their own forces and the Life Transformation cultivators fought tooth and nail, buying time for those not on active duty to join the battle. It was hours before the skies cleared, during which Anton burned through nearly his entire reserve of energy despite his mighty recovery. That meant he was using even more energy than his wild rush around the belt of Kuchion breaking apart the defensive barrier. But the battle wasn¡¯t over once the skies were clear. Enemy forces had landed- given the orbital defense platforms and Rutera¡¯s own barriers, they hadn¡¯t broken into any population centers¡­ but for the first time in the war a significant number of civilian casualties occurred. Not that they could have been avoided¡­ but it was a blow to the local morale. Even as they reported record numbers of enemy ships downed, people couldn¡¯t celebrate. Ceretos¡¯ cultivators were a significant factor in clearing the landed enemy forces. Mobilizing Rutera¡¯s forces took time, and while their fighters could and did arrive to gun down the landed ships, they couldn¡¯t do much to individual cultivators on the ground, not without risking significant collateral damage. Anton flew over a battlefield where he sensed Elder Intan, and no surviving enemies. Up ahead he sensed more enemies, but arrows were already on the way, targeting Essence Collection and Life Transformation cultivators. The faster they died, the fewer innocents would suffer. ----- The fact that Weos was not attacked was encouraging. At the very least, it indicated a limit to the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s forces, and likely a lack of information. While Weos had previously driven them off in another war, the recent civil war with significant casualties among the elite was a perfect opportunity to capitalize. For a brief moment, Anton wished they had been attacked as well- but only so that they would be drawn more strongly into the war. His selfish desires proved unnecessary, as Weos didn¡¯t hesitate to begin discussions of how they could aid an allied counterassault- clearly their enemies weren¡¯t going to pull any punches, and Weos wasn¡¯t so foolish as to think that they wouldn¡¯t be next on the list if the enemy expanded and grew stronger. It seemed that Anton would have to make that trip sooner than he thought¡­ if only to test the feasibility of being a scout. Chapter 504 It was impossible to say that the trifold alliance had good intel on the Sylanis Cluster with just what surviving scouts had reported, Merve¡¯s information, and the thoughts and memories gleaned from people¡¯s heads after the attack on Ceretos, but they were at least aware of some things. Enough that Anton was planning an excursion of his own, with the intent to take out key targets. Shipyards, refineries, and anything else that fed into the constant stream of people that seemed to pour out from the system. Being part of the first real attacks was a risk, but it was also an opportunity. Up until now the Sylanis cluster hadn¡¯t really suffered the consequences of their actions. Anton couldn¡¯t say that he would actually manage to make them reconsider, but if he could harm any of their leadership or even just anything profitable¡­ it might be worth it. So far, the Sylanis cluster had been throwing away resources for little to no gain. Even drawing upon the wealth of three systems, occasional ships successfully raiding Rutera and returning wasn¡¯t of more value than what had been destroyed- and all the salvage from the battles ended up in Ruteran hands. The recent, more serious attack had resulted in more enemies successfully withdrawing with some manner of prize, but it should still be a net loss. Yet according to Weos¡¯ experience, that would only encourage them to strike back harder. Anton and the others were well aware that the response to them actually initiating any attack on the systems of the Sylanis Cluster couldn¡¯t be fully predicted, but sitting passively wasn¡¯t much good for anything. They were aware that overcoming them and their hundred or so Worldbinding cultivators was impossible¡­ but if they could strike and retreat, causing more efficient damage¡­ then they might make them more interested in defending then attacking, and at some point the war might be called off. Or they would get wiped out by mobile Worldbinding cultivators, but if that was possible it was likely inevitable. A small fleet of ships from their alliance were heading towards the system they knew as Azoth, mainly from Rutera and Ceretos. Weos¡¯ ships were faster, and would be more effective on their own. They went towards the third system- Aphuna- which was slightly more distant, but most accessible for Weos. As for Okloi, it was the furthest, which was why Anton had set out first. Before his practice expanding the range of his power, Anton might not have been able to manage the journey. Even flying directly between two systems he was connected to, there was a large void of nothing where he had only the slightest power to draw upon. His training had increased that minimum enough for him to feel comfortable accelerating to high enough speeds- and altering the world around him to go beyond the normal limits- to achieve the journey in a reasonable time. Somewhere upwards of a month, compared to years. As he drew close to Okloi and was able to draw upon his power, he was ready to decelerate himself- and even turn to flee, at the first signs of trouble. In the worst case, within his storage bags he had crystals filled with energy he could draw upon. Anton could have brought others, but not to disparage any who could come with him¡­ they would have held him back. If there was trouble, he would be able to retreat faster than any of the ships, and keep himself safer. Bringing along others would only spell their doom if they could not handle themselves- and frankly, Anton wouldn¡¯t have been willing to sacrifice allies, harming himself as well. His journey was also an experiment. Would Okloi¡¯s twin stars provide him a greater power, or would he simply have a wider area to roam? Experimenting with such things when there were others along with him only increased their chances of being spotted too early. Once he was cognizant of what to expect, he might bring along others¡­ but until then, they would be focusing on the other systems. As he felt the power of Okloi¡¯s stars, Anton was initially cautiously optimistic. Certainly, he felt no trouble drawing from both stars together, though he was still at the far edge of what he could consider the system, where his actual draw was barely more than the void between systems. He entered the system at an angle from the orbital plane, not by intention but simply because that was how it had to be. Okloi was tilted with respect to Rutera, bringing him in at an angle from the top¡­ or perhaps the bottom. He was unsure what the local perspective on that was, though it hardly mattered. Anton adjusted his angle of approach to bring him between the two stars, where there should be no enemy presence. If they had a sensory formation around their system Anton had either not noticed or not yet encountered it- but since even Everheart hadn¡¯t been able to track the ships from Weos their whole journey, Anton was unconcerned if they were aware he had touched their system. The twin stars orbited quite some distance from each other- both had planetary bodies orbiting them individually, and there was a significant distance between the outermost of such. The distance between them was more than twice those orbits, but that was still less than what Anton would consider ¡®out of the system¡¯. As he placed himself between them, he took some time to familiarize himself with the power flowing from them. Even with the distance from both, Anton found himself in a similar state he would expect on Ceretos. Perhaps marginally weaker, but that was of little concern. If the two stars actually transferred energy between each other he would be in the optimal position, but he was actually in one of the weakest positions he could be within their influence. Drawing closer to either star empowered him more than what he lost from further distance from the other. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. With some foreknowledge of their orbits, and a keen eye, Anton could pick out the orbiting planets, around the individual stars and even the few that took the longer path around both. Though he couldn¡¯t clearly make out the smallest planets or some of the moons, even a normal human could make out the larger planets with the naked eye- he didn¡¯t need telescopes to do any differently. But he had some just in case¡­ though without a proper location to attach them, they were more like powerful spyglasses. Anton avoided approaching anywhere near the planets, rotating ¡®up and over¡¯ Okloi¡¯s first star. Indeed, his draw grew until he reached the far side, after which point the effect decreased. That was all he could expect, as he drew further from both stars at once. In short, his power would be greatest if he were between the two stars¡­ but he could function more or less as he would expect on the far side of either- and maybe he was a bit more powerful. If he could manage to reduce the dropoff with distance, however, or when actively pushing his limits¡­ he should be more powerful in this system. That was something nice to confirm for certain, instead of just assuming. It was also comforting that he had not ¡®wasted¡¯ one of his potential connections. Even if he was at one of the strongest points, however, Anton had no intention of fighting a Worldbinding cultivator. Even in the optimal situation where he managed to win against presumably stronger and more experienced cultivators, the battle would drain him and perhaps delay him long enough for another to come. He wasn¡¯t going to assume they were limited to small enough areas on one planet or even single planets, because if he did and learned differently, it would lead to his death. And he still had all sorts of stuff to do¡­ like this whole war. Checking his communications, his week or so of puttering around testing his limits within the Okloi system was coming to an end. The ships were approaching their targets, or more properly had already reached them given the communication delay. That meant he had to hurry, because if the enemy¡¯s communication speed managed to surpass theirs he didn¡¯t have long. All he had to do was pick a target. ----- The shipyards of Cubimia took advantage of the planet¡¯s small gravity and relative lack of anything else interesting going for it besides it being the central planet that orbited their star. That meant materials could come from either direction without much difficulty, depending on orbital positions, and outgoing ships could do the same. Mainly what they had was the low gravity, land, and people who had no other options but to work for them. It was a cushy job, if lacking in advancement opportunities. But what was Baltasar going to do? He had no hope of Ascension or Worldbinding. Not at his age, with his talent- no matter the resources that came to him. So he managed some shipyards, though all of the work fell to his subordinates. At most, he had to hassle people who were late with shipments of materials, threaten them with offending whichever sect wanted something this time. There were ships of all sizes, from the smallest craft that could barely carry anyone between planets to the interstellar capable battleships to the luxury battle-yachts meant for large sects and clans. There weren¡¯t many of the latter, and they took years to construct even with low gravity and many workers, but they were profitable. Most of those profits didn¡¯t go to Baltasar, but he had enough to maintain his level of comfort. Food, drink, and women were all plentiful enough even on Cubimia. Baltasar shot bolt upright in his chair when he felt a disturbance on the planetary barrier. What kind of idiot forgot their pass tokens and ran into the barrier? Honestly, what a pain. Somehow they would be blaming him for this, even though they were the ones who forgot. But even if it was some rich young master, with the power of the Goldenglade Merchant Company behind Baltasar he could manage. Then it happened again. He rushed outside to see what exactly was going on. There wasn¡¯t supposed to be a meteor shower for another week. Some debris of a battle? Motes of light struck the barrier, one after another- sharp points that he could only make out from their power and not any visual indication. He couldn¡¯t even suss out an origin, but they certainly didn¡¯t seem to be any sort of accident. Something in Baltasar¡¯s pocket grabbed his attention. Of course, some idiot who thought he didn¡¯t notice the freaking barrier being messed with. He looked at the message regardless- it could be just some client wanted to check on progress. Oddly enough, despite it not making any difference if he replied the same minute or the same week, some would be offended. ¡°Let¡¯s see here¡­ the barriers are broken above sectors 3 and 17. Damage to construction facilities, ships, the Ultimate Phoenix Sect¡¯s newest vessel¡­¡± Baltasar grumbled to himself. ¡°What kind of prank is this?¡± The barrier above him cracked, and so did the fog over his mind. Who¡­ who would attack this place? So many factions worked with the Goldenglade Merchant Company, nobody would stand for this. Baltasar was going to give this stupid rogue sect or whatever it was a piece of his mind! The building behind him caught on fire, as well as a ship made out of Eternal Heartwood not a hundred paces in front of him. It caught on fire, as if it weren¡¯t more durable than steel. That was impossible, it had to simply be a blanket of fire that would soon burn out the oxygen supplies and leave the ship undamaged. The atmosphere was thin enough the only thing that could sustain such a reaction was if¡­ if the Eternal Heartwood actually caught on fire and began off gassing its internally contained stores. Flaming arrows struck the ship, piercing through layers and catching even more of it on fire. Then it exploded, a situation that should absolutely never come to pass under circumstances that Baltasar could foresee. He had to do something. There were more messages coming in, but he ignored them. He drew the sword from his back, looking at it, and then up into the sky through the barrier. The Defender would be dealing with that already¡­ which meant Baltasar was unoccupied. He looked back down at the sword, and plunged it into his own guts. No way in all the hells would he be explaining what happened. He just wanted a comfortable life, and he preferred a swift death to what he expected would happen. Chapter 505 During his attack, Anton had many things to process- where his attacks were going, what appeared to be tempting and expensive targets, positioning of enemies- but he noticed much more than he could act on immediately. The planet he had targeted hadn¡¯t been defenseless, but piercing through the barrier even in a few small locations had been reasonable enough. Anton had not been able to stay long because a powerful cultivator had been approaching- he didn¡¯t yet want to test the might of a Worldbinding cultivator only a short distance away from a planet they protected. He did learn some valuable information. First, that particular opponent hadn¡¯t possessed attacks with sufficient range to target him from his high position above and around the planet, and they also hadn¡¯t felt his approach, at least not early enough to respond before his attack began. The latter could have been carelessness from lack of actual dangers, and he might be picked out if he made another attempt, but it was good to have at least some assurance that he could move stealthily against these cultivators. Though the Worldbinding cultivator was certainly of note, as were the unfinished vessels that would doubtless be several times as powerful as the best vessel the alliance had gone up against before, Anton wasn¡¯t focused on that. Instead, he focused on the people¡­ specifically, the weaker ones. Those hard at work, not simply ¡®supervising¡¯. Anton couldn¡¯t feel any enchantments binding them, but such was hardly a necessity when society accepted and enforced the role of slaves. And that was what they were, though it was unclear if they were officially called that. It wasn¡¯t really surprising. Such power structures were extremely common among cultivators- though it was more difficult to control other cultivators, they were also more valuable, and Ceretos had only managed to do away with the practice within Anton¡¯s lifetime. Kohar was still fighting against the responses meant to provide the same effect by a different name. Ceretos was by no means perfect yet¡­ but it was better than this. The question in Anton¡¯s mind was how to use this to their advantage. An organized slave uprising would be an excellent disruption to their enemy, but if it just resulted in oppressed people dying it would hardly be worthwhile. Anton was honest enough to admit that he would prefer the deaths of unknowns from the Sylanis Cluster to those of those in his alliance, but if anyone had to die he would prefer it to be those instigating all of the trouble- those in power. If only it were so easy. If he could simply slay everyone in power, then they would win the war automatically. He hadn¡¯t directly tested the might of the Worldbinding cultivator, but he had at least enough exposure to know the power was genuine¡­ and that there were many more. Averaging somewhere around two per planet, if Merve¡¯s information was correct. ----- The trifold alliance¡¯s attacks on the other system did their best to avoid encountering Worldbinding cultivators, focusing on outlying outposts and occupied moons. As the news came to Anton, it appeared that not all of their attacks were successful¡­ but also that not all of them were failures. That was good news, proving that the defenses of the Sylanis Cluster were fallible- though the population was still intimidating in its vastness. Of the attacks that failed, some simply found barriers too difficult to penetrate through, while others were driven off. Of those that were exterminated, it was of slight encouragement that the one wiped out by an unfortunately present Worldbinding cultivator was able to pass along information. It showed that the enemy¡¯s power was not unlimited in scope and unable to wipe out everyone at once. The minimal information only gave limited information on the martial prowess, but the presence on one of the moons meant either that was their binding location, or they could roam a significant distance while still maintaining enough power to slaughter Life Transformation cultivators. It wasn¡¯t ever pleasant to hear about losses, but Anton knew that was simply how war went. They merely needed the enemy to suffer proportionately more than they did and they could manage¡­ a ceasefire, or something to that effect. Aiming for anything less than absolute victory was frustrating, but it was only sensible. Ceretos had, what, a dozen Worldbinding equivalents compared to over a hundred- and neither of their allied systems had any. If Everheart were at full power it might have been another matter, as he could easily count for more than five or ten or¡­ Anton didn¡¯t really know how strong an Augmentation cultivator was, but the point remained that Everheart probably couldn¡¯t take on a hundred. Unless they came to him, but they¡¯d have to be pretty easily provoked for that. ¡­ That was a good plan. If Everheart was good at anything, it was provoking people. They could just lead them all into a giant trap formation and kill them all away from their seats of power. There was no way it would actually work, not on every single enemy at once, but maybe they could get a handful. That kind of loss might be sufficient for their enemy to think about negotiating. But that would be Everheart¡¯s job, since he was the specialist. Their raids provided much information. Anton hadn¡¯t exactly gotten close enough to retrieve any materials, but some of the others had managed to walk away with interesting materials and enchanted items. They weren¡¯t entirely unfamiliar, as the style of the Sylanis Cluster matched that of typical cultivators- and must have been influenced by the upper realms, though it was unclear to what extent. Along with materials, mundane records were retrieved, and while that seemed unimportant¡­ simple things like warehouse manifestos or maps or historical information of any kind would fill in gaps in their knowledge, potentially opening up many new opportunities. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ----- Though the other groups had retreated after successful or unsuccessful attacks, Anton wasn¡¯t done yet. Okloi was now on high alert, but that was exactly the reason he needed to test them further. Would their planetary barriers work like their ships? He¡¯d given little chance for anything to react to his previous attack. More importantly, he was interested in how Worldbinding cultivators might respond. Would they follow him into space? Would they fly on their own, or use ships? Just because Anton didn¡¯t have any that were worthy of carrying him didn¡¯t mean those didn¡¯t exist- some under construction at that shipyard might have reached that point, when complete. His current route was taking him towards the other star, and another planet currently on the inside orbit. It was a large gas giant with at least a dozen moons. His trajectory took him to one of them, only for him to barely even slow down as he whipped past it. He still peppered it with hundreds of arrows as he passed, but he didn¡¯t try to cause any significant destruction. Instead, he simply watched as people scrambled to respond- but he was already on his way somewhere else. He swung around to another moon, then another- doing no damage to anything important as he went. On the surface it might have seemed as if his attacks were pointless, but not only was he observing what he could as he passed by¡­ attacks that didn¡¯t cause any damage were necessarily worthless. Defensive barriers were forced to activate, and on a planetary scale they burned through natural energy like miniature suns. That was the plan, at least. Everheart had studied the enemy ships and determined that while active their barriers used up energy whether or not they were being damaged, and quite a significant amount. Everheart had then gone on to brag about how his formations were more efficient and only had a marginal flat cost for being active, but Anton already had the information he needed. Now that he got to test it out, he could feel the significant flow of energy. If he was lucky, he would permanently drain a few decent crystals, or at least cause some wear and tear on the whole system. He also learned that these barriers hadn¡¯t adapted to his energy, at least not yet. Would they? That, he was unsure of. Another very useful thing Anton learned was that he could feel angry Worldbinding cultivators from a very large distance. Despite having a hundredish of them between the three systems, there were nowhere near enough to have them on every moon- but Anton did sense a couple down in the gas giant, and now approaching rapidly. But Anton was already on his way out, having flung himself around and now past the gas giant. He did allow himself one small indulgence. Concentration on drawing ascension energy, Anton utilized his prototype technique that may or may not eventually fire all the way into the upper realms. It was kind of a stupid idea, but it was a simple expansion on Horizon Shot¡­ though significantly less flexible. If he wanted to hit the ¡®nearby¡¯ gas giant, he had no hope of doing anything but firing a straight shot with all his might. It was a more significant distance than between Ceretos and its moon, so that was really all that he could manage. As two angry figures came towards Anton, he was already accelerating away from them before he let the force of his shot push him even further. Usually, he stabilized himself so that the power of his projectiles wouldn¡¯t move him where he didn¡¯t intend. Now, he was perfectly happy to have his arrow go one direction while it pushed him further in the other. The arrow itself, despite moving at nearly the speed of light, took nearly five seconds to reach the planet- flying past the two approaching cultivators as it did so. Anton wasn¡¯t sure what he hit, but either it was important or the two seemed to think it was important. Or perhaps it was merely slipping an attack past them. Either way, the aura from them increased as Anton continued to accelerate towards the second sun. He didn¡¯t force his trajectory to bring him straight to his destination- while that might indeed be the shortest and quickest route, pulling himself up and over intervening planets and testing his opponent¡¯s mobility was also his intention. He was concerned to find that they had been gaining on him, and they continued to do so even as he shifted his trajectory- but even with that, he revealed important information. The pair were bound together, most likely making use of the same vessel. Otherwise, if they had any sense they would slightly adjust their individual trajectories to try to cut him off or flank him. The chase was not a sprint, but a marathon. Anton¡¯s earlier advantage in speed meant even surpassing him his opponents were taking hours to catch up to him, and as Anton drew closer to his target star they maintained the same acceleration and turning ability, while his own was increased. Anton cut close to the star, making use of his domain to keep track of his opponents as he pulled away, around the far side. He considered trying to fight- but even if he was able to kill this pair, letting on the true core of his abilities so early in the war seemed like a mistake. Instead, he looped around the sun several times- tracking their movement until he was quite certain they had lost him. After all, the star was nearly the same size as the distance from the gas giant upon which they dwelled to some of its moons- more than some, even. And while Anton could make use of it to track them, its vast power did an excellent job of masking anything else around it. Perhaps they might pick up inklings of how it matched him¡­ but they wouldn¡¯t know his true control of it unless he displayed it openly. After another loop, he propelled himself out of the system, wishing he could do more but knowing he had already endangered himself enough. He could accept dying if it wouldn¡¯t hurt those he cared about, but beyond the merely emotional his combat ability was necessary. He wasn¡¯t going to do anything too foolish- and what risks he had taken were deemed worthwhile. Chapter 506 It seemed almost a waste to travel all the way to Okloi only to leave after less than a day of actual activity, but Anton wasn¡¯t in the mood to find out if they had some way to track him down and take him out. Even a couple Worldbinging cultivators away from their positions and a decent number of Life Transformation cultivators put together would be a threat- and hanging around their stars would give away too much information and initiative. No doubt they could gather sufficient forces to kill him if he simply stayed in place. Thus, he was on his way back to Rutera- if they could track him, they would have to go far outside of their system, and the chances of them exactly coming across his path between systems was¡­ extremely small. Everheart indicated their ships wouldn¡¯t be able to make any significant adjustments during their interstellar travel methods, whereas Anton had enough leeway to aim himself at any part of Rutera¡¯s system, and even a near miss would allow him the energy to pull himself back where he needed to be. If he had a way to recover a significant amount of energy between systems, he could be much more flexible- but for the moment he still needed to conserve himself. Nothing that a few years of traipsing around the void wouldn¡¯t fix. Anton had full confidence that practice would do him wonders. He had just enough leeway to use his communication devices, assuring everyone that he was alright and that his personal missions had been successful to at least some extent. With nothing better to do, Anton repeated everything that happened in his head. Could he have been a little faster here or there? More precise, more powerful with his shots? He also reviewed what he remembered of the Worldbinding cultivators, though he had little to go off of except their auras. He had the feeling they had been prepared to launch attacks at a few thousand kilometers, a fairly significant distance though perhaps only appropriate in space. Still, he far outranged them. He wasn¡¯t going to count shooting a few hundred thousand kilometers when he only needed to hit a planet, but his reasonable attacks were sufficient to show he¡¯d kept the advantage¡­ against those two. Surely the Sylanis cluster had to have some long ranged cultivators in Worldbinding, and Anton wasn¡¯t looking forward to running into them any time soon. Though at least he could be fairly certain he could match them one-on-one away from their domains. Anton was quite certain that if he stayed to fight the two that came from the gas giant, even with the power of one and a bit stars under his belt, he would not have fared well. Their power¡­ it was certainly less than Everheart, even in his current injured state, but it was far from Anton¡¯s early Assimilation stage. By quantity of natural energy they could have been anywhere between fifty percent stronger or even double his own, and Anton wasn¡¯t quite sure how far that would carry them. Certainly they¡¯d had no concerns chasing after him. To learn more, Anton would have to compare notes with Lev and the others. Granted, they all had the same couple decades of experience or less that he did with Assimilation, but they might be able to learn some sort of general pattern. ----- ¡°You actually did all that?¡± Merve said incredulously. ¡°W- you can¡¯t just go off and die! You still have to fulfill your promise!¡± ¡°Already done,¡± Anton said. ¡°Our rework of Angelic Providence is sufficient for it to be complete, and with your talent¡­ I know you can Ascend, whether it takes you two decades or ten. And if I died, you would be safely transferred to Ceretos to complete that training.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Actually, it would be faster if we sent you there. The natural energy is much more abundant.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wanna go!¡± Merve said angrily. ¡°I don¡¯t trust anyone else! I barely even trust you.¡± Anton nodded, taking her shouting in stride. ¡°Fair enough. Since I¡¯ll be fighting out of Rutera for the moment, we¡¯ll have to hold off on that. I do have another option for you, though.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know anyone in Weos, either,¡± Merve said. ¡°That wasn¡¯t it. If you would like to obtain some manner of revenge and contribute to the war efforts on this side, having you work towards a rebellion in Okloi would be advantageous. I won¡¯t make you, of course.¡± ¡°Why not just send someone else?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re a native. Your cultivation method will fit in, you won¡¯t have any slight aberrations in your speech from being native to a different system, and because I could trust you.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ thanks? But I really don¡¯t want to go back there.¡± ¡°A shame,¡± Anton sighed. ¡°I could really use an insider. Too bad they stomped out all sense of companionship in the place.¡± ¡°Nobody ever helped me. Don¡¯t know why I¡¯d help them.¡± ¡°See?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m sure someone must have helped you, at least in small ways.¡± ¡°No way, I had to fight for everything. Even a basic cultivation technique, then resources, a place to train¡­ everything. I¡¯m not going to be grateful to people I had to beat down, or to those who arranged all of that.¡± ¡°Well there you go, practically a glowing review of the common man. You had proper resentment towards those in control all along.¡± Anton saw the look in her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re thinking that I am like them, aren¡¯t you?¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°No,¡± she lied. ¡°Of course not.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to renege on our deal just because you express your opinions,¡± Anton said. ¡°And eventually, you might believe that. I wish you would go to Ceretos¡­ it really would be a great boon to your cultivation, and you could practice anywhere. You don¡¯t need much else than time and natural energy, now.¡± ¡°... I still trust you a little bit more than anyone else as strong as you,¡± Merve said finally. ¡°And maybe your Order has a few decent people in it.¡± ¡°I¡¯d certainly hope so,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a lot of work weeding through people for moral fiber.¡± ¡°Not just cultivation talent?¡± Merve asked. ¡°I¡¯d rather have one trustworthy Body Tempering cultivator than a dozen Spirit Building cultivators I can¡¯t count on. Frankly, stronger people who might work against you are a net negative.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m not saying Ceretos is all sunshine and rainbows, or even the Order of One Hundred Stars¡­ but it¡¯s not bad.¡± ¡°Maybe, but I¡¯m still not going without you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Anton said. ¡°You¡¯re young enough that a little bit of delay in your cultivation shouldn¡¯t hold you back too much. I¡¯m not sure how long this war will be, but¡­ I can¡¯t imagine it at less than a few years.¡± Unlike previous conflicts, traveling between systems had a serious delay associated with it- people could be moved anywhere on Ceretos in a matter of a day, if there were no expenses spared. Rearranging an army across a continent would be much swifter than sending even a few ships to another system. ----- Coordinating multiple systems to work together was difficult, even if messages were transmitted faster than people. The delay could have been so much worse- weeks or months instead of days- but the lack of simultaneous communication was obvious. General Nicodemo interpreted the results from the various groups, and their following actions as the intent to wait upon the response from the Sylanis cluster. There was little way for them to get information of enemy movements before they arrived, because even if they left scouts all along the enemy ¡®border¡¯ they would barely be able to detect anything, and that was assuming they took the most direct routes between systems. General Nicodemo had studied for such warfare, of course, but it didn¡¯t make it any more comfortable that they basically had to rely on a large formation they didn¡¯t understand and their sensors around Rutera and their outlying bases. Even though the results had been decent- at least they showed they could manage attacks into enemy territory and avoid a complete wipeout- the president wasn¡¯t happy. And frankly, Nicodemo couldn¡¯t blame him. Who would be happy during a war with only a slight success? At least the people were somewhat encouraged by the results. Finally being able to declare anything but a defensive victory was rather nice, and morale was important. Other than that, of course, materials were key. Ceretos and Weos were providing some materials, but even if they could afford to give up everything there was a limit to how fast Rutera could produce ships¡­ and upgrade them to keep ahead of those stupid barriers. Nicodemo watched a short clip that had returned from the war. It was video taken from the inside of a certain pilot¡¯s fighter, and while the whole scene was rather chaotic it showed a series of buildings collapsing as the closest one¡¯s main supports were sheared in two. This was the sort of success that Nicodemo was supposed to praise in his interactions with his soldiers, and he did. The part of the video not shown to the public also made him want to strangle Ty Quigley. That part showed a first person view of a space fighter flying directly into the walls of several structures, slicing through the barriers and bursting out the other side before once more breaking through a wall. Along the way several of the weird sailing ships were run through. Then it showed the fighter popping open his ship to cut apart an incoming beam of energy. That last part didn¡¯t seem like it should have been possible, and couldn¡¯t have been necessary. The ship had shields for a reason! But the following view of collapsing buildings was pretty good. Somehow during that whole escapade Ty Quigley got his hands on a pile of enchanted metal and was asking for his ship to be refitted with that. Nicodemo wanted to shout at him that that wasn¡¯t how war worked and resources went where they were needed. Then the cultivators from Ceretos had decided it was a good idea and somehow thrown together upgrades for the guy¡¯s fighter. Cultivators were crazy, and Nicodemo said that knowing full well he was becoming one of them. The worst part was that Nicodemo had to figure out how to convince everyone that was the best use of resources¡­ because while it might have been, counting on a small portion of their soldiers and turning them into battle icons was¡­ ridiculous. Nicodemo was also going to have to explain that Ty Quigley was not his friend, just a valuable soldier and a sparring partner. Though he supposed showing that whole video would do a pretty good job of making people shut up, once they realized how much property damage the man caused in their short raid. Though he couldn¡¯t say quite what it equated to in local currency, ships didn¡¯t come from nowhere. And if they could count how many cultivators they killed, they could mark them off of the estimated tens of thousands of high cultivation enemies. ----- Anton had expected a serious response from the Sylanis Cluster. That was the risk they had taken, but everyone was ready. And when ships started lighting up Rutera¡¯s sensors, Anton knew the response was not just halfhearted. And yet¡­ he hadn¡¯t thought it would come with such impulsive behavior. Anton felt not one, but two Worldbinding cultivators, even as they were nowhere close to their approach to Rutera itself. He wondered if the response was the same in the other systems. Ceretos¡­ well, it was actually probably the safest of the three. Even without Anton, they had the only Assimilation cultivators in the alliance, and they¡¯d been preparing for an invasion already. They had just been expecting it to come in a century instead of right away. Weos¡­ had withstood the attacks before. They¡¯d have to manage this time. For the moment, Anton had to focus on where he was. First on the agenda was determining whether the Worldbinding cultivators he was detecting would be able to fight at full power, or if it was diminished. He hoped everything else could be handled by Rutera and the allied cultivators diversifying their forces. Chapter 507 The two Worldbinding cultivators were a concern for Anton, and though he would have liked to fly out and meet the incoming fleet he had no guarantee that he would not be tied down by the two cultivators long enough for the rest of the fleet to harm him. Instead, he would have to wait until there were other targets- Rutera¡¯s other defenders. As the enemy approached, Anton was glad he hadn¡¯t been foolish. It was difficult to pin down exactly how powerful the two were, even as they approached, but Anton¡¯s estimation was that the weaker of the two should be a close match for him, even away from their home. The other was definitely stronger, perhaps retaining a better connection than the other. It was difficult to say if it was something inherent to their methods or experience- or some combination. Anton was not shy about launching his attacks once the enemy was vaguely in range- a few thousand kilometers and still rapidly approaching. If he didn¡¯t have such powerful targets to lock onto it might have been more difficult, but without the atmosphere to interfere it was reasonable enough. Anton was concerned that he might have trouble striking any other ships in the fleet, but it turned out to not be an issue¡­ though not in the manner he would have liked. As his arrows reached their target, they were absorbed by a barrier around the flagship carrying the two Worldbinders. That had been more or less expected- it was a larger ship, not a kind that had been seen in Rutera. It was close in size to the mightiest in the shipyard¡­ or at least the one that would have eventually been comparable, when finished. The issue came when he diverted his target to the other ships¡­ and encountered the same barrier. Not a similar one, but instead he was able to determine that the flagship was sharing a barrier with the whole fleet¡­ and if he was not incorrect the more powerful Worldbinding cultivator was augmenting the whole thing. He had just enough time to report that to the local military and consider his options before the enemy ships came to a sudden change in speed and visibility- they were still moving fast, but their trajectory wasn¡¯t straight towards Rutera, instead taking a strafing path. It would have been convenient if they had been foolish enough to directly impact the barriers, but if anyone so high ranking in the Sylanis Cluster was that foolish, they¡¯d no doubt have died long ago. As ships engaged, Anton tested the limits of the enemy barrier. It was most powerful on the ¡®front¡¯ side, but it certainly wasn¡¯t trivial in other directions. One thing he swiftly noted was that it didn¡¯t seem to physically stop allied ships near the edges, though a few pilots who didn¡¯t get or perhaps believe the information Anton gave tested the center and found it quite unyielding. It was likely the last mistake they could ever make, as their ships turned into little more than bricks of metal and components. If the defense was not enough, Anton felt the aura of the ¡®weaker¡¯ Worldbinding cultivator weaving through both the enemy fleet and beyond. The attacks that came from the invading cultivators were all tinged with the same energy, no doubt enhanced in some way. A deadly combination with the enhanced barrier, and that wasn¡¯t the end of it. Though Anton couldn¡¯t quite determine what without subjecting himself to it, the aura seemed to have a detrimental effect on local cultivators. It was quite clear why those two cultivators in particular had been chosen for the assault- they were both functional in general, and a valuable asset to the fleet as a whole. Rutera had their own defenses- orbital stations coordinating with fighters to bombard the enemy barriers with as many different attacks as possible- but it wasn¡¯t sufficient. Unlike the previous experience with the barriers, the enhanced power either allowed it to respond to a wider variety of attacks or simply bolstered the minimal effectiveness to nearly invincible levels. Even if none of Anton¡¯s attacks pierced through, he didn¡¯t let up. There was no way the enemy was actually invincible. At the very least, the barrier had to be draining energy every time it was struck. The only question was the efficiency- would their side or the enemy run out first? The initial moments of battle weren¡¯t looking good for Rutera, but they had been anticipating attacks on multiple locations. Now that it was determined that the enemy was remaining in one group, fighters from around the globe would be scrambling towards their locations. Instead of simply attacking with little to gain, Anton devoted a portion of his arrows to defense- while he had difficulty stopping a continuous beam, cultivators from the enemy ships attacked with bows, projections of their melee weapons, and various forms of elemental energy, striking against the barriers that the Ruteran fighters bolstered with their pilots personal natural energy. Anton focused on shooting as many of those attacks out of the air as possible, saving the lives of many or at least the structural integrity of their vehicles so they could continue the fight. Anton himself did not go unnoticed by the Worldbinding cultivators. For the sake of being able to react swiftly, Anton was on the battlefield instead of pushing the limit of his range- and that meant he was within range of the enemy effects, even a few kilometers distant from the main body of the fleet. From the weaker, Anton felt that aura reach out for him. Instead of what he might have expected- fear, confusion, or pain- he only felt a sense of peace. Why did he need to fight? It was pointless. He certainly shouldn¡¯t attack someone who could produce such a pleasant feeling. No doubt if they all laid down their weapons, everything would turn out for the best. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. That was what it wanted him to feel, at least. And for a brief moment, Anton did feel that. But at the same time, that very same cultivator was launching nearly invisible attacks into the local ranks. Anton rejected the feeling, and pulled upon his energy reserves to override it with his own aura, using his connection to the local people to ignite a fire inside of them. It wasn¡¯t a practiced technique so he couldn¡¯t completely dispel the effect, but he at least was able to lessen the fog over people¡¯s minds. Perhaps after this battle was over he could develop more along those lines. Unless he was very mistaken they would be facing more from the Radiant Beauty Sect the next time the upper realms invaded, and even if it did not involve the Augmentation Fajra herself, there would be similar opponents. The cultivation methods did not match with this Worldbinding cultivator, but it was the same category of abilities. The other cultivator continued to be the most straightforward. The stronger enemy¡¯s attacks were little more than balls of pure natural energy, akin to fists flung through the void of space above Rutera. They targeted Anton, spreading out to assault him from every angle. Sensing no natural trajectory that they were following, Anton simply had to predict how he thought they would move and avoid the area. Predictably, they followed him- giving up control of such attacks halfway through their flight would be a complete waste of the technique. Anton found he was able to match pace with the attacks, more or less. A few managed to impact him, striking his thighs and shoulders. They didn¡¯t fully break through his defensive energy, but they still left bruises beneath. Those were hardly serious injuries at the current moment¡­ but there were more than just a handful of attacks he had to deal with. As Anton flew about, glad he had trained his maneuverability instead of just relying on greater power, he dealt with the incoming projectiles in a manner he was quite accustomed to- by piercing them with his own. Though they were quite durable, once their core was shattered they unraveled, though Anton was unsure if it was by their creator¡¯s will or an inevitable consequence of their structure. It seemed the stronger cultivator was able to keep up the attacks on Anton while at the same time maintaining the barrier to full capacity, or at least as much as it had ever been. Still, they were limited to between a handful and a couple dozen attacks at once, whereas Anton could control far more Energy Bows than that if he needed to- or a greater number of concurrent arrows. When it seemed to be determined that Anton would not fall easily and the attacks shifted towards other targets, Anton continued to blast them apart. If any of those struck one of the local fighters or an orbital defense platform carrying Ceretos¡¯ cultivators, it would cause more damage than anything else the enemy was doing. ----- Upon returning from his adventures in Azoth, Ty Quigley had taken his mandatory days off¡­ and then gone right back to training. Missing a week or two of training might not seem like much, but he was decades behind some of these cultivators. Centuries, on the extreme end. He couldn¡¯t afford to just sit on his ass doing nothing. Instead, he had to sit on his ass in his fighter and make himself better. After some people threw stuff on his ship that had a natural purple-black sheen without paint. He wasn¡¯t quite sure what it was, he¡¯d forgotten the names of the crap he brought back, but Intan said it was good material so he didn¡¯t argue. The enemy fleet flew together in formation, the defensive barrier making them nearly invincible. Ty certainly couldn¡¯t find any way to sneak through the barrier, and he scraped his wings on it trying more than a couple times. He was glad for whatever upgrade he got because with the harsh impact they could have been torn off. The formation was a pain¡­ but their biggest strength was also a weakness. Individual ships were not able to break off to more efficiently attack the local defenders, and the maneuverability of the fleet as a whole was minimal. They were sweeping through a wide area causing as much destruction as they could, but not every ship and the cultivators upon them were able to act effectively. Ty had literally been following the fleet around for the past five minutes shooting at their rear, and only a few people even managed to lob attacks in his direction. Sure, ninety-nine percent of his shots hadn¡¯t made it through the barrier, but he managed a few gashes on some sails. And then one ship drifted slightly out of formation to try to get to Ty. With them dropping back towards him, it was simple for him to put on a burst of acceleration and approach them just as they drifted out of the barrier¡¯s optimal range. For some reason they didn¡¯t immediately pull away- maybe they thought he was going to crash into the barrier or something, but he instead pulled an impossible ninety degree turn and sliced them in half with his wing. Intan was very adamant that any sword cultivator worth their chops should be able to change the trajectory of their blade instantly- and what was a fighter but a very big sword? Or maybe three swords or something like that, if the nose and wings were counted differently. ----- A few smaller ships being taken out was hardly a decisive blow, but Anton felt something odd as the first few fell. Fluctuations in the flow of natural energy that he felt obligated to trace. They of course led back to the Worldbinding cultivators. They were the only ones who could cause a disturbance on that scale, and the overall coordination of the rest of the attackers simply wasn¡¯t sufficient to have that sort of feeling. Tracing it wasn¡¯t difficult, it was determining what it meant that was important. A couple ships gone, and there was a ripple effect. Were the Worldbinding cultivators bound to the fleet? Anton wouldn¡¯t say it was impossible¡­ but it wasn¡¯t quite right, either. The flows and connections weren¡¯t the same for the two individuals. One seemed connected to the cultivators- no, only some of the cultivators. The stronger one was connected to the ships themselves, though not in their entirety. Anton wasn¡¯t quite certain how he could make use of this information, but he knew it would be important. It was simple to say that he should destroy the ships and everyone on them, but they were already trying that. It was a battle, after all. But maybe, if they picked things apart piece by piece they might manage something more. Chapter 508 Relying on Merve¡¯s admittedly limited knowledge of Worldbinding cultivators had given Anton a false impression- one that was easy to come to, given the name. He had believed that they should only have connected to a location. Part of a planet- Anton had been willing to accept it could be the entirety of one. Given his own experience, the thought of them doing the same with multiple planets had crossed his mind, but he¡¯d failed to recognize that they could be as diverse as the Assimilation cultivators from Ceretos. While it was true that Lev and Vasu were bound to locations, even that was a bit shaky. Lev was bound to the Grandfather Willow- and it merely happened to remain in a single location, since trees weren¡¯t generally mobile. Anton was quite aware of his own circumstances, and that of Erin who was connected to Paradise and his ecosystem. The two cultivators from the Sylanis Cluster being connected to something different was perfectly reasonable, now that he considered it. If he was reading the situation right, the one with the manipulative aura empowering allies and trying to lull enemies into a haze was bound to her companions¡­ a specific group of individuals that had come with them. Anton felt that that one was not quite in top form, so he presumed there were either more people they were bound to, or there was also some connection to a location. If it was the former, they had not expected to need more power, which up to the current point in the combat was justified. And if it was the latter¡­ this was the best they could do on the offensive. The larger concern was the other. The one fortifying the barrier around the fleet as a whole, greater in power and more whole. That one was connected to, what¡­ the ships? That was certainly close, but Anton sensed that it was perhaps tied to the formations more deeply. Either way, that cultivator was also not at peak capacity, though either much more powerful to begin with or they maintained a better connection. Though there was another connection he sensed faintly and couldn¡¯t quite place at the moment. Anton was doing his best to counter both of them, weaving his own aura between his allies to protect them from the former while countering the latter¡¯s projectiles of nearly pure natural energy, without an element. Instead of merely orbs of force meant to chase and batter Anton, the shape had changed to more like needles or spears. If he snapped them in half then each part continued independently instead of unraveling which meant he not only had to be more precise- striking each projectile head on- but he also had to accept that his own attacks would leave some power behind. He simply wasn¡¯t strong enough to deal with all of them, even with that cultivator also maintaining the stronger barrier. This wasn¡¯t sustainable. Anton could continue to hold his own against their efforts for some time, but even with his current recovery he knew he would likely be drained long before them- and that was if he was only trying to maintain his current effects on the battlefield. He needed to weaken them, to cut off their connections¡­ but how could he do that if no attacks could get through the barrier? Surely there wouldn¡¯t be others so foolish as to slip outside to get themselves destroyed. Anton didn¡¯t think much of his chances of piercing the barrier even with ascension energy, not with someone actively empowering it¡­ and presumably aware of what he might do. He continued to search for options as he dodged around incoming projectiles long enough to erase them, occasionally accepting that he had to let some hit him when they would cause minimal damage beyond lowering his energy reserves. Sometimes beams or attacks from weaker cultivators would also target him, but those were more of an annoyance comparatively. His mind settled on two factors he could pursue- perhaps at the same time. First was something about the ships themselves- though they had internal power stores, the sails that provided them cloaking and interstellar travel capabilities drew power from sunlight. He wasn¡¯t aware of how much, especially not what would happen in battle. That was still being studied¡­ but perhaps he could cut them off from even the slightest source of regeneration. With a thought Anton reached out towards Rutera¡¯s star, trying to will it to bend to his desires. He thought he was successful, but nothing seemed to happen. Even so, he kept his mental grip, hoping that he might be able to do something with power that was allowed through the barrier. Then there was the matter of the aura, and what was powering that Worldbinding cultivator. It was really only a small number of individuals throughout the fleet, all protected behind the barrier of course. But¡­ while Anton had discounted his spectral energy for being too weak- it was the power from beyond death and reincarnation, and significantly less potent than Ascension energy- that was only the case if he was targeting the Worldbinding cultivators. He could certainly slay others with it¡­ and it might pass through the barrier. He didn¡¯t like it, but Anton had to give up on defending some of his allies to focus on several shots with spectral energy. Hopefully they could hold their own for a few moments. His bow trembled as he drew back the string, spectral energy forming an arrow almost invisible and less physical than even natural energy normally was. He hadn¡¯t frequently had occasion to use this power since Everheart ¡®gifted¡¯ him a new bow, but the way it resonated with the Worldheart limbs and the Soulstring was particularly potent. Anton still wasn¡¯t completely comfortable with the bow¡¯s origins, but it didn¡¯t feel malevolent at least. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He willed himself to be one with the arrow as it flew, circling around towards the rear of the barrier where it was at least marginally weaker. His target was the best he could pick out. The helmsman of one of the enemy ships, from what he could pick out through the barrier, and also one connected to the aura based Worldbinding cultivator. He slipped through the barrier, though some of his power was torn away by it regardless. He expected to encounter further resistance as he approached the ship itself¡­ but it seemed the wider barrier overrode that of the individual ships. Inside of it, they were basically unprotected. He stored that information away as he twisted around to pierce through the head of his target, top down, willing himself and the spectral energy to react as strongly as possible. His target was the brain and spine, though he wouldn¡¯t care if he was slightly off on the latter. He received only minimal feedback, jerking into his own body as the spectral energy dissipated. He watched the ship with his eyes, seeing it jerk to the side in a pleasing manner. The connection to the Worldbinding cultivator seemed to be severed as well. Anton grinned, feeling that perhaps his fifth prime tempering was paying great dividends. That was far back in Spirit Building, but Earthly Connection and how he related to people seemed to be valuable in sensing these Worldbinding connections. Anton quickly relayed the information about the inside of the barrier to General Nicodemo. He could distribute that information as he thought prudent, though Anton also contacted a few specific people from Ceretos. Elder Intan of the Million Sword Vault was one of them. If that man could manage to slip through the barrier¡­ he could cause untold damage to nearly unprotected ships. No doubt at great risk to his personal safety, and the cultivators on them would certainly do something to protect their vessels¡­ but the Million Sword Vault wasn¡¯t the sort to back down over silly things like risk of death. Anton didn¡¯t intend to get the man killed¡­ but he did consider it was a possibility. Anyone could die on the battlefield, including Anton himself. The ship Anton killed the helmsman on unfortunately righted itself before it could leave the bubble of protection. Anton hoped to break another piece of the fleet and perhaps reduce the barrier¡¯s power that way, but he¡¯d definitely caused some damage. And by the way more of the enemy cultivators were focusing on him, Anton thought they noticed his efforts. Because he had to avoid the attacks, he wasn¡¯t always able to perfectly deal with the barrier empowering cultivator. From the early bruises that were of little note, Anton was now picking up more serious injuries, punctures and slashes that Anton did his best to confine to his legs. He rather liked legs, but as he wasn¡¯t using them at the moment it was preferred to something that would inhibit his combat capabilities- anything on his torso or arms. ----- Upon receiving information from the head of the Order of One Hundred Stars, Intan looked for his apprentice. It wasn¡¯t hard to find him- he was the most prominent sword presence on this side of the massive barrier. The issue was getting to him and quickly communicating. Elder Intan looked down at the station below him- it wasn¡¯t meant to have people standing on the outside, but he wasn¡¯t much good if he couldn¡¯t swing his sword. So far he¡¯d mostly been consigned to cutting up incoming attacks, after trying his hand at the barrier for a while with no luck. Even now with it potentially weakened slightly, he was hesitant to give it his all. His legs bent, then straightened- shooting him in a straight line towards where his apprentice was heading. Instead of getting impaled or cut in half, he used two fingers to catch himself on the sharp wings of the vessel, letting it redirect his momentum. Ty¡¯s fighter currently lacked some of the features a purely atmospheric craft would have, but the wings were still present as a connection to these ¡®guns¡¯ it had and because battles still took place in partial atmosphere. Rutera was apparently developing different models for pure space combat that would never enter atmosphere, but Ty¡¯s fighter would always be similar to what it was. Unless they could let him fly an actual sword, but Intan presumed there was some reason that shape wouldn¡¯t work with the engines and lateral thrusters. Inside the ship, Ty gave little more than bare acknowledgement of Intan¡¯s presence. Intan simply held his blade at the ready, and they had a mutual understanding that they were looking for an opening. They did take a few swipes at the barrier, focusing on the rear where it was slightly weaker and when that was fortified shifting to different locations. The opening that came was unexpected to all, as the sun disappeared. No, it hadn¡¯t gone complete- simply dimmed suddenly. Two seconds later the moon¡¯s reflection also faded, leaving the other stars as the main sources of light. That was still enough for two cultivators, since navigating towards a massive barrier was rather simple. As expected of someone Elder Intan trained, the small opening and fluctuations in power was sufficient for Ty Quigley to commit. Instead of scraping along the edge of the barrier, he charged straight for it. As they approached, Elder Intan stepped onto the nose of the vessel, his blade ready. The two of them cut through the barrier, creating an opening long enough to find themselves inside. Elder Intan leapt in a seemingly random direction once inside, but it was actually calculated to have him reach a certain ship. Specifically, the one with the sword user carrying the best blade. His opponent was waiting on the far side of the vessel, but instead of bothering to go around he cut his way through, letting his momentum carry him even as artificial gravity tried to change his trajectory. Swords clashed, and Elder Intan passed by his opponent, a thin trail of blood on his neck¡­ the enemy¡¯s hands still gripping the sword he stole away. His opponent had managed a decent counter move, but he hadn¡¯t committed hard enough. If he was going to get his hands chopped off anyway, he should have forced his attack deeper into Intan¡¯s throat. But that was about what could be expected from a half assed sword cultivator. Chapter 509 Choosing to ignore that Elder Intan had instantly gotten within a few millimeters of death or at least deadly injury, Anton instead focused on the chaos and disruption inside the barrier. It only took a few moments before everything shifted, collapsing around individual enemy ships instead of being one large bubble around them. That meant that fighter pilot Ty and Elder Intan only managed to cause moderate damage in the few moments they had. Several more ships were destroyed in those moments, and with the larger barrier suddenly unavailable¡­ suddenly the orbital defenses and waiting fighters were effective. It seemed that with the Worldbinding cultivator focusing on them each ship¡¯s barriers were slightly stronger than they should normally be, but it was nothing compared to the near-invulnerability they had just lost. With the focus shifted away from Anton he had a few moments to reorient himself, picking out critical targets. The strongest of those who had a connection to the aura user, and any ships he felt he could bring down. Anton considered attacking the Worldbinding cultivators directly, but wasn¡¯t confident he could seriously affect them yet. Better to whittle away at their source of power while he had the chance. Rutera¡¯s fleet reacted quickly, weaving themselves among the enemy ships and making it impossible to simply take out the hindrances within the formation and reestablish the barrier. Anton was impressed at the speed with which the opening was exploited. The maneuver didn¡¯t come without cost. With the Ruteran ships inside their formation, the full power of the invaders was brought to bear, including the Worldbinding cultivators. That aura was a problem, weakening the moderate strength cultivators on Rutera¡¯s side greatly. Spectral energy was still the solution, Anton pulling upon as much of it as he could to pierce through the now weakened barriers, targeting any he felt had a connection to the woman. With the larger barrier collapsed he could feel she was a woman now- both Worldbinding cultivators were, though the barrier augmentor was significantly older. Whenever Anton targeted someone with his spectral arrows, the barrier augmentor focused her efforts on those ships¡­ but there was only so much she could adjust such things on the fly. Anton settled for a half dozen weaker arrows at once, some only appearing as spectral energy because his stores were limited. Some managed to still pierce the barriers, their specific qualities making them difficult to stop, while others were completely negated. Even if they had all been stopped, however, Anton felt his efforts were worthwhile. While the second woman focused on stopping his attacks, the rest of the fleet was facing slightly diminished enemy defenses that they were happy to continue to exploit. Along with Rutera¡¯s fighters, there was now a hefty mix of Ceretos¡¯ cultivators moving between the ships. Not all of them could completely control their movement in space, but they were able to jump between both enemy and allied ships, using them as platforms. The combat continued to rotate around the planet, not quite matching that of the orbital platforms and thus allowing fresh arsenals to open fire. Anton could only imagine how costly this battle would be for Rutera- ammunition meant to fight cultivators was not cheap- but no costs could compare to what would happen if they allowed themselves to be conquered. As each ship fell, Anton felt both Worldbinding cultivators weaken. He knew that even without any support at all they would still be worth more than a dozen Life Transformation cultivators each- the stronger one perhaps several times that- but compared to what they had been doing¡­ Anton was little concerned about their individual combat capabilities. Soon enough the enemy fleet had been cut by a quarter¡­ and then they began to pull away from Rutera. Anton heard communications in his ear, something that hadn¡¯t been necessary for most of the battle as he was the one relaying information. It was a simple bit of Ruteran technology that vibrated sound directly into him instead of those ¡®speakers¡¯ they preferred to use. It was a simple order, one he didn¡¯t technically have to follow- but was glad to. ¡°Maintain pursuit. Don¡¯t let them reform.¡± Even as those orders went out, Anton knew it would get many pilots killed. Without the support of the orbital defense platforms, they were more vulnerable¡­ and yet it was undoubtedly the right call. If these Worldbinding cultivators got another chance, they wouldn''t make the same mistakes again. They could come back, more prepared, with a larger fleet¡­ and perhaps that would be the end of Rutera. Anton didn¡¯t want to disparage the ground defenses, but if fighting broke out in the cities it wouldn¡¯t be pretty no matter who ¡®won¡¯. The power of ascension energy flowed through Anton, into his bow. Either the enemy¡¯s defenses would focus solely on him, or he would punch a hole through one of their ships. Maybe two, if he was lucky. The pull of his bow strained his muscles and energy, fatigue beginning to actually catch up to him over the course of the battle. But he wouldn¡¯t let this opportunity pass. By the time a third of the enemy fleet was destroyed, Anton thought he could have taken out the weaker Worldbinding cultivator, were she not on the same flagship as the one managing the barriers. The enemies response continued to be panicked, and Anton imagined they expected to be pulling away from these fighters. After all, all of the enemy ships were capable of interstellar travel, which meant superlight speeds in some circumstances. But they couldn¡¯t draw the power they needed. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. When the sky had darkened, even Anton had been momentarily surprised. He¡¯d forgotten his grip on the star¡¯s energy, but it had been working from the moment he did it- and it simply took more than a handful of minutes for the effects to reach them. Anton was only controlling a tiny fraction of the star¡¯s power- the miniscule sliver of it that was directly ¡®pointed¡¯ at Rutera- but that was sufficient. Which was good, because that was close to the limit of his power. Perhaps realizing this, the enemy ships were making their way towards the star with a slight offset, hoping to draw from its power as the chase commenced. Over the course of the next half hour, the Ruteran fleet determinedly dogged the invading forces, reducing their numbers to below half. Then the invading fleet began to pull away, as the interstellar ships finally managed to disentangle and begin to accelerate at a rate the fighters couldn¡¯t keep up with. There was also the matter of fuel the local fighters had. Another order, slightly delayed as distance became a significant factor. ¡°Assist the Ceretos cultivators and pull back. End pursuit. We can¡¯t stop them.¡± As much as it bothered Anton, General Nicodemo was right. But he was also wrong at the same time. As the enemy ships began to pull away, none of the local fighters could keep up the pace unless they wanted to doom themselves to never returning home. Even the most brash individuals turned to retreat, Ty Quigley¡¯s extremely expensive fighter bearing numerous holes as he carried Elder Intan away, the latter clutching one of his own severed arms in his teeth as they went. With the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s ships only getting faster, there wasn¡¯t much hope. Except, while they had chosen the best avenue of retreat for them¡­ it was also the worst mistake they could have made. Anton¡¯s eyes lit up as fires burned inside him. He was absolutely going to need a long period of recovery after what he¡¯d done today¡­ and how much more energy he was going to use. But as the enemy fleet drew closer to the local star he followed in silence and peace, merely keeping pace with them¡­ until he suddenly cut off a wider arc of the sun¡¯s power for just a few moments. He was ready for the delay, now, and when it hit the fleet, briefly dropping their acceleration and the strange invisibility they had, Anton took his shot. It was just a single arrow, but it went straight through the sails on one side of the flagship. The barrier from the second Worldbinding cultivator was instantly forced to its maximum as his attack went, but with half of the fleet missing and the woman having been constantly pushing herself¡­ it wasn¡¯t enough. The barrier defended the body of the ship, but with the sails on that side went a quarter of their energy replenishment capabilities and a great amount of their stability. His second arrow¡­ went through one of the lesser ships. His third came from behind the enemy fleet, from the direction of the star. He¡¯d actually launched that one moments after he cut off the flow of power, minutes ago. They weren¡¯t close enough to the star for him to simply melt the entire fleet with a giant net, but they were inside Sizipra, the innermost planet. Anton felt a significant boost as he began to tear through the ships and people- and the Worldbinding cultivator¡¯s power. Front-facing weaponry on their ships couldn¡¯t do anything to Anton with his current position, and the myriad of attacks the weaker cultivators launched in his direction hardly mattered as he swept himself back and forth behind them, his momentum keeping his position behind the fleet while he changed his lateral motion on a whim. The barrier augmentor¡¯s attacks were the only thing that could concern him, but she was fatigued and the fleet was only getting smaller. Half of Anton¡¯s efforts countered her attacks, while the rest whittled the fleet lower and lower. As the enemy fleet became less and less worthy of the name, Anton felt a wave of energy from the enemy- not an attack, but an attempt at communication. ¡°Wait! We surrender.¡± In other circumstances, Anton would have thought it entirely impractical to attempt. Containing not one but two Worldbinding cultivators, even away from their optimal bases of power? That wasn¡¯t something they had restraints for. Actually, Anton would bet that Everheart had something that would do it, but he wasn¡¯t exactly willing to wait a week. But¡­ at this exact moment, he felt confident in managing things on his own. His energy connected to the enemy, transferring his message back to them. ¡°About time.¡± Then he used another powered arrow to pierce through the core of their flagship, rendering it nearly nonfunctional. He wasn¡¯t much more merciful with the Worldbinding cultivators, gathering part of the star and forcing it into their dantians. ¡°If I lose control, that energy will explode. I¡¯m sure you know what would happen to you.¡± Without the barrier, he could even feel the two nod their heads before they carefully responded, their energy barely able to squeeze past the burning fire Anton tossed into them. ¡°We understand.¡± Anton then tossed out a massive net- not using the direct power of a star, but rather a more conservatively sized net made of ¡®peaceful¡¯ natural energy. The remnants of the fleet were gradually slowed by him so they would not drift past the star, as Anton instead settled them into an orbit. He also caught the other ships and pieces of them as they came into reach, further behind since they had stopped accelerating when destroyed. He¡¯d greatly increased his storage bag¡¯s size after previous incidents, but even now he didn¡¯t have enough space for dozens of ships, so he settled for holding them in place. As for any surviving cultivators, they were thrust into one of the surviving ships that still had air and some protection from the star¡¯s radiation. Then Anton sent a message to Everheart. ¡°Got two Worldbinding cultivators, could use longer term restraints. Come to Rutera¡¯s star with a solution and you can have first dibs on interrogating them.¡± That should be sufficient to get him interested, and since they couldn¡¯t have a back-and-forth discussion, he went with what he hoped to be tempting. Everheart knew much about Ascension. He¡¯d surpassed Integration and reached Augmentation, and perhaps wasn¡¯t even too far from Domination himself¡­ but Worldbinding and Assimilation seemed to be limited to the lower realms as options. Or perhaps they were simply unnecessary with the power of Ascension¡­ but Everheart would be tempted to find out regardless. Chapter 510 When Scholar Eulogius had sent a sky city crashing into the depths of Bavore, Weos was rightfully hesitant about him. Despite the fact that the city had been entirely compromised, the lack of hesitation and the ease with which he had accomplished the task concerned them. When members of the Twin Soul Sect had attempted to flee the system only to be contained by some sort of massive formation long enough for pursuers to catch them, they had been afraid. When he had offered to teach them ¡®a few tricks¡¯ they had been disappointed¡­ then ecstatic. With the local star and its gravity distortion having affected the planets within the system, even if it was not a universal area of learning Weos was more versed in gravity manipulation than typical. Such rare techniques being more commonplace had helped them eke out their ¡®victory¡¯ against the Sylanis cluster in the previous war, though their sizable population had helped. Unlike Rutera and Ceretos, they had long ago spread throughout their system. The ¡®tricks¡¯ Scholar Eulogius taught them allowed them to manipulate the formation set up around their system to distort gravity- and thus space, as their ships took advantage of- in whatever fashion they pleased. The energy required was significant, and required a coordinated effort from their ships, but it was able to do useful things like distort space randomly around an incoming enemy fleet. It was unfortunate that the invader¡¯s ships were sufficiently durable to not be torn apart by the spatial disturbances, but it did force them to drift apart over a sphere several hundred kilometers across. Weos had anticipated their arrival, and set their fleets against the isolated enemies. Some of their elders had participated in the previous war, and guided their tactics against the invaders. The technique shifted the tides of battle enough to send the enemy fleet into a rout, despite the presence of what was presumed to be another Worldbinding cultivator. They were only disappointed that they were not able to destroy the entirety of the fleet, nor the Worldbinding cultivator himself. ----- On Ceretos, a certain individual bemoaned her inability to participate in recent battles. To her shame, the same had been true of her people, locked as they were to the planet¡¯s surface. There was a great unrest among them, though perhaps nobody noticed. No humans, at least. Even so, the Great Queen was disappointed in herself. She was able to fly, but as she made use of wings she could only do so in atmosphere. And unlike human cultivators, she had no way to cheat her way around with natural energy. That was the primary weakness of void ants- and also their strength. They could mostly ignore natural energy, its offensive and defensive properties, but their bodies were small and their mobility¡­ limited. Perhaps those the Great Queen had slain might deny the latter, but she was well aware of how much it limited her effectiveness. Nor were there many among the void ants who could ever hope to match her current level, even long in the future. It seemed that those of the void ants with potential were rarer than the humans, and the Great Queen didn¡¯t have the same ability to plan a growth path that Anton did. The humans grew strong, and while the nests of void ants thrived in the energy rich atmosphere the cultivators produced, they could not manage it on their own. There were many factors restricting them. While they were brilliant for ants, only a small portion of them could be considered of human intelligence. They could solve many problems their size had for them, but they were lacking a feature humans took for granted. Hands. Hands made everything so easy. They could just scoop up a pile of dirt and toss it, instead of bringing it grain by grain. Some of that had to do with being larger, of course, but energy only exacerbated that gap. Void ants remained in an awkward position where they were living at the whims of humans. While it seemed like they might manage mutual destruction, that was only on the smaller scales. A nest for a village or town, as mundane humans were nearly as much of a threat as the most powerful cultivators. But they were not enemies. Instead, they shared mutual foes. The invaders from the upper realms were a group that the Great Queen was happy to go to war with¡­ but they would not arrive for more than a century. Now there were other enemies, but the void ants could not fight until they reached the ground- or at least descended lower into the atmosphere. The Great Queen didn¡¯t like it. She also didn¡¯t like the fact that Anton had gone off to another star system without her, though she was aware that her presence might have endangered his travel. The Great Queen wondered if the void ants were bound to planets. Not in the same way as these ¡®Worldbinding¡¯ cultivators she heard about, but in the more mundane fashion. There had been some talk of flinging them at enemy ships, but for various reasons it was decided to be impractical¡­ and any failure would result in good soldiers floating off into space, unlikely to ever be retrieved. Finding void ants was difficult enough when they were among other things, out away from atmosphere would be even crazier. There was one thing that Anton said that gave the Great Queen hope. Anything was possible with cultivation. And while she was certainly not cultivating energy, she did cultivate her body. She had always been aware of this, but a particular individual who came to train with them solidified the fact- the archer known as Nthanda. The body temperer still had access to natural energy, but it was still miraculous that she had developed something akin to the void ant¡¯s chitin over parts of her body. Could the Great Queen develop an ability to use energy in turn? Perhaps not¡­ but an increase in her power might come with surprises. Thus, she had put together a mission, one which involved both Nthanda and herself. For both, it was something of a desperate attempt to grow to the next level. The Great Queen found herself quite nervous as the ship carrying them stopped in orbit over a very large planet. It smelled delicious, but it still filled her with trepidation. ¡°You ready, Queen?¡± Nthanda asked. The Great Queen responded in the void ant¡¯s sign language. ¡°Yes. We must not delay. My people anticipate great things.¡± She did not say she was nervous. The Great Queen had come to understand human body language, but humans rarely understood hers unless she made it obvious. Nthanda held out her hand for the Great Queen to step onto. ¡°Then let¡¯s go. Sticking together might have better results.¡± The dim planet below was a swirling mass of gasses, with no solid land to be seen. The pressure of such a thing would increase greatly the further one descended. A true test of body¡­ and a chance to be something more. ----- The Sylanis Cluster was aware that the first attempt on the newfound system had not been successful. However, they had made a mistake by angering the Ultimate Phoenix Sect. Whatever attempt at a Worldbinding cultivator they¡¯d sent, it could be traced back to this system. With the actual individual at fault defending another system, this world would be quite open to attack. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The Ultimate Phoenix Sect didn¡¯t just name themselves after the firebirds. Among the fleet they sent, which should have soon included a new flagship, there were giant flaming birds. In their current forms they were incapable of interstellar travel on their own, but the sect had special containment on their ships for them. Now, they flew in formations, restricted only by their usual bindings. Those bindings kept them in line¡­ and channeled their power to the Patriarch, the Ultimate Phoenix himself. The power that burned within him was the peak of Worldbinding, matched only by a select few in the entire Sylanis Cluster- and even they lacked the gift of mobility binding powerful beasts provided. ¡°Patriarch, we are approaching the planet. Enemy vessels are mobilizing, but we have sight on our first target.¡± ¡°The tree.¡± The Ultimate Phoenix nodded his head. It was clear some great importance had been placed on that tree, and if information was correct it was the site of one of the more powerful sects. Live trees were actually quite resistant to burning- or at least they seemed to be, until they faced against the might of phoenix flames. Then, even stone and metal would ignite, let along somewhat moist firewood. ¡°Prepare our descent.¡± ¡°Yes, Patriarch. Oh?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Nothing. Just a weird surge of energy through the barrier. Perhaps a probing attack.¡± ¡°Very well. We shall continue.¡± As they began their approach, the Patriarch felt something. A sign of trepidation, perhaps? It was a strange feeling of hesitance he had not felt in centuries¡­ and he was loath to acquiesce to something so primitive now. With an army of phoenixes around him, and the fleets of the clan along with him, his safety at least was guaranteed. Perhaps some would fall, but the Patriarch could replace the others. ¡°I sense an incoming attack!¡± The Patriarch growled, his voice like crackling embers. ¡°Attune the barriers!¡± In times of crisis, the formalities of a response could be ignored. All that mattered was that the proper action was taken, and he could feel the formation masters adjusting the barrier to optimally protect against the incoming attack. A proper master didn¡¯t require sustaining damage before adjusting. Strangely, the attack missed. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. The power simply was not aiming at the flagship to begin with, though it could only have been a desperate struggle. Instead, a phoenix was struck- though it would matter little. If one died, it could be reborn from its ashes. Except¡­ Whatever the attack was, it not only killed the beast, but extinguished its flames entirely. The Ultimate Phoenix felt water- but a phoenix was not so easily doused that they could be affected by full immersion in the sea. Yet the power augmenting it somehow managed to do that. The formation master¡¯s eyes kept flickering around. ¡°What is it?¡± the Patriarch asked. ¡°Something strange. The flow of energy is being disrupted.¡± ¡°From an attack?¡± ¡°From the inside,¡± the formation master furrowed his brow. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it might just be an anomaly of the local system. It¡¯s still relatively minor, I just have to adjust if we run into any serious threats.¡± ¡°I¡¯m certain it is unimportant. I sense nothing.¡± ¡°Of course, Patriarch,¡± the man said. ¡°Your orders?¡± ¡°We shall begin the bombardment.¡± The wrinkled old man stretched out his hands, signaling his beasts through their restraints. They gathered their flames, preparing a coordinated attack. Bolts of flame gathered together from dozens of firebirds, each sufficient to set a city ablaze. They gathered together, striking towards the target- the great tree below. Enemy vessels were moving to intercept, and there would be open battle soon, but starting off with a devastating blow was the best possibility. The flames then impacted a barrier. The Ultimate Phoenix was not a formation master himself, but he could feel the magnitude of power. Did this barrier cover the whole sect? No, it was more than that. Wider. Perhaps the region? Dare he even say¡­ the continent? But size did not matter. What mattered was its durability, and though it withstood the initial moments of the blast it was steadily melting under the power of the assault. It would crack apart, and once broken it could not reform so easily. That, he was certain of. The Patriarch frowned. ¡°What is it, Patriarch?¡± the formation master questioned. ¡°The barrier should not hold long, I am certain.¡± ¡°It was nothing. Just¡­ a momentary, ominous weight.¡± It was as if something had tugged at the leg of his robes, but there was nothing aboard the ship that would dare to do so without his permission. The Ultimate Phoenix smiled as the barrier opened. Flames poured through towards the tree. And then¡­ it moved. The entire canopy of the tree twisted, and the combined might of dozens of phoenixes was momentarily halted. No, more than that- it was reflected. The beam of energy cut through the fleet, destroying minor ships that were not properly attuned to phoenix flames- but though the flagship was the main target of the reflection, it experienced no damage. So it was going to be like that? The Ultimate Phoenix would have to get involved more directly then. He clutched his hands together, gathering power to himself. Then he felt something on his shoulder. He moved his hand to brush it off, and felt a sudden twinge of pain. He looked down, and was confused to find that his hand was deformed. He couldn¡¯t quite figure out why, but it just looked off. Oh, that was it. A finger was missing. That whole process took him only a tiny fraction of a second, but by the time he came into any comprehension of the actual pain and circumstances involved, something had dug into his neck. It started at the front right side, severing veins and digging its way back to his spine. Worldbinding cultivators didn¡¯t survive by hesitating. The Ultimate Phoenix slapped his hand around his neck with all his might. He didn¡¯t concern himself with possibly severing his own head- he could be reborn easily enough at the cost of a few of his pets. But strangely enough, when his hand tried to crush his unknown target against his own body, it was only his shoulder that gave out, giving way as if the thing on his shoulder were incompressible matter. ¡°Kill it¡­ you fools,¡± the Patriarch choked out through half-functional vocal chords. They no doubt heard his orders, but his subordinates hesitated. The thing was on his body, so how could they attack it? The Patriarch hadn¡¯t expected much from them anyway, and simply ignited himself. Replacing the bridge and a formation master would be required, but he wouldn¡¯t allow unpunished harm to himself. Amongst the flames there was a slightly tickling feeling down the length of his chest and to his belly, as if heat sufficient to melt souls wasn¡¯t even a consideration. Then something tore into his stomach. No- that would have been a minor issue. Instead, without the use of natural energy, something tore into the metaphysical location of his dantian, the core of his power and cultivation. It tore away a chunk of him and¡­ swallowed it into nothing? One by one, phoenixes began to perish as they were called upon to give their life for the man who called himself the Ultimate Phoenix. Yet no matter how quickly their lives went, it could not stop what was happening to him. As he ripped open the front of his own robes- with great difficulty, given their priceless materials- he saw only the rear legs and abdomen of what seemed to be a black ant, presumably somewhat longer than his palm. His fingers reached for it, squeezing¡­ and snapping. Each rebirth the Ultimate Phoenix had to temper his body, but he did so diligently even if it hardly mattered. Every movement he had was augmented by natural energy, and between his fingers he could have crushed a mountain. Yet somehow, he felt as if he were a child trying to squeeze a rock. Then the flames erupted inside of him, his control lost- and he was no more. Chapter 511 It was almost surprising how many things Everheart had to restrain other cultivators. Anton paid careful attention, though everything he saw seemed like it could only be used on already incapacitated individuals. At that point, they could have already been killed. It was fortunate for Anton that the Worldbinding cultivators had chosen to flee in the direction of Rutera¡¯s star. Had they gone elsewhere, they likely would have only suffered a few initial casualties and then escaped. It was strange, actually. Anton had been able to sense what the two women were bonded to- could they not feel his connection to the star? He¡¯d have to go over that with someone he trusted. And he supposed Everheart would be a fine enough option, since he already knew the important parts. Being able to feel Anton being bonded to a star wasn¡¯t relevant when the man already knew it. ¡°So what did you say they attuned to?¡± Everheart asked Anton after the cultivators were properly restrained, not just with threats of imminent and inescapable violence. ¡°Followers, and these ships,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°Anything else?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°Is all of it here?¡± Anton closed his eyes, concentrating. Even without conscious effort his stores of natural energy were replenishing, but Anton was expending most of that recovery to circulate his energy and heal his wounds. Outside of himself, he reached his thoughts towards the two Worldbinding cultivators. ¡°There¡¯s¡­ more. All in the same direction, and very faint- so I presume back at their system,¡± Anton declared. ¡°Stupid,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Should have brought it all.¡± ¡°If it was really devoted followers and ships? I absolutely agree. They should have some reason not to but¡­¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Anyway,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I¡¯m impressed kid. You took out two people higher than yourself in cultivation.¡± ¡°Only because they chose the wrong direction.¡± ¡°Did they, though?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°Their ships thrive in sunlight. And I bet there¡¯s more to it.¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I just followed them until I was strong enough to do something.¡± ¡°In other words, you tricked them into entering your domain,¡± Everheart clapped, ¡°I¡¯m proud of you, kid.¡± Anton looked at his hands. Yep, still wrinkled¡­ and he was referred to as a kid twice in a single minute. Everheart was old enough to make that sort of statement, though. ¡°I suppose I should accept your praise. It was much closer than it appeared, though.¡± Everheart snickered. ¡°You should know that it doesn¡¯t matter who will win as long as someone knows otherwise. Once you convince everyone you¡¯ve won, you have.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s quite that simple¡­ but I can¡¯t fully disagree either.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Regardless, I would like to ask you something. Can you sense what they¡¯re attuned to?¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± Everheart furrowed his brow in concentration, not saying anything for a good five or ten minutes. ¡°The older one¡¯s connected to the ships, and the younger to a few remaining people, right? Yeah, I think I got it.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s not just me then,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t they feel my connection to the star?¡± ¡°First¡­ it took me more than an instant to pick that out,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Which means it¡¯s not that easy. I¡¯d imagine you being an Assimilation cultivator yourself is a significant factor there. As for you, I feel¡­¡± Everheart closed his eyes in concentration again. ¡°The devotion of the people of Rutera. Or at least some powerful people near there. As for the star? It¡¯s more internal. That power flows from the inside out, it¡¯s a step harder to sense. Also, I get the feeling those two are used to being dominant. They probably didn¡¯t think it mattered where you got your power from.¡± ¡°... Is there really that much devotion?¡± Anton asked. Certainly, when he tried to feel it there was a constant flow, but it wasn¡¯t much compared to a local star. ¡°I¡¯d mostly taken to ignoring it.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t ignore it,¡± Everheart said. ¡°But if you want to stifle your growth, go ahead and keep it up. Though for someone who says he doesn¡¯t care about devotion, you sure do a lot to cultivate it with all that helping people.¡± ¡°If I¡¯m going to receive any, it might as well be for something deserving.¡± Anton couldn¡¯t help but think about one source in the upper realms that he¡¯d never even communicated with directly. But apparently she was now happy with how things were going, so she could do whatever she wanted. ¡°Anyway I gotta get to interrogating,¡± Everheart said pulling out a huge pile of books and scrolls. ¡°Don¡¯t cause any permanent damage,¡± Anton warned. ¡°... Including to minds and souls?¡± Everheart confirmed. ¡°Especially to those. We need to know what they know.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Me too!¡± Everheart said. ¡°I need to know everything! It¡¯s easy, I¡¯ll just do a simple memory extraction and give you a copy of everything.¡± ¡°... Can you do that without turning them into mush?¡± Everheart rolled his eyes. ¡°Ugh. Sure, fine. But it¡¯ll take longer.¡± ----- The Great Queen was quite pleased with her development. While she couldn¡¯t exactly move freely beyond the atmosphere, she had developed a method to redirect herself by selectively negating nearby energy, creating a void everything would flow towards. It was a bit more complicated than that, but she should be able to explain it to her stronger subjects¡­ or carry some along with her as she went. That actually had little to do with her actual advancement. That had come in the form of consuming copious energy at the middle of a gas giant while her body was tempered under the pressure. In addition to that, the devotion of her brethren had empowered her, not just emotionally but with a tangible connection. It wasn¡¯t natural energy, but it was something that accelerated her development. As for other occurrences, she was now able to compare the taste of phoenix and phoenix cultivators, neither of which she had previously tasted. The former was better. The energy was more pure, and it tasted like chicken. The cultivator just tasted like a foul human, and human was something that the Great Queen had no taste for. What she really liked was ascension energy, but that was in hard supply even when Anton was around. For some reason the humans had ignored her as she dug her way through their ship towards their leader. She couldn¡¯t have been the most subtle, tearing through the barrier and chewing through some of the hull, but they¡¯d just ignored her. If they¡¯d simply used their eyes and ears, they would have seen her. And even with her advancement, she was fairly certain a proper cultivator could cut her in half if they managed to slash a decently made weapon towards her. Specifically, one that was naturally sharp and durable- since enchantments and augmenting natural energy were mostly pointless, except as they accelerated the blade itself. Speaking of people who could crush her with their bare hands, she needed to return to Nthanda. The woman hadn¡¯t been quite finished with her advancement or death when the Great Queen had, so she¡¯d had to leave her behind. Even if Nthanda did break through, it would be rather difficult to climb out of a gas giant without control of natural energy- through one method or another. ----- When the last handful of phoenixes fell from the sky, Erin watched as Paradise swam at an alarming speed towards them. He gulped the first one out of the air, and caught the next two near the surface of the water. Then Paradise dove after the last three, Erin taking direct control over the formations that kept the sect and everything else from being torn away as he dove under. For an island sized turtle, Paradise was quite agile, snaking his neck around to snatch the last few in his jaws. Then he returned to the surface, twisted his neck around until his head was over the island, and slowly opened his jaws. Six waterlogged phoenixes plopped into a pile, and Erin assumed there was a purpose. If they just didn¡¯t taste good, Paradise could have just spit them out into the ocean. ¡°What do you want us to do with these? They¡¯d be good materials, I guess.¡± A wave of disapproval. ¡°Not that, huh¡­ then what?¡± Paradise¡¯s energy twisted as the collars on the phoenixes snapped, then were crushed into a single ball of scrap. ¡°Ah. You mean to free them? No¡­ you want to take care of them?¡± Definite approval. ¡°Alright so¡­ what does a phoenix eat?¡± Erin frowned, wondering what they might have. ¡°I guess the answer will have to be fish.¡± ----- Aside from Ceretos, which had more than its fair share of Assimilation cultivators- and apparently a particular void ant queen- nobody could claim overwhelming victories. Solid? Absolutely. Only Weos had any enemies able to retreat- but Rutera took too many losses for it to be comfortable. There was a critical question of whether or not the Sylanis Cluster could manage another attack. One Worldbinding cultivator dead and two captured was a not insignificant blow¡­ but if they could bring the other ninety-seven, or even twenty of them working together to dominate each system one at a time¡­ then, there would be serious issues. Though with Everheart present, perhaps Ceretos would survive. Even if the man thought things were dire and chose to flee instead of participating directly, the continental formations would be sufficient to balance the tide. But that was assuming no more than twenty Worldbinding cultivators, and all somewhat weakened. Given what they had seen, nobody was willing to swear they didn¡¯t have the capability to send more. Except- ¡°Here¡¯s a list of all the Worldbinding cultivators,¡± Scholar Eulogius said without prompting at a meeting of Rutera¡¯s top brass. ¡°Okay bye~!¡± Anton had felt him coming, of course, but he thought the man would at least stay for¡­ any amount of time at all. He was the one to catch the almost carelessly flung booklet, and he took it with him to his position next to General Nicodemo. ¡°It¡¯s more than just a list,¡± Anton said upon opening it. ¡°Names, locations, affiliation, presumed cultivation level¡­ binding method. It¡¯s almost like someone put this together with the intention of military action¡­¡± Anton could tell it wasn¡¯t Everheart¡¯s interpretation of information- not once did it call anyone ¡®dumbasses¡¯ or otherwise insult them. ¡°Why do you think that?¡± asked President Aneirin Park. ¡°Any number of things. Including that I feel like the Sylanis Cluster might be ready to go to war with itself.¡± ¡°Really? Do you think we can make that happen?¡± ¡°Before just now?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°We had barely enough information to even guess at the internal politics. Now¡­ we have shot.¡± Anton felt momentarily bad for not caring if Everheart had avoided melting his captive¡¯s brains to get this information. He wouldn¡¯t mind killing them, but some things were unnecessary. All of this, though¡­ Anton hoped Everheart had kept his word, but he really couldn¡¯t complain much if this was the result because he didn¡¯t. ¡°If we have a chance¡­ what do we do?¡± ¡°We read through all of this and come up with a strategy that our alliance can actually implement,¡± Anton said. He had read through it all in a few moments- it was more than a few pages, but it was just information. After studying Everheart¡¯s learning techniques, that was simple. Applying this information would take some teamwork¡­ but Anton was slightly distracted by ¡®Scholar Eulogius¡¯ standing outside waving what Anton could sense was a very shiny scroll in a manner that was confident Anton was still watching him. Was that¡­ was that a Worldbinding method? Actual concrete instructions for breaking through¡­ or perhaps how to advance upon reaching Worldbinding? Anton had to know. No wonder Everheart was obsessed. How could anyone just leave the secrets of the universe unlearned once they realized how far they went? Anton just hoped that the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s methods didn¡¯t involve sacrificing babies, but he wasn¡¯t really confident that it would be much more pleasant than that. Though theoretically they had at least two options. Chapter 512 It was quite frustrating to deal with information from the Harmonious Citadel, especially concerning Saints. While still indoctrinated by the Harmonious Citadel Vari had been aware of a number of Saints with actual names, but this particular Spear Saint didn¡¯t have one. Was it erased or¡­? Vari wished she had access to the whole library back on Rouhiri, or even the easily available portion. That way she could determine if there was some weird tradition about it. It was weird to think about how obsessed she¡¯d been while not really knowing some of the important stuff, but Vari supposed that could have been on purpose. She was one of many with no family and no prospects- but sufficient cultivation talent to practice the Holy Harmony Technique. Those with greater talent- or perhaps those who had connections- were instead allowed to practice the Glorious Harmony Technique. The worst part was she could see the reason to have a subordinate technique that empowered some cultivators. It was the deception that was the issue- in fact, even Vari herself might have remained steadfast in the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s clutches had they simply informed her what she was actually giving up, and given her a proper benefit in exchange. Now, though, she was taking the benefits promised, as well as clawing back her devotion, with interest. If they were going to exploit people¡¯s belief in the system, she would do the same to them. Searching through the records was dull. Catarina was very helpful, her mind for sorting through information being more robust than Vari¡¯s own. Even so, both of them could have made use of a technique her grandfather mentioned. There was just the issue of transmitting a technique via their communication methods, as it would be missing imbued insights and the like- unless Catarina managed to put together the thing she¡¯d been working on. Beyond that, it was apparently excessively long, though Anton had mentioned that a good portion of it was likely more for practice than an inherent necessity of the technique. Either way, they didn¡¯t have the Ten Thousand Scrolls even though it had apparently been on Xankeshan at the same time as them. Just locked in Everheart¡¯s clutches. Every bit of information had been snagged from the outpost- spending weeks or months reading was a good way to get killed by someone coming to check up on the outpost. So they had returned to Xankeshan with their goods and read. There was a large amount of damning information hidden among what they recovered- if only they could distribute it to disciples of the Harmonious Citadel and be believed. Unfortunately many would be naive like Vari had been, and unwilling to even entertain the words of an outsider- or former sister. ¡°Found it!¡± Catarina said finally. Vari scooched around her pile of papers. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Definitely. The time frame matches up. They don¡¯t say when the Spear Saint was replaced, but there¡¯s information that can lead to that. A couple hundred years ago, a top disciple just¡­ stopped having records updated. Not marked as deceased or missing, but simply ignored. The current Spear Saint is a man, right?¡± ¡°That is correct,¡± Vari nodded. ¡°A¡­ Damjan Atanasov.¡± ¡°Aha! So he changed his family name. Interesting. Too bad we don¡¯t have continuing records after he took over as Saint, but we can presume the old one was replaced then.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice,¡± Vari said, ¡°But it doesn¡¯t tell us about her.¡± ¡°Oh, but it does!¡± Catarina fanned out a pile of papers. ¡°Because the exact same scenario happens in the older records, with one ¡®Silvija¡¯. It has to be her. Same thing, no records of anything happening- they just stop. And around that time, a lot of other disciples got shuffled around. The kind of thing I¡¯d expect to happen with a new leader in charge.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± Vari said. ¡°That¡­ doesn¡¯t answer any of my actual questions.¡± A name was something, but it didn¡¯t help with the weird feeling in the back of her head. ----- ¡°This is interesting stuff!¡± Everheart said as he waved about his copy of the Worldbinding level cultivation methods. ¡°If I had access to this before I ascended, I might have been interested in trying it out. Well, except for the thousands of people who were looking for me to kill me,¡± Everheart admitted. ¡°Probably best I ascended to avoid that whole thing. But still, these are decent. How would you say they compare?¡± Anton frowned, ¡°I can¡¯t quite say. For me personally¡­ they are inferior. For those with the right attributes? They might greatly increase the possibility of advancement. Did these two create these, or did the methods come from someone else?¡± ¡°From what I was able to glean, they¡¯re on the second or third generation of Worldbinding cultivators,¡± Everheart said. ¡°They likely had some basis to work with, and this is their personal version.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton said. He felt a momentary surge of power in one of his communication devices- going to the upper realms, specifically. ¡°Hmm.¡± Everheart sighed, wistfully staring off into space. ¡°I knew a Salvija¡­¡± Anton made a mental note to be more careful with incoming messages around Everheart, but he had some questions. ¡°Is it a common name?¡± ¡°It was not uncommon,¡± Everheart said. ¡°There are a great number of individuals in the upper realms, so there is no lack of people sharing names.¡± ¡°Who was she to you?¡± ¡°We had a fling,¡± Everheart said. ¡°You know how it is. Attractive woman shows up, you hit it off- pretty soon you¡¯re in a war with her sect and everything goes up in flames. Then it ends the usual way.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°... Which is?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Death, of course,¡± Everheart sighed, ¡°You should know that.¡± ¡°I feel like you left out a few details.¡± ¡°Nothing I feel like elaborating on.¡± ¡°Did this happen often with you?¡± ¡°Oh, sure. Every century or two. That¡¯s how long it took for them to get fed up with me or¡­ for something unfortunate to happen.¡± ¡°You must have chosen women of remarkable fortitude for them to last a century with you,¡± Anton said. ¡°Yeah,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they were all crazy on some level.¡± ¡°Did this one happen to be a Spear Saint of the Harmonious Citadel?¡± ¡°Oh, you know about her?¡± Everheart grinned, ¡°They were so mad when I invaded their stupid towers and snatched away her statue. But they were just going to destroy it anyway.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Believing Everheart was truly done with the topic, Anton wondered if the information would help Catarina and Vari. ¡°I¡¯ll be going for now. I have a meeting with some individuals from Weos. If you could leave a copy of as much of everything as possible for me, I¡¯d appreciate it.¡± No doubt Everheart would scramble off as he pleased, back to Ceretos. Anton wasn¡¯t certain if he was weaker outside of the system or simply more familiar and thus comfortable there. Either one was reason enough for the man to avoid battling outside the area. ----- Among the contingent from Weos was Oluchi, with Merve being present because of Anton¡¯s promises. Those from Weos were a select few Anton trusted with certain information. In general Anton was quite willing to share information about cultivation, but he preferred not to be reckless. Ascension and Assimilation were both significant steps, and Anton was trying to focus more on nurturing those who were trustworthy. Ceretos was in a decent state, but Weos¡­ he¡¯d prefer if those at the start of the race were allies. On paper the whole system was allied with Ceretos, and that would be true in practice at least for the duration of the war unless some powerful groups chose to be very foolish. Afterwards, there was no guarantee that Weos would remain friendly just because they didn''t have an infestation of Twin Soul Sect members. Cultivators were still cultivators, and just because Weos was internally stable enough to colonize their whole system didn¡¯t say much- especially with how the Sylanis Cluster ended up. Regardless, he would be sharing the two Worldbinding methods. They were closely tied to the underlying cultivation techniques, but there was still information to be gleaned, and along with Anton¡¯s own insights he hoped to guide some of those now with him towards Assimilation- or at least having it as an option. If they merely chose to study it and ascended instead, he would still be glad for improvements in individuals he felt positively about. ¡°It seems to me that they were quite focused on local expansion of their ¡®domains¡¯,¡± Anton said. ¡°I think this might hold true for other Worldbinding cultivators as well. It seems to me to be a limited method.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± Oluchi asked. ¡°Most cultivators would rather secure one area strongly.¡± ¡°Even so,¡± Anton said. ¡°It is possible to cover a wider area.¡± ¡°For you, it seems,¡± Oluchi agreed. ¡°But what about the others from Ceretos? They¡¯re not exactly hopping between systems.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a good point,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°However, I would still suggest a wider focus. Or at least considering the potential to expand. For example, if you wanted to bind with a large gas giant, you might also consider attuning to each moon in turn as well. Then, perhaps, one could move on to other planets whenever that finished.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not crazy but¡­¡± Oluchi shook her head. ¡°It seems impractical.¡± ¡°So is restricting yourself to a small area,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Even if I am weaker among the outer planets, I am still effective.¡± The further Anton could expand his draw on each star, the less it would make a difference where he was, except for immediately adjacent to a star. That would always provide significantly more power than anywhere else- and it seemed more than ¡®normal¡¯ Assimilation cultivators. There had been the slight issue with him nearly burning to death, but that was the risk taken for bonding with a huge source of power. It was a good thing Anton had only attempted a small channel, instead of dominating the whole thing. He couldn¡¯t imagine when he¡¯d be strong enough to control more than a small portion of a star¡¯s might. ¡°I have a question,¡± Merve said. ¡°Would it not be reasonable to draw upon the power of stronger cultivators?¡± ¡°In what way?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The one cultivator had her followers attend her to provide power. If they were instead other Worldbinding cultivators there would not have needed to be many.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a problem of access to power,¡± Anton explained. ¡°There is one individual who shares the power of an ecosystem with another. That only works in situations where conflict is nearly impossible. Even if they agreed to it, powerful cultivators might struggle against each other. But, I do agree that if there were no conflicts that an individual or group might be empowered in such a fashion.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Merve nodded her head in understanding. ¡°I had planned to use my techniques to support you in the attack, but the distance between us was too great. I was thinking that such a bond might allow for mutual assistance.¡± ¡°It certainly would,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But you would need a great deal of trust to make that work.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Merve said. ¡°I will toss that idea aside. I doubt that a mere decade or two would result in such trust with anyone¡­ in either direction.¡± ¡°For your technique, I think working with companions might do well,¡± Anton said, knowing that she didn¡¯t have much contact with anyone besides him. ¡°And if someone were to do something similar with the others becoming Worldbinders, no doubt it would be formidable. Let us be glad that the Sylanis Cluster had not accomplished this.¡± ¡°What about a weapon?¡± Oluchi asked. ¡°Bonding with such a thing and bringing it with you seems like it would solve the problem of mobility.¡± ¡°True¡­ but does your weapon empower you, or the other way around? I imagine it would take a weapon of truly marvelous construction to provide even the minimum requirements for Assimilation.¡± Anton thought of Chikere- she certainly shared a sort of bond with her weapons, but her current power should come from ascension, and thus the powerful energy of the upper realms. Someone with a collection like hers might have managed Assimilation, though even then they would likely need weapons that could only be produced in the upper realms. Chikere had managed to snag some of those during the invasion. Oluchi sighed, ¡°You¡¯re right. It would have to be something rather amazing.¡± ¡°There is some power to be gained merely by the level of insights necessary,¡± Anton said. ¡°I would be more powerful than a Life Transformation cultivator anywhere- but not to the same degree. I also believe that bonding to something merely to do so could set one¡¯s path in motion in the wrong direction, weakening the cultivator. Either way, the choice between Ascension and Assimilation is not one that should be made in a short time¡­ nor could it be, unless one cultivated to the peak without thinking a single step ahead.¡± Chapter 513 Up to the most recent battle, there was nobody that the Sylanis cluster would have bothered trying to ransom back. Of course, there still hadn¡¯t been any official communications between them and the trifold alliance, but that might change. Along with two Worldbinding cultivators, they had communications devices. According to Everheart, ¡°Those things can only be used by the one individual they¡¯re tied to. Or rather, I¡¯m going to let them keep believing that for as long as possible.¡± So the question was, would they attempt some sort of negotiation? The two Worldbinding women- Alaia and Zarina-were cognizant enough of their own mortality to surrender, so they would certainly be willing to attempt such negotiations. The questions began with whether they could be trusted to do so without slipping in codes of some sort, and whether an exchange could actually happen peacefully. Then there was another matter. Anton had a significant interest in the matter given his position- and the information about him that the two women now knew. They could give a reasonable judgment of his strength, and had to be well aware of his connection to Rutera¡¯s star. Anything else was only speculation, but that was valuable tactical information. The only reason Anton was actually willing to consider an exchange was because having any sort of successful diplomacy with the Sylanis Cluster would be a place they could work from. In addition to that, the two were currently weakened- his final attacks hadn¡¯t been enough to completely cripple them, but they would take either years or significant expenses to recover. And given what Anton had determined from their techniques, they wouldn¡¯t be able to instantly recover their power after that- they would have to spend proper time binding to new subordinates and/or ships, the losses of which had been a significant blow. If any of Anton¡¯s stars were somehow destroyed he had no doubt it would be something difficult or perhaps impossible to recover from¡­ but if someone was able to go around destroying stars he had bigger issues to worry about. The same would be true if they could somehow just target ¡®his¡¯ part of the stars and destroy that, because it was such an ethereal thing he seriously doubted it was much easier than wiping out a whole star. In short, they could potentially have a successful deal and exchange two weakened individuals for a significant sum of resources, at the price of valuable intel. Since the most important parts there related to Anton in particular, he was given the ultimate choice. It was that¡­ or they would be executed. Previous prisoners had been kept with the intention to gain some sort of information from them, but with Everheart¡¯s crazy methods to draw information from their minds they had little to offer there¡­ and there was no way two of the top one hundred(ish) individuals in the Sylanis Cluster weren¡¯t responsible for their own involvement, unlike the rest of the soldiers. It wasn¡¯t something easy for Anton to decide, so he planned to put it off for the moment. In the meantime, they monitored the captured communications devices for any incoming messages. ----- Combining representatives of notable forces throughout the trifold alliance led to large crowds. For their part, Rutera had a smaller contingent- they had organized themselves into a cohesive group, so they mostly fielded the president, some aides, and top military officers. Weos had the most factions represented, while Ceretos had around a handful of individuals representing the interests of each continent and a similar amount for the Exalted Archipelago. The latter was still a point of contention given their ties to the upper realms, but the most problematic factions among them had been exterminated. Given the difficulties they had with communicating with the upper realms, the Exalted Archipelago also couldn¡¯t consult them- and thus dealing with the Sylanis Cluster became their problem as well. Anton trusted a few individuals among them enough to know they hadn¡¯t received any secret communications or the like from their enemies. Thus, if attacks were going to continue on Ceretos they had to get involved. Rikuto Ranik was currently leading the discussion for Weos. ¡°Weos is of the opinion that we should take the opportunity to push for additional attacks, to let them know we won¡¯t wait passively for them.¡± President Park of Rutera responded, ¡°We likewise would not prefer to wait around¡­ but our efforts are limited by construction speed. Even just bringing our defenses back to optimal condition could take years. We¡¯re not quite¡­ prosperous enough to provide a proper military response.¡± That was true- though they did have large piles of fancy scrap to work with, both their own and from the invaders. Anton indicated his desire to speak next. ¡°I have considered lending myself to another assault.¡± At this point, Anton had more than just the weight of a single faction from Ceretos behind him. His personal power made him a significant player even if he hadn¡¯t been mobile. ¡°However, they will undoubtedly be prepared for me in Okloi¡­ and I unfortunately can¡¯t simply choose to assault one of the other systems.¡± He needed more time. If the war dragged out for a few more years, perhaps a full handful, he might reach the next rank and thus have the option¡­ but Anton couldn¡¯t do it yet. There were murmurs of assent- having seen cultivators of his level fall, and with the significant power of the Sylanis Cluster better understood, there were murmurs of assent. ¡°However¡­ that is only if I venture out alone. I could lend my aid to a raid on Okloi, with the understanding that my actions couldn¡¯t be nearly as widespread as my first attempts.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­¡± Eyes landed on Nthanda, who was sitting uncomfortably in her position. Her recent advancement was something Anton still had to speak to her about- given her presence she had obviously not attained ascension, but it also didn¡¯t feel quite like Assimilation. They hadn¡¯t had the chance to speak on it yet, but her position was earned- if unwanted. And in front of her¡­ ¡°The Great Queen of the void ants wishes to add her words to the discussion.¡± On the fancy table in front of Nthanda stood the Great Queen, one of the more unexpected individuals to be present. Though, she was more active in diplomacy than Nthanda, who had simply been chosen to represent Ambati for her strength. Anton could understand the Great Queen¡¯s signs, of course, but Nthanda had to interpret for most anyone else. She could have had her a separate interpreter, but had insisted that Nthanda do it- which gave the woman the chance to not have to speak for her own region as much and still show participation. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°I am of the same opinion about waiting. Though we grow more prosperous every day, our enemy has shown themselves slow to react. I propose another assault upon,¡± Nthanda paused as the Great Queen spelled out the next word, ¡°Oluchi. One that involves everyone, the three allied systems¡­ and of course Anton and myself.¡± Anton could tell more than half of the room was still weirded out by a ¡®talking¡¯ ant, but everyone was in control enough to not say anything. As for Anton himself, he¡¯d long grown used to it. ¡°Including you, is it¡­¡± Anton nodded. ¡°And our target would be¡­?¡± ¡°The Ultimate Phoenix Sect, of course,¡± Nthanda continued her interpretation- which was then interpreted once more by machines for the Ruterans. ¡°We will show these fools that their Worldbinding cultivators provide no protection for them. We shall level their sect¡­ and destroy all who oppose us.¡± ¡°They are weakened¡­¡± Anton agreed. ¡°No more Worldbinding cultivators, but there are more upon that world.¡± ¡°And if they come to us, we shall destroy them,¡± Nthanda tried to imbue as much passion as the Great Queen had, but actually found herself holding back slightly. ¡°Even just the two of us would be a serious threat for them. The rest shall be present as a show of force and to properly collect the spoils of war.¡± If he wasn¡¯t good friends with this Great Queen, he might be disturbed by her words. So far, the void ants hadn¡¯t displayed any warlike tendencies. Was this part of her advancement? No, that wasn¡¯t right. It was difficult to pick out in non-human body language, but her passion was the same as his own- a desire to protect what they had. The void ants were practical, living in harmony with those on Ceretos- and responding appropriately to those who would threaten their home. Anton nodded. ¡°Such an attack would be appropriate, and focusing on one place would minimize the necessary forces, so enough remain to defend our systems.¡± General Nicodemo looked between Anton and the Great Queen. ¡°I am¡­ unfamiliar with your power. Are you certain it would be tactically sound to send you?¡± The Great Queen stepped forward and began to devour the natural energy in the room, creating a vortex of power. ¡°I have devoured the heart of a Worldbinding cultivator. I fear not any amount of natural energy, nor human weapons. But of course¡­ I respect human cunning, and I would not be unprotected in any capacity. I would trust my life to both Anton and my royal guard.¡± ----- ¡°I feel like I made her mad,¡± Nicodemo said to Anton. ¡°Did I make her mad?¡± Anton grinned, ¡°I¡¯m fairly certain she was more mad at the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s actions. You phrased yourself well enough.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t¡­¡± Nicodemo shook his head. ¡°She¡¯s so small! I could probably crush her in my palm!¡± ¡°You could not. Even if she allowed you to catch her.¡± ¡°Alright, fine, but¡­ natural energy can still affect void ants, right?¡± ¡°For practical purposes, consider the Great Queen herself completely immune at this point.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ terrifying?¡± he scrunched his face. ¡°But even so, someone with a sword could chop her in half.¡± ¡°A very limited selection of individuals,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you are correct, if they could hit her.¡± ¡°We have supersonic sniper rifles,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°No energy involved.¡± ¡°That¡­ is something that the Sylanis cluster does not have,¡± Anton finally concluded. ¡°And perhaps Rutera would be the best equipped to fight against void ants, if it was ever required. But I have seen the Great Queen in battle. Her strength, speed, and durability put together with a very small form are sufficient to make her a formidable foe. She could easily kill you, for instance.¡± ¡°Well I¡­ have no plans to test your words,¡± Nicodemo shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ I can comprehend cultivators and what you do. Void ants are more difficult. Can we¡­ is it possible to make stuff from their chitin? Or replicate it?¡± ¡°Yes, and I¡¯m unsure. I will say, however, that very few things have been made from void ant chitin. And anything of significance almost assuredly would not happen. It would take quite a number of deaths to achieve, and they would not appreciate it.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t suggesting we kill them. I understand at least enough of them are sapient. But they must die naturally, right?¡± ¡°So far, that has mostly been the weaker ones, which would hardly serve the desired purposes. The Great Queen herself is older than you.¡± Nicodemo swore. ¡°I mean, of course she is. Why not?¡± he shook his head. ¡°But still¡­¡± ¡°The void ants also take care of their own dead. They don¡¯t leave them in human hands.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ extremely appropriate,¡± Nicodemo sighed. ¡°But maybe we could study them?¡± ¡°You can ask,¡± Anton said. ¡°... I was really hoping you would do it.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think I will. But if Rutera really wishes to try this, you do have ways to contact them. I can bet it won¡¯t be cheap though.¡± ¡°What does that even mean?¡± Nicodemo squinted. ¡°Do they use money? I guess they¡¯d have to, interacting with cultivators.¡± ¡°The colonies at least collectively keep money, yes. But I imagine they would want political favors.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Nicodemo frowned. ¡°I¡¯ll have to talk to some scientists and figure out how much that would be worth, and how possible replicating something might be before we even enter into any talks. Also, how strong was that guy that she ¡®ate¡¯?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Stronger than me by a good margin, from what I hear. Though also completely unaware of her existence until it was too late.¡± Chapter 514 Several weeks prior. Sensation was nearly impossible to quantify when the only light came from spontaneous combustion of compressed gasses which turned into liquids, and a monumental pressure squeezed every part of the body to the point that touch and hearing were overrun. The first thing Nthanda had lost were her eardrums. They had sufficient strength to withstand a deep ocean, but not this. It was a difference of¡­ Nthanda wasn¡¯t fully sure. A hundred times? A thousand? She was still falling, as far as she could tell. How far would it grow? Ten thousand times? Perhaps more. So far, the building pressure had given her just enough time to keep her head from turning to mush, plugging her ears, nostrils, and eyes with natural energy while squeezing her lips tight. Her body still broke, but it maintained a humanlike shape. Western Steel Body and her personal touches went far beyond the actual strength of steel at the peak of Life Transformation, but it wasn¡¯t sufficient. How could it be? She had chosen this location for its extremity. As she fell, the pressure only continued to increase. Soon, her energy would give out and her body would be crushed, probably starting with her brain. She could feel it, the barrier of ascension. If she just pushed through that somehow, she would be free of this unrelenting pressure. Her body was adapting as quickly as it could, the traces of chitin she developed from the void ants keeping her skin vaguely intact. But soon, she would fail. It was strange, at such a time, to feel hunger. As a cultivator who focused on body tempering, she ate more than any other- many times more, depending on how far she pushed herself. Yet that generally came in the form of training or battle and then a large feast. On the battlefield, her body suppressed such feelings. Yet now, in such a crisis situation, she couldn¡¯t help but want to go for a snack. If she had brought a storage bag with her, she would have eaten it. Not just the food inside, or all of the contents, but the whole bag itself. Her hunger was so great that only eating a spatial distortion seemed like enough. That was how Nthanda knew that her brain was broken and she was going to die. She felt her body passing through the twisting gasses that had not yet compressed into a liquid mixed with those forced into a liquid state. She was also thirsty, so she did the only sensible thing. As she was going to die in a few moments anyway, she might as well drink it. What rushed into her mouth, forcing its way to the back of her throat and into her stomach was not water. Yet somehow, her body greedily tried to absorb it. Her stomach was overly full in an instant, then her body began to digest whatever was in it. Since that would kill her anyway, she gave in and took a breath, realizing her lungs were starved for air just as much as anything else. Somewhere in the mixture of gasses was the oxygen her body craved, but it could have easily been one of the liquids. Nthanda accepting her fate didn¡¯t mean she was giving in. It was just that in her brain addled state it felt like the right thing to do, the inspiration cultivators sought. She would die in a moment or two, but before that happened she had to follow her instincts. Nothing of what she consumed was anything like food, but somehow it flowed from her stomach through her body, being absorbed and transformed. To the very best of her ability, she pushed that transformation. At some point she found herself not falling any deeper. Nthanda couldn¡¯t be sure if she¡¯d reached the deepest point, but she felt that wasn¡¯t quite right. She simply wasn¡¯t dense enough to sink further. Her body was much heavier than a ¡®normal¡¯ cultivator, compressed muscle and bone requiring more weight no matter how efficiently they were otherwise constructed. Time no longer made much sense as she floated there, ¡®breathing¡¯ and ¡®eating¡¯. She wasn¡¯t quite sure what it was, but she found herself consuming the matter around her. It was barely enough to survive. She needed something more, and somehow she still had some conscious thought. Her natural energy reserves were gone, but her ears and eyes were somehow holding together enough to not let anything through to her brain. That allowed her to think, and the only thing she could think of was the void ants- their Great Queen had come with her, though Nthanda had been distanced from her almost immediately. Her ability to absorb natural energy wasn¡¯t significant. That was part of the reason she¡¯d focused on body tempering as a way to grow strong. Yet the void ants didn¡¯t absorb energy like a cultivator at all. They ate it. Nthanda was well aware she didn¡¯t have the special mandibles meant to chew up energy, nor a digestive system that could handle it. But what would trying hurt? It might kill her, but that was a fate of many who pushed themselves to the limit of Ascension. Ascension¡­ she somehow felt she could just reach out and tear apart the world, and then she would be done- whisked off to a place with exceedingly dense energy that was so different as to have its own name. But she no longer wanted that. She wanted something else. So she ate. She ate gas and liquid and occasional shards of solid matter that formed of things that simply couldn¡¯t be solid normally. But she also ate energy- that which was mixed within it, and that beyond it. It hurt. It hurt her teeth, and the nerves behind them. Her jaw, her throat, her stomach. All of them protested her efforts. But she continued¡­ and she didn¡¯t die. What she later determined must have been days or more passed, and she found herself¡­ whole. More or less. Her eardrums were reforming somehow, an internal pressure fighting against the outside. She¡¯d sunk even deeper, her density increasing somehow. Then she managed to have whole thoughts. More than just eating and surviving but¡­ how was she going to get out of this? Everything was just pulling her down. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. She stretched out her arm and reached, grasping, pulling. It was almost like swimming, though a heavy gravity pulled her down. No, the gravity itself was hardly relevant. It was the pressure, the masses of everything above her. She reached and pulled and swam, fighting against everything- and imagining herself to be light. She wasn¡¯t quite sure if it worked, but she had nothing better to do. Even now that she could open her eyes without them driving through her brain, there was nothing of note to see. She climbed towards what she thought was upwards, squirming her way through the density of liquid gasses, ever onward. Sometimes, she would eat. It was quite refreshing. Then, she felt a presence- a small one, but notable for how the energy around it ceased existing. Her hand wrapped around a tiny body, carefully avoiding wings that somehow helped pull her further upward. ----- ¡°So basically, that¡¯s what happened,¡± Nthanda finished explaining to Anton. ¡°Is that¡­ so¡­¡± Anton nodded slowly. It wasn¡¯t the fact that she survived inside a gas giant that was odd. If she truly broke through to the next stage, that was something that could be accomplished. It was just¡­ odd. ¡°And you feel no connection to the location?¡± She shook her head, ¡°Nothing real. Except like¡­ as a memory of my advancement. I¡¯m not connected with a string of energy, or drawing from it. In fact I kinda¡­¡± ¡°Have less energy than before,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It almost felt like you became weaker, but your stop on Ceretos let you compare your power to others.¡± ¡°And I let you shoot me,¡± she nodded. ¡°Along with that,¡± Anton agreed. He had taken the cautious route, gradually ramping up his power with each shot just to be sure. She let everything hit her, until his ascension energy. That she batted aside with the back of her hand, where some of her energy resistant chitin was prominent. ¡°Yeah so,¡± she frowned. ¡°I guess I eat energy now. Also everything else. I still prefer food though. The energy dense stuff Ceretos has is the best.¡± She frowned, ¡°Rutera feels so¡­ empty, by comparison.¡± ¡°This planet was always low on natural energy, which is why they developed as they did,¡± Anton explained. ¡°It¡¯s actually improved significantly lately. You¡¯ll have to give them another couple centuries to really catch up though.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ plan to hang around her for all of that, I guess. I suppose I probably will live that long, though.¡± ¡°As long as you don¡¯t get killed,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Now then¡­ we should probably get you a new bow. And maybe arrows?¡± ¡°I¡­ can use Spirit Arrows well enough. But I¡¯d still prefer to have something physical. I¡¯m not sure if there are any bows that can stand up to my current strength, though.¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Not that I¡¯m going to give you. I need this one.¡± The Worldheart and Soulstring bow from Everheart was too good to give up- even if Anton was going to convince Lev to let him have some more of the Grandfather Willow at some point, a replacement for that bow wouldn¡¯t be as strong. ¡°Rutera has excellent metallurgy, and combined with other forging techniques we can certainly get you something.¡± ¡°I¡­ never exactly hoarded many resources,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°I feel like something worthwhile would be outside of my budget.¡± ¡°You¡¯re one of the ten strongest individuals in our alliance,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you will fight, you can earn back what I spend on you rather easily.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll pay for it?¡± ¡°Myself and the Order, of course. Or you can convince any faction in Ambati. Either way, it¡¯s an easily justifiable expense. Especially since you can go¡­ anywhere.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure about that¡­¡± Nthanda said. ¡°I get really hungry. I feel like I could starve to death if I end up outside a system, and I¡¯m barely able to direct myself. I¡¯m definitely stronger, so I know I can make a difference but¡­ how would I compare to a Worldbinding cultivator?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t lie to you. You¡¯re on the bottom end. But,¡± Anton emphasized. ¡°You literally just advanced. And your freedom to move as you please as well as your unique methods makes you a danger. If we get you a proper weapon, they might never see what¡¯s coming.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that hard to dodge an arrow going in a straight line. I can¡¯t really bend them much¡­¡± ¡°If it¡¯s going fast enough¡­ and has no traces of natural energy attached to it¡­¡± Anton grinned, ¡°Most people won¡¯t notice it coming in time. Rutera has some very interesting weapons based around high velocity projectiles.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Or you could give up the bow and just chuck hunks of metal from the sky.¡± The Sylanis Cluster¡¯s barriers would likely adapt to the massive kinetic force she would be outputting¡­ but if they did that, they were giving up quite a bit. ¡°I¡¯d still like a bow, I think,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°Though I¡¯m not certain if I can get enough arrows.¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t need more than, what, a few thousand per battle?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯m sure I can convince someone on Rutera to make a factory that produces some stuff for you. If you don¡¯t need things like enchantments there are some metals that they have that would be quite functional, I think.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°But while we prepare all that, I have another assault to get to. You can join once properly equipped.¡± The Great Queen happened to be in on their conversation, and simply hadn¡¯t been saying anything. She gestured with some enthusiasm as the assault was mentioned. ¡°We will make sure they don¡¯t think they can get away with whatever they want.¡± ¡°Will you be alright?¡± Nthanda asked. ¡°I understand you¡¯re very strong but¡­¡± ¡°I would be most afraid of fighting you,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Against energy cultivators? As long as I am not alone, my confidence is sufficient. And not putting forth my skills, simply relying on others to die in my stead¡­ that will not do.¡± Nthanda raised an eyebrow, ¡°Aren¡¯t queens supposed to stay alive for¡­ other purposes?¡± ¡°I have no intention to breed more at the moment. Perhaps if Rutera is amenable I will provide the basis for a few colonies at a later time.¡± The Great Queen performed her version of a shrug, meant for human audiences. ¡°I am not needed for that, and my direct offspring aren¡¯t necessarily superior to the later generations. That is more a matter of learning.¡± Thus it was that three individuals that followed development paths that ranged from near Worldbinding in method to literally inhuman finished their discussion and moved on to consider practical applications of their strength. Chapter 515 Once more, the trifold alliance was preparing an assault on the Sylanis Cluster. This time, they would be focusing their efforts on a single place, a combined assault stronger than their previous probes but retaining more defensive forces in each of their systems. They would prefer not to mistakenly assume the Sylanis Cluster was out of options for a stronger assault- recent damages would either motivate stronger retaliation or cow them for a short time. Having displayed four sufficiently mobile Worldbinding cultivators, they might have more. Along with Anton and the Great Queen of the void ants came a fleet of a few dozen vessels of various sizes, though all of them significantly larger than Rutera¡¯s fighters. Whatever secret project Rutera had going- which Anton presumed was a much larger carrier ship- for the moment they only had some smaller ones capable of carrying a half dozen fighters along with some passengers and the crew necessary to operate the larger ships and their weapons. Carried on various vessels from the alliance was a small cultivator army consisting of mostly Life Transformation and Essence Collection cultivators. In addition, they had a handful of formation masters to help deal with whatever they encountered on their target planet of Zimora, a larger number of formation specialists that couldn¡¯t be called masters, and tens of thousands of void ants. The number of void ants was actually rather conservative. That was, in essence, enough to make a few combat formations out of the weaker ants, with only a few dozen of any individual prowess. Unlike human cultivators, the void ants could not only fit in a smaller place, but were mainly focused on fighting together in a group. Ceretos could have brought as many human cultivators if they had the space, but they simply didn¡¯t- and they would have needed to start dipping into Spirit Building cultivators rather quickly. The fact was that Spirit Building cultivators could easily die to aftershocks from Life Transformation combatants, let alone the involvement of cultivators stronger than that. The few that were present were those at the peak who were looking for an experience to push themselves, aware that they had a high chance of death like the individual lesser void ants. It was the last day of their approach to the Okloi system, and Anton could feel his connection to the twin stars sharpening. He found it much more relaxing to travel inside a proper ship where he didn¡¯t have to put in effort to his own travel, and was able to focus on important things like his continuous effort to extend the reach of the stars he drew upon. That was especially important for Okloi, because the more he could exploit the binary star system the better. For their current moment it hardly mattered- Zimora was one of the closer planets to the first star in the system, so Anton would be at optimal force. And if anyone was stupid enough to draw a fight closer to the star, he could pull off some amazing moves. They were not intending to take over or even assault the entire planet. Their forces were simply insufficient to do such in a timely manner even if there were no other factors to consider. Instead, they were targeting a weak point to prove something. The Ultimate Phoenix Sect, which had attacked Ceretos. They considered the sects of Alaia and Zarina, the two women Anton had captured and not yet ransomed, but the Ultimate Phoenix Sect was stronger and thus a better target to mean something. More importantly, the planet shouldn¡¯t have another Worldbinding cultivator in residence. The head of the Ultimate Phoenix Sect had been sufficient to place them as a top sect- as any Worldbinding cultivator would- but he had underestimated the defensive preparations of Ceretos. In addition to being completely blindsided by the mere existence of void ants, his fate had been sealed. Without the Great Queen he might have managed some success in his assault. While it would have been nice to use the Great Queen for assassination attempts, she was conscious enough of her mortality to not want to go into actual enemy territory alone- a ship in the midst of combat was an entirely different matter than going to an enemy system alone, or at least without immediate reinforcements available. As they approached Zimora, around the same size as the home planets of the alliance but not in a proper habitable zone. In short- it was hot enough to kill any non-cultivators rapidly. The younger void ants would need to stay in the protection of the ships until they broke through into a habitable formation- even fire cultivators didn¡¯t want to live in temperatures hot enough to boil away every trace of water at every moment of their life. In addition to revenge, that was another reason for the assault on Zimora- no real civilian population. While there were likely some who would fit the description, they wouldn¡¯t be contained in the core portions of the sect. Potential disciples were taken from that small population and promising cultivators on other planets. The tilt of the Okloi system provided an easy route to Zimora that wouldn¡¯t pass close to other planets. The direction of approach would likewise be somewhat predictable, but the enemy would have to know an attack was coming to react. Because of Anton¡¯s previous visit he didn¡¯t think they had a way to sense people coming, but chances were much higher that some part of the fleet would be picked up. Since it wasn¡¯t just Anton he couldn¡¯t begin the assault from an absurd distance without giving the enemy time to prepare while they got closer, which unfortunately meant the assault would likely begin as soon as they were spotted. ----- It was not a matter of the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s formation skills being insufficient that meant there was no planet wide defensive formation. Rather, it was one of practicality¡­ and a lack of trust. Especially on an intense planet like Zimora, it was impractical to attempt a barrier covering all of it. It would have to be selective in how it handled heat if nothing else, or they would lose part of the purpose of the chosen location. As for the trust issue, that was simply a matter of the Ultimate Phoenix Sect- and the other forces on the planet- not wanting to allow others to be in on their secrets. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The Worthy Shore Society had contributed the formation master Naid Conaire to this endeavor. As they approached Zimora, the fleet maneuvering to align where they intended with the planet¡¯s rotation, she began the process of coordinating efforts to pick apart its energy flow. There was little that could be done from afar, but they could at least feel it with its significant power. Naid spoke to the other formation masters, along with the Great Queen and her elite soldiers. ¡°We¡¯ll be looking for weak points to exploit. I understand that you naturally feel the flow of energy, but what we¡¯re looking for isn¡¯t necessarily the weakest or strongest flow. We want to cause more than just a momentary disruption.¡± It would be easy enough for the void ants to chew a hole in the barrier given a few minutes unrestricted- perhaps faster given the Great Queen herself- but that would leave them separated from the rest of the forces unless it brought down a significant section of barrier. The Great Queen waited patiently for direction on where to attack, prepared to move when they were closer. Soon enough, forces collided. The fleet reached atmosphere without issue, but it was around that time that their presence was noticed, and the responses were immediate. Yet Anton could feel the signs that they weren¡¯t fully prepared for an assault. Archers responded immediately, but the way that people scrambled behind the barrier indicated many were without weapons or out of position. The barrier prevented Anton from discerning finer details, but it wasn¡¯t able to completely block him. Thousands of cultivators rushed for weapons, ships, and phoenixes. The latter were the quickest, riding into the sky along with cover from what archers the sect had. Anton judged the ranged attacks to be of decent quality. Nothing impressive for Life Transformation cultivators, but they clearly weren¡¯t slacking. There was only the issue that those of sufficient strength could be counted on his hands, and Anton could shoot down all of their attacks- or at least disrupt them sufficiently enough that they wouldn¡¯t reach the heights of the ships. That, with sufficient concentration remaining to fire shots powerful enough to kill Life Transformation cultivators. But those weren¡¯t his first targets. Instead, he aimed for the collars on the necks of the phoenixes. They were powerful pieces of equipment, made of durable and highly enchanted materials. Yet there was a significant flaw they possessed in that the natural energy of the phoenixes was restrained from affecting them, which included a weakening of their defenses directly beyond it. It was a narrow band, and the only attacks that would slip through would instead have to contend with the durable metal collars instead. Even Anton would be hard pressed to manage to break the collars and cause significant damage to the birds¡¯ necks beneath. Not that he wanted to. Anton knew that not all of the phoenixes would recognize their freedom as collars shattered, and some would be cowed into obedience regardless¡­ but for some portion that overcame both criteria the riders on their backs quickly found that the flames protecting them becoming flames of vengeance were sufficient to cause them a great deal of damage. As fire cultivators, except those careless enough to not have any of their own defenses raised, they would survive- and their positions still allowed them to easily counterattack. Many phoenixes fell into ash, but just as many enemies did the same. Some of those freed of both collar and rider turned to flee the area, while others assisted their brethren. Both were sufficient to disrupt the enemy¡¯s efforts and allow the fleet to approach with minimal damage, the enemy vessels only just beginning to lift off. At the same time, those charged with breaking open the formation moved into full swing. Along with the subtler manipulations of the void ants- dropping down nearly invisibly through the open sky- and the formation masters, there were the bruisers like Oluchi throwing her spear, causing as much pressure as possible to the barrier. Cultivators leapt from the attacking ships, intending to land on the battlefield at the earliest possible moment. Waves of concentrated fire burst from the barrier where attacks fell upon it, intended to prevent further attacks and injure enemies. Some fulfilled their purpose, and others were wasted energy. Nearly unnoticed among all of the attacks was one section that was constantly spraying fire as void ants chewed on it. Though fire could harm void ants, fire made primarily from natural energy was significantly less effective. The Great Queen had no concern for her own safety unless the enemy organized specific efforts to take her out. Her guard were also durable enough to withstand the struggling formation. Strangely enough, the first hole in the formation did not occur next to the void ants, but at the base of the formation. The barrier and its minders did their best to react to the incoming attacks, but along with the bombardments energy simply being torn away overwhelmed them, and a momentary gap opened up. Unfortunately for them, it was enough for a handful of cultivators to slip through¡­ and one shot from Anton that went straight for what he recognized as a power conduit supporting the barrier. The actual storage of power would be contained further within, likely underground, but it had to get to the shell somehow. He still wouldn¡¯t title himself as a formation master, but he had enough knowhow to break things that were important when they were exposed. The edge of the formation wobbled and pulled open, still preventing attacks from above if they weren¡¯t able to twist, but allowing the landed cultivators to enter. Further up, a hole about a hand¡¯s width let through dozens of small black shapes. Ships began to land to deposit more combatants while the first through the barrier secured a foothold. The first step of the plan was complete, but they still had to fight through somewhere around a hundred Life Transformation cultivators, and ten times that many in Essence Collection. Chapter 516 Even as the barrier around the Ultimate Phoenix Sect was broken open, the battle continued in the skies above as some of the assaulting ships made to land while the local ships had finally made it up in the air. Ruteran starfighters were included in that battle, including their ace pilot Ty Quigley. Before learning about personal cultivation he¡¯d been above average, but he took to cultivation and Elder Intan¡¯s training in swordsmanship like a fish to water. While others used their diverse weaponry to batter their way through enemy shields, he mainly focused on a more direct approach where his vehicle was the weapon. It had taken some convincing for Ruteran leaders to accept his odd approach, but as the majority of the expenses for his modified ship were paid for by others they had little reason to reject the attempt. It was effective, with him slicing his way through the fields of fire and any ships that stood in his way. If Anton were going to judge it- and he was- the Ultimate Phoenix Sect¡¯s control over fire was¡­ fine. Average. Certainly, their fire was powerful, and their cultivators had some regenerative properties. They weren¡¯t useless. They just weren¡¯t as good as Anish or himself. Their buildings survived not due to precise control of the cultivators spewing flames everywhere but because they were specially made to resist the heat. That was all well and good if they fought in their own sect, but outside of it they would doubtless destroy things they didn¡¯t intend to. That would include their allies. The Ultimate Phoenix Sect had quite a variety of ways they displayed their flames, from powerful breaths to wreathing themselves in fire to fiery wings sprouting behind them, giving them a small measure of flight. They had the skill to not hurt themselves, and the cohesion to avoid hitting each other, but they would have had much greater attacking opportunities if they could fight freely. The trifold alliance quickly exploited those tactics, weaving themselves between the enemies. Battles settled into close melees where weapons and personal flames reigned supreme instead of wide area attacks. In that manner the Ultimate Phoenix Sect held some advantage as their numbers were superior, but only on the surface. The Ultimate Phoenix Sect had somewhere around a hundred Life Transformation cultivators when the battle started, fewer than the trifold alliance. It was the thousand Essence Collection cultivators that were able to stop them from being instantly overwhelmed. They were, however, lacking Worldbinding cultivators- while the other side had Anton and the Great Queen to fill that power bracket. And their numbers weren¡¯t quite superior. Just as the Essence Collection cultivators were many in number¡­ void ants were even greater. Rushing onto the battlefield behind the initial waves, the weaker void ants bundled themselves into larger rolling constructs. Flames struck them, but the power of those flames came from a reliance on natural energy. The lower ants weren¡¯t entirely immune, but they could withstand incoming attacks long enough for others to rotate into the line of fire. The tumbling bundles of ants surprisingly sought out mostly Life Transformation cultivators- the difference in power between the stages was less relevant to them. With their strongest cultivators being picked off by Anton and the Great Queen as well as swarmed by ants they could only kill in small bundles, the Life Transformation cultivators began to fall swiftly, freeing up the trifold alliance¡¯s forces to cut down weaker cultivators who couldn¡¯t all reach them at the same time. The Ultimate Phoenix Sect quickly fell back to secure inner walls, but the speed at which their outer barrier had cracked open had thrown them off balance. No, losing their patriarch should have been the start of that. Instead of returning with a glorious victory and plunder, their claim to power had instead perished with many of their forces- including the all-important phoenixes. As Anton continued to shatter their collars, more and more of them chose to fight against their captors. If Ceretos had once had its own phoenixes it had lost its native population, but there were always legends of such things- and their power and intelligence. Whether they were matched with humans was currently unclear- perhaps they might be more like void ants where mature members developed deeper sapience. Or like Paradise, such things might be an exception. But they weren¡¯t stupid. When they were free to act as they pleased, they either fled or took out their anger on those who had wronged them. Members of the Sect tried to draw upon the Phoenixes for recovery- they didn¡¯t have a proper channel between them like the Great Queen determined the patriarch had, but there was some connection. Unfortunately, without the collars it was mostly pointless. The Ultimate Phoenix Sect took shelter in the core of their sect, no doubt intending to huddle and wait for reinforcements. Anton could feel some forces ¡®nearby¡¯ stirring, indicating they might be gearing up to fight¡­ but if they wanted to bring more than their very best, it would take them hours to cross the hundreds of kilometers between the sects. Otherwise, they had to rely on their starships¡­ and those would still take some time. As they stood around the core palace of the Ultimate Phoenix Sect, people were directed to looting and razing buildings. It wasn¡¯t appropriate to do such things in battle, but a sufficient core watched the enemy sect for a response, ready to fight if they left their shelter. Meanwhile, the formation master Naid Conaire put together her head and the others with them to determine the best way to dissolve the inner barriers. The whole time, the Great Queen was nibbling at the bottom of the barrier. It was designed to deal with any sort of attack, but it couldn¡¯t do much about its energy being torn out of it. Alone, the Great Queen would take a long time to deplete the energy reserves they had- but she had nothing better to do and the way they tried to fling attacks at her amused her. Whatever portion of the heat their abilities created that was not attributable to natural energy was ignorable, and none had sufficient power to harm her with anything else. Any who attempted to attack with thrown spears or arrows found that a small, quick target was extremely difficult to deal with- especially at the base of their walls. They had proper machicolations to target anyone of vaguely human size, but it was still awkward to target a moving thing less than fifteen centimeters in the longest dimension, right against the base of the wall. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Anton helped finish the battle in the skies, freeing up the starfighters to deal with any potential reinforcements. They were still some distance off, however, so Anton appreciated the few minutes of downtime. He breathed deeply, drawing upon the power of the local star. Though it had nearly led to his death, his first connection had been a critical learning experience and he had no regrets pushing for the most powerful Assimilation he could think of- even if he hadn¡¯t fully understood what he was doing at the time. Soon enough Naid had put together a plan of assault. Her diagrams showed where various people would attack- mainly the Great Queen, her royal guard, and Anton. The lesser void ants would be too vulnerable by the walls without distractions. ¡°Fully analyzing a formation takes a long time,¡± Naid said, ¡°So this will still be more or less brute forcing our way through. But that is what we can do with our given time constraints.¡± Before they began the assault, the looters quickly deposited their last groups of spoils upon the ship- the outer region had been somewhat disappointing in their loot, but there would be more deeper within. And much of the purpose of this assault was to take everything they could- not because they needed it so much as that they wanted the Ultimate Phoenix Sect to have it¡­ or anything. Though the shift of resources to their side would be a valuable result as well. Even simple shiny objects were enough to convince certain cultivators to provide things of actual utility, in trade back home. When they began their assault, Anton focused his efforts on a single point, waiting until he felt the inner barrier straining to adapt to the variety of attacks before swapping to a condensed shot of Ascension energy. Golden energy snapped forward, striking the dome but not even slowing as it pierced a thin hole. Anton carried himself in with it, seeking the strongest enemy he could find. He swept low, driving up behind the ribcage, through the man¡¯s heart and up into his skull. No doubt the cultivator could recover from some of that, but the final part meant there was little consciousness to try. A nearby phoenix melted away regardless, its life force torn out to no avail. Speaking of phoenixes, they had no fear of flames. Those dozen who chose to fight had been patiently waiting for the barrier to go down, seeming to understand the cultivator¡¯s intent. They had still been leery of the trifold alliance, of course- huddling together on the far side- but when they had the chance to attack their former masters they combined their efforts, filling the courtyard full of enemies with flames. The Ultimate Phoenix Sect cultivators were of course resistant to fire, which was the only thing that stopped them from instantly perishing. Defending themselves from that assault made it difficult for them to coordinate against the cultivators as the barrier broke apart, the enchanted gates providing only moments of additional resistance, as they were tied to the same source of power. Inside was a truly beautiful palace. Gold was of little value to cultivators, though it certainly had some aesthetic qualities, but Anton thought it could be overused. The Ultimate Phoenix Sect certainly had a large amount of gold to reflect flickering light inside, but they only used it as highlights. The main factors were gems- diamonds were used instead of crystal to scatter lights, fire opals- true fire opals with constant flames writhing within them- as well as precious metals and great art filled the palace. Anton thought it was a shame they couldn¡¯t take it all, but frescoes and carved walls weren¡¯t something they could loot in a reasonable timeframe. And yes, he was already thinking about that because the last of the enemy sect was falling. Strangely enough, the incoming enemy forces were hardly even close, as if they never intended to protect their allies to begin with. And maybe they didn¡¯t. While some pried the most valuable bits out of the walls, tossing everything into freshly emptied storage bags, Anton went to the deepest parts of the palace where his energy had instantly wormed its way searching for the vaults. The formation masters came along, and soon they were prying open heavily reinforced doors- surrounded by walls that were at least as strong, else they could have torn their way through that way. Inside the vault was¡­ well, it was a large pile of wealth, but nothing Anton thought a sect with one of a hundred Worldbinding cultivators ought to have. He had several thoughts- perhaps it was stored elsewhere, if they were able to trust banks. Then there was the possibility that they preferred to display their wealth instead of having it. Finally¡­ it could have been lost over time. Or recently. The internal politics of the Sylanis Cluster weren¡¯t exactly friendly. Perhaps the Ultimate Phoenix Sect¡¯s loss of a Worldbinding cultivator had caused them to be cleaned out, to some extent. It was obvious they hadn¡¯t actually been assaulted, but the loss of influence could have caused a rapid calling in of debts. Anton shrugged. He would have preferred they profit more from this venture since they were doing it, but that wasn¡¯t their only goal. It was for revenge, and to send a message. As they cleared out everything as quickly as they could, swiftly venturing into bedrooms and lobbing whole sealed chests into their storage bags, Anton considered how they would leave their more explicit message. Obviously razing the place to the ground would send a message- but he planned to carve some actual words as well. He finally settled on something short, concise, melodramatic and yet true as far as he could enforce it. ¡®You will gain nothing and lose everything¡¯. He worked with others to carve that into the rubble- with the power making the enchantments functional removed, the palace was torn down within the hour. Only at the tail end of it did Anton start shooting at approaching enemy ships as they returned to their own. They took their loot and their dead, as well as the phoenixes that seemed to think they were the best method of egress, landing on their ships. Their starfighters returned to the larger ships hovering in orbit, and they began to pull away, distributing various sources of fuel as necessary for their return trip. Several more ships fell to Anton as they drew further from Zimora- no point wasting an opportunity. He could have done more if he waited behind or shot to the very edge of his limits, but he didn¡¯t want to push anything and bet on no Worldbinding Cultivators rushing in from nearby planets. Nor did he want to give away his exact range information, though if they counted down to the kilometer the enemy would likely be surprised in his next engagement. Anton was always on a path to improvement as much as possible, and he found shooting with no resistance to be something he quite liked practicing. Range was one of his great strengths, and he would never say he had enough. Chapter 517 Though the assault on the Ultimate Phoenix Sect was a success, it was not without losses. Even an overwhelming force would inevitably sustain some casualties, it was simply a matter of who incurred more- relative to their own strengths. So far, the trifold alliance hadn¡¯t lost any of their Assimilation level cultivators, and the Sylanis cluster was down three¡­ but a single one from Ceretos perishing would be a huge deal. Weos and Rutera simply didn¡¯t have any to lose, and the latter was fortunate that Anton had been present for the most recent attack. Anton was quite aware that if any Assimilation cultivators were lost in the war, he was one of the most likely. After all, he was active and mobile- most of the rest were present together on Ceretos, bound to a purely defensive situation. At least for the moment- perhaps some might develop to a later stage where they would be more mobile, but that was unlikely to happen in the next few years if they didn¡¯t start highly mobile. Everheart of course didn¡¯t count, because he wasn¡¯t really interested in involving himself in fighting in other systems. Weos was an exception because of the Twin Soul Sect, but otherwise he had quoted exorbitant costs that were maybe not even worth it- and that was saying something, given how strong the man was. More than once he mentioned to Anton how he¡¯d like entire planets. The most recent advances were the exception to the mobility issue. The Great Queen was not bound to a place- she benefited from devotion, but that didn¡¯t require her presence in any particular place. Beyond that, she merely gained a stronger body- she was likely of a similar power to an Assimilation cultivator, which in a way made her much more deadly to those who were uneducated. Then there was Nthanda. Her current limitation was not her power nor her capacity to travel, but simply her weapons. No doubt she would do fine in a battle consisting of Life Transformation cultivators ripping them apart with her bare hands or using her older bow, but she couldn¡¯t make optimal use of her power until her new weapon and ammunition were available. Rutera was hard at work on that because they had the best non-enchanted materials expertise, and since they seemed to be a high frequency target they needed whatever assistance they could get. Weos¡­ well, hopefully they¡¯d have their own Assimilation cultivators soon enough- they had peak Life Transformation cultivators and Anton had been helping as he could. Gaining even one or two Assimilation level cultivators there would greatly increase their defensive capabilities. After the assault on the Ultimate Phoenix Sect, two months had passed without direct action. That didn¡¯t necessarily mean anything good- it could mean that the Sylanis Cluster was no longer confident in attacking, or it could mean they were preparing something bigger. The number of mobile Worldbinding cultivators shouldn¡¯t be terribly high, but there was still the potential threat that they could combine what they had remaining to attack Rutera or Weos. All of this put together made Anton wonder about the ransom of the two he had caught, Alaia and Zarina. If they were returned and healed, then they would have only removed one Worldbinding cultivator. On the other hand, forcing the enemy to expend resources for the attempt- both in the ransoming and recuperation stages- seemed like it might be worth it. And having one successful event of diplomacy seemed worthwhile. He wanted to work on that, but finding anything even remotely approaching neutral ground was a challenge. ----- Though Everheart could fake transmissions from the Alaia and Zarina, nobody wanted the Sylanis cluster to know it was so ¡®easy¡¯. Thus, they were directly involved in the negotiations for their own ransom. Ironically enough they were more reasonable and cooperative than the weaker cultivators, like Merve. Anton doubted they trusted anyone still, but they were willing to go along with the motions on the chance that they were freed. Or perhaps because there would be some sort of ambush waiting at the other end, which was kind of the same. That would at least be trust in their allies, to some extent. Anton was fairly certain that there wouldn¡¯t be an ambush, or at least he was convinced that the two hadn¡¯t asked for one. Whether or not that would equate to the Sylanis cluster agreeing, he couldn¡¯t say. But, at least their sects had agreed. Negotiating a price had required input from those who were more adept at trade than Anton- he was aware of the value of many goods, but the Sylanis cluster didn¡¯t necessarily offer the same things as Ceretos did. More importantly, the sects couldn¡¯t afford to just throw together a room packed to the brim with diamonds- or something cultivators actually cared about. If they were seen to be buying up all of one type of usable good, the price would increase¡­ which meant they would be less willing to trade and couldn¡¯t afford as much. Anton was willing to press them for everything they would give, but he¡¯d rather get the most possible as well- for himself, and for Rutera who sustained the majority of the damage from the two. They were even willing to meet at the edge of Rutera¡¯s influence. That was good¡­ but also meant Anton wouldn¡¯t be at optimal strength. It was better than trying to meet them in Okloi, because that sort of confidence would give away too much, and he really wasn¡¯t certain they couldn¡¯t set up a good ambush for him. The negotiations ultimately resulted in the Sylanis cluster not informing him where they would arrive, just the distance- they would use their communication devices when they arrived, and would wait for the time Anton promised he would arrive in. He slightly undersold his potential speed- and they likely knew that. Even so, it would be much harder to organize an army to show up than a single ship or small fleet, and Anton thought he should be able to pick out anything untowards before they arrived. Thus it was that Anton set out with the two cultivators- still restrained and with damage to their cultivations. Not alone, of course. He could doubtless fly the two of them there faster himself, but he took the maximum forces the enemy would accept. He really did want a successful negotiation, even if it was unfriendly. That would be the first step towards maybe ending up at peace. Because he sure wasn¡¯t confident in managing to beat Worldbinding cultivators fifty or a hundred more times. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Rutera provided ships, including one of their smaller carriers with a few fighters. Ty Quigley volunteered to come, perhaps because Elder Intan was also along¡­ or because he hoped there would be a fight. Both of them probably wanted that, but Anton at least trusted them not to start it. Anton was bending the rule of only bringing one ¡®Worldbinding¡¯ cultivator. Obviously, he himself was going. Along with that, he was bringing the Great Queen. If nothing went wrong, she would stay hidden and unnoticed unless they had the proper training to pick her out, a simple blank for energy senses in the void of space that was already mainly empty. The message came, and they moved out. Anton marveled at the fact that he could reach the edge of the system, further than he could have ever imagined traveling, faster than he once could have walked to Alcombey to sell off his crops. How greatly things had changed for him in the last century and a quarter, and the same was true of Ceretos as a whole. It was hard to keep up with, even if he was one of the driving forces. As they drew close, Anton removed himself from the ships, flying ahead with just the Great Queen as a companion. The given coordinates were accurate enough that he found the waiting cultivators without issue. From everything he could tell, all was as anticipated. No Worldbinding cultivators, even as his senses squirmed their way through the barriers of their ships to peer inside. The ransom payment was available in boxes and crates, not wrapped up in a storage bag. Its presence was useful. He got close enough to feel beyond and around the group, feeling only emptiness beyond them and the standard background of natural energy. He returned to the ships, to arrive with them. ¡°Everything seems to be in order,¡± Anton said. ¡°But stay cautious.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± was the Great Queen¡¯s immediate signed response. The other ships replied through the comms devices- Ruteran ones all worked with each other except for the exception of interstellar ones- and even those they were working on. The acknowledgement of preparedness came from everyone, and Anton moved to unbind the two Worldbinding cultivators. He was unconcerned if they wanted to attack him- in their current states he could destroy them even in a melee. One had the faintest connection to some of those in the awaiting fleet, but that was to be expected. It was extremely surprising to Anton that the exchange went through smoothly. He went out with the two in hand, the Great Queen nestled into the back of his clothing. Likewise, the various goods came to him, his senses quickly checking that quality and quantity were satisfactory. He dug deep into the cores of the boxes, but everything was precisely arranged and within expected tolerances for the crystals, metals, and exotic lumber- among other things. When half of the good were safely in his possession, he let the weaker of the pair go- Alina who had the connection to people. Then the other, Zarina. They got on their ships, sealed up, began to turn around¡­ and that was when it happened. Anton had remained ready, outside of a ship so he wouldn¡¯t have to bother with it getting in his way if something went down. When he sensed a change in the world, his eyes immediately flicked to an empty part of space, only to find great skeletal hands prying apart the void. Two reached through, slicing apart a vertical slit- then more pried open the sides like the void itself was a cloth to be torn through. At such a distance Anton couldn¡¯t accurately judge their size, but the vertical slit was hundreds of meters in height, and the individual arms were at least a dozen. Though they appeared human, perhaps they had come from giants. ¡°Hold fire!¡± Anton commanded before anyone else could react. ¡°Target the interloper, but don¡¯t attack until I do, or upon my order.¡± What was it? Anton searched his memories for what the skeletal arms could be as the opening in nothing rapidly expanding, stark white bone contrasting with the blackness of space, the points of light behind it covered in nothingness while the faint light of the sun lit the side towards them. The information carved out of the just released captive¡¯s heads provided a name. A Worldbinding cultivator, Bala Sykora. She was the leader of the Ivory Maw- one of three Worldbinding cultivators they had. Her relationship with the other two present was anything but friendly. As a literal mountain of bone pulled itself into the world, and even before Anton felt the spectral energy emanating from it he was preparing himself. ¡°Don¡¯t let them screw this up! Fire on the bones!¡± He punctuated the words with his own shot, shattering dozens of bones but ultimately seeming to be inconsequential damage compared to the size of the ship that was pulled through. Anton was not concerned because he felt a great number of enemies come along with it. In fact, he was nearly certain that whoever controlled that came alone¡­ but that was a more terrifying result than them bringing along an army. He could feel the connections, though it wasn¡¯t like anything else he¡¯d ever seen. Yet it also wasn¡¯t unfamiliar. Spectral energy, but unlike himself it wasn¡¯t being drawn from beyond. Instead, it simply was- and that was all. The connection from the great mass of bones, some human in shape and some clearly not now that Anton had the chance to pick them out, were entirely suffused with spectral energy, without a trace of natural energy within Bala herself. He¡¯d heard she had a mountain of bones- but even the two in the ships in front of him had thought it to be hyperbole. Then a wave of power pulsed out in a sphere. It was only enough to cover the closest ship- one of the Sylanis Cluster. The barriers they had did nothing to stop it, and a moment later Anton felt the death of dozens of souls at once. Fully half of the complement of that ship had died, and Anton didn¡¯t expect that the others were in good shape either. Attacks from the local fleet crashed into the mountain of bones. Instead of resisting with a barrier of energy, its simple size and mass appeared to be its main defensive factor. Anton thought to order a retreat- it wasn¡¯t necessary to fight this, not here. But if he did¡­ then the two he had just ransomed would certainly perish. He cared not for their lives- only what they represented, should they survive. They would have to fight- at least long enough to let them retreat, or send a message. Though they also couldn¡¯t get too close to the mountain of death. Chapter 518 The metal blade-bow in Anton¡¯s hands was still the optimal medium for turning his Spirit Arrows into sharp, wide attacks. He had learned how to control his energy to amplify or minimize the effect, should he wish to, but right now wider scale attacks seemed useful even if there was only a ¡®single¡¯ opponent. A blade of energy several meters wide cut into and through white bone, reflecting the dull light of the distant star. As the bones fell and shattered into the mountain that they crawled out of, more came to replace them. There was always more¡­ but Anton couldn¡¯t think of much else to do but at least act like a threat. The hostage exchange had gone perfectly, until this thing showed up- a mountain of bones of all shapes and sizes, ripping itself out of space behind space to attack those who were leaving. One of three ships was nearly wiped clean of life in the first wave of deadly spectral energy, bypassing the standard barriers the Sylanis Cluster used. One would assume that they would be on the same side, as the individual who was presumably Bala Sykora at the center of the whole bone abomination was also part of them. But Anton was already aware that the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s internal politics weren¡¯t actually united. But as much as Anton would absolutely like to see them fight each other to the death, the two he had captured were still weak and wouldn¡¯t put up much of a fight- and if they died this first attempt at some sort of diplomacy would be ruined. If they were going to die, they needed to do so back on their own territory or at least after reporting this situation. Thus, Anton and the others from the trifold alliance would fight against this thing. Something about Anton¡¯s assault was sufficient to draw attention, though he couldn¡¯t imagine he¡¯d done any notable damage yet, even with the others¡¯ initial volley. But perhaps there was some weakness to be found, or they simply thought it would be more entertaining to kill Anton. He couldn¡¯t tell. The one thing he knew was that he had to dodge the bolts of spectral energy coming for him. In the grand scheme of things this battle was fairly close- only a small number of kilometers between him and at least the edge of this mountain of writhing, flowing bone. His eyes were useless in determining the trajectory of the spectral energy, but he found the bolts weren¡¯t exceptionally quick¡­ by his standards. Even as they bent towards him, he was able to direct his movement to avoid it. Unfortunately, his attempts to shoot down the incoming attacks were fruitless. Just like his own usage of spectral energy, it was nearly non-interactive if its controller didn¡¯t wish for it. Anton didn¡¯t hesitate to draw up on some ascension energy, attempting to pierce deep into the core of the structure. He had a decent idea where the controller of it all was, and his shot drilled its way through bones. Humans bones were extremely common as he sunk into the mass of bones, but he also noted beasts of all kinds. From small woodland creatures to sea life and birds, there were also larger specimens. Great turtles, snakes, lizards, something Anton could only assume was a dragon of some sort, and large humanoids. He even thought he saw phoenix bones- somehow not turned to ash upon their death but entrapped in its current form. Then, he faded. He hadn¡¯t actually expected his attack to reach his target to begin with- he merely wanted to remain a threat. The point was to have the focus on him, and minimize attacks on others. It worked¡­ to some extent. The actual bolts of spectral energy remained targeted on him, fading away after they went past him. He couldn¡¯t be certain that was the actual limit of this opponent or if they were merely trying to throw him off, so he had to keep his senses alert in all directions. Unfortunately, the bone mountain-ship released another large pulse of energy, this time finishing off whoever was in the closest Sylanis Cluster ship, not that Anton had sensed much life. And, despite the other two ships pulling away, the bone ship had pulled closer to them. One was inside the area, the pulse of death drawing from those on board¡­ and Anton sensed the life of Zarina winking out. The one that bound herself to ships, apparently too weak to take control of her ship¡¯s barrier¡­ or more likely never capable of resisting spectral energy to begin with. Not fully. Those deaths were unfortunate, but only because of the current circumstances. What bothered Anton more were the Ruteran pilots who perished, along with other cultivators that had launched themselves towards the attacker. It wasn¡¯t any comfort that some of the now pilotless ships crashed into the mountain, leaving sizable craters. But one of them went in at a glancing angle and cut out the other side- then turned around to do it again. So that pilot wasn¡¯t dead. Anton recognized that ship, of course. Ty Quigley. He was alive, at least- but that was the best Anton could say for him. Even with everything else that was happening Anton could sense the damage to his life force. As for the cultivators who actually were in contact with the mountain itself? Few survived. Elder Intan didn¡¯t seem to be fazed by something small as having his everything nearly destroyed, though his slices were slower. There were a few cultivators from the Grasping Willows tossing chunks of bone away from the mass- though it was unclear if the effort was worthwhile. And somewhere in that, hopefully alive, was the Great Queen. Because she certainly wasn¡¯t sitting on Anton anymore. Beam weapons from Ruteran ships tore into the mountain, charring bone into ash. Yet it seemed pointless- small scars on a landscape that they were trying to fight. Anton was quite certain he could destroy a mountain, but when it was fighting back it was an entirely different story. And being at the limit of where he could draw from Rutera¡¯s star, he wasn¡¯t at maximum strength. Just for the sake of experimentation, Anton shot a spectral arrow- covering its approach with dozens of others from a wide array of energy bows around himself. The damage from the others was nothing much, but the spectral arrow pierced through the bones without resistance, diving deeper and deeper until it found its mark- at the very core of the entire thing. Through the connection with his arrow, Anton saw a face flash between surprise and a wide grin in an instant- then he collided with a rippling barrier. It was like pouring a bucket of water into a lake. Anton didn¡¯t have nearly enough access to spectral energy to consider using it defensively¡­ whereas Bala- he was certain it was her now, given the descriptions he¡¯d gotten- seemed to only have spectral energy. Of course she could stop his attack. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! His experiment provoked more of a reaction than he expected. In addition to more waves of spectral bolts seeking to cut him off, the bone mountain burst apart, sending masses of itself towards him, clumps of bone ranging from a boulder the height of a man to ten or twenty meters across. The bone masses were slow- the relative momentum of the mountain was not mainly towards Anton, but at an angle between him and the remaining Sylanis ship. But though their initial speed was of no concern, they began to move more quickly. Anton was forced to dodge spectral bolts, certain that he would regret even the slightest touch. Those kept him occupied while the masses of bone moved closer- and though they inevitably slipped past him, unlike the spectral bolts they were already redirecting their own momentum to come at him from behind. Soon enough, he was surrounded by dozens of masses, with skeletal arms reaching out for him. That was the least disturbing thing to reach for him, as legs twisted in unnatural ways along with tails, spines, and rib cages grasping for him. But despite the personal situation he was in, Anton thought things could have been going worse. The Sylanis ship had continued to accelerate, clearly uninterested in even attempting to fight back. They were swiftly pulling away, and soon enough they would be out of the influence of the system, able to move faster than light. Another blessing was that there had been no further wide scale pulses of spectral energy. Perhaps those were too intensive, or controlling the individual piles of bones moving to entrap Anton required too much effort. Anton really hoped it was a sign of limitation, and not a lack of desire¡­ but even now, he could feel Bala¡¯s power. He wasn¡¯t certain if she had reached the next step in Worldbinding- some Augmentation equivalent- but if she hadn¡¯t, she wasn¡¯t terribly far from that in power. He wouldn¡¯t want to fight her even if he was around Rutera, and if he was alone¡­ being anywhere but in a star was too far to even think about it. Then, the Sylanis ship disappeared- not just invisible, as they could, but properly gone out of the range of Anton¡¯s senses. He¡¯d already called for everyone to fall back towards reinforcements- they had honored the deal, but knowing what could go wrong there was another small fleet coming after them. They¡¯d been a good half an hour behind for various reasons, but if they met up in the middle it wouldn¡¯t be quite so long. The issue was whether or not they could manage to survive that long. After the second pulse the Ruteran fighters had kept their distance- or rather, the sane ones had- but the larger ships were still oriented towards the incoming bone ship. It would take them some effort to turn away, but they were already on a path where they were planning to circle the bone sphere. Shards of bone exploded near Anton, and he was quite glad for the assistance of others in destroying the various sized blobs of death. He was unable to provide any significant suppression to the main ship now, having to focus on defending himself, but he was glad there were at least reasonable sized targets. Even better, when the bones were broken and destroyed they seemed to stay that way. He wouldn¡¯t bet on it, of course. His defensive energy kept the shards and bone dust away from him. The bolts of spectral energy were still the most lethal threat, but he had to dodge individual grasping arms now. Some he destroyed, the myriad of energy bows around him shattering them to dust. Most he managed to avoid. A small few reached him with bony claws or other appendages, scraping against his energy defenses- and then stretching inside, spectral energy buried within them sinking into his shoulder, his side, his thigh. The latter, at least, was not immediately concerning. The organized retreat of their fleet brought them deeper into the system. Anton only had a small increase in power, but he needed everything he could get. At the moment, he was looking for an optimal route to escape the piles of bones around him. They were being constantly replaced from the main body as they were destroyed, but not quite as fast as they were being taken out, and the travel time to him was another factor. Anton had no intention to sacrifice himself for the rest of the fleet- not even if he thought it would actually work, which he didn¡¯t believe. Once his opening came, he would withdraw. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was imagined, but he thought he just felt the other small fleet at the edge of his senses. Reinforcements should be soon, he hoped. Then, suddenly, everything stopped. Whatever trajectory the bones around him were on the kept, The small masses didn¡¯t have their own gravity, and without whatever control was over them they began to split apart. There were no more bolts of spectral energy. Anton continued to destroy the bones around him, in case it was a ploy, while his senses focused on the main mountain. Bala Sykora¡­ was not dead. Or even injured, as far as he could tell. But the great bone hands stretched from it, tearing into space itself¡­ and it began to pull itself away. The background of the stars stretched around the vessel¡­ and then it was gone- leaving behind the bones around Anton, and the bodies of the cultivators who had landed upon the main bone mass. All were dead- many from the second pulse, but others from fighting against the thing itself. That included Elder Intan. That hurt, not just because he was a friend- but because he was one of the most likely candidates to reach Ascension or Assimilation. Even if he had chosen Ascension and left, Anton would have known he was doing something somewhere. But now, he was gone. Ty Quigley was¡­ alive. His ship nearly crashed into the hangar, a dozen cultivators on board being the only thing that stopped it from a violent impact. Even from afar, Anton could sense the changes. Stark white hair, wrinkles far beyond his age. But as the man staggered out of his cockpit, the grip he had on his sword was determined. Finding the Great Queen was impossible. Looking for a palm sized pocket of nothing in a volume of so many cubic kilometers was more than even Anton¡¯s exceptional senses could manage. Fortunately, she found him. As everything remaining was being recovered- bodies and valuable materials from broken ships- the Great Queen landed on Anton¡¯s forehead. She pulled back slightly, fluttering around in front of him. Several of her legs were mangled, but her front limbs and antennae were intact- sufficiently for her to sign, at least. ¡°Unfortunately, I was unable to reach that foul demon. I need a nap.¡± And she no doubt deserved it. Anton had the idea that she was a significant contributing factor to Bala¡¯s retreat, though of course he would have to wait for a full explanation. Until then, Anton and the others would have to return to Rutera, binding their wounds as they could. Chapter 519 The final results of the conflict with Bala Sykora of the Ivory Maw was currently inconclusive. Anton supposed that would somewhat depend on whether they had managed to save one person or not. Alaia might still be alive, or perhaps Bala had a method to catch her between systems. It was even possible that she would be killed after arriving, but Anton didn¡¯t mind that as long as the fact that the trifold alliance would keep their end of the deal was spread first. Fighting to keep them alive was more than either had bargained for, so Zarina¡¯s death was unfortunate but not something he actually felt bad about in any way. Especially since he tried to help. As for the battle itself, with Bala Sykora and her mountain of bone¡­ Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could consider it a win or a loss. The Great Queen was of the opinion that she would have been able to slay the woman had she stayed, and perhaps she was right- but it was also possible the Great Queen had been ignored and Bala left to chase after Alaia. Either way, it was the first battle in a long time where Anton felt properly outclassed. Being closer to the sun would have merely narrowed the gap, and Anton couldn¡¯t guarantee that Bala had been at the peak of her potential power. The mountain of bone might have been only a part of what she was bound to. Details of that level were information Alaia and Zarina simply hadn¡¯t had access to. The loss of Ruteran pilots was unfortunate, though in practical terms they were more easily replaceable than Elder Intan. Beyond the deaths, however, there were other things to consider. Injuries and the like, not all of which would heal easily. ----- Laying in a hospital bed, Ty Quigley had nearly as many wrinkles as Anton himself. Alright, that was an exaggeration- but he didn¡¯t look good. There was a significant difference between forceful life draining and natural age, and the former¡¯s signs were anything but pleasant. Anton made sure to visit Rutera¡¯s ace fighter pilot in person. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Anton asked. The man was conscious, at least, if not particularly energetic looking. He just sat there for a few minutes before finally answering. ¡°Angry.¡± That was completely understandable, though not what Anton would have supposed was the primary issue. ¡°You¡¯ll have to work hard on your recovery, then, if you wish to seek revenge.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± the man said, lacking much of his usual enthusiasm. ¡°Elder Intan¡­ he didn¡¯t make it, did he?¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised you had the situational awareness to notice that, with everything else going on.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°You are correct. He perished.¡± Anton held his hand on his storage bag for a moment, before opening it and coaxing something into his hand with his energy. ¡°He would have wanted you to have this.¡± Anton presented Ty Quigley with a simple curved blade, relatively lacking in adornment- a surprise, given its origins somewhere in the upper realms. This was one of the weapons retrieved in the previous invasion by the Million Sword Vault. Perhaps it should be returned to them, but if they argued about that Anton would set them straight. Ty¡¯s eyes were unfocused on the ceiling, but as Anton¡¯s hand stretched towards him they snapped down. His arm reached out, grasping the hilt. Anton let go, while Ty¡¯s knuckled whitened from his tight grip. Anton could feel natural energy wildly swirling inside the man. He knew that feeling. Either the young man would do something foolish in the near future and get himself killed¡­ or this would be an opportunity for significant advancement. And attempting to stop him from anything foolish would also preclude the latter, so Anton would just leave him with a few more words. ¡°I¡¯m sure the Million Sword Vault would be glad to have you visit. You have the time, as you have a significant amount of leave to recover from your injuries.¡± As for the aging problem, Anton wasn¡¯t sure if he could recover from that. Anton¡¯s limited experience with spectral energy generally involved people dying, so the issue of recovery hadn¡¯t come up. Ty didn¡¯t say anything more, but Anton left him, still clutching the sword. ----- Three wounds that could have been merely glancing blows but had a lingering impact were Anton¡¯s focus of inspection. There wasn¡¯t a clear delineation to the casual observer- old was old, and slightly more or less wrinkles and spots was hardly something most would notice. The difference was certainly less vast than with Ty, though that could have several reasons. The damage didn¡¯t cover all of Anton¡¯s body, and he had no youth. He reflected on the battle, repeating the feeling of spectral energy in his mind. He only had limited experience with it. First was what he drew upon himself with Fleeting Youth. Then there had been the Whispering Watchers and the Deathly Heart Technique, which was at least similar. The way that Bala used her power was akin to a forbidden technique, by every metric. Dangerous to the user, to others, to those in power, certainly immoral. Anton had no illusions that someone could acquire so many bones except by seeking out things and people to kill- and though Anton had the lives of hundreds upon his hands, he didn¡¯t desecrate their bodies or seek out conflict with humans just for the sake of it. Anton was certain he didn¡¯t want to try to make use of spectral energy in the same manner as Bala Sykora, but understanding it would help him protect himself in future conflicts, and to better understand an oft overlooked aspect of his abilities. The areas where the spectral energy had touched him were still alive, though Anton was quite aware they could have become necrotic tissue with any more exposure. The lingering traces of energy were minimal, even just after the battle, but the damage¡­ well, Anton was working on one patch to begin with- his shoulder. His side and thigh could wait, the shoulder was the most important. His natural energy circulated through the area, soothing the bone, muscle tissue, and skin. A simple injury would have shown signs of recovery already, and even the normal effects of aging would have some reaction. If Anton wished he could at least erase the cosmetic effects of his age, but that was impractical vanity. He cared more about the function of his body, and the simple circulation of natural energy was insufficient at the moment. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. His mind went to the radial shockwave of energy, the first of which had torn through one of the enemy ships, and the second the other. It hadn¡¯t just killed the people around it, but drawn something out of it. That was not a way that Anton used his spectral energy- he just used it to tear through them, avoiding their defenses and leaving behind deadly wounds as it struck their vitals. But there was no saying that he couldn¡¯t. And if it could take away, it could do the opposite. In theory. Anton slowly drew upon spectral energy. Unlike his natural energy, it did not live inside of him in his dantian, and he never properly circulated it- the same was true of the ascension energy likewise provided by Fleeting Youth. Yet Anton was aware that both could become the basis of someone¡¯s energy- though it was a new revelation with regards to spectral energy. He was cautious with his approach, knowing that acting carelessly could cause more damage instead. Gingerly, he pulled the spiritual energy through his shoulder, trying to let it feed into himself and restore the damage. At his level of cultivation, he wasn¡¯t just blindly groping around- the insights he had from many sources told him this should be possible, it was simply a question of whether or not he had enough talent and understanding, or how long it might take him. It was a strange feeling, unusual energy passing through him. It was something he generally tried to avoid, precisely because he used it for purposes of battle. Yet in the right hands, a surgeon¡¯s blade was a tool of healing and not harming. Over his time Anton had become versed in human anatomy and healing to a sufficient degree to at least monitor his own internal state to a high level. He paid careful attention for changes, and where he found none he tried a different tactic, while doing his best not to make anything worse. After a day of effort, he felt a slight positive uptick in his health. That was good, because Anton was aware some wounds cultivators could sustain were irreparable- or at least would take decades to recover like the internal damage Everheart had, and what he¡¯d caused to Alaia to properly restrain her. Any slight amount of recovery after just a day of effort meant Anton could fix this as he became more proficient, though he didn¡¯t want to be too slow. It was best to work with fresh wounds and start the process early. Thus, he focused on that for a few weeks before moving on to external applications of spectral energy. ----- A nearly invisible bolt of spectral energy flew through the sky. It was not subtle in any way, but it was different enough from natural energy and its various different variations that it could give someone pause. Either way, whether they knew about it or not, the ripples of power flowing off of the arrow were something of interest to Anton. Normally, he would consider such a thing wasted energy- but the ripples weren¡¯t a loss of the spectral energy he was shooting, just their effect on the world. In short, for the same effort he could shoot his typical arrow of energy but cause damage in a wider area as the ripples of energy spread out from his shot. Anton made certain that he could control them as he wished- he experimented with targets and once he had the hang of it living creatures, restraining or releasing the ripples as he pleased. It took a bit to get a hang of, especially if he wanted to swap quickly, but it was fully under his control. Seeing vast amounts of spectral energy in action had been quite beneficial. More than that, a view of something that reminded him of death itself improved his insights into that aspect of Fleeting Youth. His discussions with Prospero Vandale about death had been somewhat enlightening, but hearing something described and just seeing death- in an uncomfortably pure form, and not merely from violence- had added a new layer to his understanding. Anton was quite pleased. He turned behind him, where the Great Queen was waiting. ¡°Are you done?¡± ¡°I am,¡± he nodded. ¡°Good. I don¡¯t like¡­ that,¡± she gestured, clearly referring to spectral energy. ¡°It¡¯s nearly inedible.¡± Anton laughed, ¡°Considering that it directly kills most everyone, that¡¯s not particularly strange. Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t spread news of a potential weakness of yours.¡± The widespread effect had merely fatigued the great queen, and chomping her way through bones full of spectral energy hadn¡¯t helped, but it clearly had some effect on her. If she¡¯d been directly targeted with the bolts, she might have sustained injuries even from a source that was purely energy. That was actually comforting to Anton. Though his friendly relationship with the Great Queen meant it only benefited him if she was stronger, he couldn¡¯t guarantee that all void ants everywhere would remain friendly to humans. In fact, it would be stranger if they never came into larger scale conflict in some manner. Knowing he had an option to fight them was appealing. An option besides just having Nthanda squish them between her fingers, that was. ¡°Do you think you really could have killed her?¡± ¡°If the woman had a body, I could have devoured it. If she did not, I would have torn apart the energy that gave her the core of her power,¡± the Great Queen said confidently. Anton looked at the ant¡¯s splinted limbs. Insects didn¡¯t recover from broken appendages easily, but some experience with the matter had the void ants develop some techniques for placing their body in a state to recover. For those with sufficient power, their bodies wanted to return to a healthy state, so even if it shouldn¡¯t naturally recover consuming sufficient amounts of food- physical, energy, or both- meant they would generally recover. At least if there was nothing missing. If the Great Queen had lost limbs instead of just getting some mangled, the results were quite likely to be different- and the human¡¯s methods that sometimes allowed for recovery of lost limbs were unlikely to be of much use for those with such different anatomies. Anton sighed slightly. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I will be more effective if we were to fight again. Not offensively, anyway. I imagine anyone from the Ivory Maw has experience fighting against spectral energy.¡± ¡°Take your advances where you may. There are still ninety-five or so others who are likely to find your improvements to their significant detriment,¡± the Great Queen encouraged him. Of course, ninety-five probably wasn¡¯t any more accurate than just saying one hundred. There was some potential for various sects or clans in the Sylanis Cluster to have Worldbinding cultivators that were hidden, not announced to the world for tactical reasons. On the other hand, there might also be some that had died and were kept on the official rosters for similar reasons. Though Anton wasn¡¯t going to bet on there being too many of those. He also wasn¡¯t planning to work his way through the enemy¡¯s Worldbinding cultivators one at a time until they were all gone. Not if he didn''t have to. Hopefully, they could force some kind of peace. Chapter 520 Unfamiliar metal machinery rumbled as metal rods were poured down the assembly line. Heavy machines stamped, squished, and stretched the rods rapidly and consistently, before arriving elsewhere for fletching. Such machines could only be found on Rutera, and Anton was pleased by the high level of speed, consistency, and quality. The former was unmatched by anything else, though the quality could not surpass a craftsman who had worked for decades or centuries. Even so, this was the best place for the work they wanted. Perhaps some advanced smiths could work with something new, but the specifications required were unfamiliar because very few people had ever needed to make such ammunition, and none for a cultivator beyond Life Transformation. The small handfuls of arrows Anton had commissioned were made individually for special circumstances, not with the intent that every single arrow he shot would have a physical component. No matter how big his storage bag was, he¡¯d never have enough room- and it was unnecessary and impractical besides. His natural energy was stronger and more cohesive than most material cores could replicate. ¡°Getting materials for this could have been a whole lot easier, you know,¡± Everheart commented from nearby. ¡°Just rip apart a planet or two and you¡¯d be done. Wouldn¡¯t even have to have anyone on them.¡± ¡°But it would have to have high quantities of natural energy, right?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°And greatly reduce future livability.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure, but there¡¯s so much unclaimed crap here in the lower realms¡­¡± ¡°I bet there are things better than Worldheart if anyone takes the time to look into it,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°And the material requirements are different for Nthanda to begin with.¡± Anton¡¯s senses shifted to another part of the factory, where the number of machines was fewer but still prominent. It was no large assembly line, instead there was a bench where a piece of metal was being cut by high intensity light. The beam shifted over the stationary object as it carved the proper outline, then when its cut finished a technician subjected it to tests and inspections. Anton could already tell them the dimensions were within specification¡­ and that there were impurities in the top edge of the shaft. It snapped under the pressure of their machinery, and the surrounding technicians sighed. The arrows were easy- they just needed a material that could hold its shape but also bend around a bow as expected, and slight material imperfections were less relevant as long as it broke inside its intended target. The bow itself, however, would have to stand up to a physical strength that had required special machinery to reproduce. The process was a useful study for the Ruterans, and the knowledge would be valuable for future body cultivators who surpassed Life Transformation- without ascension. The Ruterans still needed payment, of course. It wasn¡¯t a trivial exercise to repurpose a factory and co-opt the services of individuals who could be dealing with other military matters. However, the price had been acceptable, and the need for Nthanda to be effective recognized. Gone were the days when Rutera didn¡¯t understand the power of cultivators. A couple decades of interaction and sufficient exposure to people like Anton and the assaults from the Sylanis Cluster meant at worst, there were some stubborn people who thought things ¡®used to be better¡¯. But of course, Rutera wasn¡¯t leaving behind their learned technology, which had previously been their only way to focus natural energy. Instead, they were developing a new blend that worked with what they already had. There were a few from the first waves that had learned from particular cultivators- like Ty had from Elder Intan- but there had been time to develop at least the first iteration of a cultivation style that fit Rutera. Anton was slightly disappointed that not everyone practiced it yet, or some sort of cultivation, but it had been less than a full generation. Rutera was still building up their quantity of natural energy as well, the low levels of which had been the factor that pushed them towards technological advancements. They were swift to understand the idea of imbuing plants with natural energy only for them to grow and produce more, they simply hadn¡¯t seen the effects given how precious what they had was already. Plus, their natural vegetation hadn¡¯t really been suited. Anton and the Order had a wide collection of useful plants, though, and they had quickly distributed the most practical ones to Rutera for them to begin growing. The first few years had scraggly- by Anton¡¯s standards- plants, but even simple tubers imbued with natural energy were nutritious and tasty, quickly becoming popular and thus viable from an economic perspective even where the effects on the local energy were yet unrecognized. ¡°So,¡± Anton asked Everheart, ¡°Figure out how all this stuff works yet?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I need it, but I¡¯ll at least have the idea in the back of my head should I need special processes. It¡¯s nice to have things that can focus natural energy without my concentration or complex formations, as well.¡± Ruteran technology did use the power of formations to some extent- but it was focused more on material structure than runes, energy flow directed more by physical limits than coaxing it by bending rules around it. It was of great interest to Weos and Ceretos, who exchanged information about cultivation and their deeper knowledge of formations with Rutera, all parties greedily absorbing new information. There might be a few individuals on both sides who had an idea of how both worked, and how to combine them, but there were centuries of experimentation about what was optimal to determine. Of course, technology and cultivation knowledge would advance on their own during such times as well. Anton¡¯s understanding of the technology was limited. He couldn¡¯t know everything, though he did find it satisfying to pore through books, especially with the rate he could read. Absorbing information wasn¡¯t enough, though. He would need practical experience to improve in that area, just like with formations. He simply didn¡¯t have the time or inclination to develop much beyond using what he needed to and understanding the dangers they presented. He doubted he would ever be a formation master- at least not relative to his cultivation level. He preferred to keep his focus on personal cultivation, archery, Assimilation, and such things. As well as his passions of growth- teaching others and developing Ceretos from the side of natural energy. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ----- At Anton¡¯s level there was no generalized path he could follow. Even his insights at Assimilation were only for reference- he doubted anyone else from the Order would ever choose to bind stars. If they did, he hoped they would not disrupt each other. Though Anton felt extremely powerful, he imagined a star had more than sufficient excess power to support other cultivators, but the issue would be if they accidentally interfered rather than the actual power being necessary. If Anton were honest, he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d used even a single second¡¯s worth of the power of Ceretos¡¯ sun, each star producing a constant and nearly unfathomable amount of energy in the form of light and heat, just scattering everywhere and only touching on a few scattered planets in its system, or years later being a tiny sparkle in some other skies. In short, there was plenty of power to draw upon. Walking a path untread, Anton had to discern for himself how to proceed. Certainly, he couldn¡¯t fathom any specific refinements to make to himself like the steps of Body Refining and Spirit Building. All he could think of was refining his connection and control to each star, and with that came a greater internal power¡­ and more stars he could bind to. After the destruction of the Ultimate Phoenix Sect and the hostage exchange, a few uncomfortable years had passed with no further conflict. That was sufficient for Anton to advance to the hundred and fifth star, though he was reserving any actual connection for later. It would likely be one of the final two in the Sylanis cluster, but he could hope for something else. He¡¯d like to search for a star with interesting properties in the surrounding area. He didn¡¯t want to leave allied space for a period of weeks or months, so he hadn¡¯t had the time to personally check out other ¡®nearby¡¯ systems, though reports from Rutera and Weos who had proper exploration programs in place indicated they were empty of and detectable cultivator presence, and life in general. It was unclear if there might be planets with life and creatures without humans, but based on the theory that they were all descendents of some vast colonization effort it was unlikely. If there were any of note, invaders from the upper realms likely would have tried to take them over long term instead of just ¡®visiting¡¯. Then again, the actual mechanics of that were uncertain, even to the Exalted Archipelago. The remaining members of that group weren¡¯t all friendly with the continents, but at least they were willing to support the trifold alliance against the Sylanis Cluster. Regardless of whether or not they supported the Exalted Cluster in the upper realm in terms of carving out bits and pieces of the lower realms, they weren¡¯t interested in being on the other end of that. So far, there were no signs that the Sylanis cluster had ties to the upper realms at all, and in fact Worldbinding was generally seen as the preferred path compared to ascension. Anton could see that, given that the actual power was similar but Worldbinding left one with higher relative power compared to the surroundings. In the upper realms, it was assumed that any decent cultivator would reach Integration at some point- though there were some important quality differences to be had for those who properly ascended or put in some other special effort. During these two years without conflict, scouts had been surveying the Sylanis Cluster to find signs of movement, and building forces. That was happening, without question. The same was true of constructing ships, since there was more than just the one place Anton had attacked- and he¡¯d really only stifled a few of their bigger projects, not their work as a whole. The Sylanis Cluster was definitely going to act¡­ but when was unsure. It was also unknown if the forces used to try to suppress their efforts would be well spent, as they were on a higher defensive alert, the scouts barely able to slip through patrols. And it wasn¡¯t as if the trifold alliance was just sitting around doing nothing. Rutera especially was developing rapidly, with their best cultivators pushing into Life Transformation. Given that their technology allowed their best to function as if they were that powerful before, even those in early Life Transformation could match some cultivators in mid or late Life Transformation. Assimilation or Worldbinding cultivators were still an exception, but they were the elite among the elites in the Sylanis Cluster, Ceretos¡­ and Weos. The latter had a few successes in the last years, though whether they would match the others one-for-one was still unclear. ----- When the warning signals came, Anton was disappointed but not surprised. It was quickly confirmed that another fleet was entering Ruteran space, far more than would be needed for simple diplomacy if they were willing. Rutera and Weos were closer to the three systems of the Sylanis Cluster, so it wasn¡¯t terribly odd that Rutera was the subject of the majority of attacks. Of course, there could also have been nearly simultaneous attacks on the other systems. Ceretos was the most secure, but Weos was more than a step up from the last time, having recovered from their civil war for the most part- and with a few Assimilation cultivators. Though it seemed some of those were only good on their home planets, which wasn¡¯t exactly unexpected. Anton was a weird exception. ¡°Well then,¡± Anton stood up, waving to Merve. ¡°It¡¯s time for me to go. Hopefully, I should be back within a few hours.¡± She stood with him. ¡°Wait. Take me with you.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± Anton asked. Merve was a Life Transformation cultivator, so she wasn¡¯t exactly weak. However, in the Ruteran system it was more difficult for cultivators who weren¡¯t independently mobile in space to fight. ¡°I am,¡± Merve nodded. ¡°I¡¯d rather fight for something, now that I have a choice. And¡­ my cultivation isn¡¯t exactly progressing smoothly just sitting around circulating energy. Besides, I can help. I¡¯m not sure exactly how much I can do anything with Angelic Providence, but I can improve a handful of others and make you¡­ at least slightly more effective.¡± Anton nodded. His experience with Merve was one of a talented woman who was born in the wrong place- though even the stronger sects and clans seemed to be the wrong place in the Sylanis Cluster. She had been one of the enemies, and she had her sins, but he trusted her enough to fight alongside her. He knew enough of what she said was true that there was nothing to be gained from going back to them except death. She had the option to live on Ceretos where the natural energy was better, but chose to stay with Anton regardless- which at the moment meant Rutera. He was glad that she would choose to fight for what was around her, instead of being forced into it by circumstance. Chapter 521 It was not important for Anton to immediately leave his position on the ground, despite the word of approaching enemies. In addition to the fact that he could target anyone over the hemisphere of Rutera he was on without issue, it would take time for enemies to reach the planet from the edges of the system. He didn¡¯t linger overly much, though. Merve would require more time to get in position due to her speed, but at least she didn¡¯t require assistance to leave the atmosphere. Most cultivators didn¡¯t fly. There was an exception among cultivators beyond Life Transformation, at least in the lower realms- given how much conflict had happened over Ceretos, all of their Assimilation cultivators had learned to fly, and it seemed that the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s Worldbinding cultivators did the same. As for Life Transformation cultivators, they at least learned to maneuver in lower gravity, specifically all of those who had fought around Rutera before. Radiant energy poured from Merve as from her back sprang two wings, giving her a wingspan more than twice her height. The wings were white except for a few stray feathers of black, many feathers overly large for the size of the wing- but with her control of energy, they would still be functional for flight. In short, they appeared to be angelic- though Anton hadn¡¯t ever seen an actual angel, if they existed. Regardless, Merve raising her energy provided a soothing aura that would amplify allies in the area, the effect would be amplified if she concentrated. ¡°Ready?¡± Anton asked as they flew upwards, Anton lacking any visible means of motion. ¡°I hope so,¡± Merve said, looking at her wings. Her eyes lingered on the stray black feathers breaking up the purity of her wings. ¡°It¡¯s funny, you know. Before you told me my technique was tainted, these were pure white.¡± ¡°Yet now it¡¯s so much better,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°It wasn¡¯t pleasant to see the first reveal. Personally, you¡¯ve done so much I can¡¯t even pick out the flaws in your technique myself.¡± ¡°I still feel them,¡± Merve stated clearly. ¡°Enough that I¡¯m not comfortable trying any sort of advancement yet.¡± She still hadn¡¯t decided what path she would attempt, Ascension or Assimilation. Given her origins, calling the second Worldbinding might have been more appropriate- but Anton felt that Assimilation had more flexibility in its design. Then again, he only had actual information on three out of a hundred or so techniques, so he had to admit his knowledge was limited. Anton looked out into the stars, his actual vision doing very little. ¡°I don¡¯t feel a Worldbinding cultivator,¡± he said. ¡°What does that mean?¡± Merve asked. ¡°That they¡¯re extremely weak or stealthy. Probably the latter,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°We¡­ they didn¡¯t really have that many to throw around. Perhaps the Sylanis Cluster thought they could do without?¡± ¡°They should know better by now,¡± Anton shook his head, opening himself to the smaller fluctuations of the world. Only because he knew they were there could he even get a hint of the incoming fleet, far beyond the true range of his senses. It was less of an actual sensation and more an itching at the back of his mind. Nothing happened for a few minutes, then a small beeping sound caught Anton¡¯s attention. The sound would not have had a medium to travel were it not for Anton¡¯s energy providing an environment for it, with the intention of letting Merve speak if he wished- but the communications device was a secondary reason. ¡°General Nicodemo. I assume you have some kind of update for me?¡± ¡°The fleet isn¡¯t heading for Rutera,¡± came the straightforward reply. ¡°Their actual goal isn¡¯t quite clear, but the sensors are picking up a general trajectory that would lead to one of the outer planets.¡± ¡°Anything important?¡± Anton asked. There was the matter of a super secret battleship that was hardly secret anymore. ¡°If that is their target¡­ they¡¯re going the wrong way,¡± Nicodemo admitted. ¡°Someone will have to stop them,¡± Anton said. ¡°So¡­ which one is the trap?¡± Nicodemo got what Anton was implying immediately. ¡°There are no signs yet of a secondary fleet incoming. Either way, someone has to go¡­¡± ¡°You mean me, then.¡± ¡°I probably couldn¡¯t stop you if I said anything else,¡± Nicodemo was almost certainly shrugging on the other end of the comms. ¡°With the tactical options we have, it¡¯s more of a question of where the Great Queen is placed.¡± A slight pressure on Anton¡¯s arm had him look down. A series of gestures from the ant herself told Anton her opinion. ¡°She is staying with me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ expected. She can hear me, right?¡± ¡°Yep,¡± Anton acknowledged. ¡°If you kill a Worldbinding cultivator in this engagement I¡¯ll do my utmost to push through your proposal for colonies in our system,¡± General Nicodemo promised. ¡°Trying to bribe royalty?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯m aiming for proper motivation. I would never resort to bribery on official communication channels.¡± And with cultivators being so mercenary, anything he offered for exceptional efforts wasn¡¯t really considered bribery. Perhaps if Nicodemo offered something for a personal favor¡­ but even then, the exchange wouldn¡¯t have the same connotations that the word implied. ¡°Alright then. Give me some coordinates and I¡¯ll be off.¡± When Anton ended the call, Merve sighed. ¡°I guess I¡¯m saying here, then?¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Do you want to?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I can¡¯t exactly get anywhere in a reasonable time,¡± she said. ¡°I have enough trouble just breathing. It would take me months to reach an outer planet.¡± Anton held out his hand, ¡°Do you want to go?¡± ¡°Will I fight here?¡± she asked. ¡°Most likely there will be combat in either location. Mine will have fewer allies.¡± She thought for a few moments. ¡°I¡¯ll still go with you.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Anton said, his hand grasping around her wrist. ¡°The acceleration should be even across your body, but holding on will make this easier.¡± Anton turned his head to look at an orbital platform in the far distance, which was little more than a plate of fortified metal floating in space. The relevant feature it had was who was on it- not a squad of fighters using it as a launch point or a bunch of cultivators from Ceretos. Instead, it was just Nthanda, holding her bow in one hand while her other hand played idly by the quiver on her back that appeared to have somewhere around a dozen arrows. Though Anton was well aware it was a special type of storage bag, and each arrow drawn would be replaced by another until she actually ran out of the significant quantity of ammunition prepared for her. Their eyes met over a great distance, and they nodded. Then Anton began to accelerate. He didn¡¯t just tug Merve along by her wrist, instead wrapping them both in his natural energy and shoving them forward together. Even so, the effort seemed to be difficult for Merve, so Anton limited his acceleration for a moment. ¡°Just¡­ hold on,¡± Merve said, closing her eyes. ¡°I guess I need to be a bit more serious about this.¡± As she concentrated, she drew upon more of her energy, two more pairs of wings springing out of her back, the large wings overlapping at various points but not getting in each other¡¯s way. Instead of spreading out like the others, the two pairs of wings folded around her, covering her upper and lower body respectively. Anton felt the power flowing through them, providing cover for more than just the visible area, but a sort of barrier around her, more resilient than simple covers of natural energy. At the same time, the energy flowing from her to Anton increased as well, a pleasant warmth that was not the fires of his stars. ¡°Alright, go.¡± As Anton accelerated them further, he was able to attain even higher rates of change without causing Merve any discomfort, though presumably she would garner some fatigue from her efforts. Still, he picked up speed, gaining assistance from convenient planets or moons if they would slingshot him faster, and otherwise cutting corners through open space itself. He couldn¡¯t quite manage the same techniques as functioned outside of a system for interstellar travel, but he could make up for his lack of acceleration time by cheating a little. He corrected their trajectory with continued updates from Nicodemo. ¡°It¡¯s weird,¡± the man said. ¡°There¡¯s not even a planet there. Just some asteroids. As best we can determine they¡¯re going for IGE94, which is just an unremarkable rock.¡± ¡°How certain are you about that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Very. Both the location and the remarkability. But I don¡¯t like the idea of letting them act freely in our system.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Anton nodded. As Anton approached the destination, he began to feel something. First, the actual fleet- he was used to the method of concealment they used, and as they had to use his solar energy to maneuver and turn invisible, they couldn¡¯t actually escape his senses. But there was something else, beneath them. Not ¡®down¡¯, as if that had any real meaning in space. Rather, something behind the space itself. Something familiar. ¡°Bala Sykora is here,¡± Anton said. Communications within a system were near-instant, at least with the quality of comms Nicodemo had given Anton. Even so, there was a decent pause before he answered. ¡°... Dammit. Can you handle her?¡± ¡°As long as I get to pick the range? I should at least have the option to retreat.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t do anything stupid.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t die for a target of unclear priority. How about that second fleet? They there yet?¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± Nicodemo said, ¡°But we can assume they¡¯ll show up soon enough.¡± He sighed, ¡°I wish Ty were here.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I know he¡¯s decently strong but he¡¯s still just one person. You have Nthanda there.¡± ¡°He¡¯s the strongest native we have,¡± Nicodemo pointed out. ¡°And though I think he¡¯s completely insane, he¡¯s also good for morale.¡± ¡°Fair point,¡± Anton conceded. ¡°I don¡¯t imagine I¡¯ll have much time to say anything from now on. I¡¯ll keep my ears open if you have something to say, but don¡¯t expect anything.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°... Also, how far away are you? We put sensors on nearly every hunk of rock so we even have some on IGE94, and they haven¡¯t picked you up yet.¡± Anton pulled his bow off his back, ¡°Plenty close,¡± Anton said as he began to decelerate. He stopped activating the comm with his energy. Then he felt movement from inside his shirt, where the Great Queen had been hunkering down to deal with the acceleration- her body wouldn¡¯t be hurt from anything Anton did on accident, but hanging onto him if he suddenly maneuvered was awkward from elsewhere. As she poked out of the top of his shirt, her legs were held onto by some of her royal guard, then more of them in a chain. When the last ones surpassed that threshold, they were suddenly blasted away.. Or rather, he was decelerating and she was not. A strand of his energy reached out towards her, to provide a line of communication. ¡°I hope you meant to do that!¡± She twisted so he could see her front legs and antennae- though it was difficult given her size and the rapidly increasing distance. ¡°Of course! How am I gonna fight if I don¡¯t smash into them at great speed?¡± Anton didn¡¯t have anything to say to that, partly because he didn¡¯t know how to reply, and partly because she was so far already. And he had to admit if she waited for him to stop and moved herself, the couple thousand kilometers between his current location, the rock, and the fleet landing on it would take her a while to traverse. He just hoped she was sensible enough to decelerate herself. Terminal velocity in an atmosphere couldn¡¯t do anything to her, but this was a whole different level of speed. But she was smart enough to know that, so it was really just general worry for her going off ¡®alone¡¯. At least he knew the way she selectively devoured energy to change her momentum would also apply to her royal guard. Merve was still with Anton, their physical configuration not actually being relevant to acceleration and deceleration meaning she didn¡¯t suddenly swing past him. She gave him a look, and the small clump of black that was soon going to be invisible to anything. ¡°Kinda weird to carry a colony of ants in your shirt. But not as weird as the ones who have bugs live inside them.¡± ¡°That sounds unpleasant¡­ and risky,¡± Anton said. ¡°They have an astronomical death rate,¡± Merve commented. ¡°And no Worldbinding cultivators yet.¡± Anton nodded. He pushed his mind away from the topic and considered whether he could hit someone hanging out in subspace. Then he shrugged. Either he could, Bala would reveal herself before his arrow arrived, or he would take out one of the other ships. Either way, he took his bow, aimed it directly perpendicular to where the arrow needed to go, and shot. He was far enough away that he might be able to hide his energy, in which case he needed the arrow to go the long way around to get a believable trajectory. Chapter 522 The results of Anton¡¯s probing attack were interesting, disappointing, and at the same time encouraging. He knew that somewhere around the enemy fleet was Bala Sykora and her bone mountain, hiding out in some sort of subspace. Anton had just enough insight into such things to use space folding principles for travel, but he couldn¡¯t just remain in such a place. It seemed that she could, though. The encouraging part was that his attack managed to break into her subspace. The interesting part was his attack was almost pulled in. The disappointing part was that there was still a mountain of bones in the way of the woman herself, so his attack ultimately reached its end. Even as she reacted, her mountain of death pulling itself out of hiding, Anton¡¯s other attacks were finding their way into nearby ships, intent on disrupting whatever thing they wanted to do with poor little asteroid IGE94. Despite having numerically fewer allies- or similar, if he counted every individual member of the royal guard- and Bala having people beyond herself, Anton was more confident in this battle. Did he have a good reason? Beyond his improved understanding of spectral energy and a marginally closer position to Rutera¡¯s star, not really. But he wasn¡¯t going to get anywhere by doubting himself. He had shown up, so he would simply have to win. Anton was aware that such an attitude could easily result in death¡­ but on the other hand, unshattering confidence in oneself was half of the Million Sword Vault¡¯s claim to fame. They were good with the sword, but it wasn¡¯t like nobody else devoted themselves to the craft or had the technical understanding of swordplay. Like Rahayu and Chikere, however, the Million Sword Vault just believed they would win, and then they did. It was a sort of insane confidence that threw off the enemy¡­ much of the time. Elder Intan had in fact perished to this very opponent¡­ but it was unfortunate for him that he was completely unsuited for this foe. Bala had a wide area undodgeable and mostly unblockable attack, which was exactly the sort of thing that could kill lower power cultivators regardless of other factors. Anton kind of hoped she would lead off the battle with one such pulse of spectral energy¡­ because she only had allies nearby. Alas, he didn¡¯t manage to panic her enough to open with such a thing sight unseen. From his position hundreds of kilometers away, he would have been perfectly fine. And the Great Queen and her royal guard weren¡¯t quite there yet, though Anton only knew that because no ships had their barriers torn apart yet. Void ants were hard to track nearby, and practically impossible at such a range. Interestingly enough, Anton felt a significant improvement in his efforts from Merve¡¯s support. The woman didn¡¯t have the range to impact the battle herself, instead remaining near Anton wrapped in the wings of Angelic Providence. Quantifying exactly how she augmented his attacks was difficult, but it was something akin to an injection of additional energy and a refinement of the power in what he was already doing. The important part was he didn¡¯t have to coordinate with her- all of that was on her part, and he was merely able to strike more effectively. That was exactly the sort of thing that would be great with a larger group of cultivators, if she could manage it. Many-masted ships turned towards Anton, but the ships had the weakness that it was difficult for them to accelerate effectively so far from a star. Anton wasn¡¯t confident in winking out the light of the star again, but the ships were slow enough he just flung himself around in a manner difficult to follow, Merve managing to follow in his trail without disrupting his movement. If he accelerated greatly she might get left behind, but he had no intent to build up momentum away from the general area. Bolts of spectral energy came from Bala, but they were pitifully slow and inaccurate. She was likely quite precise within the hundred kilometer mark, maybe effective at twice that. But while she had range that would make nearly any Life Transformation cultivators ashamed, Anton felt she was merely adequate. He actually did his best to not react to any attack too quickly, both to not give away his situational awareness and to give her hope that she might hit him. Of course, the mountain of bone began to push its way towards him, and despite having no visual method of movement it was better able to track him than the enemy ships. And there was something else that Anton sensed. Something extremely uncomfortable given that he was now certain that Alaia was dead. At the very least, he doubted she would let Bala pour energy through her if she was alive, yet Anton distinctly felt the Worldbinding cultivators there as well. This was why people hated necromancers. Anton was almost completely certain that Alaia would be less effective, even with what had to be the rest of her sect around her, but it was an additional layer of difficulty Anton didn¡¯t need in his fight with Bala, who was rapidly getting closer. It was at this point that Anton had to make a choice between immediately fleeing or staying to fight. He could always change his mind if he stayed, but this was the only safe opportunity to retreat. The fact that the Great Queen had already flung herself at the battle was a motivating factor to stay, but Anton was also interested in avenging his former foe. Had she deserved to die? Probably. Did she deserve to be refined into a skeletal weapon? Certainly not. In other circumstances Anton would have been ecstatic at the Sylanis Cluster killing their own Worldbinding cultivators, but he simply didn''t have it in him. At least they¡¯d retrieved Zarina¡¯s corpse when Zala retreated after the first incident, which was some measure of comfort. Anton realized he was a very tempting target for Bala. He would make use of that to the best of his ability as he struggled to maintain some distance. He could go faster, but his efficiency dropped rapidly if he did. Arrows sought out openings in the giant mass of bones. It seemed that Bala needed whole bones to be maximally effective, which meant they didn¡¯t completely fill the space. Arrows wormed their way through tiny openings seeking the woman in the middle, settling for breaking anything that might be important or valuable when they inevitably found an end. Soon enough Bala was in range of her attacks, but Anton was still quite capable of dodging them smoothly. However, after the initial volley was avoided and the second about to reach him, Anton realized he wasn¡¯t the only target. Several bolts of spectral energy sought out Merve, and Anton couldn¡¯t stop them. Not now. The struck the wings covering Merve¡¯s upper and lower body, the barrier the appendages formed rippling but not breaking- and the spectral energy miraculously not passing through. Anton was relieved, though he didn¡¯t imagine Merve could just take hits continuously. Anton led them a bit faster, taking the time to shoot down some of the bolts so that Merve wouldn¡¯t be overwhelmed. Ultimately, he still felt her presence factored into his favor somewhat¡­ though it would be nice if she were stronger. Then again, when didn¡¯t Anton want more Assimilation cultivators by his side? The trifold alliance simply didn¡¯t have many that were mobile enough to travel with him. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Anton didn¡¯t feel the Great Queen or any of the void ants. That meant they either embarrassingly missed their target and were now floating in the void of space, hopefully orienting themselves towards a place Anton could find them¡­ or they had reached their target and so far avoided raising a fuss. Anton had to bet on the latter for the moment, because if it was the former he just had to leave immediately. With Bala getting ever closer, now just a few dozen kilometers away, Alaia and her sect made a show of what they could do. Bolts of energy, fire, lightning, as well as a number of ranged weapons like bows and spears began to bombard Anton. Individually they weren¡¯t much. As a group, it was enough to be inconvenient. Added to Bala¡¯s own attacks, they were somewhat concerning. Unlike Bala herself, however, it seemed the animated Worldbinding cultivator could not function from the center of the skeletal mass. That meant they were viable targets, and Anton began with cutting down the weaker subjects. He found that hitting the spine just below the skull was extremely effective- everyone being nothing but bones meant there weren¡¯t many options to begin with, but that also meant nothing seemed important. But the separation of head and body was at least metaphysically important, and everything he struck deanimated. Alaia herself was a bit harder to take down. She still had more power, whether from some ¡®self¡¯ that remained in that body or from Bala Anton couldn¡¯t tell. Either way, there was enough defensive energy that Anton couldn¡¯t simply take out the key target. The mountain of skeletons was getting uncomfortably close. Bala¡¯s accuracy remained similar now, but the giant bone arms and tails stretching towards Anton were somewhat problematic. This was the point he would have started going all out, if he hadn¡¯t committed to that from the beginning. His access to ascension energy was nearly dry, his own natural energy replenishing quickly but still approaching below half. Spectral energy was still difficult to use, but he had a plan that might work with it. If it didn¡¯t, he¡¯d have to admit defeat and flee. He wasn¡¯t going to be stubborn and remain to fight, especially with no sign of the Great Queen. What was spectral energy? Death, and false life. But also true rebirth, something that Anton couldn¡¯t have¡­ at least not and retain his current self. Not that he was ever expecting that to begin with. The point was, there was more to it than Bala was making use of. Either she didn¡¯t care to explore the full details of spectral energy, wasn¡¯t aware of the possibility, or more probably had locked herself into particular aspects. Which meant when Anton focused an arrow with the concept of passing on and rebirth, it pierced through Alaia. That part was inevitable- the part Anton had been unsure about was whether it would do anything. Fortunately, it did. As intangible power passed through intangible power, something was yanked out of the bones and energy, causing them to collapse. Anton kind of hoped that whatever happened to Alaia she had a chance to be reborn, though he wouldn¡¯t shed tears if her soul was gone forever. If it was someone he cared about, dying a death beyond death would affect Anton¡­ but for his enemies he simply didn¡¯t intend for that to happen. Except the Twin Soul Sect, because they deserved that for attempting to exploit reincarnation and for being traitors. The good news was that any Worldbinding cultivators Bala took over were definitely weaker than normal. The bad news was that Anton had overly discounted the maneuverability of the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s other ships, and they were now blocking his best escape route. Anton pondered his options. Candle Wax would either provide him a significant amount of energy or instantly wipe him out, possibly kill him. That might be better than being captured or traditionally killed, but if he was going out Anton would prefer to properly incinerate his own corpse. He kept a tiny bit of his own consciousness sealed in his dantian, ready to let the unrestrained power of a star release inside him if he perished. ¡°We¡¯re going through that one, with the stupid face,¡± Anton gestured to one of the ships. Merve nodded. She had little in the way of ranged abilities, but if they were breaking through a blockade she had options. There were nowhere near enough ships to physically prevent Anton from fleeing, but he didn''t want to pass between them and let them attack him unhindered. As skeletal arms began to stretch towards him at a low single digit number of kilometers, Anton pushed himself and Merve towards the indicated ship. Instead of staying with him, Merve pushed ahead, her upper wings providing a defensive shield over her head as she dove towards the ship. The ones in the middle seemed to be responsible for the actual flight, while the lower ones suddenly found a purpose as Merve reached the enemy¡¯s barrier. She used the lower two wings like blades, slicing a line through the enemy hull. Anton didn¡¯t fail to take advantage of that opening, dozens of arrows piercing through the small gap and targeting important enemies. Then the two of them tore their way through the center of the ship, shielding themselves from the rest of the fleet. Anton had his blade-bow in hand, alternately firing and slashing with it. The ship had enough enemy combatants that they couldn¡¯t sit still as they pushed their way through the ship. It was likely the fleet would be waiting for them to come out the other side¡­ but personally Anton was interested in reaching the helm, where a dead helmsman was sprawled on the ground. Anton couldn¡¯t believe the Sylanis cluster still used traditional wheels for their ships. Sure, he hadn¡¯t expected technological joysticks like Rutera had, but there were better methods of control than using hands to spin freaking wheels around. But he vaguely understood what they all did, and flipped the ship around at a rate it was absolutely not meant to manage. He had to inject some of his energy into the ships system so it would do that much, and it would doubtless fall apart in a couple minutes. But who was he to care about that? He pushed it to its limits and beyond, pulling away from the rest of the fleet. Anton was extremely pleased that the barrier was almost one hundred percent effective against ¡®allied¡¯ attacks. That made perfect sense in most situations, but now that he¡¯d commandeered it the rest of the fleet was basically doing nothing. It was too bad Bala was still catching up. This ship wasn¡¯t as fast as Anton, just a safer place to be. As skeletal arms began to tear through the ship, Anton prepared to vault himself and Merve out the opening they¡¯d torn. Then he heard a scream. It was partly physical, transmitted through the physical medium of bones, but partly mental and spiritual. It came with a pulse of spectral energy, washing over him- but it wasn¡¯t as intentional as before. It was, however, very good at ridding Anton of the annoyances on his ship and the others nearby. Merve even managed to use her wings to block it, which might have put her ahead of Anton in terms of safety. Chunks of bone fell away from the mountain as it tore into space around it, pulling itself into some manner of subspace. Along with the bones, a few things remained. Anton was able to lock onto them with his energy for how different they were- and thus he detected the void ants that came along with them. Just to have a place to talk in peace, Anton directed his ship around to pick up the hand and three toes that the Great Queen and her royal guard were holding onto. The Great Queen stood triumphantly atop the severed wrist, though when she came into the ship she looked slightly disappointed. ¡°I have no idea how to follow her into that place,¡± she signed. Anton shrugged, ¡°I guess we can try to figure that out. But at least you claimed some prizes.¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather toss them,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°I simply wished to display our success. We don¡¯t eat humans, and this one would be particularly foul, like her spectral energy. It is unfortunate how adept I have gotten at navigating shifting piles of bones, but our casualties were minimal. If there is another time Bala appears before me, she shall not live.¡± Though the Great Queen said that with confidence, she also collapsed into a heap along with most of her royal guard, proving once more that spectral energy was still a threat to their kind. Chapter 523 News from the other systems came on a delayed timeframe, but it was confirmed that similar incidents took place in the other systems of the trifold alliance. Weos managed to drive off the attempted intrusion near the border of their system, with their occupance stretching to all of their planets and their fast moving fleet. It was actually Ceretos that suffered the most. One day, Anton got a message from the Order- with the news repeated through various other avenues- of a small planet named Medao. The distinction of it actually being a planet was debatable, its small size and its eccentric orbit making scholars disagree. The news was that Medao had been taken over by the Sylanis cluster, though to what purpose it wasn¡¯t clear. The day after, he got a message from Everheart saying the matter had been dealt with. The day after that he was bombarded with messages indicating that Medao had been destroyed. The timeline and circumstances were pretty clear to Anton. He didn¡¯t suspect Everheart of working with the Sylanis Cluster or anything. Nor of hiding anything, really. Everheart claiming that the problem had been dealt with was likely exactly as he thought it, and he simply wouldn¡¯t have considered that destroying Medao was anything of note. And in the grand scheme of things, perhaps it wasn¡¯t. There wasn¡¯t anyone living there- until the Sylanis Cluster very briefly took up a position- it wasn¡¯t particularly interesting, not even as space rocks went. Even so¡­ Anton wanted to have a talk with the man about how he dealt with problems. If the word had come that he¡¯d also removed a Worldbinding cultivator then maybe that would be different, but that particular attack hadn¡¯t had one involved. Perhaps it was a test to see if Ceretos could send someone to stop them from messing with outlying planets. The trifold alliance¡¯s response was still being discussed. Pressing their victory seemed like a good option, but retaliating against the Ivory Maw in particular was risky. They had three of the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s Worldbinding cultivators, and it wasn¡¯t clear if Bala Sykora was the strongest among them. Chances were that as their leader she was, but that didn¡¯t mean the other two were far behind. The loss of a hand- and three toes- might not be a significant detriment for a cultivator of her kind. It was risky enough to face her alone, Anton wasn¡¯t pleased with the idea of going into Ivory Maw territory even if he had the leeway to bring Nthanda, the Great Queen, and Everheart. And at least he or Nthanda needed to remain with Rutera since they didn¡¯t have their own Worldbinding cultivator and their super secret ship wasn¡¯t complete¡­ yet. ----- Nthanda clutched her bow tightly. Compared to any of Anton¡¯s, hers felt strangely dead. The metal that made it up was refined from various disparate sources and combined later. It wasn¡¯t made from a Worldheart- Nthanda really didn¡¯t want to think about the destructive excess that led to those being harvested to begin with- or from a giant tree or the bones of a powerful creature or thrice blessed skymetal. It was just a carefully concocted alloy with very straightforward enchantments. She liked it. It had a strong body, just like her. The first arrow came at her neck. A flick of her wrist smashed it apart with her bow, more than durable enough to deal with something so insignificant. After the next half dozen Nthanda was no closer to having a proper target, so she kept her hand free to slap away the bolts of condensed natural energy. Actually, if this pattern kept up, she could just keep absorbing the incoming attacks and never get fatigued. Which of course meant the pattern shifted. Ascension energy was surprisingly terrifying, given that Nthanda found herself at an equivalent of a strength where she could be using it. Maybe it was the unfamiliarity, or the particular manner in which Anton used it. Its speed and power were no joke, and the former meant it was rather difficult to make sure it impacted any of her manufactured chitin. Her faux void ant developments were just as capable of dismantling ascension energy as proper natural energy, maybe moreso. When she tore it apart and no longer had to fear for her life, and then she ate it. It was¡­ crunchy? Spicy? Prickly? Some combination of all three. It took a bit of effort, which meant a dozen of Anton¡¯s regular shots were more able to find their target locations on her body. Most of them shattered uselessly, causing little more than bruising on Nthanda¡¯s extraordinarily tempered body. It was debatable whether over the course of a battle if that would be better than someone getting their natural energy defenses constantly bombarded, but Nthanda didn¡¯t have much of anything to spare on defense. Since it wasn¡¯t really a choice, she just accepted it- if she had to take a hit, at least. She finally found him, leveling her bow towards the horizon. Anton had said he¡¯d be within her range, otherwise this wouldn¡¯t really be much of a competitive exercise. Maybe if Nthanda had a few more decades of experience she¡¯d be able to compete with him in range- though she didn¡¯t have the advantage of energy senses that could pick out a target beyond hundreds of kilometers. Normally the horizon was a dozen kilometers at most, but Nthanda was currently on a platform in space. Given that she was moving in an orbit towards him, gravity, and how she expected him to dodge, she fired her first shot, shaking the platform beneath her as it dealt with the force thrusting the arrow towards her destination. Nthanda¡¯s natural energy went with it, not as a propellant or defense for her arrow, but because there was really no other way to redirect it otherwise- and an arrow that didn¡¯t change trajectory would never hit Anton in a million years. Not unless Nthanda figured out how to get them up towards the speed of light, or at least a tangible fraction thereof. For the first twenty minutes Nthanda thought the exchanges were going well. Sure, her supplier was going to be very upset with her for launching hundreds of arrows out into space- unless Anton had caught them- but she¡¯d protected herself adequately and launched counterattacks. Then one of his arrows hit her in the wrist. It wasn¡¯t supposed to have any effect, that being one of the places covered in chitin. Even if it had broken through, Nthanda wouldn¡¯t have expected anything to affect only the inside of her wrist. But that wasn¡¯t the only mysterious injury she got. Perhaps mysterious wasn¡¯t the right word- Anton had told her he¡¯d be making use of spectral energy, but Nthanda was ill equipped to combat the mostly intangible energy. It wasn¡¯t fair, which was of course why she needed this training. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The barrage of arrows stopped when Nthanda found herself unable to draw back her bow, her arms and back riddled with wounds that didn¡¯t make sense. And yet¡­ she knew they could have been so much worse. She was going to need to do so much work to figure out how to prevent this sort of damage in the future. And to recover from it now. ¡°How come you get something like this along with your fancy flying and range, huh Anton?¡± Nthanda asked when he came to get her. ¡°I traded away reincarnation,¡± Anton answered seriously. ¡°Also, everything has its counter. Void ants counter pretty much every cultivator. You counter them. This counters you.¡± ¡°Pretty sure spectral energy is also bad for void ants.¡± ¡°The fact that void ants can be injured at all by spectral energy does not necessarily make it a proper weakness,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Something had to be able to kill them besides physical force or tossing them into the sun.¡± Left unsaid, of course, was that only applied to the top tier- the youngest and weakest members were at best a bit more durable than any other ant of their size, which meant being squished between the fingers of a small child was a possibility. ¡°If it just so happens that spectral energy is the most powerful force that cultivators in the lower realms can call upon, it makes it even more important to derive proper counters.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure some of my bones are liquid.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just your brain trying to interpret inconsistent feedback. Your body is still just as solid as before. Now then, I imagine your body will begin to recover soon enough without your input¡­ but guiding it in the right direction should be more valuable.¡± Nthanda nodded, ¡°I get it. But I would like to be somewhere with air, please.¡± ¡°You can jump,¡± Anton grinned, gesturing. ¡°But I suppose we don¡¯t want to damage wherever you land.¡± He held out her hand, as he had always intended to. ¡°Let¡¯s get you down.¡± Nthanda had methods to move about in space or low gravity environments, but they weren¡¯t optimal or easy. ¡°Thanks. Also, I don¡¯t suppose you happened to catch any arrows?¡± Anton pulled out a storage bag. ¡°Less than half. Your accuracy was too good to fully devote myself to the task.¡± ----- Ty Quigley looked down at his hands. Wrinkled. It clutched Elder Intan¡¯s sword, a shallow curve that still ended in a point. Not far from him stood Elder Vasu. ¡°I need you to take this seriously,¡± Ty explained. ¡°You know what that means for the Million Sword Vault,¡± Vasu nodded. He stretched out his hand over the sands of the Scorching Mirror Desert. Sparkling shards of glasslike sand swirled around each other, forming in his hand a plain looking straight sword, ordinary in every way except for its mirrored surface. At least, it appeared that way until Vasu shifted slightly. Every time it moved, it seemed to break down into an endless number of separate reflective surfaces without losing its form. Vasu didn¡¯t wait for Ty to indicate further readiness, or give the younger man the pleasure of making the first move. Instead, he took a step forward, the sands beneath him supporting him at whatever level he pleased, raising and lowering or being firm or soft as convenient. One step, and then he was behind Ty swinging his blade horizontally. Ty Quigley fell forward away from him. He didn¡¯t dodge, or lean forward. Nor did he suddenly thrust himself with a burst of energy. No, he simply fell as gravity changed directions for him alone. Yet only long enough to bring him out of reach of the blade that instead of bisecting him simply grazed the outer edge of his spine. The blade itself hadn¡¯t touched him, of course- that was simply Vasu¡¯s energy extended beyond it. Without turning around, Ty lowered his stance, preparing a thrust. Vasu appeared on his left, a slash coming down at an angle. Ty¡¯s body was already twisting and tilting. His head nearly touched the sand as he angled himself almost upside down. No, that was simply Vasu¡¯s perspective. Perhaps it was Vasu and the desert itself that were upside down. The sword thrust went between Vasu¡¯s thighs, turning into a slash for any of the various blood carrying parts of the body in the thighs and groin. Several moves later the battle had taken to the sky, Vasu standing upon floating disks of mirrored sands, and Ty standing on nothing. Currently he was oriented ninety degrees perpendicular to Vasu, who was almost beginning to doubt his own sense of gravity. Two moves later, Vasu had the tip of his sword entirely through Ty¡¯s windpipe. The young man just grinned, the wrinkled skin on his face stretching tight with the motion, his hair changing from a dead gray to a vibrant silver. ¡°Got you,¡± Ty gargled through the blood in his throat. Elder Vasu looked down to his ankle, where a single drop of blood was trickling from the tip of Ty¡¯s sword. Given the entire realm between them, that was good enough to count as a victory. Elder Vasu nodded. ¡°Good.¡± Ty continued to grin. The cut on his windpipe would stitch up nicely, clean as it was. ¡°Next time¡­ use all of the swords.¡± Elder Vasu raised his eyebrows. He hadn¡¯t even told anyone about that. But perhaps he should have expected a young genius to figure it out. Chapter 524 ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± Everheart said. ¡°There weren¡¯t even any people there!¡± ¡°First of all, there were hundreds of people from the Sylanis Cluster,¡± Anton corrected him. ¡°Are you saying you don¡¯t approve of me killing them?¡± ¡°... Second, it was completely unnecessary to destroy a whole planet for that.¡± ¡°Medao was a dwarf planet at best,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°If we need another pile of rocks in space I can toss one together.¡± ¡°... Do you break everything you touch?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Yes. But it was going to happen eventually anyway.¡± ¡°Planets don¡¯t just fall apart.¡± ¡°It¡¯d go out with the sun,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°In like¡­ a few billion years or some crap like that.¡± ¡°I fail to see how an event that will happen far beyond your lifetime excuses just smashing things that aren¡¯t yours.¡± ¡°First of all, I¡¯m planning to be here when the sun goes out. Well, not here here.¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°I¡¯d watch from the edge of the system, maybe, unless I was busy. Just because you¡¯ve accepted being mortal doesn''t mean I have.¡± In a way, the admission was disturbingly comforting. At least it implied that Everheart would be sticking around and keeping most planets intact, unless he wanted to hang around in an empty system. ¡°Sure, fine,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But consider this. Now Medao doesn¡¯t exist for those billions of years. I hope you enjoy your Worldheart.¡± ¡°Pfft,¡± Everheart waved Anton off, ¡°A tiny, energy lacking place like that doesn¡¯t have a Worldheart. Anyway, I still argue that blowing it up was the most efficient and nothing important was lost.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just worried about where you draw the line¡­ if you have a line.¡± ¡°I totally do,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I won¡¯t do something like that if allies were present,¡± Anton nodded- too early, apparently, ¡°Unless there were at least like, twice as many enemies in terms of total combat power.¡± Anton put his head in his hands. ¡°Whyyyy.¡± ¡°They¡¯d probably die anyway.¡± ¡°Or you could help them. The normal way.¡± ¡°Wow you pansy. Fine, I¡¯ll shift it to three to one.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°... Four to one?¡± Clearly, this was a topic they weren¡¯t going to agree upon. Though ultimately Everheart settled Anton down by pointing out that he couldn¡¯t efficiently destroy a bigger planet, and wouldn¡¯t destroy something with enough value for allies to bother holding. And though Anton wanted to complain more about what Everheart had already done, it was useless and he was at least partly correct. No real harm was done, and stopping the Sylanis Cluster from setting up a foothold was valuable. Though the fact that they seemed to think they could get away with it was concerning, Everheart assured Anton nothing else had slipped into the system at the same time. Hopefully, the same was true for Rutera. And now Anton had to check. He really didn¡¯t enjoy the idea of patrolling thousands of space rocks. ----- President Park preferred to keep eye contact with those he talked with. It showed he was listening, empathetic, a reasonable politician. He liked to think he was, but it was hard to interact with something alien. Across from him on the table of the meeting room stood an ant. A very large ant that President Park had been informed had killed a Worldbinding cultivator. That didn¡¯t seem physically possible, given the video they had of Anton and now Nthanda. General Nicodemo¡¯s prescense was reassuring¡­ and if negotiations went as they should, President Park didn¡¯t need to worry about whether or not this particular individual could kill him. He just wished it had a readable face. That she had a readable face. It didn¡¯t help make him less nervous that next to her on the table were a hand and some toes. Nicodemo was acting as the interpreter- somehow, even with his busy schedule the man had learned the void ant¡¯s sign language. President Park, meanwhile, had found himself busy with other things and had kind of assumed he didn¡¯t need to know it anyway. An assumption he was regretting. He trusted Nicodemo¡¯s interpretation was accurate, but requiring a translator weakened his bargaining power. ¡°The Great Queen says that due to her valor in battle and assisting Rutera with their foes, the void ants should be allowed a small colony upon Rutera- with full rights as humans. The tokens she brought are from a Worldbinding cultivator.¡± President Park almost said something that would have weakened his position, but he remembered that just because he didn¡¯t speak the void ants sign language, that didn¡¯t mean the Great Queen didn¡¯t speak Ruteran. Understand it, rather, since she didn¡¯t have vocal chords. ¡°That¡­ we would not be entirely opposed to a larger void ant presence upon Rutera,¡± President Park said cautiously. ¡°But a full colony is a big step.¡± The Great Queen signed further. Nicodemo didn¡¯t immediately interpret, instead turning directly to the president. ¡°My apologies, President Park. I made a previous deal with the Great Queen to campaign for the void ants presence should the Great Queen slay one of their Worldbinding cultivators. I think it¡¯s only fair to say that while her efforts were not yet fully successful, she has still provided a great service. I implore you to consider her offer.¡± ¡°I see,¡± President Park nodded, addressing the Great Queen directly. ¡°I personally have no problems with such a presence,¡± except for the fact that void ants and the Great Queen specifically were terrifying. ¡°I think I could say the same for the vast majority of Rutera, if they know anything about your people. However, in times of war such as this, undergoing too many other great changes might be unwise.¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°She requests a small diplomatic compound, with no breeders. That might get people more used to the idea.¡± ¡°How large?¡± President Park asked. Did the embassy have the funds for a new building? Or the space? ¡°Just enough for ten thousand individuals, she says.¡± While President Park had a minor heart attack, Nicodemo continued, ¡°They would require ten kilograms of food per day- energy rich- and ten square meters of space.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s, what¡­¡± President Park frowned. He hated doing math during diplomacy, he always screwed it up somehow. ¡°A square kilometer of land?¡± he finally arrived at. ¡°That¡¯s pretty significant.¡± ¡°Ten square meters total,¡± Nicodemo clarified. For a moment, President Park had forgotten that, though large, these were ants. ¡°Oh. Like, a room? We can absolutely spare a room or two.¡± And with that, proper negotiations began. President Park knew there would be future headaches in the future. Even integrating with the cultivators from Ceretos and Rutera had been difficult, and they were human. But President Park had prepared himself for diplomacy with aliens since their space programs ramped up. He just hadn¡¯t expected them to be so alien yet also not. And for the first ¡®aliens¡¯ to just be more humans. They¡¯d really been lacking critical information about the wider galaxy. ----- ¡°... You were right, this is much better,¡± Merve admitted to Anton. ¡°I¡­ places of power were very restricted previously. Rutera didn¡¯t seem particularly much worse than what I was used to.¡± At the current moment, the two of them were present at the Order of One Hundred Stars, at the peak of the mountain where some energy naturally gathered more densely- though the difference was not as significant between the peak and down below as it had once been. That was because the overall energy density was higher everywhere. The latest generation was adapted to areas rich in natural energy from before birth, though certain areas were still uncomfortable for those of lower cultivation. ¡°How did you even reach your current cultivation if Rutera was not that much worse?¡± Anton asked. ¡°By consuming energy rich resources¡­ earned through service to the powerful sects, of course. The rewards were not so generous as what you offer here, however. Not for people like me.¡± ¡°People not born into clans or powerful sects, you mean,¡± Anton nodded. She¡¯d previously explained such things. ¡°It¡¯s generally better here.¡± Even the worst sects recognized that meritocratic advancement gave them stronger cultivators. Some were just hesitant to let people grow too quickly for fear they would break away once they felt strong enough. The Order dealt with that by doing their best to assess the character of the individuals they recruited- both before them joining, and during their development. People were free to leave if they so chose, but there was little benefit to that. The Hundred Stars was a sect that paved the way to ascension- there was little better on offer, for those who could follow the sect¡¯s rules. They were not particularly onerous, either, but not everyone fit into the mold. Some were directed to other places that better fit them. Some were rejected. Others, generally those who had committed crimes and tried to conceal it, were dealt with. Nobody was arbitrarily killed, but there were laws in place for a reason. And these days, going from country to country to escape criminal consequences was becoming less and less useful. The two continents were closely tied, and even the Exalted Archipelago worked with them on such matters. And some sects were actively helpful in general. ¡°How do you like it here?¡± Anton asked Merve. ¡°I¡­ still have trouble believing that any of this is real,¡± she admitted. ¡°I have a few friends, I think. But I¡¯ve just barely accepted there was one decent person like you. So many people also seeming that way together makes me think they¡¯re hiding something. Even if I trust you that this is all legit.¡± ¡°... the Sylanis Cluster seems awful,¡± Anton said for perhaps the hundredth time. ¡°I can¡¯t say everyone had the same experience as me, but yeah. It was garbage. Can¡¯t you get that Scholar Eulogius guy to blow up some of their planets? He seemed into that idea.¡± ¡°No. For numerous reasons.¡± Merve sighed, ¡°Yeah, I get it. I appreciate that you purged the Ultimate Phoenix Sect. They were some of the most prominently visible garbage. Did you know there used to be like, a dozen phoenix sects before I was born? They ¡®merged¡¯ with the rest¡­ which basically meant killing anyone who wouldn¡¯t join them and enslaving all their phoenixes.¡± ¡°The Ivory Maw seems worse,¡± Anton pointed out. Merve shuddered, ¡°I spent most of my life operating on the assumption that they were boogeymen. Something made up to scare kids¡­ and adults.¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry. It seems they¡¯re real.¡± ¡°I had a list, you know,¡± Merve said. ¡°A mental one, of people I wanted to get revenge on. The funny thing is, most of them died unrelated to me. And now I just don¡¯t want to see their faces again. I get to sit here not worrying about anyone killing me and striding closer to Ascension.¡± ¡°You made your choice, then?¡± Anton asked. Merve shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just always defaulted to that idea so that I could get away from everything. Plus, Worldbinding cultivators have to be exceptional. If not, they get chopped up by the others pretty quick.¡± ¡°Is that why there are only a hundred in the Sylanis Cluster?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Because if Ceretos had those numbers we¡¯d have¡­ more.¡± If it scaled proportional to population, Ceretos might have four hundred? They had eight at around two billion people, and the Sylanis Cluster was said to have about a hundred billion. And that wasn¡¯t mentioning that Ceretos had less than thirty years of this, while the Sylanis Cluster had centuries. ¡°I¡¯m hoping we can take more advantage of that. Get them to fight each other.¡± ¡°I wish I was engaged enough in politics to make suggestions,¡± Merve shook her head, ¡°But you already know what I do. Open hatred doesn¡¯t really last long, and I have no idea about secret grudges.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll just deal with what we have.¡± Anton didn¡¯t have to have a reason to return to the Order, like he was now, even during war. Rutera needed him, but this was his sect. Even so, Anton didn¡¯t just leave them alone. Nthanda and the Great Queen were there. And he was working with the official policy right now. They weren¡¯t just planning to let the Sylanis Cluster keep staying on the offensive, but the trifold alliance was in a moment of internal focus and rehabilitation. Weos had their new Assimilation cultivators still settling into their power, everyone on Ceretos was training, and Rutera was definitely not about to unveil their new secret battleship. In a couple years, maybe. That thing was taking forever to build, so it had better be good. It would have been finished already, but they kept coming up with more improvements and loftier ambitions as they realized just how strong Worldbinding cultivators were and what they needed it to be able to withstand if it wasn¡¯t just going to be an expensive pile of junk after one battle. Not that anyone had told Anton all that. Officially. Chapter 525 ¡°You¡¯d better have something good to show after not contacting me for over a decade, young man!¡± Anton wagged his finger at the aforementioned individual. He was not really angry, but he had been worried something had happened. ¡°First of all, you¡¯re like¡­ sixty-something years older than me,¡± the scarred individual stated. ¡°That was a big deal when I was in my thirties, but just because you¡¯re past two centuries doesn¡¯t make me not a century and a half old,¡± Devon said. ¡°Second, I don¡¯t just show off my powers like they¡¯re for fun.¡± ¡°So those chains dancing behind you are¡­?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Unruly children!¡± Devon turned around and slapped them to the ground. ¡°Which, uh, kinda tells you how it went. I mixed my power with stuff and now it doesn¡¯t always listen to me.¡± ¡°Sounds¡­ inconvenient.¡± ¡°You¡¯re telling me,¡± Devon sighed. ¡°But I guess I can say I¡¯m stronger. And ironically not tied down to anything but myself.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great news, actually,¡± Anton said. ¡°Have you been keeping up with the happenings?¡± ¡°I definitely noticed some of them,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°There was a giant battle over the planet that was pretty hard to ignore. But it seems like it went well.¡± ¡°It did. The Great Queen of the void ants advanced to an exceptional level of power¡­ and they weren¡¯t prepared for it. Anyway,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°There¡¯s a big interstellar war between us, two allies, and a trio of enemy systems. And they have a hundred Assimilation level cultivators.¡± ¡°... That sounds bad,¡± Devon said. ¡°Well, ninety-six and nine tenths, now,¡± Anton corrected. ¡°But it¡¯s still a bothersome quantity.¡± ¡°Nine tenths?¡± Devon raised an eyebrow. ¡°One of them lost a hand and some toes.¡± ¡°Pretty sure that¡¯s less than a tenth, but it does sound better that way. Think they can grow it back?¡± ¡°They either immediately tossed some freaky bones on there, or will have a hell of a time,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Could have gone either way. Anyway, we¡¯re trying to foment civil war there so we don¡¯t have to deal with them, because they¡¯re sure as hell not leaving us alone no matter how much ass we kick.¡± ¡°I understand why we¡¯d want them to kill each other instead of us, but we aren¡¯t exactly in a hurry, are we?¡± ¡°We only have like seventy years before the next invasion opportunity,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯d like a half century of proper stability before then. And traveling between systems is slow.¡± ¡°Like¡­ years?¡± ¡°Weeks,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But for every back and forth that adds up quickly. You¡¯d be surprised how much stuff has changed, though. Fancy starships and the like all over. And Rutera is building the biggest one. But don¡¯t tell anyone that.¡± ¡°... Sure,¡± Devon said. ¡°What do you want me to do, then?¡± ¡°Whatever you please,¡± Anton said. ¡°But¡­ we could use another unrestrained person like you. Most people are Assimilated with stuff on Ceretos. It¡¯s pretty safe here,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°And if you just want security, remaining here to help out is fine.¡± ¡°No, if you need me on the offensive I¡¯m willing to help out,¡± Devon said. ¡°I¡¯m quite attached to this place, just like you. That means leaving it behind when necessary. Besides, we rarely get to fight together.¡± ¡°How¡¯s your range?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Pretty far,¡± Devon said, then realized who he was talking to. ¡°A few hundred meters?¡± ¡°I will gladly fight alongside you,¡± Anton grinned, ¡°But space battles are very long range. You¡¯ll have to settle for having me as fire support. Though¡­ if you have proper control over your whole range, being deeper into the battlefield could be worth it.¡± Even his fastest arrows had travel time, after all. Even if he could shoot an extreme distance, he ended up limited by how many simultaneous arrows he could sustain. ¡°I¡¯d say I¡¯m fully confident,¡± Devon said, ¡°But if they¡¯re Assimilation equivalent and giving you trouble, we¡¯ll have to see.¡± ¡°People will be glad to hear the news, whenever you announce it. We just need a target. Sadly, it¡¯s not going to be the people with the mountain sized pile of bones. Even if they deserve it the most.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to catch me up on everything,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°Also on who that woman with you was. Another informally adopted granddaughter, I presume?¡± ¡°Oh, Merve? She¡¯s a captured enemy soldier,¡± Anton said. ¡°And now we¡¯re friends. The Sylanis Cluster is full of garbage waiting to burn up in an odiferous inferno.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ----- Various codenames had existed for Rutera¡¯s battleship. The Indomitable. Juggernaut. Invincible. Planet crusher. Some of them were too violent, some sounded like they were asking for trouble. Eventually, they went for something else. The Independence was the first Ascension-class battleship they had produced, requiring thousands of workers and many years. It consumed a tremendous amount of resources, though in a way that was good for Rutera¡¯s economy. It didn¡¯t hurt that they had the scrap of a steady stream of enemy ships, though the wooden components didn¡¯t do much to interface with Ruteran technology. It wasn¡¯t much to look at, being more or less spheroid in shape. It was tempting to make something narrow and sleek, but as a ship carrier it required room for everything that would be transported along with it. In addition to that, restraining it to a completely defined front was something they couldn¡¯t afford in space combat where attacks could come from anywhere. The battleship wasn¡¯t particularly maneuverable, but its sturdy frame and energy shields would protect it as well as its fleet and omnidirectional weapons. Those shields were made as top of the line as possible, taking the very best of the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s formation techniques to make adaptable barriers, along with Ruteran specific ingenuity. Anton had the honor of being the first person to attempt to destroy it, and he found himself quite certain that a single combatant would find it very difficult to even scratch. It was even tuned to filter out spectral energy, though Anton couldn¡¯t be sure if it would perfectly resist the power of Bala. Simply having some protections against that sort of energy was more than most, however. Though given what they knew, they were integrating emergency barriers into their fighters for if someone like Bala showed up. They couldn¡¯t just let a fleet get wiped out with no defenses. Unfortunately, powering all of that- including the interstellar drive- took a massive amount of power. The center portion of The Independence was mostly energy storage and generation. Feeding off of ambient natural energy, it would likely take years to fill the thing up- but the Ruterans hadn¡¯t developed technologically because they were used to abundant natural energy. The battleship had various ways to charge it, including contributions from cultivators- though Anton thought it would take him at least a week to fill the thing up. The primary method was part of the reason it had been hiding out in a gas giant. It was able to fuse most materials into usable energy, the easiest of which were the lightest gasses, hydrogen and helium. The Independence was massive enough that it was never meant to enter atmosphere- instead being capable of siphoning off what it needed from nearby atmospheres, or gathering sources of power through some of its support ships, various ¡®lifeboats¡¯ and repair vessels that would be required for the ship to remain optimally functional. Space suits were all well and good, but mechanical assistance would be necessary if there was any significant damage to the frame. There was one week of it sitting above the atmosphere of Rutera, where people could look at it- not that it was easy to see without assistance of some sort- and comment on how great it was. Then the time came for its first mission, and along with the many Ruteran crew, fighter pilots, and ground troops, there were cultivators from Weos and Ceretos. The other systems contributed their own ships as well, of course. It would be a terrible shame if they overestimated their new vessel and left it vulnerable to a concerted attack of some sort. The target was Okloi- not any particular place, but rather as many places as they could hit before they deemed it wise to retreat. No doubt their whole armada would be moving slow enough for the enemy to gather local forces to retaliate, so they were choosing places where the Worldbinding cultivators should be less mobile¡­ and where they could take advantage of rival sects that might be less inclined to come to each other¡¯s aid. Without any real diplomatic communications or the ability to land spies they couldn¡¯t directly sow discord, so they were hoping it would come about naturally as they did what was necessary to keep the Sylanis Cluster in check. ----- The first target was a planet of a particularly large size, covered in ice with nearly frozen oceans beneath the surface. It was a place only cultivators could dwell, and a source of some problematic supporting elements. Healers that were injected into pretty much every attacking force. For Anton personally he hadn¡¯t found them to be an issue, but for the war at large they were a significant factor in restricting enemy losses. If that had been all, they might not have been a priority target. However, it was determined that captives from the trifold alliance were taken there for interrogation and experimentation. The former was part of war, accepted begrudgingly. The latter was inexcusable, and negated any moral protection they had as healers. It wasn¡¯t clear if they would be able to rescue anyone in particular, but either way the Iceheart Ocean had to be dealt with. The entirety of the planet Atania was under their control, so any facilities that could be found were on the table as targets. The first showing of The Independence was impressive. As the massive behemoth moved towards the planet on the outer ring of orbits, fighters were ready to be released like a swarm of bees¡­ though they should be considered quite a bit more deadly. Its presence hadn¡¯t gone unnoticed, and their first target had ships in the air before they were close to the surface of the planet, but that just meant they were the first to get cut down, isolated. The Independence shrugged off the enemy attacks, while they weren¡¯t able to stand up to the combined firepower of its many diverse weapons- specially selected to efficiently overcome the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s barriers- especially not when combined with the fighters. The actual cultivators had basically nothing to do as the Ruteran forces took out the fleet, though Anton was of course able to contribute without putting himself in an awkward position. Upon encountering a larger barrier protecting the facility that was their target, The Independence trained its largest weapons upon the site. Explosive munitions would need to be replenished at a later date, but holding onto them for too long would waste their presence. They were timed to follow after concentrated lasers that cracked open the barrier, slipping through the gaps and shattering buildings and ice. The facilities continued deep below the surface, but everything on Atania was anchored to the massive sheets of ice that made up its surface. With the first powerful bombardment bringing down the barriers, troops were landed- the numerous technologically equipped Ruteran soldiers, as well as cultivators. They were there not to be picky, but to kill their enemies, free any allies they found, take what they could and destroy anything they couldn¡¯t. There was no attempt to be completely thorough- they set a time limit for people to return, and then they moved on. No doubt their next target would be a bit more prepared¡­ but they hadn¡¯t even seen everything yet. Before completely rushing off, The Independence took some time to replenish some of its power. The various chilled liquids that made up the ice covered oceans weren¡¯t necessarily the best thing to convert into energy, but they were easily siphoned up into the power core. During that time, Anton kept a special watch for approaching enemies. Refueling was a time of weakness for The Independence, as much of its energy production had to be turned inward for the refinement. It wasn¡¯t helpless during such a time, barriers, weapons, and of course fighters all being available, but it took some time to shift to a full battle ready state. But as long as the enemy didn¡¯t know that, it would seem like an unstoppable force of nature- and if they found out, that was what they were refueling for before it was urgent. Chapter 526 Ice cracked around the edges of a large structure, leaving it to sink into the depths of Atania where the vast majority of the cultivators dwelling inside would not be able to survive on their way to the surface. Yet they also had little hope of surviving if they made it out right away, with The Independence and the rest of the trifold alliance still on the assault. Anton would have preferred to kill only who they had to in the Iceheart Ocean, but they didn¡¯t have the luxury of being selective. As a sect they were participating in the war, and without some reliable method of communication they couldn¡¯t even warn them off without something extreme like this. Setting up some method of communication was on the agenda, however. Spirit Arrows pierced into enemy disciples. Their individual combat strength varied, but their real value lay elsewhere. Healing was of extreme value after a combat, returning people to full fighting capability- but even the best could hardly contribute to such an end meaningfully mid combat. Destruction was simply more efficient. Thus, the Iceheart Ocean¡¯s combat power seemed somewhat on the weaker side, though Anton understood that his personal strength was skewing things as well. They were most of the way finished with their intentions for the first region when the local Worldbinding cultivator finally showed up. That was the weakness of there being limited things in place to catch them further out and provide advance warning. Either the Sylanis Cluster didn¡¯t have the techniques necessary to do so or they couldn¡¯t work together well enough to create a system-blanketing option. Anton leaned towards the latter, but it could have been both- though he expected them to develop it as they saw the successes of the trifold alliance. According to their information, this man was Carlitos Anselmo. He had great healing capabilities, but also strong defensive capacity¡­ and more importantly he was bound to the entire planet. Anton began his offensive with a simple shot that he fully expected to be dodged, blocked, or negated by energy defenses. He was surprised when his arrow went right through the man¡¯s chest. A hole, straight through his heart. Then the hole closed immediately. Anton¡¯s thoughts moved through the various possibilities as quick as light. An illusion? An artificial body? No, Anton had felt the proper power as he passed through with his arrow. This was the real Carlitos. Instant regeneration? He¡¯d already determined that was inefficient and likely beyond anyone on that level, regrowing vital things such as pieces of the heart was nearly impossible. Then the only answer was¡­ he¡¯d simply not taken any real damage. Anton had no more time to ponder as he tested with more attacks, because Carlitos retaliated. Not against Anton specifically- though it was possible that he would be on the list. Instead, he first focused on the weakest masses¡­ all at once. Mountains of ice rose up and valleys dropped as everything shifted, freezing liquids that should be gasses anywhere else splashing out of the sea below. Attacks took the form of spikes of ice or simple entrapment, at high speed and on a wide scale. Many perished, but while the casualties were unfortunate that was still within expected tolerances for a Worldbinding cultivator. He didn¡¯t kill much faster than Anton could for those who were equivalent. Being at his source of power, however, the man could use his full strength. Anton tested piercing the brain and every limb, eventually determining that he did in fact inflict damage. Just not much. Instead, the body of Carlitos rippled like water, Anton merely carving out small portions of his body, tiny wounds which were quickly recovered while the rest flowed back together. He changed tactics- usually he had to pierce through defensive energy, so a concentrated attack was optimal. Now, he switched to something more widespread, widening his arrows into blades. Even if he only cut a very thin line, that was vastly more than a point. Anton¡¯s assumptions were justified when Carlitos began to surround himself in sheets of ice to protect himself. It was unfortunate for him, strong as he was, that he was just one man. The Independence was able to ignore lesser opponents who had come with him and instead focus fire on the man with their strongest attacks, blasting through his defenses and forcing him to dodge and expend energy directly protecting himself. That gave Anton more opportunities to utilize his attacks that were focused on an area smaller than a building, slicing off an arm- though it instantly reattached, Anton felt there were brief moments where it was held on merely by energy and not knit flesh. Between the power of The Independence and Anton, Carlitos stood no chance. Perhaps that was why he was desperately killing as many cultivators as he could. That wouldn¡¯t last long, because there was one more¡­ not counting the Great Queen. Great chains of fire and blood wound their way through the area, radiating auras of passion, pain, and determination. Devon was on the ground, merely a few hundred meters from Carlitos. The man instantly felt the danger and slammed together two mountains of ice in an attempt to crush Devon¡­ but even if Devon was merely in the early stages of Assimilation, he was still more than a couple steps above Life Transformation in power. A sphere of chains formed around him, creating a barrier that absorbed the impact of the ice while his other chains continued their motion, snaking their way through the openings in the terrain that The Independence provided. When they snaked their way around Carlitos, no doubt he intended to let his body turn to liquid and let them slide through him¡­ but he found their grip on him firm as anything. Because they weren¡¯t just links of energy, but of the very concept of binding. It was possible to counteract such a thing, but expecting things to work differently left Carlitos open. Anton filled him with arrows, and not merely by shooting them through the man, but having them stop inside him. The fact that he had a body at all meant that he ultimately needed it to function, and while small moments with holes in him as an attack passed through seemed to have negligible effect on his health, leaving them there meant his body was suddenly lacking blood flow in countless places, among other things. His reaction was swift, crushing Anton¡¯s energy within him, but more arrows were already on the way and Devon¡¯s chains bound tighter, digging into him. Already, the man had lost all offensive capability, focusing solely on surviving as Devon¡¯s chains raised the man up into the air away from his domain. A short distance of a few dozen meters wouldn¡¯t massively affect his ability, but with Devon latching onto a ship raising up as well any counterattacks would have to lift the freezing slurry of ice and liquids from their resting place below, making every effort that much slower and more difficult. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Powerful cold could easily freeze or kill people, but its downside was that if it did not do so its damage potential was much less than something like fire, or any sort of weapon that left proper wounds. The time taken for him to crush someone added up, and the man found himself in a sorry position. Then he screamed in pain as the Great Queen bit into him, drawing upon his energy. Being bound and drained he was momentarily weakened, at least long enough for their purposes for them to declare an ultimatum. That honor was left to Devon, since he had to be close regardless. ¡°Unlike what you might think, we of the trifold alliance don¡¯t find ourselves with the inclination to destroy or control everything. It is no benefit to us to be locked in eternal conflict with your Sylanis cluster¡­ so you and anyone else who does not intend to be systematically destroyed should think about communicating properly with us. If nothing else, we might prioritize going after your rivals instead of you.¡± Devon tossed him a few different communications devices. ¡°You can use any of these to contact us. Details are in that scroll. If we find the Iceheart Ocean participating in the war in the future, you can expect us to return¡­ and we won¡¯t leave you alive again.¡± ----- ¡°You think he¡¯ll listen?¡± Devon asked his grandfather as they rode on The Independence towards their next destination. ¡°Him in particular?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Doubtful, though I don¡¯t know the man in detail. Still, by random chance he might be the one that does. I imagine we¡¯ll only get one or two out of a handful who are willing to entertain the idea, at least until we beat it into their heads that we have strength and that their major sects and clans are directly subject to retaliatory attacks. I have the feeling they see themselves as invincible, especially against outsiders.¡± ¡°Not gonna lie,¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°I kinda feel the same way.¡± Anton flicked Devon¡¯s forehead. ¡°Bad Devon. No arrogance.¡± ¡°Only kinda,¡± Devon grinned. ¡°I know that with the right combination of factors, these Worldbinding cultivators can work together and devastate our homeland. I¡¯d rather stop them before they realize that, or at least manage the unity to organize it.¡± ¡°It is troublesome,¡± the Great Queen added her own input. ¡°I understand humans lack the same unity void ants tend to share, but these humans are particularly far from that unity.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Ceretos just got lucky that we had a proper cause to unite behind, which we really don¡¯t want to give to the Sylanis Cluster. That¡¯s why we¡¯re intending to pick and choose our targets.¡± Anton focused his energy senses on one portion of The Independence that was being carefully defrosted- it had remained in orbit and its barriers were sufficiently powerful to protect it, but the Worldbinding cultivator had still managed to cause a bit of damage in his brief assault on it directly. Nothing that couldn¡¯t be quickly repaired, and Anton was glad that the first real field test of the vessel was successful so far. ¡°Where are we heading next?¡± Devon asked. ¡°I forgot what order we decided on.¡± ¡°Cheitov. A terrestrial planet. It¡¯s one of the places where the most popular wood for the local ships comes from, as well as some of the rarer sorts,¡± Anton said. ¡°I suppose you didn¡¯t see them. There were some that carried regenerating thorns launched and controlled by one of the local sects. In a way, you could consider them archers.¡± ¡°Will we see you in an archery contest, then?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Or perhaps something like the Grandfather Willow?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have any indications they have anything quite that size,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯ll be staying away from some of the larger ones for safety reasons. Besides, destroying planetary treasures if we¡¯re planning to press for peace is bad for our successes. Probably,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Perhaps it would drive them into despair or awe of our power, but the more likely result is rage and indignity.¡± ----- It was only a matter of hours for them to arrive over Cheitov. Some ships could have been much faster, but for the sake of giving people a chance to rest and recover- and for The Independence to perform basic repairs on itself and the fighters it carried- they took a more measured approach. Keeping a large fleet together with different methods of movement was also somewhat difficult, but the different origins hadn¡¯t consolidated into some perfect whole yet. Perhaps they never would- each system had reasons they did what they did, and they simply preferred certain tradeoffs over others. Anton¡¯s initial view of Cheitov made him think it was quite pleasant. Its massive continents were coated in the green of treetops- though there were clear sections that had recently been harvested where nothing had grown back yet. At least they were sensible enough to manage their forests, though Anton didn¡¯t imagine they would have lasted long if they didn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t necessarily a matter of care as much as practicality. And though certain cultivators certainly didn¡¯t care what damage they caused to an area, any who lasted multiple centuries had to find some sort of balance or risk destruction. The Independence and the rest of the fleet maneuvered themselves towards one of the larger cities, on the outskirts of which was a starport where a good portion of the local wood exports took place. That meant they had massive warehouses just full of wood, dry enough to catch on fire unlike the surrounding forests. Not that burning down all the forests on the planet would have been advisable even if it was practical. They weren¡¯t intending a war of extermination, quite the opposite. They just wanted things to stop¡­ while taking out those most responsible for all of the trouble. Chapter 527 From the distance The Independence kept above Cheitov, the main form of attack it had available were high powered beam weapons or anything that created a large explosion. Accuracy was an issue for anything with travel time even if the individual weapon operators did their best to redirect the attacks along the way. Physical projectiles were basically useless unless enemy ships came for them- and weren¡¯t intercepted by the rest of the fleet. There was one form of physical attack that was extremely useful, at least against stationary targets¡­ like barriers. One of a small number of the necessary pieces of ammunition was removed from its extradimensional storage and aimed down at the barrier protected warehouse district in synchronous orbit below. There was little special about the ammunition itself- it was basically an oversized dart of metal. It didn¡¯t even have enchantments, due to the particular alloy being energy-resistant. It was also particularly dense, which meant its only other use was special plating on particular sections of The Independence or some mid-sized battleships. Here, it was used to form a ten meter long spike, which was then propelled downward. Once released, it followed its intended trajectory with no additional maneuvering, picking up speed as it was affected by Cheitov¡¯s gravity. A cone of flames formed around it as it began to heat up from entering the atmosphere, igniting the area around it with friction. Despite its speed, the attack was not considered quick by cultivator standards, though it reached speeds much faster than anyone could react by the time it arrived at the barrier. But anyone could have dodged an attack that took over a minute to arrive with no maneuvering involved, and it was quite obvious. The cowardly or clever cultivators beneath the barrier had taken that time to remove themselves from the general area of its arrival. Those who were confident or incautious trusted in their barrier to protect them. The attack was obvious, and so too was the fact that it carried with it no natural energy to speak of. Cultivators had been conditioned to disregard attacks not imbued with natural energy, consciously or subconsciously. It was to the credit of whoever was controlling that particular barrier that it was rapidly adjusted before the attack hit. That meant when the attack hit and the kinetic energy was bludgeoned into it that it was able to disperse it over the whole formation, leaving it cracked instead of the projectile piercing through and wrecking everything inside the barrier. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done about other coordinated attacks that arrived nearly at the same time. Anton¡¯s arrows pierced small holes in the barrier that prevented it from taking the few necessary moments to stabilize, followed up by fire attributed Spirit Arrows. Secondary barriers protected the warehouses, but they were meant more to deal with casual vandalism or street brawls, their effectiveness being nothing compared to the overarching barrier. Anton¡¯s arrows found their way into warehouses stocked with wood, igniting them with supernatural flame. Some were treated to improve their durability, but not all parts of the enchanting process took place on Cheitov itself. They burned, and burned well. That was just one location- ships from the trifold alliance were already on their way to the surface, other cultivators launching their own attacks. They beat down the barrier as it tried to reform, some targeting the formations and others targeting the power sources, and with the defenses broken open it was inevitable that a superior force could keep the barrier down. Perhaps the trifold alliance could have caused more widespread destruction if they split up- they had the potential power for that- but they wanted to not just cause damage but put on a show of invincibility. Hard fought victories would remind the Sylanis Cluster that the enemy could be beaten. Troops marched on the starport next to the warehouses, commandeering or destroying the vessels there. The larger shipping vessels did not have interstellar drives and would not be able to keep up with the fleet, so they were the easiest targets for destruction. There were some examples of the more typical Sylanis starships they¡¯d seen on the offensive, and nothing stopped them from taking them under their control- except those which were launched when the battle began. Most of those had been shot down, but the remaining vessels were perfectly usable by foreign cultivators. There were sometimes ¡®keys¡¯ necessary for a vessel to operate, a formation core of some sort or at least a device that communicated with a formation whether it should be allowed to activate, though such measures made the overall formations more complicated and weren¡¯t universal. Either way, the trifold alliance had captured enough of the vessels that they had ways to overcome the security measures given a bit of time or costly devices. Everheart implied he had made one that could activate any of their ships, and Anton had no reason to doubt him. Even so, the man had merely watched the work of the trifold alliance as they put their heads together to come up with the solutions they had. That was good, since overly relying on Everheart was both lazy and dangerous. They needed more competent formation masters, not a bunch of minions who could only follow directions. The local cultivators hadn¡¯t been completely ready for the attack. Either they hadn¡¯t heard about the attacks on Atania, which would be a massive failure in communications, or they hadn¡¯t believed that the fleet could reach them so quickly. Or perhaps they¡¯d just assumed that the fleet would leave after one success or pick a different target, but both of those seemed careless. Better to assume the alliance had been underestimated than to think their enemy completely stupid. As the battle was settling down, Anton moved to the command deck of The Independence. He was there not because he was a part of the crew, but for ease of communication. General Nicodemo grinned at Anton. ¡°They finally let a general like me step away from the gilded palace of home.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be called a fleet admiral or grand general or something?¡± ¡°Fleet general, maybe. We don¡¯t really bother with old military ranks that split categories of officers by location. Too much confusion. Land forces have to go with the space fleets now and our terrestrial navy is only a backup for the orbital defense platforms.¡± Nicodemo shrugged, ¡°But about our next target. Our scanners picked up a few different potential locations. To the southeast there¡¯s a tempting target, but the energy readings are¡­ significant.¡± ¡°Aridasa should be there,¡± Anton said. ¡°He¡¯s the local Worldbinding cultivator, and is no doubt fortifying the area as their most important facility.¡± As they were already above the main atmosphere, Anton¡¯s senses were able to easily expand in the direction indicated to pick up necessary information. Barriers might conceal some things, but a Worldbinding cultivator would usually be obvious. There were exceptions, and Anton planned to steer well clear of anywhere they thought the few assassin-like entities would be. ¡°If we¡¯re serious about this, that should be our target. Especially while we¡¯re still relatively fresh.¡± Anton took a deep breath, drawing from one of the two stars in the system. Both, technically, but the second star was teetering on the outside of his range. Though that was already an improvement, since they were at the far edge of the system to begin with, dealing with planets in the outer ring. Anton would never get his maximum powers anywhere but actually next to one of his Assimilated stars, but he was learning to reduce the drop off. In their elements people like Carlitos and Aridasa would be stronger than him alone, but that was why he¡¯d avoided engaging Worldbinding cultivators on his scouting run. ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking as well,¡± Nicodemo nodded. He pressed a button on his communications console that was very specifically marked. ¡°Ty! Get back here.¡± Anton didn¡¯t bother to pry into what the response was in Nicodemo¡¯s earpiece, he could basically guess what it was going to be anyway. ¡°I don¡¯t care if they flew away with piles of wood or piles of gold! Finish catching up to the next one and then return to the fleet, we need you for the next offensive. You¡¯re too far out, I¡¯ll send you coordinates. Don¡¯t get shot down.¡± Nicodemo sighed, ¡°Honestly, that kid. Independent action is one thing, but he could at least stick to basic tactics.¡± ¡°If he did that, the enemy would be able to predict him,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t you give me that. Or pretend that it would matter which thing he took apart. At least he¡¯s recovering well. Would be nice for photos if he cared about his physical appearance, though. Still looks like an old man.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°We already have you,¡± Nicodemo countered. ¡°Having our scrappy young local hero look young would be better. But maybe it¡¯s not just a complete lack of vanity that has him refuse to spend the effort there. He¡¯s in the ¡®scars are a reminder of when you failed to duck¡¯ camp. Except it was an undodgeable pulse of energy.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bet you in a decade or two he can cut apart widespread energy pulses,¡± Anton commented. ¡°... No bet,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°Now then, we have to get in the stragglers.¡± ----- Anton couldn¡¯t see Aridasa, and his energy senses were only precise enough to pick out the important things at such a distance. Locations of limbs and the movement of the body. It didn¡¯t matter if someone had a mole or a pimple or a scar as long as it wasn¡¯t doing anything. Even so, Anton got the impression of the weight of age, partly from the man¡¯s stance and partly from his aura. The battle began with waves of attacks from both sides, with Aridasa making up a majority of the attacks coming from Cheitov¡¯s surface. A great wave of thorns that filled the sky, far more than any ship they had encountered yet but still within expected tolerances for the man¡¯s power. With all of those attacks being more or less the same, the stolen adaptive barrier technology minimized the damage to the trifold alliance¡¯s losses. If the man wanted to take down their ships he would have to focus on a small number at a time. As the thorns continued, they began to angle towards Anton. Given that he was just next to The Independence there was some chance that it was also a target, but many small attacks was the least dangerous option for the massive battleship. Anton considered what to do. He could pull back, as he was likely faster than the attacks. That would be fine, but it would slightly slow his own responses and allow the man to concentrate on others. Instead, Anton charged forward, diving lower into the atmosphere towards the wide wall of thorns. They curved to meet him, but Anton found the weakest area and countered with dozens of his own arrows, blasting apart the largest of the spikes that were like small spears. Anton surrounded himself with fire, not willing to underestimate even the tiniest projectiles, not with a Worldbinding cultivator controlling them. They all burned up as he pushed through, and he had the feeling he¡¯d made the right choice. The Independence targeted the largest trees in the area, as they were the origin of the thorns. Attacking them would either require a defensive response or destroy them thus limiting the Aridasa¡¯s ammo and perhaps the energy he could draw upon. The smaller ships, meanwhile, focused on either landing or supporting the Independence in the destruction of the trees. Devon was keeping his presence to a minimum as he moved towards the ground, trying to appear weaker than he was. No doubt Aridasa could cause him great trouble if he focused on him, but then he would be leaving Anton free to cause what trouble he pleased. Finally, the Great Queen was¡­ somewhere. Presumably being effective, but Anton didn¡¯t have the luxury to pick out the points of nothing that could be anywhere within the airspace they were fighting over. Instead, he had to focus on the thousands or tens of thousands of thorns coming for him in a swarm. Chapter 528 The swarm of thorns had some limitations in how it could target Anton, acting more like one grand thing or at most some dozens of smaller groupings, which was extremely beneficial for Anton¡¯s safety as he wove his way around and through the attacks while remaining wary of changes. His efforts that were not dedicated defensively were limited to occasional shots at the one causing all that trouble, the local Worldbinding cultivator Aridasa. Fighting in his domain was troublesome, but Anton managed to fire off a few shots in the man¡¯s direction, attempting to coordinate with The Independence¡¯s attacks. Beyond that, he continued to provide a distraction, keeping the Worldbinding cultivator occupied while other forces on the planet Cheitov were dealt with by landing ships. It also kept the man¡¯s thoughts off of Devon, though no doubt he was aware of his presence. It seemed Aridasa wasn¡¯t quite at his limits with the swarm of thorns, however. He managed a few smaller swarms as well, targeting ships or cultivators as well as controlling the movements of some of the local trees. Those same trees were some of the main targets of The Independence, and those of any practical size for a cultivator battle were quickly being turned into charcoal. No doubt he could call upon more from the surrounding kilometers , but that would take time that they didn¡¯t plan to let him have. With a few thorns in his body, Anton didn¡¯t dare leave them. He felt no further connection to Aridasa after they punctured his energy defenses, but he burned them to ash regardless, focusing the flames around him into specific points. If things continued like that, he would have to retreat to a further distance soon, allowing the man to target the trifold alliance more easily. Finally, Devon was close enough to spring into action- closer than strictly necessary to encompass Aridasa within his range, large chains springing up around the cultivator. Anton immediately felt attention switch and punished the action with a few shots at the man as well as a wave of fire around him scourging some of the thorns. Weaker cultivators attempted to assist Aridasa, but the trifold alliance had its fair share of Life Transformation experts to match. There were some at the peak of Life Transformation on either side or with otherwise exceptional power, but the cultivators of Cheitov were pressed by the starfighters and The Independence- its powerful weapons operated by dozens of individuals in a coordinated fashion. A tendril of thorns- narrow around the front where the fastest thorns had pulled ahead- darted towards Devon. Instead of fleeing or forming a shell of chains around himself, he stretched out two, wrapping them around the flowing thorns. As the chains spun around the thorns without touching them they continued to approach him, before they suddenly fell to the ground, their connection severed. It was just one part of many, but Devon kept himself safe for a few more moments. Then every thorn of the swarm reversed its trajectory or simply dropped to the ground. A small swarm of ants appeared in a ring around Aridasa, visible only with the naked eye on the battlefield of hundreds of human soldiers. It was sensible that they had been overlooked until that point, even if the man had been cautious. In fact, Anton supposed that noticing them before any of them sunk their mandibles into him was a decent feat. Most of the ants retained their position, hovering in position even for those without wings. A few, including the largest, charged forward. Aridasa countered with a wooden sword, but the small targets swerved away with great agility. They descended upon him at the same time as the first thorns reached the area, a final layer of sizable chains blocking the area from being clearly seen. In the end, several chains remained while the thorns dropped away, one prominent void ant with her mandibles resting casually upon the man¡¯s throat. Somewhere in all that, Aridasa had been informed he could surrender- and he took that opportunity. Seeing their leader captured, local forces coagulated into defensive groups as the information spread. Those who laid down their weapons or at least stopped attacking were spared further violence. Then it was Anton¡¯s turn to be a friendly but not too friendly negotiator. He tossed some varied communication devices to Aridasa, some more familiar to the man but all sufficient to get information to the trifold alliance. ¡°We speak the same language,¡± Anton said. Aridasa waited for something more, before determining he was expected to reply. ¡°We do.¡± ¡°Good. Then we can negotiate.¡± While he was fulfilling this job, the Ruterans were going around setting up small, nearly invisible devices. Some were specifically cloaked from energy senses so that even if the others were noticed they might remain. Their job would be to help enforce some of the provisions Anton was going to declare. ¡°We have a list of demands, and no, that does not include access to your vaults or your head.¡± Anton had the advantage in the negotiations from the fact that they could just kill Aridasa. As for why they didn¡¯t and chose to negotiate, that was Anton¡¯s job to make him understand. Eventually, everything had been laid out. Aridasa frowned, ¡°So, you want us to completely cease operations for a decade? Such a thing would cripple us.¡± From the way the man held himself, Anton figured it wouldn¡¯t actually be quite that bad. Not directly, anyway. ¡°We couldn¡¯t manage that, especially not against the demands of others.¡± ¡°We could raze your planet right now,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Or you can find some way to convince them. If they want materials for now they¡¯ll have to look elsewhere. Or we¡¯ll have to come visit again.¡± Anton could see the man weighing his options in his head. Certainly he was considering just agreeing now and preparing to fight them later. If he was smart- and any cultivator who reached Worldbinding had great intellectual capability in some regard even if they didn¡¯t make use of it- he would realize that whatever preparations he made Anton and the others would prepare further counters for him in specific. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°A decade, though¡­¡± ¡°Further negotiations could be arranged,¡± Anton said. ¡°And let it be known that we grow tired of these hostilities. Nobody from the Sylanis Cluster is benefitting from this.¡± With the exception of shipyards and material suppliers like Cheitov, which was why they were some of the targets. ¡°If the Sylanis Cluster truly wishes to conquer us at all costs, they will regret being unaware of how high those costs can truly be as we will systematically wipe out your sects. Or, you can be sensible.¡± ¡°My word alone won¡¯t get even close to a peace,¡± Aridasa finally said. ¡°But if you follow our conditions, there can be peace for you, at least.¡± That wasn¡¯t a lie, technically. The trifold alliance wouldn¡¯t cause them further trouble. As for the rest of the Sylanis Cluster, he wouldn¡¯t bet on it. But if anyone came to attack Cheitov, they would still have to deal with Aridasa¡­ and then whoever was looking out for other groups making moves. Anton had the feeling things were on a precipice of either fostering civil war within the Sylanis Cluster or them agreeing to some sort of peace, even a white peace where nothing happened except a promise not to attack each other for a while. If they actually negotiated such a thing, both sides would have to trust each other- at least a little. This was just another step in that direction. Eventually the discussions ended. Minimal additional devastation happened in the area, the secret monitoring devices left to observe as much as possible. Aridasa might not care about the other penalties for disregarding the agreed upon terms except for his life- and he should understand that they could come for him. If he chose to flee, his powers would be diminished and he wouldn¡¯t be involved anyway. Or if he reneged on the deal but hid himself on Cheitov without fighting, they could cause enough devastation to weaken him and achieve their other goals. Only by working together with others could he be a problem. ----- Anton had vaguely noticed the Great Queen¡¯s lack of presence during their negotiations, but he found her afterwards. She was in the medical bay of The Independence, a thorn two fingers in length through her thorax. It was only a few millimeters thick, but it was much equivalent to having a spear through her. As a medic gingerly tried to pull out the spike with some tweezers, the Great Queen signed to Anton with little concern. ¡°I don¡¯t like this one,¡± she signed. ¡°The planet. The thorns. The man who controls them.¡± ¡°You think he¡¯ll go back on his word?¡± Anton asked as the medic carefully pressed down on the Great Queen¡¯s back with her fingers, as if afraid of crushing her. Though it would take a body temperer to do so with any certainty. ¡°No,¡± the Great Queen said simply as the thorn slowly slid out. ¡°I just don¡¯t like dealing with clouds of thorns. Too hard to dodge.¡± There was a rather worrying hole in the Great Queen when the doctor was done, but the Great Queen¡¯s version of blood was only slowly oozing out of her. She turned to the medic. ¡°Thank you for your assistance. I will recover on my own from here.¡± ¡°Of course, uh, queen,¡± the woman said awkwardly. ----- The next target was the planet Roistea, a gas giant with many moons inhabited by various individuals. Not the same he¡¯d skittered past in his first sabotage mission in the area- that was in orbit around the other star. There were still two Worldbinding cultivators in the area, but they couldn¡¯t simply target those who were weakest. Nor did they want to get predictable, attacking only the outer ring. The particular group they were after were known at the Children of Fortune. They were said to be manipulators of fate, another supporting force for not only individual battles but theoretically guiding the course of the war as a whole. It was unclear how much they could actually do, but people believed in them, and two Worldbinding cultivators was sufficient power regardless. Anton paid close attention ahead of them as they approached. The gas giant itself was easy to pick out, but the moon they were after first had just come into his senses. He once more stood with Nicodemo on the bridge of The Independence. The general frowned, and Anton made a sudden declaration. ¡°We¡¯re aborting the mission.¡± The chain of command was fairly clear in combat, but outside of it Anton had the influence to say such things. More importantly, Nicodemo would listen to him. ¡°Why?¡± Nicodemo asked. ¡°Why did you frown?¡± Anton countered. ¡°... I¡¯m not sure, a bad feeling maybe. Happens before battles.¡± ¡°Does it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Of course,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°Even generals get nervous. What did you sense?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯re shielded?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Something feels out of place?¡± Once again, Anton denied the assertion. ¡°I just have a feeling.¡± General Nicodemo drummed his fingers on his bicep, thinking. ¡°That is completely unscientific. I suppose you¡¯re leaving even if we stay?¡± ¡°... No,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you remain, I will remain with you. To death, if necessary¡­ though I would like to prevent that.¡± ¡°That bad, huh? But you don¡¯t really feel anything.¡± ¡°Just a feeling,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°I¡¯ve not found myself in unsurvivable trouble until now, but a cultivator learns to trust such things. I believe it isn¡¯t a coincidence. Before you make a decision, I would consult with the rest of the fleet.¡± Nicodemo thought for a few moments. ¡°We have to decide quickly, correct?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Then we¡¯re leaving. I have the authority to call off this whole thing whenever. We¡¯ve accomplished enough, and I assume Weos will accept your reasoning, such as it is?¡± ¡°From me? Yes.¡± ¡°And that no doubt goes for Ceretos, though with you and your grandson and the Great Queen representing Ceretos, they wouldn¡¯t have much choice but to listen.¡± Nicodemo gave the order, and the fleet adjusted their course, no longer approaching the planet but instead pulling away from the system¡¯s orbital plane to angle back towards their homes. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s another thing,¡± Anton said. ¡°The Great Queen¡¯s injuries, I mean. But I¡¯m not certain if her health would make any difference in potential disaster.¡± Perhaps they could have accomplished more if they stayed, but Anton felt justified when he felt ships lifting off from the nearby area as they began to pull away. ¡°We have pursuers,¡± Anton mentioned. ¡°Let¡¯s keep well away from that planet, shall we?¡± Chapter 529 As the trifold alliance¡¯s fleet drew away from Roistea, ships swarmed towards them from around the various moons and the planet itself. Though they had pulled away before getting terribly close to the planet, the fleet was limited in its speed by its slowest member- that being The Independence. The battleship was not excessively ponderous, but its maneuverability was low and it took some time to accelerate in a new direction. Thus, the fleet¡¯s curved trajectory didn¡¯t immediately bring them away from the ships defending Roistea. As Anton and The Independence began to take their first shots, the enemy fleet was already changing formation wildly. Some ships pulled apart, others gathered together. Anton found his shots suddenly targeting fortified positions where he had once seen weakness. The reaction was strange in its execution, but by the time he noticed Anton¡¯s attacks were already close enough to strike. Since he was confident in breaking his way through the barriers regardless, he picked a few ships to focus on. His arrows rippled into nothingness, showing little effect of the impact on the enemy barriers. Some had combined their power with nearby ships, while others displayed their resilient adaptations. Were they prepared for him specifically? There was no reason they wouldn¡¯t be, to some extent, but he¡¯d felt the barriers adapting even before his attack reached them. That could be done with conscious control, but somehow it didn¡¯t feel quite right. The Independence might have lacked mobility to some extent, but being prepared for omnidirectional space combat it had weapons facing wherever it needed. Projectiles launched and beams of energy swept behind them, powerful enough to tear ships in half but causing no damage¡­ and likewise adapting instantly. Was this a new advancement in barriers? No, that shouldn¡¯t be it. There had been no signs of that anywhere else, so unless this was exclusive to Roistea it shouldn¡¯t be the case. And the barriers themselves felt the same. It was just how they were used that was different. WIth their previous battle experience, Anton and the gunners of The Independence coordinated their attacks on a smaller number of ships. The simultaneous bombardment should have meant the smaller ships couldn¡¯t withstand the attacks, but they managed to avoid shots from The Independence while remaining adapted to Anton¡¯s more mobile attacks. The results should be the efforts of the Children of Fortune, however they actually functioned. Whether truly manipulating fate or simply reading probabilities or the flow of battle, the higher concentration of them in these fleets was making it annoying to take them out. Not that the ships were entirely unharmed. Even when adapted perfectly the barriers had some limits- they were just many times more efficient at resisting damage. The overpowering attacks of The Independence and Anton together did manage to slowly take them down, but there was the rest of the enemy fleet still remaining. Because of their retreat, The Independence tactically withheld the fighters carried within. They had limited fuel and if they were left behind the rest of the fleet they would simply be lost. Thus, with one notable exception, the hangars remained closed. Anton took stock of Ty Quigley entering the battlefield while also spotting notable presences at the rear of the enemy fleet. Two Worldbinding cultivators hanging around the back, their ships clearly able to catch up but lingering behind. Was it because they were hesitant to fight away from Roistea, or was that their optimal position? Unfortunately, those details had not been available for obvious reasons- weaknesses were kept secret as much as possible from other Worldbinding cultivators. Ty Quigley¡¯s ship accelerated and drifted unnaturally, moving in ways the ship¡¯s thrusters simply didn¡¯t allow. His motions brought him into the enemy fleet, his ammunition flying through the rows of ships with little effect. As he swerved towards an enemy ship they were already pulling away. One wing stretched towards them but could not reach¡­ not by itself. As it would with a normal sword, the cultivator¡¯s energy stretched beyond the blade itself, slicing through the enemy ship, the barrier splitting along with the enchanted wood beneath. Now Ty had officially half as many ships destroyed in the battle as Anton. Sure, it was only one versus Anton¡¯s two, but he couldn¡¯t let a mid Life Transformation cultivator compete that closely with him. Anton stepped up his game. He¡¯d been initially unfamiliar with this strange style of defensive techniques by the enemy, but it wasn¡¯t perfect. Anton drew upon greater power, his hands moving with great alacrity on his main bow while energy bows around him drew and fired themselves. He was hesitant to use one of his few remaining shots of Ascension energy to take out just one or two ships among the group, so he instead focused on a mix of quality and quantity. His arrows initially targeted a dozen different ships, a handful focused on each. As they adapted and moved, Anton changed his target. The enemy fleet had basically caught up and was engaging the rearmost ships of their formation along with Ty crazily flying in their midst, so Anton¡¯s arrows only took an instant to arrive¡­ but he could still maneuver them enough to pick new targets any time before he hit. He swapped targets a total of four times, finding that the enemy¡¯s predictive powers were swift but imperfect. Another ship fell under his bombardment, and he participated in the destruction of one The Independence was targeting by forcing them to adapt to his attacks. He had to get much more serious than he would have liked against opponents significantly below him in power, but that was the only way to properly deal with them. His main concern was not exhausting himself in case the Worldbinding cultivators fully entered the battle. Engaged in combat from behind, the ships from Weos took advantage of the gravity distortions around them to divert enemy attacks and reroute enemy ships that got too close. They were skilled at attacking out of their little bubbles of distorted space, but something about them made their attacks less predictable than the others because of it. Ceretos¡¯ ships had nothing particularly special to mention about them except their reverse engineered versions of the barriers, keeping them relatively safe. The trifold alliance¡¯s fleet did take some losses, but they were staying ahead in casualties and stringing out the enemy forces. It was tempting to just wheel on them to take out the fleets and the vulnerable seeming Worldbinding cultivators, but Anton still was not confident that would go well. Likewise, Nicodemo didn¡¯t suggest retracting the decision. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Finding an opportunity with few allied ships in immediate peril, Anton focused a few waves of shots on the rear of the fleet with the Worldbinding cultivators. They were able to avoid some of his shots, but they could simply wheel around and strike from behind. The ships were a step above the rest, however, and even accounting for their adapted barriers Anton wasn¡¯t able to cause serious damage alone. Anton considered going closer to try something. He still had the Star Catching Net, and though it wouldn¡¯t be as large or as destructive as it would be right near the surface of one of his assimilated stars, he¡¯d developed it to a great enough area that it should be undodgeable. If he caught one of the ships in that, the fleet could focus fire on them. He decided against that in the end. If the attempt succeeded it would be worthwhile, but even if they destroyed the ship they wouldn¡¯t necessarily kill the Worldbinding cultivator aboard. Star Catching Net was designed to cover a square kilometer of area, but the individual gaps were approximately a meter wide- enough for an actual person to just slip through. If they could maneuver themselves in space they could return to the planet or the other ship. It was possible Anton would kill him there, but if the plan failed he would just reveal the technique to people who could actually do something about it later. He needed a proper opening for that, forcing it would likely result in failure. With both fleets properly engaged in battle, it seemed the predictive powers of the enemy dropped significantly. With many different attacks that could all cause harm, there was little they could do to resist perfectly. With Anton, The Independence, and Devon¡¯s chains directly impacting the battlefield it didn¡¯t matter if the two Worldbinding cultivators were actually doing something or not- Anton thought they were even if he couldn¡¯t directly detect it. Regardless, it wasn¡¯t enough. They were a quite significant distance away from Roistea, and the enemy fleet finally had to give up. It wasn¡¯t long before the trifold alliance was far enough from any disturbances that they could safely make use of their interstellar travel methods, leaving the Okloi system behind. ----- For all that she had a clearly visible hole through her, the Great Queen seemed in remarkably good health. Then again, Anton wouldn¡¯t have expected much else from a hand sized individual who could carry a full grown human. Even if she was feeling particularly weak, supporting her own body weight should be trivial. With a face that didn¡¯t show expressions in a way that was recognizable by humans, her thoughts were generally unreadable unless she intended to show them, though Anton¡¯s time spent around her and other void ants had given him a bit more understanding. Her casual attitude while it had been pulled out was more of an effort to maintain dignity than an actual disregard for the seriousness of the injury. ¡°How are you faring?¡± Anton asked straightforwardly as The Independence moved through subspace. ¡°I rarely see you with sufficient injuries to know how well you recover.¡± The Great Queen displayed her legs, not as a word but as an example of her previous wounds against Bala Sykora¡¯s bone mountain. ¡°I am able to sufficiently coax my body back into shape, though we have a few specialized healers among us. They will remove stray shards of chitin from my thorax and acquire for me regenerative medicines.¡± Her antennae twitched in a way Anton interpreted as amused. ¡°I do not require large quantities of anything, though the process is still slow despite my size.¡± ¡°Natural energy infused medicines mostly just gets dissolved when it touches you, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°That would make the more wondrous effects difficult to obtain.¡± ¡°The effect is lessened with access to internal areas,¡± the Great Queen signed, trusting in Anton to keep the necessary parts secret. ¡°Thus, my internals will take well to whatever is given. My outer layer can be recovered to a suitable level in a short time thereafter through active effort. Full recovery will take longer.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I see. It¡¯s a good thing the battle ended when it did, if you were exposed like that.¡± ¡°It is not a particularly concerning weakness to be vulnerable when there is a hole straight through your chest,¡± the Great Queen pointed out. ¡°It would be more efficient to simply target my brain or vital organs, had one the ability.¡± ¡°What about cracks?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Or is that asking too much?¡± ¡°You can let people believe what they would like about that. I shall simply point out that we do not just negate energy that directly touches us, but potentially that within some variance of range.¡± The Great Queen was quite able to eat her way through defensive energy, which varied in thickness between a few millimeters and a handful of centimeters, depending on skill and desired effects. Thicker wasn¡¯t necessarily better. Of course, if she simply negated everything she touched that wouldn''t be an issue, but Anton had seen her and other void ants literally tear away chunks of natural energy. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose I can help out with anything?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I do have medicines.¡± ¡°Void any physiology is quite different. I would need to consult one who had properly studied those details, and I assume you as well.¡± ¡°A fair point.¡± ¡°You could help remove extraneous bits,¡± the Great Queen offered. ¡°I have no hands to reach in there myself, and handling it now instead of later might be preferred. A matter of weeks could result in uncomfortable complications.¡± Thus Anton was left with the puzzle of how to move millimeter scale chunks of a material that resisted natural energy. The answer was surprisingly simple in the end- the puncture wound was sizable enough for Anton to fit thin tweezers into her. A proper doctor might have been a better choice, but the queen had none among her royal guard and she did not trust most humans enough to let them try. Not that she distrusted humans. If it was an emergency she would have accepted what they could give. But given that her health was not deteriorating, she could wait. Anton was surprised to find he could sense the Great Queen¡¯s internals. He had to specifically narrow his senses into a thread that didn¡¯t touch the outside of the puncture, but her organs didn¡¯t have the same level of energy negation as the chitin. It still seemed resistant, but not nearly so much. Because of those senses, he could also pick out places where they didn¡¯t work- tiny chunks of chitin broken away by the thorn, lodged in organs Anton found it difficult to compare to human ones. The thorax mostly had a series of tubes, seemingly for nerves, blood, and a digestive tract if Anton was right. He picked out little bits of chitin, focusing to keep his hands steady. He could support his hands with natural energy while leaving the tweezers free of it, as it would just be a waste. When he finished he had a goopy pile of black pieces and some vital fluids. ¡°Thank you,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°I feel better, if only a little. If I could ask for something more¡­?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°A special treat?¡± she wiggled slightly. ¡°Just a bit of ascension energy?¡± Anton grinned. ¡°For a wounded friend? Absolutely.¡± He wasn¡¯t sure if it would actually help her recover at all- though he knew some amount of it aided her growth. Either way, he was advanced enough in Fleeting Youth to supply her whenever she asked. She didn¡¯t consume terribly much of it at once, and she was careful not to be too needy about such a thing. Chapter 530 It was immensely satisfying that there were expedient messages from Carlitos and Aridasa after things were over. They didn¡¯t really say anything of substance- they were basically just tests. Even so, replies were sent and the weeks-long process could continue. At the logical insistence of some, the communications devices they had given were slightly less than optimal. Best not to give away useful tactical information. Information could travel between the systems much more quickly than their ships, and there was constant work to minimize that time lag. Now that they had returned, Anton focused on his own recovery. His injuries were minor, but there was a deep fatigue that built up from repeated combat, especially concerning the energies he called upon through Fleeting Youth. Anton also had to consider how he¡¯d known to pull away from Roistea. There was a decent chance they could have taken out the force they had come up against, though with losses. That was presuming there wasn¡¯t anything else lying in wait, however. Anton wasn¡¯t certain about that. All cultivators developed an intuition for danger, particularly during Spirit Building, but as with all of cultivation there weren¡¯t necessarily hard limits. Anton did train in gathering and processing information, but predictive abilities in that manner weren¡¯t really part of it. If it was merely intuition he would accept it, but if it was something he could control he would prefer to develop it further. He thought back to what he sensed. Nothing really stood out. More or less standard barriers for the Sylanis Cluster. Perhaps a vague sense of the two Worldbinding cultivators they knew would be there. As for beyond that, there was nothing Anton could name. There was more, but he couldn¡¯t really describe it or its origin immediately. He would have to keep pondering on the topic, though whether it would produce fruit was unclear. ----- ¡°... and if you really want to make them mad, burn down their favorite building, desecrate the gravesite of their favorite ancestor, or run off with one of their most eligible female disciples,¡± Everheart finished his instructional segment. ¡°I will defer to your expertise as the most hated man in the galaxy,¡± Anton inclined his head, ¡°But I feel like perhaps those are only useful if you want a group to be mad at you. It seems relatively inefficient for starting wars between sects.¡± ¡°Just put on a wig,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Nobody will know. Instant war.¡± ¡°I-¡± Anton¡¯s eyebrow twitched. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me that actually worked once.¡± ¡°Three times before I hit fifty,¡± Everheart grinned. ¡°I suppose it takes a bit more effort to deal with ¡®proper¡¯ cultivators though.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m not having any part in that sort of thing,¡± Anton said. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯d better not. You¡¯re extremely obvious,¡± Everheart said. ¡°You should really take up a few dozen alternate fighting styles. Maybe start with wrestling.¡± ¡°Wrestling.¡± Anton said flatly. ¡°Why that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not too bad for close combat, and it¡¯s fun to take down burly muscle guys by tying them into a knot. Strikes are fine if your opponent is unarmored, but you need more than that.¡± ¡°I know how to wrestle,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I would be many times more effective just shooting them.¡± ¡°What if you don¡¯t have your bow?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°I can literally make bows appear from nowhere,¡± Anton gestured to a dozen bows suddenly floating around them.¡± Everheart leaned forward, a massive energy pressing down on the area, forcing Anton¡¯s aura back. He didn¡¯t actually force it all the way back to Anton¡¯s skin, just made the point that he potentially could. ¡°What if your opponent completely suppresses your aura?¡± ¡°Then they can probably just kill me,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°What if you have to fight somewhere with energy completely negated?¡± ¡°Such a place actually exists?¡± ¡°Rarely,¡± Everheart said. ¡°What would you do?¡± ¡°Wish I had a gun,¡± Anton shrugged. That would be the best weapon for his fighting style that could be made to not rely on energy at all. Would it be worth bringing along something for an extremely improbable condition? Could he even access his storage bag in such a place, if he ended up in one without warning? ¡°Or,¡± Everheart said. ¡°You wrestle.¡± ¡°There are dozens of steps between what I do in an optimal situation and when I would fall back on pure hand-to-hand combat,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I get the feeling you just want to wrestle.¡± ¡°On one of those fancy tournament platforms, no energy.¡± Everheart saw Anton¡¯s look. ¡°... Fine, you can fortify your internals, just don¡¯t augment your muscles or anything. I¡¯ll know!¡± ¡°Will this actually be beneficial?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Only one way to find out!¡± Everheart stood up, throwing off his shirt. His bare chest wasn¡¯t really anything exciting to look at. If Anton didn¡¯t know better, he might be seeing a reflection of himself. A body of toned muscle clearly showing its age, covered in wrinkles, spots, and scars. ¡°Stop hesitating!¡± ¡°For someone with centuries of age on me,¡± Anton said. ¡°You sure are impatient.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. He didn¡¯t delay long in making his way towards one of the Order¡¯s arenas. They could be used for training duels, but generally only when people intended to be serious. Because of the costs involved with powering the formations to keep people safe, they cost the disciples to use- though less than the actual price involved. Anton could easily afford to pay for the formations to be active, but frankly they wouldn¡¯t mean anything in a battle with ¡®Scholar Eulogius¡¯. They could function with some reliability for even Life Transformation cultivators as long as they practiced some restraint, but it would be prohibitively expensive and seldom useful to have them work for anyone stronger. Perhaps in a few decades or a century it might see enough use to consider. A few turned curious eyes to the pair as they walked through the sect. Of the two, Anton had kept his shirt on until they arrived, seeing no reason to walk around like that. He didn¡¯t get cold easily, but he had his dignity. Something Everheart almost certainly did not. ¡°So, what are the rules?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯m sure you can imagine.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I will remind you that we do not always think the same. Communication might be useful.¡± ¡°Fine. Simple rules, really. Nothing crippling.¡± Everheart cracked his knuckles. ¡°That¡¯s all.¡± Anton sighed. That was what he was going to get, then. He and Everheart both condensed their energy to inside of them. Anton felt strange, not augmenting his movements with energy. That was subconscious now, and he felt heavy. There was no announced start of the action- Everheart simply tackled Anton to the ground. The hardest part was not determining what move he wanted to use, but not using energy. It was like holding his breath- unnatural, but possible if he thought about it. Anton wasn¡¯t inexperienced in unarmed combat, but he wouldn¡¯t call himself an expert. Not among people of his cultivation level, anyway. He could probably still take down anyone in Body Tempering or maybe Spirit Building if they limited their energy usage even without energy himself, but those beyond the early years of cultivation would be more difficult to handle. Not everyone would reach Essence Collection in just six years, but nowadays on Ceretos taking more than two decades to reach that point was an oddity, even for the least talented. It was quickly apparent that Everheart¡¯s definition of wrestling did include strikes as he took swings at Anton¡¯s face. It was odd, the attacks being so slow that he could have normally dealt with them trivially. His mind still processed at about the same rate, though it could be further enhanced by natural energy in battle. His body, however, was sluggish. He could tell his arms to move into position, but it was like dragging them through mud. Anton managed to get a grip on Everheart¡¯s wrist and throw him back over his head, giving him enough time to reorient himself as he got to his feet. Without natural energy flowing through it, his body was an uncomfortable mix of fit and old. His knees and back hurt from the motions, but it was nothing he couldn¡¯t ignore. The mundane pains of a body he¡¯d dealt with before becoming a cultivator, and now he¡¯d experienced much worse. It was not even the slightest bit surprising that Everheart fought dirty. Anton was simply startled to find the man had somehow managed to grab a handful of dirt somewhere as he threw it towards Anton¡¯s face. At least his eyes blinked in time to shield himself from direct contact. It just meant he had to predict Everheart¡¯s following move with his eyes closed. His knee kicked up, expecting another tackle. Everheart was both predictable and not. Anton¡¯s knee indeed struck him in a lowered shoulder, but the man was already prepared to grab Anton¡¯s leg. Instead of mounting Anton he twisted him around, bending the leg in ways Anton didn¡¯t know could happen without breaking something- and that was with extremely trained flexibility. He also didn¡¯t think it could be done so easily, because he didn¡¯t feel that Everheart¡¯s muscles were particularly stronger than himself and yet he could barely resist. At least his same flexibility allowed him to kick with his other leg at angles that weren¡¯t normally possible, catching Everheart in the nose. Over the course of the next hour or so the bodies trained to somewhere above average cultivator standards received their fair share of bruises, lacerations, and even a few breaks- though they would heal quickly with the application of natural energy or the most basic medicines. The battle ended when Anton saw an opening and kicked his foot between Everheart¡¯s legs. He had honestly been expecting a counter of some sort, perhaps for his knee or hip to be immediately twisted out of its socket¡­ but he properly connected. Everheart doubled over, just laying curled up in a fetal position on the ground for a full minute. ¡°What the hell was that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You¡¯re better than to get hit by that.¡± ¡°I just¡­ wanted to see if I could force you to take the opening¡­¡± Everheart grinned from the floor. ¡°Someones got to teach you to fight dirty.¡± Anton sighed, reaching out his hand to pull up the other man, bracing himself for the battle to continue, but Everheart just accepted it and pulled himself up, stretching. ¡°Well, I think that¡¯s enough of that for now. You¡¯d never win a proper match, but at least you¡¯re not useless.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Anton said. ¡°I try my best not to leave any gaping holes in my abilities¡­ despite how unlikely a situation like this would be nowadays.¡± Anton pondered for a second. ¡°Think you could beat a body temperer?¡± ¡°Most of them?¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°Sure thing. Maybe not everyone in Life Transformation, but I¡¯ve got centuries of experience on everyone.¡± Given Everheart¡¯s past, that might actually be centuries devoted to just wrestling, at least for one of his projections. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t even dream of it with Nthanda. Technique only works to a certain point. I¡¯m pretty sure I couldn¡¯t hurt her with just my body if she let me.¡± He tapped his chin, ¡°Are all of the lower realm worlds this amazing or is it just us?¡± ¡°You know all of the ones I do,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Good point. I¡¯d say the Worldbinding numbers in the Sylanis Cluster are¡­ fine. Certainly better than expected even if I¡¯d known about the option. Rutera and Weos are too early to say, though I do like their big ship.¡± Anton hadn¡¯t said anything about The Independence to Everheart- nor heard anything about him actually seeing it- but he wasn¡¯t surprised. ¡°Ceretos here seems pretty special. Maybe it¡¯s just me?¡± ¡°Or maybe this is how lower realms should develop without upper realms invaders constantly suppressing them.¡± ¡°Or,¡± Everheart held up a finger, ¡°Counterpoint- the constant invasions were required to eventually churn out something of worth.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to entertain that thought.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I hate it,¡± Everheart stomped his foot. ¡°This is our world, the upper realms can get their souls turned into mush if they think they are allowed to lay a finger on it. But conflict is likely a contributing factor.¡± ¡°I will concede it pushed some of us over the edge, but you didn¡¯t participate in any of the invasions did you?¡± ¡°No,¡± Everheart admitted. ¡°I was between them. But I¡¯m special.¡± ¡°You sure are,¡± Anton nodded sincerely. Some of it was even meant in a good way. Chapter 531 A short message came through one of the communications devices that Aridasa had not used previously. The extras were simply for the sake of reliability, but it seemed there was some intention to use it differently. It was only a single sentence. ¡°Ivory Maw Worldbinding cultivators on the offensive. One remains behind. Likely target [Weos].¡± The last part had to be interpreted from the different names the Sylanis Cluster had for each place. Based on the lack of communication so far, it was possible they didn¡¯t even know the local name of the system. The question was whether or not they should trust the message. It could easily be a trap. One that was intended to draw people away from Rutera or to set up an ambush in Aphuna, where the Ivory Maw made their home. By now, the Sylanis cluster must have realized they had only a few truly mobile cultivators. There wasn¡¯t much they could do about that- simply Anton alone wouldn¡¯t have been able to accomplish much. Besides, that might have made them appear to look even weaker, and thus a more tempting target. The enemy could have easily chosen to commit more all at once and then where would the trifold alliance be? The message was information that Weos needed to hear regardless- though if it was correct there wasn¡¯t much time to exchange information. It couldn¡¯t even be certain that the message would arrive before the Worldbinding cultivators, depending on the timing of various things. Still, it would arrive before any help could, and putting them on a false alert for a few days wasn¡¯t a big concern if the information turned out to be false. That basically left Anton in the Rutera system discussing with General Nicodemo, Nthanda, Devon, and the Great Queen. The latter was mostly recovered from her injuries, but Anton knew there was still internal damage and that her chitin was not as strong in the replaced areas yet. ¡°If anyone¡¯s going anywhere, it should be me,¡± Anton said. ¡°The question is what we¡¯ll do. We can¡¯t leave Rutera defenseless, nor do I imagine we have time to gather a large fleet. The Independence should remain here,¡± he looked to Nicodemo, who nodded. ¡°Plans for if we think the message is true¡­ we can either reinforce Weos or assault the Ivory Maw¡¯s headquarters. I don¡¯t think we can manage both.¡± ¡°Not when either place could have two or three Worldbinding cultivators,¡± Devon agreed. ¡°Supporting Weos is safest,¡± Nthanda postulated, ¡°But they can likely handle their own defense. Striking a proper blow to the Ivory Maw in their own realm should be a great victory. If we can kill any of their three cultivators, their power will diminish. If our hopes are fulfilled, that will make them more tempting targets for rivals.¡± ¡°Assuming the message is true,¡± Nicodemo agreed. ¡°If it is not, we can only imagine there will be an ambush or an attack here. With The Independence, it is tempting to get as much of our own victory as possible¡­ and so far the Sylanis Cluster has not fielded more than two Worldbinding cultivators at once. With the ship and a defensive stance, one more of your level should be sufficient.¡± The Great Queen tapped the table to get their attention. Given her size, it wasn¡¯t particularly loud, but she could have managed something if she wished. ¡°I wish to go on the offensive. My royal guard and I could be useful either in an assault on a sect or assisting against invaders.¡± ¡°As for myself,¡± Devon said, ¡°And the question of what we actually believe about the message. I would prefer to go with grandfather. However, I am also well suited for a defensive role here. The question is¡­ what then?¡± ¡°I would like to act as if the message is true,¡± Anton said. ¡°There will be no time to contact Aridasa, though it is unlikely the same option would reach him regardless. No doubt it is destroyed by now, if there was any reason for using a different device to begin with. Stolen seems unlikely to me. Should the report be false, hopefully we can avoid entrapment of the Ivory Maw and pay him a visit.¡± ¡°So you intend to go for their base,¡± Nicodemo nodded. ¡°I would agree with that choice as well.¡± ¡°I will also come with you,¡± Nthanda finally interjected. ¡°If we are to go to their system, I will have no concerns about limiting my new abilities for the sake of the world we fight upon. I wish to test my limits in a practical circumstance, though I understand the danger of such.¡± The other cultivators couldn¡¯t really disagree, and without her the offensive force would be rather limited, even if they only had to face one Worldbinding cultivator. After all, fighting or killing one in their own territory was a big step up from doing so on the defensive. It was only a short discussion to finalize the details- Anton would be bringing only cultivators from Ceretos, taking a few of their ships to sneak into the enemy system. Once there, he would do his best to determine if the words were true. If only one remained- even if it were Bala, the strongest of the trio- Anton was confident she could be killed. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ----- Along with Anton were members of many different sects. The Order, Fire and Ice Palace, Grasping Willows, and others from the same continent. Then there were members of Marvelous Rabbit Mountain and the Million Sword Vault. Finally, a few from the Exalted Archipelago- the Worthy Shore Society and Hardened Crown Sect specifically. There were some others that Anton had a positive opinion of, but these were the ones with sufficient numbers stationed at Rutera. All were given the choice of whether or not to go, though none turned it down. Great risks for great rewards was the way of cultivators, and even if they didn¡¯t manage to retrieve anything the alliance could cover reasonable payment for them- or their heirs, if they should perish. Some doubtless would, unless the target area was even more abandoned than indicated. They were already on their way, their small fleet moving as swiftly as possible. There was some chance that the enemy was already approaching or already assaulting Weos, so depending on what happened there they might not even make it to Aphuna before they returned. There could be several layers of information delay involved. Anton looked ahead intensely, thinking of Aphuna¡¯s star. It was slightly larger than the others he¡¯d assimilated with, though it didn¡¯t have oddities like Weos star as far as he was aware. He was interested in this offensive for an additional reason- so far, he had only appeared in their own systems and Okloi. Showing up in Aphuna would make them uncertain, though perhaps they didn¡¯t even consider his limitations. The others who were freely roaming had their own circumstances. Devon empowered himself with a concept, with Nthanda and the Great Queen relying more on a powerful body supported by energy in one way or another. He was debating whether to directly assimilate the star now or wait. Someone had to be able to notice his efforts and thus he could tip them off if he did it beforehand. Waiting, however, meant that he wouldn¡¯t be quite as familiar with the star¡¯s power. He ultimately decided to wait for one reason- he was hoping for a burst of power as he assimilated with the star. For most of them he¡¯d assimilated them from afar, except for his first. He knew he¡¯d made some mistakes the first time, minor as they were¡­ but connecting from up close might provide a short term boost, if he could control it. No. He could control it. He was confident of that- he just wasn¡¯t certain it would happen outside of the first one. ----- Aphuna¡¯s star was more of a pulsing blue than a yellow or white like the other stars he¡¯d dealt with- Weos¡¯ star having the strange weight also added a feeling of dark lines from Anton¡¯s perspective. It was slightly larger, but in practical terms Anton didn¡¯t feel it was terribly different. It wasn¡¯t unfriendly or helpful, it just was. As they wound their way through the system, avoiding the orbits of planets, he basked in its feeling. In a short time, at least from Anton¡¯s perspective, they were close enough to see Keitera. It was¡­ boring. Even as they approached, Anton found nothing of interest on the planet¡¯s surface. He saw only a dull brown light radiating reflected sunlight. As they drew closer he picked out some slight variations of ashy gray, but little in the way of actual terrain. He hadn¡¯t expected much, but it seemed the limited information on Keitera wasn¡¯t just because the Ivory Maw claimed it. There was nothing of interest, as it was a dead planet. As they rounded it, Anton spotted in its shadow their actual target- the Ivory Maw itself. Perhaps it was once a moon of the planet, though such details had been lost. It certainly held no natural orbit now, remaining relatively closer to Keitera and always in its shadow, blocking it from the sun. As for the Ivory Maw¡­ it was clearly unnatural, its form much like a giant skull. As it had to conform to gravity at given its size, it was mainly round. The ¡®teeth¡¯ were likely a mountain range of some sort, at least Anton hoped for that instead of some of the other options. Where the skull¡¯s eyes would be were instead dark voids. Grand formations, perhaps, serving some nefarious purpose. Unlike some sects, Anton could easily say that everything the Ivory Maw did was for a nefarious purpose. ¡°Get ready,¡± Anton said, though it was mainly for himself. As they continued to round the planet, he reached out for Aphuna¡¯s star. The process was not a long one, once he had done it the first time, but he still needed as direct of access as possible to the star. He could probably Assimilate with one without seeing it, but that would be an unnecessary strain. Once he was properly attuned, he could draw upon its power relative to his distance from it instead of caring about line of sight, though perhaps the latter might help somewhat. He felt it flowing into him, another gate of power opening inside of him. He also determined that if he didn¡¯t want it, there was no concern about a burst of power from a star as he first bound to it, not now that he had experience. But he did wish for it, drawing upon the sudden outpouring of power to extend his senses and fire a great flaming arrow, fully impractical in size normally but necessary to rid himself of the power he was drawing in. The flames weren¡¯t fully tinted blue- for yellow or white stars he still had orange flames- but there were some traces. His presence was already announced as he shot the bolt from the prow of the ship he was upon, but he¡¯d already determined that only one Worldbinding cultivator was within the range of his senses. He could be wrong, which was why he needed the power at his current distance- they could still retreat if necessary. However, his arrow dove deep into the void of one eye and found in the center¡­ a simple crater. Yet one that clearly stored something regularly. As the arrow tore through barriers it ultimately crashed into little of value- a few formation runes at best- Anton noticed fragments of bone littering the area. Was that where Bala¡¯s bone mountain resided? Before anything else could happen, there was a response from the Ivory Maw itself. The entire thing, all at once. Blood welled up from beneath its surface, pouring into the gaps of its eyes and nose as well as squeezing its way between the teeth. That should be Vaarlam¡¯s power, one of the three Worldbinders of the Ivory Maw. So far, no signs of the others as a blood sea formed on the surface of the moon sized false skull. Chapter 532 The blood sea on the surface of the Ivory Maw was full of spectral energy, not that Anton expected much different. It would just make it rather difficult to do anything involving landing. As waves of blood rolled over local structures, Anton hoped for their sake that they were sealed. Or that Varlaam was the type to clean up after himself. From what Anton could feel, disciples of the Ivory Maw were being swept up in the waves of blood, and while they didn¡¯t seem happy about it, it also didn¡¯t seem to be killing them. Instead, it was carrying them together. Specifically, towards Varlaam himself- and all the most important looking half-underblood buildings. In short, all targets were in one place. Anton considered just remaining where they were above the false moon, but with just Nthanda and himself he wasn¡¯t certain they could slay their primary target. His arrows sunk into the rising tides of blood, finding the energy filled liquid just about as difficult to navigate as he imagined. Nthanda actually did a bit better, her arrows impacting with a massive physical momentum that forced apart the blood around them. They created a sort of tunnel and Anton followed them with shots of his own, though any gaps were quickly sealed by both natural fluid mechanics and Varlaam¡¯s intentions. As this was Varlaam¡¯s domain, fighting him here would likely result in the two of them exhausting themselves first if they only tried to handle him themselves, so Anton quickly swapped tactics. They needed to secure one of the taller buildings to land some of their fleet. He wasn¡¯t willing to just let people enter the blood sea, but securing those positions to add the attacks of all of the other cultivators should be worthwhile. Anton noticed the Great Queen pull away, giving him only a short sentence before she left. ¡°I¡¯ll be back with something good.¡± Then she moved along with her royal guard, devouring energy in such a way around them as to propel them in the direction she intended. It was an odd sight, but he appreciated knowing she was ready to contribute. Hopefully training with Anton¡¯s own spectral energy had helped enough. As a melee-only individual, Anton understood the Great Queen pulling ahead of the fleet. What he didn¡¯t understand was Nthanda leaping down. It seemed more than just a little bit reckless, but by the time he noticed it was already too late to stop her. The best he could do was support her descent towards a spire. As she fell, Anton¡¯s understanding of her intent shifted. He thought she was at least planning to take over the spire, despite it bringing her to be the first to approach the blood ocean. However, the angle of her descent wasn¡¯t quite right. She continued to build up momentum as she fell, flinging attacks around with her bow, powerful shards of metal ripping through whatever she targeted. None of those had anything to do with her destination. When she hit the spire, its defensive formations protested. Black flames spewed out in a counterattack, but they barely licked the surface of her skin as she was through and out the other side in an instant, ripping through the tower with her body and effectively severing the top half dozen floors. Then she landed with significantly reduced momentum on the roof of a smaller building, only cracking the defensive formation atop it. Her lower position allowed the blood ocean to rise up over her, bringing with it enemy cultivators. Her body spun, arrows drawn from her quiver in bundles between separate fingers, fired in whatever configuration she desired at the time- in singles, pairs, or triplets. Her attacks contained barely a drop of natural energy, her arrows tearing through enemy disciples mainly by virtue of kinetic energy as her specially made arrows also limited the effectiveness of their defensive energy- not that it would have mattered against most of them. Various attacks swarmed her- black flames, bolts of pure spectral energy, darts of bone and skeletal warriors. Some attacks she simply let hit her, unconcerned. Her armor and body were too strong to worry about them. Others she dodged, either in full or in part. For some, she tore them apart with her fingers- making no distinction between wicked looking daggers, people, skeletons, and ephemeral energy except that only the first and the last were drawn towards her mouth and consumed. Nthanda had no desire to eat current or former people, but metals and energy seemed to be just fine. When the waves of blood crashed over her, she was briefly drowned in blood before the waves suddenly fell away, no longer controlled. Draining the spectral energy from that batch of the tides of blood seemed to take some actual effort, but Nthanda maintained her position. The first ships descended near the half destroyed tower Nthanda had moved through. Some people leapt onto the tower to take care of those standing in the section that had not toppled over, while others attacked from the ships, circling their way around the area. Allowing themselves to be fully stationary would likely result in the destruction of the ships, and they were also betting on the blood ocean rising up around the tower- which it did. As it climbed, cultivators leapt back onto the ships. One of those ships carried Merve, whose powers bolstered the trifold alliance¡¯s cultivators. Without Varlaam, the enemy forces weren¡¯t much of a concern. Though he¡¯d raised tides of blood over a massive part of the Ivory Maw, he¡¯d only managed to pull in those within a handful of kilometers, a radius that was slowly widening. In short, most of the Ivory Maw disciples were not present to defend, though their density had been higher in the main area to begin with. Taking him out would not only make everything else easier, but could also serve as an accomplished goal in itself. Every Worldbinding cultivator out of the picture was one more they didn¡¯t have to handle later- and the Ivory Maw was certainly a group they¡¯d not be able to have true peace with. With Nthanda being an obvious target, it was Anton¡¯s job to find ways to attack Varlaam, at the very least forcing him to defend himself directly to some extent. He seemed quite content beneath his blood ocean, but Anton noticed he wasn¡¯t fortified within a building. Did he not think it necessary, or would it break his connection and control? If nothing else, Anton imagined it would weaken that attachment. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Anton gathered ascension energy. He could practically feel the upper realms screaming at him, not because the significant energy he took was significant but because whatever caused the separation wanted to keep things that way. He didn¡¯t care, though. The energy he took through Fleeting Youth obeyed him regardless, and the quantity he had access to only grew with the rest of his power. There wasn¡¯t even a relevant downside anymore, since Anton couldn¡¯t ascend now. Though perhaps there was a roundabout method to ascend after Assimilation or something similar, he knew that would be no good for him. Foreign power tore through the ocean of blood, sinking its way towards Varlaam until it ran into a hardened barrier of blood. Anton felt the ripples of control as his attack faded, indicating to him that the reaction wasn¡¯t automatic but required Varlaam¡¯s intention. It would also expend some amount of the spectral energy he controlled- vast though it was, it wasn¡¯t limitless. Meanwhile, Anton was replenishing his own energy through Aphuna¡¯s star. It was like comparing a river that fed an ocean to the ocean itself, but he wasn¡¯t alone. When he saw a good opportunity Anton took a shot at the weaker cultivators around, since every enemy they didn¡¯t have to fight provided another moment they could work together to overpower another. They had to stay ahead of the incoming tide of enemies as well, though that at least was going reasonably smoothly. The flow of the blood ocean towards the central area had slowed, either as the masses of blood already in the area made it sluggish or as Varlaam became otherwise occupied. Either way, Anton kept harassing the man while also lowering himself in the sky to a tantalizing distance. He felt tendrils of blood hesitantly rising towards him. Then he senses catapulting clusters of blood. In the most basic manner it was like Paradise¡¯s attacks, though significantly weaker. He danced around the attacks, not wanting to test his resistance to spectral energy too much. Some of it simply hung in the air, chasing after him, but he could feel the energy draining out of it as it did so. Even as he fled, he continued to shoot his arrows, curving them towards his intended targets. The way the battle was going, the trifold alliance was coming out on top¡­ but they were certainly not without casualties. More than that, they had no reinforcements coming and were within Varlaam¡¯s territory. Even if he couldn¡¯t focus on killing the weaker cultivators with them, he could occasionally snag a few along with harrying Nthanda and Anton. Though compared to the options where he wiped out entire ships at once like he probably could have, that was tolerable. Still, Anton was waiting and hoping that the Great Queen could pull through. He had no idea where she was in the blood ocean, but she was doubtless there by now, swimming or otherwise moving towards Varlaam. Keeping him focused on Nthanda and Anton would meet him with a nasty surprise. Anton mixed ascension and spectral energy into the same arrow, the combination allowing him to ignore the material properties of the blood while still having to deal with Varlaam¡¯s spectral energy itself. This time, his attack struck against an already in place barrier¡­ but it trembled with the difficulty. Anton supposed this was not the time to conserve himself. If he could kill Varlaam, it didn¡¯t matter what he had left or what he revealed with it. He tried to attack from every side, circling around and even directly above. He even came up at low angles in case Varlaam was especially careless, but the man hadn¡¯t reached Worldbinding by leaving such simple openings. Anton felt yet another arrow, one of his last that could have ascension energy, strike against the barrier once more. The barrier rippled, holding firm. Then¡­ it cracked. With his arrow dispersed Anton couldn¡¯t make out the exact details, but he only had to wait a few moments to confirm his assumption. He didn¡¯t stop his hands, firing arrows of all sorts from his proper bow and all of the energy bows around him. One of his arrows that found its way through the blood ocean narrowly avoided one of many empty spaces directly around Varlaam, piercing into the man¡¯s lung. Anton expected the man¡¯s own blood to have even more powerful properties than the ocean he controlled, and perhaps it did- but he was concentrated on wide scale attacks. And, what was more frustrating for everyone who fought void ants, he was used to only requiring effort to kill things beyond a certain size. Anton could shoot the wings off of a fly, but he was used to weak points on large creatures being at least a hand in size. The Great Queen herself was barely that length, and much less actual area. Her royal guard were smaller, and a bit weaker. But Varlaam only had an ocean of blood to defend himself, having neglected to bring more than a dagger he swung at the swarm around him. He got a couple void ants, but he failed to prioritize the correct target. Mandibles bit into his spine, stopping his muscles. Control of energy didn¡¯t require the same connection, but as his head was separated from his body and carried away his efforts, control over the blood sea became less and less significant, until it entirely fell away. The ocean of blood didn¡¯t suddenly stop existing, nor did it stop having spectral energy in it. Instead, it simply stopped being controlled. Blood fell to the control of gravity, and untamed spectral energy tore through those who moments before had been using it as shelter. Some were able to defend themselves or control a local bubble, but many more Ivory Maw disciples perished instantly. Anton wondered if this false moon had something like a worldheart. He quickly decided that even if it did, it would be tainted. Better to find any vaults they could and loot them. He wasn¡¯t confident in his ability to take on an entire planet full of enemy cultivators, and it would likely take long enough for two more of concern to return if so. A couple hours wouldn¡¯t hurt, but any number of days would be a risk. To that end, Anton found his way over to the Great Queen and took her prize. ¡°For Nicodemo, I assume? I¡¯ll put it in my storage bag.¡± He wrapped it in a water tight cloth first. ¡°We should probably take the rest of his body, too. Who knows what these necromancers will do with it.¡± The Great Queen nodded. ¡°How are you feeling? Up for chewing through some vault defenses?¡± Though her words were slow, she still signed with confidence. ¡°You think that I will let something so simple stop me? I am ready to devour their petty barriers. I shall share with my royal guard as well.¡± In Anton¡¯s interpretation, that meant they were all tired as hell but that consuming the energy would probably be good for them. As the blood ocean flowed away, Anton determined that the buildings were not in fact, sealed. So there would be some wading required as the blood ocean oozed its way out of the local area. At least killing the rest of the disciples here would be easy. Normally, Anton would have let them go if they surrendered¡­ but nobody was going to ask for anything like that. Not here, watching a blood ocean slowly recede atop a moon sized skull totem which seemed to be made in large part of real bone. Fortunately, not from one thing. Chapter 533 The chances of encountering anyone between systems was already astronomically low before considering different methods of travel, and with the arrivals and destinations being different then there was simply no chance of being near each other. Thus there was only a strange tension of waiting and running at the same time. They were retreating victorious, but Anton couldn¡¯t shake a bad bad feeling. Not one of imminent peril, not to himself at least, but of greater troubles. Not as all encompassing as the tides of the world shifting and allowing for invasion, but significant nonetheless. Piled atop Anton¡¯s head were dozens of ants. He wasn¡¯t particularly keen on being a replacement nest, but a sign that he was trusted by the wiped out group was nice. Even if most of their time in the blood ocean hadn¡¯t resulted in direct attacks on them, the general presence of spectral energy was dangerous for them. So they were recovering where they felt safest- which was for the royal guard around their queen, and for the Great Queen with Anton. If he understood correctly the Great Queen knew how to recover from most long term effects of spectral energy, but it required energy intake. There wasn¡¯t exactly a ton of that to spare in the void between systems, and munching on Anton¡¯s was likewise forbidden as his recovery was almost nonexistent away from his stars. Nthanda, despite being the direct target of attacks, seemed to be doing better. That is to say, she¡¯d been violently sick in the hours after their retreat, but now she was able to move around with no significant signs of discomfort. She still had injuries, but if Anton watched carefully he could see them patching themselves up, more quickly when Nthanda had something to eat. Merve lingered nearby, as overcoming years of not trusting anyone was difficult, and she still felt most comfortable around Anton. As expected, she had the best effect on the battlefield augmenting the most people possible instead of just Anton, though she wasn¡¯t necessarily happy about that. Anton himself just felt drained. He had the greatest experience with spectral energy among them, though he was nearly as new in terms of fighting it. Regardless, he was able to bring himself to a fatigued but stable state after the battle, though he couldn¡¯t fully recover until they were back in Rutera. So he could only wait. Finally, after about half of their journey back they got a response from Rutera. Or rather, a message that was likely sent before word was received of their victory in Aphuna. It was mostly a message relayed from Weos. As indicated, Bala Sykora and the final Worldbinding member of the Ivory Maw Leonas Kazlas had led an attack there. The warning had arrived in time for them to scramble some sort of response, but it was still difficult to deal with the two powerful cultivators and the army they had with them. Following messages came with updates. The initial defense Weos produced was only what they could quickly rally, and the attackers pushed past them towards planetary targets. Lives were reaped for no purpose other than to feed a mountain of bone and a writhing ball of flesh, the power of two Worldbinding cultivators. They were finally driven away, but not before more deaths¡­ including Oluchi, one of Weos¡¯ new Assimilation cultivators. It was unclear if the two Worldbinding cultivators would come away weaker or stronger after the conflict, but at least many lesser disciples of the Ivory Maw were also killed- though they¡¯d added to the necromancers¡¯ respective abominations. If Anton had simply chosen to reinforce Weos¡­ he probably wouldn¡¯t have arrived by the time everything was over. That was the truth, but what he felt was that he could have helped, prevented those deaths and perhaps swung the battle enough to slay the two Worldbinding cultivators. The fact that ultimately he¡¯d probably made the right choice didn¡¯t make him feel any better. Not while word of the spear-wielding cultivator¡¯s death was fresh in his memory. Later, he could look on things with fresh eyes. ----- The Great Queen¡¯s enthusiasm was restrained as she placed Varlaam¡¯s head on the table. ¡°We look forward to continuing productive relationships with Rutera in the future.¡± She slowly rotated herself until she was facing the local representatives of Weos. ¡°We are sorry for your losses. Know that as members of this alliance we will diligently hunt down enemy Worldbinding cultivators.¡± Anton was appreciative that the Great Queen didn¡¯t ask for or even imply the exchange he knew she wanted- nests in Weos. Learning any human tact had been difficult for her, but she seemed to know not to bring that up now. Later, perhaps, if she had something more to display. As for Varlaam¡¯s head, though it could be said that Anton and Nthanda were contributors to the victory as well, the void ants were the ones who secured the victory. With Anton not having any need for negotiating weight at the moment and Nthanda being an advocate for the void ants, letting the credit mainly fall to her was acceptable. ¡°One of three,¡± General Nicodemo said. ¡°A massive step forward. Perhaps not worth the losses in Weos, but we managed to make the best of the situation. The question is if we can take out the other two.¡± Nicodemo looked quite unsure at that. ¡°With the addition of Devon and The Independence¡­¡± he looked to Anton for his judgment. ¡°That might work,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But I cannot say there would be no losses among us. Perhaps another Assimilation cultivator.¡± For the sake of ease, they would lump Nthanda and the Great Queen in among those. Assimilation and Worldbinding had enough overlaps that they could be considered the same, or at least part of some larger category, but keeping the distinction between enemies and allies for the moment was convenient. ¡°However, we will need some time to recover from our previous excursion. And there are other plans in motion that will hopefully produce some sort of results.¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°And those plans are¡­?¡± Nicodemo asked. ¡°The same thing we¡¯ve been working on for a while. Diplomacy,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°At least, that¡¯s what some people call it.¡± While it was fun to remain vague, Anton really needed to properly explain. ¡°Aridasa sent us good information. So we replied with information about Varlaam¡¯s unfortunate death. Killing two Worldbinding cultivators is a significant decrease in difficulty from three working together, but still risky. If the situation has been understood correctly, however, there might be some within the Sylanis Cluster who would be willing to take that risk for us. If we¡¯re wrong,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Then we¡¯ll act in some manner after we¡¯re recovered.¡± ----- A series of monitors displayed incoming text and images. Video would have been impossible, and Theia was honestly surprised that the transmissions were working from afar despite using minimal energy. She didn¡¯t want to think about how much money had gone into the project and how many expensive recording and transmission devices had been subsequently stomped on or otherwise destroyed in Okloi. Aphuna wasn¡¯t much better. The first bits of information were just trickling in, pixelated pictures of blood coated buildings and garbled text representing nearby conversations. Some had never transmitted anything, and some suddenly stopped. Even so, every bit of information they got from these was something they would have no access to otherwise. The extremely minimal communication with Okloi notwithstanding. As a coordinator for all of this incoming information, Theia found most of it was nonsense. Even so, she and her subordinates were tasked with looking through everything. Images and snippets of conversation could be important, but so far there had mostly been a lot of disciples speaking in fear about Varlaam¡¯s death and others complaining about having to sort all of the bodies. Not bury them- apparently that was not a dignity the Ivory Maw allowed. Instead, they would be ¡®reused¡¯. Expected, but still discomforting. Even so, some of this information could one day be words spoken by their Worldbinding cultivators, secrets spoken where no ears should be. Unless they found all of the hidden devices and destroyed them. Or worse, compromised them. Filtering through things that might be intentionally misleading was another job for Theia¡¯s department. ----- It was an uncomfortable time to be in the Upper Realms, not because things were going particularly poorly for the Xankeshan Guardians, but because those from the Order wished they could be of assistance in the war. But they had taken their opportunities for advancement as they came. Assimilation was attractive, but each of them would have still chosen Ascension even if they were fully aware of the possibilities. Catarina was fascinated with what formations could do with upper energy, and Timothy would have followed her anywhere. Hoyt was able to encounter his reincarnated grandfather, while also working towards the future safety of his homeworld. Velvet chose to join them after being aware of the options, pitting her stealth skills against ascension level opponents regularly in both combat and espionage. Alva had come to follow Fuzz and the others. Spikes and Vari were already in the upper realms to begin with, and Chikere wouldn¡¯t have given up the chance to get better swords. Just in case, they had been looking into the potential of any presence of the Sylanis Cluster in the upper realms. There was no indication that there would be, but that just made it easier to ask. At best, they found information on similarly named sects, systems, or planets. So they probably didn¡¯t have to worry about that in particular when the tides of the world next changed, something that would happen in less than another century- at least for the region around Weos, Rutera, and Ceretos. It seemed it wasn¡¯t the same for every place on the border between the upper and lower realms, but finding even what they did about the phenomenon was difficult. It seemed that the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster preferred to keep it secret so they could exploit it. Both were far too powerful for the Xankeshan alliance to even dream about making a move against, but the Harmonious Citadel was another matter. They were bound to come into conflict for many things as the Harmonious Citadel continued to spread throughout the area. Working with the Dark Ring, Xankeshan had prevented some of their ¡®westward¡¯ expansion, but they continued to gobble up planets and systems year over year. With few powers of any significance to oppose them, their efforts had been successful. Getting disconnected people together for an organized resistance was difficult, especially since some didn¡¯t think they should bother. For cultivators, if a powerful sect took over they thought they might be able to rise up within the ranks. That might even be true. The issue was the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s structure being set up to be intentionally unfair, while hiding that from both the public and the members on the subordinate track. Sadly, informing people about that was about as useless as using a bucket to try to drain a lake. Few people would listen, as information from a random individual wasn¡¯t necessarily reliable. Those who were a bit more clever knew that information from a large sect was also suspect, but there was little they could do. Except now, they might hear about joining the Xankeshan Guardians. The problem was, even though expanding rapidly was required, they couldn¡¯t just arbitrarily let anyone join them. It wasn¡¯t just a simple desire to not give up control, but weeding out bad actors and spies was necessary. Repairing the old formations to manage not only external but internal defenses was a project for a lifetime- one Catarina was glad to have, but it meant they could only count on them to stop direct assaults for the moment. Still, as the personal power of each of them grew at a steady pace, the risks they could take on grew as well. It would be a long time before any of them were the equivalent of Augmentation cultivators, but having gone through proper Ascension- or an atypical advancement like Vari- they were a step above most of the rest. It was possible for natives of the upper realms to smoothly transition from the end of Life Transformation to Ascension, but without undergoing proper trials they weren¡¯t as effective. With more time, the gap would grow- though there were resources that could be used to overcome any hurdles. For the moment, however, time favored those new to the upper realms in the last few decades. Chapter 534 Among the many things that Vari now believed the Harmonious Citadel did wrong, there was one that might actually come back to haunt them. It was one thing to indoctrinate their disciples- it had been done well, such that Vari had to be pulled far away from their influence to even consider there was something wrong. That sort of thing would also make any disciples unlikely to believe outsiders on anything. But there was one area that they had made a mistake. The saints. Something there was a weakness. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was the aura of invincibility they had or the merging of their identities which led towards that, but something in that area could be exploited. Easiest would be to just kill one of the saints and those who were in line to replace them. Well, instead of easiest that would be most straightforward. Revealing they were different people to the internals of the Harmonious Citadel likely wouldn¡¯t affect the favored disciples. Practitioners of the Glorious Harmony Technique would no doubt be aware of when the roles of saints changed over, infrequent as it likely was. The subordinate disciples, however, would be kept in the dark. They were the important part of the whole structure, and if the Harmonious Citadel had been willing to admit that they occasionally replaced their saints then they would only grow more tight knit when one was killed in battle. If they managed to show the death of one in public, witnessed by many of the lesser disciples, it would be quite different. Revealing at the same time the various changes in the saint¡¯s positions would break the aura of invincibility and spread doubt. Of course, if it was so easy to kill their saints, the Harmonious Citadel could just be wiped out. Vari understood she wasn¡¯t on that level yet, regardless of any potentially inflated information about them. Anyone who had surpassed Ascension two centuries before would far outclass Vari¡¯s experience regardless of other factors. It wasn¡¯t like she could just expect the saints to be average members of the upper realms, either. Those who underwent Ascension from the lower realms stood above those who only ever touched upper energy, but there were methods to struggle for the most power. Resources from the lower realms were actually quite valuable for the process, from what Vari understood. Since she couldn¡¯t straightforwardly overcome them, either by herself or with varying levels of allies in those originally from the lower realms to the Dark Ring, Vari was focused on other methods. And she still wanted to learn more about the former spear saint, Silvija. That was her current mission, visiting yet another Harmonious Citadel planet to gather information. Spikes and Chikere were with her for when things went wrong. Vari rather preferred that to be ¡®if¡¯ things went wrong, but she knew better. Vari had entered the cities herself, as she seemed to be a natural fit, but after learning where their target was the three moved together. An old vault, sealed some centuries before by the spear saint. Apparently not looted yet, but nothing could be sure about that. The local news indicated that many people tried rather frequently. ¡°We will not be alone,¡± Chikere declared. ¡°Others have arrived before us.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± Vari asked to confirm, though she thought she knew the answer. ¡°Unless this location carries dozens of swords that move on their own, there are people wielding said swords.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± Vari confirmed as they crested a rise. She could possibly make out the shape of the structure they were supposed to be entering from this distance, but it could have been her imagination. ¡°What about you, Spikes? Notice anyone?¡± Spikes shook her head. Not yet, it seemed. Though once they were slightly closer, they could expect the wolf to pick up people with her nose regardless of whether they came by the same route. Travel took several more minutes to cover kilometers of ground at a measured pace. Vari had now confirmed the presence of the structure they sought, and Spikes noted the presence of enemies before Vari could sense them. Her numbers diverged from Chikere which was not a surprise- as presumably the extra individuals were not carrying swords. Vari understood specializing from the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s training, but most didn¡¯t grow to the sort of obsession people like Chikere had. Not even the most passionate. Perhaps the saints might reach that level of devotion to their weapons. Vari couldn¡¯t say she felt that for any weapon, or even her preferred lack of them- though at one point she might have had it for the saints themselves. ¡°Seems to be¡­ six Integration cultivators?¡± Vari confirmed with the others. ¡°Three with swords,¡± Chikere confirmed, ¡°And there should indeed be three others.¡± Now that they were within normal sensory range, she could pick out the people and not just swords. ¡°Well then, we should probably¡­¡± ¡°Leave the sword cultivators to me,¡± Chikere said. ¡°You two deal with the others.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°That¡¯s basically what I was going to suggest, yeah,¡± Vari admitted. Normally she would have preferred to split things evenly between them, but in addition to having to admit that Chikere was a superior combatant in general, when it came to swords¡­ she could pull the weight of more than two cultivators. ¡°That leaves us a few dozen Life Transformation dudes and one and a half Integration cultivators to manage each, Spikes. You alright with that? Obviously, we¡¯re not going to just attack them head on. And by us I mean the two of us specifically.¡± Spikes nodded. If she had something important to say, she could write a response in the dirt, or form one out of stone itself. Simple agreement was fine, since she expected Vari to be sensible. ¡°We¡¯ll try to find a small corridor. Just a bit more than you sized, I guess,¡± Vari said. ¡°I¡¯ll try to keep two at bay, while you focus on one and the weaklings. They¡¯ve probably noticed us by now, but they shouldn¡¯t be on high alert. We¡¯ll wait until they¡¯re distracted. That includes you as well, Chikere. We might not have to fight. If they get turned away by the vault itself, we can just leave them.¡± Vari was now used to considering herself in the elite category of Integration cultivators. If she wasn¡¯t, she would have not even considered approaching the group. Picking out which enemies were exceptional was an important skill to manage, and none of them felt like they would be trouble. Worst case, Vari should be able to ride Spikes away. Chikere¡­ she¡¯d have to grab to come with them. Or perhaps the actual worst case was she died without reacting. It would be unfortunate, but she wanted whatever information the vault contained. Just assuming this group would fail to get it didn¡¯t sit well with her. The surface was a large rectangular building with little adornment- abnormal for the Harmonious Citadel. As they stepped inside, Vari could pick out signs of what might have been valuable inlays and now were nothing. Perhaps some individuals, frustrated with not being able to enter the vault, had decided to loot the decorations. Inside, two stairways flanked either side of the open room, headed underground. It was trivial to sense they went to the same place, but it was slightly comforting to note there might be multiple escape routes. Down the stairs they found large crisscrossing corridors- starting from the stairs it could either be considered a rectangle with a cross splitting it apart, or simple four individual segments sharing hallways between them. Straight ahead was a large door flanked by statues of spear wielding individuals. Most of those currently present were there, several turning to take note of the new entrants. There were two distinct visual groups, though all seemed to share the same basic cultivation technique. Just having them look at her made Vari feel weighed down, as if she were on one of the planets with higher gravity than average- this one was actually a bit light. Approximately half of the group wielded swords, or at least weapons that could be called swords. They were uncomfortably large in all dimensions, nearly dragging on the ground behind the bulky men- and a few women. The blades were as wide as two hands, and several times as thick along most of their body as the majority of Chikere¡¯s swords were at their thickest point. The other half wielded large halberd, held in their hands like a walking staff because they couldn¡¯t possibly fit comfortably on anyone¡¯s back. They were somewhere around four meters in length, nearly scraping on the high ceilings, and the curved heads of their weapons were almost as big as Vari herself. Both sets of weapons seemed so heavy and unwieldy as to be unusable, which meant there should be a trick to them. Or all of their enemies would be quite ineffective- but Vari wasn¡¯t going to count on them being terrible with their cultivations. Two of the Integration cultivators stepped towards them, while the rest of the groups followed behind. One of the pair was a woman, a rarity among the bulky individuals. The other was a man who carried one of the swords, face and arms scarred. He was the one who spoke first, stopping at the central cross of the area. ¡°This area has been claimed by the Black Hole Blades. Scarper off.¡± Having received no information about such a thing, Vari knew it wasn¡¯t an actual claim, but one they had simply decided upon. Either just now, or when they set their eyes on the area. Still, she attempted to be diplomatic. ¡°We had not heard of that. We are simply interested in the information this vault might contain. We could share it.¡± ¡°Yeah? And let you slip away with pockets stuffed full of the best stuff in there?¡± the man shook his head. ¡°No way. And don¡¯t think you¡¯re entitled as a member of the Harmonious Citadel either. You lot lost any claim to this thing long ago. Actually¡­ I changed my mind,¡± he said. Vari knew that didn¡¯t mean he was suddenly agreeing, though. ¡°Since it¡¯s just you, it would be easier if you didn¡¯t leave. And I¡¯m interested in the collection of swords that other woman has as well.¡± Vari could say she tried. She really had. But now things were out of her control. At the moment that things were shown to have broken down and that her own swords were coveted, every blade Chikere had was drawn. The drawstrings on a storage bag at her waist twisted open as she charged forward, since even the uncomfortable number of weapons carried openly was not anywhere near the limit of what she actually used. The man was ready, his blade off his back in an amazingly swift motion. The world tore apart as he swung, his blade pulling away chunks of the structure around them as he swung it without even touching anything. Even Vari found herself pulled a half step forward. All of the blades around Chikere were yanked forward as well- but instead of gathering around the swinging sword, they orbited their way around it as Chikere angled two swords on either side of the blade of the giant weapon, causing it to shove her away instead of slicing through her. She tumbled down the corridor to the center right. Vari was already moving as well, though slightly delayed. Spikes didn¡¯t appear to be in motion at first, but once she saw that the structural integrity was being messed with regardless, with a howl she crossed spikes of stone through the corridor behind the center, impaling or nearly impaling a handful of individuals in the way. Some dodged backwards, others forward, but either way the two leaders were stuck with only a handful of Life Transformation cultivators- and two of the other Integration cultivators. It was still more than two to one, but the odds were much better for the moment. Chapter 535 A heavy halberd slashed towards Vari, seemingly intent on tearing apart the world around it. Though she had her barriers, she wasn¡¯t confident in blocking such an attack. She might try against one of the lesser cultivators for comparison, but for the moment she had to avoid it. Even as she stepped back, it seemed to pull her in along with the surroundings, tearing apart the stone structure of the hallways. Only through great effort was she able to tear herself away from the attack, leaping to the side of the hallway. The attack seemed quite worthy of the sect¡¯s name, the Black Hole Blades. Spikes had a different response to the second Integration cultivator with a halberd. The man thrust his halberd so that the elongated spear point moved towards her, twisting the world around it, but instead of pulling back Spikes leaned into the attack. Yet instead of running into the spear point, the weapon pulled away from her to the side as the ground shifted. Spike¡¯s advancement to an Integration equivalent had improved her mastery over the ground to be second nature. It was more difficult to control stone or dirt embedded with formations, but not impossible. Here, the most powerful formations were sealing the great doors and statues beyond. The lesser cultivators were not yet able to come to bear, being both further back and slower. The halberds they carried didn¡¯t truly fit in the hallways, though if their leaders were any example it would be the hallways that gave out before their attacks. It would be important not to get buried in rubble, not because a few tons of stone could kill anyone at their level but because it would simply be enough of a hindrance to sway the battle in one side¡¯s favor. All of the sword cultivators, their weapons similarly oversized though not as ridiculously lengthy as the halberds, had taken to attacking Chikere down the right corridor. That included two Integration cultivators and at least a dozen lesser enemies- though some were in Essence Collection and could be little more than distractions, that could be sufficient to provide an opening for someone more powerful. If one were to consider quantity of blades, however, Chikere was winning by several factors all on her own. Swords danced around, slashing and stabbing. The cultivators were saved not by their nimbleness or skill, but by the way their weapons drew in her attacks, ¡®blocking¡¯ her regardless of what they did. Yet she never let her weapons be entrapped and broken, nor could they strike her. Despite the great size of the weapons they were swung with speed and drew her towards them, but Chikere dodged the weapons by the same razor thin margin she always did. Whether it was because it was more efficient or because she was staying one step ahead of death was difficult to tell. Perhaps it was simply both. Vari was quite pleased with the narrowness of the corridors. Even as she saw several Black Hole Blades slice through the walls and ceiling with their halberds, chopping towards her, she could tell they were slightly restricted by them. More importantly, the cultivators were directly interfering with each other. Just because they could chop through some fortified stone didn¡¯t mean they could do as they pleased- if they could cut through each other¡¯s weapons, they would prefer not to. As the blades pulled her towards them, promising a combination of crushing and being severed in two, she ended up using barriers not to block attacks but to stop her unintended movements. Even as she did so, she drew upon the devotion of the Harmonious Citadel. Her step into Integration drew upon their belief in the saints oath to protect those beneath them- regardless of whether that was actually implemented. As such, she was able to access some of the power meant for the saints herself on a planet that had a sizable population of the Harmonious Citadel. There was some risk of discovery, but she needed the power. Spikes found it difficult to resist the pull of the blades, but rearranging the corridors around herself and her opponents was proving fruitful. She had to take several strikes from lesser cultivators, resulting in broken bones and gashes on her body. The weapons were sizable enough that the wounds weren¡¯t small enough to be ignored, though the attacks didn¡¯t extend beyond the blades themselves. At least Spikes had a hide tough enough to prevent them from cutting deep into her. She wouldn¡¯t have had to deal with those attacks if she weren¡¯t also keeping back the remaining cultivators, fortifying her work down the central corridor. Even as she did so, she managed to snag the haft of a halberd in her teeth, biting down on it. It was made of strong metal intended to withstand the strain of the swing of axe heads nearly the size of a person, but after being yanked out of a cultivator¡¯s hands, it couldn¡¯t withstand her jaws lacking upper energy augmenting it. A sword stabbed into the hand of one of the heavy blade cultivators, orbiting the pull of gravity the man intended to negate its momentum. Chikere grinned, starting to get the flow of the attacks. She dove forward, inviting a half dozen attacks from all sides. She chose to be exactly between the two Integration cultivators so their pulls would balance out- the others were less of a concern. Her body twisted as she ducked under one blade and rolled under the other, the swords around her finding targets- the weaker cultivators for the most part, but she slashed at the hamstrings of the Integration cultivators. Their armor and upper energy defended them, but the fact that they were open to the attack kept them off guard. Chikere couldn¡¯t help but grin. There were two swords around her of exceptional quality. She would have them. Starting with¡­ that one. Her next move vaulted her into the air, only to push off the ceiling a moment later. Gravity had little time to take hold during her quick movements, and despite the man she targeted wielding his heavy grade with astounding speed, it was still just a bit slower than it needed to be. It did take six swords to slow it down so it didn¡¯t cut through her left shoulder as Number One chopped at the man¡¯s wrists, but speed and sharpness triumphed. She didn¡¯t manage to sever the man¡¯s hands as intended, but she slightly weakened his grip. Her hands dropped from number one to grab the handle of the new weapon, twisting as she did so. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The weight of the sword took all of her focus to control, the rest of her blades falling to the ground as she twisted behind her, chopping vertically. The blade itself was not the source of the Black Hole Blade¡¯s techniques, it simply augmented it. Even so, Chikere had seen the technique enough to replicate it. Her blade cut through the ceiling, pulling the walls in all the way down the corridor, the majority of her remaining opponents crashing together as a sudden gravity clumped them along a single line. Chikere breathed out slowly. All that effort, and not a one was dead. She certainly wouldn¡¯t be adding that technique to her arsenal. Not without some adjustments. Still, it did nicely place them for a follow up attack. Her weapon was embedded in the floor, but the embedded position only served as a counterforce to her swing for a moment before it suddenly tore apart. Her weapon went from stationary to the finished point of its arc in an instant, replicating a quick draw technique. A slashing cut extended down the corridor, tearing apart space like Rahayu¡¯s technique- and the method Chikere had replicated for her own ascension. The sword in her hands crumbled to dust. A shame. Ah well, it was only worthy to be number four or five at best. She turned to the remaining swordsman, surprised he hadn¡¯t tried to stab her in the back with number one. There had been a thousand openings, perhaps more. Instead, the weapon still lay on the ground where Chikere dropped it, and the burly man simply stared at Chikere. Number one found no difficulty in simply killing him without Chikere touching it, rising up and stabbing through his torso from beneath, then slicing outward in both directions at once- one with the proper blade structure and one with a phantom copy rotating the other direction. Chikere would retrieve the other heavy blade at some point, but she found it too exhausting to do anything much with them. She¡¯d need to dig through a small mountain of rubble to find it, but that would be simple after the battle was over. First there was the remaining Integration sword wielder, now just chopping through the stone Spikes was constantly reinforcing. Vari found an opening after Chikere¡¯s sudden attack. She had already been surprised plenty of times by the swordswoman, this one was nothing much. Killing a dozen people with a single slash- effectively two, actually- was impressive, but not as much as killing a hundred with a hundred separate slashes at the same time. That she had seen. Though technically some had been thrusts. Either way, the sudden trembling of the corridor put her main opponent a quarter step off, enough for Vari to pull a similar move. The only thing was she was always unarmed, so catching the halberd just under the head was done with two hands. Vari was smashed knee deep into the stone floor, but the blade didn¡¯t touch her and the full force of the attack was mitigated by the poor leverage of the wielder. It made some sense to have the massive reach of the weapons, but even the widest spread of hands from its user could only control the back quarter of the weapon. Massive strength let the hefty woman maneuver the weapon regardless, and the Black Hole Blades¡¯ gravity manipulation handled the rest¡­ but after Vari got her hold she anchored herself in position with a few angled barriers. The halberd twisted horizontally, intending to sweep her into the walls, but it stayed taut. And then¡­ Vari let it go. She had no arrogance to believe she could fully disarm or wield such a massive weapon, but she didn¡¯t mind letting her opponent chop through the handful of his allies on one side- barely avoiding the other Integration cultivator. Spikes took the opportunity of a step forward by him to chomp towards his head, the haft of his weapon slamming into her neck. Her muscles and spine strained, but her jaws closed tight. Then the heavy weapon dropped to the side without a wielder. Her claws took out the lesser cultivators around her. Then her walls were broken through, the final opponents freed. Two more Integration cultivators and dozens of others. Vari hadn¡¯t finished off her Integration cultivator yet, and with the rest of them fatigued it appeared it would be a difficult fight. Spikes charged towards Vari to help her finish that one off. Two Integration cultivators fell. The halberd wielding woman¡­ and the final sword cultivator who had just entered the battle. Chikere had had enough it seemed. The closer she was pushed to her limits, the more vicious she got- and it seemed she¡¯d gained what knowledge she wanted from her previous fight. Ultimately, the man was too slow and his gravity technique not powerful enough to stop her. After that, Chikere started on the remaining weaker cultivators- those with swords and halberds alike. Spikes and Vari found it relatively simple to finish off a single Integration cultivator even in their states, and finally the battle ended. There were sounds of heavy breathing from two humans and a great stone wolf. Then all of the corridors collapsed. ----- Half an hour later, after digging themselves and all of the enemy cultivators who might have decent loot on them out, the three found their way over to the only sturdy section of the area, by the statues. Above the door was a label previously uninspected, which Vari read out loud. ¡°Only those of purity and saintly demeanor may enter.¡± She sighed, ¡°What does that even mean?¡± she complained to the statues, both of the same woman- Silvija. The reason they had come in the first place. She grumbled and plopped herself down with her back against the door. She leaned on it for support, thinking through the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s teachings. Then she fell backwards as the doors creaked open, the same moment she realized that the woman who was now on her right was not actually Silvija. Instead, it was a face she¡¯d seen only in distant memory and a lost painting. Chapter 536 ¡°Well, that was convenient,¡± Chikere said as the doors opened behind Vari. Stopping herself from falling backward should have been trivial for a cultivator of Vari¡¯s level, even a century of training before. She didn¡¯t because there was no real danger to overcome her sudden revelation. Vari shook her head as she picked herself up. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a coincidence,¡± she said, looking at the formations around them. She was no master, but she understood they should still be working to serve whatever their purpose was. At least, they didn¡¯t seem terribly worn despite their age. ¡°It should have been waiting for the proper conditions to open.¡± ¡°A member of the Harmonious Citadel?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Because if so, it¡¯s broken. Especially since some of those actual guys had been coming here since this place was first around.¡± Spikes was simply sniffing around the area, seemingly disappointed with the lack of useful feedback. There wasn¡¯t much to get from stone statues and centuries unused halls. That was all that was immediately visible, another room with a few statues. Though there was one notable feature about those statues. The majority of them were missing their head, not a clean cut but a messy stone break. There were only two that had their heads- Silvija herself, and the similar looking woman. The latter was not placed in the same arrangement as the rest, but of clearly different make and smaller size, placed more or less Silvija¡¯s statue. Vari spoke her thoughts aloud. ¡°Are these two twins¡­? Or perhaps just sisters.¡± ¡°The latter, I think,¡± Chikere answered. ¡°The stone focuses on their features while leaving out their proper demeanors. I don¡¯t think the artist knew these people.¡± ¡°You¡¯re now an expert on sculptures?¡± Vari asked. Chikere shook her head. ¡°No. But I¡¯ve seen some that appear ready to spring to life. These are highly detailed, but lack the spark of life. And their stances are garbage,¡± she gestured to the statue holding the sword. It looked decent enough to Vari, but then again ¡®decent¡¯ was probably far below what the saints should have looked like. She tried to remember the statues back on Rouhiri, but the once venerated images were indistinct to her memory. They were mostly better made, she thought, but not necessarily lifelike. Or maybe intentionally not. ¡°If this is a vault, it should have something more,¡± Vari said. ¡°I would suggest we search the place but¡­ there seems to only be one additional door.¡± Though they could all feel the power of formations protecting the structure around them from intrusion, the internal walls and that door were more or less unmodified. The door swung open easily to reveal a small room, roughly carved into the area around it. It had only a few small shelves, a table, and little else. On the table was a small leather bound tome with a name carved into the cover. Kullike. Upon seeing it, Vari quickly closed the intervening space and grabbed it. Perhaps if she had been less eager she might have noticed the formations bound into the book itself, not that she could have done much about them. Even as she lifted the book it began to disintegrate in her hands, turning to dust before she could even open the front cover. She just stood there, looking at the dust falling between her fingers. After a few moments, Chikere approached her. ¡°Hey, you alright? You look like someone just broke your favorite sword. Is that Kullike something important?¡± The unrelatable but still heartfelt comparison brought Vari out of her momentary trance. ¡°She was my mother,¡± Vari said. ¡°Same name, huh? I suppose that brings up bad memories.¡± ¡°No,¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°Not exactly. There really aren¡¯t many. And more importantly¡­ it was actually her. Which would make Silvija¡­ probably my aunt.¡± Vari grimaced, ¡°But that¡¯s just speculation I can¡¯t prove. Though that tome should have told me what I wanted to know.¡± ¡°What about all those?¡± Chikere waved to the shelves, with dozens of books or scrolls. ¡°All techniques, looks like.¡± Vari picked up one volume with a scratched-off title. It didn¡¯t disintegrate or anything, so it seemed the thing addressed to her mother was considered more important or secret. Idly, she opened the tome and found several pages of titles, all scratched out but not removed from the book. It included such names as ¡®Harmony Be Gone¡¯ ¡®Screw Those Bastards¡¯ ¡®Ten Thousand Countermeasures¡¯ and a few names both better and worse than those extremes. Finally, there was one title that wasn¡¯t scratched out. ¡°Citadel¡¯s Downfall,¡± Vari read aloud. Following that was an explanation of what it was for. ¡°A comprehensive guide on countering the techniques of the Harmonious Citadel.¡± At first she thought it would be unnecessary. She had her own studies that were quite detailed on the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s techniques. Some insights from others might be a little bit useful but if they were outsiders- a feeling she had for some reason about this author- how could they really do better? As she started actually reading it, her mind changed. She had to admit that some of it was rather hastily written, with huge portions crossed out- but the final version that remained was quite detailed. She thought she could learn a lot from it. The rest of the tomes were other techniques from the Harmonious Citadel, mostly centered around spear techniques. Chikere was already reading through the single book covering sword techniques. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. There was something frustratingly familiar and yet unfamiliar about the authorship of ¡®Citadel¡¯s Downfall¡¯. It was likely some centuries old, but it seemed similar in style to things she¡¯d recently laid her eyes on. Then she realized it. Despite the man always remembering to prominently slap his name on things, it seemed Everheart hadn¡¯t put his name on this one. A slip-up, or intentional? Given the hasty nature of the book, she wasn¡¯t sure. The question was what one of Everheart¡¯s works was doing in the collection of a former spear saint, especially considering how forbidden Everheart¡¯s stuff was in the Harmonious Citadel. Vari realized there might be some answers available to her, though it would take weeks if not months to get any sort of proper answer. ----- The first signs of activity were in Okloi, upon Atania and Cheitov. Those were carefully monitored, because if there was an intent to retaliate against the trifold alliance, a likely target was Rutera. They were lucky to have any information at all, their few surviving spy cameras transmitting what they could. Though an attack by Iceheart Ocean would be somewhat of a problem, neither Carlitos nor Aridasa would be the same level of threat away from their worlds. It was a different matter if they worked together with allies, though. It was possible that the opposite of the intended results had been produced, but Anton held onto hope. The Sylanis Cluster would have realized unity was required to defeat the trifold alliance eventually, taking action to prevent that and end the war had been worth the risk. And they couldn¡¯t be certain what was actually happening. Calculations were still being made about where the departing ships were headed- it would have been easy with proper tools on ground, but they worked with what they had. If they came, Anton was ready. Not him alone, of course. Devon and the Great Queen were with him. Nthanda was on loan to Weos at the moment, now that Rutera had finished The Independence. With the loss of Oluchi and some uncertainty among their new Assimilation cultivators, they needed some proper bolstering of their forces. More than that, they could provide something of low cost to them with high value for Nthanda. Gravity. Anton was aware she agreed to go because her training could be enhanced there as they could provide the harsh conditions her body needed to actually improve. Reasonably, one more of the mobile cultivators should have gone to help them, given the results of the Ivory Maw¡¯s attack on them. Yet numbers wise the systems were now fairly balanced, and Anton, and the Great Queen basically came as a set. Devon did not mind being away from his grandfather, but he preferred to fight with more familiar allies if it came down to it. Weos likely could have tempted him away with enough promises of resources, but it seemed they weren¡¯t that desperate for more help. It already required them to swallow some of their pride to invite Nthanda. Then, it happened. Ships appeared above the Ivory Maw. The information available from there was quite limited as many of the places they had been were demolished, intentionally or not, following the counterattack a few months prior. At first it seemed like the forces might be inadequate to assault the Ivory Maw, simply a few dozen ships- but it was soon clear that only a portion of the forces were visible. The limited view revealed only snippets of what followed. The great eyes of the skull were the resting places of Bala¡¯s bone mountain and the writhing flesh ball of Leonas, the Ivory Maw¡¯s third Worldbinding cultivator. Second, now, but the final one Anton hadn¡¯t interacted with. Those two and the disciples of the sect crashed against the enemy forces. The Worldbinding cultivators wiped out handfuls of ships at a time, but there were signs of other Worldbinding cultivators involved- though not obvious at the distances involved. Eventually the battle moved out of the sight of all of the remaining cameras. There were hours of little information until cultivators marched back into view and began destroying everything that belonged to the Ivory Maw, including the very ground of the false moon itself. That resulted in the destruction of the final cameras as well, merely by coincidence. A decisive victory against the Ivory Maw, but Anton wasn¡¯t fully happy with the results. There was no clear sign of the deaths of Bala or Leonas. Certainly the forces arrayed had been powerful enough to defeat them, but cultivators of their power also had the option to retreat. Especially as their sources of power were more or less morbid mobile ships. Of no comfort was a message from Aridasa that the Ivory Maw had been ¡®expelled¡¯. It arrived somewhere after it was expected that either of the Worldbinding cultivators could have reached parts of the trifold alliance, so it seemed they hadn¡¯t directly come to attack. It wouldn¡¯t have been the smartest move, but powerful desperate cultivators weren¡¯t something Anton wanted to deal with. ----- A message from the upper realms came to Anton. He had no ability to act on it for several weeks as it required an in-person meeting with Everheart, but things seemed settled enough for Anton to return to Ceretos for a bit. Traveling back and forth was time consuming, but he got marginally faster every time. Spending time between systems also helped him train the distance he could draw upon stars, uncomfortable as it was to be cut off from the majority of his power. Going to see Everheart just to ask a question was kind of a waste, but Anton also wanted to regularly remind him that he was being monitored. Just in case he got any ideas. ¡°Got a question for you from the upper realms,¡± Anton said after they were finally together. ¡°You are familiar with the Harmonious Citadel, right?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Everheart agreed. ¡°Of course I know of them.¡± ¡°Did you write a technique called ¡®Citadel¡¯s Downfall¡¯?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Or are you perhaps familiar with a woman named Silvija?¡± Instead of the expected responses, Everheart just sighed wistfully. Then he frowned. ¡°Wait, how did you hear about any of that?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Some of those in the upper realms are doing research on the Harmonious Citadel. Found an old vault with the technique in it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible,¡± Everheart said. ¡°That vault should have only opened for Silvija and her sister. Both are dead.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t really answer one of the questions,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Correct,¡± Everheart nodded, still contemplating something. ¡°What if¡­¡± he frowned. ¡°No, definitely not,¡± he shook his head. ¡°But Kullike, maybe¡­¡± Everheart clicked his tongue. ¡°That¡¯s what I get for being hasty with formations. But I suppose it worked out.¡± ¡°... And?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Who found it? A man or woman?¡± ¡°A woman,¡± Anton said. ¡°Does that part matter?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Except that I might have a niece. Sort of.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t really strike me as the marrying type,¡± Anton said. ¡°Hence the sort of,¡± Everheart shrugged. Chapter 537 A year passed with no further aggression from the Sylanis Cluster, but neither was there an offer of peace in any measure. There was no indication of any discussions on the topic being ongoing either, and Anton didn¡¯t want to pester Aridasa too much and imply that the trifold alliance was desperate for peace. They weren¡¯t¡­ but they also couldn¡¯t exactly afford to keep fighting forever. The Sylanis Cluster likely only managed because of how many worlds they were spread across, and even they had refrained from anything for decades after their previous war with Weos. The Sylanis Cluster was an annoying combination of unified and disconnected. As a whole they had participated in the war, yet there didn¡¯t seem to be anyone directly in charge. Not a single figure, at least. Powerful sects had basically drafted whoever they felt like into the war to take what victories they could, and repeated defeats hadn¡¯t discouraged them as much as would be expected. It seemed as if lives were of no value to them, but they had been strangely stubborn even with the cost of the ships involved. It hadn¡¯t been made explicitly clear, but that only made sense if they intended more than simple raids and were instead intent on conquering a whole system. Even Rutera¡¯s system would be valuable to them despite it lacking a good basis of resources for traditional cultivation. With a sort of peace, Anton had his eyes on visiting other nearby systems. There were a few to the ¡®south¡¯, away from the upper realms, that seemed like good candidates for life. There was some possibility that they also had human cultivators through the same methods that all of the other systems had been settled, long in the past. Anton thought it would be nice to intentionally meet neighbors instead of stumbling into them by accident or beginning with a battle. He would be weaker if he were to go, unless he attuned to their stars, but he intended to avoid doing that unless necessary. Not that he had spare stars to attune to at the moment, but likewise his plans of visiting were vague. He likely shouldn¡¯t go alone, but with some sort of official delegation that didn¡¯t look like a small army while still being secure. The details might take time to sort out- years, even, but that no longer felt long to Anton. ----- Something felt wrong around Rutera. It wasn¡¯t a feeling Anton had towards the planet or the residents, but rather about the space itself. He had nothing to back up his ideas, but when he casually mentioned it the Great Queen acknowledged having the same feeling. ¡°Something is wrong,¡± she confirmed. ¡°These past days, perhaps the whole week.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything,¡± Devon contributed. ¡°Not that I doubt either of your senses, but perhaps that could indicate what sort of problem it is.¡± Merve rarely removed herself from Anton¡¯s presence, so she was likewise present for the conversation. ¡°I might sense something,¡± she said. ¡°But I didn¡¯t until you mentioned it so I might be projecting something.¡± Anton pondered what he was feeling. It wasn¡¯t just a sense of foreboding- he would have trusted it regardless- but an actual tangible sense of something. Something familiar yet foreign, present nowhere yet everywhere around the planet. ¡°I wonder if we should warn Nicodemo or the president. Or if they could even do anything.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Devon said. ¡°But perhaps Rutera might be able to pick up something with their sensors? They could at least mention anything they noticed.¡± ¡°A good plan,¡± Anton said. ¡°We should contact Matija. She at least knows those who work with such things. And I¡¯ll make a mention to Nicodemo, just in case. It might be nothing, but having some people on standby wouldn¡¯t hurt.¡± A few days later, Anton found himself present in an orbital monitoring station, working with some individuals Matija had introduced to him. ¡°So, what do these charts mean?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Nothing, mostly,¡± said the man working with him. ¡°This is just the normal background static on top of the base stable state we observe.¡± He pressed a few keys, changing the technological image to display two things side by side. ¡°And this is how things are now.¡± ¡°It¡¯s different,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know how much variability is normal.¡± ¡°I¡¯m honestly surprised you can tell,¡± the man said. ¡°It¡¯s barely one part in a thousand, which is abnormal for this.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°I could count the number of specks of dust in the next room over if I wanted to,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can see the difference in curves and waves between two very similar images without issue. I just don¡¯t know what it means.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like to say this,¡± the man said. ¡°But same here.¡± ¡°What are we looking at, at least?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I heard you had to do many tests to find anything.¡± ¡°Right,¡± he nodded. ¡°And because of that we were hesitant to introduce this as more than a statistical anomaly. But this shouldn¡¯t change from our charts, because this is the local gravitational mesh,¡± the man explained. ¡°A sort of map of curved space and gravity. It might change throughout the year as planets orbit the sun, but it wouldn¡¯t change from usual patterns without something strange. Anything that could actually affect things like this would be easily spotted. But the readings are accurate.¡± ¡°Space¡­¡± Anton nodded. ¡°This is for sensing enemy warp drives and the like, then?¡± The man nodded, ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯ve been mainly using it for, at least. It was just for astronomy before.¡± Given the information it was potentially some sort of spatial distortion, Anton focused on that feeling. He could confirm that was it. It was just that such things had become normal. Between traveling between systems himself, the various methods between Ceretos, Rutera, and Weos all did something with space to some extent- with Weos being more direct about it and making use of such things more casually. His senses stretched around the planet with that in mind and felt something. It was minor, as if there were light tracks of passage in a forest, but Anton could feel it. Not quite all around the planet, but also vaguely concentrated in a point nearby. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. He reached for something, trying to feel more¡­ but he simply didn¡¯t have the technique. A gap in his sensing abilities, unable to feel beyond space as he pleased. He could pick up traveling ships, but perhaps there were methods to conceal things. Or it was something else. ¡°What if it¡¯s focused on that region?¡± Anton pointed. Actually describing the location was more difficult, but after the course of an hour clear ripples showed in the charts, waves of change that were only on a small scale but propagating for a short distance and even overlapping to grow slightly. Anton searched through his memories, finally finding something that fit. With everything else that happened he had placed a thought aside, considering it a non issue, something dealt with. This was a problem that could be, like most things, traced back to Everheart. Even if the man wasn¡¯t even tangentially responsible for this one, Anton¡¯s limited knowledge came from him. ¡°It might be a distortion beast,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though whether it is working on its own or being provoked by some hidden entity, I¡¯m unsure.¡± ¡°Wha-?¡± The man looked concerned. ¡°You¡¯re telling me those are real?¡± ¡°Do you think we spoke to Rutera and Weos about them because we wanted to scare you? I¡¯ll admit to only having encountered one, but it left a distinct impression.¡± ----- ¡°So,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°Let me get this straight. You think there¡¯s a monstrosity dwelling outside of space probing around our planet intending to devour what energy it can¡­ and you intend to provoke it?¡± ¡°Draw it out,¡± Anton said. ¡°In a controlled manner, instead of waiting for it to come through on its own, or at the behest of a hidden party. Trust me, you wouldn¡¯t like it if The Independence dropped by and suddenly there was a monster attacking it from the inside.¡± ¡°And then you¡¯re going to fight a monster over the planet.¡± ¡°We are, yes,¡± Anton said. ¡°And everyone will go into a panic about eldritch horrors.¡± ¡°The information is already available. It¡¯s simply that those managing warp drive usage set up reasonable protocols so that few ships jump anywhere near the planet. With no gravity well these things don¡¯t tend to come out, and there isn¡¯t much gathered energy either.¡± Anton thought for a few moments. ¡°If I am wrong, there won¡¯t be much to see. Otherwise, you get to help guide the narrative.¡± ¡°This will take some time to set up. Coordinating with the president, the media¡­¡± Nicodemo frowned. ¡°You have three days,¡± Anton said. ¡°If it goes any further than that, I can¡¯t be certain if something will show up or not. Trust me, you want to be ready.¡± For his part, Anton was going to make sure Devon was prepared as well as Rutera¡¯s space force. The Great Queen had not wanted to participate, which made sense as it was unclear if she could reasonably chew on a monstrosity spanning kilometers of space, and getting crushed if she was noticed was a real threat. She would be observing from an orbital platform just in case. ----- Anton was accelerating towards Rutera at a rate that was truly reckless. Even if he was not going directly towards the planet, if he was diverted slightly he could run into any of the many orbital platforms they had for various purposes. But this was the only way to cause a sufficient distortion that Anton was certain would reveal the distortion beast¡­ or disprove its presence. When he saw the planet screaming past him, Anton suddenly stopped. At least that was how it would appear around him. From his perspective, it was a complicated process involving stretching space and time for himself, negating his momentum. Star Steps was an amazing technique, but like many of Everheart¡¯s works it was extremely complicated to learn. Anton could only consider himself a novice, and not for lack of practice. Though generally he used it more moderately in his battles instead of in such a flashy manner. There were a few moments where Anton thought he had misread the situation, in which case the ready ships would be informed that it had been a drill and they could all return home safe and happy. Then Anton felt it, immediately accelerating himself with his energy away from the tendril extending from nowhere. Not using Star Steps, as attempting to further distort space in the presence of such an opponent was ill advised. He might find himself jumping into its maw rather than fleeing it. As it was, he was busy avoiding limbs that appeared from nowhere throughout his path, changing his direction of acceleration constantly. In his hands was his bow, blades of energy slicing towards the limbs. They were far too large for an arrow of measurable size to damage, with the most narrow dimensions of the tendrils being several meters, all of them quickly extending to hundreds of meters in length or more as they reached from beyond. Anton¡¯s arrow-blades cut into the limbs, fortunately finding them as vulnerable as the previous one. That was not always the case, according to his information. The form of the creature wasn¡¯t set in stone either, though tendrils were common. He had his hands full with what attacks he could manage and merely staying alive, however, and he found himself the focal point of the danger. Fortunately, he had backup. Devon sprang into action immediately, entangling some of the limbs with his own chains. Strangely enough, that was enough to hold them in place- though neither end of the limbs were anchored to anything. Part of it might have been the nature of the beast, reaching through holes in space, and the rest would be Devon¡¯s focus on the concept of binding itself. Rutera¡¯s space forces acted as well. The Independence was on standby if necessary, strategically located further from the planet so no accidents could occur. It was an opportunity for the fighters to show their effectiveness once more. Ty Quigley¡¯s participation could be ignored, not because he was ineffective but because he was always an anomaly. His ship severed limbs as it tore through the densest masses of distortion beast, narrowly avoiding calamity with every move. The other fighters found that attacking this target was both easier and more difficult than their standard enemies. Despite the speed of the tendrils, their movement was predictable enough- and even if they missed there was always more to hit. They didn¡¯t even have the issue of their weapons being negated like on the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s barriers. Conventional projectiles and beams alike found themselves effective in penetrating the strangely yielding flesh of the creature. Yet the sheer size made it difficult to know if they were being effective. Anton drew directly upon the power of Rutera¡¯s star, firing burning arrows that moved along the length of the limbs, charring them from the inside. That was effective even for the larger sizes, heat spreading through the thickest points readily. Anton just hoped the thing would die or give up soon¡­ though actually killing the thing was probably outside of the expected scope. Chapter 538 The issue with fighting a distortion beast was not that it had any sort of tactics. Nor was its significant power the largest concern. Instead, the troubles came about by how the creature worked, its pieces reaching into the world in ways that were unintentionally confusing. On the grand scheme of things, the openings its tendrils came through didn¡¯t move, relative to the planet. That didn¡¯t mean there was no relative motion, but it was more or less consistent providing stationary targets. Those were the target of most attacks, to reasonable effect. Severed tendrils quickly ceased their aggressive movements. The biggest issue was simply that there seemed to be no end of them, both individually in length and size, as well as by count. More and more continued appearing- and they didn¡¯t come from just one direction. It took some time, but seemingly after realizing there was a proper assault on it, tendrils came from ¡®behind¡¯ the fleet as well. Perhaps it had been a mistake to provoke it, though Anton still stood by his understanding it would have come through at some point. At least it couldn¡¯t reach the orbital defense platforms just yet, though it seemed to be vaguely moving ¡®towards¡¯ them. Every Ruteran fighter and every foreign cultivator fought hard, making use of everything they had. Auras stretched throughout the battlefield, bolstering allies and restricting the creature. Merve¡¯s Angelic Providence bolstered the attacks of many around her, while her wings allowed her to maneuver around the incoming attacks- despite there being no real atmosphere to interact with. Devon was focusing his chains of a few tendrils at a time, squeezing, crushing, prodding, and slicing until he or someone else destroyed his target, severing something. The distortion beast seemed to have no blood- at most, there was an inky black mist that lingered for a few moments as wounds were caused. It seemed to have no immediate ill effects, but everyone was cautious about it. On a personal note, Anton found himself less of a target with everything else going on. That allowed him to focus on offense, including trying to hurt something important. For the most part that meant firing his arrows through the length of the limbs, trying to have his attack pass through the entry points to the other side. Dozens of arrows moved with no effect, but Anton didn¡¯t give up easily. Spectral energy was even less effective than he would have hoped, with no obvious critical points to target the energy simply caused minimal damage where it was first allowed to interact with the creature. Anton drew upon ascension energy, focusing on the vague start of a technique that was probably not even a thousandth of the way complete, or even determined to be viable. Here, he didn¡¯t want to shoot a large distance, just somewhere else. He was able to distort space around himself traveling between systems, but doing anything of the sort near a gravity well was difficult, and only affecting some energy in exactly the way he wanted was something he had no experience with. Two, three, four, five. Anton quickly burned through half of his ascension energy trying to achieve results, the main thing he learned being that ascension energy was at least effective against the limbs. Then the maw opened. Determining its size was impossible, as it couldn¡¯t be seen. Nor could it be properly felt, a hole in space much like void ants appeared to be. Natural energy was drawn into the area, attacks absorbed including one of Anton¡¯s own Ascension shots. An area several kilometers wide was being drained, with the spread widening. Energy used for sensing was devoured as well. Two things happened simultaneously, either of which could have produced the end results- or perhaps they were both necessary. First, Anton gathered a sizable arrow of spectral energy and launched it towards where he presumed there might be something important, not quite following the flow of energy. Second, a ship flew through the center of the area, wings like blades. Natural energy augmented it, but the vehicle itself was made out of expensive alloys that were both sturdy and sharp. The whirlpool of energy rapidly snapped closed after both attacks, condensed energy bursting back in all directions. All around, tendrils were withdrawn back into nothing. The pulse of energy had little effect on anything but Ty Quigley¡¯s ship, near the epicenter. Its spherical shape meant the power it had rapidly fell off, and anyone closer than one kilometer had already been consumed- some leaving no traces of body or energy. Beyond that point, it was mostly uncomfortable and at best able to shake the starfighters or loose cultivators slightly, their energy defenses withstanding the dilute energy. What remained behind were crushed ships, some dead pilots and individual cultivators that had been targeted¡­ and many tendrils of unknown material. Anton was surprised that they didn¡¯t simply disappear, but he hadn¡¯t actually encountered many distortion beasts. There had only been one, and it seemed both smaller and weaker, quickly chased off by himself and Everheart. Hopefully, the latter would have some idea of what to do with the material. Or for the sake of Rutera, he might not know and decide to purchase it anyway. ----- The small meeting was uncomfortable. Nicodemo was there, not upset but not happy. Anton was there, along with Devon. Finally, there was the Great Queen, who was resting on her belly in a way generally unnatural for ants. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the losses,¡± Anton said. ¡°I maintain my stance that it was necessary.¡± ¡°I agree, unfortunately,¡± Nicodemo shook his head. ¡°I only wish there was more we could say about our victory¡­ and of course fewer losses.¡± ¡°I will admit,¡± Anton said. ¡°I expected it to be smaller and weaker. I don¡¯t think such a creature would naturally find its way to Rutera. Your natural energy is moderate at best, given recent advances. Nothing special. Nor did you have exceptionally high spatial activity.¡± The Great Queen just looked disappointed that she could not eat the distortion beast. She had asked Anton to show her a sample, and had immediately taken a bite. A moment later she vomited it up, an act quite unnatural for ants. They had certain methods to share food, but doing so for something unhealthy was outside of the norm. Then again, the Great Queen was in every way. The main thing she could conclude was that it was not normal flesh, and whatever it did with the energy it did not linger in the various tendrils it exuded. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°What do you think lead it here, then?¡± Nicodemo asked. ¡°Sabotage by the Sylanis Cluster, most likely,¡± Anton said. ¡°Or perhaps the Ivory Maw, as a form of petty revenge. Though if it had appeared when you were unready, the results would have been quite different.¡± ¡°The¡­ bone craft that Bala Sycora had slipped easily into and out of subspace, correct?¡± Nicodemo confirmed. He hadn¡¯t been at any of the battles, and there weren¡¯t recordings. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°So I would put that near the top of the list. The good news is we¡¯ve determined that you have sensors that can detect this. The bad news¡­ is that it was only barely. I don¡¯t know what will happen from here, either. The beast might retreat permanently. It might come back for revenge. Or there might be another who finds the spatial distortions and determines this is a good place to feed.¡± ¡°Could we¡­ repair them?¡± Nicodemo asked. ¡°These spatial distortions.¡± ¡°I would imagine they should go away on their own,¡± Anton pondered. ¡°But I could be wrong. As they were almost certainly caused intentionally, doing the opposite should be possible. Counteracting the effects to prevent this might be useful. Unfortunately, this isn¡¯t even close to my expertise. Perhaps Weos might know more.¡± Contacting them would be in order anyway. Bala Sykora might target them, or perhaps Leonas could do the same- if one of them made it away from the purge, perhaps both did. There had been no official information out of the Sylanis Cluster on that topic, or much of anything. Devon added his contribution, ¡°My tactics were relatively effective, but I could not stop any part of it from retreating once it chose to do so. Individual tendrils, specifically. I didn¡¯t even think about attempting to stop its final withdrawal.¡± ¡°One thing that seems fairly certain is that it takes effort to bridge the gap,¡± Anton said. ¡°Effort and time. It should be made easier by any spatial distortions, though information I have says they generally just wait on the ¡®other side¡¯, slurping up any stray energy that gets through.¡± ¡°Hardly a comforting thought,¡± Nicodemo said. ¡°But it is what it is.¡± He drummed his fingers on the table. ¡°Strange to think that in a hundred years I might be able to deal with such things myself. And that I¡¯d still be alive and youthful.¡± ¡°I do believe your people lived quite long without full cultivation methods,¡± Anton said. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Nicodemo shrugged, ¡°We don¡¯t have anyone who is two hundred and thirty, though.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not one of the oldest ones,¡± Anton said. ¡°I mostly started late. Though I suppose much of the older generation has perished now.¡± Even so, there were still people up to three or four hundred years old on Ceretos- though those who were talented in cultivation had already Ascended. None of the older generation Anton was aware of had attempted Assimilation, though there might have been some who were unsuccessful and perished. Nicodemo shook his head, ¡°Whatever. We need to get working on countermeasures. Can¡¯t say if they¡¯ll take a year or ten, and when we might need them.¡± ----- Specific practice did little more to improve Anton¡¯s ability to shoot arrows into subspace of any sort. He needed more. More skill, more power, more understanding. Possibly all of them. Doing so with himself was simple because all of him was there to provide power as needed, and maintaining the state was relatively easy. Even if he managed to do it to a Spirit Arrow, accuracy would be an issue. Subspaces were more complicated than just a space behind every point in natural space. Going from somewhere on one edge of a system to an edge of a different system was about as close as Anton got to ¡®accurate¡¯, and he could be off by thousands or hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Over a shorter distance one would assume greater accuracy, but that wouldn''t be quite true. He could still launch arrows vaguely towards the upper realms, and he was able to convince himself he shortened the distance his arrow traveled, but that had only range and no accuracy- and effectively no flexibility. It was simply a vanity or a hobby, like distance shooting. Trying to get the furthest shot with a bow while he was younger had been fun, but it relied just as much on the luck of the winds changing as skill- and simple distance from the starting point meant nothing in actuality. Hitting a stationary target was a step above, but also insufficient for practical matters. Anton wanted to consult Everheart at some point, but he didn¡¯t want to rely on the man. Both for his own safety, and because if he couldn¡¯t manage on his own then his growth would just stagnate. As he performed his tests- that was what they were, more than proper training- Anton also drew upon the power of Rutera¡¯s star. It was only energy that the star would have output anyway, it simply went to him instead of being among the masses of heat and light being sprayed in all directions. A tiny portion. Yet drawing upon it, Anton gained energy inside himself without it crossing the intervening distance¡­ mostly. Distance was still a factor, but there wasn¡¯t a delay on any level he could sense. Anton had taken the time to read through many papers Rutera had on theoretical- and now actual subspace mechanics. Their mathematical avenue of understanding didn¡¯t fit Anton quite as well, and as a cultivator he also relied on insights into the mechanics that went beyond what could be written. The transfer of energy from a star was somewhat like a wormhole- though only in the barest surface level understanding. Anton had to admit he didn¡¯t understand everything he¡¯d read- even if he could read it quickly- but given some years and additional study he might actually digest it to be something useful. It was simply a matter of where he spent his effort. Once again, Anton understood why Everheart made so many projections of himself to get more things done. Though he certainly hadn¡¯t been intending to reabsorb most of them- especially not the way it ultimately happened. Still, the idea of spitting himself off in the short term was appealing. He might even be verging on understanding enough of the mechanics of formations and the other things required to manage a basic version of that. The question was how much study it would take him to save time in the future. Time. He had an unknown quantity of it. Perhaps not long before further troubles with distortion beasts, and within a decade no doubt there would be more conflict with the Sylanis Cluster unless they could push for peace before then, or perhaps the Ivory Maw would cause trouble. A good seventy to a hundred years before the invasion. Would he live that long? He didn¡¯t know. Perhaps if he continued to grow in cultivation he would not reach the end of his lifespan. Or maybe he was close to the precipice. He might be able to push himself to understand, but he thought it better to not. Fleeting Youth was training rather consistently, which had some implications, but ultimately Anton would choose to spend his time the same way regardless of whether or not he died tomorrow. Well, if he knew he had one actual day to live he¡¯d go back to his family, but he visited Ceretos regularly to begin with. An arrow shot through space into nothing, well away from Rutera. Anton clicked his tongue. It would take a while for him to get much of anything down, but he wouldn¡¯t give up easily. Chapter 539 Of the three systems in the trifold alliance, Anton had spent by far the least amount in Weos. It was neither his home nor did it require his help in the same manner as Rutera had. Because he was so unfamiliar with the system, one of the few features he did remember being missing made it feel off. Oluchi had been his companion in the war to eradicate the Twin Soul Sect from the system. She had even advanced to Assimilation, only to perish against the Ivory Maw. A reminder it was not just the powerful cultivators of the enemy that could meet their end. Anton was still acquainted with Anzela and Rikuto, his introduction to the system. They were simply staying away from the potential battlefields where he now found himself. Weos had come to the realization that it simply had too many occupied planets to cover even with their new Assimilation cultivators. And, as seemed to be the case for most Assimilation cultivators, most were bound to a particular location or planet to make optimal use of their power. Nthanda was already in the system, and the Great Queen came along with the same intentions she had for Rutera. The more powerful a cultivator, the more the ability of the void ants became relevant. Against armies the void ants required far too many of their own to fight, but against a few powerful individuals they were exceptionally dangerous. Weos had noticed signs of spatial intrusions in the same way Anton had- except their cultivators were as a whole more familiar with the practice. They could not measure things precisely like Ruteran technology, but they could get a good feeling for something being off. They had been cautious with their maneuvering ever since Anzela¡¯s scout ship dropped by Ceretos, accidentally taunting a distortion beast to approach. Distinguishing effects from their own ships and outside influence was simple enough with numerous eyes looking out for trouble. The phenomenon was indeed familiar to Anton when he arrived, but instead of attempting the same thing as before, Weos had a different- if similar- plan. Anton found himself and the others above Bavore, one of their gas giants. The overall population of the planet was minimal, but what cities existed floating through the swirling storms of the planet were filled with strong cultivators. How could it be otherwise? It was a harsh environment that required constant formation work to stay safe- though the density of natural energy made up for it, powering the same formations that the planet was straining. The great amount of natural energy was actually too much for weaker cultivators to handle, much like the higher density of energy at the top of the peaks in the Order. Their current plans were being organized by Ingeborg, a formation master from Weos. Though the older woman had a good understanding of formations, her personal power was stuck at the peak of Essence Collection- surprisingly weak. Or perhaps Anton was just biased by what had happened with Ceretos, where everyone was encouraged to cultivate. Reasonably speaking, even on Ceretos most people didn¡¯t make it to late Essence Collection. Anton had just trained among a generation that quickly surpassed it and even Life Transformation. Ingeborg had a local fleet organizing themselves carefully, preparing to find and draw out what was causing the trouble. That would likely come with a distortion beast, intentionally baited by the troublemakers, but the plan was to have the troublemakers entangled as well. Anton had no way to tell if they were currently around or not, unless they became particularly obvious with their actions. As the fleet spread out around the planet, flying in peculiar patterns, the only spatial distortions he could sense were the ones they created, more blatant than the subtle ripples underneath. A pile of ants clung eagerly to Anton. Their weight was negligible, though he was discomforted more by the fact that he could feel them with only his bodily senses. He was not concerned about the danger they might pose to him- he trusted the Great Queen and the loyalty of her royal guard. He had no trouble carrying a bare blade, though he could not help but remain aware of it. If a distortion beast was the only opponent to appear, the void ants would extricate themselves from the situation- they were simply ineffective against large creatures. Even if their jaws could cut and tear what they could reach, it would take all of their colonies to cause sizable damage to the one that appeared above Rutera. When the signal came, Anton prepared himself. He didn¡¯t know quite what would happen, but his expectations were immediately shattered. Having encountered two distortion beasts, he had some idea of them in his head. When an eye opened to gaze at him, he was a fraction slower in his reaction. It was strange, watching the lids of space itself widen to reveal an eyeball. Part of it was still hidden, as by proper eyelids, and behind the eye was nothing. It was only the shell of the front of the eye- no depth, no rear. Seeing and feeling that all at once, Anton responded with a volley of Spirit Arrows, answered by a beam of energy from the center of the eye. Anton threw himself to the side, avoiding the combined natural and spectral energy. Star Steps instantly accelerated him, but the eye continued to lock on his position, never turning but always facing him. The beam itself, at least, took a few moments to travel the distance between himself and the eye. He circled around, uncertain if his shots could hit anything but the ¡®front¡¯ of the eye itself. When they struck, the eye closed in reflex or pain. This was not the only eye to appear, though Anton was the only individual picked out. The others targeted ships from Weos, hulls directly damaged by the beams with no regard for the spatial distortions their rings created. Still more found two larger targets. One was familiar- a mountain of white bone being forced into view, while the other he had only heard described. A similarly sized mountain of flesh, writhing muscle dark red with flecks of other colors. Extending out of the muscle Anton saw something of concern- tendrils of darkness, clearly unused to acting according to natural law but a danger nonetheless. Anton couldn¡¯t be sure, but he saw at least a decent portion of what imagined to be the same creature that they had pulled out over Rutera. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. So it had been the Ivory Maw, and either by plan or coincidence they hunted down the remains of one distortion beast to augment their powers. That second mass would be Leonas, the controller of muscle and flesh. The two mountains still carried scars of battle. Bala Sykora¡¯s bone mass had a few particularly recognizable features Anton had seen broken in their earlier battles, still apparently valuable enough to keep. But there was more- indicating that at least the assault within the Sylanis Cluster had been a serious affair. The two had still kept their lives, but damage had been done. Anton just wasn¡¯t sure whether or not they were ultimately weaker now, with the distortion beast added to the mix. Then he saw her. No, it was more correct. Oluchi¡¯s body. Empowered by masses of spectral and natural energy, the spear user¡¯s corpse moved unnaturally. If Anton judged correctly, the muscle and bones were moving independently, control split between the two Worldbinding cultivators. ¡°Which target?¡± Anton plucked the Great Queen into his hand, his energy allowing for sound to vibrate without atmosphere. The royal guard rushed down his arm to be with her, ready for her choice. ¡°Bala,¡± the Great Queen signed, pointing towards the bone mountain. ¡°A good choice,¡± Anton said. With the Great Queen having experience against her, even if she was a somewhat tough opponent for them they would at least be prepared to fight her. Leonas was an unknown. He pulled his arm back, the ants gathering into a ball in his palm. Then he snapped it forward, flinging them with as much momentum as he could provide, including a sudden acceleration from Star Steps. Then they were off, it now being the Great Queen¡¯s responsibility to control their motions by how she pulled on the threads of natural energy around them. Anton¡¯s actions got him the attention of the distortion beast once more, another eye opening. This time Anton was prepared, fingers quickly forming an arrow of light on his bow, the attack snapping from the string to his target nearly instantaneously. Anton wasn¡¯t certain if what he saw as eyes actually were, but the sudden attack striking before the eye fully opened compelled it to shut again. He would have to keep some of his energy bows ready to do the same, though avoiding drawing attention would be better. Best for the Ivory Maw¡¯s two Worldbinding cultivators to get the majority of that. Anton couldn¡¯t do anything about Weos¡¯ ships being targets, so getting himself in danger seemed pointless. A notable exception to the distortion beast targeting powerful opponents was Nthanda. Even the not-Oluchi was seen as a threat of some sort, but Nthanda fought from a small platform placed in orbit for her with no attacks coming her way. No doubt she would draw the attention of Bala or Leonas if they had the capacity to respond- her arrows were heavy chunks of metal burying themselves in the mountains, causing damage and disrupting energy flow. Most of Weos¡¯ ships were on different parts of the planet, and Anton could sense Ingeborg directing them to continue their motions, keeping the formation that had pulled the Worldbinding cultivators out of hiding active. Anton wasn¡¯t sure exactly how it would work, but drawing out the situation to give them a chance to escape didn¡¯t seem like a good idea. Ascension energy was drawn back on soulstring, targeting Oluchi upon Leonas¡¯ mass of muscle and flesh. The corpse was basically intact, and somehow managed a semblance of her power. It had thrown her spear through one of the ships from Weos, the remnants of her techniques overcoming the spatial distortion barrier. Before the spear could continue to cause devastation, Anton intended to take her out. Drawing and firing the arrow took only an instant, then it was away. Before it could reach its target, a journey that would only be a fraction of a second, Anton found himself surrounded by teeth. A shell of them, all different sizes and shapes. Long, sharp teeth. Crushing and grinding molars. Flat blades. The maw closed down around him, Anton only barely managing to squeeze out through a less dense area. He got a long gash along his right arm, a deep wound into his left thigh, and numerous smaller lacerations as his energy defenses were torn through. If there had been flesh of a proper mouth behind those teeth perhaps he would not have escaped, but Anton wasn¡¯t sure if such physiological normalities applied to distortion beasts. The maw disappeared as quickly as it had come- then reappeared along the trail of his arrow. But the ascension energy flew quickly without reliance upon spatial distortion and was not so easily caught up to. The speed at which the teeth had appeared was still concerning, though Anton was making the perhaps incorrect assumption that the creature had but one spherical maw of teeth. One of the black tendrils carved from the other distortion beast¡¯s corpse folded in front of Oluchi¡¯s corpse, Leonas sensing the attack, but he was occupied with many other difficulties at the moment. The simple barrier was mostly circumvented, Anton only having to burrow through a meter at the edge of the tendril before it could strike Oluchi. His target was her shoulder, and his attack found its mark, blasting it apart. He did not relish destroying the corpse of a former companion, but it was better than letting it be used against her own people. As the arm fell, upper arm muscles stretched unnaturally and grabbed onto the shoulder. The damage wasn¡¯t healed by any means, but the limb wasn¡¯t completely lost. It would certainly be less effective, but Anton needed to cause further damage or disrupt the flow of energy if he was to fully deal with the creature. As Anton dodged eyes that seemed to be offended by his continued existence, he began to direct himself closer to Leonas¡¯ mass of flesh. The long tendrils of the distortion beast were only a minor threat unless he got close- they writhed slowly, lacking the vigor of their previous owner. Not that Anton would bet they couldn¡¯t be focused more, but the ready distractions were the reason he was approaching. If he avoided the beams, they could bombard the mountain of flesh, achieving two goals at once. And the way the eyes followed him through Star Steps meant he could actually be fairly certain of that. He did not forget to rain some arrows down towards convenient eyes assaulting allies, nor did he neglect Bala¡¯s bone mountain. He was simply focused on Leonas and specifically Oluchi¡¯s presence, a dangerous entity he could weaken. Chapter 540 For all that there were effectively only a few enemies present on the battlefield, things were not as heavily weighted towards Weos as it seemed things should have been. The skies around Bavore were filled with local ships, but their main impact was maintaining the formations that were drawing out the two Ivory Maw cultivators. Unfortunately that also came along with the distortion beast, a great mass of eyes that spewed beams of energy at anything it found a tempting target. Anton was learning to avoid those attacks and even sometimes redirect them towards Bala or Leonas¡¯ masses of bone and flesh, but he had to concern himself with both their attacks which included a reanimated Oluchi as well as the distortion beast, and more specifically the spherical maw of teeth he worried could come at any time. At the moment, the Great Queen¡¯s presence in the battle was of minimal impact. Anton was under the assumption that she was still making her way towards Bala, and if she actually reached the center of the mass of bones it would not take long for the woman there to perish. The Great Queen had gotten a hand and three toes on her previous attempt, and that was with only a few moments of contact. Bala Sykora might be more aware of the Great Queen¡¯s approach this time, but she was also occupied by the distortion beast. There were still pulses of spectral energy from the bone mountain she occupied the center of, but they were infrequent compared to the attacks at surrounding ships or random eyes popping up. Nthanda was nearly free to attack as she pleased, not concerning herself with the distortion beast. It had attacked her a few times to little effect, and in return she had ignored it, resulting in an unspoken pact between them. Her arrows pierced into the masses of flesh Leonas surrounded himself with, muscly meat that animated as he pleased. That included parts of the former distortion beast that had been fought in Rutera, though it seemed controlling something both new and of such great power was draining. His general movements were slowing, and heavy arrows were finding their way deeper into the mountain he occupied, tearing large trails through the area as they went. Anton¡¯s arrows focused on Oluchi. He would have preferred to preserve her body for a proper funeral, but it was already too late for that. He himself had shot off one of her arms at the shoulder, now holding itself together by pure writhing muscles. There were other injuries, both from the distortion beast and passing ships, and presumably others from her death at the hands of the Ivory Maw, though the latter were small in number. Perhaps her body had been restored in the intervening time. Since Ascension energy seemed likely to get him nearly eaten again, Anton focused on his ¡®normal¡¯ arrows and spectral energy. The animated body of Oluchi was now locked onto him as a target, throwing a spear that tore apart the space around it towards him, one which dogged him repeatedly as he avoided its motions. That suited him well enough, because even with the spatial distortions he was still skilled enough to avoid a single projectile indefinitely. Though he couldn¡¯t exactly say it was easy, with Oluchi still holding most of the power she had in life. It didn¡¯t seem to take sustained effort from the Worldbinding cultivators either, though perhaps it was simply lessened. Anton found himself moving closer and closer to Oluchi, the masses of flesh blocking his attacks on her making it difficult for him to finish her off. That put him within the range of Leonas, but the man was occupied to the point he could only manage a few dozen attacks on Anton himself at any one time. Anton would have praised his ability to act simultaneously if they could be anything but enemies. Soon, Anton was barely a dozen meters from Oluchi. With her primary weapon chasing him, her actual body was only a small threat. Avoiding the ¡®ground¡¯ reaching up for him was a larger concern, but he avoided it as he pressed forward. When he nearly crashed into her, a secondary spear piercing towards him held in her hands, Anton spun around her with Star Steps, instantly redirecting his momentum twice. The movement technique was more effective on a larger scale, but it still did what he needed despite the excessive use of energy. Behind Oluchi¡¯s back, Anton drew upon a small shard of ascension energy, firing it even before the arrow was fully formed. Two results followed, one unexpected and one anticipated. The first was that Oluchi¡¯s spear did not slow its momentum, piercing through her heart in its flight towards him. The second was a maw of teeth appearing. The latter made dodging the former more difficult, and Anton pulled away from the mass of flesh with new gashes along his body, blood pouring from wounds laced with spectral energy. He immediately focused on expunging the effects from his body while he surveyed what happened with Oluchi. An inverted dome was carved into Leonas¡¯ mass of flesh where he had been, nothing remaining but bite marks on all sides. That included bits of unknown creatures, the other distortion beast, and Oluchi¡¯s body. A result that was a mixed blessing. The damage to Leonas was good, as well as removing Oluchi from the battle, but her body was now gone, unlikely to be retrieved in any form. Anton at least had her spear, suddenly inactive without control of the replicated version of her energy. Though it was impractical in the middle of battle, he took the moments to store it away. The event occurred just before a cascading effect. A scant few moments after Oluchi¡¯s second death, a great pulse of spectral energy came from Bala Sykora¡¯s ¡®ship¡¯. Anton felt the energy wash over him, attempting to bring him directly towards ¡®death¡¯. His body weakened further as fatigue set over him, but he was familiar enough to resist its effects enough and survive. The pulse weakened in power as it spread, but it still affected many of Weos¡¯ ships. Unlike against the distortion beast their spatial distortion barriers had some effect, but Anton felt many lives perish, the greater formation beginning to fail. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. As giant skeletal arms began to tear apart space itself, they suddenly stopped. Anton felt a powerful energy suddenly get snuffed out as the core of Bala¡¯s energy disappeared all at once. Yet he could still sense her life for several moments beyond that. But the mass of bones had already begun to pull apart next to the gas giant¡¯s gravitational pull, no longer bound by her control. Through the sizable crater the distortion beast chewed in Leonas¡¯ mass, Nthanda fired a series of arrows that flew in a spiral pattern, cutting a helix deeper and deeper into the core. Spectral energy drained the natural energy from her arrows, but once they were on target their main power was simple momentum, heavy metal moving at great speed and cutting its way deeper. Some found their way to Leonas himself. Yet he too began to tear apart space, making use of the distortion beast¡¯s tendrils primarily. The large hole began to close up as more of his flesh mountain writhed its way into the gap. Then a sphere of light and energy, countless individual beams, tore its way out from the center of the mass. Anton could both see and sense an eye¡­ many overlapping eyes? A compound eye like an insect? That part was unclear, but what wasn¡¯t unclear was that a good portion of the beams of energy had gone through Leonas, leaving little of his body intact. Ingeborg, the formation master coordinating Weos¡¯ ships, had already begun to withdraw their ships as the formation was already collapsing. With Bala¡¯s death, she had likely found the results acceptable, even if it meant Leonas could retreat. Thus, the formation fully collapsed a few moments later¡­ and with it, the eyes only winked into existence a few more times. Anton did feel several dozen spherical maws of teeth appeared and chomped down in sequence throughout the masses of flesh and bone, but the world quickly began to settle down after the distortion beast was no longer being agitated and got its snack. Anton began to bind his wounds, keeping aware as possible for anything that might indicate further intentions of the distortion beast. Yet it seemed to be either sufficiently injured or satiated to withdraw. From what Anton understood, they were actually relatively docile until agitated to begin with, content to passively feed upon energy over years. Some things were simply too tempting, though oddly enough the Ivory Maw had not drawn its attention from their subspace. ----- The Great Queen tossed most of a corpse onto a table. It was a rather awkward movement, not because she did not have the physical force to carry the fifty or fewer kilograms of mass, but simply because she had no hands or arms or leverage. The motion was managed nonetheless, and Bala Sykora¡¯s corpse- with the anticipated weird protrusions of bone replacing one hand and three toes lost in a previous battle- was sitting in front of a local council of Weos. ¡°Is this¡­ why did you bring this here?¡± Rikuto asked. ¡°The reports of her death were sufficient¡­¡± Nthanda translated- though Rikuto himself had learned at least the basics of the void ants¡¯ sign language. He was a diplomat that worked with Ceretos, after all, and he intended to do his job. ¡°She says that in exchange for slaying a Worldbinding cultivator, the void ants request to establish nests within the Weos system.¡± ¡°It is true that there were talks of a potential deal of the sort¡­¡± Rikuto frowned. He had the problem of his own decision making powers being limited, and of also being absolutely terrified. Anton could at least help him with the latter. ¡°It¡¯s not a threat, by the way,¡± Anton smiled gently. ¡°It¡¯s more like a gift. It could have been hunted prey, but in this case it is a mutual enemy.¡± He placed his hand next to the Great Queen, nudging her with a pinky clearly able to be bitten through with her mandibles, should she want to. Rikuto recovered quickly. ¡°I will of course bring up your request with all of Weos¡¯ planets,¡± Rikuto agreed. ¡°Determining who should be the first to host you, should people be agreeable, will likely take some time.¡± He tried to make his deep breath seem as inconspicuous as possible. ¡°But we appreciate your assistance, Great Queen.¡± He inclined his head to her, then to Anton and Nthanda in turn. ¡°And of course the human cultivators of Ceretos as well.¡± ¡°Our contract was already fully established,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°And I imagine we are all pleased with the results.¡± Nthanda was promised a reasonable rate for her presence- actually being involved with slaying two Worldbinding cultivators would earn her much greater rewards. Those would come after the joint groups had combed through the storage bags of Bala and Leonas, or at least the exploded remains of such bags. Anton could easily describe a good portion of what they had as ¡®accursed¡¯, but they were still cultivators and some resources were useful to all, or easily exchangeable. ¡°Today was a great victory for the trifold alliance,¡± Anton declared. ¡°May we continue to prosper and have good relations in the future.¡± He would advocate for the Great Queen¡¯s colonies to some extent as well, likely with the reminder that void ants would be very effective against invaders from the upper realms- and were quite zealous in their shared ambition to fight them. After all of the talking was done, Anton was going to go take a nap, and begin the process of healing his body. He preferred his natural elderly state rather than the current unnatural decrepitness he was experiencing. Even if he hadn¡¯t been the primary target of much spectral energy in the battle, it had still affected him. The gashes from the distortion beast¡¯s maw would also leave their scars, the wounds a bit more persistent than their simple physicality would have implied. At least they could now say that the Sylanis Cluster was officially down more than six Worldbinding cultivators. Only ninety-four to go. Not that those numbers were ever fully accurate. At least if Carlitos and Aridasa stepped out of line he was confident in taking them out. Chapter 541 During his life before cultivation, Anton hadn¡¯t been the ¡®relaxation¡¯ sort. Sure, he took time off at the end of a season when there were no crops to bring in, but he was never really idle. A habit his family never let him forget, as they had been constantly trying to get him to go easy on himself, right up until that fateful year. By now, Devon had long since given up on telling Anton to take a break of any sort, contenting himself with any moments Anton wasn¡¯t actively involved in a war. But among his infrequent breaks, Anton did actually take what people might call an actual ¡®vacation¡¯ occasionally. Of places he could go to relax away from the sect, the best one was obviously Paradise. The turtle hadn¡¯t received his name on accident, after all. An abundant ecosystem with comfortable weather- except when Paradise dove to eat something. ¡°... You have an island turtle,¡± Merve said for probably the dozenth time since they had arrived. ¡°I told you about Paradise a long time ago,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°And he¡¯s not mine.¡± ¡°Ceretos, though,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s really as powerful as a Worldbinding cultivator, and it¡¯s all carried with him. And the sect that lives upon his back-¡± ¡°Is here at his discretion,¡± Erin explained. ¡°He likes cultivators, mostly. We help out with things Paradise can¡¯t easily manage for himself, and in turn we are allowed to share in the natural energy here.¡± ¡°And the phoenixes,¡± Merve said. ¡°They were part of the Ultimate Phoenix Sect and now they¡­ roam free?¡± Erin shrugged, ¡°Paradise likes them. And they don¡¯t cause any trouble. They seem to like it here, though the sea isn¡¯t exactly good for them.¡± ¡°And nobody¡¯s tried to tame them?¡± Erin crossed her arms, ¡°We certainly won¡¯t be using any of those collars the Ultimate Phoenix Sect had. Besides, it seems they¡¯re just about as sapient as Paradise or the Great Queen there,¡± she gestured towards the head of the island. ¡°... It seems very difficult for two creatures of such size difference to communicate,¡± Merve commented. ¡°Especially when neither speak traditionally.¡± ¡°Frankly,¡± Erin said, ¡°Paradise doesn¡¯t communicate much at all regardless. He¡¯s pretty relaxed and uninterested in complex conversations.¡± ¡°What is she even doing?¡± Merve asked. ¡°The same thing as usual,¡± Anton said. ¡°Asking for more colonies. The Great Queen recently came to realize that she is partially responsible for these new fiery friends being here, so I imagine she¡¯s using that as leverage.¡± ¡°Not that he¡¯d refuse anyway,¡± Erin pointed out. ¡°As long as they can live peacefully.¡± ¡°They¡¯re exceptionally good at it,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯re strongly communal, both with other void ants and anyone else they consider part of them. I¡¯d begin thinking about what you want them to do. They¡¯ll be quite happy with whatever space they¡¯re given, and they simply need to eat some higher energy containing foods. They won¡¯t be much good for anything large scale you intend, but dealing with little details is their specialty.¡± ¡°Like¡­?¡± Erin asked. ¡°Refuse disposal, and pest control. They won¡¯t let inappropriate insects intrude on their territory, and they can manage those that are good for your plants. Even those of lesser age and intelligence can follow along with plans they make.¡± ¡°... Are the smaller void ants babies?¡± Erin asked. ¡°By their conventions? Once they take the form of an ant instead of larvae, they are considered adults. Personally, I¡¯d consider them much the same as beginning cultivators. A bit less intellectually developed in the traditional sense, but much better at teamwork than humans. Time rounds out those lesser aspects.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if we really need them, but¡­¡± Erin shrugged. ¡°I suppose having them wouldn¡¯t hurt. It¡¯s just a bit weird to have neighbors who can bite through your defenses.¡± ¡°I imagine it¡¯s also uncomfortable to have neighbors who could accidentally stomp on you,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°They¡¯re smart enough to know war would be terrible for them. And wise enough, unlike many human sects, to not go to war anyway. It helps that their demand for resources is on a small scale, of course.¡± ¡°How small?¡± Erin asked. ¡°A few kilograms of food per day for a small colony,¡± Anton said. ¡°The largest might require a dozen, but that is for hundreds of thousands of them.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s as big as they get?¡± ¡°In general, yes,¡± Anton said. ¡°The primary colony upon the Order¡¯s grounds has grown to millions, but they only take as much space as a single compound of disciples, and less food. There are exceptions to the norm like the Great Queen herself, but like cultivators they will seek out their own opportunities and resources. The colonies also can choose to stop expanding whenever they like, since that decision is centralized instead of made by individuals.¡± ¡°... That¡¯s a lot of ants,¡± Erin said. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure humans still outnumber void ants on Ceretos,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯ve been very conservative. It¡¯s just that more of them fit into one space.¡± Anton thought for a few moments, ¡°If you would like a very practical reason beyond diversity, they will be very effective against invaders from the upper realms.¡± ¡°I¡¯d say that¡¯s a very long time from now but, it¡¯s not really the case, is it?¡± ¡°We have on the upper end slightly less long than I¡¯ve been cultivating,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°A hundred and twenty years. For you, it would be even less of your cultivation time.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°It seems like my whole life, and also like so little,¡± Erin agreed. ¡°This war is one of a series coming every few decades. I hope there isn¡¯t another before the invasion.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t count on it happening randomly,¡± Anton said. ¡°We have to work for that.¡± In the distance Anton saw that the Great Queen had finished her business atop Paradise¡¯s head. She was now flying towards them with her royal guard, manipulating the energy around them to move. Within atmosphere it was not particularly speedy, and it would take her some time to cover the kilometers between them. ----- ¡°Hey kid!¡± a voice disturbed Anton from his rest. ¡°Get up!¡± There were very few who would call Anton kid. Both out of respect and because he had the visage of an old man, Anton could probably count the people on one hand. If he did, perhaps most of them would be Everheart. ¡°What is it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Ships. Obviously.¡± Anton had of course come to proper alertness as soon as he was woken, and he was never less than half alert to begin with, but his mind was racing. Instead of doing his own speculations, however, he might as well rely on the guy in front of him. ¡°From where?¡± ¡°Sylanis,¡± Everheart said. ¡°It¡¯s a full-on invasion.¡± Anton¡¯s various communications devices were lighting up with messages. ¡°I assume you informed others already?¡± ¡°Yeah, they¡¯ll be ready. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll want to know who and how many. The only thing I can say is Sylanis and most of them.¡± ¡°Most of them?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°They sure as hell can¡¯t have many more mobile Worldbinding cultivators than what they have coming here,¡± Everheart said. ¡°And I can guarantee they won¡¯t be here for a peace party.¡± ¡°I am not so naive as to believe otherwise,¡± Anton said. Feeling vaguely in the direction they should be coming from, Anton vaguely felt something. ¡°Think they¡¯ll pass by the sun?¡± ¡°Could you deal with them yourself if they did?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°... Only if they were careless,¡± Anton acknowledged. ¡°How many?¡± ¡°Hundreds of ships. Maybe twenty Worldbinding cultivators. Could be more or less. I didn¡¯t expect my formations to be overwhelmed with so much feedback.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°So they made this choice, then. I wonder if it included anyone I talked to.¡± ¡°Who can say?¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°But I would say they don¡¯t know about the defeat of the Ivory Maw.¡± ¡°... Why would they come here, though?¡± Anton asked. ¡°This is the most secure place.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Everheart said. ¡°That¡¯s what I would do.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anton asked, feeling the string of his bow, his equipment long since readied. ¡°Because it¡¯s crazy. Strike at the core of power, and when they lose everyone will capitulate.¡± ¡°Or¡­ lose all your forces?¡± Anton frowned. ¡°I think we¡¯re adequately defended here, but if they¡¯re that confident-¡± ¡°Just to be clear,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I would only make this move knowing what I think they know. Which is that you, Devon, and Nthanda are from here. They aren¡¯t likely aware of the total numbers we have.¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be that hard to learn, right?¡± Anton asked. ¡°At most, they captured some mid level soldiers. How many of them actually know all of the Assimilation cultivators here? It¡¯s not secret, but it¡¯s also not public.¡± ¡°And the numbers aren¡¯t necessarily in our favor,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Twenty¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget,¡± Everheart said. ¡°We¡¯re fighting on home ground. Even if they¡¯re mobile, few of them will be close to the peak of their power. Besides, my formations were made to withstand little things like this.¡± ¡°Little?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°If I couldn¡¯t hold off a thousand Integration cultivators, I would have never secured my final tomb for so long,¡± Everheart said. Then he sighed, ¡°Then I lost it to a bunch of kids and a self-betrayal. I should have expected I would stab me in the back like that. Got careless.¡± ¡°At least that gave you the opportunity to return to your¡­ beloved homeworld?¡± Anton¡¯s statement turned into a question at the end. Everheart was clearly a bit fond of this place, but that was only with relation to how much he did or did not like anything. ¡°Where I got to find out my pet turtle wanted to kill me and some kid developed a secret branch of cultivation.¡± ¡°Clearly not exclusive to myself, though,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Or we won¡¯t be worrying about that,¡± he gestured to the sky. ¡°Who¡¯s worrying? I can just leave if things get bad.¡± ¡°But you¡¯ll fight if they don¡¯t, right?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Think of the stuff they have to be carrying on them. Countless unsecured techniques. And if they¡¯re not on them, then back at their sects when we retaliate.¡± ¡°You¡¯re so confident in victory already,¡± Everheart said. Before Anton could object, he continued, ¡°Good. I¡¯ve never really¡­ fought on the side of people before. But I assume it will be easier.¡± ¡°It is,¡± Anton assured him. As much as he kinda liked the old guy, he was still going to have to keep an eye on him during this whole thing. Who could know where he would find an opportunity he wanted to take? Anton had no reason to believe that a couple decades would completely overturn a lifetime of development, no matter what sort of jumbled up mess his memories were with all those projections in there. There was a bit of trust built up, but also centuries of Everheart being Ceretos¡¯ number one hated cultivator. ¡°We¡¯ll have to get moving.¡± First on the agenda was securing the teleporters. Though with starships they could arrive nearly anywhere on the planet in short order, that required leaving the atmosphere. Moving forces around on the continents would likely be important, and they certainly didn¡¯t want the enemy to take them over. Since they required both ends to work, the enemy couldn¡¯t activate them arbitrarily without also compromising communications devices, but they would also be expensive losses if destroyed. The sects were already secure, as well as the large cities. The main issue would be tracking and predicting enemy movements. There simply weren¡¯t enough local ships to fight the whole battle above the planet. The enemy would at least have the chance to descend to the continental barriers and the Exalted Archipelago¡¯s equivalent, and it was likely they would break through in many places. Predicting those- or allowing failures to funnel the enemy- would be important. Plans were already in place, but there was some flexibility. Anton intended to approach the enemy fleet to learn more, and see if they were maybe interested in a diplomatic solution. He was confident in his ability to flee, if necessary. Even with so many Worldbinding cultivators, only a few would be able to match his range. It was a shame it had to come to this, but Anton could only hope that Ceretos was the only target- or at least the main one. If forces of any similar power went to Rutera or Weos¡­ he couldn¡¯t imagine what would happen. Though it seemed extremely unlikely that the Sylanis Cluster could rouse multiple times the incoming fleet¡¯s power. Anton could sense it as one mass, something easier in ¡®his system¡¯, and it was properly intimidating. Ceretos wouldn¡¯t be without losses¡­ they just had to make sure the Sylanis Cluster had more. Chapter 542 The Mighty Dragon Sect was, like the Ultimate Phoenix Sect had been, one of the stronger factions within the Sylanis Cluster. Anton had heard of it, and the dragon itself. Unlike the Ultimate Phoenix Sect there was no indication that they had any significant number of them. Truthfully, Anton had considered the descriptions of the dragon to be an exaggeration. That had been incorrect. In fact, they might have been somewhat conservative with describing its size. He wasn¡¯t able to determine exactly how many kilometers long the creature was, but it was more than a handful. On its head stood an imperious man that Anton thought seemed far too concerned with appearances and not enough concerned with the practicalities of being in a combat zone. The individual known as Manu held his hands behind his back, and Anton considered taking a shot at him just to make him lose his practiced stance. He was busy comparing pros and cons, but ultimately the battle had not yet begun. He picked out a number of the stronger individuals among the group, a man riding a large book, another member of the Mighty Dragon Sect, two individuals of water and ice, and several individuals guiding the fleets. There were more Worldbinding cultivators, but not all of them deserved specific notice. Anton matched his speed to the group some hundreds of kilometers ahead of them, preparing to reveal himself if they had not yet noticed him. ¡°If you return now we won¡¯t have to wipe out your sects,¡± Anton delivered his ultimatum as a guarantee. There was no expectation that proud cultivators would react well to such a thing, but he had already consigned all of those who came to invade Ceretos to death. Several responses came simultaneously, the voice that won out being Manu¡¯s. ¡°A brave declaration for one who barely has a foot into a proper level of power.¡± ¡°If your descendents were going to survive this conflict, they would curse you for your actions,¡± Anton simply said. ¡°Now begone, or we can promise you will lose everything.¡± ¡°I could say the same,¡± Manu seemed to be trying to look down his nose at Anton from a distance he couldn¡¯t really see him at, their voices only transmitted through natural energy. ¡°You may devour him,¡± he waved his hand downward, returning it to behind his back. At that point, the dragon accelerated forward along with much of the fleet. Anton was ready, of course. He was in the domain of his first star, and while they weren¡¯t close to the sun, they were still inside the orbit of Ceretos where he was a bit stronger than his norm. As enemies surged forward, Anton moved backwards with no specific motions, matching pace with the fastest of them. Then he drew his bow, light forming itself into an arrow within it. He took a single shot with no deception behind it. At merely a few hundred kilometers, the difference between the speed of his attack and that of true light was negligible. It struck the forehead of Manu, jolting his head back slightly. Had the man been willing to adjust his position he could have avoided being struck, but as it was he barely took any damage anyway. But barely taking damage in such a situation was still a great embarrassment, and Anton hoped the intended red mark would appear on his forehead. A chastising for an immature brat, regardless of whether or not this particular individual was older than him. Then he increased his acceleration away from the group, avoiding the fastest and longest ranged attacks with ease. He had nothing else he really had to focus on but defense, after all. ¡°You¡¯ll have to be faster than that if you want to catch me,¡± Anton taunted. He imagined some of them could be faster, which was exactly what he wanted. If he could get some to chase him to Ceretos, they would not arrive together. Either they didn¡¯t notice his intent, or they didn¡¯t care. Surprisingly enough the pair to chase after him the most swiftly was the man riding on the book- a gigantic thing several meters across- and one of the icy individuals. The man should have been Ashwin, Keeper of the Grand Archives. The icy woman was simply Zedong of the Frozen Sphere. The dragon and Manu were not far behind, but the distance was growing greater and would continue to do so. Anton could likely have completely escaped but keeping a general pace with the two in front was a good opportunity both to separate them and to experience their techniques in some safety. Anton doubted he could fight the two of them, but he was still far enough away he was confident in escaping before they could surround him. They seemed to have a significant amount of power to call upon, but Ashwin¡¯s connections were not solely to the book he rode upon. Zedong didn¡¯t have any apparent connections, but she was still somewhere in the early part of Worldbinding from Anton¡¯s estimations. Though great pages immediately swirled towards him, the attacks adding to Ashwin¡¯s speed and rocketing towards him, they were not the first attacks to reach him. Instead, Anton felt a chill. Space itself could be considered cold, but with little method of transferring heat it didn¡¯t make much difference. This was an active drawing, and Anton doubled down his aura and control of the area around him. Thin tendrils of natural energy still poked through to attempt to draw from him, but Anton could defend against attacks with clear origins. Arrows flew to counter the pages- and though not all of them had any visible effect, some managed to tear through energy while others forced an activation of whatever ability the pages had. Bursts of different sorts of energy displayed themselves, but Anton suspected the true danger came if he allowed himself to be surrounded by multiple pages. The runes upon them made them akin to mobile formations that could likely enhance each other. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Spikes of ice shot through empty space with great speed, attempting to force Anton to move in a particular way. Yet it was clear that Zedong, while possessing significant range, was not best at long ranges. Her attacks were swift and agile, able to cover long distances and redirect themselves to some extent. Anton imagined they would even be able to curve around behind him if he was careless and ignored them once he dodged them, but they just weren¡¯t quite enough. Anton also remembered to harass the two with attacks, probing their defenses. Ashwin didn¡¯t seem to do much of anything, the pages of the book he was riding extending upwards to defend him. It would take more than casual attacks to break through the barriers they created. Zedong tended to counter his attacks with some of her own, but she also formed dozens of orbiting spheres of ice that intercepted his attacks when they got close. They were quite excellent at absorbing impacts, no matter how much Anton tried to pierce through them his arrows were generally consumed. The battle continued with little real effect on either side for a significant period of time, during which they were constantly moving towards Ceretos. Both sides wanted to go there regardless, but Anton knew it was more to his advantage. As he approached the planet itself, Anton used Star Steps to basically negate his momentum above the atmosphere. That was beneficial, because as he dove down towards his target- the Grandfather Willow- he slammed into the continental barrier. Normally, it wouldn¡¯t stop him at all, but apparently in its current active state it was more picky. After a moment it seemed to recognize Anton and let him fall through, but hopping in and out of the barrier would likely be troublesome. Anton wished he had brought the Great Queen with him. These two were at least minutes ahead of their compatriots, enough time to take out either of these individuals with her help. It turned out someone completely immune to most attacks was a great asset in a battle. Unfortunately, she was elsewhere around Ceretos at the moment, and the time it would take to retrieve her would be better spent differently. ¡°Hi Lev,¡± Anton said as he landed. ¡°I brought friends. And by friends I mean enemies.¡± The young man rolled his eyes. ¡°Obviously.¡± His long hair and beard dangled as he looked up into the sky. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to bring them directly here, but I appreciate it.¡± The Grandfather Willow trembled with excitement, the grand tree having grown in height and girth in the decades since Lev had Assimilated with it. Anton was impressed with the speed at which Ashwin got through the continental barrier. A ring of giant sheets of paper plastered themselves on the barrier, nearly immediately opening a hole that he and Zedong slipped through. It was only a momentary breach, but impressive nonetheless. Though Anton couldn¡¯t say for certain that it wasn¡¯t an intentional weakness. ----- As the dragon and Manu descended upon Ceretos, planning to join forces with the others, a great mass of power drew their attention. A small salt sea flew from the planet below in an obvious provocation, dragon and turtle locking eyes. Regardless of Manu¡¯s level of control, he would not have been able to stop the dragon if he tried. ----- Assuming the others would succeed wherever they went, another pair descended upon what they knew to be one of the richest sects. A mountain of fire and ice with many names. One of those aiming for it, covered in scales, clawed his way through the barrier. Along with him was an individual with runes carved into their very flesh. The two of them descended rapidly until they met with a barrier of flames and flickering ice crystals. ----- A great concentration of wealth was apparently just in the middle of a desert. It was not of any concern to those interested in taking it that there was an entire sect that would try to stop them. In fact, it would make it more exciting. Instead of simply crashing into the barrier over the continent, the attackers landed in the ocean to the east and made their way from there. The reasons for that were twofold. One, they had determined that the barriers would be easier to break through with proper positioning, and two it was advantageous for them to go from the water to begin with. As for the desert with its heat and swirling sands, they planned to bury it under a sea while the creatures within would serve as their puppets. The water rose up, crashing against the barrier and pushing a hole through. ----- Fleets descended upon a seemingly less defended archipelago. Perhaps their judgment was correct in some ways. They did not have a comprehensive barrier that covered them, saving time and effort for the attack. That was valuable for the weaker troops they brought with them. A commanding aura from one of them, a man who appeared to be carved from a marble statue, bolstered them. Another radiated the power of a dragon, though unlike Manu he had no such creature to serve as his mount. ----- Ice grew upon the Grandfather Willow, attempting to drain the heat and life from it. However, that was just as difficult as drawing directly from a cultivator- perhaps moreso. Sheaths of ice snapped as the branches of the great tree bent and twisted, encircling the intruding cultivators. Ashwin and Zedong avoided most of the incoming attacks, pages of fire and lightning blocking others. Yet they couldn¡¯t help but focus their efforts on avoiding potential restraint. If they were caught, their lives could quickly end. That meant they had little to spare for dealing with Anton¡¯s rain of arrows. Anton was managing to slither through their defenses with some consistency while still having the spare effort available to tear into the incoming ships following after their Worldbinding cultivators. Focusing his efforts would result in killing the two more quickly, and he would do so once he found the right opening. For now, he simply wore them down. Every page Ashwin used carried much energy within it, but they could not be infinite nor without cost. No doubt he had some power hidden still, along with his icy companion, but they were in Lev¡¯s domain, and to a lesser extent Anton¡¯s. Perhaps if Zedong was able to draw the power of the surroundings into her as she was accustomed she would have an advantage of some sort, but within an Assimilation cultivator¡¯s doman it was actually a disadvantage for her to try. Yet Anton didn¡¯t consider the battle won yet, even if he was already drifting to plans of who the next targets would be. It wouldn¡¯t be enough to just win, but minimizing the damage to Ceretos was important. Chapter 543 Though the kilometers long serpentine form of the dragon was certainly a concern, Erin focused her attention on the man riding it and the weaker cultivators incoming behind him. Paradise would take care of himself, Erin was responsible for everything else. It would have been nice if they¡¯d already established that void ant colony here, but sadly that wasn¡¯t the case. Though there weren¡¯t many void ants that could fight against flying opponents easily either. If the Great Queen were around she could have replicated her success with the Ultimate Phoenix Sect. But this was Erin¡¯s sect to defend, the Island Tenders. A place chosen for its beauty and peace atop Paradise himself. The figure in the sky stretched out his hands, giant claws scratching towards the sect as he swept his arms. Erin countered with a turtle shell of her own, buying time for the sect disciples to reach a full state of readiness. The island trembled as Paradise moved, forcing everything along with him. His head snapped up as the dragon descended, but the creature wouldn¡¯t stay close to the island turtle for long. The imperious sect leader- Manu, if Erin remembered his name from the list correct- radiated his confidence and power. ¡°You¡¯ll never win if you just defend.¡± It was possible that he was correct. But the statement was not true as a whole. If she was more efficient with her defenses than he was with his attacks, she could wear him down- assuming other factors were equal. Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t. He was clearly stronger, which was not unusual given he had established his position more than a century prior. Erin was one of those who only rose to her level in the last decades. The flow of Paradise¡¯s energy shifted as he fought the dragon, but instead of wrestling for control of the power Erin simply took what she could, excess bits and pieces that would have otherwise been wasted. More than that, she also helped smooth the flow of Paradise¡¯s energy as it passed through and around him, including the sect¡¯s defensive formations. The battle quickly escalated with enemy forces landing- or setting down in the nearby sea to push their way on land. The latter would have resulted in their immediate destruction if Paradise had any effort to spare, but sadly he was quite focused. ----- Among an archipelago with islands both larger and smaller than Paradise, starships settled into the sea as if they belonged the whole time, their strange symmetrical patterns somehow still functioning atop the water. Not all of them did so, as there were certain factors to consider. There was a loss of mobility gained for more limited angles of attack against them, the water guarding one side. That was what Treloar presumed they were banking on, at least. Personally, he knew of a half dozen sects that were capable of underwater combat with no drawbacks, after the Ponderous Turtle Clan got themselves wiped out. Treloar himself had some tricks to make use of, but he planned to save those for the most impactful moment. For the moment he stood on the shores and fought against the armies supported by oppressive auras, martial and draconic in nature. Immediately present was Naamah, who took a more direct approach to combat. The Hardened Crown Sect was not the sort who focused on large scale coordination efforts. They understood the value of tactics, and would make use of them. They also understood the value of brute force. Naamah literally tore her way through ships between her and the statuesque man who seemed to be in command. Though a cultivator at the Assimilation stage always had sufficient power to fly, not all were proficient in such techniques. Naamah appeared to be among those, preferring to leap from ship to ship, the force of her movements breaking holes in everything in her path. It didn¡¯t take her long to reach the man, a spear thrust at her heart. With his other hand, he raised his shield to block her punch. She deflected the spear with her empty left hand, sliding her palm along it to grab his fist in her hand. Her punch she transformed into another grab, her fingers locking over the edge of the shield, pulling it away. Of course, her hands were occupied holding his in place, so they simply stood across from each other on the prow of his ship for a moment. No doubt he expected an attack still, likely a kick from her free legs. That was why she faked a knee to bring herself forward for her real attack. The Hardened Crown Sect was well aware that surprise was a valid tactic, and their body wasn¡¯t trained randomly. The crown of the head itself was often seen as a weak point, or at the very least the head a place that had to be protected. It was even true, but would someone in armor be afraid of a little bit of danger? An attack focused more on physical force than natural energy sent Naamah¡¯s head into the man¡¯s nose. Sadly it didn¡¯t shove the bones into his brain, but it did majorly disrupt his flow. And Naamah wasn¡¯t done. She had no intention to let go of the man until the fight was done, since he¡¯d been careless enough to allow her to grab on. ----- ¡°That man stinks,¡± Annelie commented of the one with scales and claws. ¡°Much worse than the sulfur vents,¡± Anish agreed. ¡°He has to go first.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Absolutely, can you imagine if he got that smell inside?¡± Flames wreathed around Anish, burning only what he wished for them to burn. That did not include Annelie¡¯s ice, and in turn her ice did not cool the fire. Spears of ice stabbed forward in waves, leaving burning craters behind them as the married pair stood above their sect. There had been a long period of decision on whether they would ascend, but there was no way they were leaving Ceretos behind at their current point. More than a half dozen children, most of them not actually kids but still young enough to need their protection¡­ and some with children of their own on the way. Previous ambitions to ascend to the upper realms had been set aside as their desires shifted to a staying power. This was their domain, and two completely unrelated Worldbinding cultivators might be a reasonable match on paper. In practice, if a scaled man smelling of the worst sewers and an individual with formations carved into his body wanted to take anything from them, they would find it more than impossible. It didn¡¯t matter what sort of barriers the formations created around the second man¡­ if anything held true, all they had to do was break his body. Two Assimilation cultivators synchronized in their attacks from nearly a century of tandem practice fought with the vigor of parents that couldn¡¯t find an excuse to keep their children off the battlefield but would not accept anything lasting long enough for them to be injured. At least Gudrun was an archer. But there were many others who would not be in such safe positions. The volcanic mountain the sect was built upon boiled in anger, preparing to add its own contributions to the battle. ----- Flooding the desert seemed like a reasonable method for two Worldbinding cultivators to take, and the creatures that came along with them were reasonably powerful considering they had not been able to plan for what was available near Aicenith¡¯s southeastern shores. Unfortunately for the invaders, the Scorching Mirror Desert was not accepting visitors. Seemingly innocent puffs of sand turned into blades along the bellies of the sea beasts, and inside the gills of others. Similar damage came to any ship foolish enough to venture into Vasu¡¯s domain. The ocean itself did make things difficult for other members of the Million Sword Vault, and reshaping the continent would be inconvenient for others. However, the attack had taken long enough to reach them that reinforcements had come from the north. An armored man trudged along the bottom of a new sandy sea, Sudheer of the Silver Rhino Legion making his way towards the smaller individual controlling the waters. When he was close enough, he crouched into a starting position. Vasu helpfully solidified the sands beneath his feet, the waters forced apart by the man¡¯s charge. Sudheer left behind his sectmates, a reasonable Assimilation target¡­ but not what he had chosen. Instead, his shining armor was the source of his power, packed with enchantments bursting beyond material limits. His target attempted to dodge, but Sudheer wasn¡¯t restricted to keeping his momentum how it had been. His path curved to meet his opponent, who had no choice but to block and let themselves be pushed back. Fighting the charge would have simply resulted in them breaking, and he could commend them for that insight. But he was still going to accomplish his goal, as he shoved them backwards and up, out of their partial sea. And then they were perfectly arranged for a nice one-on-one brawl, one covered in armor spikes and the other clearly focused on wide scale control. ----- Zedong made the mistake of setting a foot on the ground beneath the Grandfather Willow. She had correctly calculated that there were no branches that could easily reach her position¡­ but she failed to account for another factor. Lev was quite glad to encompass her with roots- despite knowing that they would be frozen solid and drained of life. There would be much effort required to recover them, but he was holding the woman still for more than just his own efforts. Anton didn¡¯t miss the moment, firing dozens of smaller shots as well as two from his primary bow. The air rippled with the power of ascension energy drawn to him by the power of Fleeting Youth. Hidden in its shadow, a much more subtle and recently advanced arrow of spectral energy trailed it. The first attack was blocked by Ashwin himself, forcing his whole book into Anton¡¯s path. Anton grinned as he heard the spin creak, though he suddenly wished he¡¯d readied that arrow with fire. No doubt the book was enchanted to resist flames, but it would still be weaker to that than anything else. The spectral arrow moved right through the book- sadly, Ashwin himself avoided it or Anton would have chosen him as the more versatile of the two targets. But he was still quite happy with how his arrow drove into Zedong¡¯s dantian. Even more so when she suddenly lost control of some of the energy she¡¯d been siphoning from the Grandfather Willow because of it. He was only a bit short from outright killing her. As it was, she would perhaps be only half as effective- maybe less, since she wouldn¡¯t be able to recover any significant amount of energy with a damaged dantian, and that was part of her main abilities. When she tore herself out of the roots she not only had the damage from Anton¡¯s arrows¡­ but little hooks holding onto her, nearly impossible to sense. Anton only noticed them because of his familiarity. The technique derived from the parasitic moss would also dig into her energy, further weakening her. Ashwin charged towards the trunk where Lev stood unmoving. He judged correctly that Lev¡¯s body was a weak point¡­ but only by certain definitions. His limbs really didn¡¯t move on their own, he had to control them indirectly like he controlled the limbs of the Grandfather Willow. But Lev no longer needed to injure his body to fully synchronize with the tree. As a swirling cylinder of pages filled with natural energy charged towards him, Lev simply sank back into the bark of the tree behind him, letting himself be swallowed. A tremendous explosion tore open the area, flattening some nearby sect buildings. However, the damage to the Grandfather Willow was only enough to reveal Lev¡¯s face. Then a dozen limbs surrounded Ashwin, sacrificing themselves to force the power of his defensive detonations inward. The man staggered off of his book a bloody mess, and though it would have been nice to inspect Anton already had a dozen flaming arrows on the way to burrow into the pages¡­ the vast majority of which did not release their contained energy as they were destroyed. But enough did for it to be gone, leaving Ashwin hardly a Worldbinding cultivator anymore. Anton nodded to himself. These two would be gone soon. Then he would seek out wherever needed his help most while Lev and the disciples wiped up the weaker invaders. Then after there were none left, they would make their plans for the sects of the Sylanis Cluster¡­ but instead of foolishly spreading their forces, taking them out one at a time would have to do. Only the ones involved in this attack, of course. Though if possible he would prefer the Sylanis Cluster do most of the work themselves, with powerful sects suddenly weakened. Chapter 544 A great claw slashed down towards the building where the weakest disciples of the Island Tenders were taking shelter. Having Body Tempering disciples participate in the battle would only be a hindrance to their side, and in truth Erin should have trusted in the building¡¯s defensive formations and left it alone. Against a Life Transformation cultivator she would have, but against Manu she couldn¡¯t help but worry. And he knew it, which meant he was able to target an attack she would have to block. She formed a great dome of protection, a turtle shell that cracked immediately under the attack, then shattered under the next swing of the man. ¡°You¡¯re weak,¡± he said. ¡°Pathetic. You can¡¯t even properly control your turtle. There is no hope for you to win.¡± Erin grit her teeth. ¡°You¡¯re wrong.¡± ¡°Am I?¡± Manu looked down his nose at her, a derisive image he was clearly quite trained to make use of. ¡°You are unable to draw sufficient power from your bonded creature. I will have you defeated in four moves or fewer. This cannot be denied.¡± Erin bit her lip. He was right about that. As he drew back his arms, scythelike claws stretchings for dozens of meters, Erin was only barely able to reinvigorate her defense. His arms crossed, sending her staggering back two steps. His claws slashed up and down, creating a cross pattern in her next barrier, though it just held. The ground trembled beneath them as Paradise fought, the formations being the only thing that kept anything on his back in place. The claws of a true dragon aimed for his head and eyes, tearing apart scales. The dragon circled around for another pass. ¡°One more move,¡± Manu said, the long body and tail of a dragon forming behind him. It coiled and prepared to snap forward, no doubt with force much greater than his claws. ¡°You¡¯re wrong,¡± Erin said. ¡°Not about me being weak. But¡­ Paradise isn¡¯t my turtle.¡± The serpentine dragon had a length of more than a handful of kilometers, though with the way it never stretched out straight it couldn¡¯t be measured properly. It charged towards Paradise¡¯s head, great rivers of blood flowing. Paradise hadn¡¯t been able to hit the creature with his water bombardments, and his limited mobility limited his defensive options. Claws extended and fangs menaced as the dragon approached. Then Paradise opened his jaws wide, not to spit out another sea sized globule of water, but to make room as his neck extended. He lunged forward, mouth snapping shut around the upper body of the dragon. The dragon was indeed massive, but in truth it might have only stretched a bit longer than Paradise from head to tail. Comparing total bulk, there was no way for the dragon to match Paradise. While that wasn¡¯t necessarily a proper representation of power, the dragon was shackled by his master, his natural energy drawn upon to power Manu¡¯s abilities. Meanwhile, Paradise was completely in control of his own power, Erin and the Island Tenders merely making use of the excess natural energy from the ecosystem he had dwelling on him. His mouth snapped shut, crushing the body and spine of the dragon. Then Paradise threw his head back, yanking more of the dragon¡¯s body towards him and into his mouth. He chomped down again, and continued the process, the dragon¡¯s skull soon crushed inside him, claws unable to find purchase. Manu¡¯s attack came at basically the same time, the tail whipping into the center of Erin¡¯s final turtle shell. It snapped, but instead of doing her best to protect herself she used the force to fold the shell inward to the center of the cross, slamming it around Manu as her body was slammed into the building behind her. Her bones shattered, some piercing her internal organs, but she was not immediately dead. Then a wave of energy filled her, offered freely by Paradise. It propelled her to stand up, finding Manu fallen to the ground from her unexpected counter. Erin didn¡¯t have the ability to perform anything elegant at the moment, instead leaping from the top of the hill she had been protecting onto Manu below. A simple fist with the weight of her fall and the power Paradise gave her pushed him down until he could move no more, Paradise¡¯s shell providing an impenetrable barrier to crush him against. Manu might have been able to defend, but he was suddenly only possessed of his own power, which was only a step above Life Transformation without his bonded creature. ----- It had to be admitted that the enemy commander was better than Treloar had given him credit for. Even while being pummeled by Naamah, he had maneuvered his forces in such a way that a great number of them had surrounded Treloar. Individually they would be no threat to him, but together they were wearing him down, along with their draconic opponent. Now it all came down to how quickly Naamah could finish off the commander and allied forces could aid him¡­ and how soon she could assist him against the other. Blood dripped out of numerous wounds that were insignificant on their own, coating Treloar¡¯s body. He could see why people liked to fight against superior forces, though the idea still didn¡¯t particularly appeal to him at the moment. Waves and sand crashed against the surrounding forces while Treloar clashed his blade against enemy claws, hoping to break through scales so he could start dealing real damage. He could sense that elsewhere in the Exalted Archipelago and across Ceretos were similar battles, the shockwaves reverberating throughout the planet. ----- An arrow of spectral energy pierced the dantian of the man with runes engraved in his body. Anton had already finished with Lev and had quickly come to assist his granddaughter and grandson-in-law. He couldn¡¯t say it was necessarily the most tactically sound decision, but he also couldn¡¯t fight properly if he was worrying about them and their children, and so on. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. His shot meant that they wouldn¡¯t get to determine what happened to the man¡¯s personally imbued formations should they be broken apart, as energy quickly drained from the man and then he was consumed by Anish¡¯s flames. Anton would next be finding his way to Aicenith¡¯s west coast, where they were struggling against more of the Worldbinding cultivators. ----- The battle began everywhere all at once, but it only fully died out after several days. Ultimately, Ceretos proved they had been ready for invasions- and their invader¡¯s insistence on being tens of separate forces instead of a cohesive whole had allowed them to come out on top. The home ground advantage was also significant, allowing their Assimilation cultivators to have the edge, though the Sylanis Cluster had greater numbers in terms of lesser cultivators. And Worldbinding cultivators- they just hadn¡¯t been willing or able to commit all of theirs. The losses varied greatly by sect, and quality of opponents. The Grasping Willow Sect had mostly superficial damage, though they were not without loss of life. Western Aicenith had lost several important figures, including potential Assimilation figures from Marvelous Rabbit Mountain. Damage to the Exalted Archipelago was less personally important to Anton, but still frustrating- and one of the few individuals he actually cared about was heavily injured. Treloar was still holding on, but he might sustain permanent damage to his body, cultivation, or both. Western Brogora would have been in deep trouble with Nthanda away, but the Great Queen had contributed greatly to their defense. The members of the Sylanis Cluster most familiar with her were already dead- first the patriarch of the Ultimate Phoenix Sect and then the Ivory Maw. Recognizing her threat a few moments too late meant the most powerful enemy was wiped out with little struggle, though ironically most of the rest of the invading forces were personally of a similar threat level to the Great Queen. Even so, Ambati could deal with cultivators from Spirit Building through Life Transformation- and likely they would have overcome a Worldbinding cultivator through great sacrifice. There were tense days waiting for news from the other systems. Had Rutera and Weos been attacked? If they had to face against even half as many forces, they might not make it. The information from captured individuals was of little use, as most were uninformed and those who might actually know had been too dangerous to capture. Nobody was interested in sparing any Worldbinding cultivators, either. There had been warnings given already. It was unclear if Everheart had participated in the defense, though several Worldbinding cultivators could not be accounted for. Anton thought he sensed a bit of fatigue in the man, but he would not admit anything either way. Perhaps he thought he would be forced to share in his spoils, or perhaps he really did nothing, either way his defensive formations had limited the enemy¡¯s actions sufficiently that his contributions couldn¡¯t be ignored. Those had been made honestly, and at only material cost- expensive, but not so much as it could have been if Everheart was interested in charging for his great expertise. No messages came from either system, so they had to wait for responses to their own, the first reports of enemies approaching then the reports on the aftermath. After a frustrating period of silence, Weos and Rutera both responded. They had seen no attacks. Either they weren¡¯t coming, or they would now be prepared, for as much good as that would do. Anton hoped it was the former, especially for the next stage of the plan. He wanted to retrieve Nthanda and The Independence, but he would make do with Devon and the Great Queen alone if necessary. Iceheart Ocean had made an appearance in the invasion, though without Carlitos. They were at the top of the list for retaliation, then all of the sects involved in the invasion itself. Some were located in Azoth, which made it unwise for Anton to go there¡­ but if he was part of a larger force and stayed safe on The Independence, he could at least contribute to some extent. ----- The frozen oceans of Atania suddenly began to boil on two sides of the planet, a small amount of its actual surface area but located around important facilities, ice instantly melting under rains of sunfire arrow and the main laser of The Independence. Rutera had been willing to risk danger for offense. Against anything more than one or two Worldbinding cultivators The Independence would be insufficient regardless, so sending it with the offensive force was justifiable. The icy seas, full of more than just frozen water, rose up to fight, but Carlitos was just one cultivator. Atania wasn¡¯t fully recovered from the previous assault, temporary formations of cheaper cost filling in the gaps. They were only good enough to slightly delay the inevitable. Then, the oceans stopped acting. Anton made his way towards Carlitos, who was being carried by his belly, an unseen force acting on him from below. The Great Queen¡¯s mandibles were pierced into his dantian, cutting off the flow of his energy but not quite tearing it apart and causing permanent damage. Anton stood over him, using his aura as a blunt force to make the man respond with something. ¡°What do you have to say for your actions?¡± The man only stared up at Anton, wide-eyed. ¡°How are any of you still alive?¡± That was sufficient. Anton saw no speck of compulsion within the man. He¡¯d made the choice to go against the ultimatum, and he would pay for it. His head fell to the ground a moment later. Anton stretched his energy out, only able to encompass less than a tenth of the planet, even with something simple. Even so, the majority of the population was in the area where he projected his voice. ¡°For breaking the ultimatum set forth by the trifold alliance, the lives of every cultivator of Essence Collection and above, as well as any in the roles of elders of Iceheart Ocean, are now forfeit along with all the resources belonging to the sect. Anyone choosing to aid them will likewise perish.¡± Anton could personally fulfill that declaration- nobody would be able to even reach him to attack him, not without Worldbinding cultivators involved. Some might say that they didn¡¯t deserve death, but they had to be aware of enough of the situation to have made an informed choice. If they didn¡¯t accept what Carlitos was doing, they could have fled the planet. If they surrendered Anton would hear them out¡­ but he doubted many would change his mind. As for the rest¡­ without the resources of the sect and Carlitos¡¯ control over the freezing planet, the weaker cultivators might not be able to survive such a harsh environment. There were sufficient ships for them to be transported off planet, however. It would be cramped and uncomfortable, and they would have to beg for asylum on another planet, but it wasn¡¯t a death sentence. Already, Anton was being several steps more merciful than he felt like. He¡¯d considered cracking the planet in half, giving up not just because of the extreme effort required but because it was probably slightly excessive. Though it would have been good for future intimidation. He would carry Carlitos¡¯ head around with him until they returned, though, and show it to everyone along the way as a reminder that he had chosen his fate. Chapter 545 Above Cheitov, a planet teeming with trees, including those pressured to grow in more extreme environments than they would naturally. Before they even got close, Anton sensed Aridasa flying up to meet them. Such an action made him doubly vulnerable- both being alone and some distance away from the center of his power. Not that he would ever be weak anywhere vaguely close to his bound planet, but against a dangerous force he would need every bit of strength he could hold on to. Anton took it as a good sign. Their work here would be easier regardless of how things went. Before Anton could make any sort of announcement, Aridasa spoke up. ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to be here, is there?¡± ¡°Are you certain?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Quite a number of newly constructed ships came to visit Ceretos.¡± A mix of nervousness and confidence flowed through Aridasa. The man straightened his back, ¡°You know we¡¯re not the only ones with supplies of the sort. As agreed, we have refused to ship anything off-world despite the great blow to our resources. You can see them laid out there,¡± he gestured to the planet below. Anton did take a few moments to pick out the mentioned stores. They were quite full, indicating that either Aridasa was being truthful, or they had been working doubly hard in their harvests. Anton couldn¡¯t quite tell- the recently cut and replanted sections of forest didn¡¯t seem excessive, but while he¡¯d worked with loggers on a small scale previously, something at this size he couldn¡¯t properly measure. Anton simply had to trust Aridasa- not blindly, but his Insight said the man was truthful. He wasn¡¯t even hiding his inner resentment, or not well. ¡°It is likely that you will be freed from that agreement soon,¡± Anton said. ¡°At that time, I believe you will find many people eager to spend and build. Your losses won¡¯t be as bad as it seems, though I understand it¡¯s difficult for the moment.¡± Aridasa crossed his arms, ¡°We¡¯re just lucky nobody tried to force the matter. Our reputation with several important sects is in shambles, though.¡± ¡°I am certain a portion of that list will not be relevant for long.¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s hope so,¡± the man frowned. ¡°None of the Worldbinding cultivators made it back,¡± Anton mentioned. Some had realized that things weren¡¯t going their way and tried to leave, but it didn¡¯t work out for them. ¡°Unless we are vastly inaccurate in our information, there are only a small handful of Worldbinding cultivators from these sects that remained behind.¡± Aridasa had nothing else to say. Anton had only stopped by half to check, half to remind him that they didn¡¯t have to kill everyone who they had conflict with if they could choose to see reason. ----- Two Assimilation cultivators- Anton and Devon- the Great Queen and The Independence were more than a match for any enemy sects without Worldbinding cultivators- and they would still likely find it reasonable to overcome one or two along with their sects. The Independence came with fighters from Rutera, a powerful gesture of support. Rutera still had their orbital defenses and many more fighters, but their main bastion of power was along for the journey. Weos was participating as well- dealing with Azoth directly both because it was closest to them and because Anton could not reasonably go there. Nthanda was with them, as Weos only had a small number of truly mobile Assimilation cultivators. Much of their power was made up of fleets and lesser cultivators, but within a few decades they would likely have similar or potentially greater numbers of Assimilation cultivators to Ceretos. They had the population and talented individuals to draw upon, though they had not been a place where everyone cultivated. Among the sects in Okloi, around the ¡®second¡¯ star were the Grand Archives of Abos. Though they maintained a massive library, it wasn¡¯t the sort that allowed visitors. Instead, they hoarded knowledge for themselves. This understandably led to some resentment, and Anton was only slightly surprised when they found others already on Abos. Specifically, he was surprised that news had reached those intending to plunder so quickly. It shouldn''t have been upon information from Aridasa unless they were already ready to go immediately. As he descended, though Anton saw some signs of battle it seemed that the local disciples had given in and were even now assisting with the plundering, perhaps planning to buy their way into another sect. There were facilities of all sizes, and though Anton couldn¡¯t compare to whatever Everheart had in the upper realms having only heard about it, the Grand Archives were certainly sizable. Most people didn¡¯t bother Anton, sensing his power they simply watched. As Anton approached the largest and most secure structure, he was met by a small man. Neither appearing young nor old, the stature of the individual was not representative of his actual power. Anton pored over the list of the remaining Worldbinding cultivators, now a good fifth smaller. ¡°Vargha, I presume?¡± The man inclined his head slightly, along with tipping his skull-topped staff. ¡°Vargha of the Black Flame. Head of the Burning Skull Sect. And you would be¡­ Anton?¡± He nodded, ¡°Head of the Order of One Hundred Stars.¡± Vargha then settled his eyes on Devon. ¡°Your name is not so well known. You did not participate in the earlier stages of the war.¡± ¡°Devon. Also aligned with the Order of One Hundred Stars.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Truly?¡± the man raised an eyebrow. ¡°Such a radically different cultivation method. Yet clearly it has done well for you.¡± He appraised the both of them before continuing. ¡°A pleasure to meet you both. However, the Burning Skull Sect has arrived here first and staked our claim.¡± Anton smiled slightly, ¡°A claim you could only manage because of our efforts. However, before we discuss that, there was one more introduction you missed.¡± Vargha looked up, ¡°That ship? A mighty one indeed, but I don¡¯t believe possessed of its own consciousness. Whoever controls it is not so powerful as to deserve my notice.¡± Anton held out his hands, and the Great Queen crawled out of his sleeve. ¡°The Great Queen of the void ants says that she is not surprised you failed to notice her, but if your threshold for introductions is power, she is most worthy.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Vargha paused, clearly somewhat confused. ¡°You are the one responsible for the injuries to Bala?¡± ¡°She is,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°She also reminds you that she is the slayer of the Ultimate Phoenix¡­ and one of the primary combatants for every death in the Ivory Maw.¡± ¡°None of this information reached my ears,¡± Vargha said, ¡°But I shall take your word and that of your translator. The Great Queen of the void ants, is it? Pleasure to make your acquaintance.¡± The man¡¯s demeanor shifted slightly. Previously, he had been extremely confident- even with Anton and Devon both present. His opinion of The Independence added to that mix was unclear, but now he seemed slightly more subdued. The great queen gestured furiously, but Anton didn¡¯t translate. Then she turned around on Anton¡¯s hand, bouncing angrily. ¡°It seems the Great Queen has something to say?¡± Vargha conjectured. ¡°I unfortunately do not speak her sign language.¡± The Great Queen prodded Anton¡¯s wrist with a sharp mandible, not breaking the skin but making a point. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll translate.¡± He cleared his throat. ¡°The Great Queen demands you immediately let us access the Grand Archives and take whatever we want.¡± Satisfied, the Great Queen nodded and turned back towards Vargha. ¡°It is¡­ interesting that your demands would come in such a manner,¡± Vargha said. ¡°Why not simply state such yourself?¡± ¡°I was planning to do it more diplomatically,¡± Anton said. ¡°She just didn¡¯t let me get there. She prefers the straightforward approach.¡± ¡°Well, as much as I appreciate that,¡± Vargha frowned, ¡°I am afraid there are specific things we require here, so we cannot simply hand everything over.¡± ¡°And I presume you¡¯re willing to fight for it,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°But it won¡¯t do you much good if you can¡¯t get inside. Those formations seem to be causing your people quite a bit of trouble.¡± At such a relatively short distance, there was almost nothing that could stop Anton¡¯s senses, including most traditional barriers. He had been checking out everything behind Vargha while also keeping track of the man¡¯s stance. Ready to fight¡­ but not so eager to spring into action Anton thought he would attack first. Not yet, at least. ¡°I am sure we will find our way inside in due time.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But we both know there¡¯s no way you¡¯re walking out of here with everything. If there are specific things you want, I can nearly guarantee we¡¯re not looking for the same things.¡± Mostly because the man had a skull on his staff. And partly because Anton wasn¡¯t actually after anything specific, with only a vague understanding of what they might have. ¡°Why don¡¯t we start with cooperation and we can decide if we want to kill each other later?¡± Of course Anton was confident they could win that, especially with the Great Queen being a quick toss from being inside the man¡¯s vital organs. He might be confident in taking out Anton and Devon, and maybe he could, but his abilities were clearly more on the side of using energy to fight. Anton was honestly unsure if the man could crush the Great Queen if she let him. Vargha pondered for a moment, then sighed. ¡°Fine. You may make your way inside, though don¡¯t expect to find anything spectacular outside of the central vault. Not by our standards, at least.¡± He carefully stepped backwards before finally deciding to turn around. Showing that bit of hesitancy made Anton more confident, but also suspicious that the man didn¡¯t actually need to face his opponents to fight. Normally, Anton avoided walking around with those who brandished skulls, but as far as the Burning Skull Sect and Vargha of the Black Flame went, they were several tiers below the Ivory Maw in terms of evil. Really more on the ¡®typical¡¯ level of cultivators as far as Anton was aware, though with a clear style to them. Anton also didn¡¯t want to send the message that they were going to try to wipe out all of the Sylanis Cluster, because they honestly couldn¡¯t afford another concerted attack. Anton scanned the various books on shelves he passed. He didn¡¯t even necessarily have to open them, and after having practiced Ten Thousand Scrolls reading the simpler ones was done in a moment. He was definitely more interested in whatever was in the vault. ¡°What¡¯s preventing entry?¡± Anton asked Vargha as well as indirectly the formation masters around. They looked at their sect head, who nodded. ¡°Destructive defenses. Targeted, and of extreme power. Enough to slay Worldbinding cultivators.¡± ¡°What about inside the vault?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Would it wipe out the things inside?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t believe so,¡± they said. ¡°Though it might bring down the rest of the archives, or at least create a hole through them.¡± Anton knew enough about formations to contribute, though he was still below a proper master level. ¡°What about-¡± he stopped as he noticed something, but it was too late. The Great Queen was already in place taking a chomp at the formations. It was like a dam burst, natural energy spilling outward at a great pace and blasting everyone away- but pure energy unformed into a proper attack. If the formations were looking for a cause, they would have found nothing by traditional methods. Anton thought he sensed some lightning specifically targeting the Great Queen, but it was consumed as quickly as it was produced. The built up stores of energy couldn¡¯t last forever, and there wasn¡¯t anything particularly vulnerable around the vault. Some books far down the hallway were blown off their shelves, but that was all. Anton looked down the hall at the Great Queen, and she looked back. ¡°That was the fastest way,¡± she signed. ¡°And I waited until you confirmed it wouldn¡¯t break the stuff inside.¡± Anton sighed. He knew she hadn¡¯t just randomly chomped into the formations either- the flow of energy was as obvious to her as a plate of bread and cheese was to Anton. She might not have the expertise to make them, but disassembling them with minimal damage was fine. Though it was a fortunate thing that nobody below Essence Collection was nearby, as the flow of even unaspected natural energy might have been too much. At least they could get into the vault now. Chapter 546 Though there hadn¡¯t been any real warning, the vault was now open. Or at least, could be opened with no formations stopping anyone. Vargha didn¡¯t seem particularly enthusiastic about trying the door, though Anton could feel no natural energy left to do anything even if the formations happened to be intact. The Great Queen was still next to the door where she had punctured a portion of the formation responsible for energy storage, and Anton scooped her up as he reached for the large door itself. It was locked, but without anything to stop him from fiddling it didn¡¯t take much work for Anton to shove everything where it needed to go. Yanking the thick door out of the wall would have also worked, but keeping things vaguely intact was best. Inside the vault¡¯s thick walls was a small room, but it was packed tight with scrolls and manuals. Condensed as they were onto the shelves there were hundreds- no, somewhere around a thousand different techniques or other snippets of information. All valuable enough in some way to be kept in the sealed vaults of the Grand Archives. Anton began to pick through them before Vargha could reach him, rolling open scrolls and flipping through books that each had their own personal preservation formations- easily recognizable. Some were complex enough that even having practiced the reading and memorization techniques of Ten Thousand Scrolls Anton would need to spend more time or reread some of them. At the moment it just looked like he was taking casual glances, but that wasn¡¯t the case. As soon as Vargha arrived his eyes locked on something in particular, something Anton presumed he might want merely from the name. Soulflame. ¡°Interested in this one?¡± Anton asked as he performed a more than casual perusal of the scroll, his eyes tracing from top to bottom over the course of a ten seconds instead of doing so in an instant. He then rolled it back up and tossed it to Vargha, who caught it with surprise. ¡°Not really of interest for me, nor too problematic in the grand scheme of things. Though I¡¯d be careful with it.¡± Soulflame was definitely in the category of forbidden techniques. It could be categorized there for harm to the users and because many sects would probably ban it- though only because they were afraid. Along the lines of Candle Wax, it gave a significant boost to one¡¯s power for a short time. That was the sort of things that could decide battles between powerful figures, and thus sects that were insecure in their positions would forbid it. And perhaps Anton should, but it wasn¡¯t something that could be used regularly. Unlike Candle Wax which only burned lifespan- a significant sacrifice nonetheless- Soulflame unsurprisingly damaged the soul. More or less irreparably, ruining more than just cultivation and combat effectiveness but the hope of reincarnation. Having received what he wanted, Vargha could not help but read through the technique immediately- both out of greed to consume the knowledge and also caution to make sure it was genuine. That gave Anton time to sort through other things and prepare his distribution plan. ¡°Since the Burning Skull Sect desires such a powerful technique, I will gladly count it against your share,¡± Anton began his pitch after Vargha finished his perusal of the technique and was satisfied. ¡°These,¡± Anton gestured to a pile, ¡°Seem generally useful and should be copied. The originals can be distributed between us. Copies can be exchanged at later times. Others we will be taking, those of more use to us than to you.¡± As they got into the details, Vargha had some complaints. ¡°This distribution is greatly weighted towards you.¡± ¡°Ah, but you get Soulflame. A powerful technique that you have been seeking for some time, I imagine. Our side is not acquiring many terribly powerful techniques.¡± That wasn¡¯t quite true- especially one in particular- but there were other factors to consider. Like the balance of power. Ceretos had been the one to slay Ashwin and many of their more powerful defenders- Vargha was just taking the opportunity to raid the Grand Archives. Though he possessed some confidence to fight against Anton and Devon- justified or not- the Great Queen was another factor to consider. Then there was the other thing. He already had what he most desired. He might fight and potentially die to get his hands on Soulflame- but that meant fighting and potentially dying for something else and therefore potentially losing the technique he already possessed was not something he wanted to chance. Furthermore, there was the issue that if the Burning Skull Sect obtained too many good techniques, other sects might choose to band together against them, presumably somewhat more easily than attacking the Grand Archives. Though the defensive side always had the advantage, so as long as he remained modest they would likely be fine. He was still a Worldbinding cultivator, after all, and everyone respected their power. That was why they had such a relatively stable structure up until this particular war. ¡°We¡¯ll also be taking many of the things from the outer archives,¡± Anton declared. ¡°The method of distribution won¡¯t need to be hashed out in detail. You can¡¯t bring everything with you, not and leave before anyone else shows up, am I right?¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Any copies will be exchanged at a later date.¡± Anton handed over a spare communication device for just such an occasion. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll keep in touch.¡¯ Instead of putting the scroll into a storage bag, Vargha was unsubtly clutching it to his chest. ¡°We will,¡± he agreed. The tension never fully went away- at any point either side could suddenly attack the other to try to claim everything. That was just more difficult now, with things actually being distributed. Holding onto what was in hand and retreating was simple, especially with the promise of additional sects in the mix soon enough. Crew from The Independence were loading things from the outer archives as quickly as they could, paying no mind to the information they were carrying off- the same as the Burning Skull Sect and even the local cultivators who were planning to flee with what they could have. Nobody stopped each other, and the most valuable information from the vault itself had already been distributed to the strong. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. One technique Anton had claimed and not promised a copy of was actually titled ¡®Tides of the World: A History.¡¯ Its name was accurate, until the second half where the interesting part came in. A technique to control them¡­ to some extent. At the very least it promised such. Had Ashwin practiced it? Did the Sylanis Cluster keep themselves from invasion through some method, or was their current position a coincidence? Anton would not begrudge them the ability to protect their systems if that turned out to be true at all¡­ but he imagined there could also be dangerous uses for such a thing as well. If any of it even worked, which Anton couldn¡¯t tell through intuition. It was indicated that there had been success, but implicitly trusting authors of such things was foolish. Anton sensed other powers approaching, but having already cleared out the vault they were basically ready to leave at any time. They just had to fly up the current ships on the ground- dropping everything they couldn¡¯t immediately get on board. That took a few minutes, whereas those who were incoming were quite distant still. Thirty minutes or an hour off, perhaps. Out of courtesy, Anton warned Vargha- though the man would have likely intuited it from their quick departure, the extra seconds or minutes would be helpful to him as well. Then they were off, on a trajectory carrying them past Okloi¡¯s second sun. If anyone should be so foolish as to follow two Assimilation cultivators and The Independence, they would feel regret. Anton would have noticed if there were so many Worldbinding cultivators closing in. Instead, he sensed just¡­ the Children of Fortune and perhaps one other sect. They were late, though whether that was because the Children of Fortune could not predict this as accurately as events around Roistea was unclear. They didn¡¯t seem to have any of the extras they¡¯d previously been hosting, though Anton remained cautious until they were closer to the sun and he was certain they were not followed. There was the potential for more destruction and revenge within Okloi, but it seemed that the system would be picking at itself sufficiently that waiting to see what developed was the best option for the moment. Anton also wasn¡¯t particularly fond of the idea of overstaying their welcome and provoking a more organized response. ----- ¡°Gimme that,¡± Everheart said, attempting to snatch the book from Anton¡¯s hands. There was a complex series of movement techniques and misdirection as they chased each other around the peaks of the Order. Ultimately, Anton retained an advantage. He was fairly certain that Everheart was holding back- whether to not aggravate any remaining injuries or to conceal the full extent of his power Anton was unsure, though his personal power had improved since their first clash. He wasn¡¯t confident in winning any sort of actual battle, but his power wasn¡¯t remaining stagnant. He didn¡¯t have the confidence to say he¡¯d an Augmentation cultivator any time soon, though. Perhaps if Everheart hadn¡¯t been able to reintegrate himself with natural energy and was still reliant on ascension energy he had no access to it would be one thing, but the man seemed quite comfortable with his current position. ¡°I might allow you to see this,¡± Anton said, holding it away from Everheart, ¡°But I need you to answer some questions. Why did you have void ants on your moon base?¡± It was a question Anton had pretty reasonable answers to, but they were still speculation. ¡°Because the upper realms wanted to exterminate them,¡± Everheart said. ¡°And they¡¯re interesting.¡± He inclined his head to the Great Queen, who had held her place on Anton¡¯s shoulder the entire duration of their little scuffle. ¡°Your people should thank me.¡± Since Everheart learned everything he possibly could, he also knew the void ant¡¯s sign language. The Great Queen responded to him easily. ¡°Our people have some records of history,¡± she declared. ¡°We are aware of you. Our feelings towards you given that are barely one step above the general populace. Perhaps you should have told us why you uprooted us from our colonies, you asshole?¡± Everheart laughed, then performed very disturbing finger movements that were in no way possible for humans to manage, mimicking the void ant¡¯s sign language while speaking at the same time. ¡°Surely saving your species is worth something,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Just use your vocal chords,¡± the Great Queen said of his attempts. ¡°The popping of joints and the creaking sound of bending bones and distorting tendons is distracting. The efficiency your voice allows should be used since you have it. As for our thanks¡­ we already prevented ourselves from tearing you apart on principle. And we will gladly fight with you against invaders coming to Ceretos for your head.¡± Everheart laughed again. ¡°I sure hope no one¡¯s coming here for me! I¡¯m just a poor scholar.¡± ¡°Your secret is probably still safe,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if the entire upper realms come after you we might kick you out.¡± ¡°Might doesn¡¯t mean definitely, I¡¯ll take it!¡± Everheart said. ¡°Like that book!¡± ¡°I said questions,¡± Anton emphasized. ¡°I have more.¡± He¡¯d already memorized the book, of course. Travel between systems was not short. As for Everheart having the information, he wouldn¡¯t be a danger to Ceretos by having it. Anton wasn¡¯t fully sure how much actually worked, but Everheart certainly wouldn¡¯t manipulate things to make it easier for people from the upper realms to reach them. That would make it less useful as a hiding place. Likewise, he had no reason to do so for the others in the trifold alliance, and he usually remained around Ceretos regardless. The book was going to go to him, of course. Anton wanted to hear his insights. Even so, giving Everheart valuable information without asking for something in return was a bad precedent to set. Chapter 547 The great promise of controlling the flow of the tides of the world was not something so easily realized. At a basic level it might be used to conceal activity in an area, though even those promises were suspect. Anton and Everheart together felt like children trying to use sand to redirect the flow of the ocean itself. Even convincing themselves that they had an actual effect was difficult- others sensed no real change. That did not mean the techniques Anton had obtained were useless, simply that a basic understanding of the elements behind it had very little effect. At best it pushed them along a path they had barely stepped foot on. In that manner, Anton was actually ahead- having been present upon Ceretos for the shift, while Everheart was in the upper realms in isolation. He¡¯d experienced the intensifying of the flow towards Ceretos and the receding tides. Everheart¡¯s intuition had quickly allowed him to pick up that sense and likewise determine when the next cycle would happen, a strangely short one by historical understanding. The creator of the history and technique they were studying was a long dead individual from the Olkoi system. Anton couldn¡¯t tell whether he or some successor had manipulated the situation around the Sylanis Cluster or if they were naturally unknown by the upper realms. There had been no signs of the Twin Soul Sect among them nor other signs of the Trigold Cluster, or anything else that tied them to the upper realms. Yet they had the sort of resources that would doubtless be tempting to those same cultivators. ¡°Do you think this will actually work?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well¡­¡± Everheart frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t get the feeling that the progenitor of this technique took it very far. I would consider it incomplete in its current form, and thus the speculation of what it might do is unclear. But I do feel the potential. The question is whether it is worth devoting enough time training this.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I think it would be best to continue our practice but not expect anything to come of it. Likewise, we can disseminate this information to Rutera and Weos, and even back to the Sylanis Cluster¡­ once we secure our peace.¡± ¡°How long do you think such a peace will last?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°I¡¯m hoping for centuries,¡± Anton said. ¡°If nothing else, the Sylanis Cluster has a lot of rebuilding to do, and as far as we¡¯ve heard they¡¯re not done with their internal squabbles yet. That should take them a while to settle. Hopefully, until after the next invasion.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re hoping they¡¯re a target as well,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not fond of the upper realms thinking they can walk all over us. But if it has to happen to someone, I would not mind them spending some of their efforts on those who are not our friends.¡± ¡°Unfortunately,¡± Everheart said, ¡°With the groups in question it¡¯s less of a matter of if they have the people to commit, but simply how much they wish to use. They have hundreds of worlds, populations many times even the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s hundred billion or so. Perhaps even trillions, though not all are cultivators. That being said, more of them reach the ascension level than the rate for Worldbinding in the Sylanis Cluster. Was it one in a billion?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a number they maintained, more or less,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°And there were some who ascended, of course, but it seemed that they considered Worldbinding more valuable. Which I agree with personally, though not necessarily for everyone.¡± ¡°That would depend on whether you can reach an Augmentation equivalent,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton pondered, ¡°Though with the exception of those from Ceretos who can reattune to the local natural energy like yourself, I don¡¯t think Augmentation cultivators would generally be much trouble.¡± ¡°There are some who are massively powerful,¡± Everheart said. ¡°To the point that even diminished I would not wish to face them here. Only if I were fully recovered would I consider it. But,¡± Everheart emphasized, ¡°I would not expect them to lower themselves to come here. The mere possibility of danger could be enough, and they are quite busy holding onto their power in the upper realms.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I only had one individual to judge by. Fajra of the Radiant Beauty Sect. She actually improved during the invasion, consuming vast quantities of stolen resources.¡± ¡°Oh right¡­¡± Everheart stroked his chin, ¡°That old hag actually made it to the Augmentation stage. That happened here?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. She was certainly powerful, but given the lack of access to actual ascension energy I would only fear her if I was still in Life Transformation.¡± ¡°Well, her power is more geared towards augmenting or suppressing large groups. In personal combat, you could absolutely defeat her now. And unless she brought sufficient Integration forces, I imagine you could do that without being in any danger now. But she¡¯d be on the lower end of Augmentation in terms of personal combat power, especially having just advanced.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Anton agreed, ¡°But I will be growing more powerful before our next conflict, assuming she returns for the next cycle. So even if there are other Augmentation cultivators of more direct power along with her, I imagine I could be a match for any one of them with the restrictions in place.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll admit that Assimilation or Worldbinding are basically unknowns, just don¡¯t get arrogant. That¡¯s how you have to fake your own death three times in a row. The third time was almost not a fake,¡± Everheart grimaced. ¡°Regardless, they should be in for a surprise when they show up, no matter what they bring.¡± ¡°That is the plan. We wish to deliver them such a devastation blow they never return.¡± ¡°Or¡­¡± Everheart said, ¡°They come back the following cycle with everyone under their command.¡± ¡°I have no doubt that the Exalted Quadrant would happily send their troops over the long journey between them if they got wind of something like that. And vice versa. You seriously think they¡¯d commit all their forces to a single lower world?¡± ¡°Think? No, if they¡¯re thinking they won¡¯t. But people aren¡¯t always even a little bit rational.¡± ¡°If they try it, our Assimilation cultivators will be eight hundred years experienced. Assuming the standard six hundred year cycle happens again.¡± ¡°And assuming they live that long. Though that one¡¯s not out of the question,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°I¡¯d expect some to perish, but some should still be around¡­ and a few might even make it to the next step.¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°But whether Ceretos should ultimately concern themselves with that is pointless to discuss now. You have a war to settle and whatever happens with the invasion, and less than two more centuries to prepare.¡± ----- It was a year before the Sylanis Cluster agreed to any peace talks, though not in the worrying silence of previous attempts. It was simply a slow process, especially with many sects distracted by other things. Like looting the remains of sects that had been the most powerful. Few had retained any Worldbinding cultivators, not expecting their own to fall so easily. Ceretos, a single planet of modest population, had not seemed like such a threat. Anton didn¡¯t know what the Sylanis Cluster knew about their numbers, but their judgements were off. Either upon individual power, coordination, or the extremely helpful defensive and teleportation formations. Bringing people to where they needed to be not just via starship was extremely valuable, and well worth the expense. If only it was reasonable to bring cultivators at full fighting strength, but that was not the case. Regardless, reinforcements were always welcome. One year to actually agree on peace talks, and six months further for them to actually have a place and time and list of those attending. The speed of communication between systems and the way people functioned in general all added up. Three representatives from each side to represent each system and their interests. That included Anton, President Park, and Rikuto. Though they would be the ones speaking, Weos provided one of their Assimilation cultivators and The Independence would also be present to maintain a vague balance of power. The trifold alliance had secured the help of Kohar and negotiators from Rutera to draft their basic versions of agreements, with suggestions on what things it was reasonable to compromise on and what was not. Kohar especially went over potential loopholes with everyone. If there was to be further conflict, they could not allow the Sylanis Cluster to have real excuses. The diplomats for the Sylanis Cluster were all Worldbinding cultivators themselves. Aridasa from Okloi, and two more from the other systems unfamiliar to Anton. He still knew the man and the woman by name and reputation- Lomman of the Slithering Vine Sect from Aphuna, and Fedele from Azoth, as it was first known by the trifold alliance when they first thought it was simply a single system they faced. The latter was vaguely neutral, while the former was actually quite pleased about the destruction of the Ivory Maw. Aridasa was not the strongest of those that Okloi could have sent, but he was the most confident he would not be killed arbitrarily. Vargha was likely unafraid, but also uninterested in the negotiations. Agreeing to terms of peace was not terribly difficult- what was difficult was agreeing on penalties should such things be broken and how they might be enforced. Ultimately, the majority of the blame would be shifted to the now defunct sects, any reparations that might have been demanded already having been taken directly by the trifold alliance. Anton did intend to secure some nominal payments from those remaining based on their contributions to the war- as any non-violent exchange would hopefully promote peace, even if it was just a few yearly ships between their systems. Aridasa was actually more interested in securing concessions from his ¡®own side¡¯ for himself and his sect on Cheitov, though he certainly made it seem like he was offering help with materials. It seemed he wanted to get money flowing again as quickly as possible, while longer term gains would have to slowly ramp back up. Perhaps their finances were not doing well, or he was simply impatient. Then again, with money earlier he could invest in Cheitov¡¯s growth. Whether he planned to do anything like Ceretos¡¯ growth was another question, though they had to have seen some inkling of the planet¡¯s policy that everyone cultivated, and that the entire planet could grown in natural energy if done right. Anton wished he could say the negotiations finished in a day, or a week. But on the agreed upon rock floating through the vastness of space between their systems, time passed slowly and with little vigor for weeks that stretched into months, finally being finalized with input from sects back in each system over the course of six months. Very few people would be happy with the results, but none would be so upset as to not go along with the peace. And if anyone chose to ignore the agreement, Anton didn¡¯t intend to be so nice the next time. As if he could actually enforce the whole thing himself, which was not true. ----- ¡°That was boring,¡± the Great Queen declared. She had been brought along, though not visibly, as a sort of insurance. The enemy had also brought their own securities that were on the border of the agreement. The Great Queen wasn¡¯t an Assimilation or Worldbinding cultivator, and she stayed a great distance from the actual negotiations, waiting for a battle that never came. ¡°But, one must do what is necessary for harmony between colonies. I endured for the long term goals we share.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that,¡± Anton said. Unlike actual cultivators, the Great Queen could not immerse herself in gathering insights or other such things. It had truly been six months of basically no stimulation. ¡°But we appreciated your presence.¡± ¡°I now wish to check on the establishment of the colonies in Rutera and Weos,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°It will be easier for me if you come along with me.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°They can manage things back home without me. And visiting our allies for our first time of peace since our introductions should hopefully draw us closer.¡± One thing Anton wanted to do was see if he could alter the tides of the world to keep Rutera hidden. Previously it had been of no interest, but by the end of the cycle it would likely be a tempting target. Weos and Ceretos were already known, so as long as they were physically accessible there wasn¡¯t much that could be done. The invaders would likely learn about Rutera once they arrived, but by that point it would hopefully be too late to prepare another invasion force. Maybe it wouldn¡¯t work, but Anton wanted to at least try. Then he hoped for peace, though he knew it was only temporary. Besides, even if the lower realms were peaceful, that said nothing for the upper realms, the news coming from which indicated continued escalation of hostilities with the Harmonious Citadel. Chapter 548 There was a significant and obvious problem if Anton wanted to alter the flow of the tides of the world. It was not a small project, but that wasn¡¯t the most important factor. Instead it was familiarity and connection. Ceretos Anton had lived upon for two hundred and thirty years, multiple reasonable lifetimes. Rutera, the system Anton was next most familiar with, he had only a handful of years or decades, and only as a visitor. He honestly didn¡¯t even know where to start, or if he should. It was a question of how long it would take, among other things. Theoretically, anyone born on Rutera at the very moment he was contemplating could reach Anton¡¯s level of power by the time of the invasion. That meant any of those who had been cultivating since their first contact with Ceretos would have several more decades than that. If they began to learn and practice the techniques now, perhaps they could do something. Or it might take a century or more regardless of the familiarity. Anton frowned. He hadn¡¯t been planning to make an actual large change without consulting them, but he was quite fond of Rutera. Some of the people there were like family. But from that perspective, he should just help them be the best they could be. He could work with the other cultivators on Ceretos to combine their efforts, if there was anything that could functionally be changed about the tide of the world in the time they had. Could they hold off an invasion by years, decades? Given their status, that would be more advantageous to them than the enemy. Sadly, Anton didn¡¯t know. All he knew was that on some level the techniques described were possible- but so was Anton moving a planet between systems one chunk at a time, if he didn¡¯t die of old age. The question is what could actually be done. And for the moment the answer was practice with patience. The next cycle would come and allow an invasion, and at worst they might keep themselves isolated only to direct more forces towards their allies. So if anything could be changed, more understanding was necessary first. That would take time, but while waiting¡­ Anton could check out neighboring systems. They might find others, hopefully more on the friendly side or at least not aggressive. ----- Despite the significantly greater distances involved, messages between the upper and lower realms were only a few times slower than those between nearby systems in the lower realms, at least with the current functionality. Either could theoretically be improved at some point by formation masters of significant drive and talent. That included Catarina, but she was not interested in that aspect at the moment. Instead, she was still working out how to transfer techniques back and forth. There had been some success, but it wasn¡¯t the problem of transmitting that was holding her back, exactly. Rather, it was replicating any technique without the hand of the original author. There was sometimes a large difference between the words on the page and the thoughts imbued into the page, and a copy of just the technical wording would often result in an inferior or simply incomplete technique. Perhaps that was a weakness of the creators, unable to express themselves in words. It was true that many concepts were extremely difficult to communicate, but some techniques were overly complex and some could simply be described more clearly. Though it was useful for Catarina and her type of learning, not everyone would do well hearing how long to have energy flow through which meridians for exactly how long in what direction. And she hadn¡¯t even gotten to the issues of differences between ¡®upper¡¯ and ¡®lower¡¯ energy. At least word from Anton was that the war with the Sylanis Cluster was over. It was hard for her to imagine so many Worldbinding cultivators, or rather she hadn¡¯t even seen Assimilation cultivators. Treating them just like Integration cultivators was not correct either. One gained power from using a greater type of energy, another gained power from quantity and replenishment of the energy they were already used to. A cultivator in the upper realms who upper realms who managed both would be nearly unstoppable¡­ but perhaps those were Augmentation or Domination cultivators. Even with access to Everheart, there wasn¡¯t that much information about them. There was only so much the man was willing to share, though Catarina suspected it was not only for lack of helpfulness. Instead, she detected a hint of shame at lack of information- but that could have been her reading between the lines. A risk at the best of times when one was not communicating with manipulative assholes, which was one of the nicer things people called Everheart. But she trusted his words as far as her grandfather did¡­ which was a little bit. Somehow, even through the vast distances between them their messages were distinct. One radiated cold detachment, the other love despite them not having seen each other in decades. And they wouldn¡¯t for another century yet. There were methods to travel to the lower realms even when the tides of the world didn¡¯t quite match up, as Everheart showed, but it was not something to be done lightly. Returning would be more difficult and costly, and Catarina had too much to do in the upper realm to spend an amount of time in the lower realms worth the effort and cost- years, at least. ----- Citadel¡¯s Downfall seemed, at first, to be a bunch of disconnected moves. Carefully formulated, yes, and a list of appropriate counters for the style the Harmonious Citadel displayed, but little more than that. Included within were also techniques for disrupting the flow of their cultivation technique which Vari found much more useful- and concerning. Though her own version was quite modified, serious flaws were revealed that could reduce her power by a significant margin if properly exploited. However, if she could remove those flaws while still keeping the important fundamentals of her style- including the ability to draw upon those of the Harmonious Citadel and the saints in particular- then she would have a serious advantage. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Was it enough to make up for being an Integration cultivator against Augmentation cultivators? Likely not. And though she wasn¡¯t planning to go into any such battle alone, she also couldn¡¯t expect odds much better than one-to-one. Still, these techniques being distributed more widely would improve the power of their alliance. It just had to also not fall into the hands of the Harmonious Citadel or they might fix their flaws. Though it looked like the counters mentioned were simply individual moves, once she began to practice them Vari felt something different. Something more to it. Maybe everything would fit together into a more comprehensive style of its own, though not one with strict moves. That was what she felt, though after extensive self training she also knew she would need practical experience. That meant fighting against the Harmonious Citadel. She was not reluctant to do so- in fact she was rather eager- but only those who were the upper echelon, the practitioners of the Glorious Harmony Technique and the saints. They were responsible for all of the problems. Those who practiced the Holy Harmony Technique, like she had, were simply pawns. Unknowing, for the most part. They would be dealt with when she had to, but Vari preferred facing the actual problems if at all possible. ----- The system used for describing the relative locations of systems had been generally agreed upon. From the perspective of Ceretos, the center of the galaxy was ¡®north¡¯, eventually leading to the upper realms and much closer leading to Weos. Rutera was rotationally clockwise, which was ¡®west¡¯. The Sylanis Cluster was also mainly west or slightly northwest. Thus, in the search for new systems, Anton found it most appropriate to go east or south. Though he had one additional star he could bind to, Anton kept that in reserve, traveling not under his own power but in a proper interstellar ship. It was capable of a significant distance of travel as long as Anton was not in any particular haste, spending months combing through a system or two. That was an important feature, as the system to the east did not have much in the way of natural energy. The stars always had it in abundance, the great power they produced likewise coming with strands of energy that could be transformed and wielded. The empty, lifeless worlds however had very little natural energy to speak of- only what was trapped there by their gravity, Anton postulated. Though the more sizable planets were not insignificant in power, it was less readily accessible in the form of great storms, powerful icy oceans, or the like. Though the planets were lifeless, Anton didn¡¯t find it unpleasant to visit them. It was not the same as visiting somewhere that should have been alive and finding it barren. For human life, and those sharing planets with them like the majority of what Anton had seen, there were acceptable temperature and atmospheric ranges that those systems simply didn¡¯t have. Gravity, too. Humans would not survive to cultivate with too much gravity, and too little would have different issues. Anton explored these empty planets, poking around interesting places. Some had great volcanic activity and interesting crystal formations that would not develop in a planet with the atmospheres he expected. Others were more like the moon- more or less round and featureless except for pockmarks from impacts over the millennia and more they had been around. Some would have been looking for resources. Anton didn¡¯t find it particularly enticing to pull out hundreds of tons of raw metals and refine them, and if that was truly something desirable it could be done back in his home system. Asteroids just floated around with masses of metal relatively easy to get to. As for anything unique, Anton didn¡¯t have the qualifications to judge it. He did pick up a few samples of things he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d seen elsewhere, but doubtless he would be corrected. Only a few eager explorers came with Anton to help with logging information. Ceretos had plans for longer term expeditions, but Anton was mostly interested in poking his head around and then leaving. Elsewhere, Rutera and Weos were back to the same, or would be now that the war was over. There were only a few peculiarities Anton thought particularly notable, besides the differences in stars themselves. He would someday experiment how different stars affected his abilities more. As for the oddities, there was one system in particular that had a number of planets and moons orbiting perpendicular to the general orbital plane. What plane that might be was difficult to determine, but approximately half of the planets went one way and half the other. And, while moons would normally stick to the same plane the planet rotated around, the same was true for them- about half followed their planets and half went perpendicular around the other way. That most certainly did not seem natural, given how gravity tended to tug things into one plane, but maybe they struck a perfect balance¡­ or simply had not had the time to shift into the ¡®normal¡¯ configuration yet. The important part was Anton had not found any life, human or otherwise. Cultivators might eventually be interested in expanding to live in any of the convenient systems to the east, but as they were it was of little practical merit. The more promising ones were to the south. Anton had only chosen east because it was the direction the other systems had the least access to, because they were somewhat closer, and because of idle curiosity. He was also nervous, as entering a system without a star he had assimilated would make him vulnerable. Though realistically everyone else with him would be more vulnerable, as he was still stronger than a Life Transformation cultivator regardless. Ultimately, a few months wouldn¡¯t make a difference either way, and the order he chose to go to places shouldn¡¯t matter- or at least it couldn¡¯t be predicted how it would matter. Chapter 549 Upon leaving subspace, sensors on the ship began to pick up bountiful information. Matija was familiar enough with most of the details to parse what they had, but she was specialized in a narrower field. She was only chosen for this excursion because of her and her crew¡¯s experience- and her strength, if necessary. She could make optimal use of the ship¡¯s reasonable complement of weapons, augmenting them for efficiency or power as necessary with her cultivation. It was Rutera¡¯s hope that such things would be unnecessary- but they knew that practically they had to be prepared. The trifold alliance still maintained their defensive pact after the war, but it wouldn¡¯t do much good for lost exploration ships if they were avenged later. Besides, as the weakest of the three systems Rutera was still striving to come into their own power. The Independence helped greatly, but it wasn¡¯t like they could easily make massive battleships. The costs in labor and materials weren¡¯t small by any means, and now that they weren¡¯t actively in a war the expenses were harder to justify. So individuals who were further along in cultivation for whatever reason were necessary, and that put Matija at a higher priority than others. She still had some additions to her crew to help out, but she was in charge because it was easier to not swap command structures for battle. Not that it had been relevant so far, and hopefully it would stay that way. Their job was to do a complete but not in-depth sweep of the system, sensing for life and technology. It was still odd for Matija to think that Rutera¡¯s way of life was less common, but with the entire upper realms being full of cultivators there was sufficient evidence, at least for that area. There was some possibility that further towards the edge of the galaxy natural energy might be weaker and lead towards more technological civilizations, if any. The question was if they would be human, and if they were how they arrived. That, nobody seemed to know. The reason they were not probing too deeply despite it possibly revealing something minor was that nobody wanted to annoy someone like a Worldbinding cultivator. Anton had been a rather pleasant encounter, especially for encountering people poking around his sun, but most people wouldn¡¯t necessarily react so nicely. Even a decent person could feel a bit impatient or default to violence when they felt threatened, and that was not the image of a ¡®typical cultivator¡¯. If nothing else, they would try to place themselves in an advantageous position. There was beeping on a nearby console. ¡°Unusual natural energy signatures detected, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Unusual how?¡± Matija asked. ¡°Looks like elevated levels¡­ perhaps intentional flow.¡± They¡¯d come across a few anomalies like that before, but Matija once more integrated herself with the ship¡¯s sensory units. It wasn¡¯t a state that could be maintained long term like a normal cultivator sensing, but it enhanced both her and the ship. Instead of a particularly interesting volcano or a storm, Matija was met with a planet that definitely had natural energy. More than just a little, and not just naturally flowing about. This had not been one of their prime candidates as it seemed too cold to sustain life, but that was only from telescopic observations originating in their own systems. Yet here it was, signs of cultivators. As Matija¡¯s senses touched the peaks of icy mountains, she felt a response, a cultivator¡¯s sense intersecting with her own like crossing ripples in a pond. ¡°Reporting contact,¡± Matija began, concocting a message back to Rutera. There would be no response, as the message would take days in each direction. That meant after she reported the location and details she had, discretion on how to act had to be up to her. There were protocols in place, but ultimately the actual discretion was in her hands. She could move on, letting the decision be made without her of whether to send a diplomat¡­ or she could engage on her own. A difficult decision as they coasted closer to the planet, but one she had to decide fairly quickly. After all, they had already been detected. Remaining away showed a level of timidity- or perhaps stealth and subterfuge. If only she could judge a person from their senses momentarily touching. ¡°We¡¯ll be landing, or at least attempting a descent,¡± Matija said. ¡°Keep shields up, ready to adapt to incoming fire.¡± Unless they came back with ships specifically equipped for battle, any ambassador wouldn¡¯t be particularly better defended than this current science ship. The last decades had provided significant changes in the capabilities of Ruteran ships, and Matija was supplied with something top of the line. That might have something to do with knowing the top general and a patriarch from another world, but Matija hadn¡¯t leaned on her connections to get her position. This was what they decided was required for a scout. Matija kept her thoughts on the weapons, but didn¡¯t ask for power to be routed to any of them. That would mean a moment of delay if battle came about, but avoiding displays of aggression which a cultivator might be able to read were the priority. As they got closer, Matija casually sensed more cultivators- only on the peaks. She knew cultivators liked mountain peaks, but it was odd that there were no signs of settlements lower down. There were signs of life, though a casual scan couldn¡¯t say much. Plants were sparse at best, which was understandable for the planet being below the freezing point of ice all over its surface. In fact, the mountain peaks seemed to have the most heat. They continued onward, Matija guiding them towards the individual who had sensed her. They moved at deliberate speed, not too rapidly but not slowly or with any intent to conceal their presence. As they got closer, Matija felt those same senses lock onto them. Soon enough they were close enough for the sensors to pick out a good landing area- nearby, but not directly in the middle of the cultivators they had sensed. It was also removed enough that if there were any attacks they would hopefully be able to retreat by staying out of the enemy¡¯s range. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Enhanced visuals came up on the forward screen as they entered the atmosphere- though it was extremely thin so high up. They had mostly matched velocity with the planet, so the rigors of reentry were not too harsh- though the shields would have absorbed the heat regardless. Matija¡¯s visual focus was on the same individual, who could now be seen leaping towards them, stepping on clouds as she went. The sensors were just good enough to pick up details that indicated the figure was a woman. As she came closer, her movements did not change, neither hurrying nor tallying. Her swift leaps were simply for the sake of surmounting the distance between clouds, surfaces which barely seemed to notice her weight as the old woman¡¯s bare feet touched upon them. It seemed better not to land without permission, but unfortunately it was difficult to communicate and indicate personhood without. Still, Matija had the pilot hover while she prepared the speakers. There was little outside noise to pick up, but the thin atmosphere also might make it difficult. The question that Matija was not qualified to answer was whether this individual would find it more respectful to be spoken to first or not. Ultimately she had to be practical¡­ and if things went wrong, she was fairly confident in the ship being able to withstand the woman¡¯s attacks. She was a Life Transformation cultivator, late stage or perhaps approaching the peak, but Matija was aware how much those could vary in strength. Matija went for a proactive approach. ¡°Greetings, esteemed elder.¡± Hopefully, the outside volume was reasonable. At the very least, it should be recognizable as speech. ¡°We come in peace.¡± There was now less than a few hundred meters between the ship and the woman, close enough the distance could be closed almost immediately. Matija repeated the message, then the visual sensors picked up movements of the woman¡¯s mouth. The microphones did not hear much, and after a moment Matija realized the woman was projecting her voice through her energy. Their shields would block that, especially weak as the effort was, so they only got the remnants of the sound wherever it broke apart. Matija extended her own energy, possessing the power of Essence Collection, potentially not too far from Life Transformation herself. She repeated her greeting, and she heard a response. It was definitely speech, but she didn¡¯t quite get it. It was certainly more like the language Ceretos or Weos spoke than that of Rutera, but it wasn¡¯t quite comprehensible. ¡°Tune the shields to not resist low energy,¡± Matija instructed. ¡°We need this to get to the translator units.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for the translators to manage something- and Matija realized why. There was not just an accent, but more obscure or archaic words. ¡°From whence dost thou come?¡± the old woman asked once more. It was strange that the language here was so divergent when even the Sylanis Cluster shared the vast majority of the same language, but Matija didn¡¯t have time to think about that. ¡°We hail from the stars above,¡± Matija said, with the translator repeating her words slightly changed. Now that she realized what was happening Matija could sort of understand without her translator, but she¡¯d never studied that aspect of the language. It had been included in the translation programs just in case. ¡°The upper realms?¡± the woman continued forward, alighting on a cloud no more than a dozen meters away. ¡°No. Different parts of the lower realms,¡± Matija said. She didn¡¯t want a misunderstanding. She displayed as much sincerity as possible through her energy as she could. ¡°Display your visage,¡± the woman demanded. Matija looked down. ¡°We must land below.¡± Perhaps she should have waited, but things seemed to be going fine for the moment. Off comms, Matija instructed the crew. ¡°I will step out alone. If I am attacked, flee without me. You can fight as you wish, but I doubt you will have many chances to accelerate.¡± More figures could be sensed further up the mountains, those with the same sort of aura as the old woman. They were a bit more hurried, but slower, walking on the snow instead of leaping onto clouds. The woman didn¡¯t object as they landed on a section that was indicated to be sufficiently solid to support their ship- the ice and snow were quite variable in thickness and solidity. Matija stepped out, keeping a personal translator on her, connected to the ship. It would also record what was said. ¡°Here I am, elder,¡± Matija inclined her head politely as she stepped down the ramp. She carried herself with what confidence she had, at least aware that the potential danger was lower than Anton¡­ though she hadn¡¯t even been prepared to understand that at the time. ¡°A woman. Human,¡± the old woman nodded, her long flowing robes strangely leaving her hands, head, and feet uncovered. ¡°You seek enlightenment.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question, as far as Matija could tell. In a way, perhaps she did¡­ but it could mean many things. ¡°We have our own paths to enlightenment,¡± she said. ¡°What brought our ship here was a desire for greater understanding of our surroundings.¡± The additional cultivators that somewhat worried Matija were closer still, but they now maintained a respectful distance. Presumably, they were lesser disciples of the sect. ¡°Our words are not the same,¡± the woman said. ¡°Yet they are. You know about the upper realms?¡± ¡°Their existence. Some details. Not everything,¡± Matija hoped those short sentences would translate well. So far, the woman felt calm and peaceful, but that could easily change if offended. ¡°How many of your people have reached ascension?¡± the woman asked after a pause. ¡°Of us? None. But we know of those who have.¡± Matija didn¡¯t want to promise that she could bring by someone who knew a lot about ascension¡­ but she could. ¡°Is ascension your goal?¡± ¡°It is the goal of all except those who have given up hope,¡± the woman said. Bleak. But perhaps true. ¡°We should introduce ourselves. I am Matija.¡± ¡°Janae,¡± the woman responded. ¡°Speak of your travels between the stars.¡± A combined offer and command, but Matija was willing to entertain both to some extent. Especially if it meant continued peaceful communication. Chapter 550 Over the course of several days, Matija became more familiar with Janae and the icy planet. The old woman was just one of many Life Transformation cultivators, though the only late stage member in her sect simply called the Third Peak Ascetics. The overall population of the planet Gnadus was small, with the ¡®civilian¡¯ population living inside the peaks in carved out tunnel cities. Everyone was a cultivator, or at least made the attempt. The natural energy in the area was not particularly high or low, but that was only the peaks. Down below, the icy planet was colder and harsher, the shadows allowing little light and heat to reach anything. Icy mists concealed other dangers, infrequent but deadly beasts and plants that would absorb any form of natural energy held by anything they could poison or entangle. A harsh planet with little in the way of resources- most food was fungus grown in their tunnels, or a few plants resistant to the chill that were less dangerous. There was little access to resources, even just beyond food. Metals were rare, textiles from plant or animal sources minimal, and enchantments and formations were generally restricted to those keeping communities intact, the civilians inside and the cultivators outside in the less protected, harsher environments. From the information available to her, Matija had no reason to believe any peak was more prosperous than any other. They did compete with each other for resources, down in the valleys, but maintaining control of multiple peaks was not something that any had managed for long. None even made the attempt, simply using what they could for themselves. Yet despite the harsh environment, the current state of things was lacking the cutthroat attitude many cultivators had. If Janae was covetous of the ship, she concealed it well. Unsure of what she could actually offer, Matija simply spoke of the other locations. Rutera and their technology, Weos and their gravity control, Ceretos and their vibrant world. She even spoke of the Sylanis Cluster, the worlds themselves being fairly abundant with resources, though they thirsted for ever more. ¡°Has anyone ever tried leaving this place?¡± Matija asked. ¡°Seeking somewhere with greater resources.¡± ¡°That is what we do at every moment,¡± the old woman declared. ¡°We pursue ascension. The upper realms have boundless energy, do they not?¡± By the current point the translation technology and simple practice made her words more familiar, so that Matija no longer thought of the strange archaic words, though the speech pattern was something that took more time to get used to. ¡°So I have heard,¡± Matija agreed. ¡°Has anyone sought anything closer?¡± ¡°We have no ability to construct ships like yours,¡± Janae said with little emotion, just stating facts. ¡°Not now, at least.¡± She breathed in deeply, the cold, sharp air that Matija could barely manage bundled up flowing into her lungs. ¡°Here, all are on the path to ascension, though it is long and difficult. I was once as weak as the least of the civilians living inside the peak, but I found my path and will walk it to the end. This is the way to be truly strong.¡± ¡°... I do agree that hardship and adversity can promote growth,¡± Matija said, ¡°But given other options, I would expect people to spring for them.¡± ¡°Perhaps some will,¡± Janae said. ¡°If you are able to bring people away, some would wish so. I do not think there would be many members of the Third Peak. I know our dedication. But there will be others.¡± Janae¡¯s head turned, her eyes locking onto something in the distance. ¡°There are further visitors. Those from the First Peak.¡± Matija felt some measure of distaste in the woman¡¯s voice, subtle though it was. ¡°Is there something wrong with them?¡± ¡°The ancient name of their location gives them arrogance that simply happens to be matched by their current relative power.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like the sound of that,¡± Matija said. ¡°Do not worry. You and the others are guests,¡± Janae stood, her bare feet sinking into the snow. ¡°I will not allow harm to come to you.¡± ¡°... I need to reach the ship,¡± Matija realized. ¡°If you are going to do so, I would hurry. The majority of your crew are safe inside the peak, which is where I would recommend you go afterwards.¡± Matija agreed with the plan, and the ship¡¯s current location made it easier to follow through with both. Their ship now rested not far from one of the entrances to the peak, having been moved for more comfortable access once they were welcomed. As Matija hurried towards the ship, she chastised herself for getting careless. She was not a warrior, but that did not mean she had a good excuse to just leave her weapons behind. Especially when she could have a storage space carried on her. The bags cultivators favored were a bit awkward for grabbing certain things out of, but not so inconvenient that she shouldn¡¯t have been in the habit of keeping one with essentials. Aboard the ship, she could feel several Life Transformation cultivators approaching. It seemed a bit much for a friendly visit. By the time Matija grabbed the first comms she could find and her rifle, an icy cold washed over her even inside the ship. If the ship was up and running, manned by a proper crew, perhaps its shield might resist the aura and fight back¡­ but it was too late for that. Matija burst out of the ship, certain that the worst was coming to pass. It wasn¡¯t much further to the entrance, but it wasn¡¯t an insignificant distance either. Especially not when Life Transformation cultivators were running after her. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Perhaps she shouldn¡¯t have run. That just made people want to chase. But the shockwaves of energy coming from around Janae indicated that they might not have waited. In front of Matija, an entire embankment of snow and ice rose up, forming into a wall. When she tried to leap over it, it rose up along with her. Her foot kicked into it, and the ice grabbed onto her. A quick blast of her beam rifle melted away the material around her and threw her back, but from then on every step was a hazard as the very ground she trod upon attempted to catch her. Matija only saw a woman- significantly younger than Janae, but also not young- following after her. The woman was in no hurry, casually waving her arms to cause Matija boundless trouble. The entrance to below had been clearly blocked off for her- she wasn¡¯t certain she could have reached it even if she had gone straight there, unless she had known to sprint with her full power. Now, she was taking the only path available to her. ¡°Do not run. We just wish to speak to you.¡± The voice sent chills down her neck entirely unrelated to the actual cold of the surroundings. ¡°If that were true you wouldn¡¯t have attacked at all!¡± Matija said, suddenly finding herself running out of places to go. The woman seemed to have some limit to her range, but Matija wasn¡¯t gaining any practical distance. And ahead of her was very little and then nothing. The edge of a sharp cliff descending from the Third Peak. ¡°I¡¯m not going to kill you,¡± the woman said. ¡°That would be quite simple, you know? I just need information you have. About that metal ship, among other things.¡± Matija turned around to face the woman. Besides being younger than Janae, and their robes being of similar styles, Matija noticed many differences. The woman wore shoes, gloves, and covered her head in wrappings. All were of higher quality, a quality that Janae likely could have had if she did not choose to match the rest of the sect. ¡°I would have gladly given you such information if you had simply asked. But I am already certain you can not be trusted with it.¡± Walls were slowly growing up about her- not that it mattered, as she already had nowhere to escape. They were purely for show. ¡°You will tell me what I want to know regardless,¡± the woman declared. ¡°Do people usually listen to you?¡± Matija asked. ¡°Of course. I have the strength to command respect.¡± Matija jumped backwards, making sure she was well clear of the cliff face. She didn¡¯t want to be caught, so she also propelled herself downwards out of sight. Perhaps the woman would choose to follow her, but Matija wasn¡¯t going to make it easy. She was dunked in an icy ocean- though Matija was quite sure she was actually still among gasses and not liquids. The fog was simply so thick it felt liquid, hanging unnaturally in the air with shards of ice among it. Matija¡¯s natural energy surrounded her as she fell. She was already aware the gravity of the planet was slightly above average- though with the sharp prominence of the peaks it was less atop them, so she accelerated more slowly at first. The change was barely noticeable, as she was more focused on finding a happy medium between slowing her acceleration and not being cut by razor sharp shards of ice crashing into her at great speed. Her natural energy quickly depleted by a quarter, but she felt the end of her descent coming, preparing herself for the sudden stop at the end. Her arms spread out, a parachute of natural energy slowing her descent. She hoped she hadn¡¯t misjudged the timing. The impact nearly knocked her out- which meant that she¡¯d been too late. Her body was stronger than a normal person¡¯s. But she was conscious and alive, and she didn¡¯t feel the energy above chasing after her. The first thing Matija did was pull out her communication device, which she found through a combination of the extreme cold and the fall was barely functional, the natural energy flowing through it sluggishly even as Matija forced it awake and prepared her message for the half technological device. Another thing she should always have on her- like her phone, despite it not doing much of anything away from Rutera. A message was out, and Matija wondered if she had made the wrong choice. The air above had been freezing enough that she could barely stand it. Here, it was cold, dark, and filled with a thick fog that diluted her vision and senses even further. She needed to find some sort of cave or¡­ something. And also watch out for local animal and plant life, all of which had the ability to resist the extreme temperatures. ----- When Matija had communicated about Gnadus, the information had also eventually reached Anton. His ship was already planning their next destination, but with an actual confirmed contact new places could wait. Anton was excited to meet new people. Further information that came along during the journey was positive, though the planet itself sounded like a terrible place to live. It was only the most recent message, sent directly to Anton, that concerned him in any way. It was little more than a garbled message, characters Anton had forgotten that Rutera¡¯s technology could even display gracing his screen. Such errors were uncommon, and Anton¡¯s device even informed him that the integrity of the transmission was suspect. But he looked at it anyway, finding nothing of use within it. Any words he could pick out might be random, so he tried not to make any assumptions. He sent back a response, knowing it would take more than few hours to arrive even as the ship he was on approached the system. He just asked if the transmission was on purpose, and noted that he was nearby. He got no response. Finding Matija¡¯s ship when they approached was easy. It was the only piece of technology on the whole planet, and there were only a few dozen places with any population to begin with, all tightly packed into their settlements. Yet as they drew closer, Anton found no signs of Matija- or the old woman Janae. Instead, there were only cultivators gathered around the ship, engaging with it curiously. None were recognizably part of Matija¡¯s crew nor reasonably from Rutera at all. Anton didn¡¯t like to overreact, so he didn¡¯t even shoot a hole through the hands of anyone. Not even a tiny one that would heal. Though he was absolutely thinking about it as they circled around the area, considering a place to set down. Anton noticed several Life Transformation figures approaching. ¡°Keep the ship active and mobile,¡± Anton said as he made his way towards an exit hatch, designed purposefully for people like him who were better not restricted inside a ship. ¡°Don¡¯t engage until I do. If I do.¡± The gunners had a clear opinion of the likelihood of that event, the weapons thrumming with power ready to burst out at any moment, and Anton couldn¡¯t argue with that in the slightest. Chapter 551 The moment he was away from the ship, Anton felt one of the Life Transformation individuals trail off in that direction while the others continued to move towards him, jumping between clouds. Given the prevalence of those, it was nearly akin to flying. Anton projected his voice towards them, not interested in dealing with politeness with the way they had composed themselves. ¡°Where are Matija and her crew?¡± He did get a response, but it was barely intelligible like reading through old tomes from several cycles previous, the majority of which were documents of little to no importance. Anton did understand what he thought was ¡®Primary Peak¡¯. ¡°Inform me where the owner of that ship is,¡± Anton gestured. They seemed to understand ¡®ship¡¯ at least, Anton quickly picking out words he¡¯d never actually heard spoken. Not the way they were being used. He could at least get a decent handle on what was being said. ¡°It is ours now,¡± said a woman leading the group. ¡°As will be everything of yours, intruder.¡± There was no way Anton could have missed the level of aggression in the group even if he were merely at the beginning of Spirit Building, having just trained in Insight. There was little attempt to conceal that, nor their overwhelming confidence. Perhaps it was reasonable, as they were two Life Transformation cultivators against one in their home territory. Indeed, Anton felt sluggish and weak. He felt it rather difficult to dodge the clouds suddenly swirling around him, and was keenly aware that he had not assimilated the local star. Though it was not a long process, it wasn¡¯t something he could do during combat. At best, like Rutera¡¯s star, he could finish a half-done process. But he still wasn¡¯t a mere Life Transformation cultivator, and though some of his power and much of his recovery of energy were limited, there was a portion of his abilities that were not affected by proximity to a bound star. Ascension energy was drawn from the upper realms through him and out, the power of Fleeting Youth reminding him he could never ascend nor even venture close to the upper realms. Anton¡¯s first shot was aimed at the heart of the leading woman, but she avoided it by leaping to the side, a platform of ice appearing momentarily. The same was true for the man behind her, and his arrow continued without striking a single hair. But it only took another moment for it to arrive at its true target, the third one which was distracted with chasing the ship. An outstretched arm was pierced at the shoulder from behind, the arrow working its way through the arm and leaving little worthy of being called that name behind. It was unlikely the arm gesture was required for the control of snow, ice, and water in the atmosphere- but it was very distracting to receive such an injury. The arrow also served another purpose, concretely informing the gunners on the ship that they were cleared to engage. Anton could have said the words, they were hardly distant enough to cause him trouble in that regard, but the arrow was just as swift. ¡°We came in peace,¡± Anton said, ¡°But if you require war, you shall have it.¡± Flames burned within and around him, the shadows of six distant stars drawn upon for every trickle of power Anton could get. Underestimating his opponents would be foolish. The sky itself attacked Anton at the behest of the two individuals he was facing, and he had no spare moments for decisive moves. He continued to shoot at the two individuals with bows all around him, no longer falsifying his accuracy. As he did so, he climbed higher into the sky. A strange heat filled him in the icy sky, not as pleasant as it might seem. The thinning atmosphere allowed greater amounts of radiation through, a complication Anton did not wish to deal with. The two chasing him found themselves slowing even as they attempted to maximize their speed. Perhaps if they had patiently waited for him to land, he would have been enough inside their domain that they could have defeated him. But despite the inefficiency of his technique and his lack of a portion of his power, he was still an Assimilation cultivator able to fly through the skies and space itself. His opponents could only control so much, and by the time they began to mimic his techniques, propelling themselves purely with natural energy, it was already too late. Their attacks were now unable to reach him, even if only for a few moments, while their efforts were divided between controlling clouds on the offensive, moving through space that would not easily carry them, and their own defensive energy. Anton¡¯s arrows pierced into any weakness they could find, puncturing holes in arms, legs, and a few more critical blows into the torso of the two. ¡°Surrender!¡± Anton commanded them. A flash of anger in the woman¡¯s eyes at the command, yet understanding. It was impossible to simply retreat now- though they could not know Anton¡¯s true range, it should at least be more than sufficient to fire upon them on their way back to their sect and whatever security it might offer. There was a moment of contemplating charging the distance between them- Anton was ready with Star Steps for an impossible acceleration away from any such attempt. Finally, the woman nodded. ¡°We surrender,¡± she held her hands to show they were empty- though weapons weren¡¯t Anton¡¯s main concern. The relevant part was that she and her companion dropped their control over the majority of energy around them, letting the reaching clouds fall. Anton made certain that the ship had finished its own battle without issue. It should have been fine, there were more than a few Essence Collection individuals aboard. Anton realized he should have probably carried at least a pair of Life Transformation cultivators as backup. The intent had been peace, but he¡¯d been more than a little careless. Merve had wanted to come along even though she was in the midst of critical insights gained during the final battles of the war. Anton had refused her specifically for that reason, and because he didn¡¯t want her to remain tied to him. She was finally building some trust with others upon Ceretos. But he should have taken someone else. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Anton did not make a move closer to the two below. ¡°Your name?¡± He pointed to the woman. ¡°I am Anton, Sect Head of the Order of One Hundred Stars.¡± The woman who appeared middle aged frowned. ¡°Liese. The First Peak.¡± He thought about just killing her, and the man behind her. That would be easier, but he wanted to have a decent impression on the planet, and coming in and just killing their people might not be the right one. It was confirmed that this was not the woman Matija had been around, though. Janae. ¡°Where is Matija? The foreigner who came with that ship?¡± Anton included as much as he could in gestures, repeating with slightly differing language to try to match the older speech patterns. It didn¡¯t take long for Liese to understand sufficiently. ¡°Dead.¡± ¡°Where?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The Third Peak,¡± she pointed off into the distance. ¡°Bring me,¡± Anton gestured, following a good kilometer behind the two. He took careful measure of how much energy they were expending, ultimately determining they were not able to walk on the clouds indefinitely. The third peak was more than just a small distance away. The planet Gnadus was relatively small and the peak stood so high over everything else that they were visible from a great distance, but the trip still took hours- mostly limited by the travel speed of the two Life Transformation cultivators. Above them, the ship from Ceretos hovered and watched. As they approached the Third Peak, cultivators gathered together defensively- guarding an entrance to the inside, and not their own external structures. Anton didn¡¯t sense any Life Transformation cultivators. ¡°Where is Janae?¡± Anton projected his voice to the other two. Liese shook her head. ¡°I am unaware.¡± Anton pulled out two pairs of shackles and tossed them the kilometer to the others. ¡°Put those on.¡± He hadn¡¯t bound them before because regular shackles wouldn¡¯t do much, and he didn¡¯t want to carry them even if their energy was bound by these. Anton watched, wondering if they might refuse, his fingers playing with the string of his bow. His senses told him the ship was ready as well. But they made the correct choice, accepting the shackles. But from their surprise when they actually clasped around their wrists, perhaps they didn¡¯t understand what they truly meant. For Life Transformation cultivators, the flow of natural energy would be almost completely cut off. Enough, at least, that they could not damage the shackles unless they were one of the few styles that tempered their body far beyond the norm- but they were clearly more focused on energy. At best, Anton knew they were cold adapted. Their bodies certainly weren¡¯t extra durable to punctures. With the two restrained, Anton moved forward, approaching the local disciples. ¡°Is your leader here?¡± he asked, ¡°Janae?¡± A few moments of discussion Anton couldn¡¯t quite make out, not because the sound didn¡¯t reach him but because he was still unfamiliar with the ancient form of speech. Though once he¡¯d exchanged more than a handful of sentences he thought he¡¯d do better. Seeing the subdued energy of the two Life Transformation cultivators, and perhaps their displeasure, they decided that Anton was not immediately going to attack them. A disciple stepped forward, bowing towards Anton. ¡°Esteemed elder. You defeated the First Peak?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anton said concisely. ¡°Where is Janae?¡± ¡°The Sect Head descended into the mists after driving off the attack of the First Peak.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anton asked. He had some idea, but he wasn¡¯t certain. ¡°Our guest fell into the mists. Matija.¡± ¡°Matija is my friend,¡± Anton said. ¡°I plan to seek her out. And your sect head.¡± He gestured to Liese, and the other whose name he had not bothered with. ¡°Can you watch over these two?¡± The disciples looked hesitant, so Anton took some time to explain. ¡°The restraints will keep them at this level of power. Any of you Essence Collection cultivators could subdue them both,¡± he pointed to a few individuals who should be more than strong enough to deal with them. He gave orders to the ship to remain in flight. They needed to be able to retreat should enemies they could not handle arrive. Anton was directed to the signs of a battle, only a few remnants of footprints due to subsequent snow and general manipulation via energy. That, apparently, was where Matija fell. His senses dove down into the mists. He could tell they stretched more than a few kilometers beneath the high peaks¡­ but though he expected his senses to go hundreds of kilometers through atmosphere, he quickly found that something about the mists restricted him greatly. It was more difficult than sensing through water, and even most solid ground. If he was fully immersed, his senses would stretch less than a kilometer, maybe not even a few hundred meters. He held the communication device in his hand, focusing his energy. ¡°Matija. I am at the Third Peak. I will find you.¡± With practically no distance to travel, the message should arrive instantly. Anton could not sense where it would have gone, the connection between them not covering the space between such devices. Nor did he get a response- though why was unclear. It would have been more dramatic to jump down into the mists, but Anton thought it more practical to descend at a measured rate. He began to climb down, the icy rocks and stone providing little grip, but his natural energy finding holds nonetheless as he moved hand over foot downwards. Soon, he was on snow covered ground, barely able to see his hand in front of his face. His bow was in hand. It was just like going on a little winter hunting trip, only supernaturally cold. Chapter 552 Icy mist swirled, thick to the point that not only could Anton not see the ¡®ground¡¯ in front of him, he could barely pick out anything below the surface with his senses. Natural energy was both abundant and yet inaccessible in the area, the cold more than it should be but the power that made it so distant and unusable. At least to Anton, who practiced powers of light and fire. He was looking for tracks, days old in snowstorms that never ceased. So far, he¡¯d had little luck finding anything but concerningly large cat paws and some tunnels of burrowing creatures, neither the right size to be Matija or the woman he had not met, Janae. The cold was harsh, trying to worm its way through Anton¡¯s energy into his bones. Yet by comparison it was not the worst he¡¯d ever felt. Those had been when he was simply a common man, before he was a cultivator. Likewise, the effort required was nothing compared to his final hunt. Even if it had been difficult, Anton would have pushed through it. He was far too stubborn to let a place local Life Transformation cultivators traversed with some regularity hold him back. Sure, they knew where they were going and had a goal, but even without drawing upon a sun he had the greater power of cultivation on his side. Internal heat fought with external cold as he hurried along his way, searching for signs of Matija in particular. She was neither local nor in Life Transformation. It had likely already been too long. His steps carried him atop the snow, his weight distributed widely so as to not limit his movements nor disturb the ground. He kept his senses open for traces of the same, but everything was dull and distant. Even so, he could be certain that he had not passed over anything of note. A small portion of his senses were locked onto the spire he¡¯d descended from. He needed to keep some sort of orientation in the white-out, and indistinct mounds of snow and ice covering what was presumably something else below were not much good for consistency, especially as the winds scattered the snow and even rent apart ice. That same ice cut like knives against Anton¡¯s defenses. He hurried his steps, hoping to cross something soon. He had no interest in dealing with the local beasts, so until he found any sort of relevant trail he avoided them to the best of his abilities. There was quite a significant distance he could cover in an hour, and soon he¡¯d looped all the way around the Third Peak once with little of note. He was now widening his search, hoping to cross any path, when he finally found faint traces of an impact. What might have been a meters deep indentation was now little more than a bit of remnant energy and a negligible dip in the surrounding snow, but that energy was familiar. Matija practiced the One Hundred Stars, after all. With that barest trace to go from, Anton circled the area to find some sort of trail. Ultimately, it appeared Matija had the same ideas about travel as himself- she certainly wasn¡¯t letting herself sink into the snow and pushing it apart as she trudged. He did find a faint trail, mostly based on imprints of boots several layers deep in the current snow-ice layers and just a bit of lingering natural energy. If Anton hadn¡¯t known Matija was here, he wouldn¡¯t have found it. But it was consistent enough he could tell he¡¯d finally found a direction. He increased his pace, moving as quickly as he could while keeping the trail. That consumed more energy for both movement and searching, but now was not the sort of situation to be conservative. With only the slightest indication of its presence, a fox that seemed to be more ice than animal leapt at Anton¡¯s throat, tearing towards him. Perhaps the ambush would have been sufficient against a local creature, but despite the great power packed into the beast Anton fended off its attack at the last instant. A moment later his bow-blade was in hand. He did not begrudge the creature seeking food, but anything that attacked humans was dangerous to allow. The creature did not give up after a single attempt, either. A swirl of icy mist turned into teeth chomping at his ankle, doubtless with the intent to wound him. Once that was done, the creature likely would have followed after him as his injuries mounted. A good tactic against an animal. Against him, it got the fox a mouthful of sharp blades. Anton considered the blood on his weapon. It would alert other creatures to his presence- but it might ward them off, if the creature he fought was a known danger. Anton carefully placed the body of the fox, a coat of silvery reflective material now marred by a sky blue blood. Since he had killed it, he might as well make use of it. He took a few moments to pick up the trail again, and redoubled his speed. The gusting winds carried no noise but that of the constant weather conditions, though Anton was not convinced that they would reveal anything beyond him regardless. Given the hiding methods of the fox, Anton picked out other creatures in his surroundings- but they kept away from him, either sensing his energy or fearing the blood of the creature. It would have been more than a simple inconvenience for most, a power somewhere akin to a Life Transformation cultivator compressed into a small space. It had simply misjudged its target. As he continued along the trail, Anton noticed something. Another energy, hidden like that of the fox. Much like the disciples of the Third Peak, once he picked it out- though it was like sensing a particular sort of snow atop various snowdrifts. This one wasn¡¯t the fluffy sort. More like hail than proper snow, hard and weighty, but not quite part of the actual surroundings. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Janae, hopefully, and not some other local cultivator after Matija. Though Anton rejoiced that given the distance he¡¯d tracked her she¡¯d probably passed the first day. Without finding shelter, unfortunately, beyond perhaps a temporary cave in the snow below. He couldn¡¯t be certain how fast a cultivator of her level would run out of energy, but a few days in these conditions was already significant. Anton nearly missed the great cat ahead of him. He was inclined to move around, but it was directly on his current trajectory. That meant little, it was just that he could not keep track of the trail more than a few meters in front of him. The great cat was still fifty meters ahead at least, and moving at a decent pace away from him. Anton matched it, and it didn¡¯t take long to determine that the cat was tracking the same thing as himself. It was moving a bit more quickly than he might have otherwise, though he could verify bits and pieces of the trail faster than he could trace the whole route. As long as he kept doing so to make sure the creature didn¡¯t change its mind, he could catch up more quickly. The creature moved at what might have been a sprint for a normal human, though for a creature of that size was mostly a fast trudge, its wide paws only sinking a small distance into the ice and snow mixture as it moved. At this point, Anton was no longer able to keep track of the Third Peak. But ultimately, he didn¡¯t need it. He kept a general sense of his orientation to make sure he didn¡¯t somehow go in circles, but once he actually found Matija he could pull her above the ice and snow. It wouldn¡¯t be a pleasant flight, but it wouldn¡¯t last so long as to be worrisome. Anton had not been land bound in several decades, and he found it entirely unpleasant to recall. Dealing with terrain limited movement so much- even dealing with atmosphere was restrictive for him. But that was an issue the vast majority of cultivators had to deal with, especially those who had not surpassed Life Transformation. A few sects had flying techniques they could use earlier, but none were low on their energy requirements. The snow leopard- Anton made some assumptions about it based on body shape despite clearly not being close enough to see spots or lack of them- continued at its quick pace. At this rate, another hour and they should have made up for most reasonable paces, especially it Matija had hesitated at any point in her movement. She wound around enough it was likely she had been looking for shelter- and avoiding dangers of local wildlife. ----- Matija found herself exposed to the frost. She no longer knew how long it had been, deprived of the light of the sun for what had to be days. Any innate sense she had was off balance due to the conditions. She had some measure of protective clothing, but she hadn¡¯t been walking around the Third Peak fully kitted out. Most of her technological devices were frozen solid, and if the ice on the outside didn¡¯t stop them from working the ice on the inside would. She¡¯d received a brief flicker of something from her communications device¡­ or so she liked to think. If there had been communication from Anton, it could just as easily have been an error in the current conditions. She couldn¡¯t even make out a screen. She had intentionally left the proximity of the Third Peak, not wanting to risk the Life Transformation cultivators coming after her. She absolutely wanted to avoid capture, because even if the personal consequences weren¡¯t unpleasant to think about, what they might do if properly instructed on the ship was something else. Matija didn¡¯t have much reason to think Gnadus was nearly as populated- but she didn¡¯t want to be responsible for potential deaths caused by them. There was still her crew, of course. She couldn¡¯t be certain about them, inside the peak. Were they safe? Was everyone dead? She couldn¡¯t know, so she kept moving. She¡¯d found some small shelter at first, protection from the wind and snow. Then the beasts had come. For the most part she¡¯d been able to prevent her actual body from being damaged, but with both creatures and environment wearing away at her energy defenses she would be vulnerable to both soon enough. Lack of food and ironically water were an issue, even for an Essence Collection cultivator. She¡¯d been lucky to avoid the worst predators so far, her time spent watching Janae move about providing some familiarity with the world. Just enough that with her scanning devices that weren¡¯t all quite broken she could pick out dangers before they came together. Then had come one of the foxes, the signal being physically small throwing off her judgment. It didn¡¯t catch her throat but instead cut a gash into her shoulder before she managed to snap her rifle into position. Of course by then it was back in the snows, and Matija barely avoided it several more times before she finally managed to take a real shot. A beam of hot energy cut through the mist, instantly creating steam and scorching the fox¡¯s side. It scurried off, but the attack had lit up the area like a flare. Matija soon sensed many creatures of different sizes coming for a look. A bear was the next to appear, but Matija only sensed it a moment before it was tossed to the side. ¡°I have finally found you, esteemed guest.¡± Rivulets of blood, long since frozen in place, created red streaks along Janae¡¯s arms, trailing to the tips of several of her fingers. Some also went down her forehead and her neck into her robes, and a few gashes had opened in her thighs, briefly revealed there before terminating at her bare feet. ¡°You came. You survived,¡± Matija said, suddenly aware her translator didn¡¯t work. Fortunately, the time she¡¯d spent had been enough for the cultivators to reconcile some of their speech differences without its aid, their natural learning capabilities kicking in as they exchanged words. ¡°My crew¡­?¡± ¡°Waiting for your return, no doubt,¡± Janae said as she turned to face the bear, only momentarily knocked back. ¡°Aid me with that weapon. You are already revealed.¡± Matija nodded, concentrating her limited remaining energy into the beam, aiming for the bear¡¯s eye. She was quite aware of how impenetrable large beast¡¯s fur could be, and there was no chance of it properly catching fire in this place. But the difference in temperature was not all bad, if she hit the right target. Chapter 553 The first signs he was getting close were remnants of battles, blood and bodies of various beasts. Smaller foxes, a large bear, even some creatures that looked vaguely like rabbits, if not for the size and rows of sharp teeth. At that point, Anton was able to move quickly, tracking the fresh remnants of natural energy- though he did have to concern himself first with the beast he had been following. Though it had only been unintentionally helpful to him, Anton didn¡¯t want to kill the leopard arbitrarily. If it were hunting for food, there were plenty of options available now- strong beasts that would be quite nourishing. If it specifically wanted human¡­ he¡¯d have to deal with it. Anton circled around the trail, going from some hundred meters behind the giant snow leopard to around in front of it, where he revealed his natural energy, preparing an attack. His first arrow was intentionally lacking effectiveness, but he still struck the beast directly in the chest. Its natural energy and thick hide minimized the damage, leaving only a small patch of blood, but now the creature had to decide. Its initial reaction might be to fight, but Anton had little he could do about that. The creature took a defensive crouch, suddenly drawn from its focus on the trail it was following. Detecting a new opponent, it buried itself in the ice and snow to the point Anton couldn¡¯t have detected it if he had not already been watching it. It began to slink about, but not towards Anton. Instead, it moved towards the large bear, slowly concealing it and then dragging it off. Good. It made the right choice. With that settled, Anton had to quickly follow the trail. He was just at the point he thought he could sense active combat- or perhaps he had been just slightly too late. Not having to follow a trail or even a relatively speedy tracker like the great cat, Anton covered the last few kilometers in little time at all. There, he found an old woman with little protection from the cold- her head was bare, her robes covering her arms, body and legs far too thin to capture heat. Her hands and feet were likewise uncovered, except for ice and frozen blood. Matija was present as well, dressed much more warmly but clearly not with full intention to dive deep into the cold surrounding her. Despite the difference in clothing, Matija was the one who looked cold, and if not for the actual ice on her arms Anton wouldn¡¯t have imagined the woman- who had to be Janae- was the slightest bit cold. Around them were only the bodies of beasts, none alive so far as Anton could tell. Though the Life Transformation woman did not seem concerned about the chill compared to the trembling Matija, both were clearly exhausted, and covered in various wounds. It was to the point they didn¡¯t even notice Anton until he approached within a handful of meters, nearly visual range through the swirling icy mists. ¡°Perhaps you didn¡¯t need me at all,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you do look like you could use some help getting out of here, Matija,¡± Anton held out his hand. ¡°How about a lift?¡± Her eyes had locked on him, momentarily expecting danger from something new, but quickly resolving his familiar presence. Janae likewise reacted quickly, but the shared cultivation method stayed her hand as she gathered the material around them. ¡°Is this the head of your sect, Matija?¡± ¡°Well¡­ it¡¯s complicated. He is an ally,¡± the woman explained as she moved forward cautiously. Anton didn¡¯t waste any time driving away the cold around him, his body alighting in comforting flames which extended around her. It would take more than a moment to counteract the deep set cold in her bones, but a genuine display of his power comforted her. Anton grasped her hand then lifted into the sky, stopping briefly to look down to Janae. ¡°Are you currently able to fly?¡± The old woman lifted her leg, stepping upward onto the swirling icy mist like it was a solid platform. ¡°My movement techniques are still usable. But it requires focus.¡± Anton nodded. Exhausted as she was, keeping a watch for enemies while also making use of such a technique was likely difficult. Otherwise, she could have carried Matija away with her already. ¡°Are there airborne beasts here?¡± ¡°Cliff divers and ice spirits,¡± Janae said as she confidently strode upwards, the angle of her movement not indicating any desire to go anywhere specific but out of the mists. Matija was currently supporting herself with a hand on Anton¡¯s shoulder, hanging there only a small effort compared to resisting the cold. Her grip on his hand was released, leaving him both hands for his bow. Though his movements would still be somewhat limited by carrying her, it was a more effective position than taking his hand. Soon enough, Janae¡¯s words came true- birds of various sizes and clusters of natural energy that seemed to have little body but ice and snow came towards them in the air. However, as was the case with many flying creatures their structures were weak- even if they were swift Anton¡¯s arrows were more swift, and his energy bows produced plentiful volleys to cover everything that dared approach. But the populations of the mists were not unlimited, nor completely foolish- after a sufficient display of power, the cultivators were left alone. Then they were above the mists, the light of the sun barely filtered by the thin atmosphere. At least it brought some warmth, fleeting as it was. ¡°How did you find us?¡± Matija asked. ¡°I found your ship with the First Peak,¡± Anton explained. ¡°Their information led me to the Third Peak, and they spoke of Janae and yourself descending into the mists. And I am a hunter though I¡¯ll admit tracking you some days after the fact was not simple.¡± ¡°The First Peak¡­¡± Matija hesitated. ¡°One of their Life Transformation cultivators is dead. I captured Liese and another,¡± Anton said. After they had reached above the clouds, Anton was quickly able to discern the direction of the Third Peak- though Janae managed to actually set off in that direction before he explained. She was familiar with the local area, while Anton had merely stretched his senses over the distance in between. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Janae strode atop the mists, eventually jumping to a cloud and between them, but she remained silent for most of the journey. Without dealing with the deep snow and the dangers of the beasts below, their speed was greatly improved, though it still took them more than a few hours to approach the Third Peak. Eventually, Janae spoke. ¡°Esteemed elder¡­ were you unable to achieve Ascension?¡± ¡°Referring to me as Anton is acceptable. As for Ascension¡­ my actions closed that path. However, I achieved something equally worthwhile.¡± He wasn¡¯t sure if his words were fully understood. Her reaction was minimal, not indicating much of her opinion on the subject. Matija was asleep, now dangling under Anton¡¯s arm. When they arrived back at the Third Peak, Anton was the freshest of the three, but even he felt he had overdone himself with a battle against Life Transformation cultivators and the following events. Flying with another for a long distance would have been trivial in any system he had bound a star, but without the constant influx of energy he found himself weak. Not that it was unexpected. He was still considering just binding to their star now¡­ but doing so without permissions of the natives was something he wished to avoid, and he hoped to avoid further battles. Once they settled upon the Third Peak, Anton showed Janae the two captives so she could make the decision what to do with them. Her choice was swift, and the results conclusive. With a single hand she drained the heat from each of them, unable to fight back with their shackles. Those she looked at with wonder as Anton retrieved them. The bodies were simply tossed over the edge of the peak, down below. Instead of resting inside in the heat, Janae remained outside with the majority of what Anton would consider cultivators- there were some inside the peak who were just beginning, aside from Matija¡¯s crew. Exposure to the cold was a harsh condition to recover in, but it seemed to suit those of the Third Peak. They were clearly pleased to have their Sect Head return, but they did not bother Anton. With no specific guidance, he sat down to recover. Though the local culture seemed to take off their shoes in the snow, Anton didn¡¯t feel up to it for the moment. Instead, he breathed in the power of the sun above, and what natural energy was not frozen around him, slowly recovering. He also reached further, deep through himself to distant stars. The active effort only gave him a tiny portion of the energy he would expect next to any single star, but it was something, and decent practice for further out inside a system. ----- Matija¡¯s crew made sure she was treated, and she recovered quickly over the course of a few days. She was a cultivator, after all, though she did require some assistance from cultivation medicines. On the other hand, Janae who had fought off several Life Transformation cultivators and then followed after Matija with injuries seemed to have ingested no medicine at all. ¡°Help me speak to her,¡± Anton requested. ¡°Ask if there is a reason she has not taken medicines for her wounds.¡± Anton was aware that too much of the wrong thing could set back cultivation, but spending months or potentially years recovering wounds like that would also be a setback. WIth Matija both being more comfortable with Janae and the help of the translator unit, Matija soon had an answer. ¡°She says that unless it is necessary to survive, the third peak does not use medicine.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anton asked. ¡°If it is part of their cultivation path, I can understand of course, but I am unfamiliar with them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know either,¡± Matija admitted. ¡°Can you tell us?¡± she asked Janae. They weren¡¯t concealing their conversation from her, but they spoke as was more comfortable for them- and thus more difficult for the woman to understand. ¡°It is a waste of precious resources,¡± she explained. That, Anton could understand. He didn¡¯t exactly see abundant herbs around them. He¡¯d seen some indications of plantlife below, but he didn¡¯t understand any of their properties enough to even think about collecting them- or approaching them. It was hard to say which plants would be dangerous without some reference. Anton took some time to think about the situation. Mostly, he wanted to determine if some of his potential actions might offend the woman. From what he understood, she had fought- nearly to the death- to defend Matija and her crew because they were guests. A conviction clearly not shared by the First Peak. Finally, Anton just decided to offer. If he caused offense, he was still new and it could be excused. He pulled out a medicinal pill- not the strongest he had, but the one that would have the least side effects. It would help with closing wounds and returning to health for wounds such as Janae¡¯s that were not life threatening- though only because the Life Transformation woman¡¯s power had stretched that definition. ¡°I would like to thank you for protecting my friend,¡± Anton said. ¡°A gift, for your conviction.¡± Janae looked at the pill- a ball formed mostly of various medicinal powders. She nodded her head, reaching out to take it. Instead of consuming it, she studied it- though not with paranoia or worry, but fascination. ¡°You say you were unable to achieve Ascension. How then do you have access to materials such as this, and those shackles?¡± ¡°They are available in our star systems,¡± Anton said. ¡°They are much more¡­ hospitable than this place.¡± ¡°... do any achieve Ascension?¡± she asked. ¡°Some,¡± Anton said. ¡°More than yearly, among our population.¡± ¡°How many?¡± Janae asked. ¡°A few billion.¡± Anton did not think that number was particularly high. The Sylanis Cluster had over a hundred billion among their planets. Rutera was over ten billion on their main planet alone. Weos had similar numbers spread throughout their system. However, Janae looked as if she had heard the numbers incorrectly. After determining that he truly meant thousands of millions, her face could barely hold an expression, her jaw dropping. ¡°We have¡­ many fewer here. Less than a million, I think.¡± Given the harsh peaks, Anton was not terribly surprised. Janae¡¯s following question was quite intriguing, however. ¡°In a place with such abundant resources¡­ how do you face the adversity required to reach Ascension?¡± The question said much about her understanding of the world. Bare hands and feet to face the cold, cultivating against adversity to rise to Ascension. Anton could see the value in such a path¡­ but he was well aware there were many ways. Some were certainly weaker, but pure difficulty did not necessarily make the correct path. Sometimes, a path was simply smoother because it was a well trod path to greater heights of cultivation. There was much he would be able to discuss here¡­ and many questions he would like to have answered. Like whether or not the other peaks were likely to be more like the first or third peaks. Chapter 554 All of the locals agreed that Gnadus was a harsh, inhospitable environment to live in. Anton had likewise come to that understanding immediately upon seeing the planet. Now that the crisis moment was over and the root causes all iced, discussing things further in detail could be done in a somewhat leisurely manner. ¡°We cultivate towards Ascension to free ourselves from this place,¡± Janae said. ¡°To rise towards the upper realms, abundant in resources.¡± Anton couldn¡¯t argue with that. That was the main goal of most cultivators- with Assimilation being a recently discovered alternate path. Things that seemed to have little of direct value like the harshest deserts could become a great source of power. Likewise, Anton could see the peaks of Gnadus being much the same, or the mists themselves. The cultivators were already barely a step removed from that. The only thing was¡­ none had interest in staying. Perhaps some might have interest in lording over the terrible planet, but they would just be a big fish in a small pond. ¡°If your main goal is to leave Gnadus¡­¡± Anton began, ¡°We are capable of transporting people to other systems.¡± He had no intention of destroying a people¡¯s way of life- but that was only if they were living instead of just surviving. ¡°No.¡± Janae¡¯s answer was direct. ¡°I will not circumvent adversity to shelter in comfort.¡± ¡°I did not expect you would,¡± Anton admitted. He knew very little about her, but what he did know indicated she would see things through to the end. Whether that meant she died, or she ascended. ¡°However, I do intend to make the same offer to those who might want it. Especially those who have no hope of ascension.¡± She closed her eyes, pondering on his words. ¡°Not all can follow the trials set down before us,¡± she said with a vague sense of agreement. ¡°You will offer them an easy Ascension?¡± ¡°Ascension is never easy,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though with proper resources, it is more achievable. Along with a good understanding of the path, of course. There are many roadblocks and dead ends along the course of cultivation.¡± ¡°Are those not valuable for learning?¡± ¡°Not all of them,¡± Anton said. ¡°Humans are made to build upon the work of those who came before us. Some things are simply mistakes that if they were known to be coming could have been avoided without weakening the cultivator.¡± ¡°Perhaps.¡± ¡°I have seen many Ascensions,¡± Anton said with authority. ¡°And studied many paths. Perhaps you are on the path most suited for you, but for others it might not be the same.¡± Anton avoided specifically mentioning her path might also be riddled with flaws. That was unnecessary. The chill winds blew across the Third Peak, but compared to the mists below it was almost pleasant. Anton didn¡¯t find it as invigorating as the old woman clearly did, but he was more than able to ignore it. ¡°You spoke of another path,¡± Janae eventually said. ¡°Can you tell me about it?¡± ¡°We refer to it as Assimilation. Other systems have called it Worldbinding. Regardless, it is the process of tying oneself to something inextricably and drawing power from it.¡± Janae nodded. ¡°That is what I sense from you, then. You must¡­ come from a very different place, to want to remain.¡± ¡°That is true,¡± Anton easily agreed. ¡°I love my grandchildren, and my planet, and most of the others who live upon it. I had no reason to leave them behind. Not that I could have ascended anyway.¡± ¡°It does not seem you are lacking in cultivation talent. What prevented you?¡± ¡°A technique I practice. It provides access to certain powers in exchange for no ascension¡­ and no reincarnation. At least, not in any sense where I remain myself.¡± ¡°Why would you choose such?¡± ¡°Why would I not?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I had no reason to ascend or even think about the possibility at the time. I became a cultivator to accomplish necessary goals, not to reach some sort of unfathomable heights. Though Assimilation is not inferior to Ascension regardless. It simply depends on your ambitions. I got what I wanted.¡± Clearly all of that information had given Janae plenty to think about. Though Anton didn¡¯t intend to sway her conviction, and he would gladly help her if she wished to share the Third Peak¡¯s cultivation technique. Actually¡­ it was probably mostly the same as the First Peak, and he did have some copies of that. Perhaps he could study the technique for flaws in case she asked. Anton very much likes being a guide, after all. Even if it was for those who might be older than himself in body. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ----- Without Life Transformation cultivators, the First Peak couldn¡¯t and wouldn¡¯t stop the retrieval of Matija¡¯s ship. Unfortunately, their poking and prodding and dissecting had made it unclear in its viability for space travel. It took Matija and her crew some time to check it over to make sure it wouldn¡¯t explode when powered up, and even then they only flew it to the Third Peak where it would be safe, half carried by Anton. Proper repairs could be done over time- and with reinforcements from Rutera. Some were already on their way, though it was a journey of weeks to reach the system. With the loss of contact they had made some plans, though they were quite relieved to hear that the situation had been resolved. Anton would be staying around in case any other peaks thought to do something stupid- and it really would be stupid once he gave the offer to transport people off world. Eventually, because they couldn¡¯t carry even a small portion of the tiny- for a planet- population with just a few ships. He would have Janae help him propose that to people, because many would be against the idea. Even so, if some were Ascending or attempting to just to leave, Anton thought they would have a better life anywhere else. Those dedicated to cultivation could choose their path. Strangely enough, though the entire world seemed to be on the edge of survival or death, Anton didn¡¯t really find a general idea that they would want to change. And as long as they were aware they had the choice, he wasn¡¯t going to make anyone do anything. He knew that the world was going to produce some impressive cultivators¡­ and likely already had. It was simply that the upper realms was a big place, so a few Ascension cultivators here or there wouldn¡¯t usually be noticed. ----- After making sure that the Ruteran ships would be okay, and that everyone on Gnadus would be aware it wasn¡¯t beneficial to try to attack them for their resources, Anton only stayed a short time. Just a month or so, studying their cultivation and providing guidance for those who asked- even if he didn¡¯t practice their style, he could pick out flaws. A benefit of a lifetime working with others, and a bit from the Ten Thousand Scrolls and his other studies. Though he might have liked to stay around and attempt to improve the planet like Ceretos, ultimately that was the choice of the locals. He could only let them know there was more to the world. So he moved on- though he had the feeling he would be back. Other systems, devoid of life and sometimes devoid of planets of significant interest. Several years passed without contact with another new system, even in some of the more promising locations. That was quite reasonable- Anton felt they were already quite a populated stellar neighborhood, though ancient cultivators could have settled many of the places he passed. He could hardly imagine why they might have chosen Gnadus, except for the philosophy of trials they had passed down and ultimately doomed others to require. Anton was not disappointed by lack of other findings, nor was he intellectually confused¡­ but he couldn¡¯t help but continue searching the same areas repeatedly instead of moving further afield. He felt he was missing something, though he couldn¡¯t quite place why. Cultivator intuition, combining many pieces of consciously and subconsciously known information to reach only a feeling. Eventually he found himself moving between three systems- alone, because he didn¡¯t want to subject a crew to his obsessive wandering. If nothing else, the process improved his ability to move between systems, as he was almost constantly in motion. Being away from his Assimilated stars for so long was unpleasant, but he found himself constantly able to draw just a bit more from them. Enough that he wasn¡¯t worried about being stranded in the void between planets without a way to restore his energy, at least. What was it about the area he found compelling? That, he couldn¡¯t determine. Everything seemed completely normal. Which was, perhaps, the oddest thing about it. And another thing, though he did his best to deal with the movement of systems relative to each other, he often found himself off course by some significant degree. This was something he only realized after a significant number of traversals, at first presuming it to be due to his casual efforts at being precise. He finally discovered something by using abilities he was still unfamiliar with. As soon as he considered the tides of the world, however, everything fit. He became consciously aware of a sort of bubble in the center of the systems, and the more he paid attention to it the more it didn¡¯t fit in the space it appeared to occupy. Anton considered a few possibilities for it. First, it could be a strange anomaly that came about on its own. Such a thing might be extremely dangerous, and he couldn¡¯t determine a clear value in investigating closely. Then there was the possibility it was artificial, by the hands of cultivators. That one Anton was unsure of, though it was theoretically possible. If it was the case, then attempting anything would be both dangerous and¡­ rude. If people chose isolation through such an extreme, who was he to pull them out of it? Thus, he attempted no active change, merely doing his best to feel the flow around himself, and in the area in between. After several months of slowly patrolling the area, he decided that there was no way the phenomenon was natural. It had far too much regularity for that. What, then, would he do? He could simply ignore them, as they seemed to wish. But completely leaving them did not sit well for him. So he found a reasonable spot in a nearby system, the planet closest to naturally sustaining life, and created a simple formation- one that did nothing except advertise its presence to anyone who would be looking. Then, he left a note, carved into stone. ¡®For the Hidden System, if you wish to talk.¡¯ There, he left a communication device. He did the same thing several more times, at least once in each system surrounding the area. Then he considered one more thing. He could not tell if it was too much, but he filled a small bag with a note and another device. The note was only slightly different, merely adding, ¡®If you wish to be left alone, simply destroy it however you please.¡¯ Then, he picked up speed, tossing the bag after a solid period of increasing his velocity. There was always closer he could go to the speed of light, but it was never better than dealing with subspace and proper movement techniques. But it was the best he could do without going along. When he tossed the sturdy contained, it continued on in his aimed trajectory, carefully chosen to potentially pierce the veil. It would continue on its path for years. A decade, perhaps, before it might reasonably arrive. Most likely, the properties of the system would have him miss, and even if it passed through the system it would likely either burn up upon entering a planet¡¯s atmosphere or otherwise be destroyed. But there was a small chance someone would find it¡­ depending on how closely they watched their borders. That would have to be good enough. Any more, and he felt he would be violating their unspoken request. Chapter 555 Further exploration of the surrounding region revealed no more groups in the immediate neighborhood, nor for the moment- though in some manner it was already quite crowded with seven or eight occupied systems. The eighth was kept secret from the general population, as its existence was more speculation than certainty, and if they chose to be hidden it was better to not simply reveal them to everyone. Yet in case they turned out to be a danger, Anton could not just keep the information to himself. With the insights he gained from his time in the area, he was somewhat more confident in adjusting the tides of the world around Ceretos- and also more certain that it was not a project that could be accomplished alone. Because of the concerns with causing greater trouble for their systems, Anton turned to unoccupied systems for practice. He didn¡¯t want to draw more attention to Ceretos, nor did he want to simply conceal Ceretos if it brought risk to others in their alliance. Even Everheart found little success manipulating the tides of the world, and his vast knowledge only managed to prove how different the process was from everything else. It was not strange, though. Anton would have a great amount of trouble manipulating actual tides as well, even in a small area. He could modify geography, but there was only so much that could be done with that, and the tides of the worlds were ever more indistinct. Eventually, Anton found himself to the ¡®north¡¯, closer to the upper realms, the closest edge of which could be reached with a few months of concerted effort, if not for energy requirements. Ships would have to stop and refine fuel in various systems, and Anton had to stop for rest as well, turning the process into something closer to half a year. Everheart¡­ seemed to have not traveled in a ship, but his greater cultivation and experience with travel made it reasonable for him to make the trip in a single go. At least from around where the upper and lower realms met. Anton kept a full system and the space to reach it between himself and the upper realms. Even from where he was, he could feel the anger of the ascension energy. Except for how he made use of it through Fleeting Youth, he knew he was fully incompatible with ascension energy living inside him. Even just his vague ideas of reaching out far before were met with a pulse of rejection, all the way from Ceretos. He merely took in the vast feeling of the world in front of him, full of more stars than he could ever hope to count, some impossibly distant while others surprisingly close. On a galactic scale, at least. No matter how much he increased his range of sensing and control of his energy at a distance, the scale of space rose so sharply that certain things could not be done. For example, he could theoretically hit a planet from its moon or vice versa, though even that varied wildly. Larger planets had moons ranging from a third of the distance between Ceretos and its moon to sixty times that distance. At that point his arrows couldn¡¯t even reach, millions of kilometers of nothing seemed like little interference to his control, but it was in fact quite limiting. No matter how good his control there would always be some dissipation of the energy, and though he could send a regular arrow on a trajectory that would hit any large mass in a system without natural energy it was ultimately a pointless gesture. Nthanda could impart more force in that regard, though her perception of the motion of planets was less. Either way neither of them would hit a target smaller than a moon and certainly not any specific point on it. It was a foolish notion to consider launching attacks into the upper realms, but beyond pure stubbornness Anton wanted to test the interactions between natural energy and ascension energy, specifically with the latter not in his control. He continued his attempts to not just launch arrows further, but into subspace, the insights he gained useful practice for anything involving interstellar travel regardless of whether or not his actual actions mattered. Because the trip was so long, Anton wasn¡¯t just going to turn about and go back home. The very fact that he had come already indicated he trusted the worlds back home and the people upon them to handle their own affairs. Enough time had passed that it was fairly clear the war with the Sylanis Cluster was truly over- and he expected that to hold for at least decades, as even now sects were settling their new positions as a number of the larger ones had left gaps in the power structure. Spirit Arrows flew along the same path, something Anton was attempting to see if he could reproduce his results as well as hoping it might stabilize some sort of tunnel he could attack through. All of that was speculation, and all his efforts might turn to nothing but a bit more archery practice. But he could never have too much of that. ----- The Great Queen, escorted by Nthanda, found herself upon Gnadus. A steady stream of visitors was coming to the planet- and they took with them some of those who wished to leave. The Great Queen took stock of the surroundings. Ice and snow as far as the eye could see, except where it was hindered by frozen mists. Though they sparkled, it was the same sort of sheen as a spear being thrust into one¡¯s body, not that of gems and other valuables. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t want to have a colony here,¡± the Great Queen declared. ¡°I told you,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°It¡¯s pretty miserable.¡± Though she said that, she was not wearing any cold weather garments, only her traditional armor, the metal of which was quite capable of conducting the surrounding temperature to her body. ¡°The energy is too crunchy,¡± the Great Queen supplemented her words. ¡°And I don¡¯t think there¡¯s enough to share with the locals right now. So it would be better to not be here.¡± ¡°Plus all of your youths would freeze to death if they even thought of coming up out of the mound.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°I do believe, with the exception of the peaks, that underground or in the snowy depths might even be colder than the surface,¡± the Great Queen signed. ¡°A horrendous situation.¡± ¡°Were you really thinking about it?¡± Nthanda asked. ¡°It never sounded very appealing.¡± ¡°Should the local populace wish to transform their planet, they would need those able to attend to the small details. Void ants could certainly fulfill those roles, if they were amenable. However, I do not wish to place any children in a place that they would be both uncomfortable and unwelcome.¡± ¡°Great. So when are we leaving?¡± ¡°I first must experience the particular cold here for myself,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°I should be sufficiently durable to power through it, but if I find myself in such a place without having tested it and coming up with counters or developing myself further, I would regret it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I won¡¯t have any issues here.¡± ----- ¡°This doesn¡¯t count,¡± Nthanda said from the bottom of a sinkhole opened up in the ice and snow. Her weight made her sink through the more malleable layers, and even some of the sturdier parts did not do well with her directly upon them instead of spreading the weight out. She leapt upwards, arcing out of the hold but once more burying herself more than head deep in the snow. ¡°It¡¯s not as bad as being in a gas giant.¡± The Great Queen could not respond in any relevant way, because vision was useless more than a couple meters apart, and that distance only because both parties had enhanced eyes. Even so, they kept tabs on each other- the Great Queen making her presence known by devouring some of the energy in a particular pattern. She still thought it quite crunchy, the energy itself almost solidified. Yet it also flowed well enough when it needed to. Overall, she found it quite uncomfortable. If she were a normal ant she would likely freeze, unable to manage her own heat. As it was, she frequently found her way back to Nthanda, a pleasant beacon of warmth in the otherwise tragic landscape. ----- In the upper realms, things were much warmer- especially for the trio of Fuzz, Hoyt, and Prospero. They were training together around the former forge, one of Xankeshan¡¯s rare volcanoes. It was an odd planet to begin with, much of it constructed or modified by human hands in some manner- even the former ¡®garden¡¯ which was the closest thing to wilderness it had. It wasn¡¯t just the work of Everheart alone, but the people who had occupied the place before him, ultimately to be torn apart by their enemies. ¡°Still no kids, huh¡­¡± Prospero said to his sort-of-older grandson. ¡°I¡¯m disappointed.¡± ¡°What, are you Anton?¡± Hoyt shrugged. ¡°Some cultivators give up the pleasures of the flesh in their pursuits¡­ I simply haven¡¯t found any I was interested in.¡± ¡°Yeah, whatever. And what¡¯s your excuse, Fuzz?¡± Fuzz tilted his head. ¡°You¡¯ve got a nice lady,¡± Prospero Vandale pointed out. ¡°You spend more than enough time together, but I haven¡¯t seen a single pup.¡± Fuzz performed something akin to a shrug, writing his answer on the ground. ¡°I don¡¯t know. We haven¡¯t been specifically trying to produce offspring.¡± ¡°It should be quite a bit more difficult for powerful beasts to reproduce,¡± Hoyt conjectured. ¡°Or if it happened easily, it would be likely you would have ¡®normal¡¯ offspring. But the two of you, while wolves, are quite different in many ways. Any children will likely be rare, but I would guess them to be powerful if they come about.¡± ¡°I suppose it¡¯s the same with humans, to an extent,¡± Prospero sighed, ¡°Though definitely less so. High amounts of energy from powerful cultivators will simply reduce the likelihood of offspring without some intent. Though humans aren¡¯t generally born with innate power or anything of the sort,¡± Prospero shrugged. ¡°There is something to say for cultivation talent being an inherited trait, though much of that is also due to simply having resources, techniques, and teachers.¡± He looked at Hoyt, ¡°Even you had access to the Order.¡± ¡°Then there is Anton¡¯s family¡­¡± Hoyt frowned. ¡°A grandson and three granddaughters of different generations reaching Ascension or Assimilation.¡± ¡°And yet,¡± Prospero pointed out, ¡°Catarina¡¯s mother has not reached such a level despite being more closely related. And there were many others who advanced no more in cultivation.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that sort of counter your point?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Since Anton made himself available to guide them all.¡± ¡°Perhaps. Or their lack of conviction prevented them, natural talent or not. Not all were Devon, Annelie, or Alva.¡± ¡°Too bad the other two didn¡¯t follow after us,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Though I understand both choices. Annelie has an established place to maintain, and Devon had no intentions to cultivate from the beginning. It was all for a purpose, to gain control. Would have been nice to have them for the war, though. Think we could snatch them up for a little bit? Since people can descend from the upper realms¡­¡± ¡°An unexplored area, as far as I am aware,¡± Prospero shook his head. ¡°You¡¯d know as much as myself. I would suppose it possible given Anton is a specific exception, but the journey would not be easy. And why would they help?¡± ¡°If our position is well established here, it will be easier for us to go back to help them there,¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°But it was mainly an idle thought. The war with the Harmonious Citadel is just a little too¡­ close. I have the feeling this might just become a continual blood feud instead, with nobody ever making progress. The Dark Ring wouldn¡¯t be pleased at that, but it wasn¡¯t like they could make any progress alone, either.¡± ¡°With nobody happy, that¡¯s how we know it¡¯s a proper war,¡± Prospero agreed. ¡°Only time will tell¡­ and unfortunately I can¡¯t contribute on a significant level with my current cultivation. Time, unfortunately, continues to exist and thus I can¡¯t suddenly reach Integration.¡± ¡°I could say I wish the war would continue like this until that point, but one more Integration cultivator probably won¡¯t matter¡­ and several decades is a long time to wait.¡± ¡°That number¡¯s already an optimistic projection,¡± Prospero sighed. ¡°But I could have Ascended at one point, so I should be able to do things properly with all of my extra experience and a new life. I hope.¡± Fuzz just nuzzled his way between them until the end of their break, when they would get back to dropping the sky on each other. Chapter 556 Despite its great power, the Harmonious Citadel merely happened to be the largest sect in between the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant. Thus, whatever claim to fame it had was only in relation to those two agreeing not to conquer the region between them. As for the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s size, it was a moderate number of systems. More than a few, less than hundreds. Where it was between those numbers barely mattered. All that was really important was that some of them had nice swords. The Trigold Cluster did too, unless the examples they lost in the lower realms were their very best. That seemed unlikely for any number of reasons, but they likely hadn¡¯t thought there was real risk of losing Integration cultivators in the invasion. Otherwise, it would be hard for it to be worth it. Chikere knew the Harmonious Citadel definitely had more. She hadn¡¯t been able to get close to their sword saint because it wasn¡¯t easy to get onto their main planets without being noticed- and she was a little wanted. Maybe because of the bandit thing forty years earlier, or the whole part where she¡¯d been fighting a more official war against them for decades. Either way, she¡¯d seen some and knew there were others she wanted. And there happened to be a really nice one as the reward for a tournament. That was why she was here on Thaizuno, and despite hearing about how it was forged by a grandmaster smith using dragon bone and the heat of a sun, she hadn¡¯t really believed it was as good as advertised until she got close. Then, there it was, sitting right out in the open. Surrounded by at least two dozen Integration cultivators and at least two layers of formations. So perhaps not quite in the open, but its aura still got to her. It had taken her ten minutes to pull her gaze away and look at Rahayu. They would both be competing for it, of course. Not only did that increase their odds of winning it, both wanted it- and it was unlikely they would give it to the other. Though they hadn¡¯t been quite so sure about that until they saw it. Most of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s tournaments were internal- for their own disciples only, resources only going into making them stronger. This one, however, was mainly sponsored by them¡­ but also by some surrounding factions and the grandmaster himself. Or herself. Chikere hadn¡¯t bothered learning the name because she¡¯d assumed it would only replace number twenty or thirty at best, which would have barely been worth the trip. Okay, so replacing a sword was always worth a trip- but it wasn¡¯t worth getting worked up for, if it was only one so old. A large fellow shoved his way in between the two watchers. ¡°Out of the way!¡± he commanded, though he was certainly tall enough to see without moving past them. He found himself with two swords pressed against his neck, and a pair pressing against important parts of his inner thighs. ¡°Keep your hands to yourself if you wish to have blood in your body,¡± Chikere commented. The man snorted, ¡°Don¡¯t you mean ¡®or lose them¡¯?¡± ¡°No. Why would I bother with specifically your hands?¡± He brushed away Rahayu¡¯s sword as he turned towards her. ¡°I have no interest in an old man¡­ but you, girl, have some guts. Not that it¡¯ll do you any good. Do you even dare to cut me? Can you?¡± ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I dare?¡± Chikere said. ¡°And I can cut anything.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± The man grinned. ¡°Do it. Cut me.¡± Chikere sized up the man. His self confidence was not entirely misplaced. The instant the two of them had made their moves, his energy had shifted to cover the precise locations of their attacks. He was obviously quite familiar with blades. What was more, judging how tough an opponent¡¯s defenses were in other ways was important. If she could cut through an opponent¡¯s upper energy but not their armor or flesh, it hardly mattered. With her swords on vital points already, his armor was irrelevant- it was already bypassed and she only had to slice. His body and upper energy however were both significant. She was impressed. Though she hadn¡¯t encountered his cultivation technique in the flesh before, she had a likely candidate. ¡°Swords of Heaven and Earth?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± the man said confidently. ¡°I¡¯m Vano.¡± Chikere focused her eyes on his, her sharp gaze clashing against his. Then, his eyes sprayed two lines of blood as they were cut without a single motion. Chikere turned away from him as she spoke. ¡°I have accomplished your request.¡± She stepped away from the man called Vano who was yelling and cursing. He¡¯d done well to protect himself from most patterns of attack, but though he came from a sect that tempered the body to be a sword, clearly he had not internalized the concept. Though he would have reacted had she drawn her blade along his throat or had any of them gone towards his face, he had simply been unprepared. Of course, had it been a real battle such an attack would have not been possible. Only because she was given time to gather herself was she able to pierce his natural defenses without a blade. And, Chikere had to admit that even given the circumstances her attack had not been perfect. If it had, neither of his eyes would be able to recover. As it was, he would likely only have to replace one. It only took a second for Vano to draw a weapon and begin swinging at Chikere, but without being able to see how could he match her? A dozen blades blocked his surprisingly modest weapon, one not carrying the massive weight and size many men of his build would favor. ¡°Do you wish to battle in the streets?¡± Chikere said. ¡°That is forbidden in this tournament city.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°You attacked me first!¡± he growled. His blade withdrew in a brilliant manner, slipping past her weapons barring its retreat. A decent move, followed by a horizontal slice that seemed to arrive before it started, switching directions of attack as Chikere blocked- swinging in from her left then suddenly being on her right- but ultimately merely grazing the skin of her neck as she leaned back, leaving a tiny drop of blood leaking out in front of her windpipe. ¡°You laid hands on us first, and then you specifically requested that I cut you. If I had actually attacked, you would be dead.¡± Whatever argument Vano had about that, it was cut off by a twenty centimeter wide blade as tall as a man crashing down between them. With it came a man, his hand resting on the hilt like he had been there all along. ¡°Enough.¡± The single word was paired with the feeling of Chikere¡¯s head being chopped off- a sensation she was familiar with as it had happened halfway more than once. This time, however, it was simply that. A sensation- or perhaps a promise. ¡°No ruining my tournament. If you want to kill each other, do it off planet or after the tournament.¡± Chikere was not listening to the man because she was looking at his swords. Not one sword, as it first appeared, but many fit together, their blades meshing side by side. With only a single hilt it would be impossible to properly wield them all in a human¡¯s hands- besides the obvious limits that came with lack of limbs- but she couldn¡¯t help but wonder if he fought in a similar manner to herself. Ultimately decided based on the part where she felt her head be severed that his style was still quite different. ¡°O-of course, Grandmaster Smith,¡± Vaso inclined his head and walked away with his teeth clenched. The somewhat temporary loss of his eyes would not prevent him from moving around in a normal fashion- he was a powerful cultivator after all. ¡°And you?¡± Chikere realized that the olive skinned man was speaking to her. ¡°I want your sword,¡± she stated. ¡°You can¡¯t have it,¡± he flatly countered. ¡°I can when I win the tournament,¡± she turned her head towards the center of the area where the prize was displayed. Then she turned back to the man who was apparently a Grandmaster Smith. ¡°But I would also take those swords should you be willing to give them up.¡± ¡°Swords?¡± he raised an eyebrow. ¡°This is just one sword.¡± Chikere blinked. His touch was all over the weapon- clearly crafted by his own hand as much as the other in the center of the square. ¡°Perhaps we have different definitions of what composes one sword, then.¡± She inclined her head and turned to leave. Soon enough Rahayu caught up to her away from the square. ¡°I could see both sides of the single or multiple sword argument.¡± ¡°I could as well,¡± Chikere shrugged, ¡°But I would still say it is several. What about you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think my opinion matters as I would not wield such a blade.¡± ----- The first opponent Chikere faced in the tournament appeared to be lost, as he quite clearly was wielding a warhammer. She approached cautiously just to make certain he had no swords, but he really didn¡¯t. The weapon in his hands was small enough it could have been used as one, but sized to still be comfortable for his current two-handed grip. Chikere arranged a modest amount of her blades around her. She understood this was still the early stages of the tournament, and skilled swordmasters could see through her style if she showed it in its completeness. She had to treat it as if she were already fighting the best of those in the tournament. Rahayu was in that category as well, but they were already quite familiar with each other. And no doubt both had plans to defeat the other. The man with the warhammer charged straight for Chikere, swinging his weapon down. She did not dare block, determining that a good majority of her weapons would be shattered upon impact. Tournament protections would keep her from death, they would not protect her equipment from harm if she couldn¡¯t handle it. Should she not understand her weapon properties it was her own fault. The attack was slow enough she was easily able to step to the side. Chikere¡¯s other blades lashed out towards the charging man, seeking vital points. He did not appear to have enough energy reserved for defense to stop her. When she felt the blow to her head she realized that was not a tactical error. Chikere was at least a hundred times better off than the space she had been standing, which now had a sizable fissure torn into the ground, but she was not unharmed. The single hammer blow had not touched her, yet she felt it crash down atop her head and her spread out weapons. The force was not enough to damage them, but they were knocked out of their killing trajectories. Chikere had not been lacking in seriousness in the battle- her attacks had not been casual, nor had her dodge been anything short of what she intended to be flawless. Clearly, however, this man had insights into a different sort of fighting that extended beyond what she had expected. She sighed. It would have been so much easier if he was a swordmaster of some sort. That would make it easy. She understood swords. Hammers were weird. But she supposed she had to deal with it, even if this guy was probably in the wrong tournament. Knowing the man could perform attacks with a wider area of impact than he had indicated- even concealing his intent- Chikere was more able to deal with the following actions. When he lifted his warhammer from his downward chop into a sweep, she stepped inward and past the man. She attempted to cut into his arms as she went, her additional weapons positioning themselves in a way she thought they wouldn¡¯t all get caught up in any side effects of the swing. She was half successful, as even the man¡¯s forearms possessed the might of a hammer, knocking her main weapon away and forcing her to regain her balance instead of continuing towards an attack on his torso. At least his attack had been too slow to hit her. Though she wondered if it had to be too slow, or if he was trying to catch her off guard. Even with the simple abilities he displayed, he clearly wasn¡¯t weak. She¡¯d have to choose between carefully watching his style for weaknesses, or merely attempting to win quickly. Ah, who was she kidding. Only one of those was her style. Chapter 557 It was too late to learn the name of this warhammer wielder without it being awkward, but Chikere thought it was almost worthwhile. Despite him not wielding a sword, she was learning something about swordsmanship herself. The wide area attacks with the weight of mountains behind the man¡¯s strikes were a different experience. What they taught her was another way to cut things that lacked physicality. When her blades intersected, cutting apart a cross shape in the man¡¯s attacks she saw his eyes widen then focus in a moment of inspiration. For his sake she hoped he could hold onto that for later, because she wasn¡¯t going to give him the chance to use whatever he learned against her. The sword in her hands flashed forward, touching his throat at the same time his hammer came down on her shoulder- its force negated momentarily. ¡°I lose,¡± the man admitted, fortunately clearing things up since outside observers might not understand the results. He swung his warhammer onto his shoulder, ¡°You¡¯d better make good use of that sword if you get it.¡± ¡°I will.¡± She still didn¡¯t know why he was in the tournament, because she was quite certain he would not have used it. But instead of trying to resolve the mystery, she let it stay. It didn¡¯t matter, because there was only one possible end result for who would own the sword. ----- As Chikere expected, the next matches were against others making use of various sword styles. Some had clearly been lucky in earlier rounds, while others had enough skill that Chikere could learn things from them. Most were marginal improvements, but she couldn¡¯t exactly expect to break through to new levels with every battle. Each fractional improvement would add up in ways that would eventually result in a large change that couldn¡¯t be placed anywhere along the path of Chikere¡¯s growth. Or she would be dead. A vast number of observers were watching the tournament, but the actual number of participants was no more than a few thousand. Nobody below the Integration stage even had a chance, so they weren¡¯t even in the tournament to begin with. Most of the rest were sword cultivators pulled from a large number of systems, with a few others that simply came for the prize, presumably to resell. Despite their strength they did not have the conviction necessary to go far in the tournament. Then she found herself against Vano. At the current stage of the tournament it was not terribly improbable that they would match up against each other, though also not particularly likely either. Though frankly Chikere did not care how they came to be against each other. ¡°I¡¯m impressed,¡± Chikere said. ¡°You found some very expensive medicine so quickly.¡± Vaso¡¯s eyes- whole with only the slightest indication they¡¯d been slashed in the one that had been the worst off- glared at her with intensity. To recover so much in only a day¡­ a few days? A week? However long the tournament had been going. To recover so much in that time took special stuff. ¡°You¡¯re the one who will need treatment after this¡­ if I let you survive.¡± ¡°An interesting statement,¡± Chikere said. The tournament should have some safety measures in check- she assumed. She hadn¡¯t actually checked at any point since it didn¡¯t matter to her, but that was the general setup. ¡°... Did you forget your other sword?¡± Chikere asked as he took his stance. That threw him off balance for a moment, though it was not her intention. ¡°... What?¡± ¡°You can hardly wield the Swords of Heaven and Earth with a single blade.¡± ¡°You act as if you actually understand the style.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen it in action,¡± she shrugged. She was quite confident he didn¡¯t have another sword, but if he was supposed to she would have let him get it. Perhaps it was simply her opinion that the style would do better with two weapons due to the name, as she¡¯d only technically experienced a single attack. ¡°So are you a heaven style or earth style?¡± Vaso¡¯s eyebrow twitched. ¡°Everyone is both! Heaven is the power of our upper energy, earth is the power of our bodies.¡± Then the match began, and he seemed less interested in talking than chopping her in half. Or at least he should have been. ¡°Swords of Heaven and Earth: Sundering Skies!¡± He actually yelled out the attack name. That couldn¡¯t possibly be a good idea. Yet it also didn¡¯t detract from the power of his downward slash. It took three swords to parry it even as she dodged to the side. The split it left behind cut apart more than just the skies and the ground, but the space she¡¯d been standing in. Only careful maneuvering had prevented her swords from being part of that which was split apart, their material hardness being irrelevant against such a move. It wasn¡¯t the first time Chikere had experienced such a thing, but she was actually surprised that this man could pull it off so easily, even with a cultivation somewhere in the mid Integration stage. Perhaps she was simply looking down on Vaso because she¡¯d already considered him defeated. Then she realized that the sword in his hands was not the same one he¡¯d carried before. It had a very similar feeling, but it was several steps higher in quality. That sword had been in the area¡­ presumably carried by the sect head, as there wasn¡¯t a better one of the same feeling. Attacks were traded back and forth. Series of quick slashes and thrusts. Vaso¡¯s preferred defensive move was to block an attack with a thin sliver of energy and his body, a move that required precision and strong understanding of the sword. He still made use of dodging, of course, but she could tell that was always what he considered first. Chikere preferred avoidance and deflection- blocking or directly taking a hit were barely on her list of potential options, generally below biting an opponent or punching them. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Swords of Heaven and Earth: Ground¡¯s Ascent!¡± The upward slash was more than just a potential killing blow or a severed arm in the making. It also moved the ground itself, raising it into the air where it floated, reshaping the terrain. The first slash also remained in place, providing a wall Chikere was unwilling to attempt passing through. As the battle continued, her cloud of swords continued to grow in number. Vaso expertly dealt with all of her incoming attacks while keeping her in an uncomfortable middle range where his slashes were most effective but she had to move closer to make use of her preferred style. Not that she couldn¡¯t extend the reach of her sword a handful of meters if she needed. Vaso continued to call out names of moves, and Chikere found it didn¡¯t affect her ability to respond to them in any way. Knowing what he was doing was clear enough from his motions, and the words didn¡¯t really exist until the entire phrase was said. Or something to that effect. If Vaso had been even slightly lacking in either energy or body, she would have turned any of the tiny nicks and scrapes he had into deadly wounds long before. As it was, she found herself nearly in the path of so many attacks- and avoiding them didn¡¯t leave her unharmed. Blood flowed down her limbs and torso, her light but exceptionally durable armor punctured in several places. Chikere worked her way forward, a cloud of blades limiting her opponent¡¯s movement as she danced among the hanging chunks of ground, leaping off of them to where her opponent was now standing in the sky. She was quite done, and she felt she sufficiently understood his style. As she jumped off a floating hunk of rock, her left hand grabbed the hilt of number two, normally left to roam freely as she held number one in two hands to improve her maneuvering. ¡°Swords of Heaven and Earth: Heaven and Earth Meet!¡± Vaso¡¯s sword sliced horizontally, well over Chikere¡¯s head. Then suddenly, they were both on flat ground. It was as if the previous attacks had not happened- and what¡¯s more, his initial downward stroke was coming towards her at the same time as his current horizontal slice. Chikere looked him dead in the eyes. Since he was aware, she would no longer be able to cut him merely with willpower. ¡°Swords of Heaven and Earth¡­¡± Chikere called out. What was a good name for this move? Ah. There it was. ¡°Severing Eyes!¡± Ten swords countered the attacks of Vaso¡¯s first and last moves, some swinging down and back where the lingering power of Sundering Skies actually came from. Others directly chopped for the blade coming at her from both sides. In a way, it was almost two or more swords. Chikere¡¯s arms crossed each other as her blades sprang outward, their trajectory bringing them through the front of Vaso¡¯s face. That was the point defensive formations would have prevented her, if they had been fully active. They still tried to stop her, but her momentary theft of the essence of his technique set them back even further in their partially disabled state. Though Chikere had been willing to push through them at full capacity regardless. Vaso cried out. ¡°My eyes!¡± His hands clasped onto his face. Chikere sighed as she looked at the chipped sword he dropped. It was far too strong to sunder, but chips like that were nearly impossible to repair perfectly. What a waste. Too bad they wouldn¡¯t let her keep it¡­ but for the moment she snatched it away. ¡°You lose.¡± ¡°My eyes, you destroyed my eyes!¡± ¡°Yes. We went over this¡­ yesterday?¡± Chikere honestly hadn¡¯t paid attention to the passage of time, as being in matches and observing them had become one continuous experience overlapping with itself. ¡°You¡¯re the one who literally asked to be cut.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t possible¡­¡± Vaso fell to his knees. ¡°They were replaced with heavenly jewels. They can¡¯t be cut.¡± ¡°Swords of Heaven and Earth: Sundering Eyes can cut anything that is eyes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not one of our moves! You just made that up!¡± ¡°It could have been, though. If you were willing to use two swords.¡± Chikere finally heard her official declaration of victory. She left the chipped sword just at the exit, as she pondered the muscles in her arms and how they wouldn¡¯t do anything anymore. She would take note that using moves requiring a highly tempered body were possible¡­ at least once. ----- Chikere did not find the use of her arms necessary against her next several opponents, and she was pleased to find she hadn¡¯t completely ruined her muscles when they were vaguely recovered in time for her match with Rahayu. She certainly wouldn¡¯t try anything like the Swords of Heaven and Earth, but she could swing her arms while only causing them temporary damage. As this match happened to be the last in the tournament, it was also the last one she had to win. The chances of her facing Rahayu in the final spot were¡­ basically one hundred percent with how the bracket had been placed. She didn¡¯t care about the other factors involved. The two opponents faced off wordlessly. Their swords would say everything necessary. They moved, and from the perspective of most observers there was only a single move exchanged. At the very least, with Rayahu¡¯s sword stabbing directly through Chikere¡¯s neck and hers into his heart, it appeared that way. There was more to it than that, but a drawn out fight wouldn¡¯t have been good for either of them. Rahayu clicked his tongue as he stepped back, his sword withdrawing. ¡°Can¡¯t believe you avoided everything important. I couldn¡¯t even extend my cuts. You win this time.¡± The hole in Chikere¡¯s neck from front to back did seem like it should be significantly more deadly than her own sword barely poking into the outside of Rahayu¡¯s heart, but the vertical blade had passed between veins and arteries, past the spine and even slipping between most of the important muscle groups, angled slightly as it slipped out the back right side. ¡°I-I w-win,¡± Chikere nodded, her voice strained as she hadn¡¯t considered protecting her vocal chords high priority. ¡°I will nooow claim my prize.¡± She walked towards the end of the arena that was where the tournament¡¯s prize was kept. She couldn¡¯t help but drool as she looked at that sword which she would soon hold in her hand. Before she could even touch the outer layer of formations, several figures landed around her- including some old sword guy who might have been in the late Integration Stage. All were from the Harmonious Citadel, ¡°Hold on there, bandit. We can¡¯t just hand over the prize to a criminal.¡± ¡°W-what is this?¡± Chikere said poorly. ¡°A sud-sudden shift in t-terms? Who could have p-possibly anticipated this?¡± As the Harmonious Citadel moved against her, hundreds of other ¡®onlookers¡¯ in the crowd suddenly sprang into motion as well. Chikere grinned. Finally, it was time to start. After she got that sword in her hands. Chapter 558 As the old sword guy appeared in front of her with a few more, further individuals were intercepted by people in the stands. Chikere looked at the old sword guy, then towards the now barely guarded weapon that was supposed to be the prize of the tournament- but which would probably have never been given away to anyone. ¡°Rahayu! Stop this old guy!¡± Rahayu frowned, taking in his opponent- and his sword. ¡°Fine, I guess I did technically lose that bout. That should be a decent enough upgrade.¡± Before the guy from the Harmonious Citadel could protest in any manner, Rahayu was already cutting towards him, making him quite occupied. Meanwhile, Chikere dashed through the others that had come along. Several lines of blood were drawn along her as they sought her death, but their skills were lacking. Especially given that they were in the Harmonious Citadel. Chikere hadn¡¯t thought that something written for a broad audience such as Citadel¡¯s Downfall could possibly have given her useful insights, but upon actually looking at it¡­ there were even things she hadn¡¯t considered to counter their techniques, small weaknesses that were sufficient to exploit. With a sword, of course. The author¡¯s insane suggestion to just shoot them with a bow was immediately disregarded. Still, she only needed just enough edge for them to die and her to not. Her army of swords dashed along with her, cutting down several figures in her way. The outer formation around the sword was now down, as the guards had lowered it to join the surrounding battle which involved more than the Harmonious Citadel had anticipated- but as those involved with running the tournament they weren¡¯t lacking in presence. In fact, there were several powerful figures unanticipated by Chikere. Not just the Harmonious Citadel, but those who were foolish enough to be their allies. The prize sword glinted spectacularly where it was currently stowed near the arena¡¯s best seats. Chikere leapt towards it, only to find her way barred by an old woman this time. ¡°Don¡¯t think you can just move as you please.¡± Chikere clicked her tongue. A spear. She could fight against that, but it would be pointless. It wouldn¡¯t even be able to enter her arsenal. ¡°Out of the w-way.¡± Chikere still had trouble talking due to the hole through her neck. ¡°I¡¯m c-claiming my priiize.¡± ¡°It would never belong to one such as you,¡± the woman said. ¡°You are unworthy to touch a weapon made by the Grandmaster Smith Sadiq.¡± ¡°Who? Oh, t-that guy?¡± Chikere¡¯s swords did not stop with her, forming a semicircle off to one side of the woman. ¡°T-too bad. I can have whatever swords I w-want.¡± ¡°That is untrue.¡± Chikere didn¡¯t have time to react when the man appeared next to his swords-conglomeration that he claimed was a single sword. She¡¯d barely even noticed it dropping from the sky next to her. ¡°My weapons only go to those who are worthy.¡± On two sides of her, Chikere felt a spear thrusting to take her life, and a sword with power she couldn¡¯t imagine facing¡­ at her current level of power. She had sufficient confidence that she would reach that point with time. Her response was to charge straight forward, along the side of the old woman where she¡¯d placed her own swords. There was no way she could defend against both¡­ but she didn¡¯t have to. A portion of the arena exploded as swords and spear clashed. Chikere knew the sword hadn¡¯t been coming for her, or she would have had no choice but to bet her life just to survive a single second. As the shockwaves of the attacks met, the ground rumbled and the clouds parted, and Chikere was quite glad that the sword¡¯s menace, at least, didn¡¯t follow her. Those who were smart had already been fleeing the area, not wanting to get involved in the battle- but several behind the old woman were cut down as a blade of force continued past her. The old woman held her spear, sliding and creating sparks against the smith¡¯s blade. ¡°What is the meaning of this, Sadiq?¡± ¡°I could ask you the same thing,¡± he said. ¡°I created you a blade to be the prize in a grand tournament, and what have you done? How will it go to someone worthy now?¡± ¡°The Harmonious Citadel has many disciples who-¡± ¡°Are unworthy. Otherwise I would have made it for them.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t possibly allow the weapon to go to a bandit and insurrectionist!¡± ¡°And why not?¡± Sadiq asked. ¡°She won the tournament with her blades.¡± The two fellows were talking quite casually for the way their intensity was beating against each other, sharp enough to kill anyone who got too close if they weren¡¯t strong enough. Chikere heard them, but wasn¡¯t paying much attention. She was focused on her prize, ready to slice open the inner formations and take it. Unfortunately, someone got there first. A woman with natural dark skin was there ahead of her, disarming the formation and putting her hands on Chikere¡¯s sword. ¡°What¡­¡± Chikere coughed as she spoke before she could finish her questions. ¡°Let g-go of myyy sword!¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The woman was from the Harmonious Citadel. Mid Integration stage, perhaps. Not young, but neither was she old. She turned casually towards the charging Chikere. ¡°It¡¯s not yours. It was always destined to end up with someone like me.¡± Chikere tilted her head. She had sarcastic questions, but her throat hurt and talking seemed pointless. As she tilted, her swarm of swords curved along with her head motion. The woman held her stolen sword in one hand while she pulled another from a sheathe at her waist. ¡°I see you are a collector,¡± she said. ¡°But such inferior weapons won¡¯t do you much good, nor will your quantity.¡± Chikere had to admit the woman had some skill. Especially with the way her swords scissored around Chikere¡¯s own blades and snapped them apart. Sure, they were absolutely the inferior ones- ranked fifty or less- but it was still blasphemy. But the woman was fast, keeping just on the edge of the cloud of swords while Chikere chased after her, slowed by surrounding battles and interference from other disciples. More swords were destroyed. It was quickly clear the woman was doing it just to aggravate her. She recalled them, sending them back into sheathes and storage bags. ¡°So you do recognize your own weakness. Each blade you control is weaker than the last. Though I suppose there¡¯s no point in giving you a lesson since you won¡¯t have a chance to make use of it after you¡¯re captured and executed.¡± Chikere just mouthed words with her lips. The only thing she actually put voice to was, ¡°You¡¯re dead.¡± A flash of movement and Chikere was in front of the woman wielding two swords. Chikere¡¯s arms were outstretched, but the two blades locked around her. With a twist, her sword was flung from her hand. With the same motion, she cut gashes into each of Chikere¡¯s shoulders, not quite avoidable. She was fast, and her power was certainly real. ¡°You¡¯d better surrender before you lose something.¡± That was the problem with some people. First of all, if Chikere were going to die it didn¡¯t matter if she lost her arms or legs a bit before that. Second, some people were afraid of minor consequences to an excessive degree. She steeled her gaze, extending her empty hands in front of her. She did not have to move, but instead she reacted to her opponent¡¯s intent. One sword came for each of her arms. Chikere reached out for both. The one to her right, her opponent¡¯s left, was just a bit weaker and slower. It sharpness a few degrees less refined. It would be a good number two or three. It cut into her starting with her hand then made its way up her arm. Chikere did not intend to allow such a thing to happen, but she couldn¡¯t stop it. What a pity. The blade was making it way closer to her, where she would be cut in half. But¡­ so was the other blade- on her left side, in her opponent¡¯s right hand. But as it thrust into her palm, it did not waver in its position or trajectory. It did not cut through her- and though it stabbed deeper, once it was out the back of her hand it hardly meant anything. Chikere stepped forward with her left foot, angling her right side back to keep what was left of her arm there intact a moment longer, and reaching her left forward further until her fingers closed around the crossguard of her new sword. The fact that her opponent was currently holding it had indeed crossed Chikere¡¯s mind, but she wasn¡¯t going to let something like that stop her. Nor did she worry about the way it ground against the bones inside her fingers as she twisted it out of her opponent¡¯s grip, nor the way it cut as she twisted her wrist around without withdrawing the blade. She had no time for that, and the blade simply twisted around and cut off her opponent¡¯s arm at the elbow. Both opponents took a step back, but only Chikere was grinning, her right arm fully mangled and her left held in the least comfortable manner possible to hold the blade forward, her fingers clutching white knuckled on the crossguard to barely touch their tips on the hilt itself. ¡°... What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± the woman asked. ¡°... My sword,¡± Chikere said. Honestly, it was so inconvenient to have a hole through her neck. She couldn¡¯t wait until it healed. Too bad her arm wouldn¡¯t do that, despite the cut being clean. When her opponent tried to step forward, presumably to ¡®finish off¡¯ Chikere with her one good arm now that Chikere had two nearly crippled arms, she found the motion difficult. Then she had to sweep her sword behind her to deflect incoming attacks, not able to deal with the blade embedded in her foot. Chikere hadn¡¯t called back all of her sword¡­ she¡¯d merely stopped directing them to attack. Unfortunately the woman¡¯s energy was keeping Chikere from extending the power of the blade further up her leg, but it still held her in place just enough. Chikere dashed forward, intent on cutting her in two. As it turned out, with insufficient power and a grip that couldn¡¯t even be deemed ¡®abnormal¡¯ made it difficult. The woman was spun all the way back around to face Chikere having deflected her blades in an instant, their weapons clashing. Gouges were torn in the arena behind Chikere from excess energy, but her body remained mostly intact. Except for the arm thing and a little gash on her front. Before Chikere could do more, her opponent leapt up- leaving the sword behind. Instead of falling back down, she stood upon the air. ¡°Chikere the bandit. I will remember this insult.¡± Then, she turned to flee. Chikere might have chased the woman, but she¡¯d already gotten her sword. She would like that other one, but her goal was accomplished. She looked down at her right arm and cut it off at the shoulder. It would be easier to stop the flow if it was a clean cut, and she hadn¡¯t been able to maneuver the damage to be something that could be fixed. With bandages supplementing a cap of her energy, she was no longer bleeding there. She flicked her hand to open her bag and pulled out a bottle of pills. She couldn¡¯t remember what went into it, but there were a few different kinds. Some were for one thing, some another. She just downed the whole thing. Blood replenishment and wound closing pills had to be part of that. Then she looked around, setting her sight on the next target. Anyone from the Harmonious Citadel. That old woman with the spear was already fleeing Sadiq, and he seemed content to let her go¡­ but the more damage Chikere could cause to them the better the whole plan would have gone. She grinned as the medicine coursed through her veins. Life was good. The Harmonious Citadel was being shamed, and she had a new sword. Shame about the arm though. Chapter 559 Most people would have said that trading an arm for a sword was a bad deal, but Chikere wouldn¡¯t agree with them. Would she have preferred to get it without losing an arm? Absolutely. But there was more to it than just losing an arm and getting a weapon. If she had wanted to simply have her right arm, she could have not fought for the sword. She could have settled down for a few decades, trained herself, and found whoever owned the weapon later. She had no doubt she¡¯d be able to get it. But now she knew how she matched up against skilled cultivators. The kind who were expected to reach at least late Integration and who might progress to Augmentation. And she was quite confident she wouldn¡¯t end up with a narrow victory next time. She learned a lot by experiencing it with her body. Catarina came to her after the battle- many people had disguised themselves to be ready. Chikere was simply the best bait¡­ and the one that seemed easiest to draw out. Which she probably was. ¡°Do you need help growing back your arm?¡± ¡°Growing back¡­ my arm?¡± Chikere tilted her head. ¡°I¡­ hadn¡¯t planned to do that.¡± ¡°Really? Don¡¯t you need it? Is it not your good arm?¡± ¡°My left arm is pretty good too,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°But either way, I think I¡¯ll stay like this for a while.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a terrible idea. If you don¡¯t start now, it will be more difficult to restore it.¡± ¡°So? Rahayu sacrificed an arm and a leg for his ascension. Sometimes, you have to give things up for his growth.¡± ¡°First, that¡¯s crazy,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°Second, he has all his limbs. They were just injured! If you want to not use your arm you could just grow it back and not use it.¡± ¡°Sounds lazy,¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°I need to commit to this.¡± Catarina sighed. ¡°Fine. I was going to help since you were an important part of this operation, but¡­ if you don¡¯t want it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, thanks.¡± ¡°At least we won pretty definitively, which makes it harder for them to cover up. Independents weren¡¯t particularly interested in the Harmonious Citadel to begin with, but such open duplicity will be trouble for them. Especially since they emphasized the tournament was open to everyone so much. Though Vari mentioned their internal control of information is fairly concrete.¡± The big victory was not winning a single sword- not for the group as a whole, at least. It was simply having a clear and obvious defeat of the Harmonious Citadel- and what damage they had caused. They couldn¡¯t take over Thaizuno and use it as staging grounds for further operations- in fact, they had to pack up and leave in rather short order- but catching a significant group outside of proper Harmonious Citadel territory was a boon. As they discussed the benefits to their alliance, they were approached by an older man, one that Chikere now recognized and even remembered the name of. ¡°Grandmaster Smith Sadiq,¡± Chikere inclined her head, holding up the blade. ¡°This is a good sword.¡± ¡°Of course it is. Spent five years on it. Speaking of which, as I can¡¯t trust the Harmonious Citadel to follow through on their agreements anymore, I¡¯m looking for a new place of residence.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I have not yet asked a question or proposed any course of action,¡± Sadiq pointed out. ¡°I require further swords of this quality,¡± Chikere said firmly. ¡°Join us and make them.¡± ¡°You think it¡¯s so simple? Even if I had the materials to make something like that- which I don¡¯t- I also need a good forge and inspiration.¡± ¡°Where is the forge?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°We will take it.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Sadiq nodded, ¡°Confidence is good. But this one was on Rouhiri.¡± Chikere bit her lip and looked down at her left arm, then her legs. ¡°I will not be able to acquire it just yet. But we have some remnants of Everheart¡¯s.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right,¡± the large old man nodded, leaning on his oversized combination of what was definitely multiple swords beneath one handle, blades overlapping. ¡°You¡¯re the ones who took over Everheart¡¯s Tomb.¡± ¡°We did,¡± Chikere confirmed. ¡°Did you punch him in the face?¡± ¡°Unfortunately we did not have the opportunity,¡± Catarina inserted herself into the conversation. ¡°Not literally, at least. Though I do believe he was quite upset when he made his way off planet.¡± Sadiq grinned. ¡°Heh. Good to hear he had something stolen from him in turn. There¡¯s a good chance the forge there was once mine. That guy was annoyingly adept at removing entire structures that were meant to be stationary¡­¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°I did hear about that,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Anyway, we have plenty of space for you to get set up¡­ and in a volcano, or not if that¡¯s not actually helpful. We¡¯d be glad to have you.¡± ¡°I think I would like that, yes,¡± the man nodded. ¡°At least I¡¯d know there would be someone worthy of my work and able to appreciate its value,¡± he turned his head towards Chikere who was grinning from ear to ear. ¡°Don¡¯t expect anything quickly though.¡± ¡°I will wait for more swords as long as I need to. And I will help you acquire a worthy forge and materials.¡± ----- Back in the lower realms, war had been over for a decade. It wasn¡¯t just nominal peace, either. There was trade- hesitant, certainly, and not large scale- between the systems of the trifold alliance and those in the Sylanis Cluster. It was entirely possible for things to return to conflict at some point in the future, but the groups there were less consolidated. Anton was now having to consider how he would expand his assimilated stars without any particular indication of what he might want. Leaving too many of his options unbound would slow his growth intolerably. Highest on the list were a few in the neighborhood of Ceretos where people might one day settle, but they were still busy filling out their own system. Even if they rushed things, a decade or two before expanding to other systems was close to the reasonable minimum. The benefits of ¡®easy¡¯ access to some resources might also be outweighed by the lack of natural life and the very competition people might want to avoid. With nobody to trade with, would such excursions be profitable? That was something people would have to find out. Personally, Anton was more interested in seeing if life could be sustained on such planets, but it was more complicated than just chucking down a few trees, bushes, and animals. At least, if it was going to be anything functional over a longer period. Anton had an excellent understanding of how to manage all of that for places like Graotan. He¡¯d studied other countries and beyond for the sake of building up the planet¡¯s natural energy, and could at least do a half decent job. But another planet, starting from nothing¡­ that was in the realm of the theoretical. Rutera had some ideas, of course. So did Weos. Perhaps it might be appropriate to found a new system with elements from each part of the trifold alliance, though it would have to be physically close to one of them. Such an effort would take decades to even consider starting¡­ but that was something they had now. Somewhere close to a century hence, the tides of the world would have shifted naturally- though whether the current short cycles was actually natural was unclear- and their worlds would be open for invasion. There was some possibility that it might not be all at once, the timing in different systems off by weeks or months. If they had years¡­ they would actually be able to provide significant support between systems. Either way, they were busy combining their expertise for mutual defense. When Anton had been a young man, it had been hard to get a village to agree upon dealing with roads or community projects that were going to take five or ten years. Perhaps he himself had even been casual about such things, losing interest as time dragged on. Now, keeping people focused for a century- another century- seemed almost impossible. Except there was a very useful thing Anton could point out. A good portion of people would be alive for that, and if they weren¡¯t going to be they still hoped for it. At the very least Anton could confidently say that the generation being born now would live that long if they put even the slightest devotion into their cultivation. And anyone who made it to Essence Collection could expect to live to at least a hundred and fifty, perhaps two hundred. That was for humans, of course. As for void ants¡­ the matter was quite unclear. Not all of them grew stronger, and they could die of old age. But some showed no real signs of aging besides an increase in size, like the Great Queen. Overall he could say vaguely approximate to humans, except perhaps tending more towards the extremes. Like the void ants themselves, the youngest of which were barely sapient though able and expected to act on their own unlike human children. Yet they were never really independent, fulfilling their role in an organized structure- again, much like most humans. ----- The moon. Currently, the largest organized gathering of the Tomb Seeking Cult, as much as they were ever organized. Some of them had taken the effort to dig up Everheart¡¯s tomb there, hoping to find signs. As with most, it was collapsed far beyond what seemed reasonable, formations weighing their current time against the future to sustain structures. The gardens in particular were a true loss, the living creatures there perishing with the tomb itself¡­ though not aging like the actual structure. In short, whatever people had not brought away with them had perished in the physical collapse of the underground caverns that housed their ecosystem. The only thing remaining had been things with minimal requirements for life like bacteria and fungi. That did not include void ants. ¡°I suppose you¡¯re officially the progenitor of all void ants now,¡± Anton said solemnly. ¡°Did you know this was going to happen, when you snuck into my bag?¡± The Great Queen shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think I really understood back then. I was adventurous, and it seemed interesting. Though I did have some sense that this place wouldn¡¯t last,¡± she signed her words as Anton carried her through some of the dug out area. ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Though I am quite glad we got you instead of a less cooperative individual.¡± ¡°Had someone improper led the void ants, we might have only managed a few years of explosive growth before we were determined to be a threat. Humans would have been quite capable of eradicating us, with motivation. As for my sisters, I do not remember them. We were born queens we struck out on our own before truly understanding each other, and after our colonies were established we interacted little. Though I understand we must have remained sensibly conservative.¡± ¡°A difficult thing,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Humans always want more and more.¡± ¡°Even so, you restrain yourselves¡­ or face harsh consequences. You are simply larger.¡± ¡°I wonder what was here,¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡­ they were encouraged to dig this place up.¡± ¡°You think Everheart manipulated them?¡± The sign for Everheart¡¯s name was just a rude gesture, something the man himself found quite amusing to discover. Even if anyone from the Tomb Seeking Cult had been around, however, it was unlikely they would have understood the reference to him. ¡°I know they have been manipulated. I just don¡¯t know if it was for a purpose.¡± ¡°It is rather late to dig all this up, when it could have been done decades earlier by Everheart¡¯s own hand.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s the problem. He would have had to do it alone¡­ that¡¯s quite a bit of work. And though I believe he would be capable, it wouldn¡¯t have helped his injuries.¡± Anton couldn¡¯t quite tell how injured the old man was at current. He didn¡¯t see a way the man could be back at full power- though in truth his actual full power was likely impossible to make use of in the lower realms, regardless of health and reattuning to natural energy. But despite his suspicions¡­ Anton still trusted him enough to believe he was either working for entirely selfish purposes that would not cause enough harm to send anyone after him, or potentially working against future invasions. Or he might just be messing with the cult. He did enjoy doing that. Chapter 560 As might be expected, it was rather difficult to develop new formations to synchronize transmitters over a vast distance, and even more so when one wanted to convey complicated information. Anton had been expecting that to be an eternal project for Catarina and Everheart, but here he was mere decades after the project had begun, looking at a printed technique from the upper realms, one that had a decent semblance of the insights that had been woven into the original. Yes, printed- with Ruteran technology. Modified, of course, into a unique machine of great price. It was too bad that it had taken a month for the technique to arrive after it had overcome the time delays between them. In short, there was no way to rapidly trade techniques. They had to choose carefully what they wished to exchange. To the upper realms, they first sent Worldbinding techniques- they were less personal than Assimilation, but might still contain useful information. Catarina and the rest of the group already had access to nearly everything from Ceretos, and thus most lower realms techniques weren¡¯t that interesting. In a somewhat selfish request, Anton had asked for a modern version of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s archery techniques to be one of those first transmitted from the upper realms. Everheart had a version that was over a century old, but seeing how they were developing would be useful. Anton still wished they could personally exchange insights, comparing their divergent paths, but that would have to wait. Not forever, but the time Anton spent with those who had now ascended would match the time they were apart. All assuming, of course, that he lived that long. His internal examinations were still unclear about his lifespan. He wasn¡¯t feeling older as his cultivation grew, but neither did he feel younger. The one who might have the best insights into the subject he preferred not to discuss actual worries with. ----- In front of Anton, sitting with him in the Sect Head¡¯s lounge was a man who he had a great fondness for¡­ but it was his benevolent nature that meant Anton didn¡¯t spend as much time with him as he should. Elder Vincent was not a man of war, despite his technical ability to fight. And despite having a good sense for who could cultivate, the man was not supremely talented himself. Though Anton had to remember something important- it was abnormal for himself or anyone else to reach the peak of Life Transformation in a century. It just so happened there had been an unusual batch of cultivators all at the same time which was¡­ strangely more likely than a small number, according to what records existed. ¡°A hundred and fifty years since you set me on this path,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve reached this point. Congratulations are in order.¡± The man smiled. He was younger than Anton, and maintained that look as his cultivation advanced. He didn¡¯t look to be in his prime like some, but he was at most middle aged. A few wrinkles, maybe some stray gray hairs. But Anton honestly didn¡¯t believe he would have felt right if he looked younger. ¡°Don¡¯t congratulate me just yet,¡± Vincent said. ¡°I have not yet taken the next step.¡± ¡°And yet,¡± Anton countered, ¡°Most also don¡¯t reach the point where they could take this step. Besides, I have seen your devotion. I believe you will succeed.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t help but have doubts,¡± Vincent sighed. ¡°About what?¡± ¡°My talent. My chosen path. Whether it¡¯s even possible¡­ and whether I should bother. If I don¡¯t make this attempt¡­¡± he furrowed his brow, ¡°I still have centuries of life to look forward to, doing what I enjoy.¡± ¡°If that is what you choose, I will not fault you,¡± Anton said. ¡°That is merely a matter of priorities. You don¡¯t need more power to seek out disciples, or to provide guidance to those beginning their paths. But,¡± Anton paused on the word, ¡°I sense that you would regret not making this attempt. You have to decide whether that regret would be greater than what might be lost if you fail.¡± Vincent sighed, ¡°How do you choose such a thing?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°You just have to. I might suggest conveniently being rid of most of your worldly attachments and near the end of your lifespan. It¡¯s a great motivator.¡± Vincent laughed, ¡°Perhaps I will. Or¡­ perhaps I won¡¯t. I suppose I could wait centuries and make the choice then.¡± ¡°If you seriously consider that option, don¡¯t forget Vandale,¡± Anton warned. ¡°Though in your case, you won¡¯t necessarily be giving up an ambition. It¡¯s different for those going through Ascension.¡± Vincent nodded, ¡°Though it is quite appealing to have all of the upper realms to spread the One Hundred Stars, we have little structure to support people there, despite the amazing things I have heard. And¡­ my ambitions are not so wild that I cannot be satisfied with a few billion individuals to work with.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget Rutera and Weos,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure they would be happy with me poaching talented individuals.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called ¡®promoting immigration¡¯,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Besides, if it¡¯s truly suitable for them it would be better. And¡­ maybe we should be creating branch locations already. Being centralized here in Graotan is not bad, given the availability of teleportation formations. Official locations in other systems seem prudent at this point.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Sounds interesting,¡± Vincent admitted. ¡°But I have plenty to roam here on Ceretos for the moment. Maybe I¡¯ll change my mind next century.¡± He stood up from the table after finishing his tea. ¡°I have made my decision. I don¡¯t know what will happen should I fail¡­ but don¡¯t expect anything spectacular no matter what happens.¡± ¡°You¡¯re making the attempt at Assimilation, then?¡± Anton asked. Vincent nodded. ¡°The Order doesn¡¯t need me anymore. Perhaps it hasn¡¯t needed me since I recruited you¡­ that was the most impactful decision I made, thinking nothing would come of it. But¡­ I would still like to remain here for the Order, and see how far I can go.¡± ----- Anton watched, without interfering or being an oppressive presence, as Vincent made his way around the Order. But while observing such a thing was in a way an invasion of privacy, ignoring a potential Assimilation would leave potentially valuable cultivation insights by the wayside for no reason. Vincent certainly didn¡¯t do any of the ¡®typical¡¯ steps, as if there was such a thing for Assimilation. Except for one thing, which involved powerful sources of natural energy. Instead, he was just walking around the sect, talking to people and shaking hands. Elder Vincent was likely known by more people in the sect than Anton. Oh, sure, everyone knew Anton¡¯s name. He was the Sect Head, after all. And while Anton was by no means unfriendly¡­ he didn¡¯t know tens of thousands of people. Maybe hundreds of those in the Order, but that was it. Vincent, however, had recruited maybe one in ten- which was an insane proportion given the explosive growth of the Order in the last century and how many people were attracted to it simply from hearing about it. There were standards for entry, of course. Not cultivation talent anymore, but measures of personality and morality. People didn¡¯t have to be flawless, but they had to strive towards what was right, even if they failed. And Vincent was frequently out in the world finding those who were suited to join. More than that, he remembered those he recruited. The only reason he¡¯d been unclear on Anton near the beginning was because he had expected Anton to perish in his pursuit of cultivation rather than achieving rapid successes. As Vincent moved between people, Anton felt it. The strings of connection, like those of Alaia- but not quite the same. Alaia¡¯s had been impersonal, a bond formed for the sake of convenience. This, on the other hand, was merely the strengthening of something that existed. Even if they only interacted with Vincent infrequently, everyone recruited by him remembered him fondly. The differences between Worldbinding and Assimilation were more a matter of perspective than mechanical differences. Both, at least, were a method to step beyond the boundaries of Life Transformation without Ascension. Both allowed connecting to people or places, with rarer connections to concepts. Vincent had access to information on both, putting together this path for himself, as all had to. Through the connections that Vincent was strengthening- they already existed, if not in the same form- Anton felt small bits and pieces of the man lingering behind. A serious commitment- if his method failed or was not completed, the results would be devastating. Then again, how could he hope to step into the next stage without risk? That was not how cultivation worked. Though of course, the risks were lesser if one strode the right path for themself. It took days for Vincent to pass through the whole of the Order, and when Anton thought he was finished, his task complete, Vincent stepped out of the gates of the sect onto the road. Certainly, not everyone Vincent had recruited would be present at the Order at all times¡­ but seeking them out was likely less efficient than waiting for them to return. If he got in contact with them remotely, they might all come to him. But that wouldn¡¯t have been Vincent, if he chose that route. Anton hoped things worked out for him as intended. He could possibly step over the threshold at any point¡­ or fail right before the end. And nothing Anton did would be able to help. ----- By all of Anton¡¯s calculations, his message to the Hidden System had passed into and then through their system some years prior at the latest. There had been no response- either something had caused a response to fail or more likely there had never been a response to begin with. It was possible it had been missed, despite being intentionally obvious, but Anton found it easier to presume that the system cut itself off on purpose and preferred to maintain its status. He took a moment to visit each of the places he had left communications devices in the surrounding systems, finding them intact and undisturbed. That also didn¡¯t mean anything. Perhaps they did not survey their nearby systems, or simply hadn¡¯t in the last decade or so. Anton had simply hoped there would be a response. Knowing why they were isolated- outside of mere speculation- could provide some catharsis. At a certain point, however, he was unsure if there even really was a system where he speculated. Now that he had returned, with some more experience under his belt, he felt not only the unnatural tides but also the presence of stars. His Assimilation made the latter possible- and he was quite careful to avoid forming any actual connection. With the tides as they were, he couldn¡¯t determine anything more. Was it a binary or other such system with multiple stars, or several systems packed closely together? He was curious, but no answers were forthcoming. ----- Though Anton felt as if he were simply waiting, he was never truly unoccupied. Cultivation filled any gaps in his time, but there were many responsibilities to fulfill. Though he wished it were otherwise, Ceretos didn¡¯t just remain at peace with itself all on its own. It required constant oversight and a bit of an implied threat. Assimilation cultivators were slowly forming throughout, which unfortunately made it more likely that there would be a return to competition of some sort. Fortunately, resources and space were no longer limited in the same way they had been. It was possible for people to expand outward rather than fight each other. Though Anton wasn¡¯t willing to settle for deferred troubles. Instead, he had to keep up with the other sects, arbitrating issues in some cases and in others simply overseeing deals. Hopefully, that would head things of permanently¡­ or at least as permanently as anything could be in the world. If nothing else, it should last until the arrival of a common foe in the next invasion. Chapter 561 Of all the people Anton knew, the most irreplaceable was perhaps Kohar. She did all of the things that Anton could not do himself- obtaining results that could not be achieved through diplomacy, including violence of the threat of violence. In a perfect world, she would be around forever to deal with whatever issues arose. Though if the world was perfect, she would be unnecessary. Either way, that was not this world. Kohar was getting older. That was clear- and her cultivation speed was not improving. With the general trending upward of the natural energy upon Ceretos and a reasonable amount of devotion, she had risen from her initial status at the peak of Body Tempering to eventually reach the peak of Spirit Building. And now, close to a hundred and fifty years after Anton had first begun interacting with her, she was slowly crawling her way into late Essence Collection. Each step was slower, and it was quite clear to Anton that she would not reach Life Transformation unless something exceptional happened. ¡°If you devoted all of your time to cultivation-¡± Anton began, but Kohar waved him off. ¡°Then I wouldn¡¯t get anything important done. I can¡¯t split my focus like you. I have to achieve my legacy the normal way. By raising a successor.¡± Pointing out that he¡¯d trained many who could potentially be his successor wouldn¡¯t be valuable to the conversation, so Anton instead turned to consider Lynnette. She was the best and brightest of Kohar¡¯s young trainees, taking to both energy cultivation and the law with gusto. ¡°It will take a while yet for her to come even close to your experience.¡± ¡°Maybe¡­¡± Kohar said. ¡°Though with that reading technique poring over an entire planet¡¯s worth of laws might actually be achievable.¡± ¡°It helps that we¡¯re consolidating some, I imagine.¡± ¡°Working from a good core is important¡­ as well as stating why laws exist.¡± Kohar rubbed her forehead, ¡°You have no idea how many laws were made for a specific problem that nobody remembers. Yet they remain on the books, enforced by people who are strict or petty or¡­¡± she waved her hands vaguely. ¡°Actively evil, sometimes.¡± ¡°How long do you think it would take to come up with a reasonable system?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Depends. I¡¯d say between five and five hundred years.¡± Kohar snorted, ¡°Depending on if people would be willing to just throw out everything.¡± ¡°So closer to the long end.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure it could be measured in decades if people are cooperative. Also, it depends on if we¡¯d be integrating with Weos and Rutera. Just laws for technology¡­¡± ¡°The laws should be similar regardless of technology,¡± Anton said. ¡°Harming people is harm to them regardless of the tools. But I suppose that might have to be spelled out.¡± ¡°It sure does,¡± Kohar sighed. ¡°I¡¯m not going to be around forever, but at least I have people like Lynnette to imbue a good spirit into laws we work with.¡± Anton nodded. She and those like her would work on that, and he would do his best to deal with those that didn¡¯t care. Laws that were well crafted could protect people from day-to-day problems, when made by the right people. And though Anton understood them quite well, to the point he could be considered an expert by some, he found it much the same as formations. He could manage to deal with them, but true experts with proper devotion should be the ones if they were available. ----- Anton found himself in a new system. If they were to be interacting with the Sylanis Cluster peacefully, he needed to be able to visit all of it. Because he was not going to let himself be weak in territory he planned to frequent- his experiences on Gnadus being more than sufficient in that area- he bound to the star of the final system. Even if he had completely trusted the people involved- which he didn¡¯t- appearing weak would also be a problem even if they didn¡¯t try to kill him immediately. Gemurn was an interesting planet full of life and many different sects. Its main feature was its great size. Though it shared the features of most habitable planets- appearing in a habitable zone a certain distance from stars, having an atmosphere and a solid terrain for plants and animals to live- it was significantly larger than the other examples. It was approximately twice the radius of Ceretos and thus the surface area was approximately quadruple, it still had a gravity close small enough for non-cultivators to survive. Clearly there were internal differences that made it less massive than it might appear. Today, Anton was not meeting with Worldbinding cultivators. That meant he could have sent someone else¡­ but his presence would change the negotiations. Two sects inhabited a certain sort of forest that produced platinum oak trees with excellent features for making bows. Unlike Cheitov, only a small portion of Gemurn was devoted to forestry. This was a place inhabited and used for smaller scale operations. A small amount had been purchased for the Order of One Hundred Stars, but with their great numbers- and many inspired by Anton¡¯s strength to train in the bow- he wanted to secure a greater supply. Platinum oak wood could be used for bows that beginners could use but also took well to enchantments, making them useful for those with greater requirements. The representatives of the Dazzling Glimmer Sect and the Dark Forest Sect were both present with Anton. They were in a neutral grove between the two, which ultimately meant an area claimed by both. While not exactly enemies, they certainly got into frequent scuffles. That was the information Anton came equipped with, hoping to use it to his own advantage. He didn¡¯t intend to start an actual battle, but instead provoke competition that would allow him to get a reasonable price. What he was asking for was worth the effort. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Gentlemen,¡± Anton said after proper pleasantries had been exchanged, looking at the respectively thin and squat representatives of the sects. ¡°You know I have come here with plans to purchase platinum oak for the Order of One Hundred Stars. We have traded with both of you to some extent already. However, today I intend to ask for a bit¡­ more. I wish not for just wood and lumber, but actual trees. And the requirements to grow them.¡± The two stiffened. The man from the Dazzling Glimmer spoke up first, ¡°We have maintained control of such things for quite some time now. Why would we just give it up?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± the shorter man added, ¡°It is a consistent flow of income for our sects. If you have reasonable requirements, we can sell you what you need at not unreasonable prices.¡± Anton nodded, walking over to admire one of the trees. Its bark shone with a metallic glint, and though Anton could not say it truly resembled platinum on the outside, the inner parts were even more impressive. But the functionality was more important than its beauty, in the end. ¡°I understand you would not wish to give up a monopoly. How could it be worthwhile? But actually¡­ I have plenty of reasons it would be worthwhile. First of all, we are willing to pay a not insignificant price. That will allow you to invest in other areas now instead of growing slowly.¡± ¡°And yet, it is clear you desire this material greatly,¡± the first man said. ¡°We don¡¯t plan to gouge you, but we must charge what things are worth.¡± A true statement, more or less. Though perhaps if Anton was someone else the prices would be higher. ¡°There is more,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have word that Aridasa has secured some number of seedlings of platinum oaks, though I do not know from where. In two or three decades, you could find yourself with significant competition.¡± Anton left out the small bit of information that Aridasa was assuming the first few generations would grow up scraggly and weak without knowing the precise conditions required. It could easily be a century before there was real competition from Cheitov. ¡°You won¡¯t maintain control over the materials forever. In addition, we can promise to not compete with your sales for a century.¡± Eventually they would crack. Everyone did eventually. Frankly, as business minded individuals it would be crazy to not accept offers of certain sizes. Anton was at least partly sincere about everything. He didn¡¯t intend to leave trading partners with a bad taste, though they might realize they could have gotten more later. If he liked them more, perhaps he wouldn¡¯t negotiate for the best prices he could get on his end. But he was going to fight hard here, though he could hardly call himself a ruthless negotiator outside of war. ----- Anton didn¡¯t know what made him go back to the hidden system again. It was a waste of time, weeks lost in total as he traversed between systems. What training he could do between systems hardly offset it. At best, he could consider it a break without any real sort of rest. Yet he went back¡­ only to find something after several fruitless visits. It was a note, and a small device where he had left his own. At a glance he could tell it was also meant to be a communication device. The note explained further, though he could hardly say there was much to it. ¡°Return only after the cycle is complete. Other devices have been destroyed. Keep secret.¡± There was little more- simply a code phrase he was supposed to supply to the communications device, and the information that it would only work from the location he found it. But¡­ there was a response. From people who spoke a familiar language, no less. That meant they were at least more recently removed from things than Gnadus. Anton seriously doubted they maintained any sort of contact with the upper realms now. Not with such a clearly intentional manipulation of the tides of the world around them. And it only took a few times as long as he expected for a response. Anton considered the possibility he had been followed. This could have been a prank from Everheart, though the man would have more likely torn his way into the hidden system out of curiosity. The differing style of the device felt unique, however, so he was willing to believe it was genuine. And though people might understand he wandered off occasionally, that wasn¡¯t particularly weird for someone like him. More importantly, they would have had trouble determining where he went without getting within range of his senses. There was very little that could compete with him in that regard, and that included Rutera¡¯s best technology. All he had to do was wait for the cycle to be over. Less than a hundred years- perhaps closer to sixty or seventy, now. It would become more clear as the time approached, but Anton felt that rather than two hundred at the upper end, it was closer to one hundred and sixty or one hundred and seventy after the previous invasion. Though both were still a great margin lower than the ¡®typical¡¯ six hundred. Too bad Ceretos didn¡¯t have many records going back beyond the previous cycle. ----- When Vincent returned, Anton was surprised. Not because he thought the man was dead¡­ but because reports of him had been widespread and consistent. Suddenly finding him back, finished with his efforts¡­ that was what the surprise was. ¡°I suppose you have been successful, then?¡± Anton asked, looking the man over. He certainly felt stronger, the thrum of energy through him. ¡°I cannot say that yet,¡± Vincent admitted, stretching out his hand to Anton. ¡°I am not quite finished yet.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton nodded with a smile, taking the man¡¯s hand. ¡°Am I the last?¡± ¡°A few I could not find to confirm life or death. Of the rest, I saved you. It felt right.¡± A thin cord of energy stretched between Anton and Vincent. The latter was not drawing upon him- it was simply a connection. Perhaps he might be able to, but Anton was not concerned about Vincent abusing the possibility. The pulsing of energy within Vincent grew, as Anton and he stepped apart. Then the man- not yet old, but not young- closed his eyes and took a breath. When he opened them again, they revealed hidden depths, the reflections of others in his eyes. ¡°Given that I have not exploded,¡± Vincent said. ¡°I would have to say I have succeeded.¡± ¡°I would agree,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°And I am glad for both. It is good to know you will remain.¡± Chapter 562 Transport between planets in the upper realms was quite common and easy to arrange. The Dark Ring had a large number of their own ships, and it wasn¡¯t hard for those from the lower realms to get their hands on some. Though they varied in quality they were standard modes of transit. For going anywhere in the upper realms- whether one stayed in the Scarlet Midfields or wished to enter the territory of the Trigold Cluster or Exalted Quadrant- a standard ship was sufficient. However, if one wanted to go somewhere more exotic¡­ say, to the lower realms, things got more complicated. ¡°It appears ships can only bring us to the border, at best,¡± Catarina said after looking over the details in front of her. ¡°Beyond that they would simply fail as the prevailing energy shifted between types, from upper energy to lower energy.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be possible to make ships that could use both upper and lower energy?¡± Alva asked. ¡°In theory it is possible,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°In practice, it would basically be two ships layered atop one another. Formations made out of materials reactive to one would not function properly with the other, yet their presence might interfere with each other even when inactive. Not to mention the difficulty of getting the right sort of materials here in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Sounds kind of like the upper realms are raiding the lower realms so that¡­ they can raid the lower realms more easily,¡± Alva commented. Prospero Vandale had the first comment on that, ¡°Some of the resources are also helpful for training those of lower cultivation. It is difficult to train with just upper energy at the early stages as it is too powerful. Without my memories and experience I would have had great difficulty functioning as an independent. Though living upon Everheart¡¯s Tomb meant things could never have been easy.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Alva nodded, ¡°I remember now. Why not just¡­ trade, then?¡± ¡°Because they can take,¡± Vari crossed her arms. ¡°They have grown too large and powerful to act with any empathy.¡± She sighed, ¡°I should know, as I was part of the Harmonious Citadel, and we¡¯ve only been around a few millennia.¡± That was a reminder that those from the lower realms did not know how many six hundred year cycles had passed since the upper realms started invading the lower realms- and setting back their development. Just that it had been repeated more than a few times. ¡°So,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°How did they get to Ceretos? I can¡¯t imagine all of them flew on their own.¡± ¡°A combination, I suspect,¡± Catarina explained, ¡°Of taking their ships to systems on the edge of the divine and then following the flow of the tides of the world.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t imagine they just left ships undefended,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°They should have long term control of those systems,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be a violation of their whole¡­ truce thing?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Not stepping into the Scarlet Midfields?¡± She shrugged, ¡°Perhaps it is an exception¡­ written or unwritten. They might simply split the lower realms between them. Ceretos is already odd for having a permanent contingent of individuals tied to the Exalted Quadrant.¡± ¡°Our information is too limited,¡± Prospero lamented. ¡°They¡¯re not exactly open about what they are doing. Though I suppose as a total population they might be more aware of it. The Scarlet Midfields¡¯ population is quite a bit lower than either of them. All that is left here are war torn remnants.¡± ¡°We could eventually build up a rival faction¡­¡± Timothy said. ¡°But I imagine that would result in being crushed by both.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even dream of it without Augmentation cultivators,¡± Prospero agreed. ¡°Or even Domination. Who knows how many centuries or millennia that would take. Our immediate issue is what to do about the end of this next cycle. We retain loyalty to our home in the lower realms, how can we help?¡± ¡°According to information from certain sources in the lower realms,¡± Catarina said. ¡°As individuals we should be more effective combatants than other Integration cultivators. Beyond having gone through a proper ascension- or other efforts like Vari and the wolves- we can reattune to lower energy and replenish ourselves more easily. That is a luxury those not native to the lower realms won¡¯t have.¡± ¡°So we fight,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Completely wipe out the attackers so they don¡¯t want to return¡­ or are provoked into sending even greater forces in the future to annihilate us. If that¡¯s not already the plan.¡± ¡°We certainly can¡¯t allow them any leeway,¡± Prospero said. ¡°Or there would be no point in cultivating at all. If we are to be cattle slaughtered for others, I would prefer to perish in a way they can¡¯t benefit. But¡­ we can¡¯t know if this will solve problems for the future.¡± Catarina sighed, ¡°Unfortunately we do not have enough information on how they would react. Moving against them in the upper realms to try to cause more damage¡­ simply wouldn¡¯t work. Not anytime in the foreseeable future. We¡¯re far too weak. Even if the Harmonious Citadel and every planet and faction worked together, we could hardly annoy one of them. Though the Trigold Cluster is the bigger concern right now.¡± ¡°What about¡­ just the border systems?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°If we could take them over or make them unusable or¡­ something¡­¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Catarina said. ¡°If we even knew which systems or how many ships would be there or other defenses. And we would have to stay out of the fight in the lower realms.¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Anton is¡­ very strong,¡± Velvet provided. ¡°I don¡¯t think Integration cultivators from the upper realms would be a challenge for him. And he is not the only Assimilation cultivator.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to doubt you about my grandfather,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We just weren¡¯t there to experience it. The initial plan¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°I guess there wasn¡¯t one, really. We ascended to progress in cultivation with the idea it might help against future invasions, he remained behind. Now that we have more information, if Ceretos itself is secure¡­ we could definitely consider sabotage here in the upper realms. Though that seems quite a bit more dangerous on a personal level. We likely wouldn¡¯t have the backing of the Dark Ring or our other allies.¡± ¡°What about other regions in the upper realms?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Surely there can¡¯t be just the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant?¡± ¡°If you wish to travel through their territory to the other side looking for mutual enemies,¡± Catarina began, ¡°Then, husband, I would be forced to stop you. Though I doubt we could find anyone of sufficient strength that we could offer anything of sufficient worth to. Even our own participation would be¡­ marginal.¡± Timothy shook his head, ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning that. Though we could go¡­ around?¡± ¡°Between the upper and lower realms is dangerous enough without whatever systems they control being in the way.¡± Catarina frowned, ¡°Other dangers exist closer to the core, so I hear. Obviously you are aware I have not personally experienced them. It would not be impossible to make one of those journeys in the decades we have, but actually getting help and returning seems outside of our reach.¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°In which case, we should determine how much damage we wish to try to cause for an optimum amount of them leaving the lower realms alone. And Xankeshan, because our involvement will risk our activities there.¡± ¡°With the old formations repaired we might resist Augmentation cultivators for some time,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But we hardly have the forces to defeat them. And as the population swells, we will be drawn more into managing the forces than our personal goals. Perhaps we should have some who remained focused there.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the formation master,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°You control the defenses. While we¡¯d love to have you along with us for whatever we do¡­¡± ¡°It would be nice to just be able to trust people,¡± Catarina sighed. ¡°We maintain control here on Xankeshan only because of a power that is not ours.¡± ¡°You repaired the formations yourself,¡± Timothy said. ¡°So it¡¯s as much yours as most formations are for their sects. As for trust¡­ we¡¯ll just have to experience more life and death battles with others on our side. It¡¯s a good way to learn about people.¡± With that, his eyes turned to Vari. Vari decided to speak up. ¡°I could stay, if you trust me. I know enough about formations to keep things running, and I can¡¯t enter the lower realms. Or at least¡­ I¡¯d be weakened more.¡± Spikes grunted, reminding people of the wolves¡¯ presence and also her own status as a native of the upper realms. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t so far to the border regions,¡± Catarina said, ¡°We could easily swap out. If we¡¯re not actually descending to the lower realms and simply sabotaging what we find along the border- whether that be stealing ships or destroying outposts or whatever we have to do- then you¡¯re not restricted.¡± ¡°In that case,¡± Prospero said, ¡°Why not ask for the help of the whole alliance? Though we are mobilized to fight the Harmonious Citadel, our actual battles are infrequent. Of course, people could refuse¡­ but there are more than just a few ascended cultivators from lower realms who would at least like to ensure the safety of what they left behind. Not everyone will know of the danger or think there¡¯s something they can do.¡± ¡°I like the idea in theory,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But if we do that, nothing is secret anymore. Our whole alliance would at minimum be marking itself as against the Trigold Cluster, and they could fortify the border regions. If we were selective with our questions secrecy might last longer but¡­ we don¡¯t know enough yet anyway.¡± ¡°Then it sounds like our first task should be learning about the enemy,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Who controls what systems along the border between realms, how they choose their targets¡­ simply diverting them to other systems is better than doing nothing, but stopping them would be better. Otherwise, we¡¯ll be responsible for unreasonable amounts of suffering. Just because I don¡¯t know anyone in the lower realms not from Ceretos doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t have sympathy.¡± ----- Discussions in the upper realms had led Anton and Everheart to get together in the lower to have their own. ¡°I¡¯m glad you are willing to share so easily on this topic,¡± Anton said. ¡°Are you kidding? I hate those guys. Exalted Quadrant isn¡¯t really better than the Trigold Cluster, just a bit smarter in how they go about things. They still leech off the lower realms.¡± ¡°I¡¯m still surprised you care.¡± ¡°And I still need a place to lay low away from Augmentation cultivators¡¯ reach,¡± Everheart shrugged. That was true, but Anton knew there were other reasons. There was the general grudge, and then just a little bit of actual care mixed in, tightly locked up. Not a lot of it, but enough. ¡°What do you know about their control of the border systems, then?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Not much, I¡¯ll admit,¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°I blew past ¡®em on my way down.¡± ¡°You did not arrive with a ship¡­¡± Anton noted. ¡°Did you leave one at the border somewhere?¡± ¡°Are you kidding? For someone else to scavenge? I threw that crap into the nearest sun.¡± That was a statement Anton couldn¡¯t determine the truth of. The way Everheart said it he was clearly willing to destroy things so others couldn¡¯t have them, but whether he¡¯d done that on his most recent excursion was unclear. No doubt he had stashes of things in various places, properly hidden instead of the sorts of training vaults he¡¯d set up on Ceretos. ¡°What about further enemies in the upper realms?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, loads. No way to contact them though. Not that they¡¯d talk to me, in particular.¡± ¡°... Did you also piss them off?¡± ¡°They almost certainly wouldn¡¯t have any reason to dislike me,¡± Everheart said in a manner which made it sound like he hadn¡¯t been caught. Though Everheart was lacking many specifics, he was still able to share some information back to the upper realms. In addition, he came up with ideas to coordinate with their efforts. If they could properly determine who was coming and going from where, they might be able to take out those headed for Ceretos specifically- or more likely, stop them from returning. Though Anton didn¡¯t intend to let any invaders leave the surface of the planet this time, he couldn¡¯t guarantee they wouldn¡¯t manage it anyway. If they showed up at all, they¡¯d be stronger than last time. Chapter 563 Once they knew what they wanted, threads in the upper realm were pulled to reveal information one bit at a time. It started with a simple visit to the ¡®east¡¯, circling around the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory. There was always someone who kept track of who came and went, and they knew about interactions with the Trigold Cluster. Though it seemed they were quite careful to never technically establish anything within the agreed upon neutral ground of the Scarlet Midfields, they still had influence. How could they not, with such power relative to the scattered groups? Getting basic information on comings and goings hardly counted as spying. And in truth, it was both impossible to keep such information secret and hardly deemed important. Alva and Velvet got so much information they didn¡¯t know what to do with it. ¡°What are we even looking for?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Something that tells us which planets they control towards the border. Shipping routes or something.¡± ¡°Why would they even ship things to super secret planets?¡± ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t they?¡± Velvet countered. ¡°Who¡¯s going to stop them? And the level of secrecy is only an assumption on our part. We¡¯re just cautious because we don¡¯t want to get picked out as threats.¡± ¡°Probably shouldn¡¯t have brought Fuzz then,¡± Alva frowned. ¡°On the contrary¡­ any time we go somewhere without Fuzz, we are no longer the same people. There are the two women with the giant wolf, and the two women who are perfectly normal,¡± Velvet explained. ¡°Also I was hoping he could pick out scents or something.¡± Fuzz shook his head. He wasn¡¯t actually expected to track people through space, but if there had been a particular individual¡¯s scent that came up regularly he could remember it. So far, they¡¯d found none he could discern. Eventually, they had to pull out star charts, though dealing with those with inexact information was annoying. Just because something was flying ¡®in a direction¡¯ did not mean it would be doing so when it reached the edge of the system, nor did it reveal specific systems. That took more work, generally leading them ¡®southward¡¯ towards less inhabited planets. Finding the right information there was more difficult because fewer people would keep track, and their presence and questions would seem more suspicious. Though there were many Integration cultivators, they weren¡¯t so common that they were just glossed over when they showed up. Eventually they found a few probable systems. The only issues were determining whether or not it was safe to approach, and how to visit and return. Populated planets had many options for replenishing the energy stores of interstellar ships, but even if they did find populated planets they would solely be inhabited by enemies. That was a place they had to take a pause. ¡°So¡­¡± Alva said, ¡°Do we attempt infiltration with just us, or do we come back with an army? And how much would be enough?¡± ¡°Enough to invade an entire lower realm. And unfortunately, they will not be weakened here. Even if we could face them on an individual basis¡­ they would likely outnumber our forces.¡± Velvet pondered for a few moments. ¡°That is, of course, if the key forces are even present at all. We are still quite early- more than a handful of decades.¡± ¡°Then taking a peek at what infrastructure they have set up should be easier,¡± Alva decided. ¡°That might be best. From orbit only,¡± Velvet shook her head, ¡°Which means I will be of less use, but I don¡¯t want to risk setting down on dangerous planets.¡± ¡°Then we just have to pick a target and go,¡± Alva said. ----- The best negotiator among those from the lower realms would be Prospero, who had experience running a sect. Unfortunately, he was still not strong enough to be taken seriously. Or rather, his cultivation had not yet reached the Integration stage. Even if he could match lesser Integration cultivators, he didn¡¯t feel strong, which was important for such things. That essentially left the matter to Hoyt or Timothy. Catarina was a poor choice for negotiations that didn¡¯t involve formations. She was intelligent, but her people skills were not astounding. For these particular negotiations, Hoyt was the choice. ¡°You want us to act against the Trigold Cluster?¡± asked the woman known as Zazil incredulously. She was an important figure in the Dark Ring, and one of the first Hoyt had met upon his ascension. ¡°Not directly,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°We just want you to help disrupt their operations for invading the lower realms. Or at least get us in contact with people who are sympathetic. Someone has to have dealt with it.¡± ¡°... you overestimate the number of people who could survive such things and still have reached ascension in the short time afterwards,¡± Zazil reminded him. ¡°Even your own world was essentially reset six- now seven- hundred years ago, was it not? There may indeed be some angry Integration cultivators¡­ but most are quite content with their positions here now.¡± ¡°What about Augmentation cultivators?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Hah! You think we just have them lying around? Let me tell you, the Harmonious Citadel might have nine or so Augmentation cultivator, but we don¡¯t. Even the big players like the Trigold Cluster don¡¯t have spare Augmentation cultivators to just set on any task they want. Maybe a few dozen, maybe a hundred. Far fewer than one for each major system they control.¡± ¡°There must be some, though,¡± Hoyt prompted. ¡°Maybe not part of the Dark Ring or even allies¡­ but you have to know them.¡± Zazil folded her arms in front of her. ¡°The number I¡¯ve met in my lifespan can be counted on a single hand.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± Hoyt agreed. ¡°The one I saw gained her advancement through the theft of our planet¡¯s resources.¡± ¡°Fajra.¡± Zazil frowned, ¡°And now she¡¯s got a grudge against Xankeshan. Though that was unavoidable considering it was due to your takeover.¡± Zazil pondered for a few moments. ¡°That woman can¡¯t afford to dwell in the Scarlet Midfields for long. Her mere presence might already be a violation of the agreement with the Exalted Quadrant.¡± Zazil shook her head, ¡°Unfortunately, I really can¡¯t provide help with anyone. If that insane bastard Everheart were still alive I¡¯d imagine you could get him to do something, if you had something of sufficient value. But as you¡¯re occupying his planet clearly that¡¯s not the case.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°How did he manage to cause trouble for so many people?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°He was only alive for¡­ a few centuries, right?¡± ¡°That was his active period, yes. The rest of the details are unclear. As for how¡­ I guess he met the right people, caused the right uproars. A lucky and daring fellow. I wouldn¡¯t try to replicate his successes, if you can call them that.¡± ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t,¡± Hoyt agreed. ----- A pile of books lay in front of Catarina. One was flipped open, paged through at astonishing speed, then set aside. Of those who could make use of Ten Thousand Scrolls, Catarina was at the top of the list. But to her, this speed of reading didn¡¯t seem fast enough. ¡°This would be easier if there were more of me,¡± she said. ¡°Please don¡¯t,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I love you,¡± he added, ¡°But I can hardly keep track of one of you. I wouldn¡¯t want more getting up to trouble.¡± ¡°I would be much more responsible than Everheart,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I would work with my projections instead of having them work for me. And¡­ I suppose not letting them hang around indefinitely would be for the best.¡± ¡°We shouldn¡¯t be in a rush,¡± Timothy said. ¡°We¡¯re still quite young, only a handful of decades into Ascension.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the problem,¡± Catarina said. ¡°What if we face those who are further along with more experience? Practical, useful experience. Not just age.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯d best be ready to face them together as a group. Not with one of us off kilter and perhaps mentally damaged.¡± ¡°Projections are totally safe,¡± Catarina said. ¡°As long as you dissolve them within a reasonable amount of time, apparently. Besides, you don¡¯t have to worry about them. If they die, it¡¯s not me. And they¡¯re so useful! They let you be in multiple places at once, hash out so many more ideas¡­¡± ¡°Get yourself tea.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Catarina said, taking a cup from a nearby woman. ¡°And so many more things.¡± ¡°I see you¡¯ve already done it, then,¡± Timothy sighed. ¡°I thought you were undecided?¡± ¡°¡±This is an experiment!¡±¡± Both Catarinas said together. Then the ¡®real¡¯ one continued. ¡°It will only be a month. I¡¯m not going to leave anything for a century to get divergent thought patterns. It¡¯s just a part of me, a simple projection of energy that uses my thought patterns to some extent. And they¡¯ll stay that way.¡± ¡°Your words imply there is already more than one,¡± Timothy raised an eyebrow. ¡°No¡­¡± Catarina turned her eyes away. ¡°But maybe there will be.¡± ¡°I suppose this explains why our resources have been used up so quickly. I trust you to be responsible but¡­¡± ¡°Hey,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Those are investments. Trust me, soon enough we¡¯ll be getting more in than I spend. Think of all the things I can do. Working around Xankeshan on the formations, training enchanting, and I¡¯ll still have time for other things.¡± ¡°... You haven¡¯t recently looted any vaults of large sects and made them eternal enemies, right?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°... Does Everheart himself count?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Because we all did that. Otherwise, no.¡± ¡°Then I suppose I will support you in this. Just¡­ try not to be obvious about it, alright? We wouldn¡¯t want people associating you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯m much more pleasant. And I have actual friends.¡± ----- Everheart¡¯s fist tore through the space just to the left of Anton¡¯s ear. His arm was still a kilometer or so back with the rest of his body, and that same fist was there an instant later, but whether he¡¯d torn open an actual portal or some other option, the attack had definitely originated near him. Arrows flew in a rain towards Everheart. The man swept them away with a massive war fan which transformed with a flick of his wrist into a bow of his own. He shot not just arrows of energy, but physical arrows with all sorts of special properties- and occasionally none that Anton could discern. They might have been perfectly normal¡­ or the very worst of the bunch. The other man switched styles as quickly as he was said to loot vaults, harassing Anton in melee for a time before backing off when Anton began to find a rhythm. Along with bows, he tossed spears, axes, or daggers. He also attacked with all sorts of elemental abilities. The man seemed to know and have a high degree of practice with hundreds of fully formed techniques. Hundreds¡­ that he¡¯d shown in the last few minutes of battle. Clearly, Everheart was recovering well from his injuries. If Anton hadn¡¯t managed to attune to so many stars he would have been defeated in mere moments. Now, he was unable to keep up. It was tempting to use Candle Wax. But when, and how? Would it even defeat him, or would it defeat Anton? Of course, not knowing his remaining lifespan, burning it away seemed quite foolish. And it would be even more foolish to do so when he was fairly certain the man wasn¡¯t actually trying to kill him. He sure did a good job of looking like that was the plan, though. Anton finally found an opening, summoning ascension energy through Fleeting Youth and firing an arrow. It pierced straight through Everheart¡¯s chest- a wound that was at least without ragged edges and thus presumably recoverable. If he had been there, of course. Anton¡¯s senses were amazingly finely tuned, and he had grown used to illusions¡­ but an actual body had been there. It just wasn¡¯t the real Everheart. That one stabbed a dagger between his ribs from behind. ¡°Too bad kid. You¡¯re dead.¡± Anton turned to look at the man. ¡°Good thing you want me around for the invasion.¡± Even as he spoke, he pushed poison out of his body. ¡°That is an astoundingly expensive poison to use when you don¡¯t actually want to kill me,¡± Anton commented. ¡°What made you think I wasn¡¯t actually planning to kill you?¡± Everheart said, the bloody dagger still pointed between them. ¡°I recognize the poison,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°You¡¯ve gotta have crazy stuff from the upper realms.¡± ¡°Most of that crap breaks down without upper energy,¡± Everheart shrugged. Then he flicked his dagger, the blood spattering on the wall. ¡°But you¡¯re right kid. I don¡¯t intend to kill you yet. But maybe someone else you know might take a chance. Don¡¯t let your guard down.¡± An ominous warning, but was it paranoia or did he know something? Or it was another step further, intended to simply make Anton paranoid and sow discord with between him and others. Or to make him worry that that was the plan for fun or some nefarious purpose. He was going to need someone to stitch together the muscles in his back and where the dagger nicked his organs¡­ but the cut was clean. There was no reason the dagger had to not cut further than its edges. Anton considered the rumbling fires in his dantian that had been ready to explode out. He wondered what would happen when he died. Nothing accidental, he thought¡­ but perhaps he could control a last bit of that power. He was always careful to not draw too much, but if he was going to die anyway? It was a thought he hoped he never had to follow through with¡­ but improving his ability to draw upon the power of his stars was a perfectly sensible training for non-paranoid reasons. Chapter 564 The Dark Ring had practice avoiding the notice of the Harmonious Citadel. At a basic level that involved simply not being somewhere they would look, scattered across asteroids throughout systems instead of dwelling on major planets. They also had members of other sects that did not publicly support them, who only acted when the objective was sufficient to risk exposure. They also had the skills to build stealthy ships- it didn¡¯t require asking dubious sources for such knowledge for those from Ceretos to put together a ship. With some design help from the lower realms, they had vessels that wouldn¡¯t be noticed as long as nobody was looking for them in particular. That meant staying out of battles entirely, but if being used for transport or war there were better options- larger or more sturdy vessels rather than sleek spy ships. Acquiring a standard stealth vessel would have been quick and easy, but getting something better took time. All told it was years of drafts and acquiring materials and construction work. Whether that was particularly slow or surprisingly expedient depended on perspective. There was yet no rush to learn the details of the Trigold Cluster¡¯s border planets. A handful of decades or more remained before the tides of the world would allow another invasion of the lower realms- though the exact timing seemed inexact, potentially varying by location. Working from limited information could only help so much. ¡°I don¡¯t like being this slow,¡± Alva frowned. ¡°There¡¯s so much to search, and then actually doing something about it¡­¡± ¡°Unfortunately,¡± Velvet said, ¡°Even if we had all the information at our disposal, we couldn¡¯t act immediately. Let¡¯s say we take out an entire planet somehow, everyone who was planning to invade Ceretos already there and conveniently easy to kill. Then they have decades to react, to do something worse.¡± Velvet shook her head, ¡°It sounds nice to go out in a blaze of glory, but the end result would be everything being gone. Every person and place we ever knew in the lower realms. And no, we can¡¯t count on reincarnation for any of that.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to say that,¡± Alva folded her arms in front of her. ¡°I know Prospero Vandale is an exception. Besides, grandpa can¡¯t reincarnate- more than anyone else. I can¡¯t say I know how it works but¡­¡± she sighed. ¡°By now I both know people can¡¯t live forever and still want them to. I don¡¯t plan to go out in a blaze of glory either, but just waiting¡­ how will we know we¡¯re not too late?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to figure that out when we get closer. Before that,¡± Velvet reminded, ¡°We have to be successful on at least one scouting mission. Probably many more, unless they conveniently leave boxes of information floating in orbit above their planets.¡± ¡°That would be nice,¡± Alva said. ¡°Though I suppose they might, in a way. They have to ferry people back and forth, right?¡± ¡°Presumably,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But if they notice ships going missing, that will also tip them off.¡± ¡°I suppose that will depend on how many there are.¡± ----- The first system, they and their small crew slowly curved their way around planets, using the natural motion of orbit to carry them without using much active energy. They had a pre-planned route to go by all of the major targets, as well as several potential sources to recharge- though they should be able to return without refueling unless something went wrong. They felt for signs of life, upper energy molded in formation patterns or simply acting abnormally. Of course if they sensed any extremely powerful cultivators that would also be a sign, but they were keeping their distance so as to not be sensed in return. They trusted in the functionality of the ship- the Stellar Wave- but pushing things too far was asking for trouble. ¡°I¡¯m not sensing anything,¡± Alva admitted after they circled a number of rings around the first planet- theoretically surveying large swaths of terrain beneath them. The planet had a surface that was nearly molten- in some places it was, while away from the sun it was cooler. ¡°You have a better range than myself,¡± Vari said. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect anyone to live here anyway.¡± They moved on, more days and weeks spent around a planet with caustic clouds but no signs of life or especially human cultivators. Alva clicked her tongue, ¡°I hear there¡¯s some stuff that barely uses energy at all, ¡®technological¡¯ stuff from Rutera, that could sense immediately if there were any cultivators in a place like this. And my grandfather could probably cover a lot more¡­¡± ¡°It is unreasonable to compare yourself to Anton,¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°The man is a sniper without match. And that would include Kseniya.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t we bring her, anyway?¡± ¡°She was occupied with other missions,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°Perhaps we should secure her help for our next rounds. Though I would postulate we¡¯ve found nothing because there is nothing.¡± ¡°We could at least find nothing faster with someone like her,¡± Alva said. ¡°That¡¯s also true with you,¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°There is always someone more suited for a task, but sometimes people simply have to undertake what they can accomplish.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Then there was silence. Not complete, of course. More than that, there were various shifts for the sensing duties and people had to have personal time to train or study or whatever they wished to do. Otherwise they¡¯d go crazy after months of constant activity with nothing really happening. They moved further out in the system, generally away from the sun catching planets in their orbits as they could. Though the planets themselves changed, there were consistently no signs of cultivators. The largest planets, gas giants, were mainly ignored except for their rocky moons. It was true that cultivators could settle inside such a place, but it wouldn¡¯t be simple to find them unless they were plentiful. They circled around the system to cover all the planets, as they weren¡¯t neatly arranged in a line or spiral going outward from the sun. Ultimately, they found nothing. ¡°What was our estimated chance of there being something here?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Over sixty percent,¡± Velvet said. ¡°That seems so¡­ assured. But it¡¯s also really not,¡± Alva sighed. ¡°I just don¡¯t want to miss anything. But I guess we have to move on.¡± ¡°Even if they are excellent with concealment,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Someone will mess up. We will find them at some point, so even if we miss some opportunities we can¡¯t worry about it.¡± ----- Back in the lower realms, after exploring several systems away from the trifold alliance operations further in distance were held back. From the scientific perspective of Rutera there was more than sufficient things to study nearby. The others were also not in any specific need of further contact at the time. In the scope of time they had, anyone further away would be impossible to coordinate with for the invasion. Messages might take several days up to weeks and travel months, and there was no way to be certain that whoever they met would be friendly. So they restrained themselves, content to expand mainly within their own systems, or between them. None of them were over the losses from the war with the Sylanis Cluster, though all had populations that were rapidly growing as they found room to expand. Even the less hospitable planets had tempting reasons for cultivators to settle upon them, filling out the system like Weos- though instead of billions there might be between thousands and millions on the harsher planets. Anton could not help but think about the hidden system sometimes, but he avoided any further interaction, keeping the communication device upon him safe and secure. Likewise, he remained rather unadventurous and safe within systems he had Assimilated stars. Not out of fear, but because growing stronger was the most important thing at the moment. Heat washed over Anton from a star, so close he could nearly reach out and touch it. If he did not have a connection to it and some control over its intensity, its power would simply wash away his energy in a few moments and turn him into something less than ash. That was the magnitude of power of which he only controlled a small part. Even up close, though everything he could do seemed significant to himself, great rivers of flame or nets of fire hundreds of kilometers across and able to entrap a fleet of ships, it was simply not that much to a sun. The most difficult part, up close, was not resisting the external temperature but the internal pressure. Anton¡¯s connection would make it simple to open himself up to more than he could control. That was something he knew, to a greater extent then he knew his body, the exact curve of every bow he had. A certainty that he would be destroyed- but he didn¡¯t consider it a danger, really. He was in control of that connection, and it was his choice not to let too much through. Knowing that for certain had taken some time cautiously approaching Ceretos¡¯ star closer and closer. It was an amazing thing, so bright that sight didn¡¯t mean anything. Even facing away, his eyes wouldn¡¯t have been able to comprehend anything. Anton slowly pulled away, building up speed that would eventually carry him to the far reaches of the system, and beyond. Now, he would be stretching his limits in the other direction. If at all possible Anton would prefer not to fight outside of the optimal range of his power draw. But his enemies wouldn¡¯t necessarily give him that luxury. While the exact details weren¡¯t known, what could be purchased from black markets in the Sylanis Cluster and even the trifold alliance knew that he drew his power from stars. He hadn¡¯t killed everyone who had seen him fight, after all- and from inside the alliance people had gotten a good look. Out of thousands or tens of thousands, there would always be someone willing to sell for a price. But even if they had exact details, Anton wasn¡¯t going to make it easy to use against him. He could continue to expand his range¡­ and then the weakness would be less pronounced. Anton was certain it would always remain a weakness, but if he was strong around everything he wished to protect, he simply had to not be lured away. The core of burning fire he had access to grew distant, but he opened himself to it fully, drawing upon the power of Ceretos¡¯ star and very slightly upon the others, all others together less dwarfed by the system he was in. He did not know what the next threshold for advancing stages was- only that he would not reach it before the invasion. Even so, he would be as strong as possible, along with everyone else he could push to greater heights. It was hoped that Rutera would not be targeted- they had been unknown and all known methods of spying to the Trigold Cluster had been cut off- but nothing could be certain. There was still the Exalted Archipelago. Even if the Exalted Quadrant was in conflict with the Trigold Cluster, they were still in communication with each other- and thus the Exalted Archipelago in the lower realms. Anton had been assured by those he trusted that the amount of communication between upper and lower realms was quite limited, but that was not as helpful as he might like. On the other hand, the current state of the Exalted Archipelago comprised only allies and those who were willing to work together. Trying to wipe them out because they theoretically could betray them would be unfair, especially since other parts of Ceretos, specifically those friendly with the Order, had much better communication with certain individual in the upper realms. But it was still so much easier to be suspicious of them, even with nothing yet having gone wrong. Simply acting against those not in his in group was a simple way to become a crazy tyrant. If there really was going to be some sort of betrayal, it would have to be dealt with after the fact. Or if any spies found usable information, they would work with that. Until then, there was nothing to do but be ready for what he knew was coming. Chapter 565 ¡°... and this one replicates the background energy levels,¡± Velvet explained some of the functionality of the Stellar Wave. ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re the one controlling all the stealth stuff,¡± Alva said. ¡°I get concealing your energy, I don¡¯t get then intentionally using energy to be even less obvious.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t even get to see all the stuff from the Sylanis Cluster,¡± Velvet sighed. ¡°I wonder if I could hide myself in subspace?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know. Either way, you manage that while I¡­ take a look at that base.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget to be careful with your sensing energy.¡± ¡°Listen, it¡¯s not gonna be perfect,¡± Alva said. ¡°I can¡¯t conceal energy I¡¯m using to feel people out. But I can be subtle enough.¡± Finally in their third system they had found an occupied planet. And it was¡­ not difficult. All of the signs of cultivators were present, including barrier formations that didn¡¯t make any attempt to hide their presence and in fact did quite well to advertise them to the world. It seemed that the Trigold Cluster wasn¡¯t terribly shy about their occupation, perhaps counting on the fact that nobody would be looking. A simple pass around the planet indicated it wasn¡¯t being settled normally. There were only a few occupied locations, large cities outside of which only a few locations with especially dense energy were occupied. Extreme regions, like the types that attracted sects to settle and develop their particular styles. As for the cities themselves, simple visual observation- from a great distance- revealed many of the buildings were exact replicas. Standardized. From a bit closer, they could see training fields with large numbers of individuals performing the same moves. Outside the city walls was very little. Fields of grass and occasional trees- all growing radially from the settlements. Clearly the planet hadn¡¯t come with life, but instead it had been implanted. ¡°Grandpa would be so upset,¡± Alva said. ¡°But he likes the idea of settling new worlds,¡± Velvet answered. ¡°They¡¯ve got one type of tree! I haven¡¯t seen any animals!¡± Alva waved her hands wildly. ¡°If someone brings along a single disease the whole system will collapse.¡± ¡°A fair point,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°But perhaps because they don¡¯t intend to live there for long, it¡¯s too costly.¡± ¡°They still have at least half a century,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°Depending on how long travel time takes.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ Anton would have at least a whole country put together by that point,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°The question is, do they just abandon these places for¡­ five centuries normally?¡± ¡°And how do they eat?¡± Alva tapped her chin. The answer to that was not as difficult to find as it might seem. Already since they had arrived earlier in the day, several ships had been spotted entering just the closest city. While ships of the size in question even if they continued to come in around the clock definitely didn¡¯t have sufficient room in their holds to carry enough food, that was only the case if they didn¡¯t have extradimensional storage of any sort. Individual bags would be prohibitively expensive, so perhaps the ships themselves were enchanted with one bigger formation. ¡°... This is a waste of resources,¡± Alva said. ¡°Seriously they could have planted fruit trees a decade or two ago. Though I guess most of them would die since this planet doesn¡¯t seem to have¡­ weather.¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about it,¡± Velvet admitted, ¡°But now that you point it out, I can tell it for myself. There¡¯s certainly an atmosphere, but not enough of it to have much happen. Nor enough moisture to have a proper water cycle.¡± ¡°I bet if we popped the formations around the city everyone would die,¡± Alva said. ¡°Uh¡­ if we can determine they¡¯re actually going to be invading the lower realms, of course.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to be cautious with your words around me. We¡¯ve been around each other long enough that we both know what is necessary sometimes. We¡¯re at war- even if the Trigold Cluster wouldn¡¯t deign to make any sort of official declaration. Or perhaps be so blatant with their excesses. Even cultivators have to draw the line somewhere. Bullying those who literally can¡¯t be as strong as them isn¡¯t very glorious.¡± ¡°But they can be,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°I don¡¯t think they knew that,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°Or if they knew about Assimilation or Worldbinding, that might be why they kept invading every cycle¡­ to keep people from reaching that stage. Ascension just scatters people into the upper realms where they have all of their forces so they don¡¯t really care.¡± ¡°When you say it like that it sounds crazy to go against them.¡± Velvet just shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s also crazy not to. If we want our home to thrive or even survive, we have to stand up to them.¡± ¡°What about Xankeshan, then? It¡¯s just one world, does it really matter how many Integration cultivators we have there when they already have more? Then again, that¡¯s why we¡¯re trying not to be obvious.¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Right,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Speaking of which, want to get closer? I¡¯m sure we can pick out more details.¡± ----- The first hour of hovering invisibly over the city revealed more details. From within the atmosphere their ship was barely any distance from their target. What they saw was mostly a large number of Spirit Building and Essence Collection cultivators. Not a threat to Ceretos, but in fifty years? Many of them could be in Life Transformation. That might still be fine, but other lower reams might have more difficulty. ¡°It¡¯s not going to be easy to determine where these people are going¡­¡± Alva said. ¡°Unless you can just sneak in and listen?¡± ¡°More like look through documents,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I probably could, but coordinating with the ship would be a problem. You¡¯d have to keep it hidden while I was gone, and I¡¯d have to meet back up with it. That would take-¡± The two of them suddenly turned. Their reactions came before the impact, but not with enough time to inform the crew. The ship was spun around, the impact damaging the hull. ¡°What happened?¡± Alva half shouted at the pilot. It was mostly to be heard, but she could understand why he cringed. ¡°I don¡¯t know! Suddenly that ship changed trajectory towards us. We were going to slip by them but-¡± ¡°I got it,¡± Alva said. That was basically what she had sensed too. She hadn¡¯t felt any intent from the approaching ship, no impending danger or fluctuation in their energy. Maybe they really had turned and randomly run into them. She had to admit, the other ship looked like it got the worse end of the deal. Its masts were torn off- sails weren¡¯t fully necessary for star ships, but they still had purposes. Meanwhile, their own ship just had a deep gouge along its belly. They were still flying, but the enemy ship was going down. That was good, but what was not good was the notice it attracted. Alva felt several Life Transformation consciousnesses flare up as the incident progressed. ¡°We lost concealment!¡± Velvet warned. ¡°It was only for a moment, but they¡¯ll know where we were.¡± ¡°We have to get out of here,¡± Alva said. ¡°Increase altitude!¡± There were many other shouted orders. Within a short time there were Life Transformation cultivators and a few Integration cultivators preparing ships- Alva could tell that much through the barriers. At the same time, a crew member rushed onto the deck. ¡°Seniors! The cargo hold is broken open! Some supplies have fallen out, and more are threatening to spill! The rapid climb is jostling it!¡± What a pain. They had extra supplies- but something falling out would undoubtedly reveal their location. ¡°I¡¯ll deal with it,¡± Alva said. ¡°You continue to maintain our stealth.¡± Instead of going through the ship, Alva simply jumped down over the side, latching onto the ship with her energy. She slipped in through the crack, which was indeed worse than it had initially felt. She¡¯d sensed it and determined the ship wasn¡¯t going to fall apart- and not further than that at the moment. Even as she was swinging in through the breach, a crate was on its way out, the shaking of the ship and the winds pulling it along. The gash was only a meter wide and at most two or three long at an angle, but that was more than sufficient to cause them problems. It had luckily missed any important parts of formations- though Alva knew that there would still be some impact because of the ship changing, if nothing else. Her energy reached out along the seam, holding back not only the cargo but also the scattered splinters of wood. This was sturdy stuff, but their barriers had been down and the other ship just careened into them at high speed. What terrible luck. Or ingenious planning to make it seem coincidental. Though if that had been the case, the enemy would have reacted faster. Instead, their ship had half-crashed and their others were just beginning to lift off. Alva felt senses sweeping over the general area they were in, but she had no idea if they were noticed or not. The ships certainly moved in their general direction, but hesitantly. They were still not far from where the crash happened, after all- the enemy could have guessed. Around the time the enemy increased their speed and launched their first attacks- a volley of bolts from emplaced ballistae- their own ship had the barrier formations engaged. Velvet had either noticed the preparations or had partially given up on stealth. When their own ship shot back, Alva added her own attacks to the mix. She was supposed to be up on deck where there was an augmentation formation, and not down below where a good portion of her energy was occupied with holding things together¡­ hopefully someone would come take over that part. The barrier helped with some of the shaking, and the wind, but things could still fall out and either burden the barrier or simply be lost. Alva¡¯s hands pulled the string of her bow, launching Spirit Arrows at the enemy ships. A couple Life Transformation cultivators by themselves weren¡¯t of significant consequence, but on top of other Integration cultivators they could be an issue. If nothing else, they could wreck the ship and make things much more difficult. Downing the ships would be best, either forcing those who could fly to expend their energy on that or grounding the enemy. She pierce the barrier and the helm on one of the ships that had no Integration cultivator. With no lateral control, that ship quickly veered off course despite attempts to latch onto the mechanisms with the energy of those on board. There were still two more Alva was worried about. However, as she was trying to pick which one to focus on, a command came from above, echoing through the ship. ¡°Hold fire!¡± That was Velvet, and she was obviously intentionally reaching Alva¡­ so Alva withdrew her energy, waiting to see what would happen. From her perspective it was very little¡­ she mostly felt their ship turn as the far horizon drew further away- their ascent having brought them out of the lower atmosphere. There was a single bolt that pierced through the barrier over the hole in the side, and almost into Alva- but she could easily deal with one arrow, oversized or not. She caught it and spun around to slow its momentum, while doing her best to not leak energy out. The following attacks were quite off target, and it seemed they had their stealth protections engaged once more. As they flew almost over the enemy ships, the vastness of space opened up before them- and improperly aimed attacks became less and less likely to hit them. Now all they had to do was get away, deal with the hole in their ship, and also the consequences of being spotted. Simple. Maybe they should have just stormed the planet, though obviously they couldn¡¯t have anticipated it to be so ¡®thinly¡¯ defended as it was. If the other cities were the same, there were at best a dozen Integration cultivators on the whole planet- something that their alliance or even just Alva and the others could take care of on their own. Alva looked at the hole in the ship and wondered if that particular spot was cursed. It sure felt like it- though actual curses were just manipulations of energy. Chapter 566 As it turned out, there were reasons ships didn¡¯t come with massive holes in them. Like the fact that if one were in space it became very inconvenient. Many Life Transformation cultivators and pretty much any Integration cultivators could manage without air, but that didn¡¯t mean having air wasn¡¯t better. Their ship- the Stellar Wave- also happened to have plenty of individuals for whom a lack of oxygen would be a death sentence. ¡°... It¡¯s a good thing it¡¯s not just us on this ship,¡± Alva said. ¡°I don''t know anything about repairing ships.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure we could figure it out,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I just imagine it wouldn¡¯t be so smooth of a process.¡± Some of their crew was already patching the hole- an interesting process, though not nearly as thorough as proper repairs. It simply involved laying sheets of metal over the hole and then sealing the edges with some sort of rapidly hardening goop. ¡°Jobs done,¡± said Cai, the man who had been leading the few individuals on the repair work. ¡°It¡¯s not structurally stable and it¡¯s still basically a hole in the side, but it¡¯s airtight. You¡¯ll have to count on the barriers to keep things intact.¡± ¡°Or just not getting run into¡­¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t believe they turned so sharply.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Alva said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it was a coincidence, but I also can¡¯t believe it was on purpose. There was no warning from Instinct.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to hope they can¡¯t replicate it. It seems that our stealth worked, though. Except for that,¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°We¡¯ll have to maintain a great distance, just in case.¡± ¡°What should we say on the report?¡± Alva asked. Though they would provide thorough details when they returned, providing some information about how things were going would keep those back at Xankeshan informed. And in the worst case¡­ they would at least not have totally failed. They weren¡¯t willing to strongly consider the possibility of failure, however. ¡°I think we can chalk it up to a strange coincidence, for now,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We don¡¯t really have anything to indicate otherwise. Either way, we need to be even more cautious.¡± There was some discussion on whether they should return for full repairs. Unfortunately, with the distances involved that would be a matter of weeks in each direction. While that was not an unreasonable amount of time, especially for cultivators, it also provided the enemy a chance to react. ¡°Now that they know spies are around, I guess we should lay low for a while,¡± Alva said. ¡°That¡¯s a reasonable option,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°Or¡­ we return immediately and make use of this opportunity.¡± ¡°Them being on high alert is an opportunity?¡± ¡°We can test their best defenses,¡± Velvet confirmed. ¡°And by ¡®we¡¯ I mean probably myself. You¡¯re capable of being stealthy, but that¡¯s not your focus. I¡¯m confident in setting the ship down on this planet somewhere it won¡¯t be spotted. Then I can sneak in and get information.¡± ¡°The problem with your plan is that if you fail,¡± Alva frowned, ¡°Then we don¡¯t get anything and¡­ you might not make it back.¡± Velvet crossed her arms. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest. I very much like being alive, and I¡¯m not the biggest on sacrificing my own life to save others. But I do care about our success. Knowing whether it¡¯s even possible to sneak into these places will shape our entire operation in the future.¡± As she spoke, Velvet slowly faded from Alva¡¯s perception. ¡°You still have to go out one of the doors!¡± Alva called after her. ¡°I¡¯ll notice that!¡± It was to her shame that she did not, in fact, notice it. Her eyes were fixed on one door- that one it was quite clear did not open. Another, however, opened without her senses being able to discern it. In fact, it was only when it clicked closed that she noticed- and she was quite certain that sound had been intentional. Velvet had made her point. And an infiltrator who couldn¡¯t open doors wouldn¡¯t get far. ----- Though Velvet had snuck off, they did still have to land the ship- or return to the planet in general. They had not gone far, as there was quite a vastness of empty space away from the planet. Nothing even vaguely approached their direction, so they had been confident remaining long enough for people to get a bit of a rest. Though on the actual planet, they would better be able to replenish themselves and the ship. The Stellar Wave moved in for an approach, invisibly and with only the most minute ripples of energy. Approaching a planet¡¯s atmosphere at just the right speed to do so was a lengthy and energy intensive prospect, but being careless could easily result in them being shot down. They kind of needed their ship to get back off planet, so even if they weren¡¯t concerned about the potential of death and the price of the ship- which they were- it would be quite inconvenient. As Velvet slipped away, Alva made a determination to improve her own stealth abilities. Since it hadn¡¯t been part of her Ascension she would likely find it difficult to actually catch up, but it was still useful to be unseen. Joining Velvet would likely just make things worse- stealth teams often just had more people to mess up and get spotted- but having options would be useful. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ----- Velvet¡¯s feet carried her from barren nothingness to monotone grasslands with a single type of tree. As an ecosystem it was horrible- as a hiding place the long grass and regular trees were quite helpful. Though she could walk invisible in front of people, having something in between made things easier where any senses were concerned. Visual was completely obscured, hearing muted, and even energy senses were hindered somewhat by physical objects in the way. Any limitations that she did not have to provide made her job easier. Tall grass did have its flaws- it was quite happy to yield to her movements, but that meant it was also obvious if she didn¡¯t do anything. Creating illusory images of the grass as it would be without her only worked until she let it drop, after which there would be bent blades that could be picked out, leaving a trail. Avoiding that was a significant pain, but she was still able to do it. As things went, reducing her weight to a negligible amount was much easier than flying. The city she was infiltrating had walls- large towering structures that mostly seemed to serve as an anchoring point for the formations that actually provided protections. Climbing to the top of them would do no good as there would still be a barrier preventing her entry. She could try to force her way through, but it could easily lead to her being detected. There were technically gates that opened and closed, but there were no roads leading anywhere and they looked basically unused even outside of the current potential lockdown. Velvet wasn¡¯t sure how far things would have gone- what the enemy knew. They could only see reactions from afar, and they had no history with what protocols might be in place. A ship approached. That was easily detected from afar, as it didn¡¯t conceal its approach. She stepped upon the air, moving slowly towards it. Flying, but in a way that caused minimal disturbances. It was also much slower, like everything had to be when stealthy- but it was fast enough for her to catch onto the ship after predicting its landing position- not difficult, given it was the same place as all the others. It moved through the barrier without issue, and Velvet with it. She was very careful to feel for any sort of detection, but she felt nothing lingering on her and heard no alarms. If she had been able to study the formations she would at least be able to pick out those details, but she didn¡¯t intend to stand outside the walls for days. Especially as she was testing their theoretical heightened alertness. The spaceport had quite a number of individuals prepared for unloading. A glance inside the hold informed Velvet that they were right about the extradimensional storage- there was quite a bit of space inside. Lots of food and other necessities, and even clothing. It didn¡¯t seem like this place produced much of anything for itself. Expensive and wasteful. Further into the city, she found except for the origin of goods it functioned much as might be expected, at least for cultivators. There were both the large training fields for the standard troops and training areas for individuals. Even for those whose cultivation was in Life Transformation, in the upper realms that was only considered the beginning of true power, so unless they were recognized to have special talent they were drilled in uniformity, depending on which sect they were part of. The Trigold Cluster had more than a few cultivation styles- it was simply that Ceretos had the most trouble with a few specific sects. It was unlikely they had been representative of everything that was available in the region. Velvet cataloged what weaknesses she could find. Since she could get inside she could certainly sabotage the formations- though she didn¡¯t feel the barrier was strong enough to stop a concerted attack anyway. It seemed to be mostly used as a gathering formation, concentrating all of the energy on the city. Useful¡­ but it wouldn¡¯t encourage growth elsewhere. Then again, they clearly weren¡¯t interested in that. She listened in on conversations, catching snippets that might or might not be useful. ¡°... can¡¯t wait until this is over. We¡¯re out here so early¡­¡± ¡°... better than back at the sect. Might actually earn something.¡± In a way, the city was more of a large military outpost than a proper city or a cultivation sect. While not all sects produced everything themselves, they at least had some production. Here, that was limited- some enchanting of weapons and armor as well as basic construction of replicated buildings. She made her way towards the center where more important things would be. More risk as well, but she could avoid gatherings of Integration cultivators. Though she also wanted to check on some individuals, like the target ahead. ¡°It¡¯s not as easy as you think,¡± a Life Transformation cultivator was complaining to a man a bit older than herself and the Integration cultivator in question. ¡°We can only manipulate what is probable or possible. Sometimes inspiration strikes and you get an amazing result. Like revealing that ship. But other times¡­¡± Now Velvet was especially interested. And concerned. Did this woman mean she¡¯d orchestrated the collision? What did that mean for Velvet being here now? She kept herself tightly concealed as the two approached. She was confident enough in her combat capabilities to fight or run if necessary. She was an Integration cultivator herself, and not so easy to keep locked down. ¡°A downed ship and we were unable to catch the spies. That hardly sounds like a success to me,¡± the man said. ¡°That¡¯s not my fault!¡± she said. ¡°If y- if the others had been faster, they would have caught them.¡± ¡°Why did you not instruct them to be ready?¡± ¡°I told you already. That reduced the probability of anything going our way,¡± the man and woman were now perhaps a dozen meters from Velvet, walking next to each other on a wide street. They continued the discussion with the subordinate woman clearly trying not to get herself in too much trouble with her complaints. ¡°Just seek another future. If they came here, surely we can catch them.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± the woman sighed, then closed her eyes. Through her lids, Velvet could see them glowing, then it spread over her. Her eyes opened, looking straight at Velvet- who was ready to spring into action. But the eyes passed over her, not focusing. The woman clutched her head. ¡°What is it?¡± the man asked. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ nothing. I told you, it can¡¯t be forced. Or you¡¯ll just invite disaster.¡± Velvet frowned. What did the woman know? Her posture didn¡¯t indicate readiness, even though Velvet was a single instant away from killing her. Perhaps she was very practiced in deception, but Velvet wasn¡¯t sure. She would have to find out more about this woman, and whatever potential divinatory abilities she was supposed to have. Something like that could be a severe problem for anything they might do. Chapter 567 Recognizing the boundaries of formations was the bare minimum required for proper infiltration, and being able to at least determine the basics of what they did was the next step. Velvet had Catarina¡¯s guidance to thank for her proficiency in that area, and also Catarina to blame for her worries she might stumble across something entirely undetectable. Knowing that the entirely undetectable type were expensive and difficult to make wasn¡¯t necessarily comforting. Surely a large place like the Trigold Cluster could manage it. But given the outer defenses- would they? Especially for what felt like a simple military outpost? If Velvet truly believed they might exist she would have left. Caution wouldn¡¯t do any good against such things. As it was, she had to pick and choose what she did. Following any individuals for a longer period was the best way for someone to finally catch on to her presence, and she couldn¡¯t take anything important. Or kill anyone. Not without letting them know that their alertness would have to turn inward, which would make any future efforts where she was and likely at other locations much more difficult. Since she couldn¡¯t take anything with her, she had to do her best to overhear what she could and memorize what she saw. That wasn¡¯t difficult on a surface level, but she couldn¡¯t just stand in offices shuffling through papers forever and expect nobody to notice. It was unfortunate, but it seemed that aside from the uncomfortable revelation of diviners there was little of interest to be found. At least, Velvet wasn¡¯t willing to risk overstaying to be thorough. Several hours of poking around the city and she had a pretty good understanding of how things were run. She didn¡¯t want to wait too long and find out that things were all some elaborate trap, so she made her way towards the gates. They still weren¡¯t open, of course, but barriers seldom stopped anything exiting. These should be the same. Only when she passed through as she leapt from the wall was she able to relax- though being close enough that the Integration cultivators might find her was still a danger. She took a quick but circuitous route towards the ship, still nestled in the same place. ¡°How did things go?¡± Alva asked as she came to meet Velvet outside. ¡°It¡¯s not terribly secure,¡± Velvet shook her head, ¡°But they seem to have some sort of diviner. I don¡¯t think I was noticed, but we should get moving. There¡¯s not much more we can really get from here without a specific goal.¡± With Velvet controlling the ship¡¯s stealth- and them paying attention for anything that might get even vaguely close to crossing their path- they slowly rose away from the planet. ¡°Were you able to figure out where they might be targeting?¡± ¡°Vaguely,¡± Velvet said. ¡°There were some names, but I didn¡¯t find good star charts¡­ and there¡¯s no guarantee they use the same names. Nothing said Ceretos.¡± ¡°... It feels kind of bad leaving things like that, knowing they¡¯ll attack some other world in the lower realms.¡± ¡°There¡¯s an easy solution,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Just get strong enough to stop them all yourself.¡± Alva rolled her eyes. ¡°Yeah. Someday, maybe. I think I might someday reach Augmentation, but who can really say? I¡¯ll probably need a century more to even have a good sense of my path.¡± Velvet nodded, ¡°The Hundred Stars is about as good as anyone could expect up to Ascension, but the only experience we have beyond that is a handful of individuals for as many decades.¡± ¡°... Honestly we¡¯re really lucky there are so many of us,¡± Alva said. ¡°Indeed. Even in the upper realms, so many individuals reaching Integration from a relatively small group is uncommon. Though the Trigold Cluster might be to blame here.¡± ¡°Because they came to invade us?¡± Alva nodded. ¡°That was very motivational.¡± The ship was out of atmosphere. No others were around, but they continued to pull away from the planet for a time, doing their best not to indicate their final direction. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll find much in the next systems,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Though I would like to probe a few to determine if they are indeed occupied, as this one. Then we should return for repairs, and to plan the next step.¡± ----- There was a reason people liked to have two arms. Chikere knew this when she¡¯d made her decisions, but it was still inconvenient to no longer have her dominant arm. Adjusting her forms to her single left hand was not terribly time consuming, but that part of her would be weaker. On the other hand, she now had a very good sword¡­ and the limitation made her feel like her abilities were progressing more rapidly. She recalled when Rahayu had ascended he had intentionally wounded himself to achieve the same effect. It would be nice if it were temporary. She still found her decision worthwhile, but she would have no complaints if her arm came back. Unfortunately, unlike swords, arms didn¡¯t grow on trees. At least, not any trees she¡¯d ever heard about. ¡°Do you know of any trees with arms?¡± Chikere asked the nearest individual, who at that moment happened to be the grandmaster smith Sadiq. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Human arms? No. Some do grab people with limbs, however.¡± ¡°We have grasping willows that do something similar where I am from,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I was just wondering how to get a new arm.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard a phoenix bone poultice will do wonders. Though it might be too late for that- some things only work immediately.¡± Chikere nodded, ¡°I did not expect regrowing an arm to be simple. And I don¡¯t know if I would make the choice to do so immediately even if that were the case. Perhaps I should do away with my other arm, instead, to benefit my abilities.¡± Seeing Sadiq¡¯s raised eyebrow, she clarified, ¡°I would only have to make it unusable temporarily. Simply choosing not to make use of my arm is insufficient if I could actually change my mind when danger approached.¡± The man nodded, ¡°I understand. Though¡­ I tend to be less willing to improve my skills in such a manner. I¡¯m not so young and hasty. Besides, a good blade takes years to forge and the effects on cultivation aren¡¯t always positive.¡± ¡°Would not practicing your abilities help you improve?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Not when you put some of yourself into a weapon. But I don¡¯t care about my technical level, as long as I can make what I want.¡± ¡°Make me a good weapon,¡± Chikere said. ¡°You already have one.¡± ¡°I obviously meant another one. I would prefer to have at least a hundred high quality weapons.¡± ¡°Is that so? Then get me a hundred Worldhearts and the soul of either a new or dead star.¡± ¡°That sounds like it would take a long time,¡± Chikere commented. ¡°And I do believe Worldhearts are not acquired in a tolerable manner.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right about that, of course,¡± Sadiq nodded. ¡°But if they come into your hands regardless, it¡¯s a shame not to use them. If you want something more achievable¡­ core metal is easier to obtain and doesn¡¯t require the death of a planet. It¡¯s also quite abundant, but if you want anything good you have to deal with a heavy gravity planet and combing the depths. Alternatively, kill someone higher than yourself in cultivation and bring me their blood to reforge their weapon.¡± ¡°... Why didn¡¯t you tell me that last one sooner? I could have given you so many things.¡± ¡°First, because you didn¡¯t know me. Or ask. Second¡­ because I doubt you really have.¡± ¡°I kill people of higher cultivation all the time!¡± ¡°Killed any Augmentation cultivators lately?¡± ¡°Well¡­ no. But I did kill an Integration cultivator in Life Transformation,¡± she displayed one of her top five. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Sadiq frowned. ¡°It had a small amount of its owners¡¯ blood on it, but it¡¯s far from fresh. I can¡¯t do anything with that. If the killing blow had been done with his own sword, perhaps something would have lingered.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll let you know if I get anything interesting.¡± She paused as she turned to leave. ¡°Does it have to be a sword?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you only use swords?¡± ¡°I meant¡­ do I have to kill someone who uses swords? Do I have to do it in the upper realms?¡± ¡°I need a weapon that had a bond with an individual and their blood. Also, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll find many Augmentation cultivators in the lower realms¡­¡± ¡°There will be at least a few,¡± Chikere said as she walked off. Sadiq was an excellent smith, but he was not informed on all matters so he merely tilted his head in confusion. ¡°Make sure you keep the blood fresh!¡± he yelled after her. If she really got something, it would be a shame to waste it with improper care. ----- Anton looked down upon Edelhull, the large city just outside the Order¡¯s borders. It still maintained its distance despite its increasing size and rapid development. Though as the sect head of the Order he could easily influence matters there, they were still not under his control. Though the policies he set in place were enforced throughout Graotan and even most of Ceretos. That was because they were quite sensible- and not just things he thought of on his own. He built upon his own experiences and the wisdom of others. Rutera, specifically, had quite a lot to say about industrialization. With their knowledge and sufficient usage of natural energy it was possible to skip over some intermediate steps of machinery, some of which were apparently quite messy. It was theoretically possible for Ceretos to catch up to Rutera¡¯s technology within a few decades- but practically it would take much longer. Strictly cultivation based techniques already worked. Even if one were to mass produce things, smiths had developed techniques to rapidly hand craft weapons and armor. None were as good as the painstaking labor of years that could go into a masterpiece, but all were better than that strictly made by early machines. Yet not everyone was a cultivator who wanted the very best weapons or armor. Some simply wanted comfortable clothing at affordable prices. Ruteran technology also didn¡¯t run counter to usage by cultivators- all of it was augmented with natural energy that they simply hadn¡¯t had much access to with the way their world developed. Anton saw jobs lost as efficiency increased- but he did not have to involve himself. With the advent of mass cultivation, everyone was able to extend their lifespans, being younger and healthier than they would have otherwise been. Finding new employment- such as working on machines that replaced some of them- was always possible. For those that could not work, they were taken care of. In Edelhull, at least, nobody went hungry or without shelter. But those without family who truly couldn¡¯t work were few in number. They might not receive food overflowing with natural energy, but nothing in Graotan and through most of the rest of the world now grew without at least providing some benefits to cultivators consuming it. A century and a half of effort had seen that sweeping change take place. The world was still not a flawless utopia. There were always places where people took more than they ought to, leaving those with less power whether it be martial, political, or financial in a poor state. However, there were always avenues to seek relief available. There was little way to do better, and taking total control would simply turn Anton into a tyrant. Though he currently had no complaints about how he managed things, most of those who advised him would have told him not to take that step- if he ever seriously considered it or had asked. And if he didn¡¯t ask or didn¡¯t listen to them, then Anton knew he would already be the wrong sort of person to control everything. So he limited himself to what he could manage and hoped prosperity would spread as quickly as possible from what he controlled. That general prosperity also had to lead to martial power- but it wasn¡¯t any good to survive the invasion if the only people remaining on Ceretos would be just as bad. Fortunately, the strongest individuals who might cause issues were also the oldest- and as cultivators that meant they didn¡¯t mind waiting a handful of decades for the invasion. Whether that counted as patient or not Anton was unsure. Chapter 568 In terms of overall scale, the war against the Harmonious Citadel had barely begun to creep into its ¡®western¡¯ flank. They¡¯d liberated a few loosely controlled planets and systems, but little more. Xankeshan was a useful staging ground and defensive location, but it was closely watched- any assaults launched from there would be quickly countered. However, the Dark Ring had been fighting the Harmonious Citadel for some time- and quite successfully- and their previous tactics continued to function. As those with lesser forces they had to resort to guerilla tactics, hitting targets of opportunity and retreating. They were difficult to track down- and even if the Harmonious Citadel was catching onto their methods, there wasn¡¯t much they could do about it. Establishing minimal bases on asteroids or anywhere small and insignificant wasn¡¯t terribly difficult if they only needed basic survival. Because of that, they were able to mobilize however they needed¡­ and if discovered, they could quickly flee. Even if the enemy scouts managed to actually find their location- with a sufficient force to combat it and not be taken out- the Dark Ring would be able to detect them coming. A few small scouts they might miss, a larger group would provide obvious signs whether they approached in realspace or subspace of some kind. The Dark Ring always had ships near to readiness, so if they had to flee they could simply go. Once they dropped into subspace- with nothing stopping them as there were no significant gravity wells on even the largest asteroids- it was nearly impossible to catch them. But when they didn¡¯t have to run, they wouldn¡¯t. Taking out any members of the Harmonious Citadel was a victory, and if possible they would claim ships for themselves to bolster their own resources. The Harmonious Citadel couldn¡¯t possibly track down all their hiding places and have sufficient forces for those fleets to fight, as there was simply too much space to cover. Each system had a myriad of possibilities for a small- but potentially powerful- group of individuals to hide out. Sometimes, a force seemed sufficiently powerful to the Harmonious Citadel¡­ but it could always encounter the wrong group. Kseniya had noticed the ships well before they could be aware of anyone on their particular asteroid. A readiness alert went out- but they did not have to decide whether to fight or flee immediately. First, she would determine their relative strength. A small fleet, maybe ten ships and half as many Integration cultivators- though they couldn¡¯t be blamed for that as they would have to have a dozen such fleets patrolling the system to have stumbled upon this base within just a few months. Their own forces were somewhat less- aside from Kseniya, there were two other Integration cultivators. Even so, she was ready to fire once she had the hint that they were detected. That required the enemy to be closer. The first arrow left her bow the instant the enemy changed trajectories, angling slightly towards the asteroid and slightly dropping their speed. At the clip they were going they couldn¡¯t do otherwise, unless they wished to ram the surface. It was easy to predict how that would go- a large ball of rock would outclass even the most well enchanted vessels. Not that it mattered even if they broke the asteroid apart somehow. The arrow flew with practiced accuracy towards a specific point, piercing through the barrier with its force and damaging the formation markings beneath. Kseniya was no formation master- but to have a large fleet, the Harmonious Citadel required some standardizations. That included their formations, and while Kseniya might not have the talent to seek out weaknesses on her own she could absolutely shoot a target. This one might be moving at a relative speed surpassing thousands of kilometers per second, but it was still mostly on a straight course. Their slight adjustments wouldn¡¯t throw off Kseniya¡¯s aim even if she hadn¡¯t been able to precisely control her arrows mid flight. The ship began to slightly pull ahead even as its barrier flickered. It was not so simple to pierce through a barrier in a single shot, but these were the lighter scout craft- at least, they were nothing compared to the bulky warships that carried a thousand troops. Knowing exactly what she needed to do, she hit the pre-planned spot and now the ship was not decelerating with the rest. Her next shot was blocked by one of the Integration cultivators, a swift duelist type who had already discerned she would make the same move on another ship. The woman even managed to strike Kseniya¡¯s arrow instead of just forcing it away from its intended target. So Kseniya instead targeted one of the other ships, without an Integration cultivator. The plan was to split them up with some arriving earlier and some later, but Kseniya would have to settle for the one disconnected at the moment. The third ship had competent crew, redirecting the shields to the vulnerable section. Having seen her target it twice, it was a good move. It even forced her to redirect her arrow to another part of the ship- the second best position, determined to be more or less opposite from the first. This one had no immediate effects, but Kseniya knew they would be bleeding energy unless they had a formation master to stop the runaway effects of the damage. She only had time for a few more shots before the first ship arrived, managing to damage two more enemy ships and slightly stagger their arrivals. The first approaching ship had gotten itself back under control, but they were forced to decelerate more quickly at the end. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. An armored figure leapt first from the ship towards Kseniya, undefended by any formations. They couldn¡¯t afford to set up anything beyond a basic air containment field if their positions were to be compromised regularly. Kseniya ignored the incoming figure- Zazil was there to intercept. A dozen rings of energy sliced through the air, curving towards the figure. A curved sword deflected half of them, several more were dodged, but two found purchase at the bend of the elbow and one ankle, slicing into the woman. The rings did not suddenly disappear when deflected, either, but followed around for further attacks. The armored figure changed trajectory towards Zazil, who blocked the enemy¡¯s descent with a single larger ring. They shifted their trajectory to fly around, but it slowed them enough for Zazil to make another round of attacks. Meanwhile, Kseniya was firing at the last few ships she had not damaged in some way while the Dark Ring ships were already engaging the first enemies. Zazil was no weaker in melee, her rings moving through her own body without issue to allow for strange and difficult to manage attacks while blocking her opponent¡¯s sword strikes. However, it was clear her opponent had some skill as the sword came close to connecting more than once. If she was just a bit off, she could find herself gravely injured. Rings combined into a single larger shape, encircling her opponent- but the collapsing form was blocked by the curved sword. Zazil strained against the enemy, but it was clear her rings were only a moment from collapsing- and then the blade would come for her, wide open. But that moment wouldn¡¯t come, as Kseniya reminded the Integration cultivator of her presence. With the opponent locked in place, even for just a few moments, Kseniya twisted and fired an arrow at their upper chest. Slipping upwards out of the ring would free their arms and allow them to deflect with their sword- but likely lead to their legs being captured and sliced through as the ring collapsed. Ducking seemed like the correct choice, but that shifted the angle at which the sword blocked the ring. Zazil easily shifted her attack to collapse inward and fully pin the blade against the enemy while the ring sliced through the armor- and then everything, as defenses collapsed. The loss of an Integration cultivator was something no sect or clan was comfortable with- but this was just the first sign to the Harmonious Citadel that they had underestimated the enemy. Their assumptions that the Dark Ring was weak because they did not stay to fight were true in part, but not quite fitting. At least some part of that perceived weakness was intentional. Even during her assault on the ships, Kseniya had been counterattacked by an enemy archer. But with just one worthy opponent to worry about, Kseniya barely even had to move. The man who was targeting her certainly had powerful attacks- if she got hit even once, she had the feeling that the spearlike arrows would go straight through her. But they were predictable, and at least in the hands of this individual far too straightforward. She understood it was hard to curve a great mass in flight- thus Spirit Arrows forgoing the physical component altogether- but she did see the appeal as the bow drew back and caused yet another crater around her. He had a surprising number of arrows- no, that wasn¡¯t right. The same spearlike arrow reappeared upon the bow each time it was drawn. Fascinating. Kseniya wasn¡¯t just going to stand there and let the man shoot at her forever. He was still an Integration level archer, and he would catch onto her movements in ten or twenty more shots if she was careless. Then she might lose an arm or a leg, or perhaps her torso. None of which she was comfortable giving up. A few quick arrows of light forced the man to delay his next shot- Kseniya did not often find them useful, but she was thinking about strategy and the delay was good enough. The arrow impacted next to her once more, Kseniya swaying out of the way as she felt shockwaves of force even in the thin atmosphere. One hand reached out to snatch the arrow. Her fingers wrapped around it¡­ and then it was gone. As expected, really. A physical grasp seemed unlikely to stop any sort of teleportation. Her eyes focused as her hand snapped back to her bow, forming a focused Spirit Arrow. She didn¡¯t have as many fancy varieties- she used upper energy now, which was exactly the same as everyone else in the upper realms. Her arrow shot straight towards her opponent, while his did the same. It was a challenge, as their arrows passed by each other. One she intended to win as she didn¡¯t dodge the incoming attack. That surprised her opponent enough that he didn¡¯t dodge quite right. As the spearlike arrow was incoming, Kseniya made use of the small bit of energy she¡¯d placed into it when she grabbed it. A simple push on the tail of the arrow was enough to force it off target- though it did still slap her with the tail. Her own shot scraped along her opponent¡¯s shoulder- and exploded upon contact. By that point, Zazil and the other Dark Ring Integration cultivator had taken out a third target. With one injured and two others, the numbers were fairly equal among the Integration cultivators- but the Dark Ring¡¯s other members present were overwhelming the weaker cultivators. It was still possible for the Harmonious Citadel to win. Kseniya and Zazil weren¡¯t exactly fresh. But they projected enough confidence that the two uninjured cultivators weren¡¯t sure if they would survive as individuals, and the fear of potential centuries of lost life was enough for them to pull away with their own ships and those surrounding. The archer seemed to have the same intention, but he¡¯s let himself get locked in combat too long. His ship was damaged- with Zazil charging for it- and it seemed his personal ability to fly through space was only passable. That was why Kseniya kept her feet firmly planted on the ground. He attempted to fly backwards so he could still fire his bow, but without the stability he didn¡¯t have quite the same power to his shots. More than that, there seemed to be some greater difficulty with retrieving his arrow at range. Kseniya amplified the speed of her sequential shots- they didn¡¯t require one to have hit or missed unlike the enemy- and eventually pierced into his wrist. With his grip ruined, the man could only turn to flee. An unthreatened Kseniya focused all her power on killing him, for the sake of the cause and because she was quite curious about that bow. Two out of five Integration cultivators would leave unscathed, but that was unimportant compared to the damage they did cause. They would have to change locations, however, lest the enemy return with a greater force. Chapter 569 Sifting through information found in the first of the border outposts as well as several beyond that on later missions, it was fairly conclusively determined that none of the targeted systems were Ceretos or their allies. Not leaving from those locations, at least. That still left many other systems that could have groups readying for that particular invasion. Systems they had no contact with nor way to get into contact with. That was not a pleasant thing to think about. ¡°We haven¡¯t yet run into more trouble that could only be explained by diviners,¡± Velvet said to a gathering of those from the lower realms on Xankeshan. ¡°But each system we inspect brings with it further danger. I¡¯ll gladly risk my life for a good cause, but I¡¯d prefer not to risk it in a place that can¡¯t even have useful information.¡± ¡°Understandable,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Perhaps we¡¯re going about this from the wrong direction. Though we know that one of these systems should have information of use to us about the forces that might invade our homeworld perhaps that is not what we should be looking for. Instead, we could find the invaders.¡± Timothy gave her a look, ¡°I usually understand the things you say, but that one doesn¡¯t make any sense. If we can¡¯t find information, how will we find the people?¡± ¡°We already know a likely candidate,¡± Catarina said simply. ¡°Fajra. And even if she is not going to return, those of her sect likely will. Along with the Twin Soul Sect and others. And if they don¡¯t intend to seek revenge for their losses, we can at least determine that and give some peace of mind.¡± ¡°I doubt it,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Both the possibility of them not attempting to wipe Ceretos out of the galaxy and that them not planning it would provide peace of mind. That can only be certain after the invasion doesn¡¯t happen. Which it will.¡± ¡°... I did not say it was likely,¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°But they could, in theory, choose to eat their losses and ignore one particular world in the lower realms.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if finding information on Fajra will be much easier,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Though perhaps it might be available without going into Trigold Cluster territory. I guess that¡¯s a reasonable place to start.¡± ----- Obtaining information about the internal events of the Trigold cluster was tricky- though not because the information wasn¡¯t available. That was something Velvet discovered with some poking around in the eastern section of the Scarlet Midfields. It was obvious that others would be quite interested in the goings on of their most powerful neighbors, and since the Trigold Cluster didn¡¯t have a complete lockdown on entering or leaving their systems information was bound to circulate. Two could keep a secret if one was dead. That was the sort of saying that applied, but when it came to a matter of billions of individuals at minimum it was even more true. It was just that information was not freely distributed. Velvet was nearly certain that the Trigold Cluster as a whole would not have anyone on watch for individuals from the Order. She would place her confidence somewhere above ninety percent- but that was not nearly enough to have her going into enemy territory where alternatives existed. If she were to bet on a one in ten chance of dying or worse she would have better than even odds of death after just ten incidents. That was not the sort of thing that got people to live past a century unless they were extremely lucky. Perhaps that had been the case for Velvet so far- she found it reasonable that she could have died many times- but simply counting on that was the worst idea. Far easier was trading information for other information, despite potentially inflated prices. She did her best to not let on that she couldn¡¯t get the information some other way. The price might go up if she seemed to need the information, and going to another information broker might not help her. It was still not a quick process. Perhaps it might have been if they had the technology of Rutera that was rumored to be able to access all information, recalling what was necessary instead of just what a particular individual knew or what an organization had copies of. As it was, Velvet was glad to find that it only took a small handful of years to obtain some useful information. They could not quite determine if Fajra might be participating in the invasion- if she was, she was not yet waiting around the border, though it was decades early for that being required. Even so, they narrowed down their search options somewhat. ----- Of the various individuals she knew, Vari thought she might be the worst spy. Yet she was also the best suited for the particular place she was infiltrating. With her she carried a spear- an elegant specimen to be certain. She had even learned to use it, and she understood why people would. It just wasn¡¯t what she preferred. Returning to the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s planets was extremely uncomfortable. Everything she once thought was good and now knew was mostly manipulative tactics irked her. Yet she still fit in as a practitioner of the Holy Harmony Technique. A Life Transformation individual, specifically. Vari absolutely had no plans to display her full abilities in front of many members of the Harmonious Citadel- nor did she intend to enter the same system as any of the saints. That would simply not do. If they even had an inkling that she was siphoning power from them, she would be killed- and if they had proof, it would be either much more quickly or much more slowly. But as someone who ¡®belonged¡¯, people would generally overlook her. She was just another practitioner of the Holy Harmony Technique stuck at the peak of Life Transformation. It was technically possible for them to reach Integration, but much harder than for the Glorious Harmony Technique which fed on individuals such as Vari had once been. All that wasted devotion¡­ Vari hated the thought, even if she¡¯d likely snatched back more than she¡¯d given. She might individually have righted her balance, but that would not be true for the rest. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The Harmonious Citadel did not take the Dark Ring seriously. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. They were serious about things, but they could not publicly admit how serious the war was getting. Though they couldn¡¯t be said to be on their back foot or losing, they couldn¡¯t take it casually. They also just refused to admit that there even was a war, with the Dark Ring simply being terrorists. With her false identity- easily believed as anyone could feel her cultivation was part of them- Vari gathered and passed on information of any sort. Large movements of troops or particularly powerful individuals as well as anything else that stood out. Some individual places were checked for weaknesses, but she could not be seen snooping around too many military outposts. It was unlikely anyone would recognize her, but if actually thought to be snooping it might not matter. Accusations of her being a spy wouldn¡¯t even be wrong. Though she fed a steady stream of information, Vari wished there was more she could do. She couldn¡¯t help but look at the regular people who lived around her, and the practitioners of the Holy Harmony Technique. Those who did not cultivate would never be more than the bottom of society- but their only practical choice was the Holy Harmony technique, which wasn¡¯t actually going to improve their position. Not like a good cultivation technique should. Stories of Anton filled her head from the various individuals who knew him. He was responsible for the transformation of a planet. The Harmonious Citadel had more than a few of those, but Vari wondered if she could at least change one. It would have been nice if that was Rouhiri, but she wasn¡¯t going to just throw her life away. A single slip up, taking devotion from the saints while on the same planet would be the end. So she was instead on Lytis, one of the planets with a larger population but not one that was frequented by saints. Vari didn¡¯t know quite what she intended to do, but a few people learning alternate versions of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s techniques could spread to more than a few. If only there was a way to keep it from tracing back to her¡­ at least while she was around. How did one go about changing a planet? A continent? Country? Or even a city? She didn¡¯t know. ----- Though Xankeshan was a planet any faction in the Scarlet Midfields would desire to possess, even if it didn¡¯t have all of the rewards of Everheart¡¯s Tomb just scattered about for the taking, it was not so easily overcome with the large, self-sustaining barrier covering the whole planet. All traffic that moved in and out had to be approved on some level. That meant being part of an approved sect. Or at least appearing to be. There were going to be spies on Xankeshan, of course. That was inevitable. The information about who was controlling things was likely already available to anyone willing to pay the right price. They might not know that Catarina was literally controlling things with the heart of the formations in her hands, but they would at least place her as one of the key figures. Some spies would be difficult to root out, and might not be worth the effort. Others were worth the effort¡­ and the difficulty in detecting them had already been overcome some time before. Even so, it wasn¡¯t quite clear how long the old man in the cell in front of them had been on Xankeshan. Nor did they know what sort of information he might have sent back. But when the circumstances were right, he had been caught while more or less minding his own business. ¡°You should tell us what we need to know,¡± Hoyt said as the most obviously intimidating member of their group. ¡°Things will be significantly less painful for you that way, if we don¡¯t have to scour your soul.¡± Even at war, there were limits to what people should do. Even among the group from Ceretos, there were disagreements on what those limits were. Scouring someone¡¯s soul was rather extreme, and indeed a painful process. However, unlike the version indirectly obtained from Everheart they had developed a slower and likely less effective method- but also less painful and vaguely more ethical. Yet they might also have been willing to use one of the worse versions on this particular man. The reason he had been discovered was not because he slipped up in any particular way¡­ he was simply a member of the Twin Soul Sect. The fact that he had gotten in at all meant there were some flaws in their security, though perhaps advertising that they could pick out the Twin Soul Sect meant they should continue to keep that information concealed. ¡°Please, there must be some mistake,¡± the man said. ¡°I am a devoted member of the Looming Forest.¡± The Looming Forest was indeed an ally of Xankeshan, part of the Dark Ring. That was why they had already brought over one of them, specifically one who could pick out members of the Twin Soul Sect. It wouldn¡¯t do for them to have a ¡®member¡¯ die without confirming it for themselves. ¡°If you were, you wouldn¡¯t be here,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°You¡¯re not a member of the Looming Forest at all. You¡¯re part of the Twin Soul Sect.¡± At that, the man¡¯s eyes widened- though nearly imperceptively. Clearly he was trained to conceal it, but they weren¡¯t just guessing so they knew how he should react. ¡°Please,¡± the man said. ¡°There must be some mistake. You can verify my cultivation technique-¡± ¡°We already did,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°And the secret one hidden underneath, of course.¡± Everyone was surprised when the man died- because his energy was fully suppressed by his bindings. Even if he¡¯d attempted to bite his tongue off, they could have stopped his death. But instead of killing himself he skipped straight to the end of the line, his soul leaving his body without the aid of upper energy. ¡°Dammit,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I knew we should have told him about the traps first.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°I know we were trying to get him to talk but¡­ I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d be so decisive.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. His soul won¡¯t get far.¡± The formations that handled that were courtesy of Everheart and not the previous inhabitants. Catarina shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s just that the soul scouring isn¡¯t as reliable as I would like. Not that I¡¯d be willing to practice the more effective version to a proper level of mastery.¡± Everyone agreed on that. And while it was unfortunate that the Trigold Cluster would realize their spy was gone, it was better than him actually getting back to them with information on how. Perhaps in the future they could pick out members of the Twin Soul Sect upon arrival and observe their behavior- though that meant more people who knew the techniques to reveal the Twin Soul Sect, and thus more people who could mention that they existed to the wrong people. If they heard about it and came up with proper counters, it would be very troublesome to keep their ranks clear of traitors, or at least to whatever extent they managed it now. Chapter 570 Years continued to slip away. In some way, the passage of time was beneficial. It gave an opportunity for training and improvement- but that applied to all parties. In general it could be assumed that younger cultivators would be advantaged by further passage of time, so in comparison to Fajra who had officially been called an ¡®old hag¡¯, those from the lower realms had some advantage there. However, that did not mean they would have the confidence to directly deal with her. Instead, they had to think of the majority of the invading forces and what they might be. Through slow and careful work they did determine where Fajra would be stationed. They were also able to confirm the target was indeed Ceretos- though there were three outposts on the planet Tatera. Fajra seemed to be in control of the forces that would be attacking Brogora, while another individual would be leading the attack on Aicenith. That second individual was a woman known as Juta, a member of the Fearsome Menagerie. It seemed she was also a cultivator in the Augmentation stage- which meant they were taking things quite seriously. Even so, the two groups were disconnected from each other. That left a third outpost. After some effort, it was determined they would be attacking Weos. Though none of those in the upper realms had interacted with them, as an ally of Ceretos they would try to do something about the third group- beyond just the warning that an attack was definitely on the way. ----- The fact that things had gone rather slowly was good for Alva, giving her some time to improve her stealth abilities. Even so, she was hesitant to actually enter any of the outposts on Tatera. Whether it was a group of Integration cultivators or a single Augmentation cultivator, she wasn¡¯t able to handle them. There was no information so critical at the moment that risking her life was worth it- at least, not to that extent. Simply being on the planet was a risk, as if Alva or the ship were noticed they would find all further operations more difficult. But unlike Velvet, she was remaining at a proper distance, observing the longer term happenings on the planet. A small fleet of ships was leaving again. They always came back, but the very fact that anyone was leaving except for the purposes of picking up supplies said quite a bit. Following those ships was a project for another day- or another year perhaps. The important thing was that it wasn¡¯t limited to any single outpost, though they didn¡¯t seem to gather together or coordinate anywhere near the planet. Looking for other long term patterns was about the best Alva could do from a distance, but that was still important work. She might even gain the confidence to enter the outpost at some point, though if she was going to it would have to be before the commanders actually arrived. There was currently another Augmentation cultivator in each place, though whether they would be staying or not was unclear. Either way, Alva wouldn¡¯t want to risk two people at their level or the individually stronger ones. So she assumed, at least. It was unlikely there were any actually weak Augmentation cultivators, but importance and strength were closely tied in the cultivation world. At best, the current occupants would be similarly talented and less well connected as they were given the unimportant and more boring longer term positions watching over the area. The fact that the Trigold Cluster had Augmentation cultivators to spare, even just a couple, was concerning. Either they had more than anticipated or were prioritizing this task. Neither was good news for Ceretos- though at least the invaders from the upper realms would be hampered by their positions. ----- Velvet was focusing on the stealth capabilities of their vessel, but she was still able to keep track of things outside to some extent- and especially oddities with their own vessel. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± she asked. ¡°Aren¡¯t we outside the system already?¡± ¡°We are,¡± Alva confirmed, ¡°But they¡¯re still going at sublight speed.¡± ¡°It might be a trap,¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°Perhaps they¡¯re watching for us.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way they¡¯d know we are following them this particular time. This must be what they¡¯re doing.¡± The trip from there was quite uncomfortable, with the small fleet flying ahead of them for days with no real change. Then there was a slow deceleration. Alva and the rest of the crew was carefully monitoring their relative speeds and they kept their position. It was simply odd when the fleets suddenly¡­ stopped. In the void between systems it would generally be impossible to determine if anything was stationary, not without some sort of reference. And that was exactly what was ahead of them, an extremely uncomfortable reference plane. It was like looking over a cliff- if Alva were still a young child and unable to even climb, let alone fly. It was a feeling she hadn¡¯t felt even in space away from everything, with infinite distances in every direction, most of which had nothing in her path. She¡¯d felt this feeling from the other side, but significantly less pronounced. The amount of energy thinned out significantly away from planetary systems, but even so there was an obvious transition where it rapidly became nothing. No, there was still lower energy beyond the slowly undulating edge- but having functioned solely on upper energy for more than a third of her cultivation time, Alva no longer felt like it had any power. There was no connection there for her to draw upon. The mere idea of powerlessness was frightening, and that was what the space beyond represented. ¡°The Tides¡­¡± Alva said as she looked ahead. Visually, it was almost indiscernible- at best a haze in the boundary zone. ¡°I guess that¡¯s not quite right.¡± The tides of the world were more than just the border. This was just what could be sensed. Something like¡­ waves? ¡°I can¡¯t believe we lived there,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It feels so empty.¡± Alva nodded. Soon enough they were able to discern why the ships had come to this place. One at a time, the ships began to creep across the border. The followers continued to maintain their distance. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Energy reserves dropping rapidly,¡± one of the deck crew commented. ¡°The upper energy is not being maintained.¡± ¡°How long do we have?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Less than a day, if it maintains its current rate.¡± ¡°So not that bad, yet,¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°Keep an eye on it. They don¡¯t look like they¡¯re bleeding as much energy, but I definitely sense some¡­¡± Over the course of the next eight hours, everyone grew increasingly uncomfortable- with the exception of Alva and Velvet. They weren¡¯t exactly feeling welcomed, but there was a nostalgic presence to the lower energy around them. Even as their personal reserves leaked out of them as if they were sponges laying out in the sun, they were able to absorb some of the diffuse lower energy. ¡°It still feels weird,¡± Velvet commented. ¡°Maybe if there were more¡­?¡± ¡°I think I get what they¡¯re doing, though,¡± Alva said. ¡°They have to acclimatize people to this. Most people haven¡¯t felt natural energy before. Right?¡± Alva asked the crew. ¡°This energy feels thin,¡± commented the same individual from earlier. ¡°I have felt it before, though only in passing, in training materials from the lower realms.¡± Right. That was, in a way, the entire reason for the invasions. Objects infused with natural energy could carry a significant density of the energy and theoretically provide a good basis for control to those of lower cultivation while still being somewhat beneficial to those of higher cultivation. For two cultivators who had undergone Ascension, it was odd to return to the other energy, but it wasn¡¯t completely unpleasant. At the end of the eight hour span, they were soon going to turn about even if the Trigold Cluster¡¯s ships hadn¡¯t- but just about the time they were ready to make that call, the followed ships began to reverse direction. Throughout the fleet it was possible to feel cultivators expending the lower energy they had absorbed, and though Alva would have said it was clumsy and awkward they weren¡¯t particular worse than she would expect for people of their cultivation. She would be interested in trying it herself, but she didn¡¯t want to give away their position. When they were far enough back across the border, the Trigold Cluster¡¯s ships paused. They were monitored for some time longer- after another eight hours of rest they headed back through the mixed area. ¡°Clearly they have storage devices that can maintain their upper energy better,¡± Alva said. ¡°Though we knew they had something of the sort. Though they didn¡¯t bring ships last time¡­¡± ¡°Perhaps they can¡¯t actually get them to their destinations. These might be simply for training. Which is too bad,¡± Velvet said. ¡°As it will make sabotaging them less effective.¡± ¡°I know their stronger cultivators shielded them¡­¡± Alva said. ¡°Did they fly all that way carrying others?¡± She locked her eyes on the star that should have been the home for Ceretos- though she was only ninety percent certain. It was the right color, but there were a few in the same general region of the sky. Without proper instruments determining which one was the right size and distance was not that easy. ¡°I do believe the border will be closer, when the time comes,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Yet still not particularly close. They must have special techniques.¡± ¡°Yeah, we did get something like that from¡­ the scholar. Though they were for individuals.¡± Not that it was a problem for Alva and the others- they were all Integration cultivators, and they didn¡¯t even necessarily plan to return to Ceretos themselves. There were plenty of cultivators there to take care of things. On the other hand, it would be interesting to see the Assimilation cultivators. ----- Everyone from Ceretos- and a few other allies- were gathered together on Xankeshan to discuss possible actions. ¡°A frontal attack is foolish, obviously,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°At best we might take out one of the military encampments, if we caught them off guard. And they might simply replace or augment their numbers if we do it too soon.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t sabotage their ships,¡± Velvet said. ¡°At least¡­ not directly. We could maybe pick off a few groups near the end.¡± Taking out a few Integration cultivators would still be valuable to the lower realms- and Life Transformation cultivators as well. ¡°We could perhaps slowly poison their wells, but that has many opportunities to get caught. Either from the repeated entrances required or someone discerning trouble with the water itself.¡± ¡°What about a trap along their route?¡± Prospero asked. ¡°There¡¯s a predictable route, if there was some sort of wide scale formation¡­¡± ¡°It would have to be excessive in size to be certain,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And we would have to move ahead of them. I don¡¯t think we could set it up significantly enough in advance, and getting materials properly reactive with lower energy¡­ I could make something happen but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s practical.¡± ¡°How about we ignore Tatera entirely?¡± Timothy suggested. Many heads turned towards him, ¡°I don¡¯t mean we do nothing. Just¡­ focusing elsewhere might produce better results. If we pick a few places to cause trouble, destroying supply ships or causing more overt damage, they might have to take people from elsewhere. Like Tatera. Obviously they¡¯re not going to send over the big wigs, but maybe an Integration cultivator or two. And if we can cause general damage to their forces¡­¡± ¡°I like the idea,¡± Velvet said. ¡°The worst case is we make an invasion worse for one of the other lower realms¡­ though given that the general state of things is for them to get wiped out to the point of nearly everything being lost, that might not change anything. Or we get caught ourselves, and they learn our plans. So we¡­ can¡¯t get caught.¡± She shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m not sure what would be required to strain the Trigold Cluster, though, so we¡¯d have to cause as much damage as possible while not having them bolster everything. Which sounds¡­ difficult.¡± ¡°Maybe we should just stay out of things?¡± Alva said, clearly unwilling to just stand by, especially after all their effort.¡± ¡°Or¡­¡± Kseniya said. ¡°What if we do get them to send more troops to Ceretos?¡± ¡°More people from there will die,¡± Alva said. ¡°Even if they¡¯re driven off.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Kseniya nodded seriously. ¡°They will. But I don¡¯t think Ceretos will lose easily. You haven¡¯t seen what your grandfather can do now. Or rather, what he could do when I ascended some time after you. And he¡¯s not alone. Don¡¯t forget, they don¡¯t have to match Integration cultivators one for one. In the lower realms, we killed them even with small groups of Life Transformation cultivators.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Rahayu and I got this sword that way!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t count,¡± Alva said. ¡°But I get the idea. I just don¡¯t know if drawing more attention is the right then.¡± ¡°Then we should ask,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°If they¡¯re willing to face the risk, then we can cause whatever damage doesn¡¯t get us killed here and win in every scenario. First, they don¡¯t replace the forces- making things easier for Ceretos. Second, they replace them but no more. More dead members of the Trigold Cluster- that¡¯s good. Third, they add more forces- that all get killed there. If Ceretos is up for it.¡± ¡°With Anton leading the Order, and with everything else I¡¯ve heard?¡± Prospero asked, leading into his conclusion. ¡°They will be.¡± Chapter 571 Word of a ¡®special excursion¡¯ of the Harmonious Citadel reached Vari¡¯s ears. The existence of the excursion itself was not secret, but the details were. The only details she could gather was that it would be led by ¡®prominent disciples of the saints¡¯ and the requirements to join. One had to participate in a special training endeavor and reveal their skill. That seemed important, but not too important. Specifically, Vari felt confident that she would not encounter a saint, but might learn something useful. This was about the best opportunity she would get, so she took her spear and went to the arena. Obviously the selection would involve fighting- when did cultivators ever do things differently? More than that, the Harmonious Citadel was large enough that they didn¡¯t keep careful track of individual performance, except for those at the top. That was especially true for practitioners of the Holy Harmony Technique. The exhibition was set up so that people would fight as many different individuals as possible- an elimination tournament with one or a few winners wouldn¡¯t leave them a large pool to select from. Vari¡¯s first opponent used a sword. Unless there was a particular skill difference, a spear would have the advantage of reach. Between cultivators that could be overcome, but it would be quite difficult for the other woman to beat Vari. There was still a cultivation gap between them, after all. Life Transformation cultivators were the bread and butter of the upper realms, those who were strong enough to be relevant but not the best. There was the slight issue that Vari couldn¡¯t display her full strength- and that the spear was not her first choice of fighting style- but she was quite experienced with countering the various styles of the Harmonious Citadel. Her spear flashed, stabbing forth. The point of the weapon extended well beyond its physical reach, and the speed forced her opponent to deflect- or be forced eternally back. The other woman attempted to step past Vari¡¯s guard, but Vari matched her footwork, keeping at her optimal reach and out of the woman¡¯s. Vari actually found it quite difficult, wondering how her aunt would have reacted to her sharing the same weapon. Perhaps in a different world she might have learned from the woman. A quick jab with her spear was actually a feint, and she was already withdrawing when her opponent parried. That allowed her to stab deep, piercing into the breastplate of her opponent. The arena¡¯s formations stopped her attack. Against another spear user she found her own technique lacking- even knowing the proper counters, she couldn¡¯t help but feel she was only able to keep up because of her cultivation. On the other hand, she could have taken her opponent apart in moments with her bare hands. Or gauntleted hands and sturdy boots. The morningstar was a weapon that was only dangerous if it reached her. That was true of everything, of course, but users of the spiky maces tended to favor heavy attacks, amplifying the properties the weapon possessed. Vari might have been able to handle them unarmed, but she thought her barriers would have actually done poorly against them. Only bows had greater reach than a spear. Vari had to sneak in a few barriers to protect herself from the barrage of attacks as she approached- and even if anyone noticed the divergence from ¡®proper¡¯ combat style was not significant. Even lumping everyone into specific categories, the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s members weren¡¯t exactly the same in how they fought. Against Alva, Vari had plenty of experience dealing with arrows- though it was quite annoying when an archer had unlimited freedom of movement. Here, the arena was not tremendous in scale and there were only so many places for her opponent to run, once he failed to quickly defeat Vari. Axes came in many shapes and sizes- for the Harmonious Citadel, that went up to polearms like halberds. Though it would seem that having an axe head in addition to a spearhead would be advantageous, the weapons were slightly slower- and its wielders were predisposed to sweeping and chopping attacks. Ducking under one swing, Vari secured her next victory- though it was not by much. When she went up against daggers she found herself quite surprised- as weapons with the shortest reach their wielder had to be used to fighting against longer weapons, and the woman had the strength and technique to parry the spear with one dagger along with the swiftness to approach in that same moment. Trying to restrain her power to a reasonable limit while fighting with a style she had only spent a decade at best practicing was insufficient, and Vari suffered her first defeat. But ultimately, that was probably for the best. Her performance should be sufficient but not exceptional. That was what she wanted, though it irked her that the loss was somewhat real rather than fully intentional. ----- At the border between the upper and lower realms, a half dozen ships carrying all of the available cultivators from the lower realms followed after a group of five. It was six Integration cultivators against a projected five, but they were not interested in fair balance. If Kseniya and Rahayu had been available they would have been included among the others. Along with them were many Life Transformation cultivators, requisitioned from their various allies for promised rewards- though they could not currently offer anything tempting enough to bring along additional Integration cultivators. Any of them could fight more than a handful of Life Transformation cultivators, but doing that at the same time as they fought Integration cultivators? Quite foolish. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. A single ship was ahead of their group with Velvet controlling its stealth capabilities. There was enough divergence between the front and rear sides that the following ships could keep track of her position while being far enough that the enemies wouldn¡¯t detect them. Today was both one of their first sabotage missions¡­ and a test. They returned to the first location they had found the Trigold Cluster along the border, where there had been a nearly disastrous accident- that turned out to be at least partially orchestrated by a diviner of some sort. They were keeping a careful watch for additional enemies. In the openness of space sneaking up on people was difficult but not impossible, as great distances and special techniques could both be sufficient. But they were prepared to flee if there was danger. There was no indication anyone noticed them as they reached the ¡®border¡¯, and the trailing ships quickly moved to keep up as the enemy crossed for one of their regular training excursions. A message was transmitted between the ships. ¡°Three of them have swords. Two are on the same ship.¡± The true meaning of that unintentionally cryptic message from Chikere was that there were likely more than five Integration individuals they would be facing. It came as they were beginning to cross the border themselves, the upper energy thinning and their presences likely noticed. They had to make a quick decision of whether to fight or flee. It was possible to retreat still- though the strangeness of the border would likely make going beyond lightspeed difficult. That was part of the reason they were staging their ambush where they were- to prevent their enemies from simply leaving. Though it was not possible to instantly reach faster than light speeds regardless. Everyone quickly made the same decision. A few more or less enemies wouldn¡¯t make a difference to their plans. They all had their targets, and moved forward as planned. Instead of closing in and then matching their enemies¡¯ speed, however, they accelerated towards them. The chances of a collision were tiny- both sides would have to want one for that to happen. However, they wouldn¡¯t stop to exchange blows. Around two ships, fire formed itself into distinct meteors. With no gravity to aid them, the traditional method of attack for Falling Stars was not possible- this method had been developed for ship to ship combat. There were limits to how much distance either Hoyt or Prospero could control the technique at, so accelerating along with the ships was optimal. While it seemed simpler to simply begin their technique after the ships had already accelerated, it took some time to stabilize and aim for their high relative velocities. And they were not far from their targets. The Trigold Cluster¡¯s ships now had their own decision to make- they could still flee at this point, but if they all moved together the incoming fleet was likely to cut them off. However, if they were to split up then infinite directions were available to them- even if it was more or less cut in half because of their location. Either they did not want to split up, or they felt confident in their victory. Only one side¡¯s confidence would be justified in the end. Both sides opened fire with their ranged attacks- archers, ship-bound artillery, or various forms of energy attack. All moved to evade, except Timothy¡¯s ship. It was the second of the various vessels they had commissioned to be completed, with formations suited for him in particular. It didn¡¯t just make use of barriers- anyone could do that- but also his particular insights into shielding and deflection. The formations would not act at full efficiency without his control. The projectiles that struck Timothy¡¯s ship were partially deflected, while others were reflected back towards the enemy fleet. Given both sides were undergoing evasive maneuvers the results weren¡¯t perfect, but they were sufficient. Chikere stood at the front of her ship. She¡¯d heard about the interesting designs they had in the lower realms, but if she were to get a ship customized to her it would be a long process. Instead, she was doing the next best thing- just using her own abilities. Her ship was performing evasive maneuvers, but unlike the others it wasn¡¯t entirely attempting to avoid the enemy. Specifically, she got as close as possible to the ship with two rather decent swords- and their wielders. A hundred swords flew in front of the ship, forming the shape of a single, larger blade. As the ships crossed paths, the arrangement cut forward, intent on slicing the enemy ship in two. Chikere achieved less than a quarter of that ambition- but she did manage to slice through the barriers and the front part of the ship before the two Integration Cultivators together stopped her attack. They only had a short moment as they passed each other for Chikere¡¯s augmented sword to sweep at the ship twice more, cutting an x into its hull but not breaking through. Catarina seemed most like she was doing nothing, but in actually she send small stone plates spiraling out long before, and while she wasn¡¯t able to perfectly predict the movement of enemy ships she got some of her devices close enough to two ships, at which point they had a clear attraction towards them like a magnet. As they were small and inactive, nobody paid them much mind. There were six enemy ships and their cultivators to focus on- picking out space junk at the same time was difficult. As the stone plates touched their intended marks on the enemy ships, latching on and slowly drifting towards specific positions, they activated their own markings, adding them onto that of the ship¡­ and creating a loop that recklessly discharged energy into the barriers. If they had been attacked at that moment they would have been nearly invincible- but that wouldn¡¯t last for long. The Falling Stars from Hoyt and Prospero both found some purchase, targeting ships being simpler than cultivators who could react and change directions at greater speeds. Hoyt had more power- he was in Integration while Prospero was still in Life Transformation for the second time- but both were useful in their own way. The final ship clashed with the enemy as it went by, but the thing that nobody was supposed to notice was Vari, who had pulled away from her own ship before they reached a full acceleration. That meant she arrived somewhat later- but not moving at a speed that would flatten her against the enemy¡¯s hull. She did have to expend some effort to slow herself down subtly, but she caught onto one ship and cut her way through the barrier, making use of some guidance from Catarina. Once she was inside, she could cause all manner of trouble. Chapter 572 Though many cultivator spaceships carried on the traditional aesthetic of their sea counterparts, there were also ways that they were different. The Trigold Cluster- at least for their military operations at the border between upper and lower realms- favored a design that had the majority of the crew encased instead of on an open deck. That meant a simple breach of their barriers wouldn¡¯t lead to suffocation of the weaker cultivators, and it provided a bit more privacy. Isolation, even, though people weren¡¯t ever actually alone. Physical security on the ship was minimal, as people needed to move about freely especially during a combat situation. More importantly, the outer barrier should have stopped people like Velvet from boarding their ship. Maybe it would have, if it was running at full capacity- but the current position across the border was met with interference from natural energy. The ship was clearly designed to operate to some extent in those conditions, but it was still made mainly for traversing the upper realms. There were many tempting targets along Velvet¡¯s route, but while she could count on concealing herself, once someone died the crew would have to be pretty incompetent for none of them to notice it immediately. Unless she could get someone in a completely sealed room, but then she couldn¡¯t step out of it easily. Velvet made her way further, not hurried but certainly not taking her time- this was a combat scenario, after all. The hatch she entered eventually took her through hallways to the bridge- the known layout of the ships guiding her. Though the presence of an Integration cultivator would have been sufficient. The door took a moment of focus, replicating the feeling of it being shut for those inside even as she slipped through. Though Velvet was unable to say she¡¯d done perfectly, there were no indications of anyone noticing. That let her close the distance with her target. She had in one hand a stiletto dagger, long and thin. Her aim was just under the armpit, where armor would be lightest. The Integration cultivator had energy defenses as well- it would be foolish to not at any point, but especially in battle. Velvet needed to gather enough energy to pierce through that so her dagger could reach the heart. If everything went well, the woman wouldn¡¯t even feel it until the blade was drawn out of her body. But either because of some extraordinary senses or a failure on Velvet¡¯s part- perhaps due to the interference of lower energy which she was no longer used to- her opponent twisted at the last instant. Velvet¡¯s blade still pierced energy defenses and flesh, but barely even punctured a lung and certainly didn¡¯t reach all the way through the woman¡¯s heart. Velvet expected an immediate retaliation with the claw weapons the woman wore on her hands- what she did not expect was for the woman to exhale a cloud of acrid yellowish gas, filling the area around them. The angle of the cloud wasn¡¯t quite perfect, indicating Velvet had still managed to keep herself somewhat concealed. It was targeted more towards her left shoulder than her center of mass, and she pulled away- leaving her dagger behind. She had another, though she preferred to fight with both. The lungs on the woman seemed endless- or more likely, whatever she was breathing wasn¡¯t actually in her lungs to begin with but was a creation of energy. A poison of some sort, one that the woman herself would be immune to. Velvet moved to one of the walls of the bridge- a corner was too obvious- holding her breath and forming energy over her pores. Some poisonous gasses required inhalation, some seeped in through the skin. At least it didn¡¯t appear to be directly caustic- the materials of the bridge itself were not disintegrating as the cloud spread. While the woman herself was immune, the crew on the bridge was not. There was no immediate visible effect, except for their reactions- at best a moment of spasming muscles before they collapsed to the ground, unmoving. Velvet was not on the bridge. That was what her stealth was based on, but she was still not able to perfectly embody that idea. No matter how much she might trick others¡¯ senses, she was still actually present. She didn¡¯t want to determine if she could beat that poison¡­ so she twisted the handle of the door. Without even stepping from her position, the Integration cultivator slashed at and through the door, the form of a dragon extending the reach of the claws to several meters. It wasn¡¯t just a projection, either, but a physical transformation- if temporary. If Velvet had been foolish enough to actually touch the door instead of grasping it with a tendril of energy she might have been cut into clean slices. Though if that had actually been her intention, she would have done a better job of hiding the movement of the handle. Even so, she came to realize her current position was even less safe than it seemed- if she was properly revealed, she would likely die. But clearly that wasn¡¯t the case. Instead of edging closer to the door- or what was left of it- she moved further, even as the toxic fumes continued to spread. The woman had ceased her breath, but the fumes naturally moved to fill the area. They crept ever closer to Velvet¡­ and the availability of the hallway wasn¡¯t sufficient. There was a glass viewing window at the front of the ship- or perhaps some sort of durable crystal. Either way, Velvet made a slight sound there. Her opponent¡¯s reaction was much the same- except a larger sweeping claw slash covered a wider area. Velvet had to bend towards the floor to avoid the attack, and even then it still glanced off her defensive energy. More than injuries or the loss of that energy, Velvet was worried about her opponent¡¯s potential feedback. She leapt towards the now destroyed window, disappointed that the ship¡¯s formations held up and didn¡¯t suck the gasses out into the vacuum of space. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. It seemed that the draconic woman didn¡¯t quite sense where Velvet had been, or simply had other ideas- turning to sweep the room with another sweep behind her, cutting apart pieces of the ship and crew. Velvet was glad she¡¯d dodged towards the area that had just been attacked, though she didn¡¯t think she was as likely to be cut into tiny slices by the wider area attacks. At most she would receive some wounds¡­ but that would be problematic as well. She slipped out of the now destroyed viewport, squeezing herself between the formation barriers and the vessel itself. She had to be careful of her route, as the ship itself was still being assaulted by her allies- and with its bridge completely disrupted, it was an easy target. She supposed she could still call her efforts a success, even if she hadn¡¯t killed her target. Though her toes were numb on one foot where she¡¯d barely dipped it into that toxic cloud. ----- Having been unable to cut the ship in half, Chikere had to return for another pass. Instead of speeding by, she had the ship approach at a reasonable speed to facilitate a proper confrontation. In short, she jumped onto the enemy ship, where she was immediately met by two swordsmen. One held a pair of middling sized blades, while another held a two handed sword- though it was not like the bulky hunks of metal the Black Hole Blades had carried. It was still an elegant weapon, thin and sharp with a long reach, making it more akin to a glaive in some manners. As she was no longer trying to cut the ship itself in two, Chikere gathered her swords around herself in a dancing cloud of blades instead of treating them as one larger sword- clearly that technique needed more practice, and perhaps more energy infused into it. Personal combat, however, she could handle. It only took five blades each to deal with the two Integration cultivators, leaving her the majority to deal with the waves of foolish individuals who thought they could alter the battle by joining in. Perhaps they meant to wear her down, but Chikere didn¡¯t think she would ever get tired from low level sword techniques. Simply swinging a weapon was invigorating in its own way. Her one arm held no weapon. That was not because she was not capable- and in fact it would still be better to wield her best sword that way, even though she was not left handed. But having a free hand came with advantages¡­ and things being difficult was good for training. Using her own body like a sword was a nice idea, but Chikere knew she wasn¡¯t a good sword. Oh, she could still cut someone with her fingers or a simple look, but that was no good against anyone even vaguely close to her level. She had to admit the two figures were working together well- the one with two blades moved in close and kept her busy while the other moved into a flanking position. If she was not effectively using ten arms to deal with them, she might not be able to keep up. The other crew were now hesitating at the door- and finding it rather difficult to get over the pile of bodies- so Chikere felt confident she could have reserved a few more weapons for offense against either or both. That would end the fight quickly. But she had further goals beyond just winning. The greatsword was first. Though Chikere knew her body was a terrible sword, not sharp at all, for defensive measures it was perfectly serviceable. Even when deflecting with one of her own blades she was never supposed to touch the edge, but use flats against flats. The greatsword stabbed towards her with great agility, transitioning into a sweep then drawing slash as she avoided it. Moves worthy of a swordmaster. Chikere felt herself dancing on the edge of her capabilities, but that was exactly what she wanted. Her fingers came up, pushing against the flat of the sword and bringing it above her head as she stepped into one of her opponents. Her elbow jabbed into his wrist, spasming the muscles to make one hand let go. Her fingers closed around the hilt of the weapon, angling the blade even against the other hand¡¯s resistance to deflect one of the swords sweeping towards her while her own free roaming blades blocked the other. Chikere then gathered several of her blades to force the man to make a choice- keep his remaining hand on his greatsword and have his body impaled in multiple places, or retreat. Those weren¡¯t the only options, but they were the clear ones. The man pulled back, even being gutsy enough to grab the hilts of some of Chikere¡¯s floating blades. For a moment, it was as if they had switched weapons. The overly large hilt spun around in a single hand, the weapon elegant and balanced enough to not hinder Chikere overly much. The sword struggled against her- it seemed the man had a decent brand of ownership. Unfortunately, she needed to kill him with his own sword so she couldn¡¯t let that stand. Three of her own blades moved towards the man and he attempted to deflect with the two he¡¯d captured. Chikere let him think he had control of them until the last moment, and to his credit he avoided getting his hands cut clean off. Instead, he just received slices along the length of both forearms. But that slowed him enough for Chikere to step in, thrusting his own sword through his neck, the weapon moving too quickly for him to react with the other moves already happening. Blood poured down the blade, which should fulfill Sadiq¡¯s requirement. Though perhaps she should store some of it as well. The other behind her was being constantly menaced by her weapons as well. When she focused on one opponent, he took advantage and slashed towards her in a cross pattern. She intended to deflect them with her right arm before realizing she no longer had that. She had to twist her body unnaturally, catching one blade between her ribs and kicking up one foot to kick at the other. The blade cut through her shoes but was caught in the valley next to her big toe, the limb itself providing only a small amount of the force required to stop the attack and her upper energy doing the majority of the heavy lifting. Her body was tempered as much as was reasonable, but she wondered if she should work towards the unreasonable¡­ or perhaps she should focus on it even less. With one opponent down, even though she¡¯d received a not insignificant injury at that moment she would not take long to defeat the man. When she dropped the large sword and went back to being bare handed, the man seemed to understand her intent to kill him with his own blades. The most difficult part was holding both of them in one hand. It felt a bit rude, really, to kill someone of such skill with their own sword- but their blades would be better reforged into something greater. If Chikere was going to go out, she would want her life essence to become part of a powerful sword as well. Chikere retrieved the blades, some blood, and finished cutting the ship in half from the inside before remembering they intended to capture at least one of the vessels for study. Well, it was basically intact except for one side and the entire middle. Chapter 573 Bags were being carefully and calmly packed in Namrata¡¯s quarters. Everything was fine. Sure, someone had gone and basically ignored her instructions despite her being the only one to achieve any results. Who cares how long it had been since it last happened? There was no trouble in the meantime. And then they went and put two people with swords on the same ship. Honestly, Namrata didn¡¯t understand why that would be a problem. In theory, those guys had good battle synergy. But she didn¡¯t have to understand, she just had to know. Now she had to go. Staying would somehow result in her death, even though nobody listened to her. Maybe because nobody listened to her. And leaving¡­ would not. Which meant the Trigold Quadrant wouldn¡¯t be expending the resources to hunt her down in the near future. Or the Unseen Eyes. Maybe they could discern she had no intention to betray their secrets. Or perhaps there was some master diviner already working against her, luring her into an inescapable trap she didn¡¯t deserve. But everything was fine. She was on track to leave and her near future had her alive. She had no idea what would happen with the fleet, except for calamity. Or maybe it had already happened? When did they go out? Were they supposed to be back soon? Namrata shook her head. Thinking about such things wouldn¡¯t help. She just had to survive. Otherwise, there was no point. Unlike sometimes, the futures were very clear. Like that time she¡¯d almost died. She was unsure what sort of weird chain reaction would have led to her death for just seeing a future, but she was glad that she got the counter-future first. She tried, desperately, to not think about the small chance that she had her probabilities backwards and that this was the choice with an overwhelming chance of death. But she couldn¡¯t second guess herself because if she did there was no point in even having those abilities. She also couldn¡¯t stop herself, because she¡¯d repacked her bags ten times and it really didn¡¯t matter because she was just going to shove everything into a storage bag in the end. Then it was time to go. Namrata traced a specific path through the compound, a completely normal and not at all circuitous and suspicious route. There she found a hauler removing the last of the supplies. ¡°Excuse me. Before you close that up, there¡¯s a return shipment that has to go back with you,¡± Namrata smiled her best smile. The man looked at her. ¡°There aren¡¯t return shipments.¡± ¡°Of course there are,¡± she said, holding out a bag to him. He opened up the drawstring of a bag which held just enough materials to propel the man from the Foundation Phase into Essence Collection or perhaps even Life Transformation if he was lucky. Technically, not all of those were things that Namrata was supposed to have distributed to her, but she¡¯d made a few requisition orders. It was frustrating how she¡¯d only had two days to do it, though. Way too many interactions where things could go completely wrong. She continued walking towards the ship, where she walked into the hold and huddled into a corner. Nobody stopped her or pulled her out, though it would be simple to catch her. Anyone important walking near the hangar could notice. If anyone checked the ships at all she would be compromised. Namrata almost turned and ran out, certain that she¡¯d gotten things backward. What could harm her here? Except, of course, her superiors. And that¡­ one particular divination that revealed only her death. So she stayed. The ship¡¯s hold was closed, and within ten minutes they were back in the air, the crew not even getting a day on the ground before being shipped back off. Not that the compound had much in the way of entertainment, but they could at least relax at the bar or something. Once they were out of the atmosphere and soon thereafter leaving the system, Namrata relaxed. From here on out, all reasonable futures led to her being alive. Except if she did something stupid like walk up onto deck where the crew could see her. She got up, stretched, and began to walk around the hold. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± A voice said next to her. She turned her head towards the familiar voice she¡¯d never heard. Oh no. She¡¯d gotten it backwards, hadn¡¯t she? ----- ¡°I, u-uh,¡± the woman in front of Velvet stammered. ¡°I¡¯m not supposed to be here either so turning you in would get me in trouble! So even if nobody knows I¡¯m here, killing me wouldn¡¯t do you any good.¡± ¡°But also nobody would miss you,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°Thaaats not truuuue,¡± the woman said as her eyes searched for something that might sound true- but would clearly not be. ¡°Tons of people will look for me. Important people.¡± ¡°I would have expected you to avoid this place, you know,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a diviner?¡± she pressed her dagger up against the woman¡¯s neck, just enough to draw a drop of blood. ¡°Is this a trap?¡± ¡°Y-yes! You¡¯ve fallen into my clever trap and there¡¯s no way to escape unless you run right now!¡± This woman was either the best manipulator Velvet had ever seen or she¡¯d never learned how to talk to people. Having seen her smoothly get onto the ship Velvet considered the former. Yes, she might be up to something right now. ¡°Tell me what it is,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You have three seconds. I know nobody can get here before then.¡± ¡°Iliedandthere¡¯snotrapIwassupposedtolivethiswaybutIgotitbackwards!¡± the woman said all at once. ¡°What about my companion?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°The one with the axe? You knew he¡¯d be here?¡± The woman looked around the empty hold. ¡°I don¡¯t uh¡­¡± she closed both eyes for half a moment, but didn¡¯t have the courage to gather energy. She was lucky Velvet had seen it before. ¡°Is he hiding here somewhere? I don¡¯t know, I swear! This ship isn¡¯t even important enough for me to show up here! Uh, normally.¡± Velvet looked down at her communication device. ¡°Really? But it is important enough for your boss to come after it.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°What?¡± the woman looked truly shocked. ¡°That can¡¯t- how would he know?¡± she slumped to the floor. ¡°I got everything wrong.¡± The dagger dangled in front of her face. ¡°Tell me what happens to him,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t know,¡± the woman admitted. ¡°Then find out,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You can¡¯t hurt me, so go ahead and do your divination thing.¡± ¡°Really?¡± the woman said. ¡°Okay, fine. But I can¡¯t guarantee it will work. If uh¡­ if something happens after my death¡­ the probability drops¡­¡± Velvet wasn¡¯t sure if that was true, but she was willing to believe it for the moment. The woman closed her eyes, then upper energy gathered to her head. Velvet watched carefully, but couldn¡¯t really pick out what was going on. Did it require some sort of innate ability? The woman grimaced. ¡°I¡¯m not¡­ quite sure. It¡¯s uh¡­ either him or the ship he¡¯s on gets cut in half?¡± she tilted her head. ¡°Does that make sense?¡± ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s not both?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I uh¡­ it seems pretty well split between the two.¡± ¡°Maybe he¡¯s standing off center, then,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Uh¡­ what?¡± ¡°What¡¯s your name anyway?¡± ¡°Namrata,¡± the woman said. ¡°Alright then Namrata, do you want to live?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± she said. ¡°I mean¡­ of course. Who wouldn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Then¡­ don¡¯t do anything stupid.¡± Velvet wrapped an arm around the woman. When she began to open the hatch at the rear of the ship, Namrata began to squirm. ¡°If you¡¯re going to kill me I¡¯m not going to just sit here and take it!¡± ¡°If I was going to kill you,¡± Velvet said, ¡°You¡¯d be dead.¡± Then she wrapped her energy around herself and her companion. Life Transformation or not, it didn¡¯t seem this woman was capable of surviving in space alone. The hatch opened easily enough, and the ship even held in all the air so there wasn¡¯t any crazy decompression. Another pulse to her communication device. ¡°Looks like we missed it,¡± Velvet sighed. ¡°I kinda wanted to see it.¡± She pushed off from the rear of the ship, causing them to slowly drift away. ¡°Oh well, I¡¯ll have them pick us up here. You¡¯re much more interesting than the flight pattern of a single cargo ship.¡± Ten minutes later, two halves of a ship drifted past them- or perhaps they were merely two pieces, inexact in their symmetry. ¡°How¡­ how did this happen?¡± said Namrata. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the diviner?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°There was no sensible path to this!¡± she shook her head. ¡°How does sending a few extras instead of leaving things the same lead to this?¡± ¡°Well,¡± Velvet shrugged, ¡°Maybe Chikere was unhappy with needing two swings the first time. And she did fight a couple strong guys.¡± ----- Namrata was now a captive, which she supposed was technically alive. Perhaps she should have been more exacting with her standards, as if that was even possible in the short time frame she had. It was either be alive, or not. And, aside from the tiny prick in her neck she was not really on a track to dying. People had a lot of questions for her. Most of which¡­ she could not answer. ¡°Is it possible to create a world devouring formation?¡± some other strong woman asked. Catarina, maybe? ¡°Why would I know that? I¡¯m not a formation master!¡± ¡°But I am,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I think it would take about a decade. Would I succeed?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± Namrata shook her head. ¡°Things like that¡­ it¡¯s way too complicated! Also why?¡± ¡°I just wanted to know if I could,¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°Seems like a big waste of time for something I wouldn¡¯t ever use, but it would be nice to know if I could do it.¡± ¡°Well I don¡¯t know.¡± This woman was crazy. All of them were. ¡°What about the Trigold Cluster?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Do they have any world devouring formations?¡± ¡°No! Of course¡­ not¡­¡± Namrata frowned. ¡°At least, I haven¡¯t heard of any.¡± ¡°So they might.¡± ¡°... Sometimes planets are removed. But I don¡¯t know if formations are involved in any meaningful fashion.¡± ¡°And you lived there?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Where else was I going to go, huh?¡± Namrata grimaced. ¡°They don¡¯t just let Unseen Eyes leave the sect. And don¡¯t say I should have chosen another path in life! I¡¯d be in Essence Collection at best if my divinatory abilities hadn¡¯t been revealed!¡± Namrata probably shouldn¡¯t be shouting at her captors, but so far it hadn¡¯t had any consequences and she was having a bad week. ¡°So it is an inborn talent thing?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°How does that work?¡± ¡°During Spirit Building, if Insight, Spiritual Connection and Earthly Connection combine just right¡­¡± Namrata shook her head. ¡°Well, it¡¯s something they sort of nudge people towards, but I wasn¡¯t important enough to learn the inner secrets.¡± ¡°Yet you¡¯re quite good at it. You hit an invisible ship by giving instructions to another ship ahead of time. Why are you all the way out here?¡± ¡°... Maybe because I prioritized not dying over the ¡®best¡¯ results?¡± Namrata frowned. ¡°They didn¡¯t really say.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say to Velvet that your divinations become less reliable past your ¡®death¡¯?¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± Namrata nodded. ¡°So they really just want inaccurate prophecies that might be better for this or that sect. And the Unseen Eyes would get paid big either way.¡± ¡°You seem quite effective, then,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t we get rid of you?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Namrata was kind of taking for granted her feeling that she would be alive. But there it was, coming up again. Her death. Would she actually just not know her actual death? Could she inaccurately depict being alive after that? How bothersome. ¡°I can be really helpful if I¡¯m not in situations where I might die.¡± ¡°Do you have to be close to what you¡¯re predicting? Physically, temporally?¡± ¡°Not always,¡± Namrata shook her head. ¡°Then¡­ if you can help us get the Trigold to be moderately excessive with their attacks on the lower realms, we might be able to help you.¡± ¡°... What do you have against the lower realms?¡± ¡°Nothing,¡± Catarina said. The weird part was that Namrata thought it was true. And what did moderately excessive even mean? Chapter 574 Having obtained the qualifications to go on the ¡®special excursion¡¯ with the Harmonious Citadel, Vari found several features that worried her even more than her normal negative interactions with her old sect. Like having to give up all communication devices. The old Vari would have accepted it without question- it was a good way to prevent spies from leaking information, after all. And also a good way to isolate people and a clear sign of lack of trust in their disciples, for all their ¡®harmony¡¯. It was a good thing some form of this had been anticipated. Vari gave up all her forms of active communication- there was little of interest among them. After all, if she had been captured, revealing anything from Xankeshan would not only make things worse for them but also herself. Though if her own position were compromised Vari understood there wasn¡¯t really any chance of survival- it was simply best if they thought she was unimportant and quickly finished her off. The only thing she retained was an inconspicuous token, the formations woven into it using very little energy and only transmitting a small amount of very important information- her location. More than that, she could infuse some of her own energy into it to provide a signal- though that was only for emergencies. To keep the device simple, there were only two options depending on how she did it- one to warn people to stay away, and another to ask for a group to come aid her. The former basically meant resigning herself to death, and the latter she only hoped to use to disrupt whatever the special excursion was. Vari was packed in with all of the others on ships that had just enough space for a short time of travel, maybe a few days between systems or a couple weeks if they were going further. But after two weeks, they had not heard any further news of their progress, nobody getting off at the stops to refuel and resupply. If it had not been a rapid form of suicide, Vari would have sought out those who seemed discontent with the Harmonious Citadel among those on board and trying to turn them to her side. However, not only was this particular group selected for those with greater devotion to the cause- Vari had to do a lot of pretending to still believe everything was fine and normal- there was nowhere for her to go if something backfired. Even so, she still kept track of potential individuals. Those with bruises and cuts from ¡®sparring¡¯ and individuals who suffered from less physical forms of abuse. It seemed to be always those who practiced the subordinate Holy Harmony Technique. That was the way of things. Vari did her best to remain unnoticed, to not stand out or appear weak. She kept her spear on her at all times, even though in truth she would be deadlier if she set aside that weapon and just chose to kick people with the fancy boots she got from Everheart¡¯s Tomb. Even on a ship with only allies, carrying a weapon at all times was seen as a reasonable act, proper wariness rather than paranoia. When they finally arrived at their destination, it was entirely uninteresting. A barely livable planet with nothing going for it. Yet it was the same place every other ship destined for the ¡®special excursion¡¯ arrived at, so it wasn¡¯t as if Vari in particular ended up with the worst location. This was just what it was. She had some suspicions- her contact with the others had been minimal since she began her operation, but she still knew about the invasions of the lower realms. She just couldn¡¯t verify anything right away. ----- Life on the new planet was simple and boring. Training, either in groups or individually- but without the beneficial facilities that the major planets of the Harmonious Citadel provided. There were at least instructors of some talent- individuals in Integration, some more advanced than others. Vari felt she could really learn something about the spear from spearmaster Jafet, but she knew she wouldn¡¯t improve her actual strength training with them. It took some time for their goal to be clearly stated, during which time Vari spent as much of her free time as possible low key spying. First she determined how many Integration cultivators were present- more than two dozen at first, increasing over time as new ships arrived. They had a real army present, which basically confirmed her suspicions before the actual revelation. Jafet was one of those with the greatest influence present, a man who clearly showed his age but had the strength to maintain a position. He had some potential to step into Augmentation- but clearly he was not a supreme talent, or he would have done so a century prior at least. Either way, he was respected enough to give the official announcement. ¡°As I¡¯m sure most of you are aware,¡± the man began slowly, ¡°There are many materials difficult to obtain in the upper realms that are quite prevalent in the lower realms. These can bestow certain properties on equipment or improve the training of cultivators, especially those below the Integration stage- but it is not exclusively limited to them.¡± He looked over the gathered crowd, hundreds of Life Transformation cultivators gathered from many planets. ¡°Ascended individuals might bring some amount of those with them, but they are hardly selective. It is difficult to secure a consistent supply¡­ but word has reached the Harmonious Citadel of certain opportunities. A mere few decades from now one of those will arise. But this involves descending to the lower realms. Thus, from now on we will be acclimating ourselves to lower energy to fight at our optimum capacity.¡± There were many exclamations of surprise. Vari did her best to at least look pensive as if she didn¡¯t already know. She hadn¡¯t known that the Harmonious Citadel possessed this particular information, but it was not crazy that they would have it. There were many ways it could have come to them, between informants or ¡®lucky¡¯ individuals who ascended from lower realms after their worlds had been invaded. Like Alva, but most would be properly swept up in the Harmonious Citadel. The truth was they were a strong sect with a powerful cultivation technique, so the loss of some autonomy would have been acceptable for many even if they knew everything. In fact, if Vari had been chosen to practice the Glorious Harmony Technique, perhaps she would have been part of them still. Instead, the Harmonious Citadel fostered a class of the downtrodden- those to weak to rise up and overcome their oppressors¡­ but that wouldn¡¯t stop them from trying forever. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ----- ¡°I see you have some talent,¡± said spearmaster Jafet to Vari. ¡°However, you seem to have run into some roadblocks in your training. I can provide personal guidance, if you wish.¡± Vari kept her expression as neutral as possible. ¡°I appreciate the offer,¡± she said. ¡°But enduring the struggle for growth might be best, for now.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± the man said. ¡°It is your choice.¡± As he left her behind, it seemed he meant it. While she still considered him scum, Vari still would have placed him above many others for that. Many cultivators would be glad to exchange their affections for a chance at power, regardless of their feelings for the individual in question. When it was actually a choice to get involved, it still vaguely fit in tolerable behavior. But Vari¡¯s seniors on Xankeshan- mainly those from the Order of One Hundred Stars- freely helped people with training, when they had time. The stories of Anton indicated he was a great instructor, and Vari looked vaguely towards the lower realms. This was perhaps the closest they would come to ever meeting. After all, Vari had no intention of actually invading the lower realms. The only reason she had waited to send the signal was to make sure that all of the forces that would be arriving in the near future were in place. If her companions properly determined that they needed to bring an army from the alliance with them, they could defeat them. Otherwise, she was still confident that a smaller group could extract her. She just wished she knew how long it would take. So far, it had been six months. In some ways a short time for a cultivator, in others it felt like an eternity. Obviously Vari couldn¡¯t expect them to just drop everything and come to her. They had other things to deal with, but the longer it was the more she was unsure if they were actually coming. She was unsure if she could keep her guise up indefinitely. Certainly, once they were in the lower realms she couldn¡¯t expect to fight in a war while limiting herself. And though they might overlook her strength, she really didn¡¯t want to help the Harmonious Citadel do that. But she also couldn¡¯t just join the other side- even if they didn¡¯t lose, would they really just trust that a random invader was a turncoat? But she could wait. The journey from the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory had taken more than a handful of weeks with logistics already dealt with. If her friends were gathering a proper army, she could only wait. ----- Harassing the border planets of the Trigold Cluster had become a longer term project- not that anyone expected it to be short or easy. The important part was picking the right targets. Nobody wanted to accidentally attack a fort with an Augmentation cultivator present. Even if they managed to defeat them, it would come at a guaranteed loss of life. WIth the difference in stage, an Augmentation cultivator would be nearly guaranteed to take out multiple Integration cultivators no matter the odds stacked against them. More than a few if they weren¡¯t severely outnumbered. That wasn¡¯t even counting potential allies. There had been just enough time to attack one training excursion and take out a few supply ships heading for Tatera when the message from Vari reached them. They didn¡¯t immediately leave- they had to determine where they were going and how to get there. And who they should bring. As the matter involved the Harmonious Citadel, this wasn¡¯t simply a matter for those from the lower realms. They could involve the rest of their alliance. Though nobody wanted to linger long, they also wouldn¡¯t have many opportunities to harass Tatera before Fajra arrived. Even if she were to show up late in the process she might still need a decade or two to properly acclimatize to lower energy again, so in the grand scheme of things she would be arriving ¡®soon¡¯. And since they had already begun their attacks, her arrival might be accelerated. ¡°Just wait for us, Vari,¡± Alva said to a friend who could not hear her. ¡°We¡¯ll be there.¡± ----- ¡°There¡¯s no way this is a coincidence,¡± Catarina said after she had double and triple checked the location information from Vari¡¯s token. ¡°But even if it somehow isn¡¯t what it looks like, there¡¯s an isolated pocket of the Harmonious Citadel, some hundreds of Life Transformation cultivators and dozens of Integration cultivators- enough to deal a crippling blow to the Harmonious Citadel if they were lost.¡± Timothy sighed, ¡°Unfortunately, our allies might not believe us. If they think we¡¯re making use of their forces for our own purposes¡­¡± ¡°Then they can get the hell off our planet,¡± Catarina folded her arms in front of her. ¡°If they don¡¯t trust us enough to follow through with a single assault at our direction, I don¡¯t trust them to remain on Xankeshan. We can just huddle up there forever while they fight the Harmonious Citadel on their own.¡± ¡°He has a point,¡± Alva said hesitantly. ¡°I have no doubt some people will join us, but we¡¯ll still want to convince as many people as possible to participate. This isn¡¯t just something we can try to match the enemy forces and hope everything works out. At best, even if we came out slightly ahead on losses¡­ it wouldn¡¯t really be a victory. And we don¡¯t know if they had people there already.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°I agree. We need to perform solidly. Once they arrive it will be clear the forces belong to the Harmonious Citadel, but we need enough for a decisive victory. I would prefer to solidify our position as more than just¡­ the people with control of Xankeshan¡¯s formations. But I¡¯m not¡­ much of a leader. Or a negotiator.¡± Hoyt¡¯s eyes turned to his grandfather, Prospero Vandale. ¡°What?¡± Prospero raised an eyebrow, ¡°You think that just because I was the leader of a sect for a couple centuries that I¡¯m good for the job?¡± ¡°You were a good leader,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Even if I didn¡¯t want to rely on your influence.¡± ¡°Maybe I was,¡± Prospero shrugged. ¡°But I know how cultivators work. Right now I¡¯m not even an Integration cultivator. Here, nobody will listen to me. So it will have to be someone else.¡± The grandfather in a younger body than his grandson didn¡¯t waver in his gaze. ¡°... Me?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°What? I¡¯m not asking you to do anything apparently difficult like getting me great-grandchildren. Just rile up some cultivators to form an army and stomp their enemies into the dirt.¡± Timothy and Catarina exchanged a silent glance while Hoyt sighed. ¡°Fine. I suppose I might be the best for that particular task. Also you were definitely older than me when you married grandma.¡± Chapter 575 The first proper excursion across the border to the lower realms had come. Since they weren¡¯t packed in as tightly nor were they going for long, Vari found it much more comfortable than the trip to their border planet. At least, until they actually arrived. As they drew away from the upper realms, Vari felt like she was in a desert being drained dry. Even the vast expanses between systems with almost no upper energy felt like oases of power, and the energy she expended for just living and the subconscious defenses she raised constantly leeched energy from her. In turn, the presence of something else became clear, though slowly because of how weak it was. Lower energy. Drawing it into her was an unfamiliar and unpleasant feeling. Where upper energy was a flowing river, lower energy was like pouring a jug of molasses into her veins, sticky and slow moving and weak. Why anyone would want to train with it, she didn¡¯t understand. On the other hand, it gave her a new level of respect for those from the lower realms. Was that what they had to deal with for over a hundred years? No wonder it was difficult for people to ascend. Vari felt like she could barely muster the strength to stand up. That wasn¡¯t fully true, of course- she had upper energy still in reserve- but everything felt wrong. Isolation was a rarity on a ship. With minimal space to move about, eat, and sleep time alone was rare at best. For this dive into the lower realms, everyone was meditating where they could find space, getting themselves used to lower energy. After a certain point, Vari grew tired of wrestling with her energy and wanted to distract herself. With the limited options available, she chose food. For her, there was the choice between hard, dry bread and moldy cheese. Was the quartermaster incompetent? Vari decided that was a yes- though she noticed practitioners of the Glorious Harmony Technique got better meals. Not that much though, reinforcing how unprepared they were for this special excursion. The food on the ground was not much better, but it was something. She was hungry though. Especially due to the lack of proper upper energy. There was no way she could possibly sustain herself. She lazily dealt with her food, trying to determine if the mold was intentional- it was not- and if it was edible- her energy senses detected it was. Tasted awful, but that might have just been the cheese. It was frustrating how picking out something so insignificant with her energy had become. How long had they been beyond the border? Eight hours, ten? Were they still accelerating? She couldn¡¯t tell. Vari hoped they turned back soon. Lower energy was garbage. She trudged back towards her room, which was about a size smaller than the bunks that filled it. The cramped corridors and lower energy gave her a headache. She nearly ran into someone outside her door. ¡°Sorry,¡± her reflexes said. ¡°That¡¯s not good enough.¡± Vari automatically glared at the individual who responded. Her head hurt. She didn¡¯t want to deal with this. There were¡­ four men. All carrying spears. Vaguely recognizable? But only as a group. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re all¡­ Iva¡¯s cronies, right?¡± ¡°We are supporters of the future disciple of the Spear Saint,¡± said the man defensively. Vari snorted. Normally, she might have had tact. Right now, everything was unpleasant. ¡°Oh please. At best she¡¯ll be a lackey to an honorary disciple which puts you cronies even one more rank lower.¡± The man lowered the tip of his spear towards her while the others¡­ spread out wasn¡¯t quite correct. Because they could only manage to get half a step to the side in the tiny hallway.. At best, they shifted their weight The man whose name Vari didn¡¯t intend to learn spoke with barely concealed anger, his voice hard. ¡°One of your station would do well to remember it!¡± The spear jabbed towards her. It was a simple matter to wrap her fingers around it, stopping it. That led to a strange dull pain in her palm as Vari looked over towards her hand. Why was blood dripping down her palm and off her wrist? Oh right. Because energy was garbage and the spear was still sharp. What a stupid way to die. Not that Vari planned to go easily. Her other hand came up, grabbing behind the spear head like a sensible person, while at the same time her best ¡®weapon¡¯ kicked out for the man¡¯s knee. There was a satisfying crunch as her heavy boot shattered a kneecap. Unfortunately, the moment the man fell there were two spears lowered at her. One cut a notch in her ear as she barely managed to dodge to the side, the other very nearly impaled her torso- the only thing stopping it being the half-fallen state of the first man hindering the motion. At that moment, Vari didn¡¯t hesitate to draw upon the power of those in front of her. Weak as they were, practitioners of the Glorious Harmony Technique had to have something. What they had was¡­ more garbage lower energy. The promise of the saints didn¡¯t do much either- they were half a realm away. Vari twisted open the door, completely filling the corridor. It held up to exactly zero attacks, the next spear stabbing straight through it as if it were made of¡­ well, extremely normal wood with no bolstering. It was hard to believe they¡¯d been so cheap. Vari had to bend backwards to not be impaled, gaining a gash along her jawline as she was too slow. She stopped her backwards fall by grabbing the spear, yanking it towards her. Spinning it around in the tight corridor was basically impossible, so she just tossed it behind her. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. As the door was ripped off its hinges, Vari wondered if anyone would stop this. No, probably not. Nobody would or could help her, and her techniques just didn¡¯t work right. As she tried to think of something that would, instinct took over. The door flew towards her, but she held out her bloody left palm. When it connected, instead of shattering the door or punching a hole, it retained its structure as its momentum was reversed down the corridor, augmented by her energy. The useless base structure meant it was still smashed apart by the clumped group of men, but it bought her a moment which she mostly used to stare at her own hand. That wasn¡¯t her barrier techniques. Her thoughts were sluggish, but what came to mind was¡­ a shield? The individual who lost his spear took one from the man with the broken knee. The one in the rear hopped up, supporting himself with his knees pressed against the sides of the corridor, angling his spear down towards Vari. So now she had to deal with three attacks at once. A lupine growl tore through her throat, rippling down the corridor. In any other state, using something of such little power against Life Transformation cultivators was useless, but they were just as weakened as her. Or at least, close enough. They all staggered back half a step, knocking into the man wedged in the top half of the corridor. Vari took the opportunity to step forward into her room. That would make the long spears have even more of a disadvantage. At best one or two could poke around the corner towards her. Vari breathed deeply, feeling strangely¡­ vigorous? With half a moment to think, she recognized the source of the techniques. One was Timothy, the other Fuzz. They didn¡¯t really fit her and she had no intention to add such things to her repertoire in the long term, but they fit lower energy so well. No¡­ natural energy? That was what they called it. When spears stabbed into the room, Vari levered the first one against the doorway to slam someone into the wall across the room. The other she ignored as it simply stabbed into the wall. Since both Vari and the others had the exact same ten or twenty seconds of combat experience using natural energy, she was confident enough to step back out- one of her feet leading the way. If she was wearing normal boots, the spear might have pierced the bottom of her foot- but what Vari had covered her whole foot in solid metal. It wasn¡¯t quiet on the ground, but it was the most durable equipment she owned. The spear skittered off as her foot stamped into a sternum, then she stepped forward to grab the throat of the last uninjured guy. ¡°You¡¯re going to do three things for me,¡± Vari said. ¡°First, go tell Iva I¡¯m not her damn rival or anything. I don¡¯t intend to rub myself all over Jafet, so there¡¯s no competition there. Second, you¡¯re going to bring your door here and replace mine. Third¡­ you¡¯ll bring me your meals. Got it?¡± Vari glared, then some gurgling sounds made her realize she had to relax her grip. The man coughed as air could once more enter his lungs. ¡°I understand¡­ senior sister.¡± Ugh. Whatever. Good enough. ¡°And drag these guys with you,¡± Vari waved him off. A proper cultivator could drag three regular people, even without energy. ----- The incident was not brought up by anyone. At most, Vari received a glare from Iva if they happened to pass each other. Even with the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s skewed justice the four lackeys really couldn¡¯t pin any blame on Vari without lowering their own status further by admitting their loss. They might plan something later, but Vari had at least whatever the duration of the trip was. They were definitely changing direction now, after a full day. It was hard to determine quite the rate of change, but by the end of the day they should be heading back to the upper realms for perhaps four full days ¡®in¡¯ the lower realms. That seemed rather tight on the ship¡¯s energy budget, but she had no control over it. What Vari did have control over was properly expelling all of her upper energy and working strictly with¡­ natural energy. She still found it weak, but not as unpleasant. It was just the newness that threw her off so much. It was like living in a cave then stepping outside to experience the sun for the first time¡­ though that didn¡¯t quite fit. Upper energy was still better. Yet this experience of using lower energy was something interesting. Vari tried to pick through the abilities used by her friends from the lower realms. Alva¡¯s archery formed an arrow out of energy, but Vari¡¯s oldest memories of that could discern some traces of instability- after all, it was made for use with lower energy and had to be adapted or remade for upper energy. She had no bow nor reason to use one, but holding a Spirit Arrow in her hands even if it crumbled apart under any pressure taught her quite a bit. If she¡¯d had access to this energy when she was just beginning her cultivation, she would have found it much easier to transcend the early ranks. Was that what determined those who would practice the Glorious Harmony technique? Not talent or skill, but those who were able to afford to practice with lower energy. That certainly fit what she¡¯d seen. And because they achieved their status, they got more resources funneled to them to grow faster. From some perspectives it made sense, and from others it was the best way to weed out those with talent in favor of those with money first and talent second. And since those with the money were already in leadership positions, of course they would deem their own offspring the most worthy. Despite what she could learn, Vari was looking forward to getting her feet back on a planet. And eating better food. The lackeys did bring Vari their better food, but it was barely soft and flavorless bread with butter sometimes, or if she was lucky salted meat jerky. Sure, it was only so many meals that she had to deal with it, but she also needed those meals. She was ravenously hungry, like she hadn¡¯t eaten in years. She did, of course, but her body was trying to produce upper energy in a place that simply wasn¡¯t suited to it. And it also had to maintain its normal functions. The fourth day in the lower realms, Vari felt the energy of the formations powering the ship fade to almost nothing as they nearly ran out of power. The air began to grow thinner as all the energy was focused on keeping the ship going at super-light speed. That was technically correct, but it also made her certain that the Harmonious Citadel didn¡¯t know what it was doing- and not just with supply logistics. Chapter 576 Avoiding people was not simple when the individuals involved could extend their energy senses to the entirety of the allowed area. Their little military outpost only numbered in the thousands, and hardly took up a lot of space. Only the least competent of those present wouldn¡¯t be able to sense a handful of kilometers away. However, the great number of people involved made things more difficult- Vari had to focus her efforts on concealment of her own abilities while doing her best not to end up anywhere people could make up excuses for not noticing what might happen. Vari couldn¡¯t fully avoid Iva herself as they trained together under spearmaster Jafet. She was clearly not a fan of Vari, but seemed content to avoid acting¡­ for a while. Whether that would be weeks, months, or years Vari was not sure. Hopefully she did not have to wait around for the latter. Before that point she would prefer to try to make her own way off planet sometime in the dead of night, though she had to admit her interstellar travel abilities were undeveloped. Aside from knowing the basics, she¡¯d always traveled on ships- and who wouldn¡¯t, since the option was widely available and better in pretty much every way. Except when it wasn¡¯t available. For the time being Vari was content to make some additional ¡®mistakes¡¯ in training, lowering her status but not so much she seemed like an easy target. Then she simply had to wait¡­ and wait. ----- Soft ripples of energy woke Vari. Someone sneaking about? No, it was dull from distance. She slowly circulated energy through her head to shake off the grogginess. She was woken up often enough from small things lately, always on edge. Was this just more of that? She waited, trying to take in anything happening. It came again, a wave of energy. Vari was tempted to reach out for it to learn more, but she kept herself passive for the moment. Until her roommates awoke, at least. ¡°What is that?¡± One of them asked, stretching her energy senses towards the source. Her roommates were individuals the previous Vari would have gotten along with fine. Devoted practitioners of the Holy Harmony Technique. From what she could tell, there were no cracks in their faith- their general lack of experience and isolation had kept them ignorant, as the Harmonious Citadel intended. ¡°... more recruits, maybe?¡± Another commented. ¡°It feels like ships.¡± By that point Vari was reaching out, to finally- blissfully- feel something that didn¡¯t fit with everything else. These ships were not part of the Harmonious Citadel, and though she did not recognize any of them she felt behind their barriers diverse cultivation styles. Then the attack began, with alarms ringing out throughout the outpost moments later. ¡°We¡¯re under attack!¡± said the third woman. ¡°Everyone get ready!¡± She didn¡¯t really have to say that. Vari only took a moment to slip on her armor- a lighter flexible variety. With enchantments the difference between metal armor and others was less significant, but this kind was good for exactly this circumstance. Her boots went on next, arguably more important. On the way out, she barely remembered to pick up her spear. She¡¯d thought about this day a lot, but now that it actually came¡­ she wasn¡¯t sure what to do. Obviously she had to fight against the Harmonious Citadel, but she couldn¡¯t exactly just attack them by herself. Nor was she a capable assassin. Instead, she needed to find a friendly face so that her own side wouldn¡¯t accidentally misidentify her. That distracted her enough that she didn¡¯t pick out the group ahead of her until her roommates stopped in their tracks. ¡°Leave.¡± Iva¡¯s voice was a command for that, and for future silence. If Vari had even attempted to befriend her roommates, she might have tried to convince them to aid her. On the other hand, it was just as well for them to leave. The corridors they were in were much more open- better for five people to all menace Vari at once. She looked over Iva¡¯s goons. ¡°I thought one of you would have been smarter,¡± she said as she hefted her spear. ¡°You get two chances to go. This is one¡­¡± Vari looked for a response. ¡°And this is two.¡± Her arm snapped back and then forward, throwing her spear the few scant meters between herself and her least favorite of the goons. Normally there was more windup for such an activity- the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s techniques assumed that someone desired to have their weapon back after they threw it. Vari didn¡¯t, and as her spear stabbed through one, another bolted. That left her with two Life Transformation cultivators and one Integration. Better than that, she was not off balance from adjusting to natural energy. This planet was at least modestly endowed with enough for her to return to a proper equilibrium. ¡°Get her!¡± Iva called out. ¡°She¡¯ll just be another casualty of the battle now.¡± The woman stabbed her spear towards the unarmed Vari. Rude, perhaps, but not really inappropriate by most cultivator standards- Vari did that to herself, after all. And as it turned out, she wasn¡¯t exactly in a worse state. Her arms reached forward, spinning away Iva¡¯s thrust with one hand while doing the same for the other two with her left, a quick circle bridging the timings between the two thrusts. Perhaps it was too early, but Vari presumed most eyes would be on the outside threats¡­ and not on her. She dropped any pretense of hiding her own cultivation. If there had been any saints on the planet they would have immediately clocked her- as it was, any powerful Glorious Harmony cultivators would feel something was off. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°You- I knew it! You¡¯re a spy!¡± Iva held her head high with self-righteousness. ¡°Don¡¯t bother with that,¡± Vari said. ¡°You were absolutely planning to kill one of your own sect mates and it just happened to be me.¡± That exchange of words was already quite long to happen in a battle- Vari didn¡¯t stop dancing around spear thrusts and sweeps, parrying with her own arms. The Life Transformation goons were looking a bit nervous. They had a stronger supporter now but they were the most easily taken out. Which was why Vari stepped towards one of them, fully expecting the protective stab from Iva. It was one of the textbook moves, and it had a textbook counter- just not one in the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s textbooks. Vari was already spinning, ignoring the flinching individual who only managed a worthless jab towards where she appeared to have been moving. A barrier extended beyond her arm, providing a solid surface for the spear thrusting towards her to slide up instead of directly countering the attack. Then Vari grabbed behind the spearhead. The Harmonious Citadel had techniques to deal with that, of course. Flowing energy through the spear in just such a way could have it burst out on the individual grabbing the weapon, and Iva was good enough to attempt that- but Vari¡¯s metal-booted foot kicked the middle of the spear, only a standard defense protecting Vari¡¯s hands. If she¡¯d tried to yank the weapon away, Iva would have been ready. But nobody in the Harmonious Citadel fought like Vari- and not just because it was usually beneficial to carry weapons. The boots probably counted. Certainly, they were tough enough to bend the spear as grips held it tight on both ends. That bend disrupted Iva¡¯s flow of energy, causing the burst of energy to only make Vari¡¯s hands numb instead of sharpening to try to cut off her fingers. Instead of pulling away, Vari stepped in further. Two spears thrust at her from behind, but they had to pull back as she stepped aside one of them. Iva was directly past her, after all. The second spear might have injured Vari if the other had been willing to fully commit. Hands grabbed onto sleeves and then Vari flung Iva towards her remaining lackeys. She was only a fraction of a second behind as they hit the wall together, slamming into them feet first. Her metal footwear also doubled as armor from that perspective, spears deflected to the side. The structure crumbled behind them, but the impact clearly went through. Iva barely managed to get to her feet in a daze as Vari continued to press her advantage. She could vaguely feel that some of her own energy was being drawn into her opponent in a manner she couldn¡¯t stop, but she couldn¡¯t understand why. And she never would, as Vari held her head and kicked directly into her chin, a feat of flexibility. As the two lackeys ran, Vari tossed Iva into a bag- her stuff was worth something, after all- then did the same with ¡®her¡¯ spear for the same reasons. In that short time she could already feel attacks bombarding the formations at the edge of the outpost, and though she could vaguely pick out several familiar energies, the one with the least amount of the outpost between her and it was what she chose. It also happened to be the most obvious one, as it involved not one but two loud wolves. There wasn¡¯t even a gate on that side, but nothing would stop Vari from getting out- but by the time she reached the walls, there was a sizable hole in it. Formations would prevent directly molding the material with energy, but only to some extent. Spikes was quite good at what she did, and the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s defensive formations were only so good. There had obviously been some setup for this ¡®special excursion¡¯ ahead of time, but it wasn¡¯t the same as a planet that was occupied for decades or centuries. ¡°Alva!¡± Vari called out as she approached. ¡°I thought you¡¯d never make it.¡± The surrounding cultivators seemed to recognize Vari as one of the Harmonious Citadel even as she kicked someone out of the way- but they could also feel that she was an Integration Cultivator, which put her under the purview of Alva, Fuzz, and Spikes. ¡°Vari!¡± Alva called back- taking a shot at some people approaching their front lines. ¡°Good to see you! Everyone, this is the one you were told about!¡± The Harmonious Citadel had a significant number of Integration cultivators on planet- but not so many that any random spot on the walls could be a match for three together. With dozens of ships either already having landed or flying over, the sudden invasion was difficult to react to. One hole in the walls might still let the formations as a whole remain in place and some people trickle through, but it seemed the alliance had prepared well for this attack. This was a rare opportunity to catch a large group so relatively vulnerable and far from the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory. Vari remained in a somewhat defensive position near Alva, preparing to block with her barriers, both so her allies would not confuse her with anyone¡­ and because she didn¡¯t really want to kill any casual acquaintances. There were a good number of people in the Harmonious Citadel she wouldn¡¯t mind killing, of course, but the random people making up the forces weren¡¯t all equally at fault. Then again, they didn¡¯t have to kill everyone. Many were already fleeing around them, and with the advantage of strength in the area around her they could afford to hold back a little bit. Or at least Vari could- though shattered ribs or a blow to the head could still be lethal. That didn¡¯t stop Vari, because she already understood that this was war- and the people here had never been her friends to begin with. Still¡­ ¡°If you surrender we won¡¯t have to kill all of you,¡± Vari commented, slamming her fist into her palm. That was a legitimate strategy for multiple reasons- if people stopped fighting, fewer on either side would die. There wasn¡¯t a lot of negotiations between the sides, but prisoner exchanges or ransoms still happened occasionally. Vari tried to sense the rest of the battle. Most of the strongest individuals, the instructors and various leaders, were still alive- and fighting side by side. They certainly hadn¡¯t won yet, but the opener was quite effective. Chapter 577 Falling stars rained down from the sky, targeting anything on the battlefield its masters wished. With defensive formations shattered, they were no longer protected from aerial assaults of any kind. Cultivators fell by the hundreds, two forces that would have previously overwhelmed Ceretos and might still, if they could fight on fair footing. Of course, that was never possible- upper and lower energy did not inhabit the same place. Integration cultivators and their lower realm equivalents were merely in the stage following Life Transformation- it was impossible to say how closely matched they actually were. In the actual circumstances of an invasion, the lower realms would have the advantage of fighting with their preferred natural energy. The upper realms, on the other hand, had the advantage of drawing from a much larger population, many different planets that could move freely between each other. Even if Integration cultivators had been one in a billion like the Worldbinding cultivators of the Sylanis Cluster, there were many thousands of planets to draw upon. The Harmonious Citadel itself had far fewer than that itself, but it still had a large population under control of one sect. However, while they had brought a reasonable army for invading a lower realm, if they had expected a possible attack by their enemies they had underestimated the forces they could draw upon. Up to that point the Dark Ring and others had rarely engaged in direct battles, and the Harmonious Citadel had done its best to keep the location of the border planet a secret. They had simply missed one thing. Hoyt had encouraged absolutely everyone who they could to join them- if they had been wrong and Vari¡¯s signal had been for a smaller force of enemies than they currently faced perhaps they would have looked foolish. But that would not have been as devastating to their relationship as bringing insufficient forces. The varied weapons of the Harmonious Citadel allowed them to cover each other¡¯s weaknesses- when they actually fought side by side instead of in their own discrete groups. However, knowing their weaknesses, it was also possible for cultivators to seek out their preferred opponents among the Harmonious Citadel. Currently there was only one force of note, a gathering of all of the strongest warriors. Hoyt was tempted to work with his grandfather to continuously bombard them, but together they simply weren¡¯t strong enough to wear down more than a dozen others. He wasn¡¯t sure they could ever be as long as they were in the same stage- and his grandfather had not even reached Integration yet. There was no doubt that Prospero would advance, but he still needed some more time. Hoyt sought out those devoted to the shield. While he could easily face axes with his own, he was not interested in a match with which the enemy would be familiar. The shield users no doubt also trained against axes, but Hoyt personally found Timothy¡¯s expertise with the shield greater than any of these others. Using it as a weapon was an interesting route, but that led to gaps between offense and defense. Not as much as one would expect, but Citadel¡¯s Downfall was quite clear about the differences- and a couple centuries hadn¡¯t seen any change in that regard. It was strange to think about sects that had survived for over a millennium. The Order of One Hundred Stars was more than half that age now, but the upper limit upon Ceretos was just shy of eight hundred. Some claimed a longer history, but as all of their strongest cultivators had been wiped out in a former invasion they didn¡¯t really have a legacy beyond a name. A weighty ball of flame built up speed as Hoyt directed it towards his target, intending it to arrive along with himself. The man he was targeting had a century or two on Hoyt but he still didn¡¯t appear to have advanced beyond the early Integration stage. Hoyt cleaved down with his axe, a wave of flames washing over the man and sending him a step back. The meteor followed up, slamming into the shield with a mass of momentum. The man deflected it with his shield, but imperfectly. He staggered back, the attack not being negated but simply redirected into the allies he was supposed to be defending. Hoyt took the opening to swing his axe low, chopping at the man¡¯s legs. Of course he was agile enough to bring his shield to bear against something like that- if he was so incompetent as to fall so easily he would likely not have reached Integration at all. But the man was wholly focused on Hoyt¡¯s energy, missing the subtly different signature of Prospero who was also honed in on him. His shield blocked low, and he kept enough defensive energy on the rest of his body to protect him from Prospero¡¯s attack¡­ but not completely. The momentum of the blow finally knocked him off his feet, and Hoyt spun his axe around, chopping in an obtuse arc that slipped past the raising shield, chopping off the man¡¯s leg. It was still the correct choice for him to defend his upper body, because if he¡¯d failed to do that Hoyt would have just cut him in half. But the blow was ultimately fatal either way- it just took him a few swings more to die as his mobility was hampered. ----- On the other side of the battlefield, Timothy held his own defensive position next to Catarina. ¡°Should I know what you¡¯re doing?¡± he asked. ¡°I¡¯m just dismantling their formations,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°I¡¯m sure they can be used for something better.¡± ¡°Right now?¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°Of course right now.¡± ¡°See that battle formation they¡¯re in?¡± Catarina gestured. ¡°I intend to disrupt their flow of energy.¡± Though their group was responsible for discovering this place, they weren¡¯t responsible for the majority of the military forces. The Order having five Integration cultivators- six if they counted Fuzz they were still a significant force with just them and the disciples they¡¯d picked up on Xankeshan over the decades, but they still couldn¡¯t match larger sects like made up the Dark Ring. That would take time, though there was some potential in the next generation from Ceretos. It was just at the current moment most were more inclined to advance to Assimilation or simply delay their Ascension until after the invasion. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Thus, they were doing what they could with the forces under their control while the center of the battle was left to others- but with their progress elsewhere around the battlefield, everyone would converge on that point soon enough. Timothy swept his sword wide as a bundle of pesky cultivators came to attack his wife. When they were attacking separately they couldn¡¯t match him, and when they combined their efforts properly he simply had to bring his shield to bear. A great wall formed in front of him, their attacks rebounding towards each other or those behind them. There might be a few handfuls who recognized that a person calmly picking apart ¡®destroyed¡¯ formations was doing something important, but Timothy could handle them. The only annoying one was an archer who¡¯d taken notice, and he had to keep close to Catarina to block those. But Fuzz and therefore Alva and others had taken noticed of that situation, and he expected it to be handled. Catarina, meanwhile, contributed nothing to the fight. Not because she couldn¡¯t, but because she fully trusted Timothy to deal with things¡­ and she really did need to focus on how she was ripping out chunks of blessed iron. She would have called it enchanted, but the Harmonious Citadel was adamant that their methods were blessings. And she was going to show them what a proper ¡®blessing¡¯ could do when dropped into the middle of their formation with the right modifications. Technically, what Catarina was doing would actually amplify the effects of the enemy group. And explosions were just amplified campfires. She hefted her prize, gesturing with her sword- while also swinging it at a Life Transformation cultivator who tried to slip past Timothy. ¡°Alright, now escort me over that way!¡± Their path took them through the group with Fuzz. Catarina remembered when he was a cute little wolf, dying from an infestation of moss. Now he was so much bigger, and cuter! It helped that the flames around him burned away the blood that would otherwise be covering his mouth and paws. ¡°Vari, if you could help escort me closer to that grand combat formation,¡± Catarina said, ¡°And when I say, stop drawing upon the energy of the others.¡± She nodded. Spikes came along as well- though Fuzz held back so that he didn¡¯t drag Alva to where she could be surrounded in melee. She was capable of skirmishing like that, but staying around the outside was better. The earth itself, courtesy of Spikes, moved to shove people out of the way, with Vari and Timothy blocking each side. Catarina took care of her own defense, but with one arm carrying a huge chunk of enchanted metal she was a bit less agile than normal. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t have to get within the large group of Integration cultivators- just nearby. ¡°Now,¡± Catarina warned Vari as she tossed the chunk of metal over the heads of a wall of spearmen and shield users. They took note of it, but only the same way they would unaugmented bits of metal. A mountain could have fallen on these cultivators without harming them unless there was upper energy involved. If they took note that it was a bit of ¡®blessed¡¯ metal they still wouldn¡¯t have found it had any power. And on its own, it didn¡¯t. When it landed in the middle of them, their battle formation pulsed with energy, the connections between them augmented. That was normally a good thing¡­ but when it came out of the blue, suddenly everyone was drawing more on everyone else than expected. They were unbalanced for only a few moments, but even small openings could be taken advantage of. Vari, Timothy, and Catarina descended on one dagger wielding cultivator who dashed slightly too far forward. Then a moment later the metal in the middle of the formation melted to slag, whipping people back in the other direction as it channeled more energy than it could handle. Ultimately, the gambit caused more than a handful of the enemy Integration cultivators to be injured or killed within a span of seconds, and the shift in dynamic allowed for the surrounding attackers to push for more. Soon enough another five fell, and within a matter of minutes the battle was basically over- not solely due to that moment, but it sped it up by a step or two. ----- Word of battles in the upper realms kept reaching Anton¡¯s ears, and he was quite glad for that. It was unfortunate that he could currently do nothing from his position. He could not attack the upper realms- and even if he could, it would have only been practical from stars on the border. Thoughts occasionally passed through his mind- if he Assimilated stars upon the border he could patrol the area. But how many would he need? Ten? A hundred? More? And that was a pointless attempt anyway. If they didn¡¯t have to stop in any of the systems, they could simply go around. ¡®Above¡¯ or ¡®below¡¯ if nothing else. Even if he controlled an entire ring of systems around another, the vast majority of the space around it would remain uncontrolled. Though if he could actually attack between systems, he might have something to work with. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you agreed to provoke them,¡± Everheart said to Anton. ¡°Got a problem with that? Scared?¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± Everheart clutched his hands to his chest. ¡°... So proud of what Ceretos has become. This might be the best trap I¡¯ve ever been part of.¡± ¡°Is it a trap if we intend to overpower them in a weakened state¡­?¡± Anton tilted his head. ¡°I think you answered that question for yourself. Of course it is.¡± Everheart grinned, ¡°But can we make them even weaker than just the transition to natural energy? That¡¯s the question. If you¡¯d let me dismantle a planet for resources-¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to make do with the myriad of asteroids.¡± ¡°But they¡¯re so far apart!¡± Everheart complained. ¡°I have to go to each one and figure out what bits of it are good. Ah well. I¡¯ll do what I can. Dismantling an entire planet would be kind of inefficient anyway.¡± Anton just smirked. At least Everheart was enthusiastic about causing trouble for the invaders. Though he still didn¡¯t know if the man would stay and fight if there was risk to himself. Chapter 578 With a sizable blow struck to the Harmonious Citadel, Vari was quite happy to return to Xankeshan. ¡°I¡¯m glad the device worked,¡± she said to Catarina, ¡°But it was not pleasant being unable to get a response. What if you didn¡¯t show up? What if you didn¡¯t bring sufficient forces?¡± She shook her head. ¡°It was a lot of worrying that I couldn¡¯t do anything about.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t think of a way to make it secure otherwise,¡± Catarina said. ¡°If it had more complexity, hiding it would have been much more difficult.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Vari nodded seriously, ¡°I¡¯m just saying I don¡¯t plan to do anything like that again. Not that I could. I¡¯d have to come up with a whole new identity and hope the Harmonious Citadel didn¡¯t tie me to either of my previous connections. Though they¡¯d likely found out about myself in particular from our other plans.¡± Catarina frowned, ¡°We can try to stop it, if it¡¯s a problem for you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind them hating me. Especially if it¡¯s for a good reason. Releasing so many people from their secret excursion and spreading word of their failures¡­ that¡¯s a good cause. I don¡¯t know if it will garner sympathy for the lower realms or inspire others to do their own raids, though. People are how they are, many more are opportunistic rather than sympathetic.¡± ¡°A large number of disorganized groups competing with each other can¡¯t be worse than a few that have the strength and cohesion to actually pull it off,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And there are enough people who have ascended that might take offense at their particular world coming under fire. They could flock to our banner or work against people on their own. Even if they just cut down a few people from a faction they come to dislike, it could be advantageous. Ultimately, I think it will be beneficial.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t disagree,¡± Vari nodded. ¡°And I don¡¯t mind the Harmonious Citadel finding out about me¡­ as long as nobody expects me to go back there. Though I¡¯d really rather not draw the ire of the saints.¡± ¡°If they come to attack Xankeshan, we will either have advance warning of vast forces- or be able to hold long enough for reinforcements to arrive. That¡¯s even if all the saints attack at once.¡± ¡°Eight Augmentation cultivators?¡± Vari asked. ¡°As far as I¡¯m aware, Xankeshan fell to forces on the level of the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant. Even with the formations in centuries of ruin and disrepair, it was sufficient to hold off one and drive away Everheart. We¡¯re secure here. Outside¡­¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll just have to keep improving ourselves for that.¡± ----- The ringing of hammer on anvil filled Chikere¡¯s ears as she approached the forge. Even where she was, she could hardly bear to move forward due to the heat. She couldn¡¯t imagine being inside. Would she burn to death? Unlikely, unless she let it happen. She could blast the heat away, but if she just tried to fend off the heat with her own energy¡­ it might actually wear her down within a short time. She got to an angle where she could just see Sadiq working on something unexpected. She watched him work, knowing he¡¯d already sensed her and not wanting to throw off his rhythm. Eventually, he took the object on his anvil and dipped the head in a bucket- clearly not of water as that would have flash-boiled just for being in the room. She heard a strange clinking sound in the metal, though she was unsure if that was a good or bad sound to happen in a quenching. The man stepped out of the forge. ¡°Chikere, good to see you return.¡± She nodded. ¡°I have brought materials.¡± She leaned to the side to look at what he was working on, ¡°What is that?¡± He raised an eyebrow, ¡°I know you¡¯ve seen an axe before.¡± He folded his arms, ¡°What, did you think I only made swords?¡± ¡°... do you not?¡± ¡°A good smith has to make everything to understand them. Just because I prefer to use a sword doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t make other things. Just like you understand how to work with other weapons even if you don¡¯t use them in battle.¡± Chikere nodded, pulling out several swords- and jars of blood. ¡°I have brought materials.¡± He raised an eyebrow. ¡°Interesting. Many people would have hesitated.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Is there something wrong with this?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say so. They were going to die anyway. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m refining their souls or anything.¡± ¡°These go together,¡± Chikere gestured to two swords and one jar. ¡°And this with the other.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can tell,¡± he nodded. ¡°Quite fresh. You¡¯ve got good storage.¡± ¡°A formation grandmaster assisted me,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°You can make good swords.¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°You bet,¡± Sadiq said. ¡°I will need some of your own blood though.¡± A blade was halfway to Chikere¡¯s wrist before Sadiq managed to hold up his hand to stop her. ¡°Hold on now. I need something to store it in. And just a few drops, mind you. I can remember your essence, but the sword will need some help.¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Okay.¡± A minute later and a small prick on her finger and they had collected what they needed. ¡°How good will they be?¡± ¡°Hard to say,¡± Sadiq admitted. ¡°Everything I make is good, of course, but I can¡¯t guarantee any of these will top that tournament prize you hold. But I can guarantee they¡¯ll be in the top ten you¡¯ve ever had.¡± Chikere grinned. ¡°Good. I will bring you more¡­ at some point in the future.¡± ¡°I look forward to it.¡± ----- After dealing with the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s first attempt at a border planet, returning to the Trigold Cluster¡¯s operations was difficult. After all, each planet could basically match the forces the Harmonious Citadel had- some were more or less prepared for various reasons, and some like Tatera had multiple outposts of similar strength. Without the direct backing of the Dark Ring, there were simply too few people to succeed in direct attacks. The excursions across the border to the lower realms were also more defended, so they couldn¡¯t do much there. The best they could do there was continue to harass transport ships- but even that would become risky if they ever predicted when an attack might come and set up an ambush. The diviner Namrata was not much help in that regard- to predict the future with any accuracy she had to be involved, at least to some extent. As she was clearly not enthusiastic about the idea of going into a war zone, and forcing her would be the most likely way to get her to work against them again, they didn¡¯t rely on her for that. Her best contribution so far had been to push them towards larger forces going to Vari¡¯s location. Other than that, simply keeping her from helping the Trigold Cluster was good enough. They could kill her to remove a potential danger- probably- but for someone with much potential utility who just wanted to continue living it seemed like a waste. Targets shifted away from Tatera- for the moment- so that the Trigold Cluster couldn¡¯t focus on just one place. It was simple to predict the arrival locations of the supply ships- within a reasonable tolerance- and knowing exactly where they had to end up took no effort once they calculated the orbital periods for each planet in question. The Trigold Cluster couldn¡¯t change a planet¡¯s orbit¡­ or if they could, it would be a massive endeavor just to make sure a few transport ships weren¡¯t ambushed en route. The ultimate solution was that they had a fleet of military ships waiting for each cargo vessel at the border of the system or wherever they would exit superlight speeds. That made it nearly impossible to cause more damage, but it also meant that a single fleet was tying up a handful of fleets between the border planets. And they didn¡¯t have to be in the area to force the enemy to respond that way. ----- The Stellar Wave crept its way into a system- they had to monitor whether or not people were keeping up their vigilance, after all. If they got careless, they¡¯d lose another ship- and though the supplies were of little value, replacing the ships that were supposed to last at least hundreds of trips would add up. Velvet greatly enjoyed the customizations to her ship, and it felt almost like a natural part of her, the formations following her lead instead of her having to control them. The difference there was how she did not have to make them do anything. That let her fully focus on her task. At the moment, that task was slipping past some sort of sensing formation around a system. She wasn¡¯t certain she would be completely undetected, but she didn¡¯t intend to stay long. This was a test, after all. She could only barely sense the formation, a slight inconsistency in the flow of energy in the area. If she had not been looking for such a thing, she might have missed it. But the fact that she could sense it at all made Velvet glad that Catarina was on their side. The Trigold Cluster might have a formation master that matched her- or was better- but would they send them out to each system along the border of the lower realms just to put in a sensing formation? That seemed unlikely. Velvet kept the vessel concealed while redirecting it along the flow, trying to find the satellites that must have made up the formation. That was not something she could do on her own, not in a short amount of time, and not without slipping up on her stealth. Instead, she had formation masters with her, using devices Catarina made to help track things down. It wasn¡¯t quite like the things Rutera had, that didn¡¯t rely on the operator¡¯s ability directly. Yet they had their own strengths- a better upper limit for those with talent. Catarina had quite a few apprentices now, and with her reputation building she would have her pick of the best. Or whoever she wanted, since ¡®talent¡¯ wasn¡¯t everything. Velvet kept a careful watch for approaching ships. She didn¡¯t think they¡¯d been tagged by the formations, but just assuming that would end them up in hot water. If an enemy ship even got within sensory range, they were speeding out of the system as quick as they were able. It took a full day to follow the signals to find a free floating sphere in the middle of space, detectable from a distance only by how it affected the flow of energy. Each one of these was not particularly valuable or important on its own- thus, tracking them down to destroy them would be a significant risk of discovery for little gain. However, they did contain something of value. To Catarina, at least. Knowledge that she could use to potentially bypass them in the future- and not just with the Stellar Wave under Velvet¡¯s command. Retrieving the device was accomplished without incident. The next step of the plan involved jumping to a system of no particular significance and dropping it. It was unlikely that they could track each and every piece of the formation- they might not even know it was missing- but bringing it back to Xankeshan if it did would make it very clear who was the main perpetrators of the harassment. It was likely the Trigold Cluster at least had some suspicions- they hadn¡¯t always killed everyone, and there had been members of the Twin Soul Sect that would eventually reincarnate- but actual proof would be worse. There was some sort of prohibition against the large factions bringing armies into the Scarlet Midfields, but there might be some unknown limitations- or they might not care, if they were angered too much. Right now, Velvet thought they were akin to a stinging bee- annoying, slightly painful, but not worth hunting down after the damage was done. They hoped to remain in that state as long as possible. Growing into a group that could match the largest powers around them in a single century was simply asking for too much. Perhaps that could not be accomplished even in their full lifespans, as significant as they would be. Chapter 579 Much could be learned from the rare opportunities to capture ships designed to go to the lower realms. The largest quantity of these belonged to the Harmonious Citadel, as they had taken everything from the border planet. They only had a small handful from the Trigold Cluster, as destruction was much easier than capture. ¡°I see,¡± Catarina nodded as she looked over the ships. ¡°We have now confirmed they use overlapping formations and materials. Some suited for the lower realms and functioning on natural energy, and some for the upper realms.¡± She spoke mainly to one of her apprentices- a man called Koralo. He was older than her, showing signs of age, but he had humbled himself to ask for a position learning from her. And learn he did. ¡°It quite weakens both functionalities to mix them,¡± Koralo remarked. ¡°And they don¡¯t seem sufficient to reach any systems in the lower realms. What is the purpose of doing things this way?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think these are involved in the invasion themselves,¡± Catarina said. ¡°They¡¯re just for acclimation. Captured documents indicate that the tides of the world themselves will briefly provide pathways for transport. That matches up with what we saw- cultivators falling from the skies without the presence of ships. And they returned to the skies without them as well.¡± ¡°If these are just for training¡­¡± Koralo frowned, ¡°It would explain the general lack of quality. I don¡¯t expect amazing work from the Harmonious Citadel, but I¡¯m surprised by the Trigold Cluster.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget that most of them won¡¯t be familiar with materials to handle natural energy. You were lucky that your training was an exception, even before you met me. I imagine their best formation masters are focused on other areas, rather than ships that are only needed every handful of centuries on average.¡± The information they had was interesting, but not necessarily useful. As they didn¡¯t intend to invade any lower realms, the most that could matter was the incomplete information on following the tides of the world to the lower realms. That was from the Harmonious Citadel- they hadn¡¯t obtained any information along those lines from the Trigold Cluster. Velvet had some intention to make an attempt, but once something went missing from inside their outposts, security there would be greatly amplified. It wasn¡¯t possible for an Integration cultivator to bypass every possible roadblock, but she was the best stealth expert available to Xankeshan. The Dark Ring had some, but outside of work that directly benefited them, the prices were too much for information they weren¡¯t even certain was present. It was possible the leaders would be the only ones who knew, and the techniques would never be present on planet. That seemed like the sort of thing they would do. Of course, the information wasn¡¯t necessary- rather than descending to the lower realms to join the battle there, Ceretos and their allies would be relying on their own abilities to resist the invasion. They had Assimilation cultivators, after all, and they would either be a match for the invaders, or they would not. Another handful of Integration cultivators from the upper realms wouldn¡¯t tip the scales much. ----- Chikere¡¯s eyes sparkled as she held her new swords. The material quality and craftsmanship were both exquisite. It wasn¡¯t simply fine materials worked by Grandmaster Smith Sadiq¡¯s hands, but a transformation of those materials into something greater. She could already feel their sharpness before she had approached, and now that she held them upon her palm she almost felt as if she would cut off her fingers with the slightest breeze. The shape of the weapons was nothing special- one was a single edged curved blade, while the other was a larger straight sword with edges on both sides, tapering to a fine point. The design and balance were perfect, but not ornamental. They did have a certain visual flare from the techniques involved. Instead of the silvery-gray of many metals, the inclusion of their former wielder¡¯s blood had turned them into a rust color. What looked like impurities in the structure were veins, though there was neither flow nor hollow- nonetheless, this was what remained of their former wielders. Chikere would be honored should her life result in a blade so fine. However, she also had no desire for it to be over yet. She just hoped that when it ultimately came about, her end would bring something to the world. ¡°I want more,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I can make more, should you bring me the materials,¡± Sadiq commented. ¡°However, I imagine you will eventually grow bored of similar results.¡± ¡°I asked about cultivators slain in the lower realms¡­¡± Chikere¡¯s gaze focused on the smith¡¯s eyes. ¡°Do you think it would work?¡± ¡°We still have no way to know. The results could be something disappointing,¡± he shrugged. ¡°Or they could turn into something spectacular.¡± Chikere nodded, ¡°Then I will find out.¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t a suggestion,¡± Sadiq said. ¡°There are many other options available for you in your hunt for the best swords.¡± ¡°No,¡± Chikere said firmly, ¡°I have to try this.¡± Sadiq shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s your time and effort. Do as you please.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Chikere knew she would need to study the available bits and pieces of techniques if she wanted to descend to the lower realms. She thought it would be interesting to be back and see how things had changed. She just needed to do it without setting foot on Tatera. She wasn¡¯t confident in sneaking after the Trigold Cluster, and there wouldn¡¯t even be a worthwhile reward for her risk. Presumably, she could leave from a different destination- but now she had to study it. ----- The shift in the tides were obvious now even to those who had not felt the last change. Anton looked up at the sky, keenly aware that only ten years remained before the time had come. Only a decade, as if that were a small amount of time. And perhaps it would be. What could he do in that time? Advance his cultivation a single star, perhaps two if he were fortunate. That was not without value, but it was not as significant as before. He was currently bound to fifteen stars, with one available. He had his eye on several choice individuals for future attempts, but the nature of the stars and their distance made him hesitate. They were distant enough that he might no longer be able to reach some of the options if he wished to return in time- that was how far away they were. More than a system or two or five. A vast distance even traveling beyond the speed of light many times. His observations had determined there were stars with a radius more than a hundred, possibly even a thousand times that of the stars he was accustomed to. There were also some that were smaller by a significant margin- not as promising in terms of candidates, but still something he would eventually scope out in person. But for the moment, he could only look at them through ever more powerful telescopes, seeing them as they were decades or centuries earlier. After the observatory had been destroyed in Vandale¡¯s death, the best of which Anton had been aware, he had rebuilt it bigger and better. Yet if he were to compare to Rutera, it was almost rudimentary in its construction. Formations had augmented its gaze, but they could do the same without one lick of natural energy- and with their energy augmented technology they could do so much more. In addition to that, the observatory was limited by its placement. The peak it was on was one of the better places upon Ceretos¡­ but out in space was better. There was no atmosphere or particles of any kind that would interfere with the gathering of light there. It was wonderful. Anton hoped to be alive to take advantage of his newest telescope more, after the invasion. But if he was not¡­ he would not find himself particularly upset. The only thing he would regret when he died would be if he happened to not protect what he cared about. At some point that had been his family, then one sect¡­ and now he had several planets that he could say he was fond of most of. What a strange twist his life had taken over the last two centuries. ----- Rutera was under the assumption that they were still unnoticed, the natural energy from their planet insufficient to catch the attention of the upper realms. But they were not being careless. Constant military growth was expensive, but they had plenty of reason to go through with it. The advent of ¡®proper¡¯ cultivation among their people was extending lifespans, such that the generation who experienced war with the Sylanis Cluster would not have faded away by the time of the invasions. They hoped to not be a target- but if they were not, their work was not in vain. General Nicodemo took a look at the model of The Independence in front of him. In his opinion, it was still the best of the warships they had made. Some were bigger and more powerful, but this one represented the most. But he wasn¡¯t here to just play with models- though he would be quite happy to. Instead, he had to remind people why they were doing this. He looked upon the room full of executive leadership- which included Aneirin Park, no longer president. Not because a term limit was implemented or because the man couldn¡¯t have won, but because he had chosen to step down for a new generation of leadership. And while Nicodemo could say he was not dissatisfied with the man¡¯s leadership during the past, anyone who let the military act as necessary was sufficient. ¡°The time is approaching,¡± General Nicodemo said. ¡°We do not know if Rutera will be invaded. But, if we are not¡­ our efforts are not in vain. Our allies would be glad for reinforcements, and as everyone here knows they have more than sufficient resources to compensate us for our help.¡± He looked over the cabinet members and other general, as well as the new president- though she¡¯d had her position for more than a few years now. President Riccarda Cavaino. ¡°Not that we should approach this as a mercenary endeavor. Ceretos and Weos have been great partners in enlightening us on the matters of cultivation, and with uplifting the state of our planet itself. I would not have imagined an industrialized system like ours could manage such a beautiful and functional harmony with nature.¡± That was the thing that made it popular. It wasn¡¯t making things better for cultivators that had been popular, but the mere fact that crops would grow larger with less visible effort. The fact that that in turn fed back into other things was secondary to many. There were still some who would prefer to capture all of the natural energy around them to power whatever they pleased, but that was limited to specific applications such as power distribution plants. Who would ever have imagined that not solar nor wind but the very atmosphere itself could be one of the most sustainable energy sources? Of course, Rutera still had other options. Fusion plants, once they had gotten past the early hiccups, were quite efficient and safe. Simply absorbing natural energy from the surroundings wouldn¡¯t be enough to power the planet, but it could provide a significant part of what they needed. ¡°We owe them our aid, as soon as practicable. We will be keeping our fleets within our own system until we are certain, after which if there is no invasion upon us we will be joining our allies. It is unfortunate that we will miss the initial, critical weeks- but our own safety is paramount.¡± ¡°What about the vessels sold to the other systems?¡± one of the council members asked. His position was¡­ not agriculture. Something to do with animals, perhaps? There were so many, Nicodemo found it difficult to keep them all straight. ¡°Those can no longer be considered part of our own fleets. Their sale provided the budget to keep production on others going, providing millions of jobs throughout Rutera and our expanded colonies.¡± There were now permanent and rapidly growing settlements on- or around- every major planet in the system. Though some were clearly less desirable, the available space, jobs, and the ease of moving about resulted in at least a modest amount of people living anywhere. Nicodemo tried not to look at the finance minister. This was no time to get into a stupid scuffle- soon enough, nobody would be concerned about the military spending. It was just difficult to sustain it for so long without a specific enemy. But the wait was nearly over- and as regular citizens began to feel the change in flow, they would realize. Though avoiding unnecessary panic would be a whole other job. Chapter 580 The years were creeping up towards the final days of the shifting of the Tides of the World. Chikere was less than a year from having to depart- though the exact timing of that wasn¡¯t clear even for her. She just knew she didn¡¯t want to be late. Before that, however, she thought it was finally time to deal with her arm. Or maybe¡­ too late. She¡¯d find out when she made the attempt. The length of time would make it quite complicated, as was the fact that nothing was left of her arm. Then again, healing it from being split unevenly up the middle was not something viable to begin with. She went to Catarina to talk about the subject. ¡°You offered to help grow back my arm before¡­¡± Chikere said. ¡°Is it still possible?¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°There¡¯s¡­ something that can do it. But I can¡¯t help you directly, not at this point. There¡¯s no memory of your arm to work with.¡± ¡°I remember it,¡± Chikere countered. Catarina shook her head. ¡°Not good enough. With this long, your body and soul have developed to work without it.¡± The swordswoman nodded, ¡°I¡¯d been given the idea to use a phoenix bone poultice, but I don¡¯t think that will work anymore. Maybe a phoenix noodle soup?¡± ¡°If phoenixes were so easy to find, maybe,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But it would require special preparation, not just¡­ chopping it up into a pot.¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know how to do that,¡± Chikere admitted. ¡°Anything beyond slicing something up, I mean.¡± ¡°The other option¡­ I do my best to keep track of valuable materials and unique opportunities, both for myself and others we know,¡± the formation grandmaster began to explain. ¡°What you need is Dubet¡¯s Heart. It only grows in the middle of the Bloodsoaked Nebula, feeding off the death of the previous war.¡± ¡°So I just go¡­ take it?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± Catarina laughed. ¡°Expect resistance. Some will be there, intending to harvest it for their own use or to sell it. And the surroundings are not friendly either. The great quantities of energy in the area grow all sorts of creatures even lacking food sources. They would be quite happy to devour such a thing to improve their healing abilities or recover old wounds.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying¡­ I just have to go snatch one. Do you know if there will actually be any?¡± ¡°I do. I can tell you where it is, even, and how to prepare it for usage.¡± ----- Hoyt met her outside Catarina¡¯s laboratory area, where she spent most of her time. ¡°Good day,¡± Chikere nodded to him. ¡°I presume you aren¡¯t just leaning against the wall for fun?¡± ¡°I heard your conversation.¡± Chikere nodded, ¡°I decided it was time to get my arm back.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a reason she knows about Dubet¡¯s heart,¡± Hoyt said plainly. ¡°And that reason is¡­?¡± Chikere was not great at understanding people, so she¡¯s prefer it said straight out. ¡°She was going to use it for something,¡± Hoyt explained. ¡°For what?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°If she wanted you to know that, she would have told you,¡± Hoyt shook his head. ¡°Maybe I said too much already. I just wanted you to know you should appreciate her doing this for you.¡± ¡°I do,¡± Chikere said. ¡°And I will remind myself to say that clearly upon my return.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going alone?¡± Hoyt asked as she began to walk away. ¡°Should I not? Based on my understanding, getting in and out secretly might be best. And¡­ I don¡¯t plan on traveling in a way others can accomplish. Did you want to come along? I can¡¯t offer anything except my words and the offer to slay your enemies. Though the latter is pretty much always available for my friends regardless.¡± ¡°I will admit you¡¯re probably effective enough alone. Just know that you can ask if you need help.¡± ¡°I do!¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°But here in the upper realms, our only enemies are mutual. The exceptions to that I would usually prefer to fight alone, regardless of the outcome. I think this time, it is best if I attempt it alone. I can flee swiftly, if I need to.¡± Hoyt nodded. Chikere finished walking outside. The zone around the laboratory was quite extensive, but eventually she reached an area where flying was possible- no formations holding her back. She walked up into the air one step at a time until she was floating above Xankeshan. She continued her motions until she was further out of its influence. Then she drew her blade. This, too, was a test. Perhaps it would be better to travel by ship, but being able to move independently was preferred. She raised the sword above her head and swung it down, the entire motion taking more than a full second, many times slower than any normal attack she would make. The tip of the blade dragged and cut through nothing- space itself- opening a seam that she stepped through. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Chikere did not know if she could claim her method to be fast or slow, efficient or inefficient. What it was was a method that suited her. Like when she ascended to the upper realms, she cut open a tunnel in space itself. The difference was that the act of ascension itself seemed to aid the cultivator, making possible an impossible task. Whether it was that the cultivators gained temporary and unfathomable insights or something else, Chikere didn¡¯t know- she only knew it was not so easy to repeat the same thing. Moving through the upper realms with a bit more power and perhaps a bit less swiftly, however, she could manage. She moved forward through a space with only blurred lights of the stars, eventually coming out weeks later¡­ judging by the stars¡­ half the distance she intended to go and a good ten degrees in the wrong direction. Even determining her own position took several hours with special tools- she could not just casually find her position. Otherwise she could have only placed herself in the grand scheme of the Scarlet Midfields due to the flow of energy through the greater galaxy itself, not exactly a precise measure. Though every ten or twenty systems was likely to be occupied, so if she had gotten truly lost she could have flung herself a much shorter distance towards one of them and gotten directions. Her second tunnel was more accurate in direction, but slightly too far. She was only just barely in the strange pervasive miasma of the Bloodsoaked Nebula. She was aiming for a particular part. At the end of her final tunnel, she found herself pulled into real space by the massive gravity of a nearby star- an extremely tiny point that she had not even been able to see. She was not so careless that she would end up inside a star or a planet, but she felt it almost dragging her in, despite it appearing almost as small as more distant stars. How big was it? Certainly measured in simple kilometers instead of hundreds of thousands like was proper for a star. Chikere knew there was some name for those. Neutron stars, perhaps? It was possible for life sustaining planets to appear about them, but this one should not have any typical forms of life. Instead, she was looking for a large ring, a shell of debris that might have once been a planet in the same orbit. Yet according to Catarina, it seemed too uniform to be entirely accidental. ----- It took some time to find her goal, but Chikere found that like many planets, the strange feature drew energy to it, so it was almost as if it signaled its location. As she descended towards it, she could certainly feel something special about parts of it. The ring was thin in both thickness and width- that is to say, it was only a few hundred kilometers on the flat side, and at most a few hundred meters deep, between the inside and outside of the ring. Where it was there at all, of course. There were vast gaps, where whatever it was before had not collapsed into its current shape. In short, Chikere could find her way around while exploring the entire thing¡­ she only needed to walk somewhere around a billion or two kilometers. At a thousand kilometers per day that would take¡­ three years. So she would have to keep up a much faster pace than that. She still had to return, after all. If the place had a proper gravity or atmosphere it would not have been possible. Instead, she more or less flew forward, letting things sweep by and occasionally adjusting herself on the inside of the ring. Most of what she was stone, like a cobblestone road made of asteroids. A few plants existed, forming their ecosystems with bubbles of air and water, growing from the nutrients in the soil and the light of the miniscule sun. And likely a few heaping doses of upper energy. For all that this place clearly did not produce much of its own, this was a powerful location. The other things she passed tended to be some of the few mobile, living inhabitants. Batlike creatures and worms and many other things. She did not slow her speed, so she could not even begin to react to see what they might regard as important things to defend- treasures, food sources, or anything similar. Then there were a few people- generally with ships. Her rapid speed gave them little time but to draw weapons and flare their energy, at which point she had generally already passed them by, her relative motion extreme. Her speed did make her search more efficient, with the downside of not taking in all of the interesting sights¡­ and that when she approached something of value it being very difficult to slow down. The first thing of great worth she felt she couldn¡¯t catch with her eyes- and she nearly turned around as she careened past it, except that she was quite certain it had no relation to the particular bloom she was looking for. Upon thinking about her sense of what she passed, she identified it as a worldheart- or rather, a small fragment of one. There was no chance the complete worldheart would be present in this place after however many centuries it had been in its current state. Even if others were a bit more cautious in their progression, there had to be many who would have found such a great call. That particular shard had simply been sharp, not quite a blade¡­ but not terribly unlike one either. That was why it caught her attention. Chikere reluctantly slowed herself, though she knew it might mean her mission would fail- regardless of the current existence of what she sought. Catarina¡¯s information would be solid, as much as it could be. There certainly should have been at least one Dubet¡¯s Heart growing here, both when the information was gathered and in general. The only issue was that even if there were many, they could take decades or up to a century to bloom- a moment of greatness that lasted a scant few ¡®days¡¯ by standard planetary terms. After that, the building sized flower would shrivel up and leave behind a small bulb, which was the part of the phenomenon known as Dubet¡¯s Heart that was harvested. Chikere didn¡¯t like to think about the various things that might stop her beyond someone trying to kill her. It was possible none were in bloom at this moment. They would not grow away from this location or somewhere quite similar- there were other potential locations in the Bloodsoaked Nebula, but they were less consistent. Then there were the people and beasts. They might harvest the plants, and because of their rarity they wouldn¡¯t necessarily wait until it was through the full cycle. It would not be nearly as potent, of course- but that didn¡¯t mean it couldn¡¯t be pawned off as a fully ripe version. And some would have lesser injuries that did not require restoring a long removed limb to perfect working status. It would require some luck to stumble upon the opportunity- but what Integration cultivator was not lucky? Being born with ¡®talent¡¯ and surviving to use it, learning the right things from the right people or even managing to steal them, growing to this level of power either through Ascension or otherwise. Only a tiny fraction of people could ever achieve that, no matter how much they would support each other or fight against each other along the way. So it was that after a mere three months of traversing her way along the strange ring that might have once been one or a handful of planets that Chikere sensed something. She did not know what Dubet¡¯s Heart would feel like, beyond powerful, but she could certainly feel that. And more than a handful of Integration cultivators and beasts of equivalent strength. No sword cultivators, sadly. Chikere had sailed above them before either side could properly react, and she took some time to slow and reverse her direction. She had to hurry, as she did not want to arrive at the conflict after it concluded. Once someone had something of value well in hand, it was simpler to flee than to chase after them. Slight vibrations could be felt through the barely substantial structure of the ring as she returned, though the little light meant it was hard for her eyes to pick out anything of note until she approached closer. It came to mind that she had missed a combatant- the plant itself. Because of course the continuation of its life was in its interests- or those of its kind, at least. That was what living things liked to do, though Chikere herself had no interest in that specifically. Unless swords counted as life? Probably not. Even the one grown on a tree couldn¡¯t be considered alive at the current moment. Chapter 581 Only upon returning to the site of the battle could Chikere confirm with her own eyes the presence of Dubet¡¯s heart. Petals larger than a man, a mix of electric blue and the red of fresh blood in veins. The smell was the same, the stench of blood and¡­ souls, maybe? Chikere didn¡¯t know if she could smell that. But that was theoretically what this plant thrived on. There was no mistaking it as something else, now that she¡¯d seen it with her own eyes. Chikere¡¯s competition came into vision. A man with a spear, a woman with a large axe. Neither were visibly missing anything of importance. No arms or legs or eyes, at least. Perhaps their damage was internal, or they were simply after Dubet¡¯s heart for mercenary purposes. The third human cultivator was an archer, a young woman. She at first appeared whole. Certainly, the way streaks of light pierced through everywhere Chikere was trying to be indicated her effectiveness. And yet, something wasn''t quite right. Her shots were accurate and quick, powerful. But just a little lacking. Then Chikere saw it- the woman¡¯s left hand was missing two fingers. It made it quite awkward to hold the bow, but that was only a minor issue comparatively. Because had this archer been whole Chikere imagined those fingers would be holding the strings of her bow. How unfortunate for her. Perhaps she should have learned to project bows like Anton- or wield additional physical weapons like Chikere. Though the woman was good enough as she was. Not enough to scare Chikere off with a few dozen shots, however- and the woman couldn¡¯t remain focused on her because of the other trouble. That would be the two other humans, and of course the beasts. A dragon- or at least a flying, clawed serpent. It was somewhere over one hundred meters long, its sinuous body winding over a large area. Then there was a bat of sorts, surrounded by a fog of blood. And most strangely, a tortoise. The latter was slowly plodding towards the flower they all sought, largely ignoring the others around it. Chikere rapidly closed the remaining kilometers of distance. Her ten best blades came with her, one in her left hand and the others floating free. There was no conversation trying to get her to stay away- the archer¡¯s shots hadn¡¯t worked, so the other two wouldn¡¯t bother speaking either. A single chop of the axe seemed as if it were aimed at no one- it would hit directly into the ground next to the woman swinging it, the others too far to be affected. But that was only the blade itself, as a larger projection of the woman wielded a proportionately larger weapon, her energy that of at least mid Integration. As her axe struck the surface of the strange ring formation, it split open in a fissure aimed towards both Chikere and the dragon. No amount of confidence in her own blocking would have Chikere remain in the path of that attack. She had to immediately change her trajectory away from the Dubet¡¯s heart she had been aiming for, avoiding the zone of death. The dragon, on the other hand, was too large to move out of the way- and yet the attack only chopped through a few scales. Chikere¡¯s blades flickered out, seeking any opponent that might have even the slightest opening. Everyone present was a danger to all of the others. The bat in particular gathered the blood from the dragon, swelling with power as its bloody mist expanded. Everything except the tortoise, of course. It had shown no signs of attacking anyone yet as it slowly plodded forward. Chikere had no reason to be polite, gladly taking a swipe at the back of the spearman. His battle senses were sufficient for him to avoid, and not only that counterattack with the reversal of his spear. Though there was no point upon it, Chikere was quite certain it would make a hole straight through her if she was careless. A sidestep and parry adjusted the trajectory enough that she only had a small gouge taken out of her side, the attack continuing on through the full depth of the ring even at an angle. For having nothing to support it, the footing was surprisingly solid. Not that anyone needed solid ground for their movements. The bat was flying around- but its wings were hardly relevant to that, the same with the dragon. Only the barest hint of an atmosphere remained in this strange place. There was no moment to catch a break in the battle, but Chikere enjoyed it that way. If only there was a worthy swordmaster to match her skill against, it would be even better. She cut her way through the cloud of blood around the strange bat, forcing it away from her path as she made her way closer to her ultimate target- the tortoise who had so far ignored the casual attacks placed upon it. Moments later, she was next to it- and only a dozen meters from the goal of the battle. The sword she held in her remaining hand sliced down towards the creature¡¯s bare neck, an attack that allowed no avoidance or resistance. Blade met neck¡­ and the force of her blow vibrated back through her arm, up past her elbow and shoulder into the rest of her body. Chikere¡¯s arm was numb¡­ and the tortoise seemed oblivious to her attack. She was glad her sword had not shattered upon impact. Furious that she had failed to cut something. Confused at how that was possible, with what felt like only the upper energy a proper Integration cultivator would wield, not even focused on a single point. An arrow pierced through her thigh. That was her penalty for her moment of weakness. Chikere slashed out as a counter, her blade crossing the space towards her opponent in line with the woman¡¯s neck. Her attack wasn¡¯t focused on the archer, however, but the string of her bow. Of course, a woman of that caliber would not so easily let her weapon be rendered useless, her steps instantly bringing her to another part of the battlefield. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. With one of Chikere¡¯s legs half-dead, the dragon thought it was a good time to take advantage of her weakness. This would be the time where having companions would have saved Chikere. But if she could not save herself, she wouldn¡¯t have reached her current position. This was not her time to die. That was not some sort of divination or even hunch- that was simply what she decided. If she was going to die, someone better be killing her with an incomprehensible sword move. Her dancing array of swords shifted, following the point of Sadiq¡¯s first blade. She thrust towards the open jaws set on chomping her in half, a single larger blade forming from the synchronous attacks of the weapons around her. Jaws snapped closed, but Chikere leapt past the teeth. The rear of the dragon¡¯s head exploded outward, and Chikere stood tall inside the creature¡¯s mouth. Good. It was not her blade that had dulled, merely that the tortoise was something incomprehensible. When she leapt out of the creature that had just tried to eat her, she focused on the tortoise¡­ and how it had just taken a large bite out of the Dubet¡¯s Heart. ¡°That¡¯s not how you¡¯re supposed to do it!¡± Chikere yelled. ¡°We need to stop this thing!¡± The cultivators around her didn¡¯t agree- but neither did they disagree. Arrows that seemed to simultaneously occupy everywhere along their trajectory struck the creature in the hind legs. A spear aimed directly for the tortoise¡¯s eyes. The great axe crashed down on the creature¡¯s shell. Even the bat moved forward to bite one of the front legs. The tortoise took another bite, somehow swallowing a larger chunk of the flower than would fit in its mouth. Chikere thought it looked quite pleased as it munched on its treat. Nobody so much as scratched it. That was the point at which Chikere swore to herself she would someday find this creature again and cut it. No, that was not enough. She would cut it, and someday she would be powerful enough to cleave it in two. The tortoise finished its meal and began to plod away. The cultivators and even the beastly bat looked at each other stunned. Then Chikere remembered the thing she was actually there for- at the same time as the others, it seemed. The flower itself was impressive, powerful. But not the core of the Dubet¡¯s Heart. Instead, that was the bulb that grew in the rock below. A sudden flurry of attacks tore apart the ring section around the fighting group. Four cultivators and one beast stood face to face- even the archer. The surroundings of the bulb were instantly destroyed, but fortunately the Dubet¡¯s Heart itself was more durable than that. Everyone aimed to snatch it, but Chikere was the only one willing to completely take her hand off her weapon and stretch her arm into the zone of death. Axe, spear, and arrows all competed to be what tore apart her arm, while blood was tugged out of the open wound in her side by the bat. But with a combination of lacking teamwork and Chikere¡¯s own blades, two of which were sacrificed and shattered to pieces, her fingers grasped the prize. Then she stepped forward, her blades cutting open a seam in space for a single instant. She stepped out on another part of the ring. She was quite glad that had worked, because if it hadn¡¯t she was going to be sliced to ribbons and full of holes. But she had been confident enough to do it. Chikere plugged up the holes in her thigh and side. The bulb of Dubet¡¯s Heart went into a special storage container where it would best be preserved until she could bring it back. She contemplated trying to find another. Catarina wanted one for something, after all. However, she had to judge herself properly. There was no way she was going to survive another battle like that. She¡¯d grow stronger from that battle, but she needed time to rest and rejuvenate. Having two arms would also help. Now it was time to leave properly before the remaining individual from that battle figured out where she had gone and came to seek revenge. Or worse, that tortoise realized she had the last bit of its snack. ----- Medicine was miraculous. Chikere had watched as a brownish bloody lump of a bulb had been transformed into both powder and liquid. Xankeshan had medical formations, set up by Catarina of course, and guided by seasoned alchemists. The price of their work was easily covered with Chikere¡¯s wealth- certainly less than the value of her arm. What remained was a small bead, the size of a single drop of water. It was translucent, swirling red and blue. Chikere held it up to the light, watching how it shone through. ¡°So this is it, huh? This can grow back my arm? Or fix basically anything?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°It is an extremely valuable medicine that even the saints of the Harmonious Citadel would not easily lay their hands on.¡± ¡°Amazing,¡± Chikere said honestly. ¡°I can feel the power.¡± Outside of sword combat she completely lacked subtlety, but she did her best. ¡°What did you need it for anyway?¡± ¡°Oh, I¡­ something like that is always valuable,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Nothing that would be more important than restoring you arm.¡± ¡°I see. Oh, Timothy!¡± Chikere waved her arm. Catarina turned around, even though she couldn¡¯t feel her husband¡¯s energy. Or perhaps because she couldn¡¯t. Chikere¡¯s movements brought her next to Catarina in an instant, causing the other woman to snap her head back in surprise, her mouth hanging open slightly. The fingers Chikere was holding the bead of medicine with stabbed towards Catarina, tossing it into the opening. Catarina stumbled backwards, swallowing in surprise as she fell onto her rear. She coughed several times, looking up at Chikere. ¡°What did you- you need the full potency of the-¡± Before Catarina could even think about pulling the medicine out of her stomach, Chikere had a sword to her throat. ¡°Just digest it.¡± ¡°... This was for you.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t look it up for me. You wanted it. For yourself, otherwise you would have told me who it was for. Any of our friends, your husband. You would have made it quite clear. So the only option left was you.¡± Chikere stood there with her sword out, then frowned, ¡°Right? I¡¯m not that good at social deduction.¡± ¡°... I did want it,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°Good, now that that¡¯s settled,¡± Chikere sheathed her blade. ¡°I have to get going. There¡¯s a war to fight in the lower realms, and I need to see if I can get a cool sword out of it.¡± Chapter 582 The techniques Chikere had available to her to reach the lower realms didn¡¯t involve swinging a sword in any way. However, she was also supposed to wait for the flow of the tides of the world to reach its very peak and basically just pull her along. That would be great if she wanted to arrive with the others, but she had the feeling that the Trigold Cluster wouldn¡¯t want her along for the ride. She also didn¡¯t want to arrive late. So from the edge of the system on the border of the lower realms she accelerated forward, surging towards a particular tide that should bring her where she wanted. Then she added a bit of her own flare, slicing through a portion of space to properly cross the border. She was swept up in the flow, upper energy leeching out of her. She could have tried to hold onto every drop of that, but instead she chose to let it go, while at the same time drawing in the lower energy to replace it. The process wasn¡¯t quick- neither travel nor replacing her energy. Both sped up as she reached further into the lower realms, such that after a week she was almost entirely filled with lower energy. Or natural energy, as she was used to calling it. It wasn¡¯t clear if the energy in the upper realms was any more or less natural, but it was certainly different. If Chikere had wanted to divert her course, even if she were willing to expend all of her energy she was unsure if she could. The partial techniques put together didn¡¯t give any explanation on how one would wind up in a different flow, so she just let it carry her along. It seemed there was no particular problem with diving in early. She was being pulled along swiftly and there were no problems until teeth tried to bite her in half. They didn¡¯t come from anywhere, they were just not there, and then present. Each tooth was like a spear, a full cube of them chomping in on her, the teeth passing through each other as they closed the space around her. Chikere had never bothered to sheathe her weapon after departing on her journey- holding it was comforting. She half drew most of her others by the time she counterattacked with a sweeping strike, her blow not hitting just one side of her but all of them, the pattern replicating itself to each side of the teeth-cube. Recognizing danger, the teeth pulled back, disappearing. Chikere wasn¡¯t sure if she injured the creature. So to make completely certain, she finished her motions of drawing every blade. The field of blades around her combined their potential into a single slash, cutting apart space to strike at things beyond. An ocean of black ichor leaked from beyond space, flowing along with Chikere along her path. The creature likely wasn¡¯t dead, but at least it was injured. And she was fairly certain it wasn¡¯t following her. She didn¡¯t let her guard down, though. The black ichor floated towards her, attracted to the only source of anything within the tides. Cutting liquids was easier than cutting space, so she chopped into the goop, killing its momentum and preventing it from coming along with her. She didn¡¯t want to know what would happen if that stuff touched her. Further weeks passed. Overall, it seemed that moving ahead hadn¡¯t been too dangerous. A single attack by a void beast? She was honestly expecting worse. Though perhaps the smell of it on her blades warded away the others. ----- Having transcended an entire stage since the previous time, Anton was able to feel some of the more complex subtleties of the tides of the world. There was one current that passed through several systems, specifically curving around Ceretos, through Weos and to the Sylanis Cluster. A winding route, but it at least touched upon all those places. Not that they thought it would be any different. News from the upper realms indicated each of the different outposts on Tatera had been gearing up to attack a different location, and though the names for the systems didn¡¯t match, other details did. It did seem that Rutera was outside of the path of the current, though not much. It wasn¡¯t clear how difficult it would be to discern their existence and pick them as a target. Hopefully the Sylanis Cluster would be the third target. It would be interesting to see how each of those systems fared. And if the Trigold Cluster was foolish enough to split their armies between them. It wouldn¡¯t matter how many forces they brought if they had to face the still nearly one hundred Worldbinding cultivators there. And even if they focused on one system, it would only take a matter of a week or two for reinforcements to arrive from the other. Anton kept at least some portion of his attention on the skies for anomalies at all times, so when he sensed something he was ready to act. Though he was quite surprised at what he felt. He flew up above the atmosphere, trying to get closer to what he was sensing. A source of power was hurtling towards Ceretos at a great speed. That was fine- they were prepared, after all. They had ships in the skies if necessary, and great barriers over the continents that would devastate anyone who crashed into them. Which was perfectly fine if they wanted everyone to be torn to shreds. ¡°Eulogius!¡± Anton just barely managed to shout the proper name as he stretched his energy towards the man to shout at him. ¡°Soften the blow for that one!¡± Anton had heard that Chikere was coming. He just hadn¡¯t heard that she was coming months ahead of the rest. It did see that ¡®scholar Eulogius¡¯ heard Anton, because the barrier didn¡¯t counterattack as Chikere fell into the atmosphere. She hit it and bounced several times, Anton striving to keep up with her position where she ultimately landed above Facraona. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Everything is fine!¡± Anton called down to those below. ¡°Just an ally arriving a bit earlier than projected!¡± He caught Chikere as she was slipping down the slightly curved barrier towards the ocean. ¡°What are you doing here already? Why didn¡¯t you send a message?¡± ¡°I did!¡± Chikere countered. ¡°Also hello again, Anton.¡± ¡°Yes. Hello. When did you send the message.¡± ¡°Just before I left!¡± Anton felt a slight pulse on his belt. He pulled out a communication device, getting the message, ¡®Coming early¡¯. ¡°... For that to be useful your message has to arrive ahead of you.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Chikere frowned. ¡°... Aren¡¯t messages faster?¡± ¡°Through a massive phenomenon that reshapes the flow of energy between the upper and lower realms? One could presume there are some difficulties there.¡± He took note of Chikere¡¯s missing arm. ¡°I heard you were going to regenerate that. It doesn¡¯t feel like it¡¯s growing back. Did something go wrong?¡± ¡°Nope!¡± Chikere said. ¡°Catarina needed it for something so I made her eat it.¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Strange. I hadn¡¯t heard about her sustaining any injuries.¡± Chikere shrugged, ¡°Me neither, but she was looking for it before I even asked about the thing.¡± A powerful presence approached. ¡°So this is the swordmaster Chikere,¡± Scholar Eulogius smiled. ¡°Good to meet you. I¡¯ll adjust the barrier to allow you. It seemed wise to blanketly prevent anyone above Life Transformation we did not vet.¡± ¡°Yes this is here,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Scholar Eulogius, this is Chikere, swordmaster of¡­ oh, I don¡¯t know quite what title would be appropriate. Chikere, this is-¡± ¡°Everheart,¡± Chikere said, suddenly drawing her blades, dozens of them instantly floating around her. They all angled towards him. ¡°No this is-¡± Anton tried to salvage the situation, but he should have known better given those involved. ¡°You know me and dare to draw a blade against me?¡± Everheart suddenly had a spear in hand, pointed back towards Chikere. Anton did his best to conceal the situation from those below, covering up the ripples of energy. ¡°Can we please just-¡± ¡°Uuuuugh,¡± Chikere¡¯s jaw hung slack. ¡°Really? A spear? Didn¡¯t you steal like, a trillion sword techniques? Use a sword or it won¡¯t be any fun, old man!¡± The barrier cracked as Everheart exploded with anger. ¡°Old, am I? Fine, I¡¯ll show you how to use a sword, brat!¡± Though he said that, his first move was to toss the spear at Chikere. It pierced through the air behind her, scraping over the continental barrier to end up in the ocean, stabbing into the ocean floor below. Then Everheart drew two long, curved blades. Then he drew more, and even more, as he split apart into a dozen projections. ¡°Don¡¯t blame me for this, I¡¯m just trying to match the number of blades.¡± Anton just backed up and sighed. Obviously nothing he said would help. He did make sure his bow was readied just in case he could actually do something helpful. It didn¡¯t even take a moment for space itself to begin to strain as hundreds of sword moves began to cross each other. Some movement on Anton¡¯s shoulder reminded him of the presence of the Great Queen. He saw her sign something. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think you need to interfere¡­ yet. Chikere wants this, and I¡¯d really like to have Everheart alive for the war. I can¡¯t imagine him stopping from a small wound, or you surviving if you didn¡¯t directly go for the big moves.¡± The Great Queen nodded. She could still be cut apart or crushed- it was simply that the great power of cultivators, their natural energy, would be only minimally effective. Anton did his best to transmit messages to everyone who would be concerned about this sudden outbreak of battle. He could at least try to keep things calm. And he was fortunate the two were edging out over the ocean, either on purpose or by coincidence. Chikere didn¡¯t seem concerned about the dozens of blades, matching each with her own- parrying and counterattacking as she saw fit. Surprisingly, neither side had gotten any wounds in the exchange. Even more surprising was that Everheart was sticking to sword techniques. He wasn¡¯t the sort to actually focus on one thing, and adaptability was his greatest strength. Perhaps that was why Chikere was still alive. Anton also had to readjust his understanding of Everheart¡¯s power. Either he was fully recovered from his injuries instead of mostly recovered, or he was a step stronger than Anton anticipated. ¡°Ten Thousand Sword Stances. Basic, but good,¡± Everheart said as they exchanged blows. ¡°And do I detect the style of the Million Sword Vault?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Chikere said as she thrust with her single sword, intent on piercing through his heart. Only a particularly excessive use of Star Steps that instantly changed his motion saved Everheart from some sort of wound there. ¡°I sense Swords of Heaven and Earth, the Harmonious Citadel, and something else. What is that?¡± ¡°I imagine you¡¯re talking about Flickering Moonlight. Impressive, isn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Except-¡± at the same time, each and every one of Everheart¡¯s projections was pierced through the heart, one of the two swords Chikere was matching each of them with slipping past their movements. She used the same move against Everheart, her blade scratching his cheek. Then she looked down at her chest, where a blade had slipped between her ribs and pierced her heart. ¡°Oh.¡± She managed to speak that single syllable. ¡°A feint.¡± Then she fell backwards, Everheart not following up his move- though that blow was sufficient to kill most people. However, it was a clean cut, his energy not exploding out to tear her apart from the inside. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Everheart said, ¡°I don¡¯t intend to cut off the geniuses of the younger generation.¡± Anton, with his bow drawn fully back carrying the maximum amount of stolen Ascension energy he could maintain, just looked at him. Then Everheart was blasted into space by an entire lake¡¯s worth of water as Paradise interjected his own thoughts on the matter. Anton sighed and moved to catch Chikere, doing his best to keep her blood inside her body as he rushed to the nearest teleportation station, so he could get to Aicenith and take her to the Million Sword Vault. They would be the best equipped to fix the nearly bisected heart, at least of those he was familiar with. He couldn¡¯t say things had gone too far- not by Chikere¡¯s standards at least- but it sure felt like it. Anton could only hope these two combatants would be as eager to battle the invaders. Chapter 583 It was a good thing that Chikere was young, otherwise even with a clean wound and good treatment it would have taken her more than a few months to recover. Any advantage she got from her early arrival was negated by the foolish battle she got into with Everheart. And the fact that she knew it was him, though Anton was more concerned about her revealing it by accident rather than out of some form of grudge. Regardless of the circumstances, Elder Vasu seemed quite pleased to see Chikere again. ¡°She¡¯s an inspiring figure to many of us,¡± he explained to Anton. ¡°And it will do those from the last century some good to see that she is not an exaggeration.¡± Chikere¡¯s eyes fluttered open, ¡°Are we talking about my sparring with people.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t stand up,¡± Anton said. ¡°You have to at least wait until it¡¯s safe to walk around.¡± ¡°Tch.¡± Chikere rolled her eyes and folded her ¡®arms¡¯ across her chest, though with only one it was a strange gesture. ¡°Who did you fight that could do this to you?¡± Vasu asked. ¡°It was-¡± ¡°Scholar Eulogius,¡± Anton cut her off. ¡°He has quite a variety of techniques under his belt.¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought much of him,¡± Vasu said. ¡°He doesn¡¯t give off the aura of a swordmaster. Perhaps I should change my opinion. I suppose I could-¡± ¡°No fighting until the war¡¯s over!¡± Anton declared. ¡°Just¡­ wait a few more months, alright? And the faster you win the war, the faster you can go back to nearly getting yourselves killed.¡± Truthfully speaking, it was these sorts that were the least of his troubles. They were itching for growth through exertion, and while that often led to violence that didn¡¯t become their only way of life. Everyone else he hoped would behave until the invasion. They should- at least most of the leadership was reasonable. The best cultivators were those left over from the previous invasion, which meant any upstarts had big ideas, they couldn¡¯t be in Assimilation just yet. After the war, hopefully anyone with big ideas would focus them externally instead of aiming for any sort of internal conflict. ----- The flow of the tides changed, in Anton¡¯s estimation, from a river flowing wildly to one carrying an incoming warship. Minus the actual ship, as far as he was aware. Previously they hadn¡¯t seen any, and their spying didn¡¯t indicate intent to construct any that could function entirely in the lower realms. If they did have any, Anton expected Ceretos to be better in that regard, having learned from both Weos and Rutera. As expected, there were two Augmentation cultivators among them, one that Anton recognized. Having advanced from Integration to Augmentation in the previous invasion, she had felt unbeatable. Though having just advanced, she had not been willing to lead an attack against the armies gathered around her. Now she was more established in the Augmentation stage¡­ and Anton wasn¡¯t that impressed. But he knew that for someone like her, even if he could defeat her in single combat it wouldn¡¯t be a fair judgment. Which was exactly why he wanted to find the opportunity. Unfortunately, she carried a large portion of the incoming forces with her. There simply weren¡¯t many of Ceretos¡¯ Assimilation cultivators who could rally against her, and they couldn¡¯t afford to just abandon the continent and hope they stopped people. That was why they had huge, expensive defensive formations to begin with. ----- It was not Anton¡¯s responsibility to deal with the second group, headed for Aicenith¡­ but his first shot went to that bundle of cultivators regardless. Things were already on a course where the enemy could not choose to withdraw, the tides of the world moving in only one direction until at least months if not a full year or more down the road when they would begin to reverse. Likewise, he didn¡¯t expect anyone to push the boundaries of his maximum range ever again, so it didn¡¯t matter if they learned it. He didn¡¯t have to attack Juta, and might have been served better trying to pick off someone under Fajra, but the less familiar Augmentation cultivator was still mostly a mystery. He had to see what the Fearsome Menagerie could do. His attack came near the limits of his range, but he restrained himself slightly on speed. The approaching cultivators were already somewhat on guard, in anticipation of impacting the atmosphere if nothing else. Thus, he needed a bit more in the way of power instead of trying for a surprise. Though they might encounter surprises later, if they got careless. For this matter, it seemed entirely appropriate to use some of his pilfered ascension energy, as that was not only stronger but could also throw off their balance. Chikere mentioned how difficult it was to re-adapt to natural energy, and she was from Ceretos. Juta may or may not have been in the lower realms before, but she had certainly not been to Ceretos. Anton flew with his arrow, out into space and rushing against the current of the tides- a strong force, but only due to how it crossed such a significant span of the galaxy. It did little to slow his assault. A thin point of energy flew towards his target, who would no doubt have sensed it coming already. It did take over a second to arrive, since this particular one was traveling below light speed and they were still approximately the distance of Ceretos¡¯ moon. In that time, Anton saw a transformation from a relatively peaceful and calm woman into a giant lizard, a great roar shaking him as the arrow. The creature¡¯s claws covered a sufficient area he could not go around them as he approached- and he was interested in testing a head on collision regardless. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it That was one his arrow lost, but if he¡¯d won that exchange then he wouldn¡¯t need the rest of Ceretos behind him. His arrow turned into specks of light, but he was quite certain he¡¯d made a small scratch in the scales of that palm. And learned that Juta was capable of overreactions. Both useful pieces of data. Then he focused his efforts on Fajra¡¯s group. It was a simple barrage of shots, but it would never end. Shooting at only the rate he could replenish energy from the connected star seemed like a minor assault, and it was¡­ except that the biggest weakness of the invaders was that they could not recover ascension energy. Even if they fully converted to use natural energy they would be weaker, so while Fajra blocked his arrows purely with her aura¡­ Anton didn¡¯t care. There was a reasonable time of that before the groups fully dropped out of the tides, splitting towards the two continents. Anton had Brogora to worry about first, and would wait to assist Aicenith until Brogora was completely handled or they specifically called for aid. Anton sensed something from the northwest- though only after the attack was launched. He was standing outside the atmosphere, his senses focused mainly on the approaching invaders- not their own stations. An arrow flew towards Fajra, though calling it an arrow was almost an insult. Anton gained nothing by increasing the size of his shots, unless he was incapable of further condensing the energy- but the other archer above Ambari had different restrictions. The hunk of metal was thicker and longer than a spear, sized as it was because that was required to get the mass and volume for optimal power and enchantments. That was, of course, Nthanda- and the unexpected all out attack almost won the war right then and there. It tore through space, covering the distance between Nthanda and her target in an instant. Because the attack was more kinetic energy from Nthanda¡¯s tempered body and bow than natural energy, it hadn¡¯t been telegraphed. Even so, one of the crowd of invaders managed to react in time, throwing himself in front of the arrow. A burst of heavy energy exploded from the man as the arrow struck him- and passed through him- but he slowed the attack enough for Fajra to focus her defenses, raising her hand to block the incoming projectile. Something broke there- Anton hoped it was more than just her wrist snapping, hopefully a crippling injury, but unfortunately she was not dead. And Nthanda didn¡¯t have arrows that powerful just sitting around all the time. If Anton was not wrong, it came with some void ant chitin interlaced into its structure, but there was only so much energy even such material could resist. Though Nthanda had killed a cultivator of the same ¡®stage¡¯ in a single blow and nearly taken out one of the biggest threats. If there were only a single Augmentation cultivator among their enemies, Anton imagined the battle would be over immediately. As the enemies were still rapidly approaching, and Fajra sadly not dead, Anton dropped into the atmosphere instead of continuing to fly above the planet. No point in exposing himself when they had perfectly good formations in place. Instead of splitting up, Fajra impacted the barrier with the whole army she had- which meant dozens of Integration cultivators as well. They landed vaguely over Estary, the same place they had successfully invaded last time. Their combined might strained the barrier as they began to attack, Fajra¡¯s aura pushing against it¡­ but it also let the barrier reinforce a single point. Anton was surprised at how quickly a continent had turned into a ¡®small¡¯ area from his perspective. Along with himself and Nthanda, who had no trouble making shots from hundreds of kilometers inside of atmosphere, the area was also close enough for many others to move in to fight. Elder Tola of Infinite Wisdom Forest was in her element, but even Lev, Anish, and Annelie from Ofrug to the southeast would be able to join the battle soon enough. As for Everheart¡­ Anton felt the way the barrier was reacting, more intentionally that it might have otherwise. Clearly he was making contributions in his own way, which might be for the best. Attacking through the barrier had some loss of efficiency, so Anton instead remained just atop it, assaulting the group from afar. He specifically aimed for what looked like some formation masters throwing out flags to try to break through the formation. He wasn¡¯t allowed to just strike them easily, Fajra¡¯s aura hindering him and empowering her followers to block. Now that she was no longer protecting them from their travel and fall, she was more effective in that regard. In addition, her aura seeped through the barrier, incapacitating many of those below who would be contributing. Much of Infinite Wisdom Forest, Tranquil Cloud Palace, and others from Estary were obviously keen to contribute to their own defense. However, many of them were unable to act because of the aura- either because it was too overpowering or because they were protecting their weaker allies. The power of such an aura could easily kill people below Spirit Building if left unchecked. But Ceretos wasn¡¯t a planet where just a few people cultivated. Beyond the sects and clans, the cities themselves were forces to be reckoned with. Even if the individuals there were weaker, they could combine their power into siege weapons. The barrier lowered the power of those as well- as selective as Everheart could make it, nothing could pass through freely without some disruption. A hole opened up in the barrier, and Anton clenched his teeth. Once they were inside, they could wreak havoc¡­ even if he was quite confident they couldn¡¯t win a war. People began to drop through the barrier around the formation masters. Then the barrier snapped closed, including crushing those partway through. That didn¡¯t even require active flow, that was just how it worked. Anton smirked. Of course people couldn¡¯t break through Everheart¡¯s barrier in just a handful of minutes. But, at the same time, he felt something break. Far to the north, where none of the invaders were present, the barrier weakened. Clearly Fajra and her army noticed, and as if they had been waiting for that moment they were swept up in a great wind, moving together in that direction. What was it? Who was it? Anton¡¯s senses spiked in that direction. Internal traitors? Were there more than just the Twin Soul Sect? When his senses locked on to the area, he realized that was only half right. They were definitely traitors, but note quite internal. The Exalted Archipelago. Even the Soaring Air Sect, which he had graciously allowed to continue existing. So, they were working with the Trigold Cluster. That might actually be the only thing to tip the balance, with their Assimilation cultivators. Except¡­ Anton didn¡¯t sense any he would consider friends or allies among them. Perhaps Treloar and the Worthy Shore Society were traitors, but none were present. Though if Treloar was working with them, he had to know Anton would have shot him first. For the moment, he¡¯d have to remain cautious of his ¡®allies¡¯ there¡­ and begin pruning those who thought it was a good idea to come to his continent. Because while Anton didn¡¯t believe he could take on the whole enemy army alone, he could pester them continually for at least a week. Two, if he was willing to push himself. Chapter 584 The tactics for the assault upon Aicenith were somewhat different from the assault on Brogora- but they still involved the assistance of some from the Exalted Archipelago. Instead of audaciously crashing into the barrier above the continent, the groups led by Juta instead focused on the coasts, intermixing their attacks with the Archipelago forces and hitting multiple pillars that provided the backbone for the continental formations. It was clear that someone had informed those from the upper realms about the locations ahead of time. The western coast had Marvelous Rabbit Mountain and the Rising Waterfall Sect, among others. The Rising Waterfall Sect¡¯s position on Redfin Reef had allowed them to provide advance warning of incoming ships from the Exalted Archipelago- and to flank those same ships when they chose to bypass the area instead of taking them out first. That was good for them, as they would not have survived a direct assault even with some of their members dipping their toes in the Assimilation stage. ¡°These vessels now appear rather¡­ quaint,¡± Elder Paula of Marvelous Rabbit Mountain commented to the others with her. ¡°It¡¯s surprising how slow they have been to adopt flying vessels, considering one among their number had them previously.¡± The Soaring Air Sect still existed¡­ but their involvement in the war had come with steep penalties for their survival. They hadn¡¯t fully recovered, even after a hundred and fifty years. The sects of the Exalted Archipelago didn¡¯t have much in the way of natural resources they weren¡¯t already making use of to the maximum, their growth coming over thousands of years. Perhaps they had recovered and even grown in power slightly, but it was nothing compared to the continents and their Assimilation cultivators. Though it did seem more sects of the Exalted Archipelago had produced Assimilation cultivators than had made that information public. Perhaps they should have been monitored more closely. But it was too late for that now. They would just have to deal with how things had ended up. So Paula focused on her legs, springing forward out over the harbor. Instead of picking an individual target, she aimed for a ship, foot rising from low to high and blasting it into the sky- towards the descending invaders. Though she supposed she could consider both groups invaders now. In a way, at least part of the Exalted Archipelago had always been, even if they weren¡¯t active. ----- The north coast. That was the location the Whispering Watchers, comprised mainly of Twin Soul Sect members, had previously occupied. Now, the Silver Rhino Legion had moved into the area, and Elder Sudheer had been instrumental in securing the location. Jura herself was involved in this particular attack, charging over the seas at the barriers in the guise of a great bull. She¡¯d already broken through in multiple places before Sudheer had managed to arrive on the scene, where he came upon a half destroyed harbor. The balance of cultivators was not as much in the favor of the locals as much as could be hoped- none being quite certain where the attacks would come, cities and sects had been defending their own. They would join up, of course, but instead of the defensive formations giving local cultivators a significant advantage, they were only doing well enough to make up for the enemy¡¯s strength. Besides Sudheer, there were several other Assimilation cultivators. Not all of them were in optimal locations to battle, but anywhere upon Ceretos was sufficient to overpower an Integration cultivator. Unfortunately, there were slightly more of those¡­ and Jura herself, one of the enemy¡¯s two Augmentation cultivators. As Sudheer watched, Jura toppled a tower. Then there was nothing between them but a mostly unoccupied main road. Their eyes met- one a towering, twenty meter tall bull with flaming eyes and golden horns. The other a tenth the height, encased in gleaming silver armor but no less confident in his own strength. Sudheer lowered his head, not in deference but in preparation. His body covered in its spiked armor dug into the paving stones for greater traction, more than just what spreading his energy wide along the ground could provide. Perhaps charging headlong into a cultivator of a higher stage than himself while the other clearly did not mind that method of combat was a mistake, but it was his mistake to make. Someone had to stop Jura, and they simply didn¡¯t have the forces to match her with multiple combatants. He could have waited for reinforcements, both humans and the nearest void ant colony were en route. But by the time they arrived, this nice city would be flattened, and the enemy would have a permanent hole in the barrier to stage further attacks from. So Elder Sudheer charged, his spike-covered armor cutting through the wind as the ground shattered under the feet of himself and his charging opponent. His armor was overloaded with impossible enchantments, now as much a part of himself as anything else as the basis of his Assimilation. Elder Sudheer leapt between the golden horns to impact head to head, the point of their impact became the epicenter of leveled buildings as shockwaves met. Metal warped and bones cracked as the impact overwhelmed the structure of Sudheer¡¯s armor, then one of the combatants was sent flying backwards. But it was not, as one might expect, the figure that was two meters tall. Jura¡¯s transformation broke as she was sent flying backwards, flying out over the sea. Sudheer, meanwhile, fell straight down into the city streets. Blood pooled around him, most of it his own, but he could not help but grin widely. He slowly pulled himself to his feet, everything blurry through the worst concussion he had ever had. It was a shame, really. He¡¯d intended to pierce through Jura rather than knocking her backwards, but what could he expect? It didn¡¯t matter that the woman wasn¡¯t able to make full use of her energy if she was a stage ahead of him. But¡­ he cracked his neck, popping as many bits of bone back into place as he could. He wasn¡¯t dead. And it would take her a few minutes or a great amount of effort and half that time to return. Long enough for reinforcements, perhaps. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. When beams of energy began to rain from the sky, Sudheer was shocked and confused- until he remembered. Sure, he¡¯d traveled to other systems on ships meant for space travel, more than a couple times, but it still felt fake to him. Maybe another century and he would be used to it. Funny, though, how the first reinforcements to show up had probably been the furthest away by sheer distance. ----- The evening sun reflected off of the blade in Chikere¡¯s hand, and she couldn¡¯t help but comment on it. ¡°This one is honestly not great,¡± she sighed. ¡°Hopefully it will be more usable later.¡± The individual who thought he owned that sword seemed to take exception to Chikere¡¯s comment, lunging towards her. He actually managed to slip past the barrier of blades to reach for ¡®his¡¯ weapon. Of course, that was what she wanted, as the blade that seemed carelessly held had its point redirected into his heart. But instead of the relatively light wound Everheart had left on her, her energy spread out and tore everything apart while pulling out any convenient blood. That was much less recoverable, and the man fruitlessly clutched at his sword for a moment before his body shut down. The Million Sword Vault was covering the southeastern part of Aicenith, but word was that further to the north the invading forces were performing better. It was a shame, really, that the Exalted Archipelago was making this harder than it had to be. Then again, Chikere didn¡¯t mind some extra battle. ----- Fajra¡¯s attack on Brogora had been swift and an excellent distraction for their true purpose, but Anton thought they likely underestimated how strong the barriers were. They had likely intended their initial descent to actually break through in addition to the attack at the north of the continent taking out some components. That failure was totally understandable, because they didn¡¯t know Everheart was back. Or if they did¡­ their invasion force was totally undermanned. If they weren¡¯t concerned about things like Ceretos itself surviving the battle, Everheart could have probably taken out the entire army with a single formation. Or perhaps that was untrue and simply a false impression of power Everheart cultivated to throw people off. But Anton knew better than to underestimate him. ¡°How many of their formation masters did you get?¡± Anton asked. ¡°None,¡± Everheart said. ¡°... Are you sure? I thought I saw at least a few get crushed by the barrier when they thought they¡¯d broken through.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Everheart nodded, ¡°Those guys? Yeah, I got four. But they weren¡¯t masters.¡± ¡°I do believe they were by the standards of a lower realm. Not grandmasters, certainly, but still¡­¡± ¡°I disagree. People who need to work in groups are not masters,¡± Everheart held his head high. ¡°Now, what do you plan to do next? They all scarpered off on their ships.¡± ¡°Nthanda and I made that as costly for them as possible. As for our response¡­ I plan to call for the fleets to be readied. We¡¯ll leave a defensive force behind, of course, but we need to deal with the Exalted Archipelago for good.¡± The Great Queen added her own words to the mix, signing next to Anton. ¡°The void ants resolved ourselves to only get involved in battles against foreign invaders. However, the Exalted Archipelago has chosen to add themselves to that category. We will fight with you against them and those they have chosen to join with.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Anton said. He¡¯d known she would personally support him, but not having to limit how the void ants could affect things would be very helpful. ¡°That will be quite useful. It¡¯s unfortunate that we will have to contend against the Exalted Archipelago¡¯s Assimilation cultivators, though. They¡¯ve clearly been hiding things¡­ planning this for some time.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you should never trust anyone. Wipe out your enemies to the last, that¡¯s what I say.¡± ¡°You can say that, but¡­ you didn¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°Only when I don¡¯t have the power,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°I have to admit that I cannot yet match the great powers all on my own.¡± ¡°Perhaps I made a mistake,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But I respect at least the lives of my allies. It would have been too costly at one point, and then we were at peace. I don¡¯t think it was wrong.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s your live, kid,¡± Everheart shrugged. ----- Ships meant to travel both the stars and the seas gathered on and above the oceans north of Brogora, angling west towards the Exalted Archipelago. Their first goal was conveniently on the border of the region. Anton stood at the prow of the leading ship, looking down on the Worthy Shore Society. They had not been seen to be part of any attacks¡­ but neither had they helped or sent warning. All that Anton received was an apology after the fact, that they were unaware of what was happening. And in any other circumstance, that would have been sufficient. But not this time. As they approached, Anton moved slightly ahead of the fleet, the flying ships cruising around the area in a wide circle while the others anchored. There was no way they had not been noticed coming- scouts of all sorts would have seen them, and there was little subtle about their movements. To his credit, Sect Head Treloar stepped out from the sect¡¯s barrier formations to speak to Anton- if not terribly far from them. ¡°I will repeat what I said in my message. We had no knowledge of the attacks¡­ though I will admit that in retrospect, our limited communications with the upper realms seem to have been probing for our willingness to go along with such a thing. Clearly they understood that we would not. We have no intention to interfere.¡± ¡°I believe you,¡± Anton said. Coming here, seeing the man he called a friend in person, he could sense fear, uncertainty, but no dishonesty. He even admitted his failing in noticing the potential signs. ¡°But remaining neutral here is not good enough. If I trust you now, will others? What about in five or ten decades?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°We will need more than neutrality. Join us against those who attacked us.¡± Treloar contemplated in silence for a time. ¡°The other option is be destroyed, I presume?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re stupid enough to take that one,¡± Anton said. ¡°So no. The alternative for you would be leaving Ceretos entirely. I doubt that would be any better for your relation with your sect in the upper realms, of course¡­ but if you won¡¯t fight with us the option is still there.¡± ¡°There¡¯s very little choice, really,¡± Treloar shook his head. ¡°I hope this doesn¡¯t reflect poorly on Gelens, but it seems they have chosen to exclude us already. We will join you. Though I appreciate the alternative option.¡± Anton had been fairly certain about what the man would choose¡­ though still nervous. There were others he was less clear on. The Hardened Crown Sect could go either way, depending on where their stubbornness landed them. But with the inclusion of the Worthy Shore Society, they might sway more to their side. Chapter 585 Considering there was an invasion from the upper realms currently going on, Paradise was being surprisingly calm. Erin wished he could speak, but Paradise did not speak. He probably couldn¡¯t, though he did seem to be able to understand speech to a certain point. She could only try to determine what he was planning by the feeling of his energy. Strong and focused. Purposeful. She could only go along with his flow, not if she wanted to fight at maximum effectiveness. It was odd, how Paradise had been so eager to interject himself into battle a few months back, with that old man and Chikere. An old man Erin was fairly certain was Everheart, given his first appearance near Paradise. Then something appeared in Erin¡¯s sight- hidden from her senses by its very nature. Or perhaps she should say her very nature. ¡°Well hello there, Queen of Paradise,¡± Erin said with as much respect as she could muster. It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t respect void ants, but this one she¡¯d seen grow from a tiny larva to¡­ a still very tiny form. Nowhere near the palm size of the Great Queen. Then again, they had a couple centuries of growth between them. ¡°You were looking for me, I presume?¡± Though in relative terms this queen was fairly young, she was still a few decades old and thus had grown to a humanlike intelligence. The queens were generally faster to develop in that manner. Erin had learned to understand the sign language of the void ants- it would have been rather foolish to not keep up with it when there was a colony on Paradise. The Queen of Paradise signed her message. ¡°Paradise wishes to go to battle. However, we face foes of great power. He hesitates because of concern for our safety, and thus has gone to seek an old acquaintance. We must aid him.¡± ¡°What can I do to help?¡± Erin asked. ¡°You can easily contact the Great Queen¡¯s favored individual, correct?¡± ¡°Anton?¡± Erin asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°He knows the one that Paradise seeks.¡± ¡°How do you know all this?¡± Erin asked. ¡°What Paradise wants, I mean. Do you understand him?¡± The Queen of Paradise nodded slowly. ¡°Paradise¡¯s head reveals much of his thoughts.¡± ¡°... you can read his mind?¡± The void ant waggled her antennae in a ¡®no¡¯. ¡°We merely like to sit atop his head. Looking where he looks. That tells us much.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Erin nodded. ¡°Perhaps I should find more time to do so.¡± ----- ¡°What a time for Scholar Eulogius to get called off,¡± Formation master Naid Conaire of the Worthy Shore Society shook her head. ¡°Together we¡¯d take apart these formations in an instant.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t concern yourself,¡± Treloar said. ¡°Some day, you too will be an Assimilation formation master.¡± ¡°Some day,¡± Naid nodded. ¡°But not yet.¡± If the invaders moved in force, it was difficult for Ceretos to bring an effective counter in a short time. At least, they had not been easily able to predict enemy movements in these first few days of the war. Nobody besides Anton had such prodigious sensing range, and Anton couldn¡¯t be everywhere. Flying ships were the next best option, but they had to be cautious about where they would travel. For the most part, however, the enemy forces had been contained in the Exalted Archipelago after their initial retreat. Given that they were prepared for that eventuality, it didn¡¯t seem likely to stay true for long. But Anton hoped they would not be prepared for groups like the Worthy Shore Society to join the continental forces. Certainly, it didn¡¯t seem as if they had sufficient numbers for that. ¡°If they knew we were ready for them¡­¡± Anton looked to Treloar. ¡°Why are their forces barely adequate?¡± ¡°The answer is simple,¡± Sect Head Treloar nodded seriously, ¡°We haven¡¯t updated our communication methods since our branches were placed here. The information is likely decades old. At best. Frankly, I would expect a force of this size to have been planned shortly after the contact with Rutera and the following war.¡± ¡°They should have known about our Assimilation cultivators, though.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s a secret about the upper realms,¡± Treloar said knowing full well that Anton had more frequent contact with them, ¡°They¡¯re big and some of them like to stomp on the little guys. They just assumed you were all ants.¡± Treloar grinned at the Great Queen, ¡°Which will be extra startling when they encounter your ants.¡± ¡°We will devastate their strongest,¡± the Great Queen confirmed. ¡°If I am able to approach this Fajra, I will chew my way through her glamours and then her vital organs.¡± ¡°Too bad thousands of people would try to stop you,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But we¡¯ll find you an opportunity. Fajra was here for the previous invasion, though. She¡¯ll probably be on the lookout.¡± ¡°I could have Nthanda toss me,¡± the Great Queen signed pensively. ¡°That might be sufficient to arrive with haste.¡± ¡°I have no doubt in your ability to kill her,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s just surviving afterwards that might be an issue. And you¡¯re both a friend and a valuable combatant, so I¡¯d really prefer not to lose you. Our current plans are fine.¡± The formations that Naid was still pondering- from a distance- were those of the Eternal Glamour Sect. The same disadvantage that the continents had in their homeland the enemy had here- having to defend every location they claimed. And since the Exalted Archipelago had possessed their lands for thousands of years, they weren¡¯t exactly willing to just give everything up. Even if they had been willing to uproot everything that they could, that would have tipped someone off to their plans, if every sect or even a majority of them suddenly began carrying large amounts of goods to a few better defended locations. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. That said, the Exalted Archipelago had swift ships, and it would take some time to siege this place. Anton knew that a large fleet would be incoming, ready to take them on. And if their defensive formations were a good as Everheart¡¯s, he wouldn¡¯t have even tried. However, even with the long history- or perhaps because of it- the formations were merely high quality rather than exceptional. They simply wouldn¡¯t last without maintenance, and formations of great complexity weren¡¯t necessarily stable. Everhearts had only lasted a few centuries with special tricks involved, both a long time without upkeep and a short time to some cultivators. ¡°I¡¯ve got it!¡± Naid finally clapped her hands. ¡°Unfortunately, it would be better with greater firepower- and yes, I know that you¡¯re here, Anton. You¡¯re not the best for structural damage. We could really use someone like that Nthanda¡­ or¡­¡± ¡°Paradise?¡± Anton asked. ¡°If Paradise were here I wouldn¡¯t have bothered looking at the formations.¡± Naid looked around, sweeping her energy, ¡°He didn¡¯t show up while I was occupied, did he?¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though I suspect he¡¯ll arrive eventually.¡± ¡°Well, in that case, I want you to aim for that gap there, at the inside corner of the parapet. That¡¯s the easiest part for a destructive entry, I think. If you can get inside and through the structure, just go for the runes on the lower floor. Any of them, really.¡± ¡°That might take a bit¡­¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Look sturdy. I¡¯ll see what I can do before we have to leave.¡± ¡°Enemies incoming?¡± Treloar asked. ¡°Almost immediately since we arrived.¡± ¡°How close are they?¡± ¡°Still about a thousand kilometers.¡± ¡°... oh. Of course.¡± ¡°That only gives us a couple hours,¡± Anton said. ¡°Less if some people break out ahead. They¡¯ve certainly got quite a clip going. They¡¯re even diverting the flow of water in front of them to manage that speed. I¡¯m impressed.¡± ¡°Not as fast as the spaceships though,¡± Treloar said. ¡°Close, if they¡¯re in atmosphere,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll get started.¡± He took one shot just to test things. The formation held easily. ¡°Half a centimeter to the left,¡± Naid said, ¡°And one down. Yes, that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°You have good eyes,¡± Anton commented. ¡°Well,¡± she shrugged, ¡°It¡¯s a requirement for me to function without walking up to a formation myself to slice it apart.¡± Arrow after arrow sequentially hammered into the same spot, almost a continuous flow. A few adventurous fellows on the walls tried to block or shoot down Anton¡¯s arrows, but it was an awkward place to reach and his arrows were small and fast. The best they could do was extend a screen of energy, which would just wear them out. ¡°I¡¯m feeling it,¡± Anton said. He had been trained for this part of formations, after all. He changed the rhythm of his attacks, timing his arrows to strike when the formation was bouncing back after absorbing the impact of his attacks. It was only a small motion, but a mere couple of kilometers away it was as easy as seeing the blood pulse in someone¡¯s veins. Which didn¡¯t look like much before he was in Essence Collection but now was quite obvious. Each time his arrow struck, the formation bent slightly further out of shape, until finally a small hole was broken. His arrow punched through, striking the durable material beneath. The hole patched itself, but this would be draining the reserves of the defenses. ¡°Looks like they¡¯ve got a formation master working against you now,¡± Naid commented. ¡°I could counter their efforts if I could approach safely.¡± Timothy would have been Anton¡¯s first choice, but there was the whole thing with him being in the upper realms. Sudheer was part of Aicenith¡¯s defensive forces, or Anton would have just asked him to charge the wall with the support of others. Chikere was present but her defensive abilities were best suited to protecting herself, and she didn¡¯t always consider puncture holes through her body as relevant damage. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you can cut it from here?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Can I¡­ cut it from here¡­¡± Chikere went into a daze, her hand gripping her weapon white knuckled. Anton hadn¡¯t really intended it to be a challenge of some sort, but he was willing to let her do her thing. Chikere actually sheathed her blade, then stepped towards Anton. He stepped back to give her room, and she stepped towards him again. ¡°Stand still!¡± So Anton did, as she wedged her sheath between the two of them. Then she drew and slashed with her blade in a single motion. There was a rush of wind, and Anton saw a gouge appear in the formation. ¡°Nope,¡± she shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not even sure I can consistently cut apart space here¡­¡± she frowned. ¡°Which is weird because I did that to ascend when I was way weaker and less well equipped.¡± ¡°Ascension is special,¡± Anton said. ¡°... Why?¡± Chikere tilted her head. ¡°Uh¡­¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m honestly not the best person to ask about that.¡± But it seemed she wasn¡¯t actually listening for an answer anyway. Anton looked to his next option. ¡°Devon, do you think you could escort formation master Naid to the walls? Do you need further backup?¡± ¡°I can, though I¡¯d appreciate some others attacking to draw their attention to different points.¡± Chikere was, for the moment, out of commission undergoing some form of enlightenment- or at least potentially. There wasn¡¯t always something that came from such things. But they had more than a dozen Assimilation cultivators with them, more than enough to deal with any Assimilation cultivation cultivators a single sect might have in a quick manner. And enough to put up a fight against a moderate portion of the total invasion forces, if they had to. Though not the current incoming group. Anish and Annelie were present, and of course Treloar- this was a good chance for the Worthy Shore Society to show their commitment instead of just standing next to them. Though Anton had accepted it as true when Treloar said the words, it would also be wasteful for him to just stand around doing nothing. The assault was short, made of Assimilation cultivators and a few times as many supporting Life Transformation cultivators. They all made shows of attacking the walls in various ways- which was actually quite useful for weakening the barrier while Anton shot it- and it made Naid less of a priority target. Anton actually managed to damage some of the internal mechanisms by the time he called for a retreat- lingering too long would risk the approaching force reaching them, especially if Fajra was willing to forcefully bring just their Integration cultivators. There was too much risk involved with fighting them and dealing with the Eternal Glamour Sect at the same time. Nothing said Anton had to stop shooting, though. By the time the forces arrived, Anton had leveled that whole corner of the walls, the parapets and tower beneath crumbled. Next time, they would bring down the rest- if the enemy didn¡¯t take up residence there. Anton wondered why Erin had needed to talk to Everheart. Hopefully that led to something good. Or at least¡­ effective. Chapter 586 The time was rapidly approaching to determine if they could afford to defend the Worthy Shore Society. Of course, there was no question about the people. As an island sect they had ships aplenty even ignoring the continental fleets. However, the sect itself was a small foothold in enemy territory. Valuable in some ways, but extremely difficult to hold. Ceretos¡¯ fleets simply couldn¡¯t match the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Archipelago¡¯s combined forces- not if they moved as one unit. That was simply because they had to leave a sufficient amount of their forces to defend their homelands. Treloar¡¯s face revealed nothing of what he felt at potentially having to give up not only their history of connection to the Exalted Quadrant in the upper realms but also the land every generation had grown up upon. Anton knew that he would have been extremely reluctant to give up the Order¡¯s land, or any piece of Graotan. Though that had grown to extend to most of Ceretos. And as they were allies, Anton even felt some of that for the Worthy Shore Society. ¡°To have a chance at this, we¡¯ll need everyone possible to join the fight,¡± Anton sighed. He was specifically thinking of Everheart, who had run off at the earliest excuse. The troublesome part was that there hadn¡¯t been any word from Erin about what was going on with Paradise. ¡°What do you think about engaging?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Is there anything to be gained from attempting more complicated tactics here? A direct confrontation would be too risky.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Treloar stroked his chin. ¡°It would give us an opportunity to assess the forces of¡­ the Exalted Archipelago. Which I guess we aren¡¯t part of now.¡± ¡°They managed to foster more than a few Assimilation cultivators among them- without it being obvious, even. I thought I would sense such advancements, but apparently I was wrong.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°What could we learn?¡± ¡°Their quality,¡± Treloar said. ¡°There¡¯s a huge difference depending on how long they¡¯ve been in Assimilation and the results they produced. Should we count them as equal to each of ours? I would be surprised. Though we did not completely lock down the knowledge, none of them received personal guidance from you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the only one who could have done it,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t guide them. And neither did Lev, or I imagine anyone of note on the continents. They all had¡­ reasons to be cautious around them. The worst case for us would be Naamah having guided them.¡± ¡°She hasn¡¯t responded to inquiries, either¡­¡± Anton frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not saying I suspect her, necessarily. The important part is that we don¡¯t have a long history of Assimilation. Our techniques were all meant for optimal Ascension. Changing that with only secondhand information would take¡­ someone of sufficient genius.¡± ¡°The Exalted Archipelago has many people. Surely you have geniuses among you? You consistently produce Ascension cultivators after all.¡± Treloar shook his head, ¡°Geniuses? Sure, we get some. Every few centuries. But in truth, most of us are simply average or slightly above and rely on the extremely refined techniques that push us towards one goal. I could not have hoped to alter the Worthy Shore Society¡¯s techniques without your aid. I would still not have broken through,¡± Treloar held up a hand, ¡°Don¡¯t bother with politeness. I know my own skill well enough. And more importantly¡­ I know my own connection to Ceretos. I gave up Ascension for a different path¡­ but I can¡¯t believe all of the others truly wished to give up Ascension. They should have been instructed on what they should do¡­ and nobody can make another¡¯s cultivation choices for them. Not and expect the same results.¡± ¡°So that means, what?¡± ¡°I expect them to be individually weaker¡­ and less advanced. Comparing yourself now to you when you first completed Assimilation? It¡¯s not even close. Your power now could have managed that entire war with the Exalted Archipelago alone, no need for support.¡± ¡°So we try to make them display their power¡­ but we can¡¯t fully commit to a battle.¡± Anton pondered. ¡°Still risky, but it is important information. Unfortunately, that means¡­ likely giving up on your place here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m hoping that they will leave things intact with the intent to occupy our sect,¡± Treloar shook his head, ¡°But I can¡¯t say they won¡¯t just level the place. I have people clearing the libraries and treasury. We can at least take all of that with us. And I hear you know a talented formation master. A sudden appearance, I mean. Similar to your granddaughter, who was also of an amazing caliber before she moved on to the upper realms.¡± ¡°Similar in caliber¡­¡± Anton said. ¡°Well, I¡¯d have to fully comprehend what either of them could do to be sure of that. But we can certainly rely on the formations of both.¡± ----- There was one simple reason Anton chose to position himself on one of their flying ships rather than anywhere else. That would allow him optimal mobility while still giving him the solidity of somewhere to put his feet. He was able to perform his archery well enough without his feet on a solid surface, but he would be somewhat more effective if he took the opportunity. In a battle where they needed every advantage they could get to avoid casualties, that was the best option. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Besides, nothing restricted him from flying away for his own defensive needs or to draw fire away. Surely he could get a few individuals interested in chasing after him if the fleets were in a tight spot. The difficult part would be keeping certain individuals from going too deep into the enemy fleet. Then again, Chikere could deal with the consequences of her own decisions. Though it was morbid, Anton knew if she got herself killed she would at least take a few powerful foes with her. And she probably wouldn¡¯t regret it. Though he would prefer minimizing casualties and sacrifices as much as possible. As the enemy fleets approached, Anton instructed his pilot to keep a wide arc from them. No point in getting within ten kilometers. Most important was staying outside of Fajra¡¯s aura. Though it was her greatest contribution to battle and her personal combat prowess was less relevant, preventing their entire army from fighting at full capacity was something that couldn¡¯t be ignored. Some would even drop comatose. Anton didn¡¯t hesitate to harry the incoming fleet, looking for weak targets. Even if he only caused annoyances like minor punctures in a ship that could be repaired, taking advantage of his range was important. And if he could break down a barrier without exhausting himself, the lesser combatants could say goodbye to their lives. Life Transformation cultivators from the upper realms could be killed as he pleased, many at a time, if he could fire freely. It was not surprising when some enemies were able to fire back at around a hundred kilometers of range. They had Integration cultivators and some in Assimilation as well. A few archers were of little concern to Anton- the only thing they did was force him to counter their arrows. A more complicated situation arose when the ship was attacked by spikes of ice, seemingly appearing from nowhere above them. But though Anton hadn¡¯t expected the Exalted Archipelago to join the war, he had studied their sects in the past. This was a technique from the Falling Clouds. It seemed one of the Assimilation cultivators was theirs, able to turn the moisture in the air and especially clouds into deadly projectiles. All he could do was try to keep them from forming anything immediately around the ship with his own aura and ready himself to shoot down projectiles when they formed. ¡°Be careful of the clouds!¡± Anton called out to the pilot. ¡°Anyone with air styled abilities, blast the clouds out of our path¡­ and if possible wring out the moisture.¡± The latter was rather difficult directly above the ocean, but the others on the ship were there just for such supporting moves. The pilot twisted and turned, avoiding incoming attacks while predicting future danger zones. That at least forced the hand of one individual which Anton could pick out, while the battle elsewhere was just beginning. ----- There were sometimes conflicting orders given to Chikere. She had been told to not dive deep into enemy forces. She did have the self-restraint for that to work, so she could have complied with that. However, she also was given the direction to fight in the manner she thought was most efficient, and it was simply impossible to do that at the same time. Taking the spirit of the orders to heart, Chikere decided she should at least not go too many layers deep into the enemy forces. For example, there was a pretty decent sword on someone next to Fajra herself. She would have to leave that one for later, even if it was the best one present. Her allies were counting on her, after all. Nothing stopped her from dashing across the water towards the oncoming ships, however. That did leave her alone, but she would be more effective without worrying that her dodging would leave allies vulnerable. She did have to pull out every blade she had to cut down the hundreds of arrows, spears, javelins, harpoons, and everything pointy or edged coming at her. And a few cannon balls, though in her estimation the Exalted Archipelago was about a century behind in that field. It was surprising they bothered at all. The first ship she came to, she cut in half- from the side. Though ships didn¡¯t function if you cut them in half on any axis, so it hardly mattered which angle it was. But the front and rear halves did provide her a good amount of shelter as she dashed through it. Then a heavy aura focused on her. Chikere turned to see Fajra. The woman probably thought she was beautiful or awe inspiring. That was certainly her intent, but as she was not a sword she couldn¡¯t really be either of those in Chikere¡¯s eyes. She could be a hindrance though. Chikere glared back, cutting through the woman¡¯s aura with her own. It seemed Fajra didn¡¯t find her important enough to devote a greater amount of her attention to overcome Chikere¡¯s resistance, so she was free to move around mostly unhindered. Chikere couldn¡¯t help but glance over that was occasionally, tempted by the sword. And while she was there she might as well cut down Fajra. But no¡­ not today. She couldn¡¯t do it entirely alone, and today¡¯s battle was just a test. ----- Devon found some joy in entangling enemy ships with his chains, slamming them into each other. That would damage the formations and hulls of both, a quite efficient use of his own efforts. The greater danger were the cultivators on the ships, but they would need their vessels to chase after the group en masse, so he was simply preparing for then. Others were engaging with Integration cultivators and the Exalted Archipelago¡¯s Assimilation cultivators, but Devon focused his efforts on the fleet. Because of that, he also paid attention to their sea fleets as a whole- with only half an eye on their flying ships. He could feel Fajra suppressing their cultivators, but something was missing. Then one of their ships was lifted from the water and snapped in half by giant crab claws. That was Juta, then, in yet another form. She had only been in a few battles, but she didn¡¯t seem to have a preference for anything specific. Devon supposed he¡¯d better go help with that. What was the best method? Perhaps binding closed the claws, or drawing allied ships into the area so she could not so easily target one fleet. He would also have to keep himself safe, but he was not the only one moving to head off Juta. Anish and Annelie were closest, and Devon would be able to coordinate with them quite well. Though it did seem that they should be pulling away soon, as it seemed unlikely they could take out one of the enemy¡¯s leaders without preparation and a bit of luck. Trying to force it would only result in more losses for their side. Chapter 587 About half of Anton¡¯s focus was on his opponent from the Falling Clouds, with the other half reserved for the rest of the battlefield. Enemies who left the safety of their ships¡¯ defensive formations found themselves in very real danger from volleys of arrows. Trying to recall information about the man he was fighting took a moment. Anton did keep track of the best prospects, but there were many¡­ and the Falling Clouds hadn¡¯t been exactly eager to have visitors. He had been willing to respect their privacy, but obviously he should have been a bit more cautious. Anton didn¡¯t intend to dictate everything that could happen upon Ceretos, but he should at least make sure people didn¡¯t help out invaders. Not that he was certain to last until the next opportunity. Suhash. That was the name. Unfortunately, Anton had no more relevant information about his capabilities that he hadn¡¯t been able to discern in the time they had been fighting. Early Assimilation stage- clearly the last couple decades at most. Experience wasn¡¯t everything, and in some ways overall training time was the inverse of how dangerous someone was- those who trained quickly were often stronger. But Suhash wasn¡¯t a young genius who breezed his way into Assimilation. He should have been cultivating for a few hundred years now, changing his focus from Ascension to Assimilation. As for his domain¡­ he seemed to be bound to the planet¡¯s water. Both that of the skies and the seas- though of the two he seemed more comfortable with the former. That would provide wide-ranging utility, and he had decent power¡­ but not enough to take out Anton¡¯s ship with the crew defending it and only a small amount of direct defense from Anton. He was a threat not because of anything in specific, but merely by the fact that he was an Assimilation cultivator, making him worth the same as a highly coordinated squad of Life Transformation cultivators. His ship¡¯s defensive formations would have fallen long before if not for forming a barrier of water around it. Anton could have likely broken through both that and the formations if he solely focused on the task, but it was better to leave the battle with fewer casualties throughout the rest of their forces. When Juta, who had been concealing herself, appeared as a hundred meter crab snapping a ship in half he reacted with covering fire. The loss of a ship and the lives of some of those unfortunately positioned was unfortunate, but he could at least allow them a chance to retreat to other vessels where they could combine their efforts. The continental fleets were currently disengaging, but the sea vessels couldn¡¯t just break away whenever they pleased. Neither side would be able to completely outpace the other. They needed more. Something to shift the battle in their favor. Unless the enemy planned to make this their final battle they wouldn¡¯t pursue forever- but Anton didn¡¯t like the casualties he was predicting now. Juta especially was a dangerous force- though she was being held back by Devon, Anish, and Annelie. Unfortunately, that meant they couldn¡¯t affect the battle elsewhere. Anton had a few tricks up his sleeve. Unlike the Sylanis Cluster these ships didn¡¯t have adaptive barriers, so it wasn¡¯t terribly difficult to break through them all on his own. He might even be able to cause serious damage to their flagship, though the methods he would use he preferred to save for an important kill. Once it was revealed it would lose some effect. Then Anton had the most frustrating thought anyone could ever have. He wished for Everheart to be around. Both fortunately and unfortunately, such wishes were the type to be answered- and they of course came with consequences. ----- Devon¡¯s chains were powerful, but not enough that they could match up to the crushing claws of a massive crab. The lack of finesse in the claws didn¡¯t matter when they could simply sweep through the vague area. That didn¡¯t mean he had no recourse- it just meant he couldn¡¯t completely control the situation alone. Not that he should have expected to be able to. He was just one man, a single Assimilation cultivator. But his chains were meant for the protection of Ceretos, so he would at least do his best. The joints behind the claws were a reasonable place to wrap his chains, and with the aid of his niece they were frozen into the joint, preventing Juta from squeezing the joints together to snap his chains as had happened on his first attempt. Of course, holding onto said chains meant wrestling an Augmentation cultivator- and even weakened by her presence in the lower realms Juta was far stronger than Devon. So he counted on the lack of leverage and wrapped his chains around the most convenient leverage in the area- ships. Not allied ships, of course, but instead the enemy. That came with the downside of both ends of the situation trying to break the chains off, and he had to continuously add more, but he slowly increased the number from two to six that he was maintaining, Annelie adding her ice while Anish tried to boil the torso of the crab. He was certainly causing some damage but it wouldn¡¯t be a quick kill- and some enemy Integration cultivators would no doubt join their part of the battle if it looked as if Juta would truly be taken out. Devon slipped between the claws- ironically enough, directly in front of the mouth was fairly safe- he threw chains to both sides, wrapping around the middle joints and then fusing the chains together in the middle. That would further limit the range of motion of the crab. In theory, anyway. In practice¡­ a surge of energy came from Juta, the claws swinging outward to snap his latest chains then reversing to pull inward, snapping some chains while dragging a couple unlucky ships on one side. That claw was fortunately slower, so as the two converged on him in the middle he was able to dodge them sequentially, diving down into the water. Why he chose to dive into the terrain of a giant sea creature he could not have explained, except that it felt right. When he almost went directly into the maw of a giant turtle he had a brief moment of panic, but a familiar energy calmed him. Pushing down his hesitation, he continued to dive, passing below. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. He looked back over his shoulder just in time to see one of the crab claws reaching for the neck of the turtle- only to be repelled by an almost indistinguishable figure standing atop it. The energy of both Paradise and Scholar Eulogius had been hidden up until that moment, but now he clearly felt both. Paradise paid no mind to the attempt to crush his neck and continued towards his goal, his mouth stretching past the left crab claw to the base of the right. Then he chomped down. In that instant, the whole dynamic of the battlefield changed. The massive turtle jaws snapped cleanly through the armored shell, breaking the limb clean off. Devon didn¡¯t understand Juta¡¯s transformation mechanics- it wasn¡¯t a simple projection of a form, however. That became extremely clear when the crab disappeared and she turned into some sort of silvery fish, darting away- but leaving behind the claw which Paradise munched on happily. Devon could see a trail of blood behind Juta- though the speed with which she moved made it impossible to catch her. There hadn¡¯t been more than a single moment between her forms to react. ----- The sudden arrival of Paradise and Everheart was great news for the continental forces, and shifted the flow of the battlefield. The sudden damage to Juta shifted the balance of the battle against the invaders, and it was they who turned to retreat moments later. Unfortunately the continental forces couldn¡¯t immediately turn about to chase them, being in the middle of their own retreat. But neither was that necessarily the right call. Yes, they had struck a blow to a powerful cultivator- but the forces were simply closer to balanced now, not sufficiently in their favor to chase after an enemy who could easily reform to crush those first to catch them. Anton didn¡¯t have to follow to continue his bombardment, but in truth his efforts were not fully focused on that. Instead, he was concentrating on merely observing Juta. A fin was missing on her temporary form, and when she boarded the enemy flagship her arm. Determining fine details through the defensive formations was difficult, so he had to focus his efforts. He couldn¡¯t sense anything directly but he at least heard enough cursing to know that it wasn¡¯t so easy to regrow the limb. Or Juta was an extremely sore loser, which would also be valuable for them. A sore loser on the side of the enemy when they had Everheart? If that was actually the case they could make her life hell. Or just kill her. As the enemy fleet pulled away, a few more ships sunk- and Anton wasn¡¯t merciful to the unprotected soldiers. Invaders from the upper realms- old or new, whether they had actually seen the upper realms or not- would not be given mercy. And those of the Exalted Archipelago who chose to join the Trigold Cluster¡¯s assault were going to regret it. Especially since they should have known what they were getting into. It seemed that the Worthy Shore Society would not be forced out of their sect just yet¡­ and the foothold they represented in the Exalted Archipelago would remain. ----- A message was waiting for Anton not long after. Not one from anyone on Ceretos, but rather from Rutera. Since the invasion began, they¡¯d been keeping in touch with their allied systems. As expected, forces had arrived on Weos shortly after Ceretos, based on the tides. It was difficult for them to say the war was going well. Weos had an entire system to defend, and some of their outlying outposts and less populated moons had been taken over. But they were ready to fight. Rutera¡¯s message was simple, relaying what forces would be coming as reinforcements and where- it was now as certain as possible that they would not be under attack themselves. All of the remaining forces they were aware of had ended up in the Sylanis Cluster. Anton didn¡¯t have many contacts there- at least not compared to elsewhere. But out of a hundred billion, he could hear from more than a hundred- though not every Worldbinding cultivator would want to speak to him. ¡°Can the Trigold Cluster really afford to lose all these forces?¡± Anton asked, looking specifically to Everheart. ¡°They can afford many things,¡± the scholarly guise of the man nodded. ¡°Even these forces they can recover from the loss of. But obviously they don¡¯t intend to lose them.¡± ¡°None of them are leaving this time,¡± Anton declared. ¡°Agreed,¡± Everheart said without even a wry smile, though he generally seemed to be in a good mood. ¡°They come to take from us, and we will take everything from them. Too bad it¡¯s limited to just what they brought to the lower realms¡­¡± ¡°If it makes you feel better¡­ those in the upper realms are going to scout their outposts.¡± Everheart sighed, ¡°It¡¯s just not the same, having someone else do it. I should be there to crack open their vaults, taking their treasures and secrets with my own hands. But that business a couple centuries back left me below my peak performance.¡± That was his confident way of saying he was nearly dead. ¡°You seem strangely happy about something else,¡± Anton said. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°What, can¡¯t I just like a good victory atop my turtle?¡± ¡°Ah. It¡¯s because Paradise let you ride him.¡± ¡°Because he asked me to do so,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Soon, he shall follow me and support me as he was meant to.¡± Anton shrugged. He did find the situation odd. Paradise didn¡¯t exactly speak, but even so Erin made it clear that he had agreed with the interpretation of the void ant queen about that being his desire. The turtle had been quite unhappy with Everheart when he first returned. Was there some buried fondness there¡­ or was there something else? That part was unclear. At least Rutera would be sending reinforcements. Their ships were a whole step ahead of most of what Ceretos had access to- and their aid could shift the war from vaguely even to dominant. Though Fajra would be a concern for them in particular, as even if their fighter vessels could match a Life Transformation cultivator, the actual individuals were somewhat weaker and thus would be more susceptible to her aura. Chapter 588 There were a couple weeks of stalemate as fleets maneuvered around Ceretos, between the Exalted Archipelago and the continents. Neither side found many good opportunities. There were a few more swift assaults on the shores of the continents, breaking bits and pieces of the formations apart and then retreating, leaving everywhere more vulnerable. On the other side, some minor groups in the Archipelago were forced out. The outlying sects weren¡¯t stupid enough to just wait for an army to assault them and hope that reinforcements would come, and there was simply too much to defend. They were mostly stripped of valuables, and there were plans to return to the Eternal Glamour Sect for a proper victory, but there simply hadn¡¯t been a good opportunity yet. ¡°Fight me.¡± Rutera¡¯s forces had arrived, and Anton had thought there was no reason to rush to meet them. At least this time it wasn¡¯t Chikere who had made the statement- but she was still involved. ¡°Okay,¡± Chikere responded about the time Anton glared at her. She turned between him and Ty Quigley. ¡°I mean, um¡­ I can¡¯t get in any serious spars until after the war.¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry,¡± Ty bowed his head. ¡°Instinct. Also, I should probably break through to Assimilation first¡­¡± ¡°That would be optimal,¡± Chikere agreed. ¡°You appear to be close.¡± ¡°Any time,¡± he agreed. ¡°A war like this¡­ well, I can¡¯t say I¡¯m glad it happened, but it¡¯s a great opportunity.¡± His eyes couldn¡¯t help but drift around Chikere, stopping in one particular place. ¡°Are you, uh, left-handed?¡± ¡°I am right now,¡± Chikere said without concern before he could apologize for his question. ¡°But if I had both arms I would be right-handed.¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult to recover, I presume?¡± Ty said awkwardly. ¡°I mean, uh, obviously. I¡¯m sure you can get anything you want, with your power. What I meant to say is¡­ you can just replace it?¡± Even he sounded unsure of his words. ¡°We make arms. Prosthetics. Combat prosthetics.¡± ¡°A replacement arm does me no good,¡± Chikere said. ¡°It would be just as simple to form an arm out of my own energy for similar results.¡± ¡°Oh, but these aren¡¯t just hunks of metal,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t really know how they work, but they respond to your body naturally and energy flows through them just like living flesh. So I¡¯ve been told. I¡¯ve been lucky enough to keep everything.¡± Chikere turned to Anton, then looked up into the sky. ¡°Excuse me. I will be taking a short trip.¡± Anton grabbed her shoulder before she actually tried to move. ¡°You can¡¯t just show up in Rutera and ask for things,¡± he sighed, ¡°You¡¯d at least have to know who to talk to.¡± ¡°Good point.¡± Chikere nodded, ¡°Who should I talk to?¡± she asked Ty Quigley. ¡°And can they infuse a blade into the structure?¡± ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m not sure¡­ on either, really,¡± Ty Quigley admitted. ¡°But I¡¯m sure General Nicodemo could get you in contact with the right departments. And you¡¯re, uh, allied military so it should be possible. I don¡¯t know if it will be done fast enough to matter, though.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Chikere nodded, ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered the craftsmanship time. Direct me to General Nicodemo.¡± ¡°I thought I heard my name,¡± General Nicodemo was already approaching- though probably with the intent to see Anton. Not that he would be uninterested in meeting any cultivator of Chikere¡¯s strength. He looked at Ty, who still had a hand on his sword hilt. ¡°This man isn¡¯t causing you any trouble, is he miss?¡± ¡°No,¡± Chikere said easily. ¡°He did mention that I might be able to get a combat capable prosthetic arm. If possible I would like to take that opportunity, because I just gave up my previous opportunity to have my arm restored.¡± Anton added some more detail, ¡°Chikere is a great combat asset. I¡¯d be glad to contribute funds or materials if necessary, though I don¡¯t know if you can finish it for the current troubles. At least¡­ I hope the war doesn¡¯t drag out so long.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t let it,¡± General Nicodemo agreed. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do, but unfortunately you¡¯d likely need to be present in person to get the process started. With travel time there and back¡­¡± ¡°I can accelerate that,¡± Chikere said. ¡°But I can also wait. It is not necessary to rush.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t you be weaker without your arm¡­?¡± Ty Quigley said cautiously. ¡°Then I simply have to become stronger to make up for it.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± he nodded. ¡°I suppose that makes sense, yeah.¡± Anton pulled aside Nicodemo. ¡°Make sure she gets an opportunity. If you need more favors or political clout to do so before she has to return to the upper realms, I¡¯ll provide my full support.¡± ¡°Really? Well, I knew the two of you were sometimes companions, but this seems like even further than you¡¯d normally go.¡± ¡°I learned¡­ she helped one of my granddaughters with an old problem, giving up her own opportunity to regrow her arm. And Chikere didn¡¯t even mention it. So beyond all the practical reasons, I¡¯d like to do this for her.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure I can manage,¡± Nicodemo nodded. ¡°And with your support we can probably get something more than just ¡®functional¡¯. Maybe even better than what she had, assuming she¡¯s not a body temperer like Nthanda.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Not to any significant degree, no,¡± Anton shook his head. ----- The arrival of Rutera¡¯s forces were significant. Though they only had a small number of ships that could match The Independence- and thus just one each they could spare for their allied systems- the quality of their fighters and mid sized ships were still exceptional. They¡¯d been fully functional even without their pilots having access to proper cultivation- neither techniques nor a world with sufficient natural energy. Now that they had both necessary components, Rutera was a significant force to reckon with. Though the portion of their power they were able to send was only able to slightly shift the overall power dynamic, they provided important opportunities. They could cover large amounts of ground or sea scouting, and arrive pretty much anywhere for a precision attack when they pleased. As long as the Exalted Archipelago didn¡¯t gather their forces wherever they were planning to assault, they could hit and run, causing significant damage. And if the enemy did gather their forces, that meant they left other places open for the continental fleets and kept them from harassing the shores. Keeping them fueled wasn¡¯t terribly difficult either, as they recharged quickly in places with high density of natural energy- and Ceretos was practically overflowing with the stuff. ----- The Isle of Falling Clouds. Ty had thought it was a pretty bad martial style to count on there being clouds around, but it seemed these people could make their own clouds. They had the sea to work with too- though that just limited where he could safely fly. No skimming the water. Unless he had a reason, at least. Fighter pilot formations were already optimized as well as possible to not have wingmates get taken out by an attack aimed at another, so it didn¡¯t matter as much where they might come from. More than that, Anton had determined that with sufficient speed the Falling Clouds would likely have trouble forming their attacks. Ruteran ships were great for that. Given their adaptive shielding as well and this sect would regret throwing their lot in with the rest. They weren¡¯t one of the outermost sects, so they likely thought themselves safe. That was old thinking, though. They were going to realize that they had to worry not just about fliers, but space ships that could use all of three dimensions. They could come in from directly above and leave the same way. While some of the enemy cultivators could match that, as well as a few ships, one sect alone wouldn¡¯t be sufficient. And a simultaneous attack would be happening elsewhere- already was happening, actually. That would be some place they¡¯d softened up first. ¡°Command,¡± Ty spoke into his radio. ¡°Did we receive info on friendly fire results for the Falling Clouds?¡± ¡°Negative. That will have to be determined mid-combat.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make it happen,¡± Ty grinned. ¡°How about their barrier durability?¡± ¡°Nothing conclusive. Assume class 5.¡± At least as difficult to break through as it would be killing an Integration or Assimilation cultivator, then. Ty would be fairly confident in causing serious damage after he broke through, but before then there was only so much his fighter could elevate his ability. On the other hand, it shouldn¡¯t be adaptive¡­ so he didn¡¯t have to do it all in a single pass. And he wasn¡¯t alone. Though in the strictest sense he would be, as he didn¡¯t have a squad that would be following his movement. Everything else Ty needed to know had been discussed during the briefing, so he waited patiently for their orbit to carry them into position, then they dropped. The fleet descended at a sharp angle, cutting into the atmosphere. The Sylanis Cluster¡¯s shielding technology almost completely mitigated problems from re-entry, especially when combined with Rutera¡¯s advancements. Ty didn¡¯t know how it worked deep below, he just knew it worked. As long as he avoided big hits, he shouldn¡¯t be whittled down unless the enemy had a very wide array of attacks. Ty Quigley was the first to arrive, though only by a fraction of a second. That wasn¡¯t out of any sense of self sacrifice or intention to make himself a target. He simply needed to go faster to be the most effective he could. His guns flashed, propelling ordinance that would have already been supersonic with even more velocity. It was like a hundred tiny swords slicing at the enemy¡¯s barriers. He didn¡¯t break through- but there was more following after him. He pulled up just slightly while tilting onto his side, dangling a wing towards the dome of the formation barrier. That both served to reduce his profile- extremely useful given the sudden barrage of ice from above- and allow him to focus his energy on one point. His whole ship could be a blade if necessary, but using just one wing was more conservative. He didn¡¯t want to fully commit to crashing through a barrier and find out his force was insufficient. Ty¡¯s wing cut a line in the barrier like a knife through plastic wrapping. He could feel it restoring behind him, but with all the other damage happening together it was destabilizing. Either way, it would be eating through power like mad. Ty took note that the falling spears of ice dissolved before striking the barrier- which must have taken conscious effort. That meant the barrier would be damaged by them as well. Good. He continued on, only to spot the sea having risen up in front of him. Sure, he was the only one who had gotten right up against the barrier but he was surprised anyone was ready and capable to pull that off less than a minute into the attack. Preparing himself to cut through what would no doubt turn into a solid barrier of ice, Ty¡¯s knuckled turned white on his controls. Then he just pulled up and to the right, realizing that he was just that much faster than they could move any significant amount of power. But he wanted to cut the sea apart. Maybe on the next pass? For a moment it seemed like the barrier would hold after the squads of ships bombarding it passed by. It tried so hard, Ty almost felt bad for it. But when The Independence¡¯s attacks arrived from orbit, it simply couldn¡¯t hold on. The barrier shattered, the rest of the bombardment landing directly on the building and the people trying to defend, frantically rushing out of their buildings. It was their own fault for not having proper long range detection. Nobody had even reacted until they were halfway done with the descent, and clearly they had been unprepared. That wouldn¡¯t work quite as well a second time, but that was why they¡¯d carefully chosen this target. Ty wheeled around, using his eyes, energy senses, and knowledge of flight formations to avoid running into fellow pilots- though he was lower than everyone else anyway. It seemed that everyone was working together to pull the ocean itself to cover their sect- that was likely supposed to be the first layer of defense, softening blows outside of their formations, but they were simply too late. Good. He¡¯d get to cut through it this time. He didn¡¯t care if it was liquid or ice or something in between. He¡¯d pierce through that, take a few shots at the Assimilation cultivator- and maybe more- then come out the other side. He imagined his move, the level of synergy required between him and his ship. Difficult, but nothing he couldn¡¯t pull off. Sadly, that meant he probably wouldn¡¯t be breaking through right away. He needed something more. Chapter 589 It was only a few weeks before they returned to the Eternal Glamour Sect, but they had already finished repairing their wall and renewing the formations. An impressive feat. At least, that was how it appeared. Given their abilities with illusions, however, Anton was not willing to accept that at face value. Not that it would matter. They had sealed their fate when they remained instead of fleeing to be sheltered by others in the Archipelago. Perhaps they thought they could weather another attack. With allied fleets in the area, reinforcements would arrive in short order. Less than half an hour, most likely. If they had to lay siege to the place, there was no guarantee of it being quick¡­ except for certain mitigating factors. Most notably, Scholar Eulogius- Everheart. Riding atop Paradise, a mobile island comparable in size to the one the Eternal Glamour Sect called home, the man fearlessly approached. A massive turtle head ignored the attacks raining down on it as it approached. Instead of moving towards what Anton suspected was still a hole in their defenses, Everheart approached from the rear. He had not signaled for the attack to begin yet, so Anton conserved his energy. Everheart wielded a spear as he stepped up to the walls, thrusting once, twice, three times. It looked like each attack was repelled¡­ and then Paradise lifted his head, a stroke of his powerful fins sending him forward dozens of meters. The tip of his chin crushed the walls, the buildings behind them, and those upon them who were too slow to avoid the movement. No formation reacted. Now, Anton could only feel a formation in one corner- the part they had destroyed. Deciding that Paradise was enough of a signal, Anton began to launch his own attacks. It was simple to target any point of the sect from where he was, so he chose a particular panicked individual using some sort of communication device. No doubt they already had a message through, but inspecting what they had might let them intercept enemy transmissions. He had been assured that such a thing was possible. The person in question lost a hand, while whoever had been maintaining the illusion in the one corner of the sect dropped the pretense once other portions of the wall began to fall. People began to flee, but they were far too late. They thought they would be safe, but clearly they were not. They were simply too weak. Someone had to know that. Perhaps they were bait? But if so, Ceretos had been underestimated once more. Or perhaps it was more reasonable to say that nobody expected Everheart to be present and capable of bringing down a formation in a mere few moments. The only one who seemed as if he might actually be able to get away was the sect head. As soon as everything began to fall apart, he split into a dozen separate bodies, all fleeing in different directions. Anton had to admit that they all felt real enough, such that discerning which one was real in the heat of combat was nearly impossible. So he didn¡¯t. He had more than enough capability to shoot them all. There was a small chance the man was none of them, simply invisible, but Anton should be able to discern that before he got far. Maybe a kilometer, maybe ten¡­ but he could certainly not pass one hundred. Spirit Arrows formed of light shot into each of the illusions, arriving in practically the same instant. Each shot was sufficient to slay a Life Transformation cultivator- but the man was an Assimilation cultivator, if a new one. He would not perish so easily. Each arrow targeted a different body part- head, heart, shoulder, thigh, wrist, and many more. Only one stopped its motion. The other targets reacted- but too slowly. The arrows weren¡¯t quite properly the speed of light, but they still moved at hundred of thousands of times the speed of sound. They lost a bit of impact for the speed, the density of power within them limited. The man wasn¡¯t particularly injured, his defensive energy protecting his shoulder. But the following hail of arrows filled him with holes, targeting limbs, joints, and his stomach. Or more specifically, his dantian beneath. The illusory copies fell, though Anton did not fail to continue sweeping the area with his senses just in case the man managed to pull off something with his lesser cultivation. But there was nothing, and the real sect head fell to the ground, unable to move. Energy bled from him, held back only like water in a sieve- which was to say hardly at all. But the man was not dead. He would live, for a while yet. Until he could be interrogated. Then executed as an enemy of Ceretos. There could be no other option for those of the Exalted Archipelago who chose to be part of the war. After that, the Eternal Glamour Sect was quickly razed- Anton noticed that Everheart got into the vault somewhere around the time that the sect head fell, barely into the attack. But whatever he took, his contributions likely were more than worth it. They didn¡¯t have time to properly level the place, instead destroying the most important parts and then they were on their way, not having brought sufficient forces to engage the whole enemy fleet. ----- After the defeat of the Eternal Glamour Sect, more members of the Exalted Archipelago withdrew into their theoretical safe zone. That left the path clear for Anton to reach the Hardened Crown Sect with a small group that wouldn¡¯t be easily detected. They didn¡¯t entirely conceal themselves, revealing their energy to the sect itself. Sensing their approach, Sect Head Naamah came out to meet them. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°I noticed your people have not attacked ours,¡± Anton said. ¡°That is appreciated.¡± Naamah merely nodded in response. ¡°I come to offer a chance to join us against the invaders, and the rest of the Exalted Archipelago.¡± ¡°No,¡± Naamah said immediately, without consideration. That was somewhat unexpected. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Some of those you fight against are our brothers in battle.¡± ¡°So you will fight against us?¡± Anton asked, keeping a sensible distance and speaking through the amplification of voice. ¡°No.¡± Naamah said, ¡°We will not support their current actions.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Anton frowned, ¡°If you will not support us against them, I am afraid we cannot trust you, despite our personal friendship. You will not be able to remain on Ceretos.¡± ¡°You will force us away?¡± ¡°You can bring with you everything you please, from the buildings to the ground beneath your feet. But you will have to leave and never return. During the course of the war you will still be able to join our side- or commit suicide by attacking us, which I would not recommend. Afterwards, you would have to depart.¡± Anton turned away, ¡°I hope you will change your mind for the better.¡± Though he said that, he knew the Hardened Crown Sect was not known for changing their minds. More importantly, earlier messages to them should have already informed them and given them time to think through their options. But they truly could not be allowed to remain neutral, not and remain upon Ceretos for a later chance to betray the planet. ----- Tiarhogo still had a great many ships going in and out, even during the war. It was an important time to continue trade, even if there was some risk. Supplies of all types needed to move about, and the teleportation formations were far too expensive for most uses. But they were at war, which meant constant patrols to keep away attackers, and inspections on everyone entering port. Elder Paula found herself on inspection duty, and it was immensely boring. Unfortunately, while there were others more qualified for the parts where they were reading papers, having her present was still important. ¡°You may pass,¡± she said. ¡°Everything is good.¡± The next person. ¡°Your papers are out of date. Check in at the office for a more thorough inspection.¡± More and more, as she swept her senses over people and their goods. One was nervous, and trying very hard not to show it. ¡°This is probably the stupidest time to smuggle drugs into the country,¡± Paula noted. ¡°Guards!¡± The poor fool didn¡¯t bother to resist. He would rot in jail unless he could provide information on someone higher up in the chain- which he would, if he was smart. Usually, they weren¡¯t. Even though any threats to life or family were easily dealt with, if the right people were just told a name or two. Next was an older man. ¡°All your papers look good,¡± Elder Paula said. ¡°Very neat.¡± As the man passed by, she twisted, supporting herself with one hand as both feet lifted from the ground. Her toe kicked the back of his neck, severing his spinal cord while her other foot found its way to his lower back, her energy blasting into his dantian. He¡¯d have internal bleeding, but she didn¡¯t care. ¡°Men, take him in. I¡¯m inspecting the Blue Swan personally.¡± Honestly, despite how well the man hid his cultivation¡­ did he really think a member of the Twin Soul Sect would get past her in her own domain? Then again, he likely didn¡¯t understand Assimilation cultivators. There was going to have to be a thorough sweep after the war. Fortunately, Marvelous Rabbit Mountain had kept up with their training, even with no members of the Twin Soul Sect on the planet in a century and a half. ----- The continental forces continued to have more victories than defeats in the coming weeks, but Anton felt it wasn¡¯t enough. With Rutera, they would definitely win the war. There was no question of that. However, they had hardly taken out any more Integration cultivators. Juta¡¯s injury level was unclear, and Fajra was still able to suppress most of their army if they had a head-on confrontation. Their victories were only forcing the enemy to consolidate their remaining forces- something they would have done eventually anyway, but it had been hoped more damage would be done along the way. The upper realms truly had limitless numbers, if they could afford to send such forces to invade them. But Ceretos had not overestimated itself. They would win, even if their losses would take decades or centuries to recover. Without the Exalted Archipelago, the Trigold Cluster¡¯s forces would have been defeated already. They simply could not fight at full strength in the lower realms, and that grew more and more obvious. But the Augmentation cultivators were still a problem. At least they had one of their own- and one with much more development than Fajra. Everheart himself. After watching Paradise, Anton had determined why the turtle would choose to call upon a former master he almost certainly hated. The answer to that was¡­ Everheart was strong. More than that, Paradise didn¡¯t spend a single instant attempting to defend the man. Strong and expendable. That let Paradise focus on supporting the Island Tenders and the void ants during battle. Speaking of the latter, the void ants had not yet been able to display their full capabilities. Since the enemy forces hadn¡¯t made their way onto the continent, the various colonies there had little to do- though there had been a few exceptions, and some very surprised cultivators. Even if the Exalted Archipelago knew about the void ants, they¡¯d never really worked with them, so they didn¡¯t fully understand. And though Anton was quite certain the Great Queen could take out Fajra or any specific enemy, she was not invincible. To make the best use of the void ants they had to be in a pitched battle with overlapping battle lines, where the void ants could join the fight unnoticed- or at least not be bombarded with attacks from range. They were very resistant to energy, but they could still be killed. Soon, though, their opportunity would come. Chapter 590 After the first handful of skyships from the Exalted Archipelago got shot down, they lost any willingness to mobilize them. Despite what improvements the Soaring Air Sect and others had made since their first assault on the continent, they had not worked as closely with Rutera to learn their secrets. More importantly, the ships they did construct had to be made in secret so their plans wouldn¡¯t be obvious, limiting their number and restricting quality to some extent. The continents, especially with Rutera¡¯s fleets, maintained superiority over the sky- that left only the cultivators who could fly, which were vaguely matched on either side. Fairly quickly the pressure had shifted to the islands, unable to secretly maneuver fleets of any size sufficient to damage the mainlands. Nor were they interested in assaulting fortified locations if the continental forces could properly gather their defenses to resist them. Thus, they maintained their own defensive posture, centered around the Soaring Air Sect. The Soaring Air Sect¡¯s island was unnatural in shape, standing tall out of the oceans around it. A nearly unbroken pillar of rock- with one exception. A reminder of the previous war, and a symbol of the Soaring Air Sect¡¯s shame. A hole shot through by Anton, near the waterline. They hadn¡¯t forgotten that, nor had they failed to learn their lesson about extending their defensive formations to cover everything, deep into the water. Sect Head Rodolph trudged across the bridges separating their highest towers, towards what was supposed to be his offices. Those offices had been snatched away by the Augmentation cultivators. As if they were better than him, somehow. While he had to admit their strength was somewhat superior, that was only while it lasted. With the few conflicts they had been in already, they were showing signs of wear. ¡°You¡¯re late,¡± Fajra said as he entered. He wasn¡¯t, of course. They¡¯d only just informed him that they required a meeting. ¡°Apologies, lady Fajra,¡± he bowed his head and kept his feelings bottled up. ¡°What do you require?¡± Juta was present as well, her arm bandaged. There seemed to be more to it than it previously had, but Rodolph didn¡¯t let his eyes linger. The woman placed her whole arm on the table, leaning forward. ¡°We need commitment. You ¡®Exalted¡¯ fellows aren¡¯t willing to throw yourselves into the fight.¡± Of course not. That was what they¡¯d tried to work with the Trigold Cluster for. With proper forewarning, they should have brought enough forces to win handily. That would have left the world for expansion, and previous humiliations would have been overcome. ¡°We were there for the initial assaults,¡± Rodolph said carefully, ¡°And we have made our resources and experts available to you.¡± They simply hadn¡¯t taken things seriously enough. The information provided to the upper realms had not been exaggerated, but perhaps they thought it had been. Though Rodolph himself could admit he¡¯d underestimated the continued growth of the continental Assimilation cultivators. ¡°That¡¯s not good enough,¡± Fajra returned the focus to her. Her features appeared more beautiful than humanly possible, but the results were offset by the fact that Rodolph knew she maintained that image with her abilities- and her personality certainly didn¡¯t help him feel anything but uncomfortable. ¡°We need all of your¡­ Assimilation cultivators to move out together instead of huddling on your little islands. We need a proper victory to begin the march of progress.¡± ¡°Going on the offensive loses us one of the great advantages of Assimilation¡­¡± ¡°That is a failing of your own, is it not?¡± Fajra raised an eyebrow in a manner that was more insulting than Rodolph knew was possible. ¡°I hear the leader of the enemy forces roams as he pleases. Even to other systems.¡± ¡°He somehow bound himself to stars. That is not¡­ something others can achieve.¡± ¡°Then you will all have to do what you can. We¡¯re moving out tomorrow.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Rodolph waited for some signs he was dismissed, then left. He pursed his lips. He didn¡¯t like the way things were going at all. Not one bit. Though personally he could maintain his power wherever the winds blew, many of the others were more limited. Fajra seemed to think he was bound to the island of the Soaring Air Sect, which had suited him just fine. He wondered if it was supposed to be his job to inform the others. Being chosen as the ¡®host¡¯ of the Trigold Cluster had been a dubious honor at best. But he couldn¡¯t afford not to go along with them- and neither could the others. Not since they¡¯d come this far. ----- ¡°It has to be a trap of some kind,¡± Anton said. ¡°They all appear to be moving together. Not even attempting to take back any islands¡­ though admittedly only our allied sects are of value there. But they¡¯re leaving themselves open to flanking- ignoring our space fleets.¡± ¡°Sometimes,¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°People just make bad moves.¡± Present along with them was Merve. She no longer clung to Anton as her only source of balance, but it was still useful for her to remain nearby, in case a battle came about. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t the two of you be holding opposite opinions? Eulogius is usually the paranoid one.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°It¡¯s not paranoia when everyone is out to get you,¡± Everheart replied. ¡°When you have enemies plotting for your downfall through any available trick. Unfortunately for them, we were prepared for their tricks a century ago. And in terms of strength¡­ they made a poor bargain, coming here.¡± ¡°They should have some plan, though,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°They¡¯re just heading towards Brogora. Do they expect us to teleport reinforcements from Aicenith? They could swap locations, leaving us no choice but to have drained cultivators teleport back¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯re just heading for the easy hole in the formation,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°... hole? I thought you had been repairing the formations.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Sure. But someone left a hole at the northwest corner of Facraona. Maybe some spies could have found that out, in which case an invading army would gladly focus there.¡± ¡°... So when they arrive you¡¯ll suddenly return the formations to full functionality, trapping them inside?¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Everheart nodded, ¡°We could have done that, yeah. I¡¯m getting bored of waiting around though, so I kind of just left it¡­ vacant. It¡¯s still on the continent though, within prime crushing distance for more than a few local Assimilation cultivators.¡± Everheart intentionally put a hole in their defenses. That was¡­ extremely believable, actually. Why not fake it and have something for backup, though? That Anton couldn¡¯t help but wonder. Maybe he did, or maybe he thought that something hidden could be seen through. Or he was just so confident. ¡°Paradise will be cold,¡± Anton said for lack of other comments. ¡°He does pretty well up north with the help of those nice people living on his back,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°Also he could swim through the arctic seas and be fine.¡± Anton supposed that was true. He just didn¡¯t prefer to be in those waters when he didn¡¯t have to. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose we can change anything about the situation now. Though I would have preferred a warning.¡± ¡°Well, you know what they say. Not even the dead can keep a secret.¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think that¡¯s a thing people say,¡± Anton countered. ¡°They should.¡± ----- Even without defensive fortifications or any particular terrain advantages, being able to anticipate a battle location was excellent. Brogora gathered their Assimilation cultivators while Anton himself watched the enemy fleet. The combatants most effective on land would be positioned there, while those better at naval combat would be harassing the incoming fleets and preventing the enemy from landing everyone at once. Even if ships were destroyed the cultivators would swim- or run atop the water or fly- to shore, but it would be less organized and some could be killed along the way. As long as they didn¡¯t commit their fleets too early they could keep them safe. And their aerial forces would be able to engage at any point. Even if the enemy fleet suddenly shifted their trajectory, with their forces mobilized their fleets would have enough time to pick up their forces on land. Cultivators could bypass many of the restrictions others might have to concern themselves with. Of course, even with all of that the continental forces could expect many casualties. If they could commit every last warrior from both continents and the archipelago then their forces would be overwhelmingly more powerful, but they simply couldn¡¯t abandon everything. Even now the allied forces from the Archipelago were probing their former companion¡¯s islands for clues. Not willing to underestimate the enemy, Anton didn¡¯t bother politely waiting for them to be within a ¡®reasonable¡¯ distance. Instead, he began his assault once he was within range of both them and his allies, a distance he was confident in retreating before the two Augmentation cultivators could catch him, should they immediately give chase. Though if they actually came for him he might have different plans. The Great Queen certainly had some ideas about what she would do to Fajra. Instead, when his first arrows arrived, they took on a full defensive stance. They were prepared for that at least, augmenting the defenses of Anton¡¯s targets with help from their surroundings. That meant Anton caused little damage, but he had nearly an hour to pester them. His minor victories were sinking one ship and killing some of those on board, and forcing Juta to block several attacks for the flagship. That was what they knew about, anyway. The whole time he was relaying information about how they were arranged, informations that the fleets and ranged attackers would use to pick targets once the battle actually started. And after an hour of shooting, Anton was still nearly full on energy. As for his arm getting tired? It would take more than that. Thousands of arrows per day was his minimum. Of course, there were some differences when he was going full out in combat¡­ and as this was clearly going to be a pivotal battle he wasn¡¯t planning to conserve himself. The true start of the battle came with an exchange from both sides. First it was Nthanda from land, then a return of fire from the enemy¡¯s skyships, including a particularly impressive specimen he had only sensed moored at the Soaring Air Sect. They had their own archers, as well as other forms of ranged attacks. The Sect Head in particular had a metal ring, bladed on the outer edge. That was thrown, only to return to his hand after. Perhaps someone should try to catch it mid flight. That wasn¡¯t Anton¡¯s job, though. The sea fleets came in from the west before the enemy made landfall, with the flying ships having circled around behind. They focused on the Soaring Air Sect in the skies, as those were both the easiest targets for them and the ones that it would be most effective to remove. Especially with Juta and Fajra on board. The latter of course released her aura across the battlefield. Having experienced it before, some were more resistant- and others prepared to counteract it for their brethren. Merve fulfilled that role for some of those on land. Though she would have preferred to fly with the Ruterans, she would be too vulnerable at her current strength. Without waiting for things to become desperate, Anton made a decision. It had been a very long time since he attempted to make use of Candle Wax, and for good reason. Unlike Fleeting Youth which merely took advantage of his age and pushed him towards a place where he could not ascend or expect to reincarnate, Candle Wax burned away his lifespan. He was not sure how much of that he had left, but he could not think of a more important time to use it than now, when they could expel all of the invaders to their world- those who had remained in occupation for centuries, and those who came and went like raiders. Every individual from Ceretos he could save was another who could potentially replace him. Fire burned within and without, but Anton only smiled. Chapter 591 Two armies crashed against each other like great waves. Chaotic violence filled the area, forcing everyone to focus on the area around them. Ships and people clashed. Fire and ice, the epitome of which were Anish and Annelie, clashed with lightning and illusions and weapons of all kinds. There were even plants- mainly from Lev. He wasn¡¯t quite as dominating away from Grandfather Willow, but he still had great power on the same continent. Actual waves swept over the invading ships as Paradise introduced himself and those upon his back to the battlefield. On the other side, Fajra maintained her aura, a significant contribution to the battle even if it appeared as if she were simply not participating. Juta, on the other hand, had not yet left the command ship, seemingly looking for an opportunity. Rodolph of the Soaring Air Sect continued to menace the battlefield with his ring weapon, while others of the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Archipelago all had their own disparate fighting styles. Since the most powerful cultivator seemed content to stay out of things, Anton focused on smaller targets- though not insignificant. There were hundreds of Life Transformation cultivators present, but each second he pared down the enemy¡¯s numbers. He also picked out Integration cultivators, weaker for not having access to Ascension energy. The latter he couldn¡¯t necessarily kill as he pleased, but with additional effort and the fires burning inside him he still managed to take out two in the first minutes of the battle. Anton felt strange. It had been a long time since he last used Candle Wax. That was intentional. A forbidden technique that devoured one¡¯s lifespan was not something to use casually. Here, in this battle, it felt necessary. As he struck down enemies, he understood each of them could cause no more harm to Ceretos. The power of Candle Wax helped that. But¡­ strangely, while it certainly empowered him, it didn¡¯t have the same impact. It was expected to be a proportional increase in his power, but he didn¡¯t feel it was as significant. Was it because it didn¡¯t work the same way in the Assimilation stage? Certainly, it was an Everheart original and quite good at what it did, but not practiced or refined. Everheart hadn¡¯t even known of the existence of the stage when he made the technique. One of Anton¡¯s arrows pierced through a ship, leaving rings of flame rapidly spreading from its trajectory. His next one immolated the sails of one of the enemy skyships. The power was there, certainly. But not as much as he hoped. Perhaps he was running out of lifespan. That was a straightforward possibility. This could be his final battle, so he had no intention to hold back in any manner. Paradise repeatedly focused his attacks on the flying ships above, even as he sunk enemies all around him with his simple movements. Each time he dipped his head, he rose up with a lakeful of sea water and propelled it with immense force at the enemy flag ship. Everheart stood upon his head, fending off individual attackers who thought to assault his head or neck from behind. The Island Tenders, meanwhile, covered the whole of his shell and the surrounding area- while the phoenixes he had adopted flew the skies around him. Void ants joined the battle, their first major opportunity since the start of the war. If the continental forces had been badly losing, the enemy successfully infiltrating their countries, that would have been quite different. However, they were doing well enough that the void ants simply didn¡¯t have many chances to act before now. The enemy was quickly experiencing regret. The Exalted Archipelago was aware of the void ants¡¯ strength, but even they found themselves surprised. Ants swarmed cultivators, and whether they left behind a bloody corpse or an otherwise healthy individual devoid of energy, it made little difference. The stronger individuals moved in smaller groups, nearly impossible to detect in the chaos of battle with them being invisible to energy senses. The ants weren¡¯t invincible- they could be cut or crushed like anything of their various sizes, though they were more durable than actual ants. Many died, but so did their continental allies- no matter how quickly Anton worked his way through enemies. Then the moment came. Juta finally descended from her perch on the flagship, transforming into a gargantuan flying raptor- though with unbalanced wings, one clearly severed along its span. The rest was a mix between an eagle and a hawk, or perhaps some specific creature that did not exist on Ceretos. Anton immediately switched his target, bombarding her with arrows that barely served to slow her down. Yet the instant after that, something nobody expected happened. The oppressive aura dominating the battlefield was withdrawn. No, not withdrawn. Erased, as Fajra perished. In a moment of shock Anton¡¯s senses snapped to the scene. All he saw was Fajra¡¯s head falling to the ground. Rodolph of the Soaring Air Sect held in his hand a bloody ringed blade- and the storage bag from her waist. A sudden and unexpected event, unbelievable to the point Anton stopped everything he was doing to dispel potential illusions affecting him. Yet after a few moments, he found there was nothing at all, or he was so deeply affected as to be completely unable to resist. In which case, there was nothing he could do but accept this as reality. In the middle of a climactic battle, the joint enemy forces had one leader kill another. Nothing could have been better for the natives of Ceretos. It was enough that Anton almost forgave Rodolph for participating in the war. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Almost. As the man broke away from his own flagship- where a dozen Radiant Beauty Sect cultivators were charging towards him with the intent to kill- Anton followed him into the skies. Beneath them, Juta gave a flabbergasted and enraged look over her shoulder. No doubt she would have charged after them both, but she was immediately engaged by a half dozen Assimilation cultivators. Instead of immediately turning Rodolph into a pincushion, Anton took the reasonable approach. As Anton followed him into rapidly thinning atmosphere, he projected his voice through his energy. ¡°Why did you join in the attack?¡± Perhaps sensing a chance, Rodolph turned to regard Anton- though he did not slow his flight, even as he left the winds that empowered him. ¡°They threatened us with destruction.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Anton nodded. And if he had believed Rodolph, he would have not shot him through the heart. But though he senses fear in the man, that was not what had driven his actions. Rodolph feared Fajra. He also feared Anton. But greed had overcome both- now loaded with regret. Not at his decisions, but that it hadn¡¯t worked. None of Rodolph¡¯s torso survived Anton¡¯s shot. The Soaring Air Sect had once chosen to declare war on the continents, and been forgiven. Now, a man who was present had chosen to try again, even leveraging mutual foes. There would not be a third chance. Anton did make sure to grab Fajra¡¯s storage bag. Though he doubted it would contain all of the vast wealth an Augmentation cultivator would possess, it should at least contain many practical things- medicines for healing or training, for example. It only took a moment to kill Rodolph, a short time to have his focus drawn away from the battlefield. Yet in a battle, a single moment could change many fates. Fajra had died in a moment of poorly placed trust. A great explosion covered the battlefield, flames that scorched some while merely licking the faces of others harmlessly. That was a power Anton recognized as coming from Anish, but as it faded away the man himself had nothing left. Juta¡¯s great talon pierced through his chest, dangling him in the air- while behind him Annelie had a bloody wound of her own. Juta did not live long after that moment. The burst of Anish¡¯s energy had scorched away much of her defenses, and the combined attacks of those who had come to hold her off came with great fury. Devon¡¯s chains wrapped around her wings. Annelie summoned a spear of ice radiating the icy chill of death, piercing it into the raptor¡¯s abdomen. Even Everheart added his own attack to the mix- though he displayed little emotion in doing so. A cut severing the tendons in the one good wing, sending Juta spiraling downward towards Paradise where she was crushed in his jaws. When she reverted to her humanoid form, Paradise¡¯s tongue crushed her against the roof of his mouth- then spit her onto the shore. Or what had once been Juta, and was now little more than mangled bones. Anton¡¯s arrows added nothing to the vengeance, but they did contribute to quickly resolving the rest of the battle. Without their Augmentation cultivators, the remaining enemies were hopelessly outmatched. Yet there was to be no surrender for them. The Trigold Cluster were invaders from the upper realms, and those of the Exalted Archipelago were performing exactly the same function over a longer time frame. Had they started another war on their own, perhaps they would not have had to be exterminated, but this was clearly an attempt at extinction. One that did not go their way in the slightest. Fajra¡¯s storage bag did indeed contain some miraculous medicines, but as Anton came to land on the shores next to Annelie, he knew they would not help. Anish was already dead, and without a stomach they could not hope for the medicine to restore his body without his own consciousness. Yet seeing his granddaughter with tears frozen on her face, he could not stop himself from presenting a pill regardless. It burned with flames reminiscent of a phoenix. Annelie wasted no time breaking it down with her energy, distributing its power throughout Anish¡¯s body but focusing mainly on his ruined chest. Miraculously, Anton could see his flesh growing back as they watched. A minute later, Anish¡¯s body was whole. But that was all. Between the attack infused with the energy of an Augmentation cultivator and Anish¡¯s own last-ditch counterattack, his soul was already gone from his body. There was nothing left to make him alive, his intact body having no meaning. Seeing this, there were many things Anton thought to say. Anish was a powerful cultivator. Perhaps, like Prospero Vandale, he would reincarnate and retain many or even all of his memories. Assimilation did not prevent that- Anton was a special case in that regard. Anton could also speak of the value of Anish¡¯s sacrifice, how he saved many others and Annelie herself at that moment. But instead, he simply laid his hand on her shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know what it is like to lose the one you love.¡± Though his time with Janina had been less than Annelie and Anish, Anton couldn¡¯t have imagined being closer. They still spent a full lifetime together. Anton didn¡¯t say anything stupid like the pain fading with time. It might, but that was not useful to know in the moment. It still hurt to lose a spouse or child, or a brilliant grandson-in-law. Anton had drifted away from family that didn¡¯t cultivate, so their passings hadn¡¯t hit as hard. This was the first death in some time that hit so hard. And yet¡­ Anton felt inside of him. Though he¡¯d had the conviction to die in this battle, he had not. He tried his best to not let his mind linger on the possibility that he might have saved Anish, had he not chased after Rodolph. Whether or not it was true was irrelevant- the past was the past and he could not change it, so it didn¡¯t matter what could have been. They had to live with this. The same as all of the others, mourning their fallen. Companions in battle, human, void ant, and phoenix alike. Chapter 592 The conclusion of the war had come sooner than anticipated. With Rodolph of the Soaring Air Sect backstabbing Fajra, a battle that would have otherwise merely precipitated the end of the war became the final one¡­ with some minor exceptions throughout the Exalted Archipelago. However, with all of their strongest cultivators having joined the assault, any Assimilation cultivator could clean up the region alone. Anton found himself looking at the monolith island of the Soaring Air Sect. It would be easy enough to simply finish what he started, so long ago, severing the base of the island and sending it all crashing into the sea. Most of those living atop would die from the fall, or the sea beasts. It would also be a strong symbolic gesture. Yet he hesitated. The war had already brought enough death. On the other hand, was not the Soaring Air Sect the cause of that? Cries for mercy came from above. Anton could hear each and every one. He hadn¡¯t made his arrival subtle, and there was likely no soul upon Ceretos that would not recognize him directly or indirectly. Mercy, they asked for- but it was previous mercy that had led to them joining the war with an Assimilation cultivator, their sect head finding it more tolerable to team up with the Trigold Cluster rather than continue to peacefully coexist. ¡°You want mercy?¡± Anton projected his voice upwards. ¡°You shall have none of that from me.¡± Filtering the sounds of dozens of voices into actual comprehensible sentences was rather simple compared to aiming a hundred arrows at different targets in the midst of combat. ¡°... the women and children¡­¡± ¡°...we¡¯ve not acted personally¡­¡± ¡°...offer everything we have¡­¡± Anton hardened his heart. ¡°You think your wealth is worth anything, when I could simply take it? You think that just because you were too afraid to fight, you are not equally responsible? Your women fought and bore the spawn of those who would seek to wipe us out to the last, even though I previously spared you. And those children are the ones who were intended to profit most from the offenses. Innocent? Not one of you is.¡± Anton clenched his fist. ¡°You will receive no mercy from me. However¡­¡± Anton paused. ¡°There might still be a path for your survival. Seek the aid of those who chose to truly abstain from the war. Perhaps you can convince them to take you away with them. But we shall provide nothing¡­ and none of you will remain here and live.¡± An ultimatum. Perhaps one that could have used the touch of those who were experienced with contracts, but ultimately there was no point in having anything official. That was only useful where one side did not have total control, possessing all the power and even justification to do what they wished. Anton truly wished them all to perish¡­ but he also did not want to kill those who could not even attempt to defend themselves. Guilt lay upon them, despite their denials¡­ but death might not be the correct punishment. Though it would certainly by typical of cultivators. ----- The Hardened Crown Sect was the first to be prepared to depart, even if they were one of the more powerful sects- and thus had the most loose ends to tie up. It was simply that they had begun their work immediately upon Anton¡¯s ultimatum. Looks were exchanged between Anton and Naamah. Both sides had enough stubbornness that it had been clear from the beginning neither would change their minds. The Hardened Crown Sect had remained true to their word, staying out of the conflict on both sides. But there was no place for those with any sort of sympathy for their enemies. Ceretos had allowed their presence for too long. Anton looked at those boarding the ships. It was more than just the Hardened Crown Sect, but others from defeated groups. None from the Soaring Air Sect- they had not been so closely knit- but those with whom they¡¯d had close enough ties to refuse fighting. Personally, Anton would not have supposed those with such terrible judgment- about both the morality and viability of their attempts. Then again, what could a century or two of uneasy peace do to overcome millenia of propaganda from the upper realms? Most of them had thought themselves better than all of those ¡®from the lower realms¡¯, despite them all having been born and raised therein for uncountable generations. Some still had such thoughts. Now they would have to have them elsewhere. It was an arbitrary decision on Anton¡¯s part- one he should have consulted others about, even if they would have ultimately gone along with his advice. But it had simply happened without planning. Rutera, at least, was supportive. Though they had the capabilities for war, they were much more fond of exploration and settlement. Weos felt differently, which was why none would be settling in their direction. Instead, they would be shipped off to a system to the east. The various sects had been given the option to be planted in different locations- a number of planets viable for life were available- but it was also clear it would be reasonable to actually form a proper ecosystem with as many people contributing as possible. The initial years would require isolation as the atmosphere of the planets were adjusted, and things would continue from there. Rutera and Weos had colonized many planets within their systems, and they had knowledge for how to make it work- though the latter had primarily relied on formations sealing them off. Anton had gathered myriad information about how to build up a world¡¯s natural energy in particular, and he had never been shy about sharing it. Even so, he knew it would be difficult for them. It would take some time, and they would still be reliant on Ceretos to bring in shipments of new animals and plants at various points. But that was all years down the line. ¡°Good luck,¡± Anton said. ¡°I ultimately wish you well.¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°We will not need fortune,¡± Naamah replied, ¡°But I appreciate it nonetheless.¡± ----- ¡°What should we call it?¡± Anton asked Treloar. ¡°A good question. The simple answer is just ¡®The Archipelago¡¯, but that seems rather dull.¡± Treloar stroked his chin. ¡°It¡¯s not really northern, and given it¡¯s between the continents eastern and western wouldn¡¯t be appropriate.¡± ¡°How about redeemed? Sanctified?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°No, too¡­ pompous. It could just have a name, like Aicenith and Brogora. It doesn¡¯t have to have a meaning.¡± ¡°Or, we could give it a name with meaning and then wait long enough for the meaning to be lost to the ages.¡± ¡°The best possible result,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Whatever the case, I¡¯m glad to have you as part of Ceretos. A true part, instead of merely visitors waiting to leave as soon as they can. On that topic, have you considered how you will avoid being caught up in the Exalted Quadrant after ascensions?¡± ¡°We were hoping for help on your end there. You know some in the upper realms. They could put together formations to guide us there, and even if they were somewhat less extensive¡­ we should be able to make it with some intentionality. In fact, you should already be doing that for far more people. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re just letting them show up anywhere.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°That¡¯s not my responsibility. And my granddaughter has been quite busy with other things. I will make the suggestion, though it is quite possible she is already working on it.¡± ----- ¡°What do you mean empty?¡± Anton said in a manner that the already terrified messenger couldn¡¯t help but reel back from. That wasn¡¯t his intent, but with power like his any small annoyance could wash over someone like a wave in a storm. ¡°T-that¡¯s just it. Empty. Except for a letter. For you, apparently,¡± the man cowered back while holding it out for Anton. It was plain looking, but written in a familiar hand. Anton sighed as he read it. It wasn¡¯t particularly long, so it only took an instant. ¡°Hey there kid. Sorry I didn¡¯t say goodbye properly, but I had to set up this whole thing. I mean, I had to get paid for my contributions to the war somehow, right? Don¡¯t worry, I left all your secondary reserves. Your planet is so prosperous you¡¯ll hardly miss this in a century anyway. -Everheart¡± It wasn¡¯t long afterwards that Anton started being bombarded with messages. It seemed Everheart had cleaned out almost every major sect, somehow. And now he was gone¡­ probably. Anton did plan to check something on the moon though. Anton couldn¡¯t help but get a wry smile on his face. ¡°That old asshole.¡± ----- The ¡®battle¡¯ between Ty Quigley and Chikere was short. One was a talented Life Transformation cultivator, but he was a century and a phase behind. A dozen swords stabbed through his body in a pattern that should have absolutely killed him instantly if not for great care pushing organs out of the way. He looked like a porcupine, while at the same time a porcupine¡¯s victim- sharp things both going in and coming out of him at all angles. And of course, he was smiling. ¡°Oh wow. So it can be like that, huh?¡± Then he grimaced. ¡°... It¡¯s really hard to breathe with all of these in me.¡± Chikere nodded, withdrawing her weapons in a spray of blood- and then immediately pulling out a salve that was placed not only on the surface wounds but pushed inside, filling the gaps. It was specially made for the body to absorb and repair clean cuts and stabs- a product of the Million Sword Vault. Following that up with stitches to seal the wounds from the outside, and the survival rate of the Million Sword Vault disciples was shockingly high. Considering their vigor in training, at least. ¡°I need to get that arm now,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Didn¡¯t they say it would take decades of research to make one that can withstand you?¡± Ty asked. ¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ pretty sure the pathways to the upper realms will be cut off with the shifting of the tides of the world. You might get away with a couple years, but longer than that¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just have to ascend again,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°Can you do that?¡± Ty asked. ¡°I can do anything,¡± Chikere said with confidence. ¡°It just might take me a try or two. Or a thousand. But I¡¯ll figure it out.¡± She could barely cut open a small slice of space now, and the circumstances around ascension being what they were made it a special case- but she had confidence nonetheless. That confidence was justified solely by the fact that, so far, Chikere had been right about such things. ----- Two children were born on the same day- if such could be declared between two different systems- though nobody was aware of how close the timing was for quite some time. One boy, and one girl. Opposites in many ways, and in others much the same. For one mother, the child was her first- the other, her last. Both born to cousins of the same blood. The boy was held aloft by her mother, smiling with her husband nearby. ¡°We will call you Chidi, in honor of the one who gave us the hope of your existence.¡± The girl and her mother had many around them, but no husband or father. ¡°Anishka,¡± her name was declared. Little meaning was shared with the origin of her name, merely the sound. One was born into a world where war had just come to an end, and a long age of recovery would be followed by another of prosperity. The other was born into a world that had not felt the same sting of war in centuries. Of those born the same day, perhaps they would be no more important than the many millions born throughout the galaxy around them. Then again, what individuals could hope to be relevant on such a scale? Very few indeed. But to each of their families, they were of great value regardless of what future events might or might not bring for them. Chapter 593 Strong pillars and a roof surrounded the burrow leading into a nearby hill, a burrow that was clearly not constructed by human hands- or any hands. Yet it was intentional and solid, even reinforced at various points by humanlike support structures. It was not a small burrow, but rather massive merely to allow its denizens to fit inside. A small and curious child walked into the darkness he did not understand, feeling his way along the walls and floor just as he would any other place. Vertical shafts poking through the top of the tunnel to provide a modicum of light and air didn¡¯t affect Chidi¡¯s journey in any regard. They were just as mysterious as everything else, and less tangible since his arms didn¡¯t reach anywhere close to the ceiling. He continued onward until he heard something. Breathing. The clacking of something on stone. A strange whine. Then he ran face-first into a mountain of fur. Arms probed, feeling upwards. Traces of wetness along an edge led to something hard, a narrowing pillar of stone nearly the size of his arm. Not just one, but many overlapping similar shapes. Some pointed up, some down. Then the teeth clamped down on his arm uncomfortably, and he found himself lifted off his feet. ¡°Uwah! Help!¡± Chidi called out, forgetting that he had specifically snuck away from the sources of help. The creature with his arm began to move, bouncing his body as they went. His arms were trapped, and wriggling rubbed his upper arms uncomfortably against sharp points so he remained limp. Then he was set down, but not expecting the motion his legs were not prepared to catch him. He fell backwards onto familiar dirt and grass. ¡°Grrr,¡± an unfamiliar voice said. ¡°I don¡¯t know grrr,¡± Chidi said. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Then Chidi felt a familiar feeling wash over him, and knew his time was up. As expected, a moment later his mother appeared next to him, lifting him to his feet and holding his hand in hers. ¡°Thank you for bringing him, Spikes. As for you, Chidi, what have I told you about wandering off?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t wander off.¡± But he wasn¡¯t wandering. He was exploring. ¡°You¡¯re big, mister Spikes.¡± ¡°Spikes is a lady.¡± ¡°You¡¯re big, missus Spikes.¡± ¡°Rrah,¡± Spikes replied. ¡°I don¡¯t know that word either,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°It means be careful where you go.¡± ¡°... That¡¯s a lot of words for one word.¡± Catarina looked down at her son, ¡°How do you keep getting away?¡± If Chidi had been craftier, he might have kept that knowledge to himself. But he¡¯d gotten used to answering questions truthfully. ¡°I move when you aren¡¯t looking at me.¡± ¡°How can you even know when I¡¯m looking?¡± Chidi shrugged, ¡°I just know. You aren¡¯t looking now.¡± ¡°Of course I am. We¡¯re talking.¡± Chidi tilted his head in confusion. ¡°No. You¡¯re not.¡± ¡°Of course I- ah. How about now?¡± Chidi felt the warm fuzzy blanket that was both comforting and restrictive. ¡°Now you¡¯re looking.¡± The grip on his hand squeezed tighter for a moment. ¡°I see. You can sense energy already¡­ I suppose I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. Be careful, okay?¡± ¡°I am careful,¡± Chidi countered. ¡°You stuck your arms in a wolf¡¯s mouth.¡± ¡°What is a wolf?¡± That lack of knowledge was her own fault, given that they had some good friends that were wolves. But they couldn¡¯t take Chidi over to their den without constantly guarding him from playful but overly zealous wolf puppies. Fuzz and Spikes had pups that were only slightly larger than normal, but that meant they had teeth sharp enough to cause serious damage to a child like him. At least her worries that Chidi wouldn¡¯t be able to cultivate were unfounded. Though they had been foolish worries to begin with. Everyone could, to some extent, even if it was more difficult to get started in the upper realms where there was only upper energy- more powerful, but more difficult to control. ----- ¡°Do you think we¡¯re being too restrictive?¡± Catarina asked Timothy later. ¡°Your grandfather said raising children for the first time is just as difficult as reaching Life Transformation. Maybe we¡¯ll make some mistakes but¡­ we are trying to keep our son from getting hurt. Everyone should protect their children. Chidi in particular just¡­ has fewer ways to predict those dangers.¡± ¡°... Is this my fault?¡± ¡°No,¡± Timothy answered quickly. ¡°Of course not.¡± ¡°But I- all our troubles should have told me it wasn¡¯t meant to be. We finally had a child, and he was born¡­ like this.¡± Timothy wrapped his arms around Catarina, pulling her face into his shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. We both wanted it to happen¡­ and this just makes things a little bit harder. It could be worse.¡± Catarina leaned her head back and furrowed her brow, ¡°Worse than being born without eyes? No medicine can help that, because there¡¯s nothing to fix.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Timothy said. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to fix. He¡¯s our wonderful son. And if he had to be missing something, we should be glad that it is not cultivation ability.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, of course,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But it¡¯s still hard. For him, and for me to think about. Also¡­ did you know we have blind spots?¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°What I mean is that when I intend to fill my entire surroundings with energy for sensing, there are places that are less complete. And I can¡¯t even tell. But he can, apparently. He always slips into them, even if he¡¯s not sneaking off.¡± ¡°The constant observation probably makes him uncomfortable,¡± Timothy noted. ¡°What if we hire someone to watch him¡­ normally.¡± ¡°What do you mean? We can handle him.¡± ¡°We certainly can,¡± Timothy admitted. ¡°We can watch him across the city, and no doubt we will adapt to him trying to sneak off. We can arrive in an instant to protect him. But except during the evenings we spend together, the rest of the time our focus hasn¡¯t really been on Chidi. Having someone always there watching in a way that is less bothersome for him in particular¡­ might be best.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t it be one of us?¡± ¡°It could be,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But what we do is important. Can either of us afford to give up several years for that focus, especially right now? We can still keep up our current schedule, except the time when we would be watching from afar we can have someone wholly devoted and attentive.¡± Catarina sighed, ¡°I feel like you¡¯re just saying we¡¯re bad parents. And who would we trust with that?¡± ¡°Why not Spikes?¡± ¡°... And leave him with wolf pups all day?¡± ¡°Some of the day,¡± Timothy reminder her. ¡°And Spikes is just as capable of shielding him from an aggressive nibble as we are preventing him from stabbing himself with a fork. Besides, we also wanted to find some way for Fuzz and Spikes- and their children- to be more included in the community here. They are big and scary. We could get others involved and improve Chidi¡¯s social situation as well.¡± ¡°... We are overprotective,¡± Catarina sighed. ¡°He¡¯s four years old and lives in a house with a dedicated armory. We had to be careful.¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°Of all the things that cultivators excel at, however, that list is never raising children. Then again, most people in general are only passable. We just have to do our best. And keep him from being completely isolated.¡± ----- ¡°It¡¯s official,¡± Hoyt announced to the Xankeshan council. ¡°Everheart is back in the upper realms- and active. We anticipated that, of course, but now it¡¯s confirmed.¡± ¡°Do you think he¡¯ll return here for revenge?¡± Zazil of the Dark Ring asked. Catarina shook her head, ¡°Attempting to predict his movement is pointless. However, I do believe Xankeshan itself is secure from him for the moment. He was not able to take control of the local wards in his long duration occupying the planet, that should not change with them being better able to function. And I believe I can at least manage to keep him from having the time to figure them out.¡± ¡°More importantly,¡± Hoyt said, ¡°We only angered him indirectly. So we¡¯re¡­ probably not at the top of his list.¡± ¡°What did he do this time?¡± Prospero asked. ¡°Wipe out a fleet?¡± Velvet had been the one who brought this particular information. ¡°It was covered up but¡­ he drew mustaches on the statues of the saints. On Rouhiri.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ underwhelming,¡± Prospero admitted. ¡°He was on Rouhiri,¡± Velvet countered. ¡°And he set up formations that prevented them from fixing the statues. Currently the whole central square between their towers is covered up for ¡®renovations¡¯. They had to toss a huge box over the whole thing. Then they disappeared most of the workers and disciples who saw it.¡± ¡°Most?¡± Prospero asked. ¡°The disciples that reported it were dealt with in various ways, but some others saw it and didn¡¯t make themselves known. But the information is reliable. I think the whole thing is just informing people that he¡¯s back.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be easier for him to operate in secret?¡± Zazil asked. Hoyt shook his head. ¡°You know he only functions in high profile. And when he wants to be secretive, he can be. Like sneaking onto the main planet of a powerful sect with a kingly bounty on him.¡± ¡°Could it have been someone else?¡± Zazil asked. ¡°Someone that would do that and then could set up formations that weren¡¯t easily dismantled?¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t think of anyone that such things would align for. There are other formations grandmasters, but none with a conflict with the Harmonious Citadel and the inclination to pull a prank.¡± ¡°It¡¯s more than a prank,¡± Vari said. ¡°The Harmonious Citadel would see it as sacrilege of the highest order. It¡¯s a declaration of war, whether he intended that or not.¡± ¡°It does not seem that he is the type to do things by accident,¡± Zazil replied. ¡°Based on what we know of him.¡± Kseniya had been quiet up to that point. ¡°So, what? Is there something we should do about this?¡± Hoyt shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. We just need to be aware of his presence. He could show up at any time to cause trouble.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how that¡¯s different from any other time,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°Even when we knew he was in the lower realms, I expected he could show up to cause trouble at any moment.¡± To shift the topic away from Everheart being from their world- something not all of the council was aware of- Hoyt brought them to the next topic. ¡°Our current troubles are the ongoing conflict with the Harmonious Citadel. Our growth outpaces theirs for now- at least proportionately- but we¡¯ll still need to gather more groups to work against them. In addition, there is some possibility of the surrounding powers moving against us. Velvet, were you able to gain any information on that?¡± ¡°Only a small amount,¡± she admitted. ¡°Neither the Trigold Cluster nor the Exalted Quadrant are exactly open in their motives. We don¡¯t know how much they understand about us and our connection to certain places in the lower realms. It¡¯s not exactly secret, but they might not have looked. The good news is they still hate each other. Apparently along the southern border they had a few skirmishes as their armies returned from the shifting tides. That¡¯s nothing new, exactly, but they¡¯d mostly been ignoring each other¡¯s presence there.¡± ¡°Could that also not be bad news?¡± Zazil asked. ¡°If they go to war with each other again, we¡¯ll simply be caught in the middle. The Scarlet Midfields can¡¯t functionally resist either of them.¡± ¡°That is true,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But if something is to escalate, it will be over decades or centuries. We will have some opportunity to improve our strength before then.¡± ¡°What can happen in just another couple centuries?¡± Zazil asked. Catarina exchanged glances with those from Ceretos. ¡°We can get hundreds of Integration cultivators and, perhaps, a handful of Augmentation cultivators.¡± ¡°A handful?¡± Zazil frowned. ¡°That¡¯s both extremely ambitious¡­ and insufficient. How long do you mean?¡± ¡°Three centuries. Maybe two or fewer,¡± Catarina said confidently. ¡°I¡¯d personally place myself in the mid Integration stage right now.¡± ¡°Is that really possible?¡± Zazil asked. ¡°I have witnessed your growth potential, but¡­ it seems too fast. Can anyone even reach Augmentation in less than a millennium?¡± ¡°How old do you think Everheart is?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°... maybe nine hundred?¡± Zazil frowned. ¡°Less than six hundred,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Which meant he reached Augmentation before he was four hundred. I¡¯m only saying I shouldn¡¯t be much older than five hundred.¡± Zazil shrugged, ¡°I like your confidence. I hope it¡¯s justified. We could use that sort of boost to our alliance¡¯s power.¡± Chapter 594 Given the circumstances around her birth, Anton had been somewhat concerned that Anishka might have ended up overprotected. However, he¡¯d underestimated both the amount of experience Annelie had being a mother and the amount of trouble her daughter was capable of finding. Ultimately they struck a perfect balance of protection. For example, the girl was currently attempting to touch lava flowing around the sect, having unsealed various doors along the way, and Annelie was at this very moment yanking her back. When Anton arrived, Anishka was clearly upset- not because of the burns on her face and hands, but because of her mother. ¡°Let me go!¡± ¡°You¡¯re not allowed near the lava until you can control the heat,¡± Annelie said with the practiced patience of a mother of more than a few children. ¡°How can I control it if I don¡¯t get near it?¡± Anishka complained. ¡°You can learn to practice with something smaller. Like a candle.¡± ¡°But candles are boooring!¡± Anishka¡¯s eyes lit up as she turned to regard Anton. ¡°Grandpa Anton! Mommy won¡¯t let me play.¡± ¡°Nice try,¡± he said as he landed next to them. ¡°But I don¡¯t tell your mother what to do. She¡¯s much older than that.¡± ¡°But you tell lots of old people what to do!¡± Anishka complained. Anton smirked, ¡°And yet hardly any of them listen. So perhaps I should get more practice ordering people around.¡± ¡°Noooo~¡± Anishka complained. ¡°I don¡¯t want to listen to orders. I just want to train.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I suppose we can spend some time together doing that. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here anyway.¡± ¡°Yay!¡± Anishka raised her blistered hands high. ¡°Ow.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you head in and get some salves rubbed on you? I¡¯m sure it will make you feel better.¡± Anton said. ¡°¡®Kay.¡± Both adults watched to make sure she properly arrived in the safer parts of the sect. ¡°So what are you actually here for?¡± Annelie asked. ¡°A visit,¡± Anton said. ¡°Nothing else. But¡­ that¡¯s because I¡¯ll be gone for a while.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t heard about anything going on with the trifold alliance¡­¡± Annelie prompted. ¡°Nothing to do with them. Or the Sylanis Cluster. Or even Gnadus,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have a¡­ secret meeting I should get to. In general, I¡¯m going to be spending more time away from Ceretos.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Annelie couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°Because I¡¯m not needed here. And I would prefer things to remain that way. Letting people rely on my power is fine, but I don¡¯t expect to be around forever,¡± Anton explained. Though his lifespan was still uncertain, Anton had the feeling he could last a while longer as long as he continued cultivating and binding new stars- despite making use of Candle Wax. ¡°Besides, there¡¯s no way I could settle for just a few victories in the lower realms, when those arrogant bastards up above haven¡¯t been paid back in full.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget to drop by at least sometimes, then,¡± Annelie said. ¡°Anishka has grown used to seeing you regularly.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say I¡¯ll be as frequent of a visitor as I am now,¡± Anton admitted. It turned out that being able to fly anywhere on the planet in under an hour was quite useful for visiting people. ¡°But I¡¯ll be back regularly. As much as I can, considering.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Annelie said. ¡°And I suppose Aniskha will have to get used to it.¡± ¡°She¡¯ll be alright,¡± Anton said. It wasn¡¯t like Annelie needed his help. Parenting was hard, but nothing that was impossible for an individual of Annelie¡¯s caliber, despite her other responsibilities. ----- In some ways, Anton was already late to his meeting. In others, he had already waited nearly a century for the chance- a couple years here or there wouldn¡¯t make much difference. This was still more or less right after the end of the ¡®cycle¡¯, especially since the tides of the world flowed differently in different parts. Space travel was still long and lonely, but Anton did his best to pass the time with cultivation, mainly focusing on strengthening his connection to existing stars. Even away from his bound stars, his strength continued to grow- though he certainly didn¡¯t have much in the void of space. The only positive thing was that as he traveled more, he incrementally increased his speed as his strength and proficiency grew. He could travel to Rutera and back faster than most of their ships could make the trip in one direction, which cut weeks off of visiting neighboring systems. Reaching the Hidden System- or rather one of its neighbors- was still a matter of months. When he arrived, he considered binding the star- he had more than a handful of available systems, though he tried not to maintain too many for the sake of his growth. However, even if this system was unoccupied, its neighbors and thus the ones with the best claim to it might not approve. Since Anton wanted to remain in their good graces, it was best not to risk anything. A quick trip around the system and he arrived at the barren planet where he¡¯d left a note. That had been read and responded to, and now it was time to use their communication device. He gave the code phrase and¡­ waited. He didn¡¯t expect an immediate response, but after a week he wondered at the technology they had available. To his understanding of such things the formations were lackluster compared to Catarina¡¯s latest designs. Slower. It¡­ had to transmit faster than light speed though, right? Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Perhaps not. If they had recognized his arrival immediately, coming back years later and finding a response might have meant just barely missing someone. Even the upper realms had difficulty transmitting between upper and lower with great speed and capacity. He¡¯d finally learned the details there after the Worthy Shore Society officially split from them. A month passed. Anton practiced cultivation, not willing to leave the planet in case he missed something. The fire burned in his dantian, but he also did not neglect his archery. Without targets of interest he had to provide for himself puzzles and challenges- like shooting two arrows in opposite directions around the planet and having them hit without altering their trajectory along the way. If the planet had an atmosphere his range would have still been significantly short of that accomplishment, but without it simply meant keeping the energy solid and understanding the pull of gravity. As it turned out, what he thought to be very minute inconsistencies throughout the planet were significant on that scale. A bit of high density under the ground followed by a low spot and his arrows were off target by kilometers, let alone striking the sub centimeter profile they required. The adjustments were easy to do, but the point was to not need it. Six months passed. Anton was now attempting to shoot three arrows, all of which would converge on a single point. He could manage handfuls of arrows aimed at opposite sides, as any that began close together would deal with the same fluctuations, but that was more like shooting two wide arrows in either direction. Here, he split the planet in thirds as his arrows circled around. One year. He was learning to target any point on the planet, which required fine control over each projectile¡¯s velocity and how it would change. He was also beginning to think he¡¯d never get a response. Then a figure appeared next to him. ¡°You¡¯re very patient.¡± Anton very nearly shot the thin old man, with his pale blond hair fading into white and silver in most places. He certainly raised his bow, his reflexes going that far before being taken over by a level of conscious control. It wouldn¡¯t have mattered, but it wasn¡¯t a good sign. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ not particularly fast,¡± Anton said. ¡°How do you know? I could have been here for months.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°No. I would have noticed. Besides, you¡¯re implying that you¡¯re here now. But not just yet, I think.¡± ¡°Well,¡± the man shrugged, not bothering to deny he was an illusion. ¡°Depends on how you count it. I didn¡¯t want to surprise you¡­ too much. I take it, then, you left the message?¡± ¡°And you the response,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Since nobody else comes here, that¡¯s pretty certain.¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re here alone,¡± the man admitted. ¡°You wanted it to be secret. So I kept it that way.¡± ¡°I appreciate it. Are you¡­ actually alone?¡± the man asked. ¡°There¡¯s no one else here.¡± ¡°I mean, do you have allies? A planet?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°And you didn¡¯t bring anyone?¡± ¡°If you had ill will, and the ability to defeat me, I couldn¡¯t see the point in bringing anyone to die.¡± ¡°Confident in your strength, then,¡± the illusion nodded. ¡°Though I suppose you should be, living without air. Or¡­ any visible source of sustenance.¡± ¡°I manage simply through natural energy. Are you going to be long?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯d rather have this conversation in person.¡± ¡°No. Not long.¡± Fortunately, that didn¡¯t mean another year or even another month. Instead, the man arrived within an hour, leaving behind a ship and crew away from the planet. This time, the man touched down with his own two feet- or an exceptionally convincing illusion. ¡°I realize we did not introduce ourselves,¡± the man said. ¡°I am Caradog of Doruma, head of the Wandering Heart Sect..¡± ¡°Anton of Ceretos, head of the Order of One Hundred Stars,¡± Anton inclined his head. ¡°We just finished repelling the upper realms from our planet¡­ for the second time in as many centuries.¡± Caradog raised an eyebrow, ¡°Two successes? Impressive. We managed just one, eight centuries ago. Even now, we are still recovering.¡± ¡°Then I should give both my congratulations and my condolences,¡± Anton said. ¡°The damage we sustained was¡­ tolerable.¡± Anton looked the man over. His appearance was the same as the illusion, which perhaps indicated honesty, or just consistency. His cultivation was a mystery, though Anton could say he was at least at the peak of Life Transformation. It was unclear if he had made the step beyond, however. ¡°The Trigold Cluster lost three Augmentation cultivators, between us and one of our neighbors.¡± The man whistled- a fully artificial noise without an atmosphere. ¡°Really? I¡¯m¡­ more than impressed. It certainly doesn¡¯t sound like bragging, either. Tell me, did you take them down with your own hands?¡± ¡°One fell to the betrayal of a foolish alliance with the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s permanent residents,¡± Anton said, looking for a reaction to the name. If Doruma was a subsidiary planet of them, he would prefer to just avoid them. ¡°The other was killed by a turtle.¡± Caradog certainly showed interest and recognition, but nothing suspicious. ¡°That sounds like an impressive turtle.¡± ¡°He is,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Have the members of the Exalted Quadrant¡­ caused any trouble for you?¡± ¡°Quite a bit,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°And we no longer have any residing in our system.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Caradog said. The whole time, he was clearly studying Anton- and Anton did the same in return. ¡°Since you are no friends of theirs, I would like to extend an offer for you to visit. We must stay secret, of course, so if you would find that difficult we can continue talking here.¡± ¡°I would hope that someday you would be comfortable in the open, but I can keep your existence secret. I simply need to limit my coming and going. Though if we could speak at a distance¡­¡± Anton gestured to the communication device left for him. ¡°That is not possible, I¡¯m afraid.¡± ¡°Ours might work,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But I understand if you don¡¯t trust them. My granddaughter developed them before she ascended.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Caradog said the pale haired man as he led Anton towards the ship. ¡°Perhaps we will reach that level of trust some day. Though it is unlikely it would work through our¡­ concealments.¡± ¡°It might,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Maybe a few modifications would be needed though. Not my specialty.¡± ¡°So,¡± Caradog asked, ¡°Do your people have news of the upper realms? We cut ourselves off to maintain our safety, so any knowledge is over a millennium outdated.¡± ¡°Some of those who ascended to the Scarlet Midfields have managed to maintain contact,¡± Anton said, slightly obfuscating the truth. ¡°Though I¡¯m not sure what will interest you. Have you heard of Everheart?¡± No reaction. Good. He certainly shouldn¡¯t have, but nobody who knew Everheart had no reaction. ¡°Should I have?¡± ¡°No, I suppose he showed up after your isolation,¡± Anton explained. He wasn¡¯t sure if he would gain anything out of this except confirmation that there were others who had resisted the upper realms, but that was really all he wanted to begin with. And he could perhaps provide some hope for the Hidden System- Doruma. Chapter 595 As expected, the space faring ships of Doruma didn¡¯t differ all that much in design from seafaring vessels. That was the baseline understanding for cultivators, though isolated systems in the lower realms seemed to have their own quirks. The ship belonging to the Hidden System had formations woven directly into its sails, drawing in power as it traveled. There might have been further features, but Anton knew his understanding of formations would always remain behind specialists. Inside was the usual cramped arrangement of ships, as more weight and size in general took more energy to move and protect. Even the captain¡¯s quarters barely had room for a few chairs around a table. It was far from the most opulent arrangements Anton had seen, even in vessels that were supposed to be practical. Caradog sat and gestured for Anton to do the same. ¡°Though we kept ourselves cut off, I am quite interested to hear about what is happening in the upper realms. Whatever you can say.¡± ¡°What can I say? There is much, and yet so little we actually know. But I will do my best,¡± Anton nodded. He covered what he knew, especially with relation to the Trigold Cluster and the invasions. The pale haired man obviously approved of Ceretos¡¯ successes. ¡°Impressive, if rather¡­ bold.¡± ¡°We did not consider hiding our whole system. It would have likely been impossible, with Catarina ascending to the upper realms.¡± Anton considered for a moment. ¡°Speaking of which, do your people ascend?¡± ¡°What choice do we have, to continue advancing cultivation?¡± Anton grinned slightly, ¡°More than you¡¯d think.¡± He wasn¡¯t going to begin teaching the man about Assimilation immediately, having known him for less than an hour- but if Caradog and Doruma as a whole were worthy of a certain level of trust, he wouldn¡¯t mind sharing. ¡°Since you have people ascend, perhaps you would be interested in coordinating efforts in the upper realms.¡± It was possible some might have already signed up with Anton¡¯s allies- he didn¡¯t have a list of every single person and the planets they came from in the lower realms, after all. But perhaps that would be of interest, coordinating between the realms. ----- After some time getting to know Caradog and the crew, Anton determined them to be at least as trustworthy as he could expect any human to be. Where goals aligned, they could certainly be allies- there were no huge philosophical differences that had to be overcome. The weaker members of the crew were still treated well enough, whereas many cultivators got into the habit of treating them as something lesser. And there was one goal large enough that they could share it for the length of any foreseeable future. While Doruma might have hidden themselves, that did not necessarily make them cowards who would not fight. Indeed, the only correct choice when faced with the potential of being wiped out was to hide. Surviving and enduring was an admirable success. The only area Anton found himself disappointed was speed of interstellar travel. But they could hardly be blamed for that, likely having engaged with even their neighboring systems very little. ¡°There are techniques available for quicker travel,¡± Anton said to Caradog, ¡°Though perhaps they wouldn¡¯t be used enough for the expense.¡± ¡°We have indeed have very little opportunity,¡± the man admitted. ¡°We might be interested in purchasing such knowledge, however.¡± Anton didn¡¯t say anything silly like they could have it for free. Perhaps once he knew their world better, but he could learn much from what they were willing to trade- and perhaps they might have unique resources. However, he had given no training or anything but safe information about the upper realms and cultural discussion. It was a shame to waste potential months like that, but he wanted to know their world as a whole first. Caradog had his own insights to meditate on during travel, and they couldn¡¯t exactly do any serious training in the void between stars, without room or a way to replenish much energy. ----- Anton had feared they would spend an entire year in transit- though a single year wasn¡¯t that much compared to his total life, he still would not consider the time insignificant. However, as they were approaching the six month mark Caradog came to him. ¡°We are approaching our system now,¡± he said, ¡°But I realized I left out some details of our system. I spoke of the Wandering Heart Sect, and others¡­ but the system itself I did not describe.¡± ¡°You mentioned a number of the planets,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Perhaps, but I did leave out some of the most important details. Doruma is somewhat of a unique system with how it is arranged¡­ features we leveraged to empower the concealment formations. Though perhaps it would be better to see it with your own eyes. Come up on deck with me.¡± Together, the two of them looked at¡­ nothing. It still appeared to be empty space, which was exactly the point. As they drew closer, however, Anton could just make out the layers beneath. Knowing that something was there certainly helped, and there was something else that drew him in. Then the veil slowly peeled back, as they crossed the threshold. Revealed in front of Anton was the system¡¯s star. They were extremely close, which was odd because Anton felt the bubble was much larger than it should be. And off center. However, as they passed by the star, Anton was able to pick out more of the system. Focusing on his eyes, he could pick out the most minute details- a necessary feat when the sun was attempting to drown out all other light. He saw them, minute points overshadowed but slowly more visible as they passed the star, until the ship shadowed them just enough. Five other stars, arranged as if on the faces of a cube. Their relative motion seemed nonexistent, which was very odd indeed. Furthermore, Anton could just pick out the closest planets, orbiting in strange ellipses that never went around any of the stars, but rather between them as if there was one massive star in the center so far out as to be almost. Which there wasn¡¯t. Nor was there a black hole, though that would have certainly explained something. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Amazing. How do they remain in equilibrium?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t fully know,¡± Doruma admitted. ¡°You can¡­ sense them?¡± ¡°I can see them,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though I do have some ability to pick out stars in particular.¡± They had to pass through most of the system to reach their destination- the planets orbited close to the extreme limits of the concealment formation, approximately as far from the center as the stars. ¡°With differing orbits like that, how do your planets not crash into each other?¡± ¡°Good luck,¡± Doruma said, ¡°Though that was more due to the formation. They synched up with each other in a way that they do not intersect at the wrong time, ever since their formation. Though there is evidence that perhaps a few did, consuming each other. It is quite stable now, however.¡± A fascinating place. The stars were closer together than he would have expected as well. As they passed through the center, Anton couldn¡¯t help but think about how strong he would be if he bound all the stars. But as tempting as it was to just try it would also be rude- and potentially risky. Binding Okloi¡¯s two stars had gone well, but this was a great step from there. Their destination planet of Itholla was the home of the Wandering Heart Sect, and it also happened to be a gas giant. With moons orbiting the gas giant, the entire balance of orbits had to be extremely complicated. And perhaps not completely natural. Anton couldn¡¯t think of any way for the stars themselves to remain in their relative positions. A truly amazing place to visit, even if nothing else came from it. The moon they headed towards had its own atmosphere, if thin. As they approached, Anton appraised it with his senses. It had life living wild away from the cultivators, plants and animals and all the sorts of things that didn¡¯t fit into either category. Yet they were sparse, leaving the whole thing feeling somewhat barren. And that was where there was anything except craters or other scars on the surface. As for the population¡­ the density of humans was not terribly high. However, he could sense buried under what seemed to be hills the remains of other sects and cities. Ruins. ¡°Is it like this everywhere?¡± ¡°More or less,¡± Caradog shook his head. ¡°From what I understand, we were quite prosperous even with the invasions. Many and varied natural resources to support our populations spread throughout our planets. But the last time we were even more so. Stronger, enough to resist¡­ but that led still to a great destruction. In some regard, it is possible more of us died than would have had we simply let them kill and loot as they pleased. However, we kept our cultivation techniques and traditions intact, along with enough who could teach the next generation.¡± ¡°I imagine much effort was also focused on establishing the formation.¡± Anton added. ¡°Yes. It took most of that cycle, in fact, leaving us with just two centuries since then.¡± To Anton¡¯s eyes, it didn¡¯t look like fourteen hundred years of growth- counting their surviving cycle. They truly must have been on the edge. But also¡­ they seemed to be missing several critical components. Things they might not have considered all that important. ¡°Do you want to increase your population?¡± Anton asked. ¡°We certainly don¡¯t dislike the idea,¡± Caradog replied, ¡°But growth is slow.¡± ¡°Are the ecosystems of other worlds similar?¡± Anton questioned. ¡°What sort of crops do you grow?¡± ¡°For¡­ medicinal pills?¡± Anton nodded. So they were missing what he thought. All sorts of mundane and perhaps slightly better than mundane things to fill in the lower levels. Things that could fill bellies, and once things had developed properly, also fill dantians with natural energy. ¡°I¡¯m sure I mentioned how we developed Ceretos. I am willing to offer my expertise¡­ for quite reasonable prices.¡± Anton honestly just wanted to see everything overflowing with natural energy, but just giving everything away for free wouldn¡¯t necessarily sit well with Caradog. Anton wasn¡¯t here for charity purposes, but rather they met as potential allies. And even if that went nowhere, Anton could at least make people¡¯s standard of living greater. ----- Everheart looked at himself, and the other one of himself, and the other other one of himself. He had already learned his lesson about leaving projections around for centuries. However, after setting up basic formations to distribute the necessary energy, he could have many temporary projections. That was all they were ever meant to be to begin with, but he¡¯d grown lazy and made them perpetual. He wouldn¡¯t ever do that to himself again, for fear of his own retribution. He¡¯d picked out a nice little system to the north. Close to the border with the core region- a place that even those in the upper realms did not travel. There was little chance of anyone stumbling across his operation regardless, but best to be certain. This time, instead of limiting himself to a single moon or planet, he thought he might truly cover the whole system. That seemed more appropriate. Of course, that would take an immense amount of resources. He¡¯d gotten a reasonable jump start from Ceretos¡¯ sects, but he¡¯d need more. The Harmonious Citadel would be on the list, obviously, but now that he was recovered he could pay visits to the Trigold Cluster and Exalted Quadrant as well. They had huge piles of resources they were squandering, might as well take them into good hands. He might need more projections, though. And maybe a century or two. But that wasn¡¯t too much of a concern. A year or two scuttling about wouldn¡¯t be enough for the projections to diverge horribly, and while remaking all of them every time would be a pain, it would be even a worse pain if any of them got stupid ideas. And unfortunately, he couldn''t prevent them from knowing about the successes without potentially screwing up and leaving them missing some of his genius. He¡¯d also need a lot of energy. Maybe he could disassemble a star or something. This sort of work wasn¡¯t going to be cheap. Or fast, because he couldn¡¯t make infinite projections. He might even hire some people to help out. What a weird thought. Working with others? He¡¯d hold off on such drastic measures until he knew he needed it. Chapter 596 A sleek metal shell filled with wires and all sorts of artificial bones, muscles, and tendons began its journey from Chikere¡¯s shoulder. Comparing to her left arm, she could feel more than a few minor differences, besides the obvious one of it not being made out of flesh. But while she could absolutely dismantle a human body, and knew how it worked on a basic level, she didn¡¯t study anything below the scale it was relevant to cut. So despite not understanding her new arm either, it wasn¡¯t that different. She flexed her arm, and then her other arm. That felt odd, mostly because she could feel anything at all. Anything good, anyway. She¡¯d had memories of her arm being destroyed, and the details of that weren¡¯t exactly pleasant. Despite how long it had been since she possessed the limb, it was extremely natural to move ¡®her arm¡¯ again. She bent her elbow and wiggled her fingers, feeling how they moved. It was quite fascinating. ¡°How does it feel?¡± the doctor who attached it asked. His name was¡­ Escarra. She should at least try to remember helpful people. ¡°Good. Strange,¡± Chikere admitted. ¡°It¡¯s missing some things I hoped for.¡± ¡°Well, your requirements were quite¡­ extensive and specialized. There¡¯s only so much that can be put together at once. The materials required for your performance requirements took quite a bit of work and tuning to put together,¡± Doctor Escarra explained while Chikere marveled at having her main hand again. Despite how much she¡¯d used her left, for some reason she was still clearly more proficient with her right. She tightened her grip on a hilt just feeling it. ¡°There¡¯s still some work to do so today we¡¯re just going to do minor tests. Try not to-¡± Chikere drew number one and slashed forward. Normally, that would have chopped the building in half- or at least made a nice slice all the way to the outside, depending on the arc of her swing- but she could hardly be a grandmaster if she couldn¡¯t control what she wanted to cut. Her sword flashed, and a speck of dust split in two. Then her arm fell limp at her side. ¡°- to push the natural energy intake by rapidly flooding it,¡± Doctor Escarra sighed. ¡°Oh. Sorry.¡± Chikere¡¯s arm was numb. But, it was still there. There was a tingling sensation as feeling returned, though the whole thing was a bit less responsive afterward and Chikere smelled smoke coming from it. ¡°The intention was to get some data on how it reacts and what you can do, then slowly iterate on the design until it meets our standards. Since you are going to be returning to the upper realms at some point, we would eventually move onto testing with ascension energy¡­¡± Doctor Escarra shook his head. ¡°If we can get that.¡± ¡°Anton can get that,¡± Chikere said. ¡°So I¡¯ve heard. I thought to practice Fleeting Youth myself, but I¡¯m too old to make many strides in cultivation.¡± ¡°Or not old enough,¡± Chikere countered. ¡°Perhaps,¡± the doctor shook his head. ¡°Even if I could reach the cultivation required I wouldn¡¯t be interested in ascending. Reincarnation seems interesting, but it is apparently difficult to decouple the different energies.¡± The man shook his head. ¡°So very few have had any success at all with the technique. But that¡¯s not what you¡¯re here for. We¡¯ll do¡­ what tests we can. Then it will take some time to get things to the next stage.¡± Chikere found it odd how Ruterans tended to make things they knew wouldn¡¯t work. Did smiths do that? She sort of assumed they made their impressive projects as they pleased once they had enough experience, but perhaps every sword before then counted as prototypes for specific features. She couldn¡¯t say, because she wasn¡¯t in the sword creation business. ¡°What do you need me to do, then?¡± Chikere asked. Feeling her arm, even for a short time, had been quite interesting. She would have to thank Ty for suggesting it- and of course Nicodemo for getting her access to Doctor Escarra and the rest of the team. ----- Everheart was running into a problem. It wasn¡¯t a matter of having limited options, but having too many. He had his initial plans, of course, setting up for the future. But what else could he do now? And if he happened to be obtaining resources from a larger faction, which ones should he focus on and what else should he do while he was there? If he simply snuck into the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s vaults and took their most precious objects, or the original copies of their techniques, or their miraculous medicines then he would have merely increased his own wealth. Valuable, but only to a certain extent. Their influence would at most decline a tiny amount, while his would remain basically the same. It wasn¡¯t as if he could ever inform anyone of exactly how much wealth he had. That would only invite concerted efforts to remove him, instead of improving his position. So if he couldn¡¯t improve his own security outside of developing his system, he had to lower his enemies. By taking out a saint, for example. But that was a bit difficult. Despite their greater power, he had his eyes set on the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster. They had power, but their cohesion was weaker. They had grown too large, and the factions inside of them would vie for power regardless of what they tried to display outwardly. However, simply destabilizing one wouldn¡¯t do. Oh no, not at all. If the Exalted Quadrant got in a civil war and devastated half of their population, the Trigold Cluster would take that as an easy option to move into the Scarlet Midfields and maybe even consume the Exalted Quadrant. No, they both had to experience sufficient disruption, if he were to do that. That would require some research. And if he robbed a few former emperor¡¯s tombs while in the middle of that, all the better. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ----- The Wandering Heart Sect occupied one single location around Itholla, which was simply part of the wider Doruma system. For the past few months, Anton had been introduced to various high-ranking individuals. Not all had been as eager as Caradog to receive a visitor like Anton, but they were eventually assured that he was not present with hostile intentions. Eventually things came to what Anton could do for them, and what they could do for him. Anton began with an exchange of seeds. Simple ones that grew well when tended but would not easily become invasive species, crowding out natural vegetation. Some animal diversity would be preferred, but between every planet in the Doruma system enough variety had survived. There simply hadn¡¯t been many people determined to deal with those particular issues. Much of it was preserving their cultivation traditions, making sure new generations were raised and the concealment formations maintained. Everyone was responsible for keeping the system safe, and they had their own ships to inspect and potentially repair some of the free-floating anchors that formed it. ----- Sweat dripped down Anton¡¯s brow as he tilled the soil. This brought him back to memories of long before¡­ but also more recent memories. His life as a farmer had of course been filled with such work, but even as he began energy cultivation he had performed similar labor to temper his body and grow crops suited for cultivators to consume- though nowadays he would say the particular specimens were subpar. He hadn¡¯t stopped there, however. In the process of building up Ceretos, Anton had contributed work with his own hands frequently- both as demonstration and a sign of solidarity. Anton couldn¡¯t tend an entire world¡¯s crops¡­ or if he could, he wouldn¡¯t want to. However, he could toss together a field in a short time. Rocks in the soil were crushed with his energy or removed in the same swings that he moved entire rows of dirt. He wiped his brow. ¡°For this kind, you¡¯ll want larger rows than you might expect,¡± Anton explained to Caradog- and more importantly the elders and disciples focused on agriculture for the sect. Most sect focused them on medicine, but the right combinations of crops could provide growth in many ways, from nutrition to cultivation growth to improving the soil and the ambient natural energy. ¡°These tubers were first cultivated in Ambati, found wild in massive tangles. Since then we¡¯ve developed them to stay more separate, but they still can grow clusters a meter across, nearly a single ball. That¡¯s why you want to make sure the mounds are sufficiently sized and separated for that growth. You should still plant them in half meter increments, as some won¡¯t immediately begin to grow, and even if they sprout adjacent to each other it will be relatively efficient.¡± Anton demonstrated by tossing the seed tubers into a row, then waving his hand to settle the earth atop them. After the whole field was settled, he released some of his energy to feed them their first meal. One of the farming elders asked questions on everyone¡¯s minds. ¡°Is it really worthwhile to provide them with our own natural energy?¡± ¡°For a single harvest, perhaps not,¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°You could simply absorb the natural energy in the surroundings for yourself, and let them fend for themselves. These tubers would still survive and grow, and eating them would be valuable for cultivation for those in Body Tempering or others with low energy requirements. You could maintain that year after year, pretty much indefinitely.¡± Anton grinned, ¡°Or you could look to a decade or century from now. If you are willing to restrain yourself a bit, you can look forward to two or three times the ambient energy, maybe more depending on how vigorous you are. That energy will be suitable for training Essence Collection or Life Transformation cultivators. And of course, you are not actually losing much by giving of your energy. You will still absorb some energy for yourselves, while properly feeding the plants can be training.¡± Caradog took over there. ¡°Sect Head Anton has experienced the transformation of his own world over centuries, so he knows of what he speaks.¡± Though Caradog hadn¡¯t personally observed Ceretos, he could determine Anton was trustworthy. He did not ask for great payment upfront, but rather would wait until people could observe several years of results. And simply having him around was helpful, as he was not shy with giving cultivation advice to those who asked. The man seemed to have studied a great many techniques, such that he didn¡¯t even need to see the Wandering Heart Sect¡¯s core cultivation manuals to determine important features. Caradog was tempted to have Anton transform the Wandering Heart Sect into the most powerful within the system¡­ and perhaps they would be if he was able to put Anton¡¯s methods into practice. However, he couldn¡¯t be so selfish as to keep this man just to himself and one moon. ----- Chidi wrapped his arms around a wolf¡¯s neck as he rode her around. Unlike humans, most of the pups had no names yet. They would gain them as they grew older, given to them by either their parents or perhaps some human cultivators. Communication was limited with his new friends. They could not speak, he could not read something scratched into the ground- though they were working on that. If the gouges were deep enough to not wipe away, he could trail his hand across and get some sense of it, but certain letters blurred together. Not that the wolf pups did much writing anyway. No, their main forms of communication were still yipping and wrestling. They were sometimes a bit overzealous, but while Chidi sometimes found himself with scratches he never felt actually in danger. Though his mother and Spikes had watched intently for some time. ¡°When can I learn to cultivate, mother?¡± Chidi asked. He knew she was listening, with her senses on him, but he couldn¡¯t trace that back to the source. ¡°Not until you¡¯re older,¡± his mother said. ¡°And don¡¯t think just because you try to talk like an adult I¡¯ll think you are one.¡± ¡°Auntie Alva began cultivating when she was not much older than ten,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Surely you won¡¯t force me to wait until I am an adult?¡± That didn¡¯t quite get the response he wanted. ¡°Wait another five years and we can talk about it.¡± Disappointing. But there was also something hidden behind the words he couldn¡¯t quickly discern. Was she hiding something? There were always things his mother didn¡¯t want him to know. Or any adults. And while he wasn¡¯t able to see their expression, slight changes in tone could reveal at least that he was missing something. But wasn¡¯t he always? Chidi couldn¡¯t wait. But five more years¡­ that was basically forever. Chapter 597 Runes made of precious gemstones inset into carefully carved rocks filled the floor. Layers above and below repeated the same pattern, a cylinder with inbuilt spiderweb patterns. Someday it might be a giant tower. If it were buried underground, it would be like the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s formation upon Rouhiri, where Alva first arrived in the upper realms. Such things were slow to build and massively expensive in both time and resources. Add on the additional power usage, and only large sects could afford to use them. The entire alliance that worked with Catarina was not as much as the Harmonious Citadel, but someday they would match them. And before then¡­ they could take advantage of specific connections they had, and their communications with the lower realms. It was unfortunate that the formation couldn¡¯t yet grab everyone ascending- on the other hand, that was only because of the high frequency of ascensions from Ceretos¡­ and now Weos and Rutera. Currently the formation could only be tuned to a few styles at a time. The ability to exchange more complex information such as full techniques between the upper and lower realms was the only thing that made that possible- or Catarina would have only been able to set it for the Hundred Stars and maybe a couple more. They didn¡¯t exactly have a flood of people coming in, but retuning took about a week for each component it was trying to find. Currently, Catarina was expecting someone from Rutera- sometime in the next few days. She checked the available power levels. Xankeshan was producing a good amount of power now, but it also had to expend much of that power for the sake of the formations surrounding the planet. The current iteration of the arrival zone only lasted a few months at a time- which was barely enough to get a handful of specific individuals. First, they had to predict their ascension- which wasn¡¯t always possible. That might have a month of variability especially if one considered message travel times. Then once they actually ascended, it could take a month to arrive. The last was just some leeway on the back end, and to account for multiple individuals. It was amazing how such a relatively small formation took so much power, but it did have to sweep a vast region of space and bend individuals towards its own location. Even then it only worked because of the special circumstances involved with ascensions. ¡°This is boring,¡± Catarina sighed, ¡°I hope he arrives soon.¡± ¡°You know you don¡¯t have to constantly watch it, right?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Sure, but he should be coming soon and I need an assistant.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure Uzun isn¡¯t coming to be your assistant. He¡¯s supposed to lead the technologizing efforts.¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°He¡¯ll need to work with upper realms formations, which means with me, which means he¡¯ll have to be my assistant.¡± ¡°On some matters, sure,¡± Timothy shrugged. ----- Enes Uzun found that the novelty of stars whipping by faded quickly after the first day. They should really come up with a faster way to do this. Unfortunately, the process of Ascension wasn¡¯t always peaceful, so they couldn¡¯t just stick people in a pod and line it up with the landing zone. Supposing that people only did it once, it wasn¡¯t that bad. The only real change had been the transition from the lower realms to the upper realms, and then a tug shortly after that which redirected him towards his current destination. There was a whole lot of time to think. And then he appeared in a room. He didn¡¯t land, because there was no deceleration. He was simply yanked out of his position into a room full of formations. He vaguely recognized some of it, but there were deeper complexities that he¡¯d only gotten rare glimpses of anywhere in the lower realms. Usually things made by Everheart, though nobody liked that guy. ¡°Hello?¡± he looked around. ¡°Engineer Uzun?¡± two individuals at the mouth of the room began to approach him. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right,¡± he nodded. These two guards¡­ powerful. No, perhaps that wasn¡¯t right. Certainly, they were more powerful than him- but they were simply Integration cultivators who hadn¡¯t just broken through. Enes stepped forward, ¡°I¡¯m supposed to meet Formation Grandmaster Catarina?¡± ¡°She will be here shortly,¡± the guards explained. Enes nodded, ¡°Alright. Should I wait somewhere or-¡± The doors swung open- only their design kept them from smacking into the wall. The woman who burst into the room didn¡¯t have an imposing demeanor- and the child on her shoulders didn¡¯t change that. However, he felt a restrained power from her. ¡°Engineer Enes Uzun, you finally arrived. I hope your trip wasn¡¯t too boring?¡± She grinned, ¡°Just kidding, I know there¡¯s nothing to entertain you.¡± ¡°He¡¯s weak,¡± the child on her shoulders said. ¡°That¡¯s rude, Chidi.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true though.¡± ¡°Regardless of whether or not it is true, one should not make such comments about people to their faces,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Apologize.¡± The child bowed his head, eyes still closed. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. Eyelids closed. There were no eyes to speak of, that was simple enough for Enes to sense. He wasn¡¯t going to mention it though. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, mister.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°I accept your apology, young man.¡± The kid was just a kid, and there was no reason to be insulted. From Chidi¡¯s perspective, he might actually be weak. Compared to many he met, at least. Especially with his parents being who they were. Catarina set down her son, ¡°Chidi, go to your father please. I need to show Engineer Uzun around.¡± ¡°Can I go to auntie Alva instead?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± the mother said. ¡°She¡¯s also nearby.¡± Then the woman turned back towards Uzun, ¡°Sorry about that. We couldn¡¯t know exactly when you would arrive, as much as we would like to.¡± ¡°Maybe we can figure out a way,¡± he pondered, ¡°But I suppose there¡¯s a lot to do before that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Catarina nodded, ¡°Today I¡¯ll be showing you the location set aside for you. It¡¯s a bit remote, but there is plenty of transport available and we expect you will prefer to have as much space as possible. It is likely we¡¯ll build up around there as things develop.¡± ¡°Good. I¡¯ve got a whole factory in my pocket waiting to be set down,¡± Enes grinned. That wasn¡¯t quite true, but it wasn¡¯t quite wrong either. It was in a storage bag, and he would need some things made locally. On the other hand, he also had many complete machines to begin his work. Hopefully his theoretical assistants had learned what they needed to from the information sent. They walked along at a quick pace- Enes was a cultivator so he was capable of keeping up, but he was used to Rutera where they would have taken some sort of machine, even with the rise of cultivation starting slightly before Enes was born. Enes knew he would have had a place on Rutera for his technical ability even without cultivation, but with cultivation his mind worked so much more quickly, allowing him to absorb so many more topics. And being young past the age of one hundred was also great for expanding his capabilities. It was a lot of pressure to be the lynchpin of a massive undertaking like this, but he hoped he was only the first of many. He might have enough knowledge, but he certainly couldn¡¯t teach everyone everything necessary and do any actual work. After getting on a ship, Enes couldn¡¯t help but comment, ¡°I see what you mean. These designs are simply ancient.¡± ¡°Is it that different from Ceretos?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°These aren¡¯t much different from the skyships.¡± ¡°... it¡¯s obvious you¡¯ve been away for more than a century,¡± Enes said. ¡°Most are much more modern, vessels properly designed for flight instead of seafaring. None of the interstellar ships keep the old designs unless their designers were going retro.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ll admit I missed the majority of the technological boom,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I basically just have what I¡¯ve read, and I haven¡¯t had the time to attempt to develop any of it when pure cultivation works for what we need.¡± She shook her head, ¡°Don''t get me wrong, I understand the benefits it can have, but since I don¡¯t personally need it I didn¡¯t bother.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have to travel?¡± Enes asked. ¡°This ship could be so much faster¡­¡± ¡°If I were not with you, I would not be using the ship,¡± Catarina pointed out. Oh, right. Pure cultivation types were like that, huh? And she might really beat out a good jet. Enes just watched the planet pass by beneath them. They were high in the atmosphere to avoid friction, but he could see that most of the planet wasn¡¯t occupied. A few large population centers, but the rest didn¡¯t even have roads for the most part. Except for a few places, but some of those led between ruins of some sort. He thought he saw a giant leg from a statue that must have been immense. As for the location picked out for him, it wasn¡¯t much to look at. Just a giant empty field, surrounded by other giant empty fields. Which was, in fact, exactly what he needed. ¡°Looks good,¡± Enes nodded. ¡°I was kind of hoping for a foundation though.¡± ¡°We can have one set up for you by tomorrow,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Just indicate the dimensions you need.¡± One day? That was fast, even for¡­ actually, since there didn¡¯t seem to be an abundance of people doing construction projects, perhaps it made sense. Everyone who was getting anything done probably had the work decades prior. And it wasn¡¯t like there were billions of people living on this planet. Not yet, at least. Maybe in another century. ----- The engines of a nearly flat ship pushed it forward at an astounding speed. Yet it wasn¡¯t limited in mobility, able to turn one direction¡¯s momentum into another¡¯s. Chikere knew that well, and she prepared her blade accordingly. Her thrust extended forward several kilometers, and the ship twisted away from its intended trajectory, where its wings would slice her in two. It was, after all, just another kind of sword. She could control that and its wielder in the same manner. A moment later the ship circled back, attacking from another angle- though most were equivalent in the void of space. However, there were subtle distances due to the flow of energy and the gravity of the planet nearby. In a large scale battle, the orbital defense platforms would be involved as well as a greater number of combatants overall. A hundred swords sliced apart a continual barrage of weapons fire. Each bullet was like the deadly thrust of a sword, though each could only carry so much behind it. They were a potential danger, but alone they would never touch her. The ammunition and the wielder¡¯s energy would be exhausted long before that point. After all, he was a swordsman. He just also happened to be a pilot. This time, the ship maintained no steady orientation to her, rolling so that she couldn¡¯t know what angle the wings might be when they arrived, and thus where she might have to defend from. Chikere could have forced him back again, but she wanted to finish the battle. Her swarm of blades rushed out in front of her, swinging as one and deflecting the vessel ever so slightly off course. If she had been in atmosphere she would have felt the wind of it passing by her as she chopped her blade at its belly. From there she could have cut it in half, but she did something harder. The force of her weapon passed through the vessel, leaving only a small but important mark and securing her victory. It would have been shame to destroy such a fine blade, though perhaps she could have sliced through the cockpit. But damaging a friend¡¯s Assimilation target seemed rude. After they landed, Ty Quigley came to see her, a small dot of blood on the tip of his nose. ¡°Well, you got me again. Not that I¡¯m surprised.¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult to make up for a hundred years of experience,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Though as I cannot make use of Ascension energy here, you might have a chance.¡± ¡°If I can keep learning from you, perhaps,¡± Ty nodded. ¡°Of course. It is a delight to interact with any devoted disciple of the sword¡­ even if their chosen form is a bit abnormal.¡± Ty shrugged, ¡°What can I say? I was a pilot first. Then I met elder Intan, and this is how things developed.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°You should always follow what feels right.¡± ¡°Anyway¡­ maybe in another decade I can take you down,¡± Ty pondered. ¡°Except your arm will be done by then.¡± ¡°I¡¯m willing to take you on as much as you wish until I ascend again. Perhaps you can catch up after that point,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I will likely be here another¡­ century or two. Before I can ascend again.¡± ¡°You¡¯re confident you can?¡± Ty asked. ¡°Most assuredly,¡± she nodded. ¡°I just need more practice.¡± Chapter 598 Eight towers stood tall in a ring. It was ironic, because the Harmonious Citadel traditionally had seven styles. Bow, sword, spear, axe, dagger, morningstar, and shield covered a wide range of cultivation¡­ but just weapons. When one among their ranks gained great power of light, they couldn¡¯t help but support him. Apparently they¡¯d finished the man¡¯s fancy, extra big tower. It made the whole place seem lopsided. Everheart wondered if it would look better after he took down the Spear Saint¡¯s tower. It wasn¡¯t directly across, so probably not¡­ but that was the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s issue to deal with. A lot of expense had gone into building the structures, both for defenses and energy gathering formations for training. And of course there were the luxuries. Everheart understood why people would want such things¡­ he just didn¡¯t get how they could focus on them so much as to miss out on other important features. But he wouldn¡¯t mind having heated baths filled by fountains. He wondered if he could steal it. The tower, of course. ¡°Admiring the work?¡± a nearby spear disciple asked. ¡°The invincible Spear Saint is one of the strongest pillars of the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°Invincible? Yeah right. Even now he¡¯s at best half as strong as the previous one.¡± ¡°Previous¡­?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, there have been loads of saints. You think they never die, with how many enemies are made here?¡± Everheart grinned. ¡°The last one was an amazing woman, and her sister nearly as strong. It took five of the other saints to take ¡®em out, and only because I- I heard they were missing a critical ally at that moment. That guy later came to seek revenge and destroyed the usurper¡¯s spear.¡± The disciples shook his head, ¡°Now I know you¡¯re making things up. The holy spear has been in the hands of the Spear Saint for millennia, its design unchanged and unbreaking. I have felt it myself, and it is far too powerful to be easily replaced.¡± ¡°Yeah, the spear that was destroyed was also not so easily replaced,¡± Everheart nodded. He decided that it would be too much work to steal the whole tower. He had better things to do than set up a complicated exercise like that, which would also require getting everyone out of the tower. So he¡¯d just plan how he wanted it to fall. Towards one of the adjacent towers, or to the still-covered statues, breaking through their vandalism shield? Choices, choices. Now that he thought about it, there was someone he should probably get in on this. ----- The planet Ukast was a frozen wasteland with nothing to offer. Everything frozen there could be more easily peeled from a gas giant without having to freeze anyone¡¯s butts off. But Vari was there anyway, following a stupid mysterious message. ¡°If you would like to learn more about your mother, come to Ukast. Alone.¡± It was a stupid message because planets weren¡¯t good meeting locations. It didn¡¯t say anything even as useful as the north pole or even vague like the equator. Just Ukast. And she was stupid for listening to the message at all, and even more for coming alone. She didn¡¯t even know where the message had come from¡­ or what time frame she was supposed to be here. She¡¯d shown up as soon as possible, and it was only after a day on planet that she really thought about anything. Her more reasonable mind¡¯s thought that it was a trap- if a clumsy one- was justified when an arrow flew towards her through the swirling snow, cutting a trail with its shockwave. She raised her arm, solidifying a barrier like a shield and deflecting the arrow. Powerful. But she couldn¡¯t trace the attack to its source. There was no immediate follow-up, either. The dagger came at the back of her neck, and she knew she¡¯d been found out. Why did she even make friends if she didn¡¯t bring them? Her hand just barely managed to slap the wrist away as she spun, automatically performing one of the counters in Citadel¡¯s Downfall. The snows made it possible to track her opponents, and somehow her energy senses couldn¡¯t find anything but snow and ice. A spear attempted to pierce her guts, and Vari kicked upwards, spawning a trail of fire as she did so. They were mainly suited to resist fire, but she¡¯d learned to activate some of the element as they were suited and she had a few sources to learn from. Even as she began to melt away the snow around her, a sword tried to chop her in half at the waist. Her gauntleted hands slapped down on either side of the blade in a counter inspired by but not actually part of Citadel¡¯s Downfall. Surprisingly, instead of attempting to wrest their weapon free that opponent simply let go. That was around the time Vari realized there was but one enemy, well versed in every style of the Harmonious Citadel. The world around her began to unravel beneath the power of an axe, but it was a simple vertical chop. She could dance around it and throw out a counter, punching towards an unseen midsection. Her fist met the metal of a shield and she was thrown backwards. The spiked morningstar came for her as she was still on her back, and she kicked it upward and away. She managed to spin to her feet and tried to predict which weapon would come next, drawing upon all her knowledge of Citadel¡¯s Downfall. Her hand thrust out, seeking something to grab onto. She clasped around something¡­ while at the same time a hand closed around her own wrist. Cross-body punches connected between them, and Vari felt her bones shatter. Her opponent wasn¡¯t just a little bit stronger than her. They was so much more. Probably toying with her the whole time. And then pulling out a grapple and punch? The Harmonious Citadel spurned those simply because they did not fit the image they had cultivated. ¡°Dammit, who are you?¡± Vari cursed towards the unseen figure who had not let go of her arm. She was melting falling flakes as they approached her, but it wasn¡¯t enough. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Who am I?¡± A masculine voice came in return. ¡°You already know that, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°... I really don¡¯t,¡± Vari said. ¡°... Wait did I forget to put my name on the note?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t put anything on the note!¡± Vari said. ¡°Just this whole stupid planet!¡± She was trying to maneuver the man to where she could see him, but she couldn¡¯t pull him closer nor could she step towards him with how he was holding her arm. ¡°Can¡¯t you guess at least? You should have heard of me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. The mysterious saint of light?¡± ¡°Wow. Rude. You think I¡¯m one of them?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve only been using the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s weapon techniques!¡± ¡°That was to make sure you¡¯d been practicing Citadel¡¯s Downfall,¡± the man countered. ¡°Obviously if I were serious I would have used something better.¡± ¡°How is that obvious? I don¡¯t even know you!¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± The figure finally came into view, a bearded man with salt and pepper throughout his beard and hair. ¡°What about now?¡± ¡°... No?¡± ¡°Huh. I could have sworn I used this depiction commonly,¡± he muttered. ¡°Well, whatever. I¡¯m Everheart.¡± ¡°Hah.¡± Vari deflated, ¡°Nice try, but I know he¡¯s bald.¡± ¡°Which bastard told you that, huh?¡± the man narrowed his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll kill him.¡± ¡°This is news from the lower realms. The world he was born on, in fact,¡± Vari said. ¡°But I suppose an imposter wouldn¡¯t know which one that is.¡± ¡°It was Anton, wasn¡¯t it? That traitor.¡± Vari did her best to not react to that, but she wasn¡¯t a very good liar. Fortunately, the man didn¡¯t seem to care. ¡°Well, fine.¡± The man suddenly changed, from the way his hand gripped her wrist- still strongly, but now with thinner fingers. And his hair faded away. ¡°Anyway, I really am Everheart. Your uncle. Kinda.¡± ¡°What.¡± ----- Feeling the soft yet durable fur ahead of him, Chidi made his way over the rough stone and past the scratchy grass to his best wolf friend. ¡°Someday we¡¯ll get you a name, buddy.¡± The wolf barked once in response. ¡°I¡¯m finally allowed to cultivate. It¡¯s¡­ really hard, actually,¡± Chidi sighed. ¡°Everything aches. I¡¯ve been working most of the day and I keep having to switch to new tasks any time I¡¯m getting used to something. You don¡¯t have to train hard, do you? You just grow big and strong naturally.¡± An offended bark was followed by a tackle. Chidi felt the distance between them close but couldn¡¯t react when he was shoved onto his back. Sharpness tore towards his neck. Then stopped. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to be rude. I¡¯m sure you work hard in different ways.¡± The jaws withdrew and the sharpness faded away as the wolf¡¯s mouth closed. A wet nose poked Chidi¡¯s hand. Then again, harder. ¡°I uh¡­ what do you want?¡± Sharp teeth pressed gently against his skin, clasping his hand as the wolf¡¯s head shook back and forth. ¡°Oh, you want to wrestle? I¡¯m kind of tired, but alright. I guess I can ruin a whole other set of muscles.¡± Chidi¡¯s first move was to kick his knee into his friend¡¯s belly. He wasn¡¯t gentle about it either- at least not by human standards. By the lupine¡¯s standards, anything that didn¡¯t draw blood was fair game. The wolf flipped over backwards, and Chidi navigated how he charged by feeling the sharp claws digging into the loose dirt, as well as the intent of energy flowing through the body. Ten minutes later, Chidi was lying on his back once more, groaning. ¡°Alright, arlight, you win. I¡¯m already tired anyway.¡± Not that it would have made any difference. ¡°So¡­ you train by sparring with your siblings?¡± An affirming growl, but Chidi detected there was something more. ¡°I heard that real combat is the best for growth. Do you¡­ actually fight things?¡± Chidi knew the former location of the Gardens still had many beasts, and it wasn¡¯t that far- though there was a wall keeping beasts away from civilized areas. Another growl. Affirmative again. ¡°I think I¡¯m beginning to understand you,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Is it weird for me to use words? Should I growl back instead?¡± Chidi attempted to replicate some of the sounds. He hadn¡¯t known that the wolves could laugh, but the sound that followed was definitely that, and came with a lot of fur rubbing against dirt as his pal rolled around. So¡­ maybe he didn¡¯t sound quite right. But that was fine. ----- ¡°So,¡± Catarina said, ¡°What material would be best for this ascender catching net?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Engineer Uzun admitted. ¡°We¡¯d have to try dozens of combinations to narrow down the desired properties¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s no good. You get three material attempts, tops. This is already an expensive project, and we can¡¯t afford to dismantle and replace it.¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°What about power sources?¡± ¡°Well, it would be optimal to have this orbit around the sun. You¡¯d never have to worry about power. The only problem is it would be kinda¡­ exposed. And I suppose the gravity might interfere with the transfer.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s set that aside for the scenario where we¡¯ve expanded enough to build a second one,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We¡¯ve got an area with high volcanic activity, but since¡­ we took over¡­ it hasn¡¯t been consistent.¡± ¡°That might do it,¡± Uzun nodded, ¡°Or we could attempt a nuclear generator.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t those explode?¡± ¡°Only if you do it wrong. You¡¯ve never had any of your energy generation or storage blow up?¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Fair.¡± ¡°And the radiation is easily shielded from by lead, which is¡­ basically free.¡± ¡°Yeah, we could bring an entire lead asteroid over if we ran out.¡± ¡°To increase efficiency, I would suggest using high conductivity elements like silver. The whole formation is losing at least ten percent of its energy to waste. It might not sound like much, but you could extend the effective duration another month without needing to add energy storage. It¡¯s easy to mine from asteroids as well. We¡¯ve got scanners if you don¡¯t want to send people to manually take a look.¡± Catarina nodded, ¡°That sounds good, but the increased flow would actually throw off other components. We¡¯d have to account for that. But I appreciate your knowledge of¡­ mundane materials.¡± ¡°Once we get computers operating,¡± Uzun added, ¡°We can monitor and regulate the flow. It wouldn¡¯t require a cultivator to handle it, and it might even be more efficient than manual operation.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Well¡­ okay, you might be an exception. But I can guarantee it would be better than the vast majority of trained individuals if properly programmed.¡± ¡°And that will take¡­?¡± ¡°Decades, probably,¡± Uzun sighed. ¡°If we¡¯re lucky.¡± ¡°So not long at all then. I¡¯m glad we brought you in,¡± Catarina grinned. Chapter 599 Inside a small room cut off from upper energy- cut off from the world- Chidi placed a tiny pellet on his tongue. It instantly began to dissolve, turning into soft strings of energy that tasted like dirt. Contrary to popular opinion, Chidi didn¡¯t think dirt tasted bad. It was simply the way it clung to the tongue, the dry powderyness that made it terrible. Not that he particularly liked it either, instead it was tolerable for the sake of results. Chidi did not swallow the pill nor the energy it contained, instead guiding the strings outward, into the walls of his mouth. He wove them into himself, tempering everything as evenly as he could. The rest flowed out, through his lips and over the skin on his face, slowly moving down his neck, to his torso and out to his arms and then legs, ending with his extremities. His parents had given Chidi many options for how to temper his body, not forcing him down any particular path. The second tempering was the first prime tempering in the One Hundred Stars, and thus key to a good foundation. Many people chose to temper muscle, improving power greatly in the early term and a tolerable amount at later cultivation stages. The other popular choice was the meridians, where the flow of energy took place and the foundation of cultivation itself. In general, people would temper one or the other for their prime temperings. That made sense, but Chidi couldn¡¯t really feel his muscles or meridians. Sure, he could poke his muscles- but what did he touch? Skin. Inside of him, using the energy he had absorbed, his meridians were definitely there, but they were still sort of distant and weird, like something just out of reach. Fingertips brushing against the tips of blades of grass instead of sinking in between them. After consulting with his parents to explain his reasoning and get their approval- they did happen to know a thing or two about cultivation- Chidi settled on what he felt would be best for him, a progression that more or less went from external to internal. Thus, after the first foundational tempering his second tempering- the first prime- would be his skin. He¡¯d already been cultivating for several months now. He knew that some people progressed faster- and with less advantages than he had. However, most began when they were at least fifteen years old, many closer to twenty. Chidi was not yet even ten¡­ so he had to be cautious. His parents wouldn¡¯t have let him even begin cultivating if he didn¡¯t properly understand the risks. Once he was finished with the single pill, he took stock of himself. His skin tingled all over. Any more, and it would probably hurt. Pushing through the pain to cultivate more quickly wasn¡¯t necessarily an admirable trait, as he might simply injure himself. So for the moment, he would be done. As he stepped out of containment, upper energy washed over him, terrifying and oppressive in its power. He could certainly have begun his cultivation with such a thing, but it would be like trying to beat Spikes in wrestling before any of the cubs. Though they were, by lupine standards, just normal adults now. ----- Anton looked down on Itholla. He had nowhere near as much attachment to it as he did to Ceretos, Rutera, or any of Weos¡¯ planets- but it was where he¡¯d spent the most time in Doruma. Now he was interested in seeing how it might grow in the future. Sadly, that would have to wait. Literally, as that was the only way Anton had to get to the future. Held in Caradog¡¯s hand was a communication device Anton had given him. ¡°It should be able to reach me anywhere. Though it does seem you¡¯ll need to be outside of this bubble.¡± Anton tried to keep in regular communication with people, which meant he¡¯d noticed messages not arriving after some time. ¡°I understand the reason behind your isolation, but if you choose to end it let us know. We have many who would be interested in exchanging formation insights with you, among other things.¡± Caradog nodded. ¡°I am glad I took the risk contacting you to begin with. I don¡¯t think we should hide forever¡­ though we¡¯re certainly not ready yet. Perhaps once we have Assimilation cultivators. Either way, interested ascenders will seek out your companions in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Well then, I should be on my way.¡± ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to be escorted out?¡± ¡°Your ships are¡­ way too slow.¡± Caradog chuckled. ¡°Until you came along, we thought they were exceedingly fast.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Exchanging construction techniques is quite valuable. Sadly, I don¡¯t know any of those. You¡¯ll have to settle for those few documents.¡± In the end, Anton did not bind to any of the six stars in the system. Not only were they supporting a delicate formation- and even a slight disruption in the flow of energy might throw that off- he had no actual need. Nor had he endeared himself to the whole system in a way that they would simply allow him to do so without some sort of additional exchange. That wasn¡¯t a small decision that should happen over just a few years. Rutera and Weos had come in times of crisis, and obviously Anton would not ask permission of enemies, but he did want to respect local ownership. Flying out of the system, Anton knew he would return. Simply watching the planets orbit was fascinating, and Doruma could easily become something special. Not that any place with people needed anything beyond that to be special, because even with influence from the upper realms nobody was quite the same. Anton flew, the peculiar arrangement of the system meaning he did not have far to go to reach the border of the system, and of their great formation. Traveling outwards was easy- and after a few moments, Anton felt nothing behind him. With stars available everywhere in front of him, Anton picked one he had wished to journey to long before, though it was quite distant. It would likely take more than a year, even traveling at top speed. However, he didn¡¯t simply want to bypass every system along the way, so he¡¯d plotted out a route that would bring him to many stops. Whether they would be of interest Anton couldn¡¯t be quite sure. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ----- ¡°Now remember,¡± a finger waggled in Vari¡¯s face. ¡°Don¡¯t trust anyone. Not even family.¡± ¡°I trust my friends,¡± Vari said. ¡°But not you.¡± ¡°Could be worse,¡± Everheart admitted. ¡°But if you get too many people involved, someone will be a traitor.¡± ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± ¡°Happens every time,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°How often is it you?¡± ¡°Listen, small details like that aren¡¯t important,¡± he waved her question away. ¡°What is important is that we¡¯re going to kill the spear saint.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°What do you mean why? Don¡¯t you hate the Harmonious Citadel? Besides, the spear saint was involved in killing your mother.¡± ¡°Well¡­ probably,¡± Vari said. ¡°We don¡¯t know that for sure.¡± ¡°I do,¡± Everheart grinned, ¡°I did a test and you¡¯re certainly Kullike¡¯s daughter.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t agree to that.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t make it not work,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°So, you don¡¯t want revenge?¡± ¡°I do. And I suppose you want revenge for your¡­ lover?¡± Vari tilted her head. ¡°Or whatever my aunt was to you. I just don¡¯t know if that¡¯s a good enough motive to trust you on this.¡± ¡°Good, you¡¯re learning,¡± Everheart nodded seriously. ¡°But it¡¯s definitely sufficient. And the training will be good for you even if you don¡¯t go along with the plan.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like the sound of that,¡± Vari admitted. ¡°You know what they say, what doesn¡¯t kill you makes you stronger.¡± ¡°Who says that?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Because that¡¯s frequently untrue.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t let my niece permanently lose a limb,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± That didn¡¯t even come close to preventing Vari from worrying. ----- The first star was a familiar class, and the only planet of note around it was unsuitable for life. Temperatures that ranged from just below the boiling point of water to a good bit higher. A sky filled with yellowish clouds that had very little water vapor, instead being made of toxic gasses. If anyone was going to survive, it would have to be underground where there was a reasonable amount of water and vaguely survivable temperatures. Anton didn¡¯t sense any signs of that, however. The next? A green gas giant. No less toxic than the terrestrial planet, with massive gravity as well. It was around a dim red star, which wasn¡¯t of interest to Anton for Assimilation due to its size. Though his goal was a particularly miniscule star, if information was correct. There were other planets in those systems, but they were basically rocky with no features Anton hadn¡¯t seen many times before. The third system, not counting the ones immediately adjacent to Doruma, came with a white star approximately twice the radius of Ceretos¡¯ sun. It was significantly hotter and many times brighter, but the planet of interest was far enough that it fell in a ¡®reasonable¡¯ temperature range. More importantly, the natural energy of both sun and one particular planet were exceptional. As Anton approached, he was quite surprised. At least on his side of the planet there was hardly a speck of water- a couple things that might be called lakes, but nothing nearing the level of an inland sea. Clouds were sparse as well. Yet Anton felt life, and not just a little. Once Anton was close enough to properly sense the ground, he felt plantlife. Cacti and succulents, as well as the other sorts well adapted to the desert. Skittering creatures under the surface of the hot sands, along with reptiles soaking in the sun of the day. More than that, however, Anton felt himself being watched. There wasn¡¯t anything specific- an enemy cultivator or the like. Rather, he felt like he¡¯d passed through an unrecognized formation. Strange, as there was no large flow of energy. Anton still found none of the most typical signs of human life. No roads or cities, at least. Not formations he was actually certain existed. However, there was one sign he would absolutely recognize. The regularity of intentionally sewn plants, even if they weren¡¯t in perfect rows but rather followed the curves of the dunes, stood out to him. He landed nearby, taking care not to step in the fields. He didn¡¯t want to ruin someone¡¯s hard work, after all. Or many someones, given the extensive signs. He expected someone to be out and about at this time, but still sensed no people. That was odd, until he noticed the temperatures that he had estimated to be moderate were rapidly climbing to dangerous levels. That made the heat little more than a mild discomfort for Anton, but it affected the behavior of the local wildlife. Even the basking reptiles burrowed into the ground- or returned to homes they had dug before. Soon the temperature was surpassing boiling, but the local life seemed quite suited to deal with it. Sheltered underground, they kept their cool. Plants, meanwhile, stubbornly held onto their supplied of water, their energy heightening as their internal processes sped up. This was, as far as Anton recalled, relatively normal for desert plants. They wouldn¡¯t intake air during the day so as to not leave a path for water to escape, but they still needed the light and heat of the sun. This was perhaps a bit more extreme than normal examples, but these weren¡¯t simple plants. He could feel them growing as power filled them, converting it for their own uses- and presumably for humans use as well. All he had to do was find them. They shouldn¡¯t be too far from their fields. Were they hidden behind formations? Perhaps they had the ability, but Anton supposed there was another option- they could simply be deep enough that his casual probing wouldn¡¯t notice them. Indeed, when he extended his energy a hundred meters into the ground he found the first cultivators¡­ and felt their reactions. Working his senses through their hallways- they certainly were well enough put together to not deserve to be called simple tunnels- he found his way to a surface hatch, which happened to have a good number of guards nearby. And it was gathering more. It seemed his presence was causing more than a bit of fuss. He didn¡¯t intend for that, but he couldn¡¯t really help it. Hopefully nobody would overreact. In the worst case scenario, he would just leave and not cause any further trouble. Chapter 600 The hatch leading further into the arid planet had a defensive force behind it, waiting. Discerning just the surface of their cultivation methods, Anton felt something strange- more than a few felt like water cultivators. That seemed like it would be extremely limited in such an environment, but perhaps he was seeing a period of drought. There could be significant rainy periods¡­ but the life in the area didn¡¯t seem like something expecting rapid change. Since they didn¡¯t come out- there was little point in having a defensive barrier if one simply opened it- Anton projected his voice inward. ¡°Greetings.¡± Most of the cultivators drew back- while it was easier to slip the relatively weak power of voice past a formation, it could still be expected that it would block it. One man retained his position towards the front, responding. ¡°Who are you? What clan are you from?¡± Just like projecting his voice in, Anton had to pull the sounds out of the barrier. ¡°Anton. I¡¯m not from any clan.¡± He had descendents, of course, but they could hardly be called a clan. Especially not since he suspected this man meant something specific. The man spoke with bravery- which was to say, Anton could sense the fear behind his voice and he still chose to respond. ¡°If you do not have the backing of a clan, we will have to refuse your entry. We don¡¯t accept exiles.¡± ¡°I am not an exile,¡± Anton responded calmly. How should he say it? Well, the direct manner was easiest. ¡°I am from off-planet.¡± The man stiffened at that response. ¡°Even if that is true, we will still have to refuse you entry.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Anton said. ¡°Do you know of any who would be willing to speak to me?¡± The man hesitated for some time, before responding. ¡°No.¡± Anton had the feeling he meant that, though he might have been considering sending Anton to some enemies. People did not build security where they expected no danger. Anton couldn¡¯t think of anything else to say that wouldn¡¯t sound like and perhaps even be a threat, so he just turned to leave. ¡°Goodbye.¡± His luck was much the same elsewhere, and while there were regional variations the entire planet still remained extremely lacking in moisture, just as he had felt from above. He didn¡¯t detect anything buried beneath the surface either, though he didn¡¯t probe terribly deep as he passed by various locations. No more than a kilometer or so, where he would have expected to find anything. He did find something interesting that was not water. In several places, concealed by exterior camouflage and stored deep beneath the surface, there were ships. He only recognized them for what they were because of the Ruterans. They didn¡¯t particularly share many similarities, being constructed in large part from glasslike materials, but the main feature was they were different from typical cultivator vessels. Not that he expected this planet to be able to put together wooden boats, unless they were skilled at knitting together scraggly branches. Those vessels should at least be able to fly, and perhaps more- though he couldn¡¯t do much without inspecting them up close, without barriers blocking him. Anton didn¡¯t find the locals to be friendly¡­ but at least they were not overly aggressive. He ultimately left without seeing anyone face-to-face, even when he went to the other side of the planet where it was warming up from the cold nights instead of at its overheating phase. People had to go out at some point, but it seemed they all noticed him ahead of time. He was tempted to rush as quickly as he could to catch someone out, but that seemed like it could cause more trouble than it was worth. Perhaps he would come back later and someone would change their mind about further interactions. ----- Everyone expected Anishka to be an amazing cultivator- even Anishka, at first. Her parents were Assimilation cultivators, the peak of the world. Most of her older siblings were elders of the Fire and Ice Palace, and if they weren¡¯t they would be eventually. It wasn¡¯t an issue of talent- whatever that was. Anishka found she could control the elements of the sect with ease, though she had tried some things that were too hard early on. The stories about her father had been an early inspiration. The same with her grandfather. Or great-great-maybe-more-greats grandfather. Ultimately, however, Anishka didn¡¯t want to be a cultivator. She didn¡¯t know what she did want to be, but it was something else. Of course, everyone was a cultivator. Whatever she was going to do, she would be better at it if her body was tempered by flames and ice and her mind flowed with power. So she would still be a cultivator, but she wouldn¡¯t be a cultivator cultivator. Fighting was¡­ uninteresting. She had no desire to delve into forgotten tombs or manage resources. Nor did she have any desire to tell anyone any of that. How would she even do that? The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. So she just silently continued, ice and fire alternately flowing through her meridians. It was surprisingly comfortable, heat coming to warm her about the time she thought she would freeze, to be replaced by coolness when she was on the verge of overheating. When she was finished she was met with a relaxed mental clarity that brought a strange thought. If she didn¡¯t actually know what she wanted, maybe nobody else did either? A terrifying thought. ----- Anton continued to pass through new systems, but he found himself growing fatigued. Distance wasn¡¯t supposed to be an important factor once he was out of a system, but he found that being away from Assimilated stars for a long period of time as well as being the furthest distance he¡¯d ever gone- now somewhere over a hundred light-years- he simply felt empty. He didn¡¯t want to get in the habit of choosing random stars to Assimilate, but he had to make use of his available connections eventually. Perhaps that was another factor as well. His next stop found himself around a tiny- though nowhere near as tiny as his target- lone star. A red dwarf with no planets surrounding it, less than a third the radius of Ceretos¡¯ star and thus proportionately much more miniscule. He named it Zed. Anton didn¡¯t think it had been cataloged from Ceretos, and if it was it hardly mattered. The name only mattered to him, and if it didn¡¯t he could have pushed for his name over another. Binding to it didn¡¯t take particularly long- Anton was already familiar with the process, and he was able to be as close as he wanted. Since he¡¯d even bound to Rutera¡¯s star at least partially from the neighboring system it was simple enough. Surprisingly, Anton didn¡¯t feel that this star, despite being smaller and dimmer than others, was any less powerful. However, as he pulled away he felt it faded away more quickly, giving it a smaller area of influence. Not that it mattered terribly much. Anton felt refreshed after a short time near a bound star, replenishing his body and spirit before he moved on. Anton continued, impatience driving him forward to the end of his journey of more than a year. Finally he reached his destination, though it was only once he approached the star¡¯s influence that he was certain he hadn¡¯t gotten off track. The star had no planets, and he couldn¡¯t currently see it even with his exceptional vision. He approached closer and closer. He could feel the power of the star, and soon enough he was nearly touching it. Or rather, where it would have been if it had the same radius as Ceretos¡¯ star. Power vibrated through Anton, yet he couldn¡¯t even make out the star without augmenting his eyes. Azun was a star less than twenty kilometers across, smaller than some sects, and nowhere close to matching a planet or even other stars. Discovering it, even after centuries of searching the stars, had come down to Rutera¡¯s advanced telescopic technology and people like Matija. They called it a neutron star, formed from the death of a much larger specimen. Its properties had been uncertain except for some typical features- and its massive density. Simply approaching it was filled with great danger, as its rotation spewed a massive amount of power from its poles. However, approaching from the correct angle had brought Anton to where he was now, and he felt like his body might rip apart not from gravity but instead the powerful magnetic field. He had stored his bow as he approached, leaving everything actually metallic inside his storage bag. Anton had wanted to get closer, but moving any further was risky without binding it to him. Anton very carefully ¡®sat¡¯, meditating in a comfortable position and focusing on the power in front of him. If he simply opened a channel of power he could easily see himself being torn apart. First he had to understand this. Still a star, but not a star. A dead star, yet filled with more vigor than many that truly lived. Not collapsed into what appeared to be nothing like a black hole, but filled with a strange mystery. Anton meditated, feeling the spinning density and the great power, significant amounts of radiation spewing out of the poles at any point. Cultivators could be quite resistant to radiation, but Anton had no qualms imagining that he could withstand it for long. It was much less than what would happen during a supernova- the event that could lead to their formation- but it was enough to detect hundreds or more lightyears away despite the phenomenon being miniscule in size on an interstellar scale. The magnetism formed a great field on a scale Anton hadn¡¯t felt before. This time Anton reshaped himself before the connection was formed. If he had tried to describe the process of acclimatizing himself to unfathomable amounts of magnetism, he would have lacked the words. It was simply a matter of becoming part of it. Slowly and intentionally, he drifted closer to Azun. It was not particularly hot- on the level of stars- where he was, but he could feel its surface was hotter than any of the suns he had visited, once again by a great many times. This was great power packed into the smallest spaces imaginable. Insights drove Anton, bringing him ever closer both internally and externally. By the time he touched down upon its surface, he was part of it and it was part of him. It took more than that understanding for him to not be incinerated, but it was simple enough to counteract with that power. It wasn¡¯t limitless¡­ in fact, Anton was much more aware of how such a thing was fading, even if only on massive timescales. It was simply a matter of extremes. If an Augmentation cultivator were to challenge Anton here, next to the neutron star Azun, Anton wouldn¡¯t fear them even if they had their full expected power in the upper realms. But of course, he would only maintain a small part of that power further away. At the more familiar radius of a star it was both more and less powerful. At what Anton had come to judge as the edge of the system, it was much the same as anything else. Just¡­ different. The magnetism was one thing, but the beams of radiation might also add power to Anton¡¯s arsenal. Power he wasn¡¯t sure he needed. Well then. Time to set up all of the machines the Ruteran scientists had pressed onto him. It would be a shame to come all this way and not get measurements ¡®up close¡¯. None of them would survive anywhere close to that absurd magnetic field, but he could certainly get something usable. Certainly even his own observations would be better than what machines could measure all the way from Rutera. Though they would be filled with far fewer numbers and measurements. Rutera was going to be simply flooded with measurements when he returned. Maybe before, if the communications devices worked here- something Anton would absolutely not bet on. After setting them up and making sure that at least the lights were green- though the devices had no external readout other than that- Anton began to familiarize himself with his new abilities and wondered how he might include them in his abilities elsewhere. Chapter 601 Above Xankeshan stood an all-encompassing barrier, a shield as close to a sphere as the planet beneath. Not perfect, but following the easiest curves it could. A queue of ships flew in orbit until they were authorized one by one. There had been a point in the past when Catarina or one of the others from the lower realms had to personally approve every entry. Over time, with even a small amount of growth, that would have become infeasible. At the current time the planet wasn¡¯t among the largest populations, but it did have many people from the alliance moving through. The loss of control over the flow of ships in and out was necessary, and if something went terribly wrong their enemies could only infiltrate with a couple of ships. It wouldn¡¯t be so easy to sabotage the formations from inside- the old formations combined with Catarina¡¯s repairs and improvements could defend themselves against almost anyone. The only enemies worth worrying about were Augmentation cultivators, and nobody had piles of those just sitting around. More importantly, they would stand out wherever they went. The enemy actively at war with Xankeshan was the Harmonious Citadel, and their cultivators of that caliber were well known. Those were the saints, eight of them and possibly a few spares. If they didn¡¯t kill each other off when jockeying for position, which happened at least as recently as three centuries prior, and potentially more often in ways that hadn¡¯t been discovered. Vari had just returned. She¡¯d been away quite frequently recently. Everyone had their own things to get up to, especially in relation to the war, but there was something¡­ Catarina went to catch her getting off the ship. One advantage of traditional cultivator flying ships was that they were buoyant because of formations and didn¡¯t require forward speed like technological vessels- though once outside of atmosphere those points were moot regardless. Rutera had developed methods of landing and taking off that required less space, and Engineer Uzun was implementing them on the new developments. For the moment, however, technological ships required a bit more than just a landing pad. By the time they were in active use, there shouldn¡¯t be too many issues with accommodating them. ¡°Welcome back, Vari,¡± Catarina said. ¡°What have you been up to?¡± ¡°Oh, you know, this and that. Advancing the war against the Harmonious Citadel.¡± For all that Vari had briefly infiltrated the Harmonious Citadel, she wasn¡¯t much of a liar. It didn¡¯t take a genius to know there was more to be said. ¡°What in particular?¡± ¡°Just¡­ training combat techniques.¡± That was true. But still not everything. ¡°In secret?¡± Catarina tilted her head. ¡°... yes?¡± Vari shrugged. ¡°We can¡¯t be certain there aren¡¯t spies here.¡± That was an unfortunate truth. Though the Dark Ring should have been free of spies, considering the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s inability to deal with them, it was entirely possible for some individuals to have snuck in now- though not core members of the Harmonious Citadel who would have been recognized by their cultivation method. Catarina sighed, ¡°Listen¡­ I trust you, but I¡¯d also like to help. If I couldn¡¯t, others of us would no doubt be suited. We can¡¯t help you if you don¡¯t ask.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, really,¡± Vari said. ¡°I¡¯ve just been training with my uncle.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have an- dammit have you been visiting Everheart?¡± Catarina surrounded them in an auditory bubble before she spouted the second half of that comment. ¡°No!¡± Vari said, looking guilty. ¡°Why would I¡­?¡± Before she even finished fully denying it, she changed tracks. ¡°How did you know he was my uncle? Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡± ¡°My grandfather was almost-friends with Everheart,¡± Catarina reminded her. ¡°And I wasn¡¯t really sure. As for telling you, I assumed nobody would want to hear that they had a steaming pile of horse crap for family.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not that¡­ bad¡­¡± Vari frowned. ¡°I¡­ have learned a lot.¡± ¡°Good. Wring every bit of knowledge from him that you can,¡± Catarina said. ¡°That, at least, he¡¯s good for. So, what¡¯s he planning? If you know.¡± ¡°... We¡¯re going to kill the spear saint.¡± ¡°That sounds suicidal,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°And while I don¡¯t think anyone should bet on Everheart dying in such a thing, you absolutely could. He might even sacrifice you to complete the mission.¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think he would,¡± Vari said. ¡°Maybe we didn¡¯t tell you enough about him, or how he literally just robbed the major sects in the lower realms after they were working together,¡± Catarina sighed. ¡°But¡­ if you insist on continuing with this, at least let us know when you¡¯re going to act so we can do something in the inevitable chaos.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Vari nodded, ¡°Of course.¡± ----- Anton began his journey back towards the worlds he knew, finding it went slightly faster. Part of that was spending less time exploring the nearby systems. Another part was ever-increasing proficiency with interstellar movement techniques. The last¡­ Anton felt like his stars were calling to him. Drawing him closer, if only a small amount. It was a phenomenon he¡¯d vaguely been aware of when traversing his home systems, but he hadn¡¯t been certain. His speed was increased more from being near the sources of his power than the connection he had trying to bring him back. Perhaps some day he might make use of that in a more relevant manner, but for the moment he basically just had to spend slightly less time than he would have thought. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. He wasn¡¯t in a rush anyway. There were other systems he wanted to check out on the way back, especially considering he had some information from the upper realms considering some of them. A few potentially friendly systems that had ascenders. The closest one, nearly a neighbor to Azun just a dozen lightyears away, was obviously the first one Anton would check. This one didn¡¯t have any ascenders, but during his time connected to Azun he had picked up minor fluctuations from the system. It was nearly the opposite of the last planet he¡¯d spent much time on- this one nearly covered in water. Then again, that wasn¡¯t terribly different from Ceretos. By his estimates it was a similar amount of land on a slightly larger world, the difference of a third larger radius making the surface nearly twice as large. That meant proportionately a similar amount of landmass covered half as much, percentage wise. It was mostly spread between smaller landmasses, though there were a few he could reasonably call continents. Knowing nothing of the inhabitants except that they definitely existed- confirmed as he approached- Anton picked somewhere to land and hoped people wouldn¡¯t be too upset. He wouldn¡¯t be breaking through any formations, but he would be intruding upon someone¡¯s territory by default. Rather than conceal his presence, he went for a high population area. Or rather, what should have been a high population city not terribly long in the past. If he had to estimate, it was somewhere bordering on a decade- the exact time frame depending on the tides of the world in the area. His assumptions that the damage was from an upper realm invasion could be wrong, but it would have been a serious coincidence. Anton was extremely disappointed that nobody seemed to have noticed him landing. Not because he wanted to cause a commotion, but because there were no cultivators of much power around to sense him. ¡°Ah, not quite¡­¡± he turned to regard a young man possessed of a largish nose. He had dark skin, with scruffy black hair spilling over his ears. ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°... Are you with them?¡± the youth asked. ¡°I am not associated with anyone you¡¯ve seen or met,¡± Anton indicated as he felt around. His senses covered the whole island-nation with room to spare, at least a slice at a time. He found more than a few signs of what- and who- he had feared. ¡°And definitely not those involved with destroying this building,¡± he waved his hand towards what had once been a tower- maybe close to a skyscraper. ¡°Yeah right. You came from the sky, like them. I- I won¡¯t let you cause any more trouble.¡± The young man drew a sword at his waist, a fine make with slight enchantments that he absolutely should not have been able to get possession of. Not with his complete lack of cultivation. And training, apparently, as his stab towards Anton was lacking in every regard. Anton could have literally let the young man strike his bare skin and he didn¡¯t imagine he would have been scratched. The tip of the sword stopped, pressing against his chest. Anton gently lowered the point of the sword with his finger. ¡°I¡¯m not here to cause trouble,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if you want to be able to prevent it, you¡¯ll need more power than that.¡± The young man was breathing heavily, his eyes wide in panic. ¡°What are you?¡± ¡°Did you not see the war? With this destruction you should have seen many cultivators who could withstand something so simple.¡± Anton frowned, ¡°How old are you? What is your name?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not telling you anything,¡± the young man said stubbornly. ¡°I¡¯d guess around fifteen. Perhaps you were too young to truly remember the invasion?¡± ¡°So what? I heard about it. And I¡­ won¡¯t let you do what you want!¡± he pulled back his sword, swinging it back behind him in a completely uselessly exaggerated overhead chop. Anton let it come down on his head, where it nestled softly in his thin hair. ¡°Perhaps you think that stories of cultivators were exaggerated, then?¡± Anton pinched the sword between his fingers, preventing the young man from moving it. ¡°It is unlikely many of them were completely untrue. There is great power in cultivation. Did you not see me fly down?¡± ¡°T-the invaders could fly too, but only because of¡­ uh¡­ something.¡± ¡°The tides of the world,¡± Anton offered. ¡°That would carry them here and back, in a manner certainly just like flight. Now then,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you were a cultivator yourself you could easily verify that I am from the lower realms, just like you. Obviously, a different planet. I am an enemy of those same invaders. The Trigold Cluster.¡± Seeing no spark of understanding in the young man¡¯s eyes, Anton sighed. ¡°They really did a good job of covering up the information, didn¡¯t they?¡± No doubt more of the work would be done by the agents of the Twin Soul Sect Anton sensed around, sewing confusion and uncertainty into the following generations. ¡°You¡­ the city guard will stop you!¡± ¡°I won¡¯t stop you from going, if you truly think they will help. But I hope you might be interested in actually listening.¡± Anton cleared his throat. ¡°Let¡¯s start over. Hello, I am Anton Krantz. Sect Head of the Order of One Hundred Stars, from the Ceretos Sector. And you have either great potential as a cultivator or you¡¯ll get yourself killed moments after first reading a cultivation technique.¡± Anton pulled out a scroll from his storage bag, one that was too large to fit inside to make his point clear. He let it unravel. ¡°Interested in learning?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± the young man hesitated, looking down. ¡°I can¡¯t read.¡± ¡°I can also teach reading,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Varghese,¡± the young man said. ¡°Nice to meet you Varghese. Any friends and family you¡¯d be interested in giving this opportunity? I can¡¯t personally teach everyone, but I do plan to give this planet a nice little push in the right direction.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°I can¡¯t trust you with others, yet.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°What do you call this place, by the way?¡± ¡°Aspin.¡± ¡°Is that the city, nation, or planet?¡± ¡°... This whole place.¡± Varghese said. ¡°Planet¡¯s In¡¯istra.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Anton said. ¡°Say, do you happen to have any food? I haven¡¯t eaten anything in over a year. I can pay.¡± ¡°With what?¡± Anton rifled his senses through Varghese¡¯s pockets. He had a few coins, and Anton could easily fake the design. Not that it would be a problem, because his would be at least as valuable, and probably higher purity. ¡°Copper. And of course cultivation knowledge, but I understand that doesn¡¯t put food on your table until you get good at it, so I¡¯d be happy to ease your financial burden.¡± Varghese just looked at Anton, confused. Surprised. Hopeful. Anton planned to have more of the last one as they went along. Chapter 602 A simple overhang stuck out of the side of a row of buildings, providing shelter for customers approaching. It was little more than a small kitchen with a front-facing counter to pile fried foods in large bowls, one man busily swapping between cooking and serving. ¡°Jai!¡± Varghese plopped two small coins down on the counter. ¡°Something to eat for me and my friend here.¡± Jai turned around, swept the coins up in one hand and tossed two triangular pastries from a pile, one to Varghese and one to Anton. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had friends,¡± the man grinned. Then he regarded Anton. ¡°A bit pale, isn¡¯t he?¡± Anton¡¯s skin hadn¡¯t faded beyond a dark tan since he was young, but his natural skin tone was lighter so comparatively he still stood out. ¡°I¡¯m from afar,¡± he shrugged. Presumably In¡¯istra had more variety elsewhere, even if Aspin was most commonly darker skinned. Anton did his best to tailor his accent to not stand out too much, taking in the voices of those around. Whatever it was that kept language from diverging too much, Anton was glad for it. ¡°Oh? You¡¯re braver than I, dealing with the perils of the sea,¡± Jai said, then he was back to frying and serving others. Though Anton had offered to pay, Varghese had done it and Anton intuited that attempting to pay him back directly would be construed as rude. So instead he took a bite of the pastry, stuffed with some sort of meat, potatoes, and spices. It was hot. Scalding. And, of course, completely irrelevant compared to the temperatures Anton had dealt with in the past. Jai seemed to have been hoping Anton would show some reaction besides a pleasant smile, and he more cautiously bit off the corner and blew into his pastry to cool it a bit. ¡°You ate that fast,¡± he said as they walked along. ¡°Almost makes me believe you didn¡¯t eat anything in a year.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°It was tasty. I couldn¡¯t help it.¡± Of course, there was very little about himself that Anton actually couldn¡¯t control. He just didn¡¯t want to hold back. Recycling his body¡¯s nutrients didn¡¯t scratch the same itch as actually eating, even if he didn¡¯t need food. Technically he had a pile of rations in his storage bag, but they tasted like dirt so they were only for emergencies where he didn¡¯t have sufficient natural energy to sustain himself. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if that situation could actually happen, but he didn¡¯t intend to be careless. Varghese watched Anton as he finished his own meal, then frowned, ¡°Wait, why am I letting you lead the way? You don¡¯t even know the area. Actually, do you even have a plan?¡± ¡°I do,¡± Anton said. ¡°You aren¡¯t busy right now, so we¡¯ll start with learning. I want you to climb this abandoned building,¡± Anton gestured before they stepped around the corner. ¡°How did you know that was there?¡± ¡°I flew in,¡± Anton said. ¡°Remember?¡± Though he¡¯d technically seen it from the air, he¡¯d actually just picked it out as they were walking around. ¡°When you get to the top I¡¯ll give you a reward.¡± ¡°What if I-¡± Varghese stopped talking as Anton leaped four stories into the air- though for the sake of what remained of the street he spread his pushing force out over a larger area with a blanket of energy. Flying was probably easier, but didn¡¯t look as good. ¡°Well?¡± Anton said. ¡°Come on then.¡± The building was fairly easy to climb up. Lots of mortar missing between the bricks, some window sills that were sturdy enough, and Varghese was a fairly fit young man- if perhaps a bit malnourished like many in the area. He only had a few more of those copper coins Anton saw him pay with. Though it was possible he had a stash wherever home was. Anton could see Varghese¡¯s determination, and the young man didn¡¯t make any other attempts to protest. Maybe he thought Anton wouldn¡¯t have heard anyway. Aside from snagging the hilt of his sword on a sill, the climb went smoothly for Varghese, though he was a bit winded when he reached the top. There he found Anton sitting with a scroll containing a single word. Anton tossed it to him, and he fumbled to catch it. ¡°There. Your reward.¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°The word ¡®climb¡¯. Didn¡¯t you want to learn to read?¡± Anton grinned as Varghese¡¯s brow furrowed more. ¡°Not enough? Well, I do have something else.¡± Anton tossed him a blank scroll and a pen with no ink. ¡°You¡¯re going to copy that word. I¡¯ll teach you the letters and how to write them.¡± ¡°... Okay.¡± The young man reluctantly accepted the situation- he did want to learn to write, even if he had probably imagined a more fanciful reward. ¡°Passable,¡± Anton said. He¡¯d vaguely copied the shapes, but his writing form was still bad and the word was still¡­ poorly formed after a dozen attempts. ¡°Try another time.¡± ¡°There¡¯s¡­ no more room,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°That¡¯s because you made your first attempts too large,¡± Anton said. ¡°Normally, you will work smaller. However, that¡¯s not a problem. Simply roll up that second scroll¡­ and then unroll it.¡± Varghese did so, and when he opened it again it was blank. When he wrote on it, instead of the ink coming from his pen, the paper itself produced the ink. A simple trick, useless in most situations except for practicing writing. And while Anton hadn¡¯t been sure he would teach anyone how to write on this trip, how could he not carry as many different teaching tools as he could pack? This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Varghese finally scratched out a successful attempt. ¡°Good,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°You¡¯ll want to practice more, of course. And I¡¯ll teach you more than just a few letters and a single word later. But we need to move onto the next step.¡± ¡°Which is?¡± Varghese tilted his head. ¡°Cultivation, of course. I did say I¡¯d teach you. I have a good sense of your fitness now, so I can put together a plan for body tempering. And of course, you must learn to sense energy.¡± Anton tossed him a scroll. ¡°This is the One Hundred Stars. The same technique I practice. You can¡¯t read it yet, of course, but consider that a goal. I¡¯ll verbally teach you the first layers, but you¡¯ll have to read if you want to advance beyond Body Tempering.¡± If the young man had some reason he couldn¡¯t learn to read and write that would be another story, but he¡¯d done just fine. The instruction began with simply familiarizing Varghese with his body, and feeling for his dantian to spark his internal energy. It was a slow process, taking several hours for him to refine just a single strand of energy. But¡­ he had started, and the first step was the most important. ¡°Well then,¡± Anton said. ¡°I imagine you have other things you must get to.¡± Specifically, he¡¯d noticed Varghese glancing away- and not because he was bored. ¡°Come back and meet me here later.¡± ¡°When?¡± Varghese asked. Anton shrugged. ¡°Whenever you¡¯re free. I¡¯ll know you¡¯re coming.¡± It might have been the slightest invasion of privacy to follow the young man with his energy senses, but Anton was at a point that he did not care. He didn¡¯t eavesdrop on the conversations Varghese had with his family- father, mother and a couple siblings it looked like- but he did need to keep track of that cultivation technique, and Varghese¡¯s safety. He¡¯d keep an eye on both. Now then, what else should he do in the meantime? Meeting some of the local cultivators might be good, but it could also cause a panic. Anton wasn¡¯t exactly hiding his power, but that might make his sudden appearance in their midsts more concerning. ----- Falling Stars was an excellent technique with a fatal flaw- it relied on the power of gravity to accelerate attacks and provide power. Except for rare planets without gravity or that were particularly low, it was still quite usable, but away from there- and especially in the midsts of space- it required something more. Hoyt and Prospero faced each other. The former was more powerful, but only by virtue of reaching Integration earlier. Now, the younger grandfather had surpassed Life Transformation, so they were separated by only a smaller gap. Given he was the progenitor of the Falling Stars- and Hoyt, less directly- his ability was sufficient to make up for the difference in power. If the technique relied on the acceleration of gravity, Prospero would simply have to make his own. He could, of course, simply inject more energy, pushing the attacks faster. But the whole point was to conserve energy. Taking a slightly different approach would be more effective. Prospero reached out his hand to his right- Hoyt¡¯s left- though the fact that he and his grandson were sharing the same orientation was more habit than necessity. A great ball of fire appeared, building up momentum as it arced towards Hoyt. At the last moment, so as to not give away which direction he intended to dodge, Hoyt ducked under the attack and created his own counter, beneath him. He gestured with a kick, fully unnecessary to the process the same as Prospero¡¯s outstretched hand. Prospero¡¯s second falling star clashed directly with Hoyt¡¯s, the two attacks negating each other. Then Prospero¡¯s first came back around. Hoyt couldn¡¯t be fully surprised by that result- there was nothing else around them as a distraction, so he must have sensed the energy of the attack still existed- but perhaps he hadn¡¯t expected quite the speed it had built up. He had to smash it apart with his fist as it homed in on his position, which was the same as a loss in their particular dueling style. However, taking one loss didn¡¯t mean things were over. Hoyt retaliated, immediately learning from Prospero¡¯s modification. He formed his own attacks which instead of maintaining a straight line trajectory curved back around. But Prospero grinned. That was the core of the technique, certainly, but Hoyt had missed some of the essence. Soon enough they were no longer exchanging single attacks, or even small handfuls. Instead, they had dozens of attacks flying about, each sufficient to cause serious damage, especially if followed up. But they knew each other¡¯s limits, and had sufficient ability to make things safe. Neither wanted to lose, though. Hoyt began to tire, while Prospero still looked fresh- despite having lesser energy reserves from his lower cultivation. ¡°How?¡± Hoyt asked. Prospero could have chosen not to answer, but they were already beyond the tipping point- and he did want his grandson to learn. ¡°I¡¯m not pushing or pulling them into a curve. They are properly orbiting around me.¡± Not in a simple circle, of course, or even an ellipse that nearly approximated it. Instead, they had their own eccentric motions that suited the current combat placements. ¡°How is that any different?¡± That was a question worth contemplating, but the answer was simple enough. ¡°Insight,¡± Prospero said, ¡°And form. Just like they are falling stars when it would be technically more efficient to simply make a beam of condensed energy for all purposes. A cultivator¡¯s understanding feeds into the form of their attacks. Here, they orbit around me within my aura, treating me like a proper source of gravity. With that, I am able to maintain the energy within an attack even on different trajectories.¡± Of course, as he was not an actual planet, he could only approximate such a thing. He still had to contribute some amount to keep up the effort- but not nearly as much as would take to actually redirect something around him constantly. And as his understanding grew, so would his efficiency. As for how that solved his problem, it meant that the energy put into an attack was never wasted if and when he missed- he maintained the majority that would come down for another attack if someone dodged, providing a constant threat of danger and allowing him to continue accelerating his attacks manually. So it wasn¡¯t the same as the ¡®free¡¯ kinetic energy he got dropping an attack into a proper gravity well, but it was efficient, which was the whole point. If he simply hit someone with the initial attack, then it was a success- otherwise, he had most of the same power ready for another with little loss. No doubt Hoyt would pick it up soon enough, and Prospero would have to think of another way to outdo his grandson. He was proud of him. And when Hoyt came up with an improvement of his own or a different technique, Prospero looked forward to learning from his older grandson in turn. Chapter 603 It was a difficult decision, not going around and simply destroying every member of the Twin Soul Sect who had wormed their way among the people living on In¡¯istra. However, that would only be a short term solution. If somehow Anton missed any they could rebuild. And during the next cycle, In¡¯istra might just have more infiltrators. He couldn¡¯t just go around eradicating every problem and assuming things would be alright from then on. No, the people needed to be built up to handle things on their own. But it sure was difficult with a place as desolate as this. Cleaning up the area after the invasion was an ongoing and slow process, with little motivation. They didn¡¯t need the space- there were enough deaths that they weren¡¯t hard pressed to replace buildings. It just looked bad, and would remind them of what happened. That part was actually good¡­ if the history didn¡¯t get twisted. That was another reason Anton didn¡¯t just kill all of the Twin Soul Sect. Here, he could watch them and how they worked. He didn¡¯t enjoy allowing the people to be test subjects, but he had enough reason to leave the problem for the moment that he had to deal with those feelings. After two months, Varghese had fully formed the first star, taking his first real step as a cultivator. That wasn¡¯t particularly quick, but he also wasn¡¯t in any rush. He had family and work to deal with, and though Anton made him cultivate even during manual labor the young man didn¡¯t suddenly no longer need to work. Nor had his performance yet increased to the point he could do the same work in a significantly reduced time and ask for a higher pay. So for those two months, things had been hard. He¡¯d only just begun to actually grasp reading. ¡°Master Anton¡­¡± Varghese said dejectedly. ¡°Have I actually grown over these past two months?¡± ¡°I will answer your question with another. How long did it take you to get up here?¡± Anton gestured around him at the same empty rooftop. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°A minute or two?¡± ¡°Was it difficult?¡± ¡°Not particularly. But I could do it from the beginning.¡± ¡°Did you use natural energy?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well, no,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°I¡¯ve been saving it to temper my body, but I¡¯m unsure how much it helps.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°In that case, I would suggest paying more attention to such things. Come, I¡¯ll give you some tests of strength so you can know for certain how much you¡¯ve grown.¡± Sometimes, Anton forgot that people could be young. As someone who could not quite be called a full man, Varghese had probably been changing constantly for the past years but if he wasn¡¯t tracking that he might not notice. Different students needed different methods. After the tests, mostly pointless but clear measurements like how much weight he could lift, Varghese frowned. ¡°Master. How come you haven¡¯t taught me how to fight?¡± Anton frowned, ¡°Do you want to fight?¡± ¡°Of course, isn¡¯t that what cultivators do?¡± Anton sighed, ¡°I will admit that is often the first focus of those who gain strength. But not all of it has to be used for martial prowess. On the other hand, now that you have a clear aura of natural energy about you, any other cultivators will expect you to be capable. So I will teach you about combat. Where did you get your sword?¡± ¡°... I found it,¡± Varghese said defensively. ¡°I was just wondering if it meant anything. Do you know how to use it? Have you tested your aptitude with various weapons?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got some experience with the sword,¡± he said. Anton had the feeling the sword meant more to him than just something he found. Perhaps it was from dead family, or a friend. Or maybe it was just a symbol of strength he was lacking. ¡°Weapons training will take time. In addition, I¡¯ll need to be certain you will use the knowledge appropriately.¡± ¡°Are other cultivation masters so¡­ particular?¡± ¡°All the sensible ones,¡± Anton replied. ----- ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t care how you use this,¡± Everheart admitted. ¡°I mean obviously it will be against the Harmonious Citadel, but you can use a lot of this stuff against others.¡± Vari nodded seriously. ¡°I will properly respect the power I have.¡± ¡°I just said you don¡¯t have to do that. The only thing I expect from you is to cover up any flaws you find.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ I cannot comprehend any flaws in them.¡± ¡°Sure, not now. But you¡¯re young still. You might find the flaws eventually.¡± ¡°Why not teach me without the flaws, then?¡± Everheart clicked his tongue and leaned in conspiratorially. ¡°Here¡¯s a secret. I¡¯m not actually perfect. As far as I know everything I use is without flaws. And then I always improve and find a flaw in previously perfect fighting styles. Or worse¡­ someone else finds the flaws.¡± Everheart made a face. ¡°That kid Anton did that an annoying number of times. And at least in terms of archery, he vastly surpasses my understanding. Speaking of which, don¡¯t make that guy mad if you¡¯re planning to be anywhere in the lower realms. The range he has¡­¡± Everheart shook his head. ¡°I mean, I can cover the distance in a few hops, but I¡¯d never match him at a distance. Without formations.¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Vari hung her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to say I have little talent in that regard.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Everheart shrugged, ¡°Honestly I could do without the competition. I already have to worry about Catarina. A person that young should not be covering a whole planet with formations laced in sub-runes. It¡¯s totally unfair.¡± Then Everheart grinned, ¡°But I guess that¡¯s all due to me being such an amazing teacher.¡± Vari kept her reaction to that internal. Everheart had great understanding, and could spot flaws well enough that she could correct mistakes. But a good teacher? That was debatable. ¡°When are we going to make our attack?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Unfortunately, we have to wait. We can¡¯t just go to Rouhiri and expect to take the guy out. But it won¡¯t be long.¡± So anywhere between a week and, what, a decade? Vari knew Everheart had a skewed sense of time. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting.¡± She did want revenge. But she also wanted the opportunity for her allies to make some progress in the war. ----- In the void of space, upon an unassuming asteroid, sat a man who was amazingly young for his level of power. Personal power, at least. Tauno Heinonen could be considered influential in the Scarlet Midfields, but only by those who knew he existed. And even then, he¡¯d only recently grown into his power as an Augmentation cultivator. If he had been an Augmentation cultivator a few centuries ago, then the Dancing Slayer Sect would probably still exist. Though to be fair, they still sort of existed. They had simply folded into the banner of the Dark Ring, where they nursed their wounds and were raising new generations of disciples for the time they could once again claim territory. Xankeshan was a great boon in that regard. Though nothing was truly unassailable, the planet served as enough of a deterrent that many people were able to live there in peace, instead of being constrained to remote asteroids like Tauno. He could go there- but if the Harmonious Citadel caught wind of his life and current strength, they would seek to annihilate him. So he trained patiently, and waited. Today was a good day, as he had a visitor. ¡°Sect Head,¡± a pleasant woman inclined her head as she approached from the ship that landed on the other side of the asteroid that was only a few kilometers across. ¡°I come bearing news.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± he raised an eyebrow. ¡°Not just making sure you haven¡¯t lost me?¡± She didn¡¯t respond to that, instead continuing with her official duties. ¡°Word comes from the alliance that there is going to be an attack on the Harmonious Citadel. We plan to launch an offensive of our own, occurring more or less simultaneously. At least, before they can react.¡± ¡°And who can be launching such an attack?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know of many sects with Augmentation cultivators, not nearby or willing to join. Could it be they have angered the Trigold Cluster somehow?¡± He shook his head, ¡°No, in that case we would not need to act.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Everheart, Sect Head,¡± the woman explained. That alone was sufficient. ¡°I see. The only reservation I have is¡­ actually presuming we can predict Everheart¡¯s actions.¡± ¡°We have a reliable source, though I am unaware of the details,¡± the woman explained. ¡°It is also my understanding that we will not be launching truly simultaneous attacks. We have an advantage in communication speed due to the Formation Grandmaster. Once we hear of Everheart¡¯s attack, we can be confident in making another strike. With losses in two areas, the Harmonious Citadel should be less able to retaliate as they wish.¡± ¡°And if there¡¯s no attack¡­?¡± ¡°It is my understanding that we would simply withdraw. It would come with some risk of revealing Augmentation cultivators, but Everheart seems to have a grudge with the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°Who doesn¡¯t? And the other way around.¡± ¡°Our alliance is presumed to not be on the top of his grudge list,¡± the woman stated. ¡°That¡¯ll have to suffice,¡± Tauno nodded. ¡°Am I planned to return with you?¡± ¡°You will be taken to an outlying base. Less obscure, but sufficiently secret.¡± Tauno followed her back to the ship, where he noticed something. ¡°The design of this vessel is strange.¡± ¡°It has been augmented with Technology from the lower realms. Rouhiri, specifically. I have only heard that such modifications come with an increase in efficiency. Five or ten percent, at least by the numbers I heard.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Tauno stroked his chin. ¡°It¡¯s a strange design. However, if it is reliable and comes with no drop in power, it¡¯s actually quite remarkable.¡± ¡°Their vessels require more maintenance, but those who are versed in such things indicate they are ultimately superior. Though they still rely on the power of traditional formations, the designs can vary significantly and work towards specialized purposes.¡± ----- Catarina wished this war could wait a decade or two. Engineer Uzun had barely begun his work! Given sufficient time, their fleets could significantly change the balance of the war. In addition, though the Harmonious Citadel was constantly spreading, it was actually slowing its overall growth, while Xankeshan and the alliance were accelerating their pace of growth. They even had gotten in contact with individuals from the lower realms, and while the cultivators from Doruma were not a large sect, each ascender was another Integration cultivator, and those could not be discounted. It was just difficult getting in touch with them. Anton and others would be getting in contact with further groups, improving their alliance through diplomacy rather than having to raise new members. So if the war would just wait ten or twenty years before reaching its peak, then- The door swung open, revealing Chidi. ¡°You sound like you¡¯re thinking hard.¡± ¡°What does that sound like?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Your breathing becomes slow, and your head muscles tense up.¡± ¡°My face?¡± Catarina asked. She supposed she could have been frowning. ¡°Not just that,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Around the neck, and even your ears and stuff.¡± ¡°How can you hear all that?¡± Catarina asked. Chidi shrugged, ¡°Spikes can. She knows when the pups have strained a muscle even if they don¡¯t walk with a limp. I can hear it now, a little bit.¡± He held up his fingers, waggling them. Then he flexed his arm. ¡°Hear that?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°Try asking auntie Alva about things like that. She¡¯s trained her senses better. She might even have some hints for you.¡± Unfortunately, sight was always going to be Alva¡¯s primary sense. ¡°I do have some work to do.¡± ¡°Okay, I was just stopping by to say hi. Go back to your thinking stuff,¡± Chidi waved. Yes, her thinking stuff. It was too bad the war couldn¡¯t wait. Actually, Catarina changed her mind. This was the best timing they could hope for, now. Unless they could wait a full century. Chapter 604 It was unclear whether anyone could truly read every cultivation technique developed upon a world, even after practicing the Ten Thousands Scrolls. Anton had certainly read through most of what Ceretos had to offer, but there could have been some unappraised gems that he missed. However, with the inclusion of techniques from the upper realms made possible by improved communications devices Anton had a steady if perhaps not infinite stream of options. He didn¡¯t have the equipment with him that would actually print out a copy, but he could read things as they arrived. Anton was contently looking at the device in front of him as a sword chopped down towards his head¡­ then curved away, stopping just short of impacting the roof as Varghese pulled his blow. ¡°Dammit. How are you doing this?¡± ¡°The point of the training is for you to figure it out,¡± Anton said. Deflecting the attacks purely with his energy would be trivial and perhaps unfair. His current technique was new and undeveloped with one obvious flaw. For the sake of the training, at least, Anton intended to keep that flaw even if he determined how to remove it. Varghese struggled to pull back his weapon, though Anton wasn¡¯t actively interfering. The young man took his sword stance, a textbook form that had at least the image down if not the essence. But what could be expected after a short time? Varghese had sufficient drive to continue his training. He also didn¡¯t uselessly repeat his favored attack, swapping through thrusts and slashes and even moving around Anton despite the man remaining still in his sitting position. None of his attacks approached Anton, but it would be good practice for him regardless. Now if only he would realize that it wasn¡¯t a problem with his own techniques, but Anton¡¯s. None of the attacks would slip through Anton¡¯s defenses because they were swift or confusing or otherwise clever. A booted foot kicked towards Anton¡¯s face, not simply an expression of anger but part of a proper movement. Anton stopped the boot with one finger. ¡°Half a point. You¡¯ll only get full marks if you can hit me with your sword.¡± Taking note of his success, Varghese immediately shifted his strategy. He flipped the sword in his hands, holding onto the blade and using the pommel as a bludgeoning instrument. Another real technique, and a reasonable enough variation to attempt, if rarely useful in battles between cultivators. It was only for when crushing force was required, and that could usually be accomplished with a clever application of energy. And in this case, it didn¡¯t stop his attacks from being deflected. Varghese stepped back, lowering his sword. ¡°I have to go for today. I won¡¯t be back for at least a few weeks. I have a mission. One with a decent enough reward to sustain my family for a while, giving me more time to train.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Practical experience will be good for you as well. I cannot be anything more than a daunting sparring partner.¡± Properly winning a fight would be good for Varghese, building his confidence- and understanding. Assuming he survived, of course. Because he liked the young man, Anton was willing to put his finger on the scale should it prove necessary- but if he couldn¡¯t manage to some extent on his own, he¡¯d never go far. ----- The mission didn¡¯t involve just Varghese. He was going along with the Iron Plate Mercenaries. It was both a mission and sort of a trial phase to see if he meshed with them. For cultivators of a certain power, they might accept them even if they didn¡¯t quite fit- Varghese had just finished his second star, tempering his muscles for his first prime tempering. Even in the world¡¯s current state, that didn¡¯t make him anything special. He was just another early Body Tempering cultivator. He met the group outside the mine they were supposed to clear. He recognized Captain Sharma, who had introduced him to the mission. ¡°Greetings, Captain. I hope I¡¯m not late¡­¡± ¡°Just on time,¡± the man said, leaning on his spear. His black hair had spots of white throughout, especially visible in his beard. ¡°This the rookie?¡± said a somewhat older woman. To Varghese she looked pretty ancient, except for by comparison to Captain Sharma. ¡°He doesn¡¯t look like much.¡± ¡°I just reached the second star in the One Hundred Stars cultivation method,¡± Varghese politely inclined his head. ¡°It is nothing astounding, but my master said it is sufficient to begin my career as a warrior.¡± Taking stock of the other two, they were in early Spirit Building and late Body Tempering respectively. The other handful of mercenaries were spread throughout Body Tempering, mostly early and mid. ¡°One Hundred Stars? Never heard of it. Can¡¯t be that great,¡± the woman replied. ¡°He¡¯s still young, Vasudha. Cultivating at his age is still admirable.¡± Varghese kept his thoughts about Vasudha¡¯s ability to himself. He could have retorted by speaking about Master Anton¡¯s power¡­ but he was supposed to rely on his own name. It still irked him though, knowing that Master Anton was much stronger than all of them. ¡°Alright then,¡± Captain Sharma declared. ¡°Formation masters want us to clear this cave of its inhabitants. Bears, among other things. Might be a tiger, or other cave dwellers. And don¡¯t assume that they¡¯ll be normal beasts. These likely have some cultivation, living in a zone of this density. And their muscle power will outdo most of you regardless.¡± Captain Sharma led the way, his spear leveled in front of him. Then they came to branching paths. ¡°Should have figured it would be something like this. Vasudha, take the rookie and explore the right path. I¡¯ll take the middle. The rest of you go down the left.¡± ¡°Really, captain?¡± Vasudha sighed. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡®What? It¡¯ll do you some good to have someone to take off the pressure. You don¡¯t have to sacrifice yourself to protect him,¡± Captain Sharma¡¯s eyes settled on Varghese. ¡°Speaking of which, if you can¡¯t handle something better retreat before you get hurt. Doesn¡¯t help you look brave if you¡¯re just dead.¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°Yes, captain.¡± He silently followed Vasudha down the tunnel, keeping his eyes on her weapons. Two katars, clutched in either hand. A bit less reach than what his sword allowed, but if she was swift it hardly mattered. The most important was their quality or it suiting her style. The mineshaft opened up briefly into a natural cavern. It wasn¡¯t terribly large, but it did fit two bears. Though when they stood up, Varghese felt they fit less. ¡°You take the little one!¡± Vasudha said, charging forward. Comparing the two and her trajectory, Varghese figured one of them was a bit smaller. But still quite intimidating. He readied his blade, pulse beating heavily in his body. This was it, his first real fight, outside of childhood scuffles. He¡¯d seen some real battles at the end of the war, but he couldn¡¯t even remember which parts were dreams or childhood fantasies. Instead of rushing in, he let the creature come to him, using his sword as a barrier. When the bear tried to bat aside the intruding weapon, he tilted the blade to catch the paw, performing a draw-cut as he stepped back. The paw was a bit bloody, but it wasn¡¯t as deep as he might have liked. It seemed to only serve to make the bear mad. With a roar, the bear charged him- and something odd happened with his weapon. It was yanked towards the creature, almost pulling out of his hand. But he¡¯d felt something similar in training recently, and the pulse was only momentary instead of continuous. He stepped to the side, making as much use of the space as he could. He cut towards the bear¡¯s neck, mostly digging into thick fur. The blood on his sword wasn¡¯t enough for him to determine he got another cut or just the first one. As he wound up for another attack, his sword brushed up against a nearby stalagmite, sticking to it. The pull was strong enough that it took him a moment to pull free, earning him a claw across his shoulder even as he kicked against the bear to separate them. Varghese focused, calming himself. He had stances meant for larger opponents, and for beasts. He just had to fight smart- and watch the room itself. He called upon his natural energy, augmenting his muscles as he performed his strikes, staying on the move and making life as difficult as possible for the bear. He saw an opportunity to stab deep into its side, but didn¡¯t want to risk his blade getting stuck. He went for a cut around the thigh, dancing and moving. Everything felt more real, using it with his life on the line. Finally, he felled the beast. ¡°Pretty slow, kid,¡± he looked up to see Vasudha leaning against the wall, the only visible wounds on her opponent directly on the neck, and not a scratch on her. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go.¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°Say, Vasudha? What do they mine here?¡± ¡°Fancy rocks. This is an old mine, but the formation masters want some of the less practical things here. I think they called it magnetite? Pretty awful as any sort of weapon or armor.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a rock?¡± ¡°A rock, an ore. Can be a metal. Gets other metal stuck to it.¡± Interesting. And odd, because Anton didn¡¯t wear any metal. And Varghese¡¯s weapon didn¡¯t stick to him, exactly. It was deflected, though also pulled into the area around him? It was difficult to explain, yet clearly related somehow. ¡°... Do the bears eat the rocks?¡± ¡°That sounds dumb,¡± Vasudha remarked. ¡°Why would you think that?¡± ¡°The one I fought did the magnet thing. Pulled on my weapon.¡± ¡°Weird. Well, I guess they might. Or it¡¯s from living here.¡± ----- The young man returned from his first mission, alive and vaguely healthy. Anton didn¡¯t even have to tip the scales, at least not for Varghese. He did for a couple others, determining that if he did nothing while watching and they died, he was responsible. Nobody should notice a needle-thin hole in anything, and the near death experiences would be sufficient for people to make their decisions between growing stronger or quitting combat. ¡°Where¡¯d you go? How was the mission?¡± Anton asked, though he knew the answer to both. ¡°Up into the mountains. I think I learned something, but I can¡¯t be sure.¡± ¡°Show me, then.¡± Instead of starting with taking swings, Varghese carefully pointed his sword at Anton, negotiating the area around him. His sword quickly was drawn into the flow and pulled towards the ground, but he began to trace out the area. Finally, he held his sword above himself, pointing down in a reverse grip and stabbed towards the top of Anton¡¯s head. Anton caught the blade between his fingers. That was the weakness of this sort of field. Even if he caused it to work in a certain manner, it had a ¡®low point¡¯. He could move it around as he pleased, which might be the solution, but he was unsure if he could erase it entirely. ¡°Good job,¡± Anton said. ¡°I doubt you¡¯ll run across this particular technique often, but scoping out your enemy¡¯s defenses is an important skill. Sometimes you just need to swing harder to break through, but sometimes you can ignore it entirely.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ surprising,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°Still, this technique seems good. Can you teach it to me?¡± Could he? Anton supposed it would be possible. It would also be much more difficult without the benefit of being bound to a neutron star, but there was nothing incompatible with One Hundred Stars as a cultivation technique. People focused on many different aspects- light, fire, gravity, or just power. Why not magnetism? It was a part of stars, though often overlooked from afar. ¡°This technique is still in development,¡± Anton said finally. ¡°However, I am sure it will not take too long to have a version you can attempt, if you are interested. Though it would take much of your natural energy.¡± Perhaps Anton could find a way to make it efficient. If it wasn¡¯t constantly activated but momentary, that might be reasonable. And he could apply the same to himself, creating a powerful burst that was much closer to his inspiration, rather than this field that was weak enough a Body Tempering cultivator could almost stab through it. Though Anton was holding back there. Chapter 605 On the scale of an Augmentation cultivator¡¯s lifespan, one year of waiting was practically nothing. Tauno had been waiting in near isolation for much longer than that, so when he heard that things were going to come to a deciding point ¡®soon¡¯, he expected it to take somewhere around a decade. It was nice to spend the time somewhere with more upper energy, as that made training easier- though at Tauno¡¯s stage the greater limiting factor was insights into his cultivation style and the universe rather than sheer quantity of power. Then the opportunity came. The Bow Saint, Tisiphone Tassaiades, had shown herself on a nearby world. That wasn¡¯t a random coincidence- the alliance¡¯s spies had known the Harmonious Citadel was interested in the area. Thus, Tauno and a number of others readied themselves on ships both familiar and strange, preparing¡­ and waiting for one particular message. ----- In her hands, Vari held Luminous Heartpiercer, the weapon of the Spear Saint. That was an extremely strange position to find herself in, both because she had not spent her life training with the spear, and because the current spear saint was supposed to be in possession of the weapon. ¡°... Did you steal this?¡± Vari asked. ¡°No,¡± Everheart flatly denied. What an odd response. Usually, he was quite happy to admit to any form of shenanigans. ¡°Really?¡± Vari frowned. ¡°I would understand if you did, considering the factors¡­¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t. Your aunt specifically bequeathed it to me.¡± He sighed, ¡°I should have known something was off. She said she was going incognito, then¡­ well, you know.¡± Vari did. Sort of. Something about Damjan killing Silvija and Kullike, but without the details. Maybe Everheart didn¡¯t have them, or like to speak of it. There were further questions to be asked. ¡°How can this be here and also in the hands of Damjan?¡± ¡°I think the answer to that is pretty straightforward. One of them has to be fake,¡± Everheart pointed out. ¡°Also, first names, huh? You close to that guy?¡± ¡°Obviously not,¡± Vari retorted. ¡°He doesn¡¯t deserve a respectful title, is all.¡± Taking a look at the spear in her hand, she would be hard pressed to call it fake in any capacity. It was simply impossible to deny its power. ¡°This should be the real one, then. But what point is there in placing it in my hands?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°You¡¯re bait.¡± ¡°... You mean the spear?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°I am significantly less on board with this plan,¡± Vari grumbled. ¡°What are you worried about? With that weapon in hand, you can¡¯t lose to anyone below saint level.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t use spears!¡± Vari exclaimed. ¡°You know that.¡± ¡°But you can,¡± Everheart said. ¡°And it¡¯s a very good spear.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t suppose there¡¯s another version of the plan?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Everheart said. ¡°The spear guys will rush after you once you appear with that but likewise the other branches will either stay away or get in conflict with them. Because it would be a shame if someone else was responsible for returning that to its ¡®rightful¡¯ place.¡± ¡°What if they work together?¡± Everheart furrowed his brow, as if he hadn¡¯t even considered the possibility. ¡°I guess you toss the spear and run.¡± ¡°You want me to just throw away my aunt¡¯s spear?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not important. Besides, I thought you didn¡¯t like spears?¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean I want to throw away my only connection to family!¡± Vari retorted. ¡°... This is why I don¡¯t work with people,¡± Everheart sighed. ¡°Look, it¡¯ll work out. Just make sure to lure them to Ye¡¯sin.¡± ¡°I also have concerns about going to the most toxic planet in the Scarlet Midfields.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not the most toxic planet,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Just the most toxic planet people know about. Which means people have survived there before.¡± ¡°If I die because of this I¡¯m going to haunt you.¡± ----- All Vari had to do was go to a particular well trafficked planet, challenge a prominent disciple to a duel, drop a leaf of the Purifying Moonflower behind her as she fled for her ship and obviously set course for Ye¡¯sin. The plan went smoothly until the completion of the first step. ¡°... Where the hell is Marnis?¡± Everheart¡¯s information was usually reliable. Which was weird, because he wasn¡¯t good with people. How did he get it? Vari didn¡¯t know. Some sort of special spying capabilities or something. The problem was, this planet was huge and asking people¡­ well, it wasn¡¯t that useful. ¡°You want to know where Marnis is? Good luck with that.¡± ¡°Marnis? What, you think you¡¯re worthy to speak her name?¡± ¡°... You mean my pig?¡± The last one was a non-cultivator resident of the world. Vari quietly advised not advertising that name for the near future. With things like this, she might just stab the next person she came across out of frustration. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Actually, wouldn¡¯t that help the plan? Not literally the next person, but if she went around dueling various spear wielders¡­ well, it was better than nothing. And she didn¡¯t exactly have anyone she could ask for advice. So she did that, finding the first Integration spear user she came across. There was no way anyone in Life Transformation would accept a duel, nor would it mean anything to anyone if she won. The man had a large build, which was basically meaningless. The amount that muscle power contributed to a combat at their level was nearly insignificant, especially in styles that didn¡¯t continue to temper bodies beyond the basics. Speed was more important anyway. Vari had to admit that holding Luminous Heartpiercer made her feel powerful, so she didn¡¯t mind taking it for a spin. The duel started with a simple stab. She returned in kind, intending to knock aside the tip of her enemy¡¯s weapon and drive past. Instead, the tip of her spear cut into the man¡¯s, and as she continued to push forward it split it in two down the middle. Her motion stopped with the point of the spear by the man¡¯s throat. She wasn¡¯t exactly the sort to be merciful to disciples of the Harmonious Citadel- especially not those of the Glorious Harmony Technique- but he could hardly spread the word if he perished. And she wasn¡¯t interested in bringing a manhunt down on her for killing her ¡®fellow disciples¡¯. ¡°H-how¡­?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the power of Luminous Heartpiercer,¡± Vari said truthfully. She would have won anyway, but the way it happened was totally unreasonable. She wondered what it could do in the hands of someone with the right focus. Apparently the disciple she challenged had been a big shot in the local area, and she was soon swarmed with challenges of her own. However, Vari only accepted those from other spear wielders. She could defeat the others, of course, but her current persona was one ¡®pursuing the mastery of the spear¡¯. Subsequent duelists were more cautious, fortifying their weapons with more upper energy. That kept their weapons basically intact, but Vari was still quite capable of countering their moves, understanding them quite well and having specific counters. Technically if they incorporated Citadel¡¯s Downfall into their styles any of them could improve, but Vari wasn¡¯t planning to teach any of them. She liked having known weaknesses, and these had lasted for a good few centuries. Seeing them exploited for a few days wouldn¡¯t suddenly make everyone overcome them. At the end of a week, Vari was finally approached by Marnis. Vari recognized her from portraits and descriptions, having never previously interacted with her. ¡°So you¡¯re the one who claims to be wielding Luminous Heartpiercer?¡± Marnis said, somehow looking down on Vari even though they were the same height. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Vari declared. ¡°I want to challenge you to a duel.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Marnis looked around at the group who came with her. ¡°You do, huh?¡± She lowered her spear. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t really believe you¡¯re wielding Luminous Heartpiercer. But saying you are is just admitting to a crime. That belongs with the Spear Saint. So just peacefully hand it over.¡± Vari shook her head, readying her own spear. ¡°I can¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°Then¡­ everyone, attack!¡± Vari should have anticipated that. Even without being prepared, her reaction was sufficient to do something. However, something took over her body. Instead of breaking out of the encirclement, kicking through someone like she intended, she held her ground. As over a dozen attacks came towards her, Vari¡¯s body twirled Luminous Heartpiercer in a way she¡¯d never moved before. Her energy extended beyond the tip of her spear, the pointed blade slicing into the jugulars of everyone surrounding while deflecting their attacks. Only Marnis remained, having leapt backwards. ¡°You¡­ you¡­¡± Marnis stammered. ¡°Me what?¡± Vari asked. At least the words were her own. ¡°You won¡¯t get away with this!¡± Marnis turned and ran away. Vari¡¯s body tried to throw the spear into her back, but she managed to stop it this time. She watched as the woman ran. Then she remembered what she was here for. ¡°You¡¯ll never catch me!¡± Vari shouted after her. ¡°There¡¯s no way you¡¯d be able to find me on Ye¡¯sin!¡± Well, that was it. Plan ruined. No way anyone would believe that. Leaving behind a Purifying Moonflower, rumored to be the only thing that could counter the toxins of Ye¡¯sin, was now just a token gesture. The fleeing to her ship part was real, though. It turned out a large number of people took note of the event, and while they were mostly not dumb enough to get in her way¡­ if they actually decided to swarm her they would doubtless win. Even with that weird spinny spear trick. When she got on her ship- a personal sized one- Vari tossed aside the spear. Luminous Heartpiercer or not, she didn¡¯t want anything controlling her body. Sure, it helped but¡­ it wasn¡¯t pleasant. She was going to have to have a talk with Everheart about that. If he even showed up as planned. ----- Anton looked at the vines growing around ¡®his¡¯ abandoned building. They were a variety of Western Creeper, complete with energy-piercing thorns. Sufficient to keep people from snooping too much, and a decent challenge for Varghese to get past. They would also eventually provide a net benefit to the area¡¯s supply of natural energy. The same was true for various things he had sold to local markets, seeds or whole fruits and plants specially tailored to catch people¡¯s interests. Of course, they would probably do the typical cultivator thing of putting them in a little formation controlled garden and making them grow big, strong, and with maximum potency- and not let them spread their matured energy elsewhere. But it would be a start. Another thing Anton had to get the ball rolling on was dealing with the Twin Soul Sect. He¡¯d been watching their movements, but if he wasn¡¯t going to eradicate them all himself- something he could have already done, if he thought it was the best move- he had to get others learning. Varghese was too weak to do anything relevant even if he learned. Sadly, one of the best candidates Anton knew of was Captain Sharma. He was also looking into a few sect heads and the like, but he had no trust built up with them. Technically, Anton hadn¡¯t meant Captain Sharma either¡­ but he was about ready to introduce himself. The man was back in town after a mission, so now was the best time to find him. Instead of approaching him normally, Anton decided he should make a big impression. He wasn¡¯t going to leverage his full power, as that would just cause problems, but he didn¡¯t have to hold back so much as he leapt from his building and strolled down streets towards the man. ¡°I hear you¡¯ve been taking good care of my disciple,¡± Anton declared without any sort of introduction. Captain Sharma turned. ¡°And who is¡­¡± a somewhat annoyed expression softened and then shattered. ¡°Who might that be, senior?¡± ¡°Varghese. Obviously. Can¡¯t you tell?¡± Anton displayed the feel of the One Hundred Stars clearly. ¡°Of course, I was simply surprised. He has spoken of you. I thought he must have been exaggerating your stature, but clearly I was incorrect. What can I do for you?¡± If Captain Sharma actually wanted to do things for Anton, things might have been different. Instead, he clearly just assumed Anton wanted something and that it was better to do it than¡­ be disintegrated, or whatever he thought would happen. ¡°I don¡¯t need anything from you,¡± Anton half lied. ¡°As I said, I heard you were taking good care of my disciple. Challenging him and letting him get in sufficient trouble to grow is just the right thing.¡± Anton didn¡¯t want them to suddenly coddle Varghese. That would be pointless. ¡°As a reward, I came to offer you this technique. Nothing particularly mysterious, and perhaps it will never be of use to you. However, there are a certain group of individuals who pose as members of other sects. Individuals not to be trusted. This can reveal them, should you practice it.¡± Anton casually tossed him a copy of the scroll. ¡°Do try to keep your group clean. You can even trade that to others¡­ just make sure you know who they are first. Wouldn¡¯t hurt to practice it yourself.¡± Captain Sharma opened it and looked it over. ¡°Where did you come across such a thing?¡± ¡°In truth, it was made to lessen the impact of the invasions from the upper realms,¡± Anton sighed. ¡°Unfortunately, it was not available.¡± Because he hadn¡¯t come to this world yet. ¡°I know your company is clean of this particular menace, and I would prefer it stay that way. Do make sure to practice it. Oh yes,¡± Anton said, pretending something else was an afterthought. ¡°And for you.¡± He produced a scroll of spear techniques. Not the very best he had- but it would be hard to explain where he got something combining upper and lower realm techniques. Either way, it would be better than Captain Sharma¡¯s current learning. Hopefully, that would also encourage him to spend the time learning what Anton actually wanted, indicating it to be of similar value. Though Anton thought it was actually worth more. ¡°Thank you, senior. I will studiously learn these gifts.¡± And the man meant it- at least at the moment. People could always change their minds. Chapter 606 The small one-person vessel Vari had used to reach Ye¡¯sin orbited around the noxious yellow-green planet. It was not a place that hid its foulness behind a smokescreen. The very obscuring gasses were also the main toxins the planet had. Vari looked at the Purifying Moonflower in her hand. Now that she thought of it, she didn¡¯t know how she was supposed to use it. Crush it up and eat it? Was there some process required to refine it into something usable? It hardly mattered, because she really shouldn¡¯t be landing anyway. This whole thing had been stupid. Working with Everheart? Really? Just because he claimed to be family? Sure, they had a mutual enemy- but Vari wanted to survive after them. ¡°Hey, niece!¡± the aforementioned individual appeared suddenly inside her ship. ¡°Good, you haven¡¯t taken that yet. I forgot to say that you shouldn¡¯t ingest the moonflower.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s just a fake, then?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Oh no, it will expel most of the toxins this planet has. Rather quickly, even,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°Opens your pores right up and practically explodes the toxins out. And then¡­¡± ¡°And then?¡± Vari raised an eyebrow. ¡°And then it does nothing,¡± Everheart finished. ¡°... so?¡± she tilted her head. If it worked, she just had to save it for when she needed it. So maybe that was why it was best she hadn¡¯t ingested it. ¡°It specifically doesn¡¯t close the pores,¡± Everheart pointed out. ¡°And once the initial push happens, it doesn¡¯t do anything further to remove toxic gasses. So they can seep into the body. And yes, they can seep through energy defenses as well. Otherwise this would hardly deserve its title of the most toxic planet in the Scarlet Midfields.¡± ¡°You sure know a lot about it,¡± Vari frowned. ¡°Did you¡­ make this place?¡± ¡°Oh, please,¡± Everhear laughed, waving his hand. ¡°As if. That¡¯s far too much work. No, I merely found it mostly like this. And then I might have augmented it a teensy bit.¡± He took a deep breath. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s nice to have real air for a few moments.¡± He clapped his hands. ¡°Well, we¡¯d better get down there. The trap has been set.¡± ¡°What if I don¡¯t want to?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Want to¡­ what? Kill the spear saint? Of course you do.¡± ¡°Not like this.¡± ¡°Is it the poison?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°It¡¯s mostly natural. Nothing wrong with using your environment against your enemies!¡± Vari shook her head, focusing straight on the man. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be used as bait. Or fight alone. Or¡­ with that spear.¡± Everheart¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the spear? Should make you stronger.¡± ¡°It controlled my body!¡± Vari exclaimed. ¡°You can¡¯t convince me it wouldn¡¯t try to take over eventually.¡± ¡°... Huh,¡± Everheart looked stumped. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ unexpected?¡± He walked over to pick up the spear- Luminous Heartpiercer. ¡°Looks fine to me. Hasn¡¯t changed.¡± He paced around the minimal room available. ¡°You¡¯re certain it controlled your body?¡± Vari nodded. ¡°Absolutely.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not the formations,¡± Everheart declared. ¡°None of the enchantments can do that.¡± ¡°It still did. Also¡­¡± Vari knew she probably shouldn¡¯t push things- Everheart was much stronger than her, so she couldn¡¯t really make demands. But she also couldn¡¯t ignore some things. ¡°Is this really Luminous Heartpiercer? While on planet I heard it was destroyed. A rumor that had spread recently in a very suspicious manner.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°I know that had to be you. Otherwise it wouldn''t stick. So which was it, was it destroyed or is this it?¡± she pointed. ¡°This is it, of course,¡± Everheart said. ¡°And I¡¯m supposed to believe you because¡­?¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re a notorious liar. How do I know you didn¡¯t just make up the part where you¡¯re my sort-of-uncle? You could have been lying to Anton, too.¡± ¡°Could¡¯ve,¡± Everheart admitted. ¡°Anyway, you don¡¯t trust me. Good. You can just leave. But things will go more smoothly here if I have a bit of backup. I can¡¯t exactly use Luminous Heartpiercer.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Do you have a better weapon?¡± ¡°Nope,¡± Everheart said. ¡°But if this thing is possessing people, no way am I wielding it.¡± He tossed it towards Vari, who ducked out of the way. ¡°I don¡¯t want it either then!¡± Vari retorted. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Everheart said. ¡°It could only be one of two people possessing that spear. They¡¯d both have your best interests at heart.¡± ¡°And those would be¡­?¡± ¡°Your mother and your aunt, of course. I could probably figure it out with some effort, but enemy ships have just entered the system. So we¡¯re going to have to hurry this along. Go ahead, pick it up. You¡¯ll need it.¡± ¡°How would I know it¡¯s as you say?¡± Vari frowned. ¡°It¡¯s simple. Pick it up right now. And let your body act as it will for a moment.¡± ¡°... If dead people can possess weapons, I¡¯ll figure out how to possess the thing most annoying to you if this goes wrong.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°It¡¯s just lingering will, so it¡¯s not quite the same, but the terminology was fami- whoa there.¡± Vari had picked up the spear, and immediately tried to stab through Everheart¡¯s midsection. ¡°Yep, it¡¯s definitely one of those sisters.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t this be my mother, if you were my aunt¡¯s lover?¡± Vari asked, the spear moving her on its own, in practiced maneuvers her body could not keep up with. ¡°Hah, if only that meant she wouldn¡¯t want to stab me¡­¡± Everheart laughed. ¡°Can you please resist now?¡± Vari resisted, and her body stopped. She just felt an itch. ¡°Maybe I should let them.¡± ¡°Can that wait?¡± Everheart said with annoyance. ¡°This whole attack thing is happening. We need to get down to the surface.¡± ¡°I¡¯d just die,¡± Vari pointed out. ¡°Oh yeah.¡± Everheart pulled out a small, spiny fruit. ¡°Chomp on that. It¡¯ll protect your internals for a day, approximately. Speaking of which, I should refresh.¡± Everheart did as instructed with one of his own. ¡°Now it is a bit-¡± ¡°Bleergh,¡± Vari nearly lost the previous day¡¯s lunch because of the taste. ¡°Bitter and sour,¡± Everheart continued. ¡°But once you get it down your stomach will settle.¡± ¡°Wait why did I eat that?¡± Vari asked. ¡°I don¡¯t even want to help you.¡± ¡°So about the formations I set up,¡± Everheart said, completely ignoring her comments. ¡°Sometimes the spear will be good. Use it then. And when it¡¯s bad, use your normal techniques. Pretty simple.¡± Vari had to make sure she was controlling her own body, but it seemed she was in control. Just stupid, for actually going along with the flow. Maybe it was a genetic flaw. Either way, she wasn¡¯t willing to abandon this crazy old asshole just yet. ¡°Oh right,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Make sure to slather your pores with the mud when we land. That will complete your protection.¡± ----- She could feel him, well before the incoming forces landed. The spear saint, Damjan Atanasov. The name was not known publicly, but Vari wanted to distinguish him from her aunt as much as possible. It was crazy that she was going to fight him. Well, presumably Everheart was going to be the one fighting him. Wherever he was. He was the Augmentation cultivator, after all. Vari was just¡­ actually, she was past the mid stage of Integration. Not necessarily a match, but beyond where she thought she¡¯d end up. That was the fault of the Holy Harmony Technique. ¡°False saint!¡± A voice rang from above, tearing through the toxic atmosphere. ¡°You will surrender your demonic weapon, then you will be judged fairly so that harmony might reign! Your filthy appearance merely cements your inner foulness!¡± Vari almost threw up- again. Not from the stupid thorny death fruit- though it didn¡¯t help- but from the thought that she would have once gone along with this guy. This was the time that Everheart should show up and provide a response. But he didn¡¯t. The filthy appearance thing was just dumb, but she was covered in dried mud now. It felt awful, but she also didn¡¯t have toxins seeping into her pores, so that was something. ¡°... I¡¯m a false saint?¡± Vari retorted. ¡°You¡¯re not even the original spear saint. I¡¯m sure there are plenty of people alive who recall the spear saint being a woman mere centuries ago, before you slew her in an ambush.¡± Apparently, there were lot of thoughts inside Vari that wanted to come out. ¡°And another thing¡­ all of your saints, and this separation of techniques to suppress those judged inferior¡­ no forced to be inferior¡­ it¡¯s garbage!¡± Her spear stabbed towards the sky, and though a shockwave pierced a hole in the atmosphere, it did not clear the all-pervasive fog. After all, it was the atmosphere. It wasn¡¯t possible to get rid of it by pushing it around. Vari thought there was going to be more shouting. Instead, she felt herself being pierced through with a spear. A figure was in front of her, covering the distance between them in a fraction of an instant. She couldn¡¯t stand up. Except, Luminous Heartpiercer parried his blow. She only felt the killing intent, not an actual wound. More importantly¡­ had not her advancement to Integration been for this very purpose? To go against the saints? And to¡­ draw power from them. ¡°You swore protection, but you intended only to drain people dry.¡± Luminous Heartpiercer moved with Vari¡¯s intent, but not her understanding. Instead, the spear fought on its own, making use of her power. That meant Vari could focus on pulling on that thread as much as possible- because no matter how good her weapon she simply could not stand up to an Augmentation cultivator. The first blow had been casual, she could tell that now. The following dozen moves were testing her power. ¡°You.¡± Damjan narrowed his eyes. ¡°You dare steal the devotion that is rightfully mine? And your face¡­ hmph, a mere trick.¡± A dozen insubstantial spears appeared around Vari, locking in her movements. In what seemed like slow motion, the spear saint stabbed forward- and Vari¡¯s body didn¡¯t move. Closer and closer, until finally¡­ Vari kicked aside the incoming spear. The phantom spears attempted to pierce her, but they were likewise slow and awful. Spears were¡­ bad now? She really wished Everheart had been clear about what that meant. Regardless of the mechanics, it only provided her a moment of safety, as dozens of others swarmed down around them. Most wielding spears, but a few others gathered from different parts of the Harmonious Citadel. And now she was going to die, because she was stupid and trusted Everheart to help her, or fight her own battle. Damjan took a deep- and painful- breath. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s time. I don¡¯t know who you truly are, girl, but you¡¯re not the only one who can get their hands on Purifying Moonflower.¡± Vari watched him take out the white flower, chew on it, swallow. She could both see and feel the toxins pushing out of them. Was that why he was suddenly weaker? But why had Luminous Heartbreaker stopped fighting? She didn¡¯t have time to ponder that, as she was rapidly being pinned in. She should have already turned to run, but the whole situation was weird. The spear saint raised his weapon. ¡°Hey! Pinprick!¡± A voice echoed from nowhere. ¡°Still like impaling the young ones? Well too bad, it¡¯s axe time!¡± None of what the voice said made any sense. Well, Vari had some idea. Clearly, Everheart was trying to make the spear saint mad. Wouldn¡¯t really change if he killed Vari though, he¡¯d just do it while angry. Then the world was cloven in two, starting just in front of Vari until past the spear saint. For an instant, she could clearly see, including the small but very real line on the spear saint¡¯s shoulder. Then there was a sonic boom as the momentary vacuum collapsed. Everheart landed in front of Vari, holding an axe with a blade nearly his size. She hadn¡¯t seen that one in their sparring. Vari still wasn¡¯t sure how to react, but as the enemies collapsed inward most of them focused on Everheart, rightly judging him as the true threat. Vari couldn¡¯t do much except protect herself, batting away spear and sword and a pair of daggers. There was also an axe, which she found disturbingly difficult to block. It almost tore right through her bracer as she blocked. Then, it suddenly lost momentum. Behind her, she could feel Everheart suddenly swap to a pair of daggers himself. And then Everheart and the daggers turned into a half dozen more of each. The extra projections moved to block the extra incoming enemies, so Vari was left with only four opponents, but one of them was strangely augmented. Did that mean it was dagger time now? And why would Everheart augment any of these people to be stronger? Chapter 607 The flow of the battle soon became clear to Vari, and though it meant swapping her combat priorities constantly, she could see the value in the rotating weapon augmentations. From spear to axe to daggers to morningstars, the priority weapon shifted- and with it Everheart¡¯s weapons. This allowed him to drive away the members of the Harmonious Citadel, bombarding the spear saint with a variety of attacks. The rest of the time, every other sort of weapon was weakened- or rather, the styles used by the Harmonious Citadel. Vari¡¯s own style focused on unarmed strikes and grappling. If one considered that a technical weapon style it might be boots and gauntlets, but either way it was neither augmented nor weakened by whatever formations Everheart had set up. None of the four Vari had to deal with were currently augmented, and she took advantage of the situation, swinging the spear wielder into the one with the sword. She did have to deal with a small portion of the bow cultivators targeting her, forming barriers to block their arrows. A sloppy spear thrust let her grab and counter. Vari had the feeling that her normal move, disarming the weapon and using it to stab the man, would be met with some difficulty. Instead, she simply held onto it with her free hand and kicked out, a burst of fire surrounding the man as he was knocked away. She dropped the spear, still holding Luminous Heartpiercer and waiting for its moment. Another shift. Shields seemed to be the next in line, though the Harmonious Citadel hadn¡¯t been ready. The few minutes of combat so far had left them off balance, and even though they defeated some of Everheart¡¯s projections he seemed able to make more at will. More than that¡­ Ye¡¯sin¡¯s toxins were getting to them. Vari was protected due to a layer of now-dried local mud, plugging the pores of her skin. As for her breath, the awful spiky fruit Everheart forced her to eat seemed to have created a layer of protection inside her as well. So while Vari had to expend more of her energy to fight multiple opponents, all of them were weakening. Including the spear saint Damjan, though the man only had the single thin wounds from Everheart¡¯s surprise attack. Vari truly didn¡¯t know who was winning or losing, and perhaps that was by design. But regardless of the current state, she just had to do everything she could. She had no doubt that fleeing now would result in her death, one way or another. Everheart was holding strong, but several more Integration cultivators free to target him might push him beyond his limits. Or perhaps Vari shouldn¡¯t be here at all. But she needed to be, to test herself if nothing else. She drew upon the power of those around her, their promises of protection strengthening her regardless of their actual intentions. Devotion streamed most readily from the spear saint, and the man would no doubt attempt to kill Vari if he found an opening. According to the pattern, his strength should return soon. For a moment, Vari could do nothing as bows became the weapon of choice. Then, suddenly, masses of weaker cultivators fell. Up until that point, Everheart had been mostly using styles Vari recognized, the best bits and pieces stolen from the Harmonious Citadel. His bow style bore only the faintest resemblance, instead reminding her more of¡­ Alva and Kseniya. Which was odd, because he¡¯d never interacted with them. Though it only took a moment to realize what that meant. Kseniya was Anton¡¯s master, and Anton in turn taught Alva. Though Vari had never met him- and probably never would- she heard great things about his skills. It would make perfect sense to adopt his style. Suddenly, each Everheart not only began to fire their bow, but had a twin pair of purely energy weapons floating next to them, the cause of the weaker cultivator¡¯s demise. Each of the projections could focus on more than one enemy during that time, and despite being attacked in melee they continued to fire their weapons with little care for the theoretical disadvantage. Then a sword swept towards Vari, its power augmented. She blocked with both bracers together, holding her ground. This individual was fairly skilled, so she couldn¡¯t do much but defend against it as well as the axe and dagger wielders. The one with the spear hadn¡¯t stood back up, and the continuing flames indicated that they never would. Once more, Vari lost control of her body- no, she gave it up. The weapon¡¯s great power and the skill of former wielders, combined with the augmentation of the formations, allowed her to quickly strike down the surrounding trio. That left her free, just in time for Damjan to break past Everheart. Vari watched as her own body fought, spears clashing. Spearheads scratched against each other, their shafts rattling with power. Vari couldn¡¯t win this, even with a superior weapon and the man poisoned. It simply wouldn¡¯t weaken the Augmentation cultivator fast enough, and he wasn¡¯t holding back. The spear swept down, an overhead chop that would certainly kill her. Her spear came up, blocking with its side- and being severed by the attack. The explosion of energy sent Vari flying, even as she somehow tossed the broken upper half of the spear towards Damjan. She landed on her back, and for a moment she forgot to stand up. Her body was once more hers. And the spear¡­ Luminous Heartpiercer was destroyed. A spear connecting her to an unknown mother and aunt. It had been with her only for a short time, but it hurt to lose. Her eyes rose to find the tossed half of the weapon, though it was barely visible through Damjan. On the other hand, she could see through Damjan. He seemed just as surprised as her. Maybe more so. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The weapon should not have broken so easily, even in the hands of a mere Integration cultivator like herself. Perhaps that was the intention it had all along. Damjan¡¯s head was lopped off with Everheart¡¯s axe a moment later, and the remaining combatants quickly turned to flee. Everheart was not normally the type to let people go, but he did not give chase. ¡°... Are you alright?¡± Vari asked Everheart. The man just sighed. ¡°That¡¯s one out of eight. Hopefully they have trouble suppressing this.¡± That reminded Vari she had a message to send, as soon as possible. ----- The message Tauno Heinonen had been waiting for finally came. He had never doffed his dragonscale armor, and his dragon fang sword hung by his side, ready for action. He was the only Augmentation cultivator taking part in this particular mission, but hearing that the spear saint was dead filled him with confidence. They didn¡¯t have time to ask for confirmation- they were already relying on their communications traveling faster than the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s. If they hesitated, the news might reach the local area somehow. Aside from those he knew from the past, Tauno saw that some of the catalysts for this new wave of action were participating. Individuals from the lower realms- a rather large quantity of individuals from a single planet, even if they had ascended over the course of decades and centuries. The two most relevant were those who matched their target, the bow saint. One was an old woman, though her attitude showed her as anything but. The other was young- her path of cultivation must have begun early and progressed continuously, to look as she did. She rode on the back of a wolf, one that gave off a strange energy. It also had formation runes glowing across its body. Kseniya and Alva. And the wolf had a name too. Fuzz? That was probably wrong, as it was entirely too cute of a name for such a fearsome warrior. ¡°Well then,¡± Tauno grinned, ¡°Time to hunt a bow saint.¡± The old woman- Kseniya- approached him. ¡°You should have some knowledge of them. This woman¡¯s ability to kill at a hundred kilometers, how accurate is that?¡± Tauno shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m not entirely sure. It was reasonably accurate some time ago. Now, perhaps, that number has increased.¡± ¡°She was an augmentation cultivator, though?¡± Tauno nodded. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What a pathetic thing to brag about. For her sake, she¡¯d better hope she¡¯s an excellent skirmisher to make up for the range.¡± Tauno tilted his head. ¡°And she would have to make up for it because¡­?¡± ¡°Because I could do that in Life Transformation. Easily.¡± Kseniya gestured vaguely towards Alva, ¡°And she¡¯s far from a sniper, but that¡¯s within her range.¡± The youth known as Alva had to be able to hear their conversation, but she had no reaction. Interesting. Tauno made a note to pay attention to whether or not they lived up to what they said. Were they braggarts, or as amazing as he heard? ----- Tauno had a whole speech prepared for Tisiphone. He would make statements about how careless the bow saint was to come out to the border of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s control. Perhaps mix in something about how foolish it was, after the death of the spear saint- though she would likely not believe that. How the Harmonious Citadel would pay for their actions. Then Kseniya happened. ¡°I¡¯m getting off here,¡± the woman declared before they got anywhere close to the planet. Then she began taking shots with her bow. Tauno would have chastised her for wasting her energy¡­ but the confidence she exuded made him reconsider his first instinct. The ship he was traveling on only took a minute to approach the planet, but by that time Tauno could sense chaos down below. In truth, it was only a handful of Integration cultivators dead- but those below had been able to provide no response. As the ship slowed at the edge of the atmosphere, Tauno felt the bow saint finally locking onto a target- a nearby ship in the fleet. Time to act. He burst forth, slicing the woman¡¯s first shot out of the air. Next to him leapt Alva and her wolf. ¡°Let¡¯s get ¡®em, Fuzz!¡± So that was his name. The wolf turned into a ball of fire as he fell, the arrows shot from his back formed of pure energy picking up the fiery power of his descent as it bombarded the area below. Tauno had to cut apart the atmosphere to make himself fall faster so he could keep up. No way was he going to be left behind on an opportunity like this. Besides, he was the only Augmentation cultivator among them. Alva might not be many steps away- a realization that made the relatively youthful Tauno surprised- but there was still a major difference to be had in their power. The bow saint, in turn, recognized Tauno as the greatest threat, rapidly approaching from above. Arrows streamed through the air towards him, propelled by her mighty bow. He had every intention to sunder it with his first blow. Each arrow that came for him was cut apart by his quick blade, crafted from a dragon he had slain himself. That connection made it greater than it seemed, though it was not a legendary artifact passed down like the weapons of the saints. One minor adjustment to his fall, and his blade met with Tisiphone¡¯s bow. Surprisingly, the bow held- though her arms trembled with the strain of holding back his blade. He wondered what fabulous material it was made out of. But it hardly mattered, as he began to weave together his attacks, continuously forcing the woman back. She was miraculously able to continue attacks of her own, drawing back her string and firing towards his chest. Tauno angled his body so that the arrows would deflect off the scales of his armor, reducing their impact. He had to admit, if this woman had been free to attack him as he raced towards her across the land, she would have been a dangerous opponent. As it was, however, she was without support- the vast majority of her compatriots being shot down by the two specific archers. Realizing she could not win, Tisiphone fled. If the situation were different, Tauno would not have been so confident chasing after her. However, after hearing of the death of one saint¡­why not go for two? It was clear Tisiphone had forgotten that she was mortal. Time to remind the Harmonious Citadel what they truly were. Chapter 608 Waving half of a spear vaguely in Everheart¡¯s direction produced no results. Vari supposed she could stab him herself, but what was the point? Her opinion of Luminous Heartpiercer had swung about wildly after it first controlled her actions followed by her learning why it might do so. The remnants of people she¡¯d never had in her life, actual family. The Harmonious Citadel had tried to replace her family with its structure, but after truly experiencing the world she knew it hadn¡¯t even come close. Alva and the others, on the other hand. They were as close as she would get, unless she made a family of her own. ¡°Heh. Hahaha. Bwahaha!¡± Everheart¡¯s chuckling turned into full on maniacal laughter. Right, there was that asshole. ¡°Excellent. We¡¯ve killed a saint without even having to get to any of the backup plans! This is great.¡± ¡°I thought it would feel¡­ better.¡± ¡°Really? The exhilaration of annihilating an enemy and the power pouring into you aren¡¯t enough?¡± Vari looked down at herself. It was true that a sizable quantity of energy was being drawn into her dantian, improving her cultivation. But while she should have felt something at that, she could only really acknowledge it on a technical level. ¡°Yeah, this is good. I suppose.¡± ¡°Man,¡± Everheart said. ¡°You¡¯re awful at relishing your revenge. At this rate you won¡¯t even be motivated to get the other seven.¡± ¡°Or six,¡± Vari said offhandedly. ¡°But it¡¯s not like I have a personal grudge against the rest. I¡¯ve caused more than enough damage to make up for what was done to me.¡± ¡®Listen, uh¡­¡± Everheart mumbled to himself, ¡°What motivates people? Aha!¡± He placed a hand on her shoulder, ¡°Vari, don¡¯t forget about all of the others harmed by the Harmonious Citadel, including their own people. Those who, like yourself, were forced into the subordinate Holy Harmony Technique.¡± ¡°Wow, you¡¯re uh¡­ really bad with people, huh?¡± Vari raised an eyebrow. Then she reached up to grab his hand. Everheart pulled away. ¡°Anyway,¡± Everheart said. ¡°If you want your share of this crap you¡¯d better take it. I¡¯m taking Damjan¡¯s head impaled on his own spear to display somewhere, but you can kind of have your pick of anything.¡± Aside from some gloves the spear saint had, Vari didn¡¯t find much of interest. She did take with her the broken halves of Luminous Heartpiercer, though. She didn¡¯t have any intent to use it as a spear, even if the enchantments along its spine could be reforged to return it to full power. But as a memory, it was of some value. Whether or not it was actually the legendary spear of the spear saint, which was still in question due to Everheart¡¯s lack of reliability. Then she left without even a proper goodbye. As a planet, Ye¡¯sin wasn¡¯t the least pleasant one Vari had ever visited, but it was the least likable due to the planet itself and not the individuals upon it. It hurt to breathe, whether or not she was technically protected from the toxins. ----- Upon her return to Xankeshan, Vari received confirmation that a second saint had fallen. Two out of eight in basically a single moment. The bow saint¡¯s demise was fairly public, but people would miss the spear saint soon enough. Rumors of two saints dying had been prepared to spread immediately, to make the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s ultimate suppression of the knowledge that much more difficult. Some of those in deep like Vari had been would likely disbelieve it, but the fact of the matter was that the Harmonious Citadel was down two Augmentation cultivators. That put them a major step closer to losing an all out war with the alliance against them, and the loss might attract some neutral factions previously afraid of them to fight against the Harmonious Citadel. After some thought, Vari did still find herself motivated to continue the fight. Even if her personal reasons were basically satisfied, her friends were in the conflict to the end. And she did want to help out those who were unable to make a choice about being part of the Citadel. She was a step closer to Augmentation, as well. If she was involved with the deaths of a couple more saints- and didn¡¯t die herself- she thought she could reach it. Or, the more sensible way was training for another century or so. There was no guarantee she could actually reach Augmentation, but she was surrounded by people working towards that goal. The two halves of Luminous Heartpiercer she brought to the best smith she was aware of, Grandmaster Smith Sadiq. He was a busy fellow, even being somewhat selective in his work. And apparently quite expensive, in some cases. On the other hand, bringing him interesting materials could help. All this Vari knew from Chikere, except the thing about expenses. Vari presumed Chikere had been charged, but she also collected a large amount of wealth from people she fought and didn¡¯t use it for anything except swords. There was no long line or anything stopping Vari from just walking up to the man- just a few people standing around hoping to learn something from watching him. In general, people¡¯s requests were quickly accepted or rejected. Being straightforward was apparently the right thing. ¡°What can you do with this?¡± Vari said, holding the two halves of Luminous Heartpiercer in front of the man as he hammered on a sword. He didn¡¯t look up, but she felt his senses sweep over her and the broken weapon. ¡°I can fix up the shaft, apply new enchantments. But I can¡¯t say it would be as good as before. Or, I could scrap it for you.¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Scrap it?¡± Vari frowned. ¡°Scrap it, melt it down, maybe turn it into something else. The material is good. Could provide a basis for something.¡± Sadiq¡¯s senses lingered on Vari, and her equipment. ¡°Some bladed gauntlets, perhaps.¡± ¡°Why blades?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m good at blades, and the materials should take a profoundly sharp edge even before enchantments. I don¡¯t think it would restrict your style, either.¡± That seemed reasonable enough to her. She just needed to see if she could afford something like that. Looking in her storage bag¡­ there was a significant quantity of things she didn¡¯t remember. Weird. However, it also still had everything she had expected to be in there, so she wouldn¡¯t concern herself with it too much. ----- Foundation was first. That wasn¡¯t an option. Skin had been next. Following that had been muscle, tendons, then bones. Chidi¡¯s next step was marrow, then the organs in his head and torso. His meridians were the very last on the list before the second full tempering that completed the Hundred Stars¡¯ Body Tempering training. He couldn¡¯t claim it was the best method, but the order made sense to him. Outer to inner, performing each step as he could feel it. Muscle and tendons were weird and stringy. Bones were hard- obviously- but the marrow inside was squishy. Each organ felt different, as they all had different things to do and different physicality. Meridians were the oddest of all. They were only sort of there, concurrent with the veins and arteries that carried his blood but more metaphysical. They felt soft, but not fragile. Like the air itself, only able to be redirected but never really destroyed. At least, not by anyone vaguely around Chidi¡¯s level. As he stepped into Spirit Building, he had a better sense of how such a thing might be accomplished, but it was still just a pipe dream. Somewhat around two years were spent in Body Tempering, not the fastest by any means but he was instructed to cultivate carefully. His father helped him push his limits without causing permanent harm as he involved himself with various practical jobs to grow strong. Plowing a field was both dry and wet. Soft from the dirt and hard from rocks that were dug up. As for the taste¡­ well, he could say he preferred not to taste it. Dirt still tasted like dirt. The sound was crunchy, and the smell could only be described in reference to the ground itself. Earthy, but more when he was working the ground. Planting seeds was comfortable, feeling them all snuggled up against the surrounding dirt. It was both shelter and food. As a plant, at least, that was a pleasant idea. As a human, he would not particularly want to live in bread, potatoes, soup, or anything of the like. Candy was an even worse idea, because it was sticky. And constant sweetness would become cloying. He carried old-style crates, splintery and rough constructs of wood. He worked with a tailor on his manual dexterity, feeling the softness of the cloth and the sharpness of the needle. The smell of leather at a cobbler. All of the old style professions had their own sensations. Meanwhile, the fancy new technology Engineer Uzun was implementing fit into a smaller range of sensation. At least, on the production side of things. The end products were as diverse as anything else. Machines were smooth metal and oil. Sometimes a heat, but that was exactly what the oil was supposed to prevent. His parents had been concerned about Chidi getting close to some of the machines, but he knew where not to be. He could feel their great crushing weight, the sharpness of rolling cutters. The pinching interconnection of gears. They fit together like great organisms with more clearly understandable internals. Chidi didn¡¯t have to actually touch something sharp to know to avoid it. He got the feeling that most people didn¡¯t really get what sharp was from a distance. Apparently seeing could tell that, but he didn¡¯t know- and since other people got hurt more than Chidi did, perhaps seeing wasn¡¯t all it was cracked up to be. Though apparently it was helpful for longer ranges. On the other hand, his parents could sense him from a great distance around corners, so sight hardly mattered unless he was outside on a roof. Maybe getting into space battles. On that topic, Chidi was very excited to go with his lupine friends to experience battle for the first time. Real battle. Not wrestling with the wolves or sparring, but real battle in The Gardens. Sure, he would be watched over- but that didn¡¯t make it not real. ----- Chidi¡¯s best wolf friend still had no name. She was just his friend- and he was very careful not to somehow make that her name. Many of her siblings had names. From the same litter there was Fang, Big Paws, Ember, and Brick. The first two were named after physical qualities, while the latter two shared some of their parent¡¯s cultivation traits. Likewise, Chidi had learned from his parents how to fight with a sword, which also went along with his namesake. She was supposed to have returned after going to the lower realms, but she was apparently still there. Maybe forever, unless she could figure out how to ascend again. Lots of people didn¡¯t seem to think that was actually possible, and Chidi would never really understand because he was born in the upper realms. ¡°What are we looking for, buddy?¡± Chidi growled. It was apparently Fuzz that formalized an actual language for the wolves, and it had been impossible for Chidi to speak before body tempering. Now, he just used some energy to replicate the vocal chords, lungs, and head shape of a wolf until he had all the components to make the right sounds. He wasn¡¯t crazy enough to try actually transforming his body. ¡°Boar,¡± his hunting partner replied. ¡°There are too many here, rooting too much and destroying the growth.¡± Boar. Chidi sniffed. He knew the smell, both as food and as something in the wild. Auntie Alva had brought him along on a hunt, but he hadn¡¯t participated before now. He wasn¡¯t the first to pick up the scent- as it turned out, being able to put your nose to the ground was a huge advantage there. He could get down on all fours, but his body wasn¡¯t made for that. And while he could make up some of the difference with his use of energy, the wolves also knew how to use energy to augment their senses. ¡°This way,¡± his companion said. ¡°One appropriately sized for us to hunt. Father will deal with the larger ones.¡± How exciting. Chidi made sure he kept his hand on his sword, and his ears open for sounds of movement. Though he would probably smell the boar first. Their scent was not something to take lightly. Chapter 609 Two individuals traipsed through The Garden on their own. At least, if Chidi were to ignore his aunt¡¯s senses lingering in them. He couldn¡¯t exactly complain, since this was his first real mission, and he wasn¡¯t even a teenager yet. More than that, despite how strong he felt, he knew that each stage between himself and Alva was a massive gap. Chidi was only in early Spirit Building, with all of Essence Collection and Life Transformation between himself and the beginning of Integration. A journey of a century or more, whereas his entire life was barely more than a decade. His lupine companion was sniffing around, looking for something. It shouldn¡¯t be the trail, nor did Chidi think she would mix up the various scents. ¡°What are you looking for?¡± Chidi asked, his vocal chords straining to growl in the right manner. All of the wolves would understand common speech, but it just seemed polite to speak in their own language if he could. ¡°Assurance. I sense our opponent is not trivial. No, he should be a true test of strength¡­¡± the wolf snuffled. ¡°We need any advantages we can get.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± Chidi asked. He felt the sharpness of his blade- still sheathed, but not for much longer. He also felt the fangs and claws of his companion, the only weapons she needed. Likewise, Chidi had light but durable armor to match the tough hide of the wolf, powerful due to her parentage and tested in previous battles. ¡°I will know when I find it,¡± she replied. Chidi nodded, keeping his ears open for the sounds of other creatures. Just because they were hunting a boar didn¡¯t mean there wouldn¡¯t be anything else. They would avoid the trail of the larger boars similarly causing trouble, but The Gardens were still a notoriously dangerous area, intentionally set up that way by some crazy guy. Apparently, there were still some hidden treasures deep within, but Chidi wasn¡¯t stupid enough to think he had any hope of getting them at his current strength. The feeling of Alva¡¯s senses withdrew, though not far. She was ultimately still tracking the two of them, but they would have some technical privacy. There was no way to pass outside the range of her encirclement. Chidi had tried in the past, but Alva was much better at catching him than his mother and father. Not that he had reason to sneak off much. He just didn¡¯t want to be constantly looked at. Unless he couldn¡¯t tell it was happening, then it didn¡¯t bother him. Though he¡¯d gotten pretty good at judging where people were looking from how their eyes felt in their head, the angle of the bumps on the front bits. The forest floor was rough with pine needles and underbrush. They had long since gone off of what roads had been worn into the forest, and now they were simply following the path of the boar, uprooted saplings and sliced bark on the edge of trees. Plus the stench. ¡°Something smells bad,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Not the boar,¡± he had to clarify. The wolf nodded. ¡°That is what we¡¯re looking for, I think.¡± ¡°Are we going to stuff the boar¡¯s snout?¡± Chidi asked as they approached an area where the woods thinned. Rough grasses filled the area, along with tall stalks covered in blooms of oddly shaped flowers. A clear trail was crushed through the meadow, juices leaking from the plants. ¡°Of course not. You will spread this plant on your blade. But don¡¯t touch it.¡± ¡°Poison?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Won¡¯t that make it troublesome to eat the boar?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± his wolf companion agreed. ¡°It will make us sick. But we need to stop the boar from devastating the area more than we need to eat it. And if you are cautious, you can grow resistant to poisons.¡± ¡°Have you?¡± Chidi asked as the wolf ground her paws into the whole of the stalks and flowers. He set about doing the same- except more carefully lifting the floofy flowers with his energy and wiping them along the blade of his sword. ¡°Of course.¡± Confident words, but perhaps not such a confident response. There was certainly some caution taken, only the front paws and primarily the tips pressed into the plant. A snapping twig. ¡°Something¡¯s coming,¡± Chidi said. Each step was heavy, and as his senses stretched out he felt prickly fur. And of course, sharp tusks. It seemed the boar had doubled back, perhaps hearing intruders in its territory or possibly simply out of coincidence. It was taller than Chidi, and also bigger than his lupine companion. Nor was it simply a normal boar, but one that had some measure of upper energy within it. ¡°I¡¯ll split left!¡± Chidi called out. Simply standing still in front of such a creature, especially one that was beginning its charge, was foolish. He held his blade in his hands, trembling. The anticipation was the worst part as the ground scattered apart, heavy thuds approaching and a being of pure power approaching. Chidi leapt forward and to the side, aware that the boar would lower its tusks and try to disembowel him from beneath. That he knew from the other wolves, and his studies about various beasts. His blade was held towards the boar, slicing towards the snout. It caught on the tusks, nearly ripping out of his hands as it was pulled back before chopping forward. He had just enough energy gathered to cut through the boar¡¯s defensive energy, but he barely cut into its hide, leaving a bloody trail only a few fingers in length on the multiple meter stretch of its side. At least he had moved quickly enough that he¡¯d been safe. He didn¡¯t want to find out what happened when his own defenses had to fight against those natural spears. On the other side, knowing his intentions, his still unnamed friend leapt forward, claws grazing the hindquarters of the boar. Neither of them managed a deep wound¡­ but with the poison, perhaps the creature would fall quickly. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Or it would be enraged, its furious cry causing Chidi to shudder. Could he hide before it turned around? Perhaps he should duck down into the field. He tried that, uncertain of the boars senses. He felt the wet orbs of eyes, so it would rely on that first. As a wild creature, it would make frequent use of its scent, but that would hopefully not be precise enough to run down Chidi. He was debating running for the trees once it turned and passed again. That would provide some cover, and some were thick enough to stop its charge. Hopefully. His wolf friend did the same as him, crouching low among the tall stalks of a bulbous and apparently poisonous flower. If the poison was affecting the boar, it at least showed no signs on its next charge. More than that, its aim at first appeared to be off- but as it was nearly past Chidi it flicked its head, tusks driving for him. He was prepared for something like that, but his response was anything but perfect. His sword stabbed out, grazing the boar¡¯s cheek as the tusk tore enchanted cloth armor, skin, and muscle from his elbow to his shoulder. The boar¡¯s momentum still carried it past him, but Chidi was momentarily stunned. ¡°Run for the trees!¡± the insistent barking of his friend snapped him out of it, and he stumbled forward, his feet barely finding purchase until he could stabilize his senses, feeling the plants ahead and more importantly the ground beneath. He was too used to flat and even terrain, it seemed. As he reached the treeline, Chidi realized he didn¡¯t hear his companion running after him. Instead, he heard some chomping and squelching sounds, a strong scent filling the air. He couldn¡¯t do anything but listen, behind his tree, as he heard the boar charge again. He was not close enough to sense anything. He only heard the growl of his companion, transforming into a bark. The sounds of collision, ripping and tearing flesh- much worse sounds than he¡¯d previously experienced in training. Chidi was astounded, and afraid. Why hadn¡¯t Alva done something? Why hadn¡¯t he done something? He clutched his sword tightly, listening. Heavy thuds, snorting. Elsewhere, ragged breathing. He crept forward, aware of every blade of grass and stalk in front of him. He couldn¡¯t avoid them, but he could minimize how much he collided. But soon enough he couldn¡¯t take the slow route. He felt his companion, fur matted with blood. Teeth filled with not only a few hunks of bristles and a bit of different blood, but also squished flowers and stalks and even bits of roots stuck in between. She didn¡¯t seem able to stand, possibly from the wound- maybe from the poison. But the boar was hoofing the ground, a line of dirt being torn apart. Chidi charged forward. The boar had some intelligence, or perhaps simply wished to finish off the wolf- angling for the same place he was. Chidi was small and quick, and closer- but they would arrive at nearly the same time. Knowing he had to do something, he tossed his sword, the blade barely nicking the boar above the eye. But that caused it to turn slightly away, and left his arms free to scoop up his companion. Like a sack of potatoes, except this one covered in blood and grunting in pain. With a burst of speed he removed himself from the boar¡¯s trajectory and charged towards the woods on the far side. ¡°Alva!¡± He yelled, ¡°Senior Fuzz! We need help!¡± Who cares if they failed the mission by needing help? That wouldn''t matter if he died. If either of them died. Chidi wasn¡¯t going to lose a friend to something stupid like ¡®proving himself¡¯. He felt the arrows first, then heard them. Sharp points of powerful energy, raining down around the boar. Yet strangely, they did not drive through its body as he expected. It could have been filled full of holes, instead it was trapped in a cage. Only for a moment. Chidi lay his friend behind a tree, then moved to stand in front of another, a thick pine. He had no weapon, but he found a nice rock nearby. He hefted it, listening for the boar¡¯s approach. Slow, plodding feet. It came towards him, squealing. Heavy steps. Rough panting from the wolf filled Chidi¡¯s ears. Strained breaths from himself. And from the boar. A snort came with a wet bubble of blood, and a pop. Chidi didn¡¯t know what exactly that meant, but it was close enough to feel and he chucked the rock. It broke on the boar¡¯s skull, but the boar made an awful noise and emptied its guts on the ground next to it, collapsing in pain. Not from the rock, obviously. Chidi ran back to his friend. ¡°Are you alright?¡± he asked, unable to form any sort of wolven sounds and instead just speaking normally. A deep draw of breath. A low growl. ¡°Told ya¡­. Resistant¡­¡± Chidi didn¡¯t really believe that. On that note, he reached into her mouth and began to remove the bits of plant matter, so that no more poison got into her. What even was this plant, anyway? He vaguely recalled the description, though usually there were useless descriptions available to him like color and whatnot. The shape stood out though, and the poisonous properties. ¡°Aconite,¡± Chidi declared. ¡°What do you think about that for a name? You can choose between that and Reckless Idiot.¡± A snort from the wolf. And then a much bigger one from another wolf. Towering over Chidi was Fuzz. And miniscule by comparison, on his back was Chidi¡¯s Auntie Alva. ¡°You¡¯re going to name her that?¡± Alva laughed. ¡°Well, I suppose it is appropriate. And not as bad as the other name that plant bears in some places.¡± ¡°... Do you have medicine?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°An antidote?¡± ¡°No!¡± growled Aconite. ¡°I will¡­ do it¡­ on my own.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But next time, stay with me, okay?¡± It was too bad he failed his first mission. His parents probably wouldn¡¯t let him go out for a while, but he wasn¡¯t sure he would want to anyway. Especially not if it involved a friend getting seriously hurt. And his own arm wasn¡¯t exactly a light scratch, either. Chapter 610 There were significant oddities with large magnetic fields that Anton hadn¡¯t experienced when viewing it on a small scale. Before attuning to his latest star he had not encountered magnetism on a relevant scale to hinder or help a cultivator. Rutera had some experience with how they worked, as they were a source of power that did not rely on natural energy- Anton would have to study with them at some point. But for the moment, he remained on In¡¯istra, training Varghese and generally looking for places to spread the anti-Twin Soul Sect techniques. As promised, he was developing techniques Varghese could use. Instead of simply attracting materials along a path, with sufficient power other behaviors could be observed. That included odd behavior where all movement was resisted, though that generally affected large and regularly shaped materials. That didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t apply the same effect to weapons, but it was more complicated. The important thing was, if he could apply such a thing it would be a powerful way to resist most weapons in a way that couldn¡¯t be directly overpowered with greater quantities of energy. Anton wasn¡¯t quite certain yet, but the way movement was resisted more strongly the faster an incoming object approached didn¡¯t seem to cause him to expend more energy sustaining the field. At least, not significantly. Instead, the object fought against itself. If that was true, he could greatly improve his combat effectiveness. At high levels of magnetism, more things were affected than casual observations would indicate. Varghese wouldn¡¯t be able to achieve such effects, not early at least, but any way to affect an enemy¡¯s weapons or movements in general that went outside of the expected channels could be powerful. It only took Anton a week to provide a basic version either he or Varghese could develop later. It would serve him throughout Spirit Building, at least. ¡°Now remember, you almost certainly don¡¯t want to draw attacks towards your body,¡± Anton said, halting a sword he was holding for the sake of training the young man. He felt the force pulling it closer, but did not let it move. ¡°At your level, I would focus on a shell around you. That is the least likely to result in¡­ critical flaws.¡± Varghese nodded, ¡°I¡¯m trying. However, I can¡¯t do as much as I would like throughout the day, with my energy otherwise occupied. You being here to train me whenever I want is already a miracle, but if I could get some of those lodestones for myself¡­¡± ¡°You want a permanent magnet?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I think it would be useful for my studies.¡± Anton pulled out a bar of iron, reshaping it with his energy and then charging it. The internal structure was realigned to flow in a single direction, unlocking the material¡¯s innate magnetism. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how long it will last,¡± Anton admitted as he tossed it to his student, ¡°But it should suffice for some time. Don¡¯t fret if you manage to ruin it while experimenting.¡± Varghese touched it to his sword and found himself almost unable to pull it away- it involved sliding it to a point where it had less contact with the blade. ¡°This is¡­ quite strong. I can just have this?¡± ¡°Some things of great value to you are not worth so much to others,¡± Anton said. ¡°All I ask is that you maintain your principles, continue your training, and pass on knowledge to others once you have a proper understanding.¡± ¡°All, huh,¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°You find that unreasonable?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Not at all. It¡¯s just strange. Everyone¡¯s holding tightly onto their scraps of cultivation knowledge, and here you are giving out astounding knowledge freely.¡± ¡°I will admit,¡± Anton said, ¡°It¡¯s not an entirely fair comparison. I am wealthy in knowledge. Nothing I do here can give anyone an advantage over me. So it is rather simple to provide whatever I see fit.¡± ¡°I suppose,¡± Varghese admitted, ¡°But I have the feeling you would be doing the same if you were much less powerful.¡± ¡°Like anyone, I look out for family and friends first. I simply have the luxury of expanding the field of the latter.¡± Varghese flipped the iron bar over in his hand, manipulating his energy to have it briefly float before it crashed into his hand, jolting his arm back. ¡°Thank you. I can learn much with this and your technique manual.¡± ¡°Do keep it secret,¡± Anton said. ¡°For your own sake, really. As you say, people are holding onto their scraps of knowledge. They would take that from you, if you are careless. However, I think you can trust the Iron Plate Mercenaries more than others.¡± ¡°How can you tell?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Insight. And centuries of experience. I¡¯m not going to tell you they are ultimate paragons of virtue who will never harm you. But if you treat them well, they will do the same in return. Captain Sharma recognized your potential, along with Vasudha- though she¡¯d be less willing to admit it. Unfortunately, it is here that our time will have to come to an end, for a while.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°I¡¯ve traveled to other parts of your planet. The Twin Soul Sect infects it all. I must spend more time observing people elsewhere, to find others worthy of learning what they need to know. And then I have to return home for a time.¡± ¡°Where is home?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°There,¡± Anton pointed to a particular spot in the sky. Ceretos¡¯ star was not visible from within the atmosphere, but he had a perfect sense of where all of his stars were. ¡°Ceretos. If you are inclined to visit it¡­ well, expect it to take some time. Probably centuries, for civilization to recover to a point you have hope. But maybe less, if you contribute to your planet¡¯s growth.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of responsibility for just me.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°You don¡¯t have to. Just do your best. Work towards what you want, as long as it betters the world in some way. You know my guidance. I might direct others towards you, or I might not. But I can¡¯t always be here.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Varghese sighed. ¡°I¡¯m also sure your other duties are important.¡± ¡°Damn right!¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen my latest grandkid in years now.¡± Anton grinned, ¡°And of course there are likely other worlds similarly situated to your own, around other stars.¡± ¡°How many?¡± Varghese asked, looking at the stars. ¡°Who knows?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°In this region of space? Hundreds, at least. Perhaps not all were devastated by invasion for one reason or other. Perhaps they simply had nothing of value, or hid themselves, or perhaps they even managed to resist. But I want everyone to be able to develop and grow. I won¡¯t stand for this oppression from the upper realms. Especially not when they¡¯re weaker than they think.¡± ¡°... How so? They completely devastated In¡¯istra.¡± ¡°I know some who could do that alone. And they grow weak here in the lower realms. If I manage to advance to the next stage¡­ I don¡¯t think anyone could match me. Perhaps a domination cultivator who would be willing to risk themself by being here.¡± ¡°Domination?¡± ¡°Once one surpasses Life Transformation, the first step after Ascension is Integration. Then Augmentation, and finally Domination.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s the peak of cultivation?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°How should I know? I haven¡¯t even heard a single reliable report of Domination cultivators with names, not in thousands of worlds. It might be the end of that path, but perhaps there is more.¡± ¡°That path?¡± ¡°Of course. As you can clearly see, I am here. Not ascended.¡± Anton grinned. ¡°If I don¡¯t return to tell you about Assimilation in a century or so, maybe try to find Ceretos. Someone there can help. But having the information available to you now wouldn¡¯t help your cultivation.¡± Anton paused for a moment, thinking. ¡°Once you are secure in Spirit Building, I give you permission to instruct others on the One Hundred Stars. However, you must test them first.¡± ¡°For cultivation talent?¡± ¡°No,¡± Anton strongly refuted the answer. ¡°That hardly matters. Test their character. Rely on your judgment, perhaps after training Insight. I don¡¯t care how strong the people you teach become. I just care that they won¡¯t misuse whatever strength they get.¡± ¡°I will take this responsibility seriously,¡± Varghese said. ¡°You don¡¯t have to spread,¡± Anton reminded him. ¡°Oh, and if you find others practicing One Hundred Stars, do try to get along? You don¡¯t have to join up into one sect, but as long as they maintain reasonable principles you don¡¯t have to worry about other details.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Varghese said, his face turning down. ¡°You will train others.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± Anton caught his attention, making him look back up. ¡°Don¡¯t forget you¡¯re still my personal disciple. I chose to train you. And training others is just basic math. Even Vincent, our most prolific recruiter, only pulled in some hundreds of individuals. You¡¯ll hardly get a world-spanning sect in any reasonable time if it¡¯s just you.¡± ¡°A world-spanning sect¡­¡± Varghese said dreamily. ¡°Or multi-world. If we weren¡¯t so far, I would happily consider you a branch. And perhaps some day, if the reach of both of us expands, we will unite. Or stubbornly refuse to agree because of the color of drapes we prefer.¡± ¡°...What?¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°Look, kid, sometimes sects break up over stupid crap.¡± With that, Anton really did need to get back on track. It was a long journey back home, and he did want to sow more seeds along the way. ----- Watching a wolf puking its guts wasn¡¯t particularly fun for Alva, but Aconite was the one who chose to recover ¡®on her own¡¯. Alva was of course going to monitor her- stopping Fuzz from butting in was difficult enough. Spikes was willing to go along, as the stone wolf came from a background forged in trials. Not that Fuzz exactly had things easy. He was first found nearly dead, and then unable to control his own body for a while. ¡°So,¡± Alva said to her nephew. ¡°What did you learn?¡± ¡°... That¡¯s I¡¯m not ready for a hunt.¡± ¡°Pick something else,¡± Alva said. ¡°... Don¡¯t chew poisonous plants?¡± Alva laughed, ¡°Hey, I¡¯m pretty sure you knew that one already, unlike someone.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Chidi said finally. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to say something about teamwork.¡± ¡°More like being saved by someone way stronger,¡± Chidi sighed. ¡°We couldn¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± Alva raised her eyebrow, a gesture Chidi might not pick up. The kid was good at sensing movement, but despite how much it seemed like it sometimes he still couldn¡¯t actually see. ¡°Because I didn¡¯t scratch that boar. That was all the two of you. I delayed it for a moment¡­ mostly to remind you that I would support you. Just to be clear, I was watching the whole time and I thought you were doing fine.¡± ¡°We almost died.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how you grow,¡± Alva shrugged, ¡°In my opinion, you were always on the side of things where you were going to live.¡± The newly named Aconite grunted in response. Alva had learned to understand Fuzz and his kin- how could she not?- but nothing understandable came out of the young wolf. Well, young by the standards of a wolf with cultivation. More than a decade would put her well past adult age, if she were simply a normal beast. But the intelligence developed by her parents caused her and the other pups to have different growth. Aconite had the physical maturity of and adult wolf, and she likely surpassed them mentally- but with that intelligence came all sort of other problems. Like coming up with ideas to use poison by coating her own fangs with it. That was a move of desperation, but even coating her paws had let some seep in through her pads and the skin beneath her fur. Alva shook her head. The wolf was now named, and perhaps appropriately. Because while locally aconite or sometimes monkshood were appropriate names, back on Ceretos Anton had introduced it to her as wolfsbane. And given how the wolf almost killed herself, what name could be more appropriate? Chapter 611 In the council chambers upon Xankeshan, Velvet gave the report for spies and other informants in the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory. ¡°The reaction has been¡­ strong, as expected. Two saints dead practically at once has been difficult for them to cover up. But putting aside their internal situation for the moment, it seems the remaining saints might be taking this war seriously. They won¡¯t be moving independently, and seem to be preparing for a proper war.¡± ¡°Xankeshan can withstand a direct attack,¡± Catarina declared. ¡°I¡¯m sure it can,¡± Tauno agreed. Now that he had been revealed, he would be staying upon Xankeshan for the most part. ¡°But outlying planets controlled by our alliance can still be attacked. We can give them up, but the Harmonious Citadel is not above scouring planets for petty revenge. A mass harvesting of resources and slaughter of the people would lose us more than resources, but also support of our allies. And we don¡¯t have enough Augmentation cultivators to match them.¡± The Harmonious Citadel previously had eight known Augmentation cultivators, though there was potential they had kept another secret. Now they would be down to six or seven, with the alliance having only three they could count on. Moves were being made to sway two of the extremely sparse Augmentation cultivators not tied to either side. They were hoping the recent deaths of saints would factor into their decisions, but even if they got both they still wouldn¡¯t be able to match them straight up. Vari shook her head, ¡°We also can¡¯t count on Everheart to contribute any further. He¡¯s just as likely to cause trouble for us, though I don¡¯t think he has any motivation to assassinate our Augmentation cultivators.¡± Timothy added his own thoughts, ¡°He still maintains a grudge with them, does he not? If we can provide an opening, I imagine he would snatch that opportunity to do something that would harm them.¡± ¡°That would be best,¡± Zazil of the Dark Ring agreed. ¡°But perhaps we should return to the internal situation of the Harmonious Citadel. They might be focused on a united goal now, but their stability should be at a low point. If we could get a single one to act against the others in a bid for power,¡± she shrugged. ¡°Or pierce through their propaganda to cause other internal strife.¡± Prospero nodded. He had advised the council from his experience even before reaching Integration, and with his advancement there was no excuse for anyone to keep him from an official position. Some people did not like the number of individuals from Ceretos involved, but they did provide Xankeshan as a staging ground. ¡°We could also encourage more recently conquered planets to rebel against them. They could suppress any such rebellions with the saints, but that would occupy two or three of them, leaving the rest more easily manageable.¡± ¡°Just as the saints cannot afford to hold back,¡± Tauno added, ¡°We cannot fail to take advantage of this opportunity. Waiting has been on our side, with the rate of our development, but now allowing them to fully stabilize would be disadvantageous. I can imagine it wouldn¡¯t take more than a few decades, far too little for us to grow to match them in power. Even with certain optimal projections,¡± he looked over the individuals from the lower realms. ¡°At least everyone will have something to do¡­¡± Zazil said. ¡°Simply hiding and training is not what cultivators are meant to do.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Tauno said. ¡°It was a terribly unpleasant time.¡± ----- Shikoba looked down upon Bavore. The gas giant had undergone much turmoil in the purging of the Twin Soul Sect. The war with the Sylanis Cluster had not been good to the system either. However, both were necessary steps in reaching their current form. Shikoba had been a Life Transformation cultivator for both, participating in the fighting. For the latter, he felt more than a bit inadequate compared to the Assimilation cultivators that had developed. Now here he was, an old man with no insights into how he would even make such a step. If the knowledge had been kept secret from him, that would have been one thing. However, Ceretos had been generous with their knowledge as much as with what had been acquired from the Sylanis Cluster. He knew he required a connection to something, but nothing felt right. Perhaps he simply had no talent. This could be the end of the line. Or, maybe, Assimilation was not for him. Bavore had been his home for his entire life. He was born in a city floating inside the storm of the great gas giant, swirling colors and monumental storms filling the skies of his childhood imagination. He found he loved the planet, and those like it in other systems. He wanted to see more¡­ but he could not. The Sylanis Cluster was not exactly open for tourism, and he had no qualifications to explore. Even if he did, he felt he would be lonely. So now, here Shikoba was, looking off the edge of a floating city. He could not see the depths below, but that only made it more enticing. He wanted to take a look, but he also didn¡¯t want it to be his last. But there was another option, wasn¡¯t there? It was even the norm, both before the knowledge of Assimilation and still afterwards. Was it easier, or simply more fitting for most? That, Shikoba didn¡¯t know. But Ascension was still an option. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. He could fail though. But he didn¡¯t let that thought stop him from stepping over the edge. He knew that even if he¡¯d achieved Assimilation, binding himself to Bavore, what he really wanted wasn¡¯t Bavore itself but the kind of thing it represented. A planet technically accessible in its entirety, should one be able to survive it. Perhaps the same was true of terrestrial planets, if one were inclined to burrow- but Shikoba loved to fly. His control of gravity allowed his descent to proceed at a measured pace. He was pulled slowly deeper, where pressure increased and all sorts of interesting phenomena occurred around him. He would occasionally pass solid isles, natural unlike the mostly artificial cities flowing through the planet. He knew he couldn¡¯t withstand the greatest depths. His strength simply couldn¡¯t keep up. So he brought him ever closer to his limits, reaching for the world beyond. Ascension. His instincts told him this had some chance to work. Or he might perish like many others who made the same attempt in their own ways. Shikoba found himself growing closer to his goal as he descended¡­ but it wasn¡¯t fast enough. He would run out of energy and be crushed by the pressure first. So, going against his cautious instincts, he reversed his efforts. Instead of limiting the effect of gravity on himself, he increased it, shooting accelerating more rapidly into the depths of the gas giant. Pressure was not his only problem. At the speeds he was going, the swirling gasses resisted him, strengthening the effective pressure beneath him. Shikoba grit his teeth as he continued to fall, his energy running low. But he reached out for something, a greater energy he felt beyond. Before he could touch that energy, his legs broke, a momentary lapse of control that would lead to a catastrophic collapse if he could not salvage the situation. But instead of dealing with that, he instead focused all his efforts on reaching out. And then suddenly the pressure and resistance was gone. He was moving through nothing. Subspace, perhaps, but a unique form of it that was only easily accessible to those ascending. He felt himself being drawn ¡®upwards¡¯, happily following the flow. This was a time of peace and serenity, during which he felt his body and soul filled with ascension energy- upper energy. Many new worlds, more interconnected than the lower realms. He could hardly wait. ----- Thinking back to her first attempts at controlling natural energy, Anishka wondered why she cared at all. It certainly wasn¡¯t about a desire to grow stronger. At that age, she hadn¡¯t even understood the concept. She simply did it because she could. The lava itself was something she was particularly fond of. It was part of her home, and much different from anything else. She didn¡¯t really want to control it, to harness its power. Even now, that wasn¡¯t her intent. She shielded herself from the heat. Then she stretched out her hand, curling her fingers about the molten rock, pulling it upward and watching it drip through her fingers. Then she backed off. Anishka could only do that in short bursts, but it was so satisfying. Nothing else moved quite like that. A goopy yet almost solid thing. The fact that it was hot¡­ she could take or leave it. Who cared? Then there was ice. Famous for being slippery, yet in some situations it was oddly¡­ sticky? There had been a time when Anishka got her tongue stuck on the frozen walls of the sect, the ice freezing the moisture on her tongue. She could at least disentangle herself from that problem now. If that was where her fascinations ended, she would have still been a perfect child of the Fire and Ice Palace. But that wasn¡¯t the limit. Aniskha moved away from the lava flow, until she found untainted land which seemed to have nothing of note. At least, that was what people claimed. A bit of ash coating the surface- powdery, yet oddly full of life. Plants were poking through it, and she dropped onto her belly to look at them. A poky little weed. A stalk of grass. Both quite different from each other. How did plants even work? Anishka didn¡¯t know, even after it was technically explained to her. But beneath that was the dirt. To some people, that was the most boring thing in existence. Literally nothing at all. But to Anishka, they couldn¡¯t be more wrong. Dirt was something. Everything, maybe. The remains of dead plants and animals, or ground down rocks. Lots of ash, of course, but also little bugs and even littler bugs she couldn¡¯t see yet. She learned about microbes from Ruteran books, which were much more detailed on the subject than most books from Ceretos. Anishka blew a little puff of air, stirring dirt and ash. That was another thing. Air. Wind. Her lungs. She could keep getting distracted with everything, but Anishka knew she needed to cultivate. Not because her mother was the head of a powerful sect, or because her great-and-more-greats grandfather was really important. But because she couldn¡¯t possibly live long enough otherwise. What did Anishka need to live longer for? To learn. What did she want to learn? Everything. Actually everything. Maybe not as much about machines and technology and fancy cultivation stuff that didn¡¯t extend her lifespan, though she could see such things interesting her at some point. But also about plants and animals and things that weren¡¯t those and everything that wasn¡¯t alive. The closer she looked, the more questions she had. There was always a closer view she could look at things. And once she knew everything down to its smallest bits, she would look bigger. Planets and solar systems and galaxies and probably just one universe but there were so many of all of those other things that it hardly mattered. She would need to live actually forever to study even a small part of them. Anishka had some moon dirt which was totally different from the dirt outside the sect or the dirt from Sect Head Lev¡¯s tree or the dirt from Nthanda¡¯s country, and that didn¡¯t even count the other continent or the Archipelago or anything that wasn¡¯t dirt. This was going to take a while. So Anishka prepared herself by circulating the power of fire and ice inside of her, two opposing elements that might just be the same thing if you looked at them at the right angle. And maybe that was true of the whole world. Or maybe not, but Anishka planned to find out. Eventually. Sometime after she was allowed to travel on her own. Chapter 612 The Third Peak had once been called that because of the relative level of natural energy it possessed. Cultivating atop the peaks had been the only way to escape Gnadus, a planet of eternal cold. Now, it was a challenge seldom faced except by the natives. Marlene barely remembered the time before the contact, where a visitor from another world had come. After the following troubles, ultimately Matija and her people had offered a chance for those on Gnadus to leave- and many did. They weren¡¯t leaving behind lives and family, because most went with them. The planet was harsh, and undesirable for living. Even now, only a handful of decades later, it barely felt alive. It had changed in some ways, though. The natural energy had grown from almost impossibly thin to actually useable, with the introduction of a number of frost-loving plants. Gnadus would never be hospitable, especially below the icy fog, but it was more tolerable. Still the sort of place only cultivators choosing to challenge themselves would live. The records of the original settlers and their reasons had long been lost, just like most of its admittedly very minimal residents. The planet was mostly empty, but rather than discouraging Marlene it had inspired her. She did not begrudge those who had left- even cultivators seeking easier routes to ascension or power. She hoped that someday everyone could leave behind Gnadus. That was the same hope of her mistress, though Mistress Janae would actually remain regardless. She had chosen the path of Assimilation, and guidance. Perhaps someday she alone would remain¡­ or perhaps the planet would always have its visitors, some of which might choose to remain until their ascension. Marlene could not say, and she would not be around to observe for much longer, because she was going to ascend. Today, in fact. She felt it strongly, though it wasn¡¯t as if it had snuck up on her. She had plans, for when the Third Peak pointed at just the right section of the heavens. Instead of merely escaping Gnadus, she had the goal to meet up with a group in the upper realms. The cold ice around her was not a hopeless wasteland, it was merely the frozen chill outside of a warm home. Around Marlene swirled the icy fog of the world below. This was the power she would wield, the path through which she would lift herself to the heavens. Her will solidified the mists under her feet, raising her up. As she reached the edge of the atmosphere- thin and tenuous as it was- she drifted off into a place between as her ascension took hold. ----- Xankeshan was a busy place, especially bustling around the main settlements. This was where most of those from the lower realms lived, both those of the Order who had first gathered together and those who joined after. It also included the newly ascended, of which there were frequent arrivals. They weren¡¯t daily or weekly, but over the course of time their numbers swelled. In addition to Engineer Uzun, there were a few others from Rutera. There were a number from Weos, most recently Shikoba. There might have been more, but many from Weos chose Assimilation rather than Ascension. Ceretos had quite a number as well, even after the initial waves. Among them, the most unique was Rhoda from the Worthy Shore Society. As a former subsidiary of the Exalted Quadrant in the upper realms, it was risky for them to ascend- but Rhoda had still taken the chance. It seemed the ascension guiding formations of Xankeshan were sufficient, along with her intent to arrive there. She had still felt the pull on her cultivation, however, and if the Worthy Shore Society had not slightly altered their technique she might not have been able to overcome it. She honestly thought they should diverge more, if possible. There were over a hundred individuals just from the triad of systems who had ascended over the last two centuries. More than a hundred integration cultivators made them as powerful as a mid-strength sect in the Scarlet Midfields, and that was not counting the fighting force of lower tier cultivators. Those had to be from the upper realms, disciples joining them- of which there were many. Even so, they could not be counted among the top sects without Augmentation cultivators. There was hope for some to reach that level ¡®soon¡¯, within a century or three, but to go up against the Harmonious Citadel they needed the strength of the Dark Ring and other local groups. That included smaller groups that weren¡¯t even planetary in scale. They needed as much cooperation as possible to overcome the Harmonious Citadel. Everyone was expected to do their part, and for many of them that meant fighting in the war. No one who had Ascended would complain about such a thing- they understood that their strength came with responsibility. If they wanted peace, they would likely have done better staying in the lower realms. Not that the earliest Ascenders had much information in that regard, except a general idea of how cultivators operated. ----- Hoyt was the individual in charge of coordinating those from the known lower realms and various other groups. He didn¡¯t work alone, of course, but every group needed an official commander. ¡°Thank you all for gathering here today,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°As you are aware, the war is increasing in intensity. Previously, we were unwilling to occupy territory adjoining the Harmonious Citadel, but it had become clear that it will be more necessary in the future. We intend to make a strike on one of their planets, with the intent to fortify it.¡± Hoyt held up a hand, ¡°I know you have questions, just know that other groups will be coordinating to share the burden with us. The details of the assault will be kept to a select few for security reasons.¡± ¡°You think we have spies?¡± someone asked. ¡°It would be stranger if we did not have any among us,¡± Hoyt replied. He did expect them to be below the Integration level, however he would not say that. They kept more careful track of those in Integration. They could fairly easily trust all of those from the lower realms, and the others would be too big of a risk for anyone. It wasn¡¯t easy to hide where you were from, after all. ¡°But leave that for us to worry about. If you have suspicions you can back up, you can make a report, of course. But we intend to have you focus on those outside. The forces here are sufficient to occupy a world.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°How will we deal with the saints?¡± another asked. ¡°We don¡¯t have the power to fight against Augmentation cultivators.¡± ¡°We are carefully tracking the saint¡¯s movements,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°And the recent improvements to our fleets will allow us the necessary observation and maneuverability to respond if there is an incident. Though the Harmonious Citadel is large, they cannot trivially field a hundred integration cultivators. They would likely need more, with us in a defensive position. If they bring only saints¡­ we have tactics to take them out with as few casualties on our side as possible. They can just be killed, after all. We¡¯ve shown that.¡± The following time was filled with him explaining what he could, without giving away the key details. Though he could instruct everyone not to tell family and friends, not all would listen- and eventually details would spread. Velvet would be watching the manner in which that happened to attempt to catch or at least determine the aforementioned spies- though they might leave them operating to feed false information, if it seemed feasible. ----- Anton went out of his way to visit the surprisingly vibrant desert planet whose name he did not know once more. They were still just as insular, but repeating contact with them without escalating to violence would hopefully result in changes eventually. Sadly, Anton could not visit regularly. It was simply too far. His route back, except for a few stops in the same manner, intentionally went through different systems he found notable for any reason. Most were unoccupied by humans, which was expected. Anton was ready to discount the current system he was flying through, circling each of the planets once but finding no plantlife- the most basic requirements for life of any kind. In the end, everything ate plants or something that ate plants. Humans were no exception. The natural energy on the particular planet he was currently circling was strangely high, above the background levels. It had nothing of note, the surface merely rocky and bare like Ceretos¡¯ moon, though larger than Ceretos itself. Anton almost passed it off as the gravity attracting the natural energy, but then he saw a ship. A flying ship, approaching a mountain range and diving into what Anton realized to be an artificial tunnel. He followed after it, slowing as he approached the mouth. Weapons faced him there, well concealed. They felt almost like a natural part of the planet itself, only a slightly higher level of background energy giving them away. And the individuals manning them, of course. The concealment wasn¡¯t perfect, but for those with less developed senses than Anton it should have done. But weapons or not, Anton approached. Heavy bolts flew through the air towards him, and he smoothly dodged them. ¡°No need for that,¡± Anton projected his voice towards them. ¡°I come in peace. May I speak to someone?¡± The attacks did stop immediately. Anton heard some discussion about ¡®spy from Shrenn¡¯. Normally he would have allowed some privacy, but he needed all the information he could get. He wondered where Shrenn was. Perhaps another settlement? He could have missed some. Or, given that this ship descended from outside the atmosphere, perhaps it was another planet entirely. ¡°You may approach,¡± called a feminine voice. ¡°Understand we will hold you to your promise of peace.¡± He didn¡¯t expect any differently. And with what felt like three Life Transformation cultivators approaching, they clearly meant it. He flew in, following the ship to a hidden hangar not far beyond. There was an inconvenient- for any flying vessel- ninety degree turn before that point, though he supposed it was more secure that way, not directly visible from outside. ¡°Where are you from, stranger?¡± the woman in the lead asked. She was flanked by another woman and a man. ¡°A planet called Ceretos. You are capable of traveling between planets, correct?¡± Anton looked at their ship. ¡°Yes,¡± the woman said. ¡°I thought so,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I am Anton Krantz, sect head of the Order of One Hundred Stars. May I ask who you are and where I find myself?¡± ¡°I am Anatu,¡± the woman replied, ¡°The commander of Rolis outpost. You find yourself on the planet Tenoun¡¯a.¡± Anton could tell she was watching him carefully for his reaction. He did not attempt to fake anything. ¡°I am from far away, so I have not heard of this place before.¡± He noted that the flying ship was not the shape of a traditional sailing vessel. It didn¡¯t even have wings, instead being more of an oblong block, except for weapon emplacements and viewing ports. ¡°Do you receive many visitors?¡± ¡°No,¡± Anatu said. ¡°We do not.¡± That was¡­ mostly true. But Anton did not think it was entirely true. Others had to come, or they would not worry about spies. But he would not be the first to bring up Shrenn. ¡°I don¡¯t intend to intrude, but I was passing by. I am surveying systems throughout the lower realms as part of my training.¡± That was mostly true on Anton¡¯s part. Dealing with people was part of his growth, and stars as well. Anatu¡¯s reaction was not visible, but Anton could feel it. Something he said changed her heart rate. ¡°We would be interested in hearing of your travels,¡± she replied. ¡°However, it will take some time to set up a proper meeting, away from here,¡± she gestured to the area around them. It did seem to be mainly a military outpost, though Anton didn¡¯t mind that in particular. But perhaps they didn¡¯t want him looking at their various ships. Too late for that, but he could understand. And the fact that they needed so many militarily prepared ships was a good reason for them to be cautious. ¡°I don¡¯t mind,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I can wait as long as necessary. Where would you like me to go?¡± Chapter 613 The barren planet Tenoun¡¯a, in Rolis outpost. That was where Anton found himself, waiting. The atmosphere did not become more friendly with time, but Anton supposed he should not have expected it. So far, he had done nothing to make them trust him. Living on such a barren world, they likely had few resources someone could attempt to snatch from them, but that only made what they had more valuable. And with known enemies of some sort from Shrenn, wherever that was, caution was even more warranted. He had to wait several hours for any sort of response, though his sudden and no doubt unexpected arrival made that an entirely reasonable timeframe. Anton had heard the communications, but he did his best to seem unaware as the outpost commander Anatu approached him with purpose. ¡°Honored guest, the esteemed Aleksandra Payne has invited you to visit Rolis proper. Follow me.¡± For some reason, Anton felt less pleased with the polite formality that he was now receiving compared to the brusque responses he had previously received. However, he was pleased to find he was now being treated with the respect he deserved- though his pleasure was immediately followed by wonder at why he should deserve such respect. In other places he had contributed much. Here, he had done nothing yet. How easy it was, to think highly of himself. Anatu showed him through the outpost towards the one place Anton had not been easily able to sense. He had still poked his senses through, of course, but it took some effort and he found little of interest. It was simply a box. Or rather, a boxlike structure that he had first experienced upon Rutera. Beneath the box was nothing- from outside, he had only sent his senses so far. But the surrounding details indicated it was an elevator. It was large yet only one of several, though currently the only one at the surface level. He sensed others down below, a significant depth. More than just a few kilometers, it should dip below even the base of the mountain outpost the stellar ships had docked in. Anton pondered slightly. Were they attempting to entrap him? He didn¡¯t let his thoughts slow him, stepping onto the elevator immediately. A quick scan told him that it would be easy enough to break through the doors into the large shafts if necessary, and he could fly the vertical distance in a mere few moments. He wondered if his lack of trust was warranted. So far, he had no conscious signs of anything amiss, but he did not find himself able to relax. As he descended, Anton¡¯s senses picked out details of the city below. It certainly seemed more comfortable than the outpost above, yet no more welcoming. Streets and buildings were carved out of the stone of the mountain and earth below. Underground, Anton sensed more natural energy- it was certainly not abundant, but sufficient to support some amount of cultivation. Though that was obvious, or there wouldn¡¯t have been Life Transformation cultivators like Anatu present. Curious individuals turned their heads as Anton passed, or did the same with their energy in an attempt to be more subtle. Even in a place with many cultivators, there weren¡¯t so many powerful individuals that people would lose track of them. Anton obviously stood out. Anatu wasn¡¯t a terribly friendly individual, but she did lead Anton to a larger structure, carved out of an area mainly containing marble. Efforts were clearly taken to beautify the visible elements inside and out- as well as mixing engravings with formation markings. As the residence of an important cultivator, it made sense. ¡°Here we are,¡± Anatu said simply to Anton. Then she spoke to the guards outside the front doors, ¡°This is the guest Aleksandra is expecting.¡± The guards knocked on the door, and an older man dressed in fine clothes opened it. He was an Essence Collection cultivator like the guards, which indicated quite a bit about the power of Aleksandra. Guards were one thing, but someone acting in the capacity of a butler that was a reasonably accomplished cultivator had some implications. This Aleksandra should be an important individual not just in Rolis, but perhaps influential throughout Tenoun¡¯a. ¡°This way, sir,¡± the man bowed to Anton. Inside, Anton didn¡¯t find things to be as opulent as he might expect¡­ though there were significant gold inlays. Rather than a sign of humility, Anton supposed that it might be as fanciful as this particular planet could get, with their resources. A central courtyard had been carved out, one which came complete with a small garden as well as a fountain. In the center of the fountain was a wooden statue, an odd choice of material- though the enchantments kept it in pristine condition. The workmanship was also exceptional. Anton displayed what he thought was an appropriate level of appreciation as their route took a turn to the right, and quickly into a large sitting room. Wood was prominently displayed throughout the manor, and especially in this particular place. The chairs were even left bare of cushions, though Anton found they were still quite comfortable due to how they were carved. ¡°Anton of Ceretos,¡± a mature woman inclined her head as he entered. ¡°I was surprised to hear of the arrival of someone of your caliber. An individual from stars far away from our own, are you not?¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Anton nodded in return. ¡°Indeed I am. Given the unexpected nature of my visit, I appreciate you making the time to see me. I happened to be passing through the area when I noticed one of your ships. Ceretos has gained interest in exploring the lower realms after recent developments. Knowing our neighbors, both close and distant, will be of benefit to us.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Aleksandra nodded, ¡°And you came here without a ship?¡± ¡°Interstellar travel is possible with the use of certain techniques,¡± Anton said. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you can share them?¡± Aleksandra smiled. She was asking sincerely, but also didn¡¯t expect Anton to agree. ¡°Unfortunately not,¡± he confirmed. ¡°Such a thing is not so easily distributed to new acquaintances.¡± Star Steps would barely be usable by Life Transformation cultivators, and as for traveling between systems¡­ that would not be possible at all. Most of Anton¡¯s ability there was developed strictly for his own use, though others who had reached a similar level of power could likely manage the same given time. ¡°Too bad,¡± Aleksandra said. Around that time, someone entered the room with a tray of sliced fruits, as well as a bottle of wine. ¡°I took the liberty of having refreshments sent for. Please, try some,¡± she gestured to the tray. Anton picked out a few slices. By his standards, the fruit was rather pathetic. Dry, stringy, and small in size. It had some sweetness to it, but none of it fit the standards he had even before he was a cultivator. He certainly wouldn¡¯t have sold anything with flesh that was so mealy. ¡°Delightful,¡± Anton lied. Not just to be nice, though he sincerely believed this was the best they had to offer. ¡°I have not seen these particular fruits before. May I ask what they are called?¡± That, at least, was a true interest of his. What followed was a significant period of smalltalk, many probing questions asked of Anton while revealing little of Tenoun¡¯a or Aleksandra. At least directly. Topic stayed away from anything of import, including cultivation and politics of any kind. Eventually, however, Aleksandra came to the heart of the matter. ¡°In your travels, have you come across a planet known as Shrenn?¡± She was obviously interested in his reaction to that. Anton did not find himself to be a particularly good liar, but when incorporating a majority truth it was not too difficult. ¡°I have not,¡± he admitted. He¡¯d only overheard it here. ¡°Is it nearby?¡± ¡°Quite,¡± Aleksandra admitted. ¡°Within this very system, in fact.¡± That, Anton could show true surprise at. ¡°Given our history with them, we had to be certain you were not with them.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It is unfortunate that not all neighbors get along well.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Aleksandra said. ¡°Alas, it has been a long and difficult conflict. But perhaps¡­ an individual like yourself might help. We are willing to offer payment for strong individuals willing to fight for us.¡± ¡°I appreciate the offer,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I do not know if I could affect a long term war by myself. Not quickly, at least, and I do not intend to remain in the region for a long time.¡± He certainly wasn¡¯t going to join a war where he knew less than half of the motives involved. ¡°Disappointing,¡± Aleksandra said, ¡°But the circumstances allow the option to remain open, should you change your mind. For now, stay as long as you like. I can show you around our fair city.¡± ----- Anton had to admit that Rolis was impressive, in its own way. A low population of individuals lacking in resources of all kinds had managed to develop a functional city, and not only that but at least rudimentary space travel. All while involved in a war, though it was yet unknown which side was in the right- if there was one. Often, war had no justifiable reasons, though each side always thought themselves in the right. Here was a planet with little resources- outside of Aleksandra¡¯s manor, fruit was basically unseen. With nothing growing on the surface, it was clear why. Mushrooms and other fungus were common, though there were also various sorts of meat from unfamiliar creatures. The population wasn¡¯t starving. Instead, they seemed to maintain a long-term equilibrium. In his movement around the city Anton picked out other elevators, these going even deeper underground. Deep enough that his senses couldn¡¯t pick up what was at the bottom, though he could postulate based on what was brought up. Water, among other things, as well as various sorts of plantlife- and yes, slain beasts. The manner of their death made it clear most were not farm animals of any sort, as they had numerous wounds on their bodies instead of clean cuts. A place like this was simply begging for rejuvenation, and though Anton carried many seeds and the like he was not certain what would help. Perhaps if he saw the lower levels¡­ but that would require some level of trust. In both directions. Before he made any other moves, Anton needed to know about Shrenn. Were they responsible for Tenoun¡¯a being the way it was? He would find out. ----- Leaving Rolis was relatively simple, though Anton did wait for one of the normal transitions of the large elevators between the upper outpost and the city below. It was better that they did not have to expend some of their precious energy to make a special trip for him, and that way he was able to observe some of the military personnel going to the surface. They did not engage Anton in conversation, but they gave simple answers when prodded. Not that there was much to be gleaned in a short time, nor did Anton attempt to discover any secrets. Not yet. As Anton flew out, another ship was approaching the planet. That was not difficult to pick up, given how far his senses extended when uninhibited. In the hours he¡¯d first spent waiting in the outpost, there had been a few arrivals- Anton estimated perhaps a handful or maybe twice that if they went all day and night would transition in and out from just the one city. The incoming ship showed some signs of battle, and upon probing into its stores Anton found, among other things, the illusive fruit and lumber. Based on its trajectory it was coming from off-planet, not elsewhere on Tenoun¡¯a. From what he had gleaned, the planet was operating under a single authority, though whether that was nominal or fully true was anyone¡¯s guess. There was more yet to learn. But should he start with other cities on Tenoun¡¯a, or seek out Shrenn? Chapter 614 Anton had the feeling that seeking out another city on Tenoun¡¯a would have similar results. If the various cities were in contact with each other, it would certainly seem strange. Perhaps he should have asked, but Aleksandra was limited with the information she shared about the planet. Though the only answer Anton could anticipate receiving would have been ¡®yes¡¯, either because it was true or because they would want him to think that causing trouble would have consequences extending beyond just Rolis. Since he assumed they were speaking to each other and he indicated he was actually leaving, it would be best to do that for the moment. All he needed to do was find Shrenn. Which was harder than it sounded, because besides being in the same system he did not know what features it had. Except¡­ the ability to have plants and trees. That didn¡¯t line up with anything he¡¯d seen, however. Anton removed himself from the planet¡¯s atmosphere- he should have noted that when considering if it might have cultivators- so that his vision wasn¡¯t distorted. With just his eyes he could make out the larger planets- a couple gas giants and a large rocky planet, as well as a closer rocky planet. None of them seemed to fit. But he didn¡¯t have to just guess. First he pulled out his portable telescope. Well, portable by some definitions, at least. It fit inside a storage bag, and it was much smaller than a proper observatory. Then he did a sweep of the orbital plane- most planets in a system would be similarly situated, though he¡¯d seen some extreme exceptions. After circling around Tenoun¡¯a to make sure he covered everything, Anton had confirmed nothing seemed to fit. Nowhere had plants, nor did it seem like the temperature would allow for that. Most were too far or too close. Theoretically, he was looking for a planet just a little bit closer to the sun than Tenoun¡¯a. If he was inexperienced, he might have been stumped there- but the solution was actually rather simple. Shrenn was either off the normal orbital plane or on the other side of the sun- and if he was correct, it would be the latter. Most likely, it was always on the other side of the sun, which would be why Aleksandra had honestly wondered if he¡¯d seen it. There was also the trajectory of the incoming ships to consider, and ultimately all of Anton¡¯s observations didn¡¯t matter. Instead, he just waited and watched a few incoming and outgoing ships over the next few hours. That gave him a pretty good understanding of where they were going, confirming his suspicions. Then he took the route going the other direction- less energy efficient, but that wasn¡¯t a problem for Anton unless he was pushing himself. His path took him close to the star¡­ the feature that had actually drawn him to the system to begin with. The star here was extremely rare, on the same order of rarity as Azun, his neutron star. Though they weren¡¯t actually different to begin with. This was a supergiant star, a blue one to be precise- significantly smaller than their red compatriots. It ¡®only¡¯ had a radius of a few dozen times that of Ceretos¡¯ star. When it ultimately died in some millions of years, it could leave behind a neutron star. From the perspective of stars this was on the last leg of its life- but even by cultivator standards it would live for an extremely long time. It would probably outlast the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster, at least by those names. Anton approached the star, feeling its heat. As he had not assimilated with it, he was still subject to the full extent of dangers a star could represent, so he had to shield himself from the heat and radiation. Even so, his familiarity let him capture some of the natural energy it produced even without assimilating it. It was only a couple steps below being around a bound star. Anton was tempted to connect with it, but he had resolved to only do so with permission of local residents, if they existed. And he had neither asked nor received that from any residents. His loop around the star eventually brought him to the far side, and he could soon see the planet that had to be Shrenn, more or less where he expected it to be. It didn¡¯t particularly look to be anything impressive. At a glance, it looked as barren as Tenoun¡¯a. The same went for its moons- of which it had five. But as Anton got closer, he could see the signs of atmospheres around all of them. The atmospheres of the moons were certainly thinner, but they did exist. Randomly picking one of the moons that felt interesting, Anton began to approach. Then a bolt of energy passed right by him. It wasn¡¯t a warning shot, nor had it been missed- Anton had instead barely dodged it. He was impressed by the travel time, the attack moving at nearly the speed of light. It didn¡¯t matter if it rapidly dissipated behind Anton- that might have even been intentional. Star Steps showed its power as Anton continued to avoid repeated attacks with instant acceleration in unpredictable directions, all the while moving closer. No matter what he did, however, the bolts were never far. The bolts of energy themselves were wrapped around actual physical ammunition almost as large as Anton- or at least as long as he was tall. Physical size didn¡¯t necessarily equate to actual power where cultivators were concerned, but Anton could tell the weapon size wasn¡¯t inflated just for the sake of ego. Getting hit by one of those could easily take out a normal Life Transformation cultivator. Anton picked out the source of the attacks, down on the moon he was approaching. A man with a large build and what could have seemed an oversized weapon, but instead seemed a practical consideration given the material type. The man had his hands on a full sized ballista, with the ability to swivel in different directions. Anton wondered how it would fare if he were directly vertical, and he set about finding out. Stolen novel; please report. The answer was that the man simply lifted the whole device off the ground with one hand while pulling back the string with his other. Such a weapon would normally have required a crank, but the man had sufficient strength to bypass that issue and directly pull back the string, spinning the mechanisms and allowing him to maintain a high rate of fire. Thus it was that even vertically he could shoot at Anton- but it was clear he lost a bit of accuracy as he had to adjust his aim freehand. Anton began to call down towards the man. ¡°Stop-¡± he dodged a shot, ¡°-wasting-¡± another came, getting surprisingly close to impacting Anton¡¯s leg, ¡°-your-¡± Anton twisted in the air. ¡°-Energy!¡± Anton caught the last bolt, spinning it around as he formed an energy bow of sufficient size to return the attack. Bolts were just arrows, often shorter and squatter and with slightly different properties, but Anton could compensate for all of those well enough. He made his first attack, returning the projectile with maximum speed. In only a fraction of an instant, it followed the return path between them, flashing past the man¡¯s determined face and leaving a thin trail of blood on his cheek, caused not by the head but by the fletching. Anton was prepared to demonstrate further, but the man clearly got the hint and ceased his attacks. As an archer, he could tell Anton didn¡¯t miss, and that he couldn¡¯t avoid that attack. Anton approached closer, until he was within a more reasonable speaking distance, just a couple hundred meters away in the air rather than tens of kilometers above. ¡°Hello there. I am Anton Krantz. And you?¡± The largely muscled man kept his eyes warily locked on Anton. ¡°Admetus.¡± ¡°A pleasure to meet you, Admetus,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Is shooting at people a customary greeting in this system? The same thing happened on Tenoun¡¯a.¡± Though mentioning the other planet was likely to sour information, by leading with it and not hiding that information he could deal with the fallout more easily- and intentionally. Admetus narrowed his eyes even further. ¡°You¡¯ve been to Tenoun¡¯a¡­ but you aren¡¯t from there?¡± ¡°Your system here is not the only one in the lower realms, you know,¡± Anton kept his face pleasant. In truth, he didn¡¯t mind getting shot at a little. ¡°I¡¯m from outside, as you might be able to surmise. Someone in Rolis tried to hire me to fight for them, but I have for the moment declined.¡± ¡°So, what?¡± Admetus looked over at Anton. ¡°Trying to get a better deal?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°I hardly think either of you could give me a worthwhile deal. I just want to know what¡¯s going on with this war. I might get involved¡­ or stay out of it entirely.¡± Anton looked around. ¡°Nice place you have here.¡± It was somewhat sarcastic, but by comparison to Tenoun¡¯a, it wasn¡¯t too bad. This particular moon was mostly barren, but Anton could sense more than a few orchards around small spots of water. ¡°What¡¯s going on? They show up with their ships and rip up whatever trees they can get, and we kill any of them we can catch. Happy?¡± Anton didn¡¯t get the feeling that Admetus had great people skills. But he¡¯d at least explained the basic situation, from Shrenn¡¯s side. ¡°What about counterattacks?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Surely you must try to disincentivize them.¡± ¡°Not worth it,¡± Admetus replied, trying to keep one eye on Anton while scanning the sky. ¡°They don¡¯t have crap.¡± ¡°Seems to me that they desire basic resources.¡± ¡°So?¡± Admetus raised an eyebrow, ¡°Makes it reasonable to just take it from us?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°You want five degrees to your left.¡± Admetus hesitated, then took his eyes fully off of Anton and slightly tilted his emplacement. He took a shot, and a flaming wreck began to crash into the planet quite some distance away. ¡°So¡­ you joining our side or what?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I should yet. If I wasn¡¯t here at all that guy would have died anyway. I¡¯m not here to disrupt your defense efforts.¡± He looked around, ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you can get me in contact with people who aren¡¯t occupied in a combat zone? Preferably without me having to repeat this whole approach battle.¡± ¡°What for?¡± ¡°I want to know more about this war. Its history. How Shrenn,¡± Anton gestured to the ¡®nearby¡¯ planet, ¡°And Tenoun¡¯a,¡± Anton gestured towards the sun, ¡°Came to be like this. Also if you happen to have any information about invaders from the upper realms, I¡¯d be quite interested to hear it.¡± ¡°From the upper realms? Hah!¡± Admetus rolled his eyes. ¡°No way they¡¯d put in the effort to come here and grab dirt and sticks.¡± ¡°Not recently, I¡¯d imagine,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Now, if you¡¯d direct me to somewhere appropriate, I can get out of your hair. I don¡¯t imagine you have much in the way of embassies, but if you can signal someone I can avoid causing undue concern to people. And I¡¯m sure that people would like some time to prepare security forces to keep me contained.¡± ¡°You think you¡¯re that dangerous?¡± Admetus asked. ¡°How many people survive your barrages?¡± Anton asked. Admetus grunted. ¡°Not many. Then again, I don¡¯t kill that many either. Most people avoid where I¡¯m stationed.¡± ¡°And that guy?¡± Anton gestured towards the still falling ship. ¡°A sacrificial pawn to figure out where I am today. Or an idiot.¡± Admetus looked around. ¡°I have to stay here. You can take my ship and some of my nearby subordinates.¡± He raised his voice, ¡°Hear that? You get to do something, just like you asked! Now come on out.¡± A handful of people began approaching from behind distant trees. Admetus returned his focus to Anton. ¡°If you hurt anyone I¡¯ll figure out a way to kill you.¡± ¡°Glad to hear it,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can promise I won¡¯t make the first strike. And if I was interested in wanton destruction, that would have already happened.¡± All in all, a decidedly unfriendly but much less calculated response from Admetus. And while Anton was definitely positively inclined towards the group that was visibly growing things, he would try to not let that affect his bias too much. Chapter 615 As the ship borrowed from Admetus approached Shrenn itself, Anton was able to pick out details of the planet beyond the dull browns covering its surface. The planet was mostly covered in sandy desert, though the temperatures seemed to be a spread of livable temperatures throughout. The places that stood out to Anton were spots with life, oases with plant, animal, and most importantly cultivator life. They were few and far between, but well protected with defensive formations. The ship headed for none of them, instead angling towards a barren mountain. Anton was reminded of Tenoun¡¯a, and sure enough he was soon in a similar sort of landing tunnel. He understood why they would avoid a more convenient position on the surface, not covered by the shell of a mountain above. They moved slowly, the various subordinates of Admetus relaying the situation and the reason for Anton¡¯s presence on board. Obviously he would be noticed- even if he wasn¡¯t displaying the full power of an Assimilation cultivator, he would stand out at least as much as a Life Transformation individual. A notable difference Anton determined was that his descent to the city beneath was not as far¡­ and the city below was much more open. Perhaps that was coincidence, as they seemed to have found a massive cavern- but even so, it resulted in quite a different atmosphere. More importantly was the feature of an underground lake in the center of the city, a gathering of plant and animal life. Little grew around its edges, but there were many water plants with fishes swimming below. The lake area was also lit by sunlight- not natural, as there were no direct holes to the surface, but instead formations produced a reasonable substitute. Anton was a good judge of sunlight himself, and this was well within what was normal. Compared to their particularly harsh star, it was much more subdued. He was met with many curious looks as he was led through the streets towards what was surprisingly not the largest building, though it was close. The size of the building had a purpose, however, the stone blocks forming a number of different offices in which Anton sensed people working, mostly writing notes in ledgers and filling out documents. Oddly enough, that was a sign of some level of prosperity- it required no effort to keep track of things when you had little. People just knew. ¡°Madam Docia, a visitor.¡± Anton was led into a sizable yet also cramped study, packed full of shelves and cabinets. Sitting behind the overflowing desk in the center was an old lady with frazzled hair¡­ and notably only a late Essence Collection cultivation. She looked up at Anton through glasses- a rarity for cultivators who were generally able to mold their bodies to remove such requirements. It also indicated some level of precision glasswork, but they did have space flight as well. Cultivators were able to get around many requirements Rutera considered ¡®normal¡¯, however. ¡°Oh yes, hello,¡± she inclined her head. ¡°I am sorry we don¡¯t have a more grand welcome set up for you, but we weren¡¯t expecting¡­ well, any visitors at all, frankly. I am Planetary Coordinator Docia.¡± Anton took the seat she gestured to. ¡°I am Anton, Sect Head of the Order of One Hundred Stars. From Ceretos, not that you will have heard of the sect or the planet.¡± ¡°Certainly not,¡± she admitted, ¡°Though even if we knew it, we wouldn¡¯t likely call it the same name. I hear you met Admetus?¡± ¡°Indeed, he was the most prominent figure on the moon I approached.¡± ¡°Well, you seem to have no holes or missing limbs, so that must have gone well.¡± She looked at the escorts who came with Anton, waving them away. ¡°Go stand outside, or maybe find somewhere to sit down. You won¡¯t make a difference if he decides to kill me anyway.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not worried about that, huh?¡± Anton asked as the small group filtered out. ¡°Should I be? You seem nice, and as I said¡­ nobody could stop you.¡± She studied him closely with her senses. ¡°Peak Life Transformation?¡± Anton wasn¡¯t going to correct her, but she advanced her understanding on her own. ¡°Something beyond that, I think. You¡¯re not from the upper realms, are you?¡± ¡°I am not. Very much the opposite.¡± ¡°Are there lower-lower realms?¡± Docia asked, curious. ¡°I-¡± Anton blinked. ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered the possibility. I am simply incapable of entering the upper realms, and opposed to the actions of a good majority of those I¡¯ve been exposed to.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Docia said, ¡°Because I¡¯d hate for the city to have to be rebuilt.¡± ¡°And that would be necessary because¡­?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think we could kill you without some collateral damage,¡± the woman said in her same kind voice. ¡°And if you were from the upper realms, we simply couldn¡¯t let you live.¡± ¡°It seems we likely share some opinions, then. Two invasions from the upper realms was more than enough.¡± ¡°You survived two invasions?¡± her eyes widened behind her glasses. ¡°How?¡± ¡°Many allies and careful preparations. With the tides of the world being distorted, we didn¡¯t have long to prepare for the second. Just two centuries. But ultimately, we managed.¡± ¡°How many survived with you?¡± Docia asked. Anton tilted his head, ¡°Most people, I suppose. We did have many losses, including sweeping changes of certain parts of the planet.¡± Docia looked at him, frowning. ¡°Did you¡­ win?¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Of course. I wouldn¡¯t be here now if we had not. I take it that has not been the case here.¡± ¡°No,¡± she slowly shook her head. ¡°We tried to stand up to them, but the last invasion¡­ we lost.¡± Anton did a careful sweep of their surroundings. No detectable traces of the Twin Soul Sect. ¡°How long ago was this?¡± ¡°Some eight centuries now, I believe,¡± she replied. ¡°They didn¡¯t come back the last two cycles?¡± ¡°Come back for what?¡± Docia narrowed her eyes, then gestured above, ¡°Does this look like something anyone from the upper realms would wish to plunder?¡± ¡°My apologies,¡± Anton said. ¡°I did not wish to make you upset. I had just not come across your particular situation. By my understanding, once they have chosen a lower world the Trigold Cluster tends to plunder every cycle.¡± ¡°Until someone tries to fight back,¡± Docia sighed. ¡°Then this happens.¡± ¡°At least your planet survived,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though it is truly in a regrettable state, I admire the determination of those living here. But what about Tenoun¡¯a?¡± ¡°Oh yes,¡± Docia hung her head. ¡°I heard you had visited them.¡± ¡°I did find them first in my explorations,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I tracked what I now know to be a raiding ship to one of their hangars.¡± ¡°What do you want me to say?¡± Docia shrugged. ¡°That Shrenn deserves this for not helping them during the invasion? We had to protect ourselves and barely survived. Not that anyone involved in those choices is alive today.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want you to just say anything,¡± Anton clarified. ¡°I had not heard much beyond the existence of animosity between your two planets. I take it from your words that you were once allies? How many records remain of the time?¡± ¡°Enough,¡± Docia said. ¡°The invaders from the upper realms didn¡¯t care about destroying our history specifically, when they acted with the intention to wipe us out. They didn¡¯t quite succeed, but maybe it¡¯s just a slower process. We can¡¯t possibly recover to a portion of what we were, not without the lakes and seas we once had.¡± ¡°That is¡­ an immense amount of destruction,¡± Anton couldn¡¯t help but commiserate. ¡°I did not think they would be capable of it. Physically, I mean. I have no understanding of any moral limiters on the Trigold Cluster. It was them, wasn¡¯t it?¡± They were to the galactic east from Ceretos- and a bit north, closer to the border. Anton didn¡¯t think they were far enough to interact with anything beyond the Trigold Cluster- assuming there was anything. ¡°That was what the records indicated,¡± Docia agreed. ¡°We managed to resist successfully for a cycle or two, and then we came to this.¡± ¡°That is¡­ an ill omen,¡± Anton said. ¡°I now find myself worried for our future. But I must ask¡­ what were your strongest cultivators?¡± ¡°I could list dozens of names of no relevance to you,¡± Docia said, ¡°But I assume that is not what you wish to ask? We had a wide variety of individuals fighting against them with varied cultivation styles.¡± ¡°What cultivation rank?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Life Transformation, of course. The strongest, that is.¡± Docia looked at him suspiciously. ¡°Ascension would bring them away from this place, unable to participate.¡± ¡°Then I find myself somewhat relieved,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Perhaps we have faced the limits of their wrath¡­ though I don¡¯t think the invading army could have devastated our planet so easily.¡± Then again, two Augmentation cultivators unrestricted for some time might have been able to boil away the oceans. It was just a pointless endeavor, so he¡¯d never really thought it through. Planets could be destroyed, so ruining them was likely a step easier. ¡°You are a step beyond Life Transformation,¡± she declared firmly. ¡°I was just speculating before, but¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton said. ¡°We have deemed it Assimilation. Our neighbors, Worldbinding- though there are some differences in method between the two. I will be honest, I don¡¯t know if any of your planets could support one.¡± Their sun could, certainly. But everything else was practically powerless. ¡°I¡¯m already impressed you¡¯ve developed Life Transformation cultivators like Admetus.¡± ¡°We have a few,¡± Docia admitted. ¡°But nowhere near the throngs of mighty warriors we once had.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Anton said. ¡°Now then, onto other unfortunate topics. The current war with Tenoun¡¯a. They offered me payment to join their side in the war.¡± ¡°You want a better deal?¡± Docia asked seriously. ¡°I¡¯m sure we can double it, at least, to fight for us. Or to just stay out, if that¡¯s not enough.¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t my intention,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I am aware you are certainly more prosperous, compared to them. But aside from not being a mercenary for higher by the largest bidder, your wealth could not hope to sway me. I want to know if I should join the war, and thus I need to know more about it. Like¡­ why did it begin? What are your responses to their raiding ships? What attacks has Shreen made of your own?¡± ¡°Some of that,¡± Docia admitted, ¡°Is privileged military information even I have no access to. But the rest stems from the long past. We were allies once. No¡­¡± Docia shook her head. ¡°More than that. We were the same people, living on two planets, and all of Shrenn¡¯s moons. The invasion destroyed us, embittering us against each other. I don¡¯t know who started this most recent war for certain, but I will say it was probably Tenoun¡¯a. Simply because it would be of less benefit for us to do so. But things have stretched on for centuries, and now we calculate the efficiency of our fields based on prospective losses to raids,¡± she gestured to some of the papers around her. ¡°If you want a righteous cause, I would say that those on the defensive are the righteous ones.¡± ¡°... but?¡± Anton asked. Clearly, she was not done. ¡°But we abandoned them in their time of need, both before the war and after. Shrenn has done nothing to help restore them, focusing only on ourselves. They are a desperate people, needing everything they can get their hands on.¡± Docia sighed, ¡°I would not wish for you to fight against us, but I do not think I could convince you to fight against them without leaving out pertinent information. I have the feeling that doing so might get me killed.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t necessarily kill people who lie to me,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I very much do not appreciate it.¡± ¡°So?¡± Docia asked. ¡°What do you intend to do?¡± ¡°Optimally I¡¯d wrangle everyone of note and put them in a room to talk,¡± Anton said. ¡°But that would be difficult to do with just my own power.¡± Unless he assimilated the local star. Which was tempting, because it was powerful and different, but not something he should do lightly. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll tie some letters onto arrows and see how that shapes out.¡± The only thing Anton knew for sure was he couldn¡¯t just leave things. It would have been simpler if Tenoun¡¯a was just evil, because killing people was always the easiest solution. And while he wouldn¡¯t condone constant raids, desperate people were difficult to judge fairly. Chapter 616 From a certain perspective, Anton had no responsibility to interfere with the conflict between Tenoun¡¯a and Shreen. Indeed, it could have been said it was none of his business and he should stay out of things. If it was simply a war between factions that he didn¡¯t fully understand, joining either side would not be right. But it also had to be considered that Anton had the ability to affect more than just battles. Resolving the conflict in a way that was beneficial to all parties would be best. As for how to accomplish that¡­ well, that was where things got tricky. He could of course declare to Tenoun¡¯a that they had to stop their raids. He could enforce that, unless they were willing to engage in all-out war. Perhaps even if they were, since he would be around Shrenn and they would have to defend themselves. But leading to an escalation was just the same as joining his preferred side. If he did manage to get Tenoun¡¯a to back down, then what? People there would lose a source of food, as well as materials they desperately needed. Though there were details Anton still needed to work through. Because the fruit he¡¯d seen Aleksandra consuming was clearly something special to them. That also meant it was not commonly available to the people as a whole. Fancy furniture also didn¡¯t support the welfare of the common man. He needed to know exactly what was being stolen. But where could he get such information? Oh right. He knew the planetary coordinator, and things had become so regular that they calculated productivity with raids as a factor. It took a few days for Anton to think through everything he needed and wanted to do, then he arranged for another meeting with Docia. Her schedule should be fairly busy, but she quickly found time for him. ¡°What do you need?¡± she asked immediately as he entered her office. ¡°Who says I need anything? Perhaps I am just here to chat.¡± ¡°No,¡± she shook her head. ¡°You are not. You would have found me after work.¡± ¡°Is there an after work for you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You seem¡­ busy.¡± He could already sense a line of assistants building up at a distance, not hovering outside the door so they didn¡¯t bother him. ¡°But yes. I do need something. Yearly reports on the goods stolen by raids, if possible. Also casualties.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Docia said. ¡°We¡¯ll have that for you this afternoon.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know what I want it for?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯m hoping you¡¯re working to our benefit,¡± she said, ¡°And if you were not, I don¡¯t see why you couldn¡¯t get that information elsewhere. But if you are, making things easy for you is best. And for me.¡± ¡°Good idea. Wanna know a trick?¡± ¡°What sort of ¡®trick¡¯?¡± Docia asked. ¡°Some methods to cultivate while doing paperwork, which would ultimately improve your efficiency. And a technique to read¡­ much more quickly.¡± ¡°How quickly?¡± ¡°I could read everything in this room in ten minutes,¡± Anton said. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you,¡± Docia said clearly. There were hundreds or thousands of compendiums and ledgers, as well as drawers and cabinets full of loose papers. ¡°Wanna make a bet?¡± Anton leaned his elbow on the desk. ¡°If I win you have to spend an hour every day not swamped in paperwork, letting tasks build up as you practice these techniques to ultimately pull ahead. It¡¯ll be good for you.¡± ¡°And if I win?¡± Docia narrowed her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll destroy the next week¡¯s worth of incoming raider ships,¡± Anton said. ¡°Either way, I¡¯ll be out of your hair in ten minutes.¡± ¡°How will I know you actually read it all?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re familiar with everything here,¡± Anton said. ¡°You can quiz me on any of it, to your satisfaction.¡± ¡°... Fine. Might as well get started, then.¡± Books flew off the shelves just as quickly as Anton tore through them- and then they returned to their positions after flipping through them. He could theoretically read with his energy alone, but using his eyes made things faster, even if pages only flashed before his eyes. For the loose papers, Anton made sure Docia could see that they all ended up in the same order and position, just as they had been. He wasn¡¯t planning to make a mess of the organizational system. Anton was hit with a whole mess of information, mostly covering the last few decades but some things spanning centuries. Clearly, this was not the whole of Shrenn¡¯s records, merely key overviews of certain cities and information. Though Anton did find that much of it could have been condensed into less space, which would also make it easier to look through. It wasn¡¯t a problem with Docia¡¯s organization per se, rather how it was built on earlier decisions of people just making things work before her. As far as things went, Shrenn wasn¡¯t the worst mess of bureaucracy they could have been, but the requirements that they monitor everything carefully to maintain their tenuous level of prosperity. ¡°Done,¡± Anton said- though that should have been clear to Docia as he slid closed the last drawer. ¡°Questions?¡± ¡°Who was the thirteenth planetary coordinator?¡± It took Anton about a second to retrieve the answer to that. He hadn¡¯t come across a list with that information, but he was able to put it together from context. ¡°Ottar.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Which moon produced the third highest yields of food twelve years ago?¡± ¡°By what metric?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Weight.¡± ¡°Togar. The third moon.¡± ¡°Which sect last won the biannual competition of strength?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°Don¡¯t know. That wasn¡¯t in there.¡± ¡°Of course it was¡­ not.¡± Docia frowned. ¡°I must have left that in the pile I brought home.¡± ¡°I¡¯m also declaring you can¡¯t bring things home. You have to use that time for training.¡± ¡°I suppose I can¡¯t back down now,¡± Docia sighed. ¡°Come on,¡± Anton said. ¡°Cultivation is fun! And if you don¡¯t like doing this, then that¡¯s more incentive to get quick at it. And train others to handle more of this for you.¡± ¡°I just don¡¯t have the time,¡± she sighed. ¡°You¡¯ll never have the time unless you make it. People can function without reports for a few weeks or months. They might even be glad,¡± Anton said. ¡°Let¡¯s get you started on the Ten Thousand Scrolls. Also, I can personalize the training for you if you show me your cultivation method, but I can understand if you are hesitant to provide it.¡± She shook her head, ¡°Not really. My method is basic and publicly available.¡± She pulled out a book labeled Convening Fundaments. ¡°It is widely usable, but not optimal for martial purposes.¡± Anton quickly looked through it. ¡°Ooh, farming techniques. I see a lot of flaws though,¡± Anton handed it back. ¡°The good news is I¡¯d bet you reach Life Transformation in a couple decades if you get on the right track. I have to say,¡± he said, looking at her hands, wrinkled skin plastered around bone. ¡°It¡¯s great for the joints.¡± ¡°I find it hard to believe you had joint trouble before you reached Life Transformation, if you¡¯ve truly surpassed it.¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I had joint trouble even before I touched Body Tempering. I look a bit younger now.¡± With prominent wrinkles and gray hair, that statement meant quite a bit. ¡°Make sure to get me those documents, I¡¯m still missing some relevant details not in all this,¡± he gestured around him. ¡°And make sure to be ready for training.¡± ----- The area of most concern to Anton had been casualties. Fortunately, it seemed that Shrenn had developed ways to minimize their own losses, maximizing their defense. The information on Tenoun¡¯a¡¯s losses was less clear, though it seemed they generally avoided the areas they knew would be well defended. Shrenn planted in seemingly random places on their various moons, but they would not defend all of it. For example, they had entire forests that were mostly undefended, with raiders landing and chopping down what they could before being chased off. Even so, Anton didn¡¯t feel comfortable accepting any deaths on a continuous basis. Clearly it was sustainable over the long term, but it would obviously inhibit growth and the quality of everyone¡¯s lives. Anton approximated the number of individuals placed similarly to Aleksandra in Rolis and compared the results to the fruit and wood and other things stolen. Pretty quickly it became clear that it was more than a relatively small population of elite could manage to use, so at least he confirmed that the general populace had to be benefitting from the raids. The food specifically could make up a significant portion of what Tenoun¡¯a consumed- though it was likely the staple foods such as drought resistant tubers that they would get. Rice was completely unheard of, which made sense because nowhere had much water. Shrenn had more water underground than on the surface, but it didn¡¯t come with natural sunlight. There had been efforts to bring it to the surface, which was also where the moons got much of their moisture, but for the most part they conserved what they had as much as possible. Anton considered the possibility of redirecting icy asteroids to help with the issue. The planets were space capable, though their technology seemed limited in scope in that regard. Ultimately, Anton decided he didn¡¯t know enough. Rutera¡¯s scientists would be of much help in determining what made sense. As for various interesting plants, Anton did not have enough seeds of any sort to immediately support populations that needed whatever they could get. It was even possible that people would prefer to eat the seeds instead of planting them, if they were desperate enough. And making any significant growth on Shrenn and its moons would be difficult enough. He could get the process started for them, but ultimately that meant more work for some time. Tenoun¡¯a would need larger changes first. Anton simply needed more than he could manage on his own, and people with other expertises. Which meant he would have to leave things as they were, likely for years. Before that, he had hundreds of samples to take. Soil, plants, and all sorts of other things. He also needed to see other places on Tenoun¡¯a, to measure their potential willingness to negotiate a peace. That would require at a minimum food, and potentially reparations and apologies that Shrenn might not be able or willing to make. Who could have predicted that centuries long conflicts weren¡¯t easy to fix? But Anton simply couldn¡¯t let worlds devastated by the upper realms remain like this. Just to spite the Trigold Cluster, he wanted them to thrive. ----- Returning to Tenoun¡¯a was awkward, because they hadn¡¯t been terribly friendly to begin with. However, Anton thought up a way around that. Because of his strength it was unlikely anyone on Tenoun¡¯a would refuse to host him- but it would also make them wary. Anton wasn¡¯t fully certain that he could survive if they saw him as a threat they had to remove at all costs. So, he would come bearing gifts. That could even include seeds for various sorts of cultivation enhancing plants and medicinal herbs that would improve cultivation- with the understanding that such things wouldn¡¯t significantly affect Tenoun¡¯a¡¯s ability to attack Shrenn for at least a decade or two. He didn¡¯t want to bolster both sides just to result in a larger war instead of the steady conflict they had now. Though ultimately Anton wanted to try to seek out someone¡­ friendlier¡­ than Aleksandra, he decided he had to return to her first. ¡°I snatched something from Shrenn as I stopped by to look at them,¡± Anton said, producing some fresh and well preserved pear-like fruits. He tried not to pay too much attention to the relative opulence Aleksandra lived in. ¡°Impressive,¡± she said. ¡°I had not expected you to return.¡± ¡°In truth,¡± Anton said, ¡°I stopped to speak to them as well. I have some plans¡­ something that might take some time to come to fruition. I would like your assistance with it.¡± Making himself seem like a schemer working towards his own benefit would most likely relax Aleksandra- and those she was in contact with. It was unlikely they could imagine someone interested in altruism, given the circumstances they had lived in their whole lives. And it was altruism, despite what benefits Anton might reap or personal satisfaction he could derive. He could gain much more from simply remaining on Ceretos, or simply binding their star as he pleased. Nobody could stop him. Was he going to eventually ask for permission to do just that? Absolutely. But only after everything was settled, and he made it clear that there was no requirement or obligation. Though he had grown fond of the bright blue star on his two trips past it. Chapter 617 The cities of Tenoun¡¯a were not connected underground, at least not through any route Anton was informed of or could pick out from the various tunnels. That left them disconnected and semi-independent, coordinating mainly on the matter of their raids. Though Anton would consider both Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn resource poor, their requirements to draw upon water from deep underground- even more so for Tenoun¡¯a- meant they still had access to precious metals, and the energy to forge them into something of use. That was how they managed their ships, both the structures and the formations necessary for them to actually work. Despite the lack of resources and limited natural energy the planets had been populated by cultivators as long as anyone remembered, so they didn¡¯t develop down the mainly technological path of Rutera. The second and third cities were much the same, an elite ruling group in charge of much of the ¡®wealth¡¯ the cities accumulated. It was pretty much impossible to do away with something like that where cultivators were involved, but it was sad to see when the average citizen on Ceretos had better options for what they would eat each day. Sure, they probably had less gold inlays and smaller houses, but those didn¡¯t mean anything. Especially when the rooms mostly sat unused. Nobody needed two reading rooms when they could only use one at a time. Anton didn¡¯t have much more hope for Xasall. It was just another city- and like the others, there was no indication of any attempts to trade with other cities. Which probably meant that aside from raiding not being a proper lifestyle, they were probably being wasteful with their efforts. And while the first was much more condemnable, the latter was more likely to be considered as a problem by people involved. At any point, Anton could change his mind and just decide to destroy all of their ships and starports. He was severely tempted several times. Anton had to remind himself that they were mostly just trying to survive. They were just bad at it. The young man Anton saw in front of him was the most prominent figure in Xasall. A Life Transformation cultivator at one hundred years of age. Not bad. Not exceptional, even given the planet¡¯s circumstances, but not bad. His name was Aurelianus, and he was currently explaining the costs of the raids in both materials, manpower, and life. ¡°One question,¡± Anton just had to day it. ¡°Did you ever consider just moving to one of the moons of a gas giant here?¡± ¡°... what?¡± the man was stunned by the sudden change in direction. ¡°The ice moons. With all of the frozen water.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t, um¡­¡± Aurelianus cleared his throat. ¡°I¡¯m sure it was considered,¡± he lied. Not that he was saying it hadn¡¯t been, either. He just truly didn¡¯t know. It was clear to Anton it hadn¡¯t come up in his lifetime. ¡°But it¡¯s not all frozen water. At such extremes, even atmospheric gasses can freeze. Attempting to live there would be difficult. Inhospitable. Many people would lose their lives.¡± ¡°More than on constant raids?¡± Anton asked. ¡°When a ship coming back means some people don¡¯t eat, disrupting your very industry that keeps those ships being built?¡± Aurelianus frowned. ¡°Perhaps the matter could use some¡­ reconsideration.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just easier to get resources from somewhere that isn¡¯t actively trying to kill you,¡± Anton shrugged. That was the thing that frustrated Anton the most. Certainly, some previous generation of Shrenn had not stood up to their proper obligations, but all of the known generations of Tenoun¡¯a had only resorted to a single option. And it seemed neither side had considered colonizing other planets or even just migrating everyone to Shrenn where they could be part of the labor force and eke out a somewhat prosperous lifestyle. Of course, with so many generations of bad blood between them now, any sort of resolution was going to be difficult, requiring radical change. Anton just hoped it didn¡¯t involve too much blood. The one good thing about cultivators running things was that there were very clear heads to chop off when it was necessary. Before he left, Anton needed to make sure he pushed things towards some possible future where things weren¡¯t awful in the area, and preferably nobody got wiped out. After that would be a number of years where he couldn¡¯t influence the events, so when he did return he couldn¡¯t be certain how things would have developed. But he could hope. ----- In recent years, many fighter pilots from Rutera had shifted to other duties, scouting systems and planets and other non-combat related things. Nobody wanted to pay for unnecessary military personnel, after all. Though with people living longer, there were still many people who remembered the wars. Outside of the military individuals, who were mostly alive, if they survived the wars. Technically Ty was not performing any military maneuvers at the moment, though he was on reserve. Nobody could take away his personal ship, especially not after it was bonded to him. Being an Assimilation cultivator made him one of the top handful most powerful people on Rutera, so they¡¯d have to be willing to lose a lot to make the attempt. Wings cut apart the clouds. Not just his, but also others. They weren¡¯t just flying about, but intentionally maneuvering- and the cutting apart the clouds wasn¡¯t a metaphor, either. When they were done, inverse sky-writing was the result. People cheered below. Some military cultivators would resent putting on a show, but Ty and his flight group found it an excellent way to practice without having to worry about destroying their ships and figuring out repairs. There were amazing things that could be done to put things back together without having to replace parts, but either they would have to bear the price or painstakingly do it themselves. Training coordination and precision flying was probably the second best way to spend his time. As he was coming in for a landing, the best way showed up by almost slicing his ship in half. The surprise strike might have been considered dishonorable by some- but Ty knew that was the best way to keep him ready for real action. And Chikere knew when to stop. Inside of the cockpit, Ty Quigley felt a sharp pain on his cheek, blood trickling down. He hadn¡¯t fully avoided everything, though he did both get annoyed at and appreciate Chikere bypassing the outer shell of his vessel. Annoyed, because it was a defensive layer he often relied on. He did appreciate that she didn¡¯t actually cut it in half though, because despite the effort put into its construction she absolutely could. The only thing she couldn¡¯t cut apart was space itself, and that was only half true. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Ty pulled away from the other ships, back up into the air where he would have more space to maneuver. His ship moved in impossible ways, gravity affecting it as he pleased. He stuck to no single orientation, neither facing the woman who was a swarm of blades nor pulling away from her. Currently his ship had no ammo- the consequences of being geared up for civilian entertainment- but that let him focus on the bladelike structure of his ship and how he had to counter the incoming attacks. Ultimately, Ty had to pop open the cockpit of his fighter- something it was expressly not intended to do unless he was properly ejecting- and stand on the wings so he could maneuver his own body. The ship was also himself, and his blade, so he was still able to control it. He also had a proper sword he carried with him, which he used to block Chikere when she suddenly appeared in front of his face. ¡°You¡¯re dead,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s not fair,¡± Ty sighed, ¡°You have like a century of practice more than me.¡± ¡°And you belong in this place. I need to get back to the upper realms. I¡¯ll miss these spars.¡± ¡°Are you going? Now?¡± Ty asked. ¡°Not quite yet,¡± Chikere admitted. ¡°But in a couple decades.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you still a century or more from Augmentation?¡± Ty asked. ¡°Yeah,¡± Chikere nodded, ¡°I thought about it, and I won¡¯t be able to properly advance here. So I¡¯m focusing on learning how to ascend without the breakthrough between stages. Or I could take a ship, but half of it would be junk no matter whether I was in the upper or lower realms. Plus, this is an opportunity for significant growth. I still believe I can do it.¡± ¡°Unfortunate,¡± Ty shook his head, ¡°I suppose I should learn what I can from you while you¡¯re here.¡± ¡°Or you could go look for someone better.¡± ¡°With a sword? Hard to believe such a person exists.¡± ¡°They do,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Whether they will remain better, that¡¯s up to them. For example, though, the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s sword saint should be more skilled with a sword than me.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t he just higher in cultivation?¡± Ty asked. ¡°They go hand in hand,¡± Chikere said. ¡°At least, when it comes to the difference of a full stage like that. Or maybe I¡¯m wrong, but nobody would let me fight him.¡± Chikere flexed the fingers of her right hand, a robotic prosthetic. ¡°Now they¡¯ll have no excuse to stop me. And the upper realms will even be able to maintain this thing when I get back, if I¡¯m unable to keep it in shape myself. It is part of my body, so I¡¯d prefer to handle it.¡± ¡°What do you think about that kid named after you?¡± Ty asked. ¡°The what now?¡± ¡°... The kid? Chidi? The son of your long time battle partners Catarina and Timothy?¡± ¡°They had a kid?¡± Chikere¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°After all this time?¡± ¡°Was that¡­ not what you gave her the medicine for?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s why she needed it,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t actually know what it was for, but she was stubborn about admitting she needed it. So, a kid, huh?¡± ¡°How did you not know this?¡± Ty asked. ¡°I dunno. How do you know? You haven¡¯t been to the upper realms.¡± ¡°I talk to people,¡± Ty said. ¡°And there are communication devices, you know? You should have some.¡± ¡°Oh, that? Yeah, nobody¡¯s contacted me for a while anyway.¡± ¡°Because you didn¡¯t reply?¡± ¡°... Maybe,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°So, this kid. What do you know?¡± ¡°Uh, well,¡± Ty scratched his cheek. ¡°He was born without eyes, but he¡¯s already cultivating. He¡¯s friends with someone named Aconite.¡± ¡°Does he use a sword?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°If he¡¯s named after me, he¡¯d better.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I heard,¡± Ty said. ¡°Interesting,¡± Chikere grinned, looking towards the upper realms. ----- Chidi suddenly shivered. ¡°Are you cold?¡± Aconite moved up against his legs, her fur managing to maintain its softness despite how it also acted as armor. ¡°No, I just had a weird feeling,¡± Chidi said, looking around. ¡°Like someone I didn¡¯t know was watching. Or like¡­ a sword to my neck.¡± Aconite looked around, sniffing. ¡°We are still near home. You should be safe. If something comes, I¡¯ll stop them.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Chidi said, scratching the head that was nearly chest height for him. ¡°You¡¯re just gonna keep on getting bigger, huh?¡± ¡°It is odder that you will not.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get bigger!¡± Chidi countered. ¡°A little bit. I¡¯m not the one eating all sorts of weird things. I¡¯ve heard that will stunt your growth.¡± ¡°I do not just eat weird things. I intentionally expose myself to poison to build up an immunity,¡± Aconite said. ¡°It is a very human thing to do. It¡¯s not weird.¡± ¡°Okay, fine. The poison thing isn¡¯t that weird,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°What about the time you ate a rock?¡± ¡°It smelled like flesh,¡± Aconite said bashfully. ¡°What about those rotting bones?¡± ¡°There was still nutritional value there!¡± Aconite complained. ¡°You threw up. And I had to stop you from eating it again.¡± Chidi felt Aconite¡¯s head turn away as she softly growled, ¡°I could not let anything defeat my stomach, for the sake of my training.¡± ¡°Nobody¡¯s making you do this, you know,¡± Chidi said. ¡°You could just admit that it was a bad idea to chew on poison herbs for that one battle.¡± ¡°Has it not been useful?¡± she asked sincerely. ¡°We have taken out much stronger prey together.¡± ¡°I suppose,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°Though I¡¯m not a fan of having to filter the poison out of everything we catch.¡± ¡°Some of it breaks down when cooked. And the rest will help you build up an immunity.¡± ¡°I think I¡¯ll have to pass,¡± Chidi said. He couldn¡¯t help but keep tilting his head, trying to catch the sound of feet shifting or the clatter of a sheath. Maybe the scent of metal. But try as he might, he couldn¡¯t feel what caused his earlier distress. So he resolved to ignore it, which was the best he could do for the moment. Chapter 618 Given Anishka¡¯s relatively limited area of travel during her early life, it was easy for her to underestimate how many things there were. There was a vast amount of things within one country, let alone throughout a continent or planet or an entire realm. There was just so much of anything. Obviously Anishka knew there were many types of animals, but even among things that were considered the same there were so many varieties. And that was just one grouping of things. It might have been intimidating if Aniskha wasn¡¯t so excited about everything. ¡°Look! Those cherries are darker!¡± she pointed excitedly at a stall, grabbing a handful. ¡°Oh, and these are yellow!¡± Annelie sighed. ¡°Anishka. Manners. Do make certain you pay before you start grabbing things.¡± She looked at the stall owner apologetically, handing over a few coins. ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll end up with a handful of everything.¡± She looked down the entire market, glad that at least for the moment Anishka wasn¡¯t interested in cultivation related things. Then again, that was what she¡¯d grown up with. At this point everything on Ceretos carried some traces of natural energy inside it, but there was still a significant difference between the low and high end. Price, especially. ¡°Ooh, plums!¡± Anishka continued moving along. ¡°And what¡¯s this awning made of?¡± At least she was exciting about something. Or everything, Annelie supposed. She just hoped that her daughter would eventually end up on a path that actually accomplished something. One couldn¡¯t just study everything. At the very least, at some point Anishka would have to make her own way in the world to pay for her own eccentricities. Given her status, Annelie could cover her expenses forever. But she wouldn¡¯t. Not unless her daughter could prove she was accomplishing something, though it was fine to let her experience her childlike wonder for a while longer. ----- Along Anton¡¯s route, there weren¡¯t many other astounding astronomical features to observe. In most cases, they were things he had seen before, different sorts of common stars and planets. He did come across a few planets that bore the scars of battle, signs of once having life but no longer. They¡¯d been scoured clean. And one system he was fairly certain should have had another planet found it missing. Most of the damage was clearly old, but instead of being comforting Anton instead found it a depressing sign of how long the cycles had continued, and how difficult it would be to bring the invasions to an end. Worlds like Ceretos were just one among many to the upper realms, a small but not quite insignificant place. Surely they would at least miss their Augmentation cultivators. Which meant they could expect some trouble, come the next change in the tides of the world. But that should be the ¡®normal¡¯ duration of six centuries, as far as Anton could tell. Anton was glad to fight and kill members of the Trigold Cluster, but he hoped that by the next cycle he could divert the flow away from their own systems. It was better to not fight at all, if they could manage it. Though Anton also did not want to push their problems off onto others. It seemed unlikely they could ever truly be at peace, except for a time. Was that an inevitability of the world, or just the way things had turned out? Journeying through the void gave Anton far too much time alone with his thoughts, so when he arrived in a system he was quite glad to focus on it. Especially when it was immediately apparent there was something beyond the norm. ¡°Regular energy flow¡­¡± Anton murmured to himself. ¡°Directed between the planets?¡± As Anton approached he was clearly able to discern it was caused by a grand formation spanning the system. He also found it unwise to approach closer, as it seemed to include a proper barrier. He didn¡¯t want to tangle with one of those. That did leave Anton somewhat stumped. He prodded it with his energy. That might give away his location, but that wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing. He did want to meet whoever inhabited this place. Though he did prepare himself to retreat if necessary. Being entirely incautious would be foolish. The only question was how long he should wait. A week, a month? Perhaps he could slip through the barrier at some point, but that wouldn¡¯t build much in the way of trust. It didn¡¯t take long for Anton to get a response. It wasn¡¯t even two hours when he sensed a ship approaching- based on its trajectory, he would presume it was from the outermost planet that he¡¯d been angling towards. Judging the ship and its cultivators¡­ Anton considered himself safe. There were five Life Transformation cultivators, nothing insurmountable. He felt a general sense of caution and preparedness from them, but they slowed as they approached, their cultivators standing on the deck of a fairly traditional ship. There was no simple way to speak to others in a vacuum without some sort of extension of energy, but as Anton began to ponder slipping his way through the barrier, they actually passed beyond. Their lead cultivator- an old woman clutching a spear- extended her energy to meet Anton. Before he could even make a remark, she began. ¡°Greetings. You must be far from home.¡± ¡°I suppose you can say that,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Anyone outside of their home system is rather far, are they not?¡± And truthfully, though he was most of the way back home after his trip to Azun, he was still a good fifty lightyears away from Ceretos. ¡°Do you get many travelers?¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± the woman said. ¡°Though we have had to deal with trouble from the upper realms.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°They are quite¡­ persistent. This grand formation must have been quite difficult to set up, to keep them out.¡± ¡°It was a project of centuries,¡± the woman said. ¡°I suppose I must ask, though it seems pretty clear. Are you friend or foe?¡± ¡°I would hope to be friends,¡± Anton said. ¡°I am known as Anton. If I might have your name¡­?¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Aoibhin.¡± Anton could determine that her name was from one of the categories where he¡¯d default to a different spelling. More like Eveen. ¡°Frankly,¡± he said after he clarified the spelling, ¡°I¡¯m surprised we don¡¯t end up with much more radical differences. The upper realms seems to have a large amount of influence on language¡­¡± ¡°Not by coincidence, I think,¡± Aoibhin replied. ¡°Would you like to speak somewhere more comfortable, friend Anton?¡± ¡°Gladly,¡± he approached, sensing no deception. In the worst case, he could still defend himself even without a local star. As he landed on the ship, Aoibhin gestured with her free hand, ¡°Let us get inside. I apologize I can¡¯t receive you somewhere on planet, but we are responsible for system security. We can¡¯t just let people in through our defensive formations, and we don¡¯t really know each other yet.¡± ¡°I fully understand,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Especially since you¡¯ve had trouble with the upper realms.¡± ¡°I can at least determine you are not from them¡­ directly, at least.¡± ¡°Did you run into their spies?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The Twin Soul Sect, specifically?¡± It was now habit to scan for them anywhere new he went. He was glad to not find any on this ship, though that didn¡¯t mean much. ¡°Oh yes,¡± Aoibhin nodded. ¡°They were quite a troublesome group.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve met them?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I suppose they could have been around as recently as a couple decades. Hopefully you¡¯ve gotten rid of them?¡± ¡°Centuries ago,¡± she said. ¡°It was quite an effort.¡± ¡°I¡¯d love to hear more about how you dealt with them,¡± Anton said. ¡°If the information is not secret.¡± They sat in a tight cabin, with barely a desk and some stools. Quite reasonable for a ship, as space was important. Anton checked the food for poison. He didn¡¯t sense any treachery, but he could never be too careful. He didn¡¯t know the local politics- even if Aoibhin was friendly, someone with access to the kitchens might not like Anton¡¯s presence. Or they might want to get her in trouble somehow. There was also a chance that everyone in a local area developed a resistance to something and no longer considered it poison. That had come up before. Either way, Anton¡¯s cautions proved unnecessary as he snacked on a polite amount of mediocre bread and cheese. ¡°Particular details would be secrets of different sects,¡± Aoibhin said. ¡°But the general idea is simple. It was a long, bloody war where we killed their Ascension cultivators one at a time.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect much different,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°That was about what the first invasion I experienced was like. But we managed to drive them back, and were ready for the second. Did you encounter difficulties with the short cycle?¡± ¡°We were fortunate that the two-hundred-year cycle came after our successful counterefforts,¡± Aoibhin explained, ¡°And they did not return this most recent opportunity.¡± ¡°Does your formation help with that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°That is not my area of expertise,¡± Aoibhin admitted. ¡°It would certainly make it difficult for them to enter, but I don¡¯t know if it would prevent them from lingering outside.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to find others who have been successful,¡± Anton said. ¡°There were others I have met on my journey who did not fare so well,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Is that so?¡± Aoibhin sighed, ¡°I was hoping we might meet with them.¡± ¡°They¡¯re many systems away,¡± Anton said, ¡°Same for my home.¡± ¡°What are you doing so far from home?¡± she asked. ¡°I don¡¯t imagine a kind soul like yourself to be exiled.¡± ¡°The journey was for the sake of improving my cultivation,¡± Anton replied. ¡°I found what I wanted, and am now returning.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not in a hurry are you?¡± Aoibhin asked. ¡°Certainly, you don¡¯t seem to be. I am sure others here would wish to speak to you. And many would likely not be averse to opening up diplomatic ties with another system, even if it is a bit remote. I sense we have more in common than our disdain for the upper realms.¡± ¡°Are you able to travel between systems?¡± Anton asked. ¡°We have explored the neighboring area,¡± she admitted, ¡°Though we found nothing worth leaving our home for. The resources here are still sufficient to sustain us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. It¡¯s likely best not to rush into expansion, especially if it would leave you open to further attacks from the upper realms.¡± ¡°Indeed. The short cycle caused us to be quite uncertain about how safe we are.¡± Anton was quite pleased he¡¯d come to this system instead of simply passing by. They were a bit distant for convenient diplomacy, but they could certainly work something out. If nothing else, communications could reach them faster than simple travel. ----- It took a week for Anton to be approved entry into the Ekict system. That was both speedy and slow, depending on how he looked at it. He was constantly escorted, of course, both because of his nominal diplomatic status and because he could be a danger. To the average individual, if not their system as a whole. At least as far as they knew. To them, he should seem like a particularly strong Life Transformation cultivator, which wasn¡¯t exactly wrong at the moment. The system itself was nothing amazing. Their planets fell within normal parameters, with their capital world exactly in the middle of standard habitability requirements. It was much like Ceretos, including the local star. It was perhaps a bit closer to the smaller orange range of stars rather, but it was on the same scale at least. Not a giant or dwarf star, or anything exotic. He didn¡¯t see any signs of recent damage, but he shouldn¡¯t have expected to find any. It had only been two decades since the last potential chance for invasion, but it was another two centuries before that when their previous conflict should have happened according to Aoibhin. As for the other details, Anton paid the most attention to people. Many people were not cultivators, or could barely be counted. Anton understood that was the norm, but with proper techniques and some global restructuring everyone could be. But he didn¡¯t need to worry about that right at this moment. If they could properly interact with the system, it was possible to have them handle the transfer of information, rather than Anton throwing techniques at the first handful of people he met. Though that did happen to ultimately work, it was unlikely to be the most efficient. Even Anton wasn¡¯t the best diplomat¡­ he was just the strongest person Ceretos had that happened to be able to wander around on his own. That was often good, but it could also make people cautious. Ultimately it was determined that ships would be sent from the trifold alliance, as that should be the fastest method to transport anyone. It wouldn¡¯t exactly happen quickly¡­ but that wasn¡¯t as important as the fact that it would be happening at all. And cultivators could afford to spend a couple years waiting, if necessary. Chapter 619 Names were something Everheart couldn¡¯t say he was an expert on. Oh, sure he could name a technique if he needed to, but those just required descriptions with a bit of flair. When naming a star system, one had to use actual names. Most names didn¡¯t carry their original meanings anymore and were just conglomerations of sounds, and it didn¡¯t make much sense to him to call it something practical. Like ¡®The System the Wonderful and Powerful Genius Everheart Took Over to Have a Base of Operations¡¯ didn¡¯t exactly roll off the tongue. Did it even need a name, if he wasn¡¯t even going to use it? ¡°Of course,¡± said Everheart. ¡°It makes it easier to refer to.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not going to take over another system,¡± pointed out another Everheart. ¡°Let¡¯s not be hasty,¡± said a third Everheart. ¡°But if we take over something established it¡¯s already named.¡± Of course, the real Everheart was capable of having all of these thoughts on his own. They just wouldn¡¯t necessarily happen right away. It was easier to have a ¡®discussion¡¯, and while he would eventually gain all the knowledge and thought processes of his projections, it was an energy intensive project to form them. That was especially true until he was more established throughout the system and had formations set up for their maintenance. That ultimately meant talking turned out to be the easiest. ¡°It¡¯s just the Everheart system, then,¡± one of them pointed out. ¡°Nice and concise.¡± Everyone had to agree. And it was a good name, obviously. He still needed a lot more in the way of materials if he was going to properly set up the system with all of the requisite formations, which meant some raiding. He had plans for the Harmonious Citadel, the Trigold Cluster, and the Exalted Quadrant. He thought about gathering resources from the other groups in the Scarlet Midfields- especially those punks who took over Xankeshan- but they simply didn¡¯t have the resources to make it worth his time. He¡¯d probably get them back for that eventually, but for the moment his niece was living among them and he had higher priorities. So, east or west? There were pros and cons to all of the options, but ultimately it came down to the Exalted Quadrant not facing nearly enough adversity as of late. Which meant they would have more free resources to snatch. Yes, that would be good. He just had to stay mobile. He couldn¡¯t let them catch him with a group of Augmentation cultivators- or worse, accidentally run into a Domination cultivator. Unpredictability was his best option, which meant that whatever plans he made now would have to be fluid. Everheart waved his projections goodbye. They could continue their toil while he went off to get a small mountain of goods. Then he would absorb all of them- memories of mind-numbing labor and all- so that none diverged to the point they¡¯d want to cause trouble. Ugh, it was almost worth it to just pay someone to do all the work. But then he¡¯d have to kill them, which could be a lot of work in its own way. Or trust them, but that wasn¡¯t going to happen. ----- Rumors had it that Torthunes had once been a standard blue-white color of water and ice. Now it was red. Nobody could say for certain what it had actually been like, as the damage had been done lifetimes ago even for the oldest cultivators. Once a prosperous planet in some manner, now just another casualty of the conflicts between the factions surrounding the Scarlet Midfields. The planet had many features to dislike. Over the course of its two month trip around the local star, half of it was always freezing and the other half boiling, a constant cycle that made any permanent settlement difficult. The next extremely relevant feature was how much gravity it had. It was only several times the radius of standard terrestrial planets, but it had forty times the gravity. Anyone below at least mid Spirit Building would simply die, and ships found it difficult to land safely as well as to later take off. These were also the same features that made it desirable. With extreme circumstances came great natural energy, usable to empower formations and cultivators alike. It also made it particularly difficult for cultivators who were not used to the local environment to battle. Since most battles in the upper realms took place on the surface of planets, those features and its location made it a reasonable environment for use as a staging ground against the Harmonious Citadel. The Scarlet Alliance- encompassing Xankeshan, the Dark Ring, and various others flocking to their banner- had been setting up on the planet for a few years now. Catarina found it particularly interesting and frustratingly difficult to manage formations in such a place of constant change. The flow of energy was strong, but inconsistent¡­ and the freezing and thawing meant there weren¡¯t exactly solid points to anchor anything, not forever. Layers of ice grew on anything that stood around, blocking formation markings from each other. And the composition of that ice- which might have included a large amount of salty blood- meant that most construction corroded quickly. Engineer Uzun had dropped by a few times, but ultimately deemed it infeasible to make use of Ruterran technology on-surface. Making use of their ships to deal with incoming enemies would only be viable with more decades of development- even with a good amount of planning and nearly unlimited resources it was impossible to recreate centuries of technology and infrastructure supporting it in a few years. ----- Tauno found that he did not like the planet Torthunes. It wasn¡¯t just the extremes it went to- he was an Augmentation cultivator and could handle things like that- it was the lack of any sort of life. The Dancing Slayer Sect preferred to hunt great beasts to improve themselves- and their equipment- and this was yet another stretch of time where he was forced to maintain traditional cultivation. A few years wouldn¡¯t hurt in the long run, but just waiting wasn¡¯t comfortable. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°How certain are we that they will attack?¡± he asked the council of Xankeshan. The core group was mostly from the Order of One Hundred Stars, but they had many supporters not just from their own world but also neighboring ones. Like that Engineer. Tauno did not doubt the man was highly effective, he just didn¡¯t understand the strange cultivation tools. Or the ones that worked entirely without cultivation- though there were few of those. ¡°They can¡¯t afford to ignore this system,¡± the spymaster Velvet explained. ¡°If they try to bypass it we can cut off their routes for supplies, causing them to have to send their limited ships that can hop multiple systems without stopping. The alternative is for them to take over several nearby systems to secure a foothold, but we would be able to react to that.¡± ¡°From the perspective of morale,¡± Prospero spoke next, ¡°They need a significant victory. Preferably slaying one of our few augmentation cultivators,¡± he looked towards Tauno. ¡°News of your presence leaking would attract them here.¡± ¡°And of course,¡± Velvet mentioned, ¡°We are keeping track of the movements of the saints. We should have some idea what we¡¯re up against. In the worst case where they attack with most or all of their saints, we will have to abandon the planet.¡± ¡°But I have the option to turn the formations into traps, in that case,¡± Catarina added. Tauno nodded. This was not the only important position. There were several key systems and planets along the western borders, and other members of the alliance had their own concerns. Tauno felt confident in dealing with a single saint, and with the benefit of formations and sufficient Integration cultivators two of them. But without another Augmentation cultivator supporting him, three would be pushing it. He had felt the consistent advancement of those from the Order, and they truly might have people beginning to advance within a century or two. But the war probably wouldn¡¯t wait for them, and it was impossible to say who would be able to take the step from Integration to Augmentation. Perhaps all of them¡­ or perhaps none of them. ----- Someone was watching Chidi. Watching over him, he supposed, but it was still weird. Some Integration cultivator he didn¡¯t know, because his parents and Aconite¡¯s parents and pretty much everyone else was away. That old archer lady was still around, in charge of the formations and letting people through the barriers, but Chidi didn¡¯t really know her. She was weird and confusing even when she was talking about archery. ¡°I can¡¯t believe they just left us behind,¡± Chidi sighed. ¡°You are now a proper adult human,¡± Aconite¡¯s growls and barks conveyed. ¡°Should you not expect to be on your own?¡± ¡°But I¡¯m not,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°We¡¯re still being watched, and I haven¡¯t gone off to war. What¡¯s the point of being the age of an adult if I don¡¯t get to fight in the war?¡± ¡°Do you want to?¡± Aconite asked, ¡°War doesn¡¯t sound like fun.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Chidi sighed. ¡°But the fact that I didn¡¯t get the option annoys me. There are plenty of Spirit Building cultivators fighting.¡± ¡°There are,¡± Aconite agreed. ¡°Do you wish to be a standard footsoldier in a war? Or would you rather do something notable?¡± ¡°Stop asking hard questions,¡± Chidi complained. ¡°I know I¡¯m not going to kill a saint or anything, but I just feel like I could do something.¡± ¡°Yes. You can train,¡± Aconite said. ¡°I, for one, find my time quite filled with such things.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because there¡¯s like, a billion poisons. And you insist on being immune to all of them.¡± ¡°So that I can make use of them,¡± Aconite agreed. ¡°Are there not as many sword stances and styles?¡± ¡°Yeah but¡­ reading is¡­¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s awful, picking out the ink against the paper. And you don¡¯t have arms or legs to demonstrate what things are supposed to look like.¡± ¡°And the instructors?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, they¡¯re so helpful. ¡®Watch your opponent¡¯s eyes¡¯, they say. As if that¡¯s easier than feeling the tension of their muscles or the flow of their energy.¡± Aconite was quiet for a few moments. ¡°It is the only way they know,¡± Aconite finally said. ¡°It is unfortunate you are deprived of such a useful sense.¡± ¡°Whatever,¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°Mom and dad are better at explaining, even if they aren¡¯t swordmasters.¡± Chidi slapped the hilt at his waist, ¡°But I can train still, I get it. We can go patrol the Gardens and root out trouble. And maybe in another decade¡­ or ten¡­ people will let me do something real.¡± ----- In the lower realms, Anton¡¯s return was met with far more visitors than he generally preferred. The affairs of the Order hadn¡¯t exactly piled up- there were people qualified to manage anything required- but many people wanted to see the Sect Head himself. Anton was quite famous, after all. Some of those people were his friends, and he was quite glad for them. The news of the various planets- and the people living on them- was of great interest to the whole Trifold Alliance. In¡¯istra was too far to establish any sort of proper diplomacy with at the current time, and the issue of the Twin Soul Sect among them meant it wasn¡¯t necessarily safe. Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn were interesting as potential allies, though still rather far. However, if things went well with Ekict then they would be a good step closer. That final system was the cause of most of the interplanetary hubbub, just as big of news as the Sylanis Cluster but without the whole war component. They weren¡¯t exactly neighbors, but there was so much they could learn from each other. The details on how they repelled the invaders from the upper realms would be useful for other systems, including In¡¯istra, to hopefully break them out of the cycle. Of course, there were many complications of interstellar diplomacy that Anton hadn¡¯t even considered. But the information he brought back would be useful for kicking things off. While it would take a long time to get a proper web of systems and peoples, Anton looked forward to a time where they were their own thing, instead of the lower realms being the playground for the upper realms to do as they pleased with on a galactic schedule. Chapter 620 Not knowing how long wars were supposed to take, Chidi could only say it felt like it was taking forever. Years kept passing and he was almost an Essence Collection cultivator now. He just needed another year at most¡­ and to figure out what essence fit him. After that, he should be strong enough to step onto the battlefield. He just didn¡¯t think he would be allowed to. And though Chidi knew people might consider him young and stupid for choosing to go into danger, he wasn¡¯t that stupid. First, just hanging around the Gardens with a guardian constantly watching him and Aconite wasn¡¯t exactly great for his growth. He¡¯d long overcome his inexperience in combat, and he wouldn¡¯t make rookie mistakes. But he felt his growth should be faster. All the expense taken to train him hardly seemed worth it otherwise. But his first real battle had made him understand that he could die, so he was going to pick out somewhere reasonable. Which meant knowing about the war. Nobody was going to just to tell a young man like Chidi important information about the war, regardless of who his parents were. Or maybe specifically because of it, because he wasn¡¯t supposed to get involved. At best, he heard which planets they were holding, but that didn¡¯t help. He didn¡¯t want to sneak onto a ship heading for somewhere that was going to get attacked by a saint. Or honestly, anywhere with Integration cultivators running about frequently. Chidi knew where the spies met in the capital. His parents met with them rather frequently to get information about the war. It was all contained in an area that Chidi was allowed to walk around in, which saved him the difficulty of the initial approach. He couldn¡¯t go in the front, obviously- there were guards there. The building was small enough that in theory their senses covered the whole thing. In practice, however, there were holes. Some people called them blind spots, which was some sort of reference to sight¡­ not seeing things sometimes. Entering a window was too obvious. Plus, there could be people on the other side. Chidi wouldn¡¯t know without hearing them, and this particular building did a good job of insulating energy. He might open a window and step right into someone. He didn¡¯t want to have to deal with the consequences of that. An air vent on the roof would probably be best. It would be protected by formations, most likely, but he would deal with that when he got there. First he had to scale the wall. He felt it with his energy, being very careful to not intrude into the building with it. The roughness told him the shape of it and how he should climb. An easy task for anyone who had completed Body Tempering and had hands. Which was half the reason Aconite was not with him. He easily lifted himself up to the roof, feeling the vent he wanted to enter through. It would be a tight fit- he wasn¡¯t a little kid anymore- but he was flexible enough. As expected, he felt the altered flow of energy due to a formation. Chidi had studied formations for over a decade¡­ technically. His mother had started teaching him about formations the time normal kids would learn to read. He had to admit that he hadn¡¯t been particularly good at the topic, either because he was young or just not that interested, until the last year or two. Now, he took the occasional opportunities his mother was around to dive into those things. Overall, his experience with formations put him somewhere around two centuries behind his mother. Give or take a couple decades. Not exactly the sort of thing that made him confident sneaking into a secure area, but the most important formations covered Xankeshan as a whole. Then there were some around the city, and this district. Dealing with the formations on one vent on a particular building, they were probably not put in place by his mother. Which was bad, because he would be less familiar with the style- but good, because familiarity didn¡¯t do him much good when he could only stare in awe. His fingers roamed around the edge of the vent, not touching anything. He was just taking the passive sensory input. A little cold here, a little hot there. Intense energy, though that was most formations from Chidi¡¯s perspective. They were all powered by upper energy, while Chidi himself still focused on training lower energy. Wrestling with the more powerful energy might have given him a boost, but he was still developing his foundation. He was constantly reminded that taking shortcuts would let him advance more quickly¡­ with consequences later. But going into battle was not a shortcut. It was well known to be one of the best ways to accelerate training. He just had to also not die. Which meant getting some of this information. Chidi couldn¡¯t think of a method to get through this formation without someone knowing. Unless, perhaps, he destroyed it in just the right way. If he disrupted the part that would pass along the alarm, nobody should notice. Though it would have to be repaired later. He didn¡¯t want to leave a weak point. If he caused a bit more damage, he would actually be safer now and it would be more obvious something was wrong later. That would mean he wouldn¡¯t have to figure out a way to tell someone about the damage. Yes, that was best. He took out his sword, carefully cutting a pair of new runes before scratching through several others, ruining their potency. Then he sheathed it, slipping into the vent. Chidi was aware that some people didn¡¯t like tight spaces, but he found it comforting to be fully aware of the limits of his surroundings. In an open room, things could be anywhere, lurking in front of his knees or his fragile nose. He hadn¡¯t actually bumped into much since he¡¯d developed proper extensions of his senses, but the threat was always there. Scooting towards an opening, Chidi kept his energy restrained. There were slits for air to flow through, and Chidi was slightly concerned about disrupting the flow, but his presence would do that anyway. And he had to hear the conversation below. ¡°... Rakiya ¡­ Chikere¡¯s arm ¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t hear much, but that name had been what first sparked his attention. He was named after Chikere, more or less. There had also been some connection between her not recovering from an injury and his birth, though he hadn¡¯t found out what. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°... on Yaitis?¡± the second voice asked. ¡°Unclear.¡± Chidi had to agree. The whole conversation was very unclear. He wished he could augment his ears or press up against the grate without making things more obvious somehow. Eventually the conversation moved away, and Chidi was left with a choice. He could continue through the vents, or try to find more information in different ways. He was aware of an important and annoying thing, specifically that key information was probably written down, but if he had to he would struggle through the process. He just hoped it wasn¡¯t on any of those ¡®computer¡¯ things, because they didn¡¯t have any ink that stood out. There weren¡¯t a lot of computers in common use away from Engineer Uzun and the technological area, but there were still some. He popped out of the vent, taking care to make sure it was closed as he dropped down. Almost directly into a huge net of sensory energy. Chidi held his breath, as if that would help somehow. He was lucky, to have just barely avoided it. It moved around like a pit of snakes, he had to avoid, and he found his way over to a wall. He darted back and forth in the hallway, doing his best to hide behind pillars and other bits sticking out. He kept his senses passive, so as to not alert anyone. He managed to avoid the energy all the way to the end of the hall, where things opened up somewhat- a branch? Then a hand came down on his shoulder. ¡°What are you doing here, young man?¡± Chidi froze up.A sense of terror and panic flowed through him. But then he recognized the voice. ¡°Uh¡­ spymaster. I didn¡¯t know you were back.¡± He calmed down, because while he was caught and his sneaking days were over, at least he knew what the consequences would be. ¡°Nobody is ever supposed to know if I am ¡®back¡¯,¡± Spymaster Velvet¡¯s voice said. ¡°That¡¯s the whole point.¡± ¡°... Can I just ask how you caught me?¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°I thought I avoided all of the alarms and sensory sweeps.¡± Sense he was already caught, he had extended his senses. He could feel her face shifting into a smile, for some reason. ¡°You did a good job avoiding several things. We will have to review our security¡­ and training. But if you want to know how I spotted you¡­ well¡­¡± ----- Velvet was walking down the hallway. Her steps were quiet more out of habit than active need. Then she saw Chidi drop down into the hallway from a vent. She watched him darting back and forth across the hall, and for a moment she wondered what he thought he was doing. Then she realized that was exactly the sort of behavior that made sense for someone who didn¡¯t actually know how vision worked. He¡¯d only ever had it explained to him. ¡°What are you doing here, young man?¡± ----- ¡°... That usually works, I swear!¡± Chidi complained. ¡°If someone is looking down a hallway, even casually, they will see you. Unless you take special steps to conceal yourself through means you clearly have no training in.¡± Chidi grimaced. ¡°I guess you¡¯re telling my parents?¡± ¡°Probably,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You¡¯re lucky I know them, or you¡¯d be in very serious trouble. Or dead. Someone could have taken you out as an intruder before recognizing you.¡± ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t think of that,¡± Chidi admitted. Velvet clicked her tongue. ¡°You¡¯ll never get anywhere as a spy like this.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Chidi hung his head. ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re going to focus on training with me,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I kn- what?¡± Chidi twisted around, confused. ¡°You¡¯ve got really good basics, but I can tell you¡¯re self-taught,¡± Velvet explained. ¡°And new. Pretty good for your age, but there are so many things you need to know. I do have one question though. How did you erase your presence like that?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well, I was looking at you but I didn¡¯t see you with my senses.¡± ¡°I just avoided where they were.¡± ¡°But they covered the whole hallway.¡± Chidi frowned, ¡°You¡­ think they cover the energy senses cover the whole area?¡± ¡°At this scale? Obviously.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just¡­ not true,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Here, look.¡± He had to contort himself slightly to fit in the blind spot, but there he was. ¡°Hmm. Hold still, would you?¡± Velvet slightly shifted her senses, just touching Chidi¡¯s ankle. ¡°And suddenly I can see all of you.¡± ¡°Is that how that works?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Because your senses are only really contacting my ankle.¡± ¡°How have I not noticed this before?¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But people won¡¯t generally avoid senses by accident. Unless someone is just not paying attention to a room. It¡¯s like walking through a tangle of branches without touching any of them.¡± ¡°I knew that I was missing things at longer ranges,¡± Velvet said slowly. ¡°I hadn¡¯t realized that something would apply like this close up. But you learn something new every day. Now I definitely have to train you. First step: not standing where people can see you.¡± ¡°I usually hear everyone,¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°How did you end up behind me?¡± ¡°Practice. And I was there the whole time. Oh right, you never answered why you were here.¡± ¡°I just wanted¡­ to know about how the war was going¡­¡± Chidi lied. ¡°Look, kid. I don¡¯t want to be the one to teach you how to lie proficiently. But you gotta be more convincing than that. Or never get into a position where people ask you questions. Which means never getting caught.¡± Velvet stepped closer. ¡°Or you can use the best technique. Don¡¯t hide at all and don¡¯t look important enough to pay attention to. You¡¯d be surprised how often that works. And that¡¯s probably a good one for you since you¡¯re really obvious when trying to avoid being looked at.¡± Chapter 621 An endless storm of arrows focused on Prospero. It made sense, because the other combatants had trouble approaching him. At least he was able to tie up a good number of enemy archers, including a couple Integration cultivators. Prospero Vandale recalled time spent training with Kseniya both in his previous life and more recently. Considering the number of attacks it would be more appropriate to train with Anton, but unfortunately the man had never been a match for Prospero before Prospero¡¯s own death exterminating multiple prominent members of the Twin Soul Sect. Kseniya was more focused, making good use of a few arrows. Though that was about what Prospero had to deal with from the Integration archers. The rest he could avoid, not completely ignoring them but unconcerned about serious injuries. They seemed to consider themselves safe from counterattacks, but he was actually just waiting for a chance amid his orbiting stars. When the speed of their rotation was sufficient, he released one from his gravitational pull, slinging it forward at mind numbing speeds. It was something an Integration cultivator might hope to dodge, but the Life Transformation cultivator below barely knew what hit her. At the same time, Prospero targeted one of the two Integration cultivators, his star catching several arrows in flight towards him and annihilating them. The man leapt to the side, but a curve Prospero introduced brought it right next to the man, where it exploded. A passing detonation wouldn¡¯t be as effective as a direct hit, but it was a better use of energy than simply allowing his attack to pass by. There was a limit to the range he could control his orbital attacks, and that one would simply fly further down the battlefield if left alone. The planet being fought over was one of little significance, just one on the border with the Harmonious Citadel. The victory itself wasn¡¯t as important as defeating enemy forces. No saints seemed to be present, which Prospero was glad for. He didn¡¯t want to die again just a couple centuries into his new life. If any saints showed up, they¡¯d have few options but to retreat. There weren¡¯t many Augmentation cultivators on their side, though they had finally swayed the One Thousand Palm Sect to join their side. Prospero knew the Dark Ring had one or two more in hiding somewhere, but having another known Augmentation cultivator made the Harmonious Citadel at least a little bit more restrained. It also helped that their lesser cultivators were easily cut down, given the widespread study of Citadel¡¯s Downfall. It was possible that the Harmonious Citadel would get their hands on the technique and come up with countermeasures or fix their flaws, but that was unlikely to be very effective even if it came to pass. After all, it would require a shift in centuries of training for an entire sect, instead of everyone learning the right moves they could use to counter a few specific styles. Prospero didn¡¯t need to know techniques to counter swords with bows, but it was useful to know how to spot openings in the shield users, among others. The literature even covered the light cultivators, in the grand scheme of things a recent addition to the sect¡¯s lineup. The techniques they used were actually higher quality, but also harder to train. Thus, they were thankfully rare. Only the saint of light was a significant concern, but he was tracked very carefully. It did say something, however, that the Harmonious Citadel would shift from its traditional seven styles to eight for a single individual. Apparently that had caused waves back in the day, but Prospero wasn¡¯t around for any of that. As far as the history of the upper realms went, the only significant event he¡¯d been around for was the events around Xankeshan- and of course the death of two saints within the last decade. A particularly focused arrow required Prospero to block it with one of his stars, negating the incoming attack¡¯s power. He was going to have to take out one of those two Integration cultivators or retreat. Since he¡¯d built up enough momentum, he would try for the former. A series of the spinning stars around him launched forward, towards each Integration cultivator. However, Prospero was already curving some that seemed to be aimed towards the second back towards the first. A cultivator of that caliber could dodge even extreme velocity projectiles, but he predicted how the man would dodge and managed a series of near hits, stars exploding next to the man- and those threw him off enough to stop him for a moment. The last star, lagging behind the others, struck him directly in the chest, driving a fist-sized hole in his sternum before exploding internally, as it was intended to do. There wasn¡¯t enough left of the man¡¯s torso for Prospero to be concerned about his further involvement with the living, so he followed up by condensing his remaining stars into a defensive pattern. He didn¡¯t have the ability to take out the second one without great risk to his own life, so he would save himself to coordinate with someone else¡­ or just let them leave. Every Integration cultivator they could take out was one more the enemy wouldn¡¯t have later. That was the same on their own side, but their Integration cultivators included more ascended individuals or those who otherwise managed more than the basic rush to Integration that the Harmonious Citadel supported. Even the devotion used by the Glorious Harmony Technique only made up for the flaws in such a system, instead of catapulting them ahead. Cultivation was not a system where everyone could follow the same path, not beyond Life Transformation- and even Essence Collection was a point of significant divergence for most sects. The Harmonious Citadel had gained their power by having a clear and concise path that would bring people to a certain point¡­ but there was no guarantee their disciples would be able to find their way forward from there. ----- ¡°What about now?¡± the voice said from in front of Chidi. If he was allowed to feel Velvet¡¯s face, he could easily determine if her eyes were open or pointed at him. But he supposed it wasn¡¯t very stealthy to be reaching out for people¡¯s faces. Was her gaze on him? It felt like it kinda was, kinda wasn¡¯t. The fact that he was able to detect anything at all was due to quite a bit of training- a gaze not augmented by energy was the sort of intangible thing that people couldn¡¯t really feel. Not without other tricks, at least. In this case¡­ ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± he admitted. ¡°It feels like you¡¯re¡­ looking past me?¡± Velvet shook her head. He could determine that just from hearing, no touch involved. ¡°No,¡± she said to be clear. ¡°But close, in a way. I was looking at you with just one eye.¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Is that¡­ less effective?¡± ¡°Some information is lost, such as a good sense of depth. The same as covering one of your ears and trying to determine the direction of a sound, it¡¯s more difficult.¡± ¡°I get it,¡± Chidi said. ¡°It¡¯s harder to feel.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I doubt you¡¯ll run into that situation often, certainly not on purpose to mess you up. But you could face single eyed individuals. Alright what about¡­ now?¡± Chidi restrained himself. For this exercise listening for eyelids opening or closing was outside of the proper scope. That also meant he shouldn¡¯t wait for a blink. So he tried to quickly pick out what was going on. ¡°There are¡­ two of you?¡± Chidi said, uncertain. ¡°Velvet, probably. And definitely Aconite. But you might be using just one eye?¡± Aconite¡¯s snort told him what he needed to know. ¡°Very good,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Were you able to pick out directions?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°I already knew where the two of you were. Though I can definitely feel Aconite differently.¡± Maybe because she was a wolf, or because he knew her. ¡°Alright, stealth training time!¡± Velvet declared. ¡°First solo runs, then a team. Then with Chidi mounted on Aconite¡¯s back.¡± Aconite growled in protest, and Chidi translated. ¡°She says there¡¯s no point in the last one. Because I don¡¯t fight from her back.¡± ¡°So?¡± Velvet said. ¡°You could leave just one set of prints. And maybe you have to carry him when he¡¯s wounded.¡± Aconite gave a few growls and barks. ¡°Do I really have to say that?¡± Chidi asked. Aconite gave a grunt. ¡°Alright, fine. Aconite says if we¡¯re doing that, she might be injured so I might also have to carry her¡­¡± ¡°Ooh, that¡¯s a good one,¡± Velvet said, her face muscles grinning loudly enough for Chidi to hear without even focusing on it. ¡°We¡¯ll include that, too. Sneaking while carrying something bigger than you isn¡¯t going to come up often, but a worthy exercise nonetheless.¡± ----- Aconite whimpered. ¡°This is your fault, you know,¡± Chidi whispered at her complaint. ¡°Now shush.¡± Hopping from pole to pole was hard enough while being quiet. Doing it while carrying a large wolf¡¯s front paws over his shoulder was¡­ several steps worse. It threw off his balance and he was fairly certain they would be spotted by anyone vaguely looking in their direction. Or who could hear. Or anyone with a sense of smell. It wasn¡¯t that Aconite smelled bad. Alright, sometimes she smelled like literal death- poisons weren¡¯t always pleasant to smell- but one constant about her was that she smelled like some sort of plant. That did cover up her wolfiness, but it would still be obvious. Except apparently humans with eyes focused on that way more than the other senses. That was good for Chidi, because it made picking them out with anything else a million times easier. Sound was their next most popular thing, but nobody on guard duty kept a constant attention on the changes in smells. Though, Velvet said that wasn¡¯t entirely true, especially when facing beast cultivators. Cultivators who trained to get the power of beasts, specifically. There weren¡¯t that many of the other sort like Aconite and her family, for some reason. Maybe because they couldn¡¯t talk to humans, and the other way around. Then again, cultivators apparently killed each other a lot regardless. The poles Chidi had to hop between were sturdy and decently well balanced. They could topple over if he was careless, but their purpose was more to limit the places he could move to and force him to focus on controlling his position with his body more than his energy. If he used energy, it was easier for any of the watchers to pick him out. Speaking of which, there were a couple up ahead- not only flooding the area with their senses, but looking. Detecting where people¡¯s eyes went without being in their vision was a big pain, but he had an extremely vague sense. Of course, people like Velvet could negate that. ¡°Aconite, I¡¯m going to need to have you spot them,¡± Chidi whispered. A tiny snort of assent. Then he tossed her up. Chidi could only hope that they were looking somewhere parallel to the ground like a ¡®normal¡¯ person. Apparently ¡®peripheral vision¡¯ was able to pick out movement. On the other hand, it was good to know that sight didn¡¯t work in all directions at once. That was a powerful limitation he could exploit. Anyone sneaking up on Chidi would hardly have any luck doing so from behind, unless they were just that good. Aconite sailed to the peak of the throw, her head tilting down to hopefully look towards the watchers. Then she came back, Chidi holding his arms high to grab the pits below here forelimbs, then letting his arms spin back to slow her fall instead of stopping her all at once. Aconite quietly described where the two were, and Chidi resisted groaning. How was this even going to be possible? The web of sensory energy up ahead covered almost anything. It was difficult to find a gap that he could get through, let alone Aconite. That was without accounting for vision. Sure, they were only Essence Collection cultivators, but they could still look at them. ¡°Here¡¯s the plan¡­¡± Chidi whispered with the least volume he could. Either they were far enough or the guards were pretending not to hear, but he couldn¡¯t exactly communicate with no sound at all. And they wouldn¡¯t understand the plan, if he used wolfspeak. Maybe they were just waiting to catch him properly, instead of just calling out they found him and hoping he was close enough to count. Since he couldn¡¯t see any other options, he enacted the plan. Aconite couldn¡¯t feel the fine details of energy senses, the holes, so he just had her curl up. Then he tossed her forward, passing diagonally between vertical poles. A moment later he ducked down, hanging horizontally before he leapt below the edge of the pit all the poles were standing in. He caught the pole and managed to stretch out his legs far enough for Aconite to bite onto an ankle on her way down. He swung her down and barely managed to avoid hurting himself. The sharp teeth weren¡¯t the actual problem compared to simply her momentum and weight. But he didn¡¯t fall, and things were basically quiet. ¡°Spotted!¡± one of the guards called out. Dammit. Chapter 622 After failing to complete the stealth challenge, things weren¡¯t over. Now they had to review what had happened. That meant Spymaster Velvet telling Chidi what he did wrong. Or Aconite, maybe, but this one was mostly on him. ¡°What was the objective?¡± she asked. ¡°To retrieve the information parcel and return unseen,¡± Chidi explained. ¡°But obviously that didn¡¯t happen when I was spotted along the way.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°What were the restrictions?¡± ¡°I had to take the route through that area, with Aconite.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. So, why did you fail?¡± Ugh. It was going to be like this huh? Way worse than just being told how he screwed up. ¡°Well, I got spotted. I wasn¡¯t able to find a path past the guards¡­¡± he admitted. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if it was even possible.¡± ¡°It likely was,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Not everyone can maintain perfect attention forever. The guard on either side could have lapsed for a moment, and you could have taken advantage. However, even if it was impossible to get past them without getting spotted, there was still a method to succeed.¡± Chidi frowned. He couldn¡¯t think of how. Though wracking his brain, he came up with an idea. ¡°Should I have tried to knock out the guards? I don¡¯t know if that could have counted as not being spotted, though. It would make things pretty obvious.¡± ¡°In a real world scenario, you would have had to make that choice. However, I think that would have been impractical with the other parameters given. There was still another way.¡± Chidi looked to Aconite, who was of no help at all here. ¡°I can¡¯t think of it.¡± ¡°You could have simply left and come back later,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It¡¯s usually more important to not be caught at all, especially if you have no pressing time limit.¡± ¡°Hmmmmmmmnnnn¡­¡± Chidi folded his arms. He didn¡¯t like that solution, but he couldn¡¯t disagree. And he could have just waited to see if the situation changed. That could theoretically have led to him being spotted as well, but he knew as things were he couldn¡¯t practically get by. ¡°I don¡¯t like it,¡± Chidi voiced his displeasure. But it didn¡¯t stop it from being both technically correct, and he would later admit reasonable. ----- What to do with Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn? Even as Anton was returning with potential solutions to their situation, he honestly didn¡¯t know if anything was a good idea. For the sake of storing more, he¡¯d brought along an entire ship. He was the only individual aboard, and he left it sitting on a small rocky planet at the edge of their system. Unlike Ekict which was relatively close in the grand scheme of things- a few months of travel by their normal interstellar methods- this system was approximately four times as far. An entire year, and the same back. Anton couldn¡¯t justify bringing people so far into hostile territory where they weren¡¯t strictly necessary. At some point, eager scientists would want to survey the star, but it wouldn¡¯t be reasonable while the area was a war zone. So Anton flew a relatively small ship by himself- he wasn¡¯t a trained pilot, but it handled enough things in an automated fashion that he could get it from point to point. And if things had gone terribly wrong, he would have been able to rip himself out of subspace and finish the journey on his own. But it was much better to store things within its hold than to carry around a hundred bags strapped to him. He couldn¡¯t store extradimensional spaces inside of other extradimensional spaces. At best, the spaces would overlap, but if there were problems with the enchantments or simply too much material between the two for the space required they could explode quite violently. It wouldn¡¯t hurt Anton, but everything inside that wasn¡¯t destroyed would be scattered everywhere which ruined the whole point of having storage bags. Things would be so much easier if Anton could just wipe out one side. While he could certainly say that the current acts of Tenoun¡¯a were in the wrong and Shrenn was innocently defending itself, that didn¡¯t excuse wiping out a planet full of people. Regardless of the lacking populace. It wasn¡¯t a matter of the numbers, but how much they individually deserved the consequences. By this point, they likely didn¡¯t think they had a choice to do anything but raid to survive. They lacked any sort of malicious intent. Or at least, enough of them to not take any drastic measures. Their leadership¡­ while they somewhat took advantage of the situation, most would probably prefer to improve everyone¡¯s way of life if they thought they could. Especially if it elevated them a bit as well. Specifically Aurelianus fell into that group. Centuries of bad habits had made people forget they could just¡­ go somewhere else. And while picking up and moving the entire population of a planet would be difficult- even one severely lacking population- something could have been managed over the course of time. Then there were other measures. If it was difficult to feed people, though Anton wasn¡¯t a fan of authoritarian measures, it was probably best to just forbid people from having children. Tenoun¡¯a instead seemed to have gone with the natural balance- few people felt confident supporting a child, so there weren¡¯t many. But the population had maintained its levels and even grown somewhat. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Anton considered his options, even at the last moment. He was physically capable of forcing the issue. He could make Shrenn take in everyone from Tenoun¡¯a, and intimidate everyone to stop them from fighting. All he would have to do was bind their star. And while they likely wouldn¡¯t know they lost anything from that, it was their star. They lived here. Anton was just passing through. If there later came a time where someone else achieved a similar cultivation, his binding the star could interfere with that- or they might find some other way to draw on the star¡¯s power, and his interference might reduce their rightful gains. There were a lot of reasons to not take that approach, because even if giving the two planets a common enemy might bring them together, it wouldn¡¯t really be an optimal solution by any definition. And stealing a group¡¯s power to bully them with it was distasteful. If they chose to be Anton¡¯s enemy he would not mind taking such power to fight them, but as it was they were just people trying to get by, and not doing very well at it. With him, Anton had brought tens of millions of pounds of food, along with a vast quantity of seeds. That food sounded like more than he could ever need, but in truth it would at best sustain Tenoun¡¯a for several weeks on its own. If they were conservative. That likely meant they could stretch their food stores to a season, enough for some of the various crops he had to grow, but he couldn¡¯t count on things being done optimally. Hungry people would prefer to consume what was given to them rather than endure further hunger for some sort of promise in the future. Because he could remain floating in space forever, debating how exactly he should go about things. First, he needed to talk to people¡­ and see if anything had changed. Years could do that, and even if things had been the same for centuries Anton knew there was one factor that could have sparked something recently. His arrival. Hopefully, if it did anything, it would have been for the better. Aurelianus seemed like he had a decent head on his shoulders, maybe he¡¯d looked into some of the ideas Anton suggested. ----- Though it was a day of great import, Ty Quigley knew that very few people would actually understand. Matters important to him might not seem like much to anyone else, and Chikere was not exactly social. She didn¡¯t hate people or anything, she just didn¡¯t seek them out unless she had a reason to. That reason could be that she was already friends with them, but few people fulfilled that requirement if they didn¡¯t train with swords. Though Chikere wasn¡¯t the sort to announce this to many people, there were enough interested parties present. Elder Vasu of the Million Sword Vault- both a friend, and the sort of sword fanatic that absolutely had to be present. The rest of the crowd was the latter, except for Annelie and her daughter Anishka, just reaching the age of womanhood. Ty didn¡¯t know the woman well, just that she was the head of the Fire and Ice Palace, a position she¡¯d shared with her husband until his death. ¡°Is she really going to cut apart space?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Most certainly,¡± Annelie nodded. ¡°She¡¯s done it before. This time it is just likely to be more¡­ spectacular.¡± This was the day. Chikere¡¯s second ascension. At one point she¡¯d theorized it would coincide with reaching Augmentation, but apparently her training was stunted here in the lower realms away from access to upper energy. That was what she was supposed to be using now, having ascended and only returned with shifting tides of the world. Ty almost wished he could follow along. Perhaps he could, someday. Though he was an Assimilation cultivator, being bound to the lower realm was only a matter of upper and lower energy- and bridging the gap between. Nothing said he had to remain in the lower realms forever, especially with him being bound to a ship and not a place. From what he knew, Anton was the rare exception that it was completely impossible for. He didn¡¯t hide that information, so Ty had overheard it somewhere. Though a ¡®normal¡¯ ascension would surely be the easiest route for those who could manage it. Chikere showed up with no further warning. One moment she was not present, the next she was. But she did come to this particular place to fulfill her promise to those watching. ¡°I will be leaving now,¡± she said to everyone in general, though Ty caught her eyes for a moment. ¡°It is unlikely I will return. If I do, it will be half a millennium.¡± With that, she turned away, her vision tangent to the peak of the hill she¡¯d chosen. Swords simply poured out of the sheaths she carried openly as well as the storage bags around her. Ty watched intently, prepared to see the most powerful sword strike of his life. He wasn¡¯t disappointed¡­ though what he witnessed was nothing like what he expected. Each blade slowly curved, tracing patterns in the air in what seemed to be a leisurely fashion. Only the two held in Chikere¡¯s hands remained still. Both her flesh-and-blood left hand and robotic replacement. Ty¡¯s training in the sword made the hair stand up on the back of his neck as flashes of light appeared from nowhere amid the gently swirling swords. Instead of a sudden burst of energy, Chikere put out a constant pressure. Then her blades finally slashed out horizontally. Logically, that should have cut a horizontal line to go with their movement- and it did. But it also cut a vertical line. And every diagonal. And every angle in between those, an infinite number of lines forming a perfect circle. Chikere stepped forward, a wave of upper energy passing over her as she disappeared. The opening disappeared immediately behind her. Ty couldn¡¯t help but cry. Both at the amazing display of swordsmanship, and the loss of a friend. Though maybe he¡¯d live to see her return¡­ or follow after her. The others all reacted in their own way. Several of the swordsmen dropped their weapons, seeming to realize their limits. Others were inspired, attempting in vain to recreate the effect with their limited abilities. Anishka¡¯s reaction was perhaps the strangest from Ty¡¯s perspective. ¡°Huh,¡± she said. ¡°I suppose things will be quite different in the upper realms. I¡¯ll have to go there after I learn everything here.¡± Some people said they wanted to know everything, but in truth their interests were quite limited. For some reason, Ty thought that young woman meant it. He wished her good luck. She¡¯d need it. As he walked away, he couldn¡¯t help but swing his sword idly. He certainly wasn¡¯t going to try to chase after Chikere at the moment. His ship wouldn¡¯t function in a place filled with upper energy, after all. It would take some modifications to function both here and there. He certainly didn¡¯t want to leave behind his home forever¡­ but he could certainly think about doing some touring of the galaxy. Chapter 623 What did Anton want? An end to conflict? That wasn¡¯t quite right. He wanted the most people possible to be happy and healthy, and to get there with the least undeserved suffering possible. A lofty goal that was probably impossible, but could at least be strived towards. Tenoun¡¯a was his choice of planet, and Xasall the city. He wanted to speak with Aurelianus, the most practical seeming city leader. Anton carefully approached the sheltered starport, this one carved directly into the ground instead of the side of a mountain. Local topology simply didn¡¯t seem to allow for it. When he got close, nobody shot at him. That was a good step up from his first time. He did feel cultivations flare up, and people were ready to fight, but he was given time to announce himself. ¡°Greetings. It is I, Anton Krantz, returning as promised several years ago.¡± He was waved forward. He didn¡¯t recognize any of the particular guards, just the same cultivation styles he expected. Presumably, they had been told to expect him or at least heard about him. Then again, it was possible Xasall was just a bit more cautious than Rolis. Anton had to wait an hour or so, but Aurelianus came to meet him in person. ¡°You returned,¡± the man said. It was simply a statement of fact, implying nothing about whether or not he believed it would happen. ¡°I said I would,¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°And nothing stopped me. So I did.¡± The man was clearly appraising Anton. Recognizing him was simple, but Aurelianus seemed to be looking for something more. Perhaps some hint of whether he came as an ally or a spy. Anton¡¯s visits to Shrenn hadn¡¯t exactly been secret. ¡°Founding a colony on an ice moon is a serious logistical problem,¡± Aurelianus finally said. ¡°Of the people I know here, you seem best equipped for the challenge,¡± Anton said. ¡°Are you still working on that plan, or¡­?¡± ¡°We have a small and ultimately irrelevant number of individuals dwelling on a remote moon. Overall, with the ships required, they have been a slight net drain on our resources.¡± ¡°Sorry to hear that,¡± Anton said, ¡°Do you think the situation will improve?¡± ¡°Perhaps in five to ten years,¡± Aurelianus shook his head. ¡°The stores of ice brought back on return trips provided little usable water, but it might be possible for the local colony to refine enough to make any trips worthwhile.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope so,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have some questions about your peers. Mayors, lords, or other leaders of cities upon Tenoun¡¯a. Are any of them working on similar endeavors?¡± ¡°I believe they are quite occupied with their¡­ normal survival methods.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton replied. ¡°I don¡¯t want to just invite myself in, but I imagine you wouldn¡¯t want to just stand out here¡­¡± ¡°Indeed. We will be returning below once the elevator is loaded,¡± he gestured. ¡°It is better not to waste energy.¡± An important practical consideration that was relevant here, unlike Ceretos or most places he had visited. Even In¡¯istra was better off in terms of ambient natural energy, and Anton supposed in general prosperity. After all, they¡¯d simply been treated to the ¡®normal¡¯ level of devastation by upper realm invasions, instead of the clear attempts to fully scrub them out for putting up a resistance like Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn. Anton would never be able to go to the upper realms, but if he was able to he could destroy a few planets within the Trigold Cluster. Was that too much? He could just kill every cultivator Life Transformation or higher, since they were likely all part of this conspiracy. But of course, he couldn¡¯t do any of that so he just had to make sure everyone who came to the lower realms never returned. Even in spirit. Or especially in spirit, with the Twin Soul Sect being considered. At least that was one problem this system didn¡¯t have. Because they¡¯d been intentionally devastated, the Twin Soul Sect hadn¡¯t hung around to infiltrate them. Anton had swept every city he¡¯d been in to confirm, and it held. Anton rode down the elevator with a great quantity of stolen goods- mostly food, but also manufactured tools and clothing. Shrenn was significantly better off- mostly because of their moons being usable- but if they hadn¡¯t had to deal with all these losses, Anton wondered what state they could be in. Once they were in Aurelianus¡¯ office, he spoke. ¡°Now we can talk more comfortably.¡± ¡°Are you implying that other city leaders might be paying spies?¡± Anton said with clear sarcasm. ¡°Imagine that. A planet of struggling individuals that isn¡¯t a unified whole.¡± Aurelianus shook his head, ¡°There might even be spies from Shrenn.¡± ¡°And yet here you are, speaking alone with me.¡± ¡°What can I say? I live life on the edge. And unless I am completely unable to read your intentions, in which case I would fall to whatever machinations you have eventually, I should be nowhere near the top of the list of people you would kill to get what you want.¡± ¡°And what do you think I want?¡± ¡°A good question. I find it difficult to believe that you are in this purely to help us. But¡­ I can at least believe that you will treat your allies well.¡± ¡°Perhaps I simply like making people happy, and prefer when people aren¡¯t killing people pointlessly,¡± Anton responded. ¡°But I suppose I can admit to other practical considerations. I hate what the upper realms have done. Are doing. I want as many allies against them as possible, and it¡¯s better if they¡¯re¡­ functional. Then there¡¯s the matter of devotion. Has that come up in your cultivation?¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Aurelianus pondered for some time, ¡°It does seem like the leadership of various cities retains power more consistently than one would expect, even with cultivation resources being funneled to them.¡± ¡°I¡¯d just like to quickly point out that the numbers here aren¡¯t relevant to me. I have billions of people who know me back in my home system. The numbers here wouldn¡¯t change that much. Not that I actually ask people to worship me.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Aurelianus asked. ¡°If you are actually benevolent, would it not be appropriate?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m definitely not a god. And people should be thinking about dealing with their own issues, and not providing support for me as if I need it. Though on the subject of things I want¡­ I do want permission for something.¡± ¡°And what is that?¡± Aurelianus questioned. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine we have any resources you don¡¯t have access to.¡± ¡°Who knows?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°You could have some unique herbs. But what I meant is your sun.¡± Anton held up a hand, ¡°Obviously I¡¯m not going to take it. It would remain right where it was. But I would siphon off some of its power.¡± Aurelianus frowned. ¡°How much? Half?¡± Anton laughed out loud at that. ¡°You think I could handle that much power? I nearly became charcoal after absorbing less than a billionth of what a smaller star puts out in a second. No, it would not be nearly so much¡­ but it would restrict other activities involving it.¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have the authority to negotiate for such a thing all on my own,¡± Aurelianus admitted. ¡°But depending on what you offer, I could certainly be convinced to support that. And I don¡¯t think others would necessarily be opposed. But as it has great value, it would require more than just vague promises of support.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°You are a man of numbers. What if I told you I had seeds for plants with twice the yield of what you currently have, while using half the water?¡± As Tenoun¡¯a was working with plants that survived devastation, what they had was durable¡­ but not necessarily the most productive. Anton didn¡¯t actually know the hard numbers, but he could easily promise that, between plants bred throughout Ceretos, Weos, and Rutera. Plus a few originating from the Sylanis Cluster, either snatched during the war or actually traded for recently. ----- With the first step complete, all Anton needed to do was talk to a dozen more rulers who would all have their own requirements, and then do that again on another planet. And the biggest part: get Tenoun¡¯a to stop the raids and agree to a diplomatic meeting with Shrenn. In the worst case, he thought he could get Shrenn to agree to buy off Tenoun¡¯a with a similar amount of goods that were stolen, while avoiding conflict on both sides. They¡¯d put up with the current situation for their entire lives, buying off raiders had to last at least a couple decades. The problem would be getting them to just¡­ stop. Both in the short and long term. He¡¯d received advice from Lynnette for how to negotiate possible reparations if Shrenn wasn¡¯t willing to just let things go. Not that Anton thought they should be willing to, as they were the injured party¡­ at least over the last centuries. There were others Anton consulted with, of course, a whole team following Kohar¡¯s legacy. It was odd to think that some of them hadn¡¯t met her, but while Kohar had been many things, a great cultivator was not one of them. Eventually, age had caught up to her despite Anton¡¯s best efforts to help her improve. She still lived more than twice the normal productive lifespan of a non-cultivator, but Anton still felt that wasn¡¯t enough. He understood death well enough, but it would be nice if some people of practical value could be an exception. Anton steeled himself, preparing to look at the future talks as a proper battle. Just without the part where he could shoot someone to make it over more quickly. This was going to be a lot of work. Maybe he should have brought some others along, though that could have diminished the limited trust he had built up. ----- Though there were certainly energy senses all over him, and some people even technically looking at him, Chidi knew nobody was really watching him. He could step onto the ship and nobody would even know. He just had to look like he belonged. That was the best and most powerful stealth technique Velvet had taught him. Just look and act like you belong, and people will assume you will. Of course, that only went so far- if his cultivation completely mismatched he would be quite obvious. The ship was going to Yaitis. Chidi knew more about it now, and it was considered relatively unimportant and thus had less powerful cultivators involved. Lots of Spirit Building and Essence Collection, very few Life Transformation cultivators in the grand scheme of things. Maybe a couple Integration cultivators spread over the planet, between various battlefields. He could just go, but instead of it being something brave he was doing, going off to war¡­ it would actually just be running. Because at least for a brief time his parents were returning, and he could talk to them. Bring up the idea. He was strong enough now¡­ they had to let him participate, right? ¡°Come on Aconite,¡± he sighed, ¡°Let¡¯s go talk to your mother.¡± ¡°I already have unlimited permission to go wherever I please,¡± Aconite replied with wolfspeak. ¡°I know, but it¡¯s easier to talk to a big wolf who doesn¡¯t get to tell me what to do. And she seems like the type to agree to me going off to war.¡± ----- ¡°You cannot go. Your fangs are not sharp enough.¡± ¡°Wha- but I¡­¡± ¡°You wished for some practice opposing your mother, did you not?¡± Spikes growled. ¡°You must be expected to respond firmly.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t even have fangs.¡± Spikes just loomed over him, her tough fur nearly resting on his face, ¡°I mean, uh¡­¡± he clutched the hilt of his sword, ¡°I¡¯ve been training with my sword for over a decade, now. I¡¯m strong enough.¡± ¡°Are you?¡± Spikes whipped around, nearly knocking him off his feet with the force of her turn. ¡°I heard differently from your instructors. And you also have to be strong enough to protect my daughter.¡± ¡°O-of course!¡± Chidi stood up straight as he could. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t let Aconite get hurt.¡± Spikes leaned in to her daughter, ¡°You have to make sure to protect this kid. Humans are small and weak, and his fangs¡­ though trained, are not as sharp as I might hope for the child of Catarina and Timothy.¡± Aconite nodded, ¡°Obviously I¡¯ll keep him safe.¡± ¡°And don¡¯t go around eating new poisons just because they smell good!¡± ¡°Mom!¡± Chapter 624 Somehow, Chidi managed to say what he wanted to his parents. He explained how he wanted to join the war effort, both to help and for his own training. ¡°Okay,¡± Catarina said. ¡°You can go.¡± Timothy cleared his throat. ¡°I thought we talked about this¡­?¡± ¡°You said we would give him a chance to convince us. I just skipped to the ultimate result.¡± Chidi was still dazed from the sudden answer, so he hadn¡¯t yet processed the rest of the exchange. ¡°Uh¡­¡± ¡°If you tried to sneak off after Velvet taught you, we would have not let you go,¡± Catarina added. ¡°But we have to admit that both of us were involved in quite serious matters at similar ages and cultivation. Even with this being the upper realms¡­¡± ¡°People here are stronger,¡± Timothy said. ¡°So you have to avoid the upper end of combatants. The location you picked out¡­ should be reasonable enough. But you must be careful.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t be there to protect you,¡± Chidi¡¯s mother continued. ¡°We finally had you, but¡­ we cannot just keep you locked up here on Xankeshan.¡± ¡°Though we would have preferred if you chose to wait until you were stronger,¡± Timothy finished. ¡°... that wouldn¡¯t happen,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I¡¯ve been peak Spirit Building for a while now. I don¡¯t think I can grasp a suitable essence like this.¡± ¡°It would come to you eventually,¡± Timothy assured him. ¡°But I can understand not wanting to wait.¡± ¡°So¡­ I can just go?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But there are some conditions. And cautions. You have already chosen an appropriate location. Yaitis is likely the safest location with frequent action in this war. But don¡¯t forget¡­ we won¡¯t be there. And while we¡¯ve done our best to raise you well, you do have to recognize your status won¡¯t help you there.¡± ¡°In the best case, it would bring people to sacrifice their lives for you,¡± Timothy said. ¡°And I¡¯m certain you don¡¯t want that. Both for their sake, and since you¡¯re tired of being protected. So it¡¯s better to keep a low profile.¡± ¡°I get it,¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°Though uh, Aconite will probably stand out.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But she is less likely to be considered as a hostage. Though it would be safest to assume both of you are known about to some extent.¡± ----- ¡°Are you crazy?¡± Docia said in response to Anton¡¯s request. ¡°Is any cultivator not crazy?¡± he countered. ¡°Look, you don¡¯t have to go yourself. It just needs to be someone authorized to negotiate. And decisions don¡¯t have to be immediately binding.¡± ¡°Yes, but¡­ working with Tenoun¡¯a?¡± ¡°I recognize that there is a practically unlimited amount of bad blood between you,¡± Anton said. ¡°But those oceans will continue to fill with more deaths, and no progress will be made, unless something is done.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll probably just betray us at the first opportunity,¡± Docia said. ¡°If that happens, it will ultimately be to your benefit,¡± Anton said. ¡°On that topic, about your star¡­¡± ¡°If you could accomplish what you promise, we would allow you to¡­ bind with our star. Whatever that means. But I don¡¯t see how losing good people could be to our benefit.¡± ¡°It would be unfortunate,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But if Tenoun¡¯a truly betrays the negotiations I would be fighting on your side.¡± ¡°One more Life Transformation cultivator¡­ against potentially losing a few. Even if you¡¯re stronger than the rest¡­¡± Docia shook her head. He had not yet given them the information about his true cultivation. And hopefully, he wouldn¡¯t need to display it. It would be best if the two planets could reconcile under minimal threat. Obviously his mere presence was somewhat a threat, but he hoped his political efforts had done something to change the trajectory of the system so that they could eventually have peace, without bloodshed. That would be nice, wouldn¡¯t it? Next best and more likely- minimal bloodshed. Or moderate bloodshed. Anything short of all-out war and extermination of one side would be lovely. Anton was certain it would be better than a perpetual war where both sides were barely above sustaining their current state. And the better things were maneuvered, the quicker any damage would be overcome. That included lost life, but that was difficult to avoid with people already dying daily. That wouldn¡¯t stop just because he ignored it, and though it was unfortunate Anton didn¡¯t think human life was always the highest priority. At the very least, he should consider whose life was lost, and the suffering of the current status quo. ¡°Can you sustain the current situation?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Truly. Even if the current deaths nearly match the level of population growth, there are many non-renewables that the situation costs you.¡± And individual people fell in that category, in his opinion. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have the opportunity to properly transition to different methods, either.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure I properly believe in your production estimates¡­¡± Docia said. ¡°But if we can improve our efficiency, we can¡¯t afford to not try. But if you¡¯re on Shrenn¡¯s side, can¡¯t you just help us?¡± ¡°I am on everyone¡¯s side,¡± Anton said. ¡°I really mean it. But that means you have to deal with difficult situations. Like facing your past betrayals and your current hatred. I can¡¯t imagine the majority of Shrenn sees these raids as purely numerical damage.¡± Docia crossed her arms. She didn¡¯t say anything, and her face tried not to say anything. Anton sighed, ¡°I¡¯m sure even you would like revenge. But that could lead to a cycle more endless than things already are. Or to catastrophic losses all at once.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°But I suppose that doesn¡¯t matter as much. Who did you lose?¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Does it matter to you?¡± ¡°People matter to me. And I know what it¡¯s like. Which is why I would prefer it not happen more to Shrenn or Tenoun¡¯a.¡± ¡°I had a son,¡± Docia began. ¡°He¡­ was obsessed with farming. Making our production just a little bit higher¡­¡± ----- Though it was mainly just a single planet, with only a small population spread throughout the rest of the system, Ceretos was amazing. Aoibhin couldn¡¯t help but look in awe at everything. They were prosperous in every way, including cultivators. Not just Life Transformation individuals, but people beyond that stage. People who could match Integration cultivators. And they just trained them. Of course, the method they managed to reach such heights was not publicly available, but it still impressed Aoibhin. What Ekict would have given for such a thing, back before the invasion. It had been a difficult time. Still, their methods had done right by them. The other two systems of the Trifold Alliance were of different levels of interest. Weos had much the same style established, from what she had heard, but Rutera was further behind in terms of cultivation. Their ships were quite powerful, and it would be interesting if Ekict could get their hands on them, but these ¡®Assimilation¡¯ cultivators were of the most interest. Fortunately, they were quite welcoming. Given time, Ekict would doubtless end up with some of that power and prosperity. It was a good thing they¡¯d greeted Anton peacefully. If he¡¯d felt like the upper realms invaders he would have been instantly wiped out, of course, but Ekict hadn¡¯t really considered they could gain anything from others in the lower realms. But they¡¯d been proven wrong. ----- On the ship to Yaitis, Chidi talked with Aconite. ¡°I think we might have already messed up the first step.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± the rough wolfspeak vibrated in his ears. ¡°Well, this isn¡¯t exactly a standard troop carrier. We¡¯re not coming with one of the waves of trainees from a sect or clan. We¡¯re kind of just along for the ride. We already look special.¡± ¡°But we are.¡± ¡°Yeah, but the point is to not stand out too much.¡± ¡°That will be impossible. Especially with a human speaking to a wolf.¡± Chidi frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t want to not talk to you, though.¡± ¡°Perhaps in public. It would be a strange conversation they couldn''t understand anyway, so we have no reason to speak around others most of the time.¡± ¡°Alright, fine, so we show up and take our positions that we got to pick¡­¡± Chidi sighed, ¡°Instead of being assigned.¡± ¡°That, at least, is not terribly strange. At least for cultivators of our age, having decent talent means people will place us where we do best. And scouting is that place.¡± ¡°Yeah, uh¡­¡± Chidi said, ¡°You¡¯ll have to deal with all the visuals. I can cover¡­ formations?¡± ¡°That is actually quite necessary,¡± Aconite nodded. ¡°But many of your senses are sufficient to complement mine.¡± ¡°I could never catch you unless you stopped training though.¡± ¡°And I will never have better dexterity than you, unless you stop using your hands for some reason.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Chidi admitted. Currently, he was feeling the area around him. He was surrounded by wood, smooth or at least mostly smooth. There was some sort of lacquer and of course various sealants. This was more of a traditional ship, not the things from Rutera. Both shared the tight use of space, though that wasn¡¯t always the case. Some cultivators had big, overinflated vessels to get around. And if they weren¡¯t fighting, it didn¡¯t matter if they were inefficient. This vessel was equipped with weapons and was maneuverable enough to avoid enemy fire if necessary, though it certainly wasn¡¯t meant for battle. Just transport, especially goods. The hold was just an extra large storage bag, more or less. Every layer of the ship had different formations, for structural stability to being able to move without actual propulsion to the outer bubble that was supposed to shield everything happening to the ship. But Chidi quite liked knowing that it was at least airtight if that didn¡¯t work. ----- Chidi was quite relieved to find that he ended up in a dense forest. Yaitis had a little of everything, apparently. Aconite said it just looked like ¡®a planet¡¯. What she meant, of course, were the sorts of planets people lived on. Which was a very small portion of them, at least in any quantity. And especially for lower cultivation individuals like them. He was quickly assigned to his squad, where he found the captain and vice-captain. A rather slight man, and a larger woman. ¡°Seriously? We ask for scouts and we get a kid and¡­ a wolf? I guess the wolf is fine,¡± the woman said, then gesticulated towards him. ¡°But this guy? Do you even have eyes, kid?¡± Chidi opened his eyelids. ¡°No.¡± He knew that the lack of anything would bother people, which was why he kept his eyelids closed. And it was simply easier. ¡°I am also an adult by any reasonable measure, and though my cultivation is not yet in Essence Collection¡­ I am capable of performing my duties.¡± The man cleared his throat. ¡°I think that¡¯s enough, Denitsa. And they are both qualified.¡± ¡°Even the wolf? I¡¯m certain he can sniff out enemies, but I don¡¯t know if that will lead to precise reports¡­¡± Aconite barked at her. ¡°Aconite would like to inform you that she is not a boy, and that she knows how to speak,¡± Chidi said. ¡°She just doesn¡¯t have human vocal chords.¡± The woman known as Denitsa at least had the good sense to shrivel up and walk away. But Chidi didn¡¯t have the feeling he¡¯d gotten off to a good start with the squad. At least the captain seemed nice. The captain sighed, ¡°Sorry about that¡­ Chidi, right?¡± He nodded. ¡°Right, well, that was vice-captain Denitsa. She¡¯s been having so much fun filling in for the role of scout lately, so she¡¯s had a lot on her plate. I¡¯m Tiras, by the way,¡± he stuck out his hand, then frowned. Chidi took his hand before he could think to withdraw it. ¡°Chidi, but you know that. Aconite¡­¡± she barked. ¡°Is currently capable of shaking hands as well.¡± The large wolf held up her paw, and Tiras shook it too. ¡°Good to meet the two of you. Also glad to have a pair, because a single scout is vulnerable.¡± He frowned, ¡°Did you say something about poison? I don¡¯t really know wolfspeak but I tried to learn it a little. Are you related to¡­ Spikes and her mate?¡± ¡°You can say Fuzz too,¡± Chidi replied. ¡°It is his name. And I don¡¯t know of any others who use wolfspeak.¡± ¡°Right. And you¡¯re¡­¡± ¡°Just Chidi, please,¡± he said. ¡°Or Weston, I suppose. The surname¡¯s common enough.¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised,¡± Tiras said. ¡°Powerful cultivators often take on something more flashy.¡± ¡°Well, my mother took my father¡¯s name. That was as far as they went.¡± Chidi cleared his throat, ¡°Can we stop talking about this now? I¡¯d really like people to judge me on my contributions.¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± Tiras replied. ¡°We¡¯re likely to go on a patrol in the next day or two, that will let you get some time to get acquainted with the squad before then.¡± ¡°Is there something I can do to make the vice-captain not hate me?¡± ¡°She probably doesn¡¯t hate you. And just perform well. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll come around. She¡¯s just¡­ not good with people.¡± ¡°How did she become vice-captain, then?¡± ¡°Her big, spiky hammer,¡± Tiras grinned, ¡°Like most positions among cultivators.¡± Chapter 625 Rushing water flowed in a beautiful melody over and around rocks in the riverbed below. A cool breeze blew between the trees that provided shade, making the scene idyllic for a picnic or other relaxing activity. Had it not been for the current circumstances, of course. Chidi could sense figures on the other side of the river, probably hidden behind trees. Their energy was restrained, such that he could barely discern them from their surroundings. If he were to approach closer he might determine more details- numbers, cultivations, and the like- but merely spotting them was the important part. He had to stay hidden himself, along with Aconite. Without Velvet¡¯s training, they wouldn¡¯t have gotten far¡­ and Chidi wouldn¡¯t be useful for anything more than being a foot soldier. Not that combatants weren¡¯t important, they were simply the most common, and it was difficult to stand out among them. That was especially so of someone with a cultivation like Chidi¡¯s, merely in Spirit Building. He could step into Essence Collection at nearly any moment, but that was still relatively low by the standards of the upper realms. Fortunately, Yaitis wasn¡¯t terribly important- that was why the war for control of it primarily involved weaker cultivators, and both sides were generally willing to let it play out. There were certainly stronger cultivators involved, but the vast majority were below Life Transformation. The group that the two scouts spotted seemed to be hovering around Spirit Building and Essence Collection. That gave Chidi and Aconite a good reason to be leaving as soon as possible- outnumbered against people with matching or greater cultivations, they couldn¡¯t hope to emerge victorious if a battle started. They might not even be able to run away quickly enough. The two of them returned, reporting to Captain Tiras the approximate numbers and cultivations, as well as the location. ¡°Crossing the river there would likely be dangerous,¡± Chidi said, ¡°Though the river itself is more dangerous elsewhere. We spotted beasts that could easily attack us and reveal our locations, allowing ourselves to be attacked in an even worse position.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need to approach them at all,¡± Captain Tiras shook his head. ¡°We¡¯re here to prevent enemy intrusion by defeating as many groups as practical¡­ and getting ourselves killed along the way isn¡¯t good for us or anyone on our side. The fact that they were in hiding indicates they knew we were near, but we¡¯ll avoid that area for now.¡± ----- Aconite was traipsing in the woods next to the trail the squad was following. Chidi was with her, keeping tabs on her as she dug up roots or plucked flowers, a delicate process for one without hands. There were various pouches dangling from Aconite that each type of thing went into. ¡°Are all of those really poisonous?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°To lesser or greater extents,¡± the growled wolfspeak sounded much friendlier to his ears than it would to most. ¡°How can you tell? Do you know all of them?¡± Chidi did his best to recognize all sorts of plants, but there were so many variations that he couldn¡¯t always tell if he knew something, or if it was something he hadn¡¯t encountered previously. ¡°Colors are a big hint¡­ but you should also be able to pick them out with your senses. Sharp smells, oily leaves, and their taste as well.¡± Chidi had to admit he didn¡¯t make use of the latter as much as other senses. Taste was usually inferior to touch or smell, slower or less precise. And it was even more difficult to extend, as it was fully internal. Scents were processed inside the nose as well, but scents spread beyond a thing itself. Taste didn¡¯t just float in the air- unless something was particularly bad. In that case, it was really more of the scent making a large component of taste than direct taste. ¡°I guess it¡¯s better than trying to eat them,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be quite the same as actually tasting them, though.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Aconite agreed. ¡°But it will be something.¡± Chidi nodded, trying to experience more different things around him. Picking out what was poisonous was still difficult- and even Aconite got it wrong sometimes, chewing on things that didn¡¯t count. Technically, anything could be poisonous- it just depended on what was interacting with it. Some things that would affect Aconite would be ignorable to Chidi, and the same in reverse- regardless of training and building resistance. But most things overlapped, and the edge cases actually made it more practical for Aconite to use certain things against humans. Building up an immunity helped, but she could never be truly unaffected by every poison that existed. Especially if she kept finding new ones. And the most potent were always the most difficult in every regard. Determining poison by taste seemed easy at first- bitter or foul had to do it, right? But some things just weren¡¯t good. Some poisons were more spicy, and some were sweet. But it was another avenue to judge them by, and any suspicions could allow him to probe more carefully with other senses, and it was usually possible to pick out poisonous or not with some effort. He just couldn¡¯t focus on everything the same. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. So focused was Chidi on that sidetrack that he almost missed the sound of a blade being drawn, and the swoosh of an arrow. ¡°Ambush!¡± he called out, at the same time as Aconite howled. His warning would only make the difference of a fraction of a second to the squad, but that could save a life. Jumping behind a tree saved his own, as that arrow was headed for him. He still had to duck as it pierced through the tree- but it was slowed sufficiently to make that movement possible. His own sword came out, and he did his best to assess the situation. He was glad he didn¡¯t have to peek his head out to do so, instead listening and feeling for the action. Captain Tiras led a squad of two dozen, and the enemy seemed to be fairly closely matched in numbers and cultivation. That wasn¡¯t good, as closely matched battles were dangerous. Chidi angled towards Aconite and the target she had picked out- the archer. He felt fluctuations of her energy pulling various process or unprocessed herbs- and a vial of venom- out of her pack and along her fur towards her teeth and claws. Chidi didn¡¯t know the logic behind the particular selections, except that the one on her teeth would be safer for her to ingest than the others. Hopefully it was the sort that only cause trouble in the bloodstream. The wolf was swift, reaching her target in a few moments- but another cultivator was there to protect the archer. An older woman in early Essence Collection. She was likely past one hundred years old, while Chidi was barely twenty but he didn¡¯t have the time or inclination to ask. He just had to fight. Aconite grazed the retreating heel of her target, and Chidi deflected the incoming blade of the older woman with his own sword. The sharpness of the blade and the woman¡¯s intent quickly redirected towards him, and he could feel it cutting before it touched flesh. He swayed, avoiding the slash while trying to counter with his own blade, but the woman dodged it with clear experience. Chidi knew he was in a dangerous position, not the actual terrain around him but simply allowing himself to get this close to a cultivator stronger than himself. But he wasn¡¯t going to just leave Aconite to fend for herself. Though now she was far off, chasing after that archer. Chidi could only do his best to defend himself, calling upon all the techniques he had been taught and pushing the limits of his cultivation. Perhaps he was skilled enough- perhaps his opponent was merely playing with him. Either way, he managed to survive for a minute without being injured. That had been his limit, as he received a searing cut on his cheek, just under his closed eyelids. He¡¯d been injured before, even by blades, but the hostility behind the attack cut deep, slicing along the bones in his cheek. ¡°You think you¡¯re something special, kid? Some sort of sword genius that can fight with his eyes closed?¡± the woman mocked. ¡°You¡¯ll find out that¡¯s not true soon enough, if you don¡¯t fight with all your strength.¡± Sadly, that was what he¡¯d been doing this whole time. None of his thrusts had connected with even a hair or the edge of the woman¡¯s clothes. She wasn¡¯t anywhere near as skilled as either of Chidi¡¯s parents, or as strong, but they had never tried to kill or seriously harm him. He¡¯d have to go for surprise. ¡°You want to see my full power? Then¡­¡± Chidi shifted his stance. He hoped that the leafy branches he felt in front of him were thick enough to provide some cover. He needed every slight advantage he could get from confusing his opponent¡¯s senses. As for his full power? He¡¯d already done that. But he had watched how the woman attacked and evaded, and he was familiar with the sound of her tensing muscles and the flow of her energy. It was several orders of magnitude slower than others Chidi had seen. He stepped forward, thrusting out with his sword. His eyelids opened, hoping for the usual shock value. Perhaps in a battle it wouldn¡¯t be as significant, since the woman likely didn¡¯t care if she killed a ¡®cripple¡¯ or not. He was an enemy combatant either way. But it could distract her from his blade, and the scenery behind her. That was a weakness of people with sight, relying on it and focusing their senses so strongly in one direction. She brushed against a tree and stepped on a slightly slippery patch of mud, and Chidi¡¯s blade finally connected¡­ just barely, the tip of it barely piercing into her shoulder as she continued backwards. And then Chidi felt another pain, not from a blade but an arrow. The archer. Unlike the sword, which came and went, the barbed arrow cut deep into his thigh and then huhg there, an unbending rod that rubbed against his muscles even as he pulled back. The whistling sound of a sharp blade caused Chidi to duck, causing the arrow to bat against a nearby bush. He wanted to just yank the arrow out, but the barbs prevented that. At least, prevented that being easy. Chidi thought about Aconite possibly being in trouble, and even though he doubted his ability to defeat the opponent in front of him he knew he couldn¡¯t give up. He had to win¡­ or at least delay until the squad could come help him. Though that also assumed them winning. Chidi felt every bend of muscle inside his body, and widened the wound in his thigh with his energy to pull the muscle away from the arrow as he yanked it out. He didn¡¯t quite do it perfectly, and the wound definitely got new cuts on the way out, but not as badly. Chidi just barely deflected an overhead swing with his other arm, leaping back to avoid being bisected as it turned into a horizontal sweep. Such a large movement would give his opponent an opening to move how they wished, but it was the only way to save himself right then. Chidi breathed deeply, listening to his opponent walk towards him. And something else. A familiar and heavy plodding. Though it was only loud to his senses, familiar with it as he was. And likely more trained in his senses. Chidi stepped forward, showing obvious hesitation. At least he couldn¡¯t give away Aconite with his eyes- that was apparently a thing people did. Hopefully his ears didn¡¯t twitch much as he feinted. The real attack was of course, the wolf from behind, and the woman realized it only after fangs sunk into her whole lower leg and she was yanked backwards. Chidi slashed out, and was surprised to find his blade passed her guard and cut into her ribcage, the woman¡¯s defensive energy suddenly focusing on the wolf. Whatever poison was on those fangs was fast acting, because Chidi could feel the woman slowing down even as she tried to slash at Aconite behind her. He stepped forward, grabbing her wrist to stop the counterattack as the wolf pushed down on her¡­ and then the fangs were able to reach her neck. Chapter 626 The battle ended with the remaining Harmonious Citadel cultivators retreating. If the Scarlet Alliance squad had been dominant in the fight they might have chased them, instead they were only the victors by a small margin. Effort immediately switched to treating the wounds of the injured- though there were also two dead. What was Chidi supposed to feel at such a time? Sorrow for lost companions? He¡¯d only known them for a few days, but that was certainly part of it. What about fear for his own life? He¡¯d almost lost it. At least, this was the closest he could recall coming, even if he¡¯d technically had worse injuries once or twice. He could feel the body of the woman he¡¯d been fighting, no longer moving and slowly growing cold. She was the first person he¡¯d killed- it didn¡¯t matter that Aconite technically performed the final blow. He felt a little bit worse about killing a human than a wild beast¡­ but also better? Most of the creatures in The Garden didn¡¯t have ill intent, though some were certainly unnecessarily destructive. Cultivators knew what they were doing. Physical sensations pushed to the forefront of his mind. Slick sweat and warm blood dripping down his body. The pain of the hole in his thigh, the deep cut on his cheek, and several more across his torso he thought he¡¯d avoided. He didn¡¯t like the pain, but overall what he was feeling wasn¡¯t unpleasant. Chidi understood that if he hadn¡¯t trained in Citadel¡¯s Downfall he might have perished that very afternoon, and the same was true of the rest of the squad and the totality of their cultivation. Today, they had done enough- and those who died did not. A warm nose nudged Chidi, and he lifted his arm to scratch Aconite behind the ears. ¡°Thanks, you saved me.¡± ¡°Naturally. We are siblings of battle. We fight together. If only I had stopped that arrow¡­¡± Aconite¡¯s nose hovered near that wound for a moment. ¡°I should have been ready for that, too,¡± Chidi shrugged as he worked on his own wounds, applying stitches, salves, and bandages. He wasn¡¯t a great medic by any means, but he understood how to deal with his own wounds. And Aconite¡¯s, since it was more difficult for her to do any such things without hands. Not impossible, through the use of energy, but a serious effort. ----- Chidi wanted to be stronger. Of course, he was a cultivator and that was their natural state, but he had specific reasons now. The peak of Spirit Building simply wasn¡¯t enough. If his opponent had focused on taking him out quickly, he would probably be gone. Instead, she thought he was hiding something- maybe some secret ability that would catch her off guard. Or perhaps she had been the sort that enjoyed the challenge of battle. That was fine, but when it was applied to life-or-death battles, the consequences were easily seen. To reach the next step, Chidi had to pick an essence. Something that suited him. He had nebulous ideas, thoughts that were like trying to grab fog. Cold and wet, but ultimately without results. Aconite was not much help either. ¡°What kind of essence should I have?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. We don¡¯t cultivate the same way.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t your essence be¡­ poison?¡± Aconite tilted her head. ¡°If you say so. Then, your essence would be swords.¡± Chidi frowned. That didn¡¯t seem quite right. ¡°Maybe? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s quite right.¡± ¡°What essences do you know?¡± Aconite questioned. ¡°My father and mother are¡­ protection and formations?¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°Except mother¡¯s isn¡¯t quite that. She said it was more like¡­ seeking answers? Solving puzzles?¡± ¡°What else?¡± ¡°Spymaster Velvet was quite secretive about hers. Though it might just be secrets?¡± Chidi drummed his fingers on his leg, enjoying the feeling and sound as long as he didn¡¯t forget about the arrow wound. ¡°I heard that my great-great-maybe-more-greats grandpa in the lower realms chose something like¡­ nourishment? Promoting growth?¡± ¡°Sounds like you have many options, then.¡± ¡°Too many!¡± Chidi shook his head. He felt his hair swish back and forth slightly out of tune with everything else. ¡°If I just had to choose a weapon or something, it would be easy.¡± ¡°Then why not do that?¡± ¡°Because,¡± Chidi said, ¡°I have learned the sword and it¡¯s probably the best for me. But it¡¯s not what I want. Just a tool to get it.¡± ¡°So what do you want?¡± ¡°Ugh, I don¡¯t know. To be stronger. To live, in general. To keep you safe, and to hug my parents again. To prove I don¡¯t need them watching over me.¡± Chidi wrapped his arm around Aconite¡¯s fluffy neck. ¡°So a lot of things, but nothing¡­ so specific as to make it my thing.¡± ¡°If you can¡¯t pick, maybe make another choice. Try to eat and grow like a beast.¡± ¡°Hah, my mother would never forgive me if I did that instead of augmenting myself with formation tattoos or something.¡± ¡°Is that an option? It sounds good. Like my father.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ and my mother did it to herself as well. Just seems a bit out of my skill level. The consequences of messing up¡­¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Just try again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult to do that if your energy reverses flow, or drives itself perpendicularly through your meridians and tears you apart. Or anything similar.¡± Chidi wondered what that would feel like. Horrible, obviously. Like something he¡¯d want to forget, probably. Though as just a memory, would any sensation be that bad? ----- By the next patrol, the lost squad members had not been replaced yet- but they still had to keep track of their portion of the roads in the area. They were still close enough to full strength, and Captain Tiras didn¡¯t really have much choice anyway. People couldn¡¯t just opt out of a war at will, or because things got dangerous. Even those with connections would have to fulfill certain requirements to leave. Not that Chidi was thinking of leaving. His resolve was not so flimsy as to crumble at the first sign of danger. Aconite and her kin also followed the same growth through adversity ideals of cultivators. Though it was unlikely that either of them would significantly affect the war from where they were, every person counted. Though they would count more if they were stronger. After the ambush, Chidi redoubled his efforts. He had only provided warning as the attack was happening, which wasn¡¯t good enough. Whether he was distracted or simply not good enough to sense them, he wasn¡¯t going to let it happen again the same way. Even a single extra second would have been sufficient, and preferably he and Aconite would detect the enemy before they sensed their whole squad. Some of that depended on practice and skill, and some of that depended on cultivation. Chidi was going to figure out what his Essence would be¡­ soon. That was part of the reason for this whole excursion. Not every day came with an encounter of any sort. If they truly got into battle every day, even with only a minimal pair of losses in each squad, over the course of a week half of everyone would be dead. Generally, people tried to maneuver into a situation where they had a significant advantage to minimize their losses. The ambush could have easily cost them more than two lives, but if there were going to be any casualties it was preferred to levy them on their enemies. Chidi kept his focus at its peak, listening for sounds on the wind- or lack of sounds. When birds went quiet, it could mean just as much as hearing the sound of a weapon. He wasn¡¯t generally going to be close enough to feel anything. He would notice energy first. Same with taste. As for smell¡­ nothing. All of the focus¡­ ¡°Ugh,¡± Chidi said. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°My head hurts. No big deal.¡± Aconite seemed to disagree, immediately rushing over to him and snuffling about. ¡°Why does your head hurt?¡± ¡°Probably just focusing too hard¡­?¡± Chidi postulated with uncertainty. It hadn¡¯t even been that long of a day yet. Aconite took a deeper sniff. ¡°Bewildering powder. Difficult to smell, fogs the mind.¡± ¡°What about you?¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°Reistitant, obviously. Come, we must warn the captain.¡± Chidi translated for Aconite. The captain could barely understand her, and the vice-captain didn¡¯t know wolfspeak at all. ¡°... And it¡¯s coming from the northeast.¡± The captain closed his eyes, concentrating. ¡°I sense it now,¡± he said, circulating his energy to begin purging the poison. Chidi had also begun the same process, once he knew there was poison. ¡°Likely they are waiting in ambush.¡± ¡°We should finish purging the poison and then take them out,¡± Denitsa commented, hefting her hammer. ¡°Not this time,¡± Captain Tiras shook his head. ¡°Even if we only expend a small portion of our energy purging this poison, we can¡¯t say if there won¡¯t be something else, or that we can deal with whatever enemies set this up. Aconite, how easily can this be scattered throughout the area?¡± ¡°Unless there is an unknown source here, bewildering powder is not so easy to replace that they can attempt something like this often. But if they have sufficient resources to do the same once more, I will sense it earlier.¡± The squad ultimately continued along the road only to the next fork, which would not bring them too close to the presumed source. Instead of turning their planned direction, they cut back early. That was less likely to tip off the enemy that they were discovered than maneuvering around them in the forest, though nobody could be quite certain if they had scouts watching. Chidi and Aconite didn¡¯t sense any, but it was easier for a couple individuals to sense a whole squad that had little or no ability with stealth. Chidi took one last sniff, detecting only the faintest undertones of rancidness. Though that could have been his imagination, hoping to find something he¡¯d missed. At least he would probably recognize the effects in the future. Headaches shouldn¡¯t happen to cultivators so easily. ----- It was obvious that half of the people present upon the inner planet did not want to be there. Not that the others seemed particularly pleased, either. But if a bunch of Life Transformation cultivators couldn¡¯t deal with boiling hot weather, perhaps they didn¡¯t deserve to be in charge of anything. At least this planet didn¡¯t have water. Anton knew it would have been convenient if it did, but the fact that this was closer to the system¡¯s sun and thus had to be passed frequently would have shown all of the conflict in the system in a different light had it been watery. Instead, it couldn¡¯t- as the boiling heat was literal. A good bit over boiling, even. Five representatives from each planet, including Aleksandra and Aurelianus from Tenoun¡¯a. Docia was not present to represent Shrenn- her weaker cultivation would not make that favorable. Instead, she¡¯d personally recommended Lorena, and had at least some say about the others. So far, nobody had died or even been attacked. That was¡­ a start. Sure, it had only been ten minutes, but Anton couldn¡¯t have been certain that either side wouldn¡¯t like the opportunity to take out a sizable portion of the enemy¡¯s leadership and strength. Anton would have felt either side violating the terms set up from a very sizable distance- and he was still watching and waiting. Both sides had at least stuck to the requirements, with their ships withdrawing from the immediate area. They were currently in orbit around the planet, quite a distance apart from each other. ¡°Well then, all of you already know why I¡¯ve brought you all here,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯d very much like to settle your long standing conflicts in a way that could be beneficial to all present.¡± Anton pointedly looked towards the blue sun, reminding them of some visible stakes he had in the results. He also didn¡¯t want to appear biased towards either side. Though if he was biased, it was towards Shrenn. Better he recognize that, than think himself perfectly neutral. Anton could only think of one person who could be totally neutral to all parties involved, but Everheart was not present and the results of him negotiating something wouldn¡¯t be good for anyone. And thus, perfectly fair for both sides. Anton hoped for something¡­ better. He wasn¡¯t going to force a resolution in a single session, and was willing to settle for just a ceasefire if the rounds of negotiations saw no progress. But he was also going to be paying very close attention to who involved was actually willing to work towards an end. Everyone present had agreed to it¡­ but Anton could hardly know everyone¡¯s inner thoughts. All he needed was progress. One step at a time. Or at least half a step. Negotiations were much worse than pulling teeth. Chapter 627 Whenever the squad was off duty, they would be back in the city. Koton was where they started and ended all their patrols, and Chidi honestly found it lacking compared to Xankeshan in most ways. The same with Yaitis as a whole. The way they managed things, both the city and the surrounding farmland, just wasn¡¯t that good. The protective formations around the city weren¡¯t good enough, and the formations channeling energy to their crops were too powerful, limiting the growth away from the area. While that might be good in the short term, long term growth wouldn¡¯t be as effective. That bothered Chidi a little bit, but what bothered him more was the limited number of places he could take Aconite. As part of the military Aconite could come and go in and out of the city and to and from the barracks, but individual establishments might not allow her. They treated her more as a pet, not a person. The only place she was consistently able to go were the open air markets. Chidi liked those because they were full of interesting new things, though he really had no use for most of it. He was limited in what food he could consume, not because of special dietary needs but because food for cultivators had a lot of upper energy in it. Too much of that would throw off his internal balance, as he was still training with lower energy according to his parent¡¯s instructions. Didn¡¯t stop him from looking though. Specifically, smelling, touching, and tasting. It seemed a bit rude to do all that to a fruit vendor, but Chidi didn¡¯t actually touch anything, and the tasting was also done with energy senses. It wasn¡¯t the same as actually consuming something, but he got the general idea. Other stalls had all sorts of things. Clothes, so many clothes that Chidi didn¡¯t need and couldn¡¯t use. Everything he wore was optimized for practicality, and enchanted for defense. It was also higher quality than most of what he could see. Then there were the things for filling up a residence- rugs and furniture and all sorts of containers and decorations and utensils. None of which Chidi needed or could practically use. Sure, he could toss stuff in his storage bag- but even that could only hold so much. Storage bags with much larger capacity existed, but his was just sufficient to hold a practical amount of stuff. More than anyone really needed, but not like¡­ a house full of stuff. As they went about, Aconite sniffed everything- and as long as she didn¡¯t stick her nose actually into the stalls, the vendors didn¡¯t really have much to complain about. It was extremely useful to have a large wolf opening up a path in the crowd. Otherwise, Chidi would have had to push his own way through, and he preferred to avoid that. ¡°Find anything interesting?¡± he asked. Aconite growled quietly in return- for to others listening, every bit of wolfspeak would sound aggressive. ¡°Not really. It seems that poison is not sold so commonly.¡± ¡°For good reason,¡± Chidi declared. ¡°It¡¯s best for most people to not go anywhere near the stuff.¡± He had long gotten past the point of telling Aconite she shouldn¡¯t get involved with poison. And her current understanding let her be as responsible as anyone could be with such deadly options available. The chances that she would accidentally perish were minimal enough to ignore, given her track record. Barely any higher than the standard perils of cultivation. Later in the day, Chidi ended up in a tavern, drinking. Alcohol was of little interest to him. The taste was interesting enough, but he could have achieved the same results with other drinks. Some people liked to get drunk, though. Chidi was not interested in that, so he filtered the alcohol out of his system. The young man was not a terribly social person, but some of that was due to habits from his upbringing. When he was a young child, his lack of sight and his parentage made him odd enough for children to stay away. As he grew older, he began cultivating early- and his status on Xankeshan remained the same. Thus, he had few friends. And he was content with that. The tavern was noisy. Spinning it more positively, it was boisterous. Chidi got in a few conversations with people, but they were all short and pointless. Instead, he mostly listened, trying to get a sense of the people present. He especially focused on their stories- both big and small. Personal and stories of war. He tried to imagine the experiences they were relaying, understanding that his own practical experience was limited by his age. It was an interesting use of his time, but Chidi would have been lying if he did not prefer cultivation or even being back on patrol. ----- Wrego was a hundred kilometers away from Koton, about a day¡¯s walk directly along the road. A day¡¯s walk for cultivators, specifically- and only during times of peace. For the squad, getting anywhere close to halfway on patrol was an entire day¡¯s work, and they¡¯d have to stay up into the night to return. Those long patrols were exhausting but necessary- Chidi certainly wasn¡¯t going to complain and suggest that they camp out. Once more, they moved along the road. Dry dirt, unpleasant with every sense Chidi had. And apparently, not even interesting to look at with eyes. But the road led them towards where they needed to go. Specifically, their goal was to make sure that the enemy was not encroaching towards them, setting up guard towers or forts closer to Koton. Chidi and Aconite were a good hundred meters ahead of the rest of the squad. If they wanted to maintain the greatest amount of secrecy, they should be even further. However, this was a reasonable compromise of subtlety and safety. The two scouts walked not quite on the road, but next to it. They alternated sides as made sense to them, not quite randomly but not in a pattern they intended to be predictable. They were looking for traps and ambushes, common enough deterrents. They would not be approaching the actual midpoint. There were a few squads made up of more powerful cultivators who had that job. However, they could check a good portion of the main road and also check out some side roads for the sake of tracking enemy movements. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Most of the time, the enemy did exactly the same as them- checking out their ¡®own¡¯ territory and dipping a small way into that of the Scarlet Alliance. Aconite sniffed, clearly trying to focus on a particular scent. Chidi mimicked her, though focusing his senses on the ground around them was somewhat more effective. He definitely smelled¡­ people? But not much more than that. The signs on the ground, however, were frequent boot prints and disturbed ground. Over a fairly wide area too. ¡°There were many people here,¡± Aconite declared. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Chidi agreed. ¡°Not long ago, either. Within the last day.¡± Some attempt had been taken to obscure the tracks, but it was impossible to hide signs of such a large group. The enemy had moved not just along the side road, but also off-road in the surrounding forest. ¡°What were they doing¡­¡± Chidi muttered to himself. Then, he sensed something. An odd flow of energy. ¡°Aconite, stop!¡± He raised his head- as if that would somehow allow him to see. All he heard was paws scraping in the dirt, as his friend immediately complied with his warning. ¡°Stay there! Don¡¯t move!¡± Chidi approached cautiously, feeling underneath the disturbed dirt not only signs of odd energy flow, but also bits of metal and stone. Buried formation plates. The squad behind would have noticed him stopping, and as they rounded the bend stopping them from seeing him he held out his hand, gesturing for them to not approach. Technically they could get closer, but if there were cultivators around he couldn¡¯t guarantee he could help everyone avoid the formations. As he approached closer, Chidi determined Aconite was half over some of the formation markings. However, it seemed she hadn¡¯t quite come into contact with the actual meat of the formation. ¡°Just hold still for a moment,¡± Chidi said as he blew away the dirt intentionally settled atop the edges of the formation. He needed physical access to do anything. The first step involved his blade carefully scratching across several runes, which snapped as the flow of energy twisted inside them. ¡°Alright, slowly back up. It¡¯s safe to go along those gouges you made. Then you can do as you please once you¡¯re three meters past me.¡± Aconite carefully complied, extracting herself from the dangerous area. ¡°It didn¡¯t feel like anything to me,¡± she said as she relocated herself. ¡°That¡¯s by design. It¡¯s concealed, and low-impact. Though I have the feeling whatever it does¡­ hmm, yes.¡± ¡°Are you going to tell me or¡­? Oh, you¡¯re fully in it now.¡± Chidi was, indeed, ¡®in it¡¯. His steps carried him through safe parts of the formation, to grab onto a fist sized rock. He had a shape in his mind, and he began carving away with his blade. Under his mother¡¯s instruction, he had learned much about formations. This wasn¡¯t the work of a formation master, not by upper realm¡¯s standards. These were pre-formed pieces thrown together. Intentionally, yes, and with care- but they were not perfectly suited for the terrain. Parts were unnatural, which allowed him to spot it. Given days, Chidi could probably dismantle it one rune or formation plate at a time. However, there was a fundamental flaw that could be exploited, since nobody was monitoring it. The flow of energy had been set up to be exactly one way, and changing that could have significant impact. Chidi had seen enough of it to determine what needed to be done, and all he had to do was replicate something he¡¯d seen his mother do. Stone was cut away, as well as punctured through as Chidi carved a twisting, three dimensional rune. It was¡­ imperfect. One thing Chidi knew it was missing were the elusive sub-runes his mother had come to understand relatively recently- in Integration. He could barely even begin to imagine how they worked, information hidden within information. But he was happy with what he had. He hefted it a few times, feeling its weight. He tossed it in the air, feeling the flow of air around it as it spun. Then he stepped back, gathered his energy, and tossed the odd shape with all his might, aiming for more or less the center of the formation. Technically slightly off from the center, even before he had marred a few runes and shifted the balance. At his distance, he was met with a muffled but significant explosion sound, as well as a hail of dirt and splinters of wood from nearby trees. But most of the force had been focused inward, as the formation released all of its energy at once, its limiters disrupted for just a moment. It was more or less what was supposed to happen, though Chidi presumed that his squad was supposed to be on it at that time. He jogged back towards Captain Tiras. ¡°I don¡¯t think we should linger long in this area. If anyone was waiting for us to trigger it, they¡¯re most likely inbound.¡± Chidi didn¡¯t sense anyone, but that would just mean more trouble if there actually was anyone. ¡°Good idea. We¡¯ll head east¡­ see if the branch there had any tampering. And maybe draw out some pursuers on the way.¡± Captain Tiras gave the order and the squad turned about, but the vice-captain stayed behind with Chidi. ¡°What the hell was that, kid?¡± ¡°What was what?¡± he asked, frowning. ¡°That explosion.¡± ¡°A trap formation,¡± he said. ¡°And you disarmed it just like that?¡± ¡°I prompted it to blow itself up,¡± Chidi said, ¡°Which is much easier, since it was supposed to do that.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t it have anything to make that¡­ not happen?¡± ¡°Fallbacks? A couple, but they weren¡¯t very good.¡± ¡°And you figured that all out in a few minutes?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen¡­ much more complex formations,¡± Chidi said. ¡°This one wasn¡¯t that big of a deal.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Denitsa said, hefting her hammer on her shoulder. ¡°Whatever you say, kid. Just keep us from stepping on anything like that in the future.¡± ¡°Obviously. That¡¯s my job.¡± Chapter 628 At the same time, Aconite and Chidi turned to the south, behind them. ¡°Did we miss something¡­?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°What did you feel?¡± Aconite shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°Something distant, I think. We¡¯ll have to be careful on the road back.¡± So far they hadn¡¯t encountered anyone else on their patrol, or more formations. However, they did see signs of passage. Even if they had been covered up, a large number of people had been through the area. Aconite paced back and forth, perhaps trying to answer the same question Chidi had. Which way had they been going? If there were a single half complete print, the answer would have been resolved. Instead, what stood out as odd was how clean the area was. Some searching did let them pick out some important information. ¡°They must have passed here, approaching even closer to Koton,¡± Chidi declared. Captain Tiras joined the two of them at their request. After they explained, he shared his opinion. ¡°This seems like the sort of thing that needs an immediate report,¡± he said. Out came a communication device, the simple sort that only allowed messages in text form. Not Chidi¡¯s favorite, obviously. ¡°There. Done.¡± ¡°What was the response?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°... Nothing,¡± Captain Tiras admitted. ¡°That¡¯s a bit odd. Should have at least gotten a confirmation. Maybe it¡¯s broken?¡± He held it out towards Chidi, ¡°Do you know anything about the formations in these? Maybe take a look.¡± Chidi took the palm sized object. He did know about them, especially the simple kind. They paired with another, either when they were created, or through some process later. The second kind obviously had to exist to communicate with the lower realms. It was a slow process, though. The one he held in his hand should have gotten a message anywhere on the planet in an instant. ¡°Probably paired to a single device. Maybe the other one is broken¡­?¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°Or they could be at lunch?¡± ¡°Yeah. Maybe,¡± Captain Tiras said. But they both knew that there should always be someone on-duty. It was just another sign of trouble. ¡°Let¡¯s turn around and head back. We¡¯ve accomplished enough.¡± After an hour on the road, Chidi frowned. He focused his senses, trying to take in any energy fluctuations. Unfortunately, he had correctly identified the source ahead. ¡°Harmonious Citadel,¡± he said. Aconite growled in confirmation. By the time they even managed to turn around, Tiras and Denitsa were approaching. ¡°Something approaching,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Not too subtly, either.¡± ¡°We should engage,¡± Denitsa said, tapping her hammer. ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that,¡± the man shook his head. ¡°What do you mean? They¡¯re way inside our territory. We can¡¯t just let them go.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly it,¡± Captain Tiras pointed out. ¡°They¡¯re significantly inside our territory. And not being subtle about it. We might take them out, but I suggest we hide to watch them.¡± ¡°And then we ambush them,¡± Denitsa nodded. ¡°If it is appropriate, yes.¡± Once the plan was decided upon, Aconite led the group off road while Chidi began to remove signs of their presence. Brushing away the tracks would be too obvious- no doubt there would be lingering energy just a few minutes later when the group arrived. Thus, he didn¡¯t do much- just make sure there was nothing to obviously catch their attention, shifting a branch that had fallen to where it would cover the beginning of their trail. This area had high traffic, so prints on the road meant nothing, he just had to make them not think there was anything to follow. Or to not look to begin with. He tiptoed deeper into the trees, knowing Aconite would pick somewhere that could not be seen from the road. Even with the entire squad hiding their energy, however, he could still feel them. Knowing where they were helped, but most people also weren¡¯t trained for stealth. That even included the captain. Surprisingly enough, Denitsa was a bit more subtle than expected. Chidi wished he¡¯d spend more time with his mother studying ¡®natural¡¯ formations. That would be more subtle. Instead, he began pulling out formation flags. He needed to divert the flow of energy around their hiding place, while keeping their own energy nicely contained. Hopefully, nobody would be looking in their particular direction. If they had a formation expert of any kind, they¡¯d likely notice the discrepancies. If Chidi had an hour or a day to set up he might be more certain of his efforts, but he could only do so much. It was quiet. Unfortunately, that meant the birds were being roundabout traitors. Of course they would be quiet around Aconite. If humans weren¡¯t enough to terrify them, a chest high wolf certainly would be. Then again, a marching squad along the road might expect that same result for themselves. Hopefully they didn¡¯t listen that carefully. Chidi crouched down, fairly certain that the layers of trees should be blocking him visually. Nobody said anything, as they waited- Denitsa and the captain in front. Chidi felt three essence collection cultivators- not an insurmountable danger- but also a Life Transformation cultivator. And they were walking straight down the road, almost in sight of Koton. A Life Transformation cultivator was certainly formidable, but if they were spotted they would certainly be taken out. Something was very wrong. Everyone held their breaths as the enemy passed- everyone except Chidi and Aconite. Keeping their breath steady and careful would prevent¡­ the more powerful deep breaths of relief that fortunately didn¡¯t attract attention to their group. The enemy continued down the road. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t continue along the road,¡± Captain Tiras said after they had determined it was safe. ¡°Lead us closer to Koton, a more circuitous route might be better.¡± Chidi nodded. He¡¯d studied the terrain in the area, and as they were all cultivators they could handle rough terrain. They wouldn¡¯t have to deal with anything crazier than some steep hills. Actually¡­ ¡°There¡¯s a hill nearby we should be able to spot the city from.¡± He remembered passing by it¡­ and hills were apparently one way to extend the distance of sight. Being high up meant fewer things in the way. After grabbing his formation flags, Aconite once more plodded ahead of the group, with Chidi keeping everyone on her trail. Chidi was confident his friend would detect any trouble on the way, and being somewhat ahead would be helpful. Soon, they reached the top of the hill he mentioned. There was a sharp intake of breath from the captain, as well as some general swearing throughout the squad. ¡°... What is it?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°The Citadel¡¯s flags fly on Koton,¡± the captain said with resolve. ¡°There¡¯s nowhere to return to.¡± ----- After seemingly forever, though in some ways almost too soon, Torthunes was under attack. Catarina was glad that they would be able to make use of all the work that had gone into the formations, but concerned because intel suggested there were three saints present. Those of the axe, morningstar, and shield. The specific individuals were not the concern. Rather, it was that the Harmonious Citadel continued to consolidate their forces. The three of them represented a third of the sect¡¯s might, more or less. They wouldn¡¯t have quite that much with them, lesser cultivators especially, but this would be a serious test of the Scarlet¡¯s Alliance¡¯s ability to fight head on. They¡¯d been lucky to get the opportunity to hunt down a single saint before. Now, things would be more difficult. That wasn¡¯t to disparage Tauno- he¡¯d been instrumental in killing Tisiphone. But he was just one man. They had few Augmentation cultivators to rely upon. The One Thousand Palm Sect had Prasad- but he was not on Torthunes. They would have to hold out for him to arrive, or for some from the Dark Ring or elsewhere in the Scarlet Alliance. Catarina looked at Timothy. ¡°How long has it been since we fought anyone with greater cultivation than ourselves?¡± ¡°It was the first invasion. Somewhere around two centuries, at least for the two of us specifically..¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°It just reminds me of much earlier, when you broke through in combat.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t say that will happen this time, I¡¯m afraid,¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°I wasn¡¯t counting on it,¡± she admitted. ¡°Besides, we just need to make certain we don¡¯t end up in a fair fight. There are only three of them. If we¡¯re lucky, one will be entrapped, Tauno will deal with another, and a group of us can take on the third.¡± ¡°Your formations can really hold an Augmentation cultivator?¡± Timothy asked. Catarina just looked at him. ¡°What? You need a huge power source for something like that.¡± ¡°It will last an hour,¡± she said, looking over the planet, which at the current moment involved the area around them turning into a boiling red mist. ¡°A bit less or more, depending on the time of day and the ambient energy available. Assuming we actually can lure them in.¡± ¡°If you need me,¡± Timothy said, ¡°I¡¯ll be the best bait you could ever want.¡± She smiled, ¡°While you could certainly lure me in¡­ I¡¯m not sure about the saints. But perhaps if you show off that shield, we might get the shield saint Eterna interested.¡± ----- All around Anton, people were unhappy. However, considering nobody had yet stormed off from the negotiations he could say they were so far successful. Nobody from Tenoun¡¯a wanted to admit they were in the wrong, and nobody from Shrenn wanted to forgive them on any level. What they could agree upon were certain logistical changes, more or less Shrenn bribing Tenoun¡¯a to stay away with fewer resources than would normally be forcefully taken. Anton would make up the rest with his supplies. That would last all of a season, but Anton hoped he could sway both sides to go further. He would have to stay to monitor the situation for more than a few seasons, however. He had better crops for both planets, but the last thing he wanted was to make them both more able to properly wage war with each other. Or at least, not if they still wanted to. Perhaps it was a pipe dream, to think he could resolve their problems. Even with the help of people back home for both advice and resources, and even if both sides truly wanted change. Sometimes, people found themselves in situations that were nearly impossible to overcome. Aurelianus pulled Anton aside after another long and boring meeting. ¡°I have some concerns.¡± ¡°So does everyone,¡± Anton sighed. ¡°What was it, that could not be raised in official proceedings? I assure you, the crops-¡± ¡°Are not my concern, for the moment. I am willing to see how that plays out.¡± ¡°So¡­?¡± Anton drew out the question. ¡°It is a very delicate matter for Tenoun¡¯a,¡± the man said, looking around them- though they were already covering their conversation with a field of energy to prevent it from being overheard. Anton waited for him to continue. ¡°I was approached by Aleksandra.¡± ¡°Sounds like an internal matter,¡± Anton said. ¡°But continue.¡± ¡°She was not pleased about being assigned an administrative role.¡± ¡°Was that not what you were already doing?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Some of us¡­ put in more work,¡± he said delicately. ¡°Others¡­¡± ¡°Prefer to sit around threateningly at the top of the food chain?¡± ¡°More or less.¡± ¡°What do you want?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I doubt Shrenn would offer more concessions. And I will not allow this to be an opportunity for people to fill their pockets regardless.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Aurelianus admitted. ¡°Our current state is unsustainable, despite what people seem to think. I understand that. It just seems that the deal might be refused, if a few influential players don¡¯t want to go along with it. And I¡¯d rather not be involved in the fallout.¡± ¡°You think people will resort to violence?¡± ¡°It is the natural state for cultivators. You know that. It¡¯s why you are trying so hard to prevent it. Even your own life is fragile, here in this place.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do much but keep my eyes and ears open,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I appreciate the warning.¡± He looked up at the star. Should he just¡­? No, he didn¡¯t want people to end up distrusting all outsiders. Especially not with himself as the reason. Chapter 629 There were many things that Chidi wanted to experience, but helplessness hadn¡¯t been on that list. The news hit hard. Koton, captured? That was their base of operations¡­ and their only way off of Yaitis. Briefly, visions of a daring mission into the city to liberate it entered his head. They would sneak inside, take out one guy, and then the whole city would celebrate with loud cheering. Yes, wouldn¡¯t that be wonderful. But Chidi was just inexperienced, not stupid. He was just part of a single scouting squad. If there was even a single Life Transformation cultivator their whole squad together would struggle to beat them. No, it was worse than that. Koton should have had several defenders of that caliber. That meant the occupation forces should be at least that much, perhaps stronger. Maybe one of the Integration cultivators, even. Why hadn¡¯t they heard anything? Someone should have noticed something like that. Captain Tiras was busy giving an inspiring speech to the rest of the squad. Something about making their way to another city and reporting the situation. That made sense. The Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t control just one place on this whole planet. Things weren¡¯t hopeless yet. Chidi pulled out a communication device. Obviously anything connecting to Koton was pointless, but individual squad members didn¡¯t have that anyway. No, this one was tuned very specifically to Chidi¡¯s parents. He clutched it in his hand with a furrowed brow. Was this it, then? As soon as times got tough, would he cry for help? Would he rely on his parents for everything? He almost threw it away- which would have been monumentally stupid. Then he almost put it back in his bag, which would not have been an irreversible mistake. But he couldn¡¯t help but hear the beating of hearts around him, elevated. The unsteady breathing of fearful squadmates. He¡¯d fought by their side more than a few times over the course of weeks. Then there was Aconite. He leaned up against her, feeling slight tremors. ¡°Koton has been captured. Squad was out of the city. Will be attempting to rendezvous with other forces. Local communications are unavailable, requesting message relay. Respond to confirm receipt of message.¡± The professional message was Chidi¡¯s compromise. It would hardly be appropriate for a soldier to not attempt an available method of communication. He wasn¡¯t begging for rescue. It might take a couple days to get a response anyway. They¡¯d have to wait until then. Though an itching feeling at the back of Chidi¡¯s mind made him think about the possibility that that message might not get through either. ----- The squad set as their target the city of Sieburn. It was on what was now the far side of Koton, but it was still the closest and probably safest route. Even if they had to make a wide berth around Koton itself. Night came soon enough, and they had to make camp east of the city. Everyone had at least a small storage bag with basic survival gear and rations- any squad leaving the city did- but that didn¡¯t mean people were actually ready for this. Chidi went around the camp, placing formation flags and rearranging things at the edge of the camp. Any reduction in the chances of them being spotted would be important. That was the theory, anyway. In truth, he just needed something to do. When Aconite began digging into the ground, he almost stopped her. That would leave traces for people to find¡­ but they would be gone in the morning anyway. They probably wouldn¡¯t be looking for a wolf, either, so it would be easy enough to overlook everything else. Overall, it was probably a little bit risky, but for the sake of her comfort it was worth it. It didn¡¯t take her long to dig out a burrow, and somehow over the course of events Chidi ended up snuggled in the den with her. It was cold outside, and his tent and bedroll didn¡¯t make him feel warm. Being by his friend¡¯s side did, at least. ----- He must have fallen asleep, because the sun was lighting the clouds and he didn¡¯t feel like it had been that long since he¡¯d laid down. They ate their rations cold, because the smoke of a fire would be visible from a distance. Then they were off, with the two scouts in the lead. Chidi had wanted to do something real. He was uncertain he still wanted it now that he¡¯d experienced sleeping in discomfort- not so much from his physical needs, but from a shadow of danger hanging over him. He concentrated on what he was feeling for a moment. He couldn¡¯t really say anything was positive. Cold and wet, weird aches from a rock he¡¯d slept on, a lingering aura of fear. Not things he really wanted to repeat¡­ but he could still say they were valuable. Chidi was glad for the trees around them. It somewhat evened the playing field for him, as his sensory range could only extend so far. This way, they could get closer to enemy patrols and not be spotted. That was important, considering they got close to a few. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Aconite found a nice ridge to lead people along, one that shielded them from view behind them. He felt how narrow it was, and knew that it would be most difficult for Aconite herself. The human cultivators had all at least surpassed Body Tempering, so if they couldn¡¯t scoot along something as wide as a few centimeters there was really no hope for them. Chidi moved to help Aconite, planning to carry her along last, but she shook her head and nudged him forward. They exchanged no words, but he knew she had a plan- especially as he could feel her energy reaching into her herb pouches. Something was pressed against the rocks, and then Aconite rubbed up against it, spreading a thin coating of whatever it was along the whole ride they were following. The positioning of her feet was awkward as she kept her large body precariously balanced, but she eventually made it. Chidi wanted to help her along the last bit, but he had the feeling that touching her would be a bad idea. ----- Nobody talked much as they continued on. Chidi didn¡¯t even feel much in the way of heads turning to look at other people. Instead, they simply moved along, hiding from everyone that approached. The situation had changed from them hunting down small squads pushing into their territory, and them being the ones hunted- even if nobody was after them in particular. ¡°Another group is coming,¡± Chidi warned. ¡°They should pass by the bottom of the hill.¡± Sitting and waiting wasn¡¯t too bad. The midday sun made up for the chill of the night, and the breeze was quite pleasant. It was even in their favor, blowing towards them instead of towards the enemy- not that Chidi expected them to pick up their scent anyway. But something gave them away anyway. Was it someone shifting and knocking a pebble down the hill? A sudden intake of breath from that same thing? Maybe someone simply looked in exactly the right direction, spotting a piece of someone sticking out. Either way, things went from still and calm to heated battle in only a few moments. Tiras charged to meet the enemy with Denitsa by his side, stabbing at the first enemy with his spear while she swung her hammer- missing her opponent but toppling a tree. Everyone else moved to take positions holding their ground uphill. Chidi was stopped by Aconite, who wiggled a small pouch with her energy and growled some instructions. ¡°Throw it. Into the middle of the enemies. Make sure it impacts something strongly.¡± He nodded, grabbing it carefully. He certainly didn¡¯t want to get it on himself. He stretched out his senses, feeling the way people moved around. He couldn¡¯t afford to take too long, as he needed to join the fight, but he found a good opening. He tossed the packet, making sure it struck a tree. It then exploded into a wide spread of gaseous powder that hung in the air. It was a good thing he¡¯d been conservative with his aim, because it was a larger area than expected. As Chidi rushed forward to join the battle, he saw Aconite was already there. She picked out an opponent around mid Spirit Building, charging him. The man pulled back and Aconite snapped forward with her jaws, almost causing him to stumble. They faced off for a few moments, the man holding her at bay with a spear. Then she suddenly barked in his face, causing him to leap back another step- full into the lingering cloud. Chidi felt and heard all of that as he tried to slip around the edge of the battlefield. He was being stealthy not because of any sort of cowardice but because the enemy had archers below. If he could just get to them in melee, they would be greatly hampered and no longer able to harass his allies. The cloud of toxic gas was obvious to everyone after the initial explosion, and sadly only a few enemies had been in the area. Both sides wanted to avoid it, but it did a good job of splitting the approaching enemies in two, going around either side. That let the rest of the squad coordinate together to handle them, with the captain and vice captain splitting up. Chidi reached his target. His sword was in hand, and though he knew what he was about to do wasn¡¯t very nice¡­ neither was trying to kill him or his companions. With both hands, he readied a thrust that would either piece his enemy¡¯s heart or force them into a poor standing position. The third option was to pull far back, but that would most likely put them in the way of the other few archers. His blade dripped red, blood running down it to cover his hands. It seemed he¡¯d been stealthy enough. He pulled sharply to retrieve his sword, immediately springing towards the next archer. It was impossible for them to miss someone falling next to them, and they and the two beyond were already turning towards Chidi. Yet even as his blood pulsed in his ears and the heat of combat overtook him, he wasn¡¯t afraid. He knew what his opponents were going to do- what they were trained to do. Citadel¡¯s Downfall left him one step ahead, avoiding the snap shots as he darted past his second target, blade swinging wide. He only managed a grazing cut, but his path was one that would cause the remaining three to have maximum interference with each other. Half of the fight was with Chidi, the other half was with each other. One of them was smart enough to pull out her melee weapon, a straight sword. Sadly, though it was a better choice than her bow, she clearly had no practice. Chidi easily slipped his blade past her guard, stabbing her throat. How unfortunate for her, that she was part of the Harmonious Citadel. The last two were taken out a few moments later, though Chidi received a slash along his ribs as he faced them together. A mistake, but not one that had turned out to be fatal. Though anything these days could be. Up the hill, Aconite had gotten locked in a contest with a swift woman. Not just any woman, but one in Essence Collection. It seemed as if she had just advanced, as she was very early in Essence Collection, but she still had a marked increase in power over Spirit Building. Aconite was on that threshold somewhere, likely more powerful than Spirit Building but less than proper Essence Collection. Chidi saw the rapier flash. He knew that Aconite would have to dodge to avoid it slipping between her ribs, but that would set her up for a following attack. He anticipated a few moves that she could use to recover from that. What he did not anticipate was Aconite lowering her head and catching the stabbing weapon in her teeth. It wasn¡¯t a perfect catch- it still pierced through her cheek and cut along her jaw- but that wasn¡¯t for nothing. She also caught the woman¡¯s hand. The woman immediately bolstered her defensive energy, ready to have her hand crushed or claws scratch at her. She was not ready for Aconite to simply push forward, walking into the lingering cloud of poison- not just a single step, but her whole length to make sure the woman was fully immersed in the poison. The woman tried to shift the focus of her defense, but it was too late to prevent the effects. She began to quickly weaken, her energy fluctuating in strange ways out of her control. Somewhere in that process she lost her hand- and her sword. She turned to flee, but Aconite wouldn¡¯t allow that. Neither would Chidi. They couldn¡¯t afford to let anyone escape and lead a more powerful group after them. Chapter 630 After killing the last of the enemy squad, Captain Tiras gave everyone time to bind their wounds before they had to move on. They were fortunate to have gotten the upper hand in the battle, quickly capitalizing on it. It would have been impossible without significant cultivation advantages, except they all practiced Citadel¡¯s Downfall. There were still casulaties, but they¡¯d only lost one more of their squad. However, there was another problem. One of them was injured, unable to walk. ¡°We can¡¯t afford to move slowly,¡± Captain Tiras said. He didn¡¯t hesitate, lifting the soldier into his arms and beginning to march. Aconite began to say something. Chidi was going to translate, but first¡­ ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t have any lingering¡­ anything? We don¡¯t want to make him worse.¡± Aconite shook her head. ¡°I shed all of the poison.¡± ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll translate, then.¡± Aconite¡¯s words were fairly simple. ¡°I suggest that you place the injured individual on my back, since he will hinder me less.¡± Captain Tiras shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not a good idea. Carrying him like this, I can set him down somewhere safe if combat comes upon us. You won¡¯t be able to do that with someone strapped to you. Nor could you conceal yourself.¡± With that, the matter was settled, the squad continuing on its way without really stopping. They left the bodies behind- concealing the battle would be impossible anyway. Though, Aconite said she would provide a bit of a surprise for anyone coming to find them. The Harmonious Citadel squad would be missed the same day, depending on when they would return to the city. Unless the enemy had been particularly off of their patrol route, the Scarlet Alliance Squad could only expect finding the bodies and beginning to track them down to take a handful of hours. If a stronger enemy group was following after them, they could catch up in the same time or less. Aconite trailed the squad, doing her best to help with their tracks while Chidi picked a route that would hopefully reveal the least of them. Rocky terrain that was a bit annoying, but would at least require people to search around a bit to keep track of them. As long as their route took less time for them to walk than it did to track them, they could pull away from any potential pursuit. They would have to sleep eventually, though, and the enemy would know that. The squad continued to avoid smaller settlements. Though it would be useful for them to have information about what was happening, they also couldn¡¯t be sure if the enemy would control the area, or have spies planted. Maybe they already had them before, and they simply hadn¡¯t been noticed. If they had been able to move along the road, Sieburn would have been a half day¡¯s travel at best. Now, they had been traveling for a day and could only hope to reach it in the evening. But then¡­ well, that would depend on what they found. ----- Aconite scampered up a tree, her claws digging into the bark. The branches were insufficient to hold her weight on their own, but she used her energy to spread out between them, letting her perch reasonably high up. From there, the tallest tree in the surroundings, she was able to see Sieburn. When she scampered back down after a good minute, Chidi could immediately tell something from her posture. ¡°How was it¡­?¡± he asked. Aconite shook her head. ¡°The Harmonious Citadel also holds Sieburn.¡± Chidi deflated. How far would they have to go, to find somewhere safe? Upon informing Captain Tiras, he furrowed his brow. ¡°Do we head for the next city? Can we make it?¡± He wasn¡¯t really asking anyone, just talking to himself. Chidi only barely heard it. ¡°I think I should infiltrate the city,¡± Chidi declared. ¡°We need to know what territory they control and¡­¡± his thoughts went vaguely up to the sky, where he felt a vague haze. He had the feeling the response to his message that he was awaiting might never arrive. Some sort of grand scale formation was in place, and he could only vaguely guess it was preventing such messages. If he knew more about formations he might bypass it, but without observing a physical part of it he doubted he could do it at the moment. ¡°You have the skills to do so?¡± Tiras confirmed. ¡°Then¡­ you should. Just guessing will leave us tired from running about. If there¡¯s no safe territory¡­ we will simply have to find somewhere in the wilderness we can survive and plan.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be going then.¡± He barely made it two steps before his arm was grabbed between sharp teeth. ¡°What? I can¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°I should go with you. I also learned. And I can do things that you cannot.¡± Chidi frowned. Aconite was, as an individual, much worse at infiltration than himself. She was larger and noisier, and she lacked important features like hands. Although¡­ Chidi wasn¡¯t perfect himself. He was missing an important sense that many took for granted, and he couldn¡¯t make up for the distance sight could cover. Aconite could also literally sniff out things he might miss. ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s go together.¡± ----- It was getting dark now. Chidi only really understood darkness in relation to the sun not providing warmth, but apparently it was extremely bad for vision. Cultivators could still manage to see in the darkness, but it took more effort. Thus, it was perfect for people who were sneaking around- most of the time. There were exceptions. Sometimes, being stealthy in high visibility conditions was actually easier because people assumed they would see everything, instead of being focused. That was one thing Velvet had taught him. But Chidi was willing enough to bet on whatever cover night provided. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. With some luck, they found a section of the city walls that was relatively unguarded, or perhaps the entire place was sparse. That still meant that a few people might be able to spot them, but there were some spots they could creep towards. Before they approached, Aconite spilled something foul smelling over them, though the scent quickly faded into an unpleasant greasy feeling. ¡°It will darken us,¡± she said. ¡°Now roll around on the ground to pick up dirt.¡± Chidi couldn¡¯t refuse anything that would improve their chances of success, and honestly the dirt was way more comfortable than the weird thing Aconite dumped on him. He hoped it was only minimally poisonous. It was certainly sticky, whatever it was, and he soon had a nice coating of soil. They crept forward. As they approached the wall, Chidi realized they hadn¡¯t actually talked about a way to get past it. When Aconite almost touched it, he grabbed her. ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± he whispered. ¡°Formations.¡± Aconite snorted, tilting her head up. ¡°Above?¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°There too.¡± The walls were also around ten meters high, not something they could reach in a single jump. They¡¯d touch the wall formations eventually. It would be nice if they were strong enough to do it, but even then the whole area above might just have a dome over it. ¡°Below?¡± Aconite growled next to his ear. ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°How deep?¡± ¡°... Maybe five meters? But it probably just¡­¡± Chidi bent down to the ground, getting as close as he could. Then he stood up, stretching to the tip of his toes. Down, then up. Eventually, he was satisfied. ¡°... The formation only covers the physical wall.¡± Awful. Truly awful. Who was responsible for this? Was Koton that bad? No wonder the city had been taken over. Actually, now that he thought about it they should have skirted around and looked for holes. Chances were some of them were busted when the city was taken over. Aconite had almost dug her whole face under the ground by the time he realized that, and that she was digging. He tapped her to get her attention, then pointed her away. Once they were further, he explained his plan. As they circled around the city, Chidi felt something strange with the walls. There was a point that was just¡­ not. And somehow, it still felt sharp. ¡°What happened there?¡± Chidi whispered to Aconite. ¡°You can sense that?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could feel so far away.¡± ¡°It¡¯s super weird. And the formations make it easier to sense things at a difference.¡± ¡°My guess¡­ someone cut out a chunk of the wall. Clean slices.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Chidi pondered. ¡°They have people guarding the hole, right?¡± ¡°They must,¡± Aconite agreed. ¡°So perhaps it would be better to search for the most secure part, where they will not expect infiltration.¡± They eventually found a boring, flat side of the wall where there were no gates. But instead of sneaking closer, Aconite began digging while they were all the way out in the trees, behind a few layers of trees. ¡°I know you can dig fast but¡­¡± Chidi grimaced, ¡°Won¡¯t this take too long?¡± ¡°My mother could create this tunnel in an instant,¡± Aconite said. ¡°Sure, but she could probably just topple those walls too. Or sink half the city.¡± By the time Chidi finished what he was saying, he was convinced of Aconite¡¯s ability to achieve her goal. She was already up to her shoulders in a sloping tunnel, a huge mound of dirt piling up. ¡°So, I see that you can dig that now. As long as you can keep it up for a few hours. But there¡¯s another problem,¡± he gestured to it. ¡°What will we do with all of that once were in the tunnel?¡± Aconite¡¯s face wrinkled. ¡°If I had trained even a fraction as much as I should have in my mother¡¯s talents¡­¡± Chidi nodded, ¡°Same here. I thought I learned enough.¡± He had been working hard, but he hadn¡¯t truly taken advantage of his access to a formation grandmaster, instead being content with what he felt was above-average success. ¡°You will have to ride on my back, close to me. We cannot afford the time to cart it all out, or I will still be digging in the morning.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I guess that won¡¯t be so bad. ----- Chidi was wrong. Cramped tunnels? He could deal with them. Dirt? Fine. He wasn¡¯t a pampered kid that couldn¡¯t stand bits of decayed organic matter mixed with minerals getting on him. Being basically wrapped around Aconite¡¯s back, his face pressed into her fur where he could barely breathe or smell anything other than an earthy and sour smell of absorbed poisons, that was not great. And being scraped against the roof of the tunnel, piles of dirt falling on him and reducing the airflow, continued to not be great. But he also didn¡¯t want to try to stand directly behind Aconite- where she was constantly flinging great quantities of dirt at speed- and he couldn¡¯t possibly stand in front of her because there was dirt there. Dirt that was getting clawed and chucked behind them rapidly. When he was fed up, Chidi would tap the back of Aconite¡¯s skull and make some intentional noise. She would crouch down, letting him squeeze over to the side. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take a short break?¡± Chidi said. ¡°I¡¯ll soften up the section ahead.¡± Since there was a whole Aconite between the dirt in front and the partially empty tunnel behind, he didn¡¯t bother trying to get it there. Instead, he pulled out his sword. Chidi knew the people managing the armory would be furious to know he was using a sword on dirt. But it was his sword, now. Besides, he was still using it properly. Or rather, he was going to if he could maneuver his arms and the blade to all face in the right directions. He couldn¡¯t really swing, but he still eventually managed to cut. More than just the meter length of his blade, but several times that. He moved his blade around in a crosshatch pattern, treating the dirt as something to be dismantled. It remained basically in place, effectively in long rows. It took a few minutes, but it gave him a chance to ¡®stretch¡¯. Then he was back on Aconite¡¯s back, grains of dirt rubbing into his face and nose and ears and every little pore. He used his energy to clear his nostrils and prevent dust from getting into his lungs, but it was not pleasant. Once more, Chidi decided this was an experience he would prefer not to do again. But it would make for a good story, should he survive somehow. Chapter 631 As they approached the walls of Sieburn from underground, Chidi couldn¡¯t help but get nervous. All it would take was one person feeling their movements or hearing something underground, and they would be compromised. Aconite was digging deep enough that they should be fine, but he couldn¡¯t help but worry. Perhaps that was because he was barely contributing. With little else to do, he kept his ears and other senses open for anything that might be above. Sensing for the vibrations of someone¡¯s footsteps wasn¡¯t easy, since he had to try to break through Aconite¡¯s movements, digging huge chunks of dirt. He honestly wasn¡¯t sure if he succeeded at his goal- but he didn¡¯t sense anything. Soon enough they were past the walls. They stopped a bit away from the walls, under a basement of what seemed to be an unoccupied building. It seemed like it had been that way for a while, which at least made Chidi less concerned. He didn¡¯t want to think about the people who had probably just died in the city¡¯s takeover. But of course, he did anyway. They broke through into the dusty basement and made their way onto the streets after shaking off most of the dirt coating them. In many places, Chidi could have simply blended in with all the other cultivators. However at the current moment the only people out and about were the disciples of the Harmonious Citadel. Those who didn¡¯t cultivate- still a significant portion of many planet¡¯s populations- also seemed to remain inside, even if they might technically be allowed to move about. The pair of scouts made good use of the cover of darkness, as well as buildings and alleyways. Their target was¡­ somewhere central. Neither of them knew exactly what, and since they weren¡¯t familiar with Sieburn they would just have to figure it out. Some administrative building, or anywhere else they thought would be of use. Even if they thought nobody would hear, the two of them refrained from speaking. Aconite¡¯s words would be concerning to anyone if she was heard, and they didn¡¯t want to accidentally give away their presence. Hairs began to rise on the back of Chidi¡¯s neck as they approached the center of the city. Was this the sort of time he should retreat? If they couldn¡¯t complete the mission, then leaving was the best for both them and the squad. Otherwise, they would just be killed or captured, and the squad would be waiting for people that would never return- likely to meet the same fate soon enough themselves. As they continued closer, Chidi was able to place a source of his unease. It was a cultivator radiating an unbalanced sharpness. A cultivator so far above Chidi he couldn¡¯t even pretend he might have a chance to defeat them in a fight. Not an Augmentation cultivator- he¡¯d seen Tauno a couple times- but an Integration cultivator was still infinitely beyond him. Chidi wasn¡¯t even in Essence Collection yet. He was only a step away, but he couldn¡¯t figure out which step would bring him the right direction and not set him on a dead end path. And he couldn¡¯t easily change his answer. Perhaps Chidi could have turned to leave, but he instead chose to press forward, after pausing to make sure Aconite was aware of the presence. She didn¡¯t seem to want to leave either. No doubt an Integration cultivator would have useful information, but Chidi wasn¡¯t so crazy as to think he could get any of it. Instead, he kept the individual of unbalanced sharpness in his mind. The feeling was so strong, he wondered what happened to them. Or was it some sort of intentional trick to conceal their true threat? The streets were fairly empty, because the Harmonious Citadel members who were present were not terribly numerous. Likely only hundreds in a city that could support thousands on the street, and not all of the occupying forces were just wandering about. They were still an annoyance, but all of them were loud in both displaying their cultivation and how they walked. Even their vision was not hidden, and Chidi could almost feel their arrogant gazes through walls. Or perhaps he did feel them, it was just that they weren¡¯t looking at him. Or Aconite. The pair darted across streets to alleyways, or scurried along them for a distance. Chidi could afford to be spotted from a distance, as his concealed cultivation would make him seem like a local citizen. Aconite would be more obvious, if they saw more than a vague shape. Though if they were spotted, looking like they were hurrying wouldn¡¯t be good for them. So they had to be careful how they moved, matching each other¡¯s pace and worrying about being found. They were too far into the city to even hope they could flee if they were singled out. Then the Integration cultivator began to approach them. Chidi¡¯s initial reaction was panic. His second brought him back, as panic wouldn¡¯t help. Instead, he tried to draw upon his confidence in himself and Velvet¡¯s training. The Integration cultivator was moving quickly. Not at their maximum speed, but Chidi and Aconite only had a few moments to find somewhere to hide. They chose a small park, with thick hedges they could shelter behind without appearing too unnatural if they were noticed. A man and an oversized wolf might stand out, but they would stand out more if they were crouching behind something. The cultivator continued to approach. Chidi could hear her feet on the pavement. Feel the sharpness of her blade, sheathed though it was. Smell the blood she regularly encountered. She was close enough for him to trace the shape of her body. He almost didn¡¯t notice the prosthetic limb starting from her left elbow. It was appropriately shaped, but it didn¡¯t feel¡­ alive. Enchantments aside, it was just bits of metal put together. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Chidi knew who this was. Rakiya, one of the most prominent disciples of the sword saint. She¡¯d lost her arm to Chikere, Chidi¡¯s namesake. If she found them, their lives would be over. Though strangely enough, that didn¡¯t bother Chidi too much. Not because he wanted to die¡­ but because his life was still currently in his hands. And that of Aconite. He felt her energy grasping for something, but he placed his hand on her and shook his head. Rakiya continued to approach, but she didn¡¯t enter the park. She simply walked past it without giving it a second glance- or perhaps not even a first, finding it insignificant. The two scouts breathed no sigh of relief, simply waiting until the woman was far enough past them. Then they continued forward, having learned at least one valuable piece of information. Though there was nothing they could practically do about Rakiya being in Sieburn, even if they had the whole squad to fight just her. In the center of the city, Chidi could feel a number of important buildings that had been shattered, holes in their ceilings or walls. Some effort had been taken to make sure they were stable, as they were currently being used by the occupiers. Chidi could feel numerous busy individuals. Now came time for the decision making part of his training. He tried to determine which place was most likely to have the most valuable or retrievable information, just based on what little he knew. He took a minute to decide, then pointed towards it. Aconite nodded her head up and down in agreement. They¡¯d come to the same conclusion, or at least one that was close enough. The building was some sort of military headquarters. Not the easiest building to sneak into, but with recent events¡­ not as difficult as it might seem. Similar to the outer walls, which had guard covering every gap, this facility had people stationed at all of the obvious entrances. Some of the guards were just Spirit Building cultivators, but any conflict would bring attention from the others so it didn¡¯t matter how strong they were. What was important was that the formations were all messed up. As they reached the base of one side, away from any clear entrances, Aconite looked to Chidi for confirmation. He nodded, pointing up. She scrambled up the wall- minor imperfections providing her sufficient grip to climb with her claws. From there she would go to the roof and- she went in a window. Alright. That was fine. Chidi hurried after her, surprised that a window had been left open. It was not quite large enough for Aconite to fit through, and was now dangling awkwardly. Rather than let something happen with that, Chidi used his energy to mute the sound around it and yanked it the rest of the way out of the wall, setting it down in the small office. There were papers in various places, in the desk and in nearby cabinets and a few scattered atop the desk. None showed anything interesting at a glance, and Chidi¡¯s glances took quite a bit longer as he had to feel into the paper for the shape of ink, but they dumped everything into Chidi¡¯s storage bag. Outside the office, someone was wandering the hall. Once the sound of their footsteps faded, they moved on. The offices seemed only minimally interesting, and instead the two headed towards a larger room. Some sort of strategy hall, it seemed. Chidi felt more than a couple people inside. That was a shame, because he wanted to see what was in there. Aconite had a solution, though. She reached for a powder in her bags. This time, Chidi had no reason to stop her. If she thought it would work, he would let her make use of it. He had no solution of his own. Out of the bag came a powder, which Aconite placed at the bottom of the door. Then she inhaled strongly, before blowing the powder into the room under the threshold. Nobody reacted to the finely dispersed powder, but Chidi could feel the way their energy began to pulse strangely. ¡°Breath through this,¡± Aconite growled as low as possible, two little bits of energy plucking something from her bags and then shoving them into Chidi¡¯s nose. It smelled bitter, and spicy. But he complied with Aconite¡¯s instructions as he felt people in the room begin to collapse one at a time, unconscious and seemingly without sensing anything being wrong. ¡°It won¡¯t last long,¡± she warned. ¡°We must hurry.¡± Inside the room, there were more papers- but also a large table with pieces sticking up from it. The table had a relief map- which made Chidi quite pleased- and it showed various pieces which should represent the Scarlet Alliance and the Harmonious Citadel. Chidi was also able to pick out different shaped banners, over what he presumed were various cities. He found Koton and Sieburn, recognizing the terrain, but standard maps weren¡¯t of much use to him so he didn¡¯t have any familiarity with the rest. There was an alarming amount of Harmonious Citadel presence, however. Whether it was simply plans or the current scenario, it was bad news. Chidi took in as much information as he could, while wandering around to gather documents. He also had a question for Aconite. ¡°Won¡¯t they notice when they wake up? Shouldn¡¯t we already be running?¡± She nodded. ¡°We leave soon. In a few minutes, they wake. A few more to shake off brain fuzz. Then, it will be dangerous.¡± Chidi would have liked to get more information without alerting anyone, but he didn¡¯t know if they could have gotten far. That was why he didn¡¯t protest Aconite¡¯s actions. Now, it was time for them to go. They needed to make it out of the city and report back to the squad¡­ hopefully before anyone realized they might be nearby. If all went well, they would presume spies were staying in the city. Hopefully, their tunnel wouldn¡¯t be discovered for a day or two. Moving through the streets at nearly a run, the pair avoided the limited number of individuals out and about. They found themselves briefly approaching Rakiya, but she was not quite in the right section of city for their abandoned building. Then they were back in their tunnel, the loose dirt only slowing them slightly as they basically swam through it and out the other side. All that, and they were still alive. Just in case, they waited inside the exit to their tunnel, wary of ambushers or someone following them. If they had been discovered and led someone to the squad¡­ Chidi didn¡¯t know if he could live with that. Emotionally, of course. Practically, he was certain to be dead along with the rest. Not too long after that, they had returned to the squad. As he was reporting what they learned to Captain Tiras, he felt a huge sense of relief wash over him. They had survived the mission- and been successful. At least as much as could be hoped. Something stirred inside of him with the burst of confidence flowing through his veins, though he didn¡¯t notice anything at that exact moment. Chapter 632 Every bit of the negotiations between Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn was watched very carefully by Anton. Ten life transformation cultivators, as well as the crews of their ships- though the latter remained securely within those ships, as the boiling heat of the planet outside of said ships wasn¡¯t exactly friendly. Anton kept watch on all of them, though most did not stray far. As the days dragged on, however, even cultivators of significant age began to feel confined by the limited space and the barely concealed hostility between the groups. Unsurprisingly, centuries of conflict couldn¡¯t be negotiated away in a short time. Anton hadn¡¯t expected that, but he was still hoping for something to come of this. Some sort of peaceful resolution where each side at least eventually left each other alone, if they could not reconcile. There were a few stubborn people on each side. From Shrenn, Nicanor was particularly obstinate. Lorena was trying to keep their side on the same page, but Nicanor was the least helpful in that regard. He only wanted penalties levied against Tenoun¡¯a, and though they likely deserved them to some extent, there was no way they would put up with something heavily weighted against them. On the other side, Aleksandra was particularly unwilling to give up concessions related to her position and status. Even if both she and her city would be better off with some sort of agreement, nothing seemed to be enough for her. Were the negotiations impossible to begin with, or was Anton simply not able to fulfill things himself? How frustrating. And his stakes in the matter were perhaps a step less relevant than the others, so he knew how they felt. He was constantly searching for some way, but just couldn¡¯t find it. But his patience was not the first to give out. Or perhaps some people never intended to be patient in the first place. Anton could tell something was up immediately. People often went off alone to meditate- even the harsh environment well beyond the boiling point of water was something that could be overcome by strong enough cultivators. And in a way, the challenge was useful. Whether or not they truly were advancing their cultivation, most found time alone. So when three people picked up followers, Anton knew something was off. The only pairing that didn¡¯t immediately bother Anton was Lada following after Aurelianus. They didn¡¯t seem to be friends, but perhaps they might want a private conversation. Except Aurelianus didn¡¯t seem to be aware of the situation- and the others were of some greater concern. Aleksandra following Lorena and another from Tenoun¡¯a- Maksim- going after Nicanor. When seeking isolation, cultivators could be rather extreme about it. They were spread out hundreds of kilometers away in divergent directions. Isolated, at least by the standards of Life Transformation cultivators. Anton became certain about the ill intent of the pursuers when he felt them take out some sort of pill, muting their energy. If he hadn¡¯t already been watching them, he might not have noticed them from that point. Then each of them took out a bow, and a single arrow. They appeared to be made out of diamond or some other crystal. Anton couldn¡¯t clearly sense what enchantments might be on them from such a distance, but he knew it couldn¡¯t be anything nice. And there was Anton, nobody watching him. Was that their plan, then? There were a few flaws. First, they seemed to think they were unobserved. Second, they weren¡¯t very good archers. Anton could already tell that from their stances. Those bows and arrows had better be something special. On that topic, Anton took out his own bow, feeling the heat of the blue star not so far away. And the light. For this, he¡¯d need speed more than power- though his attacks certainly wouldn¡¯t be weak. Nine arrows, three towards each location. The ambushing cultivators weren¡¯t precisely coordinated, but they had all begun to draw their arrows. One released, the crystal arrow flying almost invisibly through the air. Half and instant into its flight, it was struck by an arrow formed of light, shattering it. The remaining two arrows went for the pointer and index finger of the hand that had drawn the bow- Aleksandra¡¯s hand. Similar results came elsewhere, though Maksim of them hadn¡¯t even managed to loose their arrow. The resulting detonation of energy immediately in front of Maksim, the man fully focused on his assault. Little was left of him. Lada had gone after Aurelianus, who was nominally on her side. She suffered the same fate as Aleksandra, her surprise attack failing and two fingers taken as a penalty for her actions. With that and the loss of surprise, it was quite possible the two of them would be killed by their targets. But Anton wasn¡¯t done yet. As many arrows as he could fire sequentially split up between the locations, though most strayed away from Lada and Aleksandra. Instead, they found their way towards Lorena and Aurelianus. Not because Anton intended to kill them, but because he didn¡¯t want either side to be dead. Fortunately they did the sensible things and dodged back, which gave Anton an opportunity to write a message nearby. Arrows peppered holes in the ground in an unmistakable pattern. For the sake of brevity, Anton went with the single word ¡®capture¡¯. Of course, two Life Transformation cultivators weren¡¯t going to give up so easily. Unfortunately for them, the deck was stacked against them. They weren¡¯t fighting one-on-one, but instead were both injured and fighting a battle that was significantly more weighted against them than two-on-one. Anton didn¡¯t like to bully weaker people, but he also didn¡¯t like assassins that intended to frame him. Unfortunately, he supposed this could still end in war. The one factor that made it possible to avoid was Aurelianus, because he was also from Tenoun¡¯a. So it wasn¡¯t a conspiracy by the entire planet, and Anton could work with that. Aurelianus was the first to acquiesce to Anton¡¯s message, taking advantage of the openings Anton provided to subdue Lada. It took a bit more prodding and more arrows restricting Lorena¡¯s movements for her to concede to capture Aleksandra. Anton doubted he could have convinced Nicanor to not kill Maksim, so it was just as well the man had died. Anton continued to keep his eyes on the remaining people, including the untargeted members of Shrenn and the single remaining individual from Tenoun¡¯a besides Aurelianus. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The feeling of combat alerted all but the most distant of them, and the remaining individuals were quickly contacted. All gathered back together within the span of an hour, two individuals with shattered cultivations and missing fingers, and one corpse. ¡°I knew they were treacherous bastards!¡± Nicanor exclaimed. ¡°I told you! We should just exterminate them now. With five Life Transformation cultivators lost, we can remove this thorn in our side once and for all.¡± Anton stopped him. ¡°While I understand your passion, there will be no exterminations.¡± Anton gestured to Aurelianus, ¡°Aurelianus was attacked along with you. This was not a concerted effort by Tenoun¡¯a, just three individuals who wanted to perpetuate a status quo that was working for them.¡± Nicanor frowned, looking towards Lorena, the official head of Shrenn¡¯s negotiators. ¡°But who would stop us¡­?¡± ¡°He would, obviously,¡± Lorena said matter-of-factly. ¡°You do realize he participated in three battles at once? By which I mean¡­ he effectively overwhelmed five Life Transformation cultivators at the same time. You¡¯re¡­ not a Life Transformation cultivator, are you?¡± She furrowed her brow. ¡°Are you¡­?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to reiterate right now that we have a common enemy,¡± Anton said. ¡°Ascension cultivators from the Trigold Cluster. And since we¡¯ve come to this point, I can just come out and say it. I am not an ascension cultivator, but I have surpassed Life Transformation.¡± ¡°I thought something was odd about you,¡± Aurelianus admitted. ¡°You were too¡­ unafraid? But if you have this power, then why¡­? You could have even offered it as a bargaining chip, the power to reach a higher cultivation level.¡± ¡°To what end?¡± Anton asked. ¡°So that your planets could kill each other more efficiently? I think not. Now then, I have some suggestions about how to settle this matter¡­¡± Anton looked to the captured Aleksandra and Lada. ¡°After we ask some questions, like who else might have been stupid enough to agree to your plan. Where did you get the arrows?¡± Anton asked. ¡°As if we¡¯d tell you,¡± Aleksandra grunted. ¡°You clearly just wanted Tenoun¡¯a¡¯s downfall from the beginning. Should never have trusted you.¡± ¡°And at what point did I do something against Tenoun¡¯a¡¯s interests? When I stopped you and your conspirator from killing one of your own representatives?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°You know, things don¡¯t have to be this way. If you cooperate, I can provide one of you a path to survival. If you are particularly helpful, I might even throw in a way to repair your shattered cultivation or restore your fingers.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll never-¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Lada said dryly. ¡°I can name the supplier, and the people who paid for the arrows.¡± ¡°You traitor!¡± Lada raised an eyebrow, ¡°You were only in this to improve your own station. Why can I not do the same for myself? ----- In the end, Tenoun¡¯a had to agree to some harsher terms¡­ though only for the ruling elite. And those same elite individuals were bribed with the estates of the other Life Transformation cultivators who went down with Aleksandra and Maksim. Some immediate gains in exchange for not having as much control over the future was enough to placate them- especially when the other option was for Anton to just let Shrenn wipe out them all. The Life Transformation cultivators, obviously Anton would never allow their whole population to be killed. But those were exactly the people that had to be convinced, so it worked quite well. By itself, the loss of two or three Life Transformation cultivators would not have made it easy for Shreen to dominate Tenoun¡¯a, but they were already at an advantage. And with Anton in the mix, there wasn¡¯t much they could do about it. No matter what happened now, Shrenn would be cemented as the dominant force in the system. The only thing they could hope to do was go along with it. On the other hand, Shrenn¡¯s dominance could easily cause trouble for the common folk if not carefully overseen. And the very fact that they considered themselves separate factions was bound to come up again at some point if the matter was not resolved. ¡°Thus, we will be giving the people the option to vote on whether they wish to unify once more. It¡¯s about time you spread out to the rest of your system, regardless,¡± Anton said. ¡°What people?¡± Lorena asked. ¡°The people,¡± Anton said. ¡°Everyone, from the most common up, with an equal say. But that won¡¯t come for some time. First, we will have everyone see what a few years of cooperation can do. And no, we aren¡¯t waiting any longer. I hate thinking of more people starving as we piddle about.¡± Ultimately, Anton thought he achieved positive results. It required more threats and violence than he had hoped, but less than he had feared. It was far from the worst case scenario. But he was going to have to be present in the system for some time to make sure they could actually manage peace. It was surprising how difficult it was for cultivators not to kill each other, and Anton knew he was no exception. ----- Captain Tiras had the squad marching almost immediately. ¡°Since there are no convenient locations to return to, we will have to make our own base of operations. Surrender to the enemy is impossible- the Harmonious Citadel does not show mercy to those who were their enemies. So we must fight to survive.¡± His bold proclamations did not happen all at once, but over the course of their journey. ¡°We cannot be the only ones to survive. Other soldiers must have fled from the cities as they were conquered. The devastation our scouts witnessed was insufficient to indicate they fought to the last. The war is not over. However, this region has experienced significant losses. That cannot be denied.¡± He nodded as he considered, ¡°We will first establish our position, then find connections. A route to join back up with others, or have them join us. We will not give up just yet.¡± Chidi found the speeches a little bit inspiring. Personally, he was already filled with confidence from his successful mission. The shadow of death over them couldn¡¯t weigh him down. The vice-captain Denitsa came up to him. ¡°How soon?¡± she asked. ¡°How soon for what?¡± Chidi replied. ¡°We haven¡¯t read all of the documents yet, so we can¡¯t know the full enemy battle plans¡­¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°How soon until you break through to Essence Collection?¡± ¡°Well, it could be¡­ a year or more. I¡¯ve been on the threshold for a while and I-¡± Chidi took stock of himself and realized that the mental pressure had been lifted. He knew what he wanted. More of this. The elation of surviving impossible situations. And, strangely, the terror of those dangerous situations themselves. He wanted to experience the extremes¡­ though he would most likely prefer to skew towards the positive things in life. He couldn¡¯t say that was the right choice on his path of cultivation, but he wasn¡¯t sure if anything could be more right than his straightforward desires. He realized he was going to have to study the Essence Collection portion of the Hundred Stars again- the sooner the better. No wonder cultivators sought out adversity. If you survived, it could reveal many things. Chapter 633 Waking up in the morning- or perhaps afternoon- Chidi felt calm and rested for the first time in what felt like forever. It hadn¡¯t even been a week since the conquest of Koton and Sieburn, but every moment had been taxing on his mind. More than he¡¯d realized, even. Now, he felt great. Everything was just better, his thoughts racing with ideas about how they could get out of their predicament. His body felt better as well, and his cultivation¡­ Was no longer the same. Aconite stirred with him, his bedroll and tent being just outside her den in this more permanent camp they had set up. She noticed immediately. ¡°You have advanced.¡± ¡°I¡­ suppose¡­¡± Chidi frowned, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s good, though. What if I did it wrong? It was too easy.¡± He hadn¡¯t even really noticed. It wasn¡¯t actually subconscious, but it hadn¡¯t been intentional either. ¡°Do not worry. That is simply a sign of your talent.¡± ¡°Talent?¡± Chidi shook his head, ¡°I was just lucky to be born into a family that could throw everything at me.¡± Aconite moved her large teeth close to his face. ¡°Don¡¯t be so harsh with yourself. The training you went through was still difficult, even if it was more accurately designed to help you improve. And we were successful in our mission. You don¡¯t think the Harmonious Citadel held back on us, do you?¡± ¡°No, of course not.¡± Wandering into the camp proper, he saw Denitsa, with her heavy hammer resting against the log she was sitting on. ¡°That was a fast year, huh?¡± ¡°What? Oh, well¡­¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°I guess I was ready.¡± ¡°Good. We need all the strength we can get. Your combat prowess wasn¡¯t bad before, but we won¡¯t be able to rely on backup now.¡± Chidi didn¡¯t have anything to say to that, so he let his mind wander to the distracting sensations that happened with every breath. The smells of mixed trees and various sorts of underbrush as well as soil were a level stronger, as he felt himself automatically making use of his greater energy potential. There was a certain amount he could use continuously, and his instincts were to make use of it. Useful, unless he specifically needed to hide. Speaking of hiding, he made a couple laps around the camp, checking on the formations. He didn¡¯t have any sudden new insights into the nature of formations, but he did spot a few minor flaws that he could fix. That might not have any direct relation to his cultivation, but could instead simply be the lifted fatigue. ----- Instead of immediately heading out again, the Scarlet Alliance squad focused on their camp first. Aconite was out hunting, to help build up their supplies. Twenty hungry humans and a large wolf could eat quite a bit, and the rations they¡¯d brought with them were already stretched thin. For the sake of keeping some sense of normalcy- and because they might need it- Captain Tiras set people on a training schedule. As cultivators, what exactly they might do was generally up to the individual, but it generally involved both training energy and sparring. Chidi was surprised to find himself approached by Ida, the oldest woman in their squad. Or at least, her wrinkled skin seemed to say so. It was possible others were older, but it was unlikely. Ida was another Essence Collection cultivator, somewhere around the early-mid stage. ¡°Good day,¡± Chidi said, inclining his head. He did so in a somewhat exaggerated manner, simply because it was easier for him if others did the same. Larger body movements were much easier to read than facial expressions. ¡°Are you perhaps interested in sparring? I am certain you are aware I just advanced, but I will do my best.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± the woman said. ¡°But that¡¯s not what I¡¯m after at the moment. I don¡¯t believe we¡¯ve been formally introduced. I¡¯m Ida.¡± ¡°Chidi Weston.¡± He had his father¡¯s surname, though he could also have used his mother¡¯s. She sometimes used her old one, not because of any particular reason except ¡®it was already used in all of the sect documents back on Ceretos¡¯. ¡°I¡¯d like you to teach me about scouting, if you can,¡± she said awkwardly. ¡°Sure,¡± Chidi immediately agreed. ¡°Really? I mean, I appreciate it, but I¡¯m old and my eyes aren¡¯t so good anymore¡­¡± ¡°Neither are mine,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Uh¡­¡± Ida took a step back, ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to-¡± ¡°Relax, I never had them,¡± Chidi waved her off. ¡°And I make do just fine. First, we should figure out what your best senses are. Because scouting is a battle of your senses against the enemy. The more you develop your strengths, the better you will do. Though you have to make use of everything you have to the best of your ability.¡± Most of what Chidi was saying came from Velvet, and probably from her master. But it was the best Chidi knew. ----- Most of the interactions between Shrenn and Tenoun¡¯a went through Anton, though he did want them to eventually manage that all themselves. However, both were more comfortable having a vaguely neutral third party involved. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. He found himself busy with many things, from going along with the first passenger ship from Tenoun¡¯a to Shrenn- carrying people looking for work- to making sure those same people were adequately housed and fed. The quality of their housing left a little to be desired, but they were constructed quickly- and not terribly divergent from the standard level of housing on Shrenn and the moons around it. Anton moved between all of them and various parts of Tenoun¡¯a, introducing crops both above and below ground. Crops that grew with little water were the best, but there were also plans in place to capture more. Shipping an ocean from a gas giant¡¯s icy moon was impractical, but redirecting icy comets was on the table. With some Life Transformation cultivators freed up, projects such as that which might otherwise be impractical were within the system¡¯s reach. The first season of crops were pathetic looking- especially those grown underground on Tenoun¡¯a- but the shriveled tubers were a step above what most people were able to get. Anton recruited many people for his projects, far more than either could have previously supported. Labor hadn¡¯t been the biggest problem, but instead places with arable land and access to water were¡­ nearly nonexistent. Even Shrenn had practically no water on the surface, though their underground water was more shallow. Speaking of water underground, Tenoun¡¯a did have water even deeper- beneath the elevators that Anton hadn¡¯t previously been allowed near. It was just a massive distance beneath the surface. Impractical to retrieve, and unfortunately much of the water cycled its way back there by leaching through the ground instead of being able to be reused up above. That was a problem partially solved by a sort of groundcover that could be plucked and wrung out to retrieve the water. Such manual effort was only worthwhile because of the extreme circumstances. Anton also had other plants- and fungus- that could grow in odd places that didn¡¯t even have soil. They were catered to have the side effect of improving the underground air quality. Unfortunately, not everything could be solved with plants. The animal life on both plants was nearly nonexistent, and bringing a couple hundred types of seeds would only create the barest bones of a proper ecosystem. Still, with proper tending and some use of natural energy, Anton knew they could create a sustainable loop. He did bring with him some soil, carefully selected for its insect and bacteria content. Earthworms were a favorite, but with the current quality they might actually starve. Shrenn and its moons were in a slightly better state, and with the ability to focus on their growing efforts rather than defenses, the process was faster. Especially on the moons, which at least hadn¡¯t been intentionally devastated since nobody had lived there during the long ago invasion. On that note, Anton made sure to coordinate with everyone on the tides of the world. That meant formations- what could be done with limited materials- and technique based manual restructuring of the area. Anton had enough insights to at least begin the process of diverting the flow away from their system, so that they were not spotted as they began to regain prosperity. A standard six centuries sounded like plenty of time to accomplish any project or build up to anything, but it really wasn¡¯t. Among other things the Trigold Cluster had their thousands of years of history without themselves having been devastated, at most taking some damage in wars against the Exalted Quadrant. They only had to commit a small portion of their resources to ruin a developing world, though it did take intention. And even they would miss Integration or Augmentation cultivators. Anton could see the system was on its trajectory, picking itself up out of the dry dirt and being able to return to some form of life that wasn¡¯t terrible. It might take a long time, but it could happen. As long as nobody screwed it up. Hopefully, they¡¯d dealt with the people who hated the thought of everyone being able to not starve. ----- In its own way, Rutera was amazing. Aoibhin could see the massive difference in natural energy between them and their neighbors, even with what she learned was a century of effort to build them up. Their technology was so advanced that things that seemed trivial to them were of great value to Ekict. It was unlikely they would replace much of what they currently had with technological hybrids anytime soon, but it was important to have the information available. Assimilation cultivators were fascinating. There was one who bound himself to a great tree. Not exactly mobile, even if his area of influence surpassed a continent. Within that domain, he could probably defeat most others. Those potentially able to overcome him included Anton, which was odd because he hadn¡¯t felt that strong in Ekict. Then again, from what she learned he seemed to draw power from stars, and didn¡¯t seem to have bound to Ekict¡¯s. He was a very interesting individual, though he was around his home system very little. Having gained the strength from defeating upper realm invaders, Ekict hadn¡¯t thought other worlds in the lower realms would be worth their time. This place was proving them wrong more and more. They were strong, but perhaps a bit too free with their information. Not that Aoibhin was going to complain, as she¡¯d been guided towards the path to Assimilation. The insights were quite interesting, if ultimately of no use- and others from Ekict could probably find value from them. The strangest individuals were one human, and one ant. Though all of the ants were strange. Void ants, they were called. Apparently, they could grow to be nearly the intelligence of a human. And they could eat natural energy, while being nearly invincible to it. The Great Queen was a well respected individual, and the progenitor of all of the other queens. There was also some connection to some fellow named Everheart, which was odd because that was the same name as some guy who caused trouble for the Trigold Cluster in the upper realms. Well, it didn¡¯t matter. The human was¡­ kind of like a void ant. Nthanda had apparently developed some abilities they had, but she was still human. And¡­ she only tempered her body. An anomaly. Dangerous because of it, but there were numerous others at a similar or greater level of power. Then there was Weos. They had spread throughout their system first, with powerful cultivators rivaling that of Ceretos. Of note was an individual named Shikoba, who had led a number of others along his same path. A cultivator that could control gravity, and a sort of power that was not connected to a single place- though perhaps more powerful within their system, because of their star¡¯s qualities. All of those were of interest to Aoibhin, and she knew of many more. She was looking forward to how these systems led to Ekict¡¯s growth. Though there was something that threw their plans way off track. A message came to her, one of the convenient devices these systems used. ¡°Honored Aoibhin Halloran, there is a matter you should be present for. A cultivator from Ekict has been found to be hiding the cultivation of the Twin Soul Sect. This is a serious matter that requires immediate attention.¡± And so it did. Aoibhin wished things could have just continued as they were. Everything had been going so well. Chapter 634 The bestial inhabitants of Yaitis were not necessarily pleased to have people around, and thus they kept approaching the camp. That made things easier for Aconite, since predators were still reasonable to eat. However, it was still annoying. Even if she was above traditional methods of marking her territory, the local beasts would figure it out eventually. It would simply take time for them to learn. Like this bear. It was what, twice her size? A significant physical advantage, and it was not lacking in cultivation either. No doubt this mother bear thought this territory was hers. Unfortunately the bear couldn¡¯t speak, so Aconite couldn¡¯t correct her the easy way. A half meter thick tree cracked at the swipe of a claw, Aconite jumping back out of the way. Traditional combat methods weren¡¯t going to work here. Something potent would be necessary¡­ but first, something to soften this woman up. A mess of powder was grabbed out of one of Aconite¡¯s bags, both because it was difficult to be precise with such things and because erring on the larger end would be necessary for such a beast. Instead of spreading it out, Aconite just slapped it with her tail right towards the bear¡¯s face. Recognizing it as some sort of attack, the bear swiped it away, but that was an acceptable outcome. Much of the powder would blow away, certainly, but some would cling to the paw or scatter into the nearby air. Aconite dipped her snout into another bag, pulling out a clay container which she crunched between her teeth. Keeping it from spilling out the side of her mouth or down her throat were the hard parts, and she chewed the shards of hardened clay to get the last bits of liquid sticking to her teeth. The wolf lunged, sinking her teeth into the thick fur at the shoulder but avoiding a troublesome swipe. She did her best to keep her grip, but the bear whirled wildly, flinging her through the air and through the canopy of a tree. Eventually Aconite came down and spit out the chunks of fur in her teeth. She did taste a little blood, and since her teeth didn¡¯t hurt too much it probably wasn¡¯t from that. Good. The bear stomped forward, not realizing that she was already dead. Aconite just had to keep her active, the poison pumping through her bloodstream, and the mother bear would be down. It wasn¡¯t personal, nor had Aconite threatened her cubs. The mother bear had just overreacted, and that was what she got. At least as a beast she had an excuse, unlike human cultivators. ----- Since it wasn¡¯t possible to avoid settlements forever, Chidi had scouted out a few smaller ones. Hopefully they would have some information. Unfortunately, while their security was irrelevant, very little was written down in records. So interacting with the villages directly would be required. That¡­ was not Chidi¡¯s job. So Captain Tiras had come with him. ¡°So,¡± Captain Tiras said to the village elder. ¡°You want us to kill this ¡®Goliath¡¯ for you?¡± ¡°Yes. The cultivators in our village aren¡¯t strong enough to deal with it. And because of the conflict, the local sects haven¡¯t been able to hear our request. We would be quite grateful,¡± the man said. ¡°And we have information.¡± ¡°As long as the information is good,¡± Captain Tiras nodded. ¡°But if you lie to us¡­¡± ¡°Certainly not,¡± the elder shook his head. His heartrate didn¡¯t sound afraid, though Chidi was willing to attribute that to how old he was. A man who had only achieved Body Tempering in his life would have to grow used to the danger of those who were stronger. ¡°I assure you it will be quite helpful¡­ but we do need the aid.¡± ¡°What does Goliath look like?¡± ¡°A tremendous bear, the size of a mountain.¡± ----- Their hunt took them back to camp where their mission had already been completed before it was assigned. That saved them some work, at least. Then it was back to the village with proof- just the creature¡¯s head was heavy enough. And though it felt like a million steps, it was actually a fairly straightforward trade. Then the information was theirs. A location where Scarlet Alliance soldiers were hiding. They were quite happy to join up with the squad, which technically made the group more than a squad. But they were still led by Captain Tiras. ----- Sharpness. The sort that made every blade Chidi had ever felt or imagined feel like it was about as sharp as a bowl of soup. The whole world was cut in half, including Chidi sliced into two equal pieces. It wasn¡¯t a long, drawn out process, but rather everything was over in an instant from the recognition of the sharpness to the end. Chidi jerked awake with a start. A dream. Did it have something to do with Rakiya? Was she coming? He didn¡¯t feel anything, but perhaps it was a premonition. Cultivators got those sometimes. Unfortunately, if they had been found out it was too late. They wouldn¡¯t be able to run from an Integration cultivator, so remaining in their sanctuary was all they could do. And Chidi wasn¡¯t convinced of that interpretation of the feeling. It felt more real than a dream. Yet strangely his memory now was dull. Distant. ----- In the morning, Chidi led Ida and other prospective scouts on a short excursion, away from Sieburn. They were already quite some distance away, but getting any closer would open them up to patrols which they were not ready to deal with yet. Chidi could direct people how to hide, but they would learn best if they could do it on their own, perhaps with minor correction. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Chidi was alert for all sorts of dangers. Beasts were the most common, though his improved cultivation made him less afraid. He wasn¡¯t exactly speeding through Essence Collection- it would take a total of three or four months to reach the next rank- but each small improvement meant more at the higher stage. And it also came with a confidence in his path, not for everyone but at least for himself. There was something wrong with the area around Chidi, but though he trusted his instincts he couldn¡¯t tell what it was. He couldn¡¯t find anything hidden, traps or ambush predators or enemy soldiers. Nor was there any sort of poison or formation that he could pick out. What was it? He felt a vague directionality to it, and generally lead them along that path- though he tried to avoid being too close to the wrongness. Some of the trainees spotted hiding animals, one of the exercises Chidi had for them. Animals without cultivation blended into the world better, and even if they weren¡¯t a threat to most cultivators it was still good training. Then it was time for a break. They would likely be returning soon. Then Isa leaned against a nearby boulder¡­ only for it to almost fall on top of her. But Isa, even as an old woman, was still an Essence Collection cultivator. She caught herself and twirled around, weapon in hand. To face off against¡­ just a boulder. Or maybe two boulders, previously one except for the smooth surfaces that now separated it into two. Chidi¡¯s hair raised up on the back of his neck. How could someone cut the boulder in half with none of them noticing? He approached carefully, taking a look at the evidence. There was no point in hiding- anyone who could do that could certainly cut any of them apart several meters further away. After studying the marks, Chidi was relieved. At least for their current situation. Someone hadn¡¯t come along and chopped the boulder in half just now. Instead, he determined that it had been cut in half long before- but so precisely that it still clung together until disturbed. The odd part was that the same impossible thin cut continued downward into the earth below. The worrying part was how that same cut continued in both directions for as far as Chidi could sense. ¡°What is it?¡± Isa asked. ¡°Just to be clear, can you see this cut in the dirt?¡± Chidi knew eyes were very good at distance, and sometimes they picked out small details, but¡­ Isa shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t. Not directly, at least. Though along with the boulder, that blade of grass and that leaf¡­¡± Chidi sighed. How had he missed all of that? Flat edges were totally unnatural, and though two random pieces of leaves didn¡¯t seem like a danger on their own, he should have noticed that sort of thing earlier. But now that it was mentioned, he could feel that sort of thing everywhere. As the squad returned- Chidi wasn¡¯t suddenly going to lead them off on an expedition to find the far end of that cut- Chidi observed how trees were cut in half. Unless he peeled at their bark and prodded them, they didn¡¯t even leak sap where they were technically cut in two. Twigs and debris on the ground had fallen apart, and Chidi couldn¡¯t help but think of someone flying along, dragging a long blade below them. Though an uncomfortable feeling in his gut told him that wasn¡¯t right. ----- The whole purpose of being on Torthunes was luring the saints into a trap. They had hoped for fewer than three, but three was what they got. And with how things had progressed, Catarina thought they had a pretty good chance of taking out one. Yet she would have happily let them all go, leaving things a stalemate, if she had the option. It had been more than a month since they lost contact with Yaitis, where Chidi was participating in the war. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t have let him go¡­¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°I do believe that should have been my line,¡± Timothy countered. ¡°But we did. And we couldn¡¯t have reasonably refused. Unless we kept him locked up.¡± Catarina¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°You think that would work?¡± ¡°Catarina¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯d only have to do it until he could break out of whatever formation I set up on his own!¡± Catarina countered. ¡°So once we get him back¡­¡± ¡°Still not a good idea,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But we will get him back. After we kill a saint or two, to make him safer in the future.¡± ¡°Which one do you think would be easiest to kill?¡± ¡°The axe. They¡¯re easiest to counter.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Hoyt yelled from the other side of the war camp. ¡°This is a private conversation!¡± Timothy yelled back. ¡°Not if you¡¯re talking loud enough for me to hear without trying!¡± Hoyt said as he approached. ¡°Whatever,¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°Anyway, you hardly count. Sure, you use an axe¡­ but you¡¯re no longer refusing to incorporate things like Falling Stars. And my words are still true, especially considering the Harmonious Citadel. Are you saying you wouldn¡¯t have the easiest time taking out Abhilash?¡± ¡°Out of the three here? I suppose. Though I¡¯ll admit to not being up for the task alone just yet.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Timothy said. ¡°We¡¯re not Augmentation cultivators yet. That¡¯s still a good way off. But¡­ as one of many involved in such a battle, we can target him. If we can get one pinned down by the trap formations and Tauno faces off against Luksa with the morningstar, I think we can manage.¡± ¡°And then we can go kill everyone threatening Chidi,¡± Catarina declared. ¡°Agreed,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Absolutely,¡± Hoyt nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll never let anything happen to your boy¡­ but we also have to remain here to keep the saints pinned down so they can¡¯t cause trouble there either.¡± ¡°That makes sense, unless there¡¯s a saint there too¡­¡± Catarina said with a frown. ¡°That would explain how they managed to cut off all communication at once. It would take a team of formation masters, but also overwhelming force.¡± ¡°Velvet¡¯s been keeping tabs on them as much as possible¡­ but perhaps it¡¯s possible,¡± Timothy admitted. ¡°Either way, we¡¯ll have to trust in what we taught him, and in Aconite. We¡¯ll reunite soon enough, you¡¯ll see.¡± Chapter 635 The cut through the ground did stop eventually, several kilometers from where it was first discovered. Chidi couldn¡¯t help but stop and inspect it more closely. It became shallower at the end, the very edge coming out the surface. That meant it did not align with his fanciful imagining where a flying individual cut the world below them, unless they happened to dip downward in a smooth curve. There was only so far that Chidi could sense underground, and since the cut was so thin it didn¡¯t leave the earth open. However, judging from what he could feel of the curve, he supposed the cut should extend at least as far in the other direction, past the furthest point they¡¯d gone. Chidi almost wanted to stay and look at it forever, but even if this wasn¡¯t a sign of immediate danger, it should be reported to the others. So he took the burgeoning scouts back to camp, where he explained the situation to Captain Tiras. Basics answers were easy, but Tiras had some more complicated questions. ¡°What do you think it was for?¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Testing a blade, perhaps, or a new form?¡± ¡°Do you think it was Rakiya?¡± Chidi folded his arms, concentrating on recalling the feel of Rakiya and her blade. ¡°The cut didn¡¯t leave behind any traces of energy, but it just doesn¡¯t feel like her.¡± ¡°No traces of energy?¡± Tiras frowned, ¡°Could it have been from a long time ago?¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°I think it was last night.¡± He couldn¡¯t forget that dream. But while in the dream the whole world had been bisected, here that was clearly not the case. He had the feeling that the intent was there, but perhaps the goal was impossible. ¡°The plants hadn¡¯t recovered from the damage, even the ones that only needed to fix a thin cut still held together.¡± ¡°Not Rakiya. Perhaps¡­ the sword saint?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go so far as to say it would be anyone like that,¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°Or rather, the sword saint was here, would we not have seen evidence of such a thing in the cities?¡± There had been damage to Sieburn¡¯s walls from a cut, but in Chidi¡¯s estimation- that of a cultivator more than two whole phases of cultivation lower- those cuts were far too inelegant to be from the same person. And they properly matched what should have been Rakiya¡¯s level of ability. ¡°Who else could it be?¡± Tiras wondered. ¡°One of the other elite Harmonious Citadel sword disciples?¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But¡­ perhaps I can return to inspect the rest of it. To see if there are any signs.¡± Yes, that was a good enough excuse. And he would be inspecting the area. He would also just be taking in the feeling of it. It was like the danger of dangling over a cliff. Enticing, in a certain strange fashion. ----- A woman was shackled, wrists and ankles bound behind her and a metal collar wrapped around her neck to another chain pulling her head forward. It didn¡¯t look comfortable at all, and of course it was not supposed to be. It was meant to maximally restrict movement, though the enchantments in the manacles and the formations around the area were likely sufficient on their own. Still, it was clear the threat was taken very seriously. Aoibhin took it all in, frowning. ¡°Are you certain she is part of the Twin Soul Sect?¡± The man who answered was one of the so-called Assimilation cultivators local to Facraona. Myles of the Pink Pollen Sect, if she recalled correctly. ¡°Yes, we are quite certain.¡± ¡°How? They do not easily reveal themselves.¡± ¡°A method was developed here, based on previous infiltrations. It is very reliable.¡± Aoibhin felt something as Myles looked at her. Was it a test? Well, if he was truthful then nothing would be found. She was clean of the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s filth. ¡°Normally, we would dispose of any such individuals, but since she is a cultivator from Ekict¡­¡± ¡°Just because she was there doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s part of us,¡± Aoibhin frowned. ¡°I thought we got them all¡­¡± It was an actual serious concern that perhaps they hadn¡¯t. ¡°Can we learn how to detect them?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Myles nodded. Aoibhin felt a bit uncomfortable around him, as she felt shifting something under his robes. Whether it was the titular pollen or some other poison, she knew that an Assimilation cultivator could make great use of anything. Potentially even more than an Integration cultivator that was fully adapted to natural energy, which was a bit of a concern. ¡°We will gladly share it with you, though I must caution you to keep it out of the hands of the Twin Soul Sect. It might be possible for them to find a counter.¡± ¡°A fair point,¡± Aoibhin nodded. ¡°Would you like to speak to the prisoner? You may be able to get more information than us. She¡¯s¡­ strangely resistant to our techniques. Almost as if she was an Integration cultivator, but there should be no way they would stay around after an invasion¡­ and she seems too young.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say I¡¯m much of an interrogator, but I¡¯ll try,¡± Aoibhin said. ¡°Great. It should be safe, but be cautious.¡± The cell opened, and Aoibhin stepped beyond the concealing formations. Immediately, the other woman called out to her. ¡°Aoibhin! Please, get me out of here. They think I¡¯m part of the Twin Soul Sect, but we both know I¡¯m not really-¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Aoibhin¡¯s spear was through the woman¡¯s throat and out the back of her neck a moment later. ¡°I don¡¯t like being lied to.¡± She stepped outside, looking over at Myles. ¡°Oh, my apologies. I let my feelings get the best of me.¡± ¡°It would have been better to be able to interrogate her further,¡± Myles said, ¡°But ultimately, the matter was also something Ekict should be able to handle as they see fit. As for the technique, we¡¯ll distribute it to you and some of the others of sufficient status who have been properly inspected. If you cannot solve the problem internally¡­ you know we¡¯ll happily kill invaders from the upper realms.¡± ¡°I think we can handle it,¡± Aoibhin said. ¡°But I suppose I should quickly learn that technique.¡± What a pain. This made things more complicated. If the technique worked properly and they really did find members of the Twin Soul Sect hiding among them it would set them back quite a bit. But they couldn¡¯t risk keeping a single cultivator from the upper realms. ----- Even knowing what he did, Chidi was reluctant to step across the dividing line of the slash. Obviously the attack had come and gone, but he still got the feeling of being chopped apart every time. It didn¡¯t seem to happen to anyone else, though, so he put up with it. And though terrifying, it was quite useful. Chidi liked to imagine his sword skills improved with every moment. Not that such a thing could actually be possible, because he had not the slightest idea how to replicate such a feat. It wouldn¡¯t be enough to have a powerful cultivation. There had to be more to it. Some sort of stance, a special motion, and greater understanding. He couldn¡¯t pick that up just from the lingering effects of something, could he? He collapsed to his knees as they approached a particular point. It was just the same as everywhere else, just more of the same slash. But here, the feeling was stronger. For a moment Chidi felt a powerful presence looking down, a sword moving yet never changing its position. Then it was over. ¡°Sir, are you alright?¡± Ida asked. ¡°Sorry,¡± Chidi climbed to his feet. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I think this is the central point, where the grandmaster stood. Also, you really don¡¯t have to call me sir. Your cultivation is higher¡­¡± ¡°It is for now,¡± Ida agreed. ¡°But I¡¯m never going to have any real position besides being a footsoldier.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true,¡± Chidi countered. ¡°You can definitely become a proper scout with enough training.¡± ¡°Even if that is true, since I am being taught by you it would be quite appropriate to use honorifics.¡± Chidi couldn¡¯t argue with that. Usually, people were polite because he was blind or because of his parents- those who were not polite and formal with everyone, of course. This time, he¡¯d actually done something¡­ even if it was only clumsily replicating the training of the spymaster. They followed the slash to its other end, totalling tens of kilometers. It was much more concerning that the attack reached everything along that range, though the maximum distance was also more than Chidi could reasonably think about. If he stretched himself, he could perhaps reach a dozen meters beyond the tip of his blade, but his power would significantly wane. He would grow many times stronger throughout Essence Collection and then Life Transformation of course, but it was still hard to comprehend. ----- Rather than sneaking into occupied cities, the best way to get some information was catching messengers. Why would the Harmonious Citadel use messengers? Partly because they did not know how to produce communication devices that worked to the same standards. Maybe a sense of traditionalism, or because they were concerned to allow the messages to be intercepted. That was apparently something that could happen, though Chidi knew that like anything countermeasures could be taken. And perhaps counter-countermeasures, in an endless cycle where nobody could be quite sure what was secret. The easy answer at the moment, of course, was that the formations that prevented Chidi¡¯s messages from leaving the planet also restricted the Harmonious Citadel. Thus, they could send runners, riders, or fliers. The latter was usually messenger birds- cultivators who could fly were usually too important to use as messengers. They would more likely have a message delivered to them. The fliers Chidi had no hope of dealing with, though they did have some archers among their group. Unless one flew just over the treeline, it would be too far for Chidi to feel except perhaps through the disturbance of the air propagating downward. He didn¡¯t have the range either way, and it would be difficult for him to determine if it was carrying anything of note. Those on the ground, however, had to follow roads. And if they were riding a swift mount, Aconite would be perfect for chasing them down. It was difficult to get mounts that could outpace an Essence Collection equivalent- though they likely had some. The plan for those was to catch them in a trap, anything from a pitfall to a bear trap to simply blocking off their retreat with more people. So far, they had caught two messengers along this same road. The contents of their satchels hadn¡¯t been terribly important, but eventually¡­ they could get something of value. And though Chidi had been quite satisfied with his infiltration of Sieburn, he wasn¡¯t looking forward to repeating the process. Especially since they¡¯d be watching for tunnels. Chidi ducked, but he was too slow. His arm was cut off at the shoulder, then his head came off his shoulders. Except¡­ there was no pain? And no damage around him. His neck was exactly where it should be, and Chidi didn¡¯t have even an impossibly thin cut. That was good, because he honestly wasn¡¯t certain what that would do to a living person. But he¡¯d certainly gotten the feeling. Aconite prompted him. ¡°What is it?¡± her head darted in all directions. ¡°Just my imagination, maybe. I¡¯m getting jumpy because of that sword slash.¡± He heard a sound down the road. ¡°Someone¡¯s coming.¡± Good. The waiting had been getting to him. From the rhythm of the movement, it should be a rider. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Aconite while the others spread out on their side of the road, keeping far enough back to stay properly hidden. They were still learning the finer details, after all. Then it didn¡¯t matter, as Chidi and Aconite pounced. Covering the intervening dozens of meters in an instant, Aconite took down the steed- a large bull of some sort. Chidi cut the messenger¡¯s satchel off, his blade stopping before it cut deep into the woman herself. Perhaps if she survived they could interrogate her. Something was approaching. Something recognized, if not strictly familiar. A dangerous sharpness at a concerning speed. So that was it. A trap. Three times was too many, it seemed. Aconite was cut in half. No, she was going to be. Chidi shoved her away with his right arm, for a moment feeling his arm separating at the shoulder. But he managed to pull back just in time for both of them to be safe, the flying slash cutting a wide gouge in the ground. The width of a fist at the top narrowing down to a point below, at least a dozen meters long and launched from hundreds of meters away. The blade was Rakiya¡¯s¡­ and Chidi knew he was dead. Avoiding one casual attack wouldn¡¯t change that. Chapter 636 Chidi was dead. Or he would be. A blade with the force sufficient to bisect a mountain sliced towards Chidi. Instead of doing something sensible like dodging- not that he had time to do so- Chidi thought about how true that thought was. Could that blade cut a mountain? Perhaps not. But if he were to compare himself, the attack coming for him, and the one that had cut a concerningly large slice of the nearby province, the latter two were closer together in magnitude than he was to what was about to kill him. Yet somehow, his brain managed to finish that thought. ¡°Hey,¡± said an unfamiliar but distinctly feminine voice. ¡°You seem like the sort that should have noticed my challenge.¡± Ah. There was a woman standing in front of him. And¡­ a hundred swords? He couldn¡¯t quite count, but it was a field of death. One he didn¡¯t belong anywhere near, nor did he have any intent of listening in on their conversation. ¡°You¡¯ve finally shown yourself!¡± That was Rakiya¡¯s voice. ¡°You¡¯ve been hiding for two decades, and you finally returned for our rematch!¡± ¡°Hey, who is that?¡± the strange woman¡¯s head turned towards Chidi as he was just backing away. ¡°Do you know her? Also wouldn¡¯t you have been a baby two decades ago?¡± Chidi froze. He didn¡¯t want this attention on him. ¡°That¡¯s Rakiya.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you don¡¯t remember me!¡± Strangely, Chidi was unable to feel the incoming sword swipes. It was not that they were concealed, and he heard the sound of blades whistling through the air. But it was like there was an impassable barrier where danger ended, just in front of him. There was no longer a sword moving with great speed towards him- it was just a device made of metal, incapable of attacking. ¡°No really,¡± said the strange woman. ¡°Who is she?¡± Chidi felt like he should answer. ¡°As I said, she is Rakiya. Most notably, she cut off the arm of Grandmaster Chikere.¡± ¡°Oh. Oh!¡± Two sword-wielding arms pointed towards Rakiya, changing their stance. Except¡­ one of them felt wrong, somehow. ¡°That was you?¡± ¡°As if you could ever forget!¡± The perfect counters for the incoming strikes flashed in Chidi¡¯s mind, ingrained there from years of practicing Citadel¡¯s Downfall. And the swordmaster blocking the way¡­ did none of them. One of her swords just floated out, touching the tip of the incoming blade and just¡­ completely negating its momentum. ¡°Yeah I totally forgot about that,¡± the odd woman said. ¡°Whatever. I can beat you with one arm.¡± ¡°You can try, but-¡± The odd woman turned around and looked directly at Chidi. But her right arm¡­ stayed in place? ¡°Seriously, it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal. I don¡¯t get what her problem is.¡± ¡°Sorry, um, grandmaster¡­ do you happen to be Chikere?¡± ¡°Obviously. Don¡¯t you recognize me?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never encountered you before in my life,¡± Chidi said. ¡°You went away before I was even conceived.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got a good point there,¡± Chikere nodded. Her floating arm was deflecting all of Rakiya¡¯s attacks. ¡°Your, um¡­ your arm came off.¡± ¡°Yeah, it does that,¡± Chikere agreed. ¡°I mean, technically I¡¯m not supposed to disconnect it. But it¡¯s my arm, you know?¡± Chidi literally had no words. ¡°Anyway, you¡¯re uh¡­ Chidi, right?¡± He nodded. ¡°My parents named me after you. If you are Chikere.¡± ¡°I am. And I can prove it! But since you can¡¯t, I guess I can¡¯t have you compare to a picture of me. Oh, I know.¡± The sound of clashing steel. A blade whirled through the air, landing in the ground twenty meters behind a stunned Rakiya. ¡°I¡¯ll teach you to defeat her. Then you¡¯ll know I am who I say I am.¡± ¡°What?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Yeah, what?¡± Rakiya had no weapon, but Chidi could feel her glare settling on them. ¡°I said,¡± Chikere waved her hand. ¡°I¡¯ll teach this kid to defeat you. Just give me¡­ I dunno, thirty years.¡± ¡°... I just entered Essence Collection,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Twenty-five, then.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not better!¡± Chidi choked out. ¡°She¡¯s an Integration cultivator!¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know if I can reach Life Transformation by then!¡± ¡°Hmmn.¡± Suddenly, the entire world was blades. Chidi couldn¡¯t do anything but pull his arms in and rotate his body slightly, as if that could somehow save him from the surrounding field of death. But it did. Sure, he knew the blades were heading towards their current positions, but why would they stop? ¡°What, did you think I¡¯d actually stab you? We haven¡¯t even started training yet!¡± Chikere said. ¡°Your sword is fine, by the way,¡± she said, almost touching it with her face as she leaned towards it. ¡°And yours sucks!¡± she yelled over her shoulder toward Rakiya. ¡°What did you even do to it?¡± ¡°My blade is attuned to the essence of the Sword Saint,¡± Rakiya said with teeth gritted. Every time she tried to move to retrieve her blade, or pull out another one, the floating arm poked the sword it held slightly further into her neck. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Ruined. Utter garbage. Can¡¯t even perform a small percentage of the best techniques.¡± ¡°It is optimized for the perfection of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s style.¡± ¡°See, little guy, this is why you can beat her. Anyway, we¡¯re going now.¡± She started walking, indirectly herding Chidi with her field of blades. Aconite stood slightly further along the path, confused. ¡°Oh hey, Spikes! You¡¯re uh¡­ smaller?¡± ¡°This is Aconite,¡± Chidi introduced her. ¡°Cool. Wanna learn how to use a sword?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that would¡­ work.¡± Chikere seemed to understand wolfspeak¡­ enough. ¡°Don¡¯t wanna? Well, your loss.¡± Chidi made sure to grab the messenger¡¯s bag as they walked along the road, the rest of the squad joining them. He wasn¡¯t sure if it would have anything useful- especially if it was actually intended as a trap- but he didn¡¯t want to just leave it. As for Rakiya, she made one more move to follow- and ended up with her foot impaled to the ground. Chidi felt it probably wouldn¡¯t have long-term effects, but it seemed enough of a deterrent. He kept his senses focused behind them just in case she chose to follow, though. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± said the odd woman who was the source of his name. ¡°She¡¯s not coming.¡± ¡°How can you tell?¡± ¡°Her sword is still back there. Obviously.¡± A moment of silence. ¡°Hey my communication thing seems to be busted, can you fix it? Your mom made it.¡± Chidi took it in his hands. ¡°It seems to be in working order. There is, however, a planetary formation limiting them.¡± ¡°Oh. Maybe I could¡­¡± Another silence. ¡°Maybe you could¡­ what?¡± ¡°I was thinking about cutting it apart, but we¡¯re going to be busy with training so I¡¯m not gonna.¡± ¡°We could really use that formation being taken out¡­¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°Eh, I¡¯ll think about it. First, did you feel me challenge?¡± ¡°Was that the mountain you cut apart?¡± ¡°Yeah! I knew you¡¯d feel it, little me. I considered trying to cut apart the whole planet¡­¡± Chidi shivered, recalling the dream, ¡°But I stopped with that. I wasn¡¯t that confident and I didn¡¯t want to get most of the way and look like a doofus.¡± ¡°... Also people live here.¡± ¡°Eh, it wasn¡¯t going to fall apart. Not that way.¡± ¡°... Could you really have cut Yaitis most of the way in half?¡± ¡°Yaitis? Oh, this planet? Yeah probably. Maybe even the whole way but¡­ well, I have some insights to digest still.¡± Chidi was not dead. But he was still wondering if he was going to be okay. ----- Catarina¡¯s gums were bleeding from how hard she was clenching her teeth. Each swing from Abhilash was a tremendous echoing of power as his axe nearly cut through space itself to slice apart her, her husband, and many others. But her manual control of the formation had the area on lockdown, and she was manually tuning it to his energy and style. At the current moment, the power of formation was based in ice- but the sun was coming out. Bad timing, but that was how it was. She was almost knocked off her feet, but held steady. Timothy stood with her, a comforting hand placed on her shoulder as she focused her energy on the formation. Years of work had gone into the formation¡¯s creation, though it wasn¡¯t as powerful as it might have been with access to greater resources on a planet that was properly populated. Months of work had gone into the plan, and it took weeks to actually lure Abhilash in- while at the same time keeping the others split up. If all was going well, Tauno was in combat with Luksa. That would leave only the shield cultivator, Eterna. Her offensive capabilities were least concerning of the group- though she would still need to be pinned down by a dozen or so Integration cultivators. From here, they had several paths to success. First, Tauno defeating Luksa. That was unlikely, even if he was the stronger of the two. Preventing her retreat wouldn¡¯t be simple, and she would not be without her own forces. However, if he did manage to kill or seriously injure her, that could snowball into killing Abhilash as well. Though Catarina would have preferred to make a directional formation through which to continuously assault their captured enemy, it would have lost some efficiency. And considering that it was barely putting up with the strain as it was, that would have meant it falling apart almost immediately. At some point, raw power overtook planning. Unless they could counter with their own raw power, but keeping a formation like this secret but effective was the most important. If Abhilash had been able to sense it, he would never have stepped into the area. That came with restrictions in power- or another decade of construction they simply did not have time for. ¡°A message for councilor Catarina!¡± a messenger appeared sometime during the wrestling match- though Catarina felt she was winning. The formation was not going to easily run out of power, but Abhilash would fatigue himself attacking like that. If he weakened himself too much, they could just kill him. Potentially. ¡°It better be an emergency,¡± Catarina said with clenched teeth. ¡°You were instructed to receive the information even in a combat scenario.¡± ¡°What is it? News about Chidi?¡± ¡°Y- uh, you¡¯d better read it. Or¡­¡± ¡°Have Timothy read it.¡± Timothy looked it over himself. ¡°Chikere is back.¡± ¡°And she¡¯s coming here?¡± ¡°She showed up, asked questions, and then commandeered a ship. But it does not appear she was heading towards Torthunes, but rather Yaitis.¡± ¡°... She¡¯d better take care of our son.¡± ¡°I¡¯m certain she¡­ won¡¯t let him die.¡± Catarina focused on the frozen red pillars around the formation, now dripping a substance that was conclusively proven to be at most a small percentage blood. Too bad it had no power there. Instead, it was melting. That meant switching over to the heat based power. ¡°Timothy.¡± Catarina said only that, with no other instructions. But he nodded, standing ready. Three formation plate were in front of Catarina, carved with various runes connected in different ways to the formation as a whole. The first she flipped over, a momentary fluctuation letting Abhilash shake the surroundings. No doubt he would have noticed the change. Otherwise he would have never become an Augmentation cultivator. She skipped the one in the middle, flipping the one on the right. Flames began to pour into the chamber, as the sun rose into the sky to melt and boil. Abhilash swung with his great might, cutting into the melting icy pillars. The formation was not quite down, but it was not at maximum solidity. The next step had to be perfect, or the whole thing would fall apart within the hour. Catarina pushed a surge of energy through the system, but Abhilash didn¡¯t fall for her feint. Then she placed her fingers on the third formation plate¡­ twisting it, rotating it within its confines instead of lifting it out. The fluctuations would be different, which was why she saved it for last. Outside of the formation, a great axe rose into the sky. It chopped downward like a guillotine, aiming for Catarina and the formation plates and everything else. It cut through the sky until it stopped, quavering. Timothy held his shield high, prepared for this possibility. He strained against the power. Even though it was transmitted out of a half effective formation, he couldn¡¯t fully withstand it. But his style was meant to counter a stronger offense. Some of the power vibrated back along its course¡­ and Catarina¡¯s transition finished the job, snapping the gap closed. Flames covered Abhilash, who seemed to find it to be optimal to conserve his energy for the moment, forming a protective bubble around himself¡­ and waiting. Timothy looked at his left hand, fingers and wrist swelling already. Whether anything technically broke he was not sure, but he also felt the strain in his elbow and shoulder. But he wasn¡¯t dead- and Catarina was uninjured. His body would heal¡­ and he would be one step closer to Augmentation himself. Though that had never been the intent, surviving an attack like that was useful for anyone¡¯s growth. Chapter 637 Yesterday, Chidi had plans to creep around in the wilderness trying to find scraps of information. Today, he just had to try to survive. Up to his current point he had not considered training to be dangerous, had not feared for his life except on missions where he was supposed to experience danger. Even there, it was only his inexperience or mistakes that brought him to the edge. He leaned back, a line of blood drawn across his throat across his skin. Any deeper and it would have nicked something critical. His sword came up to parry a thrust, deflecting it passed his ribs. For the situation being almost exactly fair, he¡¯d never felt anything more unfair. With Grandmaster Chikere matching or even undercutting the amount of energy he was using, he couldn¡¯t get in half a move and could only defend. Her sword was held in two hands, at least for the moment. At any point, she could switch to dual blades or her preferred fighting style. Chidi couldn¡¯t deal with any of them. ¡°Enough!¡± he said, pulling back. ¡°I can¡¯t keep up with it. You¡¯re too fast.¡± ¡°Hmm, really? I was just getting started.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t see your blade. I can only hear it cutting through the air, and I can¡¯t react fast enough.¡± Plus the force of her blows was somehow more than he could deal with, always coming in at the worst angles for him. ¡°My energy senses just get thrown off from the fluctuations of our clash.¡± ¡°Ah, there¡¯s your problem. Sure, sight is a useful tool¡­ but none of your senses will keep up with proper training.¡± ¡°But my training¡­ this is way more than my parents required. And you haven¡¯t taught me anything.¡± Grandmaster Chikere¡­ she might have been a genius, but Chidi couldn¡¯t say she was a good teacher. ¡°You aren¡¯t going to learn anything from me if you can¡¯t push yourself a little. And you¡¯ve definitely learned something, because I¡¯ve seen your improvement already. Otherwise you¡¯d be bleeding on the ground. But¡­ I think I get what your problem is. Your senses just aren¡¯t working for you. But you need to feel the swords.¡± ¡°I do,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I can feel their sharpness, their smoothness, their weight. But I can¡¯t do anything about it.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s interesting at all, but you don¡¯t really feel them. Like, which sword is in my right hand?¡± Chidi frowned. Her power had suddenly spiked, preventing his energy senses from getting anywhere close. His enhanced touch relied on the same thing, and with the blade perfectly still he couldn¡¯t discern anything. Maybe if he listened to the wind? But her aura was suppressing even the moments of the air around her. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t pierce through your aura,¡± Chidi admitted reluctantly. ¡°That¡¯s the point. You need to feel it.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°You just do.¡± With frustration evident on his face, she continued. ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s not natural to you. I thought it would be, as you seemed sensitive to such things. Well, in that case¡­ training¡¯s over.¡± ¡°What, like¡­ for today?¡± ¡°Maybe forever. I can¡¯t really teach that so¡­¡± As unfair as the training had felt, suddenly having the chance withdrawn was much worse. ¡°But- wait, please. I need to be stronger.¡± ¡°Oh, well if that¡¯s your goal I couldn¡¯t help you anyway.¡± ¡°What do you mean? You¡¯re one of the strongest people I¡¯ve heard of, one of the strongest my parents know.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, I don¡¯t know how to be strong. I just know swords.¡± A slight breath as she pondered. ¡°How about this. I have some things I should have probably done first here on Yaitis. I¡¯ll be gone a week or so. Until that time, spend time with your sword. You¡¯re not allowed to sheathe it or put it down until I get back. Then we¡¯ll see.¡± Chidi didn¡¯t know what any of that would do, or really how his namesake thought at all. But it was, at least, the first clear instruction he¡¯d receive. He¡¯d try it, with the intent to learn¡­ whatever it seemed he was missing. ----- At first Chidi got odd looks, but when he said it was instructions from Grandmaster Chikere everyone just sort of shrugged it off. He carried his sword around, swapping hands as was convenient. Eating and changing clothes were the hardest, or anything that normally required two hands. Without tables, he had to balance a bowl in his lap and spoon food in, which was a bit awkward. Every way he held the sword was awkward unless he was actively training. Was that what she wanted, for him to practice forms nonstop? To spar? She hadn¡¯t said anything about any of that. The balance of the blade was just slightly in front of the crossguard, as was the case for many straight swords. For some reason, that made Chidi want to hold onto it there, but he resisted the instinct for a while. After all, he couldn¡¯t just go wrapping his fingers around a sharp blade¡­ could he? His conscious mind might have considered that, but his subconscious didn¡¯t let it go. The thought remained in the back of his mind until he woke up wrapped around his blade. Chidi knew that even with the enchantments on the blade, without speed it likely wouldn¡¯t cut him with the automatic amount of energy he coated himself with. But it was still disconcerting. As his fingers held onto the blade, he could feel the sharpness a tiny distance away. And he wondered why he was shying away. He knew how blades worked well enough. Even without his energy he should be able to hold onto it without hurting himself. As long as he didn¡¯t squeeze directly on the sharp edge or slice his fingers by moving the blade, it should be perfectly safe. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Later that day he was carrying it around exactly like that, with his left hand. It dangled at his side more or less how it would in a sheath. It seemed quite sensible to start with his less important fingers, but ultimately he decided his familiarity with the blade wasn¡¯t growing enough and swapped hands. He tried every method he could think of, and wondered if there was any point. Was he really gaining anything? Even if grandmaster Chikere agreed to continue training him, could he really learn from her? He wasn¡¯t certain, but he also knew he couldn¡¯t afford to not try. He clutched cold steel that would soon be warm in his grip, unconsciously fiddling around with the weapon even as he thought about what needed to be done to continue surviving on Yaitis. ----- Anishka was done learning about technology. She didn¡¯t know everything yet, of course. Some might say she had barely started. But she was drawn to other things, for the moment. She would go back, she knew that. Unless she suddenly lost her desire to know everything, there was always going to be more time spent on¡­ everything. But her focus shifted few months, a year at most. She¡¯d had a brief stint with the law, learning some of the standards for interplanetary law. Every planet and country and city and sect had their own laws they enforced in various ways, but a basic structure had been laid down with each member of the Trifold Alliance agreeing to the laws. Though laws had the potential to be infinitely complex and impossible to parse, great effort had been taken to form not only the words, but the meaning behind them. And unlike some things, the true meaning could not be mistaken. Just like a manual for a cultivation technique, the intent was imbued into the codices themselves. Anishka still heard of ways people tried to skirt around or abuse the intent of laws, but it was more difficult. Not that they needed to, because the laws weren¡¯t as burdensome as some. But Anishka was done with that stint as well. She was back to farming. Her grandfather with some number of greats was very interested in that, and while he wasn¡¯t around at the moment she wanted to have more to discuss with him next time he returned. The various ways plants could synergize or be bred to serve a purpose were fascinating. There were an unfathomable number of plants, and some that had previously been deemed of no use to humans were now very important. And other places had even more interesting things. Relations with the Sylanis Cluster were still strained, but Anishka was planning a trip to Ekict. It was a big commitment given the time investment for moving between the systems, but Anishka¡¯s instincts pushed her to continuously broaden her horizons. And she was in the fortunate position where she could do these things. ¡°You need to be careful, dear,¡± her mother cautioned her. ¡°Even if Ekict is friendly, there might be individuals who would want to cause you harm.¡± ¡°I get it,¡± Anishka said. ¡°But you said when I broke through to Essence Collection I would be strong enough to take care of myself.¡± ¡°I know what I agreed to,¡± Annelie said. ¡°I just wish you were older.¡± ¡°I¡¯m an adult,¡± Anishka countered. ¡°Barely. Twenty is one thing, but as a cultivator you will be young until your first century at least.¡± ¡°... I hear some people don¡¯t cultivate on Ekict.¡± ¡°Yes, well¡­ not everyone has the same opportunities we have here.¡± ¡°I could teach them.¡± ¡°Is that so? Perhaps we¡¯ll have another Anton on our hands soon enough,¡± Annelie said. ¡°But I would caution you to start small. Don¡¯t rush.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Aniska assured her. ¡°I just don¡¯t know where else I¡¯d have the opportunity to teach someone who knows nothing about cultivation. Or at least, close enough.¡± ¡°You could have children,¡± Annelie pointed out. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of teaching involved with that.¡± ¡°Really, mom?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying it has to be now. Or ever, if you don¡¯t want. I¡¯ll have plenty of grandchildren running about without it. But it can teach you a lot, once you¡¯re ready.¡± ¡°Someday,¡± Anishka said. ¡°But definitely not anytime soon.¡± ----- Something was bothering Anton, tickling the back of his mind. He was unsure why. News had been good, for the most part. It was unfortunate that Ekict had remnants of the Twin Soul Sect- he should have spent more time in their system. But they were capable of handling it, he was certain. As for his current location, Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn were entering a new stage of prosperity. Or as Anton might have called it, basic subsistence. They were just beginning to recover, finally breaking out of the rut they¡¯d found themselves in for centuries. What bothered Anton was that everyone seemed happy. He wanted that, of course. The two planets were working together, and blending. Eventually they might be one people again, one system. Maybe they¡¯d even come to agree on a name someday. But Anton knew that as a cultivator he shouldn¡¯t ignore his vague feelings. So he kept an eye out for trouble. He didn¡¯t need to solve it himself- though depending on the problem he absolutely could. A few people being ostracized. Someone who was having trouble cultivating. Those he could deal with. If he found a significantly uneven distribution of the new food sources, which doubled as measured to improve the energy of the planets, he would have to speak to some authorities. But he knew all of them. And pretty much everyone knew him. Anton knew he could leave soon. But he didn¡¯t have to. This was a place that could still use him, unlike Ceretos. What would he do there, except teach people about archery or reiterate the same points on farming or basic cultivation to people who already had access to such things? He even had permission to bind the local star. Strangely enough, as eager as he had been to do so before¡­ now that things were relatively peaceful he almost didn¡¯t want to. He was afraid of what he might need the strength for. But he also knew that if the time came and he didn¡¯t have that bond, an improvement in his cultivation, then he would regret it. So he found a good lull in activity to fly out into space. A giant blue star was there to greet him. By some measures, it could be said to be dying- though even by the standards of a cultivator it would be a very long time yet before it was actually a concern. Years measured in the millions. Anton had yet to even see a thousand. He was a little bit short of a third of that. A thousand times a thousand¡­ and more. No, it was not truly close to the end of its life. Great warmth and power filled Anton as he reached out for it. The massive size stretched the area of influence it had, and Anton felt confident he could deal with any and every problem Shrenn and Tenoun¡¯a would encounter that could be solved with martial force. He also hoped that he would be called upon for nothing of the sort. He did not mind being a guiding force, but he did not want to be a weapon. Chapter 638 There was a moment when Chidi realized he was being foolish. Sure, the grandmaster was probably disappointed that he was not up to her standards but¡­ she was still his parent¡¯s friend, right? She had come here, so she had to be able to get them out on the same ship. Not just Chidi and Aconite, but all of their squad and the other stragglers they had picked up could squeeze into anything worthy of carrying an Integration cultivator. His thumb rubbed along the edge of his sword, feeling the sharpness of it. Yes, it was better to accept his failure, to accept he hadn¡¯t been ready for this world. He could hardly imagine resisting any of Rakiya¡¯s attacks- not if she was even slightly serious. Of course, Grandmaster Chikere¡¯s attacks and counters had been beyond imagination. It seemed as if even Rakiya couldn¡¯t touch her. Chidi pondered that thought. How could cultivators of similar cultivation levels be so far apart? It wasn¡¯t as if Rakiya was some average cultivator. She was a disciple of the sword saint, one of the rare individuals who would ever make it to Integration. It shouldn¡¯t be a difference in equipment. Except for having more swords, the quality of weapons shouldn¡¯t have a drastic gulf between the two. Chidi also understood the limits of Citadel¡¯s Downfall. It didn¡¯t make someone invincible. There had to be something, but he couldn¡¯t grasp it. Not that it mattered. He would be returning to Xankeshan, waiting for his parents while spending his time in proper training. In a century or less, he could step into Integration and make his own mark on the world. He felt a strange wetness. Strangely, the cut on his thumb came with no pain, even if he left a notch in his nail and cut through his skin. It was a clean cut as should be expected of a quality weapon. He shouldn¡¯t have gotten cut, though. He was supposed to be past such accidents. Maybe true mastery of the sword really wasn¡¯t for him. ----- Chidi dreamed of swords. Hundreds of them, just sitting out in the woods¡­ impaled in the ground, boulders, and trees. Some were just laying on the ground, others balanced across branches. It was a strangely beautiful scene, the flow of energy almost coalescing into a formation from the display. Chidi trailed his fingers over the various swords, feeling their hilts, guards, and blades. The swords varied from long and straight swords to those that were shorter and curved. Single or double edges, various points and thicknesses and weights. Though none of them were the particularly heavy sort that were only usable by cultivators. These were all something that could be used by anyone of basic fitness¡­ though many would not have reason to. He focused on one in particular. It lacked much in the way of ornamentation. No sparkling gems embedded in it- whatever sparkling was supposed to be. The facets of gems were kind of interesting to feel, but the rough leather wrappings around a simple hilt appealed to Chidi more for some reason. He imagined picking it up and flipping it around, finding the balance perfect and the sharpness unparalleled. When Chidi awoke in the morning, the memories remained strongly in his mind. All of the swords were impressive, but the one in particular remained in his thoughts. Speaking of which, he felt many more approaching. That had to be Chikere. He resolved himself to go meet her, his decision made. ¡°Grandmaster Chikere. Did you complete your mission?¡± ¡°Yeah, I chopped up some people.¡± ¡°... were you retaking a city?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the point of that? I¡¯m not going to occupy it. And neither are you, with this group.¡± ¡°That is true,¡± Chidi nodded slowly. ¡°In fact, our squad can¡¯t make much difference at all in the war, as we are. That was why I was hoping your ship could take us off planet.¡± Was that really the right move? Was it fair, to those who remained behind. ¡°Or to one of the Scarlet Alliance cities, to rejoin the war.¡± ¡°My ship?¡± ¡°I understand if you feel it is beneath you to shuttle-¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have a ship,¡± Chikere answered. ¡°... Were you dropped off?¡± ¡°Nah, I cut my way here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ I¡¯m not sure what you mean by that, to be honest.¡± A sword slash was coming for him. He felt it too late to react, but before he was dead. Was that an accomplishment? He somehow discerned the attack wasn¡¯t trying to kill him, but the lethal intent behind it and the fact that it would be passing through his physical location meant it didn¡¯t matter. But the attack never reached him because¡­ it was behind him? Along with Chikere and all of her swords. Yet she hadn¡¯t gone around him. There was a loud boom, as something collapsed. Chikere casually rested her sword on her shoulder- the shoulder that was not real, if Chidi recalled correctly. ¡°Like that.¡± He could have understood if she used some sort of movement technique to go around him. It would have probably been easier, even. He could still feel the air vibrating from the disruption, a great overflow of energy that wasn¡¯t even connected to her actual goal. How did it work? He had no idea. It wasn¡¯t just strength and speed, though. ¡°Well,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Can that¡­ transport other people?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t tried,¡± she replied. ¡°Maybe. Either it works, or you die.¡± ¡°That seems risky.¡± ¡°True. Better to learn it yourself. But that¡¯s not first on the list.¡± ¡°About that¡­ I was hoping you could somehow get us to safety.¡± ¡°Oh. Is that what you meant? Why?¡± ¡°Why¡­?¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. She stepped closer. He wasn¡¯t sure if she had no concept of personal space, or intentionally chose to ignore it. He could feel the bristling swords around her, a lethal field of danger regardless of whether she drew them from their sheaths. ¡°How did your week go?¡± A question Chidi knew was more than casual, and not for the same reason people might normally ask. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ve chosen to give up the sword. I¡¯ll fulfill whatever obligations I have here first, but I can¡¯t walk your path.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± her voice was casual. ¡°Strange thing for someone to say, walking around with an unsheathed blade.¡± Chidi¡¯s focus shifted lower. Indeed, he was still carrying the weapon with him, as he¡¯d grown used to over the last week. ¡°Well¡­ I was trying to do the thing you said. But¡­ I sensed in myself the fear of death. I had the feeling that even if this path made me stronger, it would also bring me closer to dying. Does that make sense?¡± ¡°Oh, sure. Completely.¡± ¡°You understand my fear of death.¡± ¡°Not a bit.¡± ¡°Great. Wait, you¡¯re¡­ not afraid of death?¡± ¡°What would I be afraid of death for?¡± A good question. ¡°I guess with you strength, there¡¯s no way you¡¯d get killed.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± she asked. ¡°Tell me, do you know why I¡¯m here?¡± ¡°... to help with the war? And maybe to look for me on the side.¡± ¡°I am here to look for you, and to draw out the sword saint. When he shows up, I¡¯m going to fight him and one of us is probably going to die. It could be me,¡± she said clearly. ¡°But I don¡¯t care.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Because not doing what I want is worse. Listen, kid. I don¡¯t really understand you being afraid of death, but I know it¡¯s normal. And I¡¯ve had another apprentice that was afraid of death too.¡± ¡°... Just one?¡± ¡°Everyone else died or quit before they were actually an apprentice.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯re doing a good job of encouraging me to try.¡± ¡°If you want encouragement, talk to a friend or your parents,¡± Chikere said bluntly. ¡°Do you want to learn from me or not?¡± ¡°Can I¡­?¡± he asked. ¡°I¡¯m missing¡­ that thing you needed.¡± ¡°Why did you come out here?¡± ¡°To talk to you.¡± ¡°You knew I was here?¡± ¡°Well I¡­ felt your swords.¡± The silence just sat between them for a few seconds before Grandmaster Chikere broke it. ¡°So I guess you can learn it. I don¡¯t really remember a time when I didn¡¯t feel it, but your parents¡­ they¡¯re good at what they do, but they just use swords. They don¡¯t need them.¡± ¡°... They would likely find it difficult to fight without.¡± ¡°Nah, they could pick up literally any other weapon, and it would be the same to them with a bit of practice. And maybe these saints or some of their disciples got that thing for non-swords. But it¡¯s different.¡± Chidi could feel her gaze on him, not hidden but intentional. ¡°So, I¡¯m going to ask. Do you want to learn from me?¡± ¡°I do,¡± Chidi answered without anything letting him do otherwise. ¡°Great. Oh, and you liked¡­ this one.¡± Out of her bag the grand master tossed a blade. A strangely familiar one. ¡°... This was real?¡± ¡°Obviously. I can understand waking up in the middle of the night to the call of swords, but not believing in them in the morning¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°You need to be better than that, little me.¡± Chidi just laughed. ¡°Am I really like you though? You achieved greatness on your own, but here I¡¯ve had all sorts of help just to get this far.¡± ¡°Hmmn? It¡¯s not like I learned from nothing. I had lots of help. Sure, tons of those people wanted to kill me¡­ but that just made my progress faster. And you¡¯re named after me, so you¡¯re a little me regardless of anything else. Now then¡­¡± blades drew from the sheaths around her. ¡°Time for morning training.¡± ----- The Sergeant had a very important mission, given to her by the Great Queen herself. It was not for the Sergeant to question orders, nor could she allow herself to fail. Or worse, be captured. Thus, she used utmost caution infiltrating the ship, hanging off the edge of a sleeve as one of the proper passengers boarded. It was good for the Sergeant that she was one of the smaller members of her kind, unlike the Royal Guard. It would put her out of notice, though a keen cultivator might still spot her. Thus, it was important to take concealment in the folds of clothing. Their energy would not find anything where she was, but that was not an issue unless the enemy was specially trained. In theory, nobody from Ekict should have such training. They were aware of the void ants, of course, but they should not have cause to train specific techniques to root them out. The Sergeant¡¯s mission was twofold. First, she was to determine the suitability of Ekict for habitability. It could easily be assumed that anywhere humans lived would fit void ants as well, but that was not always the case. Second, it was an infiltration mission to determine more about their potential allies. Similar missions had been performed on Rutera and Weos before they proved themselves. Even the most trusted allies were kept unaware of such operations. If the Sergeant was compromised, it was best to accept death in a manner that seemed to make her a normal ant. As long as she did not resist energy to any significant extent, few people would be able to notice or bother with an autopsy. A tertiary objective was to keep an eye on an allied princess. A descendant of Anton, and of an influential sect head in Ofrurg. This was in fact the very same individual she was posted upon. ¡°Oh, an ant.¡± At the sudden voice, the Sergeant froze. Then she let herself drop, falling to the floor on her back. She remained still, unmoving. ¡°Normal ants don¡¯t play dead, you know,¡± the voice said. ¡°Not that I wouldn¡¯t have noticed one crawling on me.¡± A finger descended for the Sergeant. At least she could keep things in doubt by allowing herself to be squished. Someone else would have to take on her mission. The Sergeant was prodded very gently. ¡°Hey are you sick? I can¡¯t help you if you don¡¯t tell me how. Just do the antenna thing, I mostly understand it.¡± Another prod. ¡°I know you¡¯re a void ant because you didn¡¯t get squished from a little energy.¡± The Sergeant pondered if she could possibly break her own limbs. No, that might not kill her. Perhaps throw herself into a fire. Or something electrical, but those were harder to get inside than it seemed. She was flipped over. ¡°Seriously I know you can hear and see me. You can¡¯t even close your eyes.¡± Anishka¡¯s fingers wriggled in a crude approximation of the void ant sign language. ¡°You can¡¯t hear?¡± The Sergeant twitched. ¡°Aha! I saw that!¡± What a situation to be caught in. She couldn¡¯t pretend to be dumb, nor could she take out the one who spotted her because she was a person of note. The Sergeant¡¯s first true mission was an abject failure from the beginning, and she couldn¡¯t even bring an end to it. She moved her antennae and forelimbs. ¡°... Can you not tell anyone?¡± ¡°Sure thing, little guy. Or lady, more likely. Everyone wants to go on an adventure sometimes.¡± This was still a failure. But the Sergeant might be able to accomplish some of the objectives nonetheless. Chapter 639 At the end of the training session, Chidi found himself with at least a hundred cuts, sweat and blood dripping down his body. And he hadn¡¯t been introduced to a single form or told how to do anything at all. And yet¡­ he felt better, somehow. It was hard to describe. It was the difference from how his parents taught him, where they held back to give him an appropriate level of challenge. The grandmaster did not hold back- only limited herself to a certain level of power. And¡­ in how she struck him. ¡°Is this okay?¡± Chidi said, pointing to a hole in his chest. ¡°This doesn¡¯t feel okay. I¡¯m pretty sure I could see through it, if I could see.¡± ¡°Nothing vital was damaged,¡± Chikere said. ¡°You will learn to deal with such trivial things.¡± At first he thought she meant he would get used to it, but she did actually mean dealing with it as they directly moved on to post-combat recovery. That involved a lot of stitches, including internal ones. Chidi found that using a needle kind of felt like stabbing a little rapier through things. Once his body was no longer oozing so much, he focused on using his energy to promote healing. Chikere did not need to teach him anything there, which was good because she didn¡¯t. His previous training had been sufficient for that. And though he hadn¡¯t yet had many life-threatening injuries, the same process applied. Just with more urgency. Though Chidi was unsure if he was stronger, he at least now felt like he could manage the training. In fact, he felt strange to have even wanted to reject the opportunity. ¡°... Why were you going to stop training me? Because I wasn¡¯t learning fast enough?¡± Chidi wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to know the answer, but he asked it regardless. ¡°Because you wouldn¡¯t have learned.¡± ¡°...Sorry.¡± ¡°For what?¡± ¡°Not understanding.¡± A few moments of silence. ¡°If I were a good teacher, I could have taught you anyway,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Your parents raised you to how you are now, did they not? But they are not, for all their positive traits, sword cultivators. I am uncertain about your father, but he focuses on the shield. Though perhaps for the sake of protecting others, rather than a devotion to the concept. Your mother, however, is much like myself¡­ but with formations. To her, they are not a tool. They are everything.¡± ¡°I wish I was better with formations,¡± Chidi sighed. ¡°Then get better.¡± ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Not really. I¡¯m just as good as I always am, but with more learning. Does that make sense?¡± He shook his head. ¡°Obviously not. But I don¡¯t know how to say it.¡± ¡°You find yourself lacking in aptitude?¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I understand. I have a question for you. How do you sense swords?¡± ¡°I already talked about this. I feel the metal, the sharpness, and hear them move through the air.¡± ¡°That is how you used to sense swords,¡± she agreed. ¡°But how do you do it now?¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°I just¡­ have a connection?¡± ¡°Then if you want to be better at formations, form that connection. Unlock your aptitude.¡± Chidi could hear how the grandmaster¡¯s body moved, the complicated play of muscles and bones for a simple shoulder shrug. ¡°Though I can¡¯t say if that works. I have the feeling you were always capable of this connection to swords, and simply found it.¡± Chidi bit his lip, ¡°But if it¡¯s able to be created, then others could learn from you.¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Chikere admitted. ¡°If they have the proper resolve, I would not mind teaching others.¡± That¡­ was something Chidi had to think about. Could people learn this, like him? It was an amazing feeling, even though he was just starting to grasp what it really meant. On the other hand, if they could¡­ was there anything that made him special? Should there be? And why was he hesitant about this, and not about his training with scouting? He was certainly eager to share there. Knowing about his great-and-some grandfather who apparently loved teaching people, Chidi thought he should have gotten some of that. Ultimately, he couldn¡¯t think of any good reason to keep things to himself, when the whole squad needed as much strength as they could get. Sure, Chikere might be able to lead them through enemy territory cutting down everything in their way. But she had also intentionally provoked the sword saint and being in a predictable location with her was basically the same as signing a death sentence if he showed up. ----- ¡°I already sleep next to my weapon,¡± Denitsa said. ¡°I have no desire to roll onto it in the night and get spikes in my face.¡± ¡°No,¡± Aconite barked bluntly. ¡°If there is some sort of calling, I have found it. I have no desire to attempt to learn the sword, especially not from a humanoid.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°She¡¯d actually be willing to teach us¡­?¡± Captain Tiras scratched his cheek. ¡°I¡¯d like to try it, at least.¡± That was more or less the gamut of answers he got from everyone. Some were tied to their weapons, or afraid of the seemingly pointless risk of keeping an unsheathed blade in their hands at all times- including while sleeping. Others were willing to give it a try, mostly because of Grandmaster Chikere¡¯s fame. Though a few also rejected the idea for the same reason, citing dead wannabe disciples. Among others, Ida was one of those willing to give up her previous weapon and attempt to attune with the sword. As they were already avoiding combat or risky missions- Rakiya almost cutting down their scouts being a big deterrent- people had some time to spare. A few quit after one night. Or rather, before the night was over. Perhaps due to their sleeping habits, having an open blade next to them was not appealing. No serious injuries came about, and some still attempted to keep a blade with them at all times- if in a sheath- but Chidi had already written them off as a failure. Perhaps that was his own bias, or perhaps it was some true insight into the state of things. He couldn¡¯t really say until the end of the first week. At that point, Captain Tiras, Ida, and one other fellow named Martin were different. They didn¡¯t seem to have quite awoken whatever it was that was necessary, but Chidi felt a discernible difference. The swords they carried were theirs, not just things they happened to be holding. It seemed it would take them a bit longer, but they would almost certainly achieve the necessary state. Chidi wasn¡¯t sure what to feel about that. Sure, he might have been technically faster than them¡­ but a week or ten days wasn¡¯t really that different. He clearly wasn¡¯t special. On the other hand, there were six or seven more people still trying to form this bond with their weapon that just¡­ weren¡¯t going to succeed. Chidi was completely certain of that, but they hadn¡¯t given up. It might still be good for their training, but they¡¯d never achieve¡­ it. Whatever it was. Some step, maybe part of a person since birth. On the other hand, everyone had told Chidi he was going to be good with swords because he was named after Chikere. As if that mattered. And he¡¯d thought he was good until he met her, and then he thought he was awful, and now he thought that maybe one day he could be a swordmaster. But he¡¯d have to find out. ----- Chidi tried to focus on the parts of his opponents that mattered. The wrinkles and slightly loose skin weren¡¯t important. The muscles underneath were, though somehow he felt that was less and less true as he began to focus only on the sword in Ida¡¯s hands. In a way, she was the least impressive member of their squad. She was old, her cultivation barely better than Chidi and behind the captain and Denitsa. She had nothing particularly special to recommend her. It almost made Chidi want to go easy on her, but that was exactly the thing he couldn¡¯t do. So instead he knocked the blade out of her hand, then poked the tip of his blade into her throat. Just enough to nick the skin. The grandmaster was fine with more, but he simply didn¡¯t have the level of control to be comfortable with that. They didn¡¯t want anyone to die not to the enemy, but to themselves. Ida walked over to her sword, picking it out of the dirt. Chidi wondered what she felt. Anger, frustration, disappointment? He wasn¡¯t sure. He might feel all of those, if he lost to a five year old. A fair enough comparison, for someone a quarter of his age as he was to her. Vaguely. But¡­ the very fact that Ida had nothing special to make her stand out among cultivator was exactly what Chidi found was the best part of her. Because she was trying to be something regardless of what she currently was. She¡¯d come to him to ask for training in scouting techniques, even if he was just a sightless Spirit Building cultivator at the time. And she did the crazy thing of trying to learn from Grandmaster Chikere. ¡°Alright, alright,¡± Chikere¡¯s voice called them to attention. ¡°We¡¯re done with one-on-one. Time for group combat.¡± ¡°Two-on-two?¡± asked Martin, the last of those to actually manage his ¡®attunement¡¯. He was also not particularly young, which was unfortunate for him because if he had been able to go down the same path decades earlier, his life would have likely been completely different. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a good idea at some point actually,¡± Chikere admitted. ¡°But not right now. No, we¡¯re moving to four-on-one.¡± Four-on-one was¡­ not fair. Obviously Chikere meant Chidi, Tiras, Ida, and Martin against her. And that was totally unfair. They would need at least a hundred for it to feel a little bit even. And of course, they were right. With four of them they got in each other¡¯s way almost as much as they helped, even when they eventually spread out to come at her from all sides. But what was even more unfair was when it was Chidi¡¯s turn next. Suddenly, he had to face Tiras, Ida, Martin, and Chikere herself all at once. It didn¡¯t seem like it should be that much worse switching from a hundred to a hundred and three swords he had to deal with, and perhaps it wasn¡¯t, but he couldn¡¯t really do anything. Not consciously, at least. His sword flashed, deflecting blows as his body moved to avoid as many attacks as he could. He was aware of lethal blow after lethal blow, but the battle never stopped. Even when he was actually impaled. Chidi was just glad that the grandmaster¡¯s sword redirected Martin¡¯s sword to go slightly above his heart. There would still be a lot of damage to muscle and the like, but that was how things were. They cycled through everyone, and Chidi was amazed that none of them died. He was also amazed that none of them quit, because while Chidi knew that Ida had some determination to make something of herself he had no basis for how to judge Martin, who had been just another individual who seemed to have signed up for the war because he felt obligated or desperate. ¡°Alright, well, I¡¯m off.¡± Chikere declared at the end of one of their sessions. ¡°See you guys in a week or two.¡± ¡°But uh¡­ we¡¯re planning to relocate,¡± Chidi reminded her. ¡°Try to find our way closer to friendly territory. Or at least somewhere not looking for us specifically.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll find you.¡± ¡°How?¡± Chidi asked. Then he realized that was a stupid question. ¡°I mean¡­ how far away can you sense swords?¡± His question was not answered¡­ directly. ¡°Back on Ceretos, I was quite friendly with the Million Sword Vault. Of course, they never had that many blades before I ascended. But if I was motivated to collect a bunch of garbage on Yaitis, I think I could probably call myself the same thing.¡± Chidi wasn¡¯t sure how many people were fighting on Yaitis itself, or how many used swords¡­ but he was quite confident that there weren¡¯t that many within anything he would call a reasonable distance for mixed Spirit Building and Essence Collection cultivators to travel within a week. It was at least the continent, though they would be lucky to get out of the province safely anyway. He had a long way to go. But this time, he didn¡¯t mind seeing that distance quite so much. Chapter 640 Though the situation on Torthunes had swung in the favor of the Scarlet Alliance, it was hard to say they had achieved a victory. Tauno had fought against Luksa, causing her more injuries than he himself received but he was unable to kill her. Abhilash escaped, fatigued but only mildly injured. The Harmonious Citadel still had another saint unhindered, and they would be more cautious about their movements to avoid being trapped in another formations. But they remained on Torthunes to continue the fight. That was probably best for the Scarlet Alliance, but troublesome for Catarina and Timothy. Though they had prominent positions, they couldn¡¯t just go running off as they pleased when trouble could come again at any moment. ¡°I should have made a killing formation,¡± Catarina said, biting her lip. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t have known what hit him.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Timothy said, placing a hand comfortingly on her shoulder as she looked at her work. ¡°But if it had been Eterna who we entrapped, it would have been a monumental waste of our resources simply to tie her up for a while. Your formation still worked, it just didn¡¯t suddenly change the flow of the war.¡± ¡°If he was dead we could go find Chidi.¡± ¡°Or we would be even more necessary here, to take the opportunity to slay two or three saints in quick succession. It would have been hard to justify anything other than following through with such an attempt.¡± Timothy shook his head, ¡°But we can¡¯t change the past. What we must do now is believe in our son. And¡­ our friend.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know if she even looked for him. Or found him.¡± ¡°True. But we do know that her presence will change the balance of power on Yaitis. Regardless of direct aid, it should relieve the pressure on Chidi. And we can¡¯t always be there to save him. We let him go, so we have to honor his decision.¡± Timothy¡¯s face remained stoic. ¡°But if it ever became the next most practical step, going to Yaitis and reestablishing communications would be a worthy endeavor. As it is, we have to rely on the fleets attempting to regain contact on a smaller scale. We just have to wait on their reports.¡± Catarina nodded, then shoved her hand into a pile of shattered materials that had once been part of the formation, pulling out a melted hunk of something. ¡°I don¡¯t want to wait. The next formation is killing a saint or¡­¡± ¡°Or what?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°We just need them to not be around. A forceful teleportation might do. Just need enough power for it to activate quickly.¡± ¡°Where would you send them?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°If it¡¯s not dangerous, they could just immediately return. And there¡¯s the problem of power.¡± ¡°It only has to work once,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I can empower it with the formation¡¯s future. As for something with power and danger¡­¡± she looked up at the sky, towards the sun that was currently boiling the red seas, ¡°It¡¯s quite a bit further than the moon. But it¡¯s free energy.¡± ----- During his time on Shrenn and Tenoun¡¯a, Anton couldn¡¯t help but pick up apprentices- formal or informal. Despite having a similar style, Anton didn¡¯t do much with Admetus. It wasn¡¯t simply an issue of using a crossbow, but rather the man¡¯s style was solid enough and happily on its own trajectory. He didn¡¯t need much guidance. Anton worked with Docia because he admired her capabilities in practical matters- but he also knew that improved cultivation would help her with negotiations or simply continuing to work as she had. She coordinated much of Shrenn, though she had been convinced to pass off some of her work that didn¡¯t strictly need to be performed by a single individual. On Tenoun¡¯a, Aurelianus was the most sensible of the prominent figures. He was a decent student of both combat and philosophy, and Anton felt confident he would at least make well reasoned decisions for his future choices. Strangely enough, Anton would have preferred if he were weaker so that he could be molded from the beginning¡­ much like Varghese. He wanted to check up on the lad¡­ and In¡¯istra as a whole. There was still the issue of them being plagued by the Twin Soul Sect, and perhaps other spies from the upper realms. The longer they were left to develop after the invasion, the more they could weave their way into every developing or regrowing sect. Anton didn¡¯t want to wipe them all out himself because it would be better for In¡¯istra to handle their own affairs- with some guidance. But first, Anton had to make sure this system wouldn¡¯t tear itself apart as soon as he disappeared. For that matter, he began to show himself in public less frequently- and to limit other forms of communication as well. He wanted to see how people reacted. If things looked like they were going on a negative path he would show himself and stop things before they went anywhere, but he really hoped they could maintain their peace and build towards mutual prosperity. They¡¯d been trapped in a hopeless cycle for so long that an outside influence like Anton had been necessary, but he didn¡¯t want them to rely on him except as the catalyst for change. Once he was reasonably certain things would be stable, he could return to In¡¯istra, perhaps visiting a few other locations on the way. One he still didn¡¯t even have a name for, despite it being populated. ----- It was quite a sight to see the grand formation protecting Ekict, spread between their planets to provide a defensive barrier for everything. It must have come at great expense, and Anishka wondered how they could provide the energy to keep it running. She could understand why they had it, of course. She was born after the latest invasion, her mother having been pregnant with her, but she had no father because of it. And she knew many others who had lost their family. For that reason, it was reasonable to go to any extreme to protect against invasions from the upper realms. Like Weos, they were fully spread out among their planets, though with the overall population being much lower. How much, Anishka didn¡¯t know. There were approximate populations given by various visitors from the system, but no official data as far as Anishka was aware. Nobody from out of system had been able to do a survey, obviously, and even if they had the inclination or the time it was only in the last couple of years that they were even willing to accept more than a few diplomats. That likely came from an ingrained distrust of outsiders. Not that Anishka could say anything for sure. Here she was barely two decades into her life among those who could live for centuries. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Arioron, the city Anishka was landing in, did not have a starport made for the variety of ships that came from Ceretos and the Trifold Alliance. Not that there was a huge difference in the requirements- open space, mostly, preferably flat. Most notably they didn¡¯t have proper ways to unload people, not that Anishka needed it. She could have vaulted over the railing and landed on her feet below, if it was necessary. But she waited for a ramp to be set up, to do things properly. She hadn¡¯t gotten a good look as they were flying in- they went for a practical landing rather than a touristy approach. Arioron was a flat city, as far as Anishka was concerned. A few tall buildings here and there, but it mostly spread out and not up. Eventually the locals might find the need for that, if urbanization increased and the population growth didn¡¯t stabilize. She didn¡¯t know if it would, given the information she had available. Everywhere she could get access to was still in a growth phase, and the Sylanis Cluster seemed to support planets overpopulating instead of settling their growth when they reached their limits. It was weird to not be scanned in by any sort of device, though there were guards who watched over all of the incoming individuals, their energy passing over them. Anishka wondered if they would notice her stowaway- but it didn¡¯t seem they did. Not that it would have been likely. Even with a decent knowledge of void ants, she had been lucky to notice one. Anishka wondered why one would want to sneak to Ekict, but while as far as she knew the void ant colonies didn¡¯t have exiles or whatever, she could see one getting wanderlust. This was the furthest from home they could get, if they wanted a change of scenery. She¡¯d tried to ask, but her guest didn¡¯t do much but play dead or dumb if she got personal. ----- The main part of Anishka¡¯s studies would be performed under the guidance of the Enkindled Sun Sect. Ekict was a planet of cultivators, after all, so there wasn¡¯t a big fancy university she could go to. Though Anishka wanted to understand everything, she also understood that she should stick with fundamentals for cultivation, or she would end up a mess. Fire and ice were her foundations, and she found them to be a practical base for her power. And for combat, if she should need it. She would presume not, outside of sparring, but while she would be safe in most places because of her status as a visitor, she wasn¡¯t going to let herself get careless. Especially since a possible fallout wouldn¡¯t bring her back to life, and would only cause trouble for both Ekict and her home if something happened. The Enkindled Sun Sect had a decent understanding of fire, though Anishka didn¡¯t plan to incorporate anything she learned within the first few days. It was just¡­ basic. The Fire and Ice Palace had deeper insights. Though Anishka supposed gently pointing such things out was the point of this exchange. As for the sun part, she trusted Anton to have a deeper insight. Still, it was only the beginning and Anishka didn¡¯t expect to be graced with their deepest secrets during her first week. Instead of spending her time cultivating in the moderately dense natural energy, Anishka preferred to explore the city of Arioron itself. It was quite different, from the style to the practical uses of the buildings to the people themselves. Especially the fact that some people weren¡¯t cultivators. The market was the best place to see people, though Anishka didn¡¯t plan to buy much. Partly because she was only given a modest budget for her needs with the rest of what she considered money not directly usable- though she could likely get people to trade for cultivation resources if she could convince them of their quality. The other reason she would not buy anything was because nothing was necessary- she had what she needed, and the offerings were honestly mediocre. Then again, she wouldn¡¯t expect the best goods to be present in an open air market. As she moved around between stalls catering mostly to cultivators with equipment and natural energy infused goods, she came upon a small stall that didn¡¯t seem to have a theme. There was a basket of infused grain, some sort of fruit, tubers, and more with other sorts of food. So a food stall, but the quantities of each were rather slim. But that wasn¡¯t all, there were small baskets of ore and slivers of wood and strips of cloth. ¡°Quite a variety of good you have here,¡± Anishka began a conversation with the woman running the stall. ¡°Where do you get them all? Or do you just sell for someone else?¡± The woman had no cultivation of her own, so the latter was fairly likely. ¡°Everything is the gleanings of the highest quality fields,¡± the middle aged woman said. ¡°Plucked by hand, perfectly fresh. Look, inspect the density of the energy,¡± the woman held up a stalk of grain. ¡°Well, it¡¯s¡­ fine,¡± Anishka said. ¡°But how do you even know? You shouldn¡¯t be able to sense it yourself.¡± ¡°Sense it? No, perhaps not. But you can see the quality with your eyes,¡± the woman nodded. ¡°And my regular customers know the quality I provide.¡± ¡°You have regulars?¡± ¡°Yes, of course! I provide more cheaply than the large vendors,¡± the woman nodded seriously. ¡°Close to half their price. You will not be able to supply a sect here, of course, but you can make yourself infused meals throughout the week. Or forge yourself a new weapon,¡± the woman gestured to the lumps of ore. ¡°Or your clothes¡­¡± she paused when she said that. ¡°I suppose you do not need them to be replaced. A fine weave. It must be well imbued, yes?¡± Anishka nodded. ¡°They¡¯re enchanted to suffice as armor. As for weapons, I generally fight without.¡± She didn¡¯t really need food either- the options provided by the sect were adequate- but she pointed to an unfamiliar but tasting looking fruit. ¡°How much for one of those?¡± ¡°Only a few coins,¡± the woman quickly placed it in Anishka¡¯s hand, holding out her own for payment. ¡°That¡¯s too cheap,¡± Anishka said, even as she paid. ¡°You should know the quality of your own goods. If you cultivated, you could judge more closely.¡± The woman shrugged, ¡°I make enough to survive. What more could I ask?¡± ¡°You could thrive,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Want to learn?¡± ¡°Alas, I have no money to buy whatever manuals you wish to peddle, nor anything else to offer. I am fine as I am.¡± Anishka surrounded them with a small bubble of privacy. There was enough of a crowd that it was better to be safe. ¡°It would be free.¡± ¡°I¡­ why?¡± the woman furrowed her brow suspiciously. ¡°Because I want to teach someone,¡± Anishka said. ¡°It seems like it would be a good experience.¡± ¡°Do you have the necessary experience?¡± the woman asked. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be rude, but you appear youthful and I cannot tell your cultivation, obviously.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m actually just about twenty years old,¡± Anishka said. ¡°But I am a peak Spirit Building cultivator. I can at least guide you through Body Tempering. Any cultivation would make carrying your baskets much easier.¡± ¡°Well, I¡­ if your offer is true, young lady, I will gladly accept.¡± ¡°It is. What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Patka.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Anishka, of the Fire and Ice Palace.¡± ¡°I am afraid I have not heard of your esteemed institution,¡± Patka inclined her head. ¡°But I am happy to accept whatever guidance you wish to offer.¡± ¡°Well, you wouldn¡¯t have. I¡¯m from Ceretos.¡± At that, Patka looked slightly relieved. ¡°Truly? No wonder you¡­ acted outside of my expectations.¡± ¡°You can say I¡¯m weird for offering something for free,¡± Anishka said. ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± Chapter 641 Just because he had a thousand cuts and punctures throughout his body causing every movement of his body to ache didn¡¯t mean Chidi could just take the day off. They still had to move, their destination decided by Captain Tiras. Shutoll was a city a few hundred kilometers distant, less than a week of travel by road and potentially quite a bit more with a whole squad moving in secret. The location was chosen for being the most likely of the vaguely nearby cities to still remain under the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s control, based on what they learned from stolen plans and its position. It was their best bet for meeting up with others besides the ephemeral Chikere, who didn¡¯t seem to care about the particulars of what cities were under whose control. Most likely, if she wanted to go somewhere she just would, regardless of who technically controlled an area. Picking out enemy squads had become easier, as long as any of their members carried swords. That was fairly common, as cultivators of certain branches of the Harmonious Citadel tended to stick to their superiors. Thus, with Rakiya present there were many other disciples of the sword. It was also practical to have a mix of different styles, but as far as Chidi was aware they didn¡¯t really consider that for squad composition. When people took the effort to conceal themselves at all, they rarely considered their weapons. Even Velvet hadn¡¯t really brought up the topic, which made Chidi wonder what this connection was. Could he gain the same sort of understanding for other weapons? Swords were among the most popular for one to wholeheartedly devote to, so it was likely possible. Though Chidi was unsure if it was possible with more than one weapon at a time. And¡­ if it was reasonably possible to achieve, why the majority of Harmonious Citadel cultivators didn¡¯t seem to have that connection. Except for the path of light, they were all devoted to a weapon. Chidi wasn¡¯t going to assume that none of the enemy possessed the trait- just that the majority didn¡¯t. So he would have to figure out some way to hide his sword. Swords, technically, though the one from his parents was now just a backup. He would get in some training later with Captain Tiras and the others who developed the connection, as they would be able to sense if his attempts to conceal his blade actually proved fruitful. Where enemy squads didn¡¯t have sword cultivators, Chidi could still rely on traditional methods of detection¡­ except for sight, of course. Aconite was responsible for that one. Or Ida, soon enough. Or several of the others, if they survived a few more months. As Chidi walked, the aches and pains in his body reminded him that even if bone, muscles, and organs were only minimally damaged in an assault, there was no way to avoid some sort of injury if a blade went through someone. That should seem obvious, but even when a blade wove through muscle fibers it still strained them even if it did not cut them. The path to recovery was much shorter, but there was a limit to how quickly a body could recover. And though Chidi had a storage of personal medicines, he didn¡¯t want to use them carelessly on trivial injuries. Aconite startled Chidi out of his musings. ¡°You know,¡± she softly growled, ¡°I don¡¯t think you have any basis for denouncing my mithridatism training anymore. You¡¯re getting hurt just as much.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t choose this method, though,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°You did, simply by accepting Grandmaster Chikere¡¯s offer of training. You knew what it would be like. Meanwhile, I am simply accomplishing my own training through similar methods.¡± ¡°Sure but¡­ the point of the training is for me to get better so this doesn¡¯t happen to me anymore.¡± ¡°And the point of my training is so it can¡¯t happen.¡± A few moments of silence. ¡°Have I been so negative about that?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°I just don¡¯t like seeing you in pain.¡± ¡°The same with myself, and being in pain. But it is merely the process of growth. A cultivator must choose how much pain they can or should endure along their path of development.¡± That was basically true. And while Chidi didn¡¯t like pain, he also knew it was a valuable experience on its own. And he was quite glad when it was over. But as one of life¡¯s many sensations, it was a part of what he would eventually have to experience. He just wouldn¡¯t seek it out, but let it happen organically. ----- It took some time for Anishka to realize an important feature of the world. It was something she hadn¡¯t really comprehended until she came to Ekict. That thing was that Assimilation cultivators weren¡¯t everywhere. Obviously she knew that. She had a pretty clear idea of exactly how many there were¡­ but that also meant an understanding that anywhere in the Trifold Alliance she was rarely ever more than a few moments away from one. At the speeds they could move, of course. For her, it could be much longer. In Ekict, the number was known even more precisely- because it was exactly zero. Unless any had sneakily popped up in the last decade or so of interaction. Which didn¡¯t seem likely, because they were hungry to know how Assimilation worked, even the weaker cultivators. Even Patka, who was literally just beginning her cultivation and could barely even light or put out a fire. But it was a natural curiosity, at least for those who had the knowledge denied them. Strangely enough, Anishka was in no rush to find out as she knew she could at any time- at least when she actually needed it. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Guiding a beginning cultivator was a lot harder than Anishka thought it would be. She thought of it like basic arithmetic or reading and writing, but it was definitely more than a few stages removed from that. Patka had basic questions that showed a serious lack of fundamental understandings of the world Anishka just thought everyone had. ¡°I find it difficult to imbue something with cold.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Anishka tried to explain. ¡°What you¡¯re actually doing is removing heat from it.¡± ¡°But¡­ it doesn¡¯t make me hot,¡± Patka said. ¡°That¡¯s because your natural energy is absorbing the change.¡± ¡°Why?¡± That question was a lot harder to answer than it seemed. It was because natural energy responded to intent and control more than it performed a specific action. Because people didn¡¯t think of something getting hot when they froze something. Because¡­ it was easier. Anishka frowned. Why should she not get something out of the heat she removed? That would be more efficient, even. And she wasn¡¯t an ice cultivator, like her mother. She was brought up in the Fire and Ice Palace, and learned both styles. There were others like her, and while the two styles got along very well they were still quite clearly two groups with people taking part in both. Unlike their home, it wasn¡¯t really a proper fusion technique. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Patka¡¯s words brought Anishka back to reality. ¡°Oh, sorry. For the short answer, natural energy tends to soften the unintended side effects of people¡¯s actions, which is good because otherwise early cultivators would really screw themselves up quite often. But there¡¯s more to it that can be understood with time.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Patka nodded. ¡°Well, if you¡¯ll excuse me I should be going. I have customers to satisfy.¡± It was unfortunate, but true. Patka needed to keep up with her work, not just to provide money for her survival but also to hopefully obtain extra gleanings for herself. That sort of scarcity was something Anishka hadn¡¯t had to deal with, and not just because she was the daughter of a sect head. Most of the Trifold Alliance was prosperous enough, and cultivation ubiquitous enough, that there wasn¡¯t really a question of finding time to cultivate. It was just how much time people would spend after they developed into adults and augmented their body and mind to perform tasks better. Anishka made her way back to her room, since she didn¡¯t really have any other friends nearby. Except for the Sergeant, who frequently insisted that they were not friends and that she was not actually there. The void ant, that is. Obviously they both knew Anishka was there. Even finding out the ant was a Sergeant was difficult, but after once insinuating that the ant might be part of the Royal Guard, she had been very insistent that was not true and her own rank was quite a bit lower¡­ for the moment. ¡°Did you find anything interesting, Sergeant?¡± ¡°The state of natural energy is somewhat lacking here,¡± said the void ant in their sign. ¡°And the natives-¡± ¡°What about the natives?¡± ¡°They are perfectly normal individuals who might squash an ant if they saw it. So I remain concealed.¡± ¡°Yeah, that makes sense. What if you were bigger, do you think that would change?¡± ¡°That would compromise my¡­ position. And simply make me more of a target.¡± ¡°Alright, well, you can still come with me. The folds of my collar should be safe enough still.¡± There was no official response to that, but Anishka knew she would likely find an ant waiting by the exit of her room come morning. She wondered if she should get some more friends, since one was significantly older and the other was an ant that didn¡¯t want to talk. Not that she personally felt the need for many, but that seemed like too few. ----- Anton left his most recent location behind, with the important qualifier that several individuals had methods to contact him in case of an emergency. He didn¡¯t want to be in a constant state of being used as an emergency contact, but he could manage a couple planets and one system at a time. Ceretos and the Trifold Alliance were just fine without him, though he would obviously not refuse a call for help if they sent one. He returned on his path towards In¡¯istra, taking a somewhat wandering path with one specific stopover in mind. The planet he wanted to visit was around a cool white star. By moisture quantity it was clearly a desert¡­ but it was not lifeless like the intentional devastation of Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn. This place still had not had any real contact with Anton, including telling him its name. That was something he planned to change on this visit. As expected, his approach resulted in people scurrying inside. If he wanted to, Anton could have approached with stealth or sufficient speed to catch them. But both options seemed like they would have negative side effects. So he allowed them to notice him at a great distance, and approached the same settlements. Nobody came out, but this time he left notes. Unless this planet was particularly divergent, they should at least be able to read them. There was the slight issue that all of his ink and paper were imbued with natural energy to make everything durable, but that was easily circumvented by writing in the dirt. His message was simple. He was a wandering traveler, curious about the place. And he would very much like to know their name. Hopefully they would supply that. He did as his messages said and moved to a particular part of the wilderness that should seem like a reasonable distance away. He could still sense the various settlements, of course, but he used only the smallest strands of energy to detect changes. People did return outside, and they at least approached the messages. After one week he returned. Scrawled on the ground next to one of them was a simple answer. Xicil. That had to be the name of the planet, since he wouldn¡¯t have received an answer if communication was not possible. The one thing that was noticeably missing was a request to never come back. Perhaps they had not considered that it would do any good, but now Anton had infinitely more connection to the area. Before he left, he looked over their various crops- mainly succulents and other desert dwelling plants. They were quite well managed, and it made him quite happy to see. Perhaps he could provide them a gift, though he would have to be careful that it would not disrupt the ecology. They had a nice balance at the moment that he didn¡¯t want to disrupt. Chapter 642 Being instantly revealed by Anishka and failing a vital component of the mission had been unfortunate¡­ but the Sergeant still believed she could fulfill the mission. And as Anishka didn¡¯t seem to be an enemy, secrecy was still intact for the moment. There was one problem unforeseen by the Sergeant. Any sort of spying had to be done in person, and everything was far. She was, after all, just a tiny ant. At her comfortable speed, she could travel only a few kilometers per day- the same sort of distance a non-cultivator human could cover in a single hour. Some void ants were capable of going much more quickly, of course¡­ but the Sergeant was not large or powerful. Determined strides could bring her a bit further. Pushing herself to go longer, she could achieve ten kilometers in a day- but if she wanted to return to a specific point the same day, she was quite limited. It took the Sergeant several days to find a reliable way out of Arioron, to see anything that was not city. It was a half day¡¯s travel in the shortest direction. Trudging through the wilderness was a dangerous task for a lone ant. Leaving behind pheromone trails would do the Sergeant no good, except to find her way back. No reinforcements would be coming, at least none she had been informed of. Perhaps there were other independent agents, perhaps not. The Great Queen had not said, and it was not her place to ask. Food was abundant, at least. The Sergeant began idly cutting pieces of a leaf before realizing there was no colony to return gathered food to. It was better to take tiny nibbles of things, after checking for toxins. It was lonely, having no one to share with. But being alone was not just mentally taxing, but dangerous. The Sergeant spotted a massive beetle charging towards her. Alright, so what if it was smaller than a human¡¯s pinky? It was still probably a hundred times her weight, or more. Massive jaws opened, intending to swallow her whole but the Sergeant wanted none of that. If she were back home, she would have an army of hundreds to call upon to make optimal use of the communal nature of void ants. Here, she could only dodge to the side- a move that seemed to confuse the beetle. If confusion was even something it could feel. This was the void ant¡¯s main advantage- where energy was out of the equation. A thinking mind, and though the Sergeant knew that her age limited her cognitive ability, she was still far above a common insect. She ran, not away from the beetle but under its legs. As it spun around to try to catch her, she latched onto one leg, climbing up close to its carapace. It didn¡¯t even seem to notice her. Instead, it just looked for more prey, moving far faster than the Sergeant could hope. Then she spotted something- a bird, diving from the sky. The sparrow snatched up the beetle in its even more massive jaws, a fitting retribution for its attempts. The Sergeant of course detached herself before that moment, flopping to the ground¡­ and being ignored. Even as one of the smaller birds, a single ant was beneath its notice. Hopefully. The next danger was a massive undulating monster- a caterpillar. It nearly got her, but its reflexes were too slow. Understanding that it was a larger target, the Sergeant merely latched onto its side to be further from other aggressors. And, as a show of dominance, she nibbled on the significantly softer creature, feeding on its power. Surprisingly, the mouthful of flesh not only had nutrients but also a small amount of natural energy imbued in it. That was a good sign for habitability. Void ants could live anywhere normal ants did- but they would hardly be elevated above any other without natural energy to feed upon. Eventually the Sergeant made it back to the city. Obviously her survey was not conclusive, but if any portion of the planet even closely resembled that wilderness, the void ants could establish a number of colonies. It was not up to the Sergeant to negotiate for such a thing. The Great Queen would likely take care of that job herself. ----- The fastest way around Arioron was, of course, riding upon a human. As long as the Sergeant could avoid being directly stomped upon- actually easier than it seemed, given the propensity for human footwear to not impact every portion of its sole with significant force- she would be an unnoticed passenger. Going places quickly wasn¡¯t that useful when it wasn¡¯t somewhere she wanted, but the Sergeant had compromise. Asking Anishka could have worked, but not only did she not want to push the good will of the individual keeping her secret, she could stumble upon the other purpose for her presence on planet. Though simply going along with Anishka to monitor her allowed her to continue the tertiary objective. Though that wasn¡¯t much different from knowing where she stayed at night, because the Sergeant couldn¡¯t actually provide any sort of safety. At best, she could try to share information of peril, if something should happen. Not exactly something she was equipped to accomplish. But it was her duty to do her best. Anishka¡¯s energy was both hot and cold. Like a frozen chili pepper, full of deliciously fatal compounds. Except of course in the form of natural energy, it only helped the Sergeant develop. Though she was fairly certain Anishka wouldn¡¯t notice or care, she still restrained herself from taking much. She did not want to antagonize the princess nor bloat herself on too much energy. And humans were not meant to be fed upon. All of the other cultivators were part of the mission. The Sergeant did not know any other way to determine the efficacy of future allies, and her instructions had been nonspecific. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Anishka¡¯s friend Patka had the same flavor, of course, but her energy was weaker by more than an entire tier. She was just a beginning Body Tempering cultivator, after all. The Enkindled Sun Sect tasted like soup that was a little bit too hot. Perhaps that was simply in comparison to other spice, but the Sergeant couldn¡¯t help but compare. Not only to Anishka, but also to that one time she¡¯d been allowed to visit the colony on Paradise and one of the phoenixes had let her nibble their energy. There were the sharp flavors of weapon focused cultivators, the vegetal taste of plant cultivators, gritty stone cultivators, pure water cultivators, and various sorts of weapon focused methods. Cultivators ranged from weaker than Aniskha, around the threshold of Essence Collection if not quite there yet, to all the way into Life Transformation. Then she tasted one that tasted like nothing. The Sergeant thought she¡¯d somehow not grabbed anything, so she took another larger bite, which almost killed her twice. First was the surge of internal energy which still tasted like nothing, second was the man swiveling his head. ¡°What was that?¡± Of course a powerful cultivator could sense even a tiny fluctuation in their own energy. The Sergeant stood perfectly still as an uncomfortably absent energy flowed over her. But it would not pick her out. And unless one specifically trained to detect millimeter pockets of lack, void ants wouldn¡¯t be noticed. That was the only thing that saved her. If the Sergeant was any bigger, she probably would have been spotted visually. The cultivator left, but she didn¡¯t move. She couldn¡¯t risk disturbing the energy inside her, which felt like the vastness of space trying to explode her from the inside. This was not Life Transformation energy. It had to be Integration. No, that should involve ascension energy- the taste had been described to her, and even if the flavor of a cultivation would change it, it should be recognizable. No Ascension energy. Then, a Worldbinding cultivator? Assimilation? How? Ekict wasn¡¯t supposed to have any of those. And they¡¯d driven off the invaders from the upper realms¡­ right? The Sergeant had a bad feeling as she watched the figure continue along the road. She was going to have to follow him¡­ placing herself in greater danger. But this was clearly the true mission. The Great Queen knew, somehow, and the Sergeant had to provide proof. ----- Back on In¡¯istra, Anton was reunited with a Spirit Building Varghese. It had been several years, after all, so it was only natural progress. Anton was glad to see that Varghese had shared the Hundred Stars with his family. They seemed to be the first, but there were a few more among the Iron Plate Mercenaries. Obviously the kid was no Vincent, but could he really be blamed for that? Vincent was the only one like him, and if Anton were to compare in percentages then technically Varghese had recruited a higher proportion of the local planetary residents. It should be everyone but himself, in fact. After observing the situation for a time, Anton finally approached when Varghese was practicing on the same abandoned rooftop with several others. He greatly restricted his energy and climbed up the same route the others would have to take.- past the western creepers which were carefully maintained. Sensing his arrival, the closest woman greeted him. ¡°I was not expecting new arrivals. Welcome, bro¡­ther.¡± She stumbled over her words upon seeing Anton properly. Anton had all sorts of responses to that, like pointing out that even old men could be brothers. But she had probably sensed a portion of his true energy, and Varghese had also focused on him. ¡°Sect Head,¡± he clasped his hands and bowed deeply. Everyone else panicked for a moment and followed suit. ¡°I did not expect you.¡± ¡°I said I would return when I found time. I have time.¡± Anton waved his hand towards the group, ¡°Go ahead and raise your heads. I am a Sect Head, but as far as I¡¯m concerned Varghese here has a similar position. He just has less experience, and I suppose I¡¯m technically his master.¡± ¡°There are many reasons to show respect to someone like yourself, Sect Head Anton.¡± ¡°I will gladly accept respect. But people can also look at me. I¡¯m not going to get angry about that.¡± Anton took a good look at Varghese- though he was already well aware of the man¡¯s status from his observations. ¡°Spirit Building, of course. Well on your way to Essence Collection, even.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not so certain about that,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°It¡¯s a slow process.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. Your lifespan is still expanding much more quickly than you¡¯re using it up. I¡¯m not going to speculate on you going beyond Life Transformation, but based on my judgments you should at least get that far.¡± ¡°... Beyond Life Transformation?¡± the woman who¡¯d first greeted him asked. Anton shrugged, as he was slowly letting his true cultivation be felt. ¡°Of course. Ascension is but one branch. No one knows what the limits of cultivation are. So, Varghese. How have things been going?¡± ¡°As you can see, I have recruited some disciples. I¡­ admit my hands are full with only a few and my own training. Plus my work with the Iron Plate. I do have to earn money somehow.¡± ¡°True,¡± Anton nodded. He could have thrown a huge pile of wealth on Varghese, but that would have only gotten him robbed and killed. Teaching him a new cultivation technique that would feel just like one of many until the true power shone through at the later stages- where they could properly protect their position- was much more reasonable. ¡°And what about¡­ that other task?¡± Varghese nodded, ¡°You can speak of it here. I know none of those present are part of the Twin Soul Sect. Though of course you can discern that for yourself. As for our progress¡­ I have little impact, personally. Perhaps if I reach Essence Collection, as there aren¡¯t too many Life Transformation individuals left on In¡¯istra.¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°There has also been trouble with some particular members or suspected members.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not here to solve your problems,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°But¡­ the Twin Soul Sect also isn¡¯t just your problem. They¡¯re everyone¡¯s problem. So I might be inclined to help out somewhat. But first, something even more important. Speak of your cultivation woes.¡± Anton sat down on the edge of the roof. ¡°All of you. I am certain you¡¯ve run into struggles that Varghese is not yet experienced enough to perfectly handle¡­ and that¡¯s alright. That¡¯s what those of us who¡¯ve been around a while are for.¡± Chapter 643 To reach Shutoll, at some point the squad was going to have to go around or through the Iron Heights. After consulting with the scouts, Captain Tiras brought the squad together to explain the plan. ¡°The Harmonious Citadel controls the route to the north around the Iron Heights, as well as the major pass to the south. However, there is a smaller path in between shown on our maps- and confirmed by our scouts. While it is true that the risk of running into powerful beasts will go up significantly, I have determined that it is still safer than going near human-controlled territory.¡± He looked around at the squad to make sure his words settled in. This wasn¡¯t a discussion, merely a statement of what would be, but he still wanted everyone on board. ¡°If we make our way across the mountains, we might find ourselves in Scarlet Alliance territory. If not, we should only have a few more days of travel to reach the control of Shutoll.¡± He didn¡¯t bother mentioning the possibility that the Harmonious Citadel would have already taken it over. If they had, there was little hope for the squad. The best they could hope for was dispersing into the populace and not being recognized as members of the Scarlet Alliance. But he didn¡¯t want to suggest or promote such a possibility, especially with the risk of failure. If they all stayed together, they should have the best chance. There was also the factor of Grandmaster Chikere¡¯s presence- though she was not someone they could rely on, as long as she was on Yaitis there was still hope. ----- At first, Chidi presumed that the Iron Heights were just another name for a place. Mountains and stone were generally hard, so the name would fit anywhere. In this particular case, there was a bit more to it. Not only were there exposed ores- though generally of little value- the whole mountain had a strange flow of energy about it. Chidi could feel it, tugging on him and to a larger extent his blade. Magnetism, with the exposed rough ores being prominently magnetite. The fields fluctuated from completely ignorable to strong enough to cause the soldiers to sway unsteadily as their weapon or armor were pulled off balance. Aconite was the only one completely unaffected, mostly by coincidence. She didn¡¯t use weapons herself, and her fur was the best armor she could realistically have. Her parents and some siblings had tried more armor on top, but most of it was too bulky and led to overheating fatigue, along with the fact that even with armor designed to fit them it limited mobility. Humans had untold generations of experience working armor for themselves, but they had not worked out all of the little quirks for other creatures, even she smiths who specialized in beast mounts. ¡°Mother would like this place,¡± Aconite commented to Chidi. ¡°Would she?¡± ¡°Indeed. The earth itself is quite interesting, I am sure she could learn something.¡± ¡°... My mother would either love it or hate it,¡± Chidi replied. ¡°Magnetism can augment formations¡­ or completely ruin it. This is just one big complication. Or half of a setup already done.¡± Their ascent was not terribly interesting, as bare stone and metal ores were the main sight, with only thin dirt on the slopes and few other features. Only a few scraggly plants growing in the rocks, using what soil they could find. Aconite led the way up a scree slope, an endless number of loose and often sharp rocks¡­ and of course magnetite chunks. Every time Chidi leaned forward, the ground was liable to jump up and grab at his sword. When that happened, rocks loosened and nearly caused a cascading effect. Fortunately, as cultivators they were able to prevent themselves from slipping if things shifted suddenly, and the magnetic rocks tended to clump together. That meant they could partially be avoided or otherwise dealt with. Even when there was a large shift, it made the whole section more stable for those following behind. Along with the larger chunks sticking to his sword through its sheath, Chidi sensed a small coating of dirt. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. As he tried to brush it off, it merely moved around- and when it built up in one spot it stood out in strange patterns. Iron sand, then, reacting with the general magnetism of the area. It was interesting to see how it spread, but it would be inconvenient to fight with its interference. It seemed like only a small detail, but Chidi was beginning to understand how small changes could significantly impact a battle, when perfection of motion was demanded. As they got closer to the pass, a lower section that would require less climbing and otherwise risky traversal, the ground trembled sending scree flying over the Chidi and Aconite, then the squad further behind them. At first it seemed to be an isolated incident, but it came again. ¡°I smell something,¡± Aconite said. Chidi also smelled something, but he wasn¡¯t sure if it was relevant. Mostly, it was metallic. As they continued a bit closer, he felt fluctuations of energy. Then there was another trembling, preceded by a burst of natural energy. ¡°Something¡¯s fighting.¡± ¡°That does seem to be the case. Bad luck.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Or we can slip past. There¡¯s something big¡­ but I can¡¯t quite tell what¡¯s fighting it.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Human cultivators,¡± Aconite declared. ¡°The winds shifted. I smell them now.¡± ¡°Great. Harmonious Citadel, or¡­?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t believe they will be friends.¡± Chidi held back to relay the message to the captain, who ordered the soldiers to suppress their energy. They were keeping it somewhat constrained already, but they couldn¡¯t keep a hold to the maximum effect all of the time. Even if some weren¡¯t stealth experts, they could get a bit closer to their goal unnoticed if everyone put in the effort. ¡°If you can find a way around, lead us there,¡± Captain Tiras said. ¡°Of course,¡± Chidi nodded. He strode upwards to catch up with Aconite, only a couple hundred meters ahead. He kept track of the battle, able to hear the sounds as well as feeling the vibrations. No sword cultivators, he was quite certain. Spear, perhaps? They had lost their saint, and so they went wherever they were told or thought they could regain some prestige. Even if the Harmonious Citadel tried not to admit the loss, people had to know. The sounds of combat continued to become more and more clear. In fact, it seemed as if it was moving closer faster than Chidi could climb the slope. Then there was a great shattering sound, and a strange tube came flying towards him. Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t as close as he first thought. It was just the massive noise its body made moving through the air, and the speed with which it had happened. It landed far short of him, though it still started a cascade of semi-magnetic scree. Chidi blocked his face with his arms, trying to determine where the giant snake was looking. Its head¡­ turned towards him? He wasn¡¯t quite sure about that, because it was still some distance away. And as long as he¡¯d gone without it, he¡¯d come to rely on the feeling of a gaze to determine intent. Then the time for thought passed as it flipped about, several more figures descending towards it in a clear display of their cultivation. There was no way they would miss the squad down slope from them, with absolutely no cover. ¡°We can¡¯t let the humans live to speak of us!¡± Aconite barked. Chidi agreed, drawing his blade. Immediately bits of the mountainside reached up to try to grab onto his weapon, but he slashed with the intent to leave it behind, then began to make his way upwards. Though he ran at an angle, because he didn¡¯t want to run into the snake. It was at least a meter thick, and dozens long. Quite enough to swallow any person whole, should it get the opportunity. Though usually they would not feed during a battle, Chidi knew beasts with cultivation such as it had could circumvent normal animal activity. He didn¡¯t really intend to help the snake¡­ but they had a mutual enemy at the moment, and couldn¡¯t just stay out of the fight. There were at least five Essence Collection cultivators among the enemy, and a couple dozen more in Spirit Building. A dangerous group for just their squad to fight, but if they ran now they would just be hunted down in a day or two. And the enemies weren¡¯t exactly fresh. Aconite avoided entering the thick of the battle- she was smarter than that, and only Chidi was with her at the moment. The rest of the squad was moving, but while they waited Aconite picked off one of the cultivators that strayed away from the rest. She lunged forward, grabbing the leg of a surprised individual. Then she spun him towards Chidi, who reacted by slicing with his sword. The two of them had developed their teamwork over their time together, but Chidi felt his own movements were even smoother now. Obviously the enemy wouldn¡¯t just ignore one of their own being killed. Nor would being engaged with a large snake distract them enough to not notice. Immediately, half of the weaker cultivators charged towards the pair. It was a sensible arrangement- a handful of them could fight Chidi and Aconite respectively and overwhelm them. But the two did not let themselves get split up¡­ and Chidi was imbued with a deep overconfidence. At least, he had to assume it was overconfidence until he was proven otherwise. It was crazy to let a spear nearly brush the tip of his nose, but he did. At the same time, his sword slashed up towards his opponent¡¯s arms. The only thing that saved them was the slope and Chidi suddenly being pulled down. Massive ripples of power had suddenly spread out from the snake, reaching the secondary battle only a couple dozen meters away. That was practically right on top of it, as it could stretch that entire distance. Somehow, it had increased the magnetism of all of the scree. Now it coated its body like a second layer of armor, while sticking to the weapons and armor of humans who were not expecting it. Chidi didn¡¯t like the way his weapon was suddenly heavy, but he was unable to shake anything off his weapon. With a moment of focus, he shifted his thoughts. If it would not let go, he should make use of it. He felt for the flow, both of weapons and magnetic fields. Citadel¡¯s Downfall had much to say about the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s flow in combat, and capitalizing on a shift in energy he swung his blade. It seemed to be going high, but instead it followed the shifting lines, coming down on his opponent¡¯s shoulder while their spear went over him, slightly deflected by the fields and partly due to the angle. One enemy fell, only to be replaced by two. Another fell, to be replaced by a third and a fourth. They surrounded Chidi on one side, with Aconite held back on the other. But they were not the only ones with allies. Denitsa leapt into battle, swinging her warhammer down, disregarding whatever tried to stick to her or the enemy. It was an appropriate move, as the random magnetic scree around her hammer physically deflected the spear, while her focus on simple momentum brought her weapon straight towards a breastplate, the force of her blow crushing it and opening her opponent up to be finished off in the next swing. Chidi appreciated the straightforward power, but he knew that wasn¡¯t for him. He liked the efficiency of a well maneuvered blade. A moment later, Chidi nearly found himself impaled on one of the enemy Essence Collection cultivator¡¯s spears. Not because they had chosen to come face the squad, but because they were slapped flying backwards. Without the pressure of the full group of Harmonious Citadel individuals, the giant serpent had found an opening. Chidi could smell the blood dripping from it, some of it even on the spear that trailed past his ear, but it was clearly not down and out yet. Chidi tightened his grip. They would get through this still. He was confident, and he¡¯d have to trust that his training was good enough. It always had to be. Because he was going to survive, and go apologize to his parents for thinking he was ready when he really wasn¡¯t. Chapter 644 The sharpness of spear points drew lines through Chidi¡¯s position, and his body moved to negate their intent. A half step to the side on the scree, a twist of his blade to deflect a trajectory, and many other small movements in rapid succession. Then when the time came, he would step inside the range of one opponent and make his own attack, creating his own line through them. Often enough it was successful, and when it wasn¡¯t it forced his opponents to retreat to a non-optimal location. Such as closer to the giant snake, which was still present. Occasionally the battlefield shifted under the will of the giant snake, either pushing or pulling some of the magnetic scree and many weapons and armor. Lesser members of the Harmonious Citadel were the first to fall, while the Essence Collection cultivators were only just realizing the danger they were in. Though the Scarlet Alliance squad couldn¡¯t assume the snake would assist them, keeping their opponents between them and it was sufficient to pressure them. Chidi got locked in battle with one for a few short moves. His body reacted more than his mind, and a moment later he had a large gash on his left side as the spear grazed past with energy extended- but his opponent lost an arm in the exchange. The wound on Chidi¡¯s side wouldn¡¯t matter that much if he immediately treated it. But first the battle had to be won. Captain Tiras as well as the vice-captain Denitsa had each taken out another of the Essence Collection cultivators. The snake crushed one beneath its body, and then wrapped itself around the remaining one, crushing his bones. There was a tense moment of groups facing off with each other. Chidi tried to determine where the snake was looking, but he could only feel its motions. A tongue sticking out, detecting heat. Further up its rather large head, he felt¡­ trails of blood. So the creature¡¯s eyes had been stabbed out. Chidi felt a bit of pity for what it had lost, though he didn¡¯t know sight himself. A roaring growl came from Aconite, not one with meaning besides the obvious. A threat, and intimidation. Neither side moved for a moment, before the serpent began to retreat, cultivator still clutched in its tail. They let it go, because they had no reason to hunt it. Material wealth wasn¡¯t worth the very real risk to their lives, especially if they couldn¡¯t reach anywhere that would make use of the materials. Chidi pulled out a medical kit, ready to stitch up his side, but he stopped. He wasn¡¯t the only one injured. The squad had lost a few people as well, despite attacking an enemy who was already engaged with a powerful opponent. The one that stopped Chidi was Ida. A survey of her physical form might have made Chidi think she was dead, a hole through her chest. And certainly, she would be soon. However, her body still pumped blood and retained heat. The things taught to Chidi by Grandmaster Chikere did not make him a doctor, but he was qualified enough as a basic combat surgeon. Needle and thread found their way into his hands, where he began to stitch up the worst of the damage. It wasn¡¯t going to be enough. Chidi also pulled out a medicinal pill from his bag, only to wonder how she was going to swallow it. There was a hole right through her sternum, which went through her trachea and esophagus along with damage to her heart. She couldn¡¯t swallow it, but he could shove it straight towards her stomach. It began to dissolve naturally, but it would be better if it was consciously circulated. Unfortunately, Chidi couldn¡¯t do anything about that. All he could do was stop the bleeding- he was very good at ¡®undoing¡¯ cuts, as his training had made him quite familiar with them. It was only a short time directly under Chikere¡¯s tutelage, but the comparison to the offensive end of things made it stick with him. And it was better to try than not. The blood of Chidi¡¯s first scouting student was all over his hands as he frantically tried to get it back in her. If he¡¯d been relying on sight, he would have been completely incapable. His access to inside of her closed up with muscular action, but his energy wielded needles like tiny rapiers, drawing patterns that held the body vaguely in shape. When he finally got to stitching up her outer wounds, Chidi was honestly shocked she was still alive. That could only be partly his own efforts and the medicine. Proper body tempering training made people more durable, but there were still limits. This required determination to live, and probably a good bit of luck. Ida did not open her eyes, and Chidi did not want to force her¡­ but they had to move. So he hoisted her onto his back, the same as other squad members were doing for those who could not move. Those who did not survive had received quick burials- the enemies were left for beasts to consume. Chidi realized he hadn¡¯t yet worked on his own side. Fortunately, the blood had clotted, partly because of his undershirt. It was going to be a royal pain to disentangle that without ripping open his side, and there was still some internal bleeding, but Chidi circulated his energy and focused on promoting recovery as he moved. This was another sensation he only wanted to experience once. It hurt much worse than the cleaner cuts of the grandmaster. ----- So far, Anton had not needed to kill anyone on his own. While techniques to reveal the true cultivation of the Twin Soul Sect weren¡¯t perfect, Anton had a cultivation advantage. Twisting a jolt of energy into an arrow that moved near the speed of light, he turned heads to focus on the targets in the most inopportune of circumstances. Just now, he had done his deed at a meeting of four local sects. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°What is this?¡± demanded the woman of the hosting sect. ¡°The energy of invaders!¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s-¡± the man frantically searched for an excuse. ¡°I felt something. I was poisoned!¡± The quick thinking saved the man for the moment- but it did not stop the other three from restraining him. They were able to verify the path of the arrow as it pierced into the building, but following that trajectory they would never spot Anton. He was a hundred kilometers away, not quite on the opposite side. ¡°I heard there is a technique being distributed that can detect the Twin Soul Sect¡­¡± one of the others said. ¡°I can have my contacts verify the information and see if we can get our hands on it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a temporary fluctuation,¡± the man pleaded. ¡°You know I¡¯m not one of them.¡± ¡°Do we?¡± said the final one. ¡°I¡¯m sure you can see why we would be hesitant. Until we can verify one way or another, you will be taken into custody. Should this truly be a mistake, we will apologize and help you hunt down whoever framed you.¡± Nobody sounded convinced, of course. But they didn¡¯t want to kill a Life Transformation cultivator or the head of a sect without sufficient proof. It might bolster their positions slightly, but it would weaken the province with respect to other sects that might want their resources. Anton could imagine that was how they were thinking, at least. Hopefully he could continue helping In¡¯istra rebuild and prosperous enough they wouldn¡¯t default to conflicts. That would require some other sorts of guidance as well, though hopefully some of that could be done by the burgeoning Order of One Hundred Stars branch. Varghese was a fine young fellow, of strong character that would hopefully lead others to be the same. ----- Everheart was bored. Normally that would lead him to go do something to relieve his boredom, but he was at a critical juncture of setting up his little system. It wouldn¡¯t be fully done for a decade, but the basic components necessary to fight a few Augmentation cultivators were there. He was confident in beating saints one-on-one, of course, but they were traveling in batches. And there should be a couple other Augmentation cultivators that wanted to take him out. Rather than having to fake his death again, spending a bit of time to prepare was best. If the Harmonious Citadel thought he would stop with just one, they didn¡¯t know him that well. Their whole empire needed to collapse in embarrassment as their leaders were publicly shamed. Or killed, he supposed. Whichever was convenient at the time. ----- How much further to Shutoll? That was supposed to be the question answered by Chidi, but he couldn¡¯t help but wonder himself. It shouldn¡¯t be far, but it felt like forever. At least Ida could walk again. If barely. He had no idea if she would ever recover to a point she could fight. Or if her wound might get infected. Usually cultivators didn¡¯t have to deal with such a thing, but when severely weakened it could still be trouble. On the other hand, sometimes there were infections that could harm even otherwise healthy cultivators. Just one more reason to get to a city and a proper doctor, not just someone who would stitch things closed and barely shift bones back to where they should go. Just as Chidi was about to ask Aconite if she could see the city, he felt something coming. This time, he was fully ready for it and found it comforting. A large number of now familiar swords, and thus the person who came with them, bounding along the ground. Which was weird, since she could fly. ¡°Nice scar,¡± Grandmaster Chikere said. ¡°... Thanks?¡± Chidi tilted his head. It would have been better if he could have avoided the big scar on his side instead. That was going to take a lot of work to properly recover, since the early healing process wasn¡¯t optimal. ¡°I¡¯m both glad and disappointed it wasn¡¯t from a sword.¡± ¡°Because¡­?¡± ¡°It would mean you failed to avoid an attack properly, but it also means you were fighting people who barely matter.¡± ¡°Harsh.¡± Chidi could feel her looking around, specifically the way her energy senses roamed. ¡°You left a needle in there.¡± Before Chidi could ask more, Chikere had stepped a hundred meters over to Ida¡¯s location and slapped a palm on her back. There was a tiny shimmer as a needle came out of her. Then Chikere held it in front of him. ¡°Don¡¯t lose it.¡± ¡°Dammit. Was that why she¡¯s not healing well?¡± ¡°Nah, probably didn¡¯t matter. Looks like she got it pretty bad. But you really have to pay attention to those things.¡± He had been paying attention, of course. As much as his mind could process at the time. But even now, he was still in a daze, wondering if he would survive. Though at the current moment his body was already wilting with relief. Maybe too soon, though. ¡°Grandmaster, are you able to tell if Shutoll is still under Scarlet Alliance control?¡± ¡°Who and what now?¡± ¡°... the city that way,¡± Chidi pointed. He really hoped there was still a city there. ¡°Oh, yeah. I recognize those swords. Not held by the Citadel, either. So you¡¯re probably good. And if not, I guess you can settle there anyway.¡± ¡°Yeah, as if we can defeat a whole city.¡± ¡°I mean, I don¡¯t plan to fight your battles for you. But it¡¯s not really out of my way, and its easier for me to train you if you settle down.¡± ¡°... Right.¡± For the sake of Shutoll, Chidi hoped they had not been taken over by the Harmonious Citadel. Otherwise, he wasn¡¯t certain the buildings would survive. He could see Chikere just slicing the whole city in half at chest level to kill an occupying army and wondering why everything toppled over. But that was just his view of the woman he mostly knew about from legends. Chapter 645 The Sergeant was feeling much better about her mission, after having spent a whole year without being compromised¡­ twice. And being able to openly visit Anishka made everything easier. Such as the transition to another location. It would have been possible to sneak onto another ship going towards the poles, but that would have required waiting around in the proper location for a long time. And she would have had a difficult time finding Anishka¡¯s location in such a situation, except for the particular circumstances they were in. Specifically, the Northern Glacier Sect was located exactly where one would expect, and with as much population and traffic as could be expected. Which was to say, they had a sizable population of cultivators making up their sect and few other permanent residents. Everything was cold. The area was cold. The people were cold. Their energy was cold. The only thing that warmed the Sergeant up was nibbling on Anishka¡¯s energy, unless she was training- which was kind of the whole point of her being in the area. If only Patka were around, she was doing a good job of learning the basics of cultivation, and thus was half fire. But sadly, she had not been able to come with them. The Northern Glacier Sect was willing to accept a visitor from Ceretos, but not some random peasant from their own planet. Technically, they didn¡¯t say peasant- but the Sergeant knew what people were thinking. And for an ant coming from a society with a defined group of queens, the local class structures were both insulting and inefficient. That might put Ekict on the uninhabitable list. There wasn¡¯t really much for the Sergeant to do, so she put up with the freezing cold and chomped on people energy. Cold. Cold. Cold. Existential. Cold. Wait what was that one? The Sergeant focused on the feeling. She had been carefully inspecting the upper echelon of the sect. The energy was a bit strong for her, so she wasn¡¯t digesting it. She went back just in case. Her initial impression hadn¡¯t been wrong. There was an icy tint over the existential uncertainty, but the flavor was quite clear. It reminded her of¡­ nothing she had ever tasted. But was somehow familiar. What was it? And why was it so potent? This wasn¡¯t the first odd source of energy. There was the nothingness¡­ and one more thing while she was in Arioron. An impossibly powerful taste that she¡¯d convinced herself was a mistake both times, given how far apart they were. This could be the third mistake. But it was easily replicable. Who was this person? A young woman. Too young, for her strength. Except that was never true. Human cultivators had the possibility to grow with frightening speed on occasion, based on natural talent and circumstances. This, then, should be the same. But it was still highly suspect. How could she find out more? Obviously it was too risky to ask Anishka for information. That would only lead to many questions, and people looking for answers that couldn¡¯t be given along with danger for the young woman. She had to think. Who could she follow, to learn this information? Then she remembered something. Something very human, yet so useful she¡¯d forgotten. Writing. Humans did that, and she even knew how to read it. Mostly. She hadn¡¯t thought she would be sent off on a spy mission, and it wasn¡¯t necessary around the colony. So, written records. Those would have to exist- Ekict didn¡¯t have technology, like everywhere normal. Though many sects kept their records apart from technology anyway. That gave her a goal, and it only took a day of wandering the overly large halls while freezing her lower limbs off. But fortunately, her durability had grown during her mission, possibly due to eating such powerful energy. And that wasn¡¯t counting the three anomalies. A little bit of cold wouldn¡¯t actually kill her, which was a serious concern if she had been a normal ant. She found the records, and proceeded to walk under the door. It almost worked, too. But a formation extended beyond the door itself. Chewing through it¡­ didn¡¯t work. It replenished the damage too quickly. If the Sergeant was bigger and stronger¡­ no, that wouldn¡¯t work. The gap was really quite small. Stronger, then, without growing larger. That gave her a goal, though she wasn¡¯t sure if she could accomplish it. ----- Shutoll. Chidi remembered the great relief he had felt upon reaching it. That relief didn¡¯t last long, however. Not because the city was compromised, or anything of that nature. No, because even as Captain Tiras was giving reports to the local leadership with Chidi waiting out in the hall, Chikere decided she was done ¡®holding back¡¯ with training. It was silly of him to ever imagine Chikere cutting a city in half. She didn¡¯t even scratch the walls as she came for him, avoiding all collateral damage if the strings holding his storage bag didn¡¯t count. Which for her, they must not have. That was fair enough, because she wouldn¡¯t let something stop her attacks. On the other hand, Chidi was fairly confident that the grandmaster could maneuver her weapon around any obstruction without slowing. That was what it felt like every time his sword came up to block, or parry, or anything. Then Chidi had to give a report while covered in blood- not dripping, because his wounds were stitched up. But he didn¡¯t have time to clean. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°We really need to step this up, you know,¡± Chikere commented afterwards. ¡°I¡¯m not saying you¡¯re learning slow. But if you want to achieve your stated goal of defeating Rakiya in twenty-five years, we can¡¯t afford to waste time.¡± ¡°That was your goal,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Even more important, then.¡± He would have complained, but everything hurt¡­ and he did want to be strong. Anything to let him sort through his actions to conclusively determine whether everything had been a big mistake. ----- Even at his age, or perhaps especially at his age, Anton needed to take some time for himself. He¡¯d spend one lifetime focused on others, and he couldn¡¯t say that his second had been all that different. But he still recognized some difference. Perhaps it was just that he was more capable of doing what he thought he should be able to do. He hadn¡¯t dealt well with getting old. Now, when he was away from a bound star he was weaker than normal. That hadn¡¯t proved disastrous in the brief battle involving Shrenn and Tenoun¡¯a, but the sibling planets could have certainly caused him to be in real danger had either focused on him for some reason. Even though he considered himself above Life Transformation cultivators, he was not so far ahead of them that the difference could be ignored. Outside of the proper radius of one of his stars, at least. For his own sake, he had taken the relatively short hop over to Azun. In¡¯istra was only a few systems over, turning the trip from a lengthy process to a short vacation measured in weeks on the top end. His ability to move through the void between stars was always improving, especially having traveled four hundred lightyears and back, then out again. Even if he hadn¡¯t necessarily been in all of the intervening space, it was a truly unfathomable distance that meant nothing to him except for that it was between systems. The same was not true of travel in other ways, with roads built on the hard work of those who came before. ¡­ Star roads. There was a thought. Not something he would actually get much done with, of course, but perhaps someone else could determine if there was a viable concept there. Though the various methods they had worked far better than he could have anticipated even when he was in Life Transformation. Assimilation was a big leap forward. Azun was a great comfort. It was a roaring fire in winter, a heavy blanket coating him. And, yes, he understood that such a fire could overwhelm him and turn him to ash. The weight of the neutron star could crush him with himself. But the same was true for many interactions Anton was involved with on the other side. He simply trusted that it would not do such to him, as he avoided doing to others. Though of course, Azun probably didn¡¯t think or have will. Anton couldn¡¯t be completely certain of that, even if he hadn¡¯t seen any real signs of it from Azun or any other star. Because anything of such vast power could quite possibly have a consciousness he was unable to understand. If so, Anton was glad it did not mind sharing a little bit of itself. He reveled in the fire and weight, as well as the magnetism which was so powerful as to reveal how it affected anything with the slightest notion that it was magnetic, the field affect it all with so much vigor that his clothes felt like metal weights holding him back. But as he moved around through it, he felt how it resisted the motion¡­ and cataloged insights to share with Varghese. Anton wanted to bring the young man to this place some day, but he would have to be able to survive the trip. Anton could manage most of that, but to be safe it was better if he was stronger. And perhaps facing the overwhelming power of it would have the opposite effect, if he was not ready. Some people were discouraged by what they felt they could not reach. Anton had never been the sort, and now he was not truly convinced there was any height he couldn¡¯t reach. Even if Domination was another order of magnitude beyond his comprehension, he could still envision reaching such a level of power at some point in the future. Assuming he lived that long. He was no longer considering that as a factor in anything he did, but it was an important point. He was fairly certain that his lifespan was growing and depleting at similar rates, or perhaps expired but somehow not falling over the threshold. The latter seemed more unlikely, but he wasn¡¯t truly sure. He should set up a farm. The thought went through Anton¡¯s mind anything he was not on a farm, admittedly. But it was particularly ridiculous where he was. Azun wasn¡¯t exactly a good source of anything but gravity, and it didn¡¯t have planets anyway. Unless he could get something to grow in space, orbiting around the star¡­ But Anton was not a creator of life. Even selective breeding of plants didn¡¯t reveal new traits, only recombining what was already possible. Anything beyond that was not in Anton¡¯s wheelhouse. But should he stumble across something so miraculous, he would consider putting some here. ----- Though there were no messages going off planet at the moment, Chidi still gave one to be delivered should the time come. It had alternated between asking his parents for rescue and telling them he was fine and without worry. Ultimately, he just noted that he was alive along with Aconite. He was unsure if the message would reach them. Technically, he didn¡¯t even know they were alive- he just believe they would be, despite intending to go up against saints. And if they could plan to take down Augmentation cultivators while only in Intregration, couldn¡¯t he do the same thing? It was just¡­ he wouldn¡¯t even be peak Life Transformation in twenty-five years. In fact, he might not even be early Life Transformation. Did Chikere not remember how long it took? If he recalled correctly, she took around the full century that was the minimum training time of those from Ceretos. Though information on her was often sparse, her ascension had not been subtle. All of those thoughts were for later. Training, too. For now, he needed to enjoy the small break that Chikere¡¯s absence provided, before he had to contribute to missions for Shutoll. They would still be scouting, of course, but Chidi wasn¡¯t sure if he would be part of the same squad, or what would happen with any of the others. He would still help train anyone who wanted it while they were together, if either side was up for it. ¡°How do you feel about all of this, Aconite?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°We¡¯ve survived. For now, at least.¡± ¡°And we will continue to survive,¡± she declared. ¡°We cannot leave, not without considering our ability to engage in space combat, but I also do not think we must. This is what you wanted, a good tempering ground.¡± ¡°It is, isn¡¯t it?¡± Chidi sighed. ¡°I wish it didn¡¯t come with so much death. On our side, of course.¡± Though he wasn¡¯t fully comfortable with the enemies he¡¯d slain either. He had to do it to survive, but aside from a few of them, were the Harmonious Citadel disciples really here by choice? Even more reason to kill those leading them. But he was not going to hold back in a combat situation, especially not with how close things had already been. Chapter 646 The perspective of the Northern Glacier Sect on cultivation was interesting, but not as interesting as their physical location. Anishka knew that a glacier on the edge of the ocean was prone to dropping chunks of itself as it made its way into the sea, but something about the specific natural circumstances let it extend further, and some formations had stabilized it further to let them place their sect buildings directly on the glacier, slowly but inevitably drifting out to sea. She was looking down into the sea, watching the relatively rare ice floes drift about. Then her concentration was broken by something. ¡°Oh, yes. I¡¯m ready.¡± The technical reason she was at this position was a formal spar, for training. In truth, she¡¯d been looking forward to it. Not because of anything due to the man she was going to be sparring with, but because she had ideas for a new usage of her abilities. ¡°Begin!¡± Anishka took her stance, carrying no weapons. On the other side, her opponent had a wide-bladed axe. She wouldn¡¯t be blocking that directly, though on the other hand her opponent wasn¡¯t going to use it only for direct attacks. It was a tool that enhanced the Northern Glacier Sect¡¯s style. A wide sweep proved exactly that point, slicing the air into shards of ice that flung themselves towards her. Anishka waved her hand, a burst of flames that were only just hot enough to melt the tips of a portion of the ice shards filling the air. She wasn¡¯t confident in dodging every single one of them. Combat was something she only did as necessary to attain enlightenment, instead of as her primary focus. The two cultivators moved around the area. Heavy snow limited their motions, but beyond that Anishka¡¯s opponent also sneakily hardened layers of ice beneath their steps. When Anishka followed after them, or even stepped close to anywhere they had been, there was a chance she would step onto slippery ice, weakening her footing and opening her up for attack. Even though she was repeatedly bombarded with attacks, Anishka remained passive. She already knew she could overwhelm people with flames, so competing in a contest of pure strength didn¡¯t interest her. It would also bring too much interest upon her, and more people would want to spar. Anishka liked the opportunities every once in a while, but not nearly as much as anyone from Ekict. Then the time came. She got close to her opponent, and the man took a deep breath. Icy winds coated her as he exhaled, a layer of ice coating her. He stepped forward to take advantage of the opening, then froze himself. Ice melted off of Anishka as she considered the situation. It wasn¡¯t quite as efficient as she wanted, but she couldn¡¯t say she was disappointed either. Instead of creating the heat herself, she simply pulled it from her opponent, letting it perform double duty. She¡¯d done so rapidly enough that she even flash-froze a layer of natural energy around her opponent. Sure, he wasn¡¯t particularly powerful, but their cultivations were similar enough. That layer shattered a moment later, but Anishka already had flames swirling around her hand, reaching out towards him. He looked as if he would continue the fight for a moment, then he shook his head. ¡°I concede.¡± Good. That would save them both time. ¡°Well fought,¡± she said. That was the polite thing to say, and she tried to mean it. She wondered if she should attempt to go up against someone more firmly in Essence Collection. Perhaps that was too arrogant, but she¡¯d undoubtedly learn something. ----- The Sergeant had no choice but to consult with Anishka. It was risky, but she felt she had discovered important information. She wasn¡¯t growing stronger quickly enough to be certain she could retrieve the information. They might be here a year, or only a couple months. Asking Anishka to wait longer in the latter case would also be suspicious. ¡°What would taste existentially vague with a coating of ice?¡± Anishka closed her eyes, thinking. Then opened them. Surely she had a profound answer. ¡°Sorry, what? That was a very complicated sentence.¡± Oh. She did say her void ant sign wasn¡¯t perfect. And she was still quite young. Many people didn¡¯t learn it at all, so the Sergeant couldn¡¯t truly complain. ¡°I found something that tasted cold, with another strange thing inside.¡± ¡°What sort of thing?¡± ¡°... someone¡¯s energy.¡± ¡°So, cold concealing¡­ something else? Another cultivation technique? Or maybe an offshoot of the Northern Glacier Style.¡± ¡°It was completely unrelated,¡± the Sergeant declared confidently. ¡°Sorry, can¡¯t think of anything,¡± Anishka shrugged. ¡°Except the Twin Soul Sect. But they should be¡­¡± Anishka frowned. ¡°Dammit. Who?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t remember who?¡± ¡°Too dangerous.¡± ¡°That¡¯s even more reason for me to know!¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t know her name,¡± the Sergeant admitted. ¡°Aha. So it¡¯s a woman.¡± ¡°N-no! Not necessarily. That¡¯s the default void ant pronoun.¡± ¡°Definitely a woman,¡± Anishka nodded. ¡°Is it¡­ the sect head? Arzu?¡± ¡°No. I mean, I won¡¯t tell you who.¡± ¡°Not her. One of the other Life Transformation cultivators. Seems dangerous.¡± The Sergeant twitched. It was her duty to provide accurate information for the queens. But Anishka was also a princess. How complicated. ¡°What is it?¡± Anishka was annoyingly perceptive. ¡°Stronger,¡± the Sergeant admitted. ¡°Stronger than the sect head? Is there anyone like that?¡± Anishka frowned. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Stronger than Life Transformation.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not even possible,¡± Anishka said. ¡°You must have been confused.¡± ¡°Your own mother is beyond Life Transformation.¡± ¡°Well, yeah. But she¡¯s an Assimilation cultivator. They don¡¯t have those here.¡± The Sergeant didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Unless it really is the Twin Soul Sect, with a hidden Integration cultivator¡­ we have to tell someone!¡± ¡°Who?¡± the Sergeant had to wave wildly for a while to get Anishka¡¯s eyes to lock back on her and repeated the question. ¡°Who would we tell? Nobody could protect us.¡± ¡°I could message my mother¡­¡± ¡°Will she accept your word?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡°Even if your word is just what I tasted?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ well, she¡¯d definitely¡­ do something.¡± ¡°Could you be certain your messages would reach her safely?¡± ¡°Yeah, obviously. Ekict doesn¡¯t have the technology to intercept it.¡± ¡°They also don¡¯t have post-Life Transformation cultivators.¡± ¡°... Dammit. What do we do? Should I just ask to go back?¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± the Sergeant was in deep. With missions conflicting, she was stepping far beyond reasonable bounds. ¡°Just wait for me to grow strong enough to sneak into the records room.¡± ¡°You need to get in there?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°I could help.¡± This was not what was supposed to happen. But also¡­ the Sergeant couldn¡¯t be sure a successful intrusion would go unnoticed. ¡°... Fine. I will allow it.¡± ----- ¡°Thanks for this,¡± Anishka said to the man barely older than her who opened the door for her. ¡°I¡¯m really interested in organizational structures. Is that weird?¡± ¡°N-no, of course not,¡± he said, blushing. ¡°I-I also like¡­ records.¡± Anishka was glad for the old remnants of the emotionless techniques of the Frostmirror Sect. She didn¡¯t want to show her nervousness. Confidence was key. And just doing something forbidden was nerve wracking. She also didn¡¯t want to convey the wrong idea to this gullible disciple. Anishka was bad at lying, but she was interested in organizational structures. It was part of everything, after all. She might as well use this time to actually learn something. And as she picked through the records, with careful eyes on her to make sure she didn¡¯t go towards anything secret, a tiny ant crawled down her arm and onto the shelf. ----- Shelf to floor to shelf to floor, it was an unfathomably large journey. Unfortunately, the shelves were not set up such that an ant could see the labels on them from the ground. That required climbing up for a better angle or even crawling over the lettering and slowly discerning its shape. The Sergeant realized she¡¯d left out some crucial information when Anishka offered this. Like the fact that she could only sort of read. But she was going to get a whole lot of practice, once she could figure out whether she wanted ¡®disciple records¡¯, ¡®elder records¡¯, or ¡®sect records¡¯. One would presume the individual in question was an elder, but they might be part of another category entirely. Perhaps pretending to be a lowly disciple, or at least someone of less note. There was another issue. Reading was meant to be done in a specific manner, by people with hands on a flat surface. Not in books standing vertically, or rolled scrolls. The Sergeant squished her way inside many a book and the rolls of scrolls, pressing her face against one letter at a time, while simultaneously trying to let light past her so she could see. During her efforts there were some¡­ accidents. Small tears people probably wouldn¡¯t notice, but that seemed blatant to the Sergeant. And if there were enough of them, people would get suspicious. Then there was another problem. Not knowing how much time passed, the records room was quiet. Not even the sound of giant humans breathing. That meant Anishka had left without her. She was supposed to have climbed back on her, but¡­ apparently missed it. And Anishka might not have noticed she wasn¡¯t there. It was quite sensible to think the Sergeant would be well hidden. ¡­ The Sergeant was also hungry. At least there was always natural energy to eat. There wasn¡¯t much ambient energy, but the formation barriers at the exit was there¡­ and one of the sections of records. That was what the Sergeant needed. Time to dive into this. ----- ¡°What the hell, Sergeant?¡± Anishka said with surprise when her friend returned. ¡°You¡¯ve been gone for a week! I went back into the records room but I couldn¡¯t find you. Where have you been? What have you been doing?¡± ¡°Reading.¡± ¡°Did you sleep in the records room? I guess you¡¯re small enough to not be noticed, but that can¡¯t be comfortable.¡± ¡°I do not sleep.¡± ¡°Wha- of course you do. At least a little.¡± Legs and antennae waved about slowly. ¡°Perhaps peons sleep, but I have transcended such needs. I am reborn.¡± ¡°... That sounds like something someone who hasn¡¯t slept for a week would say. Did you find the information.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She signed the individual letters for a new name. ¡°Nurcan.¡± ¡°Nurcan¡­ what?¡± ¡°Just Nurcan. She was a disciple during the invasion. Peak Life Transformation. Then records say¡­ Transferral.¡± ¡°What does that even mean?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Hello? Sergeant?¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am?¡± ¡°What does Transferral even mean?¡± ¡°To move something.¡± ¡°I know that! But like, as a cultivation thing. Did this Nurcan have a Twin Soul Sect cultivator transfer into her? And the sect knows about it?¡± Silence. ¡°Sergeant?¡± ¡°Yes! Princess! I am fully conscious and alert!¡± ¡°... Have you eaten anything in the last week?¡± ¡°I have consumed sufficient quantities of natural energy.¡± ¡°Have you eaten food?¡± ¡°... I am uncertain if I can properly digest paper.¡± Anishka sighed. ¡°We need to have you eat something. Then figure out what this Transferral thing is.¡± ----- Aoibhin sighed. It had obviously been too good to be true, outsiders offering aid and enlightenment. Sure, they weren¡¯t part of the upper realms¡­ but they hadn¡¯t really shown up to provide a benefit to Ekict. They wanted something of their own. The promised enlightenment was dangled like bait, and now there were spies on their planets. Sure, they were there for cultivation exchanges¡­ but they were all spies. After all, that was the same with Aoibhin. She was tasked with finding out about Assimilation and Worldbinding, but despite what the Trifold Alliance had said, it had been more than a few years and there was no dissemination of such information. But that was only to be expected. This was just how cultivators operated, keeping their secrets. It was all about who could maneuver to achieve the upper hand. And though the Trifold alliance was clearly powerful, that was exactly what was going to benefit Ekict. Aoibhin herself was merely there to look, but there were a good number of prospects ready to undergo Transferral when they obtained an opportunity. Chapter 647 The Harmonious Citadel forces had slowed their aggressive expansion, though on the side of the Scarlet Alliance only a few larger cities were in contact with Shutoll. The fact that they weren¡¯t being assaulted immediately implied other restrictions on the Citadel¡¯s movements, but with the long range communication options suppressed information had to be disseminated manually. Human or animal messengers were the main source of communication between the neighboring areas. If Grandmaster Chikere had been the cooperative sort, she could have helped with the delivery tasks. But she wasn¡¯t¡­ and her current activities might be strangely important. She was never entirely clear on what she was doing, but Chidi knew it would be disruptive to the enemy, simply by her nature. And while attempting to draw in the sword saint was also a risk, it made enough sense for her. The biggest problem was still the lack of off-planet communication. While the enemy would most likely have the same restrictions, they could still communicate off-planet if they sent ships into space. Something the Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t do, as their vessels were taken down any time they made an attempt. If they could coordinate with other areas they should be able to obtain air superiority with their superior vessels, but they could not outcompete a fleet that currently outnumbered them so significantly. The biggest problem was the formation limiting communication, and it had been the focus of Shutoll to find any nodes they could reach. It shouldn¡¯t be possible for the whole formation to have been inside Harmonious Citadel territory. Chidi was well aware of that fact, as well as anyone studying formations even casually. There was a limited domain of influence outside of the physical boundaries of a formation. For something to cover the whole planet, nodes would have to likewise be placed around most of the surface. Unlike certain forms of formations, the scale of this particular one wouldn¡¯t result in astronomical energy costs. In general, messages were low energy to transmit and receive, so simply disrupting that process was much easier than sustaining a barrier under a barrage of attacks. It wasn¡¯t free of course. At such a scale, it would require some sort of additional energy beyond the ambient or it would risk dropping off. Just a few messages leaving could completely ruin the whole effort. Likewise, dismantling a few nodes could be a serious victory. They were just a lot harder to find than Chidi could have anticipated. But, because of his particular circumstances, he was one of those most suited to the task. ¡°... I could really go for another year or two of formations training,¡± Chidi sighed, commenting to no one in particular. Which basically meant Aconite. He had been following the flow of energy, but had yet to run into any sort of conflux of power along the way. It was as if the formation was everywhere, evenly distributed around the planet. He knew that wasn¡¯t possible, of course. Or at least practical. If the Harmonious Citadel had forces that were able to infiltrate Scarlet Alliance territory and take part in setting up a well calibrated grand formation, they could have done so much more. ¡°Swords seem more practical,¡± Aconite countered with a few growls and barks. ¡°Are they? Because our whole problem here is this formation. Just because it¡¯s not directly killing us doesn¡¯t mean it isn¡¯t the most effective weapon we¡¯ve come up against.¡± Captain Tiras was not far behind, along with the vice-captain. They had to maintain a balance between stealth and security, and the ultimate choice had been to continue developing the squad¡¯s ability to remain hidden as a group. No longer did Chidi have to stop and set up a concealment formation if they got close to enemies. Now, as long as there wasn¡¯t some sort of chokepoint, they could continue moving together as a group with their energy concealed. And though that sometimes also involved formations with the help of Chidi¡¯s formation flags it was much less nerve wracking to know that they wouldn¡¯t easily be given away by someone¡¯s mistake. Obviously there was still that risk with more people, but the squad had shrunk back down to its original size, with some of the original members and some of the stragglers choosing to go on to other duties around Shutoll, while others stayed. Including all of those who had been serious about the scout training with Chidi. Ida was the only exception, because her injuries had been great enough that even after a year she was not fully recovered. Perhaps not even that close, because given the current circumstances people were pressed to continue their duties in most circumstances, and the physicians still wanted her to refrain from going out to the battlefield. Then again, it might not be for her own sake as much as others, as she could be more of a liability. She wasn¡¯t sitting idly, of course, as she worked on her cultivation and focused on her wounds she also continued to train with Chidi. They couldn¡¯t get as much practical training in with her remaining in the city, but stealth and perception training in busy places with limited mobility was also valuable. Chidi picked up a few things from those circumstances as well. ¡°What do you make of this pattern?¡± Captain Tiras said. ¡°What pattern?¡± ¡°The flow of energy we¡¯re following. It splits and branches. Here, it¡¯s¡­¡± he gestured with the map he was making. ¡°Uh, let me show you.¡± He scratched the map into the ground, which made it much easier for Chidi to comprehend. ¡°These are¡­ the Iron Heights?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Captain Tiras nodded. ¡°And the Sendaline river is here,¡± he gestured with his hand over the gouge in the ground. ¡°It¡¯s a mess,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I can¡¯t really detect the pattern you¡¯re talking about.¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s nothing,¡± the captain shook his head. Surprisingly, it was Denitsa who had an idea there. ¡°I can certainly make something out. But I think it might be easier for Chidi to comprehend without the terrain features.¡± They flattened the dirt, then drew only intersecting and curved lines. It did help significantly, because there were often roads crossing or in parallel to the route Chidi had taken, which also wasn¡¯t the exact flow of energy. He just hadn¡¯t been able to make a map, so he gave general instructions on where the flow was, such as running parallel to them a kilometer to the northeast, or running off into the distance directly northwest. With only the bare flow of energy visible, there was less clutter. Chidi could feel the pattern- though it wasn¡¯t exactly that. The lines stretched similar distances and generally followed the same angles, but it wasn¡¯t quite right. Of course, they hadn¡¯t been everywhere and failures in description and cartography could have distorted the information. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Revealed was a fairly regular network of energy flow, which wasn¡¯t exactly news to Chidi. It would have to be that way, to cover everything. But what was of more interest were the places between the flow of energy. The regions they covered. ¡°It¡¯s like a bunch of soap bubbles,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Edges all mashed up together and blocking off everything behind it.¡± ¡°Soap bubbles are clear,¡± Captain Tiras said. ¡°Are they?¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°Weird.¡± Glass was weird too. Especially glass that couldn¡¯t be seen through, for whatever reason. Something tickled at the back of Chidi¡¯s head. ¡°I almost get something. I took some lessons that had something like this.¡± ¡°Some special property of formations, perhaps?¡± Denitsa said. ¡°Nope. It was, like, mathematics or something. I think my teacher was one of the Ruterans¡­¡± ¡°Beats me,¡± Denitsa said. ¡°I only learned arithmetic.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t even geometry,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Because I had blocks for that. It was a bunch of strings.¡± Chidi fell back into his memories, feeling the strings in his hands, hearing her voice. ¡°Oh, it is named after soap bubbles!¡± Chidi said excitedly. ¡°It¡¯s a kind of graph.¡± ¡°Does that help?¡± Captain Tiras said. ¡°It¡¯s just a way to look at information, which is what we¡¯re doing. I thought it looked special though.¡± ¡°It is special. Because, uh¡­¡± Chidi reached his hand out, drawing in a bunch of pine needles, then stabbing them vertically into the ground. ¡°These should be something like the centers of each area. And then their sphere of influence pushes out until it intersects with another, creating these lines.¡± Chidi was becoming more certain by the moment, mentally measuring everything. ¡°... And that means?¡± Captain Tiras prompted. ¡°We¡¯ve been looking at exactly the wrong places, literally as far as possible from where the formation nodes should be.¡± Chidi nodded confidently, ¡°Where¡¯s the nearest one of these points? I don¡¯t remember which terrain this matches with now.¡± ¡°It should be¡­ over by that lake we passed. Or perhaps in it.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get ready to swim,¡± Chidi grinned. ----- If she were anywhere else, Anishka would have just gone up to someone and asked them what Transferral was. Like Nurcan herself, who had to know about it. Unfortunately, that was exactly the thing she shouldn¡¯t do. The information would be secret for a reason. And regardless of the woman being part of the Twin Soul Sect or not, the Northern Glacier Sect obviously didn¡¯t want to share the information. The question being whether it was limited to the Northern Glacier Sect or not. Transferral of what? Power, presumably. Somehow. And the Twin Soul Sect knew about it while having someone with impossible cultivation. ¡°Feeling better, Sergeant?¡± The void ant nodded- a habit they picked up from humans. It was only a very tiny nod, since she was hardly any larger than a standard black ant, but it was clear to Anishka. ¡°Good to hear. You still need to eat food, you know? There¡¯s a reason void ants didn¡¯t subsist on just natural energy.¡± ¡°It seemed like a good idea at the time,¡± she signed. ¡°Also I didn¡¯t have much choice.¡± ¡°You could have left. People had to have gone in and out, right?¡± The Sergeant didn¡¯t respond for a few moments. ¡°... I suppose it would have been less obvious to wait on the inside, since the only passersby would also be me escape plans.¡± She straightened up, ¡°But also, I had to complete my mission. Failure is not an option.¡± ¡°Your mission was to find out about Transferral?¡± ¡°... No.¡± ¡®You do know that you don¡¯t have to accomplish a mission all at once, right?¡± ¡°Of course. I properly broke things down into steps.¡± ¡°Did you make one step ¡®solve this entire mystery¡¯?¡± Silence said volumes. ¡°Can you tell me what you are here for? I might be able to help.¡± ¡°Unnecessary. My objectives have been accomplished now.¡± ¡°But I thought finding out about Transferral wasn¡¯t your objective?¡± Anishka tilted her head. ¡°Correct. But my objective has been resolved nonetheless.¡± ¡°Then¡­ can you help me find out more about Transferral?¡± A pause. ¡°It will be dangerous. You should avoid the risk. I will do it all.¡± Anishka frowned, ¡°Is it less of a risk for you? Because they might not squish an ant, but they might decided to just do that regardless of reasons, if they spot you.¡± ¡°Irrelevant. Your life is worth more than mine.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Anishka¡¯s quick answer clearly confused the ant, whose legs and antennae wobbled wildly, as if searching for an answer to something that was so obvious as to never have been questioned. Finally, there was an answer. ¡°You are a princess.¡± ¡°A princess of what?¡± Anishka raised her eyebrow. ¡°I mean, sure, I get it. My mom¡¯s a sect head. Some people might think I¡¯m more important, but that doesn¡¯t really mean my life is worth more than yours. You¡¯re still a person.¡± ¡°I am simply a sergeant among the void ants. One of many.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if that works. There¡¯s only one of you. You couldn¡¯t just be replaced with another sergeant. Who told you you weren¡¯t important?¡± ¡°... Nobody. Everyone just knows that lesser ants aren¡¯t important.¡± Anishka made a face. ¡°That¡¯s crazy. All void ants are still people.¡± ¡°Incorrect. Many of us are not properly sapient.¡± ¡°Well, okay, maybe. But you are. You¡¯re a person, just like me. Except smaller.¡± The Sergeant thought for a few moments. ¡°I appreciate the sentiment. That is even more reason I should be the one taking on the primary risks.¡± ¡°Aha. So there are other, lesser risks I can take on, right? You can¡¯t do everything yourself. And you should know that. Your colonies are all about cooperation. Why are you even here alone?¡± ¡°... The Great Queen declared it.¡± ¡°So you just listen to everything this ¡®Great Queen¡¯ says?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Yeah, I should have seen that coming,¡± Anishka shrugged. ¡°Well. I guess we¡¯ll have to look into things carefully. I can help you move around, and you can get into places they don¡¯t want you to be.¡± Chapter 648 Redirecting the squad towards the lake took about a day. As the Scarlet Alliance squad had been following the flow of energy, they were at the furthest point they could be, assuming there was a center to be had. It was more than fifty kilometers to their goal, something they could walk much faster if they were on the road¡­ and not concerned about wild beasts. Or, when they got close, enemy cultivators. They ran into neither before they reached the lake, and for the sake of safety took the time to search around the shores to make sure there were no tracks. Chidi only found beast prints, and Aconite confirmed there was no scent of humans before them. ¡°How is it?¡± Captain Tiras asked. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°The effect on the flow of energy might not be sufficient here. I was expecting to feel something as we got closer¡­ maybe this idea was wrong.¡± ¡°It was partially my idea,¡± Captain Tiras reminded Chidi. ¡°For better or for worse. Our job is to check out the possibilities, so even if we don¡¯t find anything, striking it off the list will be useful. Now then, about this lake. Could be dangerous beasts, so we¡¯re going in groups of six or more. We need trained senses in each, so we¡¯re going to have to split you and Aconite.¡± Chidi couldn¡¯t argue with that, both because it made sense and because they had a lot of lake to cover. But if there was trouble, the lake was moderately sized enough that they could get to each other. Assuming they could move quickly, of course. It was amusing to watch Aconite paddling around for a while, before she figured out how to go down. With full control over her natural energy she could manage better than most wolf form beasts, but Aconite¡¯s biggest hangup was her bags. They were waterproof and otherwise sealed, durable enough to not tear open in combat. But while the design could compensate for accidents, when they were actually opened for retrieval there wasn¡¯t much that could be done to stop the ingress of water. Thus, Aconite would not be able to use most of her poisons. Not without flooding the entire lake with toxins, only some of which would lose their potency in water. As he dove into the water, Chidi found he wasn¡¯t a huge fan of it either. He could feel the way it restricted his movements, and performing a proper slash would be much more difficult. Denitsa who was coming along with him would be even worse off with her hammer. It also needed a swing to build up momentum, and unlike Chidi she couldn¡¯t hope to make contact and then perform a draw cut. The momentum was the main thing. Chidi knew that stronger cultivators could refresh their breath underwater¡­ or even somewhere completely without air. His parents could even fight in space, if they had to. In early Essence Collection, he just had to rely on his tempered body and conserving his air. His first dive down near the shores wasn¡¯t of much interest, and he knew the target was most likely deeper, if it was even there at all. It would be better hidden. And though it would also be less effective, if it truly covered the range he thought it might then a little water wouldn¡¯t be that much different after tens of kilometers. Going deeper, besides water getting everywhere and being annoying. It got in his nose and ears, the former reminding him that this water was not pure but lived in and the latter making him know that later he¡¯d have to thoroughly dry out. He couldn¡¯t just completely cover up his head in a bubble of energy, since that would limit his hearing. Smell wasn¡¯t going to be used, and he had no eyes to worry about the mounting pressure. The pressure certainly made its presence known on his eardrums, and he had to soften its effects. His body was most sensitive to the change in pressure there, but as he went deeper with the others he felt it more and more across his body. It was almost comforting, in the way only a cold and forceful pressure could be. Maybe not something everyone would appreciate, but he hadn¡¯t gone terribly deep in water before since it had been unnecessary. Chidi clutched his sheathed blade, ready to draw it as necessary. It would require some maintenance when the day was over as well, but the enchanted blade wasn¡¯t going to easily lose durability. The next time they surfaced, the vice-captain Denitsa commented, ¡°It¡¯s getting darker.¡± ¡°Oh. I heard that would happen.¡± ¡°I mention it so you can pay attention for us drifting. If we get too far, make sure to grab our attention with a tendril of energy.¡± The squad was trying not to disturb the local wildlife, not knowing how dangerous it might be. So far they hadn¡¯t sensed beasts with concerning cultivations, but their senses didn¡¯t stretch as far underwater. As they dove, Chidi had to admit an area of weakness in his scouting abilities. He was less familiar with underwater creatures, and what sort of tracks they might leave. He could detect energy from their interactions, but the trails of particles didn¡¯t tell him as much as he knew they could, if he had the proper knowledge. The Harmonious Citadel didn¡¯t make their home under the water, but there were sects that did, and some planets where people hardly had any choice. He would have to learn more about that, when he got the chance. Ripples in the water were the biggest thing he was learning to sense. It was the same as his other touch based senses, but it traveled further. So even as sound and apparently light were muted, he found some of his senses had grown. The greater pressure somewhat distorted his sense of touch, but he could still feel people moving around, along with other things. Like very large fish. Chidi almost prepared himself to attack, but he thought better of it. His tendrils of energy nudged the others after him on a slightly different route, avoiding at least the direct radius of the incoming fish. A few meters across, potentially able to swallow a person whole- though its natural energy only bordered on the strength of Essence Collection. No doubt he and those with him could kill it, if they had to. But the risks were greater due to their unfamiliarity with the water, and frankly there was no point. It wasn¡¯t quite clear where its territory ended, but either it hadn¡¯t sensed them or Chidi had led them far enough. They continued deeper, presuming that whatever they were looking for would be on the bottom and not floating in the middle of the lake. Though Chidi couldn¡¯t guarantee the latter wouldn¡¯t end up being the case. He knew it was possible, but it would restrict materials or make it much more obvious. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. And the whole point of these theoretical formation nodes was to be subtle. They were either very good at it, or this was a wild goose chase. But even when they took a break for the night and the squad got to smell the wonderful scent of a wolf wet from a dirty lake, Chidi found himself confident about the next day. ----- Instead of facing off against a large fish, Chidi found the first attacker was a whole school of little biting snappers. He didn¡¯t know their actual name, only that they traveled swiftly and soon overcame their little partial squad. Denitsa had an awful time of it, taking a few pathetic swings before stowing her hammer and just reaching out to grab the forearm sized toothy predators. Chidi and Denitsa were relatively safe, as they were both in Essence Collection, but the rest of their group was in Spirit Building still. They couldn¡¯t afford to let the creatures gnaw on them, though they could kill them if they stopped to chew. The fish seemed to realize that, and darted in for quick bites, then moved away into the school. It was hard to pick out any individual, though Chidi wasn¡¯t blinded like the others. Thus, he had to be more effective. There were tons of them, could he really swing his sword and not cut any? The answer was yes. Though not because his trajectory was wrong, but because he was too slow. His blade took to long to reach them, the fish darting away from the incoming ripples. Chidi didn¡¯t like that. It was pathetic. He couldn¡¯t help but think back to the best sword slashes he¡¯d ever seen. Not his parents, though he¡¯d thought they were astounding at the time. Not Rakiya attempting to kill him, but obviously Grandmaster Chikere. Not just any move, either, but the one she used to cut open space. Chidi wasn¡¯t sure if that was quite right, but it was a move that released a lot more power than it looked like it could¡­ and where her arms didn¡¯t even seem to move along the length of their path, only being on either end. Chidi¡¯s first attempt to replicate it almost made him drop his sword, and the second was pathetic. The third didn¡¯t even manage to capture a small percentage of the attack¡¯s glory, but it was by far the most effective. The water split apart before his blade, almost as if it was afraid to be cut. It barely even dragged on his arms. Blood filled the water- from a few fish, nearly matching the amount of human blood. Instead of waiting for the fish to flee or become more aggressive, Chidi repeated the motion a dozen times in different directions, at different angles. He was not concerned about accidentally cutting a companion- with their movements slowed by the water, he was even more capable of that level of precision. He cut the head off a fish chomping down on one of his squadmate¡¯s arms, the teeth little threat without the power of jaws or the little natural energy the creatures had. The school took a few moments to recognize the danger, and Chidi was ready for it to charge him. But instead, the began snapping up their dead members and retreating. Good enough. After a quick return to the surface, where Chidi helped with a few stitches and wet bandages, they went back down. And finally found something. It was basically exactly what Chidi expected. At least in the broad strokes. Chidi would have assumed there was a wide platform of stone engraved with complex patterns. Instead, he got the same thing but it was a tall pillar only a couple meters across, driven into the sands below. Chidi swam around it about a dozen times, feeling only the slightest fluctuations of natural energy from ten meters away, but inside that zone he rapidly felt it. He didn¡¯t approach, wary of defensive formations, but after a few loops he risked getting a little closer. He could feel the surface, which meant no direct barrier¡­ and let him pick out the effects of the formation. Much of it was lost on him, his training and experience simply insufficient to learn the complexities. But he knew enough to be certain this was part of what they were looking for. And he was confident enough that it was not dangerous to touch it. It was much less dangerous than a lot of the formations he¡¯d touched when he was a quarter of his current age. So his confidence wasn¡¯t for nothing. He was taught to recognize that sort of danger, and he hadn¡¯t been wrong enough to get himself killed yet. Though some of that was his mother watching over him. Feeling the intricacies with his fingers, Chidi determined it was the work of more than one set of hands. Each ring seemed to be carved by distinct individuals, and he could feel thin seams between them. Perhaps they were carved separately, then assembled together? He thought that would make them worse, but clearly these were doing their job. Though Chidi couldn¡¯t say for certain. If his mother were here, she might have found them before they were even active. But while Chidi knew he couldn¡¯t match her, and he probably couldn¡¯t match the people working on these, the restrictions they had meant it was still imperfect. Though they had done their job well enough for them to activate unnoticed and remain in place for about a year now. After returning to the surface for air, Denitsa sent one of the squadmates back to the shore- the surface of the lake was known to be safe, and his job was to spot others surfacing and call out to them. They wanted something less obvious than a flare. ¡°So, you found it,¡± she said to Chidi. ¡°Can we just smash it?¡± ¡°I think so,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I don¡¯t detect danger. But it would be better to retrieve it for study. Too bad we can¡¯t, though.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± she asked. ¡°It¡¯s too big and heavy.¡± ¡°Pfft, how much could a hunk of rock like that even weigh?¡± ¡°... Like a hundred and fifty thousand kilograms?¡± Chidi estimated. A couple meters across, and several times that in height. Even if it was a lighter stone, it would be massive.¡± ¡°They carried got it here,¡± Denitsa said, ¡°So we can carry it away. Maybe we can toss it in a storage bag? Nah, too big.¡± ¡°Mine can barely fit it, but we¡¯d have to actually lift it,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I don¡¯t see that happening.¡± Denitsa raised an eyebrow, ¡°I sometimes forget you¡¯re a rich kid. How much did your storage bag cost?¡± Chidi shrugged, ¡°My mom made it.¡± ¡°... Yeah, I don¡¯t know if that lowers or raises my price estimation. Well, whatever. Time to get started.¡± What she meant by getting started was diving down and¡­ shoving the pillar of stone. It did nothing, of course. Partly because it was driven into the sandy bottom of the lake, partly because there was only so much force one woman could generate. But instead of giving up, it made her even more determined. She had a trench dug out around the bottom as she swam at it with great vigor, slamming it with her body repeatedly to try to topple it. For some reason. There were no results that day, and they returned to camp. That was where Chidi found Aconite, her fur matted in blood. He rushed over to her, calling out in worry. ¡°Are you alright?! What happened?¡± ¡°Giant eels,¡± Captain Tiras explained. ¡°Some of that blood isn¡¯t hers.¡± Aconite nudged Chidi in the belly, a small growl letting him know she was ¡®fine¡¯. But also not terribly up for talking at the moment. ¡°Guess not everyone could avoid all the nests,¡± Chidi sighed. Then he frowned. ¡°Did you¡­ even try?¡± Aconite looked away from the stakes over the fire with meat frying on it. Well, she was allowed to make her own bad choices. He could still chastise her as a friend though. Chapter 649 Though Denitsa could not topple the pillar on her own, with the help of the entire squad it was dug out and knocked over onto the lakebed, where they then slowly rolled it through the sand and muck towards the edge of the lake. That took another day of work as it moved only a small amount at a time. Then they were out of the lake, rolling it along the road towards Shutoll. Watching for approaching enemy forces was especially important here, as nobody was ever fully fresh to fight. It was good that the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s advance had stabilized, partly due to the presence of Chikere, and the Scarlet Alliance shifting their tactics to respond to the sudden aggression. Chidi felt the clods of mud sticking to the formation pillar as they rolled it along, as well as letting his hands brush over the various runes carved into it. He was becoming very familiar with it now, and he was paying attention to how moving it disrupted the flow of energy. It wasn¡¯t as much as hoped, but if the grand formation was that delicate then it likely wouldn¡¯t have worked in the first place. Though he didn¡¯t know what every rune did, he was beginning to feel the big picture from his interaction with the pillar. He might be making some wrong assumptions, but perhaps he could discuss with any formation experts in Shutoll. But even without understanding, they now had a target. Simply destroying these formation pillars would eventually provide a break in the formation- though whether it would collapse or leave a hole Chidi didn¡¯t know. The relevant difference would be whether or not the enemy knew the change happened. Most likely they would attack if they knew communications were restored, to press their advantage. But if they only took out a small hole, the information wouldn¡¯t necessarily reach the Harmonious Citadel before reinforcements could be coordinated. And if Yaitis was on its own, then they could at least establish quicker communication among their own cities and fight back with better cooperation. Chidi did his best to push the pillar along as his fingers traced over it, though he felt he was probably not that effective. Even so, they were constantly moving. This was real progress, as long as they could make it back to the city. ----- In¡¯istra had one area where Anton did his best to take full responsibility, which was making sure that the souls of the Twin Soul Sect members didn¡¯t make it to the upper realms. Unlike Everheart, he wasn¡¯t able to set up a planet spanning formation to capture them all. Instead, he did his best. Some would slip through his fingers, but he had learned something about how the souls made their way. It was something like ascension, with traces of energy he could pick out. And an unbodied soul with no cultivation was rather easy to destroy, or at least dissolve. Anton couldn¡¯t guarantee there would be nothing left for them to remember if they reincarnated, but perhaps mixed and muddled memories would be more to their advantage. The more important activity came next, with what In¡¯istra would be doing with their future. If they weren¡¯t limited by spies, their growth over the next six centuries should be able to outpace any attackers the Trigold Cluster was willing to send for a single planet¡¯s worth of resources. That growth would of course be helped along by Anton, who planned to introduce Assimilation when the time was right. Obviously he couldn¡¯t be around for all of their growth, but he wanted them to be an example of a victory without reservations. Not a failed opportunity like the sibling planets of Shrenn and Tasun¡¯a, and it was unlikely they could maneuver towards hidden prosperity like Xicil. So they would have to properly achieve a victory. This time, at least, they had a full cycle- and with the removal of interference and the benefit of Anton¡¯s experiences they could strike back against the upper realms. ----- The Sergeant couldn¡¯t read quickly, both due to a matter of practice and physical limitations. Even so, she did her best to not waste the opportunities provided by her partner in crime. She also did her best to remember to take breaks, and to eat things that weren¡¯t just natural energy. So far, there hadn¡¯t been anything with a convenient label of ¡°Transferral¡± or the like. Learning about it was difficult, but they were making slow progress. Secret areas of the library were delved, and the Sergeant even began to pry into offices and private quarters. Those of Arzu, the head of the Northern Glacier Sect as well as those of Nurcan, the anomaly with Twin Soul Sect cultivation beyond Life Transformation. Anishka carried her past such places, while occasionally providing distractions to draw people¡¯s attentions away from small fluctuations in formations. The Sergeant was getting much better at chewing through such things, and she only had to fit herself through. It was quite a small area required, and void ant¡¯s natural physiology aided significantly with preventing the hole from regrowing while she had mandibles piercing through. So, what could she learn today? Where to look? There was a page atop the desk that was quite tempting, only half covered by another. ----- Ekict had finished their survey, and had picked a few prime candidates. At first they had planned to limit themselves to Ceretos, but upon determining the bonds of the Trifold Alliance, it was clear that an attack on one would be perceived as an attack on all three. If that was to be the case, they had to make it good. They needed to boost their own power enough that they could handle any incoming retaliation. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. They had considered the Sylanis Cluster instead, but ultimately found them lacking. The history of the war between them and the Trifold Alliance came down to their lack of mobile cultivators, their ¡®Worldbinding¡¯ individuals being less able to enter other system than Assimilation cultivators. Though some of the latter were also limited, that just meant they weren¡¯t good candidates. Chief among those was Lev of the Grasping Willows. His power came from the sect itself, so even if it could be taken it would be pointless unless they could conquer Ceretos. That was infeasible at the moment, so they had to focus on others. Elder Vasu of the Million Sword Vault was on the borderline, having a connection to a desert. They were considering the risk of trying to relocate after Transferral, but the candidate¡¯s relative isolation was appealing. Myles of the Pink Pollen Sect was a decent candidate, being on the eastern edge of Brogora. Annelie of the Palace of Fire and Ice was also appealing, though the central location and power of the sect brought more risk. They also had the potential leverage of her daughter to force her to hesitate at a critical moment. From the Order of One Hundred Stars, the wandering recruiter known as Vincent was a good candidate. Outside of Ceretos, Rutera had Ty Quigley. If he could be found alone, then he would be another good option. There were others throughout Weos, including a married pair of the Ranik family who seemed to be on the weaker end of Assimilation. That was unfortunate, but it would also make them easier to subdue than waiting for them to gather greater strength. Aoibhin and others who had already undergone Transferral would provide support for their new candidates. The efforts would require much coordination, but the benefits should be vast. ----- The sudden arrival of Patka at the Northern Glacier Sect was a surprise Anishka was not ready for. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Anishka asked. She did not mind seeing her friend and apprentice, of course, but she was quite unexpected. ¡°I simply came for a visit,¡± Patka said. ¡°Can I not?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I just didn¡¯t think you could.¡± ¡°I know I¡¯m not deemed as that important with just a Spirit Building cultivation, but the sect here was kind enough to allow me an opportunity to train with their disciples,¡± Patka explained. ¡°And what about your livelihood?¡± Anishka asked. Patka smiled, ¡°I couldn¡¯t afford to pass up the opportunities here. Though I will need to put in some effort to obtain training resources, I think it is worth it.¡± She reached out her hand to Anishka, ¡°It is good to see you again.¡± When their hands met, Anishka felt cold energy swirling in her palm. ¡°I hope to show you how my talents have advanced.¡± ¡°I look forward to it as well,¡± Anishka said, looking at her palm as Patka stepped away. Thin ice was frozen on her palm spelling out a simple two word message. ¡®Be careful¡¯. Of what, Anishka didn¡¯t know¡­ but if Patka came all the way here to pass along that message, Anishka had to do her best. And she also had to find an opportunity to speak with Patka in private, so she could get more information. ----- She¡¯d found it. The Sergeant finally had in her mandibles the information she had been searching for. The papers on the desk were just stupid business stuff about trade, but poking into the desk she¡¯d found a diary. Locked with deadly energy, but the burst had been targeted for someone with a human bodily size. The density of the energy wasn¡¯t sufficient to do more than crack the Sergeant¡¯s carapace, and it didn¡¯t rip a hole in the office. It would be¡­ a little bit obvious when anyone checked inside. But nobody had come running to the door, and the Sergeant had frantically read every bit of paper she could get her eyeballs on. It did involve some tearing of pages in her haste, and certain bits were probably out of order, but she got a good couple paragraphs talking about Transferral in good words. From a first-hand practitioner, even. ¡°The time has finally come. The Northern Glacier Sect has chosen me as a candidate for Transferral, and we have captured an enemy Integration cultivator. She should be as compatible with myself as possible, but I have to be ready. The bindings will weaken her, but there will still be a struggle.¡± ¡°It¡¯s over. The horrified look on her face as my hand tore into her dantian was second to none. These traitors deserve every ill that can come to them, and the pain was just the start. No doubt she thought the worst I could do was destroy her cultivation, so she was not ready for me to begin the Transferral. Pulling her cultivation into myself made me feel sick, as if I were about to burst. But the rush of power, and the knowledge of how I could take from those who have taken from us was enough to help me push through. And the look of emptiness left on her face afterwards, having lost everything, that I will think of fondly every night as I go to sleep. I will enjoy killing her sect mates with her own power.¡± Nothing told the Sergeant how Transferral worked, but knowing what it did was sufficient. The Sergeant fully agreed that invaders from the upper realms deserved everything that came to them. Keeping such a thing secret seemed unnecessary, though it was perhaps a bit cruel in execution. Void ants generally killed with dispassion, out of necessity for food or survival. This was good news, though. It meant that Nurcan was not truly a member of the Twin Soul Sect. Ekict should be free from the influence of the upper realms. That also meant Anishka¡¯s safety was less in question. It would still require some debate among the queens if hiding such a thing was acceptable, and how an alliance might proceed, but it was all good news she couldn¡¯t wait to tell Anishka. This time Anishka wasn¡¯t waiting outside. That was too suspicious, and nobody knew how long it would have taken to find something. So she would be performing her normal routine. Returning to her room took a while, but at least the ceilings were safe to scuttle along. Though when the Sergeant got down to the doorframe, it was strangely hanging open slightly, unlocked as well. Inside¡­ everything was normal as far as the Sergeant could see. Except for traces of energy, both Anishka¡¯s and members of the Northern Glacier Sect. Not just a casual taste of their passage, either, but raised energy as if they nearly engaged in combat. That wasn¡¯t good. Disagreements between future allies would only make things more difficult. Anishka had to be found both to make sure she didn¡¯t end up with a grudge of some sort, and to explain the wonderful discovery. Chapter 650 Meetings were boring. Diplomatic meetings especially so, but Nicodemo understood they were important. At least this one was taking place on The Independence, out among the stars. It was more of a tour, really. Or a demonstration of power for the sake of their new allies. ¡°I¡¯ve heard much about Ruteran technology,¡± said Ekict¡¯s representative. Aoibhin, if Nicodemo recalled correctly. ¡°A demonstration was mentioned?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Nicodemo nodded. ¡°We are approaching a sizable asteroid for that very purpose. The metals will be harvested afterwards so this isn¡¯t just a waste of energy.¡± Though Rutera didn¡¯t have huge problems with energy anymore. Most of their energy production and capture was self-sustaining. When they arrived in position, Nicodemo took control of the cannons. It only took a pair of shots, one to guide the way and the second penetrating deep into the rock, tearing it apart from the inside. There were many more weapons systems available for The Independence that would not have demonstrations today. On the bridge of The Independence, Nicodemo was about as strong as he could ever get, with one particular exception. That exception reared its ugly head at the same time as the knowledge that he¡¯d gone soft over the past couple decades. He didn¡¯t even really notice movement. He just had a spear sticking through him. When he moved to react, his arms were held by two of the others with Aoibhin, energy restricting shackles placed around his wrists. Even so, he managed to throw them off and lurch back from the spear lodged in his guts. With one hand he reached into the breast pocket of his uniform, pulling out the handle of a rifle from its internal storage. Without his own internal energy, he would only have one burst. He needed to have the greatest effect possible, shoot where he could cause the most damage. He leveled the gun at Aoibhin¡­ and shot the control panel behind her. He didn¡¯t know why this was happening, but he wasn¡¯t going to let these bastards get away with an easy takeover. Surprisingly, he didn¡¯t find himself dead- though Aoibhin¡¯s next two moves pierced through his shoulders, destroying the structure in his muscle and bones. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ not supposed to be this strong,¡± Nicodemo said as blood dribbled from his mouth. ¡°We find it helps to be underestimated,¡± Aoibhin said without any emotion. If he knew what was coming next, Nicodemo would have taken every effort to destroy himself to stop them. In a way, he had been too humble. He was the priority target, not the vessel. ----- Training in the Ruteran military taught Ty to be cautious but not hasty in his actions. He couldn¡¯t afford to be twitchy and injure civilians for nothing. Then his training with Chikere had taught him to stab first and ask questions never. All of the individuals who approached him were perfectly allowed to be present on the base, and to carry their weapons. There wasn¡¯t even anything strictly wrong with one of them resting her hand on the axe at her belt. But the instant it happened, Ty cut off her hand. He didn¡¯t even consciously register others reaching for their weapons before slashing a complete circle around him, slicing completely through one of the visitors from Ekict. He did feel the twin swords aiming to slice his head off as well as sever him at the hips. Twin swords. That was an order of magnitude less than what he¡¯d trained against, and the wielder was also lesser than Chikere. No offense to this woman Ty was going to kill, but she was just missing something. His body suddenly went horizontal as he fell away, oriented between the two horizontally slashing blades. They changed their trajectory to try to catch him, of course, but only the lower one had a chance. It was deflected down into the enhanced tarmac beneath them. He fell away, directly towards his ship. He landed on the tip of a wing, one of the sharpest parts of the vessel. The ship¡¯s engines started with an injection of his will, the vehicle rotating in place as circular gravity reoriented it. The woman who was somehow an Integration cultivator of the Slithering Serpent Society despite not being from the upper realms was upon Ty in an instant. Perhaps she wasn¡¯t as simple as she seemed. Ty and the ship were one, a great blade slashing forward. This was going to be fun. She would live, of course, because command would want to know why this happened and Ty had no idea. But living didn¡¯t require as many limbs as people thought. ----- The tea smelled wonderful. Vincent took a deep sip of it. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet with you,¡± he said. ¡°I find that one of the greatest joys of life is meeting new people and becoming friends, don¡¯t you agree?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± said the man across from him, likewise sipping his tea. ¡°I¡¯ve heard much about you, and I would love to learn more about your recruitment techniques. You are not only prolific, but from what I hear the disciples you recruit are exceptional.¡± ¡°Oh, that? Let me tell you a secret.¡± Vincent leaned in. ¡°It¡¯s a little thing I like to call practice. You see, if you meet enough people, you get good at reading them and¡­¡± Vincent spit the tea he hadn¡¯t let make it all the way down his throat into the man¡¯s eyes. ¡°I have a lot of practice.¡± Vincent smiled. ¡°Oh, it seems the poison absorbs through the eyes just as well as the stomach. It¡¯s strong, too,¡± Vincent nodded to himself, taking the man¡¯s cup of tea. ¡°Enough to incapacitate an Assimilation cultivator. But not deadly. I¡¯m surprised, and a little bit concerned.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He took a sip of the man¡¯s non-poisoned cup and then prepared the other to splash on the other individuals from Ekict. He wondered if this were some sort of isolated incident¡­ but it wouldn¡¯t take long to learn the general extent of it. ----- Vasu looked down at his left wrist, or what he used to call that. At the moment, there wasn¡¯t enough of it left to really call that name, though it was still technically attached. The disappointing part was that it wasn¡¯t even a clean cut. He looked down at the red sands below him, normally reflective like a mirror. But at the moment it was filled with an entire squad of buried enemies, so it was a little bit blood-splattered. ----- Anzela clenched her teeth as she watched a ship fly off with her husband. She¡¯d only barely protected herself with Ruteran weapons. Neither of them were great combatants, but her husband was only a diplomat. They¡¯d both been lucky to barely step into Assimilation, or so she¡¯d thought. But if that hadn¡¯t happened, would they have been targets? She clutched her side as people rushed to support her. She¡¯d avoided combat most of her life, even if she technically received some training in case of danger during exploration. But now she understood why some were obsessed with combat. She needed to find someone who could make her stronger¡­ so she could get Rikuto back. Or avenge him, if it came to that. ----- Anishka woke to something tickling the inside of her nose, causing her to sneeze. There was a strange rattling sound as she did so¡­ and she felt strangely cold. She never got cold. Just a little bit of natural energy and she could¡­ she could¡­ The world came into focus slowly, starting with the cold metal on her wrists and ankles. Around her was an icy prison, though truthfully everything had been icy. But why was she locked up? She vaguely remembered some disciples showing up at her room, an exchange of words followed by something like a battle. Her aching ribs came to her attention reminding her of injuries, though the pain was somewhat numb from the cold. Among the blue-white ice, she spotted a black dot. Her eyes focused on that. ¡°S- Sergeant?¡± Anishka half stammered, both because of the cold and because she almost shouted but decided she should perhaps not halfway through. The black spot remained still for a moment, then there was the sound of tiny cracking ice. It began to crawl closer, then up her leg, her side, then down her shoulder and along her arm to the tip of her thumb. ¡°My apologies, princess,¡± the Sergeant signed. ¡°I have failed to properly protect you. My understanding of the situation was insufficient, and I was not there for you in your time of need.¡± ¡°It¡¯s- I don¡¯t think you could stop it,¡± Anishka whispered back. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°The situation is not entirely clear, but I learned about Transferral.¡± ¡°How is that relevant here?¡± Anishka hissed. ¡°Transferral is soul stealing. Or cultivation stealing. Or some combination of those.¡± ¡°They¡¯re going to-?¡± Anisha stopped her reflexive shouting. ¡°They¡¯re going to steal my soul?¡± she whispered. ¡°Unclear. Likely not, as your cultivation is insufficient to be worthwhile. But it is clear that Ekict is hiding much, and they are not our friends.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Anishka grimaced. ¡°I could understand being locked up for causing trouble even with my status, but not like this. And I didn¡¯t even do anything. I-¡± The sound of footsteps echoing off icy walls came down outside of the bars, then the jangling of keys. ¡°Good. You are awake.¡± Into the cell stepped Arzu, the head of the Northern Glacier Sect. ¡°Do you know why you¡¯re here?¡± ¡°No,¡± Anishka answered plainly. ¡°Why?¡± The slap stung her face. She¡¯d been injured plenty of times, in a spar or even a couple times in actual combat. But there was something more viscerally painful and discomforting about this lesser pain that she could not avoid, especially as the momentary warmth lessened the numbing of her nerves. ¡°Wrong answer. It¡¯s because you are a spy. And you are going to tell us how many others are doing the same. Is it all of your visitors? What do you know?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a spy!¡± Anishka retorted. Though she kind of had been acting like one. She wasn¡¯t going to admit that though. ¡°Of course you are. There is no other reason you would have come to Ekict. But we want to know what you were seeking. But you shall have plenty of time to ponder your answers as the cold seeps into your bones.¡± ----- Anton received a message. And then another one. And another. He was flooded with a bombardment of information, and upon reviewing them he was filled with anger, confusion, worry, and a return to rage. Somewhere in there was disappointment with himself. He was the one who had found Ekict, who had introduced them as future friends of the Trifold Alliance. This betrayal was his fault. Second only to them, of course. They were still the ones who actually performed the deeds, after all. Anton prepared to rush off to inflict some sort of apocalypse upon them¡­ but he stopped himself. He was going to go. But the messages would have already taken several months to reach him at his extremely remote location. And the people here also needed him. People were in peril, but by the time he arrived the immediate troubles would have been resolved. It would likely take him a year to join them. Leaving a few minutes or days earlier wouldn¡¯t change that significantly. But here, on In¡¯istra, he could make sure he did the most good possible in the time he could spare. At the very least, he owed it to Varghese to let him know that he would be leaving. But before that, Anton flew up out of the atmosphere to get a good look at the stars. His eyes settled on the extremely faint sparkle of theirs. If he¡¯d been in the system, he would have bound and destroyed their sun in that moment. He knew he could do it, though not the consequences to himself. Though it was a horrible thought, he couldn¡¯t put it out of his mind. But he would have time to think on it as he approached, and the situation developed. Meanwhile, he had matters to settle. And replies to write, telling people he received their messages. He would be on his way¡­ and even if many of them hadn¡¯t asked for his help, and in fact the Trifold Alliance should be able to handle things without him, he couldn¡¯t not go. They were his people. But he also had people here he had to do right by. Sacrificing one for the other was no good. If he spent a little extra time here, all he had to do was improved his travel techniques to arrive at the other end a little bit faster. Yes, that was the best option. And then when he got there he was going to destroy a system. Chapter 651 The void of space was often said to be cold, and by an absolute measure perhaps that was the case. But for a cultivator able to regulate their own heat, the fact that it was not actively draining made it a simple inconvenience. Thus, it did little to cool down Anton¡¯s anger. What mitigated his fury was time. Time spent in In¡¯istra, uncomfortably tying up loose ends, and then a longer time traveling between systems. Even so, Anton was still seriously considering destroying Ekict¡¯s sun. Not as an overreaction, but as a calculated maneuver to end the war. And there was a war. Incoming information told him Ekict in fact had dozens of Integration cultivators. Not Assimilation, but actual Integration. Anton¡¯s first thought was that they had been fully consumed by the Trigold Cluster and were simply a trap for people like himself. But he¡¯d felt the resonant truth of Aoibhin¡¯s hatred. That was where he¡¯d made the mistake. He assumed their traumatic experiences with the upper realms and eventual victory would lead to the same results as the Trigold Cluster. Instead, it had left them broken and bitter. Perhaps they wouldn¡¯t trust anyone else. As for how they had Integration cultivators, Anton could only speculate. But based on how they captured Assimilation cultivators at great cost, the theories all lead to the same idea. Stolen cultivation, by some method or other. And nobody would have had an inkling if they hadn¡¯t detected the Twin Soul Sect. He should have returned immediately upon learning that information. He could have¡­ done what? It was only knowing what he knew now that he had any cause of action. Trusting people was not wrong. But perhaps it had been given too easily. So he would destroy their star. They had far too many Integration cultivators. The fact that they had retreated to their system after the initial assault, their defensive formations around their system¡­ they likely could not compete directly. But that did not mean they couldn¡¯t kill many people during a war. And they couldn¡¯t be allowed to get away with no consequences- there was every reason to believe they would simply repeat their action, but stronger. Depending on if they could steal Assimilation cultivation, which they had to assume was possible or they would have been crazy to attack. And Anton didn¡¯t think they were fully insane. But perhaps they¡¯d been pushed past the point people could withstand. The way things had happened was Anton¡¯s fault. But he struggled to accept that more than that it was the fault of the Trigold Cluster, and most of all Ekict. Because no matter what happened to them previously, they made the choice for hate when friendship was offered. ----- After some time, Anishka didn¡¯t even feel cold. Sure, her body was still stiff. Some of it was probably freezing. Would she get frostbite? Her tempered body would prevent that in normal circumstances, but she wasn¡¯t merely left somewhere cold. Active formations drained life and heat from her body. It tried to drain her consciousness too, but she somehow kept a spark of fire inside herself, despite the restrictions on her cultivation. The bindings weren¡¯t perfect. And if she were stronger, she could have exploited that instead of merely surviving. Instead, she just lived. Day after day. The sect head came to ask her questions, but Anishka didn¡¯t have answers for her. There wasn¡¯t anyone else to give up. Except¡­ the Sergeant. Perhaps Anishka might have given her up, if she weren¡¯t the other one who came to visit frequently. It was almost comical to see her carrying a tiny crust of bread, as if it were moving on its own. Yet it was always exactly the amount the Sergeant could move, and she would place it in Anishka¡¯s mouth. She would chew it and swallow. Then over a series of dozens of trips, the Sergeant would carry drops of water to her. ¡°You can just¡­ let me die,¡± Anishka said. ¡°They¡¯ll find you.¡± ¡°I cannot,¡± the tiny ant signed, slowly. Stiffly. Frost covered some of her joints. ¡°We will get you out of here.¡± ¡°Who is¡­ we?¡± ¡°Myself and Patka.¡± ¡°... She isn¡¯t strong enough. None of us are,¡± Anishka stated factually. ¡°You should just go.¡± And so she did. Truthfully, Anishka did not know what the Sergeant was doing except when dragging bits of food to her. Her range of vision was quite limited, and the ant was quite tiny. She didn¡¯t even know the ant was coming except when she saw the motion of something much larger than the ant being carried. She couldn¡¯t even feel a tickle in her nose or an itching on her finger anymore. It was pathetic. Was she even a cultivator? Her first real trials, and she had already given up. But she couldn¡¯t do anything but keep the spark of warmth in her thoughts. Though it did feel like sometimes the restraints slipped up, allowing her to control just a bit of energy. And though it seemed as if there was no warmth to be had in the room around her, if given the chance she could take more away from her surroundings into herself. Just a bit, but she had to try. ----- Ruteran fleets were quickly organized. The loss of general Nicodemo and The Independence was a huge blow, but though as a pair they functioned at the level of an Assimilation cultivator¡­ it was the first battleship they had built. Technology had grown slightly, and two more had been constructed. Still a great loss, but it was not their only option. Weos provided many of their own ring-style ships, which joined up with the cultivators and fleets of Ceretos. Ekict was nearly ten times as far from the systems as they were from each other, so they couldn¡¯t be careless in their organization. There would be no supplies, no backup. But there was never a moment that anyone considered not retaliating. If that was the case, they might as well just lay down and die. They would have done that centuries ago, in fact. And though Rutera hadn¡¯t faced attacks from the upper realms, they did fight the Sylanis Cluster. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The presence of which was the biggest factor restraining the Trifold Alliance. While the relations with the Sylanis Cluster had risen to the all time high of reluctant trade partners, there was no guarantee none of them would be interested in revenge. Factoring in the possibility of coordinated attacks by Ekict, each system reserved a portion of their forces for defense, while increasing their monitoring. Any unexpected arrivals could be hostile. The assault force was prepared to respond to resistance as necessary. Given Ekict¡¯s lies, it was impossible to know for certain what they would be facing, beyond Integration cultivators and the system spanning formation. Their ships weren¡¯t supposed to be of much interest- it should only be the ones purchased from the Trifold Alliance over the duration of their acquaintance that could easily move people between systems. But they would be ready for facing fleets of significant power, just in case. As they waited, plans were drawn up for which planets would be assaulted in which order. They had some internal information, but Ekict hadn¡¯t been terribly forthcoming with details. Perhaps that should have been a sign. Only regret was felt about sending disciples to train with them. Their fates were unknown, but imagination only made it worse. ----- Anishka should have died. She was quite certain of that. Even Arzu seemed surprised. Obviously the Northern Glacier Sect could have killed her at any time, but it seemed they were waiting for her to die ¡®naturally¡¯. If for no other reason than refusing to speak about ¡®other spies¡¯. She might have been willing to say anything just to be set free¡­ but she couldn¡¯t let all of the Sergeant¡¯s efforts go to waste. The tiny ant kept bringing her scraps of food, enough to keep her more or less alive. But that shouldn¡¯t have been enough. The cold should have killed Anishka. It hadn¡¯t, though, and as time passed she was able to slip more and more control past the restraints. Cold now rested inside her, but didn¡¯t freeze her. Instead, it was waiting to be released as a weapon, just like the fire she barely sustained from what little natural energy she was able to absorb from the surroundings. It took some time for her to realize, but the snippets of food also had natural energy in them. Not as abundant as Ceretos or the Trifold Alliance, but with tangible benefits. Anishka knew she shouldn¡¯t talk, but she couldn¡¯t help but speak some of her thoughts aloud. Even Arzu no longer came to check on her, so hearing any speech was the only way she could stay a little sane. And the Sergeant hadn¡¯t shown up recently. Anishka didn¡¯t want to think about what that might mean. It had been days, and though the fact that she was going to die of starvation soon bothered Anishka, she was more concerned about her friend. Had Patka been caught as well? ¡°Where are you, Sergeant¡­? What happened?¡± There was no response, of course. Just silence. An hour passed. Maybe two. Or five. Anishka couldn¡¯t tell, except the light seeping in through the windows indicated it was approaching dusk. Then there was a pop. And explosion of natural energy, small but distinct. Anishka responded by instinct as an explosion of power nearly tore off her wrist¡­ and her natural energy responded, protecting her. She looked down, and saw a now-mangled manacle. And upon it, a chunk of some sort of precious stone larger than her held aloft, was the Sergeant. Then the gem cracked, and Anishka could see the Sergeant signing as it crumbled. ¡°... been here the whole time. Should have said something.¡± ¡°... What? It¡¯s been days. Don¡¯t tell me you were¡­ chewing on the manacles for days?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly,¡± the Sergeant responded, slowly. Ice was even more prominently visible on her limbs. Tiny crystals that greatly hindered movements. ¡°I¡¯m not that strong. I¡¯m usually here chewing on the enchantments. Though it does take like an hour to get food for you.¡± Anishka couldn¡¯t help but laugh. It hurt, as her throat cracked from dryness and cold. But the relief made her body want to do everything it could. ¡°You were here the whole time? Did you¡­ eat anything yourself?¡± ¡°Well, I-¡± ¡°Besides natural energy.¡± No response. Anishka¡¯s brain was still barely functional, but eventually she realized. She could manipulate natural energy. Her first act was to remove the frost covering her companion, who began to move about a bit less sluggishly. The Sergeant hadn¡¯t grown at all, but she immediately crawled towards Anishka¡¯s other side, and the other manacle. Without its pair, it was only restricting that arm, instead of her whole internal energy flow. Seeing the chunks of energy the ant ripped out of it, Anishka expected it to be dealt with in a day. But instead she yanked her hand out. It wasn¡¯t even that hard, as she was little better than skin and bones, and she retained some flexibility from Body Tempering. ¡°We¡¯ve got to go, Sergeant,¡± Anishka said. ¡°If they see one broken shackle¡­¡± She stretched out her finger towards the little ant, and nearly crushed her when her wrist twitched. It seemed she might have damaged something. The Sergeant didn¡¯t hesitate to step onto her finger, despite the sudden movement. ¡°Patka is trying to get keys,¡± the ant signed as Anishka brought her up next to her face, so they could communicate as she looked at the restraints on her ankles. The metal was so cold, and the way the numbness was leaving her reminded her of how much they had done. She couldn¡¯t get her feet out the same way¡­ not and walk. But she had an idea. Cold steel. She was also cold. And so¡­ the steel grew colder, and she grew warmer. Inside her, Anishka felt as if her organs suddenly began to function again as they woke from their near cryotic state. She kicked her ankle against the wall, and the manacle shattered. ¡°You chewed on all of these, didn¡¯t you?¡± The Sergeant confirmed that. ¡°I realized I should focus on one. But before that I ate a lot of their energy and nibbled on some of the fancy runes.¡± The final binding shattered, though Anishka nearly twisted her ankle in the process. She hadn¡¯t moved in so long. And she had to conserve her energy. Unrestrained, she could draw some from the surroundings- she understood cryo cultivation, after all, and it was half of her style. But her body still needed sustenance to act, something she had been missing for far too long. Now, how to get out without being caught? She wished she knew where there were guards. She looked at the Sergeant. That, at least, she could ask. Chapter 652 Having been through the area more than a few times, the Sergeant knew where the human guards were. At some point there had been more, back when Anishka was first captured. Now, the first one was all the way down the hall. That was good, because Anishka wasn¡¯t ready to deal with many and she still had to actually leave the cell. ¡°What sort of formations are on these bars?¡± Anishka asked the Sergeant. The ant answered her in sign, ¡°No idea, but I can try to eat it.¡± ¡°Can you¡­ disrupt the flow on one of the bars?¡± Anishka wasn¡¯t a formation expert, or perhaps enchanter as the functions didn¡¯t seem to go beyond the bars themselves- which was the important point. If only the bars were special, then they didn¡¯t have to fully disable it. The Sergeant began to chew and tear at the natural energy at the bottom of one bar, giving Anishka an opening. She placed her hands on the vertical bars, separated from each other by a good half meter. Then she began rapidly channeling heat between the two points. She couldn¡¯t afford to be too conservative, because if she failed at this step she was still dead. Or really if she failed anything from here on out. One hand grew hot, the other cold. Then she suddenly reversed the direction, and the metal bar distorted slightly. She swapped the direction once more, rapidly heating the frozen section and cooling the warmed section. There was a clinking sound. She stepped back and kicked the bar, using more of her precious energy. The stress weakened metal gave out, and Anishka stepped forward. She squeezed through, trying not to touch the bars on either side. She picked up the Sergeant on her finger as they made their way towards the end of the hall, though she stopped halfway. It was possible the guard had already sensed something. There was only one Essence Collection cultivator. Only, as if someone equivalent to herself was a small obstacle. But it was clear that Ekict had more power than it seemed, and even if a Life Transformation cultivator guarding a jail cell would be excessive, this one in mid or early stage was rather little. Then again, there was only Anishka as far as she knew- the other frozen rooms she¡¯d seen contained no life. She watched as the tiny speck that was the Sergeant moved ahead, saying she had ¡®a plan¡¯. Anishka didn¡¯t know what that plan would be, but she had to trust her only companion. It was an agonizing minute that felt like an hour, and then Anishka heard the guard moving. ¡°What the hell?¡± A burst of natural energy, and a slapping sound. Anishka charged forward into the room, seeing a middle aged woman with a trickle of blood dripping down her neck. Anishka had no time to think about what happened to the Sergeant, instead rushing forward. The guard reacted to her approach with a wave of ice, but Anishka deflected the energy, reaching to grab the guard¡¯s wrist. She once more made use of her abilities to their maximum, except unlike the spar she didn¡¯t hold back. From skin to muscles to bones and blood vessels, heat was drawn out of one of the woman¡¯s arms, only to spew out the other side in a javelin of fire. As an ice cultivator, she was trained to combat others controlling ice or fire, but not both at the same time¡­ and not the way Anishka was doing it, unbalancing the flow of energy to draw heat from her opponent. An arm froze, and the woman had a black scar on her chest. And yet, it wasn¡¯t enough. Anishka was weak from limited sustenance and terrible conditions. Her opponent blasted her backwards, a shell of ice forming over her. She tried to draw heat from part of it, to concentrate on one area and break out, but she was too weak to do it quickly. She watched as her opponent stepped forward, soon able to smash Anishka with only what minimal defenses the latter could manage. Then the woman raised her temporarily frozen arm towards her neck once more. ¡°How did you even¡­?¡± the frozen hand came away coated with blood, as the flow on the woman¡¯s neck grew beyond a small trickle. Anishka felt the woman¡¯s energy look internally, searching for some sort of cause. Then she grabbed at her neck, her stiffened fingers fumbling about. The woman blasted some of her energy to freeze the cut. Then she glared at Anishka. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you did that trick, but¡­¡± The delay had given Anishka enough time to weaken the shell of ice around her, as well as confidence that her friend was alive. She summoned fire from within her, imbued with special qualities her father had apparently been quite proficient in. Specifically, the ability to burn only what the user wished. For Anishka, there was only one thing she wanted to preserve, a tiny ant. Her fingers poked through the shell and shot a burst of fire at the woman¡¯s neck, melting the plug on her neck and burning her badly. Though the woman was trying to marshall natural energy to the area, the bulk of the defensive energy found itself gobbled up as it reached the area. Otherwise, Anishka¡¯s attack would have functioned like the desperate last push it was. Instead, the woman clutched at her neck, attempting to crush whatever was there with her energy¡­ and instead overdoing it and tearing apart her own neck. It took Anishka several minutes to get out of her shell. ¡°...Sergeant?¡± she called out, looking at the woman, at the floor, and down at herself. She leaned down towards the woman, feeling with her energy, looking for the hole that was a void ant. She found it, right inside the first wound. She carefully poked the spot, pulling back a bit of skin, and tumbling out came a bloodsoaked ant. It seemed the blood was rather sticky, as the Sergeant only twitched slowly. Realizing the ant was having trouble getting off of her back, Anishka placed her finger right above the tiny creature. With something to hold onto the Sergeant began to clean off her various appendages by rubbing them against Anishka¡¯s finger. ¡°The Great Queen made killing a human sound much easier.¡± Stolen novel; please report. Anishka sighed. ¡°Well, she is much larger. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re alright. Now, how do we get out of here? There¡¯s no way we can live through another fight¡­ and I imagine that there are at least a few more guards on the way out. Right?¡± ¡°Many,¡± the Sergeant admitted. ¡°If we go the wrong way. However, the kitchens should lead out without danger.¡± Aniskha looked down at the guard. ¡°I should get something resembling proper clothing on. Then, lead the way.¡± Anishka held her arm out with the Sergeant acting as a guide, pointing her to turn a few times. Then she was outside the kitchens, able to sense people inside. But they were just¡­ people. A couple of them might have just begun Body Tempering, but they could hardly be called cultivators. Anishka considered the options. Could she distract them? Maybe start a fire¡­ and perhaps draw the attention of the guards. So perhaps not that, even if she¡¯d properly had the energy. She could fight them all, to the same results. Could she even beat a handful of non-cultivators in her state? On the other hand, perhaps they didn¡¯t have to know how weak she was. Sensing someone coming down the corridor and panicked, stepping into the kitchen and shutting the door behind her. A half dozen faces looked at her, and she looked back. ¡°When¡¯s the food going to be ready? I¡¯m hungry.¡± She projected an aura of confidence and chill, letting them be aware of her status. Even if appearing to have the power of her proper level was actually her limit. An older woman approached Anishka. ¡°Not for another hour, miss¡­ but we could offer you some fruit, perhaps?¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Anishka said, holding out her hand, ¡°Come on then.¡± An apple was placed in her hand, and she took a bite out of it as she held her head high, strolling further into the kitchen like she owned the place. And that she was not starving or about to collapse. She strolled to the far ends of the kitchen and out the door, ignoring the vague protests of the kitchen staff. Then she found herself out on the streets, ones she recognized. She looked around, then down at the Sergeant who was barely hanging on as Anishka waved her hand rapidly around. ¡°Whoops, sorry. Uh, where do we go?¡± ¡°Patka,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°She was getting ready for the escape.¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯s great! I was worried something happened. Where is she waiting?¡± ¡°... her quarters, maybe?¡± ¡°Why are you unsure?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t get this far in the plan. And I didn¡¯t actually know if I could remove those manacles.¡± Anishka didn¡¯t know what to say to that, so instead she asked for directions once more, and began to follow. She tried to act as much like a Northern Glacier Sect disciple as possible, and hoped that nobody would be paying much attention. Fortunately, Patka was nearby. Though the Northern Glacier Sect wasn¡¯t exactly that large to begin with. Nobody was looking for Anishka either, though they would be soon. Until the alarm came out, however, she was just a forgotten captive, someone whose body would be removed eventually with no further thought. Or perhaps not, given what she¡¯d seen on the way out. ¡°Anishka?¡± Patka opened the door when she sensed her outside. ¡°You made it out! Quick, get inside!¡± Anishka was quite happy to, stepping into the tiny room which seemed to be all of Patka¡¯s ¡®quarters¡¯. It was basically just a bed and a small table, though there were also some bags half filled with food. Anishka¡¯s stomach growled. ¡°You need to eat! You look¡­ far more than half starved,¡± Patka urged her. ¡°I couldn¡¯t even finish an apple¡­¡± Anishka said. ¡°I have to take it slow. But that reminds me¡­ Sergeant, have you been eating?¡± ¡°I ate a whole lot!¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°Things other than natural energy, I must remind you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve eaten!¡± ¡°Today?¡± No response. ¡°This week?¡± Anisha frowned, waiting. ¡°... This month?¡± ¡°... Does the bits of crust that got in my mouth while I was paring them down to size count?¡± Anishka sighed, ¡°Did you sleep?¡± ¡°Void ants don¡¯t-¡± ¡°Or rest at all?¡± Silence was confirmation, here. ¡°You have to eat at least a little, then rest.¡± ¡°Ten minutes is enough,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°You need a whole night¡¯s rest. A month¡¯s worth, really!¡± Anishka exclaimed. ¡°... An hour, then,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°That¡¯s like half a week¡¯s worth. Honest.¡± Anishka did remember something about that. Though perhaps that was only true for the ¡®regular¡¯ void ants. Many things changed when they developed intelligence. ¡°Fine. An hour. And we¡¯ll try to get out here during that while you rest in one of these bags.¡± ¡°I have a boat,¡± Patka said helpfully. ¡°I was hoping for more, but it was the best I could get. And when we get there, you need to meditate to restore some of your natural energy. And finish that apple.¡± Patka was already scooping everything not in the bags together and bundling everything up. ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened with you, but I do know that people are focused away from this place. That Nurcan woman the Sergeant was worried about is gone, and the Sect Head too. We¡¯d best be far away before they return, or anyone who can track us down.¡± So they went back outside, taking with them what warmth they could from the tiny room. Patka forced a non-scorch-marked coat on Anishka, leaving herself without extra layers. Anishka was too weak to protest, and technically her disciple was a cultivator, even if the middle aged woman was weaker than herself. In normal circumstances. The snow crunched beneath their feet- there was always snow- and they found their way down some carved out ramps in the ice to a little dinghy sitting in the freezing water. Anishka stepped in, and Patka insisted she row. Anishka couldn¡¯t complain, as this was the first time she¡¯d had any sort of comfort in¡­ well, however long she¡¯d been chained up. But when she awoke, she was going to insist on doing her part. Chapter 653 Communication between Anton and the Trifold alliance became faster and faster the closer he approached, from months to weeks to days. Moving with his greatest possible speed, Anton continuously refined his technique. On approach to Ekict, he stopped by several systems to recover by bound stars. Either some he had decided to bind on the way back to the twin planets or along the second half of the journey towards In¡¯istra. When he found a particularly large gap, he searched for a relatively interesting star, leaving him with six along the way. He also had four more stars he could bind, one of which would certainly be Ekict¡¯s star. His arrival was more than a month behind the Trifold Alliance¡¯s forces, but serious attacks had not begun in earnest yet. Anton knew that the forces were stationed in orbit around the system, outside of the greater formation barrier. The system rapidly came into view as he approached, reminding him of the hopes he had for it. Hopes that were now shattered as this system that had perceived themselves as victorious had been ruined far beyond the physical damage. He reached out for their star, and found the connection was reluctant to form. He¡¯d bound Rutera¡¯s star even at a great distance, at least halfway- but this one was different. Was it something about the barrier? The star itself appeared perfectly normal, but his senses were limited in detail because of the barrier. It was quite possible for something to be hiding beneath the surface. Anton continued to push the connection forward. He was confident he could force it, even with something limiting his efficiency. It would just take longer. Maybe days or weeks, if they could not open the barrier. It seemed he would not be destroying their star yet. Though he had already been planning to meet up with the alliance so they would have some sort of warning. He found his way towards them, finding many familiar faces. Then again, Anton was at least somewhat familiar with everyone who reached Assimilation, and many of those of great talent with lower cultivation. Formation masters were obviously present. Ingeborg was also responsible for directing the fleets of Weos, so their ring-ships could fight optimally. There was also Naid of the Worthy Shore Society, the sect long since fully part of Ceretos having directly cut off their ties to the Exalted Quadrant. They would be important for a proper assault. There were many others of course, a large portion of the mobile Assimilation cultivators. But of most interest to Anton were two individuals who were trying to look calm and collected, though he understood his interest was because of bias for his family. Anton boarded the ship he sensed some of them on and approached Annelie and Gudrun. Annelie noticed his approach, and stated her mind before he even asked. ¡°I am not losing my daughter as well.¡± ¡°She¡¯s my favorite weird little sister,¡± Gudrun added. Simple words reminding themselves of what they would fight for¡­ but inside of Anton¡¯s own head they stirred up a great deal more than he showed on the surface. Had he truly become such a reckless and foolish old man? He couldn¡¯t even blame it on being forgetful- tempering his head during Body Tempering had made him almost young again as such things went, and he¡¯d undergone many transformations since. He would have remembered. Would have stopped himself in time. Anton told himself that, and he had to believe it. But¡­ it wasn¡¯t really fair, was it? He was fully prepared to destroy the star to save the lives of the alliance. It was still the correct call, if all he cared about was maximizing the lives of not only them, but people he cared about. His granddaughter came up to him. ¡°I know when people are hiding emotions,¡± Annelie said. ¡°It¡¯s perfectly reasonable to be furious.¡± ¡°It¡¯s myself I¡¯m most angry at right now,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault,¡± she said. He knew that was only partially true. ¡°There¡¯s more to it than that. What is¡­ the latest word on Anishka?¡± He¡¯d received information about her training with Ekict. It wasn¡¯t detailed, but he was kept up to date on many things by Annelie while he wasn¡¯t around. Annelie shook her head. ¡°She was with the Northern Glacier Sect after training with the Enkindled Sun Sect for some time. Then this happened.¡± Nothing more was said. There wasn¡¯t more to say. They all knew that she had to be dead. Everyone was dead. Those who had been taken were the same. Yet somehow, Anton couldn¡¯t help but hope. Anton just stood with Annelie and Gudrun. Of the many children she had with Anish, several had ascended. Others reached Assimilation, like Gudrun- though Gudrun in particular had only reached that point in the last decade. A hundred and fifty years was not poor for such a thing, but it was not among the most rapid. Whoever remained no doubt also cared about their younger sister Anishka and the war, but they would likely be involved with the defense of Ceretos and the Trifold Alliance¡¯s territory. The Sylanis Cluster still appeared to be inactive, and Ekict shouldn¡¯t be able to get any ships out of the system¡­ but they would be ready just in case. ¡°I have an option,¡± Anton said with a measured voice. ¡°It is not¡­ something I can decide on my own. I will need as much council as possible. Feel free to speak your true mind about what I suggest.¡± ¡°You know me,¡± Annelie said. ¡°What is it that is so big that you think I would not say what I feel?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s sit,¡± Anton said. ¡°I haven¡¯t sat in¡­ months.¡± Interstellar ships did not have abundant space for comforts, but the three were able to sit together in a multipurpose mess hall and gathering room aboard the moderately sized ship. Food was provided- Anton had no complaints, but it was far less luxurious than meals for an Assimilation cultivator could be. But there was a limit to what ingredients could be brought along with the fleet, especially with an indefinite duration of the excursion. Forming a field around them that would prevent others from overhearing the conversation, on purpose or accidentally, Anton clearly stated his idea. ¡°I can end the war in a single stroke,¡± Anton said. Annelie looked him over carefully. ¡°You haven¡¯t yet reached Augmentation, I think. Even then, it might not be quite so straightforward. So how is it possible?¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Anton nodded slowly, ¡°I can destroy their sun.¡± Both women took him very seriously, thinking for a moment instead of expressing immediate doubt or outrage. Though both would have been appropriate, in Anton¡¯s opinion. ¡°How?¡± Annelie asked finally. ¡°If I bind to it,¡± Anton said. ¡°It would be fairly simple. I have never done it, but I am certain I could accomplish it.¡± ¡°This is an awful idea,¡± Gudrun said. ¡°How can you¡­? Everyone would die.¡± ¡°That would be the point,¡± Anton said. ¡°They have integration cultivators. Nobody has come up with a good explanation for that and the abductions except that they steal cultivation. And while we might have been able to forgive such a thing if they were honest about using those techniques on the Trigold Cluster¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Doing so to us who only ever offered a hand in friendship? They might be even worse than the upper realms. But do believe I don¡¯t suggest such a thing lightly.¡± Gudrun sighed. She had taken after him, at least as far as archery was concerned. ¡°I only had a small role in the war with the Sylanis Cluster,¡± she admitted. ¡°But was such a thing ever brought up with them?¡± ¡°Not seriously,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I was both less certain about the possibility¡­ and I find the situations quite different. They were warmongers, but they never offered a fake hand of friendship.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe that anything can justify what you suggested,¡± Gudrun said. ¡°Perhaps you are right,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Annelie?¡± ¡°We will lose many lives fighting them. Most critically, Assimilation cultivators. Preventing those deaths on our side¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°But first, a matter of practicality. Would it destroy their planets?¡± ¡°Not all of them,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Only the inner ones. However, that would include their most populated homeworld.¡± ¡°What about their Integration cultivators?¡± Annelie asked. ¡°Could they react somehow? If they have warning, they might use Nicodemo¡¯s stolen cultivation against us as well, out here. And The Independence.¡± ¡°They most certainly will,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I could perhaps guide the explosion to cause greater damage than even that¡­ but there would be some conflict regardless. Though our fleets should significantly outperform theirs.¡± ¡°Then, as a matter of practicality, I don¡¯t know if we can accept those results,¡± Annelie said. ¡°It¡¯s simply not good enough, if we consider the lost resources of many planets. Also,¡± Annelie took a deep breath, ice coating the area around them as she continued to speak. ¡°My daughter is still there. I won¡¯t let you kill her. Or did you already forget about her?¡± Anton grimaced. ¡°If I thought she was alive¡­ I don¡¯t think I could bring myself to do it.¡± ¡°I survived,¡± Annelie said. ¡°Alva survived, as well as Devon. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯d give up on any of us. Especially not her. She¡¯s my¡­ my youngest daughter.¡± Her last daughter, and last memory of her husband as well. ¡°I would never wish to give up on any of my family or loved ones,¡± Anton said. ¡°You know that. But¡­ can I place my own family above that of many others?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Annelie said, slamming her palm on the table and instantly coating it in shimmering ice. ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re cultivators! And if we¡¯re not good enough, we¡¯ll get stronger!¡± Anton smiled, ¡°I wish I were strong enough to never consider the easy way.¡± He shook his head. ¡°I won¡¯t suggest this to the others.¡± Annelie¡¯s face returned to a state of calm. ¡°No. You have to.¡± ¡°Even though you¡¯re opposed?¡± ¡°The logical part of me is more conflicted,¡± Annelie said. ¡°But all of me also says we need to know.¡± ¡°Know what?¡± ¡°What we, as the Trifold Alliance, are willing to do,¡± Annelie said. ¡°It is all well and good to say we will not do something when it is not possible. But when we truly have the option, can we resist? If we defeat Ekict, we will end up with their cultivation stealing techniques. Will we use them as well? We haven¡¯t spit in the hand of friendship¡­ but we¡¯ve continuously been on a side with power. We were threatened, but not the same way as this,¡± she gestured around them. ¡°Strange that fear might be what brought them into danger,¡± Annelie shook her head. ¡°But either way, I think the offer must be made. Though as the one who would ultimately be in control, I would not offer it if you are unwilling to accept going through with it.¡± Gudrun was sitting with her arms crossed. ¡°I¡­ also think you have to bring it up to a wider council. It sounds horrid and almost impossible to justify, but so is letting our people die. I feel like our lives are worth more than theirs, but is that true?¡± she shook her head. Anton didn¡¯t have much more to say. So he had to consider carefully, now that he was really here, if he could go through with it. If he should. If it was morally acceptable¡­ or morally acceptable not to do it. He missed being a simple farmer, but the world would never allow him to return to that life for long. ----- Navigating through ice floes was difficult, but not as impossible as it seemed. They didn¡¯t really know where they were going, but Anishka and Patka could take shifts guiding and protecting the small boat along the way. When something blocked their path, they had several options. Anishka could melt a path through, or they could navigate around. Both options were used depending on what seemed most achievable. Anishka was slowly recovering from her captivity, eating a little bit more at a time to let her body get used to food again. They had enough food for a couple weeks, which might not get them anywhere useful. They weren¡¯t even sure where they could go. It was unlikely the Northern Glacier Sect would just forget about Anishka, and Patka would likely be noticed missing. But they were able to supplement their food with fish. The cultivators could dive into the icy water and retrieve some food, and they could cook it as well. It was good for them¡­ and for the Sergeant, who also needed solid food. Just less of it. Though Anishka was fairly certain the little ant ate like a hundred times her weight per day. Which was still just a thumb¡¯s worth of food, but rather alarming to see. Was it alright to eat that much at once after starving? Anishka shook her head. ¡°Where do we go?¡± ¡°Off planet,¡± the Sergeant said, leading them to look up towards the stars. ¡°How?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Ask nicely?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t fly like the Great Queen,¡± the Sergeant admitted. ¡°But perhaps we can steal a vessel, like this.¡± ¡°Interstellar ships are guarded much more closely than dinghies,¡± Patka pointed out. ¡°Given that they¡¯re probably worth a million times more, minimum. Even just one that could go between planets would be¡­ difficult to get.¡± Anishka sighed. She¡¯d gotten far too used to everything being provided for her. Even when she came here, the Sects took care of pretty much everything. ¡°Sorry that you gave up your business to come die with me,¡± she said to Patka. ¡°I don¡¯t believe we will die. Because if you were going to, it would have already happened,¡± Patka said. ¡°Your power is not insignificant, regardless of your age.¡± ¡°Still have tens of thousands of people stronger than me in this system¡­¡± Anishka sighed. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a small fraction of the population,¡± Patka pointed out. ¡°And I believe you are wise enough to figure something out.¡± Anishka looked up to the stars above. Was she wise? Or even reasonably intelligent? Or talented? Anything of the sort? Or was she just a rich kid who had been able to do whatever she wanted, with access to resources that just let her take the easy route. Her eyes returned down to the boat. Maybe it didn¡¯t matter. She had two reasons beyond herself to be whatever she needed to be, even if she hadn¡¯t been as much as she should have before. Chapter 654 Everyone was gathered for a council, though it could also be seen as a test or challenge. What choice would people make, when faced with the possibility of swift and definitive revenge? And for Anton himself, how would he influence the situation? He knew his own opinion would affect others, intentionally or not. And he wasn¡¯t truly a neutral party. Perhaps the very act of bringing it up meant it was truly what he wanted¡­ or perhaps he wanted to be told that he shouldn¡¯t. He presented it in what he thought was a neutral manner. An opportunity to remove the system with less fighting. There would be ripples, of course. Side effects. Losses. But ultimately the numbers were in their favor. If It was strictly a matter of the lives of their own citizens, it seemed like the obvious choice. But things were never so easy. Anzela Ranik was the first to speak for Weos. ¡°If we can confirm that the captured Assimilation cultivators are already dead or¡­ turned, somehow¡­ then I will support the proposal.¡± For such a thing, normally the president of Rutera would participate- but as a purely political figure, it was unsafe for the current individual to come to the battlefield, so far from their systems. One of their representatives spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t think Rutera can support such a thing in any circumstances. An entire star, and effectively the system¡­ that¡¯s not something that can be replaced, or calculated.¡± If he had been present, Ty Quigley might have had a different opinion. However, he was defending their home system with the others. Ingeborg, Weos¡¯ formation master, gave her own opinion. ¡°We must consider things on a lower level as well. Do not forget our visiting disciples.¡± Anton hadn¡¯t. He knew Anishka¡¯s current status was still unknown. ¡°We should not easily sacrifice them, assuming they cannot be saved.¡± There were many others, though most had reservations. As they should. Eventually, things came to Paula of Marvelous Rabbit Mountain. ¡°We simply do not know enough. Who of ours live within their system, or if they have perished. And likewise, we know too little of Ekict itself. Who among them supported this course of action? Was it every major sect? Are they even aware of the reason we now surround them? Certainly, several dozens of supremely powerful individuals are at fault. But beyond that, we are ignorant.¡± It was hard for Anton to think anyone was innocent, in a world of traitors- but of course, there were those too weak to affect things. It was a sad state, but the world always had those who bore lesser responsibility. Though individuals whose combined powers could overwhelm those in power still had fault if they knowingly allowed evil to prosper. But¡­ Anton realized it was true. They knew too little. ¡°We have all had a chance to speak our opinions. Now it is time to vote. Knowing that our intel is insufficient, we can postpone the vote or decide on a course of action to be taken at the earliest opportunity.¡± It was not a simple majority vote. Kohar had been quite influential on many areas of their alliance, including voting. Even in the case of binary options, people might not truly support one or the other. Here, they could not afford for a choice to be counted as the winner simply because it was the most popular of a split. Thus they tabulated the support for each option. Though ultimately, it was clear that a sufficient number of people were outright against the possibility of destroying the sun in pretty much any circumstances. Some might want to wait for more information, but in general it would have to be their last resort. And strangely, even if Anton knew that would simply mean the same number of enemies dead and more of them, it was more palatable than heedless destruction. Thinking back to Vandale, the most admirable trait of the man was that his widescale power also was used with precision. Anton had that capability too, and while it would be more difficult to affect the whole system or even one planet at a time with proper precision¡­ it felt right. Besides, taking the ¡®easy¡¯ way out when there were less extreme options barely explored was too much. Though that depended on what they would find. ----- The first order of business was breaking through the barrier. They would also have to determine what they intended to do after. Anton did try moving near the barrier himself, to see if anyone might come to attempt negotiations- but either they did not think him isolated enough, or they had no intention to try. Did they think they could survive this, Anton wondered? They had to believe that. The exact number of Assimilation cultivators had been a secret, so they could have easily been underestimated¡­ but if every captured individual led to the enemy having one more Assimilation cultivator, there would be trouble. The only thing they could rely on was more effective ships, preventing coordination between enemy planets. That might be enough. His temper slightly calmed, Anton had a proposal for the formation masters. If they could open the barrier and allow him to bind the star, they would have many options. Whether any of them would work was another question. He assumed Everheart could accomplish anything asked, but sane formation masters would have time and material limitations on what they could actually accomplish. ----- Three individuals that appeared to be two arrived on the northern shores of a continent Anishka didn¡¯t even know the name of. Had she been so ignorant, or had Ekict truly been so protective of their information? She looked over to Patka. ¡°What is this place called?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know precisely where we have landed,¡± Patka admitted. ¡°Nor do I know much geography.¡± ¡°... I suppose your education was rather more focused on survival. But you might know the continent, at least?¡± ¡°Esea, I think,¡± Patka grimaced. ¡°Where would they have a starport?¡± ¡°The capital? Maybe.¡± Patka shook her head, ¡°Sorry I dont know more.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± Anishka assured her. ¡°Your world clearly did not make things easily available. We will have to discover it for ourselves.¡± It was odd, comforting someone older than herself. ¡°While we are here, we should have a cover. Something we can stick to.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a wandering master, and I¡¯m your disciple,¡± Patka said. ¡°But I¡¯m clearly younger.¡± ¡°You just look younger,¡± Patka pointed out. ¡°Act older. Maybe be vague and mysterious. Or just go with some of that guidance you had for me.¡± ¡°... Sorry I was a confusing instructor. I hadn¡¯t considered the basic lessons here would be so¡­¡± ¡°Terrible?¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Limited.¡± ¡°You said everyone in your system is a cultivator, right?¡± Anishka nodded. ¡°Hard to think of, here. Only the cultivators are rich enough to move between planets. Everyone else is stuck.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a cultivator now,¡± Anishka reminded her. ¡°Though we certainly aren¡¯t rich at the moment. Can we somehow earn money without revealing ourselves?¡± ¡°Stealing is more likely to get us caught. But if we¡¯re careful, we can enter the cities.¡± ¡°Everyone will know our faces and energy signatures!¡± Anishka said. ¡°How?¡± Patka asked. ¡°Well, uh¡­ transmitters?¡± Anishka frowned. ¡°Do all cultivators have those?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± she tilted her head. ¡°Though much of the functionality is¡­ technological. Surely you have bounties here, though.¡± ¡°Watch out for posters, then,¡± Patka suggested. The Sergeant managed to get their attention by nibbling a bit on the surrounding natural energy. ¡°Will they be looking for me?¡± ¡°Even if they are¡­¡± Anishka said. ¡°Would they find you?¡± ¡°Then I should look for these posters.¡± ¡°Fine. When we get to a city, we¡¯ll have you scout ahead.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll take a day,¡± the Sergeant cautioned. ¡°I¡¯m not fast.¡± Though she said that, when they actually arrived at a city, it only took her a few hours to approach and return. Anishka watched her skittering along the ground, and despite tiny legs she made a significant pace. It wasn¡¯t all physical motion, either, but the tiniest bit of natural energy manipulation. Anishka only noticed that on the way back, and she¡¯d caution the Sergeant against it as it could be noticed. ¡°Someone might spot it, and then you,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Manipulate natural energy? I don¡¯t think I can do that,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°Are you sure? It looks kind of like the Great Queen. You¡¯re not flying, obviously, but it¡¯s vaguely similar.¡± ¡°Oh. Of course you must be mistaken,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°My capabilities don¡¯t resemble hers in the slightest.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°She is the Great Queen, and I am just a Sergeant. We will never be the same.¡± Anishka nodded, ¡°Well, perhaps. But surely you could become a Royal Guard?¡± ¡°Oh no,¡± the Sergeant shook her head. ¡°I am much too small for that. Small and weak.¡± ¡°You¡¯re definitely small,¡± Anishka admitted. ¡°But you¡¯re much stronger than you were before.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°If the princess says so, it must be true.¡± Patka had been waiting patiently, but finally could not avoid asking. ¡°So were there wanted posters?¡± ¡°Oh. Right. Sergeant?¡± The Sergeant shook her head. ¡°Looks like no,¡± Anishka said. ¡°How did the two of you¡­ coordinate?¡± ¡°Oh well,¡± Patka frowned. ¡°The Sergeant brought your hair¡­ and moved around globs of ink to write.¡± ¡°It is difficult to write,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°Even harder than reading.¡± Anishka was amazed she got out. The fact that the two had more modest capabilities just showed how hard they worked. Even Patka, despite not risking her life or carrying bits of food many times her size, still remained in dangerous territory, obtaining supplies and a boat. Those supplies were low now, but food was not too hard for cultivators to get. They just had to get something profitable but not too noteworthy. Hopefully, they could manage that. They would need money later anyway, since Anishka was the only one with any idea how to use a spacefaring vessel, and that didn¡¯t necessarily translate to Ekict¡¯s ships. And very few craft were made for individuals, even in the Trifold Alliance. They all steeled themselves as they approached the city. They couldn¡¯t avoid other people forever, and if they could managed to sleep anywhere even vaguely comfortable after the trip over icy seas, they would do their best to achieve that result. ----- ¡°It might work,¡± Ingeborg said. ¡°With a great amount of power to override the formation¡¯s functionality.¡± ¡°And not for very long,¡± Naid added. ¡°It will take the two of us coordinating to give it even a chance.¡± ¡°What would it do to the barrier?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well, once we break through¡­ the fleet should be targeting formation nodes,¡± Ingeborg said. ¡°The formation should greatly weaken with even a small hole. The quality is fine but it¡¯s not¡­¡± ¡°Everheart levels?¡± ¡°Or Catarina levels,¡± Ingeborg nodded. ¡°Maybe another century and the rest of us will catch up to where they were when they ascended.¡± Oh right. Everheart being Scholar Eulogious was still technically secret. And he¡¯d minimized some of his contributions, at least in the eyes of the greater public. Ingeborg continued, ¡°Anyway, it also depends how long it takes you to control the star. And channel its energy. At least we have notes for when Scholar Eulogious worked with you in Weos to eradicate the Twin Soul Sect. Dammit, why couldn¡¯t that have been Ekict¡¯s problem?¡± ¡°Maybe they¡¯re still influenced by them¡­?¡± Anton said with little conviction. Duplicity was definitely the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s bread and butter, but they generally tried to avoid painting a target on themselves. Anton shook his head, ¡°Regardless, it shouldn¡¯t take long to bind the star without the barrier. An hour or two, perhaps.¡± Naid Conaire nodded, ¡°Gives us time to set up the changes. Then you can yell at everyone.¡± ¡°Speak to the system,¡± Ingeborg said. ¡°Hopefully. You won¡¯t get many words. We should plan them out carefully.¡± ¡°What should I say? A call to surrender?¡± ¡°Maybe. And an explanation for all of this. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s a secret. But we don¡¯t know if everyone here knows what¡¯s been going on. At worst, we waste the time,¡± Ingeborg shrugged. ¡°And if everyone in on it, I don¡¯t mind cracking the planets one at a time.¡± ¡°I thought you were against the star thing,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯ll first scour the planet for our allies. If we attack with overwhelming force, they¡¯ll have to show people to us, either to use as hostages or use as bargaining chips for mercy. Which is basically the same. And if they don¡¯t have anyone¡­ it¡¯s easier than going to each and every city with deadly formations. Though I don¡¯t know if we can actually tear a planet in half.¡± ¡°Coordinated? Absolutely,¡± Anton said. ¡°We have dozens of Assimilation cultivators. Everything is quite fragile without natural energy protecting it. But obviously we¡¯ll have to overcome their forces if they come attack.¡± ¡°That, at least, we can deal with,¡± Ingeborg said. ¡°I just don¡¯t want to bet on their individual formations being mediocre. Far too many people die in assaults on fortified locations when proper tactics could produce better results.¡± Anton just nodded. He was still thinking about the sun thing. He wouldn¡¯t do it against the wishes of the leadership. But it still concerned him that he would have followed through if it was supported. That was a path he would find difficult to justify to a younger version of himself, for good reason. Chapter 655 When the bombardment of the system wide barrier around Ekict commenced, Anton grew in his realization that his assumptions about their power level were faulty. Obviously he was now aware they had power beyond the Life Transformation stage, but even the barrier was stronger than expected. Given what the formation masters said about its design, Anton expected it to crumple quickly but that simply wasn¡¯t the case. At the current moment, his personal power was more limited- but Anton wasn¡¯t alone, or even close to being a significant portion of their power. They had dozens of Assimilation cultivators bombarding a relatively small area in succession, though the most notable contributor was not any single person. Instead, it was the second Ascension-class ship made by Rutera. The Wayfarer was more powerful than The Independence, but its purpose was not the same. The latter was made for protection from the upper realms, which had extended to any attackers. The Wayfarer was made for exploration, so even with greater power it was also more efficient. Another general- Gabriela- was in charge of The Wayfarer and its associated fleets. Anton judged its combined firepower to match a late stage Assimilation cultivator, though there was still a significant gap below the Augmentation stage. Unlike The Independence, there was no one like General Nicodemo forming an important core of the ship¡¯s effectiveness. Instead, every crew member was required to contribute their own part. It was quite effective, as Anton could see from the way it made the barrier wobble. But after a constant hour, the barrier still held. Anton couldn¡¯t say he was actually surprised. He had been warned it might take some time. He had just thought the projections were a bit pessimistic. ¡°It¡¯s time,¡± Ingeborg informed Anton. Anton nodded. Without direct access to a star, he was weaker than he should be as an Assimilation cultivation. However, he did have one method to keep up, at least for a little bit. Fleeting Youth still allowed him to draw upon Ascension energy. While his recovery after the fact still relied on a proper source of energy, the amount he could use in a short burst was not limited by being around a bound star. He was stealing it after all. Something he felt not the slightest regret for, nor would he have even if it made a measurable distance in the upper realms. He had friends and family there, but that just confirmed what he knew. The upper realms weren¡¯t better. Stronger, perhaps, but that wasn¡¯t even a guarantee. Their different sort of power did come in handy, though. Anton¡¯s job wasn¡¯t to shatter some core component of the barrier with force. At best, he might equal the attacks of two Integration cultivators for a short time, a minimal increase. Instead, he was there to confuse the barrier. Apparently, it had some semblance of the adaptive power the Sylanis Cluster had first made known to the Trifold Alliance. Now their own ships used the same sort of thing. One more form of energy shouldn¡¯t be too much of a difference, except for the bias of the barrier. So far, the only thing that Anton knew for certain was true of Ekict was that they hated the upper realms above all else, and that stuck with their barrier design. Each shot Anton took did exactly nothing, but he saw greater effects all around the areas his arrows burst as his allies took advantage of the focus on Ascension energy. It was quite a significant effort just to puncture the first hole, but that led to a cascade of effects as cultivators slipped through to damage the physical pieces of the formation, free floating in space. Cultivators from Ekict had not come to defend, either believing their barrier invulnerable or focusing their efforts elsewhere. Anton found the latter option concerning. But the formation masters got to work, and with punctures in the barrier Anton began to bind the star. It was a little slow. Reluctant. Perhaps the connection and distance were poor. Or perhaps it was his own bias, or that of Ekict against him. Permission wasn¡¯t necessary¡­ but perhaps it made things easier. Though it hadn¡¯t been an issue with the Sylanis Cluster, so Anton couldn¡¯t say anything for sure. Three hours after they commenced the attack, they¡¯d torn a planet-sized hole in the barrier, one that wouldn¡¯t be able to reform. Anton had bound the star, and the formation masters had performed their temporary alteration. Now was the time to try it. ----- Anishka did her best to judge whether frost apes or lightning eels were a greater threat. The prices for each were fairly similar, and so was the technical power level¡­ but that didn¡¯t tell the whole story. Fighting underwater, or in any specific creature¡¯s territory, gave them an advantage. In theory, as ice cultivators Anishka and Patka were both well suited to combat the frost apes. However, the Sergeant was vulnerable to them hurling large hunks of ice- the main danger would not be energy based. Would the eels be any better? She had to pick one. They needed money. It was her responsibility to guide them well. She had to put her head to it, thinking of what else lived near them that would contribute to the danger. The territory¡­ as much as she was aware. Because Ekict hadn¡¯t exactly been forthcoming with any information. She¡¯d even had to pry details out of the people offering the hunting rewards. Why? Perhaps they were concerned she would sell to someone else. After all, both had to be worth more than what was being paid, otherwise nobody would bother with a commission unless they were in desperate need for something particular. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. It would have to be the frost apes. Perhaps the Sergeant wouldn¡¯t be able to contribute as much for the sake of safety, but their competitors were seals that would gladly take advantage of their distraction. Thus, even if they stumbled into a group that was too large they could mitigate the danger. Yes, that was good enough. ¡°We¡¯re hunting frost apes,¡± Anishka said confidently to Patka. ¡°Of course, mistress Anishka.¡± ¡°Come on, I¡¯m not even that strong. I¡¯m not a sect head or anything. At best, I¡¯d be your senior sister.¡± It was already weird to think of being called that by someone older than her, but Patka insisted on honorifics when possible. ¡°Very well, senior sister Anishka. Though you must recognize that at your age, being an Essence Collection cultivator is meaningful.¡± It wasn¡¯t enough though. They had to contend with Life Transformation and stronger. But that was just another reason to stay unnoticed. The journey to where the frost apes lived was a couple days where they did their best to interact as little as possible with anyone on the road without looking timid. What appeared to be two people might seem like easy targets, and while cultivators didn¡¯t always rob and steal from each other, Anishka didn¡¯t feel charitable about most of Ekict at the moment. But obviously they weren¡¯t all bad, because Patka existed. The icy spires that were the home of the frost apes weren¡¯t something that could form simply by physical forces. They were formed partially by natural energy seeping out of the ground, which was then encouraged by the frost apes to improve their ability to move around. They were known for jumping between the various spires, remaining protected from anything on the ground. Anishka and Patka kept their heads up, watching for enemies. The Sergeant was relegated to a sheltered position where she would not be crushed. ¡°You remember our plans?¡± Anishka reminded Patka. ¡°Yes, senior sister. We¡¯re to conjure flames on the surface of the spires.¡± ¡°Close¡­ but not quite right. You must separate the heat, and take advantage of the resulting reactions to light any available fuel.¡± It was a strange thing how the components of water were both highly flammable in their own way, though combined into a molecule they were completely the opposite. The first sign of a frost ape was a man sized sphere of ice crashing into the ground right next to Anishka. It would have hit her had she not reacted in time, thrown from a great distance yet only giving her a fraction of a second to recognize its approach. The frost ape who threw it had been basically undetectable before that. The pair rushed towards the spire, combining their energies to perform as Anishka planned. She technically did most of the heavy lifting, but fire quickly climbed to the frost ape. It leapt away from the pillar, but the flame were already fading anyway. It would take quite a bit more to sustain such a reaction. However, Anishka saw that they¡¯d been at least partially successful, some flames lingering on the ape itself for a few moments, leaving a few black scorch marks on otherwise silvery fur. Not that it was a significant amount of damage just yet, but it was simply proof. It quickly became clear that rushing to the base of a spire was infeasible, as the frost ape would leap away before they could repeat their attack. They also had to dodge hunks of ice along the way- though each of those weakened the spires, so the ammunition wasn¡¯t unlimited. Instead, they had to attempt the same thing at range, or predict where the creature would flee and have one of them waiting. The ape was smart enough to recognize their danger, but didn¡¯t seem to be able to track every possible move. With some flames flung upward and some growing their way up, they were making some progress. Then the ape leapt, not at another spire, but down at them. More dangerous for it¡­ but also for them. Anishka was glad she was the initial target as she avoided the large fists. ¡°Alright, fire on the back and ice on the front!¡± Anishka declared. As she said that, she began to amplify the frost on the front of the creature, using her techniques to draw the heat to the creature¡¯s back. Patka tossed her own flames, as that was an easier maneuver. Just about the time the creature seemed defeated, Anishka found herself tossed to the side. She¡¯d been too focused on the single target, she hadn¡¯t noticed more frost apes approaching. Her energy defenses had absorbed the worst of the shards of ice scattering off the launched attack, but she couldn¡¯t afford to let that happen again. Patka was fortunately targeted second, and thus ready to dodge the next attack. However, the addition of two more frost apes turned the situation a bit hairy. And then a fourth and fifth turned things into a crisis. Anishka was already thinking about how they might retreat, when something extremely odd happened to distract both apes and humans. ¡°People of Ekict.¡± A massive transmission of sound from the sky. Not quite a booming voice, but clearly audible everywhere. ¡°We come not as invaders, but in our own defense. Know that your most powerful cultivators chose to reject our friendship in the most horrid way, by betrayal.¡± Anishka felt waves of energy washing over her, which fortunately continued to keep the frost ape¡¯s attention for the moment. ¡°... Grandpa?¡± He didn¡¯t respond of course. He wasn¡¯t there but¡­ much further. Somehow. ¡°An unprovoked attack on our friends and companions left us with no choice but to retaliate, as every diplomat was also involved in the treachery. They all returned here to take shelter. But know this, everyone involved will be slain. However¡­ those who were not involved still have the chance to make a better choice. Stay out of our way, and we will not harm you. But be aware, just as we will take vengeance for our elders, so too will we do the same for our youth who came for mutually beneficial exchanges and have been taken away from us.¡± Anishka barely stayed on her feet. They were here to rescue her. Well, not her specifically. And they weren¡¯t here yet. But¡­ there was some chance. If she could be noticed¡­ but only by the right people. Then, unfortunately, the power faded away¡­ no longer distracting the apes. Attacks immediately began again, both up close assaults and huge ice boulders any time she stepped away towards a ¡®safer¡¯ position. Anishka looked towards Patka. They were going to have to flee, somehow. But she couldn¡¯t quite figure out how. Chapter 656 With a sweep of her hand, Anishka formed a transient wall of ice to shelter Patka from raining icy boulders. Either they were unlucky to encounter ice apes in a group or her lack of familiarity with them led her to assume they would be solitary- and incapable of stealth. Either way, as the stronger party she was responsible for Patka¡¯s survival. Anishka could simply run on her own, but leaving with Patka would be more difficult. She directed them around spires of ice, weaving between them as silver furred apes leapt between the upper levels, swinging around the peaks without giving the cultivators a chance to retaliate. Only one was injured. At the point where Anishka was considering flinging the Sergeant as a projectile to hopefully chew on the injured one, she knew she really didn¡¯t have many options. Perhaps she could carry Patka? It would limit her own movements, but she could deal with a few glancing blows. So focused had she been on surviving the frost apes that she hadn¡¯t even noticed cultivators approaching. Not until two lines of fire struck one in the chest, while a large explosion of fire toppled one of the spires a frost ape was leaping towards. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re in a tight spot,¡± A woman with fire on her head drew Anishka¡¯s attention. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t mind splitting the bounty, would you?¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± Anishka called back. What was a bounty compared to life? Especially one of such modest value as these. Any allies they could get were a great boon. The woman who spoke appeared to be a handful of years older than Anishka, but was somewhere around mid Essence Collection. The other two with her were also women, the same flames in place of the hair on their heads. They were both in Spirit Building, but their presence was quite welcome. ¡°Can you do that trick with the burning spire again?¡± the leader asked, gesturing towards one of the frost apes taking shelter from her two companions. Meanwhile the woman herself rushed towards the frost ape that had fallen down with them after she destroyed its destination spire mid leap. Anishka would take whatever fortune she could get, approaching the spire in question as Patka avoided the frost ape they had injured. She kept an eye on that situation, as she wouldn¡¯t let her apprentice and friend get hurt, but she agreed with the suggested course of action. She lit up the spire, flames dancing up its surface, and the ape leapt away. As it arced through the air, the two Spirit Building cultivators simultaneously attacked, once again forming lances of fire. Unable to dodge, the ape sustained injuries. Instead of turning to attack, it continued to flee further. It couldn¡¯t be guaranteed it wouldn''t return in a moment, but Anishka had to focus on those remaining. The two apprentices kept the final ape on the spire suppressed and unable to lob more attacks, while Anishka approached the first and most injured ape from the rear. It slammed its large fists down on the ground, nearly crushing Patka. At the same moment. Anishka¡¯s two palms struck each of its shoulder blades. Fire on one side, ice on the other, she drew upon the creature¡¯s body heat to maximize both effects. Its left side froze solid, while its right had all the fur charred away. The frost ape tried to spin to elbow Anishka, but it lost its balance as its left side remained static. It fell with its upper end towards Patka, who stomped her foot onto its skull, crushing it. The other grounded ape was quickly finished off by the Essence Collection woman, and the last fled. Two dead, and two injured. And everyone had survived on their side, so it was ultimately a success. ¡°Too bad we didn¡¯t get the last two,¡± the woman said. ¡°I¡¯m Celina of the Vermillion Inferno. Nice to meet you. These are my apprentices Ilona and Gilda.¡± ¡°Anishka. And this is Patka.¡± She considered introducing the Sergeant, but that seemed like it could go poorly. ¡°Thank you for your assistance.¡± ¡°No problem. People should help each other out.¡± Celina frowned, ¡°Speaking of which, that message was weird. I¡¯d heard about a war coming, but that¡­¡± she looked up into the sky. ¡°I feel very unprepared.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting it either,¡± Anishka admitted. Celina nodded, ¡°So, who¡¯s your grandpa?¡± ¡°What?¡± Anishka narrowed her eyes. ¡°Well, we were here hunting too and noticed your battle. Was that voice your grandpa?¡± Anishka knew many things. Lying was not one of them. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that message was.¡± Technically true. Anishka was looking for a way to extricate herself from the situation, and her eyes came upon Patka who looked much more calm somehow. ¡°I didn¡¯t actually ask that,¡± Celina said. ¡°But if you don¡¯t want to talk about it¡­¡± ¡°We must be going,¡± Anishka inclined her head. ¡°Are you sure? You haven¡¯t collected your share of the spoils. Though¡­ it does look like you¡¯ll have some trouble getting much back without a storage bag.¡± Running away was suspicious, right? What was she even supposed to say here? Anishka took a deep breath¡­ and reminded herself she was an Essence Collection cultivator. She¡¯d at least trained Insight in Spirit Building. Even if it was imperfect, she could sense the intentions of this woman. And her senses told her¡­ sincerity. And some confusion. And curiosity. ¡°We had an unfortunate run-in with a larger sect, and I was unable to move on with my equipment.¡± ¡°That¡¯s awful,¡± Celina sounded sincere. ¡°Honestly, a lot of the larger sects are terrible. I heard about these other systems- only good things- and now we¡¯re at war? It was already enough trouble to not get snatched up by the larger sects¡­¡± ¡°Is it because of Transferral?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Transferral of what?¡± Celina looked genuinely confused. ¡°Uh, well. It¡¯s a¡­ technique? The larger sects have it. At least the Northern Glacier Sect¡­¡± Anishka wasn¡¯t actually sure how far it was spread, but considering they had an Integration cultivator and didn¡¯t rule the system, clearly they couldn¡¯t be alone. ¡°It steals people¡¯s cultivation.¡± ¡°That¡¯s horrid,¡± Celina grimaced. ¡°But no, the official reason is to be ¡®protected¡¯, which really means drafted into this war that they were trying to keep secret until now. How long have you known about it?¡± Stolen novel; please report. ¡°... Months,¡± Anishka turned her eyes away. Or however long she¡¯d been captured. ¡°You¡¯re strangely well informed,¡± Celina said. ¡°But you don¡¯t seem to have much support¡­¡± she quickly waved her hands, ¡°That wasn¡¯t a threat or anything. In fact, kind of the opposite. We can¡¯t really reach the rest of our sect, so it seems we could both use some support. I was thinking we could join up. Your style is¡­ interesting. Seems powerful, too. Does it have a name?¡± ¡°The Fire and Ice Palace,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Weird. I feel like I should have heard of it. Unless you¡¯re older than you look?¡± ¡°How old do I look?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Early twenties.¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct, so¡­¡± ¡°So you should be from a big sect. Or you found a secret scroll somewhere, but that would still take a genius to reach your level.¡± ¡°Would it?¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°Not if you start cultivating early enough.¡± ¡°So it is a big sect. Otherwise you¡¯d get yourself killed, cultivating too young.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t get in contact with them anyway.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯re in the same boat.¡± Celina extended her hand, ¡°How about we join up? With your split of the bounties on these, we could get you¡­¡± she looked over Anishka. ¡°Literally any sort of gear.¡± Anishka was wearing regular clothes, some of Patka¡¯s. She couldn¡¯t exactly wander around in a damaged and slightly bloody outfit with the insignia of the Northern Glacier Sect. ¡°... I suppose that would be beneficial.¡± Anishka was missing a lot of things- though fortunately she¡¯d given Patka a copy of her cultivation manual. It wouldn¡¯t go all the way through Life Transformation and Ascension or Assimilation, but it would be sufficient for her to continue her practice until¡­ until she got away from this place. Because she wasn¡¯t going to die. ----- Far away in the upper realms, Chidi was also determined not to die. However, he currently had more allies and perhaps his greatest source of danger was his own teacher. Though it wasn¡¯t like Chikere was going to actually kill him. Not unless he stopped improving, and even then it wouldn¡¯t be exactly on purpose. She expected him to improve, to learn to deal with her ever more difficult attack patterns. And truthfully, if he didn¡¯t improve? He really might just die. Even if he curled up in a ball, refusing to leave Shutoll, the Harmonious Citadel would eventually come and then he would die. Not that he¡¯d considered such a thing lately. His confidence was fairly high, both with his sword training and the progress they¡¯d been making with the formation pillars. He was beginning to truly understand how each of them fit in as a piece of the larger whole. They were not all exactly the same, but each was very close. ¡°What do you think this means?¡± asked Sithembile, the formation master overseeing the project. ¡°I think each layer was made by the same people, repeating just one part over and over. Then they were likely fused together by a formation master in charge. Perhaps a grandmaster¡­¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°You don¡¯t think they have the qualifications?¡± ¡°Oh no, I didn¡¯t mean to presume,¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve mainly interacted with my mother¡¯s works, which involve techniques taken from Everheart. Even Engineer Uzun has the same formation basis. It¡¯s just different. I can¡¯t say for sure that it¡¯s worse.¡± ¡°It is,¡± Sithembile clarified. ¡°I¡¯m not close to being a grandmaster myself, but at least these particular examples aren¡¯t of the quality expected. That doesn¡¯t mean whoever made them isn¡¯t a grandmaster, but they clearly didn¡¯t have the time or resources if they have the ability. Of course, in the grand scheme of things formations just need to work. And these completed their duty.¡± The man nodded seriously, ¡°So it would be fine for you to destroy one.¡± ¡°What?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Even after displacing these, they¡¯re still managing to support the formation, if to a lesser degree. We¡¯ll need to destroy them eventually. And I can tell you want to.¡± ¡°Well, I-¡± ¡°You want to know if you can cut it in half. Your posture says everything.¡± ¡°Well, yeah. But it just seems kind of like a waste.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°I mean, I know these formations are working against us. But we can still study it.¡± ¡°There¡¯s more than one way to study something,¡± Sithembile replied. ¡°You know the engineers of Xankeshan. They take apart constructions to understand them. And¡­ you don¡¯t know what¡¯s inside this.¡± ¡°Is it safe?¡± Sithembile shrugged, ¡°Some of the teams have destroyed them in the field, since it is quite difficult to return them. It shouldn¡¯t be any different for you. But would the danger really stop you?¡± ¡°... It would just change how I did it,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°Good. So, how are you slicing it?¡± ¡°Quarters, I think. Can it be this one?¡± ¡°They¡¯re all equivalent,¡± Sithembile said. ¡°So pick whichever you like.¡± Chidi nodded, ¡°Then, I¡¯ll do it.¡± He drew his sword, clutching it with both hands. Destroying a stationary object, even one somewhat enhanced in durability by internal formations, was about the easiest thing that could be done. Properly cutting something of high hardness was a bit more picky. He didn¡¯t want to just shatter it, as that would be hard on his blade and¡­ just inelegant. He had studied this particular pillar quite thoroughly, touching every surface. He knew the structure of the stone by heart. So the proper cut would be exactly like¡­ With just a slight sound of metal on a whetstone, his arms finished their arc. The pillar in front of him split apart vertically, two halves toppling to the sides. Then each of those split in half. ¡°Tch.¡± Chidi clicked his tongue. ¡°Was it not as satisfying as you thought?¡± Sithembile asked. ¡°I screwed it up,¡± Chidi said. ¡°That looks like quarters to me,¡± the man said. ¡°It wasn¡¯t supposed to split apart. That means some of my force pushed it to the sides. But¡­¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I did feel how the flow of energy shifted. This is little more than a jumble of fancy rocks, in this state. I¡¯ll have to seek out more of them to destroy.¡± ¡°That would be quite appreciated,¡± Sithembile said. ¡°I think we¡¯re close enough to thinning the veil over Shutoll, at least. If we can get a message out from here, we can coordinate backup from the Scarlet Alliance. Though it would be even better to unveil multiple cities at the same time.¡± ¡°... I think I could manage that,¡± Chidi said. ¡°If I destroy the right pattern.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll talk to the commanders to get your squad free reign to follow that goal, then,¡± Sithembile replied. ¡°I don¡¯t think we can afford to maintain this stalemate forever.¡± Chidi agreed. Especially not with how Chikere was provoking the Harmonious Citadel. Though strangely, that might also be keeping them distracted. A delicate balance, though not so much a mastermind plan as just the method to her stated goal of provoking the sword saint to come to Yaitis. Chapter 657 Humans were bundles of desires and logic with the two often conflicting. A cultivator chose an aspect they desired in Essence Collection, driving themselves forward. Yet that was never a complete picture of a person. Nobody had a single desire that controlled everything. If they did, they would hardly be human anymore. The logical approach to the invasion would have not involved announcing their presence- regardless of whether the enemy knew about them already. It would be pretty much impossible to not notice an attack on their barrier. Even if they hadn¡¯t responded directly, that just meant they had other priorities. The next most logical thing was to conquer their planets one at a time, using all of their forces to maximum effectiveness. The Trifold Alliance¡¯s forces weren¡¯t so overwhelmingly large that they would get in each other¡¯s ways, numbering simply in the hundreds of ships. Dozens of Assimilation cultivators, hundreds of Life Transformation, and twice again as many Essence Collection cultivators. Nobody weaker, because their contributions would be meaningless, and the ships didn¡¯t have endless room. But the Trifold Alliance didn¡¯t conquer one planet at a time, instead spreading throughout the system. Why? The answer was quite simple. They wanted to win. They wanted the greatest number of their members to survive. But more than all of that, they wanted to say they did everything possible to save the disciples that had been part of the cultivation exchange. With no messages from them, they could be presumed dead. Anton believed the same about Anishka. He¡¯d lost family before, many times. Children, grandchildren, and more. He was resigned to the results, and capable of processing it emotionally. But there had also been a few months when he was going to blow up Ekict¡¯s sun, and he was still absolutely going to kill people. Thus it was that among others, Anton and Annelie headed for the main planet in the system. The fleets ignored smaller outlying planets- perhaps a tactical mistake, but they wouldn¡¯t know for certain until later. Hopefully, Anton¡¯s message dissuaded some levels of involvement. The relatively short hours from the outer edge of the system to the planet they sought felt like an eternity. But then they arrived, ready for combat. Immediately they¡­ ran into another barrier around the planet. Of course there was one. It would be crazy not to have one, because even if it could be overcome it would slow them down, and tire them out. And by ¡®them¡¯, Anton of course was considering the Assimilation cultivators with lower mobility. Not everyone was as strong here as they could be- though those like Lev who were the most bound to a location were remaining on the defensive, as cautions against potential counterattacks or the Sylanis Cluster. But Anton was close enough to the sun to consider himself at optimal strength. There were more powerful Assimilation cultivators- if not many- but at this distance from one of his bound stars he was confident in surviving any encounter. Not that he actually thought any Assimilation cultivator would try to kill him, but someone of equivalent status like Sylanis¡¯ Worldbinding wasn¡¯t off the table. Further away, and Anton would be somewhat weaker. And if he fought near the innermost planets Anton would be able to dominate any matchup. In extreme proximity to the sun¡­ he wouldn¡¯t guarantee defeating an Augmentation cultivator. But he wouldn¡¯t assume his loss, either. For the sake of formation master Naid Conaire, Anton tested various points of the planet with his shots for the reaction. Ultimately it was clear that the barrier was nearly homogenous about the whole planet. It would have to be, or it would be easy to rip apart. The bombardment had only just begun- less than half an hour mostly testing it out- when several individuals flew to a place they could be picked out easily. What was more, one woman even projected her voice beyond the barrier. ¡°An amusing speech. But if you truly care so much for your disciples, I would reconsider your course of action.¡± Anton held up his hand, and the bombardment respectfully stopped a few moments later. So, they were actually going to negotiate? He reached out for the barrier. It didn¡¯t seem any weaker, but he attempted to speak anyway, projecting his voice to the edge in hopes he could be heard. ¡°Is that so? They are unharmed, then?¡± Instead of waiting for an answer, Anton continued. ¡°I assume you have the authority to negotiate for their release. What might we address you as?¡± ¡°I am Nurcan, of the Northern Glacier Sect,¡± the woman declared. ¡°I know who all of you are, of course.¡± The fact that he did not know her concerned Anton. He knew of the sect head Arzu, but this woman hadn¡¯t come up. ¡°I do indeed have the authority. I can declare to you that if you attempt any more aggressive actions, we will begin killing your disciples one by one.¡± Fire flared inside Anton. Anger. Power. Passion. But with the flames came light. ¡°What will it cost us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite simple. You can make an exchange of resources. Ships. Or people willing to give up their own freedom.¡± The woman grinned. ¡°Before you ask, Anishka will cost you the entire treasury of the Fire and Ice Palace. Or just yourself, sect head Annelie.¡± The instant Annelie began to move, Anton stopped her. ¡°Don¡¯t. I know you didn¡¯t bring the full treasury with you, so you could only¡­¡± She just glared back at him. ¡°Are you telling me you wouldn¡¯t do it yourself?¡± Anton had them surrounded in a barrier of energy, so that their words could not be heard- or their lips read. ¡°My dear granddaughter, I would absolutely make such a sacrifice if there was no other way. And if I believed it would mean anything.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I am paying much closer attention to details, this time,¡± Anton said. ¡°They don¡¯t have her.¡± ¡°Seems you don¡¯t want her?¡± an annoyed voice projected beyond the formation barrier. ¡°Tell you what. I¡¯m a busy woman. Take a couple days and talk among yourselves. If you want to know what it will cost you, we¡¯ll have people waiting here. Then we can make the exchanges all at once when everyone¡¯s decided, alright?¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Anzela Ranik approached first. ¡°What about my husband?¡± ¡°Ah yes. The charming Rikuto,¡± Nurcan nodded, ¡°He¡¯s of great value, but we could return him to you for the full blueprints to all of Weos¡¯ battleships. Or yourself, I suppose.¡± Fire flared inside Anton. That was even less possible than the exchange for Anishka. He was certain of that, somehow. It didn¡¯t bode well for Rikuto, but what did her uncertainty about Anishka mean? He was using every scrap of Insight he had, but he couldn¡¯t learn more without pressing for details. And that might make it too obvious. But after everyone made their requests, he could inform them privately that Ekict wouldn¡¯t or couldn¡¯t be following through on the exchanges. Perhaps it was a ploy for time, or they had some form of illusion to pretend the exchange happened. That, Anton couldn¡¯t know. But if they did have some hostages still, the assault would have to be on hold. ----- Not every part of the Trifold Alliance or indeed all of Ekict had word of the negotiations. Circling around a gas giant, The Wayfarer was scooping up relatively minute amounts of various gasses. Along with ambient natural energy, these would be converted to replenish the expended energy stores from piercing through the outer formation. General Gabriela would then be directing it as most optimal for Rutera and the Alliance¡¯s goals. They were aligned on the highest level, but they obviously cared about different individuals in the system. Unlike Nicodemo, Gabriela was not an Assimilation cultivator. She could not make the ship function above and beyond its combined technology and energy formations, nor was she even the best gunner for the main cannon. She was there for her actual job, leading the fleet. She was still amazed at hearing how Nicodemo had done so while also augmenting The Independence. His position as the most prominent of Rutera¡¯s generals had been unshakable- but Gabriela didn¡¯t resent it. It wasn¡¯t as if he didn¡¯t advocate for other options for advancement among the military. He¡¯d seemed an invincible figure. And then he was just¡­ gone. Killing a war hero wasn¡¯t a good start for Ekict¡¯s assault. Neither was stealing their most well known battleship. Rutera wasn¡¯t wholly devoted to their military, but they did understand how necessary it was, and were generally in support of it. Now, they were angry. ¡°General Gabriela,¡± said one of the sensor operators. ¡°I¡¯m sensing¡­ well, it¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°Say it,¡± she said. ¡°The Independence, general.¡± ¡°Prepare to engage. If we don¡¯t receive a transmission indicating recapture, we¡¯ll assault immediately.¡± As it came around the edge of the planet, sensors picked up another source of power as well. Visuals indicated it was a woman standing on the front of the battleship. It was almost comical, but Gabriela knew not to underestimate someone holding a spear- even if it seemed crazy. They¡¯d have to assume that individual was in Assimilation. Or¡­ something. One on one The Wayfarer likely destroyed The Independence, but they¡¯d need the rest of the fleet to deal with this. ----- Anishka was alive. And so was Patka. The Sergeant was healthy as well, but not visible. Instead, three more individuals were present. The Vermillion Inferno had quickly endeared themselves to Anishka. For one thing, without the factor of The Sergeant she was pretty sure they could have just killed them and taken everything. Not that they really had anything. They could have also let them die to the frost apes. Instead, they were splitting the bounties on the two that had been killed. But they had problems Anishka couldn¡¯t just ignore. The only problem was figuring out a way to say it politely, as she watched them meditate, flames licking around them. ¡°Have you, uh, considered¡­ sealing the flames around you to amplify the effects?¡± That¡¯s right. Their cultivation was inefficient. All that wasted heat which she didn¡¯t think was being intentionally vented. That she absolutely could not stand. But she also wasn¡¯t some sort of grand cultivator who knew everything, so perhaps it made perfect sense with their style. The leader of the trio, a mid Essence Collection cultivator only a handful of years older than Anishka, looked at her carefully. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Celina asked. ¡°Well, a more familiar style for myself is like this,¡± Anishka began to demonstrate. Flames arose around her, but while they appeared to wander freely they were actually constrained tightly by her will. This was how she could choose who was burned, or at least one factor. ¡°Interesting. Would you mind going into more detail?¡± Celina prodded. Anishka absolutely did not mind. She went over the basics. Then somewhere along the way she got into talking about convection currents, then temperature as a concept, and that led her to her thoughts on the ice-flame dichotomy. ¡°... so basically fire and heat are only related and not the same thing..¡± She cleared her throat. ¡°But, uh, maybe that doesn¡¯t actually matter.¡± She was almost sweating despite the chill temperature as she looked at three- three and a half, counting Patka- dazed faces. Celina closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then nodded. ¡°Thank you for sharing your insights. I am sure we will benefit greatly.¡± ¡°You will? I mean, uh, that¡¯s good. Though I can¡¯t guarantee everything is perfect.¡± Celina smiled, ¡°If you could, I doubt you¡¯d still be in Essence Collection. As it is, I believe it will be a smooth journey for you.¡± Smooth. Everything up until her capture had been smooth. She¡¯d been lucky to get out. Even now, she still felt too close to the influence of the Northern Glacier Sect. Though there was no reason to believe the Enkindled Sun Sect was any better, so traveling much to the south was also a risk. And Anishka didn¡¯t even know what she could really accomplish. Stealing a ship was ambitious, and she was suddenly very aware of the planetary formation above. What if that stopped her from getting out? She would just have made herself a target. Not to mention the whole war starting, and what that might mean for people like Patka and the Vermillion Inferno. They could easily be caught in the crossfire. What could she do to help? She didn¡¯t know. All she knew was she couldn¡¯t solve every problem, so perhaps she should simply consider those present. Including the Sergeant. Would revealing her to the trio be a danger, or a boon? She¡¯d have to ask about that when she got the chance. But for the moment, their next stop was the city to get paid, and they could think about what to do with said money after that. Chapter 658 Lightning split in all directions from the unfortunate vessel chosen as the first target by the spearmaster. This was one of the few individuals known from Ekict- Aoibhin. Gabriela could only watch from The Wayfarer and curse the luck of the fighter pilot who had been chosen as the first targets. ¡°All vessels, adaptive shields update on the way.¡± Over the course of time Rutera had integrated and even made improvements to the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s adaptive defenses. Information could be shared among a fleet, which was especially important for dealing with powerful individuals. Any of the smaller sized vessels could be taken out in one hit by a Worldbinding cultivator. No, it wasn¡¯t Worldbinding or Assimilation but Integration, right? She remembered the feeling from the invasion several decades earlier, though she was a lower ranking general at the time. There were various theories from both before and after the attacks, but several people had picked out clear signs of those who had achieved Integration, as crazy as it might seem. They did not belong in this world. And yet, here was one without a speck of ascension energy in her. Projectiles impacted the shields of The Wayfarer, and one of The Independence¡¯s main cannons fired a sustained laser. ¡°Shield status?¡± Gabriela asked. She technically had the information available on her own console, but she couldn¡¯t quite believe the readings. ¡°Remaining power ninety-eight percent,¡± said the responsible crewmember. ¡°Recharge functioning as normal. Adaptation close to maximum, given Ni- readings of the former operator.¡± She nodded. They hadn¡¯t been expecting The Independence, but knowing it was stolen meant they put the data as priority in their database. As intended, it minimized the amount of damage they would take, with the ship automatically switching from default defenses upon successful scan. Or perhaps it had been a manual switch by one of the operators- she would ask later. Leaving too much to automation could result in flaws of predictability. Aoibhin completely ignored The Wayfarer, focusing on attacking the fighters and mid sized ships of the fleet. Her spear deflected off the shields of one of the fighters, returning to her hand as she landed on it. She stabbed directly- once, twice, three times. Only then did the shields collapse to overwhelming power. Once again, unfortunate for that individual pilot- but remarkable results. A single fighter delaying an Integration cultivator for more than a few seconds, allowing the others to fire upon Aoibhin. They had to be somewhat careful with their shots to not take out their ally, but the arcs of lightning around her faded momentarily as she flew through the void towards her next target, focusing on avoidance. It was a shame she would adapt her attacks and the next few individuals would have little chance. It was unfortunate that The Wayfarer could not easily target an individual- it was possible, but for this particular individual they would have to use the fast swiveling weapons. The rest were focused on The Independence, which they could at least hit. Though its adaptive shields would also minimize the damage. Gabriela blinked at what she saw. The shields had most certainly been in place, but several of their attacks punctured through to strike the hull of The Independence. Had several of the gunners broken through to new levels of insight? All at once? No, that wasn¡¯t it. Or at least, it couldn¡¯t be the main reason. The Independence adapted to the next waves of attacks, even though The Wayfarer¡¯s information was in its database. It was unfortunate that they¡¯d even had to consider fighting against their own ships, but they prioritized the defensive option should it take place. The¡­ The Independence looked pathetic. Half of its guns weren¡¯t firing- what was the crew doing? They couldn¡¯t rely just on the main control, even if it was using a power that felt exactly like Nicodemo. It was strong but strength wasn¡¯t enough. Aoibhin indeed changed through several styles, from lightning to pure spear technique, puncturing hulls. But after swapping through a few options, the fighters were all adapted. Instead of switching styles even more, she just battered through their defenses. None of it made sense¡­ but it was very advantageous for Rutera. ¡°Gunner leader. Is the prototype ready to be tested?¡± ¡°Affirmative,¡± came the response from Neven. ¡°We have enough data. Do you want us to fire?¡± ¡°On the spearmaster,¡± Gabriela confirmed. ¡°Taking the shot,¡± Neven replied. It was odd, having so little to do. Gabriela was supposed to be directing the fleets against similar groups of enemies and complex tactics, but here there were just two powerful individuals. Or what was effectively the same. They didn¡¯t even have any support ships. ¡°Scanners, check for flanking vessels.¡± This couldn¡¯t be it. ¡°Negative, general,¡± came the response. At the same moment, a single laser opened fire. It was not quite on the level of power of the main cannons, but it targeted Aoibhin¡­ and immediately caused her to flee. Good instinct. Even as she retreated, the swiveling laser tracked her, cutting through her defenses until she ducked behind The Independence. ¡°Damage confirmed,¡± came Neven¡¯s report. Good. It had worked in testing, but they couldn¡¯t ask someone to actually stand in front of a ship cannon and let it shoot them. Except perhaps Nthanda, but she was the least useful target to test on. The woman had a body as tough as a ship¡¯s hull, which was exactly the opposite of what they wanted their new weapon to face. Just as their defenses were adaptive, this laser was meant to pierce through defenses as well¡­ including that of individual cultivators of sufficient might. And it worked, well enough at least. Obviously it would have been better to instantly kill Aoibhin, but if they could take out high ranking enemies that easily the war would be over today. ¡°The enemy appears to be retreating, general. Should we pursue?¡± ¡°Are there other enemy forces?¡± ¡°Ships detected rounding the planet.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°We¡¯ll leave them for now. We need to look over the information we¡¯ve gained.¡± It would be no good to pursue the enemy into a trap. It was a shame about the lost pilots, but frankly a handful of lives in a battle with two Ascension class opponents was barely a scratch. ----- Upon returning to the city, Anishka and the others were instantly inundated with recruitment calls for joining the war. It was unsurprising how rapidly the situation had changed, given the appearance of a planet wide voice talking about the war. Though people already knew about it, the fact that something like that could happen was huge. Was Grandpa Anton just above the planet? Anishka didn¡¯t feel him¡­ but he would probably have to be directly above her. And the barrier wasn¡¯t helping either. She couldn¡¯t feel tens or hundreds of kilometers away through atmosphere. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look good,¡± Celina said, looking around at the recruiters. ¡°It could be worse, right?¡± Anishka said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like a mandatory draft¡­¡± ¡°Hrmn,¡± Celina grunted. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be so sure,¡± she muttered. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get these apes out of our bag.¡± They arrived where the collection bounty had been posted, and got paid. Then the very same individual gave them a pitch. ¡°The Northern Glacier Sect is offering ten percent more than other sects, and a portion of the spoils of war!¡± The woman leaned towards them, placing papers on the desk in front of her. ¡°Just sign here!¡± ¡°Well, uh,¡± Anishka began elegantly. ¡°We¡¯re planning to peruse all of our options first,¡± Celina said. ¡°Do you know if the Enkindled Sun Sect has recruiters here?¡± The woman snorted, ¡°Sure. But you know they¡¯ll snatch up all the good fire element resources, right? You¡¯d do better with the Northern Glacier Sect.¡± The woman looked at Anishka. ¡°Wait, are you an ice cultivator? You feel¡­ different.¡± ¡°Oh, no, definitely fire,¡± Anishka said. ¡°We¡¯ll take that into account. And uh, if we decide to join up with the Northern Glacier Sect we¡¯ll definitely do it through you, okay?¡± With that, they fled outside. ¡°She¡¯s definitely getting a commission, right?¡± ¡°Or exemption from drafting,¡± Celina said. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll make it far without getting some sort of protection,¡± she gestured to passing cultivators who had badges indicating they¡¯d joined up with one sect or another. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ really not comfortable with the Northern Glacier Sect,¡± Anishka bit her lip. ¡°Perhaps something mid-sized?¡± Celina protected them in a barrier to make their conversation secret. ¡°Obviously we¡¯re not actually going to join someone. We¡¯d just get killed. And it would be worse for you, I think. With your grandpa up there.¡± Anishka¡¯s voice caught in her throat. ¡°Relax, I could have turned you in back there if I wanted to. But I like you too much already. Can¡¯t believe I took cultivation pointers from someone younger than me, though.¡± ¡°Age isn¡¯t as important as experience,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Oh yeah, and how much experience do you have?¡± Celina raised an eyebrow. ¡°Ten years? I don¡¯t think I¡¯d count before I reached the first rank.¡± ¡°... Aren¡¯t you basically twenty?¡± ¡°Twenty-one. Almost twenty-two now, I suppose.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ about as much experience as I have,¡± Celina admitted. ¡°Anyway, we¡¯re off topic. We can¡¯t go with anyone, so we¡¯ll have to find another method.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t really want to talk to this guy but¡­ I know someone who can probably get us some badges.¡± ¡°Will that actually help?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Because that sect will just snatch us up anyway.¡± ¡°I¡¯d bet he can find some lacking local representation, if you know what I mean,¡± Celina said. ¡°It¡¯s that or run,¡± she said, looking back at the three Spirit Building cultivators with them. ¡°I¡¯m not thinking we¡¯d get far. And our position would be much less favorable.¡± ¡°Then, I guess we have to find this guy.¡± ¡°Be prepared to pay him everything we just got,¡± Celina said. ¡°And to promise him more.¡± ¡°Why promise more?¡± ¡°How much is your bounty?¡± Celina asked. ¡°I don¡¯t kn- I don¡¯t have a bounty,¡± she lied poorly. ¡°Listen. It¡¯s important that you trust me,¡± Celina said. ¡°How much?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Anishka admitted. ¡°A lot?¡± ¡°Can you approximate?¡± ¡°Well¡­ just what I had on me was enough to pay a Life Transformation cultivator,¡± Anishka admitted. ¡°Counting my equipment.¡± She wished she¡¯d looked for it on the way out- but would she have lived? Was it even nearby, after months? Probably better to forget it. ¡°So the bounty is probably more than that, if they even care.¡± ¡°Trust me. They care. If nothing else, for their pride.¡± Celina nodded, ¡°Alright, so. This is a big risk. This guy¡¯s not¡­ fully trustworthy. Not until we¡¯ve agreed to a deal. He could be a danger, and he¡¯s in Life Transformation himself, not counting his associates. But if we can entice him with more-¡± ¡°Ouch!¡± Anishka clasped her hand, then looked down. ¡°What- ack! Sorry, sorry, I¡¯m sorry, are you alright?¡± ¡°... are you okay?¡± ¡°Yes, um, I¡¯m fine. Uh, the Sergeant wants to contribute to the conversation.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°I was¡­ planning to tell you,¡± Anishka said, then held up her finger. ¡°This is the Sergeant.¡± ¡°... A drop of blood?¡± ¡°No, the ant!¡± Anishka said. ¡°Specifically, a void ant.¡± ¡°Is that different?¡± Celina asked, ¡°I don¡¯t sense anything special about him. Or uh, anything at all.¡± She frowned. ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the end of things,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Also, did you have to draw blood? Okay, yeah, I wasn¡¯t paying attention but- fine, I get it. It¡¯s not that big of a deal.¡± Anishka looked back up and cleared her throat. ¡°Uh, anyway. She¡¯s not very big, but she¡¯s way stronger than she looks.¡± ¡°I know how ants work,¡± Celina said. ¡°And I don¡¯t know if I need part of a leaf carried around, no offense.¡± ¡°She almost killed an Essence Collection cultivator once. And her combat effectiveness isn¡¯t any different against Life Transformation cultivators.¡± ¡°... What the hell is that ant?¡± Celina asked. ¡°And where can I get one?¡± ¡°I think you have to be a p- person of importance to the void ants,¡± Anishka said. That was close, she almost called herself a princess. How embarrassing. ¡°But you can always just be friends with one?¡± Chapter 659 Among the fleets of the Trifold Alliance were a small number of ships that had absolutely nothing to make them stand out. They weren¡¯t the largest or smallest, fastest or most sturdy. They didn¡¯t have the most troop carrying capacity, nor were they particularly full of supplies. The only thing that made them special was that they technically carried the most soldiers. By count, but certainly not by mass. Altogether, they weighed in as much as a handful of individual humans. These were the soldiers sent from the various colonies of the void ants. Anton was currently coordinating with two of them, led by members of the Royal Guard. It was a shame the Great Queen was not present, but she was currently stationed defensively. ¡°So we¡¯re agreed then. Regardless of whether they show actual, tangible hostages¡­ you¡¯ll be infiltrating the planet when they open the barrier. Or¡­ making your own way through, should they renege on their deal.¡± ¡°Of course, sir,¡± said one of the Royal Guard. Individuals like this were equivalent to the average queen in strength, but more¡­ expendable. That wasn¡¯t Anton¡¯s choice, but the internal decisions of the void ants. Though it was true a colony would find itself in dire straits should a queen be lost, with them in contact over the surface of a planet and between systems a few losses wouldn¡¯t be so dire as it seemed. They could be replaced by other colonies, or the Great Queen herself- though it seemed she didn¡¯t have many children herself lately. ¡°We will position ourselves to the last known locations of visiting individuals. And of course, with any who turn themselves over.¡± Anton nodded. He couldn¡¯t stop Annelie from attempting to save her daughter, but he could provide protection from the basically inevitable betrayal. Why should he expect them to go through with this deal cleanly when they started this war with backstabbing? Though there was some chance they might, in the cases where they actually had hostages. Anton wasn¡¯t certain about most of them. He just knew that Rikuto was never coming back, and Anishka was in a state unknown to even the woman known as Nurcan. ¡°If something goes wrong, you know who to target.¡± ¡°Only the strongest,¡± the second Royal Guard declared. ¡°We strike where we are most effective.¡± That was the terrifying feature of the void ants. Nearly ignoring energy defenses, with the strongest of them being large enough to cause serious wounds to cultivators in an instant. It would only take a single strike with a weapon or even a hand to crush them- with the possible exception of the Great Queen- but they could take out the Life Transformation or even Integration cultivators with similar speed at which they could kill a normal human. Which was quite fast, when they wanted to. ----- The most private part of a cultivator was their cultivation. It was true, of course, that people would generally know a human¡¯s style from their sect or clan. But that was just the surface level. The deeper details of cultivation were different, from look to feel to taste. Normally, the Great Queen was polite about tasting random people, allowing them to have their privacy. These times were not normal. Another invasion had come upon them, and she had missed it. She would not allow risk to her people- ants or humans- by continuing to be careless. Thus, everyone would be tasted and carefully logged. The basic intention was to determine if someone fit in the Trifold Alliance. There were some issues with that, specifically the abductions that had taken place. However, it was a place to start. Among other things, there were those that simply did not belong. Anyone from the upper realms, regardless of affiliation with Ekict or not, was already sentenced to death. Though the humans would have a chance to interrogate them first, if practical. Obviously this didn¡¯t count sects that were former members of the Exalted Archipelago. They had been thoroughly checked. Any who remained were part of Ceretos. Some were obvious without tasting. The Great Queen could pick out One Hundred Stars cultivators from kilometers away. But just in case, they would be tested. Tranquil Cloud Palace. Infinite Wisdom Forest. Clans from Ambati, sects from other continents. Ceretos was where the Great Queen focused her own efforts, but her people were instructed to do the same wherever they lived. The Great Queen had not yet found anyone who did not fit. But she wasn¡¯t going to assume she was wrong. There were more people to check, always. And perhaps they could find some discrepancy in numbers, should they find nothing else. A colony always had to know its members. Speaking of which, the Great Queen wondered how the Sergeant was doing. Dead, perhaps. If so, hopefully it had been a sacrifice that helped Anishka. But the most preferable was alive. The Sergeant was small¡­ but intelligent. Miniscule, but determined. Unable to grow, perhaps, except in mental faculties. As part of a colony, unimportant. But given a chance to thrive elsewhere¡­? The Great Queen did not know. Many hopeful subjects perished. People failed to live up to their full potential. That was the way of things. She hoped. And if she was quite lucky, she would hear back from her. ----- ¡°Ouch! Agh, why does it hurt so much?¡± Anishka wagged her finger. ¡°It¡¯s like a papercut!¡± ¡°A what now?¡± Celina asked. ¡°A papercut.¡± ¡°... Can you feel the pain of paper when you cut it?¡± ¡°No, not cutting paper. Getting cut by paper.¡± ¡°How does that even happen?¡± ¡°Well, it usually takes pressure holding a sheet of paper rigid,¡± Anishka explained, ¡°And then it slides along like a thin blade.¡± ¡°Okay, but¡­¡± Celina narrowed her eyes, ¡°Are you dealing with weaponized paper that can harm you? Basic body tempering or your energy defenses should stop that.¡± ¡°Well, sure, but it happens a lot before then.¡± ¡°How much did you work with paper before you were cultivating?¡± Celina asked. ¡°I barely touch the stuff.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Anishka thought back. ¡°A lot.¡± Books both casual and intellectual- though none particularly advanced at that time. Attempts to write, or learn to write. Or just notes in piles. ¡°Okay, so, how is that like being bitten by your friend?¡± Celina gestured to the Sergeant. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°I don¡¯t know, that¡¯s why I asked,¡± Anishka sighed. ¡°Maybe because it¡¯s a small injury?¡± The Sergeant performed the antennae version of a shrug. ¡°Usually the greatest damage comes from the larger ants.¡± ¡°Hmm, true.¡± ¡°What is she saying?¡± Celina asked. ¡°Oh, right. Translating.¡± She kind of assumed everyone would speak void ant, which just wasn¡¯t true. Even back home, despite it being fairly easy to learn and the primary form of communication of the most important non-human group. But people tended to just forget void ants because they were small and unobtrusive. Even Patka didn¡¯t speak void ant- fortunately she had encountered the Sergeant and knew the connection to Anishka. With one side understanding the conversation, they¡¯d muddled through it. ¡°Try it again,¡± Celina said. ¡°Ugh, do I have to?¡± ¡°Learning how your friend functions would be quite helpful,¡± Celina reminded. ¡°You know, you can call her the Sergeant,¡± Anishka said. ¡°She can also be your friend.¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re friends if you don¡¯t know her name.¡± ¡°That is her name. Uh, effectively,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Their society is¡­ different.¡± ¡°Sounds confusing.¡± ¡°It works for them, somehow. Pheromone based signals, I think?¡± she looked down at the Sergeant. ¡°Using any of them as a name would be too long, whether it¡¯s the things something smells like or proper chemicals. Besides, it¡¯s not important. If a Lieutenant were here I wouldn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Wow that¡¯s¡­ harsh,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Uh, I guess we should get back to the thing where you bite me.¡± It hurt again, obviously. But the damage was shallow, and would heal quickly. Until then, it would just be annoying. ¡°Okay, so. I think I saw it.¡± Celina nodded. ¡°I think her mandibles pinched the natural energy and enhanced the cut. So more than just ignoring your defenses, her reach was enhanced slightly.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Anishka said. ¡°If you have any future questions about the topic, you can be the one bitten.¡± ¡°I think we¡¯ve learned enough,¡± Celina turned her eyes away. ¡°We also have to go meet him now.¡± ¡°I will be ready to commence biting on important blood flow locations,¡± the Sergeant said. Anishka translated the first bit only. Having little experience with the matter, Anishka thought meeting a probable criminal and definite shady person would have involved a lot more back alleys instead of¡­ walking into a public tavern and asking for a man named Haroun. But that was what they did, and then they were sitting down at a table with him. Hovering nearby were several people that tried to pretend they weren¡¯t watching, and in turn Anishka pretended she didn¡¯t notice them. ¡°Well hello again Celina. Last time we met, I believe you were the one who said she hoped to never see me again, even though I thought I was quite helpful.¡± ¡°I stand by my statement,¡± Celina said. ¡°Because I¡¯d really rather not have to be here. But then I misplaced my badge.¡± ¡°How unfortunate,¡± Haroun nodded. ¡°And your friend, she is with the same sect?¡± ¡°Along with three others,¡± Celina said. ¡°Fire¡­ and ice? I have many lost things, but perhaps nothing that fits that specifically.¡± ¡°You know we¡¯re just working with them. Besides, they¡¯re a more obscure group not from this place,¡± Celina emphasized. ¡°Oh, of course.¡± Haroun nodded. ¡°Then, I most likely have to check some lesser used warehouses for lost goods. How much can you pay?¡± Celina handed over a bag representing about half of what they had earned on their recent excursion. ¡°For five? Matching sets are difficult to come by. Triple it.¡± Celina didn¡¯t hesitate, which now meant she was actually in a worse financial position than when she¡¯d first met Anishka. Though she had her own reasons to do this, she was still paying for some of Anishka¡¯s part. Haroun left the bags where they were on the table. ¡°Great. But I assume you came here knowing that I am a man of business. I know many things. I know, for example, who your friend is.¡± ¡°Then you should know helping me can be quite lucrative,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I can net you half again my bounty at a later date¡­ and you won¡¯t have to lose any employees.¡± She couldn¡¯t directly threaten his life without giving away the Sergeant¡¯s existence, and he was a Life Transformation cultivator so he could match the two of them on his own. Having Patka, Ilona and Gilda with them wouldn¡¯t make any significant difference. ¡°Of course. And you are going to come back here and pay me, in the middle of a war?¡± ¡°The war won¡¯t be long,¡± Anishka said. ¡°And you can¡¯t be certain that you¡¯ll get paid the original offer.¡± ¡°Of course I can.¡± ¡°Not if they¡¯re unable to pay. Or perhaps they¡¯ll want to delay things given the volatility of the current market. You can¡¯t be certain.¡± Anishka had practiced all of this with Celina, and she hoped it wasn¡¯t too obvious. The confidence in victory, however, was her own true feeling. ¡°You really think so?¡± Haroun raised an eyebrow. ¡°I know you have your fancy Assimilation cultivators or whatever but-¡± ¡°I know about Transferral. And yes, I know how things will go.¡± Haroun¡¯s eyes widened. He had been shielding their conversation from being overheard the whole time, but he looked around the room while trying to not look like it. ¡°What do you know about Transferral?¡± ¡°I know that it has been used to take the cultivation of Integration cultivators from the upper realms,¡± Anishka said. ¡°And that¡­¡± she narrowed her eyes. ¡°And that what?¡± Haroun asked, leaning forward. That actually helped her, by accident. ¡°Uh, and also that¡­ it¡¯s a dead end where you can¡¯t grow in cultivation afterwards.¡± ¡°What?¡± Haroun clenched his fist. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not just going to give away all my secrets,¡± Anishka said, ¡°But does it really matter? Nobody is going to offer you the secrets to accomplish it.¡± Haroun clicked his tongue. ¡°Maybe for you. You know how much your bounty is? You don¡¯t, do you. But since you can offer one and a half, and there¡¯s nobody here to counteroffer, I¡¯ll have to do it myself. Triple, since I know you can offer it.¡± ¡°Double and I¡¯ll get someone to personally coach you on Assimilation.¡± That was absolutely an increase in value, but Anishka wanted him to be motivated to go through with it. At a certain point, more cultivation resources lost their shine. Knowledge he couldn¡¯t get anywhere else? He couldn¡¯t pass that up. Haroun folded his hands in front of his face, pondering. ¡°Deal.¡± ¡°You made the right choice,¡± Anishka smiled. Later, Haroun would feel uneasy and ponder for some secret meaning behind that while he looked at a weird rash that had cropped up on his neck. Then he would think about what Assimilation might be and if he could even attain it. Then again, Transferral was also a dream he couldn¡¯t achieve. Chapter 660 ¡°She¡¯s not there,¡± Anton said plainly. ¡°I know,¡± Annelie nodded. ¡°All the more reason for me to go, right? Free passage through the barrier. And it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll be going alone.¡± ¡°This could go south quickly,¡± Anton stated. ¡°So it becomes a battle. I¡¯m sure you can deal with that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just concerned about the ones that are there,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°We will have many volatile and angry cultivators should something go wrong. At least we aren¡¯t over a city.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that strange?¡± Annelie asked. ¡°You¡¯d think they¡¯d be more secure there. Or at one of their sects.¡± ¡°There might not be any meaning to it,¡± Anton said. ¡°But the thought is certainly worth bringing up.¡± The exchange began some hours later with Nurcan and a number of others beyond Life Transformation arriving. They couldn¡¯t match the Trifold Alliance cultivators present, though there were strict requirements about who could be present. Technically, Anton wasn¡¯t. He was on their moon. That meant his attacks would be on an actual delay¡­ but they were within his range. He could keep his senses trained on the small area that was opening up well enough, though even just that was draining. Not more than he would recover near a bound star, though. Surprisingly, it actually went rather well at first. That was when they were exchanging resources for hostages. The hostages in question were of lesser value, so they didn¡¯t have others exchanged for them. Once it came to the point of senior cultivators exchanging themselves for disciples, Ekict began to push. Not everyone was present, they claimed. That was certainly correct. Some would be released later. That was, at least in significant part, a lie. Enough people knew that, but they wanted to believe. It was a nice thought, saving their friends, family, or favored disciples. Promising talents. Anton was still tempted to stop them, though. He considered forcefully preventing them despite all the political implications of trying to tell people what they were and weren¡¯t allowed to do. He¡¯d already advised people that it was danger for likely no benefit. Some took the logical route, but others followed their hearts. Anton¡¯s heart would not calm down, but everything went off without a hitch. Nobody even noticed the extra little visitors coming in with the ransom payments. And some of those going didn¡¯t know they were bringing along friends. Generally, those who Anton thought would be unable to conceal the knowledge. Would some void ants be enough? Anton wasn¡¯t certain, but that was the option they had. Annelie was taken away- with no Anishka to replace her, obviously. That was one thing Anton was certain of. The other was that Anzela Ranik was unable to get her wish. Her husband would have been able to keep his friends secret but Anzela would be surprised, depending on how they chose to reveal themselves. Somehow, no combat began. That wasn¡¯t to say there weren¡¯t many on both sides itching for it. Anton could feel the anticipation, the anger. From both sides, even. But everything went off without issue. The Order of One Hundred Stars even got back one of their disciples on exchange. Anton went to greet her, landing on the ship she was taken to. She spotted him and spoke first. ¡°Sect Head Anton, thank you for the rescue,¡± she bowed deeply. ¡°This disciple is not deserving of the significant cost paid.¡± The woman had the appearance of middle age, and was in late Essence Collection. Not a genius, but still valuable. More than simple human life, which Anton valued quite highly. ¡°For the Order¡¯s disciples, there are few prices we wouldn¡¯t pay,¡± he assured her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what was your name again?¡± ¡°Antje, sect head Anton. This disciple is insignificant, so it is quite a forgettable name.¡± ¡°Oh right, right,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Antje. I just had to be certain.¡± His hand grabbed her neck, burning away all of the natural energy around her as flames channeled through Anton. ¡°You see, I didn¡¯t recognize you. Which is odd, because I know the name and face of every single one of our disciples. Even the newest recruits. You are not Antje, despite sharing superficial features.¡± ¡°Please¡­ I-¡± Anton pulled out something with his other hand. ¡°Hold on, let me¡­ did the interface change again? Ah, there it is.¡± He held up the portable computer with Antje¡¯s face on it out of his pocket. ¡°This is a picture. You know what a picture is, right?¡± ¡°Not all portraits are exact. Please, sect head.¡± ¡°Not-Antje. I was over two hundred years old before I came in contact with anything deserving of the title advanced technology. But even I know how pictures work. Look at this and tell me that is your face.¡± ¡°It is my face!¡± she clasped at Anton¡¯s forearm, every shred of energy she produced burning away as it left her body. Her deception might have pulled through if not directly challenged, but there was too much hesitation. Even the smallest fraction of a second was unnatural. ¡°It is a very similar face, I will admit,¡± Anton said. ¡°Did they do surgery? You forgot something though. Her eyes.¡± Anton zoomed in the image. ¡°Seriously, picking the same eye color and assuming that was good enough? Look at these patterns on the iris! Completely different!¡± A powerful cultivation would always have a good memory, and Anton¡¯s had only improved with the Ten Thousand Scrolls, both memorizing textual and visual information. ¡°So whoever you are, you¡¯re under arrest. And you¡¯re going to tell us how you did that,¡± Anton gestured vaguely towards her dantian, which was still producing an energy that felt like that of the Order of One Hundred Stars. If Anton had met her in person, he would have known it was exactly like Antje. At the final mention, her eyes widened even more. Without even saying anything, her energy flared, trying to build to a crescendo. Instead, it sputtered out, the mere twinkling of a star instead of a supernova or self detonation. ¡°It¡¯s important enough to kill yourself, huh?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Valuable information. Now then, let¡¯s properly restrain you.¡± They had plentiful energy binding shackles for every rank up to Life Transformation cultivators, and even some for Assimilation cultivators. Since they hadn¡¯t exactly taken copious amounts of captives yet, there were many free Life Transformation examples. Enough to have an excessively secure capture of this woman. ¡°Talk with us and we might help you rescue your family or whoever they have threatened. Or we can promise to not destroy your soul, if that¡¯s the level necessary. We can send you off to your next life basically unharmed.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Looking at her, Anton couldn¡¯t tell if his threats went too far or not far enough. She just seemed overwhelmed. But he couldn¡¯t exactly be nice to someone who did whatever she did to the actual Antje. Anton clicked his tongue. They were going to have to check every hostage now, weren¡¯t they? What a pain. A quick sweep confirmed no Twin Soul Sect, for what that was worth. Though Ekict probably wouldn¡¯t be so stupid, knowing they could detect it. They¡¯d made some reckless and overconfident decisions, but they weren¡¯t actually stupid. ----- The badges let their group of five walk around safely, though not entirely unrestricted. There were some groups who still claimed authority over them. But Celina was doing a good job of driving them away. ¡°Look, I told you, we¡¯re on a special mission. And no, you wouldn¡¯t have heard about it. That¡¯s why we were sent all the way here.¡± The woman who stood opposite Celina was a statue. Not a perfect representation of the feminine form- whatever that was- but physically firm and with a cold exterior. And her skin had the texture of actual stone, if polished. Other than that, she did look almost statuesque except for her veins, which were both prominent and a deep royal purple instead of a sensible blue. Anishka was curious what sort of thing could cause that transformation, but she doubted she¡¯d get a straightforward or even technically correct answer, even if the woman was inclined to share. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. Orders are orders, and you¡¯ll be the one explaining yourself to the Royal Marble Sect¡¯s elders if you¡¯re not ready to move out with everyone else. This is just a friendly warning.¡± The sad part was that the woman basically believed that. Friendly. As if yelling at people to form up and start marching was friendly. But she did bring to light an important point. Everyone was being drafted, and they weren''t just going to hang around in a city. They were supposed to fight. Which meant that while there was nobody to tell them that they had to be somewhere specific, not going with the general flow of the armies would be suspicious. But there was no way Annelie was going to actually fight in the war against her own people. Though¡­ if she could get to the frontlines, perhaps she could slip away and join up? As long as she didn¡¯t get caught on the way out. Or perhaps the way in. She couldn¡¯t imagine people sneaking around would be welcome in any army camps. Though there was also a question of anyone actually landing. The only information was that some of ¡®the strong ones¡¯ had gone out into the wilderness with something, and had been returning today. No, it was better to avoid the frontlines. She would protect herself, and Patka. And Celina, Ilona and Gilda as well. They were decent people. Reasonable. But of course, anyone who was drafted would also be similarly innocent. Only the people from the big sects- or maybe just the leadership- were truly complicit with everything. But then again, she didn¡¯t know the rest of them. Was it her responsibility to help them? Then she thought of her grandpa and sighed. He was always going around doing that. Whereas all she had done was cost a ton of money in travel and other expenses so she could study whatever she felt like anywhere in three systems. Without contributing anything. Yet. She would have done something worthwhile eventually. Probably. Now, she just wanted to survive, and help those she knew. She really couldn¡¯t manage more than that, but if it was possible she¡¯d protect other draftees. Other than that, it was just her group. The Sergeant too, of course- but the ant was probably not on anyone¡¯s draft list despite being a very valuable individual. ----- They followed the flow of people outside the city for the sake of blending in, though they avoided getting too close to any other groups. Heading vaguely southward was what was normal, so simply doing that was enough. As they went, Anishka saw the beginnings of fields. ¡°... Are they alright?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Celina inquired. ¡°The people. The fields.¡± ¡°... look fine to me.¡± Anishka walked up to some sort of grain. ¡°I know the temperature here is not ideal, but this¡­ it¡¯s devoid of natural energy. The whole area is.¡± ¡°So?¡± Patka asked. ¡°This is normal.¡± ¡°But I- I¡¯m certain we shared the basics of farming with you,¡± Anishka complained. ¡°I thought you were just taking some time to get used to it, but not a single farmer out there has begun cultivating their own energy. And everything is drawn towards the city¡¯s barrier, leaving the fields starved.¡± ¡°So?¡± Celina asked. ¡°This food isn¡¯t going to cultivators. It would be a waste for it to absorb natural energy.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not-¡± Anishka pinched the bridge of her nose. ¡°That¡¯s not true. We¡¯ve known for over a century that- Look, the growth factor of the system depends on the input. If you drain it like this, it¡¯s basically deteriorating, or at best remaining static!¡± ¡°Nobody cares,¡± Celina said. ¡°The sects will grow stronger, and make use of this¡­ growth factor.¡± ¡°Nu-uh,¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°Because the other factor is area. Double, triple, even tenfold growth in a tiny portion of the world is nothing compared to a one percent or ten percent yield worldwide. It¡¯s like nobody even read the formulas!¡± A man cleared his throat. ¡°Excuse me, madam cultivator. These fields, uh, are owned by the city. So please be careful not to harm them.¡± Anishka looked at him, seeing one of the field workers. ¡°What do you know about the formulas?¡± she asked. ¡°What formulas?¡± ¡°Ugh. Take me to your manager.¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m the field manager. If you want to talk to the city overseer¡­¡± he swallowed and looked away. ¡°Look, it¡¯s simple. Just-¡± Anishka reached down for her storage bag- where there was nothing. Of course. She sighed. ¡°If you find the opportunity, ask the overseer if the farming methods from the Trifold Alliance have arrived.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t we at war with them?¡± he asked. ¡°Like, they¡¯re invading or something. Which is why you disciples are flowing along the road,¡± he gestured. ¡°That¡¯s not- that¡¯s not important right now,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Look, it¡¯s¡­ stolen techniques, right? Just use it. Or don¡¯t. Whatever.¡± She shook her head. It wasn¡¯t her responsibility to get something like this started right now and it was better not to make a scene along the road. But for some reason, as the sun glared down on her she couldn¡¯t help but think of her grandpa, and how he felt about farming. Though he wasn¡¯t as big of a fan of the charts and statistical growth factors as she was. And his results always seemed to surpass the optimal methods somehow- though that was just being an Assimilation cultivator. Probably. Chapter 661 Given that it was the most important component of their food, void ants were quite sensitive to natural energy, and the lack of it. At a base level, they needed to consume food that contained natural energy. Then, upon reaching a certain point, they could eat free natural energy. It was more of a matter of understanding than physical limitations stopping them. Void ants didn¡¯t all have a developed intelligence. The Sergeant understood that she still needed physical food to go along with her natural energy, but those critical nutrients had to come separately now that they weren¡¯t staying with big sects. She was, however, drawn towards the tents of some important seeming fellows heading a military camp. Anishka and the rest were staying out of the main parts, and they would take their leave in the morning. Until that time, the Sergeant planned to take a few imperceptible nibbles of something of substance. She really didn¡¯t care for physical food, but she¡¯d seen what happened when she didn¡¯t have any. And rest, in combination. Her functionality dropped significantly, and Anishka didn¡¯t like that. Nobody would. Rather than risking someone inspecting a piece of fruit and finding it scarred, the Sergeant instead looked for crumbs. Very few humans, no matter how neat they were, completely avoided leaving small bits of food on the ground. And while the Sergeant understood how inelegant and low class it was, there was little health risk. She munched up some bits and pieces, before she sensed something. The first thing she sensed was nothing, and then a trail presumably left by that same nothing. Which was to say, she had stumbled upon other void ants. So, there were some here. She quickly rushed to find them. Backup would be appreciated. The pheromone trails indicated food, danger, and gathering. They were recent, and they brought her closer to the first ant she¡¯d sensed briefly. ¡°Sergeant here. Bring me to your leader.¡± The ant complied, and soon enough the Sergeant found herself in a little temporary nest, underground deep enough that nobody treading atop would crush it- or notice the little tunnels. Not that there were many, since there was no queen in attendance. There was just a place for food, a communal rest area, and a small gathering place. It seemed the leader wasn¡¯t present, but she arrived in a timely fashion. The individual was a large specimen, wide in build and in jaw. She towered over the Sergeant. ¡°Sergeant. This one is a Lieutenant. Your arrival was unexpected.¡± ¡°So was your presence. This one has been given a mission, but was not aware of others.¡± They communicated via sign and pheromones, as appropriate. ¡°Are you, perhaps, part of the assaulting forces.¡± ¡°Affirmative. You are not?¡± ¡°I was sent ahead on a mission. To gather information and accomplish other objectives.¡± ¡°Very good. Report.¡± Was this fine? Yes. The void ants were not compromised. There were no locals, and had there been they would not have spoken the sign. Nothing about the mission indicated secrecy needed to be kept among the void ants. ¡°This one discovered information about the sects of Ekict. Some is now moot. This one presumes knowledge of their treachery?¡± ¡°Betrayal and war were brought upon our systems,¡± the lieutenant confirmed. ¡°We come as part of the retaliation.¡± ¡°Hidden knowledge was also uncovered. That of Transferral, a method through which cultivation is taken.¡± ¡°This technique had been postulated. What confirmation do you have?¡± ¡°Hidden scrolls, glyphs I read myself. I was unable to retrieve the documents, given their bulk.¡± She gave the rest of the details she knew. ¡°Very good. This information is among the Northern Glacier Sect? Come with us to retrieve it.¡± ¡°I cannot. I am continuing a mission to protect a human princess- upon order of the Great Queen.¡± ¡°You will join us,¡± the lieutenant ordered. ¡°More recent orders take precedence. This operation is more critical than a single human.¡± ¡°I will not. I must complete my orders to the end.¡± ¡°You will.¡± The lieutenant stepped forward menacingly, her jaws menacingly reaching towards the Sergeant¡¯s head. ¡°Or are you a traitor?¡± ¡°Your judgment is incorrect,¡± the Sergeant protested. ¡°I am the highest authority present. I understand the Great Queen¡¯s will more than yourself.¡± ¡°The princess is the offspring of the favored one.¡± ¡°You will come with us. As ordered. Leave the human.¡± ¡°I will not.¡± ¡°Then you must be executed.¡± As the lieutenant stated her intentions, her jaws began to close towards the Sergeant. Had the situation been different, she would have accepted it. But her interpretation meant she had to continue to live to follow the orders of the Great Queen. She ducked, collapsing her legs. Here, her diminutive size compared to the Lieutenant came as an advantage. Jaws snapped over her instead of around her head. Then time for discussion was over. The Sergeant dove beneath her superior, shoving her head up beneath the midsection. The intention was to flip the larger individual over, but the Sergeant hardly had any leverage. She could barely reach high enough, and the force of her movement was unable to detach more than a pair of legs from the ground. Her mandibles were too small to find purchase on the body. The larger individual skittered back, attempting to make use of larger limbs. However, the Sergeant found the motions to be almost slow. Her own smaller limbs allowed her to stay fully underneath the lieutenant, which was quite useful as the larger individual backed into the handful of watching individuals intent on assisting with the execution. One made it through the legs to the Sergeant beneath, but as they lunged for each other and their mandibles intertwined, there was a distinct crack. The Sergeant felt no pain, but had lost her grip. One of the other ant¡¯s mandibles fell to the floor. The Sergeant shoved them out of the way- and into the right middle leg of the lieutenant. That still left five for balance, though several were raised for motion, and the Sergeant took advantage of a moment of hesitation. She spread her jaws wide, grabbing the joint between the first and second sections. Her jaws clamped, and she dragged inward, pulling the right rear leg under the thorax. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. The larger ant crumpled, dropping on the Sergeant¡¯s back. But the lieutenant was only several times as long, less than thirty times the total weight of the Sergeant. Certainly, the sudden force was uncomfortable but she kept her legs about her- and her grip on the leg. With that grip, she twisted. She had seen many human fights, and understood how easy it was to manipulate people¡¯s motions. The Lieutenant was on her back, with the Sergeant atop. Her jaws at the throat. Aggression. Forced submission. This was what her pheromones told the other. Other ants¡­ were now afraid to approach. The larger lieutenant continued to struggle until small mandibles cracked chitin at the most narrow point between head and thorax. Movement ceased, and the scent of submission came to the Sergeant. She climbed down, circling around to be in sight of the lieutenant who did not even try to right herself. ¡°You will not prevent me from completing the Great Queen¡¯s orders.¡± ¡°I- you cannot-¡± ¡°I clearly can. If the Great Queen takes umbrage with my interpretation, she is welcome to pass judgment on completion of my mission.¡± The Sergeant then walked off, keeping alert. Quiet but clear steps followed her. She turned to see a dozen individuals, all at least her size- some larger. ¡°Do not think I will go easy on you.¡± ¡°Do as you please, Senior Lieutenant,¡± one of them said- the others responding similarly. ¡°We offer our assistance for your mission.¡± ¡°I am not a Lieutenant. I am a Sergeant.¡± ¡°We will acquiesce with your intention to remain incognito¡­ Sergeant,¡± the lead among them said. ¡°Then, come along.¡± ----- ¡°Where have you been?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Oh, you brought friends.¡± ¡°These are my new subordinates,¡± the Sergeant explained. ¡°How did you find them? Wait¡­ have people landed?¡± ¡°Only void ants, to my knowledge. But we are infiltrating to provide assistance.¡± ¡°Great. I¡­ suppose I have to watch for more of you now,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to squish anyone. How can they help?¡± ¡°They can relay the journey in broad terms they took to arrive. And the location of the first entrance,¡± the Sergeant looked to the skies. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ towards the battlefields, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Most likely.¡± ¡°Can they report back?¡± The Sergeant indicated their complete lack of communication devices. How unfortunate. Anishka knew that Rutera had tried to make pure technological communications devices for the void ants, but the scale was simply too small for anyone but the Great Queen and a few of similar substantial size. So the void ants were helpful, but not able to provide an actual solution for their woes. Anishka nodded. How could they join up with allies without being attacked by one or both sides? Was that even the best method, now? If an assault began in earnest, acquiring a ship might let them escape atmosphere. After the barrier was broken, at least. However¡­ they would have markings from Ekict. ¡°What are you pondering?¡± asked the Sergeant. ¡°Well, it¡¯s still a problem of communication. We don¡¯t have any devices to let us, and¡­¡± she explained her reasoning. ¡°So a ship from the Trifold Alliance would still be identified as a foe, most likely,¡± the Sergeant added. ¡°Probably. They¡¯ll keep special track of such things during times such as this. Not like we could be so lucky as to get some. They only purchased a very small number from us. They¡¯re all with the big sects, I think.¡± ¡°What about the stolen ones?¡± ¡°What stolen ones?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Had they been stealing vessels from us?¡± ¡°The ones from the beginning of hostilities. And the ones used in the hostage negotiations.¡± ¡°Hostage negotiations?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°How do you know all this?¡± ¡°My new companions, of course.¡± ¡°Oh, right.¡± Anishka inclined her head to them. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m only used to having one of you.¡± ¡°Worry not, princess,¡± one of them signed. ¡°We do not mind.¡± Princess? Who gave them that idea about her? Oh. Right. She sighed. ¡°So. They¡¯ve stolen some. Those might still be in communication. I don¡¯t know if they have the technological expertise to make that not the case, though our side could have sabotaged them¡­¡± she nodded slowly. ¡°Tell me about this hostage thing as well.¡± ----- Annelie was cold. Externally, of course. That was what this icy prison was for. But internally as well. She looked at the woman who indicated she was the head of the Northern Glacier Sect. ¡°Arzu. Did you do this to my daughter as well?¡± The woman grimaced. ¡°Don¡¯t use that tone with me. Remember you are the prisoner here. And we haven¡¯t quite shipped off your daughter yet¡­ I¡¯m sure you wouldn¡¯t want any harm to come to her?¡± ¡°How does it feel, to be called the sect head but only be the second most important person? Or are you lower than that?¡± The frozen metal around her wrists chafed, but a little chill wouldn¡¯t harm her. ¡°I- that doesn¡¯t matter. Besides, I¡¯ll soon be advancing my cultivation by a significant margin.¡± ¡°You mean stealing mine?¡± Annelie asked. ¡°I¡¯d like to see you try.¡± ¡°You think I can¡¯t?¡± the woman stepped forward. ¡°Just wait. It¡¯s already being prepared.¡± ¡°Preparations. Good to know.¡± Annelie nodded, ¡°Hey, can you get a little closer? I have something to tell you.¡± Arzu complied. ¡°Oh, a secret? I¡¯ll hear it.¡± Annelie spit directly in her eyes. ¡°Even if you had my cultivation you¡¯d be nothing.¡± ¡°You-¡± Arzu swung her arm at Annelie, a slap containing enough power to shatter the skull of someone without cultivation. But her wrist was caught. ¡°You should really learn to control your emotions,¡± Annelie said, one of the shackles clinking to the ground. ¡°Though I¡¯m pleased to know I could have gotten myself killed if it had been necessary.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°I brought friends,¡± Annelie said simply. The weight of a hundred ants was nothing for a human. And with void ants being very careful to not even brush up against a hair to trigger a sensation, they had already approached every vital location she had. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, ladies. I have her.¡± ¡°You think you can¡­ can¡­¡± Arzu shivered. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Frozen dantian? Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t last long.¡± Annelie spun her around, grabbing the key from her. She stepped out towards the hallway. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t, if I were you. Neither of you are important enough to keep alive.¡± Two guards hesitated as they tilted their halberds towards her. That gave her enough time to go across the hall into the opposite cell, where she chained up the sect head. The shackles in hers were missing some key bits, chewed up by a small legion of void ants. ¡°I¡¯m going to have a lot of questions for you,¡± Annelie said. ¡°But later. First, I¡¯ll let you get used to your new home.¡± She locked the door with the woman¡¯s own key, then turned to the guards. ¡°You two work for me now. The guards exchanged glances. ¡°I know your faces. And I am very upset about my daughter.¡± An additional layer of ice froze over everything from the last remnants of moisture in the air. ¡°So feel free to cause trouble, if you want.¡± With an Integration cultivator here, Annelie wasn¡¯t confident in facing a sect alone. Even with a large number of little friends immune to natural energy attacks, she would hesitate. But¡­ she imagined that things were going to get quite busy in the coming days. If Nurcan was present, her friends¡¯ highest priority would be to take her out. And if she was not, Annelie could make use of this place. Most important was finding where her daughter ended up, and perhaps the jail¡¯s records might say something. There would be the slight issue of the guards on the way out, but they might listen to reason. Or force. Because Annelie was perfectly fine with either right now. Chapter 662 It had been three days since Anzela handed herself over for her husband. Rikuto was going to be so mad at her, but she couldn¡¯t help herself. It was foolish, of course, to listen to the words of enemies rather than a trusted associate. Perhaps some of it had been Anton¡¯s callous suggestion- destroying the entire system. Whether or not the planets themselves were destroyed physically or with massive amounts of radiation or technically unscathed, Anzela knew that a destruction of the sun would end the system. Not even cultivators could live for long in a system without a sun. And yet, Anzela didn¡¯t care about anyone from Ekict. The only one she cared about was her husband Rikuto. He couldn¡¯t die. He couldn¡¯t be dead. But logically, he was. Anton knew that, and had told her. And now she was going to die for nothing. She couldn¡¯t say she didn¡¯t deserve it. Three days and some smaller amounts of time that she knew intimately but were not relevant at the moment, three days locked up in a dark cell. No food or water. She felt herself begin to grow weaker, but her body would hold on for a while yet. Now that she had regained a sense of clarity, the bigger problem was the shackles binding her. It was very uncomfortable to find out how effective the shackles Ekict had were. Even an Assimilation cultivator could not break out, though Anzela found herself barely qualified in that respect. The reason they wanted and needed such restraints was speculation, but relatively well founded. Which meant that in addition to likely not saving her husband, she was going to make the enemy stronger. At best, she would just die. Stupid. Reckless. She should have just accepted the obvious truth. So, what could she do? Breaking the shackles was out. Breaking her own wrists¡­ probably no good. She¡¯d felt how the shackles had tightened snugly, so she probably couldn¡¯t slip her hands out. And her feet would be several steps more difficult. She probably didn¡¯t have the strength to overcome her physical durability. How ironic. So the weight of the shackles held her down physically and metaphysically. There was something familiar about the latter part, which made her understand why she was here. Similar abilities, she imagined. She shouldn¡¯t have been here. This was a foolish mistake. Too careless. It really wasn¡¯t like her, even in a state of emotional distress. Perhaps¡­ perhaps it hadn¡¯t been her at all. No, she understood that ultimately she still made the fateful choice. But after several days alone, was she shaking off some sort of mental influence? Had this affected others? How had Anton not noticed? She shook her head, sending a pulse of pain through her skull as she was reminded of her dehydration. It wasn¡¯t his fault. He warned her she would not get what she wanted, but she didn¡¯t listen. Was it his job to stop her? Even if he failed to recognize mental influence, he was just one person among many. ¡°How do you get out of here¡­?¡± she muttered to herself. Actually speaking plans aloud was dangerous, as they might be overheard. But hearing anything was useful. She imagined her husband responding to her. This was neither illusion nor reality, but simply wish fulfillment. ¡°You¡¯re clever. You¡¯ll figure it out,¡± he would say. Support was nice, but she wished imagination Rikuto would be more practical. But he couldn¡¯t tell her what she didn¡¯t know. ¡°I can¡¯t move my body nor access my energy.¡± ¡°Not now,¡± he conceded. ¡°But won¡¯t you be able to? This is just a prison. Eventually, you¡¯ll be taken away.¡± ¡°Right¡­¡± she muttered. ¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡± She tried not to focus on her acute awareness of time passing, and instead meditated to limit how much her body needed. Her breath slowed, to save on water lost through respiration. Her thoughts slowed, since she couldn¡¯t plan for anything. Then, eighteen hours later, she heard someone approaching. Then she felt him. Rikuto. Had she actually gone crazy? But it was his energy. Light came around the corner. Then she saw him. A powerfully built man that didn¡¯t resemble her husband in any way. She vaguely remembered seeing him among the others, but she hadn¡¯t felt his energy. It had been well concealed, apparently. Or falsified. ¡°You bastard. I¡¯m going to kill you.¡± ¡°I highly doubt that,¡± the man said, opening her cell. He then detached her manacles from the chains. Immediately, she felt some of the weight lift- but she was still unable to properly rally her energy. But it was good to know that she had a chance while being transported. ¡°You¡¯re coming with me.¡± She had to. She couldn¡¯t stop it, so she would. She began walking. A moment later, she almost stopped. However, she managed to keep going even as she mentally recognized something. She bit her lip. It was a shame to see her husband¡¯s ability misused like this. How could an aura of nonhostility feel so gross? And the persuasive power¡­ Perhaps it was something her husband could have done all along, but simply didn¡¯t. As she walked, Anzela grew uncomfortable. With her energy slightly released, her senses could do more than be passive. That was how she felt something lurking behind space. It really shouldn¡¯t be there, this deep in a gravity well, but somehow she felt like the surrounding formations encouraged it. She came to a tall room. They were standing upon a balcony, looking down upon a formation below. She understood that circles were the most practical shape for the sake of symmetry¡­ but imagining what went on in that particular circle made it seem more ominous. She was led towards stairs that would circle around to the lower section, where there were already people waiting. Anzela considered her shackles. They bound power into a circle, restricting the flow of her energy inside. But¡­ in their mobile state, that was less true. And then¡­ what if inside was outside? It was not an insane thought, some sort of wish fulfillment where she merely hoped for a miracle. Unrestricted, she could make it true. So now¡­ how much could she change it? She sprang into action, wrapping one arm around the man¡¯s neck. She hadn¡¯t asked his name, and had no intention to learn it. She transformed inside to outside as she pressed herself tightly against the man, metal pressing against his neck and chest and his own ankles. Most of the inside was still facing her, but her grip sank through his energy defenses. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The man reacted immediately, a burst of power flowing out of him. ¡°You will,¡± he coughed. ¡°You will release me immediately, then walk peacefully down the stairs.¡± Yes. She would do that. She prepared to release him as quickly as possible, though she didn¡¯t have to. Something¡­ something was off about the power. It wasn¡¯t just her repeated exposure, though that was already helping. No, it was more than that. The burst of power she called upon was a risk. In a place such as this, with something hiding behind space, it was a risk to perform any sort of spatial distortion. But worst case scenario, she died to a horrible distortion beast, which was a step up from her current situation. The most likely occurrence was everyone dying. And then there was a small chance of surviving, so she gladly took it. As she ¡®released¡¯ the man, she also shoved him forward, while at the same time transferring one of her shackles around his wrist. Immediately she felt a weight lifted off her, more than enough to make up for the burst of energy she¡¯d had to force through her system to make that happen. Meanwhile, the man tumbled over the railing, landing in the circle below. He hit the ground hard. Anzela had assumed that even with one shackle, with her husband¡¯s power he¡¯d be completely unharmed. What was it, a ten meter fall? Nothing big. He stood a moment later, but the fact that he could be damaged at all¡­ no, it actually made sense. She began her descent down the stairs, calmly. As proscribed. ¡°You were playing with fire here,¡± she said. Her second shackle was displaced, freeing her even further. ¡°Do you even know the powers you were enticing?¡± The members of the sect didn¡¯t respond with any sort of dignity, striking out towards her with their fists. From such a distance, they could not reach her. Unless the distance were to erase itself, a possibility she was well aware of. She ducked down, to avoid strikes to her head. Elegance and poise were for people not in active combat. She heard the sounds of cracking stone¡­ and was surprised. Nothing impacted her torso. Could they¡­ only target what they could see? It seemed the spatial arts were new, here. Her ankle shackles were removed as feet began to stomp up the stairs. It was still a draining process. She found herself at something akin to half capacity, from the expenditures and the hunger and dehydration. But that was enough. She looked down at the circle below, waiting for something. The man looked up. Anzela bet on blood. Just a dollop, and a burst of energy. She ultimately had no idea if that was how it was supposed to work¡­ but it certainly did something. Immediately, something ate one of the disciple¡¯s hearts, and from the sound of it part of the inside of her ribcage. Sharp blades came towards Anzela, who was dodging their trajectories before they even entered the local plane. She¡¯d accidentally summoned one of these things once. That was enough for her to understand the danger. But it had also drawn her more towards the mysteries of space. Weos¡¯ star had stronger distortions on space and gravity than its size and mass should suggest, and the way they developed their ring ships also spoke to the same principles. Understanding how to use all of their abilities without causing something like this was important. Until it came time for destruction. Then, she didn¡¯t care. She wanted to live, but if she didn¡¯t she was going to make sure she caused as much damage as possible on the way out. She charged towards the stair climbing disciples, dodging the attacks reaching for her through space. She also dodged teeth, bone spurs, and all sorts of horrid things she didn¡¯t want to think about. At least this one seemed to be small, or this whole place would be rubble already. A few people were torn apart by the distortion beast, a few were killed by Anzela punching their brains directly. ¡°Stop!¡± the command came. It forced her to halt, if just for a moment. If she didn¡¯t have an ¡®ally¡¯, that would have been disastrous. A few of the disciples were in Life Transformation, and there was a woman at the very peak who seemed particularly dangerous among the crowd. If she hadn¡¯t been dealing with something trying to eat her, at least. ¡°You will- argh!¡± She would argh indeed. Anzela hoped that was the man getting half his face bitten off or melted, but she didn¡¯t check before she leapt over the railing down towards him. She could have teleported, but that was a much more expensive and currently very dangerous option. A kick hit her in the ribs, sending her off course and breaking one or two¡­ but she landed only two paces away from the man. He was flailing about despite not having any obvious distortion beast injuries. As the only non spatial practitioner, he was likely the safest person present. From the distortion beast. Anzela lunged forward, wishing she had a weapon. Blade, spear¡­ gun. But it seemed this sect either fought without weapons, or had forgone bringing them along to this ritual. Her fist struck out, and the man blocked. His arms were crossed in front of his chest, defensive energy bolstering it. So¡­ was he not from this sect after all? Well, it hardly mattered. His chest crumpled anyway. But Anzela didn¡¯t stop there. She stabbed a finger towards his gut. It didn¡¯t matter that the man was likely dying, he didn¡¯t deserve to have Rikuto¡¯s energy. She tore him apart, shredding his dantian and spilling natural energy everywhere. The chaos of combat continued, but Anzela had already won. She could gladly accept death. But she didn¡¯t have to. As the distortion beast bit at her neck, she slammed a fist into its ¡®jaw¡¯. Reading the entirety of how such a thing was arranged hurt her brain more than a little bit, but general things such as the thinnest points around her where it could reach through to her and her to it¡­ that was much simpler. The woman who might have been slated to receive Anzela¡¯s cultivation was still in a better state than her, and she didn¡¯t fail to take the openings Anzela left. This time, something hit the side of her knee, nearly shattering it. A true warrior, then. Anzela could fight, but killing those above her own cultivation level was a pipe dream. Sure, it was carelessness that she¡¯d been so easily injured by someone nominally weaker than her- though she was alone against many- but she knew she would never affect the course of a war alone. Then Anzela sensed nothing and saw many things. A black mass. Not a distortion beast hiding behind space itself, but instead familiar allies. She wasn¡¯t alone. And she¡¯d much rather count a bunch of void ants as an ally rather than a distortion beast. She only briefly wondered how they¡¯d gotten here- but she realized the truth. They¡¯d been with her all along¡­ and then on the man with her husband¡¯s cultivation. They hadn¡¯t killed him, but they¡¯d certainly limited him. The sect woman spotted the void ant as well, and recognized their danger. She stomped towards them, intending to crush them. That was¡­ a terrible choice. It was entirely possible to crush void ants, but she didn¡¯t do it directly. Instead, she performed the attack from a distance. As soon as her spatial energy crossed the gap to them, they tore it apart. The woman was lucky not to lose her leg. Or at least not all of it. The distortion beast seemed to find that an opportune time to take a little nibble. Realizing the severity of the situation, the woman began to flee up the stairs. Anzela would get her eventually, but for the moment. ¡°Any of you guys have experience fighting a distortion beast?¡± she called towards the ants. They rolled towards her in a ball, alighting on her outstretched hand. She saw a whole lot of sign language, before a single spokesperson came to the forefront. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m kind of rusty,¡± she admitted. ¡°Can you follow my lead?¡± They agreed. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll show you where to bite.¡± She was going to get out of this so that she could apologize to her husband. And then to Anton, because he¡¯d been looking after her- and everyone else- the whole time. Chapter 663 The problem remaining before Anzela was disincentivizing the distortion beast from attacking her. That meant wounding it enough for it to retreat. It was unclear if they could be killed, or if they ever had. At best, pieces of them had remained in normal space after being severed. Some of the damage they had taken should have killed anything sensible, but they were precisely not sensible. The disciples of whatever sect had planned to sacrifice her were currently fleeing, their attacks on her forgotten as the distortion beast was not limited to attacking one person or place at a time. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t even a single creature, or it might have multiple brains that acted independently. Other body parts didn¡¯t work like anyone thought, with muscles and bones and even blood all being¡­ abnormal. ¡°Alright ladies,¡± Anzela held a gauntlet of void ants out in front of her, hooked together by their legs to create some sort of structure. ¡°Be ready to bite whatever comes out.¡± Most likely, it would be teeth. But there were always other things, and beyond the teeth would be a swallowing throat. If only she could attack from behind, but the rear direction of the broken space a distortion beast simply would not be there. At best, she could attack a joint or something sticking out by dodging past. She focused most of her efforts on sensing where the thing was- and the shifts in space that indicated it breaking through. She was lucky that this one was relatively small, because she was at the bottom of the pack of Assimilation cultivators. Perhaps that was the reason it was able or willing to come into a planet¡¯s atmosphere, as they normally seemed to lurk around but not in gravity wells. Or at least closer to the edges. She turned, swinging her arm and hoping she didn¡¯t crush any of the void ants on her target. She stopped short the first time, the void ants folding away from her arm to stretch the last centimeter to the flesh like protrusion housing teeth. She was lucky this was one with round mouths instead of spherical, which would appear from all directions simultaneously. Parts of it were more wormlike, and the void ants bit at not the flesh but the energy of the thing. But being closer would still be better. She could be more precise than a centimeter. Anzela avoided a series of spikes and one kick by a foolish disciple who only drew attention to himself by the action. Perhaps he had been confused, but more likely he had been seeking favor. If he defeated the haggard Anzela, he might be rewarded. But for that, he would have to be stronger, and not in the belly of a distortion beast. Her hand smacked against leathery flesh. Too close. Had she crushed them¡­? But the void ants were tougher than they looked. Many of them were three quarters of a centimeter in length, and their exoskeletons were much more durable than anticipated. Still something she could easily crush, but it would take more intention. There were a few that were stunned and barely dangling from the others, but the void ants adapted quickly, some attacking the offending bits of enemy while the rest coordinated their movements and retrieved hanging allies. After getting covered in blood- her own, and whatever passed for blood in a distortion beast- Anzela eventually found that things had become still and quiet. She vaguely sensed the distortion beast lurking, but further away. It wouldn¡¯t be drawn in so easily for some time. She planned to be out of here before that, if she could manage it with her broken ribs, wonky leg, and numerous lacerations. She looked down at the man who had taken her husband¡¯s cultivation, sensing tiny remnants of his energy. She instructed the void ants to consume every last bit, while making sure the man was truly dead in every conceivable way. At least, those that didn¡¯t involve any cutting- but he was smashed fairly flat by the end. She noticed that the area around the formation circle was not quite empty. Besides extra materials and energy storage, there were papers. And there were more in the man¡¯s storage bag, along with other things. The pills were unfamiliar, and while she could guess based on their aura she didn¡¯t want to risk that. She¡¯d have to recover her wounds the old fashioned way. But at least she had room to grab anything she needed on the way out. Though the void ants volunteered to run ahead and check for enemies, which she was glad for. ----- Being the one in charge of anything at all was crazy to Anishka. Sure, she¡¯d been able to tell people to do things throughout her life, but she wasn¡¯t in charge. Those had been people paid to deal with travel and personal needs and registering her with schools and everything else. Even near the end, people would have listened to her in the Northern Glacier Sect. But she wasn¡¯t leading anyone. But now she had to tell people what to do. She had spoken to Celina about the matter. As someone who was older and marginally higher in cultivation, shouldn¡¯t she have taken charge? Ultimately, she had said the reasons were simple. ¡°Aside from roaming about earning money and dodging the draft, I don¡¯t have any goal for us. Survival is nice, but with this war I can¡¯t guarantee that. But you have ideas.¡± So she did. And if the Sergeant had hands, perhaps all Anishka would have to do was give the order and it would be done. Instead, she had to think and plan and decide what was good and what was not. Celina helped, obviously. She would say if something was stupid or dangerous- and if she had something important to say, she would. ¡°The Vermillion Inferno isn¡¯t the only group impacted by this war that was started without our consent,¡± she said. ¡°But I can¡¯t do anything about the war.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t either. At best¡­ my mother and grandfather can,¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°Which is exactly what we need you for. If you have access to important people, isn¡¯t it your duty to use that access to help the most people possible? At the very least, I¡¯m sure you want to get back to them.¡± She did. And now, that was their goal. Which meant finding one of the ransomed ships, with a working communicator. At least, that was the goal. For that, they would need to scurry away from the growing crowds of cultivators so they could get to where the void ants had last seen something like that. It was a good thing that cultivators wandering off into the wilderness wasn¡¯t odd, because Anishka was anything but a stealth specialist. The same with the other four, three fire cultivators and her apprentice who had only gathered leftover scraps to sell. So it wasn¡¯t unbelievable when they found themselves being followed by others, but it was concerning. ¡°Is that¡­ one of them is Life Transformation¡­?¡± Anishka conferred with Celina. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Unfortunately, that seems to be the case,¡± the woman confirmed. ¡°You can¡­ you can run.¡± Anishka said. ¡°They¡¯ll just kill me and leave you alone.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s say I believed that¡­¡± Celina said. ¡°I know we aren¡¯t longstanding comrades, but I¡¯d like to think myself a better person than whoever would just abandon you here. But I also am uncertain you¡¯d be so lucky as to die, or that I am not also a target.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m the one with the¡­ the bounty.¡± ¡°The larger bounty,¡± Celina emphasized. ¡°I¡¯m not saying we¡¯ll stay and fight. That¡¯s stupid. But perhaps we can get away together?¡± They sped up their pace, but it was pointless. Their pursuers were getting steadily closer, and there were a few more Essence Collection cultivators along with them. ¡°Damn,¡± Celina muttered. ¡°Why did it have to be Life Transformation?¡± ¡°Because, uh¡­¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Unlucky, maybe.¡± ¡°I guess we used up the rest of our luck to get this far.¡± Anishka felt a tingling on the back of her hand and looked down, finding a full squad. ¡°I¡­ uh¡­ I forgot that we aren¡¯t outnumbered.¡± ¡°Does that matter?¡± Celina asked. ¡°The Life Transformation cultivator could kill all five of us.¡± ¡°Sixteen,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Look, uh¡­ not to insult your friends but¡­ taking down a Life Transformation cultivator is totally different from an Essence Collection cultivator.¡± ¡°She says it is basically the same,¡± Anishka translated. ¡°Are you kidding? Several times as much power in a single person. It¡¯s wildly different.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just natural energy, though.¡± ¡°Yeah but, how much can they bite through?¡± ¡°... All of it?¡± Anishka tilted her head. ¡°Uh, their Great Queen killed a Worldbinding cultivator alone.¡± Anishka looked down at the Sergeant, ¡°Of course I can compare you to the Great Queen. I know you¡¯re smaller and less self mobile, but it¡¯s still reasonable! Yes, I know your teeth are smaller. I mean if you¡¯re worried I won¡¯t make you fight.¡± The indignant response at that came just about the time the enemies caught up to them, so the discussion really couldn¡¯t continue. ¡°Done running?¡± said a man carrying a long thin blade on his back. ¡°Good. That will make this easier. Surrender yourselves, and we won¡¯t hurt you much.¡± Those words were hardly reassuring, and while Anishka didn¡¯t know what would happen to Celina, she could only imagine her fate was torture or worse¡­ being a hostage to bring harm to those she cared about. Anishka looked down at her palm. The Sergeant signed ¡®ready¡¯, while holding onto the others in a tiny little ball. If she had time to confirm a plan with the others, she might have come up with something less stupid. Instead, she just said. ¡°Here, catch.¡± As it turned out, ants were not particularly aerodynamic. They really worked at it though, and the velocity at which she¡¯d flung them didn¡¯t dwindle as quickly as she¡¯d worried, despite their diminutive mass. Unfortunately, the lobbed tangle of void ants wasn¡¯t swift¡­ and the swordsman reacted quickly. Anishka watched in horror as his sword was drawn from his back and sliced downward in a single motion. Her energy senses couldn¡¯t follow any of the void ants movements- which was precisely their whole thing- but she vaguely saw the ball turn into a string shape that was severed in two. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the hell that was,¡± the leader said, taking stock of himself. ¡°But it seems you¡¯re not planning to come peacefully. Men?¡± Anishka charged towards one of the pairs, partly to avoid the swordsman. He seemed to be not particularly enthusiastic, stepping forward slowly. He knew he would win. Anishka reached out towards the two with him, but stopped as they swung their own blades. However, her energy was ready. Both weapons were coated in a greater density of energy for the attack¡­ but for the sake of efficiency, that was all focused on the cutting edge. Which meant they were just as vulnerable on the rear as anywhere else. Heat flowed from one to the other, and while pushing through someone¡¯s natural energy wasn¡¯t flawless for Anishka, whether she succeeded at a single trick wouldn¡¯t determine if the battle was won. What would determine it was¡­ ¡°Dammit, what-?¡± The leading man reached for his throat, grabbing and dragging. His fingers came away bloody. But this time, it wasn¡¯t just a little. The Sergeant was tiny, a few millimeters in length, but a few of the others were larger. Between that and there being an additional ten, Anishka thought they would work much faster. She was right, but it wasn¡¯t ten times as much. As for how the void ants didn¡¯t get crushed, their teamwork came into play there. Slight twitches of their lookouts could cause a whole half dozen of them to swing away, and since cultivators unfamiliar with them wouldn¡¯t be able to find them except visually they weren¡¯t even targeted. Except by the damage they had caused. And then made worse, both by widening the cuts and tearing away chunks of natural energy meant to staunch the flow. ¡°You-¡± Anishka no longer had the luxury of fighting, with the lead swordsman charging towards her. But he couldn¡¯t maintain a proper grip on his sword and bat at his neck at the same time. He chose offense, presuming that Anishka used some special technique. And that assumption was logical for his current experience, but the wound in his jugular veins continued to grow rapidly. By the time he changed his mind, scratching at his neck with both hands, there was nothing he could grab on the outside of his neck. Seeing their leader seemingly go crazy and the surprising resistance that Celina and the other three were providing on the other side, the two chasing after Anishka with their boss hesitated. Each motion their boss made simply made him lose blood faster, and his natural energy was going wild, to the point he worsened the injury himself to no detriment of the void ants. Then he fell onto his knees before fully passing out, blood still draining from his body. The Essence Collection cultivators turned and fled, and nobody was going to risk chasing after them and causing them to rally together. Instead, Anishka ran over to the man, grabbed his sword, and stabbed him through the heart. Better safe than find out he was faking somehow. ¡°Sergeant? Where are you?¡± she didn¡¯t see any of them. Had they been crushed? She wanted to run her hands all over his neck, but they could be anywhere beneath the streaming blood. Then, one by one, they appeared. Ten blood soaked void ants. She sighed in relief. ¡°You made it. Wait-¡± she recognized them by their sizes, more or less. The Sergeant was definitely there, something about her poise even when a completely different color giving her away. But¡­ ¡°Is one of you missing?¡± It took a few moments for the Sergeant to confer with the others and then respond due to the substance coating her, but she managed to push through. ¡°Yes. One corporal perished in the initial attack.¡± ¡°... oh.¡± ¡°Why are you crying, princess?¡± Chapter 664 ¡°Why are you crying, princess? Are you injured?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Anishka reached up to her face, finding it wet with tears. ¡°I- dead? Are you sure?¡± ¡°Bisected. Next time we will split faster.¡± ¡°It¡¯s my fault,¡± Anishka said. ¡°It¡¯s my fault someone died.¡± She could no longer see the Sergeant. Everything was too blurry. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Patka asked. ¡°One of them died,¡± Anishka said. ¡°... I don¡¯t, uh. That¡¯s not great but¡­ they¡¯re ants, right?¡± ¡°They¡¯re people!¡± Anishka retorted. ¡°Just¡­ really small and without hands or natural energy. Someone died and it¡¯s my fault!¡± Somehow the others managed to drag her away- thought not before performing practical matters such as divesting the enemy leader of his storage bag and equipment. Anishka didn¡¯t feel any better, but she walked in the direction she was pointed. Meanwhile, Celina¡¯s attempts to console her didn¡¯t help at all. ¡°That was amazing. They actually defeated a Life Transformation cultivator. We¡¯d be dead without them. I might have to work harder to make them my friends.¡± ¡°Dead¡­ gone forever.¡± Anishka jerked away from the hand holding her. ¡°Wait, what about her body? A burial?¡± ¡°I- we need to keep moving,¡± Celina said. ¡°They might come again. Or with others. We need to stay ahead of them.¡± It took a very firm pinch on her finger, enough to draw blood, to make Anishka pay attention to the Sergeant. ¡°Do not be sad, princess.¡± ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I be sad? One of you died! Are you not sad?¡± ¡°Should I be sad?¡± ¡°Yes! One of you died?¡± ¡°Just a corporal.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter because they were lower rank than you?¡± Anishka yelled. ¡°No. I also don¡¯t matter. No individual matters below the queens.¡± ¡°Of course you matter! You¡¯re people! You can talk and think and feel¡­ right?¡± ¡°It is regrettable that one of us perished,¡± the Sergeant explained. ¡°We do not wish for it, and will do better.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not an answer!¡± ¡°Dear,¡± Celina grabbed her shoulder firmly. ¡°Please stop yelling at your friend. Especially since I¡¯m concerned that might physically harm her.¡± ¡°... you can think for yourself, right¡­?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°That makes us more effective,¡± the Sergeant agreed. ¡°But our purpose is for the colony, and above that all colonies.¡± ¡°But what about yourself?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want¡­ something? Like¡­ a goal? Marriage? A promotion?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t get married,¡± the Sergeant responded. ¡°And I am a Sergeant.¡± ¡°What about¡­ I don¡¯t know. Something you want to do.¡± ¡°I want to complete my mission.¡± ¡°Not that!¡± Anishka stopped herself from yelling again. ¡°For yourself.¡± ¡°... I heard that ascension energy is very tasty. I would like to try it.¡± ¡°You know what? Sure. You can want to eat something tasty.¡± Anishka nodded. ¡°What about¡­ the corporal?¡± ¡°I assume you do not mean for us to eat her.¡± ¡°No, uh. Did she want anything?¡± ¡°I do not know.¡± ¡°Did she have a name?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°... That sucks,¡± Anishka said. ¡°You need to get names.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want a name.¡± ¡°You- fine.¡± Anishka gave in. ¡°You don¡¯t have to get a name. Just know you could.¡± ¡°I can be identified when needed,¡± the Sergeant explained. ¡°What else is there to a name?¡± ¡°It¡­ lets people know who you are. Lets you know who you are.¡± ¡°How does a name do that?¡± ¡°By making you special. But also by connecting you to people.¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°I was named after my father. He uh¡­ he died in the last invasion.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Celina said. ¡°I¡­ was not around during the last invasion here, as it was centuries prior.¡± ¡°I never met him,¡± Anishka shook her head sadly. ¡°My mother was pregnant with me during the war.¡± ¡°None of us know our father,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°We only have a male to mate with the queen to start a colony.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ I technically knew that,¡± Anishka admitted. ¡°Isn¡¯t that sad? Not meeting half of your parents.¡± The way the Sergeant tilted her head made Anishka hang her head. ¡°You¡­ you¡¯ve met your mother, right?¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I have not. I performed my duties and was fortunate to be approached by the Great Queen for this task.¡± ¡°... maybe it¡¯s fine. You can be different.¡± ¡°We are different,¡± the Sergeant agreed. ¡°... Should I want to have met her?¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know anything.¡± ----- Fire. Endless flames made up a star, producing light and heat for a system. Inside Anton those flames burned, not just with the warmth that produced life, but with the heat of anger. Whether this was simply a reflection of his own state or a form of influence upon him he was unsure. Either way, it was something he needed to deal with. Now that he was aware of it, he could manage his own actions better. He wondered what might have happened if Ekict didn¡¯t have a barrier covering their whole system, if he had been able to bond with their star immediately. Would he have bypassed seeking council and simply caused the end of things by destroying their star? He didn¡¯t think he actually would have, but not necessarily for the right reasons. Not because of the innocents- both those from the Trifold Alliance and those that were still presumed to exist somewhere natively in the system. They didn¡¯t have enough actually communication to prove the latter, though. Further days passed, since the exchange. Anton had been unable to keep track of everything, every location people and objects were taken to. However, he did follow Annelie¡¯s progress. He couldn¡¯t do much more than vaguely sense what happened through the barrier, and finding someone he didn¡¯t already know the location of would be nearly impossible. He could only extend thin tendrils, instead of covering a huge radius. She survived, mobile within the prison section of the Northern Glacier Sect. The void ants had been instrumental to that, and the same was true elsewhere. It seemed as though they had struck a serious blow, but it still wasn¡¯t clear how many Integration cultivators the enemy possessed. That was why they had not yet begun a proper assault of the main planet. With The Independence and Aoibhin, they weren¡¯t yet willing to commit to an attack. Just that much wouldn¡¯t be an issue, but who knew how many others were waiting? In all, it had only been somewhat more than a week since they¡¯d broken through the outer barrier. They could not afford to delay forever, but neither were they yet pressed for time. They could manage several more months before they would have to concern themselves with supplies, and that discounted the possibility of taking from the locals. They¡¯d had some victories on the outer planets, but that was of only moderate importance. Taking control of less populated areas would minimize the ways the enemy could send forces to attack them, but they still had a much greater population. They were gathering for battle, but that was being carefully monitored. In truth, it was easier to deal with gathered enemies- either with force, or by avoidance. Because nothing restricted them to attacking a particular location. Aside from meditating to clear his mental state, Anton¡¯s official duties involved scouting the center of the system. Near the sun and innermost planets where he was strongest. He was not in danger there, even alone. He and the sun had come to an understanding. He would not destroy it or wipe out its people, and it would continue to provide power as usual- with a portion to him. Anton didn¡¯t truly believe that it was alive or conscious in any way. No matter how much natural energy it possessed, it still didn¡¯t have the spark of life. But for his own part and the connection¡­ his thoughts about using it in that way had certainly hindered the process of binding to it. ----- Atop a hill, Anishka looked down upon the nearby military base. She had no spyglass, but was able to enhance her vision with natural energy. Both would have been best, but she had to work with what she now had. Including a fancy sword. She wasn¡¯t sure if this was the right type of weapon for her, or if she even wanted to use weapons despite their clear combat utility, but this one was more appealing than many. She swished it about, imagining swirls of heat and cold on either side. The blade drew a line where heat would only flow one way. But of course, the blade itself had nothing to do with it, it was just a convenient thing to latch onto as she pondered a potential technique. But she had to focus on the mission. The military base had ships, clearly visible. Most importantly, they had a ship from Weos. The ring ships were probably third on her list out of three for what she wanted to see, but it should still fulfill their purposes. The question was, did they all go in? Did she go in? What about the void ants? Just the void ants seemed good, until she realized there was a verbal communicator. Unless they were exceedingly lucky and this particular ship had one of the rare void ant compatible computer systems, they would need a human present. And she was the only one who would understand things, so she had to be there. But what then? Her immediate thought was to take the ship and fly away, but she couldn¡¯t just leave people behind. Which meant they would all have to be there, but the plan was flawed to begin with. It had been her goal for a while, but stealing a ship was probably not that easy- and the enemy would likely be happy to shoot them down ¡°What¡¯s the plan? Celina asked. ¡°We need to get to that ring ship,¡± Anishka declared. ¡°But I¡¯d like the void ants to scout it first.¡± She looked down to the Sergeant to make sure she was paying attention for a response. ¡°We can do it,¡± the Sergeant agreed. ¡°It will only take four to six hours.¡± ¡°... That long? Why? It¡¯s just right there¡­¡± ¡°Estimated distance of six kilometers,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°Travel time will be between one and two hours each way. Unless we travel in a combat formation which would be much more noticeable.¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry, I forgot you were¡­ not as fast as a human.¡± ¡°Shall we begin now?¡± ¡°Might as well,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Should we wait here? No, perhaps down the back of the hill.¡± ¡°We will find you upon our return,¡± the Sergeant said as she and the others were settled onto the ground, disappearing against the background of the dirt. Hours. What was she to do until then? Perhaps distract herself with training. Same with the others. Anishka worked with Patka on transferring heat from one place to another. The woman knew the basics, but there were always improvements to be made. Here, they used rocks carefully placed to avoid starting a fire. It wouldn¡¯t do for them to produce smoke and thus reveal themselves. ¡°You have many insights into the workings of things,¡± Celina said. ¡°Is there a way for us to produce more heat by manipulating its position?¡± ¡°You could draw from things around you,¡± Anishka said. ¡°And focus it towards one place. However, you would lose the effects of chilling an individual at the same time. And most importantly, you have to remember to not draw from your own heat.¡± She¡¯d made that mistake once. She was lucky someone had been nearby to unfreeze her, and that she hadn¡¯t burst anything important in the process. ¡°Most likely it is better to focus on refining your flames efficiency in other ways, but if any of you are particularly attuned to ambient heat, it might be useful.¡± Anishka spoke with as much authority as she could muster, trying to recall her teachers and the technique manuals she no longer had in her possession. She didn¡¯t want to lead anyone astray. After a while, she got to thinking. That was often a mistake, because not all of the thoughts were positive. ¡°... Why are you still traveling with me?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not strong enough to ensure you¡¯re any safer, especially with the people looking for me. You gave of your own finances for me. Are you just betting on the chance we survive for me to pay you back? I will, of course.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. It¡¯s just a bit of money. That¡¯s nothing compared to being part of something¡­ more. I¡¯m just someone with a bit of talent for cultivation, but I could never hope to be important. But you are, and I was just hoping¡­ to somehow be written into history. Even just a little.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t even do anything to be ¡®important¡¯,¡± Annelie muttered. Celina shrugged, ¡°Neither did most of the strongest here. Their parents were part of a big sect, and they just so happened to have the right amount of talent to work their way up. Or they were exceedingly lucky. But realistically, most of those who truly matter will have multiple generations of the strong before them. Like you.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Anishka said. ¡°Though I want to say that, technically, I¡¯m kinda a second generation cultivator? On my mother¡¯s side, at least.¡± ¡°But there¡¯s her, and your grandpa¡­?¡± ¡°They started cultivating at¡­ basically the same time,¡± Anishka explained. ¡°Grandpa was like¡­ a century old when he started. Before that he was just farming.¡± ¡°I see. He made use of some great cultivation crops to start his career, then?¡± ¡°No,¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°Just like¡­ really normal stuff. Possibly even more normal than those fields we passed. He¡¯s amazing. My mother, too. There was some¡­ bad stuff that happened to our family. But they all pushed through. And now there¡¯s me, and even though I had so many advantages I can barely do anything useful.¡± Celina shrugged, ¡°Wait until you¡¯re a hundred, then. You don¡¯t have to start out amazing. Though this would be a convenient time¡­¡± Overall, Celina was attempting to encourage Anishka and it worked to some extent. But her worries weren¡¯t just going to disappear all at once, especially with the very real dangers still lurking around. Chapter 665 Focusing on cultivation, even for just a few hours, kept Anishka from thinking about the Sergeant and the others out on their mission. She didn¡¯t want something to happen to any of them, but especially not the Sergeant, her longest term friend in this place. Patka was close, but she found the Sergeant rather quickly after leaving home. She would have to thank her and the Great Queen if they both survived, though she wondered how the Great Queen had known. Or perhaps she had been just the right amount of paranoid. There wasn¡¯t much anyone could learn in just a few hours, generally just indiscernible improvements that would build upon each other with days and months to a greater cultivation level and control of natural energy. But it was a good way to distract herself trying out new techniques. She came back into focus when she felt someone nibbling on the back of her hand, or rather the natural energy there. It seemed the Sergeant had returned, and was trying to grab her attention. And also¡­ all of the others. In good health, too. ¡°Welcome back.¡± ¡°Mission accomplished. We have recorded the full complement of cultivators above Body Tempering. No cultivators surpassing Life Transformation detected. The ship in question was located and confirmed to taste of spatial distortion as it should. It is deemed functional. We were unable to test human entrance methods to determine if it was locked. Finally, I have arranged a route that will bring you near the minimum anticipated number of individuals on the way.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Anishka breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Without you, I would be useless. I can¡¯t even do anything for you.¡± ¡°You provide significant utility in transportation and data collection.¡± ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be an issue if we made ships and books sized for void ants.¡± ¡°You also provide intellectually stimulating new ideas.¡± ¡°You like that one?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°I¡¯m not an engineer, so I¡¯m not sure if things could actually be miniaturized that much. But at least levers, buttons, and readouts could be made convenient.¡± ¡°I am not sure if I like the thoughts,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°They are uncomfortable. But so is training and combat, so if I ultimately end up better I will like it.¡± ¡°Alright, how do we get in?¡± Anishka gathered the others around and translated the plan. ¡°Given the lack of human training in stealth, the plan is to assign two void ants to each of you to rein in your ambient energy. The efficacy of this plan depends on how well you each conceal your own auras. We understand humans are not as sensitive to such things as us, but they will be looking. We will do our best to judge the likelihood of success based on your results in a practice attempt.¡± Formal. Very formal, but that was how the Sergeant was and this was the correct time for such things. ¡°And where do we sneak in?¡± ¡°I will direct you towards a gap in the wall, unrepaired damage from some previous military operations most likely. It is large enough for each of you to fit through. Then you will walk up to the ships and enter our chosen vessel to perform your tasks.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°The airfield takes up a significant amount of space and cannot be placed in the middle of the base. It is already exceptional that it fits all of the ships there, with the ransoms.¡± ¡°Right. You implied we would all go together?¡± ¡°Why would you not?¡± ¡°Well, if we don¡¯t need someone¡­ then if they are revealed, they could give us away.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Because we¡¯d get in a fight or have to flee.¡± ¡°The compromised individuals could provide a distraction.¡± ¡°They¡¯d die!¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± the Sergeant admitted. ¡°It seems you find the thought distasteful. I still recommend you go together for strength in numbers. You cannot guarantee all tasks can be accomplished by a single human and my squad.¡± That was true, though the others wouldn¡¯t know how to work the ship. Then again, it wasn¡¯t too hard to flip a few switches. They should be labeled, even. ¡°I¡¯m not going to make anyone risk themselves like that,¡± Anishka said. ¡°You don¡¯t have to,¡± Patka interjected. ¡°I would like to help, if I can.¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather be together,¡± Celina added. ¡°If we get into a fight, we can try to quickly take someone out and flee together. If Life Transformation cultivators get involved it¡¯s not like you can escape alone.¡± Ilona added her own thoughts, ¡°It is also risky for us to remain out here without you.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to stay with senior sister Celina and you as well,¡± Gilda said. ¡°Then¡­ we¡¯re all going. Lead the way, Sergeant.¡± Of course, leading the way involved pointing from atop Anishka¡¯s hand. It was unfortunate that the void ants had no vocal abilities, but it was also convenient for subterfuge. As they drew closer to the base, Anishka began to sense cultivators guarding the walls. She was nervous, even though all of them had passed the void ants basic subtlety test. Remaining stealthy did mean they weren¡¯t allowed to use natural energy, though. There were methods to enhance stealth with natural energy, but none of them knew them. ¡°These people are careless,¡± the Sergeant signed as they walked. ¡°They allowed the wilderness to encroach within a few meters of the wall.¡± Technically, the word for meter was actually just two-hundred-antlengths but it had been standardized to match. Anishka had to admit them getting that close with underbrush around them was quite convenient, except for the potential noise. However, the Sergeant led them through a route that had enough gaps that was open enough to minimize noise. As long as they weren¡¯t unlucky and someone was focusing on their listening- pretty much impossible over a whole shift- then the guards a dozen meters in either directions along the wall shouldn¡¯t hear them. Then they came to the gap, which was really just a couple stones missing. Anishka just looked at the Sergeant. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Humans are flexible.¡± ¡­ Whatever. She had to try. She got down on her hands and knees, but that was too large of a profile. Instead she crawled on her belly, squeezing in her shoulders to fit them through the narrow gap. It was true, that humans were flexible. At least, most body tempering covered flexibility with everything else. Anishka hoped that was the same for the Vermillion Inferno disciples. Patka had undergone the Fire and Ice Palace¡¯s training, so she knew it would work for her. Ultimately, Celina ended up digging out a few scoops of dirt with her fingers to marginally widen the area, but everyone managed to wiggle through. A few steps later and they were on paved stones, making their way towards the ship, taking cover behind others. If one of the guards did a simple sweep of the courtyard at the wrong time, they could be revealed. Though at least the ships radiated a sufficient amount of natural energy to cloak them. Then they were there, looking at a horizontal ring. Anishka held the Sergeant up to her mouth and whispered, ¡°Why is it on its front?¡± ¡°... I assumed that was something you would know. It does not match previous human patterns, but I assumed this was an alternate landing position.¡± Had they crashed the ship? It looked structurally intact, but¡­ Anishka shook her head. As long as they could get inside, the comms should still work. And there were hatches on both sides of the ring, it just meant climbing up instead of going in a proper door. Anishka gestured for the others to wait. If they just stood on top of the ring, they could easily be spotted. She climbed up first, glad for rough parts and also for the ship¡¯s formations to not be active. Then again, it would run out of power just keeping them active all the time. She found a hatch, pulled on the handle and¡­ locked. Dammit. But there were more¡­ she crawled along to minimize her visible profile, hoping that it helped¡­ or that nobody looked. Second and third were busts. The fourth had the handle wiggle, but it didn¡¯t seem to open. The fifth, finally, creaked open. Everyone had to have heard that, right? She didn¡¯t move, or breathe. Nothing happened. She leaned over the edge and waved people over, helping them up one at a time and making them crawl into the ship. Then she went inside herself, carefully closing the hatch to minimize creaking and to avoid a possible thud at the end. It was dark, but small guide lights flickered on, sensing passengers. Convenient. Even more convenient, they were pure tech, basically impossible to sense for people who didn¡¯t cultivate electricity. Of course, the reason was probably that they had separate batteries from the high draw combat functions. The good thing about ring ships was that finding her way was simple- she simply moved in one direction until they found a path heading inward, which brought them to the main body and control hubs. In space, there wasn¡¯t really an up- but the main body still had an orientation to things, including seats and the like for in atmosphere travel. This ship was definitely not meant to land this way. Anishka had to climb along the paneling to not fall into the command deck, and then she was standing on the edge of a console that thankfully didn¡¯t have any buttons there. She directed the others to different spots. ¡°What we¡¯re looking for is something that says ¡®power¡¯,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I¡¯m not really trained for this but it¡¯s kind of standardized now. If we can just get to the comms¡­¡± ¡°Found it,¡± Celina said, and then there was a click. The whole ship thrummed as it came to life, formations and natural energy draw included. ¡°Dammit, sorry!¡± She reached for the same switch again. ¡°Stop! Just leave it!¡± Anishka said. ¡°They have to have already noticed it.¡± Indeed, she felt the natural energy of the surrounding guards flare up. A half dozen Essence Collection cultivators at least, and two Life Transformation. ¡°Do you do verbal commands?¡± ¡°I¡¯m listening!¡± Celina said. ¡°I was talking to the ship! Some of them do! Sorry, I-¡± Anishka took a deep breath. ¡°Look for anything that said comms or verbal or whatever.¡± She was already searching her own section, which had displays that were now lit up. She was surprised that everything was turning on. Didn¡¯t this thing have a control module? Oh, there it was. Locked in its designated position. Then again, why wouldn¡¯t it be? This was a military ship, meant to be operational at any moment. Which was probably good right now with people charging towards their ship. Anishka found the option to raise shields, pressing on the console. Oh good, it was touch sensitive. She didn¡¯t see any other way to activate that. ¡°I found ¡®external comms¡¯,¡± Patka said. ¡°Do I¡­ press it?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± Anishka said. ¡°That¡¯s probably a speaker.¡± ¡°What¡¯s an ¡®autopilot¡¯?¡± Ilona asked. ¡°Press that one!¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Touch the words with your finger!¡± ¡°Now it¡¯s asking about flight plans. I don¡¯t recognize any of the destinations.¡± Anishka levered herself up one one of the bolted-in chairs to see the screen Ilona was looking at. ¡°Weos- there.¡± ¡°Planet?¡± ¡°Any of them!¡± ¡°... I did it. Nothing¡¯s happening.¡± The barrier of the ship trembled, and Anishka heard shouting outside. Great, it was busted. Anishka looked at Ilona¡¯s screen. ¡°Hit activate!¡± Ilona pressed the screen, and then again. ¡°I pressed ¡®emergency departure. Was that-¡± There was a sudden grinding sound, everyone found themselves pressed down for a moment- and then they were weightless. Anishka could sense the ship¡¯s ring rotating, flinging away the attackers climbing onto it. Then the whole planet rotated. No, that was just what it felt like for the ship to rotate with the internal dampeners active. They rose up from the ground, and everyone began to pick themselves up. Without gravity pressing them all in the wrong direction, it was easier to orient themselves. Everyone took a position, though they didn¡¯t really know what they were doing. There was a huge burst of energy from below, but the spatial distortion ring deflected the attack. Then they were too high for further assaults. A moment later, there was a beeping. On the screen in front of Anishka was a warning- Ilona apparently had the same one, and read it off. ¡°Route blocked by energy anomaly. Set to cruising. Override?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t press that,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I think it would try to break through the barrier.¡± ¡°Could it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to find out it can¡¯t the hard way.¡± Anishka had never stopped looking through menus, only to find what she was looking for on the top level demarcated by a symbol with three curved lines. Space efficient, perhaps, but not quite what she wanted. A staticy voice came through in front of Anishka. ¡°This is the Trifold Alliance Fleet. Please state your query.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ do I have to press something?¡± Anishka spoke aloud as she looked. ¡°This is¡­ Anishka of the Fire and Ice Palace. I have escaped captivity and gained control over a stolen ship.¡± Anisha had an unpleasant feeling, which was only verified when the screen showed ¡®ships of unknown origin¡¯ on its display behind them. She could feel their energy. She might not have much time to speak. ¡°Ekict has a Technique they call Transferral which steals cultivation.¡± ¡°One moment please,¡± the voice came back. Oh good, she was broadcasting. ¡°Verifying your identity.¡± ¡°Excuse me,¡± said a familiar voice. ¡°Anishka?¡± ¡°Grandpa! I¡¯m uh-¡± enchanted bolts scraped the hull of the ship even through the various shields. ¡°I¡¯m being chased by ships.¡± ¡°Where are you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t, uh, I can¡¯t find the location broadcast.¡± ¡°Third console to the left of the pilot,¡± came the initial voice. Anishka turned and pointed, and Celina pressed the button. ¡°Did you-¡± There was a sudden flash of light and fire, whiting out the whole cockpit. The formation above trembled. Then another dozen arrows landed in the same area, and even more in a continuous stream coming from¡­ somewhere. Meanwhile, something from behind punctured the ring, setting off at least a dozen alerts on various consoles. Chapter 666 The time it had taken Anton to hear the incoming message and conclusively determine it was Anishka was more than thirty seconds. That time could have been her demise, as anything could happen in battle. Once he knew her location, he immediately extended his senses around the curvature of the planet before pressing through the barrier. It didn¡¯t take long to find her flying up high even with that restriction, and his attacks landed a moment later. He didn¡¯t believe he could shatter a planet encompassing barrier by himself¡­ but opening up a hole briefly was another matter entirely. Unless it was specially made to focus all its power on a single point, he doubted it could match his density of energy. And there was another factor. Much of Ekict¡¯s defenses seemed strictly tailored to be optimal against ascension energy, logical given their concerns about invaders. That would potentially mean that using Ascension energy to attack was useless, but it actually provided an opening. A single more powerful arrow crashed into the barrier, causing it to harden. Anton rushed towards the area from his position in orbit, using Star Steps to gain otherwise impossible acceleration as he approached. In his hands was Everheart¡¯s bow, still by far the strongest he¡¯d seen. Recalling lessons learned from another, he widened his arrows, causing them to cross each other in a large flaming X on the surface of the barrier, right where the Ascension energy had struck. Then from the surrounding energy bows, a concentrated fire of hundreds of smaller arrows. The energy could not withstand his assault, opening up a small hole. Not enough for Anishka to move through, and it didn¡¯t appear she was in full control of her ship. It was maintaining a course even as it was attacked by pursuing ships. But it was a large enough gap for a single person to slip through. The instant he was inside, the gap closed¡­ reminding Anton that their barriers limited his access to the star. Not enough to completely cut it off, now that he was connected, but feeling as if he had gone some tens of millions of kilometers further. Not an optimal way to fight, but he was still strong enough to strike down the enemy ships. It took five seconds each, including killing the Life Transformation cultivators inside. These ships were native to Ekict, meant to travel between their local planets and sturdy enough¡­ but missing the combined expertise of several systems. Even if the Sylanis Cluster had not been a willing participant, their contributions made for powerful shields. It was enough to slow Anton, as he slipped passed the distorted space the ring created and grabbed for a hatch, flames running along his arm and melting it open. Inside, it took him only an instant to reach the cockpit where Anishka was. A dozen bows manifested, surrounding the other four individuals. No wait, there were more. Ten, to be exact. But they shouldn¡¯t be enemies. ¡°Wait!¡± Anishka called out as soon as he appeared. ¡°They¡¯re friends! Don¡¯t hurt them!¡± The flames around Anton instantly faded away as he felt her sincerity. The fact that they weren¡¯t threatening or fighting told him one thing, and the void ants watching over each of them indicated to him they were under control. ¡°Sorry. I had to be careful.¡± He glanced around the cockpit. ¡°Everything¡¯s on autopilot, huh? Probably better than trying to handle everything manually.¡± He looked over the group. ¡°I¡¯m Anton. The four of you are locals, correct?¡± They all nodded, looking to Anishka to speak. ¡°Patka is my apprentice,¡± she pointed. ¡°I ended up joining with Celina, Ilona, and Gilda while trying to hunt some frost apes. They helped us out. That was¡­ about the time you yelled at everyone.¡± ¡°So you did hear. Glad that worked. Doesn¡¯t seem to have stopped people from gathering armies though.¡± ¡°If I may, might Sect Head,¡± the woman referred to as Celina began to speak, ¡°The leading sects dictate much, and the others can do little but follow.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Sounds traditional.¡± His eyes flickered. ¡°So what about you ten? I¡¯d like a report.¡± The largest void ant among them saw Anton watching her, and gestured to the smallest. Interesting. Once she saw his gaze clearly on her, the small one began to sign. ¡°I am the leading Sergeant of this squad. I have taken command to complete tasks assigned to me by the Great Queen directly while still allowing these loyal soldiers to complete the tasks assigned by your command structure.¡± ¡°Great. I¡¯ll ask for a full report when we¡¯re out of this situation.¡± Anton overheard the one called Ilona whispering to Gilda. ¡°Does everyone speak their sign language?¡± ¡°I was one of the first test audiences for it, in fact,¡± Anton answered the whisper. The woman froze up, but Anton just smiled as warmly as possible. Anishka¡¯s friends. Good, she hadn¡¯t had many of those. And an apprentice already? He was proud. ¡°But you¡¯ve drawn more than a bit of attention. Without proper direction this vessel won¡¯t be able to escape atmosphere, so I¡¯ll need to take over and point us somewhere we¡¯ll have help breaking out before anyone catches up.¡± Anton was almost certain he could do it himself, from inside the barrier. No, completely certain- with the caveat he might have to rest for a while. There simply wasn¡¯t time for that in the current circumstances. If an Integration cultivator and some others found him in such a state, he wouldn¡¯t like his chances. Multitasking came easily to high ranking cultivators, so Anton was able to deal with all of the consoles at once- not that he truly needed most of them. He wasn¡¯t an expert on the systems, but he¡¯d grown familiar from various flights with others, watching how they worked. Besides, the systems were intuitive to those who understood technology. Anton couldn¡¯t say he was fully immersed in the stuff, but after a century he ought to have gotten familiar with at least some of it. Quick reflexes to fix anything he messed up should handle the rest. ¡°If the five of you could move to the weapon emplacements? To provide some support.¡± The ship would do most of the heavy lifting there. It only took a minute to reach the proper location, but Anton could feel stronger individuals approaching. They couldn¡¯t afford any delay. He would almost certainly live, but he couldn¡¯t shield Anishka from all danger. Sacrificing himself to save her wouldn¡¯t actually help, since an immediate follow up attempt would wipe her out. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Since the comms worked, he spoke to the fleet to coordinate a bombardment- though a careful one that wouldn¡¯t vaporize them should the barrier be opened. Anton left the controls behind, the ship hovering in position so he could contribute directly. He still had tendrils of energy able to reach the controls, so it could speed through when things opened. Creating a space large enough for a smallish ship to squeeze through wasn¡¯t so bad, compared to an entire planet¡¯s surface. A great amount of energy was expended over the next handful of seconds, and the barrier simply couldn¡¯t handle it. It failed only in part, as it cracked from both sides. The ship would have scraped against the barrier were it not for the spatial distortion around it, but they were out. Anton watched, hoping someone would chase them out- without the barrier, he was confident their fleets and he could take on any opponents. The locals might not have been as confident of the same, but they did ultimately have to let them go. Not before Anton shot through a mast on one ship, however. Hostilities were already open, and hostages were either already exchanged or never going to happen. Likewise, those who had turned themselves over were either already under the protection of void ants, dead, or worse. It was hard to endanger them. Further action would depend on what Anishka could tell Anton. He wanted to hear her story, but he supposed the details should be heard by as many as possible. ¡°You said it¡¯s called Transferral?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Anishka nodded. ¡°You heard that part?¡± ¡°Very brave to try to share that information while in peril,¡± Anton said. ¡°We had surmised something like that, though we didn¡¯t have full confirmation, or a name. I¡¯m going to need you to share what you can with myself and the rest of the council here.¡± They docked the smaller ship inside a larger one- not quite an Ascension class battleship. ¡°The four of you will come along with myself, Anishka, and the squad,¡± Anton said to the others. ¡°Do not depart from us, just to avoid unnecessary trouble.¡± They began to make their way towards a meeting room, where people would be arriving posthaste. Along the way, Anton was stopped by Ingeborg. ¡°We appreciate the practical demonstration of the barrier¡¯s capabilities, but next time give a bit more warning.¡± ¡°I¡¯d love to,¡± Anton said. ¡°How about in fifteen minutes?¡± She raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s a quick meeting. You think it will actually be that fast¡­ and that another assault would be appropriate so quickly?¡± ¡°Perhaps neither,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Though I will personally have recovered.¡± Once again outside the barrier, Anton had his whole flow of energy, including the trifles from his more distant stars. He was still working on incorporating Azun into his regular combat style, but he hadn¡¯t quite completed anything when he had left In¡¯istra, Azun¡¯s neighbor. The questions for Anishka quickly revealed what she knew. Most of the information wasn¡¯t truly new, but they finally had a proper name. Transferral didn¡¯t sound nearly so horrible as the actual thing it did, and while she couldn¡¯t speak on the process there was no way that taking another¡¯s cultivation could be tolerated. ¡°Any weaknesses?¡± someone asked. ¡°Sorry,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Sergeant had to sneak into their libraries to find that much. The information wasn¡¯t there. But, I¡¯m certain it¡¯s somewhere at the Northern Glacier Sect.¡± ¡°Seems like a good target,¡± someone else said. ¡°We need to begin retrieving people as well.¡± ¡°Retrieving¡­ you know others who survived?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t see any.¡± Anton took over, giving a short explanation of what had happened. ¡°My mother¡¯s down there?¡± Anishka tensed up. ¡°We need to-¡± she stopped herself. ¡°Yes, it does require a proper response.¡± She didn¡¯t want her mother to sacrifice herself for her- especially since that hadn¡¯t at all been what got her out. Though it seemed that she had known it wouldn¡¯t help. ¡°At least there are brave void ants there.¡± ¡°Speaking of which,¡± Anton said. ¡°It appears the Royal Guard has taken interest in the situation, hasn¡¯t it?¡± he looked over at several ants that surpassed the centimeter mark in length, quite a bit smaller than the Great Queen but massive as traditional ant sizes went. There were giant ants, of course, but they were without sapience so they were practically grouped with beasts. ¡°It is time for the Sergeant to provide her perspective,¡± one of them said. Anton translated, though most of those involved here had taken the time to properly learn the language. After all, the void ants were a force that could not be ignored. Not safely, at least. The Sergeant gave her explanation, until after the escape from the Northern Glacier Sect. ¡°Very good. Then how did you end up with these, and why do you smell like a traitor?¡± ¡°How dare you!¡± Anishka slapped her hand on the table. ¡°She helped me so much!¡± The tiny form of the Sergeant made its way forward. ¡°We will resolve this matter internally.¡± ¡°But-¡± Anishka looked to Anton for help, but he shook his head. For one thing, that was the Sergeant¡¯s choice. And while it seemed Anishka had grown attached to this particular ant, it really was the void ant¡¯s business. Except, things were already weird. As far as he could recall, internal division among the void ants was exceedingly rare. He only heard about it because of his connection to the Great Queen. This shouldn¡¯t be a big deal. Except, there it was. A disagreement on how to interpret orders, a battle, and even running off with another group¡¯s troops. The tale was woven with no apparent duplicity- though Anton wasn¡¯t even certain if he could tell if a void ant was lying. He¡¯d assumed so, but up until now they¡¯d basically been completely truthful at all times. Then again, that was up to personal interpretation wasn¡¯t it? Even if they didn¡¯t intentionally distort things, they could only act on what they knew and thought they knew. After the Sergeant completed her part of the story, one of the Royal Guard stepped forward. ¡°According to your own testimony, your mission is now complete, correct?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then you will submit to quarantine until the Great Queen¡¯s judgment can be provided.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°No!¡± Anishka called out. ¡°I mean¡­ that¡¯s not fair!¡± ¡°It is reasonable,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°I did fight with a superior.¡± ¡°They were the ones stopping you from following the Great Queen¡¯s orders, though!¡± ¡°Yes. And I am confident she will resolve the situation in my favor.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Anishka frowned. Anton could tell she didn¡¯t believe that so well. Though perhaps he could tip that balance. Before he could suggest something like that, however, Anishka continued. ¡°But I¡­ was hoping you could stay around. I¡¯m not done here.¡± She gestured to the four from Ekict. ¡°There are good people here I need to help¡­ somehow,¡± she looked to Anton, who smiled. He¡¯d definitely support her on that. ¡°Understood,¡± the Sergeant said, turning towards the Royal Guard. ¡°The princess requires extended protection service. I cannot go with you at this time.¡± Chapter 667 Though the figures were small, Anishka sensed the sudden change in atmosphere when the Sergeant declared she wouldn¡¯t be going with the Royal Guard. The individual in charge of that group raised her head. ¡°Who decided that you can simply extend your task to avoid consequences? You will be coming with us.¡± ¡°Please,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to cause-¡± Her protests were useless, as the void ants were only paying attention to each other. ¡°I decided,¡± the Sergeant signed. Further words were not exchanged. At least, not in a way humans could comprehend. It was there, atop a meeting table, that the battle took place. Of the several Royal Guard present, only one approached. An individual nearly a centimeter and a half in length, making her five times the size of the Sergeant- in a single dimension. Overall, the size factor varied by more than a hundred. The movement was quick, barely able to be tracked by Anishka. Nor would other Essence Collection cultivators have done any better. Indeed, even some of the other humans could barely follow, as their energy senses could not lock onto the void ants. Jaws snapped closed, gouging out a small section of the table. Had the attack landed on its intended target, it could be presumed the battle would have been finished. But it had not. The much smaller Sergeant had vaulted forward at the last moment to arrive under the larger combatant. Now, she darted towards a leg, grabbing onto it where it met the table, near its thinnest point. Unlike with the Lieutenant, the Royal Guard was neither pulled off balance, nor were there any cracks made in her chitin. Indeed, she yanked her leg away, dragging the Sergeant with her leg and making her more available for further attack. However, the head of the Royal Guard could only twist so far. The mandibles could not reach the Sergeant to crush her. So the whole body instead was pressed downward, weight and muscular force slamming into the Sergeant. The sound of the impact was basically unheard by the observing humans- all uncertain what to do. Anton was holding onto Anishka. Others thought to interfere, but weren¡¯t keen on losing a finger or more. The other Royal Guard simply continued to watch. The Sergeant had lost her grip on the leg, and could only barely stagger to her feet. The Royal Guard turned, intent to snatch her between her mandibles. Once properly restrained, the situation would be resolved. Yet somehow, despite most of her limbs not obeying her, the Sergeant avoided the attack in the most unexpected way. Her own mandibles bit into the wood of the table- enchanted to prevent incidental damage, but with its enchantments ignored sufficiently vulnerable for such a maneuver. Instead of dragging herself forward, the Sergeant levered herself completely over her front, moving in a way most ants wouldn¡¯t even think to try. Nor was it a traditional void ant maneuver, either. The Sergeant rolled several rotations, though it only placed her a few steps outside of the Royal Guard¡¯s reach. An easily closable distance, were it not for the surprise the maneuver had caused. Then the Sergeant did something else odd. She gnawed at the surface of the table as her legs scurried. The battle then turned into a chase. The Royal Guard was much larger and faster, but at the last moment the Sergeant always pulled some maneuver to shift her momentum. Unlike a properly massive creature, the Royal Guard would never overshoot a target by any significant amount, tarsal hooks sticking to the surface of the table. However, snapping her head back and forth to try to grab the small individual was proving quite difficult. The battle made its way to the edge of the table. The closest individual almost hadn¡¯t realized until a bit of her energy was chomped away. There was still a good distance to her actual finger, but she withdrew her arms. Nobody was quite sure how to interfere. Anishka looked up at her grandfather, still holding her arm, then down towards the table once more. Right in front of her were the nine who had joined the Sergeant. The other Royal Guard retained their position on the other side, tracking the battle. ¡°Just let me-¡± ¡°Do you want to make the incident worse and risk your life?¡± ¡°But she-¡± ¡°Is still going to be captured. It¡¯s not the best result, but I can speak to the Great Queen and help your friend.¡± There was no way the Great Queen wouldn¡¯t listen. And if she truly didn¡¯t, it would probably be necessary to keep void ant society functioning properly. This was quite an unfortunate situation to be in, however. Anton hadn¡¯t seen actual fights between void ants in quite a long time. The Sergeant continued to skitter about. Her legs seemed to be steady once more, but it wasn¡¯t clear what her motives were. She simply went around damaging the table, and occasionally approaching the surrounding humans. Was it on purpose, or coincidence? Anishka returned Anton¡¯s own grip, leaning close to him to whisper. ¡°She needs energy. For something. Ascension energy would-¡± ¡°Are you telling me to exacerbate something that could become a very real incident because of an ant?¡± ¡°She¡¯s not just an ant! She¡¯s my friend!¡± Anton didn¡¯t have a good response for that. He wished he wasn¡¯t weak to young family members, but then again¡­ how could he not be? Hopefully he didn¡¯t burn away too much of his good will with the Great Queen over this. Though he¡¯d never really called in any favors, so it should be fine. He rested his hand on the table, drawing from a place beyond himself, and a self beyond who he would ever be. Ascension energy was pulled from the upper realms, and a version of himself he could never make the choice to become. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. The response wasn¡¯t immediate. In fact, the Sergeant led the Royal Guard almost all the way around the table in the longest direction, to the point Anton wondered if he¡¯d been noticed. Except all of the void ants were looking at him now- disregarding those in combat. Along the way, the Sergeant actually was daring enough to attempt further attacks on the massively larger Royal Guard, nibbling at each leg in turn and even once leaping into the air to bite at an antenna. Her unpredictable movements caused the Royal Guard to tumble over at the last moment, flinging her a precious few centimeters away¡­ towards Anton. Anton saw the antennae of the Sergeant trying to say something, but without the addition of the forelegs which were busy propelling her forward with the rest it was at best half comprehensible. Tiny mandibles grabbed onto ascension energy and yanked. It was like taking a pinch of cotton candy- a confection of pure sugar whose only redeemable quality was how it turned into a fluffy mesh of sorts. One would presume that mandibles less than a millimeter in length would only carve out a small bit of energy, but instead the entirety of what Anton had gathered around his hand was ripped away, and ingested into a very tiny ant. Completely gone as if it had never existed. The Sergeant collapsed on the spot, legs splayed out. How unfortunate. Should he have resisted the pull? Void ants were certainly highly resistant to all forms of energy, but there were limits. For a simple Sergeant to eat ascension energy, it was surprising her body remained intact. The Royal Guard stomped over, cautiously approaching the fallen form. Her mandibles closed together with intention, where they would not quite touch together so as to hold onto smaller brethren. But the instant it seemed everything was over, the Sergeant rolled over, away from the mandibles. As the Royal Guard redirected her head, flailing legs kicked against the mandibles, latching onto the outside for a moment so the Sergeant was merely tossed away. Then, tiny legs moving with great rapidity such that her speed almost matched that of her larger opponent, the Sergeant charged towards the larger individual¡¯s side. Her mandibles once more caught around a slender leg, but this time she was not pulled about at the whims of the larger ant. It was a strange sight to see, because if Anton did not pay careful attention he might have thought the larger Royal Guard was flopping about entirely on her own. However, it was quickly clear that things were going beyond expected when the sounds came. His ears were good enough to pick up the previous small skittering sounds, but now there were sounds of thunking against the table in a truly impossible manner violating all principles of mass and energy. The Sergeant maintained her grip on one leg, actually flipping the Royal Guard back and forth until something broke- and it was not her own mandibles, but the leg in question. The sight would have been gruesome had it involved humans, but instead Anton only found it mildly disturbing to see half a leg torn away. The Royal Guard was clearly no longer interested in caution as she chomped splinters out of the table, swinging her mandibles as blunt weapons when the Sergeant circled around. But the smaller ant continued to dodge every attack until she was forced towards the edge of the table. A fall would not harm an ant, but there seemed to be some unspoken matter of pride that they would contain their duel to this location. Large mandibles came down, only for the Sergeant to flip back her head and deflect the momentum above her. When she sprinted beneath the larger individual, the previous attempt to crush her was repeated. But instead of success in that area, the Royal Guard only got a crack in the bottom of her carapace. A few more wild moments of wrestling, and the Royal Guard was flung a whole meter across the table, tumbling over and over. She stood shakily on her remaining legs as the Sergeant moved to close the distance. ¡°I yield,¡± the larger ant bowed her head to the table, losing her balance as her front legs participated in the signs. ¡°What¡­ what rank are you?¡± ¡°I am a Sergeant.¡± ¡°That is impossible.¡± ¡°It seems not.¡± ¡°... You must still see the Great Queen after completion of your mission.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± And with that, the matter appeared to be settled. Until Anton saw two of the other Royal Guard begin to approach the Sergeant. But, somehow she neither backed down nor took an aggressive stance, merely turning about to return to her squad, the other two following at a measured pace. ¡°The situation is resolved, princess. I will escort you in the continuation of your duties.¡± ¡°I- uh. Thank you, Sergeant.¡± ----- One matter that had not yet been fully addressed were Celina and the others. Anton had already vetted them, but that didn¡¯t mean they could wander about the ship as they pleased. So they were quite relieved when Anishka returned with Anton. ¡°I think you made a good choice, ultimately,¡± Anton said to Anishka. ¡°A difficult one, with some awkward unanticipated consequences, but a good one. We do not want to devastate Ekict. Finding examples of individuals who represent the people as a whole is a great start,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°And more encouraging is the fact that you weren¡¯t even looking. Ekict isn¡¯t so broken that its people are beyond redemption. Though there are certainly problems with the strongest among them, and Transferral.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s just the major sects,¡± Anishka explained. ¡°Would you agree, Celina?¡± ¡°In what way? They certainly control everything, keep secrets and hold onto their power. I certainly don¡¯t support them drafting people into a war we can¡¯t win,¡± she looked down at her token. ¡°What is that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°A representation of a conveniently distant sect so we could move about unencumbered.¡± ¡°Interesting. I wonder if we could copy those.¡± ¡°I would not know, as I don¡¯t deal in enchantments,¡± Celina admitted. ¡°But most likely.¡± She held it out for him to take. ¡°Where did you get this, if it was from a distant sect?¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Anishka said. ¡°There¡¯s, uh. A deal I made¡­ that is still in effect.¡± Anishka spoke about Haround, and her promises. ¡°I know it¡¯s a lot of resources, but¡­ I had to make the promise. And offering your guidance without your approval was inappropriate, but it seemed like the most usable method.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Anton said. ¡°A high price, but in a way it is also a moment of opportunity. This Haroun should know many others¡­ showing that we will follow through on a deal even though we could not be bound to it should be beneficial. Though I¡¯m not taking the time to give him guidance during the war. He wouldn¡¯t benefit from rushed advice anyway.¡± So now they had several things to do. Retrieval of those who had chosen to be exchanged, and connecting with the common people. If they could somehow dismantle the planetary barrier, they would be able to bring their full force to bear- hopefully against a weakened enemy. But there would still be many strong individuals and sects they had to deal with somehow, and there was no knowing exactly how many Integration cultivators had been sown among Ekict¡¯s populace. Chapter 668 The way the situation had developed in the system made general Gabriela¡¯s interest in finding the Independence again into an obsession. Perhaps they should have given chase the first time¡­ but such was hindsight. It no longer was in orbit around any of the gas giants, cutting it off from the best fuel source. Next was the sun, but it hadn¡¯t been found there either. That left the only option being refueling from ambient natural energy, or juicing it up with condensed energy. By far the most expensive option, but it would keep it out of view while they repaired it. Ignoring it wasn¡¯t an option, especially with upcoming assaults. It was too powerful to risk it appearing during the middle of a pitched fleet battle. While the Wayfarer could be ready to counter it, it was unclear how many ships they would lose before that point. There was some danger with seeking it out, especially if the spearmaster Aoibhin was with it still. Though that depended on what other ships came along with it. If Gabriela¡¯s fleet could catch just those two, they would have a significant advantage. At the very least, it would not go any worse than the previous time, and the repairs to the Wayfarer were complete. For the sake of the smaller ships, they already had energy profiles of Aoibhin- so while it might be possible for her to destroy them, it would take her significantly more effort. Reviewing the battle records has also provided them with tactical options for offense against the woman. The Wayfarer had just passed the primary planet¡¯s moon. That was well under Trifold Alliance control, and with Anton vouching for the lack of anything in sneaky corners, Gabriela was looking elsewhere. If the Independence wasn¡¯t somewhere around this particular planet, then it could only arrive significantly into the duration of a battle. Currently, they were searching the empty space further away than true orbits. It would require fuel to maintain a position or far orbit, but it would also be harder to spot them. But there was a lot of empty space to search in a system. The next day, the Independence had still not been found. With an assault planned for later, there wasn¡¯t much time to find it. Currently, they were searching off the system plane for any abnormal signs. It was nearly hopeless, if the ship had just flown to a random point and maintained its relative position to the system, but they had some hope. It would be a source of energy, and various technological signs could make it stand out if they imperfectly hid them. Despite that, Gabriela was surprised when they finally detected it. ¡°We found it, general.¡± ¡°What sort of traces?¡± she asked. ¡°Fuel trails? Energy emissions?¡± ¡°Both. But also¡­ it¡¯s just there. No cloaking attempts.¡± ¡°Sounds like an ambush. But as far as I know there¡¯s nothing for them to hide behind out here. A free floating formation, perhaps?¡± ¡°We¡¯re looking into it,¡± the bridge crew confirmed. ¡°Nothing yet.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the status of the Independence? Back to full capacity?¡± There was a moment of silence with the hum of the ship and the tapping of keys and fingers on tactile screens. ¡°It appears to be at eighty percent energy reserves. Hull status is¡­ unchanged.¡± ¡°Undamaged?¡± ¡°No, general. It is in the same state we left it.¡± ¡°But why? It was stocked with materials. It would only take a good crew a few hours, maybe a day to patch what we-¡± Gabriela stopped herself. ¡°I think we¡¯ve made a simple mistake.¡± ¡°Should we call off the approach?¡± Gabriela bit her lip. ¡°No. Maintain our course.¡± She looked around the bridge. ¡°Lieutenant. How long did it take you to get approved for space duty?¡± ¡°Five years, general.¡± ¡°What is that counting?¡± ¡°Everything from fighters to ascension class battleships, general.¡± ¡°What experience did you have before that?¡± ¡°Standard military experience for ten years.¡± ¡°How much flight school do you think the people on the Independence had?¡± ¡°I would assume the same.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mean the official crew. I mean the people currently there, right now.¡± ¡°A century?¡± the man tilted his head. ¡°Given our intel that General Nicodemo was a subject of transferral.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Gabriela said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know about that. And that¡¯s just one person. The rest of the crew¡­ they¡¯ll only have a few months of experience. Without a living basis of our technology, even.¡± Gabriela nodded, even more confident in her assertions. ¡°We¡¯re not going up against the Independence. We¡¯re going up against a bunch of novices piloting the Independence. That doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s not a danger, but it affects our tactics. The most important thing is to maximize attack pattern variability. If I¡¯m right, we¡¯ll mainly be fighting against automatic shield adaptation. And perhaps an Integration cultivator.¡± ¡°Scans complete,¡± reported another bridge member. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Report.¡± ¡°Aoibhin¡¯s signature detected, along with signs indicating smaller ships are docked upon the Independence.¡± ¡°Ours or theirs?¡± ¡°A mix of both, likely.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to take them into account, but the priority will be causing any form of damage to the Independence. Hull is secondary compared to technological systems, though if we can destroy it¡­ that¡¯s probably our best option.¡± Nobody wanted to take down the Independence, but leaving it in enemy hands was worse than destroying a national treasure. ¡°We¡¯re inside maximum range. Thirty seconds to optimal.¡± ¡°Have we been spotted? Once we are, commence immediate bombardment.¡± In theory, the Independence¡¯s systems should have picked them up by now. Especially since they were preparing for an attack and amping up their systems. It seemed suspicious still, but perhaps they didn¡¯t know how to interpret the sensor data. Either way, the Wayfarer¡¯s shields were up and attuned to the most likely enemy attack patterns, specifically the Independence¡¯s main cannons and Aoibhin. ¡°Hangar bays opening,¡± came the report. ¡°Fire at will.¡± As ordered, the gunners began to fire on designated targets. Some of that were comms and sensor arrays, and the rest found whatever external systems they could. Some of those were the hangars- and the ships coming out of them. Normally the ships would have been out before they got within range for that, but with the delay it was quite effective. They also didn¡¯t seem particularly familiar with the necessary maneuvers. It still required punching through the shields, but overlapping areas of formations were actually weaker- the small local ships had their own assertion on the energy around them that conflicted with the Independence, though the stolen or ransomed Ruteran ships should automatically adjust. Watching the beginning of the battle, Gabriela could only determine that the instincts and reflexes of cultivators were doing all of the heavy lifting. The local ships moved just fine- though more ponderously and without adaptive shielding- but the unfamiliarity with the others was clear enough now that she considered it. The opening volley destroyed at least a dozen ships and damaged others, while also scarring hangars and other systems. They¡¯d had plenty of time to line up their most powerful cannons with critical infrastructure, and though it was well shielded and fortified they caused some damage to the Independence itself. It would be adapted to the Wayfarer¡¯s larger weapons now, but they had incoming fighters that would pepper its shields, causing it to adapt to them or drain its energy stores quickly with inefficient defenses. Either option was sufficient. Unfortunately, the individual who had stolen Nicodemo¡¯s cultivation was not incapable. At the very least, the counterattacks they controlled were devastating, cutting through space towards their fleet. But while the main cannons could take out a fighter even with adapted shields, they could hardly scratch the Wayfarer with its adaptations already in place. No doubt general Nicodemo would have been ready for that¡­ but there was no immediate change. Just the most powerful weapons used with precision but limited understanding. Aoibhin was still a threat, however. Her location was quickly revealed as a spear crashed into a fighter. But with shields pre-adapted, it actually withstood the attack. It didn¡¯t help when she appeared next to her spear a moment later and attacked directly, but there was only so much a single pilot could hope for. And this time, they were ready. The formation was spread out in such a way that they could cover the most area, and the instant Aoibhin arrived dozens of attacks were launched at her. From lasers which singed her personal defenses to high velocity projectiles and a few individualized weapons for energy cultivators, the area was quickly filled with death. Of course, an Integration cultivator would not go down so easily- but instead of immediately repeating her assault like before, Aoibhin flashed away from her position to avoid the fleet¡¯s counterattack. It was unclear if she sustained actual injuries, but a moment more and her energy defenses would have surely crumbled completely. The smaller enemy ships were a minor complication. The local ships were less maneuverable- most resembling traditional sailing ships, as cultivators tended to do. They had formations and enchantments that made them formidable enough, but they couldn¡¯t build a fleet out of legendary materials. Likewise, the stolen ships were not used to their maximum capabilities, and the experienced Ruteran fighters overwhelmed them. If Ty had been present, he would have flown circles around them. No, through them probably. But Gabriela was also content with the knowledge that people like him were defending Rutera and their home systems. The Wayfarer¡¯s shields were holding, and the losses of smaller ships were still less rapid than the enemy, even when Aoibhin rejoined the offense. Energy stores were sufficient, and the Independence¡¯s levels were rapidly dropping. More importantly¡­ the assault caused their automatic adaptation to adjust to the smaller arms. Which meant another bombardment from the Wayfarer¡¯s larger weapons broke through to the hull. A few moments later, the Independence began to flee. Like many ships, there were compromises that had to be made- so there were only so many engines or thrusters that could go in any given direction. In other words, it was most effective at going where it was pointing, which would bring it past the Wayfarer even if they turned. ¡°Calculate an intercept course, but continue to focus on the lesser fleet.¡± Gabriela couldn¡¯t help but smile. The enemy didn¡¯t understand their technology, even when they had it. It was a good thing Ekict had been hasty and hadn¡¯t waited another decade or two. Actually, why hadn¡¯t they? It didn¡¯t make any sense. Did they really see visiting disciples as such a large threat, and if so why did they not refuse? Clearly, she didn¡¯t understand them. Then again, nobody from the Trifold Cluster had, or they would have expected something. Future groups would undergo much more scrutiny before being given significant access. Seeing the way the battle was going, Aoibhin turned and fled. Some of the smaller and faster vessels could have kept pace with her, but it was better to let her go. Most likely, she¡¯d just string them out and destroy them one by one if they chased. And destroying enemy ships- and catching up to the Independence- was more important. Actually, with things as they were¡­ did they have to destroy it? Gabriela understood that someone with Nicodemo¡¯s powers was inside, so an assault would be difficult. She certainly couldn¡¯t beat him or some one of similar strength. But¡­ she didn¡¯t have to. All they had to do was follow while they waited for backup. Ascension class battleships were not slow, and were quite capable at faster than light speeds as well¡­ but within a system, they had many things that could catch them. Including a few cultivators. Rutera would gladly sink more manpower into this than have to destroy the Independence, though they were going to have to cripple it. She would have to make certain they didn¡¯t stumble into a trap, of course. But it was her job to coordinate this fleet, and she was fairly certain Ekict didn¡¯t have instant comms. They had some forms of interplanetary communications, but they might have been restrained to lightspeed. Technically, Rutera¡¯s comms weren¡¯t instant even within a system, but it was close enough. No waiting fifteen minutes to ping the sun, but instead a delay of less than a minute. Speaking of the sun, the Independence was heading towards it. Gabriela wondered if¡­ Chapter 669 When faced with a decision between helping achieve a significant victory for Rutera and keeping his maximum power concealed, Anton hardly hesitated. Even if the enemy figured out exactly how his power worked, there was little they could do about it. Would they abandon their main planet and its defensive formations just to make him personally weaker? Certainly not. So when General Gabriela asked him to pursue the Independence and the thief of Nicodemo¡¯s cultivation, he happily complied. As he approached his sun, his speed and acceleration both became greater as his power and rate of replenishment both increased. He arrived not far behind the other two ships, which were maneuvering a significant distance from the actual sun. Both were able to draw in energy from that source, but as he got the Independence within his senses, Anton cut off the flow to its narrow portion of the sky. This was his greatest domain, and he could even turn the ship to ashes with little thought. Instead, he moved to board it. Slipping through a distorted hangar on its side was trivial, though the airlocks inside made him pause for a moment. He could easily melt them or tear them apart, but Rutera would rather reclaim their first flagship intact. Or relatively intact. He could easily force the doors apart with magnetism, but it would be the same as any other method. But he did have some understanding of the possibilities. The door was held closed mainly by physical and technological locks. But a strong pulse should¡­ shut everything off. Anton just underestimated how much power he could wield here, even calling upon the features of Azun and not the local star specifically. An unfocused wave of magnetic energy disrupted the electronic components of the whole ship- hopefully not causing permanent damage. At least it didn¡¯t seem to have extended in any significant measure to the Wayfarer. At least his excess made things easier. He easily flicked open the internal locks, and then moved down the corridor towards the most powerful individual. Along the way he was accosted by numerous individuals and groups, but neither they nor the ship could stop him. He found the woman on the bridge, along with a number of other cultivators. This time, Anton made certain to restrain himself- but not in power. Instead, he just made use of Anish and the former Glorious Flame Palace¡¯s techniques for burning only what he wished. In short, he avoided melting the bridge itself while plasma arced off of him as he was surrounded with flames. The first weaker cultivator to attempt an approach died halfway to him- and the bridge wasn¡¯t of an inflated size. Only the woman who had Nicodemo¡¯s cultivation was actually able to approach, charging towards Anton with a blade in hand. He felt the power behind the swing, but instead of dodging brought his hands up to catch her wrist and the blade together. ¡°All this power,¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°And you don¡¯t know how to use it, do you? What a waste.¡± Anton wanted to turn her into a pile of ash, or at least char off her hands. Instead, he only burned away her external energy and just enough of her flesh that she could theoretically recover. Though she would die soon enough, he wanted the others to know he could be fair. ¡°You will all submit to capture or die. Those of you who have not engaged in cultivation theft may ransom your lives.¡± Calling it ¡®Transferral¡¯ was too generous, though he could understand why anyone who wanted to use it would have chosen the name. A few people either didn¡¯t believe him or thought he was bluffing somehow- perhaps they thought he used up all his power stopping their leader, or that she could still fight. She did technically still have energy inside her, but any time she tried to put it to use it would melt away. Nicodemo was below Anton in cultivation to begin with, and with the Independence out of commission the bond was weak as well. Top that off with her not being familiar, and she simply couldn¡¯t match up. If only Anton could get the rest of the Transferall cultivators to come fight him here. ----- ¡°Look what you did to the ship,¡± Gabriela shook her head as she idly pressed buttons on the command console. ¡°Nothing. It¡¯s gonna need all new wiring.¡± ¡°I can melt it down for you, if you want,¡± Anton grinned. She rolled her eyes. ¡°Obviously not. Thanks for getting it back¡­ mostly intact. And for catching her,¡± Gabriela referenced the woman who was taken away in the highest quality restraints. They managed to get her name first, Eyvor, but Gabriela wasn¡¯t feeling to polite as to use it. ¡°I imagine we can learn a lot.¡± ¡°I hope so,¡± Anton said. Some successful interrogation techniques had been developed, much more reliable and more ethical than simple torture. While it was impossible to get detailed information such as a cultivation technique, it was at least possible to learn general overviews of how things worked. Especially if there was a line of questioning that could be answered. ¡°You¡¯re right, it does seem as if they don¡¯t inherently come with the same proficiency to go along with the power.¡± ¡°And I have suspicion of something else. That Aoibhin, she was a big problem, yeah?¡± Anton nodded along, prompting general Gabriela to continue. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not saying I could take her on anytime soon but¡­ I have the feeling she wasn¡¯t that great, yeah?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°How long have you been cultivating for? Three centuries now?¡± ¡°Two and a third,¡± Anton said. ¡°I didn¡¯t start till I was a hundred.¡± ¡°Right, that¡¯s the number I was thinking of. And you¡¯ve been in Assimilation for, a century or so.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°You¡¯re said to be quite talented, but we can at least use you as a comparison point. Along with those in the upper realms. Assimilation and Integration seem to grow stronger at similar rates. What I¡¯m trying to say is¡­ she took some Trigold Cluster fool¡¯s cultivation, right? Must have been in Integration or she would have to have ascended, plus otherwise the effort wouldn¡¯t have been relevant. So there was already a start there, add on another couple centuries, since that was the last full cycle as far as we know. And Aoibhin is still¡­ just trouble for the Wayfarer. You get what I¡¯m saying?¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°You believe her cultivation was stunted. Slowed or stopped.¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± Gabriela said. ¡°And while we don¡¯t have Aoibhin here, we can still ask someone who might know if that¡¯s a feature. I suppose we can also find what happened to Nicodemo, but I assume if we¡¯re lucky he¡¯s in a hole in the ground, properly buried. Can¡¯t imagine anyone surviving, or keeping them around if they did.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s hope we can find something useful. Though it may not come into play before the assault. Until then¡­ I could push this ship into a nice orbit around the sun, if you¡¯d like.¡± ¡°You can? That would help immensely. I was trying not to think about how we¡¯d nudge it around with fighters and the like. Because we can¡¯t just let it drift off¡­ or fall in.¡± ¡°It is within my power,¡± Anton said. ¡°Especially here.¡± ¡°Gotta get me a sun,¡± Gabriela grinned. ¡°As long as you don¡¯t mind being charcoal, go ahead and try. Though I can¡¯t say the results will turn out in your favor.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a fire cultivator anyway,¡± she admitted. ¡°Nor am I a¡­ capital ship kinda gal. I don¡¯t think I could ever be Nicodemo.¡± ¡°Maybe bond to a whole fleet, then. Ships or people, whatever makes more sense.¡± ¡°I-¡± Gabriela blinked. ¡°I hadn¡¯t seriously considered that. How much does a consultation like this normally cost?¡± ¡°The life of a loved one, I guess,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But you can pay me back with two more Assimilation cultivators. Or some equivalent. Either way, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll have a chance before the assault. Don¡¯t rush it.¡± She nodded, ¡°You¡¯re probably right. But it¡¯s nice to see the potential paths open up. How¡¯d you know that?¡± ¡°I know everyone above Life Transformation,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I know Vincent better. He bonded with a great portion of our sect, and could likely guide you in better detail should you proceed down that route. And don¡¯t worry, the only real payment I want is you doing your best to improve the general standard of life. Help others. That sort of thing.¡± ¡°No wonder you¡¯re not the richest man in the whole Alliance.¡± ¡°Not sure about that,¡± Anton said, thinking of his bow. Though Everheart hadn¡¯t been great for the sect¡¯s finances, without even considering his contributions to the war this particular bow might have been worth it. It was basically a bribe to stop mutual destruction when they first met, but Anton still treasured it. And if the guy ever came back he was going to be punched in the face or shot with the bow. Or both. ----- Leaving the warm embrace of a star drained Anton, even if in truth he was only returning to a more reasonable level of power. But power was only valuable if he could use it, and Anton couldn¡¯t launch attacks from anywhere in a system yet. Even if he could, it might lose potency as it left the star¡¯s proximity, even if he himself remained there. A question to resolve at a higher realm of cultivation, he supposed. But he wouldn¡¯t have to think about that for a century or more, so he put that aside. For the moment, he had to deal with the immediate future- which included retrieving Annelie. His monitoring of the situation at the Northern Glacier Sect found her still alive, but he couldn¡¯t do much more than that with the barrier in place. But with recent victories, the confidence of the Trifold Alliance was high, and they were willing to commit to greater moves. There were many others than just Annelie to get back. While they had noble intentions to sacrifice for others, the complements of void ants should have let many of them retain their lives instead. It was only appropriate, given how Ekict hadn¡¯t intended to follow through on their end. There was a tingling thought at the back of Anton¡¯s mind about that. It was odd that so many had gone through with it¡­ but it was what it was, and at least they could try to save as many as possible still. This time Anton wouldn¡¯t be passing through the barrier. They didn¡¯t intend to let it close up anyway, since they were planning on a speedy retrieval, but he would feel more comfortable remaining above. And what was a few dozen kilometers of atmosphere to him anyway? Yes, better to simply attack from the far side of the barrier and contribute to keeping it open. The formation masters were confident it wouldn¡¯t be able to manage their simultaneous attacks, though it was unlikely they could permanently topple the barrier today. When the time came, Anton started off with some Ascension energy. On its own it was not enough to break the barrier, but he had dozens of ships and Life Transformation cultivators with him, as well as Naid Conaire. The formation master was not him for the sake of combat prowess, but because the Northern Glacier Sect held one of the key points of the global formation, and the chance to weaken or destroy it was quite valuable. The barrier bowed then tore open as Anton sensed others around the planet doing the same. Ships and cultivators tearing through the barriers. With the barrier opened, they were free to move. Anton immediately got a clearer sense of things. The Northern Glacier Sect had their own barriers, but they were hardly relevant. ¡°I don¡¯t sense Nurcan,¡± Anton informed the others. ¡°Strongest opponents should be Life Transformation, but maintain caution.¡± While Anton very much wanted to kill the woman who was one of the coordinating efforts, he was more interested in retrieving Annelie first. She seemed to have sensed the incoming attack- along with literally everyone else. Anton felt her power flare, and- morbidly- focused his senses on her to make sure it really was his granddaughter. He breathed a sigh of relief to feel her face, and the little pockets of nothing that signaled the companions sent with her. It took no time at all for her to break out of the prison area she had been staying in for whatever reason¡­ and then she was heading towards other buildings. Not a treasury, but¡­ a library. A good head. Anton was going to have to direct someone with storage bags towards her position, though. As for helping her along the way, she was quite capable of dominating most opponents. But she would eventually grow tired, so Anton took the opportunity to snipe about half of those on her path, and others who seemed to be thinking about interfering. He continued to keep half his attention on her while he aided the rest of the battlefield and occasionally launched attacks at the barrier trying to repair itself. Chapter 670 The attack was an unpleasant reminder for the people of Ekict that nowhere was safe. The Trifold Alliance could land wherever they wanted, and retreat just as swiftly. That was true even at the Northern Glacier Sect where Annelie took a detour to scour the libraries. Anton provided cover for her and those landing, his arrows proving deadly to every cultivators they came in contact with- including those in Life Transformation. Alone, none could stand against him. Together, they could at least defend- though Anton was perfectly happy to constrain their movements. Less than half an hour after the attack began Annelie had hopped aboard a ship and returned to space with Anton. ¡°I need you to promise to never worry me like that again,¡± Anton said. ¡°Trading your life away. Without the void ants, who knows what would have happened to you?¡± ¡°I believe we will all know soon enough,¡± she gestured to several books she brought along. Though those in particular might not contain what they were after. ¡°And while I will admit to a bit of recklessness, I believe I would make the same choice again. But¡­ if you want a promise, I can do that. As long as you make the same in return.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°I am stronger than you, you know? You don¡¯t need to be worried.¡± ¡°You are powerful, certainly,¡± she admitted. ¡°But are you invincible? I think not. Out there among the stars on your own, who is to say what might happen to you? It could have even happened here, if Ekict had not gone for the longer term maneuver.¡± ¡°I¡¯m confident I could have escaped,¡± Anton replied. As long as he wasn¡¯t inside a planetary barrier at the time. ¡°I know there was more to that. Just remember that us younger folk are still allowed to have concern for you.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s in these books?¡± Anton said, flipping through them. Though it looked casual, he was actually reading them thoroughly. Ten Thousand Scrolls had been a great boon. Annelie had learned the technique as well- though secondhand, as Everheart was precious with his original. It had taken her longer to gain proficiency, but she was able to manage at least a similar speed to Anton. ¡°These? I don¡¯t know. But something must speak of their technique.¡± ¡°Transferral,¡± Anton said. ¡°We learned the name. Speaking of which, you¡¯ll be quite glad to hear about who brought that news.¡± ¡°Anishka?¡± Anton could see a weight lift off of the mother. ¡°Where is she waiting?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°She was fine. Better than that, perhaps. But for some reason she took after certain members of this family. Like you and your cousin.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s your fault in all cases,¡± Annelie said. ¡°So, what of Anishka?¡± ¡°Let me tell you what I know,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I think you will not be surprised to find where she ended up.¡± The summary of the story was rather simple. She¡¯d been held prisoner for a time, escaping only with the help of a void ant and an apprentice. Along the way, she made friends with other locals, ultimately escaping on a recaptured ship. In truth, Anton had little details beyond those- but he understood her choices. ¡°So she¡¯s down there among them by herself?¡± ¡°Hardly,¡± Anton said. ¡°She has four human companions and three Royal Guard equivalent void ants, plus nine others. She took a liking to the lesser cultivators, and wishes to rally them against the great sects.¡± ¡°And you let her go.¡± ¡°Better than wondering when she would sneak off,¡± Anton said. Annelie took a deep breath. ¡°Fine. Send me off to catch up with her.¡± ¡°Would that be for the best?¡± Anton asked. ¡°She appears as simply a young cultivator. I think you would stand out more. And even if you went unnoticed, would any accomplishments truly be hers?¡± ¡°I do not find your logic fully convincing,¡± Annelie said. ¡°But I understand the danger I would bring to her. If it is too late to go with her, how best can I help?¡± ¡°That will depend on what other information we gain here. But ultimately, I think we will be looking to fight directly with any Integration or Assimilation cultivators. It seems this place has a glut of Life Transformation cultivators to go along with them, however.¡± ¡°Quite understandable, given the situation,¡± Annelie said. ¡°Ascension would be unpalatable, and there would be no targets for this¡­ Transferral. Ah, here¡¯s one,¡± she said, holding up one of the books they were going through. ¡°A vague overview, and strangely pockmarked.¡± ¡°That would be the jaws of a tiny ant, I do believe,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Your daughter helped uncover some of this information even before the war began- though too late to relay it to us or protect herself.¡± Anton read through the pages, ¡°It is nice to have a somewhat more thorough explanation, though this still has no details. Then again¡­ I think it would ultimately be better if there were none.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°We won¡¯t search for it?¡± ¡°Oh no,¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°We absolutely must. And find them as well. And then¡­ the technique must be destroyed. Given the information we have about it already, it¡¯s simply unacceptable. All but the most liberal would be inclined to forbid its practice, or even detailed knowledge.¡± ¡°So not Everheart, then.¡± ¡°He¡¯d love to get his hands on it and pick it apart,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Find the flaws and either fix them or write it off, I couldn¡¯t say which. But his hands would not be the worst it might end up in. In fact, even our enemies in the lower realms is not the worst place. I am most concerned about the very people it was intended to be used against.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°And if Ekict had stopped with them instead of turning it against us, we could have ignored it. Though it would have likely been a mistake.¡± ----- Not every situation went as well as Annelie or even Anzela. In many cases, there was nobody to retrieve and lives were lost simply confirming that fact and attempting to extract. Usually the deaths included the void ants, or at least they were not easily found. While they were able to kill cultivators of any power, the same was true in reverse. Even a human without cultivation could crush them with ease, and fighting against them in smaller numbers when aware of their presence was fairly simple. Ekict didn¡¯t necessarily know the details, but they could have stumbled into it as they fought. Putting together all they learned, as well as vaguer details found in stolen texts or gleaned by the temporary prisoners, they calculated the weaknesses of Transferral. First was that it required a proper subject. That much was obvious- without cultivation, there was nothing to take. It appeared to be unfortunately reliable should someone be apprehended, but the victim had to be fully subdued to avoid things going terribly wrong. The process itself was still vaguely understood, besides involving formations and a significant expenditure of energy and materials. The other weakness came after Transferral. While an individual was always capable of using the cultivation and energy that was stolen, it did not come with all of the knowledge and experience. The details about the latter were pieced together. It was clear that some portion of insights had to be transferred, or the cultivator would be nearly useless. The adaptation period could be mitigated by starting with someone of sufficient cultivation- generally Life Transformation- and a similar enough cultivation style. In that regard, there were basically unlimited people who could undergo Transferral. That meant they couldn¡¯t afford to let any more Assimilation cultivators be captured- though the Trifold Alliance had been cautious of that since the beginning of the war. Except for the incident where they had handed themselves over as hostages¡­ with far too little resistance. Anzela had explained the wide scale manipulation taking place, and that the individual responsible was dead. Or at least, one of them. Nobody could be certain they didn¡¯t have more, so they would be careful to watch their actions. Once aware of such a possibility, they should be much better at combating it. Without the void ants, it would have been a total disaster. Speaking of void ants, Anton was glad that they remained cooperative. The incident with the Sergeant and Royal Guard could have easily led to disaster, but instead it had simply caused a redistribution of certain individuals. When Anton asked about it, he got a simple response. It was not a matter the Royal Guard could settle. Not because of lack of martial prowess- a pair of them certainly could have overwhelmed the Sergeant- but because the situation was unexpected. At the level of the Royal Guard, they had as much intelligence as any human, but their willingness to make decisions about unexpected circumstances was thin. That didn¡¯t count any sort of combat scenario- they considered themselves prepared for all of that, and would kill any enemies in the matter they deemed most efficient. But when they could not determine if someone was friend or foe, such as the Sergeant, they had chosen to remain detached. The Royal Guard who went along with her were categorized in the same group- unknowns that would not be considered enemies unless they came into conflict. The queens would resolve the situation at a later time. ----- Nurcan bit her lip. She would have resisted the urge had anyone been around to see it, as someone of her status could not have any bad habits or even uncontrolled tics. They had underestimated the enemy again. Their understanding of tactics was focused on how the invaders from the upper realms functioned. That included mistakes that should have been rectified before anything even began regarding their endurance. These opponents were also native to the lower realms, so they were not restricted in their energy usage. But that had only been a minor point compared to the way they moved. While they did indeed take resources and knowledge, that wasn¡¯t their primary goal. They simply rescued their own, individuals who were often in better states than they should have been. The biggest problem was the ants. How had they¡­ not known about these? The obvious answer was that they were ants. And going through the detailed reports, Nurcan saw some mentions of their existence. That included Aoibhin, but even she hadn¡¯t thought much of them. A serious mistake, made worse by compounding with others. There was a knock on her door, but Nurcan already knew who was coming. ¡°Come in,¡± she said. It wasn¡¯t an order, but simple protocol. The woman who entered was of course the very Aoibhin in question. ¡°You said there was information to disseminate?¡± ¡°The Independence was taken from our hands,¡± she said, leaning on her spear. She wouldn¡¯t even sit to be on the same level. But Nurcan couldn¡¯t afford to complain. ¡°We are aware of that,¡± Nurcan said. ¡°Though it never lived up to the expectations we had for it.¡± ¡°The old man. The archer. I followed from a great distance, and his power was worrying.¡± ¡°Anton? That naive fool?¡± ¡°I¡¯m more inclined to believe he had a basis for unassailable confidence rather than him being a fool. I couldn¡¯t approach for fear of getting caught, but even from a great distance I felt his power multiply severalfold. He could be an Augmentation cultivator or the equivalent.¡± ¡°Then he would be¡­ a valuable Transferral target,¡± Nurcan said. ¡°There¡¯s a reason we kept our heads down,¡± Aoibhin shook her head. ¡°Naturally, Augmentation cultivators would have boosted our power to enormous degrees, but we didn¡¯t taunt them to bring more. The Trifold Alliance did, and simply slew them.¡± ¡°Individuals out of their realm,¡± Nurcan shook her head. ¡°Weaker than they should have been, if still dangerous. But we¡­ well, he is fully adapted.¡± ¡°We need to tell him to stop sitting on his ass.¡± ¡°By all means,¡± Nurcan gestured, ¡°You can be the messenger.¡± Aoibhin shook her head. ¡°I suppose I must. It¡¯s a shame, really. I should have been the one to receive that power.¡± Aoibhin paused, ¡°Not that I would think to take it now. We need all of the power we can have here. And unity.¡± ¡°Most don¡¯t survive a second Transferral anyway,¡± Nurcan said. ¡°If you could speak to him¡­ express some urgency given the derailing of our plans.¡± ¡°It will be done.¡± Chapter 671 With special techniques placing Eyvor in a trance, the woman who had stolen Nicodemo¡¯s cultivation was primed to answer questions. Subjecting someone to temporary loss of control was better than subjecting them to prolonged physical and mental anguish, but its use was still tightly constrained. It was also quite energy intensive, especially when used on someone of significant cultivation. Even drained of their internal energy, they would have a greater mental fortitude than most. The information the woman had was not all helpful. Troop movements were simple to get, but also mostly known. The reason for gathering people in one area was related to previous experience with invasions from the upper realms, where cultivators had to descend according to certain physical rules as they were ejected from the tides of the world. They had also expected their formations to hold over the majority of the planet. Fortunately for them, their world had no exposure to Everheart. Unfortunately for them, that also meant they were much less developed in that field. Cultivators usually advanced slowly, so rapid changes over just a few centuries were strange to them, especially as they were cut off from the upper realms entirely. They were able to confirm some suspicions or vague details about Transferral, but when they asked for flaws they got little information. Either there weren¡¯t any, or Eyvor was unaware of them- the latter being more likely. Though she did admit there was an adjustment period to make full use of a new cultivation style, from an individual cultivator¡¯s perspective they were always stronger than they had just been. Nobody would bother using Transferral for only a small improvement in cultivation, but always at least a step into the next phase. The limit there being it was exponentially more dangerous to use more than once- with only a minor risk the first time. Following that, the next line of questioning was about their forces, specifically cultivators in Life Transformation and their numbers of those beyond that stage. The former was measured in thousands, which was both surprising and not surprising. The total population of Ekict was significantly less than the Trifold Alliance, but they were proportionately ahead in that regard. As for Transferral cultivators, the numbers were somewhere around a hundred, approximately matching those sent from the Trifold Alliance. That was where Eyvor added some commentary of her own, unbidden. ¡°If you find yourselves unconvinced at our power, you must consider Warden Otakar. He underwent Transferral to the Augmentation stage.¡± ¡°Tell us about him,¡± asked one of the interrogators. ¡°Cultivation style and fighting techniques.¡± Eyvor returned to her unenthusiastic monotone. ¡°Originating with the Forge of the Unassailable Flint in the Trigold Cluster. He uses weapons, fire, and swift movement.¡± ¡°Give us more details.¡± ¡°He uses a glaive and has no hair.¡± ¡°Tell us more about his cultivation.¡± ¡°It is significantly stronger than anything else I have ever felt.¡± Repeated questions determined that rather than fighting against the compulsion, she simply didn¡¯t know much more. Except that after his Transferral, he had been instrumental in taking out the remnants of the enemy forces of that invasion, defeating groups of Integration cultivators even while unfamiliar with his power. She seemed to know nothing about how they captured the original owner of that power. ----- Some cultivators lived in extreme regions, carefully making use of formations to constrain the world around them into a suitable training ground for themselves and their disciples. And some of them lived in a buried magma cavern because they could. At least, Aoibhin found no other reason for Otakar to live in a buried cavern. He didn¡¯t absorb fire energy or anything. It wasn¡¯t even the right style. So she had to slowly wriggle her way through viscous magma into pockets of superheated gasses to eventually find her way to the man. There he sat, his body indicating a state of meditation. He was covered from head to toe in armor taken from his source, without even the standard slits for eyes. But he knew she was here, knew she had been coming long before she arrived. So she waited. And waited some more. At some point in time she might have ignored protocol to speak first, when she was of greater or even similar status to the man. But ultimately he had been chosen for this position, despite Aoibhin¡¯s attempts to be the one chosen instead. If she had been chosen, she wouldn¡¯t be sitting around doing nothing. ¡°You are impatient.¡± ¡°This is not a time that calls for patience,¡± Aoibhin responded as he finally spoke. ¡°Is it not?¡± his movements came only with the sound of smoothly sliding metal. ¡°Because hasty action has brought us to this point.¡± ¡°You supported the decision. So support it,¡± she said stubbornly. There was protocol, and then there was her long time familiarity. ¡°With the information presented to me, I was indeed convinced that a preemptive attack would save us from the corruption of outsiders and even improve our own strength for the future,¡± Otakar agreed. ¡°But it seems that our spies failed to gather critical information.¡± His eyes were still hidden, but she felt his gaze judging her nonetheless. ¡°Our initial attack came in at the anticipated level of success, bolstering our power significantly.¡± ¡°Indeed? Then why was there such a poor showing with that big metal ship? It was as if nobody knew how to use it.¡± ¡°Well-¡± ¡°And what about our sun?¡± ¡°What about our sun?¡± Aoibhin answered. ¡°Come now. Surely you must feel it. Feel him. Even down here, I heard his speech.¡± ¡°That¡­ I¡¯m not sure how that happened. He wasn¡¯t supposed to be able to arrive here. According to our information, he was nine times further than these systems.¡± ¡°He was the one who found us, was he not?¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Well, yes.¡± ¡°So one could easily assume he was quite comfortable with interstellar travel, alone and unaided. That was obvious from his first arrival. How many people knew his name?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a simple question. How many people in his home system know his name?¡± ¡°Well, it should be¡­ many of them.¡± ¡°How many?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, uh-¡± ¡°Is it all of them? Some tens of billions?¡± ¡°They might. But so what?¡± ¡°Sounds to me like he should have been taken more seriously. And some of the others as well.¡± ¡°We overcame the most famous general in Rutera!¡± ¡°And not a single individual acting on his own from the same place.¡± The pressure in the room increased suddenly as the man snorted. ¡°But enough of that. What of these ants?¡± ¡°Well, we¡­ didn¡¯t particularly notice them. And nobody thought much of them.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°They were just¡­ ants.¡± ¡°Clearly not. Surely the local cultivators should have been quite wary of creatures that could eat away their energy while remaining unharmed.¡± ¡°Not¡­ not really,¡± Aoibhin said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I really meant that nobody thought much of them. There were little tunnels for them to not get stepped on, and otherwise they didn¡¯t really show up anywhere. They seemed like pets. Nobody said a tiny ant could kill a Life Transformation cultivator, at best they said they were ¡®energy resistant¡¯!¡± ¡°A deeply hidden secret, then. But it was clear the investigations were not as complete as indicated. As one of those leading the efforts, it was your responsibility. Now the consequences fall on your shoulders.¡± ¡°I understand. But we still need you to fight.¡± ¡°I will,¡± Otakar promised. ¡°But the timing will be my own. See if you can figure out what happened to our sun before then, would you?¡± ----- Previously, Anishka had been doing her best to completely avoid going towards the gathering army. So her current position right in the middle of it seemed rather counterintuitive. But she wasn¡¯t alone, nor was she relying entirely upon her own abilities. She hadn¡¯t had much time, but she learned useful things about infiltration. They were so simple she could have thought of them on her own¡­ or at least it seemed so. Like minor changes being sufficient to seem like a completely different person. Dyeing her hair a different color would come with problems- anyone particularly observant could see the new roots growing in, defeating the entire purpose. So she just¡­ cut her hair shorter and wore it in a different style. That seemed counterintuitive to concealing her face, but that was handled with some simple facial art. It was visibly obvious, but not its purpose. Using something to conceal her skin tone could be suspicious, but this simply changed her style without necessarily making it seem like she was hiding something. At least, that was what she had been told. Her purpose in coming here was because while she was afraid of the gathered people¡­ they were also the ones who were the most innocent in this whole endeavor. No doubt some of them would want to harm her, to turn her in for the bounty if they found out. But the vast majority of them wouldn¡¯t be so different from Patka and the women of the Vermillion Inferno. Entering the camp was simple. They had been dropped off out of sight to make their way on foot. Then they simply entered the crowds and presented tokens- the same fakes as before. Even if they were inspected by someone familiar with the Vermillion Inferno, they could simply say they were not in the area when the draft was required- which was true. Thus them being under a different banner was not terribly strange, since the Vermillion Inferno was not large enough to stand on their own. Smuggling in the void ants had been an area of concern, but the significantly larger Royal Guard had found their way in alone, with the others hidden with Anishka. The people here still weren¡¯t particularly proficient at finding void ants, it seemed. Then again, they hadn¡¯t met with much trouble until after Anishka arrived and reports started coming in of attacks at many different locations. Reports which were quickly quashed. That was Anishka¡¯s opening to talk to people. She knew a few locations that were targets where reports hadn¡¯t been widely proliferated, and as long as she chose her words carefully she could sow doubt. Like ¡®I heard the Enkindled Sun Sect was attacked at three separate outposts¡¯ and ¡®Is it possible we weren¡¯t ready for this conflict?¡¯. But more than that, she tried to sympathize with people, especially from smaller groups. ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate that you¡¯re here,¡± Anishka said to one small group. ¡°Your homes could have been attacked and you wouldn¡¯t have been there to defend them.¡± She was speaking to an older fellow from Insect Island, who nodded in response. ¡°Indeed. I feel we could have done better in our own regions.¡± ¡°Lucky none of the small sects got attacked, right?¡± Anishka said. ¡°Think that might have been part of the plan?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe our sect was considered at all,¡± the man said truthfully. Anishka watched beetles marching across his face. Pretty big ones, though maybe that was because she was comparing to ants. ¡°I was actually thinking about the, uh, other systems.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be more efficient to take out the smaller isolated sects?¡± he asked. Then he frowned, ¡°Or do you think the information about those attacks was concealed?¡± That was a conclusion Anishka hadn¡¯t even intended the man to arrive at. ¡°I mean, both are interesting to think about.¡± ¡°You¡¯re an odd one, young lady.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°Because you watch with interest instead of revulsion.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why I should hate bugs,¡± Anishka said. ¡°It¡¯s not like they¡¯re going to hurt me.¡± Plus, she was good friends with one and acquainted with a number of others. ¡°They could,¡± the man pointed out. ¡°So could a sword. Or a fire,¡± Anishka said, flames dancing over her fingers. That was the other half of her disguise, pretending to be a pure fire cultivator. Her and Patka. It was much more common than a split style like they actually practiced, and fit well with the Vermillion Inferno. ¡°Fair enough,¡± he said. ¡°So¡­¡± Anishka continued, ¡°If you didn¡¯t have to fight, would you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not particularly fond of invaders,¡± the man replied. ¡°Isn¡¯t this a bit different, though? I mean, Ekict attacked first.¡± Should have said ¡®we¡¯. Oh well, correcting it would be worse. ¡°Didn¡¯t they send hundreds of spies?¡± ¡°I think you heard wrong. Those were disciples exchanging pointers and advice, who were then arrested as spies. So they might have been, but I don¡¯t know if I trust all of the big sects¡­¡± Being somewhat conservative with her words helped Anishka there. Not naming particular ones, this man could substitute his least favorite. And including ¡®all¡¯ meant if he was positively inclined towards a few he could still agree. She also had to be careful to only speak things she did believe, so she did not fall victim to the insight of others. That meant avoiding Life Transformation cultivators and the other stronger Essence Collection individuals, but she was also least interested in catering to them. ¡°Hmmn. I heard some others got caught up in that too.¡± ¡°Really? I¡¯d like to hear about that,¡± Anishka said. And she meant it, not just because it could be used as future fodder. When she had finished her rounds for the day, she returned to her tent and collapsed. People were exhausting, and constantly being on her toes while not looking like it drained her. She knew this was dangerous, but she came back anyway. She only partially understood why. Sometimes, people just did things. A lot of the time, actually, even if they would come up with a reason after. Chapter 672 The knowledge of Eyvor¡¯s confidence in Ekict, both the more populous cultivators and the individual known as Otakar, did not dissuade the Trifold Alliance from continuing their plans. If they simply left now, they would hardly feel they had gained retribution for the attacks against them. In fact, knowing they had strength in reserve made it even more critical to fight on their own terms instead of letting Ekict build up their own forces as they pleased. They had admitted no fault or offered concessions- they still intended to fight, and so the three systems together were prepared to coordinate with their available forces. They had defeated Augmentation cultivators before. Fajra, as well as other invaders. The circumstances there were different, with their defensive positions granting them an advantage. But they were also stronger now. Personally, Anton did maintain caution about an Augmentation cultivator. Would he have the strength of Everheart after he recovered? Even though the man was from the lower realms, in most cases an Augmentation cultivator simply wasn¡¯t supposed to function in the lower realms. With the examples of adapted Transferall cultivators here, that limitation seemed to be lifted. So presuming Otakar was stronger was the correct call, and if that proved incorrect¡­ then they would simply take him out and move on. After retrieving their cultivators, the current goal was to cause as much damage as possible to the greater sects as well as killing Transferral cultivators wherever possible. Along with that, the formation masters intended to take down the planetary shields once and for all. It was draining to constantly batter through them, and betting that the locals would run out of power and the grand formation would fade away on its own was not something that seemed reasonable. Instead of continuing distributed attacks, the focus was being brought to three areas. First was the Enkindled Sun Sect, known by all and thus one of those whose fall would be most effective to morale. Then the Gates of the Earth, founded by Aoibhin herself. They shared a similar style of wielding spears wreathed in elemental energy. Finally, the Celestial Consonance, a group that had abilities that could augment other cultivators to great heights. They would be most trouble in pitched battles, and while many were already with the gathered armies- armies which were now in a state of flux as redistribution was planned- those remaining at their sect itself could be reached more easily. None had been attacked previously, which should hopefully mean they were unready. But even if they were, they planned to bring enough forces to overwhelm them. ----- Anton himself was headed for the Enkindled Sun Sect, chosen because of its relative proximity to the Gates of the Earth. Just a few hundred kilometers, so even if he kept his position outside the barrier he should be able to reach them as well, at reduced efficiency. Though for the sake of the plans, they were not supposed to rely on his support. He was officially involved only in the assault on the Enkindled Sun Sect. Fleets massed- some would remain in low orbit as backup or to protect retreats should it be necessary, while other ships would be involved in the assault directly, some carrying cultivators to the ground and other moving at the direction of the formation masters to take out the planetary barrier or the local sect¡¯s defenses. Once they were prepared, they made a simultaneous and swift approach. They could not afford to hesitate, though some amount of caution was warranted. The focused attacks soon broke through the planetary barrier, giving little time for reinforcements to arrive, and the assaults began. The Fire and Ice Palace led by Annelie were among the first to land and face the Enkindled Sun Sect. The experts of the flame styles could bring their foes to a stalemate, while the ice combatants would overwhelm them. That was the theory, anyway. In practice, Annelie swept over the first wave foolish enough to step out of the sect, shattering any icy statues directly in her way and leaving the rest to the others. Anton contributed shots of his own, but foes fell so quickly he was hardly necessary. In a way, they were almost a distraction as the ships flew to take out segments of the planetary formation- except they were a very real threat themselves. As for the Gates of the Earth¡­ things were not going so well. The initial defense stood stronger, even as the Wayfarer took part. It and the other Ruteran ships were fully adapted to the style, but they hadn¡¯t expected the presence of Aoibhin herself, thought to still be nursing her wounds somewhere off in space after the battle for the Independence. At the location of the Celestial Consonance the defenders included not only the sect but other allies. Even with their numbers few, they put up a surprisingly robust defense. It was one that would eventually be worn down by the greater overall power of the attackers, given that Ekict¡¯s forces were concentrated in another area. On the broader scale, pieces of the planetary formation began to fall, each one weakening the overall effect. Combined with the previous efforts, Anton expected it would soon fall apart, requiring extensive repairs that nobody intended to allow Ekict to make. Least of all Anton, because with the barrier down he could attack anyone not in a fortified sect. Just about the time that the Wayfarer and the forces at the Gates of the Earth were starting to make head way, Aoibhin fleeing back inside the barrier, Anton sensed something approaching from the south. A power at the top of the scale he had sensed before from any individual, and thus instantly recognizable. An Augmentation cultivator, which could only mean it was the one known as Otakar. Unless they had others hidden in secret, but the fire element the man radiated certainly indicated he should be the one. Anton¡¯s initial impression of him was¡­ disappointing. He didn¡¯t feel as strong as expected, though that was not Anton¡¯s primary concern. He wasn¡¯t looking for a challenge. Indeed, he was quite aware he could not beat the man alone. But his demeanor was also troubling, especially given his first interaction- with his own allies. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°You ask for assistance for all of Ekict, and then the very first thing I must do is help you defend your own sect. Pathetic.¡± There were reasonable levels of banter and taunting to be had among allies. Even insults were tolerable in the right context, where they weren¡¯t truly meant. But while Otakar was hardly excessive in his words, he also felt quite sincere. Anton had hoped to eventually reason with this man, but he was less comfortable about even suggesting it with a man at odds with his own allies. But he also didn¡¯t hesitate to assault his enemies. Even as Anton¡¯s stretched tendril heard him speak, he began to attack. He wielded a long sword, swinging it widely. However, instead of cutting through anyone he seemed to take no care of their armor at all, his blade cutting through defensive energy before sparking off of armor. It seemed for a moment he¡¯d wasted his effort, until several cultivators and a nearby ship ignited, moments later consumed entirely by the flames. Anton had already resolved to test him, preparing to launch attacks. He wouldn¡¯t be revealing the full extend of his range, and while Anton didn¡¯t want to give the man practice against him, he also couldn¡¯t leave him to fight unhindered. Dozens of arrows flew, only to be swept out of the air by the man¡¯s attacks even as his sword swept aside those around him. Anton hadn¡¯t seriously anticipated he would cause injuries, but he was disappointed how casual the efforts were. On the other hand, if he could influence the man¡¯s movements in any way, he could provide a valuable service. The Enkindled Sun Sect directly below¡­ didn¡¯t need his contributions to its defeat. Waves of flame washed over Annelie, but she barely slowed as she made her way towards the core of the enemy¡¯s defenses, and their leaders- at least one Integration cultivator among them. Otakar leapt into the air, no longer content with those around him. The Wayfarer had focused on him with its attacks, and he moved in swift arcs that avoided lasers and projectiles alike. At most, the beams of power settled on him for brief moments, insufficient to tear through his defenses. He continued to pick up speed, flying clearly no stranger to him. He moved along the whole length of the Wayfarer in an instant, his sword seeming to drag behind him. The worst did not come to pass- at least the ship was not split in half. Then again, the man was hardly a swordsman. Instead, the whole ship lit on fire inside its barriers- at least along that certain line. Anton sensed something critical approaching. Actually, he only surmised something from the circumstances. But were they fast enough? He didn¡¯t want to show his hand so early, but he had to provide a distraction. As the Wayfarer rose into the sky, desperately fighting the fires melting the outer layer of their metal hull, Anton gathered his energy. In his hands, Ascension energy. It wasn¡¯t supposed to be just a distraction, but rather a serious attack he presumed wouldn¡¯t work. Then, sneaking in along with it would be the spectral energy¡­ a thin needle imbued with some of the density of Azun, the neutron star. Anton¡¯s energy could never be so massively compact- Azun itself could fit between him and Otakar dozens of times- but he could at least bring a semblance of it to his attack. Ascension energy struck, quick as light. Otakar parried it with his blade, stopping his motions for a serious strike to focus only on that. At the same time, dozens or hundreds of lesser attacks struck his energy defenses directly. He would be worn down eventually if he let that continue, but it was unlikely he would let it continue. Then, the second arrow. It was launched itself from a bow of energy of similar density, curving to an angle that brought it around to below Otakar¡¯s feet- an attack from directly opposite would be too obvious. But alas, he sensed it anyway. He moved like the flickering of flames, his body bending. Either he knew the attack would return or simply wanted to show overwhelming force, but he sliced the energy apart with his blade. Disappointing, but if the war were won so easily then Ekict likely wouldn¡¯t have even succeeded on their initial assaults. At least there were void ants on their way. They were dropped from the sky above Otakar, a great number of them locked in their flexible formations. While individually difficult to sense, together they made a blanket of nothingness. Otakar might have sensed that, or his roaming eyes could have simply spotted them- once again, in numbers they were quite visible. His sword slashed, then again across itself. It was unfortunate, those in the middle who perished, but the rest would fall upon him. He should have chosen to dodge instead- he certainly had the speed for it. But contrary to all of Anton¡¯s expectations, the void ants lit on fire. Anton understood that they were not completely immune to the effects of energy, but he couldn¡¯t expect such a thing to propagate through them. Neither had the void ants, yet they reacted as if that were so, throwing their flaming brethren behind them. They landed upon Otakar, tearing into his energy. But instead of responding wildly, he lit his own energy on fire. It should have taken moments to burn up even the weakest void ant, but they all crumbled into ash a moment later. It was as if it was a purely natural fire, the heat not enhanced by natural energy. Dozens of arrows from Anton burned up in the area around Otakar, no longer useful even as distractions. He hadn¡¯t stopped his assault the whole time, but simply couldn¡¯t break through. The second fleet was fully in retreat. Anton expected Otakar to chase after them, pressing his advantage. Instead, he turned towards the west. ¡°What did you do to our sun?¡± Anton shivered. ¡°We need to retreat!¡± he called. Fortunately, it would take at least a short time for the man to cover the hundreds of kilometers. Perhaps a handful of minutes, based on Anton¡¯s predictions of the man¡¯s maximum speed as he accelerated towards them. ¡°Understood. We retreat!¡± Annelie called to the Palace of Fire and Ice- followed up by immediately stabbing her rapier into the shoulder of an Integration cultivator leading them. From the tip of her blade, ice spread to cover his upper torso and head¡­ before she kicked it, shattering it all. At least things had gone well with the Enkindled Sun Sect. But it was troubling that void ants were defeated by the man so easily. Anton wouldn¡¯t say he thought it impossible¡­ but it would be very difficult to make use of them to take out such a target. Anton continued to attack the man as he moved, to watch his pattern. His own rate of recovering energy was quite high, but it would likely take an hour or two or ten to wear down Otakar based on what he sensed. Allied fleets began to retreat, gathering in space. Otakar was clearly a confident man, but he did not chase after Anton and the others, instead seeing to the remnants of the Enkindled Sun Sect. His actions were the only thing that kept them from complete destruction, and he hadn¡¯t even truly reached the battle. Chapter 673 Blaring alarms were quickly silenced as they were acknowledged. Gabriela kept a tight fist as the ship maneuvered up and away from the Gates of the Earth. Fortunately Otakar had been drawn away or she doubted they would have even made it to the upper atmosphere. She could feel the heat of the flames even on the command deck. Her job was to respond to the constant bombardment of reports and to provide guidance. This particular scenario hadn¡¯t been covered, but she would handle it. ¡°The formations can¡¯t extinguish the flames. Conventional methods also aren¡¯t working.¡± ¡°Continue our retreat,¡± she ordered. ¡°We¡¯ll starve it out.¡± Cultivators flames didn¡¯t have to follow rules about fuel and the like, but there were limits to everything. And though these had great power, melting through the outer hull as the metal itself caught alight, she knew there had to be some way to stop them. They were self-sustaining now, unless Otakar somehow maintained an untraceable connection from where he was. But they¡¯d checked for that. ¡°All forces, prepare for depressurization. Vent air on the outer decks.¡± Crew were distributed throughout the ship. While they could technically perform their duties from the command deck, there were delays when performing certain activities from a central point. The gunners, for example, needed the minimum amount of lag possible between their motions and that of the guns. A tenth of a second or even a hundredth of a second could be too much, so they were generally on a layer underneath the weapons themselves, properly shielded of course. Venting began, and Gabriela felt the flames. They burned on the hull and spewed out of the ship. In the worst case they¡¯d have to prepare a route out of the ship the crew could escape on- a well trained crew was just as important though technically less expensive than the ship. But only technically less expensive, as all training was designed to produce more value than its cost. She didn¡¯t want to think about that option now, however. ¡°Status?¡± she asked. ¡°Temperatures still rising, flames spreading. The rate¡­ might be slowing.¡± ¡°Outer formations severely damaged.¡± They continued to pull away from the planet and the traces of atmosphere, and Gabriela kept her face neutral while her heart was hopeful. Then came a report. ¡°... Flames receding.¡± ¡°Fire suppression systems only nominally functional, but effective.¡± ¡°Temperatures remain at unacceptable levels.¡± General Gabriela opened a link to engineers in the core. ¡°Is it possible to siphon the heat energy from the outer shell to power the batteries?¡± There was silence for a few moments. ¡°It won¡¯t be as efficient as material fuel, but I assume that¡¯s not your intention. There will be some risk to the lines, however.¡± ¡°Do your best. We¡¯re in for repairs no matter what, and we can¡¯t fight without our hull.¡± Technically the Wayfarer would remain structurally sound without the outer shell- but it had all of the armor that would protect the actually important parts besides weapons and engines that had to be placed externally. A minute later it seemed they had managed something as the temperature began to drop rapidly, though they continued to pull away from the battle and it was only half an hour later that temperatures were out of the emergency zone. ¡°Estimate the damage and give me a report on our losses,¡± Gabriela said. The people were the most important part. Anyone could build a fancy ship, but as the Independence showed, it required a good crew as well. Even an Assimilation cultivator was not sufficient alone without full understanding. Gabriela wished something worse had happened to Eyvor, the woman who had Nicodemo¡¯s stolen cultivation, but ultimately after the interrogation she had been executed. It wasn¡¯t worth risking her getting out. But death still seemed too easy for what she¡¯d done. Looking at the damage report, Gabriela had to admit that the ship itself was¡­ rather more important than she¡¯d been giving credit for. Specifically, the amount of damage was so extensive she honestly couldn¡¯t see them fighting. They didn¡¯t have unlimited supplies for repairs- they were only supposed to patch up holes, not replace entire sections. Then Neven showed up on the deck. ¡°Why are you walking?¡± ¡°Because I can¡¯t fly,¡± he responded. Gabriela shook her head at the lead gunner, almost losing her composure once she actually looked at him. He was staggering about, but her vague sweep hadn¡¯t done his injuries justice. Much of his body was blackened, with only uncomfortable patches of bloody red poking through. ¡°You should be in the medbay.¡± ¡°It¡¯s full,¡± he shrugged. ¡°Besides, I wanted to talk to you.¡± ¡°Does it have to be now?¡± she asked. Even as she responded to him, she was answering queries on her computer. At least she didn¡¯t have to repeat herself, as everyone with proper clearance could answer the communications. As long as the internal network didn¡¯t collapse, which was one of the problems they had only barely avoided with damage all throughout the ship. ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°It relates to that guy. Otakar.¡± ¡°Alright, what of it?¡± ¡°I would like permission to attempt to replicate his style.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. She frowned at him. ¡°Why ask for permission? You¡¯re not going to set the ship on fire, are you?¡± ¡°Not on purpose,¡± he said. ¡°But¡­ there is some risk, as I would need to use the cannon to properly practice.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t he use a blade? I don¡¯t see how you could even replicate that.¡± ¡°As you may recall, I studied under swordmaster Ty Quigley for a time. Our styles might not have meshed, but the way he adapted archaic weaponry to be useful with modern equipment styles inspired me. Here, I would just be doing the opposite.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you his disciple for¡­¡± she looked it up, ¡°... A month? Did you really learn anything?¡± ¡°I learned everything I could from him,¡± Neven replied. ¡°May I practice now?¡± ¡°Now?¡± ¡°It is still fresh in my mind,¡± Neven said. ¡°We¡¯re still doing barrier calculations. You¡¯ll have to be quarantined, even if I don¡¯t expect you to replicate anything.¡± ¡°Fine. Do I have permission?¡± ¡°Yes. But-¡± Gabriela held up a hand to stop him as he began to turn. ¡°Only after you go to the medbay and let someone plaster some skin on you.¡± Neven just stood there, thinking. ¡°Every second you choose to delay will mean you¡¯re one second later. Weren¡¯t you in a hurry?¡± ¡°Can I have permission to go like this?¡± He held up his hand, flames dancing across his fingertips. ¡°My current bodily state remembers the feeling.¡± ¡°Fine. But you need to at least let them scan you to make sure you won¡¯t fall apart.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± he nodded. ¡°If I may be excused?¡± ¡°Go.¡± The gunner scampered off the bridge. Gabriela shook her head. She couldn¡¯t exactly restrict people attempting to be exceptional, but she didn¡¯t understand what drove people like that. Here she was, just trying to hold things together but not pushing the extra mile. Not like Nicodemo. Then again, she¡¯d never be like him. ¡°General,¡± another individual caught her attention. ¡°I do have¡­ one idea for where to get materials for the repairs.¡± ¡°Is there some sort of foundry I don¡¯t know of?¡± Gabriela asked. ¡°I doubt we can make anything to our standards.¡± ¡°It is all precisely to our standards. Older standards, at least.¡± The officer shook her head, ¡°Right now the Independence is just floating there¡­¡± ¡°We can¡¯t afford even a day of delay on repairs,¡± Gabriela said. ¡°Getting permission for that¡­¡± ¡°Understood, general. I was simply providing the option.¡± ¡°Appreciated,¡± Gabriela nodded. ¡°There are also many metals near the sun, in an asteroid belt that was presumably once their innermost planet. Their proximity to the sun will allow us to constantly refuel, making use of the ship¡¯s internal production facilities.¡± ¡°And those materials would allow us to be functional quickly? Within a week or two?¡± ¡°Unlikely. Damage to all ship infrastructure was severe, including freight elevators and fabricators.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll consider the options,¡± Gabriela said. Dammit. She was going to take apart a national treasure, wasn¡¯t she? Ah well. They couldn¡¯t possibly court-martial her until the war was over, and that Otakar guy proved they needed every little thing they could get. At least the information from the other attacks indicated general success, except for the Augmentation cultivator chasing away the first fleet before they were completely finished with their goal. ----- ¡°As everyone is well aware, Otakar is a serious problem,¡± Anton opened the discussion without fanfare. ¡°All of you are here to consult. What are our options?¡± ¡°Our barrier calibrations should be sufficient to enhance the fleets¡¯ durability,¡± Gabriela provided- or at least the image of her. She was not able to be physically present, her excuse being the Wayfarer had to avoid being located. And in truth, it probably wouldn¡¯t be. Except by Anton, since he could feel it next to the sun. And another thing he¡¯d tossed in a temporary orbit there. But he wasn¡¯t going to complain about Rutera doing their best with what they had available. ¡°Unfortunately, the Wayfarer will be out of commission.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to count that as another loss,¡± Anton said. ¡°It was only a few Assimilation individuals, but we can¡¯t exactly absorb such losses continuously.¡± And personally, he didn¡¯t like people he knew dying. That never stopped him from trying to connect with more people, though. ¡°The void ants have prepared a response for us as well, I believe.¡± One of the Royal Guard- the one nominally in charge, even with the current status involving at least one mangled leg- gave a short and concise overview. ¡°Our previous formations were developed with the understanding that cultivators could only harm a small portion of them at a time. However, this individual overwhelmed our expectations even with regards to our understanding of other Augmentation cultivators. Should we be called upon to eliminate him, we will be altering our tactics to make use of detached groups of elite individuals in a pattern most stifling to his attacks. Assuming his vulnerability to physical trauma is not out of the expected bounds, we should be able to cause severe injuries or death.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Gabriela replied. ¡°Would this be the most efficient use of your forces?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± the Royal Guard admitted. ¡°An alternative method involves getting in contact with one micro-elite individual and attempting an assassination. A Royal Guard sized similar to myself would likely be noticed with the continuing exposure of Ekict¡¯s forces to void ants.¡± Anton led the conversation in a different direction. ¡°Perhaps we can find a way to combine void ant and cultivator forces to greater effect. Because as cultivators alone we also face difficulty defeating him on our own. Even if we assumed that he was the only enemy we would have to deal with- obviously untrue- killing him would be near impossible. Gathering all our forces, we could certainly overpower him. But if we truly attacked all at once, he could simply fight his way through our forces and flee. Those who could match his speed would not be able to defeat him alone. Certainly not reliably.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t he get tired?¡± Gabriela asked. ¡°He would have to replenish his energy somehow. Where does it come from?¡± ¡°As an Augmentation cultivator¡­¡± Anton frowned, ¡°It should be from Ascension energy in the upper realms. But his energy was very clearly natural energy as expected of this place. Dense and powerful, but with the same signatures. He might recover quickly anywhere or¡­ perhaps he might not. That might be influenced by his reasons for concealment up until now.¡± Anton considered. ¡°We¡¯ll have to watch him from a distance.¡± Which meant Anton would have to do it, as well as a few special scout ships that could remain hidden in a far orbit. The Wayfarer would also be a good candidate, if it wasn¡¯t out of commission. ¡°Weos didn¡¯t have a chance to test our spatial distortion against his attacks,¡± Ingeborg brought up. ¡°It is likely they will prove more effective at avoiding the start of the chain reaction, which might be enough to throw him off and injure him.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to try it,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But first we must monitor the situation on the planet itself, and their response to the damage we caused. Including the general dismantling of the planetary barrier.¡± Technically, it still held together in some spots- but a good half of the planet was unprotected or only had a very tenuous shell that could be easily shattered. Flying around such spots would be easy enough, allowing them to attack any places of interest. So they had achieved their goals, even if they had another problem they had to deal with before they could move to the next steps. Chapter 674 If the Great Queen were present, Anton had no doubt she would attempt to slay Otakar herself. If she was successful it would instantly resolve the most troublesome point of the war¡­ and a failure could lead to a disaster. From what Anton could tell, the void ants were currently in a state of flux, whether most of them understood it or not. But the Great Queen was not present, and they couldn¡¯t afford to wait months for her arrival even if it were to be deemed the correct option. Ekict was preparing some sort of counterattack, and while their alliance would have an advantage if fleets fought against each other it would involve greater focused risk to the alliance cultivators overall, as well as inevitably leading to the death of tens of thousands of cultivators from Ekict who really didn¡¯t have a choice. Potentially hundreds of thousands or more, depending on how many ships Ekict had available. With the planetary barrier down, Anton was able to get general ideas of what they had available in any particular place, but he couldn¡¯t survey a whole planet at once. Nor did he intend to focus solely on that task. Among other things, he had to watch out for his granddaughter. Or rather, great-great-granddaughter. Anishka was doing an excellent job of turning cultivators against the leading sects, though most really didn¡¯t take much nudging. Whether it was one, five, or ten at a time she was making an impact. And those people might spread the word, though there was as of yet no overarching structure or plan beyond agreeing to stand against the great sects¡­ eventually. But even mutterings of discontent placed people in danger. More than normal in an unbalanced cultivator society, that is. Anton couldn¡¯t watch everything, but he looked wherever he could, searching for flaring energy. An Essence Collection cultivator drew a blade against a few in Spirit Building. It was much more difficult to ¡®hear¡¯ the conversation than simply sense the forms of individuals, but he could surmise the general details. An arrow of light crossed the intervening distance before the blade could approach any of them, knocking it away. The small group turned and fled while the one retrieved their weapon, then looked around in paranoia for the source of the attack. But they simply didn¡¯t have the ability to detect Anton, thousands of kilometers away in space. He kept aware of anything around him in case anyone was attempting to approach. Just because most people wouldn¡¯t be able to sense him didn¡¯t mean he was totally hidden. Sometimes, Anton had to make difficult decisions. A fruit stand was robbed, and he only watched as the livelihood of an individual was half stolen, half destroyed. But killing the cultivator involved would simply be a death sentence for the individual in question unless he could commit to watching over them forever. Or at least the rest of the war. But as they trudged home, they at least got a pair of birds for supper. It would not fully reimburse them for their woes, but Anton could not solve everything himself. Nor was he interested in such anymore. Anton didn¡¯t limit himself to small scuffles either. When he found elders or high ranking disciples of any of the larger sects away from protective barriers, he was not above shooting them down unceremoniously. These were only the sects that seemed to have knowledge of Transferral or were otherwise organizing the war efforts. He also did his best to make sure that they died only in the most public situations where there was nobody to blame but him. If he was allowed to continue like that indefinitely, he could change the course of the planet in just a few months. But inevitably fleets were organized to patrol around the planet, forcing him to stay on the move. That made him only half as effective¡­ but he could pick off some of their ships as an alternative. There were only a few he would actually have to flee from. Fortunately, Otakar didn¡¯t seem to be interested in chasing him down at this exact moment. But Anton still made sure to move to cover different areas, so that his location in ¡®orbit¡¯ couldn¡¯t be predicted ahead of time. After only a few days, Anton rarely found activity taking place outside of protected barriers, with the exceptions of drafted cultivators who were being relocated. The enemy fleets also began to fly in formations specifically designed to make it difficult for him to take any of them out, and Anton was quite happy to let them believe their tactics were effective to some extent. Not that regular ships could respond to his attack patterns if he was serious. It was impossible for Anton to commit to anything because of Otakar, and a few of the more prominent individuals gathering would also be an issue for him. But the Otakar situation was still being discussed. ----- ¡°How go the repairs?¡± Anton asked general Gabriela. ¡°Full repairs would take months in a proper dry dock, but it is expected that the Wayfarer will be able to participate in fleet combat should the occasion arise. We can¡¯t deal with that Augmentation cultivator, however.¡± Naid Conaire took a few moments to consider his words. ¡°They likely know that as well, and we may be able to use it to our advantage.¡± ¡°How?¡± Gabriela asked. ¡°Do we try to draw him into an ambush?¡± ¡°Or simply away from another engagement. As long as you can handle any other opponents¡­¡± ¡°I would be more confident in that if we did not have so many missing hull panels,¡± Gabriela admitted. ¡°But with our barriers adapted to Aoibhin, we have a decent chance of defeating her should we come into contact again. As long as we can keep him out of the picture.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Perhaps this ¡®weakness¡¯ might also lead us to another option,¡± Ingeborg suggested. ¡°Specifically, if we could draw him towards the sun¡­¡± ¡°We would have to burn maximum fuel to pull away from Otakar at all,¡± Gabriela admitted. ¡°But it might be possible. I¡¯d prefer to have further calibrations for our barriers before that, so he can¡¯t simply melt us with a single strike.¡± ¡°If you were able to draw him in,¡± Naid looked to Anton, ¡°Would you be confident in defeating him? Or at least occupying him for a time?¡± ¡°From what I have seen, I do believe I could generally avoid him. However, I have no guarantee he couldn¡¯t put on a greater burst of speed than we have seen and catch up to me. If he was foolish enough to chase me onto the actual surface of the sun? I could beat him. But I believe he has at least a basic understanding of my connection, so he likely wouldn¡¯t get that close. Nor do I think I could put on a convincing play of weakness along the way, as I wouldn¡¯t be willing to risk holding back.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°I¡¯d need some other factors to help take him down.¡± ¡°I doubt he¡¯d just let us gather all of our fleets to attack him,¡± Ingeborg said. ¡°But if general Gabriela and the Wayfarer could draw him away, we could spare the both of you for the efforts. However long he could be avoided would be sufficient for our other forces to make significant progress. At the moment we have an approximation of the speed he has displayed, arriving anywhere around the planet in less than an hour¡­ but we can presume he would be faster flying through space, especially now that he wouldn¡¯t have to contend with planetary barriers restricting his movements much.¡± ¡°Would it be possible for some of Weos¡¯ ships to gather further data first?¡± Gabriela asked. ¡°I suppose we should,¡± Ingeborg admitted. ¡°It¡¯s about time we made another coordinated assault regardless. We need to give you enough time to complete your repairs.¡± ----- Ascension-class battleships were not particularly modular, but rather uniquely constructed. It wasn¡¯t as if Rutera had a large number of them sitting about. Thus, taking bits and pieces of the ship wasn¡¯t exactly the same as popping an energy cell into a socket. At least the same design principles and connectors applied¡­ though given that some of the pieces were never meant for removal, there was a lot of cutting and welding involved. It was a good thing that some of the crew were focused on repair cultivation- Gabriela never knew how important it was to seamlessly fuse wires together until they began moving the main cannon. Gabriela sighed. The first flagship had gone from a relatively intact retrieval to a floating wreck, and the Wayfarer hardly looked much better. It wasn¡¯t in the most stable configuration either, with half of the Independence¡¯s power systems gutted and clumsily hacked onto the front of the Wayfarer. But it wasn¡¯t her who had pushed for the main cannon, but rather Neven. And the techs hadn¡¯t been reluctant to try, though they didn¡¯t promise anything would work past the end of next week. ¡°It¡¯s what he would have wanted,¡± a voice suddenly said from next to her. Gabriela jumped, swearing profusely. Her instinct to attack the sudden arrival was stifled by her simply not being strong enough. Instead, the blade at her side- with augmented energy generators- was caught between the fingers of an old man. ¡°I sure hope your subordinates don¡¯t sneak up on you.¡± ¡°Of course they don¡¯t! Also, how did you do it?¡± she asked Anton. ¡°Why can¡¯t I sense your energy? ¡°I¡¯m not even hiding it,¡± he pointed out. ¡°All I feel is- oh right.¡± She half-glanced towards the sun- but even as a Life Transformation cultivator she wasn¡¯t willing to stare at it from barely some thousands of kilometers away. ¡°I- uh, why are you here?¡± His sudden appearance startled her, but Anton always made her relax, perhaps more than she really should. It was so easy to just talk to him like any old grandpa. ¡°I came to make sure all your banging didn¡¯t shove this thing off course. Your engineers did a good job, by the way, but the Wayfarer isn¡¯t equipped for finer pushing maneuvers.¡± The two ships were practically pressing against each other, since they could only move the very large and heavy pieces slowly. If they wanted them to stop at the other end, at least. ¡°Right. Do you really think he¡¯d be okay with us destroying his legacy?¡± Gabriela shook her head. ¡°He¡¯d want you to win. This? This is just a ship. And yes, it was his ship. But just like him¡­ it has passed away.¡± ¡°It could have been kept intact,¡± Gabriela said. ¡°Without him, it¡¯s just the worst Ascension-class battleship,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if you¡¯re really bothered, I¡¯d say you should lean into it. This is general Nicodemo coming along with you to fight,¡± he patted the ship. ¡°I do feel somewhat better,¡± Gabriela admitted. ¡°Thanks for coming. Though I have the feeling¡­ you¡¯re also here for something else.¡± ¡°The ability to read people is an important quality for a leader,¡± Anton said, smiling. ¡°It¡¯s true. I thought I¡¯d come here and¡­ survey the battlefield, such as it is. But it¡¯s mostly just empty space. Looks like I¡¯ll have to be flying laps around the sun.¡± ¡°Could be,¡± Gabriela said. ¡°Would anything actually help?¡± ¡°How about a massive, unbreakable cage that I could shrink around him?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Got any of those?¡± ¡°Only if you want to build it yourself out of asteroids.¡± ¡°Shame,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I left mine at home. And I was never much of a smith.¡± ¡°Well, we don¡¯t have time to make and enchant such a thing either,¡± Gabriela gestured to the busy workers climbing about the structure of the ship. ¡°And while I don¡¯t like to get in their way, I also need to check up and make sure everything¡¯s running smoothly, especially at our chokepoints. Also, don¡¯t you have a battle to be at today?¡± ¡°I was just making sure to top off,¡± Anton said, gesturing at the star. ¡°Same as your ship.¡± Chapter 675 Despite the planetary formations being patchwork at best, the fact that they were still functional at all could hinder the Trifold Alliance in any number of ways. For Anton, that meant his next mission was assaulting a sect in the Black Desert along with Ingeborg. This particular region was rather fuzzy to Anton¡¯s senses, precisely because of the sands themselves. However, he¡¯d still managed to pick up a feeling of something familiar. Someone familiar. Which of course meant that whoever that was had to die, as a secondary but still relevant objective. Anton flew down next to one of the ring-ships of Weos. This one was quite larger, the weapons emplacements dominating its surface and barely visible positions for those who were more suitable to use their own weapons. Or those who had defensive abilities that would complement the ship and spatial distortion around it. Even as they began to descend, Anton sensed Vasu. Nostalgia filled him, bringing back all sorts of fond memories. The Million Sword Vault was his favorite sect of completely unreasonable individuals, and it was a great loss to them and Ceretos as a whole that Vasu was gone now. Anton had some miniscule hope that Vasu was alive and well, and the real him had taken over this region. He held onto that shred of hope even as the black sands began to coalesce into a tornado stretching into the sky. It seemed that Ekict had chosen well. Though the Scorching Mirror Desert was quite different, both in the department of colors and overall temperature, the Black Desert did share an important property. Unlike traditional sand, it was not rounded but sharp. The whirling vortex of sand could tear apart energy defenses and flesh, of that Anton had no doubt. He focused his senses, pushing through the distorting effect of the metallic sands. Even beyond the tornado itself the particles filled the air, but he was able to latch onto the source of the energy, the figure behind it all. A woman, wrinkled but certainly no older than Vasu himself had been. Unfortunate, that she should hold his power. But he had confirmed it. She was not careless despite the distance between her and the fleet. In the tiniest fraction of a second it took Anton¡¯s arrows to reach her, she had barriers of black sand surrounding her. No, perhaps they were there all along, obscured in some odd way by their very presence. Spread thin, but instantly condensing into one place. Skillfully constructed, and sturdy enough Anton didn¡¯t feel he was having any notable effect. He wasn¡¯t yet going all out, but likely that was true of this woman. He felt energy gathering from the large ship. His finely tuned ears picked up Ingeborg speaking. ¡°I¡¯ve never had an opportunity to actually use this.¡± Her own energy formed the main component of what he felt, a power both familiar and odd. Rarely used in combat, and certainly not at such a scale. First was that it was generally impractical, and beyond that it was ill advised. But there was nothing around here that they would want to spare from destruction, so the potential side effects were just a factor to consider. It wasn¡¯t really a cannon, simply a cylinder that focused the energy. Anton felt himself dragged towards it for a moment before a beam of black nothing pierced into the center of the sandy tornado, causing it to collapse. Not down to the ground, but inward towards a point in its center. The fleets continued their approach, now unhindered¡­ but that didn¡¯t last forever. The woman on the ground maintained control of the sands, she merely had to work harder to fight against the massive gravity pulling at the center of what had once been a vortex. Instead of doing so directly, Anton felt her drop control of that, instead calling upon wider spread black sands, once more forming a vortex but with a wider eye, larger and more powerful as a whole. But it would also be more effort to maintain. As the two forces wrestled each other, Anton thought about his own possible contributions. He could manage one of them without question, but the other would likely be less impactful. But one was a familiar and focused attack, so he could still have plenty of concentration to attempt the latter. Anton drew upon energy from beyond himself. Not his stars, as they were basically a part of him. Nor was it Ascension energy, but something rarer, or at least more obtuse. Spectral energy, the other component of Fleeting Youth that was likewise harder to comprehend. Ascension he understood and had rejected, but neither death nor reincarnation had truly been experienced by him. The arrows were made of practically nothing or perhaps the most vital sort of energy in the world pierced through the cloud of metallic sands. Physical barriers were pointless against such things. Once again the woman displayed her competence, countering with her own natural energy. But that only went so far, and as Anton faded away along with the arrows he knew one member of his barrage had actually pierced her side. A small injury, but a step forward. As for his other use of power, he was just getting started. He focused his thoughts on Azun, and the massive power it held. Magnetism not experienced on such a scale anywhere else, not even other stars. Of course he could not replicate the full power of a star, but it influenced the efficacy of his techniques and the insights he could gain. A dense power began to pull the sands in a path perpendicular to their flow- and towards each other. The black sands began to clump together and ¡®fall¡¯ into the gravity well Ingeborg created, while ultimately slowing the whole vortex. Anton had some concerns about how it would affect the fleet, but the spatial distortions minimized the impact, along with his intentions. Actually, the effect might be even more divergent because he was uncertain if the black sands were mainly iron, or perhaps some other less magnetic metals. But he knew that on a certain scale, only very few materials didn¡¯t interact with magnetism at all. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The fleet split to the sides of the whirlwind, bombarding the barriers below. The Assimilation woman controlling the sands most likely wanted to maximize her effectiveness, so she was mainly outside of them, except for an overhang above her. Behind her was a small compound, though it could still fit a few hundred defenders. And it was indeed populated, both with those waiting for the barrier to be breached and those making use of older style artillery or long range techniques to counterattack. Metal. Everything was metal. Anton found it difficult to form a wave of magnetism, and indeed it was much more difficult to use at a great range than his normal techniques, so he ultimately began flying closer. Some of the sands rose to meet him in particular, but he was ready. He didn¡¯t have to get close to the ground, but he had been curious. He formed much smaller fields around him, and found that his control was enough to overwhelm the enemy¡¯s. Or at least the portion the woman was able to devote to him. She quickly gave up, but Anton did not stop his manipulation. In fact, he focused it into familiar shapes. Strings and shafts, along with arrows. His first several volleys varied widely in their efficacy. Some arrows disintegrated, some moved with great speed, and others lagged behind, as if in slow motion. It all depended on how tightly he held the magnetic fields and laid out a path for them. They had to be properly aligned with the arrows or they acted more like a net slowing things down. He understood the ideas behind it, especially after he¡¯d first studied with Varghese, but this particular application was new as he needed to maintain tight control over individual particles without exhausting himself. After a minute or so, he had a consistent volley going, striking the barriers with high speed masses. The barriers had an excess of energy, as this was one of the core locations that was supposed to be supporting the larger planetary formation. Breaking through with only force would be difficult¡­ but they did have a formation master with them. Ingeborg had plans already underway, and what looked like random bombardments was not entirely without a deeper pattern. Soon, the barrier began to wobble. Then it popped, but only on the top. A half dozen ships flew over, escorting a nondescript seventh ship that dropped something through the barrier before it repaired itself a moment later. Anton saw and felt a great pull, tearing apart the less fortified structures within the barrier and beginning to drag cultivators towards it. Then a moment later the power contained within the bomb detonated, sending everything flying into everything else. No doubt most of the more powerful cultivators would survive, but the structures themselves would be ruined- and the underlying formations damaged to the point they lost functionality. Ingeborg¡¯s ship was waiting for that moment to fire a series of lasers that melted the various components of the larger planetary formation, sending ripples of energy across the surface of the planet as a great portion of the remaining web fell apart. Now they could go. And they should, before Otakar could show himself. It was possible he was on his way to another location, but they could lose much even in a short confrontation. Yet neither Ingeborg nor Anton were willing to leave just yet. Anton felt her larger ship turning around for another pass- perhaps at the formations, or perhaps at the woman who stole Vasu¡¯s assimilation. Anton had to admit she was making excellent use of Vasu¡¯s abilities, unlike some of the others. Perhaps her previous style was closer to his, or she simply adapted better. But even so, she was still lacking. Life Transformation cultivators flocked around her to mutually defend each other, but Anton didn¡¯t mind taking all of them out too. Metallic arrows began to bombard them, co-opting barriers of black sand meant to protect them and turning them into additional arrows or extra mass. These struck Life Transformation cultivators for the most part, as the closer Anton let them get to the woman the greater her control became. But in his hands he still held his own bow, firing Spirit Arrows of natural energy, ascension energy, and when it was most unexpected spectral energy. The whole time, sands chased after him. No longer trying at being a tornado, they turned into arms and spears grabbing and stabbing at Anton and the other ships. Anton flew away from these assaults as he fired his own attacks, grabbing at bits of metallic sand as he did so. Anton found the control excellent¡­ but he would have been more worried if it was Vasu. Because then he imagined would have had to contend with either ten million swords, or one the size of an entire desert making use of highly honed sword skills. This woman had talent and experience, but she was simply lacking the maniacal passion of the sword cultivators Anton had met. When Ingeborg¡¯s ship returned, there wasn¡¯t anything fancy that happened. No gravity distortions beyond the norm. Well, perhaps a little bit to accelerate the massive cannon ball, a simple high velocity kinetic weapon. The speed it moved at was immense, but still technically avoidable. However, that avoidance was much harder with Anton pestering the woman with his own attacks, and she had to choose between what hit her. Unfortunately, she chose wrong as Anton¡¯s arrow split and stopped her dodging momentum instead of piercing through her, keeping her in the path of the projectile. Nothing could stop that path, and the majority of her torso was removed while everything else both caught on fire and was battered about by sonic waves as the heavy mass crashed into the desert. Perhaps it would have been better to use that on the barrier, but Anton got everything he wanted as they left behind an impact crater to remind people of the incident. There was no Otakar yet, but Anton had the feeling that only meant he was striking another target. Chapter 676 There had been so many new people Anishka was interacting with over the last days that it took her a moment to recall the context of a vaguely familiar face. It was Celina¡¯s face that reminded her. ¡°I heard a rumor that someone stole a ship and got off planet,¡± Haroun said. ¡°I¡¯d hoped it was you. I was looking forward to getting paid.¡± ¡°How did you get here?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Me? Why, I am an official representative of the¡­¡± he looked at a badge pinned to his shirt. ¡°...Orange Poppy Alchemists. Obviously.¡± She didn¡¯t know why she had even asked. Obviously he could get face accreditations for himself as easily as for others. ¡°Why are you here?¡± ¡°I could ask the same for you,¡± he replied. ¡°Except I don¡¯t intend to stay here. Strangely, you seem to be content. I¡¯d really rather you get to safety.¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°People are much too busy to search for me right now. Especially since they believe I¡¯m gone. Besides, I already informed those necessary. You will get paid¡­ as long as you don¡¯t renege on your bargain.¡± ¡°Please, who do you think I am?¡± Haroun looked actually offended. ¡°I¡¯m not crazy enough to double cross someone like that,¡± he looked up. ¡°But I find it difficult to believe I will receive my reward if you get yourself captured. So I thought I would come encourage you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Anishka stated. ¡°But if you¡¯re worried, you can speed up this process by spreading the word. The stronger sects are just going to make everyone die for their choices, and the Trifold Alliance doesn¡¯t want to have to kill them.¡± ¡°I probably could spread the word,¡± Haroun shrugged. ¡°But I don¡¯t see how that benefits me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s impatient,¡± Anishka pointed out. ¡°Besides, couldn¡¯t you¡­ I dunno, charge people to connect them with like-minded individuals?¡± Haroun narrowed his eyes. ¡°It sounds like you¡¯re trying to get me to promote your plans for free.¡± ¡°Or with someone else paying,¡± Anishka said. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault if you can¡¯t make it work.¡± ¡°... You¡¯ve become far too confident since we last met. It was easier to get paid before,¡± Haroun said. ¡°I¡¯m not really convinced.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure I could convince the right people to not break apart your criminal empire along with everything else.¡± Haroun frowned, ¡°That sounds suspiciously like blackmail.¡± ¡°Does it?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°You¡¯re the one who approached me.¡± Haroun rolled his eyes. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll consider spreading the word.¡± ¡°I appreciate it.¡± ----- The Royal Guard were probably more suited for the Sergeant¡¯s current job, not for anything but the size of their mandibles. She wanted to be able to quickly chomp down on this guy¡¯s important blood flow areas if he tried something stupid. But the Royal Guard were also¡­ big. Bulky. At least by comparison. Either way, someone was much more likely to feel them crawling about. The Sergeant, meanwhile, easily ducked between the hairs this man had going all the way up his body. He passed the first test easily enough, which was not directly going to one of the sect representatives and trying to rat out Anishka. He mostly went around getting money from people, generally without talking. And not by stealing it, either. Not directly, at least. It was handed to him intentionally, or left places. The Sergeant didn¡¯t really understand money or even possessions as an overarching thing, but her experience with humans let her understand some things. While taken surreptitiously, this money wasn¡¯t stolen at this particular stage in its life cycle. Then Haroun went around trying to get other people to give him money, after talking to a lot of people and picking up written notes. Reading was still a great labor for the Sergeant, as it involved moving over a whole paper or trying to get an angle where she could actually see it. Without being on someone¡¯s forehead where she could be slapped. And her distance vision wasn¡¯t good at resolving such details either, unless the writing happened to be imbued with energy. From the context of his words, it seemed he was trying to do the thing Anishka asked. At least, that was what the Sergeant determined. He was just bad at stating things clearly so she was only guessing. Maybe some of these were a ¡®shakedown¡¯. But it wasn¡¯t her job to stop such things if that was the case. Ultimately, she continued on with the man until he reached the edge of the camp where he met up with several others and continued on his way. It would take far too much time to return to Anishka if she went further, so she left him there. ----- Things were quickly coming to a head. Targets had been picked out among the various enemy sects on their core world. The Wayfarer was in the best state it could be, given the circumstances. The next important step was to attempt to draw Otakar away, without it being too obvious. Would he really want to take out just the Wayfarer? Perhaps not. But the Wayfarer and Anton might be more appealing, as he seemed to have built up a grudge with the archer. Add into that a moderately sized fleet with the Wayfarer, and it was a group of forces he could potentially destroy on his own. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Which was somewhat of a concern for Anton. Otakar might actually be successful, if things didn¡¯t go as planned. Anton thought he could fly away, keeping enough distance from his opponent, but that couldn¡¯t be judged for certain until it was tested. Sacrificing himself for a sufficient distraction was not a pleasant thought, but sacrificing himself without even drawing the man away far enough would be worse. And Anton didn¡¯t intend to die, but there was no way they could win this war without losing more people from all across their cultivation ranks. He just hoped that Ekict¡¯s lesser cultivators would stand with them, or at least stay out of their way. No doubt many would be held in place by the familiar fear of the large sects or swayed by their promises of rewards, but some had seemed interested in Anishka and the others¡¯ word. Ultimately, there was no telling how they would act until the time came. Anton could kill tens, hundreds, or thousands of cultivators below Life Transformation by himself without them even being able to counterattack, but that didn¡¯t mean he would be given that opportunity- or wanted to. There was a core group that had to die, and the rest would best be avoided. But they¡¯d done what they could. All of the grounded ships were now within barriers, so he couldn¡¯t just destroy them from wherever he pleased. Spectral energy might pierce a barrier unknown, but it was particularly weak at destroying objects. He hadn¡¯t stopped harassing or killing enemy cultivators, but there were limits to how much he could do at once. There was still a massive population of cultivators moving, and either they were almost done mobilizing or they would not be ready when the Trifold Alliance attacked. Anton could hope for the latter without betting on it. If things turned out easier than expected? He would breathe a sigh of relief and return home happy. Or wherever he went directly after. ----- ¡°You can really crack that barrier alone?¡± Anton asked general Gabriela. ¡°The Wayfarer has taken upon itself additional cannons. We have half again as much firepower as we used to¡­ and our lead gunner has some weird insights that might help. We¡¯ll burn through power, of course. But that¡¯s the whole point. Just keep a watch for him.¡± Anton nodded. That was his job¡­ as well as picking off any easy targets when barriers were cracked open. The Wayfarer¡¯s range wasn¡¯t as much as his, but without planetary barriers it could still bombard a sect from high in the atmosphere, where even those who could fly would take some time to reach. Except Assimilation cultivators or the like, and if they wanted to fight alone Anton and the Wayfarer would happily scrap with a couple of them. If there were too many, they would just leave. The first day was mostly uneventful. They caused a lot of mostly cosmetic damage to several different sects, though repairs might be expensive- and Anton hoped the damage to the formations was more permanent. Then they retreated, not directly towards the sun so that they weren¡¯t too obvious about where they were going. Then both would recharge for the next attack. The second day they got into a proper scuffle and weren¡¯t able to break through the intended barrier- withdrawing towards the safety of waiting allied fleets. Those were there to, ironically, make people forget them. And ready to act when things actually got down to it. It was on the fifth day when it happened. ¡°He¡¯s coming,¡± Anton warned. ¡°You¡¯d better turn tail.¡± The Wayfarer wasn¡¯t slow, but compared to a cultivator its maneuverability was lacking. Given some time, however, it was able to accelerate in the proper direction, and if they were being caught up to they could put on a burst of acceleration to keep ahead. Flying through the void of space, there wasn¡¯t exactly a limit on speed- though gravity wells of planets or achieving any fraction of the speed of light did make that more difficult. Relative acceleration was the most important in a chase. Anton took some shots in a serious attempt to injure Otakar and slow him down. The man was already flying out of the atmosphere, clearly intent to circle around the planet. Even as he peppered the man with attacks, Anton began his own retreat. Otakar moved to cut both him and the Wayfarer off from a fleet that they could join with, and the plan was fully in motion. If Otakar had a proper communicator, he might have turned around a few minutes into the chase. That was the weakness of the plan, but in both formations and physical technology Ekict was behind. They had some point-to-point communicators, since the Alliance had wanted to keep in contact with them, but those were mainly bulky since they had to transmit fifty lightyears. Anton¡¯s were much smaller but required a significant power output to reply. Either he didn¡¯t have anything like that or ignored it, because he didn¡¯t stop his chase. Anton had to work hard with returning projectiles to keep the man away from the Wayfarer, but fortunately the man was interested in herding the two of them together so he made wasted movements. Smaller ships were taken out along his way, unfortunately, but they still contributed to attempting to wear the man down. Otakar had fallen back a quite significant distance from them, but he continued to increase his acceleration, closing the gap. On the scale between them and the sun, he was practically on their heels. That was never more clear than when the man suddenly cut through space, appearing next to the Wayfarer. His blade came down on its adaptive barrier¡­ and didn¡¯t immediately set the whole thing on fire. The adaptation worked, but it could still be overpowered. Anton didn¡¯t intend to let that happen, making use of his slowly increasing power to amp up his unending rain of arrows. Some had the power of light, so close as to be unavoidable. The man¡¯s energy defenses withstood those easily enough, but the point was to wear him down. Anton still believed the man¡¯s stamina couldn¡¯t be endless, or he would have participated in more battles. He only barely managed to duck in time as the man moved through the void to strike him. It wasn¡¯t the same as Chikere¡¯s ability to cut apart space with her blade- but it was effective enough for him to close the distance with Anton. Fortunately, Star Steps allowed Anton to instantly change his trajectory. Though it didn¡¯t seem Otakar was locked into a particular direction either. Each time he moved, he approached within ten or a hundred meters of Anton, who would then shoot off at a seemingly random angle. Along with Otakar came his aura of fire, as if the man were a great furnace. Any shot Anton made from up close brought with them a burst of flame, not that he had much time to make use of them. And while he was also a fire cultivator, he was only immune to the flames of his own stars. The man was clearly trying to strike his bow, without which Anton¡¯s offensive force would drop sharply. Anton wasn¡¯t certain exactly how sturdy Worldheart was, but he didn¡¯t want to find out the hard way that it could fall to this man¡¯s flames or blade. A sword sliced down vertically, its trajectory aiming for Anton¡¯s head. However, it both slowed and curved as it did so. Then it suddenly sped up as Anton shot directly backwards. He sustained a powerful magnetic field just a few tens of meters around himself, but it was paying off. The overall momentum of the battle carried it towards the sun- hence Anton¡¯s directions being not quite random. The Wayfarer was dropping behind, but if they reversed direction for even a moment the two groups would meet once more. It just wasn¡¯t possible for them to target Otakar with him practically teleporting around. Though they¡¯d made it about halfway and Anton felt his power growing, he still harbored doubts about being able to survive Otakar¡¯s onslaught for long. He was burning through power many times faster than he could recover it, and Otakar still felt fresh. It didn¡¯t matter if Anton could win a marathon if he was sliced in two before they got that far. Chapter 677 Anton was almost entirely focused on Otakar and the sun, but he felt something in the empty void of space as they were hurtling by. Anton also found himself getting a sense of Otakar¡¯s timing, and redirected himself slightly. Anton was on a direct impact course with an asteroid¡­ but Star Steps allowed him to move around it in three quick bursts, just as Otakar moved. Either he didn¡¯t detect it or he didn¡¯t care, as he smashed directly through it on his way to Anton. Anton had hoped for something like that, and focused on creating a link between Otakar and the metals in the asteroid. They were like invisible chains that he dragged along, slowing him slightly. Anton still barely pulled away, then darted off towards the next one. Despite popular depictions, the next one was perhaps one percent of the remaining distance to the sun¡­ but Anton wasn¡¯t certain he could reach that far alive. So he had to make use of this small asteroid belt that might have been a planet. The battle turned into a sort of meditative state for Anton. His mind was filled only with his suns. The local sun provided him power, Azun provided him style. Magnetism, but that was not all. Anton launched bursts of power, concentrated radiation that Anton was fairly certain would have melted any other cultivator he met. And though they sometimes dropped off, Anton continued to create the links of magnetism, thinking of Devon as he did so. These chains weren¡¯t in any way tangible but they still worked, forcing the man to draw along with him more and more chunks of ore. Melting them did no good- in fact, it shed them of the less magnetic components and left only molten boulders of metal that continued to chase after him.. Every mote of energy Anton drew from the sun and more went into hindering Otakar, and it was working. At least, Anton had not died yet. He wished he had a few others with him, but those who could have helped most were either not mobile, protecting their home systems, or an important part of the assault currently happening on Ekict¡¯s core planet. Each time Otakar jumped forward through space, the magnetically connected asteroids followed. This clearly caused greater strain for Otakar himself¡­ but the same was true for Anton. He had to maintain the links, and this Augmentation cultivator had to drag them around. The arc of the two continued around the sun, about halfway between it and the core planet where the thin asteroid belt existed. Except now it was looking more like it would be depicted. Nobody bothered to make accurate representations because it would just look like empty space, but here the rocks were bashing against each other, or liquid ones clinging to the surface of others as they tried to coalesce around Otakar. He continued to blast them away with his attacks, but he could only force their momentum away from him briefly as destroying their structure did nothing to stop them. Anton looked for a particularly large one. The volume and mass of gathered asteroids was far more than negligible, and if he could manage to entrap Otakar, Anton envisioned him being stuck beneath the surface. With all of it attracted to him, it would gather around him- so digging his way out would be impossible, at best shifting the material about. And Anton might have enough that gravity would be on his side, helping to crush the man. That was the plan, but as he danced around his target with Star Steps, Otakar appeared in front of him. A flaming sword struck down, and the only thing Anton could do was force himself and the blade to have matching magnetic poles. Despite the magnitude of the repulsion and his typical defensive energy, Otakar still cut his chest open, his blade not reaching but extended energy covering the significant gap. Anton was knocked away, but at the same time he felt another source of energy- that of the Wayfarer. His hazy consciousness saw Otakar¡¯s image erased by a several meter wide beam of energy. Anton hoped it killed him, but it was at least a direct hit. That was good. But he had to think of himself. His chest was aflame and his own energy uncontrolled. He had to¡­ His consciousness faded as he fell, his subconscious fighting to protect his most vital parts. And he continued to fall, somehow. ----- Flames. Searing the outside of his chest, but also coming from inside him. Both experiences were familiar in their own ways. It hurt. Anton wondered when it would be over. How long had it been? A second? An hour? A day? He had no idea. No rational thought passed through his mind. He wanted to live. Pain. He wanted to die. Heat. He fell. He fell until he was no longer surrounded by the void of space. He dove into a pool of flame. Heat. Pain. He continued to fall, until he could fall no more. His consciousness flickered, his body aching¡­ but while the pain did not relent, it no longer increased. Light. When he came to, there was too much light to see. Even with his eyelids closed. Opening them was¡­ impossible. Moving his arms and legs was likewise. Weight pressed down upon him, but rather than being uncomfortable, it was pleasing. Like being under a heavy blanket. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Except it was also inconvenient. At least he could check out the status of his body. Despite being conscious, Anton was quite surprised for his energy senses to find that his body was still there. He could have easily been turned to a pile of ash, though in such a case his consciousness would not continue on, would it? No. Reincarnation would not occur for him. Not in such a manner, at least. So he was alive. But the shape of his body¡­ really made him question that. On the other hand, his internal organs had been worse. He was scorched, but not nearly charcoal like when he first achieved Assimilation. His chest was¡­ missing most of his sternum and a good portion of his ribcage, as well as muscle being burned away. It should have hurt more to move his arms, but perhaps the nerves were dead. As for where he was¡­ well, he was simply in the star. Obviously he could not survive the heat of a star- but this was his star. It would not kill him, even as his consciousness lapsed. Indeed, it had likely burned away the infernal flames trying to consume him. Anton was surprised he had lasted to reach it, as it would have taken at least several minutes even if all his momentum had taken him directly towards it. What was he to do now? Anton felt his dantian brimming with energy, but he was reluctant to make use of it. He certainly couldn¡¯t go out and fight like this. So¡­ he needed to recover. He seriously doubted he could properly heal, but he could at least make sure his condition was fully stable. He allowed the star to burn away necrotic flesh. Having open wounds here wouldn¡¯t be a problem, since he couldn¡¯t get an infection. He couldn¡¯t get anything, really. Anton wanted to take some medicinal pills, but there was a slight problem. His storage bag was gone. Well, everything was. The sun might have not burned him, even while he was out, but clearly he needed conscious control to say the same for his equipment. The only thing that remained was his bow. Worldheart and Soulstring, apparently durable enough to survive. Though Anton directed the heat away from them as he did not want to push his luck. He meditated in place, setting his body down the path of healing, or at least scarring over. He wanted to fly out and stop Otakar, but in addition to being unsure how long it had actually been, he understood he wouldn¡¯t be much use like this. His energy might be recovered, but he would not be able to properly draw his bow with everything going on with his chest. Anton¡¯s perception drifted, extending out from the sun. He sensed nothing. Neither the Wayfarer nor Otakar. No, not quite. He found the remnants of the Independence, so his senses worked. And the clump of asteroids he¡¯d made remained bound together by the minimal gravity they produced. No sign of Otakar, but no space debris indicating the Wayfarer was destroyed. Then again, the fight could have gone elsewhere so he couldn¡¯t jump to conclusions. His perception drifted back inward, to the area immediately around him. A place of massive pressure and heat, but there was also something else. He felt the flow of energy into him- or at least, the gentle pressure that had built up as he was now filled. But he also felt something like where energy would flow out of the sun. Did he do that? No, he didn¡¯t think so. But just to check, he expended some of his energy pushing himself around through the depths of the star, fighting against its odd properties. He formed a sort of platform of energy, mostly to use it up but partially to orient himself. The pull of gravity was minimal, since most of the star was pulling outward. He drew upon the energy of the sun, and as he thought it came from the star as a whole, not its core. Nor did the flow from its center change. ¡°What did you do to our star?¡± the indignant accusation of Otakar returned to Anton¡¯s mind. Was that the right question? Perhaps, except Anton should be asking what they did to their star. Or was it just Otakar? Strange. He hadn¡¯t felt like the sun empowered him. Very odd indeed. ----- ¡°There has been no response from Anton in a day,¡± general Gabriela said, looking at the others. ¡°Our scanners tracked him falling into the sun, and we¡¯ve verified that the communications devices are not responding to pings.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not dead,¡± Annelie said. Gabriela shook her head. ¡°You know I would never wish for that, nor would any of us bet on it being true. But it is also clear that he is not here. And seeing these images,¡± Gabriela showed a still image of the attack, the clearest image they had showing the damage to his chest. ¡°We can safely say he is not healthy.¡± ¡°If he¡¯s injured¡­¡± Ingeborg seemed about to suggest something. ¡°No, I don¡¯t suppose anyone could aid him.¡± ¡°Rutera has not yet made functional sun-divers,¡± Gabriela said. ¡°And even our attempts are not present here. So we will have to agree that regardless of his¡­ status¡­ none of us can do anything about it.¡± Naid Conaire nodded. ¡°The Worthy Shore Society is well aware of his history. He would want us to continue on without hesitation. What of the wounds to Otakar?¡± ¡°Inconclusive,¡± Gabriela said. ¡°But unless he suddenly felt like sparing us for no reason, significant. Because he would most certainly be able to defeat the Wayfarer without our fleets based on our first encounter. Even with our adjustments to his energy, our barrier wouldn¡¯t hold long without support fleets and cultivators. And he didn¡¯t immediately return to the core world to attack our forces.¡± They only had a few frames of him, and most of those were not clear because of the continued weapons fire attempting to take him out. Lasers and particle beams were not good for video, additionally when paired with conventional weaponry. While most of the area was empty, everything was focused on the man himself so they could only judge by his energy levels as he fled. The Wayfarer was unable to pursue. ¡°Then we must act while he remains out of the picture,¡± Annelie said. ¡°Press our advantage. We must at least take out Aoibhin and Nurcan, as two of the most prominent remaining figures among their forces.¡± Chapter 678 Despite the fact that stars were basically just massive explosions, on some scale they could be considered stable and unchanging. Anton had significantly more experience than others with what the inside of a star felt like- both from his bonds and now literally being inside one. So he was quite concerned when the flow from the center of the star increased. If he hadn¡¯t fallen all the way inside, he likely wouldn¡¯t have noticed it for a significant time. Or perhaps ever. But experiencing its personally and then detecting a change¡­ that bothered him. The flow of energy increased. Did that mean Otakar was now in battle? And if so, should Anton cut off the flow? Could he? The answers were not quite the same. Even if he could, of which he was uncertain, he didn¡¯t know if he should. With perfect knowledge, he would make the attempt should he think it would significantly impact Otakar. However, he knew nothing of what was happening outside. And making the attempt might have negative consequences. Otakar would know he was still active- and if he was successful at all, that he could affect that flow. Anton wasn¡¯t going to make the bet that Otakar couldn¡¯t survive inside of this star to hunt him down and finish him off. First, he would study this phenomenon more thoroughly. Inspect it closely without poking and prodding. Among other things, Anton felt the flow was smooth and consistent. That was entirely possible in battle, but Anton presumed otherwise. If used to empower attacks, he would expect there to be spikes and troughs or at least an increasing and decreasing rhythm on some level. This was a consistently heightened flow like he would associate with replenishment. Another good reason to cut off Otakar, if he could. But before he even made the attempt, Anton needed to be in a better state to fight, either physically or metaphysically. For that, he focused on his physical body first. The wounds on his chest weren¡¯t something easily recoverable, though the fact that his body still remained intact was promising. In the worst case scenario, he could do something like Lev- though their situations were arguably quite different. The vast majority of Lev¡¯s body was intact, except for critical nerves. Meanwhile, Anton was missing more structural muscle and bone, including most of his sternum. First he had to test if he could draw and fire his bow at all through normal methods. He could certainly pull back the string with just energy, but the loss of muscle power would be troublesome. Weaving some energy through his chest to hold things together, Anton slowly went through the motions. Fortunately, much of archery involved the shoulder and back muscles. The chest was of secondary concern, except for the important structural elements of the sternum and how it completed the ribcage. His pectoral muscles still twinged with pain from simple movements, but Anton adjusted his stance to use them the least amount possible. It would take some practice, but beyond that he wanted to promote healing in the most critical areas. He might have to concentrate on rebuilding individual muscle strands and regrowing bone, so he couldn¡¯t expect to finish in any reasonable time period. So before getting too far into that, Anton resolved to find a temporary solution replicating the muscle and bone in the area with natural energy. He wanted to return to battle as soon as possible- but going early would only get him killed, and perhaps create risk to others who would rely on him or try to help him. Thus, Anton was a bundle of focus, hurry, and patience. He just needed to make it through the war, then he could take time to recover properly afterwards. ----- The alliance forces could not afford to delay. They split into two forces, one heading for the sect that called themselves the Gates of the Earth, and one for the Northern Glacier Sect. There, they expected to find Aoibhin and Nurcan- or if not, remove their basis of power. But the individuals in question were the main target, and any destruction of buildings or deaths of disciples would only be secondary. There was a limit to how many ships could effectively assault a location at once, and they were generally beyond that- except where the initial bombardments were concerned. Once they had people landing or flying over the area, keeping too many people involved would result in an abundance of friendly fire. Thus, a portion of each were also assigned to patrol the surrounding areas keeping watch for reinforcements. In theory their attacks would be swift, but it was impossible to predict how a battle would go. They might spend time attempting to draw them out and find that they were not present. And unfortunately, the enemy had successfully mobilized much of their forces- reinforcements might arrive quickly at the site of an attack. ----- The Northern Glacier Sect was cold and harsh, lacking even the semblance of life of the old Frostmirror Sect. At least they had the possibility to descent from their location to a reasonable environment. Instead, the Northern Glacier Sect had supernatural cold in all directions. In short, Annelie thought she could have organized them much better if she was in charge. But she wasn¡¯t planning to be. She was coming to finish them off for what they attempted to do to her daughter. And her as well, though their official sect head had died for that already. But a one-for-one exchange was only appropriate in the exchanging of goods and services, not when seeking revenge. In such a case, multiplicative retribution was appropriate. So, logically it would be best to completely eliminate the Northern Glacier Sect. And if she had never been reunited with her grandfather, then perhaps a naive view of logic combined with the Frostmirror Sect¡¯s emotionlessness would have made her make that choice. But even from a pure logical standpoint, it might be best to not completely eliminate them. Ekict could have been a valuable ally, and might still become such¡­ after Transferral was eliminated from the system. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. And though she could be heartless when she needed to, Annelie very much had a core of empathy and compassion. The responsibility lay solely on the shoulders of the strongest¡­ or at least significantly enough that they could not pursue all tangential wrongdoing with regards to the attack on the Trifold Alliance. The initial attack shattered the barrier surrounding the sect- it had been done once before, with fewer forces. Instead of attempting to level the whole thing, Annelie led elite forces to land atop a fancy palace of ice they had, a monument that only served as some sort of ceremonial hall. ¡°The fault against us lies on the head of your leaders,¡± Annelie declared. ¡°The rest of you will be spared. We have no intention to wipe you out completely or drive your sect into poverty¡­ but knowledge of Transferral- the stealing of cultivation- will be eliminated.¡± A quiet fell over the sect, a calming of energy. Then it began to stir once more, as disciples of various strengths prepared for battle. Ah well, at least she tried. The next step would be to topple their palace¡­ except that not everyone came for them. Instead, a small portion of individual formed up with each other in groups, striking at any elders they could find. They were hopelessly outnumbered by the other disciples, but had waited for an opportunity. They would have a few moments, at least, before other disciples turned back to fight them. If Annelie would sit down and do nothing, anyway. ¡°Come on then,¡± she said to those around her. ¡°We strike those who stand against us, and support any who stand with us.¡± Annelie didn¡¯t know if these particular individuals had been persuaded- directly or indirectly- by her daughter¡¯s actions, but she liked to think so. Or perhaps they were the brave or cowards- the distinctions between those who would betray their own and for what reason were quite complicated. Annelie flipped the icy streets over one group. They were just a hodgepodge of Essence Collection cultivators and a couple Life Transformation. Ice cultivators she understood deeply, and those of her sect around her were the same. She had the strength, wrapping enemies in layers of ice and snow and leaving them to be finished off by others. A core group followed her in her wake of destruction, wandering as she pleased until a minute in when she finally sensed her target. A thousand spears of ice flew from the sky towards Annelie, launched of course by Nurcan. Annelie simply leapt onto a nearby building, letting the spears follow her and destroy the local buildings. It was up to Nurcan if she wanted to pull her punches or put her sect back together afterwards. Of course, any that would have gotten too close she deflected with her own abilities. A flashy opening, but ultimately inconsequential for Assimilation cultivators. Except Nurcan wasn¡¯t that, but simply an Integration cultivator. Waves of ice crashed against each other, spikes of ice flying everywhere and the ground itself being used as a weapon as the two began their clash. Nurcan tried to direct the fight towards a central square, but Annelie refused to follow her pace. Mostly, she was preparing for backup to move into position to stop the woman from fleeing. They could ignore everything else but this woman. ¡°I¡¯m not impressed,¡± Annelie said. ¡°Why not use your true cultivation?¡± Nurcan narrowed her eyes, a sweep of her arm sending ripples through the ground- pillars of ice attempting to fling Annelie in the air bursting out from underneath. She allowed one to do so, just to see how Nurcan would react. ¡°This is my true cultivation,¡± she said. Beneath Annelie, a rift opened in the ice. Annelie fell towards it and then¡­ stopped. ¡°Is that really the best you can do? Shouldn¡¯t you be bombarding me with illusions?¡± Perhaps it was happening¡­ but no, the words had been said with too much conviction. Nurcan glared at Annelie. ¡°What? Am I not allowed to fly simply because I cultivate ice? At my stage, it¡¯s not unreasonable.¡± She was nowhere near as good as Anton, who freely moved through space¡­ but she could at least handle herself. ¡°I suppose you haven¡¯t fought any true cultivators.¡± ¡°I slew several Integration cultivators among the invaders,¡± Nurcan retorted. ¡°Weakened individuals. And one of them was the one whose cultivation you stole, I presume. Stealing the cultivation of thieves to practice your arts instead of developing your own cultivation to a greater level¡­ a bold idea, but foolish.¡± The woman certainly displayed the energy of the Northern Glacier Sect- with the hidden Twin Soul Sect component underneath. As the latter had to be able to emulate pretty much any style, it wasn¡¯t odd that she chose that of her original sect. ¡°You speak as if it is so easy.¡± Annelie shrugged, ¡°While I am not the first to develop Assimilation among our people, I am still in the first generation.¡± ¡°And yet you would not share it with us, keeping your secrets.¡± Annelie laughed. ¡°You were mere years, perhaps months away from having these secrets shared with you. Had you treated my daughter well, I would have personally guided your sect head. But now, she¡¯s dead.¡± Annelie suddenly moved, leaping off the air towards Nurcan. ¡°I thought glaciers were supposed to be patient.¡± A spike of ice drove through her from just in front of Nurcan. ¡°We are,¡± the woman said. ¡°I disagree,¡± Annelie said from behind her, letting the icy replica shatter. ¡°Have you ever studied the fire arts?¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Nurcan said, waving her arms to cause the surrounding buildings- themselves made of ice- to crash together. Annelie¡¯s voice continued to speak. ¡°Not at all? With your stolen cultivation you had the best opportunity. And if not, you should have at least known more about reflections and mirages.¡± Annelie grabbed the woman¡¯s shoulder from the side, tossing her towards the rift Nurcan had opened- and then stomping on the ground to close it herself. Just once wouldn¡¯t be enough to kill a woman like that, of course, but Annelie let the icy rift rebound open, only to slam it closed with even greater force¡­ again and again. Until the only thing that was visible was a thin line of red visible atop opaque ice. Chapter 679 Dead. Nurcan was dead. And worse, Annelie had been right. They had been impatient. Foolish. She didn¡¯t trust that these other systems would have actually shared information about Assimilation, but at least they should have waited longer. They clearly hadn¡¯t gathered enough information before they struck, since calling upon Otakar wasn¡¯t supposed to have been necessary. But regrets were for the living. And now Nurcan was dead. Soon, her consciousness would fade and¡­ she would stop having regrets. Regrets about not being stronger. Regrets about being too slow and too fast all at once. Any moment now, and her thoughts would cease entirely. Wouldn¡¯t they? No. That might not be true. Certainly, that was the case for the vast majority of individuals, but she was a special case. Or rather, the Twin Soul Sect was. Her soul was eternally marked with their filth. The power it had provided her was desirable, but she¡¯d tried to not consider the other implications. It wasn¡¯t so bad, to reincarnate with memories. But she didn¡¯t know if she could still expect to be around Ekict, or even in the right time frame. So she had regret. Was she moving? She had the vague feeling she was moving, even if her sense of time was all out of whack and her understanding of space was basically nonexistent. Yes, she was definitely moving. It was almost like falling, something pulling her towards it. Wait, was that? Of course it was. She was going to the upper realms. But to live again, even if she despised them, perhaps it would be worth it. And she could hide her feelings as long as necessary. Then she was yanked to a halt. She thought she would find herself in a body. Presumably that of a newborn, but detailed information on the Twin Soul Sect was hard to find even with access to those from the upper realms. But she was not in a body. She was still a soul, but unable to move. ¡°These markings¡­¡± said a voice. ¡°I don¡¯t recognize them.¡± Oh no. ¡°They¡¯re old,¡± said another voice. ¡°I remember the system though. Ekict, I think they called themselves. Gave us quite a bit of trouble. Didn¡¯t think we had any more there.¡± A vague sense of something walking into her vision- but without eyes or a source of proper energy, she couldn¡¯t really see. ¡°Hello there, good to see you. Time to report in.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. Of course.¡± What should she say? She felt a sort of tugging. ¡°What are you doing? Report!¡± She would make up something believable. Starting with¡­ ¡°The system of Ekict-¡± ¡°Not like that! What are they even teaching- no, wait. You¡¯re Integration. Don¡¯t tell me you forgot the technique?¡± A pause. ¡°Oh, this is interesting. Look at this.¡± ¡°What am I seeing, grandmaster?¡± ¡°This soul isn¡¯t one of ours. But it has our cultivation. Fascinating. You have much to tell us.¡± ¡°Of course I-¡± ¡°None of that now. We don¡¯t need you to talk. We have better ways of extracting information. And since you¡¯re not really one of us, we don¡¯t have to apologize for how much it will hurt. Come then. Tell us everything.¡± In her last moments of consciousness, Nurcan had thought death was the worst thing that could happen to her. But now, she realized how much worse things could be. ----- At some point, it became impossible for Anishka to continue stirring up discontent among the ¡®lesser¡¯ cultivators without getting aboard a ship. So now she was trapped on a galleon¡­ or some sort of large sailing vessel. There were easily a couple hundred of them packed into the thing, but more than just being a transport ship it was brimming with weapons. Enchanted ballistae and energy cannons were certainly relatively primitive compared to what she was used to, but at some point it became less about efficiency and more about the absolute quantity of power something could put out at any point. In that, at least, they were reasonably matched. There weren¡¯t a lot of private places to meet on such a ship. Normal quarters were jam packed, so unless she wanted to be overheard by ten sets of bunks she couldn¡¯t do much there. That left only places such as the cargo hold, which were off limits most of the time. Hardly optimal circumstances to stir up passionate resistance, unless she could guarantee everyone within sensory range would be on board with her intent. A good majority of people were, but that wasn¡¯t enough. It would be so much easier if she could just hide out with Patka, Celina, and the rest. But then nothing would get done. So Anishka found whatever excuses she could, helping around the kitchens and anything else that would get her officially sent around the ship. If she were truly alone, she didn¡¯t know if she would have been able to remain calm among so many unknown people who were technically enemies. But she always had the Sergeant and most of the other void ants with her. The Royal Guard were the exception, not because they didn¡¯t want to be but because they were too bulky. The Sergeant could hide in Anishka¡¯s sleeve with the rest of the squad and not disturb a single wrinkle- but the Royal Guard were significantly larger. They could be detected visually or by the void they left behind, and around hundreds of cultivators who were at least casually sensing each other at all times, it was too risky. So they had found their own nooks and crannies to hide in. Right now she was on her way into the hold to pull out another bundle of vegetables. The easiest way to lose an army was to fail to feed them, even when gearing up for missions like they currently were. They were patrolling, and based on how they had suddenly changed directions it was likely they were heading towards something. An attack from the Trifold Alliance, most likely. Anishka hoped she could do something before they arrived. ¡°Hey,¡± a large gruff man blocked Anishka¡¯s path as she came to the last intersection before the stairs down, ¡°A weak woman like yourself should be careful about where she goes.¡± Instantly, Anishka¡¯s energy flared. ¡°I¡¯m not as weak as you think.¡± Sure, she was only early Essence Collection. The little time she¡¯d had hadn¡¯t let her grow much stronger. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Grug, come on,¡± the large and generally rotund man was shoved halfway to the side as a tall and slim individual came into view, ¡°We talked about this. You¡¯re supposed to say, ¡®Hello fellow cultivator. The world is quite dangerous for those of us below the top, is it not?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I say that?¡± the larger man looked at the dark skinned figure. ¡°I thought I said that, Ufoma.¡± ¡°You got it barely half right,¡± Ufoma replied, turning towards Anishka. ¡°Sorry about that. The whole ambushing thing and the wording. But it¡¯s hard to catch people alone. I¡¯m sure you know how the powerful sects have been making all of the decisions on their own, forcing us lesser sects around?¡± ¡°I do,¡± Anishka said, not quite relaxing- though she was encouraged by the restrained energy of the two individuals. If they wanted to attack, she would be ready first. ¡°What of it?¡± ¡°They take command only by the right of the strong¡­ but do they really have that? Are they strong, compared to the enemies they have brought upon us?¡± ¡°The spear guy here isn¡¯t that strong,¡± Grug said. ¡°We can smash him together.¡± ¡°Grug. You didn¡¯t let me finish the second half of the explanation.¡± ¡°It¡¯s easier just to say it.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Ufoma sighed, ¡°What Grug is saying is that the representative of the Gates of the Earth here can easily be replaced, should a determined group of individuals work together.¡± Huh. Was this a completely independent mutiny, or had her own call to action spread to the point that people were preaching it to her? It didn¡¯t really matter, she supposed- as long as everyone worked together, instead of against each other. ¡°I think I understand what you are saying,¡± Anishka said. ¡°But I also know that we must remain subtle.¡± ¡°Subtle about what?¡± came another voice. Anishka shivered as a formerly unsensed individual stepped out from the stairway. ¡°Is there something you would hide from me?¡± This was a disaster. Anishka held her position, but Grug and Ufoma couldn¡¯t help but leap back down their crossing corridor. This was the ¡®spear guy¡¯ in question. Haimo of the Gates of the Earth, a peak Life Transformation cultivator in charge of their vessel. ¡°We were just proposing an arrangement where we look out for each other on the battlefield,¡± Ufoma lied smoothly. ¡°I know we¡¯re supposed to stick to our own squads, but can you blame me for trying?¡± Anishka kept her face blank and icy. She wanted to support the lie, but she couldn¡¯t think quickly enough to manage it. Her thoughts were shattered a moment later regardless. ¡°I thought we were talking about killing this spear guy and taking control of our lives?¡± Grug said. ¡°You told me that¡¯s what we were doing.¡± Well. This was it. They were dead. Unless they somehow acted fast enough to take Haimo out instantly, the three of them stood no chance. It only took an instant for Haimo to begin rousing his energy- and though Anishka was a step ahead, her spear of ice simply shattered on his chest. His defensive energy was already in place, and even if it was a more casual amount it was enough to stand up against her. She felt it, lightning coursing in and around him. It didn¡¯t matter his weapon was not present- he could take out the three of them easily. Or if he was in terribly poor form, he¡¯d have to wait for reinforcements. Everyone on the ship would notice the combat. ¡°Foolish,¡± Haimo said. ¡°You think you can-¡± his face suddenly contorted, and his legs collapsed from under him, dropping him to one knee. But that didn¡¯t stop him from radiating lighting in all directions- in fact, it seemed fully intentional that he blasted everything within three meters of him. Anishka and the other two leapt away, to various levels of success. There wasn¡¯t a lot of room to move here, and Grug took up most of the hall. She felt him collapse to the ground. She and Ufoma managed to get further, but there was an immediate issue. The lightning around Haimo created sparks that had already caught the area on fire as it coursed through the wood- despite the precautions taken to prevent such a thing on cultivator ships. He might kill them even without targeting them- but when he got over his sudden shock he could probably take each of them out one at a time. But Anishka wasn¡¯t willing to just give up, especially not when she sensed the tiny mandibles of the Sergeant were at play here. She didn¡¯t see anything on the man¡¯s neck, but that wasn¡¯t the only vital point of the body. Perhaps a tendon in his leg? No, too big. Then again, everything was big for the ants. Just the heat emanating from the area was enough to give Anishka pause. But this man wasn¡¯t a fire cultivator- so her instincts were to take control of those flames. She targeted his head and upper body, concentrating the heat towards him and away from the rest of the ship, creating a barrier of cold. Ufoma shouted something she couldn¡¯t quite understand, or perhaps something that wasn¡¯t really a word. Instead, the sound was akin to a hammer striking down upon Haimo, just beginning to get a handle on the other two attacks currently in progress. Anishka felt the man¡¯s defensive energy split between upper and lower body, while also sensing a trickle of blood squeezing out of the man¡¯s armor around his inner thigh. Hopefully the work of void ants. It would have been nice if a Life Transformation cultivator was so easy to kill, but he brought himself fully to his feet and gathered himself properly. ¡°How annoying. Now that I think of it, I have seen your face, haven¡¯t I¡­?¡± the man frowned at Anishka. She had changed her hairstyle and used simple non-energy techniques to disguise herself- precisely because energy techniques would be more obvious. But obviously she wasn¡¯t perfect either. ¡°They just need to be able to recognize you for the reward.¡± Lightning crackled and spun around his arm, which he immediately stabbed towards her torso. The lightning itself was a spear, but wide enough that it filled the whole hallway. Anishka couldn¡¯t dodge it. She certainly didn¡¯t expected the fallen Grug to leap up and shove his way around the corner directly into the attack, but he did- and the two of them were flung backwards. Her energy had mostly protected her from the first moments of the attack, and the force of the blow turning into momentum backwards was actually for the best. She did slam into a wall eventually, but she had some time to minimize her momentum. Grug, meanwhile, simply flopped about without intention. No, perhaps he couldn¡¯t do anything. He lay face down on the ground. ¡°Grug-¡± He raised a hand, then pushed himself up. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m a tree cultivator.¡± His friend Ufoma would have had something to say about that- both about it being unhelpful and doubtful information- but in pitched combat he was quite occupied. It had only been a handful of seconds, but the whole ship was alert, converging on their location. Haimo was knocked to the side as he attempted to repeat his attack, Ufoma pushing him down the side corridor with another sonic attack. Then Ufoma danced through the remaining flames towards them. ¡°Grug, help!¡± Anishka wondered how she ever saw the man as threatening. He was more like a ball than a person, almost rolling forward down the hallway. Actually, he hadn¡¯t been that round before, had he? What happened? She wasn¡¯t quite sure. Ufoma leapt over Grug as Haimo came back around the corner, standing unsteadily with his legs spread apart, slamming one fist into his inner thighs. Anishka was completely certain that the Sergeant was there¡­ and she couldn¡¯t stand to drag things on. There was only so much she could do at a distance, but she pulled heat from one side to the other, trying to freeze the area around his right knee while burning his chest, or something like that. But even in his condition he was still a Life Transformation cultivator, countering with another bolt of lighting as he charged down the hallway. No, instead of launching it as an attack, he became the attack. The man himself became lightning, striking Grug directly and tearing into his belly. Except¡­ instead of piercing through the man, he seemed to slow. And then he went directly upward, half of his body sticking through the fortified deck. The crash was deafening, but the sudden cessation of energy from the man and following silence said even more. Chapter 680 There was a presumption that the Gates of the Earth had based their sect name off of whatever sect Aoibhin had stolen her cultivation from. Presumably, something with heaven in the name- but the alliance wasn¡¯t familiar with every sect from the Trigold Cluster. It could also be related how it was meant to funnel attackers to that sect- but the formations were only capable of directing people following the tides of the world, who were limited in how they could approach a system and its planets. When bringing ships or people capable of fully independent interstellar travel, their formations had simply done nothing to redirect anyone. But they were still an obstacle that needed to be overcome to win the war- as if anyone could actually win a war. In reality, both sides would lose, unless one side was a dominant attacker only interested in extracting resources. They could certainly consider that they won wars. General Gabriela looked down on the sect once more. She hadn¡¯t set out with the intention of fighting Aoibhin, but ever since the first battle with the Independence it seemed like Ruterra¡¯s ships would eventually be the best suited for the cause. Now they had experience- and adapted shields. Of course, Aoibhin would be attempting her own ways to overcome their defenses. But could one person outpace a fleet? Certainly, Gabriela expected a wily cultivator to come up with a technique given ten years, or even a single year. But a matter of busy weeks and months? It would be much more difficult. Especially if Transferral truly limited learning or developing new techniques. But supposing she did come up with a counter, Gabriela had cultivators from Weos and Ceretos among the fleet as well. The opening assault was a series of shots from the main cannons of the Wayfarer, starting all the way up in the high atmosphere. They also employed specially made kinetic projectiles for the project- basically just durable lumps of metal that would survive reentry so they could impact with the momentum of the cannons that shot them plus that from gravity. Drag limited the absolute energy they could arrive with at a certain size, but they were relatively efficient to fire. The barriers of the sect had faced a similar barrage before- minus their new patched-on cannons. But they had been broken through before, and they hadn¡¯t yet been brought back to their full potential. By the time the shorter range ships were in place, the barrier had nearly collapsed. ¡°Sensors picking up Aoibhin¡¯s energy signature,¡± informed one of the operators. ¡°Good. She¡¯s more important than some fancy buildings,¡± Gabriela said. ¡°Neven-¡± ¡°We¡¯re on it,¡± came the reply from the lead gunner. Sometimes Gabriela wondered if her position mattered- but even if the various positions on the ship were capable of acting independently to great effect, someone had to be guiding their core vision. She wasn¡¯t any worse than the other choices, so just because she couldn¡¯t break a mountain in half with her bare hands didn¡¯t mean she wasn¡¯t useful. And she wasn¡¯t weak enough to be easily assassinated, so at least she had that going for her. Those thoughts occupied her for a few moments because she had no important information to request or orders to give. She watched sensors piped through to her screen, relaying not a visual image of the battlefield but one more focused on natural energy. Distance and atmospheric scanning made visual targeting at such a distance almost useless. Aoibhin danced around the battlefield like usual. It was frustrating how wounds never seemed to stick long on her- though perhaps she was consuming a great quantity of medicine or had simply looked more wounded. It didn¡¯t matter much because she was supposed to die today. That might depend on whether or not Otakar showed up, but making him fight after the last incident might be a victory. Could he still destroy the Wayfarer by himself? Probably. But it was completely certain he was seriously wounded or he would have doubled back to take them out during the last incident. And Anton¡­ shouldn¡¯t be dead. But he also couldn¡¯t be expected to come to anyone¡¯s aid at the current time. Fast weapons were the key for Aoibhin. Tightly controlled lasers swiveling, ultra high velocity small arms, and the like. That included small ships, though they had to fly in particular formations to shoot at a human sized target while not getting in each others¡¯ lines of fire. Aoibhin jumped from ships to ship- but not all of them were destroyed in a single blow, or even at all. They had the maximum amount of data, adapting their shields to her lightning energy as well as her unattributed energy. Only brute force could overcome that, and she couldn¡¯t keep it up forever. Gabriela didn¡¯t want to sacrifice people to wear her down, so she was pleased when Aoibhin made the determination that there were too many ships to handle and came for them. It was a reasonable decision. Last time they¡¯d met, Otakar had nearly melted the ship in half. The Wayfarer¡¯s barriers were mostly intact, but there was still significant structural damage. If she could find a weak point, she might be able to destroy it. With each flash of movement, Aoibhin covered kilometers of distance, zig-zagging back and forth to avoid incoming fire. Then, her spear lit up pretty much every warning sensor, even the ones focused in other directions. Gabrila had no time to react to the attack, not that she could have given useful orders. Anyone focused on augmenting the barrier was already paying attention to that. Aoibhin rebounded off the barrier, but Gabriela saw that the defensive capacity had dropped by a good twenty percent. It was entirely possible she would break through on the next blow, if she targeted a weak point- and there were ships from Ekict joining the battle properly. The ships came from the Gates of the Earth as well as other nearby locations. Gabriela wasn¡¯t sure what she could do. Yelling ¡®kill her¡¯ would at best distract people. They were already trying that. Maybe she could provide her energy somewhere. ¡°Where¡¯s the barrier weakest?¡± Gabrila asked. ¡°Near the¡­ new construction,¡± came the report. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Gabriela nodded, picking up a headset. ¡°I¡¯m going to lend my energy to the generators there.¡± Fortunately, very few people were actually moving around inside the ship, so she could run down the corridors with ease. Likewise, while the ship was quite large it was still a practical size- there weren¡¯t long hallways for no reason. She was still a Life Transformation cultivator, and a soldier trained to run. It didn¡¯t take long to approach her destination, and Aoibhin couldn¡¯t repeat the same sort of attacks in an instant. So it seemed, at least. Just as she was about to reach the generator, Gabriela heard a creaking. She looked to see an open section of ship- mostly just the internal skeleton of the ship where hull had burned away. She felt Aoibhin battering the barrier just outside. She wasn¡¯t quite sure why her instincts told her to head towards the skeletal structure, but she followed them. Another creaking, and she at least found a reason. The barrier was supposed to mitigate the impact over a larger surface without impacting the physical structure of the ship below. Maybe it was failing, or energy was passing though. Either way, part of the hull was trembling¡­ and if it fell apart, the delicate repairs to the formations might collapse, leaving the barrier open or at least severely weakened. Gabriela leapt onto a steel beam, crouching down to hold onto it with both hands. From there, she extended her energy to protect its structure as much as she could. She could feel damage. Perhaps some had remained from previous battles and been missed, or it was failing due to some other factor. Either way, this piece of the ship sorely needed help. The ship trembled. Gabriela looked Aoibhin directly in the eye- nothing stood between her and Gabriela¡¯s internal position. Dangerous. But, if she got inside the ship everything was pretty much over anyway. They had a good crew, but not one that could realistically take down Aoibhin. Especially since the vast majority of the ship¡¯s weapons were externally oriented. Aoibhin struck again, the same heavier charge she had done before. Gabriela saw her impact the barrier, but instead of it smashing apart it stretched inward. Someone in the nearby generator was going all out with their techniques. Impressive. Sadly, even the barrier stretching couldn¡¯t prevent it from being broken through, and it snapped apart, most of it springing back into place with Aoibhin inside, spear held aloft. Gabriela already had her rifle off her back. Gabriela took a shot just as Aoibhin began to move, holding the beam steady on the target that simply didn¡¯t care about her augmented energy attack. Then a dozen lasers converged on her in perfect sync- or more specifically her spear. It was the sort of coordination that was only possible by computer- or a single individual controlling multiple things. There was only a flash. Flames. Then Aoibhin hit Gabriela directly in the chest- despite her attempt to dodge. She was sent flying backward, slamming into a curving beam. She wasn¡¯t sure if her back was damaged more, or the beam. Neither was quite right, though. But¡­ as far as Gabriela could tell without looking down and taking her eyes off of her opponent, she didn¡¯t have a spear-sized hole in her chest. Or worse. As for why, the attack had felt a lot more¡­ blunt. It had properly spread out on her defensive energy. Aoibhin was on fire. And the head of her spear¡­ was gone. Yet at no point did the lasers- meant for fighting Essence Collection or lower individuals- stop tracking her. Even as she weaved her way around the internal structure, beams swapped with other beams as she left certain ranges and came into line of sight of others. All the while, Gabriela could feel the hand of Neven. Had he really destroyed the head of her spear in an instant? Melted it? Where did he even find the time to gain that inspiration? She knew he¡¯d talked about Otakar¡¯s fire, but it was a quick turnaround. Gabriela did her best to track Aoibhin with her own weapon without destroying any of the exposed structure- but Aoibhin didn¡¯t try to kill her. Instead, she was attempting to escape. Because the barrier was attuned to her energy, it also wasn¡¯t going to let her out. Not easily. ¡°General,¡± a sound came in her headset. ¡°We have incoming.¡± Of course there were incoming. They were in a battle. What could she possibly need to be- oh. There he was, then. Too bad they hadn¡¯t yet killed Aoibhin. ----- One arm carefully stretched forward, then the other. Anton moved them side to side, checking to make sure he wasn¡¯t straining his already damaged muscles and bone structure. With a little more practice, he thought he would be functional. Enough to rejoin the war. He was a sniper anyway, so he really should have never allowed himself to get so directly involved with Otakar. On the other hand, he was alive- and the same wouldn¡¯t necessarily have been the case even if they leveraged a larger portion of combat power. Perhaps Anton had been the right matchup, or he was just lucky. Apparently even his connection to the sun had been insufficient. But if he could straightforwardly beat an Augmentation cultivator- one fully adapted to natural energy instead of one from the upper realms that was basically in a desert of energy- then he would already be an Augmentation cultivator. And Anton knew he was at least five or ten ranks short. Or nine, if prime numbers still continued to fit the One Hundred Stars. He would have to decide that for himself, since no one had tread this path ahead of him. He also continued to study the conduit. His gut reaction was that it was wrong, but ultimately he couldn¡¯t make that judgment. It was different from his connection, but he couldn¡¯t say it was worse than his own. He didn¡¯t quite understand how it worked, only that it seemed to feed energy to Otakar. At a steady flow, at first slow and now somewhat heightened. At least, it had only been those two specific levels until this very moment. But then he felt a sudden change. Having carefully studied it, Anton made a decision. If he thought he could destroy the conduit, he would have done so. However, there was no structure there. Only a flow. He felt the flow ramp up once more, and readied himself. Was Otakar participating in a battle? What else would cause such a change? The flow was still steady. Perhaps it would remain that way. Or perhaps he was merely moving towards a battle. Patience. He would wait until he was certain Otakar was in a battle, or he might ruin a singular opportunity. He was quite certain he could disrupt the flow- but not if he could keep it that way. He waited. It felt like a century, but was perhaps only minutes. Steady and smooth. Should he just? No. Not yet. Then, it came. A spike in the pull. Anton reached out, directing the sun¡¯s energy away, trying to pull back. He immediately understood he was having an effect, as he wrestled with this power. Then the spike faded. Whatever he had been doing was done. Anton sighed. Just those few moments were exhausting¡­ but while he couldn¡¯t say he¡¯d won that exchange, he also hadn¡¯t lost either. He could repeat his efforts in the future, he was certain. But should he wait? Could he do it from away from the star? For the moment he would wait, until such a time as he felt the larger flow dropping, perhaps signaling the end of a battle. Chapter 681 The impact on the Wayfarer¡¯s barrier was an order of magnitude than almost anything else that had come in the same battle, except for Aoibhin¡¯s earlier attacks. Gabriela could feel the whole ship tremble and then¡­ Otakar was there. Just outside the barrier. A still very much intact barrier. Amazing. And confusing, because even injured Gabriela expected that Otakar would break through quickly. And then they would be in dire straits. As it was, nobody had been able to stop him from approaching them. Could they flee? Not with him focused on then. In that case they needed to¡­ finish off Aoibhin first. The woman had redoubled her efforts at retreating from the barrier, but her own attacks were weakening as she was fatigued by the constant barrage of lasers, small though they were. Neven was working at full capacity, the extra generators they had picked up straining. But the Wayfarer still held. Gabriela was proud of that- and how they continued to fight outside as well. If she didn¡¯t pull her own weight, she would be ashamed as their commander. Thus, she focused her energy into her weapon, leveling the gun at Aoibhin. There were a number of metal beams in the way, so she had to leap closer. But the woman needed to perish soon. Gabriela took the shot, her beam adding to the others and causing little more than a pink line on the woman¡¯s cheek. But the beginning of a burn was good enough- her defenses were flagging. That attack was also enough to cause Aoibhin to focus on her instead of getting out of the barrier. Unfortunately, Gabriela was unable to fly- at best, she was able to yank her trajectory around by grabbing strands of energy onto the surrounding infrastructure as she fell. That wouldn¡¯t get her out of the path of the woman¡¯s charge, and unlike the Wayfarer Gabriela¡¯s defenses only barely adapted to particular types of attacks. She should have brought more people with her- it was just that everyone else was occupied. Aoibhin turned and charged, and Gabriela heard among the rest of the cacophony the sound of gunfire- that of old style projectile weapons. They created a momentary screen of attacks that didn¡¯t do much to slow Aoibhin, but her energy was tenuous enough she did choose to avoid them rather than pushing through. That gave enough time for a pair of individuals to push their way down towards Gabriela, intentionally falling with greater speed. They positioned themselves ¡®in front¡¯ of her, enchanted bayonets on the ends of their weapons. ¡°What are your orders, general?¡± ¡°We¡¯re killing her. No matter what. Don¡¯t worry about me.¡± That was the best part about her subordinates. She hadn¡¯t even needed to ask for help. Though she really should have. She just hadn¡¯t fully considered what would happen if Aoibhin got inside. The following confrontation all happened at once. The burning spearless woman charged forward, lightning surrounding her and seemingly unworried about killing three Life Transformation cultivators. But the pair of soldiers held nothing back, throwing their energy into their automatic weapons while simultaneously fending the woman off with their bayonets. Gabriela focused her own laser rifle into the smallest beam she could, aiming for the woman¡¯s eye. It wasn¡¯t in time to stop her from crashing into the trio, sending them flying. But that attack was the beginning of the end, as her remaining energy quickly collapsed. The flames from Neven and his focused anti personnel lasers finally broke through the Ascension class individual¡¯s defenses, and her body quickly began to collapse as unarmored parts turned to ash in mere moments. Gabriela was unable to watch, as she was doing her best to not land head-first on anything particularly hard. She slowed her fall on nearby bits of structure before she eventually thudded into the barrier on the down side- they were still close enough to the planet to experience its gravity. The two soldiers eventually rolled next to her. Given the lightning scars on their faces, Gabriela knew she looked much the same. But she couldn¡¯t help but grin with them. ¡°You two interested in promotions?¡± ¡°No,¡± they said simultaneously. ¡°Uh-¡± well, she could only recommend it anyway. They were the highest rank infantry could get. ¡°We¡¯d prefer to continue serving with the Wayfarer. Promotions would place us elsewhere.¡± ¡°Well. Thank you regardless¡­¡± she searched for their names. She knew every Life Transformation cultivator and in fact the vast majority of those under her command. It wasn¡¯t too difficult, except when she¡¯d been recently shocked. ¡°Wilmar. Otossa.¡± She looked ¡®up¡¯. ¡°I feel like he should have broken through by now. Or been melted, maybe.¡± ¡°...General,¡± came a staticy voice in her damaged headset. ¡°... away from ¡­ main cannons ¡­ maneuver¡­?¡± ¡°Sorry. Headset is damaged,¡± Gabriela responded. ¡°Perform whatever maneuver you find necessary.¡± As it turned out, her voice went through clearly enough. And she soon determined what maneuver it was. If she¡¯d been in any of the proper parts of the ship she would have heard the warning to brace for the Nicodemo Flip. All of the engines of the ship fired at once- with a good number of guns adding to the maneuver, their kinetic dampeners canceled to contribute to the sudden shift in momentum. It still took a good few seconds to make a half turn, but for an Ascension class battleship that was a startling amount of maneuverability. By coincidence Gabriela found herself falling again, except this time Wilmar and Otossa stayed with her, maneuvering for a hatch they could hold onto and then climb through. ----- A cannon barely missed Otakar, taking the top off of a mountain below. Then he was moving with the ship¡¯s rotation, trying to keep ahead of it. Avoiding the main cannons was his primary concern, breaking through the barrier to get inside now secondary. It was¡­ annoyingly difficult. The flow of his energy was being throttled somehow. Every time he tried to maximize his efforts, he suddenly felt like an early Integration cultivator. Not that he¡¯d actually been one for long. He¡¯d been one of the first Transferrals, and one of the few allowed to undergo the second when they captured a genuine Augmentation cultivator. And now he couldn¡¯t defeat a ship with nothing but Life Transformation cultivators aboard. A ship he¡¯d nearly obliterated on their first encounter. Preposterous. He was aware that their barriers were powerful, but the way it managed to so perfectly resist his blade and flames, preventing him from setting the underlying structure alight¡­ it made no sense. It was beyond any sort of formation he¡¯d ever experienced, and their own formations had held up to the very same Augmentation cultivator whose cultivation he now used. And he¡¯d even begun forming a solar heart since then, but it was that very boost which was causing him the most consternation. The injuries didn¡¯t help, of course. This infernal ship was able to gather immense amounts of energy, and in his haste to destroy that damned sniper he¡¯d not noticed their approach, seemingly having cut directly across the path of the sun instead of circling around the asteroid belt that had once been Vitania. The war shouldn¡¯t have gone like this. They should have already won. And now Aoibhin was dead. The fault was her own, but he could still visit retribution upon these others. Except¡­ not at the moment. His wounds were too great¡­ and the flow of power was inconsistent. Why? Nothing should be able to block it except¡­ what that sniper had done to the sun. It hadn¡¯t affected him before the man¡¯s death, so why was it now after he killed him? This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The answer was unfortunately simple. Anton was not dead. And he¡¯d perhaps even discovered the conduit. Otakar looked below as he avoided the vessel¡¯s most dangerous weapons, focusing where the fleets battled with each other. Ekicts fleets were already at a disadvantage, but even stranger was how some were not joining the fight¡­ or worse, attacking their brethren. Disgusting traitors. They would all perish. But not today. Otakar¡¯s wounds were too great¡­ and he had to deal with the other issue as well. Would this really be the end of Ekict, a great victory followed shortly thereafter by an ignoble defeat? No, he would not allow it. Even if he had to kill every single one of these invaders by himself. ----- Anton felt the conduit of energy settle down to a lower state. He watched closely for another hour, just to be certain. He wished he had proper communications with literally anyone¡­ but unfortunately those had burned up along with everything else, including his clothes. Though his modesty was his smallest concern. He slowly began to move away from the conduit, trying to keep its feeling in mind. He was bound to the star, but would that help him maintain a distance he could affect the conduit? In short, could he afford to leave this place, if he was able to actually affect Otakar¡¯s combat effectiveness this way? On the surface of the sun, he felt no difference. As he slowly drew further away, he felt a slight decrease¡­ but he was confident that he could, at least do something. Only after he had rested, of course. He moved a bit further away, until about half the distance required to meet up with others. But he did not want to land on Ekict in his current state, where he would be so vulnerable. He needed to recover his energy after the wrestling match with Otakar¡¯s conduit. Then he would return, perhaps in a day or two. ----- Ufoma and Grug soon found themselves in control of the ship- along with Annelie, of course. The three of them were the visible components in the defeat of Haimo, as the ship had carried them and a large number of other cultivators from small sects to defend the man¡¯s own larger sect. And they¡¯d certainly been needed. When they had killed him, they were just outside the border of the Gates of the Earth¡¯s control. Everyone had either been supportive of his death or too stunned to do anything, and they¡¯d commanded the ship to circle around the battlefield. And that had continued for the whole of the battle, drifting slowly further away the whole time until Otakar showed up. They couldn¡¯t really get away at that point, so they just watched as they saw their own ship wasn¡¯t the only one clearly not willing to put up with being under the heels of the great sects. Paying careful attention, they gave wide berth to the ships of the Trifold Alliance- it was difficult to know if they would be shot down or not- while ultimately gathering together with the other resistant ships that made it through. At least the ones in their general quadrant of the battlefield. They settled about a sky¡¯s horizon away from the Gates of the Earth, close enough to partially observe what was happening there¡­ but hopefully far enough to be ignored. To that end, they hid their energy as much as possible. ¡°So,¡± Ufoma said, looking to Anishka and Grug. ¡°What do we do now?¡± ¡°Strike down our oppressors,¡± Grug said. ¡°A wonderful idea, but you appear a bit¡­ unfit for that right now,¡± Ufoma said, looking at the man. Despite the way he made his body flexible and strangely resistant, Haimo had almost killed him in that last charge. Grug was barely able to stand, supported by Ufoma and Anishka. ¡°We need to get in contact with the Trifold Alliance,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Sure. We¡¯ll just fly over and wave a flag. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll gladly take us in.¡± ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Anishka said. If they sensed her and recognized her energy, they wouldn¡¯t be shot down. But she wasn¡¯t going to bet on that. ¡°I was thinking we walk over, on foot.¡± ¡°That¡¯s more reasonable,¡± Ufoma said. ¡°But why do you think that will work?¡± ¡°Because she¡¯s not part of us, but part of them,¡± Celina appeared at the door of the bridge. ¡°What? You¡¯d have to tell them eventually.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say it like that,¡± Anishka complained. ¡°What does she mean?¡± Ufoma asked. ¡°Well, I¡¯m¡­ part of the Trifold Alliance.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re a spy, here to sabotage us,¡± Ufoma narrowed his eyes. Grug was the one who actually stepped in there, placing a hand on Ufoma¡¯s shoulder. ¡°She is our ally. Joining that battle, we die. And she spoke of peace with them.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a spy. I was here to study with the Enkindled Sun Sect, and then the Northern Glacier Sect,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Until they accused me and literally everyone else of being spies, and attacked and stole the cultivations of some of our Assimilation cultivators.¡± ¡°Assimilation?¡± Ufoma asked. ¡°Stealing cultivations?¡± ¡°I know it¡¯s sounds far fetched but-¡± ¡°Sounds like the big sects,¡± Ufoma nodded. ¡°Keeping information away from us. Probably afraid we¡¯d try to steal their cultivation.¡± ¡°Would you?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean-¡± ¡°Only if they act like this.¡± He looked towards Celina. ¡°You weren¡¯t around her before, but you¡¯re clearly companions.¡± ¡°Splitting up to cover more area,¡± Celina explained. ¡°You know, she started most of this whole movement with us. After¡­ that voice spoke from the sky.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t quite believe it then, but then I spoke to others¡­¡± Ufoma nodded. ¡°Funny that I tried to convert the leader of the movement.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad people listened¡­¡± Anishka said. ¡°We¡¯re lucky so many were gathered together to fight. And that they were in the wrong place.¡± ¡°Was there even a right place?¡± Ufoma asked. ¡°They just¡­ destroyed one of the large sects. Even Otakar couldn¡¯t stop them this time.¡± ¡°You know of Otakar?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°He¡¯s not fully a public figure, but people talk,¡± Ufoma said. ¡°I only heard about him from the head of the Ringing Gong. At least, by name.¡± He turned to Celina. ¡°You know of the supreme cultivator, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Celina said. ¡°I just assumed he was a myth.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not real,¡± Grug said. ¡°Grug, we just saw him,¡± Ufoma shook his head. ¡°In that battle over there.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just a man. Not strong enough.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Anishka got their attention back to her. ¡°We should probably get moving. Those of us who are going, anyway. Can¡¯t guarantee they will stay. But I agree we shouldn¡¯t risk getting shot out of the sky.¡± ¡°We go,¡± Grug agreed. ¡°Uh, I was thinking that you would¡­¡± Anishka frowned. ¡°Need to recover?¡± ¡°I can recover on the way,¡± said the large and rotund man. ¡°Like a tree.¡± ¡°We need to discuss why you think trees have these properties,¡± Ufoma said. ¡°But we can do that after we talk to the other ships landed here.¡± ¡°Oh. Right,¡± Anishka sighed. More new people who might want to kill her. But hopefully, they shouldn¡¯t be terribly against her home system. Otherwise they would have been more willing to fight. Chapter 682 The Gates of the Earth had fallen. No doubt that information was more impactful to the locals. For Gabriela, it was just the next step in removing troublesome cultivators. She didn¡¯t want to count this as winning the war just yet, but they could systematically eliminate the remaining Transferral cultivators. The only remaining issue was Otakar. He wasn¡¯t unstoppable, but it was unclear how much more damage he would cause before they finally took him down. Though in the latest battle it seemed as if the Wayfarer got away unscathed, that was only technically true. The battle had revealed how imperfect additions from the Independence would fail, and many of their generators were overstrained. Even if the barrier stood up to him, they were mere moments from him breaking through and attacking now more vulnerable internals. Before anything else, the Wayfarer had to undergo additional repair and a replenishment of its energy. Gabriela wouldn¡¯t be useful on that trip, so she was remaining at the Gates of the Earth to help with the inventory of resources and techniques. It had only taken a few hours of work for the formation masters to open the defenses cleanly, with nobody around to stop them. Gabriela was one of the technically weakest individuals qualified to look through the techniques for information on Transferral- which would be properly cataloged and almost certainly destroyed thereafter. At least anything involving the actual process. Information on its efficacy and more specifically weaknesses would be preserved for the future. ¡°General,¡± the one word set her on edge, despite it being from her personal assistant. It was the way it was said. ¡°Top priority communication incoming from the Wayfarer. ¡° She nodded. ¡°Patch them through.¡± Her assistant angled a portable screen, as it seemed the communication would involve visual components as well. Was it a battle where they needed tactical advice? Could she even respond in time to do anything? Then the image appeared in front of her, and she relaxed. Far more than she ever thought she could. ¡°Hello, general,¡± grinned a mostly recognizable old man. He seemed to be missing the vast majority of his hair, though he was one of those with strong roots. ¡°I was just making my way back and intersected with your ship, so I thought I would drop a message.¡± He stepped back slightly, revealing a dark band around his waist, and an otherwise completely bare body. ¡°As you can see, I am missing a few things. I¡¯ll have to ask someone to make me a sun-proof storage bag for next time.¡± Along with the darkness around his waist, Gabriela detected something odd about his chest. It didn¡¯t look quite real. ¡°I¡¯ll say more when we meet in person. But I didn¡¯t want to keep anyone waiting.¡± Well good. Now she could spread the information that Anton was alive. She also understood why it was top priority, despite his casual tone. He was alive, but not entirely well. He¡¯d been flung into a sun, but was injured. Was the only thing that burned his hair? And why would it burn but not his nails? She shook her head. Thinking about that too much would make her crazy. ¡°His identity was verified via energy scan before the message was sent,¡± her assistant clarified. ¡°It seemed necessary considering the obvious light based illusions.¡± ¡°I hope someone gave him pants,¡± Gabriela said. ¡°I believe they attempted that before the message, but he found it more humorous this way.¡± ¡°At least he¡¯s in a good mood.¡± ----- It was strange how much a few days could change a planet. Obviously Anton was aware that a planet could be scarred in a short time, but the actual planet was relatively unharmed. Just a couple handfuls of sects. It was most obvious because of the distinct lack of barriers in place. There were only a few more, and Anton could pick out Transferral cultivators hiding behind some of them. They would have to be watched carefully so they could not gather together. As for Otakar¡­ Anton couldn¡¯t quite sense him. Though he had a method he could try if it was an emergency, it would absolutely alert the man to the attempt. So for the moment, he was content to make sure he wasn¡¯t lurking around any of the new ground bases the Trifold Alliance had established in various sect headquarters. The Gates of the Earth was most centrally located and notable, so Anton made that place his current target. But as he was getting closer, his casual senses caught some familiar figures among a larger number of unknowns. It was Anishka, trudging through the wilderness with a number of local cultivators at her side. It was fairly easy to determine their destination. He listened in just to make sure he properly understood the situation. They appeared friendly at first glance, and his more detailed investigation told him the same. He was tempted to fly down and meet her, but even with his new pants it didn¡¯t seem like a good idea at the moment. It was best to let her finish the journey on her own. Though he could go ahead and warn people that they were coming, just to remove the possibility that something went awry. It was always a pain when negotiations had to come after accidental combat. Well, if he was the one shot and he could magnanimously wave it off it was a different story. That was actually quite good- but attacking people of lower cultivation who wished to be your allies was never a good look. ----- Anishka stepped beyond the tree line first, followed by Grug and Ufoma. Then came the rest of the designated leadership from various ships. She boldly walked along the road and approached the gate, head held high. But she was constantly worried about Ruteran beam weapons or archers. But they made it all the way to the gates without trouble. ¡°Halt! Who approaches?¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I bring local cultivators who wish to discuss peace,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I am a disciple of the Fire and Ice Palace.¡± If she needed to she would mention her mother, but she didn¡¯t want to rely on that too much. Those following along with her knew she was not from their world already. ¡°Anishka,¡± said one of the gate guards. ¡°Your arrival was anticipated.¡± ¡°Oh. I mean, of course. Where should we go?¡± After receiving directions, she began to lead the others. ¡°Is¡­ is that¡­¡± Ufoma was the first to speak as they approached the central area. ¡°One of the ¡®Assimilation¡¯ cultivators?¡± he gestured not towards a person, but towards a general aura of energy. Anishka nodded. ¡°That would be the formation master Naid Conaire.¡± ¡°And the other one?¡± Grug asked. ¡°Like a star.¡± Anishka actually hadn¡¯t noticed that one, because it was weaker. But once it was pointed out, she easily recognized it. And it wasn¡¯t exactly weak, but instead restrained. Though she thought he also felt weaker as well. ¡°That would be the sect head of the Order of One Hundred Stars. Anton the sniper. And also the voice from the sky.¡± Ufoma gave her a knowing nod. Perhaps he had spoken to Celina and learned about the connection there. And she was definitely going to meet him, but first she had to deal with the rest of this. Except, of course, both the formation master and Anton found their way to the very place she was directed to. ¡°Welcome,¡± Naid Conaire was the one to speak first as the group approached a lavish meeting chamber- recently in the hands of the Gates of the Earth. ¡°We are glad to receive any interested in negotiation.¡± Along with him and Anton, there was general Gabriela and a number of other important figures. It might seem like a group gathered to intimidate- but they could have done that well enough with one alone. Instead, Anishka thought it was meant as a sign that these people would be taken seriously. Hopefully they would interpret things the same way. Anishka avoided seating herself centrally- though she was responsible for bringing these people, she could not speak for them. There was some silent posturing, and somehow in the scramble Grug ended up being in the central spot. ¡°We don¡¯t want to fight you,¡± Grug said. At that, people stiffened around them as such a conciliatory phrasing opened the negotiations- from the clearly weaker side. ¡°Same here,¡± Anton said smoothly. ¡°I am sure that you have heard some of our explanation for how things turned out this way- otherwise you would not have come. But I would love to hear your current understanding.¡± Grug had spoken first, and no amount of glaring from his sides was sufficient to make him understand that others didn¡¯t want that. Which might ultimately have been the best possible outcome. ¡°A bunch of the top sects attacked you guys and stole people. Then you were mad at them so you came to kill them.¡± ¡°They stole people and cultivation,¡± Anton clarified. ¡°Through a process called Transferral.¡± ¡°Stealing cultivation isn¡¯t a transfer. It¡¯s stealing,¡± Grug said. ¡°And that¡¯s bad.¡± Anton nodded seriously. Anishka could see something weird about his hair, but she wasn¡¯t sure what it was. ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s bad. Though if it had only been cultivators from the upper realms¡­ well, that was the common ground that led towards what we thought was going to be a prosperous relationship. But we did nothing to harm anyone from Ekict before the attack upon us. Would you like to see?¡± ¡°See¡­ what?¡± Grug asked. ¡°Some of the attacks.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not really a fan of violence,¡± Grug said. ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± Anton said, but made sure to sweep his eyes over the rest. ¡°Just be aware that recordings of many of the situations are available for viewing, should you desire proof beyond our word. Or that of the local records,¡± Anton added. ¡°While you think about that, I can offer our terms. They are simple enough. You don¡¯t have to fight for us. Just don¡¯t fight against us. This extends to your sects as well. We can get you in communication with any of them if necessary. It also covers the common people. In fact, it would apply to everyone¡­ except of course the large sects who started everything have already gone far beyond what is acceptable.¡± ¡°... What if some of us fought you?¡± asked one of the other cultivators. ¡°Some of those from my ship had sectmates who fought in earlier battles.¡± ¡°Did anyone actually choose to fight us?¡± Anton asked. Though he wasn¡¯t the only individual qualified to speak, it was also nice for the experienced grandpa in the room to be delivering all of their information. He held up a hand, ¡°It doesn¡¯t actually matter. We are prepared to offer blanket forgiveness to anyone not part of a specific list of sects. Obviously the Gates of the Earth were one of those, but we can give you the full list if anyone wished to raise objections to any of their blacklisted statuses.¡± Anton went through them all one by one. Nobody had any objections. Except¡­ ¡°You seem to have something you want to say,¡± Anton called out one of the others. ¡°Please, make your case.¡± ¡°Well, uh,¡± a middle aged man who seemed comfortable in his shadowy corner obviously hadn¡¯t expected to speak. ¡°I don¡¯t know about all of them. In fact, I think this stuck with me because it was an exception. But there was someone from the Night Island Gang that helped me out against a beast. Didn¡¯t ask for a cut or anything. Seemed nice.¡± ¡°That is a point in their favor,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°If anyone has similar tales, feel free to mention them later. We¡¯re not interested in wiping out your system¡¯s cultivation or combat strength. Unfortunately, we can¡¯t abide by anyone practicing Transferral, especially as they were willing to turn it on us while we were friends.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Grug said. ¡°They aren¡¯t good allies.¡± With that, they covered various other points. Mostly practical things, such as how they would return people to their sects- without making them targets for other natives of Ekict. Once they got some momentum behind them with a majority of smaller sects agreeing to remain out of the war and secondarily to protect each other¡¯s interests in that regard, then they wouldn¡¯t be so vulnerable. But at the moment, many sects were split up under the leadership of the greater sects- and they weren¡¯t all fortunate enough to have successfully taken over ships. Some hadn¡¯t tried, fearing the consequences, and some had failed. Outside of ships, they simply wouldn¡¯t be mobile enough to participate in the war- so they only had to deal with being yanked back and forth and marching day after day. Though nobody would be required to fight against their own people, it would be beneficial if the Trifold Alliance could have the direct support of local sects. But that was for another time. Not one terribly distant given the current pace of the war, but perhaps it would be brought up in a day or two. Chapter 683 Though he wanted to put on a strong front for the sake of morale, Anton also didn¡¯t want to make his allies overconfident. Thus, he informed everyone who needed to be aware of his injuries. He received more than a few offers to give him miraculous medicines that would probably help. But while he expected many of them could indeed accomplish the task, most would be an intense experience that would put him out of commission for a time. Even if it was only a few days, now was the most critical period. For those who wanted more details, he showed them his chest without any visual illusions, horribly damaged with muscle and bones charred away. And while most of the offers to assist him were cultivation medicines, Gabriela had another option for him. ¡°Your biggest problem¡­ well, I guess I can¡¯t really say what part of that is worst,¡± she shook her head. ¡°But there¡¯s something we can provide a short term solution for. Replicating the damaged ribcage and sternum would be pretty much trivial. We could stick some flexible metal in there and you¡¯d hardly notice.¡± She shrugged, ¡°Except for how you¡¯d have to stop your body from rejecting foreign materials. But that¡¯s got to be easier than hardening energy to replace bones. You¡¯d have to go meet up with the Wayfarer though.¡± ¡°It would be nice,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But could you make it out of something different?¡± ¡°Like what? You have special materials?¡± ¡°I was just hoping for a ceramic.¡± ¡°Sure, we have that. Though I¡¯m pretty sure we solved all of the problems with leeching.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just an issue of things being magnetic.¡± ¡°We have non-magnetic options,¡± she assured him. ¡°How non-magnetic? Does that include at the level of a neutron star? Because it¡¯s very important.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I think you¡¯d have to talk to the doctor about that,¡± Gabriela admitted. ¡°I would be glad to consult,¡± Anton said. ¡°But will this take long?¡± ¡°We can throw you to the top of the line. And making a sturdy mold shouldn¡¯t take long with our functioning equipment on the Wayfarer. We have to be able to provide most major medical services, so simple prostheses and replacement bones are fairly easy. Especially if it¡¯s only temporary.¡± ¡°I would like to speak to one of your doctors, then.¡± ----- Among cultivators, glasses were rare- and everyone from their systems were cultivators to some level. Body Tempering was the first step on the path, so seeing someone with glasses was uncommon. But here he was. ¡°I was almost completely blind,¡± the man said before Anton could do more than look. He tapped his glasses, ¡°These fix up the last vestiges, and have some additional features.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to say anything.¡± ¡°But you thought about it. It¡¯s my job as a doctor to make sure patients are comfortable, so I¡¯m good at reading people. And I really don¡¯t mind this. Besides, people constantly come to me with worse. I¡¯m Gareth, by the way.¡± ¡°So I was informed,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I need some replacement bones.¡± ¡°Alright, that will probably involve some surgery and- oh. It¡¯s pretty accessible, huh?¡± Doctor Gareth stroked his chin. ¡°We¡¯ll need you to go through some scans. And uh¡­ if you could contain your energy to a minimum, at least within or in front of the area. The machines can be pretty sensitive. They¡¯re not really made for Assimilation cultivators.¡± The process was actually rather swift. Anton put his body in the tube, and came out ten minutes later. Gareth was looking at a screen. ¡°Alright, so you¡¯ll need a replacement here,¡± he circled his fingers on the screen. ¡°The blue ribs are the parts that are missing or severely damaged. We¡¯ll try to cut out the minimum amount of healthy bone.¡± ¡°Would it be easier to just chop off an extra centimeter?¡± ¡°I mean, we really couldn¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to have a long process to fix all of this anyway. I¡¯d rather not have to come in and out as you make adjustments. And the less time you have to spend on me, the better.¡± Gareth nodded, ¡°Fine, I get it. But we do need to make sure what we do is functional. The muscle¡­ it¡¯s going to take a lot longer to help with that.¡± ¡°I will handle that myself,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you can provide a basis of proper bone structure, it will significantly recover my combat effectiveness. I do have some stipulations, though.¡± ¡°Unless you have top tier materials, we don¡¯t have access. Even for you,¡± Gareth shook his head. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°I just need something non-magnetic. And not just low on the charts. But something that wouldn¡¯t tear apart if you put it near a neutron star. Specifically, a magnetar. Or at least¡­ many times more than the largest magnetic fields normally experienced.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Oh, I see,¡± Gareth nodded seriously. ¡°We¡¯ll take a careful look at the specs then. You¡¯re right, most metals that are considered non-magnetic still have a very real interaction. So not even paramagnetism¡­¡± Gareth frowned. ¡°We can at least get something equal to or less than the human body. Actual complete lack of it requires purity levels we can¡¯t achieve.¡± ¡°That will have to do,¡± Anton said. ¡°I do have control, but I would rather not have to consider potential harms to myself. The whole point of this is to free my energy to do other things.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Gareth said, adjusting the parameters on the screen. ¡°So these red parts will be overlaps. We¡¯ll have to make surgical cuts to remove bone¡­¡± ¡°I can do that,¡± Anton said. ¡°It is my own body, so if I have clear guidelines¡­¡± ¡°If we had the luxury of time, I¡¯d push you towards accepting regular surgery.¡± ¡°How long would that take?¡± ¡°Hours,¡± Gareth said. ¡°Probably just a few.¡± ¡°During which I would be completely incapacitated.¡± Anton held up a hand, ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust you. But I might be needed.¡± ¡°As long as you can manage the right precision¡­¡± Gareth said, ¡°We¡¯ll have to accept that. Stronger cultivators usually get involved with their own health directly anyway. I¡¯ll have someone go over some things with you, just so you don¡¯t miss anything.¡± ----- Less than a day later, and Anton had something resembling a fully functional ribcage and sternum. The muscle overlaying it was still just as bad as it had been, and he was encouraging the more functional parts to attach to the fake bone. It wouldn¡¯t be a good long term solution for many reasons, but it would last for some weeks or months. It was at least as strong as his tempered bones- for most cultivators, that didn¡¯t really change much after reaching Essence Collection. It not being his own flesh would slightly limit his ability to infuse it with energy, but it was still a step better than dead bone or nothing at all. Anton was glad his internal organs had remained mostly intact, and he had accepted medicines to promote general internal healing. These relied on augmenting his own energy to fulfill specific purposes. He had been pleased to learn about the Wayfarer shooting Otakar, and he hoped Otakar¡¯s injured were at least as bad as his own. However, sensors from the Wayfarer had been unable to receive detailed enough information about that, even when he came to attack them. The only thing that was certain was that he was weaker. And that the connection in the sun was definitely to him, and Anton could influence it. Probably somewhat less from here, but if he could also attack the man at the same time it should be worth it. Or he could attack basically anyone on the planet. It might involve a bit of flying around in space, but nothing could stop him. Except Otakar, who they were having trouble finding. Perhaps that should be his job instead. Though finding the man or drawing him out could happen in parallel to targeting troublesome enemy cultivators. ----- Much of the next few days involve escorting local cultivators around- whether or not they knew he was doing so. The amazing thing about technology was that they could share information easily, so planning routes for them that should take them only through territory that was relatively safe was easier. But who could say what would happen if ships were brave enough to move around, or someone on the ground set up some sort of trap or artillery. Not that the large sects really knew what was going on- the aforementioned lack of ubiquitous communication- but no doubt someone had spotted ships flying as they weren¡¯t supposed to. Anton wasn¡¯t the only one doing the same, but he was capable of covering the most distance. He could shoot down both attacks and attackers if something came up- and he didn¡¯t even have to truly concern himself with the time for his attacks to arrive, as he could mainly use light. It was a bit weaker, but for the vast majority of cases it would be sufficient. Basically unless Integration cultivators showed up, in which case he would personally approach and take them out, along with any other members of the Trifold Alliance in the area. As Anton roamed about, he came to a conclusion. Otakar was nowhere on the planet. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. Others had postulated the same, but he¡¯d still shown up to battles. In that case, it should be said that he was nowhere on the surface of the planet. Even just a few dozen meters or dirt or stone blocked most people¡¯s senses, and it didn¡¯t take more than a couple hundred to stop even Anton. So as long as the entrance to wherever he was didn¡¯t happen to take up an obscene amount of space, it would require luck to stumble upon it. Or some sort of guidance. Anton might be able to sense all sources of natural energy within hundreds of kilometers, but that didn¡¯t mean he knew where every pothole and worm was. He would have to focus on a tiny area to get the fine details. Someone with Otakar¡¯s power seemed like they should stand out like a sore thumb- or a burning star in the sky. But that wasn¡¯t the case. Either he was an expert at concealing his energy when it was out of use- clearly not the case when he was active as he revealed himself hundreds of kilometers away to normal senses- or there were formations helping conceal him. Or perhaps both. If they could get him to appear a few more times, they could triangulate possible positions. But Anton didn¡¯t want to wait for him any longer. It was unclear if he would be able to recover from his wounds quickly- but it hardly mattered. It should take at least weeks, and though they could be gone by that point, that would be asking for him to put the whole system under his heel more directly- possibly killing anyone who had accepted peace. And then they would have to worry about him showing up in their own systems to cause damage. Assuming that he was only able to create a conduit in a single star was not ideal. No, he had to die. The sooner the better. So they were going to either draw him out with the next big move, or if they were lucky they would complete their assault on the large sects and then Anton would use the conduit in the sun to try to track him down through that connection. He might be able to resist that, but if they could spot him for even a moment that might be enough. But Anton was also worried about something else. If the connection went one way, could it go both? As far as he could tell, he couldn¡¯t do anything but stifle the flow of energy to Otakar¡¯s conduit, however it was formed. Sensing where it flowed was basically the next step. His Assimilation applied to the star as a whole so he doubted Otakar would be able to exert any sort of restrictions on him in reverse- but he had to consider that. Just because the man hadn¡¯t tried yet didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t or wouldn¡¯t. And he had been quite interested in Anton¡¯s effects on the sun. So in the case Otakar could influence the sun as a whole, what was Anton going to do? He pondered that question, and didn¡¯t particularly like the answers he came to. But at least none of them involved destroying the sun. Unless things got much worse than he could possibly foresee. Chapter 684 One by one, a myriad of scrolls and tomes with the techniques of Ekict passed before Anton¡¯s eyes. The ultimate goal of the Trifold Alliance was not to rob the system blind- though people were hungry for some form of recompense. Thus, the majority of the techniques would be remaining with the planet, to be distributed to the remaining sects. Hopefully that would lead to them standing on their own, not necessarily as an ally of the others, but not a lasting enemy either. But there were certain things that they could not be allowed to keep, like Transferral. And a few other things that were currently under review. As it turned out, large sects that were willing to use something like Transferral had no qualms about collecting other forbidden techniques. Including ones against the very codes of conduct they were supposed to enforce. Collected to keep out of the wrong hands, obviously. Anton had no qualms destroying the vast majority. Some had small parts kept- to come up with counters- but only the necessary portions. Then of course there were the sorts of forbidden that Everheart liked the most. Particularly effective techniques that could be harmful to their owners. Those¡­ didn¡¯t necessarily need to be forbidden. People could make their own decisions. But anything that involved a sacrifice from other people, whether it was in the form of life, pain, or fear¡­ those would not exist. Then there were the techniques of the Observers of the Beyond, which were dangerous to the point that Anton was surprised they hadn¡¯t destroyed any planets yet. Then he thought of the ring around the sun, and supposed that wasn¡¯t necessarily true. This was the group that Anzela Ranik semi-intentionally infiltrated. They wanted her abilities for their sect, and if they had succeeded it was likely they could have made significant use of Distortion Beasts. Which was foolish and completely unacceptable. Distortion Beasts had caused half of the downfall of their sect, along with Anzela and the void ants sent with her. Anton wished he could un-learn some of the information he now had in his head, but at least he could say he wasn¡¯t tempted to use any of it. Perhaps if it had been authored or at least refined by Everheart- the man wasn¡¯t always clear which parts he ¡®borrowed¡¯ from other techniques- then he would be tempted. But nothing came with so much power that the moral or physical damages would be worthwhile in Anton¡¯s estimation, and if they had been he was quite certain he could have resisted. Which was why he was one of those fulfilling that role. Anton burned several holes in a scroll. ¡°More on Transferral.¡± Choosing how much to keep could have been hotly debated for decades, but Anton generally erred more on the side of removal. Transferral had truly horrific consequences for some, but its main temptation was the ability to go beyond Life Transformation without ascending. And in the context of Ekict, he could see why it had been desirable. They had opponents with higher cultivation that they could convert, and they hated the upper realms enough to not ascend. Which was fairly reasonable, if insufficiently thought out. Anton thought that having people there to influence the goings on was probably the best option available, instead of just huddling in a single system. But fear had led to far worse choices in the past. The haste of an approaching cultivator interrupted the perusal of those cataloging the techniques. Though people began getting messages before the running individual arrived. ----- Otakar. At the Northern Glacier Sect, even. He was proactive this time, not waiting for them to be engaged in battle. So he was confident, or desperate. The target made sense. The Northern Glacier Sect was the most remote, relative to everything else, of the sects where they had forces stationed. They were there for the same reasons that Anton was surveying things at the Gates of the Earth- the techniques and resources. Moving a large sect¡¯s library was not a simple task, so performing those efforts in place was the most logical option. And now Annelie was in danger. Anton could have considered the rest of the people there, but frankly it didn¡¯t matter. He would probably fly to their aid if they were the only factor, but as protecting Annelie would have the side effect of protecting them they were simply not considered. Ten thousand kilometers was a bit far for Anton. If he had to deal with atmosphere the whole way, of course. But beyond a few hundred kilometers, the effort required to fire his attacks above the atmosphere was outweighed by how much his attacks would be restricted. The same was true for his senses- and in fact his senses were one of the major limiting factors for Horizon Shot. He knew exactly the region he had to target, so his shots were fired before his senses were even focused on Otakar. No doubt it would be much easier for the man to dodge or block his attacks, and some of the energy of his Spirit Arrows would be consumed redirecting the attacks¡­ but he wanted to contribute as soon as possible. Something odd happened. As soon as he began to attack, Otakar¡¯s draw through his conduit increased. It could have been a coincidence, but it was too simultaneous to not be related. His attacks arrived shortly, predictably dealt with easily, but Anton was more concerned about the first part. They shouldn¡¯t have been within sensory range. It didn¡¯t take much to guess what it was. At least on some level, things went two ways. Anton could sense Otakar¡¯s draw through his conduit, and Otakar could sense the flow to Anton. It was likely not a coincidence that it had happened while Anton was idle- though perhaps Otakar didn¡¯t consider Anton an important factor anymore. He would only know Anton survived indirectly, and even if he somehow learned more it would be that Anton was injured. Otakar was as well, but the man was still in a higher stage of cultivation. That was why Anton didn¡¯t even think about killing the man alone. Or with just Annelie and those at the Northern Glacier Sect. No, the goal was to draw things out so that more could arrive. Anton felt his body flex around his temporary sternum. Bones didn¡¯t feel much to begin with, unless they were damage, but as a cultivator Anton had a stronger sense of that, and his mind was reminding him there was nothing alive there. But it was still a good place to attach some faux muscles so he could keep shooting his bow as he flew up into the sky. He would be more effective closer. It seemed Annelie had sensed the man coming, and had barricaded her forces in some sort of ice palace. It was once an important structure for the Northern Glacier Sect, and it would be rubble in a few minutes. Not that the sect had been pristine since they took it over. Anton felt a tug. Not on his body, but on his heart and soul. Or rather, something beyond those. It disrupted his flow for a moment, but Anton didn¡¯t think Otakar could actually draw anything from him. Not right away, at least. The connection was there, and cultivation made many things possible¡­ it was just a question of whether or not Otakar¡¯s path made it possible. Soulstring twanged as Anton continued to fire his bow. He would have had little he could contribute had he lost the weapon, at least as far as top level battles were concerned. He was glad Everheart had given him something so durable so he could shoot the man with it if he ever came back. In the most appreciative way possible, of course. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Anton felt the ice palace tremble. Then, just like that, Otakar left. But just because he fled the Northern Glacier Sect didn¡¯t mean Anton and the others wouldn¡¯t track him down. If he fled into hiding, they would know where he went. There was nothing else to draw their attention now. But instead of attempting that, he merely approached a large city. Anton couldn¡¯t discern his purpose. He simply cut through its protective barrier before he threw a series of powerful fireballs upon the city itself. But why? It was not a city that had been conquered or that contributed in any way to the Trifold Alliance. They were his only people. Anton couldn¡¯t figure it out, and the whole time he kept up his bombardment of attacks while trying to vaguely keep up. It was hard for them to catch up to him directly, but he had to stop eventually. At random points, Anton tried to throttle the flow of energy to Otakar. It seemed the man was ready, but the technique was still effective at limiting him. And though Anton didn¡¯t know why he was doing it, he tried to limit his attacks on friendly cultivators. From sect to city to clan, Otakar targeted everything. Was that it? He knew he had lost and just wanted to burn the world down so no one else could have it? Certainly, Anton felt bursts of emotion from the attacks, but something told him this wasn¡¯t just the whims of a petulant child. Then he realized. Fear. Fear was a form of devotion, and while it was unlikely Otakar was close to breaking through to a higher level of power¡­ he could make use of that energy to help heal, and to keep himself going. The attacks on occupied areas were as swift as anywhere else, and even with people on alert many people fell. Fleets were converging on Otakar, but would they be able to stop him? What they really needed was as many Assimilation cultivators as they could field, but they had to arrive simultaneously. Nobody could defeat him alone. Even closer to the sun, Anton had barely been able to do anything. So this was what he wanted. To cause as much damage as possible to them. Or to string them out. But fortunately, people had caught wind of what he was doing and strategized. While many were chasing, the great thing about a globe was people could approach from all directions- including above. Otakar could fly to space but he would doubtlessly be attacked breaking past. The flow of energy from the sun was occasionally tightened- both by Anton limiting Otakar¡¯s conduit, and by Otakar disrupting the flow going to Anton. It was a constant wrestling match, one Anton knew he would lose. Ships began to fall, including their pilots and loose flying cultivators. The fastest knew they could do little but slightly hold Otakar back, but it was impossible to condense all of their forces into one place- or if they managed it, Otakar would simply leave, faster than the majority. Similar to Anton¡¯s own tactics, but Anton relied more on range. At least Otakar had to be in the general vicinity of everything he destroyed, everyone he was killing. But he was drawing in as much power as he used. They couldn¡¯t wear him out, not in any reasonable amount of time. And the damage that would be caused before then would be immense. Assimilation cultivators were already being cut down, along with a moderate sized sect¡¯s worth of sub-ascension level cultivators. Not everyone died instantly¡­ but if Otakar could continue like this, it didn¡¯t matter if they ultimately brought him down. Anton couldn¡¯t catch him. But the coordinated efforts of the Trifold Alliance¡¯s ships brought the Wayfarer to him from above while others came at him from the sides. He could attempt to cut and burn his way out in any direction, but he was still ultimately just one man, and still injured. A tug. Otakar wanted a greater flow of power. A squeeze. Anton called up on all his power from Fleeting Youth, ascension and spectral energy alike, trying to stop Otakar. He tried to squeeze the conduit, but he felt himself shoved away as Otakar slashed into the spatial distortion fields of the ship carrying Ingeborg. A section of the ring melted, greatly weakening the effect. But Otakar just wanted to cause damage, and continued past, never engaging anyone for more than an instant. Unless he could get more power. Then he would. A tug. Otakar didn¡¯t have a true connection to the star. Or at least, it was different than Anton¡¯s. But he tried to pull upon it. How many times had he tried? Fifty? A hundred? Anton felt a trickle of power drawn from the sun. It still didn¡¯t come from him, but it surpassed the flow Otakar¡¯s conduit should have been capable of. His hands stopped, he let the faux muscles on his chest fade. He had to focus on the most important thing. The outer battle mattered less than this. The fearful devotion Anton could not stop, but he could handle the sun. Otakar wrestled for control over Anton¡¯s connection. He didn¡¯t have a proper connection formed inside him, so at most he could divert more energy through his strange conduit. That increased not only his recovery of energy, but based on what Anton had seen also his maximum output- the rate at which he could kill and destroy. People were dying, and it seemed as if Otakar didn¡¯t care whose they were. Another tug made Anton clutch his chest. He couldn¡¯t win the fight. Although¡­ he did feel something. Devotion came not just for Otakar, but for others. Including himself. It wasn¡¯t just those of the alliance, but also many from Ekict. He hadn¡¯t intended that result with his previous worldwide appearance, but it was a nice side effect. Everyone on the planet was watching, or would be soon. Anton wondered if attempting to inform them would help or hurt Otakar more. Morale was tricky like that. Ultimately, he couldn¡¯t help but attempt a soothing message. He pulled away from the solar struggle for a moment, drawing on some of that energy to boost his voice once more. ¡°Don¡¯t worry everyone. We¡¯ll take care of this. Don¡¯t be afraid.¡± In truth, Anton couldn¡¯t tell if he reduced the fear of Otakar. The general flow of devotion continued to increase, though perhaps that rate was less for the fear. Unfortunately, Otakar had continued to wrestle for solar control. When Anton focused on it again, the man was firmly tugging it towards him. Not only that, but Anton felt him attempting to form a deeper connection. It was a familiar feeling. Anton was unsure if he would actually achieve proper Assimilation- if that was even possible with an Augmentation cultivation. But he had to do his best to stop it. He held on desperately, grateful for every shred of devotion. It would be most effective to slowly improve his cultivation, but for the moment he needed every spark of energy for this. He felt his grip weakening, wishing there was something¡­ anything he could do. If Otakar increased his power, would there be anything that could stop him? Once more Anton almost lost his grip. And then, he did. Or rather, he let go. After giving the power a proper shove of course. It was the only thing he could think to do. And like Anton expected from a sack of potatoes, Otakar stumbled under its sudden weight. The connection was formed. Power flowed through it, exactly like when Anton had achieved Assimilation. And that was why Anton did it. A huge step forward in power. But Anton had been very careful how he went about it. Otakar¡­ was in a more desperate situation. Nobody could quite describe what happened after that. The timing fortunately found Otakar above an ocean, and the shockwave of power that exploded out from him was diffuse enough that more people and ships were shunted away than instantly melted. Senses and scanners were overloaded for a few moments, and then there was only a tiny mote. The only thing that was truly certain was that only the tiniest portion of a sun¡¯s power had gone through Otakar at that moment. Not a single percent, or tenth of a percent. Even that would have been enough to destroy the planet, instead of simply boiling away part of an ocean. No, it was a very small portion of the sun¡¯s power indeed. The tiniest sliver. Far more than Anton had ever wielded, and of course more than had been sufficient to turn him into charcoal. And it didn¡¯t destroy the sun, which was a plus. If anyone asked, Anton would assure them he was completely certain about the results. Which was only partially untrue. He had at least been certain it would cause Otakar more harm than good for a few moments. The mote of light that remained was later determined to be a solar heart. Not from any information Otakar carried, but from the underground palace he dwelled in that they eventually found. Anton was both extremely annoyed and relieved that his was not the only storage bag with inestimable value lost to Ekict¡¯s sun. Chapter 685 The loss of life from Otakar¡¯s final moments was unfortunate, as the power had burst from him. But it was far preferable to what would have happened if he had continued his rampage, or otherwise been successful in forming a more stable bond with the sun. Instead, he attempted to use Anton¡¯s- and giving it to him had been his downfall. Anton wished it hadn¡¯t come to that, not because he particularly had sympathy for Otakar but because of the consequences to himself. At least he had successfully accomplished an experiment he never wanted- that of what would happen if he gave up a connection to a star. He survived, which was good. But his cultivation dropped one rank, from the one hundred and twentieth to one hundred and nineteenth. That represented at least five years of effort, maybe six or seven. Anton simply felt wiped out. Without a proper connection to a star in the system, he was left with recovering energy like a Life Transformation cultivator, plus the greatly reduced connections to his other stars. He would survive, and he would have gladly given more if it was necessary¡­ but with the results as they were he just wanted a break. He would be returning to Ceretos for some time, once issues with Ekict were rounded up. The major dangers were gone, but Ekict still had Transferral cultivators and others who had been involved with the attack. Even if they were gone, simply leaving would leave the system destabilized. The remaining sects might fight over the scraps of the larger ones, further weakening the system. If it left them open to an invasion when the next cycle came, it would be the fault of the Alliance- because they could help. Hopefully, Ekict could work with them for the sake of the reason they had seemed like great potential allies to begin with. Those who would remain were just people. It was impossible to say whether there would be anything but negative feelings between the systems in the future. Even those from smaller sects who chose to work with them might not feel like they had a choice. But that was something only time could tell. ----- Another war continued, far away in the upper realms. Instead of having any sort of decisive action, it had turned into something of a longer term stalemate. But it was uncertain how long it might remain that way. Yaitis was still contested on the edge of Harmonious Citadel Space, but the communication jamming formations were being systematically dismantled. There was still the matter of the Harmonious Citadel currently controlling access from space, as their fleets had maintained a greater level of communication¡­ but Yaitis was no longer in its isolated state, and more than just crazy swordmasters were willing to make the approach. ¡°I¡¯m going to kill all of the saints,¡± Catarina declared. Timothy grinned, ¡°That is our goal, but if it was so easy I think we would have already done it, would we not?¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± Catarina countered. ¡°Because never before have three of them stayed on the same planet for so many years, wrestling with us and keeping us from getting to our son.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re in a rush now,¡± Timothy said. ¡°We¡¯ve finally gotten clear news. He¡¯s alive and well¡­ and likely to stay that way.¡± ¡°Unless Chikere¡¯s plan works,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°In which case the sword saint will be showing up and killing everyone. Or Chidi will be fighting an Integration cultivator in early Life Transformation.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll admit to having a high estimation of our son¡¯s abilities,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But that¡¯s a bit much. Still, we should have plenty of time before that. He¡¯s only been in Essence Collection for a few years. It should take him at least twenty-five.¡± ¡°Unless Chikere decides he should fight this person while he¡¯s still in Essence Collection.¡± ¡°That¡­¡± Timothy frowned. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect her judgment to be that far off. But I certainly agree we can¡¯t afford to wait for that limit. Still, a few more years-¡± ¡°I finished,¡± Catarina declared. ¡°Finished what?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Plans for some grand formation?¡± ¡°Of course not. The plans were in place long ago. No, I intend to cast the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s so-called saints into the void.¡± ¡°And how will you do that¡­ without destroying the planet?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Because do remember that the Scarlet Alliance wants to hold this position afterwards.¡± Catarina nodded slowly, ¡°I am aware. We will require Tauno¡¯s support. I was hoping that Prasad and the One Thousand Palm Sect might draw some of them away, but they¡¯re not exactly eager to jump into the war.¡± ¡°I imagine old fellows like that think they are being quite hasty already,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°Some of them will be three times our age.¡± ¡°Humans are not suited to live so many centuries,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Through the generations, cultivators lose perspective on the fundamentals of the world.¡± ¡°Regardless of why, they would likely prefer to draw things out for a decade or two before launching any sort of real attack on the eastern part of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Catarina clicked her tongue. ¡°What is the point of Augmentation cultivators if they won¡¯t do anything?¡± ¡°Tauno is quite active,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°But he¡¯s new¡­ and he was still hiding in isolation for some time.¡± ¡°So. This formation you¡¯ve set up. If it¡¯s finished, can we just activate it?¡± ¡°We¡¯re missing some information,¡± Catarina said. ¡°As it is, we might draw all of Torthunes into the void. Or worse, nobody. We need to provoke the saints to battle to properly attune it. And no, I couldn¡¯t have done this during the previous battles since it wasn¡¯t ready to attune.¡± ----- It was quite amusing to see a large box plopped down in what was clearly meant to be a large open square. Of course, nobody would acknowledge it for what it was. Obviously it was a plan by the saints, perhaps with plans to reveal entirely new statues. And if Velvet believed that, she would never have been any good as an infiltrator regardless of what stealth stills she had. It only took a bit of digging to get people to admit that it was definitely not vandalism, and if it was it certainly wasn¡¯t caused by Everheart. She would have had to be as indoctrinated as Vari had once been to not understand that. But the Harmonious Citadel had a pretty successful history with that indoctrination, so Velvet simply had to assume that whatever people believed was wrong. But of course, not everything would be the opposite either. No, that would be too easy. Not that she intended to trust her interpretation of rumors as the final source. What she wanted were documents. Some of them had to have the truth, or at least something closer to the truth. Otherwise a large sect like this would never last. They might be secret, but if they were going to be anywhere Velvet imagined some of them were in this place. The central hub of Rouhiri, where the eight towers of the saints stood. Because they definitely still had eight saints. The bow saint and spear saint dead? Clearly vicious rumors. And anyone who had seen it firsthand just happened to be shipped off to the frontlines to die for the cause. Sorry, ¡®gain favor¡¯. No doubt this wasn¡¯t the only place with sensitive information, but they must keep some things. If she was able to actually get in and out of the tower alive and free. And while it was tempting to just give it a shot, it only took one failed infiltration for her career and life to be over. She¡¯d spend long enough getting to this place, a couple more years wouldn¡¯t hurt. Maybe a decade or more, if she was honest. She needed perfect circumstances- and to know what those circumstances would be and when they would happen. ----- The Everheart System was beginning to look good, which was to say it was taking on its proper role as a giant deathtrap. Everheart even had some time to pop in and out to check on what the kids of the Scarlet Alliance were doing. He did want to bring some more justice to the Harmonious Citadel as a whole, but he hadn¡¯t found any particularly vulnerable locations to rob. He also wasn¡¯t interested in getting swarmed by a half dozen Augmentation cultivators. The spear saint Damjan was dead, so his main grudge had been settled. He just had a long list of other grievances with them to get to. But no, they didn¡¯t matter. The Harmonious Citadel was a problem, certainly, but compared to the others they were small fry. The location of his tomb had been well known- intentionally placed directly between the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant. His treasures had interested people but the two places had also truly believed he was dead. Thus, because of their little agreement to keep the area neutral they had mostly not sent anyone of note. Revealing a long term location now would be premature- especially as his chosen system was out of the normal routes, with nobody to notice armies flying. It would be better for later, if anyone wanted to attempt to siege him, but until the system was completely done instead of just basically functional it was a risk. He would probably do well to stall for another century, but knowing himself he couldn¡¯t actually wait more than a couple decades. Besides, an interesting opportunity was bound to pop up soon enough. ----- Food. Food was one of the most important parts of life, especially for cultivators below the higher ranks. But even Life Transformation cultivators and Assimilation cultivators needed to eat. They could just get by with more varied options, if they didn¡¯t want to get anything but pure subsistence out of it. A month ago, Anton had been carrying a wondrous selection of seeds from all kinds of crops. He never knew when he was going to want to set up some local populace with something new. But¡­ all of that was gone. It could be replaced, of course, but it wasn¡¯t a short trip to Ceretos and back. He would miss out on an entire season if he went himself, an entire season that Ekict was behind. The war had really put a damper on their planting, disrupting the lives of even non-cultivators. So Anton was going from place to place helping out with both work and advice. Three centuries of personal experience proved him to be a great asset in both sorts of cultivation. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t his place to decided that Ekict would have everyone cultivating like his home systems, but Anton saw no reason to let a system of inequality maintain itself. And just as the weaker cultivators had felt oppressed by the large sects, so too did those who could not cultivate compared to any others. Today, Anton found himself in wide open plains. Perfect land for farming, if not for the scorching heat. But that simply meant a different selection of crops was preferable. This was the land of the Vermillion Inferno, a group that had been massively beneficial to Anishka. Though they found each other by coincidence, they chose to help in her time of need. They had also helped her with following plans. ¡°I just don¡¯t know why I¡¯m here, swinging a damn pick,¡± Haroun grumbled. ¡°You¡¯d better not be swinging a pick,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯re hoeing.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t they have¡­ fancy ploughs for this?¡± ¡°Do you have any?¡± Anton grinned. ¡°No. But also, I didn¡¯t sign up for this.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re going to be here, you¡¯ll do work. Or you can wait for my guidance at a later date. Or if you don¡¯t like my style, strike off on your own and figure out Assimilation in fifty or a hundred years.¡± ¡°Yeah right,¡± Haroun said. ¡°I think you could, now that you know it¡¯s possible,¡± Anton said. ¡°No guarantees you don¡¯t get yourself killed though.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve yet to hear any useful advice,¡± Haroun complained again. Though his protests were token at best. He kept doing the work. ¡°That just means you should have been listening better. Now then, as we feel the heat of the sun and the ground beneath us, we are preparing plants to grow.¡± Anton knew that Haroun¡¯s style of cultivation wouldn¡¯t match Anton¡¯s own, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt him to hear some of those things. Or to appreciate how much plain and beneficial work an individual would do. He would still receive personalized guidance, as promised. And resources, once they arrived. But those were barely relevant compared to the knowledge. Chapter 686 Claws and teeth came for his throat. Their sharpness and intent was clear, and he responded in kind. Chidi¡¯s blade snapped forward, slicing through fur- but barely scratching the flesh underneath. He weaved around the teeth and claws, knowing that even the smallest scratch could lose him the battle. The pace of attacks became more frantic, biting and growling as he avoided his somewhat larger opponent. He felt the oily coating of poison on the claws and teeth. Aconite was able to extend not just sharpness beyond her fangs and claws, but the effects of the poison as well. His blade parried an incoming swipe, at the same time knocking her away. The positioning of Chidi¡¯s blade was supposed to slice into her, but her defensive energy hardened her already durable fur, angling it so the edge slid away. With some distance between them, the two combatants readied themselves for the next move. Chidi held his blade high, ready to thrust forward should Aconite pounce. She would not underestimate what his blade could do. Though he wouldn¡¯t kill her, he didn¡¯t have perfect control either. She might get a lasting injury if he cut more muscle or bone than he intended, or if the cuts were imperfect. They stood in position for five seconds. Ten. Then Aconite stepped forward slowly. Chidi shifted his body as he heard the footfalls and the shifting air. Or at least, he tried to. Instead, he remained still. Another step. He pushed his body to move. But his muscles didn¡¯t respond. He tried to force movement, but found that not only were his muscles not responding to him, but tightly locked up. If he used his energy to reposition his body, he could easily snap a muscle or break a bone. He would have announced his loss, but¡­ muscles and all that. Aconite showed it clear from her perspective when she wrapped her jaws around his face. But sharp teeth didn¡¯t even touch him as she pulled away. ¡°You missed something,¡± she growled. Chidi was already circulating his energy to purge the poison. A handy side effect of training with her was that he had an expert in such things. Though he didn¡¯t always go along with her recommendation to leave some for the body¡¯s natural processes. He wouldn¡¯t gain as much immunity purging everything, but his body and energy weren¡¯t devoted to such training so even if he tried the process would be many times slower than Aconite. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t sense it,¡± Chidi managed with vocal chords that barely flexed. Aconite stepped closer. ¡°Really? Try again.¡± Chidi flared his nostrils. That merely worsened his condition. Something inhaled, then. But when had Aconite had time to release a gas? Aconite stepped back, then she shook wildly, her fur fluffing and a bit of matted blood barely clinging. It was both a gesture to make her more comfortable, and a clue. The finest powder was mixed with her natural dander. And fortunately she¡¯d directed it away from him so he would be able to go about his business sooner. ¡°So you coated your fur before showing up¡­¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I often do the same when traveling,¡± Aconite explained. ¡°I suppose I missed it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not meant to be obvious. And I don¡¯t leave behind a trail unless I intend to, or our squad would die.¡± ¡°You have lethal ones?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°It is only lethal for the weak. Some of them are weak.¡± That was true. Though Captain Tiras and Vice Captain Denitsa were also in Essence Collection, many of the others were stuck at the peak of Spirit Building. Though training together, it was likely many of them would soon make the advancement. Meanwhile, Chidi himself had just recently reached the midpoint of Essence Collection, at least by certain measures. After cleaning up the battlefield- they didn¡¯t want anyone to randomly get paralyzed- they made their way back into the main part of Shutoll. There, Captain Tiras met them. ¡°Good, you¡¯re back. I was about to go get the two of you.¡± ¡°You needed us for something? Are we going on a mission?¡± ¡°Not immediately. However, we¡¯ve been reassigned.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Chidi asked as he began to follow. ¡°A new Major came in.¡± ¡°From where?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°She¡¯s new,¡± Tiras emphasized. What was that supposed to mean? Wait. ¡°You mean like, she actually arrived here?¡± Chidi gestured vaguely to the sky, though he didn¡¯t turn his head because it would be pointless. ¡°They broke through the blockade?¡± ¡°Not quite. She came alone. Like Chikere, in a way.¡± ¡°Is she also that strong?¡± ¡°Well I¡­ don¡¯t want to speculate too much,¡± Tiras shook his head. So they made their way through the city streets, to the military sector. Even as they were meeting up with the rest of the squad and getting in position, Chidi felt someone approaching. There weren¡¯t exactly many Integration cultivators on Yaitis, and Shutoll specifically mainly had Chikere- and only some of the time. Chidi wondered why this imposing figure wasn¡¯t a general, then. She could easily take a higher position. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Officers, step forward please.¡± Technically, that included Chidi now. Tiras and Denitsa actually had a few squads under them, and Chidi was qualified to lead one. Though in general, he only took leadership positions with regards to scouting. He had the feeling it included him and Aconite, however, so they also stepped forward. He felt the gaze of the woman and her power as he saluted. Aconite did her own version, given she didn¡¯t have the anatomy. ¡°Hmm. I see. It¡¯s not your cultivation that made you stand out, then.¡± Something was weird. It felt like the voice was coming from¡­ lower than expected? Chidi angled his head. Yes, instead of what had felt like a woman taller than himself, he found she was actually barely even chest height. A little bit more after one considered her helmet. She wore full armor, and in one hand she held a glaive. Perhaps that had skewed his perspective, because it was a good three meters in length. There was something else about her. Without trying to probe too deep, Chidi could tell from her voice that she was older. At least, that was how he¡¯d come to interpret that. There could be some other reason, but he wasn¡¯t going to probe through her armor to check for wrinkly skin. Her cultivation, however, was clearly displayed. And it was¡­ weak. For an Integration cultivator, of course. Or perhaps instead of weak, Chidi should say¡­ new. ¡°If seems you have questions.¡± Was he that obvious? ¡°Go ahead. Chidi, is it?¡± ¡°Did you recently ascend?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± she said. ¡°From Roistea.¡± ¡°Congratulations,¡± Chidi said. He really didn¡¯t know what else to say. ¡°We¡¯re glad to have you in the Scarlet Alliance.¡± ¡°And I am glad to be here,¡± she said. ¡°And to be given a chance to prove my worth. So I asked for the best. I would like to give you a chance to demonstrate. Come with me to the sparring grounds. I will test each of you.¡± Some light growls. ¡°Aconite would like to know if she will be allowed to use poisons.¡± ¡°Not for this part.¡± Aconite began to lick her paws as she moved. The matches started at the top which meant Tiras was first. He wielded his spear against her glaive, but within a few moves he found an opening to stab her in the chest. Or at least what looked like one. His spear lost all momentum and her glaive came down upon his shoulder- also stopping, but not because of anything Tiras did. Was it unfair? Perhaps. Major Sibylla was in Integration, after all. Then again, Chidi didn¡¯t feel like she¡¯d used much energy, and even if her armor had taken much of the blow it was Tiras¡¯ fault for not attacking some other way. Denitsa¡¯s fight also did not last long. Once again, Sibylla let her land a hit. The smaller woman staggered back half a step, but considering that Denitsa¡¯s hammer had struck her directly in the head and nothing snapped, it wasn¡¯t much. Once again, Chidi felt an efficient use of energy to achieve that effect. Then it was him. He challenged himself to do better. He doubted he could harm her unless she didn¡¯t resist at all, but that was actually freeing. He could try anything. Obviously he wasn¡¯t going to attempt to chop or slice through her armor, but there were always weaker points. Joints, the elbows, beneath the shoulder, the thighs. And the gaps of waist and torso and around the neck. The armor there would be more soft and flexible, and no doubt still high quality. But at least theoretically possible to pierce through. Chidi¡¯s first move appeared to be an overhead chop, but Sibylla just tilted the bottom half of her planted glaive. A simple flick to the side, and his attack coming from below was deflected into the sturdiest part of her thigh, momentum negated. Chidi pulled back, in the same motion sweeping up towards her armpit. Depending on how she moved it could be a stab or a slash. This time, she had to make a larger motion to parry his blade. When she also slashed down towards him with the tip of the glaive, Chidi ducked away. It was clearly intentionally slowed, but it had almost reached him- at which point he would have taken a clear loss. He actually managed to avoid several more attacks, feeling the sharpness of the bladed polearm. And then¡­ pain. Pain in his ribs. He hadn¡¯t even considered the movement an attack until the haft of the weapon struck his ribs. But of course, that had been the whole point- to get him focused on the ¡®larger¡¯ threat, even though that attack could have killed him as well. At least, he thought that was what happened. Major Sibylla didn¡¯t express any opinions, simply moving onto the next. Aconite without poison didn¡¯t have many options. She couldn¡¯t exactly overpower someone so far ahead in cultivation, so she attempted to gain a hold on the Major¡¯s weapon. But it was twisted out of her mouth- Aconite might have held on a moment longer at the risk of losing a tooth or two, but ultimately she wasn¡¯t well matched. Those below Essence Collection were obviously not going to do any better. At least most of them managed to get a strike in before their loss. Sibylla seemed to let everyone make the first move, but some hesitated too long. ¡°More than adequate, for your cultivations,¡± she judged everyone at once. ¡°However, this is hardly a proper battlefield situation. Nor would you fight me one-on-one, unless you were foolish. I¡¯d like to see you take proper action, but it would have to take place outside the city. I will have to request additional forces so we don¡¯t expose ourselves during a training exercise. Then you can try to hunt me down, and I can see how you properly function.¡± Chidi nodded to himself, thinking more about how far he had to go to be able to fight an Integration cultivator. Even one who was newly ascended was untouchable. How was he going to beat Rakiya on Chikere¡¯s timescale? Well, he was a bit more confident in sword versus sword. But even his growing skill and confidence didn¡¯t make him believe he could bridge the gap from Life Transformation. On the other hand, he didn¡¯t want to disappoint¡­ so maybe he¡¯d have to find some way to grow more. In that way, this new Major might be a great opportunity. Chikere wasn¡¯t always around, and she was too much better than Chidi. He could learn a lot from her, but not how to win against a stronger cultivator. Not with just that, at least. And for the sake of practicality, Chidi had to consider fighting other styles. There was no way he would be lucky enough for all of his future opponents to use swords- and if he was, perhaps some would have the proper obsession with them to overpower him. Even Chikere would likely lose out to a stronger sword cultivator, if one could be found. Her voice came into his head unbidden. ¡°They¡¯re only stronger until you win.¡± That was probably supposed to be motivational, but instead it just made him think that he was gambling his life any time he fought someone stronger. Then again, maybe that was true. And though Chikere seemed to have won all of those ¡®gambles¡¯, Chidi shouldn¡¯t assume that would be the case for anyone forever. If two people with perfect records came up against each other, one would be losing it. One thing that did assuage Chidi¡¯s fears somewhat was that even Chikere¡¯s record wasn¡¯t perfect. She had losses in her past, she¡¯d just survived them. Not that there were many he was aware of. Chapter 687 Saying that anyone won a war like that with Ekict was never really true. What was an acceptable amount of losses in such a situation? In Anton¡¯s opinion, nothing good came of the war. The current situation on Ekict where the average individual had greater autonomy didn¡¯t require a war, and though Anton was confident it would continue to develop nobody could truly predict the future. Lives were lost, and the main change to Weos, Rutera, and Ceretos was to restrict access. Greater security was theoretically good, but the fact that people felt they needed it meant it was only negative. Not that there were all that many systems they were interacting with on a regular basis. There were the three systems of the Sylanis cluster- they remained at peace even now, though there had been tension during the duration of the war with Ekict. Beyond that, there was Gnadus. A frozen planet with the total population of a mid sized city. Some individuals chose to leave, while others chose to go to Gnadus for training. The harsh environment was favored by some, and while having the choice to leave via means other than ascension might make people ¡®soft¡¯, Anton thought it was better for people to be soft and alive. At least those who couldn¡¯t handle the life of a dedicated cultivator, and the great intensity it sometimes required. Then there was Doruma, just barely poking out of their shell in the decades after the last invasion from the upper realms. They were insular to begin with, so having another excuse to remain isolated set back the progress of befriending them on a wider level significantly. They had never opened their borders for visitation to begin with, and their location was officially kept secret at their request. Shrenn and Tenoun¡¯a were four times as far away as Ekict, half of the way to Azun and In¡¯istra. Thus, it was impractical to interface with them in any capacity. Even simple messages could take a long time to arrive. They were still busy healing from their long centuries of strife, so they also didn¡¯t have much interested in dealing with outsiders. Beyond that, there were a few systems within a few dozen lightyears that had some signs of life. Establishing contact with them would now be much more cautious. A greater secrecy on one side would also lead to slower developments of any future relationships in either direction. Anton hated to see such a level of distrust and discord, but perhaps he was simply biased by how simple things had been with Rutera and Weos. Aside from an infestation of upper realms spies, Weos had been quite cooperative. And Rutera was truly friendly from the very beginning, even when they had reason to be afraid of Ceretos¡¯ power. Hoping that things would continue so smoothly in the future was overly optimistic. ----- The Sergeant was late. Even she could admit that, having delayed until the last wave of void ants returning to their home systems. And she hadn¡¯t wanted to go, because Anishka still remained with Ekict. It was her relatively weakness that allowed them to trust her, and that was exactly why she needed protection. But while the Sergeant had gained the support of other void ants and even some Royal Guard, she had to report back eventually. And she had promised to answer for her disobedience of orders. She had followed her truthful interpretation of the Great Queen¡¯s orders, but pushing that to the point of disobeying Royal Guard with a different interpretation¡­ well, it was up to the Great Queen to decide what would happen. Disobeying orders in theory could be punished by death. In practice, it simply wasn¡¯t done. That was why the Lieutenant and the Royal Guard had been so confused. A sergeant wasn¡¯t even supposed to have her own interpretation of orders. And the Sergeant understood that. Void ants were social creatures. They lived in great colonies of millions or more, but the Sergeant had thought she would be approaching the Great Queen alone. She was wrong. At least, her squad approached as far as protocol allowed, the Royal Guard following her to the Great Queen¡¯s very audience chamber before letting her approach the final steps on her own. It was intimidating, to look up at the Great Queen¡¯s form. The size disparity was even more than with the Royal Guard. In each dimension she was nearly twenty times the Sergeant¡¯s size, making her not just hundreds of times larger overall but thousands. Physical prowess aside, the Sergeant was well aware of the Great Queen¡¯s intellect. Three steps at a time she approached. She felt a fearsome awe. She would accept whatever judgment came¡­ yet at the same time the Sergeant knew she would try to sway that judgment despite her own limited mental faculties. She approached the Great Queen. ¡°Report,¡± came the simple command. ¡°This one presents the report of a completed mission, though the main objectives of this one¡¯s mission are now redundant and satisfied by others. This one regrets not being sufficiently capable so as to uncover signs of treachery before Ekict acted. The suitability for habitation is of course well enough known now- though it is unlikely the locals would be interested in a colony. Thus, only the tertiary objectives were meaningfully accomplished. The princess known as Anishka remains alive and well.¡± The Sergeant hesitated. She could not read the posture of the Great Queen. It was not simply that much of her anatomy was hidden, but she also maintained great control. For a moment, she considered lying- by omission only. But if others had reported as she expected, remaining silent would be a certain death sentence, instead of just a probable one. ¡°During the course of the missions, there were multiple incidents of conflicting instructions. This one interpreted her orders differently from one Lieutenant and then a contingent of Royal Guard. This resulted in a split of command and inflicting injuries upon superior officers due to the resulting confrontations.¡± Each motion of the Great Queen seemed as if it might crush the Sergeant- but she had no need to perform such a thing herself. In the end, it was simply communication signs. ¡°So you not only disobeyed direct orders, but also attacked them?¡± Missing from this was the pheromones that would tell the Sergeant the Great Queen¡¯s feelings. Perhaps she was so filled with anger she worried that she would slay more than just the Sergeant with the intensity. ¡°I could not disregard my interpretation of the third order. And in this one¡¯s defense, I did not initiate the physical confrontations.¡± ¡°But you certainly finished them, incapacitating powerful individuals.¡± ¡°This one regrets keeping them from fully accomplishing other duties.¡± ¡°Do you know how human cultivators resolve conflicts among themselves?¡± ¡°Through logical conversation and peaceful agreement. This one has failed.¡± ¡°Yes, our cultivators managed to do so more often than not. But you just experienced a war. Humans fighting and slaying humans. But Void Ants do not fight each other.¡± The Great Queen was right, of course. They did not. She had thought on it frequently, over the last months. Ever since her mind began to change. At some point, she somehow forgot that Void Ants didn¡¯t obey out of a sense of duty or fear, but simply because that was what they did. Nobody even thought about defying orders. Just that meant she was broken. ¡°We should not fight each other,¡± the Sergeant agreed. ¡°This one awaits whatever punishment is deemed fitting.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Do you deserve a punishment?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°For violating orders and harming superiors.¡± ¡°And your reasons?¡± Was the Great Queen forgetful? No, of course not. She simply wanted the Sergeant to be reminded of the weight of her actions. ¡°This one interpreted that she must continue to protect the Princess at the Great Queen¡¯s orders overriding subsequent orders.¡± ¡°Should a soldier be punished for following orders?¡± ¡°No.¡± Of course not. If she had simply gone along, she would not be punished. ¡°And my orders take priority.¡± ¡°Of course. You are the Great Queen. All others are born from you or your daughters.¡± ¡°So why should you be punished? You followed my orders, as I expected of you.¡± The Sergeant twitched, an involuntary physical response to mental confusion. ¡°My interpretation was correct?¡± ¡°Would you have followed if if you thought it wasn¡¯t?¡± ¡°No? But then, it would not have been my interpretation.¡± Right? If she did not think it was correct, she would not have acted upon it. ¡°But higher ranking officers-¡± ¡°Here, only my interpretation matters. And I say you will not be punished.¡± ¡°This one is grateful for the Great Queen¡¯s mercy.¡± ¡°There is no mercy to be given where no wrong has been done. Now then, what shall you do next?¡± The Sergeant waited for her orders. And waited. Surely, if there were no orders for her the Great Queen could relay them later, could she not? Wait. ¡°Can this one request being assigned to the princess Anishka again?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I still believe her to be in potential danger, and she would need protection.¡± ¡°Indeed. She is important. I should assign a Royal Guard to the task.¡± ¡°No!¡± The Sergeant recoiled at her own haste. ¡°This one spoke hastily. She means to say that a Royal Guard may prove insufficient.¡± But then she might just assign two. ¡°And too obvious.¡± ¡°What then should I do?¡± ¡°This one is¡­ strong for her size. She would wish to be there personally.¡± ¡°A Royal Guard would be better. But assigning too many would be inelegant.¡± ¡°How might this one be assigned?¡± ¡°Become a Royal Guard. Or¡­¡± ¡°This one is afraid she cannot become a Royal Guard. This one is still barely large enough to be a Sergeant.¡± ¡°You have grown. But indeed you will likely never be as big as they are.¡± ¡°... There was another option?¡± Somehow, formality lost her there as the situation overwhelmed her thoughts. She didn¡¯t want to abandon Anishka. ¡°You could admit why you want to go.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It is simple. Say it.¡± ¡°This one would do well defending Anishka in the future.¡± ¡°Merely a statement of fact. It is not a reason. Certainly not yours.¡± Why did the Sergeant want to do this? It was fairly simple. But was it even allowed? Ah, but if it was forbidden, then she would simply die. That would be a better option. ¡°Anishka is my friend.¡± Stillness. Fear. What would the Great Queen¡¯s reaction be. ¡°Good.¡± Good? ¡°You did it. Remember to keep that in your mind.¡± ¡°That Anishka is this one¡¯s friend?¡± Disappointment. That was strangely opposite. ¡°That is half of it. Try not to lose the other half.¡± What was the other half? ¡°What is it?¡± the Sergeant asked timidly. ¡°If I tell you, I think it will do you no good.¡± The Great Queen waved her away. ¡°You are free to return to your friend.¡± Relief. She had her orders. And she was not dead, which was also preferable. As long as she would not be alone. ----- Doctor Escarra shook his head. ¡°What is it with your type and treating your bodies like a pile of refuse?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t know. You made Chikere¡¯s arm, right?¡± ¡°And while it was a great advancement, it would still be better for her to have her own arm.¡± He pursed his lips, ¡°Unless she can learn to be a tech cultivator.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t choose to have these injuries,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°You did make them worse for temporary gains, though.¡± ¡°The cuts are clean,¡± Anton protested. ¡°It was all charred before.¡± ¡°Your bones are¡­ fine,¡± Escarra said. ¡°But your muscles are irreplaceable. And no, I can¡¯t just make you a prosthetic torso.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to ask,¡± Anton said. ¡°Or ribcage.¡± ¡°I understand the damage is significant. I was just referred to you as the most likely option to help.¡± ¡°That might be the case,¡± he said. He leaned forward, ¡°I¡¯m surprised they made such a functional ribcage, given the circumstances. It¡¯ll have to go.¡± A pause. ¡°I almost expected you to rip it out.¡± ¡°Do you want me to? Unlike Chikere, I will wait until you fully explain.¡± ¡°Well. I have an idea. We¡¯ve been working on ways to regrow tissues. Consistently, I mean. Obviously there are healing herbs and the like that are processed into medicines. But if those worked for you, you wouldn¡¯t be here.¡± ¡°My body is old,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°And my energy¡­¡± ¡°Is beyond what such things can withstand. Even if you want to let them work, there are limits,¡± Doctor Escarra nodded. ¡°I heard there are things in the upper realms that can recover anything. I¡¯d love to have a sample. Enes said he¡¯d send a scan if they ever got one, but that¡¯s not the same as having one.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t help you there,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯d disintegrate in the upper realms.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking,¡± Doctor Escarra shook his head. ¡°So. My team has been working on a method. One that doesn¡¯t require a specific core technique or cultivation rank. And for the moment it¡¯s both monumentally expensive and dangerous.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Anton said. ¡°So basically, I¡¯d like to have you try it out. We can cover some of the expenses on our end, but our funding isn¡¯t endless.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It will require a lot of work on your end as well. But we might be able to regrow your muscles, using your body as a scaffold. I will admit, your advanced age¡­ will make it more difficult. Though we¡¯ll also get useful data.¡± ¡°How long?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Months, if you¡¯re extremely lucky. Most likely years, if it works at all.¡± ¡°Would I have to remain here the whole time?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I have things I need to do.¡± ¡°If you let us get constant data for¡­ about a year, or until we know for certain if the process is viable, then I suppose that would be sufficient,¡± Doctor Escarra looked disappointed. ¡°I could carry monitoring equipment with me.¡± ¡°Please do. Though I suppose we can¡¯t have it transmit the data for security reasons.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this just a healing method?¡± ¡°Sure, but I can¡¯t think of anything we need to keep more secure than the precise physical status of our Assimilation cultivators.¡± Anton couldn¡¯t disagree, especially considering recent events. Chapter 688 The initial presumption of Anton was that he would be receiving synthetic muscles, but as Doctor Escarra went over his preferred options it became clear they would be doing more to regrow organic muscle. His bone wouldn¡¯t be regrown, not because it was impossible but because the procedure for the muscles was actually reliant on an underlying structure. It was much more sophisticated than the ceramic ribcage that had been whipped up for him on the Wayfarer. It fulfilled all the proper functions of a ribcage- specifically protecting his vital organs, providing structure for muscle, and to some extent producing blood. But the layer atop that was fascinating. There was a complex structure that Anton couldn¡¯t begin to replicate, one that absorbed materials from various liquid vials and steadily released a sort of goopy mess. Which was to say, Anton had been lying on his back basically unmoving for weeks as the mess of vitamins and minerals and proteins were used by his cells to promote growth. It also came with some living material which he had to imprint himself upon, these being replicated stem cells that could transform into any part of the body. But of course, left to their own devices without instructions cells were rather limited in that regard. Especially when he was missing all of the adjacent bits. ¡°How is it going?¡± Doctor Escarra asked as he entered Anton¡¯s room. ¡°Slow, still,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Sorry about that. Your body is already old, so the process can only go so fast. Your active intervention is just enough to keep it on pace.¡± ¡°I would be careful about offering this treatment to anyone else,¡± Anton said. ¡°It sometimes doesn¡¯t know how to grow, and it needs constant guidance. Even sleeping for a reasonable few hours at a time might wind up with someone going far off course.¡± Doctor Escarra nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll make a note of that. We also intend to have machines managing the details for the general populace, but this is our first proper attempt. It would actually be easier to grow new organs, as they have more defined limits. They could be grown separately then freely implanted.¡± ¡°I see why it would be difficult,¡± Anton said. ¡°Tell me, have you studied Nthanda?¡± ¡°Every chance we get,¡± Doctor Escarra said. ¡°It is impossible to replicate her body through any known methods, but watching how her muscles developed into an ascension-class body temperer is amazing. It did allow us to come up with the techniques to form more than just fresh, new muscle.¡± ¡°Yes, I see this has already been tempered to a reasonable standard,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°It¡¯s a bit tricky as each layer grows further from the lattice, though. And it seems to have high risk of infection.¡± ¡°We¡¯d thought of some of that,¡± Doctor Escarra admitted. ¡°For your case, leaving things uncovered gives it the necessary breathability and you aren¡¯t exactly going to get sick from anything.¡± ¡°Not if I can help it,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll immolate those bacteria and viruses.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Doctor Escarra agreed. ¡°Actually, we already have many ideas for the next step. It would probably include another layer as a shell that expands with the growth, to provide the room but keep things sanitary. And it would allow working from the other side.¡± ¡°Shoulda waited for that one,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Well, it will likely take years to develop it anyway, and that¡¯s with your data helping us.¡± ¡°Technology sure takes a long time to begin working¡­¡± Anton said. ¡°I could create a new cultivation technique faster.¡± ¡°But other people wouldn¡¯t be able to use it for much longer,¡± Doctor Escarra said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t saying it was bad. It¡¯s just funny that some aspects of cultivation are relatively quicker. But I understand the value that can be provided by things that run primarily without the use of natural energy.¡± If nothing else, the Ruteran methods were focused on making anything that did use energy much more efficient, because their planet originally was lacking in natural energy. Now, it was a practice they maintained intentionally. ----- It wasn¡¯t odd that an Integration cultivator could fight everyone at once. Chidi understood how much stronger they were compared to Essence Collection cultivators- there was still the whole gap of Life Transformation, after all. It was just disheartening to have it done so easily. Still, Major Sibylla took the task seriously and wasn¡¯t just playing around with them. She stopped short of injuring people though- or at least seriously. And she didn¡¯t push the envelope on what would be a serious injury, unlike Chikere. In a way, it was actually relaxing to get thoroughly defeated by someone else but not be covered in injuries afterwards. Yet he also felt that he learned less. Chikere wasn¡¯t exactly the best teacher, but she was still effective. For those who could handle her, at least. He was looking forward to continuing that training for a while. So obviously that wasn¡¯t going to happen. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re coming with me.¡± Chikere showed up and declared to Chidi. ¡°I found her.¡± ¡°Who -?¡± Chidi asked as he was suddenly dragged away. ¡°Rakiya, obviously,¡± Chikere said. ¡°What does that have to do with me?¡± Chidi asked nervously. He couldn¡¯t sense anything around them but air. Chikere wasn¡¯t exactly flying, but instead leaping in great bounds, which brought things to the point Chidi could perceive them only occasionally. ¡°Everything. You¡¯re going to fight her.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll die,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°It¡¯s only been five years. It was supposed to be twenty-five.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°I shortened it to twenty,¡± Chikere helpfully reminded him. ¡°That¡¯s still way more than five.¡± ¡°Well, yeah. Obviously I don¡¯t expect you to win. Just survive two attacks.¡± ¡°... What if I don¡¯t?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Then you¡¯ll be dead, obviously. But that won¡¯t be a problem unless you¡¯ve been slacking.¡± They touched the ground briefly. There was a moment of stillness before they were off once more. ¡°I haven¡¯t been but¡­ I¡¯m still only in Essence Collection. I don¡¯t have the energy to resist her attacks.¡± ¡°Obviously you¡¯re not going to take them head on. You need to use finesse.¡± ¡°She has like a century of experience more than me!¡± Chidi protested. ¡°I¡¯m sure her finesse is greater.¡± ¡°Good point,¡± Chikere said. ¡°We need to get in some training along the way.¡± Well. This was how it was going to be. Chidi resigned himself to that. He hoped that Major Sibylla would be informed why he was gone. He doubted Chikere followed any official procedures for that. ¡°Why do I need to be tested now?¡± he asked. ¡°Simple,¡± the grandmaster said. ¡°You should be close to a critical point, and I need to keep provoking her or the sword saint will never show up.¡± He forgot about that aspect of things. The sword saint was a proper Augmentation cultivator, so he would be on an entirely different level. And Chikere wanted to fight him. ¡°Why are you so determined to fight him now?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to do it now. Just soon.¡± ¡°But why?¡± ¡°Because if I defeat an Augmentation cultivator I¡¯ll be in Augmentation.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if it works that way,¡± he said. ¡°But the general idea works. Shouldn¡¯t it take another seventy years though?¡± ¡°Pfeh. I¡¯m not waiting that long. The war will be over by then and I¡¯ll never get the opportunity.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good reason to commit suicide.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not suicide if you expect to get killed by someone else.¡± ¡°I¡­ think it kinda is. Also, you expect to get killed?¡± ¡°Sure. One of us has to die. So it¡¯s even odds me or him.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how that works.¡± Much later, they landed. And actually stopped. Time for training, it seemed. ¡°I¡¯m going to show you the two opening moves I expect from her,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Get ready.¡± Chidi readied himself. He had to treat this like a fight to the death. And in a way, it was. Unless he took it that seriously, he probably could die. Truthfully, her attacks were simple. And that was the scariest part of it. A simple vertical and horizontal slash. They seemed to come simultaneously. Was that one move? Chidi wasn¡¯t certain. All he knew was he sensed the intent and motion, and reacted accordingly. His parry barely pushed the attacks off track, but he forced himself away at the same time. When he stopped, he kept himself ready. That was good, because she quickly followed up. ¡°Next~¡± the grandmaster said. Her thrust was like a lightning bolt, followed by a draw cut. Then, a slice at his neck. He barely managed to anticipate the last one as he felt his head toppling to the ground. Fortunately, that was not what actually happened. He did lose some hair though. ¡°That has to be at least three, maybe five!¡± Chidi protested. ¡°I thought you said you would do the two most expected opening moves.¡± ¡°Those were officially pairs of moves, you know,¡± the grandmaster replied, holding her blade in one hand- just as Rakiya would have to do. ¡°And obviously the most likely moves are the ones you¡¯re least ready for. So you¡¯d better brush up on the entire library of the Harmonious Citadel.¡± Chidi was glad for Citadel¡¯s Downfall, because in addition to Chikere¡¯s specific insights it provided a balanced way to counter all of their moves, based on pretty much any pairing of weapons. The Everheart guy who made it was a genius. But apparently he wasn¡¯t a great guy. And as far as swords went, he was a good bit less talented than Chikere. Somehow, he remained standing through an assault by every move in the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s book. Twice. And some that definitely weren¡¯t part of it. Sure, everything came in pairs of moves, for some definition of that, but even with Chikere using just one sword, she wasn¡¯t holding back enough. But he survived. He did need a lot of sewing together, though. Fortunately, the grandmaster was good at that part. She controlled a myriad of tiny needles like swords, putting him together from the inside. Then wrapping him up in bandages like a mummy. And then she picked him up and flew off again. ¡°Now¡¯s where you sleep!¡± she informed him. He thought there was no way he would sleep while being carried like a sack of potatoes, and he was right. Until after the second round of sparring, when he was pretty sure he passed out in the middle of a counter. He wondered if it hit. Or rather, if it at least touched the grandmaster¡¯s defensive energy. ----- ¡°Snatched up by an Integration cultivator?¡± Sibylla said, looking sternly at the group in front of her. Captain Tiras was translating for the wolf. Aconite. ¡°Not just any Integration cultivator. Swordmaster Chikere.¡± ¡°Never heard of her.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Assuming she¡¯s famous, I just ascended, you know?¡± Sibylla grinned. ¡°Or maybe she¡¯s not.¡± ¡°She certainly is. Shouldn¡¯t you have at least heard about her in reports?¡± ¡°Oh, she¡¯s that swordmaster,¡± Major Sibylla nodded. ¡°The one who showed up without warning, and who disappears without it.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a reason she isn¡¯t in charge of how things are run here,¡± Denitsa explained. ¡°Besides not wanting to do it.¡± ¡°As long as she shows up to battle¡­ and leaves our scout with us to train sometimes,¡± Sibylla shrugged. ¡°As far as we¡¯ve been able to tell, most of the time when she is away she¡¯s attacking enemy forces,¡± Tiras explained. ¡°Occasionally she makes reports, and it¡¯s not uncommon to find bisected enemy squadrons.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Sibylla nodded. ¡°Well, I can try to maneuver around that. At worst, we can count it as if she¡¯s not part of Shutoll¡¯s forces in particular. What are the chances of her showing up to protect her disciple if he¡¯s in danger?¡± ¡°Unclear. Maybe none,¡± Tiras admitted. ¡°She did save him previously, but if she thinks he should win a battle¡­ I think she would just let him die.¡± ¡°Is she that harsh?¡± Tiras shrugged, ¡°I can¡¯t truly claim to know her thoughts. For the most part, she¡¯s the one who causes him the most physical harm. Though I can¡¯t say that it hasn¡¯t been good for his swordsmanship.¡± ¡°He does seem quite competent for his cultivation¡­ and age,¡± Sibylla agreed. Chapter 689 From practically flying to being dropped into a crowd, Chidi had just enough time to determine the group consisted of Harmonious Citadel cultivators before he landed. At least they had that going for them- they didn¡¯t have a wide variety of cultivation techniques. Determining allies and enemies apart in an instant could be important. And of course, it was the same for them. He felt their stances shift as he fell, and weapons were drawn before he had his feet. Swords, spears, and bows. Another weakness of the Harmonious Citadel, they quashed their only advantage of diversity with their cliques. But it certainly made things easier to handle. His first target could have reasonably assumed she would be safe in her given position, an archer in the midst of a squadron of others. But that didn¡¯t count people falling from the sky. His blade flashed out, slicing her bow in two a moment after her arrow touched string. Then a half dozen attacks came at him all at once. There was some sort of advantage to having so many enemies. Or rather, at some point the disadvantages stopped accumulating. Even with archers involved, only so many enemies could effectively attack him at once. Those with swords and spears didn¡¯t start in optimal positions, so he had a moment to clash with spears and bows before the enemy lines shifted. Swords were disregarded for the moment, as they were the least threatening to him. Though beyond that few of his choices were conscious. There was no time to consider exactly what he had to do. He simply followed the flow of energy where it led him. He manipulated it so that attacks would cause him the least harm possible- he did not have the proficiency nor the wild confidence to let a spear piece through him and presume he could direct it away from his vital organs, but he did let them graze him to avoid more dangerous attacks. One at a time his opponents fell, until Chidi stood alone, sword dripping with blood. ¡°You could have warned me you were going to do that,¡± he said, presuming the swordmaster was present somewhere. ¡°But then it wouldn¡¯t have been a good test,¡± she said, approaching from behind a ridge. ¡°How do you feel?¡± ¡°Tired,¡± Chidi said. ¡°As expected. We¡¯re almost there. From here, we¡¯ll go on foot.¡± Knowing the journey was almost over was comforting. Chidi just tried not to think about what it meant to reach the end. He certainly had confidence fighting those vaguely near his level, but surviving against Rakiya¡­ well, it would depend on how serious she was immediately. Though he couldn¡¯t help but think that if she wasn¡¯t serious, he would be disappointed. ----- By the time they arrived, Chidi¡¯s body felt as recovered as he could reasonably expect. At the very least, his body should be able to fully function, even if he would feel slight twinges of pain from training. But as for actual thoughts, Chidi barely had any. He found himself in an odd state of peace, going into a battle he knew he couldn¡¯t win. But he didn¡¯t have to win. He trusted in his master to keep control of the situation. So when they began to get closer to a proper city, he didn¡¯t worry. Or maybe it was mental exhaustion that didn¡¯t allow it to happen. Either way, the smooth stone walls and the sounds of life gradually filled his senses. It was a peaceful day. ¡°Hey Rakiya! Get out here now or I¡¯ll chop your stupid city in half!¡± Chikere¡¯s projected voice made the ground trembled. Chidi idly wondered if that would be vertical or horizontal. Vertical would be troublesome, but only for a couple sections of walls and any buildings or people in an unfortunate position. Perhaps an angle would be worse, with buildings falling over onto others and irregular repairs required. After her declaration, Chikere had not held back. He could feel the swords around her, prepared for anything. Unsheathed blades just looking for a target. It was nearly the people on the walls, but while their initial instinct had been to assault the intruder, the moment of paralyzing fear when her power was revealed had been enough for them to rethink their options. What could they do against her? ¡°Hurry up!¡± Chidi didn¡¯t detect actual impatience. He was fairly certain this was a tactic to keep the enemy off balance. The same was true of her casually dissecting the front gate. Just a few sweeps and it clattered to the ground in nice pieces. The barrier formations surrounding the city had done their best, of course, but they couldn¡¯t do much about power concentrated into such a focused area. He wondered if she had been studying the defenses. She wasn¡¯t a formation expert, but he imagined she learned how to break through by experimentation and practice. Chidi felt her coming. From a greater distance this time, and he was prepared to resist an attack. Yet he was still somehow unprepared for Chikere to be attacked first. All his tension was for nothing¡­ though in truth, that was for the best. If he¡¯d tried to react to the incoming attacks, he would have probably hurt himself instead. So he just watched the clashing of blades. Rakiya held just one in her good arm, and Chikere only responded with the same. Except it was not her good arm, but her replacement. Another taunt, or perhaps a personal challenge to herself. One side was filled with hatred. The other¡­ indifference. Perhaps that was the secret. Chikere didn¡¯t care if she won. No, she already considered herself the victor, so nothing stopped her from executing her techniques to the fullness of her ability. ¡°You¡¯ll have to do better than that,¡± Chikere declared. ¡°Honestly, have you not improved at all in the last five years?¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Have you?¡± Rakiya retorted. ¡°You don¡¯t fight anyone of note.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t strain me enough to see anything new,¡± Chikere said. ¡°But I can tell you¡¯ve basically stagnated.¡± Chidi wasn¡¯t sure if that was true. Her cultivation, at least, had advanced somewhat. One step at least, which he was led to believe could take quite a few years in the Integration stage. ¡°My apprentice will be able to defeat you soon at this rate.¡± Ah, there it was. He could feel the battle drifting. Perhaps it would happen soon. She might announce a skirmish between them. He had to remain focused¡­ though he was also concerned about incoming Life Transformation cultivators. Obviously they would not simply leave enemies outside their gates without responding. And it likely wasn¡¯t just them- they would simply be the fastest. Something sharp attempted to pierce his heart. His body responded automatically, slicing the arrow out of the air. But it was just one of many- the rest directed at Chikere. Though one would almost think she didn¡¯t notice, except for the way her floating blades casually sliced apart the few that would otherwise reach her. The battle moved, drifting closer to Chidi. When would it be time? Better to get it over with quickly. All he had to do was survive two attacks. And then¡­ they would leave. Simple. It was what the grandmaster had told him they were here for. And it was true. But¡­ could that really be all? Was she incapable of measuring his ability on her own? Of course not. She had already determined him capable. So merely performing as expected would mean nothing. And it wasn¡¯t just for her. Perhaps he was pushing too far too quickly. But he wanted to be able to actually affect things. He didn¡¯t want to be afraid of enemies¡­ including Life Transformation cultivators. Who were almost present, now. Slashing and spinning blades, dancing feet. Chidi was almost certain that both combatants were trying to lead the battle to him. So, it was like that, was it? He took a few hesitant steps away. Then as the first Life Transformation cultivators leapt into the frey, he swung his blade. The image in his mind was of Chikere cutting apart space. How he imagined she would bisect a city. An attack pushed to his very limits. And all he could do was force Rakiya to casually deflect it. Her sword chopped off his head. But of course, he was prepared for that counter. For any move she might perform. And he just had to be exactly perfect in his predictions. Despite all of Chikere¡¯s downplaying of Rakiya¡¯s abilities, she was still a swordmaster. Perhaps not worthy of a grandmaster title, but against Chidi she could always perform the attack that was most lethal. His head remained on his shoulders. His windpipe was split open, but in the grand scheme of things that would not affect anything. He would either live through the battle and patch it up, or he would die. But he couldn¡¯t allow the second option to happen, because he had friends and family to return to. And he would return to them, stronger. The casual counterattack had taken so little effort from Rakiya that Chidi didn¡¯t want to count it. He stayed close, then maneuvered his blade into a thrust. Unlike before, it came after Life Transformation cultivators were engaging Chikere to hold her back. They would be quickly cut down, but this left Rakiya able to actually focus on him. His heart was pierced. Rakiya¡¯s attack practically mirrored his own, except she was able to extend her blade more powerfully and with greater celerity. The only thing he could do was slightly deflect her attack upward¡­ so instead of his heart exploding, one rib was punctured completely, and his heart and lung were merely slashed on the outer edge. Rakiya wasn¡¯t done, but neither was he. He didn¡¯t simply adopt a defensive posture, even though his last attack hadn¡¯t even come close to slashing her. He just wanted to cut her cheek. Or at least touch her defensive energy. Chidi wasn¡¯t sure what happened after that. His body simply moved. But he must have survived a second attack, because when he came to he remained alive, and Chikere was holding him. ¡°Uuugh,¡± he groaned. His wounds had all opened up, and he had at least a few new ones. Was that from one attack or several? It wouldn¡¯t necessarily have been Rakiya. Perhaps Chikere had swapped with him and he fought a Life Transformation cultivator. He looked down at his blade. It was clean. Well, apparently he had lost. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re awake. Not bad.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± he said groggily. He had every intention to ask for details, but he passed out once more. And when he awoke, he was back in Shutoll, with Chikere off on another crazy excursion. Presumably. ----- Anton had something resembling a functional torso again. His skin was still recovering, but he was basically recovered. Or at least, at the point where he could start getting everything back in shape. The process had tempered his muscles somewhat, but being entirely new he still needed time to get used to them. And he couldn¡¯t say they were perfect. But for his purposes, it was good enough. He had no intention of fighting anyone above Life Transformation. Or at all, really, but he could never be too certain of that. He was planning to return to In¡¯istra. He hoped that their eradication of the Twin Soul Sect was still going smoothly. He would never have left, had Ekict not done what they did. He only hoped that irreparable damage hadn¡¯t been done to the place because he was gone. He had confidence they could handle their own matters, but he wasn¡¯t omniscient. Perhaps the Twin Soul Sect would have prepared a counterassault of their own. With it being a year and a half before he even set out to return, much could have changed. Or perhaps things would be as they had always been. Cultivators were like that. He did not neglect visiting other systems along the way. His time in Ekict would be minimal, as he didn¡¯t want to feel like a threat. The same would be true of Xicil, except that would be because there was practically nothing for him to do. Very little was known to him about the system and the people there, except that after several visits he¡¯d finally received an answer to what they were called. And just like every previous time, his arrival sent everyone inside. He could have probably caught up to them. If he bound the local star, it would have been certain. But the insular desert planet was not an enemy, and he did not wish to scare them. So he approached carefully, taking in the sights of their impressive arrangements of cacti and succulents. They took full advantage of what resources they had, and Anton had the feeling they were doing quite well. Not too friendly to outsiders, but he preferred that to the false friendship of Ekict. Nothing had changed where he left his previous message. So he added an addendum. ¡°Just checking up on you. Glad to see everything is well. If you don¡¯t want me to come back, just say so.¡± Perhaps a bit too straightforward, but he couldn¡¯t exactly have a nuanced conversation over the course of carved messages separated by vaguely random numbers of years, as he traveled back and forth. His next stop¡­ that would be the twin planets of Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn. He hoped that they would have maintained their new peace and cooperation. He hadn¡¯t been able to properly check in on them last time, given his haste. Chapter 690 Checking out his body, Chidi still had two arms, two legs, and his head. The worst injury was his throat, but it would just make eating and talking harder until it healed. Other than that, he found he continued to be surprisingly intact. He still couldn¡¯t recall exactly how the battle had ended. Or if he¡¯d really withstood two attacks. But Chikere had been satisfied with his efforts, and he couldn¡¯t possibly be less pleased than she was. In fact, he found himself grinning. ¡°What is that?¡± a nearby voice growled, drawing his thoughts to his best friend. ¡°You find a girlfriend or something?¡± ¡°Pfft.¡± Chidi snorted. ¡°Yeah right. I went to fight someone, you know?¡± ¡°My parents fought when they first met,¡± Aconite pointed out. ¡°It is quite common for cultivators as well.¡± ¡°Yeah, well. This wasn¡¯t that sort of fight. I¡¯d have to respect the woman for it to turn into anything like that. She¡¯s just the goal the grandmaster set for me to surpass.¡± Chidi nodded to himself, ¡°I actually managed to get in an attack.¡± ¡°Did you cut off her other arm? Nick her with a deadly poison?¡± ¡°Sadly, I did not have access to any deadly poisons,¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°And I don¡¯t know if my blade actually connected. But the point is that I didn¡¯t just stand there passively while trying not to die.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Aconite said. ¡°I am glad your progress pleases you.¡± ¡°... Is your training not going well?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°It is progressing smoothly, if slowly,¡± Aconite explained. ¡°I do not have a master, so I must learn things on my own. The Scarlet Alliance¡¯s notes on poison are hardly complete.¡± ¡°I doubt you¡¯ll find anyone here,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But someone must be willing to teach you.¡± ¡°Teach a wolf?¡± Aconite asked. Chidi shrugged. Why not? Humans weren¡¯t any better. Though it would probably still affect her choices. But as he said, Yaitis probably didn¡¯t have anyone, and even if it did finding them and getting their time would be difficult. ----- Anton was cautious approaching the system. Not because he thought anyone from either Tenoun¡¯a or Shrenn would attack him, nor could they harm him without concerted effort given his bound star. No, he was more concerned about what he would say. Recent events filled him with an uncomfortable caution, but he didn¡¯t necessarily want to infect them with his temporal disappointment with humanity. On the other hand, he wanted to tell them the truth of the events that had happened. So he had to consider how to leave them open to future involvement, without biasing them for or against Ekict. In truth, they were practically neighbors. Anton had been inclined to introduce them, but he¡¯d been glad it hadn¡¯t been done. Though perhaps it wouldn''t have mattered. They wouldn¡¯t be a valuable target for Transferral. Either way, they were still dealing with their own internal matters. And as far as he could tell, the peaceful cooperation between the sibling planets continued. It had only been a few years, but they¡¯d barely begun repairing the rift of bloody wars between them the last time he¡¯d visited. This time he found someone he recognized on Shrenn. Anton approached slowly as to not alarm anyone, but he was clearly noticed. In fact, Anton stopped by one of Shrenn¡¯s moons first to meet a friend. This time, the large man occupying the ballista just watched as he approached. ¡°My job is a lot less eventful since you last visited,¡± Admetus said. Anton shrugged, ¡°Is that a problem? You can get in more training.¡± ¡°We ran out of orbiting rocks,¡± Admetus folded his arms over his chest. ¡°And they won¡¯t let me import more. But why should I care? We¡¯re at peace.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Anton said. ¡°And you should stay at peace with each other as much as possible. But I¡¯m not the only one who could come here, you know?¡± ¡°Other systems,¡± Admetus nodded. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Or, in less than six centuries, you might be noticed by the upper realms. They could come back.¡± ¡°Not letting that happen,¡± Admetus frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about these cycles though. Could they really show up on the next one?¡± ¡°I wish I knew exactly how they found candidates here,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°So I could assist those affected.¡± Anton looked out at the stars. He¡¯d gone all the way to Azun and In¡¯istra in one direction, approximately east northeast if one considered the upper realms as ¡®north¡¯. Yet he¡¯d only covered a tiny fraction of the neighborhood. He could have gone the same distance directly tangent to the galactic plane and not reached the edge in either direction. All he had visited was a tiny line. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Even if only a small portion of the stars had cultivators living around them, he couldn¡¯t expect to impact even a reasonable fraction of the possible candidates that the Trigold Cluster might cause havoc among, even with six centuries. Not alone. And then there was the presence of the Exalted Quadrant in the other direction. They were probably less bad overall But they¡¯d still broken their long term peace when they decided it suited their needs, when they thought they had a chance to fully take control of Ceretos. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know much about that,¡± Admetus admitted. ¡°I suppose you¡¯re here to talk to the leadership?¡± ¡°That was the plan,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you could send a message ahead so nobody¡¯s too startled.¡± ¡°Might as well escort you,¡± Admetus said. ¡°Unlike last time, we do know you¡­ but they don¡¯t need me here either. Unless we get any pirates.¡± Anton frowned, ¡°Is that a problem?¡± ¡°Nothing you need to worry about. Some factions thought that peace was no good¡­ or perhaps exploitable. But we¡¯ll deal with them.¡± Anton nodded. He wasn¡¯t planning to solve all problems. Just provide a push so that people could accomplish anything they couldn¡¯t do on their own. But if he came across some pirate cultivators while he was around, he wouldn¡¯t mind dealing with them. Anton looked upon Shrenn below, pleased by the presence of Admetus. As he was from Tenoun¡¯a, it was a big step for them to let him be around, and it would help them coordinate more in the future if they didn¡¯t keep thinking of each planet as the other. Now how was he going to warn them without making them paranoid or more insular? He shouldn¡¯t downplay anything, but he had to temper his words with wisdom and hope. ----- Along Anton¡¯s route to Azun, he had reached the last stops where he knew of cultivator civilizations. He swept along a slightly different route on the way to the magnetar, but didn¡¯t find anything spectacular. He still made notes of various planetary arrangements for the astronomers back in the home systems. They would want more, of course. Pictures and samples and everything else. But he couldn¡¯t properly fulfill their wishes and do everything else he needed to do. He was constantly reminded that he was just one person. As the scope of the Trifold Alliance expanded, that became more and more obvious. No matter how quickly he moved, he would take months to return home. There was only so much he could do. He couldn¡¯t defeat an army of Integration strength cultivators alone, and if there wasn¡¯t anything on that scale¡­ the home systems wouldn¡¯t need him to contribute. It wasn¡¯t that he felt useless, but rather that he was finally finding his limits. And that was okay with him. They just needed to get a few dozen more people- or preferably science and exploration groups- to slowly work their way through the neighborhood. They were already observing several systems Anton had nothing to do with, but contact was still a touchy subject for the moment. Azun was slightly past In¡¯istra, but Anton didn¡¯t want to drop by for only a few moments. He also wanted to spend some time around his star, so he went there first. It was still tiny. Small enough that most people wouldn¡¯t even consider it a moon, if it were rocky. Anton had seen a significant number of asteroids larger than it. It was, after all, around ten kilometers across. For an entire star! He¡¯d seen stars that were literally millions of times the diameter. And bound one, too. Shrenn and Tenoun¡¯a shared a blue supergiant that made Azun seem completely inconsequential. Until anyone actually took care to pay close attention. Because the mass of such a star was only a handful of times that of Azun. The density of power was on a completely different level. Not that Anton didn¡¯t gain anything from the other star. It was quite useful for diversifying his power and it had personal meaning. But Azun was something special. Anton slowly approached, feeling its gravity. And of course, its intense magnetism and the beams of radiation. It was just so much in a tiny little package. And thus he found it the most valuable to study at the moment. Especially as he was trying to develop his techniques. Magnetism was quite useful, as it was extremely unlikely to find cultivators that had nothing even slightly magnetic on them. And for the most part, those were the dangers. Anton almost wished that he could be worried about beasts or some other non-human threat, but that wasn¡¯t the case. As long as there wasn¡¯t a sudden uptick in the activity of Distortion Beasts. But there was nothing he could do about that, nor a reason to believe it would happen. His feet settled on the surface of Azun. Heavy. Hot, too. Impossibly hot. Anton would not even be a pile of charcoal if he had no connection. He would be less than that, because charcoal would imply any matter retaining any sort of form and not being subsumed into the star without ceremony. And he would be both far beyond the level of burned charcoal and without anything that could be properly called a form at all. He wondered if he could use the heat. It was exceptional, certainly, but that came strictly from energy density. There was only so much Anton could do with that. He already knew that denser energy was usually more effective, and his own arrows matched a sun well enough. To replicate that in particular, he just needed more power. Perhaps reaching Augmentation, or rather the next stage of Assimilation. He could imagine doing that in a century or two. But more likely, to properly touch upon such unfathomable power he would need to be equivalent to Domination, a level so rare that it was unclear if either of the mighty Exalted Quadrant or Trigold Clusters had any. If they did, they were few indeed. ----- In¡¯istra seemed much as Anton had left it. That was good, in a way, even though the damage from the invasion just a few decades prior still lingered. At least it was not worse. Anton landed, not feeling any Twin Soul Sect members on Aspin. Good. They¡¯d maintained that, at least. Unfortunately, one island-nation was hardly the limits of the world. Unless they¡¯d been exceedingly effective in their eradication while he was gone, he doubted that they were gone worldwide. But Anton was here to help with that. Not directly, but he could at least help them seek out any particularly difficult to reveal pockets of invaders. Or locals who joined up with them. Anton knew there were far too many who found the thought palatable for a bit of promised power and another life. But he wouldn¡¯t take any number of lives if it meant living under the banner of the Trigold Cluster or the Twin Soul Sect. Varghese seemed healthy as well. Good. Anton was tempted to drop down right on top of the young lad, but he was currently guiding some disciples in the One Hundred Stars. His insights were¡­ adequate. Though Anton was going to have to correct some errors. Still, he wouldn¡¯t begrudge the young man. After all, he had done his best. No doubt Anton himself was making as many little mistakes. He just didn¡¯t have anyone around to point out his own flaws. Chapter 691 Most of those at the gates had died at Chikere¡¯s hands, which made Rakiya¡¯s job easier. A few strays had to be cleaned up to keep the narrative safe, of course. Losing Life Transformation cultivators was unfortunate, but they were ultimately replaceable. Except, not at the current moment. The saints weren¡¯t exactly sending an abundance of disciples to Yaitis. They shouldn¡¯t have to. It wasn¡¯t so important that anyone should defend it so vigorously, but Rakiya had found the process of conquering more difficult than expected. It should have been done years before, but after the initial wave of victories the remaining land was held onto tightly by the foolish others. She had driven away Chikere. That much of the story was basically true, though it concerned her how that bandit had somehow strengthened after their confrontation. She ended up with Grandmaster Smith Sadiq¡¯s tournament prize and his services for their group. The two had been equally matched, but now¡­ Chikere had a strange arm. Perhaps that was it. Rakiya had found no method to properly replace her arm. That had to be it. Rakiya furrowed her brow, which brought to mind a sharp pain. She looked in the mirror and saw the nick in her eyebrow. A thin slice, but it refused to properly heal. It was trivial. Nothing more than an annoyance. Except for how she had gotten it. But if pressed, she would say it was Chikere coming out on top of her. That was better than the alternative. ----- When Varghese had dismissed the disciples, Anton revealed himself. ¡°Sect head Anton!¡± the young man bowed his head. ¡°It is good to see you again.¡± ¡°And you as well,¡± Anton said. ¡°You feel¡­ different.¡± ¡°Weaker, you mean?¡± ¡°No, I¡­¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°Just different.¡± ¡°Strange, since I have regressed one star,¡± Anton said. ¡°Is that possible?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°I am quite content that the consequences were merely this,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°But I don¡¯t intend to discuss the details right now.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°We have made great strides in the last year. But¡­¡± ¡°Is Essence Collection not sufficient for you, now?¡± ¡°I have barely dipped my toes into it,¡± he said. ¡°And the Twin Soul Sect still has many powerful members, and influence among other sects.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°It will likely take some time. Tell me, do you want me to remove them myself?¡± ¡°Something about the way you said that¡­ makes me believe you think it a poor idea. But every moment they remain, they continue to cause harm.¡± Anton sighed. It was not an unreasonable position to take. And he really didn¡¯t like arguing on the side of innocent deaths. ¡°Let us say they all died suddenly. What about the sects they influence?¡± ¡°Well, one would hope that they¡­ reformed their ways. Or perished along with them,¡± Varghese said. ¡°So they are completely annihilated,¡± Anton continued. ¡°What, then, happens to In¡¯istra?¡± ¡°Our sects have time to heal and grow,¡± Varghese said. ¡°Taking advantage of the One Hundred Stars techniques, we might pull ahead and establish ourselves.¡± ¡°Assuming you succeeded, then what? Would you be content to be the top of myriad squabbling sects? Would that be the best for everyone?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Varghese shrugged. ¡°If we are the strongest and continue to follow the tenets you have set forth, surely it would be better than things are now.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Anton said. ¡°But that does not mean it would be the best scenario. Preferably, the whole of In¡¯istra joins together to eradicate them. No half measures. And then, from that adversity comes growth.¡± ¡°And the following generations? Will we grow soft and weak, without conflict?¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°You¡¯re not too far wrong, but you are much oversimplified. Holding onto a worldwide peace is a large project, but not impossible. Do not think that conflict will disappear should one problem be resolved miraculously. The beasts of your world still have great power. How many generations would it be before you are truly in control of your world once more? Beyond that point¡­ well, I would suggest that you not seek out conflict. It will find you easily enough. Attempting to do right will be enough struggle, and while I cannot guarantee you will not fail¡­ I believe you have the ability.¡± ¡°I suppose I understand,¡± Varghese said, hanging his head. ¡°Don¡¯t despair,¡± Anton placed a hand on his shoulder. ¡°I did not say I would do nothing. I intend to remain for some time, helping you and others grow. But I have no ability to force an entire planet to work together if its people don¡¯t wish to. Finding the right seeds to grow takes more time.¡± ¡°Am I one of the right seeds?¡± ¡°Of course. You¡¯re turning into a proper sapling.¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± Varghese asked. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°You should see the trees I¡¯m thinking of,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°The saplings are not lacking.¡± ----- Reading information that you were planning to steal was precisely the sort of thing that got people caught, standing around in some vault instead of already being out a door. So Velvet only had a vague idea of what she was carrying, having scanned it. Something about when the eighth arm of the Harmonious Citadel was born, the saint of light specifically. Any true parts of their history could be used against them, given how much they refused to admit their mortality. Destroying their web of propaganda would cause further dissent on their own worlds, tipping the war against them. And of course, the individuals no longer oppressed like them would benefit as well. There was so much she could do as long as she got out before the saint of light returned, or any of his prominent disciples. The formations guarding the tower were quite complex, using similar principles to some technology Engineer Uzun had introduced her to. She hadn¡¯t been exposed to Ruteran technology before her ascension, so she¡¯d only heard about it in vague terms. Both that experience and training Chidi in stealth had been valuable for her current situation. The tower used light to sense intruders, but instead of visible beams they were invisible. For Chidi, there would have been no difference. Velvet had trained more senses than just her sight for a long time, but she¡¯d focused on other areas for several years when she was reminded how much she and others relied on sight. Her normal methods would not have helped her to pass through fields of invisible light. She had several methods to be ¡®invisible¡¯, some of which involved hiding herself more metaphysically to energy detection, and some that were more visible. But even if she were to wrap the light around herself to create a perfect image of nothing, without some sort of forewarning she would have broken the beams. Unless she had been lucky enough to accidentally include the invisible beams in her control of light. The One Hundred Stars was an excellent cultivation method for dealing with light. For most, a star was the most prominent source of light. That was true even of cultivators, and artificial sources were made to match particular suns. That was enough for Velvet to feel these particular traps that might have triggered even if she had been able to fool normal formations. Fortunately, once she was out of the more secure vaults human traffic was heavier- and thus formation measures were lighter. They couldn¡¯t have security that reacted to everyone passing by, and what they could have wasn¡¯t enough. Velvet had a stolen token and sufficient ability to fool anything that tried to feel for her cultivation method. So now she only had to walk out of the building past unsuspecting disciples. Then she would find somewhere safe¡­ and read through her spoils. ----- At first, Velvet wondered why the information was secret. It seemed that unlike the others, the saint of light was indeed the first saint in his position. As far as she could tell, the individual known as Hans Sigismund had always been the saint of light. Or at least the person who would obtain that position. But there were odd discrepancies. Nothing terribly obvious. Some of the records mentioned him discovering a new branch of the Glorious Harmony Technique. A great genius. And indeed, Velvet had no reason to doubt that. But it was odd that no other practitioners had taken that path¡­ and it seemed so divergent from others. Especially considering how strict they were. For instance, Vari used no weapons so she was deemed unfit, despite her obvious ability. Surely she had the merit to say she¡¯d developed an unarmed branch of the technique. Except, of course, she¡¯d been predetermined to not matter. Perhaps it was the split between the Holy and Glorious techniques, the subservient and dominant versions. But a weaponless version fit more closely with the weapon forms than light. It was a true oddity. Yet it had been accepted. Then again, the man was quite exceptional. So maybe the practicality had overwhelmed their stubbornness. A whole new branch, and a powerful individual that became their leader. Simply pretending things had always been that way from that point on was a difficult task, but over however many centuries it had been accepted. Either disciples were so deep into the system to accept it as necessary, or they would have died of age several times over. She just wished she could figure out exactly how long it had been. Perhaps now was a good time to leave. Others might do better at interpreting this information, find something she missed. Or maybe that was all there was to it. It would still be an embarrassing secret to admit, another crack in their facade. ----- Sometimes, Chidi would pick up two swords. Or if he was feeling particularly ambitious, he would gather a large number of them and have them dance around him. But regardless of which choice he made, he never felt that he would be any more effective than simply wielding one blade. His training with the swordmaster had instilled in him a desire for fine blades- but unlike her, he was uninterested in having a collection. Or a set. A second sword for him was like her two hundredth sword. A backup, able to be given away freely and without regret. The problem wasn¡¯t keeping track of the blades or moving them. Those were both well within his capabilities. His awareness allowed him to multitask freely. Yet every time, something felt off. Chikere seemed to understand this, and never pressed him to use more weapons. She¡¯d never indicated he was lacking anything, either. Nor was she the type to keep techniques secret. No, it just didn¡¯t fit him. He didn¡¯t quite understand it, but it just felt off. Too many weapons broke the flow. The flow of what, he wasn¡¯t entirely certain. His use of energy didn¡¯t actually fall apart. With practice, he could be nearly as competent as he was now with either style. But that was the problem. Both the nearly part, and the as he was now part. Because he felt like he should be more. Which was ambitious and possibly arrogant, considering he¡¯d survived a strike or two from an Integration cultivator. But he wasn¡¯t just overestimating himself or trying to push too far. He really felt like there was something more that would help him significantly improve, if he could just figure it out. The flow, as it were. Without Chikere around to question, he could only speak to his more regular friends and allies. He thought he might have to ask Major Sibylla for advice, even though she didn¡¯t use the sword. However, his first efforts were met with something like success. ¡°The flow?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°Like, the flow of energy?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°There¡¯s something there.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who talks about it all the time,¡± Aconite barked in response. ¡°I literally just brought it up for the first time,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Not true. You always talk about it.¡± ¡°When?¡± Chidi asked. Did he have amnesia, somehow? How would he know? ¡°Any time you¡¯re fiddling around with things,¡± Aconite replied. ¡°You say ¡®ah yes, the flow here and here will make this happen. And then? Barrier. Or whatever you¡¯re doing with formations.¡± Well, that was true. Though it had been some time since he actually got to mess around with formations. Aside from dismantling the specimens creating the communications blocking barriers, he hadn¡¯t interacted with any in years. He didn¡¯t exactly have access to the plentiful resources he had back at home. But maybe he should look into that, to see if it sparked something. Chapter 692 It was unfortunate for the first couple decades of his life that Chidi had access to a formation Grandmaster and barely capitalized on the situation. It wasn¡¯t that he¡¯d disregarded his mother, he just hadn¡¯t focused as much on formations as he could have. He could have spent every waking moment learning from her and barely scratched the surface of what she was capable of. On the other hand, while his mother would have been happy to devote that time to him it was also the case she had other things she needed to do. But he still could have pushed for more time. It was ironic that he had come here wishing for some sense of independence and a desire for achievements apart from his parents, and then he wished he had access to them. Including his father, though not for practical cultivation. It wasn¡¯t that Chidi thought his father wasn¡¯t worth learning from, but their styles weren¡¯t particularly compatible. Shields just weren¡¯t for him. He did have access to Sithembile. The man was a formation master, and they¡¯d worked together regarding the retrieved formation pillars. Or rather, Chidi had mostly watched and occasionally cut them into pieces. But as there was a war going, Sithembile was constantly called away for different projects. And while Chidi could definitely learn from him, this particular project might not fit within his area of expertise. Chidi stood in a mostly empty section of forest. He remained near Shutoll out of necessity, but would have preferred somewhere more remote if the situation allowed. But he was safe here, and that was more important for training. At least at his current stage. The first thing he did in his little clearing was rearrange things. Fallen leaves, a log, twigs, and then a bit of ¡®pruning¡¯ and shuffling stones about. He imagined it looked like a mess now, but that wasn¡¯t important. What was important was how it felt, and the flow of energy. Natural formations in such a place had much less power than a proper formation involving expensive materials, being by their very nature fluid and changing. Only in exceptional circumstances could they match a properly constructed one in power, either by boundless luck or careful arrangement over the course of years, decades, or centuries. But he didn¡¯t need power here, and indeed it might be antithetical to his currents situation. He needed to be able to sense the flow clearly, and to change it with little effort. A weak formation was best for that. Chidi went through a few moves, slicing, chopping, and stabbing. The flow of energy around him changed as intended, but not as he¡¯d hoped. He was just carving runes and rearranging the formation with his sword swings. Could he possibly make use of that in battle? Maybe to some extent, as a form of disguising his efforts. But he wanted something more. With each swing, there were ripples of energy from his blade as he cut through the flow, but they quickly faded like they were upon a windless pond. He didn¡¯t change the flow so much as disrupt it. So he tried again a different way. And again. And again. This continued for an entire year, when he had time to train instead of being out on missions. Then, at about the point he wondered if she would ever return, Chikere showed up. Without even a greeting she asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡± Curiosity, at least, instead of condemnation for his admittedly awkward stance and moves. ¡°I¡¯m trying to affect the formation here,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Is that possible?¡± ¡°Well, I have a little bit of understanding about formations, courtesy of your mother. So if I were to do it it would be something like¡­ this.¡± With quick swishes and flicks of her sword, she made a carving motion around the general ring of the clearing. The tip of her blade traced along trees, and her final motion stabbed her sword into the ground. The energy in the clearing ground to a halt. Chidi felt chills at the sudden change. But¡­ ¡°It¡¯s basically just destroying the formation, isn¡¯t it?¡± The swordmaster raised an eyebrow, a small motion Chidi had gotten used to feeling. ¡°Did you expect anything else from me? I severed its functionality. If you want something else, then sorry. I can¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve¡­ never heard you admit there is something you can¡¯t do with your sword. At least without qualifying with yet,¡± Chidi frowned. Chikere flicked her arm, her sword returning to its sheath. ¡°What else do you expect? If you asked me to crush a pile of rocks with a sword, I¡¯d say the same thing. Now, if you wanted them to be powder I could do it. But swords don¡¯t crush. I am confident in doing anything a sword does, and no more.¡± She was right, of course. A sword was meant to cut. To slash, to stab, to bisect, and to pierce. In some cases, it was meant to block or disarm, to break another weapon. But those were edge cases where the boundaries of swords got fuzzy. A sword was not meant for creating formations or redirecting the flow of energy. Perhaps it was a foolish idea. ¡°Well, good luck with that,¡± Chikere said abruptly. ¡°I wasn¡¯t actually planning to stop by, but this was along the way towards a sword I wanted.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°There¡¯s a swordmaster this close?¡± ¡°Not for long,¡± Chikere waved. And then she was off, her blade slicing open the world itself almost casually. That certainly disrupted the flow of energy. But he couldn¡¯t do that. He was limited by both cultivation and insight. Nor was he certain that even if he could if he could disrupt the flow of energy in the way he wished. But instead of discouraging him from his path, Chikere had said nothing. But she also didn¡¯t know how to do it, nor that it was possible. Perhaps she supposed he would learn something regardless of what happened, even if it was a waste of time and effort. Or maybe she believed in him. He chose to believe the latter. The grandmaster was not shy about her opinions. And wishing him luck was probably genuine as well. That probably meant she didn¡¯t think it was likely to work, but as long as it was possible, he was willing to try. Even if he continued to have no results for another year. ----- Early in his career, Anton had the good fortune to obtain a vessel of insights from one of Everheart¡¯s Tombs. He had long since passed that off to the Order for use by promising disciples, but over the course of centuries various replicas had been constructed. They were both better and worse than Everheart¡¯s version. That one was indiscriminate and required constant empowerment of the vessel and the good fortune to be around someone as they gained insight. The version he now had for Varghese was more generally useful. It allowed fragments of insight to be created and repeatedly experienced. There were some negatives to it, of course. It required the contributor to understand what would be useful and correct. Then again, the same was true for Everheart¡¯s version on the side of the owner of the vessel. They had to discern which insights were correct or not on their own. For Anton¡¯s purposes, these new ones were quite useful, as they relied on the understanding of the teacher. And he thought he was getting quite good at that job. Varghese had found himself drawn to magnetism before Anton began to use it on a large scale- though he had bound himself to Azun before they met. It was likely impossible for Anton to train in every aspect of every type of star, but he still found it valuable to experience as many of them as possible. Azun had been one of those, powerful and interesting but one he was uncertain of its practicality. To avoid overwhelming his student, Anton started with the more moderate insights, including the feeling of Azun from afar. Attempting to impress him with the full power of the star might prove to be a great encouragement, or it might lead him to despair about the gap between himself and the power he could never hope to achieve. Well, never might be a strong word. Anton understood that with cultivation, anything might be possible eventually. Though he only judged Varghese¡¯s talent as above average instead of some sort of genius, his assessment could be faulty- or the right event could change things for better or worse. Unlike himself, Varghese wielded a sword, though he was not strongly tied to that particular weapon. At the current time, he would use anything that was mainly metal. At a base, that meant weapons like swords where a metal blade made up the majority of it. He had experimented with polearms, and found that a wooden shaft and metal head could have interesting implications for his magnetism, but a fully metal shaft was more comfortable. This sword was what he had the most familiarity with and was of the greatest quality, a longer example meant for use in two hands, almost a polearm itself. He swung the blade, forming and modifying magnetic fields as he did so. Anton saw that a general field did much the same as all powerful magnetism, creating a slowing effect. That was never what a cultivator would want for their own weapon, so that was to be avoided at all costs. But with the right configuration he could pull his blade in a particular direction, accelerating its momentum. However, the effects shone the most when facing an opponent with metal weapons or armor- the most commonly used. Anton felt the tug on his own blade. He was not a master with any sort of melee weapon, but he could more than match Varghese with barely a decade or two of experience. That was even without using his greater power. But for the sake of his disciple¡¯s training, he limited himself. He sliced out at Varghese, finding his sword blade sticking to the young man. He twisted, making use of the attachment to maneuver his weapon around to a position he could thrust, controlling the young man¡¯s positioning with his own power. But Varghese reversed the polarity on his own blade, pushing them apart as Anton attacked and opening up the path for his own attack. ¡°Good,¡± Anton said as the blade poked into his chest, hovering above his heart. Defense was one area he had no reason to hold back. If he let him, his student could injure him. New muscles and ribs or not, his body still had its limits. And Anton had no trouble admitting when something would have been a telling blow. ¡°Next, we should both make use of our own magnetism. You won¡¯t run into many opponents who will make use of something similar but¡­ it would be a shame to be defeated by your own style.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Varghese nodded. The two exchanged blows for some time. Anton didn¡¯t make it easy on him. That would simply be impolite, and a waste of time. Instead, he used every trick he could think of. From rapidly changing a field to creating multiple fields around himself and his blade, Anton forced Varghese to reach his limits. ----- Anton was never the type to focus all his efforts on a single individual forever. And in the case of In¡¯istra, even if Varghese grew rapidly into a prominent position they would have trouble. Because the planet was covered in a large majority of water. There was no less land than Ceretos or other planets, but the same amount of land was instead spread through numerous smaller landmasses. Aspin was just one example, a moderately sized nation among the larger landmasses. In the current situation where they were recovering from upper realm invasions, their communications methods and willingness to coordinate were both limited. Because of this, Anton intended to continue his efforts upon some of the further locations. The planet wasn¡¯t well unified, so he wanted to push for that first. And of course the eradication of the Twin Soul Sect- or other upper realms spies. They still had more than five and a half centuries for the next cycle, but that time could slip by quickly. If they didn¡¯t deal with the troubles in their midst soon so they could focus on growth, they might not be able to develop Assimilation cultivators in time. At the current moment, Anton didn¡¯t feel comfortable teaching anyone about Assimilation. Not if the enemy could easily come to have it. If the upper realms were going to learn about it, they were going to have to bleed and die to obtain that information. And then Anton would smile as it was useless unless one lived in the lower realms. Their spies might make use of it, but in a way that could also reveal them. Better to not let it happen at all, but Anton couldn¡¯t control everything. Not even if he limited his scope to just himself and a smaller group of individuals he cared about. Chapter 693 The flow of upper energy was more like a gas than a liquid, from the way forces other than gravity tended to overpower it to the way it could be compressed. And though they were different in many ways, lower energy tended to act similarly in Chidi¡¯s experience. Of course, he didn¡¯t have much access to lower energy. If he wanted it in any quantity, he would have to separate it from the upper energy. Upper energy was more useful by nearly any metric except for how easily it could be controlled. That was part of the reason it was useful to have objects or materials with lower energy during early training. He wasn¡¯t certain how long it had taken him to focus on lower energy. It wasn¡¯t actually a decision, but something had happened naturally over the course of time. Still, it had been some years. He didn¡¯t consider his training time before that wasted, but it was certainly less efficient. A small clearing had been carefully put together with an outer formation that only stopped the flow of upper energy, keeping the area more pure. This was where Chidi would practice, swinging his sword about and observing the way things changed, the vortices and other aspects of turbulent flow. Predicting how it would react in three dimensions seemed nearly impossible¡­ and by normal comprehension, perhaps it was. However, bit by bit he began to gain insights into the flow, and how he could change it. He flicked his blade, leaving a line of his own energy lingering in the air. This served much the same purpose as formation runes, but if he wanted functionality it had even more exacting standards for length and magnitude. Or he could spend more time carving lingering runes into the air. He could only keep the form of so many at once, which greatly limited the utility. But if everything went well, he wouldn¡¯t necessarily need to hold onto them. A formation breaking could bring with it a great amount of power¡­ and where it was unexpected, even the most rudimentary formation could throw off an enemy. Chidi immersed himself in his training, such that any time not spend doing it seemed strange. But he still managed to perform his duties as a scout, because he would always be analyzing the flow of energy around him. Occasionally he attempted to apply his developing technique in battle, though he found that it was usually more efficient to directly strike his opponent. But he still didn¡¯t find his training to be without merit. If he could develop his ability, he could choose between otherwise equivalent attacks to set up for something greater. And if all else failed, he could still carve up the physical location of the battlefield into a beneficial formation. ----- It was quite pleasing for Anton to have a disciple want to learn archery from him, even if they wouldn¡¯t ever be an archer. That is to say, their devotion to the form would be merely to the point of proficiency instead of specialization. So when Varghese asked him to teach him archery, Anton was quite pleased. When he asked Anton to help him develop a special technique, Anton was even happier. And while he already had a technique that achieved the same results, he absolutely understood Varghese¡¯s reason to ask for something different. An arrow flew from Varghese¡¯s bow to land in the target, then another and another sequentially. Each of them followed the same path and hit the same point, just separated enough to not hit each other. And the fact that he was using actual, physical arrows was why Varghese needed Anton to make something special. ¡°I do believe you should learn Spirit Arrows as well,¡± Anton said. ¡°Not only for cases where you run out of ammunition, but to provide versatility to your routine. If your enemy expects you to reach up to your quiver to draw an arrow but you skip that step, you can throw them off. And there are other benefits to arrows that lack physical form.¡± Varghese nodded, ¡°Of course, if you believe it will be beneficial.¡± ¡°It is unfortunate. I had a bow that would be quite suited to your current course.¡± ¡°What happened to it?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Did you sell it, or give it to another student?¡± ¡°It vaporized in a star,¡± Anton said matter-of-factly. ¡°It was fully metallic and could be used as a melee weapon. I suppose it might be possible to get you a replica, but the resources might as well just be used for different weapons.¡± Having recently lost all of his arrows, Anton was uncertain if he should build up a new collection for special circumstances or forego them entirely. Spirit Arrows were good, but he could admit there were also benefits to physical arrows. And they worked well with the Flowing Lines, the magnetic archery form that Varghese now used. They had different methods to redirect themselves in flight, and as Varghese had shown there was some efficiency to be gained from reusing an already formed path. Then again, Anton didn¡¯t want to be predictable. Having a set path for his attacks would result in problems. On the other hand, the efficiency per shot was increased and he wasn¡¯t limited to just one path. Perhaps if he could adjust the technique to not rely on strict magnetism and set paths he could gain something. ----- The Reef of Serenity had inherited its name from a time long past, that much Anton was certain of. It had hardly been serene in the past few decades, even for a moment. Of all the places on In¡¯istra, it was the most contested. It contained not only valuable sea life around the islands, but it was also the main route connecting many regions of In¡¯istra. That was because various sea currents met around it, forcing most travel to enter their domain. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. And yet, those same currents meeting made a zone of especially difficult travel. Anyone who wished to stop in their territory had to be guided through the waters by locals, and their familiarity also made it possible for them to attack passing ships with near impunity, since retaliation was difficult. That was what seemed to be going on above decks, according to Anton¡¯s determination. As he made his way onto the deck, the captain called out to him. ¡°Honored guest, it would be best for you to remain below decks,¡± the young woman known as Wangi warned him. ¡°It appears we are being pursued,¡± Anton said. ¡°How did they know we were coming?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± she snapped, then cleared her throat. ¡°We were¡­ just trying to figure that out. We should have been able to rendezvous with some friendly locals, but we can¡¯t get to where they should be. They¡¯d better not have betrayed us.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe that to be the case,¡± Anton said. The feeling of this particular group was somewhat familiar. Not the Twin Soul Sect, but another sect from the upper realms. How they stayed hidden was another question, though that might have the same answer as how they knew this ship was coming. A massive ballista bolt flew through the air, narrowly missing the bow of the ship. ¡°Honored guest-¡± ¡°I do have a bit of cultivation,¡± Anton said. ¡°I would prefer to assist, since it would be quite inconvenient if the ship were to go down.¡± Most people would drown, since the wild areas around the reefs would not only crash ships but drown cultivators who would otherwise be able to swim vast distances. But in truth, Anton was more concerned about arriving on a boat instead of flying. That was why he was on this ship at all. ¡°Fine,¡± Wangi shook her head. ¡°Just stay out of our way.¡± People were scrambling around for their own weapons, as well as manning the sails and rushing for oars below. Oars were surprisingly valuable for ships carrying cultivators, so even those that mainly worked by sailing had some oars to complement them. The issue of water entering the ship was easily solved with simple formations, quite affordable for any serious cultivators. Of course, the same was true for these pirates. ----- ¡°What was that?¡± asked a grumpy older captain. The individual manning the ballista flinched. ¡°I don¡¯t- it seems that my shot missed. It shouldn¡¯t have happened.¡± ¡°No. It shouldn¡¯t have.¡± ¡°But my predictions-¡± ¡°Were clearly inadequate.¡± The old man watched as the ballista was loaded once more, and as they were closing the gap the ones further back on deck were fired as well. All of the shots somehow missed the enemy ship either diving into the water, going straight over the decks, or wide of the ship. Nobody even managed to clip a mast or snag a sail. ¡°Clearly all of you are in need of remedial lessons,¡± the captain said. ¡°But elder, they clearly have a formation of some sort!¡± ¡°Then take it into account!¡± he roared. ¡°If you cannot manage something so simple, why did we allow you to become members of the Void Scrying Sect?¡± Nobody responded, afraid that they would only provoke further wrath. Unfortunately, their attacks continued to arrive off target. The elder shoved away the nearest disciple, taking over the ballista for himself. The ship they were pursuing was managing to keep some distance, and now their stern was to the pursuers, limiting the targetable area. But that wouldn¡¯t be sufficient to stop them. The elder poured a good portion of his energy into the ballista, as much as it could handle. The bolt fired with great power, far too much to be diverted. According to his predictions, it should cut through two masts at minimum. Or more likely it would be deflected by the enemy captain, but it would still crash into the deck and cause significant damage. But instead of either of those, it drifted to the left. Nobody said anything, fearful of what would happen. Until¡­ ¡°Fire!¡± one of the disciples yelled from the back. ¡°Fire on the sails!¡± ¡°What happened to our defensive formations?!¡± the elder demanded. ¡°It seems to have pierced through, elder.¡± ¡°In a single shot?¡± ¡°Perhaps there is a Life Transformation expert among them?¡± the disciple said tentatively. The elder just glared. ¡°And you think I couldn¡¯t predict that?¡± ¡°N-no. I mean, of course not, elder. But if they were particularly skilled at hiding their power they might have slipped past our initial impressions¡­¡± The elder turned, then looked up. ¡°Why aren¡¯t the fires out yet?¡± He didn¡¯t wait for an answer, instead leaping up the mast and smothering the flames himself. It took quite a bit more of his energy than he expected. The flames were sustaining themselves with more than just the fuel of the sails. By the time they went out, there were so many holes those sails would have to be replaced. And the enemy vessel was pulling ahead. ----- ¡°You can shoot quite a distance,¡± Wangi commented. Anton grinned, ¡°You don¡¯t live as long as I have if you cannot learn to keep your distance. These old bones are quite fragile, you know?¡± Wangi nodded, but she wasn¡¯t really listening. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of ships going missing in this region before,¡± she said. ¡°But here specifically it was thought to be captains getting too close to the dangers of the reef. It¡¯s the most dangerous around here, I thought pirates didn¡¯t operate here.¡± ¡°Perhaps they were desperate,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have met some of them before,¡± he added. ¡°They should be some of those from the upper realms. The Void Scrying Sect, I believe they called themselves.¡± ¡°Diviners, are they?¡± Wangi frowned. ¡°We are lucky to get away unscathed then.¡± ¡°No prediction can be perfect,¡± Anton said. ¡°Do you think the locals will wish to hunt them down?¡± ¡°If they won¡¯t, I¡¯ll convince them,¡± Wangi said. ¡°Can¡¯t have invaders living upon our trade routes.¡± She looked at Anton. ¡°Can we call upon you if there is another attack? Your abilities could be useful. We could pay.¡± ¡°Certainly,¡± Anton said. ¡°I will help where I can.¡± He looked off into the distance, beyond the horizon. He would remember that ship. And he would find wherever it went to berth. Disseminating that information to others might be more difficult, however. Chapter 694 The islands sheltered within the Reef of Serenity were a step or two below Paradise, but from Anton¡¯s perspective that was high praise. They were extremely comfortable and teeming with life, with human cultivators being the most obvious of those. They were rather tricky to actually get to, but it was worth the effort. Well, flying would have been easier but far too suspicious. ¡°Here we are, honored guest,¡± said Captain Wangi. ¡°Are you certain you wish to remain here instead of continuing on your journey?¡± ¡°Thank you, captain,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I have some business I must finish. If you are still here when I wish to depart I will of course happily continue on with your ship.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Captain Wangi frowned. ¡°We were planning to depart immediately after exchanging goods, but the issue with the pirates¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°Perhaps I should stir something up with the harbormaster before we move on.¡± ¡°Truly? I also have business with the harbormaster,¡± Anton said with technical truth. Even if he hadn¡¯t had said business a moment before, sweeping his senses around the area had revealed a few things. ¡°Perhaps if I come along he will see me afterwards.¡± ¡°If you wish to,¡± Wangi said. ¡°I do owe you for the pirates.¡± ¡°It was only right as a passenger on your ship.¡± ¡°And yet you paid for both passage and safety, which we couldn¡¯t fully provide,¡± Wangi shook her head. ¡°But I have the feeling we¡¯ll be at this forever if we let it happen. If you wish to come along, it likely won¡¯t be until tomorrow. We have our shipping to take care of, and it would be better if we were ready to leave as soon as possible.¡± ¡°Then I shall see you tomorrow,¡± Anton said. ----- Light streamed into a large warehouse from plentiful skylight, off to the side of which were a collection of small offices. Anton made his way inside, knocking on a particular door. ¡°Hello. Are these the offices of the harbormaster?¡± The woman inside didn¡¯t even look up from her papers, ¡°You¡¯re off three blocks and on the wrong side of the main street,¡± she said. ¡°Must be my old eyes failing me,¡± Anton sighed, ¡°This surely seemed like the right place. All the business going in and out speaks of efficient management.¡± ¡°Yet another reason this isn¡¯t the harbormaster¡¯s. Far too much business there to keep things efficient. But the Azure Sails do a fine job of things.¡± ¡°The harbormaster is one of the Azure Sails, then?¡± Anton asked. ¡°He is.¡± The woman finally looked up at Anton. ¡°You are not local.¡± ¡°Clearly not,¡± Anton agreed. He did know which islands he would claim to be from if pressed, but he was even less local than it at first seemed. But he¡¯d been around for enough years to match his accent to them well enough. ¡°Do you have business?¡± the woman asked. ¡°I was going to inform the harbormaster that the ship I came in on was attacked by pirates in the southeastern reef.¡± The woman sighed, ¡°Any business with us here at The Reef¡¯s Expanse, sir?¡± ¡°Well now that you mention it, I¡¯m not sure if I can meet with the harbormaster. So if you could spread the word¡­?¡± He waited, but she just looked at him. ¡°Your name, lady?¡± ¡°Jamilah,¡± she spat out. ¡°The harbormaster will deal with that.¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Anton said. ¡°But the Void Scrying Sect isn¡¯t easy to catch.¡± Jamilah had been constantly shuffling through papers even as she talked with Anton, but she stopped for a moment. ¡°You must be mistaken. They have been eradicated. I know of this personally.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I would not doubt you,¡± he said. ¡°So perhaps they found a method to return unnoticed? I have fought against them before, in the war.¡± Not the same war Jamilah would be thinking of, but not necessarily a different one from the right perspective. ¡°Regardless of what was, they are there.¡± ¡°That still isn¡¯t our business,¡± she declared. ¡°Tell it to the harbormaster.¡± Suspicion flashed on Anton¡¯s face. ¡°Awfully dismissive, aren¡¯t you? You know, I have access to a certain technique¡­ did you know that members of the Twin Soul Sect can hide their true cultivation?¡± ¡°I am aware,¡± Jamilah said, her body tensing. ¡°Then you¡¯d better be prepared to¡­ reveal your cultivation!¡± Anton technically made use of the technique he was alluding to. And exactly as he knew it would, nothing happened. ¡°Oh my, terribly sorry,¡± Anton bowed his head. ¡°I thought you might be one of them. If anyone here could have hidden from my sight, it would have been you.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say your eyes were bad?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an expression!¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Tell me, have the methods to detect the Twin Soul Sect not been disseminated here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± Jamilah admitted. Her eyes flicked nervously to the open door. ¡°If you know something about it, why don¡¯t you come in¡­?¡± Anton closed the door. ¡°Anton,¡± he extended his hand. She shook it. Then he pulled out a technique scroll and placed it on her desk. She glanced over it, ¡°How much?¡± ¡°Well, it is rather expensive to come here¡­¡± Anton quibbled. ¡°But unfortunately I have to think about other matters first. I have a personal vendetta. That is why I sent the first copies to the harbormaster.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the rest?¡± Jamilah asked, looking at the scroll. ¡°That¡¯s the whole thing. No, I didn¡¯t cut it up into parts so nobody could take the whole thing. It¡¯s not too much trouble for me to replicate it or anything,¡± Anton said. ¡°I at least have that down. I¡¯d suggest you try it yourself but¡­¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I already scanned your workers here and they¡¯re clean.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Are you certain?¡± she asked. ¡°Unless any of them are secretly as powerful as yourself,¡± Anton said. ¡°What do you think happened to the other copies? Do you think the ships delivering them sank?¡± ¡°What ship were they to be delivered on?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°When was this?¡± Anton gave her the names and dates. The memory of a cultivator was an amazing thing, but he had to admit he actually had looked them up once he realized that the Reef of Serenity hadn¡¯t responded as expected. Jamilah tore open cabinets behind her, pulling out a stack of papers and flipping through it with great speed. Not as quickly as she might with Ten Thousand scrolls, and she might have just been skimming, but clearly she had some technique to aid her speed as the natural energy flowed through her. ¡°They¡­ both arrived on time. All goods intact.¡± ¡°And the scrolls?¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing like that in my copy of the manifest.¡± ¡°Strange,¡± Anton frowned again. ¡°Something must have happened to those. Do you think someone at the office of the harbormaster¡­?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t wander in here by accident,¡± Jamilah said. Anton shrugged, ¡°I could have. Nobody stopped me.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll concern myself with security later,¡± Jamilah shook her head. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Just what I¡¯ve been saying. Revenge. Justice. All that.¡± ¡°I need to bring this up with Harbormaster Bachtiar,¡± Jamilah frowned. ¡°Oh, that reminds me. I did forget something.¡± Anton pulled out another scroll. ¡°The revelatory technique. It sets off their energy in a manner that disrupts their facade. Don¡¯t let them get their hands on it or they could find a counter.¡± Unfortunately this meant Anton had to carefully watch this copy. He didn¡¯t think Jamilah would intentionally give it to the wrong person, but with circumstances being what they were¡­ he might have to act quickly. But preferably he would get the situation under control. ¡°What else do you think I should include in my report?¡± Anton asked, drawing Jamilah¡¯s attention away from her thoughts for a moment. ¡°Hmm? I¡¯m not sure¡­¡± ¡°I have all sorts of details. Like the name of the ship, placement of weapons, number of crew on deck, some damage to the hull¡­ I¡¯ll need this all ready for tomorrow.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t I come with you?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°You can use these techniques, right? They¡¯re not long, but seem like they would take some time to attain proficiency.¡± ¡°When using them without a target, that is indeed the case,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But if you can find a member of the Twin Soul Sect to practice on¡­¡± ¡°Maybe you can reveal one tomorrow.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope so,¡± Anton said. Though he wasn¡¯t worried about that part of things. ----- ¡°You¡¯re late,¡± Wangi declared as Anton approached. ¡°I was just about to leave without you. And you were, what, picking up another young woman?¡± ¡°Wangi.¡± Jamilah nodded. ¡°He got you too?¡± ¡°Jamilah.¡± Wangi nodded back. ¡°He¡¯s so uneasy to underestimate, like a harmless grandpa.¡± ¡°Oh good, the two of you already know each other,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°And I am a grandpa. Many times over.¡± The women basically ignored him, which save him some effort. ¡°So your ship was the one attacked?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°You verified they were Void Scrying Sect?¡± ¡°They weren¡¯t close enough for most of us to feel clearly,¡± Captain Wangi admitted. ¡°Just barely in range of their forward artillery. But they found us before we even really approached the reefs¡­¡± ¡°Hopefully we can track them down,¡± Jamilah said. Their feet carried them onwards, away from the docks and up the main street. Anton and Jamilah were making this trip for the second time in a row, but it wasn¡¯t that far of a walk by cultivator standards. They easily slipped their way through crowds and past wagons carrying goods from ships to warehouses. Jamilah took charge as they got to the harbormaster¡¯s offices. ¡°We¡¯re here to see the harbormaster,¡± she declared to a secretary in the front room. ¡°His schedule is currently¡­¡± the man withered under her gaze. ¡°I am Jamilah of the Reef¡¯s Expanse. He will see me and this captain.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± he smiled nervously. ¡°Go right in.¡± In the hallway, Jamilah looked at Anton. ¡°He¡¯s clean, obviously. Or he¡¯d have taken over one of the more functional positions.¡± ¡°Secretaries are important,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°Only if they¡¯re good at their job,¡± Wangi pointed out. ¡°Recognizing allied leadership is part of that. And what¡¯s he clean of?¡± Jamilah¡¯s eyes shifted to Wangi. ¡°Her too, obviously,¡± Anton said. ¡°Twin Soul Sect infiltration,¡± Jamilah explained. ¡°And he can sense that?¡± Jamilah frowned. ¡°Unverified,¡± she said. ¡°But that¡¯s what we¡¯re here for.¡± ¡°If we don''t run into one on the way to the meeting, I can redirect us to find someone on our way out,¡± Anton said confidently. A figure hurried out of the office ahead of them, clearly none too happy about being kicked out. But obviously Harbormaster Bachtiar had sensed them coming, and recognized at least Jamilah. He was a bit too muscular for someone working in an office, but that was the way with cultivators. Most higher ranking positions were given to the most powerful, regardless of other qualifications. Not that Anton thought inside workers couldn¡¯t and shouldn¡¯t be fit, but it was easiest for them to slack in that area of their training. Even on Ceretos, many people did just enough to surpass Body Tempering. Though the proportion fluctuated over the years, and in all cases was better than a population that was mostly not cultivators. ¡°Captain Wangi¡¯s ship was attacked,¡± Jamilah said straightforwardly. ¡°I see,¡± the harbormaster nodded. ¡°And this man?¡± he gestured to Anton. ¡°A passenger on her ship.¡± Anton caught Jamilah¡¯s eye. But she didn¡¯t have the look. Well, everyone had their blind spots. ¡°I see,¡± the harbormaster said. ¡°What happened?¡± Captain Wangi provided the answer to that. ¡°A ship manned by the Void Scrying Sect attacked us after predicting our arrival time and location. We need the Reef to organize to hunt them down.¡± ¡°Preposterous. We already eradicated them. They couldn¡¯t have been from the Void Scrying Sect. How do you know?¡± ¡°He sensed it,¡± Wangi said. ¡°Then he was wrong.¡± ¡°A rather radical declaration,¡± Anton said. ¡°Should you not be more concerned about continued piracy, regardless of its origin?¡± ¡°Indeed I should be,¡± he said. ¡°One might wonder how they knew when your ship would be arriving.¡± The desk didn¡¯t stop him from jumping forward and grabbing Anton. ¡°You really thought you could get away with it?¡± ¡°I could say the same of you. But I actually have proof,¡± Anton said. A pulse of energy from him changed the aura around the man from that of the sea to merely a painting of the sea, or perhaps some sand that found its way inside clothing. In short, his facade was broken, and his cultivation as a Twin Soul Sect member revealed. Chapter 695 The grip of the harbormaster was intended to restrain Anton, but instead he had used the contact to use his own technique. Seconds passed awkwardly as Captain Wangi and Jamilah both took in the revealed cultivation of Harbormaster Bachtiar. Anton was surprised at his restraint to not immediately attack. That was a decision good for his health. Sure, Anton wasn¡¯t terribly confident in close quarters combat¡­ but that was against people of similar cultivation. ¡°This is a trick,¡± the harbormaster said, squeezing Anton tighter. ¡°This criminal is attempting to set me up.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Then how about we both submit to being arrested and these two here make sure there is a very thorough investigation?¡± ¡°Preposterous. Allowing such a thing would bring shame upon the Azure Sails.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you would care about that if you were truly part of them,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But as the head of the Order of One Hundred Stars, submitting to a just investigation would be my pleasure.¡± Anton casually looked towards Jamilah, ¡°If you decided to execute this guy before you are done investigating me, make sure to destroy his soul so he can¡¯t report back. Same goes for the other three in this building.¡± ¡°They won¡¯t be doing anything of the sort,¡± the harbormaster said. ¡°I¡¯m in control here.¡± ¡°Are you?¡± Captain Wangi¡¯s cultivation appeared as calm as the sea on a clear day, but Anton could sense the volatility beneath the surface. ¡°Because not only did you deny his version of the report, but you also acted like I was not attacked at all. And taking these reports seriously is literally your only job.¡± ¡°The Azure Sails-¡± ¡°Will understand why we are bringing you in,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°It will be just a momentary inconvenience for one of you.¡± ¡°Come on, Jamilah. You know me.¡± ¡°Do I? Because the person I knew wasn¡¯t a member of the Twin Soul Sect. But I feel your cultivation clearly.¡± ¡°I told you, this is a trick!¡± Jamilah nodded, ¡°And if it is, then when we separate you and constrain your energy, the illusion will fade.¡± ¡°Make sure he doesn¡¯t have time to rebuild his facade,¡± Anton said. ¡°Unless you want to practice that technique. You should probably get things moving along, though. One of the three below seems likely to slip out the back in a moment.¡± ¡°Everyone!¡± Jamilah called out, projecting her cultivation and voice. ¡°Lock down the building! No one in or out!¡± She looked straight into Bachtiar¡¯s eyes. ¡°Any objections?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe my own allies would suspect me on the word of a stranger,¡± Bachtiar sighed. ¡°Fine. Do what you must.¡± As one of the highest ranking members of The Reef¡¯s Expanse, Jamilah happened to have on her several pairs of energy restraining manacles. When she took them out, Anton easily offered his own wrists. She put them on Anton first, giving him a side-eye as she then continued to shackle Bachtiar. Anton breathed a sigh of relief, as he was not a hundred percent confident in defeating the man with his energy restrained. Not without binding the local star. Perhaps he should do that, but he hated to do so without permission of the system. Times of war were a special exception, and he also preferred to not be at war. Then again, the man was not even peak Life Transformation, so Anton at least felt confident enough to resist a single blow while shackled. It was impossible for people to not feel the conflict in the building even before Jamilah called out to the entire harbormaster¡¯s building. So curious onlookers and cautious protectors crowded around. Jamilah waved them all away. ¡°Everything will be explained later to the elders of the Azure Sails. Tell them Jamilah requests their help with an investigation.¡± Before they left, Anton intended to point out the others. But Jamilah found them without his help. She must have spent the entirety of the previous afternoon and perhaps into the morning practicing the detection technique. Though having successes still required a good head on her shoulders. Now Anton had to hope that the elders of the Azure Sails weren¡¯t stupid or overly concerned about face. Because he really didn¡¯t want to have to break his way out. At the very least Bachtiar was the only member of the Twin Soul Sect with a notable cultivation, so they shouldn¡¯t be corrupt in that particular way. ----- Anton was humming to himself when Jamilah appeared in front of him next. ¡°You¡¯re awfully chipper.¡± ¡°You gave me a good cell,¡± Anton said, inclining his head towards the tiny barred window. ¡°A view of the sun.¡± ¡°Confident you can escape?¡± ¡°It would be difficult,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯d rather not have to try.¡± ¡°What if I told you we already cleared Bachtiar? His testimony against you is enough for an execution.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I would then suggest you take a careful look at the people who made that decision. But you haven¡¯t done that.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not great at deception, and you trust me.¡± ¡°I met you two days ago,¡± she pointed out. ¡°I¡¯ve known Bachtiar for decades.¡± Anton waited. ¡°So I really shouldn¡¯t trust you more.¡± ¡°Need any more techniques?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Pretty sure the soul destruction method was in my bag. It¡¯s specially tailored for the Twin Soul Sect, you know. Were you having trouble finding it?¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t opened your bag.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Nobody wants to risk it.¡± ¡°What, you think it¡¯s trapped?¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Is it not?¡± Jamilah frowned. ¡°What are all those formations for?¡± ¡°All storage bags have formations. That one just has extra durability.¡± He wasn¡¯t going to bet it would do any sun, but hopefully it would survive an attuned sun if he lost consciousness like last time. While conscious, he could keep safe anything on him. ¡°Still better to not. Just in case you¡¯re cleared. Wouldn¡¯t like to risk your wrath.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± Anton said. ¡°As long as you don¡¯t break anything.¡± Jamilah shook her head. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Anton Krantz. Sect head of the Order of One Hundred Stars.¡± ¡°I looked it up. That¡¯s a small sect on Aspin. The sect head isn¡¯t you.¡± ¡°Varghese is the head of the local branch,¡± Anton clarified. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°So you are connected.¡± Jamilah stepped closer, ¡°But there¡¯s another problem. What is your cultivation?¡± ¡°I reached the peak of Life Transformation over a century ago.¡± ¡°Ridiculous. I know the names of every Life Transformation cultivator. And you said you fought in the war, so don¡¯t pretend you were in isolation.¡± ¡°I never said it was here,¡± Anton replied. ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± ¡°Just what I said. I fought against the Trigold Cluster, including the Twin Soul Sect and the Void Scrying Sect. Just not here.¡± ¡°I know all names on In¡¯istra, not just the Reef of Serenity.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you ascend?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you,¡± Jamilah said. With that, she left him. ----- ¡°Troubles with your cultivation?¡± Anton¡¯s words startled the guard. ¡°Quiet, prisoner.¡± ¡°Not supposed to talk to me? That¡¯s fine.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°If you¡¯re having trouble finding your Essence, I¡¯d suggest thinking about what you gravitate towards when you¡¯re not here.¡± ¡°You cannot beguile me with your techniques. Your energy is sealed.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Anton said. ¡°So you could talk to me. What¡¯s your name? I¡¯m Anton.¡± No response. ¡°I would suggest something that involves improving things. Not just yourself, but also others. But if you want to focus on perfecting your ability to ignore prisoners, you can do that.¡± ----- A few days passed, and Captain Wangi managed to get in to see Anton. ¡°Could you have sunk that ship?¡± ¡°Hello to you as well,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Trying to find it?¡± ¡°I want to know if you went easy on them.¡± ¡°Depends. Does tracking them back to their harbor count as going easy?¡± She crossed her arms in front of her. ¡°When did you have time to track them down?¡± ¡°I¡¯m an archer, you know. My senses extend pretty far. Did you see the techniques in my bag? No? Well, my archery master taught me Horizon Shot. For that, you have to be able to sense beyond the horizon.¡± Anton grinned, ¡°She might be the worst teacher in the world. But she knew what she was doing.¡± ¡°Did she die?¡± ¡°She ascended,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Last I heard, she was doing well.¡± ¡°You really made things difficult for Jamilah, you know?¡± the captain shook her head. ¡°And you, I imagine? You were supposed to be moving on.¡± ¡°After the harbormaster dealt with the pirates, yeah. But you know how that went.¡± ¡°He wasn¡¯t going to deal with them anyway,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°That part I fully believe. So where did the pirates end up.¡± ¡°I can tell you a distance and direction. But unless you¡¯re an arrow, you¡¯ll end up crashing into some reefs,¡± Anton said. ¡°I could draw the path through the reefs they took, but the tides were changing so you¡¯d have to have¡­ good predictive abilities.¡± Captain Wangi sighed, ¡°I believe you. Not sure about anyone else though.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll come around,¡± Anton said. ¡°You can tell Jamilah I¡¯m open to answer her questions on anything. She hasn¡¯t been back recently.¡± ----- ¡°Did Danial manage to break through?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Or is he still working on that?¡± The new guard just looked at Anton. ¡°Come on, Wahyu, I can barely do anything if you won¡¯t talk. Danial was a special exception since I could easily tell where he was stopped up.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Do you do the supplemental body tempering in Spirit Building? The problem is probably you standing around all day. Obviously I¡¯m not going to tell you to do exercises and wear yourself out on shift, but I can show you a few good sets for after.¡± Taking the guard¡¯s attention as agreement, Anton went through some motions. ¡°Now this one I can¡¯t quite do. Short chains. So imagine this, but twenty centimeters further apart. You¡¯ll need those back muscles for your spear.¡± ----- ¡°I hear you scared away three guards in twice as many days,¡± Jamilah said upon her return. ¡°Only technically. The first one stuck around for a full three days, and the others were pulled off duty for some reason.¡± ¡°Probably the sudden changes in their cultivation.¡± ¡°If they had a good teacher normally then they would have already been moving,¡± Anton countered. ¡°Seriously, who are you?¡± ¡°Already told you. If you wait until night I can point to my star. But I¡¯m also from the lower realms, if that makes you feel better.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t seem like it,¡± Jamilah shook her head. ¡°You know too much.¡± ¡°Helps that we won the last two cycles. We¡¯re not planning to let anyone reset us again.¡± ¡°... Can you really do it? That soul destruction thing?¡± ¡°If necessary,¡± Anton said. ¡°Twin Soul Sect only, unless you can be very convincing.¡± ¡°How long are you going to be around?¡± ¡°Well, currently¡­¡± Anton gestured to his chains. ¡°Ah¡­¡± she bit her lip. ¡°Can you forgive us?¡± ¡°Of course. Especially if you arrive at the right conclusion, which it sounds like might be the case. You learned those techniques?¡± ¡°Got four people to practice on,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°And maybe¡­ a few more I spotted around the harbor.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t run into false positives,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if you want to be sure, revealing their underlying cultivation should clear things up.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do it for Bachtiar. I believe you, but the elders are still studying the techniques. It did take him most of this week to sneak his cultivation back to replicating ours. He said it took that long for your technique to fade and the truth be revealed but¡­¡± ¡°Should be pretty obvious it took active effort on his part,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°No shackles are perfect.¡± ¡°... Why did you lie about just one thing?¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± Anton tilted his head. ¡°Perhaps there has been a miscommunication. I didn¡¯t intentionally speak any untruths.¡± ¡°I read it. Your Path to One Hundred Stars. It says your sect has a clear path to ascension. But you lied and said you can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Anton nodded, ¡°I will admit that was somewhat deceptive. But also true. I can¡¯t ascend. A forbidden technique let me steal ascension energy, but made ascension impossible.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°It is,¡± Anton said. ¡°But can you keep a secret?¡± ¡°I am capable.¡± ¡°Have you told anyone about me being from¡­ elsewhere?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Not yet.¡± ¡°Well, I appreciate that,¡± Anton said. ¡°Since there¡¯s already enough distrust here. I kind of wanted people here to handle everything on their own.¡± ¡°And yet you led us to Bachtiar.¡± ¡°When I teach someone to use a plough, they still perform the work on their own,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°What¡¯s the point of knowing things if I don¡¯t pass them on?¡± ¡°You¡¯re remarkably open with your advice.¡± ¡°It¡¯s both my personality and actively good for my cultivation.¡± ¡°I thought you hit the peak of Life Transformation a century ago?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the other secret,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I didn¡¯t ascend, but that doesn¡¯t mean I stopped there.¡± ¡°... Tell me about that.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Not while any upper realm invaders still dwell here. Or especially Twin Soul Sect.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ fully reasonable,¡± Jamilah admitted. ¡°So am I being released at some point?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I could point you to some pirates. Would be great for picking you as the next harbormaster.¡± She narrowed her eyes. ¡°Are you certain you aren¡¯t just a devil in disguise sent to tempt people?¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be really obvious if they¡¯re who I say they are,¡± Anton said. ¡°And you can even bring me along in shackles.¡± ¡°... It might be a few more days,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. I suggested this,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Make sure to keep an eye on Bachtiar.¡± ¡°He¡¯s as secure as you¡­ and the Reef¡¯s Expanse are providing the guards.¡± ¡°Good plan,¡± Anton said. Hopefully she meant as secure as Anton was supposed to be. The shackles she first used should be sufficient, so that was probably what she meant. Chapter 696 Bright sunlight and a cool breeze on Anton¡¯s face were quite a pleasant combination as he stood on deck. It was only very slightly compromised by the chill of manacles around his wrists, but his inner warmth quickly solved that problem. ¡°Stop looking so happy,¡± Jamilah said from next to him. ¡°I don¡¯t like being manipulated.¡± ¡°Everyone is always manipulating everyone,¡± Anton said. ¡°Some of them are just more honest about it. What¡¯s your problem with me?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t warn me about Bachtiar.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Not properly. If you had just told me I could have¡­¡± ¡°Could have what, shown up with an army in the headquarters of your allies? Without warning any of them? This way, you took him in peacefully.¡± ¡°It could have gone badly, though,¡± she admonished. ¡°So he attacks someone. I stop him, and take the blame. And then you properly look into him and we end up here eventually anyway.¡± ¡°You were too hasty.¡± ¡°Better than giving him a chance to cover his trail.¡± ¡°And what trail do you think he had?¡± ¡°Embezzlement, accepting bribes, all sorts of corruption,¡± Anton answered. Jamilah narrowed her eyes. ¡°You knew?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I know the type. If you¡¯re already a traitor, what¡¯s a little corruption on the side? Nobody would even look into the harbormaster¡¯s finances, I imagine.¡± ¡°Probably not,¡± Jamilah admitted. There was silence for a time, then Anton began the next step of their conversation. ¡°You cultivate based on your understanding of the Reef of Serenity. The ebb and flow of the tides, the deadly shoals, and the storms about the area.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t asking, instead stating. ¡°But you haven¡¯t been here before.¡± ¡°... So?¡± ¡°What stopped you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°There is much work to be done and¡­¡± ¡°The Harbormaster limited ¡®unnecessary¡¯ trips? Especially to the more dangerous locations.¡± ¡°It was quite reasonable,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°That¡¯s how it always begins,¡± Anton agreed. His eyes focused on the area ahead of them. ¡°Unfortunate. It seems we will not be able to reach our goal at this moment. The tides are quite wild here.¡± ¡°I can move forward alone,¡± Jamilah said. Captain Wangi, who had been remaining silent, interjected. ¡°And get yourself killed all alone? Don¡¯t think so. You¡¯ll bring along myself¡­ and him, if you¡¯re smart.¡± ¡°Given who you are up against,¡± Anton added, ¡°It is likely that even if all of your men arrive with you, you will either be surrounded in ambush or they will flee.¡± ¡°We have other ships watching the outside,¡± Jamilah explained. ¡°Then they are either already gone, or prepared to fight like a cornered tiger.¡± ¡°You just want me to unshackle you.¡± ¡°I am much more effective that way,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Well too bad. We didn¡¯t bring your bow.¡± ¡°I am aware. It had better be there when I get back. It¡¯s irreplaceable.¡± ¡°What is it made out of?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°Nobody could figure it out.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly why,¡± Anton said. ¡°Can you actually fight without your bow?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°I can create a bow out of energy, just like my arrows,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though it is markedly less effective, I should still be of some use.¡± Jamilah narrowed her eyes. She was at least somewhat aware of Anton¡¯s true cultivation going beyond LIfe Transformation. ¡°Let us hope it will be enough.¡± She pulled out a key. ¡°I¡¯m going to need a promise not to cause trouble.¡± ¡°I give you my word I will not harm anyone not from the upper realms or a disciple of the same.¡± ¡°Good enough,¡± Jamilah said, channeling her energy into the key and removing the shackles one at a time. ¡°I just hope they¡¯re still there.¡± ¡°They are,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°I thought you were speculating about them having run?¡± Captain Wangi asked. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°That was before I could properly sense them,¡± Anton gestured to the shackles. ¡°Now then, I do believe proceeding any further with this ship will sink us. But I will follow your lead, Jamilah.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re right,¡± she said. ¡°The flow here is too unpredictable. Better to rely on our own bodies, though we will be without the strength and speed of the ship. We have to at least confirm the enemy¡¯s presence. Come on then, it¡¯s time for some wave walking!¡± The last order was conveyed to the crew as a whole. Swimming was a valuable skill for sailors of any sort. The excuse that going overboard would kill a man on the open sea only went so far. That worked for captains who didn¡¯t care about their crews surviving more than they cared about them wanting to keep the ship afloat, but it didn¡¯t work so well when one considered cultivators. Any cultivators of merit had a strong survival instinct and would take any chance to increase their survival. But for cultivators like those around the Reef of Serenity, there was an even more valuable skill, walking atop the water. It was a significant expenditure of energy, as each individual was essentially holding themself up on a non-rigid surface, but it provided more flexibility in combat than swimming. Attacking through the water was quite difficult. And so, the crew began to one by one leap onto the sea. Some floated much lower in the water than others, up to their knees or even waist. Others like Captain Wangi and Jamilah stood fully atop the water, though ultimately it was still much worse than solid ground due to constantly moving footing. As Anton could fly, it was much easier to do something like standing atop water. He let his feet dip under the surface, not because he couldn¡¯t easily manage better because it was easier to reduce his up and down bobbing by not focusing on the surface of the water so much. His movements wouldn¡¯t throw off his archery, but that wasn¡¯t a good reason to get careless. Jamilah seemed to carry no weapons at all, but Anton knew that was simply her combat style. Even without seeing her in action, he was able to pick up on how she would fight. Wangi quite obviously carried numerous javelins on her back, which would be used either to attack something approaching her ship or used as a small spear if they actually got aboard. The rough shallows tossed people about as they approached their goal, not yet visible on the horizon. However, moving about was only dangerous when they approached rocks or whirlpools that might drag people down- both sensed easily enough from the surface. Jamilah picked out a good path that the others followed, with Anton staying close behind the two leaders. ¡°There it is,¡± Anton said the moment something was visible on the horizon. The others didn¡¯t quite believe him until they got closer. ¡°That¡¯s a lot more than a temporary encampment,¡± Jamilah commented. Wangi shook her head, ¡°Couldn¡¯t be made just from local materials, either. Someone had to be trading with them.¡± ¡°I doubt they¡¯ll keep records of it,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°But we could get lucky. Though I imagine most of it flowed through Bachtiar.¡± She looked over at Anton. ¡°Now that we¡¯ve confirmed their presence there really aren¡¯t any grounds for suspicion upon you.¡± That wasn¡¯t quite true, but she seemed to be keeping the secret about him not being from their world, for the moment. Perhaps it was a test, but Anton never even considered abandoning them. When they could, the group walked along any solid surfaces, leaping between boulders and reefs and the like to conserve their energy. Soon enough they were nearly to the enemy fortress- a solid structure of stone. ¡°I¡¯ve got that,¡± Anton said. ¡°Got what?¡± Jamilah asked. Anton gestured over his shoulder to where a signal flare was being shot up into the air, a lingering bolt of energy. ¡°That,¡± he said as a golden bow formed in his hand. He drew back his bow slowly, taking shots one-by-one. Of course, he could have done much more¡­ but he wanted to conceal his power from both friend and foe. ¡°It is only a few squads attempting to snatch your vessel while we are away,¡± he said, firing another arrow. ¡°Basically just Essence Collection or Spirit Building.¡± Sure, there had been one Life Transformation cultivator, but they seemed to have barely stepped into the stage to begin with. ¡°How did they-¡± Jamilah shook her head. ¡°Scrying, of course.¡± ¡°I¡¯d assume so,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t they be able to predict the loss?¡± Wangi asked. She held up a hand to cut Anton off. ¡°No prediction can be perfect, I get it.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Anton said. ¡°It seems they forgot to account for range.¡± ¡°How many kilometers is that?¡± Wangi asked. ¡°Just five or so,¡± Anton replied. He¡¯d been able to shoot that far for all of Essence Collection, so it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal. Except to a planet like In¡¯istra who had recently undergone repeated catastrophes. ¡°Alright. What next?¡± Wangi asked. ¡°We¡¯ve confirmed their position so¡­¡± ¡°We bring it down,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°Sorry?¡± The waters began to swirl unnaturally beneath Jamilah¡¯s feet. ¡°Unauthorized structures within the jurisdiction of the Reef, especially those housing pirates and invaders, will be destroyed.¡± Anton grinned. It seemed someone wanted to show off a bit. He was glad to watch. The waves lapping up against the shores of the fort suddenly receded, then crashed forward towards the walls. The process repeated several times, before ballistae upon the walls began to shoot down at them. The large bolts crashed into the waters around them. Wangi narrowed her eyes, looking at Anton. He looked back without guilt. She could likely tell there was a reason the bolts missed, and that it was him¡­ but if she was going to complain about that, Anton would offer to let her ship sink next time. Not that she appeared particularly upset at the current circumstances. The walls of the fortress had at least rudimentary barrier formations, but that didn¡¯t stop Jamilah. As she continued to walk forward without fear, the crashing waves grew stronger- but instead of just battering the walls, she focused on the reefs below. The Void Scrying Sect was wise enough to not build things on simple sandbars, having made solid foundations below, but Jamilah dug deep under the water until she managed to find something she could pull apart towards the ¡®front¡¯ of the fort, where the docks had a few vessels lined up. Some people tried to stop the docks from falling apart, but a few shots from Anton made it difficult for anyone to stop Jamilah. The walls crumbled along with part of the docks, and the true assault began. With part of the wall crumbled, the barrier formation was greatly weakened. Wangi was now within range for her javelins as well, just a few hundred meters away. The first thing she did was take out the crews of various ballistae. Their group contained members of both Jamila¡¯s sect and Wangi¡¯s crew who boldly approached the fortress. Anton was fairly certain they had things in hand. The Void Scrying Sect was successful not for their straightforward battle prowess but their predictive abilities, avoiding that which they couldn''t win. So the fact that they were here meant they thought they would come out on top- at least compared to facing the ships outside their ¡®harbor¡¯. But even if their prediction had been correct as far as they could manage, it didn¡¯t account for Anton very well. In fact, he would be surprised if they had been able to predict the fleets outside their little den. They would have been expecting Bachtiar to warn them the old fashioned way, most likely. Either way, arrow by arrow, Anton dealt with the most dangerous individuals. He didn¡¯t necessarily kill them, but if an arrow took out a shoulder, elbow, or knee the ability to fight was dropped drastically. Those who noticed that it seemingly took little more effort to cripple a Life Transformation cultivator than one in Essence Collection besides a several fold difference in actual power were more likely to judge their senses as being incorrect- or to not care, because they were busy staying alive. Anton hoped that what would be most remembered was Jamilah bringing down the walls. And if anyone was overly concerned with his sniping abilities, he would just teach a dozen people Horizon Shot before he left and show them. Maybe Wangi could do the same with a javelin. Chapter 697 The fortress of the Void Scrying Sect was not prepared to withstand a serious assault. Their entire method of operation was to avoid being discovered in the first place, picking on those who were weak without it becoming obvious they even existed. With the help of the Reef of Serenity¡¯s harbormaster they had been doing that for at least a few years. Perhaps half of the ships thought lost to storms or shoals had truly been lost to them. Despite it not being their intention to end up in their situation, they still put up a good fight. In most circumstances, they would have taken a significant amount of people down with them. While the forces of the Reef and Captain Wangi¡¯s ship were certainly not without injuries, subtle effects greatly swayed how serious those injuries were. A small burst of energy knocking an attack off course, or felling one foe and allowing allies to fight together. Nothing anyone would notice as they were quite busy devoting their own focus to survival. Every disciple of the Void Scrying Sect fought to the last, not that anyone was keen on letting them surrender to begin with. If it was easy they would capture the leaders to interrogate, but there was no scenario that upper realms invaders would be left to live. Anton understood that mentality from various systems, including systems on both sides of the spectrum as far as previous victories. In¡¯istra had been on the losing end, though apparently not enough of a threat to completely wipe out and lose as a resource gathering operation. There were a few oddities, however. The Twin Soul Sect being perpetual spies made sense, but the Void Scrying Sect didn¡¯t quite fit. They were more capable of hiding themselves than others, but why would they risk being present at all, when that could only remind the locals of what would happen? At least with Ceretos and Weos, they endeavored to destroy as much history as possible and leave only confusion after a cycle. Or perhaps this was part of that, sect members staying behind and recruiting to manage their goals. Perhaps they would have begun hunting down those who remembered and causing a second wave of calamity. Anton caught the attention of Jamilah and Wangi, nodding his head towards the inner structures. It wasn¡¯t the setup of a full sect, but they still had something like a library. As for their formations, they were easily dismantled. ¡°A formation master too, are you?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°If I can topple a wall does that make me an engineer?¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Fair enough,¡± she conceded, ¡°But I have the feeling you know more than you¡¯d let on.¡± ¡°Never enough to claim the title of master, though,¡± Anton shook his head. Then he began grabbing books and handing them to Jamilah. She frowned. ¡°I can pick things up on my own.¡± ¡°Well, my storage bag is currently in someone¡¯s custody,¡± Anton said. Jamilah busied herself with stowing things away, though she kept one eye on Anton suspiciously. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Handing you writings,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯d better not be damaged.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Anton said. ¡°Who do you think I am?¡± ¡°I still barely know,¡± she said. Wangi was also watching Anton carefully. ¡°Are you¡­ skimming everything?¡± Saying ¡®no¡¯ would be true in only the most technical fashion. Just like saying he didn¡¯t have a single coin if he had a hundred. ¡°I¡¯m definitely checking them out,¡± Anton said. ¡°Some of these are local sect¡¯s techniques,¡± Jamilah pointed out. ¡°People don¡¯t like their secrets being revealed.¡± ¡°You got to see mine, it¡¯s only fair,¡± Anton said. ¡°Here we are,¡± Anton said, holding up a pile of documents. ¡°The important stuff.¡± ¡°What about them?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°They don¡¯t look like techniques.¡± ¡°Anyone can make techniques and cultivation methods,¡± Anton said. ¡°But not everyone can explain the motives of a group.¡± ¡°And these do?¡± Jamilah questioned. ¡°Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t so foolish as to write everything down. However, it¡¯s clear enough that they had some intention of taking over in a more permanent fashion, not just weakening your growth for the next cycle. That¡¯s abnormal¡­ as far as I am aware.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not so strong¡­¡± Jamilah began. ¡°Imagine in a century, when Bachtiar is at the peak of Life Transformation and organizes a coup with sects scattered all around In¡¯istra, including all of the leadership positions of the main countries.¡± ¡°We would have stopped them,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°We¡¯ve been finding Twin Soul Sect members for over a decade. They would never be strong enough.¡± ¡°Unless you never found any to begin with,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Certainly, but just because you came here and pointed out the harbormaster doesn¡¯t mean we wouldn¡¯t have eventually¡­ oh.¡± ¡°I figured it out because my techniques weren¡¯t passing through here,¡± Anton said. ¡°And then I sensed him in particular. ¡° Captain Wangi looked between the two of them. ¡°I feel like there is information I am missing. But I¡¯m not certain I should know it.¡± She inclined her head. ¡°I think I will go find my crew.¡± ¡°I should have been more careful,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°It¡¯s fine. She likes me. And in the worst case scenario, I can leave. Though that would be a loss for the Order.¡± ¡°... I forgot you started a sect.¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Anton waggled his finger, ¡°I did not. I planted a branch.¡± ¡°What are your intentions?¡± ¡°I would like to see them grow big and strong like all of my grandchildren and disciples,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you¡¯re planning to conquer In¡¯istra, we won¡¯t let it happen so easily.¡± Anton turned towards her. ¡°Please, do you think I¡¯m the type?¡± ¡°It¡¯s easier to believe than you being¡­ this,¡± she gestured at him broadly. ¡°And what is this?¡± ¡°A lovable grandpa who just wants to help.¡± ¡°You only like me because we¡¯re not enemies,¡± Anton said. ¡°Ask Bachtiar if he thinks I¡¯m a lovable grandpa. He¡¯s still alive, right? Because I don¡¯t want to hear you guys let him die and reincarnate in the upper realms.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve taken precautions,¡± Jamilah confirmed. There was silence for a time, just the rustling of papers. Scrolls and tomes as well. After a while, Anton turned the conversation to somewhere new all at once. ¡°It¡¯s easier to hand out cultivation advice to people who are struggling. If you want guidance you have to talk to me, or at least stand outside my cell for a few days.¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t need it,¡± Jamilah crossed her arms. ¡°I¡¯m not asking for anything,¡± Anton reminded her. ¡°This is good for me, and it¡¯s what I want. It¡¯s good for both of us.¡± She had nothing to say there. ¡°It will be dark when we get back.¡± ¡°So?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°If you bring me my telescope, I¡¯ll show you my star,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Oh, and there¡¯s a really neat one nearby, if you take the chance to look up close. It¡¯s tiny but powerful.¡± ¡°Why do you like stars so much?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°They were nice to look at. But mostly, my mentor liked them. And it¡¯s not a bad idea to have a hobby related to your cultivation. There are a lot of insights to be had.¡± Anton gestured around them, ¡°You like the Reef, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I suppose I do.¡± ----- Nowhere on the way back did Jamilah suggest shackling Anton again, and he certainly wasn¡¯t going to suggest it. They were a single step away from a formal proclamation of innocence to begin with. But first, he showed Jamilah the stars. ¡°Most of my grandkids didn¡¯t get into the stars, you know? The one that did mostly cared about them as massive power sources for her formations.¡± ¡°That does seem rather practical,¡± Jamilah admitted, looking into the telescope as Anton had set it up. ¡°That¡¯s your home star? It¡¯s¡­ rather nice.¡± ¡°You can say it¡¯s boring,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s quite plain. Only notable to me because I¡¯m from there.¡± Jamilah looked down, as if she could see In¡¯istra¡¯s sun. ¡°Ours isn¡¯t particularly exciting either.¡± ¡°Let me show you Azun,¡± Anton said, redirecting the telescope. As he had a connection, it was easy to aim it by instinct rather than careful measurement. He wouldn¡¯t mistake something that just looked similar, or slip past what he wanted. Jamilah frowned as she looked at it. ¡°Are you sure that one is closer?¡± ¡°It certainly is,¡± Anton said. ¡°Except instead of being a million kilometers across, it¡¯s in the low tens of kilometers. I suppose knowledge of astronomy was wiped out with many other things.¡± ¡°How did that happen?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°Oh,¡± Anton grinned, ¡°Let me tell you about star life cycles.¡± ----- A few days later, Jamilah brought Anton to see Bachtiar. ¡°We can¡¯t get anything out of him,¡± she said. ¡°Though I did at least forcibly reveal his cultivation in front of others. His sect didn¡¯t like it, but they were also clamoring to kill him and erase him from the record.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why you need me,¡± Anton said. She just nodded. When the two of them entered Bachtiar¡¯s cell, he just glared at them. ¡°Why is he here?¡± ¡°Why do you think?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°A master of torture, I presume. But I won¡¯t crack. I have only secrets of the Azure Sails regardless. This false technique purporting to oust me as the Twin Soul Sect-¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really know what your angle is here,¡± Anton said. ¡°Surely you should just be asking for us to kill you more quickly? Unless you¡¯re fond of torture.¡± ¡°Still just trying to drive a wedge between us,¡± Jamilah shrugged. ¡°Even though we already slaughtered the Void Scrying Sect. Anyway, you¡¯re wrong. He¡¯s just here to kill you.¡± ¡°I will not succumb to threats.¡± ¡°Seriously,¡± Anton said. ¡°Does getting tortured give you extra contribution points after reincarnation or something? I don¡¯t get it. Not that it matters. Because you don¡¯t get to do that.¡± ¡°Your threats won¡¯t-¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a threat. I¡¯m not going to ask any questions,¡± Anton said. Spectral energy gathered around his arm. ¡°I¡¯m not going to stop. I just want the last thing you ever experience to be fear. I¡¯d say regret, but you¡¯ll never get to that part.¡± Anton jabbed his arm through Bachtiar¡¯s abdomen, the spectral energy ripping apart his dantian and cultivation. Anton hadn¡¯t personally performed such a task often, as they¡¯d usually had formations to catch them, but he knew what to do. And with his energy suppressed, Bachtiar hadn¡¯t been able to fight back at all. ¡°So that¡¯s it¡­?¡± Jamilah said shakily. ¡°He¡¯s gone, and he¡¯ll never reincarnate?¡± ¡°Not as anything that resembles Bachtiar, at least. So for all practical purposes, that is the end.¡± ¡°It¡¯s awful,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°Though he deserved it.¡± ¡°He did,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I think¡­ if he had lived his life in a way that accomplished anything good or lasting, it would not be the worst end.¡± Jamilah shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Even if I presume that after death I will not remember any form of reincarnation¡­ knowing that I would not would burden me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that bad,¡± Anton said. ¡°Just make the best use of your time and don¡¯t think about it. I wasn¡¯t expecting anything before I became a cultivator, and then after I basically got back to that right away. In the grand scheme of things.¡± ¡°Sorry, what?¡± Jamilah tilted her head. ¡°You speak like¡­¡± Anton held up one hand, letting small motes of ascension energy dance around it. ¡°For this, I gave up ascension.¡± He held up his other hand, ¡°And for this, reincarnation.¡± ¡°Can you teach me?¡± ¡°You¡¯re too young,¡± Anton said. ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°Just what I said,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Fleeting Youth is of minimal value to you, for much lost.¡± ¡°I¡­ ascension, at least, is not appealing to me,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t give up on it just yet. Not the entirety of the upper realms is full of awful people.¡± Anton paused for a moment, ¡°Sure, the Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster are pretty bad, but in the middle¡­ after you take out the Harmonious Citadel, there are some decent folk. I could point you towards them, if you were interested.¡± ¡°I¡¯m more interested in that¡­ Assimilation thing you spoke of.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Anton frowned. ¡°First we have to get you to the peak of Life Transformation. And make sure the Twin Souls aren¡¯t around to slip away with that knowledge. That part will probably come about first though, so don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Chapter 698 The responsibility that had been thrust upon Varghese sometimes still put him off balance. Did he deserve to be the head of a sect? Even though it was merely a branch of a greater sect, that didn¡¯t necessarily change his feelings. Instead, the greater weight of responsibility still wore down on him. What qualifications did he have, except coincidentally being the first person Anton spoke to? When he asked, Anton had told him the qualifications were the same as required of any member joining the Order of One Hundred Stars. That is to say, the capacity to be a good person. There was more to it than a quick surface level judgment, but instead a detailed analysis required. Above all else, Anton valued growth- but not in the ways other sects might. He did not care to have genius disciples who rose through the cultivation ranks at great speed, but rather those who put in the effort to grow whether it was easy or not. More than that, those who would help others do the same. But of course, that had little to do with morality, at least directly. Helping one¡¯s self and one¡¯s allies was not an act of goodness- it was one of basic functionality. Expending effort to help others, especially those who may never be able to pay back said effort, that was where things started. Altruism, in other words. Anton explained to Varghese that altruism was the basis of goodness. It was not enough to try to avoid harm. On the other hand, once one had other¡¯s benefit in mind they would obviously do their best to do them no wrong. Things weren¡¯t always so simple of course. Varghese remembered a particular conversation. ¡°Why are all of your instructions so¡­ vague? It would be easy to accidentally cross a line.¡± ¡°Tell me, Varghese, would you prefer a definitive list? A compendium of laws.¡± Varghese had nodded. ¡°Of course. Written by you, with your great wisdom, I am certain it would benefit those who followed it greatly.¡± ¡°Certainly. I will get you a list of every single situation by the end of the day. And then tomorrow, when the world changes, I will write it anew.¡± ¡°Surely things do not shift so rapidly.¡± ¡°Perhaps not,¡± the old man had shrugged. ¡°But tell me this. You would agree that stealing is wrong, would you not?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°What about from an enemy sect? Or invaders from the upper realms?¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s not really stealing¡­¡± Varghese had begun to say. ¡°Perhaps not,¡± Anton said. ¡°What about from a neutral sect?¡± ¡°Well-¡± ¡°Perhaps you have had conflict with them in the past. Or if it is the first time encountering them. What if you are competing for a prize. The corpse of a great beast, the fruit of an ancient tree. When is it right to claim it?¡± ¡°Whoever obtains it first in such a situation is the rightful owner,¡± Varghese had declared confidently. ¡°Very well.¡± Looking back, Anton hadn¡¯t actually said he was correct about anything. Nor that he was incorrect. ¡°And when they are the victors?¡± Varghese hadn¡¯t known what to say. ¡°If you can accept that, and the same of the others, then it is reasonable. But if snatching it away leads to a conflict that gets your disciples killed, is it still moral?¡± ¡°But we can¡¯t just let people get away with threats when we rightfully have something,¡± Varghese said. ¡°And so¡­¡± Anton had spread out his hands, ¡°What is the resolution? Is there a right or wrong? What is it?¡± Anton then let out a heavy breath. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong. Not all situations will be thus. Right and wrong surely exist. But in a world of conflict, it is rarely clear. And we have only postulated about one area. So while I can definitively declare a few things wrong in the vast majority of circumstances, and the same for things that are good, you must always weigh the benefits and harms to people as a whole.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Varghese had answered with what he believed was the truth. Now, he knew that he was missing so much. While Anton couldn¡¯t answer every question, his experience could still guide Varghese. But right now, he was waiting on an answer. Usually, Anton was able to respond to his queries right away, but Varghese had been waiting for days. That was not so long in the grand scheme of things, but waiting longer to make a decision would also come with consequences. It should have been a simple matter. He found someone in the markets stealing from the vendors. Or rather, intimidating them to make them pay ¡®protection¡¯ money. There were legitimate ways to go about something like that, but this was a scheme he concocted on his own, with the money flowing into his own pockets and likely no protection actually coming in return. Aspin had their own laws, but they also provided significant leeway for sects to handle justice on their own. Which was to say, powerful sects were almost above the law. The problem was the group the young man was from. If it had been any other, Varghese could have made a swift decision. But he was a member of the Iron Plate Mercenaries. Now time was nearly running out, and he would have to make a decision on his own. Except¡­ he felt the pulse of energy that was him receiving a response. The personal communication device he had been given by Anton- a replacement, as apparently his first one had its connecting device destroyed- finally showed signs of a response. Varghese knew he should have been patient, but every day that passed with the individual in custody weighed heavily on him. The response he got? ¡°What do you think you should do?¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Of course it would be like that. Varghese tried to remember what he¡¯d explained about the situation. He sent some more details first, before providing his actual response. ¡°I would want to punish him. The situation does not seem deserving of death, but repayment of the losses and perhaps expulsion from the mercenaries might be appropriate.¡± Fortunately, the response was swift. ¡°Then why not do that?¡± ¡°I am worried about the harm to the Iron Plate, and our relations with them.¡± ¡°But you have not handed this individual over to them to deal with as they wish.¡± Varghese sighed. He trusted Sharma and Vasudha, who led the group. He would generally consider them good people, but they still fell into the mindset of typical cultivators. ¡°I am afraid they would make the wrong decision.¡± ¡°Then perhaps it is you who must guide them.¡± ¡°Is that it¡­?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you what to do. But I must ask, have you considered the other consequences of your choices?¡± ¡°If he goes unpunished the merchants will suffer.¡± Was that it? There had to be more. ¡°What else?¡± It was like Anton was here, looking at him and watching his reactions. But he wasn¡¯t. Was he? Varghese felt around with his senses. If Anton was watching, why did he care? Because he didn¡¯t want to make a mistake. So he should follow Anton¡¯s promptings. ¡°There could be damage to the Iron Plate¡¯s reputation. Further damage, I suppose.¡± And indirectly, the Order. Covering it up¡­ was definitely wrong. And only considering direct harm, it would be worse in the future if anyone found out. No, the largest issue would be allowing the troublemaker to continue as a blight. But because it concerned Sharma¡¯s company, Varghese needed to convince him of that. ¡°I think I have arrived at a solution.¡± ¡°Good. And I am sorry about the delay. I was separated from my equipment briefly.¡± Varghese understood. Actually, he should strive to not be dependent on the man. After all, something could come up that would bring him away for years again. And while he could theoretically still remain in contact during that, it would be much slower. Only good for longer term questions. ----- Sun glinted off of Chidi¡¯s sword, though he noticed the sunrise from the warmth and the fact that his delicate formation crumbled apart as his blade sliced down. He was making progress but even factors like the sun being in the sky and whether it was behind hills or clouds would influence his formations. But if he was able to find a few stable moments, he could accomplish amazing things with relatively little of his own energy. That was what it was all about. Efficiency. Swords were efficient because they concentrated power on a smaller area. That was the point of weapons, in general. Some got their use through momentum, but ultimately their only purpose was to be more efficient than bare hands. If they weren¡¯t then they were not used. Putting it another way, Chidi could cut down someone several times as powerful with him using only a portion of his energy, if he properly concentrated it around his blade and they weren¡¯t able to properly defend. A thin horizontal slice on someone¡¯s body was only a tiny fraction of them, and thus equally distributed energy defenses would be inadequate. And while all successful cultivators would react and redistribute their energy to some extent, the efficiency on their end was a factor. That was true until one cultivator could control an overwhelming power compared to others. Like, say, the difference between early Life Transformation and Integration. If Chidi were to use random examples that might get him killed in the near future. But he wasn¡¯t willing to give up. Rakiya might grow stronger over the years, but she would not advance proportionately as much as he would. A few more years and he would step into Life Transformation, while she would still be in the same general stage of Integration. Perhaps increasing the equivalent of another rank by the standards of One Hundred Stars while Chidi would grow several ranks and gain the power of Life Transformation. He felt a presence nearby. ¡°Aconite,¡± he waved. ¡°I¡¯m done. You won¡¯t be interrupting.¡± His wolf friend approached. ¡°You grow strong.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I am working hard.¡± ¡°Your studies in formations go well. But I believe you are missing one area.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Chidi asked. According to Sithembile, he covered all areas of study- and he had his own practice with swords and redirecting the flow of energy using his blade. ¡°Do you recall how our parents met?¡± Chidi pondered for a while. ¡°It was in the lower realms, was it not? There was some sort of fungus or weird moss that took over bodies. Fuzz barely survived its removal.¡± ¡°That is correct,¡± Aconite agreed. ¡°But then he grew strong.¡± ¡°He gained determination,¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°But not just that. His body was repaired¡­ and augmented. Your mother¡¯s formations gave him hope.¡± ¡°Oh. I remember,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Personal augmentation formations. Mother steered me away from those, however.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Too young and inexperience,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°I would just hurt someone.¡± ¡°But you are neither of those now. You are far more experienced in formations than she was when she started.¡± ¡°I suppose that is true. I might be able to do something to myself¡­¡± Chidi thought for a few moments. ¡°But that¡¯s not what you want, is it?¡± ¡°My body is more durable,¡± Aconite said. ¡°It could recover from minor mistakes more easily.¡± ¡°But I-¡± he didn¡¯t want to hurt his friend. On the other hand, she wasn¡¯t really asking for the sake of him training, was she? She had lamented the lack of a teacher here, though she only mentioned it rarely in recent years. But without that, her growth had limits. Limits that Chidi was surpassing on his own. ¡°I could stand to learn in that area,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I know where I would start, I suppose.¡± His mother hadn¡¯t taught him much in the topic. But in a way, that was actually a good opportunity. It would show whether or not he could do the same as her and pave his own way. Even if it followed her example, without her directing him it would be his own thing. And as long as he was cautious, it should be an improvement for Aconite and himself as well. Unlike Fuzz, she was not in desperate need of assistance. She was functional on her own. So he had to be a bit more cautious. It wouldn¡¯t do to harm his friend. And even if she didn¡¯t get upset, Spikes certainly would. Those teeth were sharp. Chapter 699 A scraping sound filled Chidi¡¯s ears as he carved apart a boulder. A sword was by no means the correct tool to use for the job, but it was what he was most comfortable with. Away went a slice up top, and a chunk down bottom. Then another in the other direction, forming four protrusions on the bottom. Pieces were carved off the front and the rear of the oblong object to form two more. Chidi nodded. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s ready.¡± ¡°... what is that?¡± Aconite asked, pacing around the figure. ¡°What are you talking about? It¡¯s you.¡± ¡°... In what way is this me?¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°Good point, hold on.¡± He carved out sharp teeth in the mouth. ¡°There.¡± ¡°Only the teeth are even close,¡± Aconite said. ¡°The rest of this is¡­¡± the wolf sighed. ¡°It¡¯s close enough,¡± Chidi crossed his arms. ¡°I¡¯m not going to just start carving you up.¡± ¡°I believe it began with shaving away fur.¡± ¡°Still better to not mess that up,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Let me just¡­¡± A few quick swishes of his blade and he had a good outline of what he had been thinking about. Just a faint flow of power. A few more and it was really coming together. And then¡­ the whole thing shattered. ¡°Ahh, dammit,¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°The dampening runes weren¡¯t enough. It probably wouldn¡¯t happen on your body, but¡­ it could actually amplify your own energy to be worse, if I did it wrong.¡± ¡°Is there a reason you were so quick?¡± ¡°Well¡­ habit, I guess?¡± Chidi tilted his head. ¡°If I¡¯m fast enough I don¡¯t have to think about where things link up so much, and how. But obviously¡­ I¡¯ve been focusing a bit too much on the lethal aspects of formations.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind, as long as those lethal aspects affect my enemies.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m practicing,¡± Chidi said. Now he had to find something else to carve another Aconite out of. The second round would be better, no doubt. ----- Especially during times of war, infiltrating a sect like the Harmonious Citadel wasn¡¯t trivial. It wasn¡¯t like Velvet could just spend a few days or a month getting closer to her target and then slipping inside to grab something. Years before she¡¯d come out of their territory with piles of secret information, but the magnitude of what it suggested required her to infiltrate them once more. Over a decade of work, and all she came back with fit within a single folder. But it should be sufficient to confirm or refute what she¡¯d found before. Even though her task was important, she barely managed to get time with Catarina and some of the other leadership. The war was really ramping up, borders pushing back and forth. Oddly enough, the nearly useless planet of Yaitis had become a focal point around which the borders pushed back and forth, the stalemate there preventing anyone from pushing too far past it, unless they wished to leave themselves open to flanking maneuvers. Of course, space was three dimensional so it wasn¡¯t the only critical planet, but it had become one of a handful in the region that had to be held on to maintain control of the systems. And the very fact that the Harmonious Citadel refused to give it up was enough to want to keep their hands on it as well. ¡°I look it over,¡± Velvet said, placing the papers in front of Catarina, Timothy, Enes, a number of leaders from the Dark Ring, and Tauno. The latter was only present by coincidence, though his opinions were valued above many simply because of his strength. ¡°Unfortunately, it seems the information holds true.¡± ¡°Is that a problem?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°This sort of controversy¡­ it could make the Harmonious Citadel crumble.¡± Zazil shook her head, ¡°Perhaps that would happen, but consider this. If word spreads that the Exalted Quadrant established a mole, no, the current leader of the Harmonious Citadel¡­ what happens to the ¡®peace¡¯ between them and the Trigold Cluster? And what happens to all of us that live in between?¡± That was the problem. All of them looked over the documents in question once more, but it was difficult to come to any conclusion except that the origin of the ¡®light¡¯ path, and thus Hans Sigismund, was the Exalted Quadrant. Obviously this was not information that was recorded directly, but along with information from elsewhere the picture fit together. The information was accurate, regardless of the details. For example, it was unclear if Sigismund was still beholden to the Exalted Quadrant- and it might not matter. For the purposes of rattling the Harmonious Citadel, one of ¡®their¡¯ techniques coming from outsiders was enough. And the same was enough for the Trigold Cluster to enter the area should the information be proliferated. Fajra was one thing- Everheart¡¯s Tomb had been something of a neutral ground, an exception to the rule. But for the most part, neither side was supposed to have people even pass through the area. After all, there was no need to do so, since the Scarlet Midfields were located directly between the two territories. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°We should not make use of this,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Unfortunately, the consequences will likely outweigh the benefits.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t trust their pact will hold, given an excuse,¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°Prasad has recently been pressuring them from the east,¡± Tauno added. ¡°It is not critical to our participation in the war. Perhaps the status quo suits us best. If we can truly birth more Augmentation cultivators within a century¡­¡± ¡°Half that,¡± Catarina said confidently. Tauno shrugged, ¡°There isn¡¯t much difference. Our forces strain, but we are holding up against the Citadel. The difference in time will not be so important.¡± ¡°Then we are agreed,¡± Zazil said. ¡°Information on this does not leave this room. Not until the Scarlet Alliance agrees it would provide more benefit than harm.¡± ----- Juicy. So juicy. It was totally worth all of the effort infiltrating Xankeshan himself to hear that news. And with his system practically ready, Everheart was tired of waiting. The gentle stirring of war was simply so inefficient. Someone needed to knock over the pot and burn down the house. Of course, Everheart wanted to make certain he caused the most damage possible to the intended targets. This Scarlet Alliance¡­ well, they did have his niece Vari after all. Sure, they did take his planet but that couldn¡¯t have happened without the Trigold Cluster¡¯s interference. And the Exalted Quadrant were no better. No doubt they would raise the bounty on his head even further if they were aware he was alive. In truth, Xankeshan was in a better position than they let on. Those kids from Ceretos were doing great, and their friends from Rutera? Fascinating machines they had. Unfortunately, the facilities run by Engineer Uzun relied more on technology for its security than proper formations. Not that it was easy to get through any of Xankeshan¡¯s formations. That Catarina girl had learned some techniques from him, and she¡¯d developed her own counters to him from that. But over the course of a few years he¡¯d still managed to infiltrate the planet. After all, she didn¡¯t know they were still in competition. Probably figured he¡¯d crawled in a hole and died somewhere. Not that Everheart really felt like he¡¯d won. He managed to sneak about and listen to some information, but there were places even he couldn¡¯t go. And he imagined if he actually activated his cultivation to any extend the whole planet would come down on him like a pile of mountains. And Everheart didn¡¯t want to bet on surviving another planet attempting to kill him. This juicy information. He would certainly make use of it. It wasn¡¯t just the spear saint that was responsible for his grudge with the Harmonious Citadel. He had simply been at the top of the list. This saint of light could eat it too, and he would. But if that was going to happen, he wanted the Citadel to collapse as quickly as possible. For that, there were a few plans the Scarlet Alliance had in place that should be coming to fruition soon. If they took out one more saint, then even with their hidden Augmentation members Everheart wouldn¡¯t feel threatened by them. If the Citadel collapsed quickly enough, then the Scarlet Alliance could use what resources they scavenged from them to withstand the fallout of the revelation. Everheart was confident they would manage. Or maybe not. If they weren''t good enough, that was their own problem. It¡¯s not like they were allies. He didn¡¯t have any of those. Not that anyone would agree to ally with him to begin with. Except maybe other crazy men, but Anton didn¡¯t count. It¡¯s not like they were even on good terms anymore. ----- Anton frowned. He had a bad feeling, suddenly. Like a bug crawling up the back of his neck, or a spider dangling from its web. But the feeling passed. Maybe it had been a sudden fluctuation in devotion. Even though he wasn¡¯t around the Trifold Alliance, he had a steady flow of devotion from that direction, including what Anton thought was a small trickle from Ekict and the twin planets. The latter had a fairly small population, but they were favorably inclined towards Anton as a whole. If nothing else, simply ending a war instead of being related to the cause was taken better. But Ekict didn¡¯t seem to hate him, either. Then there was a small amount from the upper realms, and a growing quantity from his current location of In¡¯istra. He didn¡¯t intentionally develop devotion in people- but as it turned out, his cultivation style leaned into that on its own. Certainly, he preferred people to like him or at least appreciate his deeds. Anton was quite certain much of the devotion came from people who actually knew nothing about him personally. It was a great benefit to his cultivation, especially considering that he was not bound to In¡¯istra¡¯s star. Being able to refine devotion kept his cultivation on an upward trajectory. That was important for another reason, as he still found himself teetering at the edge of his lifespan. The drop in cultivation from giving up Ekict¡¯s star had come with enough other things that he couldn¡¯t be certain the cause of all his woes, but the life force thing was at least part of it. At least Fleeting Youth continued to grow happily. He wasn¡¯t going to incorporate ascension and spectral energy into his standard attacks, but he was able to use them more freely year after year. And to think in just another handful or two of decades he might reach rank 129, the next prime. Somewhere around there would be the brink of Augmentation, or some lower realms equivalent. Though perhaps he was wrong about that. Catarina and some of the others thought that would be another critical point, but the One Hundred Stars seemed to be diverging between upper and lower realms. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Adapting to suit the situation was the whole point of it. For so long they had been the Ninety-Nine Stars, a professed statement of their incompleteness. Anton needed to keep in mind that he couldn¡¯t be certain that his would be the generation to consistently bridge that gap and the next. Which was why he had people like Varghese, and everyone back on Ceretos. Anton grinned widely. ¡°What has put you in a good mood, Sect Head?¡± ¡°Your very existence,¡± Anton said. ¡°Is that so?¡± Varghese shook his head. ¡°Somehow, that seems more honest than ¡®your talent¡¯ or anything like that.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be concerned about that. You¡¯ve got a good long while until you¡¯re the age that I began cultivating. That¡¯s quite a head start, and a dozen chances to become a whole new person, to see the world a different way.¡± ¡°Uh, alright,¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°That¡¯s actually¡­ kind of encouraging?¡± ¡°I try,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you didn¡¯t really get into my farming based anecdotes so a lot of my material became useless.¡± ¡°Maybe I¡¯d like to hear more about that, sometime. You before cultivation.¡± ¡°Sure thing. And from me, you can hear the true story¡­ unlike the embellishments of my granddaughters.¡± It certainly took quite a bit of that to make people he hadn¡¯t even met in the upper realms think so much of him. Chapter 700 In front of Chidi stood a nearly perfect replica of himself, expertly carved from a boulder he had found on the side of a mountain during a recent mission. The reason he chose it was because it survived the collateral damage of the battle, standing tall and strong among a field of rubble. Now, here it stood, representing himself in a stance, his sword ready. It was only missing¡­ something. A sudden bark of laughter drew his attention to Aconite. ¡°Sorry. I just¡­ thought that maybe you were making fun of me when you first made a replica of me. But that¡¯s¡­ literally nothing! Is that even human? The only thing I can recognize is your sword. Actually, how long did you spend on that? It even almost has a metallic reflection off the blade¡­¡± ¡°The sword was quick,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I spent much longer on the details of the face.¡± ¡°The face¡­¡± Aconite said. ¡°And the hair.¡± ¡°There¡¯s hair of that? I thought you just cut gouges into the skull! Seriously, I thought you could feel the fine details of things, how is it¡­ like this?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really get what you mean,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Obviously it will feel a bit different because it¡¯s stone. But this is nearly perfect.¡± It was only missing something. But what? Ah, that was it. He raised his blade level with his head, then stabbed forward and twisted. Once. Twice. Shards of stone scattered, and then it was finished. ¡°Now it¡¯s perfect.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Aconite said with defeat in her voice. ¡°If you say so. At least I know you¡¯ll do a good job with the formation markings. Speaking of which, what are you thinking on that front?¡± ¡°... I haven¡¯t considered it yet,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°So something similar to me? Speed and fine energy control?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°I thought it would come to me when I got to this point, but¡­ clearly that was optimistic.¡± Oh well. He would simply have to continue working at it. Though he wasn¡¯t certain how long he had until Chikere came back and dragged him off to his death, so he should probably make certain he was ready before then. If he wasn¡¯t even in Life Transformation, his battle would be hopeless. ----- Patrolling the seas around Aspin was the duty of every sect and clan that dwelled upon it. There were many possible threats. Sea beasts were first among them, and though they rarely threatened the land they had to be dealt with so as to not disrupt ship traffic. Travel and trade were important to In¡¯istra as a whole, especially now that the flow through the Reef of Serenity had cleared up. Before that, messages took a while to get through the central hub. Some could go around the planet in other directions, but the best routes all crossed over each other there, with plentiful locations to resupply along the way. The second threat, though rare, was still possible. Enemy sects or alliances thinking to take over Aspin¡¯s prosperous location. Though it was unlikely for any significant threat to reach them without advance warning, those who patrolled the waters could be the last line of defense, providing time for the mainland to ready themselves. The third threat was much the same as the second, but more insidious. That was members of the Twin Soul Sect or other members of the upper realms infiltrating as spies. There were fewer these days, but they couldn¡¯t rest until all of them were eliminated. Varghese took his duties very seriously. His first memories were all about the aftermath of the invasion and the ruined cities of Aspin. Now, decades after Anton had first revealed himself to Varghese and begun the process of rooting them out, they were actually nearly rid of them. And Aspin was prospering, replacing rubble with new buildings- though the population would take several more generations to recover. The Order had their own ships. It was difficult to believe, coming from his nearly hopeless prospects using the first cultivation method he got his hands on. Now he was an Essence Collection cultivator taken seriously by everyone in his home nation. There were still Life Transformation cultivators above him in power, but he would take his place among them relatively soon, at least as cultivators measured things. He kept his senses tuned for anything. He was aware that Sect Head Anton could sense enemies from¡­ well, he never did say how far. But he could find Varghese anywhere on Aspin, which wasn¡¯t a small area. Varghese couldn¡¯t do that, but he could search for powerful sources of natural energy. That could find either beasts or cultivators. But for the latter, he actually had another method. He could feel fluctuations in magnetic fields. That would get him most ships, because even if they were primarily made of wood there were always plentiful metal bits. Weapons both for the ships and cultivators, as well as armor and things as simple as storage containers. All of those would leave behind signs nobody considered. Currently, the Seahawk was patrolling the seas in between ports. Official ports could handle themselves, what Aspin was worried about were those who were not heading for one. Many trips they encountered no one, but it seemed that this one would have some. Best to be polite about it though. Varghese directed their ship to come up beside the approaching vessel, cautiously. They flew the flag of Aspin, both as a warning for those who were up to something, as well as to placate those who were just going about their business. Anyone who ran would be suspect, but to avoid confusion he would announce himself properly as they got close. There was a good chance anyone familiar with the area could recognize the aura of the One Hundred Stars. It was pretty distinctive, if he did say so himself. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Crew of the Cato. Please be advised that you are subject to inspection.¡± ¡°Of course, sir. Feel free to approach.¡± The captain had already won himself some points with the politeness, but Varghese was aware of what could be hidden beneath the surface. He kept on his guard, as he would until they were finished with this ship. Varghese pulled the Seahawk next to the Cato, matching their speed and trajectory. ¡°I am Varghese of the One Hundred Stars, inspecting under the authority of Aspin¡¯s ports.¡± He showed a formal badge and openly displayed his cultivation. The captain of the other ship had a familiar swarthy complexion, though Varghese didn¡¯t recognize the man nor his particular cultivation method. ¡°Captain Anik,¡± the man said. ¡°A pleasure.¡± Was there such a thing as too polite? Already, Varghese¡¯s opinion of the man was wavering. Then again, he already approached with suspicion. But he would not act on anything unfounded. Should it come to battle, however, he felt the Seahawk had the upper hand. Though the patrol vessel was smaller, it was more maneuverable- and on board with Varghese were two early Essence Collection cultivators. Not enough to cow a large sect, but sufficient to threaten a merchant such as this man appeared to be. The first thing Varghese did was sweep his senses over the ship to catching anything obvious. It felt initially clear. ¡°Permission to come aboard.¡± Technically, the captain was obligated to give it. But politeness was best held on both sides, and he didn¡¯t want to startle anyone. Varghese waved the two ¡®elders¡¯ to stand behind him, indicating they would be part of that. They were elders, though one of them was hardly older than Varghese, and the other was barely his father¡¯s age. There were of course older cultivators around, but those willing to change to a fully new cultivation method were rarer the stronger they began. And loyalty was best fostered from those early in their cultivation. Captain Anik gestured, opening a hole in the simple defensive formations of the ship- so that they would not have to force their way through. ¡°Come aboard, then.¡± Varghese and the other two jumped over, where they began to scan the crew more in depth. There were a few bounties they were on the lookout for, but mostly upper realms invaders. ¡°What port are you sailing to?¡± ¡°Lanilan, of course.¡± That would be the most logical place to go, on their current trajectory. ¡°Seems you¡¯re a bit off course,¡± Varghese said conversationally. ¡°But I¡¯m sure you can correct once you spot land. Anything you¡¯d like to declare?¡± ¡°Only standard goods,¡± the man lied. Varghese wasn¡¯t sure how much he lied, but he was quite certain. ¡°Let¡¯s take a quick trip through the hold.¡± ¡°Of course, sir.¡± He seemed quite willing. He must have good hiding places. Varghese confidently walked below with him, but he didn¡¯t sense much in the way of hidden compartments. Not in the vessel itself. Instead, there were goods stacked on top of each other oddly. Yet Varghese didn¡¯t sense anything illegal. Drugs were of concern to him in particular. Those could ravage poor populations¡­ or even groups of promising cultivators. Ultimately, Varghese decided that the man was technically clean. But he also likely wasn¡¯t planning to dock at a normal port. Likely intending to avoid taxes. It was still smuggling, of course, but Varghese didn¡¯t feel beholden to the port tax collectors. Their pockets were fat enough already. In a perfect world, Varghese knew he would still call out the captain. However, his predictions for the consequences were both problematic. First was being offered a bribe, which he would have to refuse- which would then lead to the next most likely scenario. Battle, and the cost of any human life would be too much. Varghese returned to the deck. ¡°Thank you, captain Anik. You¡¯re clear. Do be safe.¡± Once back on the Seahawk, Varghese took aside the ¡®elders¡¯ to explain to them. They most likely noticed the same things as he did, and he just wanted them to be on the same page. Ultimately, they agreed that the discretion was reasonable, if not desirable. And if they disagreed, they would have told him clearly. That was why he picked them. Anton had made it clear that surrounding himself with yes-men would be the best way to get a single generation sect. And maybe a short generation to boot. They continued on with their patrol, hoping both to find something¡­ or nothing. It was better to not have trouble, but letting it slip by rather than dealing with it was worse. The next day, they came upon another vessel. Things went much the same way, except the captain was an older woman this time. They approached peaceably and checked everything out. Everything passed except¡­ one person. That was basically what Varghese told the captain. ¡°What about her?¡± he indicated an older woman among the crew. ¡°Picked her up a few voyages ago. Strong, dedicated. Why? Is there some¡­ trouble?¡± ¡°I need to talk to her,¡± Varghese said. He approached carefully, making sure he had backup with him. ¡°Excuse me¡­¡± ¡°Yes, sir?¡± the sailor said. ¡°Can I see your hand for a moment?¡± That seemed to catch her off guard. But of course, there was nothing special about her hand, so she didn¡¯t hesitate too much. The technique Varghese used hadn¡¯t had many real opportunities to practice, but he¡¯d been tutored by Anton himself. When the woman realized what was happening, it was already too late. But she reacted quickly, drawing her blade and swinging it for Varghese¡¯s neck, only to find that it slowed drastically as it approached, allowing him to catch it. ¡°Men, arrest her.¡± Three against one, it wasn¡¯t difficult. And the captain and crew didn¡¯t seem interested in interceding. ¡°Didn¡¯t know anything about that,¡± the captain said. Half true. Maybe more. Most likely, she knew this woman was hiding something. Then again, how often was that true of sailors? Cultivators were prone to travel, but spending your life doing so was a good way to avoid certain trouble that might otherwise catch up. ¡°You¡¯d best be careful in the future,¡± Varghese said honestly. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard what they can do.¡± Most likely, the woman avoided leaving the ship at port, letting her go unnoticed. Or perhaps they had laxer standards where the ship normally docked. Either way, this would be the woman¡¯s last journey. Aspin had dozens of people who could verify her status in the Twin Soul Sect, which was enough by itself for a death sentence. One more dealt with. Varghese wondered how many more remained. Chapter 701 Conflicts between humans arose most easily out of fundamental needs, or perceived needs. At a basic level was food and land. Shelter, home, and area of safety and control. Cultivators were no different, though they needed energy as well. There was only so much Anton could get away with, giving things away. People got suspicious, for good reason. So right now he was wandering through the wilderness planting seeds while thinking about how the vast majority of In¡¯istra¡¯s surface was unused by humans. The same was basically true of Ceretos, but while the total landmass was similar In¡¯istra was somewhat larger so the effect was more obvious. Sea plants were the solution- but could also very easily be the cause of another problem. Any plants that had a high density of natural energy would be tasty treats for the sea beasts, which were already a problem for the humans. If they grew stronger and were competing for something, he couldn¡¯t see it going well. Certainly not as they were. And it wasn¡¯t like they needed to be efficient in their usage. Not this century or the next. Heck, maybe close to a millennium depending on their growth rate. But with his help and their own work they would doubtless recover from the latest invasion more quickly. If they properly retained the knowledge of the cycles and the coming threat, they would be ready to face it. And with Varghese and the local branch of the Order established, he hoped they would never forget. Soon enough, it would be time to move on. He would still visit, of course, but he couldn¡¯t focus on one planet forever. Not when he knew there must be dozens more in the same situation, or more. That was the problem with the lower realms, the disconnect between systems. They didn¡¯t necessarily have to be unified¡­ but at least aware of each other. And unity would be better, as long as they agreed on the right things. Best to not let them turn into another conglomeration like the Exalted Quadrant or Trigold Cluster only together for the power they gained over others. ----- If only off-planet communications weren¡¯t limited to important military functions, Chidi could ask for advice. He didn¡¯t want to royally screw something up for himself. And that was quite possible because he was talking about messing around with his body. Inside it, perhaps. Then again, that was what the replica of him was for. And despite what Aconite said, it was perfect. And he had yet to carve a single line for formation markings. He just wasn¡¯t sure what made sense. Speed was paramount when wielding a weapon, as long as you were fighting someone in the same realm as yourself. The ability to land blows was critical. And yet¡­ he wasn¡¯t sure in what way he would want to augment his speed. He returned every chance he got, comparing himself and the statue and groping around for inspiration. For the sake of his own development, he always at least practiced his new flexible formation style, redirecting the flow of energy in the area with his sword. So far as he could tell, it was as advanced as he could possibly manage before stepping into Life Transformation. Or maybe advancing was a requirement for him to step into Life Transformation. Technically, he could just create an energy gathering formation and push himself over the threshold. The One Hundred Stars would allow him to advance, but without the right progression of his essence, it would just be a hollow step forward. A bit more power, but without meaning behind it. His essence was that of the sword, but he couldn¡¯t deny that was only part of him. Formations were a component of that. And then there was the thing that had prevented him from contacting his mother even though he could have come up with an excuse, given her position. His parents were wonderful. They had given him everything he needed to grow. He couldn¡¯t even say they¡¯d been overbearing or demanding. Even so, he had a need for independence. And yet¡­ he also intended to find his mother and learn from her in depth after everything was over. Did that make sense? Conflicting ideas stifled his understanding. But perhaps that was the way of cultivation. Sorting out those contradictions. From what Chidi understood, it would never be finished. Not even in Augmentation, and probably the same was true of Domination. Still, no matter how hard he thought, Chidi couldn¡¯t think of a single formation he would want constantly affecting him. And that wasn¡¯t made better by the thought of multiple. He liked the idea of flexibility, but he couldn¡¯t help but grimace at the way every piece of every inactive formation would react with what he wanted at any one time. It would be in constant flux, and that was without considering outside energy flows. Like the kind he would be intentionally causing extremely frequently. Somehow, he felt he would find the answer. It was inside him, somewhere. He just had to dig it out. Hopefully soon, because the swordmaster was clearly getting impatient. ----- Sometimes, Anton wished he could be everywhere all at once. Then he would remember Everheart, and he would be glad there was only one of himself. Besides, he didn¡¯t want to solve the whole galaxy¡¯s problems on his own. He just wanted to do what he could. And the best thing he could think of was building people up so that in the future they could do the same for others. In¡¯istra was a good place for that. Varghese was a good pick, not to pat himself on the back. Then there were Sharma and Vasudha. Their talent was less important than their character. That was true of everyone, from Anton¡¯s perspective, but it was nice to find those with talent. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Jamilah in the Reef of Serenity. Anton regularly returned to her- and thus aided her and the Reef¡¯s Expanse. It was likely she would take over as harbormaster soon. Not just because of cultivation, but if administrative abilities were considered more important she likely would have been managing the harbor a decade prior. Then there was Captain Wangi, who roamed the seas. He would occasionally find her in ports, but since she didn¡¯t fully know about him- and more importantly her crew might find cause for concern with a strange man flying in- he would limit himself in that way. Back on Aspin, there was even Jai, the proprietor of Varghese¡¯s favorite food stall. Or rather, the only one he¡¯d been able to afford. But now, it was his favorite. And Jai still ran a food stall, it just involved a lot more use of natural energy in the cooking process, flipping various things on a grill using extensions of energy like spare hands. That was what Anton liked most. People who cultivated and simply continued to do what they did¡­ but more. Jai fed people in at least two neighborhoods, including many who couldn¡¯t pay. Or who hadn¡¯t been able to pay. The establishment of proper education and training had allowed people to fill in the gaps in¡­ well, literally everywhere. But at first it had been construction or just removing rubble. Removing the spies from the upper realms had been a slow process. It was still ongoing, but Anton had hopes for it being fulfilled to completion without a great war. After all, there were only so many Twin Soul Sect members that could hide among the populace before they just became the populace. And they found all of the important parts of society below them. That was the problem, really. If the upper realms just wanted to manage worlds in the lower realms in a non-exploitative fashion, Anton wouldn¡¯t have any quarrel with them. But it was so easy for people to fall into that, especially when the harm they caused was more than just a world away, out of sight. Not that everyone cared about the damage they did, but some people would at least have empathy. Soon he would have to see if In¡¯istra had any close neighbors, and then spend a proper amount of time pondering over whether to introduce them. Even if both sides had the best of intentions, poor timing could cause new interactions to go poorly. Ekict was a lesson Anton wasn¡¯t eager to repeat, a malevolence beneath the surface that was still ultimately the fault of the upper realms leaving a lingering wound on the system even after their defeat. ----- Watching from afar, Chikere had wondered why her apprentice didn¡¯t just cut apart the statue he¡¯d made. Obviously he had to take his time to make sure he did it right, but she hadn¡¯t seen any other reason for it to exist. Though the sword it held was rather nice, it would be a shame to see it gone. The materials would never hold up in a real battle, but she still liked it. After watching him for a while, Chikere decided that her apprentice was dealing with things she couldn¡¯t understand. Formations and the like. And even when he finally got to something she understood, she didn¡¯t get it. He took his sword and cut it. Made sense. A vertical swing, and a slice that ignored the outer layer to cut apart some of the inside? Useful practice, if nothing else. Though of course proper defensive energy would stop the attack either way, so the only thing accomplished was that he presumably cut precisely what he intended and no more. A lofty aspiration that Chikere could get behind, but she couldn¡¯t understand why. There were no internal organs there. No muscles that would be bisected. If that weird looking statue was a person, they¡¯d suffer basically no damage at all. But of course, that was the point, wasn¡¯t it? She learned that as he continued his efforts, carving both inside and outside the statue. She wondered when he would stop. No doubt he would have to think about it more soon. Yet he didn¡¯t. In fact, from the moment he actually began to the very end, he never paused for more than a moment. Chikere was right about what it was. A formation, obviously. She¡¯d seen and studied many of them from the practical side of things, where she had to cut them apart. But what it did, she had absolutely no idea. Obviously it would do something. It had to, or there wasn¡¯t any point in it, was there? Instead, it looked like it was just¡­ part of a formation. A bunch of intermediate pieces. Like a sword without a hilt. Or maybe its blade. Or maybe it was only missing the guard? Whatever it was, it was annoyingly incomplete. She couldn¡¯t wait to see it finished. And then he stopped, and nodded his head like he was satisfied. But it wasn¡¯t done. She wanted to yell that at her apprentice, but she¡¯d promised the next time he saw her she¡¯d be dragging him away to fight Rakiya. So she kind of had to hang out away from him for a few extra months. His growth was so quick that she hadn¡¯t really thought she was pushing things, but there was always the issue of breaking through to a new level. It was impossible to say how long that would take. Chikere almost missed it. Her little apprentice stretching out his blade, and then all at once swinging it forward. He not only chopped in half the statue of him- she knew that was going to happen to it eventually- but created myriad tiny blades that cut¡­ into himself. Unless Chikere was mistaken, the process that Catarina had used on Fuzz and herself had been more¡­ gentle. Bleeding from hundreds of cuts, both internal and external¡­ Chidi had to advance from it, right? She should feel something amazing. Any moment now. Except instead, he just fell to his knees in the dirt. Along with blood, he was leaking energy like a sieve. She should probably do something about that. But something stopped her. Perhaps she could have interpreted the expression on his face as acceptance of his own death, but she chose to believe it was confidence. Even if she didn¡¯t understand it in the slightest. This was perhaps the first time someone had used a sword like a sword and she didn¡¯t understand the results. How exciting. She¡¯d have to ask him about it assuming he didn¡¯t die here, or from fighting an Integration cultivator. Chapter 702 In retrospect, rejecting Aconite¡¯s presence to avoid distracting himself was unwise. She could have remained at a distance without disturbing him easily enough. As warm blood dripped down his arms into the dirt, Chidi focused on his injuries. It really was a lot all at once, wasn¡¯t it? But forming it a little bit at a time might have been more dangerous. Formation markings had to be constructed with intention. Even if they did precisely nothing. The bigger problem was how it didn¡¯t seem to have done quite that. Specifically, how his natural energy had fled his body. He kind of needed that to stop all the bleeding. He didn¡¯t want to stitch up his wounds, or the scars might be wrong. He took a deep breath, and felt his lungs fill with upper energy, a portion of it flowing into his system. He breathed out, but it remained. He began to circulate it through his body. It was like molasses inside of him, resisting the flow. Because although he knew how to control it, he didn¡¯t normally use it. In fact, it had been his intention to fully support himself with ¡®lower¡¯ energy until he reached Integration. But he¡¯d made a miscalculation. The incomplete formation inside of him was meant to function with upper energy, which naturally separated from lower energy. Thus, he¡¯d purged it from himself¡­ rather quickly. He took another breath. He could manage this. He controlled upper energy with formations every day. He began to pull in more and more energy, replenishing his stores. Then he circulated it throughout his body, seeking out each and every wound and intentionally imperfectly sealing them. Each one would scar, creating a lingering formation marking. Hundreds of them, which all together did precisely nothing. Chidi was uncertain how long it took. He was dizzy from loss of blood, and he¡¯d had to avoid taking any blood replenishment pills because those would affect his internal healing. Usually in a positive way, but he needed the scars. He chewed on some bread he¡¯d brought with him. It was soft, at least. Fresh this morning, even if wartime rations weren¡¯t exactly a delicacy. The energy content was minimal, and it wouldn¡¯t improve his cultivation. But it did fill his belly, and he found himself able to stand. All this work, for formation markings that did nothing. No, it was worse than that. All this work, and he¡¯d created a brand new weakness for himself. Anyone with sufficient formation knowledge could¡­ do what, exactly? Chidi shifted his grip on his sword. He¡¯d never lost it, even at his weakest moment. He traced lines around him, and with a pulse of energy half of the trees around him were split apart. At least that hadn¡¯t been a failure, then. What he¡¯d created within himself was not a complete formation, but rather components that could fit in common formations. Or at least, formations he intended to use commonly. That meant many of them would be half complete or more simply because of his presence. And it was true his opponents could use that against him. A few swipes of their energy and they could force his formation markings to work against him. But so what? He just had to not let them. Exactly the same as he would not let someone draw their sword across his throat, he would likewise not let them disrupt the energy in the area in a manner that would kill him. In fact, it was only a small risk. Anyone who could easily exploit it was either a formation grandmaster that could defeat him regardless, or would have to specifically study to defeat him- which would take decades of carefully watching him. A small risk, when it would be easier for most people to just stab him. Or at least, it would certainly appear easier. Chidi didn¡¯t intend to make that easy. A snapping twig turned his head, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. There shouldn¡¯t have been anything there. ¡°... What happened to your swords?¡± Without her blades it was difficult to recognize his master. She was almost empty. A blank canvas. Sure, he was aware of the shape of her body. And her face, though that wasn¡¯t particularly better for recognizing people than anyone else in Chidi¡¯s opinion. ¡°I¡¯m getting them sharpened,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Just back in town. We¡¯re going.¡± ¡°Alright but-¡± Chidi found himself jerked along. ¡°I need to say goodbye to Aconite and Major Sibylla is going to want to know-¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be passing over Shutoll,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I-¡± he wasn¡¯t going to get better than that, was he? Alright, time to see how well this worked. A sound formation was pretty basic so¡­ just a little swish here and there¡­ was actually extremely difficult at the speed the grandmaster was dragging him along. Good thing he started it as they were approaching, because it took him until they were on the far side to get his energy in place all at once. Part of that was the speed, and the other part was actually using upper energy now. ¡°I¡¯ll be back soon, Aconite!¡± he called down below. He wanted to say more, but he just didn¡¯t have time. As they had passed over the city, swords had pulled out of the city below and flown into the sky after Chikere. Many had sheathed themselves, but she carried one openly in her replacement arm. Chidi was being dragged along by her left. It was still going to take a few days to reach Rakiya, probably. So if Chidi was planning not to die, he would have to make sure he got used to using his new formation base as much as possible. ----- He crashed into the ground. He hadn¡¯t told the grandmaster he needed to get used to his new power. Honestly, Chidi wasn¡¯t quite certain if this was any good. Was he even in Life Transformation? He couldn¡¯t quite tell, because his energy was so different. Lower and upper energy had a different flow, with the former being generally gentler and weaker. But that was only in general. If properly controlled, Chidi felt it could match upper energy. It was easier to control, but a high degree of control could also make it more effective. At least¡­ that was the idea behind his training to begin with. A dozen attacks came at him from all directions. Chidi a few hours before could have cut them down without effort. The Chidi now barely managed to slash apart one before he had to dodge wildly. Rather than a clean cut, he turned his target into a bloody pulp. The transition to upper energy was going to be rough. His dodge also brought him through a tree. At least his defensive energy was durable enough to take care of that, and he¡¯d managed to get it in place before he even crashed into the group of enemies. Now they were approaching. Swords, of course. Chikere could find sword cultivators more easily, and she also liked to see them defeated. Chidi took a stance. It was none that belonged to any sword style Chikere had taught him, and far removed from anything the Harmonious Citadel could perform. In fact, it was at best half a sword stance. In actuality, it was really Chidi just placing his body as it needed to be. He was the core of the formation. His movements followed a familiar pattern, and a burst of energy flung away the charging enemies. Once again, they were not cut. He had only power, without precision, accuracy, or speed. He knew how the formation was supposed to work, in a way augmenting his own blade or at least the idea of his blade, but he had previously been using carefully converted natural energy, lower energy, to control the natively prevalent upper energy. Of course he would be off. He had known this would happen, on some level, but he¡¯d vaguely expected his internal flow to remain the same. The enemies returned. By the end of the battle, Chidi was coughing up blood. Another issue with his formations, he could damage himself. On the other hand, the same was true of performing a sword slash wrong. Anyone could twist their ankle while dodging- defensive energy hardly protected a cultivation from their own actions. He was basically getting used to being in a new body. But at least he was the one who walked away from the battle, and his enemies wouldn¡¯t. Ultimately, he did managed to cut them down instead of simply bludgeoning them, so he knew he¡¯d made progress. Though walking away was a misnomer, as he was simply carried off by Chikere. ¡°This is the weirdest thing I¡¯ve ever seen, kid.¡± ¡°... Is that bad?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°I have no idea. I might not be able to teach you anything from now on.¡± She wasn¡¯t a great teacher anyway. Not that Chidi hadn¡¯t learned a lot from her, but¡­ clearly instruction wasn¡¯t her strength. She got by on the pure ability she demonstrated, and her disciples¡¯ affinity with swords. Still¡­ ¡°That would be a shame.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Only if you stop using swords,¡± the grandmaster said. Which of course she would. ----- ¡°Time for a break,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Oh.¡± They were stopped in a clearing. Based on the lack of sunlight hitting him, Chidi assumed it was night. ¡°Alright.¡± He figured she was going to bring him all the way to Rakiya in one go. ¡°You need to be rested for your match tomorrow.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡± ¡°She probably won¡¯t be expecting it. Until we get close, that is. It¡¯s up to you how you capitalize on that.¡± ¡°... Can you bring her to me?¡± ¡°She won¡¯t follow me far,¡± the swordmaster said. ¡°But we can manage something.¡± ----- He had been hoping for something like a day to set up formations. Instead, Chidi was given the time it would take Chikere to run a handful of kilometers, taunt Rakiya, and return with her. So a few minutes, if he was lucky. ¡°Well, you didn¡¯t spend all that time learning flexible formation techniques for nothing, right?¡± Chidi spoke aloud to empty wilderness full of trees and boulders. Well, mostly empty. There were some animals around, of course. And there was a road not far away. Actually, if he wasn¡¯t incorrect this place should be visible from the city walls, at least to cultivators focusing their vision. It was near the horizon, probably. Chidi kicked around some dirt. Swords were good for precision, but sometimes you just wanted to move a large amount of material and as it turned out they were terrible shovels. And it was kind of disrespectful to use them like that. What was he doing? Waiting to be killed by an Integration cultivation. Even if Chikere believed in him, he was still maybe just entering Life Transformation. How could he bridge that gap? Was it crazy of him to accept the challenge, regardless of how it was forced upon him? Too late now. As his master would probably say, he just had to win. And then it wouldn¡¯t be in question if it was possible. He¡¯d focused so much on his breakthrough that he hadn¡¯t thought to make a plan. And Then he¡¯d been figuring out control. And now he was here, with no idea how to win. But he¡¯d promised Aconite he¡¯d be back soon, which implied returning at all. So he had to win. But overcoming an Integration cultivator with Life Transformation cultivation was literally impossible. He scrambled to do everything he could think of, and then¡­ Rakiya arrived. He felt her sword first. A vertical slash. It cut apart a one hundred meter rift in the ground. Chidi had just barely deflected it to not cut him vertically in two. ¡°Wow. She really did just leave you out here alone, huh? No ambush by anyone else. And she¡¯s off over there still¡­¡± Rakiya shrugged. ¡°I guess I get to kill her apprentice today. What did you do to make her mad?¡± Chidi had hoped for an immediate follow up. But perhaps words could do something here. ¡°I tried studying formations.¡± He shifted his footing slightly. He was actually closer to the rift, making his position a bit precarious. But that was how it had to be. ¡°You think you can survive more than three attacks?¡± Rakiya asked. ¡°I bet you do. You managed two last time.¡± Did he really? ¡°But you have to know that three is impossible, even with a little more cultivation in you. I know your tricks.¡± ¡°... Are we counting¡­ this one?¡± Chidi gestured to the rift next to him. ¡°For your ego? Sure.¡± He was unable to feel her move, but it was her intent to behead him that he responded to. Her blade would be behind him, coming for his neck. He had to duck forward. No, roll. That was his only option. She was behind him. Her momentum had to stop momentarily. He felt her figure, just as before. He might have thought her attractive if not for her attitude. The missing arm¡­ that sort of thing didn¡¯t bother him. Not that he cared about physical beauty. To him, looks were literally nothing. Like that notch in her eyebrow. Even deflecting her blade with a parry of his own, Chidi had a trail of blood running down the back of his neck as he came out of the roll, facing her. He¡¯d barely even begun to make use of his formation abilities. He didn¡¯t have the power to affect anyone like her. But he stood, his feet planted. His sword across his body, angled to his left. Her blade would come from that side. Her attack was a simple thrust. And true to her word, he could not survive it. It was impossible. He would be speared by her energy, extending beyond her blade. She could annihilate him while reserving the vast majority of her energy for defense. Her speed would be something he couldn¡¯t match. As her sword came for his heart, Chidi let everything go in a simple exhalation. Was this how the grandmaster felt when she received an epiphany, or was it just him? Or maybe¡­ he¡¯d miscalculated. His own blade slashed up as he stepped forward, but that would only bring her thrusting blade closer. Its extended projection was a meter from his heart and growing. Half a meter. Ten centimeters. One centimeter. And then¡­ nothing. Chidi felt nothing at all. He couldn¡¯t see, which was nothing new. His ears worked just fine, but they couldn¡¯t process what they were hearing beyond the whistling of blades. It was strange, to grow so accustomed to the enhancements of energy. Without it, he could only feel two blades and nothing else. He extended his attack, making use of everything he had. He was ever so slightly taller than Rakiya. Their blades were similar in length, with hers being a few millimeters longer. But his hilt had a good centimeter. He needed more than that, so he let go with his right hand, letting his blade almost dangle from his left fingers as it slipped through. His sword chopped up to where he knew her wrist must be. It was holding the sword, after all. With his right hand, he grabbed her blade. And then, everything came back. Energy once more existed. Even using Rakiya¡¯s energy, he could only sustain an instant of an energy negation formation. Her internal energy had automatically rebelled at the phenomenon. But, for that moment¡­ she was not an Integration cultivator. And he was not a Life Transformation cultivators. They had simply been two people with relatively strong bodies, fighting with swords. And he knew exactly how she was moving, assuming his counter would mean nothing. And she would have been right in any other circumstance. He stepped back as his right arm twirled the sword in his hand. He had to twist it to pull it out of his rib. It had technically made it all the way through that and just a little into his heart, but without energy extending its destructive radius it didn¡¯t matter. He shook the hand off of his sword. Rakiya¡¯s energy was acting strangely. Chidi wondered if she had some sort of special attack. He¡¯d assumed she would be killing him with her backup swords about now but¡­ ¡°How?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t even understand swords,¡± Chidi said. ¡°How could you understand that?¡± ¡°I can still kill you without a weapon!¡± He dodged around her, preparing himself for the obvious quickdraw. He sliced at the tendons on one leg as she performed a textbook Harmonious Citadel inward stepping pattern. Then he kicked her to stop her sword from¡­ her sword¡­? She fell into the rift of her own making. It wasn¡¯t particularly wide, but for something created by a blade it was¡­ inelegant. She ended up halfway in the ground. Not really stuck, but it was weird. ¡°... Do you not have a backup weapon?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Do you think blades so fine are easily obtained? I couldn¡¯t use a lesser weapon. Besides, how do you expect me to wield a sword without hands?¡± Chidi struggled to open his eyelids. ¡°I dunno. You kinda just figure things like that out.¡± Then he turned around and began walking away. ¡°Get back here!¡± ¡°The Harmonious Citadel doesn¡¯t have any unarmed combat methods,¡± Chidi explained as she ran after him. ¡°You may have ten times my energy, but without anything to augment your force it¡¯s meaningless. Your foot techniques are all wrong,¡± he said while avoiding a kick. He began walking down the road towards the grandmaster, and it didn¡¯t take more than a few moments for her to approach. ¡°Hey. You done?¡± ¡°I have no reason to fight her anymore,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Cool. We¡¯re going then.¡± She grabbed Chidi and pulled him away from the flailing form of Rakiya. Chidi couldn¡¯t help but think about how pathetic the whole thing felt. He didn¡¯t really intend to cripple her, but he could understand why Chikere felt the way she did. At some point, Rakiya hadn¡¯t been a swordmaster worth fighting. And now, she wasn¡¯t a swordmaster at all. Even if she reattached her hand, she would never be able to fight again. And while Chikere didn¡¯t intentionally mess with enemy morale, Chidi knew it would be far worse for the Harmonious Citadel that she would remain alive. ¡°So how long do you think before the sword saint shows up?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Like, a week? Because I¡¯ve got things to do.¡± Oh right. This was all to provoke that. Chidi was fairly certain he couldn¡¯t negate an Augmentation Cultivator¡¯s energy even if they intentionally powered a formation for him. But it wasn¡¯t his responsibility to fight a saint. Chapter 703 It was good fortune for Sibylla that she was present at just the right time to command the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s forces coming out of Shutoll. A perfect opportunity to show her support without just being an extra in the larger war. Sibylla marched forward between Shutoll and Koton, standing at the head of the army. Having only encountered the swordmaster in short bursts, she didn¡¯t understand much about Chikere. However, Sibylla knew enough to be aware that this time Chikere was going to cause chaos. So this was their chance to act and finally take back some lost ground. And with that, perhaps they might be able to open up some more airspace. They could really use some backup. Sibylla was quite aware that despite being an ascension cultivator, she was near the bottom of the upper echelon. A new Integration cultivator. And as far as her position went in the Scarlet Alliance, it was much the same. They gave her the chance because of her cultivation and willingness to head into danger. She didn¡¯t want to waste the opportunities afforded to her. She would much rather take some risks to earn the support of a larger faction rather than attempting to continue on her own. Their quick march brought them close to Koton in half a day, having encountered several squads of scouts on the way. So the enemy would know they were coming, but that didn¡¯t mean they could prepare a true response. Major Sibylla knew she wasn¡¯t invincible just because there were few Integration cultivators on Yaitis, but she was aware of her own strengths. Unless their intel was severely erroneous, she would be able to lead them to victory. There was a significant gap in the cultivation of most of her cultivators. Essence Collection had made up most of the higher end cultivators when the planet was first occupied. Now the war had been dragging on for decades without giving them an opportunity to cycle in and out, so many had advanced to early or mid Life Transformation. That left very few late Life Transformation experts, and beyond Rakiya, Chikere, and Sibylla herself there were very few Integration cultivators on planet. Or rather, if there were more they hadn¡¯t shown themselves. Sibylla continued to march forward confidently as they got within range of Koton. ¡°Make ready!¡± She ordered the small army behind her. As they continued to approach there were attacks from the walls. However, instead of the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s captured emplacements, they made use only of archers. That was¡­ a factor she had not considered. The stubborn insistence of the Harmonious Citadel to fit within their niches greatly limited them. Not that Sibylla was going to complain. That made her job easier. The army was stretched out behind her on the road, and she spun her glaive, creating a vortex that dragged in the projectiles and then spun them around on the city. The effect was actually hardly dangerous to the defenders on the walls, but it hurt their morale to be bombarded by their own weapons. ¡°Forward!¡± Sibylla ordered. Squads already had their own orders for how to assault the city. Some would be formation breakers, others would be preparing to scale the walls. Sibylla was there more as a target. A distraction, even. It hurt the pride of cultivators to not even attempt to attack a powerful cultivator standing alone. Unfortunately, she couldn¡¯t draw their attention forever. But by the time they committed to focusing on the rest of the army, it was too late. The local formations were torn open, and Sibylla was able to easily leap up onto the wall. Her spinning blade cut down all of those on either side of her. She looked down into the city. She was hoping that they would stay out of the way. It might be too much for them to act against the Harmonious Citadel, but spies indicated they were quite unhappy with the occupation. ----- Within an hour, Harmonious Citadel forces were fleeing the city. Sibylla wanted to chase them and wipe them out, but she knew there was too much risk to her forces and even herself. Better to let them go. That way, they would be less interested in holding their ground the next time, if it could save their necks. It would mean enemy forces condensing, but Sibylla was waiting for good news. It came the next day, news came from Chidi. The young man was the child of two bigwigs in the Scarlet Alliance, but Sibylla had seen his effectiveness scouting, and his skill training with the swordmaster. Now she had dragged him off¡­ and Sibylla only hoped that the message meant he was alive. ¡°Rakiya is defeated.¡± ¡°You killed her?¡± Sibylla sent a surprised message for confirmation. That was¡­ not surprising exactly. Grandmaster Chikere had indicated she could slay Rakiya at any point, but there had been something about the young fellow fighting her. And he had just barely broken through to Life Transformation, if his screaming goodbye as he passed over Shutoll was any indication. ¡°Not dead. Worse. For the Harmonious Citadel, and for her.¡± That sounded like good news to Sibylla- and it was. If she had known what the intentional consequences would be, she might have been more skeptical. Sibylla wasn¡¯t interested in facing an Augmentation cultivator in the form of a sword saint, but fortunately for her it was also not her responsibility. ----- Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. A string of arrows pierced through a creature of more mouth than anything else. It was a step down from the absurdity of distortion beasts with rings of teeth that could attack from all directions, but the floating body of the creature still seemed to be nearly half teeth. Anton frowned. This was beginning to become a problem. The population of sea beasts was growing too quickly- and while it inevitably had to stop at some point, it might not be before disaster. In¡¯istra relied on safely traversing their waters, and not all sea beasts were strictly constrained to the depths. Then there were the flying beasts. Anton imagined that their populations were traditionally kept in check by local cultivators, but the recent drop in numbers had made that difficult to handle. This was a problem that Anton might have solved himself, but the scale was beyond him. He was all for culling the populations of beasts to maintain a proper ecosystem balance, but covering part of a forest was vastly different from the whole of a planet. Within a hundred kilometers of Anton at all times were millions of beasts with at least a spark of cultivation, so even if he could slay thousands per day the most he could do was hamper the growing population. Most of his efforts were devoted on tracking down the strongest among them. The kings and queens, overlords of the regions around them. He was hesitant to slay them, because the wild fighting for power as a result of that could spill over into human territories. It was entirely possible that slaying one powerful beast here would have a rippling effect a thousand kilometers away. And while he could focus on any small part of that area, he didn¡¯t actually keep everything in his senses all at once. Especially not with the sea, the density of which limited the range of his senses and the depth of which added a far greater volume he had to keep track of. Humans, by and large, were a single thin sheet placed atop a planet. At most they were on the top layer, varying locally by a couple hundred meters vertically or less. The sea, however, had beasts living on every layer of it, ranging from a single kilometer not far from shore to ten or more depending on the depth. There was only so much he could do on his own, and unlike the purge of the cultivators from the upper realms he didn¡¯t believe the locals could deal with it themselves. Which meant involving himself more openly and coordinating with the locals. He had already established a presence in many areas, but he was risking details of his identity slipping out. His own safety was hardly in question, but he wouldn¡¯t want the Order to be persecuted for being promoted by an outsider. But of course, he couldn¡¯t decide everything by himself, and he didn¡¯t have to. ----- He was glad to find Varghese at the headquarters of the One Hundred Stars in Aspin. The island nation was large enough that they actually had multiple branches, generally throughout major ports. Though there was less access to resources due to being spread out, it helped their recruiting methods. After all, not everyone could make their way to the headquarters. Even if it wasn¡¯t terribly distant, not everyone was willing to leave their jobs for a few days or a week to test themselves for entry to a sect. More than that, because Varghese wanted to keep in line with the requirements for disciples, it often took longer. Having a local presence to interview people about the cultivators in question to determine their standing was quite useful. Of course, there were always those who were skilled at hiding their misdeeds, and those who came from a background of crime but wanted to change. That was why it was just one step in the process. Varghese was teaching a class on combat and preliminary magnetism. He noticed Anton watching him, but completed things without comment so as to not cause a ruckus. ¡°Good to see you again, elder,¡± Varghese inclined his head. The narrative was that Anton was an elder from another branch, which wasn¡¯t untrue and kept people from asking too many questions. It still made sense for the local sect head to be respectful, and explained whatever people noticed of his power. ¡°Nothing urgent, I hope?¡± ¡°I would have stopped you if it was,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though it is also not something that can be put off.¡± Anton explained the situation with the beasts. Varghese was already aware, but Anton had learned more since they last met. ¡°So we will need to hunt down sea beasts to cull their numbers¡­?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°And collect their bodies to use as materials. Partially to convince other cultivators of the value of doing the same, and partially because¡­ well, the sea beasts can¡¯t use each other as the same if the bodies are gone.¡± ¡°I see. By removing food from the ecosystem, we can starve them out.¡± ¡°Only to some extent,¡± Anton said sadly. ¡°This is a wide scale phenomenon, and many beasts will be able to subsist mainly on natural energy. So if they are culled too much, the lack of competition might produce stronger individuals. On the other hand, the same could come about from them devouring each other. In short, there isn¡¯t just one solution. Adaptive approaches will be required, needing to be tailored to each situation. I was hoping you could at least rally the efforts around Aspin. If I am overestimating the danger, then you simply spend a few years training disciples and gathering resources.¡± ¡°If you underestimate the threat, we will be at more risk. But¡­ that¡¯s all the more reason to do it, I suppose,¡± Varghese said. ¡°That¡¯s right. I would suggest focusing your efforts on excursions with yourself and other higher ranking cultivators first. And you could suggest to the Iron Plate that it might be a good supplemental source of income.¡± ¡°... And you will be busy dealing with the rest of In¡¯istra, I suppose.¡± Anton grinned, ¡°I don¡¯t intend to leave you high and dry. But I doubt it would be of much benefit to you if you survived without the rest of the planet.¡± ¡°I will arrange things as you say,¡± Varghese said. ¡°We will begin our hunts soon.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t rush too much,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I would delay no more than a year at the utmost.¡± The Reef of Serenity was the next priority for Anton. Though in some ways they were sheltered by their position, they were also limited by it. If deadly beasts roamed all the waters outside the reefs, then they would not last long. And the reefs themselves weren¡¯t exactly unpopulated by beasts- they were just managed already. Chapter 704 Air rushed by Chidi¡¯s face and limbs, giving him the feeling of flying. But of course he was not flying. While he might someday achieve such abilities, he didn¡¯t have them for the moment. That was why he had to angle his body in just the right way as he began to pick up speed. His energy filled the air around him, forming small shapes extending from his body. The formation core in his body activated, and his momentum greatly slowed, letting him hit the ground with a moderate impact instead of forming a crater and possibly hurting himself. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll talk later, grandmaster,¡± Chidi said, vaguely directing his voice to the sky. He didn¡¯t really expect her not to drop him, but he would have liked some warning. But now he was back in Shutoll. He could feel the sword clutched in his hand, the proof of his victory. It felt good for various reasons. He had a nice sword, he lived up to the swordmaster¡¯s expectations, he surpassed his own expectations, and the war on Yaitis would be smoother now. Until the sword saint arrived, at least. If he didn¡¯t show up from this, he probably wouldn¡¯t be coming at all. That would be better for Yaitis, maybe, but Chdi was uncertain if it would be better for the Scarlet Alliance as a whole. Did he believe Chikere could kill an Augmentation cultivator? Well, it didn¡¯t matter what he believed, did it? Only what she believed. Or something like that. He¡¯d experienced overconfident people before, but Chikere was just¡­ her. Though the cultivation gap remained an issue. Chidi didn¡¯t fully count himself as having defeated an Integration cultivator. Instead, he¡¯d simply defeated another Body Tempering cultivator while he was likewise in Body Tempering. Basically. Consistently getting that fraction of a second was also likely beyond him at the current moment. His feet inevitably brought him to the most important thing, though he did need to use his nose to assist him. He was looking for pungent scents, things his body would warn him about. Though for the most part, Aconite didn¡¯t leak too many of those scents from her pouches. Still, he was able to track her down easily enough, approaching her in a small lab where she was grinding things into powder, using her energy to direct a pestle. He waited until she finished dumping the powder into one of her bags. ¡°Hi,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m back, and I got a cool new sword.¡± He¡¯d promised to return, so he had. There wasn¡¯t much more to it than that. ¡°You survived,¡± Aconite growled lightly. ¡°It appears so,¡± Chidi said. He was honestly not quite willing to believe it himself at this point. Though he had passed along the information to the Major and command in Shutoll, since it seemed like something they might need to know. ¡°I don¡¯t plan to be doing that again.¡± Aconite sniffed at the herbs she was working with. ¡°Most likely your reasons will be different, but cultivators don¡¯t tend to stop challenging themselves. I will do the same, eventually.¡± Though on the surface both of them seemed quite relaxed about the whole ordeal, Aconite had simply come to terms with her friend possibly dying long before. On the other hand, Chidi still barely comprehended that he¡¯d actually done what he did- it felt like he must have heard it from someone else. With everything over and time to dwell on their thoughts, they would deal with the emotions yet to come. But as cultivators, they would ultimately have to grow strong enough to deal with their worries, while not being so foolish as to disregard them. ----- Catarina looked at the writing in front of her, shaking her head. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it took him a week to contact us.¡± Timothy shrugged, ¡°Perhaps he didn¡¯t want to sound like he was bragging. Half of that is basically just wanting to talk to you about formations once there¡¯s a chance.¡± ¡°We should go now,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We could conquer Yaitis easily.¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°Why wait until now only to mess things up at the last moment? We¡¯re not Augmentation cultivators, but people pay attention to us. The sword saint likely will never show up if we do something to spook him.¡± Catarina sighed, ¡°Chikere is going to get herself killed someday.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Timothy said. ¡°It could even happen here. But the chance of her victory is worth it. In truth, I have trouble imagining any results short of mutual destruction.¡± ¡°I hope that she¡¯s not overestimating herself. The saints are not as untouchable as they claim, but they are still Augmentation cultivators. It¡¯s crazy to defeat someone in a higher realm alone.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been done before.¡± ¡°But never in a straightforward manner. Chidi¡­ well, I suppose we don¡¯t have enough information on that. But he certainly implied that was also the case with him.¡± ¡°We need to remember to tell him how proud we are,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Preferably without implying that he has to do the impossible for that to be true.¡± Catarina sighed, ¡°I¡¯ve only been a parent once, but it¡¯s much more difficult than I imagined. If we weren¡¯t cultivators, Chidi¡¯s life would already be half over and I feel like we¡¯ve barely done anything to raise him.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°I think we did fine,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Given the world he was born into, we gave him as much time as we could spare and let him grow with little restraint. I cannot wait to see him again in person. Though I would not throw away Chikere¡¯s multiple decade long plans and how they might benefit the Scarlet Alliance.¡± ¡°I get it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯ll wait. But if Chikere asks me to make a planet spanning formation taunting the sword saint, I¡¯ll do it.¡± ¡°What was his name again anyway?¡± Timothy frowned. ¡°I believe it was¡­ Zavis?¡± ----- Sprinkles of powder that had once been a communication device trickled out of Zavis¡¯ hand. Rakiya, one of his most promising disciples¡­ defeated. No, worse than that. Humiliated. And people were saying it was by a lad that was barely a Life Transformation cultivator. Yet others said that it was by the swordmaster Chikere. Either way, he had to crush the former rumors, and dispel the latter in the most straightforward manner possible. News of this could not spread beyond Yaitis, the Harmonious Citadel could not stand more instability. And he had no intention to wait for the other saints to say something and try to weaken his position. No, he would go to this planet and settle things all at once. He just had a few things to clean up before he went. ----- Dangling from a fishing rod was a long line, both made purely of energy. While in some cases those would scare off anything that might otherwise take the bait, for what Anton was trying to snatch it was perfect. The line and rod themselves might actually be better bait than the shark on the end of the hook. Of course, there were plenty of beasts that were too intelligent to be taken by such a simple thing. He¡¯d already had to replace his bait three times due to nibblers that carefully avoided getting caught. He could have probably managed to wrap his line around something and catch it, but he wasn¡¯t aiming for efficiency. Fishing wasn¡¯t necessarily his favored form of relaxation, but he liked to partake from time to time. Besides, he had a particular catch in mind, which was why his line dangled all the way down to the ocean floor. And he might be finally about to get his target¡¯s attention. He watched it half swim half crawl along the ocean floor. He actually only barely spotted it as it approached- its ability to conceal its own energy and other features was quite astounding. But it eventually took the bait, swallowing the shark whole, at which point Anton extended his energy through the hook. The line was already fortified greatly, so when the fish pulled back Anton was merely pulled a dozen meters into the sea. He should have anchored himself better. Spreading out his energy, he pushed and pulled. A hundred meters of ocean rumbled and splashed around him as he pulled against the flatfish at the bottom of the sea. Fish had a surprising amount of muscle power they could leverage, especially as it came to oversized individuals with cultivation. Only Nthanda could probably give it a fair fight as far as physical strength went. But energy was part of a cultivator¡¯s strength, and it wasn¡¯t his fault if the beast didn¡¯t have much skill at controlling natural energy. Being able to control the properties of his line was extremely helpful, and if he ever messed up and it snapped he could simply add more energy to bridge the gap. That was almost certainly cheating, but he wasn¡¯t intending to enter a competition. The struggle continued for several hours as Anton wore down the creature. Slowly he pulled it away from the depths, shortening his line as it approached while keeping his energy spread out to provide sufficient counterforce when it tried to pull downward. It wasn¡¯t as effective as simply killing it and dragging it out, but Anton wasn¡¯t actually certain he wanted to kill this one. Exterminating sea beasts was one thing¡­ but this one was likely not dangerous to humans. Nor was he interested in eating it for the next several years, or dumping it all on some nearby harbor to sell. It had simply caught his interest, and he wanted to see it on the surface. Once he lifted it out, he looked at its face. Each eyeball was nearly his size from head to toe, both placed on one side of its head. He didn¡¯t know the proper name for this sort of flounder, and calling it a giant flounder seemed insufficient. It flopped about on the platform of energy he created, still attempting to resist. A stubborn one, it was. Anton liked it, even if it was a bit derpy. Its mouth was still oriented the same way as upright fish would be, with the eyes just plopped on there. He kind of liked it. It seemed like a shame to force the thing to work so hard for nothing, though. Well, it was currently digesting a midsized shark¡­ but that wouldn¡¯t really fill its belly. If Anton were intending to eat it, he wouldn¡¯t feel bad but tiring it out and throwing it back into the sea was a good way to just get it killed. And he really didn¡¯t want it feeding some of the worse sea beasts around. So he kept his platform in place just under the water¡¯s surface and tried to pick out a good specimen, with a healthy body and good quantity of energy. If he could shift the balance of power towards something unlikely to attack humans, it might be for the best. He did consider that the flounder might develop a hatred towards humans because of this, but if he understood animals even half as well as he thought it would probably forget him or even be somewhat fond of him. Arrows flew through the water. While his range was lessened because of the density, that hardly meant anything to Anton. Even without a local star bound, he still had great power. His arrows pierced through a creature of twisted teeth and spikes. Not something most creatures would want to eat, but this gigantic flounder could probably crush anything it ate without harming itself. He snatched the spiny fish up to the surface with lines of energy, pulling it away from other sea beasts seeking it out. He determined it didn¡¯t have any poison, and as a courtesy to the flounder he decided to chop off the pointiest spines and teeth before placing it near the thing¡¯s mouth. It immediately noticed the fish, sucking it in whole. The flounder continued to lay in its position for a few minutes, no longer trying to escape- though Anton had released his grip. It seemed content to rest in its strange position. And then, it flapped itself once, pushing off of Anton¡¯s platform and diving towards the depths. Anton wished it well. Tomorrow he would be done with his distractions and continue dealing with the problems facing In¡¯istra, though he did have to consider which sea beasts were the biggest threats. Anything that was unlikely to attack humans could be left alone, even as it grew large and powerful. Or at least they wouldn''t have to be the first priority. Chapter 705 Looking over the sea, what Anton really wanted was¡­ Paradise. Having a friendly lord of the sea would really do well for In¡¯istra right now. Unfortunately even if Paradise himself were open to the idea, it would be a bit difficult to transport him four hundred lightyears. Then there was the matter of origin. Local beastmaster sects would be more valuable for such a task, whether they solely tamed beasts or treated them as partners. Ultimately, the difference for those who were effective tended to be minimal. There were exceptions like the Ultimate Phoenix Sect whose sect head was willing to sacrifice their beasts to preserve his own life, but most understood that a beast was as valuable as any of their other members. There was no amount of time that would allow Anton to know everything about a planet- at best, he could memorize the most well known sects and cultivators. The same was true of In¡¯istra, so just because he couldn¡¯t think of any suitable candidates didn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t exist. ¡°Jamilah,¡± Anton drew her attention for his following question, ¡°Do you know any beast cultivation sects that could tame deep sea creatures?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Locally, we have very few. Some live off of the local wildlife, but the closest we have is the Lustrous Pearl Sect.¡± ¡°What do they do?¡± ¡°They raise big clams, for the sake of growing oversized pearls. They¡¯re valued for their looks and their properties for enchantments.¡± ¡°Not exactly inspiring in their combat prowess,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Though I suppose they could be useful fortifying areas in a defensive fashion.¡± As he spoke, he was sweeping the whole Reef of Serenity. The whole thing was made up of various components, including central islands and sandbars that had been built up in various ways. That included intention depositions of stone, occasionally shipwrecks that were left in place, and coral growths among other things. ¡°What about them?¡± Anton asked. Realizing Jamilah couldn¡¯t sense what he meant, he elaborated. ¡°The coral guys.¡± ¡°Coral cultivators? I suppose rock cultivators are useful for fortifying our harbors, but that¡¯s about it¡­¡± ¡°Corals are animals,¡± Anton said. ¡°Sorry?¡± ¡°They¡¯re little animals that make rocky homes. Often with some amount of algae along with them for the sake of photosynthesis.¡± ¡°I have heard that, I suppose,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°I never really studied them closely.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Anton asked. ¡°How long have you lived here?¡± ¡°My whole life.¡± ¡°And you haven¡¯t taken a close look at coral? They¡¯re so interesting!¡± Anton said. ¡°You should.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to change my style of cultivation.¡± Anton grinned, ¡°I wasn¡¯t saying you should. I was just saying you should know as much as possible about everything local. I can still remember every nook and cranny of my forest¡­¡± Though it had changed greatly since he became a cultivator, he still recognized the forest near old Dungannon. ¡°Will this help deal with the looming threat of a sea beast tide?¡± ¡°It will make you more relaxed and happy,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Or you might hate them, but I doubt it. Every living thing is worth taking a close look at.¡± Anton stepped forward. ¡°I¡¯m going to go talk to that coral sect.¡± ¡°Good luck, I suppose,¡± Jamilah said. ----- The first target Anton picked out was a woman with hair bleached white by age and the sun, naturally dark skin pigmentation a shade deeper from the latter. The winkled woman was not the strongest among the coral cultivators, nor did she seem to have a place among the elders. Nor did Anton detect great talent- after all, at her age one would expect more from her cultivation. Instead, he chose her because she looked happy. ¡°Found an interesting one?¡± he asked, moving next to the woman as she floated on the surface and peered into the waters below. ¡°They¡¯re all interesting,¡± she said without even turning to look. ¡°Look at these, like rainbow flowers in bloom. Almost makes you want to pick them up and pretend they¡¯re a bouquet.¡± ¡°That would probably be a problem,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯d dry out.¡± ¡°Plus the toxins,¡± the woman said. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be great for you either.¡± Anton focused his senses on them more closely. The toxins weren¡¯t actually that difficult to detect, though in Anton¡¯s estimation they were fairly weak. Then again, on the scale of creatures basically unaugmented by energy the toxins were probably quite deadly. ¡°So no eating them?¡± The woman turned towards him. ¡°I¡¯m afraid not. A pleasure to meet you, I¡¯m Cahya.¡± Despite her looks, if Anton were to judge her by her cultivation she should be somewhere around half his age. Perhaps even less, closer to one hundred and fifty than one hundred and seventy. But that was just an estimation. She was younger than his granddaughters despite their effective youth, but with them being Ascension cultivators most people were younger by a great margin. ¡°Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Anton.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard of you,¡± she said. ¡°From who?¡± Anton asked. ¡°My nephew Danial,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯ll surpass me in cultivation soon enough, it seems.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t have to be the case, you know,¡± Anton said. ¡°I bet I can help you stay ahead for a while, at least.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Cahya asked. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Because I am invested in cultivators being strong enough to survive.¡± She shook her head. ¡°But why me? And why should I care about my cultivation?¡± He looked at the woman carefully. This was not a woman who had given up on life. On the other hand, she also didn¡¯t seem particularly concerned to be aware that her end would come. As far as he could tell, it didn¡¯t really matter to her either way. ¡°Aren¡¯t you happy? Wouldn¡¯t you like to live another two decades, or ten?¡± ¡°Might be nice,¡± she said. ¡°Can imagine I¡¯d ever reach Life Transformation, though.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not impossible,¡± Anton said. ¡°You¡¯d just have to want it.¡± ¡°Then, it is impossible,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m fine as I am now. Don¡¯t need to be stronger.¡± ¡°And a longer life means nothing to you?¡± ¡°Should it?¡± ¡°I would at least expect you to prefer prolonging your current enjoyment.¡± ¡°Only if that can last,¡± she shook her head. ¡°I couldn¡¯t do much in the war, and I doubt I¡¯ll do much in this next one. Against the beasts.¡± ¡°I believe an Essence Collection cultivator should have some effect,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯d imagine you to be capable of combat in the sea just fine.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not that strong,¡± she said. ¡°And have no prospects nor interest in becoming stronger.¡± So that was it. ¡°The latter might be true, but I can guarantee your prospects aren¡¯t hopeless. If you¡¯re not interested in growing stronger, might I suggest other reasons to cultivate diligently?¡± ¡°Suggest as you will,¡± she smiled vaguely. ¡°You¡¯ll get to spend more time among the coral. And your nephew will probably be glad to have you around.¡± ¡°A nice thought,¡± Cahya said. ¡°But if I spend half my time cultivating and half among the coral for a decade, it¡¯s just the same as spending all my time among it for the next five years. And maybe I¡¯ll be killed after five regardless.¡± ¡°What if I told you that you could not only cultivate all the time but also spend that time doing what you love? All for the low, low price of listening to an old man for a while.¡± ¡°Pretty steep actually,¡± Cahya grinned. ¡°But I¡¯ll take the chance. What insights do you have?¡± ¡°Me?¡± Anton asked. He looked at the coral. ¡°They like sunlight.¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty obvious.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the only one I had,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But it¡¯s not about what insights I have. It¡¯s about yours. It¡¯s quite simple to glean insights from simple interest. And quite conveniently, there should be a route to improve yourself in the same way as the corals grow.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a bit solitary to have a whole colony,¡± Cahya explained. ¡°I joined the sect out of convenience, really.¡± ¡°But it fit you, did it not?¡± ¡°On the surface,¡± she agreed. ¡°But eventually, I determined many points of contention.¡± ¡°A method that doesn¡¯t quite fit you¡­ almost as if it might be imperfect,¡± Anton commented. ¡°So you¡¯re selling a perfect cultivation method?¡± Cahya asked. ¡°You could find someone with more money.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll consider that, when I have a perfect cultivation method. But unfortunately, the only one it will be perfect for is myself. As for you, I have studied many methods. If we establish motivation for you, I can help you deal with areas of energy control that might trouble you. Or be a sounding board for insights.¡± He pointed to something that looked vaguely akin to a vine waving in the currents. ¡°Is that also a coral?¡± ¡°Soft-bodied kind,¡± Cahya explained. ¡°I see,¡± Anton said. ¡°It has the color and feel, but they¡¯re all quite different. I know the surface details about them, but I¡¯d like to hear more. Oh, and I would suggest circulating your cultivation as you study them. Don¡¯t concern yourself with being slow about it. I guarantee it will be worth the effort, and it might even be better than hours sitting in a room meditating about words on a page.¡± Anton took his own advice, not that he ever really stopped. If he wanted to, he could stay in constant daylight¡­ but he found that rest and night were good for him, even if he didn¡¯t necessarily need to sleep. Perhaps that made him less like the sun, but so be it. Or maybe they just hid their rest cycles better. ----- The arrival of the sword saint on Yaitis came with a clear threat- the promise of death. Chidi clutched his chest as he felt the promise of bisection, no- being minced into tiny little pieces. All that, and the Augmentation cultivator was still on the far side of the planet as far as he could discern. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°The sword saint has arrived,¡± Chidi said. He could feel the blade, though just barely beneath the rage of its wielder. He felt a strange malice from the weapon itself, but he couldn¡¯t quite pick out the reason. It almost felt like the blade hated its master. Or perhaps that was him projecting. Regardless of his interpretation, the feeling faded quickly. Even an Augmentation cultivator could not project their energy so strongly forever. It was a simple taunt- but not for Chidi. Though perhaps he felt a sliver of disdain for him personally. No, the clearly intended recipient would be grandmaster Chikere. And he had no doubt she would be on her way to face the sword saint soon enough. ¡°Should we inform someone?¡± Chidi hadn¡¯t even considered that. It just seemed natural to him that everyone would have felt that. But the moment he set about to find someone, he felt it. Blades clashing. Had Chikere been waiting for him where he landed? Chidi¡¯s legs gave out from under him as he focused everything on feeling the tiniest traces of the battle. He wanted to be there, though he had the feeling that if he was he would die- regardless of anyone intentionally attacking him. ¡°Chidi,¡± Aconite nudged him worriedly. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m feeling the battle,¡± he said from his position sprawled out on the ground. He realized how she got there. Chikere could cut through space, he¡¯d seen her do it. Though she didn¡¯t do so when traveling with him. Possibly because she couldn¡¯t, or didn¡¯t feel like it. More likely, it would have overwhelmed him. He¡¯d thought he¡¯d experienced her serious, but just the tiniest traces of the battle reaching him made him tremble. Could anything survive around them? He felt the power of the sword saint, a power far greater than Rakiya¡¯s Integration cultivation. Chikere was good, but was she good enough to survive that? The battle raged on for minutes. Perhaps she was. Then, space tore apart next to him. Chikere stumbled out, surrounded by fifty blades. She fell to one knee. Blood dripped down her body in great rivers. Chidi could feel the lingering intent behind the slashes, cuts, and stab wounds. It wasn¡¯t just her body that was wounded. Chidi felt nicks in her blades, which he knew were always kept pristine. Then there was her replacement arm, her right. It was dangling from her right shoulder, cut through in many places. It barely managed to clutch a broken sword between its fingers. The worst part of her visage, however, was the trails running down her face that weren¡¯t blood. Though the composition of tears wasn¡¯t all that different from blood, Chidi could distinguish between them well enough. ¡°Dammit¡­¡± Chikere said, her muscles trembling. ¡°Why¡­ why did it have to happen like this?¡± Chidi brought himself to attention. ¡°Grandmaster. Please¡­ tell me what happened.¡± He was going to have to get her to treat her wounds, but perhaps hearing the story from her would distract her from her pain. Or perhaps it would make it worse. Chapter 706 For the last few months, Chikere had been waiting every day for the arrival of the sword saint. But that was not the end of it. Before than, she had spent decades with Chidi as her apprentice, anticipating the day. And then there had been the nebulous time before that, ever since she had heard of the existence of the sword saint. An individual with proclaimed sword skill of immense measure. Such an individual would be worth battling, and undoubtedly carry a weapon unmatched in the Scarlet Midfields. His arrival had been anything but subtle. It was a challenge- or perhaps a response to her own challenge. To Chikere, it did not matter the exact details. She knew where he was, and she could finally reach him. There was some intention to do this for her allies, but the majority of this was for her. This was what she wanted. Feeling his power, she knew that as an Augmentation cultivator he could absolutely kill her. But she had not the patience to wait to grow to a higher cultivation herself. This had to be now. Something inside her told her that if she did not press for this at her earliest opportunity, she would miss something forever. Chikere was never the type to question thoughts like that. So she cut open space. She could travel interstellar distances by doing the same, though not so instantaneously. Crossing a planet was more difficult than moving through empty space, but still within her capabilities. There was some risk, but she gladly accepted it for herself. Failure might kill her, but that was always the case. It hardly mattered if it was in battle or in another display of swordly might. The sword saint was¡­ unimpressive. He locked eyes with Chikere as she arrived outside of the port he had just landed in. He certainly had the power of an Augmentation cultivator, but something stifled his sword path. His blade, however, shone bright like a star. It was a perfect work of art. The fact that it radiated bloodlust and malice was of little consequence. Swords were meant to kill, and it would have its fill in her hands. A field of blades grew around Chikere. Every weapon she could use took its intended position. Whether intended for defense or offense, each had their own place, shifting as the intentions of both cultivators changed and they judged each other¡¯s capabilities. It was only an instant before they clashed. In their first exchange, the sword saint- what was his name, Zack?- swung his blade with great ferocity. His blade cut apart two of Chikere¡¯s own. Number 73 and number 67. A shame, but no great loss. Chikere¡¯s understanding of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s style was the only thing that kept her from being cut down with every attack. Sometimes it wasn¡¯t enough. Zarbon¡¯s sword would cut past her defenses, slicing into her. But every time it did so, she understood a little better. Then came the fall of the newly promoted 74. Shortly after that, sliced directly in half- number 15. Better 15 than Chikere¡¯s neck¡­ probably. Though she¡¯d much rather not lose either. Chips and cracks were filling many of her swords as she swirled around it, all as a consequence of Zagar¡¯s sword. His sword. Not him. That was when Chikere began to truly understand her fight. She was fighting the blade. This sword saint was merely a vessel for it to enact its rage upon the world. Oh, he was perfectly in control of his own actions- but without the sword, he would just be a guy that was rather strong. He didn¡¯t have the technique to destroy her blades. Who had made the sword? That question flashed through Chikere¡¯s mind every time she connected with it. She¡¯d never felt another like it, but it wasn¡¯t new. A century old, at least. Perhaps more, but it wasn¡¯t ancient either. It should have been forged for the sword saint¡¯s own hands. The grandmaster smith who had forged it should have made other blades of similar quality, or even surpassing it. So why had she not encountered any? Was it a fluke? A single spark of inspiration that couldn¡¯t be repeated? Chikere deflected a thrust at her heart, causing it to merely puncture a lung. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. She felt the blade. It was familiar, somehow. Then she realized. Just as Sadiq had forged blades for her from swordmasters weapons and their own blood, the blade echoed of a life lost. Yet it did not ring in glory and triumph, the exhilaration of a smith sacrificing themselves for the pinnacle. No, instead it seemed quite the opposite. The very thing that pushed it beyond its limits was the death of the smith by the blade¡­ not of their own will. It would have been an astounding sword regardless. Instead, Zathan had killed a smith who could have made other amazing weapons. Upon that realization, Chikere stopped thinking. It was only for a moment, but she carelessly attacked with all of her energy. A simple attack with little technique behind it. Vast cutting power, but easily dodged or deflected. Or even blocked. Except, when the sword saint moved his weapon to do just that, it did nothing. Chikere cut through his sword like it was made of paper¡­ and following the sword, the sword saint. Chikere caught the fragments of the blade in her hand. A clean cut, but the spine of the sword was broken. It couldn¡¯t be repaired- it would be simpler to forge it anew. Chikere looked at her reflection in the two halves, and tears streamed down her face. She was a horrible person. She thought to soak them in Zababwa¡¯s blood, but the sword saint was unworthy of his essence being forged into a weapon. Chikere looked up. A city was watching. In her shame, she fled. Space sliced open, and she returned to her apprentice. ----- This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°... And that¡¯s why I¡¯m just as bad as him!¡± Chikere sobbed, her body like a human puddle splayed out on the ground. ¡°So¡­ you broke a sword, and now you¡¯re upset,¡± Chidi confirmed. ¡°It¡­ is a shame,¡± he nodded seriously. ¡°But I think¡­ this was what it wanted.¡± The swordmaster sat up, staring at the pieces still clutched in her artificial hand. ¡°Swords aren¡¯t meant to kill those who make them, but instead those who wield them. Perhaps¡­ from that point on, this was never a sword at all.¡± The two sword fanatics nodded together, as if they had uncovered deep truths of the universe. Aconite just watched them from a distance, tilting her head in confusion and sometimes sighing. Then she realized something. If Chikere had killed the sword saint, someone should probably¡­ tell someone. Specifically, leaders in the Scarlet Alliance. ----- ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Catarina said, stomping towards the spaceport. ¡°And don¡¯t you dare say the Alliance needs us elsewhere.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Timothy smiled. ¡°Yaitis has turned out to be strangely important to our movements. And the One Thousand Palm Sect will no doubt be launching attacks vigorously upon hearing this news. They are quite eager. Though the council will likely vote on whether we release the information about the saint of light.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± Catarina said. ¡°The Exalted Quadrant doesn¡¯t matter. The rest of the council will do fine without us. We can finally see Chidi.¡± ¡°You¡¯re just excited because he asked about learning formations from you.¡± ¡°He was a good student, for what he sat through. But I thought you were the one concerned about his wellbeing the most, weren¡¯t you dear husband?¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°I was. But as he survived trials and Chikere, I gradually had to come to accept that we had no control over that.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°But now we do. And we¡¯re going to shatter all of the Harmonious Citadel formations on Yaitis for daring to keep our son away from us for so long.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°Perhaps we might even make it a family project. If Chidi is interested.¡± Catarina couldn¡¯t help but skip along. ¡°We may not be so imposing as Chikere, but he can still see our power and what we are able to teach him.¡± ¡°Or what you can teach him at least. He wasn¡¯t particularly interested in shields, and I have the feeling my swordsmanship isn¡¯t up to par,¡± Timothy shrugged. Occasional messages weren¡¯t enough. He¡¯d talked to Anton more frequently even shortly after the man had been flung into a star and lost his communications devices. He needed to connect more with his own son. ----- A few years passed in an instant. In those years, the beasts of the sea continued to breed and grow in number- but more troublingly, individual power. Anton would not despair, however. In¡¯istra and its people would survive. He wished them to fight off the threat with the fewest losses possible, but he was under no illusions that there would be more deaths. Some had already perished, delving into depths too flush with beasts, either through overconfidence or misperceptions. But the beasts had to be culled. The signs were clear, and the damage they caused even without overfilling the seas was significant. Humans had not remained stagnant in their growth. While any individual advanced at most a few ranks within the later stages of cultivation, more humans grew their cultivation overall then each year prior. In¡¯istra was on an upswing after their near complete annihilation of upper realms spies. That would be resolved soon enough, though it was important to not put it off or forget about it just because of the beast troubles. Around the Reef of Serenity in particular, Anton had worked with Cahya and thereafter other members of the Branching Coral Sect. He had seen what they could do, how they could grow- and how they could influence various corals to do the same. While most were small, starting off around the size of a palm or for the softer ones perhaps a flowing shape an arm¡¯s length, few surpassed those limits except by small multiples. From the perspective of a cultivator, doubling or tripling such a creature in size was mostly irrelevant. However, recent developments proved beneficial with Anton¡¯s guidance helping Cahya and through her others of the sect intrigued by her growth. She was but one example of many throughout the planet. Ceretos had recovered over the course of six centuries without any outside help, but a simple half century of Anton¡¯s presence was boosting the process on In¡¯istra. Anton had some doubts about whether coral would be the ultimate salvation of the planet. Then again, no one thing was important on its own. The creatures were beautiful, animals that crafted homes of stone and dwelled along with algae that provided them sustenance. Brilliant colors only went so far. They needed something more. Like the toxins of some particular species. The flexibility of others, which when controlled by cultivators could restrain approaching beasts. And the durability of yet others, building ever more complex and sizable constructions. From the size of a palm to the size of a man, cultivators helped the creatures develop. Formerly reliant on sunlight, they could only dwell so deep. With greater heights, some of them might have overtopped the reefs and burst out of the surface of the water. But with infusions of natural energy they could settle somewhat deeper, handle somewhat different environments. They were placed all around the Reef of Serenity, deep enough to not scrape upon a ship but also covering enough area to restrict other sea beasts. While they might not necessarily harm them, they could provide as warnings- or silent killers, in the case of those with toxins. Few beasts were interested in eating them, even as their cultivation developed. Where there was trouble, the Branching Coral Sect came to support them, just as the Reef of Serenity¡¯s other sects supported them. That was the thing that Anton was most pleased with. Cooperation. In¡¯istra was not particularly different from other planets of cultivators to begin with, but that meant each sect or clan or other group with power generally watching out for themselves. Here, they were working together. It might still be with their own interests in mind, but Anton was perfectly happy if people would accept that their own best interests went hand in hand with others. Chapter 707 Every once in a while, Everheart liked to return to Rouhiri. Both to remind him and them that he could, and to check up on his little project. They seemed to consider his project with their fancy statues vandalism, but he considered it avant garde art. They set up barriers all around it, of course. A nice little diversion for Everheart while he made his way to the statues to continue his work. There was no realistic chance that the Harmonious Citadel would leave his formations alone on their home planet for decades if he didn¡¯t come by and tweak them every once in a while to throw off their work. But today the time had come to finish off his work. Good news had come in, though it was also somewhat concerning to Everheart. Someone from Ceretos had killed the sword saint. In front of a whole city, and hundreds of disciples at minimum. Someone apparently in Integration. Which was why that was also bad news. Someone from Ceretos had killed an Augmentation cultivator alone. Someone that might want to kill him. If he remembered correctly, this Chikere had been to several of his tombs. She¡¯d been around during his return, and she seemed able to move between the upper and lower realms as she pleased. The swordmaster had been friendly with the Million Sword Vault, too. So while he hadn¡¯t personally taken anything from her, the resources and weapons he stole from the Vault might be another reason for her to not like him. So it was good news, but it was also bad news. Better to avoid ending up in a situation where such an individual might express her displeasure with him. Dripping the last bits of dark star mercury into the formation markings, Everheart reviewed his work. Yes, everything was as it should be. All he had to do was remain somewhere safe and feed voice lines into his little puppets. ----- From the perspective of Rouhiri, their most holy courtyard had been defiled long before. Most disciples tried not to think about it. However, that was impossible when their blockades exploded everywhere, and the statues of their saints began moving around and shortly thereafter attacking their towers. A tall, handsome statue holding in his hand an crystal orb smashed it into the side of the tower of the Saint of Light. ¡°Hello. I am the Saint of Light and I am definitely not a spy sent by the Exalted Quadrant to subdue your cult. My name is Hans Sigismund and I carry this large orb to compensate for something missing.¡± If that had been all that happened, it would have been a disaster, but one that the Harmonious Citadel could control. They would have smashed the statue in an instant and dealt with the fallout, cursing some sect or blaming some planet they were already planning to assault. But that was just the first statue. The second was the statue of the spear saint. Or rather, what had been the statue of the spear saint. It still had most of its components, with the exception that Damjan¡¯s head had been torn off and impaled on the stone spear. ¡°I¡¯m Damjan. I killed the previous spear saint in a betrayal most foul. Then I had to make a fake copy of Luminous Heartpiercer to compensate.¡± Then came the sword saint, tapping his weapon against the tower of the core sword disciples. Or at least, about half of his statue. From left hip to right shoulder there was a cut. ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t speak,¡± the upper half of the statue explained to anyone within earshot. ¡°I got cut in half by an Integration cultivator.¡± The statue of the bow saint didn¡¯t attack her own tower. Instead, she simply ran away. She would be loudly proclaiming that fact as she ran throughout the core of the sect. The axe, shield, and morningstar saints were less inspired. ¡°We haven¡¯t done anything in decades and had to flee from just one guy because we were afraid he¡¯d rip out our spines and use them as weapons.¡± The dagger saint¡­ well, that statue was missing. There was an eighth statue present, however. It displayed a well-groomed young man, complete with a full beard with individual hairs carved out of the stone. He casually tossed about weaker disciples in the area. ¡°Wow, you¡¯ll need to do better than that. How are you going to replace all these saints, huh? Maybe you should come temper yourself¡­ in the Everheart System!¡± Everheart shouted as he carved navigation coordinates into everything within reach. He was done sitting around waiting, and he was absolutely exhausted from the amount of work he had been doing. To stave off assassination attempts from himself, he had to absorb all of his projections after a short few years, so he remembered doing all of the labor. It was terrible. If he didn¡¯t know better, Everheart would think he was trying to drive himself to suicide. The statues had always been highly enchanted. They were meant to endure forever- until the saints were replaced, of course. So while the core of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s power had tons of Integration cultivators raring to crush the statues, they had a problem. They were hesitant to destroy the figures of their sants¡­ and when they tried they found it was much more difficult than expected. Which gave Everheart more time to shout facts, mixed in with some occasional speculative insults and pure defamation. Because people would remember inflammatory facts, regardless of whether or not it was true. So it was a good long while with all eyes on the situation before someone showed up who could handle the situation. That someone happened to be a woman, her appearance just past her prime. Most people disregarded her at first, because she didn¡¯t feel like much. However, she first walked up to the statue of Everheart. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°You¡¯re that bastard Everheart?¡± ¡°I am Everheart, the grand and might. The wise and powerful. The-¡± Her fist drove straight through his head- or rather, the statue¡¯s head. ¡°Wow. Rude. As I was saying-¡± She leapt into the air, metal greaves smashing apart the statue vertically. But she didn¡¯t stop there, pulverizing it to pieces as it continuously attempted to continue speaking. Then she approached the statue of the saint of light. ¡°Hey, where¡¯d you get your info?¡± ¡°I am the saint of light himself,¡± the statue declared. ¡°Every word from my mouth speaks the true history of-¡± that mouth was quickly shattered- though once more it didn¡¯t matter. ¡°I found it in the true archives of the Citadel. Surely you know how to access those¡­¡± the statue raised its arm dramatically, then pointed at the woman. ¡°Forbidden saint number one!¡± ¡°It¡¯s Tuva, idiot. And I¡¯m not a saint.¡± She jammed an armored elbow into the statue. ¡°They just pay me.¡± The woman¡¯s success confused many of those watching. The statues were easily fighting off several Integration cultivators each, then a strange woman showed up out of nowhere and destroyed them with ease. She didn¡¯t even feel like anything. Her cultivation was, what¡­ Essence Collection at best? At least, as far as anyone could tell. But clearly, that wasn¡¯t an accurate measure. ¡°You¡¯re totally a forbidden saint, though!¡± yelled the axe statue. ¡°Come on, it¡¯s a cool title!¡± ¡°You bastard¡­¡± she grumbled, launching herself towards it and tearing it apart. Then she shouted at the remaining statues in general. ¡°You¡¯re controlling all of these actively, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Of course I- I mean, we are the true spirits of the saints! The Harmonious Citadel is corrupted, or whatever! We¡¯re here to restore balance and definitely not as a prank!¡± Tuva shook her head and continued smashing statues until there was just one left. ¡°Hey. Where¡¯s the dagger saint?¡± she asked the statue of the morningstar saint, which only had a head and torso remaining. ¡°Probably off doing her usual assassination stuff,¡± the statue¡¯s voice boomed throughout the area. ¡°I meant the statue, idiot!¡± ¡°I¡¯d bet it¡¯s doing the same thing,¡± the statue grinned. ¡°Probably off killing the owner of your favorite sandwich place.¡± ¡°You-¡± she smashed the statue in anger. ¡°I don¡¯t know why I even bothered. Goddamn Everheart.¡± She lingered only a moment to make sure the statues were fully dismantled, then she ran off. ¡°... It better not be.¡± ----- While Everheart was curious to find out where Tuva¡¯s favorite sandwich place was, he was busy guiding the dagger saint¡¯s statue into their vaults. The vault was the most secure place in their whole little cult-empire. He really wanted their stuff, but he also didn¡¯t want to risk his actual self. In truth, he didn¡¯t expect to have any success. This was just an initial run, and unless they completely replaced their formations with brand new ones that worked on entirely different principles to accomplish the same goals, any progress he made here would be useful in the future. There was no way he was going to let the Scarlet Alliance get away with all of the loot from this place when he was directly responsible for killing one saint so far, and more in the future if he could wrangle it. Thus the taunts about the Everheart System. He managed to get a few doors open- the statue didn¡¯t really have traditional senses for him to use, but the formations were simple enough for him to get through. Hardly more than a few layers of complexity and an occasional subrune stitched in. A few looparounds meant to throw people off. But of course the vaults of the Harmonious Citadel weren¡¯t just one big pile of loot. No, they had more layers and complexity than that. Lots of hallways and side rooms. Most were no doubt filled with traps. Then he opened one. In the center of a large room, there was only a single tome on top of a plinth. There was absolutely, positively no way that the tome was not bait. He created a gust of air, but the tome didn¡¯t even flutter. It was probably nothing. But boy, did they know how to make good bait. And they were the ones who were going to have to clean up the broken pieces of their own statue when he flubbed it. Or their security would be total garbage all the way through and he would be walking out of these vaults with everything this very afternoon. ----- Trifold Cluster activity had ceased upon In¡¯istra. It seemed that they had been successfully wiped out. Anton had doubts, however. The last few suspected pockets hadn¡¯t been eradicated. Instead, they¡¯d been found empty. One of which he¡¯d heard about himself, so it had been active within the last year. No, he couldn¡¯t leave it at that. Unfortunately he hadn¡¯t been able to keep track of every place all the time. He was at least a few months late here. But all was not lost. He remembered those he¡¯d seen in their safehouse, and more importantly their energy signatures. He would be able to recognize them, as he specifically kept them in mind. The first thing to check was if they were present in the city. That was a pretty clear negative. The next step was to check the dock records. Ships going in and out were usually logged. Of course, nobody would say they were carrying spies. They might not even know. And anyone who was smuggling them might not declare passengers. But it was a place to start. ----- Hints and clues led to other information, half or more of which were dead ends. But ultimately, Anton pulled on the thread and made his own presumptions. Now he was at the bottom of the sea, checking to see if anyone built an underwater base. Normally he should be able to feel them from the surface, but with sufficient distance and formations blocking his senses he could never be too sure. So he moved along, hoping to find something. What he didn¡¯t expect was that something was about to find him. Chapter 708 Aside from the deepest depths, at least a modicum of light filtered down to the bottom of the sea where many creatures made their home. Specialized eyes picked up as much as they could, depending on how each denizen tended to live. In this case, the creature lived directly upon the bottom. The only room for eyes was on top, so two of them ended up there. These picked out various dangers, though at some point they had become almost superfluous compared to other senses. As far as dangers were concerned, there was a better way. A strange sort of energy that everything strong had. That included not just other creatures of the sea, but humans as well. Today, it found a human, just like the others that had been causing trouble lately. Swimming just above the sands, even brushing along them, the creature crept forward¡­ then ambushed. Its large maw opened wide as it sucked in water, pulling in the unsuspecting human in front. ----- The sudden suction pulled Anton back, and he barely caught himself on the rim of a giant mouth. It was instinct, though he wouldn¡¯t have been damaged by the snapping teeth anyway. In fact, it would have caused the creature more trouble had it actually succeeded. Anton spun around, pulling back as he focused on the creature. He had been far too focused on looking for humans that he had forgotten about certain denizens of the sea- and even then, this one had to blend in for him to miss it. Upon seeing the massive flounder, Anton grinned. ¡°Derpy! It¡¯s you again,¡± he waved. ¡°Sorry about last time.¡± He pat the thing on the side of its mouth. Or the top? He wasn¡¯t really sure what was appropriate to call it. He fully expected the thing to attempt to continue eating him. The next option was for it to run away. Instead, its eyes shifted as it looked at him with¡­ understanding? Anton was not a beastmaster. Thus, he didn¡¯t fully understand how some beast grew powerful in cultivation but retained animal intelligence, while others didn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t just based on the type of creature, but it also had something to do with some luck during development. Greater intelligence vastly increased their survival rates in the long run. ¡°Hey, you wouldn¡¯t happen to have seen other humans around here?¡± Anton asked. Though doing so was a waste. In the chance that Derpy was intelligent, he likely didn¡¯t understand speech. That had to be learned. How should Anton get the point across? He started with forming a replica of himself out of light. It wasn¡¯t exact, but that was better anyway since it was supposed to represent someone else. He mimed following after it in a few different ways, eventually ¡®grabbing¡¯ it and causing it to disappear. Then he watched the big flounder. It remained in place¡­ then slowly shuffled back and began to turn around. Well, he could see why it had been scared off. But as it scuttled along the bottom, it turned so he could see its eyes once more. Did it really understand and want him to follow? He could at least try. He walked along the sea floor after it, though it took unnaturally quick steps to keep up with something of that size made for the water. The flounder didn¡¯t seem to be attempting to pull away, so Anton simply kept up with it for a while. Until it began going in circles. Anton stopped, thinking it might just be very bad at throwing people off. But Derpy turned about, fins flapping up sand. Anton considered the situation, then looked towards the middle of the circle. Because it was just one, and rather precise too. He saw nothing. Nor did his senses pick up anything. Which, in itself, was a red flag. He began to make ever more complex patterns with his sensory energy, determining where it flowed the wrong way or seemed to fade into nothing. The formation was pretty well set up, they must have a proper formation master among them. ¡°Good job, Derpy,¡± Anton pat the giant flounder on its closest edge. ¡°You hungry? I can-¡± Before he could even seek an answer to the question, the flounder slurped up a three meter wide crab scuttling nearby, crunching it down in a few bites. ¡°Well, it seems like you¡¯ve got that handled. Let me know if I can repay you somehow. And sorry about yanking you so far up back then.¡± He didn¡¯t expect it to understand, but the more the fish grew used to human speech patterns the faster it could learn to truly understand, if it had the intelligence and the drive. Though his first instincts were to blast apart the underwater base, or melt them with focused light magnified through the water, Anton had a problem. He didn¡¯t know if this would be the only base of its sort in In¡¯istra. If they were in contact with others, letting them be aware of his presence- if they hadn¡¯t already noticed him- would be a mistake. It would be best to get more locals on board, especially to pick apart their formations in ways Anton couldn¡¯t. ----- ¡°Hmmmmmmn,¡± Catarina said as she slowly circled Chidi. ¡°Very interesting. But isn¡¯t it a little exploitable?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we find out?¡± Chidi replied to his mother. ¡°I am confident that if you cannot exploit the flaws, then it cannot be done. I don¡¯t intend to make it easy for you though.¡± Timothy just watched from the sidelines. Indeed, these two were very much cultivators. Instead of saying anything about not seeing each other for so many years, they directly got into it. Cultivators were fond of training and competition. In this case, it was a bit of both- though strongly unbalanced towards one party. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. But Catarina clearly wasn¡¯t trying to win. The two of them crossed swords, dancing around the area. Chidi managed to maintain his position on offense, and Timothy was surprised to find it was mainly legitimate. Specifically, Catarina wasn¡¯t holding back just to let him show off. She also wasn¡¯t attempting to defeat him quickly, though. Her defenses were impeccable, but rather than slipping past her guard Chidi seemed to be going for something else. Timothy could both see significant flaws in the way his son swung his sword¡­ and no flaws at all. That is to say, everything seemed intentional if inefficient. He seemed to be trying to do something, but¡­ ¡°Nice try,¡± Catarina said, halting her own attack just shy of Chidi, ¡°But I like being able to use my energy.¡± Chidi clicked his tongue. They exchanged a few more moves and then¡­ the young man suddenly froze in place. Catarina walked around him, shaking her head. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to do better than that,¡± she said. ¡°But I think as long as you don¡¯t do anything crazy like fighting Formation Masters you should be fine.¡± She tapped his shoulder with her sword, and Chidi was able to move again. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t bet on that trick you were trying working against any other Integration cultivators, either. Was that was got Rakiya?¡± Chidi nodded, ¡°Basically, but I tried to make it last longer. The setup was¡­ worse.¡± ¡°Far too slow,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°Anything that takes more than a move or two is a danger against stronger opponents.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t I know it,¡± Chidi sighed. ¡°Well,¡± Timothy drew their attention. ¡°I can see how much you¡¯ve learned from Chikere. So I doubt I can teach you anything about swords directly¡­¡± Timothy shrugged, ¡°But I can give you the opportunity to see if you can slip something past a cultivator who doesn¡¯t specialize in formations.¡± Timothy hefted his shield. It would be a bit inconvenient if his energy was negated even for an instant, but he was confident in his ability to defend himself regardless. He also had some ideas for countering Chidi, with the most straightforward method involving simply wasting his energy all over the place. It would be a waste to see their son get to this point and grow overconfident to the point he tried to take on more Integration cultivators. Even the one attempt was far too crazy in Timothy¡¯s estimation. ----- Major Sibylla thought she was very fortunate. She¡¯d been handed a perfect opportunity, and hadn¡¯t even had to sustain too many risks herself. It might have been a problem if the sword saint hadn¡¯t been taken out so quickly upon arrival, but everything worked out there. Now she barely had to do anything. Leading her army to capture cities was more of a token gesture than an actual challenge, as half of the Harmonious Citadel forces on planet were without leadership, and the other half were fleeing as quickly as they could. Soon the place would be abandoned by the Harmonious Citadel. Unless they were willing to commit more saints to the battle, but in that case they would have to redo all of their work here. It seemed unlikely, and more importantly the Scarlet Alliance fleets were beginning to properly take control of the area. But even with most everything going her way, she was still nervous when approached by a man and woman from Ceretos. ¡°Councilors,¡± she inclined her head. ¡°What is it you need?¡± ¡°We heard you took care of our son for a while,¡± began the woman. Catarina, if Sibylla recalled correctly. ¡°I would hardly say that,¡± Sibylla said. ¡°The swordmaster has been a much greater influence besides.¡± The woman continued on bluntly. ¡°Where are you from?¡± ¡°Roistea,¡± Sibylla said clearly. ¡°That information should be easily available.¡± ¡°It is. I just wondered if you would admit it. So why are you here?¡± Sibylla shrugged, ¡°It seemed like an easy way to endear myself to the Alliance, going somewhere like this.¡± ¡°Not that,¡± the woman shook her head. ¡°Why are you here?¡± ¡°Same reason as you, I suppose.¡± Then she frowned, ¡°Though I suppose you were from before Assimilation was common. Either way, I wasn¡¯t going to stay around Roistea.¡± ¡°Come on dear,¡± said the man, placing his hand on her shoulder. ¡°Think about what your grandfather would say.¡± ¡°I am,¡± the woman folded her arms. ¡°He¡¯s also the one who reminded me to be cautious because of the war with Ekict.¡± Catarina just stared at her for a bit. ¡°Well?¡± Sibylla tilted her head. ¡°Should I say more? My opinion of the Sylanis cluster isn¡¯t necessarily any higher than yours.¡± That got a more positive reaction from her. ¡°A fair point. Mostly, I was wondering how you would react. You could have been hoping nobody remembered where Roistea was, so if questioned you could say you technically didn¡¯t hide anything.¡± ¡°But we weren¡¯t here to make you uncomfortable,¡± Timothy reminded Catarina. ¡°We came to offer help dealing with formations.¡± ¡°Right, that,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Since not all formation masters are interested in moving about, it could be useful.¡± ¡°I will gladly accept any help,¡± Sibylla said. ¡°And don¡¯t worry, I intend to make my place among you- or I wouldn¡¯t have joined the Alliance at all.¡± ----- Everheart grinned. The first visitors had come to his system. Sadly, they weren¡¯t from the Harmonious Citadel. It would require more pressure to get them to come, given there was a war on. Or maybe they were planning a more concerted attack. He couldn¡¯t imagine they would simply let the insults stand. There was a slight issue that might come up if they sent all their saints together. He was confident, but not crazy. Five or more ascension cultivators would be far too much, even in a place he had prepared. If they did decide to do that¡­ well, he could figure things out then. They probably wouldn¡¯t, as that would basically involve giving up their home systems to the Scarlet Alliance and surrounding enemies. As for the people in his system now¡­ well, he was doing his best to let some of them survive. It was no good to get people to show up and not report back how deadly and potentially treasure laden the area was. It would be bad for business if nobody showed up. Chapter 709 Given the location, Vari expected everything to be a deathtrap. However, she thought common courtesy was that within the Everheart system it would mostly be the planets that tried to kill her. Or at least the other visitors. At the far end, she could see it being reasonable that deathtraps would begin at the outer limits of the system. That was why she¡¯d planned to disembark her ship outside the system and make the rest of the trip solo. She had very little reason to believe she would be safe, but she at least had a few points in her favor. Coming on official business, a speedy ship of the Scarlet Alliance had carried her to the outskirts where it was promptly pulled out of subspace by a distortion beast. The ship had somehow limped away as Vari wrestled with a creature that seemed to be made only of various sized spines- from large ones that could have been hollowed out to make a tower to microscopic ones that dug into upper energy and latched on, slowly burrowing inward. Vari was still shedding her outer layer of defenses as she fled the scene, now resting on a lone asteroid upon which she hadn¡¯t found any traps. Rather than presuming it was a safe place to rest, she was more worried than ever. If she didn¡¯t find any traps, then she simply wasn¡¯t cognizant enough. She clicked her tongue. ¡°All I needed to do was find Everheart. Or a piece of Everheart.¡± Her sort-of-uncle had previously shown that he probably wouldn¡¯t kill her. That was the unfortunate reason she had been selected as the delegate sent to him- or rather, why they had even considered sending one at all. Vari looked down at the asteroid beneath her. Was it growing over her, or was she sinking into it? Perhaps the difference was purely academic. Either way, she kicked her legs to break away, throwing herself away and into a trajectory she hoped wouldn¡¯t run into anything of note in the near future. She needed a short break to recover her energy. As far as she was from the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory, she could only rely on the upper energy and less on devotion. That made her consider that she had to come up with a new source at some point- but she wouldn¡¯t be upset about losing some power after achieving a long time goal of revenge. She¡¯d put so much effort into furthering their goals to not be acknowledged, and that was before she knew that her disregard was not just apathy. So while it would be slightly inconvenient when the saints were gone, she didn¡¯t consider that future an actual problem. What would she even need so much power for, once they were gone? ----- Over the course of a year, Anton was made aware of several more underwater bases. Various individuals were responsible for revealing them and the connections to them, but the one Anton recognized most prominently was Derpy. The giant flounder had a knack for finding people, and none of the cultivators bothered to take note of his presence. He wasn¡¯t terribly good at communicating- at best Anton managed to wrangle out whether people had overall entered or left a location. But Derpy could lead Anton to specific individuals outside of the base, or at least where they made land. That let Anton track them down and follow them thereafter. It seemed the Trigold Cluster¡¯s spies had taken the extermination efforts seriously. Even with that ongoing, they had managed to set up a fairly complex system of drop points and indirect communication, all while gathering the materials for their formation master to set up formations in several disparate locations. They were aided in part by the growth of local beasts. A coincidence, as far as Anton could tell. It should have been expected, really. With human cultivators limited in number and the overall natural energy levels of the planet increasing, of course the wild beasts would go stronger. It simply hadn¡¯t been an issue on Ceretos because even after the wars their numbers had not dropped so precipitously, and they were already managing the globe just fine. Anton wondered if the spies knew this would happen. Surely the Trigold Cluster had previous experience with the same, given their invasions of other worlds. That hadn¡¯t been a matter anyone had been interrogated on previously, but it was now of note. He would suggest the topic to others, though it was of lesser importance compared to making sure they rooted out all of the invader spies. ----- The sharpness of the blade in front of Chidi was almost sufficient to cut him in two, despite it simply being displayed in front of him. He had to admit, Rakiya had good taste in swords. Her blade ranked along with the highest of his master¡¯s blades, even after Chikere secured Grandmaster Smith Sadiq¡¯s blade in the combined tournament and trap so many years before. No, nor her blade. The blade she had carried. Chidi was uncertain if it had ever truly belonged to Rakiya, but at minimum it was his now. His blade. The first one he¡¯d taken for himself, instead of receiving from someone else. He still appreciated the weapon Chikere had picked out for him, but it had been set aside for this one. Unlike her, he used a single blade at a time. Though he had been considering adaptations to his style that might incorporate two, any more than that was simply impractical. Grandmaster Chikere might manage it, but she was only focused on the flow of energy she used directly to attack, and not what it meant with regards to the flow of energy on a wider scale. She didn¡¯t make use of formations, just the straightforward essence of blades. Every time Chidi trained with his mother, he understood to a greater extent his imperfections. The formation markings he had carved into himself¡­ well, they were not yet perfect, but neither would he consider them flawed. Instead, if he was unable to take advantage of the core he had formed for himself, that was an issue for himself in the current time. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Strangely, he found his style shifting more towards that of his swordmaster even as he learned more about formations. The simple fact of the matter was, he didn¡¯t need to affect the flow of energy to generate a formation if he could defeat an enemy with a few simple moves. Against his mother, it would rarely work- though that didn¡¯t mean he never tried. After all, how could it be training if he didn¡¯t push himself to grow? He of course continued his efforts in the army as a scout, but that would only continue for a short time. Yaitis would be fully in the control of the Scarlet Alliance soon, and Chidi would have to consider where his future led from there. Defeating the Harmonious Citadel was still his wish, but the way he would contribute to that was unclear. Of important note was whether or not he would be going with Aconite wherever she decided. She was seeking out practical training with regards to her poison abilities. Chidi couldn¡¯t help with that directly, but he knew having someone around to support her could be useful. So it was less a matter of whether he intended to go, but instead if she wanted to bring him. Perhaps he might hold her back in some way. If they did separate, Chidi would miss her- but he knew that as long as they both survived they could meet again. Whatever Aconite decided was best he would go along with. ----- In just a few short years, Anishka would have spent the same amount of time living with the people of Ekict as she had her family on Ceretos. This place was just as much a home for her, though she didn¡¯t plan to stay indefinitely. The same was true of Ceretos. While there was likely a limitless amount of information to learn within a single system, the rate at which such learning could be accomplished diminished with time as more was covered. She still had the same ambitions that had fueled her early cultivation, even as she now understood it was impossible. But she didn¡¯t need to know anything. The pursuit of her goals was what mattered. ¡°What do you think, Sergeant?¡± Anishka asked the little void ant. ¡°They¡¯re not doing so bad here now.¡± ¡°This is a fine place,¡± the Sergeant agreed, wiggling her forearms and antennae. ¡°Should the people wish it, I would suggest to the queens that colonies be established here. However, I understand that would best wait for another human generation.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not so easy for people to forget,¡± Anishka agreed. ¡°Though for many, the changes were welcome.¡± She gestured in front of them, towards a series of formations that channeled the heat of the sun into a contained area. ¡°Such a dangerous place,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°I don¡¯t understand how you humans subject yourself to that.¡± ¡°Do you mean your training isn¡¯t dangerous?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Of course not. I merely have to deal with dense natural energy. Perfectly safe. And tasty, sometimes.¡± ¡°For us, that is less dangerous,¡± Anishka gestured to the area in front. ¡°But since the heat isn¡¯t sustained by natural energy itself, it¡¯s certainly a more significant threat to you.¡± Anishka believed the Sergeant continued to underestimate herself, but she also didn¡¯t want to push her friend further than she felt comfortable. At least she was willing to admit she existed as an individual now. Admitting she might be strong seemed like it would take longer, even if intentional training was making it ever more true. The current location they were staying was the former home of the Enkindled Sun Sect, currently occupied in part by the Vermillion Inferno, along with half a dozen other fire sects. After all, the facilities that still remained intact were much more than they had access to in their own sects, and it would be a shame to not use them. As for working out how to share, it wasn¡¯t terribly difficult. Oh, the process had taken years to fully iron out- but the sects had naturally been managing just fine before they had official details. In a century or two, the plan was for the training grounds of large sects to be mostly irrelevant. Ekict was on a course to improve the natural energy of the system, just like the Trifold Alliance had done. Anishka saw Celina approaching. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re already in Life Transformation,¡± the woman said. ¡°You will be soon enough,¡± Anisha replied. ¡°Don¡¯t sell yourself short.¡± ¡°Only because the Vermillion Inferno got access to good cultivation methods to study.¡± ¡°Are you saying that the Fire and Ice Palace¡¯s methods aren¡¯t good?¡± ¡°No I-¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s not strange at all. I just had access to good methods earlier.¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Celina nodded. ¡°Is it true you¡¯re leaving?¡± ¡°Not forever,¡± Anishka said. ¡°But people have grown uncomfortable with my presence. We were just at war, and even if those who live here wanted to take down the larger sects¡­ you also aren¡¯t fond of outsiders.¡± ¡°We should have focused on what we actually knew. The Trigold Cluster is¡­ well, you know. But we should have at least tried to understand not everyone was like that.¡± ¡°Lessons of the older generation that reach the young,¡± Anishka nodded. ¡°Though I doubt they wanted to be that lesson.¡± ¡°I imagine not,¡± Celina said. ¡°And now we¡¯re far behind where we could be. We¡¯d have some Assimilation cultivators by now, I bet, had the war not happened.¡± ¡°And we were perhaps too trusting,¡± Anishka said. ¡°If we had been on guard, showed no openings¡­ would those sects have launched the war?¡± ¡°I think not, but ultimately it got rid of them. And that¡¯s probably for the better. Just as long as others come to accept your people,¡± Celina said. ¡°I understand that not everyone shares my opinions.¡± ¡°And that is why I will be leaving. I don¡¯t need to seem as a threat. And of course, the Sergeant will come with me.¡± ¡°Most people don¡¯t understand how much that should make them relieved,¡± Celina grinned at the little ant. ¡°Since those who survived didn¡¯t have to fight void ants.¡± The Sergeant signed in response. ¡°It is unfortunate that we had to battle at all.¡± Everyone agreed on that. But the influence of previous generations- both successes and failures- inevitably influenced those who came after. It was impossible to have a perfect result, and for the cultivators of Ekict death and wars had just been part of life. Even if it didn¡¯t have to be. Chapter 710 The wild power of Azun would easily tear apart Anton if he were not bound to it. The rare phenomenon of a mixed pulsar and magnetar was always worth returning to for additional study, though his study was quite different from the way a scientist would perform the same. Instead of concrete data, he was more interested in the feeling of the thing. The flow of energy in all its ways, from the condensed heat far beyond the scale of the other stars to the burst of radiation to the absurd magnetic fields and gravity¡­ each of these taught Anton something. He could still only use the smallest fraction of a star¡¯s power, but he seemed to have stumbled upon a particularly effective Assimilation method. The fact that he had nearly died to achieve it wouldn¡¯t deter any other cultivators from trying, especially considering what he could wield of a star¡¯s power when he was directly proximate to one. The next step was still far from his grasp and intuition. But as his cultivation improved, he expected to develop further insights. And if it turned out he was unable¡­ he wouldn¡¯t be too upset. He was quite content with his accomplishments throughout his lifespan, from simply when he lived without cultivation to his time after. Considering his ambitions, Anton focused for some time on the radiation. It created beams that could be detected even from as far away as Ceretos, and while they were not damaging there¡­ they were easy to pick up and entirely unintentional. Though Anton could say that the lack of intention was true about everything involving stars. At least as far as he was aware, there was no godlike being going around making planets and stars. Regardless of their origins, their current existence was just the continuation of a process, and no stars Anton had encountered had any sort of active intent. With no living components, he wasn¡¯t sure if they could. Energy on its own was merely that. Returning to the beams of radiation, they passed so far merely by virtue of great power and not active intent. So if Anton were to ever complete his wild thoughts of sniping into the upper realms, he found it a good area to focus. Though there were logistical concerns to be considered. His senses could stretch a vast distance, but they didn¡¯t even begin to bridge the gap between the closest systems. Without using his energy senses as a guide, targeting was impossible. Not to mention the impossibility of his attack arriving in a timely manner. Even if he were able to attack through subspace, was an attack any good if it arrived weeks or months late? Certainly not. But that didn¡¯t stop Anton from using the principles to shoot holes in floating asteroids that were trapped far afield in Azun¡¯s orbit. The first few he exploded into chunks, and while it was more visibly impressive that was the opposite of the control he wanted. If he couldn¡¯t maintain pinpoint precision within the bounds of a system- a small part of one system, really- then how could he ever hope to meaningfully impact anything outside of one? Just like the pulsars passing over a planet and doing little more than exciting technological sensors. Focus. Speed. Control. If he could improve, then it would be a waste not to do so. He wished he was in closer contact with Prospero. He did have communications with the man in the upper realms, but messages were quite slow and lacked the nuance of in-person communications. It seemed they had developed similar techniques, in some way. Specifically, Flowing Lines and his magnetic archery style vaguely fit what Prospero had learned to do with his Falling Stars, and catching them in an orbit around himself. Maybe Anton would get lucky and a young genius from the One Hundred Stars would come about, able to provide additional insight. What was next? Anton decided to test the maximum number of arrows he could have in flight, and under his control. It was impractical in a real world scenario because he wouldn¡¯t have more than the bare minimum of control, but it was still useful. Arrows flew out by the hundreds, this close to Azun taking on a native blue hue. They rotated around Anton as he added more and more. Somewhere in the low thousands he couldn¡¯t both keep the form of his arrows and control their trajectories- but long before that they were individually too weak to even be a threat to any higher ranking cultivators. That included Life Transformation, or particularly sturdy Essence Collection cultivators. And Anton couldn¡¯t see a scenario where someone could easily handle just one or two hundred projectiles aimed at them and not a thousand. Better to focus on a smaller number and just hit. Gravity. If he wished to, Anton could influence gravity locally- but it was certainly not his area of specialty. Weos¡¯ star had some interesting effects in that area, abnormal for its size. Against cultivators directly, influencing gravity was perhaps less useful to Anton then attempting to shove them around with unattributed energy. Unless they happened to be throwing real asteroids at him. Maybe he needed to get in contact with Nthanda. She could probably do that. But before he went back home, he had to finish up with In¡¯istra. Or at least, the current stage of In¡¯istra¡¯s development and recovery. ----- The scale of a single planet was so small. Anton was constantly amazed by how he felt that, when his whole world had once been Dungannon and the surrounding forest and still seemed massive. But such was perspective, and his was more than a little bit skewed by now. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Water was an annoyance, a dense blocker that limited his senses and attacking ability- but not so much he couldn¡¯t stay well over the underwater horizon when watching an enemy base. Currently, he was waiting for a signal. It would be slightly delayed, but as it was still the fastest form of communication on In¡¯istra it didn¡¯t matter. Anton would like to introduce more to them, but he couldn¡¯t really explain where it came from. He wasn¡¯t a formation master. Someday, when both sides would be comfortable, he would reveal his origins to the world as a whole instead of just a select few people. This base was for him alone. Or perhaps just him and Derpy, if the building sized flounder decided to show up. There weren¡¯t really any plans Anton had shared with the fish, but he lived around here and did tend to keep tabs on the spies. Silvery spectral energy sparkled on Anton¡¯s fingers, ready to pierce through the seas and the barriers of the base. If he couldn¡¯t crack the barrier in that manner, then he would resort to brute force. The message came in. The strike was underway. In that case, he too had to join in. Better not to bank on catching each and every last individual fleeing the area if he could just stop them before they got to that point. His first shot circled around the area for a few moments before hitting something. The concealment barriers were still in place, and for obvious reasons Anton hadn¡¯t tested the exact limits to which they distorted space. Simultaneous shots from different angles picked out more details of the barrier¡¯s construction. Anton had a fairly good estimation of how he should shoot to be most effective, unless the barrier was actually an absurd shape. He rode upon the wings of a spectral spirit arrow, piercing through an outer barrier to find himself inside. He was able to maintain the connection and control, but it was like swimming through murky waters. He focused on looking for something important to break. He swiveled into some runs that he knew affected the flow of energy. Whether they were a control or simply part of the energy storage system he didn¡¯t know or care. Both would greatly hinder the base. There was no external response, except for a few flashes of lightning where his arrows struck. Anton hoped that continued, as it would use up their energy without ever tracing back to him. Just a dozen kilometers was far beyond what these cultivators could reasonably expect. No doubt they would have picked out his locations because he couldn¡¯t hide his energy during battle, but there was a serious question of whether they could reach him. But before they could make a decision, Anton intended to burst their bubble. The crushing pressure of the sea would at least hinder them somewhat if they charged at him. He slipped in a couple Ascension energy shots, battering different sides of what he perceived as a dome¡­ and he was justified in his understanding when it began to crack, the spatial distortions fading. The formations were actually quite high in level to be more than just a visual illusion to begin with. Anton was impressed. Just about that point, Anton felt something coming. No, two somethings. Or rather, one something followed by a large number of others. In the lead was Derpy, followed behind by a large number of sea beasts. Anton wondered when he¡¯d become a leader¡­ but only briefly. The details of such a straightforward situation wouldn¡¯t elude him for long. No, the beasts were led by another creature. A lionfish, a creature covered in envenomed spines not dissimilar to the snack Anton had fed Derpy when the first met. Except that one had been without toxins. This one was of course much larger than typical- half a meter was the large end for a standard creature. Instead, it was closer to five from end to end, spike length included. Derpy skuttled along the ocean floor, while a swarm of diverse sea beasts chased after him. Whether it was because he felt Anton or because the base was now revealed, the gigantic fish altered his trajectory, running directly into the center of things. Chaos broke out. Human cultivators that were worried about Anton suddenly had to deal with a swarm of beasts, about half of which chose to focus on them rather than continuing the hunt after Derpy. The leading lionfish continued to keep pace, however, catching up slightly where Derpy was slowed by pesky cultivators who thought to stop them. Anton¡¯s hands never stopped moving. His goals hadn¡¯t really changed, just how he would accomplish them. Fewer cultivators were directly focused on fleeing or charging towards him, though he kept his senses open for that. Instead, he watched the balance of the fight with the sea beasts. Derpy made three partial circles through the compound before darting off vaguely towards Anton. The lionfish was quickly gaining, and Derpy was looking tired. Of course, even without such a clear plea Anton still intended to help his fishy pal. He first aimed for the fish¡¯s eyes. It seemed to understand that they were weak points, and the beast¡¯s cultivation was even enough to protect them with defensive energy- but Anton had some tricks for that. Forming arrows of pure light, his arrow struck forward. They would be partially hindered by the defensive intent of energy, but while he might not puncture the eyes he could at least cause sudden flashes of brightness. At the same time, Anton focused his energy bows on some of the crowd following along, various creatures that didn¡¯t all swim at the same rates. They were weaker than their lionfish leader, and were quickly deterred from the chase with just a few injuries. The lion fish slowed. Anton expected Derpy to continue retreating¡­ but instead the fish flipped completely over backwards and slapped the lionfish into the seafloor. The majority of the spines didn¡¯t pierce into him. It had to be partially defensive energy, maybe a bit of something to do with slippery outside. Either way, it seemed like an instance and desperate maneuver. On the other hand¡­ maybe it was just Derpy being himself. The fish didn¡¯t hesitate to take a chomp out of the stunned lionfish, not even when spines began to get in the way. Maybe Anton had been worried for nothing. Then Derpy slowly drifted to the bottom of the sea, paralyzed. So it wasn¡¯t a brilliant maneuver so much as an ignorant one. Anton supposed he was going to have to help with that. He didn¡¯t have any giant fish-sized medicinal pills, but he could at least help pull out some spines and hope the creature recovered. Though he also had to make sure no cultivators got away, the marine life based chaos was doing a good job of keeping them occupied. Chapter 711 At the end of the day, Anton got away with no cultivators escaping the base, and Derpy having survived. He might have preferred that fewer individuals were eaten by sea beasts, as they didn¡¯t always think through whether or not they were swallowing a storage bag. Then again, these particular creatures probably had no prior experience with that. It would be a fun surprise for them later, depending on what was inside. Anton kept track of a few higher ranking cultivator¡¯s bags, as they might have something important like a key to a vault he would have to retrieve. He was uncertain if the base was more or less destroyed due to the unexpected interference. Certainly the beasts smashed things up, but he might have had to do worse himself to accomplish the same goals. It was a shame he hadn¡¯t been able to capture many people, but that was just how things had ended up. Ultimately, they were only being kept alive to find out if they knew where any more spies were. ----- After the first day of falling, Vari was fairly certain she wasn¡¯t going to land at any point. It was interesting, because she could alway see and feel herself getting closer to the planet below. She could even control her lateral position above it. But she never got any closer. Nor did she seem to be able to get further away. In short, she was stuck there. Alone. ¡°I¡¯m going to deck that jerk in the face when he shows up,¡± Vari grimaced. ¡°Who¡¯s a jerk?¡± A familiar voice asked. Swiveling in the air, she immediately kicked out towards the approximate location the sound came from. A hand reached up and grabbed her keep, holding her in place. ¡°You are,¡± Vari huffed. ¡°Seriously, how long have you been watching me fall?¡± ¡°I just got here,¡± Everheart said defensively. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m so bored as to watch that for an entire day?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Vari said. ¡°How did you know it was that long if you weren¡¯t?¡± ¡°Obviously my traps are keyed with alarms. I was just here to deal with whoever came here.¡± ¡°You spatially locked this planet¡­¡± Vari said. ¡°Can I assume it¡¯s important?¡± ¡°Planet?¡± Everheart raised an eyebrow. ¡°Sonuva- is it all an illusion?¡± ¡°No reason it shouldn¡¯t be. You know how much harder it is to make someone fall forever compared to convincing them that they¡¯re falling forever?¡± ¡°... Why didn¡¯t I fly out of the area?¡± ¡°You slowed yourself down to match the planet¡¯s velocity so you didn¡¯t smash yourself,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°Then you didn¡¯t commit hard enough to flying away.¡± Vari folded her arms. ¡°There has to be more to it than that.¡± ¡°Might be, who can say?¡± ¡°You could!¡± Vari yelled. ¡°Ugh, this isn¡¯t what I¡¯m here for.¡± Well, yelling at Everheart was always its own reward. But she did have other purposes too. ¡°I¡¯m here as an envoy on behalf of the Scarlet Alliance.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t even declared war or anything,¡± Everheart said. ¡°But I¡¯ll gladly accept your surrender.¡± Vari sighed. ¡°That¡¯s not it at all. We want you to help us.¡± ¡°No way.¡± She kept talking while ignoring his objections. ¡°In return, we will aid you on endeavors that work towards both of our goals. Like bringing down the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°And why should I?¡± ¡°Because even with all of this,¡± Vari gestured broadly, ¡°You¡¯ll eventually just die alone when someone too powerful for you to deal with comes around.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve died before, it¡¯s not so bad.¡± ¡°Someone who can properly finish you off. Or you can work with us.¡± ¡°... And die with other people around to take my stuff?¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± Vari said. ¡°No, wait uh¡­ you might not die.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ nah. Too boring.¡± With a flick of his wrist he sent Vari spiraling away. Which at least broke her free of the illusion. Rather than trying to approach him again, or look for another projection, Vari just pondered at the results. Sure, he¡¯d flat out declined the offer. But for him, that was actually pretty good. At the very least, the seed had been planted and he would be thinking about it. ----- The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. While In¡¯istra figured out what they were going to do with the spies they had, Anton figured he would spend some time looking around the area. Specifically, he wanted to know if there were any neighbors they could eventually make contact with- or ones that they should specifically avoid. They were a bit closer to the border with the upper realms, so if Anton found any systems with active cultivators he expected similar results to In¡¯istra, trapped in the cycle that the Trigold Cluster was forcing upon them. Then again, he¡¯d encountered more places outside of that cycle in one way or another. Weos and Ceretos had just recently eradicated the last of the upper realm spies- and won over their invaders in the second invasion after the shorter cycle. While that didn¡¯t mean they were forever going to be able to resist the upper realms, the fact that they could defeat Augmentation cultivators and were only getting stronger didn¡¯t say much for what the Trigold Cluster could try in five hundred years. But they weren¡¯t going to get careless. Oh no, they would be ready. Still, along with Rutera that had never been a target and the Sylanis Cluster that had also managed to clear them out with the advent of their Worldbinding cultivators, that was six systems free from their grasp. Ekict managed the same. The twin planets ultimately seemed to have lost that battle, but survived regardless. The hidden system of Doruma sealed themselves off so they couldn¡¯t be found, and Xicil seemed to be doing fine for themselves, displaying nothing worth taking. Then there was Gnadus, which seemed to have nothing going for it beyond difficulty and ice. No invaders would be interested in them. On the other hand, besides Rutera all of them seem to have had problems with the upper realms. The various systems shut themselves off for a reason. Perhaps there would be more like them. The lower realms might be undergoing a massive revolution. Or perhaps Anton would find more worlds caught in the cycle. But with the right push, he might let them get beyond. He did keep in mind Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn. The Trigold Cluster wasn¡¯t above scouring a world if they met with too much resistance. Which just motivated Anton to do even better, and with more than five centuries he felt confident that he and others could be a catalyst that catapulted systems beyond what the Trigold Cluster would expect. And the more that were successful, the more they would harm their enemies in the upper realms as they did so. Anton had already visited some of the nearby stars. With a few months of travel, he completed his initial survey. In all directions, including above and below relative to the galactic plane, the closest systems seemed to be uninhabited. That covered an area more than ten lightyears from them, and a few dozen star systems. From that point if he were to try to expand out in a circle, he would quickly overwhelm himself with systems. Even if he took no time at all to explore a system- which wasn¡¯t actually accurate- it would take days or weeks to reach each one. He could easily lose a year or two for just a slight increase in his explored radius. So he continued with his plan to focus on a narrow band to the ¡®north¡¯, towards the upper realms. He had some chance of identifying an occupied system from its neighbor, if they were powerful enough to create a large effect on the system¡¯s natural energy. Anton surveyed the different types of stars. At this point, he¡¯d seen almost everything with relation to stars. No doubt that wasn¡¯t actually true- there would always be interesting differences to discover, if he looked at similar things often enough. But at least as broad categories of stars went, he¡¯d visited many kinds and bound as much variety as he could while keeping a few open for emergencies. Over the last few decades he¡¯d attuned himself to a few stars of various sizes and temperaments, though most didn¡¯t have anything he could consider unique properties beyond their star type. The most notable exception to Anton¡¯s list was a proper red supergiant. The twin planets had allowed him to bind to their blue supergiant- its radius more than a couple dozen times that of Ceretos¡¯ star- but red supergiants could be even more astounding. Hundreds of times the radius, in fact. It was already hard to comprehend the size of any star- with the exception of a neutron star like Azun- so being even larger was just mind boggling, even if he was used to stars in a broad sense. Then, of course, there were things that were no longer stars. Black holes, for example. Anton had no intent to seek them out, and the closest ones that seemed to have been detected were still several times the distance from Ceretos to In¡¯istra. He would eventually make the trip, but considering they didn¡¯t produce light or heat, he wasn¡¯t willing to consider them a star. His cultivation essence was about growth, and he doubted that consuming power would help with that. Still, seeing one might prove interesting. Anton had all of these thoughts during his long treks between systems. Other than that, he could only focus on his movement and cultivate the energy drawn from his bound suns, making sure he wouldn¡¯t exhaust himself in the middle of nothing. As it turned out, space was mostly empty so the chances of just running into anything were relatively low. Which was why he was surprised to discover¡­ well anything at all. He first noticed it because of its energy, making it stand out starkly from the complete lack of it anywhere else. He was almost past it by the time he reacted, as its path crossed with his and his own speed was immense. He could have very easily missed it. No, he should have missed it. Because he was not even traveling in normal space. Anything less than a star should have hardly registered. But he felt it, and because of that he immediately began to chase after it. Which is to say, he noted its trajectory as he hurtled past, and hoped that it wouldn¡¯t change significantly in the time it took him to redirect his speed. Star Steps allowed for nearly instantaneous changes in momentum, but only when traveling in normal space and not nearly so severe. It took him three days to catch it, during which time he should have already arrived at his destination planet. For the majority of that time, he was second guessing his senses. But there it was, just sitting there. Floating along almost casually, without a star. Anton knew that rogue planets existed, but he¡¯d never visited one. This one was a step more odd, as he approached it in subspace. He was careful in his approach, uncertain of why it radiated so much natural energy. He also didn¡¯t want to risk drawing the attention of distortion beasts to it, should it actually be inhabited. This time he knew he was going to encounter it and was already moving in the same direction as it so matching its speed was an easier task. Then he had to make only slight adjustments to his speed to slowly approach. The first thing he noticed were lights. Many of them, standing out with comparison to the near lack of light Anton otherwise experienced. The light of stars was vaguely comprehensible within subspace, but this was more¡­ real? Anton orbited the small planet several times. It wasn¡¯t tiny, but Anton couldn¡¯t help but compare to Ceretos. By that metric, it was somewhat small. As for the lights, unless he was greatly mistaken he knew what they were. He would recognize those patterns anywhere, that of cities at night. They were nothing compared to Rutera with its pervasive technology, but even Ceretos before it developed such technology had energy lights at night. This was closer to that, Anton thought. Cities. And the patterns of people. He approached, cautiously. This planet shouldn¡¯t be here, and in a way neither should he. He didn¡¯t want to end up on the wrong foot, or causing some sort of disaster. So he wasn¡¯t going to just land somewhere. Instead, he needed to observe more. Chapter 712 The strange planet below lacked any sort of large scale barrier, a planetary formation. That allowed Anton¡¯s senses to focus on particular locations, starting with seeking out cities. Most of the larger ones did have barriers, and while Anton could have likely pushed through to sense inside them, he didn¡¯t want to worry about raising alarms. That led him to focus on smaller population centers, ones which still acted as sources of light in the constant darkness. It was strange, stumbling upon this planet that shouldn¡¯t exist. It would be one thing for it to merely be a rogue planet wandering in the void between systems, but it was quite another to find it like this. Within the space behind space, hidden from the stars. Darkness itself didn¡¯t make Anton nervous, nor did he even feel particularly strange traveling through subspace with minimal access to his stars. But here, there was a place that may have never seen a star. More than how it came to exist, Anton wondered how it continued to exist. His senses focused on a particular city. Architectural differences abounded between individual planets and further between different systems, but certain features were simply practical. Some sort of covering to keep out the elements was universal. Indeed, Anton found the same was true of this planet. Perhaps it was even more necessary to have proper insulation, as his senses indicated that the planet was below freezing. Though it was odd, because there was very little in terms of ice or snow to be found. He focused on a particular hut. There was a crackling fire in the center of it, surrounded by a dirt floor and a small number of furnishings. No, he wouldn¡¯t quite call it a dirt floor but instead it was a step beyond that. It was bare soil, with plants growing out of it. Anton wondered who was so hard pressed as to not be able to pull up weeds within their own home, but in a moment it became clear to him that the plants were quite intentionally kept. The packed dirt from walking around them had a very particular pattern, an intention to avoid them. Some sort of crops, then? The inhabitants of the hut slept, as with most of the rest in the small city- shop and other public spaces alike standing empty. Anton sought out another area, looking for people who were up and about. Without an external source of light, there was no cycle to be followed but the majority of the city seemed to follow a set time. But finally, Anton found some alert individuals. The first was a shepherd, tending his flocks while bundled in many layers. The sheep in question possessed a very thick wool, enough that Anton wasn¡¯t quite certain about their body shape or if they were in fact sheep and not simply piles of wool, not without looking deeper. If this was the time of twilight, Anton would have expected that along with the shepherd farmers of all sorts would be up, tending to their fields. However, he found only a few in all the fields. It was simple to judge the city as being particularly lazy and full of sluggards¡­ but without dawn to judge by, he wondered what getting up early amounted to at all. A proper farmer worked hard all day and rested fully at night. But as long as the work got done when it was needed, Anton couldn¡¯t discount anyone¡¯s personal style. And without a sun providing heat, any time was just as good as any other. Synchronizing to the city center was not particularly odd. After a few hours, Anton was finally able to determine it had become early morning. That was because various activities began. Bakers starting on their wares, shopkeepers setting up. People out and about on the streets, though still in small quantities. They began to interact with one another, and Anton discovered a slight hiccup in his current method of observation. He couldn''t understand any conversations. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t have the capacity to transmit the sounds from down below back to himself. He simply didn¡¯t understand the words. Focusing on signs and other writings, he couldn¡¯t make sense of any of it. Even cut off worlds that had distanced themselves maintained some recognizable roots, but this was completely different. But though he couldn¡¯t understand their words, people¡¯s actions generally spoke for themselves. He could even tell how a conversation was going by body language. There were certainly some quirks of bodily expression he didn¡¯t immediately understand, but he understood confidence, anger, and exasperation. There was also much to be understood by tone of voice. For an entire day Anton watched, uncertain what to do. Should he do anything? They were living their lives just fine without him. He seriously doubted that the upper realms would be trouble for them. But even so, he found their lifestyle rather¡­ pitiful. Citizens began to push through cramped streets, many of which were covered increasing the claustrophobia. And yet, Anton saw the design was intentional. People nearly fled from one place to another for warmth, and gaining some warmth from people before their destination might prove to be more valuable to them than the comfort of personal space. He might have thought the city simply grew too quickly, but the pattern continued even on the outer edge, next to their fields. Everything growing in the fields was some sort of root vegetable. Some fields appeared to lie fallow, but when Anton took a closer look he found that the crops grown within were merely buried deeper. It was a bit warmer there, perhaps. The world was cold¡­ but none were freezing. Or perhaps Anton should better interpret that as those who would freeze had already done so. Some equivalent of local evening came, and then night. But rather than settling to bed on their own time like Anton expected, the whole city began to synchronize on one final daily task. No, it wasn¡¯t just the city. Anton had expected individual cities to keep their own time, but instead he felt the planet change all at once, with a very slight bias towards a phenomenon beginning in the largest cities with their barriers and pulsing outward. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Cultivation. Everyone began to cultivate all at once. Anton felt a flow of natural energy pulling in from all of the surrounding areas¡­ but there was more. Even though it had no connection to him, Anton recognized a great flow of devotion from the outlying areas, flowing from small villages to cities to the metropolises. But it wasn¡¯t just a one-sided gathering. Something also flowed out in the reverse direction, a comforting and protective feeling- though that was merely what Anton gathered secondhand. He was not present down below, nor did he think he would be welcome. There were imperfections in the flow, but like eddies in a river they faded with distance. The greater flow was unstoppable, falling into place naturally. Anton could do nothing but watch with rapt attention. It was imperfect, but still beautiful. Then, just as it had begun, it also ended. The vast flow faded away, turning into tiny trickles which faded away. Then Anton felt something more. Something quite unexpected, in his position. Something looked at him. No, someone. The path of their gaze caught Anton on the outside of one of the large cities, where he was absolutely not planning to look further. Then it was gone, swiftly enough to almost make Anton believe it was a coincidence, or that it did not happen at all. But he knew better than that. What should he do? Curiosity told him to stay. Common sense told him to leave. Caution told him to learn more before making any moves. The next cycle came. Calling it a day seemed inappropriate, as there was no day to be had. A few individuals resisted the typical constraints of the cycle, but Anton had not noticed a single individual disconnected from the greater flow of cultivation. During other hours, however, Anton felt very little cultivation, though some used natural energy to aid their labor. He focused on finding a schoolhouse. If he wanted to understand what was said, he needed to learn the basics. Fortunately, they did have some form of formal schooling. With somewhat more intentional speech, and a relation to their system of writing, Anton picked up the very beginnings of a grasp of the language. But Anton was no closer to answering his biggest questions. But he did consider something. His innate desire to help could lead him into inserting himself into situations where he really wasn¡¯t wanted¡­ but while he was quite certain that this planet could continue to survive without him, he wasn¡¯t sure if that was enough. Was this truly what they wanted? Or, like Gnadus, had their ancestors merely ended up here. Were they trapped, if they could not ascend? Could they ascend, from this place? Anton didn¡¯t think there was a lack of natural energy that would prevent them. In fact, he had the uncomfortable feeling that the individual who spotted him was beyond Life Transformation. The fact that he could not simply leave them alone didn¡¯t say much. Anton knew that was who he was. It wasn¡¯t something good or bad. He knew there were probably more technically efficient ways to help people. He could have left- he could still leave, finishing his journey to a nearby star system. If he found people there, he could influence millions or maybe billions of their lives- over the course of decades and centuries of course. That might not necessarily be different from this one planet, except for an important factor. These people couldn¡¯t become part of an alliance. Certainly, they would have a more difficult time doing so, reducing how much they could contribute in the overall fight against the invasions of the upper realms. And while that was important to Anton¡­ sometimes, he just wanted to think about people on a smaller scale. He wanted to tell a young pair of siblings practicing archery how to adjust their stance. He wanted to chat with a farmer about what he was growing. More selfishly, he wanted to ask about the worldwide cultivation phenomenon. What did it mean to people? While they appeared to be doing it willingly, perhaps they really had little choice. All this and more Anton wondered. Yet with every moment he felt time slipping away. He should be doing something else. Something more impactful. How long was he even going to live, anyway? That last one was what got him back on track. Not the thought of limited time, exactly. Instead, it was the reminder that everything he currently was able to experience was already extra time. Certainly, it was worthwhile to spend his time trying to improve the lives of the most people possible. But if he did not remain true to his own desires, could he continue to provide faithful aid to others? In other words, this was part of his vacation. And he was going to remain as long as he felt like, unless he could determine that the people wanted him gone. But at the moment, he was just observing- and not prying into the private lives of anyone. ----- The puzzle he was trying to figure out now was why people didn¡¯t live underground, especially considering they had little in the way of proper structural material like wood. There had to be a reason, given that all their buildings were simply losing heat to the world around them. It was a wonder they hadn¡¯t frozen over already. The only thing keeping them going was likely their dedication to cultivation, and natural energy supplementing the actual heat they had. He¡¯d picked up a bit of the language. Not enough to have an actual conversation, but his ability to intuit what people were talking about had improved. ¡°Good morning,¡± a grocer indicated to a customer. Crops from the surrounding area were placed atop his shelves, remaining fresh despite being there for days. Because unlike other places, this shop was kept cold. ¡°Thank you, sir. Good morning to you as well,¡± said the female customer. ¡°If you could acquire for me -¡± It was there that Anton got lost, among the names of various vegetables and herbs, all of which they were fortunate to have at all given the harsh growing conditions. The grocer quickly plucked things off the shelves, and Anton noted them for the future, hoping to match them with words later. His senses shifted to find others talking, and then, eventually to a farm. There he saw someone digging up the deep roots, and found the first clue to why they would live on the surface. Instead of proper digging, the farmers were performing a task more akin to mining. The earth was hard as a rock, frozen as it was- and it hardly eased up as they got deeper. Was it worth so much effort for the plants? Anton determined that it was, given the bits of natural energy he felt inside them while those on the surface were nearly devoid of it. But if it could be done at all, why not use it for something longer term like shelter? Anton knew people did everything for a reason, though sometimes that reason was lost to time and not very good to begin with. Chapter 713 Hundreds of individuals were arrayed in front of Nthanda. An intimidating number she might have once thought impossible. She had never considered herself a teacher, but with Anton away everyone wanted to learn archery from her. She would have preferred if he was around, because while he hadn¡¯t been prepared for a body focused cultivator like her, she was also lacking in ability to train those focused primarily on energy. Given the difficulty of tempering the body beyond Spirit Building, few cultivators actually made that their goal. Western Steel Body was a good technique, of course. Refined and improved over the last centuries, it was worthy of being called a high tier cultivation method. And yet, with the availability of other notable techniques it was still not very popular. It made sense. After all, Nthanda¡¯s method to surpass Life Transformation wasn¡¯t something she could replicate for others. And these days, Ascension was losing in popularity to Assimilation. ¡°I see all of you are ready. You have been assigned to your lanes. Twenty at a time, you will each perform a hundred shots upon the target.¡± There were multiple reasons to have them in such relatively small groups. First, because it was simply impractical to set up hundreds of archery targets. Second was to test their patience. Third, to give people time to rest between stages. And finally, because she could only watch so many people at once. Her assistants were great, but they simply didn¡¯t have her experience. ¡°This isn¡¯t a beginner¡¯s course,¡± Nthanda reminded them. ¡°So you are expected to be able to manage on your own. I also need to judge your capabilities firsthand.¡± Some people lost points immediately. Just because she hadn¡¯t told people to be serious didn¡¯t give them an excuse for slacking off. They should know to take things seriously, but some were doing the bare minimum required for a hundred shots. She didn¡¯t care if they hit the target or even got a bullseye every time, that was losing them some points. They just didn¡¯t know it yet. Eventually, she would weed out those who were serious, and those who wanted to participate because of famous names. She understood that some would simply not mesh with her teaching style, but she could direct them to a number of other options. Actually, archery was becoming less popular year over year. Rutera had guns, after all. Whether they were lasers or conventional projectiles, both were effective weapons. Many of the same techniques applied to archery would apply to them. But for Nthanda, they were useless. They relied more on the manipulation of natural energy than the body. Good for some, but definitely not for her. Some of those here would do better learning firearms instead, but they¡¯d most likely been drawn to archery because of Anton¡¯s popularity. Though some did seem to take after her, with a focus on bodily strength. Some students didn¡¯t put in enough effort. Some pushed themselves too hard, not making it to a hundred shots. Others were able to judge exactly what they wanted, stretching themselves but knowing their own limits. During their training, Nthanda picked out a few she initially judged well, though she might change her mind as she got to understand them. ¡°Alright,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°Now that that¡¯s done with, we¡¯re going on a short ten kilometer run.¡± Anton was still a proponent of physical fitness even if he followed the more traditional energy style, and for cultivators ten kilometers really wasn¡¯t all that much. But quite a few people complained under their breath, wondering how it applied to archery. And she wondered how they¡¯d graduated from school, or how they got here. Were their parents just rich enough to throw away money? What a waste of everyone¡¯s time. Though it was only a small proportion of people, it still annoyed her that they would take things so lightly. Some took Anton¡¯s mantra of improving themselves in every way for whatever they did lightly. They cared more about appearances than actual substance. But such was the way of people. Eventually, even those who could afford expensive guidance from powerful cultivators and buckets of cultivation medicine would wash out if they didn¡¯t give it their all. While it might seem the end of the cycle was far away, Nthanda had felt like the two hundred year cycle had gone by in the blink of an eye. Three times that wasn¡¯t really all that much more- and they¡¯d already been in one interstellar war in less than fifty years. They had to be ready, and Nthanda in particular wanted to know who could be relied on. ----- Thinking back on how he first met Anton, Varghese knew he had been foolish. He wanted so much to drive away invaders that he didn¡¯t stop to think if he could. And in fact, at the time he most certainly could not. Recently, he had been just part of the efforts of taking down the Twin Soul Sect and other upper realms spies. It was quite clear to him that he was not strong enough yet. He was barely beginning to comprehend the information in early Life Transformation- and the One Hundred Stars continued all the way up into Assimilation. He¡¯d only recently been able to look at the full technique beyond Life Transformation, and he understood why. First was the dangers of making everything public, and second¡­ he wouldn''t have been able to do anything with it before now. Actually, he still wasn¡¯t able to do anything but speculate. He needed to comprehend it, though, if he wanted to fight proper invaders. It wasn¡¯t just a matter of strength, but simply an issue of lifespan. Even if he reached the peak of Life Transformation he would not live six hundred years, barring some sort of miracle. Nor did he think a Life Transformation cultivation would be sufficient, if the Trigold Cluster brought serious forces upon them. He wondered about the One Hundred Stars and its other members. They were apparently both back on Anton¡¯s home world¡­ and a significant number ascended to the upper realms. That was an option for Varghese too, but he doubted he would take it. He had plenty of reasons to stay with his home, including the sect he¡¯d accidentally become responsible for. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ----- Ascension cultivators came from the lower realms with some regularity. While at some point the rate for all of Ceretos had been less than one per year, their population had grown almost a full order of magnitude in the past centuries. Combining that with Weos, Rutera, Gnadus, and a small portion of the Sylanis Cluster meant they got several per month. It was hard to say if that was many or few considering the tens of billions they drew from, and compared to native Integration cultivators from the upper realms their numbers were far fewer. However, one thing about true Ascension cultivators was a required level of energy control that not all Integration cultivators achieved. That was known by most of the powerful factions. There was a reason the upper realms had their fingers in the pockets of the lower realms, after all. The Harmonious Citadel had been quite glad to get their hands on anyone they could from the lower realms, and to take a crack at converting them. Now, much of the undirected traffic flowed towards Xankeshan or at least someone else in the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s control. They would not force anyone to join them militarily, but they were at minimum bound by the laws. Uzun looked at Catarina, and the formation they¡¯d managed to put together. ¡°I am quite pleased,¡± he said. ¡°We surpassed my expectations because of your formation knowledge.¡± ¡°On the contrary,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Without your technological expertise, we would have needed one of us remaining her to monitor the formation at all times. Or at least someone with great expertise.¡± ¡°I have another project I am working on,¡± Engineer Uzun said, ¡°With regards to our ships. We¡¯ve managed to get production underway, which is an amazing step up for how long it has been. But I have concerns about reverse engineering. I am concerned about people getting their hands on subspace drives and automatic barrier load distributors.¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be worried about that too much.¡± ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I be? Those are the pinnacle of our technology here, greatly affecting how our fleets stay ahead of the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°I get it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But I¡¯d be more concerned about them getting their hands on basic circuits. We could toss subspace drives at them all day and they¡¯d never be able to properly replicate them. It¡¯s the simple components they could figure out, and begin to develop from there.¡± ¡°That¡¯s something of a problem,¡± Uzun said, ¡°Because we¡¯re looking to release Ruteran technology for non-military applications on a wider scale.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just saying we need to be cautious with it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And in fact, if it is ubiquitous they may not realize it is of value. Though preferably we would be rid of them first.¡± ¡°You really think that¡¯s possible? Uzun asked. ¡°They still have five saints left.¡± ¡°And probably some backups,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°It¡¯s going to be a difficult time for this next century. But I can see Augmentation on the horizon.¡± ¡°Already?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°I¡¯ve already been here for a hundred and fifty years,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Fifty or a hundred more isn¡¯t short or long compared to that.¡± Uzun shrugged, ¡°Some people spend that long in Life Transformation.¡± ¡°Not many these days, I¡¯d imagine,¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°The path is well known now, instead of us stumbling around in the dark.¡± ¡°So if you break through¡­ we¡¯ll nearly match them.¡± Catarina smiled, ¡°You¡¯re forgetting many others. Myself, of course. Timothy, Chikere, Velvet¡­ Alva and Fuzz, even. Maybe it won¡¯t happen all at once. Kseniya may take longer as well. But if even two or three of us actually break through within a century? That¡¯s a big deal.¡± ¡°What do they feed you on Ceretos?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°You¡¯d know. Basically the same as on Rutera now. And to some extent, here.¡± ¡°A fair point. Xankeshan¡¯s practically drowning in upper energy.¡± ¡°Half of that was Everheart¡¯s work. Or those who came before him. But our reciprocative energy growth methods work quite well.¡± ¡°I¡¯m amazed more cultivators don¡¯t do it,¡± Uzun said. ¡°Perhaps they do. Not so much in the Scarlet Midfields, but the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°Speaking of which, what are we going to do about them?¡± Catarina laughed. ¡°I have no idea. I can¡¯t worry about that now. So¡­ I¡¯m just going to hope they send a lot of sword cultivators at us.¡± ¡°And how would that be good?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you keep up with the news? The sword saint is dead.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see how that leads into anything.¡± ¡°You remember who killed him?¡± ¡°That would be grandmaster Chikere, would it not?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°Exactly,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And I already listed her off.¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t suppose these are different Chikeres?¡± ¡°They are not,¡± Catarina said. ¡°The one we named our son after is the grandmaster is the one from Ceretos.¡± ¡°And she¡¯s¡­ not in Augmentation?¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± Uzun frowned. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how things traditionally are with her. I would not count on her for all our troubles, of course. While she is a good friend, she is hardly present reliably. Nor particularly motivated outside of the realm of swords. But that is also why I can rest easy if the biggest problem we face is a swarm of swordmasters.¡± ¡°Good to hear. Actually, if you have some sway over her movements¡­ can you make sure she shows her head around here soon? Now that I am reminded of who she is, Doctor Escarra would be quite cross with me if I did not make sure to properly maintain her arm.¡± ¡°Please do,¡± Catarina said seriously. ¡°She deserves to have the best she can get.¡± Chapter 714 Within the space behind space, Anton continued to observe the synchronized cultivation of a planet. It was beautiful, really. And as far as he could tell, mutually beneficial to all involved. Perhaps some would benefit more than others, but this wasn¡¯t more powerful cultivators drawing from the weak to promote their own interests. Then after another few days, Anton got to see people in action. The circumstances weren¡¯t what he might have wanted¡­ but danger came to the world, and the world responded. Anton almost didn¡¯t notice it. In a way, it was more difficult to pick out the thing swimming through the void from this side. And when he looked at it¡­ nothing was right. His mind refused to accept the distortion beast, more real here but still not something that made sense. It was lines and angles, strange shapes of muscle, and bone. Spikes and teeth and internal organs that he could feel both the internals and externals of at the same time. Long tentacles that seemed to bend but might have also been straight. It was right on top of the planet when Anton noticed it, descending towards it by the time he was able to comprehend it. He more felt than saw a streak of absolute cold rising into the sky. First one, but immediately followed by dozens more. Arrows of ice, from which cold spread in strange and disturbing ways throughout the creature. Anton would swear that some of the arrows that hit the front spread chill to the back of the thing, and he was almost certain that had nothing to do with the techniques of the archer. Almost. The first thing Anton was certain of was that this archer was wielding power beyond Life Transformation. That was true even during the opening volley, after which the planet responded and he felt energy flowing to empower this individual. Ice arrows repeatedly struck the mass of the distortion beast, and seemingly locked in a physical position it was lacking one of its main threats. However, it was durable and continued to reach closer to the planet, extending tendrils dozens of kilometers long as it entered the atmosphere, continuously stretching without the mass seeming to come from anywhere. The archer continued to attack the creature, especially its intruding tendrils. But it wasn¡¯t going to be enough. When one fell, two more approached- sometimes literally, as severing the appendages of the creature didn¡¯t always result in there being less of them. Well, he hadn¡¯t wanted to interfere¡­ but Anton wasn¡¯t the sort who could stand by when innocent people were in danger. Revealing himself might harm future prospects, or it might help- but Anton wasn¡¯t considering either when he acted. In this place, without direct access to his stars, his power was limited. But he still had Fleeting Youth and his alternate energies. Ascension energy was still within his grasp- if slightly muted- and spectral energy was not limited in any way. He added his own attacks, solar flames burning away outstretched limbs. This wasn¡¯t a battle for victory, as he was quite certain the distortion beast would perish regardless. This was to save every life they could. Hopefully the falling pieces of the creature wouldn¡¯t damage anything important. Spectral energy formed arrows aimed for the core of the creature. Anton knew it didn¡¯t have a proper outside and inside, so he just focused on what seemed like it might cause the most damage. Organs that might be important, somehow, or anything that looked like an effective weapon. The distortion beast quickly recognized the danger it was in, seemingly wishing to withdraw. But while it was easier for it to attack those already mostly in the same space as itself, it was also more difficult for such a thing to withdraw. Even as it twisted and turned inside out, its momentum suddenly reversed, Anton and the other archer continued their assault until the thing seemed to be dead. Anton stopped firing at the same time as the other archer. Then he felt a gaze on him. It was familiar, even if he¡¯d only felt it for a moment once before. So he had been spotted previously. Since he was fully revealed now, he politely flew over the city that this archer was residing in. And then¡­ nothing. Did he want to go closer? Were they peaceful, or simply hoping to catch him somewhere he couldn¡¯t retreat? Anton first thought to write in the sky. Then he remembered that they didn¡¯t share a language. So more for the sake of appearances than because it would actually make much difference, Anton stored his bow and flew slightly downward. He extended a prong of energy downward, intentionally making it easy to pick out. Something reached out in return¡­ and he exchanged words. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t speak the same language,¡± he replied after hearing more of the local language. ¡°Do you happen to speak¡­ this?¡± A response in the same language. So he assumed not. What had he learned? No words that would help. He didn¡¯t think he knew ¡®peace¡¯ or ¡®friend¡¯. What else could he try? He at least wanted to see who he was speaking to. Ultimately Anton gestured towards a nearby mountain peak. It seemed to be uninteresting to the local cultivators. Then again, they seemed to have little in the way of natural resources or wild beasts, and the amount of natural energy wasn¡¯t particularly impressive on the mountain peak. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He sat down, knowing the archer was watching. He gestured in a way that to him asked for someone to come closer. Hopefully it didn¡¯t mean anything offensive here. Their body language was certainly different. He watched the city with his eyes and senses, and soon enough a figure stepped out. In the broadest strokes, Anton was reminded of Kseniya- but only the basic description. An old woman, and an archer. If that was what defined a person, Anton and Kseniya were almost two-thirds the same. Though Anton personally thought Kseniya was closer to Chikere in temperament. This woman had silvery eyes. Possibly blind, thought with energy like hers it barely mattered. Her bow looked to be formed of something black, or at least dark enough to have no visibility outside the lights of the city. The woman felt cold, much like her arrows. Though unlike Anton, they were physical things- the tips of a similar material to her bow. The bow dangled loosely in her hand. Not on guard¡­ but not stowed and incautious. Anton put on his best grandfather smile, though he was most likely younger than this individual. As she slowly walked towards him, he pointed to himself and spoke once more as their energy met. ¡°Anton.¡± She stopped, then pointed to herself. ¡°Nalini.¡± A name, probably. Based on Anton¡¯s experience here, more likely for an individual, but he wouldn¡¯t put it beyond being a style. The woman approached slowly, and Anton began to wish he had some Ruteran technology. They had translators, even if they mainly spoke one language. Their speech was different from the majority of cultivators, whatever that meant. Whether it was only the influence of the upper realms or something more that kept language similar between disparate systems, Anton still didn¡¯t know. Ultimately, their interaction devolved into the one language Anton knew they could speak. He very carefully began to draw out the shape of a bow with his energy, so as to not spook Nalini. He pointed off into space, before taking the energy bow in his hand and firing. He had seen her shoot around a good quarter of the planet, but he wanted to know if that was her limit. And he was willing to show off first. At some point, Anton had discovered their moons- nearly devoid of natural energy, and not reflecting any significant amount of light. His shot went past one before fading away completely- his attacks weren¡¯t much good at such a distance, but that was about the limit of controlling any sort of energy. It was quite significant. Nalini¡¯s shot didn¡¯t quite make it to the moon, at least not with any energy on it. The arrow did in fact hit the moon, as she had a physical component underneath¡­ and nothing was going to stop the momentum unless it was acted upon. Anton couldn¡¯t be fully certain if that was her limit or she was holding back. Without any real communication, determining trust or deception was difficult. Anton held a little bit of sunlight in one hand, pointing to the vague images of stars back in normal space. This was what he cultivated. Nalini spread out her palm and showed¡­ nothing. But a quite cold nothing. She gestured broadly around them. The near absolute zero of space, perhaps. Anton carefully reached out above her hand, watching Nalini as he did so. He felt no aggression from her, but he didn¡¯t want to get hurt on accident either. Rather than suddenly feeling cold, instead he felt the heat drawing away from him as his hand got closer. That would explain how the pieces of the distortion beast had frozen so quickly. As it almost had to be for a high tier ice ability, it was an active freezing rather than a passive. A drawing in of heat, instead of simply having an area of cold that would have to chill surrounding areas based on their thermal conductivity. Cold had an absolute limit, after all- so there was also a limit to what it could do in normal circumstances. Heat had no such limits, but that was also what made it dangerous. Anton was quite certain his body could have handled a few hours near absolute zero before he achieved Assimilation, but he¡¯d almost burned himself to a crisp. Actual absolute zero was another question, because matter itself started to break down at extremely low temperatures. He didn¡¯t study it as much as he did heat, but he understood some of the details. Anton was glad to finish the interaction without anyone getting attacked. He felt that Nalini was cautious, but ultimately friendly. And in this place, she should be significantly stronger than him. That was without considering allies. Would she be alone at her stage, or were there others like her? Anton pointed to himself, and to his ears and mouth, gesturing at the cities around them. Could he continue to stay to learn the language? Or should he leave? Nalini was slow to respond. She reached out towards his energy bow, slowly squeezing it out of existence. Anton didn¡¯t really fight that. Nalini dusted off her hands and nodded to him. Right, so he could probably stay. But no violence. That was perfectly acceptable to Anton. Anton could have left and returned later- perhaps with some Ruteran translation technology. But he couldn¡¯t be certain to find this place again. It was on a fairly understandable trajectory, but if he was even a tiny fraction off in his estimates and more than a few days passed it could be gone forever. No, he thought it was best to make sure he took the chance while he had it. And while it might not help people directly, the knowledge of this place¡¯s existence would be of great interest to many. Then there was the possibility that they were trapped here, and if so Anton could help. Having to face distortion beasts, it wasn¡¯t like they were living in some sort of idyllic paradise. Had they chosen to be here? Did the current generations have that same choice, and share the same opinions? Just because they had made themselves able to live on with what they had didn¡¯t mean this was how things should be. Every ¡®day¡¯, he felt the same flows of cultivation, from the smallest villages through the towns and into the large cities- and then back, filling the people. The plants were nourished less directly, but Anton couldn¡¯t say his understanding of how to raise crops translated to a planet such as this. So he wasn¡¯t going to even attempt to touch them until he could speak to people and ask them about it. Chapter 715 Since Anton didn¡¯t intend to intrude upon the good graces of Nalini or the rest of the planet, he kept his language learning to longer distance observation. While people might not like being observed, Anton did his best to limit himself to relatively public places and classrooms. His understanding of the spoken language continued to improved slowly over the course of half a year, but what was even more important was how he developed an understanding of their writing. Once he could read with some accuracy, he sought out anything written down- while doing his best to avoid anything that appeared secret. Without prodding his way through barriers around the larger cities he doubted he would run into much of anything he shouldn¡¯t, but he preferred to avoid sneaking looks at cultivation methods or the like. If he was going to look, he wanted to be able to ask. After learning to read, however, his progress accelerated greatly. Ten Thousand Scrolls allowed him to read through everything available by doing little more than scanning pages with his energy. Of course, that was because of his familiarity with the technique. He learned about many things he had been curious about. Names of towns and cities, yes. But more importantly, he learned the name of the planet. Aipra. He also learned that the people of the planet knew what they were doing- though that wasn¡¯t surprising. Underestimating the understanding of people working to survive was easy, but in such a harsh environment it wasn¡¯t possible to get by with just effort and some cultivation. A proper understanding of things was key to creating a functional society. First there was the apparent lack of ice- or rather water of nearly any kind. Anton picked up about half of what he knew just from observing them, but the oddities of the planet meant they had an unusual atmosphere. Enough for people to breathe, but it didn¡¯t carry a lot of water. There was no rain, and water was quickly absorbed into the ground, not leaving behind oceans or lakes. But they weren¡¯t lacking in water. In fact, it was quite the opposite below the surface. The ground was freezing, but water still flowed into it instead of just freezing on top. At least, in part. Actual ice in the cities was intentionally removed, but underground it seemed to flow like a liquid despite being well below freezing in most cases. What he read didn¡¯t reveal all the details, but it was a combination of particulates mixed into the water combining with the absurdly low temperatures. Without that, Aipra would have likely perished. Instead, they were able to create wells to draw upon the water for themselves and their crops. Small crops, for the most part. Some root vegetables and weird leafy plants that didn¡¯t look any good but were consumed regardless. Things that could survive without sunlight, though it took infusions of natural energy to make them grow. That was just a small part of what allowed them to survive. Anton was impressed, and had little he could think to offer them. However, perhaps a cultivator like Nalini would know. Using a combination of written and spoken language, he could doubtless make actual contact, if she was not busy. ----- Prospero Vandale found him in space on the far side of enemy territory. The Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory had grown and shrunk somewhat over the course of the war, but they had their core in a series of systems since their debut. Going around them wasn¡¯t impossible, though time consuming. But he had a good reason to make the trip, visiting some allies. Or at least enemies of enemies. The One Thousand Palm Sect was not on good terms with the Harmonious Citadel, and their leader Prasad was quite open about that. He had been influenced to make a move on the Harmonious Citadel some decades before, but now was time to engage in deeper coordination. Coming face to face with Prasad himself, Prospero found the man quite intimidating. He was a largely built man, though his muscles were not terribly bulky. But his body alone wouldn¡¯t mean much to an Integration cultivator- or an Augmentation cultivator like he was. It was his energy that made him larger than life, sometimes literally. He seemed to take up the whole room in his rather opulent formal chambers. Prospero determined that it was in part due to his intentions, and in part simply related to his power. ¡°So they send a youth,¡± Prasad said. ¡°Interesting. Come. Sit.¡± Certainly, Prospero knew his current appearance was young. And even if he counted the several centuries of his previous life, it was likely that Prasad was a good bit older- though he did not appear old or wrinkled. ¡°Thank you for receiving me here,¡± Prospero said. ¡°I find myself impressed by the power and wealth of your sect.¡± Prasad didn¡¯t seem above a bit of flattery, and it was quite true. ¡°As a representative of the Scarlet Alliance, we were hoping to work together more closely with relations to dealing with the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°What, am I not doing enough?¡± Prasad asked. ¡°Ten worlds in as many years conquered does not satisfy you?¡± ¡°On the contrary, we are aware of your effectiveness,¡± Prospero smiled politely. ¡°But surely you wouldn¡¯t wish to limit yourself to such efforts. The saints¡­ well, they are still a powerful force, if less so than they once were. Running into them at the wrong time could be a problem for you- or conversely, if you were able to come upon any of them unexpected, you would have your own advantage. ¡°You are powerful, but not so much that you can defeat five Augmentation cultivators at once. Or more, perhaps.¡± ¡°More?¡± Prasad raised an eyebrow. ¡°Everyone knows of the eight saints. And with three dead¡­¡± ¡°That would be the case, if the Harmonious Citadel were as straightforward and Righteous as they claim. But we both know that is not the case. After all, their saint of light¡­ seems to be a member of the Exalted Quadrant. And no,¡± Prospero emphasized the word, ¡°Not a former member. But here under their direction.¡± ¡°Trouble waiting to happen,¡± Prasad shook his head. ¡°But if they choose to cause trouble, your people will be more in their line of fire than ours.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°And the opposite with the Trigold Cluster.¡± The man clicked his tongue. ¡°We can¡¯t afford another war between them here.¡± ¡°Certainly not,¡± Prospero agreed. ¡°But first, we must deal with the citadel. Of the remaining members, who would you prefer to go up against?¡± ¡°Shield, morningstar, axe, and the saint of light. The last one¡­?¡± Prasad frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t recall.¡± ¡°Daggers.¡± ¡°Ah yes. The assassin. Not a concern for me. As for the saint of light, I¡¯d rather not have to deal with him. Shield is a pain. Either morningstar or axe would provide a straightforward enough battle.¡± ¡°Would you win?¡± Before the man could take offense, Prospero continued, ¡°Could you take them out of the picture permanently without them being able to flee?¡± ¡°That would depend on them. I wouldn¡¯t lose, though.¡± ¡°We have plans for all of them,¡± Prospero said. ¡°The next one that falls¡­ well, it will depend on what backup they are able to reveal afterwards. If you work with us to keep track of their movements, we can attempt to maneuver a favorable battle your way.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± the well-muscled man nodded. ¡°And what about you?¡± ¡°What about me?¡± ¡°Do you wish to battle?¡± ¡°At this time¡­ I doubt either of us would benefit from such a thing,¡± Prospero shook his head. ¡°I am not under any illusions that I could even force you to expend serious effort.¡± ¡°Maybe that Tauno fellow will, then.¡± ¡°It could be suggested to him,¡± Prospero said. ¡°An exchange of pointers could be useful for all involved.¡± At least until after the Harmonious Citadel was dissolved. Even then, it would likely be decades or centuries before the space between the One Thousand Palms and the Scarlet Alliance was claimed by either side. Assuming the Scarlet Alliance remained together after the defeat of their common enemy. ----- The Great Queen was capable of flight on a level satisfactory for interpersonal combat, but travel between systems was outside of her abilities. At the very least, she had no desire to attempt it, hoping to find enough energy to sustain her on her route, especially since it wouldn¡¯t be faster than a proper ship. Such was one that had carried her on her most recent journey. Though it was not solely for her own sake, she was part of the reason for the journey. Of course, there was a desire to explore ingrained into many from Rutera, a desire which Weos and Ceretos shared. ¡°Well, here we are,¡± said the woman in charge. The Great Queen tried to remember her name. Matija, it was. Names were part of humans, so it was best to remember them if she could. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I would want to go much further.¡± The Great Queen looked out the window- though she cared little about what she could see with her eyes. It was simply the location least insulated from the outside energy, or lack of it. In front of them was a dead zone, lacking in natural energy. But beyond that¡­ well, it was like staring at a banquet scattered over a wide field. The Great Queen was not averse to eating off of the floor, unlike humans. She signed, indicating her words to the explorer with her. ¡°The upper realms. Full of ascension energy.¡± ¡°And deadly, to those who are not ready for it. Ignoring the dangers of the border.¡± The Great Queen was quite pleased to communicate directly. Not everyone learned the void ant¡¯s sign language, instead relying on translation devices. It was slower and less personal, though at some point the Great Queen would not have cared about the latter. ¡°We cannot get closer?¡± she asked. ¡°We¡¯re still developing ships that run without using natural energy at all. It¡¯s¡­ many times more difficult. Information from Engineer Uzun might allow us to make something that could swap between energies, but it would be difficult to test.¡± ¡°Could not Anton help?¡± ¡°Eventually, sure,¡± Matija agreed. ¡°But the upper realms are currently occupied with the war anyway.¡± ¡°One war after another. I doubt there will ever be times of true peace.¡± ¡°No, but we can hope. Or at least have our current allies at peace.¡± ¡°We could aid greatly, in the upper realms,¡± the Great Queen signed. ¡°Yes. But you know how people will react.¡± ¡°Extermination,¡± the Great Queen admitted. ¡°I am aware. I believe we were intentionally eradicated from the upper and lower realms. Though I hold out hope for there being hidden colonies.¡± ¡°If you were in the upper realms¡­¡± Matija shook her head. ¡°I could slay Augmentation cultivators as easily as Integration or Life Transformation cultivators,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Or if not, I would rapidly reach that level of power. But that day may never come. I do wish to aid our allies there, if we could.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, the border is a great divide. Someone like Chikere cutting her way across doesn¡¯t often happen. Except, perhaps, every Ascension cultivator.¡± ¡°The mysteries of cultivation are foreign to me,¡± the Great Queen admitted. ¡°I simply must understand what can slay me, and what cannot. I am quite pleased that Nthanda is a friend and not an enemy.¡± ¡°It will be a great risk for whoever makes the first attempt,¡± Matija said. ¡°That much is certain.¡± ¡°I have heard of freezing. Cryogenics?¡± the Great Queen spelled the words out. ¡°We could send some young ants.¡± ¡°And have them die?¡± Matija shook her head. ¡°It would be a waste.¡± ¡°It was merely a thought. In fact, it would do us no good if uneducated spawn were to reach the upper realms. They would need a proper guide, or they may make the mistakes of the ancestors.¡± ¡°Which were?¡± Matija asked. ¡°Not making friends with cultivators. No matter our advantages, we cannot stand against a world of cultivators. Nor should we. Instead, with some on our side¡­ we are undefeatable.¡± Of course, the Great Queen knew better than any that the void ants could indeed perish. She was the oldest of those alive, and had seen the most death before and after her proper awakening to intelligence, and her joining Anton. But she also firmly believed that while an individual was mortal, a well put together alliance could be eternal. Chapter 716 As the rogue planet of Aipra casually drifted through subspace, it remained open to attacks by distortion beasts. However, despite that factor it seemed they were relatively infrequent. Then again, they didn¡¯t appear to be that common in general. Anton had only encountered a small handful in his career, though one sect on Ekict appeared to have techniques meant to make use of ¡®smaller¡¯ ones. Their records had been preserved for study, but actual practice of the techniques as written was quite forbidden. Somewhere around eight months had passed since the distortion beast attack. For a planet that seemed relatively easier for them to attack, Anton was uncertain how long of an average would be odd. Then there were other factors¡­ like lacking the gravitational potential of the rest of a system. Regardless of what should be expected, another one did in fact arrive after eight months. This one was the largest he had ever seen, at least relative to the dimensions he could see. He noticed it because the already dim presence of stars slowly began to fade as the creature wrapped itself around Aipra. Anton expected the planet to react with great vigor, sending all of their strongest cultivators to combat it. Alternatively, if Nalini was the only one he expected her to do something. But instead of either of those, another lone cultivator was the only power he felt. Unlike most of the other distortion beasts, Anton didn¡¯t see anything directly threatening except the size of the thing. It was like a large leathery sheet¡­ but the menacing way it was moving to encircle the planet made it a clear threat. The new cultivator had a simple power, making use of something Anton hadn¡¯t even considered. Energy reached up out of the atmosphere to grab ¡®nothing¡¯, but there was in fact something there. Random small bits of debris that Anton instinctually ignored as a natural part of the planet suddenly turned into dangerous projectiles. It only took a slight nudge to bring them out of their orbit and towards the distortion beast at an oblique angle. With the addition of energy to bolster their durability, they crashed into the creature. Each piece only made a small hole in a seemingly endless creature, but the damage quickly began to add up. Like the time with Nalini, the sole defender was aided not by another active cultivator, but by the planet as a whole, people all over the planet reacting to the threat and focusing their devotion to the defender. But of course, Anton was going to add his own efforts to the battle. He had already revealed himself, so waiting for the threat to draw closer was foolish. Anton had no idea what part of this thing was vulnerable, so he began to shoot anywhere he pleased, trying to discern some difference in the reaction. Instead, he simply contributed holes in different places than the planetary defender. Except not even that. His holes were more precise and focused, but eventually he began to notice something. Smaller wounds simply closed up. And while he was certain that it must take some form of energy, he didn¡¯t know if it was a worthy endeavor to try to wear it down. But he hadn¡¯t spent so much time cultivating for nothing. While he no longer had the bladed bow from the Million Sword Vault, it had still taught him a new technique. So instead of focusing in making as many holes as he could, he began with a few large gashes. But unfortunately, the thin wounds still meant that the horrible flesh knitted together. Strangely enough, despite its vast area, the creature seemed to be only a few fingers thick. Though that could be a matter of perception, as distortion beasts were incomprehensible. The increasing power from the planetary defender was filling the distortion beast with more odd shaped holes than it could regenerate, but Anton was getting concerned about it closing in on the planet. If it just grabbed onto the surface and squeezed¡­ would it crush every cultivator outside of a barrier? Anton also wondered why the others were doing nothing. At least Nalini existed, and probably others. Some freezing arrows would be nice about now. But lacking that, Anton began to focus on flaming blades shot from his bow, leaving burning gashes in the creature. Those certainly healed up more slowly, but Anton had even better ideas. Since the creature seemed uninterested in defending itself, he began cutting across his previous shots, removing a vaguely square chunk of the creature. Or at least, that was the plan- but while he certainly cut part of it loose, the position of the leathery flesh remained in place relative to everything else around it. It was going to take more than that, then. Since he was causing some damage at least, Anton began to focus on creating the longest gashes he possibly could. From the ends of his bow extended hooks of energy, turning it into a single ten meter tall bow, upon which he gathered more energy, especially ascension energy. He followed an arrow as it left his bow, flattening into a blade and cutting through the ever closer distortion beast. Then he circled around and came at it from behind, sewing in and out of the thing at shallow angles. Ten meters at a time wasn¡¯t enough. He was barely outside the atmosphere now. The guardian had launched most of the available debris, and was now tearing boulders off of mountain tops. Anton couldn¡¯t have imagined greater peril while simultaneously being fully unconcerned for his own life. He would survive. The cities would. But it could likely crush the bodies of those in smaller villages. But Aipra had not survived so long to simply fall to an unexpected distortion beast. Anton felt a great pulse of energy from the planet as a whole as the creature drew closer, pushing outward into it as it wrapped itself more tightly around the planet. Surprisingly, a sizable portion of the beast tore away- and it actually disconnected from the rest. Somewhere around a third of the visible portions of the creature fell as the rest was blasted away- perhaps willingly, as the connoted portions of the creature seemed to intentionally retreat. The falling mass of the creature was effectively a continent sized parachute as it fell. Anton wanted to do more to stop it, but he couldn¡¯t catch such a thing. Indeed, Anton wondered if attempting to cut it into smaller pieces would cause it to impact with more velocity. Gravity strained against air pressure, and the whole thing picked up speed, crashing into Aipra. The vast distance it covered caused the crash to happen over the course of several minutes around different parts of the planet. Some buildings toppled. Some foolish individuals who were outside were crushed- though the distributed weight didn¡¯t always kill people. It was a disaster, covering a large portion of the planet. Anton wondered if people could breathe. He immediately began to cut apart what he could, freeing people and focusing on buildings that were on the verge of collapsing. But he was not the only one. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Though there was certainly fear among the people- reasonable, given the conditions- there was no panic. They acted in coordination, making use of their own cultivation to begin to save themselves, then their neighbors. It was a thing of great beauty, even among disaster. And even as people chopped up bits of distortion beast to free themselves, Anton heard people wondering if it could be used for anything. ¡°Do you think it could be made into a blanket? Or maybe a pavilion¡­¡± Of course, along with the positive, there was the negative. Anton had no idea how many buildings were destroyed, how many people died. But even as disaster struck, Anton knew that Aipra had survived before, and would continue to survive afterwards. The rogue planet being only slightly smaller than Ceretos meant that close to a third of the planet being covered at first seemed like an insurmountable task. Anton could only help so many individuals. And the planetary guardians seemed to be doing nothing. Then a small mote of ice caught Anton¡¯s attention. In effect, a miniscule arrow shot by Nalini. It drew his attention to her city. Knowing it must be for a reason, he approached. She stepped out of the city as he flew closer. ¡°Do you¡­ want something?¡± Anton spoke awkwardly, unused to vocalizing their language. ¡°You understand?¡± ¡°I speak enough,¡± Anton said. The old woman nodded. ¡°You¡­ recover quickly? Tire slowly?¡± ¡°Slowly¡­ yes,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But I will eventually run out of energy.¡± ¡°You fly quickly.¡± Anton nodded. Outside the atmosphere, at least. If he was going far, it was often more efficient for him to leave atmosphere to circle around a planet. ¡°Can you¡­ deliver supplies?¡± Anton was honestly surprised he was asked. Not because he thought such a mundane task was beneath him, but because a powerful cultivator like her held the same opinion. He couldn¡¯t imagine people from the Trifold Alliance who didn¡¯t know him asking for that. Then again, Aipra might know nothing of other cultivators. What they had was a spirit of cooperation. ¡°I can,¡± Anton said. ¡°You may¡­ enter the city,¡± she gestured- and pulled out a token that he imagined would get him through the barrier. ¡°Follow me.¡± Around the city, Anton saw people scrambling to cut apart the distortion beast draping over the barrier, stacking it into piles. Inside the city, everyone was busy doing something, carrying tools or food or many other things. Nalini brought Anton to a large warehouse, with neatly packaged foodstuffs. Water and dried rations. Not particularly exciting, but important. ¡°Bring these to the seventy-second county.¡± ¡°Where is that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°They are the most remote. At the center of this disaster,¡± she pointed. ¡°You can find it?¡± ¡°How much of this do I take?¡± Anton asked. ¡°One pallet.¡± It was both a large amount, and very little. But that was how such things tended to be. Dealing with anything at great scale quickly reminded Anton of how much stuff there was. ¡°Okay. And what else?¡± ¡°When you return, I will direct you.¡± ¡°I can carry more.¡± ¡°Truly? We would not want¡­ to tire you. Or to lose anything. How much can you carry?¡± Anton looked in his storage bag. ¡°Maybe a tenth of it on each trip can fit in my storage bag.¡± ¡°A tenth¡­ of this?¡± she gestured to the large warehouse. ¡°... Storage bag?¡± Rather than try to explain with words, Anton put a pallet of stuff in his bag, then pulled it back out. ¡°See?¡± Then he began loading more. ¡°Where else?¡± ¡°Have them direct you to other county centers. Larger places.¡± Anton nodded, filling his bag to just below bursting. Then he was off. The next few days were filled with very little sleep. Anton had to slow his flight to match the rate he could replenish his energy- he couldn¡¯t draw much from the planet even if he wanted to, so he had to rely on his diminished connection to his stars. And yet, he felt he recovered faster than the individuals or the planet as a whole did. Aipra felt drained. And it would likely take a long time to replenish. Anton was confident they would manage as long as another disaster didn¡¯t come quickly, but even they hadn¡¯t anticipated something quite like this. Death and destruction, yes, but not in quite the manner that it happened this time. Everywhere he went, Anton was given strange looks. A man whose energy clearly did not match, with a strange accent, who pulled things out of nowhere¡­ well, he already knew what things they were saying when they thought he was out of earshot. But regardless of their confusion about him in particular, everyone was grateful. The heads of the counties received their food and directed him towards the next, while immediately working on their own distribution and rescue plans. During the course of a week, the leathery hide of the distortion beast- which was as far as Anton knew the only body part the thing had possessed- shriveled and dried out slightly. While that made it lighter, it also reduced its area, meaning anything wrapped around a building caused additional damage. And while there were cultivators all over the region, and coming in from neighboring sections of the planet as much as they could, it was clear they weren¡¯t equipped to travel far. They traveled by foot, with nothing in the way of mounts, pulling wagons by hand to bring supplies to the outer edges. The scene was both beautiful and horrific, as parts of the distortion beast began to smell and people continued to help each other. Anton thought it was quite fortunate that the beast¡¯s flesh didn¡¯t seem to be poisonous, despite the foul smell. At least, there weren¡¯t any immediate consequences. The citizens of Aipra worked with determination, feeding their hungry, healing their injured, and burying their dead. And each day, they cultivated, the flow of energy spreading throughout the planet- though clearly thinner in the damaged region. Anton marveled at the hardiness of the people, and how they could keep a smile on their face- as much as they had smiled before, at least. They weren¡¯t exactly dancing in the streets, but they hadn¡¯t given into despair before, and they would not now. When interconnections between towns, villages, and larger cities were being reforged and any emergencies were finally dealt with, Anton allowed himself to rest. That involved picking an empty area and just plopping himself down for what he was fairly certain was a several day nap, after which he was hungry. He rarely had to eat, but without direct access to his stars eating would be more valuable to him. But he didn¡¯t feel like eating when the planet had barely enough food for everyone. Barely enough- but they still managed to store up for disasters, and distribute it among them. Anton was going to have a lot of questions for Nalini, and he would hopefully be able to answer some in return. He didn¡¯t have great experience in enchantments like making storage bags, but he could translate some information he had on him to help in various ways. Aipra was able to survive, but he wanted to do whatever he could to help it thrive. Even if he brought it just one step closer. Chapter 717 Once they had time outside of the crisis, Anton actually got to sit down and speak with Nalini. From what he could surmise the other planetary guardian was resting, and any others were either keeping themselves fresh for more distortion beasts¡­ or keeping themselves concealed in case Anton himself was a threat. But he didn¡¯t mind that, since Aipra had to take care of itself. ¡°Why are you here?¡± the straightforward question came from Nalini. ¡°I spotted you during my travels and I was intrigued,¡± Anton said. ¡°... is that all?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if you realize how uniquely situated you are. Unless you are aware of other rogue planets in subspace?¡± Nalini shook her head, ¡°We have vague knowledge of other cultivators from long in the past. But we have no records of encountering anyone from the outside since our current state.¡± ¡°Your current state¡­¡± Anton asked, ¡°Were you not always here, in subspace?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Nalini shrugged. ¡°This¡­ not-space you speak of, it is here?¡± She gestured around her. How to explain that? His growing familiarity with the language was still lacking in deep concepts. ¡°Let me see if I can explain with few words. You know of stars?¡± ¡°The dim lights in the sky,¡± Nalini nodded. ¡°The records say they are made of fire.¡± ¡°So you were outside of subspace¡­ or at least have knowledge of it,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Probably. Regardless, they are more real where I am from. They have many planets around them, like Aipra. The suns provide light and heat.¡± ¡°Truly? That sounds¡­ nice.¡± ¡°It is much easier to live with such a source of energy,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Do they not burn up quickly?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°At such a size, they last unfathomable amounts of time. Years numbering in thousands of thousands are the shortest lived.¡± Nalini nodded. ¡°So you came here because we were strange. Where were you traveling?¡± ¡°I was looking for other cultivators. If you do not have contact with others, then that also means you are not troubled by the upper realms. How should I explain it¡­¡± Anton briefly explained the conflicts with the Trigold Cluster and Exalted Quadrant, and how he wanted to help others stand against them. ¡°... if this world of stars is so full of disunity, perhaps it is not worth living there.¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I think most lives are worth living. And there are so many people¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°Compared to here, even a single similarly sized planet can sustain many more people. You have¡­ a few hundred million people, perhaps?¡± Stating that number was more roundabout than the direct words, since million hadn¡¯t been in his common usage. He didn¡¯t want to think about how many might have died in the recent disasters. Too many. ¡°Even the less populated worlds tend to have five or ten times as much. Some have many more. With the ability to expand, people fight over resources.¡± ¡°It is¡­ a shame,¡± Nalini said. ¡°It should not be necessary, with so much available to them.¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But not everyone is good. Even here, you have criminals do you not?¡± ¡°Lapses of judgment come upon many,¡± Nalini agreed. ¡°Most understand their duties to the whole.¡± ¡°If they didn¡¯t, I don¡¯t imagine you would still survive,¡± Anton said. ¡°I quite admire what you have here. I would offer seeds for plants¡­ but the majority of them are meant for planets with sunlight.¡± Though he did have a few they might make use of. Along with other things, if they wanted his help. ¡°But I would not want to disrupt things.¡± ¡°You have caused no harm,¡± Nalini said. ¡°Though perhaps we will not dazzle the common populace with stories about an outside world. Here, we have unity.¡± That was fair enough. Revealing information without making it possible for people to leave might only cause despair. And thus, simply informing the populace could cause harm. So if it was a difference between keeping secrets and informing everyone, Anton had to err on the side of the decision making of those who lived here. Though if it were wholly up to him, he would have liked everyone to have the choice to learn more. Besides, they shouldn¡¯t be fully trapped here. He could leave, and while it was difficult for him to bring anyone with him using his techniques¡­ there were still options. Even if they would take a long time to come to fruition. ¡°What do you know of Ascension?¡± Anton asked. They didn¡¯t have a proper word for that, actually. ¡°Cultivating to attune to another source of power beyond Life Transformation, leaving behind a world?¡± ¡°It sounds awful,¡± Nalini said directly. ¡°Leaving a world behind after everyone brought you to such a status¡­ it should be disdained.¡± She drew back, ¡°Did you do such a thing?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I am on a different path. But where I am from, individuals are responsible for gathering their own natural energy for their cultivation, or at most they work with a sect. Even if we have alliances on a grander scale, or cultivation is individual.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°That sounds wasteful.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I am certain there are risks to these methods as well. Nothing is perfect. I intend to stay some time until I can speak in depth about cultivation, if you wish to. Or I can leave at any time.¡± ¡°We do not need you to leave,¡± Nalini said. ¡°You have aided us, even if you were not part of us. Many lives were saved. As long as you cause no harm, you are welcome.¡± So he would stay. But while Anton knew he could probably spend an eternity learning about any individual world, he knew he had to leave eventually. Another year at most, and even that seemed like it might be too long. ----- The architectural style of the buildings Engineer Uzun had constructed was now familiar to Catarina, but she had ascended before contact with Rutera was established. The style had only followed a century behind her, and it was still limited to a relatively small population of those who actually considered it their own. A few other ascension cultivators from Rutera and their few generations of descendents. Engineer Uzun himself had no children. Catarina could have easily ended up the same, were it not for Timothy. And just having one child had been difficult enough. They might plan to have another, but based on Chidi it was clear there were risks. They likely wouldn¡¯t get so lucky again. ¡°You asked for my assistance?¡± Catarina asked, joining Engineer Uzun in a sort of conference room. ¡°Assistance and consultation, among other names,¡± the man nodded. ¡°I have been presented with a puzzle from the lower realms. A challenge, even. But fulfilling the requirements to answer might cause more trouble.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t it always?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Every development has risks.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Uzun nodded, ¡°But these are greater and require careful consultation. In the worst case, it could open up the lower realms to invasion at the whims of the upper realms without relying on the tides of the world.¡± ¡°That sounds¡­ problematic,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°What is the issue at hand?¡± ¡°Simply this, making ships that can travel between upper and lower realms.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t imagine that would be good for cultivators,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Immersing oneself in upper energy, or facing the desert of lower energy¡­ this is why ascension is so difficult.¡± ¡°But part of the problem is solving those risks. And if we can do it for ourself, then it can be stolen and used by others. Or it must be kept very small scale and unknown. The origin of this conundrum is the void ants. They wish to colonize the upper realms.¡± ¡°They would be of great help,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And a threat to the surroundings powers,¡± Uzun pointed out. ¡°But at first, not in a beneficial way. They would wish to wipe us out.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°We will carefully consider it¡­ though there is a chance they will decided to do so regardless.¡± ¡°I will bring the matter up to the council, and lean on the guidance of those in the lower realms as well. But it matters little until there is a practical option. There are concerns for every option. The Great Queen proposed some¡­ interesting options. They all come with some risk. Among other things, the separation of the void ants from the Great Queen. She has the respect to keep all in line within the lower realms. Possibly even as they continue to expand. But if colonies are established here and decide they are better off without us as allies- or even joining the other side?¡± Uzun shook his head. ¡°It would be a disaster.¡± ¡°From what I have heard, the void ants are unwaveringly loyal.¡± ¡°They are still imperfect beings,¡± Uzun said. ¡°And some of these concerns came from the Great Queen herself. For example, the simple method of freezing a queen and sending her through the gap to land on a planet. Should she awake, will she remember her goals? The lessons the void ants have learned in community with cultivators?¡± ¡°That is a slight problem,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°And there would be no one to guide them back on the correct path. Especially if they do not speak. Should they become aggressive, the only option is to wipe them out quickly or risk death. It is not like sending a stronger cultivator to suppress them is beneficial.¡± ¡°You could use a flamethrower though,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°If necessary.¡± ¡°I¡­ could, yes.¡± Uzun admitted. ¡°Mundane flames could likely kill all but the sturdiest of them. Not that I expect to be involved in combat with them, nor would I want to. The point is to avoid it even being an option. The Great Queen spoke of rising¡­ independence¡­ among her people. A few individuals have their own take on her ideals. So far, she finds she supports their interpretations.¡± ¡°But there could be some that fully go rogue,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°But the logic for cooperation still exists. And our enemies would be hard pressed to even begin communications with them. I imagine that won¡¯t be a problem.¡± ¡°They could turn feral, though,¡± Uzun said. ¡°Another possibility presented by the Great Queen, you must understand. If the queen does not grow to the point of sapience, her offspring may not gain it either. And while it is assumed that they would quickly gain it feeding on upper energy, that is only an assumption. Should it be otherwise, they would simply be clever ants capable of hunting down anything with great energy and seeking to devour it. And while a few dozens of colonies limited to a few billion ants is already a great many, imagine if they took over whole planets. They seem to have innate knowledge of conservation, and thus are unlikely to wipe themselves out by devastating the ecosystem.¡± Uzun shook his head. ¡°But that wasn¡¯t the point. I want to ask about formations. And you have also made the switch from lower energy to upper, so you are aware of the pitfalls.¡± ¡°I can indeed help you with ideas.¡± ¡°And it may be that we should create purely technological ships, without even the old Ruteran methods,¡± Uzun said. ¡°Running on alternate power sources. But there is still the issue of capture and reverse engineering. I know our enemies don¡¯t currently understand technology, but I would not want to bet that they cannot. They might be arrogant old fogeys, but that doesn¡¯t mean we should be arrogant younger versions and assume they can¡¯t learn¡­ given time.¡± ¡°Time is something cultivators have in abundance,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°I suspect that the spread is inevitable, but the slower we can make it outside of our control, the better. And of course we can have self-destroying technology.¡± ¡°That will slow them down,¡± Uzun agreed. ¡°But nothing like that is perfect.¡± ¡°Yeah, even Everheart¡¯s reckless disregard for people surviving intended uses of his formations¡­ well, it is possible to learn much he doesn¡¯t want people to learn.¡± ¡°Exactly. But we¡¯re not here to solve all the problems. Just to get things started, in case we go forward with some of these options.¡± Chapter 718 Despite another year of effort, the only thing Anton was able to provide Aipra was a slight relief from the pressure of distortion beasts and a few useful techniques. Most of them weren¡¯t impossible for the local cultivators to come up with, but they had little time to devote to anything but bare survival. He was able to exchange cultivation pointers with Nalini, but they had branched down different paths so it was not like he could properly guide her. Just give her ideas for further development. ¡°If only you could reap the benefits of a sun¡­¡± Anton sighed. ¡°Are they really so valuable?¡± Nalini asked. ¡°For you specifically?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°It would likely throw off your cultivation. But Aipra is on the verge of losing a functional flow of energy.¡± ¡°It has been this way for generations, and will continue to be so. We will not let our planet fall. It merely requires everyone to continue working together.¡± ¡°So it is,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Thank you for your hospitality. And good luck. I plan to return for another visit at some point, but I cannot guarantee that I will. I could misjudge your trajectory and never find you again.¡± ¡°We will be no worse off than before we met you. No, in truth you were quite helpful,¡± the icy archer said. ¡°But we had no expectation nor hope for your arrival, so we shall not count on more benefits from you.¡± ¡°I intend to tell others about your existence, if you do not mind. I imagine some would be interested in seeing this place as well. They would make it worthwhile, I am certain.¡± She thought for some time before eventually answering. ¡°Only if they return with you. From what you have said, many outsiders are untrustworthy. We would need to be certain.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°And we would not wish to treat you as exhibits to gawk at¡­ but I know many intelligent individuals who may be able to provide ways to improve the quality of life upon Aipra.¡± Even some simple technology would be helpful, though it was unlikely they would have the fuels required to run non-cultivator tech. Anton could imagine people would be happy to spend effort developing ideas for the chance to visit a subspace rogue planet. Anton really hoped he would be able to return, but his measurements could only be so accurate with what he had on him. ¡°Very well. I am certain Aipra would be happy to see you return.¡± ¡°There is one more thing,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°I am sensitive to the flow of devotion, and aware of its value as a cultivation aid. Some number of strands are directed to me from this planet. I don¡¯t mean to disrupt your cultivation practices¡­¡± ¡°Worry not,¡± Nalini said. ¡°You will receive only what is proportional and fair for the value you provide.¡± ¡°Good. I would not wish to damage Aipra¡¯s already limited stores of energy. That¡¯s not why I helped.¡± ¡°We are aware. Otherwise, you would have intentionally spread your name and face to many, instead of simply assisting with the disaster relief. Either way, the stronger ties you feel would have been lost without your aid so nothing is lost.¡± Anton truly hoped he could return some time. It seemed they likely had deeper knowledge about devotion, and while he didn¡¯t want to exploit people¡­ understanding it was not going to hurt anyone. ¡°I must be off,¡± Anton said. ¡°Or we may remain in conversation for another year. Hopefully I will see this place again before too long.¡± ----- As Anton flew away from Aipra he took a short detour by each of its moons. He¡¯d visited them and found nothing of interest- mainly just chilled rock that the people would be unable to exploit. But he came back to get some samples, just in case someone could find value. This place really needed everything it could get. The fact that it had life at all was already amazing, but Anton wanted them to have every little advantage he could give. It was strange, moving away from the rogue planet. Normally he wouldn¡¯t be in subspace until he was much further from any sort of celestial body. This time, he had simply already been there. He had been quite surprised to see an actual feature instead of simply experiencing nothingness flow past him, and he hoped to do so again some day. Though he wasn¡¯t certain if he wanted to find other places just like them, given their struggles. He made his way towards the closest star. The planet was moving fairly quickly through subspace, but it hadn¡¯t put him very much off track. Less than a lightyear, even given the oddities involved. Stopping next to a real star and filling himself with his heat was a luxury he would try to never forget. Even the coldness of Gnadus was mitigated by a star, if one that was distant and dim. He wondered what that planet could have been like if its inhabitants had worked together. Actually, he supposed he didn¡¯t have to. Gnadus was more unified now than ever. Only people who chose to endure the environment for training stayed, and others had the option to leave. Some traditional groups would doubtless keep all its members for generations, but that was their choice. Anton hoped Aipra could have a choice eventually. A quick survey of the system he was resting in gave Anton time to fully recharge. He found nothing particularly notable about the planets- no doubt there would be many interesting places, but without life one of his main drives was missing. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Instead of leaving immediately, however, Anton remained around the edges of the system, simply looking. He looked not just at the stars and what was around them, but at the in between. The spaces of nothing- or nearly nothing. His interest in rogue planets had grown, knowing they could be more than just bare rock or balls of gas. If people lived upon them, he wanted to find them. But of course, they were not easy to find. For all his efforts, Anton found exactly one- a large gas giant that he nearly missed. He was lucky to notice it as it passed in front of a distant star, causing minute distortions. It took all his efforts to confirm he actually saw something instead of making it up. It had only a small energy signature, easily dwarfed by the relative power of the closer planets in the system behind him. But there it was, outside of subspace. Though that should really be the norm. He decided to visit it, even if it was days away from anything else at his fastest pace. It was comparatively much warmer than Aipra, though that wasn¡¯t much of a surprise. The movement of its various gasses would let off some heat, even if it left the planet well below freezing temperatures for water. Yet even that was still ¡®warm¡¯ in comparison. To establish their civilization, Aipra must have been founded by cultivators. Not that he expected different, but he still wondered why. Was it on purpose, or some accident? Perhaps they were traveling through subspace and crashed there. Either way, he admired their durability. As for this rogue planet, it wasn¡¯t anything much. Though he did log it for the sort of people who cared about that sort of thing. ----- ¡°A planet in subspace!¡± Matija waved her arms around. ¡°Do you know how many theories this affects?¡± ¡°No,¡± the Great Queen said straightforwardly. ¡°Also, this planet sounds like a terrible place to make a colony. I do not think any offspring could survive.¡± ¡°Is that all you have to say?¡± ¡°That is a primary concern to be considered,¡± the Great Queen replied. ¡°Uniqueness isn¡¯t of concern to me. Shall I take it that you are running off to this place posthaste?¡± ¡°Nah,¡± Matija shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not going to just give up on the work with you. And it¡¯s just a planet. If he found a star there? Well¡­ I assume he¡¯d probably bind to it, actually.¡± ¡°That is most likely. He has more to gain from uniqueness than my kind.¡± ¡°How come you''re not following him around? I¡¯m sure you could find good planets to colonize.¡± ¡°There are greater benefits to be obtained than my own improvements,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°And planets without a human presence would be lacking. There are many things we cannot establish properly, given our size. At least not at a tolerable rate. Besides, I do not believe we should expand for its own sake. That would only draw ire.¡± ----- Vincent was not surprised but also not expecting communication from Anton. Did he need something from the Order? Perhaps he had an estimate for when he would return. But it need not remain a mystery. It was a short message without much substance. It just thanked him for taking care of the affairs of the Order of One Hundred Stars while Anton was gone. An unnecessary gesture, but appreciated. As for when Anton would return? It seemed it would be a few more years at least. Perhaps a decade. That would be unfortunate for some aspiring archers who could use his guidance, but on the other hand¡­ Anton had plenty of writings that could guide archers in many styles. And for the sect as a whole, he continually updated the Path to One Hundred Stars, with notes not only from himself but other Assimilation and Ascension experts. Among those people was Vincent himself. It was strange, really, because Vincent hadn¡¯t ever seen himself reaching such a level. Or even the peak of Life Transformation. It wasn¡¯t that he had lacked talent, but his motivation for cultivation was minimal. For his purposes of recruiting he had mostly been strong enough. It was only around the time he recruited Anton he found himself lacking. If he could have stopped what happened to Anton¡¯s village¡­ that would have been best. Though he was unsure what the current state of the world would have been like, without Anton beginning his path of cultivation. Certainly different in many ways, and most likely far less prosperous. Vincent had been most motivated when Anton surpassed his cultivation. It was also something about the way he encouraged training. Anton valued cultivation for it making people better at whatever they were already going to do. Combat power was a sometimes necessary side effect. In Vincent¡¯s case, he had been encouraged to continue his recruitment efforts, and simply increasing his own travel speed and perceptive abilities helped with that. Now, most people came to the Order without any contact with him. They were famous across multiple worlds, after all. They weren¡¯t limited to just one location, either. While it was possible to travel around a planet or between planets much more easily than it had been a few centuries prior, it was still a bit difficult for those without much money, generally early in cultivation. The alliance didn¡¯t really have anyone who didn¡¯t cultivate at all, but some were certainly more casual about it, or perhaps unable to find a method that suited them and assuming they were low in talent. Vincent still delighted in making personal connections, however. So in addition to visiting all of the branches of the Order, he still personally reached out to a few individuals he felt had good potential, or otherwise fit the Order. Because he always thought and Anton agreed that it was better to have disciples that fit the spirit of the Order rather than ones who were simply good cultivators. The personal touch Vincent had certainly made a difference. Before becoming an Assimilation cultivator, there were almost so many that he wasn¡¯t able to remember everyone. But of course, that was a detail he truly cared about. He never wanted to encounter a situation where he recruited someone and then later forgot them if they didn¡¯t stand out from the crowd. How would that feel? In other sects, it might simply be the norm but Vincent didn¡¯t have to like that. He understood not everyone could keep a personal connection with so many, but he could at least remember names and details. What good was cultivation if he couldn¡¯t memorize a few little things? But as much as he affected many people in little ways, Vincent still thought Anton managed to do more. He was concerned with both individuals and the collective, and his friendly nature shone through. It was why Vincent had decided to approach the man in the first place. Teaching him cultivation hadn¡¯t ever been part of the plan. Vincent smiled as he imagined the current Anton tutting at him for assuming a ninety or one hundred year old couldn¡¯t begin cultivating. Though to be fair, it did take special caution. Or a reckless disregard for life and a driving passion. Chapter 719 At first it had just been casual interest that brought Rahayu to the edge of the Everheart system. He wanted to see what the most infamous Ascension cultivator from Ceretos was up to now. He¡¯d heard of the various treasures stored there, no doubt half truths meant to lure people into deadly traps. But by visiting himself, even without entering the system¡­ he was hooked. He could feel it. Just sitting there, tempting him. Rahayu grinned. He knew it had to be a trap, but how could he refuse something like that? The planet itself was covered by lines of strangely banded atmosphere, ranging through many colors. It didn¡¯t have the consistent gradient of a rainbow, but instead violet was the primary color. Then there were washed out bands of slate, intermingled with green and blue streaks. Rahayu kept his sword within his grip as he approached. He knew never to underestimate Everheart. This trap was probably for the now-dead sword saint, or for Rahayu¡¯s former apprentice, but it worked just as well on him. Actually, maybe it was for him. He couldn¡¯t write that one off. Everheart had to know he¡¯d ascended. Was there some remaining grudge between them worth killing Rahayu over? No, actually, had they ever really resolved anything? Hardly. But Rahayu wasn¡¯t going to just leave a blade like that sitting there unused. Death was one thing, not making proper use of swords was far worse. The warm side of the planet¡¯s oceans were boiling, but the side away from the sun seemed to be just below that point. Quite unlivable for non-cultivators, but not too difficult to deal with on its own. The whole thing was likely toxic though. Actually, there were a surprising number of planets in this system full of rare toxins. Maybe that was why Everheart had chosen it. Or maybe he added some of those after the fact. It wasn¡¯t Rahayu¡¯s job to know or care. He lined himself directly over the blade he wanted to liberate, slicing through the barriers and dropping down into what was almost certainly the real trap. Or possibly an additional layer of bait. He¡¯d find out once he got there. ----- A few years of lighter action was exactly what Tauno had wanted. There was only so much he could improve his cultivation in conflict with humans. And his equipment would fall behind too, if he let that happen. The Dancing Slayer Sect was not meant to forever sit in isolation, meditating on their path or energy. It was fine from time to time, and preceding his breakthrough to Augmentation had been necessary for secrecy. But now that the war was shifting in the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s favor, Tauno had some time to improve himself. He intended to take full advantage of it. The Harmonious Citadel probably had its saints frantically growing stronger as much as they could, though Tauno was unsure if they could actually relevantly change in just a decade or five. They hadn¡¯t been around as long as they claimed individually, but according to the Alliance¡¯s information they relied upon devotion to train. No doubt they were still receiving some from their brainwashed masses, but even they couldn¡¯t suppress all of the defeats¡­ and the deaths of three saints. One or two they might have handled. But ultimately, they were not the driving factor for Tauno. He wanted to grow for himself, and because of the pressure of his own allies. There were more than a dozen folk from the lower realms that seriously believed they could break through to Augmentation in another half or full century, and if nothing else he was certain they could reach the peak of Integration. Going beyond that was not as simple. Even so, he took note. Now that he finally had some freedom of movement, he took the opportunity to visit an untamed world. These were worlds teeming with beasts, either never having cultivator presences or having overrun whatever humans once lived upon them. Regardless, when a planet had a great amount of energy, so too did its inhabitants. He wanted to fight some flyers, or at least he was bored of things crawling along the ground. The location he picked was up in the mountains around tall cliffs. Even as he descended, he was set upon by giant birds who had probably never seen a human before. And they wouldn¡¯t get a second chance. Sharp claws and beaks scraped upon the scales that made up Tauno¡¯s armor, flecking off small bits of it. He countered with a blade made from bone, slicing apart their wings, displaying only the barest martial technique. He fell with the bodies, considering what he could do with the feathers and talons. Ultimately, they weren¡¯t better than anything he had so he would store them for sale to an outside cultivator. He needed something tougher, and he found it in a serpent. The creature was winding its way up between the rocks, and he wasn¡¯t able to react in time to its strike. The creature was merely four meters long, hardly impressive on the scale of beasts with cultivation¡­ but its fangs sunk right through his defensive energy and armor into his thigh. He felt the flash of movement and the sting, and the venom was injected before he could slash at the creature. His blade barely nicked the thing as it quickly pulled back, watching and waiting for him to fall. Tauno took a deep and slow breath, forcing a blockage on the flow of blood through his leg. It only took an instant before his blood had jellified and it wouldn¡¯t flow regardless. But that wasn¡¯t all. Sparks of pain shot from within his leg, nearly incapacitating him. He knew most of them weren¡¯t real, but good luck telling his brain that. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. He clenched his teeth, the muscles in his leg taut as he stepped forward. He had to swing his leg more like a peg, unable to bend it. The actual damage would have to be enumerated later. The serpent reacted to Tauno¡¯s sudden slash, dodging appropriately even though he appeared to be out of range. But he followed up, forcing it further back and off the edge of the cliff. He looked down, not expecting it to truly perish from the fall but interested in chasing after it. He didn¡¯t expect a tail to whip him in the face as it went over the edge, nor did he expect it to widen and begin to wriggle. Flaps of skin slowed its descent¡­ and then they undulated and caused it to fly up into the sky. Tauno wiped blood from his face where the sharp tip of the tail had cut his cheek. He felt a trace of numbness beginning there too. This would be a good one. With only a slight application of energy it seemed the serpent could fly at least for a short distance, and its movements were rapid. Tauno did his best to keep up with it, even though he knew it was trying to get the poison to spread through his system faster. His blade cut through scales as it tried to land another bite, but without the element of surprise he was able to stay ahead of it, even with a useless leg. Then he fell to the ground, and the snake thought it had a perfect opportunity. It didn¡¯t realize its mistake until the sharpened bone blade Tauno carried was sticking out of the roof of its head, his arm in between its fangs. Tauno couldn¡¯t help but grin. This thing had good scales¡­ and those fangs had to be useful for something. For him, they would be even greater. That was how the Dancing Slayer Sect made its way in the world. ----- So far, Anton had been disappointed with the neighborhood surrounding In¡¯istra. He had been expecting to find more cultivators, but perhaps he had expected too much. A few dozen systems wasn¡¯t that much in the grand scheme of things, and he¡¯d inspected several times more between the Trifold Alliance and Azun, with only four systems occupied. Two of those had been fairly obvious from neighboring systems, but two had been concealed. Then he found it, an entire system filled with a haze of natural energy. The entire planetary plane was practically swimming in natural energy. As Anton approached, he expected to find a system occupied by powerful cultivators but as he drew closer he realized he was quite wrong. The star he thought he¡¯d seen was not a star at all. It was a good order of magnitude dimmer than even the smallest red dwarf, but Anton had simply thought that would be because of stellar dust in the way. But instead, he found merely a particularly large gas giant surrounded by other planets. A brown dwarf, by some names. Too small to sustain nuclear fusion. Anton was disappointed in multiple ways. The system seemed to have so much potential, but it was just barely short. The brown dwarf could potentially provide minimal light and heat for a very close planet, but that greatly limited the options. On the other hand, the natural energy he thought was from overflowing planets actually was more of a trapped fog that the planets simply weren¡¯t powerful enough to condense around them. Only one planet had cleared out its ring, a small rocky planet that Anton surprisingly found life upon. Or rather, mostly inside. Beasts of various types living underground, both types similar to traditional burrowing creatures and novel ones. Many beasts had a small amount of cultivation, and there were plants that absorbed the natural energy and used it to grow. But being completely untouched by the presence of humans- as far as Anton could tell- he was rather unimpressed by the power level of the creatures dwelling there. There were a few more traditional planets, doing little to generate or absorb natural energy. Anton continued his survey from outer to inner. He was still hoping to find humans, but he felt no intentionality about anything in the system. But he continued inward, until he came to the innermost planet. It was compact, with a dense gassy atmosphere that made it nearly impossible to see the surface. Anton felt little hope, but he swept his senses across the planet trying to find cultivators. Nothing. He almost left just there, but something told him to look closer. Descending below the clouds, he was surprised to find buildings. Towns and cities¡­ and even people. He merely missed them because they didn¡¯t display much natural energy- or only the barest traces of it. On a close pass, he found several Body Tempering cultivators in a larger city, as well as one that he would have deemed around the level of a Spirit Building cultivator. It was simple enough for him to determine that they had been long disconnected from interaction with the wider cultivators, simply by listening to their language. Yet there was a small portion that was similar as well, indicating they had a tenuous connection. He could find no signs of destruction- at least not on a scale that would indicate this had happened in any of the previous two cycles due to the actions of the Trigold Cluster. If they had been previously invaded and purged, it was far beyond physical recognition. It was simply that they had little cultivation basis. It wasn¡¯t that a few individuals or sects were hogging everything- he would have sensed them. Though Anton couldn¡¯t entirely rule out a grand sect with a formation beyond his capabilities, he would have expected more higher ranking cultivators in general if that was the case. So then, what should Anton do? The easy answer was just to leave them. And Anton couldn¡¯t say it was wrong. They were not in constant turmoil. From what Anton could tell over the course of a week, they lived much like he would expect for a place with few cultivators. Sadly, that didn¡¯t mean it was all peaceful farming without danger and violence, only that the violence tended to come in the form of many mundane individuals. Across the whole of the planet, he found several places that seemed to be at war. It was either a travesty, or normal daily life. That would depend on who was asked, probably. So, it was not that they had no violence. In fact, they had plenty of their own. Would Anton improve anything by giving it to them, or would he cause more harm? He might even draw the attention of the upper realms. But¡­ he also wanted to shout better farming techniques down from the heavens. Before he could know for certain, he needed to know the people. That meant watching and listening, and learning their language. Hopefully he would be faster this time, with more experience with odd languages and it actually sharing some ties to the widespread language of cultivators. Chapter 720 The meeting between Zazil and Velvet was mainly casual, discussing minor matters pertaining to the Scarlet Alliance. This was not something that required a majority of the council to deal with. ¡°There is only one more matter,¡± the Dark Ring cultivator said to Velvet. ¡°There has been no contact with swordmaster Rahayu in some time.¡± ¡°How long?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°A little more than a year.¡± ¡°Well, he¡¯s probably off doing¡­ something. You know how he is.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Zazil said. ¡°But this time he was properly persuaded to leave behind the barest message that he would be doing something, instead of simply traipsing off. He had not indicated that he would be gone for long.¡± ¡°That is a bit concerning,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°But he might have simply failed to report back. On the other hand, his business could take longer.¡± ¡°You would know better,¡± Zazil agreed. ¡°Just thought it should be brought up. At least Chikere lets us know where she is, directly and indirectly.¡± The latter was mostly a trail of dead enemies, but it was still useful. Though she had lost some motivation as of late, with the sword saint dead. Then again, from Zazil¡¯s perspective¡­ an Integration cultivator killing just one single Augmentation cultivator and never having an impact again would still have been a great boon for them. The latest generation from the lower realms were quite something to see. Even if this Rahayu was closer to her own age than the rest, he maintained an impressive demeanor after ascension. ----- It was for the best that Anton had gotten practice with understanding language, because the planet he was surveying had more than just a single branch of language. It wasn¡¯t that odd, with the lack of powerful cultivators limiting globalization. It did make naming the planet a bit difficult, as they didn¡¯t agree on just one name. Ultimately Anton ended up sticking to the name that became his personal favorite, Poriza. It just had a nice ring to it. Though perhaps it was incorrect to accept a single name, because the planet was more than just one place. Obviously it was many different countries and cities, but there was no unity as a planet, beyond the simple disparity of naming conventions. Countries and small sects and clans were in constant turmoil. It wasn¡¯t an uncommon amount from what Anton understood, but there was never a time of true peace worldwide. There was so much he could do for them despite their lack of a true star, yet Anton was unsure if he should do anything. Empowering the wrong people would just make wars worse. He stood by his plans to increase the overall cultivation of people so that individuals were less unstoppable, though ultimately he wasn¡¯t sure how well that had worked. With the alliance at peace, none of their own people felt the need to take out the strongest, the Assimilation cultivators. So it hadn¡¯t really been tested. In a world that barely had cultivators at all, he was uncertain if a slight increase would help those on the lowest rungs, or merely add another tier in the power divide. It was difficult to admit, but Anton really couldn¡¯t do much for them at the current time. Though he was adamant about providing some useful farming tips where he could. In the worst case scenario, people would be prosperous enough to go to war with each other- which was already happening but some people were starving while they did so. Anything beyond that minimum he had to consider strongly. He wished he could just spend a small generation with these people learning more about them¡­ but he was still limited to being in one place at a time. He had no plans to change that. He¡¯d never be an Everheart that way, but on the other hand¡­ nobody in their right mind wanted to be Everheart. Maybe not even Everheart. Anton spent two years on Poriza, visiting common folk and providing them bits of practical and easy to implement advice to make their fields more efficient. He wasn¡¯t introducing anything so revolutionary as energy absorbing plants that would reshape the planet, just a simple basis of knowledge that farmers were too busy working to be able to experiment with. Ultimately he wanted to do more, but he had to consider how much what he did would actually help, and especially how cultivation related advancements might make the world draw the attention of the upper realms. Was putting people at risk of potential danger to make their daily lives better worthwhile? The answer was yes- but there was a balancing point that Anton couldn¡¯t say he was a perfect authority on. For the moment, he was content to bolster the lives of simple folk. ----- One of the first things Anton was going to do when he got back home was to get a proper translation device. But more than that, he wanted a technique for it. He couldn¡¯t rely on an object to not be destroyed. He was already forming the basis for it, based on some of the principles of Ten Thousand Scrolls. In short, a larger initial learning time for more efficiency when it actually came time to use it. Optimally he would be able to immediately have conversations upon dropping into a new area and surveying a few hundred conversations. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. And he was returning. In¡¯istra seemed to be mostly on its own, except for the hidden system of Aipra and the people of Poriza, neither of which could be enemies or allies of In¡¯istra in the near future. So it was finally time for Anton to return home again, taking a different route to cover alongside the corridor he¡¯d already explored on the way to Azun, his neutron star. ----- Over the course of his training, Tauno had made use of several sets of claws, talons, various bones, stingers, scales, feathers, and of course hides of creatures he slew. Everything he used himself would be enhanced by the Dancing Slayer Sect¡¯s techniques, and the rest stored away for someone else. Now he had traveled to a colder area on the inner mountaintops on the untamed planet he was training upon. A lingering sense of danger had been following him around, but neither birds of prey nor hidden serpents seemed to be the cause. The creature in front of him, while dangerous, could also not bring the sensation upon him. As beasts with cultivation went, it was barely oversized. Perhaps half again as tall as other creatures of its size. It was some sort of large goat or yak. Something wooly with significant horns. But the important aspect was its cultivation. Enough to be something Tauno had to take seriously, even if it didn¡¯t seem territorial enough to dominate the region. He could have very easily avoided the thing- it was likely vegetarian and would not hunt him down. But he also couldn¡¯t ignore the challenge of it, nor the benefits he might reap. If this thing¡¯s body was as tough as its compact nature would allow, one of its horns would actually be more valuable than something the size of a skyscraper. Compared to the bones of a hundred meter long lizard, a horn that was just about the right size to already be a spear was fantastic. Not only could it retain its purity of form- helpful but not required for synergy with the Dancing Slayer Technique- it should be able to match the whole of a larger creature, possessing greater density and durability. Though some of what allowed this creature¡¯s power was simply greater quantities of natural energy that might supplement such things, he still had high expectations. The first thing he did was throw a fang at it. While it wouldn¡¯t have the same results as a proper injection, the fang still had traces of the serpent¡¯s poison. Likely unused to range attacks even being possible, the hairy quadruped was unprepared and was struck fully in the side, the fang sinking past its fur. It quickly locked eyes on Tauno and charged at him, moving nimbly over rocks, ice, and snow. It lowered its head, swiping at him with a horn. He parried, but instead of careening past him the creature swiveled with surprising dexterity and swept at him with its other horn. Tauno¡¯s new armor received a clear gash. Good. This was the kind of thing he needed. He had to fight something with merit. While he would normally expect such a creature to rely on bulk, agility was a good surprise. Ultimately, however, it only had a few attack patterns available to it. Charging and swiping or stabbing with its horns, or if he tried to move behind it kicking at him with its rear feet. Tauno wasn¡¯t able to maintain a position on its sides for long, but he still managed to wound the creature severely. Just as he was gearing up for a final blow, made possible by the venom finally taking effect on the creature, he felt something stab into his lower back. His left kidney, in fact. As a cultivator, reacting to unexpected situations with haste was what kept them alive. He swept behind him with a new spear, driving away the attacker. However, the dagger plunged into him remained in position. He felt a twinge, more than just the pain of an injury. The second fang of the serpent he stabbed into his own gut from the front. He at least knew the negative consequences of that. He couldn¡¯t stop the poison from spreading very long, not without focusing too much of his energy on it. So he made that decision without any real thought. Instinct was the Dancing Slayer Sect¡¯s best feature. His stab knocked the dagger out of him, the remnants of venom instantly beginning to coagulate his blood. Hopefully, that would prevent most of the applies poison from getting to him. If not, maybe he would just die. He might already be dead. Tauno turned to grin at a seemingly empty expanse of swirling snow. ¡°Wasn¡¯t expecting to meet any snots today. Sorry, saints.¡± He thought the taunt was pretty good for the spur of the moment, but the assassin he knew had to be the dagger saint didn¡¯t show up. He flipped backwards, vaulting over the charging creature he¡¯d been locked in combat with. He had no doubt it could jump up high, but it wasn¡¯t expected the maneuver so continued under him. The yaklike creature didn¡¯t immediately spin around to face him, likely also sensing the hidden dagger wielder. Nobody was on a team, here. Everyone was enemies with everyone else, which was exactly what Tauno liked. A tiny shuffle of the creature¡¯s legs alerted Tauno to the location of the second adversary an instant before he picked up on the energy signature. His weapon spun, catching two daggers both stabbing together. That was instantly followed up by consecutive attacks. Just because this dagger saint was capable of assassination didn¡¯t mean she had to be a poor combatant. Tauno couldn¡¯t help but smile as he swing and stabbed his spear, while at the same time his guts struggled against him from two overlapping poisons. Seeing two perfectly good targets next to each other, the native creature charged the both of them. Instead of properly dodging away, Tauno leapt towards the creature, grabbing one horn and yanking to redirect it, adding his own energy on top of its own to stab into the dagger saint. Sadly, no physical contact was made and their combined energy barely even drew a drop of blood from the woman. And of course the yak was mad at Tauno, attempting to trample him. But Tauno was still pleased. He didn¡¯t know how this woman found him. He didn¡¯t care, at the moment. He just had to kill her. He only had one saint under his belt, after all. Might as well make it two. It was just too bad that humans rarely had any body parts worth making into equipment, though. Chapter 721 Even if they properly worked together, Tauno was uncertain if he and the hairy beast he was fighting could beat this assassin. The Harmonious Citadel¡¯s saints preferred to conceal their names for the narrative that they were eternal and limitless, and the dagger saint was secretive even before she secured her position. Thus, Tauno really didn¡¯t know her name. But the description had been accurate enough for him to determine it was her, and not some other Augmentation dagger wielder from the Harmonious Citadel. Which was good, because if there was an extra one of them, Tauno worried about the prospects of the Scarlet Alliance. Then again, if the Harmonious Citadel could actually crush them, they would have done so decades before. But instead of worrying about that, Tauno realized he should be considering how to stay alive. Poisons wrestled in his guts, one turning his blood into jelly and hopefully keeping much of the other contained. He dodged away from his yaklike opponent that would still be quite happy to spear him. The open terrain around was a danger, allowing his enemies to come from every direction. With a few quick movements, Tauno dashed towards higher cliffs. He was unable to detect the dagger saint following him, though he presumed she did. The beast he had been fighting was too stubborn to give up. Which was exactly the sort of thing he liked in his opponents. It charged towards him, and he ducked out of the way as best he could. The wide horns gouged out a huge chunk of the cliff as the creature stopped itself and slashed towards him. He¡¯d hoped for it to run face first into the cliff, but unfortunately it wasn¡¯t that easy. At least he had one side that was protected, so he only had to watch somewhere around a hundred and eighty degrees around him. Plus above and below. A single redirected snowflake tipped him off to an incoming attack, and he managed to sway back, the dagger merely slicing into his scale and hide armor and not penetrating deeper. He couldn¡¯t afford more poison or bleeding wounds, so even if it took a bit more energy to achieve those results, that was what he had to do. He continued to circle around, counterattacking when he could but as often as possible getting the beast between him and the dagger saint. Its senses were top notch, so it could pick her out even as she tried to sneak past. She was fast, but even so it had to tire her out to avoid swiping horns while countering with her daggers. The compact beast continued to charge with intent to trample either of them. Once or twice it hit the cliffs, but the cliff always got the worst part of the equation. Stone was gouged out, earth trembling. And the beast wasn¡¯t stupid enough to actually hit its head, so it minded not at all. Tauno threw a few scavenged talons, using them like darts. He didn¡¯t expect to cause any serious damage, but he hoped he at least delayed the dagger saint¡¯s approach as he drew the ire of the beast once more. Then it charged him, energy extending beyond its horns and digging up masses of snow, dirt, and stone. Tauno dove forward under the creature¡¯s legs, twisting his body sideways. No doubt it never expected anything to intentionally get into trampling position, so it wasn¡¯t prepared to adjust its stride. Then it crashed into the cliff. The glint of a dagger came at the same time as the crashing cliff. Tauno swiped with his spear while rolling to stab a fang where he thought a foot must be. His movements prevented his throat from being cut, instead earning him a gash along a cheek. But any intended follow-ups were discarded with the desire to escape the collapsing cliff face. It would likely cause little actual damage to the dagger saint, but as Tauno was buried beneath it, he knew he could have taken advantage of the lack of mobility. He was quite happy that the beast seemed to find the collapsing cliff as an attack, and it continued to tear it apart with its horns, turning the temporary hazards into a longer term landslide. During that time, Tauno churned through the sludge of blood and poison in his guts. He then happily took advantage of the creature¡¯s distraction to strike with his spear, finishing off the exhausted creature. He half expected the dagger saint to strike then¡­ but it seemed she might have withdrawn. A shame, but he had two very sharp horns and some excellent hide to make something out of. If he was not wrong, he had survived a bout with the dagger saint¡­ which was good enough for him. Great, in fact, given that he was here for training. With new equipment and some experience, he thought he might end up ahead. Assuming the poison didn¡¯t have too many long term consequences. ----- For the first time in over a decade, Anton was back on Ceretos. Passing through the less populated but nonetheless settled outer planets, he finally reached his first home. It was good to be back. He had many people he wanted to speak to in person, instead of impersonally through communicators. And it was a place to rest. Too many things weighed down on his mind. People he wished to help, others he was uncertain if he should interfere with. Matters of the twin planets, In¡¯istra, Aipra, and Poriza were jostling around in his head. That was all without wondering about Ekict, though that wasn¡¯t his responsibility anymore. And he preferred to keep it like that. He was no longer bound to their star, and he felt that an appropriate end. Before he announced his presence, he sought out familiar presences. Lev, in the ever expanding domain of the Grasping Willows- the Grandfather Willow itself several times the width it had been when Anton first laid eyes upon it. Annelie, within the Palace of Fire and Ice. Treloar, of the Worthy Shore Society. Many others from both continents. Anton wasn¡¯t quickly able to find Nthanda, because her energy was quite restrained¡­ but he assumed she was around somewhere. Devon seemed to be visiting Paradise. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Finally, at the Order¡­ he found Vincent. Through their connection, had the man already realized his return? Perhaps that was the case. Regardless, Anton approached closer to the planet. He carried a token that would grant him access through the barrier- and while certain individuals might not know of his return, someone would. It was unfortunate that the comings and going had to be watched, but Anton found it preferable than letting in dangers. And he seldom had any reasons to make his arrival private. Anton descended through the atmosphere, towards a familiar mountain. Moments later, he landed next to Vincent. ¡°Sect Head,¡± Vincent and those engaged in conversation with him greeted him at the same time. Anton nodded and smiled. ¡°Good to see you, Vincent.¡± He greeted the others by name as well- he would have newcomers to memorize, but he could easily keep track of the hundreds of individuals in Life Transformation. For others, he might know little but a name and face- but he had only grown more determined to keep up with that since the war with Ekict. ¡°If you will excuse us, I need to speak to elder Vincent about something.¡± The disciples swiftly left, of course. It wasn¡¯t quite an order, but they also weren¡¯t engaged in anything important enough to delay. ¡°What do you need?¡± Vincent asked. ¡°Come, let us retreat to the offices,¡± Anton said. ¡°I would prefer privacy.¡± ¡°Is it something dangerous?¡± Vincent asked. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°It is nothing like that. But I don¡¯t want to announce it to everyone immediately.¡± Anton¡¯s private rooms were modest, at least compared to the luxury he could have had as the head of one of the most powerful sects on the planet- or in the whole of the lower realms, most likely. Not that they were meager, but they were lacking in some of the ostentation certain individuals preferred. Instead, they were somewhat practical. Fine materials were used not just for beauty, but for durability. Left alone, the bookshelves and the books upon them would last centuries at minimum. Anton sat behind the desk, gesturing for Vincent to sit across from him. ¡°So¡­¡± Anton said. ¡°I have been gone for some time.¡± ¡°As one would expect of someone in your position,¡± Vincent said. ¡°Do not worry, we are able to handle the affairs here without you. The elders are all very competent.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton said. ¡°Which is why I think that it should be this way longer term.¡± ¡°Are you planning to leave again immediately?¡± Vincent asked. ¡°Not quite,¡± Anton said. ¡°But that¡¯s not the matter at hand. The sect does not need me.¡± Anton held up a hand, ¡°Of course, I don¡¯t mean to imply the sect does not want me. I understand that I am appreciated. But, if it came down to it and I was away, you would be required to make the decision as acting sect head. So we might as well make that official.¡± ¡°... What?¡± Vincent asked. ¡°It¡¯s not so strange. Don¡¯t think of this as me giving up my position. In fact, if you look at it from a certain angle¡­ I may even be elevating my own status. You will be promoted to the local sect head. Meanwhile, I will be establishing more branches of the sect. You are already aware of In¡¯istra, of course.¡± ¡°... I will be?¡± Vincent looked astonished. ¡°Me?¡± ¡°Of course. There is none more respected among us, and you are our only other Assimilation cultivator. You already fulfill the duties.¡± There were more than a few potentials who might reach Assimilation soon. There had been a glut of cultivators around Anton¡¯s training group, along with numerous ascension cultivators in the following one hundred and fifty years. But as far as Assimilation cultivators went, Vincent was the lone example. After all, ascension was generally preferred- and potentially easier, though nobody had ever experienced both so they could only do inexact comparisons. ¡°I simply hadn¡¯t thought about it much,¡± Vincent admitted. ¡°Good. I prefer you to act as you would already. The only thing that should change is your title,¡± Anton said. ¡°Perhaps you will have more people who wish to speak to you, but those who are important would have already accepted you. And should people need me¡­ I do not intend to abandon our alliance. I will simply be more difficult to access, as people must have grown used to recently.¡± ¡°When do you plan to announce it?¡± Vincent asked. ¡°That would be up to you. Whenever is convenient. We can discuss the schedule. But before that, tell me of our new disciples.¡± Most likely they could spend several hours simply going over names and dates, but Anton didn¡¯t mind that. He was already itching to tell Vincent more details about disciples on In¡¯istra. And his thoughts on recruiting people elsewhere. There were so many places, but they didn¡¯t necessarily need to follow the same cultivation path. Though if Anton could be a little biased, he thought the One Hundred Stars was one of the best methods available, suitable for a wide variety of individuals. The discussion at some point drifted to the war in the upper realms- it was unfortunate how little they could do to help, but Anton believed in those who were there. ¡°I¡¯d love to meet my latest grandson up there,¡± Anton said. He could keep track of how many generations removed certain individuals were, but he saw little point in adding extra words into conversation. ¡°Apparently Chidi is more like his namesake than his parents ever expected.¡± ¡°I would love to speak with Prospero as well,¡± Vincent sighed. ¡°But the divide between realms doesn¡¯t make that easy.¡± ¡°Yet it also keeps us safe¡­ sometimes, at least.¡± Anton said. ¡°Once we have fully established powers friendly to us, perhaps that might change. But it will be a slow process. But regardless of distance, we can still be connected in hearts and minds.¡± Chapter 722 One of the individuals most eager to catch up with Anton was the Great Queen. She had much to say about the goal of expanding into the upper realms, and about the individuality of void ants. ¡°It is somewhat of a risk, to allow more individuality to develop among our people,¡± the Great Queen signed. ¡°But I must recognize that no matter how much I approach it, I will never achieve perfection. Only the intelligent perspectives of those like myself will be useful guidance. But if they spurn our allied cultivators, the consequences will be great for all.¡± Anton nodded, mostly listening to her share her concerns. ¡°And you think this might happen? That they would make such a choice?¡± ¡°Not if they think logically. This is one area I am quite certain I am correct on. But allowing people to make mistakes is¡­¡± ¡°Part of letting people manage themselves,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though I believe it is best to let them make smaller mistakes and experience the consequences first, so that they can avoid the greater mistakes.¡± ¡°Not all performed so admirably as the Sergeant,¡± the Great Queen signed. ¡°Some sought their own selfish advancement, taking what was not theirs. A small amount of freedom, and they went so far¡­¡± The Great Queen shook her head in a mannerism adopted from humans. ¡°Sometimes, that is simply the way things are. If they were not allowed freedom, perhaps those individuals would have simply found a method to work behind your back to the same ends. Your control is not absolute, is it?¡± ¡°No, it is a matter of factors around birth¡­ and how individuals are raised. It is possible to promote the development of certain characteristics. The default is subservience with enough intelligence to fight and follow orders. This holds true even up to the Royal Guard. Queens must have more autonomy, however.¡± ¡°And what about them?¡± Anton asked. ¡°They are interested in maintaining positions and wary of what I might do to them. Though I believe we share the same understanding, and I have not had to enact more than minor discipline or corrective training. I am respected as the Great Queen.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Indeed, I haven¡¯t heard of any trouble caused by void ants¡­ and if it does not affect humans, then for the most part I wouldn¡¯t have any objections.¡± ¡°Some expand too rapidly. Sending their nest to devour everything around. They nearly starved themselves, and might have repeated the same mistakes were they moved to a new nest. But we have not had such trouble in a century.¡± ¡°That is good to hear,¡± Anton nodded. He went on to speak of his travels, mainly about In¡¯istra and the surrounding area. ¡°Hopefully they shall successfully manage their seas,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°But I am more interested in this Aipra, in subspace. I have spoken about it with Matija. We would not visit ourselves, but the danger of distortion beasts is understood. Similarly with Poriza, it sounds too bleak for void ants. A lack of natural energy would greatly hinder us.¡± ¡°I doubt they would be open to you establishing a colony there right now anyway. They have their own issues. I do wish I could give them a proper star, however¡­¡± ¡°If that is your desire, I know you will accomplish it,¡± the Great Queen declared. ¡°But let us speak of the contacts on our side. We established communications with three systems. Two to the north, and one to the southwest. Initial contact is friendly with two of the three, and we anticipate future developments. These same systems seem to have their own version of Worldbinding or Assimilation.¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t heard that yet,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I suppose I am not surprised if it can be developed twice¡­ or more?¡± He wasn¡¯t actually certain if the Sylanis Cluster had developed it separately between their systems. ¡°Regardless, it is reasonable others would have come up with similar methods. As long as they had motives to remain in the lower realms¡­¡± ¡°Udre to the Southwest managed a stalemate with upper realms invaders in the most recent cycle, forcing them to leave as the tides of the world shifted. Nidec to the north retained enough of their cultivation techniques in secret vaults to recover.¡± ¡°And they developed Assimilation within the last half century?¡± It wasn¡¯t necessarily odd, especially if they were already working on it before. Anton managed to formulate most of his method before he even reached the peak of Life Transformation- then it took another decade or so. ¡°It seems to be the case,¡± the Great Queen continued. ¡°The last is somewhat weaker. I heard that they were not subject to the most recent invasion. Perhaps it did not seem profitable to the upper realms.¡± ¡°And that system is not as friendly?¡± ¡°Indeed. They are called Vrelt. The plan is to monitor them, but it has not been decided if they will accept an ambassador or if one would be provided. The others have permanent contact, though any exchange of information is limited by caution.¡± Anton nodded. Nobody wanted another Ekict. Though for that system in particular, he heard they were on a path that might eventually result in further development of relations. Anishka in particular was part of the driving force behind that. Anton was proud, and hoped they could at least return to amicable terms- at the current moment, Ekict was still undergoing planetary restructuring and internal growth after their strongest sects were destroyed. It was quite likely they would be more open to outsiders, given the remaining individuals had been oppressed by those same sects- but it would only be clear with the development of the generation. ----- Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. The Scarlet Council was gathered together upon Xankeshan, seated in chambers more expansive than currently required for their numbers. Velvet stood at the forefront, giving her report. ¡°We¡¯ve received word that the saint of light himself will be participating in an attack on the One Thousand Palms sect. This information has already been relayed to them, of course. Here, we must plan our response.¡± ¡°We have to support them, of course,¡± Timothy said. ¡°And use the opportunity to take out their leader,¡± Tauno grinned, several new scars visible. ¡°How was this information obtained?¡± Zazil questioned. ¡°It may be a trap.¡± ¡°Oh, definitely,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It was way too easy to get this information. However, it has been somewhat widely announced throughout the Harmonious Citadel. If they don¡¯t follow through they will look bad which they most certainly cannot afford right now. So there will be something. It¡¯s simple about the magnitude of response we prepare.¡± ¡°I think the true attack will be elsewhere,¡± Catarina commented, ¡°However, if they send two or three saints to defeat Prasad, he will be in danger. We need to provide proper support. But if they do happen to send three, that will leave them quite vulnerable.¡± ¡°Except for their hidden members,¡± Velvet reminded. ¡°We can¡¯t necessarily commit to a counterattack if something happens. Though that might depend on what they know about what we know. We¡¯ve caught some spies before they could report back, but that doesn¡¯t mean there aren¡¯t ones we haven¡¯t caught.¡± Spies couldn¡¯t be true members of the Harmonious Citadel as they were easily spotted, but they had enough wealth to pay unconnected individuals for the great risk involved. Or to at least tantalize people with the prospect of great wealth, since they might never get paid. ¡°We have also managed to cut down many of their Integration cultivators,¡± Hoyt pointed out. ¡°If we bring enough of us, we can at least hold off a saint. I should be one of those to go, since I am the official diplomat to Prasad.¡± ¡°And we can of course provide ships,¡± Zazil said. ¡°But I think the Scarlet Alliance must keep our few Augmentation cultivators in reserve. Is there any word from Everheart?¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°He¡¯s kind of neutral on the whole¡­ alliance thing. Which might be for the best. But if we can inform him of an opportunity to cause trouble for them, I imagine he¡¯ll take advantage of it.¡± ¡°Close enough, I suppose,¡± Zazil shrugged. ----- Ultimately among the support for the One Thousand Palms were Hoyt and Alva. Because Alva was going, Fuzz also was coming along. And with Fuzz came Spikes. All were in late Integration or some equivalent, though there was still a significant gap between them and Augmentation. It was not guaranteed that they could defeat an Augmentation cultivator even with the advantage of numbers. Chikere was a freak exception, and would likely only perform that well in her best matchup. Language composed of growls and barks came from Fuzz as they were on their way. ¡°We have gone too long without involving ourselves in action.¡± Spikes replied in the same manner. ¡°Yes. One of our daughters has even surpassed our current merits.¡± Though Fuzz was the main progenitor of the wolves actually having a language, neither he nor Spikes tended to speak much. It was the younger pups that grew up properly speaking to each other and certain humans that were more verbose. Alva was pondering on her own when Hoyt approached her. ¡°What are you thinking about so strongly?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I can dodge light,¡± she admitted. ¡°The same is probably true of Fuzz with me riding him.¡± ¡°Already anticipating battle, then?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you?¡± Hoyt shrugged, ¡°I have done all reasonable training. And from the lesser members of the light style, they don¡¯t necessarily have long range. If they do, we can still handle them. Or perhaps that will be Prasad¡¯s duty. He may not be able to dodge light either, but I bet he can slap it around.¡± Alva nodded, ¡°I¡¯m just concerned about being so far from the main part of the Scarlet Alliance.¡± The One Thousand Palm Sect was on the far side of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory, good for flanking but reaching them meant taking the long way around the region. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not the nicest thing of me to say¡­ but if we¡¯re in real danger, we can just leave. No point in dying ¡®honorably¡¯ with Prasad, if it comes down to it. At least our ships should be able to bring us away.¡± ¡°If we can get to them,¡± Alva agreed. ¡°I just don¡¯t know if I¡¯m ready to really fight Augmentation cultivators.¡± ¡°I know I¡¯m not,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°But what better way to prepare than to actually do it? Personally, I feel in need of the inspiration.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± Alva admitted. ¡°I just wish there was another way to get it. Exchanging information with grandpa is¡­ limited. And Kseniya is uh¡­ like that.¡± ¡°Still not a good teacher,¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°Her growth is also a bit slower, I think.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell her that,¡± Alva said. ¡°Or do, maybe? She¡¯s already quite motivated for an old woman.¡± ¡°Proportionately, we¡¯re closer than ever. She¡¯s barely more than a century older than us.¡± ¡°Ugh,¡± Alva grimaced. ¡°Will I ever get used to time passing like this?¡± ¡°Signs point to no,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Time does as it pleases, and leaves us to scrabble about trying to do something as it passes us by.¡± ----- Prasad was waiting for them when they arrived. He was large, with much of his muscled dark skin on display. ¡°The sincerity of the Scarlet Alliance is appreciated,¡± Prasad said. ¡°Even if we aren¡¯t Augmentation cultivators?¡± Alva commented. ¡°We are not so close that I would expect such. Besides, sending young talents says more in some ways. It is more individual risk for the likes of you.¡± He turned around, ¡°Come, let us get you settled in for whenever that coward decides to show himself.¡± ¡°Do the two of you have history?¡± Alva asked. ¡°How could we not, as neighbors for so many years?¡± Prasad shook his head. ¡°We were once the target of their conquests, and survived only because I broke through. He would not fight even a new Augmentation cultivator. Now, I am stronger. I cannot swear to slay the saint of light, but I can at least drive him off. Depending on the situation, I will call upon you to assist with the task. Or hold off one of their other saints, if it is required.¡± Chapter 723 The attack on the One Thousand Palm Sect didn¡¯t come immediately, but on the timescales of cultivators it also wasn¡¯t terribly long before Harmonious Citadel Ships were approaching. It wasn¡¯t possible for them to suddenly descend upon the sect itself, as most of their cultivators couldn¡¯t travel through space on their own. Nor was a force with Augmentation cultivators exactly subtle. And they had not one, but two. Prasad stood within the central palace of the sect, looking at the oncoming forces, his hands clasped behind his back. He spoke to the group from the Scarlet Alliance. ¡°Only two? Perhaps they underestimate us. Or their assassin may be laying in waiting. Regardless, I sense that one among them is the saint of the morningstar. I wish we could simply ignore her, but I fear that our buildings would be reduced to rubble. You fend her off. I¡¯ll take the light.¡± ¡°So he really came?¡± Hoyt asked. Prasad shook his head. ¡°That remains to be seen. Regardless, I will deal with it. Focus on your task. We will provide support as we can.¡± The group departed quickly. Planetary defenses were already attempting to shoot down the approaching ships. ¡°They¡¯re not really very good, are they?¡± Alva commented. ¡°The ships or the defenses?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°We already knew about the ships,¡± she said. ¡°Old styles that are merely meant to bring troops to ground without them collapsing.¡± To enunciate her point, she pulled out her bow and fired a few shots into the sky. ¡°They¡¯d rather spend that money on mediocre formations.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget they¡¯ve gone centuries without any real changes in terms of formations,¡± Hoyt pointed out. ¡°Yeah, and they¡¯ve had half of one to get used to it. Uzun set up a whole factory thing and they¡¯ve done nothing!¡± Fuzz barked derisively. ¡°Yeah, that is good for us,¡± Alva admitted. ¡°Looks like she might be headed for the east end.¡± ¡°Most likely,¡± Hoyt agreed as he watched the sky. ¡°Mind if I disrupt that?¡± ¡°If you can, be my guest,¡± Alva shrugged. Hoyt nodded. Just a handful of kilometers up, the atmosphere was significantly less dense. That made certain things easier, like Falling Stars. He doubted he would ever be as good as his grandfather. No, he might eventually surpass the technique of the old Prospero- but the reincarnated version of him certainly wouldn¡¯t let Hoyt catch him. Not that it was a competition. Hoyt had once avoided learning the technique to not appear like his grandfather. Now, he was past that. It was a practical ranged ability, and he was quite willing to make use of it when proper. He couldn¡¯t achieve as many fancy results as Prospero could now, but he was more than proficient. He raised his hand, the motion being more than just ceremonial. His presence expanded into the skies above, growing into a massive figure. His own energy mixed with that within the atmosphere, drawing it together into an enormous fireball. With the reduced density and friction, it was able to speed up greatly. A single ¡®falling star¡¯, though it would not land anywhere on the planet. Hoyt aimed for the group of ships surrounding the ship carrying Luksa, the morningstar saint. If they were better organized he might call them a squad or formation, instead they were simply there. The foremost ships swerved away from his attack, but the morningstar saint seemed unable to resist a challenge of power. She hefted her weapon upon her ship and took a swing at Hoyt¡¯s attack. Which was exactly what he wanted. His Falling Star exploded, a shockwave of energy traveling through the area and tearing apart many ships- including the one the morningstar saint rode. Because of her counterattack it wasn¡¯t completely destroyed, but she obviously hadn¡¯t expected Hoyt to loosen his control of the attack at the very end, letting the dense energy pull apart on its own. ----- The core of the One Thousand Palm Sect took up the space of a small country- and more spread beyond. A few dozen kilometers away in the skies of another part of the battlefield, the saint of light and Prasad began to clash with each other. As the name of the sect implied, Prasad struck out with his palms. Shockwaves from his attacks extended far beyond the mere strike itself, expanding outward to the size of the approaching ships. In return, the saint of light appeared in front of each strike, instantaneously covering the distance. Then with a flash, the shockwaves of the palm strike would disappear. ¡°You really think you can stand against the power of my sect?¡± the saint of light said haughtily. ¡°Of course,¡± Prasad declared in return. ¡°But you¡¯re a bit wrong there. You see, there are two reasons it is not even your sect. First, the saint of light is just an add on rider within the last few generations using stolen techniques.¡± Prasad¡¯s arms spread wide, and he slammed his two palms together, crushing a ship that was just about to land. ¡°Second, you¡¯re not even the saint of light. Just some brat with big enough balls to pretend. I know you keep your own sect in the dark, but I¡¯ve met the man. You think I don¡¯t remember?¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Rather than respond verbally, the light cultivator responded with aggression. His figure flickered out of existence before appearing in front of Prasad, leg swinging down in an axe kick. Prasad casually blocked it with an outstretched arm. Though he did have to admit it had some force behind it, he wasn¡¯t willing to show weakness here. ----- The damage to the morningstar saint¡¯s ship caused her to crash further away from her targets than intended, though there was no fall that could harm an Augmentation cultivator in anything approaching normal gravity. In fact, it was unlikely they could be harmed in anything short of hundreds of times the norm. But it did slow her approach to her goal, and gave time for Hoyt and Spikes to get into position to block her. Fuzz would have done the same, but he was serving as Alva¡¯s mount. The archer continually fired arrows from his back, and though the saint didn¡¯t seem particularly injured by any individual attack, it would weaken her defensive energy. Hoyt crashed into her like a Falling Star of his own, flames wreathed around him as his axe met her morningstar. Great pillars of stone smashed into her from either side at the same time, though the stone seemed to get the worse end of the bargain. Hoyt was knocked back, but the coordination of various attacks kept the saint from counterattacking with her full potential. The disciples of the sect were doing their best to keep Harmonious Citadel cultivators away from the battle. ¡°You¡¯re quite brave to take on a saint,¡± the woman said. Hoyt shrugged, ¡°We¡¯ve already killed three of you.¡± ¡°Everheart and Tauno, you mean,¡± she shrugged. ¡°But I know your sect. You are the cowards who hide behind their barriers upon Xankeshan. A few upstarts who attained Integration together.¡± The battle didn¡¯t cease as they exchanged words. Arrows continued to rain down as Hoyt and Spikes kept up the pressure. The morningstar saint seemed annoyed to be facing a small number of people, and slammed her weapon down onto the ground. A rift expanded from where she struck, targeting local forces and the buildings behind them. Alva and Fuzz were also in the area, though the wolf easily leapt away. With a great howl, Spikes charged towards the expanding rift. The expanding crack trembled for a second, then changed trajectory, finding its path hindered. ¡°You must have grown up within the Citadel,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Relying on your station at birth to leech from the cultivators around you. That¡¯s all the Glorious Harmony Technique is.¡± His axe and flames could hardly touch her, as she easily deflected his attacks. Spikes returned to aid him, but the saint knocked both away at the same time. Then she charged towards Fuzz. For a woman who relied so much on simple force, her speed was not lacking in any way. She closed the distance in an instant, despite Fuzz¡¯s four legged stature. The wolf spun around to meet her as her weapon swung down, lunging to grab just behind the head of her weapon. Blood trickled out of the sides of his mouth as his teeth cracked. An arrow released at point blank from Alva¡¯s bow, aiming for exactly the moment the saint stopped moving. Up until that point, she had not harmed the saint directly¡­ but not all shots were equal. The condensed energy of the arrow drove directly into the elbow of the woman, beyond where her offensive energy was strongest. ¡°You forgot one death,¡± Alva said. ¡°Chikere cut the Sword Saint straight in two.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an exaggeration,¡± the saint said as she yanked her weapon away. But instead of retrieving a morningstar, all she had was the lower half of its haft. Which made it quite awkward to block Hoyt as he dropped out of the sky. Of course, she was still an Augmentation cultivator. She wouldn¡¯t be defeated so easily. Even so, she was fortunate that a moment of carelessness had only resulted in the loss of her weapon and a modest injury. The remainder of her weapon was destroyed as she blocked Hoyt¡¯s attack- though most likely because she intended to dispose of it anyway. Luksa had a backup weapon that she quickly retrieved from her storage bag. But the very moment she was pulling her hand away, Spikes lunged forward and tore away the container. Luksa couldn¡¯t instantly reverse her momentum, and if she had tried she wouldn¡¯t be able to block Hoyt with one hand and use her bracers to deflect Fuzz¡¯s claws with the other. Meanwhile, Alva continued to fire her bow like she wasn¡¯t suddenly right next to the enemy, as Fuzz danced around Luksa. Fuzz was now aflame, having previously not had any use for fire while remaining mobile. But now with Hoyt, they could combine their power together, increasing the pressure on the morningstar saint. Luksa began to flag. Their own side was not without injuries, of course. Fuzz would likely be unable to use his fangs any further, and Hoyt¡¯s arms were strained from clashing with the Augmentation cultivator. But as the battle stretched on, the confidence of the lower cultivation individuals grew, and the saint grew nervous. Then she made the mistake of running. Not only did it give a chance for those surrounding her to strike without fear of repercussions, but Alva¡¯s attacks didn¡¯t lose any effectiveness as the woman focused on speed instead of offense or defense. Luksa leapt through the air, not quite flying. She landed several kilometers away with the intent to spring into the air once more, but instead the earth beneath her wobbled like gelatin. Meanwhile, Spikes solidified the ground beneath her to augment her own speed. Luksa still managed to reach the ship she was aiming for, a sturdy vessel that would stand up to many attacks. And then she was forced back as a woman appeared in front of her. An elder of the One Thousand Palms, only in the mid Integration Phase. But her focused attack was enough to delay the saint for a brief moment. Long enough for Spikes and Hoyt to reach her. The wolf¡¯s jaws snapped around her ankle, and before she could swing her weapon to force the beast off Hoyt¡¯s axe chopped into her spine. Even if her defensive energy prevented her from getting chopped in half, it was still a serious wound. Spikes and Hoyt were sent tumbling away with a sweep of the saint¡¯s weapon, but she was unsteady on her feet. The elder of the One Thousand Palms was unable to block her again, and the ship was quickly launched. Chasing after her¡­ was not something on the agenda for the day. Just forcing her away was sufficient enough. Not that Alva made her journey simple, her shots making several holes in the vessel as it left the atmosphere. They¡¯d done their part, and it seemed Prasad had more than held his own as well. Another defeat for the Harmonious Citadel¡­ and while their saints would likely survive, their other forces might not be so lucky. Chapter 724 Retreating in the middle of a battle was mortifying, but Luksa prioritized her life above all else. She couldn¡¯t understand how she was unable to crush mere Integration cultivators. Was she so weak? No, that couldn¡¯t be. They were simply abnormal. Though her energy had felt sluggish. Perhaps their formation master had been hidden somewhere behind the scenes. Yes, that had to be it. What was she going to do about those with her on the ship? They would know. Ugh, and he would hear about this. How troublesome. Still, at least she was currently safe. As the ship traveled between systems it was impossible to- The ship suddenly jerked. Then it split in half. That would solve one of her problems, but clearly there was another mess to be dealt with. Luksa drifted out of the ship, weapon at the ready. There were only two enemies. One the swordsman who had bisected the vessel. The other¡­ ¡°You!¡± ¡°Me,¡± Everheart grinned widely. ¡°I thought you were still hiding away like a coward.¡± ¡°Oh, you flatter me,¡± Everheart spread his arms wide. ¡°I would dearly love to, but I have some business.¡± ¡°Going to kill me, then?¡± ¡°I obviously can,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°But I¡¯d prefer if you just come with us.¡± ¡°... Why?¡± ¡°Because you might survive that way. And I won¡¯t have to get my hands dirty.¡± ¡°What do you want?¡± Luksa gripped her weapon tightly. ¡°Everything. But this time I¡¯d settle for information. I want to know about the last of your little group of saints.¡± ¡°Everyone knows about us,¡± Luksa said. ¡°Oh really? Even the ninth individual who was just with you?¡± Everheart¡¯s aura permeated the whole area. Though Luksa knew she couldn¡¯t escape to begin with. ¡°And I want to know about the other one.¡± ¡°What if there are two more?¡± ¡°There aren¡¯t,¡± Everheart said confidently. ¡°Now come. Tell me how you feel about them. I¡¯m sure it will be enlightening.¡± ----- The Harmonious Citadel was able to announce that the saint of light had returned unscathed. Though the Scarlet Alliance knew that was only true because he never showed up to begin with. As for the morningstar saint, a public appearance convinced people of similarly lacking injuries¡­ but something was odd about it. The Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t get eyes on it in person, but they were quite certain Luksa should have been injured. Perhaps she simply did well to not show it. They could only hope it hindered her recovery. Within the council chambers of the Scarlet Alliance, the results were discussed. ¡°We finally got them to reveal one,¡± Zazil said. ¡°A second Augmentation level light cultivator,¡± Tauno frowned. ¡°They have their branch, of course, but I have the feeling that this one has the same origins as the first.¡± It would be troublesome if the Exalted Quadrant continued to have an active hand in the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s activities. It was already a problem that they¡¯d infiltrated with the saint of light. The question was if this particular individual had been there all along, or what his purpose was. If he was simply another Augmentation member of the Harmonious Citadel kept hidden, then they would only have to worry how many more remained. ¡°Though they are doing their best to maintain their public image, they had to have known this attack would likely not be successful,¡± Velvet explained. ¡°We must question what they meant to gain. We have appearances for the saints of light and morningstar, which leaves axe and shield unaccounted for. And of course, she of the dagger.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tear her apart next time,¡± Tauno commented. ¡°That would be quite beneficial for us,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But of course, you surviving an assassination attempt still puts us ahead.¡± She surveyed the rest of the room. ¡°Now then, what do we think they will do?¡± ¡°They need victories,¡± Zazil commented. ¡°They will cut a straight line here and try to take us on.¡± ¡°You think they¡¯re that desperate?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°They can¡¯t afford to let us take them on individually like this.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we should keep it up,¡± Tauno declared. ¡°We just have to push them a little further.¡± ¡°As long as it doesn¡¯t take them over the edge,¡± Zazil said. ¡°They still have a half dozen Augmentation cultivators who could cause untold destruction.¡± ----- The first indication of something wrong came a few days later, and from an unexpected direction. Unexpected fleets coming in from the west. The only issue was that they did not appear to be Harmonious Citadel forces. If they had taken a long route about¡­ well, they should have been spotted. But the same was true for the incoming fleets. They were only spotted a handful of systems away from Xankeshan, seemingly having avoided the majority of inhabited systems as they traveled. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. There was plenty of open space for a fleet to travel unnoticed, but they all had to replenish energy and stores of consumables within a system eventually. So either they had advanced knowledge of every populated system or they had greater capacity than typical ships. Or perhaps both. They were practically on the doorstep of Xankeshan, and it wasn¡¯t just a few ships but a fleet of hundreds. The exact size could only be approximated, but it had to be at least that many. That meant tens of thousands of cultivators, and unless someone was planning to throw away disciples they should be in Essence Collection or higher. Cultivators below Spirit Building would die on any higher level battlefield without anyone even having to intentionally target them. ¡°I don¡¯t know how they made it so far,¡± Velvet apologized. ¡°And the lack of other information is likewise my responsibility. Just because we weren¡¯t expecting an attack from the west¡­¡± Zazil shook her head. ¡°Many of the territories there are part of our alliance. Your policies can only do so much. Either way, what matters is how we will respond to them.¡± ¡°Are they coming here?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°As in, Xankeshan? Or might they be heading past, into the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory to support them?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°We only know of their existence, and little else. But we can surmise they are not friends of ours, or they wouldn¡¯t bother with secrecy.¡± ¡°We can recall some of our fleets from neighboring systems,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But I think we would do best to rely on what we already have here.¡± Tauno had a pertinent question. ¡°Are they actually a threat? The barriers around Xankeshan are not to be trifled with.¡± ¡°They would need at least a handful of Augmentation cultivators,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Along with the armies, of course. If we could focus some of the devices Engineer Uzun has helped put together on just Augmentation cultivators, they wouldn¡¯t make it through the barrier. And-¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°Perfect timing strikes once more. Or perhaps it is best to say that there is constant trouble. An attempt was made to breach the barrier.¡± ¡°They¡¯re here already?¡± Zazil asked, looking up towards the ceiling. ¡°No, it was an individual. Perhaps the dagger saint. If the two of you hurry you might catch her but¡­¡± ¡°But what?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°The barrier likely deflected whoever it was quite a distance away. I don¡¯t feel any signs, but if the two of you would patrol together¡­¡± They didn¡¯t hesitate to go- but it seemed whoever it was knew they would have been noticed and thus quickly retreated. That was only the start of the troubles, but it was actually a good sign that the intrusion had been stopped. ----- Attacks soon followed, not by the known incoming fleets but by a smaller coalition. However, it included at least the axe and shield saints, Abhilash and Eterna respectively. Abhilash was extremely obvious as he immediately attacked the barrier directly. Eterna supported him from the retaliatory effects. ¡°A perfect target right there!¡± Uzun sighed, ¡°Yet blocked by one overly focused on defense. If only we could pick out the sneaky one¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re not worried about an assassin potentially having come through the barrier?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Bah, you know as well as I the strength of the barriers. If someone could pass through, we would already be dead.¡± As he spoke he was adjusting settings on a computer. ¡°Can you kill him?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Depends on how stupid they are. And of course on how well this is calibrated. Our two Augmentation cultivators will be necessary regardless. It will probably overheat.¡± ¡°I thought you said it was ready.¡± ¡°It is ready,¡± Uzun said. ¡°I didn¡¯t say it would melt. Which it should. If I weren¡¯t controlling it myself.¡± ¡°Sorry. I haven¡¯t gotten to see things like this in action¡­ ever.¡± ¡°A fair point,¡± Uzun agreed. ¡°What I can say for sure is that it is disconnected from the power sources of the barrier and everything else, so it will not weaken our defenses unlike the inbuilt retaliations here. And it makes use of the sun¡¯s light, which you should like.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Did you ever meet my grandfather?¡± ¡°Anton? Yes, but unfortunately I never got to see his powers in person. Ah, here we go,¡± Engineer Uzun grinned. ¡°We¡¯d better get on it, before that big fleet shows up.¡± ----- Abhilash was under no illusions that he could take down the barrier of Xankeshan himself. However, he could test it for flaws, and as long as he did not exhaust himself then whatever damage he caused would be effective. He might simply drain their power stores, but it was costly to replenish such things compared to an afternoon cultivating for himself. Going on the offense to keep them on the back foot was the important thing. The local fleets seemed afraid to challenge him, which was too bad because he was looking forward to chopping them up. ¡°Can¡¯t you do more?¡± Eterna complained. ¡°It¡¯s not even fighting back.¡± ¡°Remember how long this place stood in the control of Everheart, in the guise of his tomb. At that time he allowed people to descend to the surface, but it was still impossible to circumvent the trials he had in place. Now, that same power simple covers the whole place. Our formation masters should be working on methods to bring it down. Perhaps you would like to add your own efforts?¡± Eterna shook her head. ¡°I must remain vigilant. Unless you wish me to leave you to die.¡± ¡°Bah. Their Augmentation cultivators are still a quarter of the planet away. What can they do?¡± The answer came a short time later, after perhaps another half hour of the man battering the barrier. A sudden buildup of energy on the planet below, though quite some distance away. Nothing that should threaten them, but Eterna had a bad feeling. She readied her shield¡­ and the skies lit up as the world caught aflame. How¡­? Eterna couldn¡¯t comprehend the composition of energy. It felt like¡­ light. Simple light and nothing more. It was not held together by a cultivator¡¯s energy, though there was some guidance far below. She¡¯d felt it before, from the new ships being used. But this was the first time she¡¯d felt something of such magnitude. Still, she didn¡¯t have to fully understand it to block it. She held in place, protecting herself and Abhilash. Then a fraction of a second later, the beam changed its angle of attack. It wasn¡¯t trying to circumvent her defenses, but instead ignoring her entirely. It simply chopped through the ships waiting nearby, with no chance at all for her to respond. And the Augmentation cultivators Zazil and Tauno were now much closer. ¡°We must retreat,¡± she told Abhilash. ¡°Tsk.¡± He clicked his tongue. ¡°We should have simply focused all our forces here long ago instead of waiting. It is shameful that the Harmonious Citadel had to fight over scraps of land.¡± Even though he said that, he did not resist as Eterna pulled him away. She should have been able to protect the ships, but without them they¡¯d have to return to the rest of their fleet. They didn¡¯t want to risk fighting the Augmentation cultivators without the rest of their support¡­ and certainly not with the weapon below as another factor. Chapter 725 Hearing about the incoming fleet, Hoyt and Alva were eager to get back to Xankeshan. However, they were on the far side of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory so there was little chance of them actually arriving in a timely manner. In addition to that, they were with the One Thousand Palm Sect to support them, so they couldn¡¯t just leave even if they didn¡¯t think there would be further attacks from the Harmonious Citadel. Their assumptions were basically correct. The Harmonious Citadel was far too occupied with their other plans. But before the saints even arrived to begin their attack, word came of intruders approaching from the east. They were passing through various unaffiliated systems, but would soon be reaching territory claimed by the One Thousand Palm Sect. And it wasn¡¯t just anyone, but a group from the Trigold Cluster. Though they weren¡¯t conquering systems as they went, word is that the fleets were unruly, causing trouble in each system where they stopped. More trouble than usual for cultivators, specifically. Due to the specific relationship between the Thousand Palm Sect and the Scarlet Alliance, they were under no obligation to assist. However, when Prasad personally came to them to ask for them to accompany him, they weren¡¯t going to refuse. It made sense to bring them along instead of more of the local Integration cultivators, and they weren¡¯t exactly fans of the Trigold Cluster causing a ruckus. ----- ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡± Alva asked once they were aboard Prasad¡¯s flagship. It was a decent ship, but it didn¡¯t match the specs of the Ascension Class battleship that the Ruteran engineers were constructing on Xankeshan. On the other hand, it was finished instead of still under construction which was a great practical benefit. ¡°We must first discern their intentions,¡± Prasad said. ¡°And their strength. We will resist their intrusion with all our might should it be required, but there is a sufficient chance that they are targeting the Harmonious Citadel. In such a case, we will try to smooth out their passage so they can be gone with minimum issues. Better to send them to die against our foes than to take the casualties ourselves for no purpose.¡± Hoyt couldn¡¯t argue with that. And while he didn¡¯t like the idea of them mistreating the local populace, getting into an armed conflict with them was sure to result in more unnecessary damage. Optimally, of course, the region would be policed by united local sects that would prevent anyone from acting wantonly in the first place. But the Scarlet Midfields were still recovering their structure. Which was another reason to not tangle with the Trigold Cluster if they didn¡¯t have to- they were one of the powers responsible for the current state of things to begin with. Prasad¡¯s fleet was a bit sluggish. It was likely his flagship could have gone several times as fast, but a fleet could only go as quickly as the slowest member. They left behind the actual slowest vessels, but it still took two weeks to cut off the approaching fleet around a claimed system. Enough time for word of the actual attack on Xankeshan to reach them. But they still wouldn¡¯t have reached Xankeshan in time even if they¡¯d taken the fastest ships, as they had to skirt around the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory, which would be months even with faster ships. It wasn¡¯t just a system or two. Prasad stood with the four on the deck- Fuzz and Spikes were too large to move through the normal corridors, so it was that or the hold for them. ¡°Do you sense that?¡± Prasad asked. ¡°An Augmentation cultivator,¡± Alva stated. ¡°I¡¯m not close enough to tell yet,¡± Hoyt admitted. ¡°Can you tell what style?¡± Prasad nodded, ¡°It should be the Slithering Serpent Society. We will approach with caution.¡± For the sake of indicating their intent, Prasad had the flagship pull ahead of the rest of the fleet. The Trigold Cluster seemed to understand, and drew forward as well. There were three more Integration cultivators from the One Thousand Palms Sect, but the Trigold cluster seemed to have a total of ten among their fleet. Though not all were in the late stage like Hoyt and Alva. The two ships matched velocity just a few kilometers apart, practically touching by the standards of stellar distances. Prasad spoke first. ¡°For what reason do you intrude upon the domain of the One Thousand Palm Sect? I, Prasad, the sect head must demand an answer.¡± As he did so, his image expanded to cover the flagship, his palms touching in front of the ship as he stood in a meditative pose. The aura of a great serpent came from the other ship, an old man standing prominently upon the deck of the opposing vessel. ¡°It is not for the people of the midfields to dictate where we may go. However, I will answer your question regardless. I, Nagendra of the Slithering Serpent Sect, come for the sake of an investigation. It seems that the Exalted Quadrant may have broken our accord by establishing their forces in the sector.¡± ¡°Would that not be the same for yourselves?¡± ¡°What, you mean this?¡± the man gestured, the tail of the serpent sweeping to indicate the fleet with him. ¡°We are but a scouting expedition. A small force, nor do we have any intent to stay here. Nor quarrel with your sect, at the moment.¡± Both sides were displaying their power, auras clashing between the two vessels. Yet it was only to be expected. ¡°If it is as you say, then you will not mind if we escort you through our territory to expedite the process.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Not at all,¡± Nagendra replied. ¡°If it will save us further interruptions like this, we will accept it.¡± That eased the tension somewhat, but of course nobody was quite sure if they didn¡¯t simply have a specific target where they would turn upon the One Thousand Palm fleets at a later time. But for the moment, conflict was avoided. ----- The forces suspected to be from the Exalted Quadrant entered Xankeshan¡¯s system as anticipated, but they did not immediately launch an assault. Instead, they loomed nearby threateningly. Perhaps they didn¡¯t want to test the local fleets, ships which were able to fly in and out of the local barriers. Or perhaps they weren¡¯t willing to admit collusion with the Harmonious Citadel as of yet, though their mere presence was evidence enough. The Scarlet Alliance was willing to accept the current state of things. Their fleets escorted necessary supply ships in and out of the system, but no attempts were made to stop them. Waiting would be better for the locals, as their supplies could be easily refreshed. More importantly, nearby systems were being drawn upon for reinforcements. It was of some concern that the enemy appeared to be waiting for something, but it was too risky to strike at the fleets away from Xankeshan proper. They would lose most of their defensive advantage away from the planet, and the enemy fleets were insufficient to blockade the system. Intel from the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s territory didn¡¯t tell much. What managed to get to them didn¡¯t indicate much in the way of fleet movements. But just because the information didn¡¯t come to them didn¡¯t mean nothing was happening. Either way, their forces were ready to intercept any fleets that came through the buffer systems. The situation continued until sensing formations on the edge of the system picked up several smaller ships. They would hardly have been notable except for the timing¡­ and their passengers. Two Augmentation cultivators. The council was never far apart in such a time of crisis, and they met immediately. As the one managing the formations, Catarina gave the initial assessment. ¡°These two are clearly practitioners of the Glorious Harmony Technique. One has clear connection to light, while the other is more¡­ subdued. We have a few options for the former. First is the saint of light himself. That might be best for us, if we can withstand the assault. Taking him out would nearly secure victory all on its own. Second, it could be the new individual that attacked the One Thousand Palm Sect. However, the distances involved and his injuries make that unlikely. The worst case would be¡­ a third. Unfortunately, the sensors couldn¡¯t provide a confident match as we¡¯ve never had the saint of light properly scanned. As for the other, it could be the morningstar saint- injured, or perhaps miraculously healed if the news is to be trusted. The worst scenario is once again yet another individual. But if the Harmonious Citadel had ten or eleven Augmentation cultivators to begin with¡­ the rest of the war doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± ¡°This would be a good time to strike in other systems,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Our communications are slightly faster, so even if they are expecting something they might not expect it so soon. If our forces don¡¯t have to deal with Augmentation cultivators, we can gain some ground. Assuming this doesn¡¯t turn into some sort of final stand. And if they have spare Augmentation cultivators still¡­¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°Agreed,¡± Zazil said. ¡°Meanwhile, we will have to assume an assault is coming, perhaps immediately.¡± ¡°The forces are already on standby,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Yourself and Tauno would be the most important to mobilize properly.¡± Engineer Uzun added, ¡°Our recent tests have allowed us to improve the calibration on our laser. Unfortunately it can cover less than a single hemisphere, so its utility somewhat depends on the enemy approach. It¡¯s also debatable how effective it would be against a light cultivator, and the shield lady seems to have proven some resiliency of her own.¡± ¡°Even so,¡± Tauno said, ¡°If they¡¯re focused on defending against just that, it will serve its purpose. However, I would caution against using it casually. Best they be uncertain of its capabilities until we can use it to strike a deadly blow. If they think we cannot use it again, they will grow incautious.¡± ¡°We should be moving,¡± Zazil said. ¡°Let us hope our defenses can hold.¡± ----- As expected, an assault came almost immediately after the two new cultivators met up with the rest of the fleets. And though they did not directly coordinate, the Exalted Quadrant fleet joined the assault shortly after. Xankeshan¡¯s fleets were an important part of their defenses, as the engineers hadn¡¯t had the time or budget to set up anything like the orbital platforms the lower realms had. Simply weathering attacks was a losing proposition. Maneuvering in and out of the planetary barrier allowed them to strike with some measure of safety. Meanwhile, the two enemy fleets continued to pretend the other didn¡¯t exist, attacking from opposite sides of the planet. It forced Xankeshan to pick and choose how to defend while providing some measure of the plausible deniability the Harmonious Citadel wished to maintain. Timothy remained with Catarina as she managed the formations. Most of their functionality worked automatically, but conscious control was still better. Xankeshan had other experts dealing with individual pieces of the formation, such as weapons, but Catarina was responsible for the overall flow of energy. ¡°The saints aren¡¯t fully committing to the assault,¡± she commented. It kept Timothy updated while helping her organize her thoughts. ¡°Perhaps they intend to wear us down. Or they might be continuing to seek out weaknesses in the barrier.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think Zazil and Tauno have engaged yet,¡± Timothy added. Catarina nodded, ¡°Going out on their own would be suicide. If we can set them upon fatigued enemies that would be one thing, but we can¡¯t afford to get them injured early on.¡± Information was constantly incoming, and the way Catarina managed both nearly incomprehensible formations and digital outputs reminded Timothy of another thing he loved about her- her focus. ¡°The data coming in doesn¡¯t match the second light cultivator. We don¡¯t have any real amount for Hans Sigismund, however. As for the other¡­ morningstar, but also seemingly different. We¡¯re trying to get visuals on both to confirm identities.¡± ¡°Anything I can do?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Not actively. Please stay with me. I will be more effective with you around.¡± He nodded. There wasn¡¯t much he could do but wait, but if she needed emotional or physical support, he would be ready. Chapter 726 A stream of attacks constantly bombarded the barrier, each strike disrupting the flow and lowering the remaining energy stored. However, Chidi knew that it could last for another day or two at least, and that was if the enemy could keep up their pace. What good was a planetary barrier if it couldn¡¯t withstand a little siege, after all? ¡°So why are we here, precisely?¡± Chidi asked the grandmaster. She was standing nearby, her weapons impaled into the ground around her. ¡°We¡¯re bait,¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s an entire eighth of that sect that wants to take us out. So¡­ we draw in as many of them as we can get instead of them coordinating with anyone else.¡± ¡°What if they don¡¯t come here?¡± ¡°Then you¡¯d better make your way to that ship over there as quick as possible,¡± she said. ¡°I won¡¯t be lingering around here, and you¡¯re gonna want to get there before I finish them all off.¡± ¡°... all of them?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Well, I mean, that would take-¡± maybe not all that long, after all. If she used a conservative one hundred swords and killed only one person at a time, he couldn¡¯t expect her to take more than ten minutes to take out all of the enemy swordsmen. Unless they sent literally every single member of the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s sword branch. Then it might take her half an hour. But the nearest city was a good bit away, so he¡¯d have to hurry the ship along if it came to that. ¡°Can they even get here?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°I mean, down to the surface. Not like, here specifically.¡± They were simply in part of the old Garden, which was still mainly wilderness to this day. ¡°Of course they can,¡± swordmaster Chikere gestured vaguely. ¡°You expect us to just let them keep hitting our barrier forever? That¡¯s a total waste. Just you watch.¡± And Chidi did, feeling the vast barrier shifting and straining, like the creaking of an old building. Something of that scale he could feel from even a great distance. He also felt some sort of interference. Formation masters attempting to poke a hole in the barrier, perhaps? But they would not be sufficient. Chidi knew his mother and many others had spent decades upgrading and perfecting Xankeshan¡¯s defenses. They would not be so easily manipulated. And yet, a hold opened up, Harmonious Citadel ships pouring through. Then another, through which poured Exalted Quadrant ships. But it didn¡¯t make any sense. That shouldn¡¯t have been possible. Unless¡­ there was a traitor? No, with his mother watching the formations personally that still shouldn¡¯t have been possible. Then the holes sealed themselves, the barrier seemingly unfazed by its momentary damage. Of course. It made sense, once he thought about it. It was much easier to deal with a small portion of the enemy forces split off from the others. And there were so many forces on the ground that wouldn¡¯t have the opportunity to fight otherwise. Better to split the burden like this. ¡°Hey. You might not want to stand directly next to me,¡± Chikere pointed out. He could feel the blades of those coming to join them, and Chidi fully agreed. It didn¡¯t matter if he thought he could fight an Integration cultivator head on or not, he was quite certain he couldn¡¯t face two consistently. Or ten. And that was assuming Chikere was dealing with most of them. On the other hand, for the same reason he couldn¡¯t go too far. ¡°I¡¯ll go seek out Aconites field of death,¡± Chidi said. She had been setting up all sorts of poison things a small distance away. Just a kilometer or so. He approached cautiously. ¡°Hey, is anywhere safe?¡± Aconite¡¯s return howl indicated he should circle around to the upwind side. Chidi thought that they should have probably brought more backup. On the other hand, the grandmaster didn¡¯t expect to draw away the main forces of the invasion. Just sword cultivators. And that was what she got, though Chidi wasn¡¯t sure if she had accounted for the Exalted Quadrant, some of which were also taking the bait¡­ though the mass of swords was a good quarter of the planet away, so they would take some time to arrive. Hopefully enough for them to deal with the Harmonious Citadel first. Chidi made his way to the ¡®safe¡¯ zone, glad to know that at least one side would be prevented from intrusion. Though there was still the issue of attacks from the sky. Even if they couldn¡¯t fly themselves, enough people dropping out of a ship together could be dangerous. The only question was if they would be a danger to himself or to each other. The Harmonious Citadel could certainly fight together proficiently, but he also knew plenty of counters. He clutched the sword that had once belonged to the swordmaster Rakiya. With a blade like that, he wasn¡¯t afraid of much. And if he made proper use of his formation flow style, enemies should hinder each other more than they helped, regardless of intentions and formal training. It took several minutes for the first ships to reach them. It was neither particularly fast, nor particularly slow- though Chidi would have expected them to push for speed. Otherwise, they could get shot out of the air. On the other hand, there weren¡¯t any archers with them. Then one of the ships split in two. It seemed Chikere was tired of waiting. And while Chidi couldn¡¯t extend his blade aura so far, that wasn¡¯t a limitation on the grandmaster. Actually, he was fairly certain her sword hadn¡¯t even touched the intervening space. He shuddered to imagine her using such techniques consistently for something besides transportation. Though perhaps it was unnecessary, since most enemies were close enough. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Chidi heard the fluttering of sails and the scraping on tree branches as ships settled into the forest around him. Five ships. Together they had over a hundred disciples between Essence Collection and Life Transformation, the ratio being about ten to one. Even if he only had to fight half of that due to Aconite- give or take- he was still outnumbered five to one. And that was just Life Transformation cultivators. It was hard to believe how quickly he¡¯d come to disregard cultivators ¡®weaker¡¯ than him. Especially when he knew very well that it wasn¡¯t always the case. But even so, he didn¡¯t feel anything particularly special among the Essence Collection cultivators. And he was eager to fight regardless. He could already feel the clashes of the grandmaster¡¯s battle. The first sword to approach was wielded by an eager young woman. Unfortunately, she had chosen the wrong side- and her eagerness was no replacement for skill. Her attack was perfectly adequate by the standards of the Citadel, and thus also perfectly counterable. She went down with one slice. Chidi stepped forward both to reposition himself for the incoming waves, but also as part of his manipulation of the local energy flow. His next swing brought down two enemies. Then three. For the following move, he was only barely able to deflect the attacks of two Life Transformation cultivators. Nearby, he heard the screams of cultivators who were finding that a properly prepared battlefield full of poison made hitting anything with a sword quite difficult. Chidi knew this, because he had sparred with Aconite many times- and she was specifically trying not to kill him. The area was filled with sharp hazards that would puncture the feet of anyone careless enough to neglect their defensive energy for a moment. In truth, those were only a distraction compared to the dusting of powder on everything. It was possible for cultivators to filter out dust if they were expecting it, but it usually came at the cost of completely sealing themselves off- restricting breathing. And Chidi knew there were powders so fine that most people couldn¡¯t detect them at all and invisible and scentless gasses within Aconite¡¯s arsenal. He had a feeling the entire area was already deadly, even if they triggered no traps at all. Around himself, Chidi only focused on the closest blades, dancing around them and turning deadly blows into minor wounds. Blood trickled from wounds that a few millimeters deeper would have struck important arteries. But half of his opponents were defeated. His opponents could clearly see they had to change their tactics, so they attacked together, a group of eight coordinating their strikes so he would have nowhere to move- his upward escape route blocked by another pair leaping above. Sharp blades cut through the air, upper energy swirling around them. And then, they suddenly struck a solid barrier. Several were staggered by the sudden change in momentum, allowing Chidi to counterattack the instant the very temporary fluctuation of energy faded. He was the center of the formation, and his opponents were merely components of his machinations. The battle paused for an instant, as every sword cultivator including Chidi shuddered with fear and ambition together. A hundred swords combined into one, a single sweep cutting apart a vast section of forest- and many of the cultivators within. Chidi would never do that exactly¡­ but he could still learn quite a bit from experiencing it. He just had to survive the battle. ----- Timothy nodded his approval of the decision to allow some enemy forces to trickle into the planet¡¯s domain. Taking a purely defensive position was certain to lead to their defeat, sooner rather than later. There was only so much they could fight outside the barrier without risking overcommitting their forces. Even if Zazil and Tauno were able to face just the enemy Augmentation cultivators, they would be severely outnumbered and outmatched. There wasn¡¯t much they could do even with support, not against these enemies. Five Augmentation cultivators, including an individual that was probably their sect head. Even if he was also beholden to the Exalted Quadrant. Though he wanted to go out and fight, Timothy knew there was only so much he could do outside. Better to be here protecting his wife. ¡°Should I be outside the facility?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°It will be some time before they make it this far.¡± Enemy forces were coming for their capital, but that was where their defenses were strongest- with Exalted Quadrant and Harmonious Citadel ships being cut into pieces before they could even get close enough to land their cultivators. Some survived to make it to the ground, but they were met by forces waiting for them. ¡°If we are sieged, it may be best to mobilize you,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But I think you would best remain here.¡± He certainly didn¡¯t mind knowing his wife was safe¡­ though he was a bit concerned about whatever Chidi was up to, away from the city with Chikere. So he would wait until there was something to do. His senses focused on the battle outside, searching for threats. He watched his wife move around the room, manipulating the core of the formation. He noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A vent dangling open. He sprang forward. He extended his arm, his energy reaching beyond his shield, and yet he was one step too short. A figure appeared, dagger stabbing towards Catarina. Time slowed as a surge of energy poured through him. Not some sort of secret ability or spike of adrenaline, but a supportive power he¡¯d felt many times before. His own abilities were augmented by the formation around them. And the enemy figure slowed. The attack was just barely stopped, but Timothy¡¯s feet continued him forward, swiping at the figure with his sword. She leapt back. The dagger saint seemed to have recovered quite well from his conflict with Tauno- but that was to be expected, as the man had also healed the majority of his injuries. ¡°My apologies,¡± Catarina said without even looking at them. ¡°I thought it would take her longer to get here. I planned to reveal her with the tracking subformations.¡± She continued to manage the formation as if nobody had just tried to assassinate her- as if they weren¡¯t still attempting to do so. At least Timothy felt good about her confidence in him. Though even with support of the formation he didn¡¯t know if he could defeat an Augmentation cultivator one on one. But he was defending not only one of the most critical components of their defenses, but also his wife. He might not win, but there was no way he was going to lose. Chapter 727 Blood dripped down from the sword, heavy in Chidi¡¯s hands. All around him lay fallen cultivators, though Chidi was aware he had not been far from being one of them. But that was how things were. He was simply the one who survived. That was always how it was with cultivators. Was there anything that made him so much stronger that he should win such a battle? Chidi didn¡¯t quite know. His blade, of course, was quite exceptional. It was forged at great expense for an Integration cultivator, and it fit well in his hands. But beyond that, he was only blessed with the fortune of training in a different style. He simply happened to know the flaws of the Harmonious Citadel, but not his own. The true test would be the incoming cultivators from the Exalted Quadrant. They had a different feel to them. More variety, if nothing else. Along with that, Chidi had the feeling they were closer to true swordsmen. Able to grow as they pleased, not forced to fit into a style that might not suit them. One that was flawed but never corrected. Though to be fair, Chidi hadn¡¯t exactly told anyone from the Harmonious Citadel the flaws in their style. They would only learn about it as they perished. A few kilometers away, grandmaster Chikere had gathered up the best blades among her attackers. Chidi did not think any of them would ever see use by her, even those that had been held by Integration cultivators. But perhaps they could replace some individuals from fifty to one hundred. Or maybe, if she had reason, she would expand the number of blades she wielded simultaneously. Even as she waited for the incoming ships, they danced around her. Chidi was quite pleased by how they altered the flow of energy, half knowingly and half by instinct. They would not form anything on the level of a concrete formation, but the grandmaster¡¯s efforts were always both powerful and efficient. Nearby, Aconite was replenishing the poisons in her battlefield of death. She wasn¡¯t one of the actual targets, merely a distraction¡­ and a great boon, protecting one of Chidi¡¯s sides. If the enemy had been able to fully surround him, he wasn¡¯t sure if he would have made it this far. There was no promise from grandmaster Chikere that they would win this battle. Instead, it was as it always was- they would win, or they would die in the attempt. That was simply the way of things with her. And like the grandmaster, Chidi simply refused to accept the second option. ----- Catarina¡¯s senses focused on the battle above. She trusted Timothy to protect her, and she was already contributing to his support as much as she could. Directly involving herself in the melee would only make her vulnerable. More importantly, she was uncertain if she could ignore the situation with the barrier for even a few moments. She had said that the barrier would last for several days of siege, and she still stood by that statement. It was just that it required active maneuvering to overcome not only the enemy¡¯s formation masters, but also the pure power of the attacking Augmentation cultivators. The barrier had some of the adaptive ability that the lower realms had developed, but it wasn¡¯t perfect. The barrier trembled under the attacks of three cultivators in particular. Abhilash was the axe saint, the heavy power of his chopping weapon causing more damage than hundreds of surrounding ships. Along with him was another burly individual¡­ who was most certainly not Luksa the morningstar saint. That was immediately obvious even without being able to see the individual in person, unless she happened to gain twenty kilograms of mass and ten centimeters in height in the past month or so. And became a man. And while that wasn¡¯t the most impossible thing for a cultivator, there was also the matter of the aura. Catarina had fought against Luksa before, and this was clearly a different person. The final issue was the saint of light himself. Hopefully. Having never seen Hans Sigismund before, Catarina could only go with the descriptions she had heard secondhand. The man was somewhat reclusive, so even those were going to be inexact. Though he didn¡¯t carry a heavy weapon- or indeed any weapon- he was probably the most impactful in terms of attacking the barrier. Each strike with his fist or feet sent bursts of light radiating out from them, and even adapted his energy frequently to better damage the barrier. Catarina kept her focus on the way energy shifted and flowed on a large scale, both the positions the Harmonious Citadel and the Exalted Quadrant were focusing their attacks. But she was only able to help them hold on. They needed something more if they were to hold on, beyond Uzun¡¯s planetary laser and their fleets and their two Augmentation cultivators. ----- Sparks flew as Timothy twisted his shield to block the daggers trying to end his life. For the moment the dagger saint once called Kristel seemed to be focusing on defeating him first, though Timothy wouldn¡¯t let down his guard. Catarina was counting on him. He was just barely able to keep up with her footwork, extending his shield wherever necessary to restrict her motion. He made use of the reach of his sword as much as possible, though he was only able to be a threat because the surrounding formations were restricting her energy and augmenting his own. Timothy felt that it was not just his cultivation as a member of the One Hundred Stars that was augmented, but even his own personal fighting style. Not that he was surprised, because it was Catarina herself who was responsible for the situation. He could feel her fighting alongside him even as she dealt with her own problems. Though Timothy was holding his ground, he knew he would eventually slip up. As he grew more fatigued, a simple mistake would become more likely. Even with the formation reducing the difference, he knew he was at a disadvantage. But on the other hand, she might not be able to wear him down. Timothy knew reinforcements were coming from the outside of the facility. While there were restrictions on how fast they could be reached, if he just held out for a minute or two while protecting Catarina, the balance of combat would tip. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Unfortunately, a single minute was almost an eternity as far as battles with Integration and Augmentation cultivators went. Each of them exchanged multiple blows per second, two daggers against Timothy¡¯s sword and shield. He also kept a close eye for her throwing a blade. His movement pressed her back towards a wall. The intention was to reduce her mobility, and it mostly worked. Timothy actually managed to nick her eyebrow, creating just the slightest trickle of blood. But an instant later, before he could even congratulate himself, she sprang forward. The blade in her left hand slashed at his neck, while the other was a stab towards his heart. His sword parried her left, and his shield moved to block her right. But it was a feint. Her momentum stopped right in front of him. Her left hand dropped the dagger, grabbing the edge of his shield. Her right arm came around his frozen shield as she punched her arm through his extended energy, her dagger coming up and around to stab him in the armpit. All he could do was focus his energy internally and minimize the damage to just the area of the blade, stabbing into his heart and lung. But Timothy wasn¡¯t willing to let that be the end. His elbow twisted down, catching her hand as he slashed at her. She ducked underneath his counterattack, her energy rallying to pull her arm away. She somehow managed to do so while also twisting her body out of the way of the dagger stabbing into her spine. Velvet¡¯s second dagger only managed to pierce a kidney on her left side, which was significantly less impactful. For a cultivator, such a wound wasn¡¯t lethal- and they could suppress the shock as well. Though injuries still mattered- every bit of blood loss or focus required to prevent it was a boon. Though Timothy hadn¡¯t sensed Velvet¡¯s arrival, that was exactly the point. But upon realizing her presence, he immediately adjusted his tactics. He kicked away the dropped dagger, then instantly became more aggressive with wide swings of his sword, even as Kristal wrenched her arm and dagger away. He knew with his injuries he wouldn¡¯t last long in a fight, and he had to keep her occupied, unable to counter Velvet. If he could just hold her still for a moment, they could secure the victory. That was what he concentrated on as poison coursed through his veins, despite his efforts to expel said poisons from his body. ----- Catarina bit her lip. She had to trust in Timothy. And Velvet, apparently. Her own martial abilities would barely help. And the barrier was straining towards its limits. If it broke now, a large section might remain open for long enough that all the Augmentation cultivators would get through, and maybe the rest of the enemy forces. Even half of them would be a disaster. She did her best to alter the flow of energy to resist the unconscious rhythm of the enemy¡¯s attacks. That got them a few more seconds. But they still needed something. The first wave of cultivators she let through was still being cleaned up- Kristal the dagger saint among them. It was too early to relax the barrier for even a moment, and if she did so it might result in the attackers tearing it open completely. Then an alarm went off. Catarina didn¡¯t remember the particular alarm- maybe it was infrequent. But they really couldn¡¯t afford it. She twisted her head, since her energy was tightly tied up in manipulating the flow of the formation. The warning label was quite simple. It was also the biggest red light they had available. Everheart. The scanners at the edge of the system had detected Everheart. No, worse. The outer scanners had missed him. He was closer. ----- Honestly, Everheart was impressed. Though he thought that this alliance really should have poured more resources into things. There was no point in keeping things around for next year when you could use them now. If you ran out, you should just go steal them. That was where the plan fell apart, of course. Not that stealing was an issue, unless you were some sort of goody-two-shoes that only stole from ¡®enemies¡¯. Everheart didn¡¯t come alone, of course. He knew one Augmentation cultivator was not invincible alone. So he brought his most trusted backup. That was, of course, a dozen projections of him that could be sustained away from his own system. And Rahayu, he supposed. The man was quite intriguing, for a simple Integration cultivator. He didn¡¯t follow the typical path of a genius or ancient cultivator. The information he¡¯d gathered from the morningstar saint had brought him here. After all, if he ever got the chance to ambush an ambusher, Everheart would take it. Though this wasn¡¯t exactly that situation, he still found it favorable. Less risk, same reward. Everything he could ask for. And sure, this might technically count as part of the deal he¡¯d made with his niece. That was purely happenstantial. His opening salvo of attacks took out twice as many ships as he had versions of him present. After which Everheart expanded his aura to cover the pack of Harmonious Citadel cultivators. ¡°Hands off my planet, assholes!¡± It took less than a tenth of a second for Hans Sigismund, the saint of light, to both react and reach Everheart. Then he punched his hand through Everheart¡¯s chest, exploding him into a pile of ash. Which was exactly why Everheart never liked to taunt from the real him. Sure, these projections might be vastly weaker than him but nobody could tell the difference until they tested it. The saint of light picked another target, being less excessive with his use of energy. This time it took him three sweeps to take out another projection. The whole time, Rahayu and additional Everhearts were taking out enemy ships. And Everheart was scooping up the best pieces of them, obviously. Everheart smiled. It always filled his heart with something wonderful to attack fatigued enemies and take their most valuable loot. It was like, what did they call that? Happiness. Yeah, that was it. Chapter 728 The dynamic of the battle around the formation core shifted with the addition of Velvet. Two Integration cultivators and the interference of the formation augmenting their energy were a more worthy match for the Augmentation dagger saint. Instead of a battle where Timothy was barely holding on, the balance had shifted to one where Kristel wanted to finish the battle as quickly as possible. It wouldn¡¯t be long before additional reinforcements arrived, and at that point getting out alive would barely be possible, let alone achieving her goals. Timothy¡¯s wounds were worse than hers, with one lung and his heart damaged¡­ but she had also taken severe damage to her kidney. Her tactics shifted as she moved about the room. Velvet attacked her every time there was an opening, and it took all of her focus to keep the other woman in her perception while fending off Timothy¡¯s attacks. The battle rapidly shifted around the room, but instead of moving towards Catarina it pulled away from her. Timothy didn¡¯t mind that, until her intentions became clear. Her daggers flashed out towards nothing- or at least none of the targets Timothy had been concerned about. Neither himself, Velvet, nor Catarina. But delicate components at the core of the formations were in the room. Her daggers stabbed into undefended components, though the motion left her open to attacks from Velvet and Timothy. Velvet aimed for her upper arm, clearly intending to cripple her offensive ability. Kristel twisted her body to avoid that while still completing her attacks. Timothy slashed at her leg, his attack finding purchase but not as deep as he wished. An explosion of energy rocked the room, sending the three of them flying. In the moment it took Timothy to regain his bearings, he lost track of her. He rushed towards the open vent, hoping to block her egress¡­ but encountered nothing. ¡°Anything, Velvet?¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°She¡¯s gone.¡± ¡°Sorry, Catarina,¡± Timothy said, approaching her as she strained with control of the formation. ¡°I couldn¡¯t do it. I¡¯ll at least catch her.¡± Soldiers were bursting into the room at this point, but there was no one for them to take out. ¡°Do not worry yourself,¡± Catarina grimaced. ¡°In fact, focus on your own wounds before pursuit. And do not think you failed. For what you had to deal with¡­ this is a good result.¡± She took a deep breath, the flow of energy changing, ¡°And we are not without redundancies. If a planetary barrier could fall to a simple scratch, it would hardly be of use.¡± She had a good point. Several good points, really. He had his own wounds to take care of. The bleeding was one problem, but there was a poison as well. He already felt his muscles locking up. ¡°In addition to all of that,¡± Catarina said. ¡°The formation has now fully locked onto her energy so we can track her wherever she goes in her attempt to escape.¡± That was something Timothy wished he had heard first. Or maybe immediately after the taking care of his own wounds bit. ----- Uzun grumbled as Eterna continued to block the beam meant for Abhilash or that morningstar fellow. Obviously he didn¡¯t expect to perfect an Ascension class weapon immediately, but it was frustrating for it to be completely ignored. And in truth, Ascension class was insufficient. The lower realms didn¡¯t seem to have Augmentation cultivators, but there were more than a few here. And while they might have merely been one individual out of many billions, across all of the planets in a myriad of systems, their existence was clearly not unique. With the stupid laser almost out of power, Uzun had one more thing to try. The whole thing was supposed to be on an orbital defense platform to avoid atmospheric interference and especially barrier conflicts, but it took more than a handful of decades to put together the infrastructure to construct such things. He briefly stopped the flow of power as he finely tuned the beam, overriding several safeties in place. He was almost certainly going to melt the weapon, but if he caused any damage he would be satisfied. He flipped the final switch to return the beam to full power, guiding the flow of energy with his own. To most outside observers, it wouldn¡¯t look like much had changed. In fact, it would even appear that the beam grew smaller. Which was technically true. It was more narrowed and focused. Less of it would scatter in the atmosphere. He aimed the beam right for the eye of the axe cultivator Abhilash. He got a momentary squint before Eterna was in the path of his beam once more, the center of her shield directly blocking the beam. That reminded Uzun of another missing factor, rapid and automatic redirection. It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to redirect the beam with mirrors to instantly change targets, and at such a distance it would force any would-be defender to try to keep up with the speed of light. Only a fraction of it as they were at a distance, but rapidly switching directions would be impossible. Or use a vast quantity of energy. But instead of that, Uzun was going with a less technically impressive and much more boring straightforward approach. The beam strained against Eterna¡¯s defensive energy for a moment before melting a pinpoint hole through it¡­ and if he was lucky, into her hand or arm behind it. Either way, her reaction was quite indignant before the laser sputtered to a halt as part of it melted. ----- The two waiting Augmentation cultivators wouldn¡¯t miss such a golden opportunity. Even a minor distraction for the bulwark Eterna was critical, and the saint of light was occupied by Everheart. Thus, in the moment Eterna was blocking for Abhilash, Zazil locked down the backup morningstar saint¡¯s movements, dozens of rings zipping around and blocking his motion. While he smashed several apart in the next instant, Tauno sprang on him. His spear pierced into the man¡¯s shoulder, stopped by bone and muscle before it could reach his heart. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Eterna was only occupied for a moment when the attack on her faded away. She and Abhilash sprang into motion immediately, but Tauno danced around the third Augmentation cultivator as the axe swung towards him. ¡°You sure you can deal with us right now?¡± he laughed. ¡°Your fancy saint of light is going to die.¡± ----- The saint of light foolishly destroyed the next two closest projections of Everheart. As for the reason it was foolish to take out enemy combat power, it was because he had fallen into one of the many traps available for him. He was now surrounded, with Everheart in all directions. No matter what orientation was considered, the projections and whichever was the real one were spread out around him in all directions. Each of them held a bow. As they drew their bow back, arrows appeared on the strings formed of pure energy. Upper energy was of course the everyday standard of the upper realms, but the combined amount wasn¡¯t something the saint of light could ignore. Ten bows fired simultaneously, and the saint of light instantly flickered away. He couldn¡¯t move at actual lightspeed, especially not close to a gravity well, but his speed was exceptional. Which was why when he ran into an invisible barrier that the impact was that much stronger. Each projection acted as a formation flag. Every arrow was released, firing towards the center of Everheart¡¯s personal formation and curving around to strike at the saint of light. ¡°Tricks won¡¯t save you!¡± the saint of light growled as he clawed at the incoming attacks, blasting them to pieces. ¡°You think this is a trick?¡± the words echoed from all directions. ¡°You¡¯re trapped here now. You can only die.¡± ¡°As if I would be without options. All I have to do is¡­¡± The saint of light flickered, his body disappearing before reappearing in front of one of the Everhearts. His leg stabbed out like a spear, intending to impale the projection. Instead, light sprayed out in all directions as he encountered a force he couldn''t break through. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m so stupid as to not make the barrier cover me?¡± Everheart grinned. ¡°I told you, you¡¯re trapped.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t block both outside and inside.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I?¡± Everheart raised an eyebrow. ¡°I am the foremost expert on formations, and yes I have seen the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s ¡®grand formations¡¯. Unimaginative and dull. Stymied by worthless rules and lacking creativity. Even worse¡­ budgets,¡± Everheart grimaced. ¡°Besides, your allies can¡¯t come save your ass right now. They¡¯re busy.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll simply break out with force!¡± Hans roared. He launched himself across the space of the formation- somewhere around ten kilometers across- targeting the opposite Everheart. There was another great explosion but¡­ ¡°I told you,¡± Everheart said. ¡°My formation is invincible.¡± He held his head high. The various projections began to slowly drift towards each other, limiting the area Hans could move. He attacked wildly, targeting every projection or random points in between. One of them caused Everheart to flinch. The saint of light had nearly accidentally stumbled upon the actual trick behind his ¡®unbreakable¡¯ formation. But it was too late now. He¡¯d already expended too much energy attacking Xankeshan, and Everheart had come in fresh. Each projection pulled out the best weapons Everheart had. The best he¡¯d ever collected of every type, except for the bow¡­ and the sword. Every projection narrowed in on the saint of light at once, attacking with diverse techniques yet with perfect coordination. Because while Everheart couldn¡¯t stand teamwork, he could at least deal with himself for a short time. A flash of light¡­ and two figures remained. The saint of light with half a dozen weapons sticking out of him, and Everheart himself. It was unfortunate to lose the rest of his projections, but he didn¡¯t mind too much. He chopped off the saint of light¡¯s head and tossed it into a convenient orbit, then began retrieving his weapons. And the saint of light¡¯s storage bag, of course. Hopefully he had a functional key to the deeper vaults. ----- Chidi was far too busy fighting to notice other battles happening in the skies above. The sword cultivators of the Exalted Quadrant were far too diverse to handle carelessly. Unlike the Harmonious Citadel, he did not know all of their moves ahead of time. Thus, he had to survive and adapt. It was fortunate that most of them were focused on the grandmaster. If they wanted to stand even a shadow of a chance against her, that was the way things had to be. But Chidi was still greatly outnumbered, including by some who should be his technical match based on their cultivations. He should lose this battle, by the numbers. He knew it. There was only so much his blade could do to elevate him. But the very confidence that they were going to win was what allowed him to cut down cultivator after cultivator. None of them individually thought they would be the one to bring him down. Or even if they did, it was merely passing fancy. They simply didn¡¯t believe it. But was that enough to win? No, it was not. Chidi had to pull out every trick he had. Even as he cut down cultivators, he moved in such a way to use the energy of the group against them. It was a great many things to keep track of, but such it was with all formations. The changing nature of it was only normal. And in a way, the very skill of the enemy worked against them in the form of consistency, if not predictability. They would vary their attacks so he couldn¡¯t exactly predict them, but he could at least count on them to try to attack from a certain area and shift the flow of energy there. He couldn¡¯t force them to create the remains of a formation solely on their own, instead fulfilling that role with each slash of his sword as he took down enemies. He constantly searched for dangers, allowing minor injuries to avoid greater. And that sometimes meant lesser organs being impaled when he couldn¡¯t let a blade slip between them. He had several swords still in him, causing him to wince every time he tensed his muscles. But as much as it hurt him, their owners were worse off. Chidi could see why Chikere would wish to use more swords. It was inconvenient to have them sticking into him. And he could pull them out with a bit of energy¡­ but that would alter the flow too much all at once. Especially since some of them were now part of his cultivations. But he had to fight. It wasn¡¯t just for his former comrades who had risked their lives to gain ground on the Harmonious Citadel. This was Xankeshan. His home where he was born. Where he¡¯d been raised by his parents. Where he had met his dearest friend Aconite. And he would defend it to his last breath. Or preferably the last breaths of his enemies. Chapter 729 Everyone was able to feel the death of the saint of light. While much of the battle had been cut off from their senses due to Everheart¡¯s self-formation, the aftermath had been pretty clear. For one side, morale increased greatly. For the other, it plummeted like a rock. Whether that had been a factor at all in Everheart¡¯s choices was unclear. He no doubt understood morale, but he might not care. The battle turned from a confident assault to chaos in a few moments. The first to turn away were the ships from the Exalted Quadrant. First a few of them, then every ship outside the barrier. Instead of chasing after them, the local fleets shifted their focus to the remaining Harmonious Citadel forces. However, the Harmonious Citadel remained firm for a few moments longer. With three Augmentation cultivators against two, they were still at an advantage. That was until the Scarlet Alliance fleets began approaching¡­ and Everheart turned his gaze upon the three remaining. The first to turn to flee was Eterna, the shield cultivator. She was followed shortly by the unnamed replacement for the morningstar saint. Abhilash the axe saint was just a bit slow¡­ and in that moment he found his retreat cut off by Zazil and Tauno. For her lack of bravery, the shield saint ran head first into Everheart. Unable to block attacks from all angles at once and already fatigued, he quickly finished her off. The other fleeing Augmentation cultivator drew Everheart away, but had no hope of outpacing him. Abhilash knew surrender wouldn¡¯t result in his survival, but he wasn¡¯t able to put up a fight for long. He was brought down when the fleets focused on him- the rest of the enemy forces taking every opportunity to retreat. While they might have feared punishment by their own sect, that was only true if they weren¡¯t guaranteed to die¡­ and if the sect had a future. Without Augmentation cultivators, there was no chance of that. The most devoted had already given their lives in the conflicts, and the rest were happy to cut and run. After Tauno¡¯s spear pierced through Abhilash while Zazil simultaneously chopped his arm off, they gathered his body and the saint of light¡¯s orbiting head, dropping through the barrier to help deal with the remaining forces inside. Including the dagger saint, who was being tracked by Catarina. The calm after the battle was a time of exhaustion for all, but they couldn¡¯t relax right away. While they were confident the enemy forces were fleeing, Everheart hadn¡¯t gone far. Rahayu was still around as well, though he didn¡¯t approach to speak with them. The Scarlet Alliance¡¯s fleets remained at a cautious distance when Everheart returned. He landed directly on the barrier, walking around in an odd pattern as he tapped on it with his toes. Before anyone could approach to ask him what he wanted, he left- Rahayu following. And this time, they were certain he left the system as the Everheart detectors picked up his trajectory. ----- Chidi lay next to his father in the emergency ward. Chidi personally thought he would be out of commission for a few years. He might not even be able to train for most of that. But what was a few years, compared to the vast experience of fighting such a battle? It wasn¡¯t just reckless confidence that led him to assist the grandmaster with her bait. It had helped ease the pressure inside of Xankeshan¡¯s barrier, preventing them from being able to effectively assault most of the important locations. The one exception was where his father had gotten injured. He¡¯d fought an Augmentation cultivator, apparently. The poison from her attacks was mostly dealt with, but he was unconscious now. Aconite came into the room, sniffing her way around. Chidi would recognize that sound anywhere, and the clacking of her claws as well. ¡°They would not let me in immediately since I was healthy¡­ and they don¡¯t know how to treat me anyway,¡± she growled her complaints to Chidi. He reached out his hand, and the fact that she let him put his hand on her head meant there probably wasn¡¯t poison in her fur at the moment. ¡°Thanks for the backup. I couldn¡¯t have dealt with all of those people at once.¡± ¡°Of course. I would not abandon you.¡± Aconite made her way around the bed, sniffing. Then she bit Timothy¡¯s side. ¡°What-¡± She tore apart bandages and stitched together skin, reaching with her energy. Chidi could tell she didn¡¯t have any ill intent, so he waited for her to finish and explain. Though when some black goop came out along with his father¡¯s blood, the explanation was clear enough. A few licks from Aconite and some powder from one of her many pouches stopped the bleeding. ¡°A new poison,¡± Aconite said. ¡°And it would not be good for the remnants to stay inside him, either.¡± She curled up between their beds, and Chidi settled back to sleep. ----- Prasad and the One Thousand Palms Sect, along with the delegation from the Scarlet Alliance, escorted the Trigold Cluster fleet to the edge of Harmonious Citadel territory. From there, it was no longer their responsibility. All they could do was wait- and watch. During that time, messages crossed each other. Responses to the incoming fleets came with news of Exalted Quadrant forces and the attack on Xankeshan. Ultimately everything settled down soon after that. The spies set to follow the Trigold Cluster fleet reported only an approach to Rouhiri- including a short raid where it seems they captured the second saint of light. Prasad had no reason to stop them from leaving, and Hoyt and the others had to reluctantly accept the Trigold Cluster¡¯s presence as they escorted them back out. While they would ultimately be enemies given the Trigold Cluster¡¯s activities in the lower realms, starting conflict at the moment was unnecessary and foolish. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. What they did not realize was that there was another guest aboard on the return trip. A particular individual who had remained behind, ostensibly to support the second light element cultivator among the Harmonious Citadel. But the individual known as Tuva came along willingly the instant the new opportunity arose. ----- In the lower realms, Anton received information as it came. The war was finally over, after many decades. But while he was relieved, he knew that peace couldn¡¯t reign forever. At the very best, the lower realms would have until the next cycle. And their cohorts in the upper realms would have to act before then. But that was an awfully long time away still, more than five centuries. So many things could change before then. There being no other conflicts would either be a miracle, or mean that they stood by and watched wars happen without interfering. And while that was sometimes the correct option, Anton knew there would be many more conflicts. But still, for the first time in half a century, both the upper and lower realms were at peace. Or at least the little slice that contained the One Hundred Stars and the cultivators ascended from their little region. The Trifold Alliance¡­ and a few from the Sylanis Cluster that chose to join them. Now if only the state in the lower realms would ever move beyond reluctant trade partners. But perhaps Anton shouldn¡¯t desire anything to come about with haste. If it took another century, so be it. ----- The time came for Anton to return to In¡¯istra, but instead of making the trip alone he was joined by a coalition of others. They were headed to many disparate locations. First was a delegation to the twin planets. Though the alliance was rather distant from them, it was still less than an eighth of the distance to In¡¯istra. Xicil was left alone, given the clear isolationist intent of the desert planet. Though Anton did drop by to check that things indeed continued to go well for them. The main group of ships continued on with Anton but was not going to visit In¡¯istra. Instead, they were taking the lengthy trip to visit two separate locations. These were not expeditions taken lightly- despite Anton having traveled the path several times, it was a serious commitment of time and resources for most to go so far. First was a small group that wished to study Azun up close. Pulsars were of great interest to the scientific community, after all. The fact that the neutron star was also a magnetar made it of even greater interest. Matija was leading a team that planned to study it for at least a few decades, which required special preparations to sustain the crew without being able to stop for supplies, except in some cases fuel. Though they would not be lacking in natural energy, as long as they could avoid being overwhelmed by the star even at a distance. Then there was another delegation heading for Aipra. If they could manage to actually reach the planet, Anton would introduce them. Based on the information Anton had brought them, they gathered various techniques- and pieces of simple technology- that might allow improvements for the lives of those situated there. In return, all they wanted was the opportunity to study a rogue planet within subspace. It was a bit of a risk, though the language barrier should at least have been solved. There was simply the question of whether the sudden presence of outsiders would cause strife. They might have to leave immediately even if they managed to find it. Then there were the ¡®natural¡¯ dangers of the distortion beasts. ----- Shortly after Chidi was discharged from the hospital- his health was stable and as a cultivator he could function well enough even with his injuries- Chikere came to find him. It was both expected and unexpected. The grandmaster was sort of a hurricane. ¡°I¡¯m not really in a state to train right now,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I know. I don¡¯t know if I can teach you much else anyway. Not with our styles as they are,¡± she grinned. ¡°You need to grow on your own for a while. But I¡¯ll be back.¡± ¡°... Back?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°You¡¯re going somewhere?¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m going to study the styles of the Exalted Quadrant.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t that enemy territory?¡± ¡°They don¡¯t know that. And even if they did, they couldn¡¯t all know that. It¡¯s a big place!¡± Chikere held her arms out wide, gesturing with two swords as she did so. ¡°They won¡¯t notice one more person.¡± ¡°You think people won¡¯t notice you?¡± Chidi laughed. ¡°They will eventually. But they might appreciate me, you know? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m going there to kill them. I¡¯m just going to train with their sword cultivators and we can learn from each other, exchanging pointers.¡± ¡°Until some sect gets mad at you and you kill them all.¡± ¡°Please,¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t kill them all.¡± ¡°Unless they all attacked you at once,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Which they might, if you¡¯re on sect grounds. I know you wouldn¡¯t hunt them down if they left you alone, but¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be a good experience,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Fighting so much against the Harmonious Citadel¡­ I¡¯ll get rusty, you know?¡± ¡°At least bring a communicator. And pay attention to it!¡± Chidi demanded. ¡°Sure,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°But I don¡¯t know why you¡¯d need to say anything.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point! There might be an emergency. We might need you. Or you might need us.¡± Chidi frowned, ¡°Also, stay away from Everheart. I know Rahayu¡¯s with him for some reason but-¡± ¡°Grandmaster Rahayu and I are on good terms,¡± Chikere said. ¡°But being apart will be good for the next time we meet and train together.¡± Which was the polite way to say trying to kill each other, Chidi imagined. Chidi had only heard about the former master-student pair¡¯s interactions, but they weren¡¯t known for holding back. And that was from the perspective of someone who had almost died to Chikere¡¯s training while she was holding back. ¡°I don¡¯t know what he intends to get from that guy, but I¡¯d rather not have competition at the moment anyway. The galaxy is large enough for our paths to diverge for a while.¡± ¡°When will you be back?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°If I make it back, probably after Augmentation,¡± Chikere said confidently. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ uh¡­¡± ¡°No more than a century or two,¡± Chikere said. Chidi just shrugged. What was he to expect? He¡¯d barely lived half a century himself, but cultivators often turned out like her¡­ at least in superficial ways. Time didn¡¯t mean much to them. At least when she came back he should have had enough time to reach Integration, but he would still be a stage behind. Chidi definitely didn¡¯t miss the if she came back part. She was going there to advance her cultivation, or die. And he really didn¡¯t expect anything different. Chapter 730 The question of what to do with the Harmonious Citadel was a complicated one. Obviously the sect itself would be dissolved. Without the saints they had no ability to resist the Scarlet Alliance, or even the One Thousand Palms Sect alone. Their enemies also included numerous smaller sects who had been too timid to join the Scarlet Alliance. In addition, the veil of propaganda they had erected was crumbling for decades and finally disappeared entirely. Before their territory could even be fully occupied, they were tearing themselves apart. Anyone who had access to vaults plundered them, either fleeing with their wealth to start anew further afield, or hoping that it would buy them amnesty or a position within the Scarlet Alliance. When Zazil and Tauno finally arrived on Rouhiri, they were surprised to find the main vaults mostly intact. Between the Citadel¡¯s own members and the Trigold Cluster they had assumed it would be fully looted. With an abundance of caution the formation experts with them slowly dismantled the defenses until they could reach the innermost parts. There they found¡­ very little. Except for a note. ¡°What remains is your portion- Everheart¡± The once vast vaults were nearly empty, but after some careful investigation it became clear that much of the wealth had been drained from the vaults over a longer period of time. What traces they could find indicated that Everheart probably took more than half of what remained- and potentially everything from the most well sealed vaults- but much of it had been spent already. Many cultivation materials were consumed on use, while various currencies worked just as expected. That wealth was simply distributed in the areas it had been spent. Raiding planets and cities to plunder their wealth was outside of the accepted structure of the Scarlet Alliance, so they would have to make up for the expenses of war the old fashioned way¡­ by occupying and taxing what remained. Tauno folded his arms in front of him. ¡°Ah well. Stuff isn¡¯t much good unless you wrestle it off a beast with your own hands.¡± Zazil rolled her eyes. ¡°Unlike your sect, most of us could use that wealth. Ironically, I think the local cultivators will benefit from our takeover more than we earn. The strict rules of the Harmonious Citadel forced many to practice unsuiting cultivation methods and techniques. With access to a wider range of options, most will perform better.¡± ¡°There could be so many promising disciples to snatch up,¡± Tauno grinned. ----- Vari had imagined that during the final portion of the war she would have engaged in direct conflict with the saints, on equal footing with them. Instead, she fought on the periphery. Without special conditions set up like with the spear saint, she wasn¡¯t able to fight them head on. She could only watch as Everheart took down the saint of light¡­ though it was rather satisfying to see him finally collapse. But just like that, from a stalemate to a small number of victories to eliminating the remaining majority of the enemy leadership all at once, the war was over. And with it, not only her motivation but also a good portion of her cultivation. Her method for Integration was to steal devotion from the saints, but aside from extreme edge cases there wasn¡¯t much of that floating about. It wasn¡¯t just her future advancement that she was concerned about, Vari was fairly certain that her cultivation would begin to decline soon enough. The question was whether she cared. Should she just let it? If it faded away completely, could she cultivate something else? The One Hundred Stars was an appealing method, and her friends had already been quite open with sharing information with her. It would be easy enough to swap over, she imagined. Sure, it might take a half century of effort¡­ but she¡¯d spent longer than that at the peak of Life Transformation. But something about that didn¡¯t feel quite right. Because while she wasn¡¯t part of the Harmonious Citadel anymore, she still felt a connection to them. In fact, she shared more with them now than since she had her revelation about the truth. Millions of disciples- especially practitioners of the holy harmony technique- were only just learning snippets of reality. The saints were not immortal, and certainly far from perfect. The same with the cultivation method, split into two specifically to suppress some and empower others. There would be countless individuals from every planet under their rule that were lost and confused. And perhaps Vari could provide a little bit of stability and understanding to them. If only she knew more. What could she offer but a now defunct alternative? She didn¡¯t know. But she resolved herself to find out. ----- As Anton rode through subspace with a relatively small fleet, his nervousness continued to grow. If his calculations were off, they might never find Aipra again. It wasn¡¯t simply a matter of its energy signature being merely that of a rogue planet without a star to serve as a guide, but detection grew more difficult because it was in subspace. So they could only set themselves on a course and hope they approached it. They were supposed to have encountered it yesterday. Now they were following a search pattern through the area that would make them more likely to cross its path, but Anton could have been off on any number of things. Its relative velocity, the direction of that velocity, and how it was changing or might yet change. In the vast distances of space, being off by a fraction of a percent could be enough. And Anton couldn¡¯t be sure how wrong he¡¯d been. Stolen novel; please report. It was even more concerning to him because of the expense of the expedition. It was more than a year¡¯s journey even at superlight speeds, and that was time that each and every individual that came along could not get back. Centuries of time wasted, and hopes dashed. Anton¡¯s level of insight didn¡¯t help, because even if people were not disappointed in him specifically, he could still feel their feelings in general. But then the sensors picked something up. Or rather, a young technician did. ¡°I found something!¡± he called out. ¡°You see, there¡¯s a slight distortion. This is the third time it has come up in as many days.¡± Anton closed his eyes and nodded. ¡°Their cultivation.¡± ¡°Well¡­ maybe.¡± The young man shrugged. ¡°But we¡¯ll find out soon enough. We¡¯re less than a tenth of a lightyear away!¡± That was indeed fairly close. It was still a thousand times the distance of the outermost planets from most systems to their stars, but it was still fairly close. It also made Anton realize how close he had to have come to Aipra to have a chance of sensing it accidentally. A few hours later and they were actually able to sense the planet directly, and a few course corrections and a few more hours after that and they were approaching the planet, close to entering orbit between the planet and their moon. ----- Anton left the fleet behind as he approached the planet. He had general permission to return, and had talked about this particular possibility with Nalini. But people''s minds could change, even with just a few years passing. And while Nalini wasn¡¯t likely to die of anything short of a distortion beast attack- infighting was quite unlikely given how important each cultivator was- it was still possible. If they didn¡¯t want anyone around, it was better to hear that directly and leave. And if they were still willing to accept them, they would still want some time to prepare for visitors, both mentally and physically. He landed back on the peak nearby Nalini¡¯s city. Then he fired a few revelatory arrows at the city¡¯s barrier, not enough to cause any damage but enough to get the attention of the right people. Soon enough he felt Nalini¡¯s aura extending towards him. Anton likewise reached out, and they exchanged a few words through the connection. ¡°You returned,¡± the old woman¡¯s voice came with a measure of surprise. It took him a moment to get back into the flow of the language he¡¯d only used for a short time. ¡°I said I would, if I could.¡± ¡°And I believed that you wished to,¡± Nalini replied. ¡°But perhaps not that it was possible.¡± ¡°I did have a year of measurements.¡± And they almost weren¡¯t enough. But rather than saying that, he waited for her to get closer so that they weren¡¯t effectively shouting at each other. It wasn¡¯t difficult for him at the moment, but she had to conserve her energy in general and Anton was once more keenly aware he was far from his stars. When she finally was close, Nalini continued. ¡°There is no benefit for you here.¡± ¡°I will have to disagree,¡± Anton said. ¡°Both morally and practically. Because helping others is good for all. And my specific brand of cultivation gets along quite well with aiding others.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± she shrugged. ¡°But you would certainly receive more benefit from the populous planets you spoke of, with many billions of individuals.¡± ¡°It almost sounds like you don¡¯t want me here,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I just don¡¯t understand. We help each other because we must. I do not believe it is possible for us to provide anything for you in turn.¡± ¡°Perhaps not. I will admit that other planets could ultimately benefit me in the looming war against the upper realms. But you may benefit my allies with knowledge.¡± ¡°What could we tell that would be of use?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I think it¡¯s more what they could learn. You have only lived here, but you must realize how much of an exception this place is. At least from our perspectives. Each insight gained in the pursuit of knowledge could be key¡­ or it could be unimportant. But we¡¯ll never know until we learn it. Either way, I have a team with me,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°And we would like permission to land¡­ somewhere. They should be self-sufficient in terms of food, with only a marginal amount of natural energy used. Either way, I also translated some things for you.¡± He pulled out numerous volumes. They ranged from simple things like farming techniques- which had to be repurposed for the lack of heat- to cultivation insights and various more advanced technological options. Because while Aipra was lacking in most resources, it was still a planet that could make use of machines. They simply lacked the spare manpower to develop such things. ¡°Copy and distribute them as you please,¡± Anton said. ¡°As much or as little as you wish to make use of.¡± He handed them over to Nalini before receiving a decision. Because while the information might make her more favorably inclined towards them, he didn¡¯t want to use it as direct bargaining leverage. If they were unwanted, it was better to leave. ¡°I forgot to mention, it is possible for the team to stay on your moon as well. If you don¡¯t want them mingling with your populace.¡± ¡°That would certainly be best until all of Aipra can get used to the idea.¡± Ultimately, it was decided that they would make attempts to see what would happen. Anton imagined he would be traveling back and forth between Aipra, In¡¯istra, and Azun more than a few times in the coming years. And while it seemed like quite a long way from home, he thought that it was actually better to expand their knowledge about further areas. And perhaps they could learn how far the influence of the upper realms really spread. Anton would stay for at least a few days to make certain communication was going smoothly. More than that, he wanted official calculations on the trajectory of Aipra from proper computers. Though he was a bit old fashioned, even he could pull out a device and let it direct him towards a point in space. Though usually such devices were intended for outside of subspace, the utility remained. Chapter 731 For people who weren¡¯t Anton, approaching Azun was a bit of a tricky prospect. Its rapid spinning required it to be approached from the correct angle to avoid the beam of radiation it was spewing out. But that very power was what made it most interesting to research. Anton remained nearby while Matija and her crew approached, though for the moment they were just remaining towards the edge of the system. ¡°I¡¯m amazed you can actually approach that,¡± Matija said. ¡°Even with it bound to you.¡± ¡°Does a sun hurt itself?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Debatably,¡± Matija grinned. ¡°And the point still remains¡­ cultivators can hurt themselves with their own energy if they¡¯re careless.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Well, the good news is that I have performed an unintentional experiment where I approached a star while lacking consciousness.¡± He rapped his knuckles on his replaced ribs. ¡°It doesn¡¯t affect me. Though it did destroy everything else. When I am conscious, I can protect anything on me.¡± ¡°It would get pretty awkward otherwise,¡± she said. ¡°So you said you can actually approach Azun, right? And escape its gravity well?¡± ¡°It does not hold me. Or perhaps I use its energy to escape its grasp,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°We can always use more data on Assimilation cultivators, if you¡¯re willing to demonstrate.¡± ¡°As long as it is helpful to you. But I think for most cultivators, you won¡¯t be able to provide a necessary amount of personal insight.¡± ¡°Not for many, certainly,¡± she admitted. ¡°But for some. And for what we can learn from a more technological perspective.¡± ¡°It is amazing what can be done without energy,¡± Anton said. ¡°Not really¡­¡± Matija shrugged. ¡°It doesn¡¯t use natural energy, sure, but it still requires power and to get anything close to the efficiency of powerful cultivators takes a long time of development.¡± ¡°But the benefits can be distributed to many¡­¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It¡¯s good. As long as our enemies don¡¯t learn to use it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple. We just keep manuals on the shelves of every ship, and they¡¯ll never learn it.¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Because if it is unsealed and without fancy ornamentation, it can¡¯t be important.¡± Anton laughed. ¡°A fair point. But I doubt that would last forever. Actually, the real issue is what happens in the upper realms. They have a wider spread of influence already, but not using technology would be giving up that possible advantage. I just hope it stays away from those who would invade us in the next cycle.¡± ¡°It¡¯s so far away,¡± Matija said. ¡°But I suppose we can¡¯t afford to be careless. Now, that demonstration, if you could.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Very well. I can show you a few things. Make sure your recording devices are ready.¡± With that, he approached Azun. It was so extremely tiny for a star, but that only made it more intense. Anton truly admired how even a dead star wielded so much power. It was almost a form of reincarnation. He thought about that for a few moments. He had no desperate desire to continue living, but it would certainly be useful if he came back after he died. But perhaps he was already in such a state after having achieved Assimilation. He wasn¡¯t physically smaller, but his energy was certainly denser. Well, he could decide whether to pursue such a path in the future. For the moment, he just stopped at about the distance a larger star would reach. The gravity would have been fairly manageable for him if he wasn¡¯t attuned. The flashes of power from the spinning pulsar and the powerful magnetic fields made him tingle as he approached to stand on its surface. A neutron star was much different from others. The extreme density meant that even at monumental temperatures it was solid on the outside. Anton could have stood upon other stars he was bound to, but it wouldn¡¯t be the same. He walked all around it. It was a fairly short walk, a normal human being able to walk the full circumference in two days if one ignored the gravity and other factors that would kill them. But the absolute distance was barely a factor. With power gained directly from the star, Anton took a leisurely stroll where he circumnavigated it within an hour. And for the sake of his own practice and demonstration, he practiced some archery, shooting off vaguely in the direction of the upper realms. His energy would disperse before it even got close to a nearby system, and he lost control long before that. Even if he wasn¡¯t aiming for anything in particular, his absolute limit on control was not sufficient to exist on the scale of lightyears. Not yet, at least. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ----- In¡¯istra was just a short journey away. Anton had plans for meeting with various individuals, but Varghese was at the top of the list. He was the local sect head, after all. His power was starting to actually embody that dignity. His cultivation was comfortably resting in Life Transformation, and it would be some decades before he could even be expected to reach the peak even at the quickest rate. Anton himself had spent over seventy years in the stage, and that was considered quite rapid. ¡°Sect Head,¡± Varghese greeted him as he approached. Anton nodded. ¡°Good to see you, Branch Head Varghese. I hope everything has been going well?¡± ¡°There were some issues, but nothing that would have required you. I didn¡¯t forget the communication device you left for me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to hear,¡± Anton nodded, ¡°But you could have said hello.¡± ¡°The same with you,¡± Varghese replied. Anton grinned, ¡°Fair enough. The only news I have for you I thought best to deliver in person. I gave up my position as the head of the One Hundred Stars on Ceretos,¡± Anton held up a hand. ¡°But it is not a bad thing. Instead, it is an acknowledgement of your efforts, and hopefully those of others in the near future. I don¡¯t want one planet or system to be considered a controlling interest in sect affairs, when it comes time. I would prefer to promote unity without an unnecessary hierarchy.¡± Anton held out another communicator. ¡°This is a direct line to Sect Head Vincent. I told you of him, of course. And you can still speak to me, if you need advice of any kind. But he will have a different perspective for you to draw from.¡± Varghese nodded seriously, ¡°So your position is now¡­?¡± ¡°Effectively the same, but now I am able to officially move about without causing so many wrinkles. I intend to guide the various branches of the sect, and found new ones.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Varghese said, then looked down at his hand. ¡°Are there only two branches?¡± ¡°All of the Trifold Alliance is currently under the same authority, and mainly focused on Ceretos.¡± ¡°But you have visited many other systems, haven¡¯t you? What of them?¡± ¡°You think I should have official branches everywhere?¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°You are the best thing to have happened to Aspin, and likely In¡¯istra as a whole. At least in living memory. We have been able to rebuild because of your instruction and guidance. But what I appreciate the most now is how you relied on me to shape the local sect.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t wish to ruin the local culture,¡± Anton said. ¡°There are some things that are required, and the rest is personal taste. Without the moral core, great cultivation could become worse than nothing. But I am not here to dictate bureaucracy.¡± Anton grinned slightly, ¡°Just how you grow your crops.¡± Varghese laughed, ¡°Learning from those who have come before is the whole point. And I truly think you should establish branches wherever you can.¡± ¡°Well, I can¡¯t say that my opinion on the matter hasn¡¯t shifted at all. I am open to the idea, though I intend to remain somewhat more conservative. If I go about things the wrong way, my presence and all of my teachings could be rejected to the point of people trying to do the opposite. I could not bear causing more harm than good.¡± ¡°You have the experience,¡± Varghese said. ¡°But I can tell you how things have been from my perspective. It is rare to have someone who chooses to help without wanting to take more in return. And I know your feeble excuses about devotion and the like.¡± ¡°I would just like to remind you I am not perfect. In fact, as one of the branch heads it is your job to keep me in line should I stray.¡± ¡°In that case¡­¡± Varghese stroked his chin. ¡°You will have to remain on the proper path for quite some time. I am not yet strong enough to keep you in check.¡± ¡°Vincent can help,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Now then, how have things been here? Any invader spies?¡± ¡°They appear to have been well and truly eradicated. The sea beasts are proving to be a constant source of struggles but even that¡­¡± Varghese shrugged. ¡°Well, it is good for global unity. Especially without any specific individuals blocking communication between groups, we have regular hunts that are almost festivals.¡± ¡°Good to hear. So no enemies¡­?¡± ¡°There will always be some who don¡¯t like any particular sect,¡± Varghese shook his head. ¡°We have plentiful allies and less official friends, however. I believe some of that is due to you? Quite a few originated in the Reef of Serenity.¡± ¡°I was just trying to solve some problems,¡± Anton said. ¡°And the rest came about naturally. Now then¡­ have you had any cultivation hiccups?¡± ¡°I do have some questions,¡± Varghese nodded, ¡°Especially about magnetism.¡± ----- The planet of Poriza. They didn¡¯t truly have a star, relying instead on a closer orbit to the mediocre heat of a brown dwarf. They had managed to get by with little light and a modest amount of heat. Taking Varghese¡¯s thoughts into account, Anton was considering how and where he would found a branch of the One Hundred Stars. The real issue was not whether he thought he could improve anything at all, but whether it would eventually make them a target for the upper realms. And if it would be worth it given the troubles that would come of that. But he couldn¡¯t make such a decision himself. He had to consult the people who lived there. Though the planet didn¡¯t have a huge population, it was more than Aipra. Choosing who he would make first contact with was a tricky question. Disguising his energy had been easy enough last time, but this time he might actually make prolonged contact with some of them. Within one of the larger cities known as Krosburgh, Anton was drawn to a particular group. Refugees displaced by a war, trying to live and find work in a big city. He pitied them, but that was not the only reason he chose them. There was a specific trio among them he latched onto. A grandfather, mother, and daughter. Botros, Aykorkem, and Nasima in turn. The two women offered their labor as weavers and seamstresses, but were only able to secure temporary work. The grandfather reminded Anton somewhat of himself, too stubborn to admit he was too old for manual labor. Botros would be the first Anton approached. He wouldn¡¯t know if the man would make a good sect head for some time, but Anton had to start teaching somewhere. But before that, he doubted most people would react as well as Varghese to a random man appearing from the sky and giving advice. And Varghese had tried to kill Anton. So Anton needed an excuse to be around. It was simple enough to secure a warehouse and some goods. Anton wasn¡¯t the sort of individual who liked trade so much that he would ever become a merchant, but he didn¡¯t need to make profit from whatever ventures he had. After quickly establishing himself, he put his plan into motion. Chapter 732 It barely took any effort at all to set the old fellow Botros up with a series of ever more difficult to move crates. Anton watched as the man pushed himself to his limits, and frankly beyond them in unhealthy ways. It wasn¡¯t really fair to require this of him for the promised wages, but Anton didn¡¯t intend to leave him with just monetary payment. ¡°You see now why I needed assistance with this?¡± Anton asked as he approached the man. He was struggling with a crate absolutely not meant to hold iron bars in it, one with far too much volume for such dense goods. ¡°I can¡¯t do all of this on my own.¡± Anton made a show of struggling with another crate- and indeed it was a little bit difficult to move if he completely cut himself off from natural energy. ¡°Maybe I should hire some of those bulky young fellow¡­¡± Anton mused. ¡°N-no,¡± Botros groaned. ¡°I can¡­ do it.¡± It was difficult for an older man such as him to even get consideration for any job, and he seemed to be unqualified for much other than manual labor. Botros swapped to a different crate, before returning with Anton to look at the one that had stumped him. ¡°If we move it together I think we can accomplish it¡­¡± ¡°With my back?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I think it¡¯s better to not. But if you want to try, I did hear of a little trick. Might take a bit, though.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Botros asked. ¡°I think my stance is fine¡­¡± ¡°If it wasn¡¯t, you¡¯d have thrown out your back for certain,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ what was it¡­¡± Anton frowned. ¡°First, take your stance. Concentrate, not on what you intend to lift, but your own body.¡± Anton was actually slightly conflicted. If Botros was a few decades younger, he might have tried to set him up with something like Western Steel Body. He actually seemed quite suited to it. However, beginning any sort of focused body tempering method like that would almost certainly lead to disaster at his age. Regular energy cultivation could still cripple the man- especially with the mediocre natural energy levels in the area- but Anton could help with that. ¡°Feel the pulse of blood in your body, the twitching of your muscles. Breathe deeply, drawing in from all around you.¡± Botros had wasted no time, not waiting for Anton to finish. Anton was wondering how to make excuses for his knowledge and how to explain the last steps¡­ but he seemed to get it. Anton did flood the area with extra natural energy, but when Botros absorbed some of it he naturally channeled it into his muscles. Anton would need to play around with his tasks so he would form a proper foundation instead of directly transitioning to muscle tempering, but Anton could also show him a proper cultivation manual when he asked about it. For the moment, however, Botros managed to lift the crate that was just beyond the edge of his muscle and pure willpower. Some of the natural energy would be consumed for the task, while the rest would augment his muscles in the long term. Except it would also tire out the old man. ¡°It¡¯s about time for lunch,¡± Anton announced. ¡°Come on then.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t need any,¡± Botros said stubbornly. ¡°I¡¯ll keep working here.¡± Anton shook his head, ¡°You won¡¯t know where I want that stuff. You¡¯ll just have to move it again. Come on then.¡± Anton knew the man had no lunch, as he led him into a side room that was barely an office, previously lit by a smoky torch before Anton came about. He spread out the food on the table between them as Botros sat down. ¡°Ah, look at that. Packed too much food again. I guess it¡¯s stale bread for dinner again, can¡¯t just waste it¡­¡± Anton looked at Botros. ¡°Or you can help me eat it. That way I don¡¯t feel guilty and can get something better for dinner.¡± ¡°I did not think one of your stature would be concerned about waste¡­¡± Botros said slowly, clearly interested in the food. ¡°You don¡¯t grow wealth by wasting money,¡± Anton said as he pushed some of it towards Botros. ¡°Speaking of which, you¡¯ll work faster with some of this in you. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll work up enough of an appetite by evening to still eat with your family.¡± The man took Anton¡¯s offer, perhaps in anticipation of his stomach growling. Anton shared bread, meat, cheese, and vegetables with him. All with small traces of natural energy. Partly because Botros¡¯ body wouldn¡¯t be able to stand more, and partly because there really wasn¡¯t much better available. He worked the old man¡¯s muscles in various ways for the rest of the afternoon, and sent him home early with the promised wages. For the first days- perhaps even months- Botros would be exhausted as his body got used to the changes happening. And if Anton let him continue to work, he would hurt himself. He protested, of course, but Anton drove him off with something about having other business. But even if the day wasn¡¯t quite done, the man knew he needed the full wages and couldn¡¯t refuse that part no matter what his pride might have said. Even in the afternoon, Krosburgh was dim. Part of that was the size of the buildings shading its streets, and part of it was their lack of a proper sun. Even from a close orbit, the brown dwarf didn¡¯t bring enough light to Poriza. Anton kept his senses on Botros until he was certain the man went ¡®home¡¯, a communal flophouse where the other members of his family crowded together with others. He stopped to buy food on the way, and Anton was glad he purchased enough for three. Perhaps Botros also couldn¡¯t stand to let his family see him not eat. Though Anton had other business around the area to take care of eventually, that evening he drew away to a further distance. He was still uncertain what he intended to do, but to have all of the options available he needed to gather data. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. First, the brown dwarf was right on the edge of being a proper star. With just ten or twenty percent more mass, it should sustain fusion inside of itself and become a red dwarf. At that point, its luminosity would increase at least tenfold, and its temperature would nearly double. If that were to happen it would make Poriza uninhabitable, though there was no risk of it happening accidentally. The orbits of the planets were stable, with no large masses that could crash into the pseudo star. But it didn¡¯t have to be an accident. The question remained whether it was a good idea, but Anton had the feeling he could do it. All he would have to do was crash one of the less interesting planets into the star. At the same time, to avoid unfortunate circumstances, he would have to push Poriza further away and slow its relative motion to settle it into a new orbit. The difficulty came with that, because he couldn¡¯t do it slowly. If he changed the planet¡¯s orbit too soon, many people would die. Too late, and everyone would die. And for what, a little natural energy? Or a lot of it. There was a fundamental difference in what the planet would receive from the star, even with it being further. The fact that he was considering it at all was an extreme. It would be incredibly difficult, not least because Anton wouldn¡¯t be at full power. He could tell that binding to the brown dwarf as it was would not empower him, if it worked at all. So he would have to rely on energy coming in from his other stars. Azun was close enough for him to feel its power, but he would need more. And Anton had no idea if it was a good idea even if he did it perfectly. He was already hesitant about uplifting the planet through the addition of the One Hundred Stars. But having a strong faction that operated with morals would ultimately result in good things for them. And they could improve the natural energy of the world in small ways, even if Anton did nothing extreme. ----- ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re alright to go back tomorrow, father?¡± Aykorkem asked Botros. ¡°Of course,¡± the man said stubbornly. ¡°I promised my son to take care of the two of you. For that, I need money, and to get money I need to work.¡± ¡°But you can barely stand¡­¡± she said. ¡°At least let us go with you.¡± ¡°No, you need to keep looking for work suited for your strengths,¡± Botros said. ¡°Which is not lifting crates.¡± ¡°I can help, though,¡± Nasima said. The young woman leaned forward eagerly. ¡°I¡¯m stronger than a lot of the boys.¡± ¡°Not strong enough,¡± Botros said. ¡°Besides, this fellow said the job is short term. I¡¯ll be done with it soon enough. I¡¯ll get my pay as we need.¡± With that, the discussion was settled for the evening. ----- It was actually a surprise to Anton when the young woman snuck after her grandfather to show up at the warehouse. He¡¯d picked this family because of their drive, of course, but it was still a show of great boldness. She had excellent timing as well, keeping just the right distance behind her grandfather. He entered the warehouse and she slipped in the door behind him. ¡°I¡¯m here for the day¡¯s work, sir.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anton said. ¡°Start with the ones along that wall.¡± Anton wondered if Botros would notice that he¡¯d taken crates out of the core of one area. Not that most were so recognizable individually. After Botros went off, Anton was left there looking at the young Nasima peeking around the corner of some crates. ¡°So, what are you doing here?¡± ¡°Um¡­ I- I heard you needed some strong fellows to help you in your warehouse,¡± she said, puffing herself up as large as possible and flexing. Her clothes were such that she could be mistaken for a young man by some. Anton could feel she had some actual muscle but¡­ ¡°Too scrawny,¡± he declared. ¡°I¡¯m stronger than I look!¡± she protested. ¡°Just let me try.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I suppose I can. This other fellow can show you the ropes. I doubt you can move much, but if you can manage to move these,¡± Anton pat a mid sized and not too densely packed crate. ¡°I can pay you half wages.¡± He grinned. ¡°Hey Botros!¡± Nasima¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Umm, actually I-¡± But it was too late for her. Botros was swift to answer Anton¡¯s call. ¡°Yes, sir?¡± he said, making his way over. Then he saw Nasima. ¡°You¡­¡± Anton interrupted whatever was going to happen there. ¡°This fellow wants to try the job. You know ¡®em?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Kinda scrawny, but I was thinking maybe the young one could move the smaller crates.¡± Nasima tried to look away. Botros frowned. ¡°So, what do you think? You know each other?¡± ¡°We do,¡± Botros said. ¡°What would your judgment be, strong enough?¡± ¡°...¡± Botros¡¯ hesitation was a good thing. He didn¡¯t immediately say no, at least. He didn¡¯t want to discourage his granddaughter, after all. ¡°Might need some explanation of proper technique.¡± ¡°Alright then,¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡¯s your job for today. Good luck with that.¡± ¡°... What?¡± Botros asked. ¡°Just come find me when the young fellow can move a decent crate,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°I have some business to attend to.¡± Some of that involved sneakily adding lighter crates to the group Botros had been working on while they weren¡¯t near that side of the warehouse, and the other was increasing the size of his lunch once again. Meanwhile, he kept some of his senses on the pair. Not because he was worried they would do something or be lazy, but because he wanted to see how the interaction went. ¡°This isn¡¯t a light job,¡± Botros said. ¡°It¡¯s likely still best for you to find work elsewhere.¡± Nasima didn¡¯t say anything, but also didn¡¯t seem ready to back down. ¡°But I suppose you won¡¯t. So first thing to do is lift one of these.¡± As she stomped up to the crate, he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. ¡°They¡¯re not as easy as you¡¯d think,¡± he said. ¡°You have to use proper technique.¡± First he started with the basic, physical positioning that made it easier. But that wasn¡¯t quite enough. Anton didn¡¯t have a perfectly weighted crate just lying around, of course. He might have put his finger on the scales a little bit. Either way, Botros tried his best to explain the same meditative use of natural energy Anton had taught him- something he naturally did for the single crate he¡¯d already moved. Nasima didn¡¯t quite get it, but Anton still let her lift the crate. He would have some practical advice for them later, but he hadn¡¯t expected a youngster to instantly pick up on the mental aspect of things. Though if he wasn¡¯t wrong, it shouldn¡¯t take more than a day or two to get started. Chapter 733 There was only so long that Anton would be able to keep up the ruse. Botros would eventually realize that half of the crates in the warehouse remained the same ones, simply being moved around. And then there was the fact that he would be able to sense natural energy in others soon enough. Most of the actual business Anton was engaged in involved purchasing food and selling it cheaply. If he purchased locally around Krosburgh then he would most likely only raise prices if he worked in large volume, simply moving money from himself to wily merchants. And while it might be worth it to bring food to the right people, that was not his preferred result. It was simple enough for him to leave the city, staying out of sight and flying around the planet to somewhere with cheaper food. He was careful to only buy from places that had a true abundance, so as not to deprive some while helping others. Then he returned to Krosburgh, where he would sell to grocers who dealt with refugees. A rather mundane method of making a change in the world, and he knew he could make larger changes with his power. But if he came at things from the wrong angle, his power wouldn¡¯t necessarily make things better. How many dictators had Anton heard of who thought they knew the right way? And even if Anton would be right about what was best for everyone in theory, forcing people to go along with him would be bad in practice. People didn¡¯t like being told what to do. Instead, he planned for more subtle changes. Was he technically manipulating people? Certainly. But such went all interactions between people, from the complaining grandchild to the fussy grandparent. People were always trying to get what they wanted from others in ways both subtle and overt. But intentions and actual results made all the difference. Anton watched as Botros and the young Nasima performed their work, slowly and unconsciously advancing through the first star and the beginning of Body Tempering. He anticipated a strong reaction when they found out he was a cultivator- but they were clearly eager to improve their own situation. Even if they rejected cultivation after the foundational first star, their prospects would be improved. But Anton¡¯s experience told him that most distaste for cultivators came with jealousy, hinging on how they guarded their secrets. Most would be eager to learn if they got the chance. If Anton had misjudged this small family, he would find another. Either way, he intended to expand his influence through the various refugees throughout the city. ----- Nasima walked down the street, wary of cultivators. Usually she picked them out by their arrogant swaggers. Their manner of dress was also key, along with the fact that they openly carried weapons. She always made sure to stay out of their way. Now, it was even easier. But the same change that made it easier for her to pick them out seemed to draw attention to her. Instead of being ignored completely, eyes lingered on her for a moment. Most cultivators still turned away from her as if she was refuse, but the fact that they paid attention at all concerned her. They must be able to feel her, the way she felt them. But they were right to dismiss her. Whatever her meager senses could tell her, all of them were clearly far beyond her. Though she found it difficult to compare many of them. She wasn¡¯t sure what had happened to her. She didn¡¯t know anything about cultivation, except that it involved natural energy. And refining it, or something. She had heard some speak about luck of the heavens fueling their advancement. Maybe some of that had fallen upon her to spark her initial growth? Cultivators had to have developed their abilities from somewhere, at some point. Or nobody would have been able to write those secret manuals they held so dear. Even torn pages were prized possessions that would take her family years to save up for. Or rather, years when they had been back home. When her father had still lived. Now she was moving boxes instead of helping her mother with her work as a seamstress¡­ but it paid well. The more she could do, the more Anton paid. And his advice had helped her develop the technique and muscle. The same with her grandpa¡­ who also felt a little bit like a weak cultivator. Was it something about the warehouse? It seemed fairly normal, except for how many heavy crates it had. Perhaps that simple meditative technique? No, it shouldn¡¯t be that. Nasima would admit she knew nothing about cultivation, but from what she had heard it involved spending vast amounts of time sitting around among the clouds in a trance. Or years devoted to swinging weapons about. Cultivators didn¡¯t move crates. She did though. For a good wage, too. Enough to pay for their family¡¯s survival, and even to save up for when the job ran dry as the warehouse master always warned. They¡¯d probably have to accept lower paying jobs elsewhere soon enough. Nasima looked at the crates arrayed in front of her. She recognized some of the markings. They would be heavier. She couldn¡¯t just pick them up as she pleased, but instead would have to take them seriously. She looked at one in particular. It was an old nemesis. She wasn¡¯t sure why they were moving about so many bricks or the like- and especially in such large crates- but she had no basis to complain. It was a job that paid for a reason. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. She took a deep breath as she faced her nemesis. She could feel the fresh air in her lungs, the way it spread through her body. She made sure it went everywhere, especially the tips of her fingers and toes. She had to balance with the latter, and the former were directly used for picking things up. Nasima hefted the crate, staggering slightly before righting it. Then it nearly fell out of her hands as it bounced back the other way. It took all she had to stop it and wrench it back so it didn¡¯t fall over- and then it flew back the other way. It was like it was full of liquid sloshing about. Maybe even wine, but Nasima was fairly certain no bottles could pack tightly enough for it to be so heavy. She had no way to stop it from falling back the other way, as her hands were positioned all wrong. And yet, somehow she kept a grip on its. As it sloshed back and forth she managed to balance it as if she was wrapping the whole thing in her arms. But every step she took began the process once more, the crate trying to rip itself out of her arms. She couldn¡¯t afford to drop it though. Whatever was in this was probably worth more than all the money she¡¯d ever held. Even if it was weirdly cheap wine, if she shattered the bottles then the family savings would be ruined. She took another breath with every step. Her muscles strained as it forced her entire body to work in tandem just to walk. She breathed in and out, each breath in filling her up with something. It filled her muscles and her gut, but she put it out of her mind. She had to be imagining it, right? She breathed out, but while it lowered some of the pressure in her lungs, the rest of her body continued to strain. Perhaps she should take a break. Set down the crate along the way. But¡­ if her grandfather saw her doing that she didn¡¯t know what she would say. He was here working even harder than her. He was too old to be doing this kind of thing, but it was the kind of job he could find. That was why Nasima was here. If she didn¡¯t do her part, what was the point? With each step, Nasima thought her body might suddenly explode. She was too busy thinking about that to consider that the crate she was carrying almost didn¡¯t feel heavy anymore, or that the sloshing liquid inside wasn¡¯t throwing off her balance as much. It was only when she got to the far end that she let herself rest. She felt the aches of her muscles, and only then stopped to wonder why she never hurt in the morning. ----- Anton nodded slowly as he watched Nasima moving about. Botros had determination, but he was older. His body couldn¡¯t stand up to as much change. Most of his energy ended up going to making up for that gap rather than physical improvements in Body Tempering. What wasn¡¯t wasted, of course. Anton tried to provide subtle guidance, but he would need to go more in depth with them once they completed the foundational phase. Nasima was very close, and Botros would probably reach the first star after another month or two. Perhaps if they were more aware of what they were doing they would have learned faster, but Anton was unsure given various factors including the limited natural energy. He did his best to make sure they weren¡¯t acting in a way that would injure themselves, of course. And if they only used natural energy instinctively, letting it naturally settle into their body for the most part, it would be better for them in the long run. He intended to push them, not nearly kill them like what he did when he began cultivating. But he hadn¡¯t actually intended to live. It was a large part luck that he actually had success. The next concern Anton had was the mother Aykorkem. It was possible for her to not become involved in cultivation, but Anton still believed that everyone would benefit. That was why once he could speak openly with the family he would have them direct others to him. Anton had direct experience teaching the weaver Derya, and many others involved in the more traditionally feminine labors over the years. There was much that body tempering could do to increase the agility of hands and fingers for any craft. Beyond that was how not to draw too much attention from local cultivators. Even if they only ever reached Body Tempering, the hundred or so refugees Anton had his eyes on would stand out to local sects. Perhaps he should distract them with something. He could sell them miraculous new techniques for growing herbs, perhaps. He¡¯d already begun to teach average farmers, but there was only so much they could do without cultivation of their own. There were many things Anton had to keep him busy from day to day. He needed to get some others officially on board so he could pass off some of the responsibility to them. But he could handle things as they were for a while more- and some of his plans would have to be kept to himself for a long time. ----- The upper realms were slow to act, as in general there were more cultivators at a higher level. Thus, they were older- and to some extent that meant being more cautious. Those who survived for a long time knew how to preserve their lives, either through strength or avoiding the wrong conflicts. This was more true of the greater power structures. Sects and planetary governments were generally hesitant to act where things would affect them as a whole. This was not always the case, but spontaneous decisions more often than not resulted in very short term control. Both the Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster had lengthy histories spanning thousands of years. The accord struck between them after the last war had endured centuries, and even now there was debate internally on both sides about what would be done. The rise of the Harmonious Citadel had been a ploy partially orchestrated by the Exalted Quadrant, but now both sides had to determine how much they were willing to risk for one or two Augmentation cultivators. Or more relevantly, whether they were ready to make moves on the Scarlet Midfields. Both sides could easily come up with excuses to take over more territory. The accord had simply been a convenience they put in place. A temporary peace agreement while they worked on other schemes. But they also had a long history of conflict, and not everyone was willing to ignore the recent events. But whether it took decades or centuries, it was clear that the fallout would come eventually. Chapter 734 Since he had begun the training for the pair, Anton had always expected Botros to be the first to confront him. Nasima was confident enough to do so, but she had less worldly experience and might not understand the greater implications of what was happening with his cultivation training. Yet somehow, people always managed to find ways to surprise him. Considering there were two options to pick from, one of them had to be correct, didn¡¯t it? But of course, he¡¯d completely neglected one factor. It was a failure in his judgment, to be sure, but such was the way of the world. One evening, Anton nodded to himself with pleasure about the progress of his budding disciples. They were doing quite well, especially considering the place they were starting out. It was impossible for Anton to be physically surprised by someone¡¯s presence. He could sense everyone in a wide distance around him without even trying. So when his disciples walked off and the door to his warehouse swung open, he wasn¡¯t surprised by the physical act. Just that someone had shown up. Aykorkem Salim, daughter-in-law of Botros and mother of Nasima, strode into the building with confidence. Or at least an impressive facsimile of it. She made her way right up to Anton and demanded, ¡°What did you do to my family?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to be more clear. I haven¡¯t done anything to anyone,¡± Anton said. ¡°And your family would be¡­ Botros and Nasima, I presume? They are my main workers here. Your daughter looks quite like you.¡± ¡°She¡¯s more like her father,¡± Aykorkem replied. ¡°But you will not distract me.¡± She straightened her back. ¡°It would be a dark day indeed when I was unable to recognize cultivators. What did you do to them?¡± Anton had no intention to lie to her, especially not when the topic came up so directly. He simply wanted to choose his words carefully. ¡°Everything that has happened to them is under their own efforts. You have a misplaced view of cultivation if you think it can simply be forced upon someone.¡± At best, it would be a temporary boost that injured people afterwards. And Anton was quite certain his two disciples were healthier in all manners. ¡°So you admit it. How could you?¡± She glared at him, pressing her finger into his chest. ¡°I see you have some problems with cultivators,¡± Anton said, gently brushing away her hand. ¡°But perhaps it would be helpful if I knew why?¡± A moment of hesitation. Secrecy lost out to anger. ¡°Cultivators killed my husband,¡± Aykorkem declared furiously. ¡°I am so sorry to hear that,¡± Anton bowed his head. ¡°Many of my children and grandchildren suffered the same fate.¡± ¡°But you-¡± Insight drove Anton to continue, ¡°And I think you are not saying something.¡± He went a bit softer than accusing her of hiding something or lying. ¡°You recognize cultivators without being one yourself. Perhaps even before you family truly understood the signs in themselves. Why is that?¡± Aykorkem took a deep breath as she folded her arms across her chest. ¡°My husband¡­ was a cultivator as well.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton said. ¡°And he concealed it from you, perhaps?¡± Her face softened in surprise. ¡°How do you¡­?¡± ¡°Experience,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Cultivation does more than make someone into a mighty warrior.¡± ¡°Yes. It attracts trouble.¡± ¡°Do you truly believe that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°In my experience, trouble comes no matter what. Cultivation is simply a means to grow to fight against that trouble.¡± ¡°Fighting is where the trouble is,¡± Aykorkem declared. ¡°Violence breeds violence.¡± ¡°That is true, to a great extent,¡± Anton conceded. ¡°But I imagine the only difference there would have been if your husband was not a cultivator is that you and your remaining family would not be here.¡± Aykorkem bit her lip. Hard. ¡°What do you know?¡± ¡°I have only heard the stories of many refugees. And I know that I would have died to protect my family, if it would have helped. Without cultivation. But I chose to cultivate to gain the strength to protect whoever was left.¡± Anton gestured around the building, ¡°You can see that I have not been teaching combat here. They¡¯ve merely been moving my goods around for me and developing their muscles.¡± ¡°Why?¡± This was where he had to be brutally honest. ¡°Because potential disciples aren¡¯t much good if their bodies aren¡¯t healthy,¡± Anton said. Then he transitioned directly into his pitch. ¡°A strong body is important for more than just feeling good or hard labor. You have the look of a seamstress, perhaps? Fine details are easier to create when your hands obey your precise intent. And tempering your skin can protect against annoying needle pricks.¡± The mother narrowed her eyes at him. ¡°You sound like you know much.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve met with many different people and trained them to develop themselves to suit their specific needs,¡± Anton said. ¡°Then why not continue with them? Why come here, for us? What happened to the others?¡± ¡°Some of them moved away, and others are living quite happily. But I decided to expand my ventures, so I came here quite far from home.¡± Anton had studied Poriza well enough to declare he came from a specific far away place, but he didn¡¯t want to directly lie if he didn¡¯t have to. ¡°And I¡¯d rather start with decent working folk who have something to gain.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Aykorkem tilted her head. ¡°What is your goal?¡± ¡°To promote the growth of my sect. And that is best accomplished through the growth of its members.¡± ¡°So you say,¡± she replied, clearly not yet convinced. ¡°How well do you read?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well enough,¡± she said. ¡°... Why?¡± ¡°I can show you what I have been teaching your family,¡± Anton pulled out the Body Tempering portion of One Hundred Stars, written for the local language. ¡°This will be more than sufficient to provide an overview.¡± Aykorkem reached out for it, then recoiled as her hand touched it. ¡°... what is it? It¡¯s hot.¡± ¡°You can feel that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It is infused with remnants of my natural energy to keep it in good condition. But it is not actually hot.¡± The woman snatched it from his hands, opening it to a random page. ¡°If you find words you have trouble understanding, there is a glossary at the back.¡± The book snapped close. She looked Anton straight in the eye. ¡°You want to make warriors of us all.¡± ¡°I want to make people the best they can be. Unfortunately, the way of the world requires that many learn how to fight to resist those who are already doing so.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Those who caused you this pain did not suddenly cease to exist just because they took so much from you.¡± Aykorkem looked down at the tome in her hands. ¡°And what if they don¡¯t want to be your disciples?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°If any of you don¡¯t want to, you are welcome to do as you please.¡± He didn¡¯t think he needed to provide a warning about despicable behavior. That was part of his initial assessment. The woman turned around to walk out. Still carrying the tome, of course. Anton knew she would read through it even without following her with his senses. ¡°Do be careful with that. It is quite valuable to those who know the worth.¡± He didn¡¯t want to have to protect them from someone trying to rob it. He would, but it would make things more complicated. ----- Anton had purchased a few adjacent parcels of land, a few kilometers outside of Krosburgh. Not so far that there would be no interaction with the city, but not so close as to be immediately noticed when he started doing more than farming. His work with Varghese had indeed resulted in a powerful sect within merely half a century, but Poriza was going to need more work. The lower levels of natural energy meant that cultivation would be slower, until he could bring about some worldwide changes. Farming was how he knew best, but he needed to do more than just go around personally teaching people. He needed influence more than raw power. By this world¡¯s metrics, he probably had more raw power than the rest of everyone put together. But things besides farming would come later. For now, the plots of land would be used to grow a variety of nourishing crops that he would bolster with his own natural energy. From there, he would turn around and sell them to those in need. He wanted to farm energy producing crops, but that would be too much of a jump for the local economy to handle and would also draw too much attention to him too early. Working with his own hands was something Anton still enjoyed very much. Tilling the earth, planting seeds, watering them, and rooting out weeds. The last of those was a trickier proposition than it seemed at first. During the early stages of growth it was easy to pull up good plants with the weeds. It required careful work. Though with the benefit of energy senses, Anton could see which roots went where and disentangle things as needed. But from the perspective of a normal farmer, it was a difficult job. The soil in the area Anton had purchased had only been passable, but it turned out that several system¡¯s worth of agricultural engineering knowledge had many ways to cheaply develop soil. Some of it required significant manual labor gathering and adding minerals in the right quantities, but that was exactly the sort of thing Anton liked. The soil would be about twice as productive in his hands as it was before- and he was only just getting started. ----- Nasima and Botros returned for work the next day, so it was clear that Aykorkem had done nothing so extreme as forbid them from showing up. They likely needed the money, after all. While he was paying them a decent amount, part of the extra money they made was spent on food. Anton was thinking about paying them more, but he didn¡¯t want to start too high for fear of scaring them off. The granddaughter was still on the verge of completing the first star. Her success could come about at any moment, after which Anton would need to be more explicit about the training. Improving the whole body for the foundational stage came somewhat naturally, but there were choices to be made following that. No matter what cultivation method was used, it required more than casual continuance of the same patterns. ----- When Aykorkem returned two days later, Anton smiled slightly. He gave the family as much privacy as he could while watching out for their safety, but he¡¯d still felt the tugs on natural energy. And he could feel the very beginnings of cultivation within the woman. She came once again after her family had left, knowing well their timing. ¡°Tell me what is wrong with me,¡± she demanded as she approached Anton. He raised an eyebrow, ¡°I don¡¯t particularly see anything wrong with you.¡± Even her somewhat inflated confidence was an endearing quality in some ways. ¡°So, what are you referring to?¡± ¡°Botros and my daughter both became stronger very quickly,¡± Aykorkem said. ¡°I can¡¯t see such an improvement in myself.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°That is likely because you failed to apply the association principles. In short, exercise along with the use of natural energy. And I don¡¯t mean casual exercise,¡± Anton said. ¡°Look, try one of these crates and you¡¯ll know what the two of them are probably complaining about.¡± ¡°I have not heard any specific complaints,¡± she admitted. Anton was surprised, because even if they didn¡¯t do it in front of their boss, a bit of casually complaining around family was normal. But perhaps they didn¡¯t wish to cause her any concern. ¡°But I will see what you are talking about.¡± She was a fairly fit woman- anyone of low status would have to be to survive. Even a woman with her occupations had to do more than just sew all the time, and that was physically demanding in its own ways. She tried to move one of the lightest training boxes, and could do nothing but barely slide it around on the floor. Frowning, she tried another- only to realize it was even heavier. ¡°If you use the active strengthening techniques, you can likely lift it off the floor,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it¡¯s not as if you have any reason to.¡± That didn¡¯t stop her. Unsurprisingly, the drive that had attracted him to this family unit also included a bit of stubbornness. Aykorkem seemed determined to overcome the challenge. Anton felt her breathing in to capture natural energy. He wondered if a few hints would not go awry. No, she would probably have to ask first. She seemed like the type to fight against unsolicited advice, at least until she trusted someone. Her stubbornness won out, and she eventually slipped her fingers under the crate and lifted. Anton was ready to support her body at any instant if her movements were liable to injure her, but her form was good. Unfortunately, her strength had its limits. The burst of natural energy she used to lift faded away and caused the crate to drop from her hands. Anton slipped his foot out to catch it. ¡°Not bad,¡± he said. ¡°Are you gunning for a promotion to primary disciple? Because with a bit of work, I think you might make it.¡± She just folded her arms in front of her- perhaps to soothe her strained muscles while hiding it. ¡°Can you really do anything practical with cultivation?¡± ¡°My dear lady, if lifting heavy things isn¡¯t practical I don¡¯t know what is,¡± Anton grinned. But at the same time he pulled out a needle and thread, along with some cloth. He spun the needle in his fingers. ¡°But I¡¯ve picked up some techniques over the years you might be interested in seeing.¡± Chapter 735 Not terribly long after he began properly training Aykorkem, Nasima completed her first star. At that point, the risks of guiding her without her knowing the full truth were too great. And since it seemed difficult to leave just one member of the family in the dark, Anton included the grandfather Botros in the conversation. ¡°The techniques I¡¯ve been teaching you over the last months are not simple tricks or manners of exercise,¡± Anton said. ¡°Perhaps you might have already surmised, they are the beginnings of cultivation.¡± Nasima¡¯s response was rather interesting. ¡°Yeah, I thought so,¡± she shrugged. ¡°And you said nothing?¡± Botros asked. ¡°I had no reason to refuse. Besides, it was a good opportunity I didn¡¯t want to ruin.¡± ¡°Hmmn,¡± Botros grunted. ¡°I would have preferred you to be forthcoming,¡± he said to Anton. Anton nodded, ¡°I can understand that. But I don¡¯t know if it would have worked. Imagine yourself as you were. I find you, Botros, looking for work. Perhaps I say this- ¡®I want you to become a disciple of my sect¡¯. What would you have thought?¡± He took a moment to think. ¡°I would have considered it impossible,¡± he admitted. ¡°More than just unlikely. Am I not¡­ already too old? Why choose us?¡± ¡°Traditionally, younger disciples are preferred. For good reason,¡± Anton said. ¡°It is certainly easier to begin when you are younger. But I knew it was possible because of experience. I personally did not begin cultivating until I was a hundred years old.¡± ¡°I see. I thought you were just a bit older than myself but¡­¡± Botros frowned. ¡°I have the feeling that¡¯s not true.¡± Anton felt Nasima clumsily trying to feel his cultivation. ¡°He would have to have grown stronger¡­ very rapidly,¡± Nasima said. ¡°I¡¯m not certain I¡¯ve felt anyone stronger than him in Krosburgh,¡± she said. ¡°I will teach you some proper techniques,¡± Anton said. ¡°And etiquette. Some cultivators will be offended at you brazenly observing them. You, Nasima, have officially reached the first star. The completion of the first stage of cultivation. Continuing through Body Tempering, you will need to choose between strengthen your meridians, torso, head, muscles-¡± ¡°Muscles!¡± Nasima declared. ¡°I don¡¯t know what a meridian is, but I want to make my muscles stronger.¡± ¡°Finishing the list, there are bones, tendons, skin, and marrow.¡± Anton smiled, ¡°Many people choose muscle, and it is not an incorrect choice.¡± ¡°What are meridians?¡± Botros questioned. ¡°They are the channels through which natural energy flows,¡± Anton said. ¡°You should have some sense of them now.¡± ¡°You mentioned them first. Are they more important?¡± ¡°They are critical to all energy cultivation,¡± Anton said. ¡°But they are also the most difficult. Most delay their cultivation until they have greater experience.¡± ¡°Most, is it?¡± Botros asked. ¡°That is correct,¡± Anton said. ¡°The Order of One Hundred Stars- my sect- places special emphasis on prime temperings. The second and fifth stars, two refinements plus another three, are both part of Body Tempering. In general, I would recommend cultivating meridians for the fifth star.¡± Botros nodded. ¡°When did you do it?¡± ¡°For my second tempering. But I was in a state of desperation. Rushed. I didn¡¯t care about the danger. In fact, I might have hoped it would kill me quickly.¡± ¡°I think I will take your advice,¡± Botros said. ¡°What would you recommend?¡± ¡°For you¡­ either muscle, or the organs of the torso,¡± Anton said. ¡°For Nasima, muscle is a reasonable choice. But you don¡¯t have to decide right now. And I should point out that you don¡¯t have to continue cultivation. But I think you will find it quite beneficial.¡± ¡°Do we get to fight?¡± Nasima asked. Her grandfather frowned. ¡°It would be reasonable to teach you to defend yourselves. But I find it more practical to develop areas of ability in which you already excel. Or in which you wish to. Performing a craft or labor of any sort can be enhanced by cultivation, and smooth out your growth. I myself am a farmer.¡± ¡°I thought you were a merchant,¡± Botros said. ¡°I can be both. And I mostly deal in produce.¡± ¡°So all those heavy crates¡­¡± Anton left the incomplete question unanswered. ¡°I want to fight,¡± Nasima said. ¡°I mean, so I can protect people. Like dad.¡± ¡°All of you will learn what you need to in terms of combat,¡± Anton said. Nasima looked around. ¡°All of us? Wait, is it mom too? I thought I felt her snooping around.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Anton smiled. A decent amount of insight, and making use of her energy senses without real training. Her eagerness for battle might be a problem, but Anton knew he could smooth over any troubles in that area. Either she would naturally come to understand at some point¡­ or become strong enough. And Anton wasn¡¯t going to claim that fighting wasn¡¯t the ultimate solution for cultivators a majority of the time. He just thought other options should at least be considered first. ----- The timing was right for Anton to leave for a few weeks- enough to visit nearby systems. And one mysterious rogue planet. He still thought about Aipra regularly, even if he couldn¡¯t do much to directly aid them. It had already been confirmed that the teams there could communicate to the outside world- though it took more energy from subspace, and some changes to their equipment. Other than that, he visited uninhabited stars. Much of his efforts were focused on this region, and he knew they would be for some time. Increasing his number of bound stars in the area would benefit him in terms of travel speed even if he didn¡¯t need the combat prowess. He had five available bindings, and planned to fill at least four of them over the next few years. He picked out a nice yellow-white star between Poriza and In¡¯istra for his first in the near region besides Azun. Years began to flow by as they often did even before he was a cultivator. He slowly recruited other disciples from Krosburgh, doing his best to promote the prosperity of the city even as more refugees came and went. He continued to plant seeds of growth- mostly metaphorically- among the people of Poriza though his focus was on the local branch of the Order. Soon enough all of the Salim family had reached Spirit Building, with Botros the slowest among them. But that should only be expected, as situations like Antons were the exception. That of great natural talent- whatever that was- a furious drive to grow, and enough luck to survive. During that time, Anton also bound a nearby binary star system that was of some interest. And he kept in contact with Catarina about his potential plans, because of the people he knew she was the most likely to support something so crazy. He also needed practical advice on formations, because he could only know so much. He didn¡¯t have the right affinity or time devoted to even compare to lower realms formation masters in the Life Transformation stage. ----- Aipra. A true anomaly as far as Anton was aware. Now that he was looking, Anton had come across more than a handful of standard rogue planets outside of subspace. But a place like Aipra not only existing in terms of simply having matter to form a planet, but even sustaining life¡­ that was a unique situation. It was unlikely it would ever be known how it truly ended up there, though all of the most likely possibilities involved cultivators. Most likely more than the current populace, or at least higher in power. It was clear to Anton that Nalini enjoyed his visits. It seemed that cultivators in her position spent much of their time resting for attacks by distortion beasts, or alternating between them. Anton didn¡¯t know exactly how many there were, but he¡¯d only seen a handful. There might be a few more he didn¡¯t know of at all. For a planet in such dire straits, it was amazing to produce even a single individual that could reach beyond Life Transformation. The planet made very efficient use of everything they had. It was simply required. They had a cooperative nature because if they hadn¡¯t, they would have long been dead. Even with Anton admitting that many cultivators outside their planet were not devoted to humanity as they knew it, they still accepted him and the teams. The years that had gone by brought with them little visible change. Looking at the metrics, it seemed that specialized farming techniques were producing a few percent more in terms of crops year after year. It could almost be random noise, except that because they kept large emergency supplies they knew very well what was being produced at all times. Any improvement in overall natural energy would take more than just a handful of years to be seen. It would be very difficult to actually have a net increase, since in other places that power ultimately came from a local sun. Natural energy was ultimately reusable, or the planet would have long crumbled, but growth was limited to two factors only. First was whatever pockets of natural energy they came across in subspace and that got drawn into their gravitational pull. The general background levels of natural energy were small but consistent. Then there was the biggest threat they faced- while also being their main source of anything new. Distortion beasts. Each one brought with it additional natural energy- and unfortunately, death and destruction. It was a cycle that was tenuously stable, but had managed to continue for a long while. Though Anton¡¯s initial desire was to help Aipra, aside from contributing in two battles and helping with distributing necessary supplies he had done little. Actually, from their perspective those might have been significant¡­ but he couldn¡¯t create a fundamental change in their system. The world just didn¡¯t fit the methods he knew. But he didn¡¯t just visit them out of pity. They had things he wanted to learn. The same as the Scarlet Alliance group visiting them. Among other things, the cultivation of Nailni and the others could teach Anton a lot. It was a different path, but still valuable for them to exchange cultivation pointers. And Poriza knew more about devotion and communal cultivation than anyone else, by a great measure. Anton didn¡¯t think he wanted to replicate that, nor did he have interest in recreating their social system. Because while it was functional, it was also restrictive. Everyone had to fulfill a role in society, though there was some leeway on which role. Unfortunately, the vast majority of those roles were practical ones, with little room for arts or expression of any kind. It was not to say there was none. Even in the worst of circumstances, or perhaps especially in the worst of circumstances, humans would find a way to make art or music. But they had little time for it. Each day came with regularity, the world allowing little change for individuals from day to day. They didn¡¯t even have growing seasons. In a way, it was a boon- the lack of seasons meant they continuously produced fresh food, such as it was given the circumstances. Some of the plants that grew the best were inedible by humans, and fed to rare cattle or other livestock. Anton brought up the idea of possibly leaving. Nalini¡¯s reply was quite practical. ¡°We spoke to your Scarlet Alliance about the prospect. It would be quite impossible. Should we lose a portion of our population, the rest would likely die. And while your people spoke of transport ships, it would be difficult to move more than several thousands of individuals at once. How many years would it take, even if it caused no disruptions?¡± She shook her head. ¡°It remains nearly impossible.¡± ¡°I assumed so,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°And letting a few individuals leave would simply cause discontent. The only true possibility would be if the world was prosperous¡­ and then you wouldn¡¯t need to leave.¡± ¡°Perhaps some day,¡± Nalini said, surprised at her own words. ¡°Your formation knowledge and this technology are both quite helpful. Though it is slow for our people to dig deep for conductive metals, making use of what we already produced and cast off as unnecessary is an intriguing prospect. But what people seem to appreciate most are the improvements in insulation. A tiny bit of warmth is the most desirable thing we have here.¡± Anton nodded. It was strange. Every time he thought of this place, it seemed like it should have been a symbol of despair. But instead, he was always uplifted. Stubborn endurance was not pitiable, but noble. Though prosperity was better still. Some day, perhaps. If Aipra could accept the changes. Anton was recently inspired to make big moves. Though he didn¡¯t want to try too many all at once. Chapter 736 A dozen individuals of varying ages, from Botros himself to those as young as his granddaughter Nasima, were arrayed in front of Anton as he walked through the fields of the sect grounds. ¡°So you see,¡± he concluded his short speech. ¡°If you take care of the crops, the energy you provide to them will be returned to you even greater.¡± The local branch of the sect was far too young to have positions such as senior disciples and elders. It had only been a few short seasons, not even enough time for the speedist cultivator among them to reach Spirit Building. Even so, he still made sure they showed deference for those who came before them. Though it helped that the family of three had a head start on cultivation, and worked hard to keep their lead. Aykorkem was now behind only Nasima, both because of the former¡¯s speed and the latter¡¯s age. Even so, Anton knew that many sects would have been glad to have someone growing as fast as Botros. While it was true that part of that was due to Anton¡¯s personal attention, he thought everyone deserved such guidance. So all of the members of the small branch sect would be receiving his personal attention for the foreseeable future. Aykorkem, the mother, was clearly interested in having status within the sect. Anton was willing to accommodate that, as long as he could see she was performing her duties well and not taking more benefits than she was due. The sect had a modest budget for cultivation aids of various sorts, and Anton didn¡¯t supplement the supplies with anything of his own. For one thing, it would be dangerous for people of lower cultivation to use most of the pills he had- and he didn¡¯t have an infinite supply of anything. His personal wealth was not limitless, and it was best to use it efficiently. Finally, the sect had to be able to manage itself. When he had gone away from the fields, Aykorkem came to him. ¡°Sect Head Anton,¡± she caught his attention. ¡°I have some matters that require your attention.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± he asked. ¡°I do believe you should be able to handle most everything.¡± ¡°Almost,¡± she admitted. ¡°But it does concern you even still. It is the matter of your name. And your presence in general,¡± she said. ¡°Negotiations become easier if you have the proper backer. I¡¯m sure you know this.¡± ¡°You want permission to use my name?¡± Anton asked. He nodded slowly. ¡°You may, but I think it should be constrained to external consideration only. By which I mean¡­ it would be better for you to manage things as if I am not here.¡± ¡°What do you mean? Are you going away?¡± ¡°You know I travel frequently,¡± he said. ¡°But I have no intent to leave for good. But consider what would happen when I was away, if you relied on having me.¡± ¡°I see,¡± she nodded. ¡°I will be cautious, then.¡± ¡°As you should be,¡± Anton said. ¡°But¡­ perhaps there are some exceptions. How should I say this¡­ don¡¯t make enemies without reason. But sometimes, things must be done no matter the danger. There are things which are simply unacceptable. If I hear you stood by while innocents were killed¡­¡± ¡°It would be better for us to die in battle than do so,¡± Aykorkem surmised. ¡°I believe so, but do not take that as a threat. Because if such a case arrives, most likely I will do nothing. But¡­ unless you could justify yourselves to me, that would be the end of our relationship.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I would understand if your lives were more important than doing what is right. And I would truly hope you don¡¯t ever have to choose.¡± ¡°I understand. And you know I would prefer not to make enemies. It is just¡­ growing to understand more about cultivation, it seems inevitable. At minimum, we are implicitly at war Stauso and their sects.¡± Stauso was one of the bordering nations, responsible for the vast majority of the refugees that Anton was focused on recruiting. It was natural that they would be enemies, even if politics hadn¡¯t required it. The role of sects within a nation was to join together with others in times of war. There were certain qualifications that had to be met, but eventually the One Hundred Stars would have a duty to fight as well. Anton had founded the branch of the sect knowing that, having weighed the various options. While this was a war where nobody was truly in the right, there were more than a few sects in Stauso that were too eager to destroy people¡¯s homes. If Anton wanted a perfect country, he would have to found one of his own¡­ and then leave it. ¡°Vochaye will likely be calling upon us soon,¡± Anton said. Aykorkem nodded. ¡°The same would be the case even if we had not joined you. Except instead of fighting as cultivators, we would be cannon fodder given no value.¡± ¡°I wish I could change the status quo in just a year¡­ but I have not the political standing. Nor would I wish to attempt the same by direct force. As with everything, it will take time. First, we cultivate ourselves. The One Hundred Stars will grow in power and integrity. The intent is to spread throughout Vochaye over the decades. From there, we will reassess and determine where the future might lead.¡± ----- Catarina looked down, feeling how the formations of Xankeshan descended into the earth. She was glad she had prepared specific anti-Everheart measures, woven into the fundamentals of the formation. Because despite their temporary alliance, and even her grandfather¡¯s understanding of the man, Catarina knew Everheart was fickle. He was not to be trusted, and he was dangerous. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. She had no doubt he could have broken through the formation despite what she had done. It would have simply taken him longer. Long enough, perhaps, for Tauno and Zazil and the fleets to move in on him. Catarina wondered what would have happened if he found the formations lacking. He had to still be bitter about taking over the planet he¡¯d once called his own. Not even Anton¡¯s most charitable interpretation of the man could put him above such pettiness. Having grown up on Ceretos, she was aware of how truly unlikable the man was. In fact, he cultivated that image intentionally. Anton had postulated and Catarina was convinced that the man cultivated spite as a form of devotion. Even so, she could not help but be impressed by his achievements in the area of formations. A majority of her style was based on his work, and most of her cultivation was based on the study of formations. ¡°You¡¯re thinking about something,¡± Timothy drew her away. ¡°Something you should probably speak about.¡± ¡°Just about advancing to Augmentation,¡± Catarina said, looking around the room. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Looking for spying formations.¡± ¡°You built all of these formations,¡± Timothy said. ¡°You should know if there are any. If anything, I¡¯d be more concerned about technological things.¡± ¡°No, he shouldn¡¯t know how to do that yet,¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°And who is ¡®he¡¯?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Everheart.¡± ¡°What does he have to do with Augmentation?¡± Timothy questioned sincerely. Because he hadn¡¯t felt any sort of deflection in his wife¡¯s voice throughout the conversation. ¡°Everything,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°I can learn the most from him. From his work, I mean. I have no interest in speaking to him personally. I might have gotten some of his projections to reveal secrets to me, but that would just make him even more cautious about sharing his knowledge. I¡¯d rather not fall for something convincing and incorrect.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Timothy said. ¡°So it¡¯s about formations. Are you coming up with one to help you advance to Augmentation?¡± ¡°No,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Yes. Not really.¡± She paced around the room. ¡°To complete the formation I require, I would likely need to be in Augmentation. And I don¡¯t think this advancement should come about in that manner. In other words, I need to develop my understanding even further so that I can naturally advance, then I can do what I plan.¡± ¡°And how is that different from normal?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°You are always studying and improving in the field of formations. That is your essence, after all.¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t, really,¡± she admitted. ¡°I just want to make sure I don¡¯t waste time.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°What do you need this formation for?¡± ¡°Xankeshan,¡± Catarina said. ¡°To completely cut off Everheart. His formation style has bled into the wider area of the Scarlet Midfields, so countering him counters pretty much everyone else. Though I¡¯d like to get some more samples from the Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Let me know if I can do anything. Otherwise, I will be doing my own training. I don¡¯t want to fall behind.¡± ----- ¡°Sorry dear,¡± Kseniya shook her head when Alva came to her. ¡°I have no insights to share with you. I¡¯m still hovering around the midpoint of Integration.¡± Alva sighed, ¡°I wish grandpa were here.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t everyone? He¡¯s the one who pushed me to this point. Otherwise I would have just remained an old woman in Life Transformation.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just not the same to get something written down, instead of seeing him,¡± Alva said. ¡°Can you imagine if it were me instead?¡± Kseniya grinned. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d understand anything,¡± Alva admitted. ¡°You saw the bow saint, right? How was she?¡± ¡°Mediocre,¡± Kseniya said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how they all reached Augmentation. No, I do. But stuffing yourself with devotion isn¡¯t a good method, I think we can agree.¡± ¡°True.¡± Alva scratched her head. ¡°I¡¯d ask Fuzz but I don¡¯t even know if he¡¯s trying to reach that stage. And you know, the whole wolf thing.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t hurt,¡± Kseniya shrugged. ¡°Now then, while I can¡¯t do anything for you specifically, perhaps we could both gain something from a little shooting competition?¡± ----- Hoyt faced off against Prospero as they often did. Their styles of combat were still quite different, but the divergent factors of Hoyt¡¯s usage of Falling Stars was natural instead of an intentional pushback. Great meteors of energy orbited around Prospero, while Hoyt preferred to manage only a small few projectiles around himself, and perhaps charge in on his own. The two of them were perfectly serious, but even in such a battle they could carry on conversation. ¡°Everyone is itching to reach Augmentation,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°I would not be in a rush,¡± Prospero said. ¡°After all,¡± he twisted the orbit of his energy, so inner and outer layers crossed perpendicular to each other and blocked Hoyt¡¯s approach, ¡°I spend longer than this in Life Transformation.¡± ¡°Only because you didn¡¯t want to leave the Order without you,¡± Hoyt pointed out as he used his axe to cleave apart half a dozen meteors, intersecting them at oblique angles where he didn¡¯t have to wrestle with the majority of their momentum. ¡°None of us are going anywhere this time. But everyone is worried about what the future might bring.¡± ¡°So it is,¡± Prospero acknowledged. He fired a series of attacks in sequence, curving them around as Hoyt dodged away from them. ¡°But I think the truth will be revealed to us when we reach the peak of Integration. No sense in making too much of a fuss before then. We barely have any information on advancing to Augmentation. A few testimonies from our alliance, and the nearly useless captured knowledge of the Harmonious Citadel. Don¡¯t be in a rush.¡± ¡°Oh please,¡± Hoyt grinned. ¡°You¡¯re not fooling anyone. You¡¯re quite eager to be young again and see how far you can get.¡± ¡°I¡¯d say the additional centuries I have prove quite well that I am not rushing, thank you very much,¡± Prospero smiled in return. ¡°And I don¡¯t mind being the one to pave the way for others.¡± ¡°You think you can be first?¡± ¡°Depends on whether we¡¯re counting that Chikere lady,¡± Prospero admitted. ¡°Seems like she¡¯s assumed to be advancing at any moment.¡± ¡°Within the next few decades, or perhaps she¡¯s dead already,¡± Hoyt shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ve long since passed the point where we can afford to worry about how she handles her cultivation. So we just kind of have to assume it will work for her another time.¡± ¡°Maybe that same confidence in herself is how she is successful,¡± Prospero said. ¡°In which case, I know quite a few confident individuals who I should expect the same from.¡± Chapter 737 When the time came that the country of Vochaye called upon the Order of One Hundred Stars to help defend themselves, Anton couldn¡¯t pretend to not exist. As the sect head, he owed it to his disciples to ease their burdens. He would fight for the country as required. But he lied. He lied so very much. He¡¯d even lied to his own sect, technically. He gave them the same explanations that he was currently giving to the young fellow in command. ¡°Horizon Shot is named that because it lets you shoot as far as the horizon,¡± Anton said. That was a total fabrication, of course. Even from the very conception of the technique, Kseniya had intended for it to shoot beyond the horizon. But the most powerful cultivators in the local branch were still in Spirit Building at the one decade mark, so it was easy enough for them to believe that the horizon was the limit instead of the starting point. ¡°Interesting,¡± said the young general Elling. ¡°Can you demonstrate?¡± ¡°Of course, sir,¡± Anton said with actual respect. Elling might have been from a powerful local sect and definitely seemed too young to be in charge, but he at least treated even the smaller sects with respect. Thus, he was entitled to have it in return. ¡°Where would you like me to shoot?¡± ¡°How about that tree on top of the hill?¡± Elling suggested. ¡°Certainly,¡± Anton said. He made a proper demonstration out of it. He pulled out his bow- a much less valuable backup weapon- and slowly formed the Spirit Arrow. It was glacial by his current metrics, at least. For early Essence Collection which was his stated cultivation, it was quite fast. He pulled back the string to his ear as the Spirit Arrow formed, took a moment to ¡®aim¡¯, and released. He rode with his arrow, not for need of guiding it for accuracy, but nearly the opposite. He made certain that he did not hit exactly the center of the tree as was his instinct, nor did he allow his energy to penetrate all the way through the sturdy tree. ¡°You will be able to see if you approach.¡± ¡°It did look like it hit from here,¡± Elling said. ¡°But I should be able to see it with some concentration.¡± The young man shifted his stance, and with it came the jangling sound of chains. Dangling from each wrist was a chain with a heavy ball at the end. Though heavy was relative to cultivation, of course. Elling¡¯s cultivation was only a bit further along than Anton¡¯s stated cultivation of early Essence Collection, though the Austere Chain Palace had elders in late Essence Collection. And one Life Transformation cultivator nobody was supposed to know about. It hadn¡¯t taken Anton much effort to accidentally find the man, however. Elling¡¯s legs were bound similarly. The heavy chains were a method of training, weapons, and a reminder of the sect¡¯s creed. The weight of responsibility weighed down upon all. It was a bit too literal of a metaphor for Anton¡¯s personal taste, but that was about the worst he could say about the sect. Which was to say, he liked them. Which was why he tolerated them taking charge. The young man finally nodded. ¡°I see it. Punched a finger width hole half a meter deep!¡± He nodded seriously. ¡°We¡¯re glad to have you on our side.¡± They should be. Though Anton had no intention to say that. He was keeping a lower profile now, with the intention to make big moves later. But he wanted to build up some trust first. ¡°I will be on the same battlefield as my disciples, won¡¯t I?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Of course,¡± Elling nodded. ¡°We¡¯re not so crazy as to break apart the teamwork of the sects. Nor do we want to mess around with the chain of command.¡± Elling looked over at a portion of their army with a frown. ¡°What is it?¡± Anton asked, knowing perfectly well the man¡¯s concerns. ¡°I wish we didn¡¯t have to recruit non-cultivators. But Stauso has drafted many of their citizens. We have to make up for the numbers this way but,¡± he shook his head, ¡°I pity them.¡± ¡°There is an easy solution for that, you know?¡± Anton said. ¡°And what is that?¡± Elling asked. ¡°Have them become cultivators. Even a month or two of training and a single step into cultivation will drastically improve their success.¡± ¡°Could they even learn anything?¡± ¡°You¡¯d be surprised,¡± Anton said. ¡°Well, the Austere Chain Palace isn¡¯t likely to take them on as disciples. Nor would any of the others.¡± He looked to Anton, ¡°Unless you are volunteering the Order?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if that would go over well with anyone,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I do have certain standards I must verify before they could join. However¡­¡± Anton grinned, ¡°I do have a basic technique I am willing to share. It does cover all of Body Tempering. And I hear it is easier to transition to other cultivation methods compared to some.¡± Which is to say, it had been developed specifically for that purpose. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°And what is it called?¡± ¡°It is the Ten Step Body,¡± Anton said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind instructing that company.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Elling frowned. ¡°It is certainly tempting, but they also need to learn how to handle a weapon. I¡¯m not certain if they have time for both.¡± ¡°That is the beauty of the method,¡± Anton said. ¡°It smoothly integrates with other training.¡± Personally, Anton thought that any method that strictly required individuals to sit in meditation doing nothing else for a long period was likely flawed, with few exceptions. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t mind you trying,¡± Elling admitted. ¡°As long as you can manage your sect¡¯s integration into the greater army as well.¡± ¡°Aykorkem can manage our squads just fine, and I will be within shouting range regardless. If you could introduce me?¡± ----- Anton planned to poach at least a few of these individuals for the Order, assuming they were interested. Offers would be made without regard for talent, but after just a few days he could determine much about this group. Watching them train with spears, a standard battlefield weapon, he learned about their temperament and attitude. Though some other sects would doubtless be interested in some who had decent talent- it was easy to miss people who simply never had a chance to prove themselves, and a few hundred individuals was nothing to sneeze at. ----- Battle came, as was inevitable. Anton found it interesting how he had fought wars on a much grander scale with fewer participants on particular battlefields. But with Poriza¡¯s lower natural energy things were all scaled down towards a level where those without cultivation could still contribute. Or in the case of their particular army, those with little cultivation. Anton made certain that everyone had a chance to achieve at least basic success, strengthening their body and having some amount of natural energy, even if they could only use it to deflect a blow or two or augment a single attack. Time was the limiting factor there, as well as the planet itself. The battle began, and Anton had difficult decisions to make. Many, many difficult decisions. It was unfair for him to have to make the choices, but it was also unfair for him to have the power he did compared to anyone else. But ultimately, Anton had significant control over everyone who lived and died on the battlefield. He wasn¡¯t going to let any disciples of the Order die. They would get injured, yes. That was part of battle, and coddling them by keeping them completely safe would only increase the danger they were in later. Some might even nearly die. As for others, Anton intended to leave the proper sects to fend for themselves except as he was directed to aid them. It would be complicated for him to interfere with them regardless. No matter how subtle he made his energy, out of hundreds of people something would eventually be connected to him. That left the drafted members on their side¡­ and also those of Stauso. None of them chose to be here. He had come to know their own side, and while it was only a shallow relationship he still wanted them to live. Even the worst of them. Anton could easily assume that the enemy would be the same. So he would do his best to keep them from dying unnecessarily, but not at the expense of their own side. As for the enemy sects¡­ it was absolutely within Anton¡¯s purview to be targeting their leadership, and he didn¡¯t mind that at all. This war was completely unnecessary. There was enough space for everyone, and enough land for producing food. But people always wanted more than they absolutely needed. Even Anton was like that, but he preferred to just find ways to improve productivity. Elling fought well. Each limb¡¯s shackles were also weapons, spinning flails attacking his enemy with every spin and twirl. An entirely impractical fighting style if one did not have natural energy, as the rebound of a chained weapon would inevitably strike the wielder eventually. The spinning as well, because half the time he had his back to the enemy. But instead of being impractical, with the aid of natural energy and cultivation senses it became quite an effective fighting style. Though Anton could see some flaws, that was exactly what Elling would be training to improve. Nobody would be perfect immediately, even with a perfect technique to study. One of the primary opponents in this particular battle were the Wandering Tiger Cult. They used claw weapons, unnecessarily vicious and prone to tearing rather than slicing properly. They emulated none of the ability of beasts, but only their savagery. Anton did his best to limit their chances to make use of it, within reason. A few visible shots at a time and however many more were necessary came from hidden energy bows at a great distance, making use of light to attack instantaneously. Anton made certain to get a couple obvious shots in around the more skeptical local sect members who thought it was inappropriate for him to be all the way in the back. But he was an archer, and frankly it was quite valuable to have him not only able to freely shoot but also made the enemy hasty to break through their lines once they realized the threat Anton was. Which in turn got a good few people taken out in their own rush. Of course, Anton paid the most attention to the disciples of the Order, including Nasima. She had taken well to combat, which was not unexpected given the passion she had shown. How she would react after her blood cooled down at the end of the battle would be another matter. It was often a traumatic experience to kill someone for the first time, even if it was necessary. Nasima twirled her spear, thrusting forward with great force. Her opponent leapt backwards, but that was not good enough to save him. A shaft of light energy extended beyond the head of her spear, stabbing into the man. She was not much for archery, but ever since she had seen Spirit Arrows she was interested in more pure forms of energy rather than weapons. But it was still easier for her to focus such an ability from a weapon she was carrying, such as the spear. They were always valuable for their reach, and in her hands it extended another meter or two at opportune moments. Anton was actually a little bit disappointed that none of the Salim family became archers, though it was ultimately better for them to choose something that suited them rather than trying to simply emulate him. But at some point, he wanted to find some good candidates to continue the legacy of his archery style locally. He was a fine teacher for a wide variety of cultivation techniques, but he was still an archer at his core. He had so many valuable things to teach. Like picking out targets and taking them down before they could kill your friends and allies. Any combatant would do that, but fewer could do it from basically any range. Chapter 738 It didn¡¯t take long for General Elling to realize that any battles involving Anton always went well for them. Anton wasn¡¯t particularly trying to hide it, and even if he kept his output to something viable within Essence Collection, he couldn¡¯t possibly tire himself out. And he refused to let people who didn¡¯t deserve it die just because he wanted to keep information about himself safe. But enough people were injured that the common cultivators didn¡¯t feel invincible. That was a good enough balance. Elling never said anything to Anton about it. Perhaps he didn¡¯t even know what to say. But their particular army was responsible for much of the push back against Stauso¡¯s sects. Either they had to flee as soon as they saw the army on the horizon, or fight their way towards Anton¡¯s hail of arrows. But unlike some cultivator wars, neither side was motivated to attempt an extermination. Stauso wanted to raid and take what resources they could while weakening their rivals, but they didn¡¯t want to fight to the death. Anton let people run. It was an effective way of managing how they would react, and ultimately it made his life easier. If some of their stronger members went all out to try to survive, Anton would have to reveal more than he intended. But as long as they were truly running away, his job was done. Several years passed and they had officially taken back most of the border towns, where many of the refugees in Krosburgh were from. However, people didn¡¯t feel safe moving back immediately. More than that, the particular group that Anton had set his eyes on had mostly joined up with the Order. ----- The low levels of natural energy on Poriza had greater effects on those attempting to reach higher cultivations. Most of the Order¡¯s disciples grew fairly steadily, if slowly, for the first ten stars of Body Tempering. Over ninety percent of them were delayed at the peak of Body Tempering, some for multiple years. While the results were actually quite good by local standards, Anton knew the One Hundred Stars was better than that. It was a top tier method which had produced hundreds of Life Transformation cultivators over the past centuries. Even with mediocre talent, Anton expected at least half of all disciples to reach Spirit Building within a decade. Even when he had first joined things had been better¡­ but the levels of natural energy were much higher everywhere on Ceretos, even at such a time. A decade of effort from one sect to improve the planet¡¯s natural energy levels was a drop in a bucket in terms of causing real change. Though Anton was proselytizing to other sects and seeing some results over the wider area of Vochaye. As for his top prospects, the Salim family, each was lagging at the peak of Spirit Building. He expected them to reach Essence Collection eventually, but there were clear limits imposed by the state of the world. Aykorkem was the first to pick up on Anton¡¯s disappointment. Even if he didn¡¯t say it, perhaps it was somewhat obvious. Though the angle she approached from he found quite interesting. ¡°... Are there problems with your own cultivation, sect head?¡± ¡°Now why would you think that?¡± Anton asked, genuinely curious. ¡°Because you wish to see us enter Essence Collection¡­ but you are not much stronger than that yourself. I know it is difficult to reach mid Essence Collection, but I thought a single star in fifteen years¡­¡± Ah, how sloppy. Anton had not positioned himself as a talentless old man, but a wandering eccentric. ¡°It is a prime tempering,¡± Anton said. ¡°They can take some time.¡± ¡°Is it so much more difficult to advance within Essence Collection compared to the initial step?¡± She frowned. ¡°No, perhaps it is more dangerous instead. That is why you wish to see us advance to Essence Collection before you make the attempt, is it not? So that you can see the sect secure.¡± That was the thing about those who were smart. You didn¡¯t have to lie to them, you could just let them come up with reasons on their own and they would be satisfied. But¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t want to lie to you,¡± Anton said. ¡°I came from a place with greater resources. So it is merely that my expectations are mismatched to the current state of things. It is not an issue with your talent or efforts. And about my own advancement¡­ actually, I surpassed early Essence Collection some time ago. I simply wished to keep it concealed.¡± ¡°Others will notice,¡± Aykorkem said. Anton nodded. He should probably reveal his forty-first star, at least, to show he had passed that point. Because while he wanted to take the time to build up the world, some of his ideas also involved worldwide cooperation¡­ and a full display of his power. Or perhaps he should settle for the slow and consistent growth his knowledge could provide. Though ultimately, it would be up to the citizens of the planet. He would give them the option, once things were in a state where they could believe he was actually capable of following through on a crazy promise. ¡°I can ease up a bit, I suppose,¡± Anton said. ¡°Is there a reason you are hiding?¡± Aykorkem asked. ¡°Enemies we should know about?¡± A logical conclusion for why he would have left a position of wealth. ¡°It¡¯s not quite that. I do have enemies, but I am not here running from them. They certainly won¡¯t be looking for me. I simply think that taking things one step at a time is better, and thus not appearing too strong. Don¡¯t want people to believe I¡¯m here to disrupt their positions of power.¡± ¡°But you are,¡± Aykorkem said. ¡°I intend to have all of Vochaye grow stronger,¡± Anton said. ¡°That will still upset some,¡± the woman said. ¡°Cultivators at the top are used to the status quo, from what I understand.¡± ¡°Well then, I should hope they are wise enough to act reasonably,¡± Anton said. For their own sake. And because he would really prefer not to have to deal with things by force. ----- Drafts were only temporary. They couldn''t keep sects away from their business forever, not unless there was a desperate war taking place. But this wasn¡¯t such a thing, just one of the unfortunate wars that was part of the ¡®normal¡¯ course of business. Anton didn¡¯t have to like it, but he did accept it as part of the world¡­ until it could be eradicated. But that was the sort of thing that took centuries, great unifying events, or both. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Anton pondered about pulling an Everheart. But while he could make something equivalent to some of his lesser tombs, it would take a great amount of time and effort. Better to spend all of that effort improving the world in direct ways. He didn¡¯t just train the drafted soldiers in Vochaye, but also freely spread basic cultivation in nearby friendly- or at least neutral- nations. He was certain that the Ten Step Body manuals would be stolen by Stauso or somewhere else, but that was just one part of the equation. Everything had to work together. Farmers in their fields, empowering their crops which bolstered them in turn. Workers and craftsmen performing everyday tasks to a higher standard. And while it was possible to force some individuals to cultivate and provide their energy for crops, it was inefficient if the farmers themselves didn¡¯t grow stronger. Unless the sects wanted to have all of their highest ranking cultivators performing menial labor, they had to let the lowest among them grow stronger. Though either option was a win, to some extent. The world could really use more sect heads who knew how to get their hands dirty in a field. ----- Anton did his best to maintain an attachment to the lower level workings of people, both his sect and the world in general. If he did not, time could simply pass him by with a thought. Because while another decade or two was very little to him, time spent cultivating was growing to be a majority of Nasima¡¯s lifetime. For the others, it was not an insignificant portion. Anton monitored everyone¡¯s development as the Order grew in size to nearly a thousand, the vast majority in Body Tempering. By pure numbers, it was not far from the Order¡¯s size when he had first joined on Ceretos. At least, it had only been a few times more. As for its relative strength, it wasn¡¯t too far off. The Order had influence throughout the country, but ignoring Anton himself they were still below the strongest sects within Vochaye. The Austere Chain Palace still held the top position, of course. But the Order had grown from nothing at all to become notable in just a single generation. Obviously there would be questions, so when Elling arrived Anton was not surprised at all. ¡°The Order of One Hundred Stars has grown magnificently,¡± Elling said. ¡°Producing multiple Essence Collection cultivators beyond yourself in such a short time¡­ the creators of your method should be proud.¡± ¡°I¡¯m certain they would be,¡± Anton said. ¡°It took many generations of refinement to reach this point.¡± ¡°I have the feeling you made some of those improvements yourself,¡± Elling said. ¡°And others believe the same. Which is why the Sect Head of the Austere Chain Palace wishes to speak with you.¡± Which one of them, Anton wondered. But he supposed he would find out soon enough. ¡°Certainly. Name a date and time, and I will be happy to accommodate the request.¡± Anton liked Elling. But he wanted to make sure the young man and especially his sect knew that he was not beholden to them. ----- The answer was the real one. Anton had kind of expected to have a formal meeting with the nominal sect head first, but instead he was led to see their only Life Transformation cultivator, tucked away behind layers of formations for concealment and empowerment. The great underground hall she had made her own could be described as empty. It was occupied only by herself, the pillars supporting it¡­ and a great many chains snaking over the ground in large piles, all of which connected back to the woman herself. Elling himself didn¡¯t even step foot into the room, simply gesturing for Anton to enter ahead of him. Anton stepped into the room and approached the dais upon which the woman was seated, seemingly in meditation. ¡°Anton Krantz,¡± the dark skinned woman said as he drew closer, her eyes opening. ¡°You are very difficult to find information on.¡± He shrugged, ¡°I came from far away. That would easily explain why you have not heard much. But I have heard little about you in return. Not even your name.¡± ¡°I am Nyarai,¡± she replied. ¡°Where are you from?¡± ¡°I spent some time in Kothon before coming here,¡± Anton said. It was not strictly a lie, but it was still a deception. It could be spotted, especially as Anton didn¡¯t focus his efforts on learning how to improve his deception. Most likely, she could at least tell he spoke a technical truth. The woman nodded, chains rattling with even that slight movement. ¡°Indeed. My informants told me of your presence there. Though you did not seem to have much of a history before you were seen there. And¡­ you are not surprised to see me.¡± ¡°I had some knowledge of your presence,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°So, why am I here?¡± ¡°Because I can get a better measure of you in person,¡± Nyarai said. The whole time, her energy senses had been unabashedly focused on Anton. ¡°The Order of One Hundred Stars. How many have you achieved yourself?¡± ¡°Not one hundred,¡± Anton said. ¡°What happens at one hundred, if I may ask?¡± ¡°Of course, it is ascension. That is the goal of most cultivators,¡± Anton said. ¡°A bold name,¡± she said. ¡°It implies a guaranteed path to the peak of cultivation.¡± ¡°Only as far as the lower realms are concerned,¡± Anton said. ¡°Is it?¡± ¡°Nothing is guaranteed,¡± Anton said. ¡°Indeed. But has anyone ever reached ascension with that cultivation method?¡± ¡°We were called the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars for the majority of our existence,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Until such a time as someone finally ascended.¡± ¡°An extreme rarity. A momentous occurrence, yet I hear of so few ascensions. Yet which sects and clans produce an ascension cultivator is logged carefully.¡± The woman frowned, ¡°You are not an Essence Collection cultivator. Or your sect would be on our record. Of the seven presumed successful ascensions in as many centuries, none were from the Order. Thus, you could not have survived from such a time until now without greater cultivation.¡± ¡°Your speculation has merit,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°And yet I still find it flawed. I cannot properly determine your age, but that is not the only thing that confuses me.¡± ¡°What else is there?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Your accent. It¡¯s like nothing I¡¯ve ever heard.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a mix of regional accents from all over Poriza,¡± Anton replied truthfully. There was silence between them for some time. ¡°What do you want?¡± Nyarai finally asked. ¡°I want my sect to grow stronger, but for that to happen I need to improve the abysmal levels of natural energy here,¡± Anton said. ¡°It would benefit you as well, you know?¡± ¡°I am aware of how that would be beneficial,¡± Nyarai admitted. ¡°But not how it would be accomplished. Or where you came from that you would be used to better. Unless¡­¡± she looked up. There was merely ceiling above them, but Anton still followed her eyes to the theoretical sky beyond. ¡°Some of those feel like you, a little bit.¡± ¡°Some of what?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The stars. And they didn¡¯t feel like that before,¡± she said. ¡°The natural energy brighter stars produce is much greater elsewhere,¡± Anton said. Perhaps he should just come out and admit it? ¡°My power is based on that.¡± She narrowed her eyes. Truthfully, Anton hadn¡¯t explained why the feel of the stars would change. But Nyarai let it go.¡°Tell me how the natural energy of the area can be improved,¡± she said. ¡°I would start with farming,¡± Anton said. ¡°Everything else flows from there.¡± Chapter 739 Jump starting a star was not a simple issue. Ignoring for the moment the long path required to get Poriza to accept such a risky sounding proposition, Anton needed to know that he even could do it. In theory, it was quite simple. Once the mass of the star reached a certain threshold, nuclear fusion would naturally occur, morphing the star¡¯s category from that of a brown dwarf to a red dwarf. And while Anton believed in the combined knowledge of the scientists involved, it was simply the truth that nobody had seen the entire process. It would normally take a very long time as such a star pulled in mass from its surroundings, and it had to be at a rate higher than it ejected its own mass. This wasn¡¯t just a long time at the scale of human lives, but long scale even by the perspective of cultivators. Unless they happened to glimpse a particularly large mass combining with a brown dwarf teetering on the edge, Anton would expect the process to take tens of thousands to millions of years. Though if there was not enough mass to collection, in those same early millions of years they might cool off and shrink. In short, however, nobody had directly observed the process, and thus it was not clear what might go wrong with the process. The only way to know was to see it, and if it wasn¡¯t happening within an observable distance then the only real option was to make it happen experimentally. Needless to say, Anton had some reservations about that. Cultivators were already known to destroy planets- not often, but Anton suspected it was also not as infrequent as he might hope. He hadn¡¯t heard about anyone destroying a star, both because they did not have the reason nor the means. Anton took his bow in hand and observed it carefully. Worldheart formed the body of the weapon, a material taken from the core of a planet when it was destroyed. But not just any planet, one with sufficient density and quantity of natural energy was required for such a thing to take place. And Everheart had given him this bow, presumably stolen from someone else. Not that Anton thought Everheart was above doing such a thing himself, he just got the feeling this particular weapon had been formed by others. The man had been very busy in his handful of centuries in the upper realm. Anton tried not to think about what he might have been up to in the last century and a half that he¡¯d had family and friend there, because it would just worry him. Surely there must be some equivalent. A solar heart, though not the same as the conduit that Otakar had formed but some vastly rare and presumably valuable material. But Anton had no intention for circumstances to end up with him being able to confirm the existence of such a material. He simply considered that it might happen by accident. There was nowhere within the area Anton could travel with quite the same situation as Poriza. As it turned out, there weren¡¯t bountiful numbers of brown dwarfs with planets orbiting close up in their habitable zone, let alone ones actually occupied by people. Nor was Anton able to attempt star formation with a nebula, as most of them were far larger than he was able to reasonably affect. They were often wider than a star system from end to end- and those were the smaller ones. That was a vast quantity of space to sweep out, and he could spend the entirety of whatever remind of his lifespan and perhaps never complete such a project. So he sought out something equivalent. A brown dwarf with enough local mass to add to it, concentrated in a way that Anton could reasonably affect it. Some were simply too small, unlike Poriza which hovered right on the upper end. And while there were hundreds of systems ¡®nearby¡¯, Anton still didn¡¯t have many options. He finally found one that didn¡¯t stand out much. It was a simple binary system, with two brown dwarfs of sufficient mass that combining them should surpass the threshold. So all Anton had to do was go give them a little nudge. As if it was so easy. Even if he was in a system where he had bound a star taking the energy from its fusion, it wouldn¡¯t be such a simple task. Despite brown dwarfs being ¡®small¡¯, they were still around one to eight percent of the mass of Ceretos¡¯ star. He needed to combine masses equivalent to eighty of his home system¡¯s largest gas giants. He was lucky that the smaller of the two in the particular system he found was closer to a quarter of that from his estimations- which were becoming quite accurate, given his insights into stars and gravity. But even considering he could do something, he didn¡¯t know if he should. It would be a permanent reshaping of the world on a larger scale than he¡¯d ever done before, and with no direct benefit. On the other hand¡­ if he actually managed such a thing, he could improve not just planets but other systems. He just had to do it safely. And consult with others he knew to see if it was completely insane. ----- ¡°Is that okay?¡± Matija asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°This is what I¡¯m asking you for,¡± Anton said. She rolled her eyes. ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m not the wise elder between the two of us.¡± ¡°You¡¯re certainly not young by traditional standards anymore, even if your cultivation keeps your body that way. And you¡¯ve seen me make enough mistakes to have learned a few things. So¡­¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°It does sound crazy,¡± Matija said. ¡°Even compared to what you already spoke about. I kind of assumed that your talk of increasing the mass of Poriza¡¯s star was theoretical. Even if you said it was serious.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to risk so many lives,¡± Anton continued. ¡°But I can¡¯t help but think about how much positive benefit there would be to the change.¡± ¡°I hope you aren¡¯t planning to only consult me,¡± Matija said. ¡°Of course not. I have to talk with everyone in the Trifold Alliance.¡± And he had already been speaking with Catarina. She didn¡¯t have a strong opinion of nonliving things having inherent value. She could appreciate natural beauty, but she also liked things to be useful. So far, she had been the most supportive of his wild idea. ¡°It is going to take me some years to secure the spare time to meet everyone in person, of course.¡± Matija nodded. ¡°From a practical perspective¡­ I am intrigued. But if it was anyone else coming to me with this idea, I would likely immediately assume they were some sort of villain.¡± ¡°That is something for me to consider,¡± Anton said. ¡°Because I don¡¯t want people to think that whatever I do is right. Rather, it should be the other way around. Whatever is right, I should do. This isn¡¯t the sort of thing that can just be brushed off with ¡®it was just one time¡¯.¡± ¡°Sounds like you are hesitant.¡± ¡°The problem is that I¡¯m not, really,¡± Anton said. ¡°I still think it is acceptable, but I know how minds can loop around themselves to justify anything. I haven¡¯t stopped planning how to do it for a moment.¡± ¡°If you do it¡­ we absolutely have to record it,¡± Matija commented. ¡°It would be a huge loss to the entire intellectual community if it wasn¡¯t, regardless of the results.¡± ¡°Hopefully, it will be a beautiful star,¡± Anton said. His thoughts settled somewhat. Though what he did came with risks, he wasn¡¯t acting with the intention to cause harm but to make things better. And while he might solicit the opinions of others, ultimately as the one with power he had the responsibility to make the choice himself. And it had to be the right one. He¡¯d destroyed plenty of things in his day, but nothing on the scale of the destruction he might cause. And loss of life wasn¡¯t the only negative consequence to people¡¯s actions. He might cause entirely unanticipated problems. ----- While Aykorkem had naturally taken the role of management of the local One Hundred Stars, Botros was the one who was responsible for the practical duties. With Anton¡¯s guidance Aykorkem engaged in diplomacy, recruited disciples, and aimed the sect¡¯s vision. Botros dealt with stocking the armory and medicine hall, as well as managing the fields for food and herbs. The sect was currently expanding its territory in the plains west of Krosburgh, an area that had little to recommend it for cultivators except decent soil. But that was exactly why Anton had chosen it- less competition, and to show how much his methods could change things. Nasima did her part as well, leading groups expeditions to hunt beasts in nearby wilds. Just because humans nominally claimed the surface of the planet as their country didn¡¯t mean the cultivators were fully in control of it. Defeating powerful beasts protected people from them while increasing the strength of the cultivators through training, making it an important duty. Anton was quite satisfied with the development of the sect, and how people reached Essence Collection even in such a harsh environment. But he wasn¡¯t just working in a single place. No, he traveled the world to seek out other like minded individuals. While he might gain greater sway more quickly if he planted more branches of the Order, it could also backfire. He could lose the trust of various groups, not least of which would be his own sect if he didn¡¯t keep them informed. Instead he just focused on finding the sorts of groups that had developed into allies. Even if they were imperfect to begin with, the Glorious Flame Palace had still stood for certain ideals. Over time, they had actually managed to reach them. Some clans like the Temitope had also caught Anton¡¯s eye in the past. Anton didn¡¯t care if it was sect, clan, or a particular city that barely even had cultivators. He had ways to build them all up, starting with custom-tailored cultivation training. Anton would never claim that he could perfect every cultivation method under the heavens, because there was only so much he could do when he didn¡¯t practice a path himself. But he had vast quantities of information in his hands, including many ¡®complete¡¯ techniques that had actually taken people to ascension. Translating them was within his power, and he had the experience to provide generalized advice as well. And of course, if sects were willing to wait a few decades to see results, he had methods for farming and crafts and all sorts of things to have them develop harmoniously in all areas. It was difficult to balance supporting righteous sects with the greed of others and the threat they would feel. But that was one of the stronger parts of Anton¡¯s plans, in a way. The greed could draw people away from how they acted to make them accidentally symbiotic with others. That was the basis of Anton¡¯s learning, after all. Things didn¡¯t work as well for those who didn¡¯t go along with them. Though there were pitfalls to be had- no plan was perfect. Leaving natural energy open to the world meant that selfish sects could draw in whatever natural energy came over to them, stealing from the hard work of others with no effort of their own. And that would benefit them in the short term, which was sometimes sufficient to encourage those with ambition to seek out more power. But that was where alliances and the threats of alliances came in. Because ultimately, Anton knew that his plans would come to fruition in the long term. A handful of decades, a century¡­ it was hard to say how long it might be. But causing hesitation in those who would do harm would always make a difference. Anton would do his best to not show his hand too much and start taking people out. The stronger he got, the less acceptable it was to purge his enemies solely based on his own discretion since he could handle them without killing them. On the other hand, when people were committing injustices right in front of him¡­ Anton was still going to act. The people of Stauso and Vochaye were well aware of that, and his official influence would no doubt continue expanding. Chapter 740 The growth of trade within the Scarlet Alliance took off quickly once there was no longer the shadow of war hanging over them. The conflict with the Harmonious Citadel had been a timeless one for many of the members, with the Dark Ring specifically infiltrating the Harmonious Citadel¡¯s systems. Victory would very much change how they operated, though they might keep some of the asteroid bases. As for Xankeshan itself, it was more than just a planet that was difficult to assault. It had become a hub for the alliance, and none of the alliance members wanted to withdraw from it. The Order of One Hundred Stars did not mind, as despite their growth from new ascensions and recruitment in the upper realms they wouldn¡¯t be large enough to maintain a whole planet for some centuries still. Nor did they have all of the necessary industries to train up powerful cultivators on planet. They would need the services of others to maintain the Ruteran Technology that Engineer Uzun and others had developed and assembled. As times of war had come, it was simply better for them to focus on shipbuilding and weaponry as quickly as possible. Now, they could begin work, spreading out to cover all the other areas of life. Machines for medicine, farming, production, and everything imaginable. Most of them were based on mechanical uses of upper energy, with only a small number of devices being purely technological. There was no reason to ignore the vast power source surrounding them, except for matters where they wished to confound their enemies with being unable to use captured devices. Or the occasional tool that needed to work on its own without interference from cultivators who might not be fully trained in its use. The council continued to meet together when necessary, though less frequently since there were rarely emergencies. The Scarlet Alliance understood that remaining as a single whole would benefit them all in the long run. While there weren¡¯t any sects that were an immediate threat in their surroundings, there were always the looming giants far to the east and west. They were the very reason that few groups had grown to a point they could rival the Harmonious Citadel. The concern that either the Exalted Quadrant or the Trigold Cluster might turn their gaze to the Scarlet Midfields once more was always present. There was little they could do but prepare, and hope that they were more busy managing their internal affairs- or perhaps unknown rivals on the far side of them. Such news, if it existed, would not pass through their entire territory easily. There was little hope in winning a direct conflict, but they did have one potential advantage. Coordinating with the lower realms, and not simply in a manner that took from them like the Trigold Cluster. Nor in an unequal relationship, like the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s forces on Ceretos. With the war over, those ideas could actually be advanced¡­ and if people were willing, they might actually improve the contact between various places in the lower realms. ----- Anton was uncertain whether it was slow or quick to receive permission to attempt fusing binary brown dwarfs after just a few decades. Perhaps it was just the right amount of time. It had to be carefully considered, both in methodology as well as other factors. Among those was how public the information would be. It was not the sort of thing that anyone- including Anton who had first come up with it- wanted to encourage to happen thoughtlessly. On the other hand, keeping information from people had to be carefully considered. There were things that shouldn¡¯t be shared, of course. Though Everheart didn¡¯t believe in the legitimacy of any sort of forbidden technique, he was a chaotic individual that followed no rules, except sometimes the ones he made up for himself. Anton understood perfectly well the reasons to restrict access to techniques that could harm the individual using it, or which required inflicting harm upon others to develop. The latter category was rather difficult to judge fairly with a clear line, but on one side of it were techniques that stole life force from others, and on the other were pure combat techniques that obviously were required to harm people in their execution. Some techniques were so foul that after counters were developed the initial version was destroyed, but ultimately everything that remained had some means to access it. Hiding the fact that Anton attempted to fuse and possibly destroyed two pseudo-stars just sounded like he was ashamed of it. And if that was the case, he had better not do it at all. Ultimately, they decided to make it known. A once in centuries experiment to promote the development of science and cultivation knowledge. Anton would be officially involved as a necessary factor rather than the instigator. If anyone had complaints, they would have to be Assimilation cultivators. Perhaps they might take it up directly with Anton, except that the project had already required their approval. Everyone wanted to test the limits of what was feasible and realistic, and ultimately no matter how it sounded¡­ they were just two especially large balls of matter Anton was going to hit together. They weren¡¯t even interesting for special phenomenon. And though there were a vast amount of stars in the galaxy, it was still awkward to destroy something that could be seen by people in many different systems. Not that the intent was to destroy them. But realistically Anton knew that things could easily go wrong. And that ultimately whatever happened, they would be a different thing when he was done. It wasn¡¯t the same as forging metal into a weapon, but a grand scale transformation. ----- The logistics of the matter took years longer still, ultimately involving dozens of manned ships staying at safe distances, along with many more unmanned scanners that would be relaying the information they picked up at distances that were certainly unsafe. The stars were somewhere around five Ruteran habitable units apart, which was to say about five times the distance from Rutera¡¯s star to their home planet. Some scanning devices were in between the pseudo-stars, while others were orbiting around them individually or as a pair. The entire process could last a significant amount of time. Weeks, potentially- and that was already quite fast for acting on such a scale. But Anton had reached the one hundred and twenty-fourth star, and was growing ever more certain of his assumption that at least for him he would have a significant advancement at one hundred and twenty-nine. He wasn¡¯t quite certain what the next prime advancement would entail for him, but cultivation paths all grew more unique with each stage starting in Essence Collection. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Matija pulled her team away from studying the neutron star Azun, a project that they seemed to be learning so much from that they would spend at least half a century on it. In the scale of the region, this system was nearby. Only a dozen or so lightyears, instead of four hundred like the trip back to the alliance¡¯s territory. She was the one Anton knew the best among those present, and the only one who felt comfortable talking to him. That was another reason Anton liked Poriza, where most people weren¡¯t as intimidated. ¡°So it¡¯s really happening, huh?¡± she asked. ¡°We are here, and I have no intention to change my mind. The precautions are in place?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Matija said. ¡°We are ready to jump away if necessary, and we have scans out for distortion beasts.¡± Those were one issue Anton had not considered, but a massive gravitational event like fusing two pseudo-stars might draw their attention. Not that much was known about them, even to this day. Aipra was plagued by them somewhat regularly, but they hadn¡¯t had the free resources to study them. Just chop them up and use what they got or at least somewhat safely dispose of it if they couldn¡¯t. Though Anton understood that there was an extremely gradual change happening there as they made use of various techniques to secure enough time for more growth, ultimately. ¡°It will soon be time to begin,¡± Anton said. ¡°Just a few hours. I will be meditating to reach my peak state.¡± Of course, if he was meditating he wanted to be at the best possible place, which meant between the ¡®stars¡¯. Despite their relative proximity considering their size as starlike objects, Anton was bathed with much less power than simply perching just outside Ceretos¡¯ atmosphere. That was before considering that he couldn¡¯t make much use of it since he was not bound to them. Anton imagined he could force the matter, but he was certain to gain little benefit from it even if he wasn¡¯t intending to fuse them together which could cause serious issues. Better to observe instead of risking his cultivation. The main power he drew upon were other nearby stars he had bound. He couldn¡¯t access what he considered his ¡®full¡¯ power from another system, but he still had a constant replenishment of his natural energy. When he felt he was at his best possible state, he confirmed readiness with the watchers surrounding, and then began the process. Anton used the maximum amount of power he could sustain- a little bit more, actually- and began to form a link between the two celestial bodies. Just that step was difficult, given the distances involved. And despite them being extremely low power on the scale of a star, his own natural energy control burned away as he reached for them. He wasn¡¯t sure how many hours of attempts it took, but eventually he had a small channel connecting them. He then worked on expanding it, while applying the effects he wanted. Attracting magnetic poles, gravity, and as much of a direct tug with his energy that Anton could manage. After a few days he reached an equilibrium point where his connection was fading as quickly as he repaired it. If he were to casually determine the distance between the two brown dwarfs, he could easily say it was exactly the same. But a careful inspection told him he¡¯d done a little bit more than nothing. He had pulled them ever so slightly closer while minimally slowing the orbital speed of the smaller of the two. He doubted it was enough to truly destabilize their orbit, especially considering it was on the order of decades to begin with. For the most part the two bodies moved through space together with little relative change from the standard perspectives. Anton continued his efforts, actively drawing natural energy into himself from his bound stars. He wasn¡¯t willing to go far enough to injure himself for this, but he could drain himself far beyond comfortable levels. His tie between the two slipped slightly as he split his focus, but Anton got his second wind a few days later. From there he increased his output, rebuilding the tie between the two and multiplying his efforts. His understanding of true stars allowed him to augment their features to draw them closer to each other, even as he constantly pulled on them himself. He was uncertain which was more effective, and resolved to continue with both. Several more days passed, and Anton was nearing exhaustion¡­ but he felt a real change in the distance. No doubt the various scientists around were going mad with excitement over tiny changes. And he couldn¡¯t blame them, because he was as well. Then Anton stopped. Not because he could no longer go on, but because his bond between the brown dwarfs was self-sustaining. He just watched, monitoring the connection. Half a day passed, and it stayed strong. As they drew ever so slowly closer together, Anton realized their estimation might be off. Not that it was going to take longer, but rather it would be faster. Perhaps his initial efforts had been more effective than anticipated, or it could be any number of other factors. But now he was watching them pull towards each other- at an ever accelerating rate, because their gravitational impacts on each other increased the closer they got. Just a slight difference built and built, and now it was cascading. Over the course of the next several days, they careened towards each other. Though not directly, as they still had some orbital momentum. They drew ever closer, and the larger of the pair began to rip stands of matter from the smaller. And then, they connected. It was almost frighteningly swift for their size- even as small ¡®stars¡¯, they were astoundingly massive and large. Two masses combined into one, the distortions of gravity combining into one. Briefly, at least. Their great momentum brought them through each other, sending matter flying in all directions. Much of it was captured in their gravitational pull, but Anton knew quite well that any nearby planets could have been obliterated. The massed undulated back and forth before finally resolving into a single ball. And then it happened, like a wave washing over Anton. A moment of elation, as nuclear fusion ramped up and began to sustain itself with heavier elements. Anton watched, enraptured, as the luminosity of the star multiplied tenfold. And then it was done. Or at least, from a certain perspective. It would likely be unstable for a while, meriting continuous observation. But for Anton, the key point had already passed. He saw it, though only in retrospect. The moment of fusion igniting would also be the perfect point to bond with the star. He would still do so, in a few months or years when it was properly deemed to be stable. The connection within his heart would make it more effective than just bonding to any old star. Just like Ceretos, his home, was always going to be better for Anton. But he missed a special opportunity. He wondered if he could do it again. And he wondered what he had to do so that the admittedly smaller changes Poriza¡¯s star would have to go through wouldn¡¯t result in such destructive collisions. Perhaps he should settle for a slower gathering of free matter¡­ but he felt that a sudden application of higher amounts of mass would be more effective. And anything he moved would only be a handful of percent of the mass of those brown dwarfs, so it might settle itself. Not that he would count on that. He would do his due diligence. Assuming they would even want to undergo such changes, of course. Chapter 741 After it settled down, Anton felt that the new star with proper fusion still had absolutely nothing to recommend it. A star with fusion was like looking for a bow and someone advertising that it had a string. It was certainly important, but not exactly something special. But regardless, he returned to the little star and found it flickering happily. Its raw power was as small as a true star could get, but he still bound it to himself because of the connection they shared. It wasn¡¯t deep, despite Anton¡¯s hand in the fusing of the brown dwarfs, but it was more than the surface level of Anton finding a star that was somewhere he needed to fight or in an interesting system. The brown dwarfs had been given a designation before Anton even approached them, with the new name simply dropping the ¡®a¡¯ and ¡®b¡¯ they¡¯d had attached to their shared name. But Anton came up with his own name for the little star that he found appropriate. Joy. Perhaps it was inappropriate to ascribe emotions to an unliving celestial body, but that was how humans did things. Joy was a sign that he could affect things on the scale of stars- even if it was literally the least impactful end of that scale. Not physically smallest like neutron stars, but least massive and outputting the least energy. The results made him hopeful for what he could do in the future, should he have reason to make another attempt. Like he intended to do with Poriza, armed with the knowledge and experience he had now. But he would need their full cooperation and buy-in first. It should improve their cultivation, but would draw attention which they might not want. ----- Nasima didn¡¯t know exactly how strong her father had been, since he didn¡¯t talk about cultivation in front of them. She didn¡¯t have a real chance to see him in action until the end, when the rest of them were occupied with fleeing as he held off enemies. But no matter how strong he had been, Nasima was quite certain that she was stronger at her current moment. She didn¡¯t fool herself into believing that she was invincible. Essence Collection wasn¡¯t the peak of cultivation. If there even was a true peak, it came somewhere after ascension. She wasn¡¯t even in Life Transformation yet. Yet. What a crazy thought, as if she found the idea inevitable. Sure, she currently possessed a manual that purported to guide her through Essence Collection and to break through to Life Transformation, but it couldn¡¯t be real, could it? Of course it could. With Anton involved, she found it easier to believe. She¡¯d never gotten a serious spar with him, but she was quite certain he wasn¡¯t in Essence Collection like he indicated. Among other things, she¡¯d seen him on the battlefield. While she could admit that a lifetime of experience and an Essence Collection cultivation might be able to strike down foes like that man did, that only accounted for a fraction of the power she¡¯d seen. She hadn¡¯t noticed in the first battle, or in the tenth. But gradually she began to get hints of something odd happening. No member of the Order had died in battle where he was involved. And they should have. Not that Nasima wanted any of them to die, but the situations dictated that was what would happen. And Nasima knew it, because she had been one of them. After the conclusion of the war between Stauso and Vochaye, the Order had been hunting in neutral territory, tempering the sect by battling beasts. Bitterblack Swamp bordered both nations without properly being between them, vaguely claimed by both or perhaps neither. Either way, it was a good tempering ground specifically because of how horrid it was. ----- Nasima considered herself a warrior, so she wasn¡¯t squeamish around bugs or snakes. But there was a certain size that anyone with sense would be rightfully cautious of them. Bloodsucking flies the size of an apple were the least of it. The leeches could drain an unprepared individual in less than a minute, or simply tear out a chunk of your leg. Snakes mixed in among dangling vines, pretending to be something they were not. She had to watch out for the others along with them, because they were her responsibility. Nasima had an official position and everything, beneath only the sect head in the same position as other elders. It was strange to share such a title with family far older than her, but that was how things went. A snake leaped at one of the new apprentices. Nasima flashed a burst of light into its eyes, throwing it off just enough for the apprentice to cut it down with his sword. A sneaky leech nearly got its horrible teeth on one of the others, but Nasima yanked the disciple away. ¡°Keep your senses active,¡± she said. ¡°They are part of the swamp, but not quite perfect in their concealment. Those little details matter.¡± It was strange to hear herself more or less repeating words from Anton while he was watching nearby, but everything she knew about cultivation stemmed from him in one way or another. Even most of the techniques she¡¯d studied about other cultivation methods were obtained by him- and ultimately he was the one who established the Order and made the rest possible. Everything had been going well even after they caught the tracks of a large beast, claws digging into the muck. No doubt it would be a challenge for some, but its hide and claws would make good material for equipment. One of the disciples spotted it first. Or rather, she was first to announce it. Anton undoubtedly had spotted it already. Nasima knew that much, at least. Either way, it hadn¡¯t managed to ambush them. They faced a lizardlike creature half poking out of the water. Not quite a crocodile, because while it had spiky ridges on its back and long jaws, the legs were somewhat longer. It also had some sort of weird spikes inside its mouth, something Nasima discovered as the creature spat them at the approaching group. She punched forward, a ray of light blasting them away, and the battle truly started. The most confident disciples moved forward to engage with the creature. It should only be the equivalent of late Spirit Building, so with good coordination it could be beaten with numbers. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. That wasn¡¯t where the trouble came from. Instead, the danger came from the interruption while they were fighting. She only felt a vague sense of their presence before she heard the booming voice. ¡°The Wandering Tiger Cult is here!¡± a voice announced. ¡°Leave our prey behind and you shall be allowed to go unharmed.¡± Nasima naturally expected Anton to tell them to screw off, but it was instead her mother who performed that role. ¡°What prey of yours is it that has no scars of battle?¡± Aykorkem responded. ¡°We have been tracking it,¡± said a large man, who appeared rather young to be the strongest among them. Not simply compared them, but just strong in general. ¡°That gives you no more claim than us,¡± Aykorkem declared as the disciples continued to clash with the beast. Nasima kept half an eye on both threats. ¡°And we have arrived first, so it is ours to slay.¡± ¡°Perhaps you don¡¯t know who I am,¡± the man displayed his cultivation with great intention. ¡°I am Cord, the head of the Wandering Tiger Cult. And when I say something is our prey, it is.¡± Nasima thought she saw her mother briefly glance at Anton, but she couldn¡¯t feel anything on the man¡¯s face. His reaction was unclear to her, at least. ¡°It is not. And our disciples have already wounded the beast. Perhaps a compromise? We can fight it together and split the materials.¡± A compromise? With the Wandering Tiger Cult? Nasima held back her protests. It was better to show unity. But still, she didn¡¯t like the idea of having any sort of peaceful interactions with enemies. ¡°No,¡± Cord declared. ¡°It is ours, so we shall take all of it. This is your last chance to walk away.¡± ¡°And this is yours,¡± Aykorkem declared. ¡°Do not think we are mere babes to be ordered around as you please. Leave now or face the consequences.¡± Of course, he didn¡¯t. Instead, he charged right towards her. Not that Nasima would let that happen. With a burst of speed powered by mimicry of light, Nasima arrived in between them. Training in light was difficult, though Anton was able to show her impressive applications of the power. She stabbed with her spear a beam of light emanating from it, but an image of a tiger appeared around Cord. Its jaws snapped down on her attack, the man¡¯s defensive energy blocking her attack. Then they were engaged in a frantic melee, with the Order at a clear disadvantage. Many of their disciples were already locked in battle with the lizard, after all. She couldn¡¯t stop thinking about the danger they might be in. The chaotic energy of the battle overwhelmed her senses, but she thought she felt flickers of light aside from herself. Nasima thought she should be proud that Anton focused on some of the elders of the Cult instead of aiding her. It indicated some trust in her abilities, though she found herself hard pressed to deal with the flurry of the attacks from the man. He slashed at her with long claws weapons attached to his forearms and guided by his hands. She dodged and parried as she could, trying to blind the man or break through his defenses. She thought she saw an opening, and she took it. Her spear thrust forward¡­ but even as she committed to her attack, she knew she¡¯d made a mistake. Cord was ducking backwards while slipping towards her, his claws prepared to cut under her guard and rake across her chest. And that was what happened¡­ though he only made it as deep as her ribs. Not that such an attack was shallow, cutting through her defensive energy, armor, and muscle, but it didn¡¯t cut entirely through her so she was at least still able to rectify her mistake as they circled back around to face each other. As they faced off Nasima couldn¡¯t help but notice a small mark on the man¡¯s wrist, one she was certain hadn¡¯t been there a moment before. That stuck in her mind to the conclusion of the battle which she managed to draw out enough for Anton to slowly injure the other Essence Collection cultivators among them. The Wandering Tiger Cult began to flee. The fleeing cultivators began to fall one by one. ¡°You did promise that it was their last chance to walk away,¡± Anton shrugged by way of explanation to Aykorkem. ¡°And running doesn¡¯t change that.¡± They fell one by one, until only Cord was left, having slipped out of sight beyond the horizon. And then¡­ Anton took one final shot. Nasima felt the clashing energy, and could picture the result in her head. Most likely, the shot went right through his heart. ¡°I thought you said that Horizon Shot only reached the Horizon?¡± ¡°Am I not allowed to improve things?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. But Nasima felt like he was avoiding the question. She looked at the bodies of the enemies around them. Distinctive marks of Anton¡¯s shots were easily visible on some of them, but there were others that were better hidden. Pinpoint wounds that perhaps even the cultivators themselves didn¡¯t realized had happened. And Nasima thought of tiny flashes of light. That was when she began to understand that there was something happening beyond her comprehension. She wondered how long it had been happening. ----- Over the following years, she had begun to focus on that feeling, and she indeed found that arrows came from mysterious angles. And if she watched closely, she could make out thin bands of energy stretching away from Anton and into the sky. There was no way that was a practical limitation of a technique. Instead, it was a way of concealing something Nasima couldn¡¯t even properly comprehend. But while their disciples ended up injured, none died or even suffered incurable injuries. Some took a long time to recover, but Nasima came to understand that Anton had complete control over the battlefields he was on. And she also understood why he didn¡¯t tell her. He didn¡¯t want to inflate people¡¯s perception of their ability, such that they would die without him. They still felt the true fear of battle, and the understanding that they could have died, even if they didn¡¯t. In fact, Nasima was willing to bet that those who became arrogant would find their battles slightly more difficult. She was quite glad he was on their side. But given what she knew of him, it would be strange if he was not. This was just Anton, doing his best to make sure the rest of them grew strong. She wondered if he ever really needed them at all. Certainly not for the work he¡¯d lured them in with, and maybe not for anything she¡¯d experienced yet. But if there was some enemy he couldn¡¯t handle alone, Nasima wouldn¡¯t mind being there to aid him if he asked. Chapter 742 Sitting next to a peaceful brook on what was likely the second most trapped planet in the universe, Luksa frowned. Over the past few decades she had to come to terms with the fact that the sect she¡¯d devoted her entire life to was gone, and that at the end she had given up their plans with barely an afterthought to save herself. And now, her concern wasn¡¯t for any of the disciples but for how her own cultivation had stagnated without devotion. And the craziest part was that she¡¯d joined Everheart. For multiple reasons. First was that he should have been dead. Second was that they were absolutely enemies. Third was that he was an asshole. And fourth was that he famously only worked alone. Though the figure across the river ran counter to that as well. There was sort of a pattern to Everheart¡¯s projections, key among which was not displaying his age. Meanwhile, Rahayu didn¡¯t seem to care about wrinkles and gray hair one whit. Or literally anything but swinging his sword about. How did he think he was going to achieve Augmentation, without devotion? Seeming to sense her gaze, the man turned towards her. To avoid the continuation of an awkward moment, she came up with something to say. ¡°Have you learned much from Everheart?¡± ¡°No,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°His sword skills are average at best.¡± Somehow Luksa felt that Rahayu¡¯s metrics were skewed there. Because she¡¯d seen the man use every sort of weapon with great ability. And she still thought he was hiding power from her. ¡°So you don¡¯t think I could learn anything from him?¡± ¡°You might,¡± Rahayu shrugged. ¡°You are not me. Our paths are different, so I could not say.¡± ¡°Maybe I should ask him.¡± Luksa frowned, ¡°Though somehow I feel like he¡¯s already overheard this conversation.¡± ----- ¡°It took you long enough,¡± Everheart said when she finally found him. ¡°I told you that you would grow strong under my lead.¡± ¡°I thought you meant equipment and cultivation pills and the like¡­¡± Luksa said. ¡°I heard you were unfathomably rich.¡± ¡°It takes a lot to set up a system-wide grand formation,¡± Everheart said. ¡°So I¡¯m a bit light on funds right now. But I do plan to do a little bit of scavenging soon.¡± ¡°How can you become wealthy through scavenging?¡± Luksa frowned. ¡°It¡¯s simple. You wouldn¡¯t believe how much stuff the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant just leave lying about.¡± ¡°... is this stuff in vaults?¡± ¡°I¡¯d hardly called them vaults with how they¡¯re secured. It¡¯s like keeping a sack of coins under your pillow and hoping it isn¡¯t found.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it. So¡­?¡± Luksa drew the word out. ¡°If I find a new morningstar, you¡¯ll be the first to know,¡± Everheart said. ¡°About the learning something¡­?¡± ¡°Oh yes,¡± Everheart nodded. ¡°It¡¯s about time. You should be free from the shackles of devotion by now.¡± ¡°If you mean feeling like I¡¯m standing upon the sandy bottom of a dry ocean instead of overflowing with power, then yes. I¡¯m free.¡± ¡°Great, then you can properly begin cultivating malice. Or spite, or fear.¡± ¡°Are those all different¡­?¡± Luksa asked. Everheart shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s the same general idea. Cause people to have the strongest possible feelings about you. Negatives ones are easier to manage. The Harmonious Citadel honestly wasn¡¯t far from cultivating that, you just didn¡¯t know how to properly absorb it.¡± ¡°I see. So what am I supposed to do?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Spend a few decades or however long it takes meditating on certain principles, then go make a public appearance. Or maybe you don¡¯t have to spend that long, as long as you achieve a basic proficiency first. Otherwise it will all be wasted, and probably even fade away. I think you have an advantage here, though.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Luksa asked. ¡°It¡¯s simple. Millions of people adored you, feeling like they had a personal connection with you. Meanwhile I¡¯m just the boogeyman, far too impersonal for most to bother with. You can cultivate the spite of the masses with a snap of your fingers, based on the connection you have.¡± ¡°... As long as it works,¡± Luksa said. ¡°See, this is why I let you live. You¡¯re practical. It¡¯s much better than being self-righteous like the rest of your former compatriots.¡± Everheart got a far off look in his eyes. ¡°And much less terrifying than those who are simply¡­ righteous. It¡¯s impossible to predict what they¡¯ll do or why.¡± ----- Back on In¡¯istra, Anton was listening to Varghese¡¯s personal report. ¡°Everything is growing so rapidly. For the moment everything is peaceful but¡­ I have the feeling that the pressure will build up sooner or later.¡± ¡°Then perhaps you should work on developing the ability to spread out first. Modest space flight is not so difficult to achieve.¡± ¡°I¡¯m hesitant to see that as the solution,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°I know we can never have perfect factions, but our unity will only go so far. To wait five more centuries for another event to bring us together¡­ that¡¯s a bit much. Though perhaps I exaggerated our growth as well. We might have another century before the planet¡¯s truly full.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°If you want to reorganize people, it¡¯s better to start now rather than later. Rutera did quite well for themselves with a smaller proportion of military.¡± ¡°We need strong cultivators on our ships, if nothing else. We may have fended off the uprising of the sea beasts, but no doubt things like that will repeat in cycles.¡± Anton nodded slowly. ¡°Such is the way of the world. Cycles of life and death, and ultimately violence seems inescapable.¡± ¡°Or perhaps we convince ourselves that it is the only way,¡± Varghese commented. ¡°A philosophical position we must consider,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°For the moment, the more power I get the less I am comfortable using in battle. At least, I must consider if it could have been avoided. Or if it could end¡­ vaguely amicably.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes flashed, ¡°But as soon as anyone from the Trigold Cluster crosses the border, they¡¯re dead.¡± Varghese nodded. He had experienced their invasion, though he was too young to remember much but the aftermath. ¡°How much power is required to have peace?¡± ¡°Perhaps all of it,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I think that personally, I will not be able to bind some hundreds of billions of stars myself. So I will always require others.¡± ¡°That would certainly be¡­ an impressive feat,¡± Varghese commented. ¡°Personally I¡¯d be astounded to reach one hundred and ninety-seven.¡± ¡°... Three more primes?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°I think that might be the equivalent of Domination. Though I¡¯d have to reach the next stage to be certain. Perhaps this upcoming stage will only be the halfway point.¡± ¡°If it is¡­¡± Varghese pondered, ¡°Then you will likely become terribly strong. I haven¡¯t met any other Assimilation cultivators but¡­ you said you faced off against Augmentation cultivators.¡± ¡°They were weaker here,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you¡¯re right. I¡¯m still close to a significant stage regardless of how it is categorized.¡± ¡°And we don¡¯t even know if Domination cultivators exist,¡± Varghese pointed out. ¡°I would provide one correction there. We don¡¯t know who or how many Domination cultivators there are. They certainly exist. Though I imagine their schedules are quite busy dealing with the great region¡¯s affairs. Even if they could have better administrators in place.¡± ¡°You know, I appreciate your advice in that regard. It¡¯s much easier to just have people I can trust in place managing things they¡¯re good at.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Anton said. ¡°And all you have to do is check up on them occasionally. For their own good, among other things.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad people seem to trust me. It¡¯s much easier to resolve things when people come to us with hostage threats to begin with instead of trying to secretly comply with demands¡­¡± Varghese shook his head. ¡°It never works out well for anyone,¡± Anton agreed. ----- As soon as Chidi walked into the room, he was hit with the feeling that he wasn¡¯t supposed to be there. Chills went down his spine, and through his body as the partial formation within him reacted. It wouldn¡¯t do anything unless his mother had set up something to specifically entrap him, but it was still uncomfortable. He had to wonder why the room was open to him. This seemed like the sort of place that should have been sealed off to everyone. But since he was here, he couldn¡¯t help but slowly pick out the various formation markings. If he could see, he might be able to take it in on a larger scale. As it was, he had to go by the flow of energy, or the ways that it didn¡¯t flow. While the discomfort didn¡¯t fade, Chidi ultimately got the feeling that this wasn¡¯t so much one grand formation as a testing ground. A combination of esoteric methods leading towards some sort of goal, and that goal wasn¡¯t too difficult to discern. Even if he didn¡¯t know how any of it would help, Augmentation had clearly been on his parents minds more and more in the past decades. Just like Integration was something close to the forefront of his own mind. Based on the common sense of the world he expected to advance before them, but the particular confidence of them and the other cultivators born in the lower realms kept him guessing. It was crazy to think of going from Integration to Augmentation in just two centuries, but he supposed it was just as reasonable as going from no cultivation at all to Integration in just one. It was just that the upper realms had a severe lack of Augmentation cultivators. Even outside of the Scarlet Midfields, the big groups prized every Augmentation individual. Chidi held his fingers above a formation that seemed to have no purpose at all. He spent a good half hour studying it only to ultimately come to the conclusion that that was the whole point. It wasn¡¯t a bewildering formation in terms of taking control of his mind in any way, but simply by its existence that looked like it should do something, but didn¡¯t. He could learn so much from this room, but he didn¡¯t want to move about carelessly. His mother wasn¡¯t a reckless woman, but just because she seemed to have allowed him into the room didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t dangerous. Instead, it was a sign she thought he could handle the danger if it arose. ¡°Ah, there you are,¡± came a familiar voice from the doorway. ¡°I suppose we were both looking for each other at the same time.¡± Chidi nodded. Now that he was able to take care of himself, his mother had stopped following him around with her energy. Nor did she use the method of tracking his surroundings that had fooled him for so long. Though a cultivator on her level could expand her senses to a great distance, usually they didn¡¯t fill every nook and cranny of the area around them. And there was a lot of space on Xankeshan to look for each other. The Garden wasn¡¯t exactly close to the capital city or Catarina¡¯s labs. And Engineer Uzun¡¯s area was a good distance away as well. ¡°Your grandfather would have found you, you know,¡± Catarina said. ¡°So I¡¯ve heard. He¡¯s still in the lower realms, though, so I only have stories to go off of.¡± ¡°Maybe you can meet him,¡± Catarina said. ¡°You know, with the next change in the Tides.¡± ¡°I¡­ that¡¯s a bit far away to make plans,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°I also thought that the plan was to have people in the upper realms disrupting the various operations.¡± Catarina shrugged, ¡°Hopefully by that point we¡¯ll have some extra people. Enough to spare a few for personal tasks. But of course, you don¡¯t have to go meet him if you don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really know,¡± Chidi said honestly. ¡°I¡¯ve heard so many amazing things, I can¡¯t help but think I¡¯ll be disappointed somehow when he doesn¡¯t live up to them.¡± ¡°You¡¯d think that,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But I haven¡¯t run into that yet. Listen to this,¡± she held up a device she was going to read from. ¡°Fusion of two brown dwarfs into a single red dwarf, and how that impacts stellar formation as a whole.¡± ¡°An interesting study title¡­¡± Chidi began. ¡°He caused it to happen,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I haven¡¯t even fused any planets yet, and he made a star!¡± ¡°... Were you planning to fuse planets?¡± ¡°I want to know what happens!¡± Catarina held up her arms. ¡°Is that so wrong?¡± ¡°Maybe?¡± Chidi tilted his head. ¡°So what kind of formation fuses things like that, anyway?¡± ¡°In theory? Have a bunch of working ideas I¡¯ve been consulting with him on. In practice, he just¡­ yanked them together. Over the course of a few weeks, mind you. But no formations involved.¡± Chidi understood how difficult that would be. He didn¡¯t think he could ever do that. But he wondered if he could split one star into two someday¡­? He¡¯d have to have some reason for it, though. Though Grandmaster Chikere would probably say that the idea was reason enough on its own. Which was exactly why he shouldn¡¯t mention it to her. Chapter 743 Getting involved with conflicts on the right side was one way to improve the world bit by bit, but that was only when there was a right side. Most conflicts came from limited resources- whether tangible or intangible. It wasn¡¯t always clear that one side had a clear and legitimate claim to something. For cultivators, there were many such things in the wilderness between claimed territories. They were often claimed on the basis of whoever arrived first¡­ though it could also devolve into whoever had the greater strength forcing others to give up whatever they had otherwise rightfully earned for themselves. Sometimes there would be a battle, other times there would be a threat. Always there would be negative feelings for those who remained. Though he could not deal with everything throughout a whole planet, Anton still did his best to fend off any trouble he could anticipate. And one such instance of trouble was brewing in the desert to the south of Vochaye. It was called the Bladed Dust Bowl, a harsh desert full of many particularly prickly varieties of cactus. And of course, some of them were useful for cultivation in various ways. There were many properties in the fruits and flesh of cacti to be exploited. More than a few people were aware of a particular phenomenon taking place involving a century pillar cactus. As the name implied, they grew very slowly, maturing only over the course of a hundred years. They stood tall and strong, but more importantly the water contained within them was of the highest quality. Some might say purity, but Anton knew that pure water was relatively uninteresting to most. This had condensed natural energy infused into it along with various chemical compounds that made it useful for medicines of various types. There were strict requirements for such a thing to grow, and before its time of maturity it was relatively worthless. Thus, the various sects surrounding the desert had been carefully watching, unable to stake a permanent claim to the area as it was mostly inhospitable. At least by most standards. Even if they had staked a claim, it was likely other sects would have come along to remove the beleaguered disciples stationed as guards at a regular pace. So now, there were a half dozen smaller sects and two larger ones approaching, as the transformation would take place within the next few days, turning the liquid within from bitter and poisonous to useful. Anton knew of the two larger sects. The Fog Zephyr Cult and the Glamorous River Palace both cultivated the secrets of water, so having such a unique source of valuable water was desirable to both. At the same time, living in the desert was impossible for them, at least if they wished to cultivate. The smaller sects would likely combine forces, intent on getting whatever they could. It wasn¡¯t possible for the sects to send many of their core members far from their sect, not without risking danger from others, so each group had a few dozen individuals between elders and disciples. Not a poor showing, especially for a world like Poriza where natural energy was sparse. Though he wasn¡¯t the first to depart, Anton was the first to arrive. His timing was aided by the simple fact that all parties involved were close enough together for him to sense their movements, just a few hundreds of kilometers. That was nothing, even if it was all directly through the atmosphere. An old man and woman respectively lead the two sects, and their steps paused as they arrived with near simultaneity, taking in each other and Anton. ¡°Of course we would find you here,¡± the old man said to the woman. ¡°Much the same, I suppose we should have anticipated seeing some of your kind,¡± the woman retorted. Silence reigned for a few moments, then the man spoke to Anton. ¡°Friend, are you here for the pillar cactus as well?¡± The answer was obvious, as it was the only feature for quite some distance. Though what a feature it was. Almost closer to a great tree than a cactus, it was ten stories tall and wider around than a man¡¯s arms could encircle- not that anyone would try it, with the sharp blades that stuck out from it. They had a similar property to the western creeper back on Ceretos that allowed them to puncture natural energy defenses. ¡°You are Anton of the Order of One Hundred Stars, are you not?¡± the woman asked. ¡°If you help us secure it, we can split it between us.¡± Looks were exchanged between the rival elders, intense gazes clashing. ¡°We have some time to discuss the options,¡± Anton said. ¡°But not all of the interested parties are here as of yet. We should wait a short time.¡± The two didn¡¯t seem particularly happy to accept that, but it was not as if they could divide the thing between them yet anyway. The desired properties wouldn¡¯t come about for another few days, and damaging the plant before then would ruin it. As Anton was fully aware, the smaller sects were not far off. Their leader was a younger woman, at least compared to the others. Before she could make any demands, Anton took direction of the situation. ¡°We are all here now,¡± he declared. ¡°Now then, there are several ways we can handle this matter. I should say that it appears impossible for any of our groups to come out the sole victor in a conflict. Thus as the first option, we can simply divide it into quarters. There would be no losses for any of us, even if the gains are somewhat less than hoped.¡± Anton surveyed the situation. People weren¡¯t happy about that idea, though the lesser sects wouldn¡¯t exactly be disappointed even with the thought they would be sharing a quarter. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°The other option is simple. I can make use of this right now. Within fifty years, I can provide each party with the equivalent of a full century pillar cactus.¡± Only out of respect for him did the others stay quiet. It was quite an unpalatable option for Anton to walk away with everything for a promise in the future. Even if it was ultimately supposed to pay out four times as much, the benefit in the near future might outweigh that in their estimation. Fifty years was not insignificant, even for cultivators. They might need the benefits sooner. ¡°What else?¡± the man asked. ¡°You said there were several options.¡± ¡°Well, yes,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°But the final one involves a few secrets¡­¡± Anton looked around at everyone. ¡°But perhaps it is necessary to divulge. Actually, there is a special method to grow such a thing from its seeds. In the right conditions it might reach its peak in two decades¡­ or even a single decade. But it is a difficult path to achieve. Actually, this is what I planned to do. It is only that it requires great care. Out of dozens of seeds, perhaps only a few would grow properly.¡± That was mostly a lie. At least from Anton¡¯s perspective, he could perfectly manage its growth every time. And it wouldn¡¯t even be that difficult for those unfamiliar with the techniques involved. ¡°So why is this in question?¡± the woman said. ¡°We split the plant and the seeds, then grow what we can for ourselves.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, it doesn¡¯t work like that,¡± Anton shook his head. This part was important. ¡°The transformation we are all waiting for is only the first step in the process for it to reproduce. All of the energy and vitality of the specimen will be infused into the seeds shortly thereafter¡­ leaving us with little but slightly sweet water and tough cactus flesh if we wait to harvest the seeds. But before then, they have no potency.¡± ¡°Still¡­¡± said the younger woman. ¡°You said they can grow again in just a decade?¡± ¡°Only in the hands of a master. It could easily perish without the knowledge to properly take care of it. Which is why it would be best left in my hands.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± the man said. ¡°You do not wish to give away your information so easily. What is your price?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± the older woman from the Glamorous River Palace pressed him. ¡°Clearly you are angling for something, or you would not have mentioned it at all.¡± ¡°Alright, you got me,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I could teach you what I know, and we all split the seeds. But what I would require from all of you would be every second growth.¡± ¡°Half of our efforts?¡± the Fog Zephyr Cult representative frowned. ¡°Not quite,¡± Anton said. ¡°Every second plant. So if you only manage to successfully grow one¡­¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Then you are up three quarters of a century cactus. And if you grow two, that one goes to me. But if you have the skill to grow three¡­ two of them are yours, though you would have to surpass even my own estimations for production.¡± Anton didn¡¯t feel bad about lying when it was for people¡¯s own direct benefit. And the terms were accurate. ¡°But if you fail to even grow one, it will be no fault of my own. After all, I offered to produce each of you one. Though for your share of the seeds, I could instead grow a specimen for each party involved.¡± ¡°How many seeds will there be?¡± the woman representing the lesser sects asked. ¡°More than a handful for each group. Likely only a single seed for several of your sects¡­ but perhaps you might get lucky and produce something equivalent to this,¡± Anton gestured to the large bladed cactus, ¡°In the next few decades.¡± ¡°How strict are the growth requirements?¡± the man asked. ¡°And what of formations? Because if the expenses outweigh what we might gain¡­¡± ¡°No, no formations,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°It simply requires a sealed area, carefully monitored. Akin to a greenhouse, the glass growing structures you may have heard about.¡± Producing clear glass was actually relatively easy with the right techniques, and Anton had shared such information. ¡°But any mistakes could delay or even terminate the growth of a pillar cactus.¡± He emphasized that point because while he knew they could grow to full size in a decade instead of a century, the conditions had to be just right. Otherwise a cycle might pass and it would require another decade due to the particular biology of the plants. He knew of similar things from other planets, and had gathered all the locally available information to confirm his theories. ¡°So, we can either split it as it is, or grow them¡­¡± the old man nodded. ¡°I am not comfortable relying fully on you, but even if we must wait a full century for a few seeds to develop I think our sect might benefit. I do not think we can afford to simply harvest it.¡± ¡°Though we had plans for how we were to use this, the Glamorous River Palace thinks the same.¡± ¡°We cannot oppose the majority,¡± said the younger woman. ¡°And I think we would like to grow them ourselves, with your instruction.¡± Anton smiled. ¡°Then we should draft up the contracts. I would of course take your word, but it would not bind your whole sects. I share every secret I know about their growth, and you provide me with every second plant produced.¡± There was some negotiation between the lesser sects. Could the grow independently, or did it have to be communal? Could they afford for it to not be communal? The risk of getting nothing at all seemed high if they each had only a single seed. Ultimately, they worked out the terms as if they were one individual. If two of their sects produced one, the others would split the first and Anton would gain the second. Though of course he didn¡¯t necessarily intend to hold people to the latter part. Not perpetually, anyway. He could gain more goodwill by simply forgiving the debt, preferably after a single round of growth. Because he could make use of the actual plants for the sect or outside of it. As for growing the cactus, it didn¡¯t actually need to be in a desert. It just needed the right balance of humidity and temperature. And of course, enough natural energy. It simply happened that this particular desert was perfect, so the plant grew naturally- but its long life cycle and value to cultivators meant it was slowly going extinct. But if they could grow it on their own in a more convenient space, then it would naturally be able to fill its habitat in the wild once more. Everyone would be a winner. And nobody had to get hurt. Hopefully, everyone involved here would have some fond memories of each other in the future. Chapter 744 The planet wide announcement came as a surprise to most citizens of Xankeshan, though everyone higher ranking and especially military officers were already in the know, so they could be certain they were prepared. A mechanical recorded voice made the announcement, flowing through the planet¡¯s formations to spread the sound everywhere. ¡°We apologize for the inconvenience, but the use of formation based amenities will be unavailable for a short time due to maintenance and upgrades. All traffic will be diverted directly to landing.¡± As people began to wonder what was happening, they also expected the flow of energy through the formations to slow or cease. But instead, the rate of energy usage ramped up even as the barrier fell, the upper energy of the planet being diverted for different uses. It ultimately flowed to one place, Catarina¡¯s position at a temporary nexus of the formation. Timothy was there, of course, to see whether she was able to accomplish her impossible task. He was a bit disappointed he hadn¡¯t beaten her to Augmentation, but he knew he had some decades left to go himself. As for her chances of success, Timothy had nothing but confidence. He simply wouldn¡¯t allow himself to feel anything else. He trusted that all of the work she put in wasn¡¯t for naught. Chidi was present as well. The flow of upper energy made him tingle, though he had a particular position to stand so as to not disrupt things with his internal partial formations. But there was something about the mass of power that called to him. He hesitated to reach out, not wanting to disrupt anything, but it sat at the back of his mind. The process was not a short one. Chidi felt energy flowing into his mother, but it was being absorbed greedily. Not all of it went directly into her, of course. Most of it was reserved for various safety measures- for her own sake, and for the sake of those watching. But even so, the flow of energy directly entering Catarina was greater than that an Augmentation cultivator normally dealt with, based on Chidi¡¯s observation of Tauno. It was more than a few hours of energy continuously pouring into her before Chidi felt her reaching her limits. Power coursed through her, formation markings inside of her but not quite so flagrant and wild as Chidi¡¯s that were cut into his body. All of the energy was directed with intention, either by the formations or by Catarina¡¯s own will. Then all at once, the influx of energy stopped. The dense energy inside Catarina felt like it would explode outward, but instead she kept it tightly controlled. But it had to go somewhere, and that somewhere was back into the formations, reversing the flow. Not all of it, but a significant quantity. When everything ended, Chidi didn¡¯t think Catarina felt much stronger. Then he realized that part of that was because he¡¯d lost his focus for a moment, subconsciously reaching out for that flow and simultaneously improving himself. He had thought he might reach Integration in a battle, but instead it happened extremely naturally as he finally came into perfect sync with upper energy. Or as perfect as could be expected for that level, anyway. True perfection was always the goal- though nobody could agree what perfection was. ¡°Well,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I honestly didn¡¯t expect two breakthroughs today. Congratulations.¡± Catarina moved over to her son, whose senses were quite clearly locked onto her. ¡°Well?¡± she asked. ¡°Something you wish to say?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t feel all that much stronger,¡± he admitted. ¡°Did everything go alright?¡± ¡°It went exactly as intended,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Do not worry. I am stronger. But I¡¯m also not really¡­ a combatant. Likely there won¡¯t be as much improvement in my direct battle prowess, as it was focused on other areas.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°That makes sense. Can you tell me what, exactly?¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult to say,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°Because I am still comprehending the changes I set up. But ultimately, I should perform better in the expected areas. The ability to gather and channel energy, especially for formations. And hopefully¡­ my rate of gain of understanding. I achieved some insights. Time will tell if they were wrong.¡± ----- News of his granddaughter¡¯s Augmentation quickly reached Anton¡¯s ears, though of course he was part of the loop to begin with. He had known when she was going to make the attempt, and had been waiting impatiently for messages from the upper realms to reach him since that point. The message had been a simple and straightforward acknowledgement of success, which to Anton assured him that nothing had gone wrong. It was quite like her. He had the feeling that the upper realms would remember this as the start of a great time of change. He hoped so, at least, because the alternative was things remaining as they had been- and that was exactly the situation they wanted to avoid. In the lower realms, Anton didn¡¯t know of anyone closer to reaching the next stage than himself. That did not mean there weren¡¯t any, but they would have to be among the Sylanis Cluster. If it was any of the others, they would have to be working very hard to make it a surprise. Lev would probably achieve something in time, but the fellow wasn¡¯t in a rush. Nthanda¡­ was no longer on a path similar to any they had on record, so it would be difficult to say. Annelie would have once been high on Anton¡¯s list, but her cultivation speed had slowed after Anish¡¯s death. Devon was a bit further behind. He could expect anything to be separated by periods of decades, instead of the several times more frequent Ascensions and Assimilations among their population. Not quite yearly, even among their many billions. Though of course, a diminishing rate was always to be expected between cultivation stages. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Anton was at the peak himself, one star short of his next prime tempering. He wasn¡¯t quite certain if he would immediately reach the next stage upon completing that star or not, but he did know it had to be something more than usual. And he already had plans in place. Should they fall through, he would simply have to spend time solidifying some of his other opportunities. But for the moment, his plans lay with Poriza. He¡¯d begun his influence mainly on one side of the planet, but he¡¯d been slowly spreading. He couldn¡¯t say he¡¯d achieved world peace, even with all his power. However, he¡¯d come to know people from every region of the planet. Just like others, they were all capable of living lives in peaceful community. It was simply a long tradition of violence among cultivators that perpetuated- a few decades wasn¡¯t enough to erase that. But he saw the opportunity was there, if they kept working at it. ----- Anton put together a worldwide conference of cultivators, pulling representatives from all over. It took several years to organize, and another to come to fruition afterwards because of travel times. But ultimately, thousands of individuals representing every part of the planet- even smaller sects who worked up the confidence to send their own representatives. And that was exactly what Anton wanted. ¡°I¡¯m sure you all wonder why I gathered you here,¡± Anton said. ¡°As you have been told, it is something of great importance to the whole world. All of you know the Order of One Hundred Stars,¡± Anton could say that without reservation, as he¡¯d personally met with everyone for at least a few moments. ¡°Needless to say, I am a disciple of the celestial bodies,¡± Anton gestured towards the sky. ¡°There is great power in the stars. However, the local sun¡­ has missed a great opportunity. One for a greater conflux of power that it could share with the inhabitants of its planets. But perhaps this very feature has cast a shadow of safety over you.¡± Anton saw people had questions, so he pointed out one of the many who he knew would ask the same question in slightly different ways. ¡°What do you mean? Safety from what?¡± ¡°A good question,¡± Anton said. ¡°The answer is¡­ some particular bad actors in the upper realms. Unfortunately, as far as my information goes these bad actors dominate several of the nearby regions. Regardless, the Trigold Cluster is the most immediate threat. They are known to ravage planets on a regular basis, letting them develop for some time then stealing their resources.¡± Another question on everyone¡¯s mind. ¡°How do you know this?¡± He had to answer that question eventually. ¡°I come from another lower realm planet that was able to withstand their attacks.¡± Some murmurs of surprise and a bit of discontent, but also more than a few individuals simply confirming the detail in their heads. Many already knew something was different about Anton. ¡°What do you want with us?¡± someone called out without being acknowledged first. ¡°I have been quite straightforward about that from the beginning,¡± Anton said. ¡°I want exactly the results I have been working towards. The growth of your people. But there are risks. I do not believe if you continue as you are that you will ever be discovered, however the greater improvement I have in mind is certainly a risk. Your star can be transformed. It would bring with it a several fold increase in natural energy and the rate of growth. More light. And a bit more warmth. But ultimately, it is a difficult undertaking. One with both inherent and external risk factors to consider.¡± There were many questions for Anton to field over the next coming days. Ultimately, he hadn¡¯t gathered people for them to make a choice in one single event. Perhaps it was a bit manipulative on his part, but he knew people. And he knew that these particular people wouldn¡¯t give up on an elevation of their planet just because of theoretical risks. Even if Anton had told him that there was a powerful faction one system over ready to attack them, he thought they would have been strongly inclined to want to grow. And he knew that attitude held among most of the people- as he had brought representatives even of the common folk, those involved primarily in industry that involved no combat. Those who produced food and clothing and buildings and everything that allowed humans to live their lives. They had all seen that they could have more, and they would not want to give it up. And importantly- to Anton at least- it wasn¡¯t simply personal greed. Wanting more was a good thing, within reason. And he believed these people could see the difference. ----- Before he tried to advance to the next stage of Assimilation, whatever he might call it, Anton knew he should balance his internal and external cultivation. Which was to say, he didn¡¯t want to leave any potential unfulfilled, any stars unbound. He picked out a few more good specimens around the area and along the path between the Alliance and the eastern region. He only had one more, in reserve for In¡¯istra. While Anton hadn¡¯t been a public figure on In¡¯istra for as much of his presence, he had about half a century longer that he was in frequent interaction with them. He still intended to ask for their permission to bind to their star, simultaneous with but not codependent with their introduction to the larger galactic community. They were far enough from all of the other systems Anton knew had humans that they would still be effectively alone, but there was still much they could gain from open interaction. Or they could make the choice to be isolated. Not that Anton expected that result. Most of those who had fought in the invasion had died, but many people still had memories of it or the aftermath. And the idea of others who had gone through the same and would fight together would certainly be appealing to them. Along with Anton¡¯s personal influence, he didn¡¯t expect them to reject either option. And there were still five centuries until the next shift in the tides of the world for everyone to prepare. Anton was quite pleased, even if Poriza was likely to be somewhat behind, should they choose the route that increased their risk. Anton had some reason to believe that binding to a star wouldn¡¯t make it exclusive to him, but he hadn¡¯t had the opportunity to willingly share with anyone. Ultimately, he hoped that he could- because he knew that if a local wanted to draw upon the star and they couldn¡¯t both do so safely that he would unbind it, ultimately dropping in cultivation. Because while he would have wasted some of his own time, he also didn¡¯t want to stifle other¡¯s potential. Getting permission might not change that dynamic, but it only seemed fair to ask. Chapter 745 Not terribly far from Poriza was the planet Aipra, though from certain perspectives they were separated by insurmountable distance. No matter how far one traveled, if one could not bridge the gap from space to subspace or do the same in return, it was impossible to get from one to the other. Both planets were similar in certain ways, with some key differences. Both were low in natural energy, but Poriza simply lived with it. The light and heat from their pseudo-star were sufficient to sustain them, if little more. Meanwhile, Aipra had no star at all. Any light they had was produced by their own selves, and all the more precious for it. What heat they had was mainly a result of the life they had. It was unclear how they had arrived at their situation, but they must have been formed of cultivators with some significant knowledge. Otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have had time to change their style of cultivation to survive. If Anton were to compare individuals from the two planets, even though Aipra should have been weaker they actually survived and even thrived- given their circumstances. They had post-Life Transformation cultivators, and a worldwide system of cultivation that effectively used devotion to improve everyone. But as with all such things, the power was focused on those at the top. Yet in their circumstances, Anton couldn¡¯t reject the practice. They needed the most powerful cultivators they could get. Of the two, Aipra had probably changed the least after Anton¡¯s arrival, at least in how they functioned overall. Even with the help of the greatest minds of several worlds, it was only possible to provide slight increases to the efficiency of the planet, minimally increasing their food output and their efficiency in providing heat and other necessary components for life. The biggest difference was the rise of simple industrial machines, functioning without the use of natural energy and instead relying on physical materials they had available. Meanwhile, Anton had established a full branch of the Order on Poriza. He had influenced their development starting from one country, and changed not only the quantity and quality of cultivators but the whole political landscape. Ideas of both cultivation and how it interfaced with developing technology like Rutera¡¯s were rapidly influencing the populace. Yet Anton was more proud of the work done for Aipra, mostly by others. Their entire existence had been hanging by a thread, and now it seemed as if they could actually withstand a disaster of some sort. Though Anton didn¡¯t want to ever find out. Other powerful cultivators on Aipra besides Nalini had enough trust for Anton to speak to him now, but he saw no reason he should trouble anyone else. He¡¯d rather visit a friend than receive a report from strangers. Anton explained his thoughts, then asked for hers. ¡°What do you think about the changes? Hopefully they are all good.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t take so long to recover after a battle,¡± she said. ¡°And others are growing to the limits of cultivation. Some have taken an interest in ascension.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton said. It was a somewhat touchy subject, given that people leaving behind Aipra, especially powerful cultivators, might spell their doom. ¡°I think¡­ that it is a good thing. That it can be considered at all, I mean. We were the ones who chose to introduce the idea ourselves. And we may eventually be able to offer an escape for those of lesser fortitude. A way to shift out of this space into the other. Though personally, I would never choose that result.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you were inclined to do so, you could have already done it. You have sufficient power.¡± Anton understood the concept of home, even one as desolate as this place. And he was quite pleased that they were able to reach a place where they could do more than simply survive. Attacks by distortion beasts continued and likely would until the end of existence, but they were able to handle them. And Anton didn¡¯t think that making things a little bit easier on the future generations would be a bad thing. The right amount of pressure helped people develop, but too much and they would crack. Aipra had always been just on that edge, and it could have slipped past it at any moment. ¡°You mentioned some sort of wild plan¡­?¡± Nalini prompted. Anton was pleased to answer, as she seldom took interest in outside affairs. Understandable, since there was little that could be done to influence each other in either case. Even the small number of ships that had come to visit this place did so at a high cost. ¡°The formation of a star,¡± Anton said. ¡°Specifically, the point where it begins to properly sustain fusion into heavier elements. Before that¡­ well, it¡¯s difficult to say it is not a real star. Just not one with excess power of any sort.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to see a star at some point,¡± Nalini mused. ¡°I¡¯m a great distance away from being able to bring one here,¡± Anton said, ¡°And I don¡¯t think you would be able to relax on a vacation. But I can still show you what they look like.¡± Anton drew on his connection to a distant star. His first star was close to the far end of his bound stars, though Rutera and then the Sylanis Cluster were further west still. But after a few hundred lightyears, the distances blurred together. Drawing upon the power it channeled into him, Anton didn¡¯t just use it to make fire¡­ but tried his best to form a proper replica. A miniature version of the star that fit in his hand, complete with fusion. It would be rather unhealthy for those of lower cultivation to be directly in front of such a thing due to the radiation, but Nalini would be fine. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°... It¡¯s bright,¡± she said. ¡°They¡¯re all that bright?¡± ¡°It¡¯s barely a replica,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯re so many times brighter that it is impossible to see around many of them. Though some are much less.¡± Anton displayed a facsimile of Joy, the first star he had fused. It was just a red dwarf, and he showed a comparison between his hands. The old woman watched with fascination as Anton went through various stars that he had bound. While he couldn¡¯t be certain he was making a perfect visual replica, he knew it at least captured their spirit. ¡°And then my favorite. Don¡¯t tell my home system, okay?¡± Anton grinned. ¡°This is Azun.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ very small,¡± Nalini admitted. ¡°A normal person could walk across one side in a day- if they could walk. But while it is small, it is heavier than the majority of the others I have shown you. It is a nearly impossible density. And¡­¡± Nearby metallic objects began to tremble. ¡°It has powerful magnetic fields. It spins rapidly, spewing beams of radiation. All this after what would be considered the death of another star. But instead it refused to give up, and in my opinion became something more.¡± ¡°Impressive. But also a bit frightening. It could destroy this planet, could it not?¡± ¡°It could mostly likely absorb anything I¡¯ve ever interacted with,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Absorbing another star or two would hardly affect its mass.¡± ¡°I think I will remain here without stars,¡± Nalini said. ¡°Or at least, where we only have to interact with them like that,¡± she gestured to the sky generally, where stars could only be barely made out even by Anton, as if covered by a thick veil. ¡°Well, that is why you harness the cold power of the void,¡± Anton said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect you to wish to change.¡± ¡°I do vaguely get why you like them, though,¡± Nalini said. ¡°Perhaps if I grew used to them, they might not seem so harsh.¡± After spending some more time in idle conversation and a longer time exchanging cultivation pointers, Anton made certain there was nothing he could immediately provide that they needed- like a little bit of help fending off a distortion beast, perhaps. And while he was quite happy to return to his world of stars, he didn¡¯t mind the strange view from the other side once in a while. ----- Somehow, Anton¡¯s proposal had gotten the approval of Poriza. Obviously it was a massive undertaking, and before they could even begin they had to engage in greater contact with the outside world. Anton himself wasn¡¯t a true formation master, and the local formation masters were both insufficient in number and lacking in certain knowledge that might be required to accomplish such a massive task. The purpose of the formations was not for the formation of the star specifically, but rather for the protection of the planet during the process. And while Anton might be able to push apart the planet and their star, might wasn¡¯t good enough for the lives of people. Anton wouldn¡¯t bet a single life on a half a chance, or even a ninety percent chance. Not unless he had no other option. He certainly wouldn¡¯t do the same with a planet. While he didn¡¯t intend to drop two similarly sized masses into each other and thus was less likely to get the rather dangerous wobble of Joy¡¯s formation, the wrong amount of material impacting at the wrong angle could still spew a beam of radiation that could effectively destroy the planet, or at least kill most of those on it. Furthermore, it needed to move to a position further from the star to maintain a proper orbit, changing velocity as well. But Anton couldn¡¯t move it before they began. If Poriza was any further from their star, the already tenuous amounts of light and heat would drop to dangerously low levels. There was a great amount of coordination necessary worldwide for other reasons. He planned to perform the jumpstart of mass and fusion between growing seasons- since each hemisphere had a different one- but no matter what happened it would be a major disruption. Thus, they needed to organize to store up food and seeds, both kept safe. But not immediately, or everything would spoil for no reason. The idea was only being entertained at all because food production had increased so much recently that the world could take the shock. But the danger should be worth the rewards. The populace had a desire to improve. Overall, Anton judged it to be among the more positive ways that could come about. There was the desire to improve for one¡¯s own self, or to support a particular group. That was much preferred to a jealous desire to overcome another- in most cases such people didn¡¯t care if their foes grew weaker or they grew stronger as long as they were able to surpass them. And while Poriza was overall at peace, that didn¡¯t mean nobody had people they didn¡¯t like. Whether true enemies, competition, or simple rivals there would always be different reasons to have the ambition to grow. It was ultimately better that the entire process was slow. Poriza would be putting in as much of the work as they could sustain themselves for reasons of practical logistics, because Anton had limited resources and not an infinite amount of favors to call upon, and so that the final result would be more meaningful for them. Because while Anton might be doing the heavy lifting, moving tens of times the mass of their planet into the brown dwarf they orbited around, they would still have to take care of the formations. These formations would require active worldwide participation by cultivators injecting their energy. In shifts, of course, as there was no telling exactly how long such a thing would take. Only as they tired would reserve energy be called upon. Hopefully they didn¡¯t have to use any stored energy, but Anton knew they couldn¡¯t count on things to go perfectly. As for the formations, they were actually developed with some of the insights from Aipra. Instead of the flow of energy moving between people, it would go to move their planet according to a very careful set of calculations that had been done and were being verified over and over. Anton was quite happy. The people of Poriza could have been content to simply live, but just like Aipra they wanted more and simply couldn¡¯t attain it on their own. But he wanted to give them the opportunity to thrive. The fact that it might personally benefit him wasn¡¯t lost to his thoughts, but that didn¡¯t undermine his motives. He just had to make sure he always kept on top of his reasons for doing things to make sure they weren¡¯t tainted. Personally, he quite liked his current trajectory. Chapter 746 The older generation of cultivators on Ekict had been wiped out in the war, but instead of discontent those who remained had been mostly positive about the outcome, or neutral at worst. Everyone except weaker sects who had made a position for themselves working as the lackeys of more powerful groups had a direct improvement in quality of life, and those not so tightly entangled in the affairs of the greater sects were not worse off. Anishka had been with them since the end of the war, in part to act as a bridge between Ekict and the alliance. Her greater motivation was to remain with her friends. They were the first individuals she felt were her friends entirely on her own merit, not because she was the daughter of Annelie or because of the Fire and Ice Palace. While her previous friends hadn¡¯t necessarily been false, the fact that she didn¡¯t think about anyone on Ceretos outside of family said something. So Anishka spent time with Patka, as well as Celina and the disciples of the Enkindled Sun Sect. She also had the Sergeant with her, a lesser friend only in stature. She had an official purpose, of course, but she could manage that alongside other affairs, like cultivation. Patka¡¯s official position was something like her disciple. Meanwhile the Fire and Ice Palace had many cultivation tips to offer to the Enkindled Sun Sect. But in return, there were a few things Anishka could learn from them and pass back to her sect. No path was perfect, or if it was possible it certainly hadn¡¯t been completed yet. There were always things to learn, even from those weaker. Enough time had passed that there were some important choices to make. Ones that were very important to the future of how they would interact. ¡°What are your plans?¡± Anishka asked when she was together with both Patka and Celina. Celina answered quickly. ¡°I will be searching for a suitable Assimilation goal, of course, and staying here as a guardian.¡± ¡°The same with me¡­ eventually,¡± Patka said. Her cultivation was a bit slower than Celina, who was also a step or two behind Anishka. Anishka nodded at their responses. ¡°You¡¯re not even considering Ascension?¡± ¡°Why would we?¡± Celina shook her head. ¡°This is our home. We fought for it, and while some of the leadership made terrible choices¡­ we still live here. The affairs of the upper realms don¡¯t matter. If they come here, we will be ready.¡± Anishka didn¡¯t know what else she should have expected. The people of Ekict had a particular way they did things, and while the older generation that used ¡®Transferral¡¯ were gone now, the reasons had all come from the same place. ¡°I would like to help out others, if possible,¡± Patka said. ¡°Depending on if we can take care of ourselves first. How long the invasions take¡­ and all of that.¡± Anishka nodded. That was still an issue, as it could take months simply to travel between Ekict and the Alliance. But that was considering standard troop carriers. If only a small number of powerful cultivators were involved, they might be able to take a faster vessel, potentially cutting the time in half or more. The only question was whether particular Assimilation cultivators would be effective outside of their home world. ¡°I think just taking care of yourselves is enough. And working together with everyone to improve ourselves, of course. If we could get one Augmentation equivalent in each system¡­¡± Patka laughed, ¡°As if that¡¯s so easy. Doesn¡¯t it take like¡­ a millennium?¡± ¡°It can be half that,¡± Anishka said. ¡°... or less.¡± Her aunt had managed it in three hundred years, after all. And her grandfather might do it soon, though that was potentially a secret. ¡°With improved natural energy levels, everything is faster.¡± Anishka felt her other companion try to draw her attention. As it turned out, the Sergeant could apply a significant squeezing force when she wanted to. That was preferable to nipping Anishka with her mandibles even if she¡¯d never broken skin when she didn¡¯t intend to. The Sergeant, seeing she had attention, signed her own part of the conversation. ¡°I will be staying with you.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I¡¯m not planning to ascend, either. Though I don¡¯t know what sort of Assimilation I¡¯ll ultimately end up with, and how mobile I¡¯ll be.¡± ¡°Good. I like it here,¡± the void ant declared. The only question remaining for Anishka was if she had an Assimilation that was lacking in mobility whether it should be on Ekict or Ceretos. Trust was once more building up between Ekict and the rest of the lower realm community so it wouldn¡¯t be so difficult to move between the two as it once was. There was still the matter of travel time, but as the decades went by Anishka found that to be less of a factor in her mind. ----- The preparations were finally finished. Understandably, Anton was nervous about the whole process. He was confident in the safety of Poriza, or he wouldn¡¯t have even suggested the option. They had gone to great expense to make certain that the planet would withdraw from the sun at the correct rate and distance. The thing Anton was most concerned about was it not paying off as promised. There would be improvements, but there was some chance it wouldn¡¯t be as much as anticipated. There were so many variables to consider, it was simply impossible to know. It might have been better to pour all of the resources allocated to this project into another method of growth, though Anton believed that there was a maximum level they could reach without the constant input of natural energy from a more powerful star. Ultimately, there was a limit to how much cultivators could augment the natural ambient energy based on how much was coming in. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Even so, Anton had made promises that he wanted to be fulfilled. Even if in two or three centuries this paid off, if it took that long many people could lose out on opportunities before then. Not just small opportunities either- if the timing was wrong for them, it was very easy for people to die of old age when their cultivation didn¡¯t advance quickly enough. That was inevitable, of course, but Anton still wanted to avoid it being his fault, when shorter term benefits might have resulted in a better growth curve. It was too late to change things, of course. Anton simply had to acknowledge his doubts. They were part of him, and he had to move past them. Hopefully by achieving sufficient results, but Anton was prepared to deal with failure if it came down to it. And in a way, the thought motivated him to do better to avoid it. The final days passed slowly, as details were checked and re-checked. Anton was already beginning the process, but not in a way that was irreversible. While it was only going to make a small difference in overall mass, he was gathering free dust throughout the system and guiding it towards the star. There was no chance of it increasing the mass of the star enough for it to trigger sustained fusion, and likewise it wouldn¡¯t significantly change gravity or any other factors. Still, it was not an insignificant amount of mass and it wouldn¡¯t ever be used for anything else, unlike the stray asteroids that might be mined for various metals in the future. It was a meditative thing, drifting through the void of space and guiding everything around him towards the small star. It allowed him to clear his mind for the real thing. The system didn¡¯t have another brown dwarf, though that was by no means necessary for what they intended to accomplish. The star was just below the threshold, it only needed a few percent increase in mass to surpass the threshold. It would take almost a thousand planets the size of Poriza to make up that difference, but the system had several gaseous giants that would serve the necessary purpose. For the purposes of harvesting them for various elements, it was unnecessary to have more- and there was no guarantee of achieving the intended results every other way. Combining every speck of dust and every stray asteroid could potentially be sufficient. But doing so would mean a steady increased in the star¡¯s mass instead of a short burst, and while that sounded safer on the surface there was a significant issue. At the point where the star began to properly sustain fusion of heavier elements, it would do so rapidly, the temperature jumping sharply in a short time. The planet already needed to be moving, or at least it was safer if it was as the formations would be affected by the change in energy to some extent. When it came down to the last moments, Anton listened to the official announcement taking place on the planet below as he made his way back. There was a large gathering of sects, and sound transmitting formations would relay it in close to real time around the planet. Among those gathered were the leadership of the Order on planet. Nyarai was one of the most powerful local cultivators, and she had been chosen for the honor of making the official statements. ¡°Today we begin a process that will reshape our world forever. It is not one undertaken lightly, but one carefully considered. All of you know of the work that has been done over the last decades. And now, we will finally make use of it. With the help of our friend Anton¡­ and the cooperation between all of us.¡± At the mention of his name, Anton descended so that he could be seen. He didn¡¯t want the personal glory, but he did want people to be comfortable with him, a real person and not just an idea. The speech continued for a while longer. It was a big event, after all. Rarer than once in a lifetime. As far as Anton was aware, it was unique in the galaxy. Though perhaps he was being too limiting. Either way, he could say it was true of the thousands of systems they had surveyed in the lower realms. Joy was half an exception, but there was little practical benefit besides the knowledge. A lone red dwarf didn¡¯t have any significant difference from a binary pair of brown dwarfs. The timing for everything was quite intentional. The path Anton would be guiding the sacrificial planet on would not pass through that of any other planets. Anton began to create the necessary connection, coaxing it along the path while drawing upon his power to reduce its orbital speed. It was a slow process, during which the people of Poriza were already beginning their shifts empowering the formations. Nearly everything had stopped on the planet, except the most necessary things such as emergency services. Food was not prepared individually, but communally for all of those lending their power to the efforts. Only a small number of ships performing necessary functions traveled the seas. Anton almost felt the urge to rush, but he knew they had prepared for a certain variability in time. It felt slow now, but he knew it would speed up. He paid attention to Poriza, as it created an inverse magnetic field to its star, slowly pushing away. The planet wouldn¡¯t be changing its orbit terribly much in the grand scheme of things, but remaining perfectly still would have many negative consequences. A great mass spiraled through space, the gas planet drawing ever closer to the even larger mass of the star. Because no matter how small the brown dwarf was as a star, it was still on a different scale in terms of mass from anything but the most extreme of planets. Though the difference of size wasn¡¯t nearly so extreme. The star wasn¡¯t even half again as large as the gas giant in any particular dimension, which became readily apparent as it drew closer and closer. Instead of allowing them to continue accelerating closer, once the natural draw of gravity became a dominant factor Anton focused on guiding the planet properly. His intention was to have it spiral around the star, letting mass be pulled off in layers rather than crashing directly into it. That required just the right angle and momentum. He felt the power within him burning swiftly, the surrounding stars bolstering him. It would have been impossible to accomplish the task without them. The gas giant made contact, bits of it pulling off. Anton carefully monitored the reaction of the star, along with many others. They had avoided the worst case scenario already- a direct impact that might cause a burst of energy that could damage Poriza. Now they just had to follow through. Then Anton felt it. It was almost as if a switch was flipped, a greater power growing inside the star. He wouldn¡¯t miss the opportunity a second time. He was already prepared to bind the star to him as it crossed the threshold. With all of Anton¡¯s experience, it happened easily. He formed the connection, and the flame of a new star lit within him. The power of the new star pulsed¡­ and for the first time he felt something outside their predictions. It was more powerful than initially anticipated. As it devoured the last of the gas giant, the rapid growth in energy threw Anton off guard. It seemed the process wasn¡¯t going to be so straightforward as initially planned. Chapter 747 The mass dumped into Poriza¡¯s star seemed to have sparked something more than simply the fusion within it. Or perhaps it had something to do with Anton binding the star at the same time. But he didn¡¯t have time to think about that now. The star was awakened, and it was hungry. That was the feeling Anton got from it. Power surged from it, and Anton felt a great pull from it. He immediately counterbalanced the force upon himself while he took stock of the situation. He could feel the effects of the new star on a handful of rocky planets even closer than Poriza. The change in mass shouldn¡¯t have affected gravity enough to significantly affect them, but they were suddenly being drawn closer. To a lesser extent, that was also true of Poriza. The first thing Anton did was fly between the star and the planet. He then set about altering the magnetic flow of the star which had slightly changed in direction, counterbalancing it against the formations set around the planet. But his power wasn¡¯t enough all on its own, and his control of the new star wasn¡¯t at full capacity the instant he bound it. The process up to the current point had been draining, and now Anton pulled the maximum amount he could from his conduits. In addition to that, he drew upon the ascension energy he had access to, creating a burst of change. Anton called upon the power of Azun and his familiarity with its power, stupendous magnetic fields. It wasn¡¯t possible for this star to sustain the same, or even achieve similar levels for an instant. Yet he still needed to amplify them higher than anything else he¡¯d encountered. Magnetic poles pushed against each other, any sweat Anton might have had evaporating instantly from the heat pouring out of him. Poriza slowly inched away from the star, though that was a blessing since it was hotter and brighter than anticipated. The rocky inner planets were devoured by the star, but those were of little consequence. A swirl of energy expanded through the system, but Anton suppressed it slightly. Not through force, but gentle guidance. He was not powerful enough to wrestle with even the smallest of stars and win. It responded to his attempt, the power that was pulling on the surroundings easing up. Anton could tell that over the next few years every bit of surrounding space dust would be drawn into the star¡­ but things began to settle down. The rest of the planets seemed to be safe, at least. Anton¡¯s exhausted form was suddenly bolstered with the new warmth inside of him as he relaxed. He was uncertain what had caused the phenomenon. His instinctual description was close to it wanting something, but now that disaster wasn¡¯t looming so directly he couldn¡¯t feel the same intentionality he¡¯d ascribed to it. Perhaps it was simply an unknown physical phenomenon. Specific circumstances often resulted in wildly different results than expected, and that was just Anton thinking of growing two seeds from the same plant in neighboring rows, one growing into a towering behemoth and the other barely breaking out of the ground. They were usually more consistent, but even small factors such as a bit of shade or water changed things. And when considering the scale of a star, perhaps it was the exact size and type of mass he dropped into it. Or something to do with him binding it, disrupting the flow of its energy. Anton waited ten minutes, an hour, half a day to make certain there would be no further unanticipated roadblocks. The loss of the inner planets was not expected, but also not entirely unaccounted for. It had long been known that something might happen to them. He slowly drifted towards the planet, feeling the intensity of the star, light and heat and natural energy. It was even more than expected, especially for being on the small end of being a red dwarf. It was still more than a step short of the power of Ceretos¡¯ star, though the proximity of the planet made up for some of that. It was a success. Better than he¡¯d hoped. And the new power welling inside of Anton reminded him that the results were greater in more than just a single way. He felt something growing, first from Poriza¡¯s stars and then those in the surroundings. Then those even further, along the route to the Alliance and finally the area around his home system. The conduits were growing, and the distance he felt suddenly didn¡¯t seem quite as far. ----- ¡°And here he is!¡± Nyarai said as Anton returned. ¡°From down here, it looks like a great success,¡± she squinted. ¡°Is it always going to be so bright, though?¡± Anton grinned. ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it. A small price to pay for the bounty it will provide. And indeed, it was even more glorious than anticipated. You should all be proud of your work.¡± Anton had a feeling he could extend his voice further than before. He repeated the last sentence, reaching the furthest corners of the planet. ¡°Your tireless work maintaining the formations over the last days was the only thing that made this possible. I would say everyone should take a rest, but I¡¯m fairly certain there is one more thing you must do.¡± Anton looked at Nyarai, who was confused. ¡°I believe this calls for a celebration. A festival of unity!¡± Also, someone had to do something with all that food they¡¯d stored up. With things as they were, they only needed enough for one season compared to the worst projections of several years. Though Anton would need to make sure that people were factoring in the greater sunlight with their tending of the fields. It was an anticipated factor, but humans were creatures of habit. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. As for Anton himself, he planned to do the same as everyone else, facilitating the festivals and then taking a well deserved break. And while he felt the utility of all the devotion pouring into him, he didn¡¯t want things to focus on him too much. Then again, unless it was paired with a harmful cultivation method like the Holy Harmony Technique it didn¡¯t hurt anyone¡¯s cultivation, as it was merely another form of energy they wouldn¡¯t have been using. ----- After everything inside of him stabilized, Anton took a good look at his cultivation. He understood why it was called Augmentation for a similar level of power in the upper realms, and perhaps he would have been quite happy stealing that name. On the other hand, having properly experienced it he had the feeling that there were more appropriate names. Creation was¡­ too ostentatious. And it might not be the case that all Assimilation cultivators needed the same sort of event to advance. Accretion? Perhaps an appropriate name for those who dealt with stars in particular, but not as a general name. And it was unnecessary to have more stage names beginning with the same letter. Finally, he settled on a name. Enrichment. A similar meaning to Augmentation, but he felt it came with more positive connotations. As for the practical matters, Anton was just beginning to place them. Within a system, he could draw upon a larger quantity of a star¡¯s power. But it wasn¡¯t just that. He almost felt like he was within the influence of every star he had bound to all at once. Perhaps just on the very edge- he wasn¡¯t suddenly thirty times as powerful. However, he had previously been able to display strength above Life Transformation outside of systems he was bound to but not quite able to compare it to the strength of Assimilation. Now, he could say for certain that outside of his systems he was able to display at least as much power as when he¡¯d first reached Assimilation in Ceretos. Probably more, as it was difficult to measure. He wasn¡¯t sure if that would be true at any distance, but so far he had not found himself anywhere more ¡®distant¡¯ feeling than any other. The minimum threshold of power he received had greatly improved. It was all quite gratifying, but Anton found that the new improvements to his power were best displayed in one particular field. His travel speed. It had improved significantly, as he could always maintain a high level of power output between systems with no need for breaks to replenish himself. He hadn¡¯t quite tested it yet, but still found he was capable of traveling between Poriza and In¡¯istra in a single day. If he could keep that up, he would be able to travel all four hundred lightyears back to Ceretos in less than a month. Which was gratifying not just for matters of convenience, but also if he had to deal with any future disasters. Thinking of how much more he could do, Anton almost completely forgot to test his combat power. But he did remember, and performed a small demonstration for himself. He was quite pleased, finding that if he focused on individual arrows they could pass from one system to the next, though not in such a short time that he could react to something and prevent it. It required intense focus to maintain the speed and form, and it was entirely impractical at the moment. But even still, his range was improving. He just needed to make sure he didn¡¯t look for excuses to have to use it, as it would only be useful for targets with predictable paths like planets. And he really didn¡¯t need to personally cause the destruction of any more of those. Certainly not without good reason. ----- Varghese shuddered when Anton displayed his new power to him. ¡°Just when I thought I might be catching up¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about it too much,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°You¡¯ll be in Assimilation before you know it. Or Integration, but I don¡¯t see you preparing anyone to take over.¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t have any ambitions to ascend even before you arrived. I think the best thing I can do is stand up to the upper realms if they dare to come back,¡± Varghese held himself high. Anton nodded, ¡°Good. Though we could certainly use more Integration cultivators in the upper realms as well. On an only vaguely related topic, how do you feel about meeting with the cultivators from Poriza?¡± ¡°Nervous,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°I mean, you started preparing me for this sort of thing not long after we met. But actually being introduced into a wider galactic community is still¡­¡± he shook his head. Anton nodded, ¡°Oh, I felt that way when I saw Matija and her ship as well. Though it was more of us running into each other, I suppose. They weren¡¯t even certain about other planets being inhabited, unlike us who knew there were many cultivators throughout the lower realms. And many more to come, I think,¡± Anton said. ¡°It is a vast place, but while we know over a dozen populated realms I feel like there should be many more.¡± And hopefully, they would find them still populated instead of ravaged by the Trigold Cluster. Unlike the initial contact with Ekict which Anton admitted had been rather hasty, Anton was very familiar with In¡¯istra and now Poriza. Only the two systems were close enough to physically interact and In¡¯istra was only just beginning to develop ships that could move around their system, let alone between systems. While that process would be accelerated with the help of others, it would be a long time before anyone but the two would physically interact on a regular basis. Except for the occasional ship stopping by on the way to study Azun. Anton looked wistfully into the sky, thinking of the thin line that was his route between his most familiar clusters. He would like to expand their knowledge of that corridor and the surrounding area, finding people and if they were open to it establishing proper communication. Though he also enjoyed leaving written notes that might only be exchanged over the course of years and decades like the desert planet Xicil. Hopefully they would still recognize him next time he went by, as he didn¡¯t want them to panic about someone who seemed dangerous. Chapter 748 Even as he barely began his journey back to Ceretos, Anton¡¯s increased speed had him thinking about just one thing. What the lower realms needed most was this. Not power. There were enough cultivators growing stronger that they would be able to handle anything the upper realms was willing to send. But having them in the right places at the right time? That required something more. And matters of logistics didn¡¯t just apply to war. Different systems had resources the others might want or need, and the wide span of the explored area would take a long time to traverse. Speed was the key. It made unity possible, and that was their best weapon against the upper realms. And while Anton didn¡¯t think he could help with developing formations or technology, he could still support in other ways. He wasn¡¯t quite sure how, but perhaps something to do with energy. Ships had to stop in systems along the way to refuel, and while Anton didn¡¯t know if he could help with that process there had to be something. Perhaps just exploring more systems, helping to find the best routes. While it was mostly empty space, the need for fuel meant ships couldn¡¯t simply take a straight line between systems. And while they seemed to stay in the same relative positions to each other, that was only over shorter timescales. Systems were drifting about- mostly in the same general direction- but longer journeys required adjustments due to passing by the gravity wells of systems no matter how much calculation effort was put into the journey ahead of time. Anton tore through space with vigor, though he would be cautious around inhabited systems. He didn¡¯t want to draw out distortion beasts, after all. Regardless of whether or not he could destroy them, he was worried about the potential side effects. Even Aipra didn¡¯t understand much about them, except that they simply existed, and since they were always in subspace they didn¡¯t even have the experience with them being drawn out. They were always around. His estimation about how long it would take if he traveled with all haste was quite accurate. Anton thought he could reach Ceretos in something like a month. An absurd time- both in how short it was and how much time was still spent doing nearly nothing. Though time among the void between stars was not entirely wasted for Anton, as even simply traveling was somewhat effective as cultivation. The actual time it would take Anton to arrive was of course longer. He wasn¡¯t going to just bypass all of his favorite systems. He didn¡¯t feel any particular reaction to his appearance on Xicil. He still wanted to properly speak with them at some point, and it was unlikely they could stay completely out of galactic affairs forever- isolation would only work so long if they actually developed a grand interstellar trade route. Though that was something far away, if it was even possible. Perhaps there would be stricter limits on how fast anything but an individual cultivator could go. The Twin Planets were also on Anton¡¯s list. Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn were some of his favorites not just because they had a nice star- a blue supergiant- but also because of how they had turned out. Almost completely wiped out by the upper realms, the two planets had struggled to survive. While that ultimately resulted in conflict between two planets that should have worked together, he had helped them overcome that struggle and dispose of the few individuals who benefited from it. The people of the system had actually spread throughout the system quite rapidly. Their own planets were, in essence, ruined. Very little water, even deep underground. They were able to import some water from ice planets, but the people were used to harsh conditions. Over the past decades- almost a century now- they had happily spread to other places. The moons of Shrenn had always been better than the planet itself, despite having little atmosphere. They were building those up, but also happily settling other rocky planets and moons around gas giants. They were able to live in so many places because once they had basic nutritional requirements met, the system itself was brimming with natural energy that would allow them to develop as cultivators. The nature of their star had actually been too much for them when they were in a dilapidated state, but now they were growing quite nicely. All it had taken was a change in their circumstances, a jump start by Anton and the alliance to introduce a variety of crops and animals they could raise in the various environments. Overall the whole system likely still had a population less than In¡¯istra, but that might not hold true for long as In¡¯istra was quite content on their single planet for the moment. He also stopped by Ekict. Despite all of the negative feelings he had towards the system, none of the people currently living there were in any way responsible for them. And making an official visit was probably a good idea. Then of course there was his granddaughter-with-several-greats, Anishka. That said, being around the system too often might make them nervous, which was part of the reason he had avoided it immediately after the war. Anton flew up to the border of the system, where he found an orbiting station waiting. Even before the war Ekict had had full control of their system, so it wasn¡¯t odd for them to have several of these around the plane. Obviously they couldn¡¯t actually stop anyone from entering with just a handful of stations, but they were the official checkpoints. Anton was happy to go through official procedures. He extended his natural energy to an official next to the docking bays who didn¡¯t seem to be occupied. ¡°Good day. I am visiting to see my grandaughter.¡± The woman¡¯s head whipped up at his speech. But she quickly recognized the situation and spoke in response, the sound transmitting to Anton through his extended energy. ¡°Oh, uh. We normally get ships here. But if you could land, uh¡­¡± ¡°There¡¯s an empty dock on the far side. Should I go through there?¡± ¡°Yes, please. If you were in a ship I would have just sent you a landing route because it¡¯s easier than explaining¡­¡± For the sake of not alarming anyone, Anton took his time circling around. Not that he lingered, either. The woman he¡¯d first contacted hadn¡¯t arrived yet, though he sensed her scurrying her way over and trying to explain to others along the way. The process was relatively painless for Anton. Was it possible that it was because of who he was and not the efficiency of the local bureaucracy? Absolutely. But he also didn¡¯t have a hold full of trade goods or passengers to inspect. He was just one person with a not particularly full storage bag. Making special note of his presence was likely important to some, but that was also a reason to let him through quickly. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Landing on their main planet was simple enough. Though they had restored some level of planetary barrier, it wasn¡¯t constantly powered- it was a waste of energy when there were no threats. Anton did his best to be polite with his sweeping senses as he tried to find Anishka. He found her in the icy north, in the area once claimed by the Northern Glacier Sect. He politely landed outside their front gates and walked from there. Anishka sensed him coming and steadily made her way towards him. ¡°Grandfather,¡± she inclined her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t receive advance notice of your visit.¡± ¡°No need to be so formal,¡± Anton said. ¡°Or mature. I¡¯d honestly prefer if you had come running. Dignity is for those who aren¡¯t fully confident,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°As for why you didn¡¯t hear from me, the message wouldn¡¯t have arrived significantly before myself so I didn¡¯t bother.¡± It would have still been somewhat ahead of even his current speed, but he liked surprising people too. ¡°I see,¡± Anishka nodded her head, then stepped forward to hug Anton tightly. ¡°You don¡¯t visit often enough.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, I can only be in a single place at a time and have no current intentions to try to change that.¡± When Anishka stepped back, she carefully displayed her hand to reveal The Sergeant. ¡°Greetings, sir Anton!¡± the ant signed. ¡°Greetings to you as well, Sergeant. How have things been here for the two of you?¡± ¡°Slow,¡± Anishka said. ¡°But peaceful. I travel between here and fire attuned regions for my training. Speaking of which, while you are here I have some questions about the techniques of the fallen Enkindled Sun Sect. The Palace of Fire and Ice focuses on different aspects of fire, and this is specifically star related.¡± ¡°Of course, what do you mean to ask?¡± ¡°It is about the connection to stars.¡± Anishka saw the sparkle in Anton¡¯s eyes and shook her head. ¡°It is partially for my own curiosity, and I have no intent to give up half my cultivation to focus on them. Though I do have some friends who might be interested. Many people are speaking of binding our local star by the same methods you do, though I doubt most of them understand it and fewer still are knowledgeable enough and likely to surpass Life Transformation in the near future.¡± ¡°On an interesting topic, I have met an archer who focuses on nearly the opposite of myself. The cold void between stars,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°I am more interested in terrestrial heat and cold,¡± Anishka shrugged. ¡°But I could likely learn a lot. Gudrun would likely be interested to hear about this archer.¡± Anton nodded. Gudrun was one of Anishka¡¯s older sisters, the third child of Annelie and Anish. As one of his lovely grandchildren he was quite fond of her, obviously. Now that he considered it, it seemed past time for many of them to ascend or reach Assimilation. It had been a good pair of centuries, after all. He understood that a single century to go from no cultivation to that level was exceptional and never to be expected, but with access to proper resources and training they should be getting close. Anishka wasn¡¯t too far off herself, at a much younger age. But Anton also had the feeling that such advancements tended to come in waves. Anton stayed for a few days, providing guidance for Anishka and some friends and allies. And a few random farmers he passed by who had managed the form of a properly run farm but were missing a little bit of the spirit to get the most out of things. Before he left, Anton also asked the Sergeant if she had anything to say to the Great Queen. Fascinatingly enough, instead of a long report he got a single sentence. ¡°Things are going well here, thanks for the opportunity.¡± Well, he preferred a heartfelt message compared to a long report anyway. ----- The Great Queen was not one to beat around the bush. Nor did she care much for many of the restrictions of human social interaction. Thus, when Anton came to find her she was quick to make a rather alarming announcement. ¡°We need to prepare to attack the upper realms.¡± Anton sighed. ¡°Who, how, why, and when?¡± ¡°You know of the ways we have discussed for the ant-us to get there,¡± the Great Queen signed. ¡°The void ants and you cultivators both need to move proactively against the Trigold Cluster. And perhaps the Exalted Quadrant as well. They already caused trouble for our colony in the upper realms. As for when¡­ either before or after the next change in the tides of the world. It is still far off, and yet fast approaching in its own way. But we have had many years of idleness in much of the region, and while peace and growth are wonderful¡­¡± the Great Queen spread her antennae and forelimbs in the void ant¡¯s version of a shrug, ¡°It will not last forever. Your granddaughter and the others went to the upper realms to bring the fight to the enemy. I would suggest it is time. Or it will be.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not used to waiting,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It is in my nature to be industrious,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Speaking of which, will we be able to establish colonies in the eastern expanse?¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± Anton said. ¡°It may not be surprising to learn that humans are still hesitant about your people, especially without having met them.¡± ¡°We sound dangerous,¡± the Great Queen agreed. ¡°And we are. Which makes us the best allies.¡± Anton had to admit that they had been among his best allies for a long time. ¡°You know that everything I do is ultimately preparing to fight the upper realms,¡± Anton said. ¡°True. You do not sit idly either. But we need specific plans. And I know it seems quite early, but we cannot coordinate nearly so well for something we do not know ahead of time.¡± ¡°Within the upper realms specifically, there is a power disadvantage.¡± ¡°Only for the moment. But the vast rear ends of the great powers seem loath to pick themselves up off their rear ends. I understand the danger of annihilation, but sitting and waiting will likely be insufficient. And with the number of Augmentation cultivators in the Scarlet Midfields increasing, soon they will likely be considered a threat regardless of whether they are known to have done anything against the powers.¡± ¡°It sounds like you mean to have people move in secret.¡± ¡°If at all possible, it is best to slip under a door and steal crumbs without being noticed,¡± the Great Queen said by way of agreement. ¡°Help me express my intentions to others, because they will not be inclined to listen to me. And your wisdom can make up for my mistakes. I will admit that the void ants have an empathic hole considering the loss of lives in war.¡± Anton nodded. He would hear her out, and help to get people moving as necessary. They might have almost five centuries, but not too long ago there had been another half century he was counting on. It would be easy for time to slip by, and while it wouldn¡¯t be terrible for them to simply focus on growth that whole time, an active plan would still be better. Chapter 749 Various things that the lower realms might want to do at the end of the cycle were dependent on a wide variety of factors out of their control or only ascertainable at a later time. They couldn¡¯t be entirely certain that the upper realms would make any further attempts to assault the alliance, given the previous victories. But then again, assuming they would just give up was a risky gamble. Any counteroffensive, even if it was possible, would hinge on the circumstances after the assaults, if they even had sufficient forces in fighting shape. Perhaps they were already being too hasty, assuming they would win. One thing that did come up was attempting to predict the invasion routes. From the side of the upper realms, they had launched attacks on the border planets. But predicting the flow of the tides on a scale beyond local hadn¡¯t really been done. But now, the people of the lower realms- Anton especially- could range more widely. And though it was still far off, Anton still had a bit of a stronger feeling than everyone else. But while nothing concrete was settled, nor could it be for some time, the ball was set rolling for the future. Thoughts remained on the events that would inevitably come about once more. ----- The great tree in front of Anton must have been centuries old when Anton first saw it. Perhaps more, as that was closer to a normal lifespan for a tree. The Grandfather Willow might have stood tall through multiple cycles, or perhaps it was young and insignificant for the one prior to Anton¡¯s experience. It was difficult to say for certain, though most likely the Trigold Cluster would have chopped it down if they knew of it. Another two centuries shouldn¡¯t have been that much for such a thing, but Anton could see significant changes. Its size was creeping up into the sky to the point Anton wondered if the top layers had trouble getting sufficient oxygen. ¡°That¡¯s quite a transformation, Lev,¡± Anton said. He shrugged, ¡°I barely did anything. This old guy was encouraged to grow all on his own. A bit more natural energy seems to have done him good.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I had the feeling it was more related to a certain threshold.¡± ¡°Who can say?¡± Lev shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t plan to do anything so wild and fusing a star.¡± ¡°Your path is not too different from my own, though,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m thinking about calling the stage Enrichment. Or perhaps this is another branch. The difference between us is small given that you have access to the majority of the energy here, while I only use a miniscule fraction of the energy of a star.¡± Anton leaned back against the tree, looking up to the great canopy above. ¡°Soon enough this thing will provide shade for all of northern Graotan.¡± ¡°Not everyone¡¯s thrilled about that,¡± Lev said. ¡°Though it doesn¡¯t attack people on instinct anymore. Not since it first came under my control. It still eats beasts in the wider forests, as its starting bowl is almost entirely occupied by disciples of the Grasping Willow now.¡± ¡°More sects should relax under large trees,¡± Anton said. ¡°Get in tune with nature that way. I think the world would be a better place.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that what you¡¯ve been doing for the past few centuries?¡± Lev asked. ¡°Getting people to do that?¡± ¡°Not all of them have grown big trees yet,¡± Anton said. ¡°And perhaps it¡¯s my fault, but all the effort to get people to improve at doing things sometimes results in them failing to improve at¡­ not doing things. Even though rest is an important part of the cycle.¡± Silence reigned between them for a while. A few minutes, maybe an hour. Anton didn¡¯t really care, as he could spend all day and night there. ¡°So,¡± Lev began, ¡°How are the branch sects doing?¡± ¡°Quite well, I think,¡± Anton said. ¡°I think the one on In¡¯istra could have been a bit more developed if I had searched for more leadership. But then again, the structure doesn¡¯t have to be exactly the same everywhere. I did happen to find just the right group of people on Poriza.¡± ¡°You told me about them before,¡± Lev said. ¡°You might just be partial to old fellows.¡± ¡°It¡¯s never too late to cultivate, if you¡¯re determined,¡± Anton said. ¡°And maybe a bit lucky, and given the right guidance.¡± ¡°The only thing you got was basic instructions,¡± Lev pointed out. ¡°Vincent didn¡¯t even think you were going to survive, did he?¡± ¡°No, but he still gave me the technique. I do know it doesn¡¯t always work out the same way,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But I prefer people to be able to make the choice. Take the power into their own hands.¡± A longer time of quiet, once again broken by Lev. ¡°I miss Fuzz.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I heard he¡¯s had a bunch of adorable little ones in the upper realms. And a few mischievous ones.¡± Anton could have literally stayed there for weeks, but he settled for three days. Then he moved on to reconnect with others. ----- Anton visited all around Aicenith and Brogora, and then the former Exalted Archipelago. The Worthy Shore Society and a few others were an important reminder. From the Exalted Quadrant had come a few good people. Maybe not as many as Anton would have liked, but enough. The same was probably possible with the Trigold Cluster. Obviously they had only seen the worst of them. But if they weren¡¯t able to prevent the invasions- or didn¡¯t care to- then there was still a clear issue that had to be dealt with. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. But that was for other people to deal with. Anton had to go talk to a turtle. Not that the turtle ever said anything. ¡°How are you doing, Paradise?¡± Anton said, patting the turtle on his nose. ¡°Big as always, I see.¡± Erin had come upon sensing Anton, of course. And a bunch of curious disciples watching from a distance. ¡°Not as well as I¡¯d hope.¡± ¡°Is there some problem?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Not that I think you can do anything about. He hasn¡¯t been eating lately. Which is a significant change because he used to eat¡­ well, anything. Perhaps not often, but more than now.¡± Anton looked the turtle in one eye. ¡°He wants something,¡± Anton said. ¡°Really? I¡­ hadn¡¯t noticed,¡± Erin frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t mean in general. I think from me specifically,¡± Anton looked at the turtle. ¡°If only you were motivated to speak.¡± Paradise said nothing. Instead, he just turned his gaze to the sky. Anton tried to follow his line of sight, but he couldn¡¯t find anything interesting there. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what he wants.¡± ¡°Maybe to look at some stars?¡± Erin asked. ¡°We could wait until nightfall.¡± ¡°Then wait we shall,¡± Anton said. ¡°Until then, I¡¯ll be with your archery students. You need strong defenders here to keep the riff raff off of Paradise¡¯s shell.¡± ----- Nighttime didn¡¯t bring any particular insight to them, except that Paradise wasn¡¯t looking at a specific spot in the sky. Anton couldn¡¯t pick out a particular star- or any other sort of celestial body- and there was no chance that the turtle¡¯s vision was better than his. ¡°Any ideas?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You¡¯re the one who lives on the turtle.¡± ¡°If I had them, I would have tried them long ago.¡± Erin sat down on the turtle¡¯s head. ¡°What do you want, huh?¡± At that, Paradise began to dive under the water. ¡°Oh, are you finally going to eat something?¡± The formations on Paradise¡¯s back kept the Island Tenders and everything else from being swept away as he dove. But as he went deeper into the sea, Anton didn¡¯t get the sense he was going for any of the nearby sea life. Instead, he just continued downward at an angle, then suddenly swerved back up. Paradise wasn¡¯t known for swimming quickly- though he maintained a consistent if ponderous pace most of the time. Only in time of battle or when hunting for food did he have any significant speed relative to his size. Anton couldn¡¯t figure out what he wanted, swimming back towards the surface. Until they breached the surface, dangling in the air for a few moments. Before then splashing back into the water, creating massive waves. Anton looked at Erin, who looked back at him. Erin frowned. ¡°I think I know what he wants. Maybe. Though it¡¯s a bit silly.¡± ¡°Go on,¡± Anton said. ¡°It might not be that odd.¡± ¡°He wants to experience flight,¡± Erin said. Anton looked at the turtle¡¯s eye. ¡°Is that so? You want to fly?¡± No response. He wasn¡¯t particularly communicative at the best of times. ¡°Well, there¡¯s an easy way to try that out.¡± ¡°Is there?¡± Erin tilted her head as Anton jumped into the water. Underneath Paradise, Anton moved towards the center of his shell. It was easier to balance his energy from a central point, and Paradise wasn¡¯t some lightweight thing he could just forcefully carry from one side. If he hadn¡¯t advanced his cultivation, Anton would have been uncertain about the prospect. Even as it was, if Paradise had any sort of objection he would easily be able to stop Anton. But Paradise seemed quite willing to let Anton¡¯s natural energy spread out below him as Anton drew upon Ceretos¡¯ star, as well as the others clustered nearby. He was careful to not use too much power all at once, as he didn¡¯t want to cause any damage. Then he began to lift, both himself and the rather large island. Anton had the feeling Paradise was a little bigger than when they¡¯d first met. When they rose out of the water, Paradise continued to wave his flippers like he was swimming. Anton didn¡¯t feel like it was any sort of struggle, however, but instead a wistful response. Where the actual struggle took place was in his arms. He wasn¡¯t using his muscles to lift the turtle, obviously. But somehow he felt just as massive as the planets Anton had shifted around. To be fair, they weren¡¯t held back by gravity pulling them down and he wasn¡¯t really pushing them but encouraging them to drift closer. Even so, Anton wondered if Paradise wasn¡¯t eating because he was on a diet. Not that turtles could probably get fat. Anton¡¯s view of the flight was rather less inspiring than for others, he imagined. He could see the ocean below, but half of his vision was blocked by a turtle shell. Even so he pressed onward, reaching into the sky. Paradise still expressed no discomfort, and that was something he always made very clear, even if it was without words. As they broke through the clouds, Anton saw a renewed enthusiasm. The turtle seemed to quite enjoy swirling around the clouds with his giant flippers. Anton dipped up and down into them a few times. Then, slowly, he brought the turtle back to the sea. It was difficult to maintain such a high output continuously, and Anton wasn¡¯t specialized in the area of carrying things. Not since he¡¯d been a young man, despite his later stubbornness. When they settled down, instead of going back to drifting Paradise swam in circles¡­ excitedly? That was what Anton interpreted it as, at least. He returned to Erin. ¡°He seemed to enjoy that.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± she agreed. ¡°And I have the feeling this wasn¡¯t a simple whim. I can¡¯t help but feel there is some goal. Though I¡¯m still worried about his lack of eating.¡± ¡°Is he getting weaker?¡± Anton asked. Overall Paradise felt stronger, but that didn¡¯t mean anything when he was comparing decades of growth to a recent patch of time. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think so,¡± Erin admitted. ¡°He just doesn¡¯t eat.¡± ¡°Perhaps he¡¯s maintaining himself with natural energy,¡± Anton postulated. ¡°For a very large creature that would be much harder than a human, except he is also a turtle without a particularly rapid metabolism.¡± Erin frowned. ¡°Even if that is true, I can¡¯t help but wonder why. He seemed to really enjoy eating.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll figure it out,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you figure out something that you need help with, you know how to contact me. And I won¡¯t find it so difficult to come visit, either. Though it would be preferable if it was resolved before I left. That should be a good year or so still,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I suppose I should have tried to be more in tune with his desires before,¡± Erin said. ¡°Obviously we do our best to support his natural energy, but he never really seemed to ask for anything except not being jerks. Like that turtle clan that found themselves sunk.¡± Anton nodded. Did Paradise just see Anton flying and want to do that too? If so, Anton really couldn¡¯t blame him. Flying was great. Though he much preferred doing it without having to carry an island with him. Chapter 750 Some people worried about large armies coming from the great powers on either side of the Scarlet Midfields, and it was good that they did. But Velvet had a different category of thing to worry about. Her concern was with individual people. Assassins were possible, and throughout the entirety of either of the large regions there should be a few of great talent. Though she hoped that the Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t seem so important that they would bother. But less than assassins were the troubles that could be caused by simple spies. There were certain things that simply couldn¡¯t be hidden from the general populace. Large movements of people, sweeping changes to the planet¡¯s defenses, the more mundane drives of expansion, or the rising functionality of technology wholly or partially disconnected from upper energy. These would all have meanings in their own way, and would influence how they appeared as a threat. Seeming like a threat was what they least wanted, regardless of their ultimate ambitions to actually be one. They had already faced an almost casual assault by the Exalted Quadrant. There were no official channels of communication through which they could demand a reason, or repayment. They came to support their plant within the Harmonious Citadel, and then left. Ironically enough, the generally worse group from the perspective of the lower realms- the Trigold Cluster- had caused the least amount of trouble during that time. But both were inevitable enemies, given their effects on both the lower realms and the state the Scarlet Midfields had come to. The only question was who they had spying, and how. Obviously there would be some. There was no way the whole planet of Xankeshan was perfect, full of individuals who were loyal above all else. Velvet had already begun to extend her spy network into the powerhouses, so they must have done the same in reverse. Though if there was one thing that held them back, it was actually their size. Both might officially be a single group, but with so many different sects within them and their populations that might be as high as trillions of individuals they weren¡¯t truly all of one mind. But any small part of either could still likely ruin the Scarlet Alliance. There was no perfect way to pick out spies. If they came from well known styles it was one thing, but local citizens simply paid to report news was entirely different. A higher ranking cultivator with a good insight might pick out a spy if they had a reason to interact with them, but that wasn¡¯t frequently going to be the case if the spies just kept their heads down. They might not get deep cultivation secrets, but the surface level could tell much. For example, if the Scarlet Alliance could find out what was beyond either region, whether there were friends or foes of the powerhouses or just more disorganized territory, they could plan whatever they were doing about other things occupying their attention. They could get away with more if the looming threats were in another war. Velvet shook her head. Things were so much easier when she only had to manage herself. Just go on an infiltration mission and do her best to get out with information while not being caught. But of course, that was only sustainable until the one time she was caught. And against opponents of a certain caliber, that was an inevitability. Though if she was able to reach Augmentation at some point, it would certainly shift the odds. ----- The Great Queen had many opinions about what should be done in the future, and of course all of them involved void ants. Not that Anton disagreed with her, despite the clear bias involved with her personally. It was undeniable that void ants would be an influential factor on future conflicts. ¡°We will produce offspring until one is suitable to go to the upper realms,¡± the Great Queen declared. ¡°That sounds like a problem in any number of ways,¡± Anton said. ¡°What makes them suitable?¡± ¡°I will determine their personalities and loyalty,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°They must get along with allied humans, of course. If they are uncooperative it will simply lead to systemic annihilation.¡± ¡°Repeated attempts to breed a perfect individual are frowned upon, you know,¡± Anton said. ¡°How? Why? If that is the case, why even breed at all?¡± ¡°Well, because of love and the desire to go on.¡± The Great Queen waved her antennae dismissively. ¡°I know enough of humans to say that much of what they do is not for the stated reasons. You wish for numbers for security of various sorts. Your particular societal structures simply don¡¯t allow you to dispose of them when they don¡¯t fit your desires. Or at least, lifespans do not.¡± ¡°... Do you dispose of your offspring?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Do not be concerned. If they are uncooperative and violent towards fellow ants or humans, they will be dealt with long before they have individual consciousness. Unlike humans, we are not born with such qualities.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make me feel much better,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°This is why we do not speak of it often,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°But it is why all colonies work together with each other and allied humans.¡± ¡°So if you end up with this queen¡­ what then?¡± Anton asked. ¡°We use Ruteran technology to begin expansion into the border of the upper realms. It is best that any void ants remain disassociated with the humans there, given the presumed extermination of my kind.¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Anton nodded, ¡°There are some problems with that, though. Would it be possible for your people to maintain unity when physically distanced from each other? Without human formations or technology.¡± ¡°It will be much more difficult,¡± the Great Queen admitted. ¡°However, we are not incapable of constructing our own devices. Even those who do not have the spark to know what they are doing can be taught to perform exact tasks. We will require help developing processes by which we can self-construct, however. And we must develop to a certain point to reliably deconstruct rock and metal, required for most formations and technology.¡± ¡°This sounds quite difficult,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Impossible, without centuries on both sides,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Even with decades of planning, we have little to show for it. And no queen to fulfill the role.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°So you¡¯ve already been attempting this?¡± ¡°Of course. This one¡¯s daughters are at minimum able to found new colonies here in the lower realms. You will need more of us should the time of invasions come. And I cannot go to the upper realms myself because you are here.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to do everything yourself, you know,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Some things I must. My daughters are weaker than me, so their offspring will not develop with the required degree of speed. And I must be responsible for considering how my people will act without me. And unlike humans, I am actually meant to operate this way. I don¡¯t need to relax.¡± Anton grinned. ¡°That sounds exactly like the sort of thing that someone who needs to take a moment to relax would say.¡± ¡°I anticipated you would say that and have been unable to come up with any counterpoints with a high probability of convincing you. So I will just reiterate it is not required.¡± ¡°But you will also admit there is a great amount of time left. If you would spend a short year not concerning yourself with these matters, or anything that doesn¡¯t require you, perhaps you can gain some perspective. In fact, it might be useful to see if your colonies can function independently. You can always make yourself available should a true emergency arise.¡± ¡°What would I even do?¡± the Great Queen asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Go hang out with Paradise and the phoenixes for a while. Come with me to visit my favorite stars. See the worlds I¡¯ve been working with. Except Aipra.¡± ¡°Aipra sounds inhospitable to my kind regardless. Distortion beasts are also not so easy to bite.¡± ----- Engineer Uzun might be crazy for wanting to build Ascension-class battleships in the upper realms. It was too early and, if he was honest, they were too weak. The sheer number of Integration level individuals was difficult to count. Hundreds or thousands just within the Scarlet Alliance. Making a single ship that was at best slightly better than an average individual would be a waste of resources, though certain resources were also less valued so the project would be cheaper- except for the fact that the development of a technological base was still taking place in the upper realms. He really had to wait. And due to the differences between upper and lower energy, not all of the blueprints would exactly translate. There was a vast amount of work required to refit every circuit diagram to account for that difference, as even if standardization meant they used the least different number of parts there were still thousands of individual pieces just to make the bridge or the crew quarters or a single engine. And if they were already working at that scale, why not try to do better. He heard rumors swirling of designs underway to make an Augmentation-class ship in the lower realms. The project was probably still a century off at earliest, but that amount of time had been less than a single lifespan since before Uzun had been born. It wasn¡¯t infeasible to consider such long term things. And he would have help on the formation side of things. Ascension-class battleships weren¡¯t made with pure technology, but rather its combination with cultivation energy. Perhaps it was possible to do otherwise, but it didn¡¯t matter at the moment. The point was that Catarina existed. Engineer Uzun had to understand formations to do his job, and though he couldn¡¯t say he always kept up with the woman, he always at least understood her explanations. Until she reached Augmentation herself. Around that time, he had lost his grasp on some of the most ¡®basic¡¯ concepts behind her formations. But if he could advance to Augmentation himself¡­? He was perhaps a century behind himself, but he might actually have success from that angle. Or perhaps when he was in the late Integration stage he would find that the project itself was the means to his own advancement. That was how their type seemed to work. ----- Anton returned to the eastern sector, glad to know they were capable of standing on their own for at least a few years without him. Not that he expected any different- that was the whole point of his attempts to empower them. But it was possible that he would have accidentally had too many things reliant on his presence, people who only got along because of Anton¡¯s intimidation factor. And while there were some tensions that happened around In¡¯istra and Poriza, Anton didn¡¯t consider any of them out of the ordinary for anything involving people reaching the scale of billions of individuals. His current plant was to widen the scope of their exploration starting from that point, headed in the direction of Ceretos and the others. Whether they joined up with others in any official sense, Anton wanted to try to make contact with as many as possible. And while he¡¯d been fortunate with In¡¯istra and Poriza, he would prefer to do so without infiltration. It was just that one was shortly post-invasion and unstable for that reason, and the other unstable in part due to lack of resources including basic natural energy. Cultivators who could not grow naturally were prone to competition for what little resources were available. He brought the Great Queen along, one way. ¡°What do you think your chances of advancing to another level are?¡± Anton asked. ¡°To travel across the region alone and with speed.¡± ¡°It is possible,¡± she admitted. ¡°But I doubt my speed would increase significantly. As you are able to propel yourself directly, while I cannot. Of great value to myself would be a great increase in the density of natural energy between systems. But for it to reach a level that would affect me significantly would require vast growth in populated systems along the whole route.I am content with the smaller ships.¡± It was true that one ship, the size of a single fighter or perhaps slightly longer to be viable on long distance trips, could easily afford to add the Great Queen on board. And likewise, the value gained from having her own personal transportation was worth the expense. It was only because Anton was slightly faster that he had brought her along himself, and because he wanted to show her things on the way without the route restrictions a proper ship required. So far he was uncertain if she was getting anything from her ¡®vacation¡¯, but Anton had the feeling she had grown closer to the functionality of humans than she would like to admit. And if she really did not need to take a break, he would still enjoy the little tour. Chapter 751 Light streamed into a palace solely constructed of translucent crystal. In theory it was a beautiful sight. In practice, few were able to see it and those who regularly basked in the light grew numb to it. It was a place of luxury, yet one where each luxury attained was deemed insufficient. Inside such a place was a wrinkled old man, complete with a perpetual furrowed brow and the merest hint of a smile that never reached his eyes. He looked down upon a young woman kneeling at the foot of the dais. ¡°You were told that such matters were to disturb me no longer. Yet you come here again.¡± ¡°Forgive me, Exalted One Zaur. But this is not merely about the matter related to¡­ him. The Scarlet Midfields have a new Augmentation cultivator.¡± ¡°So? What does it matter? They are nothing.¡± ¡°Of course, Exalted One,¡± the woman kept her head down. ¡°But there is a connection to another matter that concerns yourself and the other Exalted Ones. There is a connection between the revived planet of Xankeshan and a world in the lower realms. One that rejected the proper dominion of the Exalted Quadrant. A previously insignificant planet by the name of Ceretos.¡± The man¡¯s brow furrowed another layer more. ¡°I forget nothing. I know of the place you speak. But it is a matter that will be dealt with in time. Don¡¯t tell me you are unable to manage such a thing on your own?¡± ¡°There is one more connection. A long trail filled with uncertainty and darkness. I dare not even speak of it directly. It involves him. The pillager of the vaults of Erazun. The tormentor of the south. Grandmaster of formations. And until recently¡­ entombed upon Xankeshan.¡± ¡°And what of him? You imply his origins are this nothing in the lower realms?¡± ¡°That is the conclusion I have arrived at. Yet that is perhaps not the entire truth.¡± ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°His knowledge was too great for one of them,¡± the woman said. ¡°It would take far more than a few miracles for him to achieve what he did from such a starting point. So perhaps there is some connection to those who had been dwelling there.¡± ¡°Dangerous words¡­¡± the old man called Zaur said. ¡°Is there any proof?¡± ¡°Not that would be sufficient to guarantee a result. Not yet, at least.¡± ¡°Then perhaps we should make sure it stays that way.¡± The light of the palace dispelled all shadows, except of course those that were most important. The shadows inside of the hearts of those who dwelled within the Citadel of Exalted Light. ----- The first thing blocking her way were overlapping layers of criss-crossing webs of energy. In short, simply stepping foot in the system took a lot more work than it had previously. Vari had to fight her way past that towards a planet, though of course actually finding a planet and not stumbling into an illusion took several tries. She was used to such difficulties, however, and eventually managed to find Everheart. ¡°Hey you big idiot! Why aren¡¯t you responding to the communications device you specifically gave me?¡± Vari yelled at her sort-of-uncle, in the guise of a well-groomed young man sipping tea and drawing calligraphy in a pagoda in the middle of a lake. Probably surrounded by traps, if she knew anything. The figure looked up at her. ¡°My apologies. Your request for diplomacy and/or declaration of war cannot be responded to at this time. Please return later or go die.¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re able to respond in a normal way!¡± Vari said, dashing forward and kicking her way through one of the pillars supporting the pagoda- rather than concerning herself about what might happen if she passed in between them. She grabbed the projection by the hem of his robe, holding him up. ¡°Now tell me where he is and how to contact him.¡± The projection smiled nervously. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s impossible. You¡¯ll just have to wait.¡± ¡°Why? Just tell him I¡¯m here!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Because he¡¯s gone?¡± Vari raised an eyebrow. ¡°He¡¯s supposed to return to check on you bungling clones every once in a while, isn¡¯t he?¡± The projection looked away. ¡°He has done so frequently ever since the incidents. Then we are all reincorporated into him with little divergence from his original personality.¡± ¡°Then what¡¯s wrong with you?¡± Vari asked. ¡°That almost sounds like an actual answer.¡± The projection just looked at her and shrugged. She punched it in the face, causing it to explode into a shower of energy that would no doubt be recaptured by the local formations. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Vari grumbled. ¡°What is he up to? There¡¯s no way he¡¯s dead. And if he¡¯s in trouble he¡¯d better get himself out of it soon.¡± Vari shouted at the surrounding pagoda. ¡°You hear me?! I have official business to talk about!¡± ----- Everheart was indeed not dead. In fact, he couldn¡¯t remember ever being dead. There had been some close calls that might have counted as dying for a little bit along the way, but he certainly didn¡¯t remember it. And then there were a lot of attempts. It had been decades since anyone had given it a good go, though, and Everheart was running out of both resources and deathtraps to set up in his system. So he was off for a little excursion away from home. Without his communicators or anything that could potentially be used to track him, of course. He didn¡¯t want to risk someone selling him out. Those goody-two-shoes from Ceretos might think they were incorruptible, but that was just because they hadn¡¯t seen how high the bounties on him got outside of the Scarlet Midfields. Especially if one was able to collect the overlapping ones related to some temporary identities. The Trigold Cluster had an interesting arrangement to keep secrecy in their golden empire, or whatever they called it. The outer handful of systems were tightly controlled and watched. But beyond that¡­ well, it was still dominated by local authorities, but nobody was looking as hard. It was like they didn¡¯t even expect anyone to just jump fifty or a hundred lightyears past their outer shell. That was a serious weakness, because Everheart knew that it wasn¡¯t just him that could do it. Those kids from that lower realms planet were making some good ships which should be able to do the same, if not now then soon enough. And not just lone ships like his, which was almost excusable to let by. Almost, because while he was doing his best to conceal himself he was still a late Augmentation cultivator. That was another reason he had to travel out here. He needed to keep collecting energy, and that wasn¡¯t as easily accomplished if people simply forgot about him. So here he was, planning a few things here and there. The important part was making the events seem to happen out of order, so nobody could predict where he was heading. It would be a shame if he ended up entering a system only to find fleets waiting for him. He only had so many lifesaving treasures stored up, and they were just so expensive. Nothing was worth more than his own life, obviously. But they were a close second, since they could save it and he preferred not to waste them. ----- There was something about the Limitless Edge Sect that drew Chikere to them. Aside from the swords, of course. That had merely been the first thing. When she¡¯d requested to spar with their members they had attempted to kill her. That was merely standard, of course, so she didn¡¯t hold a grudge. She simply killed all of those who wanted to do the same to her. A few at a time, at the loss of several of her own weapons. It should have been fine, because each and every blade the Limitless Edge Sect held was fantastic. She knew they could easily replace anything from number four on. She hadn¡¯t had a good opportunity outside of battle to inspect them, but they might rise even higher. And she would have been elated to get her hands on those blades, if only it were possible. But as the members of the Limitless Edge Sect fell, so did their blades. When they died, the weapons disappeared. If they were disarmed, the blades would return to their hands. It was almost as if they weren¡¯t real. Yet every time her blade clashed with them, Chikere knew that they were real. The bite of metal into metal, their sharpness. Whether she fought one or a dozen, she could feel that same perfection of metal. Each blade indistinguishable from the last. She wanted them. But that wasn¡¯t all. Because as she fought the members of the sect and slew them, she found them lacking. Lacking in skill, training, techniques. And yet¡­ for some reason, she couldn¡¯t help but get the feeling that it was all intentional. As if they were meant to fight and die. She had a strange suspicion as she looked at the bisected body in front of her. A young man that must have begun cultivating in his prime like so many others. Most of the disciples were the same, though that was not unusual. Chikere poked at his viscera with her sword, and found it to defy her expectations. This was, indeed, a real corpse. All of the others had been of flesh and bone that cut just as she had expected, though she hadn¡¯t been fully willing to trust her memories. But unlike the blade she desired, this body remained. All that was left was the fading energy of the sect, instantly recognizable by both its sharpness and unity. There was something about the disciples that bothered her. The second time she had encountered them, the battle had begun as soon as they crossed eyes. That could have been a coincidence, as her fighting spirit had been raised immediately. But the third and fourth times, there was no opportunity for them to have heard about her conflict with them. Yet somehow they knew. Could they smell the blood of their companions on her? Did they leave behind a stain of their cultivation method? Chikere didn¡¯t know, and she couldn¡¯t know. All she was truly aware of was that the closer she got to their main planet, the stronger the caliber of disciples became. Should she follow the path to its end, she might find those who were her equal, or perhaps those who surpassed her. Not just in cultivation or energy, but true ability. It was mere speculation, of course. Even if they had Augmentation cultivators among their leadership, she had the potential to defeat them. And not every cultivator after the last was stronger. There were ups and downs among their skill. The only thing that truly remained consistent was their blade. That was what bothered her. She wanted it. Was it a projection of their cultivation? Not something based on an individual cultivator, but something greater? Perhaps that part of their technique was simply perfect. Flawless and easily understandable, such that anyone could produce such a blade effortlessly? Chikere shook her head. It made no sense. And none of them carried manuals of their cultivation method on them. Individual techniques, yes. Styles not their own. Treasures and wealth they had gathered, along with armor and other equipment. But all of that was meaningless compared to the weapon she had to be able to get her hands on. And along with that, the thought of stronger opponents. She had encountered them with the intent to spar, but she couldn¡¯t simply back down from the confrontation now that the killing had begun. No, if she did then she had the feeling she would stunt her growth. There was no guarantee she would survive continuing along this path, of course, but she had to try. Though Chikere noticed that she wasn¡¯t the only one seeking out their disciples. Other individuals, most likely natives of the Exalted Quadrant, likewise had conflict with the Limitless Edge Sect. So she occasionally got in scraps with them. And while their weapons were inferior, at least she was able to take them. Chapter 752 The warm glow of Poriza¡¯s star filled Anton¡¯s heart with joy. Though it was still a small star, it was much more than it used to be. Its former glow was almost nothing in comparison, even with the planet further away to compensate to some extent. Seeing the changes the empowered star had wrought for the system over just the past few years made Anton more than content with the way events resolved- and obviously his advancement to Enrichment was worthwhile as well. But he wouldn¡¯t want to have others work on his behalf for no benefit to themselves. Mutual benefit was best. Anton currently found himself at the local branch of the Order, discussing the future with Aykorkem. ¡°What do you think people need next?¡± He already had his own ideas, of course, but there was always something to learn from what conclusions people arrived at given specific circumstances. ¡°There¡¯s so much that happened¡­¡± Aykorkem shook her head. ¡°Perhaps what we need most is¡­ nothing. No more introductions to a wider galactic community or changes in our star.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°A reasonable plan. A long period of steady growth might be the best for everyone now.¡± ¡°Plus everyone is still getting used to how bright the days are. There¡¯s also been a large increase in disciples interested in light and fire so we need to manage that as well.¡± That wasn¡¯t surprising, considering all of the previous inspiration had been so much less potent. ¡°I can help with that for a while,¡± Anton said. ¡°Before I move on for a while.¡± Aykorkem sighed, ¡°I wish we could have you here at all times, but that wouldn¡¯t really be fair to others. And we don¡¯t want to always rely on you.¡± Anton agreed. ¡°You¡¯ve been doing well operating independently,¡± Anton said. ¡°But not calling upon friends and allies when they can help isn¡¯t necessarily a strength. It¡¯s possible to go too far the other way.¡± ----- While Anton had a solid understanding of fire, he rarely made use of it with his archery. An arrow made of flame was only good circumstantially, just the same as if he were using light. They would lose out on direct impact for the advantage of secondary effects. Sometimes the speed of light arrows had a great impact, slipping past defenses, but if not they were weaker. Light also had its uses for more indirect methods of attack such as blinding foes- even causing them to blink for an instant could provide an opening. Likewise, flame arrows required either a flammable target or something that would have trouble from heat building up. At closer range, however, fire was useful for defense. Anton could create a perilous field of flames around himself with the power of his stars. And if he was extremely close to one of his stars he could directly attack with its flames, though that wasn¡¯t likely to come up frequently. Especially not if anyone was anticipating facing him in particular. Nasima practiced techniques involving light, though she tended to fight at much closer range than Anton. Travel time of attacks was less relevant, but bursts of light to blind foes were still effective. And greater quantities of natural energy could be added to a held melee weapon compared to what Anton could manage through creating a single arrow. Combined with the thrusts of Nasima¡¯s spears, and they might not be able to see any of the attacks coming. Even if they were using their energy senses, a burst of power could disorient them for a moment. That seemed to be one of Nasima¡¯s best techniques. ¡°I feel like I could learn even more, if I had an even brighter source of light,¡± Nasima said. ¡°You could go visit another system soon enough,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Or simply get closer to this star.¡± She sighed, ¡°Nobody will fly close enough to matter.¡± ¡°In that case, I can at least help you out once or twice. It won¡¯t help for the sake of long-term training, but you might get some immediate insights.¡± ¡°Despite how often I see you fly, I often forget you can just do it anywhere,¡± Nasima admitted. ¡°I¡¯m not actually very efficient,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°At least within the atmosphere, I¡¯m only a mediocre flier using more energy than I should. Outside, there isn¡¯t much to hinder me so I¡¯m able to do much better there.¡± Especially after adding some principles of gravity into Star Steps. ¡°You¡¯d probably be able to fly in space, if you could regulate your air and temperature.¡± ¡°About that¡­ it will be a little bit difficult to focus on anything but not dying¡­¡± ¡°I suppose I could bring some air along with us. Enough for a short trip, at least.¡± Normally the power of a star would rip away loose air a cultivator brought along, but Anton could suppress those effects for a time. ¡°Though it would be a bit unfair to only bring you.¡± He could probably bring all of the light element cultivators from the local Order in a few groups. But the fire element cultivators would also benefit. And then there would be all of those who could gain a sudden appreciation for such things if they only had the opportunity. Perhaps he should set aside more time for that than he initially considered. Without access to the same ships as back home, more manual work was required. Not that Anton minded spending more time with disciples, there were just always more things he could be doing. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ----- The freedom to move about was important to Devon, because while only a small portion of his current life span had been spent in captivity, such a thing had a strong influence on his growth. As far as Assimilation cultivators went he was far from the strongest, but he was not restricted by his own location. He liked to be secure in his own safety, so that was an important requirement for exploration. Not that he was much of an explorer himself, instead going where the alliance had knowledge of something particular. In this case, he was heading to Udre to improve relations and the overall flow of communications with them. On the galactic scale they were not far to the southwest, and they were both closer and easier to interact with than the others that had been encountered to the north. The system was comprised of several small stars, and no doubt Anton would have liked to see it. But ultimately he had not visited due to several factors. Among other things he didn¡¯t want to disturb people with his cultivation, and he also wanted to leave more of the local diplomacy to others- like Devon, ultimately. Two inner stars- one orange and one red- orbited each other, with another red star orbiting both at a distance far outside of the three planets. The closest to the center was the inhabited planet of Udre and its two moons, leaving only a small icy planet and an even tinier rocky one. They had managed to maintain stalemates during the last two invasions from the upper realms mostly due to worldwide cooperation, and they¡¯d managed to hold onto that unity. While martial sects were always influential where cultivators were concerned, they had a worldwide government that managed the various interrelations between them. That was a great benefit for those who had first made contact with them, as there were actually people able to speak for them as a whole. Devon knew his arrival had been anticipated. He arrived along with the necessary crew to fly and maintain the ship and a number of aides to keep him on track. He had expected someone to be waiting, but not their empress. And though it was an elected position, it was still important. Aerona was young, truly young given that she was not terribly impressive in matters of cultivation. She was in her late thirties at the oldest, and her cultivation was merely in late Spirit Building. Not that Devon would look down on her for that, and the much stronger bodyguards would dissuade anyone from doing something stupid. ¡°It is a pleasure to meet another member of your alliance,¡± she bowed her head an amount exactly calculated for optimal politeness and formality. ¡°I am Empress Aerona.¡± ¡°I have seen your likeness,¡± Devon replied. ¡°I am honored to have you grace me with your presence.¡± ¡°The same is true in turn,¡± she said. ¡°For we have no cultivators who have surpassed LIfe Transformation here. It is a unique opportunity to meet one such as you.¡± Devon didn¡¯t feel particularly special, but that was most likely true of everyone with a balanced ego. Just because he was around all sorts of others of great power, however, didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t admit that he was still among a rather exclusive group. ¡°I have heard impressive feats about how you fended off the invaders from the upper realms,¡± Devon said. ¡°Stages of cultivation aren¡¯t everything.¡± It was almost impossible to have cultivators meet and not size each other up to some extent. So at the appropriate time, Devon wasn¡¯t surprised to feel the guard¡¯s senses scanning him and his companions. In turn, he used a technique of his own. It was habit to check for members of the Twin Soul Sect, regardless of how long it had been since he last encountered them. Interestingly enough, he recognized something familiar. Not with the technique. He wasn¡¯t the first to meet people from Udre, so if its upper ranks had been tainted by the Twin Soul Sect they would either have been spotted already- or better at hiding themselves. No, it was something familiar about that very same act. Maybe not for quite the same purpose, but something similar. ¡°I am told that you practice a unique cultivation method,¡± Aerona said. ¡°It was a matter of circumstance,¡± he admitted. ¡°And maybe being a bit too stubborn to change to another option when I got the chance. But it seems to have worked out well for me.¡± She nodded, then waved him along. ¡°Come, we shouldn¡¯t stand here at the edge of an open field. Let¡¯s get inside.¡± Udre had been rather occupied with their survival to end up developing flying ships of any sort. But an open field was good enough for specialty ships like the one that brought Devon to land. It also didn¡¯t require specific fuels, but was designed to be powered by nearly anything available. They were often used for exploration or scouting, so they were hardly luxury vehicles. Devon was brought to a lavish room, with sufficient comfortable seating and refreshments for all involved. ¡°This may be rather impatient of me, but might I ask what the reason of your visit is?¡± A straightforward question, though she should already know the answer. Perhaps she just wanted to test Devon to see if there was something more. He didn¡¯t mind responding honestly in either case. ¡°Lately, we¡¯ve been trying to welcome more members into the galactic community of the lower realms. Establishing communication, mutually beneficial trade, and the like. Isolated systems are the easiest for them to pick apart,¡± he explained. ¡°So you wish for us to join you. In what manner?¡± ¡°As neighbors, if nothing else. We might become allies at some point,¡± Devon said. ¡°But that would depend on the circumstances. You seem to have been quite capable of defending yourselves. There¡¯s no trouble if you wish to keep to yourselves.¡± ¡°That might change if our borders collide,¡± she commented. Devon shrugged. ¡°The galaxy is a large place. For us in the lower realms, at least there are plenty of resources for all of us. And most of us are still busy filling up our own systems.¡± She began to ask questions about the alliance. Devon knew what he was authorized to speak on, and what he was not. The existence of groups outside their alliance could be admitted to, but the details and especially locations would be kept secret until a longer time had passed. Nobody wanted a repeat of what happened with Ekict, after all. It was unlikely, but there was no harm in a bit of caution. It was clear to Devon that the questions were partly honest curiosity and partially social maneuvering. Udre knew very little about what was outside their own system- beyond purely visual information about stars. All sorts of things could be shared with them eventually, but for the moment they were still managing the opening moves. One step at a time was best. Chapter 753 A year of travel and Anton had widened the band that had been searched along the corridor they regularly traveled. If space was two dimensional it would have only taken a couple of months, but as it turned out systems didn¡¯t quite lie in a flat plane around the greater galactic form. And those ¡®small¡¯ deviations led to many lightyears of distance on either side. Some estimates put the number close to a thousand, with Ceretos and its neighbors about three hundred lightyears from the somewhat arbitrary ¡®top¡¯. The path towards In¡¯istra slanted ¡®down¡¯ slightly, but it was less than fifty lightyears of drop compared to four hundred lightyears of total distance. But ultimately, the point was that studying a cylinder around the area grew large very quickly, so even just going a few systems over from the central line and vaguely passing by as many things as possible along the way took a long time to reveal not that much distance. Anton passed hundreds of systems, but during that time found nothing more occupied. It was too early to say whether there was any meaning to the cluster of systems that formed the Trifold Alliance. The Sylanis Cluster¡¯s origins were obvious, as they knew they settled from one system to another. And they might be looking to do it again- which was much preferred to the raiding and conquering thing they had attempted and been partially successful with. While Anton was somewhat disappointed at the lack of more settled systems, he was also glad to know that there weren¡¯t any immediate encroaching threats. Unless they were capable of jumping several systems at once, which was unfortunately quite possible. But worrying about every possibility of danger was pointless when there was one they were certain about. Anton wanted to explore more, but it was a bit uncomfortable going away from his stars. More relevantly, he had to slow down so it would become less efficient the further he went. He wasn¡¯t terribly concerned about danger- he was stronger now than he had been during prior explorations- but time was something he couldn¡¯t just get back. And while perfect efficiency wasn¡¯t important, he also didn¡¯t need to do things that others could manage. There were many qualified individuals who would happily dedicate years of their time to searching and cataloging new systems. That was their passion, and Anton was glad to have them. But aside from the stars, Anton spent very little time viewing any celestial bodies outside of the practical necessity to search for life. While they might still find some occupied systems not terribly far away from that route, Anton would most likely not be the one to discover them. Instead, he had the intention to head towards the border with the upper realms. He wanted to know the status of the closer systems. Would it be any different, with the tides of the world allowing the upper realms access to most everywhere? Would their proximity mean they were more ravaged, or never settled¡­ or even permanently occupied by the upper realms? All these questions Anton had to answer. ----- It had been known for a long time that Ascension was a process that was unique. When it happened, it took only a few weeks for cultivators to arrive in the upper realms- some as far as or even beyond Xankeshan, over a thousand lightyears away from Ceretos. A few had gone even further, though it was unclear if they would have naturally. Gnadus was even further from Xankeshan, but the frozen planet had had a few extremely hardworking individuals clamber their way to ascension. But the formations on Xankeshan had been attuned to bring them in specifically, so that they didn¡¯t have stray cultivators ending up in random parts of the Scarlet Midfields- or worse, somewhere in the territory of either of the greater powers. Even at the equivalent of Augmentation, Anton couldn¡¯t imagine matching the speed of ascending cultivators. If he had a string of bound stars the whole way he might manage to only be a few times slower than them, but that was a vast difference considering it was something that happened naturally to those with the ability to trigger the process, and before they were even truly in the Integration stage. The reason Anton was thinking about this was because he was heading ¡®north¡¯, towards the center of the galaxy and the border between upper and lower realms. And he didn¡¯t have any bound stars in that direction. He didn¡¯t even have any potential stars, as he hadn¡¯t yet reached his next level since reaching Enrichment. He estimated each star would take eight to ten years, though it could be even slower than that. If it was ten years and he only needed exactly one more prime to reach the Domination equivalent¡­ it would only be three hundred and ten years. Anton had the feeling that was only the halfway point of the stage, however. He would likely need to go from one hundred and twenty-nine to one hundred and sixty to one hundred and ninety-seven. A full sixty eight more stars in steps of thirty-one and thirty-seven. He might even manage that before six more centuries were up, if he was lucky. But even if that was on the shorter end, it shouldn¡¯t happen until after the next cycle. If it was even possible at all. Anton knew that every cultivator had a limit, either due to talent or drive or resources. He was quite fortunate to not have hit his limit yet. He was at a stage only the tiniest fraction of people could even dream of reaching. So he couldn¡¯t yet bind any more stars after Poriza¡¯s star, and that meant the journey would be longer and slower as he would have to conserve energy. But he could still pick out his favorites for later. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Not every star had to be like Azun, an extreme rarity among great powers. Nor did Anton think it was a good idea to go around creating new stars as he pleased, though it might be beneficial to his cultivation. Sometimes, he just liked it. There was one star that had a pinkish hue to it that he found endearing. Another had a trio of gas giants in a triangular formation orbiting in the same ring as each other. And there were a few giants, comparable to the size of the twin planet¡¯s blue star. Power was always attractive, though if that was always the key factor Anton wouldn¡¯t have bound Poriza¡¯s star that was barely large enough to be counted as a red dwarf. Anton intentionally avoided approaching Nidec and Vrelt, since they didn¡¯t need to have a powerful cultivator approaching and spying on them right now. And that is what it would be, regardless of his ultimate intentions. Whether his intentions would be to their benefit depended on who was involved. But Anton didn¡¯t have plans to be involved there at the moment. There were plenty of other qualified individuals. A few systems beyond what had already been explored, he found an interesting star system. Binary systems weren¡¯t terribly rare, but this one hadn¡¯t been thought to be a binary system. It had a yellow-white star¡­ along with a tiny neutron star. And while measurements might have revealed the smaller star, it wasn¡¯t oriented in the correct direction to pick up the easiest signs. The system had a number of rocky and hot planets, exactly one of which had signs of life. The flow of natural energy, and now that he was closer Anton surmised there were cultivators. But while he was initially eager to approach, he also didn¡¯t want to cause too much of a ruckus simply by showing up. And he didn¡¯t have time to carefully blend into their society. Thus, he had to make notes about it for later, while at the same time sending the relevant information back to the alliance. It was far enough that any interactions with them might come much later, but they could afford to wait a few decades. His trail path brought him further north, closer to the border. At around two hundred lightyears, he stumbled upon another system of note. The system had two red stars of little note for their particular qualities, and no planets that appeared to be in the habitable zone. In fact, Anton planned to pass it by without another look after refreshing himself in the glow of the stars. But his path happened to take him near the innermost planet, one that was frozen over because of its distance from the stars. A casual sweep of his energy turned up more than he thought. It wasn¡¯t just a rocky and icy planet. No, it was much more than that. Anton didn¡¯t quite believe what he felt at first, so he descended through the planet¡¯s thin atmosphere to confirm what he¡¯d seen. But the more of the planet he felt, the clearer the picture became. Atop a frozen hilltop, an icy fort. Not one constructed of ice, but one of stone that should have stood in lower temperatures. Parts of it were weathered away despite the covering of ice, but it was only one structure out of many. Others were clearly ravaged by time, but some¡­ were clearly destroyed. Anton found a city and walked the streets, slowly. The picture there was even more grim. Bodies. Not sufficient to populate the city, but the mass graves outside told their own tale. As did what Anton determined to be a few workers for those same graves, frozen on the ground next to them. But not all deaths were from violence, and Anton thought the freezing wasn¡¯t necessarily the direct cause of others. There were more than a few dead in their homes. Some lying in their own beds, some sitting around tables with the lingering stench of poison coming from them. The freeze didn¡¯t seem to have come all at once, but it wasn¡¯t slow either. The states of decay that everything had stopped at varied widely, but one thing became clear to Anton. Most of the death and destruction had come before the cold. He could only speculate on what might have caused the planet¡¯s current state, but speculate he did. He could find a name for the city, but it took longer to find the name of the planet. His energy senses pored over every bit of text he could find until the name Jinrisa finally came up. The fact that he could read it meant that this place had been involved with the greater galactic community within the last handful of cycles at the longest. Language could drift faster or slower, but it was familiar enough. His speculations were fairly simple. Someone had attacked to wipe them out. The destruction around the city- and every city- was not constrained to just one or two places. It was widespread and intentional. But after nearly everyone was killed, something else had happened. Anton could still feel a distortion in the energy left over from a great event in the past. Someone had intentionally changed the planet¡¯s motion to bring it far beyond the habitable zone, where even some of its atmosphere would begin to freeze. He might not have recognized the signs before, but having now put in the effort to move things on a large scale he picked up on some signs. They hadn¡¯t used formations, but likely the combined energy of many cultivators. One particular side of the planet had strange markings that he attributed to the task. The whole planet was frozen over, but it filled Anton with fire and fury. He was no stranger to death. Sometimes, it had to be enacted upon people. But following up with freezing their planet and the few survivors was clearly unnecessary. Anton had the feeling that whoever caused it wanted it to be slow, so those who lived would recognize their own deaths coming. Anton admired the dedication of the fallen gravediggers, though he also understood those who had died in their own beds and the others who most likely poisoned themselves. Anton also had a vague idea of who would have done this. And even if he ended up unfairly adding this to the list of the upper realms, it would be but a drop in the bucket of their total crimes. But still one that must be tallied. Chapter 754 The dead planet caused Anton to make many assumptions, but he was glad to be wrong about one of them, given the circumstances. From what he understood the Trigold Cluster tended to be quite thorough with destroying records to reduce the ability of the raided systems to fight back during the next cycle. That was the case with everywhere they had encountered- plus the twin planets where they had gone a step further to attempt total annihilation. Here, it seemed they had considered the destruction of life combined with shunting the planet out of the habitable zone to be sufficient. Anton didn¡¯t see any cultivation techniques or anything that seemed to have value left behind, but they didn''t bother destroying everything. In a way, it made sense. If everyone was going to be dead, why be meticulous? They wouldn¡¯t be able to fight back next time, because they would be dead. And the Trigold Cluster wouldn¡¯t be returning regardless. But that left records. Including a few Anton found frozen to the desks in front of several scholars who seemed to have been furiously writing until the last moments. He very carefully sliced away the ice freezing one of them to the wood and carried it outside. A simple application of fire would be enough to melt the ice, but he needed to not destroy the paper at the same time. It wasn¡¯t anything Anton had specifically done before, but if he couldn¡¯t manage something like that in the Enrichment stage perhaps he needed to study the basics of energy again. It didn¡¯t take long before he had the text in his hands and had read through it. His speculation had not been far off. Jinrisa had managed to fight back the cycle before their demise, but unfortunately had been weakened enough that when the retaliatory attacks came in greater force they weren¡¯t able to resist. The power described was much greater than anything Anton had experienced, involving dozens of Augmentation cultivators. The same hadn¡¯t happened to them, but there had been an abnormally short cycle. Perhaps that had made them unable to bring their full power to bear, or perhaps there had been special circumstances for Jinrisa specifically. He began to scour the planet. Every scrap of paper, every book or carved stone was read by him. He pierced his energy many kilometers into the planet searching for hidden locations, and indeed stumbled upon a few- though they were not as well hidden as they might once have been with active formations. It took him over a year, but he was able to piece together the reason. Such as the reason was. It seemed to come down to a certain member of the Tilki clan who had come to Jinrisa for ¡®training¡¯. The lass had been killed, obviously. But it seemed that she was either extremely important or the clan was extremely petty, and the Tilki clan influential enough to cause the planet¡¯s extermination. Anton hadn¡¯t heard of such a clan, though he would admit to not having had long chats with anyone from the upper realms. It was unclear if this particular clan only dealt with planets closer to the border, or in a certain region or¡­ perhaps these events had happened so long ago that they had died out. Though Anton was a bit iffy on that possibility. It wasn¡¯t possible for him to precisely judge how long it had been, given how everything was frozen, but even in such a state things slowly decayed. Very slowly, perhaps, without bacteria or much in the way of weather- but the thinner atmosphere also allowed more radiation in. Anton judged it had been a handful of cycles at most. Though that could still be as much as three millennia, he knew that many organizations in the upper realms had longer histories than that. Specifically within the great powers, because in the Scarlet Midfields there had been only a few that survived the destruction of the war between the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster, and they only survived in name. The Harmonious Citadel might have been over a millennium old, but not much beyond that. Looking at the state of the planet, Anton didn¡¯t quite know what he could learn. If it was that standing up for yourself and trying not to die might still lead to death regardless¡­ he could accept that as true with the caveat of might. But he wouldn¡¯t lie down and take it. Especially since he found little point in living as if he was already dead and then dying. The survival of future generations was certainly something to consider, but at this point the Alliance couldn¡¯t change its response even if they wanted to. The fact that greater retribution might yet come wasn¡¯t anything new, either. It just spelled out specific possibilities. And if it was only a few dozen Augmentation cultivators, limited by their presence in the lower realms¡­ Anton thought that they could kill them as many times as they came. Furthermore, some of the formation experts had been working long distance with Catarina to actually enhance the drain from the swap between ascension energy and natural energy. Ultimately it wasn¡¯t them in the lower realms that Anton was worried about. The problem would be the upper realms. He had heard great things about the security of Xankeshan, but ultimately one planet alone wouldn¡¯t be sufficient to stand against the forces of the great powers. ----- There was a reason Everheart wore different faces by default. It wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t like his own face. That would be preposterous. He was perfect, after all. All sorts of people looked fine when they were old. Like that Anton fellow. And obviously Everheart looked just as good as that. No, it was because literally everyone wanted to kill him. It was simply a question of whether they knew it or not. And Everheart liked them to not know it until just after it was too late to actually achieve that goal. Currently he had made his way into the Trigold Cluster¡¯s territory, to one of the main planets of the Slithering Serpent Sect. Why them? Why not them. They had come to the Scarlet Midfields and completely ignored his system. Sure, he hadn¡¯t specifically taunted them, but they¡¯d come all the way out to whisk away one guy and hadn¡¯t even considered dropping by. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Also, they were quite conveniently located a mere couple dozen lightyears past the border. And they had a nice storehouse full of poison that he needed to make one of his planets more toxic. Everheart checked his belt. Extra capacity storage bags. Formation flags. Bribe money in case he got spotted. And of course various other utility things like weapons. Then of course there were the pre-written notes telling them where all their stuff had gone. He couldn¡¯t carry everything they had no matter how big he made his storage bags so he really would prefer they bring some of it to him. Then he walked through their front gates, feeling just like one of their disciples for all their senses could tell. And unlike some places, that was good enough. Honestly, Xankeshan kept actual track of everyone who was supposed to be there. And they could pull up the information instantly using their fancy ¡®technology¡¯ stuff. How was he supposed to steal all of that if he couldn¡¯t regularly get down to their planet? He would have to wait until it proliferated more widely to keep ahead of these scoundrels out here. But he was getting distracted. He had to reach his goal. First, past the snake pits. He took a good look, as there were some fine snakes in there. Maybe he could snatch a few, set up his own farm. Probably that big one¡­ it looked quite nice. Better to do that on the way out, though. He passed the slave pens, next to the snakes for testing purposes most likely, and continued on towards the storehouse, where he produced a letter that someone had kindly put together for him in exchange for his life. ¡°I¡¯m here to retrieve a few things, sir,¡± he said to the elder in charge. The woman frowned at him, but he just smiled back. On the inside he was recoiling at being polite, but on the outside he was just a disciple getting supplies. ¡°Rows 15, 23, and 6,¡± she said. ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t going to escort me?¡± Everheart said, legitimately surprised. ¡°I don¡¯t really know my way around-¡± ¡°No. I don¡¯t have time for people like you. Now get moving. And you know better than to touch things you shouldn¡¯t.¡± Well. That made the specific things on the list much less important. He wouldn¡¯t have to stumble, have them all crash together, and create a deadly gas that would incapacitate his escort silently. When the doors closed behind him, he felt her senses fade away. Probably counting on the formations to take care of everything. Just in case there were hidden layers he wasn¡¯t expecting, he did walk around to the aforementioned shelves- while internally criticizing their layout. Some of this was a disaster waiting to happen! Sure, he had been intentionally planning one of those disasters, but they really didn¡¯t need him if someone was a little clumsy. Then again, average disciples shouldn¡¯t be walking into this place unsupervised. He made his way around and determined that he understood the formations well enough. He had scratched a few markings along the way, and pulled out a couple formation flags and planted them. Then he reached out to start swiping things off the shelves before the formations raised the alarm for not having theft. A simple reversal of the logic in the systems. Easily exploitable. Which is why the elder was supposed to escort people in the warehouse. Disaster almost struck when an actual disciple came around a corner, so weak that Everheart hadn¡¯t even sensed their energy. Of course, that same weakness that allowed for surprise also meant that when Everheart¡¯s fist reflexively hit them in the face they were knocked out. Without any energy involved, even. Everheart paused for a moment. He understood why someone with his cover could be here. He had a letter from someone important. Why this chump? ¡°Ooh, that¡¯s a lot of stuff in your pockets for a crappy disciple,¡± Everheart said. Then he went back to sweeping everything off the shelves. After that, he walked out. There was only one moment where the elder¡¯s senses flashed into the room that she could have sensed the unconscious disciple or cleared shelves, but she just glared at Everheart on his way out. Lovely woman, really. The locks on the cages were extremely easy to open. Amateurish, really. Sure, the formations were solid but the locks themselves were pickable by babies. Though not enough cultivators learned to pick locks for some reason. Either way, once he got the first one it only took one second for each of the following ones, so by the time the first cage swung open and someone poked their head out, Everheart was nearly gone. ¡°... Are you helping us escape?¡± the man asked. ¡°Am I? No, quite the contrary,¡± Everheart shook his head. ¡°But the opportunity will be there if you can seize it. No, you¡¯re helping me escape,¡± Everheart said. The warehouse was bound to have someone go in soon. Frankly it was surprising there weren¡¯t a dozen people in there. Why even have it if it wasn¡¯t in constant use? So around the time the alarms would be raised there, the slaves would be escaping. And of course¡­ Everheart looked into the snake pen. Yes, he¡¯d take exactly those two. He jumped in, grabbing the large serpents behind the neck and shoving them into a bag, specially made for living things. It didn¡¯t come with more air, oh no. It slowed the metabolism of everything inside so they wouldn¡¯t do anything during the wait. And enough air to survive. Everheart did grab a bit of food as he scurried out the pen doors followed by dozens of serpents. Hundreds and thousands of more would be released in a few moments. Everheart came to a screeching halt. He almost forgot to leave the note. He carefully pulled one out and tossed it into a prominent location. Then he changed his look as he walked around the corner and yelled. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why are there so many alarms?¡± With that, he became part of the confused mob until he managed to work his way out of the secure locations to his concealed ship. He might hit up another couple places since he was in the area, but for now he should get out of this particular one. Chapter 755 Leaving the destroyed and frozen over world of Jinrisa behind, Anton hoped it was an exception. Sadly, he knew that there were likely far too many other examples. Exactly how many he couldn¡¯t estimate. He might even encounter others on the way to the border. Or perhaps he had already missed some, the lack of signs of life making them less obvious. That was a thought which he chose not to dwell on. Cultivating anger would only make him more liable to act recklessly. He¡¯d done enough of that already throughout his life, and anger wasn¡¯t pleasant to begin with. So he continued on his journey, heading towards the border between upper and lower realms. Nothing else delayed his journey to the same degree, though he still took time to survey interesting planets and stars. He didn¡¯t encounter any other cultivators, though he wasn¡¯t focusing on anything but adjacent systems. But eventually, he arrived at his destination. The star Akrys, chosen both for its position on the border, and for its size. It was the largest star Anton had visited, a red supergiant larger than the blue supergiant the twin planets shared by almost a full order of magnitude. This was large enough that if Ceretos was in the same system, it would be inside of the star. But despite the radius being hundreds of times as much, the actual mass of the star was hardly more than ten times as much. It was significantly brighter than most stars Anton had witnessed, but relatively cool. That was not an aberration from its type, but theoretically typical. At least, with what measurements that could be managed from a great distance when spying others of the same type. There were only a few planets, but as Anton began to survey them he was surprised to find that one of them had life on it. No signs of human cultivators, but it was teeming with plants and animals. He hadn¡¯t been able to sense anything special about it from a distance due to the dominating presence of the star itself. He landed in an area of plains, intending to look for signs of humans in the more open area. When he did so, he accidentally spooked a colony of largish rodents. Some sort of ground squirrels without bushy tails, perhaps? Either way, they scurried into their burrows. Anton would have thought nothing more of it, if he didn¡¯t sense some of the other members of the colony making their way to the surface. In particular, a group with natural energy. There was nothing impressive about their cultivation, if he looked at things on a grand scale. One of them had the approximate energy equivalent of mid Body Tempering. Nor were there dozens of the creatures with that same power. Even so, Anton stayed to see how they reacted. He didn¡¯t have any need to fight random creatures protecting their homes, so if they were aggressive he would just fly away. The group came out of the tunnel in sequence, and then began to fan out around him. And then, one of them extended a tendril of energy towards him as it began to chitter. That wasn¡¯t particularly strange, but then it stopped. As if¡­ waiting for a response. Moreover, the tendril of energy came with a wave of emotions. Mostly fear- and bravery. Anton did his best to process what was happening. Animals using group tactics was nothing new. Beasts with cultivation were not uncommon anywhere with high natural energy. It was the sounds that stuck out. Anton didn¡¯t have the feeling that they were trying to scare him off. At least, not directly. ¡°Are they¡­ talking¡­?¡± Anton wondered. He tried to project a feeling of serenity. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I don¡¯t speak your language.¡± If they weren¡¯t speaking, nobody would be around to make the situation embarrassing. And obviously he didn¡¯t expect them to understand his words any more than he understood them, but perhaps they might understand the patterns of speech in turn. The fuzzy creatures stood upright on their hind legs, but only came up to Anton¡¯s knees at best. They chittered among each other, shifting slightly as they did so. Did Anton sense curiosity, or was that simply his own desire? He listened carefully to their sounds- and did a little bit of prying into the colony below where the rest waited. Just as he was beginning to pick out a pattern to the sounds, they were interrupted. An eagle dove, extending its talons. Anton glared at it, attempting to suppress it with his aura. Either it was very brave or had extremely dull energy senses, because while he didn¡¯t burden it with his full might he displayed at least the power of a Life Transformation cultivator. Anton¡¯s hands moved quickly, drawing an arrow in his bow and taking a shot just in front of the eagle. It swerved away quickly when it saw the attack, circling back into the sky and away. Anton wasn¡¯t normally one to interrupt the cycle of nature, but this was a special case. First, he at most interrupted a single meal. Wild beasts might live in an unstable way that meant missing a meal could be dangerous, but the eagle had some cultivation of its own and could easily catch something even if exhausted. And second, if he was right and these upright standing rodents had some level of sapience and it was very much worth protecting that. Looking back at them after he fired the shot from his bow, the creatures prostrated themselves. The one Anton thought was the leader continued to chitter. The feeling that was projected was not quite one of submission but instead more like pleading. Anton didn¡¯t quite understand, but he was beginning to put together a picture. For the moment he would continue to go with the idea that these fellows had a level of sapience and speech. He understood multiple languages. First was the main language spoken by human cultivators that had proliferated with them, but Anton had picked up other languages from forgotten and disassociated planets he¡¯d visited. Then there was the sign language of the void ants. It had been created for the express purpose of interacting with humans, but it was still a different variety. Finally and most relevantly, Anton had experience with Fuzz, though the wolf¡¯s communication skills hadn¡¯t been a full language until after he ascended. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Still, Anton was confident he could figure this out. Was it an unnecessary distraction? Perhaps. Was he going to try because the rodents were cute? Not just because of that. But he was going to try. And even though his words wouldn¡¯t mean anything to them yet, he wanted to confirm that they communicated verbally so he continued to speak, while also attempting gestures. ¡°Is all of this territory yours?¡± he waved his arm around the area. Perhaps he started with something awkward to parse, but it was the first thing he thought of. The leader of the beasts raised his head. It also gestured with its forelimbs. Pointing and chittering. One thing in one direction, slightly different sounds pointing in another. And some more fearful sounds pointing to the sky- and the distant eagle. Anton did his best to communicate with them, but he couldn¡¯t really communicate much more than directions. Though the fact that they seemed to understand that was sufficient evidence to support his theory. Ultimately, he didn¡¯t want to stay around disrupting the colony¡¯s activities forever so he pointed to a nearby hill. ¡°I am going to go over there now.¡± He gave a half bow. Pointing seemed to be understood in the grand sense, but other gestures weren¡¯t shared. He kept an eye on the creatures as he left. They didn¡¯t follow after him, and the majority of the guardians returned to the underground as he left. The other members of the colony returned to the surface where some seemed to be keeping watch and some searched the nearby grasses for insects and other tasty morsels. Anton continued to listen to their sounds to try to pick up the language they had, at whatever level it existed. He saw some of them conversing with each other in hushed tones, gesturing towards the hill, and likely him. He also thought he picked out others telling the story of the eagle, or at least they gestured to the sky. As time passed, Anton searched his thoughts for what he should compare the creatures to. They had at first appeared to be in the broad category of rodents, but watching them more that didn¡¯t quite fit. He was trying to remember a particular creature he¡¯d seen before that resembled them. They were certainly mammals, but the fact that they stood upright was an oddity. Their tails weren¡¯t particularly long nor short, neither bushy nor hairless. Ah, there it was. He thought the word was meerkats. They might not be the same thing- the same with the eagle from before- but that was the closest he could get. And it was entirely possible they had ancestors transplanted from the same place. All of the meerkats went inside when night came. Anton dozed off, not really needing to sleep but just wanting to relax. He took the time to organize his thoughts from the journey, about the planet Jinrisa, and just what he might accomplish here on the border. Besides binding this star, of course. Though if these creatures were sapient, could he forsake his personal rules and bind their star without permission? Ah, it didn¡¯t matter. He would bind some star on the border, it didn¡¯t have to be this one even though it was nice. It would be years before he had the option anyway. ----- When morning came, Anton watched the sun rise. He trained his cultivation, absorbing some of the power of the star that rained down upon him while also drawing on the internal power- and the devotion that made its way towards him even though he didn¡¯t ask for it. His neighbors woke up with the sun as well, warming themselves in the early morning light. But in addition to that, some of them poked and prodded each other while looking at him. And then one of them- one of the guards with a lesser cultivation- began to skitter its way towards him, climbing the hill while his head swiveled back and forth. He didn¡¯t forget to watch the sky as he approached Anton. When he got perhaps a hundred feet away, he stopped. Anton smiled at the little fellow. ¡°I know we can¡¯t really talk, but you can come sit with me,¡± Anton gestured to the ground next to himself. The meerkat seemed hesitant, so Anton returned to his cultivation, though he kept the beast in his senses. The meerkat slowly approached closer, standing next to Anton and looking at the sun. Then it began to circulate its energy. It was clumsy and unpracticed, though Anton couldn¡¯t really expect much else from a group seeming to not only lack formal techniques but most likely getting all of their natural energy from what they ate. Soon enough Anton realized the little guy was trying to copy him, though the arrangement of meridians inside of a meerkat was obviously going to be different based on their wildly varied body shapes and sizes. Still, Anton hadn¡¯t been teaching new students for centuries to back down from a challenge. The meerkat seemed to be doing just fine as it made a connection to the sun¡¯s energy, but Anton had to slow down significantly to make sure the little guy didn¡¯t hurt himself. He wanted to point out the path directly, but he didn¡¯t want to spook off the little guy with any sudden movements. So he continued to slowly cultivate, doing his best to make his process as clear as possible. He would normally include bodily exercises, but he really had no idea what such a beast needed to develop. Sometime around midday, a small flock of eagles came by. That was a bit unusual, as such birds tended to be more solitary. Either way, Anton took note- especially because he recognized the one from the day before. Anton¡¯s companion noticed them as well, and started to run back towards the colony. But when the eagles began to dive towards scurrying meerkats, Anton took a shot. This time he clipped one of the returning eagle¡¯s feathers. Perhaps he wouldn¡¯t get the message until injured. He also shot several other arrows to deter the rest, bursts of visible energy causing them to recoil. They all flew off, but Anton had the feeling they kept looking at him as they did so. Anton¡¯s little companion ran back up the hill when he saw things were safe, then tentatively approached Anton. Anton watched as he carefully pointed at Anton¡¯s bow, then to the sky. Did he want Anton to kill the eagles? Well, he might if they kept causing trouble. But that didn¡¯t seem to be it. The meerkat waved one arm to the side, while the other pressed against its chest. It chittered, and Anton got the vague feeling that¡­ it wanted him to teach it how to shoot a bow. Well, why not? Sure its arms weren¡¯t made to wield a bow, and at its size it couldn¡¯t expect to get that much power from one, but wasn¡¯t that what cultivation was for? Making people able to do things they couldn¡¯t naturally? Anton wondered if he had any string that would be a low enough draw weight. Other materials too. Or should he jump straight to energy bows? So many choices. Chapter 756 Was it righteous to teach random beasts to cultivate? Should he even spend time on it? Were the meerkats in the right just because they were cute? The answers to all of those questions were not straightforward, but ultimately Anton had no regrets for what he had done. Yet he wasn¡¯t going to guarantee that the small animals being attacked by predators were in the right. There was a reason he hadn¡¯t slain the eagles, after all. He was new to this planet, but finding one or possibly two groups of awakened beasts¡­ was it a massive coincidence? Fate? Or perhaps there was another possibility, one Anton was currently exploring with his senses, spreading out throughout the plains and over a greater distance, picking out various places and creatures that he would more thoroughly inspect. Because if it wasn¡¯t a coincidence that he had ended up near multiple awakened beasts that had at least burgeoning sapience and language, then he had to consider that there might be more than just one or two kinds. In addition to the eagles, Anton took note of a few sorts of insects. Picking out what patterns were normal and not for insects wasn¡¯t necessarily something he was an expert at, but anything that spoke of greater organization was of interest. The ants¡­ looked normal. There were some worms that were hooked together in strange patterns. Further away, he found a praying mantis that seemed to react to even the tiny amount of energy from his senses touching it. But while he did that, he still was happy to demonstrate cultivation to his newest and tiniest disciple. From what he could tell the meerkats had names, and his disciple was three chittering noises. Or more formally, Three Squeaks. Anton could manage to replicate the noises to some extent, but he didn¡¯t know if it translated to any sort of word. But when he made the noises his little disciple turned his head. Anton had the feeling more of the meerkats would be interested in learning from him, but they were simply cautious of a new and presumably strange looking individual. And powerful, at that. Just because he seemed to be on their side didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t cause them harm. He could imagine they had some level of caution, at least. Though he had to say he was also assuming from how humans thoughts, and perhaps these creatures were less developed- or like the void ants just different. Still, creatures without some amount of caution didn¡¯t tend to survive. It would require great power, something these meerkats did not possess. Because even with the best of them having a cultivation equivalent to mid Body Tempering, their actual bodies were weak at a base. That wouldn¡¯t matter much if they reached Essence Collection or later, but before that point the amount of amplification of a physical body was a significant factor in battle strength provided by natural energy. Three Squeaks came over every morning and evening to train with Anton. Meanwhile, Anton was doing his best to pick apart the meerkat¡¯s language. He might have a basis to begin speaking in a month or two, but that was only if he was embarrassed of failure. He could begin at any point. What were they going to do, make fun of him for chittering at them? Well, they might. But Anton wasn¡¯t so emotionally weak that he couldn¡¯t stand up to a little ribbing. One evening Three Squeaks came up to Anton, catching his eyes with some noise. Then Three Squeaks pat his thigh and hip region, making the sounds of his own name. His arm waved towards Anton, and his head tilted in a way Anton knew was curiosity. He was fairly certain he understood what the intent was. ¡°I am Anton,¡± he said, pointing to his own chest. When Three Squeaks didn¡¯t seem to get it, Anton repeated the gesture where he slapped his own thigh, approximately. ¡°Anton.¡± Anton was able to make the meerkat sounds with a combination of his voice box and a little flexing of natural energy, but the meerkat obviously wasn¡¯t able to replicate human speech in return. Three Squeaks gave it a valiant try, going through a dozen iterations of attempting to make functional human speech. Finally he settled on a sound with a sort of buzzing hum or purr in it, vaguely reminiscent of the o in Anton. Vaguely. Anton gave him a nod of approval. Though body language wasn¡¯t fully shared between them, he could also project some his approval as an emotion, which did well enough. Anton reached down, spreading apart his fingers. Three Squeaks watched carefully as Anton formed a string of energy between his thumb and forefinger, then the shaft of a bow attached to it. He had been thinking about how a creature without opposable thumbs or any actual fingers might fire a bow. His ultimate solution was to have an inset grip in the shaft that claws could stick through, instead of gripping. And if using Spirit Arrows, using claws to pull back the string would work just fine. The little bow was dropped into the hands of Three Squeaks, who was very excited. Anton helped position his tiny paws. Three Squeaks pulled back the string, then stared with consternation as no arrow formed. Anton made a little arrow of energy and placed it on his bow as he drew it back. The arrow went¡­ wildly off course, hitting the ground just in front of Three Squeaks. But he still made excited and presumably happy noises. Then he looked at Anton. Anton stood up, forming his own bow. And his own arrow. It took a little bit, but he finally communicated that Three Squeaks was supposed to try to make his own. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Even with Anton forming the bow and holding its integrity, the little Meerkat struggled to make an arrow. His natural energy lost form almost instantly when he tried to make it into anything. A couple times he got half an arrow shape, or something that would at least fling off of the string. But it took several more mornings and evenings before he managed to create a single good arrow. And his aim was atrocious. Anton knew that was partially a lack of clear instruction and partially the differences in body. He was going to have to adapt many things for the little guy. ----- The first thing to approach was a single eagle, flying high in the sky. But Anton knew that wasn¡¯t all. He hadn¡¯t been watching them over the last week for nothing. He knew where they nested. Where they hunted- specifically animals Anton was fairly certain weren¡¯t sapient- and what they had been doing. He had seen them journeying to a nearby watering hole, and negotiating with the creatures therein. So when three warthogs began to stomp through the plains, he wasn¡¯t surprised. He was, however, annoyed. Perhaps he had been too merciful to the eagles. They were hardly even participating in their own revenge, with another small group flying off in the distance, approaching behind the warthogs. The meerkats soon noticed the approach of the warthogs, and everyone scurried inside. Instead of standing outside, the meerkat guards kept just inside their burrow, but they were obviously prepared to fight. The lead warthog pushed his snout into the dirt, tossing up a large clod of dirt. He grunted and squealed. The meerkats responded. Apparently, not to the creature¡¯s liking. Or perhaps there had never been any sort of actual discussion happening to begin with. Either way, the lead warthog began the charge, the others not far behind. Three Squeaks popped his head out of the hole. His head turned, his eyes catching Anton¡¯s directly, even all the way on top of the hill. Anton thought he heard him say Anton¡¯s name in a pleading manner. Well, obviously he wasn¡¯t going to just leave them to begin with, but now he really couldn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t want to just solve everything for them either though. They would grow soft and weak, and get devoured when he left. An arrow impacted the dirt in front of each warthog. One swerved to the side, the other trailing individual circling around and dashing off the other way at the sudden bolt of energy in front of it. But the one in the lead continued on without fear, with only a glance towards Anton¡¯s hill. So Anton shot off one of his tusks. And then when the warthog seemed unwilling to even consider slowing down on his own pierced through one of his legs, damaging the tendons and causing it to topple forward. As the warthog began to crash to the ground, the leader of the meerkat guards was already leaping out of the burrow. The sudden change in momentum required him to perform an awkward hop to reach the warthog as it skid to a halt, swiping down his claw on the warthog¡¯s nose. The eagles were already swooping down, and Anton was tired of them. So he pierced the heart of the one who had come around first, and that had already been warned by some feathers being shot off. But that was where he ended his contributions to the battle, the predatory bird crashing to the ground. The lead warthog was too heavy to prop itself up on three legs, and the combined assault by the meerkat guards quickly covered it with wounds. The secondary trailing individual charged towards them to try to stop them, but Three Squeaks bravely leapt onto its head. And then, he formed an arrow. It fell out of the air with nothing to support it, but held its form well enough for him to clasp it between his two paws and stab it repeatedly into the creature¡¯s skull. Halfway through causing any real damage he had to make a new one, but his assault caused the creature to swerve into its larger brethren. The remaining eagles were met with angry claws as the meerkats worked in teams to attack them as they swooped down. The sharp claws of the eagles wounded several of them, but they tore away feather and flesh, forcing the creatures to retreat. Seeing them flying away, Three Squeaks tried to make a bow. He got about ninety percent of the way there on his own, but his string didn¡¯t attach nor had he replicated any of the necessary material qualities, like the amount of bend and snap that went into things. He did manage to toss the thing and clip a couple tail feathers, though. The leader of the warthogs seemed quite tough, and managed to stagger to his feet. The meerkats hissed and chittered, and the beast staggered away along with the other with its cracked skull. Anton wasn¡¯t quite sure if they understood each other or not. Or rather, whether there was one shared beast language that each species replicated or more than one which they ultimately learned. The only actual death was the eagle that was the catalyst of everything. At the conclusion of the battle, Anton watched as the meerkats slapped mud on the talon wounds. It was sort of attempt at medicine, at least, and Anton didn¡¯t sense anything harmful in it, so he didn¡¯t try to provide alternate options. They could probably use some stitches, but the claylike mud should stop the bleeding at least. Then Three Squeaks dragged the body of the eagle towards Anton up the hill, using his claws and teeth to latch onto what he could. Birds were rather lightweight for their size, but it still wasn¡¯t a simple task. Three Squeaks presented it to Anton. What was he supposed to do with it? Eat it? Anton decided to accept it, and he would dispose of it later. He wasn¡¯t willing to eat things with even burgeoning levels of higher functioning intelligence. It was a bad precedent to set. Though he was at least glad that the meerkats didn¡¯t eat it either- though that might have been because it was out of their usual diet. Anton wondered when he would get back to exploring the border regions. The presence of more than a couple awakened animals indicated this place was special and worth investigating, but he also had other duties to fulfill. Ultimately, he would work out the details as the days went on. He¡¯d hardly been on Akrys for a week. Chapter 757 There was a limit to how much special techniques and enhanced mental processing could allow a person to pick up entirely new information. Anton was able to pick up human languages that branched off relatively quickly, but even on Gnadus it had taken him months. To fully grasp the meerkat¡¯s language he thought it might take him a year. But given his progress after a week, perhaps he might be able to converse about simple basics after a full month. He was already far too late to pretend to be a native speaker, and he might be a bit too tall to fool any of them. But Anton couldn¡¯t spend all his time with them. So while Three Squeaks was busy during the day, Anton was now exploring the surrounding area. As long as he didn¡¯t get more than a thousand kilometers away, his ability to respond to trouble wouldn''t be diminished in the slightest. And against anything at the level the meerkats were dealing with, he could honestly go nearly anywhere on the entire planet, though his senses would have to loop around outside the atmosphere at a certain point. Having confirmed meerkats, warthogs, and eagles having some level of greater intelligence- including communication with each other- Anton suspected it was more than just those. He began picking out all sorts of behaviors in the surrounding area, and he was beginning to identify that a significant fraction of the beasts seemed to have proper sapience. Significant as such things went, at least. Having previously only seen Paradise, void ants, Fuzz, and to some extent the phoenixes of the Sylanis cluster, three more was already a lot. Even the others of Paradise¡¯s species didn¡¯t have an ascended intelligence, at most being clever beasts driven by instincts. But there were some important differences. Fuzz was the first of his kind, but Anton heard that with his mate in the upper realms they produced true offspring that could think much like a human. Paradise had no offspring, but Anton doubted there would be a guarantee of that if the other partner was not the same. The phoenixes had been on the lower end of sapience, though some of that was likely suppression by the Phoenix Sect so that they would not grow difficult to command. Their lifespans were long and they were slow to develop, so Anton hadn¡¯t seen much else from them. The void ants seemed to be the oddity. All of them were intelligent as far as insects were concerned, but the vast majority of them didn¡¯t have individuality or consciousness. Not until they grew powerful enough. On the other end were the meerkats, where all of the members of the colony seemed capable of understanding, even if they had no discernible natural energy. All of this together brought Anton to the point he was staring at a twig. On that twig were leaves, and on both twig and leaves were a marching group of ants. Largish ants that seemed like their fangs had some sort of venom, but just ants. They found food, brought it to the colony, and fulfilled their roles in a boring manner. It was the twig and leaves that Anton was interested in. Not because he was expecting plants to gain an ascended intelligence on this planet as well- even the Grandfather Willow wasn¡¯t at that level to Anton¡¯s understanding. No, it was simply because¡­ neither twig nor leaf was as it seemed. The line of ants brought them to a beetle, and then back along their same route through the low bush. It was a small beetle such that a small number of them could carry it together, as well as various other bits of food they found along the way. And when the last of them stepped down to the ground, the bush followed. Or at least, a half dozen parts of it. One stick bug, and a handful of leaf bugs. Such creatures were normally herbivorous to Anton¡¯s understanding, but that didn¡¯t stop them from following the ants back to their mound and then beginning to pick them off. Anton wondered at first if it was because the ants were competition for the others¡¯ favorite leaves, but then he saw that they ate some of the ants and the beetle as well. To break through the beetle¡¯s shell with small mouths, they used a bit of natural energy. And thus the very small amounts of natural energy inside the smaller insects made its way into the stick and leaf brethren. Anton stepped closer, but any time they got a whiff of his natural energy they froze and tried to appear dead. And not just dead, but completely devoid of natural energy. Unappetizing to anything that could actually damage them, Anton figured. This time he¡¯d had enough of simply observing, and decided to actually approach them. He picked up the leaf insects and the larger stick bug, laying them on his flat palm. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you happen to speak?¡± he muttered quietly, not wanting to disturb them with too much sound pressure. Of course he knew that if they did have language, it was probably related to their body movement or very low level sounds. Anton watched the insects carefully turn, looking each other in the eyes. Or something like that, at least, since they were one of the sorts with compound eyes. Perhaps they couldn¡¯t make him out as one distinct thing. But they could certainly sense his natural energy, restrained as it was. The creatures did a very good job of sitting still. Ultimately, with no response Anton just put them back down, grabbing a few leaves from further away to pay them back for their time and stress. He shook his head. This variety would take longer to communicate with. Time to go see what the meerkats were up to. ----- Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Three Squeaks spun around with joy as he not only created a spirit bow and fired a spirit arrow, but actually hit his target. The target did happen to be several times his size, and not all that far away, but he was actually making progress. ¡°Success!¡± That was at least close to the meaning of the sounds he was making. ¡°Good,¡± Anton hoped he was replicating relevant sounds. He was still uncertain how much overlap in understanding there was with the eagles and warthogs, so he had to limit himself to synthesized chittering and the like. Warthog sounds would be easier, though. ¡°Fire training!¡± Three Squeaks demanded. Anton nodded. ¡°Okay. Remember caution.¡± He picked up Three Squeaks, carrying him down next to the nearest river- an inconvenient walk for a creature so small, but a short trip for Anton even if he didn¡¯t make use of his true speed. They had begun training with fire and its relation to the sun, as Three Squeaks had shown great interest after he saw Anton cooking something. It had taken Anton some effort to convey the danger inherent before he would start teaching, but his little disciple had shown proper respect for all things dangerous- be they arrows or flame. Three Squeaks barely even showed off for his friends. He also seemed to be trying to convince others to learn from Anton, but they were still hesitant. Anton didn¡¯t mind letting them make their own decisions on that. Down by the river, Anton had Three Squeaks create a simple ball of fire, with the water being convenient in case he failed to properly insulate himself. Fire cultivators would always get used to it eventually, but Three Squeaks was still a novice in intentional cultivation. But he¡¯d managed to complete the first full body tempering- which mostly involved retreading the same path the meerkats cultivated naturally- and Anton was now trying to figure out how to explain the choice involved with the second star to him. Ultimately he settled for a slightly gruesome but practical demonstration, separating out the parts of a dead rat. One that Anton had been quite sure that lacked sapience, of course. The main part that Anton couldn¡¯t physically show were meridians, which were only half physical. And he didn¡¯t think he got across the message about how tempering the head and brain would help with thinking. Or maybe he did, because Three Squeaks had chosen that first. That had forced Anton to come up with a way to demonstrate to Three Squeaks, and come up with ways to exercise his mind to speed the process. It wasn¡¯t just about flooding the head with natural energy. The traditional things were reading and puzzles, but reading was not possible. He didn¡¯t know if the meerkats could read, but he certainly hadn¡¯t seen any writing of theirs even in their dens. So it was either so obscured he couldn¡¯t recognize it or they didn¡¯t have any. As for puzzles, most of them were meant for humans who already understood certain concepts. Ultimately, Three Squeaks got baby toys. And rather than having difficulty understanding that he had to fit square pegs in square holes and ¡®star¡¯ shaped ones in the same hole, he had greater difficulty moving the carved chunks of wood with his paws. Which did give him good practice using his natural energy to help lift and maneuver, so that was an indirect win. They moved back and forth between that, archery, sun observation, and fire practice. Three Squeaks looked at the ball of fire in front of him, and dunked it into the water. He watched steam rise, and his power fade. Then he did it again. And then he jumped into the water and tried to create fire inside the water. Three Squeaks probably thought he just wasted his energy for his last attempt, which was basically true, but ultimately he did heat the flowing water a little bit as it passed by. Just barely enough to notice. Then it was time for him to go home, and Anton carried Three Squeaks to just outside meerkat territory. He didn¡¯t want to barge into their space. Since the attack by the eagles and warthogs, there hadn¡¯t been any further incidents. Not with those, at least. There had been a few mundane snakes, but the guards were prepared for them and swiftly defeated them. ----- Anton wondered if he had a problem. Then he rationalized that what he was doing was a solution. And ultimately, it didn¡¯t matter what his mind was doing when his body automatically went through the motions of planting. His small field was on the far side of the hill, surrounded by a little fence to keep out stompy warthogs and the like. Planted there were a number of plants that grew well with natural energy. He wasn¡¯t quite certain if they would grow with the red sun above, though its intensity should be within tolerance given the distance. It was a good star, even if its ego was a bit inflated and it was puffed up. The plants were to feed himself, Anton said. He had to work on himself, after all. But of course inevitably some of it would go to his newest disciple, and he¡¯d want to teach the meerkats to manage fields themselves. They could manage the important parts just fine, and the local area rained sufficiently that they could get by with natural water. And Anton was already committing to improving this planet long term. Even though he¡¯d been there for a month. And even though he wasn¡¯t completely certain that it would be a good idea to interfere with a planet of beasts developing sapience by teaching them to cultivate intentionally. On the other hand, it was better to do that than have their best method of growth to be eating others with cultivation. The only problem was that doing both was probably even faster than individually, so if they were willing to meditate on insights and consume others things would be quite different. In other words, Anton was going to have to teach beasts why it was immortal to eat thinking creatures, and he couldn¡¯t use his traditional fallback of transmitted diseases. Or at least it wasn¡¯t quite as relevant between different species, though there were likely some shared diseases or parasites. But before he could truly do any of that, he needed to be able to talk. He wondered what people would say- or might have already said- in response to his messages about a variety of thinking beasts. He would find out soon, as the messages returned to him. Chapter 758 At a glance, Anton¡¯s activities upon Akrys didn¡¯t seem important. And indeed, Anton thought that the argument could be made that he was wasting his time- but not because he was aiding meerkats. Rather, it was because they had a relatively small population. Any thinking creatures should be valued as humans, and Anton was simply defending and empowering a village. Its inhabitants just happened to be smaller and furrier than most of the villages Anton knew about. And he didn¡¯t intend to limit himself to one village. He was beginning to pick up the rhythms and flow of the language, shared at least locally between beasts. He listened to the meerkats, the eagles, the warthogs, and some gazelles. Obviously their ability to vocalize was quite different between each, but there was a similar pattern of sounds that could be picked out with time. The current state of things on the planet was far too chaotic for Anton¡¯s tastes. Unthinking beasts could live in the wilds and kill each other, as that was their baseline state of being. But when sapience came into the picture, slaughtering and being slaughtered no longer fit. If every species had heightened intelligence, there might be problems- carnivores had to eat, after all- but there were plenty of non-sapient individuals for them to consume. And while Anton was currently biased against the warthogs and eagles, he still hoped for them to have their own growth and prosperity. Just so long as it didn¡¯t involve eating the wrong things. Though he also understood how much more attractive thinking creatures were as food, as they were more likely to have a greater cultivation. Anton began to roam a larger area, making his presence known to the inhabitants of the local area. Anton found that while he always planned to leave people to their own devices, once he saw issues he thought he could fix he would always act. And beyond uplifting the lifestyles of the creatures dwelling on the planet, he was surveying to figure out the mysteries of how it came about. Life did not spontaneously arise- at least not life that shared familiar creatures. Humans must have some involvement with the planet, but he could find no trace of them. The meandering path Anton found himself on took him close to the leader of the warthogs. Anton had the thought to avoid that individual, but ultimately decided there was no point. He understood he was in the warthog¡¯s territory now, so if it felt like attacking him he would leave it unharmed. That might teach him something, or it might not. But Anton hoped there might be something more. The warthog was stubbornly standing on its injured leg, the tendons still in the process of recovery. Though that was far better than would be expected of an unintelligent beast. Either consciously or subconsciously, the warthog must have used his natural energy to encourage the healing process. The large hog took a few steps away from the edge of the pool where it had been resting as Anton approached. It squeaked and squealed, but Anton managed to pick out a modicum of understanding. At least, he thought so. ¡°Kill.¡± No, despite the aggressive stance, the sound seemed more questioning. The warthog repeated the noises. ¡°Here¡­ kill?¡± Anton shook his head. The gesture might not mean much, but he did his best to replicate some sounds. He hoped it sounded like some equivalent of ¡®not necessary¡¯. Then he demonstrated, shooting an arrow off into the distance where he let it fade away. The warthog snorted. ¡°Strange shape. Strange energy.¡± Whether it was him or the bow that was a strange shape, Anton agreed. While the meerkats stood upright, their form was quite different from a human. And Anton hadn¡¯t seen monkeys or apes around which might be somewhat similar to humans. ¡°I am human,¡± Anton answered, though since they didn¡¯t have a word for ¡®human¡¯ he said that as he normally would. They also didn¡¯t have the word for cultivator so¡­ ¡°One of energy.¡± The beasts seemed to have a word for that, at least. He had the most practice replicating meerkat speech, so he wasn¡¯t certain if he was getting everything across. ¡°Strange voice.¡± ¡°Normally I sound like this,¡± Anton said in his normal voice. Then he swapped back to his facsimile of the language, ¡°But this speech is new.¡± The creature tottered forward. ¡°Speak with eagles bad.¡± He probably meant that the deal was a bad one. Anton presumed the beast¡¯s grammar was better than he was understanding, but that was the limit of what he could comprehend. ¡°Eagles too¡­ hungry,¡± Anton agreed. He didn¡¯t know a word for greedy, so that would have to do. ¡°Fight not worthwhile. No more fighting.¡± ¡°Good. I am happy,¡± Anton said. He thought the guy looked a little hungry, so he pulled out a bundle of carrots. ¡°Eat and recover.¡± He set them down on the ground and let the warthog approach them. He sniffed, then bit into them. ¡°Much energy. Good.¡± Anton would have loved to tell him about growing crops, but he simply didn¡¯t have the words. ¡°Special food,¡± Anton said. There weren¡¯t any other words for them to exchange, so Anton continued on his way. At some point he intended to speak with the remaining eagles, but he needed a more developed vocabulary to get the answers he wanted. They were staying far away from the meerkats, but just because they weren¡¯t immediately doing anything Anton disapproved of didn¡¯t mean they¡¯d actually learned any sort of lesson. Besides don¡¯t go against him in particular, which was not Anton¡¯s ultimate goal. ----- If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Among the various responses Anton got to his discovery the most relevant was from the Great Queen. ¡°I need to see it. Paradise had no input and likely couldn¡¯t come anyway. Expect my arrival in several months.¡± Anton couldn¡¯t exactly tell her not to come. For one, she was likely already on her way by the time the response arrived. And he trusted her enough to not cause too much trouble. Besides, they could have a discussion in person about whether or not the void ants should make a colony here, though Anton¡¯s initial reaction was that they shouldn¡¯t. The void ants could easily be disruptive, and their ability to communicate was limited simply due to their size. They couldn¡¯t control natural energy, so they couldn''t replicate sounds either. The void ants might be able to cultivate a balance, but the planet already seemed to be in a state of equilibrium. It had likely been in the same state for centuries at minimum. Probably much longer, for life to have spread to every corner. Unless whoever brought the life carried vast quantities with them to begin with, which Anton found somewhat unlikely. The balance of animals was just one factor in Anton¡¯s understanding of the planet. The other important factor was all of the herbs he spotted- a wide variety of them all used by cultivators. They were known to grow naturally so it could have been a coincidence, but Anton kept circling back to things. Either all of the familiar life was brought to this place, or had come from this place. The latter seemed quite unlikely, however, given the lack of humans and the obvious remnants of humans. More likely was that someone had seeded this place with life, intending to settle here. And then they simply¡­ hadn¡¯t. If they had been waiting for the tides of the world, Akrys should have been at least one or three centuries settled. It would have been in a similar state any time within the last few centuries, that Anton was certain of given the ages of certain trees. But ultimately, Anton didn¡¯t think he could know for certain why this place was as it was. The only thing he might be able to ascertain was why there were more awakened beasts than he would expect. Any amount was already rare, and while Anton could think of one crazy individual who had more than once filled out ecosystems nothing spoke of Everheart¡¯s work like the complete lack of any and all formations. Or deathtraps of any kind. Or particularly exotic creatures. Anton also had the feeling that the awakenings were more recent. He didn¡¯t have the capability to ask about the long past yet, but the beasts were intelligent enough he would have expected them to develop their cultivation abilities more if they had been around for a large number of generations. Though there was something to be said for the assumption that cultivation only grew from devouring others with natural energy. Then again, Anton had found stronger beasts elsewhere, the feeling of their cultivations more intentional than simply being gorged on natural energy. Yet even if some actively cultivated, that continued to support his theory that it was a recent development- or one group would have likely grown to dominate the area. But of course, recent could be a few centuries. It wasn¡¯t known when humans had first begun to grasp the concepts of cultivation, but based on the cycles in the lower realms going from a basic practice with techniques destroyed could result in Life Transformation cultivators or beyond within six hundred years. There was a significant difference between having cultivation methods stolen and destroyed and losing the very knowledge of cultivation. Which ultimately led Anton back to the idea that this was a new beginning, though it could have been taking shape since before he was born. If Anton had to pick a likely culprit for strange happenings on a planet, he would choose either the terrain and planet type in general¡­ or their star. And while he knew he was biased towards stars, he still found that a viable candidate for study. ----- Three Squeaks was upset when Anton told him he wouldn¡¯t be around for a while, but it was an important step in the process. He wanted to explore more of Akrys¡­ and he wanted to see if the meerkat colony would be safe without him showing himself. It was likely that the meerkats could handle an eagle attack, but they would likely lose some of their members without his aid. Anton would prefer there wasn¡¯t an attack though. He wasn¡¯t planning to just go to different parts of Akrys either. Soon enough he had to at least explore the nearest systems, as he wanted to eventually patrol the border. There wasn¡¯t a set timeframe for that, but he didn¡¯t want to let years slip by either. A couple months, though, he could spare quite easily. ¡°If you leave it is dangerous,¡± Three Squeaks said. Anton leaned down and gave his disciple a pat on his tiny head. ¡°Danger before, danger after. You are a guard for a reason. But I have something for you.¡± Part of his days Anton had spent looking for just the right materials, combining with what he had in his bags already. Eventually he¡¯d found materials just good enough to produce a tiny bow. The draw weight was barely a couple kilograms- but that was more than the full weight of a meerkat. It was about the heaviest Three Squeaks could manage at the moment, at least without involving his natural energy to empower himself further. Which was the whole point of giving him a physical bow, letting him focus on just the arrows. Anton dangled the bow from Three Squeaks outstretched paws. Another reason it had taken him some time was he needed to modify the design for non-human use. He also needed a string that could remain in tension pretty much indefinitely, as at the current moment unstringing the bow would be impractical. The string also had a protector in the middle, given that the meerkat¡¯s surprisingly sharp claws would be pulling on it. There was also the special grip for the shaft so he could push against the bow with his other paw rather than gripping. It still would have been difficult to draw and string an arrow, but that was where Spirit Arrows shone. Three Squeaks just stared at the weapon for a few moments, his eyes sparkling. Then he slung it over his shoulder, using a small bit of natural energy to make up for not being able to grip. ¡°I can use it on the target?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°You must be safe while alone.¡± Three Squeaks was clearly excited, but he took the time to acknowledge Anton. ¡°Safe practice first. I will learn much.¡± Anton almost wanted to see what happened if the eagles tried to return. But Anton knew there were better ways for Three Squeaks to demonstrate his proficiency. Anton saw him shoot down a thumb sized beetle once. Not impressive in size, but it was a pretty complex task for a beginning cultivator to form bow and arrow and aim. Anton trusted Three Squeaks and the other guards to do their best. But just in case¡­ he would only be going out of sight for an extended period, not actually away from where he could aid them. Chapter 759 Paradise had deviated from his patterns for the first time in as long as Erin could remember. While he didn¡¯t have a set route for his migrations between Aicenith and Brogora, he had generally moved back and forth across the sea continuously. Now he was circling around a small area in the middle of the sea. He had previously stopped eating, and that hadn¡¯t changed¡­ but he seemed healthy enough at least. The other behavior was perhaps a bit more worrying, though Erin was beginning to understand his desires. He would dive down to the deepest part of the sea, then build up momentum as he swam towards the surface, breaching and launching himself into the air. Erin got the feeling that he began to linger in the air for just a few moments longer every time. Obviously it caused quite a bit of commotion among the sect and other residents. Visitors no doubt would have been concerned as well, except the number of individuals that came to Paradise had fallen over the years. While there had been many who stopped by out of necessity in the middle of a sailing voyage, such times were gone. And the inconsistent location of Paradise didn¡¯t make him any good for planned tourism. Since he¡¯d gone away from his normal habits, it was mostly just the permanent residents that remained with him. Phoenixes flew around him, encouraging his attempts even if he didn¡¯t clearly communicate what he actually wished. Those phoenixes that survived beyond the destruction of the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s Ultimate Phoenix Sect had first taken up shelter with Paradise, but they had long since expanded around Ceretos and to other planets. But the original handful refused to leave him behind, and their lifespans were most likely longer than cultivators in general. Erin knew that Paradise wanted to fly, but he didn¡¯t seem to want help. Anton had given him his initial experience, but any time Erin tried to assist Paradise gently rejected her control of the shared energy. It seemed he was learning a new application- different from his main one of bombarding targets with vast amounts of water. Erin had the feeling that he would somehow succeed one day, but she was uncertain if he wanted to stop there. But she planned to continue supporting him in whatever he intended. ----- Every day, Chikere drew closer to the core of the Limitless Edge Sect. Every day was more challenging, with more foes of a greater caliber coming to face her. Worse yet, she was running out of blades. She only had her fifty strongest left, and that was being generous as some of those in the middle of that pack had been destroyed with others moved up in rank. The logical thing to do was stop her crusade. But it wasn¡¯t Chikere¡¯s job to be the logical one, and she knew that if she did something inside of her would break. The swords carried by the Limitless Blade Sect were as perfect as she had ever seen, and she had to have them. The fact that they disappeared upon the death of their disciples didn¡¯t matter. She would find some way, if only she kept searching. Their tactics continued to confuse her. The disciples seemed almost incompetent in their individual ways, making obvious mistakes. And yet, she was barely able to exploit those mistakes- and she found herself struggling more the further she went. Which was exactly why she had to continue on her path. It was only when she was challenged that she would grow. When she arrived on their core planet, she was surprised to find there was no barrier to break through. Not around the planet, nor around the core buildings of the sect. And even as she walked through their gates, there was no one to stop her. Not there, at least. But she could sense up ahead was her target. Both a person, and the true blade. If there was any way to take it from their grasp, this would be the place. Chikere couldn¡¯t help but tremble as she approached. Some small amount of it was fatigue, built up after constant battle on her journeys. But the rest of it was excitement and anticipation. And perhaps another part of it¡­ fear. The closer she got, the more she could feel the full power of her foe. Her blades danced around her as she approached. Chikere couldn¡¯t quite tell if her opponent was at the peak of Augmentation or a single step into Domination, and she didn¡¯t care. She stepped forward into the great hall of a grand castle. Or at least what would have been a grand castle if it was not bare of all adornments. It was even missing ornamental swords on the wall. In front of Chikere, surprisingly, stood a woman. Obviously she herself knew that women were just as capable in the arena of cultivation and combat as others, but the sorts drawn to the blade tended to be different. Furthermore, she had expected her opponent to look like¡­ more. Instead, she was very plain. Neither young nor old, neither terribly scarred nor beautiful. Her skin was dark, darker than Chikere¡¯s. In most other respects she fell into the middle of the pack. But of course, it was more strange to expect something different. Because one dedicated to the sword wouldn¡¯t bother with such vanities as changing how they looked. ¡°Why are you here?¡± the woman asked. ¡°I¡¯m here to take your sword,¡± Chikere declared. ¡°Is that all?¡± the woman asked. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°What else would there be?¡± ¡°A reasonable answer,¡± the woman said, lifting the arm that had been dangling at her side, the perfect blade pointed towards Chikere. ¡°Better than those who seek a bounty on my head, at least.¡± The first move was one that Chikere had seen a thousand times, no, tens of thousands. A simple thrust that was just as simply countered with a straightforward parry. Or at least it should have been, but the three blades Chikere dedicated to the task found themselves insufficient. Two crossed each other and the third pressed its side against them from behind, supporting their power. Chikere¡¯s mental hands twisted them to wrench the attack off course. She was only successful in the barest sense of the word. Despite the sharp edges of her enemy¡¯s blade being angled away from her own weapons, they were still cut through upon impact. A hole appeared in the pillar behind Chikere to her left as the thrust was directed just off target. The following exchanges continued in the same manner, whether Chikere was on offense or defense. Two dozen blades swarmed her opponent, but their paths were all intercepted, the woman moving with perfect and practiced grace yet at the same time in impossible and incorrect patterns. Chikere knew that it wasn¡¯t possible for the woman to step back and twist her body to avoid the attacks, and yet it happened. She blocked every angle of movement, but the woman always countered with the one thing nobody should ever try. Ninety-nine times out of one hundred, such movements should have gotten her killed. No, perhaps more than that. How could she get practical experience with such a thing? Or with any of her moves, really. Every stab, slash, sweep, and strike was something Chikere knew was flawed and easy to counter¡­ or it should have been, if she could have anticipated it. Instead, each exchange lost her a blade. The one from Everheart¡¯s moon tomb that had grown on a tree was not really capable of battling on the level of Augmentation cultivators, but it had still been a good one, around the twenty-fifth rank. It was sliced in two, from point to hilt. Even Sadiq¡¯s blades were unworthy. He had forged Chikere many blades made from the materials of a cultivator¡¯s blade along with their essence, most lesser than the tournament prize masterpiece he¡¯d made but still of the highest quality. Yet one of those was cut apart like paper. Locks of Chikere¡¯s hair fell to the ground as rivulets of blood dripped down her head, her arms, and generally all over her body. She was going to die. Her weapons weren¡¯t good enough. Or perhaps it was herself that was insufficient. Blaming the blades seemed hardly fair. There was only one way to win. She would have to transcend her own limits. That was what she was here for, after all. So she continued to clash weapons, looking for an opening even as her tournament sword had a slice taken off of its edge. When the time came, Chikere¡¯s hand flashed up. Her right hand, the whole arm a replacement for the one she lost in the same event that had connected her to Sadiq. Her fingers closed around the sides of the sword, suppressing her opponent¡¯s energy. She twisted, striking the woman¡¯s wrist with her left hand and disarming the blade. Chikere knew this one was real. No, all of the Limitless Blade Sect¡¯s weapons had been just as real, as they were this sword. But with it in her hands, it could not disappear from her grasp. She cut across the throat of her enemy¡­ then looked into her empty hands. There was one exception, of course. Her opponent had to have a greater will, dominant instinct for fighting with a blade, or greater technique. In this case, Chikere had the feeling it was all of them as she was unable to hold onto the weapon even for a single attack. Her remaining blades crossed in front of her as the woman swept the Limitless Blade down upon her. A dozen crossed swords fought together¡­ and lost. All they were able to buy Chikere was just a bit of momentum as she caught the blade in her palm, the impossibly complex machinery nearly severed in half. And then¡­ the battle was over. Both combatants knew it. Because without a single sword to her name, she couldn¡¯t be a swordsman of any kind, let alone a swordmaster or grandmaster. She looked at the cut in her hand, the mechanisms sending artificial pain responded to her body. Then she wandered away in a daze. The last time she had been defeated so thoroughly, it had been by Swordmaster Rahayu. It had happened in an instant instead of over the course of a few minutes, but here the results were more devastating in a certain manner. She would have much preferred to have her heart pierced than to be without her swords. She looked back at the shards of her blades as she reached the threshold of the grand hall, pieces of rubble and stone littering the area along with them. She reached out, intending to call them to her. But of course, they would not come. Because they were no longer swords, and she was no longer a person who deserved to control swords. With nowhere to go, she simply walked down the main path of the sect, no destination in mind. But just because the grandmaster had let her go did not mean that she was truly free. If it had been disciples of the Limitless Blade Sect she might have been able to defeat them. Or perhaps she might have fallen to the weakest member, as she was. It was difficult to say. Instead, she found a number of different individuals descending on her. Mere Integration cultivators, the sort of odds she would have scoffed at a day before, when she was able to defeat even a single opponent in battle instead of losing. When she could fight with swords, or at all. ¡°Grandmaster Chikere of Xankeshan and the Scarlet Alliance,¡± said one of them. ¡°That is who you are, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°... Everything is true but that first part,¡± she said. She¡¯d certainly come from Xankeshan. She had friends in the Scarlet Alliance. But Grandmaster? Not anymore. Nor was she sure if she was even Chikere, now. ¡°You¡¯re coming with us to answer some questions.¡± She didn¡¯t resist. In fact, she didn¡¯t do anything at all. She didn¡¯t think about the shackles placed upon her as she was carried away, because they didn¡¯t matter. Shackles were meant to keep people from acting as they pleased, and Chikere didn¡¯t have anything she either wanted to do or could do. So they didn¡¯t mean anything. Chapter 760 The powerful one who watched the sun had a strange name from the perspective of his newest disciple, but he nearly pronounced Three Squeaks like a native. In turn, Three Squeaks found it difficult to say Anton. There were a lot of weird things going on to make that sound that didn¡¯t make any sense. Fortunately, the powerful one didn¡¯t mind. He was understanding and patient. But Three Squeaks didn¡¯t know if he was nearly as patient. It had been two paws worth of sunrises and sunsets that he had not seen Anton, and he was beginning to wonder if he would ever return. The ¡®human¡¯ showed up out of nowhere, and perhaps he had returned to wherever he was from. That would be unfortunate, as Three Squeaks hadn¡¯t been able to learn much from him. Not compared to what it seemed he knew. Looking at Anton was a lot like looking at the sun, and it was difficult to compare himself to the power within Anton. But it was much more than the eagles and warthogs and perhaps everything Three Squeaks had ever seen or would ever see. Knowing that the teacher would be displeased if he slacked off on his training, Three Squeaks spend every dawn and dusk training, though during the middle of the day he had to watch over the colony. He would patrol around the area, watching for eagles and snakes and anything else that would want to eat them. The bow in his paws was a pleasant weight, drawing it back and creating an arrow from almost nothing. He had spotted a snake, a deadly striker¡­ yet one that strangely didn¡¯t cause him fear any longer. Not if he could spot them from afar. His arrow flew forward, into the surprised creature. Though it sprang its coiled body to try to dodge, it was too slow to avoid having its body pierced. A deep puncture rapidly caused it to bleed to death, and it was too afraid to approach Three Squeaks regardless. If it had been the kind that had natural energy it would have been a bit tougher, but Three Squeaks was confident in facing them alone without risking the others. He continued on his way, enjoying the midday sun. The heat bore down on him and the world around, radiating from the dirt and stones and even the plants. But some things felt different, providing their own heat. Including a figure tucked behind some grass. Three Squeaks pulled back the grass to spot an older female, lying on her side unconscious. She bore no wounds, but he could see the signs of sun fatigue. A terrible consequence of too much exposure to the most glorious sun. Three Squeaks slung his bow over his shoulder like Anton did- though he had to make sure it pinched the fur just right, as unlike whatever Anton was his shoulders didn¡¯t stretch far to the side. He lifted the other meerkat with his paws, standing unsteadily on just his rear feet. Ever since he awoke his natural energy he had gained the strength to lift one of his own, but moving around with them and keeping balance was harder. Meerkats were meant to move on all fours. But he did have to admit that having his front paws free to do things was quite useful. It was an arduous trek down to the river, carrying someone and having to watch for danger at the same time. Three Squeaks had much smaller stride than the master as well. But he made it, and dunked the female into the water to cool her off. He splashed water on her head, though he kept that on shore so she could breathe. It didn¡¯t seem like quite enough, so he used his energy to form a few droplets of water into a single mass, floating them carefully into the female¡¯s mouth. She swallowed reflexively. A few minutes later, she came to consciousness. ¡°Where am I?¡± she turned, startled. ¡°Shadysands Burrow,¡± Three Squeaks replied. ¡°Or close to it. You fell to sun exposure.¡± ¡°Shadysands Burrow? Good. I am from Lowcliff Burrow. We need your help.¡± ¡°We have been friends,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I can bring you to the burrow to get the others. But first take another drink.¡± As she did so, he introduced himself. ¡°I am Three Squeaks. Who are you?¡± ¡°I am called Sustained Chittering.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a long thing to be called,¡± Three Squeaks said. He had little else to offer, and soon enough Sustained Chittering felt well enough to move. She was slow, but faster than Three Squeaks carrying her. As they approached the guards, Three Squeaks passed on the message. ¡°Lowcliff Burrow is in danger. We must meet with the chief and captain of the guard.¡± The message was passed along ahead of them, so by the time they were in the tunnels and making their way to the larger meeting chamber, people were there waiting. The chief was older, but had a history of wisdom. He spoke as they entered. ¡°Tell us of the danger with Lowcliff Burrow.¡± ¡°One of the jackal clans has learned of our location, and they come to attack us at night. They have burrowers, and can dig their way into our tunnels and snatch some of us for food. We need help fighting them, as we don¡¯t have many with natural energy.¡± ¡°How many are there? How strong?¡± the captain of the guard asked. ¡°One of advanced energy like yourself. Four others with energy, and several more that guard our exits. We can¡¯t deal with them all at once. If you come with us and three- no, even two of your warriors¡­¡± Sustained Chittering pleaded. ¡°We cannot help you,¡± the captain of the guard said. ¡°It is too many to spare, and we have our own dangers as well.¡± ¡°Your burrow can join us,¡± the chief added. ¡°We have room for more and would be stronger together.¡± ¡°But we can¡¯t make the journey. It is too far with our young, and would require spending a night outside and vulnerable.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I am sorry. But we can¡¯t spare the people,¡± the captain of the guard said. ¡°We have to help!¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°What is the point of being stronger if we just stay in our burrows?¡± ¡°If we survive, that is all that matters,¡± the chief said. Three Squeaks shook his head. He¡¯d always had feelings that it wasn¡¯t enough, but it was only recently that those feelings grew stronger- and there was actually a possibility of doing more. ¡°I will go alone,¡± Three Squeaks declared. He kept his gaze on the captain of the guard, who stared back. Eventually, the captain responded. ¡°Do as you will. I hope you return in safety.¡± ----- Three Squeaks and Sustained Chittering wasted no time, as it was already afternoon. There would likely be another attack on Lowcliff Burrow within a night or two, so they had no time to lose- and the journey wouldn¡¯t be quick. The two of them picked out tasty bugs and roots along the way to sustain themselves. They moved quickly, but still had a few moments to converse along the way. Chittering was rather curious about one thing. ¡°Why do you carry a stick thing wrapped around you?¡± she asked. ¡°It is a weapon,¡± Three Squeaks explained. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look sharp like claws or teeth. Is it really any good?¡± ¡°You will see. When we find the jackals.¡± With more time to recover, Sustained Chittering moved faster than before. She had a small amount of internal natural energy, though it didn¡¯t seem she knew how to use it much. Then again, Three Squeaks had barely known a few weeks ago. Something brought Three Squeaks¡¯ attention to the sky. Then he saw it. ¡°An eagle! Take cover!¡± As he said that, he stood up on his hind legs, unslinging his bow. This was not one of the more dangerous eagles, but rather one without natural energy. Perhaps lacking intelligence altogether, though Three Squeaks wasn¡¯t inclined to ask as it dove towards them. Instead, he drew back his bow, nocking a Spirit Arrow. Then he released, the Spirit Arrow zipping forward like a buzzing fly. It went deep into the unprotected chest of the bird, sending it tumbling to the ground far from the two of them. Sustained Chittering poked her head out of a nearby scrub bush. ¡°That is a strange weapon. It didn¡¯t touch the eagle, but instead threw¡­ something?¡± ¡°It was my natural energy,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°But that goes in or around the body. It can¡¯t¡­ do that.¡± ¡°It can,¡± he said. ¡°If you learn.¡± ¡°Teach me.¡± ¡°Well, I¡­¡± Three Squeaks had spoken confidently, but did he really know enough to teach Sustained Chittering? ¡°I learned from someone else. He would be better.¡± ¡°Is he here?¡± she looked around. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then you are the best one.¡± ¡°I can try to teach you,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°But you have to learn other things first.¡± They found a nice rocky overhang around sundown, during which time Three Squeaks did his best to instruct her on proper sun viewing, and how to get power from it. Then they dug a temporary burrow to provide some semblance of shelter in addition to the overhang. Three Squeaks hoped they were moving fast enough. ----- Sustained Chittering was eager to return home, but Three Squeaks had to remind her that she also had to take breaks. Resting in the shade and consuming food and water were critical for dealing with the harshness of the sun. ¡°We don¡¯t want you to have the same thing happen as when you came to us,¡± Three Squeaks pointed out. ¡°I can¡¯t carry you far and don¡¯t know where there are rivers.¡± Chittering only begrudgingly accepted slowing down, even though it was clear she was fatiguing quickly. But Three Squeaks did have a logic to his words. It was shortly before sundown that they arrived at the Lowcliff Burrow. ¡°You returned!¡± one of the lookouts said. ¡°Did you bring warriors from the Shadysands Burrow?¡± He looked at Three Squeaks as he said that. ¡°Just me, unfortunately,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°We have had many dangers ourselves.¡± The lookout hung his head dejectedly. ¡°We are glad to have you, at least. You feel¡­ strong?¡± Three Squeaks was indeed a little bit stronger than he had been before, but his ability to use that strength was what had most changed about him. He looked at the burrow- or rather the area around it. As the origin of its name, it was below a cliff. This protected from many flying predators, and most others except snakes that could slither into the den. Most larger burrowers wouldn¡¯t put in the effort to dig into the dens. There must be some motivation for these particular jackals. ¡°Were there more attacks?¡± Chittering asked. ¡°Not yet, but¡­ we have seen some of them lingering around.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going up there,¡± Three Squeaks pointed to the top of the cliff. ¡°To look for enemies?¡± the lookout asked. ¡°And to fight them.¡± ¡°But they won¡¯t be climbing the cliffs¡­¡± the lookout said vaguely as Three Squeaks searched for a good route up. There were decent slopes on the far side, so he used that as his method to top the cliff. It was a small cliff, only several times the height of Anton, but that was many times the height of a meerkat. Three Squeaks found himself filled with vertigo as he looked down. But he could see for a far distance in many directions. And he spotted some of the jackals. He needed a plan. Obviously, he wasn¡¯t enough to fight them all. But he didn¡¯t have to defeat all of them. Just make things bad enough that it wasn¡¯t worth the effort for them to stay. To that end, he couldn¡¯t attack the strongest one. No, he had to take out the weaker ones. The only problem with his plan¡­ he would be isolated from the others. If they took him as a target after he started attacking them, he might be in danger. But he would be safer here than directly outside the den. And he couldn¡¯t shoot his bow from inside. Night fell, and the jackals began to approach. They were large targets, at least. Accuracy was difficult for things that weren¡¯t charging directly towards Three Squeaks, but he thought he could hit these things. All that practice with Anton had to be worth it, right? Chapter 761 From atop the modest cliff, Three Squeaks didn¡¯t think the jackals looked all that big. Certainly not three times his own length. But as they got closer to Lowcliff Burrow, he began to be able to compare them to the others. Too slow. He¡¯d waited too long, and had to take a shot. The leader of the pack was too much for him to handle, but one of the small ones? They were perfect targets. He condensed his natural energy, trying to match the density of power that Anton had. It was impossible, of course. Even on the tiny bow he had, Three Squeaks doubted he could make something with that much power fit his bow. But that was still the state he aimed for with his first shot. Three Squeaks had been aiming for the spine, just behind the skull. He considered himself quite lucky to hit the ribcage halfway down his target¡¯s back, because his hands were trembling and he wasn¡¯t all that good of a shot to begin with. But at least the power was there, poking a hole two claws deep. The jackal cried out, stumbling to the side. There was no time to rest. He took a deep breath, aiming for the next one. The burrow was in danger, every jackal that reached them likely to eat at least one of the inhabitants once they dug them out. His second arrow barely scratched the shoulder of a second target, but his third got that same one in the eye, flying deep into the brain. By the fifth arrow, Three Squeaks realized that the jackals were no longer charging towards the burrows, but instead running around the side of the cliff. Looking for a way to him. Mission accomplished, he supposed. But he couldn¡¯t exactly fight all of the remaining enemies. What could he do? He wasn¡¯t much of a climber, and it was a long drop. Furthermore, if they just ran back down after him¡­ Three Squeaks looked at the dim light around, and realized he did have one more thing. He wasn¡¯t all that good at it yet, but it should be effective. If it worked. He called upon the power of fire, his remembrance of the sun. Heat filled his paws, forming into an arrow. He could sense the leader of the jackals halfway up the rise, about to come into view. The power grew hotter and more powerful, until he released it. Three Squeaks honestly couldn¡¯t tell if he hit. The bright fire clashed with the early darkness, and it quickly lost its shape, exploding across the cliff top. He wanted to turn and run, but he knew there was nowhere to go behind him. Fortunately, all of the jackals had the same idea, and they were more able to run. And tumble down the slopes, in some cases. It took a while to rub the light out of his eyes, but Three Squeaks didn¡¯t sense any more jackals nearby. He was barely able to catch sight of them scurrying off into the night. He looked down at his paws, feeling suddenly returning to them. They¡­ hurt. Scorch marks went halfway up to his body, and a little bit of his fur was still on fire. He didn¡¯t have enough control yet. But it was worth it. He just hoped the jackals wouldn¡¯t come back again later in the night. ----- Anton lowered his bow. It seemed he wouldn¡¯t need to interfere. He was glad for that, at least. His disciple seemed to be holding up well, and Anton would be able to leave for a short time without worrying about him- and the rest of those with him. He was especially pleased at Three Squeaks choosing to help another burrow, even if he had to do it alone. It was the right thing to do, even if the positions of the chief and captain of the guard had some logic. Anton didn¡¯t find that acting from a place of fear was usually the right response, but it was understandable at least. Anton didn¡¯t plan to be gone for long. He had to return before the Great Queen, at least. While he wasn¡¯t concerned about her, he was concerned about anything that might try to eat her. And Anton would prefer to shape her initial impressions of the planet and its populace. ----- Some systems along the border simply existed, no different for their positions than others. Anton could feel the emptiness beyond, where natural energy ended and ascension energy began beyond. It wasn¡¯t a straight line, but there was a clear path along which some systems were in the upper realms and others were not. And yet, Anton had the feeling that some were poised to drift between the two over the course of vast periods of time. Far more than a few centuries or even thousands of years, however. Nothing relevant to them at the current time. After surveying a few systems, Anton came upon another of interest. It was a binary star system with two red dwarfs and a few planets. One of them had life¡­ though if one was looking for more than lichens, mosses, and algae then they would be sorely disappointed. But Anton picked out more than just what was currently living. While the vast majority of bodies had decayed to nothing, he picked out some skeletons in preserving environments as well as clear signs of human made structures. Another planet destroyed by the upper realms, or had something else happened? Unfortunately, unlike Jinrisa which was meant to be forgotten, the writings of this planet were not well preserved. A few old formations still barely held together, indicating that the destruction of all but the people had not been completely thorough. Anton couldn¡¯t pick out any signs of still-living humans no matter where he looked, so unless they lived deep underground without any access to the surface he would have to say they were dead. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Among the few preserved writings he found a name for the planet. So¡¯gill. And he also found if not a reason for their destruction at least some explanation of how it happened. The Exalted Quadrant, this time. It was a shame, really, as some of their disciples had lived peacefully on Ceretos until they saw an opportunity for greater gain. That proved that the Exalted Quadrant at least should have the capacity to live peacefully in actuality, and chose not to. The Trigold Cluster¡¯s methods never really allowed that as a possibility, but Anton wasn¡¯t really certain if they were worse. He intended to come back to further survey So¡¯gill, but first he wanted a better picture of the immediate neighborhood. He generally spent just a day passing through each system, picking out planets and other features that couldn¡¯t be seen from afar. ----- Along his route Anton was a triple star system that he found somewhat interesting, three similarly sized red dwarfs with two circling around a center one on opposite ends. Before he could see the situation of the planets, however, he came across something at the edge of the system. He almost missed it, because the system wasn¡¯t contained within some sort of barrier formation. Instead, it was just a hunk of metal with a barely detectable energy signature. For the first two centuries of his life Anton would have been completely baffled by what it might be, but he knew things like this very well by now. Even if he didn¡¯t understand all of the parts that made him work, he still understood satellites and technological parts. And just a bit of natural energy, more like what Rutere was involved with before they had come in contact with Ceretos and had sufficient natural energy to advance their cultivation as well. After finding a single satellite, Anton found more orbiting at the ¡®edge¡¯ of the system. Such things were generally ill defined, but he figured whatever the people of a system chose for themselves had to count. The satellites should have some sort of sensors, or there was no point in having all of them out so far. Anton did his best to pick one out and place himself ¡®in front¡¯ of it. He doubted it would have sound sensors, but he waved and did his best to transmit his voice. ¡°Hello. I don¡¯t know if you can understand me, but I would like to talk to you.¡± Then Anton waited. And waited. While he did so, he swept his senses into the system trying to find their planets. That was about as much as he would be able to pick out at such a vast range, as well as the general existence of planetwide barriers or the like. It took him some time, but he finally picked out a single planet within the habitable zone. It had a decent size, though Anton couldn¡¯t pick out much more from the edge of the system. He waited some more. And then longer. ¡°Listen. It¡¯s been several days now, and it should have only taken a few hours to reach you. And with technology like this, you have to be able to fly out here faster than this, right? In other words, I¡¯m planning to come closer.¡± If they responded in an unfriendly manner, Anton would leave. But he had an odd feeling. And over the course of the next several hours as he drew closer to the planet, he finally began to understand. There was no response because something was wrong with the planet. Once he got close enough to feel any details at all, it was obvious. Anton had thought the planet had no moon, but he was wrong. In fact, it had about one third of a moon. This was not to say that it had a moon about a third as large as he would have expected, but rather that there was only a sort of bowl shape remaining of what should have once been a sphere. The rest of the moon was strangely splayed out on one side of the planet. With his recent experience smashing large celestial bodies together, Anton was certain that it made no sense. The other two thirds of the moon were basically a pile of rubble on the surface of the planet, clearly deforming the original shape, but the moon was large enough that it should have completely torn apart the planet if they crashed together. Instead things were as they were, with a large lump on one side of things, though gravity had squashed the two disparate masses together to be more or less vaguely spherical once more. The closer he got to the planet, the more certain he was that nobody was receiving anything from the satellites. There were no other planets in the system, and he didn¡¯t notice any satellites orbiting the planet itself instead of the system as a whole. That was extremely difficult to believe. There should have been at least some. But perhaps that was related to the more obvious issue in some way. When he finally arrived on the planet, he found life. Not as much as he would hope for, but some. Mostly on the side that seemed to contain most of the mass of the original planet. There were even people¡­ though the cities that they inhabited were far too large for their small populations to have built. And the encroaching wilderness painted a picture of what could have happened. Anton knew he would be spending much of his next few years both here and back on Akrys. Unless he was lucky and these people spoke a similar enough language, but Anton had some doubts. Given what he saw of their technology that incorporated little natural energy, they were likely more like Rutera. At least, before whatever disaster had befallen them. Either way, they were likely disconnected from the larger interactions of cultivators as a whole that seemed to drive language to remain in a similar state. So he would need to spend some time learning it¡­ and of course, others would be interested in coming to this place as well. Chapter 762 Most people did not have the power and influence to set off on a several hundred lightyear journey at a whim, but most were not the Great Queen of the void ants. That same power allowed her more leeway to act as she pleased, though she did have to rope others into her plans. Though she was capable of flight within a system, she needed a ship to travel between them, especially at a larger scale. Anton also knew that while she had acted quickly, most of her decisions were backed by reason. So while it was inconvenient that she would be showing up on Akrys without consulting him, she had to have a reason. Though any proper discussion would have to wait until after she arrived, since there was little that could be said properly in small snippets mid transit. Within a couple dozen lightyears there were three planets of note. Akrys with completely unanticipated life and a variety of thinking individuals, So¡¯gill with another story of destruction by the upper realms, and a third planet of technology for which a name had not yet been established. The border planets were of great interest, but most journeys would come after some months or years of planning. Anton wanted to explore more, but he needed to get back to Akrys. And not just because the Great Queen was on her way. Three Squeaks and the meerkats should be in a somewhat stable position, but his disciple was still ultimately near the beginning of his training. He might have completed the second star by now, and could use further guidance given that Anton couldn¡¯t leave written instructions. He didn¡¯t know if the meerkats could write, but if they did he hadn¡¯t comprehended it as writing and had certainly not learned the language well enough to translate. ----- Anton found Three Squeaks atop the hill at sunset, and gently settled down next to his meditating disciple. Surveying the changes in the area, Anton saw no signs of larger scale combat. The biggest difference was the members of the Lowcliff Burrow moving in with the Shadysands Burrow. He had been around for the beginning of that process, with Three Squeaks escorting the first group. That had been sufficient for Anton to be confident leaving things behind for a short time. Three Squeaks eventually finished his meditation, and quickly noticed Anton. ¡°Master Anton! You¡¯re back!¡± ¡°Of course. I said I would be,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°How has your training been?¡± ¡°I am almost at the second star!¡± Three Squeaks declared proudly. ¡°It feels like it¡¯s getting¡­ easier? Should it become easier?¡± Anton pondered for a moment. ¡°Sometimes, that is the way it is. Increased proficiency with cultivation is one contributing factor. And another¡­ if you are having success, then your cognition should improve.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t sure if all of that got across, because he wasn¡¯t confident about every word. But he believed Three Squeaks could discern the important parts of his meaning. Three Squeaks nodded slowly. ¡°My mind feels strangely clean. And I know why you planned for seasons after the next, now.¡± ¡°Surviving until the next season is important,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it will only get you so far.¡± Three Squeaks had a few specific cultivation questions, including about controlling fire. He didn¡¯t know Anton had been watching his somewhat fortunate explosion at the Lowhill Burrow, but Anton already had answers for how he could improve. Not that it would have taken more than a moment regardless. A few centuries of cultivation experience proved enough to answer pretty much anything a cultivator of a few months could possibly ask about. Except, of course, those things that were unknowable even at his current level. ----- The Great Queen¡¯s arrival came soon after Anton¡¯s return, though not by coincidence on his part. He sensed her ship in the skies above Aipra, almost certainly intended to catch his attention. He revealed his location to her, and she departed the small ship- leaving the pilot in orbit to occupy herself for however long the Great Queen might stay. It must cost a significant amount to hire a pilot for what was likely to be a year or more, but then again such employment was well within the means of the Great Queen. She had no care for money except as it could advance the void ant¡¯s prosperity, which ultimately meant she made certain that there were various income streams available. Though likely much less than a human cultivator of her prominence would achieve, it would be a vast amount from the perspective of any common person, despite how their own relative stature had grown. ¡°You departed quickly. Afraid I would tell you not to come?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I knew you or someone else would say that,¡± the Great Queen signed as she looked down upon the planet from midair. ¡°This is a nice place. I should set up a colony here.¡± ¡°I think this is exactly what people wouldn¡¯t want you to do,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Come now,¡± the Great Queen¡¯s forelimbs gestured seriously. ¡°Is it so different from your own interference? We are not planning to devour the inhabitants of this world. We will teach them the power of cooperation just as much as you wish to.¡± ¡°If you can communicate with them, you mean,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°While they have developed vocal languages here, many of them won''t be expecting a sign language¡­ from an ant.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not that weird,¡± the Great Queen huffed. ¡°Isn¡¯t it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Did you even have language at all when we first met?¡± ¡°Of course. The best and most straightforward kind.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°You could communicate with your colony, I am sure,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But would you be able to have complex discussions? Like about why the workers were supposed to do certain things?¡± ¡°Only the leadership needed to know,¡± the Great Queen protested. ¡°But I do understand that there is value of greater developments in such an area on a larger scale. I think that you should all try to develop better pheromone detection, though.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°For me, it will always be like reading a blurry book. It just won¡¯t be the same. And I can¡¯t replicate the effects upon you because¡­¡± Anton brushed her back with some natural energy, watching it soak into her. ¡°See?¡± ¡°Someone on Rutera made a machine that badly synthesized the pheromones,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Very badly. I suppose it is preferable to communicate like this,¡± she wiggled her antennae. ¡°And you with your air vibrations.¡± ¡°I can sign too, if you like,¡± Anton replicated the visuals of an ant¡¯s antennae and forelimbs. Since he was manipulating light, the effect could still reach a void ant. ¡°But it seems kind of¡­ weird.¡± ¡°Stick to your words,¡± the Great Queen agreed. She looked down at the world below. ¡°So, which is your favorite disciple?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything about having disciples,¡± Anton replied. The Great Queen looked at him. ¡°I¡¯ve known you for a long time. And I can smell your trail of energy. So if you won¡¯t tell me, I can just find them myself.¡± Rather than waiting for Anton¡¯s response, the Great Queen flew off- propelling herself in a manner that most wouldn¡¯t consider. She mainly propelled herself by devouring the energy in an area and letting that propel her, though there was some more advanced manipulation of the surrounding energy required for it to actually be quick, despite her size. She was only a bit larger than a finger, but that was actually quite hefty for an ant. Rather than try to argue with her, Anton just watched her fly along his trail, ultimately arcing towards the Shadysands Burrow. She landed on the hill, and pointed directly towards Three Squeaks. ¡°It has to be that one. But I¡¯m surprised you haven¡¯t won over them all. Only a few others have developed any of the Hundred Stars.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°It is fair for them to be cautious of learning cultivation from a strange individual like myself. I¡¯m both large and likely terrifying in terms of energy.¡± The Great Queen began to wander around the edge of their territory. ¡°Careful,¡± Anton said. ¡°They eat bugs. And while ants are normally not on that list, something of your size might be of interest. And no, it¡¯s not you I¡¯m worried about.¡± ¡°Fear not. I won¡¯t hurt your new friends. Even if they are foolish enough to attack me.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t feel like anything,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°So they wouldn¡¯t be crazy to assume you¡¯re just an odd bug.¡± Ultimately, she was fast enough that it didn¡¯t matter. And she didn¡¯t enter their territory. ¡°It is well marked,¡± she said. ¡°They even use scent, like proper individuals. The boundaries are clear enough.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s good to hear. So, what are your real plans?¡± She might actually want to start a colony, but with the limited information she¡¯d been given when she set out that shouldn¡¯t have been the reason she showed up. ¡°I will start a colony. Temporary or not, we will require more than just you observing things here. My people can rapidly replicate and provide wide scale information. We will need to see more than just squirrel-cats to find our best allies.¡± ¡°... There are some bugs nearby. Sapient ones, I think. If you want to try your luck with them, you might be better for the task.¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m also an insect?¡± the Great Queen asked. ¡°Because you are much closer to the same scale,¡± Anton said. ¡°They¡¯re stick bugs. And leaf bugs. I don¡¯t think they are particularly communal normally, but I have seen them moving in groups. Oh, and watch out for eagles.¡± Anton paused, ¡°There¡¯s been some trouble with a group of them, but I¡¯d rather not wipe them out¡­¡± ¡°We will of course ascertain the threat level and sapience of whatever we come across,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°And we need not eat anything that can think. Though with the oddity of this place, an additional option comes to mind.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You recognize many sapient beasts here, yes? What about other things?¡± ¡°Well, there aren¡¯t any humans,¡± Anton said. ¡°I haven¡¯t had time to search the seas, but I could imagine there are some of them as well.¡± ¡°What about plants?¡± the Great Queen asked. ¡°What like the Grandfather Willow? I think it would be highly unlikely to run into that¡­ then again, Ceretos didn¡¯t naturally have any sapient creatures except Paradise. Or at least, not that survived the invasions. The question is, how would you tell?¡± ¡°Simple. One would have cultivation. The other would simply store natural energy in itself.¡± ¡°What about¡­ body tempering plants?¡± Anton frowned. ¡°They could forgo real ¡®cultivation¡¯¡± So far he¡¯d only picked apart herbs and the like that he recognized. But here in such a place, without yet knowing what it was that caused multiple types of animals to gain sapience, it was truly difficult to rule anything out. ¡°Let us assume we should be able to discern them by making reasonable efforts,¡± the Great Queen declared. ¡°Besides, you are not known for damaging plants unnecessarily. Fruits and the like are meant to be eaten, after all. And we shall observe things at a smaller detail.¡± ¡°... How many offspring do you plan to have here?¡± Anton asked. ¡°We shall go unnoticed,¡± the Great Queen said. Which didn¡¯t really answer Anton¡¯s question. But he at least trusted the Great Queen and by extension any offspring raised by her to not cause ecological devastation. Even the least intelligent of them were capable of recognizing that destroying what they wanted to eat was bad for the colony. Anton also knew he could use the help. Both in being a constant presence, and being wide scale. Though covering a whole planet- even just a few ants per square kilometer should probably take a long time. Hopefully the plan was to manage that in the longer term, because Anton really didn¡¯t want to know the maximum rate void ants could reproduce. He much preferred them when they had time to develop to greater intelligence, though while he found them concerning in a vague sense, the number of people he might consider innocent that had been slain by void ants was extremely miniscule when compared to humans. And from all accounts they had it coming. They just weren¡¯t well known enemies like the Twin Soul Sect. Chapter 763 Progress with Udre wasn¡¯t particularly slow, at least from Devon¡¯s perspective. The people there might have thought the opposite, but Devon was happy to spend more than a few years or even a few decades to be certain that they wouldn¡¯t repeat the troubles of Ekict. It was unfortunate that one bad incident had to forevermore make their alliance suspicious, but perhaps they had been too optimistic to begin with. Some moderate amount of caution was what was reasonable, and if things progressed a little bit sluggish because of that it was a worthwhile cost. Devon had full confidence that the system would be able to join their alliance- or at least be a peaceful acquaintance. The more he saw of the people, the more he was certain of that. It began with their empress. She was young but capable, and unlike many who shared a similar title it wasn¡¯t guaranteed that she would hold such a position. It was merely a title to show respect, and in fact Aerona had been elected by the people. No doubt they hadn¡¯t expected a foreign system to show up out of nowhere when she was chosen, but she handled it well. Her relatively low cultivation wasn¡¯t an impediment so much as it was a sign of promise, given her youth. The important thing to Devon was not how he came to trust Aerona, but that he was trusted to interact with the people of Udre on a broader scale. It took time, of course, but that was only reasonable. The people of Udre weren¡¯t hiding anything- or they were extremely good at it. But Devon was allowed to observe their cultivation practices, and was pleased to find little divide between the more prominent sects and the more common ones. That is to say, general cultivation knowledge was share enough that all could grow. It made sense, of course. It would have been difficult for them to hold off the upper realms if they only had a few strong groups and a large number of mediocre cultivators. They weren¡¯t to the same level of communal strength as Aipra, but from what Devon had heard about the place that particular planet was an exception among exceptions. Overall, Udre was more unified than the world Devon remembered from his early life, and they could become worthwhile allies in given time. From what Devon was hearing of Nidec and Vrelt, however, the process of becoming familiar with each other was much slower in the other systems. Nidec was overall friendly, but too secretive to grow trust. Vrelt seemed to prefer their isolation, and refused attempts at diplomacy. Both were fine as long as they kept to themselves, but eventually the lower realms would have to stand united for the sake of all of their systems. Each piece they were missing would weaken their potential. ----- Outside of herself, Chikere understood there were things happening. She knew, for instance, that her arm had been taken away rather violently. Fortunately, it was able to be disconnected without causing further harm to her own body. Not that it mattered, because she wasn¡¯t going to use it anyway. There were people around. Her eyes and ears picked them out as they asked questions. But Chikere had no reason to answer them. They seemed to think that pain would motivate her, but ultimately she found the physical harm a nice distraction from her inner thoughts. What was she? A swordmaster without a sword. One who lost, not just because she fought a superior opponent but because she overestimated herself. Chikere had considered her own path of the sword perfection, or at least something that was working towards perfection. But could that really be true, when she had been defeated by sword skills she thought were flawed? ¡°Tell us about Xankeshan, and we can let you go. Or perhaps¡­ we can offer you a position among us instead,¡± said the woman interrogating Chikere. Chikere grimaced at her. The woman¡¯s face was too bright. ¡°Why don¡¯t you have a weapon?¡± ¡°I do believe bringing one into a cell with a restrained prisoner would be unnecessary, don¡¯t you agree?¡± The woman turned Chikere¡¯s head towards her too bright eyes. ¡°I have sufficient power here.¡± ¡°No,¡± Chikere said. ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± ¡°You think I¡¯m not enough?¡± the woman asked, her energy flaring. Chikere wasn¡¯t paying close attention, but she thought one of her ribs might have snapped. Talking was pointless. The woman had wanted Chikere to talk, but then immediately ruined the moment with her lies. She didn¡¯t have a weapon because she didn¡¯t use one. She didn¡¯t smell of any of them. Just the light. Looking towards her hand, Chikere realized that she didn¡¯t smell like weapons anymore either. Not her own blades, or those of others. Not even the stink of halberds, axes, or hammers. Just blood and despair. ¡°Clearly we won¡¯t get anywhere,¡± the woman said, grabbing Chikere¡¯s jaw and forcing her mouth open. ¡°Next time you¡¯ll be more responsive.¡± She forced Chikere to swallow some sort of pill. Probably healing, maybe mixed with something else. She felt it flow through her. They wanted her to stay alive. Why hurt her, then? How indecisive. If they couldn¡¯t learn the answers they sought through combat, what was the point? Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. What was the point of anything, really? Chikere didn¡¯t know if she could even use a sword again, should someone give one to her. If there was a blade in her hand right now, could she cut her way out? She shook her head. It wasn¡¯t worth it. Her last battle played itself over and over again in her head. The sword. A particular blade that was the epitome of perfection. She had lost her battle with that sword and its wielder. Her mistakes¡­ they repeated over and over with the shattering of each blade. Yet none of those were the largest of her failures. Chikere had suffered loss before, though rarely. However, she came upon complete and utter defeat and failed to properly die. That was supposed to have been the end of her road, if she couldn¡¯t make it. Maybe she should die here, though she doubted these people would let her. And it was an awful lot of work, anyway. She coughed, spitting up some blood. It smelled of iron. She normally liked that smell, but all it did was remind her of swords. Brightly flickering in the light, whistling in the darkness. Cold, even when they were warmer than the room around them. Their smell and taste. Their weight. Chikere knew all of them for every sword she had. Or had once had. Ah, that was it. Maybe there had been a reason she hadn¡¯t died. Along with her lacking talent, she also lacked the bravery to die for victory. Or maybe that had been a matter of insufficient ability as well. The only thing she couldn¡¯t blame were her weapons. Facing against perfection, what were they to do in imperfect hands? If she chose to wield subpar blades and they were destroyed for it, it was not their own fault. They were made as they were with no choice in things. Chikere¡¯s thoughts circled around and around, but along with the weird churning in her guts and the way her rib snapped painfully back into place she experienced another sensation. One she hadn¡¯t been aware enough of her body to notice until that point. If the interrogating woman had been around to ask questions now, Chikere would have gladly been willing to give up any and all secrets to make it stop. She stuck out her tongue, but she had no control of her own energy to extend anything. Her arm was useless, chained in place. Her neck was likewise attached to chains around her, preventing her from leaning in any direction. So her nose remained unscratched. Normally it would be simply to just pull her arm up and¡­ it would be over. Chikere frowned, looking at her arm. It hadn¡¯t moved, but it sure felt like it did. She had no access to upper energy here, so it didn¡¯t make any sense. Perhaps she was just going crazy. She tried to move her fingers, but nothing happened. Then she moved her other fingers. She could feel it. The cold hard stone they touched as they coiled. She bent her arm to touch her shoulder. There it was, the fake material that replicated skin far beyond the level she cared about. Her arm was only meant to hold a sword. Or it had been. Now, she wasn¡¯t so certain. It was strange, that she could feel it now. She looked down at her shoulder. Only some dull metal bits were visible. She felt where her shoulder would fit into that, how it would line up and attach. But it didn¡¯t have to, did it? The technology that went into it didn¡¯t require a physical connection. It was supposed to make use of energy, but only in part. After all, it had been made in the lower realms where lower energy was the prominent version. It mainly relied on¡­ wires and stuff. Chikere now had a goal. It wasn¡¯t much of one¡­ but she needed to find out where her arm was. And how to get it to her. Because her nose itched, and she couldn¡¯t scratch it. And maybe she would strangle herself as well, since her arm would be around. She would have preferred to stab herself with a sword, but she couldn¡¯t do that anymore. Her arm wiggled back and forth. She tried to slap it on something, listening for the sound. No, that was no good. It was too far. Probably behind some locked doors, or a million corridors away. She shuffled it around, making use only of her ability to bend her fingers, wrist, and elbow. At least she could feel which way was down and keep some orientation. Her arm fell. It wasn¡¯t far, certainly not enough to damage anything. It had likely been a shelf of some equivalent. More stone under it now. She groped around and felt wood. A door? No, a chest. Perhaps a crate. Her fingers groped around to find an opening. It was a chest, and not locked as she learned when its lid opened up. She reached inside and found some sort of rock. She squeezed it, and it cracked. Nothing exciting. She also found some round metal things. Coins. She squeezed one of them too. Gold, maybe, or one of the other useless soft metals. She stumbled her arm around the storeroom, until she felt something familiar. The edge of a blade. A sword, she was certain. She flinched away. Not out of fear of being cut¡­ but that she might not cut anything even with a sharpened blade. There were other weapons on racks, or at least that had been on racks before she knocked them off. Eventually her arm found her way to the door. Her fingers just fit under it, but she couldn¡¯t grasp the door itself. And she felt a barrier on the outside, preventing her from escaping. No, it was probably meant to keep people out. Otherwise it might have stopped her from what she had been doing. She wandered over to the weapon pile, awkwardly dragging a halberd towards the door. The door was clearly well reinforced, because the halberd broke after a couple swings. The same with a hammer she found. Ultimately, Chikere had to grab a sword. Her fingers curled around the blade as she maneuvered the hilt to strike where she presumed the handle of the door to be. Then the door slammed into her arm, making her lose orientation. Chikere frowned. Why had that happened? It had been pretty still. But she could just make out a new sharpness in the room. The edge of a weapon. Oh, that was probably a guard. She played dead. Various weapons and the like moved around. Her arm was picked up¡­ and placed on the shelf. Probably. She imagined the door closing with a click, but she couldn¡¯t actually hear through her arm nor see anything. At best, she had the lack of air currents to tip her off. Damn. Her nose still itched. Chapter 764 Having had just one disciple for months now, Anton expected to get another in short order. And he did, but not the individual he expected most. Sustained Chittering had been quite impressed by the power Three Squeaks showed helping Lowcliff Burrow, and she was among those who had come to join Shadysands Burrow. It would have also been less intimidating to approach him through Three Squeaks. Perhaps that might still happen, but instead someone else came along as he was working in his little food patch. One of the meerkats simply waddled over to him. If Anton remembered correctly his name was basically a single sound. Meep was a good approximation. The meerkat spoke slowly, each sound punctuated by its solitude. ¡°You¡­ make¡­ food?¡± ¡°I grow food,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Seeds become plants which are food,¡± Anton gestured. ¡°Food¡­ only¡­ on¡­ surface?¡± Anton pondered the question for a moment. His initial instinct was to explain that food grew from and into the ground, but that might not have been the real question that was being asked. ¡°My people live on the surface,¡± Anton said. ¡°So we tend to plant near the surface. Either way, plants mostly require sunlight to grow.¡± ¡°What¡­ about¡­ deep¡­ roots?¡± The meerkats didn¡¯t have- or at least hadn¡¯t used- the relevant botany related words for Anton to explain properly, but he did his best. ¡°Most roots will come from a plant growing on the surface.¡± He scanned the area with his senses just in case, and while there were indeed roots poking into the meerkats¡¯ burrow, they all came from above. ¡°Very few things grow without light.¡± Many fungus did, of course, and then there was everything from Aipra. But Anton didn¡¯t know if the meerkats could digest any of that stuff. ¡°Some plants that might not be safe to eat,¡± Anton added. ¡°Will¡­ try¡­ plants. Staying¡­ underground¡­ safer.¡± Meep looked up to the skies. ¡°You have guards keeping you safe, too. And they will get stronger.¡± ¡°Yes. Guards¡­ keep¡­ safe. Better¡­ for¡­ them¡­ if¡­ we¡­ don¡¯t¡­ roam¡­ far.¡± Anton nodded. He supposed the other side of the hill counted as ¡®far¡¯ by some metrics. ¡°I have some plants you can try to grow. But you need to be careful when eating them.¡± Anton could help someone that ingested something poisonous if he was around. In the worst case scenario, he could entirely remove the poison from their system, though it might be a bit harsh on their body. ¡°Show¡­ me¡­ how¡­ to¡­ grow,¡± Meep requested. ¡°It might be a lot of work to get nothing useful,¡± Anton warned. ¡°But¡­ it¡­ could¡­ be¡­ good?¡± ¡°It could be,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But it will probably take a season or more.¡± ¡°I¡­ will¡­ try.¡± Well, Anton couldn¡¯t deny anyone with an industrious personality. ¡°Alright. But if you want to do it better, you¡¯re also going to have to cultivate energy.¡± ¡°How¡­ do¡­ I¡­ start?¡± Anton had the answer for that. And he was also developing a series of modifications to the One Hundred Stars given the differences he¡¯d observed in the various meerkats. ¡°First you need to sense natural energy. Some of it is all around you. You can breathe it in, absorb some of it as heat through your skin. Or fur. Or eat it.¡± ¡°Good¡­ food¡­ for¡­ guards,¡± Meep said. ¡°They¡­ need.¡± ¡°They might need it more,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But everyone else can do more with some.¡± ¡°Good¡­ food¡­ can¡¯t¡­ catch.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you want to grow it, right?¡± Anton asked. The meerkats tended to eat all sorts of insects. Or really, anything smaller than them. Fruit, seeds, and root vegetables were still options of course, but they were far from herbivores. ¡°These plants I grew to feed to whoever I want. So you can also have some.¡± ¡°Not¡­ just¡­ Squeak¡­ Squeak¡­ Squeak?¡± ¡°No, Three Squeaks doesn¡¯t even need all of this. Besides, he seems to like the crunch of scorpions and beetles more.¡± Anton was glad that the stick and leaf bugs that appeared to be sapient were quite a distance away. Because while he could tell the meerkats not to eat them, it was better if it came with understandable reasons instead of just ¡®I told you so¡¯. For that, more mental development was better. Three Squeaks was just about on the verge of breaking through in that area regarding Body Tempering. In fact he might have snuck off for just that. And now¡­ he was skittering back towards Anton with a fierce determination. ----- Peace and serenity¡­ were difficult to obtain when anything in the sky could try to swoop down and eat you. Being inside the burrow had peace, perhaps, but serenity¡­ not so much. Three Squeaks liked his fellow meerkats well enough, but there wasn¡¯t exactly a place of solitude in their burrows. Which had been fine for Three Squeaks until he needed to just think about things. So many distractions. So now he¡¯d come out to his favorite hunting ground, one with tasty beetles. He was able to hunt many things he couldn¡¯t before with his bow, but aside from snakes he didn¡¯t think most things would be tasty. Maybe eagles, but Anton hadn¡¯t wanted them to eat them for some reason. Three Squeaks crunched on his snack and dipped out of easy sight to relax. He felt the natural energy in his stomach, and also around him. He circulated it throughout his body, focusing on his head. He had to be delicate, as he could hurt important things like his eyes and tongue. And also apparently the thing inside his skull was where he thought things, so that was important too. So, gentle¡­ but not too gentle or he would be lacking in power. It was difficult, but Anton had helped guide him along the way. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Then he felt it. Just like when he had completed the first star. A pressure was building, but Three Squeaks found himself wrestling against it. It was quite difficult, but he¡¯d been waiting for this day for a while. The energy within him was sufficient, and he made use of his practice to guide the energy where it needed to go. Safely, it seemed, because when everything calmed down he could still think and see. Better than ever, in fact. It was strange, to experience such a swift change. He planned to return to Anton to report his success, but something caught his eye. The shiny black texture of chitin. A large meal. Was it a termite? No, even though it was bigger than those, it was an ant. But strangely, it didn¡¯t have any natural energy that he could sense. Three Squeaks looked at it. It looked back. He was certain of it. He didn¡¯t know why it had no natural energy despite being clearly enhanced. And he didn¡¯t like the way it felt, to know something was there with his eyes but not his new senses upon which he had come to rely. And he especially didn¡¯t like the idea that it was looking at him. He turned to run. Normally, he would only be afraid of things larger than him. Or debatably snakes. Predators. But even though insects were supposed to be food, something told him it was a bad idea to try to eat this one. He scurried towards the hill, looking over his shoulder to check if he was being followed. He didn¡¯t see anything, but that didn¡¯t make him feel better. He found Anton together with¡­ was that Meep? ¡°Anton! I saw something dangerous!¡± ¡°Should¡­ I¡­ warn¡­ the¡­ burrow?¡± Meep asked. Now wasn¡¯t the time for an old man who could barely talk. ¡°No. I don¡¯t think¡­ it will make a difference.¡± ¡°What did you see?¡± Anton asked. ¡°A big ant! A weird one that didn¡¯t have natural energy but was scary anyway!¡± ¡°Hmm. Good instincts,¡± Anton said. Three Squeaks just tilted his head. ----- ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about that one,¡± Anton said, sending his senses back where Three Squeaks had come from- and picking up the distinct lack of anything that indicated the Great Queen, discernible given her particular size. ¡°At least, not if you don¡¯t try to eat her,¡± Anton clarified. ¡°I figured that out¡­ somehow,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°Looks like you broke through successfully. Congratulations on your first prime tempering. You will probably think more clearly.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ weird,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I agree,¡± Anton said. Suddenly remembering things that he had forgotten in vivid detail was only one aspect of that. It was difficult to explain to anyone who hadn¡¯t experienced it, it was like being in a state of great focus all the time. Except it was possible to be distracted still. Wandering thoughts still existed. ¡°You said ¡®she¡¯,¡± Three Squeaks brought up. ¡°Like you know it. Her. What is she?¡± ¡°A void ant,¡± Anton said. ¡°A very special species of ant. They consume and quickly process natural energy, and their chitin tends to break it down into nothing. She is their Great Queen, the progenitor of all of those that currently live. At least, to our knowledge. Some people tried to wipe them out because they were afraid.¡± ¡°And she is dangerous?¡± ¡°Yes. But I am also dangerous. And to a lesser extent, you are dangerous. Do not worry. The Great Queen will not suddenly try to eat you. But if in the future you find other ants like that, I would be careful with how you approach them. At some point you can meet her.¡± ¡°... I didn¡¯t try to speak with her,¡± Three Squeak said. ¡°In this case, it would not have worked. She is not from here, and thus doesn¡¯t know this language.¡± ¡°She speak the weird one you use sometimes?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°She understands it, but she doesn¡¯t have vocal chords,¡± Anton indicated the part of the neck the two of them used to make sounds. Their conversation was cut short by an interruption. ¡°If¡­ there¡­ is¡­ no¡­ danger¡­ Can¡­ you¡­ show¡­ me¡­ how¡­ to¡­ start?¡± ¡°Of course, Meep,¡± Anton said. ¡°Didn¡¯t mean to cut you out of the conversation. I have a few different sorts of seeds. Listen carefully and I will tell you how to plant them.¡± Technically the things that would grow into mushroom were spores, but they served the same purpose. Anton would continue to help Meep, now that Three Squeaks was reassured. ----- It was very difficult for Chikere to think with constant distractions, so she did her best to cut off all sensation besides her right arm. That annoyingly bright lady was back in the room, repeating her attempts to get information from Chikere. In a moment of weakness Chikere had asked the woman to scratch her nose, but she had just laughed and hadn¡¯t even offered to do so in exchange for information. So Chikere was going to have to manage it herself. There had been some talk of putting a sword in her replacement arm, but ultimately that hadn¡¯t happened. The engineers weren¡¯t really swordsmiths, so it would have been subpar. In some circumstances Chikere might have been happy to have a subpar sword, but now¡­ she¡¯d really rather avoid them. She knew how long her arm was. Thus, she began measuring the size and shape of the room using that as a measuring stick. There was all sorts of fancy garbage in the storage room, but obviously none of it was the key to get out. Chikere would have normally just slashed the door open but¡­ no swords. And smacking the door had just drawn unnecessary attention. So her arm grabbed anything that seemed like it might be able to whittle away at the bottom of the door, and she began carving away. The door itself was mainly a vessel for the formation markings anyway. She didn¡¯t want to mess with those as people would pay more attention once she did, so she just scraped away at the wood with some fancy rocks and random sharp non-swords. Some of them were pretty useful, and she managed to get an area her arm could probably go through. That was¡­ as far as she had thought. The only things on her mind had been that stupid itching nose, and trying to stop it. What was she supposed to think about, if she wasn¡¯t thinking about swords? It was strange and weird. She didn¡¯t like it, but she also didn¡¯t want to go back to the sword thing because it nearly made her vomit just to think about the mere concept of swords. She focused her thoughts back on the things in the room. Some of those rocks had to be able to negate energy, right? She could just shove them through the opening she¡¯d carved out and slink out. Energy negating rocks had to be a thing. But if they were, the first two dozen of them weren¡¯t any good at it. They broke and cracked on the inside of the barrier, and she swept away shards of them to make room for more. Now that she thought about it, they might have been gemstones of some kind. Not that they were any better than rocks, but some people valued such things. She would have to try other things. About the time she was going to beg the interrogation lady to just solve her problem, she realized that the woman was gone. And there was more of her blood dripping onto the ground. The whole room smelled of iron. And that was just like swords and she hated it. Chapter 765 If there was any care for her own health, Chikere would have probably tried to sleep when her captor was away. But she didn¡¯t. Not right now, at least, and health was secondary to comfort anyway. Chikere didn¡¯t hear the sounds of anyone else. Could it be that she was the only prisoner in this place, whatever it was? Living, at least. The annoying lady wasn¡¯t interrogating anyone else as far as Chikere could tell. So the only sounds were her own heartbeat, her breath, and a repeated tap in the distance. That tapping was annoying, and any time she tried to focus on it to figure out what it was it seemed to fade away. Her arm¡¯s escape attempts had found no way to break the barrier on the door, and she was currently focused on carving out a section of wall with a spoon. It wasn¡¯t as excruciatingly slow of a process as that might sound. For some reason, someone had spent a lot of money to enchant a spoon. It was probably decked out in gemstones- there were irregularities in the shape of its handle, more than just stylized carvings. Seemed like a waste for it to be locked up, since nobody had even come to take anything in the past¡­ days. However many it had been. The Million Sword Vault at least had their disciples rapidly swapping out weapons. Everything there was meant to be used, eventually. But thinking about the desert sect obviously made her think of swords and that was unpleasant. So she went back to her spoon. Was there any point? Probably not. She¡¯d already carved through the door, but the barrier had stopped all attempts to pass through. And anything she could think of to break it would draw enough attention to get her hand caught. And if that happened nobody would scratch her nose. She almost thought it was an intentional tactic, except for the way the shining faced woman had blown her off when she spoke of it. As if such a thing couldn¡¯t be important compared to physical injuries. But aches and pains were there for a reason. This itching on her nose wasn¡¯t. Unless there was something invisible there, but she couldn¡¯t touch it with her tongue and nothing seemed to change with a puff of air. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Annoying. But less than her nose. Tap. Tap. The sounds continued until the light cultivator returned. ¡°What¡¯s that tapping?¡± Chikere asked. The woman sighed. ¡°Clearly you don¡¯t understand this situation. I ask you questions. And you answer them.¡± That was clearly false. The woman was a terrible interrogator. And at best a mediocre torturer. Oh, she was able to cause damage alright. It hurt, probably, when she broke ribs. It smelled bad when she focused her light on a patch of Chikere¡¯s skin and burned it. But either this woman was too important to have someone else take on the job of torturing Chikere¡­ or low enough on the totem pole she couldn¡¯t get anyone else better for the job. Probably the first one, just based on the general feeling of her cultivation. Tap. Tap. Ta¡­? The pattern was a bit off. But maybe Chikere was distracted by the fact that her arm was poking through the wall. Sure, it had taken hours of effort to carve through it, maybe a day¡­ but was there really no barrier? The hole wasn¡¯t quite wide enough for her arm, but the adaptive components shifted the ¡®bones¡¯ and she got her elbow through. Then a yank, and her shoulder squeezed through as well. The annoying woman had a knife. ¡°Do you understand?¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m going to carve up your body until it can¡¯t be recovered unless you tell me what I need to know.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why I should care,¡± Chikere said. What was she even going to do with her body, anyway? Swing a sword? No way. And there weren¡¯t really any other things to do. So she was basically done. Apparently the woman thought she was just being tough, as she began inexpertly cutting Chikere. She was causing a moderate amount of damage, but not the most damage that could be achieved with a single slice, nor was she being efficient in any manner. The pain wasn¡¯t any worse than Chikere had felt before, either. She regularly let herself be fully impaled in battle when it was necessary, and apparently her body didn¡¯t differentiate between important stuff being damaged in terms of pain. At least not if she didn¡¯t try to move her body. Chikere focused on the tip of her nose. Maybe she could brush it against this woman? No, she stepped back. ¡°Fine. You¡¯re a tough one, I admit. But will that be the same when we bring your disciple here and torture him in front of you.¡± Chikere¡¯s eyes sharpened. ¡°That would be stupid to attempt.¡± ¡°Oh, would it?¡± the woman asked. ¡°And you¡¯re going to stop me¡­ how?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t need to.¡± Someone else would do it. A wolf with too many poisons. A formation master. The impassable wall that was his father. Or maybe¡­ Chidi himself. He should be in Integration by now. He¡¯d been so close when she left. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Hmph. I suppose I¡¯ll be leaving you for now. Have fun with¡­ that.¡± Chikere probably thought she meant the wounds. Or the blood still dripping from them. Maybe this woman didn¡¯t care if she survived anymore. A distant scraping sound filled her ears. It was getting harder and harder to doubt that it was her own arm. Except¡­ someone should have noticed her arm moving through the corridor. Sure, she knew it wasn¡¯t exactly lit up with upper energy, but it was still not simply part of the hallways. And then there was a hole in the¡­ side? Front? Rear? Some part of a treasury. But Chikere¡¯s arm made it to her, reaching the bars of her cell¡­ and getting stuck on another damn formation barrier. Seriously, was that necessary with the shackles inhibiting her natural energy? Now she couldn¡¯t even scratch her nose. She struggled to remember something her disciple said about his stealth training. Never look up? That sounded about right. Which meant that was where she should hide her arm. At least with it in her sight she could more easily have it grab onto things and work its way up. When the woman came back again and opened the cage, Chikere swung her arm around, fingertips pinching the brickwork of the threshold and wrenching itself up into the corner of the room. There was no way she wouldn¡¯t notice it, which was why Chikere spit some of her blood at the same time. In her imagination, it turned into a sword. But obviously she couldn¡¯t do that because her access to upper energy was cut off and also she was worthless and incapable of wielding a sword. The woman dodged the bloody spit, of course. But she didn¡¯t seem to notice the arm swinging a hand¡¯s length from the back of her head. Was she one of those people that relied only on sight, or maybe killing intent? ¡°I¡¯m happy to finally get a response,¡± the woman said. ¡°You must be nearing your limits. How about some more work?¡± Chikere was nearing her limits. She almost tried to fling her arm at the back of the woman¡¯s neck and squeeze, crushing it. But while that might work for some people, without any upper energy the chances of her killing this woman who was at least in Integration but more likely Augmentation were negligible. Unless the woman walked around with a complete lack of energy defenses and was unable to respond to killing intent. For the rest of the time the woman was around, Chikere was her arm, clutched to the stone and the gaps between the bricks. She felt only the sensations of that, and did her best to pretend she didn¡¯t have eyes. Otherwise they might be tempted to look at it and ruin everything. When the woman left, the very first thing Chikere did after her footsteps faded was claw her way up her own leg and torso, wiggling the arm between her back and the wall. Her arm dangled from the chain wrapping her left wrist. And reached around to scratch her nose. She sighed in relief. Finally. Then her arm flopped to the floor and she almost passed out. Then she realized something. If her left arm was free, she could scratch her nose without so much work next time. But if she freed her left arm, they might notice her right arm hanging around. Though for some reason they still hadn¡¯t spotted it. Was that a feature, or were they too focused on upper energy being the only possible threat? It was a good thing that her replacement arm didn¡¯t use real muscles, because there was no way it could stand up to her chains if it did. As it was, she climbed her arm back up and squeezed one of the links between two fingers. Clearly, the chains were meant to deal with cultivators who had tempered their bodies¡­ to the normal limits. Chikere had never really tested the maximum grip strength of her arm, but as she coiled her fist around the chain link and squeezed, she felt the pressure build on her palm. And then¡­ the sound of wrenching metal. Fortunately, not her artificial bones. Her arm drooped loosely to her side. Hmm, that was a bit of an issue. Also the way her upper body was leaning forward, only supported by the attachment to her neck now. So she got rid of that and landed facedown on the floor in a pool of her own blood. It smelled like swords. Her body didn¡¯t want to move. But if she had access to her energy, it could. So she began to break off the shackles directly, one at a time. Feeling rushed back into her, and she was able to actually sense the wounds on her body instead of just feeling them. The loss of effective cultivation was a massive difference in her understanding. Things seemed¡­ pretty bad. But she wiggled her left arm by grabbing it with her energy and moved it to her nose. Yep. Good enough. She let herself take a little nap. Unfortunately, she was rudely awoken by some guard. ¡°Hey! What are you doing in there?!¡± Chikere didn¡¯t even bother to lift her head. The guard lowered his spear and stepped away from the bars. Smart man. He seemed about to call for help. Since Chikere couldn¡¯t move, there wasn¡¯t really anything she could do. Though a sword through his throat would do a lot of good. Oh, there was one. It was kind of weird, though. It almost didn¡¯t manage to reach its target because of the formation barrier on the edge of the cell. Chikere raised her head, looking at the sword. Oh, that¡¯s what it was. Blood. That made sense. Blood was swords. Half of her best ones had been made from the blood of swordmasters. Did that mean she was still a swordmaster? She tried to stand up, finding her left arm still refused to listen. So she pulled her body like a marionette. Then she grabbed her right arm and shoved it back into the circuits and stuff. It belonged there. And she didn¡¯t belong here. Wherever here was. Another sword of blood formed in front of her, grasped in her replacement arm that had no blood of its own. Two cuts and the bars fell out. She imagined there would be a massive alarm going off. She turned right, towards the treasury, running past empty cells and plain hallways. Only to arrive at a dead end, with a small hole in the wall. She peeked through to see the swordless treasury. Why had she come here again? This was all garbage. Oh, there were some medicinal herbs, though. Or poisons. Well, whatever. Half of them were being spread over her skin as a goo, and the other half were going in her stomach. Whatever happened, she¡¯d accomplish some goal. She wasn¡¯t sure if she wanted to die anymore, but she wasn¡¯t going to leave the option off the table. Chapter 766 A wave of dizziness washed over Chikere. Was it the herbs she¡¯d haphazardly ingested, or the blood loss? Perhaps both. Either way, she pondered going back out through the hole she¡¯d cut in the wall with her blood-swords but decided that through the far side shouldn¡¯t be any worse. She already sensed people coming from the side of the cell block. With a single vertical slash she cut the door in two, severing the annoying barrier in the process. She felt like it should have been easier, though. Her body wasn¡¯t in a great state, and just making anything but her right arm move required puppeting her own limbs with her energy. She looked to her right down the new corridor. A figure was running- probably called to catch her- and she went the other way. No doubt he was at that very moment sensing her presence and turning, but she wasn¡¯t going to wait fo find out. Her senses also had to focus on what was in front of her¡­ and the approaching figure of the light-lady. Though fortunately she wasn¡¯t in this facility, the light lady wouldn¡¯t take long to arrive. Turning another corner, Chikere found another bundle of cells- these actually occupied. She had the feeling that just running wasn¡¯t going to get her far, so she began chopping open bars and shackles. The shackles in particular were optimized to prevent the prisoner from using their upper energy, and were rather vulnerable to outside attacks. The first individual she cut out was a large man, who began to ask, ¡°Wha-¡± ¡°No I don¡¯t know you. Either run or fight or stay in your cage like a coward, I don¡¯t care. There¡¯s a bunch of garbage weapons down that way,¡± she gestured vaguely towards the room where her confiscated arm had been. Then she moved on, wasting no time with each doorway. Several guards rushed down the corridor from the far end, extending their arms from which beams of light stretched. She cut them in half. The beams, the people, both at once. How many more could she manage? If her enemies were weak, perhaps a hundred. If they were a bit stronger, perhaps five. And she likely couldn¡¯t manage a single attack on the level that killed the sword saint. Whatever his name was. Chikere realized she¡¯d slightly overestimated herself, as she was used to having swords. Specifically numbers 1-10 at a minimum. Now she just had¡­ whatever she had. Blood swords at least in name but she didn¡¯t know if she could use swords anymore so they might be something else. Chikere passed by some woman with a sword and killed her. Upon touching the hilt of the weapon she was filled with revulsion, and probably at more than just the poor quality of the weapon. It was probably foolish to do given how much work it was to maintain her blood weapons, but she snapped the sword as she continued running. One of the individuals she freed followed Chikere directly. A woman that seemed comfortable moving without weapons. ¡°Where are we going?¡± said the large man- the second of those she had freed that was following her. In his hands was an axe Chikere thought she recognized from the storeroom. ¡°Nowhere,¡± the light woman landed in front of them just as they flung open the door to the outside. ¡°Through her,¡± Chikere said. ¡°How do you feel about the effects of subspace on your bare skin?¡± The man didn¡¯t answer, instead focusing on swinging his axe down towards the woman. But he was both in a poor state and not even a proper augmentation cultivator, so she blocked it with one hand. The woman who had tagged along clasped her hands together, and an image of sand and water crashed around the enemy, slightly restraining her. Chikere probably didn¡¯t have the energy left to survive a battle with this woman, even with two allies.. But she didn¡¯t really have to guess, did she? Her weapons coalesced into one, slashing forward. The flashy woman blocked with her arm, using her bracers and gauntlet to absorb the blow. That was the intention, and they did well enough. She only lost her pinky and ring finger on her right hand. But she hadn¡¯t been the target anyway. With the same motion, Chikere stepped through the rift in space she had opened, wrapping her one good arm around the large man¡¯s neck as she stepped through. She didn¡¯t really care what happened to him, but she¡¯d rather not leave even a short term ally behind. The other woman grabbed onto the large man. A moment later, they were in empty space, but not properly out of the planet¡¯s gravity well. Which was not at all what Chikere intended. The slash was supposed to open a much longer corridor of subspace. ¡°... I guess we¡¯re dead,¡± Chikere shrugged as she looked down at the planet just a few dozen kilometers below, where there was an angry Augmentation cultivator who would be attempting to kill them in a moment. ¡°Hah!¡± the man wrapped in her mechanical arm laughed, their overlapping energies allowing sound to transfer. ¡°I¡¯m not getting this far to be recaptured!¡± He twisted in Chikere¡¯s grip, raising the axe he held in both hands and flinging it downward. The massive burst of energy cut through the atmosphere towards the Augmentation cultivator below, blasting the trio away from the planet. There was only so much momentum a single attack could build up, however. The real hope came when the additional woman produced a wave that began to carry them along, ever accelerating as they broke away from the pull of the planet. ¡°That probably didn¡¯t kill her,¡± Chikere sighed. ¡°I know,¡± the large man said. ¡°But it might smash a few buildings if we¡¯re lucky. Could you let go of my neck now?¡± ¡°Oh. The rest of my muscles failed, so I forgot.¡± Chikere released her grip around his neck, clamping her fingers down on his shoulder. ¡°Wake me up when we get somewhere, or drop me if I die, okay?¡± ----- A strange liquid splashed on Chikere¡¯s face. Salty¡­ but lacking the taste of iron. Was there anything like that? Oh right, seawater. Opening her eyes, she didn¡¯t see a sea around her. Instead what she saw was a bare rock. ¡°... Man, the afterlife is boring.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not dead,¡± came a voice from the end of her arm. She looked over to see the large man with purple spots on his shoulder as he pried her fingers off of him. ¡°You have a durable grip. Though¡­ your arm feels weird.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fake,¡± Chikere said. ¡°How?¡± said the woman. ¡°It doesn¡¯t radiate any upper energy.¡± ¡°Electricity and crap,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I dunno. Ruteran stuff.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of that,¡± said the woman. ¡°Forgive me, my name is Margriet. I¡¯ve already been introduced to Sly. Also, you may wish to regulate your own energy so that you don¡¯t freeze, burn, or suffocate.¡± ¡°Hmmn,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Are you going to¡­?¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking about it,¡± Chikere admitted. ¡°Might I suggest living now and deciding if you want to later?¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Chikere said. She drew in some energy around her. It was enough to sustain herself, at least. And her wounds had clotted or frozen over from the trip. ¡°I¡¯m Chikere.¡± ¡°Good to meet you,¡± Margriet said. ¡°I must admit, I don¡¯t recognize you. And I certainly should have at least heard of most of those in the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s dungeons. Then again, you might be a more recent addition.¡± ¡°How recent is recent?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°... two centuries?¡± The woman said uncertainly. ¡°Or something like that.¡± ¡°Oh. Yeah, I¡¯ve only been in the upper realms at all for a little longer than that. The dungeons were¡­ this month? Year?¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°From the lower realms? What sect were you from?¡± ¡°None, really. If I had to name one¡­ the Million Sword Vault.¡± Sword. The word used to make her happy. ¡°Wait,¡± Margriet frowned. She looked over at the large man named Sly. ¡°Does that mean¡­?¡± ¡°Is that the Million Sword Vault on Ceretos?¡± Sly asked. Chikere shrugged. ¡°Is there another one?¡± Sly shook his head. ¡°Not that I know of. But there could have been. The two of us are ultimately from there as well.¡± Chikere wanted to tell them she¡¯d never heard of them. But that was probably true for most people ascended from Ceretos. ¡°Okay,¡± was all she said. ¡°Why are you here, and not on Xankeshan?¡± The two exchanged glances. ¡°Where?¡± ¡°Its where most of the people from Ceretos and our allies are located now.¡± Margriet frowned. ¡°I suppose I could be considered among your allies. You know of the Worthy Shore Society, of course.¡± ¡°That¡¯s on an island, right?¡± ¡°Yes. The Exalted Archipelago. Or I suppose it might not be called that anymore, given the reason we were imprisoned.¡± ¡°Oh yeah. I bet these guys don¡¯t like you, if you¡¯re one of their members.¡± Margriet nodded. ¡°I was a previous sect head. The one who was first friendly to those from the continents. That ultimately led to how things are.¡± ¡°You know Anton?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°I did,¡± Margriet said. ¡°Makes sense. Everyone knows Anton.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± Sly said. ¡°Has Anton ascended?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°That¡­ won¡¯t be possible,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Ah. I¡¯m sorry to hear that.¡± Chikere tilted her head. ¡°What? It¡¯s just because of that funky technique. He¡¯s an Assimilation cultivator now, you know.¡± Margriet bit her lip. ¡°I do remember some mention of that, if I think back. One of Everheart¡¯s forbidden techniques, right?¡± ¡°Yeah. You could ask him about it.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t he in the lower realms?¡± ¡°Oh no. Everheart is in his own system now,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I-¡± Margriet shook her head. ¡°I honestly have no reaction to that news except resigned acceptance. So, you¡¯ve ascended from the lower realms. How did you get here?¡± ¡°I dunno. I was trying to kill that Limitless Edge Sect lady and then the flashy lady picked me up after I lost and stopped being anything.¡± ¡°Are you okay?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°My right arm feels pretty good,¡± Chikere said. ¡°So everything else hurts, then.¡± ¡°Dunno. I refuse to think about it.¡± Chikere opened and clasped her fist alternately, watching the motions. ¡°Do you have a sword?¡± ¡°I do not.¡± ¡°That¡¯s okay. I think I might hate swords now.¡± ¡°I¡­ So this Xankeshan, where is it?¡± ¡°Scarlet Midfields,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Kinda in the middle.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit vague. Where in relation to¡­ the Harmonious Citadel, for example?¡± ¡°Nowhere. They¡¯re dead.¡± ¡°... What?¡± Margriet blinked. ¡°I mean I don¡¯t think we killed all of them, but like all of the important ones. The sword guy for sure. I didn¡¯t see the other ones.¡± Sly cleared his throat. ¡°Where is Xankeshan in relation to where the Harmonious Citadel used to be, then?¡± ¡°Like¡­ west a little,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°If you get close anyone in the Scarlet Alliance can point you to it. That¡¯s how I find it.¡± Margriet sighed. ¡°That¡¯s a long journey. And without weapons, with people looking for us¡­¡± ¡°Hey, what happened to my blood?¡± Chikere asked. Sly frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The stuff that was outside of me.¡± ¡°Oh. Those blades. I believe they were left behind.¡± ¡°I wonder if I have enough blood to make another one¡­¡± Chikere frowned. ¡°Hey, do you guys think I¡¯ll die if I take out that much blood?¡± ¡°You probably shouldn¡¯t,¡± Margriet said. ¡°You really shouldn¡¯t. Especially if you¡¯re not thinking clearly.¡± ¡°Am I not thinking clearly?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°I have no baseline to compare you specifically to,¡± Sly said. ¡°But I¡¯d say you seem like one of us that¡¯s knocked heads a few too many times.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t knock. I cut. I used to cut.¡± Chikere looked at her good arm. ¡°Now I just¡­ swoosh.¡± ¡°... Have you started your wounds recovering?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°It¡¯ll figure it out on its own,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Very well. I suggest we keep moving. This isn¡¯t exactly a safe place, though I wouldn¡¯t expect them to check this particular rock, we should be in another system as soon as we can. If you think you can survive the trip.¡± ¡°Nothing has killed me yet,¡± Chikere replied. ¡°So we should try it and find out.¡± Sly placed a hand on Margriet¡¯s shoulder and shook his head. ¡°I think we just have to go.¡± Margriet lifted them away with a wave of water. Chikere clawed her arm at the air in front of them. It didn¡¯t really work with just fingers. But pinching space open was probably different than cutting it anyway. ¡°Do you know anyone who can pinch space open?¡± ¡°Not that I¡¯d want to visit,¡± Sly said. ¡°Alright. Let me know if you find someone,¡± Chikere said as she let the coolness of the wave lull her to sleep. Chapter 767 Over the following weeks, Anton saw a shift in the Shadysands Burrow that he hadn¡¯t anticipated. He¡¯d noticed there were more locations dug out around the area, but he thought they were abandoned. And in a sense, they were. With the meerkats not feeling comfortable enough to protect all of their own, they¡¯d restricted their functional territory to only a small part of what they might normally control. Now they were beginning to spend more time in the further reaching areas, moving about as they pleased. More disciples began coming to Anton, including the expected Sustained Chittering. Many of the others were members of the guard, led by the captain of the guard- one whose name equated to Deep Purr by Anton standards. It was difficult for Anton to explain the distinction between names and other words, but he was beginning to pick them out. He definitely couldn¡¯t call himself fluent, but he was also beginning to see the overlap with the wider language vaguely shared by the awakened individuals in the region. He wondered if that had developed, or if they knew it inherently. Perhaps he might actually be able to ask Three Squeaks that now, with his greater cognitive functions. ¡°Do you know when and where your people learned to speak?¡± Anton asked. ¡°And how you communicate with the others?¡± Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°Everyone learns as a baby. I don¡¯t know where it came from. Probably not even Meep knows.¡± ¡°Why would Meep be different?¡± Anton asked. ¡°He¡¯s almost eighty seasons old, I heard.¡± ¡°Ah. He doesn¡¯t particularly look old, but that might explain the slowness of his speech.¡± ¡°I think he¡¯s always been that way,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Maybe he¡¯s a bit slower now.¡± Three Squeaks actually remembered the other conversation thread, returning to it. ¡°We speak to the others the same way they speak to us. We make sounds as much the same as possible, like you. Because that¡¯s how speech works, right?¡± ¡°In essence, yes,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But I¡¯ve mainly been exposed to people with the same physical capabilities for how they speak.¡± The void ants didn¡¯t vocalize, and Paradise hardly made any attempts to communicate at all. ----- Anton was working with Meep in the fields, which was to say Meep was trying to pick out which things were weeds and which were the plants they were trying to grow, with Anton¡¯s guidance. ¡°This¡­?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a weed. Unless you like how it tastes, I guess,¡± Anton said. ¡°Not¡­ like¡­ this.¡± Meep pushed a clawed hand into the ground and tore out the plant by the roots. ¡°This¡­ is¡­ a¡­ weed¡­¡± Meep declared confidently about the next one. Then he lowered his nose to the ground. ¡°Roots¡­ grew¡­ over¡­ seed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton said. ¡°Which means you have to remove it delicately. ¡°Can¡­ feel¡­ seed¡­¡± Meep said, pushing his claws into the ground and pulling away the weed and roots- but also most of the topsoil. ¡°Seed¡­ is¡­ safe.¡± ¡°Almost,¡± Anton said. ¡°But now it¡¯s not buried properly, is it?¡± Meep looked at it, looking for dirt that wasn¡¯t already being used for other rows of plants. ¡°Farming¡­ is¡­ difficult,¡± he said. ¡°Yeah it is. There are so many things you have to worry about,¡± Anton said. ¡°Disease, pests¡­¡± Anton frowned. He was tracking a large cloud of something moving vaguely in their direction, and it was becoming ever more likely it would reach their particular location. ¡°Unfortunately, there is a swarm of locusts coming here.¡± Anton could smash the entire swarm of billions of locusts, but that would throw off the ecosystem far too much. And protecting just their farm would provide unrealistic expectations for the future. ¡°Locusts¡­ come¡­ here¡­?¡± Meep asked. ¡°Devour¡­ crops¡­?¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°It seems like they will.¡± ¡°I¡­ must¡­ go¡­ tell¡­ everyone¡­¡± Meep began plodding off. ¡°They¡­ will¡­ be¡­ so¡­ excited¡­!¡± Oh. Right. The meerkats could just eat the locusts, couldn¡¯t they? ¡°They won¡¯t be here for a few days!¡± Anton said. ¡°So don¡¯t rush too much!¡± ----- Normally, Anton would have been depressed by a swarm of locusts devouring his fields. Even if he¡¯d only spent a single afternoon planting this particular one and only required a small amount of effort of his own, Meep had put in more effort over his time. But as the locusts blanketed the area, the meerkats came out in bundles and began to devour them in turn. And the more canny among them targeted the members of the swarm with greater levels of natural energy- including those that had just eaten the growing crops. The meerkats were able to react in a planned fashion because of the forewarning, and they not only caught and devoured but also had some assigned to bring extra down into the burrow for storage. They wouldn¡¯t last long, but a few days where they didn¡¯t have to hunt for food was a great boon. As for the damage to the locust swarm¡­ well, their tactics worked. Ultimately, it didn¡¯t matter if a few hundred or a few thousand of them were consumed. The swarm survived. Ultimately, Anton thought the event was better than whatever he might have done with the crops. And he liked to see the meerkats coordinate, scooping bundles of insects into their burrows. They would have been more efficient if they had proper storage devices- bags to scoop things into, for example. Perhaps Anton could suggest the development of tools to them, though he didn¡¯t know where to start. They would be the ones who knew what they really needed, after all. The one thing they had was Three Squeaks¡¯ modified bow, and other than that they simply made use of their own bodies. But even without hands, they would be able to make use of other tools soon enough, as their natural energy developed and they were more able to control things with it. And even if it was possible for Anton to scoop things up with natural energy, for anything beyond short term even Anton would want a proper bag. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Seeing the devastation left behind as the locusts passed, Anton knew that despite the short term gains, it wouldn¡¯t be good longer term. Because what the meerkats normally ate also overlapped in food sources with the locusts. Still, they had some time to adapt with their stores of insects. Meep¡¯s experimental underground farm was also going well, with a few sorts of mushrooms that the meerkats could actually digest. ----- Surveying the damage, Anton determined that the local impact to the meerkats, warthogs, and eagles would be the greatest. He wanted to see their responses. The warthogs had made peace, and while the eagles had not extended an offer of peace or friendship¡­ he also didn¡¯t want to condemn them for the prompting of a few foolish members. If he truly thought there was no hope for redemption, he might have killed them all to begin with. That was more merciful than thinking of them as combat practice, at least. Before anything else, Anton began his own tasks in a wider area. He provided energy to any surviving plants that he could, spurring their growth so that they could return to something. Fortunately the stick bugs were outside of the devoured zone, because they would have lost both food and shelter at the same time. But the environment where they lived was different enough to not suit the locusts, though random chance might have still had them enter the forests for some distance. Either way, Anton knew there was still much work to be done with replanting- which involved scavenging what seeds remained- but that would have to be done later. And he wanted the meerkats to be involved with their local area. The Great Queen came to find Anton with her comments on the event. ¡°They¡¯re foolish,¡± she signed. ¡°What do they gain from this? Their numbers will fade rapidly as they eat the most available food. Their bodies will litter the ground. And they will return to their much wiser solitary forms.¡± ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be helped,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Because they are foolish, right? They don¡¯t really think. Unless you saw signs of sapience among them?¡± ¡°It is the same as previously observed behavior of normal locusts,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°A shift in behavior from great numbers. They leave no benefits to their next generation, merely surviving to produce it. I am glad to have not established a nest, yet.¡± ¡°That would certainly throw off your early development,¡± Anton said. ¡°Perhaps. We could devour them,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Our diets are not terribly limited. But we have learned to tend our surroundings for sustained growth, which would require much work to restore. Though we require those who can control energy to help us. That is why I plan to establish rapport with others first. We cannot develop natural energy on our own.¡± ¡°A difficult state, to be sure,¡± Anton said. ¡°Tell me, what about your thoughts on the upper realms?¡± ¡°The energy still seems tasty,¡± she said. ¡°But I will require a daughter with specific traits before I can entrust anyone with the necessary tasks, and the journey.¡± ¡°Well, we still have centuries,¡± Anton said. ¡°There¡¯s not too much of a rush.¡± ¡°No. We have no intent to swarm over every planet,¡± the Great Queen agreed. ¡°Careful expansion will do better.¡± ----- With the wounds on her body healing, Chikere was less likely to die. Rather, she was less likely to die to the physical limitations of her own body. She was perhaps more likely to die in battle, because she didn¡¯t have a weapon. Her right arm was technically capable of destruction, but she felt she would operate at a significantly lower level. With a sword she felt above the level of Integration, but without she felt like a Life Transformation cultivator. Even if that wasn¡¯t quite accurate, she still felt it. On the other hand, she had allies. They seemed strong. Margriet and Sly were also missing their weapons, but the few times they had run into trouble that hadn¡¯t mattered. Margriet had no trouble using her energy itself as a weapon, the waves that let Chikere travel in comfort were just as capable of capturing and drowning people on the spot. And Sly tended to¡­ headbutt people. ¡°... What sort of style is that?¡± Chikere asked as they moved between systems once more. ¡°What sort?¡± Sly grinned. ¡°Why, the best one of course. The Hardened Crown Sect isn¡¯t just known for our stubbornness, you know?¡± ¡°... I feel like I know of that Sect.¡± ¡°I would hope so. Otherwise I would be ashamed to have come from them, if they didn¡¯t leave some impression on you. I have the feeling they did something big, or I wouldn¡¯t have been imprisoned.¡± ¡°Why are you alive?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Wow. That¡¯s a hard hitting question,¡± Sly grinned. ¡°I¡¯d like to say pure force of will or¡­ something. But I¡¯m going to assume politics. I do still have a lot of buddies in the Hardened Crown Sect up here. Or I did. None of them came to visit me in the last century¡­¡± he shrugged. ¡°But I¡¯d say the same thing applies to Margriet.¡± ¡°Mostly,¡± the woman said. ¡°Though I have more personal responsibility for the way things ended up than you do. You weren¡¯t even around in the lower realms when things all began.¡± ¡°Nope. First I heard of it was when I was getting tossed in a cage. I¡¯m proud, though. We aren¡¯t much good if we don¡¯t do what we want!¡± The large man frowned, ¡°At least I assume we did what we wanted. What happened with the Hardened Crown Sect?¡± It took a few moments for Chikere to realize that she was the one being asked the question. ¡°The Hardened Crown Sect didn¡¯t really use swords so¡­ I don¡¯t remember. I think they refused to do anything.¡± ¡°Wait, we didn¡¯t even participate in the whole rebellion?¡± Sly crossed his arms. ¡°Ridiculous. Why I oughta¡­ do nothing, I guess, because I can¡¯t really contact them.¡± ¡°Someone can,¡± Chikere said. ¡°On Xankeshan.¡± ¡°It takes forever to send a short message though,¡± Sly sighed. ¡°I just want to yell at them.¡± ¡°... I¡¯m pretty sure you can send a recording of you yelling at people,¡± Chikere pursed her lips. ¡°Uzun was talking about general information transfer or something¡­ They did a lot of work on that.¡± Margriet raised an eyebrow. ¡°Wait, you can just send messages to the lower realms? Whenever you please?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I don¡¯t have any of my stuff.¡± ¡°I mean your alliance. Also, does that mean you had something?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Chikere furrowed her brow. ¡°I hope those ¡®security features¡¯ exploded everything. Catarina and Uzun didn¡¯t want people to copy things.¡± She looked where they came from. ¡°Specifically those people. And the two of you shouldn¡¯t tell people, I guess.¡± ¡°Catarina?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°I think I met her once. Anton¡¯s granddaughter?¡± ¡°She is the only Catarina I know,¡± Chikere replied. ¡°There are¡­ a lot of people with that name,¡± Margriet answered. ¡°Never heard of them,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I used to care about¡­ some people. Now I just want to return to my friends and ask them what I¡¯m supposed to be if I¡¯m not a swordmaster.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure you can still be a swordmaster if you just get another sword,¡± Sly said. ¡°I saw you wielding those blood swords of yours¡­¡± ¡°You would think I could,¡± Chikere agreed. ¡°But I don¡¯t think it¡¯s actually that easy. Because I should want to do it and I don¡¯t.¡± Chapter 768 Personally, Chikere hadn¡¯t thought that the Forest of Death sounded all that bad. And it seemed that Margriet and Sly were enough of the same opinion that the quicker route was worthwhile. It was a difficult choice, to risk the dangers of entering a system- but conversely the same reason they wanted to avoid entering systems was the same reason they had to. They did their best to rest up in unpopulated systems, but they were still fatigued from their various length imprisonments. The two of them hadn¡¯t been intentionally weakened, but many years of being unable to access energy was still a problem for them. A few weeks of rest would do everyone some good, but they didn¡¯t have the luxury of time. Not with people after them, and potentially ahead of them if they didn¡¯t stay ahead of warnings. Chikere thought the Forest of Death was rather pretty. It was an odd place, to be sure, but nice to look at. The whole system was full of tiny little planets with giant trees nearly the same size as the ground they grew on, roots growing around and through the entire terrain below. It was unfortunate that there were so many pesky Integration cultivators willing to throw themselves into space after them. ¡°It seems that the description of this place was somewhat underexaggerated,¡± Margriet said as her waves pushed them away from yet another group of pursuers. ¡°I had considered that they might have dozens or perhaps hundreds of planets on a single planetary plane, but it must be thousands at least, in every conceivable direction.¡± Sly grunted. ¡°They¡¯re like rats scurrying out of their holes,¡± he said. ¡°The Life Transformation cultivators can¡¯t keep up, but we¡¯re looking at more than a dozen Integration cultivators on our tail. And more in front, no doubt.¡± ¡°... Something is wrong with the planets,¡± Chikere said. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°They should feel more¡­ alive.¡± Some of the trees could compete in sheer size- if not actual quantity of energy- with the Grandfather Willow. Though considering they were in the upper realms, the latter might also be the case. But everything felt wrong. ¡°It¡¯s a web of death rather than life.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not called the Forest of Death for nothing¡­¡± Margriet grimaced. ¡°I just thought we would make it further before we were spotted.¡± ¡°Enemies coming up,¡± Sly said. ¡°Looking to cut us off. I¡¯m going to smash through.¡± ¡°But that will leave-¡± ¡°Chikere, can you protect the two of you?¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°If I can¡¯t, we both die. And probably you.¡± ¡°Might do you good to dredge up the feelings of our escape,¡± Sly said. ¡°Because just the two of us won¡¯t be enough.¡± Well, they were probably dead then. Because Chikere still doubted her ability to fight. However¡­ ¡°Take us that way,¡± Chikere directed. Margriet didn¡¯t ask why. She simply began to shift their trajectory as their momentum carried them through the system. Meanwhile, Sly had launched himself headfirst at the group that was blocking their path. He slammed directly into an Integration cultivator¡­ and Chikere felt it before she saw it. The life in the trees was torn away to dull the impact, leaves instantly turning brown. But that couldn¡¯t be all of it, because otherwise the Forest of Death could only function once or twice. Deathly energy wrapped around the fingers of Sly¡¯s opponent, reaching for him. Sly seemed to have noticed the problem as well, and immediately backed away. No, better than that he charged another nearby planetoid. To tear apart the web. Chikere assumed, at least. But she had to deal with her own enemies. The first of which held a wooden blade, angled towards her. Wood wasn¡¯t traditionally a good material for swords, as it didn¡¯t tend to take an edge, but at a certain point enchantments and special properties dominated common knowledge. ¡°Careful,¡± Margriet said. ¡°That fellow feels stronger than the others.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Chikere said. While she might not be a swordmaster anymore¡­ she still knew how they functioned. Comparing this fellow to the Limitless Edge Sect, his blade was barely ornamental. And his skills¡­ truly flawed, instead of intentionally imperfect. Chikere placed herself in front of Margriet, who was providing their momentum. The extended projection of the blade extended towards them, covering hundreds of kilometers. She could feel it drawing upon the energy of the trees. And more than that, hungering for her blood. She raised her arm¡­ and caught the edge of the sword. It dug ever so slightly into her flesh, which likely would have opened her up to being drained dry had she any blood in that arm. She squeezed her fingers, not letting the blade withdraw. Her will forced the projection to remain in place, to keep its synchronization with the actual weapon. Then, she twisted. One of two things would happen. Her opponent would release the blade, or it would break. He resisted with brute force, drawing more life energy from the surroundings. Not just the trees, it seemed, but even from his fellow sect members. His energy strained against Chikere directly¡­ and then she simply let go. All his effort resisting her rebounded upon his blade, and it tore apart under the force. He should have known better. Chikere looked for the next individual along their route that used another sword. Because she could at least fight those. There were two more¡­ but then they would have to manage something clever for the last layer or two. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Meanwhile, Sly slammed headfirst not into one of the enemy cultivators or one of their trees, but the rocky planetoids they grew out of. It was one of the smallest ones, but it shattered apart, tearing apart the root ball and instantly disrupting the greater flow of energy in the system. Each move he made he had to be aware of the web closing in, intending to drain his life. And it was inevitable that they might get some of it¡­ but if there was nowhere functional for that energy to go, he might consider it a win. He smashed his way in the same general direction as the others, his role at getting past this particular obstacle completed. Swords were easy. Chikere understood them. But other weapons¡­ she basically only knew how to combat against them with a sword. And she didn¡¯t have one. Some part of her was willing to use blades of blood¡­ anywhere but here. Because battling directly with the most life force infused part of herself might not go over well against this particular sect. This opponent didn¡¯t even have the decency to attack her with a weapon, instead creating a more tangible barrier stretching over the vastness of space that they were trying to force their way through. ¡°Perhaps I should deal with this¡­¡± Margriet said. Chikere shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t get us out of here. So you need to save your energy.¡± Her legs sprang forward off of Margriet¡¯s waves, propelling her in front to reach the web of energy first. She thought about her apprentice Chidi, transforming himself into a formation. And his mother and her friend Catarina, who wasn¡¯t far off from doing the same- except lacking in the sword part of things. If she was being practical, she should have probably stolen one of the swords along her path. But maybe that would be worse than death. Whatever the result, Chikere didn¡¯t think she wanted to test the results in the midst of combat. Maybe that meant she had truly fallen, unwilling to experiment in combat which had been the majority of her life. No, that wasn¡¯t true. Because right now she was going to try to tear apart an active formation with her bare hands. One of them, specifically. It was a good hand, and she was honestly quite glad that things had turned out the way they did. This arm might be better than the one she had before. She hadn¡¯t believed a fake arm could be anywhere as good as her natural one, but she¡¯d been proven wrong. A wave of energy washed over her- no, flowed out of her- as soon as she got close to one string of the web. So it appeared that relying on her single non-living arm wasn¡¯t going to be sufficient. Even so, her fingers settled on the area of space where she perceived the flow of energy the most. It twisted, controlled by the local cultivators, trying to catch her off guard. But her grip held tight, what energy she had directing the energy around her, and keeping most of her inside herself. Everything hurt. Her injuries weren¡¯t fully healed, and it seemed that having lifeforce directly drained wasn¡¯t pleasant. So Chikere became just her arm once more. Mechanical pieces replicating muscles twisted and turned as her energy flowed naturally within and through it. As natural as an extension of herself. As natural as swords had been, not so long before. A string of energy leapt towards her, but rather than making Chikere¡¯s task more difficult she found it a boon. Her arm snatched out towards the single strand, pulling in such as way as to unravel the larger formation. It was excruciatingly slow. It would have been so much easier to cut it. Just a single slice and¡­ no web. She shouldn¡¯t have been so terrible that she and swords suddenly hated each other, but that was just how things were. Ultimately, Chikere wasn¡¯t certain if she could have accomplished the task herself. Probably not. But a certain hardheaded individual crashed by her, disrupting another portion of the energy field. A portion of the web snapped, and Margriet swept the three of them up again. ¡°... You don¡¯t look so good,¡± Chikere said to Sly. ¡°You have wrinkles now. And weird black veins.¡± He looked down at himself and nodded. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve seen worse.¡± ¡°Where?¡± Chikere asked. He just gestured at her. Ah. He was right. Aside from her right arm, nearly pristine aside from some scratches and the like, the rest of her was sallow and gaunt. The color had been drained from her skin, making her appear like a ghost. And the black veins spiderwebbed everywhere. Now that she was aware of it, she even noticed patterns permanently inlaid over her eyes. ¡°... I need to get this worked on.¡± Margriet looked at Chikere and shook her head. ¡°Unless you can find Dubet¡¯s Heart, it¡¯s¡­ unlikely your body will recover from that damage.¡± ¡°I already did that,¡± Chikere smiled. ¡°I got the best apprentice from it.¡± ¡°I¡­ do you know of more?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°It was just the one,¡± Chikere said. ¡°But that¡¯s okay. I can still get this fixed, probably.¡± Now that she wasn¡¯t just her arm, it hurt to breathe. And every time her heart beat, the pressure inside her blood vessels made it feel like she had a pressure headache from head to toe. But they weren¡¯t dead yet, and she was fairly certain she was supposed to desire that outcome. They had broken away from the edge of the system, more fatigued than when they had entered hoping for a moment of respite. But they were getting closer and closer to the Scarlet Midfields, or at least contested regions. Hopefully they would be able to grab a few moments of respite in one of the less interesting systems along the way. ----- Meerkat heads rose as a herd of warthogs tromped over the horizon towards the colony. They had only just recently found the courage to return to their more widespread burrows, and then the swarm of locusts had thrown everything off course. They had a temporary boost in food, but were now forced to deal with their regular food sources drying up. Anton had been making use of their labor to replant things, but they needed more food. And now warthogs were coming, likely lacking their own food sources and hoping to take what they could from the meerkat¡¯s relative prosperity. The captain of the guard Deep Purr and others including Three Squeaks and Sustained Chittering went to stop them from getting close to the colony. The warthogs could collapse tunnels and cause all sorts of trouble if they got too close. ¡°Halt!¡± Deep Purr said. ¡°What are your intentions here?¡± The leader of the warthogs, who had just recently been able to properly walk again, lowered his head. ¡°Fear not. We don¡¯t seek war. Instead, we want to ask for aid from you, and the tall one.¡± Well now, was that their angle? This was a great opportunity to draw more people into the fold. Though the meerkats would have to be willing to accept the possibility. He could step in and take over the negotiations, of course, but he wanted to see how it went. Chapter 769 The warthogs stood in position behind their leader, whose name was simply a Forceful Snort. Deep Purr stood with the other meerkats surrounding him, taking up as much space as they could. ¡°What is your business here?¡± the meerkat captain asked. ¡°We want food. You have made food. The Tall One must have food as well.¡± ¡°And you simply expect us to give it to you?¡± Forceful Snort made his namesake sound. ¡°No. We will help. We can do work.¡± ¡°Even if we needed you for anything¡­¡± Deep Purr said. ¡°Last time you showed up here, it was joined with an assault from the eagles.¡± ¡°Payment for work. They promised food for our aid. We promise more fighting for the same. Will fend off munchy gazelles or toothy jackals.¡± As Deep Purr seemed about to reject them, Three Squeaks put a paw on his side. ¡°We should give them a chance. See what they can do.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± said the captain of the guard. ¡°But we can fight for ourselves, now. We are stronger. Can they provide anything else, besides rooting in the dirt?¡± At those words another figure came onto the scene. With a slow waddle. One step at a time. ¡°Rooting¡­ in¡­ the¡­ dirt¡­ is¡­ good,¡± Meep said as he came up on them. ¡°Can¡­ aid¡­ farm. Share¡­ found¡­ food.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t spare anything,¡± Deep Purr said. ¡°But if you can find more food, or get aid from the One of Energy, I will not stop you. But the two of you will be responsible for the deal,¡± Deep Purr said to Three Squeaks and Meep. Anton made sure he was visible on the hill, and the group began to march towards him. Anton let them explain. He was glad he didn¡¯t have to suggest too much himself. ¡°Yes, the warthogs will be better at turning more soil than you. But they cannot plant or weed as well. It is a good partnership.¡± It would take too long for food to grow, of course. They only had a few days worth of locusts for the meerkats, and the warthogs didn¡¯t have a large amount fat built up to provide them more time. But Anton could help direct them towards places with more food. Buried root vegetables might be eaten by the other animals in the area¡­ or they might root in the ground, unnoticed. Either way, with the warthogs the meerkats would feel more secure ranging wider, and they could intentionally help replant after the locust¡¯s devastation on their own. And if the warthogs proved reliable, Anton could begin teaching them proper cultivation as well. It would be yet another arrangement of organs and meridians, but he had the feeling that would be the case for every single group he came across on Akrys. Even different sorts of birds could have wildly different features in important ways, and many creatures were more diverse than that group. ----- Crossing the border into the Scarlet Midfields, the group of escapees was able to snatch some amount of proper rest. But they wouldn¡¯t be staying anywhere for long. ¡°I imagine that there are bounties on our heads already,¡± Sly said. ¡°Ships are probably already on their way to come after us.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Margriet nodded her head. ¡°But we should be able to avoid them, since they won¡¯t necessarily be able to follow our trail now that we¡¯re out of their territory.¡± ¡°If we had our ships we could outrun them,¡± Chikere said. ¡°... But I don¡¯t have my communicator.¡± ¡°How far is it until we can contact your alliance?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°Pretty far,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Though you could ask someone how big the Scarlet Alliance is if you care.¡± ¡°Best to not, for now,¡± Margriet shook her head. ¡°We¡¯ll aim for the edges of former Harmonious Citadel Territory. That should bring us somewhere familiar to you, at least.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Thanks for carrying me along, by the way. We didn¡¯t really even know each other.¡± Margriet smiled, ¡°You did free us. Even if it was merely with the intent to use us as distractions.¡± ¡°Was that why¡­?¡± Chikere asked. She hadn¡¯t really thought about it. ¡°Plus,¡± the large Sly said, ¡°You¡¯re our best ticket to a sizable group that doesn¡¯t want to kill us. And might save us from further retribution.¡± ¡°You could have stayed in the cells,¡± Chikere said. Sly shook his head, ¡°Better dead than imprisoned there forever. I was hoping for an opportunity, even if I didn¡¯t truly expect it.¡± ¡°It was too easy to leave,¡± Chikere said. ¡°You call that easy?¡± Sly asked. ¡°At full power I wouldn¡¯t be able to cut through Xankeshan¡¯s formation barrier.¡± ¡°Certainly, but that¡¯s your capitol planet,¡± Margriet said. ¡°This was just a backwater.¡± ¡°... A jail should be more secure, right?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°It worked for centuries,¡± Sly said. ¡°That¡¯s because everyone here is too slow,¡± Chikere complained. ¡°Instead of trying to get things done properly.¡± They didn¡¯t have any money, but they were able to hunt some wild beasts for actual food. Chikere brought skewers of roasted meat to her mouth with her one good limb. The others didn¡¯t do much of anything right now, and she didn¡¯t really have a way to recover on her own. But she had one good arm, so why couldn¡¯t she have more? A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Margriet breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°This is so much better than relying on absorbed energy. I wish I could sleep longer, though.¡± ¡°I can at least watch for incoming enemies,¡± Chikere said. Her senses were just as good, still well trained to pick up threats. ----- Ultimately, Chikere did have to shake the other two awake. ¡°Hey. Bad news,¡± she said. ¡°Either there are a lot of people following us or they have some way to track us.¡± They had gone further than just the border, which gave them several dozen options for which planets they could have ended up on. ¡°Dammit,¡± Margriet said. ¡°How far are they?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a moderately fancy sword about an hour away,¡± Chikere said. ¡°At the edge of the system.¡± Sly picked himself up off the ground. ¡°What¡¯s the criteria for moderately fancy?¡± ¡°Sharpness. Materials. Bloodthirst. This one lacks perfection.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t everything?¡± ¡°Not the Limitless Edge,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it,¡± Sly said. ¡°We were never properly introduced. Not that there would have been a reason. She¡¯s a proper Augmentation cultivator, after all.¡± ¡°She¡¯s very strong,¡± Chikere agreed. Margriet carried them off, trying to keep ahead of the enemy¡¯s senses- and changing direction as they traveled between systems. After a few weeks of travel they were fairly certain they had lost their pursuers¡­ only to pick up another group. Each time they lost one, more closed in for the pursuit. ¡°... I don¡¯t think we can make it,¡± Margriet said. ¡°We won¡¯t even make it a third of the way there before I can¡¯t bring us any further. And I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve passed any ships that would carry us along faster.¡± ¡°I did tell a few people to tell Catarina what was going on,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Were any of them members of your alliance?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Chikere said. ¡°But eventually someone will hear and pass the message on.¡± Sly snorted. ¡°I admire your confidence. But I am concerned about your lack of concern for our imminent deaths. It¡¯s not just that, is it?¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°As you said, it might be better to be dead.¡± ¡°Certainly,¡± the man agreed. ¡°But would you not rather snatch the opportunity before you?¡± ¡°As long as I can reach it with my right arm,¡± Chikere said. ¡°The other isn¡¯t any good for snatching now.¡± ¡°You should also be more concerned about that,¡± Sly said. ¡°It¡¯s quite difficult to recover from intentionally crippling wounds.¡± ¡°Uzun can help.¡± ¡°Who is this Uzun?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°A great healer?¡± ¡°He makes guns and robots,¡± Chikere said. ¡°But he talks with the same people who made my arm,¡± Chikere held it up. ¡°About that,¡± Margriet asked. ¡°... What is it?¡± ¡°A bunch of fancy metal and fake stuff,¡± Chikere said. ¡°And electricity.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t really explain much,¡± Margriet admitted. ¡°What sort of formations conceal its power?¡± ¡°None,¡± Chikere said. ¡°It basically doesn¡¯t use any. Because it was made in the lower realms for me for use here. I was going to re-ascend but that was too hard so I just chopped through space.¡± Chikere frowned. ¡°Do you think that was why I lost?¡± Sly tilted his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know I tracked all of that.¡± ¡°I thought about re-ascending and I didn¡¯t, maybe that was why I wasn¡¯t good enough.¡± ¡°Sometimes you just lose,¡± he said. ¡°I know,¡± Chikere agreed. ¡°But it¡¯s not supposed to be like that. An unsurpassable distance beyond conceivable limits.¡± ¡°Even if you did reach your limit,¡± Margriet said, ¡°Would that be so bad? It¡¯s not like life ends at that point.¡± ¡°... Doesn¡¯t it?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°You can make use of what power you have. For your friends. And your alliance.¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°That would have been pretty good. When I had power.¡± ¡°What are you going to do if this Uzun can heal you?¡± Sly asked. ¡°Figure out if I can still use a sword or not. Maybe die. I haven¡¯t figured it out yet.¡± ¡°The latter would be a rather poor way to pay back someone who healed you,¡± Sly pointed out. ¡°... Not that one, then,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°But I don¡¯t know. Because I don¡¯t know anything anymore.¡± ----- A tree toppled over. Not a particularly large one, just a handful of meters tall and less than twenty centimeters thick. Warthogs and meerkats didn¡¯t have much use for building materials at this current time, but this particular tree was dug up by the warthogs for a project of Meep¡¯s. It would be a host to some fungus, in a little grove he was putting together. Most of it had been ruined, but the trees were regrowing their leaves already after the locust swarm. Enough would survive. Anton did his best to only provide advice, as well as directing the groups to some alternate sources of food. If necessary he would bring some food from afar- there were many places the locusts hadn¡¯t passed by, if one went far enough. It wasn¡¯t some worldwide phenomenon, after all. Just an ordinary swarm of insects. As for why he didn¡¯t just provide what they needed¡­ It wouldn¡¯t mean as much if they didn¡¯t work for it. But Anton made sure that everyone had enough to survive, at least. A season or two and the area would recover. This was simply a bad year, even without his help both groups would likely survive, though with some losses. He might have slightly supplemented some of the food they found by encouraging its growth before they reached it. After all, he didn¡¯t want there to be too much disparity between the burrow and his own disciples. He didn¡¯t want people trying to join his training because they needed to eat, but rather because they wanted to take those steps to thrive. There was an important difference in motivation and the effort it produced. Ultimately, Anton would influence every individual he could along his path of growth. Enrichment was his path, and it didn¡¯t just apply to himself or distant stars in the sky. A star was just one part of a system¡¯s growth. Speaking of the star, however, the red supergiant¡¯s properties were becoming more clear to Anton. It certainly felt a bit special, but then again Anton hadn¡¯t actually encountered others of the same size and type. He had the feeling it wasn¡¯t solely responsible for the rise of sapience in this place, but he couldn¡¯t yet find any other cause. Maybe they would never know, and ultimately that didn¡¯t matter. What mattered was how things were now, and the people that existed upon the planet. Even if they were quite different in form than the people Anton typically thought of. Anton was still going to have to continue his survey of the border planets, but he would wait a season or two for things to settle down. He wanted to see if he could build lasting bonds between the local species, or if the current teamwork would be ephemeral and solely based on the necessary temporary rewards. That was the way of many relationships among humans, which is why it took work to get a functioning community, and more work for every layer above that. But ultimately, Anton knew that planetwide communities could exist. And that they could expand through a system and beyond, while still working together for the prosperity of all. And while some people came out ahead compared to others, it was a far cry from the standard power disparity seen among cultivators. Chapter 770 After the first several factions rejected the plea for help from Margriet and Sly, they stopped asking. It took precious time they could otherwise be using to flee, after all. Meanwhile, Chikere stayed silent the whole time. ¡°Isn¡¯t this your sector?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°Why not ask for assistance?¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not like we control the whole of the Scarlet Midfields. Just the core.¡± ¡°... And you were still willing to stand against the Exalted Quadrant?¡± ¡°They started everything,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°Both in the lower realms and here. Being unwilling to stand against them just means certain death, instead of possible death.¡± ¡°On that note¡­ did you really enter the Exalted Quadrant alone with the intention to challenge the Limitless Edge Sect?¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Good. Maybe you had some sense in you.¡± ¡°I was going to challenge anyone with a good sword,¡± Chikere clarified. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know about the Limitless Edge Sect.¡± ¡°... It¡¯s a miracle that you are alive,¡± Margriet said. She looked over her shoulder, though of course their pursuers weren¡¯t visible. By the time they could be seen visually, they would already be on top of them, barely tens of kilometers away. Or perhaps a bit more than that, given they would be traveling in larger ships. Sly folded his arms in front of him as Margriet¡¯s waves carried them along. ¡°I don¡¯t want to die like this,¡± he said. ¡°It is unfortunate,¡± Margriet said. ¡°But this is how things are. Death comes for us all eventually. I was just hoping it would take longer.¡± ¡°Death, I don¡¯t mind,¡± he said. ¡°I just don¡¯t want to die while running away. I¡¯d rather fight.¡± He turned to Chikere, ¡°What about you?¡± She furrowed her brow. ¡°I don¡¯t know, anymore. So since I always used to want to fight, maybe that means I don¡¯t want to now.¡± ¡°We need to fix that,¡± he grumbled. ¡°It would be a shame to see a warrior fall to themselves and not the enemy.¡± ¡°I might be able to keep us ahead for one more system,¡± Margriet commented. ¡°Any opinions on where you want to die?¡± ¡°Somewhere with solid ground to stand on,¡± Sly commented. Chikere put a finger to her lips. ¡°Near my apprentice. Grandmaster Sadiq could forge him a sword out of me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ morbid,¡± Margriet commented. ¡°And practical,¡± Sly added. ¡°Though it doesn¡¯t really matter if your apprentice isn¡¯t around.¡± ¡°He¡¯s that way,¡± Chikere pointed. ¡°So we should go there.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Margriet commented. ¡°I know his sword, so he¡¯s definitely there.¡± ¡°What I meant was¡­ you aren¡¯t worried about us getting your apprentice killed?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Where does that confidence come from?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°He¡¯s strong,¡± Chikere replied. ¡°And he tends to keep allies around him.¡± ¡°... Well it¡¯s not like we¡¯ll have long to regret the choice should it turn out poor,¡± Margriet shook her head. Despite the urgency of their continued flight, the distance between systems was not trivial. It would take days to reach the next system, during which Margriet had to stay constantly focused if she didn¡¯t want to lose the lead they had. It was more complicated than simply maintaining momentum when one had to deal with super-light speeds involving subspace or similar traversal techniques. ----- Margriet didn¡¯t know the name of the odd little star system they ended up in. A warm yellow star was host to only a single planet with two moons, and nothing more. But Chikere said there were allies here, and there was nowhere better she could think to go. Her waves barely allowed them to maintain a gap with their pursuers. She could feel them coming up behind even as they approached the planet. There was a proper Augmentation cultivator among the pursuing forces, though it was likely unnecessary to involve them to defeat their trio. Only Sly was really able to fight, Chikere¡¯s state having worsened after bypassing the Forest of Death. And Margriet was exhausted from transporting them- but she wasn¡¯t willing to leave behind any of her escape compatriots. She just hoped that Chikere¡¯s confidence was well placed. Margriet had learned to trust her senses- but did not know her well enough to trust her other judgment. There was a strange feeling as they approached the planet. She couldn¡¯t quite place it until they were about to settle down. The planet was¡­ nothing. No fortified cities. No sects or wild places or¡­ really any signs of life. Just a bare planet with two moons on opposite sides. One of them happened to be directly in the path of the sun¡¯s light¡­ or perhaps it wasn¡¯t a coincidence, as she didn¡¯t feel the expected rotation of the moons. Curious. ¡°There he is,¡± Chikere pointed towards the center of the shaded portion of the planet. ¡°This feels like a trap,¡± Sly said. ¡°If it is for us, it is already too late,¡± Margriet said. ¡°And our enemies would have had to move ahead of us, at which point they could have simply captured us.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ----- ¡°I think that has to be them,¡± Timothy said to his son. Chidi frowned, folding his arms across his chest. ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel like Chikere is with them.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Timothy tilted his head. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s someone faking her aura then?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ not right,¡± Chidi said. ¡°She doesn¡¯t have any of her swords.¡± Timothy frowned. ¡°Perhaps she was disarmed somehow? Maybe captured?¡± ¡°I find it hard to believe she would escape without her swords,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But¡­ underneath the surface, the aura is still correct. And she was seen traveling with a member of the Hardened Crown Sect and the Worthy Shore Society. So I suppose it must be her.¡± It took only a few minutes for them to approach close enough, as they came in for a quick landing. At that point, even if Chidi couldn¡¯t verify anything else, he could feel Chikere¡¯s features. And her fancy arm, which was the only part of her that looks to be in tolerable shape. ¡°You did say she would find us,¡± Timothy said. ¡°So I think you were right.¡± ¡°Hello,¡± Chikere said. The large man of the trio looked around. ¡°... Is this it? I was kind of hoping for more than two people.¡± ¡°I will admit to being underwhelmed,¡± the other woman agreed. ¡°But we should introduce ourselves. It seems the two of you recognize Chikere. I am Margriet Gelens. I believe we met briefly, some time ago. Timothy, isn¡¯t it?¡± Timothy nodded, ¡°I can¡¯t say I expected to meet again, after you ascended. Or at least not after the trouble on Ceretos.¡± ¡°I found the results quite inconvenient, personally,¡± Margriet said. ¡°And I am somewhat disappointed to see none of my sect came along with you.¡± ¡°Or the Hardened Crown!¡± said the large man. ¡°Didn¡¯t they come with you? I¡¯m Sly, by the way,¡± he stuck out his sizable appendage to shake with the others. ¡°The Hardened Crown Sect was¡­ rather stubborn in their refusal to take a side in the war,¡± Timothy said. ¡°So we are currently unassociated.¡± ¡°Hah. Should have expected something stupid like that. I would knock some sense into ¡®em, if I could get to them. It¡¯s always better to take a stance.¡± Sly turned his head up towards the skies. ¡°Well, ready to die with us?¡± ¡°Today?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°I think not. We didn¡¯t come with just us.¡± Sly looked around. ¡°I don¡¯t see anyone else¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s all of the people behind that other moon,¡± Chikere pointed. ¡°Oh. Was that a secret?¡± Timothy laughed, ¡°Not if these people are your allies.¡± She nodded. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have made it off planet without them.¡± ¡°... I hope those fleets of yours are quick,¡± Sly said. The Exalted Quadrant fleets were already approaching the atmosphere. ¡°Oh, they are,¡± Timothy said. ¡°We¡¯ll have to hold on here for a few moments, though.¡± Within the fleets pursuing them was a mixture of sects from the Exalted Quadrant. There was a significant portion from the Forest of Death, but the largest contingent was from the same group as the Augmentation cultivator. They projected a powerful chill that could be felt from a great distance, and sheets of ice were appearing on the ground around the five individuals. ¡°You might want to stand behind me,¡± Timothy said as the enemies were almost upon them. Margriet gave Sly a little push before he could reject, and Chikere just sat down next to Chidi. A sturdy man with a long hair and beard, both the color of freshly fallen snow, dropped from the leading ship along with a dozen Integration cultivators. He fell, not with the gentleness of a flake of snow but rather the impact of a great hailstone. Timothy raised his shield, but the impact came a hundred meters away, the leading cultivators toppling back and those who followed behind landing to surround the group. At the same time, the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s fleets could already be sensed coming around both sides of the second moon. ¡°Hmph,¡± grunted the white haired fellow. ¡°Your emergency formation won¡¯t protect you for long. Nor will your fleets stop us from claiming our bounties and returning home. This isn¡¯t your fortified home world where you can turtle like cowards. And even that won¡¯t do you much good in the long run.¡± ¡°Big words for someone I don¡¯t know,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Why don¡¯t you prove it?¡± A coat of rime began to spread over the dome shaped barrier protecting the group, and the wide fellow began to batter the barrier with his fists. But that was not all. With each swing, a great ice comet crashed towards the barrier. The barrier trembled under the assault, and then his disciples began to join him. The other cultivators began their own methods of breaking down the barrier as well. ¡°... Should we really be provoking them?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°I¡¯m just making things easier for our reinforcements. It¡¯s more convenient if he isn¡¯t fresh.¡± ¡°That only matters if your barrier can survive that long!¡± The man shouted. ¡°And it will not, for I am Abraham of the Disciples of the Frozen One!¡± ¡°Did you hear that, dear?¡± Timothy said into his communicator. ¡°... Why are you talking like that?¡± Catarina¡¯s voice replied. ¡°What do you mean, honey? Don¡¯t I always talk like this?¡± ¡°Please stop.¡± ¡°This man said you¡¯re barrier isn¡¯t good enough to stop him from killing us and leaving.¡± ¡°I heard that!¡± Catarina said. But this time, her voice came not from Timothy¡¯s communicator, but from above and behind the group of Exalted Quadrant cultivators. ¡°Hey, geezer, what do you know about barrier formations?¡± ¡°Enough to know that sufficient power can defeat any of them¡­¡± Abraham said as he suddenly spun around launching a spear of ice into the air¡­ only to have it shatter halfway to Catarina. ¡°Have you ever come across a system where the lunar cycles were perfectly synched with the solar year?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°No. Is this important somehow?¡± Abraham cracked his neck, clearly not convinced that he was in any sort of danger. ¡°Well you see, it comes with some interesting properties. Such as a massive temperature differential.¡± ¡°And that mean¡­ what?¡± Abraham asked. ¡°Power,¡± Catarina said. Almost at that point, the wreckage of Exalted Quadrant ships began impacting the area. Only a small portion of their combat power had remained on the ships, but they likely hadn¡¯t expected to fall so quickly to the Scarlet Alliance fleets. ¡°Quite a lot of power, in fact.¡± The Forest of Death cultivators were straining against the outer barrier, tendrils of horrid energy trying to reach Catarina and drag the life force out of her. But she didn¡¯t let them get close. Scarlet Alliance forces began landing. Among them were, in fact, a number of individuals from the Worthy Shore Society, but also others from all aspects of their alliance. The Dark Ring, the Dancing Slayer Sect, and many others from various places in the lower realms. ¡°You¡¯ll still have to fight us eventually,¡± Abraham said. ¡°That¡¯s not true at all,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I could literally just let you die in there. Or I could¡­¡± she squeezed her fingers together, and several cultivators were tossed backwards away from the outer barrier, only to stop about halfway to the former location of the inner barrier as both pinched in on them. Then they were crushed. ¡°I¡¯d like you to at least pretend to respect my status as an Augmentation cultivator, won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I doubt you can do that often,¡± Abraham said. ¡°The thing is¡­ I could eventually kill all of you like that. But I have a friend here who I haven¡¯t seen in a while, and a whole army who wants to kill you guys. So¡­¡± she stepped through the barrier, gesturing to the rest of them. ¡°We¡¯re just going to kill you the old fashioned way, okay?¡± Chapter 771 As Scarlet Alliance cultivators poured through the outer barrier, those in the inner barrier joined the fight as well. Timothy, Chidi, and Sly all charged out. Margriet hesitated, but understood she wouldn¡¯t be much help in her current state. Meanwhile, Chikere was just watching carefully. Chidi focused on the flow of energy. Obviously he couldn¡¯t interact with every single cultivator¡¯s intentions at once. Instead, he narrowed his field down to the grand formation around them and a few potential opponents. The constant heat on one moon and the cooler shadowed moon provided a flow of energy that powered the swiftly but not hastily constructed rules carved by his mother. Her level of understanding that brought her to the Augmentation phase was beyond his comprehension, but he understood the formation was working towards his benefit. Three foes stood in sequence along Chidi¡¯s planned route. The first was a cultivator of deathly energy. He twisted the natural flow of energy, reaching for Chidi. In return, Chidi¡¯s sword flashed out, synchronizing with the formations carved into his body. He was unable to rebound the technique as he intended, but his blade cut apart the flow, dispersing the attack around him. In the same swing, he cut off the man¡¯s head. It would perhaps have taken a longer exchange of moves, except they were within his mother¡¯s domain. A slight increase in his own flow of energy and a sluggishness in his enemies proved to be a vast difference in actual combat effectiveness. The second foe was already launching her attack. The power of ice, like that loud guy. Abraham, was it? Chidi didn¡¯t know who this Frozen One was, but that figures disciples had chosen the wrong target. More than that, they¡¯d gone far out of their territory in an arrogant manner. Spears of ice tore through the air towards Chidi while he twisted his body, his blade slicing one in two and deflecting another to the side. His sword sliced towards the woman, only to be reflected by a solid barrier of ice. It wasn¡¯t impossible for Chidi to slice through such a thing, of course, but it took more than raw force. But here, he had access to a better option. Drawing on just a small part of the sun facing moon and the energy that was passing through the formation, Chidi carved several fine lines into the surface of the icy barrier. From those lines, the heat of the formation spread, shattering the ice as his blade stabbed through the second woman¡¯s heart. A slash came at Chidi from behind, so clumsy he almost didn¡¯t dodge it. No, he almost dodged into it. It didn¡¯t make any sense at all, but that was how it was. He spun around to make better use of his blade, matching edge to edge with the third of his targets. The woman was strange, making use of a wide variety of sword techniques, some familiar and some not. But more than the variety of her attacks, Chidi wondered at how they were performed. Even without having experienced them before he knew how they should work¡­ and he had the feeling everything was wrong on purpose. And yet, he felt himself struggling. Even more so when techniques he clearly recognized began to be used against him. It was like fighting grandmaster Chikere¡­ if she was sick. And drunk. With one hand tied behind her back and only a single sword held in the other. But the point wasn¡¯t the presence of the enemy, but the very utilization of the techniques. Rarely was there anything new in the realm of battles, simply different understandings and perfection of techniques. But even so, Chidi was aware these had been gleaned from Chikere, even if imperfectly. No. Could it be said to be imperfect, if every tilt of the wrist or bending of the elbow was intentional? A sloppy copy would be something else entirely. Chidi continued the fight, almost certain he could win at any time but fascinated by how the attacks managed to flow together. Not smooth like a river, but more like a dozen barrels of wine being haphazardly dumped into a sluice. But flow it did. What was the point of this? Surely not to win a battle. Seeking perfection in imperfection? That would only work if this woman survived. And she would not. As Chidi¡¯s blade sliced across her throat, he realized he hadn¡¯t been paying attention to her blade. That was what the main dissonance had come from, as the perfection of the blade clashed with the imperfection of the technique. Then the tip of the blade touched the ground as it fell from the woman¡¯s dying hands, and it was no more. Or perhaps the sword never existed to begin with. ----- Elsewhere on the battlefield, Catarina was currently staring at the Augmentation cultivator Abraham, an icy shell covering him¡­ and surrounding that was a condensed formation barrier. ¡°You know, there¡¯s no point in putting in so much effort to block my attack if I¡¯m not actually attacking,¡± Catarina said. ¡°You should have used that energy to break out, you know? Something about¡­ sufficient power can break any barrier formation?¡± Rather than fully dissolving his shield, Abraham left most of it intact, merely drawing away the ice on the side opposite of Catarina to leave a hole. His fist punched outwards, icy rime forming on the barrier as it trembled. But he had little space to move his arms, or to form his energy into anything of significance. Determining that, Abraham condensed much of his remaining energy into the shape of a spear he held in his hand, thrusting forward with great strength. A hole was punctured into the barrier. ¡°You see that, witch? Your barrier is broken!¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯ll admit it. It¡¯s broken. So¡­ are you going to climb out or¡­?¡± She gestured to the hole no more than the size of a palm. Abraham glared at it, as if doing so would force the hole to become larger. ¡°I understand now. It was always an illusion to make me waste my energy. When really, I should have been¡­¡± He spun around, hurling the spear towards the other side of the barrier, ¡°Attacking you directly!¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The spear tore through the barrier, but having been used for the same purpose once it had little energy left beyond that. The swiftness with which the spear of ice should have pierced Catarina became a leisurely arc through the air that she simply sidestepped. Catarina blinked as she looked at Abraham. ¡°Is that it?¡± She took several steps that appeared to be pointless, but were part of calculated movements to redirect the flow of energy. The holes in the barrier sealed. ¡°Just because it didn¡¯t shatter doesn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t a real barrier. Why should I bother standing up to your full might? And yes, I did intend for you to waste your effort. But just because it defies your expectations doesn¡¯t make it an illusion.¡± She walked up to the barrier, pressing her face against it. ¡°Now, what made you think you could come here and survive?¡± ¡°The might of the Exalted Quadrant is unstoppable!¡± Abraham declared. ¡°Let us put aside the truth or falsity of that statement,¡± Catarina said. ¡°What made you personally think you could brazenly enter our territory and survive?¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare to slay me. The Exalted Quadrant will retaliate with greater measure.¡± ¡°Ah, but you¡¯re mistaken about something. There is no reason to hesitate when you are already going to act as you please. The Exalted Quadrant has shown no regard for even their negotiations with the Trigold Cluster. Why, then, should we expect any different here? If you were allowed to leave, you would simply come back with more. And so¡­¡± ¡°You will kill me. But my death will be known to the Frozen One. And I will be avenged.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great information, actually,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But also, you think I¡¯d put you in a bubble to kill you? Don¡¯t be stupid. We have all sorts of people who would like to know the information you have bouncing around in that noggin of yours. Oh, and before you try to-¡± The man stretched out his fist, slamming it into his own chest. Most likely, he would leave a bruise. ¡°Before you try to kill yourself,¡± Catarina sighed, ¡°Be aware that I didn¡¯t bait you to use up the majority of your energy for fun. It just made it easier to siphon off the rest. Ultimately I come out behind, but since you come out with nothing¡­¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°I feel like the exchange rate is worth it.¡± ----- The battle ended with the vast majority of the Exalted Quadrant cultivators slain. They could not be safely ransomed back to the Exalted Quadrant, nor was it useful to keep most of them around for interrogation. And there was no question about whether or not they might be guilty. This wasn¡¯t their territory, or even vaguely neutral territory. Every single one of them was an invading combatant coming after the life of a member of the Scarlet Alliance. And more than that, the sheer disrespect they had shown by their brazen approach had to be dealt with harshly. Even Anton would have agreed about that. Sometimes, people just had to die. Introductions- and reintroductions- were made with Sly and Margriet. Then there came the matter of Chikere. Her apprentice was the first to truly understand her condition. It was far more than the physical damage, though that was obvious enough for everyone to pick out. ¡°You don¡¯t have any swords,¡± Chidi said as he led her towards a ship that would take them back towards Xankeshan. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It must be quite unpleasant.¡± ¡°It was,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Each loss hurt more than¡­ these,¡± Chikere gestured to her wounds which were beginning to turn into scars. ¡°I don¡¯t have much,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But if it would help, I have backup swords you could hold onto¡­?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t-¡± Chikere stopped herself. ¡°That probably won¡¯t make me feel better.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°Suit yourself. Would you like some healing pills?¡± Chikere sighed, ¡°I suppose. It¡¯ll at least get rid of the aches.¡± After providing what care he could- including some food- Chidi sought out Margriet. He had sensed some reaction to his involvement with Chikere. ¡°What was she going to say?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Why should I know that?¡± Margriet evaded the question. ¡°You know her better, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the one who spent the last¡­ however long it has been¡­ with her,¡± Chidi replied. ¡°And people don¡¯t react like that for nothing. A slight inhalation. Shifting of the feet. All sorts of small movements.¡± ¡°I thought I controlled my glances pretty well.¡± ¡°People rely on that aspect of others far too much,¡± Chidi said. ¡°So what was it?¡± ¡°Well, it might have just been her angry at the situation. But she seemed rather despondent and mentioning she didn¡¯t like swords anymore and that she might be better off dying.¡± Margriet shrugged, ¡°Though she did lead us to where you could help her, so she probably didn¡¯t actually want to die.¡± ¡°... She said she didn¡¯t like swords?¡± ¡°More or less, yeah,¡± Margriet replied. ¡°Is that¡­ more important than the dying thing?¡± ¡°She¡¯s never more serious about anything than the topic of swords. So if she really meant it¡­ then something is seriously wrong with her.¡± ¡°She lost a battle,¡± Margriet said. ¡°Do you think that could be the cause?¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t. She does lose¡­ occasionally. Who was it to?¡± ¡°The Limitless Edge. There were even a few disciples here¡­¡± Margriet said. ¡°You fought one.¡± ¡°The Limitless Edge¡­¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°An incomprehensible technique. But would that make her¡­ like this?¡± And how would a random disciple know Chikere¡¯s style like that? ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯d know more than me,¡± Margriet replied. ¡°Oh, she did say some hopeful things. Perhaps fantastic but¡­ she talked about her arm. The fake one. And some fellow named Uzun? She seemed to think he could help her with the damage.¡± ¡°That¡­ might be more effective than other forms of treatment,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°Thank you for mentioning it. I¡¯ll call ahead to ask him about it. Our processing facilities shouldn¡¯t be so far behind that we can¡¯t replicate something.¡± Chapter 772 Instead of immediately returning to Xankeshan, the Scarlet Alliance fleets were tasked with seeking out any additional Exalted Quadrant pursuers in the area. The other groups had no better excuse to be intruding on their territory, and they wanted to prevent them from causing any more trouble on their way out, once they realized their hunt was for naught. The Alliance¡¯s fleets were better specialized for actual space combat instead of simply carrying personnel, so they were able to manage the task with an acceptable amount of losses. With the more urgent issues out of the way, it was time to deal with Chikere and the two who came along with her. Margriet was happy to join up with the Scarlet Alliance- and they couldn¡¯t reject another individual with the potential to reach Augmentation. Besides, they were allied with the Worthy Shore Society from Ceretos. The only reason she hadn¡¯t been part of that to begin with was her time was too early. There hadn¡¯t really been an opportunity on her part to split from the Exalted Quadrant. The events on the lower realm had led directly to her arrest. Sly was the same with the Hardened Crown Sect, except having been from an earlier time. He had no involvement, but he was quite motivated to fight against the people who had kept him imprisoned for a century. Even if there wasn¡¯t any more permanent damage than a loss of time, that was only out of the barest respect for the larger sect. And a century wasn¡¯t that easy to make up for. ¡°So I just yell at this thing?¡± Sly said, pointing towards a device Catarina had set up. ¡°You don¡¯t have to yell,¡± she explained. ¡°But it will record the scene.¡± ¡°Yeah I know about capture orbs,¡± Sly said. ¡°How are you going to get it to the lower realms, though?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll only be sending the information, not the device,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Hmm. Whatever. Is it ready?¡± She pressed a button and nodded. ¡°You can begin whenever. And we will cut out any parts you deem unnecessary.¡± ¡°Hey! You idiots!¡± Sly puffed out his chest as he glared at the camera. ¡°You all got me imprisoned and you didn¡¯t even fight! You¡¯re lucky I don¡¯t bash your skull in! I¡¯m talking to you, Naamah,¡± he tapped his forehead. ¡°You were such a promising young disciple. I can¡¯t believe your decision would be indecision. You should have caused some kind of ruckus and committed to it! Anyway, thanks to this Scarlet Alliance here, I¡¯m free and alive. And if you all ascend and apologize I won¡¯t have to come beat you up next cycle. Also I heard you won¡¯t let these people attune their ascension catching stuff to you. That¡¯s pretty stupid because if you ascend into the Exalted Quadrant and they find out where you¡¯re from, they¡¯ll chop off your nicely fortified skulls, no matter how much you temper your spine. Get it?¡± Sly huffed. ¡°Anyway you should probably get back on good terms with those guys in the lower realms. Or don¡¯t but if you come crying to me after you die I¡¯m just going to say I told you so.¡± He looked at Catarina. ¡°Can it hold all that?¡± ¡°It will take longer to transmit,¡± she said. ¡°But we can also cut out anything you don¡¯t like.¡± She had it play back the message. ¡°I mean, everything after you last spoke was fine,¡± he said. ¡°But now that you played it I have to say it all again!¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how this works,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It can play it back as many times as we want. And we can cut out anything we feel like,¡± Catarina said, trimming the start of the recording to Sly¡¯s ¡®Hey!¡¯. ¡°So they¡¯ll get this in a decade or two, right?¡± Catarina just looked at him. ¡°Less than half a year. And only because we¡¯ll have to send a ship to their system instead of sending it directly.¡± ¡°... This stuff doesn¡¯t make any sense!¡± Sly said. ¡°It uses the same principles as all interstellar travel. As it turns out, it is much easier to send weightless information between systems than a heavy ship. It just requires something properly tuned to receive a message. And for the fastest results, strict pairing.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to pretend I understand what you said,¡± Sly nodded. ¡°So we land on your new homeworld, you send the message, and I get a response in¡­ a year?¡± ¡°Or a confirmation of receipt, if they don¡¯t want to send a response,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And we can relay it from here. It will save us a couple weeks.¡± ¡°I have to learn about this technology stuff. Like Chikere¡¯s weird arm.¡± ¡°That was the peak of Ruteran engineering¡­ when it was made,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I suppose they should be better at that now.¡± ¡°Great. They can fix your friend right up, then.¡± ¡°Maybe. Though I don¡¯t know if they can fix her head.¡± ¡°Pretty sure there¡¯s no damage to her skull,¡± Sly said. Catarina just shook her head. ----- Aconite was waiting for Chidi upon his return. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I missed a war!¡± ¡°Was it a war?¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°More like the opening skirmishes of one.¡± The wolf tilted her head back and forth. ¡°So they might send more? We¡¯ll have to watch out for that. No more going on family hunting trips, I guess.¡± ¡°My mother was talking about better advance warning systems. We were basically lucky to hear about Chikere, and the information about the fleets was also too slow to reach us. Our influence is slowly expanding westward but¡­ well, there¡¯s a lot of space, as it turns out.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°So your master is back? Is she a big fancy Augmentation cultivator now?¡± Chidi shook his head sadly. ¡°Things didn¡¯t quite turn out that way. She suffered a major loss which turned into a greater setback. She was captured and methodically wounded. Fortunately she got out before the work was done¡­ though nobody really explained how. She said something about¡­ itching? And her arm being free to move about. I didn¡¯t really understand the whole thing.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Aconite said. ¡°So she isn¡¯t quite Augmentation yet. But she¡¯ll heal¡­ and then she¡¯ll do it, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure about either,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen her like this¡­ which is to say not utterly confident in herself and her swords. And she¡­ doesn¡¯t even want to touch swords, right now.¡± Aconite sniffed. ¡°That sounds bad.¡± ¡°It¡¯s pretty bad,¡± Chidi agreed. ¡°But we¡¯ll see what can be done. It might just take time. We have some of that, at least.¡± ----- The information about the particular events in the upper realms would still take some time to reach Anton, not that he could affect the results in any way regardless. He was still in the beginnings of his plans for Akrys, and the surveys of the other border planets were continuing as normal. The mystery of what happened to the technological planet of Xugryke was still being unraveled, but at the moment it seemed like one of the few disasters not propagated by outside forces. Anton didn¡¯t know whether that was good or bad, though. The warthogs were just beginning to reap the rewards of helping to sow fields. Anton was continually adapting methods for the physiology of the locals, both from the side of cultivation and simple farming. Rows were the easiest way to plant a large number of crops, but the width between them depended not only on the plants but the farmers. Little guys like the meerkats who could get into small places changed some things. They also didn¡¯t mind chewing on half the weeds that would pop up- but they understood that the benefits of planting intentionally were to get higher quality food in an area. ¡°What do you think, Three Squeaks?¡± Anton asked his primary disciple on the planet. ¡°How is the progress of your fellows in cultivation?¡± ¡°They learn well,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Everyone is reaching the first star soon. The whole burrow is strong. And the guards are not lacking in growth.¡± Three Squeaks silence left Anton knowing he had more to say. ¡°But?¡± Anton prompted. ¡°I don¡¯t want to say it but¡­ I don¡¯t think the One Hundred Stars is suited for the majority of my people.¡± Anton nodded slowly. ¡°I agree, actually. Seeing how well you took to it, I thought it might be suited. But it seems to be you and a few others, in particular.¡± ¡°We like the sun, though,¡± Three Squeaks frowned. ¡°But there¡¯s still something lacking,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I think I have an idea of what it is. You are not solitary creatures. The few of you who act on your own are more anomalies than an example of exceptional individuals. Not that you aren¡¯t talented but¡­¡± ¡°But there is also Meep,¡± Three Squeaks agreed. ¡°He¡¯s¡­ odd.¡± ¡°I think he would prefer to say that he has found many things that your burrow shouldn¡¯t grow inside of it. He is willing to test¡­ even unlikely prospects.¡± ¡°At least he¡¯s the one eating the deadly stabbing thornroot,¡± Three Squeaks sighed. ¡°But he really should have accepted that we named it for a reason. And ultimately, I¡¯m glad he survives every time.¡± ¡°There are a few things that are growing fairly well,¡± Anton said. ¡°And it is kept safe from anything on the surface.¡± ¡°Like swarms of locusts,¡± Three Squeaks agreed. ¡°But I think you had something to say about my people¡¯s cultivation?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I had an idea based on another people I have seen. You are not in such a desperate situation as them, but just because you don¡¯t require a method to survive doesn¡¯t mean you won¡¯t be suited. And perhaps it might be even better, in some ways.¡± Anton went on to describe certain methods of communal cultivation. ¡°Ultimately, this benefits some individuals at the top more than others. In your burrow¡¯s case, it would likely be Deep Purr and the other guards. Potentially you, though perhaps a bit less if you continue with your independent practice of the One Hundred Stars. But the origin of this technique, Aipra, is able to function with practitioners of multiple styles.¡± ¡°You will be teaching that,¡± Three Squeaks said, not really asking. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°It may take some time to see results, but if your people find it a reasonable option I would like to attempt it. I wish I could spend years testing each option, but I think I am able to predict your current trajectory will be less than optimal.¡± ¡°But stronger than we were before,¡± Three Squeaks pointed out. ¡°Indeed. Your hard work is proving that true.¡± ¡°And your aid. Many of us would be bird food without you.¡± Anton grinned. ¡°You understand that working together is good. So we don¡¯t have to say any one of us is responsible. I can¡¯t make people great cultivators if they don¡¯t try.¡± ¡°... What benefit does this provide you?¡± Three Squeaks asked eventually. ¡°I¡¯ve already said it before, but you might comprehend better now. I¡¯ll start with this. I enjoy this process, so I gain personal benefit just from seeing the results. Eventually, we may talk about me binding your star. It is an interesting one, and that would also benefit me personally. And finally, if you become strong¡­ you can help us stand against our foes in the upper realms.¡± ¡°They are enemies you can¡¯t fight alone?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see how we can help, then,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°You¡¯re stronger than everyone here, right?¡± ¡°I am certainly stronger than your burrow.¡± Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°Not just that. But I mean everyone. You said this world is much bigger than what I have seen. But you have seen all of it, haven¡¯t you? I think you are stronger than all of it all at once.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Anton pondered. ¡°If you don¡¯t count the Great Queen.¡± ¡°She¡¯s scary,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I would tell you not to be afraid of things you don¡¯t understand,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it¡¯s a perfectly rational response. You might try talking to her, though.¡± ¡°My writing isn¡¯t good. And my sign is bad,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°It would be easier to go speak to the eagles.¡± ¡°Do you want to?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Speak to either her or the eagles, I mean.¡± Three Squeaks put his head in his paws. ¡°I don¡¯t understand either. But maybe I can understand the eagles. Even if they¡¯re scary. As a group, I mean.¡± Three Squeaks puffed out his chest, ¡°I am not afraid of just one.¡± ¡°You might not have to be enemies,¡± Anton said. ¡°And if you aren¡¯t, think of the weaker members of the burrow who won¡¯t have to be afraid anymore.¡± ¡°... I will try it,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Soon. But not today.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to rush,¡± Anton assured him. ¡°But don¡¯t be too slow either, okay?¡± Chapter 773 About a day after Anton left to do¡­ whatever it was that Anton did while he was gone, Three Squeaks had finished building up the courage to go speak to the eagles. And upon remembering Anton was gone, he almost lost that same courage. But was it courage, if he needed his master around to have it? Three Squeaks honestly didn¡¯t know, in particular because courage was a concept he hadn¡¯t really considered much before. The natural response of a meerkat to fear was to run and hide. As an individual who had fallen into a position as a guard somehow- by having more natural energy within him, mostly- Three Squeaks supposed the guards all displayed courage. Maybe not as individuals, but as a group. Relying on others of fairly similar power still took courage. Counting on someone else to solve everything did not. Which was exactly why Anton did a lot less than he could. The human could fly without wings and shoot his bow anywhere that could be seen. And yet, he didn¡¯t wipe out the warthogs or the eagles, despite protecting Shadysands Burrow. At first Three Squeaks had assumed he couldn¡¯t. Now, he knew there were other reasons. Maybe the same reason Three Squeaks wanted to speak to them now. Because while the eagles had tried to kill them, they were following along with another one of them. That didn¡¯t really excuse things, but the point was that they weren¡¯t thinking about things. And if Three Squeaks had learned anything since Anton came along, it was that thinking more was awful. No, wait. It was good. But it also let him realize how bad things were sometimes. Before, fellow meerkats dying would have made him sad for a while¡­ and then he would have been able to blissfully forget about them. Now he couldn¡¯t forget, so he had to make sure nobody died. Though some of those changes in thinking weren¡¯t due to cultivation, but to no longer being young. Or at least, as young. A couple more seasons made a big difference. Three Squeaks scrambled through the scrub bushes that almost made it look as if there had never been a locust in the area. Then again, much of the area was healing. Shadysands Burrow didn¡¯t have any stories of a previous swarm of locusts¡­ but it must have happened before. It was just that they were generally more focused on teaching important survival skills than history. The meerkat kept his eyes on the sky as he made his way towards the hills that housed the eagles, while also making certain to watch the ground for scorpions. The scorpions were a danger, in some sense, but mostly they were food. Three Squeaks found one and moved swiftly, chomping off its tail first. And then squishing its head. He wasn¡¯t quite sure how much they thought or felt pain, but now that he could ponder about others experiencing pain he wanted to make sure that it was minimal. But it was also necessary for him to eat, and there simply weren¡¯t enough edible plants. Finding a small stream, Three Squeaks followed it into the hills. It didn¡¯t provide as much cover, but it did make for an easier trek. And ultimately, the point was to meet the eagles. He didn¡¯t intend to surprise them or anything. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t exactly know where they made their nests, given that meerkats were generally better off staying away from them¡­ but for the same reason he was aware of the general area. It was a long trek, but the eagles that flew over the land so swiftly roamed further in a single day. He wondered if he would ever be able to fly himself. Anton did, and he didn¡¯t have wings so¡­ maybe it would be possible. Finally, Three Squeaks sensed one. It was quite obvious, as there weren¡¯t many things with so much concentrated natural energy. Especially not up in the sky, with nothing to block it. Going against all of his instincts, Three Squeaks jumped up on a rock and called out. ¡°Hey! I want to talk to you! Eagle up there!¡± He did the thing that Anton did to make his voice louder, too. Three Squeaks was filled with nearly instant regret as he saw eagle eyes focus on him¡­ and then sharp talons and the beak became his focus as the eagle dove towards him, crying out. But¡­ he stood his ground. And the sounds resolved into something he could comprehend as the eagle got close. Sounds of curiosity¡­ and wonder. The eagle pulled away as it was a few meters above, swooping around to land on a nearby bush. ¡°A strange request,¡± the eagle cawed. ¡°But I will entertain it. What is it you wish to say?¡± ¡°I am Three Squeaks from the Shadysands Burrow and¡­!¡± Oh. He should have probably thought about this before now, huh? ¡°I wanted to be friends.¡± ¡°Friends?¡± the eagle tilted its head. ¡°I find that hard to believe. We fought but a season ago.¡± Three Squeaks raised a paw to his face in a humanlike gesture. ¡°Well, perhaps not friends. But mutually beneficial acquaintances. You can go where we can¡¯t.¡± ¡°And how could you benefit us, Three Caws?¡± ¡°The same way. You can fly, but you can¡¯t go underground.¡± ¡°And what of interest is underground?¡± ¡°Bugs. Snakes, sometimes. Uh¡­ meerkats that don¡¯t think. What¡¯s your name, eagle?¡± The eagle raised its head up and let out an Echoing Cry. ¡°That is how I am addressed.¡± ¡°Impressive,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Anyway, I know we fought in the past. But we also fought the warthogs, and we¡¯ve been working together. I¡¯m sure some of you have seen. We spotted you flying above.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Yes. The warthogs and the Tall One of Energy.¡± ¡°Anton,¡± Three Squeaks couldn¡¯t make that sound with his throat, but he did a decent job by directly manipulating energy and sound. It was¡­ recognizable, at least. ¡°Either way, we can both think. And it would be better to coordinate to do what the others cannot.¡± A short cry akin to a snort came from the eagle. ¡°Laughable. And soon you will say we should join up with river beasts to rule the waters as well.¡± ¡°Oh! That¡¯s a great idea!¡± Three Squeaks commented. ¡°That was not serious.¡± ¡°Why not? Can you swim?¡± ¡°I am perfectly capable of catching fish.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what a fish is,¡± Three Squeaks said, ¡°But that doesn¡¯t sound like swimming. What if there are tasty worms at the bottom of the river?¡± ¡°Then we will eat them when they come out of the river.¡± ¡°But what if they don¡¯t?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Then we won¡¯t eat them.¡± ¡°That sounds sad. What if they¡¯re tastier than scorpions?¡± ¡°What is your purpose here, meerkat?¡± ¡°I said I want to work together! What¡¯s the point of knowing things if we just survive and don¡¯t grow?¡± The eagle fanned wide wings. ¡°I grow when I eat.¡± ¡°But you could eat more. Did you know, we made food that¡¯s really tasty and wouldn¡¯t have been there if we didn¡¯t put seeds in the ground instead of eating them. And sometimes bugs try to eat our growing food which is even better because we don¡¯t have to go find them!¡± ¡°You are a strange one. And what is with that¡­ thing you carry?¡± ¡°This?¡± Three Squeaks had exactly one thing he carried. ¡°This is a bow!¡± ¡°What does it do?¡± ¡°It attacks really far!¡± ¡°Like long talons?¡± ¡°Like really long claws!¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Let me show you. You see that rock?¡± ¡°Of course I do. It is merely a dozen meters away.¡± Three Squeaks gathered energy, forming a Spirit Arrow. He and the arrow flew through the air, piercing a claw deep hole in the rock. ¡°Look!¡± ¡°... An interesting device. How does it make that talon?¡± ¡°I do that!¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°If you learn to control natural energy good you can too. Though I think you would need a different bow.¡± Three Squeaks just barely stopped himself from talking. Eagles with bows would be¡­ kind of scary. He wanted to make sure they would be friends first. ¡°If we aren¡¯t going to be friends, we should be peaceful neighbors. We can tell each other things. Like if you saw a big swarm of locusts coming you could warn us ahead of time.¡± ¡°And why would we?¡± ¡°Because we¡¯d tell you about things too! Like, um¡­ if you see an ant like this big,¡± Three Squeaks spread his arms about as wide as his chest. ¡°Don¡¯t try to eat it. Because she¡¯s way scarier than she looks or feels.¡± ¡°... You talk a lot,¡± Echoing Cry said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I think better now!¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And talking is how I let other people know what I am thinking. Also writing. Do you know what writing is?¡± ¡°That is a new word,¡± Echoing Cry said. ¡°Okay so,¡± Three Squeaks took his claw and gently scratched a mark on the rock. ¡°It is intentionally leaving permanent marks so you can talk to people later when you¡¯re not around. And lots of people can read it to know what you said! You should come visit our burrow. If you yell for me I¡¯ll come say hi! I don¡¯t know if the others will feel comfortable being around you until you agree to be allies though.¡± Echoing Cry thought for a while. ¡°You are stronger. Even after a time of difficulty.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And if we work together, the eagles can be stronger too.¡± The eagle took off into the sky. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it,¡± it cawed back down towards Three Squeaks. ¡°Don¡¯t blame me if I show up and scare your burrow to death.¡± Was this a success? Three Squeaks was going to call this a success. Especially since he was nervous about going closer to the eagles and having to face a few at once. ¡°Tell the others!¡± he called out. Echoing Cry didn¡¯t reply. ----- Three Squeaks bathed in the sunset. All the thoughts in his head were sometimes good, sometimes bad. It was difficult to sort them out, so sometimes just letting himself not think too much was good. Meditation, Anton called it. It went along with the flow of energy through the body. Three Squeaks circulated his energy, with a special focus on the pathways themselves. The meridians. Another word that he hadn¡¯t had before Anton. He¡¯d barely even had the concept, even if he¡¯d felt ingested natural energy settle into his body. Some of the older meerkats had a better idea about them, but ultimately everyone had the same advice. Ingest more natural energy. That wasn¡¯t incorrect, but making intentional use of it to improve hadn¡¯t been on the list. Training was a weird thing in general. It ultimately involved being tired and weak on purpose¡­ in order to become less tired and weak. It hadn¡¯t been long since Three Squeaks had completed his fourth star, so his fifth one- and second Prime Tempering- could potentially take another season. But the fact that he could almost guarantee he would be there through that season, and think about it before it happened¡­ that was something he was coming to appreciate. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t just cultivate alone. The colony would cultivate together, now, and as one of its defenders he was part of the focus. But he also had to make sure that he and the others weren¡¯t just taking energy. The whole point was to refine it and return it. To make sure there was a smooth flow in both directions. Otherwise, they would only have short term growth in a few people. Perhaps good for emergencies, but thinking about the future more and more was simply starting to make too much sense. After the eagles, what would he do? Something in the rivers, even if it had been mentioned offhand? That seemed reasonable. And after that¡­ the rest of the world, one bit at a time. Because every different thing should have something to contribute. And he really didn¡¯t want to see any of them killing each other for power when they didn¡¯t have to. He knew it would be dangerous, because of that. But Three Squeaks also wanted to see the world. He was told it was big, and that filled him with excitement. Maybe soon, he would go more than three days from his home burrow. How many days would it be for the whole world? Ten? Twenty? Anton hadn¡¯t said, except that it was a lot. Chapter 774 ¡°No, we can¡¯t just cut off everything else and replace it,¡± Engineer Uzun said. ¡°Are you certain?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°I¡¯d keep my head of course. But if everything can work like this arm¡­¡± ¡°First of all, I have to stop you there. Because if you treat everything like you treat this arm, you¡¯ll run into some real issues. Doctor Escarra and the rest of the team performed a miracle just to replace your arm¡­ and frankly it¡¯s another miracle that it held up here. You pushed this piece of technology to the very limits of what it could do without falling apart.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how you¡¯re supposed to use things,¡± Chikere said. ¡°No, it isn¡¯t. Because trouble doesn¡¯t come only at the breaking point. Unlike your own body, you might not feel it straining but-¡± ¡°I can feel it,¡± Chikere interrupted. Uzun sighed. ¡°Of course. And just like your flesh, you didn¡¯t care if it collapsed.¡± ¡°I care,¡± Chikere objected. ¡°Why do you think I¡¯m here to be fixed?¡± Uzun shook his head. ¡°If you cared, you¡¯d probably stop things before you took permanent injuries.¡± ¡°There was nothing I could do,¡± Chikere said defensively, ¡°I was restrained.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Engineer Uzun replied. ¡°From that point on, whatever you had to do to escape was necessary. But things didn¡¯t have to get to that point, if your path had gone differently.¡± Chikere frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t see how it could have. There was no possibility of me defeating that woman.¡± ¡°You could have not fought her. Not run off into enemy territory alone. That alone shows reckless disregard for the work of my colleagues in the lower realms. And a few who might be ascending soon, actually. In short¡­ I don¡¯t think we will be ¡®repairing¡¯ you.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I understand.¡± ----- ¡°No,¡± Grandmaster Sadiq said. ¡°But it¡¯s easy! I¡¯ll jump into the furnace or drain my blood into a bucket or whatever you need. And you can make a really good sword,¡± Chikere said. ¡°It has to work¡­ right?¡± ¡°In normal circumstances,¡± Sadiq said, ¡°The life of a swordmaster offered willingly may indeed create a peerless sword. But what would be the point?¡± ¡°Well, then¡­ Chidi would use it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think he would,¡± Sadiq said. ¡°And such a blade would likely be extremely¡­ disobedient except to its intended recipient. Furthermore, for a blade to reach peerless power would require the life of a swordmaster. And you have already said that you are no longer one, correct?¡± Chikere¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°Oh no,¡± her head hung. ¡°I¡¯m no longer even worth anything as materials.¡± Sadiq shrugged. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say it quite like that. But it¡¯s not untrue either. So until you regain your status and come back with the acquiescence of your apprentice, I won¡¯t be forging you into a sword.¡± So she couldn¡¯t even die like she wanted. How unfortunate. ----- On the floor in front of Chikere sat a carefully placed sword. She¡¯d had to get it from someone else, because like a logical cultivator she¡¯d brought everything she owned with her. After all, she was only supposed to be able to lose it all if she died. And to be fair, she¡¯d lost everything relevant before anyone took away her storage bag. All it had was a pile of wealth and other garbage. But that money would have been convenient, currently. She carefully reached forward with her left hand. Her fingers could barely tighten around the hilt. She shuffled one knee onto the sheath to keep it still as she drew the blade. She looked at it, reflecting her distorted face. This sword was¡­ it was¡­ Her right hand moved almost without her permission. It was much more responsive than the rest of her body, so she didn¡¯t really have time to stop it. Nor did she have the will. It snapped the sword in half, relieving the pressure in her stomach. Chikere tossed the broken sword away with all her might, causing a twinge in several points along her arm and all along her left side as she moved. ¡°Dammit!¡± the sword clanked off of the wall, not even causing a scratch. That was even worse than the pain. ¡°I can¡¯t even damage things any more.¡± She looked down at the half blade by her side. It wasn¡¯t a sword like this, but it was still sharp. But as a not-sword, it wasn¡¯t so bad. She reached down for it, tracing her finger along its edge. It was certainly sharp. It easily drew blood with her simple motion. Red liquid began to drip down, and she pointed towards the wall. Something pierced a hole in it. So, the question was¡­ had that been a sword, or was it not? Because she honestly didn¡¯t know. She only knew that using her own blood didn¡¯t feel too bad. But also that it was weak. Like her. Far too weak. In her shame, she almost didn¡¯t feel her apprentice approaching. ¡°Grandmaster-,¡± Chidi called out. But her glare interrupted him as he felt it. ¡°Chikere. Breaking things and injuring yourself won¡¯t help you.¡± ¡°How would you know?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Because I learned from you. And you told me to only get injured with a reason.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°There might be a reason,¡± she said. Chidi shook his head. ¡°That makes it sound like you don¡¯t have one. And coming up with one later¡­ isn¡¯t good enough. Come, you should focus on recovery.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t. This is as good as it gets,¡± Chikere held up her barely functional arm. ¡°And my energy was fully centered around swords, anyway. So like this, what can it even do?¡± Chidi spread his arms wide. ¡°I think that is what you should be finding out. You survived a battle with a powerful cultivator. Maybe the sword arts have rejected you, or perhaps you have rejected them. But I don¡¯t believe the master who taught me would let things end there. Perhaps you will recover your affinity¡­ or perhaps you are meant to seek out another path.¡± The younger man paused. ¡°Not formations though. You sense energy just fine, but you¡¯re too straightforward about how you like to manipulate it.¡± ----- ¡°Hello! Mister hippo!¡± Three Squeaks yelled at the river. A head turned towards him¡­ and the thoughtless eyes disregarded him. Three Squeaks sighed. This was just another big hippo full of natural energy. Not one possessed of sapience. At least they didn¡¯t want to eat him, and wouldn¡¯t stomp or crunch him if he stayed out of their territory. ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to be able to tell the difference?¡± the eagle Echoing Cry said from atop a nearby shrub. ¡°Are you really just planning to scurry about yelling at them one by one?¡± ¡°Yes. Do you have a better plan?¡± ¡°You could fly and spot them from above,¡± Echoing Cry said. ¡°If you could fly.¡± ¡°Not yet, unfortunately. Wanna carry me?¡± ¡°No thanks,¡± the eagle said. ¡°You¡¯re far too heavy to carry about if I don¡¯t get to eat you.¡± Three Squeaks snorted. ¡°You know, we don¡¯t have to foster the growth of those field mice¡­¡± ¡°Oh come on,¡± Echoing Cry cawed. ¡°You know it was a joke.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, how about I eat you instead?¡± Three Squeaks said, opening his mouth wide. ¡°Pretty sure I can digest bird flesh.¡± ¡°Fine, fine, I won¡¯t mention it. But I still don¡¯t see what you want from us. Besides not attacking you, which was probably going to be the case anyway with you all getting stronger.¡± ¡°We need to plan. To be stronger. Meerkats and warthogs aren¡¯t enough. We¡¯re not strong enough individually, or as a group, or all together. I saw a lion, you know.¡± ¡°Okay? You know lions don¡¯t bother eating meerkats, right?¡± ¡°They could though. And with us having more natural energy, it might be worth it for us to try.¡± ¡°So stay pathetic.¡± ¡°Then we just get eaten by you. Or other eagles. Maybe even regular eagles,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And perhaps eventually we¡¯ll become as strong as Anton. But in the many many years between now and then, we have to survive. So we build alliances. You¡¯ll want our help too.¡± ¡°I still barely see how.¡± ¡°We can get into places you can¡¯t. Catch snakes that come for your eggs. The warthogs can smash open rocks, even. And what if some¡­ bigger eagles want to eat you? Can you beat them without help?¡± ¡°Maybe with a bow. Or¡­ an ally carrying a bow.¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± Three Squeaks declared. ¡°We¡¯re not the only ones who can think. And we don¡¯t have to settle for just surviving. Personally, I¡¯d rather work together with everyone. Other meerkats are at the top of that list, but we can¡¯t do everything. We can¡¯t even make bows yet.¡± Though Anton was helping them develop their own crafting techniques. The simplest things involved shoring up the walls of their burrows so they could have larger chambers. But they were also developing other tools to supplement their own claws. There were also plans to put stuff on the warthogs too. They could dig stuff up with their snouts and tusks, but they didn¡¯t necessarily like getting their nose in the dirt. So nose guards. Anton had also mentioned armor, which involved finding things that were stronger than your own flesh and putting them in the way of injuries. Three Squeaks was going to get something made of lizard scales¡­ once they could work out the methods. But they really needed tools, and tools to make tools, before they could do much else. ----- Three Squeaks came upon Anton working with fire. That wasn¡¯t abnormal, but usually it wasn¡¯t so¡­ intense. And he also didn¡¯t usually do it in a hole in the ground. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Smithing. Sort of,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Since many of you practice the fire element, I¡¯m testing to see at what level your natural energy will substitute for proper fuel. It¡¯s probably a bit beyond you currently, and you¡¯d have to make a forge,¡± he gestured around him to the hole in the ground covered in rocks and fancy dirt. ¡°This might not be the best arrangement, however. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t learn from anyone who wasn¡¯t already in an established environment. But all of you are figuring things out yourselves pretty fast anyway.¡± Anton stood and stretched, ¡°Maybe you need less of this and more investment in body tempering. Eventually those claws of yours won¡¯t be enough. Especially since they¡¯re not really for slashing, but digging.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a lot of work,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Spending many days to grow plants that we don¡¯t always eat ourselves. But then¡­ I eat bugs that eat the plants and I realize that it¡¯s all worth it.¡± Anton laughed, ¡°That¡¯s something we humans should do more of. Some of us can unnecessarily limit our diets. I¡¯m glad you all aren¡¯t too upset about your fields being eaten.¡± ¡°It makes tasty food. I can¡¯t wait for the scorpions to grow big and juicy. But they have to eat other things that eat the plants. It¡¯s less¡­ fast?¡± Three Squeaks pondered. ¡°For not as much more energy.¡± ¡°It is less efficient,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Though ultimately, it comes down to how much you can really eat. And how much energy you can handle. At least, with how things are going none of you meerkats are going hungry.¡± ¡°But then we have more children, and need more food,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Spring will be trouble.¡± ¡°That is where you have to learn restraint,¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡¯s something the Great Queen is surprisingly adept at, to be honest.¡± If she wanted to, she could probably establish a new colony every week or two. And with the intelligence of the void ants and her mobility, they could have sown themselves all over the planet already. And maybe there were plans in place for such a thing eventually, but she had only actually established one small colony in the same section of forest as the leaf and stick bugs Anton had found. More exposure to them had made Anton realize they weren¡¯t two related groups, but rather they were somehow a single species that produced both fake leaves and stick forms, which was surprising as they were vastly different. Their communication abilities were still being studied, but Anton saw the intentionality of the two forms working together. The Great Queen was expecting to contact them first, as she would be¡­ less alien, at least. And quite a bit closer to their own size. Though Anton couldn¡¯t really say that void ants were really close to the stick creatures, despite technically being insects. As for somewhat closer creatures¡­ there were a few hippos. Powerful creatures, capable of eating huge swaths of plant matter in a short time. Three Squeaks hadn¡¯t found the sapient ones yet, but he would soon. And it was better for him to put in the work than for Anton to simply point them out, especially since there wasn¡¯t a rush. Chapter 775 Having received communications from the upper realms, someone had to deliver those in person to the Hardened Crown Sect. Somehow, Nthanda had been the one saddled with the task. Then again, this wasn¡¯t diplomacy. She wasn¡¯t intended to be involved with any negotiations. She was just going to hand over a recording of Sly¡¯s message, and a device paired to the upper realms so that the effort wouldn¡¯t have to be repeated. As for why she in particular was chosen, it was a matter of safety. The bitterness of time could have changed the Hardened Crown Sect, and the other exiles might not be fond of a visitor. Nthanda was fully capable wherever she went, unlike many other Assimilation cultivators. And she had also let it slip that she wasn¡¯t busy. Though she was somewhat capable of traveling through space on her own, it was much more limited than someone like Anton. It was just faster to take a ship, but the rest would be remaining outside the system. Nthanda¡¯s presence was quickly noticed- not that she was trying to hide it- and challenged. A young-looking fellow was carried into her path by a large floating platform. It probably wasn¡¯t fast enough to bar her way if she was really trying to go around, but in that case she would have already been away from the rotational plane of the system to begin with. ¡°Halt!¡± the fellow yelled towards her. ¡°Who goes there?¡± Nthanda didn¡¯t keep much natural energy with her, so rather than extending energy she forced a burst of her own air towards the fellow. ¡°I am Nthanda. I bring a message for the Hardened Crown Sect, from your own members in the upper realm.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not one of us,¡± the young man said stubbornly. ¡°You¡¯re from Ceretos, aren¡¯t you! You can¡¯t fool me!¡± With that, he charged directly towards her. Nthanda held out her arm¡­ and flicked him on the forehead, sending him tumbling back dozens of kilometers before he could right himself and reorient his momentum. ¡°I never said I was one of you, idiot. I¡¯m just carrying a message. Your sect head Naamah should see it¡­ or whoever is in that position now.¡± ¡°Of course it is her, still. None could surpass her.¡± Nthanda shrugged. It really didn¡¯t make a difference to her. ¡°Then lead me to her so I can deliver it and leave.¡± The man nodded, rubbing his forehead as he did. ¡°... Aren¡¯t you an archer?¡± he asked. ¡°You think an archer is supposed to have weak fingers?¡± Nthanda countered. ¡°Good luck pulling a ten tonne draw weight string with weak fingers.¡± ¡°Is that¡­ normal?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s only for me,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°But someone else could do the same thing.¡± There wasn¡¯t much more conversation as they landed on the floating platform, which the young man directed to bring them towards their destination. At least, Nthanda presumed so. ¡°You aren¡¯t going to send a message ahead?¡± ¡°Well, we don¡¯t really have the uh¡­ infrastructure to produce such things,¡± he said. ¡°Ah, I see. You were buying everything from us and never learned how to make good communication devices.¡± ¡°... That¡¯s not really my department,¡± the fellow said sheepishly. It took several hours for them to reach the lone life-sustaining planet in the system. As they approached, they were met by a number of others, though they were sharing the flying platforms. ¡°Jonas! Why did you leave your position?¡± ¡°Someone came with a message for Sect Head Naamah,¡± he gestured. ¡°And you just let her come?¡± ¡°Look,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°I understand the Hardened Crown Sect has to be stubborn. So let¡¯s just get to this, shall we?¡± ¡°You really think you can take us all on yourself with energy like that, girlie? Come on Jonas!¡± said the leader of the new group. ¡°Actually Hovik she-¡± Jonas began to say something, but Nthanda was already using him as a projectile. He was thrown straight first into the one called Hovik, sending them both back into the second platform and leaving the rest of the group awkwardly trying to backpedal between their two destinations. ¡°- she already took me out without effort, so you don¡¯t really stand any chance,¡± Jonas finished. Hovik stood up angrily. ¡°What was that, Jonas? Flinging yourself at me? You wanna fight, huh?¡± Jonas pointed to the two lumps on his head, the second and currently smaller of which was from his impact with the second guy. ¡°Nah, she just tossed me. Pretty sure she was on the list of Assimilation level cultivators. So anyway, she has a message for the Sect Head. And we can either help her deliver it, or get out of her way.¡± ¡°You should pick one quick,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°Also, you guys are terrible at receiving visitors.¡± ¡°In my defense,¡± Jonas said. ¡°You¡¯re literally the first person to show up.¡± ¡°You must not have been a guard long.¡± ¡°I mean ever. Since we moved here.¡± Jonas sighed, ¡°Anyway, we¡¯ll soon be close enough to contact the Sect Head. She¡¯ll tell you where she wants to meet.¡± Ultimately, Nthanda landed herself on the planet outside the claimed area of the Hardened Crown Sect. Every sect had significantly more territory than that had upon Ceretos, as Syrinx was actually more expansive. It just wasn¡¯t as well developed yet, so it was mostly untamed land at the moment. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The atmosphere gently carried Nthanda down to the ground, with the influence of her control of course. She could influence it much like her own body. As she arrived at the gate, she was pleased to find that Naamah had been polite enough to come pick her up herself. ¡°I heard you have a message?¡± ¡°Yeah. It involves some guy named Sly yelling or something, so you might want to see it in private. And then it¡¯s your job to keep in contact.¡± ¡°Come in, then,¡± Naamah said. The two of them went to a private sitting chamber, where Nthanda handed over the device with the recorded message. Naamah watched in silence until it was over, and then yelled at it. ¡°What do you even know? You were in the upper realms!¡± Then she looked at the crushed device in her hand. ¡°Uh¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m supposed to make you promise not to destroy the backup communication device,¡± Nthanda said. The other woman¡¯s eye twitched. ¡°Who predicted that would happen?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know, don¡¯t care,¡± Nthanda shrugged. ¡°Maybe that dude in the upper realms, maybe someone here. Anyway, I feel like that Sly guy has more reason to be mad at you, for getting him stuck in some sort of prison for a century. And you didn¡¯t even do anything.¡± ¡°I see why they sent you. You don¡¯t pull any punches.¡± ¡°On the contrary, I held back a lot. Otherwise your subordinates would be paste.¡± ¡°... Since you¡¯re already here, interested in a training spar? I promise no lasting harm will come to you.¡± ¡°Yeah. Why not.¡± ----- In the sterile offices of Engineer Uzun, Chikere once more sat in a meeting with him. ¡°We already told you, we aren¡¯t just replacing your whole body.¡± ¡°Yeah okay I get it,¡± she said. ¡°But if you did, could you at least leave some blood in there? Actually, could you include it in the arm I already have?¡± she wiggled her fingers. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°... It seems to be the only thing I can use right now,¡± she admitted. ¡°I will ask once more¡­ why?¡± ¡°I dunno. Can you do it or not?¡± Engineer Uzun shook his head. ¡°The value of such a feature will change significantly depending upon the actual properties you require. In short, until you can tell me why you want that in detail, we couldn¡¯t begin to design something.¡± ¡°Ok but if you did you could replace-¡± ¡°We¡¯re working with Doctor Escarra and the prosthetic teams in the lower realms to produce muscle and tendon repairs, among other things. But we would need some assurance that the expense would be worth it. So I either have to find your words convincing, or you have to have a sponsor who does.¡± Great. Where was she going to get something like that? Chidi didn¡¯t have that much wealth yet, and his mother and father¡­ were currently letting her ¡®sort things out on her own¡¯. Or something like that. ----- There was one issue Engineer Uzun had brought up that Chikere had to consider. Her good arm- which was to say her replacement- might not stay good forever. She didn¡¯t understand all the intricate workings of its design, but she did understand that it was part of her. And she could sense her own injuries. Chikere was reminded that though she hadn¡¯t felt pain in her arm¡­ that didn¡¯t mean it couldn¡¯t. It had been a decision at some point to turn that off, to provide her a place of freedom. Subconscious, perhaps, but a decision nonetheless. Turning the pain back on as she investigated the components of her arm, she was met with a sudden assault of overwhelming feelings. The structural components of the fingers weren¡¯t far from snapping, even if externally they looked solid. Strained wires rubbed against each other inside, having been pushed beyond their limits, damaged by her opponents in battle and her own imperfect usage of energy in battle. Her arm felt like she was being stabbed with a million swords all at once, but rather than turning the pain off¡­ she felt like she should accept it. Until, she fixed it, of course. It wasn¡¯t a proper living arm, but to be fair she didn¡¯t understand how any of that worked either and could still heal it. So as long as what she did made her arm feel better- if it didn¡¯t involve breaking the pain sensing parts- should probably be good, right? There was a lot of recovery to do, which gave her a lot of time alone with her own thoughts. She wasn¡¯t really happy about that, but that was how it was. The things she thought about were many. First, her blood wasn¡¯t good enough to be a sword. But it was also the only bit of a swordmaster she had left inside of her. She loved swords, but now they made her sick. That wasn¡¯t something she chose. If she had her way, she¡¯d go right back to the wonderful feelings she had when collecting swords. Was that the problem? That she lost her swords? But she¡¯d broken swords before. Most serious battles came with that consequence. Why was the battle with the Limitless Edge any different? She¡¯d lost before. Faced overwhelming opponents. But it was true she hadn¡¯t really failed to understand why before. What was it that the Limitless Edge had? A perfect sword, and a flawed style. But the former might not truly exist, and the latter¡­ was clearly better than what Chikere had been making use of. A curious dichotomy. Did this mean Chikere had to learn to use a sword from the beginning? No, that was no good. She couldn¡¯t even pick one up. And there was only so much she could use her own blood. A difficult situation. At least her arm was healing. Now that she thought about it, it was always supposed to be self-repairing to some extent. Had she simply been denying it the necessary energy or attention? It had been functional, so she hadn¡¯t really thought about it. She¡¯d put in so much work tracking down Dubet¡¯s Heart. Then she¡¯d given it up, and ultimately ended up back in the lower realms for the invasion. She got a fancy arm, and she thought she appreciated it at the time. But now that the rest of her was worse, she needed it more and realized she¡¯d not taken very good care of it. Giving up Dubet¡¯s Heart meant Chidi existed, so she didn¡¯t really regret that either. But she¡¯d probably taken better care of him than her own arm. Her style of training might be difficult, but it was meant to make people stronger. And to not end up with any permanent damage along the way. But look at her now. Not only was her body in such a state, but her head was filled with a bunch of gunk getting in the way of doing what she wanted. Which was¡­ something. She was fairly certain she still wanted to be strong, at least, or she wouldn¡¯t be putting all this effort into recovering. If she just wanted to walk around, she could puppet her own limbs just fine. Chapter 776 After watching the stick bugs for far too long trying to figure out how to communicate, the Great Queen came to a simple realization. She was thinking too much like a human, and considering the methods the void ants had used to learn to communicate with them. Instead, she should have been looking for more obvious methods, such as pheromone trails. The sorts of pheromones the stick insects produced were indeed foreign- a different language than the Great Queen naturally spoke. But she had the intelligence and adaptability to bridge that gap. Once she began attempting correct methods of communication, she was able to proceed quickly. Producing similar pheromones herself just involved a few simple tricks involving her control over her own body. Soon enough, she smelled like a friend. And while it would have been devastating for the creatures if she was a mimic intending to devour them, they were hardly able to hide from her senses to begin with. The difference between a plant and an animal and the way they stored natural energy were clear as day. Only creatures with less developed senses would be fooled. Creatures like a particular lizard that wanted to eat tasty bugs. And yet, in a way the foolishness of the lizard nearly turned into an advantage as it snapped at what seemed to be a leaf regardless of that being part of its natural diet. But its jaws would not close upon its accidental prey. The Great Queen was currently attempting to befriend the leafy creature, and having to start over with another would be a waste. So even though the leaf insect was sent scampering off by the sudden movement of the lizards and herself, she would save much time. The lizard¡¯s mouth attempted to close around the Great Queen¡¯s head as it chomped down, but her mandibles tore into it from the inside. It was a shame, as she had no intention to eat it. It had but the barest specks of natural energy, so it would find itself on the forest floor to be devoured by something else. Most likely some unintelligent ants, among other things. The Great Queen followed the smell of fear and tried to replace it with a return to safety. The eyes of these insects weren¡¯t particularly good, so as long as she smelled safe and didn¡¯t move quickly they would accept her presence. And the more time she spent among them, the more she would learn their more advanced methods of communication. The way they moved their bodies was reminiscent of her own crafted sign language, though she had to admit their own antennae, forelimbs, and body in general were better suited to the task. But she could replicate the overall motions well enough to begin communicating. That was fine, but the frustrations came when she determined they had no hierarchy. They were mostly solitary unless it was time to mate, which meant that she would have to talk to each and every one of them individually. Maybe she could have a daughter with sufficient patience¡­? No, that would take too long to possibly begin. And what sort of queen was she if she couldn¡¯t wrangle some solitary¡­ herbivorous¡­ non combative insects. Well if she thought about them like that, they really were rather disappointing. Perhaps they weren¡¯t really sapient after all. If they were, wouldn¡¯t they choose the best option and work together? But of course, the Great Queen knew that more often than not the best option was not the ultimate choice for any thinking thing. Even she was swayed by bouts of emotion. Perhaps these creatures survived better in a solitary manner- they could each seek out their own feeding grounds, and enough of them would survive to continue on. But mere survival no longer fit the Great Queen¡¯s standards, and it hadn¡¯t for a long time. Anton wouldn¡¯t approve either. What should she do then? Teach them to fight? Unfortunately, they were not void ants so she couldn¡¯t really impart useful techniques. Shearing off energy only worked if you had void ant mandibles. Time for a consultation. ----- ¡°I would suggest trying to improve their natural strong points,¡± Anton said. ¡°And those are¡­?¡± the Great Queen asked. ¡°I am certain you have recognized them on your own. You already said it, after all.¡± ¡°All they do is eat and try not to get eaten.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Anton said. ¡°But they have no limbs suitable for fighting, so if anything tries to eat them¡­ they can only run. But neither are they particularly suited for escaping from predators¡­¡± The solution should be simple. Then it finally came to her. There was one area where the void ants meshed with these other insects, though the purpose behind each was quite different. ¡°So if they are simply not recognized as anything, they will be left alone. If they advance their stealth abilities, they will be safer. But they will still be useless, unable to contribute to a fight.¡± ¡°Not everyone has to contribute to both reconnaissance and battle,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°And as solitary individuals, they would be more motivated to survive rather than develop combat abilities solely reliant on natural energy and not their bodies.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°I cannot teach them stealth. To me, it comes naturally as a void ant.¡± ¡°Does it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°How so?¡± ¡°I am small and naturally quiet. And we do not stand out because we keep no natural energy to lock onto.¡± But of course, Anton knew this. And as usual, there was a purpose to his questions. ¡°So if I remove their natural energy, they will be hidden?¡± The Great Queen knew that was wrong. ¡°No, like a human if they learn to conceal it they can hide easily. And while I can¡¯t teach them to control natural energy, I can tell them how easy it is to detect their energy.¡± ¡°That is what I would suggest, at least,¡± Anton said. ¡°But of course, if you learn they want to try developing in other ways, we can work on things from there.¡± Hmm. The Great Queen was finding this task harder than expected. For some reason, she had expected fellow insects to act more like her, despite knowledge that they were no more similar than Anton was to the meerkats and warthogs. Or perhaps even less similar, in some basic ways. It would have been nice if they fit into neat colony groups, though. Much simpler. ----- Everheart took a deep breath, stretching his old bones. Even he didn¡¯t like to hang out on Ye¡¯sin too much, as he couldn¡¯t find any way to actually adapt to the planet¡¯s toxins. So instead he had to resort to the terrible fruit and the local mud to keep the gasses out of his system. Neither tactic had yet been realized by the visitors to the Everheart system. At least, not most of them. Every once in a while, there was someone clever who made it down to a planet, found a cache or two, and made it out. Rich, from their perspective. And it wasn¡¯t as if the value of any treasures Everheart used as bait were phony. Oh no, he didn¡¯t have any need for such tricks. Let a few people get away with wealth and¡­ his personal wealth would only skyrocket. The more people that came to gamble their lives, the more he won. Because no matter how lucky any individual was, he was the house and the house always wins. If not, they simply hadn¡¯t set up their odds correctly. Everheart usually didn¡¯t even have to tip the scales, but he felt no regret when he did so. There was no promise implied or express that things would be fair here. This was the Everheart System. People were coming here to die, though they thought they were coming here to seek treasure. Locals of the Scarlet Midfields were generally intelligent enough to stay away. That was why he had been so bored and lonely during his early days, but his recent activities among the Trigold Cluster had finally drawn their attention. Currently, they would likely say they were ¡®scouting things out¡¯, sending in disciples to die by the hundreds and thousands. Perhaps a small number compared to the billions and potentially trillions within their borders, but each and every one was potential that couldn¡¯t be replaced. ¡°I need to get into the Exalted Quadrant again,¡± Everheart said as he stroked his beard. Another one of him nodded. It was a continual pain, replacing them so frequently, especially since he now had thousands of years of memories of boring labor. But it was better than getting it all shoved on him at once, or whatever other rebellion he might cook up if he left projections for too long. If there was one person who could out think him, Everheart would have to admit it was himself. ¡°I heard they had a bit of a commotion there. That swordmaster or whatever. I remember when she first came to one of my tombs¡­ I saw the potential. But she lost. And yet, she still ran off on her own again. I thought those Ceretos types were all in on the power of friendship.¡± Obviously, the projection just shrugged. Because there wasn¡¯t really anything that needed to be said. Everheart was just thinking out loud. ¡°Regardless, that whole incident ultimately caused great embarrassment to¡­ what was her name¡­ Nadzeya? Zaur¡¯s lackey. They lost some high profile prisoners, as well. Speaking of which, I suppose I should foster the dissent with the split sects. This is a perfect time, and whoever dies is ultimately a win isn¡¯t it. Yes¡­ that will be good. I can¡¯t believe those Xankeshan fellows aren¡¯t already doing it. Are they just going to wait for the war to begin to start their warfare?¡± ¡°They did kill that Abraham guy,¡± the projection pointed out. ¡°Oh, sure,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°But that was in their own territory. And it was just one fellow. They really need to do more to cause the Exalted Quadrant more than just a stubbed toe. Seems the lower realms are striking out to expand their alliance as much as possible, though. Wish I could get better information, but it¡¯s like nobody trusts me. And I can¡¯t even pay spies because it¡¯s so difficult to move back and forth¡­ and while Anton will talk to me he won¡¯t tell me any of the juicy things. So disappointing.¡± ----- Anton clutched his chest. The news about Chikere reminded him of the artificial ribs within his chest. She was going to need a lot of work¡­ but the physical damage might not be the bigger part of that. She had never really seemed stable to begin with, balancing on a blade¡¯s edge, but ultimately people had relied on her particular brand. Perhaps this collapse had been inevitable, but it was still unfortunate. He really wished he could be there in person to talk to her. Sending a message from so far away was kind of pointless. What could words say? He could do a recording to get across his proper tone of voice, but it was still less than the proper feeling. Then Three Squeaks walked up and Anton thought of the perfect message. ¡°Pose for me with your bow for a moment, would you?¡± Anton said. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t even question, standing tall and regal¡­ at all of thirty centimeters. His modified bow dangling over one paw as his other claw pulled the string. Anton captured the image and sent it along with a few words. ¡°I have nothing to say that will make things better so here is my meerkat disciple.¡± Whether the message would ultimately be useful was unclear, but Anton firmly believed that cute things made the world better, whether they be grandchildren or fluffy animals. And Chikere had enough others supporting her in the upper realms that some fancy sayings from an old man wouldn¡¯t really do much. Hopefully he could at least make her appreciate the better things in life. Chapter 777 The reach of the Scarlet Alliance was slowly expanding. Or perhaps it was rapid, given that new systems were joining every year. Including the Dark Ring and other associates, their alliance had dozens of planets during the war with the Harmonious Citadel. Now, more than half a century later, they had more than a hundred. Though the restrictions were somewhat relaxed on who could join- it was mainly meant to defend against factions outside of the Scarlet Midfields- having an official banner to rally under would also minimize other conflicts. Timothy was currently on the planet of Nuvater, which was under the control of the Silver Sea Coalition, a faction that had seemed somewhat larger at the time of his ascension. They had expanded, but only a small amount. Mostly, it was consolidating their power on Nuvater and growing throughout the system. They hadn¡¯t yet expanded beyond that, given their conservative rate of growth. The system was located within a nebula that extended to several surrounding systems as well. Located where it was, it could be a critical point for information on enemies approaching their core. At least if they were trying to be stealthy, the nebula was one of the best options along the way to help conceal their approach. Of course, the most important thing for spotting enemies early was just receiving reports- and accurate ones. They had been lucky that their limited associates had noticed the chase of Chikere and been able to warn them ahead, but it was better to expand their capacity. Bringing more systems together had benefits for both parties. Giant factions like the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster were not something any individual could resist, and the combined power of all of the Scarlet Midfields might not even be enough¡­ yet. But they could still grow, and they would have to. The damage caused by the wars was not insignificant, and many of the easiest to snatch resources had been carried off, but there was still enough to raise up powerful cultivators. And with people ascending from the lower realms gaining strength from overcoming that adversity, they might stand a chance. And if not, at least they would die fighting instead of simply being trampled haphazardly and without thought. Because if they did nothing, it wasn¡¯t a matter of staying out of the sight of the two factions- but when they would act. And that time might be approaching. Perhaps at any moment, but more likely within decades if they were quick¡­ and a few centuries on the slower end. Most likely it would end up happening before the next cycle and thus invasions of the lower realms, but it was hard to say for certain. ----- Within another particularly less pleasant nebula, Catarina was attempting to make the best of a bad thing. And Vari was tagging along to assist, and complain. ¡°Ugh, it¡¯s just as bad as the last time,¡± she said. ¡°Can¡¯t be,¡± Catarina countered. ¡°The Harmonious Citadel no longer has its claws in you.¡± ¡°I mean the place. Not the totality of circumstances. Actually, I think I feel it worse than before. Just thinking about all the people who died in this region¡­ it¡¯s like they¡¯re still watching us.¡± ¡°Probably not,¡± Catarina said. ¡°They should have reincarnated by now. Most likely it¡¯s just lingering will.¡± ¡°Is that better?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Because they¡¯re still dead and everything is awful.¡± Catarina nodded slowly. ¡°It is better for us. Because this barely directed lingering will might be used to our advantage.¡± Vari frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you like where I¡¯m going.¡± ¡°Why not? Let us consider the situation. First, it is the actual will of the dead. Directing it against the people responsible instead of having it wasted would be a boon to them. Alternatively, it is free energy to make use of¡­ which will still honor the dead in how we use it.¡± ¡°... I guess,¡± Vari said. ¡°But wouldn¡¯t it be dangerous to try to direct it?¡± Catarina just looked at Vari. ¡°Of course. But not making use of it is a bigger risk. This way, we can cut out a huge swath of potentially traversable area for our enemies. It won¡¯t help against the Trigold Cluster unless they get extremely lost on their way to Xankeshan, but the ability to limit the directions our enemies can bring masses of fleets upon us in any way is¡­ an important factor. We rarely get to have terrain advantages in space combat, so this is one we must make use of.¡± ¡°And how long will this formation take to set up?¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll start with a century. Could go up or down from there.¡± ¡°Do estimations ever go down?¡± ¡°If I get lucky,¡± Catarina said. ----- Prasad didn¡¯t like the idea of fighting against the Trigold Cluster. On the other hand, he also didn¡¯t like the idea of them traipsing through the territory of the One Thousand Palms Sect like they had already done. And he liked even less the idea of becoming anyone¡¯s lackey, not that he thought that such a thing would actually benefit anyone in the Scarlet Midfields. There wasn¡¯t really anything to gain from it. If they wanted something within his territory, they would take it regardless of official status. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. In short, his alliance with Xankeshan and the rest of them would continue. That was a necessity, even without the benefits. Just the short amount of time he¡¯d been involved with them had seen them produce an Augmentation cultivator, with others liable to appear in the near future from among the same group. It would have been a major concern for him, if their ambitions didn¡¯t seem to stretch far beyond him. As odd as their ideas about how things should function might be, they had grown surprisingly quickly so far. And that seemed to be unrelated to the steady flow of resources from the lower realms that they were bringing in, specifically those useful for training up pre-Integration cultivators. ----- Even before the frantic report came, Three Squeaks felt something wrong in the burrow. He was currently stationed at one of the further locations that was still considered part of Shadysands burrow despite lacking any connection- though there were talks about actually developing an underground path. When the frantic calls came for him to wake up, Three Squeaks already had his bow slung over his shoulder. He would have liked to put on his armor, but it didn¡¯t seem like there would be time. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked as he tried to feel what was above. ¡°L-lion!¡± came the panicked cry. ¡°Are they digging into the burrow? That will just tire them out¡­¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°More than one!¡± the nervous meerkat said. ¡°They¡¯re watching our exits.¡± Three Squeaks sighed in resignation. What a disaster. This wasn¡¯t the sort of danger a mid body tempering cultivator like himself could handle alone. Not that he¡¯d known half of those words a year ago when Anton showed up. But Anton made sure to impart upon him the reminder that especially early on, simply having equivalent energy was insufficient to win a battle. Not that it would surprise anyone, but a meerkat¡¯s physical qualities were rather limited compared to a lion¡¯s. And augmenting that greater power with any natural energy was enough to squash even the sturdiest of them. If only Three Squeaks had learned to shoot around corners. But firing in a straight line was already difficult enough, complicated energy control was outside of his abilities regardless of his success in cultivation so far. ¡°They aren¡¯t digging,¡± Three Squeaks commented. ¡°We may not need to hurry,¡± he said, calming the scout. ¡°First, we will assess the situation. Have they said anything?¡± Just from feeling the energy of the lions above, he had the sense that they were more than standard lions that had eaten a few creatures full of natural energy. Their behavior indicated that as well. Normally, meerkats should be far below their view as a source of food. And though there had been a downturn in options after the locust plague, things were beginning to return to normal. Making his way closer to the surface, Three Squeaks confirmed the situation. Six lions- lionesses, if he were to be specific- were lying in wait around the various entrances. If something came out from any of them, it wouldn¡¯t take them more than a moment to pounce upon them. Retreating deeper, Three Squeaks tried to consult with the other meerkats. ¡°Alright, what should we do?¡± ¡°Whatever you think is best,¡± one of them said. ¡°That¡¯s not an idea, though,¡± he replied. ¡°You¡¯re smarter, though,¡± another said. ¡°And stronger.¡± ¡°So? I¡¯m also just one person. I can¡¯t think of everything. So¡­ suggestions?¡± ¡°Can you kill them?¡± ¡°Not by myself. Or with the help of those of us here.¡± If he could, it wouldn¡¯t really require a discussion, would it? He did get a decent suggestion soon after. ¡°What if we burrow out behind them?¡± ¡°A decent option,¡± Three Squeaks commented. ¡°But I have the feeling they would sense us if we worked too close to the surface. And we¡¯d have to go quite far. What else?¡± ¡°Send for help,¡± another said. ¡°If the fastest of us can get to another burrow¡­¡± ¡°Unfortunately, lions are bigger and faster. I don¡¯t think I could get away from them myself,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Not reliably. And I wouldn¡¯t want to sacrifice anyone by forcing a distraction. Let me think¡­ we have food stored up, don¡¯t we? How much?¡± It took one of the others a few minutes to get the results. ¡°Enough for a day or two.¡± That was better than they might have had before. They had been daily foragers, but now they had learned which food would last longer and tried to keep some of that around at all times. Apparently there were ways to preserve food for a much longer time, but it was not an option just yet. Formations or whatever required specific materials if they were to last, and no single cultivator was powerful enough to make sufficient ¡®ice¡¯. A weird, cold thing that turned into water after some time. Anton had brought them some, but none of them cultivated an energy similar to it. The way he saw it, the burrow only had a couple options. First was to wait for rescue. After a day or two, with none of them visiting the main burrow, they might become curious. If they spotted the lions and weren¡¯t caught, the rest of the guards could come. And with Deep Purr and Sustained Chittering, they should at least be able to drive the lions away. It wasn¡¯t worth it for the cats to try to eat them if they might die. Of course, Three Squeaks could also gamble his life on killing one of them, but it was likely he would be killed regardless, and they might not retreat if one was dead and he was the only threat. They¡¯d just eat him and perhaps their comrade, then wait for the others to have to surface. The second option was burrowing, but it was somewhat exclusive with the waiting plan. It would require more food to perform such work, and if they were noticed then all that work would be for nothing. Wherever they came out, a lioness could be casually waiting to snatch them up. And creating multiple new burrows wouldn¡¯t be much better. It would multiply the work, and make it more likely that one place would be noticed. And if one was, they would suspect more. At least, Three Squeaks didn¡¯t want to count on mistakes from the lionesses, like failing to expect additional tunnels. Which meant he was leaning towards waiting for reinforcements. If only they had a way to contact the main burrow directly. Forceful Snort would teach these big cats a lesson along with the rest of the burrow. It seemed like Three Squeaks was going to have to make the decision. Waiting seemed best. And if they really did run out of food, they could split up and run. He would fight, of course, but the others might have a chance to escape. He knew that such a plan was liable to have holes, but he could only hope to recognize what they were before it was too late. He didn¡¯t want to be passive¡­ but he also didn¡¯t want to die a ¡®hero¡¯ for nothing. Chapter 778 Trapped in a burrow where he didn¡¯t feel the safety it was supposed to provide, Three Squeaks considered the potential reinforcements. They would show up eventually, right? Someone had to come looking for them within the next day or two. And if that someone happened to be an average meerkat¡­ they might be in danger if the lions found them first. Just waiting around might not be the right idea. But the unfortunate part about being able to think more clearly was realizing he couldn¡¯t win a battle. And he knew enough to know he couldn¡¯t pull out any tactics sufficiently clever to change things. But there was at least one thing he hadn¡¯t tried. He had no way to know it would work, but he felt like he had to try. If he didn¡¯t and anyone he knew was caught by the lions, he couldn¡¯t excuse his cowardice. Meerkat deaths were part of life, but they¡¯d managed to avoid any recently and he wanted that to continue. So he crawled close to the surface, poked his head up¡­ and called out to the lionesses. ¡°Why are you here?¡± Somewhere inside his heart, Three Squeaks hoped that they simply wanted to be friends. That they came to play. But in his head, he knew the answer even before it was spoken. The words were a mocking growl. ¡°Oh, little morsel. You know what we want. So few creatures have natural energy on the level you meerkats have developed. So will we consume you and gain your power. Don¡¯t make us dig you out.¡± Three Squeaks was confident that they could burrow faster if necessary- not because they could move more dirt, but because they were trained for it and the big lions had to create more area. They were taller and wider which meant¡­ a lot more times in the area required to dig a tunnel. So if they ever started, the meerkats could at least burrow deeper or further away in response. ¡°That isn¡¯t the only way to grow stronger, you know. And you could feed only on the unintelligent animals.¡± ¡°But where¡¯s the fun in that?¡± answered a different lioness. ¡°We would lose both the challenge and the greatest amount of energy. So we will wait here until you are starving and have to leave.¡± Three Squeaks resolved to die in the hole, if he had to. He could probably expel all of his natural energy so they couldn¡¯t even get the remnants if they dug up his body. But he also preferred not to die. ¡°If that is the choice you want to make¡­ so be it.¡± He ducked back into the hole as just the time the lioness sneaking up behind pounced. Learning to sense all around him at once was a very valuable skill, and he only hoped he could stretch his senses to the horizons like Anton. The horizon was so far away, over five thousand meerkat heights! Or something like a thousand ¡®meters¡¯. Three Squeaks resolved to learn more distance and calculations and everything from Anton when he survived. He shook off the fallen dirt as he made his way deeper into the burrow for safety, resolving to survive. ----- Everyone was hungry. Three Squeaks had missed three sunrises and three sunsets, unable to go outside to cultivate. Their reserves of food had saved them thus far, but how much longer could they wait? ¡°We will wait until dawn,¡± Three Squeaks declared. ¡°If no help arrives before then, we shall use the changing sun to distract the lions.¡± And himself. He was going to run faster than everyone else- but rather than being selfish, that was the best option. He would be heading out first, as the primary target. At that point, it was best for him to do his best to survive. He had hoped that the lionesses might give up. Their hunger should be setting in as well, but it seems they were prepared. They slept in shifts, and occasionally one or two of them seemed to go away- perhaps to eat or drink? Either way, the situation was still bad. Three Squeaks hadn¡¯t noticed any of his fellows up above. In a way, that was good. They hadn¡¯t been spotted or chased after by the lions. But maybe they hadn¡¯t come at all. Maybe they thought too much of his abilities, and assumed everything was fine even with nobody returning to the main burrow for several days. Thinking was going to be the death of him, but fortunately something disrupted his thoughts. A tremble in the ground. And then another. These were not the familiar and relatively smaller trembles caused by warthogs. It was something¡­ more. Three Squeaks had barely locked onto it with his energy senses when there was a yowl of pain. A horrific shriek, as one of the mighty lionesses was scooped into a gigantic maw all at once. There was a horrible crunching sound and then¡­ nothing. The meerkat raced for the entrance of the lair. ¡°Follow!¡± he declared to the others. Either this was their chance to run or¡­ he would join the battle. The others had to be by the entrance to make running an option. ¡°We will stake out the entrance!¡± Several clumps of energy charged towards the big and large one that had snuffed out one of them. A fat head flailed back and forth, knocking away the first two to approach. Three Squeaks reached the entrance. ¡°Stay here,¡± he ordered the others. ¡°I will fight.¡± His bow unslung, he notched his claw into it. He poked his head out onto the surface, picked a target, took aim, and fired. Everything was one smooth motion, a strange calmness coming over him. Perhaps it was the confidence of the giant thing fighting the big cats, or an effect of his tempered head. Either way, the spirit arrow that was his energy and him flew forward, right towards the eye of the lioness that seemed most important. The disparity in power between Three Squeaks and even the weakest of this pack was clear¡­ but the control of natural energy went far in the opposite direction. They used it as a blunt instrument, an explosion of power covering their whole body. And in some ways, that was valuable for them. Even with Three Squeaks concentrating all his power into a single point, he only barely pierced into the eye. He couldn¡¯t reach the brain behind it, as the natural defensive barrier of the lioness was too much. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. But the yowl of pain told him all he needed to know, and by the time he prepared his second arrow the lionesses were already turning to flee. One was dead, one injured, and any that approached the large individual were tossed about wildly. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t stop with one arrow. He shot after the lionesses, peppering their hindquarters and tails. He managed to dig deep into the muscles of one, slowing her running and trickling blood into her fur. But she was too far to follow up in any significant manner. Besides, Three Squeaks had to deal with this other thing. Specifically, the hippo. He was pretty sure that was what it was, though he rarely actually saw them. ¡°Who are you?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Why are you here?¡± ¡°Mwernf mfew mwooking fmw wus?¡± the hippo replied with its mouth extremely full. It tossed its head back seemingly intent on swallowing the lioness whole. ¡°Was I¡­ looking for you? I suppose I was. Um¡­ you probably shouldn¡¯t eat that.¡± ¡°Mwy wot?¡± the hippo¡¯s jaws squeezed, cracking bones. ¡°Well, they are sapient after all. And so that¡¯s bad. Also diseases or¡­ something?¡± Three Squeak¡¯s uncertain reasoning didn¡¯t seem to dissuade the hippo. Three Squeaks briefly thought he¡¯d been successful, but the hippo only spit out the lioness to get a better grip and begin breaking it down into pieces. He didn¡¯t watch the process. ¡°So, meerkat. You wanted to speak to me? Or any hippopotamus?¡± ¡°Um. Yes. Hello, I¡¯m Three Squeaks.¡± ¡°I am Contented Grunt.¡± ¡°Pleased to meet you, Contented Grunt. I am trying to build our alliance. We have diverse allies. Flying eagles, burrowing meerkats, warthogs of the land, and we were hoping to include¡­ river hippos? Water allies.¡± ¡°Hippos are better than warthogs and quite capable on land,¡± Contented Grunt said. Despite the bulk of the creature, Three Squeaks thought there was a bit of¡­ delicacy? Or femininity. As much as that could present itself in a hippo. ¡°But I admit to preferring the water. What was that about not eating the lioness? It didn¡¯t make sense. I can be strong this way.¡± ¡°You might get sick,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And they are also people.¡± ¡°But they were going to eat you to get stronger. Why not do the same?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I don¡¯t quite know. Except, we don¡¯t want to encourage that as the norm. Especially since meerkats are generally on the ¡®eaten¡¯ side.¡± ¡°Then be stronger.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we can just¡­¡± Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°Anyway, were you just coming to say hello?¡± ¡°I also heard there was trouble. An eagle told me, and I was nearby. And peckish.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it scary to fight multiple lions?¡± ¡°Not when you are strong. Though¡­ I will admit that maybe there were too many for just me. I think you hurting one of them spooked them more than me killing the first one. Because they expected fight from me, but not something like you.¡± She paused. ¡°I do feel a little sick.¡± ¡°... maybe throw it up?¡± ¡°I will just digest harder,¡± the hippo declared. Three Squeaks wasn¡¯t quite sure how that worked but¡­ he wasn¡¯t going to say it couldn¡¯t happen. He did feel some natural energy stuff. ¡°Thank you for rescuing us, by the way. The point is to have you join us so everyone grows stronger.¡± ¡°Are you going to be bait more often? That might be good.¡± ¡°Uh, more like we were going to help you grow various water based foods that you like? It turns out there are ways to make the plants you want happen more.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± Contented Grunt replied. ¡°Well, I would have not shown up if I wasn¡¯t a little interested in your ideas. The eagle also babbled something about ¡®cultivation¡¯? And growing stronger in ways that weren¡¯t just eating?¡± ¡°Yeah, we can tell you all about that if you join us,¡± Three Squeaks declared. He was distracted by more rumbling ground- smaller but more plentiful. Snorting yells came from the group, including the loudest among them as their leader Forceful Snort. ¡°We will help our friends! That lion seems to be the size of a hippo but we won¡¯t let that stop us!¡± A screeching cry interrupted their charge. ¡°That¡¯s because that is a hippo, dummy! I told you I asked one to help before I came to find the rest of you!¡± ¡°Alright men! You know what to do with a hippo! Stoooop!¡± Forceful Snort dug in his heels, screeching to a halt a couple meters away from Contented Grunt. ¡°Good day sir or madam. Sorry to interrupt.¡± Contented Grunt gave a laughing groan. ¡°It is good to see you are wise, even if your eyes aren¡¯t good for much.¡± Forceful Snort blew air from his nose. ¡°I¡¯m training them next.¡± ¡°Is that so¡­? How odd.¡± ----- Anton watched as the situation resolved itself. He was a little bit concerned about the eating of the lioness, but he really couldn¡¯t add any more points for why it was wrong besides what Three Squeaks had ultimately managed to say. Killing sapient creatures was wrong, yes. But even he did that, when necessary. At that point, making use of the body to grow stronger, if it wasn¡¯t going to spread disease¡­ well, Anton didn¡¯t think he¡¯d ever go down that route. But the cultivators of Akrys could work that out for themselves. Ultimately, they were different enough that he wasn¡¯t certain he could declare any universal truths in that area. He was quite pleased that Three Squeaks hadn¡¯t called out for him¡­ that he¡¯d noticed. Because he¡¯d actually missed the first day or so. Figures that everything important happened when he was gone, but he was actually more than pleased with the results. He didn¡¯t want to be a source of power, but of knowledge and self empowerment. Or community empowerment. Because every planet was going to have to make their own place in the galactic community- or at least that of the greater lower or upper realms. He couldn¡¯t be present at each and every place all the time. Still just one, and with no intentions or methods to change that. Chapter 779 Members of the little alliance gathered around above Shadysands Burrow. Three Squeaks began to address them. ¡°We have to do something about the lions. They weren¡¯t after us out of desperation or anything. They¡¯re just hungry for power.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± said the chief of Shadysands Burrow, Pondering Hum. ¡°We can dig our burrows deeper, store more food¡­¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t help our allies, though,¡± Deep Purr pointed out. The captain of the guard gestured to the warthogs. ¡°They could be targeted by the lions as well. Even our newest ally could fall to sufficient effort on their part.¡± The hippo Contented Grunt nodded her head. ¡°Sharp teeth will tear my flesh in sufficient quantity. Unless I become stronger.¡± ¡°Do you think the eagles are at risk?¡± ¡°Clever lions could climb to your nests, if they were motivated to do so,¡± Three Squeaks confirmed. ¡°But you might be best at watching from afar.¡± Echoing Cry flared broad feathers. ¡°Until I learn archery. Then I will be unstoppable.¡± ¡°I meant eagles in general,¡± Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°Anyway, hiding away won¡¯t be good enough. Tunnels big enough for the warthogs would be¡­ difficult to construct. And any sort of defensive thing would take too long. The lions might start picking us apart tomorrow, if we are careless. One scare likely won¡¯t be enough.¡± ----- After the alliance made their initial plans, Three Squeaks found Anton on the hill. ¡°Master, you are back!¡± He began to explain everything. Then he asked about the lions. ¡°What do we do about them?¡± ¡°If they want to hunt you, then you must stop them,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°If you could construct walls they could not pass, it might be sufficient. But you have neither the time nor the capabilities at the moment. And simply surviving can be easiest sometimes, but it isn¡¯t always correct.¡± ¡°So we have to fight them, right?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°And kill them?¡± ¡°If they have no remorse- true remorse, not regret at having failed their ploy- and especially if they seem likely to try again, then you must. If it comes to battle, killing is the safest method until your enemies are subdued.¡± ¡°And what then? What about¡­ their cubs?¡± Anton crossed his arms. ¡°It is¡­ a difficult question,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Are the cubs at fault for the actions of their parents? Mostly likely not. Not mainly, at least. Yet if they survive they will likely seek revenge upon you. That is if they survive, which they likely will not. Death may be a mercy. The other question is if all of the pride is involved. Have they sought to devour others developing their natural energy as well, knowing they could think and feel? Or perhaps it is simply that one part of them.¡± ¡°How can we find out¡­?¡± ¡°I would suggest espionage. Anyone confident in their stealth and ability to flee. If they find themselves to be in private, discussing their plans will happen naturally. And as they tend to live out in the open instead of in burrows¡­ there are plenty of ways to sneak closer. If you are careful.¡± Anton didn¡¯t mention the fact that he was listening to the lions at this very moment. What he heard¡­ certainly didn¡¯t seem like it could lead to any sort of peaceful resolution. ¡°It¡¯s dangerous to fight and kill them all,¡± Three Squeaks commented. ¡°Because we can die too.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°It is always possible for your side to be the one that loses. For every victory in battle, there is a loss.¡± ¡°We could scare them away,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°They must be afraid of death too. One already died.¡± ¡°They might be even more afraid of death than you,¡± Anton pointed out. Three Squeaks scrunched up his face as he thought about that. ¡°Why?¡± he asked, but he wasn¡¯t actually looking for a direct answer. ¡°Is it because they expect to prey on others?¡± ¡°Exactly. There are few threats for them¡­ most of the time.¡± ¡°They only die to the bigger creatures they disturb or alone to packs. Or things in the water¡­¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°They¡¯ve never been afraid of something smaller. Like us.¡± ¡°But now, you¡¯ve injured one. Though the most likely first response isn¡¯t fear. Or at least, it won¡¯t look like it. Aggression, particularly against you, is quite likely.¡± ¡°... Maybe I should ask Echoing Cry to carry me. Or!¡± Three Squeaks got excited. ¡°Or I can make them chase me! If I am in the right place I can run through the rocks towards the river and then¡­ bam! Contented Grunt pops out!¡± ¡°Yes, a tactical approach will be beneficial for you,¡± Anton agreed. A few generations of this, and Anton would find these hardly different from humans. ¡°And then we kill some and chase away the rest. They will go away and then,¡± Three Squeaks pondered, ¡°They¡¯ll eat¡­ something else. Not us. But maybe people like us. I don¡¯t want that.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°You¡¯ll have to decide,¡± Anton said. ¡°The risk to yourself, or to others, which is worse?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°Exactly. It¡¯s very difficult to know.¡± That was why he had to get strong. Though personally Anton erred on the side of risk to himself, it wasn¡¯t entirely selfless given the possibility of retribution. ----- The Great Queen learned many things from the insects she was living around. Among other things was that the distinction between stick and leaf was entirely arbitrary. Normally, they would be different species adapted to look like something in particular¡­ but for this group, it was based around how they developed. More often than not it was intentional, keeping a balance of various options so that they did not reveal themselves via overpopulation. Their ability to adapt wasn¡¯t limited to their growth period. If they had sufficient food available, they could transform from one configuration to the other, shedding exoskeleton and rearranging their bodies. There was a time they were vulnerable during this, more than normal, so it was a rare occurrence. It was an easier process for them to change coloration- from that of living leaves to more like dead leaves, and between various shades of brown depending on which plants they wished to feed. The group tended to name themselves after their preferred meal, which also tended to influence their looks as they had to survive around such plants. Leaf of Common Oak in Early Spring was one of those most interested in learning from the Great Queen. ¡°How about now?¡± a nearby leaf moved. Common Oak was getting better at hiding her energy, and if standing still the Great Queen couldn¡¯t pick her out only through sight. Though there was very little chance of her hiding her energy so perfectly the Great Queen couldn¡¯t pick it out. ¡°Yes, very good,¡± the Great Queen expressed with motions and smells. ¡°When still, you are almost undetectable via sight. And your energy is becoming more in tune with your surroundings. However, you are still easier to spot when moving, both visually and with your energy. Your motions are too jerky and unnatural. If you flapped along with the rustling of wind and then simply did not return to your previous orientation¡­ perhaps you could make your way along slowly.¡± ¡°You know much. Especially for one who does not hide.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to,¡± the Great Queen admitted. ¡°Not anymore, at least. But I still can. Observe.¡± The Great Queen tipped a leaf over her. For anyone directly watching, it didn¡¯t appear that impressive¡­ but with no natural energy to reveal her she was effectively gone. She didn¡¯t stay long, since it was mostly to prove a point. ¡°In the past, I used another method to hide.¡± ¡°What was it?¡± ¡°Simply¡­ being very small.¡± The Great Queen scratched a little mark on a stick. ¡°This is the size I was born. Now, I am longer than a palm.¡± ¡°A what?¡± The Great Queen had subconsciously used her own sign. ¡°It is¡­ a more relevant measurement for humans which I am used to interacting with. A palm is part of the end of their main grasping appendages.¡± ¡°They must be quite large.¡± ¡°Larger than most things here,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Much more than the birds and other predators that worry you, at least.¡± ¡°They sound dangerous.¡± ¡°Their size isn¡¯t what makes them dangerous. But the danger is also what makes them great allies. Even if other humans want to wipe us out.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because we are a danger to them.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense,¡± Common Oak admitted. ¡°They can squash us. Except for myself, any of us could be squashed by the most common human. But to fight, they use natural energy. And we¡­ bypass that.¡± The Great Queen snipped some of the natural energy around Common Oak to make her point. The leafy insect trembled. ¡°Mutual threats. There must be much death.¡± ¡°At the moment, we only live with humans who accept us. And when the war comes, our soldiers will leave behind our colonies, safe to continue on, and fight along side our friendly humans to repel the enemies. The best way to not get killed by a threat is to not make it want to. So we are part of them. And maybe there will be others from this place that will be part of us. It certainly looks that way. Already, there are prey working with predators to fight against other predators.¡± ¡°How strange,¡± Common Oak said. ¡°It is highly desirable. As much as you can adapt from leaf to stick, there are limits. Others can be something more. Things you could never dream of. And with cultivation¡­ your body and energy can grow strong in ways that are difficult to believe.¡± Despite having built up a rapport with this group, the Great Queen knew that her own effectiveness would soon diminish in terms of actually empowering them. But one who knew about cultivation of energy and plants would be quite beneficial to these insects. They just had to want to meet Anton, and they likely wouldn''t be drawn in by the promise of nibbling on ascension energy. That said, before they made that decision the Great Queen did have some ideas for what they could accomplish with teamwork. Bridging a gap between large trees would only take a dozen or so longer stick insects¡­ they should be able to hold sufficient weight for that to be an option. Though in truth it was more effective for the much lighter ants, natural energy provided some options. ----- Xugryke. That was the name that had been uncovered for the system through significant digging. A system with satellites still patrolling the extremes, clearly quite capable of using technology. And yet, they were no more. Unlike Jinrisa, it didn¡¯t seem to have been the result of outside forces. But neither did it seem to have been the result of a civil war. The damage had come all at once, somehow involving the planet¡¯s moon suddenly crashing into one side of the planet. Or rather¡­ a much stranger result than that. Only part of it, somewhere around two thirds of it torn away in an indescribable manner and splayed over the planet below. Rutera¡¯s scientists were most interested in the investigation, and using their technology and personal energy they investigated everything they could. The moon couldn¡¯t have crashed into the planet, because there should have been scarring from entering the atmosphere. There were burn marks on some of it, but that was localized to where there had been obvious fires on the planet after the fact. From everything that could be seen initially, it seemed as if two thirds of the moon had just deposited itself on the planet below. Not in a peaceful manner, but it didn¡¯t crash into it either. However, whatever caused that incident had resulted in rubble from the moon covering a huge swath of the planet. What followed, according to the investigations, was a rapid collapse of the interconnected systems of the planet as massive disaster abounded. Food production and transportation broke down. Production of key technological parts immediately halted, buried or otherwise inaccessible. Millions dead instantly¡­ perhaps more. And while the addition of a small percentage of the planet¡¯s mass didn¡¯t necessarily seem that relevant, it happening all at once had caused massive instability in land. The cause remained unknown for the current moment, but they were still sifting through the rubble on Xugryke itself¡­ and the small pieces of the planet that seemed to have ended up with the remaining partial shell of the moon somehow. Xugryke was just one among many planets and systems explored, though not many were both so interesting and worrying. It was an unfortunate reminder that more dangers existed than simply that of invasions from the upper realms- or even conflicts between groups in the lower realms. Slowly, the knowledge of the border regions was expanding. From that, plans could be made about how to resist incoming invaders that would be carried past by the tides of the world. And though they hadn¡¯t found more humans just yet, they expected to find some eventually. Chapter 780 To Anton, the trouble with the lions ultimately just meant killing a few beasts. Or people, considering their sapience, but in a way that made it easier to justify killing them since they made a real choice. To the growing alliance, however, it was a war in which they would be risking their lives and perhaps the very existence of their burrows, herd, and flocks. There was no way Anton was just going to solve things for them¡­ but he wasn¡¯t going to leave them high and dry either. He was already teaching them everything he could, and he hoped that the difference between proper cultivation and undirected growth would be sufficient. For the meerkats, he taught the basics of the One Hundred Stars combined with Aipra¡¯s communal cultivation. Three Squeaks was learning fire, while some of the others had learned light techniques- light flashing in people¡¯s eyes. The warthogs got a version of the Hardened Crown Sect¡¯s cultivation method and combat techniques. Given their shape, they were even more suited for a direct charge both offensively and defensively. The eagles were learning a few things from the Soaring Air Sect. Since they had natural wings, they could skip many things which were building up to flight. There were techniques to maneuver in flight, and of course general energy control was useful. Echoing Cry had gotten more serious about learning archery, but it was unfortunately too late to begin real training in that regard¡­ or to make a relevant bow modification. As for Contented Grunt, Anton was teaching her some beginning water element methods. He was aware of more than a few hippo based sects in Ambati, but neither Crunching Hippo River nor the Desert Hippo Sect¡¯s techniques were necessarily useful for one who was already a hippo. Contented Grunt was actually one of the few that Anton might suggest use a focused body tempering technique. It didn¡¯t matter if a meerkat improved their physical strength by ten or a hundred times, but a proper hippo simply doubling in power or strengthening their skin would be sufficient. For the moment, however, he could only introduce her to the very beginnings of cultivation. Nothing that would lock her into a path, especially not with just a few weeks of training. They couldn¡¯t afford to spend too long preparing to deal with the lions, or they might return to cause further trouble. As it was, the meerkats and warthogs were more restricted in their foraging grounds. Contented Grunt was smart enough to not go too far on her own, either. The eagles were mostly safe, especially since they hadn¡¯t been seen as hostile, but they were still concerned about the lions finding them or their eggs edible. Their nests were meant to be difficult to reach, but it was not impossible for a lion to climb the cliffs they inhabited. ¡°I do not see what the point of this is,¡± Contented Grunt said as she trundled along, dragging a plough behind her. ¡°I turn over some dirt and¡­ tire myself?¡± ¡°That¡¯s how training works,¡± Three Squeaks explained. ¡°You get tired, you eat food, you grow more strong. Here, you can at the same time plant melons. They will be biiiig food!¡± Three Squeaks held his arms out wide to demonstrate. ¡°Really?¡± Contented Grunt said. ¡°A proper mouthful, even. But not a tree? Trees don¡¯t taste good. Or feel good.¡± Contented Grunt, as a hippo with some amount of natural energy, had the capability to eat almost anything she wanted to. She could probably even eat rocks. But that did not necessarily make anything nutritious or worthwhile. Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°Not a tree. A melon. It¡¯s a big ground fruit instead of a tree fruit. Because if it grew in a tree it would be too heavy.¡± ¡°How long will it take?¡± Contented Grunt asked. Meep was the one who answered that. Slowly. ¡°One¡­ hundred¡­ sunsets.¡± ¡°That is too long,¡± the hippo huffed as she rested next to the field she had just finished plowing. ¡°It is not worth the effort.¡± ¡°Patience¡­ is¡­ worth¡­ it. Food¡­ very¡­ tasty.¡± Meep handed her a couple armfuls of mushrooms he had raised underground. ¡°Make¡­ strong¡­ two¡­ ways¡­¡± Despite his body tempering and cultivation improving his body, the old meerkat still moved and spoke slowly. Perhaps it was too late for him to recover his full capabilities. Or maybe it would take more time- he wasn¡¯t even at the second prime tempering, the fifth star. Anton thought that felt a bit slow, except for the fact that nobody had even the slightest basis for proper cultivation either in terms of culture or prior generations refining techniques. And though he was doing his best, ultimately humans were different enough that he couldn¡¯t perfect anything, especially considering he couldn¡¯t actually experience the results personally. A loud chorus of squeals and grunts came from the warthogs, and Anton saw Forceful Snort celebrating at a boulder he had cracked in half. It wasn¡¯t a clean split, but as the thing was bigger than him Anton found it impressive enough still. The eagles were flying up above- some of them serious about training, others playing, and others who were able to realize they could do both as long as they seriously used their natural energy for flips and spins which were not in the natural repertoire of the eagles. Their homes were still a good distance away- a handful of kilometers- but those who were going to be near the area anyway tended to join the training. Echoing Cry was seated on a nearby branch, pouting about not being able to learn archery. But he had still been putting in effort to train his body as instructed, preferring to strengthen his talons for the upcoming battles¡­ and potential archery following that. Anton wasn¡¯t sure how much a bird could manage with a short reach and grasping appendages with little dexterity, but ultimately if it came down to it Echoing Cry could learn to make energy bows exclusively while fighting from safety. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. As for the lions, Anton kept his senses on them as well. They were licking their wounds, hunting whatever prey they happened upon, and complaining about the foolish meerkats. No concrete plans were in the works at the moment, but Anton knew they wouldn¡¯t wait forever. ----- How long had it been, Chikere wondered. Except before she began cultivation, this might have been the absolute longest she had gone without engaging in sword combat. Or any combat. And that included weeks of traveling between systems sometimes. She wasn¡¯t certain whether to count the part where they were fleeing- after they got through the Forest of Death and out of the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s official territory, specifically. Either way, it was the longest. Too long. But even if she wanted to, she literally couldn¡¯t fight. And not wanting to fight was awful. Though she still kind of did, but she didn¡¯t know how. A message came from Anton. Those were always important. Furthermore, he¡¯d gone through the effort to send a large amount of data. What was it, some special recovery technique he had discovered in the lower realms? She was filled with anticipation. But in the end, all she got was an image and an attached message. ¡°I have nothing to say that will make things better so here is my meerkat disciple.¡± There she saw a little not-quite rodent posing with a funny little bow. Chikere trembled. In her moment of desperation, this was what Anton sent? She could hardly believe it. But there it was. A simple picture of a cute animal. How did he know? Even she hadn¡¯t known something like that could make her feel better. Then again, she wasn¡¯t an experienced grandfather. Or any kind of father or mother. ¡°I want one,¡± Chikere declared to herself. Not a bow, of course. Nor was she thinking about keeping one of the meerkats as a pet. Too much trouble. But as a disciple¡­? Yes, that would make the world a better place somehow. There were only two problems. Okay, there were more than that. But two things made it completely impossible. First was that she was in the upper realms, and she was in no state to travel on her own. She would probably find it difficult even if the tides of the world were just right. The other was that she couldn¡¯t sword right now, which made it quite difficult to teach swordsmanship. And she couldn¡¯t really teach anything else either. So she pondered. And considered. And thought. And contemplated. It was a good distraction for a week before finally she came up with a solution. Yes, that was how it was going to be. She would need to call in some favors but¡­ she sent a message to Ty Quigley explaining the situation. She was not able to have a disciple herself. But someone like him? It would be very possible. And maybe, if she saw a meerkat holding a sword she would be inspired somehow. Though now that she thought about it, there were a bunch of perfectly good wolf pups around at frequent intervals. Explaining the situation to Spikes was¡­ difficult. The wolf growled a response. ¡°So you are saying¡­ to promote your healing¡­ you need to hold a sword near one of my pups.¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°Of course not. I couldn¡¯t hold a sword. They would be the one holding the sword.¡± ¡°And this would help, how?¡± Chikere tilted her head. ¡°Psychology, maybe?¡± ¡°Well, if you simply wish to look, I will retrieve a sword from somewhere. But only because Chidi likes you.¡± Soon enough Chikere found herself and Spikes back in the den- if it was even correct to call it such, given how it was basically just a specially made house. ¡°Big Jaws! Come.¡± A wolf pup with a comically oversized head waddled into the room, sniffing around. ¡°Take up this sword,¡± Spikes demonstrated- though the hilt rested between two of her teeth instead of dangling out the other side of her mouth like it would for her smaller sized child. Big Jaws waddled over and looked at his reflection in the sword. He licked it, fortunately not slicing his tongue. Then he walked away. Before Spikes could comment on the situation, a little runt with patches of silver fur ran between her mother¡¯s legs, grabbing the sword in her mouth- in the middle. She almost toppled over at the weight of the weapon, and barely made it another step before Spikes¡¯ teeth closed around her, locking the cub in place with Spikes¡¯ head turned to the side. ¡°Drahp iht,¡± the large wolf commanded with her mouth full. The wolf cub complied reluctantly- the perfect silver sheen of the sword suddenly marred by a slight trail of crimson. ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to be out here, Agom.¡± With a little bark and whine, the pup replied. ¡°Inside boring!¡± Chikere took note that there were only underdeveloped fangs inside her mouth. ¡°Inside is safe.¡± ¡°Safe boring!¡± Agom barked. ¡°Agom¡­¡± her mother growled. ¡°Excuse me¡­¡± Chikere said. ¡°But this one seems willing to hold the sword, at least. If you could get her to do it¡­ somewhat properly¡­ I could stop bothering you.¡± Spikes sighed. ¡°Fine. Agom. You are allowed to grab the sword. But!¡± her paw blocked her daughter who was lunging for it. ¡°Only by the hilt, where it isn¡¯t sharp.¡± ¡°Not sharp boring!¡± Agom said. But she wasn¡¯t going to give up her chance to grab the new toy. She fumbled around, first trying to fit the hilt into her mouth lengthwise. Ultimately she grabbed it from the side, lifting that end up with the tip on the other end resting on the ground. ¡°There. Happy now?¡± Spikes asked. Chikere nodded. ¡°I am quite pleased.¡± She saw something good. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t enough. Which was really disappointing, because she kind of just wanted to be fixed. Why was it so difficult? ¡°You should probably catch her,¡± Chikere suggested. Spike¡¯s head whipped around. Then she began sniffing. ¡°Agom! Get back here!¡± Things holding swords might still be good. Chikere didn¡¯t hate it, at least, which was a huge step up. But even if she liked swords again, her body was still a problem. And she didn¡¯t know what to do to make it better, because she didn¡¯t think she could and Uzun wouldn¡¯t do it for whatever reason. Still, at least she had things she could attempt. It was good to have something to do besides sitting around. Chapter 781 The sound of a crashing tree caused Three Squeaks to duck into his hole. It was instinct, even though he was expecting the noise. As a traditionally weak group, meerkats were prone to hiding from whatever dangers showed themselves. And a toppling tree was certainly one of those. In this case, it was on purpose. Contented Grunt brought down the tree like many others- though most of them weren¡¯t from this area. They didn¡¯t want to give away their plans. They tended to do most of their work during the day. It was when they were most comfortable, and the lions might come for them at any time so it was simply better to work when they pleased. Three Squeaks checked his little burrow. It was barely large enough to keep him below the surface, out of paw¡¯s reach. But that was just the right size, even if not the purpose of the structure. Instead, it was meant for a lion to get a paw trapped in. Even if it only hindered them for a few moments, throwing off their coordination would be worth it. And realistically, they didn¡¯t want to fight the lions at all. But every indication from their sneakier members was that the lions were going to make another attempt. And soon. That was why they had to take the initiative. Their training was as good as it could be in the near future. So the only other thing they could do was pick their battlefield. And perhaps prepare it a bit. Sustained Chittering had come up with the plan for traps. Sometimes, meerkats hurt themselves on sharp rocks and sticks on accident. Why not do the same but¡­ on purpose? That had expanded out to what they were currently doing. Three Squeaks watched as warthogs ran their tusks against the bark of the tree, rubbing it off- and sharpening parts of it. They would set up the bigger sticks in just the right way to hopefully cause damage, partially burying them in the dirt dug up for their little pits. All of this was concealed by tall grass¡­ mostly. Everyone was working diligently, with the eagles currently gathering rocks. The biggest they could carry, with the intention to drop them on the enemy. Soon they would have to finish their preparations¡­ and then provoke the lions to come fight them here. But first, there was another night. It was nerve wracking, staying just on the edge of the lion¡¯s territory. Especially with him stomping about. Nobody knew a proper name for him, but he made a Bloodcurdling Roar as he patrolled his territory. Even the alliance was unwilling to enter that territory. Fighting the lions in a place they knew well would result in too many deaths. They would inevitably have some, of course, but more deaths. ----- Forceful Snort was the one responsible for drawing the attention of the lions. He had volunteered, even. The warthog leader was quite a large specimen that would be a tempting feast¡­ and sending more than a small number of individuals would make their ploy more obvious. If they could think of it, their enemy could see through it. Anton said that no plan should rely on enemies making a mistake. Which mean, in the worst case scenario, their preparations might go to waste if Forceful Snort wasn¡¯t followed. He didn¡¯t just go stomping into their territory with his head held high, directly taunting them. No, the warthog leader did much better than that. Since he was in the area it would be a waste to not root up something to eat. And it added to his natural look as well. He just kept a pair of eyes open for any trouble. And his extra senses, because while the lions might hide in tall grass well enough they hadn¡¯t learned to conceal their natural energy. Or at least not very well. The same would likely be true for the whole of their alliance, if they didn¡¯t have the teachings of Anton the Tall One of Energy. He knew so much, but he said that was the result of many generations and hundreds of years. Almost a thousand, which was a number they had never had a reason to count to before he arrived. But now they stored food, and the number came up occasionally. Forceful Snort continued his journey, taking care not to lose his position. He needed to be able to return to the ambush site without running into any hazards along the way. He tried not to look up into the skies, as eagle spotting was not something he was supposed to think about. He noticed her. The first one. He spent a minute judging his own chances of beating her as he munched on some tasty bark. Either she judged the same as him- which was fairly even odds- or she simply would have gone to find others either way. Regardless, the lioness slipped off. It was true, he would be a feast for more than one or two lions. He could probably feed the whole pack. Which was why he was bait. And so that he didn¡¯t become useless bait, he slowly began making his way back towards the ambush spot, doing his best to not look like he was retreating. His trail would be easy enough to follow. He made sure his smell was especially strong this day. When the first one leapt out at him, his panic was only partially performative. He ran, focusing on his goal. They chased after him. They wouldn¡¯t go far, so he tried to not get too much ahead¡­ while still surviving of course. That was ultimately what this was about. They wanted to live, but they couldn¡¯t do that with the lions around. The lionesses must have felt something was wrong as they approached. They slowed¡­ but that was just the time that Three Squeaks took a shot at one of them. Specifically, the same one whose eye he had injured in their previous conflict. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. That was sufficient to provoke them, regardless of how many scents they smelled. They charged forward. One was unlucky enough to truly impale herself on a stick with her natural energy focused on leaping, while the others were more fortunate and only got scratches or nothing at all. But the pits made at least a few stumble, catching one for more than a few moments. The warthogs began to charge forward to support Forceful Snort, who had turned to face the enemies. Three Squeaks continued to shoot his arrows at them, but they were mostly able to focus on defending against his attacks at the moment. That was when the massive form of Contented Grunt levered herself out of the dirt behind them. Screeches came from the sky as a large number of relatively heavy and sharp rocks were dropped on the lionesses. They cried out in pain and anger. ¡°Foolish prey! Don¡¯t think we can¡¯t kill you all!¡± It was scary, to hear a lioness roar that. But they already knew that, which was why they had to fight now. Because ultimately, that was what they were planning to do¡­ just one morsel at a time. As warthogs began to collide with the leading lions, Forceful Snort in particular tossing the verbal lioness onto her back with more momentum than she had anticipated, meerkats popped up as well. Their claws were only meant for digging and catching bugs, but with natural energy they could at least cause some damage to these much larger creatures. And the warthogs were there to help draw attacks. The eagles began to circle back with another round of rocks from their stash behind the battlefield. Contented Grunt was harassing the rear of the lions herself, fending off two of their number. Things were looking good for their little alliance. Until that roar. It wasn¡¯t simple Bloodcurdling on an abstract level. It shook them all, while inspiring the lions. Even so, they couldn¡¯t simply flee. Or rather, they shouldn¡¯t. This was their best chance. But they seemed like they might. Three Squeaks saw the effect that was had on his fellows, and he couldn¡¯t stand it. ¡°Don¡¯t give up!¡± he said. He wanted to use flames, but in their current position that was only good as a last ditch effort. Basically suicidal. His other plan wasn¡¯t much better¡­ but it should at least do something. A few meerkats and warthogs were looking to the rear, as if thinking they might run. But how could they, with Three Squeaks rushing towards them? Even as he fired his bow, he drew ever closer. Closer to them, and closer to the lioness with the missing eye. ¡°We can beat them!¡± he said. And as he said it, he chose to believe it. Contented Grunt slammed one of the lionesses into another, just in time to spin around and toss the first at the incoming beast. As a hippopotamus, there was very little that could match her in mass¡­ but Bloodcurdling Roar was at least half her weight, with an emphasis on his sharp claws and fangs. More than that, his natural energy was near the peak of what Anton called the Body Tempering stage. Given the power of a lion to begin with, it was terrifying to even consider fighting alone. But Contented Grunt knew that her allies were pressing towards her. A shower of rocks did little more than make the lion blink as he charged forward. But perhaps every little bit would weaken his energy. The lioness with one eye pounced towards Three Squeaks as he got within her range. He did the most terrifying thing he could do in such a position, which was to dive towards her. And under. He could only scramble along on all fours with his bow barely clutched in his hand, seeing powerful hind legs land on either side of him. He made it out just before her rear end came down upon him, trying to crush him into the dirt. With the state things were in, he was willing to take some more serious risks. He swiveled, firing a single arrow behind him¡­ one made of flame. It struck next to her tail, and while it didn¡¯t do more than burn away some fur instantly without real ignition¡­ it had some effect. Which was to make her yowl in pain and filled her one eye with even greater bloodlust. So much so that she basically ignored the handful of warthogs she had to push through to pursue Three Squeaks, letting them get easy damage on her sides. More than half of the lions were dead, now, and the alliance was doing their best to use lion hunting tactics against the lions themselves, including Bloodcurdling Roar. Contented Grunt was just barely able to hold her own against him, huge scratches on her face and upper torso notwithstanding. Several brave warthogs found themselves with their skulls crushed by him, despite their recent training, or torn apart. The meerkats he basically ignored, even as they danced around his feet trying to cut into his ankles somehow. There were a few patches of blood, but ultimately he could do enough damage to them by accident rather than needing to focus on them. He prepared to roar once more, but as he raised his head a great screech came, followed by several others. Several eagles slammed into the back of his head, talons extended. Others targeted everywhere along his back. Forceful Snort found that a perfect opportunity to charge, digging his tusks as deep as they could go into the massive creature. He at least got a decent flow of blood. It might have never even crossed the large lion¡¯s mind that he could lose. Especially not to a bunch of prey- with the potential exception of Contented Grunt who was a rare treat for a lion. But away from the water she was in a riskier position. But regardless of what the lion thought, he was not going to leave the battlefield. Eventually miniscule wounds began to build up, and he fell from blood loss. His natural energy was basically exhausted regardless, and his body was quickly torn into by his numerous attackers. Dead on the battlefield were five lionesses, one great lion, nine warthogs, and fifteen meerkats. Five of them from the guard, and the others who simply couldn¡¯t choose to not fight such an important battle. Of the numerous wounds on the great lion, nobody noticed a thin but deep cut towards one artery on his neck. The matted blood on his mane could have come from any number of places, and it was likely they wouldn¡¯t have questioned it even if it were noticed. But beyond their knowledge, it played a significant role in the battle¡­ though not enough to discount their teamwork and sacrificial bravery. Chapter 782 Looking at the grim battlefield in front of him, Anton knew he had seen more death for less reason¡­ but he was never going to enjoy it. Even so¡­ he looked down at the creature sitting in his hand. ¡°I¡¯m fairly certain that was cheating, you know?¡± The Great Queen gestured with her whole body. ¡°Someone had to do it. You were too slow. And unlike my ants, each and every one of these are special.¡± Anton sighed, ¡°I just didn¡¯t want them to get overconfident and take a bigger loss later. But you¡¯re right. This was already too much.¡± ¡°Just enough,¡± the Great Queen disagreed. ¡°They must be able to stand strong on their own. And¡­ we have to know how they react.¡± Anton had little choice but to agree. Rather than being concerned about the instincts of beasts and how they might act, he was more concerned about how thinking beings would respond to a rapid increase in power. He was pleased to see there was a discussion as they began cleaning up the battlefield. It wasn¡¯t a pleasant one, but one that had to be had nonetheless. He listened to what they were saying with great interest. ¡°What do we do with them?¡± Contented Grunt asked. ¡°Or with¡­ us?¡± They were currently shuffling the bodies of their own dead- warthogs, meerkats, and the single eagle- to one side of the battlefield. Forceful Snort nudged one of his fellow with his snout. ¡°We must honor them with this¡­ burial thing. We can¡¯t leave them on the surface to be eaten by scavengers.¡± ¡°And the lions¡­?¡± Three Squeaks asked, looking towards them. ¡°Their power should be ours,¡± Deep Purr said. ¡°Though eating them¡­ wouldn¡¯t be much good for us meerkats.¡± Contented Grunt tramped forward to one. ¡°It made my stomach feel bad,¡± the large hippo commented. ¡°But I think the slow one said something about this. From death¡­ comes life? Plants can grow from them, maybe¡­?¡± Three Squeaks nodded, ¡°I know some of this. But they would likely have to be buried too.¡± ¡°So they would get the same respect as the rest of us?¡± Forceful Snort grumbled. ¡°I don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°Perhaps we will figure that out later,¡± the meerkat Sustained Chittering added her own angle. ¡°There is another problem. They must have young somewhere. They must be dealt with¡­ somehow.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t let them live here!¡± the captain of the guard commented. ¡°But I also¡­ don¡¯t want to kill them?¡± ¡°They would have killed ours,¡± Forceful Snort complained. ¡°But they will die on their own regardless. I say let them.¡± There was little consensus on what to do with the lions, and much resentment. Ultimately, they simply began to bring their own dead along with them, however they could. Anton wanted to provide them some assistance, at least in terms of tools like sleds or the like. But ultimately he wanted to let them try to develop tools on their own and he didn¡¯t want to interrupt their tasks. Though he would be available, should they ask for assistance, he expected they would handle things on their own. ----- An artificial arm reached up towards Chikere¡¯s head, its sharpest part extended. It drew closer and closer to her face, and then¡­ she scratched her nose. She very much appreciated that. Not the fact that her nose had an itch to begin with, but that she could resolve the matter. She was trying to do her best to appreciate such things. At the current moment, she had precious little besides herself. Friends didn¡¯t count, of course. They were an entirely different category. And while she wasn¡¯t going to just assume they would always be around, she knew that her particular friends would be if she had the option. And the same was true in reverse. She just didn¡¯t know if she had anything to offer right now. Her technical cultivation still existed, she just couldn¡¯t use it in combat. Swords were the only thing she knew how to fight with, and it really wasn¡¯t great to be using her own blood for that. After all, she didn¡¯t have nearly enough to make as many swords as she would like. But beyond feeling sorry for herself, and using what she could of her cultivation to try to recover from her longer term injuries, she was also talking with some lady recommended by Engineer Uzun. Though she didn¡¯t really know what talking was supposed to accomplish. ¡°Hello, Nola,¡± Chikere said as she entered the office once more. It was obviously supposed to make her relaxed, but nothing could match how she used to feel about swords in that regard. ¡°Welcome back Chikere. Have you thought about what we talked about?¡± ¡°Something about¡­ respect¡­?¡± Chikere tilted her head. She didn¡¯t really get it. Nola was supposed to be a head doctor, but she hadn¡¯t looked at Chikere¡¯s head a single time. At least, not up close or anything. ¡°Respect for what?¡± Nola asked. ¡°Respect for¡­ me?¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°I think I had a lot of respect for myself. I was very strong.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Nola said from her chair. She always offered for Chikere to sit or lie down on the couch thing, but Chikere preferred cross legged on the floor. ¡°And what about your body?¡± ¡°I respect that too,¡± she said. ¡°Especially this arm. It¡¯s very important, even if I can¡¯t use swords anymore.¡± Nola sighed, ¡°You put a lot of emphasis on that part of yourself, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°What part?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°The part about swords.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°That is because it¡¯s basically all of me,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Or it was. Now there¡¯s just less of me. Isn¡¯t that how it¡¯s supposed to work? It made me strong.¡± Nola pursed her lips. ¡°I can¡¯t say how cultivation is supposed to work. There are many different avenues of thought there. Certainly, it was effective for you for a long time as it has been for others. But that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s the best way. After all, with the right setback¡­ Well, I¡¯m sure you know better than I how difficult it is to recover.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Do you think I should get more blood?¡± ¡°I- what?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not good to use my blood as a weapon because I don¡¯t have enough of it. But if I had more, it would be okay.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ somewhat true,¡± Nola admitted. ¡°But I don¡¯t think such a solution would work for you right now.¡± ¡°Because I don¡¯t like swords anymore.¡± ¡°Rejection is a natural response to trauma. However, in your case as it was part of your core identity¡­ it is causing you great difficulties.¡± ¡°I know that,¡± Chikere said. Nola mostly said things she knew already. ¡°What did you like about swords?¡± Nola asked. ¡°I don¡¯t like them anymore.¡± ¡°Certainly. But can you recall what you used to feel? What was good about them?¡± ¡°They were sharp. Otherwise, they weren¡¯t good swords.¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°They had to be balanced. Heavy enough, but not too heavy. Sturdy, but neither too rigid nor too flexible. Comfortable hilts were important.¡± ¡°Do you still feel any of that?¡± ¡°None of it matters,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Because you lost?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m not good enough. I can¡¯t be.¡± Nola nodded. It was a good thing cultivators had extended lifespans, because she could see this taking a while. But she wasn¡¯t going to give up, and not because of Chikere¡¯s potential utility. It was her job to treat each person as a person, and do her best to make them do the same. No matter how long it took. ----- Udre was hot, but as far as complaints went with his position that was all Devon had to say. He didn¡¯t necessarily think he was the best for diplomacy at first, but now that he had become familiar with the people it would be awkward to leave things to someone else. Living among them as he had, he found no trouble recommending them to join with the larger lower realms alliance. It was beneficial for both sides, so once he was certain that their friendliness was not just a ploy like Ekict¡¯s initial impression had been, the process had begun. Now, there was little need for him to stay among them any longer. ¡°You will be moving along soon, then?¡± Aerona asked. ¡°Assigned to somewhere else, I imagine?¡± ¡°I can choose where I go,¡± Devon reminded her. ¡°But I really should. I have no intention to linger here forever.¡± ¡°A shame,¡± Aerona crossed her arms. Devon sighed, ¡°You know things wouldn¡¯t work out between us like this. If I am to remain in one place, it won¡¯t be here but home on Ceretos.¡± ¡°We could have tried it,¡± she said. ¡°And what, we visit each other yearly? Or less often than that?¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°You aren¡¯t free to roam, and I¡¯m not content just remaining somewhere.¡± Aerona was a fine woman. Personally, the fact that she was officially an Empress was a point against her in his book but only because he wasn¡¯t a fan of official duties despite his recent position. ¡°Well, perhaps that is how things must be¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°I suppose it wouldn¡¯t look good in the near future regardless. People might think things. So where would you be heading next?¡± ¡°Progress with Nidec and Vrelt is currently¡­ glacial. The former is at least positively inclined towards us as far as we can tell, so perhaps there. At least our reconciliation effort with Ekict have gone well. Their older generation really left them in a difficult position politically and¡­ well, everything. My niece had a good hand in the process, since the war could have easily resulted in festering bitterness for those who survived, regardless of the reasons for their losses.¡± ¡°Indeed. And your grandfather is the first¡­ Enrichment cultivator, was it? Is there anyone in your family who isn¡¯t exceptional?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Devon said. ¡°Lots of them. You just won¡¯t hear about them. And ultimately, aside from making sure they aren¡¯t living in poverty, we tend to drift apart. After all, those who aren¡¯t cultivators¡­ don¡¯t live that long. It¡¯s been over ten generations since everything happened, after all.¡± Aerona nodded, then steered the conversation back in the other direction. ¡°So, Nidec or Vrelt. Do you think you would be in danger at either of them?¡± ¡°That would depend on if they had a reason to go all out and kill me. I find that unlikely, though. They should understand how powerful we are. So even if Vrelt is unfriendly, at most they would chase me off. If they even accepted me to begin with. We could honestly use more cultivators trained in diplomacy from the beginning.¡± ¡°I am,¡± Aerona pointed out. ¡°And you are also the empress of Udre,¡± Devon pointed out. ¡°Not a great representative for the lower realms alliance in general, no offense.¡± ¡°That is true,¡± she admitted. ¡°But I was chosen for this position, and though there is not necessarily and end to my term¡­ perhaps the structures of government might change.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you could prevent that, if you wished to.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± she said. ¡°I have great influence here. But the same reason I was chosen is the reason I would not resist such changes, and perhaps encourage them. Besides, I feel little power as an Empress when compared to a single Integration cultivator.¡± ¡°Come now,¡± Devon said. ¡°Udre was not weak before we arrived. You fought off an invasion from the upper realms, after all.¡± ¡°We survived,¡± she agreed. ¡°At the loss of most of our best cultivators. We were only recovering slowly, before our interactions with you.¡± ¡°Regardless,¡± Devon said. ¡°You could reach Integration yourself soon enough.¡± ¡°I might say the same of you and this¡­ Enrichment stage, no?¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect so. Perhaps a century or so, if I¡¯m lucky.¡± Aerona grinned. ¡°You speak of it so casually, when I have yet to reach a single century myself. I have some distance yet to cover.¡± She paused. ¡°So, which one would you choose?¡± ¡°Probably Nidec. Vrelt has too much potential for conflict. Not that I mind fighting, but I¡¯d rather do so intentionally. Too risky for me. Nidec seems like they¡¯re hiding something, which might be worse¡­ but I¡¯d prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt.¡± ¡°Well then,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Remember you are welcome to stay as long as you please, whether in an official capacity or not. And keep in touch, either way.¡± ¡°I can do that,¡± Devon said. It was good for him to have powerful friends, even if there wasn¡¯t anything beyond that. Chapter 783 Following the trail of a very large and stompy lion was quite easy. Three Squeaks had learned basic tracking from Anton, and that was more than enough to find his way into the lions¡¯ territory. Along with him came Contented Grunt the hippo, and Echoing Cry flying above. It was rather difficult to converse with the eagle while they were on the move, but Contented Grunt was quite happy to talk when she was not munching on something they found along the way. ¡°What do you think we¡¯re going to find?¡± the hippo asked. ¡°Hopefully nothing,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Maybe another lioness or two¡­¡± Contented Grunt could definitely fight one on her own. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t know if he could kill one, but he could at least keep one occupied. Echoing Cry¡­ would be quite dangerous if the eagle found an opening. His talons were sharp. Three Squeaks almost wished the journey would take longer, because he didn¡¯t want to actually see the results. But he had to¡­ and ultimately, he was able to move fast enough they made it by evening. There wasn¡¯t much to look at. Lions weren¡¯t known for having fancy homes. They laid their heads to rest wherever they pleased, occasionally resting under a tree or an overhang to stay out of the sun. Thus, open plains was their home. His head swiveling back and forth, Three Squeaks looked for threats. He didn¡¯t sense the natural energy of a powerful lioness, so at least he was relieved about that. But something leapt out at him, claws extended. He held his bow in paw, formed an arrow of natural energy¡­ but could not shoot. Instead, he dodged backwards. Even a single step at his size was enough. In fact¡­ there was no way to say if the pounce would have reached him at all. The creature was twice his size. Which was to say¡­ extremely tiny. It barely even seemed able to stand up. Nor did its ¡®claws¡¯ seem particularly dangerous. Even so¡­ this was the worst situation. ¡°Flooded burrow!¡± he cussed. Contented Grunt tilted her head as she approached. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with a little wat- oh.¡± Three Squeaks picked out two more cubs ¡®hidden¡¯ in the surroundings. The grass was barely high enough to cover them when crouched down, to the point that even Three Squeaks could see down upon them from above. ¡°They absolutely won¡¯t survive alone,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Right,¡± Contented Grunt agreed. ¡°Should we¡­ get rid of them?¡± The eagle landed atop the hippo¡¯s head. ¡°He won¡¯t,¡± Echoing Cry said. ¡°Well, I¡­ we can¡¯t just¡­¡± Three Squeaks stammered. ¡°These ones didn¡¯t even try to kill us personally,¡± he narrowed his eyes at Echoing Cry. ¡°See? This one is not even afraid of them growing up into predators.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not¡­ entirely true,¡± Three Squeaks said as he batted away a swiping paw with his small bow. ¡°I don¡¯t want them to grow up to be like¡­ those.¡± ¡°And they may hate you for killing their parents,¡± Contented Grunt pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m not stupid,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I know that. But I don¡¯t¡­ they should have a chance.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Echoing Cry asked, leaning down towards him. ¡°Would you raise them?¡± Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know how. And I wouldn''t want to lie to them. But¡­ there must be others around. Lions, like them.¡± ¡°Smart ones,¡± Echoing Cry said. ¡°That would be quite happy to eat you. Or them. Who accepts children of others?¡± ¡°The kind of people I¡¯d want to leave these cubs with¡­?¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°How long do you intend to look for these perfect lions?¡± Contented Grunt asked. ¡°Until I find them¡­¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°There have to be- if they can think like us, some of them have to be reasonable.¡± ¡°And the others, will you fight them all on your own?¡± ¡°I was kind of hoping the two of you would help. Among other things¡­ I can¡¯t carry these fellows.¡± ¡°Me neither,¡± Echoing Cry pointed out. ¡°Not far, at least.¡± Contented Grunt snorted. ¡°So you expect me to waltz into danger with you?¡± Three Squeaks was getting buried by the three cubs that were semi-seriously chewing on him. ¡°Uh, maybe? You came here, didn¡¯t you? And you came to help the first time. I can pay you back¡­ eventually.¡± ¡°Your intentions are quite bold for someone so tiny,¡± Contented Grunt said. Then she lowered her head, her massive jaws opening. They closed down on the cubs¡­ gently. She tossed them onto her back, where they looked around confused- unable to find a way down from the massive height. ¡°I shall join you on this foolish journey.¡± ¡°And you, Echoing Cry?¡± Three Squeaks looked at the eagle expectantly. ¡°I can at least find different food,¡± Echoing Cry fanned his wings, taking off to avoid the cubs from bothering him. ¡°But I must say that I am currently content with the land dwellers we are already working with. I find no need to seek out more.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I¡¯m not really trying to make some lions into our allies¡­¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I just don¡¯t think it¡¯s fair if these cubs die because their parents were awful.¡± Echoing Cry circled just above them. ¡°I would normally disagree. But seeing our growth, I think that perhaps we can survive when something goes wrong. You¡¯d better make sure I¡¯m not wrong about that.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Three Squeaks declared. ¡°I¡¯m going to get stronger and stronger. I¡¯ll reach the Spirit Building phase and¡­ beyond that, probably! And nothing will be able to hurt us.¡± ----- The trio- with an additional three cubs that were constantly trying to wander off- began to make their way north, towards the next closest tribe Echoing Cry and the eagles had spotted. Throughout the day, they had to find food for themselves as well as the cubs, though the vast majority of things were eaten by Contented Grunt. Fortunately, she wasn¡¯t too picky about her meals, able to eat a wide variety of things that were difficult for the others to digest. They made their way closer to a river, hoping it would not only be easier terrain to travel but also because Contented Grunt would be more comfortable there. By the time they arrived, it was time to sleep. Even the lion cubs had tired themselves out with their shenanigans, not quite understanding the situation they were in but seemingly finding it amusing. And they very much enjoyed the tailless scorpions Three Squeaks fed to them. The meerkat made sure that the three cubs were together before settling down into a meditative state. It wasn¡¯t quite as good as sleep, but it would provide some rest and more importantly keep him alert. Echoing Cry was in the highest tree he could find nearby, and Contented Grunt was sleeping in the river, so he was responsible for taking care of the cubs himself. It was nerve wracking to spend the night without a proper burrow, but Three Squeaks couldn¡¯t dig a relevant one on his own in a short time. So he was tucked in some bushes near the cubs. Motion stirred him from his lapsing consciousness. It wasn¡¯t the cubs, at least not this time. No, it was something new. A viper, sneaking towards them. Or perhaps toward him. Either way, Three Squeaks sat unmoving as he waited for it to approach. Then before it could strike, he darted forward, striking its head with his claws. Natural energy in sharp lines extended from his paw, piercing into the creature that barely had more natural energy than a mundane animal. Then Three Squeaks settled down. His two companions looked at him- down from the tree and out of the water- but he assured them everything was fine with a wave, holding up the snake. It would be a decent snack in the morning, at least. ----- Anton wanted his disciple to be successful, but he didn¡¯t know how much he wanted to tip the scales. However, as unimportant as this task seemed, Anton actually found it to be perhaps as significant as the alliance of beasts surviving their little war. The capacity for pity- for mercy- that was an important part of being people. Even if Anton thought that humans often underused such capabilities, he wanted to encourage that here in this place. Akrys was still developing, and perhaps it would be impossible for it to transform into a peaceful ecosystem where every sort of beast that awakened to sapience could get along with each other. But he wanted it to have that chance. And the early stages were some of the most important. The nearest group was¡­ hopeless. Anton had watched everything in the area, and the pride there was aggressive with their territory. He¡¯d personally seen the patriarch come into power, and that involved slaughtering the cubs that weren¡¯t his. He wanted to warn away Three Squeaks¡­ but he knew that challenges were important to growth. Ultimately, if he couldn¡¯t judge correctly then some consequences were expected. But Anton knew that things weren¡¯t entirely hopeless. There was a rival group nearby, with several males in a coalition. That wouldn¡¯t have necessarily made a difference, but from what Anton had gathered it had built up over time instead of simply one group searching for territory together. That didn¡¯t necessarily mean they would accept strange cubs as their own¡­ but that was where his part came in. Though he would also very much prefer if things worked out without his interference. So he was going to think about the possibilities as the odd trio traveled. He could make up his mind any time before they arrived, which might be a few days at the pace they could travel. ----- The midday sun was bright and hot. Personally, Three Squeaks would have preferred to be in a burrow taking a nap or instead properly cultivating. As it was, the heat could spur his cultivation¡­ but he wasn¡¯t able to do it properly. After all, they were traveling. Which at the moment involved herding the cubs ahead of them to try to tire them out. The tiny things were nearly inexhaustible. Maybe he should feed them less. He kept his eyes, ears, and other senses ready¡­ but he couldn¡¯t watch everything. He did look for threats in the sky, but even so his reaction would have been too late. The attacker from the sky was quiet in their approach¡­ but revealed by another loud screech. ¡°Stay away!¡± Echoing Cry said, slashing with his talons at another figure Three Squeaks couldn¡¯t quite make out. It was something large, though. ¡°Crazy bird!¡± the other avian responded. ¡°Three stray cubs down there. You eat them all yourself?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t eat them. And neither will you.¡± Three Squeaks was able to make out a bird with thin plumage and downy feathers on its head. Some sort of vulture, perhaps? Another threat to meerkats. While some vultures waited to find dead prey, they weren¡¯t above finding smaller food and making it dead. And this one could speak. ¡°I eat eating eagle, then!¡± It could speak, but it was foolish. That was Three Squeaks¡¯ assessment. Then again, it didn¡¯t know. Even now, it was only just beginning to see the flight techniques Echoing Cry had learned, dancing around it. And it probably didn¡¯t know anything about bows. Its natural energy was nothing impressive, mid Body Tempering at best. And while Three Squeaks wouldn¡¯t underestimate the offensive prowess of a bird such as that, they weren¡¯t known for great defenses. The midday sun made it much easier to create an arrow of fire. It might have been an unnecessary move, but that was what he chose regardless. It arced through the air towards the vulture who didn¡¯t even truly realized it wasn¡¯t locked in single combat until it was too late. His energy pierced defenses, and one wing caught aflame. From there, there was nothing to be done. The bird spiraled into the ground as its feathers suddenly lacked the capacity to carry it. Right into a patch of dry grass. A great roar came from Contented Grunt. A surge of natural energy and then¡­ a bubble of water splashed over the area. ¡°... Thanks,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°That was dangerous, huh? I could have eventually put out the fire. But not as fast. But uh¡­ why didn¡¯t you use that against the lions?¡± ¡°It is not an attack. Not yet, at least,¡± the hippo said. ¡°Basic conjuration of water. And look. The lions wouldn¡¯t even be wet.¡± Three Squeaks looked, and indeed the ¡®water¡¯ had quenched the heat of the flames¡­ but it barely left any other traces of itself behind. The three cubs bounded over, curious. Three Squeaks drove them off before they had the chance to consider nibbling on the vulture. He wondered if it was worth it, killing another sapient thing for these three. Then again¡­ he had the feeling that vulture would have happily attacked him as well. Though it may have interacted with others enough to learn speech, it certainly wasn¡¯t friendly. Things were so complicated. Three Squeaks almost wished he wasn¡¯t smart enough to think so he didn¡¯t have to deal with such things. Almost. Chapter 784 They should be close now. That was good, because corralling the cubs was difficult enough without having to defend them from attackers- both sapient and not. The travelers were still mostly healthy, though Echoing Cry did have some small injuries from the battle with the heavier vulture. But soon they should reach lion territory and then¡­ convince the lions to not only not kill the three of them but also accept some cubs that weren¡¯t theirs. Which sounded a lot more difficult now that Three Squeaks was thinking about it. ¡°They¡¯ve spotted us,¡± Echoing Cry said, flying low above the others. ¡°They will come to find you, soon.¡± ¡°How many?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°I think the patriarch and at least one or two others. He looks smaller, though.¡± ¡°Smaller than what?¡± Contented Grunt asked. ¡°Compared to Bloodcurdling Roar?¡± ¡°Yes. This group is weaker.¡± Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°We still don¡¯t want to fight them. Let¡¯s find a good position. How about that rock? I can stand on top, and it would limit the angles they could approach you from, Contented Grunt.¡± ¡°Let us do so, then,¡± the hippo agreed. The cubs, of course, were having none of it. They¡¯d learned they could jump down from the hippo¡¯s back, so they were constantly being caught. Ultimately Contented Grunt and Three Squeaks worked together to get them all dangling from her mouth by the scruffs of their necks. Three Squeaks stood nervously upon his perch, feeling the natural energy of the approaching individuals. Compared to the battle he had been in, they seemed rather weak. Mid Body Tempering at best, but given the physical advantages of lions, he was personally in a dangerous position. Then again, he had backup. And Contented Grunt was no pushover. A large maned lion stomped forward, flanked by two lionesses. The lion roared as he approached. It was¡­ a bit intimidating. But nothing compared to what Three Squeaks had experienced. ¡°A bold entry into my territory. And a strange group. What is this¡­?¡± the lion said, gesturing towards Contented Grunt. As the hippo had her mouth full, that kind of left Three Squeaks to do the talking. Echoing Cry was kind of patrolling up in the sky, and certainly wasn¡¯t the best at the role. ¡°Cubs from a fallen group.¡± Three Squeaks could have said one that they wiped out, but he didn¡¯t want to attempt intimidation given his limited stature. It just didn¡¯t seem reasonable. ¡°We didn¡¯t want them to just die. So we thought we could bring them to someone who would know how to raise them.¡± ¡°And why would we do that?¡± the lion and his fellows paced around the chosen boulder. They could probably leap up to Three Squeaks, but they couldn¡¯t fight on top so it was still better. And Contented Grunt could chomp their legs if they tried it. ¡°It would simply be more mouths to feed for no benefit.¡± ¡°Well, we thought you might have¡­ pity?¡± ¡°Bah,¡± the lion shook his mane. ¡°We have no pity for such things. The weak must perish. Such is the way of things with our Upper Plains Pride.¡± There was no question that they were assessing the hippo and meerkat. For danger, edibility, and probably everything else. ¡°Perhaps you would be better served with the Kapok Coalition.¡± The way the lion spat those words indicated a clear distaste for the group. ¡°Do you think they would accept these cubs¡­?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Why send us there? It doesn¡¯t sound like you get along.¡± ¡°Because I think they would accept them. And then they would be busy feeding more mouths.¡± The lions looked hungry. And yet¡­ they began walking away. ¡°Goodbye!¡± Three Squeaks called after them. ¡°I¡¯m Three Squeaks and-¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t ask,¡± the lion called over his shoulder. ¡°... wow, they¡¯re not very friendly, huh?¡± Three Squeaks said to Contented Grunt after they were gone. The hippo tossed the cubs onto her back. They would stay there for a least a few moments, and Three Squeaks was ready to prod them back into position. Though they were currently somewhat subdued by the intimidating aura of the departed lion. ¡°No. But they chose not to eat us.¡± ¡°Probably because they knew we were strong enough to weaken them. And then this coalition would take their territory,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°But¡­ if they take cubs, they might be less terrible. I wouldn¡¯t have let this guy have them as soon as we saw him.¡± He was really easy to judge. ¡°... So where would this Kapok Coalition be?¡± The answer to that was possessed by Echoing Cry. ¡°This way. Assuming they meant lions living among kapok trees, of course.¡± ¡°I wish I could see that far,¡± Three Squeaks sighed. ¡°And I wish I could shoot a bow,¡± Echoing Cry replied. ¡°Come. Let¡¯s go around this place. They looked hungry enough to try something with the two of you.¡± ----- It was a surprisingly easy trip to the adjacent tribe, given the circumstances. They spent most of it looking over their shoulders for the Upper Plains lions, but Echoing Cry kept them far enough away. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. By the time Three Squeaks noticed any of the spiky kapok trees, they were probably already a good bit into the territory. ¡°One is coming,¡± Echoing Cry warned the others. ¡°Just one?¡± Contented Grunt asked. ¡°A big one. He seems strong. Almost as much as Bloodcurdling Roar.¡± ¡°... get ready to run,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°If we have to.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not much of a runner,¡± the hippo admitted. ¡°But I saw a stream back there¡­¡± At around that point, a lion strode into sight with his head held high. Somehow, it felt more intimidating than the roar from the other. And yet Three Squeaks also found it¡­ peaceful? Protective? Not exactly friendly, but definitely less aggressive. At least as far as Three Squeaks was able to comprehend. ¡°Who are you?¡± the lion demanded as he approached. ¡°We¡¯re here to-¡± ¡°Who. Are. You,¡± the lion repeated. ¡°I¡¯m Three Squeaks. Of the Shadysands Burrow. And this is Contented Grunt.¡± ¡°And that one?¡± the lion looked up into the sky. ¡°... Echoing Cry.¡± ¡°Good. I am Rumbling Growl.¡± The way he said his name had the potential to be intimidating, but it was also strangely comforting. ¡°Of the Kapok Coalition, but I assume you are aware of that.¡± They hadn¡¯t been, a day before, but they knew about it now. Three Squeaks nodded. ¡°And these are¡­ from the Lower Plains Pride?¡± the lion sniffed vaguely at Contented Grunt and the cubs. ¡°Yes, they are,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°Is that a problem?¡± Rumbling Growl kept a respectful distance of around two meters, but he sniffed at the two of them on the ground. ¡°I thought Bloodcurdling Roar had some potential.¡± ¡°Umm,¡± Three Squeaks interrupted. ¡°Sir Rumbling Growl, are you the pride leader?¡± ¡°We are a coalition,¡± Rumbling Growl said. ¡°But if you ask if I am the strongest of the Kapok Coalition¡­ no. I am not.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Three Squeaks was starting to regret coming to the area, a little bit. Sure, Rumbling Growl didn¡¯t seem threatening, but did he need to be? He could probably just eat them whenever he felt like it. The confidence he exuded said so. ¡°So, why do you come to our territory? I saw you from afar. Certainly you didn¡¯t stumble into it.¡± ¡°Well, there are these cubs¡­¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And we thought to bring them to the Upper Plains Pride. But they were¡­ unwilling to accept them.¡± ¡°Yes. They are quite unfriendly. So. What has happened to the Lower Plains Pride?¡± ¡°Well, they¡­ they died,¡± Three Squeaks said. Rumbling Growl sniffed. ¡°It¡¯s strange. I only smell their blood on Contented Grunt here. But you are surprisingly¡­ more than you look.¡± Contented Grunt spoke up there, allowing the cubs to wander for a moment. ¡°He fought well, but kept their blood off him.¡± ¡°Strange,¡± Rumbling Growl said. ¡°In truth, we did not expect your own coalition to kill him.¡± ¡°You know of us?¡± ¡°Only passing rumors. But seeing the three here together, I know there is some truth. We will take these cubs.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t eat them,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Just to make that clear. If we wanted that we could have let it happen all along the way.¡± ¡°We will not eat them,¡± Rumbling Growl agreed. ¡°You have my word. And my word is the word of the coalition. New blood might prove valuable to us. If not, and they grow up weak despite our efforts¡­ we can always find something for them to do. But they will live at least as well as with any pride for a dozen night¡¯s treks.¡± ¡°A dozen nights?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°... Is that how far you can walk in a night, or how far I can?¡± ¡°An adult lion,¡± Rumbling Growl said. ¡°That¡¯s far.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Rumbling Growl said. ¡°Certainly, it is not close. Come,¡± the last words were to the cubs. They were not terribly loud or forceful, but they seemed to draw the attention of the cubs. ¡°Follow me.¡± The large lion¡¯s words weren¡¯t perfect- the cubs still seemed to get off track and he had to carefully bat them back into something resembling a line- but he kept pretty good control over them as they walked away. ¡°And he didn¡¯t even threaten to eat us,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I think that went well.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Contented Grunt said. ¡°Now then, it is a long walk back. I suggest a faster route.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think Echoing Cry was willing to carry me¡­¡± Three Squeaks commented. ¡°No. But I am. And I will need to, to travel the river.¡± ----- Three Squeaks had never been in a river before. Next to one? Of course. Paws in? Sure. Up to his neck, once or twice. But in a river? Absolutely not. It was terrifying. And Contented Grunt was strangely quick for her size. The speed wasn¡¯t the scary part, though. It was the rushing water all around them as Three Squeaks stood on top of her head. The hippo half paddled and half ran along the bottom of the river, letting the water push them along. Fortunately, she let Three Squeaks anchor his natural energy with hers or the rapid course adjustments she made would have yanked him off. They might not seem like much to someone of her bulk, but Three Squeaks was only a tiny meerkat. He couldn¡¯t help but keep looking over his shoulder as they traveled. Not because he was worried about dangers, but because he was wondering about the cubs. He was nearly certain they had done the right thing. The Kapok Coalition, even from his brief exposure, was just as much the right choice as the Upper Plains Pride was the wrong one. But he¡¯d also kind of wanted to raise a cub himself. Which was stupid, because he was pretty sure they weren¡¯t supposed to eat as much solid food as he¡¯d been giving them. They didn¡¯t have another option while traveling, though. Still, the trip was good in more than one way. It wasn¡¯t just them that could get along. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t know if it was just a coalition of lions of if they included anything else, and in some ways well organized lions were more scary¡­ but they could act civil. And there had never really been a moment when Rumbling Growl seemed liable to eat them, despite it totally being possible. Maybe some day they could be friends. That said, it was an awful long way between their territories so maybe they would never meet again. Though the distance was feeling shorter and shorter, as Contented Grunt carried them along. They might be back in less than half the time at this pace. And Three Squeaks knew that he might be able to be much faster, some day. He didn¡¯t precisely know how fast Anton was, and he couldn¡¯t measure how strong the human was either¡­ but he knew it was much more than anything he had experienced. And though he knew it was more than just a little bit ambitious¡­ he kind of wanted to be like that, some day. Chapter 785 Recent progress in the lower realms was wonderful. Anton was very pleased with how everything was going. Setting aside Akrys which was as of the current moment not important on a larger scale, several important systems were joining up. First was Ekict- most likely they would have been ready to join immediately after the war, but politics wouldn¡¯t make that simple. It was a significant period of time to verify that all of those remaining weren¡¯t of the same blanket hatred of outsiders that the former leadership possessed. They still had a healthy distrust of the upper realms- but the Trigold Cluster was the one actually responsible for everything that had happened to them. In the future they would have their own ascension cultivators as part of the Scarlet Alliance, if they wanted to. Otherwise, Assimilation cultivators were useful as well. Udre had been relatively simple. It just took a matter of decades to properly get to know them, since nobody wanted to jump into things too quickly again. From the beginning it had seemed like an inevitability, but the wait had still been necessary. The other systems discovered at a similar time were still in the works¡­ but Anton didn¡¯t mind more waiting. Finally, there was the Hardened Crown Sect. From the beginning, they should have been part of Ceretos. It was simply stubbornness to not betray a group that essentially provided nothing for them beyond initial cultivation techniques and promises for any who could ascend. And yet, they had been too reasonable to continue to go along with the actions of the Exalted Quadrant in the upper realms. But with the pressure from one of their members in the upper realms, they were beginning to rethink their choices. If they properly became allies, Anton knew they should be quite reliable. There were still systems disconnected from the rest, like the far off systems of In¡¯istra and Poriza. Only occasional groups made the long trek beyond Ekict to them. But the induction of Ekict meant they were at least a single step closer, and Anton was certain they would either find more civilizations along that corridor¡­ or places that were good to settle. Because ultimately, they were going to keep spreading. Travel between systems was easier and easier with every passing century. That was true even for himself¡­ but despite his steady growth in power he wished he could be faster. He couldn¡¯t help but grow to love the people of every planet he visited, regardless of their conditions. He wanted to protect everyone. But there was only so much he could do. And because of that¡­ he preferred to focus on raising others up. His own personal power was significant, and his power as an Enrichment cultivator wasn¡¯t meant just for himself. He could use it for so much more than shooting people. That said¡­ if any invaders happened to end up in the same system as him, they would find out just how much one could do with natural energy. And a bit of other stolen energies. ----- Flames wreathed around Hoyt. He was experiencing a similar problem to Anton, half a realm away. He wasn¡¯t the strongest cultivator among the Scarlet Alliance, of course, but he still had a similar level of ambition. He wanted to do the most he could¡­ and that meant reaching as many people and places as possible. He wasn¡¯t even an Augmentation cultivator yet¡­ but the intent was to reach that level soon. As he improved himself further, he took stock of his various techniques. He wielded an axe, early familiarity making him stick to that weapon. Most of his techniques had been oriented to close combat, until after his ascension- and reacquaintance with his reincarnated grandfather. By that point he had already proved his own ambition, and that he could get by as his own person. He had long since stopped having hesitations about using Falling Stars, and training with Prospero had helped him develop his own style. Hoyt found himself functional at close range as well as long range¡­ but the distances in space were vast. Ultimately, even his long range required him to get close to people on the scale of a system. He had to be on the correct side of a planet, even for the smaller ones. He propelled himself forward through space. The shortest distance between two points was a straight line. If he kept the same speed- or acceleration, since there was no friction in space to hold him back- then his route to an opponent was simple. But traversing a system was not always so straightforward. There was a significant chance he might find opponents directly on the other side of a planet. He couldn¡¯t just go through a planet. Well, he might find it technically possible¡­ but he would be much slower, waste a lot of energy, and cause a concerning amount of damage to the planet. Simply going around planets wasn¡¯t where things ended, however. Getting within their gravity wells had varying effects¡­ and they weren¡¯t always negative. Slingshot maneuvers could impart significant velocity that would save him time and energy. Rushing across a system could have quite a long variance of time and effort expended, depending upon how he moved. And between systems¡­ he always hoped for something faster. He couldn¡¯t just sit around and wait for ships to catch up to his individual speed. Sometimes, every bit of speed was important. He practiced in different systems, and between systems, thinking of himself like a Falling Star. He knew that if the Scarlet Alliance had suffered the same losses that the Exalted Quadrant dealt with in the Chikere incident, their own response would not be small. The great power hadn¡¯t made another move yet, but that didn¡¯t mean they wouldn¡¯t. Simply that they were taking their time- either on purpose or because such large scale responses were slow. Whenever it was, in a decade or a century or at any point before the next cycle, he needed to be ready to fight. Hopefully, it would be after he was in Augmentation. They needed every bit of power they could scrounge up. ----- Anton wasn¡¯t the only one to have visited Akrys. It was simply that beyond himself and the Great Queen, most people were quite hands off. Scientists, simply cataloging the way things were. What Anton didn¡¯t expect was a shining ship to show up along with its owner. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Even so, Anton went to greet the man. There was basically no one that could travel between systems on their own that Anton wouldn¡¯t know, and this fellow he recognized from long before. ¡°Greetings,¡± Anton said to Ty Quigley. ¡°Are you on some sort of special mission for Rutera?¡± Ty shook his head. ¡°Oh no. This is something even more important.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°And what might that be?¡± ¡°Well, you know Chikere. And her latest issues.¡± ¡°Everything people are willing to share,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°She demanded that I raise a meerkat as a sword disciple,¡± Ty Quigley said. ¡°She indicated it would help her recovery.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Anton frowned. From what he knew, Chikere¡¯s issues weren¡¯t a simple matter of talent or physical injuries. There was a mental block as well. So Anton couldn¡¯t say it wouldn¡¯t help. ¡°It won¡¯t be easy. I¡¯m not saying you shouldn¡¯t, of course. Just that opposable thumbs are generally required for any human weapon, and without that they have to be modified.¡± Ty folded his arms in front of him and nodded. ¡°Even so, it must be done. And I have to send pictures.¡± Yeah, this was definitely Anton¡¯s fault. Though it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have some alternate teaching available. Even if neither of them provided optimal weapons for the locals, individuals passionate about certain weapons could help the rest develop things they really needed. That said, bows were a generous enough category of weapons that Anton was making good progress for not only meerkats but also flyers. In short, anything that could have uninhibited limbs. He had just begun testing prototypes with Echoing Cry. They were¡­ bad. But he was working on improvements. ¡°I¡¯ll see if I can find any volunteers. Though perhaps we should have you display your abilities¡­ on a small scale. Those drawn to the weapon will display better results, after all.¡± There wasn¡¯t necessarily a perfect weapon for each individuals, but Anton knew that interest made training something that was looked forward to rather than a chore. Three Squeaks wouldn¡¯t want to spend so much of his day simply firing arrows and trying to build muscles that meerkats didn¡¯t usually develop if he hadn¡¯t been enthralled by the weapon to begin with. That didn¡¯t mean diligent study didn¡¯t allow people to learn any weapon¡­ but passion was important. Ultimately, they ended up gathering the coalition together- the total population was approximately that of a modest village, though Anton could definitely see a population boom in their future as spring rolled back around. Once gathered, Anton introduced the swordmaster. ¡°This is Ty Quigley,¡± Anton said. ¡°Another human, like me. He is available to provide some cultivation guidance, but ultimately his intent is to train some of you in the sword. This is another weapon humans use¡­ and yes, we are aware that it is not suited for your bodies. But if you happen to take interest, he will be an excellent teacher.¡± If nothing else, Ty had practice using sword techniques with things that Anton could hardly categorize as swords. His ship had projectile launchers that shot blades, and the ship itself acted as one sometimes. ¡°Um, yes, well¡­¡± Ty¡¯s composure was fairly good, for someone literally just being introduced to what looked like a bunch of animals. ¡°I don¡¯t speak your language yet. But Anton will help translate. And I can learn. Either way¡­ I will demonstrate now.¡± He provided a boulder, approximately the height of a man and nearly round. ¡°Observe,¡± he said. He took his sword in hand, cut horizontally¡­ and returned his blade to its sheath. He waited for a response, but the vast majority of the locals looked confused. ¡°Oh!¡± he nodded. ¡°Right.¡± With another flash, he also cut the boulder vertically. And then a small tap caused it to tumble apart, the vertical slice splitting first until it had toppled over enough for gravity to pull at the previously horizontal slices. Everyone began to gather around, looking at the clean cuts. They were impressed, to say the least. Most likely, they hadn¡¯t seen anything so flat before in their lives. Yet despite the general interest in seeing his technique, very few actually seemed interested in replicating it themselves. Only Deep Purr approached. ¡°Can I see this ¡®sword¡¯?¡± After Anton translated, Ty stuck it point first in the ground- deep enough that the crossguard was about head height for the meerkat. ¡°Careful. It¡¯s¡­ beyond sharp,¡± Ty explained. He demonstrated by softly tossing a rock against the blade. The captain of the guard gave it proper respect, looking at the thin blade, observing it from every angle. He also took interest in the grip, reaching his arms up to compare but not quite touching it. Then there was a commotion within the crowd. ¡°Get back here you brat!¡± the raucous squeaking of Forceful Snort called after a slippery piglet. Said piglet either didn¡¯t understand or didn¡¯t care, and instead raced towards the blade stuck in the ground. Ty Quigley watched with interest as it charged forward, and he didn¡¯t react even as it skidded to a halt a mere finger¡¯s breadth away from the blade. The piglet swung her head at the sword¡­ almost as if it were trying to knock it away with its tusks. Except said tusks had not grown in yet. ¡°Half Oink you get back here right now! That¡¯s dangerous!¡± Forceful Snort ran forward, but the piglet dodged around the sword as he tried to approach, keeping it between them. ¡°It seems she is interested,¡± Ty Quigley said. Anton translated, of course. ¡°She just saw something shiny,¡± Forceful Snort turned up his head. ¡°No doubt she¡¯ll lose interest.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s two,¡± Ty said to Anton, ignoring the warthog¡¯s declaration. ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know about these meerkats, but warthog tusks are almost swords to begin with. Hopefully by the time this one¡¯s tusks grow in I¡¯ll understand the language.¡± ¡°Nothing like immersing yourself in the sounds,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I can help, of course.¡± Ty suddenly snatched the sword away as the piglet almost rubbed her nose against the blade. Future students wouldn¡¯t be hurting themselves on his watch. At least not until they reached the point of safety training where they were responsible for themselves. Then it would do them some good to recognize the dangers of weapons. Chapter 786 The safe choice for Devon was to go to Nidec. They were already open to negotiations. It would probably be easy. Vrelt, on the other hand, felt wrong. As they remained insular, they had been left alone¡­ but plans for a proper infiltration had been put together. It simply hadn¡¯t taken place yet, as such an attempt could backfire. It might result in an unnecessary conflict, if spies were noticed. On the other hand¡­ if they were actually hiding something, a conflict would happen eventually anyway. It would be better to try to find out something beforehand. Though there was little actual danger from the single planet as far as anyone knew, little enough was known except that they did have some planetary defensive formations. Which was surprising, as it had only been around a century since the last cycle. Either they hadn¡¯t been a target, had successfully fought back, or redeveloped with surprising rapidity. Devon should go to Nidec. Except more mundane diplomats would likely be able to handle the situation there. His presence might be seen as something positive, or it might look like a threat. The same was true about Vrelt. And he wasn¡¯t an infiltrator, so he really shouldn¡¯t even consider the option. But¡­ he also wondered how long it was safe to leave a potential threat next to their borders- and in a quite inconvenient position for their journeys towards the upper realms. He couldn¡¯t stop thinking about it. Was it cultivator intuition¡­ or just worry? And did it make a difference? Ultimately he didn¡¯t have any reason he should go. It was simply the case that he could. He didn¡¯t have the qualifications to spy or anything like that. Some of this he discussed with various people. Ultimately, he couldn¡¯t make a decision. Nobody was going to refuse him if he asked to join the diplomats dealing with Nidec, but they didn¡¯t ask him either. So he decided he would need to seek advice from the person who was always able to help him find the right answers, even if neither of them had the answers to begin with. It wasn¡¯t a short trip, but a few months to not make a huge mistake of some sort was worth it. ----- ¡°We¡¯re getting quite busy here, aren¡¯t we?¡± Anton said. ¡°Looking to pick up a disciple?¡± ¡°I-¡± Devon had barely even said ¡®hello¡¯ to his grandfather when the suggestion came up. ¡°Do you think I should?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you have a lot to teach,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though how much is applicable to others, that may be less clear. But I always think people should pick up disciples. You wanted to have an actual discussion, though.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a bit sensitive to speak about it long distance, and inconvenient. But something is drawing me towards Vrelt. I¡¯m worried about the place.¡± Anton crossed his arms and nodded. ¡°It is a bit¡­ complicated, to be certain. The desire for isolation isn¡¯t inherently unreasonable, of course. Take Doruma and Xicil, for example.¡± ¡°True,¡± Devon said. ¡°But I feel like even they have had more successful diplomatic exchanges.¡± Anton chuckled. ¡°I wrote messages on Xicil and looked for a response years apart. I¡¯ve heard little apart from ¡®please leave us alone thanks¡¯.¡± Devon shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t think Vrelt even said ¡®please¡¯.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s a serious problem,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Should have said please. But enough of that. What¡¯s your actual trouble?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m much of a diplomat,¡± Devon said. ¡°I did fine with a place that was already inclined to get along with us, where the other side was a proper professional. I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m actually of much use outside of war. So I was wondering if it was a good idea to continue trying.¡± ¡°You can always pick up new skills,¡± Anton said. ¡°That said, I prefer my own style of informal diplomacy. I could never stand the limitations of formality. Still, it¡¯s a little difficult to just go up to some place and ask what they¡¯re hiding. I have also changed my perfective on when snooping is acceptable.¡± ¡°And what do you mean by that?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Those same places are a good example. Doruma literally hid their system, cut off from everything else. And yet they were still kind enough to let me visit. Everyone on Xicil lives underground, though presumably they are out and about on the surface for work. When there aren¡¯t powerful strangers showing up to send people underground.¡± ¡°Alright¡­ and?¡± ¡°Ekict invited me to visit very particular places. I should have looked deeper, into their system and into their people. Vrelt reminds me of that, but without the pretext of friendliness.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying I should try to do something.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m saying someone should. Maybe it should be you. That depends on how effective you could actually be. Could you act the diplomat while looking for what it is they hide? Alternatively, could you find what you need from beyond the distance they would even know you are present?¡± Devon sighed, ¡°Neither of those.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Then I would let someone else do it or wait until you can,¡± Anton smiled and nodded. ¡°But I¡¯m often around here if you want to train your senses, at least. The diplomatic thing will require working with someone who knows what they are doing.¡± ¡°I suppose I shouldn¡¯t rush into anything,¡± Devon agreed. ¡°Adding some new skills to my arsenal might be desirable.¡± ¡°One warning,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can¡¯t properly teach you to pierce formations with your senses here. Given the complete and total lack of them on this planet.¡± ¡°It certainly is¡­ open,¡± Devon agreed. ¡°That¡¯s quite a variety of styles you have here. I¡¯d heard Ty was here but¡­ I hadn¡¯t expected him to be dealing with shin height individuals.¡± ¡°That one is Deep Purr. He¡¯s the local captain of the guard. As you can see they¡¯ve rigged him up a blade attached to his forearm. Not a preferable arrangement for humans, but for him it¡¯s quite valuable. They can¡¯t really hold a sword so an extendable weapon is quite useful. There are plans to make one that he can fold down, as currently it requires a long process of detaching and then sheathing the blade before storing it on his back to have one of that length.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Devon said. ¡°I would still call it a sword like that, though. I can see why Ty would train him. But then there¡¯s the other one.¡± A somewhat larger Half Oink was running around with great enthusiasm, swinging her tusks at Ty¡¯s shins. Every time she charged at him, his blade came down and drove her away, no matter what angle she came from. Anton shrugged, ¡°What better swords than natural ones? I¡¯ll have you know her tusks were much smaller when she first found her enthusiasm. Her focus on bone tempering allowed her to speed the growth of her tusks, and they¡¯re more developed than the males her age. And if you pay close enough attention¡­¡± Anton gestured, as sword and tusk clashed. ¡°It really is like having a pair of swords sticking out either side of her head. Of course, a large portion of Ty¡¯s expertise is wasted like this. Every sword form was made for a human. But an Assimilation cultivator isn¡¯t so easily stopped by such small matters. That sharp energy style¡­ extremely deadly in the right hands.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Devon nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯d be interested in having a student, but most of the individuals here don¡¯t seem like they would necessarily fit. Perhaps the larger warthogs.¡± ¡°What about Contented Grunt?¡± Anton pointed out the hippo, somewhat further away. ¡°Though she¡¯s working on a water style, there are a few other hippos in the coalition. And maybe lions eventually.¡± ¡°Lions?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Over that way, some handfuls of kilometers,¡± Anton pointed. ¡°They¡¯re not strong enough that most would register on your senses from this distance, I think.¡± ¡°Hmm, I might sense something in Spirit Building?¡± ¡°That¡¯s about right. There¡¯s stronger elsewhere on Akrys, however. We¡¯re just taking our time starting from here. On that note, someone could probably use a status update.¡± ----- The message took quite a while to resolve. It was a full video, after all, even if it was lacking some of the more luxury features. Like anything beyond visual and audio. Chikere didn¡¯t care about tastes and the like, but she was having to project her own assumptions about the lower energy involved onto the scene. But she was still inspired by the scene of a meerkat facing off against a warthog in a spar. If only she could see it herself. Or better yet, get Agom involved. Alas, she¡¯d already had to recruit Chidi to teach the pup. Actually, he was partially recruited through Aconite, but Chikere had also encouraged her former disciple to train the wolf. As for why he was her former disciple¡­ well, it wasn¡¯t an official thing. It was just that she couldn¡¯t teach him anything right now. Someone who wasn¡¯t a master couldn¡¯t really have a disciple, now could they? Beyond observing sword training, which almost made her want to do it herself, she was working on her own body. She had more or less healed her body as much as it was going to be able. It was no trouble to walk around, and moving normally didn¡¯t bother her. But any time she put in some effort even vaguely approaching what she would want in combat, things got rough. There had been another meeting with Engineer Uzun. It didn¡¯t matter if Catarina would pay for whatever needed to happen if he was unwilling to actually try anything. Chikere had toned back her requests, partially because of his earlier rejection¡­ but she also had grown to respect her own body more. ¡°If you just replace some muscles and tendons, I should be functional,¡± Chikere explained. ¡°But there¡¯s a thing there. And in this arm,¡± Chikere held up her fully artificial one. Ruteran technology was highly advanced, and it was actually able to recover the damage that it had taken with time and her upper energy. ¡°I just feel like it¡¯s missing something.¡± ¡°And what would that be?¡± Engineer Uzun had asked. ¡°Even this replacement arm is very nearly alive. But shouldn¡¯t it have¡­ blood?¡± ¡°Blood.¡± The word was a simple statement. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I said. Blood.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because~¡± Chikere drew out the word. ¡°It should.¡± ¡°And why is that?¡± ¡°Because blood is related to the flow of energy, along with meridians. And I¡¯m trying to have more blood but it¡¯s difficult with a whole limb without it,¡± Chikere explained. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ trying to have more blood.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why I said.¡± ¡°... Why?¡± ¡°Well I can¡¯t just use blood as a weapon if I¡¯m going to run out!¡± Chikere frowned. She probably wasn¡¯t supposed to say that part. ¡°We¡¯ll consider your request,¡± Engineer Uzun said, his face difficult to read. Then again, Chikere had never been any good at reading what anyone was going to do unless it involved imminent combat. Since that had been the end of that conversation, Chikere had left. Which left her in an odd position. It wasn¡¯t a direct rejection. Which might mean that he was actually going to think about it. Or it might mean that he wasn¡¯t going to actually consider anything Chikere asked for. Maybe if she passed some sort of secret test, but she obviously didn¡¯t know what that test was. So she could only continue doing what she was doing. Which was of course trying to make herself have more blood. Her initial attempt had been very unpleasant, and ultimately she didn¡¯t want to vastly change the volume of her body¡­ but she knew that many things were possible with cultivation. And she had access to a huge library of techniques. She honestly hadn¡¯t imagined that there might be so many about not-swords. And honestly, she generally preferred to learn through more practical means even in the area of swords. But she had a lot of time to read since moving always felt bad. And she was slowly coming up with better ideas for how a good technique that didn¡¯t make her feel sick might actually work. Chapter 787 If asked to state the specific time he advanced, Hoyt wouldn¡¯t be able to. He was flying around in a ternary system, weaving in and out among the stars. He got into a nice rhythm, basking in the heat of the stars as he acted as fire himself. So there he was, simply on one side of the Augmentation divide, and later on the other. It wasn¡¯t as if he didn¡¯t feel a significant change- he just hadn¡¯t been focusing on that aspect of himself when it happened. He felt good. Powerful. Not that he was planning to go out and challenge cultivators from the great powers to a duel or anything. He was well aware that Augmentation had a wide range of power within it, and regardless of his own estimations of his power he knew that their previous successes had been based on good tactics. The Scarlet Alliance had only gotten into direct confrontations when it suited them, until finally they had been able to tip the balance sufficiently. They had actually been lucky that the Harmonious Citadel launched a full scale attack on Xankeshan, because even without as much time to prepare as they would have liked the defensive formations were a huge factor on the battle. And they should have been, because there was a great expense spent repairing and advancing the formations. Now, they were working on expanding their influence to allow them to have a tighter hold on other systems. Because letting enemy fleets infiltrate all the way to your core system was not a sustainable method. Still. Augmentation. Hoyt wished he could show Anton or others in the lower realms, but at least there were many he could work with in the upper realms. He was quite interested in sparring with Tauno- though he expected to lose, he could at least get an accurate reading of his power. Catarina was another matter, because if they fought directly without formations it wouldn¡¯t matter how many years ahead she had advanced. But asking her to fight without formations was the same as asking himself to fight without a weapon. Or potentially even fire. It was part of her, but it made comparisons tricky. Hoyt hadn¡¯t yet ceased his movements, dancing around the stars. Instead, he continued to bask in their power. It didn¡¯t do as much for him as Anton, of course, but he still felt a small portion of their strength. It was just much less direct, more of a matter of insight and methods than actual sharing power. His advancement not too far behind Catarina said good things for their people from the lower realms. There was no guarantee they would all advance to Augmentation, but they had several centuries which should be plenty of time to be certain. Every one of them that did would be a critical component in future conflicts. ----- Devon was very much focused on close combat, and while the definition of that was greatly stretched as he grew in power, dealing with his grandfather who could attack him from further away than Devon could sense was more than an order of magnitude outside of where he or most cultivators acted. Even in the empty void of space with nothing to inhibit his senses or distract him, Devon could find himself facing incoming arrows with only a small fraction of a second to react. He could block or deflect them with his chains, even when they came in great quantities, but sitting and taking attacks was not a winning strategy. If he couldn¡¯t even counterattack there was little he could do¡­ and he couldn¡¯t just assume Anton was in the direction the attacks came from. As long as they came from outside his sensory range, they could originate anywhere. Thus it was that the last few hours had involved him going in every direction, trying to find Anton. He knew this was a training exercise for his senses, but it wasn¡¯t limited to simply that. He believed Anton when he said he would not change his personal speed or trajectory except to stay within the agreed upon range, but there was some aspect of Devon moving himself in an unexpected way that might allow him to gain a greater sense of the actual trajectory of attacks. But he doubted he was going to be successful today. And despite them not being in a system with Anton¡¯s star, Anton had quite a bit more stamina than Devon. Especially since he didn¡¯t have to expend energy on movement, and his senses were refined to be more efficient. Eventually, Devon signaled that he was done¡­ and he waited for Anton to approach. Unfortunately the direction Anton came from was not one Devon would have guessed, which either meant he was much further off the mark than he expected, or that Anton could circle around to such a position in a short time. The worst part is that Anton was barely even hiding his energy. It wasn¡¯t stealth in the normal manner, but rather accomplished through sheer distance. ¡°How long will it take to learn this?¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°Who knows?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°A few years, a decade, a century¡­? But no matter how long it takes, I am certain you can learn enough.¡± ¡°A century might be a bit¡­ slow,¡± Devon admitted. Anton shrugged, ¡°That¡¯s up to you, ultimately. I¡¯ll do my best to help you learn, but I can¡¯t guarantee speed all on my own.¡± ¡°It¡¯s pretty unbelievable,¡± Devon said. ¡°The fact that we can spend so much time on these things, I mean. Our lives before didn¡¯t seem short, but we could not have focused for so long on something so¡­ specific.¡± ¡°Well, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to widen your areas of growth,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But I can¡¯t instruct you on everything, so you¡¯ll have to learn from yourself¡­ or from anyone you teach.¡± ¡°Again with that,¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not particularly against it, but would it really help my growth? I¡¯ve taught people before, after all.¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°But only the broader things of cultivation. Which can be beneficial still, but your particular path might provide more insight. But perhaps my particular path benefits from such more.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°I know you don¡¯t use the same metrics as others to pick your students but¡­ meerkats?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I happened upon them at just the right time. And besides, those who are the weakest need the most help.¡± ----- On Xankeshan, Aconite watched her sister train with her best friend. That wouldn¡¯t have been odd, except for the particulars involved. One was a human, and the other a wolf. That was the same with Chidi and herself, but they fought as allies with different styles. Here, Agom was using a sword along with Chidi. It was just¡­ handled somewhat differently. After her initial fascination with the weapon, the cub had swiftly learned what the hilt was for. Holding the sharp part away from her was good. While she sometimes experimented with holding the sword directly in front of her, the hilt clenched lengthwise in her jaws, it was not optimal even with the modifications Chidi was making to the grip. The small wolf was charging back and forth, swinging the blade at Chidi¡¯s legs. Instead of parrying with his weapon, he simply stepped over her swings or made swift steps back. Agom didn¡¯t seem to notice how easy it was for her to be avoided, simply enjoying the rush of ¡®combat¡¯. Then Chidi finally acted on his own end, his sword cutting Agom in half. Or at least, it could have. Instead, it simply cut a thin line through the outer fur all along her head and down her back to her tail. To her credit, the wolf pup dodged- but not until after the attack was complete. *Clatter clack* came the sounds of the hilt in the wolf pup¡¯s mouth as she tried to speak with her mouth full. Then she tilted her head and stabbed the point of the weapon into the ground at an angle, so she could properly bark and grow. ¡°Not fair. You said you would use little power.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I did. This is all the power of a Body Tempering cultivator.¡± ¡°How do you see my attacks coming?¡± the wolf sniffed around his legs. ¡°You can¡¯t even see.¡± ¡°I feel the flow of energy and anticipate it,¡± Chidi said, not taking offense at her words. It was simply a truth of the world that he couldn¡¯t see, and the young wolf had little metric for politeness. ¡°If you focused more on it, you would have better anticipated how I was going to retreat¡­ and counterattack.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t hit if you lift your legs¡­¡± Agom grumbled. ¡°Then swing higher. I already taught you how to shift your grip to slash at upward angles,¡± Chidi demonstrated, his fingers holding the grip of his sword in a rough approximation of fangs. ¡°It¡¯s slippery.¡± ¡°We can work on that,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But it has to have some freedom to move or you¡¯ll break your teeth.¡± ¡°Small teeth useless anyway,¡± Agom said. ¡°They¡¯re the only ones you have,¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°You must take care of them.¡± The training session over, Chidi made his way to Aconite. ¡°Interested in learning?¡± ¡°No thanks,¡± Aconite shook her head. ¡°I like my teeth as they are. Besides they¡¯re¡­ more functional,¡± she said after confirming her little sibling was out of earshot. ¡°I don¡¯t need to learn the blade, and I wouldn¡¯t look as cute doing it.¡± Chidi shrugged, ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. You ended up something like a normal size, despite all those toxins you put into yourself. And Agom is¡­ like that. She¡¯ll probably continue to grow larger, but her teeth aren¡¯t ever going to be potent weapons.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe your master told you to instruct Agom how to use a sword. Weapons like that don¡¯t even make sense for wolves.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s true. Chikere¡¯s an odd one, but since Agom was so instantly drawn to it¡­¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°Your other weapons aren¡¯t swordlike enough to help her, so this was an opportunity.¡± In general, the wolves relied on their natural fangs and claws, plus upper energy and whatever techniques they developed. But some augmented their claws and fangs with facsimiles of the same. It had been assumed that Agom with her underdeveloped teeth would eventually do the same, but instead she was attempting to use the sword. And as far as such things went, she wasn¡¯t terrible. At the very least, her effort was making up for physical limitations. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s actually helping?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°The simple concept of something cute using a sword¡­ doesn¡¯t seem like it should overcome something so severe.¡± ¡°Certainly not on its own,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°But as part of something greater, it doesn¡¯t seem like it is hurting. And this is the one area she still shows her old interest in swords. If she truly hated them with all her heart, I think her time as a cultivator would be over¡­ but as things are now there¡¯s still a chance. Our alliance could use her power, and I would like her to be happy again. Hopefully, this can lead to both.¡± ¡°Hopefully,¡± Aconite agreed. ¡°Now then, help me work on making better grips,¡± Chidi said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of Agom. ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out whether to discourage her¡­ grip changing tendencies¡­ or to encourage a variable hold. And my jaws are entirely the wrong shape. I know your teeth are longer but it¡¯s still something to compare to.¡± ¡°Very well. Though I am somewhat concerned about her social standing.¡± ¡°For using a human weapon?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°I would say your style is far stranger and you¡­ did fine.¡± ¡°I got along with my siblings as much as I desired,¡± Aconite agreed. ¡°But I have few friends beyond you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not much different for me,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°It¡¯s not necessarily a problem but¡­ you think it will be an issue for her?¡± ¡°She¡¯s so friendly,¡± Aconite said. ¡°It would be a shame for her to change for the worse.¡± ¡°You could be her friend,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I¡¯m her sister. And like a hundred years older.¡± ¡°Better than her sword master who is similarly older,¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°And as far as I know siblings are allowed to be friends. But I won¡¯t stop you from trying to bolster her social life¡­ if you¡¯re careful.¡± ¡°I will be. I don¡¯t intend to push her away from what she really wants. I¡¯m just¡­ concerned.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°Sounds good. Almost makes me wish I had siblings of my own.¡± Chapter 788 Things had finally settled down enough on the western border that Velvet felt safe beginning her own infiltration efforts. At least, as safe as such a thing could be. Going into a region where everyone was enemies, even if they weren¡¯t actively at war, was always a risk. Velvet made certain she had some alternatives to capture, just in case. A long term infiltration mission meant she couldn¡¯t simply slip around unnoticed. It was impossible to stay concealed for months or years. But there were better options. She just had to look like she belonged. The success rate of such a thing depended on the particular training of those in the Exalted Quadrant, and of course her own abilities. Her intended disguise was as a member of the Citadel of Exalted Light. A close fiction would be more effective than a vast difference in her aura. The One Hundred Stars had the potential to make use of light, and her own training had resulted in some proficiency in that area. Of course, she would be missing specific techniques to fit in, but that would only be relevant if she displayed her fighting ability. At that point, it would likely be too late. Even if the Exalted Quadrant didn¡¯t work as a coordinated whole at all times, they could at least be incentivized to hunt her down if they thought she was worth it. Like what happened with Chikere¡­ though the swordmaster had gotten quite a bit further into their territory without issues than expected. Then again, that could have been a trap. Ultimately, Velvet found the risks acceptable. She wasn¡¯t intending to delve deep into the hearts of sects. It was far too early for such a thing. No, she just wanted to determine the overall movements of the Exalted Quadrant. Especially with relation to the Scarlet Midfields, because while they were certainly enemies¡­ how soon they would act on such a thing was a mystery. Were plans already in motion? Would it be decades? Centuries? Or was the damage caused so minor that they barely even registered their existence? The last one seemed unlikely, given they¡¯d killed an Augmentation cultivator and messed up a long term infiltration of the Harmonious Citadel¡­ but it was hard to say how many millennia long plots such a juggernaut would have. She would take her time, traveling via their normal routes on their ships to arouse the least suspicion about someone appearing from nowhere. All she had to do was pass a few border worlds that might be more suspicious. She¡¯d done the same in the Trigold Cluster, and while they certainly didn¡¯t operate in the same manner overall humans kept to the same tendencies, and there were various ways to exploit their lapses in attention. ----- The passage of several springs resulted in the significant expansion of the Lower Plains Coalition¡¯s territory. Their numbers more than doubled, not merely because of births but also more individuals joining from surrounding groups. They maintained the same core, with meerkats, warthogs, eagles, and a small number of hippopotamus. Along with growth in numbers, the strongest individuals among them also reached greater heights that most of them hadn¡¯t witnessed. From Anton¡¯s perspective they were still barely beginning their cultivation journey¡­ but they slowly began to step into the Spirit Building stage. Even the best among them seemed a bit slow to advance- but there were various factors at play that might result in that. First was that the translation of human cultivation techniques to work for them was imperfect. Likewise, the natural energy in the area wasn¡¯t lacking, but it was far behind the developed levels of Ceretos and their allies. Finally, they were also basically the first generation of cultivators. While there had been some amount of energy ingested by previous generations of meerkats and the like, active participation in cultivation was basically brand new. Especially for the meerkats, who weren¡¯t able to out-compete stronger animals to obtain that growth. It wasn¡¯t much of a surprise to Anton that Three Squeaks had been the first to reach Spirit Building. He was rather partial to his disciple after all. He both consciously and unconsciously spent more time training Three Squeaks, so surpassing Deep Purr wasn¡¯t that odd, even with the other meerkat now learning from Ty. If he¡¯d been betting on the second place, it would have probably been Contented Grunt. The hippo was simply capable of obtaining more resources on her own, and she had the initiative. Echoing Cry would have been high on the list as well. And again, Deep Purr wasn¡¯t a poor choice with a proper instructor focused on him. Forceful Snort was a tough warthog as well, so he could have been the next choice. Even the meerkat Sustained Chittering worked hard. So it was a bit of a surprise when Meep showed up with his cultivation at the eleventh star. The old Meerkat didn¡¯t even make mention of it, simply coming up out of the burrow to tell Anton about how well some roots were growing. Anton was glad he¡¯d been giving lectures on Spirit Building, because the writing system was still being developed. They¡¯d taken to the idea of writing rather quickly, as they understood the value of passing knowledge between people when one wasn¡¯t around. Anton was willing to teach the human methods of writing, but that was tied to their own languages so it was a slower process for most. Only Three Squeaks and Echoing Cry really devoted themselves to that. On the matter of Echoing Cry¡­ he was still at the peak of Body Tempering, but not from lack of effort. Instead, he¡¯d been making sure to perfect his body as much as possible, knowing that he would have little opportunity to enhance it for the first half of Spirit Building. It was more energy intensive to go off of the predetermined course to correct flaws in the body, and the modified Soaring Air Sect¡¯s cultivation method paralleled the One Hundred Stars in that regard. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. The last years had not been exactly peaceful, but there were no major threats to the coalition. Anton couldn¡¯t be certain about the next ones, however, given their expanding territory. Beasts lacking sapience couldn¡¯t stand against the coordination and focused cultivation of the coalition, but they were soon approaching possible conflict points with the Upper Plains Pride and even the Kapok Coalition. Just because the second group of lions had been friendly when they were far away didn¡¯t mean they would accept others intruding into their territory. That was why the coalition was focused on expansions in other directions, more south and east using a river to their west as a natural boundary- for the most part. The hippos did tend to count the west side of the river as their territory, but not far from it. If they continued expanding at the same rate to the east and around the kapok coalition, they could transition from the plains closer to jungle territory. That would be another points of difficulty, even if they avoided conflicts with other sapients up to that point. Meanwhile, Anton knew that the Great Queen¡¯s efforts with the insects of that same are were going well. Anton might be called upon to help with other sapients soon- the Great Queen couldn¡¯t vocalize, and they might not be patient enough to realize her signs were intentional. Beyond that, Anton also knew that the Great Queen was in the midst of properly establishing the first colony of void ants. She couldn¡¯t be everywhere at once, of course, so having subordinates who could assist her would be useful. Though most of them would likely linger below the higher level of sapience at the current natural energy levels of the planet, it was simple enough for her to raise a few officers to act in a manner she wished. ----- Just because Anton was located on Aipra most of the time didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t keeping track of other places. He got regular reports from Varghese and the people of Poriza. Their systems were close enough to support each other, though except for a small number of ships from the outside travel was slow even over a small number of lightyears. Then again, despite it being smaller on the galactic scale, simply being able to cover multiple lightyears in a matter of weeks or months was a significant accomplishment. Less regular, but all the more precious for it, were reports from Aipra. The planet locked in subspace had been quite successful with their restructuring. Which is to say, several seemingly small advancements in efficiency had freed up enough of their workforce to help them develop larger improvements. Digging through the ground that was mostly permafrost was tough business, but it allowed them more space where they could trap precious heat. Likewise, the growth of a small number of plants introduced that could thrive in the harsh conditions were helping develop the natural energy of the planet so that all could be somewhat stronger. It was unlikely that Aipra would ever be a pleasant place to live. The semi-regular distortion beast attacks were one of the larger reasons that would be impossible¡­ but they had various defenders to deal with those crises. They had survived as they were for centuries, so they should continue to last longer. ----- Watching the awkward Agom train with the blade, Chikere often wanted to call out to her. To tell her that was not how she was supposed to do something. But that was not her job. She was not a swordmaster, so what qualifications did she have? Besides, Chidi was taking on that job just fine. The young man- she was still multiple times his age so he was young despite living more than a century- provided different instruction than she might have to the wolf. When she made a clumsy swing, he would ask, ¡°Did that feel right?¡± Chikere hadn¡¯t always been direct in her criticisms. She understood the value of a student realizing mistakes. But Chidi¡¯s questions were genuine. Agom was unable to replicate human swordsmanship¡­ so her feedback on whether something was good or not was important. And getting things wrong was just one step in the process of being right. Even so, Chikere¡¯s long training and instincts told her certain moves were incorrect. It was, in a way, like watching the Limitless Edge Sect. Thinking about that was highly uncomfortable. Experienced combatants that acted like amateurs, even to the point of death. And yet¡­ that woman had fought in a similar manner. It made her nearly impossible to predict and some of the moves might even have been¡­ better. Though they certainly didn¡¯t feel like they should have been. It wasn¡¯t simply a matter of style. Chikere studied the styles of every enemy she came across, taking the best of what they had to integrate into her own abilities. That was normal and natural. But what the Limitless Edge did was different. They didn¡¯t just have alternate styles, but instead eschewed the very fundamentals of swordsmanship. Perhaps that was what made Chikere feel so wrong about it. But that also brought to her mind a question. Were the agreed upon fundamentals truly perfect? Certainly, they were widespread throughout the upper and lower realms¡­ but ultimately, she had done very little questioning of those same fundamentals. She had seen they worked, and so that had been it. Still, no matter how much her style should have worked¡­ it didn¡¯t. She completely failed to defeat the Limitless Edge. She didn¡¯t know what there was to learn from their actions that so completely went against her instincts. Maybe that was why she was broken. Or rather, it might have been one of the things that caused her to be broken. One of the other things had been a lack of cute things holding swords, but that damage was rapidly being repaired. The meerkat. Agom, right in front of her. Even that little warthog had four swords, even thought they might look to uneducated people like they were tusks. Yes, all of those were good things. As for everything else¡­ Chikere didn¡¯t know if she could ever wield a sword again, but if she did it would be different somehow. It was just that she failed to comprehend how every time she thought about it. Chapter 789 It was obvious to Anton that Devon was becoming frustrated with his lack of progress with regards to perception. It wasn¡¯t that he actually lacked progress, but he would have difficulty observing a planet from any significant distance. It wasn¡¯t a trivial thing, but multiple years of training made it clear reaching a sufficient effectiveness would take a very long time. A single decade wouldn¡¯t be too much from Devon¡¯s perspective, though that was more than sufficient for some to reach Essence Collection from early Body Tempering. However, it could be even longer than that. It wasn¡¯t just a lack of affinity for perception, but a disconnect between primary cultivation methods. Anton followed the One Hundred Stars, while Devon had his own method that had at most been shaped by outside guidance. The whole situation was a puzzle that Anton intended to work out. Devon was family as well as his student in this instance, and he wanted him to be successful. Letting things fail halfway was unacceptable. It came down in large part to his personality. Devon had never been much of a hunter, and his life had been vastly influenced when he was captured into slavery. That shaped him forever, his suffering at first defining him for better or for worse. He still carried his chains, but he would no longer let himself be bound. Ultimately, Anton didn¡¯t intend to attempt anything complicated. The only people he¡¯d worked on extreme range perception with were archers, but Devon certainly wasn¡¯t one of those. Attempting to make him think the same way was most likely a waste of effort, and could cause serious harm if forced. Cultivators naturally shifted into what worked for them- or found themselves at a dead end. As with everything else, communication was key. Anton knew that Devon had difficulties advancing further with the current methods, but the exact details were unknown. So he could spend another year observing him¡­ or he could simply ask. ¡°Devon,¡± Anton spoke to him after the daily training with the coalition, ¡°What were your perception methods like before we started training?¡± ¡°You saw it,¡± Devon said. ¡°Normal stuff, more or less.¡± ¡°I would prefer detail, if you could manage it,¡± Anton said. ¡°What was normal for you?¡± Devon shrugged, ¡°At a base, listening for people with my ears and watching out with my eyes.¡± ¡°And beyond the range of normal senses?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I would just sense their energy,¡± Devon explained. ¡°Anyone powerful enough you can just naturally feel from afar.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Of course. But what about ambush situations? I am certain you had to deal with plenty of those. How did you sense your opponents?¡± ¡°Well, it was mostly Instinct,¡± Devon said. ¡°I can¡¯t really say how it worked. I must have picked up on little things. And in the midst of combat, I protected myself with my chains so people couldn¡¯t really sneak up.¡± That might be it. ¡°Could you elaborate on that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Protecting yourself with your chains. Obviously you couldn¡¯t fill the entire area between yourself and any hidden opponents.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s partially about picking the right angles,¡± Devon said. ¡°Head to chest is quite vulnerable, and random chain movements midway down mean that people have to sneakily dance through a field of danger. It doesn¡¯t tend to work out for them.¡± ¡°How did that fare against illusions?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Quite well, actually,¡± Devon said. ¡°At least when they could only fool senses they knew I had. The feedback from my chains is a bit more than some people expected. Sometimes they made it more obvious. Like, if they bumped into my chain I would simultaneously get the sensation of my chain moving overridden with the sensation of its aura remaining in place. There were some more dangerous opponents, but if I could focus on just one it¡¯s easy enough to fend them off.¡± Devon paused, ¡°I assume there is a purpose to this? It wouldn¡¯t be just conversation or you¡¯d have asked about something else.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I was hoping to gain some insight into how you worked. Unfortunately, it¡¯s difficult to subtly rub your chains over a planet, I would imagine.¡± Devon laughed, ¡°I might be able to conceal myself through the benefit of distance, but I don¡¯t think my chains will ever be particularly subtle. And distracting people with some won¡¯t really help, since my presence would be revealed already.¡± ¡°That does seem like a problem,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I do have an idea though. I want to practice something with you but¡­ not here. I would rather not disturb the entire population of Akrys.¡± ----- Ty sensed Anton and Devon leaving, flying away into the sky. Then he looked back down at his apprentice. Specifically Half Oink, since Deep Purr was busy with actual duties at the moment. The warthog was much larger than she had once been, and that was especially true of her tusks. A combination of age, her genetics, and intentional body cultivation meant her tusks hung out of the sides of her head a good twenty centimeters on each side. Not the length of a full sword, but it was on both sides¡­ and there were two pairs of tusks, one nearly horizontal and one curving vertically. Though their exact orientations shifted if she lowered her head to charge. ¡°What do you think that is about, Half?¡± he gestured to the two flying off. The pig made some squealing and oinking sounds that were even less clear than what Ty was producing. He could half replicate meerkat sounds or warthog sounds, but Anton¡¯s method of learning the language had been more effective than him. But he still understood enough under most circumstances. ¡°You do realize that I can¡¯t understand you with a sword in your mouth, right?¡± Ty said. ¡°And it¡¯s completely unnecessary.¡± Half Oink tilted her head, dropping the sword point first into the ground. ¡°But Agom-¡± ¡°Has her own reasons she has to use a metal blade,¡± Ty shook his head. ¡°She has no swords of her own, while yours are perfectly usable.¡± He was beginning to regret showing his disciples the trainee in the upper realms, but then again the simple images were encouraging for them. Knowing that there were others doing the same motivated them. There was a lot more happening upon Akry besides just sword training or cultivation in general, but none of that was Ty¡¯s responsibility. ¡°Anyway, if you want a constructed weapon I think you need to come up with a design that fits you. Holding a sword in your mouth just distracts your natural weapons.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Hmmmnnn¡­¡± Half Oink pranced about in a circle, thinking. ¡°I can¡¯t think of anything.¡± ¡°Inventions take longer than that,¡± Ty said. ¡°And also, you don¡¯t need it. You¡¯re doing well on your own. Speaking of which, let¡¯s test your latest training method.¡± This was the part where Ty was allowed to speak the one language he knew the best. Sword against sword was simple and easy to understand. Ty had a wide definition of what counted as a sword, but the point still stood. Tusks and certain projectiles and the wings of his ship could all cut like a blade, so they all counted. Ty didn¡¯t know when, but fighting was going to be important in the future¡­ so continuing to train was the best thing he could do. ----- ¡°So if I understand you,¡± Devon said. ¡°We¡¯re playing hide and seek.¡± ¡°I suppose you could call it that,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it¡¯s timed. I need you to find me fast enough.¡± ¡°That should be pretty simple, I think.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you have this entire planet to search.¡± The system had more than just the planet with the sapient beasts, though the rest seemed uninteresting currently. This particular one was basically just a small rocky planet with no life. ¡°You¡¯re to keep your senses contained, and then I will hide myself. Give me ten minutes, since this place has no atmosphere to speak of.¡± Devon nodded, shutting his senses inward. He supposed that he might actually want to try to pick up traces of Anton as he moved, but since it was specifically forbidden he didn¡¯t think that would be beneficial to the training exercise. Once he determined sufficient time passed, he opened his senses once more. Obviously he couldn¡¯t sense Anton. Which meant the only thing to do was begin searching. He spread his senses out as wide as he could and began to fly around the planet. He was glad it was somewhat smaller and lacking an atmosphere, because he wasn¡¯t as good at flying as his grandfather. He was quite mobile near the ground, however, as he could use his chains to push off of surrounding surfaces. Devon was prepared to systematically search the planet, sweeping around it in curves until¡­ he came across Anton. Just standing there, out in the open. ¡°You know,¡± Devon said. ¡°I thought this was supposed to be a challenge. I don¡¯t know if it counts if you¡¯re just standing out in the open on the exact opposite side of the planet.¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I mean, I did find you. And I know this isn¡¯t some illusion.¡± He poked Anton with a chain- there were often spikes growing out of his power, but this one was just the rounded end. ¡°You make it sound like you think you passed,¡± Anton said. ¡°I told you it was timed. It took you twenty minutes since you started moving. That¡¯s too slow.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s how long it took me to fly here,¡± Devon complained. ¡°You could have gone faster,¡± Anton said. ¡°Not while sensing a wider area,¡± Devon pointed out. ¡°But I guess¡­ that¡¯s what this training is?¡± ¡°Is it?¡± Anton tilted his head. ¡°It might be.¡± Devon sighed, ¡°I prefer you when you¡¯re not being mysterious.¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Sorry. But this is actually about you discovering what works best for you. Any method you can find me quickly is what we want. And I have my own methods to do that, but it¡¯s not necessarily going to work for you.¡± ¡°Fine. We try again, right?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Absolutely.¡± The second time, Devon sped for the opposite side of the rocky planet, but Anton wasn¡¯t there. Of course not. It took him another rotation to find Anton¡­ just out of reach of his senses along that same path. ¡°This is both extremely informative and annoying,¡± Devon said. ¡°What if I had stretched my senses further in this direction?¡± ¡°Do you do that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Sometimes,¡± Devon said sheepishly. ¡°I¡¯m not as good at it as you. I¡¯d probably miss you. Though that does give me an idea.¡± The third time, Devon swept his senses over the surface of the planet as far as he could stretch them. He flew about, sweeping around himself in a circle. His third attempt was the slowest yet, as he only found Anton after several hours¡­ floating about a hundred meters off the ground. He didn¡¯t expect his grandfather to keep to the same method of ¡®hiding¡¯, but how did he always anticipate what Devon was going to use? ¡°... You haven¡¯t moved after we started have you?¡± ¡°We¡¯re not at that stage yet,¡± Anton replied. That was both annoying and a relief. ¡°You¡¯ll tell me?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I can use any method to find you?¡± ¡°... Short of destroying the planet, yes,¡± Anton said. Devon shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not that easy to do something like that.¡± Though maybe he could? He certainly couldn¡¯t punch it apart, but it was small enough he might be able to wrap his chains around a good portion of it and¡­ squeeze? But there was no point to that, and in most circumstances he would just scar the landscape, such as it was. His times finally went down again over the next few tries, as he tried not to do anything that could obviously miss an area. He had to have a wide enough angle of perception that he could find Anton in the air or on the ground, while reaching far enough to cover area quickly. Then he finally did it. Just after beginning one of the ground- partly due to luck, partly due to noticing small signs of movement along the way, Devon found Anton after five minutes. ¡°I did it,¡± he said. ¡°That has to be good enough, right? Five minutes? You¡¯re not going to just say I was lucky, right?¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°No, you certainly found me properly. But it¡¯s a little slower than I wanted.¡± ¡°Fine. How fast do you want me to find you?¡± Devon said. ¡°Four minutes? Three?¡± ¡°I was thinking it would be more appropriate for it to be¡­ five seconds or less.¡± ¡°I-¡± Devon held his head in his hands. ¡°You¡¯re serious?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not hiding my aura,¡± Anton said. ¡°And with the lack of atmosphere and distractions, plus the relatively smaller size of the planet¡­ I think it¡¯s quite reasonable for an Assimilation cultivator.¡± ¡°If we¡¯re comparing to you in cultivation? Sure,¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°But that¡¯s basically asking me to cover the whole planet at once.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d at least like to see something more.¡± Devon nodded. He¡¯d already learned some of the lessons he was having tested now, but there was something Anton was going for. Or maybe not. Anton certainly believed that some personal inspiration was required, but if he had an actual method he would most likely just tell Devon. He was an excellent instructor, able to explain complex cultivation topics while letting people reach their own insights so it stuck. So maybe that was what this was. Was there something specific he was supposed to realize, or did his grandfather just believe he¡¯d come up with something? Either way, he didn¡¯t want to disappoint him. They took a break, and Devon tried to think of what he might do. But aside from what Anton had been teaching him about cultivation, he mostly knew combat techniques he¡¯d developed to make use of his chains. He could flail them around to try to hit Anton, but they wouldn¡¯t reach all that far. And the further they went the harder it was to control them. Certainly, he doubted he could sweep the whole planet with them. And in just five seconds? Maybe that was the ambitious goal, but a few minutes was still impossible as well. Devon sat in meditation, pondering what he could actually manage. Chapter 790 At the current moment, Devon was completely ignoring speed. What he needed was some way to observe more of the small planet at once. He could stretch his senses perhaps a quarter of the way around, which meant no matter where he was he left about half of the small planet uninspected. To get anywhere close to Anton¡¯s intended speed, he needed much more. That was all without considering that just because he had a single thin line of sensory energy stretching somewhere didn¡¯t mean he actually covered half the planet. Instead, it was more of a very gradual process that would cover the area without Devon moving. With no other ideas, Devon flew along at a steady pace. If he couldn¡¯t stretch his senses away from him, perhaps he could leave a trail? He didn¡¯t think it should matter whether he was stationary or moving, but he was out of other ideas. He managed a half loop before his energy snapped. It was too weak¡­ and not good for much, even sensing. The thin tendrils of energy simply didn¡¯t hold up. But Devon wasn¡¯t going to be deterred with just one or two or ten or a hundred attempts. At this point, he wasn¡¯t even looking for Anton. He was just trying to make something happen, with the goal of working out from there. Wanting to make his energy more durable, he expanded the size like a growing vine. It lasted a bit further, but ultimately he couldn¡¯t hold onto it enough to complete a single rotation of the training area. He tried again and again, until the point he began to tire. He zoned out, not quite concentrating on what he was doing. Normally that should have led to an earlier failure, but he was quite surprised when he completed a full rotation and came upon his own energy. The shape was a surprise as well, though it shouldn¡¯t have been. Chains were natural to him now. Solidity combined with flexibility. Not too complex, but it also saved on energy compared to a tube of similar width. And more important than all of that, it fit him. Focusing his energy, Devon could feel a small area around the chain. He would likely need hundreds or perhaps thousands to survey the entire planet at once¡­ but it was progress in what had seemed a hopeless endeavor. Next he began to attempt other things that seemed natural to him. Forming a chain behind him might be useful in rare circumstances, but it was much better if it extended away from him. Unlike an actual chain, he had no issues with pushing it away from him as it grew. Letting his other energy fade, half an hour later he completed a thin chain, smaller around than his finger, stretching from himself in both directions around the small planet. It wouldn¡¯t be any good as an attack, and he could still only sense a small distance from it¡­ but it was faster. And more importantly, it had greater reach. Before attempting anything more, Devon messaged Anton to inform him he would be taking a proper break. He didn¡¯t have anything in him to actually find his grandfather. Not in any reasonable period of time. After a few hours rest, however, they began again. No doubt Anton was watching everything Devon did, but he hadn¡¯t commented when they met up. Whether that was a sign of approval or not was unclear. ----- Two chains connected into each other from Devon¡¯s outstretched arms. Then he brought them together, linking them in front of him to make them fully a single entity. The difficult part was doing so in a perpendicular direction while holding the first. He¡¯d tried a dozen times, but now he finally felt confident he might actually complete it. Soon enough he had the planet divided into quarters¡­ and he was glad he had followed his instincts. Something about the zones between the chains drew his senses towards the others. The range was greater, though nowhere near close to spanning all of the planet. Along with that, Devon found he sensed deeper into the planet- though earth and solid stone still greatly diminished the distance. Devon didn¡¯t know how he¡¯d gotten it into his head that he had to survey the entire planet at once, but something told him that he was making progress in the right direction. Creating a third chain was difficult, and a fourth shattered his concentration before even an eighth of a rotation in either direction. But as he grew more practiced in the budding technique, he began to see where it might lead. Narrowing his focus, he created a sphere of chains around himself, criss-crossing over each other. There were dozens of them, but they only hovered around a kilometer away from him. He could see further than that, and even just expanding his senses normally he could take in the whole area. But something was different when he did it that way. He could focus on any spot in much greater detail, and the shift was rapid. As he slowly worked to expand it, he determined that the number of chains required was fairly limited. Four divided the planet into eight slices. Perpendicular to that a single slice doubled it to sixteen. Crossing more and more, he determined that five more chains completing crossing sections for a total of nine would cut it into forty-eight triangular regions of equal size. Nine. He had a goal. He couldn¡¯t guarantee that he would be able to sense everything between them, but the strange crossing pattern wouldn¡¯t leave his head. And in general, that was a good thing in cultivation. Focus provided results. ----- Anton left Devon to meditate. It was unclear if he would be in his state for a day or a month, but either way Anton could find something to do. He would keep watch on him, though there shouldn¡¯t be anything around to harm him. He wasn¡¯t quite certain what his grandson was planning, but at the very least it would suit him more. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Chains snaked out from him, slowly growing until they crumbled due to lack of energy and focus. Then Devon would rest, drawing in the surrounding natural energy, and begin again. Each time, he became more proficient in his technique. The increased proficiency was obvious, but the full picture didn¡¯t make sense to Anton at first. Devon soon succeeded in four chains that made the small planet seem like an orange. They could be snapped with the slightest force, thin and tenuous¡­ but they were there. And more subtle than one would assume, for something spanning such a distance. It appeared Devon was not finished when he achieved that goal, however, as the chains began to branch out, covering the planet in a three dimensional mesh. Though it was quite a different technique, it reminded Anton of the Star Catching Net he had developed with Everheart. That one was meant to be flat to cover the most cross sectional area possible, stopping things passing through, and it was more solid as it needed to resist their motion. For that, it was much smaller- a hundred kilometers on a side would only cover the tiniest of moons, many orders of magnitude smaller than this. Anton knew that Devon could sense somewhat from his chains, but he didn¡¯t quite know what this technique would do in that regard. He would have to find out in a practical manner. Soon enough, Devon indicated he was ready. ¡°I want to try,¡± he said. Anton nodded. ¡°Very well.¡± When Devon isolated his senses, Anton took off. He picked a random point on the planet, not too close to Devon as that would certainly be close to his chains no matter what angle he projected them. Then he waited. For a sensing technique, it was rather slow. It was so far not as good as Devon rushing towards him and getting a little lucky. However, after a handful of minutes Devon¡¯s net was complete¡­ and then his energy twisted, pointing to Anton¡¯s location. Anton wasn¡¯t at the furthest point, but it seemed to cover a wide area. ¡°Exactly how good is that?¡± Anton asked as he met back up with Devon. ¡°I¡¯m not quite certain,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°But it seems to cover everything inside the net I create. Though I would suppose there might be blind spots.¡± ¡°The center of the triangles, I suppose,¡± Anton said. ¡°That would be the furthest point. We can test that, of course. And then we need to determine if you can pierce formation barriers, since that¡¯s a large part of this.¡± Devon laughed sheepishly, ¡°I didn¡¯t even think about that.¡± Anton nodded, ¡°It¡¯s also a great expenditure of energy, isn¡¯t it?¡± Devon sighed, ¡°Indeed. I can¡¯t exactly do this in combat. Or at least¡­ I wouldn¡¯t expect that to be possible at my current strength.¡± This time, Devon created his net before Anton made his way into it. He didn¡¯t hide his energy, and Devon discovered him almost immediately¡­ but only when he dipped close to the zone he created. ¡°It doesn¡¯t see outside,¡± Anton commented. ¡°Though if you¡¯re covering a whole planet, I would suppose that¡¯s not exactly a weakness.¡± The next time, Anton hid his energy. It still only took Devon a few seconds to notice him in the area. ¡°Your physical body is a stark contrast to everything else here,¡± Devon said. ¡°It¡¯s not bare rock, it¡¯s the only thing moving¡­ so it¡¯s hard to miss you.¡± ¡°Not bad,¡± Anton said. ¡°Now we need to test somewhere with distractions. I would suggest Ceretos except it¡¯s¡­ quite a distance away. So Akrys will have to do. It¡¯s quite a bit larger.¡± ¡°I¡­ am not certain how much that will matter. The shell should scale more slowly than the volume it covers, at least. It¡¯s some tens of thousands of kilometers of chain either way.¡± ¡°Atmosphere might screw you up,¡± Anton noted. ¡°And larger gravity. I notice you kept the chains significantly above the surface¡­¡± Devon nodded. ¡°I think atmosphere will be factors in creating the mesh, but for that I only have to go a bit away from the planet. Gravity¡­ may or may not be an issue. We¡¯ll have to see. Either way, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m quite ready to cover something the size of Akrys. And the natives there¡­ might panic.¡± ¡°Only if they¡¯re looking,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s a great expenditure of energy, true, but I was watching for it. Spread throughout the entirety of a planet, it¡¯s nothing much. The smaller meerkats could snap the chains apart, if they came upon them. Not that they would, above the planet. I¡¯m surprised you can actually sense from there, though.¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just what fit.¡± ¡°I understand that,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Following my arrows, I get a clear sense of things far away from my body even at extreme ranges.¡± ----- Just to be certain, Anton went to find the coalition. He had Three Squeaks sense the sky as Devon attempted his technique. It took Devon a few tries- that was after resting for a few days after their latest experiments- but he managed to surround the planet for a few moments. ¡°I haven¡¯t sensed anything yet,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Except the line that was going up from him,¡± he pointed to Devon. ¡°Is it done?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Thank you for the verification.¡± Approaching Devon, Anton informed him of the good news. ¡°It should require active attention and or very significant senses. I wouldn¡¯t immediately try anything risky but¡­ it¡¯s going in the right direction. So what did you sense?¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°In that time? I could only sense the strongest things. You, myself, Ty, and the few scattered Life Transformation equivalent creatures on this planet. Though I also have a pretty good feel for the terrain as a whole.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Picking out all of those things is good. Let¡¯s compare notes from my previous observations.¡± Anton was used to sweeping individual locations- including extremely wide arcs. But now he was feeling that his techniques were a bit too limited. Sure, he got instant feedback and better quality information in an area, but covering a large area all at once seemed valuable. Anton didn¡¯t think he would be content stopping with a single planet, though. Author''s note: The shape of chains ends up like this Also, does that mean this chapter is 3k words now since it has +1 picture? :P Chapter 791 The steady flow of cultivators into the Everheart system kept him well supplied, while a small few visitors came out with ¡®great wealth¡¯, encouraging others to risk their lives for the same. The trick was balancing things just right, so that people felt the risks were worth the rewards. They weren¡¯t, of course, but humans were remarkably terrible at making such judgments. Unfortunately, the full potential of his work was being wasted. Nobody important was coming to visit. Even his provocations in the Trigold Cluster weren¡¯t sufficient. Perhaps they were too busy with other things. Or perhaps they realized it was a trap. Not that such a thing had ever stopped anyone else. So he was stuck with a conundrum. Reaching Domination was nearly impossible as things were, and he couldn¡¯t just go out and hunt down Augmentation cultivators. He was confident in his ability to handle one or two, but they were like rats in some of those systems. Or void ants. He should have brought some void ants with him. Ah well, the people in the lower realms were doing just fine with those. Probably better to handle things their way than risk an uncontained spread of them that would take over the galaxy. Not that such small risks bothered Everheart. ----- The Great Queen was quite pleased with her progress regarding the leaf and stick insects. Even without the ability to cultivate energy herself, the Great Queen understood enough to drive them towards Spirit Building. Upon reaching such a level, much of the disadvantages of their small size would be overcome. There would always be some risk associated with a lack of physical strength, but ultimately it was density that mattered. Humans had to move and protect vastly more body than these insects, and humans also didn¡¯t have exoskeletons. Though that was one of the sticking points in their advancement. Someone was going to have to guide them on ¡®bone¡¯ tempering. They could compare to her own chitin, but void ants¡¯ growth was a natural process based on consumption rather than retention of natural energy. The territory of the insect coalition was growing. With the Lower Plains Coalition expanding their borders as well, soon enough the two would meet. That wasn¡¯t much of a concern, as they were aware of each other, and the connection to their recent growth. More troublesome in the short term were the other sapients within the forest. Nearly anything would like to eat them with their natural energy, and most of them tried. Birds, snakes, frogs¡­ there was no end to the trouble. Though they could only eat them if they found them, which was more and more difficult as the camouflaged insects advanced. There were few other sapient insects to rely upon as allies, but there was one option that might prove favorable. Specifically, a small group on the opposite end of the size spectrum. Giant anacondas could eat stick or leaf insects, but they weren¡¯t incentivized to. There was some risk when one considered natural energy rather than physical nutrition, but they had been watching a particular group that seemed like they might negotiate. If they could communicate, of course. That wasn¡¯t the Great Queen¡¯s job. Instead, she would leave such things to the locals. It was ultimately their choice¡­ and they were the ones with natural energy they could manipulate to make sounds. Every once in a while she wished she had vocal chords, though ultimately there was a lot lost in verbal communication as well. Her mind also turned to her other plans. This place would be a good staging ground for eventual expansion into the upper realms, as long as they could manage transport. And while a much younger her would have happily thrown generations of void ants across the border assuming some of them would survive, she had more sympathy for her low sapience and pre-sapience brethren nowadays. Not that she thought them the same¡­ but the potential lost was something worth considering. Aside from royal spawn, not all void ants would necessarily end up growing beyond their instincts. The Great Queen didn¡¯t quite know all of the factors involved, but simple quantity of natural energy consumed wasn¡¯t enough. And ultimately, she might never know. Humans had been studying themselves for forever, and they constantly came to understand new things- and learn some of their knowledge was wrong. Perhaps something could be learned from her own body after she died, but obviously she wouldn¡¯t be around to learn from that. ----- Chikere looked down at her right arm, flexing her fingers one by one, then relaxing her control and watching them naturally curl. It was a behavior she had barely considered when her arm was made of flesh, and that same functionality had not been present in her previous arm. But something about her recent efforts had been sufficient to convince Engineer Uzun and the great number of others working with and under him to make her a new arm. There had been some excited blabbering about her old arm and some sort of ¡®development¡¯ with it, but Chikere honestly didn¡¯t care. Well, she did care about the arm, but only while it was hers. If that made sense. Now that it wasn¡¯t a part of her, it was just an object. It was different from the feelings she¡¯d had when she lopped off the remains of her own right arm after the first battle with Rakiya. At that time, she¡¯d considered gaining a valuable sword above even her own irreplaceable arm. Or at least, she hadn¡¯t known it could be replaced at the time. It was difficult to tell if her artificial arm was better than her other one. The first model had certainly been extremely useful during her imprisonment- and Chikere had pushed to make certain she would still have remote access to her arm- but comparing her right and left arms they were simply¡­ different. They both had blood now, however. Chikere didn¡¯t quite understand, but there were complex mechanisms to allow her own blood to flow into the artificial one. Those requirements made it quite different from her other one, especially concerning space requirements. On the other hand, they seemed to have figured out how to make certain processes more automatic. Which was to say, much like in her fleshy arm, healing happened automatically. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. She¡¯d only cut open her arm once, to test it, and it wasn¡¯t a large cut. It actually sealed itself quite quickly, with just a modicum of willpower. The healing process required some time, as it took materials from her blood, but she could accelerate the process through consuming special pills prepared for her. Overall, Chikere was quite pleased. But she still didn¡¯t want to wield a sword. As for making components of her second arm into a blade, she had ultimately decided against that, and it was a good thing. Because while at some point she had wanted that with her first arm, in her second it would have led to her shattering it. She was working through why that was, but the understanding was slow. It was something about¡­ imperfection. Chikere herself wasn¡¯t perfect either, of course, but she could strive towards perfection. Presumably, that was why her instincts let things stand. She was certainly still missing some pieces of her own puzzle, but she felt like she might be able to put it together eventually. ----- When she failed to overhear anything useful from the disciples of the Limitless Edge Sect, Velvet resorted to the trickiest method she knew for extracting information from others. Asking them questions. Simply marching up to someone and asking ¡®how does your style work?¡¯ might be a bit much, but there were ways to guide the conversation. So she found a small group and tried to chat with them, while giving off the impression she was interested in joining. ¡°How long have all of you been disciples?¡± she asked. ¡°One hundred years.¡± ¡°Fifty.¡± ¡°Two centuries.¡± ¡°Three years.¡± Velvet was quite surprised by one of those. Specifically, she had observed all of these individuals from afar¡­ and the last one seemed if not the strongest at least the most effective. ¡°Three years? That¡¯s rather recent.¡± ¡°It was after the swordmaster conflict. Many disciples were recruited,¡± the young woman replied. ¡°I was assigned my style shortly thereafter.¡± ¡°Assigned your style?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Do you not pick your own?¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± one of the others said. ¡°The grandmaster assigns them. How would a novice know what is best?¡± ¡°I suppose so. But does that mean she assigns every single disciple their style? Certainly other elders must be involved.¡± Yet another shook his head. ¡°No, she assigns them personally.¡± ¡°That sounds like an impossible task. I wonder how she finds the time.¡± ¡°You could ask her,¡± the woman said. ¡°Since you are interested in joining, she would meet with you.¡± ¡°Just like that?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit late for me,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°My cultivation is already fairly¡­ set.¡± ¡°It¡¯s never too late to change to the Limitless Edge. If you¡¯d like, we can direct you to the next ship heading to the core sect.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not quite ready to go yet,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But when I am, others would be able to help me as well, wouldn¡¯t they?¡± They nodded. ¡°Absolutely.¡± ----- That was almost too easy. Unfortunately, Velvet doubted her ability to keep her identity properly concealed in front of the sectmaster. Any falsity would be carefully observed. If nothing else, her stance might tell the sectmaster more about her than she intended- and faking a different style of movement would be suspicious in its own right. Velvet intended to try different tactics with other disciples of the limitless edge. She went half a planet away so as to not risk running into the same group. This was not the core of their territory, but there were plenty of Limitless Edge disciples around. As a spy, Velvet was trained to feel when she was observed. Dozens or hundreds of glances passing her over in a crowded area was commonplace and ignorable. She knew how to avoid acting in a suspicious manner, which meant not looking around to see who was observing her. But when she felt a gaze of recognition, she couldn¡¯t help but glance over. It was a casual look as she swept her own eyes through the crowd, using the excuse of rounding a corner. Who was here that might recognize her? Velvet caught sight of someone she absolutely didn¡¯t recognize. Nor did she sense any sort of disguise. That worried her, because regardless of the factors involved it was not a good sign. Either her own senses were fooling her, or she missed something. But all she saw was a member of the Limitless Edge sect. The woman had her hand casually resting on the sword at her side, the style of blade clearly marking her position. But even as Velvet¡¯s eyes swept past her, the disciple turned and the feeling faded. To her credit, Velvet didn¡¯t run. But she felt like she should. Only her training spared her from making that mistake. Not understanding what was happening concerned her, but she slowly made her way to a starport. Then she took the next ship leading further away from the core of the Limitless Edge¡¯s territory. She¡¯d heard of the strangeness of the sect from Chikere, and a few others along the way¡­ but most of the latter was full of unverified rumors. Fearless sword cultivators that practiced strange styles was one thing. But strange insights, undetectable disguise techniques, or something else she didn¡¯t understand? That wasn¡¯t supposed to be on the list. Perhaps she was psyching herself out, but she didn¡¯t want to risk any sort of incident, especially in enemy territory. Even less so in the territory of the Limitless Edge whose sectmaster could actually defeat Chikere in a head on duel of swords. Perhaps she should investigate the Citadel of Exalted Light. Sure, they might have planted the leader of the Harmonious Citadel, but Velvet was more prepared to deal with things like that. Trickery and maneuvering she understood just fine. Chapter 792 The tides of the world were not an easy thing to predict, and with three quarters of a ¡®normal¡¯ cycle remaining that remained true. Even so, having experienced them at their height twice, Anton was familiar enough to begin putting together a general layout. The important parts were where it affected systems he knew and cared about. Thus, the section of border closest to the alliance by a direct line was where he started. There was additional information from the upper realms, specifically in relation to the staging grounds for the last invasion. While it seemed to have been an irregular schedule, it was still useful. Chikere in particular had also shared some insights into the matter, as she had returned to the lower realms at a similar time to the invaders. Then there was what little had been squeezed out of Everheart, either because he was secretive or because he didn¡¯t want to admit to lack of knowledge. It was no surprise that one of the clearer tides passed right next to Akrys. The planet had obviously had life seeded on it. Though there was some chance of life spontaneously arising on it, it wouldn¡¯t involve so many familiar creatures. The tides didn¡¯t flow straight from there, however. They flowed through and around systems- never getting close to each other or crossing- but there was a great amount of three dimensional space to consider. At the current moment, Anton could sense a few hundred routes that had to be considered as possible invasion routes. Only a few of them would actually end up approaching the alliance, but they might pass by other inhabited systems. Anton wanted to warn everyone, preferably giving them the maximum amount of time possible to prepare. That included systems that were unfriendly, as there were no valid excuses for the upper realms to invade. If they had a deal with planets in the lower realms that would be one thing- which was half the case with the Exalted Quadrant. Except even on Ceretos, their occupation had been more of a matter of convenience to extract resources that would have otherwise gone to the Trigold Cluster without getting into direct conflict with them. From the border, Anton couldn¡¯t predict where the tides would end up¡­ but there had to be some way to know. Unless the upper realms actually traveled the hundreds or potentially thousands of them with regularity to keep up with any potential shifts. That was possible- with a vast population, they could accomplish the task- but Anton hoped there was more to it. But if not¡­ he could at least trace potential routes back from locations of interest to the border, where they could prepare ambushes along the route. He was personally interested in that, because if he could find a good sun along the path of the tide approaching Weos and Ceretos¡­ well, he could at least cause massive damage. He wasn¡¯t going to guarantee that being in the Enrichment stage would be sufficient to defeat an invasion meant for an entire planet, but he wasn¡¯t going to say it was impossible either. The important thing was that he could force those able to fight in space to attack him in a location he picked, while forcing those who were somewhat weaker to either stay under the protection of others. Because whether they traveled via ships or protected by the aura of an Integration or Augmentation cultivator, he could disrupt either. Either a few of their group focused solely on defense, or he could wipe out their numbers. And nobody would be chasing him into or through a sun, so he could always flee. Besides, he could fight from a good portion of a system distant, hopefully killing several Augmentation cultivators before they even knew he was there. And if they sent a Domination cultivator? That was a question Anton had to ponder, but he knew he had to test them. In theory, they would be most weakened by the restrictions of the lower realm, but they might instead have ways to overcome it and maintain more of their power. Two subsequent defeats made sending such a rare power possible. And if the Trigold Cluster instead gave up and didn¡¯t attack? Anton just hoped wherever else they sent their forces was well prepared. Two of the potential ambush locations were Jinrisa and So¡¯gill. At the very least, Anton knew that cultivators from the upper realms had traveled to those planets. Both had been wiped out at some point in the past, and both were binary systems. Anton had advanced his effective range several fold since the war with the Sylanis Cluster, which meant that he would have power between one and a half stars up to two throughout most of the system. Of the two, Anton would pick Jinrisa if it was on a useful path. It was the difference between red giants and red dwarfs, and while star size wasn¡¯t everything, it was one of the factors. Total power output was the most important, which was more related to mass. Which ultimately meant that many of the giant stars which were of similar mass or only a few times larger than Ceretos¡¯ star failed to be particularly impressive. Red dwarfs were on the low end of actual stars, however, so they were somewhat weaker if they were typical. It was also relevant to consider that Jinrisa had been destroyed by the Trigold Cluster, and So¡¯gill by the Exalted Quadrant. There was some possibility of assault by either or both, so he wasn¡¯t going to jump ahead to binding stars immediately. It depended largely upon where their paths led. And speaking of those paths, they were somewhat meandering, and with them in a weakened state they were difficult to follow at great speed. That reminded Anton once more that no matter how fast he got, he always wanted to be faster. And while he was not going to pretend he could be everywhere and do everything, he would like to maximize his effectiveness. There wasn¡¯t just one place he cared for. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. For example, both In¡¯istra and now Akrys were a great distance from Ceretos. On the order of several hundred lightyears, to be specific, but in nearly perpendicular directions. In¡¯istra was slightly closer to Akrys, if he was able to find another route to travel¡­ but without a number of bonded stars along the way, he wasn¡¯t certain if it would be faster. Anton wasn¡¯t certain if he wanted to bond stars just to travel. Then again, he¡¯d already bound most stars of systems he wanted to protect, so however many he managed would simply be a bonus. He wasn¡¯t quite certain how many stars he would have available within that time. It could be as low as fifteen or twenty, or as high as¡­ well, sixty-eight was the maximum limit. Because the next two primes were thirty-one and thirty-seven. Breaking away from the core principles of the One Hundred Stars at his current point would come with potential dangers he had no interest dealing with. It was far too early to tell if he would or even could reach the Domination equivalent at any point in the future, nor was he certain if it would be one or two primes. So he would bet on a smaller number, and be conservative at first. A few ambush locations, and potentially a route to complete a triangle between his favored systems. He would also undoubtedly find more cultivators whose systems he wanted to protect, but as it was he knew his best option was to make sure everyone was ready to defend themselves. And potentially each other, but only if they could make a good prediction of enemy routes. ----- The information known about Vrelt was limited, but Devon had exactly what he needed. Specifically, planetary size, mass, and a vague estimate of the power of their formations. The third one would be the most difficult to test, but size and mass were easy to find. There was information on a vast quantity of planets available, so finding one that met his needs was easy enough. Devon didn¡¯t have the dedicated disciples of Anton and Ty, so he simply waited for a good opportunity to travel towards one, being dropped off along the way. He had the ability to survive in space and travel between systems on his own, but he wasn¡¯t as fast as the newest ships. Most likely he never would be, even if he continued to work on his speed- because the ships would also improve. His grandfather was able to rapidly replenish his energy within a system, but for Devon it would be a slower process. And with the same movement techniques not quite fitting him, that was just how things turned out. But even Anton had been impressed by his new sensory technique¡­ so now he had to make that work. He wasn¡¯t a young man that needed the approval of his grandfather, but he was mature enough to recognize that he still wanted it. Success was also good for his own personal validation. So here he was, alone above a planet of similar size and mass to Vrelt. It was easy enough to keep an orbit above the planet, though the atmosphere it had trapped was breathable enough. At the very least, it would be easier to convert the natural air there into something he could use than refreshing what was in his own lungs. But he needed to work from where he was, because that was the actual distance he was going to make his real attempts from. The first few tries were¡­ underwhelming. Spreading his chains down towards the planet added a significant distance. Having worked with a much smaller one previously, he couldn¡¯t even reach halfway around. Instead, he failed with the initial four chains from his starting point. The power he had simply fizzled away. After a few tries, he spent longer gathering an initial surge. It almost worked, reaching about halfway. Though that seemed discouraging at first, Devon knew it would become more stable once he could connect them on the far side. He didn¡¯t strictly have to form four at once like he was attempting, but he knew that he was going to have to put in the work now or later. Here, nobody was around to see him fail. He had plenty of time to himself to accomplish the task, so whether it took weeks, months, or years he was prepared to stick through with it until the end. ----- Chikere squeezed her fist tightly, opening it to a small pool of blood. The squeezing was strictly unnecessary, as it tightened some of her artificial pores while opening others, but it felt right. She went back and forth between her natural and artificial arms in her practice, to the point she sometimes forgot which was which. They were both her arms, and that was good. One she subconsciously and thereafter consciously modified to allow herself to get blood out of the arteries and smaller blood vessels. That wasn¡¯t supposed to happen, but if it was going to happen on purpose she wanted it to not cause damage. She wasn¡¯t supposed to hurt herself, after all. That was no good. But she had to have this blood. Because that was the only part of her that still believed in swords. She turned her palm outward, letting blood drip out of one of the creases in a thin line. Just that tiny amount was barely a blade, but she had more blood inside of her. More than she was supposed to, still. Even so, the resulting blade was even thinner than a rapier or other thrusting blade. It was basically a flattened needle, giving the impression of edges on its side. She swished it lightly, cutting through a few stray stones. It hardly meant anything that something so weak as them was severed, but she still found satisfaction in cutting something on purpose, and not feeling sick afterwards. A hundred blades was going to be hard¡­ but that was what she wanted. Maybe more, because she was going to need so many of them to perform every possible movement in combat and see which ones really were good or bad. But for the moment, she¡¯d start with a few flicks of her wrist and some thrusting motions. She wondered if Agom could defeat her as she was¡­ quite possible, because she didn¡¯t know if her upper energy was working correctly or not. Though she supposed blood didn¡¯t make blade shapes on its own, did it? Chapter 793 Every time Anton returned to Ceretos, he basked for a while in the feel of home. He might choose to spend time elsewhere for a stretch of time, but home was home. It was never exactly the same as it had been when he left, but Anton thought that was a good thing. Even back in Dungannon his children and grandchildren had always been picking up hobbies. Animals were born, others were slaughtered for food, crops and other plants changed with the seasons. Year after year, nothing was precisely the same. Ceretos also changed, nearly unrecognizable compared to when he first became a cultivator. The mountain tops of the One Hundred Stars were covered in tall towers- it was not the only sect grounds they held on the planet, but it was the greatest among them. However, as much as things changed, they also remained the same. The towers sloped upward until the very tallest of them, which had an observatory atop it. Each tower could see a great distance. Vincent ran the sect well. Each parcel of land was practical and usable, and while the traditions of connected individual huts had faded with time and space requirements the disciples still kept their own rooms, as well as having space for isolation and an area for plants. They also dwelled in a number of towers, but every room had an outside balcony. The sect had kept itself devoid of many of the changes that came with technology. Transport was still done on a disciple¡¯s own two feet, though the actual pathways themselves were more defined. Edelhull, however, had grown into a metropolis sprawling beyond the sect¡¯s eastern border. It was a city of many millions, but unlike before Anton could sense the cultivation within each and every one of them. The city was also arranged such that natural energy would flow through it. Open places were left for parks where natural things would grow, both drawing in and supplementing the natural energy. There were some ups and downs in the balance of individual regions within the alliance, but with Rutera¡¯s guidance from a more technological perspective they had sufficient experience to maintain a sustainable planet. With that said, there were certain limits humans could expand to before they simply consumed too much. The ease of mobility between planets- both in and out of the system- allowed the population density to remain somewhat modest compared to how it might have ended up. It was a lot of work to maintain a group of many planets working together, but they had people just for that. And for the most part, Anton found them to be decent fellows. Obviously there were some bad eggs, and he knew Ceretos was not without its own corruption¡­ but there were certain secrets it was difficult to hide in a world of cultivators. But that too was a balance with personal privacy to some extent. Anton had doubts that things would ever be perfect, but it was certainly better. And at least he was not concerned about the prospect of civil wars. Not without negative outside influence, which they still had to watch out for as they added people to their alliance. Anton dropped in on Vincent just to say hello. ¡°Have you been busy?¡± Anton asked. ¡°What even is busy?¡± Vincent shrugged. ¡°I settle the critical matters of the sect in a few hours, most of the time. Occasionally there is some mess I stay up for a week dealing with. But overall, it is quite a tolerable amount of work.¡± ¡°Still keeping up with everyone¡¯s names and faces?¡± Anton asked. ¡°On Ceretos, at least,¡± Vincent said. ¡°Same with Weos and Rutera, though they¡¯re not directly under my jurisdiction. We¡¯re nearing a hundred thousand disciples locally, but that¡¯s less than one per day. With support staff,¡± Vincent shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not an issue.¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to comprehend so many people,¡± Anton said. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m losing touch with reality.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s my entire cultivation,¡± Vincent pointed out. ¡°You¡¯re not going to lose track of your stars, I won¡¯t lose track of my people. We have different paths, and our goals are not all the same either, despite them being aligned.¡± ¡°We both want people to grow,¡± Anton reminded him. ¡°I want people to grow. The sect¡­ grows as a result of that. You want everyone to be empowered, to the point that individuals are merely propagation points for the spread of a growth phenomenon. And that¡¯s not bad. You care about those people. But you couldn¡¯t have personal investment in every person, because you¡¯re not limited to a single sect. Or planet. Or system. Or even just the lower realms.¡± ¡°Not a lot I can do about the upper realms,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°And yet, you do what you can,¡± Vincent smiled. ¡°Ah, Lev¡¯s coming.¡± ¡°How did he know?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Did you tell him?¡± ¡°You think that half of Ceretos doesn¡¯t take note when you show up? You try not to cause too much of a disturbance, but unless you fully hide yourself someone will notice you. If nothing else, the sun changes. Not that I¡¯d usually notice unless I was paying attention, but there¡¯s hundreds of sensors that are prepared to adjust for your presence so we don¡¯t assume there¡¯s something weird going on with the sun.¡± ¡°... I didn¡¯t think about that,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m influencing it too much?¡± ¡°That would be like me saying you influence everything else too much. I think your influence is good,¡± Vincent shrugged. ¡°And if you¡¯re worried, I¡¯ll have to puncture your ego. A few hundred years of you? You¡¯d have to accelerate the aging of a sun by a factor of a hundred for it to even be measurable throughout your lifetime.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°And you make things more stable,¡± Lev said, not bothering to hide that he was listening from afar. ¡°Trust me, if anything upsetting happens with a star, there will be many people who try to contact you and ask you to make adjustments.¡± ¡°Speaking of upsetting things involving stars,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about new travel options. And I intend to test them on my way out.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll help send out the warnings when it¡¯s time,¡± Lev said. ¡°What brings you back anyway?¡± ¡°The Tides of the World,¡± Anton declared dramatically. ¡°Specifically, seeing how well I can predict their flow, and if I can trace the route from here to the border. I know our same stream passes Weos, but I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s the case for the Sylanis Cluster. Though I supposed that¡¯s a little less well defined now, with them slowly expanding.¡± Lev shrugged, ¡°They haven¡¯t been enemies in forever. We¡¯ve been growing closer due to the upper realms, ironically. Their ascension cultivators basically have to join up with the Scarlet Alliance. Or try their hand as an independent with no connections. I wouldn¡¯t rely on them first for anything, but we have the solidarity of the lower realms in common throughout our whole alliance.¡± ¡°The upper realms did this to themselves, really,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I mean, we did it. But only because of them. We¡¯d barely be in contact with anything further than the Sylanis cluster if you hadn¡¯t made friends with Rutera early and pushed exploration.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t have been a war with Ekict, either,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°They¡¯re the ones who made that choice,¡± Vincent said. ¡°The results were unfortunate. But you¡¯ve done a greater good for them and many others already that could not have happened without your initiative.¡± ¡°I appreciate the kind words,¡± Anton said. ¡°I appreciate the two of you and many others for holding things together here. I couldn¡¯t do much if I was worried about my home falling apart.¡± ¡°We all have our paths,¡± Lev nodded. ¡°And for some reason, the path of the Grasping Willows is less popular.¡± ¡°You¡¯d think more people would want to live under the world¡¯s largest tree,¡± Anton frowned. Lev laughed, ¡°Nah. They just want to take pictures around him. But mostly they do that at a distance because they¡¯re afraid he will kill them.¡± ¡°Would he?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Of course not. But we do let some people get half strangled by some of the smaller ones. People need to learn to be careful around plants, disciples of our sect or not.¡± ----- Anton settled for a few weeks in the area. It wasn¡¯t just the matter of disciples back on Akrys, but also how long it might take to get back. And the potential of other trips back and forth. He could count on Ty and the Great Queen to keep the world from falling apart, but one might turn everyone into sword cultivators and the other¡­ well, she had her own ideas. Traveling past stars in the past, Anton had made use of various gravity assist measures. It siphoned only a small amount of momentum for a planet or star to greatly accelerate a human sized mass like himself, but the potential of such things was rather limited with standard methods. Normally spinning around a star a few times wouldn¡¯t actually result in greater gains, and might in fact offset the initial value of the slingshot if done wrong, but Anton still thought there was value to be gained for him personally. Near a star was where he was strongest, after all, so he could accelerate himself significantly. This was just one attempt of various ideas he had the intuition for. This one should be the least concerning to the various orbital stations around the star, and he¡¯d already gone through with the necessary warnings. That meant there would probably be an uncomfortable amount of eyes on him, directly and indirectly, but Anton was too old to get embarrassed at the thought of messing up. And only his friends would dare say anything to his face if he did something stupid. Everyone else would have their messages filtered before they would reach him, through one means or another. He began his rotations¡­ and acceleration. After a few rotations, he realized that he would inevitably spiral further outward- forcing himself back inward closer to the star would likely diminish the benefit he gained. Thus, he settled for a simple dozen rotations before flinging himself in the direction he wanted to go. As movement techniques went, it was hardly more than a line on a page, unrefined and of little use. It was a slight boost to his early speed, but he still needed to continue picking up speed as he left the system and dove into subspace. He was never going to turn down a small amount of time saved or efficiency, but he knew this required more practice- and perhaps it might be a dead end. Many techniques were, but that was what experiments were meant to determine. ----- In another couple centuries, Anton thought he might gain some benefits from traveling along the stream. As it was, it was more like chasing after a ghost. It meandered back and forth in a somewhat predictable manner, through and around systems. It was much like an actual river, with restrictions on the severity of curves and the like. Except there wasn¡¯t anything filling it. Perhaps an empty riverbed, which made Anton wonder if it would change sizes along the way. He could imagine it growing, somehow, as it picked up energy from what it passed¡­ or shrinking, as the upper energy flowing through the area got further from the upper realms. Both were feasible options he hadn¡¯t had the luxury of exploring during the second invasion after the shortened cycle. Anton wasn¡¯t the only one who wanted to know these things, of course. Many others were curious, and a portion of them were actually capable of finding something out. So Anton would compare notes with them, later, after he established a sufficient amount of knowledge on his own. It wasn¡¯t just a stubbornness for independence, but also to avoid early influence leading him down a different path than his insight might otherwise result in. Such insights were important to a cultivator, and missing out on them could result in frustrating periods of missing something simple. Or something that seemed simple, once it was revealed. Either way, he had the ability to travel far and wide as he pleased, so there weren¡¯t many others who could accomplish this task. Chapter 794 The one thing Velvet definitely had to avoid was rushing into anything. She only had to get stupid once and make a mess of things for her time to be over. Leading pursuers on a grand chase all the way back to the Scarlet Midfields was a nice thought, but that wasn¡¯t the sort of thing that could happen again and again. And unlike the incident with Chikere, it was just Velvet alone. So the fact that it had been over a year and she basically had nothing of use grated on her, but she kept strong. And she wasn¡¯t quite without valuable data. Her brief interactions with the Limitless Edge had been rather informative, though mostly in the way she now knew they were to be avoided at all costs. There was something dangerous about them beyond their martial capabilities. Among other things, they absolutely couldn¡¯t be allowed to infiltrate the Scarlet Alliance, because their ability to pass along information such that Velvet was recognized was concerning. But she looked different now. Not something flimsy and vulnerable like an illusion, but more practical changes. Encouraging her hair to grow, restyling it, changing her outfit to be drastically different¡­ these were the most effective things. She wouldn¡¯t hide, because anything hidden let people know there were secrets to be had. At most, she kept her cultivation subdued¡­ but that wasn¡¯t terribly suspicious, as long as she didn¡¯t try to erase her feeling entirely. And underneath that low profile was another layer of deception, making her appear to be part of the Citadel of Exalted Light. People were quite willing to talk around her, but unfortunately she hadn¡¯t heard anything secret. Trips to this or that planet for training or missions or the like would only be useful if she came across an abnormal pattern- which required knowing the normal patterns first. Nothing was on the borders anyway, so it hardly mattered. But speaking of borders, Velvet had plans to continue slowly to the ¡®west¡¯. Her eventual intention? Determining the actual limits of the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s territory. That would give their alliance a better understanding of their total combat strength- and though they were quite certain they could be overwhelmed, knowing the numbers would still be useful. Such a behemoth couldn¡¯t afford to send all of their forces after a small threat. They would hopefully have other enemies¡­ and if not that, internal instability. Both were important goals, though Velvet didn¡¯t realize how relevant her small report on the Limitless Edge would be to one individual. ----- ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it!¡± the declaration caused Chidi to turn his attention from his own training to his former master watching nearby. She didn¡¯t do much except linger nearby, but that was significant progress from how she was before. ¡°That didn¡¯t feel like anything special to me,¡± Chidi said. Wasn¡¯t it just a normal swing? He repeated it just to make certain. It was definitely practical, but he didn¡¯t find it worth exclaiming out loud about. ¡°Not that,¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°Well, that¡­ but also everything else!¡± ¡°I will need more information to understand,¡± Chidi said. ¡°This is why I have to do everything,¡± Chikere said, holding up her communicator. ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it,¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°Right,¡± Chikere stroked her chin. ¡°Umm, basically Velvet said that a Limitless Edge disciple recognized her without ever meeting her.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ that¡¯s bad, right?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s good! Because it explains why they do everything wrong!¡± ¡°... Does it?¡± Chidi tilted his head to the side for effect. ¡°Obviously. Because they have to do everything! Don¡¯t you see, perfection is attained through understanding every possible move. Even the bad ones. The worst ones. And it doesn¡¯t matter if they die as long as someone remembers what they did!¡± Chikere nodded seriously. ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is¡­ the Limitless Edge Sect selects which movesets are optimal by the disciples that die?¡± ¡°No no no!¡± Chikere waved her arms wildly. ¡°That¡¯s not it at all. I guess the dying thing is part of the process. But it¡¯s all about sharing the knowledge.¡± ¡°How?¡± Chidi raised an eyebrow. ¡°Don¡¯t know, don¡¯t care. I¡¯m not joining them. Their sword is stupid anyway.¡± Chidi was pretty sure that was an overreaction, especially considering her previous insistence that it had been a perfect sword. But he wasn¡¯t going to interrupt that. ¡°I just have to do that.¡± ¡°Start a sect that does every move?¡± Chidi asked worriedly. ¡°Perform every one myself. I thought they were doing it, but now I¡¯m certain.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an impressive goal,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But I¡¯m pretty sure there are infinite possibilities, if you consider small variations in motion something different. And that¡¯s just for one specific size and make of blade. So it¡¯s impossible.¡± ¡°Infinite, huh?¡± Chikere took a step¡­ and suddenly her face was next to Chidi. ¡°Do you think that will stop me?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Chidi leaned his head towards her as well. ¡°Will it?¡± ¡°It won¡¯t be impossible once I succeed.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. That might technically be true, Chidi supposed. And if someone was going to manage the impossible it might as well be her. Though that also gave him a lot of his own ideas. Chidi thought there would be more postulating or some meditation or Chikere going off on her own to try something. He didn¡¯t expect a mist of blood to suddenly tear its way from her body and begin to form into blades. He didn¡¯t expect it¡­ but he absolutely reacted to it. His blade worked with his own internal formations to redirect the energy in the area, negating her attack. Immediately his mind went back to times of training when he was younger. Except now he was stronger. And Chikere seemed weaker. However, that was necessary because while he could track the trajectories of her attacks, he couldn¡¯t anticipate them beforehand. It was like he was being attacked by a hundred psychopaths who didn¡¯t know how to use swords¡­ and who could also overlap positions with each other. It wasn¡¯t just that Chikere didn¡¯t hold the swords in her hands, but as the blades made of blood crossed over each other, they moved through each other seamlessly. That was in a way the most impressive part, as the physical and energy components somehow didn¡¯t clash. Chikere was swaying on her feet as the blades ineffectually tried to cut down Chidi. They were a certain level of serious combined with strange incompetence. ¡°Hey, uh¡­ are you alright?¡± Chidi said as he danced around the area. ¡°You¡¯re looking pretty unsteady. Did you use too much blood¡­?¡± ¡°Did I?¡± Chikere grinned. ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. I have so much blood!¡± Another explosion of bloody mist came out of her¡­ and then retracted back into her as she sank to the ground. ¡°Okay, that was too much actually.¡± The blades floating around Chidi lost their shape, turning into indistinct blobs that floated back towards Chikere and coated her arms and face in red- and then everything else- before it disappeared as if nothing had ever happened. Chikere fell onto her back, Chidi could feel the grin on her face. ¡°How many was that?¡± ¡°... Sword moves? Maybe five hundred or a thousand,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Ugh. That¡¯s not even like¡­ halfway to infinity.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you can¡¯t-¡± Chidi sighed. ¡°No. It¡¯s not even close to halfway.¡± ¡°I need more swords,¡± Chikere said as she looked up at the sky. ¡°You should be¡­ careful with that,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± she said. ¡°I will be. How am I supposed to reach infinity if I die along the way?¡± ----- Anton had truly hoped that the tides of the world would bring him somewhere close to Akrys, though in some other way that would have been the worst result. He didn¡¯t really want whoever seeded life there to return and fulfill whatever plans they had for it. He couldn¡¯t even be sure if they would be from the upper realms, he just kind of assumed that as they were prone to extremes. Either way, he intended to ensure that the people there would be able to stand up for themselves. Although he was aware that empowering the world would make it a more attractive target, if they were going to be targets eventually he might as well make them grow swiftly and intentionally- so they could be ready if something should happen. Ultimately, the path took him a bit to the east, which shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise. It matched up to not be all that far from the upper realms planets that had been occupied to prepare for invasions. Anton extended his senses, trying to feel into the systems there¡­ but his natural energy broke down. No, it was destroyed through a reaction of the ascension energy. He didn¡¯t really expect much different, except the first time he¡¯d tried it he simply hadn¡¯t been able to reach far enough to elicit a reaction. The upper realms were forever impossible for him to reach. He had no regrets about that, since he¡¯d needed the power of Fleeting Youth. Even now, the ability to draw upon ascension energy in the lower realms was a great asset. Anton pondered, considering something he¡¯d tried before. Now was a fine time to get in some practice for a situation that might never come up. And if nothing worked, it would still be cathartic. He drew ascension energy through the connection within himself, and felt the reaction of the upper realms lightyears away. His arrow flew straight and true, covering impossible amounts of distance in a relatively insignificant time. It was a journey of days for even the fastest subspace travelers, so reducing that to hours wasn¡¯t bad. It was obviously a bit awkward for an attack¡­ and if he wanted to attack deep into the upper realms, this was not and would never be the right method. Because as his stolen ascension energy came into contact with what existed on the edges of the system, it began to mutually annihilate. Soon enough, his arrow was gone almost as if it had never existed. Except for the explosion in the area, which anyone nearby wouldn¡¯t have been able to ignore. So it was no good for attacking into the upper realms¡­ but someone on the border¡­ it might not be that bad. It could be quite useful for taking people out before they even properly entered the lower realms. Anton was quite pleased with the results, in the end. ----- The cries of eagles let the Lower Plains Coalition know there was trouble afoot. Well, not necessarily trouble¡­ but what else could it be when there were lions approaching? They¡¯d had a good streak of seasons where they were able to thrive, so it seemed inevitable. Three Squeaks wanted to call Echoing Cry to carry him, but that would ultimately be a net negative to their combat power. Not because he couldn''t fire his bow from up in the sky, but because then Echoing Cry wouldn¡¯t be able to. He was actually getting good at archery now, which kind of meant anyone who couldn¡¯t fly literally could do nothing to him. Except the few archers that existed, but all of them were in their coalition. Though there were probably some things that could toss rocks or trees, if they were strong enough. Three Squeaks did manage to catch a ride on Contented Grunt. Not that she was any faster than himself, and definitely not more maneuverable¡­ but it was a lot of effort for him to scurry along at the same speed the hippo plodded naturally. ¡°Who do you think it is?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°It has to be that Upper Plains guy, right? He seemed like he was going to cause trouble eventually.¡± Echoing Cry replied from above, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I see four of them. One is quite large¡­ and familiar. I¡¯m going to get closer.¡± ¡°Be careful!¡± Three Squeaks called after his airborne ally. If they were actually under attack, then the three of them probably wouldn¡¯t be enough. Then again, they were in Spirit Building. Was that enough to stand up to lions surpassing them in numbers? Three Squeaks would have said yes almost any day, until he began to sense them¡­ and realized that the lions, too, were in Spirit Building. The big one in the lead was barely in Spirit Building, but that wasn¡¯t reassuring- because that wasn¡¯t on the low end, but the high end. If he practiced the One Hundred Stars, he¡¯d be at a full twenty-seven or twenty-eight. ¡°Just be prepared to stomp back towards the others quickly if we have to, okay?¡± Three Squeaks said to the hippo underneath him. ¡°Yeah yeah. I like living as much as you little ones, you know. But we do have to see what they want first.¡± Chapter 795 Four lions like the ones they had fought before would be basically nothing. With some years under their belt, Three Squeaks could easily defeat one or two alone. Perhaps all four, if he started at a sufficient distance to make optimal use of his bow. But these lions weren¡¯t early in Body Tempering. They were properly in Spirit Building, which made each of them nearly as strong as Bloodcurdling Roar. Or even stronger, looking at the biggest one. Three Squeaks hopped down from Contented Grunt¡¯s head, approaching closer and standing atop a nearby boulder. ¡°What is your purpose here?¡± he asked, his bow hanging from his left paw. He was ready to swing his arm up at any moment. ¡°Do you not recognize me, little one?¡± the larger lion said. Three Squeaks tried to imagine meeting something as strong as that one, but it had never happened. Only the humans which were even harder to figure out. But there was something familiar about the guy. ¡°... Rumbling Growl?¡± ¡°Good. You remember. Recognize these three?¡± Three Squeaks had to admit they didn¡¯t feel familiar at all. He¡¯d only met like a dozen lions in his entire life, on the top end. Next to Rumbling Growl was one male and two females. The male spoke up, a growly voice that betrayed his youth. ¡°Do you know this meerkat, dad?¡± ¡°He was one of those that brought you to us,¡± Rumbling Growl explained. ¡°Really? He looks smaller.¡± One of the females popped up just behind Three Squeaks, and it was all he could do not to jump away in fright. ¡°I don¡¯t think he could carry us.¡± The other female approached slowly, her tail waving back and forth. ¡°Obviously we were smaller. And I think there was a hippo¡­?¡± She looked over at Contented Grunt. ¡°Oh! It¡¯s the three of you,¡± Three Squeaks said. He wasn¡¯t sure if he should be happy or¡­ terrified. Did they know? Were they here for revenge? ¡°Stop crowding him, children,¡± Rumbling Growl called out. ¡°We must state our purpose here, or that eagle may unnecessarily call for reinforcements.¡± He inclined his head towards Three Squeaks and the slightly further Contented Grunt. ¡°These three cubs wished to learn your ways of growth.¡± ¡°Daaaad!¡± the male growled. ¡°We¡¯re not cubs!¡± Though he said that, and indeed he would have looked like a full adult with his mane¡­ next to the other lion he was a good bit smaller. ¡°Yeah, come on!¡± said the first female, pouncing past Three Squeaks. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t let us come here until we were adults,¡± the third said. ¡°So you must recognize us.¡± The larger male rolled his eyes. ¡°Fine. But you¡¯ll still always feel like kids to me. So. What do you think?¡± ¡°They want¡­ training¡­?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Yes. I must admit that I am interested in the growth of your people as well. Our coalition could make use of it. But I also understand your people would be nervous.¡± ¡°But you already helped us!¡± said the smaller male. ¡°So we thought you could make us even stronger!¡± Internally, Three Squeaks was at war. He looked to Contented Grunt, but she didn¡¯t give any indication of what he should do. Helping people was good. But these three in particular might want to eat them for killing their actual parents. Was it a trick? ¡°Come ooon,¡± the more playful lioness put her face right in front of him and meowed. ¡°We walked all the way here!¡± Three Squeaks steeled his resolve. ¡°I can¡¯t speak for our whole coalition, but I would be willing to attempt training you. I would have to speak to the others, however, since our techniques are secret.¡± If nothing else, the three would almost certainly spread the word to the Kapok coalition eventually. Which could be dangerous, as they were already quite strong. On the other hand¡­ he didn¡¯t feel any deception from the bouncing youths in front of him. ¡°Wonderful. If you don¡¯t mind, I will remain here at the edge of your territory,¡± Rumbling Growl declared. ¡°But your people may wish to speak to these Three. Oh yes, I forgot. He is Rusty Mane,¡± the lion inclined his head. ¡°The energetic one is Mischief. And the last is Sleek Fur.¡± ¡°Those are¡­ somewhat unusual names,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°We have been running out of distinct calls that have no other meaning,¡± Rumbling Growl admitted. ¡°Same here, honestly,¡± Three Squeaks nodded. ¡°We have like, twenty Chitters or some variety of that. I should introduce us as well. I am Three Squeaks, she is Contented Grunt, and he is Echoing Cry.¡± He looked at the three lions, young by their reckoning but not so much by that of meerkats. ¡°Well, come on then I suppose. Don¡¯t wander far.¡± As they moved away, Echoing Cry came down to introduce himself properly. ¡°It¡¯s good to see all of you are still healthy,¡± Echoing Cry said. ¡°Or we wasted all that time.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Contented Grunt agreed. ¡°This fellow made us save you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re all of them?¡± Mischief said. ¡°You smell kinda familiar. What¡¯s that funny thing two of you have?¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°This is a bow,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°It is a weapon that lets us attack far away.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Mischief asked. ¡°Just pounce!¡± ¡°Meerkats don¡¯t pounce,¡± Sleek Fur commented. ¡°At least, not on anything particularly bigger than themselves. And as you can see,¡± she gestured with a paw. ¡°Physical size is not their strong point.¡± Everyone in the coalition watched as the lions entered their territory- escorted by guards, they were just whispers but nobody seemed particularly concerned. They hadn¡¯t yet incorporated many ¡®predators¡¯, but many people at least knew stories of the Kapok Coalition and their reasonableness. Though mainly, they seemed to be trusting in the strength of their guards. ¡°Ooh! Bugs!¡± Mischief was halfway through a leap when Sleek fur caught her by the scruff of her neck. ¡°Hey! What gives? You said not to eat any people but those aren¡¯t people.¡± Sleek Fur¡¯s mouth was quite full holding back her sister, but Rusty Mane was able to explain for her. ¡°You do realize that that¡¯s their food, right? Look, that one is leading them.¡± Indeed, there was a meerkat driving a herd of beetles of various sizes with a stick- and some nudging with her natural energy. ¡°... ¡®kay. Can you let me go now?¡± Only muffled sounds came from Sleek Fur. ¡°Fine, I promise not to pounce on the bugs.¡± ¡°Bleh,¡± Sleek Fur let go of her sister. ¡°You need to promise not to pounce on anything. That hippo could eat you in a single bite, you know.¡± ¡°Nu-uh!¡± Mischief said, running up next to Contented Grunt. ¡°I¡¯m way too- oh wow you have a big mouth.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t usually eat lion,¡± Contented Grunt opened her mouth wide, ¡°But if you cause trouble, I can make an exception.¡± Mischief ran back between her siblings. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not going to be necessary.¡± The territory of the Coalition having expanded greatly, it took them until the next morning to reach the core council- they stopped in a small rest area that was little more than an overhang with a small burrow underneath, procuring food on the way. ----- When it was just meerkats, all meetings took place in a den. Obviously that was impossible with warthogs and eagles and hippos and a few gazelles, though there were a few other creatures that could fit in the burrows. Everyone was supposed to have a voice in their coalition, so they went to a nice clearing with carved wood and stone that made a sort of amphitheater. Three Squeaks had just finished explaining the lion¡¯s request. ¡°And so¡­ we came here to see if it would be allowed.¡± ¡°It was already crazy to let them live to begin with,¡± Deep Purr said. ¡°Hey. Is that a bow too?¡± Mischief whispered far too loudly next to Three Squeak¡¯s ear. Fortunately for her, Deep Purr was quite happy to answer the question. ¡°This is a sword,¡± he said, drawing the weapon. The blade led into a simple crossguard, but the hilt was more complex than most. It was not straight but rather curved to fit meerkat paws on either side of it. ¡°Think of it like a long claw that I was not born with.¡± ¡°Weird,¡± Mischief said. Deep Purr looked somewhat offended, but the conversation moved on without him saying anything. Pondering Humm¡¯s official position had changed somewhat, but he was now a respected elder on the council instead of having a role within the meerkats specifically. ¡°This is not a decision that should be made lightly. We should not easily dismiss the Kapok Coalition given their strength, but that is exactly the same reason we should think twice about empowering their members. We must also wait for Anton¡¯s return to consult him.¡± ¡°Nope,¡± Three Squeaks said. When Pondering Humm just blinked in stunned silence, Three Squeaks clarified. ¡°He¡¯s not here and we don¡¯t know when he¡¯ll be back. And he said we should make our decisions ourselves.¡± Ty also didn¡¯t seem qualified to do anything but train people with swords, either. Though to be fair, he seemed very good at that. One of the hippos on the council spoke up next. ¡°I do not think we should allow it. We have worked hard for our safety.¡± ¡°I think we should.¡± The surprising declaration came from an eagle. ¡°It can be a test of trust. If we forbid them to teach the others, we will learn if they can be trusted. Most likely they can discern the early secrets of cultivation for themselves, so they will not lose much if we are cautious.¡± Eventually, the decision came back to Three Squeaks, and by extension Contented Grunt and Echoing Cry who would share the responsibility for the lions. They agreed to teach them¡­ though they had no intention to rush. ----- ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Mischief asked. ¡°Those plants are in a weird shape.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a field of grain,¡± Three Squeaks replied. ¡°We¡¯re growing those plants on purpose to get food later.¡± ¡°Oh! I don¡¯t eat grass. What¡¯s that?¡± Mischief had a lot of questions, but it seemed the other two siblings were just as curious. They were simply willing to let herself make a fool of herself. They approached the river, where they started hearing clanging sounds. Before anyone could ask, Three Squeaks explained. ¡°That sound is one of our smiths.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a suh myth?¡± Mischief asked. ¡°Are they fake? A mythical animal?¡± ¡°They work with metal.¡± ¡°Who are those?¡± ¡°Metal is a thing. It¡¯s the same material as Deep Purr¡¯s sword.¡± ¡°You have lots of weird words!¡± Mischief declared. ¡°Watch out! Fire!¡± ¡°That¡¯s the smith!¡± Three Squeaks said as he chased after her. Fortunately, she stopped. ¡°You have fire contained in rocks?¡± Mischief said. ¡°Why not call it fire-rocks instead of a myth?¡± ¡°There¡¯s more to it than that,¡± Three Squeaks said. They could now see the hippopotamus banging his head, a special hammer rigged around his head and neck. The forge was right by the water- because fire was indeed a danger if they let things go. It was also quite useful for the process, as the smith grabbed the handle of something between his teeth and quenched it in the river, creating a burst of steam. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°A tool for digging in the ground,¡± Three Squeaks explained. ¡°Tewl?¡± the lion tried to make an equivalent sound. Three Squeaks thought he had known what he had been signing up for¡­ but he realized this might be a very tiring project indeed. And he still didn¡¯t know if the lions were going to try to eat him. Still, he had to introduce the trio to others, so as to not have them be surprised in either direction. And it was true that their coalition had a lot of weird things- like the smith. It was difficult to get metal, but they were finally making their own tools for the first time. It would have been impossible to shape some things without hands, but fortunately their use of natural energy helped make up for that. Hands still seemed very useful, but then again human bodies were kind of unprotected and weaponless so it made sense that they required tools instead of just finding them helpful. Nobody was perfect, it seemed. Chapter 796 A few short years wasn¡¯t enough time for someone like Devon to grow appreciably in power, but it was enough time to develop a technique he could have trained a long time before. All his new World Encompassing Chains technique did was sense things, which wasn¡¯t exactly novel for an Assimilation cultivator. The scope might be greater than most sensing techniques, but it came at a relatively higher cost. Most could keep their senses activated at full power continuously, but Devon would drain a significant portion of his natural energy using such a technique. That said, he did anticipate that with more time to grow it could evolve into something else. It might merely take another decade or two of practice¡­ or it may only establish its next form upon Devon reaching the Enrichment stage. Overall, Devon was proud of his accomplishments. Each and every time his chains connected, completing the circuit covering the planet, it was one step easier and quicker. Soon enough, he thought he could accomplish what he intended¡­ though he did need to test his ability to penetrate enemy formations. Otherwise, he would find a very uninteresting view of exactly what he already knew about Vrelt. ----- Velvet was relieved when she managed to independently verify the stories of Margriet and Sly. Did she believe them before? Absolutely. But it was the job of a spymaster to make certain. Of course, she didn¡¯t simply get by with public knowledge. Instead, she learned it while investigating the structure of the various sects that made up the Exalted Quadrant. Only a small amount of damage had been dealt to the portions of the Worthy Shore Society and Hardened Crown Sect with relation to their overall prowess. The loss of something they considered a single generation from a single planet wasn¡¯t that much¡­ though the talents of the individuals did leave them rather bitter. And for the whole debacle that happened with Chikere, Nadzeya of the Citadel of Exalted Light lost some of her status. No doubt she would recover it given time, but this was a chance for her rivals to gain on her. It also meant she was motivated to do something of merit to restore her own status, though Velvet wasn¡¯t going to attempt to get close enough to her to find out what in particular. She needed to maintain her presence long term, after all. She was satisfied enough with the potential that she would hear about Nadzeya¡¯s movements, especially if she planned a move on the Scarlet Midfields. Obviously there was no guarantee, but she would take what she could get. She was roaming throughout the Exalted Quadrant, doing her best to not be noticed by the Limitless Edge. She wasn¡¯t sure how consistently she might be picked out, but it was easier for her to be sensing for any of them at all times than the reverse. Unless they had nothing better to do than seek her specifically, of course. From what she had seen, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. The Limitless Edge had a mere suspicion, and she had no intention to interact enough for them to advance beyond that. There were other pieces of information that she was finally managing to pick out. Not exactly secret, but difficult to ask about if she didn¡¯t know. She couldn¡¯t, for example, walk up to someone and ask about any particularly significant enemies of the whole of the Exalted Quadrant and expect them to react like that was a normal thing to say. But she had heard references to conflicts with ¡®western barbarians¡¯. The exact scope of their threat was yet unclear, but it gave her something to look into. ----- Over the course of time, Erin had grown quite used to Paradise¡¯s new movement patterns. Roaming back and forth, diving down only to launch himself in the air with greater vigor. That made it much more difficult for visiting ships, but he was no longer the lone bastion of safety in the seas between the continents. In fact, people making stops at Paradise out of necessity was a thing of the past. Even ships that sailed in the sea were swifter and more durable, and there were established routes that took them to safe docks along the way. There were still dangers in the deep sea, but they were less likely to bother those on the surface. Regular patrols made sure of it. He regularly achieved something akin to flight now. Unlike a human sized cultivator, his mass was generally proportional to his natural energy stores. In short, while it was possible for pretty much any Assimilation level cultivator to fly even without a proper technique simply by expending sufficient energy, for Paradise it was more akin to a human around the Spirit Building stage attempting to fly. He would reach a significant distance in the air- or perhaps not all that high, given it was barely a single body length. He would hover in the air for a while, generally a few minutes at a time. Calling it actual flight might be a stretch. Every once in a while, Paradise focused only on height, managing to get more than a few kilometers into the air. That was quite a different feeling, as it involved a shifting of his whole body to nearly vertical. Fortunately, he held everything on his back in place as he did so- with Erin¡¯s assistance. Paradise wouldn¡¯t allow her to assist with the actual ¡®flight¡¯ part of things for whatever reason, but she could at least keep people safe. She hadn¡¯t expected that there would be anything special about this time. She made sure to stabilize everything so that people didn¡¯t fly all over and the sect members¡¯ things weren¡¯t strewn everywhere in their domiciles. They went up into the air, and while it seemed to take longer to reach the height of their jump where they felt weightless, Erin considered that was just because of Paradise¡¯s practice and effort. But when things took longer than normal to settle down, she widened her senses¡­ and made her way over to a number of excited disciples at the edge of his shell. Over the edge, she could see everything. Well, it felt like that at least. Once or twice she had actually been off world, and seeing all of Ceretos at once- or at least one side of it- wasn¡¯t fully new to her. But they were high enough to see the thinning of the atmosphere. Fortunately, there were formations that maintained air for the island. They were meant for diving¡­ but here, they were being tested for something else. ¡°Sect head! What¡¯s happening?¡± The worst thing she could do was appear panicked. The second worst would be acting uninformed. So she did her best without actually lying to her disciples. ¡°I¡¯m sure you know that Paradise has been working towards something. This is another step on that path.¡± She was busy enough handling that, but as it turned out Ceretos was quite keen on managing the objects in low orbit, and the addition of an island sized turtle was a significant aberration. So she also had to deal with contact from them. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. She felt movement from the Grandfather Willow as they passed above. Not any sort of hostile intent but¡­ more like a wave. Paradise flapped his flippers at the right time to wave back. In the end, the busiest two hours of Erin¡¯s life came to an end with Paradise nearly running himself dry on energy and crashing back into the ocean. But rather than feeling like a failure, Erin could tell that was exactly what he intended. If only Erin could predict exactly what he was going to do¡­ she would be able to prepare everyone for the next time. But at least she was getting a better picture of what he wanted¡­ even if it made her a bit nervous. Then again, the original purpose of the Island Tenders had faded¡­ perhaps they needed this change as well. ----- It wasn¡¯t a trivial task to switch over from passive cultivation- which was to say, eating things with high amounts of natural energy- to active cultivation where it was circulated with purpose to develop an individual in a specific direction. But Three Squeaks and the others had access to some guidance that made it not quite so difficult for the lions as it might have otherwise been. Specifically, some wolves that cultivated had guidance. It was still an adjustment for lions, but it wasn¡¯t nearly so different as meerkats or hippos. At the very least, they were large quadrupedal predators. In some ways, that was more important than the difference between canines and felines. Meerkats might be ¡®cats¡¯, which meant they shared some features that were useful, but the way they cultivated was more different than similar to the much larger creatures. Among other things was the effectiveness of focusing on the body. A meerkat that grew double in size in all dimensions for a total of eight times its total mass and volume would still be an insignificant physical force. Thus, the wolves¡¯ cultivation was in large part based on growth. There was always the potential to focus on the energy control aspects to make use of various techniques, but the Lower Plains Coalition was still not particularly well versed in those things. Three Squeaks knew how to make fire- and how to stop fire- but most of them were just beginning. ¡°Why can¡¯t I see the whole thing?¡± Mischief complained. ¡°Because you¡¯d misuse it,¡± Rusty Mane chastised his sister. ¡°That, and¡­¡± Three Squeaks held up the tome in front of him. ¡°You can¡¯t read yet either. So it wouldn¡¯t do much good.¡± ¡°There are pictures though!¡± Mischief said. ¡°And without knowing the purpose of those pictures and the circulation paths, you could hurt yourself. For example, this one¡­¡± Three Squeaks held up a paw to keep the lion¡¯s nose out of the book. ¡°Is specifically telling what not to do. Because it seems to build up the body but only breaks it down afterwards.¡± ¡°Or maybe they weren¡¯t good enough at it.¡± ¡°No,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°That is definitely not the case. Remind me, what were the four stages of cultivation?¡± He looked around at the siblings. ¡°All of you can answer this.¡± ¡°Body Tempering,¡± Rusty Mane said. ¡°And of course Spirit Building.¡± ¡°Then Essence Collection!¡± Mischief said excitedly. ¡°We¡¯re going to reach that level soon!¡± No. No they were not. Well, by some definitions of soon Three Squeaks supposed it was true. But a ten year timeline where the lions were only three years old certainly made that unlikely. Even if they were particularly quick, it would be their whole lifespan again before they could reach that level. And with having to learn proper control, that could add another year or two. Sleek Fur was last. ¡°Then Life Transformation is the end of cultivation,¡± the calmer sister said. ¡°I heard that in a far off country, there¡¯s one of them. A bear that controls a domain a hundred times the size of the Kapok Coalition.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not the end,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°That said¡­ it is an extremely difficult hurdle to surpass.¡± ¡°... No, there¡¯s no one stronger than that,¡± Sleek Fur disagreed. ¡°Dad told us.¡± ¡°That was the strongest one he knew about,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And it¡¯s not precisely wrong. There may have never been any from here but¡­ a higher stage certainly exists.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Rusty Mane asked. ¡°It¡¯s not anyone in your coalition, is it?¡± ¡°Not directly, no. As I said, we don¡¯t even yet have Essence Collection individuals. But¡­ there is a guest. One of those responsible for directing us down these paths.¡± If only Anton was around. But instead, he would have to settle for Ty. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll show you.¡± Ty Quigley was training Half Oink, who had grown into her adult size and showed little signs of stopping, as well as Deep Purr and any others who were interested in swordsmanship- whatever that could be stretched to. ¡°He doesn¡¯t look that strong,¡± Mischief said. ¡°Looks aren¡¯t everything,¡± Ty, answered without looking, his voice stretching towards them. Then he turned his head slightly and smiled. ¡°But if you¡¯d like a demonstration, I can give it. Let¡¯s see¡­ I could part the skies. Splitting the ground would be too harmful, so that option is out.¡± ¡°I want to test you directly,¡± Mischief said. Ty shrugged. ¡°If you want. I have to warn you, it will be sharp.¡± ¡°Sharp? Hah, I¡¯ve dealt with sharp.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Ty nodded. ¡°Come at me as you please. But do be careful.¡± Everyone else watched- her siblings with curiosity, and Ty¡¯s students with determined focus. Three Squeaks paid close attention as well, because he rarely got to see such power demonstrated. Anton had a good point that it would be rather troublesome for the locals if he just fired his bow as he pleased- though he always made his arrows fade away now so it probably wouldn¡¯t matter. Ty stood there with his sword out¡­ but his aura flooded the area. Three Squeaks could feel his skin prickling, even with nothing directed at him. Surely Mischief should have felt more. She moved forward cautiously, at first. ¡°Hah, this is just to intimidate me,¡± she declared. ¡°I¡¯ll show you.¡± She then began to charge forward¡­ before digging her claws into the ground and planting all of her legs, throwing up dirt as she tried to stop her progress. And she did¡­ enough to only receive a few dozen bloody wounds on her front. ¡°I told you to be careful,¡± Ty said. ¡°Imagine what it would have been like if I hadn¡¯t drawn back.¡± None of the wounds on Mischief were deep. At least, not to a level that would be life threatening for a cultivator- and she¡¯d learned to use her natural energy to promote wound recovery. Even so¡­ there were more than a few, with significant quantities of blood dripping as she slowly backed away. ¡°... I don¡¯t like swords,¡± she said as she tried to maintain some sort of dignity. Fortunately, Ty didn¡¯t take the rejection of his style as an insult. Mischief¡¯s two siblings rushed towards her, licking her fur and wounds. Mischief just collapsed in place with her head on her paws, looking lost in thought. Three Squeaks understood. Just getting a taste of that power required a lot of thinking. Chapter 797 Now that his technique was at a base functional, Devon was going to look quite foolish if it was immediately picked out by Vrelt or if he couldn¡¯t sense anything past their barriers. Was it even alright to pry into the business of a planet that just wanted to be left alone¡­? Going by the best example he had, Devon ultimately decided that the circumstances were different from what they encountered before. And while using an unfriendly attitude as a reason to spy on people might seem like a bit of a stretch, it was exactly the sort of thing they shouldn¡¯t ignore if there might be plotting involved. In short, if he ultimately found out that they were just grumpy and isolationist, he would share nothing more from his invasion of privacy than what was necessary. Devon wasn¡¯t the only one with suspicions about the place, of course. The core of the alliance agreed that it was necessary, otherwise Devon wouldn¡¯t have continued to go forward with his attempt unilaterally. Most importantly, Anton supported him. That didn¡¯t mean it wouldn¡¯t end up as a mistake- but his grandfather had helped him avoid many in the past. In several instances, he had been warned and didn¡¯t heed his advice or failed to seek guidance when it would have helped. A ship carried him just outside the system, beyond the range it was expected anyone would detect them. They couldn¡¯t be certain, of course, but ultimately the whole point was about discovery. If Vrelt was both much more powerful than anticipated and so easily provoked into hostile action, then they would have to deal with them eventually regardless. It was unlikely a single planet could challenge their alliance, but it wasn¡¯t impossible either. Instead of delaying any further, Devon made his way towards the system, approaching nearly perpendicular to the rotational plane of the populated planet. He kept a slight angle, just to be cautious, but they hadn¡¯t previously detected anything stretching beyond the confines of the world. It was mainly in case some bored cultivator stretched their senses to the stars, though they would likely have to be beyond Life Transformation for that to be the case. So far, they had only seen such power originate in two places, the Sylanis Cluster and the core of their alliance. Once Devon found himself close enough, he negated his momentum relative to the rotation of the planet below. Then he slowly reached out, thin chains growing. He¡¯d tested himself in many ways over the years, but he couldn¡¯t help but be nervous. Chains grew across each other and stretched to the far side of the planet, requiring a significant expenditure of energy but not having much presence themselves as each link was minimal in power. The chains then crossed each other in perpendiculars, forming the full nine chains dividing the area among them. Each gap could be the size of a country, but the whole planet was encircled with his technique. And while he might have certain blind spots, there was nothing that said he couldn¡¯t rotate his chains later, either when creating them anew or actively as they remained in place. The entirety of the area inside of his technique became clear to him¡­ but at first it was only the outside of the barrier. He still had to push through that¡­ no, he needed to be more subtle than that. The barrier would certainly react to force. His main encouragement was that barriers on such a large scale usually had to have uniform strengths and weaknesses, so once he found a vulnerability he could exploit it. Through his web of chains, a vague image of the planet below filled his head. It was indistinct. Blurred. The energy he was detecting was scattered by distance and the distortion of the planetary barrier. He still needed to find his way through¡­ but before that, he slowly tried to adjust his own perceptions. Though he couldn¡¯t clearly pick out everything, he felt larger sources of power. Large cities or sect grounds, as well as a few individual cultivators. He didn¡¯t actively reach out, so he couldn¡¯t learn much except that some were at the peak of Life Transformation¡­ or possibly just beyond. Rather than try to push through to detect more, Devon slowly unraveled his technique, withdrawing the chains into himself and capturing any loose energy he would have unleashed. It was only a few minutes, but he had expended about a tenth of his energy. While that meant he could have continued for half an hour to an hour, he didn¡¯t want to exhaust himself and make mistakes. Furthermore, he wanted to make sure he kept his actions subtle. He slowly began to peel himself away from the gravitational pull of the planet, careful not to surge his energy in an easily detectable way. There was little he could do to hide if someone focused on his precise position, but he could at least not sloppily spew energy around himself. ----- The second day, at an effectively random time, Devon prepared his next attempt. He was going to use what he had picked up about the formations to his advantage. They were meant to protect against attacks, but they couldn¡¯t stop the simple flow of energy in and out. It would not only have been expensive, but also cut them off from one of the main sources of natural energy replenishment that planets tended to rely on- their sun. It wasn¡¯t much power in any one space, but over half of the surface of a planet in a constant stream it quickly added up. Devon¡¯s energy wasn¡¯t like the sun, but he knew that small amounts of energy could get through. The individual portions of his chains were fairly minimal, but he had no intention to bring the net close enough to directly interact with the formations. While they might not react to a pure wave of energy, something intentionally concentrated was more likely to provoke a response. He did ever so slightly tighten up the area he was covering, shrinking about half the distance between his mesh and the outer layer of the formation. He thought about dangling a strand of energy down from a single point, but if he was going to bother with that he would just individually sense locations from his own position. Instead, he continued his earlier method of balancing the distortion to refocus the natural energy into solid shapes. He knew what people and places were supposed to feel like, if not any specific individuals, so he was able to slowly refine his process. He picked out the shapes of some larger buildings along with the general terrain of the planet, but didn¡¯t get much more than that- and he could see that with his eyes. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He pushed himself a bit further on his second attempt before heading to rest. Practical usage of his World Encompassing Chains was draining, moreso when there were actual consequences to failure. His third approach he focused on resolving the energy signatures of the more powerful cultivators. He wanted to at least pick up the general cultivation styles they had. Day by day he had more success, feeling past their barrier. He approached from different angles every time, generally whenever he felt fully refreshed. So far, he detected no reaction to him- but he was ready to flee at top speed if they sent ships after him. It was unclear if they had starships, but they at least had flying ships- those had been the minimal contact they had, across the barrier. From days to weeks, the picture became more and more clear. He could sense the strongest among them, and had a growing certainty there were some Worldbinding or Assimilation equivalents among them. He recognized the general kinds of cultivation techniques among them, but as for practical information he had gained very little besides a rudimentary count of powerful cultivators. At some point, when his senses were clear enough, he fell into a moment of habit. Not a harmful one, but one that had proved useful many times in the past to himself and everyone in the alliance. He slipped a little bit of a specific sensory technique into his work subconsciously¡­ and the feedback he got was clear. Devon sighed. They really had their grubby hands everywhere, didn¡¯t they? He probably should have tried sensing for the Twin Soul Sect earlier, and now that he considered it he did feel the vague auras of other cultivation methods influenced by the Trigold Cluster. It wasn¡¯t everyone, but there were more than a few elites that seemed to fit the category. The Exalted Quadrant¡­ either wasn¡¯t part of the occupation of the world, or they were actually hiding their cultivations for once. He didn¡¯t sense anyone practicing their methods. So, a longer term occupation by the Trigold Cluster- and more than just their regular infiltration. It was far too early in the cycle for those involved to have built themselves up from a collective of infiltrators. It made some sense- on Ceretos, the Exalted Quadrants had their own claims. And the Trigold Cluster was expansive enough that their larger sects might try various different strategies to extract the most they could from the lower realms. If only the World Encompassing Chains had advanced to the level it could be used as an attacking technique¡­ but of course, Devon didn¡¯t actually want to destroy the planet. He doubted that would ever be the most efficient option. Furthermore¡­ he was fairly certain that not all of the planet was beholden to the whims of the Trigold Cluster. If that was the case, he would call upon the alliance to scour the planet of everyone. That wasn¡¯t something they¡¯d ever had to do- neither in the war with the Sylanis Cluster nor with Ekict- but they might come upon a situation it was necessary. Devon slowly withdrew his energy, before his agitation revealed something. He needed to report what he had found, at least. It would explain the unfriendliness, as they wouldn¡¯t want their secret revealed. Unfortunately, that also meant that the Trigold Cluster would have more information on how far their reach as a spacefaring civilization had gone. Even if their communication methods were worse, certainly by now they must have transmitted something. They might not have enough information to make the connection to Ceretos and Weos¡­ but that was something that the alliance as a whole needed to manage. ----- After Devon¡¯s discovery, there were quite a few in favor of more aggressive observation tactics or even a direct assault, but cooler heads prevailed. At the very least, waiting another few months wouldn¡¯t make much difference. Devon didn¡¯t yet know exactly how many people might be beholden to the Trigold Cluster, but if there were people they could contact that weren¡¯t part of them, it was better to work with the locals to help them secure their own release. Just stomping onto other planets and clearing them out might ultimately benefit them, but it would probably also breed resentment and fear. Meanwhile, In¡¯istra had been able to solve their problems with relatively little interference by Anton beyond some knowledge and the detection techniques. The Trigold Cluster tended to conceal the cultivations of more than just the Twin Soul Sect, but they were the ones who were the most deeply embedded and ironically the easiest to reveal with the techniques that had been created. The Trigold Cluster must know by now that their concealment was fallible, but hopefully they wouldn¡¯t learn the exact method. To properly learn more about the planet, Devon needed more than just energy. He needed interactions. Conversations, preferably. The natural energy would be a good medium to transfer that sound- the atmosphere wouldn¡¯t reach all the way to him, after all- but it would take a significant adjustment to actually hear anything of use. The first sounds he got were¡­ cacophonic. Noise from the whole planet, or a significant part of it, all at once but also distorted. Perhaps it was better to focus on smaller areas, but Devon was confident he could filter through things to pick out significant conversations if he started at a broad range that was still significantly less than every noise on the planet. Preferably, he would pick out conversations around the strongest cultivators and biggest sects. That could still be hundreds of relevant conversations all at once, but any that caught his attention he could focus on. If he wasn¡¯t maintaining the World Encompassing Chains, he might actually be able to fully listen to dozens of conversations at once. Instead, he thought narrowing it down to a handful of actual focus would be required- but he should at least be able to get a better picture of how the planet was functioning. Like¡­ where did they get new resources if they had a planetary formation but weren¡¯t spreading beyond¡­? That was always a struggle for cultivators. Chapter 798 Taking in the overall picture of Vrelt, Devon didn¡¯t find it difficult to understand why things were in their current state. Influence from the occupying Trigold Cluster would obviously reject outsiders. It was difficult to tell if that would be the opinion of the natural inhabitants, though there were likely some. And they would have good reason, just like Ekict. Something had to be done¡­ but the question was what it should be, and when. Launching a simple invasion of the plant, Devon was certain the alliance could kill the vast majority of the Trigold Cluster¡¯s occupying forces¡­ but if some went into hiding, what could they do about that? Occupying the planet themselves in an invasion wasn¡¯t a way to get into the good graces of its proper inhabitants. Likewise, while Devon believed their forces could overcome the locals, it wasn¡¯t necessarily so easy. If his proportions for the Trigold Cluster disciples was correct and all of the rest joined them, then Vrelt could handle itself easily. They should have twice as many people not directly connected to the Trigold Cluster. But of course, some of their ranks were infiltrated by people they trusted, and they might believe that there were sufficient benefits to allowing the occupying forces to remain even if they knew. They would be wrong- the Trigold Cluster would absolutely be stripping them bare at some point- but it was something people could believe. And while the alliance could certainly overpower the planet, the presence of post-Life Transformation cultivators was somewhat of a worry. There were more mobile cultivators than just Devon- either retaining their full capacity or a significant portion of it wherever they went- but with some of the promising candidates choosing to Ascend, there were definitely limits to what they could bring to bear. Rutera¡¯s Ascension-class ships and their various fleets would be sufficient to ensure victory- but at how much cost? Not just to their own alliance, but to the planet itself. These things Devon wasn¡¯t qualified to answer by himself. So he continued to gather whatever information he could, knowing that anything could ultimately be used later whether tactically or politically. ----- Speed. Anton was the fastest he¡¯d ever been, yet he felt like it was not enough. He needed to bind to stars on the route between Ceretos and Akrys. However, he only had two free stars at the moment¡­ and considering what had happened with Poriza he really wanted to pick up exceptional stars. Obviously, he couldn¡¯t just go around randomly fusing stars in systems, but there were various reasonable options. Empty nebulas left over by dead stars wouldn¡¯t result in hurting anything if he formed them back into a single mass, and he could find and perhaps find some manner to Enrich more exceptional specimens. Akrys¡¯ star was an interesting one, but he didn¡¯t want to disrupt the system more than his influence already was. Their sun was at least partially related to the preponderance of sapience there, and he had no guarantee he wouldn¡¯t disrupt that accidentally. Even with his current status, he knew he was still subject to mistakes. The news came to Anton about Vrelt, and he didn¡¯t find himself particularly surprised. He hadn¡¯t suspected it in particular, but it wasn¡¯t that unlikely either. Devon¡¯s feelings about the system actually made it seem more likely that there was something like that going on. Intuition about a large-scale wrongness could guide cultivators of any cultivation level. Anton could have attempted to spy on the planet instead- and most likely he would have done so with less risk several years prior. But he¡¯d already had a focus¡­ and while he hadn¡¯t known that Devon would develop his remarkable technique it still hadn¡¯t felt like something that he had to get involved with. No matter how much he meddled with the affairs of the lower realms, Anton couldn¡¯t be responsible for everything. He was quite glad to see that justified by the actions of many different people. With all that said, when it came time for war- there was no if about it, as a festering wound like the Trigold Cluster could not be left alone- he would certainly be participating. He should probably reserve a bound star for that¡­ though he had to consider whether he would be willing to give it up later. Ekict had been a special exception where giving up a star hadn¡¯t been fully intentional, and he¡¯d kept his bound stars in the Sylanis Cluster. But if things weren¡¯t done well, there could be some resentment in Vrelt afterwards, both due to the overall handling of the situation and a star being bound. Even if it didn¡¯t directly harm people, they might not like it. For allies, Anton¡¯s bound stars were a beacon of safety- for enemies, it was more like a guillotine constantly hanging over their head. Maybe there was a good reason the Sylanis cluster had been well behaved over the last centuries¡­ though some of it was the new generation that didn¡¯t have their heads stuffed full of the same ideas they¡¯d once had. ----- Though he¡¯d already seen it in action, and Chikere had said it straight out, Chidi found it a little bit difficult to believe she was trying to perform every sword move possible and find out the best ones among all of them. But then again, it was such an absurd idea it fit her perfectly. She¡¯d already moved on from simple straight swords to incorporating curved blades and swords of all different sizes, the techniques of each being vastly different. Points or the lack thereof and number of edges were also significant factors. Double edged swords could pivot from a swing into a backswing without flipping around, though they also gave up features in the process. Chidi himself worked merely with a single blade- but that wasn¡¯t the limit of his fighting style. He wielded only a single blade, but he also manipulated the energy around him to act as a formation along with the markings inside of himself. He could produce limitless results¡­ Though practically, his options were usually more limited. But even if he just threw off his enemy¡¯s flow or blocked an attack with a sudden barrier, he had reliable options available. Fighting against Chikere was all at once the same and different from before. She still wielded a great number of blades, the only limitation was that they were no longer based off of a physical form. Individually, there was some strength lost for the lack of a solid core. Part of that was made up for with Chikere using her blood instead, and the rest was the flexibility it allowed. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. If Chidi tried to deflect her blades, or slice them apart, she could simply allow that. She might lose a portion of blood, but reforming what remained into a weapon was much simpler than replacing a whole weapon. And they could transform during battle, making it nearly impossible to tell what attacks would come from where. Chidi sighed, as he found that Chikere was swiftly overcoming her limitations. He didn¡¯t count himself as better than her at any point during her despondency, but he was able to beat her during her early resurgence. Now, he could barely match her. He was quite certain that it would be proper to call her a grand swordmaster again soon. He himself was a bit far from that status still¡­ but there was also a couple hundred years between them so it didn¡¯t really bother him. Losing to her would actually feel more normal. The countless blades stopped. Well, it was technically never much higher than a hundred at once just yet- but just as their sizes and shapes shifted, so did their quantity as Chikere fought. ¡°We¡¯re done now,¡± she declared. ¡°Alright,¡± Chidi nodded. He wasn¡¯t going to force her to spar with him when she didn¡¯t want to. Even if every moment was of great value to him, she had to choose what to do with her own time. ¡°I¡¯m going,¡± Chikere said. ¡°... You¡¯re going to have to be a bit more specific than that,¡± Chidi said as she walked in an unexpected direction. Chikere nodded. ¡°I am going to find the one known as Vari. She is going to help me with the next step of my training.¡± ¡°You want to learn to fight against an unarmed specialist?¡± Chidi asked. Chikere narrowed her eyes at her former disciple. ¡°She doesn¡¯t use swords.¡± ¡°I do know that, yes,¡± Chidi chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s what unarmed means.¡± The reviving swordmaster shook her head. ¡°But I¡¯m unarmed right now, aren¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Only by certain technical definitions. So what is Vari going to help you with?¡± ¡°She will fend off that Everheart guy while I look for Rahayu.¡± ----- ¡°... I didn¡¯t sign up for this!¡± Vari said as Chikere dragged her away by her collar. By the time she properly began to complain, the swordmaster had cut their way out of the atmosphere and they would leave the system soon enough. ¡°You are the only one that can tame Everheart, so you must.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t have to,¡± Vari frowned. ¡°You don¡¯t want to¡­?¡± Chikere tilted her head. ¡°Then fight me and subdue me. I will no longer bother you.¡± Vari considered whether that was possible for her. It might be, at the current moment. Chikere was still weak from everything that happened to her, though her recovery was more of a mental barrier than an actual lack of upper energy or anything like that. Vari sighed, ¡°I guess I should go anyway. There are things we need to convey to Everheart and he¡¯s particularly bad about acknowledging receipt of messages.¡± ¡°Is that something that is supposed to be done?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°But how did I know people got my answer? They would have to respond and then-¡± ¡°You¡¯re fine. Everyone knows you don¡¯t pay attention to anything sent your way. That guy will respond to messages with something unrelated that makes it seem like he didn¡¯t read it at all, and it¡¯s hard to pick out whether he is screwing with you.¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°... He collects techniques, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s one way to say that, yeah.¡± ¡°Inform him that he should be prepared to demonstrate every sword technique to me when we arrive.¡± ¡°You really want to warn him we¡¯re going to show up?¡± Vari raised an eyebrow. ¡°He might kill you, you know.¡± ¡°That is why you are coming along. He won¡¯t kill you.¡± ¡°He might,¡± Vari shrugged. ¡°Pretty sure people have known him for longer only to be suddenly backstabbed and forever curse his name.¡± ¡°But he¡¯s your¡­ uncle?¡± Chikere tilted her head. ¡°First of all, I don¡¯t know if that would stop him. And that never technically happened because he didn¡¯t actually marry my aunt. And he could be lying about everything because the only confirmation I have was from a spear that wanted to kill him. Also, him not killing me doesn¡¯t stop it from happening to you.¡± ¡°It will if you stop it.¡± Vari sighed. ¡°Sure. Whatever.¡± It was rather fascinating to watch a dozen or so blades cut apart space in front of them, with everything around them distorting as Chikere made short hops through or maybe past subspace. It wasn¡¯t necessarily faster than other forms of movement, but it was certainly different. After an hour of not speaking, Chikere picked up the conversation like it had never stopped. ¡°I am supposed to value my body and life, but I have considered the risks against the rewards for this course of action and found them acceptable. Everheart didn¡¯t kill me the last time we fought either, so it will be fine.¡± ¡°When did you last fight him?¡± ¡°Spirit Building,¡± Chikere said plainly. ¡°One of his tombs on Ceretos.¡± ¡°That¡¯s uh¡­ way different than in person,¡± Vari pointed out. ¡°He¡¯s changed a lot since then, and most people wouldn¡¯t say for the better.¡± Chikere wasn¡¯t even looking where they were going as she sliced apart space- though realistically, it was clear there wasn¡¯t going to be anything for a very long distance and at least a few days. ¡°I will be the first to admit I don¡¯t understand people. But that is why his deceptions are less effective on me. Underneath the shell of a grumpy murdering thief is a kindhearted backstabbing trickster.¡± ¡°Is that better¡­?¡± ¡°Only for some people. But he seems to like people from Ceretos and you, so it should be fine.¡± Chapter 799 ¡°This is the outer layer of formations,¡± Vari explained. ¡°If we wait here, then-¡± Intersecting lines cut a myriad of shapes out of the outer barrier, and Vari found herself dragged through by both Chikere and the entrapping forces of the system¡¯s formations. ¡°-then we won¡¯t have to deal with the entrapments and death fields¡­¡± Vari sighed. ¡°Rahayu! Fight me!¡± Even with her upper energy spreading as far as it could, there was no way Chikere¡¯s voice could reach all corners of the system. That was without considering all of the formations in place that made things more difficult. ¡°He¡¯s not going to-¡± ¡°Found him,¡± Chikere said. ¡°He pulled out his sword,¡± she gestured, her network of blades all pointing in the same direction. With her other free hand, she held onto Vari¡¯s shirt and dragged her along. ¡°You really shouldn¡¯t go directly towards things because of the-¡± Vari found herself suddenly yanked to the side as Chikere rapidly turned. ¡°... Maze formations.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve passed through mazes before,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Yeah but you can¡¯t just follow what you¡¯re sensing. It¡¯s intentionally scattered,¡± Vari said. ¡°If we had just waited¡­¡± ¡°Then we would be wasting time and avoiding conflicts that could make us stronger,¡± Chikere folded her arms and nodded. ¡°The solution here is simple. How many branching paths could there possibly be?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s three dimensional so it¡¯s probably¡­ she¡¯s not actually listening,¡± Vari shook her head. But surprisingly, Chikere wasn¡¯t running in random directions either. The formations created invisible but tangible barriers. The problem was that going down a path didn¡¯t necessarily mean making progress in any particular direction. Chikere¡¯s swords began to fly down a path, but they soon seemed to scatter in all directions. Within these formations space wasn¡¯t necessarily linear. Vari didn¡¯t even know if there was a consistent layout to the maze, or if it shifted constantly. She wouldn¡¯t be surprised if it closed off any exits. Attempting to break one¡¯s way out would be worse than wandering endlessly, however. There was a vast amount of energy spent to maintain the solidity of the structure as well as to counterattack to protect it. Chikere had her eyes closed and her arms crossed. Then she nodded. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°You found a way out¡­?¡± Vari asked. ¡°No. I need more swords.¡± It was a relatively new phenomenon for Chikere to create swords out of her blood, so Vari hadn¡¯t yet gotten used to the blood squeezing out of her and spreading everywhere. At least she didn¡¯t have to cut herself open or something, but it certainly didn¡¯t seem healthy. Vari supposed she should probably be contributing to the maze, but figuring out its structure was going to take some time. Even so, the cloud of blood slowly turned into hundreds of tiny blades, scattering in all directions. She could see them everywhere, going every which way. Maybe Chikere was onto something? On the other hand, Everheart was never one to skimp on excess, so she could easily see him creating millions or billions of branches. Depending on which maze this was. Their relative positions to the planets changed, because that was another way to throw off invaders. Actually, Vari couldn¡¯t be certain they weren¡¯t all connected- even if their view of the outside seemed locked in a vague area of space, that might be an illusion. Vari didn¡¯t want to get separated from Chikere, so she watched the blades swirling in the distance. Instead of making things easier, it only became more confusing as they didn¡¯t even seem to go in straight lines, disappearing and reappearing randomly. Still, she might pick out a pattern. Though of course, letting people peacefully wander through a maze wasn¡¯t Everheart¡¯s way. ¡°Take care of those incoming monsters, would you?¡± Chikere asked, though it was more like a demand. Vari was surprised, as she was expecting the swordmaster to immediately jump into battle. But perhaps she couldn¡¯t, with her focus split so many directions. Either way, since she was here Vari figured she should contribute. She was cautious with her movements because she didn¡¯t want to split from Chikere, and returning along her path wouldn¡¯t necessarily result in finding her way back to her previous position. She fell into a stance ready to dodge, deflect, or block with a temporary barrier as necessary. Of course, she was ready to counter with her arms and legs as well. The monsters coming directly were something like a winged gorilla, a snake with spikes along its length, and some sort of whale. Except for the latter, the creatures easily fit through the confines of the maze, but the whale showed off its odd properties by squeezing into the form of the corridor. It was unlikely that any of these were flesh and blood creatures. Not in this place. Everheart preferred to create violent ecosystems where the beasts would be self-sustaining for such a thing. These were part of the formations, most likely. But they should be able to be damaged much like their regular counterparts. The wings seemed excessive in this place without gravity where there was also no atmosphere to push against, but Vari soon found that they were less flight implements and more arsenals of weapons, as the gorilla yelled and flapped those very wings, sending hundreds of razor-sharp feathers at her. She blocked, feeling her hardened energy tremble. She would have avoided them, but she was uncertain if they would track her- or if Chikere was in any state to dodge. She could see the feathers growing back immediately¡­ but as with everything, that would take energy. At least she could hope the creature would exhaust itself. The other two continued to approach, and Vari soon found herself grappling with the creature that was more spike than snake. Placing her arms and legs was quite difficult, and keeping her torso unimpaled took a lot of bending things that shouldn¡¯t be bent. Doing so while staying on the safe side of the creature so she didn¡¯t get sliced apart by feathers was even more tricky. But ultimately she managed to entangle the thing just in time for the whale to approach. Vari could feel its power, and given that it took up all of the space around it she knew it would be difficult to dodge. It didn¡¯t seem to have trouble passing by the gorilla, squeezing around it in a truly uncomfortable manner. But the fact that it was made less of flesh and was more of an amorphous mass didn¡¯t make her more confident in fighting it. So as it approached, mouth open wide, she gave it something to eat. Freshly rolled spike snake, kicked straight down its gullet. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The whale closed its mouth, made a weird sound, and then rapidly expanded, crushing the gorilla against the formations. Then the creatures energy shattered, fading away into motes of light. Oh good. She had been a little worried that they could be real. She did not want to know what the innards of a space-filling whale would be like. Vari turned back to Chikere- fortunately they were still in the same ¡®zone¡¯ and hadn¡¯t gotten separated. ¡°Any progress?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to need a few¡­¡± Chikere waved her hands vaguely. ¡°Hours?¡± ¡°Minutes or days,¡± Chikere said. ¡°But maybe those.¡± Honestly, being entrapped in this formation for just a ¡®few days¡¯ seemed merciful. So Vari settled down and waited, wondering if they should move so that the maze couldn¡¯t take advantage of their stationary positions. Time passed quickly, from the perspective of a cultivator¡­ and eventually Chikere made her final declaration. ¡°I¡¯ve got it!¡± ¡°A way out?¡± Chikere waved her over, then grabbed Vari¡¯s wrist. ¡°On my count, I want you to kick this spot. As hard as you can.¡± ¡°The empty space?¡± Vari confirmed. As far as she was aware, that wasn¡¯t a relevant bit of formation, and she didn¡¯t think Chikere had a better understanding of such things. ¡°Yes, the empty space,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Here, this tiny sword will mark it.¡± Less than a single droplet of blood made up the ¡®weapon¡¯, but it gave Vari something to aim for. She looked around, watching Chikere¡¯s hundreds of blades as they continued to roam. Then the countdown came, and she did her best to match her timing. Chikere swung a blade in her own free hand, while at the same time every other blade made some sort of motion. And then, with a burst of energy, they were¡­ nowhere. Which also meant not trapped in a formation. ¡°Aha,¡± Chikere nodded, as suddenly her myriad swords flowed back towards and into her. ¡°I thought so.¡± ¡°You knew this would happen?¡± ¡°Well, there were only really three options I could think of. A massive space shattering shock to a large part of the formation could result in the formation shattering, us being tossed into a disconnected subspace, or another thing. Two of the options were good, so it was basically guaranteed to resolve our problems.¡± ¡°... Was the other thing our complete annihilation as all of the formation¡¯s counterdefenses activated? Because I would have bet on that as the more probable option,¡± Vari said. ¡°Nah, it¡¯s two out of three so it was in our favor.¡± ¡°But that was only the possibilities you thought about.¡± ¡°Yeah, but I was right so¡­¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°Obviously that¡¯s how it works.¡± ¡°I thought you were supposed to be less suicidal now.¡± ¡°I brought you, didn¡¯t I?¡± Chikere tilted her head. ¡°I was betting on that helping. Now let¡¯s cut our way back to somewhere less boring. Just wait, Rahayu~¡± Chikere cut them back from whatever weird place they ended up in to ¡®real¡¯ space. They happened to come out on a planet, which wasn¡¯t necessarily safer. For one thing, there were entirely different formations and- ¡°Who are you?¡± Right, tomb raiders. Though this wasn¡¯t really a tomb, was it? Just the Everheart System now, because Everheart wasn¡¯t dead or pretending to be dead. ¡°We won¡¯t let you snatch our prize.¡± Chikere looked at the group of swordsmen, then at a sword stabbed into a pedestal, then back at them. She reached out and grabbed the blade, yanking it free with no regards for traps or sense. ¡°You have the best sword,¡± Chikere pointed the blade. ¡°Come. Match me.¡± Obviously they weren¡¯t going to fight her one on one¡­ but from Vari¡¯s perspective it was almost like that. The one she¡¯d pointed to was the strongest, and thus the fastest to get within striking range. The indicated man¡¯s weapon crossed with Chikere¡¯s and¡­ the sword she picked up was sliced in two. But her arm was already reaching out for his wrist, catching his blade with its edge against her throat. An instant later his sword was cutting off his own head, and then Chikere rushed towards the second best. It wasn¡¯t an anomaly that her first sword had broken. Each and every time, she forced her own weapon to be destroyed as she snatched the blade from her next attacker. And no matter how quickly they came, over a dozen of them, she moved fast enough to defeat them individually as if they were nearly standing still. When the final and potentially weakest blade of the bunch pierced through its owner, a twist of her arm shattered that too. ¡°... I thought you hated breaking swords.¡± ¡°I got over it,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Also most of those would be garbage even by my old standards.¡± Vari nodded. At least she was fairly certain the others had been from the Trigold Cluster and not the Scarlet Alliance somewhere. It really wouldn¡¯t do to have Chikere killing their own allies¡­ though for some certain portion of sword cultivators they might not care. There were other obsessed warriors, but they were less likely to end up in instant conflict with Chikere. ¡°This way,¡± Chikere declared. ¡°Are you sure? Because that doesn¡¯t feel like Rahayu but-¡± of course, it was too late. And they¡¯d already been spotted. ¡°Luksa.¡± The large woman grinned as she came into view, hefting her large morningstar. Luksa was a proper Augmentation cultivator, and had been one of the few Harmonious Citadel experts to survive the war. Mostly because she had turned tail or been kidnapped by Everheart. It sure seemed like the first one, based on her current expression. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re the one,¡± Luksa grinned. ¡°You caused us a lot of trouble, with your reverse cultivation technique¡­ Everheart also said that if you¡¯re stupid enough to show up, the consequences are your fault.¡± ¡°You must have always been a terrible saint,¡± Vari grimaced. ¡°Not at all, I was just as good at it as the rest of us,¡± Luksa laughed. ¡°And now I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Bring me Rayahu.¡± ¡°You think you can just waltz in here and ask for whoever you want?¡± ¡°I can,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Yeah that¡¯s what he said you¡¯d be like. Well, since he does want to see you I suppose I can allow it.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Vari grimaced, ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is a good idea. Rahayu is with Everheart now. He might have changed what if¡­?¡± Chikere shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. He¡¯s just going to try to kill me. Nothing serious.¡± Was this Chikere really more cognizant of her own life? Vari wasn¡¯t certain about that. And she was a little concerned about the fact it seemed she would be fighting Luksa alone. Everheart probably knew what was happening and probably wouldn¡¯t actually let her die. But she could also believe he said those things. And if she didn¡¯t give it her best, she would regret the outcome regardless of her life or death. Chapter 800 Given the opportunity, Chikere swiftly left her Everheart-deflecting-buddy behind. She wasn¡¯t abandoning her. Ultimately, Vari should be safer without her around. And it was a good opportunity for her. Perhaps even better than Chikere¡¯s upcoming battle with Rahayu, given her style. But there was no more time for Chikere to think about that. She sensed Rahayu approaching. And if he didn¡¯t try to kill her, she was going to be very upset. Chidi was a decent sparring partner, but his lack of experience and timidity meant he couldn¡¯t yet push her as far as she needed. Chikere understood she had been on the wrong path when she went to fight the Limitless Edge, but she was confident in her current route. She found him in a field of giant metal spikes. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. The spikes had thin offshoots along their length. Leaves? She¡¯d heard about something like this at some point. ¡°Steelsoul Bamboo,¡± Rahayu offered. ¡°Ah, thank you,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t know what it was called.¡± Rahayu slowly drew his blade from his sheath, an even scraping noise reaching her ears. And then¡­ his blade stabbed into her back. Just like when they had first met, except instead of piercing all the way through her it only pierced through her skin as she blocked it. ¡°Good. I had heard you were not doing well, and I didn¡¯t wish to be disappointed.¡± ¡°I¡¯m great, thanks,¡± Chikere said. Blood bloomed out of her, releasing its density. Her right arm swiped in an impossible configuration, aiming for Rahayu¡¯s neck. Obviously, she didn¡¯t get him. His style was much the same as before, but that didn¡¯t mean he would be easily defeated. His path to perfection was through a single blade. Each move of Rahayu¡¯s countered dozens of Chikere¡¯s blades of blood, his steps perfection to slip past countless cuts and thrusts and force her to defend herself. The Steelsoul Bamboo hindered attacks, even for cultivators of their level. It was not that they could not cut through it, but each slice was incrementally delayed, losing some of its power¡­ and the falling plants themselves could be lethal weapons. Chikere didn¡¯t want to test her energy defenses against the impossibly thin leaves. Fighting against Rayahu, a little slip up on her part and she could meet her death. Rahayu might be dancing on an even sharper edge than herself, as failing to deal with any of her hundred or so weapons could easily be fatal. That said, quantity wasn¡¯t everything. Each sweep of his blade tore apart many of her blades. That said, she only lost a portion of upper energy. The blood itself was not annihilated- only a small portion directly along the cutting path. The main structure continued on¡­ and she learned how to resist more attacks, working towards impossible angles. Of course, only relying on the angle being impossible was insufficient to stop Rahayu. She also had to be unpredictable. And she had just the way to do that. Chikere drew first blood. If her attack hadn¡¯t been so pathetic, it would have done more than nick Rahayu¡¯s shoulder. On the other hand, anything that seemed like it would be effective would have been countered. It was precisely that it was such a foolish move that it worked. Her blades could act synchronously to be one perfect weapon, or independently like a wild mob rioting. Her attacks were filled with killing intent yet full of hesitation. Unflinching, yet merciful. Or they could be alternately ruthless and pathetic. As each patch of Steelsoul Bamboo was cut asunder, the two warriors moved deeper, seeking to use its cover against their opponents. ----- The weight of the morningstar crashing down towards Vari¡¯s head was much greater than a mountain as she caught it, the spikes poking between her splayed fingers. She could feel the changes in Luksa¡¯s cultivation, the complete lack of fake benevolence replaced with the honesty of uncaring power. Vari already felt accomplished for having stood up to a single move from an Augmentation cultivator. She¡¯d done it before, but only when wielding the true Luminous Heartpiercer versus the spear saint¡¯s replacement. In that case, she¡¯d had the home terrain advantage and a plan. Furthermore, she was prepared to fight against Damjan, drawing upon his power through the promise of the Glorious Harmony Technique. Here, she had neither of those advantages. This was Luksa¡¯s turf now, being a member of Everheart¡¯s little cult. She tossed Vari away towards a wall covered in spikes- no doubt one of the tamer and more obvious dangers on the planet. Vari¡¯s path had been filled with twists and turns. Her practice of the Holy Harmony Technique and devotion to the Harmonious Citadel when they showed nothing but contempt in turn had stifled her. Her freedom and growth came when she seized those promises for herself. And then the Harmonious Citadel fell. Even until now, she wasn¡¯t quite sure what that meant for her. She was aware of some small surges of power upon the deaths of the saints, but with their numbers having run out that well had run dry. She caught herself before she hit the wall. No time to think about how things should be right now. Her energy reached out, forming a barrier half the height of a person between herself and Luksa, a simple cone to deflect her as she charged forward. That slowed her enough for Vari to take a proper stance, then her leg came up to catch Luksa¡¯s wrist. Against a less durable foe, she might have shattered the limb, but if Luksa were so fragile she couldn¡¯t withstand the recoil of her own blows. Vari used the momentum of the clash to push herself away from the falling morningstar, her left hand still numb from blocking a single attack. She felt it still. A slight connection was there. After all, despite forsaking that promise¡­ Luska had still made it. But Vari knew that wouldn¡¯t be enough. Not now, and not later. Stolen story; please report. The ground trembled as the structure around them cracked. Did Luksa lack the control, or did she not care? Neither were particularly better for Vari at the moment. She had to continue to focus on defense. Fighting unarmed, without overwhelming power, relied on redirecting the energy of your opponent¡¯s attacks. If that was not properly accomplished, it was simply a downgrade from using a proper weapon. Though Vari wasn¡¯t dedicated to a lack of weapons as a concept. Her boots and gauntlets were weapons of a kind, it just felt good to fight within the constraints of her own body¡¯s reach. Defending wasn¡¯t just about backing away from your opponent, blocking, and deflecting. Sometimes you also had to advance towards your opponent to get inside their reach. As Luksa whirled her heavy weapon in two hands, Vari slipped past striking the inside of Luska¡¯s shoulder as she went. With that came a bit of energy. It wasn¡¯t enough, though. She needed something more. Somehow, withdrawing from the battle had completely slipped her mind. Even her survival was secondary to her moment of comprehension. The building trembled. Pillars cracked and shattered. Walls were destroyed as the two combatants danced about. Vari tumbled through gouts of flame and bursts of poison as traps were triggered. They seemed to be slowly moving towards more fortified positions, their collateral damaging shrinking as the structures gained durability. This limited Vari¡¯s mobility, since her opponent wasn¡¯t making openings for her anymore. Then, finally, she was driven into a corner. Simply relying on her speed and agility to get out wasn¡¯t as simple as it might seem. Luksa was by no means slow despite the heavy force of her weapon. Two hands raised, vast quantities of upper energy gathered. So this was it, then. The final moment. Vari took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment as she took in her opponent¡¯s power. ¡°Don¡¯t kill her!¡± a voice shouted from nearby. ¡°I was planning to let her live regardless,¡± the powerful woman declared. Everheart¡¯s chuckle filled the room. ¡°I was talking to my niece.¡± Vari didn¡¯t quite hear the exchange. She was thinking about her opponent, and her own ability. Her mind was going through the maze of spatial distortions from earlier. That wasn¡¯t in her area of expertise, but she could still make use of some of that. The morningstar came down, power surging through Luksa and nearly crushing Vari¡¯s own from where she stood. But inside of her, her own compressed power sprang forth. Hearing Everheart¡¯s warning wouldn¡¯t have changed much. She didn¡¯t have sufficient control over her retributive attack to actually make that choice. A combination of physical deflection, bending space, and unevenly shaped barriers resulted in both combatants being blasted apart, a large part of the offensive energy resulting in that movement instead of crushing their bodies. ----- The best part about infinity was that if Chikere thought she was going to run out of useful moves, she only had to come up with more. Some of them were truly awful, but even attacking completely opposite of your opponent¡¯s direction could be a feint if you believed hard enough. And while her initial instincts screamed at her to avoid such nonsensical options, she resisted the urge and simply fought. Those moves might not bring her any closer to a victory in this battle, but every swing of a sword brought her closer to perfection. And the closer she was to perfection, the closer her swords made of herself would be. Rahayu wanted a good fight, but he also wanted to win. At some point in the battle, he began to wear down Chikere by specifically targeting her free floating blood, making it impossible for her to reform them into blades after he shattered them. That meant drawing more from her reserves, which was unfortunate along with the actual bleeding she was doing from the few small wounds she had taken. But she condensed extra blood for entirely this reason. She still had enough to function. She just needed to end the battle soon, because she didn¡¯t want to have to explain to Engineer Uzun and the rest of the team why she let her replacement bits and pieces get damaged. And if she died, that was kind of like letting them all get destroyed. The previously perceived perfection of a sword that could cut open a path to the upper realms for ascension was nothing to either of the two in their current states. Severing space was quite trivial for either of them at the current moment, and attacks seemed to come from every direction as Rahayu spun around Chikere, forcing her to defend more than she was comfortable with. She thought of her apprentice, and how he took control over battles. She wasn¡¯t a formation expert, her mind not tuned to the deep complexities of everything energy flows could produce. However, she did understand patterns, especially the patterns of sword combat. As things were going, she was going to be defeated. Killed, even. Not out of malice, but out of necessity for growth. Chikere could tell that Rahayu was also pushing towards Augmentation, and she felt his bitterness at the lack of proper challenge in this system. One move, and Chikere responded with ten. Two moves, and Chikere responded with a hundred. A third move sliced open a rift that held its form for an excruciatingly long moment, cluttering the battlefield as Steelsoul Bamboo was alternately pulled towards and propelled away from the area. Chikere saw it. The path to her victory. The goal of training to Rahayu was to properly surpass him, and even though she once reached a state that might have been greater than him it was a path she no longer followed. She had to push her current self. She dodge and weaved, forcing him to take certain actions. Her weapons came from just the right angle to force a particular counterattack, though it cost her a dozen swords worth of blood for no visible results. And technically, that particular attack really didn¡¯t advantage her. But it put Rahayu in just the right position. His blade came down at her right shoulder. Chikere dodged left. Her arm fell to the right. Space split apart with a booming noise as air flowed into the gaps. A single blade stabbed backwards, away from the rift. But as it split a small opening in space, the collapsing rift merged two points. Her blade pierced through Rahayu¡¯s back. The battle was over. Chikere picked up her arm. Having a detachable arm was great, actually. ¡°Kill me,¡± Rahayu said, looking down at the sword of blood coming out of his chest. ¡°This attack should have done so. I can¡¯t bear to proceed like this.¡± ¡°You need to look at that sword closer,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Aside from the color, it should be rather familiar.¡± Then she shrugged, ¡°This doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m willing to take you as an apprentice or anything. But I can¡¯t just end your path here. I need to see what happens next.¡± Rahayu carefully pulled his own sword out of his back. Not his current one, of course, but one that he had used in the lower realms. The location of the wound was the same as well, though it wasn¡¯t sufficient to incapacitate him as he was. He smiled slightly. A loud rumbling noise rang out as Chikere looked back through the carnage they had left. ¡°Oh, Vari¡¯s done! We¡¯ll probably be heading out now. See you later, okay?¡± Rayahu nodded. ¡°You will.¡± Chapter 801 As swiftly as Vari and Chikere had entered Everheart¡¯s territory, they were gone. That was only possible with his blessing, but it was obvious that he did have a soft spot for his niece. And there were other reasons as well. ¡°I thought I¡¯d get more out of it,¡± Luksa admitted. ¡°She¡­ doesn¡¯t hate me as much as I thought she would. Or perhaps¡­ she is in better control of it.¡± ¡°I¡¯d say it¡¯s the latter,¡± Everheart commented. ¡°After all, she learned to control her own devotion flow even before reaching Integration. It¡¯s not odd for you to receive very little malice either. And what of you, Rahayu?¡± The man nodded, ¡°I¡¯ve learned quite a bit. This should cut at least a century off of my advancement.¡± Luksa sighed. ¡°That Chikere as well. I said I would kill her friend and got nothing. Was I mistaken? Perhaps it is merely a superficial relationship.¡± Rahayu shook his head. ¡°That is only expected. I do not know how close these two were in particular, but while her loyalty appears strong¡­ she is not the type to hold grudges for long. Or rather, she would tend to deal with them instead of letting them linger. Besides, you didn¡¯t kill or even seriously injure Vari.¡± ¡°Yeah, but she wasn¡¯t supposed to be able to predict that,¡± Luksa frowned. ¡°This planet you came from is full of odd people.¡± ¡°That may be the case,¡± Everheart admitted. ¡°But your comparisons to Ceretos are twisted by your own home planet.¡± ¡°Ugh, don¡¯t remind me of that place. I¡¯m glad I got out of there.¡± ¡°I would have caused more trouble before I left if I felt that way,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Your trouble was already quite sufficient,¡± Rahayu commented. ¡°I don¡¯t like it,¡± Luksa said. ¡°We¡¯re too weak. Even with you,¡± Luksa glared at Everheart, ¡°We¡¯re barely a minor faction.¡± ¡°I think you simply underestimate how much the Scarlet Alliance has grown,¡± Everheart pointed out. ¡°But it¡¯s true we do need more people. I was thinking of recruiting from our largest neighbors.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not likely going to run into many Augmentation cultivators from a collapsing sect,¡± Luksa pointed out. ¡°Or Integration cultivators with extreme potential.¡± ¡°Well, not by accident of course,¡± Everheart grinned. ----- The biggest difficulty with the insects, Three Squeaks determined, was not communicating with them. Their sign language was adaptable enough, and they could understand the pervasive speech on the planet. The stronger among them could even replicate the sounds of speech with their energy. He didn¡¯t even have too much trouble teaching them about cultivation, as if he were some sort of knowledgeable elder and not¡­ well, himself. No, the difficult part was wondering if he was being watched by her. It didn¡¯t matter how much Anton told him that the Great Queen was friendly, it didn¡¯t prevent her from being terrifying. An unbreakable body- from his perspective- and that was without considering her ability to ignore the effects of natural energy. Scary. But ultimately, Three Squeaks knew his concerns were just worry. And while Anton said that worry could be useful, developing higher level cognition wasn¡¯t all fun and games. On that note, each generation was growing more rapidly, up to a certain point. As far as ¡®generations¡¯ went, that was about a year for meerkats. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t have any children of his own yet, which was something of an oddity¡­ but these were odd times. They were growing in numbers rapidly, but they could grow even faster if they wanted to. Instead, the coalition was trying to be conservative. Talks of famine made them fear for things going back to how they had been several years prior. It wasn¡¯t just the threat of locusts or the like- though they were more prepared to deal with them if it happened again- but also differing amounts of rainfall and temperature and so many things they hadn¡¯t even had the time to think about before when they were just scavenging for food. Growing food felt almost unnatural at first, but the benefits proved themselves quickly. It meant being able to stay in the same burrows for longer- potentially forever. And while not all of their members settled down in a set location, the greater quantity of everything from the tastiest scorpions to the ponderous hippos meant that even with their increasing numbers they didn¡¯t need that much more space. At least not as far as sapient individuals were concerned. ----- The attack came in the night- but not without warning. Meerkats had the luxury of living inside, but not all of their members had the same defensive opportunities. There were some structures they had creatures- things like ¡®fences¡¯ and ¡®walls¡¯- but nothing that could withstand a real attack. And certainly not for everyone living with them. Thus, they took up a proper meerkat tradition¡­ though admittedly the eagles were much better at it. Just a couple of them watching from the skies at all hours of the day could cover all of the coalition¡¯s territory. And the real threats tended to be the most obvious ones. Like this. Lions, marching upon them. And unlike Rumbling Growl and the young lions, they came not openly during the day but stealthily at night. Or rather, some of them were trying to be stealthy. Three Squeaks was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he approached the meeting. ¡°What¡¯s the report?¡± he asked. ¡°A dozen lions, at least,¡± said an eagle from her perch. ¡°I saw the pride leader approaching¡­ and it at first seemed he was alone. But there were many lionesses slinking along beside him, concealing their energy. Most in Spirit Building, or close to it. Except¡­ the pride leader himself. It feels like he has stepped into Essence Collection, or a similar level of power.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Deep Purr had questions in that regard. ¡°They don¡¯t properly know how to cultivate¡­ do they?¡± The eagle shrugged, her wings fluttering. ¡°Perhaps they have figured it out. Or perhaps he simply ate a vast quantity of others.¡± ¡°We should have done something sooner¡­¡± Three Squeaks said. Deep Purr shook his head. ¡°It was best not to start a conflict.¡± ¡°Perhaps, but we didn¡¯t keep track of them even though we were aware of the potential threat. We should have, but we were too focused on our internal matters,¡± Three Squeaks replied. ¡°Does it matter?¡± the loud and deep rumbles of Contented Grunt joined the conversation. ¡°Later, we can reflect on whether this could have been prevented. Now, we fight. Can we count on the swordmaster?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Deep Purr shook his head. ¡°If you do not think we can count on him, then we can¡¯t,¡± Contented Grunt said. ¡°We can hope that it does not have to be tested. But there is basically no chance that things happen without a fight. We can try diplomacy, but I would bet they would simply use the time to get into an ambush position.¡± ¡°It might be worth it¡­¡± Deep Purr said. ¡°After all, it will let us bring more of our forces. We can¡¯t draw upon all of the coalition- especially not immediately- but we can gather more soldiers without leaving anywhere vacant with more time.¡± ¡°I¡¯d bet a few minutes at most,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Maybe if Pondering Hum speaks to them?¡± ¡°I¡­ make¡­ talk¡­ long,¡± Meep offered. ¡°Only if they don¡¯t get annoyed at you and just attack,¡± Three Squeaks reminded him. The previous village chief arrived on the scene. ¡°I heard my name, I believe.¡± ¡°Can you delay them with talking for a while?¡± The meerkat thought for a few moments. ¡°Better than the rest of us, I think. I suppose it¡¯s a risk I must take. Though I¡¯m running if combat starts. I won¡¯t do any good there.¡± ¡°This is why we have different people for different things,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Some of us are meant for fighting, while some do more useful things. Like talking. And farming,¡± he looked over at Meep. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ also¡­ going¡­¡± Meep said. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Meep nodded slowly. ¡°I bring¡­ bad¡­ mush¡­ rooms.¡± Was bad good? Three Squeaks had to assume it would be something good, or it didn¡¯t make sense. Though he wasn¡¯t sure how they could get the lions to eat an obviously bad mushroom. ----- ¡°Great sir,¡± Pondering Hum spoke with all of the courage he had. ¡°Might I ask why you enter the lands of our coalition?¡± The overly large lion roared in terrifying laughter. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? I heard of many tasty meals here. We are going to devour you.¡± Pondering Hum knew that, but it was so much worse to hear it from someone he knew could follow through. And while he believed in their people, he was far too close for comfort. What was this, three or four times the lion¡¯s body length away from him, at most? He could probably jump that. ¡°It would be difficult,¡± Pondering Hum said. ¡°You call us tasty meals, but that is because of our natural energy. You know we are strong. We would slay many of you.¡± ¡°What of it? Those who are weak will die, and those who are strong will grow stronger. Now then, I tire of this.¡± ¡°Wait!¡± Pondering Hum said. ¡°What if¡­ there were something easier?¡± He hadn¡¯t even managed a single minute yet. This was one of the few things he was good at, and he really didn¡¯t want to disappoint. ¡°Easier¡­?¡± the lion tilted his head. ¡°That¡¯s right. Oh, we forgot to introduce ourselves. I am Pondering Hum. What is your name, great sir?¡± It hurt to be polite to an enemy, even if Pondering Hum might have done it to save his own hide. The lion¡¯s glare made him think that his deception was noticed. False praise might be worse than none, after all. Though the lion was ¡®great¡¯ by the strictest definition, Three Squeaks didn¡¯t have real respect for the lion. And now he was rising up high, about to murder him. ¡°That¡¯s right. I am great. And because of that, I have cast aside my name. Instead, I go by King, meaning a great leader!¡± the lion roared. ¡°Everyone shall fear me.¡± ¡°Indeed, King, you are quite terrifying,¡± Pondering Hum didn¡¯t have to lie about that. But he was constantly nervous about insight picking up his actual plan here. Surely he had to have been found out already¡­? ¡°But what good is it if they only fear you for a short time? I propose this. Instead of fighting all of us, where some of you will die¡­ instead we choose some of our own. Send them to you to be¡­ to be devoured. Then later, we will do it again. You grow stronger, and you lose no one.¡± Pondering Hum hoped nobody thought he was serious about this. His companions were shifting about¡­ but surely they had trained their Insight well enough, right? ¡°Very well. I want a hundred. No, two hundred meerkats! I will devour a dozen warthogs. And two hippos! Including that one!¡± King¡¯s voice echoed across the land. ¡°And I will start now.¡± ¡°Just one moment, please!¡± Pondering Hum said. ¡°If you start killing us here, nobody will know we came to an agreement. And it will just turn into that fight.¡± ¡°Fine. But I won¡¯t wait long.¡± ¡°Good. I¡¯ll inform everyone right away.¡± Pondering Hum said. ¡°In the mean time¡­ I notice a few lions among you. How would you like to join my pride? It is much stronger than this refuse you are a part of.¡± ¡°We¡¯re from the Kapok Coalition,¡± Mischief said. ¡°So if you do anything you¡¯ll be in big trouble.¡± ¡°Only if I am found out,¡± the lion shook his head. ¡°Little meerkat. Why are you not going to find the rest of your little coalition?¡± ¡°Actually¡­¡± the cry of a lioness from the bushes alerted everyone to something going on. ¡°There¡¯s the last of us now, I hope,¡± Pondering Hum shrugged. Then he turned to run. ----- Half Oink and her father had been a day¡¯s journey away from the northern border. With the enemy slipping inside, it was closer to a half day to catch up to the others, but they made the trip in even less time than that. As soon as the eagles came, they marched. And when Half Oink saw a lioness, she charged. It was only after her tusks cut a gouge down the side of the first lioness that she heard the talking and realized that maybe she wasn¡¯t supposed to attack yet. But there were enough of them¡­ so it should probably be fine. And one less lioness meant that they had a bigger advantage. Chapter 802 As quick as Three Squeaks was with his bow, the lion who named himself ¡®King¡¯ was faster to blink his eyelid closed. His defensive energy augmented the small bit of flesh, meaning that his eye wasn¡¯t put out. Not that Three Squeaks had been counting on the success of a single shot, but he had to try. At least he managed to leave a small red patch, not quite bleeding but a bit of the fur was gone. The Essence Collection level beast roared, leaping forward. Three Squeaks hadn¡¯t been involved in the talking so he was at a comfortable distance, but Pondering Hum was still within range. But a sword shone in the moonlight, deflecting the lion¡¯s claws as Deep Purr stepped in. The lionesses joined the battle, as well as the three lions on the side of the coalition. The siblings didn¡¯t seem to be losing out against the older lionesses. Half Oink and Forceful Snort were attacking from the side, Contented Grunt was charging towards the nearest lioness, and Echoing Cry shot from the sky as other eagles looked for opportunities to dive and strike with their claws. Without King being involved, it would have been an easy victory the coalition. But his great power allowed him to bat away Deep Purr and even tackle Contented Grunt. The hippo¡¯s mass usually allowed her to stand her ground against everything, but she was sent tumbling away. And King still had time to talk. ¡°It¡¯s amusing, you know. You three lions there. You seem so content fighting on the side of lesser beings.¡± ¡°Lesser? They¡¯re all way smarter than you,¡± Rusty Mane declared. ¡°You think so? Perhaps they are clever. More than yourselves, at least.¡± The smaller lion charged at King, but he was flipped on his back, open jaws above his neck. ¡°After all, they probably didn¡¯t tell you who killed your parents.¡± Three Squeaks¡¯ paws trembled as he tried to fire his bow. What was he supposed to say about that? He¡¯d wanted to tell them, but there wasn¡¯t a convenient way to tell your disciples that you and your coalition killed their parents. Three Squeaks knew what the lion wanted. If those three fought against them¡­ it would greatly swing the tide of battle. Maybe¡­ he should have let them die. But he didn¡¯t want that. Instead, he continued to fire arrows at the same eye. King couldn¡¯t hold down Rusty Mane and dodge the arrows, so he had to continue to block. And while so far he¡¯d shot a steady rhythm of spirit arrows, he had a trick prepared. ----- Elsewhere in the battle, a handful of the lionesses were chasing after some of their weaker members trying to get into position, including Meep. ¡°Run¡­ ahead¡­¡± Meep said. ¡°We won¡¯t leave you!¡± ¡°Too¡­ slow¡­¡± he said. ¡°Go!¡± The meerkats hesitated, and seemed ready to stand up to the approaching lionesses. But the force of his voice made them back away. Meep smiled as the five lionesses came towards him. ¡°Good. That¡­ was¡­ dangerous.¡± ¡°Dangerous? You think you are safe now, little meerkat?¡± said one of the lionesses, as they all moved to surround him. ¡°You don¡¯t look like you have much meat on your bones, but you have a respectable amount of cultivation to devour.¡± Meep reached into his bag. ¡°Do¡­ you¡­ like¡­ mush¡­ rooms?¡± He gave one a little shake. The lioness gave a throaty laugh. ¡°Mushrooms and meerkat sounds like a fine dish. But such a paltry offering would never save you.¡± ¡°Are¡­ you¡­ sure¡­?¡± Meep said, shaking more mushrooms. ¡°These¡­ are¡­ special.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure they are. But we can¡¯t let you delay us too much longer. There were many tasty treats to go after.¡± ¡°You¡­ can¡¯t¡­ eat¡­¡± Meep said. ¡°Who will stop us?¡± Meep shook the mushroom. ¡°No¡­ eating. Guts¡­ will¡­ reject.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just kill this and be done,¡± one of the others said. ¡°It¡¯s a waste of time, talking.¡± As the lionesses pounced forward, they realized something was wrong. Their noses detected it first, but their guts reported the issue to them as they moved. Meep simply ducked as the lionesses landed, too busy puking up their guts to bother clawing him. ¡°Bad¡­ mush¡­ rooms,¡± Meep nodded as he crawled between the groaning felines. ----- ¡°Who killed our parents¡­?¡± Sleek Fur timidly asked as she stood not far away from King. ¡°That¡¯s right. Surely you should know you are not part of the Kapok Coalition by birth? You look much too different.¡± ¡°We know,¡± Rusty Mane said. ¡°We figured it out, but he wouldn¡¯t say¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite simple, really. The very same as those who delivered you to that coalition. Some pitiful show of mercy, perhaps. That annoying meerkat, that hippo¡­ and that blasted eagle.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Echoing Cry was busy peppering the battlefield with Spirit Arrows. His archery wasn¡¯t quite as good as Three Squeaks, but being in an unassailable position granted him significant leeway to focus purely on offense. ¡°We thought so,¡± Sleek Fur said. ¡°Three Squeaks always acted odd around us.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Three Squeaks said, barely loud enough to be heard by himself. It was far too late to do anything about it now. ¡°Indeed,¡± King said. ¡°Now then. Join me, and avenge your father and mother, your pride!¡± He let Rusty Mane onto his feet, the younger lion shaking out his mane. ¡°Thank you for telling us the truth. But actually, our father is alive,¡± Rusty Mane said. ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Mischief said as she appeared from behind the large lion, chomping on his rear leg. Her following words couldn¡¯t be comprehended given her grip on the lion¡¯s ankle. ¡°What she means to say is probably that our father said you were a terrible leader not to be trusted,¡± Sleek Fur clarified as she leapt towards his side. Rusty Mane, who had been half turned towards Three Squeaks, bowed his head and swiveled at the same time. ¡°And you would never let me live regardless, you greedy bastard.¡± Three lions in Spirit Building piled upon one in Essence Collection. It was only their surprise that gave them a proper fighting chance¡­ and Three Squeaks almost wasted the moment on his own end. But regardless of why, he had an opening. He shot one spirit arrow, aiming for the same eye once more. King roared more in annoyance than pain. Three Squeaks following arrow was not something he was an expert in, and forming it quickly made it even less effective. Even so, its near complete lack of travel time made it reach its destination in the lion¡¯s other eye in a literal flash. His third shot was one much more practiced, one of fire¡­ shooting right into the larger lion¡¯s mane. The thick fur was there to protect the lion¡¯s throat against teeth and claws, but it wasn¡¯t made to resist burning. And while an Essence Collection cultivator could normally block his shot, with his focus split King was unable to prevent the attack from piercing through his defensive energy. Then he was left with the terrible decision of protecting himself or putting out the fire. He managed both reasonable well, biting and clawing at Rusty Mane as the other lion attacked him from in front, while at the same time kicking his rear legs and rolling to throw off the lionesses. That might have even helped with the flames, if they were natural. But since he hit, Three Squeaks had been focusing his will on growing the flames. King managed to shake off the attackers for a single moment, but he ended up on his back. The two lionesses grabbed a rear leg and an ear, while Rusty Mane leapt for his neck- with a mane that was still aflame but significantly less dense. Red blood began to flow everywhere, and while in his death throes King managed to slash Rusty Mane¡¯s underbelly and crack some bones of the others¡­ he was ultimately the one who stopped moving. The others, meanwhile, were well dealt with. Meep taking out an astounding five of the lionesses on his own was a huge help, and the Contented Grunt had taken her distance from King as an opportunity to fight the others. Along with Deep Purr and Half Oink slicing the lionesses to pieces and the artillery support from Echoing Cry, their victory was secured. Some of their coalition had died, others had severe injuries, but considering that a single one of the lionesses was close to the strength of Bloodcurdling Roar from a few short years prior, it was clear how far they had come. ¡°Thank you,¡± Rusty Mane said to Three Squeaks. ¡°I- of course. You were fighting for us, obviously I would support you.¡± ¡°Not for that,¡± Sleek Fur said. ¡°For bringing us to our father.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Mischief said, her face dripping blood and mouth open wide right next to Three Squeaks. ¡°We heard our other pride wasn¡¯t very good. They didn¡¯t even leave anyone to watch over us when they went off to battle. That¡¯s now how parents should act!¡± ¡°In short, we recognize our lives would have been much worse without you. And that you could have easily left us to die,¡± Rusty Mane explained. ¡°I asked around and I heard that some people in your coalition wanted to kill us,¡± Mischief said. ¡°Which would have been the smart thing.¡± ¡°But here we are,¡± Sleek Fur said. ¡°And we are grateful to be alive. And that you would teach us the secrets of cultivation, knowing that we might use them against you.¡± ¡°I was really hoping you wouldn¡¯t,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. Echoing Cry landed nearby. ¡°You kids should have been more careful. I almost shot one of you while you were pretending to turn traitor.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Rusty Mane shrugged. ¡°He was the one who made the assumption that we would turn. But his words smelled more of bees and their stingers than of honey.¡± ¡°Yeah, we¡¯d never let our brother be around that guy!¡± Mischief said. ¡°He¡¯d get killed! Also there¡¯s way better males around the coalition. Hey, do you think they had cubs? We should go check. I could raise cubs!¡± ¡°Mischief,¡± Sleek Fur said. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely not ready to be a mother.¡± ¡°I¡¯m old enough!¡± ¡°Age is the least of your worries,¡± Sleek Fur said. ¡°But we should indeed make certain they don¡¯t have any cubs that will starve for their hubris. And if they were wise enough to leave mothers to watch over them¡­ it would be best for them to join our coalition. If they aren¡¯t awful.¡± ¡°And Rusty is coming along with us,¡± Mischief said. ¡°Because we might have to carry a lot of kittens.¡± Rusty Mane sighed. ¡°Well. I suppose we can do all this¡­ in the morning,¡± Rusty Mane pointed out. He turned towards Three Squeaks and the other. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind us traipsing off for a few days. We¡¯d like to return to your tutelage as soon as possible, however.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting,¡± Three Squeaks said. Now there was only the problem of what to do with the dead lions. The Lower Plains coalition wasn¡¯t going to eat them, obviously, but they didn¡¯t want to waste the natural energy. Once again, they would be buried. The fields above the first lions were quite a sight to behold, and these would most likely be even more impressive. If King hadn¡¯t been so assured of his ploy and simply fought with his full power the whole time, things would have gone very differently. ----- Ty Quigley took his hand off his sword. He really hadn¡¯t wanted to interfere, to the point he even let some die. But no offense to them, they weren¡¯t his personal disciples. And ultimately, the coalition needed to withstand the strife to grow stronger. He prepared a follow up message for Anton, so that he would know things turned out alright in the end. The older man likely wouldn¡¯t have interfered either, though he might have had more subtle ways to influence things compared to cutting something in half. But subtle was never in Ty¡¯s wheelhouse. His personal disciples were important, not just for him but also for Chikere. She seemed to be recovering, or she might even be better entirely. But that didn¡¯t mean she wouldn¡¯t be disappointed if pictures of meerkats with swords stopped coming to her. Chapter 803 As it turned out, even cultivators didn¡¯t go to war zones for no reason. Velvet knew that, and also that cultivators could always come up with a reason, but while wealth, fame, and power were all valid reasons for some, the actual excuse she needed was a connection. As a lone individual, she would stand out in a place with relatively fewer individuals. It also happened to be where security would be the highest, as they were watching for enemy spies. And she just so happened to be one of those, despite having no connection to the ¡®western barbarians¡¯. It took several years for her to properly build up an identity that would be sufficient, especially since she also wanted to avoid the Limitless Edge without seeming like she was doing so. As it turned out, fanatic sword cultivators were quite fond of war zones. There wasn¡¯t a lack of opportunities for violence within the Exalted Quadrant, but the violence was certainly restrained throughout most of the region. Velvet took time to review her reasons for going to the border before she actually committed. She wanted more information, and detailed information wasn¡¯t available where she was. Not without spending too long interacting with a single sect, building up reputation with them. She could easily reveal too much about herself over a long time, and a single mistake could ruin everything. As an Integration cultivator, while she wasn¡¯t exactly a rarity, their total numbers were probably in the thousands. Perhaps tens of thousands, given the at many hundreds of highly populated systems in the Exalted Quadrant- though that information wasn¡¯t easily available. The important part was that someone who actually had access to all of that could memorize every single individual. And even if being unknown wasn¡¯t an instant red flag, it would be another way to slip up if she interacted with the wrong people. Perhaps she was being paranoid. The Exalted Quadrant overall acted as one entity, but it had many factions within who were likely unwilling to share all of their information. But that was another reason they would want to learn all they could about others of note. Could she learn about the ¡®western barbarians¡¯ on the battlefield? Surely there would be some information available. But she might learn more among them. Of course, trying to infiltrate their side came with another layer of dangers, and would bring her even further from the Scarlet Alliance. Though they were already too far away to help her. Gaining a position as a scout without revealing the whole of her abilities had been difficult but at least it would give her a good reason to sneak about¡­ and nobody would necessarily think that she might be spying on both sides during her excursions. Because ultimately, while these western barbarians were important, it was only for how they might cause trouble for the Exalted Quadrant. Velvet hoped they were a big source of trouble, because the Scarlet Alliance needed that as much as possible. ----- Devon wasn¡¯t certain whether he should be excited or disappointed that it only took a few years for others to begin confirming his discoveries concerning Vrelt. Specifically it was through the use of technology, essentially giant telescopes pointed at the planet from the edge of their system. Except instead of looking for visual information along any spectrum, they were only interested in natural energy and specifically the auras of cultivators. Apparently, the devices could detect connections to the upper realms. Specifically, how certain cultivation methods tied to the formations that would draw in ascending cultivators. Each sect had their own specifics and the process was inexact, but it seemed to track to a connection within a few hundred lightyears. Which was sufficient enough to confirm that everything pointed to the Trigold Cluster. Devon was happy to have spurred such developments forward- they might have already been in the works, but to confirm his words they had been pushed to the forefront of the production chain. As for whether that meant people believed him or didn¡¯t, Devon was uncertain. At least it meant they took his word seriously. And while they seemed to make it seem easy, he was a cultivator developing a technique on his own and they were a team of many people working together. Ultimately, it wasn¡¯t as if they were trying to replace him. And honestly, if they did¡­ Devon might find that acceptable. As long as their various methods of oversight in place kept people working towards the same purposes, he didn¡¯t terribly mind if he became insignificant. It might even open up some opportunities. But for now, plans were being made to deal with them. They couldn¡¯t leave a festering wound near their territory. The only issue was trying something that would result in the least unnecessary casualties. Some people were for an all-out assault, gathering as many people from their alliance as possible and crushing their cultivators- but most likely that would end up with conflict with the locals not part of the Trigold Cluster sects. And since they had Assimilation equivalent cultivators, that meant risk for the alliance forces and a significant loss for the local development any time one of those died. At a certain point, they might as well just destroy the planet and be done with it. But of course, that option was never actually entertained. There were wise voices from Ceretos, Weos, Rutera, and even Ekict and the current Sylanis Cluster. Other relatively smaller members of the alliance such as Udre and Gnadus also had good leadership. The Lower Realms alliance was based on cooperation and growth. While there were many stumbling blocks along their way, they tried their best to maintain peace with those they could. Which meant not the Trigold Cluster, since they had made their tactics quite clear. And the Exalted Quadrant was relatively disfavored as well. The point was, many of the people had dealt with the infiltration of the Trigold Cluster, and thus wanted to give Vrelt¡¯s natives their own chance. Vrelt had so far refused diplomacy, and the infiltration of the Trigold Cluster was deep so they couldn¡¯t just point out a minority of bad eggs and tell Vrelt to deal with themselves. So the decision had been made that there would be diplomacy, even if they had to be a bit heavy handed about it. Devon¡¯s interest in the system and his mobility made him a good candidate¡­ though not for a diplomat. Instead, he would be a guard for whoever it was being sent over. Preferably someone who could honestly say they hadn¡¯t been spying on the planet themselves. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. There were any number of ways things could go wrong, of course. There was a risk to Devon and any other members of the diplomatic group, since powerful influences on Vrelt didn¡¯t want them around. But they were going to make it clear they had more power to back things up. That would hopefully at least keep Devon from getting killed, because he personally didn¡¯t think sacrificing his own life as an excuse to attack the planet would be worth it. But now the plan was under way, the envoy scheduled to arrive in only a few months along with a show of force. In the meantime, Devon continued to try to find useful information. His first goal was to apprise himself of the strongest cultivators, but he knew that those weren¡¯t always the most influential. Sometimes there were some with ambition who hid behind others, or simply lacked sufficient talent to stand on top. They could be more dangerous than others, in the right circumstances. Hopefully, whoever was sent would be able to deal with such things. Devon would prefer to stick to just keeping someone alive, as that was easier than wading through the mire of politics. ----- ¡°I still can¡¯t believe you dragged me to the Everheart system,¡± Vari complained to Chikere. Chikere shrugged, ¡°Didn¡¯t you advance to Augmentation? I don¡¯t think you should be upset about that.¡± ¡°Did you know I was going to?¡± Vari asked. Chikere tilted her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so?¡± ¡°You should know if you know things!¡± ¡°Hmmn. I knew you were the right person to bring. Besides, you could have stopped me.¡± ¡°I could have let you go alone,¡± Vari countered. ¡°Which would probably lead to you dying. And while I don¡¯t have as much history with you as Catarina and the rest, I still want you to live. And I couldn¡¯t just explain letting you run off to them.¡± One of the very people in question approached them on their return to Xankeshan. Catarina looked at Chikere and frowned. ¡°It seems we will have to reconsider certain aspects of our grand formation, if you were able to cut your way out so easily. It¡¯s not tuned to specifically block you, but still. It should have sufficed. And I would have liked some warning you were going.¡± ¡°It¡¯s her fault,¡± Vari said. ¡°She dragged us along without giving me time to prepare.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°You had a few minutes,¡± Chikere countered. ¡°I couldn¡¯t exactly do much with you dragging me around,¡± Vari reminded her. ¡°But whatever. We made it back.¡± ¡°And not without some benefits, it seems,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Both of you reached Augmentation? This might be the biggest single day in the history of the Scarlet Alliance.¡± ¡°Yeah but Chikere didn¡¯t even let us stick around to complete all of our business with my un- with that guy.¡± Chikere¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°I forgot to see all of his techniques! We need to go back right now!¡± ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Vari said. ¡°I can¡¯t stand to see that guy more than once a decade. Also I¡¯d prefer to meet him outside somewhere as a matter of proper caution.¡± ¡°I suppose in a decade or two Rahayu will have gained more value as a sparring partner,¡± Chikere agreed. There was a long silence. Then Catarina spoke up, ¡°It¡¯s good to see you back to your old self.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I will ever be that specific person again,¡± Chikere confessed. ¡°But I am closer than I was before.¡± Chikere nodded and smiled to herself, ¡°Oh, I need to go kill the Limitless Edge,¡± Chikere said as if she¡¯d forgotten something on her shopping list. ¡°Absolutely not. We need you here around the Scarlet Alliance not potentially causing a war before we can handle it.¡± ¡°Last time I came back with allies.¡± ¡°And the beginning of a war,¡± Catarina reminded her. ¡°I¡¯m expecting further action every day. We did kill an Augmentation cultivator, after all. They don¡¯t have an unlimited supply of those.¡± ¡°I suppose I still have not reached the halfway point of testing the infinite variety of possible sword slashes,¡± Chikere said. ¡°And while testing them in combat is more valuable, some time in contemplation would not be misplaced.¡± ¡°... Good,¡± Catarina said. Then she turned to Vari. ¡°Next time, please do beat her into submission to keep her here. Or just contact the rest of us.¡± ¡°Will do,¡± Vari said. Chikere was already checked out of the conversation, pulling up images on her communicator. ¡°Ooh! Half Oink killed a lion!¡± ¡°... Okay?¡± Catarina tilted her head. ¡°Agom will be jealous. There aren¡¯t any lions to kill here, are there?¡± ¡°There might be some in the ¡®Garden¡¯, but please remember to follow the rules of conservation.¡± ¡°Hmm. Maybe I¡¯ll just take Agom on a training journey with me. It¡¯s okay as long as we stay within the borders of the Scarlet Alliance, right?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t go unsupervised,¡± Catarina declared. ¡°Very well. I¡¯ll take Chidi, then.¡± ¡°I would say you have to convince him to go¡­ but I imagine he¡¯ll say yes. But at least there will be someone responsible with you,¡± Catarina said. ¡°You have to promise to actually listen to him, though.¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°I will. I do like being alive, and he¡¯s good at making choices that keep people that way.¡± That was about the best Catarina could expect to get. And it while she would worry about her son, it wasn¡¯t because he was weak or vulnerable. Apparently that was something that all parents dealt with. And grandparents too, according to Anton. And various levels of great-grandparent. So all Catarina could do was acknowledge her feelings and make certain there wasn¡¯t some actual reason to worry. If there was, she would deal with it. Chapter 804 When the primary ship carrying the diplomatic team for Vrelt finally arrived, Devon reached out for it. It was of such a size that creating a construct like his World Encompassing Chains to sense it was a waste of effort. Before he could even construct them, more basic senses would be able to take in everything all at once. As he did so, Devon found himself surprised. Then annoyed. Finally, he arrived at an understanding of why certain information had been missing. He approached the ship, entering through their airlock as they recognized him. On the other side of the airlock, waiting for him, was Aerona. ¡°This explains why nobody told me who was heading the diplomatic efforts.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not quite true,¡± the woman replied. ¡°My position might even be below that of the others here.¡± ¡°And yet, word of your presence didn¡¯t reach my ears,¡± Devon pointed out. ¡°That could not be an accident.¡± Aerona shrugged. ¡°Perhaps not. Are you upset?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say what I feel,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°You know, if you had been keeping in touch better¡­ you might have known.¡± Devon sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve contacted you more in the last few years than my grandfather, ignoring the portions of time we were together. But I must wonder¡­ what is the Empress of Udre doing here?¡± ¡°They needed qualified diplomats. And interacting with people is what I have focused my cultivation around.¡± She bit her lip. ¡°Was the surprise really that unpleasant?¡± ¡°I am glad to see you,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°But now I will worry more about security.¡± She pouted slightly. ¡°I thought it would be fun. But didn¡¯t you plan to go somewhere safer¡­ like Nidec?¡± Devon shrugged, ¡°When do cultivators¡¯ plans ever work out? It¡¯s not crazy that I drifted towards the greater potential danger. Or actual danger, as it turns out.¡± At least Aerona had advanced to Essence Collection, though that wouldn¡¯t protect her as much as it would on her homeworld. After all, along with cultivators that could match Devon at the Assimilation stage, there were a great many Life Transformation cultivators upon Vrelt. ¡°Please don¡¯t say you came here just because I did.¡± ¡°I came here because people like me are needed,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Much like you. But I admit that might not be the only reason.¡± ¡°What happened to people getting ideas?¡± She shrugged. ¡°With you, I imagine it will take more than a few years for anything to happen. And I¡¯m not nearly old enough to be willing to wait longer for a chance.¡± ----- Devon¡¯s job was, approximately, to stand around and be menacing. And in some ways, doing that from the maximum possible distance would have a greater effect. In this case, he just stopped hiding his cultivation, letting his energy naturally radiate forth from his body. Along with him was another Assimilation cultivator from Ceretos, Cai from Marvelous Rabbit Mountain. Determining the man¡¯s essence was difficult, but obviously it didn¡¯t bind him to a single place. The third Assimilation member among them was from Weos. Atalanta was her name, and she was a member of a sect known as the Descending Apostles. From what Devon determined without asking, she should be more bound to the concept of gravity than a specific place¡­ so any fight on or near a planet should be her domain. Regardless of whether he understood how they functioned, however, Devon was certain they would be effective. This wasn¡¯t a situation where the Lower Realms alliance was willing to accept failure. As their ship approached the planetary barrier, the three of them kept their presence obvious but not directly threatening. That was not the case with the half dozen airships Vrelt sent towards them, containing more than twenty Life Transformation cultivators and single Assimilation equivalent. They let their aggression be known. Probing energy crept through the barrier, able to transmit sound. The ship had to specifically interact with it, as its barrier was tailored to avoid simple weaknesses such as sonic attacks. ¡°The planet is closed. Return whence you came.¡± ¡°That is not possible,¡± Aerona responded. Though she said she wasn¡¯t above the others, in practice someone had to act as head diplomat in such situations. Or a small few people, as too many individuals vying for a chance to speak would result in a mess. ¡°We are here to establish a diplomatic embassy.¡± ¡°You are not welcome. Leave.¡± The authoritative voice of a woman spoke from the lead ship below. ¡°Do you speak for the entirety of Vrelt?¡± Aerona replied. ¡°Of course. Do not press our patience further.¡± ¡°All of Vrelt? Including the Flaming Shore? The Supreme Silver Sect?¡± Devon was glad to hear that his reports had been read and made use of. The inclusion of specific information that shouldn¡¯t have been terribly easy to get caused the other individual to pause. Not for long, but clearly caught off guard. ¡°Naturally. This is your last warning to leave our territory.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m certain you won¡¯t mind if we speak to them directly,¡± Aerona said. Cutting off the transmission of their words, she spoke to the others. ¡°Should we make for their headquarters? Our speed could also act as a show of might.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. The others agreed. That was one of the options, and indeed directly heading towards that sect had been a choice they had considered. Devon would have done that, as he found them to be the most likely candidate to support the embassy. They were not under the control of the upper realms as far as he could ascertain, and they were strong enough that it would be difficult for any one official faction to cause them trouble. Not without all of the Trigold Cluster acting together and revealing their conspiracy. Devon would have been straightforward, but as they began to skim along the barrier- merely ten meters above it- he supposed that making it seem as if they were pushed to go to this group instead of doing it on purpose was actually a decent move. Now, that woman would take some of the blame. ¡°If I may¡­¡± Devon said as he noticed the ships falling behind on the other side of the barrier. ¡°Now that we¡¯ve shown we can outspeed them, we might want to let them follow more closely and see if we can lead them over some specific territories. Though perhaps that would be fostering too much dissent all at once?¡± Devon shrugged. Aerona smiled at him, then began a quick discussion with the others, exchanging only a few words given that they truly could slip out of the reach of the skyships if they waited more than a minute or two. Ultimately, it was agreed that they would continue directly towards their destination- where they would pass over a couple factions that might not take kindly to warships flying in their skies- but slow enough for them to keep up. They wouldn¡¯t go out of their way to intersect with the territories of others below, however. ¡°... Wow they¡¯re slow,¡± Devon commented after the first hour. Aerona laughed, ¡°My people can¡¯t even build our own airships yet, let alone these spaceships that flitter back and forth between systems in a matter of days. I think they¡¯re doing quite fine, personally.¡± Devon shrugged. The local ships kept pace with them until the last leg of their journey. They hesitated at the border of the Supreme Silver Sect, and seemed preparing to cross until the image of a man with a gray beard that reached all the way down to his toes appeared. ¡°What business does the Precious Palm sect have in my territory?¡± Devon knew this man was Taalay, the Supreme Silver Sect¡¯s head. The power of that declaration was projected in all directions- including past the planetary barrier- but the response was not. However, from the way the ships rapidly turned back the way they came they were clearly unable to provide a favorable answer. There was a short period of silence, then the projection of the figure turned towards the sky, and thus the ship there. ¡°And you?¡± ¡°The Lower Realms Alliances wishes to establish a diplomatic embassy here on Vrelt,¡± Aerona replied, the ship providing the returning path of energy. ¡°That aggressive woman informed us that you supported the initiative to cut off the planet from the outside and reject all communication. But we came to request that you reconsider.¡± ¡°Reconsider? That woman doesn¡¯t speak for me!¡± Taalay growled. ¡°Sealing off our planet against invaders is one thing. Rejecting visitors is quite another. If your intentions are true, then perhaps we could consider hosting you. But first I must ask¡­ why is it you who speaks? What of those three?¡± the man asked. This was one of the difficulty points they had considered in advance. Not everyone would accept the word of someone weaker than themselves. But Aerona had an answer ready. ¡°We find it is often better for individuals to specialize. My own job is to speak, while theirs centers more around the martial disciplines.¡± ¡°So you have specific people to do all the lying and political maneuvering,¡± Taalay grinned. ¡°Smart.¡± That was about the best reaction they could hope for. ¡°It seems you are prepared to stay for the long term, and I find my curiosity outweighing my caution. You may approach,¡± as he said the words the barrier thinned above the area, before disappearing. Though there was still a barrier over the greater part of the sect, there was a clear gap with something recognizable as a landing zone. ¡°I trust you can maneuver your way there?¡± ¡°It will not be a problem,¡± Aerona replied. Everyone felt a sense of relief as they began to descend, though Devon didn¡¯t slack off in his awareness. The sect head could potentially destroy their ship, if he wished to. At least, if nobody was ready to act. Just because Devon and the other Assimilation cultivators would most likely be unharmed didn¡¯t mean they would be careless. And he was not the only one of similar power within the sect- though Devon noted that the other individual of note was not currently present. ¡°This is one of the best scenarios we could have hoped for,¡± Aerona said. The others agreed. Devon was especially glad that they didn¡¯t have to break through the barrier or act too aggressively, because not only would that look bad¡­ it would give away a secret they had. Now, it was available for use later without anyone being able to prepare a response. Devon thought to remind her that this sect head was not a pushover¡­ but that seemed redundant with both what she had just seen, and would make it seem as if he thought she hadn¡¯t paid attention in important briefings. Then again, that was also why he was in his position- and why they chose him. As one might expect of its name, the Supreme Silver Sect had quite a few reflective surfaces- but they hadn¡¯t gone so far as to cover everything with silver. Instead, they got a way with a bit more subtlety, as far as cultivators went. That was reasonable, especially since their name wasn¡¯t simply because of a certain sort of metal. Taalay came to greet them personally, but his expression flickered with confusion as he passed over their ship. Most likely because the vast majority of it was not currently shielding itself from perception. This was another ploy, of course. A declaration. There was no need to hide anything, because nothing could be replicated just by looking. Among other things were the mundane technological components that still took a deep background to fully replicate, but they also had unique branches of formations developed to run the energy components. Courtesy of Everheart, indirectly. ¡°Welcome,¡± the sect head said. ¡°I, Taalay of the Supreme Silver Sect, am honored to welcome such an interesting group as yourselves. Fear not, as guests of the Supreme Silver Sect your safety is assured. I imagine you don¡¯t intend to entreat solely with us, however?¡± ¡°It is our intention to establish relations with Vrelt as a whole,¡± said one of the other diplomats. ¡°Or we would not need so many of us. But we can also negotiate individual trade deals and the like.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Taalay nodded, mostly to himself. ¡°I suppose you must have noticed my earlier interest. Would such trade deals include ships such as that¡­ one that flies outside the skies in the space beyond?¡± ¡°Only once a certain level of trust has been established,¡± the diplomat said tactfully. Taalay grinned widely. ¡°I see. How interesting.¡± His gaze turned to Devon and the other Assimilation cultivators. ¡°And would you be interested in exchanges of cultivation knowledge?¡± Devon could answer that one himself. ¡°We would be happy to, as long as it continues to be to the benefit of both sides. I must admit some personal curiosity about your path to arrive where you are.¡± His observations hadn¡¯t picked up many details, as it turned out people didn¡¯t loudly discuss such things outdoors. And focusing in detail on any of those cultivators was more likely to get him noticed prematurely. Obviously neither side would share important details of cultivation immediately. Most likely, they would share some low or mid level techniques. But that was just another way to encourage Taalay and others to give them time to actually establish trust¡­ which they would need to reveal the Trigold Cluster¡¯s infiltration. That also meant engaging with the Trigold Cluster¡¯s minions to some extent, but that could prove valuable in some ways as well. Chapter 805 ¡°Nobody here likes you, you know,¡± said Taalay out of the blue. ¡°Your alliance, that is. I think I like you just fine.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Why don¡¯t you like us? What have we done?¡± ¡°You showed up out of the blue, a clear threat. And the timing wasn¡¯t great either. Plans were being made to expand further into the system, and then you showed up and we all had to huddle here, behind our barrier.¡± Devon avoided mentioning that their barrier didn¡¯t really mean anything. Not if the alliance truly meant them harm, at least. His job was to deal with safety and cultivation related exchanges. It was better not to talk too much and ruin political gains or make promises they would have to keep. On the other hand, speaking too little could also have a negative effect as well. ¡°How unfortunate,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°We didn¡¯t really choose the timing. It was just when we happened to find you.¡± ¡°Why were you even looking?¡± ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be much of a Lower Realms Alliance if we stuck to a tiny portion of the lower realms, now would it?¡± Devon asked. Though ultimately, he didn¡¯t know how far they could potentially reach. Their neighborhood of the lower realms was already massive, and it should stretch far beyond the territories of the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster. But the name fit better than ¡®The Alliance of Systems in the Lower Realms Vaguely Near Two Great Powers¡¯. ¡°But I was about to ask a question. What do you call it?¡± ¡°Call what?¡± Sect Head Taalay asked, his bushy silver eyebrows raising and indicating he had some idea. ¡°Your stage beyond Life Transformation. We call it Assimilation.¡± The name revealed something about their methods and their thought patterns- but it was hardly secret. ¡°Anchoring,¡± Taalay replied. ¡°Interesting,¡± Devon said. That implied being connected to a place, but it could also be an idea. And in another way, it was an alternate to Ascension, so being Anchored to the lower realms also made sense. ¡°Some day, I look forward to discussing the principles behind it.¡± ¡°You really think that will happen?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have to be enemies,¡± Devon said. ¡°And we¡¯re not going to assume everyone from Vrelt acts together. Even before it was demonstrated otherwise.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying when it happens, you want me to choose your side.¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°You can interpret it that way if you wish.¡± ¡°How strong are you?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°I¡¯m not hiding that, if you thought I was,¡± Devon said. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean just you. But I suppose it¡¯s a bit early to start asking how many Assimilation cultivators exist in your alliance¡­¡± Devon smiled, ¡°I¡¯m absolutely not at liberty to answer that question.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t just be the three of you. The first one to approach was different¡­¡± Taalay nodded. ¡°And it would be quite irresponsible to send the majority of your cultivators to this place, if you knew anything¡­ but I suppose we should return to matters we can speak about clearly. The exchange of techniques.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Devon said. ¡°We¡¯ve prepared a number of lower level techniques. You can distribute them as you wish, though of course you should use your discretion on who receives them. We can¡¯t promise you will get exclusive copies of anything, but being first is still valuable. I¡¯d suggest going through them all yourself first, because even if they won¡¯t be able to replace your higher level methods there are valuable principles within.¡± Taalay nodded, understanding there was something more. Devon was certain that soon enough, he would find certain perception techniques among everything else, and if he made proper use of them he would discover some things. Hopefully, he had enough discretion to simply take note of what he found instead of rashly acting upon it. Though everyone was ready to flee at a moment¡¯s notice if necessary. They obviously didn¡¯t want to abandon their hosts, but if they provoked half the world three Assimilation cultivators likely couldn¡¯t help the Supreme Silver Sect. ----- As was always the case in recent years, Anton¡¯s path led him back to Akrys. He was taking more of an observer role, as pushing the coalition to advance too quickly could cause issues of its own. Besides, he wanted their advancement to naturally fit them. Already, they were developing alternate forms of weapons and tools for their own use. They were of all different shapes and sizes to assist people with their favored activities- made for those without hands and with vastly different bodies. Some were made for generic use, which was to say only controlled by natural energy and not held by the body at all. Even with the coalition growing rapidly, tools were still relatively foreign to the people, and there were even fewer to make them. Chief among them was Clang, a hippopotamus that had taken to being a smith with relish- enough to change his name, even. Compared to smiths Anton knew, his skills were clumsy. But on the other hand, the smiths Anton knew had been working for at least twenty times as long as he had. Clang had only really taken to the job within the last handful of years. ¡°Arrowheads today, is it?¡± Anton asked. Clang nodded, but kept working. Even with Spirit Arrows being a freely distributed technique, physical arrows still had value. Especially for lower tier cultivators, who couldn¡¯t afford to spend as much energy. Many of the local cultivators had taken to cultivation methods that focused more on the body than the development of natural energy. But they could also understand the value of attacking from a distance, for battle or for hunting. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Hunting was an odd topic, with the coalition picking up sapient members from a wide variety of species. With carnivores among them, they had to consume meat, and none of them really questioned that. Instead, the general consensus had been that they tried to ignore mundane members of their former kind. Those who could think tended to consider themselves as something else entirely from the ¡®beasts¡¯. There would be some concerns if sapience emerged from a group that didn¡¯t have it previously, but at the current point of development it seemed to only exist in complete communities or not at all. It was still a strange situation, but that was for the locals of Akrys to work out among them. After watching the smith for a while, Anton sought out the other craftspeople. He liked to see people making practical things. In the local¡¯s current state of development, that also meant a minimum amount of adornments like jewelry¡­ or clothing. For them, both were mainly ornamental- though armor and thus padding underneath it was starting to find some popularity. It was a bit awkward for some furred individuals, but they either dealt with it or shaved parts of their bodies to compensate. Watching people move around for even a short time made it clear how different they were from animals in many ways- they always had been, and Anton simply had given them a boost in developing more methods that distinguished themselves. On that topic, even some of the void ants adorned themselves with small things- except for the Great Queen who felt no need to distinguish herself. He noticed her approach, along with a number of others. Seeing their trajectory, Anton went to meet them. ¡°Were you looking for me?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± the Great Queen signed. ¡°We came for you. I am here to introduce you to two of my daughters,¡± she gestured. ¡°One of them will be the primary queen for our first colony here. And the other will be the first to enter the upper realms.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton nodded, observing them carefully. If he paid attention, he could pick out tiny details of size and form to differentiate between the two. ¡°Which one will do which?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know yet,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°That is something that we will determine in the next decades. Both Crossed Antennae and Fearsome Mandibles have potential.¡± Anton¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You¡­ actually named your daughters?¡± ¡°You know me,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°No. They chose to have names, and picked their own. It seems they were influenced by the locals.¡± The Great Queen performed the equivalent of a shrug. ¡°I will admit it is convenient¡­ though void ants elsewhere will not be used to names for the most part.¡± ¡°I still find it amazing that you stay organized. Even pheromones must be limited for identification, and there are a vast number of you¡­¡± ¡°But not all of us are individuals,¡± the Great Queen reminded Anton. ¡°Many never achieve that potential.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°How do you feel about the locals in that regard?¡± ¡°I find it more odd that they seem to be born with the spark of thought,¡± the Great Queen admitted. ¡°Though perhaps we will find that some develop it later. Regardless, it would not affect my treatment. Our more menial members are still a valuable part of our structure, not to be disposed of for no reason. I am quite certain things are different here, though.¡± ¡°Genetics doesn¡¯t seem to be a predictor, however,¡± Anton frowned. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of very confused scientists who want to flood this place.¡± ¡°Too bad for them,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Anyway, I was only here to introduce these two. Say hello to Anton, girls.¡± Crossed Antennae performed something like a bow. ¡°My mother has said great things about you. I am honored.¡± Fearsome Mandibles walked right up to Anton, comically small compared to him. ¡°You don¡¯t look that tough.¡± Anton smiled, bending down and flicking her ten meters away. Anton could see she was very confused at the result, most likely assuming she would absorb any energy he used. ¡°I bet she thought she could dodge,¡± Crossed Antennae explained. ¡°She most likely thought your energy would give you away,¡± the Great Queen agreed. ¡°But she forgot that you still outclass her with only your body. I must go instruct my foolish daughter so she doesn¡¯t get herself killed by taking on something out of her league. Take care.¡± ¡°You too,¡± Anton said. ¡°Good luck with that one.¡± Anton didn¡¯t want to be negative¡­ but he thought maybe the Great Queen should consider having another daughter or two as options for the important roles they were expected to take over. Then again, the one he expected to be most objective with her assessments of fitness was the Great Queen herself. Clearly, she saw something he didn¡¯t. ----- ¡°How is everything going?¡± Devon asked Aerona. ¡°Weren¡¯t you listening?¡± she raised an eyebrow. ¡°A guard doesn¡¯t necessarily overhear everything¡­ and I wasn¡¯t the only shift. Besides, I¡¯d rather hear your opinion.¡± ¡°We¡¯re finally going to meet with other sects besides a few minor ones that were hoping to be taken over by us. So that¡¯s something,¡± Aerona shrugged. ¡°Too bad we can absorb those smaller groups, but taking over bits and pieces of their planet doesn¡¯t seem like the best way to endear ourselves to the locals,¡± Devon said. ¡°I very much agree. People are already chomping at the bit, eager to take us out.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a lot to be learned from who is reacting, especially in official capacities,¡± Devon said. ¡°I have a new overview for you.¡± ¡°... You were using that technique?¡± Aerona asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t even notice.¡± Devon made an extremely thin chain. ¡°Imagine looking for one of these many kilometers away. It¡¯s not supposed to be easy to detect. Though it¡¯s a bit awkward containing it inside the barrier. I can¡¯t do it too often or Taalay will figure out I¡¯m up to something.¡± ¡°That might not be so bad,¡± Aerona pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m sure he suspects all of us are up to something to begin with. Simple spying might settle his nerves, if he find out.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Devon said. ¡°I still don¡¯t know if he¡¯s practiced any of those techniques yet. Maybe he hasn¡¯t found the right people though.¡± ¡°Or he thought they were worthless.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not stupid,¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°All of those were there for a reason. Some, as tantalizing tastes of forbidden knowledge. And some as bait of another kind.¡± Chapter 806 The silvery hair and ground-length beard of Taalay, along with the rest of him, finally came to rest at the end of their journey in a small village at the base of a mountain. Or at least, on the surface it appeared to be a small village. The members of this particular sect weren¡¯t interested in public recognition, for good reason. They went by the name of Delicate Spice Mountain, though Taalay didn¡¯t know if there was some other internal name they held. ¡°I¡¯m looking for Heath,¡± Taalay said at the entrance, and he was directed to a particular hut not much different from the others. Inside, a youngish man was sitting down for lunch with a bowl of soup. The unassuming fellow smiled as Taalay entered. ¡°Welcome. What do you need?¡± He used a strand of energy to grab another bowl and spoon off of a nearby shelf. ¡°Hungry?¡± ¡°Perhaps after we finish our business. I have a task for you.¡± Heath nodded as he spooned some soup into his mouth. ¡°Sure thing. But if they all die in your sect it will look suspicious, you know?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I need,¡± Taalay shook his head. ¡°Well I¡¯m not touching the Precious Palm Sect,¡± Heath said. ¡°They¡¯ve got deep enough pockets to track me down.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need your expertise in that area at the moment,¡± Taalay shook his head, producing a scroll. ¡°I need your opinion on a technique I have found.¡± ¡°My opinion¡­?¡± ¡°I need to know if it does what it advertises.¡± ¡°Practice it and find out,¡± the young man said, leaving the scroll where Taalay set it. ¡°I did.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t appear to have died or damaged your cultivation. So I¡¯m going to say it worked out fine.¡± Taalay shrugged. ¡°It did something,¡± he said. ¡°But I need to know if the results are erroneous. And I need an opinion on the subtlety of the technique.¡± ¡°Planning to take over our business¡­?¡± ¡°Hardly,¡± Taalay said. ¡°I can¡¯t even cook.¡± Heath reached out for the scroll and carefully unfurled it. ¡°... You¡¯re sure this is the right one?¡± ¡°Positive.¡± ¡°And you¡­ found it¡­ where?¡± Heath looked up at the older man. ¡°In a pile with other techniques.¡± ¡°And it works? Who did you find?¡± ¡°That would bias the results,¡± Taalay said. ¡°Can you see any reason it wouldn¡¯t work?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s going to find something,¡± Heath shrugged. ¡°I can¡¯t see how this would entrap you or anything. But the results might not be what it says.¡± ¡°They¡¯re supposed to be gone¡­¡± Taalay frowned. Heath raised an eyebrow. ¡°So it worked?¡± Taalay shrugged. ¡°You¡¯ll get back to me, won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll send you a letter. Now have your soup or give it here.¡± Taalay took a spoonful of the soup. ¡°I can see why people look for you.¡± ¡°You could learn to do this, you know?¡± ¡°And how long would it take?¡± Taalay raised an eyebrow. ¡°No more than one¡­ or two centuries,¡± Heath said. ¡°If you devote yourself to it.¡± ¡°I think I¡¯m fine with my current path, thank you very much,¡± Taalay said. ----- Taalay wasn¡¯t certain if a few months to receive the reply letter was short or long. Either way, it said very little and a great amount at the same time. ¡®Spent some time with the Radiant Peak. Their guests were simply glowing as a result of my cooking. Do you have any additional ingredients to suggest?¡¯ That confirmed very little for him, given the vagueness. But it did show that Heath was taking things seriously. ----- Over time, Three Squeaks¡¯ confidence in himself continued to grow. He figured he could fight pretty much everything¡­ and then he was reminded of how wrong he was. He wished it was because he lost a battle. Instead, there was something much worse. It was a battle he didn¡¯t even know how to fight. He couldn¡¯t lose if he couldn¡¯t even touch his opponent. Sickness swept through the coalition as a result of bad water. Three Squeaks thought that maybe there was someone causing it, and had gone on a journey to the source. Along the way he found¡­ nothing. Ultimately, that meant one of their rivers was nearly useless. He returned in dejection. The hippos who were also looking for a solution found nothing. Soon, it would be time to water their fields- but they couldn¡¯t use the bad water, could they? The solution came from an unexpected source. ¡°Small¡­ small¡­ small¡­ bugs.¡± Three Squeaks turned his head as the other individual looking at the river with despair happened to speak. Only one meerkat spoke like that, of course. It was Meep. ¡°What about small bugs?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Nothing,¡± Meep said. ¡°Oh,¡± Three Squeaks sighed. ¡°I thought you had a solution for the bad water.¡± Meep nodded slowly. ¡°Bad¡­ water¡­ is¡­ small¡­ small¡­ small¡­ bugs.¡± ¡°So the bad water is because of small bugs?¡± Three Squeaks frowned. He looked in the water, and the only bugs he saw were ones that belonged there. ¡°No. Small¡­ small¡­ small.¡± ¡°Very small bugs?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Smaller¡­ than¡­ very¡­ small¡­ bugs,¡± Meep explained. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°... I still don¡¯t see them,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Get¡­ glass¡­¡± Meep started hobbling away from the river. ¡°I¡¯ll get it,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°What kind of glass?¡± ¡°Glass¡­ cup. Scoop¡­ water.¡± ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll get one.¡± Maybe Clang had something? He was one of the few that worked with fire, though obviously he tended to make things out of metal. Indeed, Clang did have something like a glass cup, and he let Three Squeaks have it. The meerkat scurried back. ¡°Alright, I have it. So I just scoop up some water¡­?¡± Three Squeaks did so. ¡°... I still don¡¯t see any bugs.¡± Meep plodded over. ¡°Less¡­ glass.¡± ¡°It needs to be smaller¡­?¡± ¡°Less¡­ dark,¡± Meep explained. ¡°Clearer?¡± ¡°Yes. Clear¡­ glass.¡± ¡°That¡¯s difficult to get¡­¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Have¡­ at¡­ home.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± That makes sense. After all, Meep was asking for it. So now Three Squeaks had to go run to Meep¡¯s home and back. Which¡­ was still faster than Meep doing it once, even with the extra trip. Just to make sure, Three Squeaks had him explain in detail. The clear glass made it easier to see the water without getting his shadow on the liquid, but it didn¡¯t really make much difference. He couldn¡¯t see anything. ¡°Did I scoop the wrong place?¡± ¡°Small¡­er,¡± Meep said, pointing at the clear water. ¡°So when you say very small bugs, you mean like this?¡± Three Squeaks held his paws less than one pad apart. ¡°Small,¡± Meep said. ¡°That¡¯s just small? So like this?¡± Three Squeaks put his paws about half the distance apart. ¡°Small.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not any different? So like¡­ this?¡± Three Squeaks put his paws almost touching. ¡°Small¡­ small.¡± ¡°Any closer and they¡¯ll just touch,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°There¡¯s nothing smaller than that. Even ants are bigger than this! Regular ants, I mean.¡± Meep lifted the glass and moved around until he was standing in the way of the sun. He held it up above Three Squeaks. ¡°Focus¡­ eyes.¡± Three Squeaks sighed. Sometimes, Meep was weird. But he was usually¡­ smart. So he should get the benefit of the doubt. Three Squeaks focused his eyes, protecting them as he did so. After all, looking directly at the sun was¡­ not great for people. Though that didn¡¯t necessarily stop One Hundred Stars disciples, either. Clear glass. Clear water. Clear¡­ bugs. ¡°Whoa! They¡¯re so¡­ tiny!¡± He took things seriously and acted like he was trying to spot something at the edge of the horizon, and he could see them now, darting about. Then he stepped away. ¡°Wait, I still see some!¡± He pawed in front of his own face. ¡°Wait, there are bugs in my eyes! I¡¯m sick! What do I do? Burn them?¡± ¡°Eye¡­ bugs¡­ fine.¡± Meep said. ¡°Water¡­ bugs¡­ bad.¡± ¡°You knew about the eye bugs and you didn¡¯t say anything?¡± Three Squeaks complained. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ say¡­ when¡­ things¡­ are¡­ fine. Ground¡­ bugs¡­ fine. Tree¡­ bugs¡­ fine. Skin¡­ bugs¡­ mostly¡­ fine. Eye¡­ bugs¡­ fine. Most¡­ things¡­ okay. Some¡­ times¡­ bad¡­ mush¡­ rooms.¡± ¡°Okay. So¡­ we agree the water bugs are bad. Do I burn them?¡± ¡°Can¡­ burn¡­ all¡­ water?¡± Three Squeaks looked at the river flowing past. ¡°Uh¡­ that might be a little bit difficult.¡± ¡°Try¡­ ask¡­ bugs?¡± Meep wanted him to ask bugs about killing bugs¡­? Actually, that made sense. Because he knew the ants at least ate everything. He just had to go find them and ask. ¡°What if we try to figure out something ourselves?¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Big¡­ ant¡­ won¡¯t¡­ eat¡­ body.¡± ¡°That¡¯s actually way less reassuring than telling me the Great Queen won¡¯t eat me,¡± Three Squeaks pointed out. ¡°Meep¡­ not¡­ lie.¡± Three Squeaks grumbled. ¡°Fine. The void ants know lots of things, so maybe they know how to get rid of the water bugs¡­¡± ----- The void ants had barely established a colony of their own, but it was out of the way so as to avoid accidents. Some people ate ants, after all, and void ants were difficult to differentiate for some. Except with energy senses, they were clearly¡­ wrong. Three Squeaks approached the colony, but wasn¡¯t quite sure what to do from there. Fortunately, a stick bug showed up on a nearby bush. Or rather, they were probably already there. They didn¡¯t ¡®speak¡¯ well, but Three Squeaks was pretty decent at the insect sign language. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°I need to ask the Great Queen about tiny water bugs. They¡¯re making us sick.¡± ¡°She¡¯s not here. Only Crossed Antennae.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Hopefully. ¡°Anyone who is willing to help. So do I just¡­ yell?¡± ¡°Flash energy. One will come.¡± Three Squeaks did suppose they were quite sensitive to energy, so he did his best to make it obvious for a moment. Some captain or something came crawling towards him- Three Squeaks did see a small trail of others, but the captain was much bigger. Three Squeaks explained his request, and the captain eventually returned with the princess, Crossed Antennae. The ant signed at him, though she was somewhat smaller than the captain so it was difficult to pick out precisely without focusing some energy on his sight. ¡°You had a question for the Great Queen? I can relay it, the next time she is here,¡± Crossed Antennae replied. ¡°I was hoping you would know about¡­ tiny water bugs?¡± ¡°... Because we are bugs?¡± ¡°Because the void ants know a lot of things!¡± Three Squeaks hastily corrected. ¡°They¡¯re making people sick and we can¡¯t use one of our rivers. They¡¯re¡­ extremely tiny. Look, they¡¯re clear things in this container I brought.¡± It was quite a trip to get there without spilling the thing, though fortunately his natural energy made it possible. The princess approached the glass. Then she circled around so Three Squeaks could easily see her again to sign. ¡°I can pick out what you mean. They have small bits of natural energy within them. But I don¡¯t know what they are.¡± Three Squeaks jerked back as he felt something snip at some of his energy. It was another void ant. ¡°Tastes familiar. Are you a disciple of Anton?¡± ¡°Um¡­ yes. But please don¡¯t eat my energy without permission.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m a princess so I can do what I want.¡± Clearly, Crossed Antennae disagreed. There was some attempt at signs, but Three Squeaks didn¡¯t pick out much before it devolved into a wrestling match¡­ in which the second princess came out on top. ¡°Told you,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m Fearsome Mandibles.¡± ¡°Well, nice to meet you,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll go now.¡± ¡°Before you go,¡± she caught his attention. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know what those things are?¡± She made a sign Three Squeaks hadn¡¯t seen before. ¡°No profanity!¡± Crossed Antennae said as she picked herself up. ¡°Profanity is meant to be used otherwise it wouldn¡¯t exist!¡± Fearsome mandibles flailed her limbs, then turned her head up towards Three Squeaks. ¡°Anyway, they¡¯re called-¡± presumably the sign for whatever they were. Three Squeaks later learned it was ¡®bacteria¡¯. ¡°So¡­ how do we kill them?¡± ¡°Boil the water,¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°... They¡¯re in a whole river,¡± Three Squeaks replied. ¡°That does make it harder. But just boil whatever you want to use. Or do a fancy thing to kill them.¡± There were a few words he missed but they didn¡¯t seem to be of substance. More profanity? ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°A technique. We can¡¯t control natural energy, but you can. Make something up to squash them specifically.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ surprisingly very helpful,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. Half of Fearsome Mandibles¡¯ reply was a repetition of previous profanity. ¡°Yeah, I know I¡¯m smart.¡± ¡°... Where did you learn that?¡± Crossed Antennae asked. ¡°I saw some and was curious. So I asked mom about them.¡± ¡°She¡¯s the Great Queen. You should be respectful.¡± ¡°She¡¯s our mom,¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°If she wants me to say fancy words she¡¯s going to have to force me.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Three Squeaks interrupted. ¡°Thank you for your help. I¡¯ll be going now¡­¡± He supposed Clang had a lot of fire to help with boiling. And there were other fire cultivators. They did have large tubs brought away from the river anyway, for use in the populated areas. They could boil it all. And maybe he could figure out a technique that would be more efficient. Something that caught these tiny bugs. Chapter 807 Upon return to Akrys, Anton found the coalition was fending off a bacterial infestation in one of their rivers. It most likely wouldn¡¯t have lasted forever on its own, but they would have had to give up using that resources for some time. Instead, they were already figuring out how to deal with it, with only a modest amount of information from the void ants. ¡°I¡¯m glad you let them resolve it on their own,¡± Anton told Ty. The swordmaster shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not like I could have dealt with it. At most, I could throw pills at it. Or chop everything into pieces¡­¡± he smiled as he held out his sword. ¡°And I know they will have to deal with much more in the future. Anton had a small amount of medical training, but in actuality it would be easier for him to resolve the issues through another method. It wouldn¡¯t be much different than what they were actually doing- boiling the water- but it would be more targeted and at the same time more widespread. Though he couldn¡¯t guarantee that the water sources would be better off without any bacterial presence, most of those that got along well with other life lived inside them in the longer term. ¡°Regardless of the methods, I¡¯m glad it¡¯s being resolved. I¡¯m far too used to living among those who have fully completed Body Tempering or in cities with full filtration methods. Ancient problems have become¡­ less remembered.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Ty shrugged. ¡°Though some of these guys didn¡¯t get sick to begin with. And I don¡¯t just mean the stronger ones.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°The warthogs. And some others. If I think back to my schooling¡­¡± Ty scratched his chin. ¡°I¡¯d say it¡¯s the biological differences that makes some of them potential hosts and others not. It¡¯s not just humans down there, after all.¡± ¡°Diversity is an advantage¡­ though I would hope it wouldn¡¯t make them numb to the suffering of others should their majority not be affected by future issues.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a problem of empathy. And your sect, at least, will have no trouble with that. Back to the bacteria,¡± Ty pointed. ¡°They have another method as well. Primitive filtration, maybe, but there it is.¡± Anton saw that some of the river was diverted into what he could only call a mess of algae and clams. But regardless of how the system looked, Anton could tell it was effective. And it should be relatively cheaply scaled, since it used living things that could replicate to fill larger areas. For the moment, it only filled a small pool that the local area used to gather water. ¡°Who came up with that, I wonder¡­¡± Anton probed around, ¡°Ah, I should have expected. Meep. He¡¯s found value in all sorts of fungus and plants before. And I think he has some others interested in his methods.¡± ¡°It¡¯s interesting to see,¡± Ty admitted. ¡°It¡¯s already turning into a very different place. Different thinking and availability of options.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°It would have been a mistake to force them into a mold that fit for humans. And if more of that is valuable later, they can adopt it as necessary. It¡¯s an odd balance, between assistance and letting things progress naturally.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Ty replied. ¡°Though I have the feeling that most of what we can do here has been accomplished already. My disciples need to grow more on their own to benefit from much more instruction. The differences in body, and the gap in cultivation¡­¡± he shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s too much. And I¡¯ve probably spent too many years here already. Good thing I can maintain my own ship. Though I could always force you to bring me home.¡± ¡°I could do that,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But I¡¯d rather not. Especially with my new travel methods.¡± ¡°I did notice an odd feeling as you approached,¡± Ty said. ¡°That related?¡± ¡°I would assume so,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ve been improving my speed bit by bit. For any serious increases, however, I think I need stars bound to me. I have some ideas¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re already the fastest thing in the lower realms, as far as long distance travel goes,¡± Ty pointed out. ¡°But it¡¯s not enough. Imagine I got a call for help from somewhere. I couldn¡¯t possibly show up before anything but a long term invasion was resolved. And I am in the Enrichment stage. I need to improve my techniques to match.¡± ¡°A fair enough point. Well, good luck with your star hopping. I won¡¯t be here for much longer, except to return occasionally.¡± ¡°I do appreciate you watching over them.¡± Ty shrugged. ¡°Hey, it was only partially a favor for you. Most of it was for Chikere.¡± ----- A sword dangled out of the side of Agom¡¯s mouth, as she spun and twirled. The wolf was only as tall as Chidi¡¯s knees now, but rather than her positioning being a hindrance to her she took great advantage of being able to so easily attack the lower half of her opponents. Humans were too used to fighting things like themselves or large beasts, and most weren¡¯t prepared to cope with a threat like her. Not that Agom was a large threat to anyone just yet. She was still young and early in her cultivation journey, after all. The small-toothed wolf might soon reach the equivalent of Essence Collection, but that still put her far below fighting on an interplanetary scale. ¡°This is good,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°The world is better because of me.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. While that might technically be true, Chidi was the one who had trained Agom. And someone in the lower realm had trained the other sword cultivators. On the other hand, she had convinced them to do it, so she deserved a bit of the credit. And she was once again out of Chidi¡¯s reach, so she could get away with more. Not that he thought that was a problem. He was much more uncomfortable when Chikere was barely functional and seemed like a viable opponent. Perhaps eventually he might match her, but it was too soon. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to challenge yourself,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Training like this is good, but your parents and I didn¡¯t reach our current levels without strife. And not everywhere in the Scarlet Midfields is so safe as our Alliance. I am currently restricted in my movements, but that doesn¡¯t mean you should remain static.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Chidi agreed. He didn¡¯t intend to wander around making enemies of every sword sect like Chikere might, but he could certainly find something worthwhile that still involved conflict. Plenty of worlds were filled with strife, often caused by those with power and with a minimum of foresight or altruism. Foresight, because no matter how much power they gathered to themselves, they would ultimately end up alone regardless of having or not having underlings. ----- Catarina slapped a map on the table, though it was little more than a blank piece of paper with a few points, except for the very edges. ¡°The Bloodsoaked Nebula. We weren¡¯t expecting anything from where Chikere formerly searched, but the area has indeed been cleared of Dubet¡¯s Heart.¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°Which leaves a lot of area still to search. It¡¯s unlikely to appear anywhere outside of the nebula, I assume?¡± ¡°Unless our information is wrong, it needs the history and continuation of violence. Which means it¡¯s not really something that can be farmed¡­ not by ethical means, at least,¡± Catarina clarified. ¡°Which is a shame, because it could do so much good. Artificial prosthetics are all well and good, but¡­ they can¡¯t fix everything.¡± ¡°And it takes a similar expense to handle specific cases,¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°Chikere was rather lucky that her damage was¡­ efficient.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Anyway, I believe that if we manage to obtain more¡­ we should be able to avoid anomalies like what happened before. We can¡¯t just bet on things turning out¡­ as well as they did.¡± ¡°And we finally have time¡­¡± Timothy said. ¡°Maybe soon, the world won¡¯t need us.¡± ¡°Hah!¡± Catarina laughed. ¡°As if attacks aren¡¯t already being planned. Whether it¡¯s a few decades or a few centuries, Xankeshan will need us. But we¡¯ve done pretty good managing things so far.¡± ¡°You more than me,¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°I know you¡¯ve done more than you make it look like. Planning the defensive coordination to work with the formations being just one thing. But anyway¡­ Dubet''s Heart might not be our only solution. But I don¡¯t think we will find too many things of similar quality anywhere but the Bloodsoaked Nebula. The concealing aspects of it mean it¡¯s less thoroughly explored on a wider scale. And being outside of our normal area of influence will be a better challenge.¡± ¡°I do need something to push me further,¡± Timothy admitted. ¡°And I¡¯m not planning to rest on my butt just past the threshold of Augmentation,¡± Catarina smiled. ¡°You think Alva or Fuzz would want to come along? Hoyt?¡± ¡°We shouldn¡¯t pull away too many people. But we should certainly invite more than just the two of us.¡± ----- A group powerful enough to challenge the Exalted Quadrant on any level was not something that could be underestimated. And so, even though Velvet found that at least some subset of the western barbarians was happy to fight under the name of the Chaotic Conglomeration, she didn¡¯t intend to discount their cognitive abilities. That was why she¡¯d spent so long coming up with a good cover story¡­ which ultimately involved a number of half-truths she could tell involving prior conflicts with the Exalted Quadrant. Then she found her way to the battlefield under the command of the Citadel of Exalted Light. She was part of the reinforcements to one of the contested border worlds. Velvet had plans for a grand sabotage, after which she would immerse herself among the ranks of the enemy¡­ but a decent opportunity came when she was on a simple scouting mission. It was a simple mission- check on a mine that hadn¡¯t reported back in a few weeks. She fairly quickly determined that it was occupied by the enemy, and she could have returned. But as it turned out, she was not the only one with orders related to the mines. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was a lack of coordination or an intentional action on the part of some other commander, but she noticed a small army approaching the occupied mines. Said army was primarily composed of Essence Collection and Life Transformation cultivators. It wasn¡¯t as if Integration cultivators were so common they could fill out an entire army on their own, after all. Spirit Building cultivators sometimes participated in larger wars as well, but at a certain point it would only take a halfhearted effort by a powerful expert to wipe out an entire battalion of low enough ranking cultivators so nobody bothered. Might as well wait a decade or two for them to be more useful. Judging the balance of forces from what she had observed, there was a slight advantage to the attacking cultivators, even if she were to assume that the occupants took over control of the mine¡¯s formations. The cultivators involved were mainly from the Flowing Fog Den, a sect that previously had some presence on Ceretos as well. Obviously their abilities in the upper realms were more refined, but ultimately it involved stymieing their enemies¡¯ senses to gain the upper hand in battle. That was valuable on an open battlefield, but less so in confined corridors where they had limited directions to come from. It seemed the occupying leader recognized that, because as soon as the rolling fog approached they were already in a defensive position inside. Velvet felt the battle beginning, but she only cautiously approached. She didn¡¯t want to get too far into the battle and be taken as a foe by the locals, regardless of the fact that she technically wasn¡¯t their ally. However, she found a good opportunity as one of the Flowing Fog leaders stayed back. It was reasonable, given their advantages. Keeping a watch on the battlefield was good. It was just¡­ there was a problem. Maybe it was her advanced age, but Velvet didn¡¯t feel the woman was doing a good job of watching her back as her own forces attacked. Just so that she didn¡¯t end up in any sort of ironic double ambush, Velvet carefully scouted out the area, making sure she wasn¡¯t being followed herself and that the commander was indeed effectively alone. A handful of meters to the next person might not seem like far, but in an ambush situation it could be a deciding factor. Her dagger pierced through defensive energy into the woman¡¯s spine, the difference between the woman¡¯s cloth armor having a high collar or not proving fatal. The reaction from the others was near instant, but Velvet was already fading away with a bloody dagger. She wouldn¡¯t count on the fog to conceal her against its own originators, but she was plenty comfortable wandering around a battlefield unnoticed. Before the battle was over, she intended to get both daggers bloody. She wanted some recognizable work to help her easily ingratiate herself to the local group, while pretending to be part of their ¡®Conglomeration¡¯ but separated from a different division. It was going to be tricky, but she had put in the legwork to get this far and wasn¡¯t going to back down. They knew things she needed to know. Chapter 808 Letting herself become embroiled in combat was not on Velvet¡¯s list of good ideas. Immediately after she took out the leader hanging back, she concealed herself with illusions. Nothing complex, as she didn¡¯t need to slip up when attempting to turn allies upon each other. Instead, she simply erased her presence¡­ though she also created a false trail for people to leap on. Otherwise, they might attack randomly and hit her by pure chance. With the death of an Integration cultivator, the momentum of the Flowing Fog Den suddenly dropped. More of their number had to focus on their greater concealments, and the Chaotic Conglomeration still held the mouth of the mines. After a few moments of confusion, the attackers began to route, but that didn¡¯t stop Velvet from taking out a few more along the way. Velvet made her way closer towards the mine as the fog began to fade, the thinning enemy numbers making her confident in revealing herself. If she didn¡¯t need to ingratiate herself to the locals it would be a different story, but the risk of being turned up on was calculated due to the necessity. With the enemy having retreated from the mouth of the cave, the false fog was fading. Though the Flowing Fog Den was trying to cover their retreat with it, around one particular individual it was dissipating particularly quickly. Velvet focused on the woman causing the situation, watching as her knife cut the connections of upper energy that allowed the effects to be possible. As the fog faded further, Velvet stood at a cautious distance, ready to explain her presence. ¡°Hello. I am-¡± ¡°You¡¯re from up north, yeah? About time they sent someone.¡± The woman had short cropped light hair and a thin build. Her knife was surprisingly unbloodied as she twirled it into its sheath. ¡°I¡¯m Runa. And you?¡± ¡°Velvet.¡± She hadn¡¯t meant to use her real name, but she supposed it was simpler to be honest about that. Less chance of slipping up. And nobody should know her name here anyway. It wasn¡¯t as if it was particularly unique. She swirled energy around her daggers to clean them off- their quality was such that they wouldn¡¯t rust or lose their edge, but it was still annoying to have blood caked on them. Before Velvet could begin to say more, Runa continued. ¡°You¡¯re alone, aren¡¯t you. Figures that they wouldn¡¯t send anyone else. I don¡¯t suppose there¡¯s going to be another batch?¡± ¡°Not that I¡¯m aware of,¡± Velvet began. ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Runa shrugged. She stepped forward and offered her hand. ¡°Glad to have you join us here. You¡¯re responsible for her?¡± Runa gestured towards the fallen Integration cultivator. Velvet nodded. She was getting the feeling she might not have to say anything here. ¡°A sneaky type, good with daggers. Can you scout?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Velvet confirmed. ¡°Great. I¡¯m not gonna lie, you don¡¯t look like you would do much good with the actual mining.¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°Same with you. But I imagine we¡¯d manage with our energy.¡± ¡°You¡¯d think that,¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°But I guess they didn¡¯t tell you. This is a void ore mine. Which means down there you mostly have to work with muscle and grit. But we have people for that.¡± ¡°... void ore?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I get the general idea from the name but¡­¡± ¡°I can get why you don¡¯t know, it''s rare as bloodwood. Except it doesn¡¯t grow so¡­ limited quantities.¡± ¡°So what is it?¡± Velvet asked. Instead of responding verbally, Runa detached her sheath from her belt and tossed it knife and all to Velvet. ¡°That. It¡¯s brittle as hell, but it loses its properties if improperly smelted or alloyed, which is to say pretty much any combination. But it cuts through most kinds of defensive energy like butter.¡± ¡°Most kinds?¡± Velvet asked as she looked at the knife. The blade was formed of some purplish metal, with clear signs of other metal being folded in. The spine was thick, making the blade rather unwieldy. And it had no enchantments¡­ which seemed rather obvious, given the way it suppressed her energy just by being near it. ¡°Anything that solidifies a material doesn¡¯t instantly revert to a softened state, which means it¡¯s still effective. And without your own energy to augment that, it means you¡¯re not getting through any defenses. It makes armor effective against energy attacks¡­ but if someone throws a rock at you it can shatter a breastplate. But there are still uses for it, especially for cracking barriers.¡± Velvet re-sheathed the knife and tossed it back. ¡°Sounds useful. I should get a dagger made of it.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°Just mine out a couple tons of ore and convince a smith to put in your request, and you can have a twig that will snap in half if you nick a rib.¡± ¡°That bad?¡± Velvet raised an eyebrow. ¡°Depends on how precise you are, but if someone knows what you¡¯re using it¡¯s easy to break. Even thick cloth can be trouble. My knife works because I never cut anything with it. Nothing physical, at least.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°That also seems useful,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Though I imagine it¡¯s more complicated than simply swinging it around.¡± ¡°You¡¯re darn right it is. My style is meant for these things, but nobody even gets to touch one until they¡¯re in Life Transformation. And you have to be in Integration to actually earn one.¡± Velvet wanted to ask what her sect was, but what if she should already know? But what if it was more suspicious to not ask? ¡°The Spirit Slicing Sect,¡± Runa answered helpfully before Velvet even made a decision. ¡°We¡¯re not that big.¡± ¡°Probably bigger than the Light Veil Palace,¡± Velvet offered, inserting the name of her cover sect. ¡°It was basically just my master and myself. We only recently joined the war effort.¡± ¡°Good for us then,¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get you to work.¡± ----- When Runa dragged her into the mines, Velvet thought Runa might have reconsidered making her swing a pick, but instead she just grabbed a pack along with a cage with a glowing bird inside it from next to a pile of tools. ¡°Always bring a purity bird. I know you think you can filter anything going into your lungs but¡­ you won¡¯t be able to. Not in the actual mines. So just watch this fellow. If they dim or start bloating, better get out of the area fast. Worst is when they start singing.¡± ¡°... Singing is bad?¡± ¡°They consume toxins. Everyone gets happy after a good meal. The bloating is also fine for them, but bad for you. The dimming is just a side effect that you can notice as they¡¯re processing things.¡± Runa handed Velvet a cage, while getting another for herself. Then they began to climb down a ladder, with a shaft much wider than necessary for the pair of ladders side by side. Velvet lost count of the rungs less than halfway down, but it was at least a hundred. Which meant something like that half again as many meters by the time she got to the end. Next to them, Velvet saw a lift, presumably for the ore given how mine cart tracks went directly onto it. Her guess was confirmed a short time later when they passed by some people pushing a covered minecart, sweating. Velvet felt a moment of weakness as it passed. ¡°Get used to it,¡± Runa said. ¡°It¡¯s mostly like that down in the mines.¡± ¡°Are we not¡­?¡± ¡°Not even close,¡± Runa said as they came to another shaft, once again accommodating a long ladder and a pair of lifts that alternated between up and down. ¡°This stuff is deep underground, and getting there in one go is both impractical and¡­ problematic. The ore is sensitive to sudden changes in temperature and humidity, and a direct shaft might compromise that. So we spiral down one step at a time. The first few kilometers aren¡¯t so bad. The last few hundred meters, however¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll get tired with just that much climbing.¡± Sure, it would be boring but¡­ that was all. Velvet was more worried that this woman was planning to murder her at the bottom of a pit. She hadn¡¯t sensed deception from Runa, but that might just mean the woman was very good at it. And bringing her down into a mine where one of them was used to the energy manipulating effects and the other wasn¡¯t¡­ well, Velvet intended to stay on her toes. They continued downward for quite a long time, when Velvet finally noticed the effects that had been warned about. Her energy began to dim, which meant she was gradually reduced to moving with just her body. And while she had undergone the Body Tempering stage and the continuation in Spirit Building, climbing several hundred meters in thinning air was not as simple as it seemed. Runa seemed fine when they finally stopped, and Velvet thought she¡¯d at least managed to not make a complete fool of herself. Rather than a single tunnel, Velvet spotted a few going in different directions¡­ and if her eyes were not deceiving her, opening into larger chambers further on. It was difficult to tell without her energy senses, however. ¡°How is it like this?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I thought you said the ore was sparse.¡± ¡°In this form¡­ it suppresses energy from all around. But people are rarely kind enough to walk into a suspicious room, which means the diffuse ore has to be condensed into usable items without suppressing its effects.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t it work through¡­ however much stone, though?¡± Velvet asked. Runa shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not a smith. So I can¡¯t say all the details, but it¡¯s not that easy. Anyway, your job is to check the caves for beasties. Don¡¯t worry, the tunnels will frequently open into areas where you can use your energy. But based on how I barely heard your footfalls on the ladder, I think you¡¯re quite capable of a bit of mundane stealth, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I am. However, there¡¯s only so much I can do without preparation against anything that can smell. What even lives down here?¡± ¡°A lot of weird junk,¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t intend to send you off on your own straight away. I¡¯ll show you around, and you can tell me if you¡¯re suited for work down here. Alternatively, you can stay on the surface and keep a lookout for more fools trying to take our mine.¡± Was it their mine? Velvet only knew it was contested. On the other hand, she didn¡¯t mind anyone taking a claim from the Exalted Quadrant regardless of who had rights to it first. She supposed she would have to learn about what sort of things could survive down here with presumably very little food- before human cultivators, obviously. But she would patrol in the mines, because Runa clearly preferred that. Velvet had no idea how long she would have to work with this group, but to be honest she preferred this compared to going out on the battlefield. She just needed to know how far she could push things. If people began asking around about her master or if Runa actually contacted the others and figured out nobody sent her there could be some problems¡­ but Velvet was obviously going to be spying on people here as well, so she should at least be able to get some forewarning. Though she was concerned her days might involve multiple hours spent on ladders. She could probably climb the upper levels more quickly, but she really wished that they just had proper elevators. Obviously they couldn¡¯t function with formations, but some nice technological ones could keep things in the right state and be more efficient. Not that Velvet could help construct such things even if she wanted to admit to knowing how they worked. The simple machines they had here for the lifts- ropes and pulleys, for the most part- were a logical thing for cultivators to resort to if they couldn¡¯t use upper energy. Since such situations were rare, it made sense that nobody developed terribly far down another track. Even those who couldn¡¯t cultivate or were low in talent would tend to go along with things, because they wouldn¡¯t have much influence or resources even if they thought there could be another way. Velvet hardly remembered what it was like having her full weight resting on her feet outside of high gravity planets simulating that effect. She was much more sympathetic to Rutera and its people at exactly this moment. Everyone needed a chance for convenience and efficiency. Chapter 809 An entire year had passed upon Vrelt, and Devon had found him quite satisfied with the Supreme Silver Sect¡¯s security. Not a single assassination attempt had made it past them in that time. Not that there were terribly many- though he supposed that more than zero was quite a lot by comparison. Either way, neither he nor the other Assimilation guards had needed to protect their delegation. They hadn¡¯t let down their guard just because of how things had been going. Or at least, not intentionally. But here he was, someone having snuck into Aerona¡¯s chambers and he wouldn¡¯t even have known¡­ if he didn¡¯t happen to be there. It was a surge of energy that tipped him off. He awoke and reacted with Instinct, prioritizing the most important task of protecting Aerona. His arm lashed out, blocking the incoming pair of daggers¡­ but despite his unconscious allotment of defensive energy, it was insufficient to completely protect himself. They pierced into his forearm, going to far as to reach all the way through, but without any energy to reach the target beyond as the second layer of defensive energy stopped them. Devon¡¯s counter was automatic, a large spiked chain lashing across the room while a dozen smaller ones coiled around the daggers. The assassin¡¯s instincts were correct, giving up his daggers before the chains could coil around his hands. As he ducked under the lashing chain, the assassin drew two more blades. While his backup weapons were likely lower quality, the larger factor would be the assassin¡¯s skill¡­ and the poison on the blades. Devon inelegantly vaulted over Aerona, shoving her across the bed to tumble off the far side even as she was barely gaining consciousness. He blocked several small flying blades, not thrown by the assassin¡¯s hands but purely controlled by his energy. At the same time, chains lashed around his own left arm, cutting off the flow of blood and energy so the poison wouldn¡¯t spread. He might lose the arm, but that was a relatively small cost. The assassin¡¯s blades weaved across Devon¡¯s chest, and he regretted not sleeping in his typical enchanted clothing. He fought desperately to keep the enemy¡¯s blades away from his own body, forming a shell of chains one by one to drive his opponent back while still blocking for Aerona. Startled awake and with a significantly lower cultivation, Aerona still managed to react appropriately. And the appropriate action was not to jump into battle, but to duck beneath the bed- enchanted, as the Supreme Silver Sect was quite generous with its guests. She did manage to contribute something to the battle, however. ¡°You can get him! I believe in you!¡± Besides words of support- which certainly had their own effect- Aerona¡¯s energy provided a small bolstering effect to Devon. As she was only in Essence Collection, the effect was small- but Devon wasn¡¯t going to reject any sliver of help. As Devon¡¯s power ramped up, he filled the room with a maze of chains that was completely undodgeable for normal individuals. However, his opponent was one of the exclusive ¡®Anchoring¡¯ cultivators on Vrelt. Sadly Devon hadn¡¯t gotten into a deeper conversation with Taalay on the subject, so he didn¡¯t know any particular strengths or weaknesses. Either way, his opponent moved rapidly and almost seemed intangible at times. The various pieces of furniture around the room were less lucky. Devon grimaced. He didn¡¯t really need his arm to fight, but keeping whatever poison was in his arm away from the rest of his body took effort and meant he was fighting at less than full capacity. The assassin was making it quite difficult for him to keep all of the attacks away from Aerona. But Devon didn¡¯t have to fight alone forever. The door was kicked into pieces as Cai from Marvelous Rabbit arrived. The assassin immediately looked less certain. Atalanta was not far off either. Then there was Taalay. Even if he wasn¡¯t physically present, the appearance of a simple projection brought a great weight with it, despite him having to pick a less physically imposing form to fit within the room- though he did push the limits of the high ceilings. Cai¡¯s bare foot kicked towards the assassin, who was forced to block to prevent his head from being crushed. However, his right wrist snapped under the force of the attack. Taalay¡¯s projection charged in as well, an oppressive aura crushing the assassin. Devon could see the assassin realizing his task had failed- and that he could not escape. He also picked out the moment of decisiveness¡­ but he wouldn¡¯t let it happen. With two other opponents, the assassin couldn¡¯t dodge Devon¡¯s chains. Once his shoulder was caught, he couldn¡¯t avoid a dozen others that weren¡¯t shy about stabbing into his body to hold him still¡­ and to suppress the energy he was gathering to attempt suicide. Taalay and Cai caught on as well, and ultimately they managed to stop the assassin before he destroyed all of his organs. Regardless of whether or not they could keep him alive from there, having a recognizable corpse would at least let them trace the attempt back to someone. Once they bound him with a half dozen energy restricting manacles, Devon focused on the task of saving as much of his arm as he could. Taalay immediately ran off with the daggers, to see if their healers could identify the poison or poisons. Cai was rifling through the assassin¡¯s storage bags looking for potential antidotes. ¡°Who is this guy anyway¡­?¡± the other man muttered. ¡°Elam of the Slithering Serpent Sect,¡± Devon said through gritted teeth. Even with his arm going numb, he could feel the pain¡­ and there was definitely an energy influencing component in the poison. He wondered if he should just chop off the arm entirely. The assassin looked quite surprised, and in truth Devon had no way to know it was him. Well, he could recognize the Slithering Serpent Sect, but Elam himself had hidden from the World Encompassing Chains. Devon had only heard the name on the lips of others¡­ but he knew who they were and could try to connect this to them. Devon could feel Atalanta gathering the other parts of the diplomatic team further away, and Taalay returning with some of their healers. Some of the healers immediately set about forcing life into Elam, while the others got to work on Devon. Their immediate expressions weren¡¯t hopeful, and they didn¡¯t improve as moments passed. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°I think¡­ we may have to amputate the arm¡­¡± One of them said. ¡°You may have to?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Or does it need it, and that¡¯s just politeness? Because we can¡¯t afford any unnecessary timidity here.¡± The man sighed. ¡°It¡¯s better to remove it as soon as possible. We can¡¯t save it. Maybe not even if we were here immediately.¡± Devon nodded. The chains near his bicep tightened down to a single point, slicing through his arm with no apparent resistance. Even with the arm severed, Devon didn¡¯t stop his suppression of the forces within it. ¡°I think it might burst apart if I let it go. I¡¯d rather not learn if there¡¯s some sort of cascading effect. Where¡¯s the nearest room you don¡¯t care about?¡± Ultimately, Devon found it easier to suppress the forces within the arm when he didn¡¯t also have to prevent anything from worming it way inside of himself. They had the luxury of picking out a room that could be easily sealed for him to toss the arm into. As Devon¡¯s energy unraveled from around it, he knew that the sight inside the room would be horrific. It would have to be cleaned up carefully, just in case. The healers inspected him to make sure nothing had made it past his seals, but ultimately neither they nor Devon could find anything untoward. ¡°You¡¯re decisive,¡± Taalay said- now having arrived in person. ¡°Good.¡± ¡°A cultivator has to be,¡± Devon shrugged. He didn¡¯t mention that while the loss of an arm was detrimental¡­ he also knew that replacements were possible. Even for cultivators of his level. That didn¡¯t make it trivial, of course, but Chikere had her arm replaced several decades prior at a level that had been viable for an Integration cultivator. Devon shared what he knew about the man with Taalay- which wasn¡¯t much more than his designation. How they would respond from here was another question. It wasn¡¯t possible for them to immediately retaliate with their forces¡­ but they could use the opportunity to sway some who might have been neutral. Devon just hoped that Taalay had been practicing those techniques he¡¯d been given, and would understand that part of the situation better. ----- After everything settled down slightly, Aerona came to find Devon. Even though her entire job was to speak to others, she found herself lacking words. ¡°I¡­ thank you.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t let anything happen to you,¡± Devon said. ¡°Either as a guard or¡­ whatever connection we have personally.¡± Aerona nodded. ¡°I¡­ I wish I were stronger. Maybe I could have-¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°No point in that. We only have whatever strength we have achieved at any current moment. Could I be stronger? More alert? Perhaps. But lives are irreplaceable, and I don¡¯t regret anything here.¡± ¡°What can I do? I have heard that replacements are¡­ possible. I might be able to help with resources? This is an injury in the line of duty for the alliance so¡­ I must be able to convince someone¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m not worried about that,¡± Devon said. ¡°I am in the privileged position to both nor particularly need my arms, but also be able to replace them with a prosthetic of sufficient quality to stand up to my cultivation. What I really need from you now is to focus on things here on Vrelt. And yes, I know that¡¯s much more difficult.¡± ¡°Focus on things here¡­¡± she muttered. ¡°Right. But what¡­?¡± ¡°That¡¯s to be decided. Do we call for war? It was an inevitability, after all. But I don¡¯t know if the locals are ready. You need to make certain that they will stand up to the Trigold Cluster and¡­ accept our forces. Because we can¡¯t let things here remain as they are, even without the personal injuries.¡± Aerona managed to calm herself down, or at least put on a reasonable fake expression. ¡°Right. I will discuss the preparations with the others. But I do believe Taalay will wish to speak with you on some of the matters. I think there¡¯s less we must hide at the moment.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°At least from him directly. Though we also need to determine how the assassin made his way through security. It is possible he was just that good¡­ but many such breaches are flaws in personnel.¡± ----- As soon as Anton got the message, he and Ty were preparing to leave. Anton could have simply flown off, and Ty didn¡¯t need to do much more than get in his ship. But they wanted to leave Akrys as prepared as possible. That wasn¡¯t difficult, since they were already supposed to be independent. But knowing that they wouldn¡¯t have any support for a while could be important. And a few hours wouldn¡¯t make that much difference over a timeline of months, which is what it would take after the travel time of the message and their longer physical trip. Three Squeaks just bowed his head at the news. ¡°We appreciate all the help of you and your allies up until this point. I hope you will return to visit.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°I will return when time allows.¡± Though he wasn¡¯t sure how long that would be. It was possible they would remain on standby near Vrelt for a long period of time, potentially years or decades. Or they could immediately dive into battle when they arrived. ¡°Oh, I almost forgot,¡± Anton pulled out a book- particularly large compared to Three Squeak¡¯s size. It was scribed in the recently developed writing that Akrys was using. ¡°Guidance to the point of Ascension¡­ or Assimilation. Take good care of it.¡± It was a modified version of the Path to One Hundred Stars, with broader guidance for different cultivation methods and to account for the differences from humans. It wasn¡¯t perfect. Teaching in person would always be better than a manual¡­ but it was what he had available. Three Squeaks took it reverently. ¡°I¡¯ll protect it with my life!¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine but¡­ if it¡¯s between letting it be destroyed or dying, it¡¯s just paper. It¡¯s only really trouble if someone foul finds out about it and steals the knowledge within,¡± Anton said. ¡°I want you to do your best to minimize possible harms. So secrecy is the best first defense. Its destruction means nothing to me personally, so don¡¯t worry about that.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°After all, the knowledge comes from you. You won¡¯t lose it just because we do.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Anton agreed. There was one particularly important individual he had to meet with. And her response was¡­ ¡°I¡¯m staying here,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Though perhaps I will officially ¡®leave¡¯ and instead go into hiding. I can watch what happens¡­ and see how my daughters develop. I don¡¯t want that knowledge to fall into the wrong hands. This coalition that has developed can be trusted with the knowledge overall¡­ but who is to say if things will change, or it will be stolen. And going to Vrelt¡­ well, I doubt void ants would be comforting to the locals. And we won¡¯t be going to war with the planet, just¡­ an unfortunate majority of the factions.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t argue with any of that,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°The void ants would be valuable support¡­ but I understand the reasoning for keeping them out of things as well.¡± It did mean he had to seriously consider certain other options he¡¯d rather not deal with, however. But holding back in a war with dozens of Assimilation cultivators on their own turf would only get good people killed. Chapter 810 A man with a staggering gait entered the territory of the Supreme Silver Sect, but even during a time of high alert he wasn¡¯t stopped by anyone. Unlike the previous visitor, he did not approach with stealth but instead walked quite openly with a massive pot strapped to his back. He passed through various layers of defenses, acknowledged by those along the way. ¡°Delivery from Delicate Spice Mountain,¡± the man grinned as he approached the sect master. ¡°Heath,¡± Taalay said. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to come here yourself.¡± The man shrugged. ¡°This is important. Soup?¡± He held out a bowl, sloshing some of the aforementioned soup into the bowl from the pot on his back without spilling a drop. Taalay took the bowl and blew on it before taking a sip. ¡°Still good. What¡¯s the news?¡± ¡°You¡¯re way too trusting, my friend.¡± ¡°Am I?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°You¡¯ve earned this trust. And I can¡¯t think of anything that would convince you to give up your life to bring me down.¡± ¡°What if I told you I had a poison that would show no symptoms for a week?¡± Heath asked. Taalay took a sip. ¡°I think you already mentioned that one, actually. But if I have to die, I would rather die after having some good food. But you¡¯re not here to talk about this. What¡¯s the news?¡± ¡°I tested the techniques. You wouldn¡¯t believe how many people lit up. About half of the big shots who don¡¯t already know who I am.¡± ¡°I might indeed believe you,¡± Taalay answered. ¡°Tell me, in your work¡­ have you ever heard of an Elam? Or the Slithering Serpent Sect?¡± Heath¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Is he coming here? Because I can¡¯t be in the same place as him. He¡¯s still mad that I took the contract for Old Man Yamanu. How¡¯d you hear about him anyway?¡± Taalay gestured, ¡°He¡¯s here. Well, in our dungeons. Do you know the origins of the Slithering Serpent Sect?¡± ¡°I know it¡¯s not the public facing name. People don¡¯t like assassins living nearby,¡± Heath said. ¡°But I¡¯m guessing¡­ same as the rest of those guys?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we need to remain so shy about this,¡± Taalay said. ¡°The Trigold Cluster. I won¡¯t be in any more danger for calling them out than I¡¯m going to be anyway. And they might as well have declared war already. They came for my guests.¡± ¡°Oof. Who died?¡± ¡°No one.¡± ¡°No one?¡± Heath raised an eyebrow. ¡°... Perhaps some outer disciples. Reports are still coming in. But not the target. Someone did lose an arm, though. Now then, as it doesn¡¯t sound like you were on good terms with this Elam fellow, how about helping me confirm some connections? My guests have certain ideas, but I¡¯d just like to verify things.¡± ¡°Sure, I don¡¯t mind,¡± Heath said. ----- In dark and deep dungeons, Elam hung, restrained in every conceivable manner. He had already exhausted his methods for attempting to kill himself. He couldn¡¯t even feed himself. ¡°Pepper on your gruel, sir?¡± asked the attendant. Elam just puffed air. He didn¡¯t really care. ¡°Can always use a pinch of pepper,¡± said the man, shaking a small container over the bowl. ¡°Really rounds out the gruel. Say ¡®aah¡¯.¡± Elam¡¯s plan was to starve to death. At least, it was until he smelled the gruel. He intended to keep his teeth clenched, but instead his mouth opened automatically. It was¡­ good. ¡°What¡­ what is that?¡± he asked with a dry voice. ¡°Just some gruel. A couple herbs spices. A little nutmeg, some cinnamon, some green thing. Oh, right. And the hellfire pepper, obviously.¡± ¡°Wha¡­?¡± ¡°It builds up real slow like,¡± said the man. ¡°Just a little tingle at first. Some kick. But even if you don¡¯t have more than a mouthful, it elevates to a bit of warmth pretty quickly.¡± Elam began sweating. He didn¡¯t remember the last time an autonomic response like sweating had happened to him without him being able to stop it. The inside of his mouth¡­ the far corners, even. His throat. Even his stomach suddenly felt like it was on fire. And he¡¯d been on fire, so he should know. ¡°Why?¡± he wondered aloud. The man in front of him grabbed his chin and tilted his eyes up. ¡°Because you¡¯re a sore loser. You weren¡¯t even going to be able to make use of a moltencore emerald, and you kept this grudge for decades.¡± The fire was intensifying. Soon, Elam was certain his body would begin to decay. ¡°And yet¡­ you do me this one favor.¡± ¡°A favor?¡± Heath raised an eyebrow. ¡°Killing me.¡± ¡°Oh. Yeah, the thing is¡­ while you probably feel like you¡¯re going to die, you won¡¯t. Trust me.¡± ¡°But the poison¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s just pepper. Which is technically a poison, but the only thing it¡¯s doing is screwing up your senses. You might get a little indigestion later. It¡¯s not actually burning your insides. That¡¯s a different pepper. Now then,¡± Heath held up a different bowl. ¡°Cottage cheese with northern ice mint. The perfect complement to hellfire pepper. Smell this.¡± Elam lunged forward- as far as the chains would let him, which was barely anything. ¡°Nice try. But you can¡¯t have any.¡± Heath took a spoonful of the porridge. ¡°It¡¯s a good spice,¡± he said as sweat began to run down his face. ¡°But even I can only endure so much of it.¡± He spooned some of the cottage cheese, instantly cooling his tongue. ¡°So, you¡¯re gonna talk.¡± ----- ¡°What was that last thing you did?¡± Taalay asked. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°I numbed his tongue and sense of smell. Had to do that before feeding him the mint or he might have actually enjoyed it. And he would have eventually dehydrated if I just left him like that,¡± Heath shrugged. ¡°But we want him to show to the council, yeah?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Taalay nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll first contact some of the others, however.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll know,¡± Heath warned him. ¡°The mirror crystals have been tampered with.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have led with that?¡± Heath shrugged. ¡°I just assumed that you would assume you¡¯re always overheard.¡± Taalay sighed. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. They won¡¯t have much time to prepare a defense.¡± ----- Aerona and Devon stood outside a pair of ostentatious doors- or rather a bit down the hallway. There were seats as well, but they preferred to stand for the moment. ¡°What¡¯s in the room?¡± Aerona asked. ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± Devon said. Aerona raised an eyebrow. ¡°These are the secured rooms I mentioned, remember? They¡¯re harder to see into than half the vaults on this planet.¡± ¡°Should you really say that so¡­ straightforwardly?¡± she gestured to guards ahead. ¡°Taalay would probably be disappointed if we hadn¡¯t tried to spy on them.¡± Aerona shrugged. ¡°I wish I knew what was happening in there. I could prepare my words better.¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t want you to, I suppose,¡± Devon said. ¡°Genuine reactions and all that.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have the feeling I¡¯m going to get to say much of anything.¡± ¡°Good thing you set the groundwork, then,¡± Devon said. ¡°You and the team came up with the plan.¡± ¡°Is it even a plan? I feel like it¡¯s an overreaction.¡± ¡°No you don¡¯t. Or you wouldn''t accept it.¡± ¡°Fine. It would be if things weren¡¯t¡­ like this. But I might be biased¡­¡± she looked at Devon¡¯s lack of arm. ¡°That¡¯s why we have people who don¡¯t like me along as well.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t-¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say they hated me. Just that there are people who are decidedly neutral in relation to myself. This delegation was put together intentionally, after all.¡± At that point, the doors opened. ¡°Enter,¡± gestured the guards. Straight away, they could see into the room¡­ and feel it. It was every Anchoring cultivator on the whole planet, all right there. No, not quite. Most of them were mere echoes of themselves¡­ and there were a few missing, even of those Devon had spotted before. It was a circular room with a crystal the height of a man in the middle- though the room sloped to allow all of those projected around it to see each other, one end higher than the other and the crystal in its own pit to make it only reach up to people¡¯s waist for the most part. Taalay gestured them to the empty spot, which also happened to be on the low end of the slope. ¡°This woman is the one who was nearly killed. And this is the cultivator who was damaged. Both are not only my guests, but envoys we agreed to have on Vrelt.¡± ¡°No, we did not,¡± said a woman Devon recognized from their approach. ¡°We did,¡± Taalay said. ¡°Just because your faction attempted to speak for the rest of us, Sovann, doesn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t properly accepted. Which is doubly so considering who you are. You have no authority to speak for Vrelt in the slightest, minion of the Poisonous Gold Sect.¡± Devon avoided raising an eyebrow, but he wondered where the man had found that name. Seems they had managed to keep a good amount of records on this planet. Several individuals began to object, but Taalay cut them off. ¡°Don¡¯t get me started on you, Aissattou of the Twin Soul Sect. You were one of the others to pay for the assassin.¡± Devon just stood awkwardly as voices were raised. He kind of wanted to see if he could pick anything out with the World Encompassing Chains, but he very much doubted he could be so subtle with everyone on alert. His mind drifted slightly, and he had to rapidly review the words in his mind when a question was directed at him. ¡°Tell me, Devon of the Lower Realms Alliance. What is the proper response to invaders from the upper realms?¡± Devon might have tempered his words¡­ but the delegation had agreed to no half measures. War was coming. Their reinforcements were sent for. ¡°Extermination. Death for all¡­ except the Twin Soul Sect.¡± Taalay looked quite surprised at that. ¡°You intend to show them mercy?¡± ¡°Of course not. Simple death isn¡¯t sufficient for them. The whole goal of their cultivation is to die and hopefully be showered in gifts upon reincarnating to the upper realms. So more extreme steps are necessary. Though I wonder if you ever had that chance, Aissattou. Do you know the consequences of Anchoring?¡± ¡°I-¡± ¡°I thought not,¡± said Devon. ¡°Enough!¡± Declared another woman- Olgica of the Shimmering Spears. ¡°Do you intend to allow this guest to provoke our sects, Taalay?¡± ¡°Of course not. I¡¯ll do it myself, you damn traitor.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± another voice spoke strongly. Ainhoa of the Flaming Shore, another one of the strong contenders for the visit. ¡°We will not stand for your filth living on our planet.¡± ¡°You understand, of course¡­¡± Olgica said slowly, ¡°That you have called out more than half of the Anchoring cultivators and great sects upon Vrelt with your baseless accusations? Aren¡¯t you concerned about the consequences if you start a war?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve given you very clear reasons,¡± Taalay said. ¡°Elam even told us about that mole you have. You¡¯ve certainly seen each other up close. And we¡¯re not going to start a war. You have already, and you will continue it now that we¡¯ve called you out. And I simply needed the rest of us to be prepared when it happens. All of you would have found excuses to work together regardless, we don¡¯t want any innocents falling into your clutches.¡± Aissatou shook her head. ¡°If we make any preparations for war, it is only because of your madness. The consequences are upon your own head.¡± She turned and stepped away, cutting the connection with the crystal. Devon had to admit, they really stuck to the act. But he could feel her connection to the Twin Soul Sect even through the projection of the crystal, and he could pick up signs of other upper realms influence from the rest, not that he wasn¡¯t already clear on their status. Others began to break away one by one, until it was only the ¡®innocent¡¯ sects- and not all of them. ¡°I¡¯m not fully convinced,¡± admitted an older man. ¡°Do you have more to say?¡± ¡°The crystals are corrupted,¡± Taalay declared. ¡°They might even now overhear us. I¡¯ll be sending a message to each of you¡­ and those who might be swayed to our side.¡± Then he gestured, leading Devon and Aerona out of the room with him. Only once they had a few hallways between them did Taalay speak. ¡°It is done. I¡¯m not happy to believe you, but I do. I hope your alliance will support us, as you said.¡± ¡°Reinforcements are underway as quickly as possible.¡± A few Assimilation cultivators had actually been hovering at the edge of the system the entire time the delegation was present, but they didn¡¯t have many forces with them. Now they were ready to enter the atmosphere at any time. ¡°If you¡¯ll give me a moment, I might be able to learn a few things,¡± Devon said. ¡°What kind of¡­¡± Taalay began to ask as Devon began to activate the World Encompassing Chains, a thin and nearly imperceptible chain rising from him into the sky- but not one that a cultivator would miss when it was directly in front of him. Taalay followed it up, to his limits. ¡°I¡¯ve felt this before, I think.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Devon said. ¡°Not that you noticed, but that you only think you did.¡± He looked to Aerona. ¡°Be prepared to type quickly. You¡¯re going to need¡­ let¡¯s say thirty documents open.¡± He wasn¡¯t going to be able to process any of the speech, instead only rattling off names of speakers and their words as quickly as he was physically capable. Some were in protected areas¡­ but most seemed to find being away from the crystals sufficient. After all, anyone who might spy on them was a significant distance around the planet. But that was their mistake, thinking too small a scale. Those here should mainly be descendents of invaders, their whole lives spent in relation to a single planet. They might have greater ambitions¡­ but ambitions weren¡¯t enough unless acted upon. And while Devon¡¯s sensory technique was imperfect, he still learned more than a few things that they would prefer not to be known. Like that they planned to attack through the mines. Devon didn¡¯t know why that would be possible, or where ¡®the mines¡¯ were, but he hoped Taalay or the others would. Chapter 811 ¡°So,¡± Devon asked. ¡°What are ¡®the mines¡¯?¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised you don¡¯t already know,¡± Taalay said. ¡°You seem to have seen¡­ much.¡± Normally, Devon should leave the talking to others- but with war upon them, tactical expertise was required. ¡°I¡¯ve heard people talk about mines, but I didn¡¯t see anything in particular. I¡¯ve noticed some mines around here, but I don¡¯t know how that would lead to a plan of attack on you¡­ and the rest of those who aren¡¯t upper realms lackeys.¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite simple. A large quantity of them are connected, deep underground.¡± ¡°... Why?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Because it was useful as part of the structure for our planetary shields. Such formations take a lot of space, so why not combine the work with resource extraction?¡± ¡°Seems pretty risky, though. Leaving hidden pathways into your territory.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Taalay shrugged. ¡°It made enough sense at the time. There was an accord regarding them. Nobody would try to attack through them, or be set upon by the others. Because¡­ we can collapse the tunnels and shut down the planetary barrier. But given that our primary enemies seem to be local already¡­¡± Taalay frowned. ¡°It¡¯s okay if you¡¯re thinking I told you they would come through the mines so we could shut down your planetary barrier,¡± Devon said. ¡°It¡¯s a logical train of thought.¡± ¡°You¡¯re either an excellent liar or a terrible one,¡± Taalay said. ¡°On that note, how did you know that Anchoring would likely keep souls in the lower realms?¡± ¡°Lucky guess,¡± Devon said. ¡°Well, not entirely. But I know names have meaning. We met some people who practiced Worldbinding¡­ and while it¡¯s likely different in some ways, it sounds quite similar. Since nobody practices a reincarnation technique quite like the Twin Soul Sect it hasn¡¯t been tested but¡­ it¡¯s certainly theorized that it might work that way.¡± ¡°I really want to hear about Worldbinding¡­ and Assimilation¡­¡± Taalay said. ¡°But I suppose I should get around to warning people. It¡¯s not as if we must preemptively destroy the tunnels. In fact, I would much prefer to do so with an army crawling through. I just wish we could trust the mirror crystal to be secure¡­¡± Devon was glad that it sounded like Taalay trusted him. Then again, it would be a huge gamble not to do so. Now Devon hoped that the attack actually happened, since he wanted to be reliable. Perhaps he should spend more time observing¡­ though he did need some time to rest, so he could only manage a limited amount of time per day. There was one matter he could help with, however. ¡°Aerona,¡± the woman startled as he said her name. She¡¯d been nervously following along, and didn¡¯t seem to have expected inclusion. ¡°How many spare communicators do we have?¡± ¡°Well¡­ probably only a dozen.¡± ¡°Does that include the support ships?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Also, holographic ones would be preferred.¡± ¡°Communicators?¡± the sect head asked. Devon pulled out a palm sized device and pressed a few buttons¡­ which caused Aerona to pull hers out. Small images of the other popped up above the devices. ¡°It transmits sound, and some can show an image of the person.¡± The sound of his voice came out of Aerona¡¯s end- but they were made to prevent echo and feedback, so it ended there. ¡°Obviously they¡¯re more useful at a longer distance.¡± ¡°How far?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°Anywhere on the planet,¡± Devon said. Which was true, if not all of the truth. It would be a very short response time anywhere within the system, and it could send recorded messages further. But that wasn¡¯t necessary to say. ¡°So basically like those mirror crystals, except not locked to a position.¡± ¡°I suppose it¡¯s not that outlandish,¡± Taalay admitted. ¡°After all, you travel between systems, so your communication methods would have to be somewhat more advanced.¡¯ ¡°Anyway, the point is we could loan you some and teach you how to use them. It would keep your communications out of enemy hands, unless they know far more than they¡¯re letting on.¡± And if this single planet in the lower realms had cracked their security without even getting their hands on a communicator, the Trigold Cluster as a whole would have far more. But Devon didn¡¯t believe that. ¡°Avoiding their ability to spy on us while still retaining rapid communication will be quite valuable,¡± Taalay admitted. ¡°But¡­¡± he looked at Devon. ¡°I¡¯m not going to say we can¡¯t,¡± Devon replied. ¡°Just that we won¡¯t. And that we¡¯ll be fighting on your side,¡± he patted his arm- or lack thereof. To be fair, that didn¡¯t prove that they wouldn''t be backstabbed later- but it did go a long way towards solidifying a short-term alliance. ¡°Me too,¡± Aerona interrupted suddenly. ¡°Um, I mean, I can fight. I know I¡¯m only in Essence Collection but¡­¡± she looked at Devon¡¯s arm. ¡°I can at least support or¡­ be intentional bait?¡± ¡°I would have expected you to take your space ships away from here,¡± Taalay admitted. ¡°Are you certain you wish to fight?¡± Aerona nodded. ¡°I can¡¯t speak for the other envoys. They might want to be evacuated. But the Lower Realms Alliance is on your side. Those of us who are present here should support you until there are sufficient forces to be picky.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not fond of the bait idea,¡± Devon said. ¡°It would be much more effective if we did it on purpose,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Though I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯d care about me now¡­?¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°It¡¯s your job to convince people of things, isn¡¯t it?¡± Devon asked. ¡°So convince them you¡¯re a threat. That you¡¯re as important as you are.¡± ¡°Am I important?¡± ¡°To Udre, yes. They wouldn¡¯t keep you in your position if that wasn¡¯t true.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll admit I haven¡¯t heard about her outside position,¡± Taalay said. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Elected representative,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Empress,¡± Devon followed up. ¡°Though it is an elected position, that¡¯s her proper title.¡± Taalay chuckled. ¡°Humility can be good. But you should be confident. Your entire planet would fight for you, I imagine?¡± ¡°Well¡­ not if I was at fault for something. But we¡¯re part of the alliance, so we¡¯ll be supporting this war as we can.¡± Though Udre was further and weaker than the other planets, so perhaps their contribution would be small. She didn¡¯t say that part out loud. ¡°Right then,¡± Taalay said. ¡°If you can get me communicators as soon as possible¡­ we need to coordinate as we can. I¡¯ll send the fastest birds on the safe route¡­¡± he began muttering to himself. ¡°And I need to promise rewards to those who can be swayed by money¡­ the Precious Palm Sect already seems to have a leg up there¡­¡± Aerona interrupted, ¡°Might I suggest pointing out that they can support their native planet and get all of the Precious Palm Sect¡¯s money at the same time¡­? Or remind them that their true name is the Poisonous Gold Sect, not known for actually paying their debts¡­ or at least not in a way that ultimately benefits people.¡± ¡°Can I borrow some of you to help me draft letters?¡± Taalay said. ¡°That would be greatly appreciated.¡± ----- Things were in motion, but as he wasn¡¯t really part of the local sects Devon didn¡¯t have much direct involvement. He was giving what help he could- information on massing troops in various locations should be helpful. Even if Taalay or the rest of the planet didn¡¯t fully trust him, they couldn¡¯t ignore him either. And when everything proved to be accurate, he would have greater trust. Though he didn¡¯t exactly feel untrusted at the moment either. For example, as busy as he was, Taalay had sought him out a few times in the last couple of days for conversation concerning cultivation. Thought that might have also been a test, Devon was honest and he perceived Taalay to be as well. ¡°So Assimilation is¡­ connecting to a place or concept?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°Or multiple places. Or people, occasionally,¡± Devon clarified. ¡°Many of us continue with traditional ascension as well.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°It seems a shame to lose such people.¡± Devon shrugged. He didn¡¯t want to say too much. Like the fact that they considered themselves to still be part of one larger thing, just physically more distance. ¡°Some wish to challenge themselves in a certain manner. And it is often¡­ more straightforward.¡± ¡°Easier?¡± ¡°It could be said like that,¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°But it¡¯s not quite true. At least, if you wish to perform an ascension well. There is a difference in quality to be had.¡± Going much further would head into the territory of mentioning they were in frequent communication still. ¡°Well,¡± Taalay nodded, his floor length beard waving as he did so, ¡°You were basically right about Anchoring. It ties us here. We had thought ourselves shielded from the upper realms, but clearly we were too¡­ optimistic. I also have some doubts.¡± ¡°What sort?¡± Devon queried. ¡°I know that some of the sects involved here were responsible for the development of Anchoring. I already knew there were flaws, but now I fear some were intentional. Or perhaps there are intentional ones I haven¡¯t even seen, yet.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m not the best to ask about that,¡± Devon said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a very personal style. My grandfather would be a good choice, though. If there¡¯s a chance.¡± ¡°Your grandfather?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°Given your strength, he must be a great figure.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Devon said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t directly follow. It would be quite possible for him to be nothing impressive. My parents never even considered cultivation. And my grandfather started¡­ late. But he is pretty amazing, so¡­ there¡¯s that.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Taalay nodded. ¡°I suppose someone as important as him wouldn¡¯t want to risk himself in a war. So I shall have to hope to survive and beg for his guidance afterwards.¡± ¡°Oh no,¡± Devon said. ¡°He¡¯ll be coming. I just don¡¯t know how quickly things will happen here. And given what I know about you¡­ he won¡¯t be shy about sharing some insights, either.¡± ¡°I see. Your grandfather cares for you enough to risk his life?¡± ¡°He does,¡± Devon nodded, recalling images from so long before. Over three hundred years now, in fact closer to three hundred and fifty. Though Devon rather doubted Anton would be at much risk, in this case. If this planet didn¡¯t even have rapid space flight, how could they even hope to get close enough to scratch Anton? ----- Spinning around stars wasn¡¯t good enough. It was still faster, but Anton couldn¡¯t accept his pace. Unfortunately, he was coming to a certain realization. Or perhaps it was something good, in the long run. He had some idea of how to go faster, but he would need bonded stars. It always came down to that. There was fortunately a single one of those between Akrys and Vrelt- to make the path to Ceretos feel less lonely. Bound stars were a much better place for him to stop and rest compared to any typical system. Though ¡®stopping¡¯ wasn¡¯t really something Anton intended to do. What was the point of being an Enrichment cultivator if he got tired out from any number of days of travel at top speed? His connection to all of his stars was much greater, and the replenishment effect he felt even in the void between systems was nearly as great as being home next to one of his stars in the previous stage. He was still capable of pushing himself past his limits and exhausting himself, but there was little point for the extremely marginal increases. And more importantly, he needed to be in fighting shape when he arrived. Nobody was going to mess with his grandson and his woman and get away with it. Though Devon hadn¡¯t admitted to the last part, Anton had met Aerona once and seen the determination in her eyes. A good woman, the sort who wouldn¡¯t give up on what she wanted. And Devon could certainly use someone. Anton hadn¡¯t been interested as he¡¯d lived a full married life, but sometimes people wanted companionship beyond that of friends. When he arrived at his bound star, Anton went directly towards it with no funny business. He didn¡¯t loop around the outside, but instead went straight through. Its gravity pulled him in, but he didn¡¯t let it drag him down on his way out. The replenishment and acceleration¡­ well, they might only save him a few hours compared to other methods, but that meant if he had a dozen along the route he could save multiple days. He just needed another hundred or so years of cultivation to connect to that many stars. After that he might add a few more along the route to In¡¯istra, though he did have ten along that route already, not counting places of interest. Anton hoped Devon was alright. He knew that the way cultivator wars could go, everything could have been over before he got the message. A few days was more than enough for a couple dozen Assimilation cultivators to sweep through a few sects- but only if they were willing to risk themselves. If they had to march an army, he should have more time. But he didn¡¯t intend to linger anywhere. Chapter 812 Recent events had made Devon aware of a large flaw in the World Encompassing chains. Not only had he missed the true extent of the mines throughout the world, he hadn¡¯t picked up the fact that the planetary barrier stemmed from formations embedded there. While he wasn¡¯t a formation specialist, he should have at least recognized the location. And while intentional shielding had hidden some things from him, he wasn¡¯t quite sure if that was true of those- they were simply far enough underground he couldn¡¯t sense them. And that was not the only thing. A bit longer than a week prior, he had sensed armies entering the underground. The Supreme Silver Sect along with others had been waiting for those armies to arrive as predicted¡­ but they hadn¡¯t shown up. There was some leeway for travel speed but¡­ Devon was wondering if somebody had leaked that they knew. Or if there was something more he was missing. Or perhaps they were waiting for one of the others to attack first to provide an excuse. With nothing but waiting occupying most of his time, Devon had to voice his worries to someone. ¡°What if they predicted what I can sense?¡± Devon said when he was alone with Aerona. ¡°Or what if they are hiding more Anchoring cultivators deep underground?¡± ¡°The second thing I don¡¯t think we have to worry about. If they had that much of an advantage in numbers, they would have swarmed somewhere with high ranking cultivators,¡± Aerona assured him. ¡°And we can hope that their cultivation methods don¡¯t directly mesh with the concept of anchoring, since they should mainly focus on ascension. On the other hand, if they figured out the World Encompassing Chains¡­ I think they would have tried to kill you directly. And it still limits how they can act, right?¡± ¡°True, but¡­ it¡¯s taking so long. Who knows what they could be planning.¡± ¡°Armies are only as fast as the slowest members,¡± Aerona pointed out. ¡°And they can¡¯t just drop people off on the opposite side of the planet in a few hours.¡± ¡°They should have reached somewhere, though.¡± ¡°They could be opting for a coordinated attack. In that case, they will wait until the very last people are in place- which means reaching the deepest territory that they have no influence over. It could easily take longer than this in that case. Besides, isn¡¯t more time passing better for us?¡± ¡°Only with regards to the actual enemy,¡± Devon sighed. ¡°If certain others get impatient¡­¡± ¡°Then they are fools,¡± Aerona said. ¡°If the Trigold¡¯s lackeys do not attack, it would only harm the others to blame us instead of verifying things for themselves. Besides, don¡¯t you trust Taalay?¡± ¡°I trust him to fight against what he perceives as a threat. Though I suppose he has no reason to not wait months or longer before deciding that our techniques were corrupted somehow¡­¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°Enough of that,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Whatever happens, we have to wait. What about your arm? How bad is it?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Devon frowned, ¡°It¡¯s better and worse than I thought. I don¡¯t need to use my arms in combat, though they provide some value at close range for structure if not as much for muscle power. The worse part is that my flow of energy is disrupted without something there. I can force energy past that part of the cycle but¡­ it¡¯s not optimal.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not something I¡¯ve had to think about,¡± Aerona admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose I could convince you not to fight on the frontlines because of it¡­?¡± ¡°You could not,¡± Devon said. ¡°I chose to come here, and I will see things through.¡± ¡°You could do so from a bit further back¡­¡± Aerona grumbled. Devon smiled at her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I have no intent to be reckless. But I can¡¯t sit on the sidelines.¡± ----- Massive tremors shook Devon out of his meditations. He ran through the opulent corridors of the Supreme Silver Sect towards the outside, where he could feel the planetary barrier crumbling away. Was this the worst case scenario? An attack from above instead of below would be devastating, and he hadn¡¯t even seen it coming. But despite the shaking, Devon couldn¡¯t sense any enemies or even damage. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± he said as he found Taalay, standing surrounded by a dozen Life Transformation guards. The man was clearly focused elsewhere, but he was able to split his attention to speak and hear. ¡°What do you mean? It¡¯s just as you predicted. And what we planned. The tremors should subside soon¡­ hopefully.¡± Devon agreed with that second point, because it seemed as if the buildings might fall over at any moment. Should he¡­? He could support them with chains, but if they were properly constructed trying to hold them in place might actually cause more damage. A larger scale suppression of energy might be better or¡­ The weight was literally lifted off of his shoulders by Atalanta. ¡°I will handle it,¡± the woman said as her energy suffused through the area. Gravity was diminished in the local area, which Devon hoped meant that buildings leaning slightly too far wouldn¡¯t collapse. Of course, that wouldn¡¯t do much good if the entirety of the ground beneath them gave way¡­ but there was only so much that could be done about that. Not far away he sensed the ship taking off, and realized he should have thought of that. Not to flee, but to keep the vessel itself safe. Communications were coming in from their backup in orbit as well, which Devon hastily answered. It seemed similar events were happening on a wider scale- and had been for an hour or so. Which meant that the plan truly was a coordinated attack, and it had simply taken a while. When the local tremors stopped, a few buildings were sagging on one side or the other. That wasn¡¯t optimal¡­ but they would stand at least. ¡°That went well,¡± Taalay commented, once more fully present. He pulled out the communicator. ¡°Too many messages from the others, best start sorting through.¡± ¡°... Did you crush their army?¡± Devon asked. ¡°If only,¡± Taalay shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not so easy, you know? A few tons of rubble wouldn¡¯t kill a Life Transformation cultivator, let alone an Anchoring cultivator.¡± ¡°Seems like it should have been more than a few tons¡­¡± ¡°Indeed. But the main issue is that they stopped some of the sabotage. Not that I expected any different. The majority of their army will survive, but they¡¯ll have to crawl out somewhere outside of our sect¡¯s territory. Which doesn¡¯t put them far away, but they have to assault us properly.¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. This was it then. Things were beginning. Devon wanted to try to get a bigger picture¡­ but information relayed from the orbital vessel would have to do. The World Encompassing Chains technique was too draining to use just before a battle. Most of the information was as expected, but something about the barriers came up. ¡°You¡¯ll want to hear this,¡± Devon said. ¡°Instead of fully collapsing¡­ the planetary barrier is creating an edge around enemy territory.¡± ¡°Those slimy rats,¡± Taalay said. ¡°They anticipated this. Back when they constructed the formations, no doubt. Well, I don¡¯t imagine this specifically¡­ but that some portion of us might destroy the formation markings in our territory.¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to be difficult to launch a counterattack,¡± Devon sighed. ¡°Oh? You don¡¯t have something to slip through the barrier?¡± Taalay asked. Devon raised an eyebrow. ¡°I can neither confirm nor deny such a thing. Also, it might not work given how things are different than predicted. Wish we had our formation masters here already. Heh, or Catarina.¡± ¡°Is Catarina¡­ not a formation master?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°Oh, she is. She¡¯d make short work of this. But she ascended so¡­¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like the others won¡¯t be capable of dismantling it. What about your locals?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, most of them work for¡­ the enemy,¡± Taalay gestured. ¡°Though they¡¯re not necessarily members of their sects, any who would be sympathetic to us are likely under tight guard.¡± Then he frowned, ¡°The Twisting Tree Forest failed to collapse their tunnels.¡± ¡°Where are they?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Unfortunately, they¡¯re over two thousand kilometers from here. We can¡¯t reasonably support them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not that far,¡± Devon said. ¡°We could send our backup ship. They¡¯re already ready.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Taalay frowned. ¡°They might not be the most in need.¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°They have to go somewhere.¡± ¡°Then it should be the Twisting Tree. If they can make it within the hour.¡± An hour was plenty. They could probably be halfway out of the system in that time. ¡°I¡¯ll let them know,¡± Devon said. ----- As Taalay had predicted, the enemy forces came out of alternate mine connections, though it took them some time to reach them. That put them outside of the Supreme Silver Sect¡¯s personal formations, which drastically changed who had the advantage. ¡°She¡¯s here,¡± Devon said. ¡°That uh¡­ Sovann lady. From the Poisonous Gold Sect.¡± Their ¡®nice¡¯ name was the Precious Palm, but they were money-grubbers either way. ¡°Want the first shot?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°I¡¯m gonna be honest, I don¡¯t feel like she¡¯s important enough to actually hold a grudge with.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to tell her you said that,¡± Taalay grinned. Cai was bouncing on his toes. ¡°I want to kick her in the face.¡± Taalay shrugged, ¡°Then she will be your opponent. There are two others¡­ I don¡¯t know if they properly recognized there were three of you here.¡± Atalanta added her own plans. ¡°I would be most effective if I don¡¯t have to engage in combat with one of the Assimilation cultivators. Or Anchoring, I suppose. I could crush an army by myself.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll handle Anki from the Creeping Fire sect,¡± Taalay said. ¡°I should be a good counter for them.¡± ¡°I suppose that leaves me with the last of them. Rui of the Wavecallers?¡± Devon pondered. ¡°I don¡¯t believe that sect has ties to the Trigold Cluster, aside from here.¡± ¡°Most likely an opportunistic pairing,¡± Taalay agreed. ¡°So do I spare him or¡­?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t risk yourself for a capture,¡± Taalay commented. Chains began to dangle from the fingers of Devon¡¯s hand. ¡°Capture is actually my specialty. But if we¡¯re just going to kill him anyway¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯d prefer we convince him,¡± Taalay admitted. ¡°Vrelt can¡¯t afford to lose so many¡­ considering how many we thought were part of us yet aren¡¯t.¡± The enemy forces were forming up outside of the barrier- truly one directional barriers were rare and expensive, so there was a limit to how much they could attack the enemy forces at the moment. Though the enemy would be the one who would have to break through the barrier and exhaust themselves, more than making up for limiting their bombardment capabilities. ¡°She¡¯s within kicking range,¡± Cai commented. Then he looked at the other and shrugged, ¡°What? She is. I¡¯m not going to go until the barrier¡¯s down, I just wanted to point that out. Hey uh¡­ what¡¯s that?¡± It was impossible for people to miss what he was referring to. After all, it was basically a huge mass of natural energy, and it was building up. ¡°A spirit cannon,¡± Taalay sighed. ¡°Our barrier won¡¯t withstand many hits of that. What a waste.¡± ¡°I think avoiding a hit or two from that is worth it,¡± Devon said. ¡°Not the barrier. The cannon. It¡¯s basically going to shoot money at us. It shatters energy storage crystals as it drains them.¡± ¡°How inefficient,¡± Devon said. ¡°For that kind of power, it¡¯s a necessity,¡± Taalay shrugged. Devon disagreed. He wasn¡¯t certain that was true. Though to be fair, only the Ascension-class battleships had something similar, and it wasn¡¯t fair to compare those things. They didn¡¯t cost as much ongoing, but the initial investment was staggering. ¡°So we¡¯re just going to let them fire upon us¡­?¡± Cai said. ¡°Unless you want to go out there and take a hit,¡± Taalay shook his head. Then he saw Cai crouching. ¡°That wasn¡¯t a suggestion.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. I¡¯m just gonna kick it in between volleys. It seems to take a while to charge.¡± ¡°Only a few seconds. This cycle is particularly long for the sake of intimidation, I believe.¡± The cannon fired, and the sect¡¯s formation trembled. Devon found the power¡­ adequate. On both sides, really. It wasn¡¯t really fair to compare a cannon to his grandfather¡¯s arrows, so he wouldn¡¯t. But if he did, they would have lost out. The sound of the cannon came once again¡­ but much closer. No, that wasn¡¯t it. The second sound came from inside the barrier. It was Cai. And by the time Devon had processed that, the fellow from Marvelous Rabbit Mountain was in the midst of the enemy army. He created a crater where he landed, blasting back the crew of the cannon. From a distance, Devon saw him pause to give a brief grin towards Sovann who was standing behind it and a bit off to the side. Then his foot dug into the ground, kicking the cannon from underneath. It barely moved¡­ but it did reach somewhere around head height. In his next motion, Cai kicked the cannon directly towards Sovann, while at the same time using the rebounding force to send himself sailing back towards the sect¡¯s formations, avoiding the incoming bombardment of attacks. ¡°... Are all your people like that?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°It¡¯s not my style,¡± Devon said. ¡°But in terms of confidence¡­ I¡¯d say everyone here, at least.¡± It was a shame that Sovann had ducked so swiftly and kept her head, but the cannon itself had crashed into a mountain behind the army, and it was mangled beyond recognition. So they would need to come up with some other way to finish bringing down the barrier, not that they couldn¡¯t manage it with brute force. Chapter 813 Cai dropped back through the barrier to land gently upon his sculpted legs, a pleased smirk on his face. ¡°Next time, I¡¯ll be certain to knock that woman upside her head. But I guess breaking their fancy cannon is worthwhile too.¡± Though that was certainly a large setback, it wasn¡¯t going to stop the enemy forces. The barrier around the Supreme Silver Sect was powerful, but not undefeatable. It was simply there to make an assault more taxing to the offensive forces. If a formation could completely prevent assaults, things would be quite different. Sovann led the charge, gathering the ammunition for the cannon to her as she made her way forward. The Supreme Silver Sect made use of their defensive emplacements as the enemy drew closer, but the three Anchoring cultivators shielded the army. Sovann herself was surrounded by a cloud of gems and crystals, sparkling in the sunlight. On one side of her was Anki of the Creeping Fire Sect, her powers manifesting as heat waves surrounding her allies. Then there was Rui of the Wavecallers, of special interest to Devon as they would be matched against each other. The man¡¯s powers certainly didn¡¯t seem to require natural water, creating great waves that crashed against the barrier and then seemed to climb upon it, leaving a great weight upon it. Aerona had already retreated further back. She was close enough to support Devon with her abilities, but very few could get involved in the clashes between Assimilation or Anchoring cultivators. The crystals that should have been used to power the cannon were instead battered against the barrier directly by Sovann, creating less efficient but still quite powerful explosions. The barrier trembled under the assault of her and the others. It would only last a few moments longer under the current assault. Before it cracked, Devon formed a mesh of chains beneath where the Rui¡¯s waves stood. He intended to deflect them, or at least weaken their force- sparing the surrounding structures and protecting the weaker cultivators at the same time. Taalay stood tall and regal, and even though he was still technically his normal size he felt like the gigantic projections that had been there upon their first arrival. Silvery light flickered over him as he focused on his target. Cai hadn¡¯t stopped bouncing on his toes since he returned, and he licked his lips as the barrier began to fall apart. As soon as it fell, he launched himself forward, trying to take advantage of an opening in Sovann¡¯s energy flow resulting from her final attack. His speed brought him instantly above her in a single leap, his heel dropping towards her skull. She blocked his kick with a single one of the myriad gems floating around her, negating his momentum. Effective¡­ but Devon knew there was a limit to how often she could do that. It was only a question of whether she could outlast Cai with her resources and energy. Devon felt the weight of an ocean upon him, but he forced his chains to curve back over the enemy. He wrestled his power against Rui until the latter gave out- letting his assault dissolve rather than risking it sweeping over their own forces. Taalay¡¯s silver aura clashed against the hidden flames of Anki, creating cracks in the wall where their conflicting powers clashed. The sect leader maintained his conservative positioning, clearly intent on letting the enemy press forward. Then there was another. Atalanta had previously given her intention to fight against the armies of the lower ranking cultivators, but Devon hadn¡¯t quite understood what she meant. A black orb appeared above and behind the enemy army¡­ and began dragging people towards it. Not a true black hole by any means, but a reasonable semblance of one. Life Transformation cultivators and a small number of others were able to resist the pull, but that meant a significant portion of the army was pulled away. The Anchoring cultivators were too focused on individual conflicts to counteract her, especially for something so unexpected. With so much of the enemy¡¯s army controlled at least momentarily, that left the Supreme Silver Sect¡¯s forces at an advantage, with their members split between clashing against the remains of the army and the stronger individuals joining the assault against the Anchoring cultivators who had already started to fatigue from breaking through the barrier. Rui was clearly annoyed to be facing off against Devon, as he doubtless was a wide area combatant. But he wasn¡¯t able to pick his opponent- Devon had done so, and the others were not in any position to come to his aid. Devon directed his chains with one arm, chasing them after Rui who was forced to surround himself with a hemisphere of water. No doubt he had some plan- otherwise he would have simply retreated further- but for the moment Devon¡¯s chains wrapped around the sphere of water to contain it, should Rui try anything. Though that wasn¡¯t the only thing Devon did, his remaining arm didn¡¯t make indication of anything else. Sovann was constantly on the backfoot, being pushed by Cai¡¯s continuous assault. He was basically a whirlwind of legs, never stopping. He would exhaust himself quickly, and it didn¡¯t seem as if Sovann¡¯s defenses were going to run out anytime soon. No doubt she was waiting for a good opening and would counter¡­ but Cai should know his own limits. Surely there was some strategy involved. The stone of some of the surrounding buildings began to melt as Taalay faced off against Anki. Burst of more powerful flame seemed able to appear anywhere and everywhere around them, nearly unnoticed until the peak of their danger. But Taalay himself wasn¡¯t so easy to take down, his power deflecting the explosions while at the same time he made liberal use of the damaged buildings as projectiles, grabbing and tossing them towards the enemy cultivator. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Atalanta was flying above the battlefield to keep a direct line to her source of gravity, drawing in the enemy forces¡­ until she suddenly reversed the pull. Many were flung down into the ground below, while others were tossed higher into the air. Either way, they battered against each other, showing just how terrifying an Assimilation cultivator could be when facing those beneath them in cultivation. It was clear the enemy could see they wouldn¡¯t win today- though breaking through the barrier and damaging the walls and sect buildings beyond was still an accomplishment. ¡°Retreat!¡± Sovann called, taking a few steps further back into the Life Transformation cultivators. ¡°We¡¯ve caused enough damage for today!¡± ¡°Like hell I¡¯m going to let you!¡± Cai shouted. He stopped for a single moment, his legs crouching. Then he sprang forward, one foot behind him and the other kicking directly forward. His foot shattered through some of her defensive gems before striking her in the jaw- with sufficiently reduced force that she kept her head. It didn¡¯t prevent her from being launched backwards, however. She was knocked back hundreds of meters in a single moment. ¡°And don¡¯t come back! Wait¡­ dammit.¡± Cai looked like he was about to spring after her, but he seemed to assess the situation and hesitated. Whatever ploy Rui had planned didn''t come to fruition. It was unfortunate for the local man, but he was simply too young and weak to face off against Devon. Just because they were in equivalent stages didn¡¯t mean they were all that close in cultivation- the wave cultivator was in the early stage, with Devon not far from the next. So when Rui turned to retreat, it was already too late. Devon¡¯s chains burst up from the ground, where the protective bubble of water was less well defined. A bit of dirt and solid rock wasn¡¯t a sufficient barrier for cultivators at their level. Once Devon had two chains wrapped around the man¡¯s legs, it was too late. Devon didn¡¯t have to worry about other cultivators assaulting him, not with their current advantage. And Rui was too slow or indecisive to escape the most expedient way- cutting off his own legs. Instead, he attempted to break the chains- which only resulted in them being frozen around him. Devon¡¯s energy still channeled through the links, suppressing the man¡¯s natural energy as more chains began to surround him. Capturing an Anchoring cultivator wasn¡¯t a trivial matter, but Devon¡¯s essence was perfect for the task. Chains, to him, represented his own freedom. Chains could not hold him, but they could hold his enemies. Then there was the matter of having been in multiple planetary wars¡­ experiences he didn¡¯t think his opponent could match. Rather than chase after Anki, Taalay began to suppress the fires within the sect. A reasonable result, given his position. Atalanta seemed to have worn herself out quickly- though Devon didn¡¯t see any shame in that, considering she¡¯d taken out a significant portion of an army. Even if they weren¡¯t all dead, many of them could only stagger away¡­ sometimes carrying companions with them to their own detriment. While the Supreme Silver Sect didn¡¯t have any snipers of Anton¡¯s caliber- even adjusting for relative cultivations- they still had plenty of methods to harass the enemy as they retreated. Chasing after the enemy to try to fully annihilate them might seem like a good idea¡­ but there was no way of knowing if the enemy alliance had more people waiting in the mountains. Just because they hadn¡¯t been sensed didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t there, and though the battle had been relatively short it was intense for the highest tier cultivators on both sides. If there were another one or two Anchoring cultivators that were fresh¡­? The battle would completely turn about if they walked into an ambush. Of course, Devon also had to finish wrapping up their prisoner. His chains could be a temporary seal, but they really needed something more secure for the long term. ¡°You picked the wrong side,¡± he said to Rui as he dragged the man closer. The man shook his head. ¡°A single victory here is nothing. Their full power is greater than you can even imagine.¡± Devon knew that with just the forces they had present, he was right. But they couldn¡¯t leave a dozen or two Assimilation cultivators near Vrelt for an unknown length of time- even occupying six for a single year was a significant investment. Perhaps they should have had more, but that would risk being found out even if they were quite distant. And they had hoped that things might not turn into a direct war¡­ certainly not without some more coordination first. Regardless, they were stuck with their current situation. Reports began to come in about victories- and losses- elsewhere. Twisting Tree Forest was not doing well, and would likely have been completely annihilated without the backup ship from the alliance. There had been a few Anchoring cultivators lost on both sides of the initial clashes, a devastating loss for the planet¡­ and things were far from over. If taken completely by surprise, able to appear inside defensive formations, perhaps the Trigold Cluster would have won the war in a single day¡­ but fortunately their movements had been predicted. Though it seemed it would be quite difficult to move against them in turn, given their particular corruptions of the planetary barrier. In short, it covered most of their allied territory against not only attacks from the sky but movement along the ground, and everything in between obviously. Most likely underground in the mines as well. Enemy forces were now scattered between allied forces, and while that might have been advantageous if the Trigold¡¯s forces were less numerous, that was generally not the case. The division of the planet wasn¡¯t neat and tidy, of course. If the Trigold cluster had nearly possessed half- or sixty percent, actually- of the planet, it would have been quite obvious to the others over the course of time. And a few sects had been betrayed from within, either through infiltration or the old fashioned way- someone offered enough to betray their sect. Just because Devon knew they would never receive anything worthwhile for it didn¡¯t mean they would believe the same, and when the price was large enough temptation could take over. They would need to rest up, and try to push away enemy forces. They couldn¡¯t afford to simply wait for reinforcements, as there was no way to tell what would happen in the coming days if they didn¡¯t act with intent. Taking a defensive stance wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing- but it had to be a choice. As one of the sects that performed the best, however, it was almost a requirement for the Supreme Silver Sect to go to the aid of others if they were to gain the upper hand. And with them would be the forces of the alliance, not just in the Twisting Tree Sect but elsewhere. It wouldn¡¯t do to only support Taalay, after all. He just happened to be the most influential one of the right temperament, so they had gone to him first. Chapter 814 Along the path of cultivation, Devon had learned not to ignore his feelings. Even insignificant seeming thoughts could lead down a significant path¡­ though a large part of the process was examining those thoughts and determining the actual merit behind them. So when he had the thought that something was wrong, Devon really didn¡¯t know what to think. Obviously things weren¡¯t right. He was on a planet where the Trigold Cluster controlled a majority of the resources, and they were at war. Aerona had nearly been assassinated and he lost his arm in the process. But with all of that, the feeling still remained. Something about Taalay? No, that shouldn¡¯t be it. If he was going to turn on them, there would have been plenty of opportunities earlier. The man seemed somewhat ambitious, but there shouldn¡¯t be much else to be expected from one of the more powerful sects on the planet. When his thoughts drifted, the answer eventually became rather clear. Or at least he found himself a step closer to the actual answer. It was the formations that remained that concerned him. Devon wasn¡¯t an expert on formations, but he had enough experience to feel that there was more going on than simply sustaining barriers. Bringing up the subject to Taalay, he only got about half of a sentence out. ¡°I¡¯ve noticed something about the-¡± ¡°The formations in enemy territory.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Same here. They attempted to hide it with the shift from our destruction, and the peeling back of the barriers. But there¡¯s more going on. A wide scale change of some sort. Can you pick out its source?¡± ¡°Unfortunately not,¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°Not yet at least. There are too many places concealed from my technique, and it might not be any of those. There could be another formation that projects a false feel, and I wouldn¡¯t know without having been present myself.¡± Taalay nodded, his dangling beard shifting with him. ¡°We should work on narrowing them down. Starting with the locations of the mirror crystals. That information isn¡¯t exactly secret, since we know which sects and clans have them. Otherwise we couldn¡¯t properly communicate with each other. Beyond that, I have a friend who might be able to gather more information.¡± ¡°With so much cut off behind the barrier?¡± Devon asked. ¡°I suppose it might be possible to slip through, but it¡¯s a risky time to slip spies into the most important areas.¡± ¡°Which is exactly why it is so important. Besides, it¡¯s not as much of a risk as you might think. He doesn¡¯t have to enter a forbidden area, just hear about it. And as for actually getting there¡­ you underestimate how far people are willing to go for certain luxuries, even during a war.¡± ----- ¡°I think I can manage that,¡± Heath nodded. ¡°Obviously there are some places I can¡¯t go, but few people actually know about me. We¡¯re officially neutral as far as this war goes, so I can¡¯t really make any moves without tearing apart my sect¡¯s position.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Taalay said. ¡°Just go where you can.¡± ¡°There are at least a few people who should know nothing, and a couple more who would be willing to risk my presence. Where should I start?¡± ¡°Formations,¡± Taalay declared. ¡°Ah, that significantly narrows down the list,¡± Heath confirmed. ¡°Might take a few days to start getting information, however.¡± ¡°Just do what you can manage safely,¡± Taalay cautioned. ¡°There¡¯s also a possibility word about you will be spread, in times like these.¡± ¡°I am aware,¡± Heath said as he fiddled around in his bag. ¡°Cinnamon bun?¡± ¡°You know I can¡¯t refuse,¡± Taalay said. The topping would simply coat his mustache, but sacrifices had to be made. ----- Once more, Devon ended a use of the World Encompassing Chains with little additional information. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m sitting around doing nothing,¡± Devon said to Aerona. ¡°Well, don¡¯t,¡± she replied. ¡°You¡¯re doing something others can¡¯t. And if it was so easy to dig up the whole world¡¯s deepest, darkest secrets¡­ besides the Trigold Cluster connection¡­ then we would have already won this war. Hopefully.¡± ¡°Even so,¡± Devon said. ¡°You¡¯re doing more than me. I see you constantly in communication, going through information and helping distribute it through the central system.¡± In this case, they were using one of their ships as a communication beacon, otherwise they could mostly connect directly between individual communicators. ¡°And where does that information come from?¡± Aerona said. ¡°Much of it is from you. Like the confirmation about the captured communicators. We were able to cut them off from the system just in case anyone figures out how to use them.¡± The devices were made to be easily functional for people who had a grasp of technology, but even without that it wasn¡¯t hard for cultivators to intuit the basic properties. The important part was that they couldn¡¯t be easily reverse engineered or used to intercept messages that weren¡¯t meant for them without a deeper understanding. Hundreds of years of technological development assured that, and even if a genius cultivator with special techniques were to study them it would still take several years alone to make progress. In short, they could be certain their communications remained secure for a while, even if they were incorrect about the time factor. ¡°It was just confirmation, though,¡± Devon said. ¡°Previous communications indicated they were already under attack, and they were already presumed lost.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Every step of the process matters,¡± Aerona shook her head. ¡°But if you¡¯re not satisfied, perhaps you should seek out combat.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want me to,¡± Devon pointed out. ¡°Of course I don¡¯t! I don¡¯t want you to get hurt, and you¡¯re doing valuable work. Even if it doesn¡¯t feel like it. But I won¡¯t try to stop you if you decide to pursue something that feel more impactful.¡± ¡°But you think it wouldn¡¯t be.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± she agreed. ¡°And I¡¯m going to say something that I might have been unclear on. I understand you¡¯re still probably one of the most powerful combatants on this planet, but that doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re invincible. And it¡¯s quite possible for you to be outnumbered.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Devon said. ¡°I¡¯m just¡­ impatient. I feel like there¡¯s something we have to do. Waiting for reinforcements¡­ might be too slow.¡± ¡°Then I would suggest working towards that in whatever way you think is best.¡± ¡°If I knew what was best, it would be easy,¡± Devon grinned. ¡°But since I don¡¯t know, I¡¯ll just stick to your opinion and stick with what I¡¯m doing for the moment.¡± ----- There had been nothing at the Seven Pillars except a bunch of snobs. Heath almost wished he¡¯d put something lingering into their meals, but he knew such things could still be traced back to him if he was careless. And he had an important mission right now. That meant the Runic Complex was next, which was awkward considering his history with them. But it had been a while and there was a good chance nobody would even remember the prank so- ¡°Well if it isn''t Heath. That¡¯s what you¡¯re calling yourself now, correct?¡± There went that plan. He looked up to see the figure on the wall. ¡°Oh, have we met¡­ sir?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t remember me? Well, I remember you. And if you truly don¡¯t remember, I¡¯m Stigr.¡± ¡°The name does seem vaguely familiar,¡± Heath admitted. ¡°Hmph. What are you doing here?¡± the man asked. ¡°Just plying my trade,¡± he said, patting the large pot on his back. ¡°I¡¯m a purveyor of luxury foods, did you know?¡± ¡°I¡¯d certainly hope you don¡¯t intend to engage in your trade here,¡± Stigr said. ¡°We don¡¯t need anyone poisoned right now¡­ even if it¡¯s technically ¡®minor¡¯ like last time.¡± Heath shrugged. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dream of causing trouble. I¡¯m a changed man. Matured, and all that.¡± ¡°Sure you are. So what¡¯s someone like you doing all the way out here?¡± ¡°Like I said before, I just sell food. I can cook up anything you like,¡± he said, intentionally wafting some smells up towards the wall. They were specially guided to penetrate even defensive barriers. ¡°People like you don¡¯t just sell food,¡± Stigr said. ¡°You might have forgotten, but we are formation specialists here. And we take special note when Anchoring cultivators approach our sect. In times like this, we can¡¯t let unknown quantities inside.¡± Before Heath could protest, Stigr clarified. ¡°And people that we know who are like you.¡± ¡°Come on,¡± Heath said. ¡°Is whatever you¡¯re working on really so important?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say we were working on anything.¡± Oh, he did. Just not in so many words. Otherwise they wouldn''t worry about interruptions in this place, separated from all possible routes of attack. ¡°Right, thought I heard something,¡± Heath shrugged. ¡°But business isn¡¯t so good these days so¡­ you sure you don¡¯t want to let me in.¡± ¡°Whatever you¡¯re trying won¡¯t work,¡± Stigr said. ¡°We¡¯re fortified against mental manipulation here as well.¡± Heath shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not trying anything except to get inside.¡± He began to pull out pots and pans, setting up a small cooking station. ¡°You don¡¯t mind if I wait here to talk to someone else, right?¡± ¡°It won¡¯t do any good,¡± Stigr said. ¡°They¡¯ll all be warned about you.¡± Maybe they would be, but since they knew he was in Anchoring it wasn¡¯t exactly easy to chase him off either. And while their formations were no doubt tuned to keep out all sorts of poisons and the like, they couldn¡¯t keep out air itself without compromising their air quality inside. That included some things that were natural to humans, things which could influence them in various ways. Like really good smells. Heath couldn¡¯t help but taste things as he cooked, and Stigr was in a prime position to smell what he was making. Plus the other guards hidden about, and anyone who came to check up on him. Though ultimately, he didn¡¯t need to make it inside. He¡¯d already decided the Runic Complex was involved somehow- in more ways than just helping construct the world encompassing formations like every formation sect. He wasn¡¯t here to determine that, but instead whether or not they had been aware of the Trigold Cluster. Their location made it rather difficult for them to openly defy them, so it was difficult to know the truth¡­ until he sat down to eat a meal with them. And regardless of whether or not it contained mind influencing components, he would learn some answers. ----- Information returned to the Supreme Silver Sect in small segments. Devon didn¡¯t know much about the spy, except that he was an Anchoring cultivator associated with another sect. But Taalay trusted him, so that would have to do. Unfortunately, the circumstances did mean he had to report back through hidden channels instead of just using a proper communicator. Being associated with them in any way would be problematic, as would losing another device. Partially because they only had so many, and because the more there were, the more destructive tests the enemy could employ to try to figure out how they worked. The Seven Pillars were officially associated with the Trigold Cluster, but the report was that they didn¡¯t have anything of note in their sect. Devon hadn¡¯t found anything either, but that didn¡¯t necessarily mean anything. Focusing on a single place wasn¡¯t simple with the World Encompassing Chains. He was also doing his best not to overdo it and get caught, as developing a counter technique might not be terribly difficult. If nothing else, knowing they were being directly spied on would influence the enemy and take away some of Devon¡¯s advantages. Word came that the Runic Complex had something. And they were nervous about it- not about it being discovered, and in fact perhaps the opposite. They were worried it might not be discovered. If that made sense at all, Devon didn¡¯t know why- but he had to trust the judgment of a master spy. Or perhaps assassin, though those tended to have a significant amount of overlap. What exactly they were hiding hadn¡¯t been determined, and all he could figure out was that there was something concealed. But it seemed to resonate with feelings he had felt before. Was this the source of his worries¡­ or simply one component of it? It would be a shame to charge into enemy territory to destroy or capture it only to find out it didn¡¯t matter- and they would instead reveal their hand if they acted too hastily. Chapter 815 The more he made use of the World Encompassing Chains, the more Devon became aware of its flaws. However, all of those flaws were inherent to himself and his own skill rather than the technique itself. Its limited ability to pierce through barriers was something he could work on, and his inability to process all of the information coming in was another. Each of these issues might be fixed by reaching the Enrichment stage¡­ on the other hand, perhaps he would have to overcome the flaws to advance. There wasn¡¯t always a clear line in the world of cultivation. He wasn¡¯t even certain that Enrichment would be the next step for him- if he could achieve a next step. His path was different from his grandfather, after all. The last few days, he had been involved with putting together a plan of attack where they would attempt to secure a route to the Runic Complex. They didn¡¯t know how long they might need to study whatever they had there- immediate destruction and retreat might be possible, but if it were not they would need a secure route of retreat. Alternatively, they might wish to hold the area as a foothold inside enemy territory into the future. ¡°There are two general methods of approach,¡± Taalay said, reviewing information for those present. Specifically, the cultivators from the Lower Realms Alliance, the Supreme Silver Sect, and representatives of the Flaming Shore- as well as the leadership of some lesser sects in the area. ¡°We have wide freedom to move on land or sea, potentially endless routes. But our movements will be exposed to the view of our enemies from mountaintops and airships. If we intend to bring a proper army, our speed of approach will be limited.¡± Taalay looked around at those present, making certain they were all paying attention. Different people had been involved for different stages of their plans, so most wouldn¡¯t have heard everything yet. ¡°The alternative is to proceed through the mines. We will be concealed until we make contact with the enemy, but there are only a handful of routes and thus they are easily predictable.¡± Nobody interrupted him with comments, instead waiting for the rest of the explanation. Most already knew their own part of the plan, but they couldn¡¯t be certain of everything. Taalay¡¯s impressively long beard fluttered back and forth with his head movements. ¡°And so, we will be attempting both. The team on the surface will be acting not as a distraction, but as a tactical misdirection while still achieving relevant goals. The Flaming Shore will be the primary agent in this regard, carving out the Wavecallers from enemy territory. We will use the threat of their sect head¡¯s life to keep the Wavecallers themselves subdued, with the intention to have Rui and the sect itself join us when they no longer feel pressured by the Trigold forces. The ultimate intent is to secure the local waterways, while our other forces sneak towards our other target, the Runic Complex. It is uncertain whether they will fight against us, but optimally we would secure their cooperation in carving out a path back towards the territory we secured overland. Otherwise, our intent is to take over the sect in secret, especially the secure areas.¡± Devon was aware of another, unmentioned, prong of attack. It was impossible to say for certain if there were any spies among them, willing or unwilling. So keeping some level of secrecy even from the upper ranks. In this particular case, they were keeping in reserve the secondary ship. It would be able to descend upon either location- in theory, at least. They hadn¡¯t tested their ability to circumvent the barrier for obvious reasons. If the enemy learned they could do it, they could work to counteract it. In the worst case, the three Assimilation cultivators could for their way through a small portion of the barrier, but the hope was not to need them at all. ----- Devon, Taalay, and Cai led the forces underground, bringing along with them the best formation experts available. Their force was smaller than twenty individuals, consisting of nobody below Life Transformation. They had a longer route to take, since they didn¡¯t want to approach the tunnels that had most recently led attacks on the Supreme Silver Sect. There was no indication of anyone lingering in the area- they would have been hunted down otherwise- but it was still more cautious to approach from a different angle. That meant going a significant distance out of their way, over a day of travel even at their speed. Devon could feel the power flowing through the tunnels, as they still remained part of the greater planetary barrier. It was tempting to destroy them¡­ but that was not his call to make. Besides, it would certainly give them away. If they managed to occupy the region as they intended, they could go back later to carve apart pieces of the barrier. Eventually, the modified barrier would have to collapse¡­ right? Or perhaps not. But even if it turned into dozens of individual barriers over spread out sects, they would be weaker without the flow of energy from a wide area. But that would be determined in the future. For the moment, they were to follow along with the formation experts who were watching for spying formations. Devon knew how simple it was to raise an alert when there was activity in an area, as long as it was not passed through frequently. The connected portions of the mines mostly didn¡¯t have living things moving around, and picking out things above a certain energy level was likely valuable regardless of whether it was human or not. The silence, except for their constant footfalls, made Devon want to initiate a conversation. But he also wanted the formation experts to be able to fully pay attention to what was ahead. Every once in a while, they stopped. Sometimes, it was nothing. Other times, they would destroy some markings, sometimes prying out materials inlaid into the walls. ¡°The planetary barrier is at least powerful enough that they can¡¯t place alterations frequently,¡± one of them known as Evgeni commented. ¡°Otherwise approaching secretly might be impossible.¡± Another day or two passed- without sunlight, it was simply a matter of resting enough that they weren¡¯t fatigued. While Life Transformation cultivators might be able to move with speed for a week or more, it wouldn¡¯t do to arrive somewhere below their full potential. Information came in. The conflicts above had started, with the Flaming Shore leading the charge across a portion of the ocean above towards their goal. A few kilometers of rock and dirt wasn¡¯t enough to overcome the abilities of the Alliance¡¯s communicators- it was a bigger task to cover interstellar distances. Though certain phenomenon underground might make the signal less clear, they had sufficient ability to ensure that messages got through eventually. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Enemies up ahead,¡± Devon warned. It was still a significant distance- multiple kilometers, in fact- but if he could sense them, it wouldn¡¯t be long before the same was true in reverse. His ¡®normal¡¯ sensory range wasn¡¯t as absurd as Anton, after all. ¡°I don¡¯t sense any routes around them.¡± Cai finally began to look excited. ¡°This is what I¡¯m here for, right?¡± Taalay nodded. ¡°We will approach somewhat closer, just in case there are sensing formations that can be neutralized first. Then it is your job to take out the enemies expeditiously.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do my best to prevent escapes as well,¡± Devon said. He was not as quick as Cai, but not everyone focused on training their lower body exclusively. And his energy could move quickly enough, hopefully disrupting any attempts to communicate outside as well. The current cultivators belonged to a minor sect, but their ties to the enemy factions were sufficient that there was no point in going easy on them. There weren¡¯t enough Anchoring cultivators on the planet to have one in every tunnel. The presence of the six from the alliance were a serious unbalancing factor- to the point that perhaps if they had known about the hidden three the Trigold Cluster would have been more cautious. Then again, they might have hidden more than a few of their own over the centuries. One or two unfamiliar figures had popped up in the current duration of the war already. There was hope to be some that would oppose them as well, but so far none had shown their faces. Ultimately, the tunnel guards were no match for what they had to face. Devon and Cai crept forward at the front of the group, until the point where they were likely close enough to detect. Then Cai sprang forward, bouncing off of tunnel walls around corners and covering the remaining distance in an instant. The unexpected attack allowed him to bring down several of their stronger members in the first moments, after which Devon¡¯s chains joined the battle, cutting off their retreat. Regardless of whether they got out any communications, they would be missed soon enough. Whether that was a shift change in an hour or a day, from that point on their infiltration group had to move with greater speed. Going deeper into enemy territory, they encountered more patrolling groups rapidly over the course of the next day, but they were able to keep ahead of whatever pursuit there was. ¡°Stop!¡± Evgeni warned. ¡°Things change significantly here. This is certainly the work of the Runic Complex.¡± ¡°Any traps?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°Nothing deadly, as far as we can tell. Nothing to collapse the tunnels or the like. But they will certainly be apprised of our approach.¡± ¡°How long would it take to dismantle the formations?¡± ¡°A few minutes. Perhaps an hour. But that¡¯s just this section. If there are more, or they have something triggered to sense the collapse of their formations¡­¡± Evgeni shook his head. ¡°Then we continue forward with speed. Focus only on physical dangers. The Runic Complex might be aware of our approach, but if that is an inevitability¡­ perhaps we can hope they have some loyalty to the lower realms. If not, we most likely would have to fight our way through their barriers regardless, given their awareness of passage through these tunnels.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Evegeni nodded. ¡°Given the taboo of modifying the formations in the mines, they must have been preparing for many years for things to end up like this.¡± They approached forward cautiously, but they managed to reach the base of the sect without incident. Though how simple it was made Devon more concerned, and he made sure to watch the tunnels behind them for any signs of an ambush. Until a relevant figure appeared above. Someone both familiar and unfamiliar. Devon had certainly noted her before, but he¡¯d sensed her energy as Life Transformation. Now, she was clearly in Anchoring. Had she just advanced¡­? No, that didn¡¯t feel correct. Instead, he determined her true power was likely hidden previously. She stood at the top of a tunnel filled with many barriers, some of which Devon could sense blatant danger from. She was old and wrinkled, not terribly different from Taalay in that regard. The man stepped forward. ¡°Ash.¡± She grimaced. ¡°I haven¡¯t heard that name for a long time. It¡¯s not even a correct diminutive of Ashildr.¡± ¡°Better than the alternative, though,¡± Taalay said. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me you had advanced to Anchoring.¡± ¡°Maybe if you had come to visit. We¡¯re practically neighbors here, you know.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve passed by over a dozen sects affiliated with forces from the upper realms,¡± Taalay said. ¡°And while I wasn¡¯t aware of that full connection, I wasn¡¯t on good terms with them before regardless. Why didn¡¯t you visit instead, if you cared?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t in the mood to travel,¡± Ashildr said. ¡°I¡¯d rather stay in and fiddle with my formations.¡± A lie. Devon was certain of it. Though perhaps it wasn¡¯t quite correct to say it that way. She wasn¡¯t exactly hiding anything with her tone of voice. It was a falsity, enwrapped in a truth. If Devon unpackaged it correctly, she did love formations¡­ but it wasn¡¯t necessarily her choice. ¡°What are you hiding?¡± Taalay asked straightforwardly. ¡°It won¡¯t do you any good to know,¡± Ashildr said. ¡°I think I would rather judge that myself,¡± Taalay said. ¡°Will you show us, or do we have to do things the hard way?¡± ¡°You really intend to fight? You know their power. We aren¡¯t enough.¡± Taalay shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t see that as a reason to capitulate. And that is assuming we fight alone. But we have help,¡± he gestured to Devon and Cai. ¡°A handful of outsiders?¡± Ashildr shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not enough.¡± ¡°I¡¯d tell you to wait a short time and find out,¡± Taalay said. ¡°But I don¡¯t feel like we can afford that. What¡¯s happening here?¡± Ashildr sighed. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll show you. But I warn you, destroying this won¡¯t help, and will only alert them that something is wrong.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Taalay said. Then he waited. ¡°Do you intend to lower these barriers?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe you eat Heath¡¯s food and don¡¯t trust me.¡± ¡°Perhaps if we had stayed in contact more. Besides, you still haven¡¯t done it.¡± ¡°Just come. I¡¯ll lower them a few at a time.¡± Chapter 816 Quite aware of how dangerous formations could be, Devon was cautious as they proceeded forward. However, unless the Runic Complex had advanced to significantly higher than the rest of Vrelt, or they had Anchoring cultivators hidden in ambush, the danger wasn¡¯t unacceptably high. Mostly, he had to trust Taalay¡¯s judgment and experience with them. They moved through the tunnel, individual blockades disabled a few at a time- and reactivated behind them. Devon wondered if they were being betrayed, but they continued to open up and allowed the group to reach Ashildr. If they were going to be attacked, leaving them in between various traps would have been optimal. Fairly quickly, Devon recognized their surroundings. They were on a direct path towards the mysterious thing. Upon entering the room, he learned nothing more than that it was an active formation of some sort. And something that didn¡¯t seem to interact with him. He looked to the formation expert among them. Evgeni was eagerly studying the runes around them, as well as whatever else was necessary. Devon did his best to pick things out, but it was a bit too complex for his experience with formations. It would be easier for him to determine the purpose from its effects, but he only felt a thin flow of energy. ¡°So what is it for?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°It¡¯s a communications array,¡± Evgeni eventually decided, looking at Ashildr for confirmation. ¡°Transmitting something to the upper realms, I believe. Though it seems incomplete.¡± ¡°Rather than incomplete, it¡¯s part of something larger,¡± the Runic Complex sect head explained. ¡°Can you truly be coerced into making something of this complexity?¡± Taalay asked suspiciously. ¡°Of course. We didn¡¯t want to die.¡± ¡°You could have come to others¡­¡± Taalay said. ¡°Once you found out we could have-¡± ¡°They were already in control by that point. Influencing who had access to what knowledge. Anchoring¡­ it wasn¡¯t their idea, but they were able to learn about it early on.¡± Taalay nodded. He was now aware that many of the early Anchoring cultivators were part of their group. ¡°So what, you chose to give up?¡± ¡°No,¡± Ashildr shook her head. ¡°And yet, you constructed this so that you might live,¡± Devon pointed out. ¡°And the only reason you¡¯re showing us is because you think we would kill you.¡± They still might. ¡°We had to survive to even have opportunities. If your people will inspect with me, I can enlighten them on how the formation¡­ isn¡¯t exactly to specifications.¡± Sabotage, then? A way to subtly fight back¡­ or an excuse for situations like this? Devon would respect the opinion of the locals on how to handle this. ¡°It should certainly be a bottleneck for their transmissions,¡± Evgeni said. ¡°Though such complex runes mean that it isn¡¯t simply words being transmitted, correct?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Ashhildr said. ¡°I believe the intent is to transmit knowledge of Anchoring, including relevant insights and the like. It is a tedious process that takes more than a few years to fully complete.¡± Devon tried to keep his face neutral. He very much hoped that the Trigold Cluster in the upper realms didn¡¯t get their hands on their communication technology, because this was¡­ easy. Not trivial, and perhaps there was another layer of complexity that he didn¡¯t understand, but they regularly transmitted at least the basic version of techniques between realms- with more than just words. ¡°What happens if it¡¯s interrupted?¡± Devon asked. ¡°At this point? The information will still be usable, but flawed. The process is very nearly complete, however,¡± Ashildr clarified. ¡°And to be fully transparent, destroying this node will likely speed up the process and alert them to your understanding of the situation. Though I really don¡¯t know if there¡¯s anything we can do about this anyway. Most of the damage is done.¡± ¡°Unless false information was injected into the transmission,¡± Devon pointed out. ¡°That could taint the whole thing.¡± ¡°It would certainly cause a major setback. It might take decades to decipher the true pieces of information. But for that, you would need to capture every single node within a month. And even that might be too slow. Considering the time to modify the information, it¡¯s impossible.¡± Taalay raised a bushy eyebrow. ¡°Why tell us at all, then? You¡¯ve merely shown you are complicit.¡± ¡°I did what I could,¡± Ashildr shrugged. ¡°And perhaps¡­ I wanted people to know. Though at this point, there¡¯s nothing we can do to stop them from returning and scouring our planet with the next cycle. I¡¯d like to live those few centuries, but perhaps I would be happier¡­ not.¡± They stood in silence for some time. Eventually, Taalay sighed. ¡°You should have just come to me, Ash. We could have figured something out, somehow.¡± ¡°And now we¡¯re on a very tight timeline,¡± Devon sighed. ¡°An impossible one, you mean,¡± Taalay said. ¡°We¡¯ll barely be able to secure this area by the end of the month, let alone the whole planet.¡± ¡°He¡¯ll be here within the week,¡± Devon said. ¡°They who?¡± Ashildr asked. ¡°Do you have incoming formation masters? Or should I not know?¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I suppose we should have some with the reinforcements,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°Are you willing to work with them? Any information you can give us now we can transmit to them, and save a few days.¡± ¡°I¡¯m willing to try,¡± the old woman said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know if it will do any good.¡± Taalay took a moment to point something out. ¡°You weren¡¯t referring to them, were you Devon? You said ¡®he¡¯.¡± Devon let a slight smile onto his face. How could he not, thinking about him? ¡°That¡¯s right. And I have the feeling he¡¯s going to ask you a question you need to be ready to answer. And by you, I mean¡­ the local occupants as a whole.¡± ¡°Is it a difficult question?¡± ¡°That depends on if you trust him,¡± Devon said. ¡°For me, I wouldn¡¯t even have to think about it. As for you¡­ it might help to know he doesn¡¯t have to ask.¡± ----- The sound of an explosion was followed by the vibrating waves of natural energy as the formation stabilized. It had taken several days to secure the Runic Complex- simply leaving them behind wouldn¡¯t do, as there was a clear trail of destruction along the way. So there they were, watching the barrier be bombarded. Devon could tell it was going to fall sooner rather than later. Even so¡­ ¡°I¡¯m impressed by the durability,¡± Devon said. ¡°I can see Sovann crying tears of molten gold for how much this is costing her.¡± ¡°We wouldn¡¯t be a proper formation sect if we didn¡¯t have the best defenses,¡± Ashildr commented. ¡°But unfortunately, it¡¯s well short of perfection. It won¡¯t be enough.¡± Taalay also had a comment. ¡°You¡¯re rather calm in this situation. Even though your ship is helping out the situation with the Wavecallers¡­ and it¡¯s just us here.¡± ¡°So what?¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just Sovann out there. And a handful of others.¡± ¡°If we¡¯re just looking at Anchoring cultivators¡­¡± Taalay said. ¡°I am afraid we¡¯re at a disadvantage. Unless both of you can take two of them¡­?¡± Cai spoke up immediately, ¡°I¡¯m going to deal with her.¡± ¡°That leaves five for the three of us,¡± Taalay said. ¡°I¡¯m not so proud as to pretend I can fight two. Ash?¡± ¡°Maybe on a good day,¡± she said. ¡°Devon?¡± Taalay prompted. ¡°I should be able to tangle with two or three for a while,¡± Devon said. ¡°I could kill two¡­ if I got to pick my opponents and had no other interference.¡± ¡°That still sounds like losing numbers,¡± Taalay pointed out. ¡°Why do you seem so¡­ unconcerned?¡± ¡°Because we get to make our own fates. I¡¯ve been in hopeless situations before. This one is merely lacking in that regard.¡± ¡°Reinforcements from your alliance are over a day away. Surely you¡¯re not counting on them¡­?¡± ¡°I prefer to rely on myself, and those immediately around me,¡± Devon said. ¡°We might die, but I won¡¯t go down easily. What else can I say? If we lose in morale, then we are truly defeated. But if we can convince them that they¡¯re at a disadvantage, it might come true.¡± ----- When the barrier broke, Cai immediately rocketed into the skies. As the fastest among them he could easily escape¡­ but the thought never even crossed his mind. When he reached the peak of his arc, he kicked off the air to launch himself back downward, making up for the momentum he lost due to friction and even increasing slightly as he fell. His target was once more that woman¡¯s face. Sovann obviously noticed, and she pulled out some sort of defensive treasure. Cai could sense the power within it, and he also knew that he was already committed. Backing out now would simply cause him trouble. And thus, he crashed into a shell of spikes at supersonic speeds. But despite the punctures that covered his legs, he thought it would have been worse if he slowed down. It was too bad the shattering had given Sovann time to step back. On the other hand, it did give Cai the opportunity to kick her into the cannon this time, instead of the other way around. Her defenses were strong, but ultimately that just meant she was afraid of death. Cai knew their tactic was to delay, hoping for something. But this was the only thing he knew how to do. And perhaps it would help to have this woman off the battlefield. He chased after her, intent on kicking her into the next county. And the one after that. ----- Ashildr¡¯s immediate response to the outer barrier breaking was not to charge forward, but instead retreat. However, it was not a simple act of cowardice. Instead, she was aware that she would be most effective controlling certain battlefield formations. Active input was better than automatic responses. And she could reflow the energy that was no longer being used for that defensive barrier into restrictive formations that would suppress the enemy. If she was lucky, one of the fellows from the Creeping Fire Sect would follow her. No, even better- Asgeirr was going to bring them together. His imposing battlefield presence reminded her of the old days, and while she knew he was more powerful now the memories in her head had him as the only figure of note on the battlefield. It was good to fight by his side one last time. ----- Seeing the others making their moves, Devon was left with the three newcomers. They were from one of the sects along the way, the Ebon Skulls. Though of course they hadn¡¯t been using that name publicly. They were necromancers that played their hand at something like conjurers. However, instead of their ¡®summoned¡¯ soldiers simply being energy constructs, they were instead based on something physical. And while they had some perfectly innocent suits of armor and the like, Devon had learned that their most effective methods would involve empowering the bodies of the dead. Whether former enemies or their own sect mates, they didn¡¯t seem to distinguish much. Devon knew he would have his task cut out for him. There were three women, equally distributed from old to young. He didn¡¯t know if that meant anything, and he couldn¡¯t recall their names. Still, he knew that their connection to their vessels was the critical factor. Unfortunately, his initial attempts to sever the connection to their soldiers were unsuccessful. Specifically, he caught a handful of them in his chains¡­ but it was easier from there to simply crush them to pieces rather than sever the connection. And while those were the weakest soldiers, the connection was stronger for the more powerful individuals. The very top of which were able to display power near the Anchoring stage. He danced across the battlefield, waves of chains surrounding him and taking advantage of the enemy¡¯s movement. Along with the formations Ashildr was controlling suppressing them, he had the advantage of being just a single person. They were an army, and meant to fight against such- and then perhaps a few commanders. But that meant most of their firepower couldn¡¯t reach Devon all at once, while he could make it difficult to leave his area of influence. He had some hopes to reach the women controlling them from the back, but unfortunately even flying wouldn¡¯t be sufficient. And they would be able to redirect their energy from controlling the hordes to fighting themselves. More than that, they wouldn¡¯t hold back if they felt threatened. Devon couldn¡¯t win, so it was better to simply hold them off. He had to walk a delicate balance of being vulnerable and weak without seeming as if he could be finished off at any moment. If he was lucky, Cai would return¡­ but unless he killed her, the man would drag an angry Sovann back with him and that wasn¡¯t likely to be a short battle. Still, Devon had a good feeling about things as he looked for some way to gain an advantage. He wasn¡¯t willing to give up yet, though unfortunately he couldn¡¯t hope for a sudden rise to Enrichment. It would be nice, but he was too far off for that to be viable. Perhaps he could simply wound a few enemies and let them retreat? As long as he gave the impression he could kill one or two of them, that might be a viable tactic. Chapter 817 The sensation of the upcoming system was a welcome relief for Anton. Of any place he could be, the void between stars was the least comfortable for him. Even Aipra had its own sense of comfort from the people there and the planet¡¯s natural energy, limited as it was. Here he was, at the end of his journey. Yet Anton felt no diminishing in the sense of urgency within himself. Instead, it heightened. The tiniest strand of his energy pierced ahead, finding the strange state of Vrelt¡¯s planetary barrier as he had already been apprised. He immediately began searching for familiar energy, and within a few moments he found it. Beneath the barrier was Devon, embroiled in combat with numerous foes. Anton was still at the very edge of the system. Or what could barely be called the system. He wasn¡¯t just a few times further from the star than the planet he was seeking, but hundreds of times that. He only managed to pick out Devon because he was familiar, and of course being in the Enrichment stage helped. This wasn¡¯t a system where he had a bound star, but he still had the energy of his other stars flowing through him. There was no way Anton would be able to reach the battle at his current speed. Devon was already looking fatigued, and even if Anton pushed himself to his limits it could still take him an hour to reach him. Anton closed his eyes, blocking out the light of the local sun and the other stars. He allowed himself a moment to focus as he clutched his bow. Then, he drew upon the power of a place he could never reach. The dense and distant energy of ascension did not fit him. Without the techniques of Fleeting Youth it would wrestle against him, trying to overcome him. But what he took was bound to his will. And what he wanted¡­ was a single shot. What was the point of practicing a technique if he never used it? It wasn¡¯t even as far as he had previously attacked. Granted, he hadn¡¯t been able to hit a target at such distances as it was all he could do was make it maintain its form. Either way, this was the option he had. His arrow burst forward, nearly negating his coreward momentum. Then he was the arrow, flying through space. Zipping past outer planets- not that he actually drew close to most of them. Just one, slightly curving space which he allowed to deflect his trajectory. Time meant nothing. His attack far surpassed any reasonable limitation on speed. Natural laws could not constrain it. He reached the barrier in what felt like mere moments. It slowed him no more than the surface of water, a momentary hitch after which he was free from restrictions. And then¡­ he struck, the energy exploding in all directions as his attack landed. Then Anton was back in himself. Perhaps he had put too much of himself into that shot. Both because he didn¡¯t think he could manage it again¡­ and because it was an unnecessary amount of power. Especially considering the results. His attack hadn¡¯t even hit. ----- There wasn¡¯t a single moment that Devon sensed the arrow¡¯s approach. It was beyond the limits of his senses, and then it had arrived. There was not a single moment in between, no time for him- or anyone else- to react. So the first thing Devon comprehended was the explosion, tearing through a portion of the battlefield. It struck between him and the Ebon Skulls, wiping out half their undead army in an instant. Devon was nearly as awestruck as everyone else was, but recognizing the enemy he didn¡¯t respond with fear. Instead, he lashed out at the nearest suit of armor- or perhaps a corpse encased by one. His chains lashed around it, taking advantage of the momentarily broken connection to render one of the most dangerous targets asunder. It was just slightly durable metal and flesh in that moment, not something representing an Anchoring cultivator¡¯s power. The next moment, Devon shared a look with the Ebon Skulls. Immediately following that, they acted as one, forcing their armies to converge on him. Yet at the same time, they themselves withdrew. No, they fled. The Creeping Fire Sect cultivators were further from the location of impact, so perhaps they got a more subdued impression. That is to say, it took them a minute to begin their flight- a minute during which Devon had disentangled himself from the swarming masses of the necromancer army, which was now little more than a pile of scrap and corpses. Not that he¡¯d destroyed them all personally, but with their controllers getting further and further away they could not act. Devon moved to cut off the retreat of the remaining two. Taalay and Ashildr had been fighting against them, and all seemed equally worn down- which meant that the addition of Devon would spell their swift defeat. He only caught one of them- unfortunately not Anki- but he had only tried to stop one, since he didn¡¯t wish to risk both escaping. Injuring two Anchoring cultivators was worth far less than removing one from the equation entirely. ¡°You¡¯re smiling,¡± Taalay commented when everything had settled down. ¡°Did you know this was going to happen?¡± Devon laughed. ¡°Of course not. Otherwise I would have told you to delay for exactly this long.¡± And yet¡­ just because he didn¡¯t know didn¡¯t mean there wasn¡¯t some part of him that believed. Devon¡¯s chains symbolized how he broke free from those chains, taking control of his own life. But he could have a little bit of that freedom and his ability to decide the course of his own destiny¡­ while still very much appreciating his grandpa saving his life. And to be fair, he had asked for him to come. ----- A little more than an hour later and a man-sized hole was torn in the barrier, the local area of which was slightly weakened after having been directly punctured by a single attack. The barrier could seal itself even after the previous extreme attack of the cultivator, but up close he was able to hold it open long enough to get through. He flew down towards the Runic Complex, stopping just outside their barely functional barrier. This was the point where he would give his name and ask for entry¡­ normally. ¡°Devon! Tell them to open the stupid barrier!¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Not long after, Anton found himself face to face with one of the longest beards he had seen. It rivaled Elder Varela of the Grasping Willows, perhaps even putting it to shame. There was another old woman as well, standing cautiously as he approached. And then Devon. Devon gestured. ¡°This is Anton. Sect Head of the Order of One Hundred Stars. But you should probably address him by his name.¡± ¡°... Are you sure that¡¯s alright?¡± Taalay raised a bushy eyebrow. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯ll tell you how he feels,¡± Devon grinned. ¡°Won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yep,¡± Anton said. He looked at Devon¡¯s arm- or lack thereof- and his face fell for a brief moment. ¡°And now¡¯s not the time for formality. I have a very important question for you. Taalay of the Supreme Silver Sect, I believe?¡± Taalay nodded. ¡°Of course. What is the question?¡± ¡°It is partially a question, partially a request. And you are one of those whose opinions matter. May I bond to your star? I would like permission.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Taalay said. ¡°You see, the reason is- just like that?¡± Anton tilted his head. ¡°I was told to expect this. I haven¡¯t heard the responses of everyone yet, but for my personal part I agree. You¡­ don¡¯t have to ask, do you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°Then the fact that you are asking makes me want to agree. Though if I could make one request here?¡± ¡°Tell me,¡± Anton said. ¡°One of our companions here¡­ Cai of Marvelous Rabbit Mountain. He was separated from us on the battlefield and he hasn¡¯t returned yet.¡± ¡°Marvelous Rabbit Mountain¡­¡± Anton swept his senses across the nearby area, picking up some traces of energy. He followed them quite a bit further. Several hundred kilometers, in fact. Holding his bow in hand, he took several shots one after the other. ¡°He should be fine. He¡¯s on his way back. So what is your request?¡± ¡°That¡­ was the request,¡± Taalay said. ¡°He¡¯s not even from your planet,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Cai is still one of our allies. If a bit¡­ overly enthusiastic.¡± ¡°He¡¯s also my ally, you know. Even if I haven¡¯t fought alongside him personally,¡± Anton said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t just leave him. Especially not as a companion of my grandson.¡± ¡°I just thought it might be beneath you.¡± ¡°The only thing beneath me right now is a bunch of dirt. And formations. And¡­ some rather extensive tunnels.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Should have stopped at the dirt. Might have been funny. Regardless, I¡¯m not going to show up and then¡­ not involve myself.¡± He turned to Devon, looking at his communicator. ¡°What¡¯s this about information transfers?¡± Devon gestured towards the formation. ¡°The Trigold Cluster is transferring comprehensive information about the local post-Life Transformation stage. It¡¯s mostly complete, but we could potentially stop it. Or corrupt it.¡± ¡°I said only if you could take over all of them within the month,¡± Ashildr pointed out. ¡°I see,¡± Anton said. ¡°Then we¡¯ve no time to lose. Taalay, you know who else we should talk to about the sun thing, correct?¡± Anton looked at Ashildr. ¡°Also, Devon, what¡¯s your opinion on her? She¡¯s a local for certain. But I was hearing things about conflicts.¡± ¡°She was doing what she had to, I think,¡± Devon explained. ¡°Or at least what she thought she had to, while mitigating some of her actual contributions.¡± ¡°Fine. Your opinion then? Same question,¡± Anton said. Ashildr looked somewhat blindsided.¡°About¡­ bonding to our sun?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Will it¡­ cause it any harm?¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯d really rather my bonded stars remain healthy. I¡¯ve done my best not to cause them any harm so far, with great success.¡± ¡°I suppose I agree, then,¡± she said. ¡°Great.¡± Anton held his hand out towards Taalay. ¡°Grab on. I¡¯m exhausted, so we should probably get this over with as soon as possible.¡± ¡°Get what over with?¡± Taalay asked, reaching forward his hand. ¡°Visiting all of the others.¡± Anton grasped his forearm and pulled them both upward. ----- After a flurry of being dragged from sect to sect to personally get answers, Taalay wondered how a self-proclaimed exhausted man could drag him around so easily, flying like it meant nothing. Taalay could fly if he needed to, but he was generally more comfortable with his feet on the ground. This Anton fellow was far too comfortable tearing through out of the atmosphere as he hopped from place to place. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I got fully honest answers,¡± Anton said to him as they took a break in the Supreme Silver Sect. Taalay was somewhat worried about how things might be with the Runic Complex, but it wouldn¡¯t take long for them to return at the speed this man had been dragging him around. ¡°But I¡¯m at least glad that people have been consenting to my request.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone would dare to lie to you¡­ Anton,¡± Taalay said. ¡°That¡¯s just the thing, isn¡¯t it? They were certainly truthful, but not without some reluctance. But I am aware my presence itself was something of a coercion.¡± ¡°I suppose so. But they really need to agree. This¡­ bond. It would make you a more effective combatant?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton said. ¡°Then we have to agree, not from the threat of you but of the Trigold Cluster. Most people were leaning towards agreement anyway, and us flying in just encouraged them to make up their minds faster.¡± ¡°Anyone else we should see?¡± ¡°Well, we certainly have the majority. I guess of the important individuals¡­ Heath? I haven¡¯t asked him.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll do that¡­ in a bit. I have to go talk to someone.¡± ¡°Here?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°From our alliance,¡± Anton said. ¡°We should have lunch.¡± ¡°Well, actually...¡± Taalay had some ideas about that himself. Chapter 818 ¡°So nice to have a chance to talk,¡± Anton said to Aerona as they sat down at a table. ¡°Obviously this isn¡¯t a great time, but I¡¯m here so¡­¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Devon has said a lot about you,¡± Aerona admitted. ¡°Though I wouldn¡¯t have expected being dragged off to a mountain village for lunch.¡± ¡°Normally I prefer to be local,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But apparently I have business here.¡± ¡°I¡­ see?¡± Aerona tilted her head. ¡°I can¡¯t say I know much about this place in particular.¡± Then a server showed up at their table. ¡°Ah. I get it now.¡± ¡°What can I get you?¡± the young man asked. ¡°You¡¯d be Heath, right?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I couldn¡¯t allow anyone else to serve someone of your¡­ cultivation,¡± the man inclined his head. ¡°Taalay sent me this way. I want to have a chat. But first¡­ I¡¯ll eat whatever you recommend.¡± ¡°I see. Spice tolerance?¡± Anton stroked his chin. ¡°Let¡¯s go with moderate for today.¡± ¡°And the lady?¡± Heath asked. ¡°Hello, Heath. Umm¡­ anything like when you visited the sect would be great. Everything was good.¡± ¡°Got it. I¡¯ll be back shortly,¡± he said. Anton turned his attention back to Aerona. ¡°So. You like my grandson?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Aerona found herself more nervous than normal. Talking with heads of state negotiating important contracts was one thing, but this was Anton. Oddly enough, she was more concerned about his family relation than the fact that he was probably the most powerful individual in the lower realms. ¡°Very much. He¡¯s just the right amount of kind and supportive. Once you get to know him at least.¡± ¡°Yeah, I get that,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I know¡­¡± Aerona stumbled over her words. ¡°I know I might not be worthy of someone like him as I am now. I¡¯m not even in Life Transformation yet. But some day¡­ I will be.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to stop you right there,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you think I care more about the cultivation prospects of my future family than how they are as people, you¡¯ll be quite wrong. Besides, it¡¯s quite clear to me that your main problem is time.¡± She¡¯d been in mid essence collection for over a decade, which wasn¡¯t a poor showing but it wasn¡¯t impressive either. Anton had seen those with less ¡®talent¡¯ achieve significantly, over the centuries. ¡°I see,¡± Aerona said. She did her best to calm herself. She was just having a pleasant chat. She knew it really could be. ¡°I don¡¯t really know what to talk about, other than that.¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t mind talking about cultivation,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But it can be anything really. Cultivation, politics, archery, cute photos of sapient non-humanoids with weapons, embarrassing stories of Devon when he was a little kid¡­¡± Aerona¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°What was that last one? And the one before it, actually¡­¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Well, let me tell you all about it¡­¡± As promised, Heath returned with food. Anton¡¯s meal was some sort of chopped tubers roasted with spices of all sorts. Aerona had soup. Taking a forkful of the food in front of him, Anton began to perspire slightly as Heath watched for his reaction. ¡°It¡¯s good,¡± Anton said. ¡°Thank you. A bit hot, though.¡± ¡°The bread helps balance it out,¡± Heath gestured. Anton nodded and tore some off. ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re right. It¡¯s even better.¡± ¡°... I¡¯m surprised,¡± Heath said. ¡°By what?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I was¡­ only vaguely aware of your existence. So partially by you being here now. And the other part would be so easily eating what I put in front of you. Even if he didn¡¯t tell you, you sensed everything on me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not hard to pass over unimportant details if you can read people,¡± Anton said. ¡°And you¡¯re the kind of person who likes seeing people happy after they eat.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Heath smiled. ¡°You¡¯re right about that. So about that chat. Do you need me to perform a task?¡± ¡°Just seeking permission for something. Since you¡¯re one of those with influence and I can¡¯t reasonably inform and survey everyone on the planet to ask this.¡± Anton gave his brief explanation. ¡°And so, I¡¯d like permission to bind your star.¡± ¡°... Does it not work as well if you are rejected?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a factor. I¡¯ve only had one or two situations where I didn¡¯t ask.¡± Ceretos might technically count as him not asking, but he hadn¡¯t really known how things would turn out there. Ekict was the only exception, and ultimately he¡¯d severed that connection for other reasons. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Heath just stared at him for a long time. ¡°Any further questions?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯m just trying to determine if you¡¯re an expert of deceit, or if you really mean it. Because if you are a liar, you might want to bind the star for nefarious purposes and you might need my permission.¡± ¡°Oh, good point,¡± Anton nodded as he continued eating. ¡°Well, try to make a choice by the end of the day, alright? Sooner is better.¡± Soon enough, the meal was finished. ¡°Taalay will be disappointed he didn¡¯t come with us,¡± Aerona said. ¡°He said it would be better if I came without him.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Aerona asked. ¡°I thought he and Heath were friends.¡± ¡°It¡¯s for a show of bravery,¡± Anton said. ¡°But- you know he can probably hear us, right?¡± ¡°I know,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I prefer the straightforward approach.¡± Aerona¡¯s decades of experience cultivating her social abilities told her that it was true. And she found it quite refreshing. If only more people were like Anton¡­ but then again, it was by virtue of his power that he could afford to be like he was. Heath came up to Anton before they prepared to leave. ¡°I¡¯ve made my decision.¡± ¡°I¡¯m excited to hear it,¡± Anton said. The man nodded, his folded hands held at his waist. ¡°I need to explain my reasoning before I tell you. The options for who you really are range between how you appear- a benevolent figure at least as far as our side in this is concerned- or an equally powerful figure bent on our demise and subjugation. In the former case, I would want to give you my permission, though it would be unnecessary. In the latter, I wouldn¡¯t want to give you my support as you would be deceiving me to achieve your goals. Since that is the case, I am forced to choose the option of standing against you and saying I don¡¯t allow you to bind our star.¡± ¡°Fairly solid reasoning,¡± Anton said. ¡°Did you consider that in the latter case your refusal might be solved by me killing you and removing you from the equation?¡± ¡°I did,¡± Heath said. It wasn¡¯t a terrible surprise to Anton that the man showed no fear of death. ¡°Well, I have heard your opinion and I respect your logic,¡± Anton said. ¡°But the vast majority of people agreed already so I¡¯m still going to be binding your star to myself.¡± Anton looked closely at Heath. ¡°Are you going to try to stop me?¡± ¡°I have already given you my logic. It would be foolish for me to fight against you directly.¡± ¡°Well, thanks for not poisoning me then,¡± Anton grinned. Heath didn¡¯t respond. ¡°I¡¯m going to interpret that favorably,¡± Anton said. Then he turned to Aerona. ¡°Give me a few minutes before we go, alright?¡± She nodded. ¡°Sure, what do you need to do?¡± ¡°The one thing I¡¯ve been talking about this whole time,¡± Anton said. Anton didn¡¯t know how fast he could force a connection to a star. He knew that with Rutera¡¯s star, he¡¯d formed something like half a connection and completed it in just a few moments¡­ but he wasn¡¯t in any rush here. Or rather, he wouldn¡¯t allow himself to rush. Nobody he was connected to was in mortal danger that very minute, so he made sure to be patient and do things right. The yellow star of Vrelt was not large nor particularly small as stars went. A common type, though not truly in the mid range as far as mass went. With somewhere around two orders of magnitude of mass above it for the heaviest stars and only a single order of magnitude difference for stars smaller than it, perhaps it was on the smaller end after all. Either way, it was comfortable and warm. The bond came naturally as Anton reached out for it. Strength flowed from it towards him¡­ and perhaps the same was true in reverse, not that the star needed him in its current state. A new conduit of energy settled within him, and the fatigue of his travel began to melt away from him as his rate of replenishment accelerated. Away from bonded stars, he could sustain his peak Assimilation power, but going beyond that had drained him. ¡°Much better,¡± Anton said. ¡°Come, Aerona, we need to get you back. And Heath¡­ I understand your caution.¡± The young man just nodded in return. Perhaps he had nothing to say. ----- ¡°Message me when you are prepared to move,¡± Anton said. He had returned Taalay to the Supreme Silver Sect, as the sect head would have access to his forces there. Anton himself would be taking care of the Runic Complex and the people there if there was another attack. In truth, he was going to be aiding the whole front- including the Flaming Shore¡¯s further advancement. Though before that, they wanted to convince the Wavecallers to join them. Anton¡¯s presence might be helpful there, as a sort of inspiring factor. Or a threat, if they did it wrong, which was why he didn¡¯t show himself arbitrarily. From now on, Anton would be assisting with one of the fronts of the war¡­ and he didn¡¯t intend to be timid about it. The sooner they could secure the transmission formations the better. Hopefully they would be able to taint the information as had already been suggested. As he was now, Anton could begin picking off enemy Anchoring cultivators¡­ but this was Vrelt¡¯s war. Specifically, their cultivators needed the experience of fighting others, even if it wouldn¡¯t be precisely fair since Anton would make certain that the Trigold Cluster¡¯s cultivators lost. Anton didn¡¯t intend to solve all their problems, but he was planning to make certain they could march forward without fear to take over territory. And he wasn¡¯t above acting as artillery to take out a few strategic targets. Anton almost wished that the cultivator who¡¯d taken Devon¡¯s arm was still alive, so he could do the same in return. But ultimately, the arm was just an arm. Anton¡¯s senses briefly entered his own chest, where he often forgot a majority of his ribcage had been replaced. Their arms were also very good, though obviously with moving components they were more difficult. It wasn¡¯t the arm itself so much as the fact that it had happened that bothered Anton. He thought of Jinrisa, the planet whose population was wiped out by it being shifted out of the habitable zone. He wondered if he would turn to such a harsh retaliation, if there weren¡¯t innocents around. Then he shook his head. The main tragedy of Jinrisa was that only a single individual or small group had been responsible for the death that caused that retaliation. Here, the Trigold Cluster¡¯s infiltrators were a significant portion¡­ and they were the ones who would die. Though Anton intended to save some specific individuals for when the rest of the alliance arrived. Specifically, those who might seal off the planet to prevent Twin Soul Sect reincarnations. Though Anchoring might prevent that already, it was better to be safe than sorry. Then again, Anton supposed he could deal with that issue without formations. Spectral energy as the killing blow should certainly cause enough damage to their souls. Anton¡¯s fingers twitched, and he shot nearly invisible arrows onto a faraway battlefield. He couldn¡¯t just ignore things happening within his senses, after all. As for the coming battles, he tried not to be too eager about them. He planned to start with the defeat of those at the top, though he was aware that many of those in the lower ranks were just as corrupt- but less powerful. Even in the best case scenario, Vrelt would come out of this war with a significant population drop. On the other hand, they already had their own methods to surpass Life Transformation with some consistency, so he could see them recovering their numbers quite rapidly once they became part of the alliance. Chapter 819 Checking on the status of his allies while it was possible was an area where Anton always did his best. Despite his current status, Devon wasn¡¯t the one who needed Anton now. Instead, it was Cai, with which Anton had little previous interaction. ¡°I heard you¡¯ve been acting somewhat reckless in the recent battles,¡± Anton said. No reason to beat around the bush too much, especially since he doubted that would reveal anything with this particular man. ¡°Any reason for that?¡± Cai shook his head. ¡°Reckless, is it? I don¡¯t think so. It¡¯s merely the style of Marvelous Rabbit Mountain. I can¡¯t exactly fight from a distance like you, I have to get up close.¡± ¡°Does that include deep within enemy lines?¡± Anton asked. ¡°When I have to, yeah,¡± Cai folded his arms. ¡°What¡¯s the problem? I survived.¡± Anton just smiled. ¡°Based on what I have heard, you seem to have become obsessed with defeating one of the enemy leaders. Sovann of the Precious Palm Sect.¡± ¡°Or the Poisonous Gold¡­¡± Cai shrugged. ¡°What of it? She¡¯s important. I¡¯ve kept her occupied during our battles, though I would have preferred to kill her.¡± ¡°You moved extremely far from the battlefield with her in the recent battle,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Far into enemy territory where you had to deal with traps and enemy assailants. You wouldn¡¯t have survived if I didn¡¯t show up.¡± ¡°Maybe none of us would have,¡± Cai shrugged. ¡°Perhaps not,¡± Anton said. ¡°It just seems odd for two people with no personal history.¡± ¡°She¡¯s an enemy leader. And I¡­ don¡¯t like her type.¡± The latter, at least, rang true to Anton. ¡°What about it?¡± ¡°The type that hides behind wealth and piles of minions. Unfortunately, those same things have been holding me back. I could take her out if there weren¡¯t distractions.¡± ¡°A battle will always have distractions,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I can help you engage in a more personal fight, the next time you meet.¡± Hopefully, that would be the right way forward. Not that Anton thought it wouldn¡¯t result in their victory, but he couldn¡¯t guarantee it would be best for Cai¡¯s development. Still, it would be worse for him to be unable to deal with his obsession. ¡°You will? Uh, great.¡± ¡°Just try not to get more than a couple hundred kilometers away. You should be able to keep her within that area.¡± ¡°I should have it this time,¡± Cai grimaced. ¡°She can¡¯t have that many treasures or people to sacrifice.¡± ¡°Good. Plans are to head out in the morning.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Cai nodded. ¡°I know. About that, though¡­ it would only be a few hours from the projected arrival time of the incoming fleets. Shouldn¡¯t we wait?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need to,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Besides, the point here is to rely as much as possible on local forces. We want them to be secure in their own power, not fully dependent on our help. That¡¯s why I haven¡¯t been trying to assassinate their leaders.¡± ¡°Well, sure,¡± Cai nodded. ¡°But they¡¯re safe behind their barriers right now anyway.¡± ¡°Are they?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Well, I mean¡­ you didn¡¯t finish them off, when you rescued us. I felt the barrier weaken your shots.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t in an optimal position,¡± Anton pointed out. Which was to say, only barely in the system by certain definitions, and without a local star bound to him. ¡°... Can we spar at some point?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it will be fun for you,¡± Anton said. ¡°And it¡¯s best not to waste our energy until the end of the war.¡± ¡°That could be a while,¡± Cai grimaced. ¡°It won¡¯t be.¡± ----- Two days prior, Taalay would have said it was foolish to openly assault the Ebon Skulls. It wasn¡¯t that they were invincible in their own territory, but if they had time to prepare and gather reinforcements from their surrounding allies? That was a problem. And yet¡­ with only the addition of a single cultivator he was feeling better about their chances. ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll be there?¡± Cai asked. ¡°It¡¯s the same group as before,¡± Anton said. ¡°Minus the dead Creeping Fire Sect cultivator, plus a few more people.¡± ¡°Oh. I hope you can handle the extras,¡± Cai said. ¡°Because we were definitely pushing our limits last time, and we don¡¯t have Ashildr here...¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure he can hold off a few Anchoring cultivators,¡± Taalay said. He hadn¡¯t seen Anton fight, not really. Just a single volley to save Devon, and then one more to somehow aid Cai¡¯s retreat. However, the way the man casually flew about told him quite a bit. Then there was Heath¡¯s assessment. And the fact that in theory, he hadn¡¯t been at his full power. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. What helped the most was Devon¡¯s confidence. He went from a man confident in his own power, willing to die in battle if necessary¡­ to a child walking along, not even believing death was possible. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t quite like that. Devon remained alert and ready¡­ but Taalay had a feeling where his previously unjustified confidence had come from. They would find out very soon. ¡°When will we enter your effective range?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°We¡¯re already well within it,¡± replied Devon. ¡°But he¡¯s not going to do everything himself.¡± Taalay felt the phrasing was important, there. As if the man could take on eight or more Anchoring cultivators all by himself. Certainly, they did have the advantage of distance now¡­ but even he could cover fifty kilometers in a few moments. ¡°We¡¯ll stop outside of the range of their defensive emplacements,¡± Anton declared. ¡°No point in getting anyone in danger where they don¡¯t have to be.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t bring a lot of siege weapons,¡± Taalay pointed out. ¡°Is it okay to exhaust ourselves on their defenses¡­?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a problem,¡± Anton said. ¡°Ashildr spoke to me about where the core of their formations are.¡± ¡°Are you a formation master as well?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°Can you disable their defenses?¡± ¡°No. And yes,¡± Anton said. ¡°I think that hill will be a good spot.¡± They made their way onto the aforementioned hill, leaving them about ten kilometers from the fortified core of the Ebon Skulls. After seeing they had taken defensive positions, Anton slowly began to draw his bow. Taalay¡¯s senses lit up. This was an entirely different feeling from his initial barrage. He¡¯d felt some sort of odd energy there¡­ but now he felt something quite familiar to the point that he tended to ignore it. Until the sun started shining from right next to him as well as above. He knew that the power Anton held in his hands was far less than that of the sun- but it felt like more. After all, one of them was right next to him, the other many millions of miles away. An arrow formed of that powerful energy flickered with fire as the arrow was drawn back to rest next to Anton¡¯s ear. Then it was released, flying straight ahead. It almost moved slowly. No, it was slow. At least, compared to what he had seen before, this arrow seemed to move at a crawl. It took almost a second to reach the sect¡¯s barrier, but it didn¡¯t slow down as it impacted. Instead, it punctured a hole as if their barrier was little more than paper, passing through several buildings along the way before reaching its actual destination. There was a flash and an explosion, both mitigated from Taalay¡¯s perspective by the distance and buildings. Taalay felt a reaction from the cultivators inside, but he was more focused on the crumbling barrier. It was simply no longer able to hold itself together, the energy swirling and breaking into its natural state over the course of a few seconds. Enemy soldiers were gathering on their walls. Then the heat got to them. It wasn¡¯t that much, but Taalay felt it. A significant change in temperature, coming about a minute after Anton had fired his shot. And with the barrier down, he could feel the source of that heat. A pool of molten slag that might have once been the core of the barrier formation. Or rather, the heat he felt should have been from the same thing that caused it. ¡°I think the two of you would do best against the Ebon Skulls,¡± Anton said. ¡°Cai will be going after Sovann. I¡¯ll hold off the rest.¡± ¡°Can you be sure they¡¯ll come to us¡­?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°Oh, they will,¡± Anton said. Then his hands began to move again, with frightening speed. One by one, arrows were drawn and fired- arriving at their targets with much more haste than his initial flaming arrow. His targets included Anki of the Creeping Fire Sect. Sensing the attacks incoming, the man crossed his arms in front of him, hidden flames melting the incoming spirit arrows. But he wasn¡¯t the only target. Those other ¡®few¡¯ cultivators Anton had mentioned were from the Invincible Gate, and the four cultivators had to stand together to strike down his arrows with their halberds. But Anton¡¯s assault never stopped. Instead, it only intensified- with bows beginning to appear above him. They didn¡¯t fire immediately¡­ not until Cai sprang forward. Then, they began to fire upon all of the cultivators surrounding Sovann. The cultivators of the Ebon Skull began to surge forward- though with their armies at the front, of course. A combination of animated armors and corpses. Taalay focused his power, forming a ten meter tall projection of himself that began to sweep through their ranks like ants. Devon followed along with him, focusing on blocking attacks from the Anchoring cultivators in the back. Some of the army would certainly slip past towards their own, but they could handle it. Such a straightforward dive into enemy lines wasn¡¯t normally on Taalay¡¯s schedule, but he felt empowered. Though he did feel a moment of concern as the four members of the Invincible Gate charged towards Anton, rapidly closing the distance between them. Should he try to help fend them off¡­? Devon seemed unconcerned, and Taalay realized they had to focus on their three opponents. He couldn¡¯t let himself receive even a scratch, as the necromancers would certainly attempt to draw his life essence from any wound. From ten kilometers to five to one, the Invincible Gate continued to charge forward. Taalay wasn¡¯t concerned that Anton would die- he could certainly fly out of their reach- but he was concerned they might rampage through the ranks of the Supreme Silver Sect. Until they suddenly came to a stop as a wave of something spiraled out from Anton. They weren¡¯t completely immobilized- they were able to vocalize, at least, by the way they were swearing- but it didn¡¯t seem as if they could move anything important. A moment later, with a wave of his hand, Anton forced them all into a single clump. That action helped Taalay recognize the effects. Magnetism. He understood fire and light, but was that really an ability related to stars? The answer seemed to be yes, as he felt a strangely oppressive star take the lead with regards to Anton¡¯s power. The four cultivators were at least attempting to flail when they were tossed at Anki of the Creeping Fire Sect, something with which the man clearly took issue. His own flames washed over the four of them even as they managed to gain control of their limbs for a moment. One of them, it seemed, didn¡¯t take well to the way Anki stopped them, swinging his halberd towards his own ally. It was only two simple moves, but the enemy significantly weakened their position with the energy wasted on both sides. Meanwhile, Anton was taking care of the Poisonous Gold Sect¡¯s forces that were attempting to surround Cai- the very same individual who was kicking Sovann through the Ebon Skull¡¯s buildings. Quite effectively, it seemed. Taalay decided he had to pick up the pace. It wouldn¡¯t be good if he wasn¡¯t seen doing his part. His aura intensified, forcing back the lifeless army around him without even touching anything. He had to at least make a good showing for his sect and for Vrelt. Chapter 820 Golden chains wrapped around a gaunt man, spike growing out of the chains piercing into the man and holding him still despite his struggles. The binding wouldn¡¯t last forever, but it was long enough for Taalay to make his move. His fist came down, completely crushing the man¡¯s head. While the Ebon Skulls were able to keep themselves alive with grievous wounds, there was a limit to what they could withstand. That had been the last of them. Devon and Taalay working together had managed to pierce through their armies, fighting past their strongest vessels to kill the leaders. Now, everything began to return to its natural state as a corpse or pile of equipment. Taalay turned back, intending to go to Anton¡¯s aid. After all, the archer was dealing with five cultivators himself, and more besides. He felt the clash of heat, as Anki struggled against Anton with his nearly invisible flames. Or at least¡­ Anki struggled. Anton himself seemed to be focused more on other things than the eradication of that particular individual- though Anki didn¡¯t seem as if he would last long the way things were going. Taalay recognized the three elders and the sect head of the Invincible Gate by looks¡­ but not by feel. Previously, he had thought they possessed a somewhat dominating aura. That lost its edge when they were attempting to flee. Their attempts were stymied by the aura of magnetism around Anton¡­ but also a hail of arrows making any movements further away fatal. More fatal, because they were accumulating wounds with every moment even as they did their best to avoid the assaults. It was an impressive feat, and Taalay almost wanted to just watch to see the results. But a clearer head prevailed, and he joined Devon to help finish them off. There would be no capture for them, as they were too deeply entangled with the Trigold Cluster. Too easy. That was what he felt as his palm collapsed the chest of one of them. With their defensive energy diminished, the man was only protected by his armor, unable to stand up to the might of the Supreme Silver Sect. Devon¡¯s chains snapped the neck of another. And with two of them dead, Anton focused more of his efforts on those who remained. Anton¡¯s own fire consumed Aghi, the fire cultivator seemingly baffled that his end came in the manner it did. A handful of swift arrows pierced into the vitals of the remaining two of the Invincible Gate. There was a moment of stillness. Then there was a crashing sound from within the sect itself- the grounds of the Ebon Skulls. A building toppled piece by piece. Taalay¡¯s senses reached out towards it¡­ and found the situation well handled. Crushed under the debris, the last remnants of her life fading, was Sovann of the Poisonous Gold Sect- until recently keeping cover as the Precious Palm Sect. ¡°And stay down!¡± Cai¡¯s voice echoed across the battlefield. The only enemies remaining were about a third of their armies- which amounted to much less than that proportion of their total fighting power, given the strength of Anchoring cultivators. More than that, a good majority of the Life Transformation cultivators had been early targets. Taalay watched the battle continue. It was best for the weaker cultivators to get some experience, though he intended to step in if anyone seemed particularly in danger. Desperate cultivators could fight back just as well as cornered tigers. But the matter already seemed to be handled. Flashes of light, swift arrows shot from the myriad of bows around Anton continued to fly around the battlefield, resolving issues before Taalay could even become aware of them. Though perhaps those involved in the battles might not parse the quick bursts of energy, with nothing to distract him Taalay could see how much they affected things. Then, the battle was over. He sought out his elders. ¡°What were the casualties?¡± ¡°We¡¯re not entirely certain but¡­¡± one of the elders brows was furrowed. ¡°Aside from injuries that are being dealt with and some loss of vitality due to the necromancers¡­ a minimum of deaths.¡± ¡°How many?¡± Taalay asked. ¡°Five percent? Ten?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to speak too early but¡­ none, so far.¡± Anton was paying attention from a distance. It was quite possible for people to grow overconfident with such a victory¡­ but he couldn¡¯t justify letting people die. In his current state, he wasn¡¯t required to pick and choose his actions on the battlefield. He hadn¡¯t truly fought since he reached Enrichment, but he was beginning to comprehend how much difference it made. Among other things, the very fact that he didn¡¯t have to conserve his energy but could fight near his maximum capacity continually was phenomenal. ----- It took some time for Vrelt to process the aftermath of the battle. More than a quarter of the Trigold¡¯s Anchoring cultivators were now out of the picture, between the latest battle and those that came before. Killing Yamanu and one of the elders of the Creeping Fire Sect had seemed like monumental accomplishments, one triggering the war and the other being a good first step. And now¡­ two sects wiped out, and the Poisonous Gold Sect filled with regret that they thought Sovann and those with her sufficient for the upcoming battle. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Both sides were somewhat disbelieving of the results, but Taalay saw it with his own eyes- and morbid as it was, he was able to show proof to others around the globe. Because it wasn¡¯t long after that ships from the Lower Realms Alliance began arriving in force, carrying not only Assimilation cultivators but also a large number of Life Transformation individuals. The ships themselves were not something to be trifled with, either. Though they didn¡¯t bring any Ascension-class battleships, what they had were quite capable in combat and more importantly a massive boost to logistics with their ability to land anywhere on the planet within a few hours. Or less, for the smaller fighters. Taalay was aware of the promises Devon had made, but just like with his grandfather he thought there was some exaggeration involved. If those who had arrived were every single Assimilation cultivator from the alliance, a single word from them could force all of Vrelt to bow their heads. And if they weren¡¯t¡­ it was even more astounding. Then again, it wasn¡¯t just a single world, was it? He had thought that there might be a period of downtime after they began to secure their new foothold, and he personally got to rest. But around the globe, other sects began to move with the reinforcements. It wouldn¡¯t be possible for the Trigold Cluster to resist everyone. And then there was Anton, able to fight on two or three fronts at a time. Especially since the Trigold Cluster wasn¡¯t able to gather their forces to such an extent again. They weren¡¯t given the warning of an army marching obviously towards one of their allies. Instead, the whole planet moved more or less at once. Or at least all of the strongest cultivators. The modified planetary barrier began to dissolve as more and more enemy sects were captured, the cohesion of the greater formations collapsing and leaving only the local defenses. Defenses Taalay had previously considered adequate. By the next day, when Taalay had rested and was beginning to take in the enormity of what was happening, he had received word of at least another five Anchoring cultivators dying- only on the enemy side. And while Anton couldn¡¯t truly be everywhere, the supporting forces were powerful enough that they would not be losing any Anchoring cultivators from their side. ----- Rui didn¡¯t believe what he was told. How could he? That the territory of the Wavecallers was secured, separated from the Trigold Cluster¡¯s forces¡­ he had hope that it might be true. But the rest was too much to take in. When he was taken into one of the foreign ships, he thought he was being brought away to be killed outside of the view of his sect. But instead, he was transported around the planet to see what was happening. An overview of the rapidly shifting frontlines, where he sensed the forces on either side¡­ and those who had fallen. He might not have understood everything. He certainly had no idea how things were happening as they did. But he would be completely foolish not to take the opportunity for mercy, to support the true citizens of Vrelt against the Trigold Cluster. It was what he wanted to begin with, he¡¯d simply been unable to see himself of his sect surviving if he acted differently. Now¡­ there would be consequences for his mistakes, he was certain. But he couldn¡¯t resist the flow even if he wanted to. ----- Ashildr had been nervous, sheltering in the Runic Complex and waiting for something to happen. Now, her hands were completely full as she was practically swarmed with formation experts trying to learn about the transmission formations. She¡¯d thought that the haste to come up with a plan to corrupt the transmission had been a bit unnecessary, but now she saw the reason for it. The last few days had been something wild. She¡¯d sensed the battle around the Ebon Skull¡¯s territory from afar, though the fine details had eluded here. Now, it seemed as if they might control all of the formations- no, all of the planet- within a week. She was aware that things could stretch beyond that time to truly cover everything¡­ but as the enemy forces began to crumble their own simply built momentum. Perhaps she should have tried to get a message to these visitors from other systems when they had first been noticed in the skies. She could only hope their goals would continue to align in the long term. Either way, she had to help solve the problem she was partially responsible for. Determining exactly how to best corrupt the transmission was difficult. The early parts of their information on Anchoring and the insights connected were already sent. It was impossible to change that now, and saying that everything was wrong would be massively suspicious. No, they had to add just enough poison to taint the comprehension of the techniques as a whole. If nothing else, they could force the enemy to waste time comprehending the complete truth. And if they were lucky, they could cause a few people to spiral into cultivation deviation. It was a fine thought, at least. Along with altering the transmission formations, there was another formation Ashildr had to help with. That one was mainly handled by the Lower Realms Alliance, but she understood its purpose even before it had been explained. Simply put¡­ it was to make certain that the Twin Soul Sect and indeed the souls of any others would not leave the lower realms to report about what had happened. Instead, there would only be the tainted cultivation knowledge¡­ and perhaps they might feed more false information to the Trigold Cluster. If they dared. Was it odd that she already worried about the next cycle and the potential retaliation? No, even the Lower Realms Alliance spoke of it. And how they would help bolster Vrelt to resist. Whenever she thought that the Lower Realms Alliance seemed too good to be true and impossibly pure, she thought of how focused they were on this retaliation. And perhaps¡­ there might actually be some greater good that they had within them. She enjoyed the thought, even if she somewhat doubted it. Not that Ashildr was going to complain. While they didn¡¯t have any real choice but to accept this Alliance, the promises they had made- and the ones they were already fulfilling- were tempting enough she would be willing to put up with even a vaguely tolerable group. But even with a pessimistic view of things, she was content with how things were going. In the actual worst case¡­ at least they would be wiped out quickly instead of it being drawn out. Chapter 821 From battlefield to battlefield Anton flowed like the heat from a star warming a planet. Or from the perspective of his foes, the scorching heat of the height of summer. Perhaps something much worse. The Enrichment stage was a great step ahead in power, and Anton made full use of it. With the reinforcements from the alliance, their enemies couldn¡¯t even flee. All who stepped onto a battlefield with Anton- the size of which had a very generous definition- were destined to not return. There would be no mercy for cultivators of the Trigold Cluster. Likewise, the cultivators of the alliance and the ships that carried them moved swiftly, and from battlefield to battlefield they overcame the Trigold Cluster. But that victory was an inevitability. The Trigold forces didn¡¯t or perhaps couldn¡¯t work together within the lower realms, and for the most part those who were left in the lower realms focused on ascension. Something like Anchoring, which they usually stamped out, was a new development for them. Anton came across many duplicitous members of the Twin Soul Sect, hiding their reality behind a facade. However, they had no counters to the perceptive techniques- at least not in the lower realms. They might yet develop something, but the alliance had various methods intended to stay a step ahead. In Anton¡¯s hands was an arrow of spectral energy. In exchange for his own potential reincarnation, he had received that power from beyond death. It was the least used of his special energies, often taking a back seat to the direct power of ascension energy. But here, he had a purpose for it. His arrows flew into the dantians of twin soul sect members, those of sufficient cultivation to potentially reach the upper realms. One by one, he felt their life force fade away, and with that their spirits would be drawn away. Clearly, spectral energy alone was insufficient, but that was what the formations were for. Any who had created the proper connection to the upper realms was instead caught into the net they formed, partially powered by the sun and Anton himself. Everheart had been able to set up something more comprehensive in Weos, but Anton found the results more than adequate considering nobody involved was an Augmentation cultivator. Another arrow. Each arrow was slightly different, to try to coax out the response Anton desired. Finally, he got results. A partial dissolution of the soul. A terrible fate, but Anton had little pity for those who would betray the worlds they spent their entire life upon. The people they lived among deserved better. For some Life Transformation cultivators, Anton saw that they didn¡¯t drift away. Especially among many of the stronger ones, and Anton would be willing to be they had started to prime themselves for Anchoring. Among the Twin Soul Sect, there was only a single Anchoring cultivator. The woman was in a truly unfortunate position, where her search for power had led her to practice conflicting techniques. Or perhaps she had been forced to do so by political pressures. Either way, Anton¡¯s arrows killed her- but did not fully dissolve her soul. Yet she showed no signs of drifting towards the upper realms, forever unable to reap the promised rewards for her betrayal. It was sad. A pitiful woman. Better she return to nothing, and the remnants of her soul dissolve, perhaps to form something new and better. In truth, Anton had little knowledge of what happened to souls after death, outside of cultivators interfering with the process. Obviously some kept memories with them, but most did not. And new souls must form from something. There was never a problem in that regard. Anton lowered his bow. ¡°That¡¯s the last of them,¡± he commented to Devon. ¡°I heard some others have fled into the mines,¡± Devon said. ¡°I¡¯m sure they could use your help rooting them out. And then¡­¡± ¡°Then I sit and wait while the important business is done by others.¡± ¡°Does that bother you?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°To some extent. I should be happy that power and violence aren¡¯t the most important thing sometimes, but the areas outside of my expertise such as formations¡­ Well, it actually makes me want to focus more on others reaching this stage. I have hope for a few formation masters who could reach Enrichment within the next century.¡± ¡°Unfortunately I¡¯m not a formation master either,¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°But I think¡­ I¡¯m not so far from Enrichment myself.¡± ¡°I can tell. You only have to ask if you need any guidance. Or perhaps you will be able to correct me on some of my own mistakes,¡± Anton grinned. ----- Though being sidelined for a short time wouldn¡¯t actually have been a terrible fate, Anton found that he actually had a reason to be involved with the formation process. Not for the formations themselves, but for the information that would be transmitted. It wasn¡¯t enough to simply have it fail, but instead they wanted to provide some false insights. For that, they called upon everyone who had an understanding of cultivation beyond Life Transformation. It hurt every fiber of Anton¡¯s being to think he would be providing bad cultivation knowledge. He had to keep reminding himself that the information would be going to enemies. Even so, he kept wanting to qualify every statement or flash of inspiration with ¡°but I later learned that was a dead end¡± or something similar. Anton was sitting around chatting with Taalay, Heath, and Devon. At this point, with the Trigold Cluster¡¯s forces out of the way they could speak more in depth about cultivation. The only risks were the information being used against them by the actual citizens of Vrelt, but that was just a risk they would have to live with. The same was true throughout the alliance- there had to be some level of trust for their people, or they would fall back into the old ways of keeping all cultivation knowledge secret, only for a sect or high enough ranking members of the sect, stifling advancement rather than propagating it. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Attaching yourself to a people, place, or concept seems to be the basis for all of the paths I have seen,¡± Anton said. ¡°With Ascension being the alternative, and the more automatic path. Ascension is something between a call from the upper realms and a rejection by the lower realms. Though we have seen it is possible for upper realms cultivators to return to their home system or the lower realms in general and achieve a reasonable level of effectiveness, it requires effort.¡± ¡°And all others are subject to diminished abilities,¡± Taalay nodded. ¡°That, at least, we have been aware of from our histories.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a matter of adaptation,¡± Devon said. ¡°But those who have only lived centuries in the upper realms with no exposure to natural energy find it to be a longer process. Years, at least, which isn¡¯t enough time to adapt during the shifts in the Tides of the World.¡± ¡°All of this is well and good,¡± Heath said. ¡°But it won¡¯t¡­ how should I say this¡­ provide much spice to the soup. Unless we can weave in some adjacent technique to ¡®adapt to the lower realms¡¯?¡± ¡°As much as I would like that,¡± Anton said. ¡°A sudden insertion of something new might raise some concern, allowing them to unravel the rest of our deception more rapidly. As it is, the signal is already undergoing a suspicious distortion to give us more time. What if¡­ we could find a way to encourage them to try such binding techniques in a disadvantageous way? For example, if they end up restricted to their own planets or even attempt to bind something in the lower realms from afar. Though perhaps those tricks might only work on one person.¡± ¡°Unless we emphasize how important it is to keep things secret,¡± Heath said. ¡°We could¡­ emphasize that finding out the concept an individual is bound to would expose their flaws.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true, though,¡± Devon said. ¡°But only if you come to understand it, and study it yourself,¡± Heath said. ¡°And it¡¯s limited in its application. For example, I am aware I could weaken Anton if I destroyed his stars. If I were an enemy, I couldn¡¯t make practical use of it. Likewise, it would be difficult to overcome your concept of chains.¡± ¡°Just difficult?¡± Devon asked. ¡°It seems like you thought of something.¡± ¡°For the moment, I will keep those thoughts to myself,¡± Heath said. ¡°Perhaps when we¡¯ve known each other for decades and have a more durable trust built up.¡± ¡°Understandable,¡± Devon replied. ¡°Then I agree. We overemphasize the fact that the mere knowledge of the concept is a weakness, rather than the understanding or negation of it. Even if the sects share this knowledge, they¡¯ll be reluctant to consult each other and will be more prone to mistakes.¡± ¡°Then we shall capture and review some insights,¡± Taalay said. ¡°Before we have the team transfer them upwards.¡± Anton nodded. He wasn¡¯t fully aware of how the process worked, and it might actually be different from what they did to transmit techniques, but he understood that recalling and intentionally implanting memories was the basis for such things. And he¡¯d previously had a vessel that picked up insights from others, yet only if it was active when they formed nearby. They were a more tangible thing than they seemed, though obviously rather tricky to interact with outside of one¡¯s self. And risky- because Everheart¡¯s vessel hadn¡¯t discerned between true and false insights, with him having to digest them and determine for himself. He almost wished they could get Everheart involved for this¡­ he would certainly have a thousand ideas for poisoning this well of information. But they had neither the time for the messages, nor did he wish to subject Vrelt to even indirect influence from Everheart. Best to have only a single world in the lower realms and most of the upper realms curse his name. ----- Three Squeaks was¡­ something. He didn¡¯t have a good word for it. Bored wasn¡¯t quite right. He¡¯d been bored. Then he would find himself occupied by something important, and it would be handled for a while. No, bored wasn¡¯t right. He stimulated himself with cultivation day by day, roaming around the coalition to talk to who he pleased, being alert to fend off any enemies. Not that there were many people foolish enough to attack them. He wanted something more. And while he missed the lectures and insights that Anton provided, it wasn¡¯t teaching that he yearned for. Instead, it was experience. Yes, that was it. Three Squeaks felt¡­ constrained. An odd feeling, considering he could freely roam further than most meerkats traveled in their entire life. But once he got it into his head, he recognized it for the truth. What was he supposed to do about this? He tried to recall Anton¡¯s advice and stories. Ultimately, he came down to the tales of wandering cultivators. Was that what he needed? Three Squeaks valued the coalition and wanted to continue working with them, but their consistent expansion simply didn¡¯t fit him right now. And he could provide some benefits by roaming further, seeing the bigger picture. How big was a planet again? He honestly didn¡¯t want to remember a number, and wanted to experience it himself. He would walk from horizon to horizon, until he had seen all of them. What did he need? Nothing, really. Meerkats never had much in the way of equipment. His current bow was sufficient for his strength. Food he could find along the way, though perhaps he should have a pack to carry some as well just in case. Of course, he should also let people know he was going. Maybe someone would want to come along. Echoing Cry was raising a nest of eggs, so Three Squeaks doubted he would be one of them, but he could start asking. He never thought that, after beginning his inquiries, someone would come to him. Specifically two someones. Small ones with exoskeletons and a disturbing lack of presence. The princesses. ¡°We want to explore too,¡± Crossed Antennae explained. ¡°That¡¯s right. One of us will be the queen of this place,¡± Fearsome Mandibles signed. Three Squeaks began to regret learning their language, because he couldn¡¯t pretend he didn¡¯t understand now. ¡°So we should know about it.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Three Squeaks began reluctantly. ¡°We should probably ask the Great Queen.¡± Surely she wouldn¡¯t want her princesses going off on a roaming adventure around the planet where they could easily die, right? Chapter 822 ¡°It would likely be very dangerous,¡± Three Squeaks finished his pitch to the Great Queen. ¡°They could get squashed on accident, even! It¡¯s not easy to replace princesses, is it?¡± The Great Queen responded, though her signs were only partially directed towards Three Squeaks. ¡°Then they had better make certain to take care of themselves. Any princesses so irresponsible as to get themselves killed would not be worthy of ruling a colony.¡± ¡°I can take care of myself,¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°And my sister.¡± Crossed Antennae twitched in annoyance. ¡°I am quite capable of watching out for myself, thank you.¡± ¡°Good,¡± the Great Queen concluded. ¡°Then all of you should make certain not to die, or I shall be very cross with you.¡± Three Squeaks scratched his head. He had come here with the intention that she would force the princesses to stay behind instead of coming with him on his journey. Now, it was like he didn¡¯t have any choice but to bring them along. How frustrating. He supposed he would simply have to deal with it. And keep them alive, because no matter how much the Great Queen said they were responsible for themselves¡­ he didn¡¯t want to return missing either one and find out if she meant it. ----- ¡°Common Oak,¡± the Great Queen looked towards her friend hiding nearby. ¡°You will look after them for me, won¡¯t you?¡± The leaf insect revealed herself with slight movements that didn¡¯t fit the wind. She exchanged her own body signs with the Great Queen. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better for you to do so?¡± ¡°Despite how it may seem, I am not undetectable,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°My daughter will be more sensitive to me than to you. Besides, there is much more to watch over here in case of trouble.¡± ¡°Do you have no attachment to your own brood?¡± ¡°If that was the case, I would not be sending you, would I? I would simply leave them to fend for themselves as they believe they will be.¡± ----- Deep Purr was too invested in the safety of the coalition to go on a journey. Echoing Cry was with his aforementioned nestful of eggs. Contented Grunt said she was too lazy to go on a long journey. Clang was¡­ still a blacksmith and uninterested in exploration to begin with. Half Oink would probably come¡­ the only issue there was Forceful Snort. Then again, the warthog was a master of her own tusks, and certainly capable of making her own decisions. At least if he invited her, Three Squeaks wouldn¡¯t be alone with two void ants. He didn¡¯t think they would be a danger to him, but if he wasn¡¯t going to travel alone, he¡¯d prefer others with which he could actually talk aloud without constantly looking over at them. Also ones he could pick out with his senses. He didn¡¯t want to be constantly worried about losing his companions. Yes, Half Oink would be a good option. Swordmaster Ty was a big proponent of training journeys, so she should be amenable to the idea. And indeed, it was easy to get her agreement to come along. It was unfortunate that the expected resistance came to pass. ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Forceful Snort said. ¡°Wandering about who knows where into great danger? I won¡¯t allow it. You can¡¯t take my daughter.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Half Oink said. ¡°He can¡¯t take me anywhere. I will go where I please. And I want to go.¡± ¡°I forbid it.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? You and what army?¡± The two warthogs glared at each other, and Three Squeaks rapidly moved out of their way. This was something they should hash out between the two of them. ¡°I don¡¯t need an army,¡± Forceful Snort lowered his head. ¡°I am an Essence Collection cultivator!¡± Half Oink was only at the peak of Spirit Building, but she didn¡¯t back down a single inch. ¡°Wanna go, old man?¡± ¡°Bring it, pipsqueak!¡± Squeaks and thudding hooves abounded as the two warthogs charged at each other. Forceful Snort was significantly larger, and seemed quite able to trample his daughter. In any other case, Three Squeaks would have bet on his victory. However¡­ A flash of light and a sound rare in the coalition to this day- that of something hard being cut. A sound often associated with metal. There was none to be had, of course, but the two boars were past each other. And then¡­ the left tusks of Forceful Snort landed on the ground. A long red line along his left side began to well with blood. He turned heavily. ¡°What¡¯s all that natural energy for if you don¡¯t know how to use it, huh?¡± Half Oink shook her head. ¡°Hmph. Ungrateful brat. Go on then, get out of here! I never want to see you again!¡± Half Oink took off, and Three Squeaks barely kept up with her. ¡°Are you certain that this is alright?¡± he said, scrambling along on all fours, his bow slung over his back. ¡°It¡¯s fine. He¡¯ll settle down eventually. Though we might really have to explore the whole world to give him enough time!¡± ¡°Wait.¡± The single word came out of seemingly nowhere, and the two of them stopped to look around. No, four of them- because Three Squeaks was reminded of the two princesses riding on his head. They were barely the size of his eyes, despite being much bigger than workers. Then again, even the Great Queen was only as long as his arm, so their size only mattered a little bit. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Three Squeaks almost fell into the hole as he was looking for the source of the voice. A figure slowly climbed out. ¡°You¡­ almost¡­ left¡­ me¡­ behind¡­ here¡­¡± Meep stood in front of them. ¡°Uh¡­ well,¡± Three Squeaks looked awkwardly at the old man. ¡°You kind of just stay here and look at your roots and fungus. You wouldn¡¯t really want to explore, would you?¡± ¡°I¡­ do. Ran¡­ out¡­ of¡­ roots. Saw¡­ them¡­ all.¡± ¡°Well¡­ we have to move far. And we can¡¯t move slowly for you. Sorry.¡± ¡°Not¡­ a¡­ problem,¡± Meep said. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ fast.¡± ¡°Sure thing buddy,¡± Three Squeaks said. He exchanged a look with Half Oink. They wordlessly agreed to leave the old meerkat behind, and the sooner the better. As long as they ditched him within coalition territory they would be alright. Meep turned in the direction they had been moving and began to plod along. Three Squeaks and Half Oink broke into a fast jog. It was actually a good speed for them to travel, since they should be able to maintain that throughout the day. They passed Meep, leaving him in their dust as they began their journey. Half an hour later, Three Squeaks thought he felt something, and looked over his shoulder. ¡°...Problem?¡± Meep asked. Three Squeaks ignored him for a moment, sweeping his senses around the area to make certain they hadn¡¯t gone in a circle or something. He looked at Meep, who had taken two whole steps in that time and nothing more. ¡°Uh¡­ how did you keep up?¡± ¡°Foot¡­ tech¡­ nique¡­¡± Meep said. ¡°More¡­ eff¡­ ic¡­ ient¡­¡± Three Squeaks couldn¡¯t quite comprehend what was happening as the old meerkat clearly took only a single step, but moved far further than that. ¡°Well, alright,¡± Three Squeaks said. It was up to Meep if he wanted to try to keep up. Surely he would fall behind eventually. But if they went any faster, Three Squeaks didn¡¯t know if he could keep the pace. ----- ¡°I still feel awful,¡± Anton said. ¡°I am not meant for these tasks.¡± ¡°Think of it as indirectly killing your enemies,¡± Heath grinned. Anton shook his head. ¡°I am not much suited for the indirect. Unless you count the trajectories of my arrows among that. Of course, I do not mean to say that it is not necessary or valuable to do things this way¡­ but I am not good at it.¡± Taalay stroked his beard. ¡°Even so, you provided quite a few insights. I wouldn¡¯t have noticed anything wrong with them for quite some time if you hadn¡¯t explained the faults to me. I¡¯m still not convinced that it¡¯s impossible to bend a planet to your will.¡± ¡°Not impossible,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Nothing is, strictly. But it¡¯s certainly inefficient compared to being assisted willingly.¡± Over the last few months, they had coordinated with people from the Lower Realms Alliance and Vrelt to add unhelpful insights into the totality of the Anchoring information being transmitted to the upper realms. Now, everything was set in stone and couldn¡¯t be changed- though they could end the transmission early. Instead, they would let it complete with their sabotage. It was possible that they might transmit more flawed information in the future, though they couldn¡¯t do it with trivial things or they would draw suspicion. So they had to come up with something big enough. The paths of Anchoring, Assimilation, and Worldbinding were more or less different perspectives on the same thing, and they might eventually try to feed false information about one of the others- but that was a project for decades if not centuries down the line. The cleanup after the war had lasted longer than the actual war. Not just the repairs and the like, but tracking down the remnants of the Trigold forces, hiding out in the wilderness or down in the mines. Though only the latter one worked even tolerably for them. Both Devon and Anton could track down anyone hiding on the surface, through quite different methods. Many of the ships could sense stray cultivators there as well. In the planet-spanning mines, a good majority of which had been collapsed during the war, people were slightly more concealed- but they were not impossible to track down. It simply took more time and different skills. Another critical project was straightening out the countries and cities that had been under the influence of the Trigold Cluster. The cultivators involved had mostly been killed, but there were still mundane cities that had been influenced by them, and were resistant to change. And while it was a problem¡­ it was one that would eventually go away on its own. Some active effort might help, but people would either grow used to the change or¡­ simply die of old age. That was a thing that still happened, after all. Even for cultivators¡­ just more slowly. ----- Devon found himself consulting with Aerona, as he often did. ¡°I wonder if we could have done things better here.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we can ever truly know,¡± Aerona said. ¡°However, I am certain we could have done far worse. Different is easy, better is not. Let us say we came in with the full armies of the Lower Realms Alliance immediately. We kill everyone from the Trigold Cluster. Then what? Everyone else sees invading armies and fights back with all their might- ultimately resulting in many deaths for little reason. Perhaps reinforcements could have been closer at hand, but I am not a tactician and we hadn¡¯t really anticipated¡­ those particular events with that timing.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just afraid I screwed everything up.¡± Aerona smiled, ¡°You may have felt drawn here, but it was not a task you could complete alone. You were the one who got things started when the Lower Realms Alliance was puttering around hoping something would happen.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not quite like that¡­ but we did ultimately need people like you who just joined our alliance to take part.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been decades,¡± Aerona said. ¡°That¡¯s still nothing,¡± Devon pointed out. ¡°Cultivators live a long time.¡± ¡°And yet, we¡¯re also capable of causing rapid change. Perhaps more of us should be cognizant of that¡­ besides those from Rutera. They certainly have an interesting understanding of the world.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°One without which we wouldn¡¯t have accomplished nearly so much. We would likely still be dragging ourselves between nearby systems on ponderous ships.¡± ¡°Perhaps you would be. So then. What next?¡± ¡°What do you mean? Next for what?¡± Aerona shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. For you. Or for us, perhaps.¡± ¡°Nidec,¡± Devon declared. ¡°We encountered them at much the same time as Udre and Vrelt. Little progress has been made with them¡­ and we need someone who can talk to make that happen. So that¡¯s probably you. And some others.¡± Devon shrugged, the movement emphasizing his missing arm. ¡°And I¡¯ll be there with you, if you¡¯re willing to have me.¡± Aerona chuckled. ¡°I didn¡¯t run halfway across the galaxy to reach you just to push you away.¡± Devon rolled his eyes. ¡°Please, it wasn¡¯t even close to halfway across the lower realms. Maybe a quarter at best.¡± Chapter 823 The void ore mines were a truly uncomfortable place for a cultivator, but over time Velvet got used to them. As for the beasts she was supposed to hunt, it was important they were found away from anyone working. Because without proper use of energy, beasts were much stronger than humans. Even if the miners focused more on their bodies than many others, unless they reached Essence Collection or Life Transformation purely on the merits of their body they would be at risk against many of the beasts. But in areas where energy was more functional, the beasts weren¡¯t much stronger. They were adapted to living in and around void ore, which meant most of the upper energy they came in contact with went directly to strengthening their bodies. In short, they were still below the Integration level in ¡®normal¡¯ areas. For Velvet, that meant she had a straightforward task of finding beasts and stringing them along to somewhere she could fight them optimally. She couldn¡¯t afford to be careless around high concentrations of void ore, but she wasn¡¯t in the business of relaxing anyway. Not around so many unknown threats. As far as Velvet could tell, Runa and the Spirit Slicing Sect had bought her deception about her origins, but that might not last forever. If she could prove to be valuable they might care as much, but either way performing the tasks assigned to her was the best option for her infiltration. Velvet crept along, footfalls as silent as the flight of owls. Sound was the biggest enemy here, because aside from the occasional fungus there wasn¡¯t much in the way of natural light. Her upper energy could give her away as well, but that was something Velvet was used to. A high pitched squeak echoed through the cavern as a bat fluttered along. It was listening for the ripples of her presence, but she was more than capable of producing an effect that hid her from echolocation. It was actually easier than training Chidi to deal with sight, a sense he had no basis for. Even if Velvet herself didn¡¯t possess echolocation, the sound simply needed to flow through her without restriction rather than off of her. Her method wasn¡¯t quite perfect- otherwise she wouldn¡¯t have heard it at all- but it was sufficient for a beast that expected clear results. One hand grasped the cold stone as her feet maneuvered onto small irregularities. The other held a dagger ready for use. The closer she could get without making outward use of her energy, the more successful her ambush would be. The bat dangled from a stalactite in the middle of the chamber, but such a position was not unassailable if one could climb along the ceiling. It was a difficult process, but with only a tiny bit of cheating with her energy Velvet managed to get above the bat. Then she dropped, not letting sound reflect from her for a short moment. After that, it didn¡¯t matter what her prey noticed. She dropped nearly past the man-sized creature, her free hand grasping at the shoulder of one of its wings wrapped around it. That allowed her to yank the bat off balance while also giving her the angle to thrust her dagger towards its throat. Its tough flesh resisted, but she still sliced deeply. Rapidly losing blood as it struggled to fly, it could barely attempt to fight her. At most, it was supposed to engage in close quarters combat with other aerial combatants- something with mobile limbs like a human that was able to reach it was difficult to fight back against. It flapped its wing to try to dislodge her, chomping about with its teeth, but its struggled proved futile as she slid her blade down its wing. She landed lightly on the floor, but the bat barely maneuvered its feet towards the ground as it crashed. It was only able to stand awkwardly, its primary method of mobility severely damaged. As it had not perished instantly, its loud cries weren¡¯t simply to reveal her location for itself but also to draw other companions to aid it. Velvet knew that there were none terribly close by, so she was unconcerned as she approached it in melee. She sliced deep into its other wings before arriving at its back, stabbing through its ribcage into whatever vital organs were convenient. The creature quickly fell limp. As the strongest beast in the local area, Velvet¡¯s work was basically handled. Still, she would try to ambush some of the weaker creatures to make sure the safety would endure. ----- Three Squeaks looked up into the sky. ¡°You know, it¡¯s easier to navigate when we have a flier with us.¡± He could pick out enemies from a long distance, but ultimately his senses had to navigate above and around the terrain in chunks instead of simply picking everything out all at once, or at least with a single visual sweep. Small sounds from the void ants drew his attention down to his forearm, where Fearsome Mandibles was expressing discontent with the idea. Crossed Antennae, however, had her own opinion. ¡°Wings seem good. Maybe I should grow wings.¡± ¡°Can you just do that?¡± Three Squeaks asked, looking at the two void ants. ¡°Usually only queens have wings,¡± Crossed Antennae explained. ¡°And males. Either way, it¡¯s only for a short time.¡± ¡°So you can¡¯t, then,¡± Three Squeaks shrugged. ¡°Too bad.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say that. If I grow wings, surely the Great Queen will acknowledge my superiority.¡± ¡°Why doesn¡¯t she have wings?¡± the meerkat asked. Fearsome Mandibles actually answered that one. ¡°She mentioned missing the opportunity to keep them.¡± ¡°Eat¡­ good¡­¡± Meep said. ¡°Body¡­ grow¡­ strong¡­ wings.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure if that¡¯s how it works,¡± Three Squeaks said honestly. ¡°What¡¯s this about wings?¡± Half Oink asked. She wasn¡¯t at an angle to see the void ants, and wouldn¡¯t understand their sign language regardless. ¡°Just discussing if the princesses can choose to grow them or not. It seems to be unclear,¡± Three Squeaks shrugged. He didn¡¯t have such prominent shoulders as a human, but they worked well enough to move his arms dramatically. ¡°Found¡­ something¡­¡± Meep appeared next to a plant, his movement surprisingly quick. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t think it looked like anything special, but Meep took samples regardless. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. So far, they hadn¡¯t gone far beyond coalition territory. For the most part, the locals had avoided them. With Spirit Building cultivators among them, they likely felt intimidating from a distance. And while they truly were dangerous, it was only to people who were going to cause trouble with them. They continued on for a time before Three Squeaks noticed something. A number of trees in the area, fallen. No, that wasn¡¯t right. Cut down. It was obvious there were regular patterns- and he could see the chips around the remaining trunks. As they continued on, the devastation became more prominent. It wasn¡¯t just young saplings, but older trees as well- some two, three, or even five meerkat heights across. By human numbers, up to a meter and a half. Not the very biggest trees in the forest, but the sheer quantity was astounding. He could see ruts in the ground from the trees having been dragged away. That wasn¡¯t the only odd thing. He also spotted a river- except it was hardly more than a stream in its current state. Yet from the bushes and other plants growing nearby, it should have been quite plentiful recently. Soon enough the others noticed the trees as well. ¡°Why¡­ gone?¡± Meep asked. Half Oink sniffed. ¡°They must be building. No fires.¡± ¡°Big¡­ coalition?¡± Meep asked. ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°I can¡¯t even sense any from here. Or at least, I don¡¯t think so. There are some fellows living in trees, but they don¡¯t have any remnants of all of this nearby,¡± he gestured vaguely all around them. ¡°We should go see them,¡± Half Oink said excitedly. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen many people yet.¡± Fearsome Mandibles caught Three Squeaks¡¯ attention. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look good. Too many stumps. Nothing growing, and the land trampled over.¡± ¡°No¡­ fun¡­ gi¡­ on¡­ stumps,¡± Meep agreed. ¡°No¡­ new¡­ growth.¡± ¡°It does seem bad,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°But maybe it makes sense for something.¡± Either way, they were heading towards the group he had sensed. Three Squeaks got a better sense of their form as their group approached. Wide eyes, long tails. Paws with which they grasped the trees. And opposable thumbs! Three Squeaks was jealous. It was extremely difficult to use a bow without opposable thumbs, his version took special effort to construct. Obviously these weren¡¯t that close to humans, but they did have a major useful feature. As they began to get close, loud cries came from the creatures. ¡°Get back! We have heavy rocks!¡± Well, that was kind of dangerous, but Three Squeaks would have been more afraid if they had spears or swords. Still. ¡°We don¡¯t mean any harm!¡± he called back towards him, amplifying his voice with natural energy. ¡°We just want to ask about what is happening here!¡± A pause. ¡°You don¡¯t work with them?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know who you¡¯re talking about,¡± Three Squeaks called out, ¡°But we are from the Lower Plains Coalition, the border more than a day¡¯s journey in the direction of the sunrise.¡± ¡°Approach closer. Slowly.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Three Squeaks said. He figured it would be counterproductive to tell the individual talking that they were already within his range of attack. By over a kilometer, in fact. ¡°Come on, then,¡± he said to those around him. ¡°Want us to sneak up and bite them?¡± Fearsome Mandibles asked. ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be necessary,¡± he commented. ¡°We¡¯re here to talk, remember?¡± Half Oink Squeaked in acknowledgement. Meep bent down and scooped up a mushroom. ¡°New¡­ variety!¡± he said with excitement. Then he hung his head. ¡°Never¡­ mind¡­ young¡­ blood¡­ spewer.¡± ¡°Are bloodspewers useful?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°If¡­ you¡­ need¡­ enemy¡­ to¡­ vomit¡­ blood.¡± That was actually pretty obvious now that he thought about it. It wasn¡¯t the name of a mushroom you¡¯d want to eat. ¡°How did you find this out?¡± ¡°... experience.¡± It was weird that Meep was still alive. For various reasons. ¡°Stop there!¡± the voice was much closer now, though of course Three Squeaks had been keeping track of the speaker anyway- and the couple dozen others scattered about, the best of them barely in mid Body Tempering. ¡°You are close enough.¡± A pause. ¡°You don¡¯t look like tree-chompers. But what is that weird thing around you?¡± ¡°This is a bow,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°A weapon.¡± ¡°A¡­ detached claw?¡± the creature tilted his head, large eyes looming in the treetops. ¡°Yes,¡± Three Squeaks confirmed. ¡°It has longer reach.¡± ¡°Not as much as a good rock,¡± the lemur said. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t bother to correct him. ¡°Still, sensible. What is your name?¡± ¡°Three Squeaks.¡± ¡°I am Big Howl. You have seen the devastation of the trees, with your route.¡± Three Squeaks nodded in confirmation. ¡°And the river, drained dry.¡± ¡°I did. Is there some connection?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Big Howl said as he moved among the branches of his tree. ¡°From the very same thing. A tree chomper den beyond all sensible limits. It stretches across the horizon amid a field of death.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°So that the tree chompers may grow stronger, and so that we will grow weaker. Why else?¡± ¡°That¡¯s stupid. I¡¯m sure good climbers like you would be useful. And your thumbs!¡± Three Squeaks raised his paws up high. ¡°Very powerful.¡± ¡°What is a thumb?¡± ¡°The flexy-across bit of your hand/paw,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Yes, good for grasping. But not able to chop down trees. Or defend them.¡± ¡°You just need better weapons,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Though maybe you could be friends?¡± ¡°I think not. The tree chompers drove us from our homes, and now the food sources of us lemurs are fading away.¡± ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s certainly not very nice,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°Perhaps we should go talk to them.¡± ¡°Hmph. Well, if you wish to risk your lives, you may do so. With your strength, perhaps you will survive.¡± ¡°Are they very strong?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Their teeth are long and sharp enough to fell trees in a matter of minutes. If you get within range for them to bite¡­ you will regret it.¡± They certainly didn¡¯t sound very nice. But this was just one side of the story. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t intend to get involved in local politics, but he did want to at least assess them. And as he¡¯d heard from Anton¡­ sometimes you just had to do something. He didn¡¯t yet know the full picture, but it would take a very good excuse for things to be as they were. They hadn¡¯t even planted new trees properly! Chapter 824 It was a weird situation for Three Squeaks to be in, becoming involved in a conflict between two other people groups. Because he was involved now, unable to ignore what was happening. When he¡¯d been a young meerkat, his only aspiration in life was to find some tasty scorpions regularly, and to survive. Maybe protect the burrow from intruders, but even that was more of a hope than an actual possibility. Some things were simply too strong and they couldn¡¯t do more than hide. That was the life of meerkats, until recently. Now he had too many choices. He felt like he could do anything- but he knew that wasn¡¯t true. He wasn¡¯t the strongest, not even considering just Akrys. But Three Squeaks supposed that he didn¡¯t have to figure everything out himself. He wasn¡¯t alone, after all. ¡°What do the rest of you think we should do?¡± ¡°Approach¡­ the¡­ situation¡­ with¡­ sufficient¡­ caution,¡± Meep slowly churned out a sentence. ¡°Yeah,¡± Three Squeaks agreed. ¡°We don¡¯t want to get in over our heads, or on the wrong side of a conflict.¡± Though he found it hard to justify what he had seen. He was also pretty sure that dried up river was supposed to flow into coalition territory eventually. ¡°I will cut down our enemies,¡± Half Oink said. ¡°Just tell me who they are.¡± That didn¡¯t actually help. But Three Squeaks appreciated her support. ¡°Princesses?¡± ¡°We should be cautious in our approach,¡± Crossed Antennae signed. ¡°Be ready to fight,¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°If we need to exterminate them, we should do so.¡± ¡°... Extermination is a big step from talking to people,¡± Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°You should not accept forest devastators as your neighbors. It¡¯s more efficient to remove them.¡± ¡°Us and what army?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°There aren¡¯t exactly a lot of us.¡± ¡°Can¡­ poison¡­ water,¡± Meep suggested. Three Squeaks shook his head. Based on what he was sensing. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you can. Or if we should.¡± There was¡­ a lot of water to be found up ahead, behind some sort of wall. Even if Meep managed to poison it all and it killed these tree chompers, that would be a lot of contaminated water to deal with. Fearsome Mandibles had her head lowered. ¡°... I knew we forgot something. We should return for an army. Void ants aren¡¯t meant to fight in small groups.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not going to get an army,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Besides, are there even that many void ants here?¡± ¡°There are others who can fight,¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°Well, it¡¯s just us right now. So we have to deal with it.¡± Three Squeaks began to explain the situation ahead. First was a massive wall. It was something like three meters high, which towered over even a hippo. But its height wasn¡¯t the truly impressive part. Instead, it was the width. It covered a vast area some kilometers in length. ¡°It¡¯s clear where most of the trees went. They took the logs, but also weaved the sticks into the wall. It¡¯s not so cleanly organized like the construction Anton taught.¡± Yet Three Squeaks also couldn¡¯t find any flaws. With mud packed in, the whole thing was water-tight. He knew that, because the wall was holding back the water, creating something like a massive lake where there had only been forest previously. And while there were now many water plants growing in the area, he could sense the buried shrubs and stumps that littered the area. Along the river, he could sense a change in the structure- though he supposed it was only a river, or perhaps the remnants of one, on their side. Only what seeped out of the ground made it into the river further beyond. ¡°It¡¯s kind of like¡­ a gate?¡± Three Squeaks commented. ¡°It has a place for some beavers to stand with some things they have up there above where the gates might open. I think there¡¯s a ladder that can be lowered as the only way to cross.¡± Besides just jumping over the wall, of course. And it seemed like the gate probably wasn¡¯t supposed to open, as water pressure would make closing it near impossible. As for the power of the tree chompers, not a one was beyond Spirit Building. Or at least, none of those guarding the walls. There was little else they could do but draw closer. Three Squeaks could simply attack them unprovoked, but he didn¡¯t know the whole story yet. So, they continued forward. ¡°Stop right there intruders!¡± called one of the guards on the wall as they approached. All of the tree chompers were rotund furry creatures with wide tails and claws for digging. They also had sharp teeth hidden behind their maws. ¡°Why are you intruding in our territory?¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t even entered your territory yet,¡± Three Squeaks protested. ¡°Not so,¡± the tree chomper declared. ¡°We claim far beyond the limits of our wall. This area is designated for future expansion.¡± ¡°It¡¯s that very thing that calls us here,¡± Three Squeaks took the opportunity to approach the topic he wanted. ¡°You seem to have expanded greatly, but did you ask any of the others living in this area?¡± ¡°Why should we?¡± the guard declared. ¡°We made this all ourselves.¡± ¡°But were the trees yours?¡± ¡°Obviously. We have them.¡± Three Squeaks took a deep breath. He didn¡¯t want to be hasty but¡­ he was approaching a conclusive opinion on the situation. ¡°So you claimed everything by the right of power?¡± ¡°It is the natural way.¡± ¡°Do you speak for your people as a whole?¡± The tree chomper looked down upon him, as another half dozen poked their heads over the wall curiously. ¡°I don¡¯t like your attitude, little rat. The Widetimber Colony is the proper owner of the land you stand upon, and you are no longer allowed to remain.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. A slight pinch on his paw had Three Squeaks look down. Fearsome Mandibles signed rapidly. ¡°Tell him his colony is bad at land management and conflict resolution.¡± ¡°Your colony of tree chompers is overstepping its bounds,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°You shall call us beavers. And who could retaliate against us? Tiny rats like yourselves? Maybe a bunch of wet cats or monkeys who have no trees? Prepare the weapons!¡± the beaver guard called. Half Oink snorted at them. ¡°Hey! I¡¯m neither of those things! Also hippos would still totally eat you if they wanted.¡± Things were clearly beyond words at that point. Three Squeaks could see the weapons being readied. They were some sort of weird wooden contraption built on very different principles than he had seen, but he understood the part that was wooden spikes. ¡°Careful! They¡¯re going to launch-¡± He got about that far before the contraptions snapped around, flinging wooden spikes¡­ or perhaps spears or arrows without metal heads. It didn¡¯t matter what they called them, he had to dodge. He only hoped that Meep managed to find cover. Aaaand¡­ Meep was suddenly behind a stump a dozen meters away. ¡°Mush¡­ room,¡± he commented. Half Oink was fine, of course. She hadn¡¯t exactly dodged, but the spears that vaguely approached her location were split in half. And then in half upon another angle, ultimately flying apart into splinters. As for the princesses, they had been carried by Three Squeaks so his dodging was sufficient. The devices were kind of scary for the amount of wood they chucked but¡­ their accuracy left much to be desired. ¡°Reload!¡± the guard captain declared. That process¡­ seemed to be far less than instantaneous. ¡°Half Oink,¡± Three Squeaks transmitted his voice towards his warthog companion. ¡°Can you cut open the gate?¡± She looked him dead in the eye. ¡°Can I cut? What a stupid question.¡± ¡°... Cut open the gate,¡± Three Squeaks ordered. That would unleash water into the river bed, but it would greatly disrupt the ¡®beavers¡¯. As for the others, Meep was squashing the mushroom between his paws. And the princesses¡­ weren¡¯t on his arm. Not being able to track them down with his energy senses, Three Squeaks just called out. ¡°You girls better not do anything stupid!¡± At least he wasn¡¯t worried about them getting hit by the projectiles. They didn¡¯t cover that much area- even targets of his size were really too small. Half Oink was closer to the proper size to guarantee hits, if she didn¡¯t have the ability to destroy the projectiles. Speaking of which, he should cover her approach. The warthog was charging forward, but the weapons might be reloaded before she got there. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t have to stand around and let them do that. His bow had been off his back even as they approached. Apparently, the beavers hadn¡¯t understood what it was, or they wouldn¡¯t have been so confident up above just a small height. They probably thought he¡¯d have to run up and jump towards them. If he knew things would have turned out this way, he might have just shot them from the limit of his range. They wouldn¡¯t have been able to do much but run around or block themselves. Then again, they had less time to dodge at this distance. His first spirit arrow appeared on his bow as he pulled back, releasing towards one of the beavers concentrating on loading the projectile contraption. The guard captain reacted in time to block the attack for the other beaver, spinning around and slapping it out of the air with his tail, but that still ultimately deserved the beaver loading. ¡°Hurry up!¡± the captain ordered when the beaver paused. ¡°And be more accurate this time!¡± Personally, Three Squeaks thought they were a bit naive with their weapons. While high speed projectiles could certainly hurt people, they had barely imbued any natural energy onto their shots. Not that he was going to tell them how to properly try to hurt him. Instead, he was just going to shoot them. And anticipating that the guard captain would block, he focused more on power than speed. If the beaver captain did nothing, he would slay his intended target. The loader was only peak Body Tempering. Just as Anton taught him, Three Squeaks flew forward with his arrow. The guard captain¡­ sensed the power of the shot. And so, a neat hole was made through the torso of one of the beavers. How pathetic, not even attempting to protect his companion. A moment later, Half Oink had arrived, running next to the riverbed and then leaping across the width of the gate. For a moment, it appeared that nothing happened- then crossing cuts appeared on the thick wood, and water pressure burst everything apart. Half Oink¡¯s cut had gone so far as to chop apart the footing the beavers were using, and one unlucky individual in the path. The beavers were momentarily disoriented as they dropped into the water, but the captain quickly righted himself as water spewed forth. ¡°You!¡± He pointed to another Spirit Building beaver. ¡°Come with me. The rest of you, take care of the pig! We¡¯ll deal with the rat!¡± Only one of the two of them had rat teeth, and it wasn¡¯t Three Squeaks. But clearly these beavers had a large opinion of themselves. Three Squeaks took shots at the approaching commander, not actually expecting to hit him but watching the way he dodged and deflected attacks. He considered trying to snipe the other target, but he had to conserve his energy for this particular foe. ¡°Ouch!¡± the second approaching beaver jumped. ¡°Something bit me!¡± the beaver clawed at his own fur, and Three Squeaks saw a small bloody patch. Well, that would be the princesses then. Hopefully they didn¡¯t get squashed. Either way, they distracted him enough that only the captain reached Three Squeaks, who was prepared to claw the beaver. ¡°Excuse¡­ me¡­¡± a voice spoke from besides Three Squeaks. Meep was there. He took a deep breath and puffed on some powder on his paws, spraying it towards the guard captain. Then he casually walked away, ducking under the spinning tail and pulling away as the beaver¡¯s teeth chomped at him. ¡°You¡­ forgot¡­ your¡­ mushroom¡­¡± Meep commented almost tauntingly. Fortunately, he¡¯d saved the majority of that for after his attack. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t waste any time shooting at the beaver¡¯s rear. While the tail might slap away his shots¡­ a suddenly quicker one dug into his fur. Light was a property Three Squeaks understood well enough to form basic arrows. Fire¡­ was probably no good here. But he did suddenly change his next shot to be slower about the time the tail was going to slap it away, leaving another bloody mark as he pierced through the beaver¡¯s defensive energy. The other Spirit Building individual was flailing about wildly, spraying natural energy all over presumably in an attempt to blow away whatever was crawling on him. It just turned out that was literally the worst way to resolve his current problem, as small wounds continued to appear around his body- and his short limbs weren¡¯t flexible enough to reach. He might still be able to crush the princesses against the ground, but only if he could even figure out what was happening before it was too late. Three Squeaks continued to shoot the captain, while Meep tottered along just out of his reach. It wasn¡¯t clear if the old meerkat couldn¡¯t go any faster or if it was calculated. At least, until the beaver began slowing down. He toppled over, covering himself with his tail. ¡°Wait! I surrender! I recognize your strength!¡± Taking in the whole situation, Three Squeaks pondered. ¡°You know, I¡¯ve heard a saying where I am from. Live by the sword, die by the sword.¡± The beaver tilted his head as he curled up on the ground. ¡°What¡¯s a swo-¡± Half Oink was back, her tusks completely pristine as she had cut down the rest of the beaver guards from a distance. ¡°Swords are the best,¡± Half Oink declared, not that the beaver would even hear her. Three Squeaks sighed, watching the few dead bodies being carried away by the river- a little overfull considering the water built up beyond. ¡°Princesses! To me, please!¡± Something nibbled his toe. He looked down to see Crossed Antennae. ¡°My sister said to tell you that she was going after the big one.¡± Three Squeaks just put his head in his hands. The ¡®big one¡¯ was obviously the approaching Essence Collection cultivator. Or at least¡­ a beaver of similar energy level. There was still a difference between proper cultivation and just consuming enough natural energy, after all. He¡¯d sensed the threat coming after the battle began, but it was the beavers who struck first so it hadn¡¯t really been avoidable. This was going to be¡­ a bit difficult. Hopefully Fearsome Mandibles would hold off on attacking until they could work together. Actually¡­ could she swim? Could she even have gotten far yet? If only he could sense her. But maybe her sister could pick her out better. Chapter 825 Water surged as a furious beaver charged towards their group. Three Squeaks understood he¡¯d failed pretty badly at diplomacy, but was it his fault when the other side didn¡¯t even try? The beaver captain didn¡¯t really give them a chance to leave, either. With Fearsome Mandibles running off to fight this beaver, Three Squeaks couldn¡¯t exactly choose to not fight. And though he hoped that the actual leader was more reasonable, it was unlikely that they would listen with people dead. Three Squeaks took a shot with his bow, and was unsurprised when the waves around the rapidly approaching beaver completely deflected his attack. That made things a bit more difficult. What could he do? One piece of advice from Anton came to mind. ¡°If you have to fight, don¡¯t do it where your enemy wants to.¡± There was more to that, but the basic point was easy enough. This beaver had control over water. He shouldn¡¯t be anywhere near it. Making sure he at least had Crossed Antennae with him, he began to move away from the now surging river. ¡°Half Oink, Meep! We¡¯re fighting away from the water! Fearsome Mandibles, I hope you can hear me because that means you too!¡± He couldn¡¯t really do anything if the void ant princess wasn¡¯t listening. He didn¡¯t know where she was¡­ but he wasn¡¯t going to be leaving her to fight alone. It wouldn¡¯t make a difference if he was a bit closer or further. ¡°Who dares broach the sanctity of the Widetimber Colony?¡± came a chittering roar from the beaver king, or whatever they called him, as he drew closer and closer with the surging waves. This was the part where Three Squeaks was supposed to answer with something to attempt to diffuse the situation, as pointless as it was. But by the time he found the words, someone was already speaking. ¡°Your people are terrible!¡± Half Oink squealed towards the overly large beaver. ¡°Also¡­ smell¡­ bad¡­¡± Meep augmented his volume without actually shouting. Three Squeaks was going to have things to say to them, if they survived this. One Essence Collection beaver might be something they could take out, but he didn¡¯t come along, bringing another handful of Spirit Building opponents along with him in his wave. Unfortunately, they were currently shielded by the waves as well so Three Squeaks just tried to pick out a good spot far enough from the river and the artificial lake. If only there were trees around, he could at least get some more distance that way. Instead, the land was basically a collection of stumps and mangled shrubs. ¡°I hope you have some good mushrooms,¡± Three Squeaks said to Meep. The old meerkat shook his head. ¡°None.¡± How unfortunate. Three Squeaks was going to suggest he stay out of the battle, but he stepped forward and poured something out of his bag. ¡°Don¡¯t touch,¡± he said primarily to Half Oink. ¡°What is that?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Bad¡­ fungus.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ fine.¡± Maybe he should have been more specific. But there wasn¡¯t any more time for that, because the beavers were at their wall¡­ and then surfing over it. It seemed that not being near the water just meant the beaver king was going to bring it with him. It should be more tiring, at least. ¡°Half Oink, you take out-¡± ¡°The big one!¡± she declared. ¡°You got it last time!¡± There was no time to argue. Fortunately, it only took a slight adjustment to his aim to snap a spirit arrow towards one of the smaller ones. Since the warthog was charging the big guy, he wasn¡¯t so focused on defending those around him. His target tried to slap the arrow away with its tail, to half effect. Which was to say, Three Squeaks didn¡¯t get a vital hit, but he did make its tail bleed. The king was a swirling vortex of water, his tail paving the motion of the small lake he¡¯d brought with him as it crashed towards Half Oink repeatedly. And in return, the warthog¡­ cut apart the water. This was one of the things that fell under the category of things Three Squeaks might never understand. He wasn¡¯t a sword user, so the more esoteric forms of cutting were¡­ weird. But it certainly worked, forcing the water to flow around her. The crashing waves still swept over the pile of powder Meep had left there, which was unfortunate. But Meep managed to be behind a stump, which protected him from any immediate threats. Though two of the lesser beavers were charging towards him, while the other three were coming for Three Squeaks. They swam through the remaining couple of meters of water before leaping onto the ground beyond. Three Squeaks wished he could scare these people away with fire, but as they were soaking wet he doubted it would do much good. So he had to continue fighting straightforwardly, which ultimately meant ducking and dodging away from them as he took shots at them. Each of them was far larger than him, which did make it difficult for three of them to not get in each other¡¯s way. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Though their claws weren¡¯t meant for combat, natural energy made them sharp, and he had to spend most of his time rolling away from slashes, slapping tails, and biting teeth that managed to take a huge chomp out of the nearby stumps. The last thing was the biggest travesty, because that meant that they could have dealt with the stumps and had just been too lazy. Though it was a bit of an odd time to be talking about conservation when they were going to turn him into compost. Three Squeaks needed an opening, and he got the perfect one when one of the beavers went all in on an attack. A concerning amount of natural energy coiled around its teeth, and it chomped towards him. Three Squeaks was about to dodge when he saw a tiny dot springing through the air. And then all at once, that chunk of natural energy was torn away and all that was coming towards him were unprotected teeth. He shifted his motion from a backwards leap into a spin, kicking his leg into the lower pair of teeth with an uncomfortable crack which also sent the beaver flying back. Crossed Antennae was probably knocked back with the beaver, but he had made sure not to squash her. Two enemies of this caliber Three Squeaks was well prepared to handle, even in his fatigued state. He shot his bow right into the foot of one as he dodged around the giant creatures, forcing them to pull their blows as he moved between them. His hand flickered with great speed, first putting them off guard and then going for lethal blows. His arrows didn¡¯t have to create a large hole if they simply punctured a vital organ. As the last of the two fell, he was able to take in the larger battle once more. Meep was¡­ standing on top of two beavers that were frothing at the mouth. And while Three Squeaks couldn¡¯t prove it, the other meerkat had to be responsible for the horrible green slime on the beaver king¡¯s arm. Half Oink simply wasn¡¯t the type- instead it was simple to attribute the criss-crossing cuts in the beaver¡¯s fur to her. Unfortunately, the beaver king was still going strong, and Half Oink was bleeding from numerous wounds as she was getting yanked away from completing her attacks by the water spinning around the beaver. Not just a mass of power, then, but with some insights. There were two brief flashes of light as Three Squeaks aimed for the king¡¯s eyes, momentarily blinding him even if he didn¡¯t cause actual damage. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t stop him. Waters surged, sweeping up Half Oink from behind where she couldn¡¯t cut them apart. His arms spread wide as his jaws stretched, and sharp natural energy focused on all of them as his arms clawed inward. With a twist of her head, Half Oink somehow deflected both pairs of claws with her tusks, but the beavers teeth bit deep into her nose. However, before more could come of that the beaver pulled back. Then he slapped one paw towards his neck. Feeling the hole in natural energy, Three Squeaks knew what- or who- was there. But unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t do anything. If the beaver had carelessly slashed, he could have easily missed, and if he had relied on natural energy he wouldn¡¯t have done much. But instinct had made him choose the greatest danger to the void ant. None of them would miss such an opening. Three Squeaks sunk an arrow into the back of the paw, Half Oink sliced into his gut, and even Meep somehow arrived behind him and clawed into his back. A surge of energy from the beaver king spoke of a last ditch attack, but even that was torn away and consumed. Presumably by Crossed Antennae. The surrounding water splashed onto the ground as it was finally out of the beaver¡¯s control. Three Squeaks had things he wanted to say to the beaver king¡­ but Half Oink didn¡¯t seem to be in the mood, as his head was removed from his body a moment later. Three Squeaks made his way forward, trying to find the princesses. He just managed to spot the lack of natural energy around one- no, both of them, as Crossed Antennae carried the mangled form of her sister. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t know what to do, until that form twitched. Only one front leg and one antennae were able to move, but if he extrapolated¡­ Fearsome Mandibles was asking if she won the fight. ¡°Yeah¡­ you won¡­¡± Three Squeaks said. He reached out his paw for Crossed Antennae to walk onto, then looked around for a good surface. Unfortunately most of the stumps were angled- a problem quickly rectified with Half Oink¡¯s aid. Fearsome Mandibles was in the worst shape, with many of her legs broken- but her tiny body seemed to be intact. Crossed Antennae grabbed her limbs one by one and snapped them back into something like the correct position. Knowing he couldn¡¯t help there, Three Squeaks began to help the others bind their wounds. Fortunately, Meep carried some useful supplies. Thread and needles were a strange concept, but with it the meerkat stitched up the largest wounds on Half Oink. Including the one on her nose, as much as possible. ¡°... Do you think it will leave a scar?¡± Half Oink asked. Three Squeaks couldn¡¯t lie. ¡°Unfortunately, yes.¡± It would be pretty horrid, in fact. ¡°Cool. I can¡¯t wait to show it off.¡± It was so easy to forget she was like that. At least she wasn¡¯t upset. Three Squeaks collapsed on the soaked ground. If there were any more beavers, he wasn¡¯t sure he could do anything. He just lay on his back, looking up at the sun and trying to absorb its warmth. What was the point of the fighting? Why did it have to happen? If only they could have figured things out. The beavers just wanted what was best for them¡­ but it wasn¡¯t best for others. No, it was much worse. Even before they tried to kill the travelers, they were in the wrong. Hearing the rushing river, overflowing as a testament to the grand- if terrible- work that the beavers had done, he couldn¡¯t help but think about what they might have managed if they worked with others. And maybe been a bit more reasonable with their efforts considering how small their population actually was. He didn¡¯t notice as he drifted off to sleep, but something began to ignite inside of him as those thoughts filled him. It would only be in the coming days when he truly formed his twenty-ninth star and stepped into Essence Collection, but it became an inevitable result at that moment. Meep cuddled up next to him as the sunlight began to warm them, and a warthog and two ants also joined the pile a short time later. Chapter 826 Three Squeaks was confident in his ability to dig up some food for himself, but without his cultivation he would have had quite some trouble finding any in the immediate area. The chopped down trees might not have been a problem on their own, but the underbrush was crushed as well, leaving the tastiest insects and other food morsels without anywhere good to live. To be honest, it wasn¡¯t even clear how the beavers were planning to live in the coming years. Were they just going to travel ever further for food? He shook his head. Everything was messed up. They couldn¡¯t just leave things like this. After all, they hadn¡¯t come here and made things better. At most, they were less bad, which was different. Three Squeaks hadn¡¯t really wanted to get into an all-out war with the beavers, but their gate guards had been hungry for violence. Maybe they should have just torn down a section of wall or something and avoided them¡­ but the whole point had been the attempt at diplomacy. He looked at the tiny form of Fearsome Mandibles being carried around by her sister. Her legs weren¡¯t going to recover in just one night, no matter how much natural energy there was to eat in the nearby area. Speaking of natural energy, the bodies of the beavers were going to be wasted if they just left them around. The least they could do was help catalyze growth in the area they¡¯d devastated. Taking a look through the former gate, the water build up was only half drained as the river flowed with great vigor. It had been more than a few days of buildup covering a wide area. Some water would have seeped into the ground so they wouldn¡¯t quite get back the total amount of water, but at least there was flow. ¡°Too many things to do¡­¡± Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°I suppose we should get the lemurs involved. And any others around here.¡± He could feel curious figures at the edge of the clearcutting. ¡°Meep, can you start digging somewhere that looks like a good place to plant some trees? And find local seeds, if you can.¡± The meerkat saluted. ¡°Yes¡­ sir.¡± He began slowly shuffling about. Three Squeaks knew he could accomplish the task, and even if it wasn¡¯t done quickly it would be done well. ¡°Half Oink, you can either help him dig, or come with me to talk to the lemurs.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll stay here as long as you come get me before you go fight.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not planning to fight anyone,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Not even the remaining beavers, if we can help it. I¡¯m fairly certain the majority of their warriors are dead.¡± And a high portion of their population in general. ¡°Bring me anyway,¡± Half Oink said. ¡°... Sure,¡± Three Squeaks agreed. It would look more aggressive, but he also didn¡¯t want to risk being overwhelmed by enemies. He wasn¡¯t fully recovered in terms of wounds or natural energy after just half a day of sleep. Especially since the formerly forested area was¡­ dead. Despite the majority of her limbs being damaged, Fearsome Mandible still insisted on joining the conversation. ¡°We need to make the beavers work with everyone else instead of against them. Or get rid of them.¡± Three Squeaks wasn¡¯t sure what he thought about that. They weren¡¯t predators, but then again he didn¡¯t care if people were predatory creatures as long as they didn¡¯t hunt other sapients. And the beavers clearly didn¡¯t care for the harm they caused to others. ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± Three Squeaks said. He understood the logic behind it. If this was their coalition, that was what they would have to do. He hadn¡¯t intended to come here and cause such change¡­ but he also knew that he wasn¡¯t planning to wander around and let people like that stay in power, regardless of whether or not they actually attacked first. The questions had all been leading up to a decision, and the beaver guard captain had just skipped the rest of the intervening steps. Along the way, he had to cross the river- but it was easy enough to leap across. It was only thirty meerkats wide. Ten meters, approximately. As it turned out, using natural energy to propel a small weight that far wasn¡¯t difficult at all. ¡°Hello there!¡± Three Squeaks called out to the lemurs hiding in the trees a layer or two away from the border. ¡°We spoke to Big Howl yesterday. Is he here?¡± Three Squeaks knew he was, but asking was polite. ¡°Here I am,¡± the leader of the lemurs showed himself. ¡°I felt you had something to do with what happened over there. I¡¯m not sure quite what, but¡­ the river is flowing.¡± Three Squeaks nodded. ¡°Yeah¡­ we busted down their gate blocking the flow of water. We could tear down the rest of the wall but that would just flood everything for a while.¡± ¡°The beavers will not be happy about this,¡± Big Howl frowned. ¡°They¡¯re definitely not happy. But they wouldn¡¯t have lasted long anyway, with their attitude,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°We took down their leader, by the way.¡± ¡°Which one?¡± Big Howl asked. ¡°The one in Essence Collection.¡± Hopefully he was the strongest¡­? If there was another one, they¡¯d have to try to draw them away. ¡°Collecting¡­ what?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ it¡¯s the stage of power just past me,¡± Three Squeaks said. His momentary internal reflection showed him how much more true that was than usual. He¡¯d begun this journey hoping to find an opportunity to break through, and already he was half a step across the line at the beginning. ¡°Oh. I thought I felt him battling but¡­ I didn¡¯t want to hope too much,¡± the lemur leader said. ¡°It would be quite a relief to us if we could confirm his death.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Well, I guess we could bring the body over. Kinda unpleasant, though. You could come with us and see it, if you want. Oh, it would also be a good idea if you guys helped with the replanting of the forest.¡± ¡°... replanting?¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s not just going to grow back on its own!¡± Three Squeaks exclaimed. ¡°Not in your lifetime, or your childrens, or their children. But with some love and care you might make that a lot faster.¡± ¡°How do trees grow?¡± ¡°From seeds, obviously,¡± Three Squeaks said. Did they not know something so basic? Had he ever not known that? Hmm, there was a time, he supposed. Or at least, he hadn¡¯t really understood it. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you guys all about how it works.¡± ¡°... And we have to leave the trees?¡± Three Squeaks spread his arms wide. ¡°Sorry, that¡¯s kind of required to build up future safety. We¡¯re not going to do all of it for you. I don¡¯t mind teaching you, though.¡± He¡¯d like to do it, even. Big Howl nodded. ¡°As the leader here, I should be the one to take the risk and go with you.¡± Three Squeaks didn¡¯t think there was much risk though. What could eat them? Navigating the river was a bit difficult for Big Howl. He seemed able to swim, but he wasn¡¯t strong enough to simply leap across so they had to find a narrow enough spot. And as they were returning to the rest, Three Squeaks got an answer to his question. The cry of a hawk wasn¡¯t the first thing that gave it away to him, but it certainly helped. Though it caused Big Howl to freeze. It wasn¡¯t even that strong of a hawk. Just a big one, though Three Squeaks didn¡¯t know the type. And before it could even get close, he had shot it out of the air. It only had a bit of natural energy gathered from previous hunts, nothing of great enough quantity or control to matter. Big Howl¡¯s eyes were always big, but Three Squeaks thought they might be actually about to pop out of his head. ¡°Your detached claw is¡­ very powerful. No wonder you are unafraid of the things in the skies.¡± ¡°Weapons are good,¡± he said. ¡°And it¡¯s mostly about control of natural energy. I could teach you this too, you know. At least the basics.¡± The lemur had opposable thumbs and fingers, so it would be way easier for him to use a bow. ¡°Here we are,¡± he said, gesturing to a wide hole being dug, which had a pile of torn up stumps nearby. ¡°... Are you planning to bury them all in one place, Meep?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Meep said. ¡°Big¡­ pile¡­ will¡­ make¡­ big¡­ trees.¡± ¡°I guess I¡¯ll trust you on that one.¡± ¡°And¡­ mush¡­ rooms.¡± ¡°Yeah, I figured,¡± Three Squeaks nodded. ¡°It really is him,¡± Big Howl commented. ¡°I¡¯ve only seen him from afar, but I can sense the lingering energy. And you intend to¡­ bury him?¡± ¡°Yeah, eating other people who could think is¡­ not our idea of a good time,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°So we bury them and let plants recycle their energy.¡± ¡°Cycle it again. Yes, I see. It becomes stronger.¡± ¡°It does, actually. In the long term.¡± It was a long day of digging, pulling out stubborn stumps, digging more, moving bodies, and filling in dirt. Even with the use of natural energy, there was only so much four bodies could perform- the two void ants could likely perform fine work very well, but they had no need of anything small scale. And Fearsome Mandibles had to be forced to rest instead of wandering around on broken legs. ¡°Where did you learn¡­ all of this?¡± Big Howl asked. ¡°Anton,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of one of those.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a human. Anton is his name, though I¡¯m pretty sure humans should be new to you as well. They¡¯re kind of like you¡­ but without a tail, taller, they only walk upright, and they have weird feet. So mostly the hands thing I guess,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Anton helped our coalition form and grow strong. So now we want to help others.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re not here to take our food?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the thing. We can grow it. Or the right stuff to get the good bugs,¡± Three Squeaks commented. ¡°We¡¯re strong enough we don¡¯t have to compete.¡± Big Howl obviously thought it was weird, but he also seemed to trust the meerkat. Though perhaps that was because he didn¡¯t feel he had another choice. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m going to go talk to the remaining beavers¡­ tomorrow, I guess,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°You should probably come.¡± ¡°Beavers? You mean the tree munchers? Why talk to them at all?¡± ¡°Because it would be better if you could work together.¡± Big Howl shook his head. ¡°Even before recently, we didn¡¯t get along. They eat trees, we need to live in them.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I get that. But they know how to build stuff. And you have the hands to help. If you worked together to pick which trees to make grow more and which to use for other things, you could probably make some amazing stuff happen. Even this whole thing,¡± he gestured towards the wall. ¡°It¡¯s a pool of water that could help you all in a drought. It was just¡­ too much. Way too much.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± the lemur grunted. ¡°I don¡¯t like it.¡± Well, it was the prerogative of leaders to be grumpy and old and unwilling to accept change. But hopefully this one was wise enough to at least consider it. ¡°You need to think about it, at least,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Maybe the rest of these beavers will be rotten too, but¡­ not everyone of a certain species is the same. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve found lemurs you didn¡¯t get along with.¡± Big Howl nodded. ¡°Over there. Forests aren¡¯t connected, now. That might be the only good thing.¡± ¡°Same with us and lions. We¡¯ve had trouble with some of them, but we¡¯re also friendly with others.¡± Three Squeaks didn¡¯t mention that those cubs were from a tribe they killed. It was too much to get into. ¡°And one of my best friends is an eagle, if you would believe it. You¡¯d be surprised how relieving it is to have someone in the skies watching out for you.¡± ¡°Hmm. This is all¡­ very strange,¡± Big Howl said. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ll get used to it eventually. Hey, did I talk to you about energy cultivation? Turns out you can get strong in ways beyond just eating things.¡± ¡°And you can learn about swords!¡± Half Oink butted in. ¡°Yeah I guess you could actually use a lot of different weapons,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Again with the whole hands thing. Very useful.¡± ¡°We have big rocks.¡± ¡°Sure. But have you considered¡­ sharp rocks? Or rocks on a long stick so you don¡¯t have to get down from your tree to get it back?¡± Big Howl frowned. ¡°Intriguing. Continue.¡± Chapter 827 Water dripped one bit at a time from stalactites, some of which fell into a chill pool. Velvet found something strangely freeing about not being able to feel anything beyond the reach of her own mundane senses, even if it was also when she was most vulnerable. With the presence of the void ore, she didn¡¯t have to consider the wider experience of the galaxy, or a system, or even a whole planet. There was just her and her immediate surroundings, and that was all she could be expected to change at that moment. Rather than being afraid of areas with void ore, she had come to accept it. She was also appreciative of the cooler chambers like this one, because some portions of the mines were extremely hot. The actual operation wasn¡¯t something she dealt with, but she understood that both temperature and airflow became problems given how deep they were- and how they couldn¡¯t make use of energy near the ore itself. That said, they did have air purifying and cooling formations placed in strategic locations around the area. Otherwise, they would have been stuck with the issue of pumping air from the surface, which would take much larger formations or some equivalent in machinery, not that technological solutions were used often anywhere- she¡¯d just grown used to Rutera¡¯s contributions to the Scarlet Alliance. She heard someone coming long before they arrived. Based on the cadence of the steps, it had to be Runa- though without feeling her energy it was strangely difficult to be certain. ¡°There you are, Velvet! You know, if I couldn¡¯t find you I might have left you behind.¡± Velvet chuckled. ¡°I doubt it. You¡¯d at least have to find out where I died to seal the area off.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± the other woman shrugged. ¡°Still, you¡¯d think you¡¯d be happy that our rotation is done here. This place is one of the most difficult assignments available.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re here, isn¡¯t it?¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°There can¡¯t be too many Integration cultivators of our ability.¡± Velvet was actually only a short distance away from Augmentation, but she didn¡¯t want to point that out. She would actually prefer not to advance, unless she could hide it. After all, she would stand out far too much if she did. Then again, being close to that threshold could mean anything from a year to a century for such a pivotal advancement. ¡°Besides, I kind of wanted to get out of here with one of those fancy daggers.¡± ¡°Maybe someday,¡± Runa said. ¡°If you keep working with the Spirit Slicing Sect. Not many people know the smelting secrets of void ore. It¡¯s easy enough to make it completely useless and inert, while still being brittle. Imagine carving out tonnes of ore only to get nothing for it.¡± Velvet stood, and Runa began leading the way back towards the surface. There would be quite a few tunnels before they reached endless ladders alongside elevators that only cargo was allowed to ride. It had taken this long to reach the next step in her infiltration, but this was also one of the riskiest points. Velvet had the trust of Runa and some of the others, but if people asked the wrong questions they might find out nobody actually sent her. Those questions were most likely to come up during this period of transfer. If it came down to it, Velvet was prepared to give a partial truth- that she had formerly been working for the citadel of exalted light and defected to the Chaotic Conglomeration. And if necessary, she might pull out the most unbelievable option- the truth. That was only as a last resort, of course, because she was spying on the Chaotic Conglomeration, even if she had every intent to continue working towards their interests for the moment. Enemies of enemies and all that, though she still didn¡¯t know if this group was reasonable enough to actually work with long term. A few individuals wasn¡¯t a good sample of a whole multi-system faction. She did actually want one of those daggers, though. She¡¯d seen how Runa handled her void blade-technically a single edged knife- cutting apart intangible energies and more astonishingly their connections to distant cultivators. Velvet likely wouldn¡¯t use it the same way, but simply having the option was¡­ well, almost as good as having a squadron of void ants protecting her. She wondered if there was some connection between the energy absorbing insects and the ore. Though it made the most sense if it was just practical naming conventions. Void was the absence of something, and cultivators would care most about the absence of energy. ¡°Where are we headed again?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°To the local Spirit Slicing Sect. We¡¯ll still be on the frontlines, I¡¯m afraid, but at least you¡¯ll have more room to spread your wings.¡± Velvet remembered their destination, of course, but she wanted to find out more details if she could. ¡°How much of a target is it?¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t, not really. Instead of proper sect grounds, it¡¯s more of a transitory camp. Except, you know, it¡¯s been there for fifty years.¡± Fifty years was still a considerable portion of Velvet¡¯s life. ¡°It really must be safe,¡± she said. ¡°Or they would have destroyed it long ago.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s isolated for a reason,¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°Those Exalted assholes are really more interested in gobbling up any resources they can, and this isn¡¯t the most lucrative planet on the border. It¡¯s just the void ore that¡¯s an issue for them. They want to try to make use of it themselves, or at least prevent us from exploiting it.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Can¡¯t blame them,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It¡¯s a pretty significant effect for a cultivator to lose control of their abilities, even if it can¡¯t be used offensively.¡± And Velvet was aware that even a weak metal could be used offensively, if done with sufficient skill. Against the right cultivators, it might be worth taking the risk of losing a valuable weapon to potentially pierce their energy defenses. If they relied on enchanted clothing and were unable to dodge, even better. Though that was only if they were relying entirely on enchantments and didn¡¯t have a durable cloth as a base. Velvet still had a diamondsilk undershirt, though she¡¯d replace it in practical usage long ago. When they finally made it outside, Velvet was surprised to find a carriage waiting for them. Not because she didn¡¯t expect some form of transportation, but because she hadn¡¯t sensed it. ¡°Covert transport,¡± Runa commented. ¡°Uses the void metal that isn¡¯t high enough quality for weaponry. Conceals the horses, too. People have to make visual confirmation, which they usually aren¡¯t thinking about.¡± ¡°My scouting trainer would chastise them for the failure,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Every sense must be used to its fullest.¡± ¡°Sounds like someone I¡¯d like to meet. Practical.¡± ¡°It was a long time ago,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Unfortunately, you won¡¯t be able to meet him.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that,¡± Runa shook her head. Anton wasn¡¯t dead, of course. He was just restricted to the lower realms. Unless he¡¯d died in the last couple years, of course, but Velvet wouldn¡¯t believe it if she heard it. ¡°What¡¯s with the tinted windows?¡± she asked. ¡°Well, the Spirit Slicing Sect location is secret. Can¡¯t reveal it to any outsiders, even our allies.¡± ¡°So I¡¯ll be cut off from the outside,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You¡¯d better not let us get ambushed.¡± ¡°Well, perhaps you should keep your ears open,¡± Runa grinned. She would. In fact, Velvet would do her very best to figure out clues from what she could glean, just to spite them. And also because she would be concerned about them trying to kill her. It seemed like a reasonable way to keep a location she had to go to a secret¡­ but it was also a good way to isolate her and take care of her if they suspected her of being a spy. Would the traces of void metal prevent her use of energy? No, it was just reaching through it that her energy was blocked. And so, she was locked inside a box with Runa. At least sunlight filtered through the windows. Maybe because they couldn¡¯t avoid having light inside for the sake of the riders, and she suspected formations wouldn¡¯t work well being carved next to the void metal she knew was hiding under the surface. Sunlight¡­ she could use that as a reference for what direction they traveled based on the angle. And it would give her something to do, because the inside was basically devoid of upper energy. ¡°Can¡¯t even cultivate in here,¡± Velvet sighed. Runa shrugged, ¡°That¡¯s just how it is. Comfy, though, isn¡¯t it?¡± Velvet nodded. She had to give it that. At least at the moment she found the seats quite pleasant, though that might change after ten or twenty hours of sitting. It didn¡¯t leave much space for them to move around much. ¡°Are we the only ones?¡± ¡°This trip,¡± Runa said. ¡°We¡¯re not transferring everyone at once. We need experienced people at all times.¡± Of course. That made plenty of sense. Not that there were a lot of other Integration cultivators to go around. Everyone else would probably get worse treatment. Maybe they would be stuffed with the luggage at the back. ¡°So what¡¯s the next step?¡± Velvet asked. It was a reasonable question, but Runa just shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t know. That¡¯s what we¡¯ll find out. They did request you specifically come along instead of being transferred back north, however.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Velvet raised an eyebrow. ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Probably because I kept telling them about all those monsters you killed. And of course your arrival, how you took out that old woman from the Flowing Fog sect.¡± Everything in Runa¡¯s words spoke of sincerity. Yet Velvet couldn¡¯t help but be wary of the Chaotic Conglomeration. That was the name they¡¯d chosen for themselves, after all. But Velvet simply didn¡¯t know that much about them, and hearing tales about them as the western barbarians obviously wasn¡¯t going to be an accurate depiction. And while she hadn¡¯t seen any of them sitting on a pile of skulls¡­ it honestly wasn¡¯t out of the question for a lot of cultivators. Velvet had killed enough people to do that, but she wasn¡¯t the morbid sort to collect bodies. That was the actual crux of the issue, of course. Violence was part of the lives of cultivators, but knowing this group took care of their miners was a practical matter. They wouldn¡¯t last long if they hurt their own people. And they couldn¡¯t practically make use of any slaves in the void ore mines- because slaves would either be just as strong as cultivators or simply less functional. Thus, she didn¡¯t know if they were the type to keep slaves. Her biggest problem, of course, was her interactions with Runa. The other cultivator was friendly, but Velvet couldn¡¯t chat with her about her background because she had to keep details vague. She didn¡¯t know many places within the region, just enough about one planet to vaguely pretend to be from it¡­ as long as she didn¡¯t get into details. And asking things she should know about her supposed faction would be a dead giveaway. Thus, she had to take her time and build trust, while taking in the information around her to build up a wider context of the world and how this group functioned. If it was even truly a single entity. The hooves of the horses plodded along. An even sound that indicated they were still on packed dirt roads. As for smells¡­ some number of plants, but nothing distinct enough to use as a landmark later. And of course, she didn¡¯t even know how long they were going to be riding in this carriage with her energy senses cut off. She could keep herself functional for a long time- her energy still functioned inside of herself, at least- but she would still prefer to get out and sleep or relieve herself if the option was available. But for the moment, it was best to just go along with things and try to be ready for everything. Chapter 828 Sixty-four hours during which there were five major changes in orientation and no stops. A journey of over a week, if one were to consider mundane traveling hours. Not an insignificant one at the rate they had been moving, especially since the horses pulling the carriage had to be more than just the average sort- or they would have needed to stop. ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± Runa said, though that was fairly obvious from the way she opened the door and let Velvet see outside. ¡°Finally,¡± Velvet replied. ¡°That was unreasonably long.¡± ¡°Was it?¡± Runa asked. ¡°For not being able to do anything, yes.¡± Also to travel to another spot on the same planet. Then again, moving on land had significant limitations. Velvet¡¯s senses naturally spread out, taking in the general picture of what was around her. She didn¡¯t know what else to say except that it was a sect. There were cultivators, formations of various types, buildings to house said cultivators and formations¡­ though it didn¡¯t seem to be a terribly large sect. Maybe a few thousand that she could sense. For a group that had Integration cultivators like Runa, their numbers should have been higher- but perhaps that was simply all that was here. Or that she was allowed to sense. Because the limits of her senses came up against a barrier, merely letting her know the shape of the surrounding valley but not critical information like the area around it. Her paranoia actually reduced slightly because of that. If she had been able to spread her senses without limit, there wouldn¡¯t have been any point in hiding the actual location from her. Like this, she might approximate- but she wouldn¡¯t necessarily be able to pinpoint an entrance. ¡°Come on,¡± Runa said. ¡°Sect head Emrik will want to be introduced to you.¡± Velvet understood it was natural for an Integration cultivator to meet a sect head, but it was still odd to go so directly. As she moved along, taking in the people she passed, Velvet saw a good number of them equipped similarly to Runa with one exception- an actual void blade. She could feel them quite easily from a distance, but even though she spotted another few Integration cultivators, only one had a void blade. And none below Integration. Obviously they would have to rely more on technique for the ¡®Spirit Slicing¡¯ they were supposed to do. Like Runa had said, it was a temporary location- which for cultivators still meant setting up ¡®permanent¡¯ structures. They just didn¡¯t have lavish palaces or anything like that, instead focusing more on the practical aspects of things, like defensive formations. The one building that had a bit more ornamentation was their destination, though perhaps the walls and doors with purplish inlays of void metal were that way for more than just decoration. Nobody stopped them as they passed, though there were dozens of guards along the way to the inner chambers. ¡°Sect head Emrik,¡± Runa announced as she opened the door. ¡°The Integration cultivator Velvet, here to meet with you.¡± The man Velvet saw inside had a clear power about him, but not a recklessly displayed one. He seemed neither young nor old, which fit well for a man of his position. ¡°You don¡¯t have to call me that, you know.¡± ¡°It is only proper,¡± Runa said. ¡°I will leave you two to speak alone.¡± The doors thudded closed behind her, leaving Velvet standing awkwardly as she looked around the room. ¡°Trying to figure out if you can kill me and escape?¡± Emrik asked. ¡°Just admiring the decor,¡± Velvet deflected. Saying no would have been half a lie. The key difference being that she would only kill him if necessary. The pair of guards outside wouldn¡¯t be much of a problem, but combined with Emrik himself¡­ she was a bit iffy. Then again, it could have been much worse. ¡°You don¡¯t look impressed.¡± ¡°Impressed with what?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°My cultivation.¡± Should she be? ¡°I have encountered others at the peak of Integration. From what I know about the Spirit Slicing Sect, I half expected an Augmentation cultivator.¡± Velvet hoped that they still called them that in the Chaotic Conglomeration. It was entirely possible they referred to the stages of cultivation differently- though Integration, at least, was the same. ¡°Plus your own power more or less matches mine,¡± Emrik pointed out. ¡°Certainly, in strict cultivation level,¡± Velvet said, not bothering to pretend otherwise. If he could tell, lying would just sour the mood. ¡°What do you know about me as the head of the Spirit Slicing Sect?¡± Emrik asked. ¡°Just what I have overheard from others in the Conglomeration. I didn¡¯t even know your name until just now,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°That¡¯s surprising. I would have expected someone like you to research figures of interest.¡± ¡°I was transferred here rather suddenly,¡± Velvet shrugged. He hadn¡¯t offered her a seat, for which she was glad because she didn¡¯t have to decide if she would have taken it. ¡°Ah right. That was upon Adrian¡¯s orders, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Velvet remembered the name. That was who Runa had assumed sent her. ¡°Who else would it be?¡± ¡°Funny, he didn¡¯t mention you to me.¡± He was sitting down. That would add a tiny fraction of a second for him to reach her. Had the doors locked behind her? ¡°Perhaps because I was traveling directly to the mines.¡± The more truth she could squeeze into her words, the less likely he would be certain of anything. He was probing for information because he was uncertain. Probably. ¡°My daughter spoke highly of you,¡± Emrik suddenly said. His daughter? ¡°Runa? I am aware,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It seems they were in desperate need of backup. I hope someone is holding things together now that she is back here.¡± ¡°They arrived in the same carriage that brought you back here. But you might not have sensed them in the mines because of the interference.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°Runa just dragged me away.¡± ¡°Yes, well, she didn¡¯t want to be stationed there.¡± ¡°And yet, it was necessary,¡± Emrik shrugged. ¡°You¡¯ve surely sensed how few people we have here. Especially in Integration. Regardless, my daughter mentioned your interest in a void blade.¡± Runa had apparently said quite a bit. ¡°That¡¯s true. I doubt anyone would lack interest in such a weapon, and daggers happen to be my primary weapon.¡± ¡°Indeed. I don¡¯t recognize your aura, precisely. Where were you trained?¡± ¡°The Order of Light and Darkness,¡± Velvet repeated the name of a believable sect. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard about you among their ranks.¡± ¡°And how many do you know?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°... Not many,¡± Emrik admitted. ¡°You know a void blade isn¡¯t much use except with the right techniques. Up close, they¡¯re not as useful as they might seem.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°I have seen one in action,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°I know the utility of such a thing.¡± She still couldn¡¯t tell if he was going to try to kill her. Emrik leaned back in his chair, gazing out the window. ¡°It would be so much easier here if we just had an Augmentation cultivator.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t everything be?¡± Velvet said. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± he said. ¡°Unfortunately, the path to Augmentation is difficult. Two centuries, I¡¯ve been at the peak.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, I have not the understanding to give you any sort of advice,¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°Especially not for a style with which I am only recently acquainted.¡± Emrik¡¯s eyes narrowed just slightly. ¡°Perhaps not. But who can say? Some might carry a puzzle piece for others unknowingly. Regardless of what you think you know, you are peak Integration. We should test each other. One of us might learn something.¡± That was exactly what Velvet didn¡¯t want. It was best to not reveal more just yet. If it was Runa who was the sect head, Velvet might consider telling her more of the truth. But she simply hadn¡¯t known these people enough to trust them. ¡°I might take you up on that offer eventually,¡± Velvet replied. ¡°I¡¯d appreciate it,¡± Emrik said. ¡°Now then, I do have patrols to organize, and I should let you get settled in. Until later.¡± ¡°Until later, Sect Head Emrik.¡± ----- By the time Three Squeaks actually got around to heading to check out the remaining beavers after burying and planting and teaching the basics of cultivation, a few days had past and most of their pond had drained away. The ground was still soggy, and there were chest high pools everywhere, but it was possible to plot a route where he didn¡¯t have to swim the whole way. At least he knew how to swim, though he wasn¡¯t great at it. Big Howl came along as well. After all, he was the chief of the beaver¡¯s neighbors. ¡°I don¡¯t like walking along the ground,¡± he complained. ¡°I know. Too vulnerable. You need to improve your energy control,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I only learned about it just today,¡± Big Howl pointed out. ¡°Going outside of instinctual forms is difficult.¡± Three Squeaks nodded. It wasn¡¯t as if people never learned how to use their own energy- it was just that it tended to be for specific activities. Usually fighting. A lion would naturally learn to apply it to their claws and jaw. Of course, even without outside guidance the beaver king had learned how to use it. It was proof that he hadn¡¯t advanced to Essence Collection entirely from consuming massive quantities of natural energy. Though the devastated forest certainly showed some level of truth to that. Half Oink was running around in the mud ahead of them. She didn¡¯t care if she got buried up to her shoulders. Of course, she was bigger so there were fewer places that could actually happen. Three Squeaks felt a prodding, and looked down to the princesses. ¡°Yes, we¡¯re almost there,¡± he said. ¡°You might be able to sense them now.¡± The void ants were quite sensitive to concentrations of natural energy, though the princesses didn¡¯t have his range. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was a way they would ever develop, because he had to send energy out to receive feedback for long distances. Though by the Great Queen¡¯s level their senses would definitely far surpass a handful of kilometers without being limited to a narrow sliver. Three Squeaks wasn¡¯t quite sure how long that sort of thing took, except ¡®centuries¡¯. That was way too many years to think about. As they approached the beavers, they all responded more or less as expected. They turned and ran- either into their dens which were located in flooded pools, or trying to swim upriver or otherwise get away from the approaching group. ¡°Half Oink,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Corral them in. Keep all of them here.¡± There weren¡¯t enough powerful warriors left to be a threat to the warthog, even if every beaver attacked her at once. And likewise, they weren¡¯t fast enough. Only the few that immediately began to swim away gained some ground, but that was because Half Oink herded the beavers in an arc. ¡°You¡¯re staying to talk! Anyone who doesn¡¯t gets cut up!¡± Right. Three Squeaks was going to have to be the reasonable and friendly option here. Or maybe that would be Big Howl. Either way, the beavers were sufficiently afraid of Half Oink they ran where she directed as she made a half circle around their dens. They all dove inside, though Three Squeaks wasn¡¯t certain if they actually believed that they would be sheltered by the structures. They were certainly quite thick with sticks and even some interwoven trunks, but it wasn¡¯t something that could stand up to natural energy for long. ¡°Alright!¡± Three Squeaks declared. ¡°We need a few representatives to come out and speak for all of you! And I don¡¯t want to keep yelling, so you do have to come out.¡± He waited for a big, listening to their whispers. ¡°And yes, we can force you out but we don¡¯t want to be forced to do it.¡± He waited for a while, as each den discussed who would be sent. Possibly as a sacrifice, but also someone that could actually talk. Finally, a handful of beavers emerged one by one, staying near the water for comfort. ¡°Why are you here?¡± one of them finally asked. ¡°A simple question with a simple answer,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I personally am here because I saw the devastation of the forest. Then I talked to Big Howl and he pointed me your way. And then your border guards tried to kill me instead of talking.¡± Three Squeaks did his best to put mental pressure on them, though mostly he just flexed his cultivation. ¡°Then your king or whatever came as well. And as you can see, none of them are coming back. So we came here to figure out what to do with you.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t have anything to do with that,¡± one of them said. ¡°That¡¯s right. It was all the chief,¡± another explained. ¡°Lying doesn¡¯t really help your situation,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°You were all part of the Widetimber Colony the whole time. Now these friendly fellows here,¡± he gestured to Big Howl, ¡°All had their homes destroyed because of you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Big Howl said, confident with his cultivation relative to theirs. ¡°You should be glad that Three Squeaks here is a kind soul. I would not have chosen to speak with you.¡± He looked around at them with his large eyes. ¡°Your colony has ruined our homes. What, then, shall we do with you?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t kill us,¡± one of the representatives pleaded. ¡°We aren¡¯t a threat.¡± ¡°Not right now,¡± Big Howl agreed. ¡°But you were, not long before. Perhaps you will be again. How can you pay us back?¡± ¡°Well, we, uh¡­¡± ¡°Replanting the forest would only be a start,¡± Big Howl said. ¡°Planting?¡± ¡°We can teach you,¡± Big Howl said. ¡°In short, you would make the trees grow, and let them do so unhindered.¡± ¡°Then what would we eat?¡± one asked. ¡°You should have asked yourselves that before you destroyed the forest!¡± Big Howl waved his arms. ¡°Just because your leader gained strength, you acted however you pleased.¡± He turned to Three Squeaks. ¡°I must speak to my associate. Wait here.¡± Three Squeaks and Big Howl went out of easy earshot. ¡°What is it?¡± the meerkat asked. ¡°I don¡¯t trust them. Even now, I only feel they cower because of strength. It would be better not to have them.¡± It was true, Three Squeaks didn¡¯t think they sounded particularly repentant. ¡°Still, not all beavers are bad.¡± ¡°Perhaps not. But I will never trust these. The more I speak, the more I know that for certain.¡± ¡°What should we do with them, then?¡± Crossed Antennae drew his attention so he could pass on her signs. ¡°They must be removed. You cannot have enemies who live next to you, if you can deal with them. It isn¡¯t pleasant, but they should die.¡± The damaged form of Fearsome Mandibles- which was the only thing that made Three Squeaks certain he hadn¡¯t mixed up the sisters- provided a different opinion. ¡°Exile them. Perhaps they will be better behaved in the future, but if you can¡¯t accept them here, make them go elsewhere. They are not entirely helpless.¡± ¡°Yes, that makes sense,¡± Big Howl said. ¡°We should exile them.¡± His large eyes watched for Three Squeaks¡¯ reactions. ¡°I wish there was a way you could work together.¡± Even feeling their dens, he could see how useful beavers were. ¡°But you are the one who will be living here. You have to make the decision, and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a wrong one.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Big Howl held his head up high as he moved back towards the beavers. ¡°Having discussed with my associates, we have decided that you cannot be trusted. However, do not be alarmed. We don¡¯t intend to kill you¡­ even if that was what you were choosing to do with us. Instead, you will be exiled. You are to leave, and never return.¡± Three Squeaks could tell Big Howl was trying to memorize the particular energies of these beavers so he could recognize them. He certainly wouldn¡¯t be merciful if they returned. ¡°Where do we go?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care. Just not on this river.¡± ¡°... We can guide you to another source of water,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°So that you do not die on the way. Prepare yourselves to leave within the next day or two.¡± He didn¡¯t really want to, but he had to at least accept some responsibility for the way things were. And he could spend more time to determine if they were planning to build up their power and try something similar again. He certainly didn¡¯t want to let them repeat their troubles elsewhere, and knowing where they ended up would allow them to be monitored. Chapter 829 The beavers didn¡¯t seem to know that Three Squeaks could overhear everything they were saying. Or perhaps it was simply that they were past the point of caring. There was a lot of grumbling and indignation, certainly, but also a general consensus that everything that had happened was bad luck and not the results of their actions. And maybe that was true, in a way. But even if Three Squeaks had done nothing, their society would have collapsed within a year or two. Their population wouldn¡¯t have kept up with their territorial expansion- it was already far behind- and through only their own actions they would have wiped out their own food source. Perhaps they thought it worth it, to have a powerful leader who could protect them. From a short-term perspective, they might have been right. If they were not strong enough they could be wiped out in a single attack. Which was what made the current situation so problematic for them, as they had ultimately failed from both long and short term perspectives. Maybe their chief had further plans for what he was going to do with their completely oversized artificial floodplain, but Three Squeaks had seen no indication of any work to that regard. Ultimately, Three Squeaks didn¡¯t think these beavers could achieve such power again- it would require a good bit of luck to get past the initial stages of overzealous feeding without something in the local area taking offense. Even so, they would have to be monitored. They were practically neighbors with the coalition- just a few days'' journey outside the borders. ¡°Come on, keep up! What did you eat all that natural energy for if you can¡¯t handle a little march!¡± Three Squeaks wasn¡¯t a naturally cruel person, so he didn¡¯t want to push people beyond their capabilities¡­ but too many of them were dragging their feet. Perhaps they¡¯d been too nice, so far. ¡°We¡¯re not meant to go so far on land,¡± one complained. ¡°Then you probably shouldn¡¯t have tried to erase a river,¡± Three Squeaks pointed out. ¡°You can always go back and die, though.¡± Why did some people have to be¡­ like that? It likely wasn¡¯t a beaver thing, because while there had been many lions that were quite awful, there was the whole Kapok Coalition that was quite reasonable. Some people wanted to race for power, but Three Squeaks knew that the end of the path was sudden and swift. He didn¡¯t want to have to compete, but it was hard not to when others only cared about power. The Lower Plains Coalition was establishing a broader power base, which ultimately would lead to more powerful individuals over time. They¡¯d been lucky to have guidance, of course, but Three Squeaks still lamented that thinking individuals still tried to devour everything around them when they found an opportunity, without thinking about the next step. On the other hand, it would be worse to have someone that would think about it and do it anyway, intending to devour the world one piece at a time. Three Squeaks and the others were safe from the birds of the air and the beasts of the forest that might want to devour them outside of their lodges. They were responsible for getting them to their destination. Beyond that¡­ well, he supposed they would have to give the beavers a chance to make new lodges. This was going to be a lot of time in one place instead of roaming the planet, but that was also part of why it might take forever. If he just rushed past everything, maybe he could travel around the world, but not through it. ----- Though he wasn¡¯t at all positively inclined towards the beavers, Three Squeaks still felt obligated to inform them about planting. ¡°Your actions may take seasons to come to fruition,¡± Three Squeaks said, ¡°But it will allow you to guarantee sufficient resources. And don¡¯t forget that you are strong enough to dig up stumps. Their root balls might be useful as a good chunk of your dams. Or they might not, but if there are stumps everywhere and no trees you¡¯ll spend all day getting to your food and materials.¡± ¡°Some¡­ mush¡­ room¡­ very¡­ tasty¡­¡± Meep explained. ¡°Grow¡­ on¡­ stump,¡± he showed them an example. ¡°Some¡­ tasty¡­ and¡­ deadly.¡± He held up another. ¡°Also¡­ grow¡­ on¡­ stump.¡± ¡°I think you should probably pick one or two kinds that they can deal with,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And have them assume they shouldn¡¯t eat any others.¡± ¡°Variety¡­ is¡­ lost,¡± Meep hung his head. ¡°I think they¡¯ll deal with that.¡± While they were quite willing to teach the beavers things like that, Three Squeaks had no intention to teach them about cultivation. They had not shown any indications they would use it responsibly. There was hardly anything they could hurt by thinking more about planting. Even if they ultimately just hoped for the natural cycles to manage it, he would have done what he could. He hoped to meet some other beavers elsewhere. Because they managed to build some interesting things all on their own. And without hands! Quite an impressive achievement. If only they had done something useful with all that effort instead of making the world worse. ----- After helping the beavers settle in, establishing at least a few basic dens they could all shelter in, they were left to their own devices. They could move elsewhere if they wanted to, but Big Howl and the lemurs would be keeping them out of their territory. And there might be others that wouldn¡¯t want new competition to move in. At least the lemurs were receptive to learning. They had a whole forest that needed replanting- though perhaps not all the way to keep some separation from their rivals. The formerly flooded area at least had small sprouts growing rapidly, but it would take more than a few years- or maybe even more than a few decades- for everything to become even close to how it had been. It wasn¡¯t even clear how much damage was caused downstream by the beavers blocking the river- who knows how many creatures depended on it? While there would be some flow from other tributaries, the beavers had still cut off the main body for quite a distance. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I wish we could stay forever to teach you reading and deeper cultivation,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°But we can¡¯t. However, if you have some brave fellows willing to travel away from trees¡­ if you can reach the coalition, you will be able to learn much.¡± Big Howl shook his head. ¡°Perhaps we might, as we grow stronger, but for the moment what you have already taught us is enough to grow for quite some time.¡± It was just basic cultivation, but Anton was especially fond of combining that with other activities- like all that replanting they were going to have to do. Thus, he¡¯d also imbued Three Squeaks with that same sense of responsibility¡­ and efficient use of time. Three Squeaks did wonder what was happening with Anton, actually. He¡¯d gone off for some important event months before. ----- Once every harmful insight had begun its transfer to the upper realms, Anton was much happier discussing cultivation with Taalay and Heath and any other Anchoring cultivator around Vrelt. Due to the imbalance of power the war created- much of the Trigold Cluster¡¯s allies had been focused on a vague ¡®half¡¯ of Vrelt- the planet itself was due for a significant change. Many sects were interested in moving into better locations, though each sect could be a significant task. Simply moving people could be accomplished with the Alliance¡¯s fleets. After the end of the war, fewer and fewer stayed locally, but there were still a modest amount helping ferry people about. They were more efficient than local airships that would take several times longer to reach their destinations. Some things weren¡¯t as simple to move as people. Sects that were tied to a particular geographic feature generally had no choice but to remain where they were, though there were a number of decent mountaintops or volcanoes that had opened up. Those that had particular buildings important to them couldn¡¯t easily move them, but if they were willing to have one of similar function instead of being tied to the building as a concept then there were possibilities available. Either way, Vrelt took a significant population hit, especially among their cultivators. Allowing them to easily redistribute would make their later growth easier. Talking with powerful people about cultivation was more or less the end of Anton¡¯s contributions, but there were some who were providing something more important for the future. People like Aerona, cultivators who focused not on the martial side of things but a sort of growth that could maintain peace. Vrelt had stood united against the Trigold Cluster, partially out of some sort of honor but also out of fear. Yet the remains of the sects caused squabbles for resources almost immediately. That was something that the Alliance didn¡¯t want to encourage. While different sects were valuable for what they could contribute, allowing different people to engage with methods that were most effective for them, the wrong kind of competition might simply turn the planet against itself. As the Trigold Cluster would most likely be invading in greater force at the turn of the next cycle- by then they would have certainty that their people were destroyed- they needed to have a lasting unity. A century wasn¡¯t good enough, and even four centuries might not be enough. Of course, the rest of the Alliance didn¡¯t even have that history yet- but they were devoted to working between planets and systems to maximize benefits for everyone. While benefits still tended to trickle towards those with the most power, Anton wouldn¡¯t let it get out of hand- and the vast majority of those in the Assimilation stage had shared those same ideals from the beginning. ----- ¡°So what is your next plan?¡± Anton asked, looking between Devon and Aerona. It was clear to him that whatever they were going to do would happen together, as much as possible. ¡°Well, first, I plan to get an arm,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t strictly need it¡­ but having a functional one would be convenient. I don¡¯t think I need anything particularly special, though. I don¡¯t use weapons or fists to fight, so my hands are just extra.¡± ¡°After his rehabilitation, he plans to come with me to Nidec. We¡¯ll be focusing more on the diplomacy there, since after the situation here the task is being taken very seriously. Though I don¡¯t think we should fly fleets into their system¡­ we were underprepared for something we knew was coming here.¡± ¡°As it turns out,¡± Anton said. ¡°Living longer only means you¡¯re around to make more mistakes. Sometimes, they¡¯re bigger and sometimes smaller, but there are always more.¡± Aerona nodded. ¡°I believed it made sense at the time, having fewer ships nearby for the sake of not messing up our diplomatic efforts. But I also realize now that some of the concern was due to the expense of keeping fleets supplied. While a valid concern¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°The Alliance can¡¯t afford to be so careless with our borders. Or anything concerning invaders from the upper realms.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Returning to Nidec¡­ they were a bit more willing to engage in diplomacy, were they not?¡± ¡°At least on the surface,¡± Aerona agreed. ¡°It hasn¡¯t gone far, however. We weren¡¯t part of the alliance when Ekict happened, but the fallout from that means the Alliance isn¡¯t willing to accept people from Nidec moving freely among us, and they¡¯re rightly cautious about letting us live among them.¡± Aerona spread her hands wide. ¡°So we¡¯re down to slow diplomacy and potential spying,¡± she looked at Devon. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be able to reveal anything,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°But it will be easier without their whole planet covered in a barrier. I wish I didn¡¯t have to, but we can¡¯t know if there¡¯s something else like Vrelt or they¡¯re just¡­ reasonably cautious.¡± ¡°I look forward to hearing your results,¡± Anton said. ¡°I, of course, don¡¯t intend to show myself anywhere where we are not seen as allies. Because while I would rather not be, I am more aware that my presence makes some feel more threatened than comforted.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll get over it eventually,¡± Devon grinned. ¡°Anyone on the fence will be glad to have you when the cycle comes around and there are more invasions.¡± ¡°If I make it that long,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°If you don¡¯t, we have a problem,¡± Devon said. ¡°Because I don¡¯t believe you¡¯d die unless something killed you. Even if your lifespan wasn¡¯t sufficient, I¡¯d expect you to be stubborn enough to ignore it.¡± ¡°True,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I¡¯ve already been stubbornly still existing for my whole cultivation career. That said, my lifespan isn¡¯t as much of an issue as it once was. But either way¡­ I¡¯d prefer to reach that point with a world that didn¡¯t need me. And if I happen to be around as extra backup?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I certainly don¡¯t mind.¡± Chapter 830 Though she had expected to be constrained to the lands of the Spirit Slicing Sect, Velvet found that she was sent out on scouting missions almost immediately. The great care to keep their location secret meant nothing when she was simply allowed to exit through their hidden pathways and was expected to find her way back through the same. Had all the care Runa took to keep her from knowing where they were been a joke of some sort, or had something changed? It was perfectly reasonable for Runa to travel in such a carriage, and indeed for most of the sect if they had them available. Keeping the area secret meant nobody spotted in the area, and the Spirit Slicing Sect was not primarily known for their subterfuge. It may have only been a practical matter, but now Velvet was concerned about the lack of caution shown. Though she had worked with them for some time in a single location, she was suddenly given far too much free rein. Then again, for what they wanted from her it was difficult to do anything else. Velvet was a decent fighter, capable of killing the beasts in the mines after drawing them to somewhere she could use upper energy, but that wasn¡¯t her specialty. Moving unseen was the actual focus, and any assassination abilities were more of a side effect. The first week Velvet spent familiarizing herself with an ever-widening area around the sect. Within a hundred kilometers there were several camps containing mixed individuals of other sects that were part of the Chaotic Conglomeration as well as other groups of the Exalted Quadrant. No doubt all of that was already known to the Spirit Slicing Sect. It was the details of their foes that mattered. Thus, Velvet focused on picking out numbers and strengths of the foes, as well as what she could about their styles. She didn¡¯t have to enter their camps to sense such things, though it was possible they would be hiding things behind their limited formations. First, she should gather as much as she could without the risks of entering their reach. If she was spotted where she was, Velvet was at least confident in her ability to retreat- even if the Exalted Quadrant had anyone fast enough to catch up to her, it would only be a small portion of their forces given her cultivation. But never being noticed was always the best option. Ironically, the short time gave her more information about the troop placements of the Exalted Quadrant than the time she had while nominally working for them. Perhaps the secretive information was precisely because of potential spies like her, but it could have also been simple lack of care. She wasn¡¯t considered important enough, and someone else would have been making all the decisions. She had been intentionally underselling her cultivation to not stand out, but she would have at least liked to know if they had a plan. Now was her chance to find out from the other side. A little bit at a time, because this wasn¡¯t the sort of war that would be over quickly. No, perhaps it wouldn¡¯t end until one side was dealt a serious blow decades or centuries down the line. Until then, people would continue to die every day, drawn from the massive population of the Exalted Quadrant and a presumably sizable population throughout the Chaotic Conglomeration. Velvet knew that the largest planets in the Scarlet Alliance and the lower realms measured their populations in billions- some at ten or twenty billion, but solidly in that range. The Exalted Quadrant had some planets or at least systems with more, measured in perhaps tens of billions. Not all were cultivators, though to maintain a population of that magnitude required a large amount of resources that weren¡¯t achievable without cultivators. This particular border planet called Taon was much less populated than any of those. With its size being not particularly larger than what Velvet was used to, and the empty areas, she would be surprised if there were even a single billion. As for cultivators involved in the war, it was just an estimation but she expected there to be hundreds of thousands arrayed against each other when taking into account the whole planet, perhaps over a million. Yet they did not clash in every possible battlefield at all times. Otherwise their numbers would deplete so rapidly that nobody would be able to sustain it. Both sides were in the war for the long term, and only made moves where they felt some sort of advantage. Like the assault on the void ore mines, which might have been successful had Velvet not tipped the scales. Integration cultivators still numbered in much smaller amounts, perhaps hundreds across the planet. If her aid could bring down a few more, it would spell a significant advantage for their side. That was odd. Velvet actually felt like part of these people, at least a little. Runa¡¯s friendship was one thing, but mutual enemies were a pretty good excuse for that as well. She wouldn¡¯t actually accept them until she knew more, but for the moment at least she felt safe enough around some of them. ----- The next leg of the journey found Three Squeaks and his pals dealing with more low stakes scenarios. They met some squirrels that were really picky about foraging in their territory, but at least they were willing to talk from up in their trees. They also met some chipmunks who were very insistent that they weren¡¯t squirrels, even though Three Squeaks was pretty sure that they were. Then they came across something crazy. A lake bigger across than Three Squeaks could reach with his senses- and that was a very long way. Unlike the one created by the beavers, this one appeared fully natural- which was good enough. If something had made it, at least it fit in with everything else. Before they could be spotted, Three Squeaks had already sensed the frogs watching. However, they spun around and hopped away before he could greet them- unless he wanted to yell extremely loudly. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°What do you think we should do?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Follow them,¡± Half Oink said. ¡°They are going towards the lake as well.¡± Meep just shook his head. ¡°We¡­ wait.¡± The princesses were more in favor of the proactive approach as well, so their group began to approach cautiously. ¡°There are some strong ones among them,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I can¡¯t quite tell but¡­ maybe even Essence Collection. So we should do our best to avoid a conflict. They¡¯re not too far but¡­ many are under the lake. More frogs, and some wet lizards I think.¡± From what Three Squeaks had learned, groups that involved more than a single species tended to either lean towards gathering more of the same, or far away from it. Some didn¡¯t want competition, others wanted those they understood. Not that they¡¯d met a lot of others who acted together outside of one type of people, or even single family groups. ¡°Newt¡­ strong,¡± Meep commented as the frogs began to return with others. ¡°What¡¯s a newt?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Wet¡­ lizard.¡± Three Squeaks could only agree. That one was definitely in Essence Collection. It was a whole lot of energy contained in a small body- and Three Squeaks could say that because the thing was even smaller than him. The impressive fellow walked in front of the others, and Three Squeaks saw a slight pouch of air appear beneath his chin. So, he assumed, the fellow would sound much like a frog. Which is why he was confused to hear a sort of squeaking chirp. It took him a moment to comprehend the patterns in that to pick out the formation of words. Long enough for the newt to repeat himself. ¡°Who dares disturb the peace of the Heavenly Lake?¡± This is the part where Three Squeaks was supposed to say something. ¡°We didn¡¯t intend to disturb anyone,¡± he said honestly. ¡°But your guards took off before we could talk to them. We come in peace.¡± ¡°Then what is your purpose?¡± the newt asked. Three Squeaks couldn¡¯t tell if he was old or young- especially since he hadn¡¯t met many others. He couldn¡¯t judge by the others he sensed around the area, either. ¡°We are from the Lower Plains Coalition, and we simply seek to explore more of the world.¡± ¡°Why?¡± A good question. What did people need, besides shelter and food? The Coalition had all of that in abundance. ¡°It is a journey of understanding and cultivation,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I do not understand that second word,¡± the newt said. ¡°But understanding is indeed worth a journey far from home.¡± That was good, right? They agreed on something. ¡°Oh, I should introduce us. I¡¯m Three Squeaks and these are-¡± he let the other two introduce themselves. The princesses¡­ would be kept out of things for the moment. ¡°Very well. I am Slick.¡± ¡°Slick¡­ what?¡± Three Squeaks asked, wondering if he missed a word. Slick body? Slick tongue? Eyes? ¡°Just Slick. Tell me, furred one. What is it that you Understand?¡± The phrasing was odd, but somehow Three Squeaks got his meaning. ¡°What I understand is the sun in the sky and its heat. And that is also what I seek.¡± The newt looked at him, the new type of face making him difficult to read. ¡°Perhaps we are not terribly different. Come, let me show you the Heavenly Lake.¡± Instead of moving directly back along the same path he had come from, Slick directed them up a slight incline. From there, they walked out on a rock promontory that stuck over the lake. ¡°What do you see?¡± he asked. ¡°A lake,¡± Three Squeaks said. No, that wasn¡¯t good enough. ¡°A perfectly still lake, reflecting the sky.¡± ¡°The heavens,¡± Slick said. ¡°And from the right angle, the sun.¡± Three Squeaks nodded, subconsciously watching the reflection for any birds. ¡°Strange, the skies are so¡­ empty.¡± ¡°You speak of birds?¡± Slick asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Three Squeaks nodded. Clearly, this fellow had some Insight. Was it a coincidence? ¡°They will not come here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m certain they wouldn¡¯t dare to attack you,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°But I¡¯m not certain about the rest of your people.¡± A smile, perhaps. Certainly, the emotions from Slick¡¯s natural energy fit that description. ¡°They would not dare,¡± he said. He leaned his head over the edge, his high pitched voice projecting into the water towards something Three Squeaks could barely sense. He needed to improve his skill sensing through the water, he supposed. ¡°Ripple. Show them.¡± Slick gestured with his tail, pointing it at a nearby tree. A sudden spout of water shot towards the tree. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. An arrow of water, and it wasn¡¯t aimed at the tree but a specific pinecone. It pierced right through it, of course, leaving a hole the width of a meerkat claw. As for what had shot the arrow? It was a fish, now just beneath the surface. Three Squeaks had seen water batter foes- some of the hippos could do it, and of course he would not forget the beaver. But to pierce something? That was entirely new. Three Squeaks found himself astounded, which was most likely the point. ¡°Are there many like Ripple?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Yes. And of course, the frogs are quite capable of taking out birds foolish enough to end up in the wrong place as well,¡± Slick said. This place was¡­ amazing. Not just slimy things working together, but also fish! It was just like the Coalition. Well, not quite. They didn¡¯t seem to be growing crops, and they didn¡¯t have birds or any mammals among them as far as he could tell. But it was still good to see cooperation. And though Slick had been initially standoffish, once they knew they weren¡¯t under attack they had been relatively friendly. ¡°This is a good place,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I¡¯m glad to see others doing well. And you even understand cultivation, to some extent.¡± ¡°Ah. I get it now,¡± Slick nodded. ¡°This cultivation¡­ it is the process of Understanding itself, yes?¡± ¡°That¡¯s part of it, at least,¡± Three Squeaks said. It seemed Slick had subconsciously transformed himself to some extent according to the principles Three Squeaks had learned, but it could likely be more. If only he knew. Actually, was there anything stopping them from teaching these people? As long as they were good people, at least. Three Squeaks had to admit that a few minutes of conversation wasn¡¯t enough to make a final judgment¡­ but it was certainly a good start. Chapter 831 Sunlight reflected off of the waters into Three Squeak¡¯s eyes. The travelers had been given permission to stay with the Heavenly Lake for a time. There was no intent to join them in the long term, but Three Squeaks very much wanted to study them. He found Slick was quite willing to talk with him, though he preferred to be in the water more often than not so Three Squeaks either had to sit on the shore or swim. At least the newt was willing to come to the surface, because it was difficult to talk underwater. ¡°So how big is your territory?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°We control the lake, and a small area around it.¡± ¡°I suppose that makes sense,¡± Three Squeaks nodded. ¡°You don¡¯t have many people who would want to go far from the lake. Though there are some chipmunks a half day thataway you might want to offer to join you.¡± Slick shook his head. ¡°We are not interested. What we have works perfectly well for us. Why should we seek to add to our numbers?¡± ¡°Well, it would be good for them. They don¡¯t seem to understand proper cultivation at all.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°... I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be useful eventually,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Perhaps. But why not spend that effort to develop what we already have? The others and I can spend our time comprehending the heavens.¡± Well, he supposed they didn¡¯t have to care about others. Choosing to keep what they had was reasonable enough, and it wasn¡¯t like they were going around killing people. ¡°What about other ways?¡± ¡°Other ways of what?¡± ¡°Cultivation,¡± Three Squeaks said. Slick shook his head. ¡°We have hardly developed this path. Why should we waste our time with others?¡± ¡°Not everyone is suited for the same thing,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Though there are basic refinements everyone can undergo. Being intentional about strengthening every part of the body and mind results in much smoother progression and balanced strength.¡± ¡°Each part?¡± Slick asked. ¡°Inside and outside, every organ, at least as a group, bones, skin, and things like that. Maybe newts have things meerkats don¡¯t, but it¡¯s more effective than letting natural energy settle inside of you on its own. It¡¯s inefficient.¡± ¡°Perhaps we will have some youths try these things.¡± ¡°Oh, a warning. Tell them to be careful with delicate parts. Like the brain. You definitely don¡¯t want to force things anywhere, but especially there.¡± ¡°We have had some who would try to strengthen parts of them, but they often sustained crippling injuries later.¡± ¡°Because their body was unbalanced. If your muscles and tendons are strong but your bones are not, you can break them.¡± ¡°That does seem to match our experience,¡± Slick admitted. ¡°What else? The mind?¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯ve picked out various aspects we think encompass most things,¡± Three Squeaks explained the basic parts of Spirit Building, though without the insights tuned for the One Hundred Stars. ¡°It¡¯s easy to forget about your body, with all the natural energy you¡¯ll have, but you shouldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Slick nodded. ¡°I lost a leg because of such a mistake.¡± Three Squeaks furrowed his brow. ¡°... Did you have five legs?¡± ¡°Of course not. That would be absurd. It grew back, as is natural.¡± ¡°Is it¡­?¡± ¡°For a newt. Sadly, the frogs have a hard time with it.¡± ¡°A hard time¡­?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Is it even possible for them?¡± ¡°Only one or two have succeeded ever. But it is.¡± ¡°That¡¯s something I¡¯d like to hear about, if I can.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, it has little that can be explained. You would have to see it in action properly, and I have no intention to spend the effort on such an activity.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s alright,¡± Three Squeaks said. Better to not hurt anyone. ¡°So how did you develop your cultivation to begin with?¡± ¡°Slowly,¡± Slick said. ¡°I was fortunate to glimpse the heavens, and their reflection in the lake. So, too, I came to understand I could reflect the heavens in myself.¡± At that moment, Three Squeaks saw the skin of the newt changing to a blue and white pattern. He radiated a powerful energy, before returning to normal. ¡°It was a long journey of hundreds of seasons.¡± ¡°Hundreds?¡± Three Squeaks had his eyes wide. ¡°Yes. More than one hundred, at least. At some point, I lost track. But I have seen many generations of growth here, with some having more success along the path than others.¡± Amazing. Though with all of that time, Three Squeaks didn¡¯t find the Heavenly Lake as impressive. He understood that the Coalition had it easy with outside guidance, but aside from turning the lake into a safe space for themselves, they hadn¡¯t really seemed to make it more than it was. ----- The Heavenly Lake was boring. That was Half Oink¡¯s expert opinion. Not a single one of these amphibians or fishes used a sword. That was disappointing, because she had heard Ty mention sword-fish before. Clearly, they were living in a different lake. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. She did manage to convince a few to spar with her, but they were boring. All mirages and reflections and the like, and she couldn¡¯t even get serious with her attacks or she would cut them in two. Perhaps Slick would have been a worthwhile fight, but he was uninterested and she couldn¡¯t force it. Not without getting in trouble with her own friends, at least. The archer fish were at least a little bit interesting. They used the water as a weapon, but sadly they chose one of the boring ones like Three Squeaks. Real weapons were meant to be used up close and personal. ----- ¡°This¡­ one¡­ called?¡± Meep pestered a frog for details. ¡°Watercress.¡± ¡°What¡­ kind?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Green?¡± the frog shook her head. ¡°This¡­ reed¡­?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a, uh, tall¡­ poof¡­ reed? Tallpoof reed. Yes.¡± ¡°This?¡± ¡°Water¡­ lakegrass.¡± ¡°What¡­ is¡­ lake¡­ grass¡­ used¡­ for?¡± ¡°... decoration?¡± the frog surmised. ¡°And like¡­ little fishes swim in it. Tadpoles, before we came up with better ways to corral them.¡± ¡°This¡­ one?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that just the lake grass?¡± Meep slowly shook his head. ¡°It¡­ is¡­ different.¡± He began to slowly explain how it was different, from the thickness of the blades to the root structure. The frog was tempted to attempt running again, but this old thing was fast. Better to humor him. They were only staying a few days. Though it felt like it had been weeks already. ----- ¡°Let me go!¡± Fearsome Mandibles wriggled. ¡°I need to make sure they¡¯re not up to anything sinister!¡± ¡°No, you don¡¯t,¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°You need to rest. Snack on the local natural energy, and let your body heal.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t make me rest!¡± ¡°I can, actually,¡± Crossed Antennae pointed out. Much of their conversation happened through pheromones, mostly telling each other to stop interfering. But they still used their sign language, as it was a good extension of natural communication. In general, Fearsome Mandibles was stronger than her sister. There was a reason she¡¯d chosen her name, after all. But at the moment, she was kind of concerned that resisting too much would snap her limbs again. The chitin was still thin where they had broken before, and while the actual changes were small it took a significant amount of natural energy to heal things perfectly. If not, she¡¯d walk around with stiff legs, at best. In short, she couldn¡¯t do much. But once she healed, she¡¯d definitely be stronger, and then nobody could stop her! ----- Devon was just about ready to move on from Vrelt to check out Nidec, only a handful of systems away. There was a reason the two had been discovered at a similar time, after all, but there were no known connections besides physical closeness, on the scale of the explored lower realms at least. It was about that time Aerona came to him with the news. ¡°Have you heard?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s something worth bringing to my attention and recent¡­ then I don¡¯t believe so,¡± Devon said. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°They were doing some preliminary scans of Nidec, preparing for the next step. And¡­ they stumbled upon something.¡± ¡°That thing would be¡­?¡± Devon prompted her as he was aware she wanted. ¡°The Exalted Quadrant,¡± Aerona said with flair. ¡°What do you think about that, huh?¡± ¡°... Sounds terrible. Awful and unfortunate. Why can¡¯t any world have their own problems, huh?¡± ¡°Because the upper realms have been working very hard for untold millennia making things bad for us,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Yeah but besides that.¡± Aerona just shrugged. ¡°So, how bad is it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the thing¡­ the factions are both known to the planet and somewhat sympathetic. I heard that Ceretos¡­ well, you befriended some of your local factions, at least.¡± ¡°True, but the ultimate consequences went beyond just here in the lower realms. I can¡¯t say I don¡¯t want to sway them to our side, but¡­¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°The connection would be from each of these isolated groups to those in the upper realms, not between each other. Then again, I¡¯d like to hear what they think. If they even have anyone associated with who we know.¡± ¡°I believe the names of the Worthy Shore Society and the Hardened Crown Sect came up.¡± ¡°Really? What are the chances of that?¡± Devon frowned, ¡°Actually, quite high I would suppose. If they¡¯re the type to send people to dwell in the lower realms, it would make sense they did it more than once. This means we¡¯ll have to get in contact with Syrinx, to see if ¡®our¡¯ part of the Hardened Crown is even interested. Their former sect head yelling at them from the upper realms opened up diplomacy with them again, but¡­¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a bit much to ask for them to convince another part of them to join our cause.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what people like me are for,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Official policy will have to be discussed, of course, but I think we should angle for that connection. Much better than unrelated people showing up and effectively threatening them.¡± ¡°It sounds like a delicate process. One which might not concern me directly. But¡­ I don¡¯t mind going along with someone who has a plan.¡± ¡°Plan is a big word,¡± Aerona said. ¡°I just want our borders to be secure and our people happy and prosperous. Udre was just as lucky to be found by the Alliance as I was to find you.¡± ¡°Pretty sure I was the one who went to Udre¡­¡± Devon grinned. ¡°Yes, but if we¡¯d relied on you we would have missed out on¡­ us,¡± Aerona said. Devon shrugged, ¡°I can¡¯t really deny that. I¡¯d long moved past the desire to look for a partner. Your ability to change my mind on that is part of the reason we do so well together.¡± Devon scratched his head. ¡°So for now, we have to wait around for decisions to be made, I suppose.¡± ¡°You can always push things one way or another,¡± Aerona pointed out. ¡°But yes.¡± ¡°To think, this could all have been resolved a long time ago¡­¡± ¡°Could it have?¡± Aerona asked. ¡°If I recall correctly, the connection to the former Hardened Crown sect head in the upper realms came about some time after our systems came in contact. So if you had rushed into things, you might have begun hopeless negotiations with Nidec.¡± ¡°But we could have also completely prevented the transmission of information about Anchoring, I imagine,¡± Devon said. ¡°But this is a problem faced perpetually. Speed and caution are at odds with one another, unless one is powerful enough. Even then¡­ there can always be harm to others. My grandfather has to deal with that, even though he himself is pretty much untouchable here.¡± ¡°And you too, soon enough,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Devon said. ¡°Though in such a case I would wonder if we might come across another group of similar power. Someone has to be the first to rise to a certain level of power, but we can¡¯t guarantee it was us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you should always stick your best diplomatic foot forward,¡± Aerona said. ¡°We look friendly but not weak. Then it doesn¡¯t matter if others are weak or strong, an appropriate response can be prepared.¡± Aerona paused for a moment, ¡°This means I do need to focus on my personal cultivation, at least for appearances. But as you¡¯ve said, time will solve that.¡± Devon nodded. Indeed it would. And as far as he was aware, they did still have a good amount of that, and it was best to make proper use of it. Chapter 832 Further and further the group of five traveled, finding a few more isolated groups along the way. There really was very little interaction among those of different shapes and sizes, except for rare travelers like themselves and those interested in violence. It was amazing they still managed to communicate. They came upon the sandy shores of another great lake, but this time Three Squeaks truly couldn¡¯t sense the far edges, or even much of the shores on their side. It seemed to extend¡­ forever. ¡°This lake is unfathomably big,¡± Three Squeaks commented. ¡°Bad¡­ water. Salty,¡± Meep commented. ¡°This is one of those¡­ what do you call it¡­¡± Half Oink said. ¡°You¡¯re supposed to split them along with the clouds.¡± Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°I assume this is related to your sword training?¡± Crossed Antennae pinched his natural energy, drawing his attention. Then she signed the word, reminding him of it. ¡°Ocean, right,¡± he nodded. ¡°A big, salty lake. Well, slightly different because it should be connected to¡­ a lot of this. Do you know what this means?¡± ¡°We have to swim a lot?¡± Half Oink postulated. Three Squeaks shook his head. ¡°None of us can swim continuously without stopping. Our journey in this direction comes to an end. And in truth¡­ we should return home.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m not done exploring,¡± Half Oink commented. ¡°I know. We¡¯ll take a different route than before. But we have to report back to make sure everything is alright, and if we¡¯re going to be traveling everywhere¡­ there¡¯s a lot of back and forth that has to happen. Besides, I¡¯d like to get more travel food so we don¡¯t have to scavenge in other people¡¯s territories as much.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t¡­ leave¡­ yet,¡± Meep said sternly. ¡°Have¡­ to¡­ get¡­ sea¡­ plants.¡± ¡°How¡¯s your swimming?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Actually, nevermind. A bunch of it washed up on shore.¡± ¡°Oooh, look at that!¡± Half Oink said, charging towards something in the sand. ¡°It looks tasty!¡± She dove her head into the sand¡­ and came back up with a mouthful of something she was happily chewing. Then her jaw dropped open, releasing a slimy monstrosity. ¡°It¡¯s not tasty! It¡¯s soft but it¡¯s sharp! I don¡¯t like it!¡± The warthog started running around wildly, eventually diving headfirst into the sand as it sloped up. Without her momentum, she ended up on her back, her mouth open. ¡°Owwwwww¡­¡± ¡°Let¡­ me¡­ look,¡± Meep said, grabbing the squishy thing with his energy and dragging it next to her. Three Squeaks hadn¡¯t thought it was a danger because it was just some goop. Nobody would eat random goop. He thought. ¡°Squishy,¡± he said prodding it with a claw. ¡°With¡­ dangling¡­ bits.¡± Three Squeaks approached and focused his senses. ¡°I sense something as well. Can you guys pick it out?¡± he held the princesses towards it. ¡°Stingers,¡± Fearsome Mandibles signed. ¡°Very tiny.¡± ¡°Hmm, I can¡­ sort of make it out,¡± Three Squeaks said, though it was difficult. ¡°It¡¯s like¡­ ant sized for ants?¡± ¡°A small percentage of our size,¡± Crossed Antennae agreed. ¡°Well make it staaaahp!¡± Half Oink complained. ¡°It hurts bad!¡± ¡°What¡­ have¡­ you¡­ learned?¡± Meep said. ¡°That this hurts!¡± ¡°I think he¡¯s telling you not to eat random things you find on the ground,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Yes. Things¡­ on¡­ ground¡­ are¡­ for¡­ me.¡± ¡°None of this is making it hurt less!¡± the warthog complained. ¡°Can you help, princesses?¡± They shook their heads. ¡°Too small. Can¡¯t grasp things that size.¡± ¡°Well, one of us will have to do it. Half Oink, it¡¯s your mouth so¡­ just use your energy.¡± ¡°I caaaaan¡¯t! It hurts!¡± Now that he thought about it, he¡¯d seen her with a broken tusk and lion claw marks down her side and she hadn¡¯t complained. It might be¡­ very painful. ¡°Okay, just¡­ hold still. Meep and I¡­?¡± he looked at the other meerkat. ¡°We¡¯ll try to pull them out.¡± ¡°I¡­ pull¡­¡± Meep said. ¡°You¡­ hold¡­ still.¡± ¡°Good plan,¡± Three Squeaks said. The old fellow was better at precise energy control. He worked with small things sometimes. Three Squeaks just tried to hold Half Oink still- she was doing her best, but her mouth and tongue were twitching. He tried to clamp his energy down around her tongue without squeezing, while still leaving room for Meep to work. It was¡­ an extremely slow process. The first one only took a few moments for Meep to extract, but it was even thinner than a hair. Fortunately, he was able to reach into the flesh and disentangle it with his energy. But the process was too slow, even for the patient Meep. ¡°Will¡­ take¡­ forever. Many¡­ thousand.¡± ¡°Jutht yank th-hem outh!¡± Half Oink lisped. Meep did so. ¡°How¡­ did¡­ that¡­ feel?¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Three Squeaks let go of her for a moment. ¡°Didn¡¯t feel anything, but most of my mouth still hurts so just do it!¡± Meep began grabbing them, five, then twenty at a time from what Three Squeaks could tell as they piled into a shell he¡¯d scrounged up. Even in groups, Three Squeaks could barely make out their form- though he did begin to see something building up in the shell. An hour or two later, it was all over. ¡°It still kinda hurts,¡± Half Oink said. ¡°Poison¡­ inside,¡± Meep explained. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ understand. Have¡­ to¡­ heal.¡± ¡°It¡¯s still a lot better,¡± the warthog said. Even if her whole mouth and tongue were swollen, one of the irritants was gone. The other would purge itself eventually. She could be felt slowly trying to do just that, though it was also on a small scale and had only barely pushed into the bloodstream where it could be easily filtered. ¡°The ocean is dangerous,¡± Three Squeaks commented, looking back towards it. ¡°We will have to come better prepared, if even dead squishy things from it are like this. Who could even have killed this?¡± ¡°Anyone,¡± Fearsome Mandibles pointed out. ¡°It¡¯s very soft. Anything could try to eat it. That¡¯s one reason to have this sort of thing. The other would be for hunting.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it hurt its own mouth?¡± Half Oink asked. ¡°Only if it had one. I think this is the whole thing,¡± her antennae gestured vaguely to the lump with tendrils coming out of it.¡± Meep nodded. ¡°Can¡­ digest¡­ things¡­ in¡­ bag.¡± ¡°Please be careful with your samples,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Very¡­ careful,¡± Meep said. ¡°Only¡­ poisoned¡­ self¡­ once¡­¡± ¡°I know that¡¯s not true,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Acci¡­ dentally¡­ this¡­ week,¡± Meep clarified. ¡°I don¡¯t know if that counts as careful,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°Didn¡¯t¡­ poison¡­ self¡­ hundreds¡­ of¡­ times,¡± Meep said proudly. Where was he even fitting all that stuff? His bag wasn¡¯t that big. Wait¡­ ¡°Did you get a storage bag from Anton?¡± Meep shook his head. ¡°Made¡­ it. Almost¡­ no¡­ chance¡­ of¡­ explosion.¡± ¡°And by explosion you mean¡­?¡± ¡°All¡­ of¡­ bag¡­ insides¡­ becoming¡­ outsides.¡± Three Squeaks sighed. ¡°Well, just be careful with that. I¡¯ll go get you some plants.¡± He definitely wasn¡¯t going to touch any of them with his hands, though. As he walked along the sand, he saw some sort of leafy thing with pods full of air for some reason. He would drag it along with his energy on the way back. There was some sort of fat leaved thing growing in the sand. Before he got there, however, he walked a bit further along the shore, with the waves sometimes reaching up to his waist. So pretty far up. He saw it depositing things further along while dragging away other things, including sand. Some of the sand washed away and left behind¡­ a small thing with a shell. A crab? No, the shape was all wrong. It was long instead of wide. It looked directly at him, and he looked back. He only sensed its energy as it dove into the wet sand, burrowing out of sight. ¡°Wait!¡± Three Squeaks called. He thought about trying to scoop it out¡­ but that would be too much like an attack. It was very weak, anyway. But he might be able to find it. He sank his senses into the sand. Below a paw length or two, it became very difficult. Air was so much easier to sense through. But he could still do it. He was just somewhere around a thousand times worse at it. Without even exaggerating, he thought that was correct. His distance was measured in meters, maybe ten at most and only in direct lines. But even with that, he managed to stumble into several, no, dozens of the long crabs, just barely picking out their energy. Not because all of them were weak, but because they all hid it. And they also reacted to his senses, despite them being fairly subtle. Given their reactions, he pretty quickly stopped, moving away from the wet part of the sand just in case they wanted to band together to fend off the invader he might look like. But after waiting for a bit they didn¡¯t seem to come. His passive senses could potentially pick a few of them out in wriggling in the top layer of sand, but he might have been fooling himself into finding something he expected. He would just leave that, and go grab some of that plant to sample. And a bit of anything else he noticed. There were a number of round, flat things. Was there a creature in there? Not anymore, at least, just bits of sand. But they had a little hollow and a hole in the bottom, and things didn¡¯t achieve that shape accidentally. When he dragged the plants back to Meep, the other meerkat at least pared them down to a few parts of each thing. He didn¡¯t have limitless space, it seemed. Furthermore, he wrapped each plant in a specific leaf, tying them inside with thin fibers. ¡°Need¡­ many¡­ small¡­ bag¡­ next¡­ trip. No¡­ touching.¡± ¡°There were a bunch of little long crabs in the sand,¡± Three Squeaks commented. ¡°Or, are I guess. And I think they¡¯re sapient. They at least actively use energy.¡± ¡°We should talk to them,¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°They seemed to prefer staying hidden,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if we want to bug them. They might get angry. And there were a lot. I don¡¯t know about you, but I can¡¯t defeat a thousand first or second rank cultivators.¡± ¡°I would not be a good match for anything with a shell,¡± Fearsome Mandibles admitted. ¡°Even if it was vaguely my size.¡± ¡°Plus your legs are still recovering,¡± Crossed Antennae poked her sister. ¡°They are fine,¡± the first sister said. ¡°I will return to full power. No, a greater power¡­ soon.¡± ¡°Yeah, well,¡± Three Squeaks looked over at the ocean. ¡°Let¡¯s try not to let either of you get squished or washed away or something.¡± ¡°We can swim,¡± Fearsome Mandibles protested. ¡°But can you fight against the waves?¡± There was no response to that. ¡°This isn¡¯t a good place to camp,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Even if birds can¡¯t eat me, I¡¯d rather not deal with them. Let¡¯s make our way back into the treeline and then plan our route from there. We can circle around to the north or south on the way back. If we head far enough, we can explore entirely new area just adjacent to what we already saw.¡± ¡°How¡­ far?¡± Meep asked. ¡°Yeah,¡± Half Oink said. ¡°Like, our senses, or your senses?¡± ¡°One horizon,¡± Three Squeaks decided. ¡°As far as you could see with an unobstructed view and a little height. That will let us focus on new areas, and I will be able to keep track of where we went before.¡± ¡°New¡­ plants,¡± Meep said with his own subdued level of enthusiasm. ¡°Hopefully we¡¯ll find tasty things,¡± Half Oink said. ¡°Or something to fight.¡± Three Squeak didn¡¯t think they¡¯d find much of the latter, which was the whole point. He had at least brushed his senses past the places they would be walking on their route back. That didn¡¯t mean there would be nothing, but they should at least be able to avoid running into a pack of hyenas or something. And if there were any, they¡¯d probably be low in natural energy and not much of a threat- not that they lived in places like this. There were things like¡­ foxes and big cats that would be more threatening. Chapter 833 The return trip was mainly uneventful, but not useless. Beyond the simple merits of bringing Three Squeaks closer to exploring the whole planet- a task he was only barely beginning to comprehend the magnitude of- it allowed people time to digest what they had learned. Meep either didn¡¯t take that time or was always doing so, as he remained equally active in his gathering process. The more he put in his bag, the more Three Squeaks wondered how improbable that potential explosion was. Half Oink hadn¡¯t quite gotten the big showdown she wanted- the beaver chief simply didn¡¯t have the right fighting style for her. Something with fangs and claws that wanted to tear the warthog apart might be better. But she no doubt gained some insights of her own regardless. Meanwhile, Three Squeaks came to understand that he was actually in Essence Collection. Had it been before meeting Slick and the others at the lake, or after? He wasn¡¯t certain, but he knew he needed more time to properly comprehend his essence. But that was the whole thing, wasn¡¯t it. At the very least, he knew it was not terribly dissimilar from Anton¡¯s. Yet despite Anton being his main instructor, Three Squeaks knew that wasn¡¯t something that could be inherited directly. It all came down to the individual and what they desired. Obviously there had been some influence from Anton, but the whole reason for that was because he had a similar drive. He just happened to be missing a full lifetime of experience. A long lifetime. Anton had said once that he was four hundred seasons old when he began cultivating. Even if Three Squeaks pared that down to a more reasonable meerkat lifespan, what did that mean to him who had barely two dozen seasons in him? It made Three Squeaks wonder, though. Perhaps he was focused too much on a single thing. Cultivation was good, and exploring the world as well¡­ but there might be things he was missing out on. He didn¡¯t even know if that was a problem. Anton was a grandfather of many- including one of the few humans who had shown themselves, Devon. Should Three Squeaks have a family? Was that important? It wasn¡¯t as if the meerkats actually needed it. In times past they survived mostly due to a high birth rate, but now they rarely died. It was barely even related to the direct expansion of their lifespans, because the majority had been eaten by something. Now, anything for days of travel that could eat them was usually on their side. Or some sort of intruder that would be quickly dealt with. So having children wasn¡¯t important. Indeed, they could easily overdo it. They were able to produce an astounding amount of food in their lands, but that wouldn¡¯t expand infinitely. That was an awareness Anton had drilled into their heads. Sustained outward growth could only lead to conflicts and inevitable disaster. He felt a pinch on his energy, looking down to see Fearsome Mandibles. ¡°What?¡± She tilted her head. ¡°Nothing.¡± ¡°Then why do that?¡± ¡°Hungry,¡± she signed. ¡°Your energy is the tastiest thing here.¡± ¡°Could you not?¡± he asked. ¡°I need that.¡± ¡°No you don¡¯t,¡± the void ant declared. ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m taking away from your maximum cultivation. Just your current stores.¡± ¡°Even so,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°You need to ask. And get approval.¡± ¡°How troublesome,¡± the princess said. ¡°If ultimately understandable. It will be easier when we return to somewhere with good food.¡± ¡°Do you even need food?¡± he asked. ¡°Don¡¯t you eat natural energy?¡± ¡°It¡¯s much better to consume it infused into something to digest over time.¡± ¡°How much can you even eat?¡± He asked. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ tiny.¡± Though he did notice she had gained a few units of size. What did Anton call those, millimeters? ¡°More than it looks like. But we¡¯re also supposed to gather food to share. So I understand.¡± ¡°The Great Queen told you about it?¡± The ant shook her head. ¡°I just know. Even without having been part of a proper void ant colony.¡± ¡°That¡¯s convenient.¡± ¡°Maybe. Only if it works,¡± she commented. ----- Along the way, Three Squeaks made some final notes of where they would have to visit, and what they would have to watch out for adjacent to their last area of travel. Determining if any stronger individuals were safe or good or any of those things wasn¡¯t exactly possible when just passing them by. And aside from the beavers, nothing had been motivated to cause obvious ecological devastation. The whole thing with the beavers was a shame, really. It was going to take an unfathomable amount of time to return the forest to a semblance of its own self, and a powerful cultivator had died. More than one, really, since spirit building was something special as well. The worst part was that the beavers totally could have created the same space for themselves without causing so much trouble. Perhaps they wouldn¡¯t have grown so strong so rapidly without devouring bark and pulp of so many trees, but they simply hadn¡¯t needed as much space as they occupied. But Three Squeaks could kind of see the reason they did it. Gaining a bit of strength led to the desire for more, especially for those who normally had to live in fear of predators. It was a shame that the beavers hadn¡¯t had any guidance to set them on the right path. Either internally, like Pondering Hum, or externally like Anton. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Speaking of Anton, Three Squeaks couldn¡¯t sense him as they began to approach Coalition territory. Was he still not back yet? How long would he be gone? What if¡­ what if something happened to him? The last one was just stupid panic. Obviously it was the most unlikely possibility. Three Squeaks had seen him. He was more than strong, and he had strong allies. Even so, he couldn¡¯t help but ask around to see if anyone had heard anything. From Anton, or from the other humans. In fact, the answers he got were even worse than that. It seemed Deep Purr knew something of the matter, so Three Squeaks went to find him. ¡°Swordmaster Ty has gone as well,¡± Deep Purr said. ¡°He left several sealed boxes with the intention that we could open them when we were ready for the information. But he has taken his ship to return home to his people.¡± ¡°That¡¯s-¡± Three Squeaks honestly didn¡¯t know what to say about that. ¡°Expected, I suppose. These people are all important. They can¡¯t just stay here forever.¡± Even so, over the past years the humans had been a constant presence, even if they were generally at the edge of everything that was happening. ¡°What will we do without them?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Deep Purr asked. ¡°The same things as we would do with them. I study the sword. You study the bow. And the sun, I suppose. This does not change. As for the Coalition, we continue to develop tools useful to our diverse people. And Meep will continue to foolishly test every plant for ¡®medicinal properties¡¯. We have handled threats as they came, and we can still do so. Especially¡­ with more Essence Collection cultivators. It may not be the peak of cultivation, but before ascension it is the last step below Life Transformation.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ a long journey to that point,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Deep Purr acknowledged. ¡°Or perhaps our journeys up until this point have all been far too short.¡± Three Squeaks nodded. ¡°The world is¡­ big. We know too little. But I can change that.¡± ¡°Good. I¡¯ll hold you to that. As for myself, you can trust me and the old hog to keep this place safe. And the rest of the militia, of course.¡± ----- Anton looked down upon Akrys. He wanted to say hello to his tiny furry friend, but he had more reasons not to. While at the current moment he was watching over them from a distance, neither he nor any of the others would be around in the future. Perhaps as the borders of the Alliance expanded they might watch over Akrys, but that was a significant duration down the line. From the perspective of the Alliance as a whole, the existence of a planet of sapient animals was a much more important thing than this particular people group. And they might be right, to some extent, no matter how much Anton cared for them. That did not mean he was going to let them get wiped out. Indeed, he¡¯d spent the years with them to make certain it would be the exact opposite. But if he or other humans held their hands the whole way, they might simply turn into little copycats. While they might prefer certain human styles, they still needed the drive to develop on their own. Not that they were entirely alone down there. The Great Queen was still present, to keep an eye on her princesses. Anton didn¡¯t necessarily agree with her plans that of the two one should go to the upper realms and one eventually form a colony on Akrys. They might both be suitable to the same thing, or perhaps neither of them would fit either option. But as things were, Anton had a fair understanding that Fearsome Mandibles would be going to the upper realms where her aggression would be useful. The more moderate Crossed Antennae would do well among allies here on Akrys. But that was only what he knew from a few years, and while void ants might not change personality as much as humans could during their development, it was still quite possible. ----- ¡°I don¡¯t care if we¡¯ve never met before,¡± Sly¡¯s voice boomed into the recording device that was also capturing his imposing figure. ¡°Those fools over there are still our brothers. You owe as much loyalty to the Hardened Crown Sect of this ¡®Nidec¡¯ as you do to me. And that means doing what is best for them, whether that¡¯s talking them into joining this Lower Realms Alliance or beating them over the head.¡± Sly paused, then took a deep breath. ¡°Ah, who am I kidding. It will obviously be the latter. So make sure your heads are harder than theirs, alright? And remember, don¡¯t do anything I wouldn¡¯t do.¡± He threw his head back and laughed uproariously. Then he turned. ¡°Alright, I think that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to give them any¡­ advice?¡± Margriet asked. ¡°And have it be months old when it arrives? No way. They just need a little kick in the pants. They have to manage their own junk without me, after all.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± she said. ¡°Oh, should we have stopped the recording?¡± she asked, looking to Engineer Uzun. ¡°No problem,¡± the man said. ¡°Editing this sort of thing is trivial. We¡¯ll have people put together something this afternoon for your approval.¡± ¡°Make sure you leave in all the shouting,¡± Sly said. ¡°It won¡¯t do you any good to try to blunt my words. Unless you send them along on some sort of projectile. Oh, can you make the message into an explosion that smashes a crater into the ground?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not possible,¡± Engineer Uzun lied, though mostly for the sake of brevity. ¡°But we can at least send the message directly to them now, instead of relaying it through the rest of the Alliance.¡± ¡°Hey, I just thought of something. This Scarlet Alliance here, we¡¯re basically the same as the Lower Realms Alliance there, right?¡± ¡°To some extent. It¡¯s more like we¡¯re part of one larger alliance instead, as much as we can be with the more or less one way exchange of people.¡± ¡°So shouldn¡¯t we call ourselves the Scarlet Midfields and Lower Realms Alliance?¡± ¡°No,¡± Uzun said. ¡°For one thing, it¡¯s still secret that we can easily communicate.¡± ¡°And the name is unwieldy,¡± Margriet Gelens said. ¡°I suppose some hardheads in the upper realms wouldn''t be happy with it either,¡± Sly shrugged. ¡°They don¡¯t like how cocky us ascended individuals can get.¡± ¡°We have good reason,¡± Margriet pointed out. ¡°The transition from lower energy to upper energy is a valuable strengthening process, as well as the fundamentals of control.¡± ¡°People don¡¯t like knowing that, though. Ah well,¡± he shrugged. ¡°They actually have more opportunity to get their hands on lower energy infused things these days. I can¡¯t believe you guys are actually importing storage bags full of rocks.¡± ¡°They¡¯re gemstones,¡± Engineer Uzun said. ¡°And it¡¯s practical.¡± ¡°Could you just use rocks though?¡± he asked. ¡°You can shove a lot of energy in a rock.¡± ¡°... I¡¯m sure it has been considered,¡± he said. ¡°And people do tend to bring a variety of materials.¡± The conversation petered out eventually, and they went on their way. Soon enough, Sly would be back to re-record his message because he felt he hadn¡¯t yelled at them loud enough, and then his ¡®motivating speech¡¯ would be sent to the Hardened Crown Sect in the lower realms. Chapter 834 To the west of the Spirit Slicing Sect¡¯s base, just a few dozen kilometers away, began a vast forest. Anyone hiding on the near edge of the place would have easily picked out by those within the sect, especially if they were around for a sustained duration. Perceptions naturally expanded for higher tier cultivators, and an Integration cultivator could cover such a distance in minutes or less. A number of cultivators could also fight at such a distance, though that depended somewhat on the conditions. Certain snipers could cover much greater distances, of course, but those were rarer breeds. Even if someone wanted to train more people like that, not everyone had the aptitude. And while it was certainly an advantage to be able to attack from afar, most cultivators simply erred on the side of being able to close the distance between themselves and their foes. A forest teeming with life was a good place to hide almost anything. In Velvet¡¯s opinion, it was only slightly worse than simply hiding something in the most remote location- but what counted as ¡®remote¡¯ was variable. The Exalted Quadrant¡¯s ships were mostly meant for intersystem transport, but they were still capable enough to fly over the surface of a planet picking out large installations. Formations could hide things, but they were rarely perfect. Velvet wasn¡¯t actually convinced that there was anything in the forest as she began to patrol it, but she was well aware that there could be. Most likely there wouldn¡¯t be anything permanent- it would require much greater deception to hide an entire section of the forest from view without bringing awareness to spatial distortions or the like. And expensive. No, if there were spies or an awaiting army, she expected them to opt for a mobile approach. Upon entering the forest, Velvet felt someone watching her. Not visually, or she could have picked them out in turn, but using some other sorts of senses. Rather than alert them to her knowledge, however, she continued to move along with a similar amount of stealth. How had they picked her out? Her energy was concealed, and while she didn¡¯t have a target to feed illusions she made practically no sound. There was no way they simply spotted her. At least, she didn¡¯t think she had been that careless. But maybe she was simply up against someone she was no match for. It wouldn¡¯t require an Augmentation cultivator or even someone who matched her cultivation. Instead, a properly specialized Integration cultivator might pull it off. Obviously Velvet thought she was well above average in her field, but if she believed herself untouchable she would surely find herself dead sooner rather than later. But she understood her imperfection. The thing that most irked her was that she couldn¡¯t find the source. The feeling was constant. Were they following her? Was it a series of guards even she couldn¡¯t pick out? Some sort of grand formation she¡¯d stepped into, leaving something on her? Velvet considered all of these options as she scoured the forest. She found more or less what she expected. Birds and beasts didn¡¯t even notice her, and she could walk close enough to touch them if it pleased her. Her scent was another thing she concealed, so that shouldn¡¯t be how she was found. Velvet considered bending the light around her to become invisible, but at best that would reveal her ability to her foes. At worst, it would reveal it and they would still be able to track her movements. She found something. Tracks. More than a few, but barely perceptible and scattered. She couldn¡¯t make much sense of them, but it was clear people had been here and were trying to hide it. She was leery of going too deep, should she stumble upon people waiting for her. And if she waited too long, they might come for her. Instead, she curved around, trying not to make her route too obvious. What stood out? Everything seemed to fit, but things weren¡¯t quite right. Dead trees were too prominent. One or two occasionally would be one thing, but she could hardly go far without spotting two or three in the same vague area. What was it, then? She inspected the dead trees, and found little of interest on the surface. But her senses sunk into the ground, finding their roots entangled with others. Those roots led to- Velvet stopped herself, trying not to let anything be seen in her movements or her facial expression. She didn¡¯t know how detailed of information her foes might be collecting. She turned, catching a glimpse of a tree. Someone would know what sort of tree it was, but she could only vaguely place it in the category of oak- and even then, she wasn¡¯t certain. She¡¯d learned some about such things from Anton, but that involved varieties local to Ceretos. Here on Taon, a planet a whole sector away and in the upper realms besides, she couldn¡¯t say if she had forgotten something to find new trees or if they were truly different. The important thing to her was recognizing dangers. And now she knew one. She continued her search, though mostly for show, as she made her way back around to another edge of the forest. She didn¡¯t relax when she no longer felt herself being watched, but instead picked an arbitrary point on the horizon to head towards. She concealed herself beyond a hill, stopping to see if she was followed. She would leave few traces, but it wasn¡¯t impossible. It had been the trees, of course. Not just any trees, but particular ones that seemed to feed on the lifeforce of others. She had no idea if it was required or simply allowed them to grow to significant sizes in a short time- unless these particular enemies had inhabited the forest for decades, in which case something should have come up sooner. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Either way, the trees had been watching her. And while Velvet was good, she wasn¡¯t always hidden from every side. That simply wasn¡¯t practical, unless she shoved herself in a room- and merely being unseen wasn¡¯t sufficient to be properly hidden. After determining she wasn¡¯t being followed, she relocated once more to a different angle. It was best to keep proper caution. She would be entering the forest again, this time prepared for what she might find. Invisibility might be insufficient, and illusions required a conscious mind as a target. But looking from afar, she could see there were none of the particular trees she¡¯d noticed. She spent another few hours scanning the treeline to look for them or anything that felt similar. It would be foolish to assume the trees only took a single form. That would be the way to get caught, assuming she knew all of her enemies¡¯ tricks. In a long term conflict she might actually reach that point, but it was also the case that her opponents could come up with new options. As certain as she could be, she once more approached. At the edge of the forest, she could feel a certain energy that she¡¯d overlooked before, something diffuse throughout the area. A malevolent and poisonous sort of feeling. The energy of a particular sect, perhaps the Forest of Death- though she couldn¡¯t be certain that the Exalted Quadrant didn¡¯t have more sects along a similar line of cultivation. With particular targets to hide from, even numerous ones, she was able to plan her progress through the forest, feeling each individual tree to determine if it was part of the sensory network. The density of their particular sorts of trees increased in a certain area, which she determined from circling the area. It was either a hidden base- if an imperfect one- or a trap. Either way, she wouldn¡¯t be approaching in the near future. Options had to be considered, and reporting back to at least mention their presence was necessary. Any large assault they would be prepared for- they might even be able to flee- but it might be possible to catch them outside of the forest, or at least their core. If not¡­ well, they couldn¡¯t cause too much harm if they never went anywhere. But it would be crazy to assume they set up to do nothing. ----- One expedition became two, became three, and so on. Three Squeaks brought all sorts of folk with him. Soon enough Echoing Cry¡¯s children could fend for themselves. Contented Grunt came all the way to the ocean and decided salt water was not for her- perhaps she might be convinced to help people cross it later, or they could try some sort of floating thing, but there was plenty more to explore first. Three Squeaks had thought to pawn off the princess on the Great Queen since Fearsome Mandibles had almost died, but instead she insisted they continue to go to ¡®help weed out such foolishness¡¯. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t like them, but void ants made him uncomfortable and he really had been worried about their survival. But as a year or two passed, they grew to be almost the length of his paw, and their durability was¡­ well, nothing amazing. But he might have trouble squashing them even if they held still, since he couldn¡¯t use natural energy. In short, a fat warthog sitting on them might be more danger than him, as an Essence Collection cultivator. Others weren¡¯t far behind his cultivation. Forceful Snort of the warthogs had reached that level mostly on the merits of his body, but the passing seasons provided growth in natural energy for the whole coalition. More than just Three Squeaks and his group were traveling about now, but he still wanted to go everywhere himself so he kept at it. It was just one planet. Sure, planets were big, but Anton had seen many planets. He didn¡¯t know if he¡¯d ever reach such a point, but he at least had to have something to look up to. The beavers¡­ were behaving, for the moment. They had found other groups that were more conservative with their growing abilities, and Three Squeaks planned to invite some to join the coalition soon. They could do so many neat things as water and land builder types. Connected tunnels were cool, but things went so much further than meerkat burrows. Time continued to pass, and Three Squeaks wondered where Anton was. How long would it be, before he came back? While it worried him for a time, he instead made it a secret goal to try to explore the whole planet before then. Could he do it? He had no idea. Was there another land beyond the west ocean? The planet was supposed to be a ball, but maybe the east ocean met up with it. North and south he hadn¡¯t yet traversed far enough to find an ocean, but he felt he would eventually get there. Wherever they went, they tried to do good things. Meep could recommend useful medicines- and steer adventurous individuals away from poisonous options. Sometimes, those were the same thing, which meant it required a lot of knowledge. Knowledge they were just beginning to gather. How many things were there too know? Maybe it was limitless. Certainly, he wouldn¡¯t ever know them all. No one person could. Anton admitted to not knowing everything, and he spoke of some mean person who tried to know everything but never truly made progress. He always had to have more, and while more was good¡­ being content was also good. The Coalition had much they could learn from the failures of the beavers, because even if they hadn¡¯t made the mistake of expanding too aggressively¡­ who knows if they might have in a generation or two without an example to convince people. Three Squeaks was vaguely aware of some event an unfathomable amount of time in the future. He doubted he would be there to see it, but then again he hadn¡¯t expected to live as many seasons as he currently had. He¡¯d expected to die in his first couple of years, as was the case with most- and more so with those who chose to fight. It was a sacrifice for others that had seemed necessary at the time, and while he still believed soldiers were necessary, it didn¡¯t require sacrifice. They could just be strong enough to withstand the dangers. Three Squeaks wanted to do that, for himself, for the Coalition, and for all sorts of people he hadn¡¯t even met yet. And maybe, someday, they wouldn¡¯t need to fight. But he would still practice archery because he wanted to see if he could shoot the sun and Anton had said that it wasn¡¯t impossible. Chapter 835 Visible tracks prompted Velvet¡¯s deeper exploration into the forest. She found them after she reported back to the Spirit Slicing Sect, who set up their people to watch the forest from afar- but they didn¡¯t want to give away they knew something was up just yet. The tracks were clearly not from the normal inhabitants of the forest. They barely left traces of their presence, except for the trees. Even then, they seemed to have a habit of removing the trees killed by their rapid growth- Velvet had found several patches of land she was certain once had a tree, dug up to the roots and the ground smoothed over. And of course they wouldn¡¯t be so careless as to leave boot prints and bent branches. So there was someone else here. Presumably allies of theirs, unless there was some third party involved. Otherwise, if they were part of the Chaotic Conglomeration then they should have reported about them already. Unless they were confidently trekking into the forest on a hunch? Not that this other group was terribly obvious. They stepped lightly, leaving few traces. But there were more than a few of them, and enough displaced leaves and snapped twigs eventually painted a clear picture. Velvet followed after them, avoiding the senses of the trees connected to her actual targets. These visitors might be meaningful as well, but she had less context to understand them. Most of the forest appeared to be uninteresting, until one considered that there were always watching trees. That made the trek much more difficult, as Velvet had to take roundabout paths to minimize the ways she could be spotted. The other group was clearly less concerned with that, as they had even fought some of the local beasts foolish enough to attack them. Remains of a giant bear stripped of its pelt and claws littered one section of forest, the bones just beginning to be picked at by scavengers. The two pieces provided Velvet some context. A clean cut from a single attacker that should have reached Integration. But of course, there was a wide variety of strength within the Integration stage, and the remains didn¡¯t tell her about the strength of the others. She was passing through denser foliage now, relying on her understanding and prior training to hopefully go unnoticed by the watching trees. She didn¡¯t sense anything spotting her, but it wasn¡¯t always so obvious. Just as she could hide herself, others could hide their reactions. Perhaps they had been tracking her since she returned to the forest, making their perceptions so obvious the first time to throw her off. But if she actually believed that, she would be gone instead of moving deeper in. She spotted the wooden structures first, and then the tents. Made with full logs, the buildings were obviously constructed hastily, yet with some amount of skill. With what she could only assume was a group of several hundred cultivators, it wasn¡¯t surprising to have someone with those skills. The twisted energy flow of a formation caught her attention as well. On the surface, at least, it kept upper energy from spilling out and from what she could see directly also captured the smoke from their fires. No doubt it also concealed them from above. Would it reveal her presence? She didn¡¯t think so. Not through any method with which she was familiar, and the watching trees and occasional guards were for that purpose. She could leave now, but she¡¯d hardly gained any new information. Even the camp was more or less where she estimated. She had to figure out who these visitors were. Joining up with this hidden group was worrisome for not only the Spirit Slicing Sect but any other groups nearby. She crept past the edges of the camp, doing her best to perfectly replicate the energy flow around her so as to not cause any disturbances. She could sense the local disciples, and while she had no experience to confirm for certain they were part of the Forest of Death, she went forward with that assumption. She had to be prepared for her energy to be drained in combat, should it come to that- but realistically, she should run. Voices drew here to an open window, which she carefully peeked inside. She could feel the other energies in there, overhearing part of a conversation. ¡°... attack upon the morrow,¡± said a young man with a sword dangling from his side. ¡°We spend so long setting up a hidden base, and you arrive only to tell us to immediately move out?¡± an older man replied. ¡°On what basis?¡± ¡°On the basis of strength,¡± said a woman who had a similar sword at her side. No, the same sword. Velvet recognized it. The Limitless Edge. ¡°If you have the strength, then you should move out yourselves,¡± said the older man. ¡°We have no obligation to you.¡± Conflict among the enemy ranks? Good. Even if the disagreement simply slowed their action, it was worthwhile. Better yet if they spilled each other¡¯s blood. Velvet would never know for certain what gave her away. Was it bloodlust leaking past her surface? An intake of breath? Some passerby moving at an angle she hadn¡¯t anticipated and spotting the hem of her clothes? She wouldn¡¯t know. All she was certain of was that multiple heads turned towards her at once. She was noticed, not just by those inside the building but outside as well. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Immediately, she maximized her energy to hide herself. Obviously it was too late to go unnoticed, but if she could erase herself from their perceptions catching her would be difficult. A few moments later she was on a roof, blood dripping down her arm. She clutched it against her side, willing the traitorous drops to soak into her clothing rather than leave her body. The building where the meeting had been taking place was now missing a wall, chopped into pieces by the Limitless Edge disciples inside, but what had gotten her was the blade energy of one of their members a hundred meters distant. Velvet pushed a feeling of her presence into the minds of those around her, projecting a false location while hiding her own. Just hiding herself was not good enough, and indeed the other location was intended to seem as if she was hiding imperfectly. It might have worked, if the Limitless Edge disciples had not simply decided to fill the entire camp with attacks. Velvet barely flew up out of reach before being cut to ribbons, and whether they properly detected her or not swords sliced higher into the air as well. They didn¡¯t quite perfectly cover the space. They didn¡¯t attack in even lines- though those would have been easier to dodge- but instead in chaotic swings which differed for every single individual. The best Velvet managed was to get a couple disciples of the Forest of Death killed by projecting a feeling of herself into their positions. Other than that, among dozens of attacks by Integration cultivators she managed to avoid most and parry two with her daggers. Some minor attacks from Life Transformation cultivator still cut into her, either weakening her energy or a small few causing actual damage. She struck against a barrier above, as the formations responded to active combat. Its power extended from the Forest cultivators and their attuned trees surrounding their camp. She could feel something pulling at her, wanting to digest her life. Too far. She¡¯d gone too far. And now it was too late, and she was going to die. Cultivators shot into the air around her, extended branches of the trees growing reaching out for empty air and presumably her while the whole area was cut apart. Thought by thought she forced perception upon those around her. One next to them was not attacking with full vigor. Another moved shiftily. Some appeared to come out of nowhere. Attacks that connected with her hit nothing- though that was the most difficult feedback to provide. The point, however, was to provide doubt and sow confusion. Tree limbs were sliced apart by swords, and disciples began to fall. But it wasn¡¯t enough. Velvet stabbed her dagger into a disciple of the Limitless Edge who was blocking her attempted route to retreat. She realized it was a mistake the instant she pierced. Even attempting to numb the pain, to fake a feeling of wholeness and consciousness¡­ it wasn¡¯t enough. A burst of speed allowed her to keep herself mostly intact, but her position was known for a moment. And she couldn¡¯t keep fighting at her current level of power for more than a few moments. Branches and blades converged on her location as her concentration slipped. She saw how she would die. And then¡­ they met nothing. To Velvet, the One Hundred Stars was a cultivation method she stuck with because of the people involved. They had turned her life around when she had sought selfish gain early in her cultivation career. She had eventually been given a chance to make something better of herself, and she gladly took it. Yet she still had her own style. Stars were fire and light, good things that she only seldom interacted with except to deceive the perceptions of others. But there were higher concepts of stars. That of gravity and fusion and the like. Among other things, their mass distorted the world around them. Velvet didn¡¯t do it consciously. Indeed, it was almost the opposite. She let go, ceased restricting herself. She allowed the insights that had built up come to fruition inside her, and for a moment there was no way to reach her. Attacks clashed with each other as there was nothing else to strike. She recognized this only on a subconscious level. Even as quick as the thoughts of an Integration cultivator were, they were insufficient to truly comprehend what was happening. A moment later, she had her dagger through the throat of another foe, chosen by Instinct. This one should be part of those controlling the formations. The speed with which she had moved was effectively impossible. Even if only for the distance of a dozen meters, moving at the speed of light within the atmosphere of a planet simply couldn¡¯t be done with a human body. One stab, and before anyone could react she was somewhere else. A second, and then a third. The barrier wobbled, and she broke through it and up, over the forest. She fell outside the northern edge of the forest, her movements too quick to track¡­ and impossible to sustain even with the burst of upper energy from her breakthrough to Augmentation. The barest remnants of that energy wrapped around her, hiding her. Hopefully, nobody had locked onto her trajectory as she left. She staggered away, wondering what she should do next. She couldn¡¯t return to the Spirit Slicing Sect, not as she was now. She was too drained to conceal her current status if she actually stood in front of people. Too exhausted to explain how things came to this. Why nobody in the Chaotic Conglomeration had heard of her. Better to simply disappear for a few days. Or weeks. Then she could return, hopefully with her energy concealed. Her body would require some work as well, but on the whole it was intact due to some combination of her defenses, deception, enchanted clothing that served as armor, and some luck. And then, of course, her breakthrough. That was luck as well, because it should have required time, active effort, and perhaps a source of energy. Beyond a foreign star gazing down on her, of course. The stars inside of her were her true source of power, but she felt a connection to something greater, one that hadn¡¯t formed consciously. What Velvet was too injured and too far away to perceive was a group that had spotted her movements. The burst of energy from her breakthrough and their particular vantage point had allowed them to glimpse more than those directly involved in the conflict were situated to notice. Chapter 836 Binding her wounds on the go wasn¡¯t the most comfortable, but Velvet wasn¡¯t willing to sit in one place simply hoping she wouldn¡¯t be pursued. She was taking a long, circuitous route through territory she was fairly certain was safe. The energy she was replenishing was all going towards concealing herself and her traces. Medicinal pills were consumed to boost the process of healing, but she wouldn¡¯t recover any relevant amount in the next hours or even the next day. She was lucky, really, to not have died or even received any crippling wounds. Her armor was in shambles. With the damage it had taken, its enchantments were weakened leaving it little better than cloth where it still held firm. Durable cloth, yes, but nothing relevant to higher tier cultivators. Her steps carried her silently onward as she pondered. She had the feeling she would reach Augmentation at some point- even soon, though that was more considering it as a matter of years or decades. Velvet simply hadn¡¯t expected it to happen like this. It wasn¡¯t the crisis situation- breakthroughs were much more common in such a case, even if they didn¡¯t always result in survival. No, it was simply the way her power had manifested. For all her focus on concealment, the first abilities she had displayed had little to do with that. It was one aspect of light she hadn¡¯t anticipated advancing in. She couldn¡¯t really complain about how it had happened, since it led to her survival. Even the complications that would still be coming could only be experienced by a living individual. She should have turned and left the instant she recognized the Limitless Edge. If she had¡­ things would have gone differently. Even so, she couldn¡¯t guarantee they would have gone better. It was only a few moments before she was spotted anyway, and moving back out into the camp might have revealed her earlier. And perhaps she would have been right next to someone from the Limitless Edge who could cut her in half. Speculation was pointless. What mattered was what she was going to do next. It was more than a question of her immediate survival. The Spirit Slicing Sect was not her ally, and that would be even less true of others who she didn¡¯t know as well. Best to find somewhere to hide until she recovered, and then figure out a route back towards the Scarlet Alliance. There wasn¡¯t much else she could do here, after all. There were a few problems. She would need some time in safety to heal. The Exalted Quadrant would be hunting her- and not just casually. It would be hard for them to have missed that she had just stepped into Augmentation, and they wouldn¡¯t want to miss the chance to take her out. Worse, the Limitless Edge seemed to have recognized her as she feared. She might not be connected to the Scarlet Alliance, but she would at least be known as a spy. No settlement would be good as a shelter. She would stand out too much, and would likely be reported to someone. She needed something else. She found a cave- though she only intended to stay for a short time. A few hours, then she would move on. Around to the east, where at least she might be found by members of the Chaotic Conglomeration who didn¡¯t know much about her. They shouldn¡¯t immediately recognize anything was wrong. ----- Plans were made, but they were always meant to be adaptable. Velvet had no delusions that her plans would work out perfectly. But at least if she recovered to a sufficient extent, she could simply leave. Flying between systems without a ship was not something she was used to, but after a certain level of power flying was possible for every cultivator. Perhaps not effective, as she had demonstrated just a few days prior, but possible. With an increase in her strength, moving between systems would likely not be worse than a cheap ship. Her plans were overturned entirely when she sensed someone approaching. There had been a tingling sensation as someone had scanned her most recent hideout, but Velvet thought she concealed herself properly. By the time they got close enough for her passive perception to pick them out, they were far too close for comfort. Time to run. ¡°Velvet!¡± A voice called out from afar. ¡°I know you¡¯re there!¡± Well, that was that, then. But why did it have to be her? How unfortunate. She should probably still run, but¡­ she wanted to at least talk to Runa, even if it was a bad idea. ¡°How did you sense me?¡± Velvet said as Runa reached the mouth of her burrow. ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± Runa said. ¡°I just assumed you would be hiding somewhere like this. This is like the twentieth one today.¡± Dammit. So she wouldn¡¯t even have known if Velvet just fled? How embarrassing. She¡¯d fallen for one of the easiest tricks in the book. That¡¯s what she got for trusting a new person. ¡°Wow, you¡¯re pretty beat up, huh? I¡¯ve seen corpses with fewer cuts than you.¡± How was she supposed to respond to that? ¡°They¡¯re healing.¡± ¡°Good. So¡­¡± Runa didn¡¯t hide her senses probing Velvet¡¯s cultivation. ¡°They were right, huh. You¡¯re in Augmentation now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Velvet said. Without her wounds her recovery might have been quick enough to fully hide it by now, but unfortunately she¡¯d been spending nearly as much upper energy as she drew in ever since her advancement. ¡°You¡¯d think someone like you would be more famous in the Chaotic Conglomeration.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like the limelight,¡± Velvet replied truthfully. The truth was always the best deception. ¡°Apparently so, because the Order of Light and Darkness didn¡¯t even remember you existed,¡± Runa folded her arms across her chest. So vulnerable. If Velvet was not so weakened, it would be a prime opening. Velvet wasn¡¯t going to fall for the same thing again. ¡°If you¡¯d actually contacted them, they would have.¡± Perhaps she was wrong about this, but in that case she was fully compromised. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Hmph. We won¡¯t get a response for a while, true, but I doubt my father will wait to pass judgment.¡± ¡°For what?¡± Velvet had some ideas, of course, but she wanted to see what Runa thought she knew. ¡°Being a spy.¡± ¡°And what makes you think I¡¯m a spy? Or rather, an enemy spy. Everyone needs some of their own.¡± ¡°The fact that you didn¡¯t come back to base after the incident, and that you didn¡¯t look happy to see me.¡± This was the problem with making new friends. It left you vulnerable. Perhaps she¡¯d gotten too much into her role because of mutual enemies. ¡°It¡¯s hard to be happy while injured.¡± ¡°Plenty of people are happy while injured. And after huge advancement. Which¡­ I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re not.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t plan on advancing,¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°So? Augmentation is literally one step short of the greatest power in¡­ anything. Do you know how few there even are?¡± Velvet did not. Because it was frustratingly difficult to get accurate information on that. ¡°Depends on where. I know it¡¯s not many.¡± ¡°Not many? Even big sects are lucky to have one in their entire history. Entire planets will go by without seeing one.¡± That shouldn¡¯t be right. Because the Scarlet Alliance had a few, now. Tauno, Catarina, Chikere, and maybe Timothy and Hoyt by now. Most of those were from Ceretos. Engineer Uzun should also be on the list soon enough. ¡°How many does the Exalted Quadrant have?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure,¡± Runa admitted. ¡°Ten? Twenty?¡± ¡°It has to be more. The Citadel of Exalted Light has a Domination cultivator.¡± ¡°I- what?¡± Runa¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Yeah. Probably. It¡¯s not like I¡¯ve seen him, but it should be them and a few others. Which means they have to have quite a few Augmentation cultivators around.¡± Velvet thought they were tied up fighting the Chaotic Conglomeration. Was that not it? Certainly, she hadn¡¯t seen any here on Taon- but that was hardly sufficient. ¡°How do you know that? I haven¡¯t even heard that.¡± ¡°I was spying on the Exalted Quadrant, obviously,¡± Velvet said. She didn¡¯t really have any proof. She¡¯d just surmised the fact. ¡°Before I came to reinforce you.¡± ¡°Oh right!¡± Runa pointed her finger at Velvet. ¡°I almost let you distract me from the point! You¡¯re totally spying on us! But I don¡¯t get why the Exalted Quadrant tried to kill you. Is it because you¡¯re deep undercover?¡± ¡°We¡¯re just enemies,¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not that complicated.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense, though. That doesn¡¯t leave anyone for you to be spying for. And we know you are. Come on, you have to help me here or I won¡¯t be able to convince my father you¡¯re alright.¡± ¡°... You intend to do that?¡± ¡°Why not? We¡¯re friends, right?¡± Velvet thought about that. Her instinct was to say no, but it hurt to think about. ¡°I suppose we are, now.¡± ¡°Listen, if you¡¯re not an enemy, we¡¯d be so glad to have you with us. We¡¯d do pretty much anything to get more Augmentation cultivators on our side. It¡¯s just¡­ if you¡¯re an enemy¡­¡± Runa shook her head. ¡°We can¡¯t let you be part of them. And while your wounds are certainly real, the fact that you survived could be a ploy in itself. So tell me.¡± But she couldn¡¯t. That would ruin everything. Wouldn¡¯t it? Velvet frowned. At this point, her position here was compromised regardless. The only risk was information about her being passed along to the Exalted Quadrant. It wasn¡¯t impossible that it would happen because of other spies, but it wasn¡¯t as if the Chaotic Conglomeration could get angry at the Scarlet Alliance sending her and¡­ do anything about it. The whole of the Exalted Quadrant was between them, and even having barely visited a single path of planets she understood how much that was. ¡°What do you know of the Scarlet Alliance?¡± ¡°... The what?¡± Runa looked genuinely confused. ¡°Haven¡¯t heard of them.¡± ¡°The Scarlet Midfields¡­?¡± ¡°Is that, uh¡­¡± Runa frowned. ¡°Nope, that was the Fields of Crimson Death. Yeah, don¡¯t know it.¡± ¡°... The region in between the Exalted Quadrant and their rivals the Trigold Cluster?¡± Runa furrowed her brow for a while. ¡°I think I heard about the Trigold Cluster once. There a place there?¡± Velvet sighed. The people here were so far from caring about the Scarlet Alliance. She should have realized. The entire point was that the two groups were flanking the Exalted Quadrant. But until she was deep in Exalted Quadrant territory, she hadn¡¯t heard of the Chaotic Conglomeration either. And half of that was as the ¡®western barbarians¡¯. ¡°Well, we have a faction there,¡± Velvet explained. ¡°We¡¯re not on great terms with the Exalted Quadrant so¡­ as their enemies, I came to see if we could¡­ make use of your conflict.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Runa said. ¡°That makes sense. What do you think?¡± ¡°About what?¡± ¡°Is what we¡¯re doing here useful?¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Because for all of the things I have pretended to know about your group, I don¡¯t really know much. The mines weren¡¯t a great place of study, and I was careful around your sect¡¯s library.¡± ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Runa nodded. ¡°That makes sense. So.. you didn¡¯t want one of these,¡± she gestured to her void metal knife, ¡°To steal the formula for the Exalted Quadrant?¡± ¡°Would that work?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°If so, they would probably have it already, right?¡± ¡°Uh, I suppose it wouldn¡¯t. Or they don¡¯t think they¡¯re worth it.¡± ¡°Yeah well, I just thought they were useful,¡± Velvet said. ¡°And I use daggers so it¡¯s not that far off from my style.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± Runa said. Then she held out her hand. ¡°So, come with me and we¡¯ll explain all that. Dad will try to poach you from this Scarlet thing but I don¡¯t mind if you just want to help us out for a little while. As long as we¡¯re friends still?¡± Velvet took Runa¡¯s hand. She¡¯d expected it to be a symbolic gesture, but instead her friend grasped her hand and yanked her away. ¡°Come on, we have to get you out of here. All sorts of annoying sword and tree guys are looking for you.¡± Ah, right. That was all still happening, wasn¡¯t it? Chapter 837 Despite how she looked and felt, Velvet was capable of moving at a fairly decent pace. Not fast enough for Runa, however, so her friend carried her along under one arm. It wasn¡¯t a very dignified way to travel, but she wasn¡¯t going to complain. Much. Runa turned her head back where they came, slicing her knife through the empty air. Even in her current state, Velvet could pick out senses reaching out for them. ¡°Does that work?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Cutting apart energy senses? Wouldn¡¯t that make us just as obvious?¡± ¡°Not with the right technique,¡± Runa said, slicing the area ahead of them as the energy continued to flow. ¡°People don¡¯t actually take in everything. They¡¯re just looking for something of note.¡± Something like void ants, then, except they were also aided by their miniscule size. They could still be noticed by a lack of feedback, but you had to be ready. ¡°You¡¯ll have to teach it to me sometime,¡± Velvet said. ¡°And give me one of those daggers.¡± ¡°Both are sect secrets,¡± Runa shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll teach you about Augmentation,¡± Velvet said, grinning. Her friend¡¯s steps faltered for a moment. ¡°... Wait, really?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s a fair trade.¡± In truth, if she actually stayed around she would probably end up teaching people regardless. Even if they couldn¡¯t reach Augmentation, any additional power the Chaotic Conglomeration had would be bad for the Exalted Quadrant. She still wasn¡¯t certain whether or not she could trust the whole group as allies, but she really didn¡¯t need to. There were some secrets she might not share- such as communications technology- but mostly so that the Exalted Quadrant couldn¡¯t get their hands on it. They¡¯d already snatched some from Chikere, but hopefully its safety measures had rendered them useless. Either way, it was difficult to produce complex technology from limited samples. Runa was silent for the next hour. Velvet almost didn¡¯t realize her next words were continuing an earlier thought. ¡°I¡¯ll talk with father about it. We¡¯ll have to see.¡± So serious. Not that Velvet¡¯s request wasn¡¯t serious as well, but still. It was difficult to concentrate on detailed uses of energy while moving, but since Velvet no longer had to conceal herself she was able to begin slowly building up her energy stores. By sundown, she felt much more capable of fighting if it came down to it. And around midnight she actually managed to convince Runa to let her down to move on her own. Velvet briefly wondered how far she could go, and how quickly. Her momentary burst of speed in that combat was something she couldn¡¯t easily forget. They were merely idle thoughts, however, because even in the best case she¡¯d end up a significant distance from Runa. That was assuming she didn¡¯t draw attention with the burst of energy and then collapse just inside the searching cultivator¡¯s sensory range. Having not properly slept since her Augmentation, Velvet was looking forward to reaching safety. As an Augmentation cultivator she could likely continue without sleep indefinitely in optimal situations, but being already fatigued and on the move wasn¡¯t one of those. That said, Runa was aware of the current locations of their allied forces, and they were able to rather quickly leave the most dangerous areas. They might have already been back at the Spirit Slicing Sect¡¯s base if they went directly, but they couldn¡¯t be certain they wouldn¡¯t be noticed along the way so they took a circuitous route around the north side to enter through the east. ----- Velvet wanted to just sleep, but first she had to meet with Emrik. This time, Emrik kept Runa in the room with them. As Velvet looked at the middle aged man, he wondered what the purpose was. To make her feel more comfortable, or to have backup if she tried something? Velvet as she was this exact moment wasn¡¯t particularly stronger than before. Not injured and with her energy still below its maximum. ¡°It feels like just yesterday you were here in my office,¡± Emrik said. ¡°When you said we matched in strict cultivation level, I thought you were conceding my strength. But perhaps you were simply being humble.¡± ¡°You might have been stronger at the time,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°Unlikely. At least, not in the way that would have mattered. You never really answered that first question.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s important,¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°What question did you ask?¡± Runa asked. Emrik shook his head. ¡°I suppose it really doesn¡¯t matter now. So, daughter, you have brought her here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. She¡¯s, um, from the far east.¡± ¡°So that was it. The Trigold Cluster, then?¡± Velvet¡¯s eye twitched. ¡°Between them and the Exalted Quadrant. In the Scarlet Midfields.¡± ¡°Strange,¡± Emrik furrowed his brow. ¡°Not much news passes all the way through the Exalted Quadrant, but there was something¡­ but it involved a swordmaster on the edge of Augmentation. Or at least that¡¯s what I heard. Ah, wait. There was that one sect. The¡­ Harmonious Citadel? Some of them used daggers.¡± ¡°That is the best way to describe it, yes,¡± Velvet said. ¡°They don¡¯t, anymore.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Emrik said. ¡°They seemed the traditional type who would never change their practices.¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t do that,¡± Velvet said. ¡°They¡¯re dead. The Scarlet Alliance wiped them out.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not one of them?¡± Emrik asked. ¡°I heard some of their saints were Augmentation cultivators.¡± ¡°All of them,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Plus a couple more.¡± She frowned, ¡°Well, you can also subtract a couple, since the Citadel of Exalted Light snuck in a disciple to take over as their sect head, and they had another that was probably from them.¡± The connection of Citadel in their names was simply a coincidence. Velvet could think of dozens of citadels, palaces, and the like among prominent sects. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Then your Scarlet Alliance must have had a great many Augmentation cultivators.¡± ¡°Fewer than them,¡± Velvet said, not willing to give away actual information. ¡°They just underestimated us for too long and fought stupid. Plus Everheart took a shot at them.¡± ¡°That asshole? No wonder they crumbled.¡± ¡°... You know Everheart?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Oh yeah, he stole a planet from one of our systems one time,¡± Emrik said. ¡°Who doesn¡¯t know him?¡± Velvet made a mental note doubling down on what she was already doing, which was never telling anyone she was from the same planet as him. ¡°We just thought he was a slightly more local menace.¡± ¡°Yeah, but at least he died. Wait¡­¡± Emrik frowned. Then sighed, ¡°He¡¯s not dead, is he?¡± ¡°Unfortunately not,¡± Velvet said. She could hold the opinion that the galaxy would be better off if he was dead and be glad that he was alive to cause trouble for their enemies. ¡°I assume he¡¯s running things from that ¡®tomb¡¯ planet of his, then?¡± ¡°Not for well over a century,¡± Velvet shook her head. Rather than saying that they wrested control of it which would sound rather unbelievable, she obfuscated. ¡°He moved on to a whole system that¡¯s a few times as deadly. He named it after himself, obviously.¡± Emrik took a deep breath. ¡°At least all of the Exalted Quadrant is between him and us. Maybe I¡¯ll be lucky and die of old age before he comes back here. But we¡¯ve gotten far off track.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Runa said. ¡°Um, the point is, father, that she¡¯s willing to fight with us for a while. Because of our mutual enemy.¡± ¡°Everheart?¡± he asked. ¡°The Exalted Quadrant,¡± Velvet clarified. ¡°Oh. Your alliance must be a bigger deal than I thought.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve stayed minimal on direct confrontation. Except for Chikere.¡± ¡°That would be the swordmaster?¡± ¡°She¡¯s no good at not getting in trouble. Speaking of swordmasters¡­ with the Limitless Edge here, information will likely find its way back to the Exalted Quadrant about my breakthrough. It might draw more trouble here.¡± ¡°If the Exalted Quadrant was willing to field more Augmentation cultivators, they would have a century ago. Most likely, they¡¯ll redistribute their forces. Preferably, we¡¯ll make some headway before then.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°I¡¯m willing to assist. Obviously I don¡¯t intend to fight experienced Augmentation cultivators head on if they arrive, however.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect you to, regardless of experience. Your talents seem to lie elsewhere.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Runa spoke up. ¡°Velvet mentioned¡­ guiding me towards Augmentation, in exchange for some of our techniques. And a void blade.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to talk about that later,¡± Emrik said. ¡°For now, we should let her rest.¡± He looked at Velvet, ¡°You look like you need it.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t break through under optimal circumstances.¡± As she took her leave, she expected the two of them to have a secret chat about whether they could trust her- in general and specifically with their techniques. She didn¡¯t think that could result in a negative enough result that they would try to kill her, not at this point- but if they did, she was fairly confident in her ability to flee. Not that she thought it likely, since Runa trusted her, but she had to keep such ideas in mind. She would sleep with one eye open, though that wasn¡¯t any different from usual. She only ever slept deeply within the safety of the One Hundred Stars, either upon Xankeshan or previously Ceretos. ----- Five days of alternating between sleep and meditation to restore her wounds, Velvet didn¡¯t find any more value in remaining in isolation. Her injuries were fortunately the sort that were easily recovered from, though she would still need some time before she was completely finished patching up her body. Her energy stores, however, were higher than they had ever been before. That was obvious, since she had stepped into a new stage, but she was still pleasantly surprised. She also expected to grow rapidly for a short time as she stabilized her transition to Augmentation. She walked around the Spirit Slicing Sect much as before. She had already kept her cultivation understated, and she continued to do so. While people had some idea about there potentially being an Augmentation cultivator, she didn¡¯t need the regular sect members to connect it to her. That would make it harder for them to spill information if they were captured and interrogated. Plus, she didn¡¯t want the attention. ¡°Velvet!¡± Runa said, having noticed her once she stepped out of her room. ¡°Are you feeling better?¡± ¡°Indeed. I think there¡¯s little more I can do lazing around. So I planned to get involved in something. What¡¯s the current situation?¡± ¡°We¡¯re planning an attack on the forest,¡± Runa said as they walked. ¡°I guess we never got your latest report on things there, but¡­ they kind of gave up their secrecy.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Forest of Death cultivators along with the Limitless Edge. I can give you a decent count of their numbers and strength from when I was there, however. They also had an adequate defensive formation. And because of their trees, they will know you¡¯re coming.¡± ¡°They will,¡± Runa agreed. ¡°But they¡¯ll be lacking critical information.¡± ¡°They know about me,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°Not that. They won¡¯t know how many of us are on our way.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see how you¡¯ll accomplish that,¡± Velvet admitted. Runa grinned as she pulled out her knife, giving it a twirl. ¡°We know they¡¯re connected to the trees. So we just¡­ slice that connection.¡± ¡°Hmm. How long will that last?¡± ¡°Long enough. It¡¯s not so easy to reform ¡®permanent¡¯ connections. And if they try, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll exhaust themselves faster than we tire. Of course, we¡¯ll be involving other local sects as well. They¡¯re quite mad about these people camping basically next door.¡± ¡°Are you certain they haven¡¯t moved on?¡± ¡°They fled back to the forest, after people started moving against them,¡± Runa said. ¡°You know, when they were trying to chase after you. They were all spread out, so they really couldn¡¯t do much but run. And some of our people were watching the far side for reinforcements or the like. Maybe they¡¯ll get some, which is why we¡¯re intending to move out soon.¡± ¡°Five days seems rather slow,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°Not to coordinate multiple sects. And the Exalted Quadrant is usually even slower to act.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Velvet was aware of that, to some extent. Perhaps there was some actual advantage to being from a new alliance. On the scale of cultivators, of course. The Scarlet Alliance was decently strong for having existed in its current form for less than two centuries. Ut the Exalted Quadrant was an ancient monolith that loomed over everything, making them seem impossible to overcome. But she could at least help the Chaotic Conglomeration chip at their base. And in the short term, checking how her combat capabilities had changed would be useful. She didn¡¯t expect to make perfect use of her new abilities right away, but that was why there would be a whole army with her as just one part. At least, she hoped nobody would be relying on the word Augmentation too much. Chapter 838 Forces began to move towards the forest, the army creating a perimeter with the intention to prevent anyone from fleeing. Then the core of the army gathered into columns, ready to march inwards. It would be nearly impossible for those within to miss the approaching mass of cultivators, but their concrete information would be limited. They seemed to have some belief they could withstand an attack because they had stayed, but Velvet had seen the numbers filling their camp. Even with the Limitless Edge, they shouldn¡¯t be able to withstand the Spirit Slicing Sect and several other local sects. Velvet wasn¡¯t so sure about the Mustelid Menagerie. She¡¯d seen beast tamers before but usually they went for large and powerful creatures instead of these creatures. They were supposed to be rather fierce, but they were sized from smaller than a housecat to some stocky ones barely the size of a small wolf. Fuzz might be able to eat them all in a single mouthful- the entire army they brought along. Then again, that was something they had going for them. Each tamer had at least a half dozen creatures, and they felt strong enough. Maybe the equivalent of Essence Collection, though some were stronger. Then there were the Prospect Shapers. They were said to manipulate probability. Regardless of how it actually worked they would enhance their allies and hinder their enemies across a battlefield. And of course, they could fight for themselves. At the head of the Spirit Slicing Sect were Emrik and Runa, for both morale and practical purposes. As they strode ahead into the forest, Velvet watched them approach some of the spying trees. A green mist seeped out of the trees as they got close, spreading out to a radius of five meters. Instead of going through it to assault the trees they simply circled around them, their void blades slicing at something Velvet would normally have called empty air. But there was something there. A thin connection between both the trees and the cultivators further in. The trees shuddered as the connection was severed, shedding their leaves all at once. The foul mist faded away as it was no longer sustained by the plants. Velvet wondered what the results of straightforwardly attacking the trees would have been. Certainly, it had to be possible- but it would also take some amount of energy to destroy them. They didn¡¯t look like much, but being connected to cultivators they had to be tougher than they seemed. The connections, however, were severed almost without a thought. Obviously there was a bit more than waving around a void blade, but it seemed quite effective. As they moved further into the forest, the trees began to react even before they approached. A half dozen of them somehow spread that noxious poison between them, creating a larger screen that forced the cultivators around them. Rather than being discouraged, however, Runa and Emrik split up and began to work faster. It seemed they were trying to make their possible path harder to predict. The swiftness with which they worked meant those following behind hardly had to slow down, marching towards the enemy camp with purpose. They weren¡¯t moving at combat speeds, of course, which meant that if the cultivators chose to flee they would be quite delayed. But that was why they had people watching. Velvet was also fairly certain she would be able to sense if a mass of cultivators ran away with speed. That would be a significant exercise of upper energy, likely even more obvious than their army. And if the split off individually, they might still be noticed and would be more vulnerable to the encircling cultivators. The Forest of Death clearly wasn¡¯t willing to just lay down and accept their connections being severed. Among other things, they somehow rerouted their connections through the ground, throwing off Runa and Emrik for a moment. Once they found the connection, however, they swept aside a meter or two of dirt and sliced through them. That slightly slowed them down until the Mustelid Menagerie came forward with a handful of badgers that were able to dig up large sections of ground with seemingly the same effort as Integration cultivators- but saving those two the repeated expenditures of energy. Eventually, they reached the camp- surrounding which was their basic formation. Velvet could feel the cultivators within, and nothing seemed especially different. There was still the higher density of connected trees that had to be dealt with, but they would take care of them. It would take more than just the sect head and Runa, however. ¡°Begin the plan,¡± Emrik ordered, looking towards the Mustelid Menagerie. They nodded. Velvet didn¡¯t know what the plan was. Perhaps it had been discussed while she was recovering, and it hadn¡¯t seemed important to tell her. She was curious, but her curiosity was satisfied almost immediately as the sect made their way to the rear of the army and then¡­ a dozen tunnels began being dug out. They didn¡¯t look large enough for humans yet, but it was a potential way past the formation. It was a pretty basic formation after all, not set into stone as well as requiring activation by the cultivators inside. It could probably be battered down as well, though trying alternate approaches first made enough sense. There was the matter of roots, however. Hopefully they had accounted for that. Even as an Integration cultivator, Velvet would have been able to move a large amount of loose dirt. Despite that, she found herself impressed by the badgers digging into the ground, earth spraying out of their tunnels like an explosion, except constant. The tunnels were going deep into the ground- ten meters, in as many seconds, after which they began to crawl towards the enemy encampment. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Velvet had no idea how the dirt rounded the bend with such velocity, but it sprayed into hills behind the openings, hills which the other small beasts and the cultivators were pushing away from the holes as they would otherwise rapidly grow large enough to pour into the burrows. It didn¡¯t take long for the badgers to close the small distance to reach the vertical plane of the barrier, at which point the Spirit Slicing Sect moved forward. Those of them who had void blades went for the trees, cutting off their connections, while the others made use of their techniques to do something to the barrier. It didn¡¯t collapse, but the badgers weren¡¯t hindered by anything underground. They even sped up, covering multiple meters each second. Then the Mustelid Menagerie poured into the hole, hundreds of beasts of various small sizes¡­ and then the cultivators, who had no room to do anything but wriggle with their arms at their sides. And yet, they moved quite rapidly. A few dozen meters was covered in a few moments of distraction, and then they burst from the ground, inside the enemy fortifications. Beasts poured out, biting at toes and heels, or the backs of knees where they were taller. The enemy fought back, of course. It was simply that the Limitless Edge didn¡¯t seem fit for fighting creatures of that size. They cut down two or three beasts in each swing of their blade, but were then beset by a dozen more, swarming over them and making them unable to attack as they pleased. Even Life Transformation cultivators would falter among simultaneous attacks from so many Essence Collection cultivators. The rarer Integration cultivators were dealt with by the larger beasts- there were a couple kinds of badgers, one of which seemed completely unafraid of blades, branches, roots, or anything at all. The chaos both distracted those sustaining the barrier and also caused some of them to perish. Runa and Emrik attacked simultaneously, cutting a wide rectangular opening in the barrier. It wavered for a moment as it tried to restore the hole, but they held their void blades at opposite corners as people began to pour through. Velvet had all sorts of ideas about how she was going to approach the battle, but when it came down to it she just followed the flow people, hiding among them. Picking her out specifically would be an exercise in frustration with all of the members of the Spirit Slicing Sect and the Prospect Shapers coming with them, their auras dominating the battlefield. Then of course there were the rabid animals inside¡­ fighting alongside the actual beasts they commanded. Velvet reminded herself to never doubt the ferocity of that particular sect. Killing people was¡­ easy. Velvet knew that already, but she was reminded of it even more strongly as she slipped around the battlefield. Her greater power allowed her to conceal her presence well enough with the surrounding chaos, and it made puncturing defenses almost child¡¯s play. Early Integration cultivators were finished off in a single attack just like anyone below them. She might have been able to kill mid Integration cultivators, but she figured guaranteeing the deaths of two or three weaker individuals was better than risking getting locked in combat. The battle, though it had initially gone in their favor, was still closer than Velvet would like. People on both sides were falling, and though it took a lot more than she would expect to bring down the feral cultivators they did drop eventually. Velvet picked up her pace, though she didn¡¯t always go for the most likely target. People were beginning to notice people dying with no apparent attacker, and they were scanning for her- though with so many allies, they couldn¡¯t even begin to attempt the wild tactics they had done to catch her before. Not without leaving every single one of them open to being taken out by others, and even then they¡¯d probably barely touch her. She attacked one individual, moved halfway across the battlefield to take out a Limitless Edge sect member, and then dodged behind some of the Forest of Death members. Meanwhile, the Prospect Shapers were shielding the group from the poisonous mist released by the trees- until the Spirit Slicing Sect could sever each connection. They were over halfway through that project, making the Forest of Death weaker and weaker. Just as the trees responded to the connection being cut, the cultivators twinged in singles or small groups as each tree was removed from their network. By the time they realized they should run, it was too late. It wasn¡¯t just the swarm of beasts that was pouring over them, but also the fact that they couldn¡¯t possibly flee quickly enough. The parasitic trees might slow down the armies pursuing them, but then again it might not. More than that, Velvet was confident enough to try something big. As they turned to run, she gladly hung back, gathering some of her energy. While the One Hundred Stars was only particularly suited to visual illusions because of the aspect of light, that didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t do others and she had many times in the past. Here, she provided a single one to all of the enemy cultivators. No, it was even more than that. She linked their perceptions in the most unhelpful way. What she projected was nothing. No sound, light, or feeling. Unlike some illusions, it wasn¡¯t meant to fool them but to stymie their senses. They could still feel the positions of their bodies and keep their balance- Velvet wasn¡¯t confident in distorting all of that at once- and their energy senses would likely still benefit them, but that was where the last component came in. A linking of their senses, so that everything they could feel would be duplicated to each and every one of them. In theory. In practice, Velvet didn¡¯t have an opportunity to tell them what they felt. Instead, her energy forced a few moments of confusion upon all of them, during which over half of them were cut down¡­ or bitten to death. It was only a few seconds, given that she had to push the illusion through their energy, but Velvet was still satisfied affecting so many at once in a non-trivial manner. She likely couldn¡¯t have done it at the beginning of the battle, however. They would have resisted better when they were in optimal states. Even so, she put the idea away for later. If she grew a bit stronger, then it might be viable. For now, she went back to cutting them down in secret- though there weren¡¯t any who would have been able to stop her regardless. It was unfortunate that the Limitless Edge would know about her, though. She wasn¡¯t certain about the details of what they shared, but someone should know. Hopefully, they would decide it wasn¡¯t worth coming back¡­ instead of their sect head hunting her down. Because Augmentation or not, Velvet didn¡¯t want to face someone who had beaten Chikere in a one-on-one sword match. Leaving them wouldn¡¯t have helped, though. Indeed, they needed to take as much advantage of Velvet¡¯s advancement and the information she could gather as they could in the near future. And as long as she wasn¡¯t going into a battle alone, Velvet felt quite confident about keeping herself safe. Chapter 839 It had been long enough since Anton had visited anywhere along his route to the east, ending at In¡¯istra. It was time for him to make his once in a few decades checkup. Maybe closer to a century, this time. He¡¯d been quite busy, and hadn¡¯t needed to return. So he hadn¡¯t found the time. Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn were almost unrecognizable. They were no longer the only occupied planets in the system. They had already been spreading on his last trip, but they were just starting to settle their moons and other places. Now¡­ their population and prosperity had exploded. Many people still lived underground, but that became more a matter of efficiency of space usage rather than a necessity. He stopped by Syrinx and the Hardened Crown Sect, though he didn¡¯t have much to do there. The stubborn Naamah was at least making use of the more admirable side of that quality, beginning interaction with Nidec. They hadn¡¯t expanded outside of their system yet, and it wouldn¡¯t be necessary for quite some time- but the changes he saw were quite astounding. It helped that very few people remembered the previous conflict between the twin planets. They were still the highest population, but more than three quarters of people were too young to remember the war. And those who did like Admetus and Aurelianus had been part of the reconciliation. Like with Syrinx, he happened to choose one of the rare times Anishka wasn¡¯t on Ekict but instead back on Ceretos- though he had taken some time to reconnect with her already when he stopped by. He couldn¡¯t really expect everyone else to just stay in one place when he himself was now more of a wanderer, but it was strange to stop by the planet and not have her there. Anton had been more or less aware of what changes were happening in each place, so he wasn¡¯t surprised by anything until he came to Xicil. The desert planet had some way of sensing the approach of cultivators, and they were quite efficient about hiding underground. Despite that, the place was lively- with a clearly farmed surface that spoke of a significant population. Anton didn¡¯t want to force people inside every time he showed up, but he was still curious so he couldn¡¯t help but stop by. Thus, he was quite surprised to find someone waiting outside. He hadn¡¯t raced towards them, since he didn¡¯t want to spook them, but there should have been plenty of time. Especially since this was a Life Transformation cultivator. With that in mind, he made his way around the planet, landing a hundred meters away from the man, finding that he had sun-kissed dark skin. He figured it was polite to walk up to him instead of instantly sitting down at the table the man was at- even though he was certain it was set up for him. ¡°Greetings, mighty one.¡± The man¡¯s style of speech was a bit awkward, but Anton had plenty of practice with those who had been separated from the connected language of cultivators. And he¡¯d also learned much more different language with regards to what was spoken on Akrys. ¡°Greetings,¡± Anton said. ¡°I had expected a note, to be honest.¡± ¡°It was not¡­ good enough,¡± the man said. As he looked at Anton, he swallowed nervously. ¡°Sit, if you please. My name is Bishan.¡± Anton took the seat across from him. ¡°I am Anton.¡± It was clear the man was uncomfortable, though Anton was trying to do his best to not be threatening. ¡°Apologies. You¡­ burn with the power of many stars. I thought I was prepared, but¡­¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Anton nodded. He supposed he hadn¡¯t really been around much since reaching Enrichment. He might have simply gone past, in fact, since he saw no reason to bother them on outgoing and return trips. ¡°Yes, I have grown stronger since I was last here.¡± ¡°... How?¡± Bishan asked. ¡°I mean¡­ you do not need to give up any secrets, but I wonder how you are here and not ascended.¡± That was something Anton was willing to answer. ¡°I took a different path. Instead of Ascension, I remained here. Connected myself to the stars.¡± ¡°I¡­ see,¡± Bishan nodded. ¡°We had not considered anything like that, but perhaps we should have. I was a small child when you first appeared. I was a bit precocious, taking up cultivation early. When you came, I hid just inside our seal. I felt you first then. And I am partially responsible for the exchange of notes.¡± Anton smiled. ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear it. And I apologize,¡± he gestured around them. ¡°I never intended to force people to rush inside. I have troubled your planet more than a few times.¡± ¡°Oh no,¡± Bishan wave his hand. ¡°It is a very rare occurrence to have you visit. One day off every few years, or decades¡­ and this time, we wondered if you might return. And the lack of warning is good for us. You¡­ do not seem to be hostile. But others might be. People need the experience. There has only been one other besides you.¡± ¡°There was someone else?¡± Anton asked. ¡°When?¡± He had specifically not given the coordinates of Xicil to anyone. ¡°Three, no, four decades ago. However, they merely entered the system and did not descend to the planet.¡± Anton frowned. If they were going to cause trouble, they likely would have done so by now. Perhaps it was someone trading with In¡¯istra who randomly stumbled upon the system? Or one of the alliance¡¯s exploration ships? He hadn¡¯t heard about it, but even if it had been reported perhaps they hadn¡¯t made the connection. They might have even missed that the planet had life. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Well, It is good there has been no actual trouble. And that you seem to be living quite well. I always see plenty of food growing.¡± ¡°Yes, our seasons are mild. We are able to grow almost year round, and there is little to disrupt us. And we have enough natural energy to cultivate to some extent.¡± ¡°You¡¯re more than just ¡®some extent¡¯,¡± Anton said. ¡°The peak of Life Transformation¡­ up until a few centuries ago, my people weren¡¯t any different. Do you get anyone ascending?¡± ¡°Yes. Occasionally,¡± Bishan said. ¡°Why not yourself?¡± ¡°Actually¡­ I was hoping for this. To speak to you.¡± He was starting to relax, now. ¡°Oh!¡± He grabbed the flask he had set out on the table. ¡°Would you like something to drink? It is strong, but good.¡± He poured two glasses, setting them evenly between himself and Anton. Anton wondered if there was some protocol, or if he was merely being given a choice. They were the same either way. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said, reaching out for one and sniffing it. The smell was interesting, but his senses told him much more. ¡°Fermented cactus juice. It does indeed seem like it will be strong.¡± Anton took a sip- and Bishan hastily reached for his own glass and drank some as well. ¡°So¡­ you were interested in learning about us?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton said. ¡°Normally, when I visit places I like to give them advice on growth of crops. I am a farmer, actually. But you clearly have picked out the best crops to suit yourselves. Anything advice I can give would be more akin to cultivation advice.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Bishan said, some disappointment in his voice. ¡°I understand that you would not want to share such secrets.¡± Anton grinned. ¡°My second favorite thing to do is discuss cultivation with people. Though I think you simply knowing about a path besides Ascension might have led to something for you. And at the same time, I would be interested in hearing why your people live¡­ like this. But I can guess at part of it.¡± Ultimately, Anton¡¯s guess turned out to be right. Some cycles before, there had been an invasion that nearly wiped them out. They managed to keep enough records that the next cycle they were able to barricade themselves underground, enduring long enough that the invaders had to return with the tides of the world after gaining nothing of value. Since then, there had been no further attacks, but they tried to be ready. Anton didn¡¯t know when they managed a warning system, and he didn¡¯t ask. That was sensitive information they could keep for themselves. Most of that day was chatting with Bishan about cultivation, though Anton didn¡¯t give away any major secrets. He had good feelings about the man, but it was their first meeting and he truly didn¡¯t know much about the planet or its people, except approving of their tenacity. Since it seemed people wouldn¡¯t be coming out while he was around, Anton didn¡¯t linger beyond a single day. He might have left sooner, but he figured he had already ruined the day of work just for arriving so he might as well learn some things. He did speak about the Lower Realms Alliance, suggesting that they might want to join it- but ensuring that he would keep their location secret if they didn¡¯t want to. Though people would certainly have to know about them eventually, with the rate expansion was happening. Maybe not in the next decade or century, but at the very least people would have to know they were there and didn¡¯t want to be bothered. ----- Anton was surprised to find Varghese at the peak of Life Transformation. Since he couldn¡¯t really schedule his timing around what the sect head was doing, he just showed up- and predictably Varghese chased away everyone seeking his attention to make time for Anton. Anton knew it was partially respect for him, but also an excuse for Varghese to not have to deal with them. Otherwise, he would have been content to wait. ¡°Sect head,¡± Varghese bowed his head. ¡°Branch head Varghese. It has been far too long. I know we have been exchanging messages, but it¡¯s not the same.¡± ¡°Indeed it is not,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°Even so, you could have asked for my advice. Has your cultivation hit a bottleneck?¡± Anton asked. Varghese shook his head. ¡°You provided me with sufficient guidance- and the Path to One Hundred Stars. No, I was simply waiting¡­ for this. To consult with you in person.¡± ¡°You could have asked me to come.¡± ¡°You were busy. And I have been busy. Honestly, I needed the time. To think. And to make certain things could function without me.¡± ¡°You intend to ascend?¡± Anton asked, surprised. ¡°Not at all,¡± Varghese said. ¡°But I recall you speaking of turning your body into little more than a mess of charcoal. And there are the other complications. You see, I want to bind In¡¯istra¡¯s star.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I can give up my bond to the star.¡± ¡°No!¡± Varghese said. ¡°I know that would drop your cultivation. A decade or more, I imagine. I wanted¡­ to see if both of us could bond to the same star.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°None of the others have chosen this path. Vincent was quite different. And others generally choose to ascend, or forge their own paths. Not that I am saying it is incorrect to try¡­ but they are intimidated by me.¡± ¡°Myself as well,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°Which might be why I didn¡¯t ask you to come. But¡­ I want to try.¡± ¡°You know it will be dangerous for us?¡± Anton asked. ¡°For you more than me, I imagine.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Varghese said. ¡°And I understand if you wouldn¡¯t want to risk yourself.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t mind. I need to know, actually. I don¡¯t intend to monopolize things for myself, after all. But we¡¯ll need to be careful. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll have to relax my control or¡­ anything else. There has only been one other time, with Ekict¡¯s star- and the one drawing power from that did so in an entirely different manner.¡± Anton had already been planning to spend more time on In¡¯istra than elsewhere, but now he had a reason to spend several months just going over the risks and possible scenarios. Because he didn¡¯t want the local branch head to die, for more than one reason. And he also didn¡¯t want himself to die, though as he¡¯d stated the risk of that was much lower. Chapter 840 Unlike when Anton had made his attempt to connect to Ceretos¡¯ star, it was relatively simple to approach In¡¯istra¡¯s sun. Either he could carry Varghese, or they could approach with a ship. They went with the former option, both because of the potential danger to others and because it would be better to have fewer layers between Varghese and the star. They¡¯d spend over a month preparing for this moment, discussing what might happen so they could hopefully prepare for every eventuality. But they couldn¡¯t know for certain what would happen until it was attempted. Anton took them to a midpoint between In¡¯istra and the star- not too close, but a nice distance to form a connection. ¡°Begin whenever you are ready,¡± Anton said. ¡°I will be waiting.¡± Varghese nodded, relaxing his body and mind. Anton had brought a bubble of air along with them so that he wouldn¡¯t have to refresh the air in his lungs or worry about other effects while he made his attempt. Anton¡¯s energy should be able to avoid interfering with his too much, as they practiced the same style. Time passed slowly as Varghese prepared himself. Then he reached out with his inner self, and Anton immediately felt a stirring in the star. He could resist, if he wanted to. His prior connection and greater cultivation would make it trivial. He knew that now for certain, but obviously he wasn¡¯t going to stop Varghese. Anton wanted to probe what was happening inside his disciple, but this was a critical moment he could not bear to disrupt. Thus, he simply waited, feeling only the ripples of power that came to him passively. He felt the connection to the star forming, but he wasn¡¯t quite certain what would happen when it completed. If it could be completed. If it was only half formed, it might be more dangerous to Varghese than simply failing directly. But soon enough, his worries were assuaged. Everything settled down, and Anton felt a connection through In¡¯istra¡¯s star to Varghese. It provided little more information than that he existed and a vague feeling of his power, but it was something. And the additional presence provided useful feedback. Most likely, only a few cultivators could bond to a star in the same manner. Or perhaps it was a lot, from certain perspectives. Five or ten, though it wasn¡¯t clear if that was limited to Assimilation cultivators or if there was some restriction with Enrichment cultivators like Anton. As it turned out, having prior experience and guidance made the whole process easier, and Varghese only looked a little crispy around the edges instead of becoming charcoal. Anton sensed some internal damage, but that would quickly heal as he was certain the process had succeeded more smoothly than his own. ¡°Congratulations,¡± Anton said. ¡°If I had planned ahead, branch head, I would have brought you a reward. Perhaps a suitable blade for you to wield.¡± Varghese shook his head. ¡°Your willingness to help is more than enough. Everything I have I owe to you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true,¡± Anton said. ¡°You learned magnetism all on your own.¡± ¡°Only after you gave me a proper basis of cultivation,¡± the young man replied. ¡°But we could go in circles like this forever.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Anton said. ¡°We certainly could. Though speaking of magnetism¡­ I have a suggestion for your next bonded star.¡± ¡°Azun?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Indeed. It¡¯s the best for you personally, not distant, and would provide us further information about star sizes and powers. It¡¯s no weaker than this star, despite its size, so I wouldn¡¯t expect any issues. But I imagine when you are ready, I won¡¯t be around. I would suggest binding it on your own, without me around. Though I wouldn¡¯t mind a warning about a date and time.¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°I think it would be awkward to do otherwise.¡± He took a deep breath of the faux atmosphere surrounding him. ¡°I still feel weak, in front of you.¡± ¡°Wait until you see everyone else. Though of course, you just advanced so you will take some time to come into the power of Assimilation properly. Though while we¡¯re here, you¡¯ll actually be a bit stronger. Or we could go even closer, for training. I believe teaching you Star Steps will be quite useful, now.¡± ¡°Your movement technique?¡± Varghese smiled widely. ¡°Well, the one I use. Unfortunately, it was developed by Everheart.¡± Varghese shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t have the basis for actually hating that guy. So as long as it works and isn¡¯t otherwise problematic, I don¡¯t care.¡± ¡°His techniques are always good. Or at least have clearly enumerated flaws. It¡¯s one thing he is truly good at.¡± ----- Everheart sneezed. He probed his body worriedly. Surely he couldn¡¯t be sick. Nor could dust enter his nose. His efforts found nothing unusual, but he resolved to keep an eye on it. As for his system, he could use a few more centuries of upgrades. Even though he was closer to the Trigold Cluster, pillaging them would get old fast. And he could only raid so many unsecure ¡®impenetrable¡¯ vaults in one place before people would start figuring out his tricks. He could always come up with new ones, but he¡¯d rather not. The Exalted Quadrant would certainly have some resources stored up. The question was, would they be in the heart of their dominion, or on the border where they were engaged in that drawn out war with the Chaotic Conglomeration? Well, he could do a little bit of sampling everywhere. Those kids who ascended after him had caused quite a bit of trouble in their territory, so they might be on alert for another century, but that just made things more interesting. And more embarrassing for them when they realized that stopping him in particular was much more difficult. Not that they¡¯d actually succeeded at their purpose to begin with. Chikere had escaped their grasp with a couple valuable individuals. ¡°Rahayu!¡± Everheart called out. ¡°Want to go fight that Limitless Edge who almost killed Chikere?¡± That got his attention. ¡°I do. My chances of survival are high enough to make it worthwhile. Though the way you said it¡­ are you coming too?¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°I am,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Though not with the intention to fight her. I just figured we could get multiple things done at once.¡± Rahayu nodded. ¡°Understandable.¡± ¡°Also if I get the chance I want to steal her sword.¡± ¡°From Chikere¡¯s explanation it was a soulbound blade. It might as well be part of her.¡± Everheart looked at Rahayu. ¡°You act like I never stole an arm or a leg or part of someone¡¯s soul before.¡± ¡°I will admit I had never even considered some of those possibilities, but now that you say it I don¡¯t doubt that you have,¡± Rahayu replied. ----- ¡°I intend to visit Poriza next,¡± Anton explained to Varghese. ¡°It¡¯s a bit roundabout if I want to visit Aipra but¡­ I¡¯m in the process of contacting them about that.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°You¡¯ve never had a problem with it before.¡± ¡°The problem is that I haven¡¯t been there since I the time advanced to Enrichment,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°And I don¡¯t want to cause unnecessary disturbances. In their people, or by drawing attention from distortion beasts. Regardless of whether or not I can defeat it, things drawn in by me could now be disastrous for them. And without a star I would be missing a good portion of my strength but likely still just as enticing.¡± ¡°I do see the problem,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°How unfortunate.¡± ¡°Yes. Perhaps I will make do with a simple message. It can be passed on to them. Though I would like to see Nalini.¡± ¡°Maybe she can come visit you?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Like, you can dip into subspace¡­ they have to be able to break out, right? And from what I hear, our shadow neighbors are in a more stable position. They can likely afford to spare her for a while.¡± ¡°That¡­ is an interesting point,¡± Anton said. ¡°And it is only a short trip. Though I don¡¯t intend to convince them to give up their isolation, seeing the outside might be good for Nalini. And those few who wanted to leave have already been transported away by our alliance.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve even had a few crazy cultivators go live with them,¡± Varghese said. ¡°With their permission, of course. But we¡¯ve got a pretty good relationship between our two and a half local systems.¡± ¡°A half, huh?¡± ¡°Well, they¡¯re neither a full system nor strictly local. Given their unique trajectory, that will likely become more true even ignoring the subspace thing.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Anton said. ¡°Poriza is a closer destination for them than here, so I¡¯ll continue my plans and see what I hear.¡± ----- The cultivators of Poriza had seen Anton in Enrichment. Of course they had, as he had advanced specifically by augmenting their own star, adding one of their gas giants and free-floating matter so that it would become a red dwarf, a proper star- if small. Even so, many of those there were surprised. Nasima and her family had only seen him shortly after his advancement, before he properly settled into Enrichment. Though he already knew it, the planet was doing well. He obviously wouldn¡¯t have precipitated such a large change without making sure things were alright. He¡¯d stayed for some time after his initial efforts, to make certain things were stable, and he¡¯d gotten frequent reports for a while. It was different to see it with his own eyes, though. A more powerful sun provided increased natural energy for all, and while that could lead to more fighting over resources, they¡¯d been stable before that point. So now Poriza was in a growth phase, shared with the nearby In¡¯istra. And as previously mentioned, Aipris. It was just significantly more difficult to get to one of them. The little red dwarf was barely a star, and yet to Anton it felt as powerful as Azun or any of the others. It was not only the star he bound to surpass the threshold of Enrichment, but also one he had a hand in promoting to true star status with proper sustained fusion and all that it provided. Strangely enough, Anton imagined many people wouldn¡¯t recognize him now. Know of him, perhaps, but it had been around half a century since the event so there would be an entire new generation, in the longer meaning of the term as cultivators might apply it. Not that anyone would be uncertain once they sensed his energy. There weren¡¯t a lot of people like Anton- no other yet, in fact. Not that he knew of. Hopefully, that would change before the end of the cycle, since he wanted decisive victories when the Tides of the World shifted and another round of invasions almost inevitably happened. ----- He had to wait a full season, but Nalini did want to meet up with Anton¡­ and agreed he likely shouldn¡¯t come to visit Aipra. She looked up at the sky, squinting. ¡°It¡¯s strange,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s just like this¡­ all the time?¡± ¡°Always,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though of course you don¡¯t see it so much when it¡¯s on the far side of the planet.¡± ¡°And the moon reflects its light even then,¡± Nalini commented. ¡°And you can see the stars at night. I understand why you cultivated the stars, with such magnificence.¡± ¡°This is one of the small ones,¡± Anton said. ¡°At least in terms of energy. There are some particularly small ones because of special circumstances.¡± ¡°Hmm. I¡¯m more than a few centuries late to pick a different cultivation path,¡± she said. ¡°And a star would not suit Aipra. But I do see why you like them.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t try to change your cultivation style,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°It works for you. Though perhaps I could provide some insight into potential growth possibilities. You¡¯re not too far from Enrichment yourself.¡± ¡°The power would have to balance with all of the people,¡± Nalini reminded him. ¡°If not, I could throw off everything and leave us weaker overall.¡± ¡°A good point,¡± Anton said. ¡°My friend Vincent might have some insights regarding that. But lacking those at the moment, I can give you some of my own. And show you how Aipra¡¯s communal cultivation style has benefited other systems.¡± Anton held up a picture of the meerkats cultivating together. ¡°This¡­ is a remarkably cute animal.¡± ¡°They¡¯re sapient,¡± Anton said. ¡°But yes. Extremely cute. They live just under the surface of the ground where it¡¯s safe- and a more consistent temperature. Not freezing.¡± ¡°And they make use of communal cultivation?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s a smaller scale. Not even close to worldwide right now. But it¡¯s been very good for their development. And who knows, maybe a century or two from now they¡¯ll have some insights that they can share with Aipra.¡± ¡°That would be¡­ interesting,¡± Nalini agreed. ¡°Now then, what of your archery?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still working on some more absurd ranges,¡± Anton said. ¡°Since you don¡¯t even have another system to shoot into, it¡¯s not much good for you. But it¡¯s still interesting. And I made some practical use of it recently. I couldn¡¯t reach the planet in time to affect an important battle any other way.¡± Everything was good. This was what Anton liked. Successful cultivation for himself and others. Prosperity. He was just going to make certain things kept working this way for as long as possible. Forever, perhaps. And if forever wasn¡¯t possible, then maybe he would just have to change that too. Chapter 841 From afar, Velvet watched one of the major landing sites of the Exalted Quadrant. Over the last few years she had grown more accustomed to her power as an Augmentation cultivator, participating in as many conflicts as she could. She would never be the sort of combatant that would sweep the battlefield alone, but she could turn an otherwise closely matched battle into a decisive victory for her side. Her frequent participation had been both to test herself and to try to get ahead of whatever response would come. Obviously, the Exalted Quadrant would want to deal with an Augmentation cultivator as soon as possible. Yet rather than quickly rallying their forces, she saw something more the opposite. They seemed to be withdrawing from Taon, or at least letting themselves be pushed away. And perhaps from their perspective it made sense. To them, it was just one planet. How many contested planets were there on the border of the Chaotic Conglomeration and the Exalted Quadrant? Fifty? A hundred? Perhaps more, depending on how one counted systems with multiple locations or split occupation. Velvet strode boldly forward. Rather than flowing light around her and replicating it, it was so much easier to let it simply pass through her. It did restrict her own vision, however. That was something she had learned to deal with, and it was easier to replicate the small portion that came to her eyes than maneuver everything around herself. Light wasn¡¯t the only sense that needed fooling- she had more than a few things she did to erase her presence. The purpose of her investigations this time were to determine more clearly whether or not the apparent actions of the Exalted Quadrant were actually correct. They might simply be falling back with the intent of pushing forward once reinforcements arrived. Perhaps a certain dangerous Augmentation cultivator. It was unclear if the Limitless Edge would be offended by her ¡®disciples¡¯ dying or not. Chikere being their only prior example didn¡¯t tell them much, since the swordmaster sought out the sect head intentionally. Any who died along the way were simply coincidental¡­ from a certain perspective, at least. One the Limitless Edge might share, as a swordmaster herself. In the past, Velvet had little trouble concealing herself in enemy territory. She¡¯d even infiltrated the Trigold Cluster for a short time. She hadn¡¯t obtained much in the way of true secrets, but there was information to be gained. However, the border planets were in a constant state of alertness which made things more difficult. She couldn¡¯t pose as a random cultivator, especially if anyone picked out her true cultivation level. There weren¡¯t tourists or even much in the way of civilians here. Anyone new would simply stick out. Thus, entering the walls of the fortified city was something she treated like she was already inside a sect¡¯s grounds, or even heading towards their vaults. Her movements took her through roundabout paths that nobody was watching, relying not just on her erased presence but a lack of interest in wherever she was to begin with. Overheard conversations told her little, at least outside. But she had some intention to infiltrate into meeting rooms, and perhaps retrieve papers from offices and the like. She also considered removing a few inconvenient leaders if she got the chance, but that was something she had to be cautious about. Though she could most likely flee, each small risk would compound into something truly dangerous. Cultivators had to overcome those risks, but one could only face a one percent chance of death so many times before their luck ran out. So it was important that it be either truly important, or a smaller margin of error. ----- Not killing people in a battle was something Rahayu did on occasion, though it certainly wasn¡¯t the norm. Locking himself in combat with a truly inferior opponent for a significant amount of time, however, was something he would have never even considered on his own. Fortunately his opponent was so far beneath him that he couldn¡¯t possibly be forced to reveal any flaws or habits in his style. What he did show were simply deceptions. But apparently Everheart needed this to happen. He just counted down the seconds until he was allowed to finish it. Everheart didn¡¯t want any communication in front of the Limitless Edge, so they simply had to set a time Everheart was assured he would have finished his observations. The last second. Rahayu waited for it to complete, attacking with an inefficient and sloppy move. It left a bad taste in his mouth. The Limitless Edge might be trying to perform every possible attack, and Chikere might have adapted her own form of it, but Rahayu was still stuck on straightforward perfection. He knew which things were better and which were not, and while there was something to be said for using an ¡®inferior¡¯ move to throw off an opponent, he should still be working from a stable of functional and reliable attacks. Not that this other style was necessarily wrong. Of course the disciples all died, leaving behind nothing of their blade, but that was more of a matter of them being weak and part of an incomplete picture. The Limitless Edge herself would no doubt be a better match. He was looking forward to it. It was a challenge he had to undertake, even if it killed him. ¡°I¡¯m not going to let you die, you know,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I have a lot to get out of you still.¡± ¡°I fail to understand how you could possibly influence the coming battle,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°Not without making it useless to me.¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s quite simple. With this,¡± Everheart pulled out a sword. It was the Limitless Edge¡­ except not. The tint of the metal was all wrong. The blade was a half finger too long, but at the same time too thin. The hilt wasn¡¯t even the right style. The fact that Rahayu had thought for even a moment that it was the Limitless Edge actually put him off guard. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°Whatever it needs to be,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Obviously it needs some tweaking, but we¡¯ll have time.¡± ¡°What is the point of it?¡± Rahayu asked. ¡°That¡¯s quite simple. The best way to steal something from someone is to not let them know it¡¯s gone. Until you¡¯re a hundred lightyears away and they look in their vault for something else, only to find your carefully written note informing them that their prize possession is missing.¡± Rahayu frowned. ¡°You¡¯re still thinking about stealing the Limitless Edge? It¡¯s not something that can be taken so easily.¡± ¡°Perhaps not,¡± Everheart said. ¡°But that¡¯s where we¡¯ll simply have to see.¡± ¡°Just don¡¯t disrupt the battle,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°I will make certain you achieve what insights you can,¡± Everheart said. ----- ¡°Oceans are big,¡± Three Squeaks commented to Contented Grunt as she carried him across the waves. ¡°Do you think we have to explore the whole thing?¡± The hippo simply tilted her head up. ¡°Are not oceans part of the world?¡± ¡°Well, sure. But there¡¯s so much of them! They go down so far, too. I could maybe just look from afar.¡± ¡°Well, I think your problem will be partially solved by the reach of your senses,¡± Contented Grunt commented. ¡°How far can you feel underwater?¡± ¡°Maybe a kilometer? Sometimes a bit more or less,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°That means in most places you don¡¯t need to put your nose to the sand, but can simply observe from the surface. But it still necessitates some further exploration. After all, if one were to walk through the the Lower Plains Coalition and see everything at ground level, they would surely miss much of what we are. The birds upon the trees and cliffs, those in the water, and those like yourselves that live underground.¡± ¡°You think there is anything that burrows in the sand at the bottom of the ocean?¡± ¡°We already know of the sand crabs,¡± Contented Grunt pointed out. ¡°They don¡¯t really burrow. Just dip their heads below a bit. I meant¡­ deep.¡± ¡°Perhaps something,¡± the hippo wiggled her body to represent a shrug. ¡°And from their perspective, it is many body lengths. Just as deep as you meerkats.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Three Squeaks nodded to himself. ¡°Well, in that case I think we should focus on finishing up land first. We¡¯ve got one continent basically explored. I think we only need another decade?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I would say it is ¡®basically¡¯ explored when we have little more than half merely passed by.¡± ¡°Hey, I felt pretty much everything around my path.¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And with my senses slowly improving and an improved walking pace, I think I might actually lower that decade to five or eight years.¡± Three Squeaks pondered. ¡°Can we count the domain of the great jungle cats as explored?¡± ¡°Have you seen it? Sensed it?¡± ¡°I sensed some Life Transformation people,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°So¡­ kinda? And Common Oak said the stick bugs had explored most of that jungle.¡± ¡°Sounds like you¡¯re being lazy. You wanted to see everything yourself.¡± ¡°I swear the planet keeps getting bigger,¡± Three Squeaks sighed. ¡°If I find out that anything is burrowing a kilometer beneath the crust I might just call it quits.¡± ¡°You would be doing yourself a disservice,¡± Contented Grunt said. Fearsome Mandibles got his attention with a nibble on his energy. ¡°We need to make sure to thoroughly survey the planet. And since the queen of Akrys has not been chosen yet, we cannot assign that to myriad subordinates.¡± Three Squeaks nodded. ¡°I suppose so.¡± Actually, he had a pretty good idea which of the princess would be going where. Fearsome Mandibles would likely end up in the upper realms. Her aggressive tendencies would do her better there, where they were intended to settle border planets and sabotage assaults from the upper realms. Crossed Antennae was much more conservative, and would do well leading a peaceful colony on Akrys. He only wondered why the Great Queen was still waiting to make the decision. It had been more than just a few years, after all. Then again, when it came down to it the void ants were limited in their growth by resources more than time. A bit of delay wouldn¡¯t hugely set them back. Echoing Cry swooped down from above. He was the last of their expedition team, for this trip. ¡°There¡¯s an island ahead,¡± he said. ¡°I sensed some strong presences.¡± ¡°Anything dangerous?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Unclear. Probably no Life Transformation cultivators, but definitely at least one Essence Collection equivalent. I couldn¡¯t determine if they were true cultivators or not.¡± ¡°An island is good,¡± Contented Grunt commented. ¡°It will give me a chance to clean off all this salt. Hippos aren¡¯t meant for ocean travel, I tell you. Or actual swimming.¡± ¡°You''re our water cultivator though,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Without you, our travel would be much worse. I can only swim a bit.¡± ¡°You float though,¡± Contented Grunt pointed out. ¡°I don¡¯t do that by nature.¡± ¡°And yet you still do,¡± Three Squeaks shrugged. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t have been so effective if you didn¡¯t want us taking advantage of your abilities.¡± He did understand that she had to rest eventually, of course. That was why they had Echoing Cry to help spot islands. And if they went long enough without anywhere for her to rest, Contented Grunt could actually remain floating as she rested, though that would make their location subject to the currents since she wouldn¡¯t be moving. And while it was a bit mean to push her, she was also a water cultivator who would benefit from exposure to places like the ocean, even if she ultimately didn¡¯t like it. Dipping in around the beach wasn¡¯t enough to properly experience it. Three Squeaks knew that, both because of what he¡¯d seen on his own and because of what he could sense in the deeper ocean. Lots of teeth, but that wasn¡¯t that weird. He was more surprised at how many things lived somewhere he thought he¡¯d be crushed to death. Obviously deep ocean exploration would be reserved for later, when he was stronger. Maybe Life Transformation, if he even made it there. He¡¯d felt quite confident in his growth until he reached Essence Collection, then years had passed and he¡¯d barely gone a handful of stars further. But perhaps he was still too set on meerkat timeframes in his head. According to what he knew, his speed wasn¡¯t actually bad. Chapter 842 A pillar split along a perfect dividing line, collapsing to the floor while leaving the roof above intact, supported by the remaining structures in the room. A dark skinned woman frowned as the pillar settled. ¡°It is not so easy to replace these, you know?¡± ¡°Then it would be better to have none of such ostentation to begin with,¡± Rahayu said, holding his blade towards the woman. The Limitless Edge could truly be said to be a perfect sword. He could see it now, in her hands. The way it moved as it came to cut off his head. He angled his sword, deflecting the blow above him. An impossible sharpness. Not every move of his opponent was something that made sense. Many were infuriatingly obtuse, in fact. Rahayu could feel the effects on Chikere¡¯s style, but unlike her there was no guarantee that a worthless move would be performed only a single time. The ease with which he had arrived didn¡¯t surprise Rahayu. While to the Limitless Edge this battle was of little value, it was also pointless for her to avoid it. He did not know enough to determine if she judged him or Chikere as worthy opponents, or just inevitable steps along her path. Either way, his goal was this battle. And while he wished to wind, he had no belief that it would happen. Rather than dulling his blade, the knowledge of his inevitable defeat made him sharper. Everheart had come with a purpose of his own, but Rahayu only came to take a gamble. Was he good enough? Blades crossed. Rahayu had fully expected some of his attacks by now to land, severing a limb or at least grazing the skin. But his opponent¡¯s movements were both swift and impossible to predict. It didn¡¯t seem like an untouchable swiftness, but he couldn¡¯t tell if this was the limit of her abilities. ¡°What is your blade made out of?¡± the Limitless Edge asked as she battered his weapon to the side. ¡°Very few hold together so long.¡± ¡°Well, who knows¡­?¡± Rahayu was the sort who usually kept track of such things, but at some point he¡¯d ended up with this particular weapon. Was it from Everheart, or one of those lured to the system? Its materials didn¡¯t matter. All that mattered was that it suited him. As for holding its form, how could it do anything else when his will hadn¡¯t broken? It was to Rahayu¡¯s understanding that the battle with Chikere played out much differently. They were different people after all, even if she had been his apprentice. He taught her much of his style, fueling her development- but she would never be like him. Among other things, she had developed styles for using many blades all at once, and it suited her. But Rahayu used only a single blade. Like the Limitless Edge. The ceiling caved in, where three more pillars fell. Rather than avoiding the falling rubble, Rahayu raised his sword, cutting down through it as part of his assault on his opponent. Scars were gouged upon the walls and floors around them, signs of their blades transcending their physical dimensions. Rahayu continued to face his opponent, even when she would not face him. It was infuriating, how she spun and twirled. That merely left her back open¡­ but it was Rahayu¡¯s own fault he was too weak to capitalize upon the openings. That was why he was here. To learn and grow. At some point, he realized that his opponent was done with him. Blood dripped down his forehead. Her blade pierced his side, quickly withdrawn. Another move, and Rahayu would be torn in two by her counter. And yet¡­ he had no choice but to make that move. Because he wasn¡¯t done. He wasn¡¯t going to let himself be afraid of something silly like death. The only thing he was afraid of was living on without further growth. He couldn¡¯t anticipate her move, so he merely positioned himself to deal with the reaction he would have to his move. His blade swung downward and upward at the same time, slicing in from the left and the right and a myriad of other angles as every possibility intermingled until finally it came to rest with his weapon nestled in her crossguard. The instant he felt her counterassault, he knew something was wrong. He threw himself to the side, twisting his blade as he withdrew. The Limitless Edge flew from the woman¡¯s hands, impaling itself in the wall- though it returned to her hands an instant later. Rahayu was finished now. Full to the brim with insights, he would use this opportunity to leave if it were possible. And he was not too proud to flee. But he never took his eyes off his opponent as he did so, parrying her incoming attacks as he broke outside. It was likely the planetary barrier would stop him should he try to fly away, but he could only hope that Everheart had done as promised and brought it down. Somehow, he survived to fly into the skies. The sharpness of the blade was¡­ just as real, and yet perhaps only a facade. Was the Limitless Edge tired? No, that couldn¡¯t be it. She seemed just about as confused as Rahayu was that he continued to survive. It only took a few moments to arrive in the skies and find the barrier fully intact. And Rahayu wasn¡¯t even surprised. Relying on Everheart was simply not something that was done. He merely considered for a moment it would have been nice if Everheart had done as he said. Rahayu tilted his neck, spinning his sword behind him to add to the force of the woman¡¯s attack, carving apart the barrier. Just a tiny segment small enough for a human. He pushed through the gap, but though he was prepared for the pursuit of the Limitless Edge, she did not follow. Instead, she furrowed her brow as she looked at the blade in her hands. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. So he really had followed through on that one. Well, Rahayu hadn¡¯t expected that. Furthermore, Everheart was waiting with their escape vessel just where he had said he would be. ¡°When did you manage to replace her sword?¡± Rahayu asked. ¡°I was fighting her the whole time, and I still never noticed¡­¡± ¡°When indeed?¡± Everheart said, smugly. ¡°I truly can¡¯t say.¡± ¡°Then¡­ what did you do to create a fake? The materials¡­¡± ¡°Well, it was something like¡­ coal and iron?¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°Some simple forging. Plus maybe a few ounces of void ant bile.¡± ¡°Void ant bile?¡± ¡°You¡¯d be surprised how long it takes to collect an ounce of that,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Fortunately I managed to save some in a cache one time. It¡¯s not as useful as you might think, but still extremely valuable.¡± ¡°Right. So¡­ how did you replicate the fine detail of the blade?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Are you joking? That¡¯s some extremely precise work. Nah, I just made something vaguely sword shaped and let your heads fill in the rest.¡± ¡°I- that¡­ doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± ¡°Sure it does. People fill in a lot of details when looking at things. If you assume something fits into a box, you¡¯ll extrapolate from what is missing. And if you think it¡¯s something particular, why would it not appear that way?¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t know when you did it,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°Who knows? Maybe it was from the very beginning?¡± ¡°No, I- when we crossed blades I could feel¡­ but her aura and the sword itself are one and the same. Hmm¡­ I still don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°Well, I wasn¡¯t planning to tell you anyway. It¡¯s a secret. The more people know, the worse I am. It could ruin everything.¡± ¡°So what did you get?¡± Rahayu asked. If there was something Everheart liked to brag about, it was his spoils of war. ¡°Oh, you know. This and that. A few captured swords. The contents of some vaults. Nadzeya. More or less everything I set out for.¡± ¡°One of those doesn¡¯t fit,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°Just because I¡¯m not a sword fanatic doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t still collect them from time to time, when they meet my standards,¡± Everheart said. ¡°One of them sounded like a name.¡± ¡°Oh, yes. Nadzeya. Well, I thought I¡¯d set up a little bait, you see. Last time, Chikere came here and was snatched up as she left. That¡¯s part of why we had you replicate her approach. She came looking for someone to snatch up, and¡­¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°Now I have a valuable source of information.¡± ¡°Is she restrained somewhere on the ship?¡± Rahayu asked. It wasn¡¯t particularly large. He assumed he would have sensed her, or at least a place that was hidden from him. ¡°Not specifically,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I put her in a little pre-prepared cell I brought along with me,¡± Everheart said, tapping a bag at his side. ¡°I thought living things couldn¡¯t go in storage bags. Their energy makes them highly unstable.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think I know that?¡± Everheart said. ¡°But who am I, if not a master of things that are highly unstable. This won¡¯t last long, but it should be sufficient.¡± ¡°How long?¡± Rahayu asked. ¡°No more than a decade. Even if I yank her out right now, it will probably still unravel.¡± Rahayu just shrugged. That was what he got for having questions. Nothing this man did made sense. He kept an eye on the outsides of the ship until he felt them leaving the limits of the system. No doubt they would be chased after, but it was unlikely they could catch Everheart¡¯s ship specifically meant for such things. He had many insights to consider. Rahayu knew he was still weak, unworthy of Augmentation. But perhaps he might find some perfection in imperfection. He was not the sort to knowingly perform imperfect attacks himself, and he would still refuse to do so, but he had seen much in the Limitless Edge herself. And while he was at it, he could ponder when her weapon was replaced, and how. It had to be before certain moves that might have killed him, didn¡¯t it? But how early? Surely, at the beginning, he had seen the true Limitless Edge with his eyes. He was certain it wasn¡¯t an imitation. It wasn¡¯t something he would have focused on, except it directly involved a sword. What kind of move could accomplish the task of swapping to a decoy weapon so seamlessly? ----- Anton¡¯s current goal was to complete his perimeter, flying straight towards the border with the upper realms. It wasn¡¯t impossible for him to go beyond that boundary, but he was more interested in exploring within it. Everywhere he already knew fell within those borders, with Ceretos and the rest at something like the southwest corner of an irregular quadrilateral. His path to In¡¯istra went vaguely ¡®northeast¡¯ by his reckoning, with another line at the border going vaguely east-west. Thinking about what was ahead, Anton nearly missed what was in front of him¡­ though it was not so subtle that he actually could miss it. He came across a ship. Not only one of unfamiliar design and energy, but one that he should have known about if it had existed. But that was only assuming it was part of their alliance, which it clearly was not. It felt very nearly like an Ascension-class battleship, except smaller. Less powerful wasn¡¯t quite correct, but perhaps more limited? A smaller capacity, but it should have a similar output to such ships. Anton could feel the power of the formations supporting it, and of some of the cultivators upon it. Strange. Initial tests had indicated this section of space was unoccupied. It wasn¡¯t impossible for people to be wrong, but a more likely answer was that this ship was also exploring. He wondered if it had already sensed him. If not, it would soon. Anton didn¡¯t intend to approach quite so boldly as he had with Rutera¡¯s science vessel all those years ago, but he would make himself known. After all, contact had to be made at some point, and this might be the only chance they had. Besides, he wasn¡¯t afraid of its power even if he was away from one of his stars. At worst, he could flee. Still, he should at least send a message letting people know where he was and that he was making an attempt first. Just for the sake of records, since people liked accurate information on such things. Chapter 843 When Anton drew closer to the ship, he felt a fluctuation of energy from within it- but not a worrying one. While it was possible that they were charging up weapons to attack, the most obvious consequence was a thin field of energy extending beyond the ship and reaching towards him. Even if it was an unfamiliar style, it was still nearly impossible to mistake what it was for. Anton reached out a small tendril of his energy, attempting to transmit sound to the ship. ¡°Hello, lone vessel, can you understand me?¡± It took a moment, but he heard a response. A woman¡¯s voice was transmitted to Anton through the connection. ¡°We understand you, traveler. We go by the designation the Astral Spear, may we be informed of your name?¡± ¡°Anton Krantz, sect head of the Order of One Hundred Stars, and member of the Lower Realms Alliance.¡± With a thorough answer like that, he was seeking more information, and he got his response. ¡°The Astral Spear flies under the banner of the Shining Cooperative.¡± That was something at least. ¡°In all my travels, I have not yet come across the Shining Cooperative,¡± Anton said. ¡°Which system do you hail from?¡± ¡°We are not confined to a single system,¡± the woman replied. ¡°Your Lower Realms Alliance is new to us as well. Where is it located?¡± Anton wished he could just answer things straightforwardly, but trust with new groups continued to be difficult, especially when they kept finding new reasons. However, he could still give some information. ¡°We have members over quite a large territory, but we are mostly concentrated some hundreds of lightyears to the southwest, by our reckoning.¡± That was specific enough information to answer the question, while being vague enough that it really didn¡¯t tell them anything of use. If they were capable of visiting thousands of systems in a short time, it wouldn¡¯t make a difference whether or not they knew about the general location of the Alliance. And if they weren¡¯t, it wouldn¡¯t tell them too much. The next response took a significant amount of time. ¡°That is a great distance away. What brings you this far out?¡± ¡°Exploration,¡± Anton said simply. And there was more information he could give that should provide a useful reaction. ¡°Due to troublesome invasions from the upper realms, we have found ourselves needing to uncover a large territory to properly plan against their intrusions.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± came the woman¡¯s voice. ¡°The Trigold Cluster is an extremely problematic neighbor.¡± Anton could detect her sincerity, and her distaste for the Trigold Cluster. If only that was enough. But alas, it was not. Like Ekict, this Shining Cooperative could be putting up a friendly front while despising all outsiders. If so, they would be a problem. ¡°Ah yes,¡± Anton continued. ¡°I forgot to ask. I have heard the name of your ship and your group, but what about yourself?¡± The answer took a few moments. ¡°Kybele,¡± she said, the name three distinct syllables. ¡°Captain of the Astral Spear. However, my name is not the most worthy to be spoken.¡± Good. A level of humility¡­ and that meant someone Anton wanted to interact with more. As long as it didn¡¯t turn out to be false humility, but he could vaguely make out her Life Transformation cultivation, which was not by any means weak- but little compared to the ship itself. After some probing, Anton came to the understanding that they likely controlled ten to twenty occupied systems, and laid claim to unoccupied systems around them. Ultimately, most of their territory was sufficiently far from the majority of the Lower Realms Alliance that it wasn¡¯t likely to be an issue for some time. However, there was an exception- Poriza and In¡¯istra were only a handful of systems away from here, less than forty lightyears. There might be an even larger buffer before the actual territory of the Shining Cooperative given that the ship was obviously exploring this system just as Anton was, but they would still need to know. Anton would send those messages once he was away from possible interception. Both sides were clearly hesitant to reveal too much information, yet Anton also got the clear impression that the Shining Cooperative or at least Kybele wanted peace. The matter of identifying others ships was a bit difficult, however. Anton didn¡¯t have proper scanners with him so he could only send his impression back to the Alliance, and the fact that these seemed to be pure cultivators meant they wouldn¡¯t be able to interface with some of the identification systems of the Alliance without having actually met and worked something out. ¡°Will you have more members of your alliance in this area in the near future?¡± Kybele asked. ¡°Not quite this far,¡± Anton said. ¡°But perhaps vaguely nearby.¡± ¡°Understood. We were hoping to maintain communications, but this ship carries no extra long range systems.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have anything I could transfer to you, either,¡± Anton said. Not safely. It might seem like they didn¡¯t have any technological knowhow, but he still didn¡¯t want to leave anything with them to be potentially broken down and reverse engineered. ¡°However, we could arrange for a future meeting. It might have to be a significant time out, to allow for message and travel time.¡± That was something Anton didn¡¯t want to give away too easily either- whether they were slower or faster, both would have some implication for how they would interact with this group. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°That sounds like it would be quite useful. Given the significant distances involved, how long would you anticipate?¡± ¡°That would depend on whether it is to be a smaller or larger event. Five years would be sufficient to bring a diplomatic team to some sort of neutral location.¡± There would be some risk to such a team, of course, but if this Shining Cooperative actually did anything foolish on their second meeting then a conflict might be inevitable. ¡°Of course, I do not mind conversing longer, but my primary purpose here is exploration and not diplomacy.¡± ¡°Of course. We would invite you to visit our lands, but we don¡¯t want to inconvenience an esteemed individual such as yourself.¡± Was that actually an invitation? Sort of. Anton felt he understood the actual implications behind it based on his Insight. And frankly, he wouldn¡¯t want himself to go into their territory any more than they would. ¡°I am aware that my presence would not be the most relaxing for your people,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have several locations in mind involving systems with sufficient natural energy, and sufficient neighbors to travel to them at least from our side. If you wish to consult your star records to determine if you have knowledge of these particular locations, we can settle on one that would be best for both sides.¡± It was actually a relatively big ask to bring this Shining Cooperative to something similar to a neutral, halfway point. Depending on the arrangement of their territory, they would have to go a hundred lightyears or more- with the Lower Realms Alliance going about a hundred and fifty or a hundred and seventy-five lightyears from their furthest permanent outposts, depending on which location was chosen and only considering straight line distances and not actual travel requirements. Anton was open to allowing for more time or a location closer to the Shining Cooperative, but Kybele seemed determined to work something out. ¡°We don¡¯t seem to have any of those systems in question listed,¡± Kybele said. ¡°Can you list the largest stars nearby?¡± So their sensors or telescopes or the like were somewhat limited. Anton understood that, and it wasn¡¯t unreasonable. But could he list the largest stars nearby the destinations he listed? What did they take him for? Of course he could. He knew so many stars. It helped that Anton could simply point towards the stars he intended, lining himself up relative to the Astral Spear so that they could more accurately pinpoint his movements along with his words and general directions. Eventually, they came to an agreement on the location, though Kybele had to take Anton¡¯s words that appropriate systems were available. Hopefully, he wasn¡¯t pushing their travel abilities too far- but he assured them that the Lower Realms Alliance would remain available for a significant time just in case. If nothing else, they might not have precisely the same length years. Though that was actually something they could smooth out considering they both knew the length of a normal cycle of the Tides of the Worlds. It wasn¡¯t an exact duration, but it would get them within ten percent at most. ¡°I hope that our alliances can mutually prosper in the future,¡± Anton said when things were coming to a close. ¡°Now then, I do intend to continue traveling north. If you would like to suggest a route that would cause a minimum amount of disturbance to your people, I am open to various options.¡± There was more than one way to go around a cloud of occupied systems. Even if the galactic plane felt flat, Anton could have explored just as far from Ceretos in the ¡®vertical¡¯ directions as he was now. Their little slice of the lower realms covered a vast area, but the known regions of the upper realms beyond were also merely a small sample of the actual galaxy. It took Kybele some time to come up with a suggestion for Anton. Most likely because she was hesitant to draw an exact line for the edge of their territory. ¡°This should be sufficient,¡± she said finally. ¡°Word will be sent ahead, so should you encounter any more of our ships they will be prepared for your presence.¡± Anton nodded¡­ and resolved himself to move slowly. He didn¡¯t know what sort of communication speed this group had, and he also didn¡¯t want them to know how fast he could actually move regardless. That included when he wasn¡¯t moving through a string of bound systems. It would be better for them to wholly underestimate his individual mobility. Regardless of all of the secrecy, Anton had a good impression of the Shining Cooperative. Perhaps that would change, if he came next to any of their systems- there was quite a lot he might learn without actually getting near any of their planets, and he wasn¡¯t certain where exactly the proposed route would take him. But he did plan to stick with it, because it was only polite after asking. If he simply planned to go where he pleased, he wouldn¡¯t have asked at all. ¡°It is unfortunate that we could not speak more comfortably,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t invite me inside your ship either.¡± Nor would he have wanted to go inside. Though he seriously doubted they would be able to entrap him, underestimating new formations from unknown people was a great way to get killed. ¡°It is indeed a shame,¡± Kybele replied. ¡°But at least we were able to hear about another group actually standing up to the upper realms. Not just individual systems struggling with their limited resources to resist a perpetual cycle.¡± Anton nodded- she should at least be able to detect that much, despite the distance between them. He wondered how long they had been functioning as a group. Was it a similar time? It seemed unlikely they were any more recent than the Lower Realms Alliance, as they would only have had a couple centuries of recovery and expansion. So most likely they had been functional before the short cycle as well- but beyond that, Anton didn¡¯t know. And while it was an important detail, it was also not one he was comfortable asking at the moment. Anton certainly hadn¡¯t expected this at the beginning of his day- being generous, since he couldn¡¯t have proper days when between systems and he also didn¡¯t sleep while traveling through space. And the various negotiations had taken quite a long time, so it might have actually been several days. But regardless of the actual time and what he called it, Anton was pleasantly surprised. And he hoped to maintain that pleasantness. But he was still going to properly warn Poriza and In¡¯istra the second he was between systems and away from this group. Because they were the most isolated pieces at the moment, except for perhaps Akrys which was in a very different direction, more or less ¡®safely¡¯ nestled against the border with the upper realms. Chapter 844 The amount of information Anton could gather from the next system over was rather minimal- but not nothing. For example, a planet with a population of millions or more had a fairly distinct feeling, and the changes in the flow of energy that humans caused either through simply living or formations were easy enough to pick out. Just because he was keeping his distance to avoid making their new acquaintances uncomfortable didn¡¯t mean that he wasn¡¯t going to pick out as much information as he could. And he hoped they were doing the same in reverse. If this Shining Cooperative couldn¡¯t track Anton¡¯s movements, they would have quite some time picking out actual enemies- though to be fair, there were some significant distances when people traveled with the tides of the world. Their arrival would be quite predictable. Speaking of which, as Anton traveled he took stock of the overall flow of the tides. It would be much easier to predict the exact pattern during the last century or so, but by personally traveling to a wide area he could still gain some useful information. There were some interesting stars along the way, but Anton was much more focused on the Shining Cooperative. They were clearly able to move between systems, and had more than a few under their control. Even just circling around a part of them, he counted over a dozen- and he knew they would have more. In some ways, it was a relief to know that another larger civilization had managed to grow in the lower realms besides themselves- though the Sylanis Cluster might have expanded to a similar size on their own, if things had gone differently. Either way, there were still very few groups capable of such a thing, with interstellar travel being nearly ubiquitous in the upper realms despite not actually being easier. Meeting new people could go multiple directions, but Anton resolved that this one was going to go well. It wasn¡¯t a feeling but a choice. He and the others had learned so much. They would make this contact do well. And they were going to avoid running into any stupid pitfalls. But for that to work, Anton needed to learn what he could as he passed by¡­ at a ¡®reasonable¡¯ rate. He couldn¡¯t really learn much about average, everyday civilians without entering one of their systems- but he could at least learn from ships that he passed by. They weren¡¯t actively avoiding him, at least, though some of them certainly changed trajectory when they sensed him. It would have been too late for them if he intended them harm, but Anton understood the instinct to shy away from dangers. And he couldn¡¯t help but be one of those. ----- ¡°Glub glub glub,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Glurble blurble globule?¡± The jelly gave no response. It simply allowed the tides to carry it along. Three Squeaks tapped Contented Grunt on the head, and the hippo began to bring them to the surface, a cushion of water supporting them. ¡°Come on,¡± the hippo said. ¡°This will never work if you don¡¯t take it seriously.¡± ¡°The stinging blobs are never going to talk or think!¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°They just dangle there! And it¡¯s really hard to talk underwater!¡± ¡°Fine, but we are going to that reef and I¡¯m fairly certain something there can think.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°But I know that these reefs are constructed naturally. This one doesn¡¯t seem that different.¡± A nip got his attention. ¡°It¡¯s too tall. Too powerful.¡± He looked down to see Fearsome Mandibles signing that. Her sister was not with her- not finding the sea to be a particularly safe place for void ants. They did need air, after all, and they couldn¡¯t just refresh themselves by forming some with energy. Fearsome Mandibles had come up with some system where she grabbed an air bubble and brought it down with her, and though he¡¯d offered she didn¡¯t want any of the seaweed that had little pods of air. Maybe it would be too buoyant, though. ¡°Well, it could just be a good location,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°But we¡¯ll have to see. You ready?¡± Contented Grunt nodded. ¡°Time to sink.¡± That was actually the easy part. And while Three Squeaks could swim, it was still easier to be carried around by someone who controlled water. They sunk down past some jellies towards a reef. Three Squeaks saw a long, thin fish. ¡°Can you speak or understand?¡± was what he tried to say. He did manage something vaguely like that through the power of natural energy, though he wasn¡¯t sure if it was ¡®correct¡¯ because maybe he was supposed to allow the water to distort it? The amphibians of the Heavenly Lake hadn¡¯t been much help in that regard, because they were perfectly happy speaking into the air- including the archer fish. And oceans were very different. The fish looked at him. Or at least, it had one eye on the side of its head vaguely pointed in his direction. But it certainly didn¡¯t look like it comprehended anything. Three Squeaks decided that one was a no, and moved onto a blue fish. The bluefish responded. ¡°Yes. We speak. What¡­ are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a meerkat!¡± Three Squeaks replied excitedly. ¡°Uh, just to be clear we¡¯re not one thing here. I¡¯m a land mammal and she,¡± he gestured below him. ¡°I¡¯m a hippo,¡± Contented Grunt said, her voice making the water tremble. ¡°You seem¡­ very far from where you belong.¡± ¡°Where does anyone belong, really? But also yes. We¡¯re here to look for you! Or uh, people. How many of you speak?¡± ¡°All of us.¡± ¡°You mean¡­ all the blue ones, right? Or the blue ones that have your shape.¡± ¡°The tangs, yes.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re the ones who made this place¡­ like this?¡± he gestured vaguely. ¡°No. We just live here,¡± the fish denied. ¡°So it is naturally like this or¡­?¡± At that point, part of the reef exploded. Once there were a large number of poofy yellow things, and then they scattered everywhere¡­ before turning into a cloud. And then¡­ a fish? Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We are the ones,¡± the sound that came from the creature was distorted not just by passing through the water, but coming from myriad tiny sources. ¡°Oh. I was hoping¡­ it would be a fish,¡± Three Squeaks admitted, looking at the creature that was definitely not a fish, despite being vaguely shaped like one right now. What had it been? Some sort of tube¡­ thing. ¡°Your hopes mean nothing. What is, is.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect¡­ you to talk.¡± It was made of a lot of tiny pieces. ¡°How?¡± ¡°We act as one. The energy that provides thoughts to you and I flows through us as a single being.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°We¡¯re just here to meet people. I¡¯d like to eventually introduce everyone to everyone else, but mainly it would end up being neighbors.¡± ¡°We have few neighbors, except the tangs. Of those with thoughts,¡± the cloud replied. ¡°Not where you would consider close,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°But as things grow stronger, distance won¡¯t seem as far. What you might swim in a day now will become half a day soon enough.¡± ¡°Understandable. And the reef will grow. It will come to pass, given time.¡± ¡°Yeah. That,¡± Three Squeaks said. He really wasn¡¯t sure what this thing was because it was mostly all¡­ goop? With a structure holding them together. He was fairly certain they weren¡¯t supposed to naturally detach from that and form large fish shaped things, but that was clearly a learned cultivation related behavior. Speaking of which, he couldn¡¯t feel how strong this thing was. It was just a bunch of individual things¡­ to his senses at least. Three Squeaks kind of wished he was talking to the stripy shark. That would have been less awkward. Even so, he managed to explain where they were from and more about his plans to explore the whole world- and hopefully promote harmony. Three Squeaks knew it would be a difficult task, but hey- he¡¯d already explored a significant portion of the planet, so why not add on another astronomical goal? Sure, it might only be like a tenth. Or less. But that was big compared to just the Lower Plains Coalition¡¯s fields. When they finished their conversation and returned to the surface, Fearsome Mandibles had apparently managed to maintain her breath that whole time, with whatever air she had brought along. ¡°I don¡¯t like it,¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°Is it a threat?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Do you think it will try to hurt us?¡± ¡°No. But¡­ it was all one thing.¡± ¡°I thought you liked cooperation? It was basically a colony.¡± ¡°Colonies are made up of many individuals, following orders. Not¡­ just pieces of something bigger. The Great Queen has pointed out why it would be better to allow some individuality. We can learn things. But I suppose that thing is growing stuff around it, so it seems fine. Even if I don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°I thought it was weird too,¡± Three Squeaks admitted. ¡°Agreed,¡± Contented Grunt said. ¡°It was larger than me, if you counted all of its bits as one. It was kind of like¡­ a grove of trees shedding their leaves and suddenly talking at you.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s it,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°That was what was weird. It was like a plant. Without, like, being a plant at all. Some of the other things were eating sunlight though.¡± ¡°That would be the ¡®corals¡¯,¡± Fearsome Mandibles signed. ¡°They¡¯re a similar thing, though apparently they drew the short end of the sapience stick here.¡± ¡°At least they weren¡¯t choked out,¡± Three Squeaks said. ----- All the way back in Coalition territory at a later date, the Great Queen took her two princess aside. ¡°It is time,¡± she signed. ¡°I have made the decision.¡± ¡°It¡¯s time?¡± Fearsome Mandibles said excitedly. ¡°I get to go to the upper realms?¡± ¡°We get to be queens?¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°It is indeed time for you to be queens. Crossed Antennae. Fearsome Mandibles. I have studied your actions and found them sufficient to manage future growth on your own. First, Crossed Antennae. Because of your caution and care¡­ you will be planting the first of the colonies in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Crossed Antennae said, her forelimbs jerking in excitement. ¡°It¡¯s finally time to- wait what?¡± ¡°Fearsome Mandibles. Because of your aggression and protectiveness, you will be responsible for the colony here on Akrys.¡± ¡°... What?¡± Fearsome Mandibles tilted her head. ¡°I think I was quite clear,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Do you have an objections?¡± ¡°I mean¡­ I do like it here, I guess,¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°But don¡¯t you need someone with ambition to colonize the upper realms? Err, no offense. You¡¯re just not¡­ pushy.¡± ¡°Which is the point. Crossed Antennae will be able to work at a measured pace. And you will be able to help deal with any issues that arise here. I trust your judgment on whether or not threats need¡­ dealing with.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s it?¡± Crossed Antennae asked. ¡°I¡¯m just¡­ leaving?¡± ¡°Not immediately, of course. However, I have already arranged for a transportation ship. You will want the beginnings of a colony when you arrive, of course. There are food sources available, but they will need tending and a single void ant queen can only do so much. So you will need to build up a small colony of some tens of thousands here first. As for the ship¡­¡± the Great Queen spread her forelimbs wide. ¡°It is supposed to transition well to the upper realms, land freely, and take off when provided with sufficient natural energy, to allow further colonization. Obviously not all of this was testable. Thus, you will be assigned to the most important planet first.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m just¡­ staying here?¡± Fearsome Mandibles asked. ¡°I think you will do well,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°As the first princesses with names chosen yourselves, you have the initiative to manage almost anything.¡± ¡°I just¡­ didn¡¯t expect this. It¡¯s so fast.¡± ¡°By the time I was your age, I had a colony of millions,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°You do realize it has been decades? Normally, you would have flown to a colony and begun breeding immediately.¡± ¡°Speaking of which. Why can¡¯t we fly?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re not good enough yet.¡± ¡°I mean why don¡¯t we have wings,¡± Fearsome Mandibles asked. ¡°Well, that¡¯s your own problem, isn¡¯t it?¡± the Great Queen shrugged. ¡°Guess you didn¡¯t try hard enough.¡± ¡°Could we¡­ could we grow wings?¡± Fearsome Mandibles asked. ¡°Energy and intention drive void ant growth. So quite possibly,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us?¡± Crossed Antennae asked. ¡°I did, in general. For this specifically, you didn¡¯t ask. And I fly differently,¡± the Great Queen said, displaying how she carved out the natural energy of the world and was drawn into the collapsing flow, moving with strangely rapid intention. ¡°For you specifically, your growth will be greatly accelerated among ascension energy. But I would suggest being careful to make sure you don¡¯t bloat yourself and become¡­ unwieldy.¡± ¡°How long?¡± Fearsome Mandibles asked. ¡°I expect you to actually found your colonies soon. But as for your sister leaving, I can allow for up to another year. And no, that¡¯s not short. But yes, you will likely not see each other again beyond that point. The same with any of us in the lower realms.¡± ¡°I will be lonely,¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°You?¡± Crossed Antennae shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll be the one actually alone.¡± ¡°You¡¯d be surprised how not-lonely acting as a queen can be. And there are friends in the upper realms who will contact you¡­ eventually.¡± Chapter 845 Word of the Limitless Edge¡¯s humiliating defeat spread quickly after the battle. It was a surprise to all parties involved in the actual battle, but rumors didn¡¯t care about small details like truth. And the actual news was nicely mixed up with that same rumor, by design. Obviously the Exalted Quadrant wasn¡¯t happy about Everheart showing up and causing trouble¡­ but if they were capable of doing anything about it, then he wouldn¡¯t have been a problem to begin with. It wasn¡¯t that they couldn¡¯t kill him if he actually fought them on their terms. It was that he would never be anywhere near a battle not of his own choosing. The Exalted Quadrant had quite a bit of experience locking down news within their borders, minimizing any shame that might have been directed their way. However, it was impossible to perfectly control the spread of information within their borders, and certain sorts of news were simply too provocative for people to ignore. So while some of the populace might not have received the information, everyone important heard that Everheart had caused trouble again. And many of the disciples of important powers as well. Thus, the true damage was done. Unfortunately- but most likely not accidentally- Everheart¡¯s actions didn¡¯t only have consequences for himself. They were enough to actually provoke a reaction from the Exalted Quadrant as a whole- though ironically not from the Limitless Edge herself who cared little about her own reputation and was fully aware of her victory. But for the Scarlet Midfields, it meant forces beginning to build up along their borders. If they had the choice they might simply let people through to the Everheart System to go fight it out with him, but things wouldn¡¯t be so simple. ¡°How long do you think we have?¡± Catarina asked. Hoyt shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s difficult to say. There might not even be a real attack.¡± ¡°But we certainly wouldn¡¯t bet on that,¡± Tauno commented. ¡°It doesn¡¯t require a serious effort from the Exalted Quadrant to cause us real trouble. Even with our growing numbers of Augmentation cultivators. No, that might be the very issue. We both don¡¯t have enough yet, and we have too many.¡± Zazil of the Dark Ring nodded. ¡°So far, they mostly have rumors of our growth. But if we actually have to fight, we will have to reveal our Augmentation cultivators. And then they might consider us an actual threat. We¡¯re at that unfortunate in between stage. Now, the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s recent growth has been astounding, but realistically the difference between five and twenty or more Augmentation cultivators wouldn¡¯t even be enough. We need more time. Even a century or two¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°What about those plans on the border?¡± Prospero Vandale asked. Catarina shook her head. ¡°They¡¯ll still take some time before they¡¯re effective. And it¡¯s really only meant to hinder the invasion of the lower realms at the end of the cycle. There¡¯s no way anything meaningful can happen with that for the next century.¡± ¡°I feel like it would be helpful if we could know what this thing was,¡± Tauno said. ¡°So we could assist.¡± ¡°It really wouldn¡¯t,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It will either progress as it is¡­ or not. Knowing would only be a risk.¡± ¡°Fine. Then what shall we do?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°Put up a good front,¡± Zazil said. ¡°Force them to move around our core systems if they want to reach Everheart. They can take a straight line path along the northern edge and we wouldn¡¯t stop them¡­ but there aren¡¯t supplies to ¡®gather¡¯ along the way. And the Exalted Quadrant certainly won¡¯t be shy about taking whatever they pass by.¡± ¡°Should have killed Everheart when we had the chance,¡± Tauno sighed. ¡°You say that,¡± Catarina said. ¡°As if there was ever a real chance. When would it have been? As we took out the Harmonious Citadel, and were exhausted from the war? It¡¯s better to keep him¡­ relatively neutral. At least, as long as we don¡¯t determine the consequences of this were intentionally directed towards us.¡± Zazil nodded, ¡°Far be it from me to say anything positive about Everheart, but conflict with the Exalted Quadrant might have been inevitable regardless. If this ends up with them attacking hurriedly instead of being properly prepared¡­¡± Zazil shrugged. ¡°It might not be the worst possible result.¡± Catarina stroked her chin. ¡°Do you think it would be possible to make it easier for the Trigold Cluster to get involved? I¡¯m not saying we should recruit them as ¡®allies¡¯ or anything suicidal like that. But routing them around towards the Everheart Cluster at the same time might help exhaust all of our biggest threats at once. And the systems on the northern border are some of the least occupied to begin with. I just don¡¯t know how we can force them to pick the path we want instead of what they want. Not for any achievable price, at least.¡± ¡°Not with the systems as they are,¡± Tauno shrugged. ¡°They¡¯ll take the easiest or most profitable route.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°What?¡± Zazil asked. ¡°Oh¡­ nothing. Just a foolish thought. Nothing that will be relevant for the current situation.¡± Timothy looked at his wife. He knew it wouldn¡¯t be a foolish thought. Crazy? Perhaps. But not lacking intelligence behind it. And whatever it was, if she chose to advance the plan it would be backed by something special indeed. ¡°What of the spymaster?¡± Zazil asked. ¡°Still no report,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But also¡­ no indication of her death or capture. It¡¯s not unreasonable to believe her mission could take another decade or two.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ----- The blade in Velvet¡¯s hand didn¡¯t feel like anything. That was the weird part. Okay, one of the weird parts. Another was actually having a void blade of her own. In her hands. She knew how precious they were to the Spirit Slicing Sect. Then again, she was also aware how valuable her contributions had been. She couldn¡¯t exactly consider this a natural conclusion, but it hadn¡¯t happened accidentally either. ¡°I like it,¡± Velvet said, feeling its edge on her finger. It was¡­ weird. It actually touched her skin, and she could do nothing about it. Yet it also lacked a supernatural sharpness. She was fairly certain a thick shirt could bind and catch the blade. She kind of wanted to test its fragility, but that was a good way to make certain smiths very angry. ¡°You¡¯d better,¡± Runa said. ¡°It¡¯s better than my own, you know? They had to reforge that thing like ten times through their very difficult process. It took a small mountain of ore to extract the void metal necessary. And I heard countless hours of experimentation to make a better alloy.¡± ¡°So if they learned something, they can make other better blades now,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Sounds like I did you a favor,¡± she grinned. ¡°Plus, would you even have that mine without me? Oh, and when¡¯s your father breaking through to Augmentation?¡± Runa didn¡¯t bother responding to most of that. ¡°Well, it¡¯s probably going to take a while for him still. We¡¯re not the same cultivation style, so your insights aren¡¯t perfect. But knowing that he¡¯s more likely than not to actually reach that point¡­ is very comforting.¡± Velvet waved the knife around, not casually but instead sweeping it through the air in specific positions. Wherever it went, it left a trail of nothingness, upper energy being cut off. Velvet held out a hair-thin tendril of energy, slicing through it. Her connection lost, the detached side dispersed instantly. ¡°Hmm. I imagine that only works because it was so delicate to begin with.¡± ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Runa said. ¡°You still need to use proper techniques.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t shown me yet,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°It¡¯s not really possible to train them without the blade. And no, you couldn¡¯t use mine. The balance has to be tailored to the user. It¡¯s that delicate of a process.¡± ¡°Fine, fine,¡± Velvet waved her hand. ¡°So show me. I have it now.¡± ¡°Great. We have a training course. Please don¡¯t sever the outer formations. They¡¯re there to protect everything else. And uh¡­ not all severed connections unravel peacefully.¡± ¡°Obviously not,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Which is why we¡¯ll be training. Though I imagine against an actual cultivator, it¡¯s rarely ever worse to have their energy explode uncontrolled rather than letting them do whatever they were going to do.¡± ¡°Yeah. Rarely,¡± Runa admitted. ¡°Regardless. Whatever you have learned from observing disciples of the Spirit Slicing Sect- besides myself and my father, not even those who had void blades- forget about it. You¡¯ll just inherit bad habits.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Velvet said. It wouldn¡¯t be that simple, of course, as she¡¯d wanted to steal the techniques for herself if she wasn¡¯t actually being taught. But she could at least try to bring no former knowledge to the actual training. Runa brought her to a room that didn¡¯t really feel like anything. There was upper energy, of course, but it mostly just permeated the room. It didn¡¯t seem like it did anything. Which might be the point, since it was for training. ¡°Take note of the crossing lines of energy here,¡± Runa said, raising her knife. ¡°They¡¯re not strong, but don¡¯t worry about that. Because if you do it right, this will work on anything from random training connections to serious cultivators. Unless someone makes a meter thick pillar of upper energy to completely prevent the possibility of a severed connection in which case¡­¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°You wait for them to pass out in a minute or two. Or find somewhere they slacked off.¡± Runa swirled her knife, severing some lines of energy and leaving them as dangling strings in Velvet¡¯s mind¡¯s eye. She tried it herself, watching them easily fall apart. There was no feedback, whereas she¡¯d kind of thought it would feel like cutting strings. ¡°So your first problem,¡± Runa said. ¡°When you cut them. What did you do?¡± ¡°I just cut normally?¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°Were the knife movements wrong?¡± ¡°Do it again and try to figure out what was wrong.¡± Velvet repeated the motions, watching Runa. But she couldn¡¯t figure it out. ¡°Well, I must be missing something because the connections are growing back.¡± ¡°True, but that¡¯s not the issue currently,¡± Runa said. ¡°The issue is that you used your energy to try to augment the cut.¡± ¡°... And that¡¯s not going to do anything, is it?¡± Velvet sighed. She repeated the motion of cutting, this time noticing her energy fading into the blade. ¡°At best, it¡¯s a waste of energy,¡± Runa agreed. ¡°At worst, you leave a lingering path of energy for your target to reconnect. There might be some arguments for doing something intentional there¡­ but you¡¯re certainly not there yet. But now that you¡¯ve got that, I need something else. Your senses are pretty good. Tell me how many strings are in this room.¡± ¡°Do I have a time limit?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°If they go out the walls, do I have to count them potentially reconnecting outside the room?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no tricks like that. Yet,¡± Runa clarified. Velvet nodded and began counting. The strings were faint. The smallest connections of energy, like single strands of perception. Most likely, they couldn''t even shift a paper on a desk with their power. But there were so many. Hundreds. If they had curved around each other, Velvet wasn¡¯t certain she could have kept track. But as they were currently all straight, she only had to mark their endpoints to determine how many there were. ¡°Five hundred and six,¡± she said eventually. ¡°And you¡¯re confident in that answer?¡± ¡°I¡¯m confident that¡¯s how many I can pick out,¡± Velvet said. Runa sighed. ¡°What an annoying answer. Well, as you probably figured out you missed some. Not that many but¡­ it takes some special techniques to learn to pick them out. As for whether you¡¯ll actually come across anything this difficult to detect¡­?¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°Better to know how to do it and not need it than the other way around. And besides, faster is necessary for in battle. You won¡¯t have time to casually count connections.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Velvet said. Though she could keep herself concealed, so it wasn¡¯t quite true. But she really shouldn¡¯t sit around for long without participating in battles. Especially as the only local Augmentation cultivator, for the moment. Chapter 846 One by one, Devon flexed his fingers. If he didn¡¯t know better, he almost wouldn¡¯t have been able to tell which ones were his originals and which were part of the replacement arm. They had the technology to make it blend in, after all. Chikere had been an exception where she hadn¡¯t wanted her arm to look entirely natural, but everyone else could get replacement limbs rather easily. And that didn¡¯t just mean Devon, with his position of privilege. No, pretty much anyone in the Lower Realms Alliance could- though they wouldn¡¯t have an arm that could stand up to an Assimilation level battle like Devon¡¯s. Not that it would do most people any good if they had an arm that would last beyond their own death. ¡°I should get one of those,¡± Naamah commented. ¡°You don¡¯t need one,¡± Treloar pointed out. ¡°Better to have a flesh and blood arm you can grow stronger yourself. And if you end up needing a replacement later¡­¡± he shrugged. Aerona was part of the diplomatic group as well, but unlike with Vrelt, their efforts on Nidec would be focused on familiarity rather than professionality. In short, they wanted those who previously had connections with the Exalted Quadrant to convince their brethren that they would be better off cutting ties with the upper realms. And Devon would be there, because it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have backup. In truth, he found it quite agreeable to be less involved. No spying and the like. Not yet, at least. Hopefully, it wouldn¡¯t be necessary. Were there risks involved, directly interacting with Nidec? Absolutely. They could send information to the upper realms that would be quite troublesome. Then again, perhaps they already had. And if such information had to go somewhere, at least the Exalted Quadrant was probably less bad than the Trigold Cluster. Probably. Which was the whole point of letting the decent factions that had occupied Ceretos try to convert these people. Would it result in another war? Devon hoped not. But if it did, the alliance would still be more prepared. Aside from Devon¡¯s personal growth in strength, fleets were closer in case of an emergency. Not that anyone from Nidec was supposed to know that. Otherwise, it would be a threat- and there were enough of those with the mere existence of Assimilation cultivators. Speaking of which, Nidec seemed primed to develop their own version of post Life Transformation cultivators that would stay in the lower realms. It seemed they had managed to retain their cultivation techniques beyond the last cycle, and in fact the only reason they hadn¡¯t already developed an Assimilation equivalent was because they were so successful with ascensions. But seeing Devon and the others would doubtless inspire them, regardless of whether they actually shared anything. That was a risk they had to accept, of course. If Nidec grew stronger and chose to be an enemy, they would have to deal with those consequences. But given that Naamah was here, Devon really didn¡¯t worry about it too much. ¡°Alright, well, time to go crack some skulls,¡± Naamah said. ¡°If you were talking about anyone outside of your own sect, I would say you should reconsider that being your first option,¡± Treloar said. ¡°But I suppose I will trust your judgment as a member of the Hardened Crown Sect. I will be talking with the Worthy Shore Society and some others for much more¡­ subdued interactions.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, we¡¯ll see which of us make them join us first.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a race,¡± Treloar said. ¡°You only say that because you think you¡¯ll lose.¡± Devon smiled slightly, looking over at Aerona. She shrugged. ¡°At least Treloar took the diplomatic courses,¡± Aerona whispered. ¡°Though he was already the kind of person who understood such things¡­¡± ¡°Strangely enough, if Naamah does well it might really change things,¡± Devon commented. ¡°If she can convince anyone that it¡¯s better to side with us, of course.¡± ¡°Well, it is,¡± Aerona pointed out. ¡°Now we just need everyone to believe it.¡± ----- Anton found himself at the border once more. He was strongly considering trying to measure more of the Shining Cooperative¡¯s territory, but he decided against it. For the moment, at least. Preferably, things would go well with the diplomatic meetings he had arranged for. Actually, that was a better use of his time- checking out the area to make sure there wasn¡¯t anything weird they had missed. But first he planned to skirt west along the border and make his way back to Akrys. From what he had heard, things were going quite well there. There were only a few people monitoring the area, plus those who were helping the Great Queen relay messages and those bringing the colony ships. Other than that, though there were probably countless people who would love to set their feet on a planet of sapient beast cultivators¡­ it was basically off limits. Though Anton had some hope that the locals would form some sort of planet wide governing body, that still took some time. Especially starting from a place of very limited tools. Though having been away for more than a few years, Anton expected things to be quite different. ----- Three Squeaks decided he didn¡¯t like horses. At least, this group of horses was terrible. Predators at least had some sort of historical drive to eat whatever they could, but these guys had chased off and tried to kill everyone who approached. And it wasn¡¯t like they couldn¡¯t talk. They didn¡¯t make requests- they started with the attempted murder, and didn¡¯t ever bother to say ¡®hey, this land is private please leave¡¯. In most cases, Three Squeaks would have been happy to just stay away and ignore them, despite all of that. But they were simply too aggressive, and intent on expanding. As far as things on the continent with the Lower Plains Coalition, they were the main remaining bad eggs. Which was unfortunate, because Three Squeaks usually liked eggs. The one who was the biggest problem was their leader. One of the few Life Transformation cultivators on the continent, aside from the jungle cats. And while the jungle cats hadn¡¯t been friendly, they at least used their words. This horse guy wouldn¡¯t talk to anyone besides fellow horses. Finding out his name was Sharphoof had taken longer than Three Squeaks wanted to admit. And even then, he preferred the other name they¡¯d come up with- Arrogant Whinny. Because while the horse certainly had reasons to be proud of his strength, it was too much. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Life Transformation was certainly a lot, but pure cultivation tier wasn¡¯t the only relevant factor. The horses didn¡¯t even use tools or weapons. They barely took care of their land. And yet they wanted more. There was something to be said that regardless of anything else they had done, going into someone else¡¯s land and killing them was still pretty close to the edge of acceptability- beyond it, perhaps. Which was why they were just going to wait for Sharphoof or his people to trod somewhere unwelcome. Specifically, into the territory of the Kapok Coalition, now proper allies of the Lower Plains Coalition. ¡°How long are we going to wander back and forth?¡± Rusty Mane complained. ¡°As long as necessary,¡± Sleek Fur said. ¡°That¡¯s how patrols work.¡± ¡°But why are they so boring? Couldn¡¯t we swap out with someone? I think that would be a good idea. Don¡¯t you, Mischief?¡± Rusty Mane turned his head to ask his second sister. ¡°... where did she go?¡± Three Squeaks knew the answer to that. That said, he wasn¡¯t going to tell the two lion siblings, because they would probably tell their sister. And then it would be harder for Three Squeaks to track her in the future. And with some technicalities, she was doing her job. Mischief was always the curious sort, so scouting around and watching for foes was kind of within her purview. Ultimately, she was a handful of kilometers away, slinking through the trees. If she actually intended to step into horse territory Three Squeaks would come up with something to stop her, but so far she was keeping her distance. That said, he had the feeling it wouldn¡¯t matter for long. Echoing Cry descended down to land upon one of the titular spiky kapok trees. ¡°They¡¯re on the move.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the point?¡± Sleek Fur asked. ¡°Do horses even like forests?¡± Three Squeaks did his best impression of crossing his arms. ¡°I hear they kicked down things to make the area more open when they expanded in other directions.¡± It wasn¡¯t quite so bad as the beavers had been, but those guys were designed for tree removal. And maintaining a livable environment didn¡¯t make up for how much damage they caused and the people they drove from their homes. ----- Three Squeaks wasn¡¯t sure why it had become his job to engage in diplomacy with people. He wasn¡¯t trained to interact with people. He was an archer. The only thing he had going for him was that he could yell loudly¡­ because otherwise he couldn¡¯t talk with people from a safe distance. He especially didn¡¯t feel like he should be doing this job for the Kapok Coalition. But Rumbling Growl had told him to do it instead of one of their others. So there he was, up in a tree, yelling down at some incoming horses. ¡°Sharphoof! You are entering territory that does not belong to you! Turn back or face the consequences!¡± When the horse whinnied, Three Squeaks thought he might actually get a conversation. ¡°What right has a tree rat to tell me what to do? I take no orders from even lions!¡± Wow. This guy couldn¡¯t even recognize meerkats? Rude. Also, he hadn¡¯t even slowed down. ¡°If you don¡¯t stop immediately, we won¡¯t be merciful.¡± The horse¡¯s response was to speed up. The guy was pretty fast. He was half a kilometer away, and might reach Three Squeaks tree in a dozen seconds or less. Maybe a little more, if other trees got in his way. ¡°Open fire!¡± Three Squeaks called. ¡°Everyone, prepare to attack!¡± More than a dozen lions from the Kapok Coalition were present- they hadn¡¯t been able to perfectly predict the arrival of this fellow, but they sent some beefier warriors. Three Squeaks shot a few arrows of his own, while others came from the skies. Not terribly many eagles had taken up archery, but those who had were literally untouchable. Any lack of muscle efficiency in their shots was made up for by better cultivation. Sharphoof didn¡¯t charge forward alone, instead he ran along with- and then slightly ahead of- dozens of others from his pack. They ranged from Spirit Building to Essence Collection, at least in a general sense. They might not be proper cultivators, though. Those on their sides formed into lines, lions reach to move to surround the approaching horses. Especially Sharphoof, who was pulling ahead of the pack. Yes, every single one of their side held their place. And not even a single warthog named Half Oink was charging towards the enemy alone. Because that would be crazy and ruin the whole plan. So she wouldn¡¯t do it. Right? Three Squeaks didn¡¯t let his disbelief stop him from continuing to fire spirit arrows at Sharphoof. If nothing else, he forced the horse to sway back and forth, and he could at least wear down the fellow¡¯s defensive energy. But he sure had a lot of it. Life Transformation was no joke. It was a good thing they had eagles and some hippos and a variety of everything from the Lower Plains Coalition. And some smarter warthogs. But there was also Half Oink, who arrived in front of Sharphoof almost immediately. The horse reared back, stomping down on her head¡­ and the warthog took it directly to the skull. There was a loud sound as she was struck, and then an explosion of dirt and dust filled the area. ¡°They¡¯re not even sharp at all!¡± Half Oink squealed through the dust. ¡°You lied!¡± Three Squeaks was glad that his senses could at least make out how she dodged away from his subsequent strikes, and more than that she flailed her tusks at his front legs, actually causing thin lines of blood as her focused natural energy cut through his defenses. Of course, taking a massive blow to her head first thing wasn¡¯t a great way for Half Oink to start a battle with a stronger cultivator. She wasn¡¯t looking too great, despite her rugged temperament. Three Squeaks made sure to shoot at the most vulnerable bits of the horse¡¯s legs, trying to keep him off balance while the eagle archers mainly went for the other horses- who were just engaging with their front lines. Actually, keeping their strongest cultivator away from the front lines was quite valuable¡­ it was just far too risky for Half Oink to do. But as far as sharp went¡­ she was a winner in that category. The way she moved her head was not accidental, nor simple animal instinct. Her tusks were blades, honed against more than a few different sorts of enemies. And Half Oink was a proper Essence Collection cultivator now. Three Squeaks could probably take out any of the other combatants if he didn¡¯t have to cover her, but with the two of them and Echoing Cry in the skies¡­ they were actually winning. And then, just as swiftly as he arrived, Sharphoof began to leave, turning and charging with his powerful legs. Half Oink couldn¡¯t even keep up. ¡°Hey!¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Did you think I was a liar? Your consequences aren¡¯t even half done yet!¡± Sure, this horse might cover a kilometer in half a minute or less¡­ but that meant Three Squeaks had at least five minutes of shooting at this fellow before he had to take a single step from his tree. Three Squeaks watched the flailing brown mane in disgust¡­ and took his time forming an arrow of fire. It flew through the air, right over the horse¡¯s back. The tail was ready to try to flick away his attack- but Three Squeaks had arced over it. And while the horse was rather agile, there was only so much he could adjust in a dead sprint. Piercing through his energy, his mane was set on fire. The horse almost immediately threw himself to the ground. Good. He wasn¡¯t ever going to make it back to his own territory. And maybe the rest of the horses would learn to be nicer. Like the zebras. Sure, Three Squeaks didn¡¯t know any zebras who were people, but they were still decent. Half Oink¡¯s smaller legs weren¡¯t meant for long distance running, but even with blood streaming from her forehead she didn¡¯t give up the chase- and it took Sharphoof too long to put out the flames upon him. Looks like it was time for him to learn what actual sharpness was like. It was a shame he hadn¡¯t even tried to talk. Why did it always turn out like that? Except for the reef. And the Heavenly Lake. And the leaf insects. And the lemurs. And the Kapok Coalition. Okay, fine, actually most people seemed pretty decent. But why did the bad ones get so strong? Well, he knew the reasons for that too. Which was why he made sure to have lots of slightly-less-strong friends to make up for that. Chapter 847 What appeared to be a small number of ants of significantly disparate sizes were having a conversation via sign language, plus their own pheromones and the like that added more than humans could generally pick up on. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why I¡¯m the one going,¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it makes sense. What if we swap?¡± ¡°Seems a bit late,¡± Fearsome Mandibles pointed out. ¡°You¡¯ve already got a whole colony loading up onto the ship.¡± ¡°Yeah but-¡± A much larger individual gently tapped her daughters on the head with her own antennae, drawing their attention. ¡°You will be alright. It is just nervousness. An expected issue, when dealing with anything important. I have already expressed my confidence in your performance. And our allies have equipped us with an excellent ship, so you have little to worry about on the actual journey.¡± ¡°But what if-¡± ¡°I am confident you will be able to handle everything that comes up,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Now then, you have familiarized yourself with the controls many times. The destination is also set. And when you arrive, you should be able to contact the Scarlet Alliance. You know everything you must do. Now all you have to do is go.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll do great,¡± Fearsome Mandibles assured her sister. ¡°And don¡¯t forget, you can make more help when you get there.¡± ¡°But if I¡¯m not good enough, then any queens I make will also-¡± From the perspective of the princess- no, she was a proper queen with her own colony now- a terrifyingly large forelimb pressed down upon her head. But the action came with sufficient control to prevent it from causing actual damage. ¡°You will do fine. And if you are worried, feed upon more upper energy first. You will find your growth should be significant. But don¡¯t worry about time. A year or ten or a hundred all leave you with plenty of time.¡± ¡°I should probably go,¡± Crossed Antennae said nervously. ¡°The ship is ready.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll do great!¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°I¡¯ll miss you! Make sure to send lots of messages!¡± There was the problem, wasn¡¯t it? Messages. A ship designed to go from the lower realms to the upper realms, even one made on a small scale for the sake of void ants¡­ it was already rather exceptional. And there was no guarantee it would actually survive the trip, let alone be able to continue on towards the ultimate goal of planting colonies on other planets on the border. If all went well, she might be able to send messages, but would she ever be able to see her mother and sister again? Crossed Antennae didn¡¯t have any particular attachment to the other queens she had never met, but Akrys and its people were the only world she had ever known. And she was heading towards a planet that would be quite lonely. The only living things would be some plants¡­ probably. There might be other bugs that came along with the temporary colonizers, but that hadn¡¯t really been noted on the few visits the people in the upper realms made to such places. Crossed Antennae made her way onto the ship. It was a small one- barely larger than a hippo, in fact. It was not usable by humans, but instead made for void ants in particular. That meant relying more on technology that didn¡¯t involve the use of natural energy, which doubled as a requirement for travel between the realms. But even as a queen, Crossed Antennae couldn¡¯t do much manipulation of natural energy beyond devouring it. Certainly, she wasn¡¯t close to the Great Queen¡¯s level. The interior of the ship was filled with spacious corridors. It was partially a requirement for construction by humans- even if they used machines and the like, they needed more than ant-sized corridors to place things. And there was some leeway for potential growth. The vast majority of void ants would never even reach Crossed Antennae¡¯s current size, a bit more than a centimeter from front to rear, but Crossed Antennae herself might grow much larger. Even to the size of the Great Queen, given time. It wouldn¡¯t be comfortable, but she could probably navigate the important corridors at ten or fifteen centimeters in length, should she ever reach that point. Though she really couldn¡¯t see that happening ever, and if it did it would be centuries. She made her way to the controls. Since every ant on board was her own progeny, their intelligence was still¡­ limited. Pulling levers and pushing buttons without knowing why was about the limit. So she had to do everything herself. That said, the destination was already programmed into the device. And most processes were automatic. She pressed one button, and it began to seal the ship. She waited for the process to complete, then hesitated before the next. This one would send them into orbit around Akrys. She firmly pressed the button. She felt heavy, but little more than that. Certainly not as jarring as she might have thought the process would be. And then, a few short minutes later, the process was done. She could see Akrys below through one of the lone windows. She¡¯d been treated to an image of the planet before, but this was the first time seeing it properly. And now she was going to be leaving it behind. It was scary. But it wasn¡¯t the hardest thing a void ant had had to do. Indeed, the Great Queen herself had to rely on the hope that a human cultivator wouldn¡¯t kill her and her brood, hiding in Anton¡¯s storage bag as he returned to Ceretos from Everheart¡¯s moon-based tomb. Not that the Great Queen had even known all of those details at the time. And she hadn¡¯t had a mother to guide her or help her grow. Or allies to build her a ship. And while Crossed Antennae would be alone for a time, how long had the Great Queen been alone, in practice? Most of her life, until the human cultivators arrived. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. For all her protests¡­ Crossed Antennae did want to do this. It was¡­ exciting, going somewhere new. But that didn¡¯t make it less terrifying. A message beeped, displaying in small font on an equally small monitor- yet one that was a little large for her at the moment. It was from the nearby ships, watching for trouble. She confirmed that she was alright, and began the next process. It only took a few presses to confirm the information, with the planet that didn¡¯t have a proper name yet. That was something she was responsible for as well. This time, though she was accelerating much more quickly, she noticed the process even less. The ship was made to prevent inertial shocks to those inside of it, and it wouldn¡¯t have done much good if everyone was crushed when it arrived. Though void ants could easily withstand an effective gravity of several times normal, a ship made for interstellar travel was much more than that. And they weren¡¯t even going to a particularly close star. The closest one across the border had no seeded life at all, which would make it nearly impossible to colonize. They had stores of seeds to add to the ecosystem, things that void ants worked with easily, but that would only work if there was some way for them to not die to begin with. Akrys faded away, and Crossed Antennae realized she had at least a month of time to herself. The other ants would be in a forced hibernation, to save on supplies. They wouldn¡¯t be much help if something went wrong with the ship anyway. Not yet, though she hoped some would grow up to be as interesting as that one Sergeant she¡¯d heard about, a void ant not born a royal or really anything, but still exceptional. ----- Anton was disappointed that he¡¯d missed the departure of Crossed Antennae by just a short time. However, the timing of such things was critical, and he didn¡¯t want to make people wait for months just for him. By now, she probably should have arrived- a message would likely be on its way. Though it might have to route through the Scarlet Alliance, which would add several more months. The new queen¡¯s departure meant more than it seemed. It was a significant step towards their greater plans to cease invasions from the upper realms. It also meant that the Great Queen who had been focused on Akrys for some time would be free to act as she pleased. Anton really hoped they wouldn¡¯t need her for anything, but it was nice to know she was an option, at least. He would speak to her about her plans later. First¡­ he had some disciples to check on. The Lower Plains Coalition looked to be doing well. Anton was quite interested to look at some of the different sorts of things they were building. Buildings and tools and the like, with fortified tunnels for their burrowing members. His first disciple wasn¡¯t there, however. Nor was he anywhere on the continent, Anton quickly determined. He eventually found Three Squeaks, radiating the energy of a mid to late stage Essence Collection cultivator, out in the middle of one of the oceans. Quite deep, too. There were some interesting beasts there, certainly, but nothing that immediately stood out as sapient. Then again, it seemed as if some species had developed more recently, so they were less likely to show signs of things like intentional cultivation. Anton waited for Three Squeaks to surface, not particularly hiding himself but also not advertising his presence. Thus, Three Squeaks continued to do what he was doing for several hours before surfacing¡­ and about halfway up he noticed Anton and suddenly swam ahead of his hippo friend. ¡°Sect head!¡± Three Squeaks said, shooting out of the water into the air. Anton reached out a palm and caught him, standing on the surface of the ocean. Its relative density made it quite a bit easier than flying. ¡°Well hello again, my little branch head friend. You seem to have been doing well. How is your exploration going?¡± ¡°Planets are big!¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°But I think I¡¯m almost¡­ a tenth done? Maybe?¡± Anton nodded, ¡°Oh, very good. You¡¯ve been working hard. And your cultivation has been growing quite well. When do you expect to reach Life Transformation?¡± ¡°Well, I¡­¡± Three Squeaks shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t really know. Maybe another decade or two?¡± Anton thought it would be closer to the former. Three Squeaks had decent talent, after all. Anton himself had only spent twenty-five years in Essence Collection total, out of approximately thirty years total at that point. With Three Squeaks now having a few decades of cultivation under his belt as well, Anton thought he could reach Life Transformation in one more. And likely Assimilation before his two hundredth year, maybe as early as a hundred and fifty. And Anton knew Three Squeaks would aim for Assimilation instead of Ascension. That much was obvious. ¡°Just keep working at it. Time, ultimately, doesn¡¯t matter. We are quite fortunate to be blessed with an abundance of that right now,¡± Anton said. ¡°Have you found any new allies?¡± Three Squeaks told him about all the nice people they met, as well as the not so nice ones. ¡°And the horses were almost as bad as the beavers!¡± ¡°Unfortunate,¡± Anton said. ¡°But what do you think about the rest of the horses, now that this Sharphoof is gone?¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯re watching them. They might be alright. The beavers are kind of a pain, though. I don¡¯t know if we can ever take our eyes off of them. Oh, but someone said they saw beavers on another continent! I haven¡¯t been there yet, but apparently they have water mills and stuff! Just like us!¡± Water mills had been an idea from Anton, though the coalition had refined it and many other ideas to fit their people. Still, using the power of a river was quite practical, even for those who had cultivation. ¡°I met some new people as well,¡± Anton said, telling Three Squeaks about Kybele and the Shining Cooperative. ¡°Are they going to be your friends?¡± ¡°I hope so,¡± Anton said sincerely. ¡°But they seem rather strong, so we need to be cautious.¡± ¡°If they try to fight you, we¡¯ll help!¡± ¡°I appreciate the thought,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you¡¯ll need to be a little stronger to take part in such a war first.¡± Anton could literally take out every single creature on Akrys himself. Though it would be faster to destroy the planet directly and let them perish in the aftermath, if he was the sort to do such things. Which he was not. ¡°Also, very much hoping not to fight them.¡± ¡°Right. Well if you need a cute mascot to convince them not to fight¡­¡± Anton stroked his chin. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll definitely consider that one.¡± Chapter 848 Every moment the clock ticked every closer to Crossed Antennae¡¯s eventual arrival. Her thoughts were a mix of boredom and excited anticipation. There wasn¡¯t much else for her to do but think and wait, which made everything take longer. All of the energy of the ship was stable, and the purely technological parts came back with no warnings. The only moment of uncertainty came as the ship crossed the dead zone, the transition between natural energy and ascension energy. Or lower and upper energy, but that was a bit insulting to the lower realms- along with the entire name. During that time, the ship ran purely on technological means. While there wasn¡¯t much it had to do since it was already accelerated as far as it was going to go, remaining in subspace wasn¡¯t something that happened trivially. Not that Crossed Antennae really understood all of those details. Scholars with a century of study didn¡¯t necessarily understand all the details alone, so how could a single ant? Void ants were clever, but they could only learn so much so quickly. The flushing of natural energy from the systems was both exciting and worrying. While she was happy to be able to freely devour the energy, everything felt empty. There were weeks where the ship drifted through nothingness. Then she began to sense the ascension energy. She¡¯d been exposed to a small amount from Anton, but it was different when it was just everywhere, floating around like¡­ air. Not that there was actually any air around the ship. She nibbled on the ascension energy as the ship itself began to slowly absorb some of it, filling its systems. As far as she could tell, it thought things were going fine- not that the ship actually thought anything. It was just a bunch of formations and ¡®computer¡¯ systems that measured things. Still, she at least felt it was storing energy fine without any leaks. Then they finally came to the system. It only took a few hours to reach the planet from there- but they weren¡¯t immediately landing. Instead, they curved around the planet in question, then the star, lowering their momentum greatly. Ultimately that process took several days as they slowed from near lightspeed with subspace multiplication to something resembling sensible planetary speeds. The ship landed itself without any real input from Crossed Antennae, for which she was glad. And it seemed to be good except for the lack of energy. The planet itself was¡­ rather disappointing. Barely higher energy levels than the void of space around it. Even if it was ascension energy, it wasn¡¯t much. But the ship said there was air, and she could see some plants. When it was determined to be safe, she exited the ship herself. Grass stretched from horizon to horizon, providing very little benefit except how it limited soil erosion. This place would need a lot of work. Building up natural energy was important. Ascension energy, she corrected herself. And yet, they couldn¡¯t build up too much. After all, it had to look almost the same as it did now. Enough to fool anyone attempting to colonize it for later invasions of the lower realms, at least. That way, they could launch simultaneous attacks and wipe them all out. That was the plan, though of course something would go wrong. No plans lasted centuries without running into some issues. But before then, they needed to start planting. Her progeny began waking up from their artificial hibernations, and the queen commanded them, picking out where they should begin planting their seeds. They would need to be conservative with their feeding on the local energy for a while, until it could start building up sufficiently. Having landed and immediately become busy, Crossed Antennae forgot about her worries. Her loneliness and fear were set aside as she was filled with purpose. She didn¡¯t forget to signal her arrival, but she wouldn¡¯t hear back for some time- and it would be even longer before any relevant action was taken that would affect her. Until then, she had her job as a queen to fulfill, to grow her colony and work towards the best results for the void ants and their allies. And at least the dense energy filled her with hope for how they might develop. ----- As it turned out, it was not so easy to shift the loyalty of groups planted by the Exalted Quadrant. On Ceretos, only a small portion had been willing to fight with the planet- and many of them made that choice more for practical purposes, betting on them being the winning side. Not that that was necessarily wrong. In fact, if they were to make choices like that in their current situation then all of them would swiftly wish to join up with the Lower Realms Alliance. After all, one side had Assimilation cultivators. And soon enough, more than a single Enrichment cultivator. Devon didn¡¯t know if he would outpace others. Lev and the Grasping Willow were growing at a steady pace, and he could advance at any time. There were others from Ceretos and around the alliance that had the potential as well. Ty Quigley was somewhat behind in cultivation time, but he also had the talent. Though without conflict, perhaps he would fall a bit behind. Still, despite the annoying stubbornness of the Hardened Crown Sect¡­ Devon was glad to hear that people were at least willing to listen and talk. Nothing had come to blows yet- except with regards to Naamah and the Nidec branch of the Hardened Crown Sect, which really didn¡¯t count. Nobody had ever expected otherwise. As for the local cultivators of Nidec who weren¡¯t associated with the Exalted Quadrant, they seemed to be eagerly awaiting the results. Joining the Lower Realms Alliance would be good for them with very few downsides- though there were some requirements such as giving up slaves. Not that it was easy to have enslaved cultivators of significant power, so it was ultimately very inefficient to have many slaves. And horrid, of course, but Devon understood that people didn¡¯t always consider morality before profit or convenience or the like. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. But aside from submitting to the universal laws of the Lower Realms Alliance, which weren¡¯t particularly burdensome as such things went, joining the alliance came with so many upsides. Knowledge, not just about cultivation but technology as well as the ability to improve the natural energy of planets. Just that was hard enough to ignore, plus there was the promise to stand together against invasions from the upper realms. ----- ¡°This timing is terrible,¡± Aerona complained. ¡°How so?¡± Devon asked. ¡°I¡¯m talking about running into this ¡®Shining Cooperative¡¯, while we¡¯re still dealing with Nidec. I mean, I don¡¯t feel the need to be personally involved in all of this but¡­ we only have so many people specialized in diplomatic matters. At least Anton proposed a generous time limit, but even then five years is¡­ a bit of a rush.¡± ¡°You think they¡¯ll be a problem?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Udre joined after everything with Ekict. So we¡¯ve seen exactly one conflict. Just Vrelt. And while that was bad enough to be cautious¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m still optimistic. I doubt this Shining Cooperative would be eager for a war even if they¡¯d normally be the type, given the fact that their first contact was Anton.¡± Devon nodded, ¡°It¡¯s hard to want to fight with my grandpa. He¡¯s so nice. And terrifyingly strong.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Aerona said. ¡°So worst case, they¡¯ll tell us to stay out of their territory. But if they are friendly, then the process could vary greatly in how smoothly we connect. There could be decades of variability if the situation is approached too timidly. Or too aggressively.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why we have people like you who are passionate about this stuff,¡± Devon said. ¡°Also I do think we should probably be focused on the location we¡¯re currently at, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°If I was needed, I probably would,¡± Aerona shrugged. ¡°But Treloar is doing a good job of talking to the people who don¡¯t need to be headbutted into submission. Naamah is probably going to be successful with the Hardened Crown Sect, they just have to put up a fight for a decade to make themselves feel good.¡± ¡°So in your estimation, Vrelt¡¯s integration will be relatively smooth?¡± ¡°I hope so. But I can¡¯t be sure,¡± Aerona admitted. ¡°But there are no secrets here, and the balance of power isn¡¯t as strongly for the upper realms individuals. And the alliance is more prepared if something goes wrong.¡± ¡°I¡¯m more concerned about that part. Focusing on Vrelt while still having to watch our border with the Shining Cooperative¡­ as if we even knew what that border was¡­ it¡¯s tough.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Aerona said. ¡°It will remind us that protecting the whole of the lower realms against assault is going to be a large task. And that just because we have a few hundred years left doesn¡¯t mean we can slack off. People have to be reminded about such things every once in a while.¡± ¡°Grandpa¡¯s pretty good at that. He doesn¡¯t forget what¡¯s important.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± Aerona admitted. ¡°With his growth plans, everyone would kind of accidentally end up strong enough to wipe out any and all invaders. Though people focused on combat are still going to be necessary.¡± ¡°On that note, how do you feel about being in the same stage of cultivation as this guy?¡± Devon pulled out his communicator and showed her a picture. ¡°Infuriated. Then immediately calmed by his cuteness. That¡¯s Three Squeaks, right? And Meep?¡± ¡°Yeah. You should meet them some day.¡± ¡°Akrys is pretty tightly closed off,¡± Aerona reminded Devon. ¡°If only you were closely tied to some of the few people authorized to enter the system¡­¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°And hopefully they¡¯ll achieve some sort of unification or otherwise open up to the galactic community through their own will¡­ in a century or so.¡± ¡°With those guys working on it, I can¡¯t help but believe they¡¯ll be successful,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Also, extremely motivated to break through to Life Transformation sooner rather than later.¡± ¡°Maybe you need something to push you. Like¡­ trying to talk to the Hardened Crown Sect yourself.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s a good idea,¡± Aerona said. She crossed her arms. ¡°Or if it is, I hate it.¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m just saying. Perhaps pushing your diplomatic limits will help. Though obviously you have to judge for yourself whether you can be successful with both your goal and your cultivation. We wouldn¡¯t want to compromise either one.¡± ¡°Okay, hear me out. Learning a new language would be good, right? And there aren¡¯t that many language varieties¡­ except what is spoken on Akrys. So I should learn from them.¡± ¡°How many clicking, chittering, and squawking noises can you make consistently?¡± Devon asked, grinning. ¡°P-probably a lot? I have good control over my voice.¡± ¡°The hard part is doing it without embarrassment,¡± Devon said. ¡°Like Three Squeaks actual name sounds like this.¡± High pitched noises that didn¡¯t fit Devon¡¯s look at all somehow extracted themselves from his voice box. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s uh¡­ I kind of knew the names were representative but¡­ they seem pretty cumbersome.¡± ¡°Meep isn¡¯t so bad,¡± Devon said, making a quick noise. ¡°Though it takes the man himself probably five seconds to work up to making that sound.¡± ¡°I doubt they¡¯ll actually ever need me,¡± Aerona said. ¡°But if you¡¯re willing, I would like to learn the language.¡± ¡°Sure. I mostly speak from the meerkat angle, but the language is pretty generous with its sounds. Oh, but there are some nonverbal individuals there as well. The Great Queen taught some stick insects something like void ant sign, but obviously it¡¯s not exactly the same.¡± ¡°I know void ant sign,¡± Aerona said. ¡°I think I can probably pick that up pretty quickly.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just make sure we don¡¯t miss things that are happening here,¡± Devon grinned. Honestly, speaking the awakened beast language of Akrys was rather embarrassing, given how he¡¯d learned it, but Aerona was one of the few people he would feel comfortable using it in front of. Everyone else standing around them wouldn¡¯t get anything. Devon wondered what sort of private conversation people thought they were having. They might pick something out from the weird ways his mouth moved, but they¡¯d probably never truly figure it out. Chapter 849 Cutting apart a thread of energy was easy. In truth, having a void blade made very little difference in that process. But that wasn¡¯t the actual results Velvet would want from her efforts. A cut thread of energy was easily reconnected. The void blade accomplished the necessary component of negating the connection for long enough that it would have to be established anew- meaning that all energy involved would have to be spent anew. They were also practical against attacked made purely of energy, as they could sever them in two and negate their effects- though it wasn¡¯t perfect. It was quite easy for some of the energy to flow around the blade, leaving her vulnerable if she was careless in how she performed her counter. Thus, simply avoiding attacks was more reliable. As for mixed attacks, unfortunately once a weapon was moving at superhuman speeds, blocking with a void blade was pointless. Even with the special alloy to counteract its fragile nature, it was still easily broken. And even without the augmented cutting edges that energy gave to weapons, a cultivator who had surpassed Body Tempering was strong enough to break a void blade. Parrying was a delicate task as well, and Velvet had broken hundreds of similar-strength weapons during her training. They were formulated to nearly match the durability of a void blade, and Velvet resolved to clash directly only as a last resort. Which was kind of the whole point of the training. Plus detecting the lowest levels of energy, tiny connections that she could sever. And of course she brushed up on her ability to read the flow of energy of both cultivators and formations to find optimal places to attack. There was no sparring against Runa or her father, not with the void blades. The Spirit Slicing Sect didn¡¯t fight in a way that it would be advantageous to use their own tactics against them, so it would be better for Velvet to use one of her normal daggers¡­ for most practical aspects of combat. However, a void blade in her off hand was a great boon. Along with her advancement to Augmentation, she felt nearly unstoppable. She knew that wasn¡¯t true, of course, and did her best to quash such risky thoughts. She could die to a more experienced Augmentation cultivator or a handful of lucky or highly coordinated Integration cultivators. It wasn¡¯t terribly likely, but Velvet wasn¡¯t the sort that should end up in a fair fight with either. Velvet didn¡¯t just train, of course. She was quite involved with clearing out Exalted Quadrant attackers on Taon. Until the point they were more or less eliminated. After that, Velvet had to discuss the next steps with Runa and Emrik. They were her direct connections to the rest of the Chaotic Conglomeration, after all. ¡°What are your plans now? Will you move your headquarters?¡± ¡°It was only a temporary base anyway,¡± Emrik said- though Velvet was reminded that they¡¯d been here at least fifty years, perhaps over a century. ¡°But we also need to finish mining out as much of the void ore as we can, practically. This planet will still be useful as a staging ground for future conflict as well. It is a decent place to rest and train, so no doubt we will continue to fortify it.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Runa nodded. ¡°The question should really be what do you intend to do?¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°Well, I¡­¡± she knew she had to get back to the Scarlet Alliance. Just because Runa was her friend didn¡¯t suddenly invalidate all the rest of her friendships and allegiances. So what was she going to do? ¡°First, I¡¯d like to thank you for your trust. I suppose I should provide some in return.¡± Velvet pulled something out of one of her storage bags. It was a lockbox designed to fry the object inside, should it be opened incorrectly- something that was very easy to do. Of course, she knew the proper way. She did so, and presented the hand-sized device to Runa. ¡°Here is a communicator. It will allow you to contact the Scarlet Alliance.¡± ¡°... How?¡± Runa looked at it, tilting her head. ¡°First press this button,¡± Velvet said, turning the device on. Runa nearly jumped back. ¡°How did it do that?¡± ¡°Do¡­ what?¡± Velvet tilted her head. ¡°It lit up without the flow of upper energy changing.¡± ¡°Oh. That¡¯s¡­ a special technique.¡± Mundane technology, technically, but Velvet wasn¡¯t up for explaining that. ¡°Anyway, it only communicates directly with our comms center. It won¡¯t do you much good until I manage to contact them in person to inform them that the device isn¡¯t compromised. Before then, your messages will probably be set aside as suspect. Since you won¡¯t have my energy signature.¡± ¡°I see. How long will it take the messages to arrive?¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Velvet furrowed her brow. ¡°Maybe¡­ a year?¡± ¡°A year?¡± Runa said. ¡°The Scarlet Alliance is quite far.¡± ¡°I know!¡± Runa waved her arms, then stopped and cradled the communicator, as if worried it would fall apart. ¡°And it¡¯s only going to take a year?¡± ¡°Each way, approximately,¡± Velvet confirmed. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°That is¡­¡± Emrik frowned. ¡°Quite exceptional. Could you possibly¡­ tell us how that works?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t, for several reasons,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I don¡¯t really know how it works in detail. Just to be clear, if you managed to perfectly replicate the components of this device it would probably still not work. And even if it did, it would only connect to our central comms. Even so, I would ask you to take special care that it does not get captured by the Exalted Quadrant¡­ the more of our devices they get, the riskier it is that they¡¯ll figure out something we don¡¯t want to happen.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll protect it with my life,¡± Runa said. ¡°It¡¯s fine to break it, you know,¡± Velvet said. ¡°In fact, that¡¯s much preferable to the alternative. Because I don¡¯t want you dead, and I would like it even less if you were dead and then that device got captured.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it precious, though?¡± Runa asked. ¡°It¡¯s secret,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Not precious. We can always make more of them if we need to. And while it would be inconvenient to lose communication with you, it¡¯s preferable it be destroyed rather than you getting hurt for it.¡± ¡°Alright, so, how do I use it?¡± Runa asked. Velvet quickly explained the options. Voice recordings and text, mainly. This was a long distance communicator, so it didn¡¯t do video or have the capacity for things like technique insight transmission. The latter required proper infrastructure on both ends, and was only practical for between realms. Otherwise, people could just¡­ bring a scroll to each other. Though the Chaotic Conglomeration was a bit¡­ difficult to reach from the Scarlet Alliance. ¡°It recharges naturally,¡± Velvet said. ¡°So as long as it doesn¡¯t get damaged it should continue to work for¡­ a century at least.¡± They didn¡¯t have much more testing than that to determine the longevity of the devices. And it was possible that this generation had introduced some sort of flaw. But either way, it would last as long as it lasted. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much it will actually help, but if we can send each other information about the movements of the Exalted Quadrant, it should be beneficial to both of our groups. It should already clear, but I don¡¯t intend to remain here any longer. Nor to move onto aiding you upon other planets.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit unfortunate,¡± Emrik said. ¡°But perfectly understandable. Your first loyalties are not to us. I can only say that we appreciate what you have done for us. Saving my daughter¡¯s life, helping secure the void ore and then the planet. A simple trinket and some techniques aren¡¯t enough to pay you back for that. And then your insights into Augmentation¡­¡± Emrik stroked his chin. ¡°They¡¯ve already made a significant difference for me.¡± ¡°Well, if you still feel indebted¡­ I wouldn¡¯t mind getting copies of any data you have on the Exalted Quadrant. Whatever you¡¯re authorized to share. I¡¯m certain some of your group would be a bit hesitant to share with me still.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we care about their opinions,¡± Emrik grinned. ¡°My daughter knows you well enough. I have no reason to believe you¡¯re some sort of spy a dozen layers deep, ultimately working for the Exalted Quadrant while pretending to be part of the Scarlet Alliance. And this device,¡± he gestured. ¡°Proves some of that. You treat it with care simply because it¡¯s not easy to get here. But otherwise you¡¯re far too casual about its capabilities.¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°If you could see some of the things we have, I think you¡¯d understand.¡± Emrik stroked his chin. ¡°It¡¯s strange, you know. The Scarlet Alliance has something the Exalted Quadrant does not. But you¡¯re effectively a new faction, aren¡¯t you?¡± Velvet wanted to protest, but to be fair the Scarlet Alliance had only existed for somewhere around two-thirds of her life. Which kind of made it brand new by some measures. Even by the standards of factions in the lower realms that got reset every cycle, it wasn¡¯t particularly old. ¡°Something like that. If you somehow find the time and can do so safely, I would gladly show you around. But I don¡¯t know how easily you will be able to slip through Exalted Quadrant territory.¡± ¡°Speaking of which,¡± Runa said. ¡°Will you be alright on your return trip?¡± ¡°Will I be alright?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I¡¯m a single individual among billions. Perhaps trillions. I just¡­ have to avoid the Limitless Edge. Though I heard that there was an incident¡­¡± ¡°Everheart,¡± Emrik said the name like it was the most foul swear he knew. Which it might be. ¡°And some swordmaster.¡± ¡°Rahayu,¡± Velvet said. ¡°One of the few individuals who has joined up with Everheart¡¯s new faction.¡± Normally, she would expect many more- but Everheart was known to use projections for all of his labor. So there was no point in having people below a certain threshold. Combined with the requirement that they be able to tolerate Everheart¡­ Velvet was almost surprised there were two of them. ¡°So what are your plans to return?¡± Emrik asked. ¡°Crossing the border territories will be the most difficult.¡± ¡°You have some captured ships, do we not?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Sure, but it will be instantly obvious to anyone inspecting you.¡± ¡°Only once they approach. At which point, the ship should be empty.¡± ¡°And then what, you steal another ship from a contested world?¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°I plan to push a ship to reach a few systems inward. I doubt it will survive the trip, but even in the worst case scenario I can finish the journey on my own. If all goes well, a random empty ship will be on a crash course with some sun. And then I¡¯ll take standard passage further along. I know how to blend in among them. I made it this far, didn¡¯t I? Returning¡­ well, I won¡¯t say it will be just as easy, but I¡¯m also more capable now.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be safer to go around?¡± Runa asked. ¡°Safer? Probably. It would take significantly longer, hopping between border planets on my own. And I¡¯m not particularly enthusiastic about the capability of these ships to refuel in random systems. Besides, my work isn¡¯t done. I plan to engage in a bit more espionage along the way. A different route than before, of course.¡± She wanted to stay well away from the stomping grounds of the Limitless Edge. Even if she disguised her face and subdued her own aura, she was concerned about being spotted. Though she could likely pick out the Limitless Edge first and avoid the danger, as long as she wasn¡¯t in a system packed with disciples. ¡°We wish you good luck, then,¡± Emrik said. ¡°Take any of the ships you please. You helped secure half of them anyway.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I won¡¯t be leaving immediately¡­ but it will be soon.¡± Hopefully, she would be able to make a return trip at some point¡­ but it was more difficult than the distances involved. And weakening the Exalted Quadrant to make them less of a threat was hardly something she thought they could accomplish in the near future. Maybe Runa would find a chance to visit the Scarlet Alliance- if she could do so safely, Velvet would be pleased. Chapter 850 Brightness and heat suffused everything around Anton as he slipped around a star. His speed was improving, but mere speed was not satisfactory. Unfortunately, his attempts to develop a better travel technique were limited by his bound stars. He was making some progress when moving among stars he was attuned to, but elsewhere he was restricted to simply pushing himself further. As he had recently traveled around the perimeter of the Lower Realms¡¯ Alliance, Anton was keenly aware of the vast distances involved. And that was ignoring anything beyond their settled areas. The Shining Cooperative was of an unknown size, but even the most generous estimates would only have them spilling out of that area a few systems to the east. Of course, they could be wrong. In an unbound system like he currently was, Anton could only pick up a little bit of speed by wrestling momentum away from the local star and planets. He could recover energy just fine between systems now, so it wasn¡¯t always necessary to stop or even pass through particular systems. Moving only in the void between systems also had its merits. Currently, Anton was circling around through his bound systems to the south. He¡¯d spent a good portion of his time lately traveling, but that was a consequence of his wide ranging interests. He had grown more confident in In¡¯istra with Varghese advancing to Assimilation, but the Shining Cooperative loomed too close for him to fully relax. Thus, his plan was to make certain that the following diplomacy would go as well as possible. That meant a safe and preferably comfortable location to stay. The Lower Realms Alliance had already sent a few security ships that should at least verify specific dangers, but Anton planned to check out some of the nearby systems just in case. Instead of taking a direct route through unexplored stars- a tempting proposition- Anton had decided it was best to follow a mostly familiar. It was a longer distance, but the actual travel time should be similar. And if his technique finally showed any gains as he hoped it might, he could even arrive more quickly. Once in the neighborhood of Ceretos, starting with Weos, Anton accelerated his advancement while trying to achieve specific insights. Hoping to instantaneously cover the distance between systems was a bit more ambitious than Anton was willing to strive for. However, he could do more. What he was already doing involved using the power of his bound stars to accelerate himself as quickly as possible, but he didn¡¯t think that was the right route. Instead, he had been working on another method that was similar in appearance from the outside. From Weos, he focused on his connection to that star- and its rather odd effects on gravity- then his most familiar and first bound star in Ceretos. The two systems were neighbors, though perhaps over the course of thousands of tens of thousands of years that would change slightly. They were drifting in more or less the same direction, but not at precisely the same velocities relative to the galactic plane. That double connection was what Anton wanted, and he strengthened it slightly. He propelled himself forward and dove into subspace once beyond the gravity well of the system. He was moving fast, certainly, but he hadn¡¯t quite accomplished what he wanted. It was a matter of days before he arrived around Ceretos, ready to turn to the northeast. This was where his technique was more critical, as he had greater distances between bound stars. Though had had over a dozen bound stars along the path from Ceretos to In¡¯istra and Azun, that put them at around an average of thirty to forty lightyears apart, enough to pass through a handful of systems. Anton¡¯s next leap didn¡¯t quite get it¡­ but he felt something. His next star was about halfway to the Twin Planets, though perhaps the name was no longer apt considering the whole system was being expanded into. Either way, he made one more attempt there, finally achieving what he wanted in a primitive form. Between the two stars, he formed a corridor using his connection, one that most likely only he could travel. And not a permanent one. But the important thing was that it was outside of the normal habit of slipping into subspace. Here, the distances were even shorter- the most reasonable way to improve travel times since he was already pushing as close to the speed of light as he felt was safe. For a first attempt, Anton found it quite reasonable. He had to maintain the corridor rather than keeping himself in subspace, but it was more efficient. And he knew he saved some time. A trip that could have been twelve days became ten. Anton understood it was already ridiculously fast travel by some standards, but taking several months to go from Ceretos to In¡¯istra at maximum speed was still¡­ uncomfortably slow. Even ignoring the time it would take a cry for help to reach him, that was an unacceptable amount of time. Arriving in his destination system, Anton knew he could do even better with practice. He wasn¡¯t sure how much, but he had a handful more attempts to try to advance his basic proficiency before he needed to turn towards Ozemdu- the system where the meeting was scheduled to take place, still more than four years hence. Before he picked it out for the meeting, it had only had a generic number- even in just their local neighborhood, there were many, many thousands of stars. Uniquely naming those that weren¡¯t something special was simply a waste of time. After his initial success creating connected corridors rather than simply catapulting himself ahead, Anton didn¡¯t see any immediate leaps in efficiency. However, determining the technique was viable was the most important step, and achieving an immediate travel speed increase between one part in five and one part in six was nothing he was going to complain about. Most likely he would only push those numbers down very slowly¡­ but this was a better avenue than simply ¡®going faster¡¯. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Soon enough he was back to traveling through new and unfamiliar territory. He was glad for his advancement to Enrichment, as it made his journey much easier. When he arrived, Anton was going to scout all of the nearby systems for distortion beasts- best to deal with those beforehand, if there were any- and then see if he could set about making the planet a bit more comfortable besides having tolerable gravity and temperature. Maybe suggest building a nice room or something. He might not be the first to think about that, but he would feel silly if he didn¡¯t suggest it just because he assumed other people brought it up already. ----- More than a thousand lightyears away, Velvet was hurtling towards the northern part of the Exalted Quadrant, following her plans to pass by the first few layers of systems. Of course, even pushing her poor transport ship she wasn¡¯t making nearly as good of time as Anton was. That meant many weeks of silently meditating, focusing on the important task of keeping her energy signature subdued until she finally reached her destination system. The ship dropped out of subspace a good half lightyear from the system. Velvet bristled when she felt the change, but she didn¡¯t sense anything nearby that would have caused it. After some inspection, she determined that the ship¡¯s systems had collapsed slightly earlier than predicted under the somewhat intentional strain. If this ship had been built with Ruteran technology combined with modern formations, things might have been different- but the ship was probably older than her. And while reliability and longevity were useful traits for a cultivator to consider, the lack of innovation was the issue. Cultivators happily improved themselves over the course of centuries, but they seemed to rarely seek out anything new. In a way, the lower realms having their planets ¡®reset¡¯ occasionally was the driving factor in how they were different. They hadn¡¯t been able to settle into a comfortable state where they didn¡¯t feel the need to push themselves. And combined with more than a few connected individuals ascending near in time to each other and joining together in the upper realms, they¡¯d managed to start something amazing. Velvet just hoped that the sluggish and traditional powerhouses on either side of the Scarlet Alliance took too long to properly see what was happening, and reacted slowly enough for them to actually fight back. Because while they had some amazing things, what the Scarlet Alliance lacked was raw numbers. That was something only time could fix, as new people had to be born and rise in cultivation in either the upper or lower realms. There was an internal debate about whether she should destroy the ship, but ultimately Velvet decided that there were no useful traces left on the ship. It arriving empty in its target system in a couple years would at most be a mystery, assuming it didn¡¯t go unnoticed along its course into the sun. As for herself, she directed her course around the system. She had a particular goal for where she wanted to first set her feet, as well as a new cover identity to help her be on her way. She even had an identity token from an Exalted Quadrant sect. Some would darken when their attuned cultivators died, but this one had had its connection severed by the Spirit Slicing Sect. Thus, it would look real enough as long as nobody took a deep look at her cultivation. Obviously Velvet would be hiding that. If someone noticed she was an Augmentation cultivator, there would be too many questions. Obviously she had an excuse for why she was trying to travel incognito, just in case, but at that point it would probably be too late. Her cultivation wouldn¡¯t match any local techniques well enough under a thorough inspection, and while that was acceptable for those of weaker cultivation, Augmentation cultivators were more of the definition of a techniques look and feel. Even if she picked another sun based sect, Velvet knew she wouldn¡¯t perfectly match. So she would be acting as a member of the Western Mirage Sect. There was a vaguely associated Northern Mirage Sect as well, but their problem was actually being local. And thus more easily recognized. Even if Velvet was good at faking her outer layer of cultivation, the best disguises were the most believable, where people didn¡¯t even try to inspect them. Just like the best stealth was simply going where nobody would look. Obviously that didn¡¯t work all the time. If Velvet wanted to be the most safe she could be, she would have crawled along either the northern or southern border, staying just within the boundary of the upper realms. But she still had information to gather for the Scarlet Alliance, and it was better to do it now than risk another trip deep into enemy territory. ----- Saying that he could predict all of Aerona¡¯s actions would have been foolish, and Devon knew that even with his encouragement she could have gone either way. Even so, he was comfortable saying that he expected the eventual outcome that she arrived at. Which was to say, she actively chose to participate in more parts of the diplomatic efforts on Nidec. She hadn¡¯t been lacking in options before, but she was pushing for more invitations to various events. And of course, for his part in that Devon had to support her. Both emotionally, and in the manner of being a powerful and intimidating cultivator. So it was that he was both surprised and not surprised to be challenged to a duel by a member of the Hardened Crown Sect- the Nidec branch, not the other one. Though Naamah looked like she might want to fight him too. He accepted, of course, though he wasn¡¯t sure if it was particularly fair to stomp a Life Transformation cultivator. And so he asked Aerona to help come up with some appropriate handicap that wouldn¡¯t be insulting and could improve their opinion of him. When she gave her suggestion, he almost thought she was crazy. Then he remembered who they were dealing with¡­ and he decided it was fine. Chapter 851 Determining what the rules were for a fair fight between two individuals of vastly different cultivations was not as simple as it seemed. For Devon to simply say that he would use power equivalent to Life Transformation was insufficient. Both the quality and quantity of natural energy he had access to were different. Strangely, his opponent didn¡¯t seem focused on that detail as much as how they would be fighting. ¡°The only honorable way to fight is unarmed, without any tricks,¡± said Vera, the woman who had challenged him to a duel. ¡°What ¡®tricks¡¯?¡± Devon asked. ¡°That could mean many things.¡± Devon had no problem fighting in a straightforward manner, but he doubted that was exactly what she was talking about. ¡°Techniques that aren¡¯t geared towards crushing your opponents. Things like messing with their energy unnaturally instead of battering it into submission.¡± So basically, everything Devon did. Well, that wasn¡¯t quite true. He could still batter people with his chains. As an example, Devon formed a chain around his arm with spikes sticking out of it. ¡°Would this count as unarmed?¡± Devon held up his arm. ¡°It¡¯s just your energy on top of your body. No problem.¡± Well at least it didn¡¯t cut off all of his options. ¡°What about this arm?¡± Devon asked. ¡°I had to get it replaced. It¡¯s artificial.¡± The sturdy woman stepped forward, looking at Devon¡¯s arm. ¡°You put metal in your arm? Smart.¡± ¡°Right. How do we determine the winner?¡± ¡°Simple, when someone admits defeat or until a clear loss of consciousness.¡± That was about what he expected. Devon knew it was too late to back out now, but he still had to consider the consequences of accepting this duel. He¡¯d more or less come to the conclusion that choosing to fight was the important part¡­ and while winning would certainly be better, it wasn¡¯t necessary. As long as he stuck to the rules and put on a decent show, they should be better inclined towards the Lower Realms Alliance. Before the battle, Devon set up some internal locks that would prevent him from using too much energy. It didn¡¯t make it impossible- everything was under his control, after all- but it meant he couldn¡¯t surpass the limit by accident so easily. It was similar to restricting the energy flow of others, except much simpler since it was all internal to himself. The Hardened Crown Sect on Nidec obviously had an arena for duels- very few sects didn¡¯t have one, and it would be absurd for this particular group to not possess one. Unless they liked having their facilities broken by brawls breaking out in random parts of their sect, which could potentially still happen. When the battle began, Devon instantly coiled chains around himself. They would serve as both defensive and offensive benefits, and he wasn¡¯t really specialized in fighting without weapons by Vera¡¯s definition. He could augment his movements with the chains, if he needed to. Surprisingly, Vera didn¡¯t immediately charge towards him. Instead, she watched Devon¡¯s movements. If this was a normal battle, he would have lashed out with a chain and tried to trip her. That certainly wasn¡¯t his most effective move, but it would be a good start. Instead, he had to rely on much shorter range tactics. Devon imagined he could outlast Vera in a trial of patience, but he felt that taking the initiative would be more beneficial for how things looked. He threw a simple punch, which she countered with a simple slap of her hand, deflecting the blow. Her palm slipped around his arm, following the curve of the chain wrapped there to avoid the spikes. Devon followed up with his opposite knee, while at the same time creating tighter coils of the chains around himself so that they were less easily avoided. It was more total energy to create them, but maintaining them in their form wasn¡¯t particularly intensive unless they made contact and were damaged. Vera¡¯s other arm caught Devon¡¯s knee- some of the small spikes piercing through her defensive energy. But she effectively negated his attack, and used the momentum to propel herself backwards. Devon wasn¡¯t quite certain if she hadn¡¯t noticed the shift in the chains until he saw her squeeze her hand, restricting the flow of blood. Most likely intentional, then, and well within the expected style of fighting. Rather than letting Devon continue his offensive, after allowing herself to be pushed back Vera immediately sprang forward, seemingly intent on tackling Devon. He twisted to the side, bringing his elbow down on the back of her head. She still got an arm around his midsection and drove him backwards, but she was leaning to the side. Even so, her hand gripped around one of Devon¡¯s chains, ignoring the damage it caused. From there, the battle turned into a close quarters brawl and wrestling contest. If Devon was unrestricted, he could completely wrap his chains around Vera with little but a thought. Instead, he had to attempt his restrictive moves with the more limited length and mobility of his own limbs. Vera was a slippery target, never letting him get a good hold while tossing Devon around. He wasn¡¯t certain if she actually caused him more damage with that than she did to herself, but she seemed pleased with the results. Eventually the two of them broke apart, and they faced off again. Devon carefully watched her movements, thinking about the best way to take her down. He would prefer one solid blow. He wasn¡¯t certain how literally this particular member of the Hardened Crown Sect was taking the name, but it was easy to assume her skull in general was tough. And she would know that, so when Devon charged forward and punched directly towards her face, she chose to take the blow rather than dodging it. The chains around Devon¡¯s arm tightened along with his muscles, forcing his arm lower at the last moment- just enough to strike her chin instead of anywhere else. His artificial arm, specifically. It wasn¡¯t made to the same specifications as the swordmaster Chikere, but it was tougher than his natural body with a decent amount of tempering. And with just the right angle, the jaw was a perfect target. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Vera grabbed onto his arm near the elbow. He felt her beginning to wrench and twist, but then she staggered back half a step, letting go. She looked at him, her head at an angle. And then she toppled onto her back. Devon took a step closer, ready to stomp on her ankles if she tried to get up without admitting defeat. But fortunately he didn¡¯t need to try any of that. ¡°Ugh, I lose,¡± she said after a moment. She sat up, then fell onto her front. When she managed to get into a neutral position again, Devon reached out a hand to help her up. Vera didn¡¯t look particularly upset about losing, which made Devon think he¡¯d made the right moves. After the battle, Aerona came up to Devon. ¡°That was brutal. She¡¯s covered in dozens of cuts.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Devon said, surveying his own body. When he released the chains coiling about him, he could feel his body straining. He supported himself with natural energy, releasing his restrictions. More than a few places were broken. That included a couple fingers on his artificial fist- he was glad this model was self repairing, as long as sufficient natural energy was supplied and the core mechanisms weren¡¯t damaged. ¡°It was not a lengthy battle, but quite intense.¡± ¡°I doubted you a little, you know,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Fighting with those restrictions¡­¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°I could have lost. But I wouldn¡¯t get seriously injured.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± she asked. ¡°Because some of that stuff looks¡­ well, I know I¡¯ve seen worse on you. But still.¡± Devon held up his arm. ¡°Things like this are the only things that matter. Everything else can be repaired.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m equipped for something like that.¡± A strong hand clasped onto Aerona¡¯s shoulder from behind. Naamah. ¡°Is that so? Perhaps you should join me for some training, then.¡± Aerona looked back at Naamah. Then at Devon, her eyes wide. ¡°Well, it might be useful,¡± Devon said. ¡°But don¡¯t forget that her area of expertise is quite different from yours. So you should alter your expectations. It¡¯s up to Aerona if she wants to, of course. It¡¯s not really necessary.¡± Aerona frowned for a moment, then nodded. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll do your training. But only if you do my training.¡± ¡°Pfft. Sure thing,¡± Naamah said. ¡°I can do anything.¡± ----- A day later, Naamah came up to Devon, flopping over the end of a couch. ¡°Uuugh. How is it possible?¡± ¡°How is what possible?¡± Devon asked. ¡°She has all the beans!¡± Naamah said. ¡°I think I¡¯ll need an explanation.¡± ¡°Well, we each started with some beans. And a bunch of other people. And then we had to negotiate to get them from each other. And somehow I ended up with nothing!¡± ¡°And what did you learn?¡± Devon queried. ¡°Don¡¯t let Aerona make the rules? And never give her beans!¡± ¡°I assume you knew that last part going in. And yet, you ended up with nothing.¡± ¡°Well, the deals sounded good at the time. Individually. And then poof! Nothing!¡± Naamah said. ¡°That¡¯s the whole point.¡± Devon said. ----- The following evening, Aerona showed up out of nowhere and lay on Devon¡¯s lap. Well, he had obviously sensed her coming, but she didn¡¯t say anything during her approach. He lay his hand on her head, petting her hair. ¡°Physical training sucks,¡± she said. ¡°At least you got Naamah first,¡± Devon pointed out. ¡°Though that might have made things worse.¡± ¡°I feel like everything is broken. But¡­ almost everything isn¡¯t. I¡¯ve been forbidden to use medicines to accelerate my healing.¡± ¡°Need a reminder on how to accelerate healing?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Naamah showed me plenty,¡± Aerona buried her face in his belly. ¡°Then, reducing the pain and side effects. Was that included?¡± ¡°It was not.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll show you two methods. One for mid combat, which involves ignoring your body and is probably a bad idea most of the time. And the other for the rest of circumstances, which is slightly less all or nothing in terms of pain.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Aerona said. It took about an hour for Devon to go over the methods, though mostly because neither of them were in a hurry. Neither were particularly special, just manipulating the body beyond directly spurring healing. ¡°As the negotiator, I¡¯m not sure why I let her talk me into this,¡± Aerona admitted. ¡°Because you believed it would be better for the both of you. And because she¡¯ll actually be harsh on you in training and I¡¯m not very good at that,¡± Devon added. ¡°You¡¯re right. You¡¯re too¡­ gentle.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if Vera would agree. I was even about to snap her ankle, you know?¡± ¡°We both know you could do worse, though,¡± Aerona shook her head. ¡°You had it difficult.¡± ¡°Only for a short while,¡± Devon said. ¡°Just a few years.¡± ¡°At that time of your life¡­ it was a lot more,¡± Aerona said. ¡°And it wasn¡¯t just physical pain.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Devon agreed. So much had been lost, at the beginning of everything. Most of his family, including those closest to him. And he still didn¡¯t like to remember it. Then again, who would? He still liked the memories of when they were alive. Even those had been painful for a while. Now, he was in the business of keeping things like that from happening to others. ¡°So how are the negotiations? The real ones.¡± ¡°Slow. The Exalted Quadrant dangled impossible promises over the heads of previous generations, and nobody wants to recognize that they¡¯ll never come true. But¡­ they also have grown close to the natives, which is already a step up from where Ceretos was. I feel like at worst we¡¯ll end up with a few uncooperative factions. That does mean they¡¯ll probably get some information to those in the upper realms, but it¡¯s pretty much impossible to avoid that. Unless we went to extreme measures.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a shame, really. The people can be decent, but what the Exalted Quadrant does to people makes them much worse. The Trigold Cluster is even worse, but that doesn¡¯t make things any more tolerable.¡± It seemed war would be avoided. That was good. Hopefully, things would go well with the Shining Cooperative as well. At the very least, agreeing to stay out of each other¡¯s hair would be reasonable- but they didn¡¯t really know much of anything about the other yet, so it was difficult to say what they would want or how they would act. Chapter 852 Traveling from planet to planet, Velvet learned about the issues they faced- or at least those raised by their loudest members in their largest cities. Obviously any individual would have different ideas about what was important, but either way Velvet couldn¡¯t care about the details of everyone. Even Anton couldn¡¯t do that, though he was more likely to pick up on local troubles and desire to help. She wondered what he would do here, in enemy territory. She supposed it would be much like Ofrurg. Solving problems on a small scale first, then fixing the larger societal issues. But even if Velvet had the time or inclination to do such things, she would prefer to work closer to home. On the galactic scale, she might be neighbors with these planets- but on a practical scale, she was deep into enemy territory. Getting involved at all was foolish. Her current disguise was that of a Life Transformation disciple of the Western Mirage Sect. A traveler that people would expect to see one moment and not the next, continuing about their business. Strong enough that nobody would bother her, but not so strong that she stood out. She had answers prepared about her identity, should anyone ask- but in general, people should not. Spying required some level of curiosity to find pertinent information¡­ which was also a risk. So when she heard a conflict and approached to see what was happening, it was both exactly what she was supposed to be doing and a risk. It should have been a small one, she had calculated. She was just going to take a peek at the conflict from a distance. But a minute later, she was one of the few people left in the area after a rapid disaster, and by the time she considered fleeing she was already too late to not look suspicious. A half dozen Life Transformation cultivators surrounded her. Nothing significant, even in straightforward combat. The man in the Integration stage was also not a threat, even combined with them. Not physically, anyway. She could take them all out in a few moments, but then she would truly have to flee. ¡°You there,¡± the man said, his aura flickering and twisting around him. The Northern Mirage Sect, which made things a little awkward but also would hopefully smooth things over. ¡°What happened here?¡± ¡°I only saw part of the conflict,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Several of your disciples got into conflict with some light element cultivator.¡± Velvet tilted her head as if trying to recall something. ¡°It felt like the Citadel of Exalted Light, perhaps?¡± She was more than certain of that, but accusing a powerful sect of murder in the middle of the street was problematic. Even if those who had been harmed were asking. ¡°What happened with this conflict?¡± the man demanded. ¡°I don¡¯t know what started it,¡± Velvet said truthfully. ¡°I only noticed after the battle had already begun. I thought it reasonable to see what was going on, and arrived just in time to see an older man in Integration drive arrows of light through your disciples.¡± Velvet lied about that part. She observed the whole battle, even if it was only a bit longer than that. ¡°Then he fled to the east.¡± ¡°I have further questions,¡± the man said. ¡°Are you not a disciple of the Mirage Sect? How could you be so callous about the deaths of your fellow disciples?¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°It was not my intention to seem callous. I was merely unable to respond in any way. And as for being fellow disciples, I am merely a member of the Western Mirage Sect.¡± She held up her acquired token, mostly to prevent him from inspecting her cultivation too closely. ¡°Though we share similar origins, our connection has long been severed. Even so, I would have gladly aided them if I could have managed it.¡± A mix of truth and lies. She was physically capable of interfering. She was more than strong enough, after all. It would simply have compromised her position here¡­ a position that was also in jeopardy in this very situation. The man folded his arms in front of his chest. ¡°Fine. And you said this man fled east? We came from that direction, but did not feel him pass by.¡± ¡°Let me clarify,¡± Velvet said, pointing. ¡°He fled more or less directly that way. Your path came more or less from the southeast. He was moving rather quickly, so he could have been gone before you were close enough to notice.¡± Though it was kind of problematic that he wouldn¡¯t notice. If this man¡¯s senses weren¡¯t good enough for that, how would he ever see through other members of his own sect? Though maybe it was best for Velvet at the current moment. ¡°You said you wished you could help, correct? Then lead us towards him.¡± Velvet wanted to click her tongue. Was there really any other correct answer but ¡®yes¡¯? ¡°Of course. How might I address you, senior?¡± ¡°Rainer,¡± the man said. ¡°Let us hurry, then,¡± Velvet said, beginning to move at a quick walk. Mostly, she was waiting for the disciples to get out of her way. If they wouldn¡¯t let her past, she could always force it¡­ but if they wanted to catch that individual, they¡¯d have to move. Rainer gestured, and they left room. Velvet began to pick up the pace, looking back for the others- though she could easily sense their precise locations without looking. ¡°I doubt it¡¯s possible for me to catch up, but I can show you the furthest distance I sensed his retreat.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She led them a reasonable distance in the correct direction before pausing. Then she frowned, bending down to look at the ground. ¡°Hmm,¡± she said. ¡°It seems he might have turned to the northeast.¡± Velvet didn¡¯t really have much of a sign to pick out- she had just actually sensed the turn at a great distance. Though once she¡¯d gotten to this point, she felt a slight lingering trace of light. The Citadel wasn¡¯t exactly known for hiding. ¡°So you¡¯re a tracker? Good. You can help us hunt him down.¡± Velvet had hoped they would simply run off where she directed, but she supposed she had seemed too competent. And now she was involved, whether she liked it or not. ¡°I can try, but I¡¯m not certain I¡¯ll be able to keep the trail. He might have gone too far.¡± That was just an excuse. Actually, the target had holed up in a cave a few dozen kilometers outside the city. Just a few minute¡¯s run for someone of his speed. It seemed rather foolishly close, but perhaps that trinket he¡¯d stolen had something to do with his haste. She led the group at about the maximum pace that she felt was reasonable. The Life Transformation Cultivators could run faster, but she was supposed to be one as well- and focused on tracking. She pointed out a few of the signs she happened to notice along the way. ¡°I think he slowed down,¡± she said. ¡°We should probably hide our approach¡­ if I¡¯m right, at least.¡± Rainer simply nodded. He and the disciples followed her lead, concealing themselves. Velvet had studied the Western Mirage Sect¡¯s techniques properly, and while she didn¡¯t find them that impressive she could at least replicate them. Any tweaks she included would be covered by the difference in style from the locals. Soon enough she could feel a pulsing feeling of light. So that¡¯s what this was. A simple killing over resources. And that also explained to Velvet why Rainer had arrived just a few moments too late. She was fairly certain he had legitimately missed the fleeing enemy, but as for not being on time for the battle¡­ well, she could figure that out. He couldn¡¯t be seen to steal directly from sectmates, after all. People like him deserved to die. However¡­ Velvet supposed that there could be overall more beneficial results from this scenario. Such as public conflict between the Citadel of Exalted Light and the Northern Mirage Sect. Whether or not anything would happen because of a single incident she was uncertain, but she could always hope for more internal conflict in the Exalted Quadrant. She might even work to foster some¡­ but that would require a greater understanding of the political situation. Another mission for later, perhaps. ¡°I sense the fiend!¡± Rainer said. ¡°We must catch him!¡± At that, he and the other disciples began running ahead. Velvet put in the effort to speed up, appearing as if she reached her maximum limit. But of course, she wasn¡¯t anywhere close. She passively followed them with her senses, taking in the fluctuations of their energy. They didn¡¯t feel like much once they reached the cave, but she could feel more details when the battle began. Velvet considered simply leaving. They were severely distracted, and they would never be able to track her down. However, they might notice her disappearance and that would make them more likely to be suspicious and remember her. A delicate balance. Ultimately she decided to follow through on this whole endeavor. She continued at her current pace, happy to find that she would most likely arrive after the conclusion of the battle. The Integration cultivator in question might be able to swiftly kill three Life Transformation cultivators, but six and another who nearly matched him in power? That was clearly out of his ability. With the Northern Mirage Sect blocking the cave entrance, he was trapped inside with them. During the final moments of the battle, the killer tried to rush past them- but he ultimately fell near the cave mouth. Velvet arrived just in time to see Rainer standing over the body. ¡°You avenged them, good,¡± Velvet tried to show some level of enthusiasm. Though not too much, given the tenuous connection. Rainer quickly picked some sort of mirror out of the man¡¯s bag, appraising it visually. Time to blend in as much as she could. ¡°Senior, I led you here so¡­ what portion of the spoils am I entitled to?¡± ¡°Ah yes. Your contribution did indeed speed up the process,¡± Rainer nodded. He casually grabbed something from the man¡¯s storage bag, tossing it to her. A packet of medicinal pills. Not terribly high quality, Velvet determined, but certainly not valueless. ¡°Thank you very much senior. I will be continuing on my journey now.¡± Hopefully, now that their ¡®business¡¯ had been settled she would fade from his mind. That was why she had asked for payment but not haggled about the amount. If he was begrudging about the amount, he might instead choose to hunt her down and try to take it back. Or the others could, as they were likely more concerned with smaller values. And then they would be dead, and her later attempts to spread rumors about a conflict between the two sects would be stifled by a lack of living examples. Even if it was true, nobody cared about a few dead people. But deaths on both sides, and the possession of some sort of valuable loot? That was something people might talk about. And from there, maybe more of these disciples would kill each other because of grudges. She could only hope, of course. But hope was something she never went anywhere without. It guided her steps in the past, and it would bring her into the future. She had all sorts of hopes, mainly hinging around the Scarlet Alliance. Which was exactly why she needed to get back to them alive. Because not being around to see better futures would be disappointing, and she had quite a few things to report that she couldn¡¯t risk getting intercepted somehow. Just because she didn¡¯t think anyone could do it didn¡¯t mean the Exalted Quadrant didn¡¯t have some method. And if they did, they wouldn¡¯t want to make it known. Optimally, they would sit on the very fact that they could gather such information and accumulate a mountain of secrets, using information only when most beneficial to them. At least, that is what she would do. And discounting the possibility would be foolish. But her information arriving at the Scarlet Alliance in some form was also quite important, and she had some contingencies in place that hopefully would never come into play. Chapter 853 Silence filled the void of space, where there would otherwise have been the sound of explosions one after another. However, cultivators had better things to do during a fight than make sure they could hear unnecessary things. The locations of explosions and the like would be obvious enough from the energy involved, bothering to pick it up as sound was simply a waste. Gigantic rocks crashed into each other, the size of small mountains. Free from the confines of gravity, they were rather easily moved. Fire wrapped each massive projectile as two figured danced about each other. ¡°Better watch out, old man,¡± Hoyt taunted. ¡°I¡¯ll catch you soon enough.¡± ¡°Oh, if it weren¡¯t for my aching back I could certainly escape!¡± said a man who looked just as young as Hoyt. And in fact, by some metrics he was actually younger. ¡°But I think I¡¯d rather defeat my grandson rather than fleeing.¡± Prospero Vandale had wrapped over a dozen asteroids in the flames of his power, the great distances involved significantly tempered by the lack of interference in the void of space. The massive projectiles arrived in sync, forcing Hoyt to pull back as he avoided some while chopping through another, smashing it to pieces with his axe. Somewhere in that exchange, Hoyt lost track of Prospero. His eyes darted around to catch his grandfather¡¯s position. Aside from their sharp eyes there was no way to connect their visual appearance to each other, and for good reason. Prospero had died and been reborn, retaining a small portion of his memories and unlocking more as he grew in power. Now, he recalled as much as he ever would. But his body was completely unrelated to what it had been previously, so his looks were quite different as well. Only the style of movements and attitude revealed the truth of the individual behind them. Hoyt finished scanning the area around him. ¡°Hiding behind an asteroid won¡¯t do you any good, you know! If you¡¯re thinking of picking up a few more rocks, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll have the time. Because¡­¡± he spun, propelling himself towards a particular asteroid. ¡°I¡¯ll defeat you first!¡± The asteroid split easily under the blade of his axe, revealing Prospero on the other side. However, the man was grinning. A sudden wave of his power spread over the solid pieces of the asteroid, and as Hoyt¡¯s momentum carried him forward he slammed them into him from either side. Hoyt was suddenly buried under a kilometer of earth and stone. It wasn¡¯t impossible for a person of his strength to break free from such a trap, but it would take a few moments at least- it was difficult to build up the momentum of a proper swing with the weight being forced down upon him. If he were using his full power, it would have been even easier- but then it would be much of a spar. In the time he took to free himself, he found that the situation outside had changed significantly. Hoyt didn¡¯t think it was possible to drag so many asteroids across the vast distances between them in that short time, so the process must have begun long before. Furthermore, the power it would take to do all of that at once. ¡°You hid it well,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°Well,¡± Prospero shrugged. ¡°It wasn¡¯t exactly intentional. It simply turned out to not be flashy. Until we get to this point, I mean.¡± Even as he spoke, the myriad asteroids of differing sizes crashed towards him. Some were tiny- the height of a man- while others were a kilometer across. The largest ones he simply had to dodge, for fear of them being forced over him again. The smaller ones would not have been a threat with any sort of natural momentum, but the flames of Prospero¡¯s control granted them speed and accuracy that was dangerous. When he could avoid them he did so, hoping that turning them about would waste his grandfather¡¯s energy. Not that this was a battle he had a hope of winning. Not anymore. While long in the past he might have hesitated to counter with Falling Stars, the only reason he wasn¡¯t using the technique now was because he simply didn¡¯t have any concentration or energy free to do so. Thus, he could only continue to defend until he was inevitably worn down- more and more asteroids closed in on his location, and even the random rubble of any he destroyed drifted in clouds towards him, until he was well and truly surrounded. A small moon crashed down around him, and if it were not for Prospero¡¯s control that might have actually been enough to kill him. Then again, it couldn¡¯t have happened without that intentionality either. He did have to dig his way out, and there he saw his grandfather waiting for him, arms crossed. ¡°Yes yes, I lose,¡± Hoyt shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s to be expected, with you having securely stepped into Augmentation. But now I no longer have to limit myself. We¡¯ll see how this goes then.¡± ¡°Hmph. Experience will always trump youth,¡± Prospero declared. Though he was quite aware that in some regards he was the youth, and his ¡®experience¡¯ advantage was mostly measured in decades of life rather than the centuries he¡¯s once had on Hoyt. And in other respects, since Hoyt had reached Augmentation first, he would always remain behind. ----- Tauno spun around as a strange woman suddenly addressed him in his room. ¡°Cultivator Tauno. It has come to my attention that you wield a sword.¡± He looked at Chikere, frowning. ¡°How did you get in?¡± ¡°The door was unlocked.¡± ¡°It most certainly was not.¡± ¡°It was when I turned the handle.¡± Tauno sighed. Locks were only so good to begin with. He just hoped she hadn¡¯t cut the door off the hinges. ¡°So why are you here?¡± ¡°I told you. You use a sword, right?¡± ¡°Sometimes. When the best weapon I¡¯ve made from a beast corpse is a sword. It¡¯s true that¡¯s the case right now.¡± ¡°Then, I wish to spar with you.¡± ¡°Just because I wield a sword doesn¡¯t make me a sword cultivator,¡± he warned. ¡°You might not get what you desire. I don¡¯t have proper moves. In fact, I fight more like a beast than a man.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Perfect,¡± Chikere declared. ¡°I have seen enough of the motions of humans. And some of the most wonderful sword disciples I have ever seen are beasts.¡± Tauno frowned. ¡°Are you talking about Agom?¡± He recalled that the wolf had taken up the sword. A child of the powerful beasts Fuzz and Spikes, the underdeveloped fangs and claws of the cub had led her to seek out human weapons. ¡°She is but one of them,¡± Chikere said. ¡°And not even the cutest. But don¡¯t tell her that. Instead¡­ fight me.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Tauno shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s always beneficial to train against other Augmentation cultivators. Especially new ones. I¡¯m not going to refuse. I just hope you didn¡¯t damage my door.¡± ¡°No harm has come to it. And you will find not even a speck of blood inside it.¡± Somehow, that was more discomforting than not knowing how she opened the lock. Related to that, it was supposed to be warded against energy- not that it really mattered. The biggest deterrent to entering his rooms was that Tauno was there. And he couldn¡¯t really expect someone like Chikere to knock, now could he? He drew his sword, carved from the bone of a great beast. His understanding of Chikere¡¯s abilities was that she was a great swordswoman who had previously controlled upwards of a hundred swords at once. After a failed training excursion that nearly resulted in her death or worse, a drop in cultivation, she had eventually settled on a new style. Using her own blood as swords, and attacking in impossible to predict patterns. Staying knowledgeable about any Augmentation cultivator was important, whether he was going to fight with or against them in the future. Even so, not all that many people had actually witnessed Chikere¡¯s new style. Thus, he would have to experience it himself. The first thing that he noted was how much blood she had. She created only a half dozen swords at first, but as the blood seeped out of her pores Tauno had the feeling there was plenty left behind. The total volume of the blades was at least as much as a normal human. There was something odd about them, though. ¡°Why do they have hilts?¡± he asked. ¡°You don¡¯t grab them with your hands.¡± ¡°That is untrue,¡± Chikere said, gesturing down to her own hands. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°There has to be some other purpose for all of those you don¡¯t hold directly, though.¡± ¡°It provides proper leverage. And the rest¡­ you should experience yourself.¡± That was fair enough. They watched each other, and at some point there was a silent agreement in their body language that said the battle had begun. Tauno was used to fighting beasts with more than one avenue of attack. Fangs and claws, yes, but some had tails and stingers, or spiked appendages that could harm him as he passed. Thus, he was not unfamiliar with fight against many weapons at once, just in different contexts. But as he moved- clashing with her blades, deflecting them, dodging them, and trying to strike Chikere with his own weapon- he found there was a serious difference between her and a beast. Beasts had patterns. Styles of fighting. They might possess a few tricks. The smartest among them feigned weaknesses, feinting in hope of creating an opening. There were tricks to be had, but as the blood swords move about him Tauno understood why Chikere¡¯s new style was deemed as unpredictable. He could easily determine the trajectory and intent of every single blade, but they didn¡¯t all make sense. And yet, they were all used effectively, forcing him to move according to Chikere¡¯s patterns. As for the hilts, he soon found his answer. The woman was not bound to the sword in her hands. Instead, she often swapped from a two handed grip to holding her weapon in either hand, freeing up the other to grab another blade- or form one. And she was not hesitant about flinging them from her hands if her own reach was insufficient. The only thing that kept Tauno in the fight was his greater experience. He¡¯d been an Augmentation cultivator for at least a century longer. That wasn¡¯t a huge margin in terms of such powerful cultivators, but it was always a factor. Some attacks would clearly miss him unless he moved into them. They seemed like foolish wastes of energy whenever Chikere didn¡¯t try to force him into their path, but somehow it still fit her whole flow. And as Tauno fought, he realized something. He couldn¡¯t quite get in the flow because they weren¡¯t actually fighting. They were sparring. Thus, he was not comfortable unleashing his own savageness. And at the same time, Chikere was comfortable testing seemingly pointless moves. But perhaps that was part of her style now. He¡¯d heard something, but he thought it was a misattributed declaration. But now he truly believed that she was attempting to test every possible sword move in existence. Thrusts, slashes, twirls. Even where they didn¡¯t seem to make sense, there were always enough things that did fit. And yet, everything that came at him felt slightly wrong. Amateurish. Until it inevitably forced him out of position. Or very occasionally, drew lines of blood on his body. Any damage he landed on Chikere seemed to only accelerate her willingness to include more of her blood in the battle. She certainly didn¡¯t have to create more blades, but she did whenever she was scratched. Controlling so many things at once, Tauno was surprised she had any capacity to defend herself. But she did, quite expertly. Tauno supposed he¡¯d been treating the spar wrong. She wasn¡¯t a beast with claws, fangs, and a handful of extra avenues of attack. She was a whole pack of beasts all on her own. With that realization, he began to fight with greater vigor. The two of them fought until things naturally came to an end. His sword pierced up to her heart, stopping before actually driving in. Yet in the same instant, several blades of hers managed to prod his liver and kidneys. And while those organs were less immediately lethal, cutting out a cultivator¡¯s heart didn¡¯t kill them as quickly as one might think either- unless they went into shock, they could remain in the battle for a significant time. At least in Integration and beyond, it was a possibility Tauno had seen a few times. Only fully destroying the brain or annihilating the dantian could immediately end a cultivator¡¯s struggles. Those who were going to die from wounds could actually be more dangerous, as they had nothing left to lose. Like wounded beasts. Humans weren¡¯t really so different. Except for the most part their bodies made crappy weapons and armor. Chikere nodded. ¡°This is good. We should repeat this in the future.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Tauno said. ¡°There aren¡¯t many Augmentation cultivators to spar with, and Zazil isn¡¯t willing to act as brutally.¡± ¡°What about Catarina?¡± ¡°Ugh. Nothing involving her is a real fight. Whatever happens would always be an overwhelming victory. Either I¡¯d instantly kill her, or she¡¯d entrap me in some deadly formation that I could only pray to find a route to escape with my life.¡± ¡°Unless you cut apart the formation,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°Though I will admit hers are¡­ extremely difficult to forcefully dismantle.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad we have her defending Xankeshan,¡± Tauno said. ¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine anything happening to it with her around. And Timothy will be a great boon when he reaches Augmentation.¡± Tauno laughed. ¡°Can you hear that? I said when. I heard a while ago that the lot of you were going to reach Augmentation, and I hardly believed it. Now, I¡¯m starting to be convinced.¡± ¡°We have to if we want to survive,¡± Chikere said. ¡°So we will.¡± Tauno just nodded. He admired that attitude. Chapter 854 Taking a deep breath of air, Anton found that Ozemdu¡¯s atmosphere was¡­ a little bit stale. That was the sort of thing that happened when you picked a planet that hadn¡¯t actually been visited. At least it did have an atmosphere and the various scans hadn¡¯t been wrong. Anton wasn¡¯t looking forward to trying to build up an atmosphere in just a few years. He would have done it, of course. Instead, after surveying the nearby systems to make sure there weren¡¯t any unfortunate energy anomalies, he set about planning a garden. Ships from the Lower Realms Alliance had already arrived and were setting up prefabricated structures. It wouldn¡¯t exactly be elegant but with the available time frame and distance from resources it was difficult to expect better. There would be no formations involved. Any benefits that might be gained from such things would be offset by a potential lack of trust. It wasn¡¯t as if they needed to defend against anything, anyway. If the Shining Cooperative wished to launch an attack, setting up a fortress wouldn¡¯t really help. If they showed up intending to fight, the plan was to withdraw. While that might make the Alliance appear weak, it was better to act with caution with regards to an unknown power. At the very least, they had something akin to Ascension-class battleships. Whether that was the peak of their power or simply one tool in their arsenal was unknown- though Anton was fairly certain they didn¡¯t have anything the equivalent of Enrichment, based on the reaction to his presence. There was some debate about whether or not Anton should be present for the meeting. He would be a familiar face- though there was no guarantee of Kybele or anyone on her ship actually attending in person. Anton could also appear as a threat. If he hadn¡¯t been the one to make first contact, he would definitely be a threat. In that scenario, he would also have to determine whether to bond to the local star. Anton¡¯s cultivation was progressing steadily, and he was averaging just upwards of eight years with regards to unlocking each new star. Which was just as long as all of Body Tempering, Spirit Building, and somewhere around a third of Essence Collection. Comparing to stars in late Life Transformation, each one took about three or four times as long now. These were the things Anton thought about as he prepared the garden. A proper garden, in his opinion, should not be limited to flowers or hedges. Since he confined himself to working with only local plants, and given his limited timeframe, he did have to cut some corners. Still, he found a nice, sturdy groundcover. It could handle a bit of being stepped on, as long as nobody tried to intentionally squash it. It was also much more pleasant than grass. He hardly had time to grow a proper tree the natural way, but he took a few cuttings and by focusing his energy on them accelerated their growth. That way, a few years could turn them into a proper tree. He also needed something edible. Regardless of whether or not anyone actually ate of it, a fruit tree and some patches for vegetables were necessary. Perhaps others might disagree with him. For a diplomatic visit, they might want to focus purely on beauty. But beauty was merely a small part of what made plants wonderful. In the first few years, Anton half changed his mind about whether or not to be present. He went back and forth several times. Ultimately, he settled for being available in the next system over. That meant he couldn¡¯t reasonably serve as reinforcements- if it took more than an hour for whatever forces arrived to subdue their diplomatic party, then the Shining Cooperative would never be a threat to begin with. Everyone involved was aware of the risk, of course. There were a number of mobile Assimilation cultivators assigned to them, but that didn¡¯t immediately make things safe. Anton had heard that Aerona and Devon were helping the efforts on Nidec progress rapidly, at least by cultivator standards, but they wouldn¡¯t be here for this. Thus, it would have to be trusted to others. Specifically, Lynnette would be coming here. Kohar¡¯s apprentice was a bright woman who had probably surpassed her master¡¯s knowledge at this point, and fortunately for her sake she was a better cultivator than Kohar had been. The ravages of time had gotten to Kohar, but Lynette was still relatively young as such things went. She¡¯d even managed to reach Assimilation via scholarly pursuits. Not that it was unusual for learned cultivators to advance to higher cultivation levels, but most still had some focus on martial pursuits. Lynnette wasn¡¯t a pacifist, but beyond a basic devotion to her own defense her cultivation was focused elsewhere. Anton wondered what he might have been like, if he had been introduced to cultivation while young. If he hadn¡¯t needed to fight¡­ well, he wouldn¡¯t be all that different. He was a hunter already, his skill with the bow being a practical way to obtain food for his family. There had been trouble with normal bandits a number of times in his first century of life, and he had used his skills there as well. In short, Anton couldn¡¯t imagine not having some focus on combat abilities unless the world was completely devoid of strife between humans. But he still appreciated those who had the devotion to focus on other ways of bettering themselves. And he tried to remember to focus on other ways he could build himself up, like helping people or places improve. Ultimately, Anton didn¡¯t want to intimidate potential allies- or at least neural neighbors. But he also wasn¡¯t going to remain too far, in case he could help or if they asked to see him. ¡°I¡¯m going to spend my time in a neighboring system,¡± Anton ultimately told Lynette. The woman was dressed in comfortable clothes with only basic durability enchantments- more so because they lasted better than because of value as armor. Comfortable, yet practical and formal. ¡°Ultimately, that means I cannot respond to anything for several days. I don¡¯t mind them knowing I am there, of course. It is far enough to be a reasonable caution. But mostly, I will be cultivating. Hopefully you don¡¯t need me at all.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Without meaning to sound insulting¡­ no, we won¡¯t need you.¡± In a way, Anton was a little disappointed. But he also knew that he really shouldn¡¯t feel obligated to be involved with everything. This thing, at least, was connected to him even if it was by some level of coincidence. Continuing from where she left off, Lynette gestured around them. ¡°Your garden will be much appreciated, of course. It represents my favorite part of the Alliance, growth and prosperity. But as for your presence during diplomacy, frankly you¡¯re a little bit too straightforward and accommodating to deal with negotiations. At least if you deal with unscrupulous people.¡± ¡°Are you saying I would get taken advantage of?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. Lynette chuckled. ¡°Anyone who actually tried that would greatly regret it. But as much as I in theory like to see unpleasant individuals get crushed, in practice we need to come to some agreement with the least amount of bitterness possible. If a conflict is inevitable, it is likely better for the alliance in general to delay that. And I am quite practiced in maintaining decorum even when presented with the most ridiculous terms.¡± ¡°Well, let me know if anyone needs a grandpa. Or pictures of meerkats with bows,¡± he added. ¡°As much as I wish all negotiations could be resolved by such things,¡± Lynette grinned. ¡°I do believe we would do best to keep Akrys out of the discussion at this point.¡± ¡°So the pictures of Agom from the upper realms are probably also out.¡± ¡°She¡¯s the sword wolf?¡± Lynette asked. ¡°Yes, how did you know?¡± ¡°Information from the upper realms isn¡¯t secret. Everyone¡¯s seen pictures of her. Mostly sent by Timothy during communication downtime.¡± Anton nodded. He¡¯d received most of his pictures that way as well. As for Timothy being the vessel, it was difficult to imagine Catarina fawning over cute things- except for Fuzz himself. And the wolves basically didn¡¯t use technology or other communication devices except where necessary. Alva might have been a close second for people Anton would have expected to be the source of such pictures, however. ----- Anton sensed something coming. It was still over a year before the agreed upon time- even with potential difference in time calculations the Shining Cooperative shouldn¡¯t be showing up for half a year. Though nothing said they couldn¡¯t also come early. Upon resolving the feeling, however, Anton determined it was simply a scout. Unless they meant to send a very small group to this diplomatic event. That wasn¡¯t technically wrong, but it would be a bit odd if they didn¡¯t bring at least a couple dozen people. Perhaps hundreds, if they had larger ships. Hell, he wouldn¡¯t even be surprised at a fleet with an escort. Numbers weren¡¯t something they had agreed on. Mostly the location and the purpose- to properly open diplomatic relations, instead of relying on random people who came across each other in an unaffiliated system. Anton reported the scout to others, not so much as a warning but as a caution. It wasn¡¯t particularly fast, but it wasn¡¯t slow for an in-system pace either. When it got closer, Anton could feel something from it. The familiar feeling of being watched. The ship seemed to be the source of that, rather than individuals upon it. Sensors of some sort, powered by a formation. That was quite a complicated thing as he understood it, though to be fair there were depths of technology and formations that went far beyond what Anton would ever learn. They should have picked him out, of course. His cultivation wasn¡¯t hidden. He might have liked to leave before their scouts arrived, if he knew, but at least he should be recognizable. Unless they were extremely poor at reading auras, his should be distinctive. Since the scout was a herald of their eventual arrival, Anton resolved to leave the system soon enough. Being spotted wasn¡¯t a bad thing, but hanging around could make people nervous. So he would move out soon. He just needed to conscript someone to manage the garden. If they had been willing to reveal the existence of void ants, Anton would have assigned the task to them. They were very precise workers, very capable of tending to plants. After all, as a source of food and natural energy for them, plants were one of many things they maintained for the prosperity of their colonies. They also farmed other insects, and when the colonies got to the level of being able to cooperatively hunt larger prey they managed those numbers as well. ----- Lynette watched Anton go, nervously. Cultivators of her level were not without emotions- that was a mistake the Frostmirror Sect had made long before. Completely cutting off emotions dulled responses. But letting them influence judgment too much was also a problem, especially in the sort of position Lynette had. Instead, it was important to deal with such things. For that purpose, Anton¡¯s gardens were perfect. A peaceful place, away from the piles of information she had to sort through regarding the requests of various factions. Not that she even expected to get to most of that. Her goal in the negotiations was to secure the most important thing- a peace treaty. Even one that wasn¡¯t supernaturally binding was still extremely valuable. It either showed sincerity from the other side, or could be used as leverage later to gain greater advantage if they disregarded it. Considering the worst outcomes was necessary. But Lynette only wanted to consider the taste of the citrus fruit she picked. It was both sweet and sour. Delicious, and full of natural energy. This was a young tree, picked from among the natives? It was amazing that it was grown and fruiting already, and so good. They simply had to export these. But Lynette knew that it wasn¡¯t simply a good variety that made it this way. It was Anton. The man had picked out perfect positioning, changing the levels of dirt in the gardens while considering the way light would hit each plant. He was a master of his craft, even with new and never before experienced plants. His original profession was as a farmer, after all. There was a reason the fruits from the main branch of the Order of One Hundred Stars could sell for as much as a small mansion. Even if the man only personally tended them every few years or so, over the course of centuries there were many amazing plants that had been raised by that man. Lynette felt better. And she was going to offer the fruit to whoever she was negotiating with. It should make them more relaxed, and favorably inclined to be more reasonable. It wasn¡¯t bribery, it was kindness. Because what she really wanted was to keep them all for herself. Chapter 855 Time spent reading at a leisurely pace was how Lynette liked to relax. While she could finish any book in an instant thanks to her practice of the Ten Thousands Scrolls technique, there was a serious difference between absorbing a book and properly reading it. If she only needed the knowledge contained within, absorbing it in a few moments was perfectly fine. However, she learned that even re-reading previously understood texts could provide further insights as her mind had time to dwell on the information. Not that this one was worth reading simply for the information. It was fiction. As such, it served a much more important role than simply providing knowledge. It made her think, and feel. And while sometimes those feelings were negative, ultimately the simulated experiences helped her reach a better balance in the real world. Right now, she had plenty of time to focus on such things, as she was simply waiting for the representatives of the Shining Cooperative. They could be arriving any time now. After the first scout ship, they had spotted several more at increasingly frequent intervals. So she was expecting them any time from a few days to a few months out, depending on how exact they wanted their arrival time to be¡­ and their capabilities. Because it was entirely possible that they would have had to send people immediately to arrive when they did- the scouts could have been at the very limits of their territory. That was all speculation, of course. Their actual information was limited. At least one Ascension-class ship, control over multiple systems, a hatred for the Trigold Cluster. These were the things they knew, plus the bits and pieces they¡¯d picked up from observation of the scout ships. Hopefully, they intended to attend the peace talks. Lynette was prepared to wait as long as was necessary- though after five or ten years she might ask for a shift change. However, considering they had scouts around already she would have to presume that anything longer than a year or so was them intentionally making her wait, which was a negotiation tactic that would get them off on the wrong foot. And if they wanted to act that way, she had any number of ways to make their life worse. Like not offering them any fruit. Oh, and her experience creating airtight contracts. There was some chance they were a danger, and while attacking a diplomatic outpost wouldn¡¯t be beneficial, there were some cultivators crazy enough to do so. If that happened, Lynette would mainly have to depend on her guards. The strongest among them had only recently arrive, and Lynette found that she fit quite well. Looking at Nthanda, Lynette could fool herself into thinking she would win in a fight. The woman had natural energy that felt somewhere around the Essence Collection and Life Transformation divide. This would place her among the weakest of the guards- on par with some of the other diplomats and even their assistants. And unless there was actual combat, nobody would be able to tell the difference. Nobody would know that Nthanda had a body more durable than the armor of most of their ships unless they attacked her. They wouldn¡¯t see the way she could manipulate the matter around her, unless they forced her to. Which made her perfect, as she didn¡¯t seem like a threat. Kind of the opposite of Anton in a way, except Anton wasn¡¯t weak. He was just much more friendly. If it came down to actual combat, the only reason to prefer a battle with Anton was that he might have the spare capacity to keep people alive. Though some of that depended on having a bound star. The exact change in his power was a national secret that Lynette intentionally didn¡¯t learn. Waiting allowed too much time for thoughts. She should go to the gardens. Somehow, Anton had found plants that would bloom and fruit in different seasons, so there was always something to look at and usually something tasty. Though if the diplomats arrived at just the wrong time, they¡¯d have to stick to their own food or the rather boring options available on the Alliance¡¯s side. ----- A noise awoke Lynette in the middle of the night. Her communicator. Looking at it quickly, it indicated a small fleet of ships was on approach. Couldn¡¯t they have come at a better time? Not that they likely even knew what sleep schedule she was sticking to. They just arrived when they arrived. Lynette quickly got up, dressed, and freshened up as much as she could. At her level of cultivation she really didn¡¯t need all that much sleep. It just took a moment to adjust herself to wakefulness after the interruption. Another message to her communicator. The Astral Spear was confirmed as one of the approaching ships. That was the small Ascension-class ship Anton had encountered, its captain being the lady Kybele. That was probably a good sign. Especially since it seemed to be the most powerful of the ships sent, which meant they either weren¡¯t interested in violence¡­ or were at least going to be incapable of enacting it as they intended. Lynette swiftly made her way out of her rooms to find Kinslee, another diplomatic representative. This was far too important for just one person to take responsibility, after all. There were many more people involved as well, but having too many people at the highest level would just sow confusion. ¡°Figures it would have to happen while we¡¯re asleep,¡± Lynette commented. ¡°Depending on their approach, they might actually arrive here during our morning,¡± Kinslee commented. ¡°Well, we¡¯re already awake either way,¡± Lynette shrugged. Since they were up, they gathered and organized. They had to be ready to give a proper greeting to the arriving group. Screwing up could set back relations decades, even if it really shouldn¡¯t matter. Some people were simply too proud, and others were easily offended. Hopefully, they didn¡¯t take offense at the relative modesty of the rooms. Some cultivators were far too used to lavish palaces, and they might not care that it wasn¡¯t practical to ship something hundreds of lightyears. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. But Lynette put the speculation aside, trying to let herself get mostly unbiased impressions of whoever arrived. That was the best that anyone could do. Time seemed to pass slowly, but eventually the Shining Cooperative fleet arrived. Lynette couldn¡¯t feel it clearly, but her senses were enough to confirm that it was indeed a small fleet. The one ship certainly radiated a larger power than she expected, but she was well aware that humanity could develop down different paths in interesting ways. The Astral Spear remained in orbit while a number of smaller ships descended towards their small compound. There had been preparations made to guide them, if they were unaware of the location, but the previous scouts had done their job well enough. They hadn¡¯t known what sort of landing area would be necessary, but large open spaces were easy to prepare. There didn¡¯t seem to be any hesitation in the craft as they landed, so that was something. Lynette also noted that the vessels lacked the traditional shape of sea craft that was often kept as they developed flight and space travel. The Lower Realms Alliance diplomatic team waited near the landing area. If there had been proper protocols in place, they could have been oriented directly down the exit ramp, but it wasn¡¯t too awkward to have an entourage walk down the ramp and turn towards them. The clear leader of the bunch was a man, with an appearance neither young nor old. Somewhere around the peak of Life Transformation, though that was the limit they¡¯d seen for humans from the Shining Cooperative so far. ¡°Greetings, members of the Shining Cooperative,¡± Lynette took the role of hostess. ¡°The Lower Realms Alliance hopes your journey was swift and comfortable.¡± Regardless of whether it was those things, kind words shouldn¡¯t hurt. The man nodded. ¡°The journey was as pleasant as it could be, given the distances involved.¡± His slight smile was clearly practiced, but Lynette didn¡¯t necessarily peg it as fake. ¡°I am Lynette,¡± she introduced herself, ¡°And this is Kinslee. We are the head envoys sent here. We also have many assistants that can help you and your entourage get settled and facilitate later exchanges of information.¡± ¡°Wonderful,¡± the man said. ¡°I am Daris, envoy of the Shining Cooperative. We appreciate your willingness to meet us despite the distances involved.¡± ¡°And us as well,¡± Kinslee added. ¡°Perhaps we should first direct you to your rooms, though of course you can stay on your ships if you find the accommodations there preferable.¡± Daris followed after them, and soon commented, ¡°I am impressed there are actual structures here, so far away. They look quite solid as well.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Lynette commented. ¡°There are no formations, so they lack some amount of privacy, but common courtesy should suffice in that regard.¡± She could feel the man scanning the compound with his senses. When they reached the far side, he tilted his head slightly. ¡°And you have gardens. Well kept, even. I am impressed.¡± ¡°They were developed personally by one of the foremost experts in the growth of plants.¡± By some metrics, the head of the Grasping Willows might beat out Anton in that regard, but Anton would certainly be listed near the top in any case. And most people didn¡¯t have any use for ancient semi-sentient trees becoming even more impractically large. Basic greetings and welcoming necessities took time, but ultimately they got around to official proceedings in the late afternoon. Though he said it more eloquently, Daris made the intentions of the Shining Cooperative rather straightforward. They wanted to know the extent of the Lower Realms Alliance- though they didn¡¯t seem to be pushing for exact details. They wanted to know the official stance on the Trigold Cluster and others in the upper realms. And¡­ Daris wanted to know how they intended to deal with future invasions. It wasn¡¯t explicit, but a nonaggression pact was further down the list, simply by the emphasis Daris placed on everything. Lynette had to be content that the nonaggression pact was at least somewhere on the priorities list. And while the next opportunities for invasions from the upper realms should be centuries off, she also knew that it was important. ¡°I think our first order of business should be an exchange of information regarding what we know about the Trigold Cluster,¡± Lynette said. ¡°Though you will excuse us caution in that regard, as they are known to infiltrate local populations.¡± ¡°Have you had much trouble with that lately?¡± Daris asked, not fully hiding his concern. He hardly even made any attempt to conceal the way he scanned the people around him. Perhaps just enough to be slightly diplomatic about it. ¡°Whenever we come across occupied systems, it is one of our primary concerns,¡± Lynette explained. ¡°But we have systematically eradicated them from our populations.¡± ¡°Even¡­¡± Daris narrowed his eyes. ¡°The Twin Soul Sect?¡± ¡°Especially the Twin Soul Sect,¡± Lynette emphasized. The approaching individuals had been scanned several different times in different ways looking for that exact thing. ¡°So you too have developed a way to sense them,¡± Daris nodded. ¡°We would like to exchange methods some time in the future but¡­ you will forgive us some level of caution in that regard, I hope.¡± ¡°Because we need to make certain the other has truly eradicated the Twin Soul Sect,¡± Kinslee made the unspoken idea heard aloud. Lynette might not have done so, but ultimately it relaxed Daris somewhat. ¡°Yes. We have detected no issues so far. And I would presume the same for your side. But¡­ if we¡¯ve somehow missed anyone, I would hope you let us deal with it.¡± ¡°And what would you do?¡± The man¡¯s face hardened. ¡°Destroy them. Such parasites living among our systems were the cause of millennia of suffering, or at least mediocrity. We were lucky to break from the cycle.¡± ¡°When was that, I might ask?¡± ¡°Just this previous cycle,¡± Daris said. ¡°The unnatural shortness combined with some fortunate circumstances allowed several systems to break free¡­ these systems discovered each other, and the Shining Cooperative was formed.¡± So that would put them at about four centuries of development. Which was actually quite remarkable, for how far they had reached. Ceretos was now close to a millennium since it was last ground down. Though perhaps the destruction of those particular systems was not quite as thorough. They would have to ask about those fortunate circumstances. Chapter 856 With official negotiations done for the day, Lynette invited Daris and Kinslee out to the gardens. Of course, she was aware that anything that happened on Ozemdu would still appear official in some regard. Their distant embassy was the only point of contact for the two groups, and everything that happened would shape their view of each other. There were some small cherries in season, and Lynette picked some then made her way over to some of the benches with the others. The benches were rather crude, carved from single boulders found elsewhere on the planet, but they were comfortable enough, and provided a place to observe the gardens. She offered some of her gathered cherries to Kinslee first, and then to Daris. She was please to see the envoy took a few, as it was a sign of some level of trust. He even began munching on the snack before Lynette did, not counting the ones she¡¯d snagged during the process of picking. She had to check for ripeness, after all. ¡°You were speaking earlier of the fortunate circumstances that led to your breaking away from the Trigold Cluster¡¯s infiltration,¡± Lynette commented. ¡°Do you have time to elaborate?¡± She tried to leave the option open for him to pick another topic, if he wished, but it was a subject of interest to her personally, and to the Lower Realms Alliance as a whole. The man took a few moments as he rolled a cherry around in his mouth, peeling the fruit from the seed. He followed Lynette¡¯s lead, tossing the seed onto an empty patch of ground. ¡°I was not there for everything myself,¡± he began. ¡°But my master was.¡± That was a good start. Lynette and Kinslee knew that interrupting and prompting him for more might be less effective than simply waiting for him to talk at his own pace, so they exercised patience. ¡°He was alive before the end of the previous cycle,¡± Daris continued. ¡°His name is Ravil. At the time, he was but a novice disciple of the Righteous Inscription Sect, on the planet Netrao. Over the course of that cycle, they had become aware of the nature of the previous catastrophe. However, they were too late to meaningfully react, except to store what knowledge they could in a sealed vault. The power of formations and a remote location kept it hidden from the spies of the Trigold Cluster and their invading forces.¡± That wasn¡¯t too far from the story on Ceretos, though it differed in that Everheart had discovered the truth much earlier in the cycle, and merely delayed revealing information about it until near the end- the past handful of decades or so. Though even that was enough to give people time to prepare, especially with how the tomb devastated the Trigold Cluster forces that went to the moon. ¡°Once it was discovered that the next cycle would be unnaturally short, even with the information and techniques they had managed to save, it was a frantic effort to eradicate any spies and prepare for the incoming invasion. Fortunately, a technique to divine the true cultivation of Twin Soul Sect members was partially developed by the end of the previous cycle, and perfected early on. The actual results were quite devastating as many old masters who survived the purge were found to be beholden to the Trigold Cluster in one manner or another. And others died fighting them.¡± Lynette nodded, indicating her attention. ¡°That is much like we would expect.¡± ¡°I was among the generation that was primed to reach Life Transformation around the end of the rapid cycle, though I can¡¯t say that my personal contributions were anything great. However, Kybele was a hero in that war. She somehow obtained a flying ship, transporting powerful squads of soldiers all around the world to where they were needed. When we realized that the Trigold Cluster was likely polluting other nearby worlds, she was one of the first to be given captaincy of a stellar ship.¡± He shrugged, ¡°The first generation was rough. The second and third generations came quickly enough afterwards that they could have almost caught up to the first as they reached the neighboring systems.¡± ¡°Yes, early interstellar travel can feasibly take years or decades to go a few lightyears,¡± Kinslee nodded. ¡°Or even longer. Though if that were the case for your people, I doubt you would be here now.¡± ¡°Indeed. If it took a century to reach neighboring systems, we would have barely met our closest neighbors. As it is, we were able to more rapidly mobilize our forces, allowing us to deal with problems one by one. Only a few, lowly populated worlds were entirely free of the taint of the Trigold Cluster. The rest required all of our armies, plus recruits from each consecutive world, to barely eradicate. We have not encountered more planets in need of rescue in the past few decades, however. And the direct route here was unpopulated.¡± Lynette nodded. Ten to thirty systems might seem like a long way to go to find populated planets, but ones suitable for humans with lower cultivations- which was necessary to grow from the ground up- were much rarer than that. It was just that there were many times more if one diverged from a straight line, as stars filled three dimensions around a point, easily reaching between five and ten times as many systems along a route depending on what one counted as adjacent. It seemed Daris had said as much as he was going to for the moment, so Lynette began with some information she could easily share. ¡°Our start was from a few neighboring systems all at the same time. One system learned of the repeated invasions for enough time to prepare. Another had those of great strength that the spies couldn¡¯t match, forcing the spies into hiding and repelling the invaders. And one was never a target to begin with, the levels of natural energy around their planet deemed insufficient for any resources.¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Those planets were Ceretos, Weos, and Rutera respectively. Speaking of Ruteran technology might be giving away too much just yet, so she avoided that topic. ¡°Not terribly long after the end of the latest full cycle, they managed to meet each other. From there, they formed the core of the Lower Realms Alliance as we know it today. When the end of the unnatural cycle came around, they united to deal a resounding blow to the greater number of invaders. From there, they found isolated systems that were untainted, some who had thrown off the shackles already, and more still dealing with such issues.¡± She skipped past the conflict with the Sylanis Cluster- that would come up at some point and Ekict, neither of which conflicts involved the direct participation of upper realms invaders. ¡°You said there were greater numbers of invaders at the end of the short cycle?¡± Daris asked. ¡°That is correct. Most likely they were offended by their previous defeat and wanted to make an example of us. But fortunately, we had the strength to do more than just drive them off the second time.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Daris nodded. ¡°It is good to hear you caused them significant consternation. And good that you are able to stand on your own, as with the distances between us we likely couldn¡¯t stand with you. Oh!¡± He said as if suddenly remembering something. ¡°Kybele asked about the man she met. The head of the Order of One Hundred Stars, Anton Krantz. She had hoped to meet him again. And I must admit being interested as well. She said he felt¡­ impossibly strong. Though I supposed that is the case with more than a few of your guards here.¡± He looked around more for looks than practicality, as the Assimilation cultivators were keeping respectful distances. Except for Nthanda. They had never really intended to hide Assimilation and other such post-Life Transformation options from them forever, so it wasn¡¯t a problem to let them observe Anton more closely. ¡°He was actually here,¡± Lynette commented. ¡°He¡¯s responsible for these gardens. At least, the initial growth phases. We have other skillful hands maintaining them, now.¡± ¡°Ah yes, the earliest scouts said they detected his presence,¡± Daris commented. Had he left that out on purpose, just to see if she would admit something? Lynette didn¡¯t mind a bit of maneuvering like that. ¡°If you wish to meet him, I believe it can be arranged. He expressed some interest in nearby stars, and should be nearby. I can attempt to contact him.¡± Attempt was a bit of a flat word there. She could contact him unless he completely ignored her or fell into a black hole or something. And even then, she could only say that his communications devices would be destroyed in the process. His own life¡­ that was something that would hopefully never be tested. ¡°Is that so? How long will it take?¡± Eagerness, or information gathering? It could be both. ¡°Perhaps several weeks,¡± Lynette hedged. ¡°Hopefully he will agree to meet Kybele and her crew again,¡± Daris said. ¡°She kept saying that if not for this embassy, she would doubt her meeting with him entirely.¡± ¡°Sometimes it¡¯s like that with him,¡± Lynette grinned. ----- Crossed Antennae supposed her planet ought to have a name, even if there would be no one to share it with for quite some time. She considered such names like New Akrys- which would be far too confusing considering the neighbors, even if one was across an extremely difficult border. Colony #1 was perhaps a bit too soulless, though the Great Queen might have preferred such a naming custom. She¡¯d had more than a small amount of time to think about it, and decided she had to settle for something. Perhaps she would change the name before telling anyone. But in her heart, once it had a name, it was too late. Bounty was the name she chose. The entire planet was filled with plentiful, dense energy. This ascension energy was truly something special. But the name was also filled with her hopes. As planets with life went, it was a bit lacking. There were various issues, such as the original inhabitants thinking that tossing a few grasses and trees on a planet counted as life seeding, but at least for plants she had a solution. As for other necessary parts of the cycle of a world, Crossed Antennae had only brought bacteria- and those were more unintentional if rather necessary passengers. The first years had been rough, as trees failed to fruit and flowers died without reproducing. She almost lost whole strains. But then she remembered her lessons. What they were missing was other insects, like bees for example. Crossed Antennae couldn¡¯t just make those, but what she could make were winged ants. Princesses¡­ by some definitions. Normally, they would have had the make of future queens, but void ants had more control over such things than unintelligent insects. For the moment, she didn¡¯t need any others breeding. But she did need flight, so the ants would have wings. She wondered for a bit why she did not give all void ants wings, but the answer was rather simple. They were inconvenient in tunnels, and required more food to upkeep among other considerations. And despite the powerful energy, the void ants did need food. Most new void ants couldn¡¯t directly eat energy out of the air, they had to digest it from within a food source. Bounty- or at least the small region she had taken control of so far- was still developing its new balance of nature. It would eventually spread throughout the planet, with many seeds the relatively small ship still had in reserve in its storage bays intended for particular environments. On that note, she was quite glad that the majority of the storage spaces had survived the transition between lower and upper energy. They had a selection of food sources available in normal-space storage, but they would have lost much of the needed variety. Plus more of them failing might have otherwise damaged the ship. It seemed to be in good condition, with ants checking it over daily for defects because they would need it in working condition to move onto other planets. Unless the people from the upper realms came to get them, but it was somewhat risky for them to be seen out at the border planets so they might take their time coming. Until then, Crossed Antennae would be a little bit lonely. But being down on a planet surrounded by nature she had helped form, dozens of ants squeezing past her at any moment, she didn¡¯t feel quite so alone as when all of her people were within a few meters but asleep. Chapter 857 With both sides willing to negotiate, achieving basic agreements was fairly simple. The more difficult part was for Lynette to make a contract that was both easily understandable yet sufficiently thorough. While no contract could ever force someone to do something- at least, not via any methods Lynette was comfortable with using- it was better for it to be as clear as possible so that people didn¡¯t try to work around it. Some people simply tried to take advantage wherever they could. In the case where treaties were completely ignored and forceful actions were taken, there were more appropriate responses. But if peace was possible, it was better for the alliance to keep that peace. There would always be plenty of problems to deal with, inviting more than necessary was simply unreasonable. Required for the contract to be useful at all were more than a few things that either side would prefer to be secret if they weren¡¯t forming a non-aggression pact. Such things as the exact borders of their particular factions. But ultimately, they had to accept that the other party was going to act at least vaguely reasonably. Most at risk were Poriza and In¡¯istra, as they were relatively closer to the Shining Cooperative. They were still tens of lightyears away, but they were still physically closer to them than the majority of the Lower Realms Alliance. That reminded Lynette she had to include provisions about expansion. Ultimately some terms had to be set, so they picked a somewhat arbitrary distance beyond each of their systems in which either side would have to get permission from the other to spread into. That shouldn¡¯t be a problem for centuries yet, but having something in place for the future was useful. ----- ¡°Now then,¡± Lynette was going over further terms with Daris. ¡°We have to talk about ascension.¡± They didn¡¯t have any information about the Shining Cooperative in the upper realms, so either those that did ascend cut their ties, or it was very infrequent. Either that, or they ended up in a different part of or completely outside the Scarlet Midfields. ¡°What of it?¡± Daris asked. ¡°It is a serious waste of good people.¡± Lynette nodded, not in agreement so much as to show she was listening. ¡°If you would elaborate, please.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fairly simple,¡± Daris said. ¡°Each person that ascends removes their expertise from the Shining Cooperative, weakening us. And for what? Greater power for a short time. Until they are killed in the upper realms.¡± Lynette nodded slowly. ¡°I take it from your words that to your knowledge, most of your ascenders end up within the borders of the Trigold Cluster?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Or at least, we assume so. We¡¯ve not had many opportunities, but we have tried to have some contact us. No messages ever returned, so either our techniques were faulty or they never got a chance.¡± ¡°It is reasonable to assume the latter, though there are some issues with upper and lower energy functioning differently,¡± Lynette said. ¡°Considering the positioning of your systems, we would expect some portion to drift into the eastern Scarlet Midfields instead of the Trigold Cluster¡¯s territory.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Daris shrugged. ¡°We don¡¯t actually know much about that. Most of the information we have from the upper realms came from the Trigold Cluster¡¯s spies, after all.¡± ¡°Understandable,¡± Lynette said. ¡°Then let me offer an option for you to consider. We can have our agents in the upper realms draw in those of particular cultivation methods, allowing them to end up in a safe place. From there, they could either join the Scarlet Alliance in the upper realms or try to find their own way.¡± Daris frowned, not necessarily upset but more confused. ¡°You have people in the upper realms?¡± ¡°If they can send people to spy on us and sabotage us here, why not the reverse? And it is much more effective,¡± Lynette said. ¡°Since power is only restricted when one follows the tides of the world to the lower realms. Meanwhile, those who have ascended have some advantages over those native to the upper realms. That¡¯s part of the reason they established sects here, you might be interested to learn.¡± Daris nodded. ¡°We were aware that they wanted some portion of their spies to ascend to the upper realms, but not quite why. So they will be stronger?¡± ¡°Potentially,¡± Lynette said. ¡°There are many factors that go into such things, of course. Individual temperament, cultivation method¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°But learning to cultivate with natural energy here before handling ascension energy does seem to be advantageous. Which is another reason they are interested in stealing our resources.¡± ¡°Ah, I see,¡± Daris nodded. ¡°I wondered about that. We had postulated that the upper realms might be a barren wasteland of some sort, but that would not explain how they have such powerful cultivators to send against us.¡± He settled back into his chair, sighing. ¡°This is a lot of information to consider all at once.¡± ¡°We also have alternatives to ascension¡­ as you most likely have noticed already,¡± Lynnette gestured towards one of the guards. ¡°We are not averse to sharing how these advancements can be achieved, once we know each other better.¡± ¡°And the price?¡± Daris asked. ¡°It¡¯s not a set thing. Ultimately, it must be beneficial for us. You seem unlikely to come into conflict with us, and having the Shining Cooperative kill a larger number of Trigold Cluster forces would be valuable. But ultimately we will have to work out what makes sense over time.¡± If Anton had anything to say about it- and he did- then anyone he deemed as a good person after getting to know them would certainly be able to learn the secrets. And ultimately, Lynette knew that simply being aware of the possibility could be a tipping point for the Shining Cooperative. Ultimately, the most important thing was determining they would not be enemies, at least before the end of the cycle. Obviously there was no guarantee that anything would last forever as new generations were born and old ones perished, taking their thoughts and feelings with them. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ----- Not knowing exactly how much to exaggerate his response time, Anton spent another week basking in the sun of the neighboring system before setting out. Once he was actually traveling, he didn¡¯t want to slow himself in the space between systems. Flying more slowly through the system around Ozemdu was fine, as that was only a matter of hours, but being out in the void for an extra day or three was not something Anton relished. Since neither star was bound to him, he had to move at a normal speed, relying on his ability to draw on his other stars to keep himself empowered on his journey. He could still make his way between systems without any recovery, but it was much less pleasant. He was glad that his presence had been requested¡­ and that nothing had gone wrong so far. Friendly interactions, or at least peaceful ones, were always much better in the long run. Anton never enjoyed having to kill people, and even if some of them deserved death, he could imagine different futures where they never ended up in such a position. Death. Such an odd thing. He¡¯d accepted it, even before the beginning of his cultivation journey. Even now, with centuries more life than he had ever anticipated, he still understood that death was inevitable. But death was simply another part of the natural order. Another cycle, like the seasons- and the greater cycle of the tides of the world. Perhaps life would be easier without them, but they were what they were. Of course, Anton was aware that in some ways, he was no longer part of one of those cycles. Though it wasn¡¯t a guarantee to begin with, he had given up any chance of reincarnation. Perhaps his soul energy might continue on, but none of it would be him afterwards. Spectral energy had always been an oddity to him, but that was mostly because it was so rare. Even the Trigold Cluster¡¯s Twin Soul Sect didn¡¯t seem to understand it that well, at least not in the lower realms. All that, and yet they relied upon it to bring their disciples to them when they died. Anton truly didn¡¯t know if he should seek out more information on it, or continue to use it sparingly, only when necessary to deal with members of the Twin Soul Sect. That was something he would have to answer over the next few centuries, making sure to leave enough time before the actual invasion. But first, he had friends or future friends to meet. ----- As he approached the relatively small ship, Anton still found the Astral Spear intriguing. Saying the ship was better than what they had was incorrect, but there was certainly something that could be learned from it. Anton was aware of that, and he didn¡¯t even truly understand the working of greater formations or technology. Which meant there might be even more to it than he realized on the surface. ¡°Astral Spear, this is Anton,¡± he said as he approached, projecting his voice. ¡°Captain Kybele requested a meeting. Do you wish to meet upon the surface, or within your ship?¡± Incautious as it might seem to meet within something controlled by the enemy, Anton was at least confident that he could escape if they tried something. Moreover, even if they might normally feel secure there, having someone like him inside their ship might bother them. But the response he received didn¡¯t particularly clear anything up. ¡°Sect Head Anton,¡± Kybele¡¯s voice was projected by the ship¡¯s systems. She sounded as if she had just woken up- and was trying to pretend that was not the case. ¡°We did not know when you would arrive, but my crew alerted me when they sensed your approach. I will gladly meet in whichever location you prefer.¡± To avoid a loop of people saying, ¡°We can do whatever you want,¡± Anton simply made a decision. ¡°I¡¯m here now. So if you have an airlock that I can enter, I might as well come aboard.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± the response came, Kybele clearly slightly surprised. ¡°Umm. We don¡¯t actually have a dedicated bay for such scenarios, but we do have one that would work. We just have to, uh, prepare it.¡± Anton pondered about telling them that he didn¡¯t mind going through what appeared to be a garbage disposal airlock, but it might bother them that he would know. So he decided to pretend to be unaware of them running to cleanse the room with their best fire cultivators. Anton passively took in the movements of the people aboard- their shielding technology was a bit lacking in that regard- and was impressed with the speed at which they worked. Less than a quarter of an hour later, Kybele spoke to him once more- though he¡¯d heard her as she organized things throughout the ship. ¡°Sorry for the wait. The airlock is¡­ properly set up now. It¡¯s just on the side. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to find it. We¡¯re opening the doors now.¡± Anton flew around to the room that no longer had traces of garbage- at least not that the people on the ship had been able to detect. Anton could still pick it out, but he saw no point in doing so. Once inside, he waited a few moments. Then the outer doors closed behind him. A short time after that, the inner door opened to reveal Kybele standing there. Though he already knew that. ¡°Greetings, Sect Head,¡± Kybele said, bowing. ¡°It is an honor to meet you in person.¡± Technically, Anton thought that yelling at each other through space counted. But either way was fine. ¡°To you as well. I¡¯m glad the Shining Cooperative was willing to meet in such an awkward place as this.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not so bad¡­¡± Kybele lied. ¡°Is this the furthest from home you¡¯ve ever been?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Obviously you know how far I¡¯ve roamed.¡± ¡°It is, yes,¡± Kybele said, glad for the partial change of topic. ¡°It was quite a journey to get here.¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite a trip. How are your supplies?¡± he asked. ¡°Eating well?¡± ¡°As well as can be expected,¡± she hedged. ¡°Yes, well, if you get tired of rations I planted some gardens. It¡¯s not enough to feed everyone on the ship, but they could at least have a bite or two.¡± ¡°The gardens down there?¡± Kybele asked. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°I heard Daris raving about the cherries.¡± ¡°Well they are in season,¡± Anton said. ¡°So they¡¯ll be some of the best right now.¡± The whole time, Kybele¡¯s senses hadn¡¯t stopped stretching towards Anton then shying away. She never lingered. ¡°Right. Yes.¡± She frowned. ¡°So¡­ you¡¯re stronger than all those people down there, right?¡± Anton smiled. There was a clear reason she wasn¡¯t the one in charge of the diplomatic answers. She was easy to read. But Anton liked that. ¡°What makes you so sure of that?¡± ¡°The fact that you had to hide away in another system so we wouldn¡¯t be scared,¡± Kybele pointed out. ¡°And because I can feel it. Though it¡¯s a bit¡­ are you injured?¡± Anton laughed. ¡°I¡¯m not. Though you¡¯re correct that I am not at maximum power right now.¡± He could sense crew members straining their ears to listen in on the conversation. Obviously, he could have walled them off, but aside from causing trouble he also didn¡¯t really feel the need. As Kybele had been scanning him for a while, Anton decided to be a bit less subtle in return. Interesting. He really hoped things worked out with the Shining Cooperative, because Kybele already had one foot into Assimilation. There was a clear connection between her and the ship- but also the crew. That would be an interesting one to see. Chapter 858 A ship like the Astral Spear which was relatively small didn¡¯t have much spare room for luxury. Even the captain¡¯s quarters only had a small lounge with a few couches packed close around a table. ¡°I wasn¡¯t really prepared to receive any guests,¡± Kybele admitted. ¡°I¡¯m sure we could move down to Ozemdu¡­¡± ¡°If I was concerned about that, I would have suggested it already,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Besides, I never understood those who needed space for ten people all to themselves.¡± What was comfort anyway? Some liked good food and drink, and Anton certainly didn¡¯t despise them. But he always thought something he¡¯d grown himself, or anything from a close friend, far outweighed everything else he could eat. Well¡­ perhaps there was some exception for someone like Heath, who devoted his life to cooking. But someone special like him, their food was not earned with money. Not truly. The two sat in silence for a short time. ¡°Well¡­¡± Kybele began. ¡°As previously noted, I don¡¯t have anything in the way of refreshments to offer. And now I¡­ kind of don¡¯t know why I asked to have you here.¡± Anton smiled. He knew that was not true. She just felt awkward saying it. She¡¯d already asked about it, indirectly. ¡°You want guidance on your cultivation,¡± Anton said straightforwardly. ¡°You feel stuck, since you can¡¯t ascend. And it likely didn¡¯t bother you until you saw me.¡± Captain Kybele bit her lip. ¡°Well¡­ yeah. I suppose I was thinking something like that.¡± Anton nodded slowly. ¡°I would advise caution with your current path. That doesn¡¯t mean it is wrong, but I certainly wouldn¡¯t rush into anything.¡± ¡°My current path?¡± Kybele frowned. ¡°My cultivation has remained the same since I reached the peak of Life Transformation. The only thing around here that has improved is the Astral Spear and my crew members.¡± Anton just looked at her. Kybele shrank back into her chair. ¡°What would you say makes me stronger than a Life Transformation cultivator?¡± Anton asked. Kybele thought about that for a while, perhaps wondering if it was a trick question. ¡°Your insights? And your natural energy?¡± ¡°The former would just make me a strong Life Transformation cultivator, perhaps a higher tier than the rest¡­ but not truly different,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°No, the fundamental of cultivation is energy. And it came to a point that I could not draw solely upon myself. What is it that I turned to then?¡± ¡°... The origin of your cultivation? Stars?¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct,¡± Anton said. ¡°I forged a more direct connection with them.¡± Kybele nodded. ¡°That makes sense but¡­ I have no connection to anything so powerful. Does that mean my cultivation is at a dead end?¡± Instead of answering directly, Anton appeared to change the topic. ¡°What do you think of trees?¡± ¡°They¡¯re¡­ good?¡± Kybele tilted her head. ¡°I mean, I¡¯m not a gardener like you. But they provide shade and air and sometimes food. They¡¯re good.¡± ¡°Have you ever lost a fight to a tree?¡± Anton asked. ¡°No¡­?¡± Kybele looked seriously confused. ¡°So they¡¯re not powerful, then? At least, relative to you.¡± ¡°Not really,¡± she confirmed. ¡°Do you think you could lose a fight to a tree? Perhaps not one you¡¯ve seen, but one you can imagine.¡± She furrowed her brow. ¡°Well. Maybe. There are these trees I saw once. Their seed pods swell¡­ and then burst. They pierce through kilometers of forest, making holes in everything in their way until they land in the dirt somewhere. So if there was one of those with¡­ more energy I guess I could lose that fight, if I had bad timing.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve lost a fight to a tree. And in fact, at nearly any time in recent memory, I could go do it again. The last decades being an exception for now.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°But the point is, power comes from the exceptional. Stars? They¡¯re just a lot of stuff. Put enough stuff together, and it becomes a big fire. Develop a tree enough, and it is a fearsome foe. You¡¯re looking for something that isn¡¯t just strong, but that can become stronger. And I think you have that.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°If I answer that question for you, it won¡¯t do anyone any good. Take your time to think about it. Who knows? Perhaps there is something even more suited for you than what I think. I only know you at a surface level, after all.¡± Kybele blinked. ¡°Oh. Yeah. I¡­ forgot that somehow.¡± ¡°Enough time and training in Insight, and you can easily make people think you know their deepest secrets, when really all I did was scratch the surface of what I saw. Every cultivator wishes to grow stronger in some manner. Hearing about the Shining Cooperative¡¯s experience, it¡¯s natural to want to grow strong enough to outclass the invaders from the upper realm.¡± She nodded. ¡°They took¡­ far too much from me.¡± ¡°For me, the losses happened on a much less glorious scale. And yet, the pattern fits. Those with power come in from the outside and think they can do whatever they please. Regardless of whether they were correct for a while, it doesn¡¯t make it okay.¡± Anton leaned forward, ¡°And they have no real stake in things, so their motivations are weak in comparison. Greed may drive people, but it can¡¯t motivate them more than the loss of loved ones.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Kybele nodded vigorously. ¡°For them, it¡¯s a position of elder or a fancy new sword, but for us it¡¯s our homes! That¡¯s why¡­ that¡¯s why we have to stop them no matter what.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Anton looked at her in a manner that only a parent or grandparent with many years of experience in that role could do. Kybele was doubtless wondering if she¡¯d forgotten some rule. As if they¡¯d been in each other¡¯s presence for more than a few hours total. ¡°Sacrifices for the sake of an important goal are often necessary,¡± Anton said. ¡°But we must make sure we don¡¯t become the thing we wish to eradicate. Those who overthrow tyrants all too often become tyrants themselves. I¡¯m sure some think that of me, from their perspectives.¡± ¡°I may not know you that well,¡± Kybele admitted. ¡®But I doubt that¡¯s true. That you¡¯re actually a tyrant of any sort, I mean.¡± ¡°And yet, I often tell people what to do, backed up more by my power than their loyalty or anything else,¡± Anton said. ¡°And what sort of horrible things do you force upon people?¡± Kybele asked playfully. ¡°Farming?¡± ¡°What you speak of is no laughing matter,¡± Anton said, his tone growing serious. ¡°It is the foundation of all civilization. Without it, no one can eat and no one can grow. People must toil in the hot sun to produce necessary food, with more than just bodily nutrition. Without their labor, worlds would collapse.¡± Anton leaned back slightly. ¡°So obviously they need to be paid properly. Like everyone involved in foundational aspects of maintaining society. Though like everyone else, they should aspire to be more than just people putting seeds in the ground.¡± Kybele looked down, not in shame, but instead her eyes were pointed towards the planet below. ¡°I know that only half of that was serious, but it really makes me want to try what you have down there.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°You should. Perhaps we can arrange for a tasting, of sorts. I somewhat regret not having time to grow something more substantial. I would have liked to have enough for everybody to experience everything.¡± ¡°There¡¯s plenty,¡± Kybele said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°Enough for the envoys and perhaps their staff. But your ship has nearly a hundred people on it, and your fleet has many more.¡± ¡°You really think it¡¯s important for everyone to have some? Even the¡­ lower ranking individuals?¡± Kybele asked. Anton nodded. ¡°It¡¯s one thing if a few envoys return, wishing to have excellent food. But if everyone returns, unsatisfied with normal food¡­ then my plans can come to fruition. Everyone will have to follow my instructions just to have a chance to experience it again!¡± Anton waved his arms dramatically. ¡°And by that I mean the detailed plant tending guide myself and many others have put together over the centuries, meant for optimizing growth of natural energy in plants and their surroundings over long time periods.¡± ¡°I, uh, appreciate your passion. But I honestly don¡¯t quite understand what you¡¯re talking about and why it¡¯s so important.¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite straightforward,¡± Anton said. ¡°And in some ways simple. But in other ways, it isn¡¯t. You want to defeat the Trigold Cluster, correct? What is the best way to accomplish that?¡± ¡°... Strong cultivators? And good ships, I guess.¡± ¡°And how do you get those?¡± ¡°... training? Drawing in natural energy, refining the body and soul. That kind of thing.¡± Kybele frowned. ¡°Is that not what you meant?¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s indeed what I meant. And that natural energy you draw in, where does it come from?¡± ¡°The world. And sometimes it¡¯s infused in wild plants, or special crops grown in sects.¡± Anton was nodding as she talked. ¡°... and it¡¯s also in some materials, or the bodies of powerful beasts.¡± ¡°After you consume a fruit, what happens to the total amount of natural energy in the world?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know,¡± Kybele admitted. ¡°I get stronger so, it increases? Or I suppose since I got the energy from the fruit, it stays the same. But I suppose I don¡¯t perfectly absorb everything¡­ so it might decrease?¡± Anton shrugged, ¡°I have to admit that one was a bit unfair. It¡¯s a very complex topic. However, we can observe a general decrease in ¡®useful¡¯ natural energy. That lost energy you didn¡¯t absorb most likely still goes somewhere.¡± ¡°So it stays the same,¡± Kybele said. ¡°But I can use it, so overall we¡¯re closer to the goal.¡± ¡°So then, what happens if you inject your energy into a growing plant?¡± ¡°... The total energy would still stay the same, right?¡± Kybele replied. ¡°In the immediate circumstances, yes,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But in the long term, assuming it is done properly, it can cause the plant to grow larger and produce fruit that have more natural energy in turn than you put in. Because it is not exactly a closed system. The plant can absorb more natural energy from you and its surroundings- and that tends to draw in more, especially from things like¡­ stars.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying I should have chosen a star focused cultivation method.¡± ¡°Well, I might, but that would be biased,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°A star will still shine light on its planets and provide natural energy regardless of what styles people have. It¡¯s just a matter of how they harness it, or don¡¯t.¡± Anton stroked his chin. ¡°How much time do you have? I could speak for centuries on how things weave together to create a flourishing world. Because things don¡¯t just stop there. Every step of the way should have great care, both for its people and what they do. Look at this shirt,¡± Anton said, holding out his arm. ¡°Who do you think made it?¡± Kybele drew close to look at it. ¡°The weave is extraordinary. The materials appear quite strong as well, though obviously that¡¯s just a surface level. Some sort of master weaver, then?¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s not entirely untrue,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know. I just saw it at a store and bought it. It could have been anyone. And I mean that literally. Something like this, anyone could make. Or rather, anyone could become the person with this ability. There¡¯s always a field someone can excel in. And we try very hard to make sure people find one.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°There are some who choose a more mundane life, but it is relatively few in comparison. And I think you would be quite surprised if you saw one of our planets.¡± ¡°Maybe I should, then.¡± ¡°Maybe you should. But I don¡¯t think I¡¯m the best person to arrange that. I¡¯d just drag people along and show up. It works for me, but not everyone is so¡­ content about how casual it can be.¡± ¡°And you don¡¯t trust us yet.¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Not yet. But I¡¯m a little bit closer at every moment. I wouldn¡¯t mind visiting one of your planets as well, and I promise not to tell people outside of my field of expertise what they¡¯re doing wrong. And when I do say it¡­ it will be done in a nice way. I¡¯ve had many students, after all,¡± Anton nodded. Kybele smiled in return. ¡°Someday, then. I¡¯m also not the person to arrange such a thing. And it¡¯s not like I can really help, since you don¡¯t need my ship to get there.¡± ¡°It would probably help people feel better if I was escorted in, though,¡± Anton said. ¡°My schedule for the next few decades is currently pretty open, so I¡¯ll try to keep in touch.¡± He hoped that someone had finished the communicators they were thinking about- enough to cover long distances quickly but not one that could compromise their network. Just in case the Shining Cooperative turned against them. They certainly couldn¡¯t rely on going hundreds of lightyears or having people swing by in person. That would be a terrible way to maintain good relations as neighbors. Pies were a good one, but it was hard to bake enough for a whole planet. And they¡¯d never arrive fresh. So perhaps he¡¯d have to send back some people with the memories of a pie, and consider that good enough. Chapter 859 Even after having crossed the official border of the Exalted Quadrant into the Scarlet Midfields, Velvet did not assume she was safe. After all, the sects there hadn¡¯t even considered for a moment whether they should chase people before- even nearly to Xankeshan. She didn¡¯t believe she was being followed, of course. But that was exactly the best reason to maintain caution. If there was someone that good, she couldn¡¯t afford to let her guard down for a moment. Until she reached Xankeshan. Once there, she could truly relax. Either her friends and allies and all the best security they had would keep her safe¡­ or she would probably die without even knowing it. So there was no point in stressing about theoretical events she couldn¡¯t change. Mostly, such thoughts were because of spending so much time effectively alone, passing through the various systems of the northern Exalted Quadrant. No matter how many people were on each planet she passed, she never had any real interactions. At least in the Chaotic Conglomeration she¡¯d made friends with Runa, or her mental state after the whole spying operation would have been even worse. Who would have thought that going years or decades without being around friends was bad for people? Probably anyone who actually thought about it, but surprisingly few did. Each planet felt more and more secure, as they entered the actual radius of the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s control. It was nice for them to sometimes think of themselves as controlling everything between the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster. But in reality, they only controlled a portion in the middle, spreading out from around Xankeshan, the former territory of the Harmonious Citadel, and the component sects that now made up the Scarlet Alliance like the Dark Ring and Dancing Slayer Sect. When she finally arrived somewhere with proper ships that could speed up her journey, Velvet rejoiced. And soon enough, she was back home. ----- ¡°It¡¯s a shame they¡¯re not doing better in the war,¡± Alva commented after Velvet¡¯s surface level report. ¡°But if they were, we¡¯d probably have noticed the effects on the Exalted Quadrant a while ago.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Catarina said. ¡°They don¡¯t seem to be taking the situation very seriously, but perhaps they are looking at it through some long term lens that makes the situation acceptable to them. Perhaps they see the war as a training ground?¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t necessarily put it past them. Certainly, they are quite unwilling to assign any real powerhouses to the region. No Augmentation cultivators.¡± Timothy spoke up at that. ¡°Congratulations, by the way. Another breakthrough among us¡­ that¡¯s nearly everyone.¡± ¡°Speaking of which, why aren¡¯t you in Augmentation yet?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Me?¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°Perhaps I don¡¯t have it in me.¡± ¡°You were the first of us to reach Essence Collection. But perhaps the circumstances haven¡¯t aligned.¡± Velvet looked over at Alva. ¡°And don¡¯t think I¡¯m ignoring you. You¡¯re just younger.¡± ¡°By less than a decade,¡± Alva countered. ¡°Practically a newborn,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°You wanna fight?¡± ¡°No. That¡¯s why I¡¯m in Augmentation.¡± ¡°But you did fight.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just how it works,¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°... Fuzz and Spikes are waiting for their last pups to grow,¡± Alva explained. ¡°To ensure there¡¯s a sufficient population of stone wolves, or half stone wolves or whatever, to still exist if they happen to¡­ perish.¡± ¡°And then you¡¯re going on a training journey with them?¡± ¡°A journey for sure,¡± Alva nodded. ¡°Training will probably happen. But you never know how such things will actually resolve.¡± ¡°How many pups have they even had, anyway?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I know that their population is still pretty small, but they¡¯re a significant influence on Xankeshan.¡± ¡°Somewhere like¡­ a thousand now?¡± Alva tilted her head. ¡°... Wait, what? I thought they were at like, twenty.¡± ¡°Well, they¡¯ve had a litter every year or so for over two centuries now,¡± Alva explained. ¡°You just don¡¯t hear about most of them because very few end up different like Aconite or Agom.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ still not that many,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°Though I suppose the total population is higher than that.¡± ¡°Maybe ten thousand?¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s only so many great wolves in the galaxy for them to seek out as mates. There¡¯s a wide enough population here now they¡¯re probably fine but¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°They¡¯re adventurous. There could have been a lot more of them if they all survived even fifty years.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t Fuzz and Spikes have excellent growth methods for them?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t stop them from getting killed. Or trying something unique. Statistically, Aconite should have been one of the deaths. A few thought to take after her.¡± Velvet grimaced. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine that went well.¡± ¡°The ones who happened to be around her at the time survived. The others, not so much. There¡¯s only so much a hearty constitution can do when you ingest enough poison.¡± Conversation about the wolves lasted for a while. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Ultimately,¡± Catarina said, returning to the topic of Velvet¡¯s report. ¡°It seems that the Chaotic Conglomeration is a drain on the Exalted Quadrant, but won¡¯t be a threat unless some other large scale event weakens them.¡± Timothy nodded, ¡°Like many large scale empires¡­ they will last in some form for a very long time, but the right shock can make them collapse. Except here it¡¯s not limited to a single planet. Even so, they could easily fracture into individual powerful sects.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid my attempts to sabotage their relationships won¡¯t have gone far,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I have gathered enough information that we might be able to pull on some strings.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t really want to fight them,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It¡¯s just that we will probably have to. Meanwhile, the Trigold Cluster has been uncomfortably quiet as far as the upper realms are concerned. The complete report will be sent to everyone for later review. And we¡¯ll keep an eye on that comm you left, Velvet.¡± She nodded. ¡°High priority, but low security. I should be able to discern a genuine message, though.¡± ¡°Next on the agenda¡­ a new faction in the lower realms. A big one. Obviously we¡¯re not directly affected, but we might have to ramp up production of ascension chambers. If the numbers are correct, we¡¯ll have to attune to a large number of new cultivation methods. And we might even get a flood of new arrivals. We don¡¯t want to lose out on anyone just because we couldn¡¯t handle things on our end.¡± ¡°I read that report,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It¡¯s still in negotiation, right? And they were hesitant about ascending?¡± ¡°Yes, but we need to plan for potential scenarios,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°And that¡¯s the one that most affects us. Besides, Anton is involved. The question is more what proportion of people will choose to ascend compared to Assimilation. He¡¯s good at leading people towards either.¡± She looked through her notes. ¡°Oh, we also need a dedicated device somewhere around fifty years from now. For¡­ non-humans. Engineer Uzun will be glad he has some warning for that one. At least it¡¯s a single planet. What else was there?¡± ¡°Void ants,¡± Timothy said. ¡°... Right. That¡¯s uh¡­ a bit of a tough one,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°We¡¯ve received some pure tech designs to replicate damaged parts. The message received indicates everything went well but¡­ that¡¯s one place we can¡¯t risk frequent communication or repeated physical exchanges.¡± ¡°I think I missed something,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°What about them?¡± ¡°Obviously this can¡¯t leave the room,¡± Catarina said. ¡°They¡¯ve set up their first colony in the upper realms. On the border worlds. They intend to eradicate any forward outposts people set up.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I¡¯d heard the plans,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I missed that it actually happened. It¡¯s¡­ kind of terrifying.¡± ¡°And yet,¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°Most are only as dangerous as very smart ants. So like tiny humans without cultivation.¡± ¡°Obviously we want to avoid association,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Since someone tried to eradicate them. And we can¡¯t even enquire about it too much without giving something away.¡± ¡°Why not ask Everheart?¡± Velvet said. ¡°He should know.¡± ¡°Not it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Not it,¡± Timothy immediately followed. The response was reiterated by everyone in the room. ¡°... Can¡¯t we just send him a comm or something?¡± Velvet complained. ¡°Why does someone always have to make a trip to his deathtrap?¡± ¡°Because one way we know he¡¯ll inevitably be able to spy on our entire communications network. And the other, we can pretend he hasn¡¯t already cracked our transmissions,¡± Catarina explained. ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, the pure tech components will hold him back for another century.¡± ¡°We should just send Vari,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Though for a single question¡­ maybe we should build up a list.¡± Nobody was going to press for visiting Everheart more often, so that was basically the end of that discussion. ----- The outpost on Ozemdu was meant to be temporary. Something that could last some unspecified number of years and host an important meeting of diplomatic envoys. And it accomplished that task just fine. The real question was why anyone had assumed it would end there. Obviously it was inconvenient for everyone involved to get there, but it was still basically central. Having it as a relay station for messages was not a terrible idea, and it was also good to keep in contact and not just¡­ suddenly stop talking to each other. Poriza and In¡¯istra were closer, but a message going through either of them would actually take even longer to reach the core of the Lower Realms Alliance. Lynette and the others had all of those thoughts as the negotiations came to a close- and of course some of the good suggestions were from the Shining Cooperative. Properly terraforming the planet to have self-sustaining life and not just a single- if expansive- garden was top priority. Along with that, setting up some local industry would be essential- everything imported from a hundred or more lightyears away would be many times more costly and should only be reserved for what could truly not be made on site. ¡°I¡¯ve already started, of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°I tossed seeds all around the planet a while ago. We¡¯ll just need another few waves to cover the various different biomes.¡± ¡°... Do you want to lead that project?¡± Lynette asked. ¡°I¡¯ll plant stuff,¡± Anton said. ¡°But obviously I can¡¯t find a perfect balance all on my own. And we¡¯ll want animal and insect life. I could take care of a farm¡¯s worth or two, but I¡¯m not going to manage a whole planet of animals.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I just got done doing something like that.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any particular rush for that,¡± Lynette admitted. ¡°You also expressed interest in surveying the Shining Cooperative¡¯s planets?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Look. I don¡¯t want to be a spy. But I also don¡¯t want them to hide big secrets because we didn¡¯t bother looking. And my main objective will really be what I say.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll know, obviously.¡± ¡°Obviously. They just might not realize the full extent of my senses.¡± ¡°And you can¡¯t just interfere with local events.¡± ¡°I totally can,¡± Anton disagreed. ¡°I want an official diplomatic status. Like head individual who pokes his nose into other people¡¯s business.¡± ¡°... We¡¯ll consider your application,¡± Lynette said. ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t want to cause trouble,¡± Anton said. ¡°But sometimes its already happening and people won¡¯t admit it, and then when someone shows it to them¡­¡± he shrugged. ¡°I get that we don¡¯t want to start something with these guys. So get me a list of universal laws, and it better not have exceptions for people in fancy hats.¡± ¡°... At least you can avoid killing people.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton said. ¡°Also, I¡¯ll very soon have every Assimilation cultivator in their region on my side.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not actually in charge of deciding any of these things, you know?¡± Lynette said. ¡°... But I can get their whole legal code and summarize the important parts for you. That will be a good way to learn about them anyway.¡± ¡°How exciting,¡± Anton said. ¡°Hey, you like plants. I like to see the hearts of humans written on a page, especially where it concerns what they bothered agreeing is right or wrong.¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t considered that I might fundamentally disagree with what they¡¯d decided,¡± Anton sighed. ¡°But I should have. They¡¯re just another large country, more or less.¡± ¡°With at least one more layer of government.¡± ¡°Wonderful.¡± Chapter 860 Throughout his explorations of Akrys, Three Squeaks had seen many things. Quite often he was able to peacefully meet with local individuals. More often than he had to fight them- though that was only counting those with sapience. Getting attacked by random animals with a bit of natural energy didn¡¯t count. Either way, most conflicts were resolved swiftly. The Lower Plains Alliance had some small knowledge of ¡®tactics¡¯ from Anton, but ultimately most fights involved sending everyone¡¯s warriors at each other until one side died. The thing was, most groups hadn¡¯t grown particularly large. Most had territories they could walk in a day. Some, it took several. There wasn¡¯t really anything more than that. Difficulties of interacting with different species and simply limitations of time had caused that. Except¡­ there was one group that Three Squeaks eventually came across that possessed a much larger territory¡­ sort of. Certainly, they claimed a lot of land, and they protected it. It was even weeks of travel to get across it¡­ from their perspective. They weren¡¯t aggressive, or at least not so much to directly attack. However, Three Squeaks found that they drew out everything, including efforts to become more friendly. The Tortoise Triumvirate was just¡­ like that. And he was quite annoyed. They spoke slowly, took days to deliberate positions, and were generally unwilling to give straight answers to simple questions. Three Squeaks had spent a year just to get to talk to their heads of state, and another year trying to get anything out of them. And then just as he was about to give up, he got a better idea. He honestly couldn¡¯t tell the difference between the Triumvirate, so they were numbered one through three in his head. And that was just based on the direction he had to look a particular day. Number one spoke to him, of course annoyingly slowly. ¡°Little rodent¡­¡± Three Squeaks had already informed them he was not a rodent. ¡°Your¡­ people. Too far. Too early. We do not need to speak.¡± ¡°I think you can be convinced otherwise,¡± Three Squeaks said. The idea was already forming in his mind. ¡°I just need to¡­ bring a friend. It won¡¯t take long.¡± ¡°How¡­ long?¡± Asked number two. Unless they¡¯d swapped positions? No, they weren¡¯t that speedy. Probably. ¡°... Just a few months,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Very¡­ well. The Triumvirate will¡­ remain in session. Return with your¡­ friend.¡± It wasn¡¯t actually the slowness of their speech that bothered him. No, he¡¯d dealt with that plenty. It was the attitude combined with it. After all, he had his own individual of slow speech, who might somehow be even worse than them. But Meep was neither slow on purpose, nor otherwise bothersome. He had his focuses. And while Three Squeaks didn¡¯t like to make difficult work for his friends, someone had to talk to these guys eventually. The world was rapidly growing smaller- not in an absolute sense, but as various awakened individuals grew in power, the rates at which they would have naturally encountered each other expanded. Three Squeaks had already pre-arranged some meetings- along with others, of course, but he was the one who chose to travel the whole world. Giving both sides some warning had almost certainly resulted in better outcomes, and when Three Squeaks ran into aggressive individuals he could simply run, as he had no territory to protect. ----- The one detail Three Squeaks had not considered was that, upon his return with Meep, he would still have to be there. In short, this was a perfect time for him to train his meditative skills, and his patience. This wasn¡¯t interminably boring, it was a test. Okay, no, it was. But he could at least try to grow. Man, how did cultivators sit in one spot for a decade? Oh right, most of them didn¡¯t actually do that. But it also wasn¡¯t unheard of, at least in stories. In practice, that was a great way to hit a dead end and run out of insights. The reason he was so focused on this place, however, was that he was getting close to full exploration of the world. Okay, so, maybe he was at like¡­ ninety percent. And maybe that last ten percent would take just as long as he¡¯d spend on the first ninety percent. But he couldn¡¯t consider the area properly explored until he¡¯d been everywhere, and the Tortoises didn¡¯t like it if he just sprinted past them to go look at their rocks and trees and sand and stuff. The only thing he was fairly certain about was that there were no other sapient species in their modest territory. He¡­ really wasn¡¯t sure what he was going to do once he actually finished his goal. Spend more time back at home, perhaps. It would be nice, to get back to more group meditation with the sect. Not every meerkat was gifted with the same amount of cultivation talent, and sharing some of his own power with others would help raise others up. He supposed it would also be good to focus on the Order of One Hundred Stars. He had learned so much from Anton¡­ he wanted the world to have more people like that. And a cultivation filled with light and growth went a long way towards that. Then, of course, there was the far future. At the end of the cycle, would their planet be invaded? Or had it simply been seeded with life and forgotten, many cycles before? It honestly didn¡¯t matter- because Three Squeaks wanted to be ready to fight regardless. If Akrys didn¡¯t need it, surely others in the lower realms would. ----- Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Looking down upon Nidec, Devon truly wouldn¡¯t have thought the results they got were possible. Not only had they avoided a civil war, they actually had access to more information about the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s sects. What the lower realms individuals had, at least. It wasn¡¯t really that much, which was part of the reason they were so relatively easy to convince. If a decade long process could be counted as quick, at least. Perhaps¡­ perhaps it was, on the galactic scale. It wasn¡¯t as if Nidec was suddenly fully integrated into the Lower Realms Alliance, but they would at least be available to trade and to exchange knowledge. That included Vrelt, which was almost neighbors with them, just a few systems away. Not that there hadn¡¯t been conflict. It was just that the ones who were most likely to act openly and violently were also the ones with the most positive response to being browbeaten into agreeing. And funnily enough, it was in a way that was more likely to last. The Hardened Crown Sect was weird like that. ¡°You did good work,¡± Devon complimented Aerona. ¡°You and all the others.¡± She smiled, ¡°You did your part as well. Sometimes, you need to punch someone in the face for proper diplomacy, I suppose. But I¡¯m still going to let other people handle that.¡± ¡°It would be nice, if everything could be resolved this way.¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°But I don¡¯t believe it can. Would we even be willing to negotiate peace with the upper realms instead of forcing it out of them? The Exalted Quadrant¡­ well, they¡¯ve caused us quite a bit of trouble. They still might be someone we could live with, but we really have little experience with the upper realms. Except that whole thing where they took over a sect in the Scarlet Midfields to skirt around their ceasefire. And the part where they tried to kill lots of other people. Though Chikere was the provocateur for some of that.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve only heard stories about her,¡± Aerona admitted. ¡°Was she like they say?¡± ¡°Yes and no. The crazier the story, the more accurate most likely. And yet¡­ if she was seeking out a grand swordmaster for a duel, even if she had conflict with many cultivators along the path, that was probably what all of them wanted.¡± He shrugged, ¡°Or maybe that¡¯s just me wishing that my friends can do no wrong when clearly they can, sometimes. Then again, without that incident we wouldn¡¯t be here. Not so¡­ successfully. Because she helped free another friend of ours, and a previous Sect Head of Ceretos¡¯ Hardened Crown branch. We wouldn¡¯t have even known one existed without that. And it shows they are unwilling to accept people who want to not be a part of them- for no real benefits, as far as I am aware.¡± ¡°Except some techniques to give them an edge over the local populace,¡± Aerona said. ¡°I¡¯m not saying that¡¯s sufficient. Just that they saw a reason to begin with.¡± ¡°Too bad they¡¯re outdated now. I wonder if the Exalted Quadrant even knows that. How many more outposts do you think they have?¡± Aerona frowned. ¡°More, probably the further we go west. That¡¯s closer to their proper territory, after all.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to keep watch. Though our explorations, at least, have led to no inhabited system in a decent buffer zone.¡± ¡°I wonder if that is intentional too. Or just a coincidence.¡± ¡°I doubt we can ask them,¡± Devon shrugged. ----- The colony was developing well. Crossed Antennae was proud of her work. And, of course, proud of the others. Though they were not yet worthy of names, they were developing rapidly. Bounty was developing nicely. The only thing it really needed now was¡­ more queens. That was where Crossed Antennae was hesitant. She was spawned from the Great Queen herself, as all of the queens in the lower realms. As it should be. No, she knew better than that. She had been raised to have a sense of independence. It was only natural that each queen should produce another. It was just¡­ what if she was no good at it? What if they came out wrong? Crippled or underperforming she could blame on herself, and replacing them would merely take time and resources. But if they were not willing to go along with the plans she had, what then? Would they fight? Colony against colony? It was not something that had happened in living memory. The Great Queen managed everything, and all was aligned. But she wasn¡¯t here, and Crossed Antennae realized how many things she didn¡¯t know. Certain ants might always follow their queen, but other queens had to be more independent. Otherwise, they could not function. The threats of battle were what worried her the most. She was not Fearsome Mandibles. Her sister chose that name, knowing her own heart. And here she was, barely even understanding her own thoughts. Her name¡­ perhaps it wasn¡¯t even a name so much as a response. What if she died? Crossed Antennae was aware of her own life as something she valued, but more than that she had others she was beholden to. The Great Queen. Allies in both the upper and lower realms. All were counting on her. Yet every time she thought to form an egg containing a princess, she could not bring herself to do so. Instead, her main colony grew larger and larger. Soon, it would be unmanageable. Something had to change. She knew that. But she kept hesitating. She had no real way to contact anyone, asking for guidance. So instead, she did something foolish. Not the sort of thing that would topple her reign as queen. No, instead, she simply took time away from her colony to go to the woods alone. It was truly difficult, to find a place where she could be alone. Even pheromone trails of danger would draw attention, given she was the queen. But still, she could find some precious moments to herself. Crafting life was something that came naturally to her. She¡¯d even created a strain of fliers now, so that the void ants could cover their territory more efficiently. But doing it manually, by hand? It wasn¡¯t really life. It was something much sillier. A collection of leaves, twigs, and bark. She formed them into¡­ friends. ¡°Good day, Grand Counselor Autumn,¡± she said. Obviously that wasn¡¯t her full name. Autumn Twigs of the Beech was the proper name, but too much of an antennaefull to sign repeatedly. ¡°And to you, Grand Counselor Bark.¡± Bark of the Oak in Winter, as was obvious from his looks. ¡°I come once again to seek your guidance.¡± They said nothing, of course. But just pretending that they did made her more relaxed. Chapter 861 A hand was placed on an external window, showing a view of space. Then came a sigh, as a woman looked at her reflection in the glass. ¡°What am I even doing here?¡± Then her eyes flickered to something else. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Anishka watched as the ant on the glass furiously signed at her. ¡°Here to protect- I don¡¯t need to be protected!¡± Another silent response. ¡°Well yeah obviously they could try something but-¡± another pause. ¡°No I don¡¯t need someone to watch over me as I sleep.¡± Anishka sighed. ¡°Look, Sergeant. I¡¯m glad you want to watch out for me, but you shouldn¡¯t be here. What do you mean ¡®why¡¯? Because you¡¯re a dangerous cultivation beast!¡± Her face was almost pressed up against the glass now. ¡°I know you¡¯re not technically cultivating but that doesn¡¯t change things! I told you to stay behind! ¡­ Yes, we¡¯re still friends¡­¡± Anishka reached out her finger and the Sergeant climbed onto it. The void ant had never grown large, but Anishka had underestimated her power more than once. It had been¡­ quite surprising. She went to lay down on her bed, holding her finger at an angle she could easily see her friend. At least she wasn¡¯t worried about crushing her anymore. It would have to be a deliberate act, as the little ant was quite a bit more durable. She continued to sign to Anishka. ¡°Even if I¡¯m not supposed to be here, you should be,¡± the ant emphasized. ¡°Why? Because I¡¯m Anton¡¯s great-granddaughter? Or the last daughter of the Fire and Ice?¡± The ant¡¯s antennae twitched. ¡°You have many siblings, do you not?¡± ¡°Sure like, a dozen. So what?¡± ¡°Are any of them here?¡± ¡°Well¡­ no,¡± Anishka admitted. ¡°Then it is supposed to be you here.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t even done anything though. I saved a few people on Ekict and then made sure nothing horrible happened for a while. And now I¡¯m going to be one of the first people to visit the Shining Cooperative?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why?¡± The ant signed with deliberate motions. ¡°Because you are important and strong, but not too important or too strong.¡± Anishka sighed. ¡°Is that it?¡± She honestly didn¡¯t know if that made her feel better or worse. ¡°So you know I¡¯m not going to be able to talk to you while we¡¯re there, right?¡± ¡°That is not an issue.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it? I¡¯d be the only person you know and can interact with, and you¡¯d never get to.¡± ¡°It is not for very long. Just a number of years.¡± ¡°Man, I thought human cultivators were supposed to grow strangely casual about the passage of time. Do you- what kind of lifespans could you expect from void ants?¡± ¡°I am not dead yet, so a few more years will make no difference.¡± ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. The Great Queen is like¡­ three hundred? But you were made to be lower ranking.¡± ¡°I cannot achieve my goals if I do not survive. So I survive.¡± ¡°Still on about that? You don¡¯t have to listen to orders, you know.¡± ¡°I am aware,¡± the void ant signed. ¡°You are my friend, so I don¡¯t have to listen to you. I just do what is best for you.¡± ¡°Ugh. Maybe I should have taught you to listen to my orders.¡± ¡°It is too late. My understanding has transcended that point.¡± Anishka looked at the Sergeant. Then her hand snapped forward. Her fingers pinched and¡­ found no purchase. The ant slid from your grip. The Sergeant was on the back of her hand. ¡°Your attempts to restrain me will be unsuccessful. Nor could any of your human restraints hold me.¡± ¡°I was going to put you in a metal box and rest the bed on it.¡± The void ant paused. ¡°That couldn¡¯t have been successful. I would have escaped.¡± ¡°Whoa, when did you learn to lie?¡± ¡°It is not a lie. I just¡­ simply do not yet know how it would have been accomplished.¡± ¡°Okay but you should definitely take the first ship back. We can¡¯t have any void ants getting spotted- wait, there aren¡¯t other void ant spies going along, are there?¡± ¡°I am not a spy,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°And I am not aware of any being sent.¡± That made Anishka feel relieved. Until she realized that it felt like the sort of thing the Great Queen would do. And that it made sense. Even she was kind of going as a spy. Just one everyone knew about. Anishka specifically was not an envoy, but instead a ¡®world cultivation consultant¡¯. The Shining Cooperative really liked the idea of everyone cultivating, building up whole worlds. They just hadn¡¯t had the pieces put together for that to be fully practical, apparently. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ----- Anishka walked onto the planet Lotren with the confidence of a woman who didn¡¯t have a void ant somewhere on her. And if she never checked, she could plausibly maintain that lie to herself. Casual sensing wouldn¡¯t do it, since she could easily look over a tiny blip of nothing. The first thing she noticed was the different style of spaceports they had. The aesthetics were quite different, which wasn¡¯t surprising. Even if there were common stylistic elements among cultivators, when developing new things they could easily go in different directions. The spaceports were also smaller, but that was likely more of a feature of recent development rather than choice. And they might have been directed away from larger or more military style spaceports. The ship she came in on most likely got a vague scan of the planet, but they hadn¡¯t been able to get a good look as they were escorted from the edge of the system. It all made sense, of course. Reasonable cautions for newcomers. She wasn¡¯t assigned to any specific team, so after they were escorted to where they would be staying- an uncomfortably nice hotel of sorts. At least she was fairly certain it had already existed instead of being constructed for their visit. She had some experience with luxury- she¡¯d never known true poverty, at least- but the Fire and Ice Palace had made sure that its disciples understood that luxury was not the core pursuit of cultivators, nor even a necessary byproduct of power. She wanted to look for the Sergeant, but she didn¡¯t. Plausible deniability and all that. So she just lay on her bed, glad to be in proper gravity instead of a ship. A knock came on her door, jolting her consciousness. Had she fallen asleep? She could have. Either way, now was the time to get moving. She walked to the door, opening it. On the other side of the door was a woman who appeared older than Anishka- though given the difference in cultivation that may not be correct. She had olive skin and dark hair. She was also using a technique Anishka had been shown before¡­ at the same time as Anishka scanned her for being part of the Twin Soul Sect. Anishka smiled. ¡°Everything check out?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the woman nodded. ¡°How about on your end?¡± ¡°I hope you would know the answer to that,¡± Anishka said. ¡°But I think I¡¯m more the kind of person who would kill a strange member of the Twin Soul Sect who showed up at my door without thinking about political consequences. And yet here you are.¡± ¡°My apologies,¡± the woman said. ¡°My name is Nezihe. I am to be your guide and defender while you are here.¡± Anishka nodded. ¡°Not to be rude but¡­ defender?¡± ¡°It will be more convenient for us if you do not have to personally respond, should such unfortunate circumstances arrive,¡± the woman said, holding her head high. Well, her cultivation wasn¡¯t bad. But the late Life Transformation stage just wasn¡¯t enough. Anishka had achieved Assimilation some time ago- though she couldn¡¯t say she¡¯d advanced much further than the early stage. ¡°I see. How likely are such incidents?¡± Nezihe shrugged. ¡°There is no precedent for outsiders.¡± ¡°I suppose your presence is also to assure people that I am properly being watched.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t deny that. And if anyone wanted me to, they should have picked someone else.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I prefer this.¡± Anishka didn¡¯t mind openly studying Nezihe¡¯s cultivation. This was what she was here for, after all. Sort of. She was sort of wispy, like air. And yet there were hints of stones and¡­ even water and fire. ¡°An interesting cultivation style. Four elements based, but focused on one?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Too bad,¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°I have a lot of things to say about fire and ice, but they¡¯d probably just throw off your internal balance.¡± Nezihe frowned. ¡°Aren¡¯t those two inherently in conflict?¡± Anishka grinned. ¡°You should have seen my parents.¡± She hadn¡¯t seen it directly, of course. Her father died while her mother was pregnant with her. But there had already been some videos, using older Ruteran technology. She liked to keep those. She kind of wished she could show this person, just to have an excuse to watch them. ¡°Perhaps overcoming the difficulties of such a cultivation style is how you reached your current heights,¡± Nezihe commented. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that¡¯s wrong, but it¡¯s certainly not complete. Fighting through contradictions works just as well as following a clear path. There are simply other understandings one must come to. But we should probably not just stand around here. What would you recommend I see first?¡± ¡°Taron has many things to see. What would you prefer?¡± ¡°I want to see the worst part of the city,¡± Anishka said. ¡°... oh.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be the most dangerous. I understand that every world has places that are less than ideal. But I would prefer to look at the place that is the most run down. After all, when seeking prosperity one must consider every area. Taking some time to see how things came to be is a necessity.¡± ¡°Understood. Would you prefer to walk?¡± Nezihe asked. ¡°That would depend on how acceptable it is for us to move quickly,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Or how far we have to go.¡± ¡°It is likely better for us to take an automatic carriage,¡± Nezihe commented. ¡°Then let us do so,¡± Anishka replied easily. She wondered about the automatic carriages for a short time, but they turned out to be quite similar to familiar versions of cars with a different control scheme. Rather than physical controls, it relied more on the cultivator to direct the flow of energy. ¡°Interesting. I haven¡¯t seen a vehicle quite like this one.¡± Nezihe frowned. ¡°And yet, you appear unimpressed.¡± ¡°Not¡­ intentionally,¡± Anishka said. ¡°The complexity of the formations is impressive. I just wonder if it¡¯s necessary.¡± ¡°How could it be better?¡± Nezihe asked seriously. ¡°Unfortunately, I¡¯m more likely to make a fool of myself than to actually provide improvements. And I haven¡¯t seen it in action yet, so it could easily be bias. Please, go on.¡± Her final judgment? It wasn¡¯t bad, but it also wasn¡¯t good. It was effective, certainly. Nezihe was able to accelerate and decelerate quickly, turning where she needed to while the ride was quite steady. But the problem was that it took her to run the vehicle. In short, a strong cultivator. Anishka thought an Essence Collection cultivator might be enough, but early stage could be insufficient. Since the time to attain such a cultivation ranged from a handful of years to a couple decades, it was a long journey for anyone who had not already begun. ¡°Are there lower performance options?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°What is the minimum cultivation required to use one of these automatic carriages?¡± ¡°Essence Collection,¡± Nezihe confirmed. ¡°It¡¯s not ideal, but with the world cultivation project¡­ there will be more people who meet those requirements, will there not?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ but until that point, most people can¡¯t have access to this. And I assume it is not cheap.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± the other woman agreed. ¡°But can anything so amazing ever be inexpensive?¡± ¡°You would be surprised.¡± Though there was some difference to be had between those things that were made efficiently and priced for low cost and those things that were truly not worth much, cheap products had few return customers. And in a world of cultivators, competition for long term customers could be quite high. Anishka wondered where they were headed. Slums, an old industrial area? Certainly it should still be within the bounds of the city- or perhaps just outside. She had no illusions that she would be able to walk in and magically make the place better¡­ but an outsider¡¯s perspective might be valuable. Or they might laugh at her and say change was impossible, in which case she¡¯d be even more motivated to make it happen somehow. Chapter 862 The visual degradation of the buildings around her was more and more clear to Anishka¡­ until, suddenly, she was in an area with well paved streets and shiny buildings. She thought they were merely passing through until Nezihe pulled into a side lot, where there were other similar vehicles. ¡°This is¡­ not where I was expecting to end up,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I imagine not,¡± Nezihe said. ¡°Even when I started I had somewhere else in mind. But this place is important to see.¡± ¡°As a representation of what can be?¡± ¡°If you think so,¡± Nezihe answered. Which meant she didn¡¯t think that was the reason. So what went on here, in this district? Anishka looked around, taking it in. People in nice clothes walked around between various buildings. Their cultivations were generally greater than what she had previously sensed, and she could feel the way the enchantments radiated off of their equipment. A few, at least, had the cultivation of the Righteous Inscription Sect, which had put forth the main envoy for the Shining Cooperative. That was one of the few sects whose auras she¡¯d been familiarized with before arriving. Nothing necessarily felt wrong on the surface. But then she saw something unusual. Or rather, someone. A young man, low in cultivation. There was nothing wrong with that, it was just that said individual stood out from the surroundings. Something he was carrying drew her attention. Anishka began to follow him. Though, it was not like she made it so obvious. She simply headed for the same building he¡¯d gone inside. ¡°What is this one, Nezihe?¡± she asked. There was a sign, of course, but she didn¡¯t let that dissuade her from asking. ¡°The Crystal Clear Trading Company,¡± Nezihe said. ¡°I can¡¯t say I know too much about them in particular. However, they may be able to explain more of their business.¡± ¡°Splendid,¡± Anishka said, strolling inside. Heads turned. Even though Anishka was subduing her natural energy to seem more on the level of a Life Transformation cultivator, two of them walking in together was something noteworthy. ¡°Can I help you, senior?¡± said a woman, scurrying up to Anishka. ¡°Yes indeed. I have many questions about your business policies.¡± ¡°Of course. Come, let me arrange for a private room.¡± Anishka wondered if someone would be getting kicked out. It seemed rather busy, after all. She just hoped it wouldn¡¯t be that young man, mostly because she was here to spy on what happened with him. This was quite a fascinating place, she observed. Some rooms clearly had more security than others. And upon stepping into the room she was guided to, she hadn¡¯t been able to feel much of anything inside, until the door was opened. Yet she could feel out of the room, which was good. She didn¡¯t want to waste her time not spying. The young man was on the opposite side of the building, about a floor above. His section was hardly secured, and even her passive senses were enough to get a vague feeling. Just a little increase in her gathering, and she felt quite a bit more- but not focused anywhere. To anyone looking, it would seem as if she was just generally alert, even though she was ignoring most information that wasn¡¯t of interest. Though she supposed others similarly situated to the young man might also be worth paying attention to. ¡°You sell crystals here, right?¡± Anishka said. ¡°I mean, obviously you sell more than crystals. But I was wondering if you had any fire and ice crystals available.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± the representative said. ¡°We have an abundance of any element you need, in a variety of power levels.¡± ¡°Perhaps I was unclear,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I was speaking of dual element fire and ice crystals. As you may see, with my cultivation I am quite interested in such.¡± ¡°I see. Senior is truly interested in some rare objects. Such things are rarely in stock for long. I will have to inquire about whether or not we have any. If you will excuse me.¡± The woman bowed her head, and Anishka waved her off. Perfect. Now she had more room for spying. Nezihe just sat behind her, silent. ¡°... while it has a certain level of rarity,¡± Anishka picked up the voice of a woman, ¡°Unfortunately few cultivators can make use of it. Thus, the sum we can offer you is less than what it might have been.¡± Technically, most of those words were true. Very few cultivators could use a fire and ice crystal. That was what made her notice the young man to begin with, carrying one only shielded by a weak insulating chest. However, that only inflated the value for them, as they desired such all the more. ¡°Well¡­ alright¡­¡± the young man said. ¡°How much are you willing to offer?¡± The woman named a price, and Anishka¡¯s eye twitched. Was she buying a pebble on the side of the road? Obviously it was much more than that, as even the lowest cultivator could not mistake the level of natural energy in the crystal. But it was nowhere near the value of the object. The young man at least had the good sense to try to haggle the price higher. And the bravery to double the offer. Such things might lead to immediate rejection¡­ if it were actually unreasonable. Eventually, the woman settled for about one and a half times her initial offer, which had to be still around a tenth of the actual value. Anishka was considering running over there and kicking down the door. But she restrained herself. ¡°Nezihe,¡± Anishka commented. ¡°I don¡¯t have much local currency.¡± The other woman frowned, until Anishka pulled out a pair of bracers radiating a strong air elemental current. ¡°I hope you can assist me with that.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Nezihe didn¡¯t know if she was supposed to be purchasing the bracers or if she might otherwise profit from the venture, but she didn¡¯t care. They weren¡¯t something that could simply be found on the market, and they would greatly augment her core element. Passing up an opportunity to have those and win favor with an Assimilation cultivator would be crazy. Anishka observed goods and currency exchange hands across the building¡­ and soon enough her representative was coming back towards her with two small chests. She practically burst into the room. ¡°Senior,¡± the woman said. ¡°We did indeed have fire and ice crystals. Two, in fact. Come, take a look.¡± She placed the containers gently on the table in the middle of the room, opening them one at a time. Anishka looked at them, even picking them up with her hands to study carefully. And while she¡¯d already made her decision, she took some time to show it. ¡°These are¡­ not high enough quality. How much are they? I might still consider purchasing them.¡± The woman quoted her a number about one and a half times what they were worth. They weren¡¯t each equivalent. The one they seemed to have already had in stock was a few tiers higher in practical usefulness and thus value. The young man wasn¡¯t so lucky that he could find something suitable for Life Transformation while merely in Spirit Building. Anishka got up and began to walk out. The woman immediately lowered the price to something in the ballpark of reasonable. Merchants did have to make a profit, and they had some value in facilitating the movement of goods between individuals who might never meet in time or space. ¡°I am no longer interested. Though perhaps at a lower price I might be interested in giving the smaller one to my disciple.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± the woman said. ¡°As a special deal, though it will destroy our profits, I can cut off an additional twenty percent and no more.¡± Interesting. She actually seemed to believe that. Was the one who made the purchase lying about the sale price? Clipping coins at both ends? That was quite possible, but it wasn¡¯t any of Anishka¡¯s business. Okay, it was a little bit her business since she¡¯d been brought here. ¡°Very well. I suppose I will accept that.¡± Nearly half of the initial asking cost- but hardly a discount or any actual dent to their profits. Nezihe pulled out money to pay, like a proper attendant, then followed Anishka outside. ¡°I did not know you had a disciple,¡± she said. ¡°It would have been appropriate for you to bring them, if you wished to.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Anishka said. ¡°I don¡¯t have one.¡± ¡°Then why¡­?¡± ¡°To make a point to someone,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t legally make this point to all involved. And I¡¯d rather not cause too much trouble on my first day here.¡± ¡°Indeed. Please don¡¯t.¡± Anishka removed the crystal from its protection, tossing the small chest into her storage bag simply because she didn¡¯t want to litter. It had some value, but she would have left it at the merchant¡¯s building in most cases. Her steps brought her after the young man whose name she had never learned. The merchants hadn¡¯t even asked. That was also the case with her, but she might have intimidated them into forgetting accidentally. What could she do about it? She was confident for a reason. And maybe they should be afraid. She was playing with the crystal as she passed the young man. Then she turned. ¡°You are staring.¡± He instantly bowed his head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, senior. It is just I just sold a crystal of the same type as that. It was a great boon for me.¡± ¡°Indeed?¡± Anishka said. ¡°I just purchased this, in fact. I found it pretty. It was not terribly expensive, so I bought it for the sake of my disciple. I just paid something along the lines of¡­ what was it, Nezihe?¡± Anishka remembered, even if she wasn¡¯t familiar with the local currency exchange values. She just wanted someone else to say it. Nezihe played along, and the young man¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°What is it?¡± He shook his head. ¡°I suppose mine was smaller or something. I didn¡¯t get nearly so much.¡± ¡°It most certainly was not different in any area,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Because this is the same one.¡± She took a step towards him. ¡°Oh. Then I¡­¡± he hung his head. ¡°I really lost out, didn¡¯t I? Did senior follow me just to rub it in?¡± ¡°To make the point. It is easy to be blinded by shiny things and money,¡± Anishka said. ¡°And in some ways they are necessary and cannot be done away with. Thus, we must be cautious with them. Otherwise¡­¡± she took the crystal between her thumb and index finger, squeezing. ¡°They can disappear like nothing.¡± The crystal shattered, the condensed energy within it scattering to the winds in mere moments. The young man just watched, trembling. ¡°W-wasn¡¯t that for your disciple?¡± ¡°It served its purpose best as an object lesson,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Besides, you neither cultivate fire nor ice currently.¡± He seemed to want to leave, but was afraid to turn away or otherwise insult her. ¡°That is true, senior,¡± was all he could manage. ¡°You¡¯ll have to be more cautious with your gains,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Think well how you spend that money.¡± She pulled out a scroll from her storage bag. ¡°And study this.¡± The young man read the first line aloud. ¡°Fire and Ice Palace basic forms.¡± He looked up at her. ¡°Is this¡­?¡± ¡°The same style I use. We shall see how you do by the end of the week. I may come to retrieve it after that time.¡± Anishka turned as if to walk away. ¡°Wait, senior! How will you find me?¡± She looked over her shoulder. ¡°Are you planning to leave the city?¡± ¡°... Not immediately,¡± he admitted. ¡°Then I will find you.¡± Anishka took Nezihe away from the scene. The other woman commented when they were out of earshot. ¡°Was that all necessary?¡± ¡°No. But I wanted to do that, so I did. It¡¯s not too late for him to restart his cultivation, and his method is terrible so even if he has little affinity he can hardly do worse with this one.¡± Anishka looked towards Nezihe. ¡°But what did you expect me to do?¡± ¡°Nothing. Not in particular, at least.¡± ¡°Someone else would be more suited for this. I have neither the knowledge of the finances or laws required. However, I would suggest more closely keeping track of exchanges of a certain magnitude.¡± ¡°That is quite a difficult task,¡± Nezihe admitted. ¡°We have so many people.¡± Oh right. They didn¡¯t even have computers. Anishka wondered if it would be quicker to wait for the okay to introduce technology to them, or to influence them to make something similar fully formation based. Formations tended to go large, while technology related to computers relied on very small scales so it might not make sense. Either way, relying on people to keep accurate records would still be necessary to catch grievous harms, but it was somewhere to start. She wondered if this was what Nezihe wanted her to get out of coming here, or something entirely unrelated. Chapter 863 The incident at the Crystal Clear Trading Company wasn¡¯t the sort of thing that was exclusive to the Shining Conglomerate. Even within the borders of the Lower Realms alliance people took advantage of positions of power, the ignorance of others, and the like for their own gain. However, there were paths for reparations to be obtained, which she somewhat doubted were in place here. Certainly, Nezihe didn¡¯t seem to know of them. To Anishka, the incident was simply a reminder that there would be resistance to the idea of bringing up those who were ¡®lower¡¯, simply because it would reduce the amount of power bartered among those at the top, either in terms of money or favors. Except that it wasn¡¯t necessarily true. More prosperous individuals at a lower level would indeed reduce immediate control and gains, but it could ultimately lead to growth for those at the top as well- and quite a bit more, since they had a beginning advantage. But some people didn¡¯t care about their absolute prosperity so much as how much ahead of the next person they were. ¡°Where are we going next?¡± Anishka asked as they returned to the ¡®automatic carriage¡¯. She had gotten a general feeling for Taron as a whole as they moved about the city, but Nezihe would have her own opinions as a local about what was most in need. Her own interpretations. ¡°The one place that has the most problems I am aware of,¡± Nezihe said. That didn¡¯t actually explain to Anishka what sort of place it was, so she could only wait. Though it was not long before they pulled up in front of a building that she might have passed over. It was not falling apart, like some. The outside was well maintained, and the inside seemed quite functional as well. But taking a few moments allowed Anishka to pick out some part of the problem. The building in question was a hospital of some sort. Anishka determined that it was not just treating physical maladies, but also cultivation deviations and the like. It was packed with both patients and workers caring for them. ¡°Is this the only one in the city?¡± Anishka asked. No, she had vague feelings of similar places. ¡°Or is it the only one that is affordable?¡± ¡°This one is financed with public funds, its services available to all,¡± Nezihe explained. ¡°So in a way, it is the only choice many have. Even those across the city must come here.¡± ¡°It looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I see few precautions meant to stop the spread of disease.¡± She wasn¡¯t an expert, of course, but she¡¯d seen high class facilities of all sorts, and as a cultivator she had an excellent memory. ¡°What would they even do? The way sickness spreads is mysterious.¡± Anishka hoped the doctors knew more than Nezihe. She wasn¡¯t going to put down her guide for lack of knowledge however. Still, the hospital had more problems than a shaky understanding of germ theory. Aside from a lack of space, various supplies seemed low in quantity. ¡°Is there not sufficient funding for such a place?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Many are lobbying for increased funding,¡± Nezihe replied. ¡°They say that it requires double or triple the amount it is now receiving, just to function.¡± ¡°But you don¡¯t believe that,¡± Anishka surmised. ¡°I admit I am no expert on the topic. I am merely a somewhat powerful cultivator from a recognized faction here. But having spoken to some of the doctors¡­ the money should be enough.¡± ¡°But it isn¡¯t,¡± Anishka said. ¡°Should we even go inside?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we should interrupt the hard working people. And I doubt any significant theft of resources actually takes place here. I did not bring you here with the intention to have you fix it, somehow. You simply asked, and I delivered the best I could.¡± Anishka nodded. ¡°Indeed. I can¡¯t say what I would do. And while I could most likely help stabilize a few individuals, my presence would likely be more of a disruption to their operations than a boon. Perhaps I asked for too much right away,¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°Tomorrow, I would prefer to visit your favorite places. I need to see the good in this city to balance everything out.¡± Anishka was aware she had political pressure she could leverage, but she wasn¡¯t certain this was the best place to use it. Not yet. This city had likely been functioning this way for decades at least, and a few days wouldn¡¯t change anything. She could pass along this information to those who might be able to affect it, while she should move along to something fitting in the area of her own expertise. As she had been deliberately ignoring a very small passenger, she did not notice when said passenger was no longer with her. Nor would anyone else, since they had no idea how to look for the tiny ant, nor that they should be. ----- The Sergeant didn¡¯t really know how money worked. That was something for specific higher ups in the void ants to handle, and even then they never had it in their colonies. It was on paper in human cities, where it belonged. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. But here they were, in a human city, and somehow the papers were indicating the wrong amount of numbers. At least that was what the Sergeant gleaned from the conversation. Beyond that, there was only some vague implication that specific humans would be at fault. It had taken quite a bit of effort, but the Sergeant had learned how to read human papers. It was more than just them being a different system that lacked any and all intentional pheromones, but also that they were at the wrong scale to be comfortable. So when the Sergeant found herself practically buried in papers, she knew she would never manage simply by looking at records. There was a natural energy technique humans could use to resolve such issues, but the only thing she could do with natural energy was eat it. But the Sergeant was nothing if not patient. She roamed through the area, listening to conversations. She heard of supply issues and delivery folk. Physicians and managers and quartermasters by a different name, and she came to the real problem. It was poorly organized. For void ants, it would simply mean a reshuffling of the colony. For humans, it was more difficult to untangle as people weren¡¯t willing to accept being repositioned at the will of another. But it was more than that. There were only a few hundred people involved at this location, but there were more elsewhere. And while the Sergeant hated to believe it for an instant, the thought came that some of them might not simply be bad at paperwork. They might have malicious intentions. That was so much easier to deal with if such people were killing others directly. She could chomp on their natural energy and then rip out their throat. But she highly doubted Anishka would approve of any throat ripping in this situation. And if it were going to happen, she¡¯d have to be very certain. Eventually, she picked one person and rode home on her head. It wasn¡¯t a particularly risky maneuver unless she slammed her head into a brick wall in just the right way with no warning. And even then, statistically the Sergeant shouldn¡¯t end up directly crushed, but would instead be shunted to the side. Her body was much sturdier than a standard ant, after all. Her size had hardly increased since her first real assignment from the Great Queen- watching over Anishka- but her other attributes certainly had. Three days it took to clear the woman. Three days of eating crumbs off the floor, occasionally getting in fights with normal ants until she smelled of their deaths and they left her alone. Three days of food with hardly a drop of natural energy in a whole meal and only a thin layer in the air around her. Then she rode the woman back to the hospital and surveyed another, and another. These weren¡¯t truly random individuals, but people of some amount of importance, with access to records and the like. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months- but while the passage of time was concerning, the Sergeant could sense Anishka¡¯s presence in the city, and knew that her departure should not be for over a year. And the void ant was making progress. Pulling threads- occasionally literally. And also occasionally retrieving hidden documents. The difficult part of retrieving a page or stack of pages was not, in fact, the ability to move it. As long as it was not made of particularly flimsy material, locking her mandibles into it gave her enough of a grip to move papers. And in the worst case scenario, she could push. She had the power for that, her feet gripping strongly onto anything beneath her. The hard part was making humans not notice a paper moving on its own. Which was both harder and easier than it sounded. Easier, because human cultivators were actually very bad at using their eyes. Harder, because they did have energy senses. So the Sergeant had to learn to eat just the part of their senses that would touch the paper. Not above it, nor below it. If they still sensed the floor beneath, they were blissfully ignorant. She already had some practice in that field, as it was much like eating wider area cultivation attacks. Not that she needed to do that, except in protection of a human. The only issue was doing it continuously, and in a confined area. More than a few times her retreat was stopped by people grabbing their stray papers. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t seem to connect it to her. One or two recognized her as an ant, but didn¡¯t draw anything from the lack of feeling her with their energy. And once she was out of sight, she was truly gone from their minds. One tried to squish her. She didn¡¯t know if they recognized something, but what she did know was that human flesh was much more malleable than her own body. So when the thumb came down on her, it simply folded around her. She clung to it when it was lifted and pulled in her limbs, trying to look like some damage had occurred, and they blew on her to dislodge her from their thumb. That wasn¡¯t fun. She almost bit them, and that would have ruined her whole ploy. She really hoped Anishka was doing well. ----- Ignorant of the Sergeant¡¯s adventures, Anishka was in fact enjoying most of her time visiting the new world. Nidec brought her to parks she enjoyed as a child, still intact. She ate at local favorites. She perused their fashion- but she probably wouldn¡¯t wear any as it would be very difficult to match the comfort and utility of her own garments. And if she truly craved a different look, they were moldable to her desires, within certain limitations. She also found the kid again. She learned his name was Lyndon, and that he¡¯d found the fire and ice crystal on an expedition involving many others from his poor neighborhood. And though he wasn¡¯t obligated, he¡¯d shared the money with those who had gained the least. And the families of those who had been lost. The only thing she was disappointed by was that he hadn¡¯t shared the cultivation method she gave him with anyone when she came to find him. Sure, he didn¡¯t want to offend her, but she felt it was a lack of initiative. It was there that she began the task that was consuming most of her time. Guiding young folk in cultivation. There were some techniques available to all- the Shining Cooperative wanted to defeat the Trigold Cluster after all- but they weren¡¯t great. And more importantly, not everyone was good at finding one they had affinity with. Anishka could greatly speed up that process and prevent costly mistakes. Perhaps her grandfather would be better, but she wasn¡¯t an Assimilation cultivator for nothing. And she enjoyed it. It reminded her of working with people on Ekict. She just hoped they wouldn¡¯t need to rise up and overthrow the elite class here. Well, at least some of them were alright, so that was already a good start. Chapter 864 Despite her prior convictions, Anishka couldn¡¯t simply ignore her best friend of many years forever. She knew it was safer to do so, but she still occasionally said things for the benefit of the Sergeant. Actually talking to her, however, was avoided. Anishka couldn¡¯t be quite sure if she was or wasn¡¯t being watched at every given moment. She wouldn¡¯t blame the Shining Cooperative either. After some time, however, she decided she just needed to check to make certain the Sergeant was alright. And what she found was¡­ nothing. Which was what she was looking for, but not in this particular way. Anishka wondered if she might be out of practice looking for void ants, but she came to a clear and unambiguous conclusion that the Sergeant was gone. Perhaps she had really taken her advice and stayed on the ship. Good. That was great. But Anishka knew it was more likely that she hadn¡¯t done so. In that case¡­ where was she? Had something happened? What if the Sergeant- Anishka had to stop herself. Small though she was, the void ant was able to take care of herself. Anishka just hoped she was doing something sensible. ----- At that very moment, an entire chest stuffed with papers was miraculously making its way through the city streets all on its own. At least, it appeared to be doing so. Moving flat, nearly two dimensional papers was one thing, but the Sergeant knew that her methods would be useless for something of this magnitude, if she could even consume all of the energy entering the area. Even to the blind it would be an obvious spot. So she didn¡¯t conceal it. Instead, she pushed it openly along the street. Curious onlookers approached. ¡°For the eyes of the Taron City Chief Financial Overseer only¡­?¡± someone muttered, reaching for the moving chest. They then jerked away. ¡°Ah! What was that?¡± These humans. Clearly demonstrating the ability to read, yet no reading comprehension whatsoever. At least it was only another block. It was hard to hide in cracks and chomp people¡¯s energy without being spotted. More than a few people made the same mistake, but as cultivators they were smart enough to withdraw their hands once their energy started being sliced away and devoured. They didn¡¯t need to know why it was happening to reconsider touching the chest. The door was a problem. The Sergeant had to crawl through the keyhole- fortunately an easy enough task- but then she realized it wasn¡¯t locked to begin with. Turning the handle was a whole ordeal, and doing that then imparting sufficient force to open the door was something that seemed impossible for someone of her size and mass. But she did it. People inside the office didn¡¯t seem to have very good reading comprehension skills either. Half a dozen of them had to be driven off before they got the message. Then, finally, he came out of his room. She was glad not to have to push her way down all those hallways. ----- ¡°Sir Aputsiaq. Uh, there¡¯s a weird box¡­?¡± The man named Aputsiaq looked up. ¡°A weird box. And what does that have to do with us?¡± ¡°Well, uh, it came in the door. And it¡¯s addressed to you.¡± ¡°So I have mail. Where is it?¡± ¡°It hurts everyone that touches it. We¡¯re not sure if you should approach it or not, but you should at least know about it. The man frowned. ¡°I¡¯d better go see it.¡± What was a strange box doing in the office? It sounded like some sort of trap. He should probably avoid it and let a safety team deal with it. But he was curious. As soon as Aputsiaq set his eyes on it, he knew. It wasn¡¯t a trap. Or it was the worst one anyone had ever made. ¡°For the eyes of the Taron City Chief Financial Overseer only¡± was written on it. If it could be called writing. It was worse than the scrawling of a child, many layers of scratches eventually carving out the shapes of letters based on the majority of similarly placed scratches. And it was a chest. Just a container, about knee high and twice that in width. It didn¡¯t even have any enchantments or formations of any kind- though the papers inside had a bit of something to them. Some of them, anyway. Aside from that there was nothing else but- what was that? He shook his head. It was nothing. A trick of the mind, he supposed. He strode forward. ¡°Careful, sir! It bites!¡± He nodded. He was careful. But he reached out and picked it up without any trouble. ¡°Hmm. If anyone needs me, I¡¯ll be back in my office.¡± He had the feeling he shouldn¡¯t open it in front of people. And his instincts were more than correct. A huge mass of disconnected papers, he thought it was a prank of some sort. Until he made some connections. Not disconnected. No, they mainly had something to do with the public clinic. And people who worked there, or with it. And these numbers¡­ they were more than just a little bit suspicious. He began to arrange things, organizing and reorganizing the papers. There was a lot of it. Several hundred documents total. And yet, it wasn¡¯t enough to do anything. Not by itself. But this¡­ this was enough to get started. Perhaps half or a third of the papers were completely useless, but they led to some people he had suspicions of. Others had slipped past his notice. A few, he wasn¡¯t sure why they were connected by this mysterious benefactor. Aputsiaq wondered who it was. Considering the timing, could it be one of those Assimilation cultivators from the Lower Realms Alliance? Actually, one had visited the clinic, briefly. Except she was a high profile individual. No way she could keep up with everything she was doing and snag all these documents without anyone knowing. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Who was it, then? A rival of some of the more prominent figures, wanting to take them down? He didn¡¯t mind doing so, but it would be nice to be aware of how things would shift. What was he going to do with it, though? He¡¯d just become the Chief Financial Officer recently. People were already complaining about him being young with no background. Then again, maybe this was his chance to take things into his own hands. These people funneling funds away from this project¡­ many were the same calling for more funding to go to it. Of course that was how it worked. Maybe this was the trap. Angering so many people at once could get him killed. But if he didn¡¯t take this chance, he¡¯d be replaced in a handful of years or a decade as ineffectual. And he would be. He¡¯d been practically handed this. If he screwed it up, he should retire. ----- Half a year wasn¡¯t enough time for astounding changes in cultivators, even early ones. For the most part, Anishka had seen her new apprentice Lyndon and some others change their cultivation methods, which was certainly important. They were stronger at the same stage, but they¡¯d barely grown a step or two in six months. It was entirely acceptable, as not everyone was going to progress stages at the maximum rate. Anishka just felt time was going awfully slow. ¡°Did you hear?¡± Anishka looked up as Nezihe addressed her. ¡°Hear what?¡± Anishka heard a lot of things. ¡°The city is cracking down on funds embezzled from that clinic. Well, specifically the newly appointed Chief Financial Overseer.¡± ¡°That was fast,¡± Anishka said. ¡°No, I suppose he must have been working on this his whole appointment.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Nezihe said. ¡°Others said it came as a surprise to them. It¡¯s causing quite a stir.¡± ¡°... There¡¯s something going on right now,¡± Anishka said. ¡°What?¡± Nezihe asked. ¡°In the courthouse. This fellow, he¡¯s rather young?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to go check it out.¡± ¡°... you¡¯re only going to watch, right?¡± ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have to do anything else,¡± Anishka said. ----- ¡°You dare to accuse me, after all I have done for this city?¡± Aputsiaq just looked at him. ¡°And what have you done for this city, mister Halloran?¡± ¡°Everyone knows. Why, I even provide the medicine for the public clinic.¡± Aputsiaq¡¯s grin widened. ¡°Well then. Let¡¯s just get straight to the point. Actually, you don¡¯t do that.¡± He slapped a document on the table in front of him. ¡°This shipment of fifty thousand units, aside from being overpriced by several times, was never delivered. And billed twice.¡± ¡°Let me see that.¡± The financial officer held it up. ¡°Hand it to me.¡± ¡°So you can attempt to manipulate it? I doubt a cultivator of your stature can¡¯t read it from there. In fact, I¡¯d dare say most of the people in the room can. For reference, here are the rest of the documents relevant to this particular incident. Never delivered. Never delivered. Invoices paid.¡± ¡°You have some astounding figures, young man,¡± the older gentleman called Halloran grumbled. ¡°So what, you want me to pay back this so-called embezzlement to display the power of your office?¡± ¡°No,¡± Aputsiaq said. ¡°What I want is for your thieving hands to be cut off. But considering my position, all I can do is require you to pay back tenfold everything I have proven you stole.¡± ¡°Tenfold? That is ridiculous! I could perhaps manage this fine at a single time but-¡± ¡°Tenfold. It wouldn¡¯t be a punishment if you could pay back merely a portion of what you stole.¡± ¡°You¡¯re making a mistake! This city won¡¯t survive without my business.¡± ¡°Do you hear yourself? You act as if you¡¯ve done anything but drain from the city¡¯s coffers. And for once, you¡¯ll actually contribute. This is not a discussion. This is a declaration. One tenth of the final amount is due next month, then again every month after that.¡± ¡°Ridiculous! I¡¯d have to sell everything I owe! This is far beyond the reach of your office and the law, for baseless accusations-¡± The old man reached out for the paper on the table, his energy leaping towards it like a snake. And then it split down the middle. ¡°Guards!¡± Aputsiaq called. ¡°Restrain this man!¡± He looked down at the papers in front of him. He hadn¡¯t stopped that attempt to grab or destroy them. What had? ----- ¡°... Dammit,¡± Anishka said, barely managing to keep her words from escaping the local bubble around her. ¡°What?¡± Nezihe asked. ¡°It seems things did not escalate to too much violence. Though I wonder how-¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not worry about it,¡± Anishka said. Mostly, she was talking to herself. ¡°So, will those penalties actually stick?¡± ¡°The office held by that man does have the authority to impose them. And if he has the rest of the evidence, there¡¯s a good chance, now that it¡¯s in the public eye.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anishka said. ¡°And how much does me being here change that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult to say, exactly,¡± Nezihe admitted. ¡°But it¡¯s not¡­ none. This wasn¡¯t exactly a public hearing but¡­¡± ¡°Nobody was going to stop me from walking in. Also, if they didn¡¯t want it to be public they should have invested in some privacy formations.¡± ¡°Uh, there usually are,¡± Nezihe said. ----- He was Taron City¡¯s Chief Financial Officer. He might not be the highest cultivation in the city, but Aputsiaq was important. He reminded himself of this as he gathered up the papers, trying not to think that the motion could have come towards him. Raimonds Halloran was a late Life Transformation cultivator, and could kill him with little more than a thought. The guards should have been doing something about that. How many more times was he going to have to go through this? He¡¯d pared down the list to the dozen or so worst offenders. The rest were getting off with plea deals involving testifying against their former co-conspirators. They weren¡¯t important enough, considering. Why did he still feel like a mountain could come crashing down on him at any moment? Halloran was out of the building. There was another life transformation cultivator he didn¡¯t remember arranging to have present. And then there she was. The one who was casually filling the room with energy. That energy within her wasn¡¯t a threat- no more than dying in a blizzard or from flinging himself into a volcano involved anything threatening him. It was simply an inevitability, if he made the wrong move. But not him specifically. Anyone. Aputsiaq was glad he hadn¡¯t noticed her during the proceedings. One of those Assimilation cultivators. Hopefully, she approved of his work. Right now he couldn¡¯t tell, because she was paying attention to something different. Something on her palm? But there was nothing there. No wait. His eyes caught a glimpse of something. Maybe it was a trick, but he thought he saw an ant for a single moment. Was that what¡­? Nah. That idea didn¡¯t make a lick of sense. Probably just stress from angering some of the richest people in the city. He wondered if the Lower Realms Alliance people were interested in hiring out as bodyguards. Chapter 865 Every morsel of cultivation advice from the Lower Realms Alliance was like a gemstone of great value. Precisely because of this, tons of false information was floating about, or at least information that didn¡¯t originate with them. Aputsiaq was aware of this, but he had a pretty good way to discern truth from falsity. It wasn¡¯t that he had a great insight or some deep understanding of cultivation. It was simple, and related to his job in some ways. Contrary to popular expectations, the cultivation advice from the Lower Realms Alliance¡­ didn¡¯t cost anything. Well, that wasn¡¯t quite true. It didn¡¯t cost any money however. Instead, it was predicated on upholding their current agreements. Which meant everything that had been learned so far, just a short time into their meeting? It was all child¡¯s play. Trivial stuff. To them, at least. To the financial officer of the city of Taron, there was one piece of information that stuck with him, a major change for him personally. It was that one could cultivate whatever they were passionate about. For the most part, he had cultivated for the sake of health, longevity, and intellect. It was simply practical to do so. At some point, safety became involved, especially as he was assigned to his recent position. People might want to kill him. But cultivating for its own sake was something else. As an Essence Collection cultivator, he had of course understood something about what an Essence was, but he¡¯d mistakenly believed it was relegated to the field of cultivation. Something like elements or focus on cultivation methods. Or perhaps concepts, once again related to martial strength. He wasn¡¯t the only one who had made such a mistake. It was a common conception. But now, he had changed his understanding¡­ and it was freeing. Perhaps to others the concept of city finances flowing smoothly and efficiently was a tertiary concern at best- obviously not true of those who were embezzling from the system- but to him, it was important. He had grown up in this city, and benefited from the city¡¯s public services. Basic cultivation training was part of it, and once or twice he¡¯d had family members in and out of various healthcare facilities. People so easily forgot there were a few of those, once. But despite funding going up, several had shut down. Now that he understood why, his energy flowed more freely through him. The system wasn¡¯t fixed, not by a long shot. Perhaps it was something he would struggle with for the rest of his life. But simply knowing about a specific flaw was freeing, and it made him feel like something more. He could hardly imagine what it felt like to have a greater version of that same feeling, but such insights could lead to Life Transformation, or even beyond. Ascension was well known- as were the dangers. The upper realms were mysterious, strange. Dangerous. A few generations prior, cultivators from Lotren would have been ecstatic to ascend. But upon learning more about the state of the upper realms, that feeling had faded until only a very few were interested. Often those of villainous mindsets who wanted more power, and didn¡¯t care where they got it from. Aputsiaq had to admit that he was still confused on the topic. Apparently, there was a sensible faction newly established in the upper realms that was not associated with invading lower realms systems, but instead was working in tandem with them- with the Lower Realms Alliance, in particular. He still had no intention to ascend, but there was an alternative that was even more tempting. One where he focused on continuing cultivation in the lower realms. Though of course, Assimilation was a long way off for him, who hadn¡¯t even reached Life Transformation. It was less than a twinkle in his eye. But having seen it in the visitors- just their presence, not even active demonstrations of power- he knew that was where he wanted his path to lead. ----- Aputsiaq found himself in the court of an old hag. Judge Nicosia- her given name was never to be used in the courtroom. They had previously butted heads more than a few times. Aputsiaq was a little bit more enthusiastic about things than she was, and she was strict with the law. But, despite all of that, he wasn¡¯t upset to have ended up before her. They might not always see eye to eye, but she was incorruptible. She didn¡¯t give a damn about money or cultivation resources, and more than a few idiots had gotten themselves ruined by trying to bribe her. ¡°Is that the end of your arguments, appellant Halloran?¡± the old hag asked. ¡°Yes, your honor,¡± Halloran smiled like a snake. ¡°I am sure you will agree that such unfair implementations of prosecutory loopholes and unreasonable fines will only stifle the city.¡± Aputsiaq had already finished his closing arguments. At this point, he was quite confident in his victory. He only wondered at what cost. The law was clearly on his side, but the old hag could neuter his punishments. ¡°Very well,¡± Judge Nicosia said. ¡°I have considered the arguments raised on appeal, and am ready to make my judgment. First, as already settled, Chief Financial Overseer Aputsiaq does indeed have the authority to investigate the matter at hand and to assign punishments as appropriate to the conduct involved.¡± Halloran grimaced. ¡°I must admit that your arguments about the benefits you have provided to the city were quite intriguing.¡± It was Aputsiaq¡¯s turn to look worried. There might be a stiff reduction in penalties coming, enough that he would have only made powerful enemies- while they still profited off of corruption. ¡°One would have thought that you would have argued that you did not commit any crimes, though perhaps you understood it was a worthless endeavor to begin with.¡± The hag sure knew how to shake people back and forth. Aputsiaq honestly had no idea where this was going. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Ultimately, it seems that you have embezzled nearly a tenth of the total funds going to a single public project, and that is not counting the impact of your co-conspirators who will be here separately.¡± That was a good word for her to use. People didn¡¯t like conspirators. ¡°But I have to agree with you about one thing. The amount of fines in question. Looking at your assets, the fines will easily amount to more than half of everything you have.¡± Dammit. ¡°That¡¯s far too little.¡± It took everything Aputsiaq had to not scream in triumph. Of course, it would have been embarrassing, and he was waiting for something that went against him. His heart could hardly handle this. The old hag¡¯s eyes bore down on Aputsiaq. ¡°You forgot to factor interest in from the beginning of the embezzlement. Before multiplying for the penalizing aspects, of course. Now then, as for the final factor. Aputsiaq, you argued that Raimonds Hallorand is a flight risk, and should be kept in custody while the matters are settled.¡± He nodded. She probably didn¡¯t even need a response. ¡°I don¡¯t believe that will be necessary.¡± The grin Hallorand shot him should have been enough to overturn that decision. But somehow, the old hag didn¡¯t catch it, or didn¡¯t care. ¡°May I ask you to elaborate on how you came to that decision?¡± ¡°I will not,¡± Judge Nicosia said. ¡°In conclusion, Raimonds Hallorand, you are to pay the entirety of your assets- including the assets of the businesses you own through which you laundered your stolen money- back to the same fund from which you embezzled, prioritized over every other debt. You will be free to move about as you conclude such business.¡± Well there went the majority of Aputsiaq¡¯s win. At least they could seize the physical property the man owned, and the pieces that made up his shady businesses. That would recover some portion of what the man truly owed. But there was no way he wouldn¡¯t flee the city- no, the planet- with storage bag after storage bag stuffed full of valuable cultivation materials, as well as hiding his connections to other forms of wealth in banks and the like. ----- Raimonds was ecstatic. He thought there was no way that woman would let him roam around free. Now he wouldn¡¯t have to count on his allies to handle things for him. He could deal with everything himself, and get away with most of his money. He¡¯d have to spend some portion of it establishing a new identity, preferably on the far side of the Shining Cooperative, but he could do it. He had enough wealth to manage. He¡¯d even have plenty left over to hire a good assassin to take out that young upstart Aputsiaq. Over the course of the next day, he scurried around to dozens of locations, grabbing everything that was most valuable from his vaults and associates who were holding onto things for him. Then he made his way to the startport, where there was a private ship expecting someone of his description. He made it all the way there, and he knew he was going to get away unscathed. He took one step up the ramp. Then another. And then¡­ his body collapsed like a puppet with it strings cut. That was odd. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, but his hands couldn¡¯t move to feel it. Something was wrong. He called upon his natural energy to lift his body, moving the limbs independent of his body and muscles listening to him. He got all the way to his feet before he felt a hole in his dantian, out of which his natural energy was drained like a swarm of death leeches drained a body of blood. He fell over again. The ship suddenly jerked up, sending him rolling off of the ramp. And then it was out of his sight. He could move his eyes around, but he couldn¡¯t turn his head. At the entrance of that particular landing pad, the agent tasked to follow him hesitated. His collapse was not part of the plan. Convenient, certainly. But fully unexpected and mysterious. Both of which terrified the woman. She was just going to call starport security and have them deal with the mess. She¡¯d keep an eye on the target, of course, but it was probably better this way. She had a whole list of names and locations to turn in so they could raid them as soon as possible. She couldn¡¯t get mixed up in¡­ mysterious non-deaths. ----- ¡°What did you do?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°Nothing,¡± the Sergeant signed unconvincingly. ¡°Nothing illegal,¡± she clarified. ¡°Or unethical.¡± ¡°That didn¡¯t actually answer my question,¡± Anishka reminded her. ¡°I bit someone. Twice.¡± ¡°Just¡­ explain, please?¡± ¡°It was the guy who had the biggest bad number,¡± the Sergeant said. ¡°He was trying to run away even though that one lady said he probably wouldn¡¯t run. But he did run. And then I made sure he couldn¡¯t run.¡± ¡°Okay, I kind of understand,¡± Anishka said. ¡°And that fits with what I heard. But¡­ did anyone see you?¡± ¡°How could they? I¡¯m so tiny.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think people will find a severed spinal cord and a punctured dantian suspicious?¡± Anishka asked. ¡°They don¡¯t know about void ants.¡± ¡°But they might if you keep¡­ doing things!¡± ¡°I have full confidence that the risks I took were worthwhile.¡± ¡°Alright. Fine,¡± Anishka said. ¡°It¡¯s your people. Though don''t forget that the rest of the Lower Realms Alliance will also have to deal with the consequences of an unplanned revelation of your existence.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s not like others will be acting similarly. I¡¯m an exception. Thus, these are simply mysterious circumstances.¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t expect anyone to believe that,¡± Anishka said. ¡°They¡¯re not stupid.¡± ¡°Ah, but you forget. It¡¯s a lot more convenient for them if it¡¯s unexplainable. Problems resolved, no loose ends¡­ humans like that kind of thing.¡± ¡°I hate that you might be right,¡± Anishka said. ¡°But I still disagree that it was a good idea.¡± ¡°Wait until you see them dumping piles of money onto the patients in that clinic. Or whatever you humans do to treat people with money.¡± Chapter 866 Since the first connection between the Shining Cooperative and the Lower Realms Alliance, it had been well over a decade. For the most part, their exchanges had been small in scope. A handful of people here, a few dozen there. Trading of goods was an exception, but even then it only took place directly with Poriza and In¡¯istra, and only really began in the past few years. Even so, the relation between the two groups was more than cordial, and given time they could easily grow to trust each other with larger things. Anton thought that perhaps in a century, they might be comfortable with him visiting some of their planets. But then something happened. It wasn¡¯t something that was supposed to come to Anton¡¯s attention. Indeed, Anton had to do some digging to actually get any details at all. But when he did, he found himself drawn to it. A planet on their eastern border had run into trouble with their crops. Specifically, with a plague. One bad enough to quarantine the planet. If they were a member of the Lower Realms Alliance, or even anywhere Anton had previously had positive interactions with, he could have simply declared he was going. Or just gone, really. But given this particular situation, he offered his aid. It was quite similar to requesting to be involved, merely a step more removed. There was less pressure on them that way. Anton expected the response to require much deliberation. However, with a total turnaround time for the message that spanned half a year, he actually determined that the proper debates must have been quite expedient. Furthermore, it came with a positive response instead of asking him to wait or saying they could handle it themselves. It also came with a warning. Though it was a plague primarily on the crops, it also seemed able to infect humans somehow- and it was extremely difficult to be rid of. Instead, it led to a slow but inevitable demise. If it was a truly virulent plague, the entire incident might have been over already. Anton set out immediately- the sooner he could arrive, the better. However, he also knew his own limitations. If it only affected crops he might have a good understanding of its origins, but something more complicated he might be unfamiliar with. The Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance were already coordinating teams of scientists- though the Shining Cooperative might not use that name- but they would take longer to arrive. Especially the ones coming from the Lower Realms Alliance, since the majority of people were concentrated hundreds of lightyears away near Ceretos and its neighbors. ----- In hopeful anticipation of a positive request, Anton had made his way to Poriza. From there, the system in question was only a few dozen lightyears away. It seemed that the colony was actually established on the moon of one of the planets. The moon was known as Mazlerth, while the planet itself was Koldryn. According to the information Anton had, Koldryn had been seeded with plants for eventual settling, but the moon already had a nearly breathable atmosphere when they¡¯d first found it somewhere around a century prior. They¡¯d worked on a sort of terraforming since not long after that. It was still more than another month of travel for Anton to arrive, and he hoped the situation would not worsen too much since he received his response and the latest information. It was a bit troublesome, as they were supposed to be coming upon the harvest time in one of their hemispheres- but obviously things weren¡¯t going as smoothly as they should have been. ----- When Anton arrived, he was not shy about scanning the surface of Mazlerth. It was a small enough planet that he could take in a vague feeling of it all at once, or at least of one side. What Anton saw was basically what he had feared. Sickness and death, along with struggling people. He saw the signs of defeat within their postures. But while that was the general feel of the moon, it wasn¡¯t universal. ¡°Please, mother!¡± he heard the plea from a distance. ¡°You¡¯ll get sick!¡± ¡°Get sick, will I?¡± the mother in question responded as she hefted a hoe over her shoulder. ¡°Like your little brother? And who is going to feed him if I should not? Who will provide him medicine?¡± The mother shook her head at her daughter. ¡°The neighbors-¡± ¡°Will not have enough for themselves and us for much longer. And who knows if their fields will catch it too? Something must be done. And this is what I know how to do.¡± Not everyone had given up. In various places, there were those who still struggled and toiled against the state of things. But their numbers were unfortunately fewer than Anton might have hoped. His initial instincts were to fly down and grab some of the diseased plants. These were not cultivation instincts, but merely that of a curious individual. His wisdom and experience told him to take a more cautious approach. His cultivation could only protect him so much. He knew of plants and creatures that could bypass natural energy- why not some sort of sickness? Indeed, it would be foolish to act until he knew more. And while the world was in a state of emergency, it wasn¡¯t an urgent disaster but one unfolding over time. First, Anton took in what sorts of crops were being grown. Some particular varieties were unfamiliar, but as he circled around the planet he determined that most of what was being grown were common foods. As for the plague itself, its presence was evident by thin filaments growing out of the crops. A mold of some kind, perhaps. As for the humans who were sick, not all of them showed any external issues. However, he found the same substance growing inside of them. The white mold was powerful. Full of a vibrant natural energy, and in its own way Anton would have considered it healthy. But despite the power within it, it was easily destructible- Anton saw many people burning fields full of infected plants, and while it didn¡¯t catch alight as easily as one might expect for something with thin filaments, it did indeed get consumed like everything else. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Anton got a little bit closer. He needed to feel it on a smaller scale. How did it grow? How did it spread? The most obvious answer would be spores, if it was indeed a mold like it appeared. But he had to investigate to make certain. He took in large quantities of information, and was constantly trying to go through it in his head. How did it live and die? There were indeed small spores in the air and many other places. But while he considered how best to deal with it on a larger scale, he had things he needed to do immediately. The familiar sound of a hoe in dirt was music to Anton¡¯s ears. People working hard were one of the best things he ever interacted with. But because of that, he thought they should bear the fruits of their labor properly. ¡°You should be careful,¡± Anton said. ¡°The ground needs to be cleansed first.¡± The woman looked up with a start, not having noticed Anton¡¯s approach. Indeed, how could she have as he flew in with the wind¡­ and she had hardly anything like a proper cultivation in her. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°A traveling cultivator, studying this plague,¡± Anton said. It was true, even if not complete. There was no need to burden her with unnecessary details. ¡°Do you have anything helpful to tell me?¡± she asked, leaning on her hoe for a moment. ¡°I can at least save you time. As it is now, your ground is infected with spores. Whatever you plant will only bring more of the plague with it.¡± ¡°Then how should I cleanse it?¡± the woman asked. ¡°How indeed. A few days of peak summer heat would do wonders, though you¡¯d have to turn your soil to make sure the top layers are all exposed.¡± The woman rolled her eyes. ¡°And where would I get this summer heat in the early days of fall? I cannot wait a year.¡± She turned away, returning to her work. ¡°Indeed you cannot,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°May I ask your name? I am Anton.¡± ¡°Stasia,¡± the woman said. ¡°Now if you¡¯d stop your yammering and let me work.¡± ¡°But I am not done yammering,¡± Anton said. ¡°An old man like me has so many things to say. And I think a few minutes of time to save yourself quite a bit of frustration will be worth it.¡± She turned and gave him a side-eye. ¡°Go give your talk to someone who will listen.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Anton said. ¡°Good day.¡± Anton could easily win a battle of stubbornness, but he figured he should aim for more effective routes since he believed them available. ----- A few minutes later he was on the other side of the farmhouse, speaking with the daughter- a young woman on the cusp of womanhood. She was washing clothes in a basin, then hanging them to dry in the sun. That would do, until the rain incoming the next afternoon. They would be dry¡­ but not fully clean. ¡°I heard you speaking to my mother, stranger,¡± the young woman said. ¡°What about?¡± ¡°I am Anton,¡± he introduced himself. ¡°A traveling cultivator. And I am studying the plague.¡± ¡°Pfeh. You and everyone else, for all the good it¡¯s done us.¡± ¡°If everyone simply stopped, we could find ourselves a mere step from a widespread solution, never to reach it. And I think you yourself have not given up. Why else would you wash clothes that already appear clean?¡± ¡°They¡¯re not, though,¡± the young woman said. ¡°I know. But I imagine they were washed yesterday, and the day before. For the sake of your brother inside.¡± ¡°How do you know about him?¡± the woman stiffened. ¡°It¡¯s simple,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°As I already told you, I am a cultivator. We can sense the presence of living things, and quite a bit more.¡± His eyes looked at the washbasin. ¡°Have you tried boiling the water?¡± ¡°That-¡± the young woman shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not so simple, you know. Washbasins aren¡¯t meant to fit over the fire. And a kettle won¡¯t fill this. And then how would I scrub, without burning my hands?¡± ¡°All good points,¡± Anton conceded. ¡°But I can do it.¡± ¡°Do what?¡± ¡°Boil the water in there,¡± he gestured. ¡°And I suppose you¡¯ll do the scrubbing and hanging yourself too?¡± she rolled her eyes, just like her mother. ¡°Certainly. These old hands aren¡¯t calloused for nothing.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ fine, then. But if you burn our clothes with your fire magic, I¡¯ll¡­ I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ll do something.¡± ¡°Good to know,¡± Anton said, grabbing the few garments already hanging on the line. There were more sheets and various surfaces inside that were a problem as well, but those would be taken care of a bit at a time. As he reached his energy towards the washbasin, Anton noticed something. The attached spores pulled towards the energy- until it took on the qualities of fire. Then they pulled against the surfaces they were latched on, shriveling up. How concerning. This was a much more active plague than most he¡¯d dealt with. Dunking his hands and the garments into boiling water while also scrubbing with soap was barely sufficient to remove most of the spores- and Anton cheated a little by directing small motes of fire energy to spores that buried themselves deep in the fibers of the cloth. He could see how much of it was unraveling, the material having been eaten away by the growth of mold, before being scrubbed down again and again. This thing was certainly worth quarantining. Anton was very careful to watch all around himself, so that none got on him. In the worst case he could go throw himself into a nearby star, but he¡¯d really rather not have to deal with interruptions like that. Or unapproved bindings of stars in peaceful territory. If things were isolated to this single farm or just a small region, Anton imagined he could exterminate it and make the problem go away. But a whole planet? It might only be a moon, but it wasn¡¯t exactly small. He didn¡¯t have the kind of control to carefully eradicate only one sort of thing from such a large area. And while completely eliminating it would be good, figuring out where it came from to begin with also seemed important, or it could re-emerge. Perhaps somewhere with much more traffic between planets. Even so, Anton could learn some things while protecting a few individuals. It wasn¡¯t really fair for him to pick and choose who he prioritized, but nothing ever was. Pure randomness wouldn¡¯t provide better results than going by his areas of passion, and he was actively working to understand this mold that was more than just a mold. Chapter 867 ¡°It should all be clean now,¡± Anton explained to the daughter of the family, known as Marianna. ¡°That does not mean it cannot be infected again, but you should see that it does not grow back over the next few days. It just needs to avoid anything that will spread to it.¡± Like, unfortunately, the spores in the dirt outside that were currently being disturbed. But as none of the family were cultivators, they wouldn¡¯t necessarily notice if Anton secretly burned some of them away. But that was an extremely small scale solution for a worldwide problem. The next problem on the agenda was the younger brother, who seemed to have ingested the spores in some manner. Perhaps through food, perhaps simply by breathing it in. That no longer mattered. The point was that his insides were not doing well. Unfortunately, Anton¡¯s investigations into his body had so far only revealed that the spores didn¡¯t react to the minute amount of natural energy necessary for sensing. That was something, at least, but it didn¡¯t really provide solutions. He attempted to coax some of them away from the delicate tissue they were infecting, but they seemed to be solidly anchored. It wasn¡¯t impossible for Anton to scour away the presence of the spores from the young man¡¯s body. His control was fine enough he could do so even inside another, without overheating the young lad. But a miraculous cure would only help this single individual. Anton didn¡¯t have the capabilities to help every single individual currently afflicted in the same manner. Since he was there he obviously wasn¡¯t going to let the young man die. But while it would be uncomfortable for the young man, Anton wasn¡¯t going to fully cure him either. He wanted to see how the young man¡¯s immune system did fighting against the intrusion when there was less of it. Of course, for that he would have to provide the young man some way to fight. Specifically food. And it was already weird enough for him to be there. He wasn¡¯t certain they would accept food. Then he shook his head. Of course they would. Stubborn as the mother Stasia appeared- trying even now to grow something, hoping it would sprout in time for their family to survive- she knew there was a good probability such food would be tainted. How could something he provided be any worse? There was just one issue. Anton didn¡¯t have anything low in natural energy. And with the reaction of the mold spores to natural energy, he had to see how that worked first. ¡°Excuse me for a moment,¡± he nodded to Marianna. ¡°I must continue work on some investigations in the area.¡± At every moment he was already investigating their farm, and their neighbor¡¯s land, and those places further afield such as towns and cities throughout their country. Then some of his senses would shift to focus on other countries to compare geographic and seasonal features. Unfortunately, he hadn¡¯t learned enough to attempt anything besides manual burning of spores. It had only been a matter of hours, so he couldn¡¯t really expect differently. He just hoped. Anton moved outside the farm, gathering a shovelful of tainted soil and moving out of eyesight behind a nearby treeline. Then he began to experiment. His storage bags carried both seeds and full fruits kept in stasis, more than enough that he wouldn¡¯t hate using up a portion of it for a good cause. He started with a few seeds, adding some natural energy to the mix to speed up the process. Both seeds and mold spores were invigorated, with the mold spores latching into the seeds- but interestingly enough, not draining them immediately. Full fruits, however, turned into a disgusting pile of fuzz within minutes, given a sufficient natural energy density within them and a small flow from Anton on the outside promoting rapid growth. Though no doubt his efforts tainted the process somewhat, Anton still gained some insights into a likely way things worked. It would explain how any crops managed to actually grow at all. They were able to develop naturally for a while, sometimes even to the point of producing their own seeds- which would also have nearly dormant spores. Then the mold would devour the main plants¡­ and of course anything that ingested the spores. Anton needed to investigate how quickly cultivators succumbed to the spores. On the one hand, actively fighting back might allow them to fend them off easily. The spores were rather tiny, which meant not all cultivators would be able to pick them out consciously. So he could see the spores feeding on them and their natural energy, growing to a dangerous size before the cultivators could react. And then¡­ if they attempted the wrong methods to save themselves, they would be quickly finished off. That was just speculation, but not unfounded based on what he had seen in the nearby cities. He would spend some time traveling to ask pertinent questions he hadn¡¯t yet gotten random answers to, but first he had a family to feed. Or at least most of a family. It was unclear if the father was alive or connected to the family anymore. He certainly wasn¡¯t anywhere on the farm. Anton¡¯s thoughts returned to the son and family. What was he going to do about the food? Oh, right. He could simply drain some of what he had of natural energy. That would likely damage some of the nutrient structures, and was not something sensible to do in normal circumstances since it wouldn¡¯t empower him in any significant way. But here, where they needed only the most basic sustenance, it should do. Anton returned to the farm, approaching the mother as she planted seeds. ¡°I have not suddenly developed a way to cleanse the soil, if you¡¯re going to ask,¡± Stasia commented. ¡°I was not. As I said before, I am studying this infectious mold. With your permission, that will include your son. And in exchange,¡± Anton said before she could cut him off. ¡°I will provide you with food during my stay here.¡± She frowned. ¡°And what does this studying involve? You¡¯re not going to cut him up, are you?¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Anton held up a hand. ¡°That won¡¯t be happening,¡± he assured her. ¡°It is a simple non intrusive investigation, like the kind that helped me find the spores in your soil and the bedsheets your daughter was washing. They are clean for the moment, by the way,¡± Anton added. Stasia grumbled, low and to herself. ¡°Don¡¯t like ya lurking around here¡­¡± then she raised her volume for her intended words. ¡°I suppose we can¡¯t refuse food. Do you intend to eat with us?¡± ¡°I think that is only appropriate when sharing food. I have sufficient grains for you to bake bread, and vegetables that can likely be made into a stew.¡± Anton pondered for a few moments. ¡°I might even be able to find some fresh meat to add.¡± ¡°Good luck with that,¡± she said. ¡°The nearby forest doesn¡¯t have anything for the little beasties to feast on.¡± Ah. That was what was wrong with the forest. He¡¯d noticed some amount of mold on shrubs, but what he¡¯d missed was how many had already been fully consumed. And the usual blanket of dead leaves and twigs had been digested in many parts. As for actual trees, their bark seemed to protect them for the most part. ¡°Well, I might find something. I will leave some supplies in your kitchen. I should return within a few hours, but if you wish to begin something before then it is best you have the food.¡± ¡°Fine. Tell Marianna about the food,¡± the mother said. Anton did so, and he could see the sense of relief. The mother had it as well, just better hidden- and covered by suspicion. Which wasn¡¯t unreasonable, of course. Then Anton moved out of sight once more¡­ and spent some time rapidly moving from place to place, not only to get different views of how this was affecting the world, but also to catch some small game in one of the few healthy areas, quite remote and away from others who could make use of it. If the infectious mold reached that point, it would probably be too late for everyone regardless. And if it didn¡¯t, then next season there would be many more rabbits. ----- Technically, Anton lied a little bit. His investigations into the son Izaak were certainly noninvasive, but he did more than just that. The young lad wouldn¡¯t live long as he was, so Anton had to help him along. And he certainly wasn¡¯t hurting him, though perhaps the lad might catch a bit of a fever briefly. That would merely be because of the extremely small scale combustion taking place inside him. With less mold to fight against, his body might be able to focus its reactions. Or perhaps not. Either way, his suffering would be less in the short term¡­ and Anton would make sure that he survived. If delaying a full cure caused more long term damage, Anton could also provide medicines to help ease that burden. ¡°Grandpa,¡± Izaak said respectfully to Anton- his mother had already warned him to not call Anton old man when she thought they were out of earshot. ¡°You brought the food?¡± ¡°I did,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Dad was supposed to get food. And medicine. But he hasn¡¯t come back yet.¡± A look was exchanged between the two women. Clearly, they were worried. ¡°Do you look like him?¡± Anton asked. ¡°No. I don¡¯t have a beard,¡± Izaak said plainly. ¡°Well, other than that, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re probably quite similar.¡± A few towns away, there was indeed a man who should be his father. Searching his memories of a wider scan, he had been trying to find actual medicine. There were so many people were touting, but the vast majority didn¡¯t work at all. A few seemed to help, but Anton only had the words of a number of individuals who believed they helped without being able to properly observe himself. Those he would look into soon, however. ¡°Why are you here?¡± Izaak asked. He seemed quite energetic, considering his poor health. ¡°Well, I¡¯m a cultivator here to-¡± ¡°You¡¯re a cultivator?¡± Izaak slammed forward into the table with such enthusiasm that he nearly spilled all of their bowls of stew. No, they would have spilled if not for some gentle nudging from Anton. ¡°I wanna be a cultivator! Can you teach me?¡± Anton smiled gently. ¡°I love your enthusiasm. I might be able to teach you in the future, but not right now.¡± Because while it might be very informative, it could also be extremely unhealthy for him to try, especially while already infected. His family probably thought Anton was letting down the young man gently, but he truly meant it all. ¡°Okay. How about now?¡± Anton chuckled. ¡°It likely won¡¯t be possible this week, or even this month,¡± Anton said. ¡°But a week is like¡­ forever.¡± ¡°It is quite similar,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°You should probably eat.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like vegetables. They¡¯re bitter.¡± ¡°Are they?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Have you tried these? They¡¯re special cultivator vegetables.¡± Well, they technically were. Until Anton ripped out most of what made them special. At least that got Izaak to eat. ¡°You have experience with children,¡± Stasia commented. ¡°I have raised many children and grandchildren of my own,¡± Anton explained. ¡°That¡¯s odd, for a cultivator. Unless you¡¯re part of a clan?¡± ¡°Oh no,¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°I certainly wouldn¡¯t call it that.¡± Many of his most prominent descendents had their own paths, and their own cultivation methods. Only Catarina and Alva practiced the One Hundred Stars, and that was in relation to the sect rather than it being a family method. Anton could have tried to found a clan at some point, but that was too restrictive when he really wanted everyone to grow stronger. Sure, he might be a little biased towards his own blood, but not enough to focus on that. Anton watched as Izaak ate and digested the food. It was a slow process for his body to recognize it was beginning to get fuel- and that it didn¡¯t have to fight against so many things- but eventually he was able to recognize the effects. Perhaps it was the stage of infection, but Izaak¡¯s body truly couldn¡¯t do much except try to destroy the fibers growing into his organs. And half of the effects were hurting his own body as much as the intruders. But perhaps with some time, his body might get better at the task. Anton could only hope- or find better solutions quickly. Hopefully, their father would return with a medicine that was partially effective so that Anton could help it along- without causing them to spread false information to others in need. That was the real issue, not just curing one boy. Chapter 868 Over the course of a few days, Anton siphoned off enough knowledge to figure out a few different things that were able to combat the virulent mold, to different extents. Extreme temperatures were the simplet, but not necessarily reliable. For example, gradual declines in temperature might send the spores into hibernation instead of properly killing them. Rapid shifts were best, damaging what made them functional. As far as infected humans went, there were a number of medicines that were somewhat effective at fending off or eliminating the mold. As most medicines, however, there were side effects- or additional harms that came from the primary thing suppressing the strands of mold trying to worm their way into vital organs. Things that significantly changed the acidity of the blood- either making it significantly acidic or significantly alkaline- were among the most effective, but these were hard on the body. Then again, nothing was harder on the body than being digested by a parasitic mold. Anton had to consider how he could contribute to the survival of the people. One problem was that information was not easily shared around the globe. Mazlerth was a rather large moon, and it didn¡¯t have reliable communication methods across its whole surface. Instead, there were disparate communities, mainly for farming or the like, where pockets of people had remained in relative isolation. And yet¡­ the mold had reached almost every populated location. Was it because of small amounts of trade, before the mold spores were obvious? Unfortunately, Anton had no answers. For the moment, all he could do was spread the news of what worked, which ironically most often involved selling the information to desperate people. He didn¡¯t like to do that, but people didn¡¯t always believe him when he gave information away for free, assuming it was worthless. He could also try to aid the production of the few medicines that worked, but for the most part people needed to manage that themselves. However, Anton did find several isolated locations where he began crops of the various plants that were critical to the medicines. He could help sate the appetites of the markets. Other than that, Anton¡¯s main intention was to help test various sorts of energy. Natural energy in an attributeless form was easily devoured by the mold, sending it into a rapid period of growth where it devoured whatever organic material it was growing out of. It didn¡¯t seem to care if it was alive or dead at the time. Fire was effective, as previously determined, directly eliminating the spores. But that wasn¡¯t something that could safely be spread about. Of the options he had access to himself, light was¡­ extremely lacking in effectiveness. He could destroy the spores with it, but only indirectly as the light dissipated into heat as a secondary effect. That might have been useful if he was dealing with a fast moving target that he needed to focus a tight beam of energy, but in this case it was just inefficient. He moved on to more esoteric options, as he had little experience with most other elements. The spores were almost completely unperturbed by electromagnetic energy, but they managed to absorb some portion of it. Gravitational energy unsurprisingly was able to move them about, but that too could be absorbed. Anything that didn¡¯t directly destroy the spores tended to be consumed at differing rates depending on how close it was to pure energy. Very carefully in an isolated location, Anton released a drop of ascension energy onto a fallen log covered in fibers of the white mold. A few moments later, the entire log had disintegrated into nothing, and bursts of spores tried to escape into the air. Anton scorched the whole area with fire, leaving no trace of it behind. He wasn¡¯t terribly surprised- ascension energy was in some ways just a more ¡®pure¡¯ form of natural energy. Or he could say upper and lower energy from some perspectives. These were the states things settled into. Finally, he tried spectral energy. He had little hope for it. Certainly, it was the energy of death, but it was most strongly connected to souls and the like. This was just a horrible fungus. It certainly had no soul. And yet, applying a small amount of spectral energy to a patch of the mold produced a most disturbing reaction. The area shriveled and blackened- but that wasn¡¯t all. The effect spread out from there in a wave, far beyond the area Anton directly affected. He was almost worried that rather than killing it he¡¯d simply transformed it into a more foul variant¡­ but it did not react to anything, and appeared for all purposes truly dead. A small disturbance in the air made the shriveled mold crumble to dust, and even on the smallest scales Anton could see no signs of the spores being functional and able to spread. It should have been a good sign. This was something he could use. Not on people, unfortunately, but at least to clear crops. Very few plants would react to spectral energy, and those that did wouldn¡¯t react so strongly. Anton made sure to test a few more times, but each time it produced a chain reaction, destroying entire patches. He had at least a partial solution. So why wasn¡¯t he happy? Anton¡¯s Insight said something was unnatural. More than the mere presence of the mold itself. He didn¡¯t know. But he could send the information to those who were still on their way, hoping that differing perspectives would provide some ideas. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ----- The farm of the Pokorny family still had no crops, but what it did have was all of its family members¡­ and most of them healthy. The son Izaak had received some medicine obtained by his father, and it was helping. Along with Anton¡¯s destruction of some amount of the mold, he expected the boy to recover. It would be hard on his body, but Anton wasn¡¯t certain his own methods of removal could have been any better. The fibers of mold liked to grow into vital organs, where he would find it much more difficult to burn them away. And spectral energy was too risky on a living human, especially a non-cultivating child. ¡°You have done very well,¡± Anton said to the father Nikodem. ¡°There are many ineffective medicines being sold, and you chose wisely. Now I know more about this plague as well. Truly a fruitful endeavor.¡± ¡°And we appreciate your assistance to our family while you studied this sickness,¡± Nikodem replied. Anton understood that his presence had been strange to begin with as a cultivator, but ingratiating himself with labor and food had helped significantly. Marianna had even been willing to ask if he was able to purify the fields. Perhaps before she had worried at what his price might be- but it was simply the knowledge he gained. He wished it could have come with less suffering for the youngest of them, but another week or two of sickness was something he could bear for the sake of the family and their neighbors. Specifically, this family now knew a few things they could spread to help others. And having impassioned individuals share stories of what personally worked for them would be much more effective than Anton going around declaring what people should do. ¡°My business here has now concluded,¡± Anton said. ¡°I will be departing soon.¡± ¡°... but you can¡¯t go,¡± Izaak said. ¡°You promised to teach me cultivation.¡± Anton most certainly had not done so. And yet, it wasn¡¯t like Anton had any reason to refuse. ¡°You need to be in better health first,¡± Anton said honestly. Specifically, if there were any traces of the mold or its spores inside of him¡­ Anton knew the risks of beginning cultivation would be extremely high. ¡°I will return later when your health is better. Then I can teach you. But you must eat well to recover, and listen to your parents and take the medicine.¡± ¡°It¡¯s gross,¡± Izaak said. ¡°And makes me feel bad.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because it is fighting the sickness in your body,¡± Anton said. ¡°In a way, taking medicines that are necessary is a form of training. You have to be able to withstand the trials to grow stronger.¡± These things were all true¡­ but half of it was just to placate the young fellow. Still, Anton would make sure to keep an eye on things here, and the young man in particular. ----- Anton was tempted to simply run all over the planet, tossing spectral energy at every field he saw. But it was much too risky to do so. He didn¡¯t know the longer term effects. What if he only made things worse? Perhaps the fields would never be able to grow anything again due to lingering spectral energy. He didn¡¯t think that likely, but for the most part Anton had only used spectral energy in battles or even more extreme circumstances. Like the destruction of the souls of Twin Soul Sect members so that they would not reincarnate in the upper realms and share their knowledge. And it was also to deprive them of the promised rewards for living as traitors. His connection to spectral energy began long ago, with the technique known as Fleeing Youth. One of Everheart¡¯s, and it just so happened to be suited for him. After all, he was both old and yet capable of cultivating to a higher level at a quick pace. Fleeting Youth did little for those who had many years of life left, nor for those who remained stagnant in their cultivation. The ascension energy Anton understood as stolen from the upper realms- and some theoretical version of himself that ascended, locking off that path. The spectral energy, meanwhile, was less clear cut. It wasn¡¯t necessarily the case that after death he would be involved in spectral energy in any way. He was aware that it could be used to influence the cycle of reincarnation, such as the Twin Soul Sect did for their dead members. But for the most part they hadn¡¯t cultivated it as a weapon here in the lower realms. Unlike the ascension energy of the upper realms which rejected him, Anton had a different understanding of why the spectral energy would cut off his theoretical reincarnation- at least as something resembling himself. It had mainly been speculation on Everheart¡¯s part, but Anton had confirmed some of it. Simply put, his practice of the energy would increase its draw to him while he was dead- and without protection it would most likely grind his soul down to a pure form. So while some of his soul bits might in the far future go into a new body, it wouldn¡¯t ever be him. And Anton was fine with that. But that didn¡¯t mean he wanted to put spectral energy in food people were going to eat. Or even risk the lingering remnants of it. Not without taking some time to carefully watch for side effects, to make sure he wasn¡¯t damaging the food in some way while he also purged the mold. Though he also didn¡¯t want anyone to eat the bits of desiccated mold dust. Whether or not it was actually unhealthy, it was disgusting. So the plants it was growing into might be suspect- though much less suspect than eating one with white fibers of mold growing out of it like his own wisps of hair. Even if Anton determined spectral energy to be the ultimate method to eradicate the mold from plants and surfaces, he still didn¡¯t want to do it all himself. It would be better to come up with some method for others to cultivate the same energy. Which was where he hit a snag, because such methods were rare. He knew a few, at least in theory, but they tended towards the less acceptable side of cultivation. But that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t come up with something. And the simpler it was, the better. Hardly anyone would gain benefits from Fleeting Youth, after all- and even if they did, it wouldn¡¯t be on a short enough time frame to matter. Chapter 869 Those in the lower realms being cut off from ascension energy only followed the larger state of the world. After all, the same was true in reverse- though it was quite rare for anyone from the upper realms to bring infused objects with them to the lower realms. The opposite happened quite frequently in the case of ascensions, or forcibly in the case of invasions during the cycles of the tides of the world. It was clear to Anton that the only way to practice ascension energy in the lower realms would revolve around a forbidden technique of some sort just to be able to access it. But spectral energy was another matter. Just because Fleeting Youth was one way to access spectral energy didn¡¯t make it the only one. It might not even be the best. Certainly, Anton found that it was quite functional¡­ but he could see people being unwilling to give up a chance at reincarnation. He might have too, if raised among cultivators. But instead, he¡¯d reached the end of a mortal life and come to terms with that being it. When suddenly given many more years than he could have anticipated, he¡¯d simply come to terms with it as a blessing. Though he didn¡¯t know why spectral energy and the virulent mold interacted the way they did, it was unmistakable. So he meditated on possible avenues for others to use spectral energy. Being near death themselves¡­ well, that might actually be a viable option in the exact state their world was in. Normally, Anton would not recommend it. As for other options, he refused to consider anything involving the killing or sacrifice of other ensouled beings. He had sent a message asking for all the information the Lower Realms Alliance had on spectral energy. While he could absorb a great amount of knowledge, without practical purpose he didn¡¯t seek out every piece of cultivation that came through. Just whatever passed through his own hands, as well as reviewing everything being introduced to the libraries of the One Hundred Stars. Which was still quite a bit, but far from everything. The response time would take a while, given the distances involved, and of course organizing such information as well. And given that Anton wasn¡¯t going to be stationed on a planet with access to a broad flow of information, it would take time for proper techniques to be transmitted to his personal communications devices. Pure theory that was just text would be trivial, but there were insights contained in the pages of handwritten manuals. And now some printed ones, he supposed. Transmitting them through technological means between the upper and lower realms was more impressive than from machine to page, though both would have been inconceivable before meeting other planets. Until such a time as he had that information, however, Anton had to review what he had on him¡­ and any local books that covered the topic. And while he had to admit it was pretty rude to scan his energy through people¡¯s libraries, it was for their own good. And the good of the whole planet. He would ask for each and every one, but then he would have to explain how he knew they had the information, and it would take far too long. The first combined team of experts was almost to Mazlerth, and they would be able to help the planet in many ways- ramping up production of those medicines that worked and spreading information in an official capacity. And there would be many more of them so they could handle questions, while Anton had been doing his best to sprout seeds of restoration throughout the world. It was what he thought would produce the best results, though he lamented every individual that suffered unnecessarily. ----- At some point, Anton had needed to attempt using spectral energy on humans, and he could only feel justified doing so with their full consent and knowledge of the potential dangers. He didn¡¯t want to provide people with false hope of an easy cure and then cause them more harm than good. Though for those who were on the edge of death, harming them more was quite difficult. That was the state of the first woman to accept Anton¡¯s offer. Her name was Bau, and she was one of the worst cases Anton had seen¡­ still alive. If she lasted more than a few more days, Anton would have been surprised. ¡°Go ahead¡­ and try it,¡± the woman said after he gave his offer. Even being able to speak¡­ well, considering the state of things inside her body, Anton knew why he hadn¡¯t seen many others who had progressed so far. Most people would have already been dead. Yet this woman wasn¡¯t even a cultivator, not that it was necessarily beneficial with regards to her current affliction. Anton had already explained the potential harms to her soul- but to someone like her, she doubtless thought very little about such things. Even so he was cautious in his approach because he did understand them to some extent. If nothing else, it would cause her unnecessary pain. The reaction of the mold was much less severe when he reached towards the woman with a tendril of spectral energy. When trying to determine why, Anton came to the conclusion that it might feel sheltered inside a host. That was true, but only so far as Anton wanted to avoid causing harm to the woman. If he was simply interested in eliminating the mold, it would be gone. Most of Bau¡¯s internal organs were filled with the horrible fibers of the mold, half digested already. It was even close to reaching her skin. The fact that she was still alive was amazing. Anton slowly reached towards the outermost parts of it. When he touched it, it didn¡¯t have the same chain reaction as he expected. Not to nearly the same extent, where it would spread through a whole patch. However, it still shriveled and died wherever his spectral energy touched. Anton had to be careful, however, as careless moves could harm the woman. Physical harm would be a shame, but spectral energy could do so. Damaging her soul which was nebulously co-located with her body would be far worse. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. His motions gentle, Anton treated his energy like a brush, slowly painting throughout her body. Or perhaps he was sweeping away the mold like so much dust. He saw less immediate side effects compared to burning it away- this much and her body would already be running a serious fever as it tried to level out. However, there were other consequences. ¡°I think this is enough for now,¡± Anton said. The woman grabbed his arm, wiry muscle that should have been able to clamp tightly just barely contracting. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ stop.¡± ¡°The mold has grown into your organs. Where I removed it, you¡¯ve begun bleeding. You need to take medicine and heal from that damage.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ stop. I won¡¯t last long anyway.¡± It was true. While the mold might not grow back into those sections, it could finish devouring the rest of her by the time even powerful medicines could restore the part Anton had already worked on. ¡°Very well,¡± Anton said. ¡°I will try to remove the rest of it in sequence. But¡­¡± ¡°At least I¡¯ll die quickly instead of slowly,¡± the woman said. ¡°I can feel it, you know? Growing inside of me. The pressure¡­ some of it is gone. Make sure¡­ your practice helps someone else.¡± She was going to die anyway. Anton might indeed hasten that, but he had to agree with Bau. He did need the practice. The only thing he could do was avoid harm to her soul. Soon, as he started clearing out her lungs, she began to cough up blood. And yet, her breathing was stronger. Anton had at least given her some blood clotting medicines in hopes that it might keep her alive¡­ but there was far too much of the mold, and not enough of her. She died soon after that, but her look was peaceful. Anton made sure to clear out the rest of the mold in her body, so that it would not desecrate her after her death. And for the sake of everyone around, so they would not be in danger. ----- Those who were barely infected could recover through several means, and the spreading of the cures and knowledge accelerated rapidly when the others arrived. Humans were the primary concern, and those with longer term infestations were helped directly by various sorts of techniques. Burning, freezing, and a few other flavors of energy that the mold would not try to consume. Fields could be cleared with spectral energy, but some with more technical knowledge had better ways. For those less powerful than Anton, summoning enough spectral energy to clear a field- unless they were lucky and there was a continuous spread between the various infected crops- was quite difficult even over the course of a day or two. And that was with some amount of practice with the technique he¡¯d put together. However, Anton had determined that the side effects were minimal. Or rather, almost non-existent. As long as no one else was in the fields, the worst that could happen were the crops withering. But with some control, they could be saved nearly intact. As for people, far fewer were able to treat them with spectral energy. Anton didn¡¯t even suggest that as an option in most cases. He could treat one person at a time, and as he got better at the process that ramped up to a few per hour, sometimes up to a hundred per day. That might seem like quite a few, but for a planet with tens of millions- not even that much for a budding planet- it would take him a decade to treat even a single percent of the population. Assuming everyone remained in stasis, he might need a century or more. But he wasn¡¯t alone. Slowly but steadily, the plague was pushed back. Once it was understood, it could be purged from areas a little bit at a time. It was uncomfortably antithetical to Anton¡¯s vision of entire planets cultivating, however. A danger that was worse for those with natural energy. But on the other hand, that was also how they¡¯d reached the solutions they had. Without cultivators, the plague might have done even more than it had. In barely a couple years, it had directly killed over a tenth of the population, and more would live with the scars of infection. More had died from starvation and the strife caused by limited resources- though Anton was quite pleased with how much the people tried to cooperate and save everyone. It spoke well of the Shining Cooperative. ----- The question that remained on everyone¡¯s minds was where the mold came from. Was it a simple mutation of a local mold? It certainly looked much like other white molds, growing in strands. But its potency was vastly different, feeding on all sorts of organic matter and spreading wildly. Furthermore, it grew rapidly when exposed to dense natural energy. Then there was the response to spectral energy. It was not odd for things to have weaknesses to certain types of energy, but that was one that didn¡¯t quite fit the realm of the expected. Spectral energy was rare enough that the full ramifications of how it interacted with various things was unclear, but it was more ¡®real¡¯ with regards to how it affected souls. And it was quite clear the moss had nothing resembling a soul. Various theories were thrown around, but ultimately one kept being brought to the forefront of Anton¡¯s mind. Perhaps it was Insight telling him it was correct, or simply fear. That he did not know. But there was a connection to be had. The Twin Soul Sect had some knowledge of spectral energy. And if someone created such a thing, they would need a way to get rid of it. There was no proof of any of that, of course. Tracing the first signs of the mold back to their origins, there wasn¡¯t any incident people could think of. Some crops simply became infected. Thinking the planet might have been infiltrated was disconcerting, but there was another possibility. It was, as such things went, a relatively undeveloped planet. That meant no planetary shields, or cultivators everywhere who would notice something dropping in. Again, it was mere speculation- but there was some chance of it. And in a way, Anton hoped it was that, rather than people living among them. If it had to be intentional, and not simply a very unfortunate mutation. Chapter 870 An unexpected message from Varghese got Anton¡¯s attention. Or rather, considering its contents, it was in his capacity as the head of the In¡¯istra branch of the Order of One Hundred Stars. Anton was still on Mazlerth, doing what he could to help clean up the mold plague. Things were in a state of recovery, but it wasn¡¯t completely eradicated. That would be a matter of months, if they were lucky, but the recovery of the world would take far longer. Anton had been hoping to speed up the process with some well placed farming tips, but it seemed he would have to give up personal involvement now. Because In¡¯istra¡­ also had pockets of the plague mold spring up. They would likely be alright- information had been shared with them precisely because they were in the area. Varghese didn¡¯t focus on In¡¯istra at all in his message, instead revealing something important. They had detected unknown ships leaving the system. In¡¯istra was better situated to pick such things out than Mazlerth had been with its early stage of development, and they had been in a state of alert. They¡¯d managed to determine the ships¡¯ trajectories while leaving the system, but didn¡¯t have anything they could spare to chase after them. Which was where Anton came in, potentially. With the time lag involved, he might already be a week behind¡­ but they had been heading generally towards the galactic northeast. In short, vaguely past Mazlerth. Their trajectory would likely take them more east, but the point was Anton might have a chance to cut them off. Varghese reminded Anton that it was ultimately up to his judgment if it was a good idea. This wasn¡¯t a crisis situation¡­ but it was a chance to confirm suspicions. Or perhaps discover things were completely wrong. If only Anton knew the proper route the ships were planning to take instead of just their initial trajectories, he could fairly well predict if he even could catch them. As it was, he would have to make some assumptions, and perhaps get lucky. As for the risk¡­ Anton couldn¡¯t be sure if these unknown enemies were a threat to him in general. After all, in many places he was only as strong as an Assimilation cultivator, and they¡¯d seen the emergence of post-Life Transformation cultivators in four separate locales now. While they¡¯d only recently stumbled across the Shining Cooperative, it wasn¡¯t crazy for them to have unknown neighbors they were butting up against that were close to a similar level. Anton could likely beat any individual Assimilation equivalent enemy, but more than a few or even a pair of particularly strong ones would be difficult. Then again, he didn¡¯t intend to take such a risk. He was going to choose a spot along what he determined as the most probable route, and if they passed through the chosen system- or vaguely alongside it- he would bind the star to himself. Even if they moved at close to the fastest the Lower Realms Alliance had, Anton would have ten or twenty minutes before they could approach him. Plenty of time to bind the star with his experience, and at that point even if they were a bit swifter than the best ships they¡¯d seen¡­ Anton would be able to catch them. And if they could defeat him with his full power as an Enrichment cultivator, without Anton being able to sense such strength ahead of time or even flee, then it was already hopeless. They would likely be able to do whatever they wished to In¡¯istra and the eastern part of the Shining Cooperative. In which case, they likely wouldn¡¯t have bothered being stealthy. ----- Most likely, Varghese had known what Anton would choose. But it was still his own choice. If these people were responsible for the plague? There was no excuse that would result in their survival. Though of course, they would live long enough to be interrogated. And if they were not responsible, Anton would find out soon enough. He wasn¡¯t going to start with shooting holes through their ships. Nor was he going to slice it into tiny pieces. He could do that, of course, but he intended to use the Star Catching Net technique to entangle as much of this small fleet as passed by. There was also the possibility they would have split up already, but that only increased the probability that one of them would cross his path. And if their flight habits were at all similar to their own, Anton had a better than fifty percent chance of them passing through a particular system. It had a number of gas giant off of which various materials could be scraped, and it had a pair of stars. One orange, one yellow. Both were in a reasonable range to approach with a proper ship. Finally, there were a few rocky worlds that they might pick up physical materials, if they needed them for fuel for one reason or another. For Anton, it was a trip of twenty lightyears. For them, it would be a bit shorter, with some assumptions about their speed up to that point. But Anton had no reason to be conservative with his speed. If he arrived ahead of them, he would have time to recover. If he did not, then he would never be certain they even passed through. Anton¡¯s thoughts cycled through all sorts of different things. Anger. Curiosity. Worry. Back to anger, quite often. But ultimately, he managed to redirect himself towards calm. If he missed this group? It would be unfortunate, but a waste of hardly more than half a month. There was a high chance they were enemies, but he would approach them calmly regardless. He arrived¡­ and supposed he had a few days of waiting ahead of him. Sitting close to the slightly larger yellow star, he drew in the abundant natural energy from the system and from his own stars. He felt the warmth infusing into him. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. His senses stretched out far beyond him, a thin half shell feeling only for any odd fluctuations in the flow of natural energy. It was possible that he would feel speeding ships passively, but as they had concealed themselves before, they might do so again. Some days passed, by the standard of Ceretos at least. Anton wondered if he had been too late or simply misjudged their path. But he continued to wait, prepared to spend a full month in the system if he had to. He didn¡¯t have to wait nearly that long before he sensed what were unmistakably ships, and of no design he recognized. They did fit more of the sailing aesthetic that cultivators tended towards, but it wasn¡¯t quite that. Then he began the process. Anton was nearly conservative- he could have chosen to bind just one star. The range they covered was sufficient that the second one was unnecessary to reach a significant spike in power. But it wouldn¡¯t really be his peak unless he had both. There was no insight into the future that told him he would be in danger¡­ but also one that told him he would be safe. So nearly two decades of cultivation progress were poured into the binary stars. It was not lost, merely solidified in place, unable to be used elsewhere. Except as much as he naturally drew upon all his stars at any distance, now. The fleet was heading right towards him- most likely intending to pass near the yellow star, either for some sort of maneuver to speed them along or for fuel. But even without specialized sensors, it would be difficult for them to not notice the change. Perhaps the stars might feel much the same, but Anton suddenly stood out. The ships turned to flee. They made the smartest choice, which was to scatter. Their problem was that they were too slow. Anton could already almost catch them from where he was. No, he could have shot them down. But he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and stop them gently. Until he managed to chase after one, dispersing a Star Catching Net which clung to them, grinding their momentum to a halt. And the moment his senses pierced through their formations and sensed their cultivations, he pulled out his bow. Then he checked deeper and confirmed his suspicions. Too bad. Or perhaps it was good, to know that they were minions of the Trigold Cluster. That meant there wasn¡¯t suddenly another enemy. Though it was worrying to see them moving around with relative freedom. Arrows of light that surpassed the speed boundaries set by that very same form shot from Anton¡¯s bow at the dozen or so ships, hitting everything that resembled any form of propulsion or directional control. Then he began rounding them up, anchoring their momentum with his technique, drawing upon the power of the star- without using its heat, since he didn¡¯t want to melt their ships. Yet. Anton felt some sort of energy transmission between the ships, and they fired simultaneous attacks from some sort of cannons that swiveled towards him. Though their actual directionality didn¡¯t seem that important, since the energy twisted towards him anyway. Anton knew that people from Rutera were going to be very upset with how many parts he shot off their ships- he would bring back the pieces, of course, but it wasn¡¯t the same as bringing in fully intact ships. Merely their origin would have been bad enough, various groups tied to the Trigold Cluster, but Anton found a number of canisters with concealment formations, containing the virulent mold. Anton almost wanted to break them open and have the people die to their own monstrous plan. But he thought himself slightly better than that. They would die, but not in unnecessarily painful ways. With their ships disabled, they couldn''t do much. Anton wondered if binding the stars had been excessive, as there were no powers beyond Life Transformation among the people or the ships¡­ but he might not have caught them all without. It was a nice system, Anton just thought it was a bit far right now. ¡°All of you will submit to containment,¡± Anton said clearly. There was a slight problem- he didn¡¯t have the hundreds of energy binding shackles necessary to contain everyone from even a small fleet of ships. He could individually suppress their energy, but that meant keeping them here near his bound star to be safe. Which meant he would be here for longer than he wanted, waiting for reinforcements. At least they had their own supplies, not that cultivators couldn¡¯t manage without food for a month or two if necessary anyway. One fellow from the Twin Soul Sect was filled with initiative, killing himself. Anton responded by reaching out with a hand made of spectral energy. He crushed the young looking man¡¯s soul, rendering it useless. He overstated the action to make it clear to all of the Twin Soul Sect members what he could do to them. ¡°We¡¯ll have none of that, either,¡± Anton declared. This was at the same time he was already grabbing people off of the first ship and shackling the more powerful ones, while using his own energy to keep the others from trying anything stupid. Like blowing up their selves and/or ships. They needed both intact to find out where these people came from. All of the cultivators and supplies were rounded up into a single ship. Anton set the others into a long orbit around the binary stars. It might decay in a decade or two, but if he was here that long something went seriously wrong. And he could easily fix it by then. Anton figured out a system through which he bound pairs of cultivators to each other and the chains in turn wrapped around others to stretch the effectiveness of the energy binding shackles. If they weren¡¯t being constantly watched, the captives might be able to eventually wrangle their way out of them. But they were constantly watched, and Anton made examples of the first few who tried to break out by destroying their cultivations. They didn¡¯t need natural energy to answer questions. And it freed up a few pairs of shackles. With their energy bound in one way or another, they couldn¡¯t kill themselves even if they wanted to. Anton made certain to force them to eat the proper amount of food to maintain their health while he waited. It could be a month or two before people arrived to take these fools off his hands. It was annoying. He almost wanted to toss them into the sun, but that was more of an Everheart move. And even then, he¡¯d have already finished interrogating them first. Anton probably could have gotten something out of the lot in front of him, but to be honest he was going with the tactic of just being terrifying. That way, they¡¯d be much more inclined to cooperate with anyone else, at the threat of him coming back. Chapter 871 While waiting for the numerous prisoners to be taken off his hands and properly contained, Anton had a lot to think about. Like how he had used two of his precious stars for a single gambit. Regret¡­ wasn¡¯t quite what he was feeling. That would have been the result if the enemies were stronger than anticipated and he foolishly bound only one star. Strictly speaking, the location opened up a decent area around it. Anton¡¯s full power didn¡¯t quite extend to neighboring systems yet¡­ but perhaps it could. And the position the binary star system was in had only been unimportant before they discovered Trigold Cluster agents moving through the area. Even so, Anton had a conundrum. He simply couldn¡¯t sustain the rate that he was venturing to new territories. His own cultivation simply didn¡¯t grow fast enough to bind new stars. And then there was the question of whether or not he even should. Not that he thought he was harming them or anything, but it was a matter of stretching himself too far. He might do better to stick to familiar territory. As unpleasant as it was, he was going to have to accept some limits on where he could move. Right now, he could bind a few more stars total but they would have to be chosen carefully. If there was a significant presence of Trigold Cluster enemies still, he could only be involved with three systems unless the approaching war dragged on for a decade or more. Because that was what it would be, with both the Shining Cooperative and part of the Lower Realms Alliance having been targeted. Should Anton stay out of the war until he was needed? No, perhaps that was the wrong way to think about it. Should he stay out of things entirely, except for defending territory the Lower Realms Alliance already held? It was a problem he had engaged with many times before. And ultimately¡­ he was aware that he had to accept his limits. Now might be a good time to begin. That let Anton¡¯s thought drift to other things¡­ like that very limitation on number of stars he had bound. He was aware that not everything had to line up with the stated path of cultivation methods. Humans were fallible and could easily make mistakes about how things worked. Even so, wasn¡¯t he a one hundred and thirty seven star cultivator? Why then was he limited to far fewer than that? It was something Anton had pondered in the past. At some point, the answer was because it just didn¡¯t work like that. But was that a hard limit of the universe, or something that had come about due to his own limitations on understanding? Anton supposed he could find out, though he knew the connection would have to be something different, otherwise he would just use up his ¡®normal¡¯ limit first. And he might then find that he couldn¡¯t do it any other way, which would put him in a tight spot. Various theoretical ways how flowed through his head, until finally someone arrived to take people off his hands. The first of them was Varghese, who was quite apologetic upon realizing what had happened. ¡°I didn¡¯t know it would cost you so much,¡± he admitted. ¡°With this level of danger, I should have chased after them myself.¡± ¡°But you didn¡¯t have accurate information,¡± Anton added. ¡°And you couldn¡¯t leave In¡¯istra without your presence on the spur of the moment. They need you, after all.¡± ¡°Even so¡­¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯ve done enough worrying about the state of the world myself. Instead¡­ get some proper restraints on everyone. I¡¯d like to have a nap.¡± ----- Because the timing was not terribly far off, Varghese and the forces from In¡¯istra waited until the Shining Cooperative¡¯s group arrived. At their head was a military type fellow that Anton didn¡¯t recognize, which he found to be a good thing. First that they weren¡¯t hiding people from him, and that they had people in different locations that could be called upon. ¡°Greetings,¡± Anton said. ¡°I am Anton. This is Varghese, branch head of In¡¯istra¡¯s Order of the One Hundred Stars. Ultimately all of the information from these captives should be shared, but one of our factions might find more effective interrogation techniques,¡± Anton said. The gruff man nodded. ¡°Krunoslav Herceg. Thank you for catching them. We should have been more judicious with the application of our forces during a crisis.¡± Anton somewhat agreed with that. Though if they had simply sent a large number of cultivators to solve the issues on Mazlerth, it might have only resulted in more deaths if they were ill prepared. ¡°Nobody had suspected it was an attack until too late,¡± Anton said. ¡°None of us were even aware of the presence of others to the galactic east, or we would have certainly acted differently.¡± Looking at the man¡¯s cultivation, Anton determined it was along the weapon-focused line. He carried a long bladed polearm- a glaive. He couldn¡¯t really give much guidance there¡­ which was too bad, because the Shining Conglomerate could use some Assimilation cultivators as soon as possible, especially if a war was coming. ¡°I believe I will no longer be needed here,¡± Anton said. ¡°So I would like to return to what I was doing. However¡­ there were some promises I made. How much authority do you have to make decisions for the Shining Conglomerate, Krunoslav?¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°In what capacity?¡± ¡°I promised a young lad I would teach him cultivation. I would like to do so, but I don¡¯t like taking half measures. That would ultimately mean giving him enough information to start a branch sect.¡± ¡°If he has the talent,¡± the man said. ¡°There are only very few who could not manage with proper instruction and determination,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though I will admit that it is hard to judge such things.¡± ¡°And this branch sect would be loyal to you?¡± ¡°To our ideals. And they would most likely end up with sympathy towards me, yes,¡± Anton said. ¡°If not, I have other cultivation methods I can teach him. Though all are inferior. At least regarding my ability to teach them.¡± The man frowned, thinking for a few long moments. He looked between Anton and the local stars- and also Varghese. ¡°Could he end up as strong as you?¡± Which of the two he was referring to was unclear. ¡°He could,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°But that¡¯s up to him. And¡­ how much the quality of Mazlerth¡¯s natural energy is improved, I suppose.¡± ¡°... You will guide that process?¡± Krunoslav asked. ¡°I mean, as much as people will accept me. But let me tell you, I love nothing more than seeing planets improve.¡± ¡°... Something tells me your capital planets are truly astounding.¡± ¡°Maybe ask if you can visit,¡± Anton said. ¡°Someone should get to do so, at least. Or you might think we¡¯re just making stuff up.¡± ¡°Assimilation and your cultivation are quite clear at least,¡± he said. ¡°As for your teachings¡­ I can convince the right people. I think it would be worth attempting.¡± ¡°Plus, you can just have us cart them off to another planet if you don¡¯t like it.¡± The man laughed, but Anton wasn¡¯t fully joking. It would be better to uproot a branch sect than to be in conflict with locals- though he hoped to have people in harmony. People of In¡¯istra and Poriza were still locals of their planets, after all, and that should be the case here. ----- After that, Anton was free to return to Mazlerth. He was pleased to see that pretty much all of the mold had been dealt with in one way or another. And people were both aware of how to handle it and capable of at least basic techniques to deal with it. And in the more than a month Anton had been gone, Izaak had recovered his health. Enough to begin cultivating, at least. The only issue there was convincing his family that he should be allowed to cultivate- but even the mother wasn¡¯t serious with her objections. With a season of crops about to come in, their family was about as happy and healthy as they could be, given the circumstances. And of course, he offered to train the others. There was some special care that had to be taken on account of Izaak¡¯s youth, but that had been studied quite extensively. It wasn¡¯t recommended except under the guidance of a proper master, but Anton happened to know at least one of those. ----- Anton couldn¡¯t and wouldn¡¯t dedicate every moment to a single farm- though he did always keep an eye on what was happening. If Izaak slacked off he would know, and more importantly he could try to assist if he tried anything stupid with his energy. But he was needed all around the planet¡­ showing people how to cultivate basic techniques and how to incorporate that into their daily life- raising food, gathering materials, crafting necessary goods, and everything else. Anton had done a little of everything over time, and those things with which he had less practice he¡¯d at least studied how various experts iterated upon the basic process. Energy came from the surroundings, was drawn into a cultivator, and then imbued into crops- as his best example. Over the course of the season, the food would grow healthy and strong. It would provide not only nutrients, but more powerfully condensed natural energy that would help raise the level of a cultivator. It almost seemed like the energy was coming from nowhere, but really it would be the crops absorbing more natural energy from the local star instead of it dispersing. Even the area around the crops, once they reached a certain level of saturation, would actually increase in natural energy rather than being depleted. One or two seasons wouldn¡¯t be enough to show people the full effects, but Anton could help nudge things along by bolstering the effects. All the while Anton looked up at the local star. He certainly had no intention to bind the star near Mazlerth. That would be a political nightmare. But he could at least familiarize himself with it, and ponder the idea. If he were to apply its power to one of his earlier stars¡­ no, that wouldn¡¯t be quite right. He¡¯d have to replace one. As Anton advanced in cultivation, each step forward was now leaving something like a gap waiting to be filled. It did increase his maximum energy stored, but it wasn¡¯t truly complete until he bound the stars. And conversely, if there was something in that place already he would have to remove it. Which was a bit tricky, since those were his foundational stars. Could that part of him even handle that much power? The answer was¡­ not just yet. And Anton wasn¡¯t even certain if that was the right way to think about it. He might have to limit them in some regard to avoid hurting himself. So he might not increase in power so much as just having more options. After all, each star was another location. As for where he would want them to be¡­ well, anywhere along the unfortunately shaped form of the Lower Realms Alliance. Between In¡¯istra and the core worlds, as well as more up towards Akrys. That would let him reduce travel times and improve his ability to combat anyone invading. He just didn¡¯t know how long it would take- if he could figure it out. No, Anton was confident it was possible now that he¡¯d delved into the weeds for a while. It was more of a matter of being worthwhile. Would it draw him away from his primary cultivation? For how long? Conversely, it might simply help him grow. If he was lucky, it might even be especially effective, saving a year or two for new stars. Depending on how long such a thing might take and the efficiency, it could go either way. Chapter 872 A single individual could keep a secret. When dealing with their enemies, a small group of highly dedicated individuals might be able to hold onto particular secrets they could not afford to share. But where a large number of individuals were involved, they might not even know what should be kept secret, and there were various ways to manipulate them into revealing information that were more effective than torture. The captured cultivators were kept separately so that they could not conspire with each other, though it was rather pointless for them to try. It only took a small number of people to monitor them constantly, and they had no way to escape from their bonds. Once a cultivator¡¯s energy was sealed, they required outside help to be able to escape from such. And there would be no sympathizers among the people of In¡¯istra or the Shining Cooperative. In¡¯istra managed to gain significant amounts of information about ships, occupied planetary systems, and other things of that nature. It was more difficult to learn information about their overall plans, and most of the crew members didn¡¯t even seem to know their mission to begin with. Only a small number was aware what the capsules they had released actually did. They weren¡¯t really that complicated. They were basically small concealing around the shell, which was then designed to split apart as it entered the atmosphere, releasing the mold spores from their encapsulation along with a burst of natural energy. Then, the winds would spread them around the target planet. Simple, but effective. Varghese didn¡¯t fully understand the details, but the formation masters on In¡¯istra were quite intrigued by some differences in formation design. They were still able to pick them apart and determine how they functioned, so they weren¡¯t necessarily higher tier- though it would take some adjustment to be prepared to deal with them in the future. Eradicating the mold infestations as they cropped up wasn¡¯t terribly difficult, when they could be anticipated and countermeasures were known, but preventing them or other similar capsules from reaching any of their occupied planets would be best. Who could say if they didn¡¯t have something worse to unleash. In sum total, what Varghese found most worrying was that they existed at all. The Trigold Cluster seemed to have control over a decent number of systems- a dozen or more, though they couldn''t quite tell the limit as those who were more complete in their understanding were also more hesitant to share, realizing the value of simple names and locations of systems. It would take more time and effort to extract the complete information. The good news was, while there were hostile forces nearby they didn¡¯t seem to have specifically been targeting anyone. That is, they didn¡¯t have clear knowledge of the Shining Cooperative or the Lower Realms Alliance or even In¡¯istra specifically. The bad news, of course, was that there were hostile forces vaguely nearby that would have to be dealt with one way or another, and they seemed to have already wiped out and taken over a number of occupied systems. It seemed the Trigold Cluster hadn¡¯t actually been above trying different tactics for domination- they¡¯d merely only been exposed to a particular one. And both had been far too effective up to the current point, the invisible occupations setting back planets many cycles and this other option clearly having spread for some time. If they were closer to the core of the Lower Realms Alliance, Varghese wouldn¡¯t have considered them a threat. There were no indications they had Assimilation equivalent cultivators among them, nor did their ships indicate a level of advancement that would allow for it. No doubt they hadn¡¯t seen everything with regard to ships and formations, but at most Varghese expected bigger ships instead of particularly better ones. In short, they could be overpowered. But there were only a small number of Assimilation cultivators available between In¡¯istra and Poriza, plus their colonies. They had to make certain they were well defended while at the same time going on the offense. Or, alternatively, they could focus on defensive tactics. It was just clear that the Shining Cooperative had no such intentions. They wanted to wipe out the Trigold Cluster systems as soon as possible. The only thing stopping them for the moment was caution- they hadn¡¯t even scouted out any of the enemy systems yet to verify the true level of threat they might be. The timing was truly unfortunate. While In¡¯istra was in communication with the Shining Cooperative, the latter hadn¡¯t yet shared with them technology for more effective- and importantly fast- communications. They¡¯d barely established the non aggression pact and trade agreements in the last couple decades. Effectively, they had just met. But perhaps things weren¡¯t all bad. Now they had a mutual enemy to draw them closer together. Or rather they had always had that mutual enemy- they just hadn¡¯t been aware of any more accessible pockets of them. Having spoken with the leadership of Poriza, Varghese knew that military action was inevitable, and it would mostly come down to how things were organized and who took the lead. Of course, they could both independently act against this newly revealed threat, but that would be¡­ wasteful. It was an awkward position, though. In¡¯istra was about as developed as the best systems under the Shining Cooperative¡¯s control. They had some ships that Varghese found quite impressive. But on the other hand, they had no actual Assimilation cultivators. Not yet- or perhaps not publicly revealed. They¡¯d had many at the threshold, so the right inspiration and knowledge could have vaulted some over the threshold. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Then there was the fact that Anton was planning to stay out of the war¡­ which Varghese actually understood quite well. Aside from the practical considerations of picking a few locations where he could use his full power, there was also the burden of such power. Anton was likely strong enough to wipe out an entire planet by himself. No, he was more than strong enough for that. And even if they were controlled by hated enemies¡­ that was a large burden for one person to bear. They didn¡¯t know if there were any innocents that might be involved as well. Were there native populations to deal with? In short, despite all they learned there were just as many unknowns. Varghese volunteered to spearhead some of their first scouting activities. If they got into conflict, they would need his strength. ----- Izaak was now a cultivator. He¡¯d been learning for months already, and he had reached the second star. The rest of his family was hot on his heels, and he was especially worried that Marianna would pass him. His parents he could accept, but his sister would be unacceptable. It was unfortunate that all of the fields had already been sewn. Master Anton was very particular about tempering the body through proper work. Izaak had eventually volunteered to work on neighboring farms, tilling fields and pulling out weeds, but that work eventually ran out too. He was surprised, really. He knew how hard his parents had worked to keep the farm running. How hard they did work. Yet at the first star he had found his body able to keep up with a normal adult. For the second star, he¡¯d chosen Muscle as his prime tempering so that he could be even stronger. And he would have been, if they weren¡¯t also cultivators. He couldn¡¯t wait to grow older properly. And he supposed it was already happening, because he¡¯d already reached another birthday- one he thought he would never see. And it was at least in large part thanks to the mysterious cultivator. His father had come back with medicine, but he wouldn¡¯t have lived long enough for that otherwise. Master Anton was like a sun, bright and hot and powerful. Izaak didn¡¯t quite know what stage of cultivation he was supposed to be in, but it was more than anything he sensed even when they went to the city. And they could do that now, since the work on the farm was being dealt with so easily. They were looking into expanding their land. Izaak looked forward to breaking up rocks and getting them out of the way. Smashing rocks was fun. ----- Two years. That was how long Anton predicted it would take for Izaak¡¯s cultivation to be in a stable place. But he was not simply remaining in place for the young man and his family. He needed to observe the planet as a whole over that time to make sure things were going in the right direction. Right now the planet¡¯s natural energy was in a state of flux as they learned to implement new policies. And just because some people were informed didn¡¯t mean the entire planet heard within a short few months. So he came and went, spreading information on the developing planet with glee. Hopefully, it could be a proper example to the rest of the Shining Cooperative. It was more difficult to implement such widespread change on planets with a greater population. And, though he didn¡¯t want to attribute any positives to the plague, it had made people willing to accept radical change. Dealing a population in the tens of millions was much simpler than dealing with planets of billions- as long as it was possible to communicate between its various locations. For Anton, it was simply a matter of going from place to place with haste. He very much hoped they had those two years, but war was clearly on the horizon. He wasn¡¯t certain if it would be better for the war to start sooner so that Izaak and Nikodem weren¡¯t capable of participating, or for it to begin later when they had some cultivation experience and could try to make a difference. If they reached Spirit Building Anton could tell them they were still too weak, but it would be somewhat hypocritical. He himself had wanted to begin acting as soon as possible. It was almost torture, the time he spent in the Body Tempering Phase imagining what might have been happening to those dragged off to Ofrurg. And while this family might not have lost anyone, it was still very reasonable for them to bear a grudge when they learned that there was a real cause instead of it being a freak accident. More than once, his resolve to stay out of the war swayed. How many lives could he save, if he participated? That was the question, wasn¡¯t it. Because he might certainly prevent people from dying¡­ but if he was then not around and there were further attacks, nobody would have any experience. It was something that never got easier, first with his children having to deal with struggles and more recently various disciples. He wanted to shelter people from all pain, but that wasn¡¯t correct. And if he showed up on the front lines, it was inexcusable for him to not put in his full effort to take down the enemy. The more years that passed, the more important it would be for others to be strong. In hardly more than four hundred years the tides of the world would allow access to the lower realms once more, and the reaction from the upper realms for their previous losses was something everyone dreaded. Four hundred years¡­ before he was a cultivator, it had felt like quite a long time. Even at the age of one hundred, living four times that was nearly incomprehensible. Now, Anton was nearly five hundred himself. He felt like if he got careless and blinked, a century would slip by. That wasn¡¯t quite true, but it wasn¡¯t as far off from reality as it could have been. From the end of the first invasion, they were at the halfway point to this third invasion because of the unnaturally short cycle in between. He could already feel it. It was like a vague itch, but his perspective was very wide. After all, he had a vague sense of being many different stars in different locations. The tides of the world were more clear to him. This cycle would be a natural duration after the previous one, within the normal tolerance of a few decades on either side. And the more people they found in the lower realms, the more that needed to be raised up to a proper standard to resist incoming assaults. For all the systems they controlled, it was only in the area of dozens while the upper realms controlled hundreds and thousands with vast quantities of cultivators. Even if only the tiniest portion attacked, it could be disastrous if they weren¡¯t strong enough. Chapter 873 While Anton was currently occupied with Izaak and the people of Mazlerth, he couldn¡¯t experiment with his new ideas just yet. He also was unable to visit many places, since he couldn¡¯t leave for months or years just yet. Ultimately, he wanted to make sure Izaak and his family were properly moving along the path before going far. After that point, they could seek guidance from In¡¯istra or Poriza should they need it. It seemed like a good way to promote more interaction, even if it was just a few people. Better for both groups to get along rather than deal with potential border friction. There were still a few places that were close enough for him to visit. Poriza, In¡¯istra- including Azun, the neutron star- and finally Aipra. It was in the same neighborhood, more or less, though it was obviously a bit more difficult to get to. Same time investment, though. While Anton could get information on the planet locked in subspace from others, he would prefer to visit himself. So he found a good time after a season¡¯s planting that wouldn¡¯t have anyone that needed guidance for a prime tempering. It was only a short trip on a galactic scale, one where Anton briefly stopped by Poriza. Their star was of special significance to him as it was his final step towards Enrichment, and he considered what other similar projects he might be involved in. Even though it was barely a red dwarf, as a proper star the planet received much more natural energy- even from a slightly further distance. There were no problems with its orbit, not that such a thing would have been kept quiet. He would be among the first to know. Anton honestly couldn¡¯t think of many cases where he would ever have cause to change a star from one major state to another except their very specific situation. But perhaps he could help others to modify the properties of their stars in some way to benefit their population as a whole. He just needed to make certain that it wouldn¡¯t be mainly for the benefit of a small group while others were worse off. Aipra was not far beyond, and Anton was familiar with how to find it. He was aware enough of its path of travel that he could find it without needing to consult any charts- specifically classified ones since Aipra didn¡¯t really want to be found by random people. They chose to maintain isolation, and Anton respected that. But he was also a friend, and he was always welcomed. A few decades didn¡¯t seem like it should have changed things very much for them, but to Anton it was as plain as day. More and more, they were moving underground. Indeed, why would they bother to deal with the surface when they could keep any heat or energy they produced with them? It wasn¡¯t like there was any sunlight. It did seem they¡¯d had to relocate soil, but that made enough sense. He went to find his friend Nalini. ¡°How is everything?¡± he asked. ¡°I must say the planet is thriving even without the input of external natural energy.¡± She smiled lightly in return. ¡°That is where you would be wrong. We still have distortion beast attacks, after all.¡± Anton couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s one way to look at it. They¡¯re nothing more to you than a source of energy now?¡± ¡°And other resources,¡± Nalini nodded. ¡°But we still take their threat quite seriously. At least with our push towards deeper underground the general populace is in less danger.¡± Anton nodded, remembering a particularly massive distortion beast that had crashed onto the surface long before. ¡°The planet feels much healthier. Though it¡¯s obviously not my preferred style of growth, it clearly works for you. Speaking of which, have you heard that your communal cultivation techniques were a great boon to some specific communities?¡± ¡°We heard of it more or less, through those visitors we allow. But we don¡¯t really know much about them.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I suppose they have also been kind of a secret. But I can show you.¡± He pulled out his communicator. ¡°You know, I¡¯m just barely beginning to get used to this technology path. We might have developed more of that ourselves except¡­¡± She shrugged. ¡°You were locked into a cycle of mere continuance,¡± Anton said. ¡°No spare resources or effort available to grow. It¡¯s a sad state to be in. But you know what isn¡¯t sad? These guys,¡± Anton showed some pictures of the meerkats. ¡°These are the ones you told me about before?¡± she asked. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°I expected them to look different,¡± she admitted Aipra didn¡¯t really have many wild animals of any kind, given the planet¡¯s long term situation. The few things they had besides humans were mostly insects and bacteria. Things it was hard to escape from- and they were necessary in certain manners. Frankly, it was amazing they had survived so long with a barely functional ecosystem, but that was what made them great. ¡°Wait,¡± Nalini said. ¡°Go back to that one.¡± Anton changed the picture. ¡°They¡¯re¡­¡± she held her hands a bit apart. ¡°Only this tall?¡± she asked. ¡°That¡¯s about right,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°... Ok, now they¡¯re adorable,¡± she said. ¡°Should have started with something to put them in perspective to begin with, I suppose,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Many others have the context to know how big they would be.¡± Even the grasses they were surrounded by didn¡¯t mean much on Aipra. ¡°Anyway, you can see why they would need cultivation to compete. And the communal cultivation methods are quite good for them. Since enhancing their bodies to a functional degree is a difficult task, they rely more on natural energy.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°It seems their world would be abundant with it. Would that not be sufficient on its own?¡± ¡°Yes, but they had to compete with others who had the same benefits.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Nalini nodded. ¡°I think you¡¯ll appreciate their nature. Your entire planet works together here out of necessity, but these fellows are the backbone of many diverse groups working together to make something better. While I¡¯d love to say their planet has undergone unification, that¡¯s not true quite yet. Hopefully soon, though.¡± ¡°It is better if all work towards a common goal,¡± she agreed. ¡°I am glad they are making progress, at least.¡± ¡°Speaking of which¡­ the information should have come to you, but there are certain new groups involved in the wider lower realms. None should know about you, but that might not remain the case forever.¡± ¡°It is likely not a concern if we are found. We have nothing of value for people to take.¡± ¡°The only issue would be the Trigold Cluster. They might just wipe you out anyway. Or, well, try,¡± Anton corrected himself. ¡°I doubt they would find it easily achievable. But you should be aware of what they have been working with.¡± Anton explained the mold, and how it was used. ¡°That particular thing shouldn¡¯t be an issue here. Low natural energy, terrible growth environment¡­¡± Nalini shook her head. ¡°But we also couldn¡¯t afford to have a plague of any sort.¡± ¡°Nobody wants to deal with that,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Now then¡­ have any interesting insights into your cultivation?¡± Anton wasn¡¯t sure how long it would take Nalini or any of the others on Aipra to reach something like Enrichment. They still had so little natural energy to work with, comparatively, but their unique cultivation style made it possible to reach their current post Life Transformation state. A slight growth in global natural energy might propel them further. The actual insights Nalini had weren¡¯t at all compatible with Anton, but that didn¡¯t make the discussion pointless. He could still learn something from her thoughts on the cold void, just as she could learn from his fire and light. Both were still archers, though their styles were quite far separated, developing into their own paths. Even if they didn¡¯t grow stronger from their interactions, they were still enjoyable. Which was good enough, between friends. ----- The first scouting efforts had been delayed out of an abundance of caution. The Trigold Cluster must know by now that their ships had gone missing, but they might not know why. They were hopefully still unaware they¡¯d been caught and compromised, revealing their own locations to people who would very much like revenge, and more. But after close to a year- which was fairly quick on the timescale of cultivators- Varghese found himself heading towards one of their systems as part of their first scouting teams. The ships weren¡¯t the best scouts the Lower Realms Alliance had, but they were the best ones that had made it all the way out to In¡¯istra. While such things were shared easily, the distances made things tough. According to what they had studied, however, they should be good enough to avoid detection if they stayed far enough from the enemy. And if they happened to stumble upon someone dangerous¡­ well, that was mainly what Varghese¡¯s presence was for. He wasn¡¯t a long range cultivator like Anton, and his senses weren¡¯t really any better than their best ship scanners. But he could fight, and he needed to be physically close enough to bind stars for a future campaign, if it came down to that. As he was still early in his progress he had few to spare, but he¡¯d already added Poriza¡¯s star and Azun to his list so he felt comfortable with the available options. Poriza¡¯s star wasn¡¯t anywhere near as close knit to him as it was to Anton who had been responsible for turning it into a real star. Instead, it was barely average for him. But Azun¡­ Varghese had been training with magnetism from a very early point in his cultivation career. That particular star had offered him significant insights and empowered him in that area. He hadn¡¯t actually ever had the chance to make full use of what he¡¯d learned yet. He only had theoretical practice. They were headed towards Poerava, one of the southwesternmost systems under the control of the lower realms Trigold cultivators. It had a red dwarf and some dense rocky planets, but most importantly was said to be fairly unpopulated. The information they had said it was a mining system, and while security of some sort was to be expected given the value of the resources involved, it wasn¡¯t going to be similar to a highly populated system. Probably. That was partly what they were there to find out. Upon entering the outer bounds of the system, they didn¡¯t detect any far roaming satellites or sensory formations. They slowly drew closer, the pilots calculating a trajectory that would bring them where they intended with minimal active momentum changes required near occupied planets. Active engines would be one of the easiest things to detect. For their first and furthest pass, Varghese didn¡¯t find he learned nearly as much as the various sensors on the ship. But that was fine. If they didn¡¯t need him, everything would be best. They flew past several times over the course of weeks- always waiting until they were far out of expected sensory range to make maneuvers. On the fourth pass, they were getting more detailed information about the actual arrangement of structures down on the planets, but the sensors picked up some defensive formations as well. It was unclear if they had detection elements, but for the moment it was decided that getting closer was not a good idea. Overall, the first trip was boring. Which was exactly what one wanted on a scouting trip. Excitement only meant finding dangerous information or getting caught. Varghese was mature enough to be happy with the results, but also practical enough to know it wouldn¡¯t last indefinitely. Either here or somewhere else, they would eventually be coming into direct conflict with the enemy. One practical thing they learned was that they could likely go beyond the system without fear- they didn¡¯t have any signs of a large fleet that could try to flank anyone. They might have a small number of fast ships, but that wouldn¡¯t be as big of an issue. Of course, the best option was to not be spotted and have to worry about such things in the first place. The next step was to check out the other handful of locations that could potentially bar their way further in- though if even a few of them were open it would provide plenty of options to flee, if they had to. Personally Varghese would prefer to wipe out anyone who spotted them, but it might be better to not reveal his existence or abilities if not required. Chapter 874 The second Trigold system was much more populated than the first, with three planets occupied at least in part. A typical terrestrial planet, a particular moon around a gas giant, and a rocky planet that had further mining operations upon it. There were also scouts throughout the system, though Varghese was fairly certain their own ships were not spotted. At least, the enemy didn¡¯t seem to react. It was always possible they were planning some sort of trap, trying to catch them unaware, but as long as the forces with him didn¡¯t fly too close to any planets it would be difficult to catch their ships. Their ships picked up durable defensive formations and a significant volume of cultivators present. Without approaching closer and narrowing their scans they couldn¡¯t count specific cultivators, but if they followed typical patterns each major area had dozens of Life Transformation cultivators. Not an unsurpassable barrier, but it put them not too far behind In¡¯istra¡¯s numbers, if they didn¡¯t consider Assimilation cultivators. And while Assimilation cultivators were a large factor, this being just one system meant they would need significant cooperation with the Shining Cooperative if they wanted to wipe them out. And that was the default intent as far as Trigold cultivators were involved. Varghese didn¡¯t think that it was incorrect, either, given how this group had come to be known by them via a biological weapon of sorts. Instead, his thoughts were focused more on whether it was practical. How much of the Lower Realms Alliance would they have to call upon, and for how long? They moved on to another system, but instead of going deeper into enemy territory they simply moved laterally. If they were spotted and their retreat cut off, the ships could probably jump past a system or two if they had to. Even so it was still better to avoid being in a position where anyone could try to block their retreat. They weren¡¯t even close to a point where they were required to take risks. Better to maintain caution and see what they could learn before the enemy even had a proper idea that they were being watched. The next system was much the same. Just two planets occupied, with one being more of a major planet. Given the size of the planet and the quantity of natural energy, Varghese could have easily accepted that it was the same. But something stuck in his mind. He couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on it. Upon spending some days scouting a third system, Varghese had some thoughts. He shared them with the captain of the ship he was on. They would have group discussions about gathered information later, but they tried to avoid transmitting unnecessarily in enemy territory. Even if the enemy had no way to intercept their transmissions- unless they had been spied on quite a bit more than they thought- transmissions might still be noticed and indicate their presence. ¡°The Trigold Cluster isn¡¯t particularly known for diverse architecture, are they?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°They¡¯re quite a large group in the upper realms, aren¡¯t they?¡± Xaliima replied. ¡°With hundreds or thousands of planets, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they had more than that many styles between them.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Varghese agreed. ¡°But these¡­ we haven¡¯t really come across sects, exactly. There have been members of known sects with others, all in a particular style.¡± ¡°So they¡¯ve finally learned to share?¡± Xaliima shook her head. ¡°No, shouldn¡¯t joke. I understand your feeling. It¡¯s odd. If anything, rather than too diverse the styles are too¡­ consolidated? Very few things stick out in the cities.¡± ¡°Perhaps they didn¡¯t want to expose any of them as targets,¡± Varghese said. ¡°But¡­ there are still a few clearly more fortified places. I can only imagine they would be the important places.¡± They weren¡¯t able to resolve their thoughts into anything clear at that moment, but they kept them for later. More brains could work together to draw conclusions. Maybe it would be nothing important, but someone would have to convince Varghese otherwise. It was something itching in his brain, and he was determined to scratch it. He just had to find the right thought. ----- Perhaps they had been lucky for three systems, or they might have merely been unlucky once in their fourth. Either way, their record of clean escapes was broken in the fourth as they were spotted. Varghese could tell instantly, based on the change in how the passing ships moved. He delayed just long enough to make certain, feeling formations power up, before taking control of a particular weapon assigned to him. A sequence of laser bursts targeted different ships, tearing through their defenses towards critical components. Without a bound star in the system, Varghese was basically just a powerful Life Transformation cultivator with a slightly greater pool of natural energy, but he focused the power of light into the weapon, increasing its potency. The weapon was only barely able to withstand his power, or he might actually have gotten more out of it. Though that was unnecessary, as the initial damage caused the ships to second guess their flight trajectories. But by the time they turned to flee, the rest of the scout ships were already opening fire. Not all were able to predict the trajectories of the enemies, especially as they changed directions, but the scout ships were more than capable of winning a skirmish such as they found themselves in. They weren¡¯t random ships found patrolling a system, but the best available in the vicinity of In¡¯istra. Unfortunately, even the best were vulnerable to unfortunate circumstances. One of them had been targeted by several enemy ships and while the scout ships were as durable as possible for their size they were focused more on speed and rapid offense. One of their ships was destroyed. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The small patrol fell quickly, but the battle would be noticed in a few moments if it hadn¡¯t been already. So it was time for them to turn about, unless they wanted to bet on the incompetence of their enemies.S lipping back into hiding with people actively looking for them instead of generically for anyone would be ten times more difficult. Better to leave before they were properly identified. However, they didn¡¯t just abandon the survivors of the destroyed ship¡­ nor did they want to leave their technology to be salvaged in some manner. While the various ships coordinated to pick up their own cultivators- even without special gear they could survive in the vacuum of space for a surprising duration- Varghese exited the ship to make use of his magnetic abilities. He pulled together the various scraps into a single heap. That might be enough to make learning much useless, but he wasn¡¯t done. He melted everything he could, the remains of the formations resisting him for a few moments. Then he flung the ball of scrap out of the system towards a random star. It might be tracked down if they had anyone watching, but the enemy cultivators in the patrol were being dealt with just as they picked up their own. The less the enemy learned, the better. To avoid the enemy learning too much, their escape route wasn¡¯t directly towards In¡¯istra. Instead, they moved towards the galactic south and a little bit east, towards systems they knew to be unoccupied but had marked as practical to replenish their ships. They used a combination of gaseous fuels and condensed natural energy, and while they could make do with just one of those they were more efficient with both. Then again, if they were ever truly without natural energy things had gone horribly wrong. ----- They hadn¡¯t looked back after fleeing the system. No ships had been marked as coming after them, but they still didn¡¯t truly rest until they were several systems and more than a week¡¯s travel away. Only then did they begin a circuitous route back towards home. Still, at least away from the enemy they could openly discuss what they had learned. Varghese called for a meeting, and images were projected from each ship as captains and other qualified personnel joined. Varghese wasn¡¯t interested in who- if anyone- was responsible for them being spotted. That was something that would be analyzed so that they could make sure it didn¡¯t happen again, but it wasn¡¯t his job. ¡°We gathered quite a bit of information,¡± Varghese said. ¡°I would like to try to make something practical of it. Beyond mere comparisons of military force, I mean. We can glean little about their overall power from engaging with a single patrol. I imagine we don¡¯t have any expert architects among us, but feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Either way, I felt there was something strange about the buildings we have seen. This is time to either confirm my intuition or rebut the thought with practical knowledge.¡± ¡°I read your argument previously,¡± said one man. ¡°I don¡¯t know if your insights have any substance to back them up. Picking a few styles for each planet doesn¡¯t seem unreasonable, given the level of direct control we know they exert over their people.¡± Varghese nodded. He supposed he had been considering people had the freedom to choose. And that they would have more diverse cultures, outside of the particularities sects tended to require for growth of their disciples. ¡°That may be so,¡± said one woman. ¡°But the spacing was odd. Too many empty, unused plots of land. We didn¡¯t get close enough to determine conclusively, but I would postulate that they were used previously.¡± ¡°What would that imply?¡± Xaliima asked. ¡°Destroyed buildings that weren¡¯t rebuilt,¡± the woman said. ¡°For one reason or another. Perhaps they were unnecessary for the population. Or¡­ perhaps the original population was gone.¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°Do you think they replaced another population?¡± ¡°While we tend to know them as infiltrators,¡± the woman began, ¡°In none of these places did we see them hiding or living among any significant population of those outside of the Trigold Cluster¡¯s factions. They openly occupy these planets. Quite different from what we know, but it has already been postulated that they would be the result of a different sort of large scale ¡®test¡¯ compared to the infiltrations and invasions.¡± It was a disturbing and unfortunately easily believable thought that they might have conquered each of the systems that they had seen- most likely only the terrestrial planets had been occupied, though there was no certainty that some others had not developed space travel as well in the current region. The first man spoke up once more. ¡°I do find myself somewhat convinced by that line of reasoning. Though a larger scale analysis of the data we have collected will most likely be necessary. Even then, we will likely be unable to conclusively determine it.¡± Varghese nodded. But his instincts told him that was what he¡¯d been leaning towards. It only made him all the more eager to kill them¡­ but given what they had seen already, they had to think very carefully about engaging in larger scale hostilities. The Lower Realms Alliance alone should be able to dominate them in battle, but not without cost. How much of their population and effort were they willing to spend on the war? How many deaths would be acceptable? But that was just based on direct conflict. If they fought smart and took their time, they might do significantly better. But they hadn¡¯t even seen the enemy¡¯s core worlds. If they were significantly more powerful¡­ well, Varghese might have to call upon Anton after all. And that would be a shame, pulling him away from making people¡¯s lives better just to kill. Though of course, not having the Trigold Cluster around would probably be better for people. Then there was the possibility of just¡­ not fighting them. Varghese didn¡¯t like that at all. But waiting a couple decades for an influx of Assimilation cultivators in the Shining Cooperative? That might be worth it. Assuming they were willing to wait that long. Because the Shining Cooperative certainly wasn¡¯t any more fond of the Trigold Cluster, and they had suffered much greater losses to the mold on attack on Mazlerth. And it could reasonably be called an attack instead of just an unfortunate circumstance with what they knew now. Chapter 875 When he was younger, Anton had felt like children grew up too fast. Now that his scale of time was even longer, he almost felt he could watch Izaak growing in real time. Well, perhaps he could if he wanted to tune his senses to such a small scale, but that wasn¡¯t the point. The point was that over a year passed in a blink. Perhaps it would have felt even quicker if he had not been focused on educating Izaak¡¯s family and the people of Mazlerth on various topics. Now, the young man- more than a boy, given his cultivation- was on the verge of breaking through to the Spirit Building stage. Season after season had bolstered the planet¡¯s natural energy as they began to implement new guidelines, and they were beginning to see fruit. It was nothing astounding yet, but enough for people to begin to feel the changes. That would leave them eager to continue the practice in the future. ¡°I can¡¯t wait until I¡¯m strong enough to go off on my own,¡± Izaak commented. Anton smiled. ¡°Well, you should wait a bit longer still. Your family would miss you.¡± In truth, strength wasn¡¯t the issue with the young man, it was a lack of maturity and understanding. Not that he was lacking compared to his peers- he simply hadn¡¯t had the necessary time. Anton wouldn¡¯t want him to be taken advantage of by dubious cultivators. Then again, that was one reason he had recommended Insight as the first of the seven purifications. ¡°I¡¯d be back to visit, of course,¡± Izaak commented. ¡°They might not need me every planting season, but our fields have more plentiful natural energy than our neighbors anyway. There might not be many places better for actual cultivation. But I want to go adventuring.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°Who doesn¡¯t? Though I might remind you that there are adventures to be found nearby as well. I could teach you to hunt.¡± Anton hadn¡¯t given Izaak any weapons training yet- though he had taught him basic martial arts, in case he needed to defend himself. Only once the young man demonstrated proper control of his natural energy, of course. ¡°You¡¯ll teach me to shoot a bow?¡± Izaak¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Hunting is more than that. It¡¯s about paying attention to your surroundings, picking a target, and choosing when to attack. You need to learn the signs of dangers, but you also need to learn about the creatures you will be hunting. Some of them are dangerous themselves, but there are other things to consider.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± Izaak asked. ¡°First, if you catch them¡­ can you bring them back with you? Can your family eat them without the meat spoiling? Certainly, you could dry the meat from a deer and that would last a long time, but it might be better to hunt more rabbits to have fresh meat. But before that, you have to consider the local populations. Especially as a cultivator, you could easily overhunt your local area. And then you would have nothing.¡± ¡°I get it,¡± Izaak said. ¡°Just like we have to make sure the crops get natural energy before we do.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Just like that. At some point, the forests will be bolstered as well, but that will take much longer. Perhaps you could manage them yourself for a while.¡± This was in part a way to get him to stay near home longer, but Anton never suggested anything without sincerity. He thought it would be good for the lad. ¡°Okay. When can I learn to hunt?¡± ¡°Soon,¡± Anton said. ¡°Perhaps the beginning of next week.¡± ----- Anton found the world quite different when he vastly restricted his energy senses. With merely the power of Spirit Building and an arbitrary distance, he learned just how much his body had improved relatively. Natural energy quickly outpaced the body in Spirit Building, and by Essence Collection the last general increase to the body took place. Anton hadn¡¯t really neglected his body after that, but he hadn¡¯t focused on improving it like Nthanda. He gained some insight from restricting himself, though he doubted it was anything that would be terribly impactful. Ultimately, on his current path he¡¯d done about the best that could be expected with regards to improving his own effectiveness. For the most part, it just made older memories resurface. Most of them were good. ¡°See here?¡± Anton said. ¡°Foxes. Not much use as food, but their pelts are of interest. And like any predators, if they become overpopulated you need to cull their numbers.¡± ¡°How do you know if they are overpopulated?¡± Izaak asked. ¡®A good question. Experience, mostly. You need to determine if there are so many that if they eat as usual they would run out of prey. That is actually detrimental to both populations, as the predators end up starving and you end up with fewer than could have otherwise been part of the ecosystem. It¡¯s like if you don¡¯t share food at a meal.¡± ¡°... I get really hungry,¡± Izaak said. ¡°Especially when I was recovering from being sick.¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I know you¡¯ve learned from that. Everyone gets a little greedy sometimes. It only becomes a real problem if you keep doing it.¡± ----- By the next year, Izaak had learned about each season of hunting. Many animals were born in the spring, but not all of them, and their populations had to be watched year round. Same with the forest as a whole. If there was a blight- hopefully a more natural one that the planet was equipped to handle- that had to be dealt with as soon as possible. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Izaak reached Spirit Building, and even the twelfth star. He was making progress step by step, turning into a proper young man. Anton hoped for a bright future for him. But he couldn¡¯t stay around forever. The war¡­ well, it was just beginning to pick up. In addition to a number of skirmishes with their scouts in Trigold territory, there had been some in Shining Cooperative systems- and that included the system containing Mazlerth. Fortunately, they hadn¡¯t gotten close enough to the planet and its moon that Anton had to get involved. He remained determined to stay out of the war, if possible. Of course, if it started going against them then he would do what he had to- but he didn¡¯t want to minimize the Shining Cooperative¡¯s determination, or be relied on as necessary by any part of the Lower Realms Alliance. Veterans from this war would be necessary for those in the future. He could hope for not too many future wars, but Anton doubted they could ever achieve truly unlimited peace. But he could at least hope for a long one after the end of the next cycle, where they would hopefully defeat any invaders from the upper realms in a way that would make them hesitant to ever try again. ----- ¡°I still don¡¯t get why I¡¯m here,¡± Chidi said to Aconite. She spoke back in her most comfortable language, full of barks and growls that weren¡¯t as aggressive as they might sound to the uninitiated. ¡°Because these are our allies. And we want to support them.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t explain why I am here. Someone with no eyes who sees everything with energy. Surrounded by void ants, who communicate with humans through sign language. Presumably,¡± Chidi said. ¡°For all I know we could be alone here.¡± ¡°They also use scents and pheromones,¡± Aconite said. ¡°That¡¯s the better part of their communication with each other.¡± ¡°Okay, but I can¡¯t replicate those either,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t mind if it¡¯s just to keep you company. But I¡¯d like to know that.¡± ¡°... I just didn¡¯t think about it that much,¡± Aconite admitted. ¡°But at least they know how to understand speech.¡± ¡°They can learn it,¡± Chidi replied. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean they know it automatically. And we¡¯re the first ones here, right? Along with the rest of the crew, obviously.¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°So is the queen listening right now and I¡¯m making a fool of myself?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Aconite said. She sniffed. ¡°I don¡¯t smell her. Do you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what she¡¯s supposed to smell like,¡± Chidi said. ----- Whew. That was close. Crossed Antennae had been about to introduce herself, but then she walked into that whole situation. She had been looking for people to communicate with for a while, but now that they were here she had been nervous. And now it looked like it wouldn¡¯t be as easy as she thought. What if she could learn to talk? It couldn¡¯t be that hard, making sounds. Sure, she didn¡¯t have lungs or vocal chords but¡­ well, maybe that would be a long term project. That wolf¡­ seemed nice, but smelled kind of dangerous. A different sort of danger than the man with the sword. Not that dangerous was bad, or her mother and sister and many others would be bad. Crossed Antennae prepared herself. She should go stand next to the welcome sign. And then she could chomp a bit of energy out of the air. Yes, that would be a good way to draw attention. Ohh, could she write in the air like that? That might be much better than trying to make sound! But that would have to wait. She didn¡¯t want to make a fool of herself attempting something for the first time in front of guests. Even if they seemed to take forever to arrive. ----- ¡°It¡¯s a little unsettling,¡± Chidi admitted after they were properly introduced to the queen. ¡°To me, it looks like part of the world is disappearing when they eat the natural energy. I know it¡¯s not, but¡­ I can barely pick out their presence.¡± ¡°You know what void ants smell like now, though,¡± Aconite pointed out. ¡°Well, sure,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t let me know where they are. And they aren¡¯t big enough to hear easily. I guess she did mention I could learn to pick out their location through the lack of¡­ stuff. Though it¡¯s actually more difficult to sense them than a bit of area with the natural energy eaten.¡± ¡°Hmm, I suppose that makes sense. One is a clear change, the other is just nothing moving about. More or less,¡± Aconite conjectured. ¡°So, aside from you wanting to be here,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Why are we here? Like, practically.¡± ¡°I¡¯m here as a botanical consultant and lupine representative,¡± Aconite said. ¡°Ah, makes sense.¡± ¡°... Did you not think to ask the entire trip over?¡± ¡°I was thinking about swords,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Well I can¡¯t really say anything about that,¡± Aconite admitted. Cultivators would be cultivators, after all. ¡°Anything in particular?¡± ¡°A few things. Cutting apart space more efficiently was one thing. Then I thought about ants and swords. I don¡¯t really know if void ants can really make use of cultivator insights? I am aware they can be dangerous beyond the very limited reach of their mandibles, but¡­¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°From what I heard, most of them are good at things because a queen made them that way.¡± ¡°With a few glaring exceptions,¡± Aconite pointed out. ¡°Such as that Sergeant that hangs around Anishka.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I do remember hearing about that. Maybe Crossed Antennae will know more about these things. Do you think it would be weird to ask her to make some sword inclined ants?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Aconite said. ¡°... Oh. I guess it would also be just as weird as ones that poison their mandibles.¡± The wolf pawed her face. ¡°Hmm. There are some that would be deadly at a scale they could apply¡­ and ignoring energy defenses¡­ they wouldn¡¯t even risk poisoning themselves because of their chitin.¡± ¡°But it would be weird to ask,¡± Chidi grinned. ¡°... maybe we should just ask if any of them want to try out things with us. They don¡¯t need to be¡­ special made.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Chidi said. ¡°It does sound kind of weird when you say it like that, anyway.¡± Chapter 876 At some point early on, Varghese realized the war had begun with no words spoken between sides. Not really, at least. They had captured the fleeing ships, but they were already on the path to war at that point. They hadn¡¯t prompted any conversations, and the Trigold Cluster had never attempted any of their own. When their scouts had been spotted, the enemy immediately opened fire. That spoke volumes, though they really weren¡¯t certain yet how much the enemy knew about them. Even after a few years of skirmishes, only the closest border systems on either side had been involved. Capturing more people wasn¡¯t as easy as Anton had made things seem at first. Only overwhelming strength allowed that without risk. They might pick up a few survivors from the wreckage of a battle, but they couldn¡¯t pick and choose who they got. And enemy commanders, especially those related to the Twin Soul Sect, seemed especially eager to off themselves if it seemed they couldn¡¯t escape. Varghese did not have the strength to dominate the battlefield all by himself. He was a fairly new Assimilation cultivator, in the grand scheme of things, and without any bound stars he could only display a certain level of power. With just a few stars available and dozens of enemy systems, he could only save himself to greatly affect a few critical, core systems. They just didn¡¯t know what those systems were yet. But that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t participate in the war- he just couldn¡¯t be a driving force for most of it. And perhaps that was alright. He was still young, as far as cultivators went. And he¡¯d heard enough from Anton to know that the glory of war was at best lackluster and at worst completely incorrect. And there were a few places Varghese could use his full power. He had bound the stars of In¡¯istra and Poriza, either of which could be targets. In¡¯istra had already been targeted once, and though they hadn¡¯t been sure at first if the information of its location made it back to their enemies, there had been a few more squads probing their defenses. So for the moment, Varghese waited on the defensive. Once they could confirm important targets he could join the offense and bind their stars. Until then, he could focus on protecting his people. ----- An opportunity to use his power came sooner than he thought- though it was not an assault on the enemy. Instead, a fleet had been detected entering the system perpendicular to the plane of rotation. Most likely they were trying to avoid defenses, and in some ways they were correct- but the entire system had sensors that formed a spherical formation around the system. Any anomalies would be logged. There were exceptions, such as the ships that had slipped past with the mold- but not every ship could be equipped with similar stealth capabilities and they had dismantled those captured ships and tuned their sensors to their style of stealth. Now that they were on high alert, enemies were spotted sooner, and there were fleets ready to maneuver to any point. Likewise, one was ready to mobilize to deal with this threat- currently angled towards some mining bases without much population. They had their own defenses, but couldn¡¯t stand against a proper fleet of assault ships. But Varghese had the local fleet hold off, except for a smaller portion. He wasn¡¯t sure if they were trying to draw the defenses away from other parts of the system, but they didn¡¯t want to mobilize too much. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean he was going to leave their people undefended. It was quite the opposite. The few ships being sent were just backup for him. Not because he doubted his ability to take on the fleet as described, but because he could only be in a single place at a time- and he didn¡¯t have the ability to shoot across a system like Anton. He wondered what the fleet thought when a single person approached. Perhaps he would get an answer, if there were any survivors. Varghese had used a variety of weapons in the past. Swords and spears and even heavy maces. Given the way he had developed his skills, he was actually best when he had a few things available- but they were best used to fight against individuals. Varghese knew he could take out the ships one at a time, but there were over a hundred ships between personal sized and troop transports. It would take too long to bring them down individually. That was why he pulled out a large number of metal plates. He did not make them himself, but instead had them crafted by formation masters to augment his abilities. These plates were sent out in all directions as he approached the fleet. Once the furthest of them passed beyond the fleet, Varghese began to draw upon the power of his local star, and the properties of Azun just a single system away. Before the enemy fleet truly knew what was happening, the ships began crashing into one another. Even if many cultivator ships happened to keep the same aesthetics as sea ships, ultimately few were made primarily of wood. Metal was the material of choice, and even those that had their main structure made out of special wood were still drawn towards the rest. After all, there were always other things to magnetize. Precious metals in formations, weapons and armor of cultivators, crystalline structures that could be charged with electromagnetism despite not otherwise being magnetic. A few of the ships resisted the pull, their composition and shields happening to sufficiently resist the field. But even they found themselves clipped by other ships being pulled past and through them. In only a few moments, the hundred or more ships began to drift towards each other, some impacting others and clinging together. Varghese condensed the magnetic power into a smaller space as they drew closer, its effects multiplying as the same power was concentrated over a smaller distance. From a slow drift that they were just barely resisting, the ships suddenly hurtled towards each other, crashing into one giant clump. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Explosions of all sorts ranging from stored natural energy to attacks meant to protect one ship or another happened all at once. Only those with the swiftest reactions managed to flee the ships that crashed, and those that had resisted the pull wouldn¡¯t be getting away either. Varghese¡¯s energy pulled on the disks, flying towards the furthest ships and fleeing cultivators. Imbued with the power of a star, they cut through hull and cultivator alike, displaying power above the Life Transformation stage. During the chaos, a portion of the ships had managed to fire attacks towards Varghese, but those attacks became uncontrolled in the chaos before reaching him. He was only barely proficient in Star Steps, and he often kept more momentum than intended as he moved through space, but there was nothing to hold him back either. Ship weapons that were mainly meant to hit other vessels of a certain size with particular restrictions on their movement simply didn¡¯t stand a chance of hitting him. The total power of the enemies certainly outmatched Varghese by a good margin, but they hadn¡¯t been prepared for such an attack. And if all went well, they wouldn¡¯t be prepared for something similar in the future. He kept his output of energy, spread throughout the area to distort any possible forms of communication. While they wouldn''t use something specifically affected by electromagnetism, just the disturbance of a blanket of natural energy should stop most transmissions. Others would take time and effort they didn''t have. The portion of the local fleet helped Varghese clean up what was left- cultivators that hastily abandoned their ships and those who had avoided the initial clustering. Varghese picked out a few individuals of decent power to focus on, and hopefully capture. ----- Far away- though not so far as where they had set out from- two individuals drifted into lower realms Trigold territory. One of them would go unnoticed in any but the most extreme of circumstances, where people were looking in just the right tiny spot of a system. The other was not particularly more noticeable, displaying the power of a single Life Transformation cultivator millions of miles from the nearest living individual. And that was only when she was being careless. Communication between them was a bit difficult, requiring one move at just the right angle to see the other by the dim light of distant stars. Even the local sun was barely more visible than any other, at their current distance. ¡°I understand you wish to get involved,¡± said the human, projecting the words into the bubble of air she had brought along with her. She couldn¡¯t directly affect the target she wanted to hear, so that was a necessary effort. ¡°But keeping your existence mostly unknown is better for now.¡± The ant on her palm responded accordingly, her forearms and antennae signing back. ¡°I understand. But we would not have come all this way together if you didn¡¯t think I could help somehow, Nthanda.¡± The powerful woman grinned. ¡°Or maybe I just wanted to babysit you. But no¡­ you are right, your people can still provide us useful information. Or perhaps just you, since most of you can¡¯t fly.¡± ¡°A mistake one of my daughters has sought to rectify. Too long, I relied on our traditions¡­ but they were meant for those with little. We have much, both food and natural energy. We can afford to have a bit of extravagance in our bodies,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Well, wings wouldn''t let most of you fly through space to begin with,¡± Nthanda reminded the Great Queen. ¡°And few are as durable as you either.¡± ¡°It is true,¡± the Great Queen admitted. ¡°Which is why I am here and no other. I will visit these planets, and report back to you. And you will report my findings to our people.¡± ¡°I guess I can¡¯t really enter the boundary of a planet,¡± Nthanda admitted. ¡°I can¡¯t fight off a whole planet myself. Probably.¡± ¡°It would be better not to try,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°And more specifically, you would not want to start close up.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get a bit closer,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°Then I¡¯ll set up on a rock somewhere. You¡¯ll be able to find your way back, I assume?¡± ¡°My memory is more than sufficient to keep track of the orbiting bodies in a single system. And your concealment of your energy is only good enough to hide from those who don¡¯t breathe the stuff.¡± ¡°I understand that spying is important,¡± Nthanda commented. ¡°But I¡¯d rather fight.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m sure you will. But we must check out a few places first. If only Anton were here¡­ but he cannot create more to take over his responsibilities. Or rather, it is quite a bit different when humans do so. They¡¯re so picky about such things.¡± ----- The Great Queen hurtled towards a planet at great speed. There was a thin planetary barrier that was meant to react to intrusion. When a thumb sized hole opened in it, its reaction was just as it was intended to be. Nothing at all. Many tiny space rocks would pierce through it every day, and if it reacted to absolutely everything they would drain their energy reserves immediately as it remained at full power. Not that she would have had trouble going through a greater planetary barrier either. There was only so much durability one could put into a small section. Given that the Great Queen could consume more energy in an instant than a Life Transformation cultivator could put into an attack, it couldn¡¯t do anything but let her through. It just would have been a bit more obvious if they lost a huge chunk of energy. Those looking up in the sky at just the right angle might have noticed a small sparkle as bits of atmosphere ignited due to the drag on the Great Queen¡¯s body. But she was already slowing her own descent, manipulating the natural energy around her to guide her path. Then she slowed to her own terminal velocity, which had her land with a plop upon hard stone roads. The most important place must have the most energy. So she began to tread towards the tastiest seeming place. She wasn¡¯t actually going to eat whatever she found there, of course. Unless it seemed to be an immediate danger to their Alliance, it would merely be reported back for others to deal with. And she knew that even a single individual mysteriously dying was something humans would go mad about. Well, actually mysterious deaths were problematic for the void ants as well since usually they were watching over each other. If they didn¡¯t know how some of them died, they had to investigate. It was just that humans were less aware of their surroundings, being so big and all. But the point was, she didn¡¯t intend to cause any ruckus. And if she did, it would be carefully calculated to be more beneficial to the Alliance than the potential backfire. Chapter 877 Despite his convictions, Anton wasn¡¯t very good at the whole staying away from the war thing. He hadn¡¯t actually gotten involved yet, but he was still relatively nearby. Yet he could have gone quite a bit further away for his current experiment. At least his presence wasn¡¯t obvious to anyone, as he was southwest of In¡¯istra studying a cluster of unbound stars. Nobody should be passing through the system, which made it useful for his current plan. Just a month or so of meditation on the star made him more confident with his plans. He felt he should be able to form a connection to it. Of course, he still had an unattached star binding from beyond the one hundredth star, so it was possible that he might be misinterpreting that possibility. But in the worst case, he would bind the star in an unintended manner and strengthen the route between In¡¯istra and Ceretos. It was better than intentionally burning his last binding just to experiment. Either he would call upon that link accidentally, or he would not. Better to hope he had some control. The question that he had to answer was how he would bind to the earlier stars. They were already well set in place. Unlike the others, they were not empty and waiting to be filled. It was a question he pondered for some time. But ultimately, he came to the simple conclusion. They would just have to be replaced. Anton would not advise anyone to mess around with the foundation of their cultivation, but he supposed he had enough experience to do so himself. The only question was what order to act in, if it even mattered. His first star was the beginning of Body Tempering. Anton thought he knew which one it was, but truth be told that after they were initially created in the dantian each star tended to act just the same as the others. It was the act of forming them that enacted the changes upon the cultivator, not their continuing existence. From that point, they were merely sources of power. They mutually supported each other, but Anton could not guarantee with absolute certainty that he could distinguish one from the other. Ultimately, Anton made a choice based on his own understanding. Since his hundredth star had been the first to make a connection to a star, it was better to work backwards from that point as much as he could. As for how that would happen, it was a bit more complex than binding a star ¡®normally¡¯. As if such a thing were an everyday activity. But he had to be careful. First, he had to free up ¡®space¡¯ by dissipating the star inside of him. Then he had to connect to another star. But that connection would require something more. Normally, he would just follow the principles of his hundredth star- without the parts where he turned himself to charcoal. Actually, that was it. It was more like the hundredth star, where he had never done it before. Each star would be new, and he would have to intimately understand it before he could connect to it, instead of casually completing the task through the virtue of a high cultivation level, and letting the understanding come as a secondary result. Anton moved closer to one of the stars in the group. A somewhat large white star, a yellow star, and a red dwarf all together. He shouldn¡¯t need to bind all of them, unless he anticipated a battle in that particular system. He was quite glad he was more capable of protecting himself, as that allowed him to approach quite close to a star without frying himself. His bound stars didn¡¯t hurt him at all, but foreign ones could certainly destroy him. Still, he was much closer than he¡¯d ever been with Ceretos¡¯ star. And much less likely to fry himself from the inside out, given his prior experience. But it took him quite a bit of time to get fully acquainted with the glowing orb of heat. Anton let himself sink into the embrace of the star¡¯s warmth, and time slipped by him. It was a year later when he came out of his reverie, confident he could do what he intended. He gently pulled at the strings of one of the stars within him, by his best estimate the ninety-ninth. He unraveled it peacefully, until it faded to nothing. He could feel the emptiness inside of himself waiting to be filled. Needing to be filled. He reached for his understanding of the nearby star, making it part of himself, and in a way making himself part of it. It wasn¡¯t an instantaneous process, and Anton once more felt time pass nebulously. But when he finished, he felt the strong heat inside of him, channeled from this nearby star. He nodded. Good. If he were to ask if he felt stronger because of what he had done, Anton would say he was not. Except, of course, that with another bound star his territory had expanded. And if he connected to any particularly special stars, he might learn something from their properties. But that was simply the way of cultivation at its core. It was another way to gain understanding into the mysteries of the world. More than simple numbers and words, but a true understanding. Not that Anton thought that those who could describe stars with complex mathematical formulae were without value, but it was different. They could predict and understand the flow, while he could be part of it. He stretched. The process might get faster with time, though he didn¡¯t intend to cut any corners in the future either. It wasn¡¯t a waste of time to begin with. He¡¯d spent over a year here, focused on a single star. That was no worse for his overall level of cultivation than any other form of meditation, and it might even be a bit more efficient. It likely wasn¡¯t going to vastly shorten the length of time to achieve a proper new star from where it was, approaching the decade range, but as long as it wasn¡¯t slower it would be worth it. Now, he could begin a proper path from Ceretos to In¡¯istra, and more quickly reach all the places along the way. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ----- Alliance fleets had fought their way past Trigold forces to reach Enzion. It was of no great significance, merely a step towards reaching their core- but that step was what made this battle important. Not enough for the branch head of the Order of One Hundred Stars to bind one of his few precious stars, however. Sudheer thought it was too bad. He¡¯d seen the sect head fight more than a few times, and he wanted to see Varghese do so as well. But perhaps he¡¯d get a chance later. For now, he was one of the Assimilation cultivators leading the charge. And charging was what he and the Silver Rhino Legion were best at. Long in the past, Sudheer had fought an Augmentation cultivator of the Fearsome Menagerie. He couldn¡¯t quite say he¡¯d won that battle by himself, but from then to now he¡¯d grown stronger and was confident he could do so. As long as they were still limited by being in the lower realms. The people here wouldn¡¯t be restricted, being fully adapted to natural energy- or rather, probably never having lived anywhere without. But they were also much weaker individually. The first thing Sudheer did was crash into the middle of their local sect. They had some kind of barrier or whatever, but he had his body, his armor, and more speed than anyone sane entered an atmosphere with. As flames lit the atmosphere around him, he could kind of get why people studied the element. But a very short time later he had landed at his destination and there were no more flames. Just a crater, a hundred meters wide. He¡¯d been hoping for more, but that pesky barrier had slowed him down and the fortifications on the building had slowed his fall as well. So there were a few walls still standing on their great hall. Some sort of stupid throne thing had toppled, though. Obviously the Fearsome Menagerie wasn¡¯t pleased with his entrance. They had all kinds of people rushing at him, taking on the guise of big animals. Some sort of ape, an elephant, giant lizards, and the like. Oh, and a rhino. Poor kid didn¡¯t know what hit him. Well, that wasn¡¯t true. Obviously it was a rhino. The fellow certainly had enough insight to recognize the form of his own poor attempts to imitate the fantastic creatures. But alas, it was only a weak imitation. Better for him to die instead of continue with such poor training. Life Transformation with that level of insight was pathetic. Sudheer was briefly entertained by some dragons and phoenixes, but their flames really didn¡¯t mean much when his armor was already red hot from that whole thing where he fell from the sky. But after he finished running them through, he remembered his goal. There should be a core for the defensive formations. Break that and he would let everyone else in. He charged forward, from building to building, looking for this core. He either went through everyone in his way, or they were lucky or durable enough to be thrown away to the sides. There was some formation stuff over there. And he found a vault. He hoped the urns weren¡¯t important, because they broke when he came through the wall. Actually, what could be valuable that was so flimsy? Probably just worthless clay, perhaps art that didn¡¯t depict the true essence of beauty. Rhinos, of course. If Sudheer was going to be honest for a moment, he had forgotten to ask if the core was supposed to be in the middle or somewhere else. He was fairly certain he¡¯d crashed into the middle. And following the flow of energy was¡­ just too much, with all these disciples attacking him. And there were tons of buildings in the way that were super annoying. He couldn¡¯t find it. So he just turned towards the nearest defensive wall and crashed his way through, weaving in and out. Eventually enough of the stuff would be gone that it would all stop, right? Yeah, that sounded right. He circled around the sect once, then turned. Yeah, there they were. The fleets and troop carriers. They could help him deal with the, uh¡­ the¡­ Sudheer looked around. Alright, so there wasn¡¯t really much left at this particular place. But he¡¯d figure out where the core was for the next place and everyone would be fresh still. There were more than a few sect bases on this particular world. ----- Despite the particular success of Elder Sudheer of the Silver Rhino Legion, not everyone dominated in the assault on Enzion. And while they certainly came out with a clear victory, it was a cause for concern for some. Because it was just one planet of many, and those further towards the core had more durable defenses. The kind that would be risky to send such fellows at, because while a rhino might appear unstoppable, that was only up to the point where it hit its limit. Someone like him that met something that simply couldn¡¯t be overcome might crumple. Of course, nobody was willing to bet on it being any particular thing. It was likely that they would lose some Assimilation cultivators if they kept pushing. The Lower Realms Alliance could likely survive that cost, but moving too rapidly would only exhaust their forces. And they wanted to maintain a proper level of caution, not falling into any traps the enemy might lay. They were also far from the core of their power, limiting their full access to people of all cultivation ranks. The Shining Cooperative was supporting them, of course, but they were only just sparking their own Assimilation cultivators. It would have been nice for the war to be over in a year or even a decade, but it might not be so simple. If nothing else, they had to think about how to deal with Twin Soul Sect members on larger planets. It was probably too late to prevent all transmission of information to the upper realms, either through proper communications or individuals dying, but they could still try to limit what made it through. All the while, they would try to do their best to keep their own losses down. There was no point in wiping out the Trigold Cluster¡¯s forces if they destroyed themselves. Chapter 878 As the war with the lower realms Trigold cultivators dragged on, more information about their structure was determined. Several core systems had been identified as key targets, and one of them in particular carried the planet of Zunrose, a significantly above average sized terrestrial planet. It was of note as the closest of the core worlds, approximately to the southwest of the rest. Attacks were focused on driving a wedge into the occupied systems to reach the planet. If they could heavily damage the cultivation centers, the sects and clans, they would lose a valuable training ground. It was impossible to keep their intent secret, as they didn¡¯t have the forces to attack on every front at once. However, they at least limited how many details would be known by sharing them only with those most important. They didn¡¯t anticipate any spies among them, but people could always be turned through threats or promises of wealth or power- and they could also be captured and interrogated. There was sadly no way to prevent that in a war. Even if cultivators were willing to kill themselves to die with their secrets, it wasn¡¯t always possible. The plan was simple on the surface, and Varghese approved. If the plan was too complicated, it could easily fall apart. They¡¯d kept some things in reserve to make use of for just such an occasion, including the power of Varghese himself. In terms of absolute power, Assimilation cultivators like Varghese were in the second tier. First tier were those who were restricted to only a single planet or even part of a planet, such as Lev of the Grasping Willows. Binding stars put Varghese in the second category, where there were multiple locations of power that could be added to. He would be slightly less strong than those bound to a single location, assuming all other factors were equal. Which they never were, but the theory was sound. The third category were those who were truly free. Bound to some object they could bring with them or an ideal. This included Elder Sudheer of the SIlver Rhino Legion, as well as cultivators like Devon, Anton¡¯s grandson. Though the latter was a clear example of where things broke down. All other factors being equal needed to account for quality of the cultivation method, the individual cultivator, and their absolute cultivation stage. After all, Assimilation wasn¡¯t the end of the road. It was simply another step along the path, and those in the early stage were most likely weaker than those in the mid or late stage regardless of the mobility tiers. Devon was nearly in the Enrichment stage, like Anton. It was a shame he wasn¡¯t currently participating in the war, but Varghese also understood that there were other things going on. The integration of Nidec and Vrelt was a process that was still underway, and having a strong presence in the area was helpful for that. Varghese wasn¡¯t the limit of the plans, of course. Sudheer was likely stronger, unless someone came to fight Varghese directly at the local star. No, there were more than a few other cultivators. And ships. Not just good scout ships or fighters, but proper battleships. Among their number was even the Wayfarer, under the command of General Gabriela. The oldest remaining Ascension-class battleship, with the Independence having been lost in the war with Ekict- destroyed by Gabriela and the Wayfarer. It was the presence of the Ascension-class battleships that was the biggest secret. They would be moving into the system after the initial assault, and they had planned for them to hide in the shadows of several planetary bodies until they were needed. ----- As predicted, the initial assault couldn¡¯t have taken down Zunrose- not with an acceptable amount of losses. The closer they got to core systems, the better defenses they had. More cultivators at a higher level, more powerful planetary barriers, and closer access to reinforcements if they needed it. But that was what they were counting on. The attack was mostly bait to draw forces away. And if the response was deemed to be too dangerous, the assault force could simply split from the ambush force and both would retreat. Upon first entering the system, Varghese began to bind the local star. It was a fairly large white star, bigger than the yellow stars that were often the most comfortable homes for planets that would contain life in the range humans preferred. It wasn¡¯t difficult to bind the star. Varghese had done it before, and while it wasn¡¯t an instantaneous process it was a matter of less than an hour as they drew closer. But he suddenly understood why Anton was reluctant to do it without permission. It felt wrong, somehow, even though they were literally at war and he intended to kill¡­ pretty much everyone. Not wrong enough to stop him, just enough to make him uncomfortable. The assault fleet had been noticed, but as planetary defense forces from Zunrose came to meet them, the combined Lower Realms Alliance and Shining Cooperative forces quickly destroyed the ships. Varghese was one of the main participants, dragging ships into each other with magnetic currents- or occasionally and mostly accidentally tearing out small but vital magnetic components. Or potentially magnetic ones. There was much that could be done with magnetism on the scope of a magnetar like Azun. Not that Varghese would claim he was a match for the star, but he was certainly inspired by its power. The defensive fleet had lasted long enough for the planetary barrier around Zunrose to be properly established. And Varghese could see it was as solid as their spies had reported. He could likely fully exhaust himself before breaking through even a small patch of the barrier. Of course, he didn¡¯t have to. Simply maintaining such a barrier would drain energy. They could only store so much energy, so in a matter of days the barrier would falter. Especially if they gave it some nudges. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Varghese especially reveled in the rate of natural energy recovery he had when near a bound star. He could attack nearly continuously with the force of a reckless Life Transformation cultivator, wearing down the barrier¡¯s energy a little bit at a time. Others joined him as well. But the goal wasn¡¯t actually to collapse the barrier. If no reinforcements arrived in time or Zunrose gathered their forces for an early sortie they would certainly fight the local cultivators, but that wasn¡¯t the plan. The intent was still to draw them away from Zunrose itself towards their waiting ambush fleet. After all, Zunrose was bound to have dangerous formations beyond simply the planetary barrier. And while they had plenty of formation masters to call upon, dismantling all of them in an active battle was not that simple. The plan was to take out as many enemy ships as they could- the ships being more important than cultivators, though higher ranking cultivators were still important targets as well. It was a rather uneventful few days before the enemy arrived with fleets of reinforcements. Most likely they had set out before the assault even began, as the path hadn¡¯t exactly been kept secret. If they had been responding to a distress call, Varghese would have expected another day or two for them to arrive simply due to the distances involved. Other core systems were just a few lightyears away, but that still wasn¡¯t that close when considering the tier of interstellar travel technology so far observed. Everything was going according to plan. The incoming fleet would pass through the center of the system, and that would be the mark for the assault fleet to ¡®retreat¡¯. The following forces could reasonably catch them from there, right around the outer planets where the ambush forces lay in wait. That was how everything played out in Varghese¡¯s head, and the plans were made up by experienced tacticians. They had contingencies for fleets entering from every conceivable angle, or unexpected resistance from Zunrose itself. They had anticipated all the reasonable responses. The energy readings the scouts were picking up from the incoming fleet were within expected levels. It was a large fleet- thousands of mid sized ships- but that wasn¡¯t unreasonable considering they were above a planet of billions. They still felt themselves prepared. Varghese was the first to notice something was wrong when a pain shot through his chest. He tried to react, lashing out not from himself but from the star. He would never be entirely certain if that made things worse. ¡°We need to stop them!¡± Varghese called out. ¡°They¡¯re attacking the star!¡± Within a system, their communications technology allowed nearly instantaneous responses as their normal communications were already significantly faster than the speed of light. ¡°Are you certain it is wise to approach?¡± Gabriela asked. ¡°... No,¡± Varghese replied through gritted teeth. ¡°But I have to¡­¡± He could already feel himself weakening. Something was truly wrong. There was no way such a fleet should be able to damage a star. Their total power output should be merely a tiny fraction of what the sun produced itself every second. And yet, clearly it was working. Varghese immediately rushed towards them, trying to control the power of the sun to lash out at them- but he wasn¡¯t close enough to properly sense them. His connection with this particular star being new, and his overall connection to the stars not running as deep as Anton, he found it difficult to do anything. He made it about halfway there. But within five minutes from when he had first noticed the attack- less than half an hour of the fleet being in near proximity to the star- he felt it break. ¡°Dammit,¡± he coughed as he felt the same thing happen inside of him. ¡°Retreat. As fast as you can.¡± He could feel what was coming. A supernova, as the sun exploded billions of years before its time. He had no time to ask why or how. But he could feel it coming. And by the time he could actually see it, he would likely be dead. No, none of that was right at all. Varghese clutched his belly, above his dantian. He felt as if a part of him had exploded and been ripped out at the same time. He shouldn¡¯t have rushed forward. ¡°Hey kid,¡± a metal clad hand clasped his shoulder. ¡°I appreciate people who run into battle. But if I¡¯m catching even a whiff of what actually happened over there¡­ that¡¯s not something we run towards. And you said it yourself.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t,¡± Varghese grunted. ¡°Figures,¡± Elder Sudheer commented, wrapping an arm around Varghese. ¡°Now, I¡¯m not going to promise this will be comfortable. But we¡¯ll get out of here with plenty of time.¡± Varghese almost felt himself ripped apart from the outside. He was barely maintaining any of his natural energy to protect himself from the void of space, his cultivation in turmoil at the loss of a nearby bound star. And his mind as well. He hadn¡¯t even imagined this as a possibility. And the ships¡­ they were all consumed by the exploding star already. He¡¯d felt that, in its last moments. Had they known? There were certainly some fanatics among the Trigold Cluster, but so many of them? How long had they planned this maneuver? Nothing made sense to him at the moment. Varghese let himself get carried along, trying to seal the hole inside of him out through which was leaking his natural energy and cultivation. He felt cold. But far, far away, he felt the warmth of his other stars. He wasn¡¯t going to go down so easily. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder¡­ how had they known? Why would they do it? Was this why Anton hadn¡¯t joined the war? Not that Varghese was doubting his master. If Anton had known about this in particular, he would have warned him. But he might have had some instinct that spoke of the danger to him. Something worth asking about, once he stopped dying. Somewhere along the way Varghese caught a glimpse of ships scurrying away from Zunrose¡­ and he wondered how many people would manage to escape. One percent of them? Less? It seemed like the planet hadn¡¯t even been warned, and was merely reacting to the massive disturbance that would soon overtake the whole system. Chapter 879 Somehow, despite what the numbers said on paper, Varghese felt like they had lost. Their casualties mainly amounted to those from the initial attack on Zunrose, and the fighting around the planet while besieging the planetary barrier. All told it wasn¡¯t very many lives. Meanwhile, the Trigold forces lost countless times more. The entire fleet that somehow destroyed a star should have been erased- Varghese felt it happen in the last moments- and of course the entire planet with everyone except those who had swift access to ships capable of interstellar travel. The total numbers should be in the billions of lives. Lives of their enemies. But still¡­ it felt like a loss. Not just because of the damage to his own cultivation. Varghese knew he wasn¡¯t that important, though he had to admit some bias because of the personal injury. But beyond that, it was that the enemy did something they couldn¡¯t have even predicted was possible, and they didn¡¯t know how. And if they could stop it from happening to their stars. Fear. That was what it was. Fear for himself, for their entire alliance. They didn¡¯t have to be able to do that upon a whim. Just one time in one of their more populated systems would be sufficient to completely devastate them. Not in terms of military power, but morale. He wondered what the Trigold cultivators in the lower realms were feeling. Did they even know? Did they think it was a plot by the other side? Could those who had sacrificed themselves really known what they were doing? Perhaps there were Twin Soul Sect cultivators among them, but Varghese had the feeling that a sun going supernova would have sufficient energy to tear apart their souls as a minor side effect. Natural energy barely interacted with souls without changing its attributes, but at a sufficient magnitude¡­ well, it was just speculation. Obviously he hadn¡¯t tested it. Their entire fleet more or less limped their way back to friendly territory- they¡¯d escaped much actual damage, but everything still felt lackluster. Nobody suggested even for a moment trying to hold the ground they¡¯d gained, however. There was a silent agreement to return home and hopefully protect their borders. When Varghese was back to In¡¯istra, he felt drained and empty. Perhaps that was better than he could have been- dead- but it didn¡¯t feel much like it. But there was a spark of hope the moment he arrived and felt a familiar presence. ----- Even before he got the first message, Anton sensed something. There had been a growing agitation since it had happened. He¡¯d been involved in the creation of two stars- once a very messy affair and one much more carefully considered. The destruction of a star, however, was not something he had experienced. He had no connection to Zunrose and its star, but he still felt something. A twinge of pain, like the world was wrong. Like scars aching in the rain, or his instinct to go check on a sleeping grandchild. The feeling clarified itself when he got the message and knew what had happened. Or rather, messages. So many of them, propagating first from those in the system itself and then from major planets as they were reached. Poriza, In¡¯istra, and everyone in the Shining Cooperative who could contact him. No doubt everyone in the combined systems were going to be aware of the news in a very short time. The message from Varghese came last. Anton had been fairly certain he was alive from other messages, but having been bound to that star he hadn¡¯t been certain. It was a time lag of only a few hours, but it was uncomfortably long. Obviously Varghese was not well. He mentioned the damage to his cultivation. By that point, Anton was already on his way to In¡¯istra. From there, he was considering flying straight into enemy territory¡­ but word of their fleets withdrawing had him wait for Varghese¡¯s arrival instead. ----- ¡°I¡¯ve seen worse,¡± Anton said. That sent Varghese into a hacking and coughing fit as he tried to laugh. Anton was a little bit sorry about that part, but the lingering half grin on his disciple¡¯s face was good enough. ¡°Would you like to hear about a new technique I¡¯ve developed?¡± ¡°I-¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°I¡¯m going to assume this is relevant somehow. So yes.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll need some time to put yourself back together first,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I can still explain it. It involves replacing your first ninety-nine stars with other stars. Perhaps a bit uncomfortable to think about at the current moment, but it is an expansion of the path we both walk.¡± ¡°So we¡¯d have a larger territory?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ good. But there¡¯s another area I¡¯d need to improve first. Once I can¡­ do things,¡± he vaguely gestured to his gut. ¡°It¡¯s not looking good in there.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve recovered from pretty terrible things before,¡± Anton said. ¡°Between my first time binding a star and the time in Ekict, I think I can give some half decent advice on how to recover. You¡¯re wise to avoid using any natural energy for the moment. But you will have to at some point, and it will hurt.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Anton scanned Varghese¡¯s cultivation, and while it was certainly not in the best state he still felt the most important thing. Each of his stars, the basis of his cultivation, were still intact if perhaps a bit wobbly. There was a clear scar where a bound star had clearly once had a path, and Anton expected that he might permanently lose the benefit of that rank. Or he could be fortunate like Anton who was forced to thrust away his connection to Ekict¡¯s star, merely needing to spend the time to rebuild his cultivation for a single star. But to Anton¡¯s eyes, it felt worse. Perhaps if Varghese had time to sever his connection it might have gone in that direction, but here he might be permanently scarred. Anton hoped it wouldn¡¯t affect his ability to reach Enrichment, but that was a long time coming still. Varghese was quiet for a while. ¡°Did you¡­ sense this? Is that why you stayed out of the conflict?¡± Anton immediately wanted to deny it. He would never send Varghese into a danger like that on purpose. But he took the proper time to seriously consider it. He knew what his disciple wanted to know. Ultimately, Anton had no answer for him. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I¡¯m not a true diviner of any sort, who gets proper predictions about the future. It was just a feeling that I shouldn¡¯t be involved. I made up some reasons after the fact, as people tend to do.¡± ¡°Do you still¡­ have that feeling?¡± ¡°Right now?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Right now, any sense of caution and restraint I have is being pushed to its very limit. You want to know what I feel?¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°I feel that they already had one star destroyed. Why not a few more? I¡¯m a single moment away from asking for the best targets in their core systems, binding all their stars, and finding a way to destroy them all together.¡± ¡°... You don¡¯t sound angry,¡± Varghese said. Anton sighed, ¡°It¡¯s the one area I learned to lie well. Mostly for the sake of children. And if I let myself actually act in anger, I could topple over that precipice.¡± Anton took a deep breath. ¡°But I hope you can forgive me for not going on a suicidal rampage. Or any sort of rampage, just yet.¡± ¡°So there is a rampage coming?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Right now, I can promise they won¡¯t even touch the outermost dust of this system alive,¡± Anton said. ¡°Anything beyond that, we¡¯ll have to learn more about their tactics going into the future. But enough of that. You mentioned another area you wish to improve your cultivation.¡± ¡°Sensing from a star,¡± Varghese said. ¡°And I suppose calling upon the power of a star from further away. Like, actually directing it, not channeling it into me.¡± ¡°They¡¯re connected,¡± Anton said. ¡°Improving one will likely improve all parts. Including the perception. I have plenty of guidance for you in that regard.¡± ¡°I feel like I could have stopped it, if only I were ready.¡± Anton smiled sadly. He knew that feeling. Before the beginning of his cultivation journey, the attack on Dungannon. If he¡¯d only been there¡­ well, he would have died. But he had still felt like he could have done something. ¡°That may be the case. But neither of us can predict the future for our training, nor say for certain how it might have changed the past. If you can, I¡¯d like to hear what happened, in your own words.¡± Varghese took a while to begin. ¡°It was fast. Far more than it should have been. They had¡­ something. They dropped it into the star.¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°I didn¡¯t notice that at the time. Then they began attacking the star¡­ or pouring in their energy, I suppose.¡± Anton waited. ¡°The connection with me¡­ it acted like a catalyst, I think.¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°Maybe they didn¡¯t mean for it to happen quite that way. And there are other issues.¡± ¡°Such as?¡± Anton prompted. He could think of more than a few on his own, but he wanted to see if Varghese thought the same. ¡°How did they know? Why were they ready with that?¡± Varghese shook his head. ¡°I bound the star upon entering the system. They had to have already been on their way. Perhaps they had their own diviners among them?¡± ¡°The Trigold Cluster has indeed been known to have diviners,¡± Anton said. ¡°The Unseen Eyes among others. But that is not the only possibility.¡± ¡°Spies,¡± Varghese said. ¡°Not Twin Soul Sect, hopefully. But perhaps others slipping into our borders. Or locals, bribed or threatened into it.¡± ¡°That does tend to be how they work,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°They could have heard about your starbinding abilities,¡± Varghese supposed. ¡°That information is more widely available. Or they could be here on In¡¯istra. It¡¯s not exactly a secret. There would be some number of people who could sense each of the two of us separately binding the star, and our connection.¡± ¡°I had all of those thoughts,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°And another, unsubstantiated one. What if they didn¡¯t know about you or more- or at least weren¡¯t considering it?¡± ¡°... Why would they blow up their own star, then? What¡¯s the point?¡± ¡°Pettiness,¡± Anton said. ¡°They didn¡¯t want us to have a developed planet. Or security. It would be a good staging ground for future attacks on the core worlds. Or perhaps there was something in particular that was secret there. Something they couldn¡¯t move.¡± ¡°Whatever it is¡­ the system is gone,¡± Varghese sighed. ¡°Is it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well¡­ supernova,¡± Varghese said. ¡°So yeah.¡± ¡°An artificial supernova. There may be some remains. No, even then there should be something should there not? A nebula¡­ perhaps a neutron star. And perhaps if we¡¯re lucky, some highly protected enchantments.¡± ¡°A neutron star¡­¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°If there¡¯s still a star, why am I not bound to it?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Many reasons, I suppose,¡± Anton said. ¡°Perhaps you are not yet ready to be bound to a star undergoing a transformation so powerful. For Enrichment, I merely pushed along the advent of a red dwarf, the smallest of stars. I bound to it as the creation happened. A larger star going supernova in an unnatural manner? I don¡¯t know that even I could handle that, without experience.¡± Varghese reached down, hand over his dantian. ¡°If there¡¯s a neutron star, I¡¯m binding it and making them regret everything.¡± ¡°Careful. It might not be stable. Nor is it likely to possess the same properties as Azun. Magnetars and pulsars are only a portion of neutron stars. Though its density would still be something significant.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not healing,¡± Varghese declared. ¡°Or rather, not yet. I need to see it first.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not in much of a state to travel back there,¡± Anton pointed out. Varghese smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll need some help, obviously.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I suppose I need to see it myself as well. I might gain something from the energy fluctuations.¡± Chapter 880 Since Anton hadn¡¯t gotten much use out of the binary system northeast of In¡¯istra, he was determined to get something more. At the very least, he could feel anything passing through the Rif system, and unless the Trigold Cluster cultivators picked out that particular system as where their ships had been compromised they would likely pass through on a direct route to In¡¯istra. So far there had been no followup attacks from the Trigold Cluster. It was unlikely there wouldn¡¯t be something forthcoming, though there was no guarantee it would be within the next few months- or even years. They would want a reasonable certainty of success. ¡°Let me show you a technique,¡± Anton said to Varghese. ¡°Obviously this is a bit more advanced than where you¡¯ve gotten to, but it uses the principles of perception and connection to a star. Or multiple stars, in this case. It has no proper name yet.¡± Anton reached out to the two stars that comprised the Rif system, describing to Varghese what he should be looking for when he wished to try something similar himself. With a single star, Anton would have made use of the energy it projected to see what was reflected or where it was blocked. With two, however, he could compare different angles and get a better picture of things- at a further distance. He could almost reach as far as a nearby system as a sphere of perception expanded. He found nothing of interest at that moment, but he would keep his mind on the route for the future. ¡°Such techniques are more accurate when closer, or with a better connection,¡± Anton said. ¡°But active attention should be sufficient to pick up any ships passing through. There are none currently, and I will keep watch while we are on our trip.¡± He didn¡¯t want to drag Varghese back into a war zone while injured¡­ but the sooner they could look over the remnants of Zunrose, the better. Perhaps there would be nothing that could be learned, but they had to try. And Anton had a guest who would be quite helpful. ----- Anton provided the energy to propel the three of them between systems, though Varghese didn¡¯t take that much effort to bring along since they shared a cultivation style. The other guest simply had little mass to worry about. Who better to bring along when searching for odd energy patterns than the Great Queen herself? There was no trouble before reaching the border of the lower realms Trigold cultivators, and Anton didn¡¯t intend to pass through the core of any systems along the way. Instead, they slipped along outside the borders of each system. Most likely there would be very few cultivators in each, but it was possible the Trigold forces had rushed back to fill the voids left there. With his energy recovering sufficiently quickly even away from stars, Anton was able to reach what was once the Zunrose system. And due to the limitation of light, he and Varghese were even able to watch the event. It was from a vast distance that didn¡¯t reveal any details, but Varghese shuddered when the light flashed brightly and then went out. Anton could feel the aftereffects of energy shockwaves, especially as they approached, but the event was already long past. Which in itself was a clue about what had happened. ¡°Actual supernovae can take months to resolve,¡± Anton said. ¡°Obviously we already knew this wasn¡¯t a proper one, but it¡¯s worth reminding ourselves.¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°What are we looking for?¡± ¡°Literally anything. Rocks and dust beyond this point might all provide clues. And¡­¡± Anton squinted his eyes. ¡°Hopefully, a neutron star. We should already expect to see it from here.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I can feel something but¡­¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll have to get closer.¡± As they did, he swept his energy around the system, looking for anything- but especially enemies. He would be surprised if they didn¡¯t want to inspect this place as well. But he didn¡¯t notice any currently. Something caught his eye, and he noticed that the Great Queen was glowing. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you are supposed to be glowing?¡± he asked. Even without atmosphere, she should at least be able to read the vibrations of his natural energy to understand his speech. ¡°I should not be,¡± the Great Queen confirmed, then after that he was fairly sure her motions were just looking at her antennae and front limbs. ¡°Do you feel any danger?¡± Anton didn¡¯t think whatever it was seemed harmful to him, but he was paying close attention as he slowed their approach. The Great Queen shook her head, an affectation she¡¯d picked up from humans long before. ¡°It seems to only be some sort of phosphorescence due to my chitin¡¯s material.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a little bit concerning,¡± Anton said. ¡°But perhaps not for you.¡± They approached slightly closer, Anton angling them around in a sort of orbit rather than approaching the former center of the system directly. ¡°I taste ascension energy,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Not much here, but something. And I can sense the energy of¡­ whatever it is.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I¡¯m just picking it out as well,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Myself as well¡­¡± Varghese said. ¡°I¡­ require your opinion on a potentially reckless thought.¡± ¡°Go on,¡± Anton prompted. ¡°Whatever that is¡­ it¡¯s not a proper star. Nor even a neutron star as we know it. But I think¡­ I should try to bind it, whatever is left?¡± ¡°That would depend on why you think you should,¡± Anton said. ¡°Before we left, you had thoughts of revenge. Those could make you reckless.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to say those are gone,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°But something about it is calling me.¡± ¡°How about we all inspect it,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can only say that I will trust your judgment. It¡¯s not a universally terrible idea.¡± As they approached closer, Anton finally saw the remnant of the star. Or at least, that was the easiest way to describe it. It was more of a lack of light. Not a black hole, pulling in its surroundings, but it was certainly absorbing light that passed through it. Yet it was also releasing a different sort of light. Anton could feel the ascension energy, though he didn¡¯t think it was being generated by this thing. He might as well call it a neutron star, or perhaps an inverted version. ¡°There is something that is¡­ or was inside that,¡± Anton said. ¡°It seems to carry with it the proper signature of the upper realms. Which is why I¡¯m going to stay back here. I¡¯d rather not see how it reacts to me at a greater density.¡± ¡°I will take care of this one,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°I can¡¯t eat a star, but as long as he doesn¡¯t fall in, I can devour a shape large enough to cover his body, should anything odd occur.¡± ¡°Well¡­ thanks,¡± Varghese said. As Varghese approached closer, carrying the Great Queen so they didn¡¯t drift apart, Anton considered what they¡¯d learned so far. Not that much, but something from the actual upper realms. Was that good, or bad? It likely wasn¡¯t any worse than they¡¯d already expected. And in a way it was definitely good, because while it meant there had been interference, it was most likely not something that could be easily repeated. Whatever precipitated the destruction of the star had to have been transported during some previous cycle. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to replace. The only question was how many similarly destructive things they might possess. Varghese approached the star, and began to reach out with his energy. Anton thought that was a bit soon, but if it was calling to him¡­ what could be done about it? His apprentice was in a vulnerable state, but he wasn¡¯t a little kid. Anton wouldn¡¯t have entrusted him with the role of branch head if he didn¡¯t think Varghese couldn¡¯t handle such things. Whatever he was doing seemed to be taking some time. More than a few minutes, or hours. It stretched into days, and Anton supposed that was not a terrible thing. At least it was not being rushed. Then he felt something. His perception shifted to the feeling he¡¯d picked up, and he noticed a number of ships. On the way to disrupt his apprentice, no doubt. Well, that shouldn''t be their purpose. But the nearly twenty ships would doubtless do so, if given the chance. So of course they wouldn¡¯t have it. Anton considered taking them down from where he was, but not only was this not a system where he was at his peak- indeed, there wasn¡¯t a proper star at all, let alone a bound one- he wasn¡¯t quite certain of their intentions. If they stayed away from the star, they shouldn¡¯t notice Varghese. And Anton had some sliver of hope that they might be a dissident faction or some such within the Trigold Cluster¡¯s forces. They had blown up a star and planet without warning anyone ahead of time. The off balance feeling of the Shining Cooperative and the Lower Realms Alliance had to be far worse for them. They were still people after all. Even if they¡¯d put in their lot with the worst sorts generations prior, they still had emotions and didn¡¯t like losing things. Anton approached within just a few hundred kilometers. They clearly sensed him, but instead of approaching they scattered. He thought to give chase to one, but decided on something better. He focused thin strands of his energy on one ship, piercing through their shields. ¡°... unknown power¡­¡± He could pick out only a small portion of their words, but that was better than nothing. ¡°Different signature¡­ anomaly.¡± Even fainter, he heard a verbal response through the ship¡¯s systems. ¡°... registers as¡­ known enemies¡­¡± Well, that wasn¡¯t so odd for Anton. Varghese and others of the Order had interacted with them on several occasions. Or, perhaps the information had come from some roundabout method, bouncing between the upper and lower realms. He couldn¡¯t figure out much more as they seemed to notice his intrusion and took active control over the ship formations. They didn¡¯t approach any closer, and while Anton didn¡¯t want to let them escape with information about his presence, he also didn¡¯t necessarily want them to disappear. They seemed to be sweeping the system for something, and he wanted to know what it was. If they even knew. And while there was only a small chance that they were actual enemies of the Trigold Cluster, Anton couldn¡¯t see many routes where an investigation of the Zunrose system actually caused trouble for his own side. If they didn¡¯t know anything, they had to already assume this was the fault of Anton and his people. His presence wouldn¡¯t really change that. And if the fleet hadn¡¯t known what they were doing, an investigation could turn people against the upper realms. Wouldn¡¯t that be nice and convenient. Alternatively, civil conflicts in these worlds could benefit them as well. A calculated risk, but Anton could see several potential benefits and few downsides. The worst would be them calling upon a proper combat fleet, but Anton could tell that Varghese was nearly done with his task. Within a day or less he would complete whatever he was doing. ---- Anton truly hadn¡¯t expected the light of the stars to die out, but as a wave of energy washed over the system that was exactly what happened. And with it, a sense of dullness with regards to all natural energy beyond himself. It wasn¡¯t a pleasant sensation, and Anton wanted to rush towards Varghese to check on him- but he was effectively blind and lacking even a proper sense of orientation and momentum. His memory would lead him in the right direction, but he moved cautiously. He then began to feel something. Rather than a light in the darkness, it was like the blackest patch of midnight. But along with that came just traces of a familiar aura. Whatever this thing was, it was enough of a star for Varghese to make a connection. Though perhaps that was only because some of his essence should have been infused within it during its formation. Chapter 881 Soon enough after the darkness began to fade- light coming in from nearby systems again- Anton and Varghese properly met up. ¡°Congratulations on your success,¡± Anton said, surveying Varghese. ¡°How is it?¡± ¡°Weird,¡± Varghese said. ¡°And I¡¯m still damaged. But I think¡­ this will bring me closer to a proper recovery. Probably.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to be honest,¡± Anton said. ¡°I was not expecting an effect like that. So now we have a problem to discuss.¡± ¡°Which is?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°The ships that have entered the system,¡± Anton explained. ¡°I thought they would not learn too much. Now, there¡¯s a greater risk.¡± The Great Queen made herself visible. ¡°Then we should eradicate them. Except¡­ you have more to say.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Yes. It might still be the correct option. But I suppose I should start with this. What is the Trigold Cluster?¡± ¡°A group of thousands of stars in the upper realms,¡± Varghese said. ¡°A dominating force that raids the lower realms. And I suppose also has some permanently established presences here.¡± ¡°And the Exalted Quadrant?¡± ¡°A rather arrogantly named group elsewhere in the upper realms,¡± the Great Queen signed. ¡°They establish permanent colonies among lower realms planets to extract their resources and presumably also to obtain more proper ascension cultivators.¡± ¡°So a group in the upper and lower realms. And what of the Hardened Crown Sect? The Worthy Shore Society?¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°There it gets a lot more complicated. Since there are portions of them that have broken off in the upper or lower realms. Where are you going with this?¡± ¡°As the old man and the teacher here, the point is for you to tell me,¡± Anton said. ¡°... The Exalted Quadrant isn¡¯t just one thing.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°And the Trigold Cluster might not be either.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if that applies here, though,¡± Varghese said. ¡°I mean, these people were committing biological warfare. They blew up a whole system!¡± ¡°Did they?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Someone did, certainly. But let me ask¡­ did these people, right here around us?¡± Anton waved his hand, indicating those who were currently in the system. ¡°Did those who were fleeing Zunrose have a hand in blowing up the star?¡± ¡°If they did, they¡¯re dumb as hell,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°Because I don¡¯t think all of them made it.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not saying that this group as a whole, or even most of them, are not equally responsible for the attempt to wipe out the populations of planets- most likely the majority of those in the systems around us. But some may simply be following the creed of the Trigold Cluster because they know nothing else.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± the Great Queen nodded. ¡°So the purpose here is?¡± ¡°I was hoping that they would learn something here, and help grow some sort of internal conflict,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I¡¯m not even close to suggesting we try to befriend anyone. But we must at least consider the barest possibility that some of the people here could be innocent. And I am aware it was not we who blew up this planet, but I can guarantee not all of them were actively involved.¡± ¡°Supporting a corrupt structure is just as bad,¡± Varghese pointed out. ¡°How would you count slaves in that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Commoners who have no power? Even weak cultivators?¡± ¡°Alright, I get it. So what, you want us to spare these people?¡± ¡°I want you to weigh it against whatever secrets they might glean about you,¡± Anton said. ¡°And the Great Queen should consider the possibilities as well. Though we don¡¯t have long, because now that the event has passed they are grouping up.¡± ¡°Then why are we talking?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have that little time,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I think it will take them at least an hour. You just can¡¯t meditate about this for days without making a default choice.¡± ¡°They can live,¡± the Great Queen signed after only a few moments. ¡°Unless Varghese feels a great weight of concern for his secrets.¡± Varghese sighed. ¡°That was fast. And puts all the pressure on me.¡± He rubbed his forehead. ¡°And it was already kind of dumb of me to bind to this star wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Anton asked. ¡°They can destroy stars. That¡¯s literally why I ended up like this. They could do it again, and while we¡¯re not certain about that, it¡¯s probably a risk I shouldn¡¯t have taken.¡± ¡°I thought about that, you know,¡± Anton said. ¡°And if they have something so narrowly tailored as to destroy an abnormal neutron star created after an artificial supernova, in a system with no system, then we¡¯re in so much trouble I would wonder why we haven¡¯t all been wiped out already.¡± ¡°Fair point,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t want anyone to mess with this, though.¡± ¡°Then stop them,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can defend In¡¯istra. You can stay here until the point you can control the actual star from afar, if you think that is worthwhile. If you had been next to the star when the attack came, you could have stopped them, right?¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Right,¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°And they would spend a similar amount of effort here for¡­ very little. Though I will admit there is some risk of leaving this place to be studied by them, I also think that your instincts to bind to it were not incorrect for your particular path. What did it do, anyway?¡± ¡°How should I say it¡­¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°It shot out a large amount of¡­ darkness? Or perhaps simply consumed light for a large distance. And a good amount of the surrounding natural energy as well.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°This is going to throw off so many of the readings people asked for. Speaking of which, have you made your decision? They¡¯re grouping up to leave, I do believe.¡± ¡°They can go,¡± Varghese said. ¡°We can hope they cause trouble.¡± ¡°Or,¡± the Great Queen drew attention to herself with a small bite of natural energy around her. ¡°We can make sure they do. Either threaten them or just¡­ ask them what they¡¯re going to do.¡± ¡°... A reasonable point,¡± Anton said. ¡°I am so used to expecting the Trigold Cluster to do the worst thing I didn¡¯t consider it.¡± He frowned. ¡°Which means spooking someone. Or a group of someones, really. They aren¡¯t going to like me getting close.¡± ¡°Even better,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°There are methods of interrogation far short of torture, after all. You have no need to speculate, even if you don¡¯t wish to capture everyone here.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°You ever think about taking up a leadership position? Seems like we could use practical people like you.¡± The Great Queen waggled in amusement. And with that, Anton was off. His chosen target being a ship captained an old man who hopefully didn¡¯t have heart problems. As for why he picked that particular, it was mostly instinct guided by the snippets of conversation he¡¯d heard from them. As he approached the ships, they began to scatter. As he continued towards his intended target, they actually settled on a straight course to let everyone else escape. How noble, as if it would have done the rest any good. Anton could have already shot them all down, even without a bound star in the system. ¡°Hello,¡± Anton said as he spread his natural energy around them. ¡°We are going to have a talk, now. You¡¯re going to answer all of my questions, and I¡¯m probably not going to answer very many of yours.¡± He waited for a moment as he drifted along behind the ship, keeping a matched velocity. It didn¡¯t take long to receive an answer, the captain¡¯s energy connecting to his to respond. ¡°... What do you wish to know?¡± he asked reluctantly. ¡°Let¡¯s start with easy things. Your name and sect.¡± ¡°Tor. Of the Shimmering Spears.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Why would I lie?¡± the man asked. ¡°I¡¯m proud of both.¡± Actually, Anton had asked because he didn¡¯t sense the man lying. ¡°You don¡¯t quite feel like proper members of the Shimmering Spears.¡± ¡°Well I- how would you even know?¡± the man asked. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have met any. They¡¯re only in the upper realms.¡± ¡°That is untrue,¡± Anton replied. ¡°As they have come down in invasions. Do you not know about those?¡± ¡°Somewhat,¡± Tor admitted. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with me?¡± ¡°Well, I assume you have an incomplete method,¡± Anton said. ¡°Which is odd, because then you¡¯d be a flawed Ascension cultivator. Care to explain?¡± ¡°We only have the methods we have,¡± Tor replied. ¡°I have seen no other versions of the Shimmering Spears core cultivation method.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Anton said. ¡°Why are you here, in the Zunrose system?¡± ¡°Pretty obvious, isn¡¯t it? Star blew up. We wanted to know why.¡± ¡°And what did you learn?¡± ¡°Not much. Except that¡­ there were some of you foreign cultivators hanging around still, somehow.¡± ¡°You should have come earlier,¡± Anton said. ¡°You might have learned much more.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t. Travel takes time.¡± ¡°Are you not from the core systems, then?¡± ¡°Not our branch,¡± Tor said. Anton could sense he wouldn¡¯t answer where precisely they were from. Not easily. ¡°So, what do you know? What caused it?¡± ¡°... Wasn¡¯t it you?¡± ¡°Perhaps you should ask those who sent the thousand ship fleet that targeted the star. Because it certainly wasn¡¯t us. I can give you a breakdown of the proportions of sects involved, if you wish. And I would also seek answer from those who successfully fled the system.¡± ¡°There weren¡¯t any survivors,¡± Tor said. ¡°You know that.¡± ¡°What I know is that our people saw ships from all over the planet leave the system. And the artificial supernova would not have touched them.¡± Anton was glad he¡¯d been prompted to do this. They could have left with entirely the wrong information. Not that he expected the man to believe him, but there were seeds of doubt in the man¡¯s mind to begin with. Otherwise, why would they have come to investigate despite being told what happened? ¡°... What did your fellow cultivator do to that neutron star?¡± Tor asked. Anton could have refused to answer. Instead, he gave him a line filled with sufficient truth. ¡°He stabilized it. Now it¡¯s less likely to completely disintegrate and disrupt the surrounding systems.¡± Of course, Anton didn¡¯t know how likely that was. But it was true that Varghese binding the star would keep it more stable. ¡°And just so it¡¯s clear, it was black and spooky when we got here.¡± ¡°If you say so,¡± Tor said, in a way that indicated further doubt. But at least he would think about things. And if ultimately he chose to accept the wrong conclusions? That would be unfortunate. But the chance that he might be the start of a growing seed of doubt throughout the wider community made Anton smiled. He liked seeds, especially when they grew up to be something good. And this would be good. ¡°If you heard that nobody left here,¡± Anton continued. ¡°I might suggest not telling anyone you came here to investigate. Not right away, at least,¡± Anton suggested. ¡°Otherwise you might disappear like those unfortunate souls. But if you look hard enough, I can¡¯t imagine that you won¡¯t find any.¡± People would have noticed a second massive coordinated effort. The fleets that came to Zunrose they might have just taken as back up without questioning them, but others intercepting refugees from the destruction, lingering in occupied systems? Those had to be noticed. ¡°... Do you have any more questions?¡± Tor asked. ¡°Many of them,¡± Anton said. ¡°But none that I think you can answer. Don¡¯t forget to tell your friends what I said.¡± ¡°... What?¡± ¡°What do you mean, what? You should remember just a few sentences ago.¡± ¡°I¡­ we can go?¡± ¡°You answered my questions, didn¡¯t you?¡± Anton replied. ¡°Why should I stop you?¡± ¡°... we wouldn¡¯t let anyone go,¡± Tor said. ¡°I know,¡± Anton replied. ¡°But if it makes you feel better, your survival will help our cause.¡± The man was clearly nervous as he left. No doubt he wondered if Anton planted some sort of secret information transmission formation their ship. And Anton had considered it. But if he was going to do that, it would be on one of the others. Or he¡¯d just ask the Great Queen for a handful of void ants that they could pick up later. Chapter 882 The system of Zunrose was little more than dust, but there were a few more sizable hunks of rock, metal, and other more durable materials strewn about. Anton also searched beyond the limits of the system proper for anything that had been pushed away at high speed. Fortunately he only had to search the orbital plane instead of everywhere in all three dimensions. There were a few things of interest. Chunks of formations and the like that he documented and recorded for later revision, mostly by others. Spread over such a large distance, it really didn¡¯t feel like enough to make up the planets of the system- but Anton knew that was just the limitations of the mind. Proper calculations would no doubt confirm things. Except¡­ something was missing. Something Anton expected to find. He had to admit he knew very little on the topic, but he had a single point of comparison and the word of an expert. And for how deceptive Everheart was, he also tended to be quite factual when the time came. Anton clutched his bow in hand. It was constructed from Soulstring and Worldheart. He imagined the former had a more complex process for forming than merely the death of many individuals, and could have easily been overpowered by the artificial supernova. But the Worldheart, as he understood it, was a core that developed within any cultivator planet and sometimes even separately in particular cases. He had little more knowledge than that, but he knew it was not so easily destroyed. There were a few simple possibilities. First, one had never formed in Zunrose. Second, it had been destroyed somehow- the least likely. Third, it could have been flung off in an odd direction somehow. In Anton¡¯s understanding, it wasn¡¯t necessarily terribly large on a planetary scale so it was possible. But the fourth and most likely result was that the Trigold Cluster- who had more than a month to scavenge the area- would have found it and taken it. Most likely whoever was ultimately responsible for the destruction of the star. Anton doubted they would have been foolish enough to be around for it, though it was possible that the effects would have been entirely secret to everyone in the lower realms. He wouldn¡¯t necessarily put it past the upper realms Trigold Cluster. They had yet to determine why the enemy was so ready with such a response, however. But the more Anton considered, the more likely it was some ploy to obtain a Worldheart and perhaps pin the blame on them at the same time. Or their diviners predicted the war going directly against them should that system be taken over. Whatever the case, the Trigold fleet had launched before the attacking fleets arrived in system. ¡°I¡¯ve learned what I can here,¡± Anton said. Varghese was meditating on the surface of the strange neutron star, which Anton found much more comfortable now that Varghese had some control over it. ¡°I just have some final questions for you.¡± ¡°I doubt I learned anything you haven¡¯t noticed,¡± Varghese said. ¡°But ask.¡± ¡°It¡¯s about this,¡± Anton pointed to his bow. ¡°The material.¡± ¡°Worldheart, right?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°You didn¡¯t happen to sense any, did you?¡± ¡°Now that you mention it¡­ no, I didn¡¯t. There should have been some, shouldn¡¯t there?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose it got sucked into the star somehow?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure,¡± Varghese said. ¡°But I have the feeling that¡¯s not the case.¡± ¡°I know the normal process shouldn¡¯t have pulled in anything that far,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it was just one of the options. I would feel better if that¡¯s where it ended up.¡± ¡°Then it almost certainly isn¡¯t there,¡± Varghese said. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything aberrant in the composition, but perhaps my senses just aren¡¯t that fine tuned yet.¡± ¡°How is your technique growing?¡± ¡°This is definitely a matter of months or years rather than hours or day,¡± Varghese said. ¡°But my connection is improving, and I could sweep my senses far enough to find you when you were out there. Though you¡¯re not exactly difficult to spot.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± Anton said. ¡°Usually I manage my stealth through sheer distance. Now then, you¡¯re staying here I presume?¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°I think I should be safe. Unless they can get close enough to pick me without them or their attacks being sucked into this guy,¡± Varghese pat the unnervingly dark surface of the neutron star. Anton understood the instinct to do things like that, but he kept his distance as he was not bound to that particular star. ¡°If they try to assault it, I am much more capable of active defense.¡± Varghese raised a thin string of matter from the neutron star- so thin Anton couldn¡¯t actually see it, only sense it for how it distorted the world. ¡°I could whip that through a fleet and take them out, if they got within a couple thousand kilometers. Not that it would be easy to damage this thing in its current state, even with disturbing artifacts from the upper realms.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Speaking of which¡­ I don¡¯t sense as much ascension energy anymore.¡± ¡°That sort of got burned away or absorbed when I bound to the star,¡± Varghese explained. ¡°I¡¯m not completely sure why, but I can guess. The remnants of whatever caused this were probably also consumed. If I learn any details, though, I¡¯ll certainly share them. Perhaps from the¡­ memories? Of this star.¡± Varghese shook his head. ¡°I get what you mean,¡± Anton said. ¡°There may be something. We will talk later. Make sure to recover properly.¡± Varghese just grinned and waved. Anton went to pick up the Great Queen where she was waiting- she had some good reasons for not wanting to get anywhere close to a neutron star, especially of strange origins. That was one thing that could certainly kill her, and the gravity at the surface of a star was pretty hefty. Anton wouldn¡¯t have gotten as close as he did if Varghese weren¡¯t making things easier for him. And of course Varghese could avoid flattening himself. ¡°Let us return to somewhere more lively,¡± the Great Queen communicated. Anton absolutely agreed. ----- Among the various things that Anton got scans of, one of the formations was a core part of the planetary barrier. Or rather, a very small part of it- somewhere around a single percent or less of the important part. But even that was still good enough to give the formation masters of the Lower Realms Alliance some ideas how to break through them in the future. Anton was happy to let them research such things while he remained on In¡¯istra, protecting it in Varghese¡¯s stead while his disciple was occupied. It was four months later when a few ships slipped into the system. They¡¯d managed to get past all of the scouts, but Anton was very sensitive to new entrants into his shared domain- especially since he was currently on guard. Arrows were on the way before he even gave them his warning. ¡°Access to this system is forbidden to you,¡± Anton spoke directly into the small ships. The response he got was them pushing more energy into their shielding systems. That was more than sufficient for Anton. He had scanned those in control of the vessels and determined their cultivation styles. This wasn¡¯t some additional unknown force, just the Trigold Cluster again. His arrows tore through their ships a few moments later, and then he began to gather up the survivors, ships, and anything on them. With these numbers, they had to have something equally or more concerning than the virulent mold. Or perhaps they were simply spies who were going to land on the planet somehow- though there was no way those ships could actually land. They had none of the markings of alliance ships. Anton had to admit, they were pretty clever. Because there was one more ship. It was concealed better than the rest. That one Anton approached personally, attacking from up close and tearing it into pieces as it exploded- explosions not of his own devising, but of formations from that very ship. The most the people of In¡¯istra should have noticed was a slight flickering of the local star. Someone would come along to pick up prisoners¡­ and others would be taking bits and pieces to secure locations in isolated systems to determine what sort of deadly plans they might have had. Anton¡¯s thoughts went to Poriza nearby. It was more than just a thought exercise- he could actually picture the system to some extent through the star. He wasn¡¯t able to pick out any ships, and without his personal presence he couldn''t be certain. But they were already looking for hidden ships, so another warning would likely be insulting. Anton pondered. What if something happened in both systems at once? He had ties to Poriza as well. It was not a short journey to get there. Even traveling between two bound stars with his new technique, it would be a matter of days. It wasn¡¯t quite an adjacent system either- otherwise Anton could have at least shot an arrow that far, if not in a useful fashion. But perhaps now was the time to work on continuing to expand his range. Otherwise he might never properly develop a cross realms shot. He did give both systems a warning about that. It wasn¡¯t anywhere close to the same expenditure of energy required to take down a few small ships. He needed power and control, and the former would diminish with distance. The latter as well, to some extent, but as it drew closer to his next bound system he got a momentary uptick in control. But ultimately over ten lightyears was still too far for him just yet. Nobody ever hit a far target without practice. He couldn¡¯t shoot thousands or tens of thousands of arrows like that per day, but he could easily shoot a handful per hour. And perhaps he would grow more efficient. ----- The Shining Cooperative, after the plague on Mazlerth, had strengthened their borders- especially where it concerned directly facing the lower realm Trigold systems, as they learned of them. Unlike people like Anton, most Life Transformation cultivators and below had to eat and ships needed fuel. In short, there were logistical issues for them going around the defenses. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to defend the border- they had to defend in three dimensions, after all. Ultimately from what Anton understood, they had fleets stationed up to two or three systems out, watching for any approaching fleets- or anything trying to sneak by. Even though the stealth systems of the enemy weren¡¯t completely reverse engineered yet, simple knowledge of what they had made it more possible to defend their border. Information didn¡¯t come directly to Anton, but he heard they stopped at least a handful of attempted intrusions themselves. They were less able- or willing, honestly- to capture enemies with potential bioweapons or the like. From what he heard, most of the ships were turned to dust, and Anton couldn¡¯t argue with the results. In fact, he was quite glad with the vigor they showed preventing even their least populated systems from danger. They¡¯d had a bit of a slow start in the war, but perhaps that was more reasonable. Mobilizing fleets across dozens of lightyears wasn¡¯t a trivial task. And if Anton was going to bet, they had mostly been focused to the south and west where the Lower Realms Alliance was before that. He wouldn''t blame them at all for being cautious. The other reason for their slow start was that many of their strongest cultivators had gone into intensive cultivation sessions, trying to surpass the Assimilation threshold. It wasn¡¯t so easy, so most likely only a small portion would succeed with the insights the Lower Realms Alliance had shared with them so far. But everyone was going to at least assess the possibility. And Anton expected a decent few should have recently finished the process. He just wished there had been more time to get to know these particular neighbors before war came upon them. Chapter 883 A few months was both nothing and an eternity for cultivators. For interstellar cultivators, that was sufficient time to bring armies from nearly anywhere, though perhaps only without a level of caution. On the other hand, it was barely enough time to make improvements in any significant way. Even Life Transformation cultivators would expect to spend several years for each step of progress- those beyond that level could expect handfuls of years or as much as decades. Even so, there were matters of technique that could be developed and improved more rapidly. Especially newer things. Varghese was dealing with one of those at this very moment, something he couldn¡¯t have learned before reaching Assimilation as it required being bound to something. In his particular case, a star. Thinking as himself, the space contained within a star system was vast and nearly impossible to comprehend. Even though most times planets orbited in a small slice of the whole, the distances involved meant he could sense little more than vague presences most of the time. Where he was now, there were no planets to pick out, but he could still feel his senses expanding. Not as himself, but instead as the star. Regardless of whether it was a form of neutron star that was supposed to exist, it did. And Varghese had formed a connection. Or perhaps re-formed it. Wasn¡¯t this the same star he¡¯d been bound to, after all? Though it could hardly be called the same after what had happened, an ultra accelerated supernova. He wondered what it would have been like, if he¡¯d been able to hold his connection during the process. He¡¯d never know, probably. And it was impossible for it to fill the same part of him as it once had, because that part of him was scorched and ruined. He was only hoping that he would be able to re-cultivate and scour that part clean, replacing it with something new. But time was necessary to be certain of that. Along with the expansion of perception from the star, he also gained some control over it. He couldn¡¯t twist and distort the object as a whole. Nothing he could do could really change its form as a near perfect sphere, forced into that shape by gravity. But he could control tiny strands of it- ones that would have been kilometers across in a normal star but were thin as strings. Those would be sufficient to lash out and destroy anything he could think of, should it be in danger in the future. But if he was next to it, he would have been able to defend it anyway. At least to some extent. No, he needed to know if he could reach other stars. And none was better to test with than his home star in In¡¯istra. He reached through himself, taking advantage of his connection¡­ but nothing of note happened. Indeed, he still needed to amplify those aspects of his connection with his first star. At least he sensed he could do it from where he was. He didn¡¯t want to leave the star alone to die a second death- both because it would be bad for his cultivation and because it would be sad. Even though he didn¡¯t think the stars actually felt anything. Another month passed, and Varghese was certain the process would be several times quicker if he were next to the star in person. But he was making progress. Enough to sense from In¡¯istra¡¯s star. He could pick out each planet, though with no level of detail that resolved into individuals. The exception was Anton, who was connected to Varghese through their shared cultivation style and in particular through their connections to that particular star. His strength also made him stand out. Varghese might soon be able to pick out the other Assimilation cultivators on In¡¯istra, but there was at least a basic planetary barrier active at all times that hindered that. As for his control over the star, he traced his perception over its surface, creating ripples on it. Tiny ripples, compared to the size of the star. He doubted he had the power to do anything else, and he didn¡¯t want to cause actual trouble. But feeling he had an effect was good enough. That was he knew his control properly worked at range. He even had his thoughts confirmed when Anton reached out to him within the star. It didn¡¯t seem like much- like placing a hand on his shoulder and acknowledging him- but that was plenty. He would make sure he could manage something more. Perhaps a proper attack that could at least deal with anything that got too close to the star. Preferably more than a few thousand kilometers, otherwise they would be practically touching the star. Preferably some tens or hundreds of thousands of kilometers to get a reasonable distance. As for the star next to him, its actual size was so tiny- only a few handfuls of kilometers across- that anyone targeting it would likely have to draw much closer. But he still wanted to be able to reach a similar range for a counterattack, just in case. Rather than directing any of the matter towards something, Varghese gathered heat for a moment before shooting it out in a concentrated burst. That would ultimately make no difference to the star, as said heat was being expelled anyway. Varghese thought the attack was adequate, though he¡¯d want to keep working on it. He found it easier to reach out from the star with a magnetic field, with which he could likely latch onto an enemy ship. Even if they didn¡¯t use much metal, there should be some, and other things he could magnetize besides. Cultivation wasn¡¯t limited to the base properties of materials, after all. Though it would be several orders of magnitude easier for him to tear apart a ship primarily made of metal compared to a similarly durable wood. While he watched, more groups of local cultivators poked their heads into the system. None approached close enough to the newly formed neutron star that Varghese thought they would be able to distinguish him from the star- especially since the density of the star¡¯s energy itself overpowered his natural energy by an unfathomable amount. It would be like picking out a regular ant on a planet. None of those investigating caused further trouble, but Varghese still took note of how they were sneaking around through the system. At least, that was how he interpreted their motions, rather than as caution. Most likely they felt exposed, without anything to hide behind, but that was the state of things. Very few hunks of rock larger than a fist had survived, and most of those were just melted slag instead of anything recognizable. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ----- ¡°As you can see here,¡± Catarina said to the council present before her. ¡°Systems in the upper realms are concentrated around access to resources- or former access to resources. Some systems or individual planets reach a sort of self-perpetuating balance, others fade, and new ones develop. But the process can take quite a while.¡± She moved around, pointing at the projected three dimensional image. ¡°As you can see, we have colored relevant systems. Those under the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s direct control, those on friendly terms, those that are neutral, and those controlled by enemies. The latter are more or less only the Trigold Cluster and the Exalted Quadrant.¡± ¡°What about that sickly green system?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°That¡¯s Everheart. Obviously. He doesn¡¯t fit in any of the other categories. Fortunately, his system is out of the way, though it will have an effect on overall traversal patterns. As you can see here,¡± she changed the image. ¡°There are a number of routes people take to travel there searching for fame, fortune, and power. Some survive and return with such, while the majority simply add to the system¡¯s resources. I would expect a predetermined balance to keep the maximum amount of inflow.¡± The graphic showed lines traveling between several clusters of systems, both from within their own alliance and then along the northern border of the Scarlet Midfields. However, there were more than a few wide sweeping arcs from the southern part of the superpowers on either side of them that all flowed into the Everheart System, which ultimately meant going through more of the actually occupied territory of the Scarlet Midfields. ¡°It is these areas where we have the most concern,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Our neighbors are not always reasonable with their actions as they enter and exit our territory. Indeed, they likely would say we don¡¯t even have a proper claim to it, and it would be difficult for us to refute that. At the very least, we need to manage the portions where they enter friendly territory.¡± ¡°And how do you propose we manage that?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°We could potentially send out Augmentation cultivators to a few locations, but other than that there are far too many locations to defend without current manpower. Especially with minimal loss of life.¡± He shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not that I want to discount those who are troubled, but I don¡¯t think the expense is worth it.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Which is why we will need to consolidate this territory and adjust the easiest routes.¡± ¡°So, what, we pick a few places to camp out and cause hell? That could just push people further into our territory,¡± Tauno shook his head. ¡°Indeed,¡± Zazil added. ¡°Or it could provoke a larger scale response from either side.¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean at all. See, the problem is that they are convenient routes. So if we simply make them less convenient, they won¡¯t take them.¡± ¡°And how do we manage that without military might?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°It¡¯s rather straightforward,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Though it is a rather large project. What we want to do is this,¡± she said, changing the image to an animation, which showed the routes snapping further outward as the bright spheres representing systems moved inward. ¡°You see?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure what I¡¯m looking at,¡± Zazil admitted. ¡°Why did the routes shift? Can you even predict that?¡± ¡°WIth a high degree of accuracy,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And they shifted because the systems got further away, making others more convenient.¡± ¡°So we hope for a widespread system drift?¡± Zazil questions. ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. There¡¯s no way it would happen as we want, especially not on both sides. No, we just have to cause it.¡± ¡°... I¡¯m sorry?¡± Zazil frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t think I quite understood you there.¡± ¡°No, you certainly did,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We simply shift the relative position of these outer systems closer to our core, making them not only more protected but also the rest. Actually, many of you will have noticed that the entire area squeezed down slightly. That is not only the only way to practically manage this, but most likely the best result for our alliance.¡± ¡°... So you¡¯re proposing we move thousands of star systems,¡± Tauno said. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯ve gone over the numbers with the engineers and we should be able to accomplish this within a century, if we start now.¡± ¡°That¡­¡± Zazil said. ¡°Is quite a bit to believe. But let¡¯s say this was possible and not, I assume, horrifically expensive like most of your proposals. What happens if we expand our sphere of influence?¡± ¡°It would be simple enough to add a few more points into the mesh,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Inevitably dragging their systems into a relatively similar position of our choosing.¡± ¡°And what happens if we expand all the way to the borders of the Trigold Cluster and Exalted Quadrant?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°This seems like it would most likely need to expand in a sphere. We could only get, what, three quarters of the area in such a sphere?¡± ¡°Closer to half, actually,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But we could pull in systems as necessary.¡± ¡°And what about the reactions of our neighbors?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°If we get anywhere close to that far, our relative power will be sufficient to stand against them,¡± Catarina said confidently. ¡°As it is, we¡¯d be occupying about one part in one thousand of the whole of the Scarlet Midfields.¡± ¡°Is that true?¡± Zazil asked. ¡°We stretch over more than a hundred lightyears. Wouldn¡¯t that be closer to a tenth? Ah¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not currently a perfect sphere, obviously,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But if we were, we could have a greater barrier protecting the whole alliance. And pulling away from other systems would create a dead zone where it would be difficult to approach, especially in secret.¡± ¡°And if you had the funds now, you could start this project and be done in a century?¡± ¡°Oh no,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Most of that time would be confirming that we wouldn¡¯t tear apart planets and stars. Constructing the formation itself would only take a couple decades.¡± Chapter 884 Soon enough Varghese returned home to In¡¯istra. The war still had them on the defensive, until they could gather more information about their enemies. Obviously information on deadly weapons wouldn¡¯t be freely available, but they were currently doing their best to observe the reactions of the Trigold cultivators to an entire system being gone. Even the most ruthless cultivators would be put off by such a thing. No matter which side they were told caused the event, some trepidation could be expected. Almost casual destruction of allies- whether that was what was intended or not- was bound to make people hesitant. And if they thought the Lower Realms Alliance or Shining Cooperative had been at fault, they would be wondering if it could be done again, just as those who had witnessed it and survived. On that topic, it was highly improbable that nobody from the Trigold Cluster had escaped the system, even if some group attempted to clean them up. But perhaps those who survived would have gone into hiding, fearing for their own lives. Though it was considered extremely unlikely they could detonate another star, it was clear they had more than a few dangerous and unexpected methods of assault, and thus any Trigold Cultivators that approached friendly territory were eliminated as quickly as possible, just to be safe. ----- The war would continue for some time. Anton knew that, but he retained his resolve to not be a major participant. It was quite difficult for him to do so, and if they had destroyed a friendly system instead of one of their own- for whatever reason that came about- Anton most likely would not have kept the same stance. It would have been worth using his last few bound stars to crush important enemy systems¡­ though of course, there was the risk that such stars would be destroyed. It was something Varghese would have to consider as well. But they were not ready to go on the offensive again just yet. Regardless of whether or not he intended to fight in this particular war, Anton had reasons to continue to grow stronger. Stronger, and more versatile- and mobile. Obviously his combat mobility was not the issue, but it was related to bound stars. He was still in the process of replacing his earlier cultivation stars with actual bonded stars, one at a time. He also taught the technique to Varghese, who after his first success had some insights. The core of his insight was that even after a single star replaced, Varghese was nearing his current limit for that particular technique. And if Anton considered carefully, he could sense his own limit. With the two of them and some time in meditation, it was easy enough to discern the truth with reasonable confidence. For each star past one hundred, one of the previous stars could be replaced with another bound star. For Anton, that meant he didn¡¯t have a full ninety-nine extra stars, but just short of double was still quite useful. He could bind a small handful of stars to fit into his later cultivation advancements, but he had room for over thirty others through the much slower process of replacement and attunement. That was a sufficient number to create a solid route throughout the Lower Realms Alliance where he could both travel quickly and fight against any intrusions. ----- Anton slowly made his way back towards Ceretos, replacing a few stars of his own along the way. He understood that he would be unable to provide assistance as he moved further away, but that would minimize the temptation to act unnecessarily. There were plenty of brave individuals guarding the border worlds, formation masters bolstering their detection abilities. Indeed, the less he participated the more the Shining Cooperative and the Lower Realms Alliance had to work together, sharing information with each other. That made Anton quite pleased, along with the fact that Kybele was the first of them to reach Assimilation. Well, perhaps that wasn¡¯t quite true. There were a few nearly simultaneous events, as far as cultivators reckoned things. The announcements were months apart, but it was easy for cultivators in isolation to lose small units of time like months. Though proper clocks helped immensely, keeping track of the date for people. Another one of those who advanced was one of the oldest among them, a formation master known as Ravil from the Righteous Inscription Sect. He was a man who could have ascended long before, if they trusted ascension not to deliver them into enemy hands. There were steps being made to allow some to ascend into the Scarlet Alliance, but most people were more concerned about the worlds of the Shining Cooperative than advancing their cultivation in that particular manner. And Assimilation was often a better option, for those with strong attachments to places and ideas. ----- Anton found Ceretos to be quite bustling with activity. It always was, of course, but relevantly the activity centered around stronger individuals, where often there were long periods of downtime. Rather than guessing what everything was about, Anton went to find Vincent. He was recognized as he approached the sect, entering through the gates properly instead of trying to pass through the barrier. In the past, he¡¯d been willing to cut corners like that- now, he didn¡¯t want the barriers opened casually, especially if it could be for an imposter. Not that it would be simple to fake being Anton, in particular, but he wanted to be the best example he could. And Vincent always entered through the front gates, greeting everyone as he passed. Anton still maintained knowledge of every name and face within the multiplanetary sect, but he didn¡¯t know everyone. Vincent took the time to speak to people and learn more about them than was in their files. Anton admired that, because he couldn¡¯t do that for so many no matter how much he enjoyed what socialization he took part in. ¡°Welcome back, Sect Head,¡± Vincent greeted him after he reached the peak. ¡°What can I do for you?¡± ¡°A good question,¡± Anton said. ¡°I shall also ask the same of you, in a moment. Things are quite busy around here, I see.¡± ¡°Yes. We have a handful of people preparing for Ascension¡­ or Assimilation. Actually, a few wanted to consult you on starbinding. I was preparing some messages to send your way when you mentioned your return.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Perhaps you didn¡¯t think it would take years,¡± Anton said. ¡°No, quite the contrary. You didn¡¯t say you would be here expediently. You were clear enough it would take time. For matters more time sensitive, I would have still sent a proper message.¡± Vincent frowned, ¡°Oh, you should speak to Sect Head Lev as well. He wished to consult you, I believe.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I will go there as well. You can inform everyone I intend to be in the system for some time, and am available as needed.¡± ----- Grandfather Willow waved to Anton as he approached. Unlike many sects, the Grasping Willows didn¡¯t rely on formations as one of their primary defenses- they would restrict the tree too much. It was more than just a reactive plant in its current state, able to actively move against foes even without conscious effort from Lev. ¡°Anton,¡± Lev smiled as they saw each other. ¡°Good to have you back.¡± ¡°I try to drop in as frequently as is reasonable,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though I should be able to cut down on travel times soon enough.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± Lev said. ¡°Actually, I was considering a plan that would make me more mobile myself. Though I don¡¯t think it will ever reach the same level as you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°I don¡¯t know if Grandfather Willow can spread his branches much further without taking over surrounding territory.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± Lev said. ¡°Though he can reach a bit higher, before he strains for air. But actually, this is a project I began some time ago. You see, I took clippings of Grandfather to various planets.¡± ¡°I was aware you had other branches,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I thought the willows planted were of the plain variety.¡± ¡°Actually, there wasn¡¯t much difference,¡± Lev admitted. ¡°Grandfather Willow took nearly half a millennium to reach a proper size. So the special plantings are only just starting to appear exceptional. The point is for me to bind to them as well¡­ though hopefully without losing my particular strengths here.¡± ¡°I would leave that judgment up to you. However, I can certainly see others planted in this system at least providing further mobility.¡± ¡°That is what I hope for. But they¡¯re far too weak at the moment. Which is why I would like to request your assistance. You have some control over the sunlight here in this system. If you could concentrate it on a few of them¡­ without taking away from everything else, of course.¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Most of the sunlight released is going to miss all of our planets. But creating streams of condensed power longer term would be a bit¡­ difficult to maintain.¡± ¡°I thought so,¡± Lev said. ¡°So we have prepared some formations to try to assist. And I¡¯ve been talking to your sect.¡± ¡°Ah yes. We might have some more Assimilation cultivators on a similar path to myself,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°They could focus on a single place easily enough.¡± ¡°We¡¯d want your permission, of course. And your guidance on whether it¡¯s a terrible idea,¡± Lev added. ¡°Because I might be missing some disastrous result.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re still willing to wait a century or two, doubling or tripling the available sunlight for a giant tree isn¡¯t too difficult. Perpetual daylight might not even be impossible. However, even though we are friends I think we would need an exchange of services between our sects.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Lev said. ¡°This is a large project. And I wouldn¡¯t want others to complain that we received some sort of handout.¡± ¡°They wouldn¡¯t possibly,¡± Anton waved his hand. ¡°At least not when they believe you to be within earshot.¡± Lev chuckled. ¡°There are quite a few people who believe things about how far my senses go, and I¡¯ve not yet had any reason to inform them otherwise. Nothing truly problematic, of course. But people have their own ambitions and desire their own growth. So about those dangers¡­¡± ¡°As long as you don¡¯t ask for too much, I can¡¯t foresee many issues. The area might be hot, but the prominence of other trees will help mitigate that. Oh, and you¡¯ll need to secure more water of course. Perhaps some exceptional airflow, though some of that will happen naturally with convection currents. But on a small scale of just a few thousand square meters on a few planets, there shouldn¡¯t be a disruption to the system¡¯s light as a whole. And outside of the system, the missing power would be just a negligible blip.¡± ¡°The plan is to expand to Weos and Rutera as well. Perhaps the Sylanis systems.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to convince people,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I think it is a good idea¡­ once people have proper control. It may take a decade or two for those beyond myself to be able to provide a steady change in the flow of sunlight. We absolutely don¡¯t want to disrupt the rest of the planet.¡± Lev shook his head. ¡°Certainly not. I¡¯d prefer to have them see us as valuable neighbors. I expect Rutera will want to log the growth of the tree, but that might actually suit us just as well. Obviously I wasn¡¯t there for the birth of the Grandfather Willow.¡± ¡°Neither was I,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Lev raised an eyebrow. ¡°I¡¯m not that old, brat!¡± Anton laughed. In fact, currently Anton was barely over a quarter older than Lev. It was the difference between somewhere around four hundred years old versus three hundred and twenty- rounding to nearest decades, of course. It was just that Lev had attained his cultivation while young, and Anton had done so while old. He still maintained his aged looks, though not quite so wrinkly and spotted as he had been for a few decades. He might be able to force himself to look younger, but he¡¯d gotten over such vanity before he became a cultivator, if he even had any. ¡°Well, we have a plan,¡± Anton said. ¡°Let me know how arrangements go on your end. I¡¯ll help along my people. Then I¡¯ll hopefully be getting back to binding new stars along the route to Akrys.¡± ¡°Are you ever going to bind Akrys itself?¡± Lev asked. ¡°I would like to, yes. But at this point I¡¯m still waiting for a unified planet¡­ and by the time that happens, I might as well see if someone else can do it first. Three Squeaks deserves that chance. And perhaps it¡¯s better if the system is fully under the locals¡¯ control.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not as if you don¡¯t have great sway there,¡± Lev said. ¡°Even if you won¡¯t force anyone to do anything, you have many friends.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s not so bad. And I heard they¡¯re doing quite well finding ways to improve their own planet, after our boost. It should certainly turn into something unique.¡± Chapter 885 Once more, for probably the tenth time in the last decade, Three Squeaks was taking part in a meeting with the Turtle Triumvirate. It was unfortunate that not even setting Meep upon them caused them any consternation, and they had been dragging their feet. Or rather, Three Squeaks and the Akrys Alliance had slowly been dragging them closer, since the tortoises weren¡¯t doing anything to make the process more reasonable. ¡°We don¡¯t see¡­ how such a thing benefits us¡­¡± one of the tortoises said. Again. Three Squeaks sighed aloud, not bothering to hide such things anymore. ¡°As has already been explained, in the long term we could easily double or triple the amount of natural energy you have available, speeding up your cultivation.¡± ¡°Does it matter?¡± One of them asked. ¡°One decade or three decades are much the same.¡± Three Squeaks twitched. One would think that people like this would be the ones most interested in long term benefits. But instead, they were like this. A slight twinge of energy turned his attention downward, where he spotted Fearsome Mandibles. ¡°I¡¯m going to devour them whole,¡± she said. When Three Squeaks shook his head and looked away, she yanked on his natural energy again. ¡°This is diplomacy. You¡¯re supposed to translate that.¡± ¡°Wha-? No, I¡¯m not translating that,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°You should,¡± Another of the Tortoise Triumvirate spoke. ¡°We wish to hear it.¡± Three Squeaks didn¡¯t want to start a war. No wait, he knew he shouldn¡¯t want to start a war. He kind of did, though. Even if the tortoises probably didn¡¯t deserve to die, he was sick and tired of them. ¡°Fearsome Mandibles says that she¡¯s going to devour you whole.¡± The first among them let out a small squeak of delight. ¡°As if such a puny creature could damage our bodies. We would crush it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll chew you apart, starting in from the neck.¡± Three Squeaks shrugged and translated. ¡°A weak thing like you?¡± the second one said. ¡°You could do nothing.¡± Three Squeaks was going to remind them how void ants worked when the third one joined it. ¡°We will not be defeated in martial combat by a mere ant.¡± The tortoise stretched its neck, trying to see something. ¡°Ouch.¡± Three Squeaks saw blood trickling down from the tortoise¡¯s neck and dripping down the shell. So it was going to be that, huh? He hadn¡¯t even noticed Fearsome Mandibles moving. The old tortoise folded up rapidly, which was the one thing they were swift about. But it didn¡¯t help. ¡°This still hurts.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Did you actually think you were invincible?¡± ¡°Make it stop,¡± the tortoise said. ¡°She¡¯s a queen. She can do whatever she wants when you insult her and provoke her,¡± Three Squeaks shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t make the rules, that¡¯s just how it is.¡± ¡°This may become a problem,¡± one of the others said. ¡°Your defensive energy seems ineffective.¡± ¡°And your scales are not able to protect you there,¡± said the last one. ¡°Though it should normally not be a problem.¡± Three Squeaks thought these tortoises were pretty chill about one of them getting mauled. Then again, he was fairly certain Fearsome Mandibles wasn¡¯t going all out. She might be rather small relative to them, but he had seen her create cuts a centimeter long and a handful of millimeters deep. More than enough to cut an important vein or artery. ¡°I request that you cease,¡± the tortoise being chewed one said. ¡°Ow.¡± Three Squeaks figured he should probably help. ¡°I imagine she wants an apology for calling her a mere ant.¡± The tortoise nodded, as much as possible with its neck scrunched up into its shell. ¡°This one was mistaken. Clearly, you are the highest class of ant.¡± The tortoise waited, before slowly unfurling. Three Squeaks spotted Fearsome Mandibles crawling out from from under the shell, ending up on the back of the third tortoise. For a moment, he thought everything would be fine. Then she somehow jumped towards the second one. Three Squeaks wasn¡¯t quite sure how it worked, but he thought it was partially aided by creating a flow in the surrounding natural energy. The second Tortoise was ready, sending out a pulse of natural energy along with a burst of sound. That would have sent Three Squeaks flying, but for a void ant¡­ it didn¡¯t do much. The motion of the air was reverted to its natural state, meaning the force was no more than a normal sound with relation to her. The tortoise tried to snap at her with its mouth, but it was far too slow for that. Things went much the same way, with her snipping at its neck. ¡°What have I done to deserve this?¡± ¡°You should probably ponder what you said,¡± Three Squeaks replied. ¡°There¡¯s a pretty obvious thing.¡± The tortoise gazed off into the distance, not even bothering to try to defend. ¡°I don¡¯t know if she would take offense to stating facts about my brethren¡¯s natural energy,¡± the second tortoise pondered aloud. ¡°Ah. You are upset about my factual misstatements concerning yourself. It seems you can do something. Ouch.¡± The tortoise looked at Three Squeaks. ¡°I require aid.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Three Squeaks slapped his forehead. ¡°It¡¯s the part where you called her a weak thing.¡± ¡°I apologize for my words,¡± the tortoise said at an unhurried pace. Or perhaps that was not so. This may have been the fastest this particular individual ever spoke, but it sure didn¡¯t seem hurried. The third among them, or perhaps the first one, showed no signs of worry. Which didn¡¯t actually tell Three Squeaks much. Obviously that one got chomped a little as well. ¡°Why? What have I done?¡± ¡°Probably the comment about crushing her.¡± ¡°I apologize for the offending statements,¡± the tortoise said. Fearsome Mandibles wiped her face on a few blades of grass, settling on a rock next to Three Squeaks. ¡°We are injured,¡± the first tortoise said, as if Three Squeaks had not watched the whole affair. ¡°We must retreat to heal our wounds.¡± The Triumvirate began turning away. ¡°No way,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°You¡¯re staying here.¡± The tortoises turned their heads, their expressions either completely neutral or outrage. Three Squeaks knew they could defeat him, individually or together. But he had Fearsome Mandibles next to him. ¡°If I let you leave now we¡¯ll never get any proper negotiation done. You¡¯re not going to die from a little bleeding¡­¡± he glanced over at Fearsome Mandibles to confirm she hadn¡¯t done anything he couldn¡¯t see. ¡°Negotiations will continue as proper,¡± the second one said. ¡°We will not fail to attend.¡± ¡°What about the ones in our territory?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°Of course,¡± said the third one. ¡°You didn¡¯t show up at the one scheduled for a year ago.¡± ¡°A slight mistake,¡± the first said. ¡°Or the one two years before that,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Truly, we must have lost track of time,¡± another said. ¡°I¡¯ll lose your track of time!¡± Three Squeaks shouted. ¡°... What?¡± they all tilted their heads, confused. Honestly, Three Squeaks didn¡¯t know what he meant by that either. But he was going to toss some gauze at this Tortoise Triumvirate and finally get them to agree to join the Akrys Alliance. Or at least give a proper reason to remain independent, but he couldn¡¯t think of what that would be. Then the whole planet would be unified. Except for those deep sea freaks. And he didn¡¯t use that term lightly, because there were a lot of weird freaking things in the ocean. Plus some deep sea fellows had joined up. It was just extremely difficult to talk to the rest as they kept trying to lure people in and devour them. ----- Anton understood most cultivators choosing Ascension over Assimilation, and he knew the Scarlet Alliance needed all they could get. Even so, there had been more than a few Grand Elders and others from the One Hundred Stars that had chosen paths of Assimilation not involving starbinding. That was not something that bothered him either. Indeed, if he only saw people who wanted to mimic him specifically, they would have a startling lack of variety within the sect. He had pushed a few people away from starbinding, or at least cautioned them to consider if there was a better path for them specifically- and they had all expressed gratefulness later. Grand Elder Fodor was one, and he had bound to a concept of logistics and organization. He might not have that much combat power¡­ but Anton was actually glad that such options were viable. They had enough warriors. Though he couldn''t help but think about the current war, and how more would always help ease the burden. But a society couldn¡¯t get by with only war. They needed to sustain themselves and grow prosperous without, or they would inevitably cause unnecessary suffering¡­ and eventually collapse. There were finally a few individuals who wanted to try Anton¡¯s method of reaching Assimilation, starbinding. Among them was a woman named Rheia. Relatively talented, at one hundred and fifty years of cultivation to reach the threshold. She was the perfect candidate for what Lev wanted, because her specialty was the control of light. Like everyone in the Order of One Hundred Stars, she had been infused with a love of growth. She was quite happy to work with Lev, once she advanced. Anton took time to provide her and anyone else on the threshold with some personal guidance. Vincent was doing a very good job with the sect, but it always helped to have multiple perspectives- and for those interested in starbinding in particular, Anton would be the best choice. He was a little nervous about sharing the power of Ceretos¡¯ star with more people, but they wouldn¡¯t have lasted centuries as part of the Order if they weren¡¯t decent people. Anton determined it was just his desire to be in control¡­ which was stupid, because he still was. They would listen to his orders. But Anton staying out of the war was related to the very same thing. He was struggling against the desire to do everything himself¡­ even if it wouldn¡¯t actually be better if he could. ----- Intel from the eastern border came infrequently, though as they grew more confident in their understanding of the Trigold Cluster¡¯s formation expertise in the lower realms they were able to use certain communicators more based on technology that shouldn¡¯t have messages that could be intercepted. Infiltration was difficult, as they were quite wary of ships approaching their borders. The Great Queen did perform some infiltrations herself, but while her stealth capabilities were sufficient, she could only gather so much information. Mostly what people said in her presence. They considered using more void ants, but that meant risking them getting caught which might then result in better countermeasures. There were others, of course. Spies trained to fit in among the enemy, either emulating their cultivation styles or pretending to be something obscure. Direct stealth was sometimes an option, but riskier. Valuable information was slow to obtain, though it was not as if smaller pieces weren¡¯t worthwhile in aggregate. Each snippet of troop movements could show a larger picture. They seemed to be flooding back into the systems along the attacking path, fortifying the area and their borders. Information on their attacking fleets was more difficult. Fewer people seemed to know about things such as the virulent mold and various other attempts to cause widespread population damage. It was still uncertain what they knew about starbinding. It was unclear if they had predicted Varghese¡¯ presence or not. That information should only be known to a select few among billions, scattered between many worlds. But a little bit at a time, they were picking up a picture of what their enemies'' plans might be. They just hoped their own progress was faster than whatever spies were among them. Chapter 886 No matter how many times he experienced it, upper energy seeming to randomly disappear in front of Chidi was quite surprising. Obviously he knew how it was happening. He could feel the void of energy where Crossed Antennae stood, which was clearly different from the zones of energy she emptied. Upper energy would rapidly flow into whatever area Crossed Antennae drained, which meant her method wasn¡¯t any good for leaving clear writing. He appreciated the thought, however, and the void ant queen hadn¡¯t been willing to give up there. She learned to do more than simply consume the energy from an area, but how to do it in focused patterns. In that manner, she could create whole words at once, using a modified writing style. Chidi wasn¡¯t used to written text to begin with, since he had to feel the shape of ink in paper. Many common letters lost their distinction with Crossed Antennae¡¯s method, so instead they made something entirely new. Chidi could most easily sense larger distortions in energy, and they remained clear for a few moments longer as energy filled in the remaining space. Thus, rather than proper characters Crossed Antennae created small and large voids, as well as wide ¡®gashes¡¯ that could be rotated in four distinct orientations. It was a large undertaking just to talk to Chidi, but he appreciated the effort all the more because of it. ¡°How goes the search for sword cultivators?¡± Crossed Antennae asked, the distortions of energy that formed words appearing in sequence in front of her. ¡°Only a very small portion seem to have both interest and aptitude,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°Though it¡¯s possible I missed something given¡­ well, communication difficulties.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°We had not anticipated how troublesome it would be to teach my offspring to understand human speech. That was not an issue for the other colonies, who grew up among them.¡± Chidi nodded. He and the other humans had been helping teach them to understand speech, though his own part was minimal in that regard. They had been worried the communal learning sessions might fail- not because void ants were not good in such environments, but because of the subject matter. The void ants could not relay the spoken word to each other. However, they did sign the spoken words in sync. And words weren¡¯t repeated just once. Of course, they might not be staying with the colony indefinitely- that was where technology came into play. They had spare communications equipment on which they stored recordings. Not all created locally, but instead some were sourced from the core of the Scarlet Alliance. It was much simpler for thousand people to record a hundred words than for ten people to record ten thousand words. And even if there were some logistical issues, they weren¡¯t anything insurmountable. ¡°Those who have the aptitude have shown success, at least,¡± Chidi added. ¡°They are much more effective when using their mandibles as swordlike weapons. Though they¡¯re mostly, uh¡­¡± ¡°Quite weak,¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°I have not had time to produce many at the quality of royal guard. And other void ants need quite long to develop unique properties. Soon, however, I will not be involved in producing larger quantities of offspring. The last of the queens we need for the foreseeable future will be placed around the planet. Thank you for your aid in larger scale changes, by the way.¡± When she ¡®spoke¡¯ for a long time to him, Chidi noticed a large scale depletion in energy. Knowing that, she would fly around to different locations. He turned to face her as she did, though it didn¡¯t really mean anything. ¡°We¡¯re happy to help deliver things,¡± Chidi said. Mostly, it was the ship that did the work. Void ants could obviously transport things for themselves, but moving them around the planet was a bit beyond their capabilities. At least in a timeframe shorter than years. Or decades. ¡°And reshaping the terrain in broad strokes is easy enough.¡± The void ants weren¡¯t terribly picky about where they lived- as long as it could produce natural resources for them to consume. The planet named Bounty was missing some of the things Chidi could have considered necessities, but for the void ants purposes it made sense. Just enough wild plants to feed upon and sustain the upper energy was the threshold they wanted to reach. If the planet seemed to be something more than just someone scattering seeds on a planet with atmosphere, their goal might not be accomplished. That goal being lying in wait for groups from the upper realms to use these planets as ¡®short term¡¯ bases before invading the lower realms. From what they had seen previously, that might be a few decades- but they were only truly informed about what happened during an abnormal cycle one time. When Chidi considered that, he realized that the seemingly frantic pace the void ant queen was working at was not so odd. She wanted to get the planet properly established before moving on. And she would have to move- traveling between planets to provide queens for others. If she spent a decade on every planet, she wouldn¡¯t actually get very far before the next cycle. And then the surprise factor would be lost. That was the main reason their group had come. The ship that carried her from the lower realms to the upper realms was not expected to be able to make further trips. They came to deliver the first round of a small fleet of ships- each one being hardly larger than Chidi himself, but capable of hosting Crossed Antennae and a large quantity of others. ----- Aconite had hopes for the void ants. They could be excellent poisoners with their particular qualities. As she had previously noted, ignoring defensive energy was huge. The only issue, aside from most void ants not taking the initiative to learn anything except what their queens directed, was that there wasn¡¯t much local that was poisonous to humans. Not in sufficient concentration to use. They likely wouldn¡¯t be setting up any extraction and refinement processes, either. It wasn¡¯t that they were incapable, but even underground structures might give them away. They were sticking to tunnels that looked as natural as possible, and little else. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. But she still found a few interested. Perhaps one in many thousands of void ants was a bit different from others, wanting to try new things. Some of those wanted to learn from her. And with the permission of Crossed Antennae, she would be taking them with her to learn off planet. The loss of a few void ants as workers was ultimately trivial- and there wasn¡¯t any sort of competition that truly necessitated soldiers at the moment either, so snatching away some of them wouldn¡¯t hurt either. If ultimately they lost interest in her craft, they could still live on Xankeshan. The plan was to not have any void ant colonies among the actual Scarlet Alliance, for purposes of plausible deniability if nothing else, but the higher ups were interested in seeing void ants in person. The species had been practically eradicated, including records. Perhaps only Everheart¡¯s little pocket on Ceretos¡¯ moon had been kept safe. ----- ¡°... I hate Everheart,¡± Engineer Uzun commented to Catarina. ¡°This is¡­ ugh,¡± he shook his head. ¡°Teleportation between continents? Simple enough, once you know how. Going as far as a planet¡¯s moon is a huge expense. Between planets in the same system? Damn near impossible except for closer neighbors.¡± ¡°And?¡± Catarina raised an eyebrow. ¡°And what? Interstellar teleportation is impossible with our current resources.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying it is possible,¡± Catarina said. ¡°No, I- look, it might be. If we could draw upon the power of a star. But even if we could, it would be risky. And we don¡¯t have any materials that could handle that kind of charge, even if we had something that could draw in that much energy.¡± Catarina waited. ¡°Even using the best techniques available, you¡¯d be lucky if something worked once, and that would involve filthy tricks like unifying the functionality of the device at a certain moment with its total output across its lifetime. You know, Everheart crap.¡± ¡°So expensive, dangerous, and single use,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We should definitely look into that. What about your other travel ideas?¡± ¡°The most promising is a network of warp gates,¡± he said. ¡°Aside from the fact that a failure along the path might strand ships along the way or worse if our safety precautions fail. Not counting malicious actions. I wouldn¡¯t expect a functional prototype this century. Though who knows? We might get a generation of tech savvy ascenders who prove me wrong. I¡¯d love to see it.¡± ¡°Unlikely,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Simply because you have the experience and cultivation insights. Plus, I know you keep up on all of the developments in the lower realms.¡± ¡°I try,¡± he said. ¡°But even with miraculous reading techniques, I can¡¯t actually understand everything. Do you know how many research papers ten billion people produce every day? And Rutera hasn¡¯t had a population that small since before first contact. I¡¯m not even talking about fusion cultivator technologies.¡± He frowned, looking at Catarina. ¡°Actually, shouldn¡¯t it be you working on the teleportation devices? You¡¯re better at formations.¡± ¡°I have set aside the topic for the moment,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I have other things to focus on.¡± ¡°Like your absurd plan to relocate all of our systems?¡± She shrugged. ¡°I considered options to compress space, but that would have higher sustained upkeep costs and problematic results if it was sabotaged.¡± ¡°I can see that,¡± Uzun nodded. ----- In addition to discussing her plans with work colleagues like Uzun, Catarina did like to pass them by her level-headed husband. She was rather surprised he hadn¡¯t completely shut down her idea to compress the various systems under Alliance control together, but perhaps that was because he¡¯d considered the defensive benefits. ¡°Tell me about those warp gates,¡± Timothy said. ¡°How would they actually work?¡± ¡°They¡¯d be something like a replacement for the individual drives on ships that perform the same work. They¡¯d create a corridor of distorted space that would allow ships to travel through either distorted space or a subspace, depending on various factors.¡± ¡°So this would be more valuable for civilian operations,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Unless the expense is too much for military ships?¡± She nodded. ¡°It might increase our trade efficiency, if it ever gets working. And it could make military travel more effective, allowing them to arrive at the far end with more energy. But if going into a warzone, they would have to be aware of sabotage once information about these is disseminated.¡± ¡°How come nobody else has these things?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°I understand the technological side of things. But the formation focused ones like teleportation portals¡­¡± ¡°Who says they don¡¯t? Everheart certainly has demonstrated such things in the upper realms. It would just be expensive. Exclusive. We haven¡¯t been spending a lot of time inside our neighbor¡¯s borders, you know. Even Velvet would be cautious entering large sects.¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°Of course. It would be used only by the wealthy. And I suppose there would be risks for them to consider. They¡¯d want to keep quiet about it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But we can probably rule out quick and easy large scale teleportation mainly because Everheart hasn¡¯t been caught.¡± ¡°About that other thing. Intersystem teleportation. That would be easier if the systems were compressed, right?¡± ¡°Of course. Shorter distances would greatly help,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And if the locations were otherwise connected by formations, wouldn¡¯t that help?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I suppose that¡¯s true. That could significantly¡­¡± she began muttering to herself. ¡°... but the energy costs¡­ emergencies¡­¡± Timothy just smiled as he watched his wife. He might not ever be able to invent any of these things, formations or high level technology, but he wasn¡¯t without learning or insights of his own into the world. He had no guarantee if any ideas he tossed to his wife would get picked up or even that they were viable in the first place, but he could still put them out there. And if nothing else, it would keep her occupied and not focused on some of her wilder ideas Chapter 887 Some said that the hardest decisions were made upon the battlefield. Perhaps that was true for some, but Lynette found that other decisions were also vastly impactful. Of course, there was some difference in that single individuals didn¡¯t tend to have control over them. Perhaps not all of the weight of the choice was upon her, but it still felt like it. This was something that would affect billions of lives, and the course of their relations with the Shining Cooperative. Everything stemmed from fairly understandable circumstances. The current state of the war required constant vigilance and patrols focusing manpower on the eastern end of the Cooperative. That became a puzzle of logistics, transporting food and other supplies to the front lines, such as they were. Ship parts were a necessity, because even without combat constant operation could cause ships to wear down- and not all of them were powered by directly renewable sources. Even batteries that could absorb natural energy from around themselves would break down over time. And then there were the problems with food. Mazlerth hadn¡¯t been a primary producer of food for the group, but what happened there had caused a shock to the system at a time when they were beginning to shift over to new methods. Ultimately, Lynette thought the Shining Cooperative would have been worse off without new production techniques from the Lower Realms Alliance¡­ but the timing was still terrible. Then there had been the resurgences of the mold from Mazlerth- not on the planet itself, which had systematically eradicated every last bit of it. Instead, it was from food shipped off planet before the quarantine. Small amounts of spores had gone unnoticed as various grains and the like were mixed in with other food supplies. During transport they remained innocuous, seemingly in a state of hibernation. Even being stored in refrigeration for years, they showed few signs- until the slow growth reached a certain point. Methods to combat the mold had been spread throughout the Shining Cooperative, so they hadn¡¯t needed further quarantines¡­ but entire warehouses had found their contents devoured overnight as the environment shifted just enough for it to grow and devour anything organic. A few incidents of that reduced the food supply, and the necessity to carefully inspect things coming and going to be certain of its eradication further limited the supply chain. Along with that and various other necessities, the Shining Cooperative was in a rough spot. If they had come and begged for money to pay their workers, Kybele and the others would have been significantly less inclined to respond positively. But as they had hit a limitation of their production and transportation, there wasn¡¯t much they could do. Obviously the Lower Realms Alliance was going to send aid. The only question was how much. Many lives were at stake- and even if few people would directly starve, it could result in much suffering. And if a lack of supplies on the border resulted in something terrible slipping by the patrols? Devastation. But while the Lower Realms Alliance was wealthy, they had their own people to worry about, and their own hardships. Natural droughts and poor seasons could only be counteracted by cultivators to a certain extent- especially on less developed planets. Throughout all of the planets they controlled, there was always somewhere that needed aid. In short, they needed to keep enough for themselves as well. Finding a correct balance was important. And then there was the small but distinct possibility of deception. There was no chance the entire situation was fabricated, but it could be somewhat exaggerated. It was entirely possible they would want to take advantage of their new neighbors. Lynette was qualified to deal with numbers, but that situation was something she was especially suited for. They could sign a contract of sorts for the aid. If there were deceptions in the numbers, they could demand recompense. It wasn¡¯t nice to force a contract on those who were in difficult straits, but she had to protect the Lower Realms Alliance. And the terms wouldn¡¯t be too onerous. Most importantly¡­ if they weren¡¯t exaggerating, there wouldn¡¯t be any penalties. But they couldn¡¯t just donate everything to their neighbors. They had just barely established their non aggression pact, and now they were allies by default in a war. There had been contact between the two groups for fewer than two decades, so the amount of trust between them only went so far. Knowing that timing could be important, they had already authorized the first shipments before there were even tangible promises of repayment. Lynette only wondered if she and the others could find a balance between speed and proper deliberation. At least the math would be fast, once they knew what the math should be. Adding and multiplying numbers on the scale of billions of humans was easy enough to compute. ----- A decade, no, five more years would have been enough. That was what Anton was thinking as he heard about the situation with the Shining Cooperative. But they had barely begun their shift in growth, a few places testing out what the Lower Realms Alliance told them. It was reasonable caution, and if there hadn¡¯t been a war immediately following it would have probably worked out with only a small number of flaws. Whatever was expected with humans involved, as even cultivators made mistakes. If there was something he could reasonably do that others could not, Anton would have gladly gone to help- but all of the advice he had was freely available. Unless they needed more obscure knowledge like how to grow things on the barest topsoil on rocky crags, his presence wouldn¡¯t matter. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Anton knew that bad news would always exist. This was just slightly larger scale than most. He couldn¡¯t do anything about it. But what he could do was look at some good news, and where things had gone well. Akrys was¡­ great, honestly. The best part was that he could hardly even pick out anything that looked like he had contributed to the planet¡¯s development. Obviously there were a number of weapons inspired by human design, and in the core of the Lower Plains things looked a bit more human. But the various types of sapient creatures living on the planet all had their own ideas of what cities and buildings and infrastructure and such should look like. They weren¡¯t wrong, either. Oh, they were making plenty of mistakes that they would pay for down the road as they had to redo cities or roads¡­ but those were part of the growing pains of civilization. And ultimately, Anton wasn¡¯t as interested in their economic development such as things might be, but their social development. There were birds of the air, birds of the water, and birds of the land. Oh, and things that weren¡¯t birds for all of those things, obviously. But it was interesting for him to see how different various places were¡­ and yet how welcoming they had become of their neighbors. Perhaps Anton was cynical, but he could have easily seen the planet turning into a bloodbath as various groups developed cultivation. It was natural for them to eat each other, or at least compete for dominance of their individual groups. And ultimately, that had been the result. It was just that they had become the same group¡­ mostly. He could see that a certain group of tortoises were still being stubborn, but what was an alliance without a few ornery participants? There were uncontacted or barely contacted individuals in the deep seas. But mammals, insects, fish, avians, and all different types- as well as predators and prey- were living in as close to harmony as possible. Individual conflicts, but worldwide cooperation or at least social acknowledgement. Which was impressive, given that transportation was quite difficult. It mostly involved walking, flying, or swimming manually. For cultivators, that wasn¡¯t exactly slow, but they lacked certain sorts of large scale connection. It was an ongoing process to keep the threads of unity they had together, but Anton was proud to see a large number of meerkats and ants were on the job. The void ants¡­ well, they were the only non-natives living there currently. But they were highly cooperative, and didn¡¯t take up much space. Fearsome Mandibles was surprisingly good at establishing them in optimal locations- but only where they were invited. There was another aspect he hadn¡¯t expected, but should have been obvious. They had been taught the basics of formations, and once the people of Akrys knew about them they developed wild offshoots with regards to how they used them to support their lifestyles. Anton was certain Catarina wished she could come see things herself- but she would have to manage with detailed reports. This was what Anton loved. A beautiful world, living in something close to harmony. And if something acted against them, they would find out what else Akrys could do in harmony. Any potential invaders wouldn¡¯t know what hit them¡­ though admittedly, they weren¡¯t that powerful just yet. They had Life Transformation cultivators, but they were few and far between. Only a few dozen scattered throughout the continents. But all of that would change with time. ----- Even though he saw them coming, Varghese let the ships get right up to In¡¯istra¡¯s atmosphere. That was because he¡¯d also sensed the other ships further behind them, barely lingering at the edge of the system. He was impressed at how ready the lead ships were to circumvent the planetary barrier. Rather than trying to force anything past, they simply went with what would naturally slip through. Simple gasses. If the planetary barrier tried to stop absolutely everything from passing through, it would wear itself out as it deflected light and trapped heat and didn¡¯t allow natural effects to continue. Which is why the formation masters had built in detection systems. A secondary barrier would have activated, if those monitoring the barrier hadn¡¯t been forewarned by Varghese. Even then, they wouldn¡¯t have thrown aside his plan if he didn¡¯t capture the gasses immediately after they passed the barrier, diverting the flow of sunlight to charge whatever had been released, making it clump together. It would be captured for storage and careful research later. Most likely some sort of poison deadly in extremely small quantities, meant to kill everyone on the planet. Varghese didn¡¯t like that he could think that thought so easily, but the experience with these Trigold Cultivators had revealed so many things that were better off destroyed. Nobody should have produced such quantities of this poison, for any reason. It was simply too dangerous. If the capsules that had carried it on the ships had gotten the slightest crack where they were stored, they could have devastated the surrounding population. He hoped they at least had the sense to store it off-planet. The second flight of ships approached. Both groups were using an interesting sort of passive camouflage, quite difficult to sense. Like void ant chitin. But nothing was perfect, and it was difficult for ships to maneuver in space without releasing traces of natural energy. The second set of ships released different gasses, momentarily lingering atop the barrier as they diffused through it. All in all, it was probably only a few tonnes between the various ships. A single larger ship could have carried it all¡­ but Varghese imagined something particularly nasty happened when the two were mixed. He would have asked the pilots, but that was for later. In fact, this entire group was being let go. Not long term, of course. Someone was going to follow them while Varghese kept everything in stasis, removing it far from In¡¯istra. Because they had to return somewhere, and it was time to see who in particular was behind this. Even after a decade of staying in his home system Varghese wasn¡¯t feeling entirely restored, but he could still bind a star and cause some serious damage to a system. So he was kind of hoping they found a good system for him to smash up. But if not, a team of void ants could cause a lot of damage in unexpected ways. Chapter 888 Less than a single kilogram of matter entering a planet¡¯s atmosphere at once was something that would have to be specifically anticipated to raise alarm bells. Otherwise, it would be easy to mix up with the much larger quantities falling towards a planet. The difference between the size of the Great Queen herself and the Great Queen plus a few hundred other void ants was negligible- both given her relatively larger size, and the margin of error they had available before there was a serious chance of them being detected. In the worst case scenario where they were spotted, the Great Queen could flee by herself. To humans, the potential of hundreds of their number perishing on a single operation would give them pause. Void ants didn¡¯t quite see things the same way. Of course, they would do their best to avoid death to begin with. The ants spread out in a wide net to maximize their drag early on- while the Great Queen manipulated the energy flows around them to greatly reduce their relative momentum to the planet before they hit too much atmosphere. Otherwise, they might just burn up from their entry, which would be an ignominious way to die. Once they got to a certain low enough speed they separated, floating down over the chosen city to numerous different positions. It was a large area to cover even with so many of them, but they had a few particular locations they were gunning for. The Great Queen was headed towards the highest priority target- the Void Scrying Sect- but there would be others at the same facility as well. Unlike most other void ants- even other queens- the Great Queen herself was more visible than others due to her size. But she could also move quickly enough to avoid most opportunities to spot her. That speed and her experience would be necessary. She landed on a roof and began to climb in through ventilation shafts. Just one sort of security risk cultivators couldn¡¯t help but have, as those used to luxuries didn¡¯t like stuffy rooms. And the sort of people here weren¡¯t the kind given to ascetic lives. Though the Great Queen had gone in with a vague idea of her goal, they actually had little knowledge of the facility. In such a situation, it would be best for her to follow her nose- the source of the most concentrated energy. And if she got a whiff of ascension energy, she would undoubtedly prioritize that over anything else. To the Great Queen, the various formations protecting the area weren¡¯t a source of danger but instead appeared more like tantalizing food. Though in an unintended way, they were a trap- because people would notice if she ate from them. At least too much. Her infiltration was practically flawless until she ran into a local disciple. He happened to be involved in an accident where he slipped and fell on his own dagger, piercing into his neck. Admittedly, that wasn¡¯t very convincing- but it was better than leaving a severed jugular with no explanation. The second and third disciples that spotted her would be harder to explain. And the Great Queen was beginning to think it wasn¡¯t a coincidence. Yet they turned, one after another, to look directly at her. She might have overestimated her stealth skills a small amount, but this was ridiculous. Clearly they had something to sense her in particular. Was it simply that she had grown too much, and was now a more obvious blank in the world? Unclear. What she did know was that she had to hurry. Obviously her intrusion wasn¡¯t completely unnoticed. But she sensed something she had to confirm. Along the walls and the ceiling she scurried, rounding corners and occasionally leaping towards over-inquisitive individuals. It was no longer a coincidence by the fourth time, and she imagined someone had to have sensed the bodies now. But the vault was just ahead. Next to two Life Transformation cultivators, the auras around them indicating their readiness for battle. But what were Life Transformation cultivators without their energy? They would die as easily as random humans. The Great Queen would be more worried about going up against a crowd of children than two ¡®powerful¡¯ cultivators. Though she wasn¡¯t foolish enough to imagine they couldn¡¯t kill her. One of them even augmented the speed of his slash to a stupendous degree. Perhaps they were a bit better than a crowd of children after all. The force of such a weapon would certainly kill her, if it connected. But the Great Queen was as aware of her own weaknesses as anyone else. She¡¯d not sat idly and assumed herself invulnerable to anything a cultivator could throw at her. Her body twisted easily, and the weapon itself was diverted off course as she devoured nearby natural energy. The precision of a cultivator to hit a small moving target required that their own energy be able to redirect the attack, but she could devour such energy from the length of a room easily enough. The other cultivator had already fallen, his spear perhaps the worst option for combating a void ant. The swordsman had a single chance with that sweeping attack, but then the Great Queen¡¯s mandibles cut straight through his jugular¡­ and then his spinal cord from behind. No sense in risking something to a last ditch effort to kill her while he died. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. A wave of energy blasted out from both of them, but it could do nothing to her. The same was true of the defensive formation on the door. She bit at the energy, tearing it away rather than swallowing it simply because she didn¡¯t have time to properly digest. The guards didn¡¯t have a key to the door¡­ but the keyhole itself was sufficiently sized for the Great Queen to mess with the inner workings. Without the benefit of formation¡¯s enhancements, the metal simply couldn¡¯t stand up to her jaws. She found herself vindicated as she saw a lump of metal. It didn¡¯t look like much to the eye, but the dense energy radiating from it was a powerful scent. If the Great Queen didn¡¯t know the origins of this metal, she might have thought it a pleasant aroma. Unfortunately, for all of her strengths, carrying huge lumps of metal wasn¡¯t one of them. Ants might be able to carry quite a bit relative to their size, but something measured in tonnes or perhaps tens of tonnes was beyond even the Great Queen. Especially if she wished to move at speed. From here, her plan was to simply escape. The goal had been revealed¡­ though she could reveal it a bit more. Every formation along the way she tore through, both the flow of energy and the physical components. Disciples of the Void Scrying Sect began to flood the corridors, but the void ants who had come to the facility began to converge on the Great Queen. Even with only a few tens of them, they were able to form together into tumbling rings that allowed them to move faster. The Great Queen was not the right size to fit with the rest of the void ants, and quite functional alone. The ring of ants might have a few wiped out on their way to a target, but they would then swarm over the cultivators that attacked them. And they knew very well where the best weak points were. Tearing through the outer formation of the sect was the most important. Not only had the Great Queen and her brood confirmed the information they needed, but they could reveal the aura to the rest of the city. That alone wouldn¡¯t be enough¡­ but it would be difficult to keep an attack on their sect completely secret. People would ask questions. And anyone who knew about worldhearts would know about that chunk of metal. It was amazing how little a whole planet had been reduced to¡­ stripped of all the things that mattered about a planet like its population. All that for a hunk of metal. Once outside, the Great Queen grabbed her underlings. She could fly through her own methods, and bringing along a tiny bit of extra weight was no issue. Attacks flew after them into the city- but the vast majority of them had no chance of even scratching the void ants. Some were of a powerful enough energy that they could have harmed newborn void ants, but the Great Queen had brought those with proper development for such an important mission. The others should be able to tell what was happening, with the great surge of energy. There would be a window to meet up in their appointed location, even with the attackers following. The Great Queen wanted to leave with all of her people, if she could. Just because they could be replaced didn¡¯t mean they were without value. The Void Scrying Sect had been the most obvious option. They could have predicted the assault on Zunrose, and whether or not they knew about the harm they would cause to Varghese in particular, they could have seen how they were shifting the course of the war. But one thing they would have trouble predicting was the Great Queen. The ¡®void¡¯ in void ants and Void Scrying Sect were not the same thing. They relied on the flow of energy from people to predict what would happen. Void ants had none of that. Most likely, she was spotted because they had other techniques for finding void ants. Word of their resurgence in the lower realms must have come to this group. Or perhaps they had never lost their precautions within their headquarters, such as they were. Good enough to make her job more difficult. The Great Queen took with her all of the void ants that showed up to the meeting place in time. Beams of energy chased after them as they flew into the sky, but the void ants resisted the attacks together. The few arrows and thrown implements that could still reach them had their energy devoured before they could get close, which then subjected them to gravity and friction. None of this was truly the plan. A secret operation would have been better. But the Great Queen had made the best of it. Confirmation of the worldheart was one thing, but revealing who had it was also valuable. She didn¡¯t understand it from a personal perspective, but humans were bound for factionalism and internal conflict. And with people like the Void Scrying Sect involved, she understood why they might be that way. Which is why they should have picked good allies to begin with. Then again, they were associated with a large faction of infiltrators and traitors- and while the former were perfectly fine and reasonable, betraying those you swore loyalty to was unacceptable. Perhaps even worse was never meaning the words to begin with. The Great Queen continued up into the sky- most likely, the enemy had lost track of them already. But she wouldn¡¯t slow until they were beyond the barrier and then into space beyond. Her subordinates would have to huddle up together and slow their bodily functions due to the lack of air, but Nthanda would be waiting with a pleasant little storage bag full of air for their return. ----- A single ship entered the system. Varghese first thought it was likely a trap. His second thought was that it had to be a trap. The third thought was that if they could pull off a trap like that, they shouldn¡¯t need the single ship. Unless it was only a distraction. He focused on everything else but the single ship as it slowly approached, just in case anything was hiding. But he couldn¡¯t find anything. Then he recognized the aura of the captain of the ship. Not just by sect, but by individual presence. Only vaguely, but this was the same captain Anton had spoken to in the fallen system, the group investigating while they were there. What was his name¡­ Tor? Perhaps his presence was also a ploy. But Varghese also had to accept it as a potential opportunity. He wouldn''t stop scanning the rest of the system, of course, but he approached the ship- which was flying at a very steady and slow speed angled towards the center of the system. Chapter 889 At its current speed, the ship flown by Tor would likely take several hours to get anywhere relevant. Varghese made his way closer, wary of potential tricks. However, there were no changes from the ship as he approached- and more relevantly, their barriers were down. He could sense everything contained within from the people to their supplies. Perhaps they might have something hidden in storage pockets, but those would be less readily deployable. Varghese got close enough to reach out with his energy and start up a conversation. ¡°You know we are at war, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°We come as a diplomatic vessel,¡± the man replied quickly, but Varghese was glad to hear some nervousness in his voice. ¡°Unfortunately, we don¡¯t have clear protocols between us so we could only manage this.¡± ¡°You certainly didn¡¯t try to hide,¡± Varghese agreed. ¡°Which is why you still remain. So tell me, why are you here?¡± ¡°We wish to exchange information.¡± ¡°On behalf of who? The Trigold Cluster? The Shimmering Spears?¡± ¡°On behalf of ourselves. One branch of the Shimmering Spears in the lower realms, and others similarly situated.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Varghese said. ¡°Change course as I direct. There is a mining outpost where we can speak.¡± The outpost in question was upon an asteroid, and due to be dismantled- though not urgently. Perhaps Varghese should suggest they keep a similar outpost long term. One that was able to sustain life, but without anything important to lose. Instead of making them wait, Varghese continued the conversation after the adjusted heading. ¡°So what, specifically, are you here for?¡± ¡°It is in regards to the destruction of Zunrose. You¡­ your alliance wasn¡¯t responsible for that, were they?¡± It was phrased as a question, but also as a statement. ¡°I do believe Anton already told you about that. We are not. We were trying to take over the system the old fashioned way. And personally, I would never want to see a star destroyed. Even one of our enemies.¡± ¡°What do you know about¡­ worldhearts?¡± Tor asked. Varghese nodded. ¡°Very little, except that each occupied planet tends to develop one. It is not something that can be retrieved easily. And it appears that Mazleth had one¡­ the relatively small form of which is now located upon the planet Zunrose. There was a little scuffle there, as we were finding out this information.¡± ¡°I heard several Life Transformation cultivators died¡­¡± ¡°Not many, compared to all of those on Zunrose. Plus, apparently, those who fled. Though we can¡¯t confirm that to be true.¡± ¡°It is still not a trivial matter,¡± the man said. ¡°But it does make me worry that we have enemies that far outclass us.¡± Varghese didn¡¯t have to answer that to confirm his words. Here, in this system, it was quite obvious he was something more than a Life Transformation cultivator. ¡°Perhaps in straightforward combat. But the tactics your¡­ that the Trigold Cluster has employed so far are less than such. The beginning of this war came about as a virulent mold was deposited on our planets and traced back to your systems.¡± ¡°... What?¡± Tor shook his head. ¡°The first we heard about it was your attacks on our borders. But I¡¯m not surprised there was¡­ other deception. Frankly, the damage your people have caused is nothing, if the star was not your doing.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Why did you¡­ attune to what remained?¡± ¡°To learn more about what happened,¡± Varghese said. ¡°I much preferred it when it was whole.¡± Though he had to admit it had very interesting properties as it was. But that was only in the same way as looking at a diseased limb was interesting. The star itself was not at fault, but it was still unpleasant. They soon landed on the mining base. It wasn¡¯t much, but at least their ship was ¡®stationary¡¯. Perhaps they might not want that, but it made Varghese much more comfortable. He hadn¡¯t stopped feeling around the system for concealed individuals, but his interactions with the captain so far indicated he was truthful, to the extent he had spoken. Once they were inside and able to speak face to face, Varghese could get an even better read on the man. He was tall and strong- though few cultivators weren¡¯t strong. He left his spear on the ship, which was a nice gesture. Varghese kept his own blade on him, however. Not that he would likely need it even if it should come to blows. ¡°The great master Anton¡­¡± Tor began awkwardly. ¡°Just call him Anton. Or Sect Head, since that is his title in the Order of One Hundred Stars.¡± The spearman nodded. ¡°Sect Head Anton, then. He was saying that my cultivation as a Shimmering Spear was¡­ lacking? Do you agree with his assessment?¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°I don¡¯t believe it was anything to do with your understanding of what you¡¯ve been taught,¡± Varghese said. ¡°From my understanding¡­ you¡¯ve probably been given an incomplete technique.¡± ¡°But¡­ why?¡± ¡°To keep you weak, obviously,¡± Varghese said. ¡°Though that¡¯s just speculation, based on previous experiences. Clearly you¡¯re not the ones with knowledge of the inner workings of the operations here, however.¡± ¡°I thought I was close,¡± Tor said. ¡°But clearly not. It was one thing to¡­ deal with outsiders,¡± the man said, clearly not wanting to bring up that topic. ¡°It is quite another to destroy our own people for trivial resources.¡± ¡°Not trivial. Just small in quantity. Certain types of people would say the value of a worldheart is equivalent to all of the lives involved. Not myself, though,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°But it is a material difficult to surpass, based on our understanding after claiming one such creation from a foe. We haven¡¯t tried making anything more, for obvious reasons.¡± ¡°I would have easily accepted your people seeking it out,¡± Tor said. ¡°But¡­ it would have been quite difficult to slip it into the vaults of the Void Scrying Sect. And then there is the way they tried to cover up what happened. I am quite certain we could go look in their vaults now and not find the worldheart, but I am nearly as certain that it was there. I had not expected to trust in outsiders over our own.¡± He frowned, ¡°But neither did I expect to survive encounters with one so strong.¡± ¡°Sect Head Anton would likely wish you to know your own temperament was responsible for your survival. Had the circumstances been different¡­¡± Varghese shrugged. ¡°So, what else did you wish to know?¡± ¡°If possible¡­ detailed information on what information was found. Not necessarily how it was found,¡± Tor held up his hands. ¡°Just the connections. Was it just the Void Scrying Sect involved?¡± Varghese frowned. ¡°Even sharing that information could compromise something. Why should we share this information?¡± He wasn¡¯t actually opposed, but he needed some form of commitment. ¡°I think it¡¯s simple enough. We are at war. If this can be proven¡­ support will be withdrawn from certain areas. More than just my branch of the Shimmering Spears, but others who are similarly inclined.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t stand against these people who wiped out one of your group¡¯s own systems?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Do you think that we could?¡± Tor asked in turn. ¡°Furthermore¡­ we have no reason to believe you would not mean the rest of us harm.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have to annihilate all of you,¡± Varghese said, surprised to be saying the words to a member of the Trigold Cluster. Or at least, an associate. ¡°Though we can¡¯t have any mercy on those responsible for the many attempts to wipe out entire planetary populations of our own.¡± Tor shook his head. ¡°I still can¡¯t promise anything. If it was a single isolated sect, we would excise them from our midst. But I can¡¯t see this happening without wider support, on some level. So we can do little but stay out of your way.¡± Varghese mostly believed him. Or perhaps it was that he fully believed he intended to do as he said, but also that they might still end up as enemies in the future. Still, it was better than nothing. ¡°I will consult with others on what we will share with you,¡± Varghese said. ¡°We might ask for something in return. Other information. Not to compromise your own sects, but the Void Scrying Sect. And about those you would expect to be colluding with them. How long do you have supplies for?¡± ¡°Several more months. Perhaps a year, if we stretch things¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯ll provide food and water,¡± Varghese declared. It was easy enough to pay for a single shipful of people to survive. ¡°Basic necessities. You will remain here until an agreement of some sort is reached.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t be¡­ restrained?¡± Tor asked. ¡°That¡¯s unnecessary,¡± Varghese said. ¡°You can¡¯t go anywhere important without us knowing.¡± And the facility would actually be monitoring their actions within. Technological recordings would be much more difficult for them to predict, so they might pick up some useful tidbits of information from months of a ship¡¯s crew chatting. ----- All of the information they were going to share was combed through for compromising tidbits. The void ants had already been revealed, which was unfortunate, but they still had other secrets. Like stealth ships of their own, long distance scans, and various methods of recording visual information. Ultimately they prepared handwritten copies of notes, as the originals required incompatible technology. Printed copies might even reveal more than intended about their capabilities. At least they didn¡¯t seem to understand much, as the crew members Tor brought with him had not even understood the light fixtures at first. They were easy enough to intuit how to activate, but they still commented about actual mechanics with natural energy being less involved. Along with that, they produced a more complete copy of the Shimmering Spear technique manuals from previously seized versions. That was not to make Tor or his companions stronger, but to help convince them they were being treated like second class citizens, at best. Some people were hoping for an uprising within the borders of the Lower Reams Trigold. That was unlikely, but they could hope. They hadn¡¯t managed to gain any sort of concrete information about how the system¡¯s destruction and worldheart acquisition had been planned, but they could reveal what their sensors had picked up of the fleet of ships, and specifically the proportions from various sects. The intention was for Tor to mention how many ships had been lost to each sect involved, hopefully swaying more to his side¡­ or at least against whoever was directly involved. They were currently assumed to be the same ones responsible for the various bioweapon attacks. Both the Lower Realms Alliance and the Shining Cooperative were doing their best to keep information from getting to the Trigold cultivators, including rooting out spies. It was unfortunate that there was anyone who would even consider it. Threats to family or friends were not something feasible, so it was mainly greed at fault. And among the whole of their populations, there only had to be a few foolish individuals picked out. Perhaps there had been others, but they were still trying to figure out how they had been contacted to begin with. Then again, with diviners involved a few spies in unimportant places might not matter- and critical locations were carefully vetted. Still better not to let any remain among them, but they couldn¡¯t devote too many resources to it either. Varghese was glad for the situation, as it meant some progression in the war. Stagnation might mean fewer deaths in the short term, but it tied up resources and might give the Trigold forces a chance to plan something horrible. Varghese fully believed they couldn¡¯t win the war, but they could kill a lot of people on the way out if they didn¡¯t properly prevent it. Chapter 890 After a visit to Akrys, Anton found himself at the northern end of the lower realms, as they knew them. This was his best chance to test his actual progress with an outside perspective available. Outside of a planet, there was nothing akin to a horizon. To that end, a name like Horizon Shot was inappropriate. But none of the names Anton had gone through were particularly better. And in a way, perhaps the name was still appropriate on a grander scale. Shooting between disconnected horizons, to the edge of systems, beyond a galaxy¡­ The latter was far beyond the scale Anton could comprehend. But his range had improved significantly. With adjacent systems bound to him, he could manage to reach one from the other with an arrow- though perhaps it might be more efficient for him to launch an attack from the second star. But he couldn¡¯t bind to stars in the upper realms. He couldn¡¯t even get close, and even thinking about it made him feel queasy. The local energy there would reject him, with his practice of Fleeting Youth. He sent a message ahead of him to Crossed Antennae. The void ant queen should be the one most able to detect whether he was successful. Anton himself should know, but he might lose connection to his attack at some point. It would be weak and dissipate rapidly if it did arrive, so he was not worried about collateral damage. His fingers traced along the spine of his bow. Worldheart was the material, and Anton continued to wonder where Everheart had acquired it- either the material or the bow itself. He¡¯d given it up rather easily, but perhaps he¡¯d had the intentions to take it back from Anton later. The man could have destroyed a world for the worldheart, and Anton couldn¡¯t say he would put it past him. But something about the bow felt melancholy. Whoever had constructed it had some connection to the world that birthed his bow. This was not something stolen through devastation, but something reclaimed after a tragedy. At least, that was what his instincts told him. If he had suspected a more foul origin, he would have rid himself of it long before. The soulstring also spoke of the deaths of many. Anton hoped he was worthy of the legacy of those who had died. And he hoped to be worthy of fighting for those who yet lived. The war with the lower realms Trigold cultivators was something that needed to be taken seriously, but Anton was already looking beyond to what came next. And for that, he needed to continue to grow. He drew back his bow, a single arrow created to near perfection. It flew forward from his bow, along with his thoughts. Time and space distorted around him. There was a nearly unfathomable distance between star systems, and the nothingness between upper and lower realms where neither energy lived seemed to tear away at him. But then, he reached the ascension energy. He let his connection fade, as it lunged towards him. There was that issue he still had to consider. Energy from him could still be recognized as an enemy. That would mean any of his attacks couldn¡¯t pierce very far into the upper realms. But then again, he didn¡¯t really need to. Distance was the important part. He spent the next several days attempting the same shot again and again, just hoping to get it close enough to Bounty that Crossed Antennae would be able to notice. And he tried to prevent its decay, not only from time and distance but from clashing with upper energy. He did get a message confirming something being sensed- but Crossed Antennae noted it was mostly irrelevant at that distance. And Anton was okay with that, because that was only how things were at the moment. The most important thing was he wasn¡¯t playing tricks on himself. His spirit arrows could reach that far, with sufficient control. All he had to do was improve them so that he could actually be effective from a better range than simply the edge of a system. Three to five lightyears¡­ was a big ask. The travel time on such shots, even traveling through subspace at tremendous speeds, was such that he required some way to predict a target. That was especially so since his senses couldn¡¯t really stretch that far. Perhaps it was a foolish task, seeking infinity when he¡¯d already reached far beyond what people considered as practical limits. And to those people, Kseniya would probably say they were fools. What the archer lacked in tact and teaching ability she did make up for with gumption and talent. She should still be kicking around in the upper realms. He would have certainly heard if she had perished. Perhaps he should try to arrange some sort of exchange at the border¡­ though without the Tides of the World she couldn¡¯t come down, and he could never go up. ----- The first wave of fleets from the Shining Cooperative and the Lower Realms Alliance had been quite rapidly mobilized, as such things went. Now after the troubles with Zunrose and the fear it had imbued people with, no proper fleets had entered Trigold space in over a decade. Only tiny groups of scouts and the like, but no proper assaults. And if things had resulted in a peaceful stalemate, they might have remained that way for a century. But the Trigold Cluster had not ceased their assaults, attempting to reach their planets with vile weapons of all sorts. Virulent molds, prolific poisons, and even packets of viruses and bacteria in weaponized forms. Many of them were able to feed on natural energy, and without pure technology it would have been nearly impossible to contain or study them. Even then, it was difficult- and the best and brightest minds were constantly occupied thinking of counters should any of these weapons slip past their system patrols. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. The unfortunate experience on the planet Mazlerth had been on the brink of total disaster, but in some ways it was fortunate that the planet was just developing. It slowed the spread of the mold with the lower population, and gave time to prepare a proper response. Without testing some of the other options, they couldn¡¯t be certain how to respond- and it was not something they could easily do. Even if they were willing to infect humans, it wouldn¡¯t mimic a natural environment. Thus, their best options had been to prevent deaths had seemed to be remaining on the defensive. But they had finally started the process to move out again. The Shining Cooperative simply couldn¡¯t afford to maintain the stalemate, and the Lower Realms Alliance had plans to at least weaken the structure of the enemy. If they could find who was responsible for the biological attacks, they could destroy wherever the weapons were kept and whoever was making and distributing them. Then they only had to worry about fleet to fleet combat, and while the Trigold Cluster had a large population and many ships, their quality was lower than either group fighting against them. The Shining Cooperative had already had ships that were pushing past the ascension barrier of power, and now they had Assimilation cultivators as well. Varghese was looking forward to taking active steps again¡­ and he was comfortable enough with his ability to attack from stars that In¡¯istra would be safe. Unless the enemy slipped massive fleets past them, which was more difficult than it might seem even with the vast amount of space and angle of attack that were possible. After all, a mass of fleets would have an energy signature that could be picked up from an adjacent system- or sometimes further. The Lower Realms Alliance had a network of satellites spread along the border that should pick up anything of that magnitude easily, but they themselves were low enough power that a fleet could pass right through their systems without noticing them. Not that they were perfectly camouflaged, but it was more likely than not they would be passed over. With over a decade of recovery after having a bound star destroyed in Zunrose, Varghese had mostly repaired his damaged cultivation. He was ready to risk himself again, and much more capable of countering a similar assault to the first time. If the Trigold Cluster had multiple different ways to destroy stars, they would likely had been far more successful with subsequent attacks not on their own people. And Varghese could now wipe out a fleet that was foolish enough to approach one of his bound stars, as long as he was in the system. Their growing momentum along with the internal friction in their enemies meant this was the best time for them to make a move. Their morale was back to something like a peak, relative to how it would have been, and the incident in Kunion had to have been noticed by more than just Tor and his people. ----- Nthanda and the Great Queen, the former with nearly no energy signature and the latter with none, were part of a group watching Kunion for movements of the worldheart. Whatever they wanted to do with it, the Alliance didn¡¯t want to be done. So when a ship stealthily landed within the grounds of the Void Scrying Sect, retrieving a mysterious shipment before setting off, Nthanda was ready to shoot it down. But a nip at her limited natural energy caught her attention. The Great Queen looked at her. ¡°It is a decoy. Or at the very least, it does not contain the worldheart.¡± ¡°And yet they took the effort to hide the ship. So it should have something important.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± the Great Queen signed. ¡°But perhaps not as important.¡± ¡°So I should let them go?¡± ¡°Not at all. I would simply suggest we take that one down subtly.¡± ¡°And by that you mean¡­?¡± ¡°Toss some of my subordinates into its trajectory. With precision.¡± Nthanda grinned. ¡°A difficult task, to not crush them while giving them enough velocity to match a ship going who knows where. I imagine they¡¯re more likely to perish than not.¡± ¡°A sincere attempt will be acceptable.¡± ¡°Just because you wouldn¡¯t feel bad about it doesn¡¯t mean I wouldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°I would feel their loss,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°But I believe it worth the risk.¡± Nthanda sighed. ¡°Get some volunteers, then.¡± Though she asked for volunteers, in truth any void ant would volunteer if the Great Queen asked for any. It wasn¡¯t a concept she quite got. Even if working towards a common goal, she still saw herself as an individual. And she knew that these ants were developed enough to be more than mindless insects. But how many lives was it worth to stop whatever was on that mysterious ship? How many deaths could they cause with some sort of weapon? It could be a whole planet. Or multiple. And she just had to not crush the ants. Soon enough she had a clump of ants the size of her fist. She had asked them to remain loose, so they could absorb the shock. Then she chased after the ship herself as it angled out of the system, trying to reduce the amount of instantaneous acceleration the void ants would have to experience. When she determined the time was right, considering the velocities involved and likely changes in trajectory, she tossed the void ants. If she missed, they would die from exposure before they could be retrieved, which might be a worse death than being crushed. And yet¡­ they had simply clamored to be a part of the operation, to the point she¡¯d had to force some to remain behind. Visual confirmation told her that the bundle of ants was properly flying through the empty space towards her target, and intact. She just hoped that their velocity would be close enough to the ship when they crossed paths. But she couldn¡¯t think about that long, because the Great Queen was prompting her. Now was the time for the ship carrying the worldheart. She readied her bow. They most likely had barriers with excellent energy defenses, but could they survive the kinetic energy equivalent to a full ship impact, compressed into the space of an arrow? She doubted it. Chapter 891 The ship rose up from Kunion. The Great Queen indicated it was the one that carried the worldheart, which Nthanda had to accept. It was concealed from her senses, but unless they could layer beneath that a very convincing replica, the Great Queen would be correct. There was but one question to answer. ¡°Where do we bring it down? Do we want to secure it?¡± Obviously they didn¡¯t want the Void Scrying Sect to have it for whatever purposes they had. But retrieving it themselves seemed problematic as well. It might look like their goal with the war was to acquire a worldheart, and seem as if they were responsible for the system¡¯s destruction. And while the Lower Realms Alliance and Shining Cooperative would know better, it was still something to consider. Nthanda¡¯s bow was drawn back to full. There was no way she was going to let the ship escape. She just waited for the Great Queen¡¯s response, pointing towards a location. ¡°Fearsome Menagerie,¡± she signed. Nthanda nodded. With the information they had gathered, that made sense. The shapeshifters weren¡¯t known to have a hand in the destruction of Zunrose, and they should have at least had a decent sized branch there. That should cause maximum trouble. As the ship began to leave atmosphere, Nthanda¡¯s arrow shot around the planet, making a full circle before it impacted the ship from her intended direction. She didn¡¯t have a direct angle to propel the ship in the direction she had wanted, so she made one. It was easier to take advantage of the planet¡¯s own gravitational pull than to adjust the trajectory of her arrow all on its own. The arrow was made out of the sturdiest and densest materials she could get, merely so that it could survive the acceleration of her bow. The bow itself had a draw weight that only someone with a body tempering focused cultivation could consistently fire. But here, she only needed the single shot to bring down the ship. The ship¡¯s barrier was destroyed, the impact sending the whole thing off course as the impact was spread throughout the hull of the ship. But that was imperfect, the arrow still piercing through its layers to come out the other side. The barriers broken, Nthanda could sense the worldheart. Which meant she could target it. The ship was going down, but it was difficult to make it land properly in the Fearsome Menagerie¡¯s territory given its previous trajectory. A second arrow went out, the ship unable to respond with the damage it had already sustained. The captain made a brave and ultimately useless sacrifice as he was pierced through, crashing into the mass of worldheart and being blasted out of the ship with the metal. Nthanda couldn¡¯t have lined things up better if she had coordinated with the Void Scrying Sect cultivators. And the reason they were so surprised¡­ was because they focused on predicting fluctuations of natural energy. She didn¡¯t have overwhelming power that disrupted their predictions- instead a sort they didn¡¯t even consider. Nthanda was impressed how the unrefined worldheart held up. It seemed completely unperturbed at her attack, even without proper working and enchantments. She wanted some. Too bad its origins were so foul. As it turned out, the kinetic energy of a piece of worldheart propelled down from orbit was enough to break through planetary barriers and sect covering barriers alike- though in fairness, the planetary barrier was only at moderate power. It was meant to cover widespread bombardments, not focused attacks. And again, completely without her intention, Nthanda marveled at the perfectly lined up things as a Void Scrying Sect cultivator crashed into some sort of dragon statue in the Fearsome Menagerie¡¯s sect grounds. Just behind the worldheart ¡®ore¡¯ which did the majority of the damage, obviously. Nthanda whistled. ¡°I was aiming for the center of the sect, but that was even better than I thought. This should be good.¡± The Great Queen nodded in agreement. Would it matter that the Void Scrying Sect was shot out of the sky unwillingly into the sect grounds? Sure. But not as much as one might think. This was definitely a time that hotheadedness might win out. And the Fearsome Menagerie wasn¡¯t known for being calm and collected. Nthanda also hoped the void ants she¡¯d flung had properly arrived at her other target. That was¡­ still uncertain. She¡¯d find out later, as she didn¡¯t want to hang around for anyone to come find her above their planet. ----- The private was not supposed to be among the elite forces the Great Queen had brought with her. No, frankly he shouldn¡¯t have even had a rank at all. He was a drone, after all. It was his duty to mate and then die. And yet, he hadn¡¯t died. He hadn¡¯t wanted to die. So he¡¯d torn off his own wings and tried to blend in by lying with his pheromones as much as possible. He¡¯d joined the combat forces, snuck into the lines of a special forces group, and now his job was to not get crushed. Oh, and to not let anyone else get crushed. At least he came with the coordination instincts where they could manage that. Each of them were spread out as much as possible as they neared their target. Being accelerated to their current speed had been the most terrifying thing he¡¯d ever experienced. He could withstand natural energy with the rest of them, but arms simply weren¡¯t meant to move that fast. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. It was looking like he was going to get a new most terrifying experience, as they were coming up on the other end. Their bundle of void ants coordinated as they approached their target¡­ and they were just a little bit off. Without a proper word between them, half of them pushed off, sending the others just barely into the ship¡¯s trajectory. The private was among the latter by sheer luck, though he would not have begrudged anyone had he been in the alternative group. This was important. The impact of the ship broke many of them, and even the private had one leg dangling uselessly. But enough of them survived, now one with the ship. It was to their great benefit that formations were used to make up for a lack of perfect air tightness. Ruteran technology had no such flaws. Perhaps different, unknown flaws, but not that flaw. Many tiny wires that were easy to bite might count there. Either way, the private was one of many who dragged themselves through small cracks in the joints of the ship, working together to get all who were mobile through. Finally, they could allow their bodies to function properly again. Many of those on the outer layer had frozen and lost the last of their air. Unlike the Great Queen, the rest of the void ants couldn¡¯t survive in empty space for indefinite periods. Sustaining themselves on only natural energy wasn¡¯t sufficient. Though they could last quite a while. As one, they moved towards the greatest sources of natural energy. First were the formations, which they slipped through and then began to dismantle. None of them were formation masters, so they didn¡¯t fully know which ones were for barriers, or which ones were for powering propulsion. They were mostly interconnected anyway, so they just began taking things apart until cultivators began rushing over. Then the private ended up on the end of a chain of void ants that swung down from the ceiling. Along with a few others, he landed on a cultivator and began aiming for all of the most vulnerable points around the head and neck. Upon realizing that their natural energy wasn¡¯t crushing the attackers, they began to smack at their own body- sometimes propelled by natural energy. But the void ants were trained about the best places to move in such circumstances. Most of them survived. And that cultivator, along with the others, fell to their loss of blood from opened veins and to a lesser extent self inflicted wounds. More void ants died than cultivators, but there were more of them to begin with. It was an acceptable trade. And the private yet lived. He was drawn into a mobility formation, a mesh of ants rolling along. He automatically began flexing his limbs to contribute to the momentum at key points. They were headed deeper into the ship, towards the inner formations concealing something. There, they found sealed containers filled with many glass vials. The void ants worked together to destroy the vials in any way possible. Unfortunately¡­ there was very little natural energy in the substances. Some of one of them washed over the private, and he could feel it eating away at his carapace. Dangerous. But a necessary risk. He only had so much time left, so he charged towards another vial, crunching through the enchanted glass. More substances spilled over him, washing away some of the previous chemicals. But these too were unpleasant. Again and again, he and the others broke apart everything they could. The private noted how some ate away at everything but the glass. Others, however, felt rather refreshing as they poured over him. Like pure water. He continued to stagger forward, one bad leg and some partially melted carapace. There was yet more to be done. They didn¡¯t need to know what these were for. Only that their enemies saw fit to conceal them. Eventually, he reached his limits and consciousness faded¡­ but he was left with the satisfaction of a job well done. He wondered if void ants got to do the reincarnation thing that humans did. That might be nice. He would like to live, so he could do more. ----- Zunrose was a system used to heavy traffic, but ever since the destruction of the system very few passed through- even though there was no more danger. Or rather, Varghese wasn¡¯t going to destroy ships simply passing through without reason. Not because he had pity for his enemies, but to conceal what he could actually do with the distorted neutron star that remained. He felt something entering the system once again. He casually paid attention, until he determined that the trajectory of the handful of ships was aimed towards him. Towards the star. If they were simply intending to observe, he would have humored them. But the moment they launched something towards him, he reacted. His instincts had already been on edge, as they told him these weren¡¯t curious observers or truth-seekers. He drew upon the power of the star and lashed out, string thin whips of extremely dense matter slicing through ships and causing them to collapse around those very strings as they passed through. A pulse of energy pushed the capsules away from the star, as he was unwilling to simply assume the heat of the star would properly consume them. Not if they were intended for something involving it. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew what they were after. He sensed Void Scrying Sect cultivations, and a few more. And he realized that while a worldheart was highly valuable, it might not be sufficient for them to act so brazenly. He felt it within the star, when he had lashed out. The core of its power, denser even than the rest of the neutron star. If the heart of a world was of great value, how much more the heart of a star? That might be worth betraying a whole alliance for. Or perhaps it was simply an experiment from those in the upper realms, who thought nothing for those who shared their names down below. Or at least those of other sects. Varghese could see either option being the case, and neither option was better than the other. Either way, they would not achieve their goals, and not just because he wanted to protect a chunk of his cultivation. Chapter 892 Though they would have liked to blanket the lower realms Trigold systems with monitors of various sorts, it was risky to leave them unmonitored, and risky for any spies in their systems. While various scanners and recorders could potentially send information back to the Alliance, they could also be captured. And while their enemies didn¡¯t currently understand technology, the more they got their hands on, the faster they would figure it out. There was no assumption that they wouldn¡¯t get it at some point. Even if they were missing some steps, they could eventually begin picking things apart. Over the course of decades, perhaps, and it could even be centuries¡­ but the potential was worrying. Especially if they were able to share with the upper realms. It was likely that they had more effective methods of contacting the upper realms on permanent worlds compared to worlds like Vrelt, which had been a slower process due to their need to conceal themselves. Furthermore, the Alliance didn¡¯t want to let on how much information they were actually gathering, so they had to be conservative to some extent. Pushing for a tenth more information might actually make them lose out on half of what they were already gathering, if they were figured out and proper countermeasures were put in place. Even with that in mind, they pushed to monitor the fallout of the situation with the worldheart being dropped upon the Fearsome Menagerie¡¯s sect grounds on the planet Kunion. They had intended to cause some friction, but the Alliance got even more than what they might have hoped. Beyond simple friction, it was flint and steel being struck above a pile of tinder. Only so much was read about the situation with Nthanda and the others withdrawing, but the scanners they left behind detected a clash of powerful natural energies in several locations. Around the grounds of both the Fearsome Menagerie and the Void Scrying Sect, and then above the planet in small fleets. The conflicts spread from there, dotted around the planet as various other sects joined in one one side or the other. Ultimately, it ended in favor of the Fearsome Menagerie holding onto the worldheart and pushing out many of the others. Things hadn¡¯t gone so far that they were willing to attempt to exterminate the other sects, but there was no lack of death either. ----- A small ship, part of a modest squad of scouts, was following the projected path of a particular ship that had left Kunion just before the conflict. If nothing had gone wrong, it would be beyond their reach, most likely having arrived at its destination. But there was some hope that it had been stopped as well, which would have put any small adjustments within a certain range, traveling at system appropriate speeds. They¡¯d been sweeping the area for several days with no luck so far, but it would be a few more before they could declare their search patterns would have covered everything. If they found nothing after that point, they would have to give up. But eventually, their sensors picked up on something- and given the emptiness of space, they could only assume it would be their target. They almost missed it, not because the ship was concealed but because most of its natural energy was gone. The outside of the ship looked fine, but the inside¡­ scans indicated cultivators collapsed in the few small hallways. Most of those had wounds from void ants. The group at the helm, however, were strewn about their seating, some have clearly tried to get away from¡­ something. Scanners indicated unknown compounds, which meant the scouts wouldn¡¯t be attempting to board. Instead, they matched velocity with the ship, then slowly approached- moving at a relative velocity of just a few meters per second. It was precise work, but they nudged the ship into a new trajectory that the Trigold cultivators wouldn¡¯t be able to predict. Then they would recommend a containment ship come to pick it up, or a disposal crew if that couldn¡¯t be arranged. Knowing what sorts of things the Trigold Cluster had been flinging at their planets, they wouldn¡¯t go in without much better protection than enchanted space suits. Especially given the scans indicated caustic substances among other things. ----- Even before the internal conflict spread beyond Kunion, the Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance had fleets en route to strike at the Trigold Cluster once more. Their people had been waiting with varying degrees of patience until they were confident in launching more assaults. Changing their plans at the last minute was not optimal, but everyone agreed that modifying which locations were primary targets had to be done. Among other things, their targets on Kunion were half devastated already. While they might gain some advantage attacking a planet that had recently undergone strife, it was agreed that it was better to focus on one side of the conflict. And if there was going to be a priority enemy in the current conflict, the Void Scrying Sect was the one. Thus, they shifted focus to southern and eastern portions of enemy territory. That would mean the Shining Cooperative had to skirt around the border, but that merely took more time. Varghese joined with others from In¡¯istra and the wider Alliance. Though he wasn¡¯t much better than a Life Transformation cultivator in a system where he had no bound star, that didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t able to fight. He just had to have a bit more caution instead of leading the charge. And while he might be a target if they noticed he was weaker¡­ there were many others they would have to worry about first. The Shining Cooperative had a number of new Assimilation cultivators in addition to Kybele, the captain of the Astral Spear. The ship had already been the equivalent of an Ascension-class vessel, but with her binding to it both grew stronger than before. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The Trigold Cluster would have more to worry about compared to catching Varghese in a nonoptimal state, and he planned to bind a star in one of their core worlds once they got there. Instead, they were fighting through their outer territory, driving a wedge into the territory where they could move more freely. Temporary bases were established as they took over outlying bases and less populated planets. The only sects that were exterminated without question were the Twin Soul Sect. There was much discussion about eradicating the Trigold Cluster from the lower realms entirely, and Varghese supported that¡­ to an extent. First there were average civilians, who had done nothing wrong except be born in a particular place. There weren¡¯t actually many of these, as the sects of the Trigold Cluster tended to control almost everything- most people were inducted into the sect of their parents. However, there were still some innocents, especially the remaining descendents of previous groups, mainly kept as slaves- the presence of which made eradicating particular groups much easier to justify. Beyond those who were not truly part of the Trigold Cluster were those who had little choice. It would be extremely difficult to differentiate them from true members of the sects. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t even be possible. But some sects were worse than others. Any found to be involved with the bioweapons and especially the destruction of Zunrose¡¯s star would be completely wiped out. The Twin Soul Sect was a threat for various reasons, and the Void Scrying Sect was clearly involved in the most foul deeds. The others¡­ like the Worthy Shore Society and the Hardened Crown Sect, they could potentially be spared as fellow cultivators. Not without consequences, of course. There should be consequences for specific actions and being part of a greater force of death. But they couldn¡¯t be allowed to remain as they were, or they could become staging grounds for another wave of cultivators from the upper realms. Varghese had no doubts they had the strength to win the war. The Lower Realms Alliance and their many Assimilation cultivators could manage that. It was simply a matter of how many people they would lose, and how it would set them back for potential future conflicts- and guaranteed events such as the next invasion from the upper realms only a few centuries hence. ----- Anton kept abreast of the events happening with the war, but chose to focus his efforts on positive things. Things such as exploration- beyond the western borders of their alliance was not explored to a great degree. He also offered some of his experience to Vrelt and Nidec, their newly joined systems. Both planets offered some of their cultivators for the war. Nidec because it was wary of too much upper realms influence, and Vrelt because of their recent troubles with the Trigold Cluster specifically. It was unfortunate that they hadn¡¯t had the time to fully integrate with the Alliance before the war began- though they were far enough that the process was still going smoothly, it was slowed down somewhat. The situation with the Shining Cooperative was even more unfortunate. Though perhaps the war was good for bringing them close together, Anton would have been quite happy if it took longer and didn¡¯t come at the cost of the lives of millions on Mazlerth and all of those who had and would perish in the war. Interstellar wars were messy. If everyone was lucky, most battles would occur in space and have minimal collateral damage. But if people were lucky, they wouldn''t be at war on the offensive or defensive. Unfortunately, Anton didn¡¯t know any way to avoid war except if everyone was dead. And that was exactly the opposite of what he wanted. The Lower Realms alliance was a stellar example of cooperation, but even it had its imperfections. Integrating new people was difficult, as cultures clashed- even with shared origins from generations past. And the more power one had, the more they could do wrong with it. That was not the world Anton wanted, and yet removal of power wasn¡¯t the solution. At most, it would work for a generation until someone decided they wanted great cultivation- or even great technology. The only way was to make people not want or need. But unfortunately, humans were never satisfied as a default. There was always more they could have. On the other hand, humans could learn. Did learn. And Anton saw great changes in his lifetime. He had hope for the future, if they survived. And if not, they would go down fighting every step of the way. ----- The distractions of civil war were quite useful for sneaking a larger ship into enemy territory. It took longer than they might prefer, but a circuitous route had been necessary to reach the particular point of space where their drifting target lay. Dervla watched their ship close around the smaller one. She had grown up just as a wave of Ruteran technological expertise was washing over Weos. Because of that, she had focused more on the path of science and technology than pure cultivation. Not that they were actually incompatible. It was simply a matter of different routes to understanding the world. ¡°What do the scans say?¡± she asked as she approached her assistant. ¡°The initial scans have revealed little the scouts did not see.¡± ¡°What of the void ants?¡± Dervla¡¯s assistant shook her head. ¡°Unfortunately, it is unlikely any survived. The entire vessel is contaminated with countless compounds. Our scanners picked up many of their bodies in the storage area, many only partially intact due to corrosive compounds. Perhaps those were the lucky ones, as they would have died quickly. And any others¡­ well, there wouldn¡¯t be anything uncontaminated to eat for months.¡± ¡°They could have survived off of the natural energy, perhaps,¡± Dervla said. But even though she said that, she wasn¡¯t actually hopeful to find any survivors. Despite their distinct lack of humanity, the void ants were still staunch allies. Though she knew that the void ants themselves would mourn the loss less than some of their people might. ¡°If not, at least they stopped an extremely problematic shipment. My insight tells me some of these compounds would have been replicated on a larger scale at their destination. It would have been nice if they could have stopped the ship without compromising the containers and killing themselves, but¡­¡± Dervla shook her head. It wasn¡¯t actually difficult to kill void ants, if one knew to expect them. They were more durable than normal ants, but they could still withstand less poison than humans if it didn¡¯t require natural energy to function. And even a simple flamethrower would likely take out most of those beyond the level of a royal guard. No doubt the Trigold Cluster had some ways, and they were already apprised of the void ants existence. Chapter 893 Most of the attacks on the Trigold Cluster were swift and decisive. Nobody wanted to give them a chance to make another insane move like destroying Zunrose. Though they were somewhat distracted with their burgeoning civil war, there was still a chance that an opportunity would be found. Assuming they still had anything potentially that dangerous. After Varghese wiped out the fleet that had come to try to deal with the remains of that star, there hadn¡¯t yet been another similar incident. And obviously no other stars had been destroyed. Nobody would let such a large fleet get close to their stars now, if they even had the capacity to repeat the attempt. And now, the Void Scrying Sect had nothing to show for it. They¡¯d squandered their opportunity to process the worldheart, perhaps because they had other targets in mind. The only thing that didn¡¯t make sense to Varghese was why they wouldn¡¯t immediately send another group to finish off the star. Why wait so long? A whole decade, in fact. Either it took that long to construct whatever was required for the attempt- he¡¯d destroyed everything beyond recognizability, so unfortunately they couldn¡¯t study it- or something else had stopped them. It was a staggeringly large hesitation otherwise, for something within their territory. If they had hunkered down in their own systems it would be one thing, as the Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance might have been content to stay in their systems after that scare¡­ except for the repeated attacks, mainly attempts to cause widespread devastation with minimal manpower. Either because that was easier, or they simply didn¡¯t think they had it. The losses at Zunrose weren¡¯t easy for them to absorb. Soon enough- which was to say after over a year of pushing into the southern territory- they finally reached the core worlds through a different route, with secure lines of supply and retreat established behind them. Their target was the planet Egnos, under the sway of the Void Scrying Sect and their closer allies. There was another core system between Egnos and Kunion, known as Xeotov and under control of the same factions. However, though the attackers had access to that system it was better to keep themselves further removed from Kunion so as to not make the other part of the civil war feel threatened. A grand fleet entered the system in a coordinated manner, traveling at the pace of the slowest ships. From there, it broke into three main groups. The first was set to take out outlying bases and other defenses away from the planet proper. The fleet came in from an oblique angle where the system¡¯s plane didn¡¯t put other planets in their path, but they had some artificial defenses set up, and from their studies there were formations on other planets that might empower the primary location. The second fleet was headed directly for Egnos to begin the assault. If they were unable to cause any damage they would retreat and reassess, but the plan was to act quickly. They didn¡¯t want time for something more to happen. With the Void Scrying Sect prominent in the area, they had to stay fluid. They would make use of their own diviners to try to counter potential predictions as much as possible. The third and smallest fleet was escorting Varghese to the star within the system. Or rather, towards the central star. It was a ternary system with two red stars orbiting on opposite sides of a central orange star. The central star was the most important, as the largest among them. While he would have liked to bind all three for a perfect balance, Varghese had to consider how many he could bind to. He¡¯d lost some cultivation time from his injuries, and while he had three stars available that would mean not taking part in future assaults. Not with the full power of Assimilation. Unless he took more than a handful of years for his cultivation to advance a star, and while the war might last that long, there were more than two or three core systems to be dealt with even if they ignored the second half of things. Obviously Varghese was wary of the same thing happening- but if they were willing to destroy one of their own systems again just to damage him, the sacrifice might be worth it. He wouldn¡¯t like it, but he thought he could resist any catastrophic backfire. Though more than that, he would simply lash out from the star and stop anything that even thought about getting close. Before he began binding to the star, he carefully looked it over with his own senses. Other parts of the fleet scanned it as well, looking for any sort of trap. But as far as they could tell, it was perfectly healthy and normal. That was what made sense, but sense had gone out the window the first time a star was destroyed. Varghese took his time confirming his initial impression, then began to bind to the star. He had no hostility towards it, and sensed none in return. Not that he expected such from a star¡­ but it was hard not to personify them when he was connected to several. Ascribing personalities to them where there were none was human. In his mind, Azun had the appearance of a wild beast, but was closer to a drunk stumbling about without malice, its power simply beyond its control. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. This star could have watched over the planet and its inhabitants for billions of years. Who knew how long either of those time frames were. The only thing Varghese was certain about was that these inhabitants were not the original ones. Or at least not most of them. As he refined his connection to it, its heat and light changed from harsh to comforting. He was far closer than he had ever expected to be to a star without protection- indeed, as a youth he wouldn¡¯t have expected to even leave the security of a planet¡¯s atmosphere. The thought of travel through space except as the invaders did on the tides of the world was foreign to him. Once Varghese had fully established his bond, he reached deeper inside the star to more thoroughly check its health. There was nothing strange in and around it. And even deep in enemy territory, Varghese was determined to keep this one safe. Even the small portion of its power he could call upon would be sufficient to defeat anything the enemy could throw at it- even fleets of thousands of ships, now that he was prepared to activate such power from a distance. A star might not be invincible, but enemy ships were even less so. Even if they were actively made to resist vast temperatures, his active control could pierce through such defenses to some extent- which would be sufficient to cook anyone inside. Or perhaps he would be surprised once more. But he seriously doubted that they could afford to continue to tear apart their own systems, especially as this one had more wealth that the Void Scrying Sect would care about. And most likely some of the people making decisions, though aside from names and general strengths it was difficult to find where most of their cultivators would be long term. After Varghese completed his connection, the third fleet went to join the second. There had already been several reports of breaking through defenses scattered around the system, so things were going well there. As for Egnos itself, its defenses yet held even against its many attackers. This time, however, they wouldn¡¯t be taking their time crushing the defenses. Instead, they would have as many active formation masters as they could aiding their targeting so they could break through as soon as possible. It might still be a matter of hours, but they could also be lucky. Varghese found some useful ammunition in the form of enemy ships that had been sent to slow their approach. All had at least some amount of material he could magnetize to crash into the planetary barrier, and even as scrap they had some utility in that manner. The Astral Spear captained by Kybele circled around the planet, bombarding it continuously. It was an impressive contribution for a single ship, providing valuable information about the barrier as a whole. It was a little bit unfair to compare that to The Wayfarer, under General Gabriela¡¯s command. One was a smaller ship that still achieved Ascension-class power to some extent. The other was a full sized capital ship, upgraded over the past centuries as technological advancements came- and as its bound captain improved. The Wayfarer¡¯s main cannon didn¡¯t simply drain some of the natural energy powering the barrier, but instead punched through with every shot, often causing damage below. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t always able to puncture secondary barriers, but it did provide brief moments where other ships could fire through as the barrier reformed in that location. Combined with many other assaults, it was difficult for the barrier to keep up. All they needed was a bit more time to collapse it completely- a few hours at most. But this time, the response was quicker. Once again, it would have been impossible to send reinforcements from neighboring systems in the available time frame. They must have launched before arrival, and with accurate timing. The biggest question was where the fleets had come from, as they were doing their best to watch most of the nearby systems. Then again, they couldn¡¯t account for every individual ship. With the arrival of the incoming fleet, Egnos responded with its own fleets, sending cultivators from out behind their barriers. The assaulting fleets reformed, losing their focus on the bombardment and instead focusing on ship to ship combat. Varghese sensed something a few moments after a message arrived regarding their outermost sensors. Another fleet entering the system. The current enemy forces might not be sufficient to take them out- and even this third fleet might not do it- but they would end up with too many losses if they fought. And so far, none had been foolish enough to go near the star itself. A retreat was called, but people did not withdraw with hearts heavy. No, up to that point they¡¯d been experiencing a resounding victory. Even as they retreated, they brought down pursuing ships- Varghese especially delighted in crashing them into each other. Furthermore, their secondary objectives were accomplished. The outlying defenses were taken down, and Varghese had bound the star. That meant that they could come in as a more unified fleet in the future. And they would figure out how the enemy¡¯s fleet movements slipped past their detection in other systems. If they could see the fleets setting out in advance, they could change their course to other targets- and if they were fast enough, the enemy wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up. Predictive abilities could only work so well. Varghese kept his senses on his latest star, in case something were to happen again¡­ but nobody even got close. He was content with that. He really didn¡¯t want another star to be destroyed, even if it took out only enemies and a bit of his own cultivation. Even if his cultivation wasn¡¯t involved, he would feel for the star. They weren¡¯t something that could just be replaced, after all. Chapter 894 Even after the assault forces withdrew from Egnos, Varghese wasn¡¯t done with them. The Trigold Cluster was going to learn how troublesome the domain of a star could be. If he had the same proficiency as Anton, he could actually assault Egnos itself without even being in the system. He did not, however, but he could make traffic through the middle of the system very difficult. For the sake of not revealing too much, he actually let a few ships slip through at the edges of his range- and he was still focusing on expanding that skill further. If he attacked up to his very limits, they would certainly calculate it and be able to exploit it in the future. It might not seem like much at first, to force ships to take a slightly longer route. All they had to do was angle slightly above or below the plane of rotation and they could circumvent his reach with the power of the star. At most, he could set people back fifteen minutes or an hour, if they were coming from a system located on the far side of the planet¡¯s current orientation. That might not seem like much¡­ but over ten ships? A hundred? A thousand? It would quickly begin to add up. Beyond actual disruptions, Varghese was also able to keep track of what was coming and going- including the continued presence of the full fleets that had come to drive off their own assault. ----- While it was technically possible to keep their ships in orbit at all times, in practical terms humans needed to land and interact with other people. Beyond that, people also needed something slightly better than dried rations to keep morale up. Thus, various bases they had captured along the way were repurposed for their own ends. They always kept active patrols, of course, and some vessels like The Wayfarer were never meant to land anywhere to begin with. The Shining Cooperative and the Lower Realms Alliance kept different barracks and the like. They had separate command structures, and while they were allies in this particular war they still were not that familiar with each other. Then there was the matter of the void ants. The Lower Realms Alliance cultivators were for the most part quite used to them- there were very few planets that didn¡¯t have a sizable population of void ants, with their own contained pathways so nobody accidentally stepped on them. They could have lived entirely underground, of course, but they were intentionally kept visible. In the Great Queen¡¯s estimation, people needed to see and be around them regularly for them to be fully integrated. Varghese agreed. Though it was a difficult social interaction with vastly different sizes, most of the void ants weren¡¯t interested anyway. Only those who were more developed interacted with humans beyond what they were ordered. The first sign that something was wrong came from the void ants. They grew restless all together, and Varghese knew better than to underestimate their senses. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± he asked. There were a few exchanged words- and no doubt some pheromones he wasn¡¯t great at processing. But he got the general gist of it even before the highest ranking among them reported the consensus to him. ¡°Ascension energy. At this angle,¡± the void ant said while the others gathered together to point. Varghese was the first to report, though a few others were moments behind. The Wayfarer was the first to begin investigating, moving towards the edge of the system, and other ships were quickly added to the mix. The various patrols kept to their patterns, just in case the ascension energy was a distraction somehow. The response was quick and efficient, and that might have been the only thing that saved them. Varghese could barely sense The Wayfarer moving towards the edge of the system, but he also felt something else. And yet only a moment or two later, a powerful beam of energy tore through the system, moving at a speed many times that of light. Varghese and many others immediately rallied their energy to support the defensive formation over the base, and even then it nearly crumbled under the assault after only a short moment. Void ants were scurrying out of the buildings to try to fend off the attack, but a moment later the beam distorted, tearing across the surface of the small moon they were stationed on. It left deep gouges before reaching its final orientation, remaining in that position for several seconds more. That was all it took to bore a hole a kilometer wide through several hundred kilometers of ground, passing through a slice of the moon. Fortunately, it had been directed away from other bases. Or rather, that had been intentional on the part of The Wayfarer, deflecting the beam with one side of their own and a counterattack from their cannon. From start to finish, the entire incident was less than half an hour- and the actual attack barely more than ten seconds. The Wayfarer reported the target destroyed, and Varghese lamented his lack of power in their current system. It was far less than the power to destroy an entire star, but whatever had been deployed was still unexpectedly powerful. And charged with ascension energy somehow, though how they would keep such energy stable in the lower realms long term was unclear. Perhaps their investigations would reveal more. But just as they felt things were over, Varghese felt something. There was a lingering disruption in space, as the beam had pierced through subspace to cover the tremendous distance in just a few moments. But even as that disruption was fading away, tremors emerged. Not just from unstable bits of the moon- though that was plenty of an issue itself. Instead, there was something else. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Distortion beasts!¡± Varghese warned. ¡°Stay ready!¡± He didn¡¯t have much experience with them himself, but he was aware of them from various incidents, and of course Anton¡¯s personal experiences. There were reasons it was difficult to push travel technology further, and they were one of them. Explaining where the distortion beasts were was something Varghese didn¡¯t have the words for. Indeed, as they were able to co-locate with things via their presence in subspace- and potentially deeper layers beyond the veil of reality- they were both difficult to track and not necessarily contiguous with themselves as a single entity. It was entirely possible the masses swarming towards them were in fact a single distortion beast, though the variety of tentacles, spikes, mouths that came from all directions, and other such things indicated it was probably several different creatures. All Varghese could think to do was to create a small distortion in space just above the moon, drawing upon what power he had available outside of a bound system. Perhaps he should have bound this star, but he wasn¡¯t necessarily going to stay at this base long term. And the process of replacing his first ninety-nine took too long. Either way, he drew upon his connection to Azun and the neutron star in Zunrose. Both were dense to the point they caused extreme distortions in space. It was enough to draw the distortion beasts towards the point Varghese designated and even to have parts of them revealed- which were quickly assaulted as they entered real space by hundreds of cultivators. It would have been more, but not all had enough range for that. Pilots had already been scrambling for ships, but at least the first warning had given people sufficient time to get armed and armored- for those few cultivators who ever were away from their weapons in the first place. It was unclear if the distortion beasts were an intentional part of the assault or not. Theoretically, if things had gone as intended the Lower Realms Alliance base would have been completely wiped out, and the moon itself might have collapsed with a hole straight through its center. It was difficult to say what exactly would have happened, but it wouldn''t have been pretty. The condensed firepower of the Astral Spear was quite valuable, just above the surface of the moon, and their numerous cultivators all contributed in their own way. This was not an insurmountable opponent, but even though the battle was over quickly it still resulted in the loss of life for many. Some were lower cultivation, or simply unlucky, but that didn¡¯t make their deaths sting any less. Varghese himself had done his best to reveal the distortion beasts to others, as his combat strength was not at its peak in the system. He thought that was more valuable than trying to burn part of one, and he was quite uncertain whether magnetism would do anything to the vast beasts. Ultimately, the training and coordination of their people won out, but everyone remained on edge. That was true even as The Wayfarer came limping back. It was actually quite impressive how much the ship had managed to resist, a testament to the engineers who constructed it, the crew augmenting the ships barriers, and of course the general who was the core of its current strength. If they didn¡¯t have an Assimilation cultivator like general Gabriela, perhaps this portion of their fleets would have been utterly destroyed. ----- Word reached Anton of another unexpected assault, and yet another previously unknown weapon that had come seemingly from nowhere. The question on everyone¡¯s minds, beyond how many things they could possible pull out, was why it had not been used previously- such as an assault on one of their main planets. But perhaps it was too easily picked out or there were other flaws. Not that void ants sensing it was a good indication of that. WIthout the void ants, it would have likely begun its assault with nobody having sensed it. Then they would have been bolstering their barriers too late. Anton had the resolve to not be involved in the war, and that was still his intention¡­ but there were things he could do that might still be useful. He had hunches to act upon¡­ and while it would be a significant effort to undertake he couldn¡¯t simply stand by. He was still near to Akyrys along the northern border of the lower realms, and he immediately turned to the east, going along the reverse of a path he had taken but once. He was going to take more than a month or two to even reach his destination, but if his hunch was correct that would barely change anything. And if it wasn¡¯t¡­ well, he would have wasted that time. But it was better to waste time than to let the lives of people fall by the wayside. And it wasn¡¯t just a hunch. It was a cultivator hunch. His Insight told him something he couldn¡¯t yet substantiate. It was a rather straightforward thought process, however. If they had these superweapons of sorts, why would they use them so infrequently- and why on the particular targets they had chosen? The simple answer, to Anton, was because most of the time they didn¡¯t have them. So someone was giving these things to them. And that someone could only be one group, the Trigold Cluster in the upper realms. As for how, he was less certain of that. Travel between the upper and lower realms was near impossible, outside of Ascension and the Tides of the World allowing for it. But near impossible wasn¡¯t impossible. Hadn¡¯t they just sent a small ship of void ants into the upper realms? It might be possible to do so in reverse- though the key factor was whether they could bypass the issues of swapping between upper and lower energy. That wasn¡¯t necessarily impossible, and they¡¯d had millenia to consider the problem. Anton knew it must still be difficult, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t rely on the Tides of the World so much. He might even be wrong about what was happening. But he still had to go look for himself. Here he was, meddling again. But rather than relying upon his strength to dominate their opponents, Anton didn¡¯t mind so much if he made use of his other skills to help out. Like his abilities as a scout. His senses were quite good, after all. Chapter 895 In time, Anton arrived at his destination vague as it was. Generally north of the Trigold Cluster¡¯s lower realms operations was¡­ a large area. Not only did they cover at least a dozen systems in width, but they weren¡¯t oriented along a single flat plane. Some of their systems were placed higher and lower in the galactic plane, which could be hundreds of systems deep. That left Anton with a very large area to cover as he attempted to find¡­ something. He¡¯d come on a hunch, presuming something was passing between the upper and lower realms. But from where and to where? If they hooked around further to the east or west than he imagined, he might miss them entirely. But he couldn¡¯t search everywhere. Instead, he focused on what made the most sense. Direct routes to and from planets in the lower realms. They had more certain knowledge of the various locations and what was occupied with regards to the lower realms. They were able to actually track the locations of stars within the upper realms. He¡¯d probably been cataloging them back when he was stargazing with Vandale. Their orbits were known. Occupation was a bit more difficult to discern, and spy networks in the upper realms were slow to build. Though all they had to do was come across an archive with poor security, despite the intentions to obfuscate everything about themselves in the Trigold Cluster. It was even to the point of detriment to their common citizens, it seemed. In the lower realms, however, their planets were measured in the dozens- and they were less populated. Even their core worlds couldn¡¯t rival those of the Lower Realms Alliance. Assuming logical paths between them, Anton could pick out only a few hundred systems they could be shipping things through. Which was still quite a few. He was hoping that he might be able to pick things up from adjacent systems, cutting down his exploration distance to a third or less. Or maybe he¡¯d underestimated the scope of the project and shouldn¡¯t be undertaking it himself. He wondered if he could at least replace old stars as he was going. That was an iffy topic, because he wouldn¡¯t be physically co-located with a single star for long. But so what? His connection with his current stars transcended distance. It was worth a try, expanding his abilities. But if he was going to pick one, he wanted something central. The best candidate was a blue supergiant, vaguely in the center of his chosen cluster. No more than a handful of lightyears off, anyway. No doubt it had several names depending on who you asked, but Anton was going to call it Naewu as it was only numbered in the Lower Realms Alliance database. After all, it wasn¡¯t near enough to matter, and it wasn¡¯t even adjacent to their territory. This was the second star of the sort he would bind to, the first being the star shared by Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn, and now their expanded territories. Both were massive, tens of times that of Ceretos¡¯ star and similarly larger in radius. But that extra mass made them smaller and hotter than stars like Akrys¡¯, a red supergiant that had expanded and cooled somewhat. His first step was to free up space, carving away one of his old stars. That came with a very slight drop in power, but only one noticeable if he was fighting in the Life Transformation range. Since reaching Enrichment he was above that strength even away from his bound stars, so it was mostly irrelevant on its own. Anton split his attention between the world around him- focusing on the nearby stars and anything that might be passing by- and Naewu, his target star. In the former, he was looking for signs of civilization. Outposts, old and new, or actual occupation. Given the information from interrogations, there shouldn¡¯t be anything large enough to be in the general consciousness, but that didn¡¯t meant there wouldn¡¯t be small bases. As for Naewu, he was focusing on what he felt of it. Even at a great distance, he could see it and feel its energy. It was faint, but strong. He wove between stars, passing by each in a matter of days. After a month, he had made a single pass along the width of the chosen area, but there were still many sweeps to go. He so far had nothing to show for his efforts in terms of finding any evidence of materials passing through the systems. At least his connection to Naewu was growing. Not as much as it would if he were closer, but it was at least the beginning of his effort. As he drew closer to the star, his efforts would prove more fruitful. This was also encouraging for Anton, as it meant he could potentially serve an occupied system while still binding a star a few steps away- like those along his traversal paths within the Lower Realms Alliance. He was certain it would succeed, though on a timeframe potentially several times the already lengthy couple of years. Most likely, he would want to be within ten or twenty lightyears at most. ----- It was difficult to sustain attacks on the Trigold Cluster as they were able to maneuver fleets to drive off any assaults, but sitting around doing nothing wasn¡¯t going to win the war. Indeed, it would just give more time for another unknown weapon to crack their defenses. But those very weapons were one concern about their assaults. That led to a change in strategy, where they focused not on a single system at once but several, launching coordinated assaults. It would still be possible for the Void Scrying Sect to predict their attack patterns, but they weren¡¯t intending to hard commit to any assault. They focused on mobile fleets that could outrun the enemy, so even if the Trigold Cluster concentrated on one fleet in an attempt to take them out they could still retreat. It wasn¡¯t a simple feat to block off a fleet that could flee in three dimensions unimpeded. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Continuous active assaults were costly, both in terms of resources and in terms of lives- each fleet was as balanced as possible, but ultimately they only had so many Assimilation cultivators in each place. The only hope was that it was more costly for their enemies. Egnos was a frequent but not constant target, as they were slowly wearing down their defenses. Eventually, if they could crack their planetary shields, they could begin causing damage to the sect grounds themselves. They could even target supply warehouses or the like. Cultivators could go without food to some extent¡­ but that only worked so far, and only for those with sufficient cultivation. Varghese only participated in assaults on Egnos for the moment, though he had other stars available to bind. His own power wasn¡¯t critical to their success or failure, but keeping his options flexible was valuable. After all, mobile Assimilation cultivators with no restrictions at all tended to be a bit weaker. The area restrictions were generally balanced by greater power in certain locations- though some cultivation paths were simply weaker even when restricted. The other intention was to make people think he might have run out of available bound stars- or that he had a particular time limitation. But when necessary, he could bind two or three in a row, bolstering forces for specific battles. That would be quite valuable. When he was not involved in an assault, Varghese continued his training. His specific focus was on extending himself from bound stars, and he was focusing on the orange star in Egnos which he had bound. Lately a greater number of ships had been traveling in and out of the system- not surprising when it was a target of frequent attacks. Rather than destroying a few of them, he was waiting for a good opportunity¡­ and gathering what information he could from those that passed too close to him. He was beginning to pick out some patterns, ships full of cultivators going in and out¡­ but more people out than in. He relayed that information to the people who needed it, though he speculated on the possibilities himself. ----- The day finally came where Varghese no longer had to speculate about their plans. Instead, he saw them enacted as he sat within the safety of an allied base¡­ while at the same time enemy ships entered the system where Egnos stood. They were sufficient in number- some two hundred easily- that Varghese was willing to reveal the whole extent of his reach. Except instead of passing by the central star towards Egnos, they spread far around it towards one of the other two in the system- one of the pair of red stars. There was nothing Varghese could do but watch. He thought that perhaps with more experience he could bind the star from his current location, or by extending himself through the local star- but he reached out and felt only the vaguest of connections, insufficient to manage anything in a short time period. Even if he managed to bind to the star, was he willing to do so just as they destroyed another one? Except this time was different. It was a smaller star, and rather than approaching they fanned out around it. Varghese felt a change in the flow of natural energy. Together, the hundreds of ships arranged a formation that began to pull apart the small star. Varghese was fairly sure it would only work on red dwarfs such as the one they were after, but it still concerned him greatly. The red dwarf began to vibrate, and then lengthen. Finally, it began to stretch, the formation of ships extending with it until it was more ovoid. That entire process took about an hour, but it sped up rapidly after that- soon it was twice again as long¡­ and Varghese could tell what the plan was, as it pointed towards the central star he was bound to. There was something more, other than trying to crash the stars together. Some disturbances of energy. Varghese wasn¡¯t quite sure what, but he steeled himself. Whatever they were doing, he didn¡¯t want it. But he was too far to show up in person, so he could only maneuver the star to defend itself. As the red dwarf stretched into a spearlike shape, it began to be pulled in by the central star- and in turn, that pulled the far end of it. Varghese felt the impact, a great power causing turbulence within the star he was bound to. He could handle it if it was just that, but the ships formed around the star, another set of formations they carried activating. That was when he properly felt it, a pulse of energy going through his bound star which was already destabilized by the other one piercing into it. That pulse was much more than a simple nudge. Instead, it made him tremble and feel violently sick, as his own connection was exploited to reach out towards his other bound stars. Including In¡¯istra. Varghese clenched his teeth to the point they began to crack- but the pain didn¡¯t even register. He lashed out at the ships, cautious to the point they were even beyond what he felt his limits were. But if he focused on one at a time, he could reach them with a focused beam of light. Yet he couldn¡¯t simply fight back, as In¡¯istra¡¯s star was groaning in sympathetic pain¡­ along with his others. He felt himself being torn apart, not just once but in many places. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. First Azun, then In¡¯istra, and finally Poriza. All of which were local to him¡­ and all of which he shared with Anton. Varghese let out a strained laugh of relief. Even hundreds of lightyears away, his master would come to his rescue. Not that he was out of danger yet. Egnos¡¯ star was still in a wild state, and it could easily still collapse. He wasn¡¯t certain he could handle two bound stars in as many decades being destroyed, either on an emotional level or as a cultivator. The second wound was bound to be worse than the first. And he had to stop the fleet. His resolve was strengthened as he handed over the safety of his home system entirely to the hands of Anton, and focused entirely on one. Chapter 896 Whatever caused the destabilization Varghese was now wrestling against, it was similar to what had destroyed Zunrose¡¯s star. To that end, the odd neutron star there was not experiencing much in the way of secondary fluctuations. And with Anton helping balance other stars, Varghese could focus on Egnos¡¯ star. With one destabilized red dwarf currently fusing with Egnos¡¯ central star, Varghese had to focus on keeping his connection intact. At first he was fighting back against the fusion, but it was inevitable. What he needed to resist was not the joining of stars, but the distortion that came with it. At least the unstable star was good for one thing- there was a burst of energy on the surface, which he used to lash out at the various ships that were trying to ruin his connection. One by one they fell, but there were still hundreds. Many less than Zunrose, but still numerous. Though the red dwarf was smaller than the central orange star, the distortion the new mass caused when infected by foreign energy was too much. Varghese could barely handle it and fight back against what else the enemy might try. It was so¡­ unbalanced. That simple thought made him reach out, connecting magnetic fields under his control to further ones, reaching out towards the third star in the system. And perhaps not a moment too soon, because Varghese noticed the ships pulling away from his central star, angling towards the third of the cluster. But by the time they got close to the star, it was almost flying past them towards Varghese. Not that the task of pulling two stars together over such a great distance was a quick one. They tried to distort the star as it was pulled towards him, but while they could more easily alter its shape, Varghese kept control over its core substance and stability. He sent it on a trajectory to orbit around the central star- too close to ever escape. Indeed, he was hoping to pull off layers of it a bit at a time. He could feel the pain of the star. They were not meant to absorb other stars, not in a short time period. Such events were usually catastrophic for the system around them. Perhaps the Trigold Cluster didn¡¯t care about what happened to the system, if they could cause a chain reaction with his other bound stars. That appeared to be the intent. But Anton had a tight grasp on the others, his greater experience and power letting Varghese focus on just one. He was also able to draw on the experience with Zunrose¡¯s star. He had the feeling it wasn¡¯t supposed to end up in that state, a consequence of his earlier connection. He didn¡¯t want Egnos¡¯ star to end up like that either, and this time he had a chance. The second red star, while destabilizing the physical form of the star mass even more, was able to mix with the matter of the first, diluting the energy fluctuations. The process was either long and drawn out¡­ or extremely quick, depending on which time scale you looked at. Fusions of stars would tend to happen over a very long time, rather than being intentionally crashed into each other over the course of hours. But as far as sustained battles went, it was quite long. Varghese felt mental fatigue building, and his own personal energy was draining as well as he exerted his control over the greater part of Egnos¡¯ star. He¡¯d never controlled so much energy at once, nor had he ever intended to do so before the Enrichment stage, if even then. It was only working because, to some extent, the stars were working with him. The rate at which the central mass was wobbling back and forth began to increase, and with that the distance the surrounding ships were shrank in certain places- Varghese continued to lash out as he could, and soon enough the fleet began retreating. Their individual resolve seemed to be faltering. Those who were bravest died first¡­ and that lessened the pressure on Varghese. The fusion of the stars was increasing the power as a single star, including his radius of control. And he was beginning to get a handle on the unnatural energy fluctuations. Once those died down, a full day later, any ships pestering him had long since left. So all he had to do was complete the fusion of the stars properly, without letting them tear apart as might happen due to natural forces- after the truly unnatural collisions. He hadn¡¯t wanted to consume their additional stars, but with the system unbalanced it might have happened regardless. Some of the outlying planets might have less stable orbits, but that was something that wasn¡¯t an immediate crisis. And Varghese wasn¡¯t even certain if he would be upset should the planets fling out of the system or crash into the sun. Though perhaps all of those who remained were less favored, and thus easier to turn against the Trigold Cluster. Billions of individuals witnessing the event to some extent would be very difficult to cover up, most relevant for those who didn¡¯t already know who was responsible for destroying Zunrose. Either way, Varghese wanted the sun to settle properly. The worst moments were past. Anton sent a fluctuation of energy through their shared stars, and Varghese sent one back, thanking him for his assistance. With the sabotage gone, Varghese just had to balance the new masses mixing into the main star. That wasn¡¯t trivial, as they were in different stages, and rapid changes in temperature and density were not helping. But ever so slowly, things came under control. Varghese became aware of his greater surroundings indirectly, as he sensed another fleet incoming to the system- a familiar one. He also sensed his connection strengthening to Egnos¡¯ star, as his own body was brought closer. He should have probably paid more attention to his own body, but then again there hadn¡¯t really been any danger. He was and had been among allies. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. By that point, the star was nearly stable. No, that wasn¡¯t quite true. It would be years at least before it stopped with oversized solar flares, and the internal convection currents would be wild for a very long time even with Varghese intentionally guiding them. But it was past the point it was most likely to explode or collapse. Back in his own body, he asked the captain of the ship he was on to bring him somewhat closer to the star, while he then took the time to explain the greater situation to everyone else, since they most likely only knew the very basic situation. But he could appreciate their ability to coordinate an assault¡­ one that would face very little resistance. It was possible that they had given up on the system, but Varghese though it equally likely that the Void Scrying Sect couldn¡¯t make any predictions about the system with such massive fluctuations of energy in progress. And down those paths where he failed, a miniature supernova would most likely overwhelm everything else. The same was true with Zunrose¡¯ star, where they hadn¡¯t properly predicted the end state of things. ----- With only a partial fleet to defend Egnos, they easily surrendered. Which meant that their greater alliance had to figure out what to do with the planet and its people. For the moment, information gathering was the biggest concern. Many of the most easily moved resources in sect vaults had gone off world during the heavy traffic, but obviously not all of it. That would have required massive ships, even with extradimensional storage involved. And the majority of the population remained- no matter how many ships came and went to a planet in a short time, moving billions was pretty much impossible. There were still many remaining disciples of the Void Scrying Sect, as well as the Twin Soul Sect and others who were their major supporters. And while they were going to be dealt with¡­ there were plans to let the rest of the planet do so. Telling people that someone nearly destroyed their planet- after destroying another system where a majority of people had at least some connection? There was only so much future promises of power could do to keep people under control with that level of betrayal. But the occupiers didn¡¯t let the planet turn into a wholly chaotic mess. They had various goals for it. It was a good foothold, among other things- but also a beacon that the could hope some of the more disgruntled members of the Trigold Cluster might visit. If nothing else, they would be willing to use the planet to meet with the Fearsome Menagerie, as well as the others on the other side of the civil war. Or perhaps Tor and the Shimmering Spears¡¯ group. Either way, the takeover of the planet was a great victory. Enemy losses weren¡¯t as high as they might like in terms of combat forces and fleets, but the removal of another system from their economy would hit hard. And they had seen clear demonstrations of the ships that had tried to destabilize the star and their formations, which meant they could potentially be countered- though they only had Varghese¡¯ recollections and a small number of surviving monitors dropped in the system. And some destroyed ships, which hadn¡¯t all fallen into the ¡®new¡¯ star. ----- Far away, Anton didn¡¯t have a clear grasp on what had happened except that some sort of disruption had echoed through Varghese to their shared stars. He was proud of his disciple for fighting it off, as even the echoes had been quite significant. Lending his own hand to the effort was the least he could do there, even if it had been the case the consequences wouldn¡¯t affect him as well. He¡¯d get an explanation sooner or later, but the incident steeled his resolve to find something. He didn¡¯t want to enter the war directly still, but he still believed his plan had merit. He was still in the process of binding to Naewu, the central star in the cross-sectional region he had chosen to patrol. He¡¯d nearly reached it in his back and forth route while still having found none of what he was looking for. No enemy bases, no ships flying back and forth. He might simply be wasting his time. It was easy to think that, until he sensed something out of place. A trail of ascension energy. It was extremely faint, but he immediately changed his own trajectory to chase after it. It took days to catch up to an object simply drifting through space- though ¡®drifting¡¯ didn¡¯t quite describe its very significant velocity. It was moving a significant portion of lightspeed, but not through subspace. Pieces clicked into place in Anton¡¯s head. Indeed, that fit with their own theories and singular point of experience. The transition between upper and lower energy required more than redundant systems on ships, as they might still interact with the wrong form of energy and have formations that acted unpredictably. So something close to pure technology like Rutera¡¯s expertise was one method. The other¡­ was simply to have none of that to begin with. What was in front of Anton was basically just a massive crate. How long would it have taken to come from the upper realms? A decade? Two? Potentially more, but if they brought it up to speed at the very border, having to pass through the empty border zone¡­ it might work out. And before that point, they could transport it in their ships. It was genius. But they¡¯d gotten careless. The fact that this package had made it to the lower realms systems- even if just barely- without having been received¡­ it opened them up to quite a bit of risk. Such as Anton snatching it away. Or more likely, waiting for whoever was coming to get it to show up. Then he would capture them and their ships, while shunting the very large container onto another trajectory so someone else could come pick it up later. There could be more that he was missing, of course. The material of the vessel was extremely resistant, blocking out the majority of his senses while mostly concealing what was inside. He could crack it open, of course, but he couldn¡¯t know what dangers there were. Probably very little in the way of formations, though. Those would have easily been damaged in transit. Still, he wasn¡¯t going to mess around with possible deathtraps. Best to let people who knew what they were doing in that regard be involved. Chapter 897 Numerous arrows were already on the way by the time anyone noticed Anton, at which point their engines were destroyed a moment later. Not that the Trigold Cluster had much in the way of proper engines, relying more on mobility formations. But Anton was able to recognize those easily enough, and he just had to break a few important bits. Nothing difficult, if he just synchronized the arrival time of a dozen shots. Before his assault, Anton had made certain there weren¡¯t any other ships for a great distance. Better for this disappearance to be mysterious¡­ which was why he immediately set around dismantling everything else. The Trigold Cluster was decent with formations, but ultimately the ship¡¯s still fell in the realm of Life Transformation cultivators. As an Enrichment cultivator, Anton still had the power of a late Assimilation cultivator even away from the domains of his bound stars. Perhaps a full squadron might begin to challenge him, and a coordinated fleet might be able to endanger him- if they could get close, that was. Even if they could slightly outpace him in speed, Anton had a great rate of recovering natural energy and could whittle them down. Then of course there was the question of making instantaneous changes in direction, which was outside the realm of most ships. They¡¯d have to get in range for their cultivators to fight, and most of them weren¡¯t trained to fight in space unaided. Ultimately, this group clearly hadn¡¯t expected to run into any opposition, so they were woefully unprepared in their reactions. Many didn¡¯t even have their storage bags on them, and those that did found strings and straps severed. Anything they reached for was either destroyed- or their hand was. Anton didn¡¯t have a whole lot of sympathy for the people involved, Void Scrying Sect members, Twin Soul Sect, and some Slithering Serpent Sect as well. The latter gave a bad name to snakes everywhere. Anton inserted himself into their trajectory, making his way closer. ¡°Cooperate, and all of you will have a chance to live.¡± That chance was extremely small, especially for the Twin Soul Sect members¡­ but it was something. This group was much smaller than the raid on In¡¯istra which had multiple ships involved, so he had sufficient energy restricting restraints available. After that was accomplished, he pushed the ship onto a new trajectory, as well as adjusting the path of the container they were coming for. Then he waited, watching over them while continuing to improve his connection to Naewu. He¡¯d be done in a few months, and that would greatly help his efforts in the area, attempting to find more similar activity. He had already sent off a message about the container a day earlier, and he provided an update. Anton didn¡¯t expect anyone to arrive for at least a month, probably two given that they would have to take a route avoiding the Trigold Cluster¡¯s territory, skirting the northern edge of the border. The Shining Cooperative would likely arrive before anyone from the Lower Realms Alliance, however. They might cut that time to three weeks, if they pushed it. Anton didn¡¯t want to rush anyone, but someone would probably notice this group never returned¡­ and they might want to do something about that. Anton wasn¡¯t able to bring a whole ship and massive container with him through subspace, so in essence they were barely moving. Close enough for proper scouts to pick up. And while Anton wouldn¡¯t mind wiping out that second group, prioritizing recovery of the mysterious container was important. He didn¡¯t want to probe too much, just in case he might trigger some reaction. If he was making bioweapons and star destroying devices, he wouldn¡¯t want that to easily fall into enemy hands. ----- The victory in Egnos had precipitated a sudden shift in the war. Though it did take some amount of manpower to keep the planet secure, that overlapped with the same personnel that were using it as a base of operations for advancement further into enemy territory. And the Trigold Cluster only had a limited number of high population worlds in the lower realms. With one world occupied by and one destroyed by the Trigold Cluster¡¯s own hand, there were only a few more on either side of the civil war they had sparked- the most important being Xeotov under control of the Void Scrying Sect and their allies, and Kunion with the Fearsome Menagerie and the others. But they would likely fight all the more fiercely because they were on the back foot. But at least they now had an idea where some of the weapons came from. Flung through the void of space and left to drift for decades, that also meant there wasn¡¯t much hope of rapid adaptation- and if they could cut off more shipments, the Trigold Cluster¡¯s position would weaken even more. ----- The capture of Egnos came with another major advantage. They had a full suite of working comms arrays. They were less effective than their own, but most importantly they were part of a network. There weren¡¯t a large number of compromising messages in storage, and it seemed they couldn¡¯t spy on messages meant for another destination- though they were working on that possibility. But even so, having a way to make contact without being physically present was a huge step for potential negotiations. Once they were confident enough in the security of the system, they sent a message to Kunion, asking about their intentions. They didn¡¯t expect to be trusted, but they might at least work towards mutual goals. That was the plan, though they hadn¡¯t gotten an answer yet. Being new to the workings of those particular communications devices, they were uncertain if the transmission could be blocked by the interposed Xeotov, or if the others were simply taking time to respond. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Or perhaps they had no interest in talking to people from the lower realms at all. In which case, letting the two factions bleed each other dry was the best call. But in relation to that came a point of contention. One between the Shining Cooperative and the Lower Realms Alliance, and even within the separate groups. Specifically, it involved how to deal with those that remained, like the population of Egnos. The extreme end of one faction wanted to wipe them all out, but that position wasn¡¯t quite as radical as it sounded. After all, everyone agreed that the members of the Twin Soul Sect had to be eliminated entirely. Why not members of other sects that were just as responsible for destruction in the lower realms? The debate had come up before, but that was before they had full access to a planet that they had to deal with somehow. The only thing they were able to do immediately was begin freeing slaves. They were generally powerless- at most in the first two stages of cultivation- and of course had no choice about supporting the greater systems. The task of finding and freeing all of them, more than any other, took the most time and effort of anything else. Even with thousands of ships in their fleets, they didn¡¯t have enough cultivators to smoothly deal with billions of individuals. Their forces represented less than a thousandth of the population- though ultimately, a majority of the fighting power. That was due to their Assimilation cultivators as well as the withdrawal of many cultivators before the attempt at creating a chain reaction of destabilized stars. ----- Another basement they thought he wouldn¡¯t notice. Another grandmother and a grandson, huddled together with many others. Varghese shook his head. Why did people have to choose the path of death? At least it made the decision much easier. He didn¡¯t even need to pull out a weapon. No, perhaps it was best to say that he didn¡¯t use a single weapon of his own. Because he did make use of every weapon in the building, all at once. Egnos was his domain, now, and he was only facing a few dozen Essence Collection cultivators and a handful of Life Transformation cultivators. The former died instantly, their weapons pulled from their hands or their belts. Not all metals were inherently magnetic, at least not on the normal scale of magnetism seen in the world. But most used by cultivators were, and the rest could have that property enhanced. Every cultivator fell to their own weapons. The few Life Transformation cultivators reacted in different ways. One of them ran after managing to block his own spear. That made him live a few moments longer. One woman turned towards the slaves they were guarding, gathering energy for an attack. She was the first of the Life Transformation cultivators to fall. Varghese hadn¡¯t even entered the building yet, then he stomped through the front door. ¡°Your assets are forfeit,¡± he said the the managerial woman standing there. ¡°But-¡± ¡°Yes, yes, they threatened you. And if you had come to us, those criminals in the basement would still be dead before they could do anything.¡± ¡°Wait,¡± the woman¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°That was-¡± Varghese let the power of the sun flare through his eyes. ¡°You didn¡¯t feel wrong. I have some slaves to go free, but let me leave you with some reminders. You¡¯ll be left with enough to live, and if you try to flee with anything you¡¯re not entitled to, your life will be forfeit. At the moment, we have no reason to take your lives. Maybe warn others about the part where being threatened isn¡¯t good enough.¡± Technically, there were some situations where the manager and the others could get away without forfeiting everything, but that was something for the bureaucracy people to manage. Varghese didn¡¯t have any motivation to stop anyone from leaving- there wasn¡¯t actually anywhere they could run to, since they couldn¡¯t get off planet. And while these people were complicit in the crimes, he didn¡¯t get the feeling they were the main contributors so it wasn¡¯t his job. He entered the basement to see a ten year old kid barely holding up one of the spears. ¡°I-I won¡¯t let you hurt my family!¡± he said as the door opened. ¡°Bad choice kid,¡± Varghese said, yanking the weapon out of his hands. Then he tossed a small blade at his feet. ¡°That one¡¯s both easier to use and better quality.¡± He looked at the cowering people in the room. ¡°Now everyone line up so I can rip off those stupid slave collars.¡± ¡°But-¡± a woman began to speak. As the first person to protest she got to be the example. Certainly, it would be a shock to everyone¡­ but Varghese reached out, slicing the collar open. The energy contained with in exploded outward¡­ or at least tried to. But an explosion meant to kill people on that level was easily suppressed. At most, people saw a flash of light, before the material of the collar was tossed aside as a molten heap of slag. ¡°Next,¡± Varghese said. ¡°You can go, by the way,¡± he said to the startled woman. ¡°There¡¯s a few people outside you can talk to that will help you get things sorted out. You¡¯ll be set up with proper food and shelter.¡± ¡°How will I know who they are?¡± ¡°They¡¯re the only people outside the building,¡± Varghese said. The youth stepped forward, and Varghese removed his collar without even looking. Ultimately, slavery was impractical for cultivators. They were better off engaging in similar and equally despicable practices, as the expense required to keep people in line grew with the value they could provide, in general. Ultimately, cultivation was required to go beyond a certain level in crafts and the like, so slaves mostly were used as basic servants and manual labor- but again, said manual labor was more efficient when done by proper cultivators. Though Varghese didn¡¯t let it show on his face, he was teeming with emotions inside. He was aware of how slavery had affected his master¡¯s family in the past, and there were problems on In¡¯istra as well- both from natives and Trigold invaders. This was one area upon which every member of the Lower Realms Alliance had to agree to join, and the Shining Cooperative seemed to support it as well. Varghese always had an itching feeling in the back of his mind that this was beneath him, that he should be fighting in the war. And then Anton¡¯s voice would always remind him that taking care of people was the most important. This was what mattered. Battle was simply necessary to reach this point where people could be uplifted, and to protect against anyone who wished to stop it. Chapter 898 When his legs twitched, the void ant private realized that he still had legs. Which implied, among other things, that he was alive. And conscious. Neither of which he ever expected again. Confusion and concern rushed through his body. What if he had been captured by the enemy? They could torture him and¡­ and what? He likely couldn¡¯t give up information even if he wanted to. That thought was comforting, but what was even more comforting was a wave of pheromones informing him that everything was safe. Something came into his eyeline. Another void ant. Good. She was very close, though. It made him uncomfortable, until he realized she was actually quite a bit further and larger. Which was another kind of discomfort. ¡°You don¡¯t need to be worried,¡± she conveyed with her limbs and her pheromones. ¡°And you don¡¯t need to try to stand.¡± Good, because he was pretty sure his body wasn¡¯t listening to him. Everything was weird. Especially since the Great Queen was here in person. And yet, not quite as big as he remembered. Not that it would make any difference for her to be slightly smaller. His antennae twitched. Ah, he was worried those had corroded off. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°You would know best,¡± the Great Queen signed. ¡°As you were the one present. But I think it should suffice to say you successfully stopped them. And something about your unique physiology allowed you to survive. Perhaps because you are a male?¡± Ah. He¡¯d been caught. ¡°I apolo-¡± He barely began before he was cut off, the pressure of authority weighing down on him. ¡°It was not my will that drones should die. It was simply the way of ants, even ones such as us in our early development. I appreciate above all those who are loyal eternally. You wished to contribute to our cause, and you worked to that end. I will not fault you for that.¡± A huge sense of relief flushed over him, which brought back to him more of the feeling of his body. Which reminded him of the pain. ¡°... How bad is it?¡± he asked. ¡°All of the others perished,¡± she said. Most had their chitin at least partially melted by caustic gasses. Levels of toxins sufficient to kill human cultivators were present as well- and their efficacy was well tested on the other occupants of the vessel. I would not have bet on the survival of any of my kin, and certainly not their health.¡± ¡°I see,¡± he replied. ¡°In that case, I don¡¯t imagine I have any value after you ask your questions. I would prefer to die, should I lack any further uses.¡± ¡°I would not rush to such decisions,¡± the Great Queen declared. ¡°Were you aware that your wings had begun to grow back, before you went on the mission?¡± ¡°... so you knew the whole time.¡± ¡°I would have certainly recognized a queen. Even now, your wings have begun the process again. I would not expect any benefits from a near death experience, but perhaps your very survival is what should guide our expectations. For the moment, however, you should give your report. Then rest.¡± He did give his report, explaining what he had observed about the ship and the contents. Though he didn¡¯t have the knowledge to provide much context. After that, he got to eat a truly marvelous pellet. It was condensed fats, proteins, and infused natural energy. It tasted delicious, but he couldn¡¯t eat all of it right away. It was nearly the size of his body, after all. It might not have seemed particularly large to the Great Queen, but to him it was still quite large. ----- Some void ants shared the sleep cycles of their less intelligent brethren, resting only in very short bursts. Others slept for longer periods, and for those that were injured they would drift towards the latter options, potentially sleeping until other biological needs overtook them. Regular ants would usually just perish with any sort of injury, but void ants took care of their own, when the resources allowed. And it had been a long time since they were lacking in resources. The private had no idea how long he had been unconscious. But it was not so long that anyone took away the pellet of food in front of him. He ate as he could, his body only partially able to move, and then he slept. Again and again he repeated until everything was gone¡­ and his pain had reduced to a small throbbing. Perhaps some part of his body had lost feeling, rather than being healthy, but he still preferred that. And¡­ he found he could stand, though his legs didn¡¯t easily support him. He staggered over to a small reflective surface he saw on the corner of whatever room he¡¯d found himself in. If he didn¡¯t know any better, he¡¯d say that the figure in front of him was about to perish. His mandibles were perhaps the most intact part of him. Even his eyes, from what he could see, were pitted and misshapen. Compound eyes weren¡¯t good for picking out those details, but void ants learned to interpret more complex information¡­ and this explained why he had missing sections of vision. His chitin was certainly melted in some places, almost all the way through in some spots. That would explain the standing difficulties. But there were certainly some slightly visible nubs that might become wings. He made his way out of the room, following pheromone trails- though he didn¡¯t have to go far. The void ants had some sort of setup in the very next room. Obviously not one intended for them, considering the ridiculous height and openness of the room, but at least there were no humans stomping about. Not that he disliked humans, but he wasn¡¯t fond of the idea of being squashed accidentally. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. He made his way over to a dispatcher who would be able to tell him what his assignment was. Those ants who coordinated the others were indispensable. ¡°Your rank?¡± the ant asked, pheromones asking him to display his answer appropriately. That was a good question. What was he? The elite squad he was on had been destroyed, so he might just be a private. Or perhaps he was stripped of his rank. ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± he said, displaying himself for appraisal. ¡°Ah. You have received a special appointment,¡± the dispatcher said. ¡°And an odd title.¡± ¡°What is it? The title, I mean.¡± ¡°Son of the Queen.¡± ¡°That is odd,¡± he admitted. There wasn¡¯t even a native void ant word for son, aside from drone. It was something humans used. ¡°... Where is that in the hierarchy?¡± ¡°Subject only to the jurisdiction of the royal guard.¡± Obviously that was the royal guard and the queens, because everyone was subject to the queens. ¡°I received no indication of subordinates.¡± ¡°Assignment?¡± ¡°Training, here on Egnos.¡± ¡°... We conquered Egnos?¡± ¡°That is correct,¡± the other ant explained without becoming annoyed at his many questions. ¡°I believe you were transported here from one of the forward bases. You were comatose for a very long period.¡± Training, huh? Well, he certainly needed that. He had to learn to walk properly, and figure out how he could contribute. In the worst case, he could be tossed towards an enemy planet and hopefully devour some of the energy of their planetary defenses. ----- Running a planet of uncooperative individuals was a pain. Much worse than agreeable people, not that there was any surprise there. He¡¯d been majorly involved in the affairs of In¡¯istra as the head of the local branch of the Order of One Hundred Stars. Egnos was a lot more trouble¡­ though the worst elements were being dealt with a little bit at a time. And fortunately, they had the resources to take care of all the slaves that were being freed, and more. Even if only a tenth of a percent of the planet had been in slavery, vaguely, that was still millions of individuals. They didn¡¯t have the food to take care of so many people, and they didn¡¯t have the spare cash reserves among their fleets to sustain payments for food on that scale. Snatching it from the locals wouldn¡¯t have been well received either, though that was effectively what they did anyway. They were just better able to justify it. Slaveowners and loyalists to the Void Scrying Sect and Twin Soul Sects, plus their other allies and anyone aiding their activities. A fortunately small portion of the population with a high portion of the wealth. They were able to be dealt with in batches, though the completion of the process was still underway. As for the rest of the population, they had been resistant at first¡­ until they realized that they were mostly going to be left alone. Anyone who had business relying in interplanetary shipments was out of luck, but Egnos had enough food to keep everyone from starving, and the rules imposed on them were mostly less onerous than those of the previous group in control. Only the elite class rallied against them, but unfortunately for them they couldn¡¯t run or hide- and they were quite easy to pick out by discerning their cultivation methods. Especially among populations of many who didn¡¯t cultivate at all. Varghese thought they could really use another decade or two to stabilize the local planet, but they were going to have to go on the offensive soon enough. They couldn¡¯t just let the war languish, especially given what Anton had found. The exact details were still being figured out, as they couldn¡¯t exactly test the devices. But word reached his ears that there were components meant to aid in the destruction of anything from a gas giant to the largest of stars. It was worrying they still hadn¡¯t given up on that front. Though one very large container couldn¡¯t hold enough of anything to take out a star, that meant that they probably had many more they had already received. Or at least, they couldn¡¯t bet that the enemy didn¡¯t have any of it. And whether they would turn it on their own stars once more, those they were in a civil war with, or those of the Lower Realms Alliance or Shining Cooperative¡­ they didn¡¯t want any of those. Which meant not giving them too long to plan an attack of any sort. The good news was that they¡¯d finally gotten a message back, through the communications. Terse as it was, it was a step towards proper negotiations of some sort. Mostly, it said to stay away from the territory of the Fearsome Menagerie and they wouldn¡¯t be shot for the moment, but that was sort of a ceasefire agreement. They¡¯d also gotten in contact with Tor and the Shimmering Spears. They represented a third, smaller faction. Notable among them was that they¡¯d been promised the full cultivation methods of the sects, but as noted by Anton they were given incomplete methods instead. They had no reason to be loyal to a group that was willing to destroy allied systems and not even reliable enough to give what they were specifically promised. Varghese hoped the system destruction was a heavier factor than being slightly ripped off in terms of personal power, but either way was fine. He¡¯d spoken with Tor some, but there were better diplomats among their forces, and he was better served in other areas, helping keep the planet stable. Though his job had recently become much easier, since Devon had shown up. A cultivation on the verge of Enrichment¡­ and he brought with him an experienced diplomat in the form of Aerona. She wouldn¡¯t be much help on the combat side of things, but Varghese figured that if it came to the point where a single supporting cultivator¡¯s combat prowess was necessary, they should have already retreated long before. As for whatever horrible things were being shipped in from the upper realms, Anton was watching for that. There wasn¡¯t anyone else Varghese would prefer to have assigned to the task, as he knew he could rely on Anton for anything. Like helping stabilize his stars when there was an incident. But if they tried that specific thing again, he was ready now. The people involved in causing any of the system-destruction level incidents didn¡¯t tend to survive, so they weren¡¯t getting any better at it. That, at least, he could be happy about. Chapter 899 News of an assault on Xeotov quickly reached Egnos, as the Lower Realms Alliance was carefully monitoring the other system. It was one of the prime combatants in the civil war, after all. There had been no anticipation or buildup to the sudden event. It seemed like a slightly larger than normal assault at the beginning. Nothing particularly looked different, until the flagship of the Fearsome Menagerie¡¯s fleet fired its main cannon, striking the barrier of the opposing ship. Clearly, the Void Scrying Sect hadn¡¯t anticipated the results either. The projectile hadn¡¯t seemed particularly special, and while it had a decent amount of natural energy propelling it, the barrier of the ship should have been sufficient to deflect it. But kinetic impact clearly hadn¡¯t been the main intent of the weapon. The shell exploded, releasing a vast amount of spectral energy throughout the area, tearing through the local fleets. And yet somehow, it didn¡¯t harm the attackers. It was possible to control energy in such a way that you didn¡¯t harm allies, but that didn¡¯t appear to be the case. Of course, they only had the visual and energy recordings of various devices in the area, and a few cultivators who were watching in person from afar. The cultivators weren¡¯t prepared to discern exactly what happened, and the recording devices were tuned to handle natural energy- and to pick up any ascension energy. Spectral energy had been a tertiary concern. As it was part of the repertoire of some Twin Soul Sect cultivators it was included, but they simply didn¡¯t have the necessary level of detail to figure out what happened. But speculation was certainly possible. They didn¡¯t have much to work off of, but clearly the weapon was tuned to target only their enemies somehow. The question was how. Perhaps it simply recognized the natural energy of their own sects- that would likely be the minimum amount of information required. If it targeted everything else, it could certainly be devastating. Though they weren¡¯t in immediate conflict, the Lower Realms Alliance had to consider how they would deal with such an assault. Adaptive barriers could work against spectral energy such as that- but they would only be minimally effective unless they could be tuned ahead of time. It wasn¡¯t a small series of attacks, but instead effectively one explosion that destroyed half a fleet. Even though it was being used against their enemies, this weapon brought some concerns. The main piece of information that mitigated their worries was that they seemed unable to fire the weapon successively- or maybe they just thought it unnecessary, as they won that battle handily with a single shot. Their other ships had taken down another quarter of the enemy fleet as they retreated towards the planetary barrier, and there were few losses on the other side. Whether or not they could actually use such a weapon continuously, they knew they had to monitor the situation carefully to learn more. Otherwise, they could find Egnos was next, after Xeotov was conquered. Regardless of what they said about staying out of each other¡¯s way, they were still members of the Trigold Cluster. The natives of the lower realms had many grudges against them, and the Fearsome Menagerie and all of their allies should have been a significant factor in their other conquests- leaving them with their current selection of planets plundered from those who belonged. ----- One star was not good enough for Anton to be empowered throughout all of the wide region he was patrolling, but that wasn¡¯t his primary goal. Rather than strength, what he needed was information- and it provided a fairly significant area where he could sense powerful natural energy around it. That might not be sufficient for finding any of the packages themselves- but he could hopefully find the people trying to retrieve them, which would be good enough. Eventually it would be clear that someone was preventing them from retrieving the shipments, but by that time Anton hoped to have stopped a significant number. And if he simply prevented them from coming to get anything at any point, then he was also winning. After all, even if they had figured him out from the very first one he stopped, there were still a couple decade¡¯s worth of shipments that should already be on their way, simply tossed between the realms. Even if he only stopped half of them from reaching their destinations, that would be a significant impact. Most likely they couldn¡¯t all contain planet or system destroying levels of danger, but a single one of those kept out of the hands of psychopaths who would use them was worth a lifetime of effort. And based on the single thing he¡¯d captured, it was already paying off. He¡¯d stopped a number of materials containing ascension energy from reaching their foes, though it wasn¡¯t quite clear what they were for yet. Though the arrangement of cargo containers might be random, Anton and others believed there was probably a pattern. If they could figure it out, their alliance could stop the rest of the incoming shipments unless the Trigold Cluster delved deep into the dead zone for them. Even then, Anton might be able to catch them going in or out. ----- Naewu was warm and strong, its powerful blue glow filling Anton up. Though he could replenish his natural energy anywhere, he never truly felt full unless he was near a bound star. And from there, he could reach out in all directions, scanning an area that spanned many lightyears of his chosen cross section all at once. He wouldn¡¯t stay long, of course, because he had further afield locations to check everywhere else. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Now that he¡¯d made a single sweep, he was fairly likely to catch most things passing by. He could sense an area over a lightyear wide even away from a bound star, and if his full cycle took less than two years, he would more or less have that covered. Though of course there were matters of his exact route and how that matched with spherical perception to cover everything. As it turned out, his initial route was decent but not optimal. Some of those who worked with mathematics were able to improve his area coverage by fifty percent by planning a new route. Beyond that point, they determined that the route complications would increase dramatically for a relatively small benefit. ----- With the sudden uptick in damage to Void Scrying Sect Fleets, the plans for the next assault by the Lower Realms Alliance and the Shining Cooperative were moved up. Egnos was stable enough for the moment, and they couldn¡¯t miss the opportunity to strike at more important figures. Xeotov had some of those enemies, but the civil war was stronger there. Instead, focusing on the next most populated planet controlled by that same faction brought them ¡®northeast¡¯ of Egnos, to a system called Anrade. Actual travel time was only about a week, and the mobilization only took one more week- which was impressively fast for the size of assault they were undertaking. Slowly over the course of the war, they had gathered more of their combined forces, and now they had enough firepower in their foothold to directly assault a planet. And there were few locations that could provide a significant force to back up Anrade. Unless the civil war happened to end and both factions worked together against them, they had plans that should lead to minimal losses. The Trigold Cluster was only weakening, and while they had taken some damage their Assimilation cultivators provided a significant advantage. The destruction of Zunrose had been more damaging to the Trigold Cluster by far, and the attempt on Egnos¡¯ star actually resulted in no deaths at all. Though it could have potentially taken out Egnos, In¡¯istra, and Poriza. Or perhaps even further, if the resonance somehow echoed through Anton- though Varghese didn¡¯t think that was a feasible scenario. It wasn¡¯t that he thought Anton was perfect¡­ but he was the strongest cultivator in their alliance, at his weakest a full stage beyond anything the lower realms Trigold Cluster could muster. And anything from the upper realms would have to use ascension energy, which broke down quickly. The plan wasn¡¯t much different from the assault on Egnos, except that Varghese would be approaching Anrade¡¯s star with a small fleet than before, and a significantly smaller proportion of their total. He didn¡¯t have to get as close, and if they actually chose to focus on just him then the rest of their system would lose out. Especially as they had even more powerhouses around now. The strike was quick. Whether or not the enemy could send a predictive response, they were prepared to fight. Even if the enemy had an unexpected weapon of some sort, there were contingencies in play to reduce the potential damage that they could sustain. The enemy fleets delayed leaving the safety of the planetary barrier as their own poured into the system. There were a few defensive bases around, but with the freedom to approach from any direction they could only cover so much with the range they had available. Varghese made his way towards the star without worry, reaching out towards it to begin familiarizing himself with it. ----- Devon approached a small moon that was harassing the passing fleet. Targeting larger ships was easy enough, but attacking someone of his size required great precision. There was an attempt, but it barely managed anything before he got close enough to do his thing. He reached out, chains stretching from his arm towards the moon and then splitting into the intersecting patterns of his World Encompassing Chains. This time, however, he wasn¡¯t looking for information. They had other uses, and on a smaller planet like this one he was able to show maximum effectiveness. The chains created a barrier that stopped the artillery fire. In fact, it did more than halting it in its tracks, rebounding it back below towards the artillery themselves. The sudden change was quite a surprise for them, but they reacted quickly enough to stop firing before they all wiped themselves out. Just a quarter of them, perhaps. But Devon wasn¡¯t done yet. He collapsed the size of his ability, squeezing down on them. That provoked a reaction of various attacks from below, all around the moon. It was sensible of them to assume that a concerted effort from their many cultivators could overcome a single individual, but there was a catch. The chains were there to redirect energy. Attacks on one side of the moon counteracted the force of attacks directly opposite. There wasn¡¯t a perfect balance of individuals all over the moon, but Devon only had to sustain a relatively small portion of their firepower. And then their own forces were close enough to land on the planet, those apportioned for this particular base at least. Fighting within the World Encompassing Chains, the enemy would be restricted while Devon¡¯s own allies would be bolstered. And they had a few other Assimilation cultivators among the assault forces. Needless to say, it didn¡¯t take long to bring down the single base. Efforts elsewhere in the system were going smoothly as well. There wouldn¡¯t be any local forces that could flank their fleets as they began the true assault on Anrade. The only true issue was from Varghese, who relayed a message only among the highest ranking officials, mentioning that there was something preventing him from binding to the star. That was concerning, but Devon wasn¡¯t worried. There were no signs of Assimilation equivalent cultivators among their enemies, nor any other particularly large energy signatures. In addition to that, they had Nthanda and the Great Queen who were both capable of overcoming traditional cultivators in unexpected ways, beyond the normal level of what void ants could do. Still it was a bit worrying that they had yet another way to affect stars. Varghese hadn¡¯t indicated any danger just yet, but their fleets remained alert for any issues that arose- either from the star, the main planet, or potential incoming reinforcements. The Trigold Cluster may not care for their subordinate¡¯s lives, but that didn¡¯t mean nobody else did. Chapter 900 Something about Anrade¡¯s star felt wrong. Varghese wouldn¡¯t quite go so far as to say tainted, because that might imply that the whole of the star was affected. While the Trigold Cluster certainly had some worryingly powerful moments over the course of the war, the tremendous size of even the smallest stars made it rather difficult to actually modify the entirety of its essence. Instead, here the star itself was more slippery or off balance. It was a disruption meant not for the star, but for him. Like a high pitched vibration in the back of his mind. At the start of the war, Varghese might not have been able to overcome something like that. But he¡¯d experienced so many new things since the start of the war¡­ all courtesy of them. He never wanted to experience having a bound star destroyed again. Even though it was a new connection, it greatly disrupted his cultivation. And of course the later attack on Egnos¡¯ star, disrupting the star and attempting to create some sort of sympathetic destruction of other bound stars¡­ that was actually worse. But he¡¯d learned much more about connections to stars, and had a stronger bond there. This one¡­ would only slow him down a little bit. He pushed past the disruption, searching for anything hidden behind it¡­ but all he could feel was a healthy star. As he began to bind the star, his first active use of its power was to attempt to obliterate the hindrance. He wasn¡¯t sure what sort of material could survive inside a star, but it held its form well. If that was the case¡­ then he would simply have to expel it from the star. He couldn¡¯t be certain that melting it inside the star wouldn¡¯t be a mistake of some sort. It could be the actual trap. Convection currents gathered, pushing the source of the disruption towards the surface where a solar flare blasted out a metallic sphere, carved with runes. How one would carve runes in a formation that could survive in the belly of a sun was beyond him, but he would have experts look at it¡­ later. For the moment, he directed it into a partial orbit where it would drift for some months without trouble. They could pick it up¡­ after the battle for this system was over. The process for Varghese had taken significantly longer than expected, to the point that the rest of the forces were already converging on Anrade by the time Varghese began his return. He left the small fleet assigned to him with the strange object, just in case there was something more to it that they had to watch out for. Incoming enemy fleets were predicted to be several days out still. But with their current forces, it wouldn¡¯t take them a single day to pierce through the barriers around Anrade. And unlike Egnos, they hadn¡¯t withdrawn their best cultivators from the Void Scrying Sect. Then again, they had more than a few factors that made it more difficult for the Void Scrying Sect to predict them. Aside from all of those they¡¯d already killed and the civil war, there were a few important factors. First were Nthanda and the void ants, who did not affect the flow of natural energy in the same way normal cultivators might. And then there were the stronger Assimilation cultivators like Devon. He was nearly at the Enrichment stage, and while that in some way might make his actions more obvious to diviners¡­ it also meant slight changes in his actions could easily skew their predictions. They also had ships with anti-divinatory formations flying among them. With all that accounted for, perhaps it explained the delay of enemy reinforcements. But even if they had been minutes away, it likely wouldn¡¯t matter. The barrier was broken through immediately by the Great Queen, leading a group of void ants. The barrier took a moment to close behind them, but at that point The Wayfarer had already taken several shots. The lead gunner Neven was one of several ascension cultivators bound to the Ascension-class ship. With the power of the ship augmented by General Gabriela and the others¡­ it was also equivalent to a late stage Assimilation cultivator. Each shot from the main cannon blasted a hole through lower defensive barriers, targeting key points of their formations that had been picked out. Varghese could already see the barrier wobbling. Local fleets were already launched and rapidly made their way towards the wavering section of barrier as it slowly tried to reform. But that wasn¡¯t even the end of things. Chains wove around the edge of the hole, keeping open a tunnel a hundred meters wide¡­ which allowed The Wayfarer to target more key locations. Soon, the chains became unnecessary as the barrier began to retract, being nothing more than a thin layer for several kilometers in every direction. It was only a tiny portion of the planet as a whole, but it provided an opening for fleets to begin breaking through, after which they could assault the formations from inside the barrier and precipitate its destruction. That wasn¡¯t happening on just one side of the planet, but all around it, vulnerabilities spreading as the local cultivators tried to deal with all of the breaches. Varghese crashed enemy ships into each other where he could, drawing upon the power of the local sun. He didn¡¯t even have to attack them individually. So far, there were no signs they had some sort of superweapon to get them out of this fix. After just a few hours, the planetary barrier had all but collapsed. The various sects most involved with the Void Scrying Sect were being sieged at their numerous locations around the planet. Their Life Transformation cultivators were falling one by one, something they couldn¡¯t make up for easily. Twin Soul Sect members at first didn¡¯t appear worried about their inevitable demise. After all, should they perish¡­ they were promised a better position in the upper realms. Whether or not those promises were exactly true or not might be another question, but they certainly believed that. Until they realized that a portion of the fleets was creating their own barrier around the planet, one meant to catch specifically the souls of the Twin Soul Sect members- wherever the attackers couldn¡¯t directly destroy their souls. Both the Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance had no tolerance for the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s continued existence. If they wished to steal from others to achieve some sort of reincarnation, that hope at life was the thing that should be taken from them first. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The battle was the largest Varghese had participated in, with many thousands of ships on both sides, and many more cultivators. Even if it wasn¡¯t the whole population of the planet against them, there were still tens or hundreds of thousands of members of the most prominent enemy sects. The reinforcement fleets did not arrive before the sects were leveled. Meanwhile, anywhere not directly associated with them was left more or less intact. There were occasional ships that had crashed into their cities, but there was no intent to purge the population as a whole. Instead, things would be just like on Egnos- though they held off on proper occupation for the moment, to determine conclusively what the enemy fleets were up to. Because if they came to the system, they would gladly be met by the natives of the lower realms. ----- After his first container catch, Anton soon got his second, third, fifth, and tenth. Perhaps with the thousands of systems in the upper realms it did not appear a large expense to them to send so much, but the Trigold Cluster also wasn¡¯t known for its generosity- not even to its own people. Most likely, the lower realms was in need of the various weapons and other supplies to continue the war properly, and they would have none of them. He heard about the success of the assault on Anrade. A few months passed, and with the retrieval ships having dried up Anton knew they were onto him. At least, they realized that something was happening. There were a total of three months with not even a single ship- outside of his allies coming to pick up bundles. Then he felt it. A vast number of ships approaching. Thousands of them- though most were sized for a single person. He wondered what their purpose was. Or rather, what they thought their purpose was. Because clearly they weren¡¯t equipped to face him, in particular. Interstellar ships could cover a lightyear in a single day. Less than that if they were particularly quick, several times slower for certain bulky ones. These were moving on the faster side of things. They were converging on Naewu, his star. He had no idea if they had the capacity to destroy it, but either way he supposed he should head them off. Anton pushed himself close to his limits- though as he was heading towards one of his bound stars he had no worries about exhausting himself. He strode through subspace, keeping tabs on them as he moved. He cut them off about a day out from Naewu, approaching close enough to project his energy over the fleet to speak to them. He had a vain hope that negotiation might be possible. ¡°What business do you have here?¡± Anton saw a myriad of attacks fire upon his location. However, even with thousands of ships they could only cover a very small portion of space. Anton took a ¡®small¡¯ step to the side, leaving most of their attacks focused on a point kilometers away from his new location. ¡°If you¡¯re going to be rude like that, I might not want to talk.¡± More attacks- and some of the others were curving towards his location. ¡°If you¡¯re just here to fight, know that I¡¯m going to kill all of you. This is your last chance.¡± Their response was another volley of attacks. So Anton turned towards Naewu, fleeing closer. Or at least, appearing to flee. As it was, they were a bit too distant for him to properly fight. Avoiding attacks was one thing, but he¡¯d exhaust himself eventually, especially if he had to take them down. Anton sighed to himself. Sensing all of the lives on the ships, he didn¡¯t want to kill them all. But if they were going to come for him, he couldn¡¯t help it. And letting them leave to kill members of his alliance was no good. Anton slowly began to pull away, and they stopped launching attacks. He continued to gain distance, but his pursuers didn¡¯t stop. Perhaps they suspected he would stop and fight around his star, but they seemed to have an error in their calculations. Most likely, they thought he had a similar strength to Varghese. He couldn¡¯t be sure they were actually aware of his bound star, but it seemed they had some way to detect that. When he arrived at the optimal distance from Naewu, they were about a tenth of a lightyear behind him. That meant it would take them over around two hours to catch up to him. And that also meant there was no possible way they could escape. Anton shook his head. Such a waste of life, but they were most likely responsible for much more death, either with their own hands or at the hands of their predecessors exterminating their currently occupied planets. Two hours to reach Anton, perhaps half that if they could move more quickly. And they might be able to attack him from a bit further¡­ but not any significant fraction of a lightyear. Anton took his first shot. If there were five thousand ships, he would only have to shoot once every second to take them out. But he was slightly more limited than that, since his attacks needed at least some time to reach them, even piercing through subspace with their base velocity near to lightspeed. He could cut down hours to minutes¡­ but the closer they got, the faster he could attack. And of course, Anton could control a few hundred arrows at once easily enough. Instead of creating his energy bows, he just fired arrows sequentially. He took a casual quarter second for each shot, until he reached his maximum amount of simultaneous control. Which was quite significant, now that he was in Enrichment. Ships began to fall, and he fired more arrows. Each one would take out one of the smaller ships, and two or three could take out a larger one. By the time the enemy fully grasped what was going on, he¡¯d taken out a tenth of their number. Yet they continued onward until he¡¯d taken out a quarter of them, while they were still half an hour away from catching up. At that point, they were certain he wasn¡¯t going to tire and began to retreat. But he hadn¡¯t picked that distance arbitrarily. He hadn¡¯t begun at the limit of his range. Indeed, he could probably accurately target them at about quarter a lightyear. That was certainly an extreme distance, but compared to shooting into the next system over¡­ it was barely a few percent. He couldn¡¯t regularly hit anything between systems yet, but at a small fraction of that distance he could manage quite a bit more. Now that they were retreating, however, he was merciful. He simply shot out their engines- or their sails, for the ships in that style. Whatever formations let them accelerate, and anything that would let them move faster than light. They would have a chance at life. Except for the Twin Soul Sect members among them, of course. Spectral energy was reserved for them. And the rest could kill themselves, if they wanted to die so badly. Chapter 901 Despite Anton¡¯s intent to stay out of the war, the war had come to him. Though to be completely fair to various people in supporting roles, not everyone participated in a war in a direct combat role. Intercepting shipments as he had been showed just how important those who handled supply lines were. It was just that nothing coming from the upper realms was providing basic necessities people needed to survive. Everything seemed to be weapons of various forms, some on very different scales. When he was certain that all the retreating ships had lost their ability to maneuver and he had dealt with members of the Twin Soul Sect, Anton went around rounding up the numerous ships. Even if individually the majority of the ships were small and lacking in power, the total amount it would set back the Trigold Cluster in the lower realms very much added up. Ships capable of interstellar travel didn¡¯t just grow on trees¡­ and if they did, it would take a long time and they would still be quite valuable. In short, either in terms of manpower or other resources, this was expensive. And they wouldn¡¯t have sent such a large group if they hadn¡¯t both determined a threat and very much needed the support from the upper realms. Unfortunately, Anton wasn¡¯t great at interrogating people he wasn¡¯t going to let live. He was willing to kill off uncooperative individuals, but there were people much better at the job. So he stuck to very simple questions. Like, ¡°Who was stupid enough to think this was a good idea and send you all out here?¡± Some people clearly thought that things were going to get worse, and because Anton couldn¡¯t seal the cultivation of everyone in such a large group- despite having more cultivation binding restraints than before- some simply chose to kill themselves. ¡°You know you guys might have a chance to live, right? You must realize that your leaders screwed you over. Take what you can get.¡± He finally got a few answers there. ¡°The orders came from the sect head,¡± said one of the members of the Void Scrying Sect. ¡°I assume it¡¯s the same for the rest.¡± ¡°That would be¡­ one Jimena Rostani, correct? Oh don¡¯t look so surprised,¡± Anton said when many of them tensed up. ¡°It¡¯s literally just a name. You think nobody provided names before?¡± He wasn¡¯t quite certain how he was going to fill the time for people to arrive. Indeed, they were going to need quite a bit more than their previous ships that had reached this place. Then again, it shouldn¡¯t be easy for the Trigold Cluster to send many people to stop them. With successive losses in Anrade and now here around Naewu, even ignoring whatever was happening in the civil war, they were going to be stretched thin. Nobody provided him useful information, though Anton had the insight to pick out those who had information. He would point them out later. Ultimately, he pushed all of their ships into a nice orbit around Anrade. They would have enough supplies to last for a while, since they had enough for the trip back¡­ and many of them had died. Anton wasn¡¯t interested in starving them to death while they waited. In fact, he had little intention to restrict them to any significant degree. He didn¡¯t even stop them from conspiring after he left to continue his patrol pattern. Of course, he was still paying attention, quite closely. And if they actually came up with plans that seemed like they would go anywhere, it would be trivial to stop them, since they were fairly close to one of his bound stars. As close as he could get them without heat being a problem, specifically. Some ships were in different layers, and most would eventually drift apart over the next days and weeks. ----- With Anrade and Egnos both occupied- as well as the lack of superweapons to make up for their weaker cultivations and ships- things were looking up for the Lower Realms Alliance. Egnos had been cleaned up to some extent, with much information they might want purged before they managed to capture it. But the same was not true for Anrade. While there had been some efforts to destroy records during the assault, many people were more concerned about their own survival rather than sect secrets. Which meant they had piles of records and numerous alchemical laboratories and sealed vaults to look through. At least some of the production of the most dangerous poisons had taken place on Anrade- it seemed as if it had been split up between various planets such as Kunion. It would take a long time to visit every location and pore through all the information they now had. Combining that with various levels of information from Egnos and all of their previous encounters, they might be able to track where everything was moving. Things were going well, but they weren¡¯t going to assume that there were no more tricks. And if they relaxed too early and let one of their planets succumb to an attack- whether poison, bioweapon, or direct assault- they could only be filled with regret. And they had two more systems they were responsible for now. The fact that they were filled with the Trigold Cluster¡¯s own people likely had little bearing on whether they would try to wipe them out. In short, they needed to use their information to continue coming up with counters. If they could make antidotes for poisons, counters for stealth formations, and disrupt further attacks¡­ only then would they be able to declare a proper victory. ----- If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The series of losses for the Void Scrying Sect and their allies didn¡¯t suddenly stop. Indeed, another near simultaneous loss- within the very same year- hit them at the hands of their former allies. The news mostly reached the Lower Realms Alliance and Shining Cooperative indirectly. There were some levels of communication between people on different planets that weren¡¯t the main comms facilities they had. And while for their own security it would be best if they could completely cut off such flow of information, it also provided them benefits. Secrets didn¡¯t last long when more than a few people knew them, and there were more than a few people willing to share the news for a modest payment. And more than a few others who couldn¡¯t help but reveal information in their panic. Because that was the sort of news coming from Xeotov, the primary focus of the Fearsome Menagerie. Nobody seemed quite sure about the details, but the strange weapon that they had previously revealed continued to shift the tide of the war. The latest news involved them breaking through Xeotov¡¯s planetary barrier and wiping out several outposts, with only a single shot each. It seemed likely that their current assault would end up with them taking control of the planet. That would then put them as neighbors with Egnos and Anrade. They had been content to let the civil war continue, but now that a new weapon was basically at their doors they had to watch out for it. After all, the Fearsome Menagerie was still part of the Trigold Cluster, and they were still foes. Mitigating circumstances involving betrayal and factionalism had simply made them less valuable as a primary target. ----- Away from the lower realms, and indeed far from any war- at the current moment- Crossed Antennae was debating her policy for expanding colonies. She wanted to make sure each colony got established properly, but they also had a lot of ground to cover- there were sufficient habitable planets on the border, and she was also wondering if they should expand into the Trigold Cluster¡¯s territory. It was safer to avoid, of course, but the actual boundary was somewhat fuzzy¡­ and the news from the lower realms indicated that the border with the Scarlet Midfields and the lower realms was not the only area of concern. She wished she had proper counselors. The humans who had come to aid her were fine, of course, but what she really needed were properly aged void ants who could keep up with her mentally, or perhaps something like the leaf and stick fellow from Akrys. For the moment, she only had herself and her Grand Counselors. Autumn and Bark had been rebuilt several times. ¡°Good day, counselors,¡± she said. ¡°I am sure you read my report with my concerns. The timeline cannot withstand any delays, and yet it cannot be sped up, either. For example, were I not to help with educating each new colony they might develop divergent thoughts.¡± Crossed Antennae moved around the area. Humans couldn¡¯t come here, and void ants wouldn¡¯t. All would respect her private rooms, and they could be as expansive as she wished. Though this area in particular was not as grand as she made it out in her head. ¡°What is wrong with divergent thoughts, you might ask. Well, straying from the desires of the Great Queen is a great risk to our people. What¡¯s that, Grand Counselor Chipped Thorax? Naming people is divergent? Even my own name, as a queen?¡± Crossed Antennae shuffled around. ¡°I agree. But just because the Great Queen accepted it doesn¡¯t mean it was part of her plans. And yes, I am aware of the Sergeant in the lower realms. Perhaps I should have met her.¡± She really wished there was tea or something around here. Humans could always take a sip of tea when they wanted to pause their talking. Now there was awkward stillness. Judgmental. ¡°Yes, I heard about the drone,¡± she continued. ¡°A son of the queen. A brother, perhaps. But we will never meet.¡± She clacked her mandibles as she signed. ¡°So divergence is accepted. But the problem¡­ what if I can¡¯t handle it? What if the colonies want to just live on their own? What if they become dangerous, and attack our friends? What if I fail?¡± There was no one to answer her. And she would not voice her words to a blind lad or a wolf, no matter how much she appreciated them. The only thing she could do was hope that her mother hadn¡¯t made a mistake. And wonder why she cared more about her as a mother than as the Great Queen. That was certainly not how things were meant to be. ----- With the prisoners taken off his hand, Anton was able to relax and focus more on his patrols¡­ and his binding of future stars. Because he could replace more of his early stars still, and he had time. This wasn¡¯t a bad place for it, either. Aside from simply stopping these shipments, he could also monitor movements through the area in the future- when the Tides of the World shifted. That was still a long time off. Several centuries away¡­ but that was less time than Anton had lived, now. And with the massive presence the Trigold Cluster had here already, they couldn¡¯t just think about protecting their own systems. They had to prevent all forms of intrusion. He likely couldn¡¯t cause any significant damage to Trigold forces unless they passed quite close to the stars he could have in the area, and he almost certainly wouldn¡¯t be present himself as he would be focusing on Ceretos and the core of the Lower Realms Alliance. But just knowing information was very useful. Of course, they might also try to destroy his stars. But even the shifting Tides of the World wouldn¡¯t make that easy. Both of the methods he¡¯d seen so far wouldn¡¯t work on him, and the Trigold Cluster hadn¡¯t shown the ability to replicate those attempts frequently. And they might not be able to bring such things through the Tides of the World. Anton couldn¡¯t be certain, but not binding stars would make him much less effective. He couldn¡¯t give up before he started because of what might happen in the future. Besides, they needed this now. He couldn¡¯t even guarantee living that long into the future, and that wasn¡¯t a matter of nebulous lifespan. And he might need to get involved with other conflicts that would be a greater risk to his life. If they met groups who had been stable for multiple cycles, they could easily be outclassed by a different sort of ascension alternative. And they might not care about the solidarity of the lower realms as much as the rest they had met. Like Ekict, who had been more concerned about their own power. Chapter 902 Rather than immediately attempt to take out the last vestiges of the Void Scrying Sect¡¯s power, efforts were instead focused on securing their position throughout the wider area. That included perimeter bases under their control. As for planets, that was a matter of much contention. It was already difficult to keep a handle on Egnos and Andrade alone, stretching their forces thinner was a troublesome prospect. Even if many of the people of Egnos understood their abandonment, that didn¡¯t suddenly negate their distaste for foreign forces coming in and taking over. Nor did their relative lack of participation negate the bitterness the Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance felt towards anyone who had been under the banner of the Trigold Cluster. Progress was slow in the whole region, and it was hoped that the other side of the civil war would finish them off. Contact and negotiations with the Fearsome Menagerie and their allies were inconsistent at best, even as they now shared borders. The one avenue where there was significant progress happening was with regards to the third faction, those from smaller groups disillusioned by the actions of the Trigold Cluster. Tor, the Shimmering Spears, and others who had also been concerned about the devastation in Zunrose. They managed to take control of multiple planets simply because the forces of the larger factions had consolidated in the core worlds- and because they had more than a few groups on board. Yet so far, their controlled worlds represented only a tiny fraction of the overall population. The movement hadn¡¯t yet shown itself to be a threat to either of the larger factions, especially not compared to the two high stakes wars happening. ----- It was strange, to suddenly be in charge of other void ants. The Son of the Queen didn¡¯t feel he had done much to deserve his new status¡­ but he also couldn¡¯t deny that he¡¯d been somewhat effective in his previous mission. Surviving might not have been merely through his own determination but factors beyond his control¡­ but he was given a position regardless. And that meant upholding the duties assigned to him, just as he had always wanted. He had thought that those assigned to his command might resent him for taking a position meant for one of them, for being a male that should not have lived. But they were under orders of the Great Queen, so how could they not perform their best for him? Except he knew that void ants weren¡¯t just rigid structure. Indeed, many of those assigned to him were more unusual sorts who had trouble within the normal hierarchy. They seemed to appreciate him more for his uniqueness. The Son knew he wasn¡¯t going to accomplish missions no other void ant could manage. But he would do his best. This mission had involved familiarizing himself with enemy communications devices meant for humans to employ. That was only a small part of it, but he¡¯d studied diligently. His final verdict was that humans were too big. But at least if a few hundred void ants joined together, they could press buttons and flip switches. Their purpose was to do so, to arrive at a certain planet and then send a message. The planet in question was Rotaire, the last of the core worlds occupied by the worst of their current foes. There had previously been eight such worlds, until Zunrose was destroyed. Along with Egnos, Xeotov, and Anrade, it had made up the four that wound up under the control of the Void Scrying Sect¡¯s faction. Now it was the last of them, with two taken by the lower realms natives and one by their former allies- ones who clearly did not appreciate being left out of the loop and losing all of their disciples and investments on Zunrose. The Son of the Queen didn¡¯t have much hope for common empathy among Trigold Cluster cultivators, so perhaps they might not have cared if they had been given the opportunity to be part of the plans. Plans to get their hands on a worldheart, and perhaps a starheart. But one group grew too greedy¡­ and had underestimated his people. Specifically his human people. They hadn¡¯t really known about the void ants, which was too bad for them, because now they couldn¡¯t be rid of them. Speaking of which, their transport capsule was almost to Rotaire. Sending a ship so close was risky, and they didn¡¯t have many other spies approaching the planet. So they would parachute through the atmosphere, the capsule that carried them slowing as much as possible before ejecting them and letting them manage the rest of the way. It would have been nice to sneak onto an enemy ship and land that way, but this operation needed them to land in a particular place. Void ants simply took too long to travel around a planet otherwise, and each ship they boarded hoping to draw nearer to their destination was another chance they would be spotted. To cultivators, they were nearly invisible. But nearly invisible was still somewhat visible, and just as cultivators were vulnerable to them, void ants were vulnerable to humans. Simple poisons or a natural fire could kill them, if they were expected. It was only where natural energy existed as a catalyst that void ants were practically immune. Though even that was not completely true, for their weaker members. The capsule struck the planet¡¯s barrier. Another potential point of failure- if they had not been going quickly enough, they would not make it through. But too much energy, and they would be easily noticed. There was some significant chance that they would never make it to the ground, even now. But as the capsule rotated and began to slow itself, pressing the void ants against its insides, there didn¡¯t seem to be any incoming concentrations of natural energy. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Even normal attacks could be a danger if they turned the capsule to slag, potentially crushing and burning the void ants. But it had very little energy of its own, made of technology meant to break down in the atmosphere and leave no traces. A sudden shift, and the Son of the Queen checked their attachment to the formation they were standing in. Each ant was hooked onto several others, with no flaws he could spy. The air was filled with tension, nervous scents and tiny trembles in ant bodies. Void ants that felt fear might seem worse than others, but these ladies had proven they could push past fear. And fear was useful for determining actual dangers that might otherwise be overlooked. The capsule broke apart, sending them into the clouds as a web that was still hurtling towards the ground. The heat surrounding it was suddenly apparent, and the ablative shielding wouldn¡¯t have been a protection for much longer. Several ants were nearly torn away from their net, but those on the outside who were pulled away from their brethren found that they had less drag on their own, and could climb back onto their allies. In the middle, each was connected to the most others and all managed to hold strong. Soon enough, they were falling at the terminal velocity of largeish ants, which was not terribly high. If they were meant to split up, that was when they would do so. But their target was one of the last bastions of the Twin Soul Sect, hoping to find their deepest secrets. They would need to work together to move efficiently. The risk of being spotted in greater numbers had been accounted for, and they had just the right amount. The Son leaned slightly to the side, flapping his partially regrown wings to help adjust their movement more. While they should survive a crash into solid stone at such a speed, it would be better if they landed in dirt. And said dirt was better cover. They landed in a field, and to their great fortune they immediately stumbled upon some familiar scents. Those of other, lesser ants. Their pheromones were less complex to go with their brains, but that also meant they were more exploitable. The Son of the Queen had a plan already churning. ¡°We¡¯re going to gather food as part of our search,¡± he instructed his squadron. While the local black ants would certainly have searched for food, they were simple individuals. They were unable to recognize larger structures or make educated choices about where they would likely find food. Rather than attempting a swift infiltration, he had a longer term plan. He could already make out likely areas for the sects to have warehouses that stored food. He scouted out the area with his squadron, finding what they sought in the third building. Then there were only slight issues with formations meant to keep out insects. Obviously void ants didn¡¯t have trouble with them, easily pushing through the weak barriers. But they needed their foolish cousins to help them test the local human populace. ¡°The food is not for us to eat. Not yet,¡± the Son declared. ¡°Instead, we shall create a trail for the local ants. We will then observe the response of the humans. If they react as if these ants are void ants, we may see their countermeasures. And if they recognize them as simple ants, they may grow complacent should we be revealed, once exposed to enough infiltration of these ants.¡± Nibbling formations was going to take a great bit of their time in the near future. Making it look like natural decay was important. They would also create routes around formations for the standard ants to follow, and they would do so given a proper application of pheromones. It was easy enough to fake something to the tolerances of the unintelligent. ----- It took longer for the Son of the Queen to provoke a response than he had thought. It was days before anyone noticed a trail of ants in the back of the warehouse, even though cooks and apprentices seemed to draw from its stores daily. Simply a travesty. Perhaps they should have ignored complexity and simply gone for what they desired. Except food stores were a relatively insecure location. That was foolish, of course, as they could have easily been poisoned by infiltrators. But that was a tactic that would speak of intelligence. Instead, the ants were simply acting as they would naturally, with a bit of a nudge. The humans responded appropriately by leaving poisoned bait. A diabolical tactic that was easily recognized by those of any thought. Humans never poisoned their own food stores, after all. They simply made the poison more convenient. They were a bit too eager with their efforts, however. A powerful poison meant that those workers collecting the food died before reaching the nest. Even unintelligent ants would tend to recognize the dangers. Dead ants near food meant bad food. They removed both from their path, and the humans were able to see the success of their plans. Hundreds or thousands dead. Which was literally nothing. Without the death of the queen, and with the injection of a significant amount of food before the poisoned morsels, the growth of the colony would continue. That meant they could continue to be used to evaluate the responses of the local humans even further. Ants were poisoned, swept away, and crushed. The latter was most terrifying to the void ants, as that was the most likely method to actually kill them. They might react better than normal ants, avoiding a thumb, but then they would be revealed. Fortunately, most cultivators could not be bothered with squishing individual ants. The colony was directed to various different parts of the sect grounds, really just all of the nearest buildings. Soon the humans would be used to their presence. Would they react more strongly with the continued presence, or just give up and ignore the insects? That was but one of many tests taking place over the next week. Meanwhile, the void ants moved carefully and swiftly, going nowhere humans would look. Nor where they would pay much attention to their energy senses, as the slight nothingness of void ants could tip them off. The infiltration had just begun. Hopefully, these methods produced the results they needed to reach important information and retrieve it. Chapter 903 The local cultivators of the Twin Soul Sect seemed to be both annoyed by but also inured to the presence of typical black ants. This made the Son of the Queen¡¯s task more achievable, as they appeared to have many layers of formations about. And relevantly, some of those barriers would take note of small disturbances. He was no expert on formations and the ravages of time, but the Son of the Queen thought that the formations looked to predate the current war. It was not unreasonable, as the extermination of void ants in the past was a known event- though the only details that had made it out were through the Great Queen, whose knowledge was limited by what her mother told her, and so on. But according to information from Everheart- so dubious in some respects- there had been concerted efforts by the upper realms to wipe them out. And the void ants couldn¡¯t deny that it made sense. They were a threat. Since they very much preferred to continue existing, seeking friends and allies among the humans was the best choice. It would have been a good idea regardless, as humans could do many things void ants couldn¡¯t do, like reaching high shelves without walking all the way up a wall. And pretty much anything involving energy that wasn¡¯t eating it. That included growing big fancy crops that were very tasty. Ultimately, the fact that there was forewarning both from the void ants presence in the war and from previous times meant that there could be plans to take out intruders like them¡­ and sacrificing normal black ants was much more palatable than his own people. They probably couldn¡¯t even comprehend pain. Though optimally, the regular ants would also get out alive and healthy. Simple poison traps didn¡¯t work on void ants- they knew better than to eat random things. And they knew better than to eat random things charged with energy somewhere humans wouldn¡¯t normally leave them, no matter how tempting the energy. So far, there weren¡¯t any signs the humans actually anticipated void ants at this particular place and time. Specifically, they hadn¡¯t updated or maintained some of their defenses. The infiltration group had spotted a few simple traps that may have been meant to take them out. Simple disruptions in a certain barrier resulted in boiling water being poured over the floor, which then flowed to a certain drain in the middle of the room. A lethal trap¡­ if it worked perfectly. But there were small ridges and bumps at the edges of the room, and the water didn¡¯t spray everywhere. Human cultivators would not be harmed by even the hottest water without natural energy boosting its power, however they would not like their fancy carpets and papers to be damaged. So the distribution systems were inefficient. It was still horrifying to watch something that looked similar to his own people be burned and drowned, but they were simple insects. That was what the Son of the Queen reminded himself. The traps seemed to trigger after a few moments- giving time for unsuspecting victims to properly enter the room. If traps hadn¡¯t been anticipated, it could have been a disaster. ----- Humans entered the room as they watched from a crack. ¡°Ugh, the floor is wet again,¡± one female complained to another. The Son of the Queen tensed up. Would they figure out their ploy? ¡°Think it¡¯s bookworms again?¡± the other asked. ¡°Or the formations getting old. Seriously, why do we even have water conjuration systems?¡± The second one shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve been places where the formations were lax and there were things skittering around, consuming centuries old scrolls. This isn¡¯t so bad. And you can learn a technique to dry out the floor if you care so much.¡± ¡°And what, become a janitor? No thanks, menial labor isn¡¯t for me.¡± Listening to humans provided useful information¡­ mixed in with large amounts of useless information. Why did it matter if they were uncomfortable? It didn¡¯t make walking any slower. There wasn¡¯t even enough water for them to slip, and it would dry up momentarily. The Son of the Queen and his whole squad continued to watch and listen for hours, as the disciples perused the shelves of the small library. Or perhaps it was a room for document storage, as humans tended to keep those things for larger exchanges of money instead of simply sharing resources with each other as needed. Though that was sensible, with humans not all working towards common purposes. A rattling on the door. Then some human curses. One of the disciples walked over to the door and opened it. ¡°Did you forget your token?¡± The disciple outside sighed, a deeper voice. ¡°No, it¡¯s just finicky. The formations are damaged, so it only works up close. I have to practically brush my hips against the door.¡± ¡°Or you could pull it out of your pocket.¡± ¡°Too much work.¡± Finally. Another practical piece of information. It had already been noted that the significantly larger disruptions of humans did not trigger the formation to react. These tokens might be valuable. But how to get one¡­ and from who? The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Following humans was impractical, as they moved too quickly. But directly latching onto them was also a risk, as they might notice a sufficiently sized group following them. And even if a token was secured, it might not be sufficient for their purposes. And if they noticed it was lost- which might be fairly quickly- that could quickly lead to trouble. As for keeping it concealed as they moved about¡­ that was also an issue. Even a small object for humans would required dozens or hundreds of void ants working in concert to transport it, and it would be a beacon of energy contrasted next to nothingness. ----- Another week of testing and investigating, and they learned some important details. They needed the maximum possible clearance to go everywhere, and those were only with elders. Disappointingly, elders were not always those with the greatest energy- a slight break from the norms of cultivators. However, it wasn¡¯t that far off. All elders were strong, but not necessarily the strongest. Instead, it seemed to also include some manner of seniority. Limited positions meant those who came first would fill them. What a waste. Void ants who could fulfill a role would be placed in a proper position, and they could always produce more underlings or leaders. Those with the quality of royal guards took more resources, but food and natural energy were practically unlimited with the help of human allies. The only way they would run out was if they grew greedy and expanded beyond reasonable limits. That was why colonies grew to a specified number and then maintained it. Rather than growing more populous, they could always establish new colonies. The void ants tracked down information about these elders while gradually decreasing the visibility of black ants, the void ants guiding them towards gardens and natural fields rather than warehouses and kitchens. The humans were getting too annoyed, and they might go to some sort of harsh extreme. If they fully exterminated the black ants, any presence would be seen with greater suspicion. Even though the infiltration squad knew their potential targets, retrieving a token was not an easy task. They would have to put an elder out of commission¡­ which was problematic when regarding the Twin Soul Sect. They might have to accept that their chosen elder would reincarnate with memories of their death. The void ants presence in the lower realms had already been revealed. And a reincarnation plus a return message should take much longer than their mission. People were more likely to notice a missing elder. There was the issue of the body, of course. If they were found to be killed by ants, a diligent search would be carried out to eradicate their group. Avoiding prepared humans would be much worse. But eventually, they found a perfect situation. One elder liked to ride his giant lizard through the forest out to some sort of secluded cultivation spot. Hitching a ride on a lizard with scales that wouldn¡¯t feel them would be much easier, and they could choose their moment for an ambush. Furthermore, such a large beast actually would have a more difficult time acting against them than humans, with their hands. At most it could roll over and try to crush them- but that was only relevant if the beast recognized where the threat was coming from. And if all went well, the body would be somewhere it could be devoured by other beasts. That was the hope. If not, at least they would not search for a few days. As for the issue of how to return to the sect¡­ they would have to risk a mobilization formation. Void ants could move quickly by combining their bodies into a large shape, either spherical or cylindrical being preferred methods. The rotational power they could achieve was more than individual feet walking swiftly. It could even go faster than a human walking or running without energy¡­ the downside being it was visibly obvious. And that they would have to carry the token with them. ----- If the mission went wrong, all of them would probably die. The Son of the Queen didn¡¯t want that, because he personally liked being alive. The others with him probably felt the same. Beyond that, of course, failing a mission for the Great Queen was worse than death. If they were going to die, they had to at least do it achieving their objective- like the incident that had marked the Son of the Queen. His body still hadn¡¯t recovered, his chitin misshapen even as he continued to grow uncomfortably. There, the deaths of void ants had come along with their victory. Optimally, they would achieve their goals and not die, which was why he spent so long on reconnaissance without even reaching any secret information just yet. And the time had come. They climbed up onto the big lizard. Perhaps they could free it from its restraints when they were done. Better than being owned by humans who did not care for their own kind, let alone any creatures they could deem as lesser. The void ants hung on the creature¡¯s belly, away from where the saddle would rub. There was plenty of room for their numbers in a shape the size of a human palm. Their mass was also a negligible addition. The natural energy of the lizard was tempting to nibble on, but they would not compromise their mission with something so mundane. They waited, knowing that this day the elder would be coming. His natural energy stood out from the surroundings, a mixture of the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s energy¡­ and a layer of false Shimmering Spears energy beneath that. Most likely, he thought it impossible to sense. Just like they thought that their other energy was impossible to sense when displaying as another cultivation style. But to void ants, it was hardly better than putting a thin layer of paint on a wall. The truth shone through. This was information that would be valuable to the war. The Shimmering Spears were already disgruntled by the larger Trigold Cluster, and knowing that their own allies were prepared to infiltrate them and many others? Valuable. But not sufficient. The Son of the Queen wanted locations of dangerous devices. Troop movements. Secret communications. Though of course, being too greedy might mean they couldn¡¯t transmit any of the information. The elder, Telman, rode out into the forest. His energy, so prominently displayed, might be missed when it disappeared. Which was why they waited until he started to conceal himself after half a day or so, presumably to keep his cultivation location secret. That was when they moved, crawling outside his clothes towards various positions where they could snip at veins and arteries. It would be better if he fell all at once. And of course, they confirmed the presence of his sect token before acting- otherwise their actions would be less valuable. Not that killing an elder of the Twin Soul Sect was ever lacking in value. Chapter 904 To void ants, killing a Life Transformation cultivator was no different from killing a regular human. In fact, the latter might be more difficult, as the initial reaction of a cultivator would be some sort of energy assault. There was the matter of tempered bodies, but it didn¡¯t make them invincible, just a bit tougher. A combined assault by the entire squadron was sufficient to take out their target rapidly. Elder Telman of the Twin Soul Sect simply twitched and flailed when he felt their assault, reaching for a weapon as his first reaction. That put him another moment behind as the bloodloss began. And an attempt to staunch the flow was simply wasted. Half of the void ants snipped away his natural energy, and the other half continued their assault. When his eyes finally locked on the void ants, he cried out in terror and tried to crush those on his wrists, then his neck. Indeed, his efforts were successful to an extent. Several of their members died- but some others were merely injured, the moldability of human flesh preventing them from being fully crushed. Others saw his movements and avoided the assault, the speed of his arms also limited by those void ants upon them. They would naturally divert the energy speeding his motion as well as being able to actively devour it. Against so many, his frantic burst of energy caused him to be drained in a moment. Further energy would have to be summoned from his dantian, but the loss of blood would rapidly catch up to him¡­ and the void ants moved to safer locations. It was a fairly short battle, as it should be. If they had larger void ants among them, perhaps it would have taken only a single moment. The Great Queen could have easily done it alone- but she was far too valuable to risk here. Where would the best of them come from, if not for her? Detaching the collar from the lizard the man rode was a simple matter, when the void ants could climb into the internal locking mechanisms and disrupt the flow of energy through its formations. They also removed the saddle and retrieved their actual goal, his sect token. It was charged with his natural energy¡­ and so were the void ants. Hopefully, it would remain functional long enough for them to complete their tasks. There was nothing they could do about his body or his gear. They had no interest in consuming human flesh, and any method they had available to hide him would be too time consuming. The riding lizard might take care of some of that for them, but aside from sniffing curiously at the body it didn¡¯t seem to have a reaction just yet. Once it realized it was able to control its natural energy without consequence it might do something, but they weren¡¯t going to wait for that. Indeed, the Son of the Queen was leading the efforts to roll back towards the sect proper, the palm sized token at the center of their formation. As it did not cooperate with them like other void ants, they lost their grip on it several times near the beginning. Its fall threatened to crush them underneath, but the distributed weight and their greater durability than lesser ants helped them. ----- The first place they went was Elder Telman¡¯s private quarters. Not only was he high ranking, but they should not have anyone else. Perhaps occasional cleaners, but most likely formations would prevent most or other issues. Either way, it was their best opportunity. They soon found documents of various sorts. Rather than reading through all of them- a difficult task at their size- they instead made use of an alternate method after skimming enough to determine they were important. They wouldn¡¯t be able to transmit the document whole even if they stole it- local comms systems required them to input text manually. Their training had taught them another method for void ants to employ. Each of them was responsible for letters in the documents, and as they were short there were enough of them none had to handle more than two or three. They would be able to rapidly input necessary information. Of course, there might be some loss, but that was acceptable. They frantically made use of their token to slip into various places, including logistics warehouses. They found some records that seemed to indicate important shipments, and these were once more devoured. In some cases literally, so that the documents would be thought missing¡­ and others dismantled to be found later as a useless pile. The last stop was the records offices involving sect member locations- a dangerous mission they avoided until most sect members would be asleep. Here, they hoped to find records of spies in other sects- and among their own people. So far, each of them only had to memorize a few dozen letters throughout the many documents, a process they had trained for extensively- with memorization tactics invented by humans and refined for void ant thought processes. The energy of the token was fading, so they had one last stop to make. The communications center. It was there that they would have the greatest risk, as the area would constantly be monitored. But entering properly would reduce the likelihood of an early alarm. This was what they had planned over the weeks they were here. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! There were a few close calls, slipping around corners just as humans came into hallways. If they had bothered to look down a bit, they might have noticed them. The rotating ants obviously saw in all directions, but they didn¡¯t believe they¡¯d been spotted. Not that they could back out now. If they didn¡¯t get a message out, then the entire operation was pointless. So they continued along, speeding their way towards their destination. The token removed the barrier to the comms center, though they had to slip beneath the door because they couldn¡¯t open it. The token took most of them to pull through, but they might need it to activate the consoles they were after. Inside, there were a half dozen humans¡­ and they had been spotted. The natural energy of the token had most likely been what drew the human¡¯s attention, as the void ants hadn¡¯t been covering it. All of them reacted in the same manner. They had to fight, so they split up into predetermined groups based on the quantity of enemies- in this case, three groups that went for the closest enemies. A sword sliced through the center of the spinning cylinder the Son of the Queen found himself part of, but their losses were minimal as void ants simply unlocked their legs and pulled apart. Then they were scrambling over humans. There was an impact that shook the Son of the Queen to his core, almost crushing him. But that human fell. He was only able to limp forward, joining with several others who were injured, while the healthy survivors chose their next target. So much for a grand display of his worth. But at least he could begin the process of transmission. Except¡­ they¡¯d left the token on the floor as they switched to combat mode. A few dozen injured ants couldn¡¯t carry such a thing. And waiting for all of them might be too slow, with all of the noise the humans were making. He guided the rest of the group as they skittered onto the device, beginning the process of readjusting the intended destination by putting in the proper codes for Egnos. That was their most secure planet. But it seemed to require something to continue. An energy lock, then. The token might be necessary. Or¡­ The Son of the Queen vomited some of the natural energy he¡¯d eaten, trying to manipulate it to register properly as Elder Telman¡¯s. Either their security measures were weak, or he¡¯d done better than he thought as the device hummed with energy. Perhaps he only saved a few moments, as the rest of the void ants arrived momentarily with the token¡­ but they might need those seconds. The void ants linked up, such that their movements would affect the whole. Fortunately the layout of the letters was one of those they had practiced on, and they were able to influence the movements of the whole group with minor twitches. There were some hiccups where they were missing void ants in sequence, but they soon figured out who had not survived, improving their speed. They were missing perhaps a tenth of their number, but no more than two or three letters in a row at maximum. That should be sufficient for the humans to figure things out, and they simply added extra blank space to indicate something missing. They had a pretty good rate of inputting information, it seemed, but after transmitting about half of the information they had disciples rushed into the room. This was it then. The Son of the Queen made certain they told it to transmit their final partial entry, then he emitted the strongest pheromones he could, communication along with his signs. ¡°Retreat! Full speed! Route B!¡± Staying to fight was pointless, as they would lose too much information in the process. Instead, they ran- the group ultimately absorbing information about their goals from those around the center. They dropped down over the back of the communications devices, finding themselves up against the edge of the facility and shortly thereafter escaping through miniscule holes they had scouted out previously. Chewing through the formations trying to block them wouldn¡¯t cause any alarms that had not already been raised by them being spotted- and they were on the opposite side from where any traps would trigger, if they were even in good repair. Soon they were out in the fields, but the humans would be after them. ¡°We continue the retreat!¡± the Son of the Queen ordered. His shaky legs twinged with pain as he locked with the others, but he refused to be the weakest link among them¡­ nor did he want to abandon any others still living. Perhaps they had less individuality than humans, but they were still people. And they were his people. They made it all the way to a stream flowing through the sect, which was their fastest form of transport out of the sect grounds. They made use of surface tension to keep the group afloat as a giant raft. The enemy would be looking for them, of course, but hiding in the stream reduced their visual profile. As for other methods of scanning to pick them out, hopefully they were far enough away. He certainly felt sweeping energy senses, but unless they were properly tuned to pick out distant nothings they might get away. A successful mission, though he wished they could have transmitted the rest of the information. Though now that he thought about it¡­ why couldn¡¯t they? They still lived. Returning to this sect would be risky, but elsewhere¡­? They might be off guard at first. Besides, what else were they going to do? There was no retrieval process until such time as the planet was conquered. They all went in knowing that. But they were alive, and they could perform the mission better, so why shouldn¡¯t they? It was a shame about those they had lost already, but the rest who survived would be stronger for the ordeal. Though only after they secured a source of food and energy, and got some rest. Unfortunately, that poor colony of black ants was likely done for. They would be found and exterminated as a casualty. It was unlikely the humans would assume that was the end of things, but they could hope. The Son of the Queen found he had little strength in his once melted and now broken body, but he pressed on as they searched for somewhere to shelter. Preferably an already dug underground den of some sort- they could share with rodents easily enough. Humans would find it more difficult to pick out their distinctive features with a meter or two of dirt already dimming their perception. The void ants couldn¡¯t actually outdistance their pursuers, so that was the option. The Great Queen would certainly be happy with what they¡¯d done. How many lives would their messages save? Even if their enemy determined what had been transmitted, it could cause disaster to them. Especially something about a particular spymaster on a planet in the Shining Cooperative. Chapter 905 With the final transmission of a half-finished document, various critical pieces of information reached the combined Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance forces. As for the veracity of the information they received, the proper codes had been used to verify that the transmission was from the spies the Great Queen sent to Rotaire. Some information had to be acted upon with haste, as there was no certainty that the enemy wasn¡¯t aware of the information transmitted. That haste meant launching immediate raids on several distinct locations hidden away from heavily occupied areas. These were laboratories or storage locations where various bioweapons were being developed or held, as well as prisons where captured members of the alliance were being held. Not many people had been captured by the Trigold Cluster, but they didn¡¯t win every engagement, and preventing any captures meant they had to both win smoothly and remain in control of the battlefield afterwards. Suicide might be a better option than interrogation by the Trigold Cluster, but not everyone had the courage or the opportunity. Learning the location of some of the rare captives was quite valuable, as the rescues would both bring members back into their fold- and prevent the enemy from learning dangerous information. Especially as it related to Assimilation and other post-Life Transformation avenues. ----- Most of the revelations from spy efforts hadn¡¯t been relevant to Anton. He¡¯d been intent to stay out of the war, and he¡¯d ultimately ended up on the edge of the upper and lower realms- still affecting the war, but not necessarily in the role of a soldier. Now he was being called upon because of one particular bit of information. A spymaster hidden among the Shining Cooperative- and with a clear idea of the planet and main city he should be operating within. As for why he was being called to help with internal affairs of the Shining Cooperative¡­ Anton wasn¡¯t exactly happy with the purpose, but he understood it and fully agreed. His job was to be¡­ a distraction. It would make more sense to have important figures swarming the city if he was visiting. As allies, Anton was glad to aid them. They made the request and were honest about it, so he could only respond in kind. The only thing he needed was someone to replace him along the border. Or perhaps many someones, to cover the same amount of area he was. At least by now they had some idea of the patterns of shipments- a pattern that could not be adjusted for at least a decade, given that the containers would have already been sent at high velocity through realspace. They were just drifting through the space between realms, and nobody could change that now from either the upper or lower realms. With sufficient information, the Shining Cooperative could stop everything from being retrieved, and there wasn¡¯t too much worry that they would be attacked. In the event where a large fleet was sent to stop them, it might represent a great portion of the Void Scrying Sect¡¯s remaining ability. Either way, Anton could also aid in battles around two particular stars- Naewu and a second star he¡¯d just completed binding. The only issue Anton had was acting purely as a distraction. It would be so tempting to sweep his senses across the planet, looking for a particular individual. Except, as they didn¡¯t have a proper picture of the man, the only functional thing they knew was that he would be a member of the Twin Soul Sect, and hiding his true cultivation not just with their techniques but also some sort of enchanted piece of equipment. Which really didn¡¯t narrow things down, as they couldn¡¯t just grab everyone with anything enchanted- not without alarming him and sending him into hiding. It was important enough that the personal liberties of their citizens weren¡¯t the major concern in that regard, but they still couldn¡¯t. ----- Hardly a month later, Anton arrived on the planet of Alluna. If he was to be there as himself but not a direct part of the investigation, he had to do what he knew best. And for that reason, he immediately began pestering the formation master Ravil in public. ¡°Look at this. Your planet is divided into slices of fertility and famine. Natural energy tied up around sects, providing fewer opportunities to feed into the greater system and grow. You should tear down all your formations.¡± Ravil knew Anton¡¯s purpose, but some of his defensiveness was quite real. ¡°We are aware of your tactics and intentions, but now would not be a good time to completely reshape our entire system of production.¡± ¡°Then when will you do so? Upon the conclusion of the war, as productivity dips? Upon finding new enemies who you need resources to fight? These formations work as intended, but I think the division they make among your own people shows through.¡± The formation master took a good look at Anton. They were probably quite similar in age- within a century or so, and they even looked it. Except the reason for such was quite different. Anton had been old when he began cultivating, and while he lost a few wrinkles and looked more vibrant than he had been at a hundred he mostly maintained his age. Partially because his lifespan hadn¡¯t increased as much per cultivation rank, and partially because that was how he saw himself. Ravil, meanwhile, had started cultivating as a young man, but his age had advanced with him. He had reached the peak of Life Transformation some time before, but believing that Ascension would only result in being surrounded by enemies and leaving behind those they loved, he and the rest of the Shining Cooperative had avoided that route. With knowledge of Assimilation as an advancement route, he might eventually push further- but his cultivation had stagnated for so long it would be difficult to continue onward. He carefully considered Anton¡¯s questions, knowing they had both seen much of the world. ¡°We are already implementing your practices in some places. We can¡¯t change everything at once, unfortunately.¡± Anton sighed in an exaggerated manner. ¡°Be that way, if you must. But you must at least allow me to visit your farms here and prompt them in the right direction.¡± That was what Anton loved to do, and a great excuse for a number of people- including many stronger cultivators called back from the front lines- to follow him around Alluna, especially near its capital city of Lirlas. ----- It was strange for Anton to think that any of the millions of people he passed by might be a spymaster from the Trigold Cluster. So much work had been done to keep them away, but nothing was perfect unless they completely isolated their planets. And the damage from that would be catastrophic for economies as even simple things like food came from many different planets. Anton wanted to scan everyone he passed. Instead, he settled for passively receiving information with occasional glimpses at things he found interesting. Not using his senses actively at all would be quite suspicious as well. Alluna was one of the more recent additions to the Shining Cooperative- it had only been a member for a couple decades before they encountered the Lower Realms Alliance. Because of that he could see many differences in how the natives handled things. But the selfishness in their formations wasn¡¯t unusual- or even necessarily wrong, with the understanding they had. Even the Order- back when it had been called the Ninety-Nine Stars- kept the natural energy they tended within their own borders. And keeping the fruits of one¡¯s own labor wasn¡¯t wrong. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. It was just not as right as things could be. Anton¡¯s next month was primarily focused on meeting people. And while he¡¯d started out with declarations about what would be done, he knew that ultimately wasn¡¯t the best way of things. Primarily he spoke with farmers, those in charge of fields both big and small. The question Anton would ask was simple. ¡°What do you want?¡± Most answers were improved production. Anton would then ask why they wanted greater production. And he thought all of the answers were legitimate. Some simply wanted greater profits. If they were taking care of themselves and their families, that was valuable. Some wanted to support the war, or a certain sect, or to improve their own cultivation. Anton guided all towards similar things. For those who wanted growth for profits, he advised them to invest in their workers. If they could improve their cultivations and grow stronger, they could do more. And if they were treated well and paid appropriately, they would work harder. Even if they eventually moved on, having connections to more powerful cultivators was always advantageous- and a good reputation would draw in more workers willing to replace them. And over the course of a cultivator¡¯s lifetime, Anton truly believed that was the best way to reap profits. Or they could attempt to squeeze everything out of their workers, paying them the bare minimum. If they made that choice, they might make more money in less time. And Anton could very much bet that their time would be less. If they ignored his advice, then it wasn¡¯t his business. Others came to him with particular problems- plant blights and insects among them. He would always take a look, and he could usually suggest a simple fix. If certain plants were mixed together, insects that found certain leaves tasty wouldn¡¯t enter the fields. Properly spaced plants were less likely to spread anything between them. And different plants consumed different nutrients, so while it was more work to do so, alternating rows of different plants could greatly help with the spread of disease. Ultimately, there was always more work that could be done with plants, or pretty much anything in life. People just had to pick goals that would achieve the right balance of effort and output for them. ----- ¡°There¡¯s only one more visitor for the day,¡± Ravil commented. ¡°Another farmer with a unique blight.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Well I¡¯m certainly interested in that,¡± he said. ¡°Come on in.¡± The man who entered had an aura like the sun. Pleasant and warm, just like his smile. ¡°Thank you for taking the time to see me.¡± ¡°Of course. What is your name? I¡¯m Anton, I suppose you know,¡± Anton said, shaking hands with the man. ¡°Chun Jin,¡± he said. ¡°I have¡­ I have some grain here,¡± he said, pulling it out of his storage bag and holding it out towards Anton. Anton reached out for it with his senses, and immediately felt it struggling towards him. Invisible motes rose into the air. ¡°Interesting,¡± he said. ¡°It has a strange energy to it.¡± He took it in hand, and immediately felt the fires inside himself reacting. ¡°Chun Jin, is it?¡± Ravil asked. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting amulet you have. Where did you get it?¡± ¡°Oh this? My grandfather gave it to me.¡± Amazing. Anton honestly would have believed that. Actually, he¡¯d been watching the man outside waiting with the others. He had a friendly personality. Could he really be a spy? Obviously he could. But they weren¡¯t completely certain. At least, Anton hadn¡¯t been until he received the tainted grain. Now that he had it, he very much wanted to contain it¡­ because this had to have been grown somewhere local. ¡°Do you think you could figure out what¡¯s wrong with it, senior?¡± Chun Jin asked. ¡°I¡¯ve inspected it carefully, but it simply falls apart in my hands,¡± he sighed, spreading his arms wide. ¡°No one else could help me.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton said. ¡°And who have you asked?¡± Anton was looking for similar energy signatures elsewhere, only a thin tendril of his energy reaching out of the room. It might be more obvious to anyone outside, but the man standing right in front of him should have been overwhelmed with his aura. ¡°The farming secretary for the eastern district,¡± Chun Jin said. ¡°Indeed. I suppose that makes sense. And it would also explain why you chose a sun based cultivation method. I very much approve of people who follow such a path.¡± ¡°Thank you, senior. It is great to hear such words from someone like you.¡± ¡°And I speak them with all sincerity,¡± Anton said. The energy in the room shifted as the formation master Ravil cleared his throat. ¡°It¡¯s a shame the words don¡¯t apply to you.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Chun Jin asked, looking around with confusion. ¡°The room is already sealed,¡± Ravil said. ¡°Now, take off your amulet or we¡¯ll do this the hard way.¡± ¡°Take it off? But it¡¯s mine. I don¡¯t know what you-¡± Chun Jin clutched his amulet in hand, suddenly injecting his energy into it. From the amulet came a great explosion of power that spread throughout the room, consuming everything it touched. Which was everything except for Anton, Ravil, and the spy¡¯s storage bag. Plus the handful of grain Anton was holding. ¡°Did you get him?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Oh yes,¡± Ravil said. ¡°So, ¡®Chun Jin¡¯,¡± Ravil said to the air in front of them. ¡°How is your experience with being inside a spirit binding formation without a physical body? Because I have the feeling you haven¡¯t done this before. But I¡¯ve caught many of your kind in these nets.¡± Anton could feel the way the formations around the room permeated everything, spectral energy both binding the soul of the man- and making it easier to interact with said soul. Anton could see a vague shape solidifying as the formations stabilized after the detonation. ¡°How did you find out¡­?¡± he asked. Ravil smiled. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯d like me to gloat, with the intention to escape later. But I am going to say there is no escape for you. And I still won¡¯t tell you anything.¡± Anton thought it was too bad that they hadn¡¯t been able to salvage that amulet. It would have been good to know how he was hiding his cultivation even from their proper techniques. Then again, Ravil had gotten a look at it so it might not be hopeless. And as well as it hid his true cultivation¡­ his outer display was imperfect. Had he really thought a fake sun would work in front of Anton? Not that Anton was primarily responsible for his capture. He hadn¡¯t even known this was the man until he held the grain- but it seemed the locals had been a step ahead of him. Good. Now they could figure out how to stop whatever the man had put in motion¡­ starting with the crops, since he¡¯d revealed that to Anton. Chapter 906 The spymaster going by the name Chun Jin had thought death was an escape. But Anton could say, unfortunately for him, that he was more than wrong. Indeed, trapped as a soul the man was the most helpless he could be¡­ and the most vulnerable. He most certainly had valuable information, but how easily he would give it up was another question. However long it took, it wasn¡¯t Anton¡¯s business¡­ because there were urgent matters he could deal with. The grain Anton carried was trying to infect him. It was something different from the previous mold. Weaker, even- though it still actively sought out hosts to grow. But even if it was less virulent, it was more insidious in some manners. It didn¡¯t react so drastically to natural energy, so it could be hidden. The main question Anton had was how long the spymaster had been working on this general plan. Why risk something with Anton? Unless he considered his mission complete. And based on what Anton was finding in the eastern district where he¡¯d mentioned his farm, that might be the case. A bare farm plot was all that remained, having already been harvested. The tainted grain would have already been distributed. To where? That Anton didn¡¯t know, but he could find out from someone more qualified. Specifically, a harried member of the bureaucracy. A young man, perhaps promoted into his position too early. More experience was important to properly manage even a small agricultural district. But so he was. Anton didn¡¯t know how much time might matter, so he didn¡¯t make any pretenses. He simply walked into the young man¡¯s office, where someone else was already present. There had been a line of people outside, but nobody was going to complain about Anton directly walking in. At least, not while he was around. He wasn¡¯t concealing his energy, but instead displaying it openly. Even without a local bound star, he still had the power of a strong Assimilation cultivator. ¡°... And I¡¯m concerned that Chun Jin seems to be taking more than his allotment of water,¡± said the woman there. She likely had more to say, but at that point Anton had swung open the door and both people looked at him. ¡°Good news, then,¡± Anton said. ¡°Your neighbor¡¯s dead.¡± ¡°Wha-¡± the woman just looked at him. ¡°Farming Secretary Lailok, I have urgent business regarding your district and one Chun Jin,¡± Anton continued. ¡°... He¡¯s dead?¡± the young man tilted his head. Obviously he understood that, but he was a bit put off by Anton¡¯s brusqueness. ¡°That¡¯s not the relevant part. We need every record you have that involves him, even tangentially.¡± ¡°Uh, sure,¡± the young man nodded. ¡°He was in here a week ago mentioning a quarter of his crop was diseased.¡± ¡°That was a lie,¡± Anton said. ¡°Why-¡± ¡°All of it was tainted,¡± Anton clarified. ¡°We need to track down everywhere that grain went, and potentially look into every other shipment he¡¯s been connected with.¡± ¡°... Should I leave?¡± the other petitioner asked. ¡°Tell me what you know about him,¡± Anton said, splitting the area between them with his energy. ¡°I can listen to both of you speak at once.¡± While the woman explained her piece, Anton coordinated with the young man. ¡°It¡¯s going to take me a while to look through everything-¡± Anton tossed a technique manual on the table. Ten Thousand Scrolls, of course. ¡°You¡¯ll want to study this later. For now, I can read through everything if you can help me find it.¡± ¡°Okay but I probably need to clear this with the right people¡­¡± the young man said. ¡°Do that quickly,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can get you the ear of anyone you need, if you¡¯re delayed.¡± ¡°... I can probably handle that,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll tell them a very important guest needs this information quickly.¡± Anton also spoke with the other woman, who had been telling him some things about Chun Jin. ¡°What other suspicious things did you see?¡± he asked. ¡°Besides the water, and the way he split his shipments?¡± ¡°That was it, really,¡± the woman admitted. ¡°Most of the time he was quite neighborly. It took me quite a while to determine anything was wrong. I just had the feeling my crops were growing worse since he moved in.¡± ----- Records on Chun Jin were plentiful¡­ which was unfortunate. He¡¯d been active in the area for several years, providing various products not for direct sale but for seed. Before that, however, there was nothing. At least, not under that name. According to the records, he¡¯d been active almost a decade. That meant he¡¯d either taken his time setting up his identity, or perhaps this wasn¡¯t his first scheme. And while there hadn¡¯t yet been any fallout from previous efforts, if there were any, his stint as a farmer also hadn¡¯t yet produced its rotten fruits. The grain Anton carried in his hand seemed to tell him a story. His initial thoughts based on speculation and given the records indicated to him something must have lain dormant in the grain. Whether it could truly hide for generations he didn¡¯t know- perhaps the first years were pure so that he could build up trust. Given the various other bioweapons the Trigold Cluster seem to have, it wasn¡¯t inconceivable. Stolen story; please report. But they quickly learned it went even beyond that. Chun Jin had not dealt just in this particular sort of grain. Indeed, he dealt with a large variety of staple crops, and all were promising cultivars. Additionally, many of them were even local. Yet the grain being infected obviously wasn¡¯t a coincidence. How had it come about? The answer didn¡¯t come easily. Searching through fields the man owned produced nothing of value. But he also rented spaces away from the eastern district of Lirlas, all over Alluna. It took them a week to come to that conclusion, because it was under a series of different identities. Anton was sweeping the planet for diseased crops, but all of those he found were owned by locals. It was only when he realized that there was a particular crop near all of them that they began to connect the dots. The plants were just beginning to show signs of disease, a blight that crossed between entirely separate species. But the origin of that blight had been unclear¡­ as it was not affected in any visible way. They had already tracked down all of Chun Jin¡¯s shipments under that name, and warned other planets about them, but the actual danger was a step beyond that. Most likely all of his officially related crops were good. In short, he had a public facing business to get him connections and knowledge about shipping, and another to grow and transport the truly tainted crops, ones that only infected their neighbors while appearing in pristine health themselves. Nobody would burn down fields full of perfectly good crops. The damage was just beginning, but if there had not been some amount of forewarning it was possible that they wouldn¡¯t have spotted the true source for several seasons, perhaps even multiple years. Indeed, they might cultivate the one ¡®resistant¡¯ crop even more, perpetuating the issue. ----- Once they figured out the mechanism through which the damage was meant to be done, they were able to combat it. The maze of connections through which those particular crops had been shipped was much more complicated. In a way, that explained why Chun Jin had shown up to die. Everything connected to him and that name would be compromised, which would distract them from everything else. And his death would have meant a promotion, in essence. If he wasn¡¯t captured. So far his spirit had resisted their interrogation techniques. It was only through a bit of luck that Anton managed to noticed the oddity- not every kind of crop was infected with the blight, either. But Anton was very familiar with all sorts of crops, and the one in question just felt slightly wrong. Not like the blight, either. He couldn¡¯t quite place a particular thing that had given it away, but centuries of experience prevailed. And then hundreds of bureaucrats searching through records all over the planet- and in other systems. They could hunt down the particular crop¡­ though it apparently went by multiple names. It didn¡¯t look like much, just a standard some sort of wheat, barley, or even rye. Anton had very little he was actually needed for except beginning the process as rapidly as possible. However, there was one more thing that was useful. Bringing samples of the true problem to other planets so that they could recognize it. The Shining Cooperative did have the ability to communicate between their locations rapidly, but they didn¡¯t have scanners or the like that could register energy signatures or greater details. As Anton was faster than most ships, he set out on a route that would let him bring samples along one of the primary internal trade routes of the Shining Cooperative. When they first met the Lower Realms Alliance, they would have been hesitant about both Anton and learning more about their internal arrangement of systems, but having worked successfully as allies against the Trigold Cluster for decades now they didn¡¯t express any concerns. That was the one good thing to come out of the war. Actually, Anton could say there were more. The fellow Tor of the Shimmering Spears and his lot were actually willing to break off from the Trigold Cluster- an unprecedented opportunity. At least, to the limits of his own knowledge. Members of the Exalted Quadrant had stood with them in the lower realm- and then the upper realms- but so far there had been few examples of humanity among the Trigold Cluster. But of course, they were still just people. A vast number of them with a powerful society built upon the backs of countless atrocities, but not all of them were equally responsible. Even if they were only able to realize how wrong things were when certain parts of the Trigold Cluster treated them as callously as all other people before them, it was better than nothing. ----- In all of Anton¡¯s life, he had learned that there was rarely such a thing as perfect timing. Even in this case, where they caught a saboteur because of hard won information, they were late. But late was still better. Seasons were different around planets and between different planets, so the growing season for the particular sort of grain Chun Jin had been peddling was pretty much always active somewhere. The last leg of Anton¡¯s journey brought him to the planet Mioria, and it was there that he began to provide aid beyond simply delivery. Anton understood the struggles of farmers. Losing a crop could devastate them, and they would be resistant to eliminating an entire crop of something that appeared perfectly good. At least they had already determined how to be rid of it for good. Simply pulling it up was insufficient- the soil would carry the blight. Anton had already determined that burning it was actually a great way to spread the blight it carried through the smoke, which was of course the opposite of what they wanted. But spectral energy still worked. As for why it worked, it simply made sense. That was the tool the Trigold Cluster would use to cleanse any planets they took over through these methods. And since they¡¯d already begun a process of teaching people how to cultivate at least a little bit of spectral energy, it was valuable. A small bit didn¡¯t wither entire patches, unlike with the mold. That meant the process would be slower. The good news, on the other hand, was that the blight killed its targeted crops rather quickly. That might seem like terrible news, but that limited its spread to some extent. With over a dozen planets affected, all with much larger populations than Mazlerth, the total number of people that would be affected by the blight was much greater. However, they caught it quickly enough that they were only in the first true season of the plan. Much later, and it could have wiped out between a tenth and half of all of their crops for the year- and potentially years beyond that if they failed to recognize the true source. Anton came in and withered crops¡­ but he soothed angry farmers by immediately planting their fields and boosting the growth of new crops. And when they learned the actual consequences of leaving the crops¡­ they had few complaints. But Anton made sure to champion for them, especially the smaller farms that couldn¡¯t afford to lose a season¡¯s income. He could help only so many people himself. The Shining Cooperative would have to live up to their name and do the rest. Chapter 907 Even with a significant amount of effort going to capturing outlying bases, the assault on Rotaire was still planned and ready to execute in an acceptable amount of time. The messages from the surface hadn¡¯t ruled out the possibility that they were keeping some sort of terrible weapons on the planet itself, but they were smarter than to keep some of their bioweapons where it could spread around their own planet. Especially the last bastion of the Void Scrying Sect. Aside from the void ants on planet, most scout forces kept their distance to avoid potential capture, as the enemy¡¯s predictive abilities hadn¡¯t simply evaporated. They would be less effective, certainly, with many of the Void Scrying Sect having perished, but they still had many core members. Before they actually made what they hoped to be the final assault- at least with regards to the Void Scrying Sect and their allies, if not actually the full presence of the Trigold Cluster in the lower realms- they had to adjust their occupying forces on Anrade and Egnos. While they hadn¡¯t detected any brewing rebellions, that could change the moment they appeared weak. Which meant that unfortunately they had to leave a good portion of their forces behind. The Lower Realms Alliance had been able to draw upon more of their further forces since they had sufficient warning, but they also had one other mitigating factor they hoped would help. That was others from the Trigold Cluster. Or rather, who had been under that same banner. This was the faction of Tor and the Shining Spears, along with the rest of those they¡¯d so far won over to their side. They controlled a handful of smaller planets in their own right, and including them in the stabilization efforts was the first step towards some sort of peace. Not reconciliation, since they weren¡¯t part of those they¡¯d truly been at war with. And hopefully they could convince others of that as well. While there were a great many fanatics among the Trigold Cluster whether it was the upper or lower realms, not all of them were that way. And even if they had been, some people took exception to planets with people they knew being blown up. They might have chosen to believe their allied factions over the enemy in the war about what happened to Zunrose- but when word came from local sects, verified with their own investigations, they had to at least listen. Hopefully, that would keep things stable for a while. ----- It was almost routine for Varghese, swooping into a system and binding its star. And¡­ he didn¡¯t like it at all. Binding stars was great, of course, but war was not. Necessary perhaps, but still unpleasant. This time was a bit different, as the urgency was different than normal. It was difficult to say whether it was lesser or greater, because while there didn¡¯t seem to be any significant fleets outside of the system that the Void Scrying Sect could call upon¡­ there were fleets from the Fearsome Menagerie¡¯s faction on the move. Attempts to communicate had resulted in little more than a repeat of the warning to stay out of their way. Not the friendliest of groups, as it turned out. Rotaire¡¯s star was a simple red dwarf. A small star, but sufficient to support life at the proper distance. And the planet itself was quite a sizable one, its diameter perhaps a third larger than In¡¯istra- which made its surface area nearly double. Not the largest planet by any means, but quite significant. On the other hand, a larger planet meant any sort of planetary barrier had to be larger as well- which was more expensive to create and maintain. Their allied fleets arrived before the other Trigold faction, estimated to be about a day. That wasn¡¯t necessarily enough to assault a planet, as taking down the barrier could easily take that long. If they pushed themselves they might manage it earlier, but then they would be exhausted when the other fleets showed up- which was not a good state to find themselves in, regardless of whether or not this particular fleet intended to attack them. Optimal projections indicated there was something they wanted on Rotaire, something they were willing to fight to recover. Less optimal outlooks indicated they wanted to stop the alliance from gaining more territory, regardless of the civil war going on. What was actually going on was frustratingly unclear. It wasn¡¯t as if they hadn¡¯t tried to communicate. Combat strategy was kept flexible. The local fleets remained conservative, staying inside the planetary barrier, so Varghese was able to connect to the star in a relatively relaxed manner. All that, and he was just another combatant. He wasn¡¯t upset about that- he understood he was still young, and it would be ages before he could stand up like Anton, if ever. He was already strong enough to defend his home, and an unexpected sect head and part of planetary leadership. He had no complaints, but he still felt the urge to grow stronger. If the Trigold Cluster could cause them this much trouble like this, what would they do for their next invasion, seeking revenge? They wouldn¡¯t be so limited in what or how they could prepare an assault, and considering they had invaded a large number of worlds on a schedule for untold cycles¡­ they certainly had forces to spare. If they simply consolidated those forces, they might repeat the devastation of Shrenn and Tenoun¡¯a upon other planets. Yet at the same time, those two stood out as an example that it was possible to survive even a scouring of planets. They weren¡¯t exactly vibrant and strong, but they survived. And working together, they were prospering. Varghese joined the assault on the barrier, which was much less exciting than it sounded like. While there were some weapon firing from inside the barrier, their danger was dampened by the constraints of barriers themselves. There were few barriers so perfectly balanced that an arbitrarily large bundle of energy could pass through without being hindered at all, no matter how intentionally tuned they were. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Only the smallest and most agile ships and the largest, sturdiest ones were focused on the assault. The much greater numbers of the individual fighters made up for their relative weakness, and they could help wear down the barrier by depleting its energy with numbers. The largest ships- ascension class battleships and the like- all carried Assimilation cultivators as well. Everyone did their best to deflect or avoid incoming attacks rather than letting them hit directly, conserving their energy. They needed it for the assault, after all. Ultimately, they were making good progress with the barrier by the time the Fearsome Menagerie fleet arrived. Discussions about what to do had already been covered, and depended on how they acted. Ultimately, they would do exactly what had been said and little more- they would stay out of the way. If those fleets turned towards them and opened fire, they would respond in kind- with great intensity. They would especially be focusing on the ship that had their new weapon, the one responsible for causing so much damage around Xeotov. Presumably, that weapon had been made with the worldheart that ended up in their hands. The new fleet stuck together in one larger mass, instead of trying to spread around and cut off the retreat of the alliance ships. They wouldn¡¯t be able to completely cut them off even if they made the attempt, but being sandwiched between two fleets would be unpleasant. They carefully watched the reaction of Rotaire below as the fleet approached. Their own pulled away from one side of the planet as the Fearsome Menagerie headed towards one side of the planet. Even if they intended to reinforce the fleets there, letting them go ahead was valuable- the planetary barriers had to open to let the fleets through, so it would be a good opening. Many of their forces were concentrated in a ring about halfway around the planet, leaving plenty of room¡­ but also poised to take advantage of potential opportunities. But the intention of the fleet was clear soon enough. The civil war was not finished. Attacks of various sorts began to rain down upon the barrier, matched by the fleet already in place. If it was a ruse, it was certainly an odd one. Every moment that went by, it became less and less likely, as both the attacking fleet and the defensive barriers were being drained. With that said, they didn¡¯t relax their guard. They even focused more efforts on scanning the attacking fleet, but the effect on the barrier was clear. More concentrated fire was rapidly depleting Rotaire¡¯s energy. Soon enough sections of the barrier began to collapse, but the local fleets vigorously defended the openings, preventing ships from slipping through to attack formations directly- except those attacks that could strike through the atmosphere from space. There were a few of those, with the Ascension-class ships being the primary source. The most surprising source was Nthanda. Varghese knew of her strength, of course. He also knew of her accuracy. But as she relied very little on natural energy to support her attacks, she needed better materials for her arrows. Even the best materials would be damaged upon entering an atmosphere at high speed, losing momentum and energy rapidly. But Nthanda wasn¡¯t relying on her bow¡­ and she wasn¡¯t making use of anything that Varghese would call an arrow. Instead, as soon as the barrier had holes she began tossing huge pillars. Varghese could see why she hadn¡¯t done that before the barriers began to open up. They actually gained momentum during their fall rather than losing it, their great mass overcoming the air friction during their rapid descent. With the barriers in place, the power of such an attack would be based primarily on her muscle power, and great as it was there were limits to her abilities. As for why she was the main individual to be using such a strategy, it was better for most to focus on imparting larger amount of natural energy to smaller projectiles, and guiding such a weapon with their natural energy would require both a significant range of control and sufficient power to keep the connection with the vigors of the atmosphere at play. There was one final factor, which was that the materials of the pillars were minimally reactive to natural energy. Without the initial boost they weren¡¯t much good. Though Nthanda wasn¡¯t quite without competition. Rutera had a few purely technological weapons that made use of the same principles, launching attacks toward shielded sect grounds. The impact of any such weapons was tremendous, and that revealed why they couldn¡¯t use completely unguided versions of such. Unless they were looking to devastate the planet, which wasn¡¯t their intent. Instead, they simply wanted to take out the sects and anything actively part of the military. Cities could remain¡­ especially since many of them were remnants of the original populace, now lost to time. It might have been easier to completely exterminate the population of the world, and the idea had been entertained several times throughout the war with the Trigold Cluster. But ultimately, they could not justify such a genocide, as many of the latest generation had no real choice and had no choice but to support the structures in place. But the large sects and clans¡­ they had no hope of escaping the coming wrath. The Fearsome Menagerie¡¯s forces were selective in their assault as well. After all, most of those involved were their people. It was only a particular grouping of sects they had enmity with. Their new weapon did demonstrate its prior effectiveness¡­ even more than before. A single shot scattered something through ships in a particular region, and many of them began to fall out of the skies without any direct damage to their systems. It was the first time Varghese had felt the weapon, and he felt something resonate within him. That confirmed the connection to Zunrose, at least. The star within him trembled for the spirits of the dead. It didn¡¯t exactly have feelings, but it still reacted to the great power of the shared event that had caused the original star to artificially go supernova, consuming the planet- except for perhaps the worldheart. And seemingly, a myriad of vengeful souls. It was good that they might achieve their revenge. And Varghese very much hoped that said weapon could not be turned against them in the future. Even if the Lower Realms Alliance wasn¡¯t the cause, the people of the Zunrose might have resentment towards them regardless. Chapter 908 The forces defending Rotaire might have been sufficient to hold off for some time against either of the two threats present, but against both they could barely handle it. A significant portion of the Trigold Cluster¡¯s total forces in the lower realms joined with the Fearsome Menagerie after the ill-advised destruction of Zunrose, and the losses throughout the war had been too much for the Void Scrying Sect and their major allies. Not that anyone held any pity for them, as they had brought everything upon themselves. Nor had they shown any remorse, instead doubling down on their ruthless methods. The majority of their assaults on other planets had been aimed at causing the most loss of life possible without regard for whether or not those involved were combatants in many forms. Plagues were their bread and butter, and the destabilization of stars was not a one-time effort. Fortunately, they hadn¡¯t been successful with subsequent attempts to destroy stars, but they only continued to escalate even as they continued to lose. If they were not tightly confined to their defensive formations, it was expected that they would try similar tactics again. The alliance had done their best to rule out weapons of a similar caliber, but they couldn''t be certain they got them all. ----- Technically, just because the Son of the Queen had a different title, it didn¡¯t mean his rank had officially changed from private. Then again, the only thing that really mattered was how people responded, and he had a good company assigned to him. Loyal and steadfast, as well as effective. Yet despite his best efforts, they had suffered losses. Perhaps his leadership was imperfect. Perhaps their mission was impossible to complete flawlessly. Either way, he constantly studied the past to help inform the future. Not that he intended to wallow in deaths. No, they still had more to do. It had been difficult, surviving on the planet when there was a manhunt out for them. They¡¯d learned of many active methods to seek them out, usually when it was already being used against them. But Rotaire¡¯s defenses were imperfect. There were too many holes that they could slip through, both literal and figurative. Poisoned food was left in locations far too obvious for thinking individuals to consume. However, they had fallen for tainted stores that had seemed safe. Only once, and fortunately they at least had checked with a small portion of their members instead of consuming greedily. The Son of the Queen had been filled with foolish thoughts of rearranging the food stores to catch humans unaware, but most likely they would only poison a single one at most for a huge expenditure of effort. Moving things was difficult. Aside from securing food and shelter, however, the void ants had other goals. Mere survival was one of their plans, but they had done their best to gather more information. They were able to transmit several more sets of data off planet in the last few months, though each time they suffered further losses. Now, explosions rang out in the sky. The time for their retrieval had come. Not that such was the point of the assault. And they were not finished with their work, either. ¡°We can only reach one target in the time we have available,¡± he explained. ¡°Our mobility isn¡¯t sufficient to achieve more, and the timing caught us unprepared. But given the information we have, we can target either the air defenses, protective formations, or the vaults. If our numbers were full, perhaps we could manage all three¡­ but I would not risk splitting us now.¡± The other void ants paid close attention. They were good at that. Perhaps he should have been better at it himself, as his uniqueness hadn¡¯t necessarily resulted in more efficiency. The Great Queen had seen something in him, and he could only hope to live up to those expectations. ¡°My own estimations cannot determine the best approach. And such, we will have to rely on our larger instincts.¡± This was something they had done several times before. They would split into groups based on what each individual thought- and then each would support the majority. It seemed chaotic and random from the outside, but in truth there was something reliable about it. There were many details that people could notice subconsciously, and they¡¯d had good success before. That said, they only used such a method when there was no clearly superior goal. Perhaps that was a weakness in him as a leader, but relying on his people never felt wrong. The majority of the group indicated that they should assault the defensive formations- and with there being three options, that was by far the largest group. The Son of the Queen thought he might have been leaning that way as well, but he couldn¡¯t quite say why. Perhaps he simply considered that their own forces- mainly humans- could adequately defend themselves. Meanwhile, barrier formations were a bit more efficient. In truth, their efforts might not affect the scope of the assault much. It was one small sect in one small region of the planet. They were not going to take down the formations of the main grounds of the Twin Soul Sect or the Void Scrying Sect. It was the second smallest branch of the Poisonous Gold Sect they¡¯d passed by. But it was something, and they hadn¡¯t exactly been able to receive communications warning them of when the assault was incoming. Following the flow of natural energy was trivial for void ants, and unlike their last few harried months, the void ants weren¡¯t the first thing on the mind of local sects. For one thing, they¡¯d done their best to stay hidden so that their location wasn¡¯t revealed, and for another they really weren¡¯t the big threat when compared to Assimilation cultivators up in the sky. They chewed their way through simple barriers, the density of which stopped even void ants for a moment. They weren¡¯t completely immune to the effects of natural energy, after all, it simply took impractically large amounts to damage them as either individuals or groups. And humans had to know how to do it, since some methods were better than others. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Obviously they could interact with natural energy, so when it was formed into dense barriers it still mattered a little. But they chewed a hole through, keeping the edges from recovering with their bodies as they poured through. Then those holding the barrier in shape were pulled through, letting the fist sized hole seal behind them. With attacks raining from above, a small expenditure of energy such as that couldn¡¯t be noticed. Nor would typical traps for void ants be active, unless they were completely separate. They still kept an eye out, as they moved together as one along the ground. A dozen cultivators were manning the formations, intentionally channeling their powers to boost the efficacy of the barriers. One of them was more important than the others, but it wasn¡¯t the one in the center. Oh, that was probably the branch head and his role in the formation mattered, but there was actually a weaker link channeling energy in a particular direction. A weak link that was, ironically, the one best at formations in the group. Because if the man fell, the rest would be more greatly burdened. Not that they planned for any of these humans to live long. They rushed forward along the ceiling. As it made little difference for their own movements, that path was less likely to get them noticed. It wasn¡¯t as fast as rolling along as a group, but that required being on the ground. They dropped as one onto the man¡¯s head, draping over his body and attacking as a swarm. Yet they didn¡¯t remain in place, knowing how humans reacted. When the man clawed at his face, they dropped down to his chest, back, and shoulders. Their mandible bit into the man, disrupting his own energy flow to cause greater damage than the size of their bodies could cause alone. Several hundred small wounds became something much greater, and the natural energy the man was channeling for the formation tore him apart. Obviously the other humans noticed, both the man¡¯s cries of alarm and the way their formation began to destabilize. But the void ants only spent a single moment reorganizing into several small mobile groups, tumbling towards the sect head in the middle. With the formation expert gone, the larger power of the sect head was the next most important target. He seemed to be almost ready to fight void ants, attempting to stomp them with his foot. But unfortunately for him, he relied too much on natural energy and not a nice flat sole. Some of them were crushed, but many were not as they fit into the curves and pockmarks of the leather. And from there, they were crawling over his ankles and up his legs. Humans were not good at fighting void ants, especially when panicking. The other humans launched energy attacks towards their sect head- only a single round, but that threw him off enough for the void ants to reach optimal offensive locations. The man tumbled to the ground moments later as his body weakened, and his natural energy couldn¡¯t plug the gap. It only took another moment for the formation to crack upon the sudden backlash as it went from careful control to chaos. And less than a few seconds later the incoming fleets began to bombard the sect. That included both the anti ship weapons they had pointed at the sky, and the core of the formation. The Son of the Queen signaled the retreat with strong pheromones. A burst of energy might do nothing to them, but if it toppled a wall onto them they could be crushed quite easily. They retreated to the corners of the room, looking for the most structurally sound positions- or those that had already collapsed, sneaking in among cracks to take shelter. Another successful mission¡­ but once again with too many losses. He should have done better¡­ somehow. ----- Devon and Varghese were part of the assault on the main Twin Soul Sect grounds. Everything was going smoothly until a certain point, when suddenly they felt a massive burst of energy. It was far away- enough that it had no chance of harming them. Indeed, it was probably a quarter of a planet away. Even so, it drew their attention. ¡°What was that?¡± Devon asked into his comm. Nobody needed to ask which thing he and many others were asking about, and a moment later a report came from ships above. ¡°The Void Scrying Sect¡¯s grounds, and dozens of kilometers around it, have been leveled in a single explosion. Initial reports indicate it was a combination of the worldheart cannon and some sort of defensive countermeasure. Fearsome Menagerie forces have also suffered significant losses.¡± Varghese sighed. ¡°We¡¯ve come this far and they¡¯re still blowing things up. I¡¯m kind of surprised, honestly, but perhaps they thought the Fearsome Menagerie would make their capture worse than death.¡± ¡°They probably would,¡± Devon agreed. ¡°So, what do we expect them to do here?¡± ¡°They¡¯re Twin Soul Sect so¡­ something equally suicidal, but carefully orchestrated to not damage their souls.¡± Varghese shrugged. ¡°No idea what that might be.¡± ¡°Sounds about right. I think we should pre-empt them.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Varghese asked. Rather than immediately explaining, Devon stretched out his arms- one of which Varghese felt calling to his magnetism. Chains spread out throughout the area, creating a dome. ¡°I¡¯ll contain any side effects- and escaping souls. You just need to cause as much damage as you can as quickly as possible.¡± ¡°I appreciate your confidence, but I can¡¯t take out an entire sect all at once.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll also be providing a boost to your energy.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Varghese certainly had no compunctions with trying. This was the Twin Soul Sect, after all. With Devon containing the destruction, it wouldn¡¯t harm any nearby innocents either. As for what he could do¡­ well, anything was better than waiting to see the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s choice. He began drawing upon the local star as quickly as possible, ready to channel that power into something a bit more reckless than he was used to. Chapter 909 While the overall power output of a star was quite predictable, on a smaller scale it could be quite chaotic, with some solar flares being significantly hotter than the star as a whole. That was the sort of power Varghese needed, as waiting around to see what sort of response the Twin Soul Sect had was not on his list of things he wanted to experience¡­ ever. Whatever had happened on the other side of the planet was already quite extreme, and that was the Void Scrying Sect at the helm. The Twin Soul Sect was even less afraid to perish, and they might know some rather unpleasant methods to kill people. So Varghese drew upon all the power he could, extending it towards the Twin Soul Sect and their buildings. His energy was also supplemented by Devon, who was on the verge of reaching the Enrichment stage. They were not the only two involved in the attack, but Varghese¡¯s focus narrowed to the point he could barely even discern the energy of the enemies hiding in their sect. He pushed through their barriers, a tiny point of energy expanding and growing. It contained only the heat of the tiniest portion of a star, but Varghese still wouldn¡¯t have unleashed it on a planet within the atmosphere without some sort of assurance it wouldn¡¯t cause a chain reaction. His assurance in this case was the cage Devon had created around the area combined with his own control. In truth, Varghese didn¡¯t have the ability to draw upon enough of a star¡¯s power to reach its full power even in a tiny point, but the cage provided its own sort of amplification in that regard, trapping the heat within the area. Light flared, making it impossible to see the sect with the brightness of the flames, but Varghese¡¯s senses told him that the whole area was aflame, burning away or melting stones like candles. All of the local Life Transformation cultivators were joined together, resisting the assault- but their combined efforts only lasted for a few moments. A few moments later, the only energy Varghese could detect came from himself and his allies. A moment after that, his assault began to taper off, though not because he chose for it to happen. He was simply running out of his energy, having drawn from his stores far more rapidly than they were replenishing. When he finally let go, he stood unsteadily on his feet. The light faded, but much of the heat remained. Even through the cage Devon had around it, he could feel the heat leaking out- though perhaps that was on purpose. After all, if it couldn¡¯t go anywhere it wouldn¡¯t suddenly cease to exist. Releasing it all at once would be problematic for the nearby area, as even a small portion of that energy could kill weaker individuals in nearby populated areas. Varghese thought that perhaps he had gone too far¡­ but it wasn¡¯t as if he¡¯d acted rashly or alone. Decisive action was necessary when dealing with the Twin Soul Sect. He could feel them, vaguely, trapped in the cage that Devon had created. Their souls, of course. If the Twin Soul Sect acted as they did because they always believed they could get away with anything without consequences, they would provide them the most real consequences they could. It would also mean less information getting back to the upper realms, though it wasn¡¯t as if they were unaware of the whole war. Indeed, the upper realms had been relatively involved with their problematic additions to the armaments of their lower realms brethren. Or perhaps test subjects. ----- Within the course of a few days, the assault on Rotaire was finished, with a clear dividing line splitting the planet more or less in half between the other Trigold Cluster faction on one side and the Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance on the other. Tensions were high, because even as their campaign had completed, nobody was quite sure if the war was over¡­ or simply on hold for the moment while both sides assessed their options. The Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance were split on what to do, not directly between their respective groups but instead based on individual thoughts. The Fearsome Menagerie and their allies weren¡¯t particularly less responsible for the conquests in the lower realms than the rest had been. They simply hadn¡¯t been involved in the most recent atrocities, which was hardly a great selling point. On the other hand, there was some hope that seeing what the upper realms would do to them that they might change. What actually happened depended in large part on the remains of the Trigold Cluster¡¯s population. That is, except those from the third and significantly smaller faction that seemed to have never been treated as a true part of the Trigold Cluster at all. They had been more willing to engage in proper diplomacy, though some would argue that the other faction being more cautious in that regard was quite reasonable. ----- Rotaire actually provided a unique opportunity. With split occupation, it was the closest to a neutral zone that they had ever had. And there was also no time lag for remote communications, which was quite problematic for proper diplomacy. The only question was whether or not the Fearsome Menagerie would engage with their attempts, but that was only a concern for a very short time. At that point, the course of the future left the hands of people like Devon and Varghese, and instead was guided by those who had chosen to focus on things other than martial power. Though nothing stopped people from having both martial ability and training in other areas. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The initial back and forth exchanges didn¡¯t indicate whether or not the other side wanted a lasting peace, but it at least showed that they were equally fatigued, and wanted to take a break from the constant fighting. Or perhaps they wanted to catch people off guard with a sudden assault- that was something that had to be considered. Then again, judging the sincerity of their negotiation counterparts was an important part of their diplomat¡¯s responsibilities, and like any professional trust had to be placed in them. Even if there was a peace treaty drawn up, they weren¡¯t suddenly going to withdraw all their forces in the region. That could easily result in destabilized planets- causing more trouble than their occupation already did. However, they also didn¡¯t have any intention to keep control of the planets forever, so long as they could assure that the influence of the upper realms would be gone. With the war lasting several decades, even if there was no further conflict the aftereffects of the war would most likely last at least that long. In some regards it had been a swift resolution to a conflict with a new group that spanned many systems, and in others it had dragged on too long. Both sides had lost many people. The Trigold Cluster had taken the most losses, though aside from their highest ranking members the vast majority of deaths were at their own hands due to the complete destruction of Zunrose. That was an event that would be difficult to forget. A vast number of lives gone all at once, not even a matter of last ditch desperation but some form of human greed. The full story would likely never be revealed, as much of it had previously lived on inside the minds of cultivators now slain, but the records they had that spoke of the project indicated the worldheart was a secondary objective. Its main purpose was to rile up their people against the ¡®invaders¡¯, a plan that greatly backfired when curious individuals learned the truth- including powerful factions like the Fearsome Menagerie that had been left out of the loop. In addition, though so far they hadn¡¯t found any indication of what they planned to do with it, the intent had been to obtain a starheart for something. In that manner, Varghese¡¯s initial binding of Zunrose¡¯s star might have drastically shifted the course of the war. That failure appeared to be responsible for some of their other reckless and high cost tactics. There was no indication if the assault on Egnos¡¯ star was intended to produce a starheart or simply wipe out the occupied system- and through connected resonance, others Varghese was bound to. Very little was written down in clear words, most likely because if that was the case it could be found and used against them by their detractors¡­ other factions that wouldn¡¯t appreciate their lives being thrown away for nothing. When it could be said that everyone died at the hands of foreign invaders, everything seemed believable- but there was only so much that the spread of true information could be controlled in a population of tens of billions, perhaps surpassing a hundred billion throughout all of their core worlds. ----- The relief within Anton when he heard the war was over, even if just for the moment, was significant. He knew that war was not something easy to avoid, but he kind of hoped they would have been able to last until the end of the cycle and the next invasions. He didn¡¯t find that war ever ended up as a net positive. Whatever strength people gained through experience would be offset by the loss of life, in Anton¡¯s opinion. And there were plenty of ways to train necessary combat skills without actual war. Anton would have liked to bury himself in soil, digging in the dirt and planting seeds on every planet that would take him. But he still had a role to fulfill. Just because the war was over didn¡¯t mean dangerous munitions weren¡¯t still entering the lower realms on their decades long time lag. Whether or not the remaining faction was connected to any of that, they didn¡¯t want any of it to fall into their hands. Thus, Anton imagined he would spend the next few decades binding stars in the area, improving his dominion over the area. He wasn¡¯t the only one responsible for that area of space now, and indeed their alliance was setting up proper long term bases in different systems where they could monitor anything that passed through, but that project would take time and he was available immediately. Every time he thought about it, Anton sighed at the massive wealth of the upper realms- and how mishandled it all was. If they spent the same amount of effort improving the quality of their citizen¡¯s lives instead of developing superweapons, how prosperous would the Trigold Cluster be? It wouldn¡¯t necessarily make them any weaker, either. In addition, if they had simply settled worlds in the lower realms that were previously unoccupied- and the ability to terraform worlds to suit their survival needs was well within their capabilities- he would not have begrudged them obtaining resources from the lower realms. Their own connections to the upper realms and the Scarlet Alliance had taught them the importance of ¡®lower¡¯ energy in the early cultivation of people in the upper realms, and how it could shape their future strength. If the great power of the upper realms had been angled to produce more of that, Anton wouldn¡¯t have even been terribly upset if they extracted a bit recklessly. Obviously he didn¡¯t like the idea of completely dismantling planets for their resources- something the Trigold Cluster apparently did- but that was far better than stealing them from others as if human lives were worth less than livestock. Far less than livestock, because a good rancher wouldn¡¯t kill livestock for nothing. They might kill a cow for its meat, but if they wanted its milk they could get that in other ways. The Trigold Cluster, however, more or less killed cows for their milk, not even putting in the effort to get anything in other ways. They might happen to also eat the meat at the same time, but their practices were anything but sustainable. The only thing that let them continue was how truly vast galaxies were, even the small slice that all of the known population lived in. Chapter 910 It was surprising for the Son of the Queen to find himself still alive. At least getting off of Rotaire had been easy enough once the planet had been taken over, as they merely had to find their nearest allies. Humans were very useful for moving far. The war was over¡­ officially. However, that didn¡¯t mean people like himself could rest. He wasn¡¯t going to be spying on their new planetary neighbors, not yet at least. But just because there were no major planets under control of these particular factions didn¡¯t mean they were completely gone. Obviously humans were best equipped to find enemy bases and the like, and they could deal with those easily enough as they scoured the surrounding systems. But they had allies or at least potential allies still in a difficult situation. The faction that been the first ready to resist the insanity of the Void Scrying Sect and Twin Soul Sect mostly controlled smaller, less populated planets. And it was those planets that most likely still had Twin Soul Sect members hiding among them. The Shimmering Spears had heard of spies among them, and perhaps they had managed to remove all of the problematic intruders¡­ but void ants could help quite a bit. All they had to do was take a little nibble of everyone¡¯s energy, and they would know for certain who was tainted with the cultivation of a foul sect. Unlike his previous mission, this was a joint effort between humans and void ants, so extraction would be much simpler. The only issue was that most of the local humans weren¡¯t supposed to know they were there. That was because the Twin Soul Sect might choose to hide away if they thought void ants might be coming for them. Also the part where people were afraid of the void ants. Which was silly, because the only threat void ants posed was potentially killing people, and humans did that to each other all the time. But humans were silly like that, so he didn¡¯t worry himself about it too much. ----- It was weird to think how fast human ships were. Obviously they were blindingly fast when traveling around a planet, but between planets or especially between systems? The Son of the Queen couldn¡¯t comprehend it. A ship might go between planets in the time it took him to walk from the bridge to its storage at the back- though there weren¡¯t many particularly large ships that were also fast. The point was that it didn¡¯t take long, but it was long enough that void ants got restless just standing around. Humans too, but humans were better at relaxation. Ultimately, the void ants filled the time by mixing among each other, not even really socializing but just meeting each other to recognize later. The Son of the Queen passed a particular other without much thought. He wasn¡¯t dismissive of this other ant, but she would not be giving him orders nor would he be receiving any from her. Thus, with her place in the power structure irrelevant, so was she as a whole. The same with most void ants, and they would think the same of him. But something stopped him. She was small, as warriors went. Yet she exuded authority and confidence. The Son of the Queen himself had not been a particularly large void ant before, and now he still wasn¡¯t as big as the royal guard. ¡°Who was that?¡± he asked one of the others. They didn¡¯t know, so he asked more until he found one with an answer. ¡°Sergeant,¡± she replied. Oh. So not that important then. Wait. ¡°You mean the Sergeant?¡± he replied. ¡°Yes,¡± the other ant agreed. ¡°Many commendations from Eckit.¡± She really was small. The Sergeant was older than him, and he still outsized her somehow. Though the Son of the Queen heard about her taking down a commander a while back, and she would likely be stronger now, even if she was not particularly bigger. The Sergeant was another anomaly, like him. A unique individual, and one of those that inspired in him thoughts that it was even possible. Perhaps he might have still developed down his strange path of survival even without that, but he couldn¡¯t be certain. She was a hero. He wanted to meet her, but she was already gone¡­ and besides, she might not be interested. Most likely they would be split up upon landing, but he could hope for another chance. Following her simply didn¡¯t seem right¡­ but he would keep his eyes and sense of smell active. ----- With the issues in the lower realms settled for the moment, the Scarlet Alliance breathed a collective sigh of relief. Perhaps their connection would be revealed someday, and they were doing their best to prepare for an assault by either of the great powers surrounding them, but they weren¡¯t ready yet. Other than secondary risk from the war with the Trigold Cluster, they had one more point of connection to deal with- tuning their ascension receiving platforms to include members of the Shining Cooperative. There were very few who had made such a choice, most who were capable opting for Assimilation, but some were glad to take a chance to visit the upper realms. Most likely, they were there as something akin to scouts. The Shining Cooperative would want to determine whether they were legitimate, since their previous understanding of the upper realms had only been through the lens of invaders. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. And while they weren¡¯t entirely incorrect to apply that knowledge to the whole of the upper realms, it wasn¡¯t right either. The Scarlet Alliance spoke to that fact, both its current members and the ability for it to even be formed in the first place. Ceretos, Rutera, and Weos did form part of their core, but members of the Dark Ring and the One Thousand Palm Sect were native to the upper realms. The latter was a more recent addition, but the Scarlet Alliance was made to grow. Some of their members had pipe dreams of them becoming a massive monolith like the Trigold Cluster or Exalted Quadrant, but even if they someday reached their size they would be quite different. They were based on a harmony with the lower realms rather than conflict or exploitation. It was working quite well for the moment, but eventually their growth would taper off. Perhaps exploiting the lower realms might be tempting then, but if they ever broke that trust their long term prospects would be ruined. Not that their core members would let anything like that happen to begin with. Though most people didn¡¯t want to admit it, Catarina controlled the vast majority of their formations on the core world of Xankeshan, and was at least in part responsible for the construction of many more on their other worlds. Their boundaries were slowly expanding, brought about in some part by natural growth and in addition by various worlds requesting to join. And everyone was allowed to join, as long as they agreed to follow certain universal laws that prevented things like slavery and restricted intersect conflicts. There were also necessary contributions of materials, though most of those directly went to build formations and otherwise benefit their own planets. Obviously the exact rules for a group spanning many systems were complex, though they did their best to make them straightforward. They had no interest in growing into some sort of byzantine mass of restrictions nobody could figure out. They just wanted a functioning society, and they had many experts at work doing their best to create a system that worked as smoothly as possible. All the while, they continued to prepare for war, doing their best to strengthen their systems from the ground up so that they would be ready when the time came. ----- Chidi had grown quite used to having a handful of void ants riding around on him at all times. However, he could only stay with them for so long before he had to attend to other matters. Now that he had developed methods to pick them out better, he didn¡¯t find them so disconcerting. Most people could just see them, but he had to use his energy senses to search for nothing. As for understanding the ants as an intelligent species, he didn¡¯t have trouble with that. After all, some of his earliest acquaintances and his current best friend were wolves. The potential for them to bite through his energy defenses didn¡¯t bother him as much as it might others, since he¡¯d probably gotten too used to placing his hands in between sharp teeth. Though in his defense, the first time he hadn¡¯t known that what he was feeling was Spike¡¯s mouth. That was why he was feeling it, after all. Chidi couldn¡¯t sense the movements of void ants very well¡­ except in very particular circumstances. Those circumstances being when they used sword related insights to attack with their mandibles. If Crossed Antennae had been hoping for a battalion of trained warriors, she was hiding her disappointment well. As it turned out, most void ants weren¡¯t weird enough to want to try sword techniques, nor crazy enough to want to learn how to use poisons. As a group, they had taken in quite a bit of Aconite¡¯s knowledge about poisons, but mostly for the sake of colony avoidance. Only a few very ambitious ones were learning to carry small packs of extremely condensed toxins. Still, Chidi and Aconite had a handful of disciples each. Just because it was out of the rapidly growing population of void ants on their few planets didn¡¯t mean that the disciples weren¡¯t still valuable as individuals. The only weird part was that they didn¡¯t have or want names. So any names Chidi had for them were personal nicknames to differentiate them with Aconite. Snips and Chops were probably the best of the bunch. The others had certainly grown stronger in their own way, but Snips had cut a branch as thick as Chidi¡¯s finger in half. Pretty impressive since her mandibles couldn¡¯t even fit around something that size. Also dangerous for anyone who got in her way. Chops was no less amazing in her own way, having carved a line in a stone with a single attack as long as Chidi¡¯s palm. Given their relative sizes, Chidi thought it wouldn¡¯t be long before they were doing the equivalent of cutting mountains in half. Assuming their growth continued, which might be difficult as they couldn¡¯t use energy. Only insights about cutting and the sharpness of their own tiny mandibles. Then again, they might also simply grow larger and maintain proportionately scaled attacks. If that was the case, if they could manage to get to even half of the size of the Great Queen then Chidi feared for their enemies'' necks. Was it ultimately valuable for the colony? That he was uncertain of. A few hundred traditional void ants would probably be a better combat force in the long run. Several standout individuals would hardly sway things either way, given the population explosions the void ants were experiencing. But Chidi learned something. And Aconite as well. Not about negating energy, unfortunately, but trying to teach those quite different from themselves let them learn more about their own abilities. Chikere would doubtless be proud of him for making sharp ants. She had an indirect disciple in the lower realms that used a sword, and she was quite proud of that. As for Aconites disciples, the best two she had named after two sorts of mundane ants that used venom. One was Bullet, the other Fire. Chidi didn¡¯t quite understand how their particular specialties differed. All he knew was that together they carried tiny packets of extreme danger on each other¡¯s backs, and they could bite deep enough to reach a person¡¯s bloodstream directly. Like all void ants, the actual danger of the tiny disciples was not that they could kill someone, but that they could kill anyone. With the potential exception of Augmentation and Domination cultivators, they would likely be equally deadly- and there was no saying that they couldn¡¯t take out the most powerful cultivators. It was just that the stronger a cultivator was, the more likely they had some sort of countermeasure¡­ or simply being fast enough was a solution. Cultivators didn¡¯t need to augment their damage against void ants, merely the speed. So even if a void ant might negate the extra impact force of an attack, they could still just be squashed normally as a palm nearly instantly reached them. Still, Chidi could imagine them taking out some Integration cultivation cultivators by surprise, which would be a huge boon. Preferably ones who were planning to go to the lower realms and invade. That was what the colonies were all for, after all. Chapter 911 As Anton grew more familiar with the area around Naewu, he found that his time to bind to additional stars was much reduced. Instead of taking two or three years, he managed to do the same in one or two for the rest. In total, he bound a formation of seven stars covering the vast majority of the cross sectional area that he had been guarding. Along with the others, Anton managed to continue to snag the various ¡®deliveries¡¯. Even though there didn¡¯t seem to be anyone the shipments were for, they didn¡¯t want them to end up in the hands of the remaining portion of Trigold Cluster individuals in the lower realms. It might give them problematic ideas. More than that, studying everything they found was turning out to be quite useful. It had taken a couple decades to really get the research going, but they had discovered the mechanisms through which stars were being destabilized. This was mainly from salvaging the ships that assaulted Naewu and Egnos, though they did catch two shipments of components meant to be added to yet further ships. One of the facets involved injecting ascension energy into stars from the lower realms. Since the energies were incompatible, the ascension or ¡®upper¡¯ energy breaking down disrupted local stars. There was more to it than that, including weapons formations to augment their efforts, but that was the basis of everything. There were similar techniques meant for destabilizing planets, intentionally disturbing tectonic activities and the like. With planetary barriers already in place, such weapons hadn¡¯t had a chance to be used against them. They did perform a single test on a remote planet not suitable for life, and the results were quite a bit less spectacular than the destruction of a star. As a whole, the planet actually remained intact- the catch being it was held together only by gravitational forces as it split and cracked. The result was ultimately extreme earthquakes over its entire surface. Catastrophic enough to kill the majority of the population of both humans and animals, including potential sea life, but not as extreme as the results with Zunrose¡¯s star. Then again, the free energy contained within a planet was significantly less than a star, so even a chain reaction only spread so much. It was still terrible, of course. The Lower Realms Alliance carefully dismantled the weapons responsible, keeping the information about how they could be made secret. Nor did they reveal the information about various doomsday weapons to the general populace as it could only cause panic. Simply acknowledging their existence was enough, and that they were developing countermeasures to prevent anything like what happened to Zunrose within their own systems. After some time, Anton came to the conclusion that the Trigold Cluster had to know that most of the weapons were inefficient. While there might be some practical if horrific reasoning in destroying a star- specifically because they might be less well defended than populated planets- the tectonic destabilizers required a large enough fleet that they could most likely conquer most planets normally. Especially since they would have to have broken through all barriers around a majority of the planet to even begin, and it wasn¡¯t a quick process. It was possible that the upper realms didn¡¯t actually know if everything they sent even worked. There had been some implications that they were using the lower realms for experimentation. And unfortunately, they had likely received successful news about one of the worst successes. As for the various biological and chemical weapons, those were studied as well for counter methods. Obviously the best defense was to never let them be deployed, but some only required a very small payload to make it down to a planet to cause huge amounts of destruction. Especially anything that was able to grow and reproduce, though those either tended to take longer to cause damage or were extremely obvious, both of which provided opportunities to fend them off. On the subject of reverse-engineering functionality, access to multiple planets of formations and especially communications arrays allowed for an in depth study of the capabilities of the Trigold Cluster, or at least what they specifically shared with the lower realms. Along with that was a project intended to capture transmissions, especially those directed at the upper realms. There was no certainty that the Fearsome Menagerie and the rest of the faction on the winning side of the civil war wouldn¡¯t be looking for some way to get a dangerous advantage despite the ceasefire. The basic understanding of their disapproval of Zunrose¡¯s destruction was that it harmed their own people, not some sort of moral stance against destroying stars and killing billions. Though perhaps better diplomacy might clarify some of those details. ----- Over the course of approximately a decade, the number of packages passing through the cordoned off area began to decrease, eventually stopping entirely- most likely they stopped being sent when it was clear they were being intercepted. It was just that the particular methods were on a very long time lag, so they couldn¡¯t suddenly retrieve what was already out there. There wasn¡¯t any indication that the remaining faction had arranged for more aid from the upper realms, but they still wanted to guard the area for some time. At the very least, it would force them to range much further afield- at least fifty or so lightyears beyond their borders- if they tried to have something redirected elsewhere. Though personally, Anton wouldn¡¯t have expected them to trust anyone in the upper realms at the moment, regardless of which sect they were from. Though on the other hand, Anton could kind of hope that the Fearsome Menagerie and the sects associated with them here in the lower realms were having a scuffle with the Twin Soul Sect and Void Scrying Sect in the upper realms. Having them killing each other would save quite a few lives in the lower realms. Sadly, very little information came out of their territory. Even the best spies in the Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t learn much about the internal situation- though one would have expected something like a true civil war in their territory being quite a bit more obvious. Most likely, if they even cared about their lower realms counterparts, the Fearsome Menagerie flipped some tables or yelled at some people. Maybe killed a couple others. Still, Anton could always hope that the slowness of old cultivator factions simply meant that the true conflict was building up. He could hope, but he didn¡¯t really expect it. Instead, it was more important to prepare for the worst case scenario, which was them working even more closely together to amp up their future invasions of the lower realms. Anton found it hard to believe they would accept their scheme being ruined by¡­ whatever they called people from the lower realms. Filthy peasants, maybe. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ----- ¡°Okay so this next plan-¡± Catarina began to explain to Timothy. ¡°How many people could it kill?¡± ¡°Well¡­ the chances of it functioning to the point it could cause damage and not fully functioning is quite low.¡± Timothy just looked at her. ¡°A small fraction of a percent.¡± Timothy raised an eyebrow. ¡°... And if it did fail in the worst way it might kill¡­ well, statistically¡­ billions.¡± ¡°A fraction of a percent of killing billions is still probably millions of deaths.¡± Catarina scratched the back of her head, ¡°Well, actually, I was already counting the low chance. Because uh¡­ it would kill everyone.¡± Timothy sighed. ¡°Look, I wasn¡¯t actually going to do it! But if it works it¡¯s a plan that makes us almost completely uninvadable! See, we wouldn¡¯t have to rearrange our systems or set up multi-system defensive formations if we simply cut off the space around our region.¡± ¡°... And that would involve what?¡± Timothy asked. He had to at least let his wife explain her idea or she might explode. ¡°Well, you know, pretty high upfront expenses. And travel in and out of our space would require special drives. But I haven¡¯t even said the best part yet. If we remove the space of the Scarlet Midfields, you know what happens?¡± She pulled up an image of the local slice of the galaxy. ¡°Bam! Trigold Cluster and Exalted Quadrant are right next to each other. So even if they would eventually be able to slip individual ships into our sealed bubble, they would find it so much easier to attack and kill each other they¡¯d totally forget about us.¡± ¡°Mhmm, and how would that one particular failure state end up with all of us being killed?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Well, instead of cutting off space it might¡­ erase it?¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°But it almost certainly wouldn¡¯t happen that way!¡± ¡°I liked your other plan better¡­ and that¡¯s still not an endorsement. I still think moving hundreds or thousands of systems is uh¡­ impractical.¡± ¡°I was thinking we could combine the two,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t have to necessarily be a full dimensional cutoff, either. But if we simply distorted space somewhat, it would be much easier to go around us than to us. Which again effectively places the two threats on either side of us closer to each other than to us, reducing our border friction.¡± ¡°And what¡¯s the risk of a partial dimensional cutoff, or whatever I should call it?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°None at all,¡± Catarina said. ¡°The trade off being it¡¯s significantly less effective. We would still technically be directly in between the superpowers, it would just make it so that going around our occupied systems was a shorter distance than reaching our core worlds. Which still leaves outer worlds at risk. They¡¯re less populated, but¡­ they still have people, you know?¡± ¡°... And you¡¯d risk everyone for those people?¡± ¡°On paper the number of lives saved is many more than those lost,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Anyway, the partial option would push people towards the borders of our region, which would either result in them going ¡®above¡¯ or ¡®below¡¯ us. Or alternatively, along the border with the lower realms, which we wouldn¡¯t want to bring into prominence right now.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t it also push people more towards the inner border? Closer to the center of the galaxy? If the spherical distortion I¡¯m thinking of is correct, anyway.¡± ¡°Well, yeah, but that would bring people closer to the Everheart System. Nobody would go that way.¡± ¡°Pretty sure tens of thousands of fools do every year,¡± Timothy countered. ¡°And I might be underestimating that by a long shot.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just people from our alliance hoping to win it big. The Trigold Cluster has a bit more involvement since the direction is skewed towards them from the center, but the Exalted Quadrant sends a great number of people there as well.¡± ¡°... That¡¯s a lot of deaths.¡± ¡°Eh,¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°Even if tens of millions of people die, it¡¯s still less than the natural deaths of one planet. And like¡­ nearly half of those who go to the Everheart System survive.¡± ¡°I¡¯d assume it¡¯s a carefully calculated amount,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Same here,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But Everheart never likes to admit anything in plain language. Or communicate with me in particular unless it¡¯s entirely unrelated to formations.¡± ¡°He¡¯s still worried you¡¯ll surpass him?¡± Timothy shrugged, ¡°Well, I can see why.¡± ¡°More like the risk of that is too high for him. It might not be that much, realistically. And I¡¯m around five centuries and an insane amount of replicated projection experience behind.¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised you haven¡¯t done something like that yourself, honestly,¡± Timothy admitted. ¡°I mean, I¡¯m aware there are pitfalls but you¡¯ve seen the biggest risks and know how to counter them.¡± ¡°The problem is projections aren¡¯t really capable of true originality. So most of the experiences they produce will be hollow. I¡¯d prefer to spend the same amount of resources on larger experiments I can manage with my own hands. Well, and the hands of thousands of other real people tirelessly working out the minute details.¡± Timothy nodded. Honestly, he understood her wild and over the top plans. He was also worried about their future security. It was just that his methods involved training individual people to defend their alliance- large numbers of individuals, but still. Vast formations that could suddenly make them completely safe¡­ well, that wasn¡¯t his area of expertise. But in his opinion, it was like trying to build up a single Domination cultivator. No, perhaps that wouldn¡¯t even be a proper comparison. A single cultivator that surpassed even Domination. And that would take both more time and resources than they could have, if it was even possible. The same as some of these grand formations that Catarina went on about. But even if those particular things didn¡¯t happen, Timothy knew that it was still time well spent. She and the others would learn things. And just like he was probably never going to train himself or anyone else to beyond Domination, each step of the way was important to reach that theoretical realm. It wasn¡¯t like one could go directly from Body Tempering to Life Transformation, after all. Chapter 912 The embassy on Rotaire was as bare as buildings got, with not a trace of formations supporting it in any way. That was due to the cautiousness of the Trigold cultivators. But simple wasn¡¯t necessarily bad. The sect head representing the Fearsome Menagerie¡¯s interests looked over Aerona curiously. Varinia was a woman covered from head to toe in scars, despite her relative youth. Aerona returned the woman¡¯s gaze without flinching or breaking eye contact herself. ¡°I would have thought that the other representative with you would be paired with myself,¡± Varinia said. ¡°The archer.¡± ¡°Why should she be?¡± Aerona asked. ¡°Do we need to wrestle you into agreement? Because I can go get her.¡± ¡°You-¡± Varinia narrowed her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t understand your true intent.¡± Aerona tilted her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t intentionally hide anything in my speech,¡± Aerona said. ¡°What do you need clarification on?¡± ¡°Well, I know our purpose here was different, but now I need to understand something specific. You spoke as if you had encountered others that highly rated physical prowess.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Aerona nodded. She decided full transparency would be valuable. ¡°The Hardened Crown Sect, in fact.¡± ¡°Those stubborn fools?¡± Varinia raised an eyebrow. ¡°They actually came to the negotiating table?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± Aerona agreed. ¡°Though about half of their willingness was decided in the arena.¡± ¡°Against¡­ you?¡± ¡°No,¡± Aerona shook her head. ¡°And yet¡­ you didn¡¯t actually intend to call anyone else should I actually be interested in a martial demonstration.¡± ¡°Also correct,¡± Aerona acknowledged. ¡°Interesting confidence,¡± Varinia said. ¡°You certainly don¡¯t appear weak, yet neither would I judge your strength as a match for that other woman¡­ Nthanda, was it?¡± ¡°I would not go so far as to say I am a match for her,¡± Aerona clarified. ¡°But I am confident in my own strength.¡± A few moments of silence. ¡°Interesting. But I suppose we are here for a reason. You wish to know our plans for the future.¡± ¡°And you wish to know ours,¡± Aerona added. ¡°But your motives are still an enigma. You¡¯ve said so little we didn¡¯t even believe you would meet in person for a while.¡± Varinia held her back straight, ¡°And your people operated with such a ruthless efficiency we did not think you would stop after wiping out half of us. Why did you stop?¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we have?¡± Aerona asked. The other woman was clearly uncomfortable with Aerona¡¯s persistent gaze, and while in some circumstances Aerona would have adjusted her own actions for her negotiating partner¡¯s comfort, this wasn¡¯t the right one. ¡°At first, we thought you were simply taking time to replenish your forces, or needed to immediately withdraw them elsewhere for another war,¡± Varinia said. ¡°And yet, we find that your great warriors still dwell here, along with your mighty ships.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not exactly comfortable without, given our neighbors,¡± Aerona smiled. Varinia frowned. ¡°You are far from the strongest among your people, yet you are clearly not weak. As for the others¡­ what do you call them?¡± Aerona expected them to have heard at least that much through some means¡­ though perhaps the best spies were grouped among the other faction. ¡°The most common name is Assimilation. It is an alternative to ascension.¡± ¡°We were unaware of it,¡± Varinia admitted. ¡°You should have known,¡± Aerona said. ¡°How so?¡± Varinia asked. ¡°There was no such stage among us, and our first encounter was just recently.¡± Recency for cultivators was not quite the same as those with smaller lifespans. The war had begun upon contact and stretched for decades. ¡°Curious. We have some records to share with you from your former colleagues,¡± Aerona said. Specifically, they had very minimal information that ascension alternatives existed- presumably passed along from one of various sources to the upper realms and back. The Trigold Cluster could have taken note of early Assimilation cultivators as early as during the invasion following the short cycle of the Tides, or they could have learned as recently as the events on Vrelt where some partial information had been transmitted. ¡°Indeed. It appears they were keeping many things from us. Perhaps even to use against us.¡± Varinia closed her eyes for a few moments, pondering something internally. ¡°What do you know of the Fearsome Menagerie?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve had no prior contact myself,¡± Aerona admitted. ¡°But I have heard about their prowess in battle.¡± ¡°A pleasant way to say they were not strong enough, as your people seem to have been victorious,¡± Varinia said. ¡°Have you viewed a complete version of the Fearsome Menagerie¡¯s cultivation methods?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say that I have,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Only a brief overview for comparison, as it was not compatible with my own training.¡± ¡°Of the two of us, I would have assumed I had seen a more complete version,¡± Varinia began. ¡°Until I heard something. Quite roundabout. One of your cultivators met a member of the Shimmering Spears, and instantly recognized flaws in his style. Flaws the practitioner himself was not aware of.¡± ¡°I believe I know of who you speak,¡± Aerona nodded. ¡°Why did he not participate in the war?¡± Varinia asked. ¡°It would have concluded much more quickly, would it not have?¡± ¡°He did not wish to. Or perhaps some insight drove him away for some reason.¡± Varinia frowned. ¡°Another star cultivator. But much stronger than the one who dwells here¡­¡± She didn¡¯t seem to be asking for anything from Aerona, so Aerona simply waited for her to continue. ¡°To our understanding, this archer took out an entire fleet. Which was quite convenient for us, as it smoothed our path here.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°They did come to him,¡± Aerona added. ¡°But he didn¡¯t wish to.¡± ¡°That is perhaps more terrifying to me than a bloodthirsty warrior.¡± Varinia shifted. ¡°The star destroying weapons¡­ they were moving through the region to the north?¡± Aerona got the feeling she truly didn¡¯t know. The first acknowledgement. ¡°Yes, they were. They came from the upper realms at sublight speed, not carried on any ships.¡± ¡°I suppose that would do it. So many things we didn¡¯t know¡­ an entire planet lost, for nothing. Even those who fled were hunted down.¡± ¡°That¡­ was something we weren¡¯t certain of,¡± Varinia replied. ¡°You were able to confirm that?¡± ¡°A few broke past the blockade, though getting anyone to come out of hiding and speak was difficult, until we started winning. It only further solidified our convictions¡­ along with the hatred in the souls of Zunrose.¡± ¡°The souls¡­?¡± ¡°In the worldheart, of course. I don¡¯t know if it is truly souls or some other form of lingering will¡­ but I do know that the cannon has only just begun to settle down.¡± Aerona nodded slowly. ¡°So you did make a weapon of it. And the ammunition?¡± ¡°The same.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried about giving away information like that?¡± Aerona asked. ¡°We might find out that your new mighty weapon has limitations.¡± ¡°You were the one who asked,¡± Varinia folded her arms in front of her. ¡°But ultimately¡­ our reason for being here seems to overcome that. We don¡¯t trust you.¡± Aerona didn¡¯t immediately get why that was a good reason to give up that information, but she also didn¡¯t think Varinia could successfully lie to her. Either that or she was extremely good at it, but given Varinia¡¯s cultivation style Aerona doubted it. ¡°But we trust the upper realms even less, now. Clearly, they showed favoritism to the Void Scrying Sect and Twin Soul Sect. Even our ¡®own¡¯ sects have provided no adequate response to us.¡± Aerona nodded, waiting. Varinia seemed to be in a mood to speak, and interrupting her might lead to missing out on something. ¡°Our intention is to repay them in kind. If we are not truly part of them, they are not truly part of us. You can tell your people that, to ease their minds.¡± ¡°It certainly will,¡± Aerona said. ¡°I imagine you would know we are even less fond of them.¡± ¡°You might be wrong about that,¡± Varinia said. ¡°For you weren¡¯t betrayed by them.¡± ¡°The Twin Soul Sect and others have caused more than their fair share of trouble while posing as true allies.¡± ¡°Hmm. Perhaps you are right, there. Our betrayal was simply different.¡± Varinia shook her head. ¡°Regardless, we have no intention to continue their creeds. As for what we desire now, we wish all of our planets to be returned to our hands.¡± Aerona had some doubts whether they should be called their planets. But now was not the time to express that. ¡°It may be possible, but for us to withdraw we need something from you. Such as¡­ proof of eliminating all of the Twin Soul Sect spies from within your midst.¡± Varinia suddenly had a look of consternation. ¡°Of course there would be some. We thought¡­¡± She sighed. ¡°Can it even be done completely? Our counter methods stopped finding them even before my time but¡­ perhaps that was because they were already watching.¡± ¡°We know of ways to find and eliminate them. Multiple methods that have been working on the occupied planets, including this one.¡± ¡°I need you to prove to us that you have the ability.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Aerona said. ¡°We can find some for you, though we have eliminated most of those among our controlled area.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need such a test,¡± Varinia shook her head. ¡°You believe it can be done, which means it should be as reliable as your own confidence in yourself. And I have to admit I am not well suited to this situation. And so¡­¡± ¡°You wish to fight,¡± Aerona nodded. ¡°Very well. We only need to agree on the restrictions. And obviously it isn¡¯t much good for our negotiations if we fight to anything other than submission.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to make that guy over there angry,¡± Varinia said, looking far into the distance. ¡°But I would agree anyway. It is wasteful to kill those who are not your enemies.¡± ----- Aerona was quite aware of the transformations of the Fearsome Menagerie, having heard tales before. She had not even been alive in the time of the invasions, so she had not experienced it herself. But frankly, despite the fact that she was facing off against some sort of great cat three times her height with sharp quills instead of fur¡­ she didn¡¯t find it as intimidating and fighting Nthanda. And not just because Nthanda was beyond Life Transformation. The first thing she had to do was survey her opponent, picking out how she would move and fight. Those quills especially would be a problem if Aerona did not react properly. She had to admit, Varinia chose a good form for a submission match. Aerona almost regretted disallowing weapons¡­ but frankly, she wasn¡¯t that good with them. Varinia moved first, springing forward with the intent to topple Aerona onto her back. If she got caught under those massive paws, she would basically have to give up. Aerona¡¯s natural energy led one way¡­ while her body went the other. Varinia¡¯s trajectory through the air shifted towards Aerona¡¯s feint, causing the great cat to miss by about a meter. Aerona¡¯s hand snatched out next to her, grabbing onto one of the quills. Even though she gave it a solid yank, it didn¡¯t disconnect from the cat¡¯s form. It was sensible for a transformation ability. Controlling things beyond one¡¯s own body was much more difficult. However, every strength could also be a weakness. Claws swiped over her head, but Aerona continued to move, using her own body more than augmentation from her natural energy. She over and under exaggerated her movements, the flow of her natural energy not being her only strength. She couldn¡¯t say she was as powerful of a body temperer as Nthanda had been in Life Transformation, but Aerona had found that it was a valuable alternative for her. Aerona¡¯s energy cultivation was mostly meant for diplomatic measures, controlling her own thoughts and expressions. On occasion it involved deception, and other times that involved great displays of sincerity. Deception was not valuable as a long term negotiation tactic, as an agreement founded upon lies was hardly enforceable. At best, it would breed resentment. Aerona had thought herself peaceful, and she still considered herself that way- but she found that using the body to fight for fun was actually quite exhilarating. It had taken many months and years of training with Nthanda to reach that point instead of simple pain and frustration, but she had come around. That was how she smiled as the great cat pounced towards her. Certainly Varinia might crush her if she caught her, but that power was placed into too large of a form. That even gave her room to briefly dart under the belly of the spined cat form, before slipping around the outside of one of the rear legs as Varinia flopped on her belly to try to catch Aerona. Aerona then grabbed two of the spines. ¡°Surrender.¡± Obviously Varinia¡¯s next move was to attempt to roll over her, but the moment she began to twist she clearly regretted it, crying out. If she had been willing to commit to the attack she might have actually overcome Aerona¡­ but that was the point. Aerona looked for anything she could latch onto, either in combat or negotiations. And frankly, even if her gambit failed and she lost, she thought she would have proven herself well enough. Varinia tried to rotate a few other ways before determining Aerona¡¯s hold was not something she could escape. She tried to swipe, but that motion was also painful. So she began to shrink¡­ and Aerona moved with her resizing body, catching Varinia in another hold when she reached human size. ¡°Alright, fine, I surrender,¡± Varinia shrugged. Aerona smiled, then let go. ¡°That was a good one.¡± She displayed her ragged palms, and Varinia growned- Aerona had only acted as if her grip was inescapable, when it really wasn¡¯t. Aerona looked around, surprised Nthanda wasn¡¯t watching. Then she saw her friend hurrying over with a paper in her hands. ¡°I managed to secure a preliminary treaty!¡± Nthanda beamed. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know if it¡¯s good yet¡­ but it¡¯s a start. I never thought I could actually succeed at talking.¡± ¡°The opposite for me, I didn¡¯t think I could succeed at anything else,¡± Aerona shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing we tried, huh?¡± Chapter 913 After the first in person diplomatic sessions, it became clear that the winning side of the civil war no longer wished to be associated with the Trigold Clusters. That could only be a good thing for the rest of the lower realms, but it didn¡¯t suddenly make everyone friends. After all, they had still been fighting against these very same people before the destruction of Zunrose. Separating from the rest of the Trigold Cluster didn¡¯t suddenly make everything about them line up with the Shining Cooperative or Lower Realms Alliance. With the official declaration of separation came a name for the Fearsome Menagerie and their allied sects, the Adamant Federation. They held most of the northwestern systems in the region. Likewise, the other group which had rallied together the southeastern planets came to call themselves the Free Planet Guardians. Even if they had similar overarching ideas, the two factions were not in perfect alignment with each other. Beyond the division between the two groups there were smaller factions among the larger of the two, the Adamant Federation which carried more of the population and larger sects. Though it might seem like the two larger factions were otherwise quite similar, there were important differences especially from a diplomatic standpoint. One had been almost entirely uncommunicative during the war, while the other had taken the risk to open negotiations earlier from a position of weakness. Tor and the future Free Planet Guardians had taken the initiative to come to In¡¯istra along with a small group when it could have very easily cost all of them their lives. Even so, the war was over and peace would reign for at least a while. Any diplomatic progress was better than none, even if there were serious reservations about the Adamant Federation¡¯s operations. ----- The war had forced the Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance into acting as a greater whole temporarily, but as the echoes of war began to fade they drew back slightly. The war had drawn them closer together, as they fought alongside each other offensively and defensively. They had shared information and resources as well. Even so, they didn¡¯t operate under the same power structures, and they recoiled somewhat from the clash of cultures. They ultimately kept their borders open, within reason. The local systems around Poriza and In¡¯istra were the only parts of the Lower Realms Alliance actually close to the Shining Cooperative, but while the war had driven people away, it also brought others into the area. Now, many people were settling down in the region. The established systems along the long arm that Anton had inadvertently created when seeking out Azun had grown more robust, and shipments flowed more freely. While the war wasn¡¯t overall good for them, it had bolstered the economy of the trade routes. Now that the war was over, it was seen as a good investment opportunity. Furthermore, the Lower Realms Alliance decided to promote expansion into the region- both around In¡¯istra and Poriza, and the other systems along the way. They were still integrating Vrelt and Nidec on the western end of the alliance, though over the decades of war they had made great strides. Vrelt obviously had strong feelings about the Trigold Cluster considering their former occupation, and the people of Nidec weren¡¯t much different- including those that had been integrated from the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s sects. However, this was one of the points of contention with the Shining Cooperative. They were still unused to any positive interactions with anyone even vaguely associated with the upper realms. The vast majority of them were still hesitant about the Scarlet Alliance, though perhaps the few ascenders from within them would be able to put their minds at ease. They were given methods to remain in direct communication with those members who ascended, with a few restrictions. Then there was the matter of the void ants. Needless to say, the Shining Cooperative had understood their utility in the war, and also their danger. The void ants had been too valuable to keep out of the war, so they had been revealed without as much groundwork in place as the Lower Realms Alliance would have wished. Their hesitation was understandable, and a clever publicity campaign drove people towards uncertainty rather than towards their natural fear. The upper realms had tried to exterminate void ants, after all. Sure, they were dangerous¡­ but nobody wanted to be like the upper realms, did they? The Shining Cooperative certainly didn¡¯t. That was enough for them to not freak out too much, though they forbid void ants from entering any of their systems. It was hoped by the Alliance that they might grow used to them over time, seeing them within the Alliance¡¯s boundaries. Every planet they had colonies, they were visibly present in major cities. They had their own walkways so they could move around safely. Some were underground, but as many as possible were kept visible for the sake of reminding the human citizens who they lived alongside of their existence. Humans from the alliance frequently saw their utility not just as soldiers in war, but as workers for anything that had to happen on a small scale, especially around dangerous energy. It was hoped that the local attitudes would spread to the Shining Cooperative, given time. Obviously their few occupied planets in the former Trigold territory would have locals with a very different view of the void ants, though ultimately very few people experienced being on the wrong side of the battlefield from the void ants¡­ because most of them had ended up dead at the hands of the Alliance members, both large and small. ----- Things were just beginning to settle down when another major piece of news popped up. Fortunately, it was good news rather than ill. For those who were not paying much attention, it seemed like another petition to join the Lower Realms Alliance. Certainly a newsworthy event, as that didn¡¯t happen every year or even every decade. But the planet of Akrys wasn¡¯t just any planet. It was one that warranted the personal attention of Anton, for various reasons. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Are you certain you wish to join the Alliance?¡± Anton said. ¡°It will be a significant change to your planet, and it doesn¡¯t come with only benefits.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t be more certain,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°We voted on it. Even the tortoises. Do you know how long it takes to get those guys to do anything? Decades!¡± Three Squeaks paused. ¡°Some of them voted against joining, but overall most people voted to join. Even the weird fellows from the deeps.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°I¡¯m surprised about that.¡± ¡°They really liked those pressure based and geothermal cultivation techniques you supplied to the Akrys Alliance,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And you have more things like that, right?¡± ¡°We do,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But this isn¡¯t something that should be rushed into. This planetary unification is a big deal, but Akrys probably needs time to continue developing its own culture¡­¡± ¡°How long do you think it¡¯s been since you first showed up and saved my life?¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And the entire den, of course.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s see,¡± Anton furrowed his brow. ¡°I suppose it has been a while. You were barely in the beginnings of cultivation, and now you¡¯re close to the hundredth star¡­¡± Anton looked down at his tiniest disciple. At least tiniest in terms of direct disciples, because he was pretty sure he¡¯d sensed an entire division of woodlice practicing the One Hundred Stars when he was approaching. ¡°So I suppose it has been quite a while.¡± ¡°You said something about ¡®normal¡¯ human lifespans being a century,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And it¡¯s been that long. I finished my trip around the world decades ago, introducing everyone to intentional cultivation. Everyone is growing so quickly, using the principles you taught us. But¡­ we¡¯re nearing the limits of our understanding. We might be able to figure more things out with another few hundred years. But if we can instead work together with humans, it would be much better for us. And yes, I remember you said not all humans are as kind as you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°We¡¯ve just seen some of the worst of humans.¡± Three Squeaks shuddered. ¡°I¡¯m not in Assimilation yet¡­ but I felt it. It¡¯s strange to think that even several centuries from now we¡¯ll be able to look at a star we know is no longer there. I understand- no, we understand there are dangers. But we¡¯re not asking to be dumped into the middle of human civilization all at once. We just don¡¯t want to keep the planet closed to visitors anymore, and if that¡¯s the case we might as well be part of the alliance. We¡¯ve read through the translated versions of your foundational codes and the like, and Fearsome Mandibles has explained quite a bit more to us. We have some idea of what we¡¯re getting into.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t disagree that joining the Alliance could be beneficial. I just didn¡¯t want to throw off your development¡­ any more than I already have.¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably way too late for that,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°And you have the experience to help us avoid mistakes. You might notice we have quite a diversity of cultivation styles. Well, that¡¯s also true of our tools and buildings. That¡¯s not a problem at all, as you taught me to celebrate such things¡­ but some of them aren¡¯t very good. Our ability to spread information over our planet is limited. It took several years to even vote on this thing.¡± ¡°We can provide information on better communications formations,¡± Anton said. ¡°Perhaps we should have already.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s not the only thing,¡± Three Squeaks replied. ¡°It¡¯s just one part of many. We can focus on our planetary development or retaining our identities as different species. If we do both, we¡¯re splitting ourselves. But some of the select few humans that have come here to live among us and study us have great insights into the development of cultures. You¡¯re saying we shouldn¡¯t be like humans, and you¡¯re probably right. But remaining as we are simply for the sake of being untainted is already a moot point.¡± ¡°Perhaps I shouldn¡¯t have landed at all¡­¡± Anton pondered. ¡°No way. Like I said, I¡¯d be dead. And our whole colony. Echoing Cry would probably eat meerkats. So many sapient people would be consuming each other for relatively minor boosts in power. Also, there¡¯s a pretty good chance our existence to begin with was already due to human interference. There¡¯s no saying if and when they might come back to check on us- perhaps they¡¯re from the upper realms and it would be with the next cycle, but they could be from the lower realms and ready to show up any day. If they¡¯re not our friends, we need to be able to defend ourselves.¡± Three Squeaks paused. ¡°Also I want to meet the other branch heads. If I¡¯m a member of the Order of One Hundred Stars, I personally already feel like I should be part of the Lower Realms Alliance.¡± ¡°Well, technically the Order of One Hundred Stars isn¡¯t restricted just to the Lower Realms Alliance,¡± Anton said. ¡°The one in the upper realms doesn¡¯t count,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°... There¡¯s a single branch of the sect in the Shining Cooperative. But,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t actually want to stop you. I just wanted to make sure you were properly informed. And if others had the information available to them and made the same choice, then I trust your people to manage this. And I can¡¯t imagine the Alliance will reject your request to join. Akrys is¡­ quite popular.¡± ¡°Because of the pictures?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°People like pictures of humans too. Especially ones with funny hair, or weird clothes. And hats.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve noticed hats, actually.¡± There was also some amount of other clothing, though it was usually minimal for those with fur, as it was mostly unnecessary. It seemed to be mainly for modesty or style, or in the rarest cases as a form of protection- they were cultivators after all, even if the planet was mainly peaceful. If nothing else, there were powerful beasts that lacked the intelligence to negotiate. Akrys joining the Lower Realms Alliance would most likely be good. A ray of positivity among all of the negativity that had been going on for so long. Anton imagined that traffic would have restricted, though. Nobody wanted millions of tourists showing up and ruining the planet. Though it sounded like the locals were also interested in seeing human planets in person, which should be interesting for those responsible for such things to coordinate. It wasn¡¯t actually Anton¡¯s job to deal with borders or treaties, with the specific exception of the Order- and even then the branch heads handled most of that. Chapter 914 Watching the borders of the Scarlet Midfields was very important for the Scarlet Alliance, because even if they didn¡¯t claim all of the territory in between the two giants they still needed to watch for potential enemy movements. Previous victories against the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster were only relatively minor in the grand scale of things. While it was true that they both had other enemies tying up their resources, they were still major threats with just a small portion of what they had available. The Trigold Cluster was a serious concern due to recent events in the lower realms. While it was believed that there was no knowledge of the connection between the Lower Realms Alliance and the Scarlet Alliance in the upper realms, it was possible for it to be discovered during the war. It hadn¡¯t exactly been kept secret in the lower realms, though most people who weren¡¯t closer to ascension didn¡¯t tend to know many details. Even if that wasn¡¯t an issue, the experiments of the Trigold Cluster like the ability to destabilize stars and various bioweapons was a concern. They would be able to employ such things more easily, though at least the main form of star destabilization they were aware of shouldn¡¯t be functional. If it relied on an imbalance between upper and lower energy, at best they could source a somewhat weaker version to do the opposite in the lower realms. But the mere fact that they had attempted it raised concerns about what they might be capable of with their full resources. As for the Exalted Quadrant, they had actually remained a looming threat for some decades. One of the incidents with Everheart had brought their members closer to the border, and the Exalted Quadrant had not limited themselves to simply harassing the Everheart system. So far, there hadn¡¯t been any trouble in systems under the banner of the Scarlet Alliance, but it didn¡¯t seem like the sizable forces they had brought into the area were going to back off any time soon either. Then again, it was equally likely that they would simply continue to remain in their general location for another few decades without doing anything. The biggest danger for the Scarlet Alliance in that regard had been accepting Sly of the Hardened Crown Sect and Margriet of the Worthy Shore Society into their ranks. There had been an assault when Chikere returned from her battle with the Limitless Edge, dragging them along, but the defeat in that incident was actually likely to make another assault more probable in the future. Fortunately, monolithic factions tended to move quite slowly in regards to such issues, so they had done very little in the last century. Perhaps the battles against the Chaotic Conglomeration kept them busy, but it didn¡¯t seem as if that lack of activity was going to continue forever. ----- The first clear signs involved disciples of the Limitless Edge showing up on worlds outside the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s sphere of influence. Most likely they were not the first cultivators from the Exalted Quadrant to pass through, but they were one of the most obvious. The blade they carried identified them along with their cultivation aura, but it would have been easy enough for disciples of any of the myriad minor sects from the Exalted Quadrant to pass through the area without raising a fuss. Landing on the planets controlled by the Scarlet Alliance in large numbers would be more difficult. Even if they allowed most traffic, they still monitored those who were incoming. As for those planets outside of their own systems, information came from any informants willing to work for a reasonable fee, as long as they proved to be reliable. Further information indicated a pattern of fleets approaching the northwestern portions of the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s territory. There was some hope that they might be gunning for the Everheart system, but if that was the case they weren¡¯t following the usual patterns. Traffic along the northern border of the Scarlet Midfields flowed freely, as the Scarlet Alliance had no interest in preventing people from entering Everheart¡¯s trap system. And while some of them came out ahead, they could assume that overall resources were flowing into the system. A true casino mentality that had worked out for Everheart in the past. Since the fleets weren¡¯t immediately continuing their travel, they became the concern of the Scarlet Alliance. They had to respond with fleets of their own, though they kept inside their own borders. Even if the mere presence of Exalted Quadrant fleets hurt nearby planets, they couldn¡¯t resist provoking them if they weren¡¯t actually going to cause trouble in Scarlet Alliance territory. ----- Chikere was one of the first to move out towards the border. Her reason was simple- Limitless Edge disciples. They might not be relevant to her training at the moment, but she was hoping for a rematch with the Limitless Edge. Especially after she had heard of Rahayu¡¯s ¡®victory¡¯ against her sometime back. She knew it wasn¡¯t quite that simple, but it had brought the woman back to mind¡­ and Chikere wished to fight the woman again now that she was properly in Augmentation herself. And that meant getting her to leave the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s territory, because she did not find her odds favorable if she went to the Limitless Edge. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Even if she won that battle, the Exalted Quadrant would descend like cultivators. It would be one thing when she was a mere Integration cultivator, but even then they¡¯d set a trap for her. Now she was more important to the Scarlet Alliance, so they could hardly afford to let her go. And what was worse was that they probably wouldn¡¯t even let her have a proper match. So drawing out the Limitless Edge was the best option. Or perhaps she might be lucky and run into another Augmentation sword cultivator from the Exalted Quadrant. There simply had to be more. Their vast population and the commonality of the weapon type made that clear. Chikere had focused on a single one, but in truth she wasn¡¯t picky, as long as they had the requisite skill to reach Augmentation they would be worthwhile opponents. Obviously her disciple would be participating in the war as well. He could likely learn something from the insane style of the Limitless edge, especially how the disciples were made to use inferior sword forms for the benefit of their sect head. Even if they were incorrect, the skill with which they were executed was a valuable learning tool. ----- The Scarlet Alliance was no longer lacking in Augmentation cultivators. From Zazil, Tauno, and Prasad to the various individuals from the lower realms. Most of the first generation of disciples from the Order of One Hundred Stars had reached Augmentation over the last century or so, a group which included Catarina, Timothy, Velvet, and Hoyt. Prospero had reached Augmentation as well, though he was not ascended like the rest of them. Kseniya had ascended with them, but like Alva she had not quite reached Augmentation. Neither archer had found quite the right stimulus or inspiration to push them over the edge, though perhaps they might do so over the course of the war. Likewise, Sly and Margriet were close to Augmentation as well. Overall, the Scarlet Alliance greatly outclassed the former Harmonious Citadel. They had greater power but also a significantly larger territory. Because of that, they still had to be cautious not to overcommit in one area, as they might leave the rest of their territory insufficiently defended. ----- Crossed Antennae was now in frequent contact with the Scarlet Alliance, and when she heard about the looming war she wanted to immediately join up with them. But that was not something she could do. Her purpose in the upper realms was quite clear, and it had nothing to do with fighting in a war. Not yet, at least. Instead, it was her job to help defend the lower realms, securing the borders against invasion. For that, she had to establish colonies on various worlds and prepare them to thrive while remaining hidden, so that they could take out the gathered forces at an opportune moment. She was no fool. She knew that such a thing would provoke a response from the great factions, and they would attempt another extermination of the void ants. But they simply couldn¡¯t be allowed to continue their practices. Several centuries sounded like a long time on the surface. How many colonies could she establish in such a time? The answer was¡­ not enough. Not alone. If she wanted to do the bare minimum, there were easily a hundred systems to consider along the border. Traveling to each planet and birthing a queen or two was not a terribly long or strenuous process, but that wasn¡¯t enough. Each queen had to be educated on their purpose. If they failed in their task, they would either be unready for invaders or worse reveal themselves and thus the others too early. Making sure there was a reliable collection of queens- and that the colonies would cover a large enough portion of the planets such that they could even reach the temporary garrisons- was a task that really deserved a proper human lifetime of teaching. At least a decade or two. Unlike the Great Queen, she didn¡¯t have the accumulated power to birth queens who would rapidly grow into their greater humanlike intelligence. Instead, it would take time- and to reach the intelligence of herself or Fearsome Mandibles would take quite a bit longer. If that wasn¡¯t the case, she could entrust her own children with passing on the same message. And indeed, she very much hoped that some of the first queens would be ready before the end of the cycle¡­ but she couldn¡¯t guarantee that. Because of that, she had to make some hard choices. And one of those was to initially colonize fewer planets than the bare minimum. Because if she had to choose between performing a poor disruption on a wide scale and an effective and targeted disruption that greatly mitigated the threat to a few planets, she would lean towards those more focused efforts. She wasn¡¯t truly alone in her work, but aside from the humans tasked with carrying her from planet to planet she was rarely in one place long enough to feel less alone. Being surrounded by millions of other ants did very little for her when they could barely converse. That was another reason she wanted to focus on specific planets. Predicting where humans would concentrate their forces so that the void ants could cause more damage was an admirable goal for their alliance. Crossed Antennae believed it was a good thing to do. But regardless of what happened after, she also wanted the void ants to have access to each other. Spreading colonies out over many planets was a good way to jumpstart the void ants population growth, but if the queens did not have any peers to engage with they would also become lonely. A phenomenon that had been observed by the Great Queen was that each generation removed from her developed more slowly. Not because there was anything special about her. Indeed, she admitted to barely having sapience when she first encountered Anton, and acted more on instinct than with a plan. Instead, it was a matter of how void ants grew. A more developed queen could make better eggs, so if successive generations of queens hurried to create new offspring they would gradually progress more towards their base intelligence. Even ascension energy only helped that process so much. The fear was that they might lose their cooperation- not within an individual colony, but between colonies. That was what made the current void ants something special. If they lost their ability to farm, they could only be in competition with their brethren, and their purpose would be lost. There would be nothing strictly wrong with letting such void ants develop, but Crossed Antennae wanted to do her best for her mother, sister, and her various friends. Chapter 915 Somewhere around twenty-five years had passed since the end of the war in the lower realms. A small number of cultivators from the Shining Cooperative had ascended to become part of the Scarlet Alliance, but most of them preferred to take the path of Assimilation. Their general distrust of the upper realms would not disappear all at once, and even if it had most retained strong connections to the Shining Cooperative and had no desire to leave. There was a steady flow of newly ascended integration cultivators from the Lower Realms Alliance, complemented by the natural growth of cultivators within the Scarlet Alliance. The significantly greater population in the upper realms due to the great number of occupied systems still produced the majority of their Integration cultivators, though without special training they tended to end up somewhat weaker than those who had ascended. It was easier for those who reached Life Transformation in the upper realms to step into Integration, and experience with lower energy was a valuable addition to the struggles of ascension. Occasionally cultivators ascended into the Scarlet Alliance who were not from a known system. Attempts were always made to find out which planet they came from so that they could network with others in the lower realms, though not everyone was willing or able to provide the necessary information. Not everyone was an astronomer, and ascension could bring people a very long distance even if there wasn¡¯t any sort of anchor in the upper realms calling them specifically. Furthermore, some weren¡¯t immediately willing to trust a new group they found themselves among, regardless of whether or not they really cared about their former planets. Ultimately, the power of the Scarlet Alliance was growing at a steadily accelerating pace. Along with their significant number of Integration cultivators, they had a core set of Augmentation cultivators and significant technological advances. Along with their formation expertise, they were the dominant force in the Scarlet Midfields. Even so, they didn¡¯t know if they could stand up against the threats on either side of them. But the time had finally come where they had to test that. Not just an angry fleet chasing after a few individuals, but a full force combining the power of multiple sects from the Exalted Quadrant. The forces on their border finally moved into their territory, and their forces clashed. There were four prominent sects gathered on their northwestern border, starting with the Limitless Edge. Their forces were led by the Limitless Edge herself, perhaps seeking to repair her reputation after her supposed loss at the hands of Rahayu- though given that he¡¯d still had to flee even after Everheart¡¯s interference, those who knew the truth of the matter didn¡¯t necessarily agree with calling it a loss. Though it was still an embarrassing draw at best, given his lower cultivation at the time. Then there was the Hardened Crown Sect, apparently having taken offense to Sly¡¯s own hardheadedness in acting against them. Unfortunately, unlike the subsects in the lower realms it was unlikely they would manage to turn them over to their side. Sly had been a sect head of the Hardened Crown on Ceretos at one point, but that only netted him a position as a core disciple in the upper realms, before his arrest. The third sect was one that had no previous interaction with the Scarlet Alliance, so their motives were less clear than the others. The Disciples of the Beyond were a small but still relatively powerful sect, said to focus on the manipulation of space and subspace, sometimes to the point of intentionally attracting distortion beasts. They could be in the war for a promise of resources, or perhaps they simply intended to participate in a slaughter. Then, finally, there was the Citadel of Exalted Light. Alone, they were already a concerning threat, but with other sects backing them it spelled serious danger for the Scarlet Alliance. Although they had been preparing for potential invasions for most of the time they had been established, it was still only a matter of centuries compared to the growth of such a sect over millennia. It was unlikely they would or even could bring their full power to bear, but they were still a sect that had produced one of the few known Domination cultivators. They had to be respected regardless of whether or not Zaur was present. ----- With the disciples of the Limitless Edge folded in among the other sects, Chikere didn¡¯t have anything leading her to a particular battlefield. Her ultimate intention was to draw out the Limitless Edge herself, but Chikere was uncertain whether killing too many disciples might scare her away. Then again, she didn¡¯t care to fight against the woman again if she was afraid of a rematch now that Chikere was in Augmentation. Her own blood extended beyond her body, becoming a myriad of thin blades. Each was part of her, the attacks carrying her will. Lesser sword disciples fell easily, but Chikere found her way barred by some annoyances from the Hardened Crown Sect. Her martial prowess was still useful against cultivators who did not train with the sword, but her understanding of other weaknesses was on a lesser level. It had been a long time since she fought seriously against the Hardened Crown Sect, and that had mainly been in the lower realms. Obviously there was a significant difference between the two, but what surprised her the most was how durable their Integration cultivators were. Chikere was used to being able to cut any cultivators of a lower level than herself in two with a single blade. She could roam around a battlefield devastating weaker cultivators, though that was not her general intent. It was simply that the more worthy opponents tended to be deeper within enemy ranks. Facing against the Hardened Crown Sect slowed her down. She had to focus a greater potion of her cutting power on a single individual, and more than a few of them launched counterattacks as she was cutting them down. Not being interested in perishing any time in the near future, she had to deal with their counters as well. Every move felt like she had to cut through solid steel blocks with her muscles alone. At least it seemed equally troublesome for others to fight them, or she would have thought she was losing her touch. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Not all of them focused on the literal interpretation of their sect name, attacking with their heads, but they were all bullheaded and durable enough to make it not completely foolish to fight as they were. But ultimately, lower ranking cultivators couldn¡¯t stand against her for long. But just as she was seeking for Augmentation cultivators among the crowd, they had one seeking her. Though Chikere had recognized the strength of the woman¡¯s aura from afar, she hadn¡¯t been prepared for their initial clash. Especially not when she saw the woman directly. Her arrival was like a mountain falling upon Chikere. A hundred blades of blood barely slowed the woman down, giving Chikere just enough time to step out of the center of the impact. A great shockwave sent pieces of the surrounding street and buildings flying. It was unfortunate for the local planet that these battles were not taking place above, but the planetary barriers of the outer planets were minimal at best. Based on her aura, Chikere expected to see a hulking behemoth. Two meters tall would be the minimum, three or four wouldn¡¯t be unreasonable. Just because humans normally wouldn¡¯t grow to the latter sizes didn¡¯t mean she doubted that the Hardened Crown Sect would try. But when the dust settled, all she saw was an old woman who was nearly skin and bones. Even so, her voice was as steady as her aura. ¡°Chikere, the swordmaster. You have caused quite enough trouble for my sect already.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t me who encouraged them to come here¡­ you.¡± Chikere paused, ¡°You don¡¯t use a sword so I don¡¯t know your name.¡± ¡°Kigal,¡± the old woman replied. She lowered herself into a stance, and Chikere heard the earth creak from the motion. ¡°I will be your opponent from here on out.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind that,¡± Chikere agreed. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ll be letting anyone past me.¡± She spread out her arms, a mostly symbolic gesture as her blades moved naturally via her own will. Spread out around her in a wide circle were her various weapons, with half of them concentrated on Kigal. Chikere¡¯s blades of blood came in all shapes and sizes, to go along with her adoption of infinite styles. Each was still a sword, but how they would function was not easily predicted by amateurs. Chikere didn¡¯t intend to underestimate her opponent, of course. Any Augmentation cultivator was a serious threat. But she had a duty to fulfill, protecting her allies. Perhaps it seemed like focusing only half of her blades on one individual was disrespectful, but there were enemies all around, and they wouldn¡¯t suddenly disappear just because she was fighting Kigal. Even if the old woman convinced them to stay out of the battle, Chikere didn¡¯t care. Among the many weapons focused on Kigal, thrusting attacks, wide slashes, draw cuts, and various deceptive patterns flowed together through her many blades. And in response, Kigal performed a single move, a straight punch towards Chikere from over a hundred meters away. Shockwaves from her attack scattered Chikere¡¯s blades, causing many of them to fall to pieces. But unlike blades of solid metal, such weapons could easily be reformed. The power of the fist was cut apart before it reached Chikere, the energy dissipating into vortexes of wind and rumbling earth. Meanwhile, she found Kigal¡¯s defenses to be nearly impenetrable. More than any of the others of the Hardened Crown Sect, she displayed an impossible hardness to her energy. It could not be cut, stabbed, or otherwise damaged. Or at least, it gave off that feeling. But if Chikere ever believed there was something she couldn¡¯t cut, she only found it to be a challenge. Something that was impossible to cut in one person¡¯s eyes was merely something that hadn¡¯t yet been cut in the eyes of a true swordsman. Though she would settle for piercing, if that was more effective. Chikere¡¯s blades flowed around her, forming and reforming as they were scattered and destroyed. She found herself barely able to keep her other blades across the battlefield active¡­ but whether she cut down enemies a hundred at a time or one at a time, she knew she had to continue her efforts there. And occasionally she came across a simple opponent, like the Limitless Edge. Their disciples would gladly clash with her, even if they died shortly thereafter. Many of them used foolish maneuvers, though perhaps their flaws were not so obvious to those of similar mastery. Chikere supposed that she might be improving the true Limitless Edge¡¯s technique with each clash, but she also learned something from each move herself. Those the enemy made were nearly as valuable to her as her own experiments as she sought the truth of the perfect style, knowing full well that there was no single answer. Perhaps there were an infinite number of styles that could reach perfection, or perhaps there were none. And she didn¡¯t care either way, as she was happy to be on the path regardless. A sunrise reminded Chikere of how much time had actually passed in her clash with Kigal, and she realized she¡¯d been standing still for a few minutes absorbing her insights from the battle. The enemy had momentarily withdrawn, but Chikere knew that they were not giving up on their siege of this particular planet. Indeed, they seemed to have limitless numbers of Life Transformation and Integration members. They weren¡¯t lacking in Augmentation cultivators either, though she only sensed Kigal in the nearby area. Chikere didn¡¯t know if they were going to be able to win, but maybe that wasn¡¯t the point. The point was to fight, to deplete the enemy¡¯s resources more than their own. Perhaps some would be concerned about a planet or two passing through the hands of the Exalted Quadrant, but Chikere didn¡¯t think it would be that bad. Some people would die, some resources would be taken. It was unfortunate for those who were not strong enough, but there was nothing she could do but perform at her best. And if that wasn¡¯t good enough? She just needed to be stronger. Because someday soon she might be fighting not for nameless and faceless strangers on a new planet, but for her friends. In some ways, that was what she was already doing- even seeking out strong opponents to improve herself accomplished that goal as well. Personal fulfillment and social responsibility overlapped. Chikere looked at the rising sun. No doubt Kigal would be back. It seemed neither of them could overcome the other quickly¡­ but they also couldn¡¯t ignore the other. Otherwise they would most likely devastate the battlefield on their own. Chikere was looking forward to it, because she really wanted to learn to cut something uncuttable. And simply having more energy didn¡¯t seem like a viable solution, which was quite exciting to her. It was a shame Kigal didn¡¯t use a sword, though. Chapter 916 Tensions were high on the planet Lonkeon, which was being used as the forward military base for managing the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s defensive efforts. Glances were exchanged around the table, though it was notable that only a portion of the normal figures were present. Lonkeon was close enough to the front lines that they could potentially reinforce anywhere from their current position, but there were many systems under attack on the front lines and they had to split their attention between all of them. Chikere was never really involved in any command meetings, unless her expertise was required for something very specific. Otherwise, she was simply briefed on what she needed to know. Tauno was usually present, but he was currently fighting on the front lines. Velvet was occupied with scouting operations so she could not be physically present, and despite their best efforts they didn¡¯t have real time communication between systems. Because of that, they could only really plan overall strategy and respond to requests for aid from their current position. ¡°Obviously things haven¡¯t been going as well as we would have liked,¡± Catarina began. ¡°Our previous successes bolstered the confidence in our Alliance. Now¡­¡± she bit her lip. Zazil shook her head, ¡°Nobody would expect more against a serious assault from the Exalted Quadrant. This is far beyond the level of casual intrusion. We¡¯re facing more than the entire Harmonious Citadel could bring to bear, but all at the same time. And the fact that we have not immediately crumpled under their power speaks volumes.¡± Catarina folded her hands to keep them still. Controlling her body language was not her strong suit, as she had developed an eccentric image. But normally she had the comforting presence of Timothy next to her. Instead, he was off fighting at the front lines. Not at this exact moment, as far as she was aware, but the point was he wasn¡¯t close. She didn¡¯t like it. ¡°It¡¯s still not looking good, though,¡± Catarina pointed out. ¡°We haven¡¯t been able to take down any of their Augmentation cultivators.¡± ¡°And in turn,¡± Zazil replied, ¡°They have not killed any of ours.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Prasad commented. ¡°An excellent showing.¡± ¡°That may be,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But it is our side that can¡¯t afford the loss. If we lose a few now, then what will we do in the future?¡± Prasad laughed, a rarity for the man. ¡°There¡¯s your problem. Thinking about the future. We¡¯re locked in battle with the Exalted Quadrant. Even if it¡¯s just a portion of their power, we have to take them seriously like they are everything. Of course, we must think about preserving our people for future battles, but future wars? We can¡¯t afford to think of that.¡± ¡°This very well might be the end of our Alliance,¡± Zazil said. ¡°But I would say we¡¯ve had a fine run.¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Do you just intend to give up then?¡± ¡°It¡¯s clear you did not grow up in the upper realms,¡± Prasad said. ¡°We fought hard for our positions, but we understand the power of the overlords surrounding us. Your victories in the lower realms and then here¡­ they mean much to you, but ultimately our rise to power is likely to fall short. We will still fight, of course,¡± Prasad assured her. ¡°I just wouldn¡¯t expect to live. Perhaps we will have the fortune to reincarnate with a portion of our knowledge somewhere far away¡­ though it seems unlikely that souls drift so far from their native realms.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t lose,¡± Catarina said. ¡°If they reach Xankeshan¡­ our defenses are sufficient. It¡¯s just a matter of how much we are set back before then.¡± ¡°I hope you¡¯re right,¡± Zazil said. ¡°We are currently on the back foot. Since we are here to discuss a change in tactics, I would suggest less reliance on our formations.¡± She saw Catarina¡¯s look at that. ¡°Because as it turns out, you¡¯ve brought with you advancements beyond simple barriers. Traditionally in the upper realms, wars have been fought on a planet¡¯s surface, or near enough to it. But your ships¡­ might even outclass the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s. Everything but their flagships, at least.¡± Prasad nodded slowly. ¡°If we can catch them away from our planets and destroy the ships carrying troops, we might manage something exceptional.¡± ¡°They can always fit more people in a single ship,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Unless we take out half of their largest ships. And we¡¯d probably have to include the capacity of their flagships in that count. Taking those out is¡­ unlikely.¡± Unfortunately, in a realm with nearly countless Integration cultivators, Ascension-class ships were insufficient on their own. As long as any of the enemy flagships allowed their carried Augmentation cultivators to fight without restraint then they could easily take out many of those ships. And their higher tier ships were few and far between. Though they did have some exceptional cultivators who focused on ships, so that helped. Even with all that, Catarina began nodding to herself. ¡°We need to remember that this is war. The enemy supply lines are¡­ well, practically nonexistent. They might be able to repair ships, but replacing them will be much more difficult. Likewise, they can¡¯t bring any reinforcements in a reasonable amount of time.¡± If the Exalted Quadrant simply wanted to commit hard enough to overwhelm them with attrition¡­? There was little they could do about it. But hopefully, things would be constrained to the people and factions already in the war. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°We can also take advantage of their supply lines in another way,¡± Prasad commented. ¡°We are fighting a defensive war, thus most of our ships will be resupplying somewhere already secure. On the other hand, they are coming to unfamiliar planets¡­ and making them less secure. It¡¯s pretty much impossible to choke off their supply of food with what they already have occupied, but we can harass any ships going to and from the frontlines.¡± ¡°The only problem is if they use captured ships,¡± Zazil pointed out. ¡°It¡¯s still a good idea, and civilian ships are much less secure regardless. But we have to consider what they might resort to, and how it will affect our people. Things can be worse for them than a temporary occupation by the Exalted Quadrant if they become spiteful.¡± ¡°Then we must always appear to be easier targets,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Or achieve several significant victories all at once. But for that, we need Velvet¡¯s reports. We know many of the Augmentation cultivators they have brought with them, but likely not all of them.¡± After that, the discussions continued with them trying to balance how and when they would send reinforcements to various planets. That also came with the unfortunate discussions of which ones they would not be sending reinforcements to. However, the Exalted Quadrant was known to have some mercy, so retreat and surrender were both viable options. At least for most people. It wasn¡¯t as clear for the leadership, since they didn¡¯t even know what the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s goal was. Perhaps because they had clashed with them in small ways previously. However, they had yet to make any specific demands or declarations so it would merely be speculation. ----- Some people knew little more than their own cultivation techniques and the name of their sect head, and frankly Everheart doubted that some of them knew the latter. Others, however, were veritable seas of useful information. And while such people were often useful, their martial power was often weaker and they might not be resistant to proper interrogation techniques. Nadzeya was a direct assistant to Zaur Beridze of the Citadel of Exalted Light. And had she not been the one captured, Everheart imagined she would have been able to point fingers towards him rather easily. Instead, the blame went to the Scarlet Alliance¡­ and while Everheart was usually glad to cause such misunderstandings, his niece lived there and he also happened to find their presence in the Scarlet Midfields useful. As it turned out, Nadzeya knew many things, including some hypotheses that were far too close to the truth for Everheart¡¯s comfort. Removing such a valuable source from enemy hands was a victory, and he could make great use of many other things he had learned. She was not so shy about sharing information about their enemies, after all. Everheart had much experience discerning truth from lies, so he could be fairly certain he wasn¡¯t going into a trap. But for him, he¡¯d found the best way to avoid falling into a trap was to be a few steps ahead setting up his own traps. And he¡¯d keep doing it until he met someone that bested him and maybe even caught him in a trap of his own devising. If he left intentional flaws to be exploited, his enemies could do the same¡­ so he did everything with as close to perfection as he had time for, or at least on the scale he felt was necessary. His current plan was to skirt a very dangerous line. Which was to say, more or less his day-to-day except this time he was heading deep into the Trigold Cluster. He¡¯d heard about their little war in the lower realms. Quite embarrassing, really. Both that they lost and that they were so bad at destroying stars. Obviously they had made a big mistake going for one Anton was defending, but to fail to fully destroy not one but two stars only attuned to his apprentice¡­ disgraceful. Disgraceful and wasteful, because he was quite certain that their methods wouldn¡¯t have come out with a well refined starheart even had they otherwise been successful. Everheart found that the most important thing one could have in enemy territory were contacts. They could even be spies, really. It was just that there was only so far leaving a note on someone¡¯s bedside table worked before they became more worried about their security and hunting him down than the message. In this case, he was going to give them a partial truth about himself. And he also planned to reveal an important truth to one Ratna. A simple sounding name for a complicated woman, and one of only a few domination cultivators he¡¯d ever encountered. The Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance were some of Everheart¡¯s favorite people. They had much deception in their cultivation, and they displayed it in their words and actions. Because of that, they picked up many sorts of enemies. Sometimes, those enemies were powerful. Unfortunately, where people had powerful enemies they tended to stay home in their fancy citadels sunning themselves instead of going out and performing violence on the world or those they had grudges with. But sometimes opportunities appeared, and Everheart had learned one such opportunity. A chance to resolve a personal grudge was difficult for most individuals to pass up. To also gain some social merits was a bonus. Everheart grinned. Oh, it should be exciting. Sparks would fly. Granted, if his part was found out he might receive a few complaints, but really whatever system things went down in it wasn¡¯t his fault what the side effects were. That was someone else¡¯s business. He didn¡¯t have the time or energy to manipulate people to an exact location so that he could also benefit maximally from the side effects. He probably wouldn''t have another chance like this for centuries, so he had to go with what he had. It was too bad his visit to the Trigold Cluster couldn¡¯t result in too much upheaval. He¡¯d love to leave with a shipful of treasure, but he frankly couldn¡¯t afford to be associated with this incident. He was more than aware that his overt actions were quite obvious, and he didn¡¯t have the time to set up a good heist and a proper clash. So he was going to aim for the one that would cause maximum damage to his enemies. That was to say, almost everyone. But surprisingly, not quite everyone. He might even think about recruiting Nadzeya if she could get over the whole abduction thing. Which she might or might not. It was no sweat for Everheart either way. Chapter 917 With every planet the Scarlet Alliance had to give up, they lost lives and access to resources. The latter they could presume would mostly return once the Exalted Quadrant withdrew¡­ but whether or not the Scarlet Alliance itself would be standing at the end of things was another question. Perhaps the biggest loss beyond lives was the disruption to development and growth of those planets, which would most likely take decades to get back on track even if the war were over in the next year or two. Their new tactics proved fruitful, and they were causing more damage to the enemy fleets than they were sustaining themselves. Even so, they were still outnumbered and had yet to destroy enough troop carriers to actually slow their enemy¡¯s progress to any significant extent on its own. The enemy¡¯s invasion had started widespread, but it could be seen that their focus was narrowing. That was good for the Scarlet Alliance, as they had fewer locations they needed to defend¡­ but ultimately it was clear that the flow of the war was still in the hands of the Exalted Quadrant. They could at any point choose to target any of dozens of planets, diverting from their expected course. But until then, they seemed focused on approaching Lonkeon. And why wouldn¡¯t they be? It was no secret that they were using it as their forward base of operations. Their commanders not on the frontlines and most of their reinforcements were present on Lonkeon. If the planet was taken out, they would have to retreat all the way to Xankeshan. In fact, the conditions under which they would retreat were important, as they didn¡¯t want to get cut off and foolishly die away from their fortified capital. While they were certainly on the back foot, experiencing a significant portion of the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s might for the first time, their tactics weren¡¯t entirely shattered. They were learning how to best deal with their enemies, and they thought they were adapting more quickly. Only time would tell, of course. ----- Hoyt and Prospero found themselves dealing with the Disciples of the Beyond more often than not. The reason for that was quite simple- they were more capable of combat in open space than many others. And as it turned out, distortion beasts were quite problematic for most fleets. Even fake ones. At first, a sect centered around summoning distortion beasts had seemed like a rather limited field. After all, distortion beasts couldn¡¯t be everywhere, could they? Hoyt had certainly thought that. Now, he wasn¡¯t so sure. Oh, it was obvious that they made use of projections more often than not, but some information the Alliance had learned indicated that was more for their own safety- or for time efficiency. Regardless of how many there actually were, the number actively interested in a particular area of space was quite limited. Still, Hoyt found their regular tactics quite effective. The Disciples of the Beyond could display strange abilities when acting individually, their attacks often traveling through subspace, but it was their combined techniques that really put them in the spotlight. A few thousand Disciples of the Beyond together could make a moon sized projection of a distortion beast, complete with all of the difficulties that came with fighting such things¡­ like figuring out what could even be attacked to begin with. And the Disciples of the Beyond didn¡¯t leave themselves vulnerable either, instead folding space around themselves and almost molding their own bodies into the projections. There was something about the chaos of being assaulted like a creature that was only mouths or tentacles that was unsettling, as distortion beasts eschewed all concepts of how creatures should function normally. Though as a projection, Hoyt actually thought it wasn¡¯t as bad. It was just a construct of energy that attacked in odd ways. No need to think about how it digested things without a stomach, or how its body parts seemed to overlap with each other. It was still a massive pain, though. But at least when attacks came from nowhere, Hoyt could be on fire. At the very least he would eat away at some of the enemy¡¯s energy stores every time they attacked him. Projections of distortion beasts were also imperfect, and either way Prospero and Hoyt found themselves exceptionally suited to the task. Pieces of an enemy appearing and disappearing was problematic for most people, as they would put a great amount of effort into an attack only to find their target wasn¡¯t there. While they could recoup some of that energy given they didn¡¯t strike a target, longer range projectiles were often lost. The orbital version of Falling Stars, however, allowed for great sweeping attacks that didn¡¯t need to aim at specific parts of a distortion beast or a projection of one. Hoyt and Prospero had trained to lose only a small fraction of the energy as the attacks remained in orbit. The biggest weakness was if the attacks hit an unimportant part of the enemy, as the whole attack would generally be wasted when one of their ¡®stars¡¯ exploded. Fortunately, proper distortion beasts didn¡¯t seem to have the intelligence to do that on purpose for the most part and the projected ones were controlled by humans who had their own flaws. The same combining of energy into one large mass that allowed them to create the dangerous projections in the first place also meant that finer points of control were often lost. Even if a portion of them wanted to trigger the Falling Stars to detonate, they rarely actually managed to assume control of the various parts necessary. And it wasn¡¯t just Hoyt and Prospero against all of the forces of the Disciples of the Beyond. They just represented one of the biggest threats. They still had fleets and other cultivators to call upon, even if getting the necessary experience meant an unfortunate number of pilot losses. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Planetary defenses were actually also highly effective. Computerized orbital platforms were getting more common closer to the core of the Scarlet Alliance, and for projections of distortion beasts they could be tuned to take advantage of the unintentional patterns that the Disciples of the Beyond employed. The archers Alva and Kseniya were of great help as well, specifically making use of techniques passed on by Anton to fire their own shots into subspace. That not only allowed them to target vulnerable parts of distortion beasts, such as things went, but also to target the actual cultivators every once in a while. However, the Disciples of the Beyond had their own Augmentation cultivators as well. One of them by the name of Zhelyazko was able to fight on his own as if he was a modestly sized distortion beast- though that could still stretch to many hundreds of kilometers. More than that, he was less predictable than the lower ranking cultivators, not focusing on individual targets or even always attacking in sane manners. Rumors were that he had been devoured by a distortion beast in training and gone insane¡­ but he was still deployed onto the battlefield by the Disciples, so he was clearly able to be directed to some extent. Wherever Zehlyazko appeared on the battlefield turned into a massacre¡­ though at least it appeared that it wasn¡¯t only Scarlet Alliance cultivators that fell to him. A small comfort in a war where countless lives had already been lost over just a few years. ----- Information. That was key in a war. Velvet knew this, and so she did her best to watch the enemy. Having advanced to Augmentation, she was extremely difficult to detect. Her experience still kept her cautious as she looked for secrets. She wasn¡¯t quite certain what she was looking for. Exact numbers of enemies would be nice. Future plans of attack would be valuable, though they could mostly react to enemy movements on the fly. It was unlikely she would come across a list of enumerated weaknesses of their Augmentation cultivators- indeed, she would find such a thing highly suspect. If she found a good opening, she might assassinate some key figures as well. If she could take out an Augmentation cultivator away from the battlefield- with a high assurance of her success and ability to escape- that could help shift the war. Even the Exalted Quadrant would grow hesitant if they lost a few Augmentation cultivators. Currently, Velvet was following a trail of information to one of their border planets. Occupied by the Exalted Quadrant, certainly, but still part of the Scarlet Alliance. Espionage on planet was much easier than spying on a fleet- finding her way onto the wrong capital ship could be a deathtrap. Velvet could move through space on her own, but the formations of a ship could potentially be tuned to keep everyone inside if she was spotted, and her freedom of movement was the most important feature she had to keep herself safe. She was capable in direct combat, but it was always safer to avoid it, especially alone. So far the string she was following had proven useless. So many things turned out that way, and Velvet would not let it get her down. But she had found a few mentions of someone important staying with a particular rear fleet, and there had been a number of small shipments that didn¡¯t seem to be carrying anything important. Just random luxuries. And if Velvet knew powerful cultivators, they loved their luxuries. Especially the worst ones. Sadly not worst in terms of power, but attitude. Sadly, selfish cultivation styles tended to be similarly effective to altruistic ones, or perhaps even more effective as far as a single cultivator went. It wasn¡¯t crazy, of course, but if the only methods to cultivate were purely cooperative the world most likely would have turned out far better. Velvet walked down the streets towards her destination. The best part about infiltrating conquered planets was that the enemy had to either accept whatever defensive formations remained or put up their own temporary and thus exploitable ones. Slipping into the city had been easy, and she was already inspecting the flow of energy on her target building. It had a serious gap right where there was an open window. An easy trap¡­ but she¡¯d inspect it properly up close. Velvet kept her cultivation tightly drawn in as she passed many individuals who didn¡¯t have any inkling she was there. Most were those occupying the planet, but this was a city where people lived and worked. While they wouldn¡¯t want to be out on the streets, sometimes they had to. Avoiding them was equally important as avoiding everyone else, as an odd reaction from random civilians could set people looking about. The window was safe. Velvet determined that properly, but she felt an odd flow of energy inside the building, past the formations. It was difficult to describe it, but that seemed like just the sort of thing she should investigate. Cautiously. Before she entered, she took a look around the outsides for entrances and exits. She climbed through the window and into the building. Doors were annoying but something she could deal with, projecting a sense of them remaining still while she opened them and slipped through a small crack. Velvet kept in mind the various windows of the building, should she need to run into a room and leap out one to escape. That knowledge also gave her a good picture of the internal structure. As she was walking down the hallway towards the source of the disturbance, a cracked door opened directly towards her. Eyes landed on her, piercing into her soul. Even with his energy restrained, the man practically glowed. Velvet¡¯s immediate reaction was to do nothing, which was much harder than it seemed. No sudden intake of breath. No change in her heartbeat, as much as she was able to control it. Her energy remained tightly under her control as the man looked at and through her. She wanted to run, but that would only be worse. If she hadn¡¯t been spotted it would likely reveal her, and if not¡­ it was already too late. She stood in awe for a few moments as the man turned away. Up close his energy was not as well concealed as from a distance¡­ and she could feel the power of a Domination cultivator. And unless the Citadel of Exalted Light had two of them, it should be Zaur Beridze himself. What an unfortunate piece of information to confirm as truth. But all the more important that she report it as soon as possible. Sometime when she was away from the man himself, obviously. And probably the planet. She would be taking the long way back, it seemed. Chapter 918 Quite a bit of trouble had been raised for the Scarlet Alliance by the Disciples of the Beyond, and Tauno was tired of it. They weren¡¯t so bad when they fought with a projection, but actual distortion beasts were much worse when unleashed around a planet. The others like Hoyt and Prospero were quite capable of fighting them, but Tauno felt like there was a better solution. With each planet they passed, they were one step closer to Lonkeon, and predicting their movements became easier. So rather than waiting for them to show up and deal with any distortion beasts then, Tauno was going to do what he did best. And that thing was slaying beasts. First he had to draw them out, though he didn¡¯t think it was as difficult as people made it out to be. All they needed was the proper bait. So he settled down on a nice unpopulated moon and stabbed himself in the gut. Then he began walking around, leaving a trail of blood behind him. He didn¡¯t forget to push into subspace regularly to make it more tempting, and to disturb the local fields. He also had a nice little device Uzun had made for him. Normally they were set up in the opposite manner to quell the ripples of ships so that they wouldn¡¯t attract attention, but it hadn¡¯t taken long for Uzun to have his people send Tauno one that worked in the opposite manner, amplifying distortions. Before Tauno saw one or sensed its energy, he could smell the distortion beast. A truly otherworldly scent, just barely pushing through the ripples of reality. Then, of course, it tried to eat him. A thousand spikes extended into the space where Tauno had been standing, pushing into and through each other without interference. But his Instinct pulled him away. He understood why people trained other mental capacities, but for him Instinct reigned above all else. The Dancing Slayer Sect fought and emulated beasts, after all. It was only right. During the battle, Tauno wasn¡¯t thinking about the hollow spines meant to drain him of blood, or at least now how he would dodge them. Nor was he thinking about how he would counter with his spear, or how he would angle his armor to block. All of that just happened, his training taking over and performing as necessary. He did think a little bit about what he would make the beast into. Certainly he¡¯d have no shortage of spines. There was a brief point in the battle where he considered he might run out of blood before the distortion beast. About halfway through the battle it was losing hundreds of liters for every drop he shed. For a ¡®small¡¯ one that only seemed to be a few kilometers across, it was still quite a lot. Trying to picture the overall shape of the thing wasn¡¯t possible, but Tauno counted multiple tails- or one tail that had several iterations that gained their own wounds- three mouths, and a ridge of spines that seemed to for a single contiguous line down every single appendage the creature had. He tried not to think about it too much and just tried to avoid getting impaled too much. Every spike or hunk of flesh he carved off of the beast as it swirled around him brought him closer to victory, and he was pleased to find it had something like bones as well. They were oversized for his purposes, but better that than too small to make anything out of. Eventually, Tauno found himself surrounded by a great quantity of pieces and parts, especially spines. The majority of the distortion beast could likely still be found within subspace and the spaced beyond where they dwelled. Perhaps other distortion beasts would come to feed on its body, but if they did they would likely be surprised by the quantities of exotic toxins the corpse would contain. Some might not have any effect when taken into whatever served as a digestive tract, but others would be absorbed through any sort of contact. Then again, maybe they wouldn¡¯t care. Perhaps Tauno had made things worse, drawing in more distortion beasts¡­ or perhaps any that were in the area would gorge themselves full. Either way, he¡¯d deal with that later. First, he had to figure out what to do with all of the spines he had. They seemed to be significantly locked into subspace still, and depending on how he held them they grew vastly longer. Or at least, revealed more of their true size. That had to be useful. ----- An emergency message came in from the eastern border of the Scarlet Alliance, and the timing couldn¡¯t have been worse. Though perhaps with the current war going on, there really wasn¡¯t a better time for something to happen. ¡°A hidden fleet was detected coming from the Trigold Cluster,¡± Catarina reported. ¡°Moving straight through our territory.¡± There were slightly more people gathered this time, as they were being constricted towards Lonkeon itself. Alva was among the additional individuals present. ¡°How many ships?¡± she asked. ¡°A hundred or so,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Though they couldn¡¯t get exact readings. The ships weren¡¯t as big of a concern as the quality of the illusions they were using. Spatial distortion sensors were actually what picked them up. None of our energy detection systems got so much as a peep, so it¡¯s unknown how strong the cultivators are. But we can make some assumptions from the size of the disturbance. Most likely, a small group of more powerful cultivators.¡± ¡°What is their goal?¡± Prasad asked. ¡°That¡¯s the question isn¡¯t it? We don¡¯t even know if they¡¯re actually from the Trigold Cluster. It¡¯s just¡­ nothing else makes sense.¡± ¡°Could they have come through the Trigold Cluster¡¯s territory from beyond?¡± Prasad asked. ¡°They could have,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But everything is speculation. Our people on the border said they were going to passively observe. Just tracking their progress through systems.¡± Catarina looked around, noticing the distinct lack of Zazil at the meeting. ¡°This emergency meeting is mainly to inform us. Our people can handle things on their own, so unless we have a good reason to give them specific orders¡­ we should let them do so.¡± Alva nodded. ¡°Let them handle it and keep us updated. If they¡¯re going for Xankeshan¡­¡± ¡°Then our defenses will hold,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Unless they brought a hundred Augmentation cultivators.¡± Prasad nodded. ¡°Indeed. We don¡¯t need to worry about our capital under siege. It¡¯s more of a question of whether we will have to split our forces to drive them off, or whether our garrison there and the automated defenses can handle it.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll probably have to,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We can¡¯t really afford to split our attention, especially with the other piece of news that just came in.¡± She was referring, of course, to Velvet¡¯s report on Zaur. And even though the Domination cultivator wasn¡¯t fighting on the front lines at the moment, that didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t change his mind. Otherwise, why would he even be close at all? ----- This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Chikere¡¯s head swiveled, looking towards a seemingly random point in space. ¡°Apologies, Sly. You are going to have to handle the approaching group with Margriet and the rest. I have to go.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Sly simply asked. ¡°There¡¯s a sword I have to go see.¡± She didn¡¯t stop to explain further. She had the feeling she should speed up her approach, so she sliced open a rift in space to step through. The feeling was deeper into the system near a gas giant. The side of Chikere¡¯s mouth couldn¡¯t help but raise up into a smile. She was happy about this. She got to aid her friends by holding off an enemy¡­ and she was going to finally have a proper rematch with the Limitless Edge. She landed on an icy moon in front of the woman herself. The Limitless Edge just shook her head. ¡°I knew you were simple, but still¡­ I can¡¯t believe you were so easy to lure into a trap.¡± Chikere couldn¡¯t believe what she heard. A trap? Did she really think that Chikere hadn¡¯t noticed what was potentially every single remaining member of the Limitless Edge Sect packed onto the moon? Seriously, one sword shouldn¡¯t be in so many directions all at once. It simply wasn¡¯t right. Unless it was. She might come around on the idea, actually. ¡°I know they¡¯re there, obviously,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Then your failure was underestimating what I can do with only a small amount of impure energy,¡± the Limitless Edge said, almost casually swiping her sword in front of her. Where Chikere had been standing there was only a cloud of blood as hundreds of sword auras cut through space simultaneously. And that was only a small portion of the total disciples present. Then that cloud of blood formed into a myriad of swords, proudly bearing Chikere¡¯s aura. She decided it wasn¡¯t valuable to talk. Obviously the Limitless Edge thought that because she had won once that would continue to be true. And maybe it would be, but they wouldn¡¯t decide that with words. Either way, Chikere wouldn¡¯t underestimate someone because they had a lower amount of energy. She¡¯d seen Chidi negate Rakiya¡¯s energy and kill her, after all. It was only for an instant, but who needed longer than that anyway? Sword skill was the important factor, and Chikere recognized that in the Limitless Edge. And so, it was also the case in her myriad of disciples who also wielded her blade. Ten of them died before they could make another move, which was a disappointingly low number. Chikere got a small cut across the bridge of her nose, but as it was only the second move she found herself quite concerned. They exchanged another dozen sets of moves over the course of the next few moments, and Chikere found her consternation growing. There was something wrong with how the Limitless Edge was fighting. Was it a deception in her moves, feints that were slipping past Chikere¡¯s understanding? Slaying lesser disciples barely provided value to Chikere, as they were swiftly replaced with more. All the while, one or two blades slipped past her defenses just enough to begin wearing her down. What was wrong with the style was¡­ oh yes, that was it. It was that every move they made was the right one. The flawed styles that the Limitless Edge disciples practiced were gone, and so too were the imperfections in the Limitless Edge¡¯s movements. She was taking Chikere seriously, that was clear. It didn¡¯t take long for Chikere to realize that her skills weren¡¯t good enough for her to win. She couldn¡¯t compete with so many perfect attacks forever, and would continue to be slowly whittled down. That realization¡­ was one of the best she¡¯d ever had. All tension drained from her body, and she no longer thought about winning. Nor was she even considering escape. This was the sort of thing she couldn¡¯t have even wished for. A nearly limitless number of highly skilled opponents for her to face. The Limitless Edge fought with her perfection. Chikere could feel the flow of her style, learning how the woman had fused every experience she¡¯d ever had. The slightest tilt of a blade spelled the difference between life and death for a swordmaster, and if all else were equal Chikere would have died over and over. Instead, she slew disciples, gaining small wounds while she overcame them with unfortunately large applications of energy. The Limitless Edge herself did not seem concerned about their deaths, and she had the power to defend herself. The only possible future was one where Chikere slowly died at her hands. Her eyes said that, and Chikere had to admit it was true. But she wasn¡¯t interested in what was possible. She¡¯d already dealt with that so many times, and it turned out the answer was¡­ everything and nothing. Pointless. Chikere had already fought the Limitless Edge, and it had shattered her sword ego. Yet she had gained insights and risen up from her previous state. She wouldn¡¯t let it happen again. She might die, but she wouldn¡¯t let a perfect style break her. Especially since Chikere already understood perfection. That had been her guide, before the battle. And now¡­ she intentionally let a blade dig into her artificial arm, just to see how it happened. Because if her opponent was giving up on her growth for this fight to bring her down¡­ the only thing she could do was learn to surpass the appearance of perfection. Long ago, it had been drilled into Chikere that training and real combat were only different based on the probability of death in each. It was not the only way- one could train to learn and minimize flaws for use in real combat, where one would perform to the best of their ability. But for Chikere¡­ that never felt right. She always preferred to try new things in combat, and so far she might not have even died because of it. Certainly never permanently. Icy mountains crumbled and rifts were cut into the surface of the moon as Chikere danced about, fighting against her opponent. She had to admit, she liked the Limitless Edge¡¯s choice here. No buildings to collapse on top of them, which was always annoying. Three swords drove between Chikere¡¯s ribs simultaneously, completely wiping out one of her lungs. However, they disappeared when their owners died- and Chikere had two lungs. One was extra. It wasn¡¯t like she was going to live long enough to miss the extra airflow. Her wounds were growing at an accelerating rate. Soon, she would die. Or¡­ she would figure it out. Moment by moment, she was a millimeter from death and then completely untouched the next. Then she was a nanometer from death. And then¡­ she figured it out. All at once, her thousands of swords converged around her. The only opponent she was truly concerned about was the Limitless Edge herself. So she lied to herself and focused everything she had on one final move. The lie, of course, was that she knew what move would slay her opponent. Not that she didn¡¯t have any idea¡­ it was just that she had thousands of variations in mind. Maybe all of them would do. Maybe none of them would. The Limitless Edge moved to defend herself, the energy of her countless disciples focusing on each individual move of Chikere. The icy moon split in half, but that attack was deflected. A line was carved along the surface of the gas giant, but that attack was frankly never going to hit anyone with an ounce of self preservation. It was the seventeenth small variant of attacking the Limitless Edge¡¯s wrist that did it. For the first time, her opponent was injured. It was a small injury, especially compared to Chikere¡¯s actual intent. The wrist was not severed, instead it was merely a small cut on the woman¡¯s skin. But with that, perfection was broken. Chikere¡¯s smile had never disappeared, but the Limitless Edge didn¡¯t look as if she enjoyed combat. Perhaps she simply didn¡¯t express it outwardly. Chikere didn¡¯t know, and didn¡¯t care to find out. Her next category of movement cut a strand of the woman¡¯s hair. For some, that would be less of a success than the wound. Chikere didn¡¯t care about her own hair, but the Limitless Edge flinched ever so slightly. Each minor cut on Chikere came with two on the Limitless Edge, though she was still behind by several critical wounds. But the next moment, Chikere took half as many cuts and countered with twice as much success. The Limitless Edge rapidly began to crumple until all at once Chikere severed every bone in her body, dicing the woman into thousands of pieces. She turned into a true mist of blood. The blade landed in front of her as the icy moon began to crumble into a new shape. Chikere¡¯s grin nearly split her face in half as she bent down to pick it up. Chapter 919 The wrapped hilt of the Limitless Edge didn¡¯t hide the feeling of cold metal deeper within the blade as Chikere wrapped her fingers around it. She lifted the sword, swinging it experimentally. With its master dead, it could freely go to a new owner. To her. The chill spread from the hilt into her hand, rapidly spreading through her body, soul, and everything else. Then the blade was gone, along with the remnants of the moon Chikere had been on. Instead, she found herself in a world of swords. A part of her was envious of the collection, floating in the void. The swords moved all at once. Chikere reached out to extend herself, preparing counters for the incoming attacks. But nothing happened. Instead, the blades pierced into her. The first ones held her in place while the rest destroyed her vital organs and body. She died, unable to do anything to defend herself. And Chikere could say she did not enjoy that. Oh, she knew she would die some day, and her death would be a violent end. But she wasn¡¯t ready for a death where she hadn¡¯t fought back. She¡¯d done nothing. She felt the blades, still. The pain of her body being pierced, and the lingering pain of the blades inside of her. But she also felt her body, whole. In the moment it took her to process the sensation, she was killed again. Her head fell to the ground. And instead of simply feeling the pain of one death or another, she felt both at the same time. ¡°Foolish girl,¡± came a voice from nowhere. ¡°All sword masters are like this. They think they are something special¡­ but in the end, they can¡¯t resist their greed. Now here you are, unable to even fight back.¡± Chikere twisted her head, looking around. Swords pierced into her body, destroying her vision. Three deaths, the full experience of each replicated all at the same time. Chikere found herself unable to do anything. But she refused. These were swords, and even if she didn¡¯t necessarily feel the same way about them as before they were still weapons. If her own power didn¡¯t work, then she would have to play by the rules of this place. She grabbed two swords by the hilt, wrenching them away from the control of the Limitless Edge. She parried and shattered swords, but not only did they reform moments later but they were added to by more and more blades from the world around her, more than filling the space with their attacks. And each time the blades in her own hands broke, they would not reform for her. Chikere stopped keeping track of her deaths. Instead, she focused on what she had to do. She was seeking the Limitless Edge in a world of swords- though none so far shared the appearance of the true blade, its perfection. She could not control any swords beyond her reach, but she had just enough strength to control any she held. How long she spent searching for her quarry she didn¡¯t know. Each time she perished, her position changed, but always she was surrounded by a sea of swords. At some point, that might have made her happy. At the moment, she didn¡¯t find it particularly appealing. Her senses¡­ didn¡¯t seem to work. She could hardly even sense the swords around her, piercing into her many bodies. But she didn¡¯t give up, seeking out her quarry. And she found her, Chikere didn¡¯t hesitate in her assault. Her blades cut through the world, slicing her target in two. A laugh rang out. ¡°You really don¡¯t understand. This is my world. There¡¯s nothing you can do.¡± Chikere doubted that, actually. Indeed, it seemed as if the Limitless Edge couldn¡¯t kill her either. So what was this place, then? What would be the point, if she couldn¡¯t die? The answer came to her quickly enough. Here, she would be worn down by death until the Limitless Edge could take her over. It was that simple. Alternatively, if her skill and resolve were greater¡­ couldn''t she do the same in reverse? But no. This was her enemy¡¯s world. Chikere took a deep breath, even as her lungs were impaled another hundred times. She didn¡¯t want the woman¡¯s body, nor did she really want her blade. Not anymore. ¡°You know, I have to thank you. If I had not lost to you the first time, I would not have grown so strong.¡± ¡°And yet,¡± her voice rang out. ¡°Here you are, unable to defeat me.¡± Chikere shook her head slowly. ¡°That¡¯s not true at all. I¡¯ve already defeated you. In multiple ways.¡± ¡°Is that so? But you cannot escape this place.¡± The Limitless Edge sounded fully confident in that affirmation. ¡°You can¡¯t kill me.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Chikere agreed as blades sliced her to ribbons. It was¡­ actually quite educational, if unbearable painful at the same time. ¡°Because you¡¯re already dead.¡± She squeezed down on the blade in her hand, driving all her power to destroy it. The true blade that she knew she was still clutching. If she hadn¡¯t lost so horribly before¡­ she wouldn¡¯t have had the willpower to do this either. In fact, if she didn¡¯t have to get back to her friends she would have gladly participated in an endless battle of wills, as fighting in a highly restricted state was quite valuable. The perfect blade cracked in her hand. There wasn¡¯t even time for an exclamation of surprise from the Limitless Edge as the last vestige of her existence was destroyed. It didn¡¯t coincide with some sort of ultimate clash in the inner world¡­ because as she had said, it was her world. Maybe Chikere couldn¡¯t win there. Though personally, Chikere just hadn¡¯t wanted to take the time. Her vision returned to her, and the chill not of the world within the sword but instead the icy moon she was on. Or at least, a significant portion of an icy moon. There were a few slices missing, having been dislodged only to fall into the gravity of the gas giant below. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Chikere looked at the broken blade, and her blood flowed over it. The blade turned red with rust before becoming nothing. The Limitless Edge was gone. The person, the sword, and all of that. Oh, and the feeling of a hundred or so deaths was gone too. That¡­ actually could have been a problem given time. She was used to handling only a few nearly lethal wounds at once, and little more than that. Her head rose, looking around. There were a few bodies around her, but none had life, even those few ¡®disciples¡¯ with no apparent wounds. But just for the sake of thoroughness, she sliced the moon into tiny slivers and shoved it into the gas giant. It would be a shame if they came back and bothered someone else after she said they were gone. ----- Three of Sly¡¯s teeth were punched out of his mouth. That wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d experience it- indeed, it wasn¡¯t the first time this battle. He was going to run out soon enough. ¡°You hit pretty hard, for an old woman.¡± ¡°Hmph,¡± Kigal grunted. ¡°And you¡¯re just a spoiled brat. A traitor to your sect.¡± ¡°Nah,¡± Sly retorted. ¡°What did you say?¡± ¡°I said ¡®nah¡¯. It means ¡®nope¡¯ or ¡®no¡¯. As in, I am not a traitor.¡± ¡°Your entire lower realms faction joined with the riff-raff of the lower realms, betraying the Exalted Quadrant. Of course you are a traitor.¡± Sly¡¯s head snapped forward to catch her mighty fist. That prevented it from slamming into his ribcage and shattering¡­ well, re-shattering all of them. The old woman didn¡¯t look like much, but her power was far beyond her appearances. ¡°Yeah, so? I don¡¯t see what that¡¯s got to do with me.¡± ¡°Do you deny encouraging others to follow them?¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Sly said. ¡°Then you are a traitor.¡± Their knees cracked into each other, Sly of course being the one pushed back. ¡°Nah. That¡¯s not how that works. Unless¡­ are you a traitor?¡± ¡°How dare you suggest such a thing?¡± That made Kigal really quite angry, and she smashed several buildings behind him with a sweep of her leg. ¡°Then, me neither. Because I wasn¡¯t even there when they started that crap.¡± ¡°They¡¯re still your responsibility!¡± Kigal said. ¡°Therefore, you deserve your punishment.¡± His elbow met her other fist, aiming for a single finger. For most others, the shockwave passing through their energy would have at least bruised a finger, if not crushed it¡­ but Kigal was an Augmentation cultivator and Sly¡­ just wasn¡¯t. Not quite. ¡°If that¡¯s the case,¡± Sly began. ¡°Where¡¯s your punishment? Aren¡¯t you responsible for those below you?¡± ¡°Obviously. Which is why you¡¯re going to be punished with death.¡± ¡°Nah, that doesn¡¯t make sense,¡± Sly said, catching her hand with his palm. His whole arm went numb. ¡°You¡¯re higher up, you¡¯re more responsible for two different systems being fed up with the crap you give them. I could get if you wanted to beat me back onto the side of the Exalted Quadrant, but being upset because I chose a path? Can you even call yourself a member of the Hardened Crown Sect?¡± ¡°More than you.¡± Her leg whipped around to catch his back. There went the rest of his vertebrae. Sly went headfirst into the ground as well, digging a ditch a few hundred meters through the city they were fighting in. Well, at least all the civilians had been evacuated. He didn¡¯t think he could stand, though. Then he sensed something. A great disturbance from where Chikere had run off to. She was supposed to be helping him and instead she ran off to go see a sword. Well, he ultimately figured out she was fighting the Limitless Edge, but still. Margriet was busy with a bunch of others, so that left Sly a little bit outmatched. He was just going to lie there and let himself get squashed, but he felt the sharpness of Chikere¡¯s eyes watching him. Seems that she¡¯d won¡­ and really messed up the moon she was on, from what he could vaguely feel. The Limitless Edge was¡­ dead? No, way beyond that. He didn¡¯t sense even a ripple of energy from the battle that had been happening. Sly groaned and stood up. He couldn¡¯t let his prison break buddies down like this. Kigal was flying at him foot first with the weight of a few mountains. Sly blocked her attack with his face, halting her momentum and then flipping her backwards. He spit out a tooth. That had to be the last one, because he only five left. Sly just looked at Kigal, his face bruised and bloodied. ¡°Just because you resisted one move doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll survive, traitor,¡± the old woman emphasized the last word. ¡°Listen, old hag,¡± Sly said. ¡°You are making some assumptions. Like that I care about this as much as you do, and I really don¡¯t.¡± He shook his head wildly. Oh yeah, his vision was totally blurring. How many concussions had he had. ¡°But despite us being known for our stubbornness, I think your version is flawed. We¡¯re the Hardened Crown Sect. Not the Stubborn Ass sect.¡± It sounded better in his head. But either way, he leaned forward, digging his toes into the ground. His head wasn¡¯t for dumb things like thinking or talking. It was for smashing things with. Kigal didn¡¯t hesitate to charge towards him with just as much if not more ferocity. ¡°You think you can win this? Even if you break through to Augmentation right now you¡¯re still going to-¡± ¡°Shaddup, don¡¯t care,¡± Sly said. She did have a point though. If he wasn¡¯t in Augmentation, he wouldn¡¯t be strong enough. So he did that. Some people might need to have some sort of fancy enlightenment to grow stronger, and maybe for Sly getting hit in the head counted. But ultimately, he didn¡¯t know nor care how it worked. With a surge of upper energy, he felt his power bloom. And then he connected headfirst with her stomach, his forehead knocking aside her heel. She scalped him pretty good in that exchange, but he hit her midsection with his maximum amount of power. As an experienced Augmentation cultivator, she was able to distribute the force of his blow throughout her body¡­ which is why she simply got knocked backwards. But perhaps a bit faster than she had anticipated. She shot straight backwards a few hundred kilometers, skirting out of the atmosphere and away from the planet. Sly felt his jaw. Good, he still had his teeth. He¡¯d need to grow back the rest of them still, but he could do it. And hopefully Kigal wouldn¡¯t make it back in time for the battle to be over without her. His head hurt. Chapter 920 The death of the Limitless Edge was a significant victory for the Scarlet Alliance. In addition to taking out an Augmentation cultivator, all of the Limitless Edge disciples went catatonic- those who hadn¡¯t already perished in the battle with Chikere, of course. While they didn¡¯t make up the majority of the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s forces, it still relieved the pressure on their alliance. That was especially important given that Sly was seriously injured. Once he recovered the addition of a new Augmentation cultivator would be extremely valuable, but at the moment he was a weakness. He hadn¡¯t really won his battle so much as he¡¯d forced his enemy to disengage for a sufficient length of time for reinforcements to arrive. Yet even so, the Scarlet Alliance was pushed back on other fronts¡­ and there was still the looming threat of Zaur Beridze, the Domination cultivator of the Citadel of Exalted Light. Even without him, there were a sufficient amount of other Augmentation cultivators to keep the Scarlet Alliance on the back foot. ----- ¡°The situation is looking dire,¡± Catarina explained to a slightly larger council, due to the majority of their forces now being stationed on Lonkeon. ¡°We¡¯re near our last line of defense, and we have to assume we¡¯re facing a Domination cultivator here. I¡¯d be hesitant to do so even around Xankeshan, but we can¡¯t just abandon this much of our territory without doing something.¡± Timothy nodded, providing the next pieces of information. ¡°Zaur Beridze is not our only concern. It should be noted that Zazil is missing. She was not lost during a battle, but instead seems to have slipped away almost a month ago. Many of you were already aware of the lack of contact, but this is the official confirmation.¡± ¡°What are we waiting for? We should go rescue her,¡± Tauno declared. ¡°We would¡­ if she had been captured and we knew where she was,¡± Timothy clarified. ¡°However, by all indications she left peacefully, and the only indication we have of her direction was towards enemy lines, which would put her several systems away even if she didn¡¯t travel far. And we wouldn¡¯t know which system.¡± ¡°Why would she do that?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°We don¡¯t know,¡± Timothy said. ¡°If she had some plan valuable to the alliance, she certainly didn¡¯t share it.¡± ¡°She could easily be turning traitor,¡± Prasad offered. ¡°No way in hell!¡± Tauno said, cracking the table. ¡°She was one of the first of us. We fought a harder war against the Harmonious Citadel.¡± ¡°Was it?¡± Prasad asked. ¡°Because they had fewer Augmentation cultivators.¡± ¡°But we did as well. Now we¡¯re stronger. There¡¯s no way she¡¯d give in.¡± ¡°Everyone has a price,¡± Prasad said. Tauno glared at him, but Timothy stepped between them. He wasn¡¯t particularly fond of the idea of standing between a problematically spiky individual and another of great power, but it had to be done. ¡°Let¡¯s not make it easy for them by fighting among ourselves. Ultimately, we don¡¯t have enough information about that to confirm anything either way. There is more time sensitive news that we need to concern ourselves with.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Tauno asked, huffing and turning away from Prasad. ¡°The signals,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We¡¯ve been tracking the Trigold Cluster fleet. They recently just circumvented Xankeshan.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ good, right?¡± Tauno asked, looking around. ¡°It means we don¡¯t know their destination,¡± Prospero Vandale said. ¡°Which is still quite concerning.¡± ¡°Actually, it¡¯s pretty easy to determine based on their previous path,¡± Catarina said, pulling it up on the screen in three dimensions. ¡°Either they¡¯re passing straight through the center of our Alliance to provoke us, for fun, or because they¡¯re coming¡­ here,¡± she said, pointing down. ¡°Where?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Here,¡± Catarina pointed down again. ¡°Lonkeon.¡± Prasad frowned. ¡°They might be working together. Intending to cut off our retreat.¡± ¡°They might be,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°But of course, we don¡¯t know. We¡¯re already relocating fleets from Xankeshan to help deal with that possibility. If we¡¯re cut off here and wiped out¡­ well, the fleets alone couldn¡¯t defend Xankeshan without us for very long.¡± Kseniya coughed from the back of the room, drawing attention to herself. ¡°What if they¡¯re coming to help us?¡± ¡°Then we¡¯d need to know how and why¡­ and what the cost will be,¡± Prasad said. ¡°But allies don¡¯t slip in through the void.¡± He glanced towards Velvet. ¡°Mostly.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But unfortunately, we¡¯re constrained to fighting here¡­ or retreating all the way to Xankeshan. We don¡¯t have sufficient defenses anywhere else to handle just the Exalted Quadrant.¡± Prasad frowned. ¡°I would very much like to smash in the heads of everyone coming for us. But it¡¯s looking like it will be rather difficult. With us having already incorporated every potential ally in the region¡­ we¡¯ll just have to stand our ground. Unless¡­ something happened with the wildcard?¡± Though Prasad appeared reluctant to even say the name, his look towards Vari indicated his intentions clearly enough. ¡°I tried,¡± she said. ¡°But I got kicked out. His projections basically said he was busy with something important and that I should go home. Except not that politely.¡± Nobody liked the idea of Everheart doing something ¡®important¡¯. But at least they could hope he would stay out of their hair. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ----- Alva looked nervously into the skies, feeling the vague blob of approaching fleets. And, though she might be imagining it, a stronger point within it all. ¡°Are you certain the two of you should be here?¡± A bark answered her easily. ¡°Of course,¡± Fuzz said, stepping up next to her. ¡°We are as much of a part of the Scarlet Alliance as anyone else.¡± Spikes also made herself known, growling. ¡°This is also our best chance to advance. A mighty test. I would be more concerned for yourself.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll survive,¡± Alva said, assuring herself. ¡°But¡­ your pups¡­¡± Alva spoke in growls and barks, though the wolves could understand common language. It was good practice for whenever cultivators from Akrys began ascending and she would need to speak another non-human language. Actually, that was a good motivation to live. ¡°What about our pups?¡± Spikes asked. ¡°They are safe and secure at home, or they are adults who are spreading our bloodline throughout the stars. Our lineage is secure. Unlike yours.¡± ¡°Uhh, I¡­¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t really feel the need.¡± Fuzz snorted. ¡°Catarina was only able to have one child. Perhaps you could have had your own for your family¡¯s sake.¡± ¡°Nah, I¡¯m good. Besides, there are like a million of us in the lower realms,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°I was led to believe it was closer to ten thousand,¡± Fuzz said. ¡°I don¡¯t actually keep track of that stuff!¡± Alva said. ¡°Anton probably does, though.¡± ¡°Regardless,¡± Spikes barked. ¡°Most are not cultivators. We have few here in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Lots of people chose Assimilation. And I guess not all of us became serious cultivators,¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°Dammit.¡± ¡°What?¡± Fuzz looked up, sniffing. ¡°I can sense it for sure now. That power. If that¡¯s not a Domination cultivator, then I don¡¯t know what is.¡± She began fiddling with her bow and quiver of special arrows. ¡°We¡¯d better be ready. Within an hour they¡¯ll be within-¡± At that point, she sensed a series of Spirit Arrows flying past over the atmosphere. From the progenitor of the technique, of course. Kseniya was still just as bad at teaching as she had always been, but a valuable asset to the Alliance. Maybe she could take out some of their enemies ahead of time. That seemed reasonable. Until Alva picked out where the arrows were headed. And while she ultimately agreed that Kseniya had picked the easiest target, it was also the worst one. Zaur stood out like a beacon among everything else, as he had seemingly chosen to reveal his cultivation. So Kseniya could shoot at him, but could she really even hurt him? Most likely, she would just exhaust herself without really bothering him. She was only early Augmentation after all, and range wasn¡¯t good enough to make up for an entire realm. Alva lost track of the first arrows after a minute or so, and she expected they would take a few to reach their target. Kseniya had launched a few more waves, most likely meant to arrive in groups to make it most difficult to resist- but Alva didn¡¯t know how much that would matter. She just waited and watched until she felt something. A fluctuation of energy. Had Kseniya actually harmed Zaur somehow? That didn¡¯t seem possible, and so early¡­ if she had a trump card of some sort, why use it when he was at full power? For a few minutes after that, she was still wondering what was going on. However, she had to keep comms clear. If there was something important then it would be reported. And then Alva sensed that important thing. Zaur¡¯s energy was pulling away from the blob of the fleet, and approaching much more rapidly. Alva began to get a picture of Kseniya¡¯s plan, and as usual she didn¡¯t know whether it was great or incredibly stupid. Her comms lit up a moment later, not that she didn¡¯t already know the message that was going to be reported. ¡°The Domination cultivator Zaur Beridze of the Citadel of Exalted Light is approaching rapidly. Prepare to engage upon his arrival with maximum intensity.¡± Two wolves growled next to Alva. ¡°We¡¯ll tear him to shreds,¡± Spikes said. ¡°I¡¯ll burn him alive,¡± Fuzz added. ¡°Coming without his pack¡­ such arrogance!¡± Alva nodded. She really hoped it was arrogance. ----- ¡°I told you it would work,¡± Kseniya said to Timothy. ¡°Old cultivators are like kids. Easily provoked and stupid.¡± She smiled, ¡°And yes, that includes me. Though I¡¯m hardly older than you guys, now.¡± Even so, her appearance still remained older, as her more recent cultivation advancements had come late- and because cosmetic issues weren¡¯t something Kseniya concerned herself with. A youthful appearance was worth as little to her as a broken bowstring. ¡°It¡¯s a shame we couldn¡¯t prepare something better,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I would be extremely surprised if our formations are sufficient here. In fact, I would actually doubt that Xankeshan¡¯s formations would prove enough given what I am feeling. Our calculations were off by a significant factor. Then again, we never got to test against a Domination cultivator.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll do fine,¡± Timothy said. Catarina patted him on the head. ¡°I¡¯m just being realistic. What I really need you to believe in me for is my upgrades if we survive this.¡± ¡°When we survive,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Well, that part will be up to you I guess,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯m going to be slinking into the depths of the barrier where I¡¯m most effective.¡± ----- ¡°Well I never expected this possibility,¡± Prasad said as he flew towards the expected arrival location of Zaur along with Hoyt and Prospero. ¡°Do you think he¡¯s just trying to draw us together for some sort of trap?¡± Prospero Vandale shook his head. ¡°It feels far too honest for that. This will be a battle that will determine if any of us has the potential to reach Domination¡­ though even that won¡¯t necessarily mean the Scarlet Alliance survives to that point.¡± ¡°I¡¯d be upset,¡± Prasad said. ¡°But I doubt that a few more centuries of huddling down in my sect cultivating would have gotten me far. Experiencing something like this¡­ well, it might be the only chance. And honestly I¡¯d rather go down fighting a Domination cultivator than having the sect swarmed by countless weaklings.¡± He frowned. ¡°She stopped shooting.¡± ¡°Most likely conserving her energy,¡± Hoyt commented. ¡°He¡¯s likely still out of effective range.¡± ¡°Even managing to reach him at all is¡­ quite something,¡± Prasad commented. ¡°I hadn¡¯t expected this. I knew she could attack from quite a distance but¡­¡± Prospero grinned, ¡°She was probably fired up by her best disciple surpassing her distance by¡­ a significant margin.¡± Prasad frowned. ¡°That would be this¡­ Anton? In the lower realms?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°What odd times we live in,¡± Prasad said. ¡°Now then, how should we arrange ourselves?¡± They pondered that as they approached closer, ready to readjust their positioning if Zaur¡¯s trajectory changed. Chapter 921 The rapidly approaching mass of energy that was Zaur swiftly made it inside a more reasonable range for Kseniya. One functional for more than simply provoking, but potentially causing actual damage. Alone she couldn¡¯t hope to pierce his defenses, but with Lonkeon¡¯s fortifications and the other cultivators it was feasible. Her arrows flew along her chosen arcs, striking for vital points to the best of her ability while Prospero and Hoyt added their Falling Stars to the mix of attacks. Along with various other cultivators, faster ships and the orbital platforms joined the assault. The concentrated fire was sufficient to turn an Augmentation cultivator to dust in an instant, but rather than trying to minimize the damage taken, Zaur seemed to let it hit him head on purposefully. The man was a shining beacon, both of light and upper energy. While not everything directly hit him, his fists created rays of light that blasted away swaths of attacks while still having the energy to destroy ships and slay cultivators. For the Scarlet Alliance to take advantage of Zaur¡¯s approach, they had to cause him serious harm before the rest of the fleet arrived. Focusing as much of their forces on him as possible- without interfering with each other- was their best chance. Yet he didn¡¯t hesitate at all. The first to directly block his way was Prasad of the One Thousand Palms Sect. The man took on the form of a giant with a great number of arms. He struck out towards Zaur, exchanging hundreds of blows in a handful of seconds. At the same time, Zaur was bombarded with attacks¡­ but he didn¡¯t seem as if he would crumple anytime soon. Indeed, it only took him a few moments to prepare a counterattack that drove a spear of light through Prasad¡¯s chest. Prasad began to fall towards the gravity of Lonkeon, and Zaur continued on without a single change in his confident expression. The light extending from the man like rays from the sun cut apart most incoming attacks with great efficiency, and the rest made little progress in damaging his closer defenses. It seemed as if he was unstoppable¡­ but nobody gave up and ceased their assault. Timothy charged forward with great velocity. His shield was raised in front of him, providing a barrier that went far beyond the physical dimensions of the object. A wave of Zaur¡¯s hand caused a blast of light to surround him, but the power spilled around Timothy and he kept his momentum. He reached close enough to strike Zaur¡¯s midsection with his sword, but he didn¡¯t penetrate through his energy. Even so, he managed to get the first slight change in expression from the man, a twitch of annoyance, before the man slapped him away. The blow sent Timothy flying away, his shield dented and the arm holding it shattered. But personally, he felt rather proud for actually forcing the man to stop his movement for a single moment. Even so, if they survived this, he had a great motive to further improve his strength. Groups of cultivators began flinging themselves at Zaur, along with the constant bombardment of longer ranged attacks. Some managed to distribute the force of his counterattacks between them in such a way that they minimized damage, if mere survival could be called that. Others were not so fortunate, his light disintegrating them into nothing. Zaur¡¯s movements inevitably approached the orbital platform upon which Kseniya was standing, and its barrier delayed him for no more than ten seconds. When it cracked open, he took a single step to arrive in front of Kseniya, grabbing her left fist where she gripped her bow and crushing. Bones and bow alike snapped to pieces. ¡°You are an annoyance. An insect,¡± Zaur said. ¡°Did you truly think you could provoke me and survive?¡± Kseniya just grinned at him. ¡°That¡¯s the problem with old farts like you. All hung up on survival when you lack even basic dignity.¡± Her final act was to use her remaining hand to give him a rude gesture. Then light began to burst from within her until nothing was left. Zaur turned his head over his shoulder to look at his approaching fleet, still easily half an hour out. ----- Chidi shivered next to his master as he felt the power of a Domination cultivator. Never before had he had such a clear picture of anyone, even if in a way that power kept him from actually discerning any parts of the man¡¯s body. But his presence was on another level. ¡°So what do you think?¡± Chikere asked of him. ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°His flow of energy¡­ it¡¯s too much.¡± ¡°Too much?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°That seems¡­ irrelevant, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s too late to build a dam when a river is flooding,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Shoulda brought some void ants,¡± Chikere sighed. ¡°At the risk of compromising our entire plan on the border¡­¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°I would agree. Except there are limits to the energy even they can withstand. Crossed Antennae is the preeminent queen in the upper realms, but I don¡¯t imagine she could tackle this yet. And numbers wouldn¡¯t work here.¡± Chidi ¡®looked¡¯ over towards his master, though of course he mostly took in her presence. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you up there?¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°I think it¡¯s pretty obvious, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t have a sword.¡± She spread her arms wide. ¡°What can I say? That¡¯s only part of it though. His power is¡­¡± ¡°Too much?¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Not interesting enough. I wouldn¡¯t learn anything, and I¡¯ll be a lot more effective against the incoming fleets.¡± Chidi felt the barrier on the orbital platform shatter and flinched. He wanted to run to Kseniya¡¯s aid. She was an interesting woman. But it was too late. And he knew it wouldn¡¯t help. Managing the flow of his own energy and Zaur¡¯s to try to negate everything was¡­ far beyond him, and obviously he couldn¡¯t overcome that energy directly. The flow of energy around Lonkeon finally finished its hidden shifts a few moments after Kseniya¡¯s death. It was unfortunate, but perhaps the exchange of words slowed him down just enough. ----- ¡°Dammit,¡± Catarina cursed to herself. ¡°They were supposed to slow him down¡­ not do whatever that was.¡± But of course, they hadn¡¯t anticipated how difficult it would be to slow down a Domination cultivator. Still, as the flow of energy snapped into place, Catarina felt a moment of relief. She¡¯d been worried that the orbital platform would be destroyed before she finished activating the formations fully, or that Zaur Beridze would notice and escape the area. Instead, he was now trapped. For how long¡­ that Catarina didn¡¯t know. The intent of the formations was to drain away Zaur¡¯s energy, but their systems were practically flooded with excess energy and he didn¡¯t feel as if he was losing anything. Domination was a great mystery, and perhaps he had a great source¡­ or maybe he simply had a vast amount of devotion empowering himself. That was something they could delve into after the battle. A small beep indicated an opening of the connection to Engineer Uzun. ¡°Our systems are flooded with energy! They¡¯re about to burst!¡± ¡°Redirect it towards our long range artillery,¡± Catarina suggested. ¡°That fleet should be close enough. And I have the feeling directly targeting Zaur would be a mistake.¡± At the moment the man was testing his range of motion within the barrier. It wasn¡¯t just a containment barrier, of course. In addition to draining his energy it should have reasonably killed most people. Waves of heat alternated with shocking cold, and many forms of exotic radiation were piercing through the area. The second best tech and formation mastery that the Scarlet Alliance had to offer was all there- but Catarina imagined that their actual best might still be lacking, even with Xankeshan¡¯s formations restored and improved. Another beep. ¡°Are you getting that?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°Indeed. What timing.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a coincidence,¡± the engineer said. ¡°Our mysterious fleet is here.¡± ¡°If we die, I¡¯m going to study pure technology for the beginning of my next life,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And how would you know that? You expect to keep your memories?¡± ¡°Not really. But it¡¯s good to have plans.¡± She swiveled around. She was still directing changes in the formations to try to have more visible impact on Zaur. Talking wasn¡¯t that much of a distraction. But having someone show up in person in such a crisis was concerning. Not many people had access to the area. It was Prasad. He limped through the doors. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°You should be getting that hole looked at.¡± ¡°I will,¡± Prasad grunted. ¡°Just need to tell you¡­ about Zazil.¡± ¡°Seriously? Now is when you reveal secrets?¡± Catarina looked towards him. ¡°Just stay outside the line.¡± ¡°Not¡­ stupid,¡± he grimaced, blood spilling through his hands and settling onto the floor. ¡°You need to¡­ prioritize other targets. Other than Zazil, I mean. It will¡­ make sense¡­¡± At that point the man collapsed unconscious, bleeding out on her floor. Great. Where was Catarina going to find someone with the security clearance to drag away his hopefully unconscious body during a crisis like this? ----- Spikes grunted as she and Fuzz rode on a kilometer wide asteroid she had scavenged from another part of the system. ¡°I was too slow. Should have thought of this ahead of time.¡± Currently, she¡¯d thrown them into an extremely unstable orbit of the planet, but she was ready to reangle their path at any moment. To crash into the Domination cultivator, of course. ¡°Inspiration may strike at any moment,¡± Fuzz growled supportively. ¡°I think biting at his legs would have been a bit less effective.¡± Inside of Fuzz, he held his own power of flames, ready to use them to enhance their combined assault. Because if they were going to fight someone with such power, they weren¡¯t going to be able to hold back for even a moment. Maximum output was the only option. Spikes jumped up when a voice suddenly appeared in her ear, then she settled back down. ¡°I¡¯ll never get used to this technology stuff,¡± she barked. ¡°Perhaps not,¡± Fuzz replied. He kept his words short as he listened to the information. ¡°Seems we¡¯re still needed.¡± The trembling formations had already told them that Zaur wasn¡¯t going to remain trapped for long. But the plan was not to wait until he broke out. Instead, they were going to collapse the formation on him in a burst of energy. That would be the optimal time to crash their little asteroid onto him. Spikes was altering their rotation to try to match up with the timing. It would be difficult not to telegraph the assault in some way, but Zaur might not predict which rotation would be the one. Fuzz sniffed as he passed by, and along with the smell of death from the orbital platform, there was a slight feeling of frustration. It seemed the man did not handle even small setbacks well. Then it was time. Fuzz focused his powers as the comet crashed into Zaur with the two wolves on the far side- but as expected, the mass of rock was cracked open as it struck him even with Spikes¡¯ power augmenting it. His movements were locked completely for a moment, and more were following behind the wolves as they dove through the broken chunks of rock. The stone suddenly began to reform into a molten sea, the two wolves combining their power. Zaur¡¯s light turned everything that touched him to dust, but the two wolves arrived in front of the man uninjured. Then they bit towards his legs. And given their size, most of his midsection as well. The two of them were blasted away as light exploded within their mouths, tearing apart their teeth and the inside of their mouths. The two wolves let themselves get flung away to make room for other assailants. Fuzz and Spikes exchanged a single look, the damage they had sustained not foremost on their mind. Because they both had smelled the tiniest bit of blood that was not their own, nor of their allies. They had no way to know if they caused that injury themselves, as nobody could see Zaur¡­ but they were eager to report to the Alliance to raise morale. If either of them could make their jaws function. Chapter 922 The news about the actual potential to harm Zaur spread quickly throughout the local Alliance. Even though they were embroiled in combat, the information that he wasn¡¯t actually invincible was useful. Being able to defeat him was another matter entirely. He might eventually be worn down by their numbers, but not before the remaining fleets arrived. That meant fighting the whole of the enemy forces while many were tired or injured¡­ and where some were already dead. The Scarlet Alliance hardly had Augmentation cultivators to spare, but Kseniya¡¯s ploy had still been a worthy attempt to take out their greatest opponent. Presuming they could drive back the Exalted Quadrant without losing any Augmentation cultivators was simply unrealistic. Even their assault with the formations crushing Zaur had only caused him the most minor of injuries, and it looked as if they would have to retreat. That was not something they had ever hoped to do, as fleeing all the way to Xankeshan would essentially leave the rest of the Scarlet Alliance open to the Exalted Quadrant. Their promises of protection would be almost entirely worthless¡­ even if they hadn¡¯t intended them falsely. Then there was another matter. They might not even be able to flee, because there was a mysterious force entering the system. Catarina had shifted her attention to monitor them when the external formations restraining Zaur were ruined. Everyone was just waiting for someone to call the retreat. Staying to fight would only mean more deaths, unless they found some sort of flaw that would allow them to seriously injure or kill Zaur. Catarina bit her lip. It was difficult to think rationally when Timothy was one of those at risk, repeatedly striking forward to hinder Zaur for even another moment while in the process sustaining more and more injuries. He was supported by many other cultivators, of course, but there was only so much they could do when their attacks barely seemed to scratch Zaur¡¯s energy. A ten meter wide pillar of light blasted towards Alva, who was firing upon Zaur from a distance. Somehow, Timothy managed to maneuver himself to block¡­ but Catarina could sense both his energy and the durability of his shield dropping rapidly. She almost thought to join the fight herself, even though she knew that she was needed to manage the formations while they continued to evacuate civilians. Then, she felt it. A brief blip in the overwhelming flow of energy from Zaur, and then his attention suddenly shifted from attacking Scarlet Alliance cultivators, all at once condensing his light tightly around himself. A crackly voice echoed down upon Lonkeon. ¡°You¡¯re a long way from home, Zaur.¡± Even though she heard the voice, Catarina wasn¡¯t able to resolve it to coming from a particular location. Nor could she sense the energy of this mysterious cultivator. Could it be the hidden fleet? Indeed, their sensors were picking up something, though the readings were distorted by Zaur¡¯s presence nearby. ¡°Ratna.¡± Zaur spit out the word like the foulest curse. ¡°I should have expected this Scarlet Alliance was working with some of your ilk. None but the Trigold Cluster have the guts to stand up to us.¡± A deep cackle echoed around the planet. ¡°Sorry to tell you, but you¡¯re wrong. I was just tipped off to your presence here. And from what I can tell, you were having a hard time with these kids.¡± Sensing the shifting energy of Zaur, Catarina realized that they weren¡¯t simply talking. It was just that their battle was happening on a level difficult to perceive. Zaur¡¯s physical body was moving beneath his aura of brilliance, but just like looking directly at the sun would blow out vision, so too did directly sensing his energy burn a lasting imprint. One that didn¡¯t remain true. The sudden appearance of new damage on the orbital platform supported that theory, and then it began to break into larger chunks, with whatever portions got close to Zaur disintegrating. And that happened to cultivators as well, the first few Scarlet Alliance members who thought they would take advantage of the distraction to harm Zau. ¡°I¡¯m not on your side, kids.¡± The voice that was presumably Ratna declared. ¡°But I¡¯m also not here for you just yet. So just stay out of my way.¡± Not that anyone seemed able to interfere anyway. Catarina focused her senses and finally began to pick out the deeper flow of energy. She couldn¡¯t pick out the other vessels with Ratna. Were they waiting for something? She certainly didn¡¯t sense them participating. However, she did manage to pick out more details about the battle happening. Zaur¡¯s zone of movement had widened, and the two of them were tearing about the very expensive orbital defense platform. Zaur seemed to finally be countering with attacks of his own, very concentrated slivers of light that seemed to disappear randomly, along with other sections of his defensive aura. For the first time, Catarina could actually sense a dip in his total energy. ¡°Uzun,¡± Catarina spoke through their comms directly to the lead Engineer. ¡°Focus on the incoming Quadrant fleet. I¡¯m going to keep my attention on this battle, and the barrier.¡± She winced as the two of them scraped past the planetary barrier, deflecting off of it only because they came in at a shallow angle. Yet dropping the barrier would absolutely subject the planet below to collateral damage. But if she was only focusing on them, perhaps she could redirect its flow somehow¡­ The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ----- Sly was unsuccessfully trying to ignore the largest battle he¡¯d ever been near as the enemy approached. His attention finally managed to focus when Kigal¡¯s presence came into his mind. Ah well, looks like he had a grudge match to get to. His half healed bones crackled as he stretched his body, and he looked around at the others with them¡­ those who could still fight. Too many of them were already down for the count due to Zaur. Perhaps they should have waited¡­ but they had no basis to expect that a mysterious individual would show up and attack their greatest enemy. Zaur fighting alongside these incoming fleets that had constantly pushed them back¡­ would have been a massacre. He could have taken out Augmentation cultivators left and right. They might have all been wiped out before the mysterious Ratna revealed herself. Sly cracked his neck. Thinking about what might have been was for suckers. Instead, it was his job to think about how he could make things as difficult as possible for Kigal. ----- Chikere had come to the realization that her favored opponents were no longer part of their enemy forces, and thus she¡¯d found herself directed to fight against the Citadel of Exalted Light. The reasoning was quite simple. They used light, she could cut light. Though really that would have been a good reason for her to fight any of the incoming enemies. Except maybe the Hardened Crown Sect. Her battle with the Limitless Edge had been enlightening, but not so much in terms of cutting annoyingly durable enemies. Since the other major option was distortion beasts and the Fanboys of the Beyond or whatever, the Citadel seemed like a good target. Besides, that one lady who worked for them had been the one who captured her during her low point. Chikere still wanted revenge for that, though she didn¡¯t see whatever her name was here today. She did see one person who had been pointed out as ¡®Laurit¡¯ however. An Augmentation cultivator she might fight if it wasn¡¯t too annoying. Otherwise she could just cut down the rest of them and leave that for¡­ well, not Prasad, Timothy, or unfortunately Kseniya. Maybe Alva. Or Zazil, except the part where she¡¯d up and vanished. No wait, there she was standing among the Beyond Boys. Well, not Chikere¡¯s problem. Waiting for her enemies to come to her wasn¡¯t her style, so once they were close enough she cut a tiny little hole in space and hopped closer. ¡°Hey you!¡± Yeah this Augmentation woman didn¡¯t have a sword so her name was already gone. ¡°Catch!¡± Chikere gave her an easy one. A wide swipe. Nothing simpler to dodge than that. And as it turned out, she did dodge it. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the ship or half of the crew, however. They should have learned to duck. Or instantly shift a hundred meters at the speed of light like this lady. Alright, Chikere realized she might actually have fun with this one. Time to see how she reacted to two simultaneous attacks. Then three. Then maybe a hundred. ----- Tauno grimaced as he saw Zazil. It wasn¡¯t just his annoyance that Prasad might be right. It was that he hadn¡¯t seen any of it coming. His memories filled in hundreds of tiny signs of their time together¡­ but Tauno knew those could just as easily be false flags based on his current understanding of the situation. ¡°How does this even make sense?¡± he demanded without preamble. ¡°The situation is quite different from when we fought the Harmonious Citadel,¡± Zazil shrugged. ¡°Different situations require making the best choice.¡± ¡°Yeah well¡­¡± Tauno pointed half a dozen spines towards her, menacingly causing them to grow. ¡°We¡¯re going to have a very violent talk after I cut down the rest of these fellows.¡± Zazil just smiled. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to it.¡± Tauno hadn¡¯t actually been standing around talking for nothing. He was giving the Disciples of the Beyond time to figure out there were no local distortion beasts to call upon, which meant then combining their efforts to form a greater projection between all of them. He didn¡¯t let them enter their combined battle form out of some sort of misplaced arrogance or the desire to fight the biggest monster and prove himself. He already knew full well he could beat monsters half the size of planets if it came down to it. Which was the whole point. The Dancing Slayer Sect could absolutely kill humans¡­ but they were specialists at fighting monsters. And taking down one big beastie was much more straightforward. There was a small problem he hadn¡¯t anticipated involving Zazil. She distributed about half of her weird floating rings to each of herself and the local bigwig of the Disciples, Zhelyazko. Those rings were useful for attack, defense, and augmenting energy. So perhaps the beast would be a bit stronger than anticipated. But even so, Tauno watched without worry as their combined monster began to stretch through and behind space. Then when he was sure it was in place, he charged forward into one of its open mouths, a wave of Dancing Slayer Sect disciples following along with him- though some chose to attack externally. As teeth bit down around Tauno, he flexed his body¡­ and the spikes around him expanded and expanded. Ten meters, a hundred meters¡­ they could probably go further, if he could wrap his head around it. But either way, they did a great job of stabbing between the endless rows of teeth into whatever flesh happened to be available. And the spikes didn¡¯t care too much about whether those bits were hiding behind normal space. Tauno twisted and flexed. He couldn¡¯t really rotate with the spikes extended, and he kind of wished he could have gotten one of those beasts with the parts that were nearly infinitely sharp in all directions. But the extending spikes were great too. He agitated the beast around him and when they decided to try to reshape the beast around him, he snapped the spikes in more closely and dove deeper. His goal was to reach the cultivators themselves, seemingly safe hidden inside their great distortion beast. And perhaps they were slightly safer. But now that Tauno was inside, they couldn¡¯t really move away from him¡­ and he could keep moving closer to them. As long as they didn¡¯t grow too many new teeth inside his lungs and devour him from the inside out, but he was more prepared for such a situation than they might realize. He was going to cut them apart, and then he was going to have a very pointy talk with his former ally. Chapter 923 With every move Sly matched Kigal¡¯s strikes, he felt his body ache. His bones creaked, threatening to break again. And yet, the fight he was directly engaged in wasn¡¯t as impactful as another fight happening nearby. The waves of energy from the battle of two Domination cultivators were fortunately equally damaging to both sides. Obviously they could move their battle further away, but the Hardened Crown Sect wasn¡¯t full of wimps. ¡°How¡¯s it feel to fight someone in the same stage as you for once?¡± Sly commented as the two of them clashed. ¡°I¡¯ll let you know when it happens,¡± Kigal responded. ¡°Just because you broke through to Augmentation doesn¡¯t mean you can defeat me. Not everyone within a stage is the same.¡± ¡°Clearly not,¡± Sly said. ¡°Otherwise you wouldn¡¯t have lost last time.¡± The response to that involved Kigal¡¯s fists slamming down on Sly, sending him bouncing off of the planetary barrier, only to be slammed back down again before he could arrest his momentum. ¡°Lost? Hardly. Your surprise knocked me far enough away that I couldn¡¯t rejoin the battle in a reasonable timeframe, but it¡¯s not like I was injured. Unlike you, with every rib broken.¡± ¡°Broken bones grow back stronger,¡± Sly countered, standing shakily. ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re going to lose.¡± ¡°Idiot. They haven¡¯t even had time to heal yet.¡± Sly shrugged. He didn¡¯t particularly care about that. ----- Chikere circled around her opponent, cutting down anyone who dared to get too close to their mutual battle while keeping Laurit between her and the battle of the Domination cultivators. Chikere had gotten used to the woman¡¯s lightspeed steps, and was beginning to glean the deeper patterns of her movements. Anywhere she went she would find Chikere was ready to attack, keeping her constantly on her toes. Those constant movements did make it more difficult for Chikere to keep Laurit on the side of the Domination battle, however. ¡°Can¡¯t handle the shockwaves?¡± Laurit commented. ¡°You¡¯re the one who seems to be having trouble with it.¡± ¡°Hmph, hardly. I¡¯ve experienced the might of Zaur up close before.¡± ¡°Yeah, you do seem like the sort who gets up close and personal,¡± Chikere commented, her face mostly neutral. Laurit¡¯s eye twitched¡­ and with two sudden movements, she was immediately behind Chikere, her palm pressed against her back. Light surged from her palm¡­ but the results weren¡¯t exactly what she was expecting. She pierced through Chikere¡¯s defensive energy, but an instantaneous counter found her suddenly withdrawing her hand and retreating to a great distance. She felt like she¡¯d been stabbed thousands of times, and her palm was dripping blood. Fortunately, she¡¯d pulled away fast enough that she wasn¡¯t chopped to pieces¡­ because she hadn¡¯t been far from that. Meanwhile, she saw Chikere standing in her same position. At least there was a clear wound on her back with blood dripping from it. ¡°If you don¡¯t pay attention to me, you¡¯re going to regret it,¡± Laurit commented. ¡°... but the battle over there is so much more interesting,¡± Chikere replied. Laurit frowned. This lower realms brat thought she was something special. But could she handle Domination shockwaves along with Laurit¡¯s own attacks? Doubtful. She held her position, waiting for the perfect timing. It came when a spear of light from Zaur blasted in the general direction of their battlefield. Laurit was flooded with power, while Chikere¡¯s energy flow trembled. Learning from her previous mistake, Laurit wove through the field of blood that the sword cultivator used. She stopped slightly further from Chikere. Her blood would take a moment to reach her, but Laurit¡¯s attacks came at the speed of light. Dual fists punched forward, striking directly at her back. Then her arms were cut apart from the inside, her flow of light flowing into the void and never reaching her target. ¡°... how?¡± ¡°I cut you,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Obviously. And I just copied her,¡± Chikere pointed towards Ratna, the other Domination cultivator. ¡°But you know¡­ sharper.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t even make sense,¡± Laurit grimaced. ¡°The Veiled Brilliance isn¡¯t that sort of technique.¡± Chikere turned her head to look over her shoulder. ¡°I told you. Sharper. Also, you really should have been paying attention.¡± Laurit only briefly comprehended why her vision grew fuzzy. Perhaps if she¡¯d had longer to think about it, she would have realized that was a haze of Chikere¡¯s blood-swords. But she was already surrounded and wounded, so she was quickly finished off without the opportunity to realize why. Chikere shook her head. ¡°So rude. She kept interrupting while I was watching the fight.¡± Some others from the Citadel of Exalted Light had as well. Now, there weren¡¯t so many of them left in the immediate vicinity. ----- Tauno twisted and tore his way through the distortion beast projected by the Disciples of the Beyond. Each wound he caused was more than just a slice of energy taken from them, but something more as he found his way closer to the core of the beast and their most prominent cultivators. Zhelyazko was there, along with Zazil. Protected and enhanced by her, even. Tauno had picked out where they were hiding within the beast, and pulled out one of his favorite bone axes to slice away the beast around them. Their faces were revealed to him, including a smiling Zazil. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. And then¡­ something odd happened. Tauno punched forward, extending spines running parallel to his wrist and towards Zhelyazko. He expected to find great resistance with the man¡¯s own energy augmented by Zazil¡¯s rings¡­ but instead the spikes pierced through the man like paper. Or like he was attacking a bound captive. The look of surprise on the man¡¯s face indicated he hadn¡¯t expected it either, and Zhelyazko barely turned his head towards Zazil. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. Well, Tauno was probably going to ask pretty much the same question. He flicked his wrist to make sure the man was well and truly dead, then focused his eyes on Zazil. ¡°What the hell was that, huh?¡± ¡°What did it look like?¡± Zazil asked, her rings pulling away from the dead man and settling into a wobbly orbit around her. ¡°A desperate attempt to rescind your betrayal and get back into my good graces.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Zazil said. ¡°I suppose that does make sense, but¡­ if you look at the bigger picture you¡¯ll find I never stopped being on your side.¡± ¡°What about the part where you enhanced the big beastie these guys made?¡± Tauno gestured, vaguely realizing that the projection was falling apart with the loss of its core cultivator. And he hadn¡¯t been the only one attacking, of course. ¡°That was just for show.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, your show might have helped kill hundreds of our own people.¡± ¡°Is that too much?¡± Zazil asked. ¡°In exchange for an Augmentation cultivator, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you would take this so poorly,¡± she said. ¡°Just speak to Prasad. He¡¯ll tell you.¡± Tauno shifted his body, retracting some of his spikes while extending others. Some went towards Zazil, others targeted other members of the Disciples of the Beyond who were suddenly finding themselves more vulnerable. ¡°How convenient. I¡¯m sure you chose an incapacitated cultivator as your cover exactly for that reason. He was the one most convinced you were a traitor. If you were really doing this just for an opportunity, why not tell me?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re a crap actor,¡± Zazil said. ¡°... Okay but-¡± ¡°Look, it¡¯s pretty clear who¡¯s going to lose this battle¡­ aside from whatever happens with those Domination cultivators. Perhaps if you¡¯re so concerned about the loss of allied lives we should get to fighting. The Exalted Quadrant would obviously not be fond of my presence since I openly helped you kill that guy,¡± she gestured. ¡°I promise you can take me in and verify later.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re telling me to trust you instead of Prasad. But you trusted Prasad to pretend to not trust you. So if I don¡¯t trust him, and you¡¯re telling the truth, maybe I shouldn¡¯t trust you?¡± Tauno tilted his head to the side. ¡°Ah, whatever. Just kill those guys and we¡¯ll talk later,¡± Tauno gestured to an area that still had quite a few Disciples of the Beyond. There were still more than a few enemy Augmentation cultivators among enemy forces. ----- Little by little, the battle of the Domination cultivators began to shift away from the planetary barrier of Lonkeon. Catarina breathed a sigh of relief, because whether or not it was a temporary situation neither she nor the barrier would have lasted much longer. That Ratna woman¡­ certainly, Catarina hadn¡¯t heard about her being on their side. Nor did she seem to be taking any care for what collateral damage happened. The battle only seemed to be moving away from the planet because Zaur was actually moving. And if she wasn¡¯t wrong¡­ he was retreating. The two masses of energy beating on each other had actually diminished somewhat. They were probably still near two thirds of their total capacity, but it was a measurable diminishment in their power. If the two were exchanging words, they weren¡¯t giving anyone the courtesy of a nice field of energy to transmit that information¡­ and Catarina¡¯s sensory energy crumbled anytime she got close. So she could only passively observe what was happening. If that was the case, she should make use of some local technology. Nothing fancy, just some telescopes with cameras on them to record things. When she accessed the system, she found Uzun had already activated them and was focused on the battle. Even with the filters preventing a complete white-out of the screen, following the battle was difficult. Flashes of movement in one spot led Zaur to appear somewhere else and required a refocus to get him back in their sight. Perhaps only a third of the time did they have anything more than a blurry image. But Catarina thought she saw some wounds on the man¡­ and that was backed up by his energy growing unsteady. And then¡­ he was gone. No, he simply appeared a vast distance away, and the sense of his energy was out of reach for a moment. Even within the gravity well of a system, it seemed Zaur was able to move significantly faster than the speed of light. They¡¯d observed it to a small extent before, when Kseniya provoked him, but his current flight seemed to be much more than that. Perhaps they should thank this Ratna. Or maybe it would be better to do nothing unless she addressed them first. She hadn¡¯t seemed the friendliest sort, and was just here to fight an old rival of sorts. Ratna¡¯s energy followed after Zaur, but her ability to catch up to the fleeing individual seemed limited. Even so, the whole battlefield noticed the event¡­ which brought about a huge shift in morale. Whatever parts of the battlefield were in favor of the Exalted Quadrant suddenly began to collapse, while those already in the favor of the Scarlet Alliance quickly turned into a massacre. ----- ¡°Looks like it¡¯s time for me to go,¡± Kigal said. ¡°Hah. I won,¡± Sly grinned. ¡°Hardly. You¡¯re a few moments from death. At most, you could say it was a draw.¡± Sly coughed. ¡°That¡¯s right. And you were also right about me being weaker than you. I really am. Which means that because it¡¯s a draw, I win.¡± ¡°I- you-¡± the old woman¡¯s face wrinkled in annoyance, but seeing the approaching enemy cultivators she just shook her head. ¡°Think whatever your thick skull wants. It doesn¡¯t make it true. That said, it¡¯s clear that the Exalted Quadrant had lost here today¡­ even if I haven¡¯t.¡± Sly watched her leave. He wondered if that meant she considered herself not as part of them. Or maybe the Hardened Crown Sect. He might have thought of more if he¡¯d remained conscious for longer. Instead, he passed out and was drawn into Lonkeon¡¯s gravity, where his fall was cushioned by the barrier. He would be picked up later by one of their ships, once they were available. Even though they knew they had won, a great victory for the Scarlet Alliance, the majority of them were already thinking about what would happen next time. But instead of despairing about their lack of strength, they simply resolved to grow even more. They might not be a match for the powers around them yet¡­ but handling even a small slice of them was good enough. And while they hadn¡¯t caused the majority of the injuries of the Domination cultivator themselves, there would be information about what little they had done. Only accomplishing a small wound would be treated as a badge of honor at how they had grown rather than a sign of their own weakness. Next time, they would do more, both individually and with the Alliance as a whole. Chapter 924 A fast ship carried Tauno from Lonkeon along the path of the Disciples of the Beyond¡¯s retreat- not all of the Exalted Quadrant were flying together. He wasn¡¯t the only one, but his condition was one of the best among the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s Augmentation cultivators. Others were heading towards other systems to reclaim them and hopefully secure as many of their resources as possible. Tauno was going to do the same, it was merely that some of those resources would be with their retreating foes already. The Exalted Quadrant forces on the planet were quite surprised when Tauno arrived ahead of their own forces- with the exception of Zaur who was apparently still moving with great speed. Tracking his movements was quite easy, as they still had active remote systems on the occupied planets. The Exalted Quadrant didn¡¯t understand their technology not based on energy, and they hadn¡¯t brought sufficient forces to perform more than token occupations, forcing the local citizenry to keep their heads down. The Disciples of the Beyond that Tauno tore his way through didn¡¯t last long. Those with skills leaning more towards formations and technology were able to get a portion of the planet¡¯s defenses functional before the Disciples arrived. They were being followed closely by more Scarlet Alliance fleets, and wresting the planet from their tenuous control meant they couldn¡¯t stop and recoup for even a moment. Just as they were passing by, however, battle sprung out¡­ and it wasn¡¯t the Scarlet Alliance catching up to them. No, they were still somewhat behind having taken a short time to properly reorganize around Lonkeon. Instead, the attacking ships appeared from nowhere¡­ just like Ratna. Information specialists helpfully provided Tauno with the name of the sect. Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. Their threat rating had been high before it was confirmed they had a Domination cultivator, and now they were even more so. However, their current hostility was not towards the Scarlet Alliance¡­ and thus Tauno was content to sit back and watch the clash. Not that it was much to look at. The Disciples of the Beyond were already exhausted, and the Veiled Brilliance cultivators were fresh. The former were also down an Augmentation cultivator, while Tauno counted three among the fleet¡­ a fleet that wasn¡¯t as small as the Scarlet Alliance had presumed. Merely detecting them had apparently been the limits of their current sensors. Tauno had some time to think for the first time in a while, and what he thought about was Zazil¡¯s role in things. It was true she hadn¡¯t caused any harm to the alliance, but he didn¡¯t know if that was just an excuse. Either way, she was still back on Lonkeon. Ultimately, they¡¯d known each other long enough that Tauno was willing to believe her betrayal hadn¡¯t been genuine. That wasn¡¯t what bothered him so much as the lack of trust in him. Certainly, he was not much of a diplomat¡­ but that was exactly why it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal to tell him what was going on. He might not be good at keeping secrets, but he also didn¡¯t have many people he could reveal secrets to. But she had helped secure the death of Zhelyazko, and much more easily than it could have been. Without that, Tauno might have currently been injured or exhausted, unable to participate in this part of the war efforts. Tauno watched as the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance brought down the Disciples of the Beyond and started gobbling up the remains of their ships and of course taking what resources they carried. Resources that probably half or more came from the Scarlet Alliance. But what were they going to do about it? Frankly, they couldn¡¯t have retrieved most of those themselves, and it still felt good to see them suffer the consequences. ----- A few ships with longer ranges shot down as many fleeing ships from the Citadel of Exalted Light as they could. The Hardened Crown Sect built their ships as tough as themselves, so it was easier to focus on the Citadel. With them having the biggest stake in the war, it was also the best form of retribution. The Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t suddenly have enough forces to completely wipe out the rest of the intruders, and though they would have liked to chase them all the way back to the Exalted Quadrant they left them at their own borders. There was other work to do that didn¡¯t involve risking lives for limited gain. And while many people were left with personal grudges they were unable to fulfill, that was the case with most conflicts. They were already fortunate to have stood up to a slightly serious assault. Reconstruction efforts would begin immediately, and various plans were reconsidered- specifically Catarina¡¯s most extreme plans. Suddenly it seemed like pouring all of their resources into some sort of larger defensive project wasn¡¯t so unreasonable. Even if it took decades or centuries to complete, it was clear the Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t continue as it was. Someday they might have enough cultivators of sufficient caliber to stand independent without worry, but that would be an even further future. ----- Only a few months later, Uzun landed on Bounty. The Scarlet Alliance was having to rethink many of their policies, and one of those involved the void ants. They were aware of the risks, of course. If they were known to be sheltering or worse allying with void ants, the Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster might even work together to wipe them out. On the other hand, it would only take a small portion of either to eradicate them as things stood. Personally, Uzun favored the void ants. He was from Rutera, and while he¡¯d trained in energy cultivation he¡¯d also studied pure technology. He had no worries about void ants suddenly trying to devour him, probably even less than he was concerned about any of the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s other allies suddenly turning on them. But he also understood that the void ants could draw in further trouble if their association was known. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. So it simply couldn¡¯t be found out. And he was here today to begin what might be a very long process. If nothing else, void ants could live on Xankeshan. They would still have to remain secret from the general public there, but not having void ants among the Scarlet Alliance nearly proved to be a fatal mistake. Because their enemies were stronger than them¡­ which was exactly the sort of thing void ants helped balance out. Xaur himself would have been a problem. Void ants weren¡¯t completely immune to all energy. However, with enough void ants they could have taken him out. And while sacrificing thousands or millions of sapient or potentially sapient individuals sounded horrific¡­ well, Uzun was the practical sort who would prefer to balance that against billions. He wasn¡¯t going to say that void ants were worth less individually- the void ants themselves could judge how they felt about that. But if they could take out a domination cultivator, it was really a small sacrifice overall. ¡°For all those reasons,¡± Uzun finished his proposal to Crossed Antennae. ¡°We now invite you to establish a colony on Xankeshan.¡± The void ants response was clear and swift as she signed. ¡°No.¡± Uzun waited for a moment, sure there would be more. ¡°... Why?¡± ¡°That is not my purpose here in the upper realms. And if we get revealed among you, it may also compromise our people on the border¡­ and thus our coordination with the lower realms. That is, ultimately, where we¡¯ve had our homes.¡± Uzun frowned, but nodded. ¡°I too was born in the lower realms,¡± he said. ¡°And I would like to think I keep their interests in mind. Or rather, the Scarlet Alliance is made up in large part of those from the lower realms who are still quite attached. What if¡­ I could assure you you would not be found out?¡± ¡°Then I would say you have fooled yourself with false numbers. Because there is no perfect guarantee of such a thing. Even a small risk of one in a hundred or a thousand could jeopardize our operation and cost far more lives than even the greatest colony could make up for. And that before even considering the lower realms.¡± ¡°I see you have a good head for numbers,¡± Uzun nodded. ¡°What if¡­ we could improve the efficiency of your operations here?¡± ¡°Then you should do so without a colony on Xankeshan,¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°It is ultimately also in your interests.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been trying,¡± Uzun said honestly. ¡°But there are problems with testing, you might imagine. We can¡¯t exactly ship prototypes out here months away, especially of modules not capable of interstellar transportation. If you yourself were on Xankeshan, you wouldn¡¯t be much further from the edges of your expanding influence, and there would be many benefits.¡± ¡°It still sounds foolish. Would not ships coming and going be obvious?¡± ¡°We could transport an entire colony on one of our normal cargo ships without even making a noticeable dent in their storage. And I don¡¯t just mean at maximum compaction.¡± ¡°You should,¡± Crossed Antennae countered. ¡°You can fit many more of us if you do not care about comfort.¡± ¡°But we don¡¯t need to. Also, I thought you were against this.¡± ¡°I am,¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°But I will still consider your proposal seriously. How long are you staying?¡± ¡°Long enough to talk to your engineers, at least,¡± Uzun said. ¡°Because we¡¯re still going to be supporting this project as much as possible. We¡¯d also like to ask your help with some tests. We¡¯ve been working with the lower realms, and we¡¯re ready to go into testing for small inter-realms ships. Like the capsule that brought you here except hopefully faster and capable of multiple uses.¡± Transporting cultivators between the upper and lower realms through any process without relying on the tides of the world was outside of the scope of what they¡¯d be doing anytime soon¡­ but they had already seen the Trigold Cluster simply toss things between realms- more or less. Uzun thought they could do better than that. And void ants were great for both things that worked at a small scale and with little or no energy involved. Cryogenics apparently worked much better on them as well. ----- The losses of the Scarlet Alliance could have been far worse, even ignoring the potential threat of total annihilation. The loss of Kseniya hurt those who knew her, and while they¡¯d lost very few Augmentation cultivators¡­ they also didn¡¯t have many to begin with. The war had still taken quite a few lives of those who had the potential to reach Augmentation, including some who had hoped to advance in the next few decades. Sly¡¯s advancement was a great boon, especially for the sake of the Hardened Crown Sect cultivators ascending from the lower realms- both the faction that had broken away from Ceretos, and more recently the few coming from Nidec. The total forces available to the Scarlet Alliance simply weren¡¯t sufficient. They could only hope that Zaur wouldn¡¯t be making any moves in the near future. The ripples of his battle with Ratna had been tracked all the way to the border with the Exalted Quadrant- so unfortunately he hadn¡¯t perished- but if they were lucky he might be injured enough to have to spend decades or more in recovery. The fleets from the Trigold Cluster and Ratna herself passed back through the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s territory without asking for permission in any form¡­ not that they could have been stopped regardless. The Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t afford to anger more people. They still didn¡¯t know exactly why the war had come when it did, nor did they know who exactly had tipped off Ratna. That was their saving grace in a very unfortunate situation. They only hoped that Zaur would want to enact his inevitable revenge himself- there was no way such a man could accept a loss to them. Hopefully, he would be too ashamed to ask for others in the Exalted Quadrant to act immediately. Soon enough they would know. Either greater fleets would come, or they would be left alone for a while. They could only plan to rebuild and grow stronger, because no amount of fortifying their borders in the short term would have any effect if an equally strong assault happened within the next decade, let alone one that carried the full might of the Citadel of Exalted Light. Chapter 925 News of the war¡¯s resolution in the upper realms brought relief not only to the Scarlet Alliance, but to their lower realms counterparts as well. However, the casualness with which the Trigold Cluster had imposed themselves in the war was concerning. While it had been to the benefit of the Scarlet Alliance this time, the connection between upper and lower realms was important to consider. Due to the recent war in the lower realms, there could easily be an associated retaliation. They had to assume that at some point their association would become clear. They could only hope that the Scarlet Alliance was stronger before that time. While it was unknown which sects had Domination cultivators within the Trigold Cluster, it was presumed that the Twin Soul Sect must possess one. They were a significant factor in their operations, after all. Such it was that unknown threats loomed along with the dangers coming with the change in the tides of the world in some three and a half centuries. Of course, much of that was speculation. It was even possible that the upper realms wouldn¡¯t retaliate at all, though it was extremely unlikely given their pride. Regardless of whether they needed the supplies of various worlds they had planted their people on, they wouldn¡¯t be happy to lose them. And that included both the Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster. ----- With the troubles on the eastern front resolved, Anton settled back towards the western edge of the Lower Realms Alliance. He had spent some more time on Mazlerth helping build up the Order of One Hundred Stars branch there, but Varghese could handle that in the future. Having fought a war on the same side, plus some decades to get to know each other, the Shining Cooperative and Lower Realms Alliance had opened their borders to each other on a wider scale. Anton was able to return to Ceretos as well as to visit their newer members on the western front, including all the way north with Akrys. And he had an especially good reason to go visit the latter. After he had learned to replace his earlier stars by binding to new stars, his options for how many bound stars he could have greatly opened up- he just needed to spend more time in particular locales to bind them instead of it happening quickly. Somewhere around a year or two, generally. Traveling back and forth, Anton had managed to bind several stars in addition to Vrelt, allowing him to speed his journey on the path between Ceretos and Akrys. Moving between bound stars was significantly faster than anywhere else, and he was still improving his travel techniques. The reason to return to Akrys at the current moment was obvious. It was time, specifically time for Three Squeaks to make his play for Assimilation. Though it might seem like it was a foregone conclusion, Anton was aware that even with their recent improvements to the overall techniques of their alliance, advancements were never guaranteed. Integration and Assimilation were both risky, though the former was a bit more reliable. Surprisingly enough, if he succeeded Three Squeaks would be only the third member of the Order to successfully bind a star. Rather than being disappointing, Anton thought that meant he¡¯d properly conveyed the dangers to his sect. Many were able to ascend, of course, and Vincent was an example of one of several others in the sect who had achieved Assimilation with a different path, but people could have easily followed blindly in the path of the Sect Head. Three Squeaks was quite easy to pick out among the others, nearly as bright as a star himself. Anton landed next to him, as usual drawing some looks from others- though the majority of residents of Akrys would recognize Anton¡¯s energy. ¡°There you are, finally!¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I thought you were going to take forever!¡± ¡°Stars are significantly further apart than you seem to think, little one,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Yeah, well¡­ this one feels like it¡¯s at a good point for me to make my attempt. Not that I need you. You¡¯re just here to watch.¡± Three Squeaks pat himself on the chest. ¡°We¡¯ll handle things with just us here.¡± Others began approaching, recognizing Anton. Random individuals would not interfere in their conversation, but Three Squeaks had many friends. Echoing Cry was the first to arrive, the eagle cutting swiftly through the sky. ¡°Is it time?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Three Squeaks said. Contented Grump plodded over- though the hippopotamus was not slow in her motions. She was simply slowed by having to avoid people on the roads, and of course having the courtesy not to trample people¡¯s crops or property. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for this,¡± she said. Other members of the Shadysands Burrow approached, including Meep and Deep Purr. And many more were watching from afar, knowing something big must be going on with so many powerful cultivators gathering around. Anton barely recognized the plains, and the expansive burrows beneath the ground were vastly different from the primitive holes the meerkats had once lived in. He could already see the transformation in this world¡­ and he was glad it didn¡¯t look like one colonized by humans. The tools used by the locals were all quite unique, and even the weapons inherited from humans had been greatly modified for their use. Even the bows used by Echoing Cry and Three Squeaks were different in several major ways based on their body types. One was meant to be fired with talons, and one had to account for a meerkat¡¯s paws. Three Squeaks looked up at the sun. ¡°I¡¯m not waiting anymore.¡± He looked at Anton. ¡°You just watch¡­ unless something goes wrong that would hurt other people.¡± Then he turned towards Echoing Cry. ¡°Lift me up, buddy!¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The eagle nodded. ¡°And up we go!¡± When Anton had first come to Akrys, an eagle putting their talons on a meerkat could have only meant one thing. Instead, the eagle¡¯s claws simply latched around Three Squeak¡¯s arms. They began to climb rapidly, to the point that within a few minutes Echoing Cry switched from flying with his wings primarily to powering their motion mainly with his natural energy at the peak of Life Transformation. Anton could feel Three Squeaks reaching out towards the local sun already¡­ but the two kept going higher and higher to the point the atmosphere thinned- and beyond. Then Echoing Cry tossed Three Squeaks even further, propelling the bird back down towards a breathable atmosphere. That was certainly an interesting way to get closer to the sun. Anton might have been able to make it more efficient, but this was what Three Squeaks wanted. From that point, he could only watch as the meerkat strengthened his bond with the sun. His trajectory was not quite so powerful that he would actually fully leave the gravity of Akrys, but he was far enough up that he would have at least an hour or two. By that point, things would have worked themselves out. Anton doubted that most of the others could actually sense most of what was going on, so he gave updates as he could. ¡°He¡¯s about halfway,¡± Anton said. He frowned slightly. ¡°His connection is a bit unsteady.¡± Then, it happened. Three Squeaks had heard the tale of Anton nearly turning into charcoal¡­ and yet he wasn¡¯t able to fully prevent the situation himself. ¡°The initial flare of power was too high,¡± Anton continued. ¡°But he¡¯s holding together.¡± In a few moments, he should have properly stepped into Assimilation and everyone below would be able to feel it- potentially those on the other side of the world if they were sensitive. The circumference around the planet would only be about as insulating as a couple hundred kilometers of atmosphere, after all. The power ignited within Three Squeaks, but all was not well. Anton could feel that as the meerkat began to be pulled back towards the planet. But he was alive¡­ and he had requested Anton let them handle things. At least the sun itself was not being destabilized, so things hadn¡¯t gone that wrong. It seemed Three Squeaks was conscious enough to slow his own descent into the atmosphere, and he was able to redirect him back towards their location on the ground¡­ vaguely. Anton saw Echoing Cry pick up Meep and take off towards his projected landing location. It would probably be a few hundred kilometers away, but the eagle should be able to make it just fine. Anton followed along, indirectly. Instead of rushing through the air and making shockwaves or having to spend extra energy dampening them, he just circled out of the atmosphere briefly. He did want to be there when his disciple landed, after all. Echoing Cry swapped from both sets of talons gripping Meep to just a single one as he circled around, tracking Three Squeaks¡¯ descent. Then he flew up and past Three Squeaks before diving towards the ground, nearly matching velocities so that he didn¡¯t cause more damage to his friend than the ground would. He snatched the slightly crispy meerkat and began to slow both of their descents further, a task he was much better at considering his natural flight abilities. Even carrying two meerkats didn¡¯t limit him too much. Meep slowly and methodically began shoving things into Three Squeak¡¯s mouth and rubbing ointments on his fur and burnt skin. Three Squeaks didn¡¯t look great when they landed, and Echoing Cry seemed pretty exhausted from the flight. But even so¡­ ¡°You look ten times better than I did,¡± Anton said. ¡°Congratulations.¡± Three Squeaks raised a single paw in celebration, then passed out. ¡°How¡¯s he going to be, Meep?¡± ¡°Over¡­ done,¡± Meep said. ¡°But¡­ still¡­ raw.¡± ¡°Sounds about right,¡± Anton grinned. He looked up at Akrys¡¯ star. He still hadn¡¯t bound it, waiting for Three Squeaks to get the chance. Perhaps he would do so after things settled down. Only with permission, of course. It might be better to instead bind other stars nearby and leave Akrys to its natives. Then again, Akrys was going to join the Lower Realms Alliance, and that included defensive pacts. It might be better to have it bound for emergencies. Either way, Anton wasn¡¯t going to rush into it. He didn¡¯t know what two rapid star bindings would do¡­ perhaps nothing, but this wasn¡¯t the time to experiment. Not when it was Three Squeaks¡¯ first star. ----- ¡°Wow, you bound with everyone in the sect?¡± Three Squeaks said impressed, having traveled with Anton to Ceretos. ¡°That¡¯s a very meerkat like thing to do, actually.¡± Vincent had learned the language of Akrys, though his actual practice was limited. Anton helped translate anything he missed. ¡°It seemed to fit me better,¡± Vincent smiled at the meerkat. ¡°Well, I probably would have done something like that¡­ but I wanted to follow in Anton¡¯s footsteps. And by ¡®would have¡¯ I of course mean if I hadn¡¯t died and if Akrys had ever reached that level of understanding without help.¡± Three Squeaks nodded seriously. ¡°But there are some others who are going to try to do the same sort of thing as you. It would be great if you could visit. Especially since we can¡¯t really talk to anyone on Aipra in person.¡± ¡°I absolutely will. Especially since many of you are brothers and sisters in cultivation,¡± Vincent nodded. ¡°How long do you think it will be, before anyone else reaches Assimilation?¡± ¡°Oh, we¡¯ve got tons of people itching for it,¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Counting that and Integration, I think we¡¯re going to see a whole lot in the next few decades. Not just from the Order of course.¡± ¡°Your prosperity is our prosperity, now,¡± Vincent said. ¡°I will absolutely make time to visit and share my own insights.¡± ¡°Great!¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°I¡¯m going to be here for a while learning about human stuff,¡± he looked down the mountain towards the sect and nearby city. ¡°But then I¡¯m going to visit Varghese!¡± Vincent nodded. ¡°Our fellow branch head will certainly be glad to see you as well.¡± Anton smiled. Things with Akrys had gone better than could have been expected, though it was a long time coming. They still had much more development to undergo, of course, and the planet as a whole wasn¡¯t as conducive to cultivation for everyone as it could be. But they were making great strides. The language barrier would be a bit of a concern, though stronger cultivators could learn new languages quickly- and while the people of Akrys didn¡¯t necessarily have the vocal cords for human language, they could still replicate the sounds with energy. Either way, with void ants already integrated into much of their society, it wouldn¡¯t be that difficult to get people to accept fuzzy and cute individuals. Still, there would be challenges to overcome. Everything was sized for humans, and it was unlikely that there could be anything universally suited to all the species of Akrys. Other planets would be a bit more difficult for them. Then again, it was that way with people- often in less visible ways. One more Assimilation cultivator wasn¡¯t going to make or break the Alliance, but it showed that their power was steadily growing. Perhaps they really might be able to stand up for themselves when it came time. Chapter 926 A question that had for obvious reasons gained great traction in the Scarlet Alliance was how to kill a Domination cultivator. It was actually quite a step up from the question of how to repel a Domination cultivator, but they were in the mood to consider the extremes. Obviously if their upper energy were negated they would be vulnerable, but in most cases that was putting the cart before the horse. If they didn¡¯t actually have a way to accomplish it, then it was pointless. Formations were discussed, of course, and they had actually gathered quite a bit of data from the battle between the two Domination cultivators. At the moment, there were a thousand theories, and none of them were actually tested. Not that the Scarlet Alliance could fully test any option they had, since they had no Domination cultivators of their own. Nor could they expect to for a very long time. It took centuries to reach Integration- passing through four stages before that- and at least two more centuries to reach Augmentation. The theoretical minimum time to reach Domination was another four or so centuries beyond that, but of course it wasn¡¯t that easy. Even Everheart wasn¡¯t a Domination cultivator yet. If one single cultivator of great talent and nearly limitless resources had spent so long without reaching the Domination stage, it was doubtful others could do it faster. Aside from that particular endeavor which seemed like it might forever remain out of their reach, the Scarlet Alliance was making great strides in their post-war rush. Catarina¡¯s proposals were taken more seriously, and they quickly began implementation of an expandable prototype for a grand defensive formation. Making a traditional defensive formation that surrounded multiple systems was a futile gesture. Even if it were possible to expand it so far, the energy would most likely be spread so thin as to easily shatter. In the scenario where it somehow managed to distribute its energy perfectly to problem areas, it was still possible to perform a combined assault of thousands or tens of thousands of ships. With the distances involved every ship could be millions of kilometers apart from its neighbor. Dealing with a significant number of them before a finite barrier was worn down would be an impossibility. At that point, every system the combined barrier was meant to protect would be open for assault once the ships regrouped, and they would be back to their recent situation with fewer resources. Instead of such a barrier, they needed something that was unassailable. Or nearly unassailable. It was the same mindset as walls around a city. One could fortify the gates to be nearly impenetrable- but in that case assaulting literally any other part would better. The whole wall would become a weakness. Gates could afford to be slightly weaker as long as they were strong enough to hold the enemy back. They just needed to provide an advantage to the defender, which involved both consolidating their opponents into a single point and providing a disadvantageous battlefield. If assaulting any particular spot on the walls was even worse, then assailants would either have to attack the gates or give up. Obviously building a wall around multiple systems would be impractical. There literally wasn¡¯t enough material to do so around even a single system, considering such a ¡®wall¡¯ would have to be three dimensional in nature. And each additional system would multiply the total volume that the wall had to surround. But Catarina¡¯s plans had both their extreme versions and their more moderate versions. The one that seemed most practical, even if it was still extremely costly and difficult, was to distort space around their claimed territory, funneling enemy ships towards specific systems. The distortions would be the ¡®walls¡¯ and the selected systems would become the ¡®gates¡¯. Shifting all of their systems so that they fit more neatly within a spherical formation¡­ was still on the table. But it was unnecessary to get some sort of basic functionality. They were able to set up a fairly quick test with some of their core systems, and they found it worked quite well. Rather than trying to harden space into an actual wall, they would distort it to lead where they wanted. The lack of solid resistance would make a direct assault to collapse the formations difficult, as they would never be directly clashing with the enemy- unless the enemy distorted space themselves. It wasn¡¯t that the system was without weaknesses. It also had drawbacks for simply being in place, as it disrupted the traffic flowing to their own systems. Normally, people could take a more or less direct route from any starting planet to any other. Stops for fuel or other supplies excepted, there was nothing actually preventing direct trips. Now there was, which was the whole point. That meant they would be directing more traffic past certain worlds. That was something they had to take into account, as it could seriously disrupt certain planets. However, they might find ways for it to be beneficial, and if it was necessary they could manage whatever trouble arose. The benefits might not be obvious on the surface, but directing traffic along certain routes would allow them to optimize their efficiency for those particular locations. They might even shorten the time to reach those planets with the spatial distortions. Catarina also came up with plans where they could have malleable changes to space, making travel time for their enemies longer¡­ but the additional complications would both have a greater cost and introduce potential points of failure. They weren¡¯t the only ones with formation masters, after all. Ultimately, they would have to sacrifice some freedom of movement of their own people for safety. Even as they expanded the bubble, they would have to keep limited routes within the area. Otherwise, their enemies could simply rush a single system on the outer edge and break into their unprotected area, effectively having free reign of all their systems once more. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Those who lived on the border systems understood the need, and they were eager to have something implemented. However, choosing which systems would be placed at the threshold and built up into military fortresses was not something that could be done in a day. After the initial series of tests with their core worlds which took over a decade, they did draw up plans to implement smaller independent zones until they could expand to cover everything within the boundaries of the Scarlet Alliance. In effect, they reduced the infinite number of approach vectors their enemies could take down into merely hundreds, and they planned to eventually reduce it to a fraction of that. The most extreme plans were to limit it to two or four passages total, but that was far too restrictive. Instead, the plans were to have enough to handle the flow of traffic from all directions¡­ while trying to minimize points of access on their east and west flanks. ----- Defenses weren¡¯t the only area where the Scarlet Alliance was having major breakthroughs. Partially in response to the new restrictions on movement and partially in response to other factors, they had continued their research into inter-system teleportation. As it turned out, the key components of making that work ended up being in the hands of the Disciples of the Beyond. As they managed to snatch what a large number of the sect disciples and elders were carrying on them, there were many valuable insights to space and subspace. Engineer Uzun and the technological branch of the Scarlet Alliance managed to make something functional after many tries¡­ and it was only barely functional. Rather than traditional teleportation platforms, they formed a sort of bridge between two points. In some regards, it was still a step short of teleportation. It wasn¡¯t actually instantaneous travel¡­ but it wasn¡¯t far from it. After a decade of work, they managed to get an autonomous drone to travel from one end of the bridge to the other¡­ without disintegrating. There were still a few kinks to work out before it was a viable method of transport for anything of significant size, or that was alive, or that needed to hold a particular structure¡­ but they managed to pass through large piles of ore between neighboring systems. If they only counted the activation costs, it was potentially cheaper than shipping it normally. If they remembered to include the cost of constructing the various versions, the testing, and the objects they ruined trying to send them through the bridge¡­ then it was less clearly cost effective. But the idea was that it could someday work, and even if it only ended having limited uses it was another great advancement. Compressing lightyears of space down into kilometers- the exact proportions were difficult to measure as most instruments taking measurements within the bridge tended to disintegrate- was still a remarkable achievement. ----- The Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t forget to pour resources into their planets and people, either. All of those attacked during the war were repopulated quickly- where it was beneficial. Certain planets were only given sufficient funds to rebuild what they had, as they were less valuable. But even they would be able to spring back in a few decades or so. That was the hope, but nobody could be quite certain of the long term effects. Speaking of their people, a small fraction of their population but a significant portion of their Integration cultivators came from the lower realms. And during that post war period was the time when one of their most interesting recent arrivals came. News outlets were obviously disappointed that the first Ascension individual from Akrys was not a meerkat. The first of those would come later and the public reaction would greatly overshoot the actual first and thus monumental achievement. The first to ascend was not Echoing Cry or any of the core group that was associated with Three Squeaks and the rest. Indeed, it was an individual that had almost not been included in their planetary alliance to begin with. It was, of course, a tortoise. Not a turtle like Paradise, but a slow plodding land creature. The most surprising tidbit was that she wasn¡¯t even one of the Tortoise Triumvirate. No, she was merely an old tortoise that had been living among them more or less unknown until her ascension. Mauled-by-Wolves was missing many of her protective scales on her front legs, presumably from the same incident that gave her her name. She didn¡¯t speak much, and after she arrived in her attuned landing site in the upper realms she simply wandered out of the city into the countryside. That took quite a lot of plodding along, as she still moved at a tortoise¡¯s pace and Xankeshan was covered in nearly contiguous cities, but the tortoise managed it without complaint. The only piece of information she had shared when asked was her name. In a way, it was fantastic for her popularity as a mysterious tortoise was presumably better than a boring one. But ultimately, nobody was able to get more than they already had, and after a month of her continuously cultivating in her shell once she reached her chosen destination most people gave up and left. Most of those who remained began to drop away a little bit at a time, until only the official representatives of the Scarlet Alliance were left. Ultimately it was worthwhile for the Scarlet Alliance to monitor every Integration cultivator, so they alternated shifts of lower level cultivators just making sure nothing went wrong. There had been some intention to have the wolves- Fuzz and Spikes in particular- meet up with the first arrivals from Akrys. While obviously they were different sapient creatures, it might have made them feel more familiar than simply being surrounded by humans. Instead, upon hearing her name the two had stayed away. Both of them shared their own new scars, after having fought against Zaur. Having wounds that could mostly be regenerated through cultivation or through advanced medicines actually placed them as the luckiest among those who fought him. Many had not survived, and Prasad was still nursing long term injuries after more than a decade. Everyone only hoped that Ratna had given Zaur even worse injuries. Since he had survived, it was unlikely that he as a Domination cultivator couldn¡¯t access the techniques or resources required to recover eventually, but depending on the extent of damage it could be a very long process. Chapter 927 There were many cultivators inspired towards greater heights after witnessing a Domination cultivator in action, and Chidi was one of them. Sparring with swordmaster Chikere had always been an interesting process, but after her defeat of the Limitless Edge he was even more impressed. Unfortunately, her particular style greatly hampered his own. Chidi¡¯s style was all about predicting how an opponent would move and tailoring the flow of energy through the area by manipulating formation runes, both his internal ones and externally carved runes. That was difficult with her, as her attack variations were nearly limitless, and she didn¡¯t always pick the most logical form of attack. And yet, that made it better practice for Chidi, trying to pick out patterns in her movements. It was challenging, especially since she didn¡¯t really hold back. He rarely lasted more than a few moves, making it difficult for him to take control of the flow of the battlefield. And yet, he wouldn¡¯t have asked for anything else. He hadn¡¯t yet advanced to Augmentation- though maybe in another century or two he would. However, if he had to face an Augmentation cultivator before his advancement or a Domination cultivator after, the experience of fighting against a stronger opponent would be important. He¡¯d done it before. Exactly once, but it only took a single move to kill a person. Rakiya had been above his stage but he had still managed to defeat her by seizing a single moment. Chikere was an excellent test of his limits. Chidi¡¯s sword flashed in an arc around him, reacting to incoming assaults. If he could momentarily disrupt her energy, each sword of her blood would disintegrate. While he wasn¡¯t able to completely drive out her energy- which would be much more costly for her than simply re-establishing the connection- momentarily stopping some of her assault provided him breathing room. Usually enough for a single breath before he found his body pierced by a hundred blades. It might seem hopeless to fight with a single sword against her, but the total energy a cultivator could bring to bear was still the same. Which was to say, Chidi couldn¡¯t blame his losses on there being too many attacks. There was only one flow of energy for the battlefield, and he just had to capture that and shift it to his advantage¡­ somehow. Either way, he felt himself growing stronger a little bit at a time¡­ but he wasn¡¯t sure if his current path would bring him where he wanted. ----- The southern border of the Trigold Cluster wasn¡¯t supposed to be highly populated, but Velvet was cautious with her approach nonetheless. After all, they had been transporting quite a variety of troublesome packages through the area no longer than half a century prior. There was no telling how many bases they actually had in the area. Which was of course half of her purpose. Crossed Antennae had plans to expand the void ants along the border eventually, and making certain they could remain concealed until the proper time was important. The void ants being discovered in the upper realms before the change in the tides of the worlds would be a huge blunder. Their presence in the lower realms had already been revealed, but they couldn¡¯t do anything about that at the moment. At least, that was the presumption. They might have further colonies in the lower realms, which was another point of investigation. Velvet really needed to learn the most she could about the operations of the Trigold Cluster. If she could find some information on convenient enemies to keep them occupied that would also be great. For the moment, she was content to find that the border worlds were mostly unoccupied. There were a few that already had people living on them, which would make settling the void ants more difficult. Perhaps they would skip those. They weren¡¯t intending the void ants to completely eliminate the potential attacking forces¡­ just to cripple as many as possible. And for that, some caution was merited. ----- ¡°Laurit.¡± A woman took no more than two seconds to appear in the throne room of the crystalline palace, her head bowed. ¡°Exalted One. You called for me?¡± In truth, the name called had not been hers. Laurit had perished¡­ but correcting the Exalted One even on her own name could be a foolish mistake. Zaur Beridze glared down at her. ¡°Remind me what you said about the status of the vaults when we returned.¡± Lelka noticed him shift in his seat. Discomfort from his wounds perhaps, but whatever it was she was even more uncomfortable. ¡°Of course, Exalted One Zaur.¡± She dove back into her memories to be as precise as possible. ¡°I reported that there had been no incidents, and that everything in the vaults was properly accounted for.¡± ¡°You did say that, didn¡¯t you?¡± Zaur¡¯s voice boomed in a manner that threatened to shatter the surrounding architecture were it not enchanted for durability. ¡°Then what about this note I found in the core vaults?¡± ¡°I have no access to the workings of the core vaults, Exalted One,¡± Lelka said carefully. ¡°Read it.¡± She didn¡¯t like the sound of that, but she had to do what she was told. ¡°Thanks for leaving your vaults unlocked. Your best buddy, Everheart. P.S. Don¡¯t forget to come to my party later, invitation is in the mail.¡± Lelka didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. ¡°I have read it, Exalted One Zaur.¡± She could easily guess what had happened, to some extent¡­ but she didn¡¯t actually know. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°How did this happen, Laurit?¡± She hardly even looked like her sister. And Laurit had been the one who wanted the position. Lelka had been quite content serving far from the core of the Citadel of Exalted Light. But Zaur was particular about who he ¡®allowed¡¯ to be his assistants, and she had been next on the chopping block it seemed. How could she protect herself here? ¡°I have never been given access to the core vaults or their security, so I don¡¯t know.¡± Did he really not remember Laurit had died? Perhaps he wasn¡¯t around for that, but still. He¡¯d gone downhill since Nadzeya disappeared. ¡°You should have prevented this,¡± Zaur said. ¡°You should expect punishments.¡± ¡°I understand, Exalted One,¡± Lelka said, bowing her head. At least she was too valuable to kill off. Even if she was just barely an Augmentation cultivator, the Citadel couldn¡¯t afford to throw them away. Like Laurit, ironically. Even though Zaur was the one who hadn¡¯t fully investigated the source that indicated where Nadzeya had been taken. And now¡­ it was pretty obvious. Damn that Everheart. ¡°Make certain that you uncover how this happened, or there will be more severe consequences.¡± Without the proper authority to access certain information, that would be difficult for Lelka. Hopefully Zaur would realize that as his recovery progressed. Until then, she¡¯d simply have to convince the others. Perhaps by implying Zaur¡¯s annoyance might fall on their heads instead. ----- Vari looked at the elegantly scribed scroll in front of her. She¡¯d read it several times already, but it was difficult to take in. ¡°You are cordially invited to a festival in the Everheart System.¡± That much she understood. ¡°Bring as many companions as you would like.¡± Would they be safe, or would they be sacrifices? Was she actually supposed to bring enemies? ¡°Date: approximately a century from now.¡± Well there went the whole formal tone. Having Everheart as her almost-uncle was a pain. Rather than certain other people she could benefit from having as family, it just saddled her with annoying duties. The one benefit was that he occasionally gave her stuff. The fact that he wouldn¡¯t kill or rob her was also slightly comforting, considering how other people felt about Everheart¡­ but she¡¯d rather just have no interaction with him at all. Though perhaps that was how most people felt. She didn¡¯t know how to respond to the formal invitation, and trying a direct message had not borne any fruit. Either Everheart was specifically ignoring her because he wanted a hand penned letter in response¡­ or he was in one of his busy phases where nothing seemed to get through to him. There were quite a few of those, and they were always troublesome for the Scarlet Alliance. Maybe she should go visit in person to ask about it? She didn¡¯t really want to, but she had to admit that he was likely the best source of information on certain things. Especially with regards to potentially killing Domination cultivators. The only reason she hadn¡¯t sought him out already was that the Alliance didn¡¯t want to look desperate. And that she didn¡¯t like to do it. But she had to do it at some point. So it might as well be soon. Not just yet, though. ----- Lev had begun expanding saplings born from the Grandfather Willow some time before. He didn¡¯t plant them anywhere with a high population, as if they grew to even a fraction of the Grandfather Willow¡¯s size they would need room to expand. Within Rutera¡¯s system they had a number of planets undergoing terraforming, and Vecesta was the one Lev was interested in most. It had its flaws, of course. The atmosphere was a little thin, and it was lacking sufficient water as well. Both of those problems could be solved with sufficient time, especially as they released gasses trapped within the planet. If he took proper care of them, the already hardy trees would have no trouble converting some of the extra gasses into a more breathable form. Then with the help of some members of the Order of One Hundred Stars extra sunlight would help accelerate the growth of the trees until Lev could pick an exceptional specimen. Even so, the process was going more slowly than Lev would like, and the water problem had been especially troublesome. A potential solution had just recently come to him, however- and a rather unexpected one. Lev had not interacted with Paradise much. Living in a land-locked sect meant he had to have a specific reason to seek out the turtle, so he had only visited Paradise a few times, each more than decades apart. Paradise wasn¡¯t good at communicating his intentions, but fortunately Erin was capable of interpreting for humans¡­ to some extent. ¡°Paradise wants to give you water,¡± Erin had said, coming to find him when he was back on Ceretos for a time. ¡°It¡¯s not really just for me,¡± Lev pointed out. ¡°But for the whole planet. Vecesta doesn¡¯t even have proper oceans.¡± ¡°Hmm. He says he knows what he is doing,¡± she frowned. ¡°Does he?¡± ¡°He hasn¡¯t been wrong before. I don¡¯t think the queen would let him do anything terribly foolish, either.¡± ¡°The queen? Ah yes.¡± Paradise had his own colony of void ants, with a queen who was unfortunately from before the more recent and convenient naming phase of the void ants. Not that there were more that actually used names than he could count on both hands. At least not that had come to his attention. ¡°Well, as long as you help balance things,¡± Lev had replied. ¡°And I would consult with the locals first, of course. Can he even shoot water that far? Ceretos might miss it as well.¡± Lev wasn¡¯t going to say that Paradise couldn¡¯t blast water between systems. He was aware what powerful cultivators could do, after all. But after that conversation he hadn¡¯t heard anything else until he got a report from Ceretos. Paradise had leaped from the oceans¡­ out of the atmosphere and into space. His vaults out of the seas over the recent decades had all been leading up to a single moment that anyone could have missed. Erin and the Island Tenders kept people updated about his whereabouts after he broke atmosphere. Apparently they had been much less surprised about the sudden event than Lev was. Looking back on older news, it was clear he¡¯d been leaping into the air for a long time. It wasn¡¯t the sort of progression Lev had expected¡­ but he lived on land next to an enormous tree. He simply hadn¡¯t paid that much attention to Paradise. The journey of the Island Turtle involved several years swimming around in the Ceretos system, and Lev almost expected it to end there. But it seemed Paradise had been quite serious about his intent. Paradise soon moved on to the void between systems¡­ and more than a few people held their breaths, concerned about what might happen. Yet according to Erin¡¯s report Paradise made space flow around him just as easily as he did water, and soon he was on his way towards Rutera. Presumably to fulfill that promise with Lev, which meant he needed to find his way back to Vecesta for the turtle¡¯s arrival in what seemed like a week or two. Chapter 928 The route Paradise took between Ceretos and Vecesta was not a direct one. Vecesta was a smaller planet within Rutera¡¯s main system, and the island turtle took a meandering path through Ceretos¡¯ system before he had turned towards the neighboring system. Even so, people weren¡¯t used to Paradise¡¯s sudden increase in mobility. It seemed that the Island Tenders had figured out his intentions sometime in the past, but many had grown numb to Paradise¡¯s repeated leaps out of the sea. Lev hadn¡¯t quite pieced it together either, but his excuse was still limited interaction with the turtle. Paradise maintained a bubble of water around him as he flew into space, providing a familiar security and safety for those on his back who were protected from the vacuum of space. The island turtle also showed his power to create ripples in space to speed his travel between systems. Even so, he moved at a leisurely enough pace that Lev and Erin were able to communicate and coordinate with the local Ruterans. Predicting exactly what Paradise would do upon arrival at Vecesta, but Paradise had expressed his intentions to help Lev¡¯s trees grow. How exactly he intended to do that was unclear. The turtle wasn¡¯t known to be able to conjure water, and while the bubble of water around him was quite large on the scale of islands- stretching quite a distance beyond the massive turtle- ultimately Paradise was still only island sized, not planet sized. Lev believed the water would not be enough until Paradise began spiraling around the planet, covering it with rain while the liquid around him hardly seemed to diminish in volume. The rain wasn¡¯t just water. In fact, a large portion of it appeared to be liquid nitrogen, rapidly boiling away and turning into gaseous form while leaving behind superchilled water that seemed as if it should have frozen upon the disturbance of its distribution. Lev had heard reports of Paradise passing by gas giants and their moons, but whether anything had come of it had been unclear up to that point. When the liquid touched Lev¡¯s willows, he sensed them about to shrivel up from the cold- though if they were normal trees they might have instantly frozen and died. It was only with a quick response from members of the Order that Lev had recruited they were able to provide additional heat to keep the planet as a whole from freezing. At least it seemed Paradise had specifically avoided flooding places occupied by humans- aside from where Lev was set up, that was. Large amounts of nitrogen and some other gasses flooded the planet¡­ and while a majority nitrogen was suitable for humans, people hadn¡¯t quite been ready for rapid change. And yet, watching the turtle flapping his fins happily¡­ Lev couldn¡¯t criticize the fellow either. It was no more extreme than other things powerful cultivators did, and there wasn¡¯t any major damage. Except to some of Lev¡¯s willows. Some of them might have perished, and while death was part of a normal cycle this particular shock could have been avoided. At least he had a better indicator of which sapling was heartiest. There were a few still standing tall. Most likely one of them would be the one he tried to promote towards being another tree to match the Grandfather Willow. While Paradise seemed eager to repeat his efforts, Erin managed to convince him that a more gradual process was better. Most importantly, the planet needed some time to warm back up after the significant amount of very cold matter provided. ----- The news of Paradise¡¯s departure from Ceretos was a disappointment to many locals, who had come to view his presence in their seas as a great boon. However, it was also true that he wasn¡¯t necessary by any means. Overseas shipping still existed, but travel between the continents for business or pleasure tended to involve flight- or teleportation. There were no longer stranded sailors who needed Paradise¡­ and even if there were, Ceretos could handle such issues in other ways. Paradise was not gone, however, just roaming wider seas. Specifically, he soon took up habits of traveling within and between the core systems of the Lower Realms Alliance- Ceretos, Weos, and Rutera. While it was somewhat disconcerting for those systems that weren¡¯t used to his presence, his centuries long record of working with the people of Ceretos helped assuage any fears. Beyond that, it wasn¡¯t as if there wasn¡¯t enough space for him. The actual concerns about him would have been if he descended into oceans not ready for his presence. Paradise was a hungry turtle, and he could devastate an ecosystem if it wasn¡¯t ready for him. But after a year, Paradise hadn¡¯t tried to enter the atmospheres of any planet, and there was no indication of him eating anything in particular. At most, he passed by planets and the local stars, scooping up a relatively small portion of their energy for himself. ----- Vecesta was in a better position with Paradise¡¯s assistance, and while it was still somewhat low in terms of atmosphere and quantity of water it was much better off than it had been. Now it needed some time to balance out, which was the responsibility of Rutera¡¯s technology and Lev¡¯s trees. Several of them were growing big and strong, which prompted Lev to spend more energy on them, promoting their growth. Eventually one of the trees would have to dominate over the others, because even though he had left a number of kilometers between trees¡­ anything that even approached the Grandfather Willow in size would likely cover the entire region he had secured for his project. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Along with the strong, healthy trees were some showing clear signs of damage from the cold shock. They wouldn¡¯t have been chosen as candidates anyway. And then¡­ there was one more. ¡°Still alive, huh¡­¡± Lev commented. The sapling was barely knee height, and its leaves had turned brown and shriveled off immediately after the event. But just as Lev had been about to uproot it and let it be reclaimed by the soil, he sensed life within it. Over the last year and some rather timid seasons it had not shown any growth¡­ but neither was it dead. Lev bent down next to it, giving it a little bit of his own energy. If it still did not grow with that, he could only say it was not meant to be. With that, he forgot about the sapling for quite a while. What he had not noticed was that while the sapling itself had not grown taller or wider during the last year, its roots had expanded outwards greatly. With a boon of energy, it finally began to expand itself above the surface, growing few small leaves to catch what sunlight it could. ----- ¡°I¡¯m going to the festival,¡± Chikere had declared to no one in particular. Not that they would have been surprised. Chikere was always looking for a new challenge, and while few good things were said about Everheart, he certainly provided unique challenges. Whenever people began to get used to his tactics, there was a sudden change in how he functioned. Of course, the promised ¡®festival¡¯ was still a significant time in the future. Indeed, the fact that he had informed people ahead of time about the party was likely to draw people into a trap. And it was going to work, because Everheart was also good at concentrating wealth around himself. While more people lost than gained when interacting with him, some came away with great knowledge or valuable treasures. Individuals from the lower realms had mixed opinions on Everheart. Those not from Ceretos hadn¡¯t heard of him, and thus tended to adopt the general feelings about him. Those who were from Ceretos, however, had more extreme opinions. Many of the current top generation had experienced his tombs, and while on Ceretos many had indeed built up their strength to the point they could deal with the coming invasion¡­ the way he had operated still colored their interactions with him. And recent interactions hadn¡¯t changed their opinion that the guy was kind of an asshole. While nobody had any specific proof, there were indications that he had been at least partially responsible for the most recent war. The other rumors that he had also drawn in Ratna who ultimately ended up being their salvation didn¡¯t make things any better. After all, nobody thrown into a pit of scorpions would appreciate snakes being tossed in as well that happened to result in mutual destruction of the creatures. Instead, they would rightfully hate the one who caused them to be in danger to begin with. Despite only extremely tenuous connections, once it had been even suggested that Everheart was responsible for their problems, everyone seemed to agree it was the truth. That was the case with almost anything that happened in the upper realms, whether it had basis in logic or not. For those in the know, it seemed that Everheart liked it that way. Rather than cultivating positive devotion, it had been postulated he cultivated a negative form of social energy. Obviously asking him directly tended to be dangerous and unreliable, so they only had their observations and a number of comments made by him long in the past. While it might seem like directly taking responsibility for disasters would actually gain Everheart more spite and enmity, that might only be in the short term. Instead, if people came to believe he had some sort of insidious plan to hide things from them he might garner more power over a longer period. Plus, then he didn¡¯t have to react to every negative bit of news- it would naturally be assumed that he was responsible for a majority of negative events, even if he wasn¡¯t actually doing anything. But of course, when he actively began pushing his upcoming event and people knew he was up to something, it spurred on the rumor mills. He was finally planning to do it. What it was seemed to be hotly debated. Starting with the smaller things like declaring he actually had a dozen systems under this thumb and was going to call them the Everheart Cluster, the rumors escalated to declaring war on the Scarlet Alliance, all of the Scarlet Midfields, the Trigold Cluster, the Exalted Quadrant, or any and all of them together. Then there were the other rumors about why he might suddenly be brining himself into the limelight. Maybe he had already accomplished his goal. Perhaps he had broken through to Domination. That was whispered only in the most hushed voices, as it was a terrifying thought for many¡­ but they couldn¡¯t help but wonder. And given the time frame he had listed¡­ it was not unreasonable to assume that he had either just broken through and was taking that half century to stabilize his cultivation¡­ or that he was going to complete his breakthrough within that time period. The Scarlet Alliance had a few spies within the powers around them, and while they weren¡¯t able to find any secret information, it had been indicated that the invitations to the party or festival were sent outside of the Scarlet Alliance as well. Either he was provoking people into trying to make an early move on him, or challenging them. It wasn¡¯t as if he actually had any friends, after all. Though in the lone case of Vari and potentially whoever she brought, there might be some guarantee of safety. Otherwise, the only guarantee that could be had from Everheart was that people would try to get a step up on him and find themselves naked in an alley on a planet they didn¡¯t remember how they got to. Or dead, since that was much easier. Yet despite everyone knowing how Everheart operated, nobody could resist the allure of his treasures or finally catching or killing the man. The total bounty for the man came out to enough to buy multiple planets- and that wasn¡¯t including the actual planets that were part of the deal. If they could also secure all of his treasures or get personal revenge or glory or any of a number of other things, wasn¡¯t it worth the risk? But of course, that was the mistake he was expecting them to make. And there would always be a few suckers. Chapter 929 If anyone were to ask if Everheart was a petty man, it would prove they had somehow failed to learn anything about him, a near impossibility with how reviled his name was throughout the upper realms. Yet that same personality that caused him to end up in such a position put the Scarlet Alliance in a difficult place. Accepting his invitation to visit his upcoming festival had a high probability of danger for those involved. Because of that they had to consider the question of whether or not the danger would be greater than some sort of potential retaliation for slighting him. Ultimately they decided that they had enough interested parties to make a proper showing. The date was set eighty years after the end of the war. Vari herself would of course be attending. She was one of the few people that Everheart actually displayed good intentions for, given their indirect familial relationship. Then there was Chikere, who was both interested in reconnecting with her former master Rahayu and not dissuaded by potentially lethal consequences. Catarina¡¯s interactions with Everheart had their ups and downs. His formation expertise had been quite valuable to her, and she had interacted quite amiably with some of his projections. On the other hand, he was not known solely for nurturing, but also for jealousy and for destroying potential rivals. Catarina didn¡¯t think she could currently compare to him, which was exactly the problem- if she was an actual match for his ability, she wouldn¡¯t have to worry. But she didn¡¯t want to risk the potential dangers herself, though the fact that she was extremely busy with developing formations for the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s defense was also an issue. She would not be attending the ¡®festival¡¯. Because Catarina was not going, Timothy had no reason to attend either. Alva determined that the potential benefits outweighed the risks for her, as she was still solidifying her path towards Augmentation as she advanced towards what she felt was the final step. With risks came opportunity. Tauno was the sort who flourished in an environment of danger, so he was also going to attend the event. Finally, Chidi and Aconite would be attending after weighing the risks. A number of other cultivators from the Alliance¡¯s territory would be going independently, as well as many hopeful individuals from the Scarlet Midfields in general. This was an opportunity many ambitious individuals couldn¡¯t miss. There were also signs of cultivators from the Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster making their way towards the Everheart System. Due to the Everheart System¡¯s position, the direct or otherwise convenient routes from anywhere in the Trigold Cluster would not bring them through the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s territory. The same was not true for the Exalted Quadrant, however, and there were many groups from the Exalted Quadrant whose direct route took them through Scarlet Alliance territory. Once there, they found that their calculations were somewhat incorrect as they had already begun implementing spatial rerouting formations on the borders. For many of them it was still faster, but others lost time as they wandered off course due to the distortions. Those who asked the locals were directed upon the most expedient path towards the Everheart System. And those who caused trouble soon found that while their smaller groups might be able to throw their weight around elsewhere in the Scarlet Midfields, within Alliance territory they were quickly shut down. There were a number of incidents ranging from small skirmishes to wiping out several groups passing through. Most of the larger sects, however, routed around the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s territory in an at least a token admission of their sovereignty. Perhaps they simply did not want to be delayed in reaching their definition, but whatever their reasoning the overall effect was avoidance. ----- Rather than arriving in the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s best ship, the group going with Vari¡¯s invitation chose a reasonably fast and functional ship that didn¡¯t possess any technological or formation-based features they wanted to keep secret. There was no telling if Everheart would seize every ship that entered his system¡­ or if he would have another way to delve into their secrets. The only thing they were certain of was that he would try to gain maximum advantage in every situation. They were met at the border of the system by Everheart¡­ a projection, of course. Or the real one pretending to be a projection. Or quite possibly a projection pretending to be the true Everheart disguised as a projection. Either way, he took on the form of a young man with a sharp beard. ¡°Invitations, please,¡± he said, holding out his hand- while stopping all of the ships flowing into the area. Vari just pulled out her invitation, and it was snatched from her hand through the various barriers surrounding the ship. That was quite worrisome, because that indicated either the invitation that they had on them being compromised somehow, or that he had the ability to do something like that anywhere within the system in general. And of course, he wouldn¡¯t let on which it was. Vari was betting on both, or a secret third or fourth thing. ¡°Those who presented invitations, please follow the glowing line towards your designated landing bay,¡± the projection said to the entire fleet at once. ¡°Deviation from the path will be met with immediate destruction. Those who did not remember their invitations, the opportunity is now available to purchase tickets for a low price.¡± Considering that literally millions of invitations had been thrown around, everyone who wished to have one had the opportunity to bring one. They just likely hadn¡¯t thought they would be necessary¡­ providing Everheart another chance for one of his favorite things: grift. Their specific ship, however, probably had the most ¡®legitimate¡¯ invitation. They followed the indicated glowing line, the world bending and twisting around them as they entered the system and soon found themselves outside a structure. There was little guidance on priority for landing, but they flexed their three Augmentation cultivators and a nice spot opened up for them. ¡°Please bring all equipment you require with you from your ships,¡± another projection directed as they arrived. ¡°You will not retain access to your vessels during the party.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°That¡¯s suspicious as hell,¡± Tauno said. ¡°I¡¯d be more surprised if he didn¡¯t do anything suspect,¡± Chikere commented. ¡°He¡¯s serious about it,¡± Chidi said. ¡°There are one-way formations leading away from this place.¡± Vari got off the ship and spoke to the projection. ¡°What if someone takes our ship while we are inside?¡± ¡°That won¡¯t be possible,¡± the projection said. ¡°However, if they decide to damage your vessels I would suggest bringing them to the nearest arena and dueling them to the death. If there is a survivor they are entitled to everything their opponent had minus a small surcharge.¡± ¡°Should we stay here and watch over it until everyone is inside?¡± Vari asked. ¡°The ship isn¡¯t that important anyway,¡± Tauno shrugged. ¡°And if it can¡¯t be stolen, there really isn¡¯t any point in worrying. Sure, people might damage it, but to what end? We¡¯d kill them and take their ship. Or they kill us, and now have a damaged ship instead of an intact one.¡± Chidi¡¯s whole body tingled everywhere they walked. There were formations upon formations, layered a hundredfold or more. It would take an extravagant amount of resources to set up in just a small area. He shivered as he walked. Perhaps he shouldn¡¯t have come. His formation mastery was not at the level he could gain from this. The group ultimately left the hangar behind, following the conveniently placed signs for the dining hall. And then¡­ they came to a stop as they found a barrier blocking their way. Beyond it, they could just make out a vast room with at least a thousand seat placements around numerous long tables- and that was only what they could spot from their limited angle. ¡°It¡¯s closed,¡± another Everheart projection showed up, this one a strongly muscled version with an axe, no shirt, and hundreds of scars across his bare skin. ¡°Won¡¯t be open until the guests of honor all arrive.¡± ¡°And who are the guests of honor?¡± Vari asked. ¡°You¡¯ll know them when you see them,¡± the projection said. ¡°If you see them.¡± ¡°... oh.¡± Vari was kind of assuming that she would be one of them. Or¡­ acknowledged in any way. It was kind of annoying. ¡°What do we do until then?¡± ¡°Training area¡¯s open,¡± the projection commented. ¡°And the arena. Plus the store and dormitories.¡± ¡°... the store?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Dormitories?¡± The projection didn¡¯t respond. Tauno sighed. ¡°We¡¯re going to be waiting a while aren¡¯t we?¡± Nobody knew quite how much of an underestimation that was. ----- A week passed, and they might have found it tolerable given the quality of the facilities available¡­ if everything didn¡¯t have a charge for it. Even for Vari, which irked her. It wasn¡¯t that she couldn¡¯t afford it, and indeed most of what she was spending had been given to her by Everheart either directly or indirectly, but it was still annoying. For those who didn¡¯t have money, there were various challenges available. Some of their group realized that the challenges were actually better training, so they focused on those. Not that they really needed the resources, but they also didn¡¯t want to spend what they had. Especially since there was no indication of them going anywhere soon. They could easily be held up for another week. ¡°No fighting in the halls!¡± the voice rang out with a surge of upper energy, and two figures were suddenly frozen in place. ¡°All combat must take place in designated arenas. Got it?¡± The muscular Everheart grabbed the two individuals and lifted them up by the front of their clothes. ¡°This is your one warning.¡± It wasn¡¯t clear what quarrel the two cultivators had with each other, but it was a time honored past time of cultivators to get on each other¡¯s nerves. With people drawn from all over the Upper Realms, obviously there would be some groups that already didn¡¯t get along- though surprisingly they only seemed to have a thousand or so individuals in their section. Which implied there were many other similar facilities. ----- At the end of the first month, several people had been disintegrated for failing to heed the no-fighting rule. Another few dozen had killed each other in the arena, but only the most confident fought there. The deaths were rather modest for such a gathering, but the surprising thing happened during the fifth and sixth weeks. Specifically, two more groups entering their compound. Specifically, each had Domination cultivators- both of which were familiar to the Scarlet Alliance members. Zaur Beridze was the first to arrive. He did not look happy, but perhaps his face was simply stuck that way. There were no signs of his injuries from eighty years prior, though whether or not he was actually fully recovered or concealing some lingering effects was a mystery the Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t afford to test. Following behind him was a timid woman, even with her cultivation in Augmentation, and several more of similar cultivation. Then he had around a dozen late Integration cultivators with him. He marched straight for the dining room¡­ and was rejected just as anyone else. He slammed a fist against the barrier, and the surge of energy from the surrounding formations nearly caused any sensitive to such things to pass out just from the energy passing by. ¡°Don¡¯t throw a temper tantrum, Beridze boy. Not all of the guests of honor have arrived. And I think even you, here in my home, would prefer that everyone is present to dogpile me all at once.¡± Zaur¡¯s eye twitched. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll play by your rules for the moment¡­ Everheart. But that is because I want all of these guests of honor present when I rip out your heart.¡± Everyone steered clear of Zaur and his people as they passed through the hallway. He either ignored or actually didn¡¯t notice the Scarlet Alliance members. That annoyed Tauno, but he kept his thoughts to himself. He just thought about growing stronger so he didn¡¯t have to capitulate to anyone. Chikere might have just fought him, but he didn¡¯t have a sword and that was one of her usual reasons for starting a fight. Though she no longer kept them for herself, often destroying them. The second to arrive was Ratna, and everyone who had witnessed their previous battle over Lonkeon expected that everything around them was moments from coming down. ¡°Zaur,¡± Ratna said, stopping in front of the old man in the hallway. ¡°Ratna.¡± ¡°I propose a truce, until we have Everheart¡¯s head on a pike.¡± ¡°And his heart torn out,¡± Zaur replied. ¡°We should probably turn his liver to ash, just in case,¡± Ratna added. ¡°How lovely,¡± Everheart¡¯s projection said, appearing next to them. ¡°Do you think that would be enough?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll find out,¡± Ratna said. ¡°If you¡¯re brave enough to show up in person.¡± ¡°Oh, the true Everheart will be there.¡± ¡°Then what are we waiting for?¡± Ratna gestured towards the banquet hall. ¡°The final guest of honor.¡± ¡°Who?¡± Zaur asked. ¡°That''s a secret,¡± Everheart grinned. Chapter 930 One would think that the final guest of honor Everheart was waiting for would have been one of the two Domination Cultivators, if not Vari herself. But perhaps there were even more of them elsewhere. There had clearly been more ships than ended up at this single location, and the banquet hall seemed far more expansive than required for the thousand or so they had around. Slightly less than a thousand, now, as people died day by day. Not knowing where there was privacy, the cultivators from Ceretos didn¡¯t make anything but comments indicating that perhaps that was Everheart¡¯s intention. A few people, fearing they were going to be trapped forever, attempted to return to their ships. That results in their deaths at the hands of the formation as they turned to dust- leaving behind their equipment, of course. Everheart wouldn¡¯t waste good loot like that. Despite the mutual past between the Domination cultivators to murder Everheart before each other, it was clear that their enmity ran deep. The cultivators from the Citadel of Exalted Light and the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance got into frequent contests of will, and sometimes battles to the death in the arena. ----- Different people reacted differently to the situation. Chikere spent most of her time training alone. Tauno somewhat brazenly studied the Domination cultivators, even though they rarely displayed their powers. Vari spent a lot of time cussing at Everheart¡¯s projections. Alva spent most of her time at the archery range, shooting thousands of times per day. Aconite spent most of her time pacing nervously. Chidi, meanwhile, found himself engrossed by the surrounding formations. He had grown familiar with the styles of the Scarlet Alliance- and his mother. While there was a clear overlap between the styles, Everheart¡¯s was still unique¡­ and it alternated between elegant complexity to optimize the flow of energy and extravagant wastefulness using some of the most inefficient arrangements he¡¯d seen. But sometimes, layered beneath, there would be something else entirely- alternating between genius, madness, excess, and frugality. Chidi¡¯s body itched with every motion, the formation marking he held inside himself reacting to and shifting the flow of energy around him. He didn¡¯t spend time in the library or in any sort of formal training¡­ but at the end of a year he wished he had more time. ----- The announcement startled everyone when it came. ¡°The final guest has arrived. You have three minutes to get to the banquet hall before the intermediate zones collapse into nothingness. Deathmatches and challenges are canceled, have a nice day.¡± Ripples of energy from Zaur and Ratna were prominent among the rest. Being forced to wait then ordered to hurry didn¡¯t set well with anyone, least of all those who were used to others waiting on them. And yet, nobody doubted Everheart¡¯s words about the space collapsing around them. They could feel the instability of the area already, and they rushed towards the banquet hall. People began to pour in, and they were able to see at a hundred other entrances. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t forget your assigned seating!¡± Everheart¡¯s voice rang out throughout the main banquet hall. ¡°Just search for a mark of your energy, it will be easy to find.¡± He paused. ¡°Sitting anywhere else would be rude, and you know how I feel about rude guests.¡± Thousands of people cursed Everheart¡¯s name either externally or internally at the same time¡­ but he did nothing about it. They did believe him about not being in their proper seat, however. Two gaudy thrones sat at opposite ends of a central table, and it was clear whose energy they were attuned to. The Domination cultivators approached the central area, while the others in the same holding area as them were placed nearby. The same seemed to be true of the other groups, and nobody had to go terribly far to reach their seat. That said, the entire area was several kilometers across, and the room was rather chaotic. Chidi followed the feeling of his own energy towards a particular table. He was to sit next to Vari, a few seats down on the opposite side of Aconite. Each place was set with what he presumed were fancy plates and silverware, though he could only feel their shape and general durability. There were also glasses for wine, though no food yet. And there were occasionally differences. In Aconite¡¯s seat, for example, there was a deep bowl and no silverware. ¡°I¡¯d like to welcome you all to my party,¡± Everheart said, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere and spreading throughout the hall. ¡°I know that some of you want to kill me. Others want to torture me forever. And a few of you just want my shiny treasures. But today, we¡¯re setting all of that aside. It¡¯s time to eat.¡± With a popping sound, food appeared all across the tables, along with carafes of wine and other beverages. The food all looked and smelled exquisite. People couldn¡¯t help but begin digging in. Chidi took one look at his food, and subtly sensed Aconite¡¯s reaction. He could feel her gaze, acknowledging what he thought. And¡­ she still ate it. Well, that was Aconite after all. Chidi was having a hard time resisting it himself, but every time his arm moved to grab something, his nerves twitched. The flow of energy throughout the banquet hall was chaotic as people ate and celebrated. The food was all extremely high quality, meats from powerful beasts and vegetables from ancient fields. The wine was probably a thousand years old at minimum. But of course, what truly guided people¡¯s indulgence was everything around them. Chidi didn¡¯t think he could stop anything, so he simply paid attention as people consumed. People continued to consume through multiple courses of the banquet. And then, things finally began to slow down as even cultivators hit the limits of their consumption, stuffed to the brim with their energy overflowing. ¡°I hope everyone has been having a great time,¡± Everheart¡¯s voice overrode the low hum of conversation. ¡°That is what parties are for, after all. And I want people to know, even I can be generous sometimes. Do you want to know why? Because I have something to celebrate.¡± Suddenly, his voice came from a particular location as he manifested in the center of the room, not far from the table with the two Domination cultivators. And it was either a very lifelike projection, or Everheart himself. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°What am I celebrating? Well, it¡¯s quite simple. Today, we celebrate death.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Or did you think I poisoned all your food for nothing?¡± A wide grin spread across his face. ¡°Oh, and don¡¯t worry if you didn¡¯t eat. I¡¯ve also put trace amounts of various poisons in the air you¡¯ve been breathing over the past year while I made you wait for¡­ nothing.¡± Everheart paused for a few moments, then cleared his throat. ¡°I believe this is the part where everyone tries to kill me.¡± A thousand projections of Everheart appeared within the banquet hall with a great surge of energy, but not just him. There were also three others. Rahayu, Luksa¡­ and to the surprise of many a cultivator with the energy of the Citadel of Exalted Light. ¡°Nadzeya.¡± Zaur¡¯s eyes landed on her, and she lowered her head. But paying attention to a single pairing was not something anyone could do as a moment later many thousands of enraged cultivators leapt into battle- thought not all of them went after Everheart. The table with the cultivators from Ceretos were a bit more conservative, though they looked ready to act at any moment. Chidi hopped over the table and crouched next to Aconite. ¡°So¡­ how much of what he said is true?¡± he whispered. The wolf growled in response. ¡°I¡¯m attempting to determine that. I¡¯m afraid he¡¯s¡­ mostly truthful. My concern is¡­¡± Aconite looked around. ¡°I don¡¯t think this poison is going to kill anyone?¡± she tilted her head. A projection of Everheart came flying past them, crashing through the table. Vari stepped forward and stomped on his chest. ¡°What kind of party is this, huh? Poisoning people?¡± The projection just shrugged and accepted his fate of being kicked to death. ¡°People are acting irrationally,¡± Aconite growled. ¡°Well, that one was normal though,¡± Chidi reminded her. His mental focus drifted towards the battle happening less than a hundred meters away, between two Domination cultivators and Everheart himself. He could feel the way formations were interfering with their movements, strings wrapped around and through them. And yet, those strings were snapping and breaking. They were suppressed by the formations, but formations could only go so far against overwhelming power. Once they broke through, most people would not be able to withstand the shockwaves of their battle. There was another battle happening nearby that was much more interesting to Chidi personally- it was of course Chikere versus Rahayu. It was difficult to tell if it was a spar or a battle to the death¡­ well, with the two of them there wasn¡¯t much difference. Rahayu had the immediate disadvantage, not being in Augmentation yet- but Chikere didn¡¯t seem interested in finishing him off immediately. There was no hatred between them, just two serious sword cultivators who didn¡¯t care if they died along their path. Chidi shivered as Rahayu¡¯s power spiked. He was beginning to get an idea of the true purpose of this place. Rahayu was not the only one to suddenly break through to Augmentation- or Integration, for those gutsy Life Transformation cultivators. ¡°Not going to participate?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°Worries about tainting your cultivation?¡± ¡°Well, there¡¯s that,¡± Chidi admitted as he watched the battles- Tauno and Vari were sheltering their group from most of the danger. ¡°But I also don¡¯t think this would put me on the right path. How¡¯s the poisons?¡± ¡°New,¡± Aconite said. ¡°I¡¯ll be purging these for at least a decade.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I think.¡± The hall trembled. ¡°Everheart!¡± Zaur said, glowing nearly as bright as a sun. ¡°This is where you die!¡± A cackle came from Ratna. ¡°Indeed. I must thank you for the tip but¡­ it doesn¡¯t make up for our personal grudges.¡± Light streaked forwards towards Everheart¡¯s true body while a sense of nothingness came from behind. They clashed together in the middle, sending shockwaves that pushed the vast majority of cultivators- including those in Augmentation- out towards the edges of the room, those tables which had not already collapsed in battle cracking under the stress and piling with everyone else. When things cleared a moment later, Everheart stood shakily on his feet, his robes torn and his body bloodied. ¡°But¡­ I haven¡¯t even said¡­ what the party¡­ is actually celebrating¡­¡± ¡°Hmph,¡± Zaur said, standing in the center of the room with just Ratna¡¯s vague presence and Everheart. ¡°You said it was our deaths, but it will be yours instead.¡± ¡°Can you believe¡­ I lied?¡± Everheart grimaced. ¡°You dumbasses.¡± Chidi was still picking himself out of the mass of bodies and rubble when he felt the ripples of energy throughout the system. ¡°... Dammit,¡± he grumbled. Everheart stood up straight, smiling. ¡°We¡¯re here to celebrate my advancement to Domination.¡± ¡°You might be able to fool others,¡± Zaur said. ¡°But a true Domination cultivator can tell better. Showing yourself here was a mistake.¡± Everheart held up his finger and shook it. ¡°No no no. I wasn¡¯t saying I¡¯d done it. I¡¯m saying it¡¯s happening. Right now. And all thanks to you fools. Your souls will all be mine, and I will become unstoppable.¡± He snapped his fingers. ¡°Just like that.¡± It was interesting, witnessing an event he could vaguely comprehend but not stop. Chidi found himself quite calm, given the situation. Was it Vari¡¯s presence? She certainly looked angry, but not worried. And while there was indeed panic among the people¡­ cultivators who could reach where they had didn¡¯t give up so easily. Which was probably the whole point. The flow of energy throughout the banquet hall unified into two streams, focused through Zaur and Ratna. Nearly a hundred thousand cultivators launched attacks together, though the two of them determined the main flow. Or at least, they probably thought so. An incomprehensible amount of energy filled the area, focusing on Everheart. An explosion filled the whole hall, cracking through the walls and sending people out into the void of space- there was never room for the various facilities to fit around the banquet hall. Not for so many of them. The energy collapsed a moment later into a black hole, pulling in Everheart and leaving behind only his right leg. There was a brief moment of silence before the black hole failed, and combined with what had been many layers of spatial distortion people found themselves at the edge of the Everheart System moments later- the two Domination cultivators across from each other. Those who had been a thousand times closer to the epicenter than the rest, and seemed to have sustained some collateral damage. Somehow, the combined might of Vari and Tauno had kept the Ceretos cultivators together. Except for Chikere, who was still fighting Rahayu off to the side without a care. Until Rahayu lowered his sword. A hundred blades of blood pierced into his skin a moment later. ¡°Next time,¡± he bowed his head. ¡°You can try,¡± Chikere said. Then she looked around. ¡°Oh. Is everyone done?¡± ¡°It appears so,¡± Rahayu said. He swung his sword, cutting open a slight hole in space. Various ships began spilling out. ¡°I suggest picking yours up quickly, in case the system collapses.¡± Chidi grimaced. He could feel it, held together by formations both drained of energy and overcharged in the same moments. They really needed to go¡­ not least because the Domination cultivators were unleashed. That certainly hadn¡¯t been what he had expected, which was in a way the only thing consistent about Everheart. Chapter 931 Though a few fools stayed behind in the Everheart system to try to capitalize on the moment, the delegation from the Scarlet Alliance was not part of that nonsense. Instead, they swiftly boarded their ship and set off for their own territory, without waiting to see the Domination cultivator¡¯s reactions. Staying in the system was unwise for any number of reasons. ¡°Anyone want to try to make sense of what happened back there?¡± Vari began. ¡°I only saw Everheart¡¯s leg remaining,¡± Alva commented. Chikere shrugged. ¡°It wasn¡¯t cut off,¡± she added. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°Nothing more and less than I said. His leg wasn¡¯t cut off. I wasn¡¯t paying attention to see if it was connected or not.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Tauno rolled his eyes. ¡°I mistakenly took your hyperfocus for observation. Then, knowing what we do, I am willing to put forward the possibility that Everheart lost a leg.¡± ¡°... Didn¡¯t he get disintegrated except for the leg?¡± Aconite growled. ¡°Then the leg too.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the least likely scenario, though,¡± Vari said. ¡°Even if it was very convincing.¡± ¡°His entire system is unstable,¡± Aconite pointed out. ¡°It might collapse due to all of those formations. Would he allow that to happen if he were not dead?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Alva commented. ¡°If he thought he could harm anyone he didn¡¯t like,¡± Tauno nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know whether it would be worse to try to take his things when he was alive or dead¡­¡± Chidi furrowed his brow. ¡°I could imagine him making particularly wild formation decisions to take place post mortem.¡± Aconite sniffed. ¡°I never got a chance to take a good pass at the final scene. But it¡¯s odd.¡± ¡°What?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Everheart potentially faking his death¡­ again, apparently?¡± ¡°How do you feel?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°Exhausted,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Annoyed that we came out here. Why?¡± ¡°So no internal hemorrhaging or spontaneous organ failure?¡± ¡°... no?¡± ¡°Remember the part where the food was poisoned?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Vari said. ¡°But then he mentioned the poison he¡¯d released into the air as well¡­¡± ¡°Are your pores bleeding?¡± Aconite barked. ¡°Energy rebelling? Soul disintegrating?¡± ¡°... no?¡± Vari tilted her head. ¡°I sure hope not.¡± ¡°Then what did the poison do?¡± Aconite growled. Tauno crossed his arms. ¡°I suppose you would be the one best equipped to answer that.¡± ¡°If only I had solid answers,¡± Aconite pawed at the floor. ¡°I did not notice the airborne toxins early enough. Indeed, I have only barely been able to pick them out from their traces within our bodies.¡± ¡°... Are we all going to die?¡± Alva asked. ¡°No,¡± Aconite said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know why.¡± ¡°Well, he likes me,¡± Vari said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t change my point much,¡± Aconite replied. ¡°Why would he pass up the potential to kill Domination cultivators? And if he wasn¡¯t going to try¡­ why invite them?¡± ¡°Well, he said it, didn¡¯t he?¡± Vari pointed out. ¡°It was his ascension to Domination.¡± Tauno stared daggers, though not at anyone in particular. ¡°I hate everything.¡± ¡°Is that not right?¡± Vari asked. ¡°I don¡¯t get how or anything but¡­ it makes sense, right?¡± ¡°So we¡¯re left with the options of Everheart being actually dead, or having advanced to Domination,¡± Tauno grumbled. ¡°Did you not want him dead?¡± Vari asked. ¡°I mean, I didn¡¯t but I know that¡­ most people disagree.¡± ¡°If there are two options and one of them involves Everheart actually being dead, he¡¯s not dead!¡± Tauno grumbled. ¡°Pretty sure that would be true if there was only one option,¡± Chikere pointed out. Tauno sighed. ¡°At least as far as the Alliance goes, we can only assume he¡¯s in Domination. Because if he¡¯s not¡­ then he¡¯s dead and everything is fine. Except we¡¯d be the only targets in the Scarlet Midfields. But either option involves fortifying our security even more.¡± Everyone collectively agreed, whether verbally or not. There really wasn¡¯t a good option for them. ----- ¡°Chidi?¡± Aconite nudged her friend some time later. Chidi started, turning his head vaguely towards the canine. ¡°Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking.¡± ¡°About what, if I might ask?¡± ¡°Just how I can do the opposite of that,¡± he shrugged. ¡°The opposite of¡­ drawing in a bunch of people and ascending to Domination? I suppose it makes sense for you to enter Augmentation solo,¡± Aconite replied. ¡°Nah, I¡¯m not doing that.¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Well, I will be there if you wish of course.¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m not entering Augmentation.¡± ¡°I understand it might be a while. I don¡¯t intend to pressure you into doing anything before you¡¯re ready, but everyone knows you have the talent.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°But I¡¯m not.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to explain that,¡± Aconite said. Chidi tilted his head. ¡°I wish I could. All I know is it¡¯s not that.¡± ¡°... Are you talking about an alternative path?¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s what it would be,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°I just don¡¯t know what the point of growing my personal energy is if there are Domination cultivators in the world. There¡¯s always going to be someone with more. So it would be easier to deal with them if they were just¡­ not.¡± ¡°Not what?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°Not stronger than me,¡± he replied. ¡°But that¡¯s why we train to surpass such people.¡± She looked at her friend, quite confused. He didn¡¯t seem unmotivated. Just in an odd state. ¡°Well, look at Crossed Antennae. No matter how much I train, she¡¯ll be just as capable of killing me.¡± ¡°That is the peril of void ants,¡± Aconite agreed. ¡°But I do not think we need to be concerned about her. We are friends.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Chidi agreed. ¡°And so¡­?¡± ¡°So¡­ that,¡± Chidi said. ¡°If I can negate my opponent¡¯s energy, I can defeat anyone. So I¡¯m not going to increase my own energy.¡± ¡°... I¡¯m sure that makes sense to you,¡± Aconite said. ¡°But what about those who are lower in cultivation than yourself?¡± ¡°What about them?¡± ¡°They will still be able to gather together to kill you.¡± ¡°Not if they die first. Besides, I have friends.¡± ¡°I would prefer not to have to spend my time protecting you from hordes of attackers,¡± Aconite grumbled. She would of course, if it was necessary. Then again, even if Chidi didn¡¯t grow any stronger he could defeat pretty much anyone below Augmentation with his current strength. So perhaps it wasn¡¯t necessary for him to increase his personal energy. Though Aconite still didn¡¯t think it was a good idea. She grumbled to herself, trying to figure out what those stupid poisons did. Damn that Everheart, if there was some sort of lingering danger she was going to murder him to find out how to fix it. ----- ¡°There were no signs of any of Everheart¡¯s associates in the aftermath,¡± Zaur declared. ¡°Nor did we find any traces of Nadzeya, despite her appearance.¡± Lelka listened patiently, quietly pondering how this was going to become her fault. ¡°Tell me, how did she react to you when you approached her during the chaos?¡± Zaur asked. ¡°I did not have the opportunity to get close,¡± Lelka replied. ¡°You could not even manage such a trivial thing, even though I was holding off Ratna?¡± Zaur growled. He was the one who had told them all to focus on Everheart, of course. Lelka wondered if perhaps she should have stayed behind to die in the collapse of a system. It would have certainly been a rare experience. ¡°My deepest apologies.¡± ¡°If I give you another chance, I expect you to do better,¡± Zaur said. Was she being replaced? She certainly hoped so. She might be able to have a useful position other than poorly managed secretary for the Exalted One. But she might also be demoted to an even worse position. Not that there was much lower she could drop with her cultivation. Though working for Zaur was supposedly a high position. ----- ¡°Hey, do you know the sword guy?¡± a wolf growled, shoving her face at an eagle. Then she was yanked by the scruff of her neck. ¡°Hey, what gives! I¡¯m not a kid anymore, mom!¡± ¡°I would believe you if you did not act like one, Agom,¡± Spikes replied. ¡°And if you were going to ask our Akrysian fellows absurd questions, it would be reasonable to learn their language.¡± ¡°But¡­ everyone knows how to speak the language.¡± Spikes set Agom down and looked at her. ¡°Everyone?¡± ¡°Yeah! Even humans!¡± ¡°While it is true quite a number of individuals speak this language, it is not the same as the language of Akrys.¡± ¡°Why not? They have wolves!¡± ¡°Indeed. But our language was created specifically so wolves could speak to each other,¡± Spikes growled. ¡°There are quite a few things other than wolves there, you know.¡± ¡°Obviously! Even though you wouldn¡¯t let me talk to the tortoise I can see that eagle right there and the sword guy isn¡¯t a wolf either.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you understand the language barrier.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Agom said, twisting her head to reach the sword sheathed along her back. ¡°So I¡¯ll ask this way! The language of swords is universal!¡± Spikes slapped her daughter away from the ascension receiving grounds. She had brought her along because Agom asked nicely, but Spikes had some actual business to attend to. And Spikes had learned the language herself. ----- The official stance of the Scarlet Alliance agreed with their delegation. Everheart most likely wasn¡¯t dead. And while they had no proof of him being in Domination, it was not harmful for them to assume the possibility and the dangers involved. They still had to fortify their borders anyway. They kept a careful watch as Exalted Quadrant forces returned home, both on those skirting the border and those who actually dared to cross it. Technically, crossing the border was illegal. Practically, they couldn¡¯t enforce that against the Exalted Quadrant at the current time- unless they were coming to cause problems anyway. When simply passing through, they had to accept it. But they weren¡¯t going to let that last forever. They were at most five decades out from tighter border security. And while that sounded like a long time¡­ considering the scale they had to work with it was quite reasonable. It would be the second round of boosts, not just funneling people into particular locations but also bolstering their ability to deal with anyone intruding. Formations were only a small part of their plans. ----- Refusing to go to Xankeshan was best for all parties involved, Crossed Antennae reasoned. She understood their intentions, but the risk was too great. Even what they had offered as an alternative was dangerous. But she couldn¡¯t bring her people to settle colonies on new worlds without functional ships, and she couldn¡¯t get those ships without humans. Even though said ships were small scale, they required precise testing. Thus, having a team of engineers arrive with a whole factory in tow had been a relief¡­ and a moment of concern. But being able to exchange ideas more directly, without time lag for communication and testing¡­ it was worth it. Their efforts were rectifying her timescale for planting colonies. She needed to be finished at least a century before the cycle allowed the invasion of the lower realms. Optimally, she would have established her colonies a century before any invading armies formed up on the border, which was a harder time frame. There were simply too many worlds to settle¡­ and it wasn¡¯t as if the actual growth in population was the difficulty. Void ants could increase their population as long as there were resources, and with the knowledge to sustainably increase their food supply¡­ they were unstoppable. Except, of course, humans were much better at growing even better food. If humans were managing the upper energy of all of the planets they would do much better- but it would also be painfully obvious to anyone who showed up. They would only have one chance, as they revealed themselves. Many void ants would die, and they needed to make it worth it. Crossed Antennae understood the possibility that another extermination effort would arise and she and all of her children might perish in the process. But if they caused such a phenomenal ruckus, perhaps they could push back the threat one more cycle. That would be worth it, as her people would live on in the lower realms, and her allies would have an opportunity to flourish. It had to be worth it. Which meant that she couldn¡¯t mess things up. Chapter 932 Of the various candidate trees that Lev had planted on Vecesta, Lev wasn¡¯t really taken with any of them. It wasn¡¯t that he wanted it to be exactly like the Grandfather Willow, and indeed in some other locations he¡¯d begun focusing his resources on certain candidates. But even with Paradise¡¯s help, the trees on Vecesta simply weren¡¯t enough. Perhaps it would simply take longer. Even a few decades was a short period of time to change the atmosphere of a planet, unless it was done recklessly. Maybe a new batch of seedlings would find one of good stock. Or perhaps he simply needed to pick one and tough it out. Lev still found value in tending to his burgeoning forest as a whole. The trees weren¡¯t raised for consumption so he couldn¡¯t directly get energy returns on his invested energy, but the grasping willows helped build up the atmosphere and the soil, along with other things. Lev did consider trying another variety of tree entirely, but he decided against it. While he would have no objections if someone else took up the project- either within the sect or outside of it- he wasn¡¯t interested in such variety himself. He had his focus and was happy to stick with it. Feeling ripples of natural energy, he looked up in the sky. ¡°Must be time for Paradise to make another delivery.¡± The turtle had been occasionally coming by with material of various sorts to help build up the planet. The process was nearly done, but Rutera found no reason to expend their own resources when there was a willing volunteer keeping things on a good schedule. Paradise was easy to spot from a great distance, even with all of the atmosphere in between. The turtle had only grown bigger since his origin of swimming through space, though for him another fifty years was perhaps hardly enough to grow another few kilometers long, at most. Even so, he was far more massive than even the largest Ascension-class ships, and there were only a few orbital platforms that could rival him and they were stationary. The turtle began to orbit around the planet, letting it pull away waves of water and other material as he passed. The torrential rains it caused might have been one of the factors that limited the growth of the grasping willows, as a sudden infusion of moisture could be a shock to the system- but Lev knew that the impact was overall positive. Vecesta and the trees needed the aid. With the material came an exchange of energy, Paradise sweeping up some of the stagnant natural energy and replacing it with his own. Lev began to guide the energy into some of his forest. However, a moment later claws began to tear through the energy, grabbing onto it from nowhere while gouging huge furrows out of the ground. The attack seemed to come from nowhere. No, it did come from nowhere, and it returned to it. Alarms rang out in the Ruteran bases as the claws passed next to them. Vecesta was still relatively near the beginning of its settlement, but there were various scientists studying the development of the planet and sect cultivators who appreciated the opportunity as well. The camps weren¡¯t mutually exclusive, either. But relevantly, none of them were particularly strong. There were more than a few in Life Transformation, a respectable achievement¡­ but against a distortion beast that could cause such damage with a single sweep of its claws they were in a shaky position- and any buildings or people directly in the path were already gone. Paradise reacted just before Lev managed to. A loud groan shook Vecesta as Paradise concentrated some of the small ocean around him into an orb that he shot forth. Lev couldn¡¯t deny its power as it curved around the planet, his only concern was the attack actually connecting. But it seemed Paradise knew what he was doing, as the sphere of water struck something. It exploded outward in all directions, pushing in front of it great leathery masses that could have been something like wings along with tower sized claws that scattered in all directions. Lev launched himself for the base of one of those claws, as he was fairly certain it was still attached to the creature behind everything. Without the enhancement of the Grandfather Willow he wasn¡¯t as powerful, but he was still an Assimilation cultivator. Here he had the power of one more in the early or mid stage instead of the peak of Assimilation, but it was valuable nonetheless. His energy reached out, entangling the base of the claw and squeezing. Then he grabbed another and another, lashing them to each other. When they tried to withdraw into subspace, they pulled against each other, leaving them vulnerable to attack for a few more moments. Those attacks came from the Ruteran cultivators as well as the Island Tenders on the back of Paradise- and of course the turtle himself. Paradise bit into a leathery wing, ripping apart several kilometers of oily flesh. Blood sprayed over the countryside, melting whatever it came into contact with. Erin focused some of her and Paradise¡¯s mixed energy into a cutting jet of water, severing a dozen of the myriad claws the creature possessed. The wings lashed out, creating tornadoes and almost blowing away the atmosphere, causing it to bounce around the planet. Lev let himself be carried away, dodging and weaving between the claws. He hadn¡¯t seen a mouth yet, but distortion beasts weren¡¯t always so logical as to have a visible way to consume. They would regardless, of course, it just didn¡¯t always make sense. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The waters and earth were torn up as the distortion beast writhed and thrashed, attacking anything and everything on the planet below, and the turtle above. Its claws scraped against Paradise¡¯s shell, making only small marks. Or at least marks that appeared small from Lev¡¯s perspective down on the planet, as they could easily have been many meters deep. Certainly each claw was enough to erase any building without the benefit of defensive formations. The Ruteran cultivators targeted the distortion beast wherever it popped up- or sometimes where it was going to come out. Between their own senses and scanning technology, they picked out the movements of the creature as its pieces approached the closest layers to normal space, and whether they stopped it from reaching out into real space or tore into its flesh didn¡¯t matter. The durability of distortion beasts varied wildly, from nearly impenetrable to highly vulnerable. This was more towards the latter, but that did not mean the beast was easy to kill. Indeed, many of that kind simply didn¡¯t care whether or not their flesh was rent from their bodies, always seeming to have more. Lev charged towards the closest Ruteran base as an incomprehensible leathery wing crushed downward. He stood tall with the strength of a thousand trees, forcing his energy upon the center of the massive appendage. Lev¡¯s bones creaked and his body went limp, his natural energy floundering- but he tore open a rip that saved most of those nearby. At the same time, the surrounding grasping willows were snapped in two, either from the direct impact of the leathery mass or from the connection to Lev. The massive limb was almost ponderously slow as it forced the air out of a many kilometer wide area, blasting the surrounding area apart. Topsoil was torn away and even bedrock cracked. Yet the sound of contented crunches continued to ring out throughout the planet as Paradise tore off pieces of the distortion beast. Soon it began to pull away, and the turtle chased after it, biting through layers of space to the creature behind. Lev thought that such a meal would give any reasonable creature indigestion, but Paradise was far beyond what anyone would deem reasonable. The distortion beast withdrawing didn¡¯t suddenly make everything on Vecesta better, however. Indeed, the atmosphere was barely holding together and the new seas were sloshing around the planet wildly. Lev found himself tossed about in the wind and waves, his remaining energy used to protect his body rather than to control his limbs or to do anything but weather the storm. Some of the Ruteran formations were able to hold up against the great fluid force flowing around the planet, but others were swept away. Lev clutched onto the power of the Grandfather Willow back on Ceretos, drawing on it as he could- but it was nothing close to being in its presence. He also reached out for any local grasping willows¡­ but he felt nothing around him. Not until he was tossed about another hundred kilometers more did he feel the faintest hints of any of his planted forest. When he did, it was a single solitary tree. More of a sapling, really. The various conditions involved meant that not everything grew evenly, even when planted at the same time and in relatively similar environments and soil. Perhaps it had been a bad seed. Except¡­ when Lev reached out for it, it reached back, catching him with a strand of energy. It didn¡¯t have the power to calm the tumultuous surroundings, but it did have enough to hold onto him. Over the course of the next few hours, the seas retreated and the winds began to settle. Paradise had returned, sending ships from its back to help those on the ground. He had also been partially responsible for the reduction in the force of the water, crashing back and forth around the planet. Lev found himself sitting down next to a small tree as the sun rose on that part of the planet, beginning to dry him off. He looked around him at the disturbed landscape, which also included several claws sticking up like hills and rivers of blood or ichor or whatever foul substance the creature had in its place. His little tree had been soaked in it, even, and its leaves and bark were stripped away. Reaching out mentally, Lev offered some of his flow of energy to the little sapling. He didn¡¯t recognize it at the time as the rest of the terrain was gone, but later he would come to recognize it as the one that had survived the initial accidental frosts that Paradise had brought with him. And while on the surface, it still wasn¡¯t much¡­ its roots ran deep. ----- Vecesta had been unfortunate to be attacked by a distortion beast of that magnitude. It was unclear exactly what had drawn it in. The developing planet might have looked like a tasty treat, or perhaps it was Paradise¡¯s infusion of energy- though it would have had to be close to react as it did. Either way, failing to detect it was problematic for the entire system, as Vecesta was still within Rutera¡¯s main system. Even if the turtle had accidentally enticed the creature to follow him, he had moved along approved flight paths with appropriate levels of spatial awareness. Ever since the first encounter of Weos and Ceretos, people had taken precautions to avoid attracting them as much as possible. After the initial damage from its caustic fluids, the remaining portions of the beast were determined to be only minimally toxic, though having kilometer wide hunks of rotting flesh wasn¡¯t exactly pleasant for the locals. Chopping it up and mixing it into the soil was deemed to be the best solution, and Lev aided with the project. The environment hadn¡¯t totally collapsed, but Lev had to plant new saplings on a majority of the planet. The one little survivor, however, drank deeply from the air and soil around it, as well as Lev¡¯s donated energy. He admired the little guy, not just for helping him out at the end but for surviving so much. It wasn¡¯t really a choice so much on his part as something that just happened. This was the one he was going to focus his efforts on. Maybe it would never grow large. Grasping willows did have some utility with greater size, so it wasn¡¯t simply an aesthetic concern, but perhaps a durable one would be best. And beneath the surface, Lev saw its roots were many times larger than expected- a good basis for its growth into the future. Chapter 933 Though Agom had resolved the cause of one of her mother¡¯s objections, she was still not supposed to be hanging around the Akrys ascension area. But nothing could stop her, except for the security restrictions and the guards and threats of retaliation from her mother. But nothing could stop her from waiting outside at a distance and yelling at them. ¡°Hey! Do you know the sword-guy?!¡± Most of them ignored her, even though she definitely pronounced everything right. Rude. She didn¡¯t have any luck with the hippos she saw. There was one fish that was in some sort of tank so maybe they didn¡¯t hear her. Another time there was some sort of other fish that just swam through the air. It seemed to have forgotten that people weren¡¯t supposed to see where your organs were, because it was clearly visible through its scales. At least that one answered her¡­ though hearing it speak was very uncomfortable. A deep rippling voice that made her feel like she¡¯d just jumped in a lake washed over here. ¡°No.¡± Well at least that was a concise answer. Agom kept returning any time she got a hint there would be another- it wasn¡¯t like they were there every day- or every year, even. It was already pretty amazing that they had a stream of cultivators from different backgrounds reaching Ascension. There were more cultivators from the human worlds but there were a lot of those and they had longer traditions. The next one to pass by was some sort of fang-pig, though they seemed to not know that fangs were supposed to point down or up so that you could bite people with them. It was just silly to have them go to the sides if you actually had good fangs. Still, there was something about that one¡­ ¡°Hey! You! Do you know the sword guy?¡± Agom locked eyes with the pig. And then she found herself compelled to draw her sword. They met in the middle, Agom¡¯s jaw trembling as she took the impact. Her sword was bound against the side-facing fang of the pig. She wanted to complement her opponent¡¯s resourcefulness, but her mouth was rather occupied. ¡°I know all the sword guys,¡± Half Oink replied. Then she shifted her stance, and the pair danced around each other with their blades. Half Oink¡¯s own two blades were locked to either side of her mouth, while the wolf had a single constructed blade that was similarly situated, though swapping its direction seemed to be difficult. Agom didn¡¯t really absorb the words of her fellow sword cultivator until afterwards. She was too busy feeling the battle as she exchanged for the first time with someone close to her. Though the pig¡¯s natural weapons seemed to be properly sized, even if they were weirdly positioned. Cuts began appearing across their hides as their swords clashed, the energy passing beyond simply the edge of their blades. The dance of combat had them passing through and around a nearby plaza. Then¡­ ¡°Halt!¡± a voice growled. Agom recognized the voice, but the easy it was speaking was still less familiar. ¡°There are to be no battles in this district, young lady.¡± Agom turned to look at her mother. ¡°Both of you need to settle down right now,¡± Spikes continued in the language of Akrys. An unconscious connection between the two sword cultivators made them glare at their oppressor. The lights in their eyes promised the sharpness of the blade. And then¡­ the ground rose up around them, especially their necks and heads. ¡°Sword cultivators. Ugh,¡± Spikes said, finishing bundling the two in chunks of stone and rolling them away to somewhere they could work off their excess energy. ----- ¡°So about the sword guy,¡± Agom continued after both of them lay bleeding on the ground. ¡°You know him?¡± ¡°I told you,¡± Half Oink said, rolling in the dirt to seal her cuts. ¡°I know all of the sword guys.¡± ¡°I want to know about¡­¡± Agom twisted, grabbing her communications device. Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t damaged in their battle. ¡°This one!¡± she said, bringing up the picture. ¡°That''s Deep Purr,¡± Half Oink replied. ¡°Yeah! Him!¡± Agom nodded enthusiastically. ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to find him at all!¡± ¡°Oh, he¡¯s not coming,¡± Half Oink shook her head. ¡°What?¡± Agom jumped to her feet. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Assimilation,¡± Half Oink said simply, picking herself up as well. ¡°He has feelings of responsibility to his people.¡± ¡°But he¡¯s the first sword guy!¡± Agom complained. ¡°And you¡¯re telling me I can¡¯t meet him ever?¡± ¡°Maybe when the tides of the world change?¡± Half Oink tilted her head. ¡°That¡¯s so loooong!¡± Agom complained. ¡°I can¡¯t wait centuries!¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Half Oink shook her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t make the laws of the world.¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Yeah well¡­ we should cut them apart!¡± Agom nodded. ¡°Yeah! I¡¯ll get Chikere to teach me how to cut apart space! I just have to be able to make my way back.¡± Half Oink shook her head. ¡°That will be¡­ very difficult. You¡¯re not from anywhere in the lower realms, are you?¡± ¡°Well, no¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯d only have a chance of making it back properly if you were from Akrys itself,¡± Half Oink said. ¡°Otherwise you won¡¯t be able to adapt to the natural energy and you¡¯ll be really weak.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t lower energy easier to handle than upper energy? I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get it.¡± ¡°Having just ascended¡­ I can assure you it¡¯s not like that.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah. You¡¯re pretty strong, huh? You haven¡¯t even fully adapted here.¡± ¡°Well, my weapons are meant to be this way,¡± Half Oink said. ¡°It looks a lot harder for you. So you¡­ know Chikere? Master Ty learned from her. Do you think she would meet me?¡± ¡°She¡¯ll totally meet anyone who uses a sword! Once she¡¯s not busy. Currently she¡¯s training with Chidi¡­ somewhere.¡± ----- Feeling the sword vibrate in his hand, Chidi felt the proper weight of a weapon for the first time in forever. He had been relying on his energy to support him forever. Of course, so did every other cultivator- with a few extreme exceptions. The path of cultivation was usually the path of energy cultivation, after all. It was difficult to get around that, and in fact Chidi supposed it was actually impossible. Even body temperers still used energy to temper their body, and few of them were successful enough to matter. There was one notable exception in the lower realms, from what he had heard, but she still used energy to some extent. Chidi was also no exception. In fact, even in his current state where he was drained of energy he was still manipulating it. Just not to assault his opponent. Part of that was because he didn¡¯t have an opening to attack, but it also wasn¡¯t the goal of his training. His body itched, and he couldn¡¯t help but hope that his training assistants were alright. He couldn¡¯t exactly prevent himself from accidentally crushing them. He¡¯d developed a good system to detect void ants, but that required having energy senses which did nothing when he was empty. The only thing he could sense now were things that radiated energy- like the swordmaster in front of him. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re going to kill anyone like that,¡± Chikere said, condensing her blood into a few larger weapons and taking advantage of the momentum to continually drive him back. ¡°If it takes you this long to do it in a fight, you¡¯ll just be dead.¡± Chidi didn¡¯t answer. Obviously he knew that, but even talking was too much concentration. He followed the flow of her attacks. In some ways, this was the hardest training he could undergo, and in other ways it was the easiest. Chikere¡¯s movements had a certain perfection to them, moving exactly as she intended. Therefore if he could predict her movements, he could counter them. But that was only if he could predict them, because not everything she did seemed like the correct move. And exactly as intended wasn¡¯t always as straightforward as it seemed. It wasn¡¯t just feints, but moves that would legitimately be bad- if she only had a single weapon to attack and defend with. In a real battle, Chidi would be dead a thousand times. Indeed, that would be true against most opponents without his energy. At least, any of those he had his ¡®eyes¡¯ on. Obviously he didn¡¯t need to train to defeat those he could already defeat. Without his energy, Chidi would find that his best opponents were only sword cultivators¡­ though he would bet on some chance of victory against others. Assuming he didn¡¯t instantly die from their aura, but those were the easiest thing for him to manipulate with his formation markings. Ridding himself of his own energy was only a temporary thing to help his training. He wanted no distractions concerning the outside flow, and he could carve out temporary formation markings in ways beyond lingering strands of energy. Manipulating his enemy to do it for him was much more difficult. In truth, he¡¯d only really accomplished it one single time. Chidi had technically killed stronger opponents than Rakiya, but he¡¯d never fought a better battle. He wasn¡¯t disappointed in his progress, but he simply didn¡¯t like the straightforward path. Not when he had seen and experienced that once. Weakening the flow of his opponent¡¯s energy was simple. He could cut off a few percent here or there. In the right circumstances he could limit their energy output by half or more. And against a domination cultivator, that would do nothing. He had experienced Zaur¡¯s battle with Augmentation cultivators. Was he ten times stronger than them? A hundred? What if Chidi ran into someone even stronger? He might be able to reduce an enemy¡¯s flow of energy to a tenth on a regular basis, if only for a moment. Maybe he should be happy with that goal. He could declare it good enough. But internally, he knew that it wouldn¡¯t be good enough. He knew he could do better. It simply required him to negate the flow of all energy. Then, for an instant, it would be a true match of skill. Long enough for someone to die. Chidi had the confidence to say that it would be his opponent. There was the question of what happened if they had armor he couldn¡¯t cut through. Ultimately, his answer was simple- he would cut it anyway. Though a sword made to maximize capabilities without enchantments would be optimal. No armor was perfect, and most materials required some amount of energy to retain their strength beyond normal physical limits. They could be surprisingly fragile where neither upper nor lower energy was involved. For the barest instant, Chidi caught the flow. His sword cut forward, completing the beautiful weave that was a negation formation. Chikere¡¯s blades of blood lost their form, returning to mere liquid- even if they carried on with their momentum and struck him, they would be mere liquid constrained to mortal speeds. His sword pierced towards her throat and¡­ stopped. That wasn¡¯t the expected result. Her dodging it? Certainly. Deflecting had been on the table. Slicing into her¡­ was a very remote possibility, but she was not afraid of taking wounds. When the flow of energy returned an instant later, Chidi could finally make out what it was. She held his blade between two fingers of her left hand. With the momentum of his motion and the leverage involved, she had to have had a perfect read on his trajectory. Chidi knew that. And he knew that she knew that. If she had caught his blade with her right hand, he could have made excuses. Though her replacement arm relied partially on energy fusion, it was still functional as pure technology. Chidi withdrew his blade. ¡°I thought I had it.¡± ¡°I think you did,¡± Chikere replied. ¡°It was just that this was the version where you died.¡± He nodded. He would be just as vulnerable to his enemies as they were to him. ¡°I think we¡¯re done for now,¡± he said, sheathing his weapon. ¡°I need to digest some insights.¡± He ¡®looked¡¯ down at his body. ¡°Thank you for the assistance.¡± He could only feel not-them, but the void ants became more clear as his body¡¯s natural flow of energy began to return. They¡¯d come out here to a desolate planet to help him train, so he had to appreciate their efforts. He clenched his fist. Next time, he would be better. Faster. Everything needed to happen in an instant from beginning to end. This was the path he had set himself on, and he would see it to its end- even if that end was his death. Chapter 934 Much of the information coming into the Scarlet Alliance flowed through Velvet. She had access to most of the rest, if she had a need for it. For the most part, however, she simply kept herself updated on things necessary to perform her duties. She needed to know enough to pick out what was important if she could only scavenge a limited amount of information on a mission, and she still was personally involved in information retrieval. Indeed, though she was able to oversee many aspects of their spy operations, a single person both couldn¡¯t and shouldn¡¯t manage everything. Though on the first point, that was only true outside of the bounds of cultivation. There were many who found their skills lay in management and information processing, developing those skills parallel to their technological systems processing data. The upper realms was more or less in the midpoint of a period of calm, at least where it concerned the lower realms and the tides of the world. Obviously they couldn¡¯t expect any groups so large as the titans on either side of them to actually have periods of nothing at all happening, and indeed the war with the Exalted Quadrant had still been fresh in people¡¯s minds when the latest Everheart incident had taken place. Long range sensors and scouts had determined that the Everheart System remained intact, another point towards Everheart¡¯s survival- though it was entirely possible that this time he had actually perished and the system would simply continue to exist without him for some time. However, nobody who had actually approached had returned to report any information, neither spies nor fortune seekers. Clearly, something had changed. Though both major forces had withdrawn after the incident, the Scarlet Alliance remained wary of their neighbors. They could act at any point. And the subfactions within them seemed to be growing more aware of the budding relevance of the Scarlet Alliance itself. Obviously they had no Domination cultivators, but even holding off Zaur for a time had marred his reputation. It was hoped that his wounds were deeper than imagined, but their sources had not yet revealed anything regarding that in the following years. The war with the Chaotic Conglomeration was still ongoing, and while one or two Augmentation cultivators wouldn¡¯t make or break their chances against the Exalted Quadrant, Velvet had received encouraging news from Runa and the Spirit Slicing Sect. They were not in frequent communication, but there were things in play to allow at least a general picture. The Sprit Slicing Sect had personal achievements against the Exalted Quadrant as of late, even if the overall picture of the long war had not changed significantly. Less encouraging was information from within the Exalted Quadrant itself. It was not information about any of the sects in particular, but rather the news came that there was a new variety of ships within the Exalted Quadrant. That was nothing particularly alarming on its own, as cultivators would always be seeking to develop new things. The problem was that they had a suspicious familiarity in some components, and seemed to be first attempts at partial technological ships. It was not unexpected that eventually their neighbors would begin to develop technology, and with various ships and people missing during their various conflicts- especially some older ones- it wasn¡¯t unbelievable that they could replicate some of it. However, the mere existence of non-formation based technology was not a huge concern by itself. It was unlikely they could even replicate some of the more advanced pieces as they would be missing all of the manufacturing techniques. Still, it was an issue that bore paying attention to. Would these new additions be a danger, or would they provide an interesting vulnerability in the enemy forces? They were missing the many centuries of experience held by Rutera and then their allies, so even if they could replicate the form in a somewhat functional manner, they might have all sorts of weaknesses they hadn¡¯t yet considered. For example, computer security was unlikely to be something they had considered beyond a basic level, and if they had remote access through any means the tech focused cultivators of the Alliance could likely wreak havoc among those ships. Said security was constantly developing within their own borders, as the Scarlet Alliance was not a monolith of perfection with no criminals. Wherever there was wealth people would try to seize it for themselves in ways they found the most expedient, especially if they thought they could avoid the consequences. Vulnerabilities existed in formations, technology, and people themselves. With all of that said, higher cultivations tended to trump everything else, and the Scarlet Alliance kept a relatively low crime rate overall. They simply recognized that no system was perfect. But internal crime was not Velvet¡¯s area of activity. Establishing even a basic spy network within the Trigold Cluster had been more difficult than the Exalted Quadrant, as they were more strict with the movements of even their own citizens. New people appearing mysteriously were obviously more suspect. Of course, local cultivators were always willing to take bribes to pass along information- it was getting useful and true information from local agents that was more suspect. Such understanding and trust simply took time to establish. The effort was worth it, however. They were able to advance beyond speculation, especially where it concerned internal conflict in the Trigold Cluster. With traditional cultivator culture, there were obviously conflicts. What was important to confirm was friction between larger sects. Specifically pertaining to the events in the lower realms. That was a century past, but the buildup and resolution of larger scale conflicts could take time. From what the Scarlet Alliance gathered, nobody in the upper realms was upset about planet destroying weapons or even the betrayal of their own people. However, that didn¡¯t mean there was nothing to cause friction between them. The systems they no longer had access to had been extracting value for them, with the current Free Planet Guardians and Adamant Federation splitting what remained. None was coming to the upper realms, and everyone involved seemed to be blaming the others. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Sadly it didn¡¯t seem to have embroiled them in a massive civil war, but any conflict was good. And there was quite a bit that could happen with massive sects that had dozens of systems under their sway each that didn¡¯t involve ¡®war¡¯. Skirmishes involving the death of hundreds of lower ranking disciples was a matter of course, such incidents simply happened to increase. Perhaps not enough to weaken the factions overall, but enough to distract them for a while. While it was unpleasant to consider, it would be convenient for the Scarlet Alliance if that lasted until they began focusing on their upcoming assault on the lower realms. They wouldn¡¯t just leave things to the lower realms, of course, but they could more easily manage personal growth first and later sabotage if their enemies were distracted. The void ants were also preparing on the border, the first line of defense. ----- Back in the core of the Scarlet Alliance, the integration of Akrysian cultivators was going smoothly¡­ though ultimately it relied on Xankeshan¡¯s familiarity with the wolves and local cultivators who had learned the language of Akrys for purposes of translation. Those who had ascended, while quite significant for a single new planet, were nothing in comparison to the population of even the smallest town on Xankeshan. Their numbers were in the double digits, so they were seen by most as rare oddities rather than anything significant just yet. With such a low population, they would likely stay that way for the foreseeable future. Their population growth would come more or less only through ascension. The massive variety in species among Akrys meant that there weren¡¯t mates for the vast majority of them, and those who remained might not even be interested in each other. Most likely they would remain a simple oddity for a long time, which was probably for the best. Someone had life-seeded that planet, and if they made the connection they could learn too many things about the Scarlet Alliance. Attracting Ascension cultivators into their territory had been something available to the Harmonious Citadel, but the Scarlet Alliance would prefer if the breadth of their operations weren¡¯t known. But of course, they were still happy to have additional allies. More Integration cultivators was never an issue, but only a blessing. And if whoever was responsible for Akrys being the way it was learned of them and decided it was a good time to return to that planet in the lower realms¡­ they would find themselves quite surprised by the response. It wouldn¡¯t just be the locals, but also the Lower Realms Alliance standing against them. ----- More often than not lately, Anton found himself binding new stars. Specifically, he was focused on his replacement of pre-Assimilation stars, keeping the ¡®floating¡¯ ones available for when he required quicker use. Rather than significantly expanding his range of motion, Anton was focusing on the area he already frequented. The stars would serve both as a highway for his own accelerated movement, but also buffer zones against invaders and places of safety for travelers. Anton couldn¡¯t guarantee the safety of those passing through systems he had stars bound, but he could be pretty close. Today, he was on the ¡®southern¡¯ route, between Ceretos and In¡¯istra. But Anton was not alone. Indeed, the particular star they had chosen was of little importance¡­ just in case something catastrophic happened. Not that he expected it. With Anton were Varghese, and of course Three Squeaks. Both had taken the same path to Assimilation as Anton, and this was their first test of a triple bound star. Three Squeaks had already bound the star, making use of one of his limited free stars. This was not a project where they wanted to spend a decade or more for the three to attempt to bind the star sequentially. Varghese was currently in the process, having started after they determined the star was stable following Three Squeaks binding. A properly done binding was quite safe, but Three Squeaks was still the youngest and newest among all of them so caution was best. Calaminda was a simple red star, quite pleasant but not particularly special in Anton¡¯s opinion. It didn¡¯t take long for Varghese to complete his connection to the star. Anton could feel the energy of the two intertwine, much like the stars he shared with either of them separately. Varghese had enough experience that the star only required a few minutes to settle down, and that was due to an abundance of caution to make certain there were no odd internal reactions. Nobody wanted to destroy a star or damage their cultivations after all. This was more of a confirmation than anything else. ¡°I suppose it¡¯s time for me now,¡± Anton said. The others nodded as he reached out. He could feel their connections, drawing power from the star while at the same time strengthening it in turn. The addition of will and order among a star¡¯s power and chaos far made up for any energy an individual could draw from one. Reaching into the star was simple, and the connection inside of him unfolded naturally. When he completed his efforts, there were a few moments of silence and stillness. Anton could feel the pulse of the star, but that was only natural. He sensed no imbalance, which was exactly as intended. They practiced a cooperative method, after all, but there were always risks involved where things could become unbalanced. Three cultivators bound to one star might have pulled against each other unevenly, but instead the balance came naturally. That boded well for future practitioners who would do the same, as they could fairly well extrapolate that it would remain stable. Perhaps there would be a maximum limit, but they didn¡¯t expect one to appear suddenly. And while the One Hundred Stars produced Assimilation cultivators often enough, there weren¡¯t many who chose the particular path they had. It was powerful, but not without risks. And those who had the wrong temperament were encouraged to seek other methods. ¡°We did it,¡± Three Squeaks celebrated. ¡°Now I can go to that fancy magnetic one.¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°Indeed, Azun would be a good choice. And I imagine we should spend time adding our own touch to core systems. It would be better if none of us were strictly confined to a particular area, since we can overlap.¡± ¡°I am quite pleased,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Even hearing of Domination cultivators¡­ while I can¡¯t guarantee we could take them on as we are now¡­ in three centuries? The Lower Realms Alliance won¡¯t be easily stepped on.¡± Anton just hoped that they wouldn¡¯t run into too many problems before then. Obviously he couldn¡¯t expect such a long stretch of time to be completely peaceful, but it would be nice if it were better than their previous ones. He could hope, and more relevantly work towards the future he wanted to see. Chapter 935 Concentrated rays of sunlight shone with great intensity onto a tree that had only just started to look like something more than a sapling. ¡°Are you certain about this?¡± Anton asked. ¡°The tree could very easily overheat and dry out.¡± ¡°No worries,¡± Lev said. ¡°This lady¡¯s tougher than that, and she¡¯s got plenty of extra water in her. What she really needs is something to push her towards her true potential.¡± ¡°A lady, huh?¡± Anton asked. ¡°That¡¯s right. Well, grasping willows aren¡¯t necessarily one or the other, but it¡¯s all about personality. And this little lady here is a stubborn one.¡± As he spoke, leaves poked out of branches, unfurling. The trunk thickened, and the tree grew taller by a hand¡¯s breadth in only an hour. ¡°As tough as she is,¡± Lev admitted. ¡°That should be enough for now. The soil needs some work, and we could use a good breeze to filter out the air around here.¡± Anton released his concentration, letting the sun return to its normal intensity in the area. ¡°So, how is it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°How is what?¡± Lev replied. ¡°Your path to Enrichment. There aren¡¯t many of us. As an outsider your path looks quite spectacular, but I can¡¯t judge it for you.¡± Lev nodded, ¡°It¡¯s good. All around, more trees are growing. I doubt I¡¯ll ever have as expansive of a domain as yourself, but wherever they strike near here I¡¯ll be ready.¡± ¡°I¡¯m always glad to hear that,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though I have concerns about Enrichment cultivators in general.¡± ¡°In what way?¡± Lev asked. ¡°I just wonder if it¡¯s the right path. There are so few of us, compared to Augmentation cultivators in the upper realms. Or is it that we encouraged too many of our talents to leave us?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°Of course, I wouldn¡¯t want to stifle anyone¡¯s growth. They made the right choice for them.¡± ¡°I thought you were supposed to be the old man,¡± Lev said. ¡°What happened to your patience?¡± ¡°Bah, at this point I¡¯m hardly older than you,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I¡¯m willing to wait. I just wonder if we can stand up against the enemy¡¯s Augmentation cultivators, let alone¡­ well, anyone in Domination.¡± ¡°We last fought an Augmentation cultivator before anyone was even close to Enrichment,¡± Lev pointed out. ¡°Don¡¯t forget, this is our territory. Just as you can¡¯t go to the upper realms, they shouldn¡¯t be here.¡± ¡°It would be nice if they die more quickly, then,¡± Anton said. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to manage that ourselves. But at best a small fraction of them will be native to the lower realms, and even that would only minimize their vulnerabilities. They won¡¯t be able to recover Ascension energy. I imagine any of us could take down an Augmentation cultivator without trouble now. More than one, probably. And we¡¯ve still got plenty of time for another whole wave of Enrichment cultivators.¡± Anton nodded slowly. ¡°I suppose even those of Akrys have the chance.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Lev replied. ¡°Not to mention the void ants. The Great Queen could probably take on any Augmentation cultivator.¡± ¡°And if they send a Domination cultivator?¡± ¡°For each one they send, we kill one,¡± Lev declared. Anton chuckled. ¡°I like it. Too bad we can¡¯t warn them without giving away more than we want to let on.¡± ¡°Anyway, I wouldn¡¯t worry about Domination cultivators. Unless the upper realms commit literally all of their forces to wipe us out¡­ in which case our friends in the Scarlet Alliance might be able to make sure they don¡¯t have anything to come back to.¡± ¡°They still have many more systems under their control,¡± Anton reminded Lev. ¡°A vast number of people.¡± ¡°And what have they done with it? Hardly more than the Scarlet Alliance has done in half a cycle. ¡° Lev looked at Anton closely. ¡°You didn¡¯t really doubt anything, did you? You just wanted to test my resolve.¡± ¡°Who knows?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Even old men like me have our moments of worry.¡± ¡°In that case, you should drown yourself in practice. Speaking of which, I¡¯ve seen some of your training. I dare you to try to hit the Grandfather Willow from here.¡± ¡°We¡¯re in the wrong system, you know.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that the point?¡± Lev asked. ¡°You can hardly shoot between realms if you can¡¯t manage two little bound systems.¡± Anton began to stretch, clutching his bow in one hand. ¡°People are going to be upset.¡± ¡°Think of it as a test of local readiness,¡± Lev replied. ¡°People need to be able to handle it. And nobody sheltering under the Grandfather Willow will be worried.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°You¡¯d better be prepared for it to leave a mark.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Oh? Talking like that, I¡¯d be insulted if you didn¡¯t,¡± Lev replied. There was something itching in the back of Anton¡¯s mind as he took his shot. Frankly, he had sufficient practice that shooting between bound systems was actually more than reasonable. His arrow and thus his self pierced through subspace, breaking the effective speed of light by many orders of magnitude. He passed out of Rutera¡¯s system and towards Ceretos, ready to weave around anything in his way should anyone be so unlucky as to be directly between two random points in space. The only real issue was satellites around Ceretos, but they were spread out enough that it was easy to avoid them with negligible course correction. The planetary barrier over Ceretos should have blocked Anton, but the Grandfather Willow reached up and out towards him, stretching higher than a mountain into the sky. Anton met the challenge head on, using what energy remained to pierce into a limb. Lev breathed out slowly. ¡°Not bad. I felt that. You know, it wasn¡¯t that long ago that you could only vaguely tap a planet at that distance.¡± ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Now then, you should make sure to keep growing your forest. Otherwise you might slip right back out of Enrichment.¡± ¡°No chance,¡± Lev said. ¡°I have some mighty fine forests elsewhere. Vecesta has just been a little stubborn.¡± ----- By some standards, Devon was the third and final Enrichment cultivator of the Lower Realms Alliance. His status as an Enrichment cultivator wasn¡¯t in doubt. Somewhere between everything with Nidec and Vrelt and then the whole war with the Trigold Cluster, he had gained enough insight to naturally slip into Enrichment. He could truly chain up a planet if he wanted to, and it wouldn¡¯t just be for show. No, the quibble was regarding other potential candidates. There were no traditional cultivators just yet, but Paradise¡¯s power was hard to ignore. He wasn¡¯t exactly an Enrichment cultivator, but it was also difficult to say he was not. And there was one more, the most dubious of all- the Great Queen¡¯s strength was almost impossible to measure, but if she got her jaws on anyone but Nthanda they would be toast. Right now, Devon was once again reprising the role of Aerona¡¯s bodyguard. He liked it, not being directly in the spotlight but still helping things get done. And while sometimes he had to use his power to remind people how things were, it was a relatively easy job. Devon wasn¡¯t lazy, of course, he just didn¡¯t want to burden himself with pointless intensity. Currently, Aerona was helping to strengthen the security of the Lower Realms Alliance via negotiations with the Sylanis Cluster. Their war was practically ancient history at this point. No, four hundred years was long enough that it was ancient history. Cross pollination between them and the Alliance had resulted in slow but significant changes to the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s culture. As far as candidates for a defensive alliance against the upper realms went, they were at the top of the list. They¡¯d already contributed Ascension cultivators to the upper realms- though at first those people had been ones who disagreed with the general way the Sylanis Cluster worked. But as direct neighbors of the core part of the Lower Realms Alliance, they really needed to go beyond simple peace. One of the most unlikely but important contributions had come from Paradise. Or at least as a direct result of his actions long ago. That was the phoenixes, the few that had been saved from the demise of the Ultimate Phoenix Sect. After Paradise moved his home to the sea among the stars, some of them chose to rekindle their connection to the Sylanis Cluster- and the Reborn Phoenix Sect. They were actually cultivators working from cultivation manuals that had remained at the end of the war, not at all affiliated with the original Ultimate Phoenix Sect. They had used the principles available and the slow exchange of shared knowledge between systems to develop the techniques into something better. Rather than drawing upon the lifeforce of Phoenixes, they had instead learned to share lifeforce between them. While in some ways it could be looked at as a weakness- the connection made all of those linked together in a battle vulnerable- it was also their greatest strength. The shared lifeforce meant that unless enough damage was dealt to them as a whole, nobody would perish. The weakness was that if they lost they would all die. But if the enemy could overwhelm them so much that they were battered down entirely, would not all of them have perished anyway? At least they could all remain functional until the end. Of course, Devon¡¯s knowledge of their abilities was mostly theoretical. He had sparred against two or three of them bound together, and any wounds he inflicted were more or less distributed among them evenly. Though he had the feeling that if he managed to overwhelm one with a fatal wound in an instant that they could truly die as an individual. Whether that would kill the others or break the connection he didn¡¯t know, and obviously he didn¡¯t test it. While their position as proper allies was still speculative, it seemed like a great way to sour relations. As for the actual phoenixes¡­ they had indicated their intention to cultivate together with the Reborn Phoenix Sect. Devon had heard that they had developed a form of speech, but he¡¯d never personally seen it. They were a proud people, and perhaps that meant not speaking to those they didn¡¯t respect. Devon kind of admired that¡­ especially since that meant they weren¡¯t all about pure strength. Or maybe they were just rude. But that was not his job to worry about. Instead, he kept watch while Aerona introduced them and the Reborn Phoenix Sect. The way the human cultivators actually resembled phoenix energy so closely was quite impressive, especially considering they¡¯d been detached from them for centuries. ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll actually join together?¡± Devon asked Aerona when they were alone. ¡°I imagine so, but it doesn¡¯t matter either way. Whether friends or rivals, as long as they are not true enemies it will bring us closer. And then maybe we can learn more about the systems they know to the west.¡± ¡°Oh, you think they know of more inhabited systems?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Aerona said. ¡°More than a few. Some of them have already been revealed to us, but their higher ups assuredly have more kept secret.¡± ¡°So will we be visiting them next?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Aerona shrugged. ¡°I would go wherever my heart leads. Or where I am called, if needed. But I would always prefer the former.¡± ¡°It is indeed better if everyone can choose their own path. But that can be a bit difficult, the further you go.¡± Devon scratched his chin. ¡°What do you think about the Shining Cooperative?¡± ¡°Reasonable allies. However, they came to dominion over their region rather forcefully. It¡¯s not exactly optimal. Then again, many of the worlds were plagued by the upper realms so they couldn¡¯t do much else without leaving them to suffer,¡± she shrugged. ¡°I have to admit you¡¯re better informed than me in that regard. Or most, really. Ultimately, it seems to me making them officially part of the Lower Realms Alliance is unnecessary.¡± ¡°Indeed. Pressuring them into being part of us likely wouldn¡¯t go well. And we can rely on them to act favorably, both against the upper realm and the Adamant Federation upon our eastern border. Though perhaps that latter situation might result in more conflict. Others are monitoring the situation.¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°If they¡¯re truly cut off from the upper realms, then it would be better to conserve the lives. I have the feeling the end of this cycle will be more than just a simple setback for us if we lose.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Though I doubt they will be able to plan for the full expanse of our alliance. Until now, they¡¯ve mainly been dealing with isolated systems who at best had Life Transformation cultivators. And then there was the short cycle¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°I heard about the difficulties, but three systems is far removed from what we have now.¡± Chapter 936 ¡°Domination,¡± Velvet said simply, addressing those gathered in front of her. ¡°A mysterious stage, even for those of us who are merely one stage before it. Yet what is it, besides an increase in power?¡± She looked around at the gathering, all of those in Augmentation and those who were soon to be, but no others. Often there were assistants or others who should be involved in the dissemination of information. But in this case, it was kept to a relatively select group. ¡°Even if we truly had the answers, most likely we would be unable to beat the next cycle,¡± Velvet explained. ¡°Here, we should expect direct interference either before or after the cycle of the tides of the world. Or alternatively, that is when we will have our opportunity to make some moves both to protect our lower realm brethren and to advance our own interests. But this is not about that subject. This is about Domination. And our studies have made it more clear that higher tier cultivation is inextricably tied to devotion.¡± Members around the room nodded, but if they had something to say they were waiting for Velvet to finish her introduction. ¡°Devotion sped the path to Augmentation for most of us, and indeed it might have been a necessary component. It is logical that it should only be moreso for Domination. But while advancement of our cultivation is a concern for many here, a bigger concern is if we could even match those we have seen even if we were in Domination. Zaur Beridze and Ratna are the only Domination cultivators anyone in the Scarlet Midfields has witnessed, as far as we are aware. At least, those who survived to the current day. Assuming them to be of typical power raises some concerns about our ability, but assuming them to be exceptions in terms of power is a risk we can¡¯t afford to take.¡± Tauno nodded. ¡°Pushing to advance a Domination cultivator of our own might not be the solution, then. We might manage to force it at great expense but¡­¡± he shrugged. ¡°We would have to know how to begin with,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°Mere cultivation of energy, time, and devotion seem unlikely to be the complete picture. There would be some level of insight that we can¡¯t guarantee is naturally gained or not. But importantly, we find ourselves concerned with the power of those in Domination. We already had high estimations, but they were far exceeded. So far, we have not met an Augmentation cultivator we could not defeat, often with a single cultivator of our own. So how then are Domination cultivators so much stronger?¡± ¡°I assume that you have the answer for us,¡± Zazil replied. Her actions during the war had already been reviewed- and that she had confided in Prasad was greatly helpful to her case. The best way to convince her enemies that she changed sides was to fool her allies. ¡°I have information to present,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Whether it is an answer or merely speculation remains to be determined. Devotion. We know that it is vital, we can feel it flowing into us. But until recently, we had not been able to measure it.¡± She waved her hand, and a three dimensional image appeared in front of her. ¡°Here is a map of devotion flowing within the Scarlet Alliance.¡± The map had clear hotspots for Xankeshan as well as the headquarters of every major sect. Between systems it was a relatively equally dense fog. ¡°And then, here is a map showing connections between something in the Scarlet Alliance and the outside world.¡± She brought up a second image, showing a much greater flow, dense sheets going east and west. Alva frowned. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ concerning. Does that mean¡­?¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not implying that the Scarlet Alliance is full of disloyalty or anything like that. Actually, though these two images are similarly displayed, they¡¯re not actually graphs of the same thing. Generally, the first one is positive devotion, and the other is negative devotion. This theory has been advanced previously, especially with regards to Everheart.¡± Vari furrowed her brow. ¡°There¡¯s nothing in the second one flowing towards the Everheart system. Does that mean¡­?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I say this with the same certainty of any speculation that Everheart is dead. Though that is a valuable observation that brings us to one final view. Keep in mind the value of this third image is purely speculative and could have any number of explanations.¡± Another image popped up, using similar coloring. It looked quite similar to the first image, though the concentrations were somewhat less on major planets and the density extended further beyond the borders of the Scarlet Alliance. ¡°This is the limit of our observations,¡± Velvet noted, gesturing to the edge of the image. ¡°It can quite easily be presumed to continue. We intend to extend our observations as far as the borders, though the devices that can do so are limited in number.¡± ¡°So what does this one represent?¡± Zazil asked. ¡°Directionless devotion,¡± Velvet replied. ¡°Especially, but not exclusively, the negative sort. And we¡¯ve managed to verify that this is what happens to ¡®devotion¡¯ directed towards Everheart.¡± Vari pondered. ¡°I remember it having directionality before¡­?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Which is another indication that Everheart is actually dead. Or, the safer theory¡­ that Everheart determined the flow of devotion was a weakness that could be used to pick him out and somehow made this happen. Relatedly, we can¡¯t determine what portion of this is misguided devotion in general and what would otherwise be directed towards him.¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Tauno sighed, ¡°I think it¡¯s fair to recognize that that asshole is probably in Domination. But either way, what do we do about all of this?¡± ¡°We build our knowledge,¡± Vari said. ¡°Here is the point that Ratna stopped chasing Zaur.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the border, isn¡¯t it?¡± Zazil pointed out. ¡°The practical one for the Exalted Quadrant, which is slightly different from their claims.¡± ¡°Tell me why she would have stopped chasing him there.¡± ¡°Well, it would be foolish to chase him into allied territory.¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°If they had stayed and fought above Lonkeon, would we have been able to influence the battle with all of our remaining Augmentation cultivators? Now, it is possible that the Exalted Quadrant would have gathered forces at the border to assist Zaur, but unless there were a great many Augmentation cultivators I don¡¯t know if that would dissuade someone willing to chase the man several hundred lightyears. Why not follow him a bit further and smash up some of the Exalted Quadrant along the way?¡± ¡°Politics,¡± Zazil said. ¡°Entering their territory might be an act of war.¡± ¡°According to previous information, even having Augmentation cultivators in the Scarlet Midfields is long forbidden. But of course, they might simply choose to ignore that when inconvenient. If they want to fight but avoid a proper war¡­¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°Then it is what it is. But I have the feeling that levels of devotion would rise greatly around the border. Though optimally we would want to measure internally, and the fact that it is the border is something we can¡¯t ignore.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I follow the point of all this,¡± Tauno said. ¡°Devotion makes people grow more quickly. Why should that matter?¡± ¡°Ah, I see I left out that bit of information. We have good reason to believe that Domination cultivators can use the energy of devotion more actively. That means in areas where they are surrounded by devotion they would be stronger.¡± ¡°Then Zaur Beridze would be completely unstoppable anywhere within the territory of the Exalted Quadrant,¡± Zazil said. ¡°He was nearly unbeatable here.¡± ¡°And this is why we have a smaller audience today,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Keep in mind this is merely one factor of Domination¡¯s power, but we¡¯ve had people working on this for decades. Though this is ¡®speculation¡¯, it is very well informed. There is no reason to believe that Zaur Beridze is anything but an extremely powerful individual. But being away from his base of operations should have weakened him. Yet I refuse to believe he is invincible, especially since that might make it true.¡± Tauno nodded. ¡°I think I get where this is going. The negative devotion directed towards him locally gave him power.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Velvet said. ¡°And¡­ it¡¯s most likely my fault.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Tauno asked. ¡°I was the one who reported about his presence. I believe my discovery of his presence was not entirely due to my own merits in stealth.¡± ¡°If he wanted devotion¡­ negative devotion,¡± Zazil shrugged. ¡°Whatever it is, would it not have been better to reveal his presence at the beginning?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Fear of the unknown is greater than fear of the known,¡± Timothy said, speaking up for the first time in the whole exchange. ¡°That is why he did not join their forces in battle from the beginning. We could have grown used to his strength, or measured fluctuations perhaps. It might have made him stronger but¡­ perhaps he was able to make use of the general unease in the area?¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°There are indications he might have used anything directed for the Exalted Quadrant in general. Though of course, we weren¡¯t specifically measuring these things at the time so some of our data is echoes of echoes.¡± Timothy frowned. ¡°So then, what is our purpose here? As more powerful cultivators, we might alone generate worrying amount of devotion.¡± ¡°Simple,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. I believe I can manage that. But if you want reasons that are backed up by something, then we should consult your wife. Catarina?¡± ¡°Thank you Velvet,¡± Catarina said, moving to the front. ¡°The intelligence division has been critical to our future plans. As for what those are, first¡­ we reassure the populace. No doubt they will always have some amount of fear, but excessive amounts would be detrimental regardless of the viability of this plan. Here we come to the contributions of the formations teams. We¡¯re going to cut off his access to outside devotion. It should be much more stable than attempting to seal the power of a Domination cultivator directly. And yes, we have tested the ability to constrain devotion. It is merely another form of energy, if a bit more obscure. It can be accomplished at the right scale.¡± ¡°So we just bet on this formation if another one should show up?¡± Prasad asked. ¡°Of course not,¡± Catarina replied. ¡°We have many formations and many powerful cultivators. And we¡¯re looking into opportunities to confirm this theory through testing. Information on Domination is kept under wraps within the greater factions, but their behavior is consistent with the findings. Of course, it could also be that Domination cultivators tend to enjoy attention. Ultimately, this is just one of many avenues we are exploring to handle the threat of Domination cultivators.¡± Catarina glanced into the distance, generally towards the system she knew Chidi was training in. As his mother she couldn¡¯t discourage him from his attempts to improve, regardless of the risks that might be involved. And as a leader of the Scarlet Alliance, she had to be even more approving. After all, his idea might actually work. He¡¯d consulted her on improvements to his internal formation markings, and she had seen his talents do extraordinary things before. But she could still be worried about the risks. Domination cultivators would likely be a source of worries for them long into the future¡­ but that very worry might be their downfall. However, there was no threat impossible to overcome. If they had to promote their own Domination cultivator they would do their best to survive long enough to do so. Of course, there was always a small chance that they would not be ready when the time came. In that case, they could only perish. But in that case, Catarina had a few ideas she was happy to co-opt from Everheart¡¯s playbook. Chapter 937 A mass invasion of the Scarlet Alliance would result in many different routes being taken into their territory. Minimizing those potential routes was one of Catarina¡¯s biggest drives. Obviously a mass invasion hadn¡¯t been necessary to wipe them out. Zaur and the Citadel of Exalted Light on their own might have been enough. Though the Scarlet Alliance would have fought tooth and nail to stop him, so their loss wasn¡¯t guaranteed even if another attack came immediately. Even so, they could expect massive casualties. They could easily lose enough Augmentation cultivators and members of their fleet to be crippled for anything following- and that wasn¡¯t even guaranteeing killing a Domination cultivator. Just driving them off would be difficult enough, even with their new upgrades. But the Bloodsoaked Nebula was a valuable tool. It was not an area where anyone of legitimacy lived, so the Scarlet Alliance had no qualms about doing as they pleased. Catarina had already begun to convert the area into a greater formation, but the issue was that the one actual attack hadn¡¯t resulted in anyone routing through the area. Whether they predicted the danger or not wasn¡¯t as important as the fact that it just wasn¡¯t convenient. Moving the nebula was more than just an ambitious project. Rather, Catarina thought it would lose all of its unique qualities if that was done. Furthermore, there was no guarantee that their next attacker would be from the Exalted Quadrant to the west. It could easily be Everheart from the North or the Trigold Cluster to the east. So she needed something more. The Scarlet Alliance¡¯s spatial manipulations were already stretching things thin. Catarina didn¡¯t think it would be wise to attempt to surround their territory at the current level of understanding¡­ but that wasn¡¯t really necessary. All she needed was a bit of the remaining essence to bleed through. The Bloodsoaked Nebula was the place of ancient battles, carrying the deaths of untold numbers of individuals due to the war between the two great powers. Thus, the resentment would hold up against both sides. Channeling that could strengthen the paths they had already created, though of course making certain it wouldn¡¯t harm their own people was an important factor. It was going to be a delicate operation, but Catarina believed it was possible. And there were other reasons to visit the Bloodsoaked Nebula as well. There were certain dangers, including cultivators seeking their fortunes in the shredded remains of worlds, but those same prizes could be of benefit to Catarina and Timothy, should they come across the right thing by happenstance. ----- Sharpened killing intent faded away as Chidi lowered his sword. Sweat and blood dripped off of the blade. ¡°Why did you stop?¡± Chikere asked. He just shook his head. ¡°This is as far as we can go here, I think. I won¡¯t learn any more by training with swords.¡± ¡°How rude,¡± Chikere said, turning away. ¡°And you know that¡¯s not true.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Chidi admitted, shrugging. ¡°But you know I have more to learn in other areas. Even if you don¡¯t find them as valuable personally.¡± He ¡®looked¡¯ down towards his arms. ¡°Thank you for your assistance. We¡¯ll make sure to drop you off back home.¡± The particular group helping him involved a few ¡®familiar¡¯ ¡®faces¡¯. Specifically, since some void ants would have to be present for training regardless¡­ why not have Snips and Chops able to study two swordmasters sparring? The two miniature disciples of the sword were able to get their own insights that way. Hopefully. ¡°Sorry we didn¡¯t do much for you guys,¡± Chidi said. ¡°We didn¡¯t really have a chance to focus on you at all.¡± He could detect the two of them trying to ¡®speak¡¯ at once, and then they managed their efforts sequentially, chomping bits of energy in familiar patterns. Rather than words, he got the general idea that they didn¡¯t mind. But void ants always seemed polite and helpful, so he wasn¡¯t sure how much that was true. Bullet and Fire were present as well, providing aid by helping Chidi suppress his energy. Aconite was around as well, though more for medical emergencies rather than her personal training. There weren¡¯t many interesting poisons on desolate planets, as it turned out. ¡°What is your plan from here?¡± Acolite said with a controlled whimper. Not all words in the wolfish language were so harsh as to require barking or growling. ¡°Are you continuing this path?¡± ¡°You know me well enough,¡± Chidi said. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°Somewhere else, then,¡± she nodded. ¡°What sort of training do you intend?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not quite certain, but I need real opponents. Ones who I can fight on relatively even footing¡­ and don¡¯t mind killing.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be upset if you killed me when you broke through,¡± Chikere pointed out. ¡°I imagine not, but I might be,¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°And again, I¡¯ve approached the limit of my sword understanding for the moment. Small gains can be valuable, but I¡¯m not looking for that at the moment.¡± ----- It took some time for Chidi to actually research a proper target. First and foremost they couldn¡¯t be associated with the great powers. While they most likely had plenty of groups that were sufficiently strong to challenge Chidi, they might both be overly strong but also come with unintended consequences. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Even if some individuals from the Scarlet Midfields as a whole would wander into the territory on either side and stir up trouble, it wasn¡¯t appropriate for a proper member of the Alliance to do so. More than that, Chidi wanted a certain level of power. He needed to be challenged, but not overwhelmed and killed. Death was not his end goal, and it would be a shame to fail because of a silly mistake. Obviously underestimating his opponents was always possible, but he also had to be cautious for more than his own life. Aconite would be coming with him, both as a support for his training and for her own. Which also meant looking for something that vaguely benefitted her as well. Actually being able to use her abilities to the fullest on real enemies was a good start, but she was always looking for new options as well. Ultimately, they found a target that was good enough. The Dessicated Deep was a group that were said to drain people dry of energy with special techniques and powders. It was entirely possible said powders were usable poisons that Aconite might like, or at the very least something she could learn to counter, but it was equally possible they only gained those properties via special sect methods, making them useless bits of plant or rock without the right sort of cultivation. It was a dangerous group for them to fight alone¡­ and so they weren¡¯t going to do that. There was confidence and then recklessness, and they hadn¡¯t battled against any of the group yet. While they were quite confident in taking down a few Integration cultivators with just the pair of them, the Dessicated Deep was not a tiny sect. They were causing trouble for the planet of Terbettem, which was associated with the Alliance and thus entitled to proper protection. The call for aid would bring more than Chidi and Aconite, and of course the local cultivators would be involved in their own defense as well. The only reason such a group dared to act was that they were outside of the proper borders of the Alliance. Even then, they had to be betting on the Alliance not making any major moves. As it turned out, where there were many systems and planets inhabited by people, there were also many conflicts- even if most of them weren¡¯t that large. The entire territory of the Scarlet Alliance was internally peaceful, but that still left the rest of the Scarlet Midfields to account for. Even if peace applied to the most people in the Scarlet Midfields in anyone¡¯s living memory, it still wasn¡¯t perfect. It was probably never possible, though Chidi heard the Lower Realms were doing pretty well for themselves. Though a cynical view might be that it was because systems outside of their influence didn¡¯t tend to have space travel. Not that it was Chidi¡¯s intent or business to be cynical or even focused on the lower realms at all. He had a target that fit his criteria, and people to aid. ----- Chidi and Aconite took the next official ship headed that way, finding themselves traveling with Alva from the older generation and a couple others. It was a bit suspicious, given her connection to Fuzz¡­ but it seemed she¡¯d been assigned to the group before they joined. Chidi didn¡¯t want anyone disrupting the flow of his training, even if there might be some danger. Hopefully, she would understand. Actually, rather than her Chidi was more concerned about the old woman among their group. An Augmentation cultivator he hadn¡¯t been aware of named Ravina. Even if she was merely in the early Augmentation phase, Chidi thought he would have heard of her before. However, it seemed that she and her sect had stumbled upon some form of ancient ruins along the northern border where they dwelled. Not much news came from that area, so that was probably why Chidi hadn¡¯t heard of her before. It was unusual for an Augmentation cultivator to spring up independently in the Scarlet Midfields, but it wasn¡¯t unheard of. She was just from a smaller sect than normally envisioned for such a thing. But that was how cultivation worked sometimes. Chidi was aware he was very privileged to be born in the Scarlet Alliance- and to his particular parents. He had no idea how his life would have gone had he been born elsewhere. Or at least if someone quite similar to him in body and talent had been born to others, since it couldn¡¯t really be him. Most likely, he wouldn¡¯t have learned much about cultivation- or anything. Certainly if he was entirely outside of the Scarlet Alliance he could have easily died, or been left in a state where he constantly required support instead of his current condition. He understood he had needed others to help him, and he appreciated his relative independence more because of it. Along with a few Life Transformation cultivators from Ravina¡¯s sect, there was one other Integration cultivator, a man named Conncha. He was vaguely the same age as Chidi himself- which was far from young. Chidi sometimes felt like a baby around certain others, but even he had several centuries under his belt. When their ship arrived in the destination system, Chidi was almost immediately able to feel a battle. That seemed to be upon the planet Gedale, a desolate rocky planet that was generally uninhabited. If there was water to freeze, it would be a frozen wasteland. But that also made it a good staging ground for the Dessicated Deep to establish a foothold in the system. Even before they got close to the planet Alva was already outside the ship attacking. She wasn¡¯t a sniper, but they were still outside of where the atmosphere might stretch on other planets that actually had one. Chidi could likely only fight at a tenth or a hundredth of that distance, depending on how one measured things. Still, that was about where the rest of them were able to hop down. The planet¡¯s gravity was somewhat high, larger than the standard by at least half. Chidi found himself crashing down next to a battle with a couple dozen Integration cultivators on either side. Which meant their group would greatly shift the balance, even discounting the Augmentation cultivator among them. Chidi and Aconite dove into battle, hoping to test out the enemy¡¯s style. He could feel the flow of energy moving oddly, and he determined that was because they negated not only internal energy but free energy to some extent. Not that they completely eliminated any of it from their opponents. If the Desolate Deep had been capable of such a thing, then they would hardly have been limited to fighting people of similar strength. And they would have instantly won instead of being locked into battle. Chidi drew the attention of one opponent, a slender man with a wicked curved dagger in one hand. For the moment, he was cautious to avoid the attacks of the man, specifically those from hidden needles in his other hand. He didn¡¯t want his own energy to be drained at the wrong time, after all. His opponent did manage to negate several of his attacks, ultimately stopping Chidi¡¯s blade with his dagger as his power was negated. Content with his initial sample, Chidi then cut the man down, a sudden motion the man was unprepared for. Other members had already begun fleeing as Ravina joined the battle, but there were too many remaining to comfortably pursue. Another time, perhaps. Chapter 938 After the Desolate Deep were driven off, the local cultivators from Terbettem came to thank the group representing the Scarlet Alliance. ¡°Your timing was impeccable,¡± said a woman with hair that shifted from red through orange to yellow and back. ¡°I am Ritu,¡± she bowed her head towards Ravina, the Augmentation cultivator leading them. ¡°Ravina,¡± she said. ¡°My companions and I are here to help how we can.¡± Chidi noticed Aconite nuzzling into the pouches of a fallen member of the Desolate Deep. Then she licked something carefully, presumably their special powder. ¡°I¡¯m glad our request was taken seriously,¡± Ritu said. ¡°An Augmentation cultivator should help with the aggression we¡¯ve experienced lately. Though it¡¯s difficult to be certain as they should have known of our association with the Alliance and still have caused us this much trouble¡­¡± she shook her head. Chidi left them to discuss the next course of action. He found his way over to Aconite. ¡°How is it?¡± ¡°Dry,¡± Aconite replied. ¡°Its inherent properties are slightly absorbent of upper energy, but not to the level it would bother anyone. Perhaps direct injection of sufficient quantities into the bloodstream would be troublesome, though at a certain point¡­¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t everything?¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°Exactly. Well, it¡¯s not that this isn¡¯t toxic. It¡¯s just insufficient alone. Unfortunately, they don¡¯t seem to have their technique manuals on them.¡± ¡°They knew they were going to battle¡­ and maybe they didn¡¯t expect to win.¡± ¡°At least enough to be forced to caution,¡± Aconite agreed. ¡°It¡¯s not that unusual.¡± Chidi nodded. Then he went to find those who had been fighting against the Desolate Deep, hoping to ask them about the energy draining. Unfortunately, when they were successful with their technique it often meant a swift death for their target afterwards as they would be significantly hindered. The only one who survived while experiencing a significant effect was currently unconscious and being treated. He did ask the others participating in the battle about their thoughts, and some had a small effect of their energy being drained, but they didn¡¯t provide useful insights for Chidi. It seemed he would need to experience it himself. ----- After their initial arrival on Gedale, they continued back towards Terbettem itself to engage in proper planning. The planet was nothing amazing as far as the Scarlet Alliance went, but as they had been independent just recently Chidi also didn¡¯t find it disappointing. What was disappointing was the lack of information they had on the Desiccating Deep and their techniques. It wasn¡¯t worthless, and indeed they had practical advice on avoiding their assaults, just not resisting them. They seemed to establish a domain of control, the powders used to boost either directionality or power of their abilities. They also didn¡¯t seem able to completely negate attacks coming into their domain, but those who remained too close to them could find themselves suddenly missing an important portion of their energy. In a fight, both energy stores and what was immediately active were critical. Lacking the former put one at a disadvantage in the long term, and the latter affected individual exchanges- any of which could be crippling or fatal. ----- As was his goal, Chidi volunteered for the first opportunity to head into battle. It wasn¡¯t so convenient that it met all of his plans, like being solitary, but he couldn¡¯t be too picky. There would be a small group of them going to hunt down another group somewhere on Gedale. The planet was large enough that it was difficult to sweep it all at once, and its rocky surface had many caves that people could hide in. That was part of the main reason it was chosen as the Desiccating Deep¡¯s stepping stone into the system. Both Alva and Aconite were competent trackers in their own ways, so the two of them set out with the others following- those others being Chidi and their fellow Conncha. Ravina was focused on a larger gathering of the Desiccating Deep that had been discovered and was coordinating with local forces to that effect. Tracking down their quarry wasn¡¯t too difficult- even Chidi could have sniffed them out rather quickly. There weren¡¯t many tracks left in the hard ground, but that was only a small portion of what could be used to find people. The group descended into a series of icy caves, Alva taking up the rear with Aconite directing their choices ahead. Some areas were clearly natural, while others had traces of rock being carved out. These secondary tunnels tended to be smaller, and in Chidi¡¯s opinion they weren¡¯t particularly well constructed. Perhaps these people weren¡¯t worried about a hundred tons of rock crushing them, but Chidi would still find it quite inconvenient. Chidi¡¯s hand grabbed the hilt of his sword before he even truly felt the waves washing over him. Somehow, the enemy forces had concealed their energy- though that was not a terrible surprise. His blade came out as the waves sloshed back and forth through him, not pushing him around but instead simply brushing against him. Conncha found his way to the fore, reaching out as the first enemy came into view. His energy lashed out like a vine, striking both them and the wall before snapping short and pulling them back. His external energy was draining rapidly in the aura around the other man, but the restriction allowed him to strike the man¡¯s ribs directly, cracking them much like the stone behind. Alva¡¯s arrows flew past Chidi towards several unnoticed targets. Chidi could only sense his way to one more enemy at the moment, so he stepped down one split and engaged. He could feel his energy being brushed away by the wave surrounding him. It was odd, the cold crushing waves wearing away at him. But there was a clear flow there, and he immediately moved into action taking control. His blade scratched along the walls and floors as he guided his foe¡¯s movements with his own. Before his opponent could force any sort of enhancement to their abilities, Chidi struck out. His sword caught the tip of their spear, pushing it to the side and allowing him to step inward. His movements were deceptively quick, bringing the point of his blade into their throat before they could even pull back. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Chidi shook his head. That wasn¡¯t quite right. Not their draining technique, nor his own attempt to negate their own energy. He¡¯d about half performed it, but he was still far from being satisfied with the results. Meanwhile, the enemy was most likely regretting how they boxed themselves in- and the close battlefield wasn¡¯t as much to their advantage as they might have thought. Alva had no trouble fighting several opponents who came up from behind, her arrows piercing through their auras before her Spirit Arrows could be worn away. Aconite also engaged with several opponents who found that her mastery of proper poison meant that protecting against energy was useless. Unless they cut themselves off from all outside interaction, she had poisons that could reach them¡­ and filling a narrow cave was easy. Chidi¡¯s next few opponents were in Life Transformation, and he let them draw the battle out to experience their technique more clearly. He was quite certain he could cut off their draw upon his energy, but he fought against several individuals with spears and sometimes shields without concern. Their own flow of energy was not hampered by the drain, but conversely it was not as strong as it might have been. The powder got used against Chidi, and he had to admit it was a huge step up in potency. The cold seas around him suddenly became salt drawing everything from him. Chidi stumbled for a moment as he manipulated two of his opponents into clashing energy with each other while he cut down the third. Being left with two opponents on either side of him while his energy was drained wasn¡¯t ideal for most, but for him he simply was being pushed towards what he needed. The battle ended with Chidi being the victor, though he had received a nasty cut on his forehead and a spear to his guts- diverted away from any important organs of course. Aconite was not gentle when she stitched him back together, but she was quite and efficient. ¡°How was it?¡± she asked. ¡°It¡¯s going to require a lot more practical experience,¡± Chidi admitted. Plus, there was something else he was missing. His own energy flow was getting in the way. Maybe he wasn¡¯t strong enough, or his control was lacking. ----- *Swish* *swish* a void ant spun around, swiping with her mandibles and forelegs at nothing but air. A few moments later she was joined by a companion. From an outside perspective, it looked like the two of them might be sick. Dying of some horrible disease that lost them control of their body. Instead, they were just reveling in cutting through the air. When it came time to gather food, cutting better was more efficient. They could sever a whole leaf and turn it into perfectly proportioned slices in an instant. They wouldn''t get caught on their burrows or passing terrain¡­ though for Snips and Chops they wouldn¡¯t mind forcing bits through or stacking layers of leaves and other food. For the sake of their less developed brethren, however, they kept things simple. Young void ants were still capable of cooperation, but they didn¡¯t have initiative. That was their problem, though. ¡°I¡¯m bored,¡± Snips admitted. Chops signed back. ¡°So what? You want to spar?¡± ¡°We will, later,¡± Snips agreed. ¡°But I can¡¯t help but think that the queen needs that more.¡± ¡°She doesn¡¯t like sparring,¡± Chops replied. ¡°She just doesn¡¯t know what¡¯s good for her,¡± Snips declared. ¡°We need to force Crossed Antennae to have some fun!¡± Chops flicked her antennae for a bit. ¡°Is it fun if you¡¯re made to do something?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Snips admitted. ¡°I have heard a lot about our culture in the lower realms, but we¡¯re missing a lot here.¡± ¡°Should we ask for more recruits from the lower realm?¡± Chops asked. ¡°More queens?¡± ¡°No! Certainly not the second one. She¡¯s already worrying if she¡¯s doing a good job. What if she thinks she¡¯s getting replaced? No, we just need to make this happen ourselves. Though we also need to get Bullet and Fire on board.¡± ¡°Ugh, but they¡¯re so weird,¡± Chops replied. ¡°Yeah, but for my plan we really need them. You see, we¡¯re going to make Crossed Antennae take a vacation. She needs to go away and see that everything runs just fine without her.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that also bad?¡± Chops asked. ¡°If she is worried about her job.¡± ¡°Nah,¡± Snips signed in reply. ¡°Everything here is happening according to her instructions, so she¡¯ll see that was all she needed. And if there are mistakes, she doesn¡¯t have to correct them herself.¡± ¡°So why do we need the other two? We can carry her off ourselves.¡± ¡°Because,¡± Snips signed clearly. ¡°They can totally destroy us if they misunderstand us for rebels.¡± ¡°Pfft, I could probably cut them in half before they did anything,¡± Chops said. ¡°Probably? What if they got a move in?¡± ¡°I¡¯d be super dead,¡± Chops agreed. ¡°Then it¡¯s settled. Plan abduct-the-queen-for-fun-and-efficiency shall commence!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t get to name things,¡± Chops said. ----- Disaster. Crossed Antennae had nodded off for a single second, then she found herself betrayed by her own royal guard. More than that, the elites. One moment she was directing a new colony, the next¡­ she felt herself being picked up by her outer legs. Only the middle two were left alone along with her wings, which were too heavy to fly. What was worse was that she couldn¡¯t produce any pheromones as she watched her unconscious royal guard laid out- except for the traitors around her now. She couldn¡¯t even have a proper conversation with them, as with both pheromones and limbs tied up she only had her antennae and mandibles to gesture. She wasn¡¯t going to accept the outpouring of peace and safety that came from them either! But while she could probably individually trounce any of them, being older than them, as a queen she wasn¡¯t really fit for combat¡­ especially as she was spending most of her effort producing new queens. Unable to do anything about it, she put up with the horrible situation until they arrived some days later at a pool of water. Had she been brought to drown? But no, her captors carried her onto a leaf and dropped her there, pushing it into the lake. ¡°What is going on?¡± she asked frantically. ¡°This is treason ! I will have you punished for this!¡± She didn¡¯t strictly know how they would be punished, given that nobody had ever assaulted her before or disobeyed her in any way. In fact, void ants had very little need for such a system in general. ¡°You are here to relax,¡± Snips said. ¡°Enjoy the sun,¡± Chops said. ¡°Don¡¯t think you can just fly off,¡± Bullet added. ¡°You have several days until the numbness in your wings will wear off.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a little island with tons of tasty treats piled up,¡± Fire added. ¡°Make sure to have some of everything!¡± This was the strangest situation Crossed Antennae had found herself in. She might have expected oddities like this from the wild people of Akrys, but from her own progeny? It was incomprehensible. And what did they mean relax? She was supposed to be founding a colony! Chapter 939 Although it had been shown that the long term adaptability of individual void ants was significant, even allowing for self-directed evolution, Crossed Antennae feared that an adaptation that made her resistant to the numbing agent currently plaguing her would come too slowly. Though she did note the idea for the future, as having weaknesses was intolerable. For the moment, however, she was unable to fly and thus stuck piddling around atop this stupid lake. No, it was more of a pond really. She couldn¡¯t believe she was betrayed by her own people. She should do something about that. It was too late for her to win a physical confrontation, but if they wanted to kill her they had already had the chance. Perhaps she could leverage that to her advantage. Seriously, though, what was the purpose of bringing her here? ¡®Relaxation¡¯ was for those who couldn¡¯t handle responsibility. For humans. And while humans were nice and all, they didn¡¯t share her burden as a queen. So what could she do here? Seeing she was surrounded by water and dirt, not much. Even so, she dipped her head down and picked up a droplet of water in her mandibles. She had grown large enough that the ¡®drop¡¯ she carried was hardly stable unlike the smaller ants, but it should be enough to completely cover one of her captors. And then what¡­ she would escape past them or something? Crossed Antennae stopped thinking about it and simply tossed the water. It landed about halfway to them. Well, that was going to take some practice to get used to. And since she had nothing else to do, practice she did. A day later- after taking time to replenish herself with some of the food stored on her ¡®island¡¯- Crossed Antennae was confident in her abilities. She looked for the location of the four captors. Snips, Chops, Bullet, Fire. They would regret what they did, somehow. She grabbed another dollop of water and flicked it with great precision, watching it sail towards Snips who¡­ stepped aside, letting it splash next to her. Hmph, how audacious to disrupt the plans of her own queen. Crossed Antennae followed up with a flurry of attacks, launching water at Snips at first then the rest of them. Some dodged out of the way, occasionally the more sword oriented ones sliced apart the droplets. Bullet was the first to counterattack, dipping into the outer edge of the lake and directly tossing a droplet into Crossed Antennae¡¯s eyes. She shook her head, dislodging the droplets from her head. So it was like that, huh? These fellows were going to get splashed for certain! They would rue the day they chose to stand against their queen! ----- Water crashed over Chidi, but he let it sweep around and through him. His sword followed an arc in front of him, connecting with his opponent¡¯s shield. The collision sent vibrations through both of them¡­ and the energy around them. Angling for control of an entire area¡¯s energy was a difficult task, especially with the interference of additional sources of energy beyond simply Chidi¡¯s opponent. Yet he didn¡¯t let himself become discouraged. Indeed, if he had any hope of negating the energy of a sole domination cultivator, then the fluctuations from the battle of a few dozen Life Transformation and Integration cultivators shouldn¡¯t be out of his reach at the moment. Yet he found himself always a single step short. Something stood in his way, a blockade he could neither cut through nor find his way around. The shield pushed him back, a spear reaching for his midsection a moment later. Its length extended beyond the body of the weapon, the tip cutting into his chest even as he parried it to the side. The formation markings inside of Chidi flared as energy shifted. His sword came once more from his right- his opponent¡¯s left. Blade clashed with shield, but neither gave out. Yet that was not the intent of his assault to begin with. Ambient energy was redirected by the flow of weapons, armor, and formation markings. Even his opponent¡¯s energy followed the flow, slicing behind the shield arm. They staggered back, but Chidi considered it a failure. The intent had been to sever them in two, not merely make a marking on their armor. He¡¯d underestimated the dampening effect of the material, misread the flow. The oppressive ocean continued to try to drain him of his energy, but he disrupted the flow of the technique with a shift of his stance. This was not a moment to let his own power be drawn into his opponent. Bouncing back from Chidi¡¯s previous assault, his opponent forced another thrust of his spear. Chidi swiped up diagonally across his body, knocking the weapon away and opening him up for a return stroke above his opponent¡¯s shield. Their energy that extended beyond the shield merely damped the momentum of the attack, and Chidi¡¯s blade still reached the corner of the neck and shoulder, slicing through metal, flesh, and bone. Then he searched for his next opponent. ----- After the battle, Chidi felt a little off. He couldn¡¯t quite describe what it was, but he felt closer to something. His fatigue was significant, his energy returning only sluggishly, but he felt closer to the world as a whole. Enlightenment had come in small ways he couldn¡¯t quite describe. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. He¡¯d begun to grasp the flow of the Dessicated Deep, both its individual members and the organization as a whole. They were being pushed back, and one more solid victory would likely put them down for good. However, the fact that they had remained meant they were still confident they could achieve some form of victory, even with an Augmentation cultivator in attendance. It honestly didn¡¯t make much sense. Assuming that they somehow managed to win, despite their continuous setbacks over the last few months, the Scarlet Alliance wouldn¡¯t just leave them alone after that. Instead, they¡¯d send a much greater force to exterminate them. To Chidi, that indicated something greater happening, but he didn¡¯t know nor care what it was. Even the prospect of personal danger wasn¡¯t a concern to him. He had no wish for death, of course, but he needed challenges. The more he was pressed, the more he could temper himself. ----- Having fought alongside Ravina in a few battles, Chidi knew she was quite adept at large scale battles. Those who fought next to her were protected by her long spear, flashing to intercept enemy attacks and then following up to pierce through their hearts. Chidi admired her style, as it indicated a good understanding of flow. Of course, he was still more partial to swords instead of spears. They had discovered the location of a fortress hidden on Gedale. It wasn¡¯t quite clear when that happened- either the Dessicated Deep had begun the construction significantly before the current situation or they had found an already intact fortress upon the planet. Either way, it was established enough to have proper defensive fortifications in place. Whether or not the formations bolstering their defenses were sufficient remained to be seen. Or not, as was the case for Chidi in particular. While on the surface he looked to be mainly a swordmaster, he had long ago incorporated formations into his own body. He could certainly claim the title of formation master, though grandmaster wasn¡¯t something he was comfortable with. Especially since his main point of comparison was his mother. He¡¯d need at least another couple centuries to be comfortable placing himself in the same larger category. Chidi understood how the fortress could go unnoticed. The flow of energy was only minimally disrupted, with the structure being carved directly out of a mountain. From above it smoothly blended in, and from anywhere but directly above it wasn¡¯t something that could be seen at all. Today they had gathered the reinforcements from the Scarlet Alliance and the locals from Terbettem to destroy the last bastion in front of them. Ravina stood strong in front of them, preparing to rally them with a speech. ¡°We have all fought against the Dessicated Deep this last half a year. Some of you are here to defend your homeland, others of us are here to stand as allies. Either way, we will not lose.¡± Chidi found himself slightly inspired, though his own self-confidence was at a high regardless. Still, it was helpful for others. ¡°There is no way for us to avoid a concentrated attack as we approach their fortress,¡± Ravina continued. ¡°However, a united front will allow us to minimize the damage to each of us. When we reach their walls, our formation specialists will make an assessment. Whether we continue our assault momentarily retreat relies on said assessment.¡± Nobody wanted to sit and be bombarded by attacks unable to properly respond, so everyone understood. Retreating properly was not an issue. Though personally, Chidi would find it easier if the enemy would simply open their gates- or whatever they had. An assault up the slope of a mountain would have been completely insane for lower stage cultivators. As it was, there would be a few minutes where they had minimal cover as they approached up their chosen path- a compromise between navigable terrain and the available cover. The assault began a short time later. As predicted, the enemy was waiting for them. A wave washed over the assaulting army, followed by a hail of arrows and spears. Chidi attempted to cut apart one of the spears, but the enemy controlling it pulled it back out of his reach. Ravina¡¯s spear twirled and spun, deflecting many of the attacks at their frontlines while also distorting the Dessicated Deep¡¯s pulling and draining ocean. The strength of an Augmentation cultivator compared to Integration was clear, even if Chidi were to look at himself in the late Integration stage. Even Alva clearly fell short, though she was at the peak of Integration. The assaulting army surged upwards, leaping up their chosen path in great strides. Their momentum seemed unstoppable, until the appearance of another cultivator. The ocean sweeping down the mountain suddenly became twice as deep, surging against them as an old man stood atop the walls. Ravina¡¯s spear pierced forward, splitting the tide of energy and attacks. ¡°Forward!¡± she shouted. ¡°We can¡¯t lose momentum!¡± Chidi provided his own support, his sword slicing to divert the incoming tide of energy. Their army moved forward at an even greater speed, knowing that remaining in the influence of even the longer range form of the Dessicated Deep¡¯s ability would drain them of too much energy. Once they were closer the power would increase, but they would also be able to fight back. Rather than coming upon a gate, they ran directly into a section of wall. However, to cultivators the important thing was the formations protecting such a wall. What was a ten meter high pile of brick and stone aside from a slight inconvenience? Certainly, where Augmentation cultivators were involved it didn¡¯t mean much. Chidi could feel the flow of energy through the walls. The formations were fairly straightforward, but he sensed at least two separate styles. These formations were good enough to hold off a layperson for some time, or at least get them to exhaust their energy. However, it only took a few moments to find a line of intersection where the styles clashed. ¡°Here!¡± Chidi called out, slashing his sword in a cross pattern. He was unable to cut into the wall himself, but Ravina clearly understood along with others. The woman swept her spear from where she blocked for the army, driving it into the designated location and unraveling a core piece of the formation. The formations had been less effective than the defenders might have wanted, but they still served their duty. That moment Ravina was distracted, the old man atop the walls attacked with a sharp line of energy, a jet of water that pierced into her shoulder. The injury itself was trivial¡­ but the wound began to leak energy like a sieve. So that was what it could do at Augmentation. Chidi found it fascinating. And worrying. Chapter 940 A single moment changed the flow of the battle which had been in the favor of the Scarlet Alliance cultivators. Even though they managed to break through the Dessicated Deep¡¯s defensive formations, at practically the same moment Ravina sustained a serious injury. At that point, morale could have easily broken with their one Augmentation cultivator injured, but Ravina chose to stand firm instead of calling for a retreat. She might have even been downplaying the severity of her own injury, though she should have sensed the same thing as Chidi did- her wound was leaking energy rapidly. But perhaps that was the best reason to stand firm and fight. Not that Chidi was disappointed either way. He was here to fight. Arrows flew over the walls, targeting weaker cultivators from the Dessicated Deep. Alva certainly knew how to pick her targets. With Ravina defending the weaker cultivators from the Scarlet Alliance, their lines remained strong even as she struggled against the old man who wounded her. Conncha was the final fellow to come with them from the main Scarlet Alliance, and he displayed more of his abilities. Chidi had only seen short battles from him before, but he seemed able to connect people and objects together, tying them up. He restricted enemy movements, allowing their side to cut down many foes one after another. Chidi was part of that process, of course, and Aconite was a terror to any hindered foes. In terms of quantity, their side was winning greatly. They had far fewer losses than the enemy, even though they were in the disadvantaged situation of assaulting a defensive position. But Chidi was paying attention to the overall flow of the battlefield, and that simply could not discount the strongest forces. Ravina was holding off the old man with her long spear, but he didn¡¯t seem to be particularly concerned. Ravina¡¯s energy was fading quickly, and soon it seemed they would be left without an Augmentation cultivator. Chidi joined the two of them atop the walls, intentionally picking battles nearby. Something was odd about the old man, and he needed to figure it out. Was he projecting a fake shell as an Augmentation cultivator? No, that made no sense. He certainly had true strength. Ravina was attacking seriously and he was deflecting her attacks just fine with his shield. Another foe cut down, and Chidi moved closer. He wasn¡¯t the sort who tended to interfere in other¡¯s battles, but this wasn¡¯t something Ravina had chosen, simply a match that had fallen to her by default. And it looked like in a moment, it would be over. She had taken several other wounds, smaller than the first but they were each draining energy from her rapidly. It didn¡¯t seem that the old man was able to use her energy, but taking it away from her without contest was still a victory. Chidi thrust his sword into a nearby cultivator at the same time as the old man¡¯s spear pierced just below Ravina¡¯s ribcage. He kicked her away, and while she managed to protect herself enough that she wasn¡¯t disintegrated from the inside out¡­ she was clearly down for the count as she fell towards the bottom of the mountain. That was when all eyes turned towards the old man, and likewise when Chidi stepped forward. The old man swung his spear without emotion, a simple sweep he obviously intended to end Chidi¡¯s life. Chidi¡¯s blade parried upward, his whole body trembling from the momentary exertion. ¡°Aconite, Alva. Please keep any meddlers away.¡± ¡°You mean to fight me yourself?¡± the old man said. ¡°You won¡¯t be the first young hero I have slain. Do you truly believe that even the peak of Integration can beat an Augmentation cultivator like myself?¡± His spear stabbed towards Chidi, who twirled to the side. Even exaggerating his movement, Chidi still had a gash along his ribs. ¡°I¡¯m not some pathetic upstart you can cut down with your eyes closed.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯d figured that out already,¡± Chidi said. Then he opened his eyelids. ¡°But you make a lot of assumptions.¡± Chidi slashed forward, and though his blade was blocked by the man¡¯s shield he managed a minor scratch. ¡°Don¡¯t think you¡¯ll receive any pity from me.¡± The man stepped forward, and Chidi truly felt the oppressive force from him. It was as if Chidi¡¯s energy was desperately trying to escape his body. Chidi knew he could not beat an Augmentation cultivator as he was. But he had the feeling that he had to try. Not for the sake of his allies- though they would be hard pressed even to survive if he could not keep the old man¡¯s attention until they finished off the rest of the enemies- but instead for himself. This was a fight his body screamed at him was necessary. When the spear came for him, Chidi knew that his read of the man¡¯s flow was imperfect. Yet even so, there was only one response that might possibly lead to his survival. Time seemed to slow down, though Chidi almost felt like the exchange was already over and he was reliving it. His body twisted, his sword cutting through the air until he caught the tip of his opponent¡¯s spear. In that moment their energies clashed, negating each other. It wasn¡¯t a matter of pure force, as Chidi¡¯s energy couldn¡¯t possibly overcome him. And it didn¡¯t, either. He only partially negated it, even though his read of the flow wasn¡¯t flawed as he thought. The spear pierced into his body, but it wasn¡¯t targeted at his heart or other vital organs. Instead, it pierced into his dantian. Chidi staggered back as his energy began to leak out of him. The old man had held back so as to not annihilate his body- but not out of mercy. No, he wanted Chidi to feel this. His cultivation slipping away as he died. ¡°I¡¯m so¡­ stupid,¡± Chidi grimaced, coughing up blood due to widespread internal damage throughout his body. His senses vaguely informed him of the old man¡¯s face twisting into a wicked smile. ¡°Ah, this is my favorite part of dealing with young geniuses. The despair when they realize-¡± ¡°Should have known you would be one of them,¡± Chidi grumbled. ¡°The Dessicated Deep couldn¡¯t even have Augmentation cultivators with this crappy technique.¡± ¡°Well, I agree. Though it¡¯s quite fun, isn¡¯t it? If you don¡¯t stop it quickly, you¡¯ll suffer permanent damage.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°Yeah, I figured that out,¡± Chidi said. His cultivation was dropping. Mid Integration already, and it wouldn¡¯t be something easily recovered. Early Integration was only a few moments away. ¡°Ah. You¡¯re one of the boring ones who dies with dignity.¡± ¡°You might be right about that,¡± Chidi agreed. His arm hung limply at his side, swirling his blade around almost aimlessly. ¡°It¡¯s really difficult¡­ to tell¡­¡± He spit up more blood as his insides rioted against him. ¡°Well, if you¡¯re not going to despair then I¡¯m going to have to ask you to die,¡± the man raised his spear. Chidi stepped forward almost to the man¡¯s spear point, his sword still tracing along the ground. His cultivation was at the threshold boundary of Integration. Then, it weakened into something resembling Life Transformation. His blade flashed upward, cutting not at the man or his sword, but merely the space between them. For a moment, the man¡¯s true cultivation was revealed as that of the Twin Soul Sect. And then, it was hidden. Chidi was blind to him, and to the world. The only things that existed were his sword and the man¡¯s spear. The man had clearly sensed something wrong, but Chidi tilted his head to the side as the spear came for him. It was close enough to cut the skin on his neck, and if the attack had any energy it would have severed his neck. Chidi¡¯s blade came back down, slicing through the man¡¯s outstretched arm. He stepped inward, barely cognizant of the feel of his own body. His sword curved to the side to catch the man¡¯s other arm, slipping behind his shield and slashing at his wrist as the sword ultimately curved up and across the man¡¯s neck, slipping perfectly between layers of the man¡¯s armor- its enchantments doing nothing without energy. But he was not done. He crouched down, stabbing upward from beneath the man¡¯s waist. When the world returned, Chidi¡¯s sword was deep in the man¡¯s dantian. The sudden flow of energy through the man caused him to worsen that wound as he pulled away from Chidi, utterly confused. ¡°You first,¡± Chidi retorted as the man tumbled over, dead. The battlefield was almost silent¡­ but the few remaining Dessicated Deep attempted to surrender immediately. Just a moment before, they had an uninjured Augmentation cultivator to make up for their flagging numbers¡­ and now they had nothing. Chidi¡¯s left arm pressed against his belly. His dantian was still losing energy, but the shift in his cultivation had caused sudden changes that seemed likely to prevent any more permanent losses. Blood dribbled from his mouth as he endured the pain of the new internal formation markings. He¡¯d been thinking about how everything fit together for a while, and he had only just finalized his plans. The old man wounding him had been the final piece he needed. ¡°What was that, you idiot?¡± Aconite barked, tearing his hand away from his belly and shoving several bagfuls of medicine into him. ¡°Aconite,¡± Chidi said. ¡°What stage of cultivation would you say I am in, now?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, just focus on healing!¡± ¡°No, really,¡± Chidi urged. ¡°Take a serious look.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ like you¡¯re locked into Life Transformation? Why would you do that?¡± ¡°It made sense to me,¡± he said. ¡°But it¡¯s not that.¡± He reached out and placed a hand on her forehead, and Aconite shuddered. ¡°Not what I expected of you, nephew,¡± Alva suddenly inserted herself into the conversation. ¡°... Nephew?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the least complicated word,¡± Alva pointed out. Right. She was effectively the same generation as his mother. Less than ten years between them, even if their actual relation was second cousins instead of siblings or whatever. Nephew fit. ¡°I suppose we should have expected something crazy like this. Maybe Catarina did,¡± she shrugged. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Dunno. I¡¯ll give it a name if I wake up,¡± Chidi said. ----- Chidi muttered a word to himself when he awoke, speaking to no one in particular. It had been more than a few days that he was out. He woke up only briefly, catching snippets of himself, Ravina, and other cultivators laying together in the back of a ship. He¡¯d vaguely sensed his mother at some point, and now he was in a medical suite. Aconite burst through the door of his room. ¡°You¡¯re up!¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± he nodded. ¡°I guess I pushed it pretty close for that one, huh?¡± ¡°You¡¯re telling me!¡± Aconite growled. ¡°If I were someone else I¡¯d¡­ do something!¡± ¡°But you still need me to support you when you go swim in acid or something,¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not going to suddenly incorporate acid into my techniques,¡± Aconite grumbled. ¡°But I have been studying poison planets.¡± ¡°Gonna eat one?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°That would be s-¡± Aconite paused. ¡°... I¡¯m probably not going to eat a planet.¡± The sudden proximity of his mother didn¡¯t surprise Chidi in the least. His energy senses were the sharpest they had ever been, and he¡¯d sensed her as soon as he woke up. She covered a much further distance than Chidi, but she¡¯d immediately ceased her work when he awoke. ¡°Explain,¡± Catarina said. There wasn¡¯t much Chidi could be reasonably expected to explain. ¡°I advanced to the next stage,¡± Chidi said. ¡°It certainly doesn¡¯t feel like it,¡± Catarina replied. ¡°Your internal formations¡­ many of them suppress your own energy?¡± ¡°It was getting in the way,¡± Chidi declared. ¡°Anyway, I just want to say that definitely wasn¡¯t a fluke. With that guy. I¡¯m in a higher stage.¡± ¡°Higher seems debatable,¡± Catarina said, looking him over. ¡°Wanna test it out?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°No sparring until you¡¯re fully recovered. Your dantian is barely stitched up. It¡¯s a good thing Aconite here negated their technique.¡± Aconite shook her head. ¡°His advancement took care of the most dangerous part somehow.¡± She rested her snout on Chidi¡¯s leg. ¡°I¡¯m glad you won. And I think it¡¯s a good name.¡± ¡°What name?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Negation,¡± Chidi declared. ¡°I thought I¡¯d mainly be negating my enemy¡­ but I realized that I had to go further. Or maybe I knew for a while and was unwilling to do it.¡± Catarina ruffled his hair. ¡°Well, your father and I were very worried. Please try not to get so close to dying. But I know that sometimes it doesn¡¯t feel like a choice.¡± She smiled. ¡°Rest now. And then we can talk about how things work.¡± Chapter 941 Spotting stars in the night sky was simple for those with a properly trained eye, but determining which stars had planets around them was a somewhat more difficult endeavor. Or at least it had been at one point. Now there were many different detection methods, and even in the lower realms there was a very simple solution to uncertainty- simply visiting the stars themselves. Obviously that only worked for the very near neighborhood in the small slice of the galaxy the Lower Realms Alliance called home, but people had been tirelessly cataloging the stars and planets around them for centuries. Learning deeper details such as the potential occupation of said planets was more difficult, and even the expansive Shining Cooperative had gone unnoticed- though not for lack of trying. To Devon¡¯s understanding, searching for fluctuations of energy that indicated cultivator life was only viable from near a particular system. So unless they built structures visible from other systems, they would generally go unnoticed without an actual visit of some sort. While it was possible to send ships to every ¡®nearby¡¯ star- it was only a few thousands of them- doing so recklessly could be problematic when they were occupied. They¡¯d found several systems less than ten steps away from the western border of the Lower Realms Alliance, but there were factors that indicated significant Exalted Quadrant presences among them. Though many people considered it proper to free the lower realms of the corrupting influence of the upper realms juggernauts, there were also concerns about risk for their own alliance and even potentially making the lives of the locals worse. The Exalted Quadrant wasn¡¯t completely terrible, after all. In most cases, they were able to be reasoned with and tolerable. Yet even so, they didn¡¯t have the best interests of the locals in mind, nor did they always consider the best interests of all of their members in the lower realms. They were a far cry from destroying one of their own systems like the Trigold Cluster but they still didn¡¯t use their knowledge for building up the planets as a whole. Then there were the political factors to consider. The Exalted Quadrant was already going to be cross with them for disrupting their operations on a few planets, and provoking greater wrath could be a mistake. On the other hand, the Exalted Quadrant would be growing stronger from what resources they extracted so in some ways they also couldn¡¯t ignore their presence. All in all, that was why people like Devon were necessary for exploration. Anton could manage as well, and if they simply needed mobile power then Ascension-class battleships would work too. But what they needed was a presence that was strong but not too threatening. Devon had great offensive capabilities, but he didn¡¯t have a presence that was automatically threatening. Perhaps that was to his disadvantage sometimes, as it meant some people were willing to act recklessly around him. That happened when he was visiting a particular system, shortly after they had approached closely enough to determine it was actually occupied. The system would later be known to him as Turilia, but when the incident occurred it was just another number. ¡°Readings look promising, sir,¡± said the lead engineer, a woman by the name of Maryamu. Aerona smiled, looking over at Devon. ¡°Do you think we¡¯ve finally found one?¡± Devon nodded. After a few years of weaving back and forth and up and down to catch new systems they had finally come across a good candidate. ¡°I can definitely-¡± Before he even finished his sentence, and before the ship could raise alarms, he suddenly reacted. Invisible chains formed into a barrier around the ship, dampening the attack before it reached the ships barriers. Devon could have blocked all of it, but he left enough for a proper sample so the shields could gather sufficient information to adapt. Plus, there was only so much he could do in an instant. As the first attack scattered, a second came shortly behind it. A beam of pure natural energy, seemingly unconnected to elements or concepts. Devon waved his hand, reshaping the barrier of chains and allowing the energy to flow through- but only as he tightened around the beam, siphoning from it instead of directly clashing against it. ¡°Does anyone recognize the energy signature?¡± Devon asked the bridge as a whole. Maryamu was the first with a response. ¡°It appears entirely new. It doesn¡¯t match anything we have on record.¡± ¡°Can the barriers adapt?¡± Devon asked. Normally he wouldn¡¯t have to, as they just did, but he felt them trembling. ¡°It¡¯s going to require manual tuning, sir!¡± Maryamu replied. ¡°Very well,¡± Devon said. ¡°Just get us out of here. I¡¯ll keep us safe.¡± As the pilot turned the ship, Devon spread his senses further to the source of the attack. To his surprise, it was not two powerful cultivators as he had imagined, but a great number of lesser cultivators. No, that wasn¡¯t quite correct. There were two stronger cultivators guiding them, but they were only a small step beyond Life Transformation. At least, when considering them on their own. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Chains extended outward, wrapping around the odd ships. They seemed to be made up of a large number of rectangular prisms connected together, but not in perfect alignment. Instead they stuck out at different angles, creating rather lumpy ships. His first instincts were to crush the attackers, but as he was on a peaceful mission he decided against it. Besides, he could physically admonish them without actually killing anyone. His chains pulled tight around the ships, reinforced by dense energy as he twisted them around the ships, squeezing against their energy barriers. Spikes along his chains pierced through as he concentrated his energy into particular points, tearing away hunks of metal hull. The damage he did was mostly cosmetic and it didn¡¯t seem to dissuade them from attacking, so Devon changed his tactics. When they powered up their weapons once more, combining their two attacks onto the small ship he was in, Devon formed his chains into a bowl shape. His strides towards Enrichment had greatly increased his versatility, and upon his actual breakthrough his power had increased significantly. He could survey a whole planet, so catching and redirecting energy from two ships was easy enough. The energy caught in his dish was redirected back towards the two ships, with Devon adding nothing to it. Aside from forcing it into position he hadn¡¯t taken control of it, so they were able to disperse it relatively quickly as it battered against their barrier- however, that did force them to stop attacking. And they seemed to understand they weren¡¯t going to be able to destroy the ship, ceasing their assault. ¡°It¡¯s better to come back later,¡± Aerona advised. ¡°If they have some time to calm down they¡¯ll be more open to future conversation.¡± ¡°And if they attack again?¡± Devon asked. ¡°You¡¯ll have to make the call.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°I understand. Some people only respond to force. Though I noticed something quite odd.¡± Devon described the ship to the bridge. ¡°The energy of some thousands of individuals from Spirit Building to Life Transformation was fused together at the direction of one other. But¡­ I sensed something else. While their assault was pure, their ships¡­¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°I wasn¡¯t able to determine it clearly, but I had the feeling those weaker cultivators were bound to the ship and the stronger cultivators¡­ perhaps unwillingly.¡± ¡°That does make things more complicated,¡± Aerona said. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you could target only the controller?¡± ¡°Not easily,¡± Devon said. ¡°And I could be reading into the situation with my own bias. I would imagine for such a ship to work that people couldn¡¯t just wander around freely anyway.¡± ¡°But you know what you felt,¡± Aerona said. ¡°I think with your experience, you wouldn¡¯t easily mistake that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s certainly not a good first impression,¡± Devon said. ¡°How long until we should return? A day, a week, a year¡­?¡± Maryamu commented on that. ¡°I¡¯d give myself and the technicians at least a week to go over the numbers and run some simulations. Their weapons were quite abnormal, even considering the variety we¡¯ve worked with.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°Then we¡¯ll go with that. We can return to our previous system to replenish and assess the situation. We can also determine if they¡¯ll be following after us. Clearly they¡¯re protective of their territory, but their interstellar ability is currently unknown.¡± ----- A fuzzy snout sniffed Chidi. ¡°It¡¯s still weird,¡± Aconite said. ¡°You feel weaker, yet as strong as anything. But not like the smell of a void ant.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you,¡± he said. ¡°I merely based my efforts off of what I wanted.¡± ¡°Who would win in a spar, you think?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°You. Or me, but only if you promise not to use undetectable, airborne poisons. I¡¯d have to get lucky or catch you unaware to defeat you otherwise.¡± Chidi wasn¡¯t concerned about his effective cultivation dropping. What did it mean if he could die to Integration cultivators but defeat Augmentation cultivators? It meant he was strong, in all the ways he needed to be. ¡°Alright, but what if we go to a poisonous planet? How will you fare?¡± ¡°If the poison has sufficient force behind it that I need an Integration or Augmentation cultivation to resist it, then I think its effectiveness as a poison is secondary. My energy control is still sufficient to prevent my body from being touched. I can block out anything I can detect. Though if we come across a sufficiently powerful opponent I would likely be unprotected against the environment for the duration of the battle.¡± ¡°Sounds awful,¡± Aconite said. ¡°Buuut¡­ that means if I can develop antidotes for you then you¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°And it applies to enemies as well. If a human assassin comes, they¡¯ll find themselve suddenly without energy defenses. Though I imagine local creatures might manage with just their body.¡± Aconite nodded seriously. ¡°I see, I see. And how do you feel about environmental suits? The technological kind.¡± ¡°They would have to be lightweight. Because if they require energy to move, I¡¯d basically be trapped inside one.¡± ¡°Ah, right,¡± Aconite replied. ¡°Well, I would suggest looking into that sort of thing. And maybe getting a new weapon.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with mine?¡± Chidi tilted his head. ¡°Ah.¡± He could sense the crack in the blade. It would hold, as long as its enchantments were active. But when he was in a state of negation, it too would lose any extraordinary qualities. ¡°I¡¯m glad I have the luxury to commission such things. If I can find someone to do the work.¡± ¡°Trust me, someone out there will be glad for the challenge. Even if people don¡¯t normally make things like that, now that you¡¯ve actually advanced¡­¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I had thought about equipment, but I hadn¡¯t really been certain about what my advancement would actually look like. I¡¯m going to need new equipment¡­ but I can¡¯t slack off on training either. If my body falls behind¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°Well, I just have to be able to outmatch my opponents. I don¡¯t think I could manage proper body tempering with my internal formations¡­¡± Chidi was just barely able to stand and walk around, still recovering from his injuries against the Dessicated Deep. He was also going to have to get used to how his body worked with energy negated. For most of his life even normal movements had subconscious additions of energy. He didn¡¯t want to rely solely on surprising his opponents with their own sudden weakness. That could work once, twice, maybe ten or a hundred times¡­ but if he wanted to survive all of his battles from now on he would need to reach a level where even a lucky hit could not bring him down. It was an exciting prospect, heading into a new form of training. Yet in some ways, it was exactly what he was always going to do. He would still be using a sword, after all. That was something that was a core part of his cultivation, and not so easily changed. Chapter 942 As far as being forced to do something went, Crossed Antennae didn¡¯t find her situation that bad. Several days had passed during which she hadn¡¯t been able to do anything useful, and she¡¯d been forced to speed up the time with some rest cycles. She had thought that these four ants that were supposed to be her loyal subordinates would have capitulated by now, but her aquatic assaults had done nothing to deter their actions. Indeed, they had launched undignified counterattacks instead of being properly chastised. And now here she was, having wasted an incredible amount of time just sitting on an island and eating when she could have been doing something productive. Honestly, if the Great Queen had subordinates who were so rebellious she would have¡­ done something. Probably. No, the Great Queen wouldn¡¯t have any rebellious subordinates, right? But since Crossed Antennae was having these troubles, did that mean this was her fault? Ugh, nothing made any sense. She didn¡¯t want to think about any of that, she wanted to get back to work. She expressed her continuing displeasure by forming a small ball of mud and tossing it at Snips. The ball of mud cut apart into two small piles, landing on either side of the small ant. Something about her actions reminded Crossed Antennae of her memories, specifically ones of before. The memories carried with them a now unfamiliar emotion. What was it? Something about Fearsome Mandibles. Annoyance? No, something else. Perhaps¡­ fun? But nothing made sense about that, and those memories didn¡¯t matter anyway. Crossed Antennae had spent more time without her sister than with her now, and she didn¡¯t need her. Right? Right. She was totally fine as she was. She just needed to return to work here. It had been too long. She needed to keep going or they would never finish anything. ----- ¡°You fiends!¡± Crossed Antennae aggressively addressed the two known as Bullet and Fire. ¡°When are you going to give up on your foul deeds keeping me here?¡± she signed wildly and directed angry pheromones towards them. Bullet answered swiftly. ¡°My queen, the numbing agent has worn off some time ago. But you seemed as if you still needed the break.¡± The last word was one of those words meant for interacting with humans, not something the void ants tended to use natively. Crossed Antenna tentatively flicked her wings, finding that they responded to her. How could she have not noticed? How long had it been? How much did she need rest? Sure, she¡¯d focused on her duties and sometimes missed a couple rest cycles throughout the day. Rarely more than half of them. Almost never more than eighty percent of them, if you counted the half rest cycles she sometimes picked up. Crossed Antennae took stock of her internal condition. She was constantly in the process of making the next queen¡­ but if they were to run colonies, didn¡¯t she need them to be the best they could be instead of simply the next one? She hoped that she hadn¡¯t done too much damage in her haste. Perhaps her subordinates had a point, doing this. But still, they deserved punishment. She tested her wings. A duration of inactivity didn¡¯t seem to have hindered them too much. She leaned forward, scooping up as much water as she could, then launched herself into the air. Just because it was for her own benefit didn¡¯t mean that there would be no consequences. She launched the huge glob of water downward once she reached a sufficient height, watching it splash over Fire, her chosen target. Ah, that was fun. Maybe she should do things like that more often. It wasn¡¯t like it took long. ----- Since they had to spend some time for the engineers to make calculations regarding the ship¡¯s barriers, Devon sent a message back to ask for advice. It wasn¡¯t as if the system was suddenly going to go away if he didn¡¯t go back immediately, and the one thing he was quite certain cultivators could not do was take back past mistakes. Devon was already aware that his actions could cause a war. The Lower Realms Alliance didn¡¯t want to go from war to war, and Devon received numerous cautions. Anton¡¯s message was short but straightforward. ¡°The situation you described, if anything close to what you observed, seems impossible to justify. Verify what you saw, then act as you must. I have stars ready for you should you need them.¡± Not everyone expressed caution, either. Naamah of the Hardened Crown Sect suggested battering them into submission. That was something he had to strongly consider, and not just because Devon wanted to. Instead, it was because that was a typically well understood method for cultivators. Regardless of affiliation, that tended to be the case- and for those who attacked without warning it wasn¡¯t unreasonable that they would actually respond well to that. Devon also went over the pros and cons of various approaches with his crew, including the potential to return to the system from a different angle. If there were more ships of a similar caliber there were some risks to the safety of ship and crew. However, ultimately trying to sneak past might leave a worse impression. Returning along the same route even if reinforced would be the best option. Taking too long to return might reduce their impression. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Thus, they found themselves returning after the adjustments to the barrier were complete. According to Maryamu they weren¡¯t at maximum efficiency just yet, but they would be better than before. Though Devon hoped it wasn¡¯t necessary, as he would be going in with his energy raised, given the previous response. Knowing what he was looking for, Devon sensed the ships ahead of time more easily. Their energy signatures were clearly intentionally dampened, which was why they had been successful before. It was easy to tell the ships were exactly the same pair from before. The arrangement of their odd sections was the same, and more importantly he could still see some traces of the damage he¡¯d caused. There had clearly been some repairs, but he couldn¡¯t call them complete yet. He stretched his energy towards them, projecting his voice. ¡°I come to speak and will not be disrespected.¡± Devon didn¡¯t have time to say much else, as they swiftly reacted. Perhaps they didn¡¯t understand him- though he had the feeling they did. They might not have a choice, simply following orders. Finally, they might have taken his previous retreat for weakness. He intended to show them this time that they were incorrect about the latter. He once again caught their beams, but as he tried to turn them upon them he found something was different. He still managed to block and disperse the beams, but properly redirecting them was much more difficult. That was fine. He redirected more of his energy towards one of the two ships, his chains stabbing forward with the full force he could produce at Enrichment. The ship¡¯s barriers resisted him, but he still tore through the outside and stabbed them like spears into the captain of the ship, or whatever they were called. The strongest cultivator who controlled the energy of the many others on board- in this case a woman. With his chains inside the barrier he could properly feel the lesser cultivators, and he determined they were listless¡­ chained to the ship like batteries rather than soldiers. ¡°Surrender!¡± Devon growled as he pulled the captain away from her connection to the ship. The result was quite unexpected. A pulse of energy came not from the man but the ship itself, spreading towards all of the lesser cultivators in an instant. Before Devon could shield the man, the ship and cultivators detonated in rapid sequence, leaving nothing but dangling chains and scrap. All that from disconnecting the controller? Devon bit his lip. He hadn¡¯t thought all of the captives would perish so easily. Obviously he was going to have to be more careful. The second ship at least had a more sensible captain. Seeing the other ship instantly defeated, it turned to retreat. If it had been a simple clash Devon might have let them go, but there were too many questions that needed answering¡­ and too many chained prisoners. There were legitimate reasons to keep people in chains, but using them as weapons seemed to be without excuse. Then again, if they had one Devon was quite happy to hear it. His chains lashed around the ship, then more spearlike ones tore towards the captain. Another woman, and both clearly unrestrained and in control. Devon twisted chains around the woman in her seat, dampening her energy but not entirely cutting her off from the ship. He carefully monitored the response of the ship¡¯s systems and the flow of energy. The captain tried to desperately boost the ship away, but the response was weakened- not that it would have mattered with Devon already attached. A few moments later, Devon personally stepped aboard the ship, and since the proper entrance was sealed tightly he simply widened the hole he had made for himself. He had a million questions, but as he stood in front of the captain he started with a simple one. ¡°Why did you attack me?¡± Devon asked. The woman glared at him, but he was quite certain he understood. ¡°Not interested in speaking? Well, I¡¯m sure I can convince you later.¡± With that, he left her behind. It wasn¡¯t that he was truly uninterested in the response, but she also wasn¡¯t that important compared to the others. He found his way to the closest module, which contained no fewer than fifty restrained individuals. They seemed to be in a daze, but as he approached their eyes vaguely focused on him. Devon approached carefully, aware of the catastrophic consequences of failure. Ships did not explode so completely by accident, but who were these people afraid of getting their hands on things? Outsiders like himself¡­ or the very people they were using? ¡°Can you speak?¡± Devon asked, addressing a random individual. A few moments of silence. ¡°Who¡­ are you?¡± ¡°A rescuer, most likely.¡± Devon saw the restraints in front of him, and could barely hold himself back from ripping them all apart. ¡°Why are you here?¡± It was not a fair question to ask to someone held so inhumanely, but necessary nonetheless. ¡°Not strong enough,¡± the prisoner answered listlessly. Devon nodded. He could feel the sincerity within that response. It might not be a complete response, but he could hardly expect much difference from someone barely in control of their faculties. ¡°Do the rest of you speak?¡± Devon asked generally. He got a few murmurings at most. He asked the question directly to another. ¡°Yes.¡± A simple response, lacking in initiative¡­ but he could understand why they would be hesitant. Most likely, stronger cultivators had particular desires regarding how they were treated. ¡°Can I safely get you out of these restraints?¡± ¡°Please,¡± the voice was desperate, but Devon sensed something. ¡°Do it.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll die,¡± Devon declared. ¡°Like all of those on the other ship. Why won¡¯t you? Don¡¯t torment us.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you rather live and be free?¡± Devon asked. There was no response to that, as if they couldn¡¯t even comprehend it. Well, that made things easier. Though before he went too hard interrogating the captain, he needed to determine who was ultimately responsible. She could be just another pawn. Then again, interrogations of any sort weren¡¯t his specialty, so it would be easier to get the ship somewhere convenient first. Though he didn¡¯t know if it had some form of subspace capabilities. Devon sighed deeply. He¡¯d made a mistake with the first ship, but it seemed that perhaps its inhabitants were still better off. He¡¯d still have preferred proper freedom for them, however. Time to drag this ship out of the system before any trouble showed up. He contacted the team with him and had them go ahead. In the worst case scenario, he could always escape alone- he wasn¡¯t going to assume that he was invincible, even as an Enrichment cultivator. The power displayed here already was hard to quantify and he would find it difficult to properly counterattack knowing what he did now. Chapter 943 Formation experts from throughout the lower realms were gathered together rapidly to deal with the ship captured from the new system. The Runic Complex from Vrelt met with others from the western parts of the Alliance at an empty compound on Rutera. ¡°Well this is quite interesting,¡± commented Ashildr of the Runic Complex. ¡°Quite interesting indeed. I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve seen anything like it.¡± ¡°A fascinating break from tradition,¡± commented Naid Conaire of the Worthy Shore Society. Third among those with direct access was Ingeborg from Weos. ¡°I believed our discoveries concerning combined energy usage on ships were exceptional, but this is another generation more advanced.¡± ¡°If you could, stop marveling for a moment,¡± Devon interrupted them. ¡°Can you safely remove these people from their restraints?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Ingeborg said. ¡°They are clearly made to prevent escape, but when subdued like this it¡¯s easy enough to suppress the systems and remove both controller and victims.¡± ¡°Then I would appreciate that being done sooner rather than later,¡± Devon commented. ¡°As will all of them, I imagine.¡± ¡°A thorough investigation was warranted,¡± Ash added. ¡°Direct removal without circumventing the formations would have resulted in a repeat of what you experienced earlier. We will begin with properly detaching the controlling cultivator, as that will prevent the ships destruction sequences.¡± To several formation masters, a process that they deemed ¡®easy¡¯ still took several hours, though Devon believed some of that was an abundance of caution. Either way, they had soon separated the woman controlling the ship, capturing her and restraining her in their best shackles. Given that they were unfamiliar with these particular enemies, she was also to be placed under constant watch of an Assimilation cultivator. While her cultivation might be matched with Assimilation, the guard would not be alone in the facility- they were simply meant to watch in case the energy suppression was insufficient and the woman managed to start manipulating formations. They had no reason to believe her personal expertise was responsible for her own ship, but they had to maintain proper caution. Her detachment was the part that Devon was least interested in. Instead, he cared about the hundreds of enslaved individuals. It seemed that certain sorts of keys were required for their proper release- not physical keys like would fit in a lock, but something that matched the frequency of the formations. The combined work of formation masters produced a formation for the particular ship within the day that freed one room at a time. The freed cultivators were ushered off the ship, the confusion evident on their faces rapidly diminishing as they were escorted outside, replaced with a more subdued bemusement at their odd surroundings. Rutera had quite different architectural styles than traditional cultivators, so they would react to the large visible differences first. Then there was the lack of restraints as they were moved along. The compound itself was still guarded but not everything would be obvious to energy senses. Devon saw a few stubborn individuals not wanting to follow the others. He could understand, of course, but he still remained ready in case they did something foolish. The people guiding them, however, resolved the situation fairly quickly. ¡°You¡¯re not going to follow along?¡± an older man questioned a group of a few stubborn individuals. They crossed their arms. ¡°You can kill us if you want, but we won¡¯t be shoved back in those contraptions.¡± ¡°I understand your concerns,¡± the man said while the rest of the group continued onward. ¡°However, you will miss the information on how to get to the dining room and your bunks.¡± The man didn¡¯t even address their paranoia- they would either see for themselves, or they wouldn¡¯t. One of them appeared about to complain, before his stomach rumbled. ¡°Fine, but we won¡¯t let ourselves be taken down easily.¡± Despite the tensions, the majority of individuals were easy to direct and the rest weren¡¯t so foolish as to act up. Devon remained nearby, just letting his existence wash over the compound without hiding anything. He was able to take on their combined energy, so dealing with them as individuals would be simple. Cultivators would be able to recognize that. It was clearly difficult for some of them to accept that they had been rescued, but they should adapt quickly enough once they actually experienced it. ----- Over the course of several weeks, the freed individuals were provided with food, shelter, and opportunities to cultivate. Devon was a constant presence during the early days, something to remind people of the events that brought them there. People were also questioned about their home system and the circumstances surrounding their presence on the ship. They were given the option to speak in private, as part of a group, or even not at all. There were sufficient volunteers to provide a clear picture of things, so they didn¡¯t really need each and every testimony. It was through such questioning that the name Turilia was properly revealed, the name they called their system themselves. They also learned a number of other important details, like the sect the two ship controllers were from. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The Numerological Compact was technically registered in their databases as a member of the Exalted Quadrant- though only indirectly due to data from the upper realms. There had been no prior encounters with them on any Exalted Quadrant occupied world, and they were generally considered one of the smaller sects. A formation focused sect lacking in notability, by most accounts. But their presence on Turilia provided a more complete story. By the accounts of the oldest Life Transformation cultivators the Numerological Compact¡¯s current abilities were a more recent development- within the last few centuries. While none of them could precisely explain the cultivation advancements required, it was clear to them that the Numerological Compact had reached the next step of cultivation, another branch of Assimilation. On the outside, it was quite similar to other communal cultivation advancements like Vincent and the subspace planet Aipra. Akrys was making use of Aipra¡¯s knowledge to do something much the same as well. The prime difference was of course the willingness of the participants, though the reliance on formations was an important aspect as well. Information from their captive corroborated the same details, though it was obtained through quite different methods, especially the application of truth serums and the like. Torture was both morally repugnant and unreliable, so while mental manipulation on any level was generally discouraged, gathering information from enemies was an acceptable use. And enemies they were. It was another clear instance of unacceptable intrusions by the upper realms. If the Numerological Complex had simply developed their formations down the path of combining the energy of many individuals, they might find themselves a valuable part of the local populace. Instead, they seemed to be little more than local despots. The vast majority of those who had been enslaved to empower the captured ship had no excuse given for their abduction- and Devon didn¡¯t find those who were sentenced as criminals to be much more compelling. It was still enslavement, as there was no circumstance where anyone could be expected to be freed after atoning for their crimes. Not that Devon was necessarily a fan of such a structure of punishment to begin with, even if it had been implemented fairly. With the information the Lower Realms Alliance had gathered, there was no question of if they should do something about Turilia. It was clear from what they had gathered from the captured ¡®captain¡¯ that the attacks on Devon and his ship weren¡¯t a random unfortunate circumstance. Instead, it was policy of the system to attack any ¡®intruders¡¯. They simply hadn¡¯t anticipated something that could defeat them, and the first skirmish had reinforced that idea in their minds instead of weakening it. Of course, with two ships gone they would most likely take any threats much more seriously. With time to inspect the ships they were determined to be capable of interstellar travel- if only slowly- so leaving Turilia isolated simply wasn¡¯t an option even if they were willing to overlook things. Although they had very little data, the ships already encountered seemed to match the minimum standards of an Ascension-class ship, though they required specific cultivators as well. Their captive did not easily share what information she had about their total numbers- partially because she didn¡¯t actually know- but it had to be at least hundreds throughout the system just to guard the borders. The specs of the Independence, first of the Ascension-class battleships, was still greater than the ships encountered but not by as much as the Lower Realms Alliance would have liked. Even so, they had many generations of technology and great cultivation advancements as well. They weren¡¯t concerned about matching up against such ships either with vessels of their own or Assimilation cultivators. However, doing so while keeping the people on board alive would be a trickier prospect. Then there were the more powerful ships. Their captive didn¡¯t know much about them, except they were quite obviously larger- incorporating more cultivators as power sources. There were limits to what the core formations could handle, though how much was left unknown. It was theorized that those ships could stand up to strong Assimilation cultivators or the better Ascension-class battleships. They also seemed to control several systems, though the Turilia system was their origin system With the main limiting factor not being cultivators who had surpassed Life Transformation- indeed, even great amounts of Spirit Building and Essence Collection cultivators were made use of in the two ships they had seen- the total capabilities of Turilia were yet unknown. However, they did have an almost entirely intact ship. While there were contingencies to destroy the ships upon the loss of the controller¡¯s life, they clearly had not expected anyone to be able to overwhelm the systems like Devon did, preventing the cultivator from acting while still keeping them in the command seat. The formations of the captured ship fortunately normalized the energy from the many cultivators carried, so they only had to deal with the edge effects of combining hundreds of sources of natural energy. Tuning their barriers would likely have been impossible otherwise. Yet the Numerological Compact would also rely on that standardization to gain the quality of power they produced- otherwise they would have a chaotic mess of many individual consciousnesses attacking together. That was ignoring the unwillingness of the cultivators involved, of course. The Lower Realms Alliance didn¡¯t intend to immediately rush to war. They wanted to be fully prepared, and it seemed unlikely that retaliation could come swiftly. Testing would be required to confirm that the subspace drives were slower than their own, but even if they were the same speed they would have several weeks notice before any ships could arrive. Turilia was somewhere around ten systems distant, so their scouts should be able to report anything long in advance. That was, of course, if there were no additional extraordinary formations that the Numerological Compact had created. While the ship they captured didn¡¯t appear to have any significant stealth functionalities, they also didn¡¯t expect they had everything figured out. Even if they were beginning to understand the complexities of the formations on this singular ship, there could be more advanced or at least more specialized options. Bigger ships could also tend to squeeze more subsystems into them, and that would be true of both technological ones and those that were formation based. They also seemed to have solved the issue of energy sources, even if it was in a completely barbaric manner. If not for the matter of unwilling participants, seemingly only natives of the lower realms, a straightforward assault would have been quite reasonable. But because they had to fight with their hands tied, it complicated things. While they could accept some casualties in a war, it was more complicated when casualties on the other side were something that you wanted to avoid as well. Little good would come if they simply annihilated every ship they came across. Yet they also didn¡¯t want to let their compassion be used against them. Thus, there was much to consider. Chapter 944 On the surface it seemed that Anton would be an excellent counter to the Numerological Compact¡¯s ships. There was only a single target that needed to be killed, after all. If they simply wanted to kill the enemy, then he would be able to take them out from beyond where they could counterattack. The problem, of course, was that after that point the enslaved cultivators bound to the ship would be killed. While Anton was capable of attacking at a great distance he couldn¡¯t suppress the energy at that same distance. Because of that, he wouldn¡¯t be particularly effective working alone. Even so, he would be valuable as part of a group for helping to break through defenses while others neutralized the ship captains. Plans were drawn up to infiltrate the ships, depending on the situation they were found in. If a squad could manage to slip inside a ship without being detected, it would be relatively easy for them to neutralize the captain without disconnecting them from the ship. As part of a larger combat they would be more aware, creating greater risk of harm to the infiltration crews both from direct attacks and from failed captures. If the ship no longer registered a captain, the ship would be detonated around them. Certain details were still under investigation, and capturing further ships so that destructive testing could be performed would be necessary. Ultimately, Devon was the individual most suited as the headliner for the campaign. They didn¡¯t have abundant choices of Enrichment cultivators after all. Anton had his limitations, and while Lev¡¯s style did fit with restraining the captains he was lacking in mobility and thus only comparable to Assimilation cultivators who had a specialty in suppressing but not killing enemies. Devon didn¡¯t mind being the core of the assault. It was a significant responsibility, but one he was quite willing to undertake. His heart burned for the enslaved cultivators, made to fight against their will- or perhaps more accurately to act as living batteries. He had the determination to see things through, and to save as many people as possible. Rather than returning directly to Turilia, the plan was for some to establish a forward base while others tested the extent of the enemy forces. Most likely the enemy was making their own preparations, so they couldn¡¯t wait overly long to begin their assault. Entering one of the secondary systems, they didn¡¯t encounter any ships near the extremity of the system unlike what happened in Turilia. Knowing more about the situation, formation masters were a key part of their operations going forward. Ashildr rode on the ship that was carrying Devon- a larger battlecruiser called the CSS Valor instead of the previous scout ship, but with some familiar crew. Ashildr was able to confirm detection formations as they entered the system. ¡°They should already know we¡¯re here,¡± she said. ¡°Even so, I suggest taking some time for us to capture some formation satellites. Studying them could prove valuable, and I would hope it would prevent them from tracking us as we move further into the system.¡± Devon nodded. They had a modest fleet with them, by certain standards, but much more than a scouting force. ¡°I¡¯m certain we could handle concentrated enemy forces, but we¡¯d likely have to make some sacrifices.¡± It would probably be the locals, if it came to that. Devon wouldn¡¯t blame anyone for that, either. ¡°We¡¯ll take the time. Either they come meet us here, or we can hope to hide our path as we get closer.¡± Ash directed ships towards the nearest formation satellites- relatively small devices scattered in the empty void. The actual energy output was small, making them difficult to track down for those who were not experts in such matters. Devon couldn¡¯t have sensed them unless he spread his senses as far as possible and got lucky to stumble across one, but that was one of many reasons he wasn¡¯t acting alone. They managed to secure a handful of man-sized formation components, strewn tens of millions of kilometers apart near the edge of the system. Even Anton would have had trouble sensing between any two of them. Ash was able to pinpoint them through how they affected the detection formation, though even that barely seemed like more than the background level of natural energy to Devon. If it hadn¡¯t been pointed out, he likely wouldn¡¯t have noticed it. He¡¯d probably passed through one during his previous advances. Traveling the same distance in one direction would be much faster than what was necessary to collect the formation markings, as it involved changing velocity quite significantly. Devon imagined there was plenty of time for ships to gather at their location, but they didn¡¯t sense any. With their dozens of smaller ships, it was unlikely the enemy could remain completely concealed from all of them using varied detection methods. They were willing to wait another hour while Ashildr made observations of their captured formation parts. Knowing if there were any secondary features such as marking their ships could be quite useful, and if the enemy gathered fleets that could overwhelm them they were still confident in being able to escape. Even if the interstellar capabilities of their captured ships were below average, that was an area they believed they had an advantage. ¡°The formation would have minor tracking capabilities inside,¡± Ashildr declared. ¡°However, deactivating these particular components should help significantly. We can remove lingering traces on our ships as we go further into the system.¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Devon nodded. ¡°Then we¡¯ve spent long enough.¡± He turned to Maryamu, one of the transplants from the smaller ship. ¡°Have you planned our route?¡± ¡°Affirmative,¡± she said. ¡°We will take an unpredictable path deeper into the system, taking advantage of the planetary bodies as possible. That will expose us to possible tracking, but we may be able to confirm occupied locations as well.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Devon said. ¡°We don¡¯t need to accomplish everything today. If at all possible we¡¯d like to capture a few ships and potentially other advanced formations. Determining more about their total numbers would be useful as well. The final emancipation will come eventually¡­ but certainly not today. Unless they have an order of magnitude less strength than we have predicted.¡± The fleet began their advance towards the center of the system, with Devon keeping his energy subdued. If he was acting at full power he could probably be sensed from the edge of the system, so he had to be careful. When it came to battle, they didn¡¯t intend to linger terribly long, so he wouldn¡¯t hold back when it came to that. Besides, they could assume that the enemy¡¯s communications would report them just as easily as Devon revealing himself. They passed by several outlying planets, entering much deeper into the system without encountering anything of note- until they came to another layer of formations when they were more than halfway to the local star from the first. The second time they only routed towards the first formation satellite so as to minimally diver their momentum, but that was long enough for a patrol to reach them. No, it was something more than a patrol. Instead, it was six ships vaguely around the size of the previous ones, with another two that were more than twice as large in all dimensions making them about ten times the volume- and presumably carrying a much greater power. Neither side had the advantage in the engagement, as they spotted each other with enough distance for them to all be prepared when they engaged. ¡°I¡¯ll focus on one of the larger ones,¡± Devon said. Though they had the advantage of numbers, that was only in terms of ships. In terms of total cultivators, with the smaller enemy ships having five hundred or more enslaved cultivators and the larger ones having ten times that, there were potentially fifteen thousand or more cultivators arrayed against them. Meanwhile, between their various ships they had perhaps a third of that. They had a handful of Assimilation cultivators including Ash, and their overall cultivation level was higher on an individual basis, but each enemy ship also had an individual vaguely equivalent with Assimilation directing vast quantities of natural energy. If the enemy had any more Devon might have called for a retreat, but they had to at least test what the enemy was capable of. Immediately as the battle began, Devon tested whether or not the enemy had learned from his previous tricks. The last time he had fought the same ships again, but he once again created a bowl to catch incoming beams of energy with the intent to redirect them at the enemy. The same ship Devon had his eye on directly targeted the CSS Valor. Devon¡¯s chains trembled under the force of the assault. He could feel that the proportional increase in size translated nearly perfectly into offensive might, and he was glad that he had put his all into the curved barrier. The power was still below the Enrichment level, but few in Assimilation would be able to match it for long. Devon didn¡¯t like his prospects matching it long term either, but he found that he was able to redirect some of the energy towards the second larger ship. That was valuable in shocking its systems while it bombarded one of their other battleships, giving them more time to adapt as both larger ships had to cease their assaults momentarily. Rather than waiting and hoping he could manage the same thing once more, Devon launched himself out of the ship. The battlecruiser could manage itself, and he would still be tying down one of the larger ships. His chains reached out, wrapping around his chosen target, pulling tight. He couldn¡¯t afford to be too precious with it given the power the ship held, so he didn¡¯t concern himself with the potential of collateral damage. Its barriers were tough enough that he didn¡¯t break through them immediately, so the various sections containing enslaved cultivators were still intact. Just to be certain, he injected his senses into the ship, finding them bound just as the others. If there were willing participants he might be inclined to act differently. The ship quickly opened fire on Devon once more, but as their attack focused on him he suddenly changed his trajectory, drawing in some chains and pulling himself closer to the ship itself. The beam chased him, but he was able to adjust his three dimensional momentum rapidly while constantly moving closer to the ship. The beam split into dozens of smaller ones, but Devon maneuvered between them as well. He was still only fighting the control and flexibility of a single cultivator, after all. When he reached the hull, he kicked forward, concentrating his power to tear through the barrier. It withstood one blow, and the beams began to curve around the ship to reach him. Devon tightened his chains, focusing them on the section nearest him as he cracked the barrier and dented the side, then he tore through the ship. He quickly discovered that the particular ship was equipped with internal weaponry, but while the corridors were flooded with energy they couldn¡¯t concentrate it enough to take him out quickly. If they did, the ship would likely break down first. He still didn¡¯t want to linger, of course, and continued to push his way through the ship. Moments later, the section of ship he was in suddenly disconnected, being tossed away. Or at least that was clearly the plan. Devon¡¯s chains latched onto the main body of the ship, pulling it close- which caused the captain to stop the sudden surge of power that would have likely detonated the section. Devon was fairly certain the cultivators had still been fried by the surge pulling from and pushing into them, but the captain was afraid to cause an explosion while it was still connected. That was his problem, though, because Devon was happy to take advantage of the hesitation to tear his way inwards to the command deck. Then his hand wrapped around the man¡¯s throat, chains growing from his body and suppressing the man¡¯s energy- but not completely, leaving the ship waiting for orders that could not come. Chapter 945 Because he had a hold on the captain of one of the larger battleships, Devon didn¡¯t have the spare capacity to continue participating in the ongoing battle. It was a delicate situation, keeping the man¡¯s energy bound in a way that he could not trigger any of the systems without completely sealing him and breaking the connection. Furthermore, this particular captain clearly had a more advanced cultivation than the others. Outside of the ship, Devon could feel the rest of the battle reaching its peak. Several of the smaller ships had been captured, and an assault was underway on the other larger battleship. Lower Realms Alliance cultivators were infiltrating from as many different directions as possible to force the captain to split her attention. Even so, she clearly had enough power to draw upon to suppress several Assimilation cultivators at once along with several squads of Life Transformation and Essence Collection cultivators. Moment by moment, Devon''s chains wrapped tighter around the man in front of him, sliding into place not for a stronger seal but a more stable one. Devon knew that he could form a lasting configuration of energy, but he needed to make certain it didn¡¯t have any flaws that could be exploited when his attention was gone. Most likely it would only last a few days at most, but he simply needed it to last for the rest of the battle. More than a few ships from the allied fleet had been destroyed, the natural energy of the crew mixed up with the constant attacks obscuring how many people had perished and how many still survived. Obviously Devon would have preferred if they lost no one, but believing that was possible was far too arrogant. Even as an Enrichment cultivator, he wasn¡¯t untouchable. He would have had difficulty defeating this small fleet alone, six mid-sized ships and two larger ones. Doing so without most of the enslaved cultivators dying would have been far beyond him. His chains clinked into their final form for the moment, spikes driving none too gently into the flesh of the captain and the inner hull of the ship. If something did happen, Devon hoped it would not go beyond the command deck. With one captain properly sealed, Devon reached out towards the other largest ship. It seemed that his allies had that one pretty much under control, but he was going to make that a certainty. His chains wrapped around the ship in a sphere, bolstering the power of his allies while suppressing the enemy. Moments later, the assault forces breached the command deck, and the captain was swiftly subdued without the ship to protect her. Devon moved his attention to one of the smaller ships, and then the next. Somehow, they managed to capture all eight of the enemy ships- though not without losses. There were segments that had been detonated on both the second large ship and several of the smaller ones, with an estimated loss of a thousand lives lost. Their own side had a handful of smaller and mid-sized ships lost from their fleet, plus losses sustained while boarding the enemy ships. There were likely only half as many dead, but in a certain manner all of the losses felt like theirs. At the current moment, none of their actual enemies were dead. Though they would be, sooner or later. ¡°We need to move quickly!¡± Devon advised the fleet. ¡°We don¡¯t know if reinforcements are coming.¡± Plus, they couldn¡¯t keep the cultivators suppressed indefinitely. They would eventually worm their way through temporary restrictions, which would then allow them to continue the fight- or perhaps worse, detonate their own ships. Though they hadn¡¯t been seen doing so purposefully for their entire ships, clearly they were not timid about doing it for smaller parts. Most likely they only valued their own lives, but if they figured they were going to die anyway there was no telling what they might do. The fleet had come knowing that they were going to try to capture enemy ships, so they had various methods to bring them along- as well as the larger wreckage of their own ships so the enemy wouldn¡¯t be able to easily reverse engineer anything. They hadn¡¯t quite expected to deal with ships of such quantity or size, but they had ships meant to clamp onto others, either pushing or dragging them. Because of the unexpectedly high volume, some of the process was unstable and Devon had to contribute his own chains between the battleships. Ashildr was a great boon, directing formation experts on how to activate the ships¡¯ drives even without the consent of the sealed captains. They were clearly not working close to maximum efficiency, but it eased the process. ¡°Additional ships detected trailing us,¡± Maryamu reported as they were nearly at the border of the system. ¡°Ten smaller ones.¡± ¡°Can we get away from them?¡± Devon asked. ¡°We should be able to activate our subspace drives in a few moments,¡± she said. ¡°With additional ships and the wreckage of our others, we should still be able to outpace the standard drives of our enemies. However, it will take at least a week to return to our forward base.¡± ¡°Maybe we can arrange for a pickup along the way,¡± Devon said. ¡°We can¡¯t really afford to leave anything behind, but keeping everything will also be tough.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll request reinforcements at a meetup point,¡± Maryamu confirmed. A few moments later, before the trailing enemy ships were close enough to open fire, their subspace drives were engaged, bringing the whole fleet into a single bubble. In an instant, the trailing ships were no longer within sensory range. The fleet adjusted trajectory slightly within subspace, just enough to throw off potential pursuers in case they were faster than calculated. Rather than risking disaster, Devon and those others who had energy binding abilities kept their continuous focus on the eight captured cultivators. With the help of Ashildr smoothing out the reactions of their ship formations, Devon was able to keep a hold over the two strongest individuals at the same time. It was a draining task, but his active control allowed him to respond to even the slightest resistance on their part. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Moving physically between ships while in a combined subspace bubble was difficult, so they had to leave the enslaved cultivators attached to the ships. When they arrived at their designated rally point and returned to real space, they began the process of disconnecting the cultivators while they waited the last few hours for their reinforcements to arrive. While that was going on, they were able to get reports from the other simultaneous missions. Not all had been so successful with their captures, though the majority of their fleets were able to claim a victory of some sort. One other had encountered something of similar size to the two battleships and was forced to retreat to avoid sustaining heavy casualties. It was troublesome that they had more, but it didn¡¯t seem like they had terribly many. Accommodating tens of thousands of new and frightened cultivators was a bit tricky, though they weren¡¯t entirely unprepared for such a situation. At least some more socially inclined people had been wise enough to bring some of the other local cultivators along, to help make those who were just freed more comfortable. There were only about fifty out of the first group at the base, and they had only experienced a few months of freedom, but spread among the new rescues they significantly helped things. Food and space were tight, though the captured ships did have a small supply of food and a more significant supply of a nutrient slurry that was used to keep the cultivators on the ships alive and ¡®healthy¡¯. Extra supplies were already on the way, but a few of the fastest ships not really meant for transporting supplies were sent as well. Tensions were high with limited supplies and even more limited space. Beds had to be shared between several individuals, each sleeping in shifts. Aerona was watching carefully, then soon came to Devon with an idea. ¡°We¡¯re too separated,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s them and us, still treating them like outsiders. They¡¯re huddling together with people they don¡¯t know for security from what they can only see as new captors, despite our efforts.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°I assume you have a solution?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± she nodded. ¡°It¡¯s pretty simple.¡± And that was how Devon found himself standing with his crew in the middle of five thousand people crammed into a dormitory wing. All of those present clearly recognized his energy, though his individual impression of theirs was less distinct. Aerona was the one announcing them. ¡°The concerted efforts of many different individuals are responsible for your freedom, but the CSS Valor is most directly responsible.¡± Devon appreciated her not calling him out specifically, because he knew he was likely to already get too much of the attention. He¡¯d been able to directly focus on a single larger ship because he trusted the crew of the Valor and the rest of the fleet. ¡°We have not brought you here to have you praise them,¡± Aerona continued. ¡°We just want you to recognize that there are names and faces behind your rescue.¡± After that, the crew went around to meet as many of those around as they could. Rather than being directly swarmed, people gave Devon a wide berth, feeling more comfortable around those of lower cultivation. The first brave soul to approach Devon was a young man, barely an adult. He was in the Spirit Building stage. ¡°You¡­ I felt you pass by us. And then¡­¡± Devon could feel the young man¡¯s energy was unsteady, not that there were terribly many in a good position. However, he recognized that the source was different. ¡°You¡­ were in that outer segment?¡± The young man nodded. ¡°We were nearly detonated. About half of us didn¡¯t make it but¡­ you saved us. And everyone, I guess. So, thanks.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± Devon said. ¡°You¡­ you fight with chains,¡± the young man continued. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I hate them. And I wanted my enemies to experience the same.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± he nodded. ¡°I get it.¡± The young man clutched his wrist, which was just one of several marks he had from the constant restraints. Devon furrowed his brow. ¡°What¡¯s your name, kid?¡± ¡°Fen,¡± he replied. This kid was far too young to go through what he¡¯d experienced. Not that Devon thought it had been any good when he was older, but at least he¡¯d had a chance to experience a good life for a while. ¡°Wanna learn it?¡± ¡°Learn¡­ what?¡± ¡°How I fight,¡± Devon said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t really have a name since I haven¡¯t really been teaching anyone. Most people don¡¯t have the right background, but I could probably teach you.¡± Devon looked around. ¡°Or anyone else here who wants to learn.¡± ¡°Oh. Uh, I mean¡­ could I? I¡­ I don¡¯t know if I deserve that. I don¡¯t even know the name for the stage you¡¯re in.¡± ¡°Enrichment,¡± Devon said. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ after Life Transformation?¡± ¡°Life Transformation, then Assimilation, then Enrichment,¡± Devon explained. Fen shivered. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ can I ever become as strong as you?¡± Devon shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t know. But I can definitely make you much stronger than you are now. The rest is up to you.¡± And thus it was that Devon unwittingly founded a sect. His style had been personal to himself and his experiences. Of course, he had come across other freed slaves in the past but they had been directed towards more established and stable styles. But at this point, Devon had to say he had a pretty good idea of what he was doing. Obviously he wouldn¡¯t expect everyone to work exactly the same, but with the guidance of many individuals who had gone beyond Life Transformation he had to at least be able to establish a formal cultivation method up to the peak of Life Transformation. And while there was never any guarantee of success for Ascension or Assimilation, that wasn¡¯t what anyone here really needed. They just needed to feel strong. To be strong enough to overcome what had been done to them. Chapter 946 Most of the ships captured from the Numerological Compact were sent back to the core territory of the Lower Realms Alliance instead of staying with their forward base in a nearby system. Although the fleet with Devon had great success capturing ships, overall they had managed to capture around half of the ships involved in their battles, despite their best efforts. That was counting only the victories, of course, because they were unable to retrieve anything at all in their few losses. With additional ships, their ability to dissect their various features improved significantly. Any formations involved had to be tested very carefully. A detonation of part or all of the ship was not something they could afford to risk with any cultivators aboard, which made powering the ships quite difficult. There was clear value in being able to combine the power of hundreds of lower ranking cultivators, but the setup of the ships was problematic. They needed to understand them well enough to decouple the self destructive abilities from the rest of the control. Even if there was some value to be had in destroying ships so that enemies couldn¡¯t reverse engineer them, they had already considered the option for their own ships and found the unnecessary loss of allied lives to be too great. Various uses were proposed for the ships, all sensible in some way. However, not every request could be granted due to restrictions on time and of course potential damage to the vessels. There was also one proposal that was neither sensible nor came with just the threat of potential damage. This proposal was from Ty Quigley. ¡°Let me try to cut one.¡± That was the whole request, made informally as he simply showed up where they were kept instead of filing any paperwork or at least speaking to the right people. Instead, he had just shown up at the orbital platform where they were currently contained. Naid Conaire of the Worthy Shore Society was one of those who were overseeing the operations. ¡°I don¡¯t believe your ability to cut them is in question,¡± Naid answered. ¡°Without their barriers they are at best slightly durable material.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Ty Quigley replied, approaching closer. His reputation allowed him some leeway to randomly show up in secure areas, as only powerful cultivators could. Even if he wasn¡¯t traditionally placed among the greatest cultivators, in person his presence was quite convincing. ¡°I need you to set up something where that works.¡± ¡°And then what? It is likely you will successfully slice through the barrier as well. We can easily create a barrier of a similar magnitude for your training,¡± Naid Conaire pointed out. ¡°You don¡¯t need to come here.¡± ¡°Nah, this isn¡¯t for training,¡± he replied. ¡°I¡¯m here to help. People are having trouble with a guy hooked up to a thing, and then other guys dying, right? So I¡¯m going to cut that.¡± Naid pressed his fingers to his forehead. ¡°Let me see if I can interpret that. You intend to cut apart the formation in such a way that it cannot trigger the detonation of the enslaved occupants?¡± ¡°Yeah. We want them to live, right?¡± ¡°We do,¡± Naid agreed. ¡°But I¡¯m afraid that it¡¯s impossible. You would need to perfectly bisect at least a hundred different points, simultaneously.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Ty nodded. ¡°Which ones?¡± ¡°Let me see if I can be more clear,¡± Naid said. ¡°You have to cut each rune precisely, with no more than a tenth of a millimeter deviation from a set path. And this all has to happen within a single one hundredth of a second from start to finish. Even if you could cut quickly enough, the angles involved require contradictory motions.¡± ¡°So what am I cutting?¡± Ty asked. Naid sighed. Clearly, this was going to take a while to explain. Fortunately, they had built out a three dimensional map of the formation markings in the smaller ships, and they were extremely consistent. Not that anyone would have expected otherwise, as formations required precision and custom making an entire fleet would be far too costly. ¡°Let me show you,¡± Naid said, bringing up some images and having the computer mark the runes he pointed out. ¡°As you can see, the command area is more than twenty meters across. I¡¯m sure that alone isn¡¯t a limitation for a swordmaster of your caliber, but it¡¯s still another confounding factor.¡± ¡°... So all of those?¡± Ty Quigley asked. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Naid nodded as he looked at the image bloated with seemingly randomly placed marks- though they were anything but random. ¡°Seems tough,¡± Ty Quigley admitted. ¡°What if I just completely cut out the central deck?¡± ¡°No good, I¡¯m afraid,¡± Naid shook his head. ¡°The formations would still have a sympathetic connection to more of the ship. At least long enough for the reactive systems to come into play.¡± Ty scratched his head as he looked at the projection. ¡°What a pain. Would it be a problem if I cut some more things too?¡± ¡°It certainly could be,¡± Naid said. ¡°Though mostly it would alter the timing of the autonomous reactions and perhaps trigger the process earlier.¡± ¡°Okay, so¡­ there¡¯s nothing I absolutely have to avoid?¡± ¡°I suppose not,¡± Naid admitted. ¡°Since canceling the transmission of energy will happen if you properly destroy all of the runes. But if you mess up even a small amount¡­¡± ¡°Alright, I can do it,¡± he declared. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Naid pursed his lips. ¡°This is more than just your life at stake, you know. There will be hundreds of individuals who have no say in their participation.¡± ¡°Right. So I have to be able to do it right every time,¡± Ty Quigley nodded. ¡°Exactly, and we can¡¯t afford to let you practice-¡± ¡°So I¡¯ll do it right the first time to prove I can,¡± he said. ¡°Is that so?¡± Naid said with resignation. ¡°Absolutely. Assuming you marked these right. You make sure of that and I¡¯ll get right on it.¡± Naid paused for a moment. ¡°I am quite certain, but I will have others confirm my analysis.¡± He waved away the three dimensional projection. ¡°However, to properly simulate the ship¡¯s functionality we will need time. We¡¯ve got something that works to some extent but requires slight changes to the formations to accept static power sources.¡± ¡°Like crystals and junk?¡± Ty Quigley asked. ¡°Indeed. We will need more time to provide a proper test.¡± ¡°Alright. Tell me when it¡¯s ready, so I can go start cutting apart ships,¡± Ty waved and walked away. Naid Conaire didn¡¯t remember agreeing to do it¡­ but he had to admit it could be worth the effort. Every individual who could reliably disable the enemy ships saved lives- both their own people and entrapped innocents. One ship and some time invested in something they were already working towards should be a reasonable bet. ----- Rather than risk another great shock of overpopulation, the forward operations were being managed at a slower pace. There were no immediate missions following their early successes, at least not involving direct conflict. It wasn¡¯t just the population problems. Ships had to be repaired and cultivators needed to rest and heal. Plans had to be drawn up to make use of new intel. In short, Devon had time¡­ and so he immediately began fulfilling his promise to Fen. There were others as well, but Fen had been the one that spoke to Devon and started him on the path of discipling. Out of tens of thousands, several hundred seemed like a very small amount. However, it wasn¡¯t that people weren¡¯t enthusiastic about the potential to be trained by an Enrichment cultivator. Even if they didn¡¯t fully understand it, Devon¡¯s power was evident to everyone who had passed through the base. Nor was Devon particularly hard on his students. There was just one thing he couldn¡¯t compromise on, as it was the core of his style. That was where most people fell through. The style required that its practitioners have their thoughts dwell on their captivity, to ponder their restraints. Most people weren¡¯t ready for that, preferring instead to try to make different use of their unexpected freedom. Many would be giving up a life of combat, though many others would likely join the Lower Realms Alliance to free more of their people. Focusing on a specific trauma was not for most people, and they either knew that immediately or found out within several sessions of cultivation. But there were a few with the right sort of temperament, who retained the will to fight and had the right sort of drive behind them. Affinity played a factor as well, because while Devon did not reject anyone for lack of talent, those who felt like they weren¡¯t making progress naturally fell away, choosing to take transport to the core systems when it became available. As for the rest, a week of progress didn¡¯t reveal anything stunning. It was a time of adjustment, where those with entrenched cultivation methods were forced to rebuild themselves, while those earlier in cultivation still found it difficult to get started. Fen had a particular problem that Devon had observed to be holding back the majority of his sudden disciples. He watched as Fen channeled his natural energy, forming chains around himself which then extended outward. It was a very simple movement, designed to train his image¡­ but Fen didn¡¯t last long before the chains lost substance, dissipating into unfocused energy. Since his disciples were new, Devon was focusing on taking an active role. He could wait for them to come to him with their concerns, but as they were all unfamiliar with him nobody was comfortable with that yet. So he was the one to initiate most interactions. ¡°I¡¯ve noticed you have difficulty maintaining your chains for long,¡± Devon said. ¡°I¡¯m trying,¡± Fen replied. ¡°But¡­ it¡¯s difficult.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°What about it?¡± ¡°It somehow feels like¡­ they don¡¯t want to exist? Like the technique simply isn¡¯t meant to be.¡± Fen shook his head. ¡°That doesn¡¯t even make sense. You clearly use it.¡± ¡°I see. When you think of your chains, how would you describe them?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ cold? Heavy?¡± Fen frowned. ¡°Sharp and powerful.¡± Devon smiled slightly. He had seen it, but it was good for Fen to bring it up. ¡°What about chains are sharp?¡± ¡°Well, uh,¡± Fen tilted his head. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ yours are.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Devon agreed. ¡°My chains.¡± Devon held his arm out, letting chains dangle from his fingers. ¡°I know the feeling of these chains inside and out.¡± ¡°Should I¡­ wear those chains?¡± Devon retracted his energy. ¡°Of course not. Instead, you need to picture what you already know well. Your own restraints, not mine. They¡¯re not even really chains at all, are they? I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t need to go look.¡± ¡°No,¡± Fen nodded. ¡°I remember them,¡± he said with renewed determination. ¡°I¡¯ll do it this time, I¡¯m sure.¡± Devon watched, and Fen properly produced something more real. Rather than chains, the restraints of the Numerological Compact were solid attachments to the walls, with no thought given to the strain that was placed on a cultivator¡¯s body. They had adjustments only because of the significant variance within human body sizes. The cultivators bodies were unimportant, instead only their natural energy and thus their meridians and dantian mattered. Simply having arms and legs held unnaturally, even occasionally to the point of breaking bones, didn¡¯t matter to them. Fen stood against the wall, his body spread uncomfortably as thick hunks of metal clamped together. First around his neck, then two for each of his arms and legs. But there was more, as a wider shell extended around his midsection, parts extending inward nearly stabbing into his guts. That would be the part that drew upon and manipulated his energy. Even though Fen and the others had been left in a blurred mental state, half conscious, they clearly all remembered enough. With nothing else for their minds to focus on for the duration of their capture, how could they forget? Fen shuddered and his restraints fell apart. Rather than his image being too weak, it was the realness that had been his limitation. It was difficult to mentally keep such focus when the mind wanted to be directed anywhere else. Fen had also burned through his natural energy quickly, which told Devon there was hope. He just had to learn to harness that power away from himself, and use it on those who deserved it. Chapter 947 Scouts reported that the Numerological Compact had started consolidating their forces into larger units. That was unsurprising, as Devon alone could take out several of their standard ships without risk. Even if they displayed Ascension-class power, that was insufficient to go against an Enrichment cultivator without greater numbers. Their scouts weren¡¯t able to linger in the enemy system long, since there were formations that could detect them- for the moment, at least. Even so, they determined the enemy had pulled back towards their occupied planets, with only a small number leaving their systems- presumably to try to track down the forward base they had set up. The Alliance had done what they could to avoid making it too obvious, but they weren¡¯t that worried about being revealed. Especially not with people like Anton joining the fight. He wasn¡¯t necessarily the best for capturing the ships, but if they needed to simply destroy them he could do so. Though personally, Anton hoped that it wouldn¡¯t be necessary. He was taking his time to bind the local star as a replacement, but there were other defenders as well. And if it was necessary, destroying the enemy ships was much easier. So far, they had been fighting with their hands tied. When they were ready to begin further assaults, Devon took a larger group to Turilia, the first system he had encountered. That seemed to be where the highest concentration of enemy forces was, and while it might seem to make sense to attack weaker locations first, that might just cause them to concentrate even more. If they could strike at their core and cause damage, they could keep the Numerological Compact uneasy. With the formations on their ships so advanced, it had to be assumed that their planetary formations were exceptional as well. This assault would be a test of that on one of their occupied planets. Hopefully they could gather more useful information about how everything functioned. The target was chosen for its position, with it not being too close to reinforcements but still a big enough target they could cause serious damage. Nobody wanted to draw out the war and let the situation continue as it was, leaving vast numbers of people simply used as power sources. They just needed a moment to stabilize themselves, and now they were ready to act again. Respecting the strength of their enemies, the fleet had a number of Ascension-class battleships and numerous powerful individuals. While the battleships weren¡¯t all matched with an Assimilation captain, they were still able to stand up to the local ships. If they were able to make full use of their crew¡¯s energy they would easily outmatch them, but developing a version of their enemy¡¯s energy consolidation methods that was acceptable would take time. There was a certain efficiency in their callous disregard for lives, but that didn¡¯t mean that same efficiency couldn¡¯t be achieved through other means. Though it was likely pointless, Devon made certain to give them an opportunity to negotiate. There was likely no common ground to be found, but it was worth pursuing something. Though for a group that attacked immediately upon seeing a single ship enter their territory, it was unlikely even without the other things they had seen. ¡°Are the Valor¡¯s systems ready?¡± Devon asked Maryamu. ¡°Affirmative,¡± she said. Devon turned to Aerona. She wasn¡¯t present for the sake of combat, even though she was in Life Transformation. Instead, she was ready in case they had an opportunity to speak to people. Those they weren¡¯t planning to fight, specifically. ¡°How should I word it?¡± ¡°Be firm but reasonable,¡± Aerona said. ¡°But be ready to respond to aggression.¡± He already knew that, but hearing her speak helped him focus. They couldn¡¯t exactly hide their fleet, and the planet sent around fifteen ships towards them as they approached. Devon extended his energy over the ships, hoping that at least his voice could be transmitted. Now how to be honest without giving too much away? ¡°Stand down. We¡¯re not here to fight unless you make it necessary.¡± That was at least technically honest. Devon believed it, just not that there was a chance they wouldn¡¯t. He felt an aura extend from one of the larger ships- there were several of them- and it responded in kind. Devon let the sound transmit to the rest of their fleet. ¡°Very well,¡± came the voice of an aged woman. ¡°Speak your mind.¡± Even as the enemy fleet shifted into a stable vector that kept their relative distance, Devon furrowed his brow. He glanced over at Maryamu, who held up a finger, then nodded. ¡°I¡¯m only catching a few words,¡± she said. ¡°... enemy vessels¡­ negotiations¡­ delay until ¡®you¡¯ arrive.¡± At least it seemed their dissection of enemy transmission formations had been partially successful. Too bad the interception hadn¡¯t been more clear. ¡°It is possible everything that has happened between us is a big misunderstanding,¡± Devon said. That couldn¡¯t be fully true, but he doubted the enemy would call him out on it even if they picked that up. ¡°We were simply exploring and your ships attacked us as we entered this system for the first time.¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He had then returned, destroyed one of their ships, captured another, and confirmed they were horrific slavers. But hearing their response could be interesting. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call bringing such large fleets to attack us a misunderstanding,¡± the old woman countered. ¡°But it does appear that we attacked first. I apologize on behalf of our people.¡± ¡°You think these are large fleets?¡± Devon replied. It was half bluster, but they were being conservative by bringing only their best ships because of the enemy¡¯s quality. ¡°They certainly are, given the level of your cultivators. It is quite impressive,¡± she said. ¡°Especially yourself, how did you reach such a great level of power?¡± Devon didn¡¯t transmit what he said next. ¡°What¡¯s your read?¡± he turned to Aerona. ¡°I¡¯m not buying it,¡± Aerona said. ¡°There¡¯s no sincerity there.¡± ¡°I thought so. Just wanted confirmation. Maryamu?¡± ¡°They¡¯re coordinating assault patterns,¡± she said. ¡°I can give you a full readout, if you¡¯d like.¡± Devon could maintain several simultaneous thought processes, especially where it just involved simple tasks like reading or speaking- simple compared to controlling natural energy chains that stretched around a planet, that was. He nodded, and Maryamu displayed a readout that he took some key information from. ¡°You want to know how I reached this level of power?¡± Devon replied. ¡°I overthrew the bonds of slavery and never let anything shackle me again. Not even something like your approaching Magnitude IV Dreadnought.¡± Devon didn¡¯t actually know the details on what one of those was, but based on their information from the captured captains, the first ships were Magnitude II, and the others were Magnitude III. He wasn¡¯t certain why they hadn¡¯t encountered anything like a Magnitude I- they should still be strong enough to overpower most fighters if the pattern held at all. Which was also why he did not want to go up against a Magnitude IV Dreadnought without specific preparations. ¡°If you would like to continue negotiations you can follow us to the edge of your system. Otherwise, you can surrender and you will be treated well.¡± They obviously understood that their ploy was over as soon as he had mentioned the Dreadnought, and Devon didn¡¯t have to give any additional orders for his fleet to act, with the enemy reacting moments later. Fire was exchanged between sides, but Devon had been prepared to deflect opening attacks. Either these captains were more experienced or there had been some transmission of his prior battle activities, but he was only able to partially redirect the main ship''s beam into one of the other larger vessels- enough to strain their energy but not much else. Moments later he had launched himself out of the ship towards the vessel carrying the old woman. He could do many things at a great distance, but precisely restraining a cultivator¡¯s energy required a clear line of effect, which was easiest if he was inside the ship. He circled above so that any attack aimed at him would have no chance of hitting their own fleet, then tried to find a good path to the command deck of the ship. No two vessels seemed to have exactly the same layout, and Devon wanted a way to have to break through fewer sections of the ship. He was quite startled when he broke inside the first layer and it immediately exploded. He kept a strong shell around himself, but it still wasn¡¯t a negligible impact. Devon regretted the lives of those in that section, but he continued inward. When the captain immediately detonated the section around him again, Devon was prepared to deflect the energy outward. He rushed forward, moving along the outside of another section rather than breaking through it. The third explosion did very little but make Devon angry. He saw something he hadn¡¯t previously, which was the ship adjusting its layout actively. So she was trying to hide further within, was she? Unfortunately for her, the sections weren¡¯t thick enough to truly slow him down, and Devon¡¯s chains lashed out, grabbing onto the ship and holding the mobile sections in place. The captain shot attacks from the various weapons aboard, heedless of how much of her own ship she was destroying¡­ and the lives that were lost. Devon forced himself into the middle of the ship a few moments later, but instead of wrapping his chains around the woman, he shot one directly forward towards her midsection, stabbing into her dantian and immediately disrupting her energy. He wasn¡¯t quite fast enough to completely stop her, a dozen more sections of the ship detonating in sequence, but the ships clearly weren¡¯t meant to stand up to an individual who was more durable than the vessels themselves. Devon came away holding the woman and a large number of severed sections of the ship. Tearing away the command center was a viable alternative, but it only really worked because the flow of energy was disrupted by the detonations she caused herself. Devon pulled the woman closer. ¡°I see you understand what I care about. Which just makes what you did extra stupid.¡± Maybe she wanted him to tear her apart? So he did¡­ but just her dantian, destroying her core of energy without killing her. Devon tossed the segments of the ship onto a trajectory that would bring them out of the line of fire for the battle, sealed the physical wounds on the woman¡¯s stomach- if a bit sloppily- then shoved her into the CSS Valor with a single chain while he focused the majority of his energy on the next closest ship. Even though it had been less than a minute of battle, it was a slaughter. And while that included deaths on the side of the Lower Realms Alliance, it was mainly from the Numerological Compact¡¯s willingness to detonate their own vessels with them inside. Were they simply fanatics, or were they promised some sort of reincarnation? If it was the latter, Devon was going to make sure they didn¡¯t get the chance. The battle was short and brutal, with those ships that did not immediately retreat towards the planet rapidly self-detonating. Unfortunately, the fact another fleet with a powerful ship was en route meant they didn¡¯t have a chance to approach the planet. Instead, they grabbed what they could. Disconnected segments were difficult to bring along, and many had to be left behind¡­ but those inside would either return to the exact same position or perish, and they might be better off dead than captured. It still left a sour taste in Devon¡¯s mouth, but their enemy had adapted in an unexpected way. It was still strange they hadn¡¯t encountered smaller ships, but perhaps they were only deployed directly around a planet. They weren¡¯t far, but there could be some restrictions. They¡¯d accomplished about half of their goal, but even though they could call it a victory by the numbers, Devon didn¡¯t like it at all. Chapter 948 Never in his life had Chidi been able to defeat his master, and that wasn¡¯t any more true since his advancement. No, perhaps it was significantly less true. A single exchange and¡­ he was dead. ¡°You¡¯re slow,¡± Chikere commented, one of her blades at his neck. Chidi shrugged. ¡°Looks like I am.¡± With his cultivation reminiscent of Life Transformation, there was no way for him to match Augmentation. And yet, if Chikere was serious the results would always be exactly the same for him. Even if he had advanced to Augmentation himself, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to suddenly close that gap between them. Ten more times, then another ten¡­ he lost each match in a single move. Though he was able to naturally sense the flow of energy, it took him more than a single instant to catch and break it. And thus, in that moment he would die. It seemed quite different from lasting a few exchanges, but that was only a surface level comparison. A few instants could indeed make all the difference in combat, but that was only if it could somehow lead to a chance of victory. If loss was inevitable, there was no difference between a tenth of a second and ten seconds. This was ignoring the impact of allies, of course. Rather than being discouraged, Chidi redoubled his efforts. Twenty attempts became a hundred, and though he had a complete loss rate with no visual difference he wasn¡¯t concerned. Despite being his master and perhaps the most familiar energy to him aside from his own, Chikere¡¯s flow was also the hardest for him to read. That was her style, now. So if he was able to obtain even the slightest victory against her, he would be confident against any other opponent. Then his chance came. He wasn¡¯t sure how long it had been, how many instantaneous matches throughout the day. He caught the flow, finally making proper use of Negation. Just because he had an advancement didn¡¯t mean it happened naturally. He needed to read the flow, and this time he shattered the energy in the area for more than a single instant. Chikere¡¯s blades of blood fell apart, losing their cutting power. His sword cut towards her neck. Before he could think about slowing his blade, her right hand came up and caught his sword. She twisted her arm and a moment later the hilt was in her own hand, the point of his own sword against his chest. He could feel the motion of the blade cutting through the air, but he hadn¡¯t been able to do anything. ¡°Decent,¡± she said. ¡°But it¡¯s no good if you aren¡¯t better than your opponent.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I understand that. But that was already going to be the case.¡± He frowned. ¡°Cybernetics might be a problem, though.¡± ¡°Perhaps you should get some,¡± Chikere suggested. ¡°No¡­ even if they didn¡¯t manipulate energy directly, I think they would throw off the flow.¡± ¡°Understandable,¡± Chikere said, returning his blade to him. ¡°Now let¡¯s see if you can do that again.¡± It wasn¡¯t easy, but Chidi did manage to properly activate Negation a few times throughout their training. He would have to match against different sorts of opponents to make sure it was consistent, but fortunately he had access to a good number of Augmentation cultivators. Even if that wasn¡¯t as good as Domination¡­ Chidi didn¡¯t exactly intend to go running off and challenging any of them just yet. ----- Back in the Lower Realms, a very different sword was being readied to battle a strangely similar problem. At the very least, it required the complete negation of the flow of energy- though only within a specific area instead of a larger zone of control. Some people wouldn¡¯t have called it a sword, but Ty Quigley would show them that his ship was just as much a sword as anything else. ¡°Everything ready?¡± he asked Naid. ¡°Yes. Just remember you¡¯ll only have one chance. And most people won¡¯t even get that one opportunity.¡± ¡°Relax, I don¡¯t plan to waste it. I¡¯ve studied the diagrams long and hard. How long does your artificial setup remain stable?¡± ¡°Ten minutes to an hour,¡± Naid confirmed. ¡°Well, I only need a second anyway,¡± Ty said. ¡°Maybe a full minute if I pull away for a realistic scenario. I¡¯m ready whenever we set things up.¡± The setup process was actually the longest part, as it required not only moving a ship into a believable trajectory, but also filling it with energy sources to represent both the power sources and the controlling captain of the vessel. The actual test was, as Ty Quigley said, less than a minute. His ship began a significant distance away, slicing through space. Naid was watching closely, though he was quite doubtful of Ty¡¯s claims. Perhaps he could cut a stationary target with the precision he¡¯d indicated. Naid didn¡¯t want to disparage anyone¡¯s abilities, but he understood the formations better than Ty. They weren¡¯t something to be underestimated. Even cracking through the barrier a bit slower than intended could throw off the timing. Naid could only feel the sleek ship coming with his energy, as the instant it was in his line of sight it would already have connected and gone past its target. At the very last moment, something inside the captured ship reacted and it flickered, lurching off course. The command deck was torn apart as Ty sliced through the barrier, slipped between the segments holding the ¡®enslaved cultivators¡¯, and straight through the command deck. And that was it. Nothing else happened. Naid frowned. Were their preparations inadequate? Was the artificial setup insufficient to trigger the automatic destruction? He flew through space, carefully approaching the ship- but the fact that it hadn¡¯t instantly triggered likely meant that it was stable. Even so, he made sure to shut down the power sources on the side he approached from. He likely wouldn¡¯t be injured by an explosion, but it would be wasteful. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Upon reaching the command deck, Naid saw with his eyes what he had sensed. Which was almost nothing. Rarely was there anything more than a strip of metal a finger thick, and most of the structure had been cut in all three dimensions, producing small prism shaped rubble. The ¡®captain¡¯ was completely annihilated as well. Each and every formation rune was sliced from multiple angles, even though Ty¡¯s ship had simply crashed through from one side. If everything had been stationary, Naid could have understood. Instead¡­ ¡°How?¡± he asked. He didn¡¯t really expect a response, but Ty had returned while he was inspecting. ¡°Well, I cut it,¡± the man shrugged. ¡°Didn¡¯t I say that?¡± ¡°Certainly,¡± Naid nodded. ¡°You were perfectly locked onto its trajectory, and I didn¡¯t doubt your ability. But¡­ it was set to change positions randomly at the last moment. I felt it happen.¡± ¡°Yeah, so? I don¡¯t see how that stops me from cutting everything. Nobody stands still when I cut them in battle.¡± ¡°I do understand that,¡± Naid said. ¡°But¡­ well, can you teach others to do this?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Ty said. ¡°Do you have anyone with a burning desire to learn the path of the sword and¡­ a century or two?¡± Naid chuckled. ¡°Well, we¡¯re unfortunately short on the latter.¡± It wasn¡¯t just that Ty had diced things into small pieces. The cuts were all as instructed, precisely through the center of the formation markings. He hadn¡¯t just cut out a grid, though it was entirely possible that would have worked as well if done at a fine enough scale. ¡°You know, if this had been anything but perfect on the first attempt, I couldn¡¯t have approved you doing this in actual combat. And I even threw in my own trick.¡± ¡°You just have to be faster than the enemy,¡± Ty said. ¡°That¡¯s always the same.¡± ----- Tolerance of different people and styles of cultivation was very important for the Lower Realms Alliance. Their diversity and cooperation brought them strength. Even before Akrys was in the equation, Devon had experienced a few oddities. Fuzz the wolf was one example, then Paradise, but the void ants were the most obvious. And the most comparable to the particular case he saw before him. So Devon could certainly say he didn¡¯t have a problem with insects, but there was something quite different when one looked at void ants compared to when one saw a swarm of locusts. Ants marched in order, while the locusts swarmed in chaos. Controlled and intelligent chaos, perhaps, but it was still strange. Especially since each and every one of them had their own cultivation, creating a mass of flowing natural energy that was hard to pin down. ¡°Reporting for duty, sir!¡± One somewhat larger locust formed the language of Akrys with his energy and the flapping of his wings, since insects were generally low on vocalization options. ¡°The 782nd swarm has come to the call of the Alliance. We¡¯ve been briefed on the situation and have trained to disentangle targets from their shackles.¡± ¡°So I¡¯ve heard,¡± Devon responded. He was slightly self conscious that he probably sounded like a meerkat, but he wasn¡¯t going to get too hung up on that. ¡°It seems¡­ difficult to accomplish.¡± ¡°We heard they have been detonating vulnerable sections. We are able to neutralize the flow of energy to our targeted segments.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to hear, otherwise you might be individually vulnerable¡­¡± ¡°Even if a detonation occurs our combined energy will be able to withstand the blow. Though it would be unfortunate.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ you seem to be employing similar principles to this group,¡± Devon said as delicately as possible. ¡°The combination of many cultivations to act as one. I can¡¯t quite pick out how many of you there are, though.¡± ¡°There are one thousand and twenty five of us,¡± the leader declared. ¡°Formation!¡± He made some other movement that Devon thought was actually the more recognized part of the command, and suddenly the locusts all moved as one. Devon could see, once they stopped moving, that they made up a thirty-two by thirty-two grid. Plus the commander. They only remained in formation for a few moments before returning to their back and forth swaying motions. ¡°I see. And you¡¯re the¡­ 782nd swarm?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± the commander agreed. ¡°There are about 800 swarms of similar size at the moment, so there really aren¡¯t that many of us.¡± Wasn¡¯t that almost a billion? No, if he thought about it that way it really wasn¡¯t that much. After all, the humans on some of their core planets numbered in the tens of billions. They just didn¡¯t tend to pack this much natural energy into such a small area. ¡°Do you have a name?¡± ¡°Ah yes. I have chosen the name Cultivates and Consumes Grain. But you can just call me Grain. Our ancestors gave up their reckless consumption many generations ago. And no, we¡¯re not related to the swarm that attacked the first of the alliance. Those were just bugs.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to ask,¡± Devon replied. Though the thought had briefly crossed his mind before he came to the same conclusion. This was just another legion of people that were different. ¡°So, Grain, have you met my grandfather?¡± ¡°Not personally,¡± the locust admitted. ¡°But I have heard many great things.¡± ¡°Would you like to? He¡¯s here, after all.¡± ¡°It would be an honor, sir,¡± Grain replied. ¡°I am not even an Assimilation cultivator.¡± ¡°That''s not something he¡¯s ever cared about.¡± It was trivial for Devon to catch Anton¡¯s attention, even on the other side of the base. Specifically, Anton had to intentionally ignore most things most of the time. ¡°Besides, you all are going to be fighting on the front lines just as much as the rest of our soldiers.¡± Devon could count on the Lower Realms Alliance cultivators to be accepting, but there was a reason they were currently separate from the freed groups. They wouldn¡¯t have grown used to the idea of non-human cultivators yet, or at least Devon would have been surprised if their systems had many. ¡°Devon!¡± Anton waved as he approached. ¡°And you¡¯re the commander? Cultivates and Consumes Grain¡­ well, that could have been my name too.¡± The locust seemed to straighten up slightly. ¡°It is a reminder of what you brought to our people. We used to wander into dangerous territory constantly, trying to find suitable energy laden foods to consume. Yet mostly we were seen as tasty treats for the others of Akrys. My parents passed on the tales of the beginning of our growth, where people no longer ate other people. We learned to cultivate food and ourselves.¡± Grain twitched slightly. ¡°You know, you don¡¯t have to stand still if it isn¡¯t natural for you,¡± Anton pointed out. Grain immediately relaxed and slipped into the swarm. He was still visible as one of the largest, but he traversed around the room with them. ¡°It is difficult for us,¡± Grain admitted. ¡°But we learned the doctrines of cultivating in motion.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°That¡¯s the basics. Training yourself as you do something practical.¡± ¡°As a farmer I know that you would be traditionally opposed to us. We appreciate the opportunity you provided.¡± ¡°That was just others passing on what they learned,¡± Anton said. ¡°If I took credit for all of that, my head would be as big as a star. And while I do like stars, I¡¯m quite comfortable with my own size. It¡¯s not like I was the first person to teach people anything.¡± ¡°Even so, you did bring prosperity to all of Akrys. Even the weird guys in the deep sea.¡± Devon found that Grain seemed much more comfortable speaking from within the group. Perhaps he should have recognized that himself, but he¡¯d been distracted by various things. He hoped this new group would be able to make good use of their training. Chapter 949 The Lower Realms Alliance was able to ask more relevant questions of their captives, which greatly increased their effectiveness. Stronger cultivators were more difficult to influence to cooperate with various techniques, and thus they were less likely to offer information not directly asked about. The mystery of Magnitude I ships not appearing within the Numerological Compact was solved with some more probing questions, with the short answer being that they were simply not good enough. The longer explanation was that anyone with the talent to control the energy of a large number of others, even with the help of their formations, had the potential to break past Life Transformation into the next stage that they called Confluence. However, it was little different than Assimilation cultivators binding to particular ships. While it lacked individual expression, it did seem to be very reliable- the cultivators of the Numerological Compact were expected to advance rather than people being hopeful. As for the details of the previously mentioned Magnitude IV Dreadnought, the cultivators they had captured only knew it was significantly more powerful and that it was one of a very small number of such ships. The old woman Devon captured in their latest excursion named the captain of the ship as Elder Raeburn, but she either didn¡¯t know personal details about the man or they were unable to ask proper questions. ----- Rather than rush into battle with a foe of unknown strength, the Lower Realms Alliance thought it a better strategy to continue to whittle down the enemy forces. As there were several enemy systems to attack, they had their choice of numerous outlying bases and various planets. With the enemy¡¯s consolidation of forces, they weren¡¯t able to launch as many simultaneous attacks. Thus, they continued their strategy of deploying larger fleets, which meant Devon was constantly busy. He was occasionally resting back at their forward outpost, but even that included training his new disciples. But during a time of war he wouldn¡¯t have been able to fully relax anyway. The makeup of their fleet was quite similar to before, with the CSS Valor being the largest of battleships they had with them. They also had the addition of Ty Quigley, a rather famous individual. Devon had worked with him in the past- it was more difficult to not know the top individuals among cultivators- so he was glad to have him along. Apparently, he made a pretty good showing dealing with enemy ships. There was a chance in actual battle that he would not successfully disable a ship, but at the very least they could count on sword cultivators to destroy their opponents. Devon would be somewhat disappointed if another shipful died, but they couldn''t afford not to deploy their forces or they would lose more of their own than innocent locals. They endeavored to lose neither, but if they were completely capable of that the war would likely have been over as soon as it started. When they arrived at their target they were met with somewhere around thirty of the Magnitude II ships- vaguely on par with Assimilation cultivators. Obviously there were strong and weak cultivators, though the power of the ships tended to be quite consistent. Even so, the captains determined the efficiency and skill with which said power was wielded. Devon moved in for a rapid attack, picking his target. He approached at an angle, so that they couldn¡¯t be quite certain which one he was targeting until he was close enough- he¡¯d had enough of them detonating segments of their ships to try to kill him. Those were lives lost for literally nothing. His chains began to reach out towards one ship, but then immediately stabbed into another beside it. He rapidly forced his way inward, his chains wrapped around to suppress the formations as much as possible. He didn¡¯t mind the attacks focused on him, and the ships of this size were small enough he rapidly reached the command deck sheltered in the center. He suppressed the energy of the captain and began creating a lasting binding so he could move onto the next ship. Then he felt a flash of energy. In his mind, a sword was drawn, slashing a single time. That was it. One life lost, and the ship was neutralized. Of course, it was more complicated than it felt, but Devon could sense Ty circling back around for another pass at the battle. He didn¡¯t rush his binding, but he put more energy into it to save some time. He wasn¡¯t going to be outdone by a kid. Sure, Ty might only be a century and a half younger than him, but he was the next cultivator generation behind. Plus, Devon was in Enrichment so he needed to pull his weight. Devon barely kept ahead of Ty Quigley in terms of number of captured ships, but Devon understood there was more he was providing than simple destruction. His captains were captured and they could extract information, while Ty¡¯s targets were turned into ground meat. And Devon also provided a distraction, with enemy fire focusing on him both when he was between ships and when he was boarding one. It was annoying how willing they were to assault their own ships, but on the other hand he kind of understood the mindset. They had already lost them at that point. Ty simply wasn¡¯t close enough to the battle for long enough to serve as a distraction, but he was effective in exactly the role he signed up for, rapid offense. Devon couldn¡¯t be upset about efficiently taking out their enemies. They would still have to deal with offloading the captives from those ships as without all of the core formations they were not self-mobile, but that had already been accounted for. They had special transport ships lying in wait with their own escorts. Upon defeating the enemy fleet, they finally had direct access to one of the local moons, named Waral. It had a moderate population, and was covered completely by a planetary barrier. As they had already speculated, that barrier was supported by the natural energy of many captive cultivators. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. As the fleet moved to a safe distance above the moon, Devon was discussing how they might best assault the base. ¡°If we can break through the barrier, I can hold it open to allow more of our ships to pass through. We have some idea of what other defenses they have. As far as we are aware, they can¡¯t deploy all of their arsenal to the same face. Ash?¡± Ashildr nodded. ¡°Our best sensors are scanning for concentrations of power, and from there we will determine the route we will take to assault the planet. We need to work quickly, because reinforcements are likely already on the way from the inner planets.¡± ¡°What are we waiting for then?¡± A projection of Ty Quigley¡¯s head said, as he was still on his ship. ¡°I can get that barrier open in an instant.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll discuss that in a moment,¡± Ashildr said. ¡°First, we need to assess the other risks. For example, would they be willing to detonate their power stations on their own planets? We were unable to conclusively determine that they can¡¯t.¡± ¡°I assume the structure is different?¡± Ty responded. ¡°If so, I can only hope to take out what seems like the biggest parts.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°I can also use my World Encompassing Chains to try to pick out their strongest cultivators. They¡¯re the ones we really need to take out.¡± After ironing out a few more details, Devon set himself up to do just that. Strangely, reports from their scouts didn¡¯t sense any enemies on the way to intercept them. The enemy certainly had some level of stealth technology, but it was still a situation that set him on edge. ----- The warmth of a white star washed over Anton as he sat in the light of Kathariel. That was the star of the system where they had their forward base from which they coordinated their assaults on the Numerological Compact. After a few months he was not yet fully bound to it, though each time he underwent the process of replacing one of his first ninety-nine stars he was faster. Rather than taking three to five years, he could probably finish in one or two. If he devoted all of his time in the system to the task, it would be on the lower end. Cultivation was a pleasant process to Anton. Even if there were struggles and pains, that was all part of growth. The slow burn of the stars inside of him empowered him. The rhythm of energy was wild and sometimes chaotic, yet it also felt perfectly natural. Sensing a disruption in the flow of natural energy, not around the star but further afield, Anton ceased his meditations. If he was fully bound to the local star he would not have needed to extend his senses, but as it was he could only vaguely pick out something with the furthest points of his senses. But that was enough to cause some alarm. There should be no unexpected visitors in this system. He contacted the base as he began to move. Even if it was something friendly, them arriving unexpectedly was still a cause for concern. As Anton approached closer he realized they were nearly upon the base already, and moments later he felt a great power. He had already been briefed on the Numerological Compact¡¯s ships, and he sensed some of the stronger ones. Magnitude III, most likely. He was uncertain about whether he should attempt to bind the local star, but he might not even have the few minutes required to shift his style. As far back as Rutera he had managed to nearly complete the ¡®normal¡¯ process and then ignite his star in a moment, but he found himself further down a path parallel to that. Rather than taking the first precious minutes to try to sort out that situation, Anton began to fire his bow. He was not weak without a bound star. He was still a powerful Assimilation cultivator. His arrows struck the barriers of the various ships, causing no real damage to any of them- but revealing them to the base below. The active patrols responded quickly, as they were already in orbit. Anton provided covering fire as he continued to close in, doing his best to target weapon emplacements. He condensed the energy of his Spirit Arrows and cut them through the energy of the enemy¡¯s beam attacks- interacting with a small portion of their offense while passing through their barrier. Then his arrows found anything that looked relatively fragile in the working of their weapons. After a few volleys he managed to pick out which formation runes were the most important to the continued functioning of the weapons, and while the ships seemed to have a large number of possible firing points he was able to target them from any angle. The initial patrols didn¡¯t have much success actually taking down the ships, focusing their efforts on boarding a few of the smaller ones. At least the barriers they placed over the base were holding, for the moment, and they had left sufficient forces available to defend against an attack. Those forces just took a moment to mobilize. Rather than ships, however, Anton felt something much more important. A swarm of energies united together. That would be Grain and the other locusts for Akrys. While none of them were individually strong, that was to their advantage as none of the ships seemed to think it worthwhile to attack them. Perhaps they were confused by the bundles of energy. Rather than picking one of the Magnitude II targets, they went for the bigger ships. They had trouble getting through the barrier to try to actually reach anything, but Anton assisted with several shots. Once they were inside, they spread instantly to the various shackled individuals, each one of them breaking some small but critical part of the restraints. The prisoners were freed a moment later, dropping slack to the floor. The pulse from the formations that was meant to force them to self detonate was a moment late, as it required them to remain connected to the machines. That was only several hundred individuals out of many thousands, but it came with an immediate drop in the efficiency of the ship- and the captain¡¯s effort was internally focused instead of dealing with the ships outside. Anton wondered how else he could aid the locusts. Opening their way into other segments would be valuable, because as soon as they were seen approaching a target the captain would likely try to detonate a segment. In addition to that¡­ Anton could just take shots at the man himself. It wasn¡¯t like he was close enough for anyone to counterattack, and if he kept his assaults to a level it seemed like they might survive, he might slow down the controller enough that the locusts could do their work. Yes, those seemed like good plans. Chapter 950 Arrows rained down on one of the Magnitude III ships assaulting the Lower Realms¡¯ Alliance forward outpost. Allies from Akrys were upon the ship, rapidly dismantling the devices keeping human cultivators captive. The cultivator in control of the vessel was in a difficult position. The locusts acted not as a horde of weaker cultivators, but with unity of purpose and direction from Cultivates and Consumes Grain. It was entirely possible that detonating the compartments they were assaulting would be able to take them down, but it was not so easy. Anton¡¯s assault on the cultivator in question meant they needed to use every scrap of natural energy they had to defend their own life, and properly sending signals to a certain compartment would take decision making they couldn¡¯t spare. As simple as it was for the Numerological Compact to detonate the people they used as power sources, it wasn¡¯t something that would happen accidentally. It required conscious effort from the ship captains or them suddenly disconnecting from their stations in a way that indicated death. The decision to try to destroy the locusts or not was not one Anton intended to allow his target to have the luxury of making. All of their concentration had to be focused on him and his assaults. Steadily losing power was something they couldn¡¯t afford, but they also couldn¡¯t afford to suddenly lose huge chunks of it either. And while the enemy likely knew that the Lower Realms Alliance was concerned about the captive cultivators, the captain had to be concerned about her own life. It was possible she would eventually make the choice to try to take out the rest of her ship at once, but the thing that would cause the most damage to was herself and the surrounding allied fleet. The locusts might die- though Anton also judged their chances of survival fairly high if they properly combined their defensive energy- but Anton himself wouldn¡¯t be touched. It couldn¡¯t even be deemed a heroic sacrifice if it only achieved a very limited spiteful revenge. Even so, Anton didn¡¯t intend to risk the possibility of thousands dying, in addition to Grain and his people. His energy reached out for the captain of the ship, transmitting his voice to her. ¡°If you surrender now I can guarantee you survive,¡± Anton said. That offer was only useful because the rest of the captain¡¯s fleet was also not doing so well. Anton was focusing about half his attention on the one ship, but there were many others present swiftly incapacitating the smaller Magnitude II ships, and the other Magnitude III ships were also under assault. The captain at least entertained his words enough to respond, reaching out to his own energy and trusting it to carry her words back to him. ¡°Even if I could trust you, then what? At best I might spend the rest of my life in a pit.¡± ¡°I trust you will find our accommodations for cooperative individuals more than adequate. And there will be opportunities to do more than simply survive.¡± ¡°Swear I will live.¡± ¡°I swear upon all of my stars that you will be kept in good health and that even after your capture you will not be executed.¡± It might be troublesome for the Lower Realms Alliance to keep the woman, though without the ship and its captives she should only be a weak Assimilation cultivator. ¡°If you accept, take no further actions except to break away from the battlefield. Don¡¯t use your energy except to maintain your barriers.¡± ¡°I accept,¡± she said. Anton¡¯s Insight felt her sincerity. ¡°If you could stop those insects from detaching my¡­ power sources¡­¡± she clearly was uncertain about her words there. ¡°I will.¡± Anton shifted his void. ¡°Grain, after you clear that compartment, withdraw and prepare to assault the next ship.¡± Grain buzzed his wings and legs, forming his energy into sound as an acknowledgement. ¡°We will do as you say.¡± It only took them a few moments to finish in their current compartment, and then they were moving towards the next ship which was already harried. Seeing one of their three largest ships withdraw, the next captain quickly surrendered as well- though Anton had the feeling she wouldn¡¯t actually cooperate well. He didn¡¯t give her as strict a guarantee of her continued survival. The third of the captains was slow to tender his surrender. As far as Anton could tell, he was on the very edge, leaning slightly towards his desire to survive. He might have been slightly helpful as well, but no deal was made. He hesitated long enough for him to be captured in a traditional manner, the remnants of his ¡®power sources¡¯ detached from his control and his body secured by Grain and the other locusts infiltrating the ship. Anton offered supporting fire, of course, but he wasn¡¯t much for sealing people especially from a great distance- though he could have more easily destroyed the man¡¯s cultivation entirely if he thought it appropriate. The battle ended with significant damage on both sides, though it was still a clear victory for the Lower Realms Alliance. They had captured many ships including saving their ¡®crew¡¯, and there were at least parts of others that were salvable. ----- Not knowing about the assault on their forward base, Devon and the others were making their first attempt to land on Waral, a moon the Numerological Compact controlled. Once certain decisions had been made, the process moved rapidly. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The very first thing was Ty Quigley crashing into the planetary barrier over one of the power centers. It happened in less time than it took to say it, one moment he was accelerating towards the surface of the planet the next he was skimming along the surface of the ground with a large hole in the barrier above him. Large enough for any of their ships that could enter atmosphere to pass through several at a time. That meant leaving the Ascension-class battleships up in space, but they would still be able to participate. Devon¡¯s job was to immediately stabilize the hole in the barrier, holding it open with his chains. He could feel the strain as he fought against the energy of a vast number of lesser cultivators. He couldn¡¯t quite comprehend how many there were, but it could easily have been as many as a million. However, unlike the ships their energy was not smoothly condensed into a single stream of intent. There were a dozen or so local cultivators trying to channel energy into the barrier, but they also had to split their focus to the local weapon emplacements to try to strike down the fleet pouring through their defenses. Because of that split focus, they succeeded at neither. Though that didn¡¯t mean their weapons did nothing, and indeed they displayed great power. It was just that for the most part they weren¡¯t able to maintain a target. Devon mostly focused on holding the barrier as it was, but he still spread his chains out over the battlefield, trying to suppress the enemy¡¯s natural energy while also seeking out the most dangerous emplacements. Immediately after breaking through the barrier, Ty Quigley had turned his ship towards the most powerful cultivator among the enemy. It was unknown what would happen when those cultivators died, but they couldn¡¯t afford to hold back in this particular encounter. It was unfortunate, because this battle was the one with the highest stakes in terms of total lives- yet that was the very reason they had to succeed, as there were many more cultivators on the planet who didn¡¯t carry the energy of the Numerological Compact. The sword cultivator was completely unafraid of flying into and through buildings while being assaulted from a thousand angles, slicing through enchanted walls and into barriers. His momentum only seemed to increase as buildings toppled behind him. All that so he could reach a single target. They didn¡¯t simply stand and take the assault, but the battle was over in an instant. Devon felt Ty Quigley take some damage to his ship, and his energy was no longer at its peak, but he continued on towards the next target without hesitation. There was something about the flow of energy below that caught Devon¡¯s attention. He sensed an opportunity, and he reached out for it. He would have liked to consult with Ashildr first, but in battle it wasn¡¯t always possible. Large bands of crystal wrapped in gold ran through the ground, one of the many energy transfer methods the Numerological Compact used frequently in their ships. Devon didn¡¯t understand all of the mechanics behind it nor their formations¡­ but he did know how to break things. He charged through the open barrier, slamming down to the ground on top of one such line. He reached his chains into the ground, digging around himself for other conduits. He felt a surge of energy trying to flow through him, causing him to tremble as it threatened to overwhelm him. He was standing between the mass of power and those controlling it, a position that was both critical and dangerous. As the conduits of power began to break, Devon felt the energy flow continue to grow- but no longer was it flowing through him, or according to the whims of the Numerological Compact. Instead, it was flowing towards the surrounding formations and the weapon emplacements- not bolstering them, but overloading them. Devon was glad his instincts weren¡¯t wrong. The great mass of cultivators in the power station- a huge dome of some sort- might have been mentally suppressed by the rest¡­ but on such a scale it wasn¡¯t perfect. They still had their own will, directed by not nearly a sufficient number of those who would wrestle it away from them. It wasn¡¯t clear if the way they overloaded the formations was intentional or purely instinct, lashing out at anything trying to take from them, but either way the process continued until there was nothing left but the restraints holding them in their prison. Normally imprisoned cultivators would have their energy shackled, but as they were literally being used to have their natural energy drawn from them that wasn¡¯t possible for these locals. The shackles were of little use when a city full of souls focused on each one¡­ though it wasn¡¯t a perfect process by any means. Large detonations of uncontrolled energy threatened the lives of weaker cultivators inside the dome, and the structural integrity was becoming compromised. The barrier above Devon no longer needed his attention, and the Ascension-class battleships were able to get clear lines of fire on the remaining ¡®Confluence¡¯ cultivators that Ty and the rest of the fleets had not taken out. There were also a large number of other Numerological Compact cultivators within the city, mostly below Life Transformation, but Devon didn¡¯t care about them at the moment. Instead he focused on the collapsing dome, suppressing all forms of energy as much as he could with a shell of his chains. He tossed aside falling chunks, protecting as many innocent people as he could. Some of the cultivators inside reacted on instinct, stifling his efforts, but most of them were collapsing from the shock of being freed. The building was large enough it took more than a few moments to collapse, but Devon was fighting it every step of the way. As the dust began to settle, Devon realized something. They would not be able to retreat from this planet. Not without leaving the greatest number of locals in the most dire situation they had been since the start of the war. Shackled they would be left alive as it was convenient for the Numerological Compact to continue using them, but freed they would be a danger. There was no way to retrieve all of those cultivators in a timely manner, even from just this one city. Rather than letting it bring him down, Devon smiled. This was the first real step to freeing these systems, after all, and the process was empowering for him both psychologically and literally. Though they might not have realized it consciously, the residents of the city were providing Devon with a steady flow of devotion that replenished him- even those who were of the Numerological Compact. Though the latter might not remain for long. Devon already had a steady stream of devotion from many planets, but they weren¡¯t local- and more importantly any feelings they had for him were old and dull. Here, they were strong and vibrant at least for the moment. Chapter 951 After they had established a foothold on Waral, a relatively populated moon under the control of the Numerological Compact, the Lower Realms Alliance was able to observe many things first hand they had only heard about. The Numerological Compact had an iron grip on their systems, but their overall population was actually in the minority. As far as cultivators went, the Numerological Compact made up less than ten percent of the population. The majority of the cultivator population- around seventy percent- were previously unseen free cultivators from other sects. As for the remaining twenty percent, they were enslaved to be used directly as power sources. At the moment, Devon stood in the midst of a dead city- not that its people had perished but the city itself. The people lived, but nothing else did except a small number of animals and stray plants in parks that had been established. Even then, those parks seemed drained of life, and they certainly possessed no natural energy to speak of. Though he had only observed it briefly during the conflict, the city was filled with formations providing all sorts of conveniences. Those same formations were now lacking power, making the city feel empty, despite all of the people around. They had temperature control, something Devon had only seen rarely before Rutera¡¯s technology became prominent- most cultivators endured any natural temperatures as part of training and at best limited such control to small areas. Many other systems replicated what he had seen elsewhere, with some features being more prominent via formations or technology within the Alliance. Water produced via formations had become more common than pumping it through pipes via pressurization- though very few places exclusively used the former as it had to take water from the air for it to be real. Most material formed directly from natural energy was transitory, existing only long enough to complete its purpose. Industrial production facilities were also something Devon sensed- no longer active, but with many partially built components for what seemed to be pre-fabricated formations. There were also military construction facilities, where there were half constructed ship segments- previously powered by the very people those ships were going to contain. Only a few small parts of the city were still powered, but that was not because their sources of energy were any more ethical. Instead, they were simply made up of smaller groups of cultivators bonded to energy draining devices. If Devon had anything to say about it- and he very much did- they would be freed immediately. Even though Devon took in the situation calmly and rapidly, the city was anything but calm. The Lower Realms Alliance had after all just attacked and taken out their highest power structures. The moon only had ten or so larger cities, with people packed together to take advantage of their ¡®power sources¡¯. The others were no doubt making plans on how to respond, while the citizenry of the current city were acting in confusion. Those who had been used as batteries were mostly unconscious after being disconnected from the now completely destroyed central power station. Leaving them laying on top of rubble wasn¡¯t necessarily polite, but there were more urgent situations that had to be taken care of. With most of their artillery useless, some of the local cultivators were attempting to attack the incoming ships directly- but while they had numbers, they didn¡¯t have the range, coordination, or ability to concentrate their firepower. It was still a situation that needed to be dealt with, however. Devon spread his energy out over the city. ¡°Lay down your arms or suffer the consequences. Stay out of our way and you will be treated fairly.¡± Some people made the sensible choice upon feeling the power of an Enrichment cultivators when nobody left in the city was even equivalent to Assimilation, withdrawing their attacks and trying to slink away. Devon didn¡¯t bother thinking about any of them, as it would be too much trouble to deal with them. More important were those who thought it a good idea to move towards him, mostly Numerological Compact cultivators. Of course, even the majority of them knew better, but there were some foolish Life Transformation cultivators leading hundreds of Essence Collection cultivators. There were more of even lower cultivation. Some of them tried to attack right away, launching attacks from over a kilometer away. There were a few of them who were proficient in such ¡®long range¡¯ techniques, while others stretched the limits of their power. Devon could have easily moved to the side, but he was currently sheltering the unconscious mass of people. His chains spiraled out, guiding the various energies inwards where they clashed with each other. Even those of the same sect couldn¡¯t prevent their energy from conflicting, erasing most of the momentum of the assaults. Then Devon turned the rest back on the stronger cultivators. Elsewhere, the Valor was taking out key targets from orbit, and Ty Quigley was focused on the strongest remaining members of the Numerological Compact. There was a world of difference between their ¡®Confluence¡¯ cultivators empowered by hundreds or thousands of others and their Life Transformation cultivators fighting under their own power. Even when aided by allies, they had only a small portion of the purity their formations provided. The Numerological Compact couldn¡¯t be praised for much, but if it were possible to ignore the way their formations were implemented their effectiveness was without question. But fighting in the streets with their power grid down? They were like struggling babes. Devon didn¡¯t feel much when he killed them. Though they were part of the corrupt system, they weren¡¯t those at the top. It was simply something that had to be done- and he was planning to leave those who were reasonable enough to not attack for later. While it was highly likely that they would receive harsh punishment for their membership in such a foul sect, Devon and the rest of the fleet had to deal with the immediate issues. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It took twelve long hours to finally get the city to settle down somewhat. During that time they had grown concerned about the lack of retaliation via additional ships coming to support Waral, but a transmission from their forward base on Kathariel helped explain something about that. A not insignificant portion of their forces had been pulled away for the assault, leaving other places stretched thin. No doubt they were organizing something to drive the Alliance off of Waral. Devon was even concerned they would bring their Magnitude IV ship into play- Devon hoped they only had one, at least. While he could overpower their Magnitude III ships consistently, a potential tenfold increase in power was troubling. But now that they had a foothold, they couldn¡¯t leave Waral behind without good reason. Not least of these were the cultivators waking up from their collapse after the power plant was torn apart. Devon spoke to the first of them with the intent to have them prime the others on what was happening. ¡°It seems you are quite surprised to find yourselves freed,¡± Devon said, looking them over. ¡°You are free to go where you please, but be warned that if you start violence within the city we will have to treat you like anyone else who does so.¡± Devon held up a hand to stop some of them. ¡°If you have grievances against particular individuals, there will be time to resolve them later. Right now, few of you would be successful. You are weakened from your imprisonment. I ask only that you wait a short time for the situation to settle. We will provide what you need to survive.¡± The Lower Realms Alliance now controlled the city, and that included the supplies of food. While some of that was in private hands, the planet didn¡¯t produce enough food to feed all of its population. Anton would have been appalled, of course, but they did at least have the sense to store a sufficient amount of food to last them in emergencies. The situation would be a bit more difficult as further supplies likely wouldn¡¯t be forthcoming. Even if the Numerological Compact was compassionate, it was unlikely that they would risk sending food to the as of yet unconquered cities over the rest of their planet. If they actually planned to send supplies the Alliance would negotiate- but for the moment the plans were to call upon the rather efficient bureaucracies of their home systems. Transporting food for millions of people between any of the core systems would have been a trivial matter. The distances involved where they were, including bringing supplies into a mostly-enemy-controlled war zone would be a bit more difficult. But that wasn¡¯t Devon¡¯s job to deal with. They were going to take control of the rest of the moon, and those who were specialized in managing supplies would then do their jobs. There was some consideration about culling around a tenth of the population- the Numerological Compact cultivators, of course- but while they were definitely guilty to some extent for their complicity, and others outside of the sect as well- rash decisions would lead to later regret. For the moment, Devon made an offer to the newly freed slaves. ¡°I can teach the Shattered Chains to anyone who wishes to do so. It was a personal style meant only for myself, but I have found many of those like yourselves suited.¡± While bringing new disciples into a war zone wasn¡¯t something Devon wanted, he did have the idea to get his ¡®experienced¡¯ disciples to help. They might only have a month or two, but they could still be quite valuable. Even with his low cultivation, Fen was making great strides and could be an inspiration. Of course, they¡¯d have to be apprised of the risks. ----- ¡°I¡¯d like permission to take out the rest of the Confluence Cultivators,¡± Ty Quigley said at a strategy meeting. Most of the people had not slept since their approach to Waral, with varying effects depending on cultivation and personality. Ty had expended a great amount of his personal energy, but he was still chomping at the bit even with his energy stores below half. ¡°Denied,¡± Devon said without further consideration. ¡°You can participate as part of our larger operations, but the risks if you move alone are too great. We need to keep our forces consolidated here.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Ty said. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go nap. Call me when the interesting stuff happens.¡± And they would. No use wasting that enthusiasm and power. ¡°Ashildr, what is the report on the city¡¯s status?¡± ¡°The formations are useless,¡± she said. ¡°Which means no planetary barrier here, and weakened effects elsewhere. People are having trouble completing daily tasks like cooking.¡± ¡°... Did I make the wrong choice?¡± Devon asked. Aerona shook her head. ¡°No way. They brought this on themselves.¡± ¡°I have to agree,¡± Ashildr confirmed. ¡°It is possible for those with the proper control to inject their own natural energy into the formations to activate their functions, but they did not make it easy on themselves by relying so much on slave labor. Basic survival isn¡¯t a problem for now, but with the natural energy here being somewhat lacking, they¡¯re struggling.¡± ¡°I have to admit,¡± Devon said. ¡°I only vaguely sensed the lower levels of natural energy here.¡± ¡°Have you not had a hard time recovering your expended energy?¡± Ash asked. ¡°I certainly felt it, and you used more.¡± ¡°I am practically swarmed with devotion,¡± Devon pointed out. ¡°Intense feelings from millions of locals- including some in other cities. Not many of those, but still.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d share if I could, but I think that mostly means other people need to show themselves more and myself less.¡± ¡°No,¡± Aerona said. ¡°You need to continue to be active. These people need a strong leader right now.¡± She put a hand on Devon¡¯s shoulder, ¡°And I know you don¡¯t want to be a leader, which makes you quite suited for the task. You will listen to our guidance.¡± Devon nodded. Aerona had experience with both diplomacy and leadership. She was an elected empress of her home planet for a time, which is how they met to begin with. ¡°I¡¯ll certainly need help for anything that doesn¡¯t involve excessive use of power.¡± ¡°Speaking of which,¡± Ashildr said. ¡°If you could survey the planet and confirm the locations of the Confluence cultivators and power stations, and anything else of note, it would be very valuable. Normal scouts have to fly outside the planetary barrier, for safety, but your World Encompassing Chains should work, correct?¡± Devon nodded. ¡°They will. And since I¡¯m not keeping my presence secret it will be easier.¡± ¡°I would suggest doing it as soon as possible. I know none of us have had much rest, but the Numerological Compact has been hard at work sealing the remaining cities into a new barrier. This is the best time to push through before they close it off properly.¡± Nobody would be getting much sleep in the near future. Even so, Devon felt invigorated for the moment, and he was going to make use of it until his fatigue caught up to him. Hopefully, that would be after reinforcements arrived and they got things to a stable state. Going all in on securing a single position might seem foolish at first, but it would be a huge blow to the morale of the Numerological Compact on top of their recent losses. While the population of Waral wasn¡¯t anything impressive, that didn¡¯t meant it wasn¡¯t worth saving with their whole effort. And forcing the enemy to come to them might be worthwhile. Chapter 952 With less than a day of rest and what repairs they could manage without compatible parts, the Lower Realms Alliance forces made way to assault the next target on Waral. They had to leave behind a portion of their forces to secure the first city, but they were hoping to receive reinforcements soon. Preferably before the Numerological Compact arrived with theirs. Their travel was slower, so it was at least possible. The shock to their forces from the failed assault on Kathariel would hopefully hold them back, though Devon was somewhat concerned about potential Magnitude IV ships. If they only had to deal with one while the ship was in its best condition Devon could certainly believe they would come out on top, but it was difficult to say how much damage such concentrated power could cause. At least they only seemed to have a small number. Rather than choose the nearest location to assault, Ashildr and the formation experts picked a prime location nearly on the other side of the planet. They could still take advantage of flying beneath the planetary formation, they would simply have to break through a weak spot. Waral wasn¡¯t a large moon, but with the only occupied location being their ten larger cities with a few growing attempts that left vast swathes of ground uncovered. Ultimately, the cities could either combine their efforts for the planetary barrier- which they had done- and risk exploitation once there was damage, or they had to fend entirely for themselves. Each city was still capable of maintaining their own barrier, but they couldn¡¯t prevent people from moving around after breaking into the atmosphere. It only took a moment to break through the moldable sides of the barrier, as it was quite weak when they weren¡¯t heading towards any of the nearest city centers. It took a matter of several hours to reach their destination, as they had to contend with atmosphere, greatly slowing their maximum velocities. They also had to contend with the speed of the slowest ships, but they were deemed to be valuable enough for the delays. The CSS Valor was left hovering over their initial city, both as a sort of threat and as a defensive measure, depending on the individuals involved. Partway through their journey, word came to the main fleet that Numerological Compact cultivators were fleeing their initial location. It would have been fairly easy to hunt them down, even with their large numbers, but the plan was to let them go- with some exceptions. If they were trying to forcibly bring anyone with them, they were to be taken out. The same went for if they attempted to access any of the major food stores or otherwise take anything. Devon didn¡¯t envy the people who had to deal with that, but he was sure they would do a fine job. They would handle their business, and the assault team would handle theirs. The one who broke through the barrier around the city was once again Ty Quigley. His ship was undamaged, as it was made of ludicrously expensive materials and his speed and skill made up for most of the rest. The final piece was that as a bound object, his natural energy was able to repair the vehicle. Devon sensed that Ty Quigley¡¯s energy hadn¡¯t fully recovered from earlier, but he was still more than vibrant enough to participate. Everyone was a bit tired, after all. Almost immediately, their fleet was met with a barrage of fire from the local Confluence cultivators. It was obvious that the artillery was meant primarily to deal with attacks from above, though they were certainly functional at other angles. In a small fraction of a second, one Confluence cultivator was dead. He had made a fine attempt to target the madman flying directly at him, but he was a little bit slow. The artillery emplacement he had been controlling shot a beam of energy into the sky that lasted several seconds beyond the moment he died. He had almost clipped Ty¡¯s ship¡­ which was more or less the same as saying he missed. The way that man fought, anything but a direct hit meant nothing. If he went down, it would probably be with the same suddenness as his opponents were taken out. The plan was different this time, now that they knew more about what they were dealing with. While Devon stood by his decision given the circumstances, the backlash of what he had done with the power station had carried unnecessary risks to those constrained there. The formation masters had verified that the power station would not detonate like the ship sections, so taking out the Confluence cultivators directly was fine. Devon sped forward, not so much flying as dragging himself over the terrain with his chains. He could do the same in empty space, of course, but his movements weren¡¯t the same as propelling his body directly. There were quite a large number of Confluence cultivators. Even here on this moon there were over a hundred in total. Counting ships and larger planets, the Numerological Compact had to have over a thousand. That was quite a few, and while some of it had to do with the amount of time they had been producing such cultivators, it was also clear that it was an easier path of advancement. Very consistent. The downside was that it was consistent. Devon barely felt like he was fighting different people, and while he got more experienced at fighting against them every time, his enemies didn¡¯t get another chance. As one weapon began to fire, he caught the energy within it- causing it to detonate, killing the Confluence cultivator manning it. If they had reacted quickly enough they could have cut off the flow of power, but that would have also been an acceptable result for Devon. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. He was the target of many assaults, but Devon was quite happy with that. He pulled himself out of the way of attacks, moving for his next opponent. Two of them, in fact. A single long chain lashed around both, tying them together and yanking them from their positions, only to be crushed against each other when they met in the middle. Devon had no mercy for slavers, and while he might give some of their lower ranking members a chance to live none of those in the higher ranks got to live. Unless it was convenient- or they had to capture them anyway like with the ships. Just because the power station wasn¡¯t set to detonate didn¡¯t mean it was entirely safe for its inhabitants or the city to have huge fluctuations of energy shifting, so it was the task of some individuals including Ashildr to stabilize the power station while others finished taking out the Confluence cultivators. That took only a few minutes, and then Devon was able to do what he wanted most- freeing people. That accomplished a double objective, because without their living batteries the city basically shut down¡­ and that also meant its participation in the larger global barrier. They didn¡¯t randomly choose a city far from the others, but rather it was chosen because it was a critical point that would maximally weaken another specific location due to its loss. Today, they weren¡¯t after just one city but three. Half of their slowest ships remained behind to somewhat secure the city, while the other half chased after the rest of their fleet- they would arrive late, but they should arrive in time to accomplish their task. Ty Quigley and Devon charged ahead- not towards the second city in their path, but the third. They were scheduled to arrive shortly after the rest of the fleet had started taking down the second city. Their task would be more difficult than going through them sequentially, but they didn¡¯t want to give the locals a chance to react. While they mostly seemed to have stationary defenses, if they had more Confluence in one city they might be more effective. That was still a probable outcome in the future, but with these three cities cut off from the larger set they would be split into two significantly weaker barrier segments. They would barely have anything better than individual city barriers, which would allow for assaults from space more easily, making use of their Ascension-class battleships properly. Watching Ty¡¯s face, Devon was reminded of many cultivators he knew. It was a face that said he knew he could die and didn¡¯t care. While that might seem problematic, it was an advantage when their enemies were afraid of death. Rather than focusing solely on killing their opponent first, they would tend to want to survive. But defending against a blade would only work so much. And when cultivators of that type were good at what they did, the outcome was very consistent. Of course, anyone could mess up. Everyone would, eventually. Which was half the reason Devon was coming to the third city. It was not absurd at all to say that Ty Quigley could take down a dozen or so Confluence cultivators in a row. He was on track to become an Enrichment cultivator in a few centuries, and even with the power of a hundred thousand cultivators in their hand Confluence cultivators had to be able to touch him to stand a chance. Devon had to admit that at least in a straight line, Ty was faster. And as they approached the third city, Ty pulled ahead, angling himself. He went straight through two Confluence cultivators. Devon knew that if it was to show off, it was to no one but himself- and either way, it was efficient. Ty was out the backside of the city as soon as he entered, and Devon followed him into the city a moment later. With all of the power concentrated on him, he could very much feel it. But he could also feel the entire city watching him. He wasn¡¯t sure if he liked it, but small bits of their devotion made their way to him unconsciously. Devon struck down several Confluence cultivators in a row before Ty returned. Each cultivator was covered only by a simple barrier, able to be overwhelmed given they could only control so much energy at once. It was a weakness among their genius, though they were still far above where they would have been without the system they had implemented, so said weakness was only displayed prominently when they ended up against the wrong opponents. When there were five left, Devon felt a shift in their energy. He understood their intent instantly, and he was filled with anger. They all turned to fire upon the power center, knowing it wouldn¡¯t save them. Devon reached out, forming a barrier with his chains. However, he had to take the hits directly. With each cultivator controlling the power of thousands of other cultivators, the shock added up. But Devon could withstand that for a time. ¡°Stop,¡± Devon commanded. It might have sounded like some that he was speaking to the Confluence cultivators, but he was actually speaking to Ty Quigley who was coming in for his third pass. As they charged a second volley of attacks, Devon called about an inadvisable amount of his energy all at once. He had to defend the area where the enslaved cultivators were kept at the same time. He lashed out towards each of the five cultivators as they struck his barrier once more, but he held his ground as their beams drilled into his defenses. Then, his chains wrapped around them all, not binding their energy but instead stabbing into their dantians- but not killing them. They had to live¡­ for a small while at least. Devon didn¡¯t plan to kill them himself. No, instead he would leave them to their victims. They wouldn¡¯t survive long without their cultivation, and it was unlikely that they could even get in a single hit with how many there were but it was an appropriate retribution. And they would at least despair at their lost cultivation for a few moments. He dragged them along with him. ¡°You didn¡¯t think that through, did you?¡± He could feel millions of senses on him. Mostly the citizens of the city, but though they were greatly numbed the enslaved cultivators in the power station still reached out towards him. He was going to free them¡­ and now that the power stations would be going down they could lock up all the Numerological Compact cultivators where they belonged. Not that Devon would allow that to continue indefinitely. Even as punishment for slavers, he wouldn¡¯t abide by it for too long. Better just to kill them and not risk a total breakdown of morals. Chapter 953 The raw fury Devon felt around him as a great crowd of people stood around five of their most direct oppressors was completely justified. Truthfully, he was a little bit surprised that nobody had attempted to kill them just yet. As they were freed, they stood in front of their restraints, slowly getting their bearings. It was clear they were recovering from their numbness, but they had only slowly grown in their visible rage. As Devon had spoken to the group, telling them that they would be able to personally take their revenge, a young man stepped forward to represent the group. That was unsurprising, as he was both in the best condition and likely to be among the most reckless among them, but the fact that only he stepped forward was odd. Devon would have expected some form of argument. ¡°You said we can do to them as we please?¡± asked Ammar, the young fellow. ¡°Within reason,¡± Devon said. ¡°I expect you to be better people than them, and I will allow no enslavements. Unfortunately, I was unable to swiftly capture them without destroying their cultivations so that particular choice has been made for you. But you could organize a public execution or leave them to die slowly.¡± ¡°Would either option truly repay them for what they have done?¡± Ammar asked. However, the question didn¡¯t seem to be primarily directed towards Devon. ¡°Do any among us oppose the most thorough destruction we can achieve?¡± He turned, looking around through the crowd. There were enough people to fill a large arena. The power station that had once held them was one of the most prominent features in the city, and now they stood packed in the streets around the largest nearby square, even covering the buildings. There was no audible response from the crowd, until they muttered one response. ¡°Destroy them.¡± Ammar nodded, turning back to Devon. ¡°Unsurprisingly, we have reached an accord. I must ask, mighty senior, what you know of reincarnation.¡± ¡°What about it?¡± Devon answered. ¡°I know it is possible, in the correct circumstances.¡± ¡°Is there a possibility these five will reincarnate?¡± That theory had already been postulated, though there was no evidence the Numerological Compact expected such except for the way some of them seemed to disregard their own lives. ¡°It is possible,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°How can we stop it?¡± ¡°As you said,¡± Devon said. ¡°They must be destroyed thoroughly.¡± He paid close attention to the captives. With their cultivations recently shattered, it was trivial to hold their bodies in place. ¡°If you cannot manage it, I can help.¡± ¡°We will try,¡± Ammar declared. He gestured with his arms, drawing people forward. They crowded around the five, with one individual standing over each of the Confluence cultivators, and hundreds of others pressed close. ¡°This will require some coordination.¡± Devon watched as he reached out, along with those behind him. Together, they channeled their natural energy into a torrent that completely covered the body of their target, digging a hole into the ground underneath them and completely erasing the body. It was a surprising result, because it very much reminded Devon of the flow of energy the Numerological Compact used. Without the formations involved it seemed rather less efficient, but the coordination between individuals was still far ahead of what could be expected for random individuals of different cultivation styles. Each of the five were disintegrated by a different group, with one primary channeler controlling the energy. Some destructions were less permanent, and Devon added his own efforts to accomplish the will of the former slaves, making certain their souls were beyond functionality. ¡°Now that this matter has been dealt with,¡± Devon continued, ¡°We would like to minimize the chaos that happens here on Waral. I would appreciate your cooperation, and I would ask that all of you stay out of trouble. Plans are underway to provide all of you the necessary food and shelter you need. We of the Lower Realms Alliance are aware of the continued presence of Numerological Compact cultivators. We ask that you refrain from conflict with them as much as possible. The same goes for the other cultivators in the city. Don¡¯t start any conflict, and that includes provoking it.¡± ¡°We will not cause unnecessary trouble,¡± Ammar said. Strangely, Devon believed him- and that he spoke for everyone. There was a strange bond between them. Far more than he had seen for those rescued from the ships, and indeed even in the first city they liberated on Waral. Was this place special? Or perhaps it was the first location that was the exception, given how they had been disconnected from the power station. ¡°Come with me,¡± Devon said. ¡°We will begin to set things up, though those who are most adept at such matters are currently occupied elsewhere.¡± ¡°In the other cities,¡± Ammar nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Devon was quite certain that wasn¡¯t an educated deduction, but something he knew. Though to what extent, it was unclear. ----- Freeing three cities at once was disastrous for the planetary barrier, and a risky maneuver that came with threats of chaos. But contrary to what had been expected, while there were indeed some problems, none of them came from those who had been freed. Some were foolish attacks on the Lower Realms Alliance- who had several Assimilation cultivators assigned to each city. There had also been the Numerological Compact cultivators who fled the first city, and while they would be dealt with eventually cutting them down hadn¡¯t been appropriate at the time. Those from any faction who were inclined to flee the planet and who were able to do so were gone before they had finished with the first city. Surprisingly, it wasn¡¯t that many people. The technology clearly existed for interstellar travel, and interplanetary migration should have been rather simple¡­ yet there was little evidence of large scale transportation of any kind available. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Even in the hands of the Numerological Compact, their standard ships didn¡¯t move many of their own cultivators- and it didn¡¯t seem any of them would be willing to act as part of the ¡®batteries¡¯. There had to be some ways to transport things beyond food and other supplies, but they seemed quite rare. The vast majority of ship production had been for the modular combat vessels that they had already dealt with. The four cities made a continuous path around Waral, though it was far from a straight line. The final city that Devon and Ty had been primarily responsible for had actually been closer to the first, but the plan had been to take down one with their full forces first. Now, many of their leaders were meeting- either in person, or from the city they were overseeing through holographic representation. Ashildr opened the discussion directly. ¡°I¡¯m sure all of you have noticed the odd behavior of our most recently freed friends.¡± ¡°I certainly have,¡± Devon said. Others assented as well. ¡°Though, odd may not be the right word. I would expect odd, given what they have had to go through.¡± Ashildr nodded. ¡°It is my theory that they have formed something of a hivemind due to their long connection through the formations.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not quite right,¡± Aerona commented. ¡°Or at least¡­ they aren¡¯t completely unified as a single consciousness. They seem to actively inquire of others, though they are able to process the intention of the group. But importantly, they still have social interactions among each other.¡± ¡°Also,¡± Ty commented, ¡°Some of them like swords.¡± Ashildr narrowed her eyes. ¡°... If you could explain why that is relevant?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not all of them,¡± he said. ¡°They still are what they are, and also something else.¡± Aerona concurred. ¡°I¡¯ve seen that. I¡¯m sure we can learn more over the following days. I think the most notable thing is that they are not separated by city. If I am not wrong, there is only a simple connection for the planetary barrier, correct?¡± ¡°It is true,¡± Ashildr agreed. ¡°Any fusion of their energy was done on a local level, and then automatically processed into the barrier. The mental connection isn¡¯t that absurd on a city-wide level, but they seem to have something beyond that. Whether it is weaker or not¡­ we¡¯ll have to figure out.¡± ¡°We can ask,¡± Aerona pointed out. ¡°They should be the ones that know best. And they know that we know about their situation to some extent. We¡¯re not all unreadable.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if-¡± Ashildr was cut off as a transmission came to most of them. ¡°We¡¯ll have to continue this discussion later. Enemy ships are incoming.¡± ¡°We need to cut them off before they get close to the cities,¡± Devon declared. Though only the first one was completely devastated, the weird sort of hivemind was not as efficient as the formations. He wasn¡¯t going to suggest they got back into the power station, nor would there be anyone of sufficient cultivation to control the artillery if they had the energy. Killing five people without defensive energy- even rather thoroughly- was quite different from taking out active combatants. ----- Devon was already outside of the atmosphere when he received the next round of information from their scouts¡­ and he had to admit some concern upon learning that they had brought along a Magnitude IV ship. His energy reserves were far from full- though the inpouring of devotion might have brought him there if he had a few days. Rather than thinking about whether or not he could fight it, however, Devon just knew that he had to. So why bother worrying about it? He certainly wasn¡¯t going to let the Numerological Compact undo all of their work, shoving people back into their life-draining cages. Their own fleets formed up quickly, moving to cut off the enemy¡¯s approach. When Devon felt the Magnitude IV ship, he put out of his mind any thought of carefully removing its operator. The ¡®captain¡¯ was a Confluence cultivator of significant power. While the man himself was somewhere around the strength of a mid to late stage Assimilation cultivator, that still put him far above the norm. And of course, the size and thus total power of his ship was significant. Devon estimated his ship alone carried tens of thousands of individuals. He would absolutely love to save them all, but that was a more difficult task than killing the one who held them. Even as an Enrichment cultivator, Devon would have to focus simply on victory. It was his task, of course. The CSS Valor would likely only last a few minutes against that ship at best, and none of the others would fare any better. While they might be able to wear it down with smaller fighters that could avoid its attacks, they would be needed to deal with the other ships, of which there were many. Perhaps fifty ¡®smaller¡¯ ships, those called Magnitude II, as well as seven Magnitude III ships. It was a force much larger than what they had encountered before, but they also hadn¡¯t remained stationary in enemy territory for over a day previously. Even so, it wasn¡¯t entirely outside of their predictions. As they approached, Devon felt the enemy leader¡¯s energy reaching out. ¡°You seem confident in your own power. Would you be willing to risk an individual match?¡± ¡°I assume you¡¯ll be drawing upon the power of the slaves you keep?¡± Devon replied. ¡°Naturally,¡± the man replied, not quibbling about the terminology. ¡°They are my power, after all.¡± ¡°Then I will accept.¡± The Magnitude IV ship began to pull ahead of the rest of the enemy fleet, and Devon set out himself. Aerona called after him. ¡°You know he¡¯s either supremely confident or planning to cheat or both, right?¡± Devon turned and smiled back at his wife. ¡°I did learn some manner of social adeptness from a wonderful lady. But I also know that I can count on all of you to figure out what the trick is before it is unleashed, or at least to handle it afterwards.¡± As Devon moved forward, he felt a sudden shudder of power. Not from the ship in front of him, but from the planet below. He wasn¡¯t sure what happened, but a vast amount of natural energy had been unleashed all at once on Waral. He reached his senses for the planet¡­ and picked up a general idea of what had happened. In just a few moments, there were bodies in the streets. Tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of them. It seemed like the start of a great conflict¡­ but instead, perhaps it was the end. That was¡­ a situation he couldn¡¯t deal with at the moment. He doubted the Numerological Compact would agree to a temporary hold on the battle while he went to try to handle a situation on ¡®their planet¡¯. Obviously the reactions from the rest of their people were significant, but as Devon approached the massive ship in front of him, they were able to sort out the general situation. If they were going to do something it was already too late, and they had a battle to fight. Devon wondered what his enemy planned to do. Would he make use of wide area attacks or large numbers of carefully directed beams? And of course, how would he go back on his word? There was no way he was going against an honest slaver, and Devon wasn¡¯t just saying that because of personal bias. The man¡¯s words smelled of rot. Chapter 954 Based on what he had heard about the strongest Confluence cultivators, Devon was able to pick out the name of the man controlling the Magnitude IV ship in front of him. ¡°Are you Endymion?¡± he asked as he approached. ¡°That is correct,¡± the man answered, punctuating his words with a beam of energy that Devon narrowly avoided. ¡°And you would be Devon Gardner. A weak name no doubt kept because of pointless nostalgia.¡± Devon continued to avoid incoming attacks, all his attention focused on the enemy. Not just Endymion, of course, but the entire fleet. Devon never really thought about his surname. As a youth, it had just been another name, coming from his father. But names did tend to have meaning behind them, even if it was sometimes lost. Devon laughed as he continued to approach the ship, at an angle away from the rest of the allied fleet stood, so that the enemy would have to completely ignore him to try to harm the fleet. There was enough space that any random shot probably wouldn¡¯t be aimed towards ships hundreds of kilometers away, but it was better for that to be a certainty. ¡°You think so little of gardeners? I can think of two individuals who would prove you wrong about its weakness. Though I personally care little for it myself.¡± He was getting close, but it was difficult to pick out the best angle of attack. From any angle he would have to go through ten layers of modular blocks¡­ though there were some gaps in the structure that might allow him to get closer. He was just the size of a single person, after all, and the way the segments were arranged wasn¡¯t a perfect pattern. No doubt there was some method to the arrangement, but it left a vulnerability. ¡°You say that, but you have clear weaknesses.¡± The patterns of attack Endymion was controlling became more and more difficult to dodge as he got used to Devon¡¯s movement patterns- though he had yet to lock his beam onto Devon for more than an instant. All that power was useless if he couldn¡¯t hit. ¡°Your weakness is that you care for worthless individuals¡­ and even a specific woman. Aerona, was it? Perhaps she is in the fleet behind you.¡± So that was why the enemy was suddenly talkative. Obviously they¡¯d gotten some information from captives, though none of it was particularly secret so far. He wanted to provoke Devon somehow, or perhaps he truly believed those to be weaknesses. But that simply showed how naive he was. Caring for others wasn¡¯t some sort of lack of focus. And while it did provide alternate ways to attack someone, it also provided strength to protect those ¡®weaknesses¡¯. Cultivation was a mental discipline that needed purpose. Did this man want Devon to charge recklessly forward, or to focus his attention on the fleet behind him? It was a question on Devon¡¯s mind as he took in the exact layout of the ship in front of him. If he could figure out which the trap was, he could better seem to fall for it. ¡°You have no response?¡± Endymion continued. He sent out a pulse of energy covering a wide cone, striking Devon- but the attack was proportionately much weaker than focused shots. ¡°You can¡¯t even touch me.¡± Was that it? Did he want to draw Devon closer for something? He wasn¡¯t afraid of a close-up brawl. However, he also had to be cognizant of how much energy he had. The last couple of days had been quite draining. Devon¡¯s chains suddenly lashed out, wrapping around several segments of the ship in front of him, tearing through the barrier with some effort. Just a few out of close to a thousand. ¡°You think I cannot harm you for fear of the lives that will be lost?¡± Devon tore the segments away, uncertain of whether or not they would detonate. He had the feeling if he ripped them away from the central formations rapidly enough, they should have a chance. Adding in some momentary suppression, and the segments were torn away to drift in space. A moment later, the ship blasted them all apart with direct attacks. ¡°Those lives are all on your head,¡± Endymion taunted. Another series of attacks began to push Devon in a particular direction, and he began to see the full plan. He let himself be slowly directed around towards the ¡®rear¡¯ of the ship, on the side of the enemy fleet. Devon gave no response to the man¡¯s words, because he was worried he might give away too much. Internally, he felt some pain and rage. But he also knew that those who had perished were likely still better off. Optimally they would have survived and been freed, but that wasn¡¯t always possible. Ultimately, Devon wanted the most people to be free, healthy, and happy. He didn¡¯t necessarily believe that sacrifices had to be made, but if people died they died. Killing this man might result in thousands dead¡­ but there were millions at stake- just on Waral. There had to be billions throughout their various planets and systems, but they didn¡¯t seem so numerous as to reach to the level of trillions. Devon continued to tear off segments according to his plan, ultimately letting himself get led towards the rear of the ship. The segments were destroyed one after another by Endymion, but the inner layers were slowly becoming exposed. It would be a long task to wear down a ship of that size, but its barriers couldn¡¯t stop Devon. A moment after he was in position, Devon felt a pulse of energy. The entire fleet attacked at once, with Endymion¡¯s Magnitude IV ship firing towards him as well. But Devon was already holding on to more segments of the ship to ¡®tear them away¡¯. He swung himself forward, behind the barrier of the ship. That meant crossing a few of the attacks from Endymion, but the vast majority of the attacks could not reach him. They sadly didn¡¯t crash into the barrier, but were meant to stop short of it. A great explosion was unleashed from where he had been a moment before, and Devon was glad that very few opponents had escaped from his battles¡­ thus their knowledge of his battle tactics was limited. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Wow, how pathetic,¡± Devon taunted even as the ship tried to target him internally. ¡°Obviously you weren¡¯t going to keep your word, but still.¡± ¡°Did I not? You asked if I would draw upon the power of the slaves I keep, and I did.¡± ¡°That¡¯s hardly an individual match when you call upon the entire fleet,¡± Devon said, diving through a segment of the ship. Endymion was very good at not causing damage to his own ship, but that also meant he had to limit his power output. He still managed to have a constant pressure bearing down on Devon, but that would only matter for a little bit longer. The two fleets had engaged after the initial assault, the Lower Realms Alliance moving focusing on the targets they had picked out while waiting. ¡°Oh, by the way,¡± Devon called to the rest of the enemy fleet, which had other Numerological Compact Confluence cultivators. ¡°It would be super easy to poison this guy while he¡¯s asleep or blast him while he¡¯s away from his ship. So if you¡¯d prefer to be the slavemaster, you can do it when he runs away like a coward.¡± ¡°I would never run,¡± Endymion said. ¡°Then you don¡¯t mind if I tear apart that mobility formation there, right?¡± The timing couldn¡¯t have been better. Devon reached out for the segment of the ship, and a huge wave of energy pushed Devon out of the ship- away from either of the fleets, as he¡¯d maneuvered himself into a more comfortable position. Devon took a moment to orient himself, at which point the fleet was already pulling away. ¡°So you¡¯re going to call that a tactical retreat, right?¡± Devon commented, projecting his voice after them. He displayed as much strength as he could, because he didn¡¯t actually want them to come back. ¡°Should we engage?¡± Ashildr asked over their comms. ¡°Let them retreat,¡± he replied. ¡°Though go ahead and continue to shoot until they¡¯re out of range.¡± If they didn¡¯t have to keep as many forces local as possible, Devon might have had some of those with good range and mobility chase after the enemy- though there were some concerns about the Magnitude IV ship. Even from a distance, its beams caused significant drain to the Valor¡¯s barriers as it was in a fighting retreat. Devon remained in his position until the allied fleets were nearby, then he stepped onto the Valor. He kept his feelings of relief internal, glad that he still had the strength to stand, if not much else. He¡¯d underestimated how exhausted he was, and his opponent was strong. Fortunately, he cared only about his own life- and thus was willing to run away at the first sign of a true threat. Obviously Endymion was gathering information on Devon just as much as Devon had been doing on him, but Devon already had plans in mind to beat him. And it wouldn¡¯t be alone if he could help it. ----- For the moment, the Numerological Compact had conceded control over Waral, at least in practical terms. Whether that was for a day or a week was unclear, but they had a few moments to breathe. Which was good because Waral was in a seriously concerning state. Though he¡¯d tried to put it out of his mind during the skirmish- and that was what it was, despite the seriousness of the battle- now that they were able to return to the planet Devon was reminded of the situation. When the majority of their forces had pulled away into space, the three latest cities they had liberated had undergone a massive event all at once. Hundreds of thousands in each city had died simultaneously¡­ and the cause was fairly obvious. ¡°You need not be concerned,¡± Ammar was speaking to the gathered crowds of his city- and it really might be his now. Or at least controlled by his people. ¡°We have had our revenge. Those who we attacked were slain, and all else were judged to be innocent or at least capable of redemption. And here comes the agents of balance.¡± Ammar inclined his head to Devon. ¡°Welcome back.¡± Devon frowned. ¡°I thought you said you would not cause any unnecessary trouble. Then this happened,¡± he gestured broadly. ¡°I assure you,¡± Ammar said. ¡°It was entirely necessary. Those who have wronged us have perished. And do not worry, we intend to bury the bodies so they do not rot.¡± Devon pressed his fingers into his forehead. ¡°We did intend to deal with them. We have laws that we would enforce¡­¡± ¡°What is your opinion on direct witnesses?¡± Ammar said. ¡°Because we were personally aware of their crimes. And that was not reliant on the memory of any individuals. But of course, we understand if you see us as a danger. We are willing to accept the consequences. If we must die, we will accept that as long as you let the innocents live.¡± ¡°And who would that be?¡± ¡°Everyone not part of us who lives.¡± He looked out over the city. ¡°Even those few of the Numerological Compact.¡± Devon reached out to feel the city. Indeed, while there were far fewer of them, Numerological Compact cultivators still lived. They were shaking in fear, of course. Hiding, though not in any way that would have done them any good. ¡°Should we expect something like this to occur again when we free the other cities?¡± Devon asked. ¡°We are uncertain. But most likely. If we live, then it is inevitable.¡± Devon sighed. ¡°We won¡¯t act rashly here. I¡¯ll speak to the others. You truly intend to comply with our decision?¡± ¡°We would prefer to live. But we also recognize the power of your people. We would rather not have the city be damaged for the sake of our surviving brethren.¡± What a mess. Though honestly, if they truly did exactly what they said¡­ Devon didn¡¯t have a problem with it. The thing that spoke the most to their honesty were the few thousand remaining Numerological Compact cultivators- mostly young and lower in cultivation. People who knew more about these things could sort this out. If they were actual citizens of the Lower Realms Alliance things would be quite different, but this was still a war zone- which despite the circumstances made them more likely to actually get away with killing. But there would be a lot to figure out, since so far the only side of the story that had been heard was theirs. Chapter 955 The time lag for messages going back to the core of the Lower Realms Alliance was such that they could be consulted on various matters, but they couldn¡¯t provide timely advice. Thus, the main core of what would be done with the locals of Waral was being discussed in quite an urgent manner. Though ultimately, Devon believed them when they said there wouldn¡¯t be any further trouble. There was a connection that the majority of the emancipated individuals shared, and that had allowed them to act together to take out their enemies, at least those who were local. There were only a few recordings that the Lower Realms Alliance had, as it required one of their ships to be actively watching an area during the incident. All at once, three or four cultivators who were moving down the street turned to attack a single individual. Sometimes that happened with several groups nearby. Occasionally their opponents had successfully fought back, killing some of their members- but others rapidly converged from nearby. Ultimately, in just a few minutes a huge number of killings had taken place. The vast majority of the onlookers had been left confused and nervous, but the shock of the sudden event had left them without a reaction. Now, they were worried about the freed slaves- perhaps justifiably. Yet the freed slaves easily agreed to remain separate, where they couldn¡¯t cause any more harm- and where the Alliance could prevent worried cultivators from turning on them. They needed a plan rapidly, and they drafted a workable solution within a few hours. Aerona was quite busy as everyone tried to figure out how to keep the situation from escalating. The one benefit was that the rare remnants of the Numerological Compact seemed uninterested in getting tied up in any further trouble, and the various other sects of free individuals were not able to make any sort of coordinated action. Devon was able to rest while all of that was going on. He probably wouldn''t be at full capacity for at least a few weeks, after the skirmish with Endymion and his Magnitude IV ship, but he was no longer stretched to his limit. He did end up responsible for passing the message on to Ammar, who was one of the chosen voices of the partial hivemind. It was possible that talking to a random member would be just as useful, but they honestly didn¡¯t know enough for that to be certain yet. ¡°We have come to a decision,¡± Devon said. Ammar waited for him to continue. ¡°We don¡¯t intend to do anything to you immediately¡­ but further uses of military force absolutely won¡¯t be tolerated. With the exception of self defense, still.¡± Ammar simply took in what Devon was saying, not arguing but not necessarily agreeing either. ¡°Ultimately, you will be subject to the same sort of judgment you yourselves have made. Any who think that your people acted unfairly against another individual will be able to raise a petition. You will have to respond to their accusations, and we will judge the evidence for whether or not you were justified.¡± Ammar nodded. ¡°We will cooperate with your intentions. It is an acceptable result, should your judgments be fair. Do not be concerned, all of us are now aware of the situation.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°Very well. We intend to inform the others in the city of this. However, holding you individually responsible is¡­ complicated.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Ammar asked. ¡°Because you made some sort of communal decision¡­ and your assaults were in groups as well. It is a bit difficult to say who holds the responsibility.¡± Ammar shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t believe that is necessarily the case. We are aware of who made the judgments, after all. These people are willing to accept responsibility. Though ultimately, we believe any case would end with us as the victor, should you do as you promise.¡± ¡°And what about the killers?¡± ¡°What about them?¡± Ammar asked. ¡°They were chosen for their ability to take down certain individuals. Nothing more or less.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you all agree on that, but others might not.¡± ¡°Then we simply must prove that the deaths were justified,¡± Ammar said. ¡°Then, it should not matter.¡± ----- The Lower Realms Alliance knew they were opening a can of worms when they allowed the accusations. Cities of millions, with hundreds of thousands having died all at once? Obviously there would be many grievances that would be aired. Except¡­ they weren¡¯t buried by the monumental load of objections they expected. There were hundreds in the first day, but that was still quite small. Then again, very few would have any personal grudges with those who had been enslaved. Except maybe those who had perished. So it would only be an issue if family or friends had died. People didn¡¯t get to choose family, and many people made poor choices with their friends. Devon took in the situation as a whole, and it was really quite few people who said anything. And it didn¡¯t seem to be fear, though there was certainly some concern about that possibility. In some ways, their side certainly appeared to support the grouped consciousness, allowing them to even have a chance after such a slaughter. Before Endymion¡¯s arrival, the plan for this time had been to finish taking over the rest of Waral, assaulting the remaining cities that were split into independent and weaker factions. But instead, they were dealing with trials, repairs, and rest. Aerona came to Devon at the end of one day, venting about her experiences. ¡°It¡¯s very difficult not to simply take the side of the freed slaves,¡± Aerona admitted. ¡°But I listen to both parties and most of the time it isn¡¯t even close. I¡¯ve been learning a lot about how people were enslaved, by the way.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Devon prompted. ¡°Well, the nominal reason was for crime. Extremely shaky allegations, most of the time. Other excuses were debts. But ultimately, it seemed that the Numerological Compact just grabbed people whenever they needed more and nobody stopped them. Instead, many offered up their rivals with flimsy reasoning. So these people aren¡¯t entirely innocent but also¡­¡± Aerona shook her head. ¡°None of them really deserved this. Because when people did something actually wrong, they often preferred executions at the hand of the accuser.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fascinating the lengths people will go to justify such institutions,¡± Devon said. ¡°So, what about the cases?¡± ¡°Oh, sure,¡± Aerona nodded. ¡°Well, the defense is always quite quick about bringing relevant individuals around, providing personal testimony. All truthread, of course. It¡¯s accurate enough to serve as a balancing factor. Most importantly, they were able to describe certain other witnesses we¡¯ve been tracking down. They seem to understand that unilaterally trusting a hivemind is¡­ difficult.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Devon said. ¡°I doubt even they fully know how that works at the moment, but they¡¯re quite odd to interact with.¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°A few individuals complained about being attacked during the incident, but the only people who survived were those who reacted and joined into the battle, thinking they were in danger. For the most part, they were taken out without major harm. A few others had more serious injuries, and were more directly caught up in the crossfire. Those who sustained real damage and were actually defending themselves have been awarded some amount of damages.¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± Devon asked. ¡°I sat through about a hundred petitions, and only a few were serious enough to justify more than people handing over healing medicines or wealth to purchase treatments. I can tell you the details of a few others, though.¡± ----- ¡°I have you down for a petition about¡­ theft?¡± Aerona asked, looking up at a woman. ¡°That¡¯s right. These¡­ uh, these people took a storage bag that belonged to me.¡± ¡°What did it contain?¡± Aerona asked. ¡°Were there any distinguishing markings?¡± ¡°It had everything I had saved up. Some medicines, and a large amount of wealth I was going to use to purchase a medicine to break through to the next stage,¡± the woman said. Her words appeared true enough, and her cultivation was at the peak of Spirit Building which helped corroborate. Yet she also seemed to be hiding something. Aerona had her provide a better description, then looked towards the local representative standing besides her. ¡°We do have a bag of that description and contents,¡± the representative replied. ¡°However, it was taken from a man that was part of the retribution.¡± ¡°When was your bag stolen?¡± Aerona asked the petitioner. ¡°And by who?¡± ¡°Well you see, my brother had it. I saw him attacked by them.¡± Aerona frowned. ¡°Do you have proof that this was not your brother¡¯s?¡± ¡°Some of the contents should make it obvious? And he had his own, I think. Having multiple bags isn¡¯t normal.¡± ¡°Yet some people do it,¡± Aerona said. She looked towards the representative of the hivemind¡­ though whether they wanted to be called that was still up for debate. They accepted it, but not much more was known given the extremely brief period they had been functioning. ¡°We are aware of the incident. We shall bring forth the cultivators involved and the storage bags.¡± A trio of people arrived, and Aerona went back and forth between the sides, getting their story. The brother had apparently made false accusations against one of them, getting them enslaved- and there were further incidents that others apparently corroborated. Ultimately, the woman didn¡¯t make any arguments that her brother didn¡¯t deserve what happened to him. Especially once Aerona pried out the reason her brother was carrying her storage bag- he¡¯d stolen it, and she was trying to track him down. She didn¡¯t even see the incident, only heard about it later. Things were resolved rather easily from there, and the bag was returned to her with the majority of its contents intact. Aerona didn¡¯t have to prompt anything once the people involved were convinced. Unlike certain other incidents. ----- ¡°He turned us in!¡± one cultivator from the hivemind argued passionately. It seemed they acted quite normally when speaking about their own experiences. There were several more who agreed with him standing across from their accuser. ¡°We all heard about it!¡± An old man stood there, sadly shaking his head. ¡°Then you were fooled just like many others. But my son was not at fault. It was a scheme from an elder of the Numerological Compact to get back at him while keeping enmity away from the sect.¡± ¡°Of course you would say that now,¡± one of them said. ¡°But simply caring about your son doesn¡¯t make him a saint.¡± ¡°I have other witnesses of the scheme,¡± the old man said. ¡°I¡¯ve brought them to prove his innocence.¡± He did, in fact, prove that- again to the point of convincing those involved. Stubborn. That was what Aerona determined. ¡°What punishment do you desire?¡± she asked the old man. The small group protested. ¡°We didn¡¯t know. How could we have? It¡¯s not our fault. Why should we be punished?¡± ¡°Silence,¡± Aerona demanded. ¡°I am simply asking his demands. There is no guarantee that I will follow them. But you could have also been more diligent in your understandings. There were clues even in your own words. Uncertainty.¡± It seemed even a hivemind could lie to itself¡­ though it didn¡¯t seem they were quite that tightly interwoven. More like they could all relay their thoughts and emotions on certain subjects, which were still fallible. It was one thing for those who were directly locked up by someone, these few had been tricked like the general public. The old man pondered. ¡°I want my son¡¯s things back. And his body. Also¡­¡± he looked at Aerona, clearly trying to judge if he was pushing things too far. ¡°Penalties. A fine or something. And if that elder died, I want his head.¡± It turned out that those who had killed the man¡¯s son had already exchanged some of his wealth for various cultivation medicines- many of those freed were eager to cultivate in freedom. And since they had been in slavery, there wasn¡¯t any other wealth they had. They easily agreed to retrieving the body, and handing over the elder¡¯s head as well. At least nobody like that man had survived the purge. Beyond that, a debt was entered against the individuals involved- specifically those who made the choice. Unlike most situations, the hivemind were clearly aware of the delineation between those who acted for practical purposes and those who gave the orders. They also didn¡¯t seem to be opposed to turning over individual members for punishment. Those in question would have to pay somehow from their future wealth. That incident was settled without further death¡­ but still showed imperfection in their actions. ----- ¡°I honestly expected worse,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°When you have a million others watching what you think,¡± Aerona replied, ¡°You would probably be careful about doing anything that would be judged by the masses.¡± ¡°It¡¯s several million, I think,¡± Devon said. ¡°Depending on how closely the different cities are connected.¡± ¡°Ultimately, they didn¡¯t act with any unjustified malice except for a few isolated incidents where they offered up the perpetrators before accusations were even levied. We might see more flaws in the coming days but¡­¡± Aerona shrugged. ¡°The vast majority of the trouble are those bringing false accusations against them. Many of them are not good liars. Those settle quickly, but I wonder if the accusers know what they¡¯re getting into.¡± ¡°You think that the hivemind will seek further revenge?¡± ¡°Just imagine a fifth of the population having memories of you falsely accusing them of something. It¡¯s not going to be good for them in the future, even if everything happens within the bounds of law and order.¡± ¡°So do you expect more valid petitions?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Yes, and more opportunists. But we¡¯ve tried to crack down on those. Anything without a shred of evidence has people fleeing on their heels out of the halls at the end.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a good thing we have people like you,¡± Devon said. ¡°Otherwise, this would have been an even bigger disaster.¡± ¡°Ultimately¡­ they were all prepared to die for their resentment. I¡¯m almost surprised they didn¡¯t act out more against those who they merely perceived to have worked against them. But it seems that some outside perspectives calmed that down. Only a tiny fraction of mistakes occurred- not counting some collateral damage to buildings and the like.¡± Devon wondered if the hivemind would expand when they freed the other cities. If so, they needed to convince them ahead of time not to slaughter anyone. Maybe come up with a plan where they could round people up¡­ but was there a way to do that fairly? Not without people to help judge. Funnily enough, Devon wanted reinforcements for that purpose more than combat¡­ but hopefully both would arrive soon. Chapter 956 Much time and effort was put into analyzing the data from the battle with Enymion. That included the recordings from the fleet at large, but also Devon¡¯s personal experiences. He spent a lot of time trying to predict how Endymion would adapt his strategy in the future- and how long it might take for that to happen. There were also plans for dealing with the other Magnitude IV ship and their Confluence cultivators. The most vital step was not leaving enemy fleets open to combine their firepower with the larger ships. While there had been a significant drop in secondary power from the assault, even a momentary boost to the capabilities of their strongest enemies would be problematic. Even if they couldn¡¯t guarantee to take out Devon, if the Numerological Compact destroyed several of their capital ships in quick succession it would be quite problematic. It was clear that they couldn¡¯t do the same thing again in quick succession, combining the firepower of their fleet. Determining whether it was issues in formations or of cultivator control was something they could only speculate on, but they could determine that it wasn¡¯t something that could be done consecutively. Otherwise, they would have truly tried to kill Devon. Their scouts were doing the best they could to keep track of enemy movements, but they could only do so much. The Numerological Compact¡¯s formation expertise was sufficient to breach their stealth systems consistently, so they had to rely on distance and speed- limiting their information. ----- The captured cities on Waral were lacking power, though given the status of the moon itself that wasn¡¯t a complete disaster. Things were quite inconvenient for the populace, but the vast majority of them were cultivators to some extent. They mainly lost luxuries rather than necessities, and though food supplies might become an issue in the near future that was a separate problem. Not all of the captured cities were completely without power. With the guidance of the freed slaves, those cities which had been captured intact were having their power stations refitted. Any cultivators would be able to contribute natural energy while not being restrained once they were done¡­ though they had less than a single percent of the maximum capacity available at the moment. Nor were any of those previously restrained eager to return to such a task without compensation. That was a matter for the people of the cities to settle, balancing how much they were actually willing to contribute against what their energy needs or desires. The Lower Realms Alliance had no intent to force anyone to interact with that system, and it was clear that the structure of the local society had to change for them to function. It wasn¡¯t going to be easy. ----- Reinforcements were close to arrival and plans were being finalized to take over the remaining cities on Waral based on the incoming forces when the situation suddenly changed. This time it wasn¡¯t due to outside events, but local changes- outside of the cities they controlled. Devon¡¯s energy was recovering nicely, enough that he felt comfortable surveying the planet with his World Encompassing Chains. The size of the planet wasn¡¯t an issue as much as the barriers surrounding the enemy cities. There was only so much information he could gain without straining himself, so he just watched the general situation. Something in about half of those remaining cities caught his attention, as there was increased activity at the same time. Among those that had received an influx of Numerological Compact cultivators fleeing from the first city, there had been a greater tension. Devon hadn¡¯t quite been able to pin it down, but less than a week after the battle with Endymion something snapped- and not in just one place. There were riots in the streets as large numbers of cultivators moved on particular locations- specifically the quarters of the Confluence cultivators and the sect¡¯s starports. That activity drew Devon¡¯s attention to those cities, but also made him check for similar activity in the others. He quickly determined the situation. The Confluence cultivators had coordinated with each other to try to flee the planet simultaneously- and in some cities, others had gotten wind of it. A nearly even mixture of lower ranking Numerological Compact cultivators and others had taken a stand, trying to prevent the Confluence cultivators from fleeing and leaving them behind. There were only a small number of ships, and even if they were to replace all of the enslaved cultivators they could only carry so many¡­ but nobody wanted to be left behind in what they reasonably understood to be a hopeless situation. As soon as he understood the significance, Devon relayed the information to the others. No doubt the Confluence cultivators were hoping that with every ship leaving at once they could get past the Lower Realms Alliance fleets. And perhaps some of them could have at the sacrifice of others. But with even a short warning they would lose the advantage of confusion. Importantly, with all of the Confluence cultivators leaving, the cities would be protected by little more than the defensive barriers. Other Numerological Compact cultivators could likely man the aerial defenses, but they would be far less effective- practically worthless. While their numbers might be an issue, that was only assuming the rest of the population stayed out of things. The Lower Realms Alliance scrambled their forces as quickly as possible, preparing their fleets for action. In the rioting cities, only a few of the Confluence cultivators managed to reach ships in time, and the presumably secretive departure became desynchronized. It was clear that the other Confluence cultivators caught wind of what was happening and sped up their departures to match the urgent fleeing- both to use the other ships as cover and to avoid riots in their own cities. The plans of the Lower Realms Alliance were technically thrown off, but only because their enemies were throwing away their fortified positions. With their fleets, catching around a hundred ships was something they could accomplish with relative ease. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Not long after enemy ships came out of their barriers, ships were swarming them. However, some of the ships were smaller than expected, and faster. Not very many- only a handful from each of two cities- but they were able to avoid immediate capture while the larger Magnitude II ships were taken down, freeing the cultivators tied to them. The Lower Realms Alliance also intentionally let slip some ships not carrying Confluence cultivators- and slaves. There were some ships that ran off of more traditional power sources, and letting them go should promote friction with the highest layers of the Numerological Compact. They might simply be executed wherever they ended up, but that wasn¡¯t the concern of the Alliance. All of the local forces had to act, with Devon flying towards one of the cities undergoing riots. Just because the Confluence cultivators had already escaped or failed to do so didn¡¯t stop a surge of cultivators who were feeling cornered. That was a perfect time for Devon to break through the barrier, though his following decision was made to preserve order. Though he wished to, Devon didn¡¯t immediately shut down the power station, freeing the entrapped cultivators. Instead, he appeared above the rioting cultivators. ¡°Settle down!¡± Devon¡¯s voice shook the city, and the cultivators. He was not just one but two whole stages above the very best of them- the Confluence cultivators having been overwhelmed by numbers or having already fled to space where they would be captured. Though he looked down on tens of thousands of cultivators with heated blood, they couldn¡¯t help but recognize his strength. Though as with any group, there were always a few recklessly defiant individuals. In a group this size, there were over a hundred who thought they stood a chance, even if their cultivation didn¡¯t say so. They yelled various profanities and attacked him- simultaneously, but not together. It was quite simple for Devon to remove himself from the area where all of the attacks were aimed long before they arrived. Then he took a moment to make sure his next move was lined up properly, sending out chains in the same number as the offending cultivators. They quickly found themselves strung up by his chains, before being flung into a single pile- their necks snapped. ¡°Let¡¯s try this again. Settle down. There are no longer any methods for you to get off this planet without the aid of the Lower Realms Alliance. Your overlords have abandoned you. Not that any of you should have expected any different. There¡¯s no value for any of you killing each other now.¡± ¡°Yeah right!¡± said one slightly more cautious Numerological Compact cultivator. He was a Life Transformation cultivator near the peak. Perhaps if things had gone differently, he would have been among the Confluence cultivators in the next decade or two. ¡°We heard you slaughtered everyone in the other cities!¡± They clearly had incomplete information¡­ which was probably for the best. Devon shook his head, emphasizing the movement with a larger projection of his form over the city. ¡°Many perished, that is true¡­ but the majority of deaths were at the hands of other citizens. Much like yourselves.¡± Devon was bending the truth there, because he doubted the slaves counted as civilians in their eyes. At least, not the Numerological Compact. Maybe not even the others who were still all potential slaves. ¡°We have no quarrel with those not of the Numerological Compact¡­¡± Devon waved his hand. ¡°And for those of you of that grand sect, your actions will be judged fairly.¡± Did that mean that most of them would be put to death? Absolutely. But the other cultivators, complicit as they were in some ways, were also victims in large part. Devon¡¯s true intention here was dispersing the crowds, which was working to some extent. Some people were slinking away, and Devon had no problem with that. At the very least, most were moving away from the Numerological Compact. The man clearly thought about his words. ¡°Even a Confluence cultivator is nothing without backup.¡± Devon could see what the man was doing¡­ which was why what happened next wasn¡¯t going to help him any. ¡°Yeah!¡± shouted another member of the Numerological Compact. ¡°Right! If they¡¯re going to kill us all anyway, we might as well take this one out first!¡± Devon shook his head. They knew their weaknesses, and yet they were so tied to them. And not in a good way, like Vincent of the One Hundred Stars and other communal Assimilation cultivators. Willing contributions to others were so much more stable, and the Numerological Compact had convinced themselves that just because their formation expertise was sufficient to make forced labor work somewhat efficiently that it was actually correct. It was foolish, really, for them to launch another round of attacks. There were far more of them, but most of the cultivators couldn¡¯t even really reach Devon standing in the sky. A small fraction of them could, and even then their attacks interfered with each other. Devon wasn¡¯t a fan of communal responsibility. Even though only a tiny fraction of the Numerological Compact had managed to live when judged by their victims, that showed they weren¡¯t all completely irredeemable. But the crowd below had their chance to separate, and there was an easy core for him to target. A few hundred individuals, including the Life Transformation cultivator who thought he was clever, not directly telling people to assault Devon. ¡°So be it,¡± Devon said. ¡°You choose to continue the mistakes of the rest of your sect, believing in your own invincibility.¡± Even though he was still recovering his energy, creating a dome of chains covering the core group was simple. He most likely could have covered the whole crowd, but he wanted to give a chance for people to run away. There could be a few members of the Compact among them that were simply scared of dying on Waral and nothing more. Devon fought directly against against the concentrated group, and while they were from the same sect and vaguely able to combine their energy, the only way they could have stood against him with just a few hundred is if all of them were Life Transformation cultivators. Devon didn¡¯t necessarily enjoy killing them, but the city needed to see what could happen. That group was slain in a few moments, and then Devon continued on to stray individuals who were foolish enough to continue attacking, perhaps thinking he couldn¡¯t pick them out in the crowd. When the remaining Numerological Compact cultivators began to run, Devon didn¡¯t stop them. ¡°This was the choice you should have made in the beginning,¡± Devon commented. Hopefully, the crowds would be calm enough to leave him alone as he dealt with freeing the people in the power station. Because while he could take on thousands, if the whole city of millions actually wanted to take him down, they might be successful. And even if he won, it would be a hollow victory. Well, that wasn¡¯t entirely true. There would still be all the freed slaves. He wondered if they would become part of the hivemind, or if there would be a new one, or if there were specific circumstances. Though there was only one way to find out. Chapter 957 The chaos of the remaining Confluence cultivators attempting to flee Waral had resulted in vulnerability in the remaining cities- both because of the sudden loss and because they simply didn¡¯t have the necessary fighting strength. With only partially effective weapon emplacements and a lack of motivation for the cities as a whole to stand up against the Lower Realms Alliance forces, the remaining Numerological Compact forces and any others who chose to fight were quickly subdued. Thus, the rest of Waral fell under the control of the Alliance, solving one of their most pressing issues while raising many more. They had access to large quantities of information available on the moon, but parsing it all would take a long time. Certain systems could help but the information all had to be fed into them. The same was true with reading techniques like Ten Thousand Scrolls- while individual cultivators could read and comprehend large amounts of information they had to be physically present with the data. Despite their great advancements in the field of formations, most of the information available still seemed to be stored in books and scrolls instead of something resembling computers or other storage systems. Though there did seem to be some attempts to create something, there wasn¡¯t anything functional on Waral. The final consequence of the events was the hivemind growing. That answered many of the questions they had. Even people who had been used to power the ships escaping the planet became part of it- though whether it was because of the already large group nearby or because they had very recently been connected to all of the others in one of the larger power stations was unclear. That left only one city with the freed slaves not having a connection to the hivemind. The first of them, where the connection had been broken rather forcefully along with the destruction of the power station. It wasn¡¯t clear whether it was a good or bad thing for those individuals. The rest who were part of the hivemind didn¡¯t tend to seem upset at their circumstances, but it wasn¡¯t clear if they could be. Even they didn¡¯t truly know what the consequences were, let alone outsiders trying to figure them out. At least they had avoided any further rash actions like killing large numbers of people. That was still likely going to happen, but with a proper chance for people to defend their actions. The Lower Realms Alliance wanted to have something at least close to fairness. The cultivators of the Numerological Compact might argue that everything they did was legal- though that wasn¡¯t even entirely true despite the slavery aspect being legal- but the Lower Realms Alliance had a broader set of morals to enforce. Though it would ultimately be quite similar to the winners of a war purging those who disagreed with them, they wouldn¡¯t tolerate sects associated with the upper realms treating people like property. ----- Great care was taken with the reinforcements coming to Waral, circumventing where the enemy was most concentrated. The additional ships were sufficient in number that they would likely be able to stand up to most enemy fleets alone, but the full strength of the enemy was yet unknown and their larger ships were still a significant concern. Devon was quite surprised at how many of his new disciples showed up. He hadn¡¯t intended to doubt their convictions, but there was quite a step to take from cultivating a new style for a few weeks before returning to a star system where one was enslaved just a short time before. They should have been made aware that Waral could be attacked at any time- more easily than their base on Kathariel, specifically. Yet they chose to come anyway. Devon greatly appreciated that. A notable absence from the reinforcements was Anton. It was understandable, of course. He was already reluctant to take part in wars solely within the lower realms, and he was needed in case of another attack on their base. Though Anton had also contacted Devon specifically with additional information- he was on the verge of completing his connection to Kathariel¡¯s star. That would greatly increase their stability in the region while leaving Anton able to use his more rapid connections that were limited in number wherever they should need it. ----- Devon¡¯s main role now that the planet was conquered was to act as a deterrent, both for the locals and for potential incoming enemy forces. He tried to make his presence known in each city, though it seemed that if he didn¡¯t conceal himself most cultivators could feel him from any side of the moon. On a larger planet it might have required active usage of his natural energy for the ripples of his power to spread to everyone, but Waral was modest enough in size that his location was usually quite obvious. Few people tended to interact with him- those that did were usually part of the hivemind, giving them something akin to prior experience. Not that he was pestered by them, and whenever they brought anything to his attention it was usually quite important. Thus, Devon wasn¡¯t particularly surprised when an old woman walked up to him. The connection was obvious to Devon, because even if each strand was subtle there were countless webs of connection between those in the hivemind. ¡°Ammar wishes to speak with you,¡± the old woman said. ¡°Is that so? What is the issue?¡± Devon asked. ¡°It is a personal matter,¡± she replied. Devon nodded. It was clear that people still had a sense of self, and they liked to be spoken to personally. Even if information might be passed through, it was still preferred to meet in person. ¡°Is it an urgent matter? If not, I shall visit within the next few days.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. A few moments passed before the woman nodded. ¡°He finds that acceptable, and will make himself available whenever you arrive.¡± Devon still intended to show up when it would be normal waking hours on that part of the moon- though such things were less clear when the hours of night and day were far fewer. Still, cities fell into a general rhythm along with their inhabitants. Though if it were entirely up to him Devon might have gone immediately to see Ammar, he continued with his practice of making his presence apparent to the locals. It was good not only for the sake of stability- his power brought both fear and respect- but also for the sake of devotion. It wasn¡¯t something Devon was specifically seeking out, but that made it all the more genuine. The people of Waral had experienced his power directly instead of hearing about what he did in some other system. And the respect that was formed for him was amplified among the hivemind. That made Devon somewhat uncomfortable, as he didn¡¯t want to be taken as some sort of god or a cult figure¡­ but at the moment things were still acceptable. After a reasonable period, Devon went to find Ammar in his city. ¡°You wished to speak with me?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Indeed,¡± Ammar inclined his head. ¡°It was about an offer you made to people in another city. You said you would teach the Shattered Chains to anyone who wished to learn.¡± ¡°Ah. I see,¡± Devon replied. ¡°I wish to learn,¡± Ammar said straightforwardly. Devon pursed his lips. ¡°I did mean what I said, in the context it was spoken. But now, I have some reservations.¡± ¡°I understand. You have concerns about your secrets being revealed to others.¡± ¡°They are not exactly secrets,¡± Devon said. ¡°The relevant issue here is that this style was personal to me, and this sect will be seen as an extension of that. I can¡¯t have people representing the Shattered Chains that aren¡¯t willing to act in an appropriate manner.¡± Ammar nodded. ¡°That does make things more difficult. Though perhaps not as much as you might imagine.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Devon asked. ¡°As you can tell, each of us has our own cultivations. We did not suddenly become aware of each detail of each other¡¯s lives. Details only spread between us as they become relevant. This would not necessarily stop others from ¡®listening in¡¯, as it were, but those of us who truly wish to learn would be able to monitor those among us. In fact, it would be easier for us than worrying about one of your members taking your guidance to be learned by random criminals.¡± ¡°I think I understand what you are saying,¡± Devon said. ¡°If you are willing to enforce the practice of my techniques to those willing to follow the restrictions I set forth, then I think it will work out.¡± ¡°Myself and the others who wish to learn have asked about your restrictions previously. However, I do not know the full details.¡± ¡°It¡¯s pretty simple,¡± Devon said. ¡°Follow the laws of the Alliance. Do not stand by idly when people are in danger. And of course, don¡¯t allow slavery to persist. The last of those is in large part for your own sake- much as I would say that you should not recklessly circulate your natural energy. It is a core principle. Of course, that does not mean you should act recklessly. I had to stand by during much of my early freedom, pushing for opportunities where I could. I didn¡¯t have the personal strength to take down Ofrurg, though I did manage to take down one of those responsible for my chains early on.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Ammar said. ¡°I am certain the Alliance has many restrictions to study. But what else? What of contributions to the sect?¡± Devon waved his hand. ¡°What about them? I suppose if we need to set up training facilities, someone has to pay for that. But the only practical restrictions are the moral ones. Oh, and the laws of the Alliance, while many, are fairly straightforward. You have to respect other sapient life. There are various laws about other things, but that¡¯s the important part.¡± ¡°I have only the utmost respect for my fellow humans,¡± Ammar nodded. ¡°Though, based on your actions¡­ the requirements are not universal, are they? What about our enemies?¡± ¡°They deserve respect as well. But that doesn¡¯t mean not killing them when necessary. You should not be cruel. And the core principles stand just as much for those we fight. If we turn into slavers ourselves, we are to be destested. I will have no disciples who do such.¡± ¡°That will not be an issue for me,¡± Ammar agreed. ¡°I do have one point to bring up,¡± Devon said. ¡°You mentioned humans, but I did mean all sapient life.¡± ¡°Legends speak of great beasts able to cultivate,¡± Ammar said. ¡°Here, they have long been extinct.¡± ¡°They would be included,¡± Devon said. ¡°Regardless of whether they meet a specific threshold, one should act appropriately. I would not accept slaughtering beasts without reason simply because they are unintelligent. Hunting for food or for materials is one thing, but random destruction of life is not. But I did have specific things in mind for the sapients, and we have a possibility of finding more.¡± Revealing void ants here, especially to the members of a hivemind, might be a bit problematic. But there were the people of Akrys to consider- and they already had some who had come to Waral. Introducing Grain and the other locusts to the locals was something that would have to be carefully considered, but those who were once enslaved should at least be able to respect others who had fought for their freedom. ¡°I find your restrictions more than acceptable,¡± Ammar announced. ¡°So do many others. They would wish to learn from you as well.¡± ¡°As long as they can agree that the style may only be practiced by those willing to maintain a righteous life. However, I am not entirely against others using the cultivation principles behind everything, as long as they do not attempt to impersonate members of the Shattered Chains. As for those who wish to learn, I would still like to meet them all in person, if we can arrange for that.¡± ¡°It will not be difficult, if you are willing to travel,¡± Ammar said. ¡°Or if you have some way to transport all of us to the same city, should that be more convenient for you.¡± In truth, the main restrictions Devon had were that people not act like criminals. If people weren¡¯t willing to follow the simple rules Devon laid down, he thought they would have much worse problems. Anyone who couldn¡¯t treat others properly wouldn¡¯t do well in the Alliance as a whole. Not that mistakes were unforgivable- it was remaining in the wrong that would be the problem. The Alliance did their best to actually correct those in the wrong, not just locking them up, but it wasn¡¯t always possible. Chapter 958 Since the attack on Kathariel, Anton had kept careful watch while also pushing forward his progress on binding the local star. The binding would be complete soon enough, but there was still some possibility of the Numerological Compact organizing another attack before he finished. Most likely they would focus their efforts on Waral, but that wasn¡¯t a certainty. In addition to his binding, Anton also practiced a particular technique. It was inspired by Ty Quigley, and could be of great use against the Numerological Compact. Specifically, if he wished to protect the lives of the cultivators they carried on their ships. Antong had long since been able to change the form of his Spirit Arrows into any practical shape, but what he needed wasn¡¯t merely slashing at the formations of the ships. It was an audacious move by Ty to completely dismantle the formations in a single move, but he was the sort who could get away with that kind of thing. It was a bit more difficult for Anton. His main focus was on attacking a single target. It could be argued that the formation was one thing, but even then he was still used to making multiple moves. Even if he shot a thousand arrows from his energy bows and they all arrived at a target, they were still separate moves. That might not matter in most circumstances, but the precision required in their circumstances was much higher. If he were merely targeting the outside of the ships, Anton could precisely time his attacks. Since he had to target the command deck, that required reaching that point with all of his attacks. If he had a fully bound star wherever he was engaged in combat it would be an easier task, but that still limited his angles of attack unless each and every arrow pierced through the enemy ship all on its own. To most outside observers, Anton¡¯s swarm of arrows looked as if they would split apart the formations all at once, but when precise measurements were taken there was some doubt to the equation even after his practice. With the full power of Enrichment he might be somewhat more accurate, but the technique was the most important part. At least they could spare another ship for him to test. They¡¯d captured more than enough of them now. Hopefully, they were significantly draining the enemy¡¯s resources. ----- On the matter of captured ships, they also had three Confluence cultivators who had surrendered. They were the individuals who had been in control of the largest ships assaulting Kathariel. Of the three, only the first woman was actually fully cooperative. Her name was Nindaanis, and she had been controlling one of the Magnitude III ships. There were two others, but one had already been executed. That was not a breach of Anton¡¯s oath, because the others had continued to fight. Anton hadn¡¯t given them the same promises when they capitulated out of fear¡­ and he wouldn¡¯t have, sensing some lacking sincerity. The one who had been executed already was named Sipho. From all accounts he was a horrible man- and that included both Nindaanis¡¯ testimony and his own ¡®crew¡¯. There was quite a bit that could be learned about the Numerological Compact cultivators from their actions. The large number of cultivators freed from their ships had been given a chance to voice their grievances. Those on Nindaanis¡¯ ship had many things to say about the Numerological Compact as a whole, but even they had to admit she didn¡¯t cause them any unnecessary harm. Most relevantly, she hadn¡¯t actually detonated any of the cultivators while she was under assault by Grain and the locusts. It was a low bar, to be fair, but she had passed it. And she¡¯d been quite cooperative, unlike Sipho who seemed to think that the Lower Realms Alliance was filled with bleeding heart cultivators that wouldn¡¯t dare to kill him while their captive. The third of them, Carmina, was cooperative literally only to the point it kept her alive and no further. The cultivators from her ship had harsh words to say about her handling of their energy, but for the time being she would be kept alive. On the topic of the cultivators from their ships¡­ Anton had heard the news from Waral and harbored some suspicions that they had also formed some level of hivemind. There were tens of thousands of cultivators on Magnitude III ships, and when they were all disconnected in an orderly manner some of that connection could reasonably linger. Anton couldn¡¯t be certain, as the effect was definitely less prominent. The connections he could feel between them could be as simple as a mutual devotion, given their experiences. Either way, he found it more likely that each ship was separate. The cultivators on Waral had all been part of the same planet spanning network of energy formations, so even if they were from different cities the connection and the greater numbers involved sensibly led to the deeper connection. The easiest way to figure out if they were connected would be to ask, but for the moment Anton was only observing, along with others. There were a large number of rescued individuals on Kathariel- some hundreds of thousands at the moment- but as long as they were not causing trouble they were left alone. For the most part, they seemed happy to simply be able to move about on their own, to eat and drink and sleep when they wished to. Finding things for them to do was somewhat difficult. While the Alliance was transporting them to larger planets in batches, they could only bring so many at once. Kathariel wasn¡¯t exactly good for farming¡­ though there were hydroponics bays and the like. Anton gladly taught people what he could, and they had others teaching skills that were considered basic for the Lower Realms Alliance, but it would take more than a month or two for them to really begin their process of recovery. One exception were the Shattered Chains. They turned their former slavery into power, and while Anton couldn¡¯t say that they all had perfect mental states they still were doing something with their trauma. There were other opportunities to cultivate as well, but Kathariel¡¯s natural energy was far below what was available in the Alliance proper. It was just a planet that was inhabitable enough and decent for constructing a base. ----- This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Grain watched Ammar while Ammar watched him. The locust was not comfortable standing still, and the two were unable to directly communicate. Grain understood some of the human cultivator language, but Ammar¡¯s dialect was different from what he was used to. Grain could reproduce humanlike words with his energy, but it was also something Ammar would have to get used to. Devon worked as an in-between for them, when they actually had anything to say. ¡°This one has an interesting connection,¡± Grain admitted. ¡°It is not inborn like our swarm, however. Nor is it like the communal cultivation of the meerkats- of Aipra.¡± After receiving the translation, Ammar nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know of all that you speak about, but I can certainly see our differences. This connection,¡± Ammar waved his hand vaguely around him. ¡°It was not intentional, perhaps not even on the part of the Numerological Compact. But I now believe we can be more intentional with its existence.¡± ¡°Is it fading any?¡± Devon interjected. ¡°Now that you are no longer¡­ forcibly connected.¡± ¡°We could let it fade,¡± Ammar said. ¡°Indeed, some have chosen to do so, and will be withdrawn from this¡­ hivemind¡­ soon enough. But for those who maintain any interest in keeping it active, it will stay. Unfamiliar as it is¡­¡± he tilted his head. ¡°It feels almost natural. And it has its uses, despite a certain lack of privacy.¡± He shook his head. ¡°Yet in a way, the privacy that we lose does little but draw us closer. I think none of us would violate it¡­ certainly, they wouldn''t last long doing so.¡± Grain hopped around with his swarm, speaking to them with the intent for Devon to translate to Ammar. ¡°Do you think we could create some sort of deeper bond among ourselves? Would it be valuable?¡± The responses were impossible for Devon to interpret given their magnitude, but he got a vague feeling of assent. They would, at least, try. ¡°I would not know how to create such a bond intentionally,¡± Ammar admitted. ¡°Though perhaps together we could figure something out.¡± He stepped closer to the swarm, watching their movements. ¡°All of you act in concert. Is that not dangerous?¡± ¡°We protect each other,¡± Grain spoke for the group. ¡°Our cultivations allow us to do so, though in other respects we might be like void ants with our communal focus.¡± Devon hesitated a moment on bringing up void ants, taking some liberties in translation. ¡°Ants?¡± Ammar asked. ¡°If they have cultivation as well, could they not also defend themselves in harmony?¡± ¡°These particular ones don¡¯t have any cultivation. At least not in a way anyone would consider it traditionally,¡± Devon explained. Ammar seemed to understand Devon didn¡¯t want to say more. ----- Various bits and pieces of Waral were being rapidly dismantled and rearranged. That included some Numerological Compact ships. Nobody was fond of the idea of being forced batteries for anyone else¡­ but the hivemind at least found it valuable to work in concert. They would be able to operate Numerological Compact ships, once there were some modifications. Or rather, they could operate them without modifications, but would not let themselves be restrained except for a small number of tests by others in the hivemind. Devon fully understood that, of course. Ashildr and the other formation experts were working on alternative ways to connect them to the power of the ship, with the largest concerns being voluntary contribution of energy, absence of restraints, and protection from feedback. In short, they didn¡¯t want there to be some way for the formations to detonate those offering up their energy. ¡°Regardless of what else they are,¡± Ashildr explained to Devon. ¡°The original formations are very efficient. However, all of the necessary changes, without any breakthroughs, will result in a significant drop in functionality. Except¡­ the connection that the hivemind has will make up for a large amount of the drop in efficiency. They might be able to get similar output from a Magnitude II ship with a Life Transformation cultivator at the helm. Once they have some training.¡± ¡°That¡¯s actually quite a bit better, isn¡¯t it?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Normally, they would require Confluence cultivators. Aren¡¯t they like Assimilation?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ but the formations do a large amount to smooth over talent,¡± Ashildr explained. ¡°And Confluence is a very particular form of advancement. It¡¯s more of an extension of the formations than a normal state of cultivation. I would be willing to bet that was how they developed it,¡± she said. ¡°From my study of the few Magnitude I ships we¡¯ve found, those were controlled by cultivators of lower power.¡± Ammar was present as well, as the hivemind deserved to be informed about work directly affecting them. There were stronger cultivators among them, but he was the one most comfortable with Devon. ¡°So we can draw greater power from these ships with cooperation?¡± ¡°Potentially,¡± Ashildr said carefully. ¡°However, there are other restrictions I didn¡¯t speak about. First, you¡¯ll likely need to have as many people as possible share cultivation methods on an individual ship. And the specific crew will need to train together. That¡¯s quite different from plopping any Confluence cultivator in any random ship. Oh, and the ships will likely need custom modifications according to style¡­¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± Ammar said. ¡°There are no formation masters among us for¡­ perhaps obvious reasons. However, many of us are interested in learning for similarly obvious reasons.¡± He paused, then clarified. ¡°Individuals other than myself. I think I would perform better by focusing on the Shattered Chains. I am far too weak to captain a ship, but that is what I would like to do.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not going to be possible anytime soon,¡± Ashildr said. ¡°We might get something functional in a few weeks. But to get any consistent results I¡¯d expect decades of research and development.¡± ¡°You speak as if certain we will be around then,¡± Ammar said. He looked over at Devon. ¡°Though I can see why your people are so confident, with one like him.¡± He tilted his head. ¡°Or¡­ two? I heard fellow disciples speak of your grandfather. They mentioned unbelievable strength, those seemingly below your own.¡± That would be Fen and the others who came from Kathariel. ¡°They¡¯d be half right,¡± Devon said. ¡°In the right circumstances, he¡¯s far stronger than me instead.¡± Ammar nodded. ¡°It was worth surviving, to get to this point.¡± Devon could see the young man¡¯s aspiration for the future. Devon had so many new disciples he¡¯d never intended to have, but here he was. Chapter 959 Jealousy was unbecoming of a void ant. That was why the Sergeant was not jealous of her brother¡¯s ability to fly. Instead, she was concerned about her own lack of ability in that area affecting the mission. ¡°Strange,¡± she commented to him as their ship continued onward after a shot stop on Kathariel. ¡°What is strange?¡± the Son of the Queen signed in return. The Sergeant shook her head. ¡°Normally, only humans pay much attention to their siblings.¡± ¡°Are you referring to our relation?¡± he asked. ¡°In truth, you actually mean that as void ants we don¡¯t tend to acknowledge anything but the queens. And even then, we don¡¯t think of them as our mother. But in fact, while humans are our first exposure, do not most of the people of Akrys acknowledge family to some extent? Even some of the insects.¡± The Sergeant thought for some time. ¡°I suppose that is true. But if I were to be honest, I had actually thought about family before. Just a sister, instead of a brother.¡± ¡°Who would that be?¡± the Son of the Queen inquired. ¡°I have not heard of any other¡­ particularly independent members of our family,¡± he said, choosing his words carefully. ¡°You would be correct, as far as I am aware,¡± the Sergeant admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I had the thoughts about a human.¡± ¡°Anishka,¡± he declared. ¡°Well, yes. But though we are¡­ friends¡­ I don¡¯t know why I would think something impossible. We are not even the same thing. Obviously we are not sisters.¡± ¡°For someone who has been around humans for centuries, you sure are bad at understanding them.¡± The Sergeant¡¯s limbs flailed rapidly. ¡°What do you mean?¡± she demanded. ¡°It is the natural thing for humans to think when they are close, that people are family. You must remember that humans can become family, not just be born into it. Through marriage among other things.¡± The Sergeant fiddled around with her antennae for a bit. ¡°I forgot you have a unique perspective on such things.¡± They were still for some time, then her curiosity forced her to continue the conversation. ¡°So how did you grow wings?¡± ¡°My wings grew in naturally,¡± he explained. ¡°I simply did not lose them until my mission. Then, I grew them back as I recovered.¡± He turned to show her the still-melted parts of his carapace. ¡°As you can see, not everything did so well.¡± ¡°... And how did you get so big? I am more than twice your age.¡± ¡°I think you should know this well enough by now,¡± the Son of the Queen replied. ¡°Void ants are responsible in part for our own development. You would only be slightly smaller to begin with. Perhaps you never found a reason to become large.¡± ¡°It helps with opening doors,¡± she commented. ¡°While I understand that they can be annoying¡­ that is still quite situational. For our current mission, we shouldn¡¯t need to be concerned with that very often. Especially since we will have proper equipment.¡± ¡°It¡¯s strange,¡± the Sergeant commented, thinking about the devices that had been made for them. ¡°To feel something that is not one of us, but has no hint of natural energy.¡± ¡°Well, in some ways they are us. The outer surfaces are void ant chitin, after all.¡± That was the best way to keep anything from detecting oddities of floating little devices. The fact that they would otherwise function on technology was critical as well, so there would be no fluctuations of natural energy for their enemies to pick up on. Apparently, they were quite skilled with formations. ----- The mission given to the Sergeant and the Son of the Queen was one of critical importance. The Great Queen might have done it herself, but her infiltration ability was somewhat hampered by her size. She could not squeeze through tiny cracks or open miniscule holes in barriers. She could likely open any barrier and rend open walls in her way, but that was much more obvious. Thus, the mission had been assigned to the two of them, as experienced individuals who were good at ¡®independent operation¡¯. In short, they didn¡¯t really fit into the normal structure of void ant society, but had been successful in the past. They were also being shipped with some subordinates. A sufficient complement for them to work with, though the devices they had were extremely limited. They had to be custom made to specific dimensions and at a very small scale, with precision difficult for even void ants to achieve by hand. Human ¡®technology¡¯ worked with very small distances, but this had to be capable of its task while still being tiny. The task was, in this case, scanning documents or recording verbal exchanges. They were to infiltrate Turilia to learn of the Numerological Compact¡¯s plans, or more about their knowledge or¡­ pretty much anything useful. There was no clear duration for their infiltration, they simply had to do whatever it took to provide an advantage for their allies. That meant finding good information- including understanding that it was valuable- and transmitting it to them. That was the final function of their devices, since it turned out carrying documents off-planet was extremely difficult. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ----- Lower Realms Alliance scout ships rushed past Turilia, keeping enough distance that they were safe but taking advantage of their speed and mobility to make brief scans of the planet. That was what the enemy was meant to see, at least. The small capsule that drifted towards the planet went unnoticed, carrying the void ants to the edge of the planetary barrier. Then they chewed their way through the barrier, creating a hole not much larger than a fist- yet that still allowed room for hundreds of them. They dropped through the barrier along with the capsule, which shot off in a random direction- the sacrifice, should anyone have noticed a fluctuation of the tiniest fraction of their planet¡¯s surface area, potentially less than one quintillionth of the total. The actual loss in energy might be more relevant, as the barrier tended to maintain the energy in place, except that even then it lost a measurable portion naturally. Even so, they didn¡¯t want to risk their people and the mission, so the decoy dashed away. Then the ants dropped towards their landing site, a small spread of them holding onto each other. Since the Son of the Queen actually had wings, they were able to control their landing relatively well. They were infiltrating the place with the best formations they could find, on the assumption that the enemy would want to protect their most important information. But if they were wrong, there would still be something of value. Or they would move on to another location, as necessary. They could hitch rides on human vessels to end up elsewhere on their planet much more quickly than they could walk or otherwise traverse as ants. ----- ¡°More calculations,¡± the Sergeant complained silently. ¡°Why don¡¯t they put these things in a computer? We could download them all at once.¡± Nobody was watching to answer her, though it would have been fairly straightforward. They had something else that fulfilled the same job well enough¡­ and methods had to be stored somewhere. Of course, not everything that had calculations would be useful. The Son of the Queen was nearby, poking his head between papers that spoke of large ships. It was difficult for him to comprehend the scale, but fortunately he just needed to know the sizes of Magnitude III and Magnitude IV ships. Despite the names being technically true in terms of volume and cultivators involved, the latter were only a bit more than twice the dimensions in any particular arrangement. Though some were oddly shaped. The void ants had chewed through so many formations to reach their current position, and their enemies seemed none the wiser. If everything was going well, they would not even know void ants still existed- though there was a decent chance they would have that information. The theoretical path would travel from the Trigold Cluster¡¯s forces in the lower realms- especially what had broken down into the Free Planet Guardians and the Adamant Federation- to their forces in the upper realms, potentially to the Exalted Quadrant and then back down to the Numerological Compact. Hopefully, enough information would have been lost that there were no nasty traps for void ants. Though the group had been trained on how to deal with the most likely counters that their own humans could think up. With the Numerological Compact only being exceptional in terms of formations, it was very difficult for them to threaten void ants who were in large part resistant to the effects. Merely detecting them would be difficult, and they knew what such formations might taste like. It was just like human cultivators learning how to destroy formations, finding their weak points- they didn¡¯t necessarily have to understand how they worked to deal with them. The humans seemed oblivious. Not just to the void ants¡¯ presence, but to the very idea there might be someone infiltrating. Their guards were wholly inadequate. Though perhaps they were looking for human sized opponents. Or maybe locust sized ones, now. For all that the surface of the Numerological Compact was spic and span, their buildings shiny and precise¡­ under their floorboards and inside their walls they were just as dirty as anything else. There were a million tiny cracks to slip through, and their formations usually forgot about them. The Sergeant scanned another document. That one said something about a large scale destruction formation. That was bad, right? It wasn¡¯t clear if it was purely theoretical, but she had to keep scanning this whole group. ----- Day by day, documents were coming to the Alliance from Turilia. Given that the receiver for the scanning devices had cost as much as a modern Ascension-class battleship, they really needed to achieve something. The devices hadn¡¯t been made with the Numerological Compact in mind, but rather had been in development for a while. This was effectively a field test. The Great Queen had nothing to do with parsing the documents herself, but she was kept apprised of the results. She was concerned primarily with the continual flow, indicating her people were still active. Previously, she had to wait for retrieval to know if they even survived. And while normally she didn¡¯t care about individual void ants¡­ that had changed slightly over the centuries. Those who chose to be individuals deserved the recognition of their existence. Meanwhile, a large number of formation experts were paying attention to the technical details of the documents. To the Numerological Compact Formations were everything, required for the functionality of their ships and their cities. The same was true for the Alliance to a certain extent, but they also had technology that worked apart from formations- and they also counted on the individual abilities of cultivators. At a certain level, cultivators could outclass even the best made formations. Few of the documents revealed any current plans by the Numerological Compact. For the most part, they were from before the war even started. Valuable data for dealing with them, perhaps, but not likely to affect the war as a whole. That was until they saw information on adaptive barriers. That was the point at which they wished they had the ability to contact their infiltrators, because not only were adaptive barriers dangerous¡­ that was their own development. Well, they had mostly stolen it from the Sylanis Cluster, but the point was that the Numerological Compact was learning it. Which meant that the void ants had finally come upon current information. Hopefully, they would recognize that and continue to look for more of the same. Of particular note was the analysis of certain energy patterns. Without knowing how the enemy classified things they couldn¡¯t replicate the energy patterns to determine who was being analyzed, though they could make some assumptions from surrounding information. Devon was certainly on the radar of the Numerological Compact. Perhaps Endymion¡¯s battle with him had been at least partly for that purpose. It would be somewhat problematic if the enemy implemented widespread use of adaptive barriers, but it would also be extremely expensive. No matter how high the expertise of the Numerological Compact, implementing new details into their already overloaded formations would take significant time and resources. They could sacrifice one for the other, of course, but the integration wouldn¡¯t be instantaneous. That meant that if possible, the Alliance would want to keep up the pressure on their planets. If they could keep taking out their Confluence cultivators and their ships, their new formations wouldn¡¯t matter since there would be nobody to use them. Chapter 960 ¡°Confluence is important, right?¡± The Son of the Queen asked the Sergeant. ¡°Absolutely,¡± she replied. ¡°It¡¯s one of those big cultivation stages. If we stumble upon any such cultivators, we should take them out.¡± ¡°What if they¡¯re not enemies?¡± The Sergeant twisted her antennae in confusion. ¡°Of course they¡¯re enemies. Why do you think we¡¯re here?¡± ¡°But if they were locked up by the people here,¡± he pointed out. ¡°Then they wouldn¡¯t be our enemies, right?¡± ¡°A Confluence cultivator in chains?¡± the Sergeant asked. ¡°They would have to be the most foul of criminals or¡­¡± ¡°A decent fellow?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± the Sergeant agreed. ¡°We should go find this guy and figure it out.¡± Their group set off nearly immediately, but finding their way was somewhat more involved than it seemed. First, they had to find maps of the planet to figure out the city they needed to get to- which turned out to be a few hundred kilometers away. For human cultivators, that was literally nothing. For the void ants, only the fastest of them could make that in a reasonable time. Not knowing what they would face, they wanted all of them present. After scanning various maps, they learned that information¡­ then they had to sneak aboard a shuttle heading towards their destination. That wasn¡¯t terribly difficult, as once again the humans weren¡¯t looking for them. It was a good thing the language hadn¡¯t diverged too much so they could understand them. Getting near their intended destination and getting to it was a whole different story. Rather than finding themselves at some sort of prison or even power station, they seemed to have found themselves at a high security military facility. ¡°Careful,¡± the Sergeant radiated caution as they approached a barrier. ¡°This one is highly sensitive.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s try the vents,¡± Queenson suggested. They scuttled up the wall, hiding within grooves in its surface, but not only were the air vents also plagued with formations, the airflow nearly sucked away some of their troops. Only quick reactions allowed them to catch on, linking together. Not wanting to give up, however, they formed a bridge across the flow of air and down a side vent. They weren¡¯t quite certain where they were going, but the more problematic the formations the more likely they were heading somewhere important. After dozens of turns and dead ends they were growing tired. They took a brief moment of rest behind a pile of crumbs- but their caution taught them not to touch the food. Instead, they munched on the rather mediocre natural energy around them. Not filling, but enough to take the edge off for a moment. Their salvation came when they found someone pushing a cart towards the inner area. They stopped when someone called them for some trivial task, leaving the cart unguarded. They latched onto it from underneath, ignoring the tempting smells of food from up above. The group passed barrier after barrier, before arriving at a fancy office with some sort of important lady. A Confluence cultivator, even. Not their target, because he was a prisoner not a warden or¡­ ¡°Commander Leoid!¡± said the servant who had brought them into the secure belly of the facility. ¡°You afternoon refreshments.¡± A commander. The Sergeant started an audio recording, but there wasn¡¯t much else said. She exchanged looks with Queenson, signing, ¡°Is that name familiar?¡± ¡°I believe so. However, she seems far too weak to be the final one.¡± ¡°A relative?¡± ¡°She must be watched,¡± Queenson confirmed. ¡°I will monitor and track her movements if necessary. You take half the troops with you to find our original target.¡± ----- Thus it was that the Sergeant continued deeper into the facility, until she finally began to sense the energies of the prisoners. There were formations everywhere, quite problematic for human cultivators¡­ but very little of concern to void ants unless they happened to be nearby when a human triggered one and superheated the air in a room. The secondary effects of formations might be able to damage void ants, but direct action was generally pointless. Still though¡­ ¡°There is something odd about the construction of this place,¡± the Sergeant commented to her troops. ¡°Remain cautious.¡± Their noses led them to the man in question. The documents they had scanned did not provide much information, but they had determined the man¡¯s name was Byron. Asking him that would be difficult, of course, because he was rather unconscious and wouldn¡¯t be able to understand he was being questioned to begin with. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. He was in a very large room, shackled right in the middle. The Sergeant led their approach, avoiding any problematic sources of natural energy. The man¡¯s cultivation was different from the other Confluence cultivators they had been exposed to. Then again, all of them had been part of the Numerological Compact- this man wasn¡¯t. Determining why he was imprisoned would be difficult, but ultimately the question was when he should be freed. Doing it randomly would not cause nearly enough trouble for the Compact, unless the man could take out an entire planet alone- which didn¡¯t seem likely. The matter of timing would be left for later, and the matter of how was first priority. Chewing through the restraints would be impossible, but if they nibbled on the formations properly the flow of energy would stop. Except, the shackles themselves didn¡¯t appear to have a way to remove them- they were literally welded on. The Great Queen could likely bite through them, or a rare few others, but the Sergeant was a bit less confident in her jaw power. Perhaps if they negated the formations the man could do it alone, as it would act as unenhanced metal. Assuming they didn¡¯t get him killed. The Sergeant was looking closely at a particular marking, trying to determine which ones were the most important so they could synchronize their efforts¡­ when the cell suddenly trembled. The front where there had been a nearly solid door was fully sealed by a wall. The Sergeant panicked, wondering how they had been spotted. Would they be killed with poisonous gasses? Drowned? But then the room trembled, nearly sending the void ants tumbling as the entire thing shifted. It was moving. The Sergeant momentarily noticed they were surrounded by a large number of other similar cells¡­ and slowly she sensed the energies around them shifting. They had been snatched up into one of the enemy battleships. And not a small one. She could feel the thrumming of energy through the ship. A powerful one. However, it wasn¡¯t clear the size of the ship. She could only sense so far with the various layers blocking things. Was this a Magnitude III or Magnitude IV ship? She wasn¡¯t sure¡­ but all she could do was transmit as much information as possible as the ship began to move. Should she try to free the man now, or go towards the individual controlling the ship? When would be the best time to act? That was easy. When the enemy was in combat. Best to learn what they could before then. ----- The Son of the Queen was following the one called Commander Leoid, oblivious to his companions being abducted. Somewhere in his senses he noticed ships moving about, but the many layers of formations and abundance of different human energy sources dulled the impact of any individual feeling. It simply seemed like more of the norm for Turlilia. ¡°... and never touch the emergency release lever.¡± ¡°I am aware of how everything functions,¡± Commander Leoid commented. ¡°Just because my niece has higher cultivation than myself does not mean I haven¡¯t been around.¡± ¡°My apologies,¡± said another figure. Much weaker. ¡°It is standard protocol to repeat. Though it would mostly be a pain to reconnect everything to the system. We can¡¯t have standard disposal systems landside because of the collateral damage.¡± Something about that lever was important. Which one it was Queenson would have to figure out. However, it seemed it wouldn¡¯t be good enough on its own. Would it disconnect the prisoners from the grid? If they were still sedated, it would mean little for them. Perhaps that was something he should investigate. First, though, he had to figure out what locations the Commander had access to, so they would not lose her. One office and a control center were useful points of data, but her sleeping chambers would also be valuable. It wouldn¡¯t be until much later that his prisoner investigations began, towards where the people were held. It was there that he discovered the Sergeant was gone- her trail ending at what was now a wall, on the other side of which was open space, along with her troops. While concerning, that was something she could handle as a competent agent. There was little he could do about it now. ----- The Lower Realms Alliance pored over the odd series of transmissions from their void ant spies. Pictures of a certain individual locked up, and a familiar vessel structure. Missing context, they seemed almost accidental at first. Those tasked with interpreting the incoming information were quickly able to surmise a few things. Even though the void ants¡¯ devices didn¡¯t directly transmit their locations, the minute changes in transmission speed indicated that they were nearing the edge of the system. Or rather, one of the leaders. The other remained behind on the planet. Upon learning that, they soon got information from their scouts about movements in other systems, except for within the system containing Waral. However, they were able to determine that was the ultimate destination- with the local forces likely not to cause a commotion too early. Some care was taken to make certain that was where the enemy was headed. They couldn¡¯t send many reinforcements between their two locations on Waral and Kathariel faster than the enemy could reach them- not safely, at least. If it were simply about straight line movement, they had many ships that were fast enough even with the greater distance, but only a few could take the longer route around the enemy system. The movement was not entirely unanticipated. They expected the Numerological Compact would have to make a move soon, or they would cede all initiative to the Alliance. It might have been nice if they stayed in defensive positions where the Alliance could target more of their outlying planets, but that was apparently not to be. The most important concern they had was the Magnitude IV ships. They knew there were three of them, each with a particular cultivator who controlled them. Elders Raeburn, Endymion, and Leoid. They also seemed to be the leadership of the sect, a triumvirate instead of an individual sect head. Determining whether or not they were on the move was a matter of great concern- enough that their scouts were ordered to approach close enough to make that determination, even at the risk of their own lives. Fortunately, the enemy didn¡¯t seem to be hiding it. There were still some ships lost in their haste to confirm it, but except for Endymion¡¯s ship which was already in the system with Waral, the other two were on the move. All information indicated that was their target. Devon recalled the previous battle. He was rested, now, but while they had fortified the planet to some extent- and they could make the planetary barriers functional with the help of the hivemind- the situation still wasn¡¯t ideal. It would likely take decades for the moon to stabilize, though that was impossible when it was in the middle of a war zone. Food was already beginning to become a concern, and plans for raiding enemy supply ships were being implemented. The power of Endymion¡¯s ship had stuck with Devon. He knew it wasn¡¯t the man¡¯s own power- instead, it was that of a great many slaves. That didn¡¯t stop him from being capable of wielding it effectively, and there should be plans to deal with him. Devon had his own plans for how to react to the ship of course, but they were slightly hampered by there potentially being three of them. It wasn¡¯t a situation he could handle alone. Thankfully, he wouldn¡¯t be. Chapter 961 As Numerological Compact forces approached Waral, all of the Lower Realms Alliance forces available within the system were brought to bear, focused mainly around the moon. That included some very important reinforcements from Kathariel. They had confirmed that Elder Raeburn and Elder Joetta Leoid were heading towards the system, ready to join Elder Endymion. Compact forces had been streaming into the system for almost a day when they received a report. While two of the enemy¡¯s Magnitude IV ships had recently entered the system, the final member was not where they expected. Instead, scouts picked it up en route to Kathariel, where their forward outpost had been established. That rattled their forces somewhat, as their repositioning had seemingly been anticipated¡­ but it was too late to change the Alliance¡¯s stratagem. They had to make the best of the positioning they had, and hope that Kathariel could hold its own. It was likely that their battles would resolve before enemies arrived in Kathariel, but not with enough time for them to circumvent enemy systems and catch up to Endymion, who they previously believed had remained in the system. ----- Rather than simply wait for the enemy to approach Waral, the Alliance fleet moved to try to intercept one wing of the enemy fleet. If they were unable to defeat even one portion, than fighting both at once was pointless. Either the rest would focus on that battle or they would ignore it and have to spend time approaching Waral, which wasn¡¯t as defenseless as they looked. Hopefully, they would be able to rout the first branch. Of course, they weren¡¯t solely relying on hope. They had strength as well. They had planned to face three Magnitude IV ships, so dealing with two and their accompanying ships was rather more reasonable. Attacks were exchanged as the fleets approached each other, and Devon didn¡¯t hesitate to go straight for the strongest ship. The captain should be Elder Raeburn, one of the triumvirate leading the Numerological Compact. The force of Devon¡¯s impact was not gentle. He couldn¡¯t afford to think about collateral damage, so his intention was to tear through the hull and any ship segments in his path all in one go. Quite like Ty, except perhaps less elegant. The fellow was currently throwing his ship at some of the Magnitude II ships, with decent success. Devon, meanwhile, felt like he had just struck a mountain. No, he¡¯d done that before, and with greater success. His energy rebounded, sending him tumbling away from the vessel. He formed a shell of protection around himself just in time to block the incoming attacks. He grimaced. So their energy adaptations were complete. Given the timeframe, it had been hoped that they had hastily cobbled together the formations, but apparently they worked at maximum capacity. It did seem to be focused on Devon specifically- or perhaps it was merely limited to the Magnitude IV ships. Either way, the rest of the fleet was having some success. However, Devon couldn¡¯t hold off the vessel if he wasn¡¯t a meaningful threat. Devon had wanted to test the changes, and now he knew. He might be able to break through with finesse, but a direct assault was no good. Still, he didn¡¯t have to do everything himself. That was what reinforcements were for. And they should be ready soon. Or rather, he should be ready soon. A pulse of warmth lit in Devon¡¯s chest as a change spread throughout the system. It was something that could be picked up by most sensors, but they might not immediately understand it. Devon charged forward once more, but before he could impact the barrier a flaming arrow pierced a hole just large enough for him to fit through head first. Anton had come to help defend Waral, which made the situation in Kathariel all the more tenuous, but that was why they had to win here all the more. He followed the arrow through the superstructure of the ship, several more passing by and keeping the pathway open. The distance he had to cover was almost nothing, and further arrows slipped through the one hole in the barrier, destroying weapon emplacements. It was almost as if his grandfather was right next to him, instead of millions of miles away behind the local star. Or perhaps he was inside it now? He sometimes did that, once stars were bound. A few moments later, Devon saw the face of Elder Raeburn. Shaken, but still confident. He might have said something, but he didn¡¯t want to give any time to react. His chains reached out and¡­ something clamped onto them. They began to pull, drawing out Devon¡¯s energy- trying to tear him apart. Then his own chains shattered, arrows slicing through them and cutting the flow of energy for an instant, long enough for Devon to retain internal control. He could still see the additional formations added into the command center, feeling them pulling on him. But Anton could sense them as well, not part of the greater formations managing the ship. It made sense, of course. Even with the genius the Numerological Complex had displayed in the field of formations, adding something powerful enough to restrain an Enrichment cultivator on top of their already existing formations would be impossible in such a short time. Even so, they were independently functional. The important difference was that Anton¡¯s arrows could destroy the additional formations with reckless abandon, reducing the strain on Devon by half by the time Raeburn¡¯s face fell and he seemed to realize he should be killing Devon. Devon dove forward towards the man, chains coiling around his own limbs as he reached out. In terms of personal power, he should never have struggled with this opponent. Even so, he¡¯d almost underestimated them. But if they could take on Anton and himself simultaneously? Well, then it really didn¡¯t matter what plans they made. The man was soon wrapped like a mummy, chains layering on top of each other leaving little room for even air to pass. Now that they had an opportunity, Devon couldn¡¯t justify letting the ship be destroyed- it was just as quick to restrain the man as it was to kill him. There was one issue, though. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can focus on anything else,¡± Devon said, contacting the fleet. ¡°I can try to suppress the ship¡¯s systems long enough to fully disconnect him but the detonation systems might activate.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± The single sound came in the form of Ashildr¡¯s voice. ¡°There are far too many cultivators tied to that ship. It could not only kill you but wipe out half our fleet. I¡¯ll make my way there directly.¡± ¡°What about the other fleet¡­?¡± Devon asked. ¡°I¡¯ll help slow them,¡± Anton said. ¡°Besides, the locals seem quite fired up. It would be a shame to not let them try.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ----- Despite his low cultivation, Ammar was in control of a retrofitted ship. Then again, it was one of the smallest kinds, so it didn¡¯t really need a Confluence cultivator controlling it. Finding fifty individuals whose combined energies he could channel properly would have been a monumental task in other circumstances, but finding affinity was almost trivial. He could feel the others. He had first been chosen as a Voice, now he was a Blade. Not a leader, exactly, but someone acknowledged to have sufficient will. Though those who were entrusting their lives to him- even if it was just fifty of his brethren- were hardly spineless. There were far more of them in the surrounding ships. Sadly, they only had smaller vessels, so they couldn¡¯t fight the approaching enemies head-on. Flashes of light highlighted ships in the approaching fleet. Ammar could feel the power being wielded by the archer. Saying it was greater than Devon¡¯s was not quite right, but it was certainly more focused. Critical components of ships began to fall apart, especially those connected to movement formations. That caused one wing of the second fleet to lag behind, while another surged forward. Those most hasty ships were the target of their little squad. The Magnitude IV ship was far behind them, but even so there was never an intention to engage them. Just delay them for a few moments, if they could. Attacks came from the enemy fleet, but the combined perceptions of two thousand cultivators gave them enough perspective to redirect themselves between all of the dozens of beams. They continued onward, flying just around the enemy vessels, launching no attacks of their own. Until, that was, they reached the halfway mark. Then a web of natural energy spread between them, forming a net of chains. It¡­ barely stood for a few moments. The enemy ships tore through it, and the shock echoed through the local branch of the hivemind. The intention was to capture and disable the vessels, freeing more people. Even if they didn¡¯t become part of the hivemind, they were still compatriots formerly enslaved by the same foes. Sadly, the technique wasn¡¯t enough. Rather than being discouraged, however, each of them were filled with determination. Someday, even if not individually, they would match Devon. They continued to avoid the larger ships, their defenses sufficient to resist glancing blows as fifty cultivators combined their energy to protect each ship, even as they were assaulted by ten times as many foes. One plan failed, but they were able to face their foes. Arrows pierced towards the greatest enemy ship, breaking through its barrier. Meanwhile, artillery from the surface of Waral had finally fixed their focus on the greatest foe. Together, they made the ship tremble and their voices were finally heard. Should the individual known as Elder Joetta persist in her assault, their millions would overpower her tens of thousands, despite any perceived ¡®inefficiencies¡¯. ----- When alarms started blaring and the ship began to tremble, the Sergeant knew it was time to act. It helped that she felt a familiar energy and did not want to be on the ship if Anton destroyed it. They couldn¡¯t make themselves known except by doing their best. ¡°Now!¡± she declared with a burst of pheromones and a sound only void ants would easily pick up on. Each of them bit into their designated positions, tearing it apart. And the segment didn¡¯t immediately explode, which was a nice bonus. Most likely an explosion of natural energy would be more inconvenient for them than directly deadly, but they wouldn¡¯t last long in the vacuum of space either. Well, the Sergeant might, but she didn¡¯t want to be the only one. ¡°Good job!¡± she declared when everyone finished. ¡°I¡¯ll wake him up.¡± She scurried over, pinching the unconscious man with her jaws. The chances of him immediately trying to kill her approached ninety percent. The man- apparently known as Byron- woke, yanking at his chains. The Sergeant was pulled backwards by a line of void ants holding onto her rear legs and all retracting at once. As the man became aware of his surroundings, the Sergeant led her soldiers to form a very special shape. Hopefully, it would be understood by the cultivator. A trickle of natural energy, like a light rain. Then a surge, a flash flood filling a dry canyon. The man¡¯s shackles snapped, their ruined formations making them little more than expensive metal scrap. ¡°An arrow¡­?¡± the man commented. Oh good, he was paying attention. The Sergeant leaned, guiding her fellow to point towards where the door had once been. That might lead out into space, but it would be revelatory for the man. He stepped forward, laying his palm on the wall. Oh right, cultivators could see things without eyes. Well, even void ants could sense energy beyond things, but he would get more. ¡°Empty space¡­ not even air.¡± He looked towards the void ants. ¡°I have literally no idea who or what you are. Besides ants of some sort, I think? Can you understand me?¡± The Sergeant made the group ¡®nod¡¯. Spelling letters was too intensive, and only worked if they had specific plans ahead of time. ¡°Great. Well, if you¡¯re here to help me for some reason¡­ I¡¯d very much like to get away from that woman I sense,¡± he gestured towards the center of the ship. Vigorous nodding from the void ants- that was the plan, after all. ¡°I¡¯m going to break off this segment of the ship, but the formations¡­ I don¡¯t quite get how they work, but I can feel the danger. Can you deal with those?¡± Further nodding. ¡°Alright, I need to actually know that you¡¯re nodding. If you can understand me, can you¡­ form a sphere or something?¡± It only took a slight prompting for the Sergeant to get the group to take such a basic formation, with ants locking legs in a three dimensional mesh. Then they returned to a position where the Sergeant could see. ¡°And that nodding meant yes. I¡¯ll have to trust that. If you can sever the formation connection along this branch, I can snap the whole thing off. It¡¯s likely to be catastrophically dangerous, but at least I can stay protected from outside¡­ with those several hundred fellows in the compartments up that way,¡± he gestured. The Sergeant discovered a slight issue. Conveying it to the cultivator was more difficult. Now that the former cell was part of a ship, it was airtight. It should be, but that meant getting to some of the external formation markings would be more difficult. They didn¡¯t have much time, so the Sergeant had to improvise by having the group slam into the wall at a particular point. ¡°Ah. You can¡¯t get out. But then air will escape.¡± He frowned. ¡°That would also pull you out. I could plug the hole with my energy?¡± The Sergeant almost liked that idea. But she had to have the group shake no. They would just disrupt it. No, instead they would form a mesh. If she had time to explain, she would have asked him to make a bubble over them. But explosions of energy from outside meant they probably only had a few minutes at best. Less, if Anton just decided to take out the ship. He could probably do it, though humans were picky about things like losing fifty thousand individuals all at once. Even if that was far fewer than a single planet lost daily from various ailments and time itself. Chapter 962 Being exposed to the vacuum of space was not pleasant for the Sergeant, but she was the one best suited for chewing through some troublesome formation markings connecting the structure of one capsule to another. Fortunately, they did not have to deal with decompression issues as much as they might have. Byron was a clever individual, and seeing that the void ants needed a path out created a single hole the size of a finger. Void ants remaining nearby were still yanked towards the hole, but it was only for a moment. A shield of natural energy curved over them, sealing off the air- but leaving them outside. The entangled void ants only had to hold on for the initial burst, then they were able to scurry along the structure. Exoskeletons weren¡¯t enough to make vacuum completely safe, but they could manage for a few moments. Jaws snapped down on precious materials, tearing into energy where the materials themselves could not be directly assaulted. The Sergeant had to chew through several layers of metal, shaving it away as she burrowed inside to deeper formation markings. Other smaller ants followed after her, until the formations completely faltered. Surges of natural energy had tried to connect to capsules beyond the one in which Byron was imprisoned, but those had been gobbled up by the void ants. Whatever destruction they were meant to cause didn¡¯t make it past their vigilant guard. Then their task was complete, their bodies straining as air tried to pull itself from their bodies. The Sergeant had to drag a pile of her companions along with her when they could no longer move, but soon they were crammed into the hole in the ship¡­ and Byron created another barrier of energy behind them before removing the one in front. A simple solution to the problem of disruption, and one that could have been meticulously planned if they had the time. But instead they were rather rushed. They were just pulling themselves inside, the Sergeant preparing to ask what would happen next, when Byron¡¯s fist slammed against the wall behind them. The sound of metal groaning and snapping rattled through the structure as their connection to the rest of the ship was broken. Another shove of his energy, and they were rushing away from the ship that contained Elder Joetta, along with the modular pieces further out. They had been held on by further structure, but that was torn away with Byron¡¯s force. They went not a moment too soon, as the surrounding units were detonated. They would have been crushed had they still been between them, but instead they were shoved further away from the ship. They didn¡¯t have any self-mobility, however, and several weapons from the large ship were trained on them. ¡°Sorry about this,¡± Byron said- apologizing not to the void ants, but to the other cultivators. He leaped across the room, and energy suddenly pulled towards him- without him even touching any of the adjoining formations. That energy was redirected into a barrier covering their wayward vessel¡­ but it couldn¡¯t stand up to the incoming attacks. Beams of energy tore completely through the cell that had once held Byron, coming out the other side. A burst of air left the chamber, but the void ants were already holding on for dear life- and with so much flow in opposite directions, they hardly stirred from their perch. Another round of attacks seemed poised to come from the Magnitude IV ship, but several events happened simultaneously. Just as Joetta had discovered their escape plan, so too had their other allies outside the ship taken notice. One of those redirected a swarm of Spirit Arrows to all of the weapon emplacements most directly suited to attacking them. That would be Anton, of course. A reliable figure, clearly friends with the Great Queen for good reason. The other respondents were a small squad of ships. They nearly collided with the section of ship torn away from the Magnitude IV beast, but their energy was not intended to be destructive. Instead, they created chains that crossed each other, dragging along their group. A moment later, humans were communicating- through natural energy, which meant that it was like listening through soup. It was meant to directly cause vibrations with natural energy for people to hear as sound, but since void ants disrupted the flow next to them it came out¡­ less consistent. ¡°... are¡­?¡± Byron raised some sort of question to those around them. ¡°Not¡­ with that,¡± other cultivators replied. Byron looked to the Sergeant for answers, but she had none. She had not met any of the individuals in question. It seemed that Byron was not too worried about anyone who would be bringing him further away from danger at the moment, however. Meanwhile, the rest of the battle still continued around them. ----- ¡°Perfect,¡± Devon said as Ashildr disconnected Elder Raeburn from the ship. Restricting the man completely was much easier once that task was accomplished. He was at most a slightly stronger Confluence cultivator, but his personal power was nothing like a strong Assimilation individual. Maybe it could be, but they simply hadn¡¯t seen all of the examples. ¡°... What¡¯s happening over there?¡± Devon said, his senses drifting towards the other fleet. ¡°Chaos,¡± Ashildr said. ¡°It appears Ty Quigley has chosen new targets. I was just as focused as you on this situation, however, so I don¡¯t know more.¡± ¡°It appears some of my disciples are in trouble,¡± Devon said. He grabbed Raeburn into a headlock. ¡°You¡¯re coming with me as a human shield.¡± Frankly, he would barely prevent anything even if he wanted to, but it was easier for Devon to keep the man¡¯s energy sealed if he was nearby. And it would be easy enough to kill him if there was any risk of him getting free instead. With Raeburn¡¯s ship inactive, the first fleet that they had encountered was floundering- many of its members were fleeing, but the retreat was far from orderly. That gave some leeway to deal with the other situation. If all went well, they might take out two of the top three enemies all at once. With Anton around, Devon was feeling confident. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. A small squad of local ships, piloted by Ammar and some other disciples in the hivemind, were dragging along a battered segment of Joetta¡¯s ship¡­ containing a Confluence cultivator, for some reason. That was something Devon would figure out later. First, he charged forward, surrounding his disciples with a barrier of chains. They were doing an excellent job with avoiding most of the incoming fire, but several of them were floundering, their energies nearly depleted and their ships damaged- merely being dragged along by their brethren. Some were dead, and while Devon hadn¡¯t known them for long they were still his disciples. If only he could directly enact vengeance without killing innocents. Ty¡¯s insane antics still seemed to work, however. He tore through enemy ships, precisely cutting apart their formations and killing the captain. It looked like there was even a cored-out Magnitude III ship in the mix. With Devon and Anton both focused on the second fleet suddenly- plus the planetary artillery from below- their assault suddenly shifted. Maybe it had to do something with the way Devon was dragging one of their leaders around with him like a sack of potatoes, or the damage Anton was doing to their ships, or any number of other things, but they were soon accelerating around Waral rather than towards it. Devon started to dive towards the Magnitude IV ship, but Anton¡¯s voice stopped him, transmitted across a third of the system. ¡°Let her go for now. Focus on the other ships. I need to conserve my energy.¡± His tireless grandfather talking about conserving energy? Well, he had been firing a constant barrage of arrows powerful enough to pierce through the barriers of a Magnitude IV ship. And Devon was reminded that their problems weren¡¯t just local. He nodded. ¡°Got it.¡± On his own, Magnitude III ships took some work to break through. Following Anton¡¯s guidance, however, he broke through one after another sequentially. Three of them, in fact, before he reached the limits of what he could contain at once. By that point, the enemy fleet had continued to accelerate away, no longer able to return to an approach vector on Waral. The first fleet had scattered as well, and they had many gutted ships to bring to safe harbor. There had also been many ships completely destroyed on both sides. Several of their Ascension-class battleships needed repairs that likely couldn¡¯t be done locally. Once again, the Numerological Compact had lost only a small number of individuals¡­ but all of them were Confluence cultivators. Most likely, they were greatly eating into their numbers- and their available ships as well. Even taking down just one of their elders and a single Magnitude IV ship was also worthwhile. Plus, they had the strange individual protected by his disciples. There were clear holes in it- and Devon noticed some clumped up void ants barely holding on, their presence only notable through the deficit of energy around them. It seemed that whole thing would need help getting lowered into atmosphere. Meanwhile, Anton could do whatever it was he needed to do. ----- Through the local star of Kathariel, Anton could feel an enemy fleet approaching- though only because of the power they had. They were still a good half a day outside of the system. Unfortunately, they wouldn¡¯t be passing particularly close to the star itself. He hadn¡¯t revealed that particular detail yet, though their spies might have learned it. Either way, he wasn¡¯t exactly in a good position to involve himself in the battle. But what was the point of all of his training if he didn¡¯t try to make any practical use of it? Anton knew his own limits. Even if he was willing to destroy a ship with tens of thousands of innocents aboard, he couldn¡¯t attack several systems away and still have the power required. But maybe they didn¡¯t need to know that. Taking in information from his senses, Anton set up initial trajectories for three shots. That was all he felt he could manage. The string of his bow vibrated beneath his fingers as he gathered energy. Taking into account the gravitational pull of the nearby systems, he fired his shots. Each of them tore through subspace, going far beyond the speed any ship could travel. That speed was improved even more by Anton¡¯s growth making pathways for himself. A simple arrow of energy could handle a lot more than the body of a cultivator, even guided by natural energy. Such a distance was utterly impractical if the battle had already been raging, but there was still sufficient time. Each arrow arrived, striking its target precisely. Operators of Magnitude II Vessels, specifically. They transformed as they arrived, two of them widening inside the barrier. One cut off the right arm of a particular individual. The other the left leg. The third took an arrow straight through his stomach. While the third of the group seemed to have suffered the least harm, the threat should be apparent enough. He could hit precisely where he chose to, and there was little difference between a hole in the stomach and a hole in the heart. Certainly, at their levels cultivators could not hope for ribs to be a significant factor in protecting them after something got through their natural energy defenses- and their ship¡¯s barriers, more importantly. After his attacks landed, Anton stretched his energy, not from his body but from Kathariel¡¯s distant star. He reached a narrow line of it outside the system, enough to reach the fleet and spread to cover it. ¡°This is your single warning. You have three hours to turn back, or all of you will lose more than unnecessary extremities.¡± It was true, if not exactly in the way Anton said it. Most likely, he couldn¡¯t do more than kill some of their weaker members- and that was only possible because he was shooting between two bound systems. But it was true that if they continued the attack he would hunt them down and fulfill that promise. Anton released his breath after his arrows arrived. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t fire consecutively as it took his full concentration for the entire duration of the flight. He considered returning to the system himself, but with less than half a day remaining he could only make it a quarter of the way at best. That was still a significant distance covered, and far better than he could have done previously. At one point it would have taken him two weeks. That had slowly improved to six days, and now it would be closer to two. He hoped his intimidation would work¡­ but rather than simply hoping, he needed to act. Even if his intimidation was successful- making Endymion think he was still in Kathariel, and more powerful than anticipated- once they communicated with Waral they would know he actually wasn¡¯t there. If they hesitated long enough Anton had a good chance of getting there in time. And if he needed a boost to start things off, there was a powerful flow of devotion from Waral. They had clearly felt his power during the battle. It wasn¡¯t as much as was directed at Devon, of course, but the focus of the hivemind was interesting. It was worth several times as much per individual than the rest, even that which was local. Devotion wasn¡¯t generally much good for direct usage, and was generally used for long term cultivation, but there were some things that had made Anton doubt that that was necessarily the only way of things. Even Vincent¡¯s Assimilation took the core of his power from connections. Anton focused between his two stars, squeezing a pathway through subspace as he sped on his way. Devon and the others could handle the rest, even if the enemy fleet returned. He was confident in that. And while he knew he couldn¡¯t protect everyone, he wanted to do what he could- and he couldn¡¯t help but worry he¡¯d been drawn away on purpose. Chapter 963 While Anton was rushing back towards Kathariel after the battle around Waral, small workers were making great progress on Turlilia. The Son of the Queen might have liked to instantly press a do-not-pull lever that had been found, but he was more responsible than that. He wasn¡¯t concerned about negative consequences, or the loss of his own life and that of his troops. If anything of that sort could happen, the damage to the Numerological Compact would be far greater. So the only reason for hesitation was to determine that it would cause the maximum amount of damage that they could expect to do. Learning information about the prison facility they were in was difficult but valuable. They continued to learn what they could, ultimately discovering other locations they could get to. It was unfortunate that the Sergeant was gone, but wherever she ended up she was no doubt admirably performing her duties if she had not already made a noble sacrifice. Still, there were others under the Son of the Queen that he could trust to take over subsections of his command. It was looking like that would be necessary, as they had found word of other containment facilities. And that wasn¡¯t counting the ¡®power grid¡¯. Unfortunately, there didn¡¯t seem to be a way to shut the whole thing down, especially not with the power of just some void ants. Maybe if they had a proper colony of them, but just a few hundred could only do so much. Uncertain if the Sergeant had been detected, the Son of the Queen gave himself and the others a time limit. They split apart, finding their way onto various transports headed to different parts of the planet where their information indicated there were facilities. From there, they could only hope to catch rides on humans until they actually arrived at their destinations. Both speed and navigation were issues that they would have to solve. The time limit was fast approaching. If he survived beyond this current mission, the Son of the Queen would recommend some sort of time synchronization devices. Those might need to be separate, but if they had a few dozen of them carried by other members they could split up and act with greater coordination. Now, the plan was to act after so many days, or immediately if it seemed they were compromised. The Son of the Queen and his fifty or so companions around him had infiltrated another facility, and were ready to act when the time came. They had a lever in sight, though they would also need an authorization token. With people scattered around the globe, they couldn¡¯t act at noon or any particular time and instead had to go with their gut, Such imprecision rankled, but that was what would have to be done. Acting in concert would give the enemy no opportunity to prevent countermeasures. ¡°The time has come,¡± the Son of the Queen signed, signalling with his pheromones as well. He stepped forward, leading the march towards a particular cultivator that had what they needed. They climbed their opponent, positioning themselves as necessary to take her out all at once. When she fell- to the clear alarm of others present in the room- the void ants snatched her token. There were several moments where the cultivators didn¡¯t react, but soon enough beams of focused energy and blasts of lightning were directed at them. The Son of the Queen leapt towards the attacks, chomping into the most dangerous before they could reach the more vulnerable members of the troop. Though the larger danger was the floor becoming superheated. Void ants tumbled the coin-shaped token, maneuvering around sudden pits in the floor while protecting the token itself from assault. The Son of the Queen flapped his regrown wings with great vigor, launching himself at cultivators and tearing at their energy. He sharpened it into blades as it pulled it from their throats, or yanked it out of their dantians like spears. In truth, the Son of the Queen barely understood what he was doing or how. Only that he could grab their energy, and finding their bodies quite vulnerable. The token reached the device, and the void ants worked together to push it¡­ then found it locked in place. Another layer of security? But they had observed it previously, and there was nothing that should have held it in place. Perhaps they simply weren¡¯t strong enough, even with their combined might. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. Queenson felt the flow of energy within the device. He was no formation expert, but he could tell it was asking for something. Not just the token¡¯s presence, but another sort of energy. His wings brought him back to the first woman. Her body lay dying, her energy dissipating, but he grabbed onto it, yanking a stream of energy out of her and towards the device. Fortunately, it didn¡¯t seem to require complex manipulation- the lever snapped forward. There had been a few alarms already, but at that moment even more of them triggered. And the intended result had not happened- the flow of energy to the cells was clearly in place still. ¡°Someone stop those things before the release is completed!¡± yelled one of the cultivators, tossing a fireball towards the void ants clustered together. How helpful. So there was a timer of some sort. They would need to keep the control panel intact until that time. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Queenson flew through the fireball, all of the natural energy he was consuming being used to bolster his flight, draining almost as quickly as he could take it in. He ate the natural energy within the fire- making it nothing at all. It was just a representation of fire to begin with. Even so, it could destroy the devices. The last of the cultivators in the room fell with jaws at his throat, bleeding from the inside and the outside. But there were more coming. Then a flood of energy filled the room, brought about by some aspect of formations. All of the bodies began to burn away, and the Son of the Queen saw something actually happening to the younger void ants. He rushed back to his troops, tearing at the streams of energy with reckless abandon. Every time he got rid of one it was replaced by another, but he continued to rip apart the strings of energy over and over again. Some of his more powerful subordinates were able to protect the rest. And then¡­ everything stopped. The flow of energy stopped when the human bodies in the room were nothing more than dust. The sounds of alarm ceased. But that was only for a moment, as shouting could be heard outside the room. Both from the group that had gathered outside the control room they were in, and others. New sources of energy- or rather ones that were previously muted. Queenson looked down at the soldiers. Losses were minimal. Those who had died in the line of duty would be remembered. ¡°We need to join the battle. We will prioritize Compact cultivators of the highest cultivation.¡± At his size, he could actually lift all of the remaining void ants. That was easy. Flying with them was not nearly so simple, but the surging energy flowing through him was once more focused on his wings. The Great Queen¡¯s flight was so much more fantastic, manipulating the flow of energy in the world. Still, his was good enough to drag his group to the door. Slipping through cracks to get out of the room was easy enough- there was a barrier they had to chew through, but nobody was focusing on it so it was just a quick snack. And then their targets were in sight. Even a Confluence cultivator- perhaps not a strong one, but the one that had activated the formations that tried to kill them. Had killed a few of them, though it would have been much worse for anything but void ants. The man died before he truly knew what hit him. The Numerological Compact was clearly not prepared for void ants, not here. And to avoid them being prepared in the future, all of the witnesses had to die. It was unclear why the various prisoners had been locked up by them, but it was unlikely any of them could be worse than Compact members. Forcing people to do things against their will was simply unreasonable. Void ants all chose to act in concert, so such a concept was foreign to them. Even so, they understood humans well enough to know it was unreasonable. The Compact cultivators called for those who had been freed to ¡®stand down¡¯ and ¡®stay in their cells and they wouldn¡¯t be harmed¡¯. None of them obeyed. Many died, but Queenson understood that humans would generally prefer that fate to enslavement where they had no control over their bodies or energy. Having a chance to fight was the best that they could be given. A few smarter cultivators tried to squash the Son of the Queen and the others, when they realized their energy attacks were ineffective. More died, though Queenson darted around slashing blades with ease. He had already been stronger than those he led, and he felt as if he had further developed recently. Each attack still contained danger, but just as many of their allies lived through dozens or hundreds of potentially deadly battles, so too could he. Hopefully the other locations were doing as well- or at least had accomplished their primary objective. No, they would. He believed in them. ----- For all of the flaws he had as the head of an entire slavery-centered sect, it did not appear to Anton that Elder Endymion was possessed of cowardice. That was expected, if somewhat unfortunate. Perhaps some caution or at least respect for his fellows would have been appropriate. Despite Anton¡¯s threat, he did not turn about¡­ which left Anton in a troublesome situation. Attacking from within his condensed space between his stars might be possible, but he would stop his forward progress. At best, he could make a few attacks that would take far too long to reach the enemy fleet. Kathariel wasn¡¯t entirely helpless, but it wasn¡¯t prepared for an attack of the size of the incoming fleet. When the time limit Anton had given was up and the enemy fleet was still incoming, he had no choice but to act where he could. Rather than shooting from his current location, he would direct the power of the local star. The attacks would be more consistent, if somewhat weaker than when they originated from him- and with a proper bow. One shot at a time, he started targeting the smallest ships. Even the current fleet still carried only Magnitude II ships and above, hopefully because they had limited numbers of Confluence cultivators. There were clearly still a large number, but if they were limited to just a few hundred like the Alliance believed then the overall situation of the war was going to tip precipitously towards them. Which might be why the Elder felt unable to hesitate. Anton didn¡¯t want to kill the pilots and thus everyone aboard their ships- but he realized that he¡¯d been missing a part of human nature. These were not fanatics promised second lives like the Twin Soul Sect. They still wanted to live. Thus, Anton amped up his earlier tactics, shooting through barriers to target limbs and organs and anything that would stop short of death. He preferred to avoid unnecessary crippling of enemies- it was so much more kind to just kill them. But here, he had to get his point across. One after another, he nearly killed the enemy. They were left weaker than before, and more importantly they had to focus on keeping their wounds from killing themselves. That slowed down the progress of the fleet- though they were already within the boundaries of the system, so it would only delay them by a small amount. An hour, if he was lucky. The local fleets of Kathariel were aware of the incoming threat, and they were prepared for the enemy to arrive. Hopefully, they would be strong enough to drive them off. They had to be. But either way, Anton was already planning his very unmerciful end for Endymion. Nothing too cruel¡­ but he would be given enough time to regret his decisions. It was unfortunate Anton couldn¡¯t do it immediately, but it was now inevitable. Chapter 964 When the Numerological Compact fleets reached Kathariel, they had already been softened up by Anton. Unfortunately, that mostly referred to the smaller ships in their fleet, with the Magnitude III ships and of course Endymion¡¯s ship being so far unscathed. Anticipating the attack on Waral, many of the local forces had been redirected there. However, that didn¡¯t mean they left the area defenseless. It was simply that the biggest loss of local power was no longer having Anton¡¯s presence- the Alliance didn¡¯t have so many Enrichment cultivators they could just position them wherever they pleased. It was already a sign of how serious they were that both Devon and Anton were present. Lev was less mobile, or he might have been involved. Arguably, Paradise counted among their numbers as well. However, his position was very clear. He had been a guardian of the seas of Ceretos, and he had simply expanded his territory to several stars. It was unclear if he would even retain his power fifty lightyears or more distant. The local forces had several Ascension-class battleships among their fleet, though they were smaller ones on the scale of the Valor. Along with various Assimilation cultivators, they also had Nthanda present. Though her path of cultivation was entirely different, she was usually included among them. ¡°... We¡¯re not particularly the best here, are we?¡± Nthanda spoke to her surroundings in general. She got a response from Anton, whose energy was spread from the local star- significantly weaker than his person, however. ¡°We might not be. On the other hand, I think you will be able to cause them some significant consternation. You might be able to damage Endymion¡¯s ship.¡± ¡°Sounds tough,¡± she admitted. ¡°The next size down I¡¯m confident about, though.¡± ¡°That could be worthwhile as well. As you must have noticed¡­ I left everyone alive.¡± ¡°I assume the plan should result in more of us surviving here,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°We just need to get them to flee. And once people start¡­ well, having people fearing for their lives will help. They would likely have fled already, if not for Endymion.¡± Even as he spoke, Anton targeted some of the smaller ships. The enemy was less than a minute away from making contact with the local fleets, but that time was still valuable for causing damage to smaller ships- or their Confluence cultivators. ¡°I¡¯ll go for one of the medium ones, then,¡± Nthanda agreed. She began to shoot arrows of her own from her position in high orbit. Each shot imparted significant momentum pushing her ¡®back¡¯, so she had to be intentional about her positioning. Unlike a pure energy based cultivator, controlling her own position in space was a more complicated issue. She could, but it was unnecessarily draining. Even though she was among the closest targets, her personal energy didn¡¯t make her seem like a threat. She was happy to take advantage of that while striking at her targets. Her heavy arrows flew forward, puncturing barriers and wrecking the body of the ship. She did her best to not pierce through any of the segments carrying slaves- and when she had to, she avoided hitting any of the individuals. Unsurprisingly, Anton knew what he was talking about. The enemy barriers were relatively strong, but they could only withstand so much force. Nthanda was able to consistently batter through them, striking towards the Confluence cultivators. She agreed with the Alliance policy that avoiding killing them if possible was best- but in the current situation practicality won out. Someone would probably have to die to spark the fear in their enemies. As she continued to assault the larger ships, they soon realized that she was more of a threat than she seemed. Beams of energy aimed towards her, and she took advantage of the kickback of her weapon to help avoid them, choosing her targets based on location in the now overlapping battle. With no single powerful individual to draw fire from Endymion, he was able to rapidly take out some of their smaller to mid-sized ships- while fully occupying the efforts of several Assimilation cultivators. Losses were expected, but they were increasing at a rate the Alliance could not sustain. An unexpected energy appeared, rushing away from the planet. Nthanda recognized Nindaanis, freed from her confinement. She took aim and- ¡°Let her go,¡± Anton¡¯s voice echoed in her ear. -pierced through a nearby Magnitude II ship. Her arrow went all the way through, including damaging the far side of the barrier. Along the way, it took out the Confluence cultivator¡¯s lung. Normally, she would have used some of her sparing natural energy to detonate inside her opponent¡¯s body to kill them instantly. Instead, letting them live- while greatly distracted by life-threatening injuries- was part of the plan. It had better work, or they were maintaining danger for nothing. Nthanda still kept track of Nindaanis, crashing into the barrier of a Numerological Compact ship. After a few moments, it relaxed to let her through. What was the purpose¡­? A beam of energy from Endymion¡¯s ship caught Nthanda in the shoulder. Even condensed to a tight spear, it was the whole shoulder¡­ but while it burned, it was not enough to instantly take her arm off. She pushed herself out of the way, moving without any natural energy to give away her intentions. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Now that she had already been targeted, she might as well take a shot at the big ship. If she could actually focus his attention it would be dangerous for her¡­ but that would likely be worth it. Arrow after arrow landed at the same relative position on the barrier, not breaking through¡­ until the third, fourth, and fifth cracked and then pierced the barrier. It was fairly strong, but it had an interesting flaw. The barrier sealed itself¡­ but two of Nthanda¡¯s arrows were half stuck through the barrier. She only had a moment before it would crush them, but that was enough to shoot two new shots directly through her arrows. One aimed for the nearest component she thought she might be able to damage, while the second went straight for Endymion. It crashed against an inner barrier around the command deck, but it still drew his attention. Anton also took the opportunity to fire sun-arrows through the very brief gaps in the barrier, targeting mainly weapons. Nthanda called upon the limits of her ability to control the matter around her, including her gear and her own body. Beams blasted through where she was, criss-crossing across her body as Endymion tried to lock onto her. However, with her natural energy being weak he couldn¡¯t focus on her easily- and she moved in ways he couldn¡¯t anticipate. Her body was scorched in several places and her armor was feeling it as well¡­ but that drew attention away from the rest of the fleet. Then something unexpected happened. A source of energy winked out among the Numerological Compact, where there had been two. The ship where Nindaanis had sought shelter¡­ or so it had seemed. Because she was the one who was alive¡­ and suddenly in control of the ship. That incident did not escape the notice of Endymion, and Nthanda could feel the outrage in his energy as several beams were directed towards the small Magnitude II ship. However, Nindaanis had clearly anticipated the possibility, and was already weaving her way between other Numerological Compact ships. Endymion still hit her, but while his beams cut through her barrier like butter and took out several segments of her ship, he also destroyed another one. A cultivator of his level should be able to control his energy well enough to not cause collateral damage. Indeed, Nthanda thought it was all well within his control. And perhaps the others realized that as well, as the flow of the battle suddenly shifted. Numerological Compact ships tried to pull away from Nindaanis, but she drew upon the power of her damaged ship with great intensity. The local fleets didn¡¯t neglect the situation either, focusing fire on the Magnitude IV ship. While most of their attacks did little, some formed cracks through which others managed to damage the ship itself. The outer segments absorbed most of the damage- which included several containing entrapped cultivators- but weakness was shown. And with multiple angles to attack from, Anton began to weave arrows fired from the star into the most vulnerable sections of the ship. Taking out all of the formations at once required great precision, but causing more modest damage to them wasn¡¯t as likely to create a chain reaction of death. After all, Endymion was still in control- he wouldn''t want parts of his ship exploding for nothing. At the very least, he would want to take out some enemies. But it seemed he was doing more to take out allies now. Nthanda realized his energy was spread throughout the area¡­ perhaps taunting people. But diffuse like that, she had subconsciously erased it. She did hear some sort of response from Anton, however. ¡°Trusting him will get you all killed. Flee, and live another day.¡± Even though the man himself was not present directly in the system, his words carried power. Numerological Compact ships began to pull away from the battle- partly to avoid Endymion¡¯s wrath. Somehow, Nindaanis¡¯ ship was still holding on, its barrier getting moments to refresh when behind obstacles. Of course, it also helped her that Endymion¡¯s ship was under heavy fire, and much of his energy flow was going towards that. He was not focusing so much on Nthanda¡­ and she decided to make him regret that. She would use every last one of her arrows battering through his barriers if she had to. Miraculously, Nindaanis managed to keep at least seventy-five percent of her ship intact by the time she drew close to Kathariel and began using its atmosphere as cover. She had gone far from the barrier protecting the base below- most likely because it wouldn¡¯t allow her through. Endymion seemed to realize that his focus on her was a waste of time- she was just one insignificant ship, after all. ¡°Enough!¡± That single word pierced through Nthanda¡¯s energy absorption abilities. All of the Magnitude IV ship¡¯s remaining beams concentrated together on the barrier protecting the base below. They would have instantly blasted through, if he was at full strength¡­ and if the barrier hadn¡¯t received adaptive energy information from other ships he had been targeting. Unlike the Numerological Compact fleet which had only just begun to implement the stolen feature, they had long since perfected it. The adaptation didn¡¯t make their barrier perfect, but it was the difference between it being completely annihilated in an instant and having only intermittent beams striking the planet below. Buildings crashed and crumbled, but the majority still remained. Endymion swiftly realized that his assault wasn¡¯t enough. Nor could he withstand the barrage of a nearly unhindered fleet, only a few of the most loyal or intimidated ships remaining with him. The Magnitude IV ship began pulling away. Despite their progress it was not close to being destroyed, with only a small portion of Anton¡¯s power accessible. However, they were causing damage to it- and they could only assume that such a ship was expensive and time consuming to repair. They weren¡¯t able to chase him all the way out of the system, however. The ship didn¡¯t have a fixed orientation that limited to attacking in the direction it was moving- if they had, the war likely would have been won long before. Thus, he was still able to fire while retreating, and he still had sufficient power to take out many of their ships. Once Nthanda ran out of arrows- she had to use heavy physical arrows to make use of her strength- and a portion of the enemy fleet had gathered around him, they let him go. Everyone except Anton, who wasn¡¯t able to be counterattacked. While his attacks did diminish in strength as the enemy got further from the star, he just wanted to keep Endymion pressured. And a portion of Anton¡¯s attacks focused on smaller ships, trying to tear away segments they could hopefully pick up after the enemy was out of the system. It wasn¡¯t a viable strategy where there was a pitched battle because they would be caught in the crossfire¡­ but the retreating fleet seemed uninterested in the pieces that were left behind as they continued to accelerate out of the system, until they could dive into subspace. Anton didn¡¯t lose track of them there. However, he could no longer attack them in any meaningful way. Not from the star. He did have some other ideas however, even as he was between systems with his actual body. Chapter 965 A single strand of energy stretched across the gap between Kathariel and Turilia. Focusing on any other target would be nearly impossible, but he could just barely manage to keep track of Endymion, the strongest source of energy besides the planet itself. Anton arrived in Kathariel days before Endymion reached the system, and had been watching- and replenishing himself. He was focused on the timing, given how much power was lost at such a distance. He would likely only have one opportunity. Too early or late, and he would find himself blocked by the barriers of the ship or planetary barriers. He could adjust his timing slightly by redirecting his arrows, but that would result in further energy loss. He hadn¡¯t waited so long for a single moment before. Not while actively focusing his mind. His task would have been easier if he had bound the star on the other end, but that was too risky. A whole system against just him would only work out if they were foolish enough to approach the star itself. He did not enjoy losing his connections, and he worried they would figure out a way to sever it. He was already concerned more about the future, as they were now closer to the next shift in the tides of the world than the previous one. He wanted to be there for that- and losing his life in a reckless manner was something he wouldn¡¯t abide. The time came, and Anton calmly drew one singular arrow. He imbued it with as much ascension energy as he could, drawing upon the upper realms where he could never step foot. His arrow flew, catching up to Endymion¡¯s ship several minutes after it entered the planet¡¯s atmosphere. Other members of the fleet were still landing, leaving the barrier thin where they entered. Anton was glad that he¡¯d rightly judged Endymion to be the impatient sort. He certainly thought he was calm and collected, but he was not. Endymion landed, withdrawing himself from his vessel at nearly the same moment Anton¡¯s arrow entered the atmosphere. He felt it, several steps away from his connection to the ship and its cultivators. Endymion¡¯s energy wrapped around himself as Anton¡¯s arrow struck. Anton saw his panicked face. The arrow detonated, and Anton¡¯s senses were cut off, his tenuous connection cut. Either he had been successful¡­ or he had not. Anton felt that unfortunately, it was the latter. But his actions wouldn¡¯t be for nothing. He might have injured the man, and at the very least he would have destroyed the core of the ship. Anton hoped he didn¡¯t kill any of the slaves, but at least they were disconnected so there shouldn¡¯t be a forceful detonation from the loss of the Confluence cultivator. Anton wanted to reach back out, but he instead let himself close his eyes, sitting and resting properly. Something had been odd about the planet, but Anton didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to properly check it out. Perhaps once the fleet settled down their spies could make a report. Then Anton remembered. The Sergeant had been there with Queenson. She had ended up around Waral¡­ but the void ants were still there. There hadn¡¯t been any orders to cause chaos- they were meant to remain hidden, after all- but the best part about ants like them was they could shift their priorities. Anton hoped that was what he sensed, though it wasn¡¯t particularly clear. ----- For all that Queenson wanted to join up with the escaping cultivators, it was too risky. They could easily be taken as enemies, aligned with the Numerological Compact somehow. So from the moment the plan began, he had simply focused on taking down the Numerological Compact. He remembered to occasionally send information onward, of course. They were here for¡­ sound and text? Well, the humans would figure out what was going on with enough of that. If the devices were still even working, which he wasn¡¯t completely certain of given the formations blasting everything around. The Son of the Queen led his local troops to follow the escapees. Humans were good at designating a leader, when they needed to. In addition, there seemed to be a sense of camaraderie among them. Actually keeping up with them was¡­ difficult. As in, it took several days to track them down- but void ants wouldn¡¯t lose track of lingering natural energy so easily. And the formation used to hide everything? That stood out like a glowing light. Well, given the way it was arranged it was more like the shine of a fellow void ant- but its effect on the local natural energy on the whole was clear. They nibbled their way through the barrier, of course, and eventually made their way into an old cave system, clearly long unused. The active formations were only half properly established, the rest being held together by active participation of the former prisoners. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand how that happened,¡± one of them said to the other. ¡°Who killed them and let us out? It¡¯s like they were fighting an invisible opponent.¡± ¡°Nobody is completely undetectable,¡± another replied. ¡°Personally, I think it was formations gone haywire. The compact likes to think they know everything, but they were only able to mimic our formations.¡± ¡°What should we do now?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll recover from our captivity soon. After that¡­ we go free Byron.¡± ¡°If we can find him. The world has changed so much.¡± ¡°I was free to see some of it,¡± one of them commented. ¡°Everything went downhill once the bewilderment formations were enhanced. Nobody expected what happened. What I don¡¯t get is how there are so many people walking around free, doing nothing.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not free,¡± commented an old woman. ¡°They¡¯re¡­ free range livestock. Allowed to wander far and wide, nibbling on what sustenance they can to fatten up for later.¡± ¡°Alright, so¡­ all of us who remain, we must have held onto something. Can we combine our abilities to overthrow them somehow¡­?¡± ¡°Did you see how many- wait, what¡¯s that?¡± Queenson stood there proudly. He had been waiting for them to look over at him. He waved his front leg, an obvious human gesture. Then he attempted to manipulate the surrounding natural energy into sound. And he made one. It was a loud pop, but it was a sound. Queenson was suddenly jealous of human¡¯s lungs, vocal chords, and direct control of natural energy. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Did it wave?¡± the old woman asked. Queenson nodded. Human insight should pick up on his well trained gestures quickly enough. Too bad they wouldn¡¯t speak proper sign. ¡°How is there an ant?¡± one of the group asked. ¡°Is it¡­ dangerous?¡± The old woman frowned, slowly approaching. ¡°Dangerous? Almost certainly. Can you feel its energy?¡± ¡°... No?¡± ¡°Precisely. There¡¯s less than nothing there.¡± She stepped closer. ¡°You understand me, don¡¯t you?¡± Queenson nodded. ¡°I¡¯m Luci.¡± He responded in sign. ¡°I am the Son of the Queen.¡± He flapped his wings. ¡°You don¡¯t speak. Well, I don¡¯t know what I should have expected. Can you write?¡± Queenson nodded. He definitely could. Sort of. ¡°Did anyone bring any ink?¡± the old woman called Luci asked. ¡°Oh, sure, we just picked up some writing utensils on our way out of the interrogation complex,¡± said one of them. ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like he¡¯s got the hands for it anyway,¡± another commented. Luci shrugged. ¡°Ink would have been nice.¡± She stepped closer, pinching her fingers together. When they came apart, a small drop of blood had beaded up on one of them. She bent down and held it out. ¡°Here, use this. Don¡¯t worry, my eyes are still good. Write small as you please.¡± Queenson stepped forward, dipping his foreleg into the droplet over and over. Each stroke required more. Though it was only a tiny portion of the human¡¯s blood, he wanted to use it respectfully. ¡°I Queen Son,¡± he wrote. It irked him to leave out grammar and the like, but it was slow for him to write and he didn¡¯t want to use too much blood. ¡°A male ant? Well, I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s unusual for your type,¡± Luci responded. ¡°Why are you here?¡± ¡°Followed from complex,¡± he wrote. The old woman frowned. ¡°Were you responsible for letting us out? How? Why?¡± ¡°Yes. Lever. Needed help.¡± ¡°I see¡­ what did you need help with?¡± she said. Looks like Queenson had to clarify. ¡°You needed help. So we helped.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Luci laughed. ¡°Well, we appreciate it. But where did you come from.¡± ¡°Tens of lightyears galactic east,¡± he wrote in reply. That was vague enough that even if the Compact found out the information it shouldn¡¯t be much more useful than the first direction they had shown up from.¡± ¡°... How did you get here?¡± ¡°Human friends. We come spy on Compact,¡± he wrote. ¡°Mutual enemies?¡± She nodded. ¡°Yes. I know you let us out but¡­ how? You said the lever, but they would have tried to stop you.¡± ¡°Simplification. We fought.¡± ¡°How do you fight?¡± Queenson moved forward like he was going to dip into the bead of blood once more- it seemed she was intentionally pressing more into it when it shrunk. Good thing humans had a lot of blood. Then he pressed his jaws into her finger, hard enough she would feel it- and realized her layer of defensive energy did nothing. When she reacted calmly, he snipped off the tiniest amount of her energy as he withdrew, just to show her. He was ready to flutter away should she overreact. ¡°You¡­ can pierce through and eat natural energy? I¡¯ve never heard of such a thing.¡± One of the others interjected. ¡°I have. Once. But I didn¡¯t hear the details. Maybe it wasn¡¯t even these same¡­ ants? Since they aren¡¯t local.¡± ¡°We are ants,¡± Queenson confirmed in writing. Now, if they were treated like normal ants he might be insulted, but ants were still ants. ¡°Right. So¡­¡± Luci thought for a few moments. ¡°You were spying on the Compact. Why?¡± ¡°At war,¡± he wrote. ¡°... I hadn¡¯t heard of that,¡± Luci said. ¡°Any of you?¡± ¡°I overheard something like that,¡± one of the men said. ¡°Before a session. It¡¯s been¡­ a few months, maybe?¡± ¡°Well, I suppose we¡¯re glad that happened,¡± Luci said. ¡°I know this is a stretch,¡± she said. ¡°But have you heard of a man named Byron? I know they¡¯ve probably killed him by now but-¡± She stopped when he leaned forward to get some blood. He realized he could actually hold a drop in his jaws and just raise his leg into it- void ants weren¡¯t naturally that flexible, but he could manage. ¡°Heard of him. He¡¯s gone.¡± She sighed. ¡°I figured. Just to be clear, he would have been in a similar place¡­ and there could easily be others with the same name.¡± ¡°Confluence cultivator,¡± Queenson wrote. ¡°Yeah, that would be the one.¡± ¡°Went with the Sergeant.¡± ¡°... Sorry?¡± ¡°He is off-planet somewhere.¡± ¡°Wait, you actually saw him and he¡¯s not dead?¡± ¡°Sensed him. She was there when he was lifted away.¡± This woman was going to get tired of donating blood, even if it was just small amounts. ¡°Should be fine. Sergeant is highly capable.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ difficult to believe. But I do, somehow. So¡­ could you possibly help us with something?¡± ¡°Conditionally,¡± he replied. As long as it helped the Alliance. Or didn¡¯t hurt it. Also, probably best if it didn¡¯t end up with too many ¡®innocents¡¯ dead. ----- Back on Waral, the Byron in question was eager to get into action. ¡°You took out one of those ships?¡± he asked. ¡°Then we should be able to free this whole system.¡± ¡°That is the plan,¡± Devon said. ¡°There are some¡­ slight hiccups we have to consider, however.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Us,¡± Ammar said. ¡°The hivemind. He is concerned a larger one will develop on larger planets, which is not unlikely.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Byron nodded. ¡°Is that a problem? You¡¯re not upset about it, are you?¡± ¡°I am not,¡± Ammar replied. ¡°It has been postulated that maybe I can¡¯t be, but I personally reject that notion. Precisely because some formerly of us were bothered by it, and have withdrawn to personal lives.¡± Devon sighed, ¡°I¡¯m more worried about the collateral damage they¡¯ll cause.¡± ¡°Speak openly and honestly. Or alternatively, let them perform the same purge.¡± ¡°We would really rather not have that happen,¡± Devon said. ¡°But¡­ personally, I don¡¯t see a more effective way. Regardless, we need to make plans. And you¡¯re part of them,¡± he turned to Byron. ¡°You said you should be able to control a Magnitude III ship?¡± ¡°Without making it overly laborious on those contained,¡± he added. ¡°I can understand that being rejected, however.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll need volunteers. And nobody is particularly enthusiastic about being contained. Though the group you helped save is a good start.¡± Others were interrogating Raeburn. Most likely they wouldn¡¯t get much of use, and there were already plans to execute him. There was no difficulty gathering sufficient evidence against him, if simply being one of the Elders and piloting one of the ships wasn¡¯t enough. Whatever they did in regards to the rest of the system, they had to act soon. Food stores wouldn¡¯t last forever on Waral, they needed the resources of the larger planets. Which also meant securing that without letting the enemy destroy it. It was clear the Numerological Compact was petty enough. Chapter 966 Rather than waiting weeks or months to see how the Numerological Compact would recover, the Alliance immediately focused on consolidating the rest of the system that contained Waral. There were complications involving assaulting a much more populated planet, but the enemy had recently sustained great losses- and most of their forces had retreated to their other systems. They also had a large number of volunteers. More than they could realistically transport, in fact. That would continue to be the case until they got local ships to function in a manner that was more ethical. Members of the hivemind trusted each other enough to potentially use the ships as they were, but also didn¡¯t want to subject themselves or the others to the discomfort. There was constant work to retrofit the ships with their modified formations and less intrusive energy extraction devices, but they needed more resources. They could only bring so much from outside- but their target would have what they needed. That planet was called Alyni, and it was several planets inward from the one Waral orbited about. It was on the lower side of natural inhabitability, but it had been developed to a level that was tolerable for people. The population was several times as high, but spread out over a larger area. Even so, they still maintained centralized ¡®power stations¡¯. These would be the main targets. Since void ants had been active in the area already, they would be making use of the Sergeant and her troops. Even with their limited numbers, they were extremely valuable against the Numerological Compact who relied on strong formations. There were also talks about bringing more from other parts of the Alliance with their other reinforcements, but that would take time they couldn¡¯t afford at the moment. ----- The latest battle, though it had involved two Magnitude IV ships and the elders controlling them, had actually been less draining on Devon than the clash with Endymion. That was because Anton had done much of the heavy lifting. Devon couldn¡¯t have had nearly so much success acting alone, and that was ignoring the adaptive barriers tuned to him specifically. Fortunately, they only had those on the best ships¡­ and they were down one out of three. That didn¡¯t mean there would be no resistance when attacking Alyni, but they would have control of the skies. Being able to attack when and where they pleased was a huge advantage. Rather than heading straight for the largest city on the planet, they made use of their intel to pick out several outlying targets. Devon didn¡¯t quite understand why they picked those, but it was something related to formations. On that, he trusted the judgment of Ashildr and the rest. That included a number of freed slaves who knew a bit more about formations, and probably far more than they wanted to from the inside. Their ships arrived above the planet, and they immediately had to deal with the planetary barrier. Their greater forces and experience balanced out with the power of the barrier, but they were not rushed to bring the barrier down either. Devon moved as the formation expert assigned to him designated, striking the barrier- and reaching his chains through to hold it open when it broke. The void ants were elsewhere in a single group, as a few hundred was already considered quite small to them. And at yet another location, Devon sensed Ty Quigley slicing open the barrier like it was a sheet of paper and not an amorphous mass of energy. Devon dropped through the barrier along with ships carrying a great number of the Shattered Chains. Their intention was to land right next to the power center, with Devon shielding them along the way. Other ships streamed into the atmosphere, going after the weapon emplacements around the city. Explosions filled the skies as a great number of attacks were exchanged. However, the Alliance had more experience and it showed. For one thing, their adaptive barriers were tuned to the Numerological Compact¡¯s energy signature- a very consistent one, which was likely good for them in most cases but became a weakness. The other vulnerability of Alyni was that the Compact were pretty much the only ones capable of defending it, keeping control of all the artillery formations for themselves even if the local cultivators had wanted to support them. That had been why Waral was successfully conquered, and would be true again. The populace as a whole simply wasn¡¯t organized to fight, or the Alliance would have to send a million ships or more to the war. Devon landed with ships surrounding them, and he extended his chains around the power dome, restricting energy entering but not leaving. He simply didn¡¯t have the power to resist the energy flow, but he could at least prevent the Confluence cultivators from causing any damage to the slaves inside. He¡¯d done some damage in his initial assault on Waral, and didn¡¯t want a repeat of that. Cultivators streamed out of the landing ships, pouring towards the power center and overwhelming the limited defenses there. They had some cultivators to fend off assault, but not nearly enough. Likewise, the barriers were powerful- energized by over a million individuals in the complex- but ultimately they could be circumvented by counter-formations. The Alliance¡¯s experts had plenty of time to study how they worked, and since Devon was able to shield them from the bombardment they worked without fear. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Then the Shattered Chains poured into the facility, disconnecting people one after another. They knew how to do so safely, and had great empathy for those trapped in a horrible situation they had been in a month or less prior. Everything was going well at Devon¡¯s location, but he felt something. No, everyone with even the slightest sensitivity to natural energy felt it. A massive explosion of power. Ammar and the other members of the hivemind stumbled- though to be fair, most cultivators trembled in fear. That included the locals- and the Numerological Compact. It was gone. An entire city of millions. Not just that, but the surrounding countryside was flattened out to at least a hundred kilometers. The damage extended beyond that, but at that radius it was completely devastated in just a few moments. Yet it was strangely silent and still, at least where Devon was. Ammar staggered to his feet, along with the others. The shock was most likely amplified for them, but they also came to terms with it quickly. They obviously were disturbed, but they could also handle it together. Devon¡¯s senses stretched to try to figure out exactly what happened. Or why. Clearly, an entire power station full of cultivators had detonated together- but there wouldn¡¯t be anyone alive to explain how it happened. Unlike the ships, the power stations were meant to be stable, at most directing feedback to individual enslaved cultivators and killing them. Several of those just freed from Alyni came to consciousness, more quickly than anticipated. They were expected to be in a daze for several hours, at least. But something about the shock had changed that. Tears streamed down their faces, even as they staggered about to free their neighbors. A wave of people soon filled the power station, cultivators freed just about as quickly as anyone could run from one side of the facility to the other. It was just one area of many, but what should have been a triumphant victory felt somewhat hollow. Yet on the other hand¡­ millions were being freed all at once. Devon felt natural energy flowing between those who had just been pulled free and those who came just before them. The connection between them was clear and instantaneous, webs of connection spreading everywhere. ¡°Ammar,¡± Devon said. ¡°Can you explain what is happening? Are they¡­?¡± ¡°I can simplify, at least,¡± he said. ¡°They are like us. We feel them, but¡­ we¡¯re a different group. If that makes sense.¡± He looked up to the sky. ¡°I also feel the connection to those on Waral has dimmed, but it is still strong. We understood there was a possibility of severance.¡± ¡°Ah, I hadn¡¯t considered that,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°But we did, and made our choice,¡± Ammar said. ¡°It would have been worth it, for our brethren,¡± he waved his arm. ¡°Even if we do not share the same connection, are we not the same?¡± Devon nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. Now then¡­ some of you are explaining what we agreed on?¡± ¡°Yes. They understand we don¡¯t want chaos. They intend to comply, if your promise is kept.¡± ¡°The purge will be done properly. No killing in the streets,¡± Devon said. ¡°At least, if we don¡¯t have to.¡± Speaking of which¡­ Devon spread his voice over the city. ¡°Everyone lay down your arms. Those who continue to fight will die. Anyone not associated with the Compact should rest easy. No doubt they have told you many negative things about us, but I think you should know better than to believe their word. If you don¡¯t trust me, trust those who have lived here among you their whole lives. They will be available to speak to you.¡± He wanted to have full transparency and tell the Numerological Compact that most of them were going to die, but that wouldn¡¯t help with the chaos thing. This time, at least, they would be judged by more than just those who were traumatized. The Alliance¡¯s judgments would still strongly favor the memories and accusations of the slaves¡­ but the point was not to avoid killing, but to weed out the few who deserved a chance. And likewise, they would remove the corruption from among the rest of the populace. But first, they just needed the area to be stable. Unlike Waral, however, they didn¡¯t intend to conquer the planet in stages. They were already ready to move onward now that they¡¯d cut apart the formation grid. ----- Just as Devon arrived outside the target city, a tremendous shockwave shook the ground causing great earthquakes. That would be the aftereffects of the lost city, most likely. There was no time to stop and think about any of that as the battle was already in progress. The city¡¯s personal barriers were quickly brought down by the combined might of the majority of the fleet. Most of the Compact ships had retreated to other systems, either not anticipating a quick follow up attack or simply leaving the planet to its fate. Either way, the cities were mainly static defenses without singular powerful cultivators or anything of the sort. Attacks rained down on Devon, and while he felt the strain¡­ he also felt the strongest he ever had. His actual strength likely hadn¡¯t increased in recent times, but fighting for something he had personal experience with certainly helped. And the devotion definitely didn¡¯t hurt. But just like his grandfather, he found the acts that brought the attention to him to be the important part. Perhaps that wasn¡¯t the optimal way to grow their power, but it was working well enough for them. They had strong allies for a reason. Alone, Devon could not win the war. On the other hand, the Alliance could probably win the war without him. Potentially without Assimilation cultivators at all, if absolutely necessary- though the losses there would only have been worth it if the alternative was extinction. Assimilation cultivators didn¡¯t grow on trees, but the Alliance consistently produced more and more, their populations swelling in a sustainable way. There were always more planets to colonize, and rather than struggling for scraps of natural energy their worlds worked to grow what each individual had. That was why the Numerological Compact was losing, the power consolidated into their hands was enough to control their system¡­ but not enough to handle what they¡¯d gotten themselves into. Devon would say it was their fault for attacking recklessly, but this would have been an inevitable result once the full extent of their slavery was known. Standing by and allowing such things to exist was just as terrible as actively participating. Waves of cultivators shakily pulled themselves out of yet another power station, connecting to the greater whole. Devon estimated that Waral¡¯s hivemind was around ten million individuals¡­ Alyni might reach a hundred million. There was no telling what difference that would make, and the only thing that would be certain that these systems would be unique when they were finally free. Chapter 967 The planet Alyni was swiftly taken under control, though such control was tenuous at best. The key problem was not the lack of martial force the Alliance had in the system- though it was true that they would find it difficult to handle the concerted effort of the local populace if they chose to fight- but more of a problem of administration. As long as they were left alone, the local cultivators were content with the situation as it was. That didn¡¯t count the Numerological Compact cultivators, of course, but they were vastly outnumbered. And with their Confluence cultivators mostly taken out during the assault- or having already gone out of system- their illusion of control had been shattered. It was unlikely that they could have ever stood up against the entirety of the ¡®free¡¯ cultivators, but nobody wanted to be the one to step up first, risking themselves. Especially not when they found their personal status acceptable. Of course, once people realized that the luxuries afforded to them by formations that seemed to possess limited power might dry up- or at least require their own contributions- they might change their minds. But one thing had to be handled at a time. At least chaos was kept to a minimum by the assistance of the hivemind. Once more, the freed slaves of the planet kept a connection to each other after being removed from their restraints. As one might reasonably anticipate, they were quite positively inclined towards the Alliance as they were chiefly responsible for their freedom. While the system would eventually need new administration, they had to go with the structure that was in place- replacing those who had perished in the battles. Instead of being chosen for their ability, those officially placed in such positions were for the most part the strongest cultivators of the hivemind. The reasoning was that cultivators most respected power- and as members of the hivemind, they would have access to guidance from those who knew what they were doing, and they could be confident in that. ¡°This is crazy,¡± Devon said to Aerona. ¡°We¡¯ve previously dealt with issues caused by a minority¡­ but we¡¯ve never had to handle things at this scale.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I think you¡¯re wrong. We just dealt with worse. The Adamant Federation isn¡¯t exactly a bastion of freedom.¡± ¡°Well, perhaps. But the majority of civilians were very limited in their exposure to cultivation,¡± Devon said. ¡°Here, most people seem to cultivate. Most likely so they can choose the best ones for capture but¡­ that¡¯s how it is.¡± He shook his head. ¡°But you¡¯re right. The Free Planet Guardians made me more positive about that situation. It¡¯s not as if we suddenly became friends with the rest of the region.¡± ¡°I think the issue you have run into,¡± Aerona commented, ¡°Is that the ¡®neutral parties¡¯ here are directly complicit in an issue very personal to yourself. I¡¯m not saying that they are innocent, just that your perspective makes the issue of slavery greater than the actual genocides the Trigold Cluster committed.¡± ¡°Well when you say it that way I feel like a jerk,¡± Devon said. ¡°That wasn¡¯t my intention,¡± Aerona clarified. ¡°Both are quite problematic. One problem is just more visible in modern times. I understand why it affects you more. Even I am inclined to feel the same way, even if I can say that objectively both are quite horrible. But the Alliance has chosen- wisely I believe- not to wipe out entire groups of people where the situation is less clear cut. And here¡­ even though there is much bitterness among the hivemind, there is also camaraderie shared with those who could have fallen into slavery themselves.¡± ¡°I wish we could deal with the people at fault more swiftly,¡± Devon grumbled. ¡°I know it¡¯s not right, but what happened on Waral¡­ at least it was efficient.¡± ¡°Even if we could bring a great number of judges and the like from our territory to here¡­ it is better to let the locals handle things themselves. They can argue legality all they wish, but being faced with empowered victims they won¡¯t do well in front of the rest. This is something the local populace needs to get through.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Alternatively, we learn that they are all corrupt. But we have already seen enough to know that is not the case. Even a few members of the Compact were decent. Very few indeed, but some.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°Things feel both too slow and too fast. Byron wants us to finish taking over this system which I agree with, but we¡¯re going to have to deal with a lot of instability if we don¡¯t get on top of it all.¡± ¡°It is a good thing there are a great number of people able to act together, then,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Regardless of whether anyone asked for or intended such results¡­ they are currently convenient.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure how to feel about the hiveminds,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°That may be the case, but they like you. So I wouldn¡¯t worry too much.¡± ¡°I never intended to teach anyone my style of cultivation,¡± Devon said. ¡°But I can¡¯t reject this new group either, can I?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the only one who has that answer. But if they are willing to follow your rules, I don¡¯t see any issues.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ I don¡¯t know,¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°Actually, that¡¯s exactly it. One would think that as an Enrichment cultivator, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised by things I don¡¯t understand. But I have no idea how any of this will work out. Everything is stable for the moment, but we have no idea if it will stay this way.¡± Aerona smiled at him. ¡°Sounds like you get it. Powerful cultivators end up with access to more information than others¡­ but sometimes, the answers you seek aren¡¯t there. And the unknown is only made worse by your understanding.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure if that was supposed to help,¡± Devon admitted. Then he sighed. ¡°Well, I suppose I at least have to train those I¡¯ve already promised, and while at my age missing a day or two of training isn¡¯t a big deal, it¡¯s problematic for those just starting out. Especially with so many of them reworking their cultivation base. Hopefully, that will distract me enough.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I¡¯m sure it will,¡± Aerona said. ¡°And when the time comes to act on the next step, you¡¯ll do something right. I know you will.¡± ----- A large explosion of energy had drawn the attention of pretty much everyone on Turilia. The more the Numerological Compact tried to deny it happening, the more certain parties became interested in it. Of course, one particular group actually knew what it was. That was those free dissidents who had linked up with the Son of the Queen. ¡°So this Anton fellow¡­ he¡¯s hiding up above, able to shoot down at the planet at any time?¡± Luci asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Queenson replied, cutting his words short as communication was still difficult. At the very least, he expected he would be able to sense Anton¡¯s energy if he were around. And the local star didn¡¯t feel right for that either. ¡°So he came to this system only for that attack? I hope we can figure out what he was targeting¡­¡± ¡°He just shot here,¡± Queenson explained. ¡°Yes, with his bow,¡± Luci replied. ¡°From outside the atmosphere.¡± Technically that was correct. Just like literally every other part of the galaxy was outside Turilia¡¯s atmosphere. ¡°Further,¡± Queenson wrote on the ground. It turned out humans had like five liters of blood and so a few milliliters was not that big of a deal for them. It still would have been nice to have some ink, though. ¡°From the edge of the system?¡± Queenson gave a shrug, once again an imitation of human expressions. He didn¡¯t know, and he wasn¡¯t sure he should go into details if he did. Anton could have shot from the edge of the system safely. ¡°We¡¯ve been able to track down the location of the attack,¡± Luci continued. ¡°We¡¯re hoping something secret will be revealed. Without being able to consult anyone¡­ we have to do whatever we can.¡± Queenson understood that logic. He was still here to gather information, a goal he might have gotten distracted from with the whole freeing-dissidents thing. Or whatever they were. Most of them seemed to have been kept alive due to information they had, especially regarding formations. These humans were good with them. That was also how they had been moving about without being caught. The void ants were obviously fine on their own. They were trained spies. But Queenson had to admit that humans were great for going places intentionally. They could just ask when the next flight to a certain place was, and plan out routes, and all sorts of useful things. And they could walk while carrying hundreds of ants without issue. Not that most of them were willing to do so for some reason. As if the void ants being a bit further away would save them if Queenson and the others actually wanted to kill them. But they could have their silly ¡®caution¡¯. At least Luci was helpful. The old woman might have simply thought her cause was more important than whatever risks, but she also seemed to have been quite pleased when Queenson reported to her about the other groups. ¡°We¡¯ve only failed to get into contact with three of the areas you listed,¡± Luci said. ¡°One or two of them seem to have actually remained secure, unfortunately, but the remainder should be in hiding. You don¡¯t have any way to contact your team?¡± Queenson shook his head. They were sent out to perform their individual operations, and were supposed to meet back up at a particular location. They would be stopping by that city on the way to the destination of the attack. Queenson hoped that as many people as possible survived- but he knew that whoever had failed would not be returning. Unless something made those particular locations actually impossible to succeed, the troops would not have failed to achieve their goals even at the cost of their lives. That was true for him as well. He¡¯d snuck his way into a military position to begin with because he believed in the cause. Being accepted for his individuality didn¡¯t change that. Queenson understood humans thought it odd, but it made perfect sense to void ants. And the Great Queen had chosen the humans as allies, which was one of the clearest signs of her foresight. That included the very same Anton in question here. Whatever he had targeted, if it had not been destroyed¡­ well, they would finish the job. Queenson had to admit it was much less suspicious for a human to walk around a city with hundreds of void ants dangling inside pockets than for them to all scurry across the ground, trying to avoid being stepped on. That was why on civilized planets they had their own walkways. Tiny ones laid out efficiently, unlike the meanderings of humans. Linking back up with their remaining cohorts was simple enough. Luci let him down at the designated location, where a temporary burrow smelled of other void ants having already arrived. Technically, his group was late. There was a whole thing about them planning a rescue mission, but none of the plans were honestly any good. Questioning humans one by one was impractical and difficult, and systematically wiping out the Numerological Compact in vengeance sounded good at first but there simply weren¡¯t enough of them to succeed. Besides, that was all a distraction from the mission. He quickly corrected the soldiers who had made it back, and they left the temporary burrow behind, marking the area with pheromones to indicate they had moved on, if any were later than even Queenson. It barely even took two days for them to get to the right part of the planet. It would have taken less time somewhere proper, but then again Luci and the others were technically in hiding so using flying transportation at all was riskier than it seemed. Apparently the general populace wasn¡¯t looking for them, however. That was odd, because even the humans in the core worlds could reproduce the energy signature of fugitives for others to pick up. Or at least they had devices that could. As they were descending towards their final landing point, Luci cursed. Fortunately, she explained out loud her reasoning, since they couldn¡¯t have written communication in public circumstances. She whispered, cutting off the sound of her words beyond herself. ¡°Unless I¡¯m off, that¡¯s right in the Compact¡¯s biggest personal ports. I thought to look in but¡­ they have a very suspicious light screen over them right now.¡± Well, obviously they had to sneak in. ¡°It will be impossible to infiltrate, if that¡¯s it,¡± she said. Queenson disagreed, and let her know by gently nipping her thumb. Not enough to draw blood, of course. ¡°Well, you can do what you want but I¡¯m only willing to die for something that has a chance of success.¡± That was fair enough. But working together, he thought they could do it. If only he could find a way to explain it, when they were somewhere he could do so. Chapter 968 After a short exchange, Queenson realized that Luci was right. It was pointless for a human like her to risk herself sneaking into a secure area when there were perfectly good void ants to do it. Unfortunately, due to certain risks she had to remain quite far from the actual position that was to be infiltrated. The Numerological Compact¡¯s control over the area just made it more of a tempting target, however. Entering the area, surrounded simply by a wall and a large obscuring formation, was trivial for a void ant. Even navigating indoors was more difficult, as they had to find cracks in walls or areas around doors, and sometimes that was inconvenient. Crawling over a wall and nibbling through a formation one at a time was not. Queenson was leading the pack and was prepared to climb down when he realized he could already see the thing they were here for. A giant ship, with a large number of people working on it. Or perhaps it was a relatively small ship, by human standards? A dozen of them didn¡¯t fit into the area that smoothly. The one thing he was certain of, even with his limited knowledge of ships, was that there weren¡¯t supposed to be melted bits of metal and that the walls weren¡¯t supposed to have openings. Other than that, all he really knew was that it seemed to fit his understanding of the central control structures for their ships. Without all of the additional modules, it was actually quite small. Was that what they were hiding? There didn¡¯t seem to be much else of note, but a single ship¡­ it didn¡¯t seem that important. Could it even have survived Anton¡¯s assault? That would require a more thorough investigation. There were some traces of different energy, but they were old enough that the void ants would have to investigate from up close. There was a large advantage to being outside, which was that humans would by and large avoid them. The important part was to not look suspicious. Humans might realize regular ants would have trouble getting into the area, and these should be aware of void ants by now, given the previous incidents. Still, it was better to march together in a line than to sneak around and act suspicious. Obviously they still picked a path with the most cover, crawling through cracks in the large flat pad the ship core was positioned on. The landing pad itself was entirely devoid of energy, perhaps so it didn¡¯t interfere with the process of repair and calibration. When they got close, Queenson overheard snippets of conversation that he pieced together. ¡°... furious ¡­ Elder Endymion ¡­¡± ¡°... critical repairs ¡­¡± ¡°... do it himself ¡­¡± Some were grumbles and complaints, but the important thing was this ship seemed to be the important one. What was it called, a Magnitude IV? It didn¡¯t feel like much, but it was unpowered so perhaps it wouldn¡¯t. As for traces of energy, there were tiny bits of Ascension energy left over, little delectable treats that could have only come from Anton. Queenson and the others crawled into the ship and looked at the work the cultivators were doing, digging out chunks of hull and replacing them with carefully crafted parts with replacement formation markings. Though he had some experience with formations, the depth and complexity was truly staggering. He wouldn¡¯t know where to begin. Should they simply destroy them all? Taking out this group would be quick. No, that was a terrible idea. They wouldn¡¯t have long to destroy things. And the formation were build with enough practical redundancies that they might not even accomplish anything. Like Luci said, it wasn¡¯t worth dying for something that had no chance of achieving their goals So what could they do? After watching for an hour or two, it seemed the pace of repairs was quite rapid. They might even be finished in a few days. A week at most. That was the most hopeful estimation. From what Queenson had heard, Endymion could rival Devon with the ship fully functional. Keeping him out of the war would be important. Actually, if they could just find him¡­ he would be just as easily killed as anyone else. Unfortunately, there was no clear source of energy for such a powerful cultivator. Layers of barriers dampened the senses, so there was no guarantee he was even close to here. Then again, couldn¡¯t they wait for him to return to the ship? That was a bit risky, since the longer they were nearby the greater risk they would be spotted and actually noticed. It was a long journey back to the wall- even though it would have taken a motivated human just a few seconds of running. The void ants could move more quickly as a group, but a rolling formation was obvious. Even though it took almost a quarter hour to reach the wall, the rest of the trip back to Luci was far longer. Positioned several kilometers away, it was a half day¡¯s journey to reach her- and that was with the void ants moving several times the speed of their lookalikes. That was the speed they could maintain properly without raising visual alarms, but it was still quite slow to travel just a handful of kilometers. Luci and the others had not waited idly, but instead surveilled the city. Apparently, they had confirmed Elder Endymion¡¯s presence. ¡°He has been a prominent member of the Numerological Complex even since I was younger,¡± Luci explained. ¡°But he was far from as strong as he is now. Or rather, all the Confluence cultivators¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°They started appearing after they got Byron over a century ago.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Queenson wrote his desires on some parchment they had obtained- with some ink, even. It stuck to his mandibles and was kind of gross, but it worked for writing well enough. ¡°Sabotage ship.¡± That was the easiest thing for him to say. Writing didn¡¯t just involve swishing his hand about, but full body movements for each letter. ¡°Endymion¡¯s ship?¡± Luci questioned. ¡°Was it there?¡± ¡°Repairing,¡± Queenson clarified. ¡°In need of repair¡­¡± she frowned. ¡°Unfortunately, I¡¯m sure the ships have developed significantly since I last interacted with them. There¡¯s not a simple solution besides breaking everything. Unless¡­ yes, that should work. I can¡¯t imagine they¡¯d strip out the fundamentals.¡± Queenson just watched questioningly. ¡°True sabotage works best if nobody knows it has been done until someone tries to use it. I can only assume the ship was damaged fighting against your people.¡± Queenson wasn¡¯t sure about the full circumstances, but he knew that was correct enough. ¡°Most likely, they will fight again. And if it turns out that it is unable to function at full capacity at a key moment,¡± she shrugged. ¡°He won¡¯t last long.¡± It made sense. However, Queenson still had another question. ¡°Assassination?¡± After looking at the word, Luci swiftly destroyed the already used paper with her energy. ¡°You¡¯ll have to explain.¡± It was a long process, but he ultimately mentioned that if they could find him, they could kill him. That also included waiting for him to board the ship. If he did so, he would be dead. ¡°Some confidence,¡± Luci admitted. ¡°But even if that¡¯s true, you mentioned the risks of getting caught. If you properly sabotaged, you¡¯d achieve multiple results. First, if he goes off to a critical battle with a fleet counting on him and then is suddenly crippled¡­ both he and the fleet suffer the consequences. You also wouldn¡¯t risk yourself. I know you don¡¯t care about that but¡­ the only guaranteed way to find him is to wait at the ship. That¡¯s a risk. Otherwise, you can crawl and fly all over the city and potentially miss him.¡± Queenson didn¡¯t like that, but he had to admit it was true. And the old woman did have some good points about tying positive results together. If he fell apart in a battle, that might lead to the Compact¡¯s defeat more directly instead of causing them to cower and draw out the war. And more importantly, Queenson could be doing something else during that time. What other good things were there to do, after the sabotage? He asked that question, and Luci thought for a bit. ¡°Well, you could help free more allies?¡± Queenson nodded. ¡°Power stations. Cultivators of one mind.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s a good idea,¡± Luci said. ¡°They would join with us. Though obviously their presence would be missed, if there are too many.¡± That wasn¡¯t quite what Queenson meant, but it would do. Before that, they had to figure out the actual method of sabotage. That was still the most important goal. Luci spent a day consulting with the others, drawing ever more dizzying symbols. After that day, they returned with something particular. ¡°Okay, this is quite complicated but this would be the best option. There are going to be many markings quite similar to this, but they won¡¯t be as critical.¡± She showed them a symbol- no, multiple symbols in layers. ¡°The pattern will be like this. Can you¡­ memorize that?¡± Queenson could not. But, he nodded. Then he signed to his soldiers, having them arrange themselves atop the pattern. They would not need to know the pattern, only the positions of their own bodies and their neighbors. This was something void ants were trained for, especially the soldiers and special operations groups. Layer by layer, they confirmed the shape of things. Obviously the void ants didn¡¯t quite fit the flowing lines, but they got the shape, and Luci confirmed the differences in markings were on a larger scale than line width, at least for their purposes. The shape was critical, and the layered materials. ¡°If you can, you¡¯ll want to break it at these points,¡± she said, pointing. ¡°If possible, carve out all of this material. It¡¯s a bit harder, though. Oh, and try to leave the top layer visually intact. Don¡¯t completely remove anything, either. Otherwise, they might notice the discrepancy and have a chance to fix it.¡± Formations were complicated. But, humans were smart. Queenson and the others had an excellent plan now, and they set out. If they just so happened to stumble across this ¡®Endymion¡¯, they might yet kill him for the sake of certainty¡­ but proper sabotage also made sense. And to think, they were simply going to tear apart bits of the ship. Of course humans would notice and fix that. Humans might not notice small things, but if small things were repeated into larger patterns, then they noticed discrepancies. The void ants returned to the site immediately, having rested while their human allies were occupied. The busy repair workers were still at it, in the deep night. Making any modifications would be difficult while they were around, but they still had to search for the right markings. It was supposed to appear only once, and there were many layers to the materials of the ship. Any time they saw something that looked similar, Queenson would have the soldiers return to their memorized formations, while he found a way to look down at an angle so he could actually see the shape. It would have been easiest for them to just lay over the markings, but the humans might see that so they used flat surfaces on top of the control segment. Even though Queenson was ninety-nine percent certain that his imaging device was busted, he dutifully continued to press what pieces of the button still existed. Sadly, it had not been immune to the wider spread of human energy. The box looked much like him, with melted bits. Occasionally, it gave the effort of using up a blip of natural energy, but that didn¡¯t really indicate it was working. The humans worked long hours. He was pretty sure they were supposed to have slept already. Didn¡¯t humans get bad at stuff when awake for too long? Some of them seemed to know that and were replaced, but the important looking ones continued working with their faces looking ever more problematic. But, they had good news. Sort of. ¡°We¡¯re almost done¡­¡± one of the leaders said. ¡°Then it can be inspected.¡± They¡¯d just have to wait. And maybe they could get something done, after that inspection. If Queenson was lucky, there would even be pictures for their allies, but his luck didn¡¯t seem to be tilted in that direction. Being alive was already pretty exceptional, and he had no complaints. Chapter 969 Getting any sort of reliable information from Turilia was quite difficult, as Alliance scouts weren¡¯t able to freely move about the system with them on high alert. However, that didn¡¯t mean they were entirely unsuccessful. It was clear that recent battles had made a significant dent in available ships moving around any of the Compact¡¯s systems. It was still difficult to get an accurate assessment of remaining enemy forces due to planetary barriers and various detection systems making close approaches risky. There had been information coming in from the Son of the Queen and the Sergeant until the assault, after which the Sergeant had been drawn away from Turilia itself. The status of the other void ant leader remained in question. That was, until they received a single image- though perhaps even calling it that was an exaggeration. They received a corrupted transmission that had almost been disposed of as junk, and it took a team several days of effort to retrieve functional data, revealing part of an image of some formation markings. That indicated he was still alive, but it didn¡¯t directly reveal much else of use. It was recognizable as the inside of a Numerological Compact ship, and not much more. Given that they had very little to work with, Harshal- a member of the intelligence team- took what they had very seriously. He first passed around the images to formation experts, who could only verify that what they saw was standard for what they had seen of the Numerological Compact, and most likely from a ship. However, with the limited angle and the corruption of the image, they couldn¡¯t say much more than that. It would have been reasonable to leave it there. The corruption was not a message, and they could clearly tell something had happened to the device sending images. That already told them enough, including that the Son of the Queen was probably still alive. Even so, Harshal wasn¡¯t quite ready to give up on the scrap of information they had. On a hunch- no, perhaps a bit of cultivator intuition- he sent the image to Anton. There was some connection, after all, and the man had sufficient clearance to receive such messages. ¡°Received this partial image from Turilia,¡± he included with the message delivery. ¡°Can you pick out any relevant details?¡± The response came almost immediately. ¡°That¡¯s Endymion¡¯s ship. I have the feeling it should have been damaged and might be under repairs.¡± He followed up with, ¡°Some of the ruined parts of the image might be due to lingering Ascension energy interfering with the device. Though I imagine the device is also damaged somehow as well.¡± That was a nice confirmation. ¡°How certain are you?¡± ¡°I was very briefly aware of the surroundings, but that was enough.¡± Harshal nodded to himself. There were probably a million small details that would confirm that to Anton. He considered how to work his next statement. ¡°What do you think about the results?¡± ¡°Unfortunate that it remained intact enough to repair. Endymion most likely survived, but I already expected that aspect,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Do you know if there is any further meaning to the image?¡± ¡°Based on my experience with various void ants¡­ Queenson thought it was something that had to be logged. And my bet is we failed to get a large number of other images since the previous incident. I wouldn¡¯t expect a deeper message from him.¡± ¡°Is it alright to disseminate the information on the damage?¡± Harshal asked. Anton¡¯s reply was once again swift. ¡°I¡¯m certain enough that¡¯s what it is, but since it is under repair I think the more relevant information is that it will be functional again.¡± Two sides of the same coin. But that option focused on people being prepared for action. Certainly the more important wording. Now then, if there were other images coming in¡­ how could they receive them? Perhaps the engineers could find some way to boost the receiver, even with a damaged device on Queenson¡¯s end they might get something of value. ----- Once he was able to watch Byron in action, Devon could see the connections. They had been vaguely warned of his existence by the void ants, but the details of the man had still been mysterious after he appeared- strapped onto Elder Joetta¡¯s ship. All of those events had precipitated various actions and reactions, leading to where they were now. The entire system around Waral and Alyni under control, if not entirely stable. The hiveminds saw the Alliance as saviors. The rest were less convinced, though they were not entirely opposed to new conquerors replacing the old guard. At the very least, they seemed to find keeping their heads down to be valuable. That was good enough for the moment. Returning to Byron, Devon finally found a moment to sit down with the man personally. ¡°So¡­ we understand a few things. You were the first of the Confluence cultivators?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Byron nodded. ¡°And the Numerological Compact copied you?¡± ¡°More or less. Though I would say they corrupted my technique.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°Yes, I felt you draw from the restrained cultivators. I felt you would have given them a choice, if possible. I hear you¡¯ve been teaching the formation masters quite a bit.¡± The man shrugged. ¡°How should I say this¡­ things have advanced significantly since I was actually captured. I have learned as much about the Compact¡¯s developments from your people as I have taught them. And to think, you¡¯ve only been aware of these systems for a few months. You¡¯ll have to tell me about your Alliance more, sometime.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Preferably when times are better,¡± Devon agreed. ¡°There¡¯s only so much we can share, in case of spies. Just know that we are larger than a mere few systems, and have been developing since before the last cycle.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard about these ¡®cycles¡¯, but we haven¡¯t experienced them here. Or rather¡­ with the presence of the Numerological Compact, we were likely insulated. Or maybe it¡¯s easier to say we were already conquered. I was vaguely aware of their strength, but I was among the first to fall to them. I haven¡¯t learned much from them during my captivity¡­ I hadn¡¯t ever expected an opportunity to actually be rid of them.¡± ¡°And it might not have come, had they been a bit more polite. But that is an issue of those with great power,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°They think they are the best, only to find out that they aren¡¯t. And for the record, I am quite aware that there are people stronger than me. Certainly in the upper realms, and potentially here in the lower realms.¡± ¡°I will admit to knowing very little of the upper realms,¡± Byron said. ¡°Ascension never appealed to me. Confluence felt¡­ right. At least, my version of it.¡± ¡°There will always be those who twist things to serve them,¡± Devon said. ¡°We work quite hard to keep them out of our ranks. Now, this might be rude, but do you know of any weaknesses in Confluence?¡± ¡°I think you¡¯ve already figured it out, frankly,¡± Byron shrugged. ¡°It requires the power of other cultivators, otherwise we¡¯re nothing much. I¡¯d say that is at least as true for the Numerological Compact.¡± ¡°So no secret formations that will shut down all of their ships, then.¡± ¡°I would have created one, but they didn¡¯t give me a pen during my confinement,¡± the man joked. ¡°But no, much of this is new to me. I do think I can help accelerate the process of retrofitting the ships, though. Especially here with proper facilities. I¡¯m even capable of controlling a Magnitude III ship, I believe. Sadly, I didn¡¯t keep up my growth to match the Elders.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure it wouldn¡¯t take long,¡± Devon said. ¡°But I think it¡¯s of no benefit to us to delay. Raeburn has been taken away, and he won¡¯t be an issue any longer. That leaves two we know of, though highly populated planets are¡­ somewhat of a concern. We could really use local support.¡± ¡°You know how many motivated people there are. We¡¯re just working on the ships. Fortunately, we have plenty of hands.¡± ¡°I¡¯m concerned how the power grids are set up,¡± Devon said. ¡°Not in some sort of worries about danger, but societally I don¡¯t think these worlds can maintain what they are useful. No, I know they can¡¯t, as it functioned on the backs of slaves. And we have rather strong backs, so once we stand up straight it¡¯s hard to get us back down.¡± ¡°I have no issues there,¡± Byron said. ¡°I much prefer the cooperative approach myself. Unfortunately, I¡¯m cut off from my people. I know it¡¯s somewhat risky, but I¡¯d prefer to assault Turilia with priority.¡± ¡°It is a risk,¡± Devon agreed. ¡°But it would also be a decisive moment. If we can get the timing right and not have to face Elder Joetta¡­ I¡¯m sure it will work out. And I do have confidence, as we¡¯ll be coordinating with Anton.¡± ¡°A venerable elder such as that is a great boon. I felt his power. No, I still do, faintly.¡± ¡°The details on that are secret here,¡± Devon said. ¡°But I can say you¡¯re not wrong to feel it.¡± ¡°Are there many like the two of you? ¡­ Enrichment cultivators?¡± Byron asked. ¡°There are enough of us,¡± Devon replied. ¡°And as you know¡­ power can come from cooperation. Everything would function without us.¡± Discussion on cultivation followed, and while Devon was not the sort to combine his power with others directly, the details were of interest to him. Obviously the style he had paved the way for had some connection to the current hiveminds- though it didn¡¯t seem to be his intention. It was a side effect that even the Numerological Compact seemingly hadn¡¯t expected, as they had never thought to free anyone. Certainly not large groups all at once. ----- Preparations were made for the upcoming assault. The Alliance forces were being bolstered by local cultivators, but they couldn¡¯t wait forever. Strife might develop from those cultivators who had been free, and of course the Compact was likely advancing their own plans. Even if they¡¯d been beating them back consistently, they were not defeated just yet. The matter of Elder Joetta was one of concern, specifically the potential of the two Magnitude IV ships they were aware of working together. It was likely that, in addition to Devon, they would have their shields adapted to Anton. Yet if they could take out both ships at once, the enemy forces would have little to stand on. On the other hand, fighting them in sequence was less risky. The decision was made for them, however. News came of Elder Joetta¡¯s vessel and other ships heading to reinforce Turilia- or at least handle some business in the system. With Endymion¡¯s ship hopefully still being damaged, they still intended to make the assault soon. However, they also had to be certain they could keep a proper foothold. Anton would be binding the local star, and he had some good points about not leaving formation experts alone with that. Thus, they had to commit to any assault they made. While they could try to take over the third enemy system, it would be fairly meaningless if they couldn¡¯t take down any of the elders- and they couldn¡¯t occupy an unlimited number of planets while still having the mobility to deal with enemy forces. ----- Queenson waited, silently. The repairs had been completed. Now was time for the inspection. That might mean Elder Endymion showing up¡­ and if he did, it was best to deal with him directly. Sabotage might be all well and good if they could guarantee it would work, but the risk to their allies was high. Sadly, rather than Elder Endymion the person that showed up was just some old lady. Not strong enough to be another elder, in Queenson¡¯s assessment. So they just watched. ¡°Perfect,¡± she declared when she was done. ¡°Make sure nothing happens to it.¡± At that point, the core of the ship was left, for the first time since they had seen it, empty. Guarded, yes, but only on the outside. Most likely they would notice if the void ants caused any chaos, but¡­ they were here for subtlety. And more importantly, they were already inside. There was a brief thought, to simply keep waiting. Endymion would have to show up eventually to use the vessel. But no, Luci had a point. There were many other things they could do, instead of sitting around waiting. If only the Sergeant was still with them. But she wasn¡¯t, instead hopefully off doing other important things in space. The details on what happened there were still fuzzy. Chapter 970 The Alliance mobilized quickly, once it was time. They didn¡¯t want to leave any opportunity for the Numerological Compact to respond, so they would be going directly from system to system. While that would leave enough time for them to move things around in the same system as Turilia, they couldn¡¯t bring in any neighboring forces. So even if they realized they were going to face a concentrated assault, they shouldn¡¯t be able to do much. The forces included Anton and others coming from Kathariel, though this time they could be certain the enemy wouldn¡¯t outmaneuver them with regards to that base. Unless the enemy knew about their actions well ahead of time and went far off course from the direct line between systems¡­ but even most of their own fleet hadn¡¯t known precisely when they would move out. Besides, Anton would likely sense anyone powerful even a few lightyears away. The one thing they didn¡¯t consider was holding back, and not having Anton participate. Even if they faced off against the remaining two elders with no modifications on their part, it would be a tough battle. Anton was quite necessary. And though he didn¡¯t like binding stars without permission, against enemies he continued to make an exception. Practicality eventually won out over politeness. As soon as both fleets reached the system, Anton began the process of binding the star. He didn¡¯t feel the need to get close like Varghese did, though getting closer was still better. That would happen naturally as they approached their target. It didn¡¯t take long before the enemy was scrambling to action. Ships began to leave atmosphere one after another. If Anton simply wanted to destroy them, he could have shot them down. He didn¡¯t, both because of the hundreds of innocents on board, and because he didn¡¯t want to show them the difference in strength without a bound star. Once he finished binding the star, though, he would try to disable some of the ships. He was likely never going to be as effective as Ty Quigley, but he had done enough target practice that he thought he could blast a hole in the ship and swarm it with smaller arrows from his Energy Bows. If he failed¡­ well, Anton didn¡¯t like to think that casualties were necessary- perhaps inevitable, but never necessary. He sensed two larger sources of energy, one coming from Turilia itself and another from elsewhere in the system. ¡°I¡¯ve confirmed the presence of the two elders,¡± Anton said. Joetta was trying to cut off Devon¡¯s fleet, while Endymion was just leaving Turilia. Just before Joetta reached Devon, Anton finished his binding of the star. It was just a matter of a few minutes, when taken at a proper pace and using one of his more limited openings. He immediately shot a flurry of arrows towards Turilia, focusing on specific ships there. One Magnitude III ship, and a few at Magnitude II. His arrows flew forth and¡­ ran into some sort of barrier, well beyond the planet¡¯s atmosphere. That was valuable information to determine before they actually reached it. Anton immediately tested the whole planet, attacking from different angles just to see if the barrier stretched in all directions. Unsurprisingly it created a whole shell, shielding the ships defending the planet. In that case¡­ ¡°Should we join with Devon?¡± Anton asked. The strategists would be aware he would follow their advice, but he wanted to suggest it. There was a brief discussion, during which Anton targeted some of the slightly more distant ships in the unshielded fleet- at least, they had no unified barrier as far as he could tell. He wouldn¡¯t have put it past the Compact, to make their fleets a mobile formation. Then again, not all of their accomplishments truly belonged to them. Anton found that if he focused on the smallest ships, he could indeed disable them. Quite useful, as they only had a limited number. Perhaps two hundred at most. ¡°We¡¯ll continue onto Turilia,¡± the response came. ¡°The formation experts need to begin identifying the barrier. If you could cover our position¡­¡± Anton confirmed he understood, while shooting directly at Joetta¡¯s ship. Her barrier resisted both himself and Devon simultaneously. So they¡¯d continued to work on their adaptation¡­ but how would it do if he changed the qualities of his personal energy? He wasn¡¯t ignoring the fleet he traveled with, of course. It was just that they had another minute or two before reaching the danger zone. And if he could cause enough trouble, he might be able to draw the fleet out of the barrier to try to defend their allies. Light didn¡¯t do much. It wasn¡¯t as if Joetta was reacting personally, so even more extreme speed of his attacks didn¡¯t matter. Fire was slightly better, at least pushing the barrier further. As for Ascension energy, he wondered how many shots he could manage. He always kept training Fleeting Youth, and it mostly depended on how much of himself he put into each shot. But he could at least match the shot he¡¯d tried to use to take down Endymion. Except he didn¡¯t have to combine it with Realm Shot, so it wouldn¡¯t have its power dampened by lightyears of distance. At best, they were at one thousandth of that distance. Anton intended his shot to provide an opening for Devon. Instead, his attack punctured through the barrier directly, and he followed it through directly to Joetta. There was an inner barrier covering her location- and she drew on the power of the slaves to heighten her own defenses as well. The arrow burst inside, causing damage to the formations. Devon didn¡¯t manage to slip through the outer barrier, but with Ty Quigley cutting through enemy ships one after another- always a hair''s breadth from being blasted into oblivion himself- her fleet was flagging. Keeping her occupied was good enough. At the request of the formation masters, Anton shot several parts of Turilia¡¯s outer barrier. Then he was told to concentrate his fire on a single point. Sure enough, he broke through. While the damage repaired itself, it was clearly slower than normal. That was what happened when barrier were created further from the source of runes. Any sort of distance could lose power. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. There were two more factors pushing the power of Devon¡¯s fleet. Aside from the smaller ships piloted by hivemind members- and especially disciples of Devon¡¯s sect. The Shattered Chains were flying circles around the enemy, almost literally. Then there was one larger ship. That would be Byron, if Anton remembered him correctly from the few moments they had passed by each other. Anton had left to Kathariel almost immediately, so he just remembered him being broken away. Anton sensed some energy permeating the further battle, and was tempted to stretch forward and listen to the gossip. ¡°... think you can do anything with that? You¡¯ve lost centuries of cultivation.¡± That was Joetta, taunting Byron. He said nothing in return- until his weapons punched a hole in her barrier, allowing Devon to slip through. ¡°Seems I know how to use it better.¡± Instead of stopping Devon from getting closer, she focused her attacks on Byron¡¯s ship. But his barrier resisted, despite having in theory a tenth of the energy. Some part of that might be due to whatever damage Anton caused, but much more had to do with the man¡¯s energy control and quite possibly the cooperation of those on board. They wanted to live, after all, and were empowered to do something about it. The secondary battle was drifting towards Turilia, as they couldn¡¯t completely stop a fleet¡¯s momentum, simply harass them as they moved. Anton thought that might have been the main reason they weren¡¯t breaking into a proper retreat, because things were not going well for them. They needed to join up with the rest of their allies- and whatever secrets the planet had to offer. There would certainly be something. Devon had wrapped his chains around the inner barrier, and was slowly crushing it. Clearly the same adaptation that helped protect against specific energies still worked for that barrier, but it was difficult for Joetta to cause him much damage either. Anton would help shift that standoff more in a moment. ----- ¡°And just like that,¡± Queenson declared. ¡°They¡¯re down. Since everyone¡¯s distracted with the sky stuff.¡± Luci didn¡¯t understand him, because they didn¡¯t have nearly enough time for him to write anything down. ¡°Are you certain you wish to guard the entrance?¡± ¡°You¡¯re much bigger and have hands,¡± he pointed out. Then he gestured her in. How many cultivators could even fit in the front entrance anyway? Ten or twenty at once? Well, it would be a problem if they brought a thousand rats or something, but cultivators were something the void ants could handle. Ah, there they were. A confluence cultivator, literally chained to a bunch of others. That was new. And extremely inappropriate. So was the way they blasted the entrance with a huge beam of energy. The younger void ants could have been hurt! Or the people inside! But instead Queenson flew headfirst through it and chomped at the strings holding it together. That didn¡¯t perfectly dismantle it, but it was enough. Meanwhile, Luci and her friends were detaching people from the power station. Hopefully there would be more in other cities, but they¡¯d only briefly come in contact with other groups. Queenson flew over the reach of the cultivators, not that the chained ones looked motivated to try to slap him. The guy in the center- or was that a woman? Humans were about fifty fifty on that, which was weird. Whatever, the Confluence cultivator tried to blast Queenson out of the air. In a brilliant move, he pretended to be hit by the attack, spinning wildly as he tumbled towards the cultivator¡¯s head. The man then drew in the energy of those around him, creating a barrier. Queenson chomped it open directly. And then the man¡¯s lip. He was aiming for an eye, but the spinning set him off. The man screamed out and slapped at him. Queenson felt the impact¡­ and found himself tumbling into the man¡¯s mouth. Well, that was fine. The man had energy flowing all over through him, it wasn¡¯t hard to shove some of it directly upward. Ugh, now he was covered in blood, his wing was broken, and the man¡¯s mouth was stuck shut. Maybe he could wriggle around behind the back of the teeth? He only realized he could use the dispersing natural energy to cut a way out when he was already crawling along the cheek, and at that point he felt committed. A number of other cultivators- Numerological Compact, not chained ones- had charged the entrance and found themselves fighting numerous tiny foes. They would have done better to take the long route. It wasn¡¯t like such a big facility had only one entrance¡­ but that was why they went through the front and made sure it was obviously open. The energy around the city was changing. There were only a few hundred people staggering around, free from their restraints, but Queenson could feel it as he slipped out between the lips. A dozen cultivators were looking at him as he did so. No, the body. Ugh, now he had to break metal chains with his tiny jaws. The things he did for humans he didn¡¯t even know. At least the chains were enchanted with tasty energy. ----- When the secondary barrier around Turilia went down, everything happened at once. Both enemy fleets focused their fire on the two Magnitude IV ships- and artillery from the planet below also joined in. All of the energy from the various weapons was redirected from the incoming attacks through the ships. Devon had experienced that before, and he tried to do something about the ship he was focused on, but he was too slow to stop Joetta¡¯s control. The energy was all directed away from the ship, focused on Anton. A moment later, the section of sky Anton had been in was filled with nothing but beams of energy redirected from Joetta¡¯s ship. No Anton. Devon breathed a sigh of relief. Did they think that just because he was a sniper he didn¡¯t know how to dodge? Star Steps was a technique made by Everheart himself allowing for instantaneous changes in velocity. It almost looked like teleportation for those with slow senses. No, Anton hadn¡¯t come close because he needed to be. He was close specifically to be a target. It did mean he had to stop his assaults for a few moments, but the enemy fleets and the artillery below couldn¡¯t keep it up forever. Still, if his movements could be predicted Anton might be in trouble, and energy was still gathering on Endymion¡¯s ship. And gathering. And gathering. Then it reached a peak. Instead of being transformed into properly targeted attacks, the energy exploded outward in all directions from the outside of the ship. The shockwave sent ships from both fleets tumbling, though the energy was diffuse enough it didn¡¯t cause much direct damage. That was shocking and unexpected- both for Devon and Joetta. However, Devon recovered first- and along with a few arrows from Anton began to sink his chains into the core structure of Joetta¡¯s ship. Soon, he¡¯d break in. Endymion¡¯s ship still seemed structurally intact, but something about it felt¡­ dull. Devon still sensed the man¡¯s energy was vibrant, but the ship was clearly not functioning correctly. This was their chance to break the Numerological Compact. And Devon would enjoy it. Chapter 971 When Endymion¡¯s ship malfunctioned, Anton didn¡¯t spend a single moment thinking about whether it was a ploy or whether it was real. He simply acted. There was a brief break in the flurry of attacks from Elder Joetta¡¯s ship targeting Anton, and he called upon a burst of Ascension energy. Over a hundred smaller arrows followed along with his first shot, following it through the hole he tore in the ship. Outer and inner barriers were both pierced directly- their adaptations to Anton¡¯s energy being insufficient. The main arrow pierced straight through Endymion¡¯s heart- a risk, but a man such as him would not die immediately from such a move. Meanwhile the rest of his arrows simultaneously sought out parts of the formation. Even though the size and complexity of the larger ships was different, the core fundamentals were the same- and thus the reactive connections to the slaves could be cut off. With his heart pierced through, Endymion didn¡¯t just surrender his life. No, he did what any rational cultivator would do- at least those who were not expecting another life like the Twin Soul Sect. He immediately focused all of his energy on his heart, controlling the flow of his own blood. That only took a small portion of his actual energy, but a great quantity of his focus. Endymion did counter with attacks from the ship aimed vaguely at Anton or surrounding ships, but the energy beams were thin and insubstantial. Yes, something had very much limited his output of energy. His barriers had hardly begun to repair themselves when Anton shot volley after volley, moving to destroy arbitrary parts of the vessel¡¯s formations once he was certain there would be no feedback to the enslaved cultivators. Devon, meanwhile, had broken through to the core of Joetta¡¯s ship. Within moments, she was unable to connect to the energy of the fifty thousand or so individuals aboard. Rather than waiting for a formation master like Ashildr to properly dismantle the formations, Anton switched his focus. With Joetta¡¯s energy restrained, she was unable to control anything and the vital formations of her ship were quickly torn apart. That made it possible for Devon to completely seal her energy, instead of keeping her partly attached to the ships. An allied vessel was already boarding Endymion¡¯s ship to capture him. ¡°Your elders are defeated!¡± Anton flexed the power of Turilia¡¯s star, sending ripples of energy over the battlefield. The less populated planets in the system would feel that as well, though they might not hear his message directly. ¡°Cultivators of the Numerological Compact, surrender and you will have a chance to survive. Everyone else¡­ our quarrel was not with you.¡± It would have been nice if people neatly surrendered in such a situation- and some did- but the chaos of war was not always easily overcome. More importantly, the planet below was still in a state of chaos¡­ the barrier flickering oddly even though the assault on the planet itself had not yet begun. ----- ¡°Oooh!¡± Queenson felt the wave of energy. ¡°Anton¡¯s saying something! Hi Anton!¡± he waved, though he didn¡¯t expect any sort of response. Due to being in actual atmosphere, he actually managed to hear what Anton was saying, as he made actual use of sound waves once he touched the atmosphere and not simply relying on his natural energy to carry his voice. ¡°Yeah, they should surrender, you¡¯re right! Oh, I should go tell Luci and the others that they¡¯re on our side, in case they didn¡¯t know that.¡± But first¡­ he had to make sure things would be safe at the front. They¡¯d taken down several waves of attackers now, and with the way things were happening in space it was doubtful anyone would be so concerned with them at the moment. The first slaves freed from the power station were now able to move independently- and they rapidly began freeing the others. Queenson wondered when that ¡®hivemind¡¯ thing came into place, but it was fully natural for people to free those in a similar situation. They probably didn¡¯t ask Luci and the others too many questions. Choosing between perpetual slavery and anything else wasn¡¯t much of a choice, really. He flew into the building, following the signs of Luci¡¯s energy through the various hallways. The building was placed in regular segments so it wasn¡¯t difficult to go straight to her, but there were a couple odd turns where they could have had a straight hall and chose not to. Maybe for defensive purposes? For all the good it did them. Queenson flew in circles in front of Luci to get her attention. By that point, they were on the latter half of the massive power station. ¡°Anton is a friend,¡± he gestured. Obviously, he knew she didn¡¯t speak void ant sign- but the point was that he wanted to communicate. ¡°Is it urgent?¡± she asked. Queenson swayed back and forth. Urgent? Well, it both was and it wasn¡¯t. ¡°You rushed here during all of this. Is there immediate danger?¡± He shook his head. ¡°But it¡¯s still important, I presume?¡± He nodded. Fortunately, she carried ink with her now. Queenson wrote on the wall, not concerned about who was going to have to clean it up. ¡°Did you hear that voice?¡± ¡°Everyone did,¡± Luci nodded slowly. ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t say I¡¯ve encountered anyone like that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s Anton! We¡¯re friends!¡± Frankly, Queenson thought that explained more than enough. After all, his friends could be trusted. But Luci still had questions. ¡°How is he- no, that¡¯s not important. Is he¡­ safe?¡± ¡°For you,¡± Queenson replied. ¡°He¡¯s here to help. Truthful.¡± ¡°I¡­ suppose that anyone capable of making friends with exotic people such as yourself shouldn¡¯t be too terrible for fellow humans.¡± The planetary barrier trembled. ¡°... Are you sure?¡± ¡°Just don¡¯t protect bad guys,¡± Queenson wrote. Though by the time he finished that sentence, the barrier had broken open- partially because their local city was not supporting it, and likely from others. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Ships began to pour through the barrier, and Luci recognized the power in one of them. ¡°Byron! But he¡¯s in¡­ one of those ships.¡± Even as her face filled with worry, Queenson rapidly scrawled more. ¡°Trust your friends.¡± She sighed. ¡°Well, if he turned and chose to exterminate us or something¡­ we wouldn¡¯t be any worse off than we were before. And if your allies will free us¡­ even if they are not so grand as you say, we can only accept the results.¡± Queenson was very much beginning to feel it, now. The connections, all around him. He turned his senses towards some of the freed cultivators. They had almost completely freed everyone in this facility, as they had more and more active people to take apart the restraints. The bonds between them strengthened with each one. And then¡­ a flow stretched to the north. Then east, west, south, and every angle in between. Even though the planet itself, the strength of the bonds grew so strong. A ripple of energy covered the planet. It was beautiful and terrifying. Queenson hoped the planet didn¡¯t blow up. There was an explosion¡­ but that was just the building they were in, being blasted apart from inside out. All of the cultivators acted as one, obliterating the structure that had held them captive. So many acting in concert was something that could be felt from anywhere on the planet, and it repeated one by one. Even in places that Queenson was fairly certain they hadn¡¯t sent anyone to free the slaves. ----- Within a few minutes from when the first group acted, Anton felt the whole planet light up. Immediately, the only flow of energy around the planet came from one thing. The local hivemind. There was a slight background hint of unassociated cultivators, but the planetary barrier had nothing powering it, and all of their formations that relied on slaves to power them were completely empty. The ripples of power spread not only from one city to another- a previously unseen phenomenon- but also up into space, and the remaining ships that had been trying to regroup on the other side of the planet or that were beginning their retreat to other planets. The energy of each individual was negligible, but millions became tens of million, hundreds of millions, until over a billion lives were networked together. Anton felt surges of energy that broke the shackles on the ships, the barely conscious cultivators aboard then using the rest of their energy to kill the Confluence cultivators aboard. Something different happened on Byron¡¯s ship, however. The ripples of energy and the grand web of connection expanded from the planet, washing over and around his ship- but crashing into it like waves around a rock. Some combined flow of the consciousness might have recognized something similar, or perhaps even the way the ship had been changed. The same happened with all the segments of smaller hiveminds, the energy waves circumventing them. And cultivators like Anton and the others of the Alliance were left alone, as the force for the most part sought out the Numerological Compact. Most likely, all of their members on or around the planet were dead. A decisive purge¡­ and the will of so many people was not something that could be resisted. Even Anton might have only been barely able to shield himself by hiding inside his star, not that he could have reached it. The escalation was so rapid, nobody was really able to react. The majority of structures had remained intact, and it seemed that the unassociated cultivators were by and large in good health. They were for the most part potential slaves for the Compact, after all. Anton was glad that these hiveminds seemed to understand that, even though they could have simply lashed out at anyone that was not them. Though of course, some were part of the problem. Had they been dealt with, like on Waral? Or was that something that would come later? It was difficult to tell, with everything that had happened. There was no shortage of death and destruction. But hopefully, it would lead to something better. A twisted cord of energy reached up to Anton, lingering in front of him. ¡°You will not harm us,¡± an echoey voice declared. ¡°No, I never intended to,¡± Anton replied, projecting his sincerity. The twisted energy recoiled slightly. ¡°Why are you here?¡± thousands of voices asked. ¡°I could say to free you¡­ but mostly because my grandson wanted that, and needed my help.¡± ¡°The one of chains,¡± the voices said. ¡°Yes. You know, you can just speak to Devon.¡± Was that¡­ embarrassment? Anton certainly felt a wave of emotion from the planet. ¡°We will also do so. But our conversation will continue here. We feel you in the star. Or the star in you. Why is that?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s my cultivation. I needed the power to fight this battle. I¡¯m not planning to try to take away your system¡¯s power.¡± ¡°Why?¡± the voices sounded confused. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You have strength. Why not take advantage of it?¡± ¡°I do. But I don¡¯t need to take strength from others, when it could be given freely.¡± Voices murmured indistinctly. ¡°Your people are strange. We have spoken to all of them. And our own. It makes no sense.¡± ¡°That¡¯s just because you¡¯ve been brought up in horrible circumstances,¡± Anton said. ¡°It will make plenty of sense later, when we¡¯re friends.¡± ¡°But what if we do not become friends?¡± the voices replied. ¡°What if we acted as enemies?¡± ¡°Well, I understand why you would be upset at the world. But if you were the type I think we¡¯d already be dead, here. And there¡¯s no reason we shouldn¡¯t become friends. We¡¯ve met others of your people. And we did come to help.¡± ¡°... Nobody ever meant it before.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sorry to hear that.¡± There was silence for a time- at least around Anton. He could feel numerous cords of entangled energy stretched all over. Fortunately, they should get reasonably unified answers. Plus some stuttering bafflement, but Anton imagined the hivemind would understand that with the combined insight of its members. ¡°... What are these ants?¡± the voices asked. ¡°They seem to be associated with some who helped free us?¡± ¡°Yes, those are our friends,¡± Anton said. ¡°We sent them to spy on the Numerological Compact. Can you point me to them so I can pick them up?¡± A line of energy directed Anton, and his senses picked up the lack of anything that indicated void ants. ¡°Great. Do you mind if I land? This is your planet, after all.¡± ¡°We sense your truth. We appreciate you asking, and grant your request.¡± Anton flew down towards the city he was directed to. Clearly some of the cultivators nearby were nervous, but he landed gently near Queenson, and the rest. ¡°Hi Anton!¡± Queenson waved. ¡°Oh, sorry. I mean¡­ greetings, Sect Head.¡± ¡°Well hello Queenson,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°I see you¡¯ve made some friends.¡± ¡°... Can you actually understand him?¡± a woman nearby asked. ¡°I was the first human to learn the language. Which ultimately makes me something like the second ever, as it was still being developed at the time.¡± Anton looked around. ¡°You¡¯re not part of the hivemind, I see. We can get you connected to people who can help explain what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°I tried to explain,¡± Queenson signed. ¡°I¡¯m sure you did,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you know it¡¯s hard.¡± ¡°Writing is difficult,¡± he agreed. Chapter 972 After the victory on Turilia, the Numerological Compact was defeated forever and there were no continuing problems with them. That was the ending Anton would have liked. After all, hadn¡¯t they killed all of the important ones? Everyone else would just lay down and die after that. That would have been quite convenient, but that was not how humans worked. If they believed they would die, they would do pretty much everything to try to survive. And since the spread of information from the planet wasn¡¯t completely cut off, they were aware of what was happening. The rest of the system was taken over in short order, before anyone organized any sort of viable defense. While the hivemind had chained across Turilia, it had not spread so far as to reach other planets. But dealing with the rest of that system was easy enough. However, they still had to deal with the Yoron system, which had by and large managed to stay out of the skirmishes. It was between the size of the other systems, and without any of their elders it should have been relatively easy to remove the Numerological Compact from power. Unfortunately, before an assault could be prepared they received a message. The message itself was clear and concise. Should any ships- or cultivators without a ship- enter their system, they would kill all of their slaves. Obviously, they knew what the Alliance cared about. And even though following through with that threat would lead to complete societal collapse, they still had to be taken seriously. After all, if they already believed they were going to die¡­ they might feel it was an appropriate reaction. To be fair, they were right. The cultivators of the Numerological Compact were by and large going to die, and trying to hold an entire system hostage wasn¡¯t exactly doing them any favors. But in turn, it caused some trouble. ----- A council was quickly gathered to discuss the problem, specifically from those who were trusted. That included members of the different hiveminds, based on the system they had already freed. And of course Alliance cultivators. Those ¡®neutral¡¯ cultivators that made up the largest portion of the local population were the greatest risk, and very few of them were included- only those vouched for by members of the hiveminds or Byron¡¯s group. ¡°Taking this threat seriously, as we must,¡± Anton said. ¡°We either need to act decisively before they can accomplish whatever they are buying time for¡­ or give ourselves proper time to come up with a solution. With a few months time, the Alliance might be capable of countering whatever they have set up, but it would still come with risks. And there isn¡¯t much we can do faster besides a direct assault. As it chiefly concerns your people¡­¡± Anton looked to the locals. ¡°The decision making will be in your hand. We intend to help you weigh the risks and help you in whatever way you decide.¡± ¡°Months¡­¡± Ammar spoke. ¡°I think we can agree that is too long, if they are not already prepared to act. Those of us here believe them to be bluffing to some extent. Most likely, they could only partially accomplish their threat. The losses might be acceptable, to prevent worse.¡± The local hivemind of Turilia had their mouthpiece speak next. An old woman who went by the name of Ramalas. ¡°We agree in spirit. However, even if we should manage an approach in secret, how long would they have to respond? An hour would be sufficient time to perform a slaughter, if they were well prepared.¡± ¡°What of the void ants?¡± Ammar asked. Anton translated for the Sergeant. ¡°There aren¡¯t enough of us present to meaningfully impact a sizable planet in a short time. And any capsule carrying us close could potentially be noticed.¡± She paused. ¡°We will help, of course, but we would not wish to be the catalyst.¡± ¡°Can we get messages to them?¡± Aerona asked. ¡°No, to the planet in general?¡± ¡°What is your plan?¡± Ramalas questioned. ¡°It is possible. But unlikely they would negotiate for something we could convincingly promise.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t thinking we should negotiate with the Numerological Compact,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Instead, we should contact the other sects, if it can be done in a reasonable fashion.¡± ¡°One moment,¡± Ramalas said. ¡°There is another message that just arrived.¡± She furrowed her brow. ¡°They are calling for the complete withdrawal of the Lower Realms Alliance forces from the region.¡± ¡°We can do that,¡± Anton said. ¡°If it¡¯s actually beneficial.¡± ¡°Perhaps that can be part of the plan,¡± Ramalas said. ¡°We have many thoughts. Your ships cannot be noticed without provoking them. However, if we state your agreement then you will be able to move your ships. They are fast, are they not?¡± ¡°Comparatively,¡± Devon agreed. ¡°Meanwhile, our local ships will still be expected to trade between our systems. Not with Yoron, of course. Not at the moment. But we could transport a large number of us offworld, to meet up with your ships.¡± ¡°So it would be an assault?¡± Devon asked. ¡°We can agree, of course, but the risks are high.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°We speak of us here,¡± the voice that came was not from Ramalas, but from the combined energy of the local hivemind. ¡°Should we manage to bring a sufficient quantity of us, we may be able to trigger an awakening within the people of the system, allowing them to free themselves. Like what happened with us, but planned.¡± Byron cleared his throat. He and some of his associates were present as well. ¡°Coordinating such a large amount of energy will be difficult. Specifically between your groups. I don¡¯t know how much I can aid that, but I should have some success.¡± ¡°We will have to find a moment to experiment,¡± Ammar agreed. ¡°Now, what if the plan fails?¡± The Turilia hivemind replied directly. ¡°Then we save as many as we can. Are we in agreement that waiting brings many risks?¡± Other hiveminds from different cities on Waral, Alyni, or various other planets concurred- at least based on the members they had present. ¡°Should we wait several months,¡± one of them said, ¡°Any imperfection in the plan of the Alliance might prove fatal. And you yourselves have acknowledged a lack of perfection.¡± ¡°It would be hypocritical to say otherwise,¡± Devon agreed. ¡°And a plan involving your own people¡­ you are the ones with the greatest stakes. We would be glad to support you.¡± ¡°We should contact more of our members,¡± Ammar said. ¡°Everyone can bring sufficient supplies for themselves for a few days.¡± ¡°I have one thing to add,¡± Aerona said. ¡°We should delay just slightly. If we seem indecisive, they will be more relaxed. Coming to an agreement here within the hour¡­ would be a warning sign that we had a plan. Perhaps we should respond by appearing as if we wish to negotiate for the Alliance to stay. That would give some time to begin gathering locals, though doing that subtly¡­¡± ¡°It will be easier than you think,¡± Ramalas said. ¡°We already move rather suspiciously. A large crowd of us passing by streets, only for a few to disappear towards some ships¡­ nobody would notice. We are aware they fear us. Even whoever spread information, intentionally or not.¡± ¡°I would gladly help with wording the responses,¡± Aerona said. ¡°And gauging their reactions. I would know how far we can push the negotiations. We simply have to decide on our approach. Forceful? Timid? The former provides more volatile results, but might gain more time while they likely aren¡¯t implementing their plans.¡± ----- The Numerological Compact wasn¡¯t made of complete fools. While for the most part negotiations went as planned, they threw a couple wrenches into things. Twists such as requiring Anton and Devon to remain visible on Turilia while the Alliance pulled out of the systems. That was a request difficult to counter. It wasn¡¯t as if they were required for the fleets to return through safe territory, nor would they be obviously placed in danger. The time it took messages to go back and forth between the systems was approximately an hour, plus the time to concoct responses. Negotiations were ongoing for about a day, before the Alliance officially agreed to the terms. There was no particular enforcement method except the Numerological Compact¡¯s threats. It was clear who held the power, but the compact believed they had sufficient leverage¡­ and they weren¡¯t entirely wrong. The Compact might value their own lives above a population tens of times greater, but the Alliance was not so callous or spiteful to want to take them out at any cost. The negotiations ended with both sides believing they won. Hopefully, the Alliance was right. Their ships began withdrawing from the systems, leaving where they could be detected. A complex set of rendezvous points had been set up, as fortunately there were quite a few individuals with organizational talent- and the hiveminds were quite capable of such themselves. Anton waited. The worst part was doing nothing. He couldn¡¯t safely keep his eyes on what was happening, so he kept his senses local. He stopped a few petty crimes, and dealt with some larger incidents as well. The population of Turilia wasn¡¯t exactly full of well adjusted individuals with a balanced system to rely on. The hivemind permeating the planet could only pick up what its individual members noticed, and little more- and people tried not to commit crimes when they knew they were being watched. It didn¡¯t bother Anton to see what people were doing. He understood humans well, and that it took quite a long time to drift away from a mindset that looked out only for the individual. It also took time to develop the wisdom that selfish acts weren¡¯t always even beneficial to the person doing them. These were planets that had centuries of terrible role models to rely upon, so they couldn¡¯t be blamed. But that wasn¡¯t going to stop him from putting an arrow through some people- though most got off with one floating right in front of them as a warning. ----- Nothing about the plan was perfect. They didn¡¯t have formations to help fuse their energy- except a few slower ships already retrofitted. The Turilia hivemind had only been free for less than a week, and was far more widespread than any other. Yet that could potentially mean that a smaller portion of them would coordinate less effectively. There were many unknowns, but there was no time to test and verify. If the Numerological Compact chose to, they could likely destroy any safety mechanisms for their power stations. A surge of energy would potentially be able to kill an entire planet full of enslaved cultivators- or worse, trigger city-leveling explosions in all of them. Yet making that an intentional part of things would take time. There were no indications that Yoron had been working on those plans before Turilia had been freed, so they should only be half implemented. Ships were packed full of cultivators from the hiveminds, and an air of nervousness spread between them. And yet, it never grew to be unbearable. An individual in a group going off to war might find things too much for them, but these were not individuals. As much as their connection built their nervousness higher, the camaraderie helped calm them down as well. They had a plan. They would make it work. Even in the worst case scenario, they were confident they were making the right move. Allowing the Numerological Compact to continue to occupy the Yoron system, to build up defenses or to expand all while continuing to enslave more and more people to power everything they did¡­ that was worse than them dying. That was not the judgment of outsiders, but the full hiveminds that had been in the same situation as recently as a week ago- and no longer than a few months. But they would save their people. This was a unique opportunity, and if the consequences of failure were too dire to imagine¡­ they would simply not fail. Slowly, that confidence spread within each hivemind- and between groups, as they engaged with each other as individuals and communities. Chapter 973 From all sides of Yoron, the final system controlled by the Numerological Compact, fleets approached together. Their mission was to free everyone still enslaved, with the knowledge that those same people were directly under threat. The required timing left open only a very small window- they had to be close enough to actually do something without the enemy forces having reacted. Most of the population was present on inner terrestrial planets, though some portion of it existed on the moons of gas giants or otherwise in and among the outer planets. The combined fleet, Alliance ships packed full of as many locals as they could fit, moved synchronously towards their targets. They were barely inside the system when Numerological Compact fleets responded. The exact trigger was unclear, even in the aftermath. All that was clear was that the intermingled members of the hiveminds called upon their energy together, perhaps prompted by a single individual or perhaps some connection between them making them decide. Either way, everyone acted in concert. From every angle, gathered strands of energy pushed towards their targets. None of the individual cultivators were prepared to reach out for the distances involved, but together they created a stable structure. Planetary barrier weakened their efforts, but on the outer planets said barriers were weaker- and there was one important mitigating factor. That energy was precisely what they intended to reach. The energy of the barrier traced back towards those enslaved to support said barriers. A pulse of thought and meaning from the various coordinated hiveminds made the cultivators react. City by city they provoked a chain reaction much like what happened on Turilia. However, it never stopped. The flow of energy from one to the other spread not only between cities on a single planet, but the surge of energy that followed from vast numbers of cultivators being freed came with an instinctual joining of their energy. At the edge of the systems, the combined energy of various ships were like streams that fed into the planets, which then grew into proper rivers as they dove deeper into the system. There, they connected with those already working. Along the way, ships were swept up in the flow- every Numerological Compact ship carrying between hundreds and tens of thousands of enslaved cultivators used as batteries. The outside forces overcame the confines of the formations limiting them, power surging and tearing through the Numerological Compact¡¯s protections. The first of the inner planets was reached by the tide of energy so quick that it was impossible to react to- it was outside of the hands of any individual, and even the hiveminds hardly knew what part they had in the surge. They only knew that it had to continue. On the outer planets and the ships streaming forward to intercept the incoming fleet, formations began to burst as their energy capacities were surpassed by orders of magnitude over what was expected. That surge of energy carried to the inner planets, crashing against their barriers- and intertwining with the energy there. That signal reached the people on the planet below, destroying their physical and mental bonds. The event was far more forceful than what had happened with Turilia, as formations all over the planet exploded- and everything was covered in formations. However, while the surge of energy was already uncontrollable, it also wasn¡¯t inherently destructive. Walls cracked and ceilings crumbled as formations were torn apart within them, but the energy never concentrated enough in any single point to replicate the tragedy on Waral, where an entire city and the surrounding area had detonated from the inside. The surge of energy continued, covering the most populated planets in an instant. The energy of millions had stretched out throughout the system, each strand ground tenuous and weak on its own- but with each they freed they grew stronger. Excess energy tore apart formations meant to channel natural energy into something like the Compact¡¯s will. The energy was also directed against said cultivators- those on the ships first, followed shortly by the people on the planets. The flood of energy had some sort of motive from the combined will of the people, not causing completely wanton destruction, but collateral damage had been part of it from the very beginning of the path. The surge did not end with cultivators of the Numerological Compact, instead seeking out those ¡®neutral¡¯ cultivators. Those who had been potential slaves, while at the same time some portion of them were contributing to the system that would lead to their inevitable ruin. Energy surged through them, directed by a combined purpose that no individual could fully comprehend. As quickly as it had come, the surge of energy found itself at the end of the path. Everyone on the planets freed, the formations binding and draining them destroyed. With no further targets, the energy came to a halt. Then, like waves upon a beach, the energy withdrew- pulling away more or less along the route it had come. It was unclear whether it was the initial surge or the withdrawal that caused most of the casualties. Most of the sensory equipment within the fleets were blown out from the surge of energy. All that was clear was that when the dust settled, somewhere around a third of the former slaves had perished. Those proportions remained true both within the ships and on planets. Unassociated cultivators also experienced something similar, though in smaller proportions. Somewhere around twenty percent of them ended up as casualties, some being severely injured with their cultivations ruined while others perishing directly. It was unclear if that was many or few, considering that without a previous connection they had been directly drawn into the new hivemind of Yoron. Many of those who had been helping to direct the energy from a prominent position- including Byron and the local experts associated with him- experienced the same. Byron himself survived, though he was in critical condition with his meridians overloaded and his dantian heavily injured. All of the Numerological Compact fleets were completely without mobility, and a portion of the Lower Realms Alliance ships had to function purely on the basis of technological components, their formations burnt out. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Yet in all of that, the faces of the hivemind cultivators both living and dead were filled with contentment. Those who had oppressed them were eradicated, and they took solace in that fact. With many of their ships crippled, landing all of the cultivators on the closest planets was an ordeal- but one that was aided by the locals. Ships dropped off anyone not part of their crew- leaving for the most part members of the Alliance on board- only to leave atmosphere and go immediately to begin gathering people from Numerological Compact ships, or any vessel not functioning well enough to land in atmosphere on its own. ----- Anton and Devon felt what had happened more clearly than everyone else on Turilia- even more than the planet wide hivemind. The surge of energy in the neighboring system was the greatest thing they had ever felt. ¡°... I¡¯m not sure what I expected, to be honest,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°What do you think happened?¡± ¡°Same thing as here. But it seems when it¡¯s done with intention, the effects stretch further. That energy¡­ it doesn¡¯t feel like a catastrophic surge. I can¡¯t feel any individuals at that distance, however, especially not with the remaining energy ripples disrupting me. So we¡¯ll have to wait for a message.¡± ¡°How long?¡± ¡°From a neighboring system? Potentially an hour, now.¡± ¡°I hope this dread is from within me,¡± Devon said. Anton breathed out slowly. ¡°Many people are dead. But I believe we will be able to accept the result, compared to what could have been.¡± ¡°I suppose we have to,¡± Devon said. ¡°The past can¡¯t be changed.¡± The two of them in particular were some of the few people from the Alliance still on Turilia- given the demands, they had to help with the deception by pretending to go along with things. That meant staying where they could be felt. They exchanged a look the moment before someone knocked on their door. After the fist rang, Anton called for the woman outside to enter. ¡°Is there something you need?¡± She shook her head. ¡°We came to inquire if you were aware of the results.¡± A mouthpiece for the hivemind- which was much more pleasant than it speaking directly with combined voices. Turilia had learned that normal people didn¡¯t particularly enjoy that, though Anton and Devon weren¡¯t as off-put as others. ¡°Only tangentially,¡± Anton replied. ¡°We felt the surge, but there¡¯s no clear result. Except that Yoron should be generally intact, still.¡± The woman looked up into the sky. ¡°There is something¡­ calling for us.¡± ¡°Another hivemind?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Initial impressions indicate a similar result,¡± the woman replied. A very long way to say ¡®yes¡¯. ¡°What do they say?¡± Anton prompted. ¡°They reach out.¡± She closed her eyes. ¡°Our brethren throughout the system are connecting to them.¡± ¡°If you want advice,¡± Devon said. ¡°I believe we are woefully inexperienced in this topic. Can you detect any malice?¡± Rather than answering directly, the results came in the form of additional threads of connection stretching from the planet. Then, she looked at the two of them. ¡°Little has changed, except we are connected to the rest of those within this system. Yoron is¡­ distant. As if behind a veil.¡± ¡°Well, they are a handful of lightyears distant,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°... Waral is close,¡± the mouthpiece said. ¡°Why is that? The population is smaller.¡± Devon frowned. ¡°You¡¯re connected there as well? Perhaps it had something to do with the length of their connection.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t think that¡¯s it. The stars are resonating with each other.¡± He stood. ¡°I need to go take a look at Yoron. To speak with them.¡± ¡°I suppose there¡¯s nothing tying us here,¡± Devon agreed. ¡°Though¡­ am I needed locally?¡± he looked at the mouthpiece. ¡°We will be fine for the near future. Though it seems likely we will need your continued guidance for transitioning out society. And perhaps food, in the near future.¡± ¡°If the war is over,¡± Anton said. ¡°It will be much more viable for us to send supplies.¡± It wouldn¡¯t be exactly easy to supplement the food needs of several systems, but there was a certain amount of excess within the Alliance. They certainly had emergency stores, and they could focus on replacing those without disrupting normal lives. Still, local growth would be critical for these systems. There was going to be a lot of farming necessary. Anton thought that would be good for them. But first¡­ he had to see if there were any more urgent matters to take care of. ----- Several rounds of messages were exchanged while Anton was in transit to Yoron. It would take him barely a day to reach them, but the situation was explained in detail. The details increased the urgency of the situation, with much of the local infrastructure being devastated. Yet in some ways, it was actually a good thing. Anton was never going to say massive losses of life and property were good, but the free flow of energy was something he was a great proponent of. The whole ecosystem needed to maximize energy levels to grow, not just wherever a sect could contain. This was going to be a massive project. They¡¯d barely started work on Waral and throughout that system, and transforming a system wasn¡¯t something that could be done overnight. Then there was another matter. With many unassociated cultivators being pulled into the hivemind that sprang up in Yoron, it had simply been an unintended consequence. Obviously they had anticipated all of the former slaves, but for the rest of the population to be drawn in? That was something else. Members of the Lower Realms Alliance hadn¡¯t been expecting that sort of risk at all¡­ but some of them had been drawn in. As far as anyone had ever been able to tell, everyone who remained in the hiveminds was willing. Waral had been around long enough for people unhappy with the situation to withdraw. Thus it was both surprising and not that surprising that Grain and the locusts ended up as part of the hivemind. They were literally on the edge of such a structure themselves. They had simply been along to help with the ship-to-ship combat that hadn¡¯t really happened. Yet apparently, when they¡¯d felt something calling out¡­ they¡¯d naturally joined. Anton found all of that out when they were among the first come to greet him. He wasn¡¯t upset, but it was worrying for them to be drawn into something they had no guarantee was stable long term. The new systems would be an important focus for the Alliance for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, they only had to deal with the nearly complete lack of functioning infrastructure in Yoron and reworking everything in the other systems to deal with voluntary labor rather than forced extraction. Anton couldn¡¯t help with any of that, except for the parts that had to do with farming. Which was actually quite a big part of things, and Grain would have to agree. His name wasn¡¯t Cultivates and Consumed Grain for nothing. Chapter 974 Instead of arrows, Anton found himself shooting forth seeds. He could hardly compete with a workforce of millions or more, but providing an example was still valuable. He could at least set up one field¡­ though simply looking at it would lose the nuances of the important balancing factors. The location on the planet and the season were significant factors in sunlight and temperature, and particular crops would need specific seed depth, watering schedules, and other care. One example was insufficient, but there was a significant advantage in the Yoron system. While he still had to answer the questions for various different circumstances, that information didn¡¯t have to be relayed to every individual. Indeed, Yoron was completely connected together as a single hivemind so his main limitation was how quickly questions could be formed and answered. ¡°You can plant your fields full of the most efficient crops that will provide the most food in a single season,¡± Anton explained. ¡°But a year from now, your bodies and minds will crave variety, and so will the earth.¡± Of course, most likely there were enough farmers among them to properly understand crop rotations and how variety was important. The things that Anton truly needed to explain were how natural energy was best incorporated into the farming process. ¡°Likewise, you can let crops grow naturally. If you infuse your energy into them this year, perhaps at the end you will come out with less energy. But if you start now, in a decade you will see results planetwide. In a century, you will come out ahead. We have all sorts of charts, if that interests you.¡± Unlike most places, Yoron as a system had an actual opportunity for everyone to work together towards a common goal. Improving the growth of natural energy on their planets would likewise help with personal goals, and with the hivemind they would actually be able to share a mutual understanding. With Yoron¡¯s rise, a tangential connection to other systems and their local hiveminds was also established. According to what they had learned, it was more of a mutual awareness than the same connection as locals. Even with the two stars providing a bridge, the other two systems were not precisely unified, nor were their entire populations part of the same hivemind. Individuals still existed, and seemed able to join or leave a hivemind- though repeating the process frequently seemed to have negative effects. Not that it happened often. Those who didn¡¯t wish to be part of one would stay with their individuality, while those who chose to join felt vindicated. The rest had mainly been cautious experiments. There was an intention for Anton to bind to Yoron¡¯s star- but only after a decade had elapsed and they could validate some of the longer term consequences. Only then would the strongest hivemind be connected in that manner, if they hadn¡¯t found any reasons not to do so. It was an interesting side effect, that Anton¡¯s bound stars brought the systems themselves into greater closeness. There had been no particular observation of that effect in their core systems, with Weos, Ceretos, and Rutera- but there had been so much cross-pollination between them that a similar sort of energy would have only seemed natural. Now there was something for people like Matija and others to study. If bound stars provided a bridge between systems, what did that mean? Perhaps it was not something that could be practically taken advantage of except in special cases like the former domain of the Numerological Compact, but nobody really knew. Not even Anton. The connections existed through him, but he felt his connections to the bound stars directly so it didn¡¯t stand out to him that the stars were in turn connected to each other. It didn¡¯t seem to affect their actual functioning as stars, which was something he paid very close attention to. ----- If the Lower Realms Alliance didn¡¯t operate with a sense of caution, the three systems would already have joined officially within the first few months of their freedom. As it was, they would definitely be the systems with the shortest time of mutual awareness to joining the Alliance. Obviously the public approval was somewhat skewed due to the hiveminds, but even the unassociated cultivators had a positive opinion of the Alliance. Once they had an appropriate amount of time to understand that they really did come with motives beneficial to them, it was likely that those remaining would also support the connection. And if there was some reason they ultimately preferred independence, that was an acceptable solution. Either way, they had little choice but to accept the Alliance¡¯s help for a time, as the systems were expectedly unstable. Yoron was both the worst off and the best. With there being a unified hivemind, they were working with great efficiency. The downside of course was that the vast majority of their formations had been destroyed in the energy surge, leaving them lacking in basic functionality in many ways. That included everything, including running mills and forges as well as providing important services like providing water to homes and collecting sewage. Fortunately, the latter examples were mostly functional without power, except the final purification of the collected waste. With food being distributed between systems, nobody was in danger of starving- and in Yoron, at least, they could be certain that was true of literally everyone. Even so, to properly implement the various growth structures the Alliance had they needed more than manual labor. Cultivators could make unsuitable tools functional, but they needed to replace or retrofit all of their formations to function with their new developing system. On the planets that still had a mostly functioning energy grid, the main intention was to replace the way they gathered energy. Nobody was keen to be restrained, but providing a steady flow of energy was an occupation that would be necessary. For the moment, they only had a small portion functioning. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The methods of growing natural energy weren¡¯t just limited to farming- that was just the most direct and basic one. Without food, nobody would survive. Plants weren¡¯t just for food, of course, as they could also be turned into clothing or medicine. But just like on their other planets, an inclusion of natural energy into every aspect of life had astounding effects. Plants might have been the only thing that literally grew, but infusions of natural energy into clothing and tools while they were being made ended up with better, more durable tools. That was outside of specific enchantments, just the additional care and precision a cultivator could provide. When everything provided some of that natural energy back to the surroundings, the ambient levels grew- allowing people to better cultivate, and letting the cycle continue to grow. There was sufficient knowledge of formations in the local area that the Alliance¡¯s knowledge of technology was mostly superfluous, at least until they built back up to a higher tier. As it was, the majority of the knowledge still lived among them- or was being salvaged from the Numerological Compact¡¯s vaults, where techniques they had stolen or developed on their own had been stored. With nobody to defend it all, retrieving everything just took time. ----- The Numerological Compact¡¯s connection to the upper realms had been clear fairly early on. They were a sect known in the Exalted Quadrant, though they hadn¡¯t stood out compared to any of the other sects. Not as far as those living in the upper realms had yet seen. Now, they had to wonder how much information had been shared with the upper realms. It seemed they had somewhat more efficient communication methods than most of the others discovered, though testing the exact strength was difficult as they couldn¡¯t exactly expect the upper realms to cooperate with them. And they had no reason to risk messages being intercepted if they built something of their own in the upper realms. They would have to do with studying what they had. There was about half a cycle left before the next heightening of the Tides of the World. Three centuries or less, in which time the systems would need to grow to defend themselves. There was no reason to believe the Exalted Quadrant wouldn¡¯t find offense, and though what information they had received about the war was unclear expecting retaliation was only reasonable. In the worst case, they became strong and able to withstand an assault and nothing came. It would be a different matter if they were still reliant on the rest of the Alliance at that time and needed reinforcements, but for the moment things were very promising. They hadn¡¯t lost all of their more experienced cultivators- mostly those of the Numerological Compact- and they still had access to their cultivation techniques. More, even, and shared more freely. Confluence cultivators- proper ones like Byron who effectively used the energy given to them instead of stolen power- would most likely be a staple of their society. The hiveminds were able to coordinate their energy, but having a single stronger individual to serve as an anchor point for their efforts would likely increase efficiency. On the matter of cultivation, the hiveminds were overflowing fonts of devotion. Devon received much of it, and Anton found himself highly regarded as well. The effects were many times stronger than an equivalent population elsewhere, both through the strength of the feelings- they had been freed from slavery or potential slavery- as well as the unity of the hiveminds. How much that would affect the growth of Devon and Anton in the future, or of their own cultivators, wasn¡¯t entirely clear. But there were high expectations all around. ----- ¡°So how is it?¡± Anton asked the locust, Cultivates and Consumed Grain. ¡°Being part of a hivemind, I mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s great!¡± Grain replied. ¡°I think this is highly suited for us. Humans seem to require far greater numbers to make a stable group, but I believe we could form a stable connection with just a thousand or so. And if not¡­ well, there are plenty of us. The meerkats might be interested too.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°They¡¯re highly communal, so there¡¯s certainly much to learn here. But a hivemind might not be their preferred method.¡± ¡°Right. I can¡¯t wait for us to get back to Akrys, though! I just hope the link lasts for us. We¡¯re only still here because we want a reliable way to get it back if we lose it. Even with all of Yoron, it¡¯s hard to get the proper insights. Or at least to disseminate them to the whole.¡± ¡°It¡¯s interesting,¡± Anton said. ¡°It is a connection of natural energy, but also a mental connection, right? How is it that you joined with humans?¡± ¡°We¡¯re good at being part of a group,¡± Grain explained. ¡°And our thoughts work together to make something that fits with humans. Besides, most of our thoughts aren¡¯t in our brains.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I suppose that¡¯s true of many residents of Akrys,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°And perhaps most cultivators, beyond a certain point. Cultivation goes far beyond our physical body.¡± Anton knew that various people studied the mind of cultivators, but it was a topic that was very dense and difficult to understand. Void ants had always been of interest, as they literally didn¡¯t have brains big enough to support complex thought- and they didn¡¯t augment that with energy the same way humans did. Akrys had provided many more examples of people with thoughts that didn¡¯t match physical brain capacity. Ultimately, it was clear there was something different about awakened species but explaining what it was aside from something to do with energy was an endeavor just as challenging as binding oneself to a star. There was one final reason Grain and the others had not returned to Akrys. The former Compact systems were under a loose quarantine. It wasn¡¯t as a matter of distrust, or at least not directly. It was possible the hiveminds were capable of lying about their intentions and the way they functioned en masse¡­ but the main issue was a matter of stability. And while the Alliance was quite welcoming of different people, people would obviously be hesitant about the idea. The local residents merely had it forced upon them by circumstances, mainly as a way to try to save as many lives as possible. Only time would tell if they truly succeeded, but given the circumstances the results seemed acceptable. The hiveminds were sometimes unnerving and troublingly decisive, but they didn¡¯t seem reckless or villainous and that would have to be good enough. Chapter 975 When the time was right, and the potential consequences had been properly considered by the Unified Sector- the name those systems freed from the Numerological Compact chose for themselves, Anton bound the final star- the slow way, replacing one of his earlier stars, his basic ranks of cultivation. That was also quite intentional, and not just for Anton¡¯s benefit but also so that the connection to Yoron would grow slowly instead of being introduced all at once. The moment that he completed the connection, the results were precisely nothing. Well, that wasn¡¯t quite right, but it was on the mild end of anticipated results. The various hiveminds throughout the systems were all quite aware of each other as neighbors, and the Yoron hivemind that incorporated the entire system instead of a single planet like Turilia or individual cities like on Waral was a very obvious and clearly felt neighbor. But they remained far from the unlikely but still theoretically possible consequences of the hiveminds fusing together unwillingly. The risk had been quite low, especially considering individual cultivators were able to visit between the systems freely, but it had to be considered. As for why it was deemed worth the risk, it was because the other two systems felt too detached from Yoron without the connection. The hivemind cultivators weren¡¯t exactly concerned about becoming part of a larger whole, should it happen. On the other side, there were benefits to Yoron directly- with Anton able to encourage plant growth through his connection to the star. This happened approximately five years after they were freed from the Numerological Compact, and was helpful for their early recovery. ----- As it always did, time continued to flow. The largest crises were resolved in the Unified Sector. Yet with the resolution of one issue, another would crop up- either there, or somewhere else. For all of the Alliance¡¯s efforts, no governance had reached perfection. Perhaps it never would, but they could always strive for better. Two decades passing showed the stability of hiveminds, but they also revealed flaws. Nothing damning, but while there seemed to be many benefits to the connection it was not exclusively better. The connection also came with a lack of privacy- and a difficulty achieving certain deeper forms of concentration. The focus necessary for a breakthrough, either within a certain stage or when advancing to the next, often required isolation. While sharing insights could be valuable, the shared worries during such moments seemed to lead to more than a few incidents of failure. Ultimately, they developed two methods to temporarily mute the connection to the rest of their group. The first was through formations, isolation chambers that minimized interaction in either direction while active. The second were personal techniques, creating a less complete separation but still dulling the transmission of shared thoughts and feelings. While not every thought and feeling was projected to all others in the hivemind, techniques to minimize that were met with controversy. Debates happened quickly within hiveminds, as everyone was able to express opinions and worries, and to get a more varied view on things. Individual differences meant there wasn¡¯t always an exact consensus, but at least the ultimate conclusions were efficient and decently well respected. Some individuals and even groups of certain sizes felt that the very ability to hide something was too dangerous. If people felt they had to hide anything, they should leave the hivemind. That was one extreme end of opinions, however, and was untenable in its most extreme form. The net result, however, was a critical step for how they interacted with those outside of their connected consciousnesses. In the earliest days, when there was no clear way for there to be any deception, they felt justified in completely self-policing. And while objective investigations of outsiders indicated they had done an excellent job with it, it still provided a negative appearance even if they were doing everything right. Once it became possible for them to hide anything, they couldn¡¯t be completely certain of how far that would go. If something could be hidden, could someone¡¯s thoughts lie? They had no evidence such a belief was possible, but the mere possibility was challenging for them. Ultimately, they had to agree to matters of external justice. The laws of the Alliance were applied to them, but there were special rules for them with regards to witnesses. The word of a hivemind would be given significant weight with regard to how events were recalled and the intent in particular situations, but unless they had multiple members present at any incident they still had to be treated as a single witness. Memories of an incident when viewed from multiple angles could provide clarity, but the interpretation couldn¡¯t necessarily be left to just them. Even incidents that involved primarily hivemind cultivators which were witnessed by others were supposed to involve as many neutral parties as possible. Even incidents entirely between hivemind cultivators- usually incidents of momentary rage as for the most part the hivemind quickly calmed volatile individuals- had to be taken before a proper judge who could settle the incident according to the law. That said, incidents that lasted longer than a single exchange were exceedingly rare, and most of the time the only real damage was to something nearby, for which they could pay monetary damages. Despite the relatively poor financial state of the Unified Sector during the early years, it had a surprisingly low incidence of crime. Those not part of the hivemind were more likely to be involved in criminal incidents, but for areas that had been under corrupt rule just a short time before it could still be considered low. There was still more trouble than the well established systems of the Alliance, but they had a long time to build up protective systems and good habits. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ----- Information about the novel ways that the Numerological Compact and those they stole from had learned to use formations was spread widely to those who could make proper use of it. Even the morally reprehensible parts were worth study, though such information was available on a limited basis, just like with everything else. Everyone involved was aware that no matter what methods were used to deprive others of their rights as people the punishments still existed, and proper oversight was given to all sorts of projects. The information was likewise spread to the upper realms, the Scarlet Alliance representing the interests of their allied people and planets. They needed the information more than others, as they might potentially have to deal with the consequences of the Numerological Compact¡¯s discoveries in the upper realms. The Exalted Quadrant wouldn¡¯t necessarily be above enslaving people and using them as batteries, after all. Conversely, they could use the more cooperative versions to improve their own ships, which would in turn benefit the lower realms. While there was not a one hundred percent compatibility between formation functionality given the available materials and the differences between upper and lower energy, they could still use the basic principles. Having more minds studying certain techniques was quite valuable. Some of the best minds were in the upper realms. Catarina and Engineer Uzun were the prime examples, and it was hard for them to be eclipsed. They weren¡¯t likely to die anytime soon, and they were unceasing in their cultivation efforts and their studies. The Lower Realms weren''t lacking either, though their connected population was still less than what the Scarlet Alliance had access to. That low population came as a consequence of the repeated culling during the Tides of the World, and even if the various systems of the lower realms had made up for all of their cultivation knowledge, population growth and expansion to new planets took time. Rushing population growth wasn¡¯t likely to do any good, either. The lower realms preferred to let people expand more naturally, as they also had good reason to keep their population focused on a few areas for defensive purposes. ----- The number of cultivators formerly part of the actual Numerological Compact sect that survived were extremely few. Those who were captured during the war rapidly lost their value, and were generally executed for their many and obvious crimes. Engaging directly in slavery wasn¡¯t something any of them could get away from, though there were a small few exceptions. Some of their cultivators had only newly joined the sect. While they shared some responsibility for knowing what the sect promoted, they had mainly been judged by former slaves, and if said individuals found nothing worth convicting them there was little others could say. Then there were the even rarer individuals like Nindaanis, who had been part of the system yet had treated the individuals on their ship with proper respect. Direct ¡®crew members¡¯ were responsible for judging the Confluence cultivators who used their energy, and a situation like hers didn¡¯t come up often. Those who did have a chance to start a new life tended to change their cultivation method to avoid being associated with the aura everyone was familiar with. Otherwise, they would expect negative reactions from anyone still remaining. Byron and the others who had been contrary to the Numerological Compact long before the end had some level of notoriety among the people- many had been presumed dead. In a world with hiveminds they didn¡¯t stand out so much as oddities, but many people were more comfortable looking to them for leadership compared to those within the hivemind. However, everyone learned to work together to rebuild a functional society. ----- Devon had found himself with an unintentional sect. It had just felt so natural to offer to teach people who had undergone the same troubles as himself. Now that they had time where there wasn¡¯t a war happening, he was able to more smoothly develop techniques the Shattered Chains could use more broadly. His own abilities were highly specific to his own situations. He could have developed a set of techniques only for the Unified Sector, as everyone there had been enslaved in the same manner, but that seemed too restrictive. It wasn¡¯t likely to be the last time they ever encountered slavery. Finding a common core of freedom that people could grow from would be useful not only for them, but also for Devon¡¯s own insights. The abstract nature of the teachings would make it more difficult for arbitrary cultivators to use the techniques, and while Devon didn¡¯t mind the idea of others willing to devote themselves to certain principles joining the Shattered Chains, it wasn¡¯t for them. More than just the general anti-slavery sentiment of the Alliance, it was focused on personal experiences. There was nothing so terrible as feeling helpless while at the same time being used for what you could do. Many slaves were used for labor, but kept weak. Others like Devon had been made to fight- but the goal had been to prevent him from growing too strong. The Numerological Compact had more directly taken away power that was supposed to be used by the people. As terrible as it had been, once Devon had been freed the exhilaration was far greater. He would never wish those experiences upon anyone, but he would help them learn to overcome the past. At certain points, he¡¯d felt like it had somehow been his own fault. Even if he knew better, sometimes the mind could play tricks, ignoring actual knowledge. Unsurprisingly, Mental Liberation was a core focus in the Spirit Building stage, and like every cultivation style they came at things from a slightly different angle. Every advancement was geared towards a cultivator of the Shattered Chains being able to use their power precisely as they wanted to. It could be for themselves or for others, but the point was having control to actually do it. There were a million small flaws Devon found within himself as he was teaching others. It was unsurprising, as he hadn¡¯t had anyone to lead him on the path. He was only glad that he could recognize those flaws, though he found it quite difficult to fix them. Some of his new disciples breezed through without making the same mistakes as him, and for that he could be grateful. If the Exalted Quadrant thought they would return in a few centuries and punish the United Sector for rebelling, they would find it entirely different than they remembered. They would very much learn to regret it, just like throughout the rest of the Alliance. Chapter 976 A thin slice of space spread apart, allowing two figures to slip through. One of them was the same individual who cut open space, a nearly impossible thin blade formed of a red substance held in her hand. The other didn¡¯t stand out except perhaps by her lack of obvious weapons, gauntlets and sturdy boots being perhaps the closest option. ¡°What do you think?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything,¡± Vari admitted. ¡°But I¡¯m still quite suspicious.¡± The two of them were looking at the Everheart system, which still had active formations. That wasn¡¯t unexpected. They were quite aware that since the incident, people continued to enter the system. Just as before, some never left and others claimed rewards that made them think the risks worthwhile. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s just one planet missing,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Anyone could have done that. Nobody was monitoring it or anything. Why would we, since nothing was there?¡± ¡°Nothing except the second most toxic planet in the whole of the Scarlet Midfields, Selpeh. Quite similar to Ye¡¯sin, which was already here.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Chikere frowned. ¡°I would have thought I could detect a new planet in this system. But I also would have expected to sense Rahayu. Maybe they moved on.¡± Vari frowned. ¡°Everheart could be dead. It¡¯s been nearly five decades¡­¡± ¡°Could be,¡± Chikere admitted. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t say it¡¯s likely. Then again, you only have to screw up once to die.¡± ¡°We¡¯re gonna have to check,¡± Vari said. ¡°Ye¡¯sin might be the safest.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Because I actually know the secret.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll try that one then,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Assuming we¡¯re actually able to approach the planet we intend. Last time we were intercepted.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect anything to be the same,¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°That was so long ago. He would have changed things up if people learned to understand it, and that was several centuries before he went inactive.¡± The two of them began to fly closer. While neither of them were focused on such techniques, in empty space it was something an Augmentation cultivator could do- and both of them had reached Augmentation in their own ways. They found they were indeed able to approach their intended planet, and since they didn¡¯t have any particular point of landing in mind they dove through the nearest part of the toxic clouds. ¡°We¡¯re going to want to land quickly,¡± Vari said as they began to drop. ¡°And look for weird trees.¡± ¡°... You should have mentioned how it would infiltrate the blood,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re gonna need the trees to deal with that crap.¡± They landed, the haze preventing their energy senses from covering a large distance as it corroded their energy. The planet seemed mostly the same as before, sparse vegetation being a surprising feature for a place that should have been lifeless. The surface of the dirt never quite seemed to dry in most places, and Vari scooped up some of the claylike mud to rub over her body. ¡°We¡¯re still going to need something else if we¡¯re going to actually breathe,¡± Vari commented. Just holding their mouths closed wouldn¡¯t be sufficient. At their cultivation they weren¡¯t going to die rapidly, but any fighting would speed up their rate of toxin accumulation. ¡°So what sort of creatures live here?¡± ¡°No idea,¡± Vari admitted. ¡°I wasn¡¯t here for that long, and then I was fighting humans who showed up.¡± ¡°Watch the ground,¡± Chikere said. As those words left Chikere¡¯s mouth, the ground itself seemed to rise up- or perhaps some sort of sludge beast. Whatever it was, Vari stomped down on it- forming a wide barrier of energy beneath her foot to force it away. The creature¡¯s upper energy was difficult to pick out from the surroundings, feeling much like the toxins of the planet. Not that it was unexpected, for something to blend in, but it was uncanny. The pile of goop rose up from the ground, surging over Vari. She formed a box of energy around herself to keep it at bay. Even though her defensive barriers should have been seamless, it was starting to seep through, just as the natural toxins slid through energy defenses. Vari shoved at the sides of her box, blasting the creature away, with chunks of it flying in different directions. Only one of them continued moving, but it pulled up the ground around it to return to its former size with seemingly no effort. ¡°Yeah, uh, I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m meant to fight things like this,¡± Vari commented. ¡°You just have to damage the right part,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Which is?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s test it,¡± Chikere said. ¡°... I have made a mistake. My pores are blocked for a reason.¡± She lowered herself into a stance with the single sword of blood she had never returned inside her. ¡°This will have to do.¡± She pushed forward, her sword slicing once, but creating a dozen cuts from different angles. The creature flowed back together with seemingly no harm. ¡°If it has some sort of core, it is undetectable,¡± Chikere commented. ¡°Cutting doesn¡¯t seem great.¡± ¡°I hate to say this,¡± Vari said. ¡°But maybe we should run. It¡¯s not like we gain anything from fighting this.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°I have a better idea.¡± Chikere cut it into pieces again, but as they began to flow back together she picked out an area and cut that away. Not just from the surrounding goop, but from space itself. She wasn¡¯t sure if it would arrive at its intended destination of the local star, but it should at least be further away. When the goop continued to lay flat for a few moments, Chikere relaxed back into her ready stance. Vari nodded. ¡°That works. Now then, let¡¯s try to find some spiky fruit before we get really bad.¡± They ran into a few more bits of trouble on their way- as usual for Everheart¡¯s favorite planets, there wasn¡¯t a lot of time to relax. Flying above everything seemed ideal, but if they were very high up they couldn¡¯t sense the ground- and the planet now had formations that seemed to dissuade flying. If they were planning to leave Vari was pretty sure they could get out without too much trouble, but her energy drained uncomfortably more than normal while flying. Soon enough, they found spiky fruit. ¡°So I just eat this?¡± Chikere said. ¡°Uh, I¡¯m not sure about that,¡± Vari said, sniffing one. ¡°This is certainly a spiky spiny thorny death fruit, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s the same kind. It¡¯s kinda different.¡± She frowned. ¡°... Maybe it¡¯s not ripe? Or overripe? Ugh, I hope they¡¯re not out of season or our time here will be short.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even really get why we¡¯re here,¡± Chikere admitted. ¡°If Everheart wanted to reveal himself, he would have already.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to be¡­ I have a plan,¡± Vari said. ¡°I just can¡¯t relay it to you right now.¡± ¡°Right, he could be listening,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Anyway,¡± Vari said. ¡°We want something like this but¡­ smaller? It might be something unrelated, I never saw the tree it came from. Or bush or whatever.¡± ¡°What sort of rewards are we expecting here?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Besides an agonizing death.¡± ¡°Usually there are treasure caches,¡± Vari said. ¡°Or maybe specific challenges from Everheart¡¯s projections. Though I hear people haven¡¯t seen many of those lately.¡± ¡°Really? Why?¡± ¡°Perhaps they¡¯re no longer being maintained. He seemed to have moved on from the permanent idea at some point.¡± ¡°Yeah, when we took over Xankeshan and the projections swarmed him,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Hmm. Axes and spears.¡± ¡°I would have mentioned the cultivators first,¡± Vari said. ¡°But I feel them too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not as if we were doing anything to hide it,¡± a woman said as the cultivators stepped out of the toxic fog, stepping into a half circle formation around a hundred meters out. There were about twenty of them total, all Integration cultivators. Chikere furrowed her brow. ¡°Oh, you guys are the¡­ Dead Trees, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the Forest of Death. And you would be Chikere, the grandmaster sword cultivator. You caused us quite a bit of shame when you escaped last time. It seems fortune has smiled upon us, because this time you won¡¯t be able to escape.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Vari raised an eyebrow. ¡°The lot of you seem awfully confident for how weak you all are.¡± ¡°Yes, but unlike you we have proper protections.¡± ¡°Purifying Moonflowers?¡± Vari asked. ¡°That¡¯s right. More than a few,¡± the woman held one in her hand while holding a spear in the other. ¡°But you seem to have run out.¡± Chikere looked over at Vari and ¡®whispered¡¯, ¡°Does she know we can just take those from them?¡± Vari shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t think they thought about it. But if they want to throw away so many Integration cultivators they can. Oh wait.¡± She turned towards them. ¡°Hey, you don¡¯t happen to have any Augmentation cultivators around, do you?¡± ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary,¡± the woman said, swallowing the flower. ¡°With your power weakened, we¡¯ll take you out quickly.¡± She covered the distance between them in an instant, along with the rest of her companions. Ten weapons swept towards Chikere, and ten towards Vari. Chikere moved two steps forward in the same time they approached, and made a single swipe with her weapon. Ten corpses fell around her, axes and spears sundered in two. Meanwhile, Vari caught the spears of two in her hands, her energy pushing along the weapons to wrap around the wielder¡¯s hands so she could keep them attached as she swung them into their neighbors. She kicked the heads of axes when two others tried to come from behind, sending them tumbling into their two compatriots. That left two with all of her limbs locked down, but she just caught their weapons in her teeth- the edge of an axe holding aside a spear. Not all of her enemies were dead in that single exchange unlike Chikere, but ten Integration cultivators of varying training weren¡¯t worth that much. Vari finished off her opponents in another round of attacks, throwing their allies¡¯ weapons at those who retreated. She didn¡¯t like using spears, but she did know how. And with enough energy, anything would do fine. ¡°You know,¡± Vari commented. ¡°I guess technically the Purifying Moonflower was good for that instant. No time for the toxins to build back up. Maybe we should consider having some.¡± ¡°They should have waited longer¡­¡± Chikere commented. ¡°Obviously we could still defeat them in a burst of strength.¡± ¡°Those who rely on numbers aren¡¯t great at judging strength,¡± Vari shrugged. ¡°Except void ants.¡± ¡°That¡¯s tactical. And you¡¯d better be sure nobody is listening.¡± ¡°Everheart knows they exist already.¡± As it turned out, Ye¡¯sin was covered in dozens of plants that had thorns and spines, all vaguely looking like what Vari sought. The two of them traveled for half a day, growing ever more uncomfortable and trying to conserve their energy. Until finally, Vari stepped on one. ¡°Oh. I should have considered they might grow in the mud.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t they fruits? Can tubers be fruits?¡± ¡°I thought they were fruits. They look like fruits,¡± Vari said. ¡°Also I¡¯m pretty sure everything on this planet should be classified as a toxic death pincusion and not the things we¡¯re used to.¡± ¡°... This one isn¡¯t toxic, right?¡± ¡°I hope not,¡± Vari sighed. Her lungs hurt so bad. It was so tiring keeping her body vaguely functioning. ¡°I know it¡¯s the right thing, though. It¡¯s definitely the same. It feels right.¡± Chikere chomped one down. ¡°Ow. Was I not supposed to eat the spines?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s supposed to hurt,¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°And I can¡¯t guarantee it works without.¡± She ate her own quickly, digging up more than had grown nearby. At least the mud didn¡¯t taste that bad. Better than the sour, bitter, sharp things. ¡°My lungs really hurt,¡± Chikere coughed. ¡°And my eyes. Is that bad?¡± ¡°... I think they went numb,¡± Vari said. ¡°So this is technically better. Do you feel better?¡± ¡°I feel like I don¡¯t want to be here.¡± ¡°We need to at least find¡­ something. Preferably while killing any political enemies we come across,¡± Vari said. ¡°And despite how it feels, this might now be the safest planet for us. Ugh, my ears hurt too.¡± ¡°That¡¯d be the toxins leeching out. Probably. It¡¯s so hard to feel them.¡± Chapter 977 Though it seemed like they might never find anything on Ye¡¯sin, Chikere and Vari finally came across a constructed hall. As usual for Everheart, it was filled of big statues of him and most likely laden with formations that did things both deadly and incomprehensible. ¡°My practical formation expertise says that stepping inside won¡¯t instantly kill us,¡± Vari declared. She stepped forward with as much confidence as anyone could when dealing with Everheart. Even if he had a soft spot for Vari, there was no guarantee random traps would be any kinder to her than anyone else. ¡°Congratulations!¡± a void echoed through the room. ¡°You have found a secret treasure vault!¡± Vari sighed. ¡°Aww man. He¡¯s totally gonna kill us.¡± The voice didn¡¯t sound anything like the Everheart she knew, but he wasn¡¯t exactly consistent about that with projections. Vari was also used to having projections that resembled various forms that Everheart thought he wanted to look like, but there was only the disembodied voice. ¡°Because of the corrosive nature of Ye¡¯sin and not at all because I¡¯m lazy, I have forgone a projection that would let intru- sorry, guests gaze upon the beauty of my perfect form,¡± Everheart answered her unspoken thoughts. ¡°Likewise, this task will be noninteractive. That means I won¡¯t answer questions, so you¡¯d better pay attention the first time! Speaking of which¡­¡± At that point, the artificial voice suddenly began spouting off gibberish at a truly rapid rate. But there were a few snippets of comprehensible phrases within. ¡®Deadly challenges¡¯, ¡®fantastic rewards¡¯, ¡®leg up on the competition¡¯, and little else of practical use. ¡°And so,¡± the voice slowed down and began to make sense. ¡°You understand how the task is to be completed. Remember, you must fill the chalice with Ye¡¯sin¡¯s finest deadly gasses, and you¡¯re not allowed to bring it out of the chamber!¡± Vari didn¡¯t think the task sounded that difficult, but she wasn¡¯t going to say that out loud. Sounded like a good way to die. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be good at this,¡± Chikere admitted. ¡°Unless¡­ I cut open the roof and let it pour in?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll save that as a¡­ tertiary option,¡± Vari shook her head. ¡°I doubt the formations would respond well to destruction.¡± She stepped immediately out of the area, back into the haze of Ye¡¯sin. She hadn¡¯t realized how much more comfortable she was when protected from it, but being reminded of her momentary respite made her grimace. Vari surrounded some of the thickest smog with a series of barriers, a somewhat more solid version of upper energy since it easily slipped through thin layers. However, when she tried to move it inside¡­ she found that the barriers around the building rejected her energy. Just to be certain of what was going on, she stepped back inside herself, finding the motion smooth and unhindered. And so¡­ she was left in confusion. ¡°How am I supposed to get it into the chalice if I can¡¯t bring it into the room?¡± Vari grumbled. It was likely a puzzle, assuming they hadn¡¯t run across one of the impossible tests of course. Chikere stepped out of the area and began pushing at the air with her bare hands, then reached down to cup some of the denser air. It immediately slipped between her fingers, but a slight bit of it made it into the room. And then immediately trickled back out of the barrier. ¡°I guess that won¡¯t work,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Unless we can get it to fill the whole room at once.¡± ¡°I feel like even if we could make a whirlwind, it would be rejected if it¡¯s pushed by our energy,¡± Vari agreed. ¡°Which means¡­?¡± She sighed. ¡°Maybe we need to look elsewhere.¡± ¡°... Do that again,¡± Chikere said. ¡°What, complain?¡± Vari asked. ¡°No. The other thing.¡± Vari literally couldn¡¯t think of anything else she did a moment before. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean,¡± she said. ¡°Let me try,¡± Chikere said, slipping out of the mostly empty hall. Then she took a deep breath. She scuttled back inside, breathing out heavily. Noxious vapors clearly trickled out of her mouth. ¡°Oh, it works.¡± ¡°... I hate that this is probably the intended solution,¡± Vari said. ¡°I don¡¯t even know if our protection is perfect or not. Were people supposed to basically kill themselves for this? Yeah, probably,¡± she answered her own question. Once they knew the ¡®solution¡¯, it wasn¡¯t difficult to fill up the chalice. The toxic vapors were much heavier than the pure air the building was filled with. Intentionally breathing in the more problematic parts, even with the intention to then expel it a moment later, was extremely unpleasant. After a few trips the two women were coughing and sputtering, and they wouldn¡¯t have even tried it without knowledge of how the local not-fruits protected their lungs and other parts of their body. ¡°Congratulations!¡± the formless voice declared enthusiastically. ¡°You¡¯re truly ready to go to any means to get a leg up on your competition. Thus, I give to you¡­¡± A hole opened in the floor, out of which a pedestal rose. ¡°My leg!¡± Vari just stared. ¡°Nope. Don¡¯t want it.¡± ¡°... It¡¯s the wrong one,¡± Chikere commented. Vari tilted her head. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It looks like Everheart¡¯s leg, but it is the wrong one,¡± Chikere repeated. ¡°That¡¯s a left leg.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°It sure is,¡± Vari said. ¡°Oh! You¡¯re talking about his actual leg? You said he lost his right in that whole thing that happened, yeah?¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like I would expect him to give his real leg away here. This is probably a fake. Or worse, some random person¡¯s leg.¡± Chikere shook her head. ¡°It looks the same. So it might be¡­ a poor copy.¡± ¡°... I still don¡¯t want a leg,¡± Vari said. ¡°Regardless of its authenticity.¡± ¡°We needed to find signs of him,¡± Chikere pointed out. ¡°His leg, a very good copy, or some sort of clone of one¡­ might be useful somehow?¡± ¡°You might be right,¡± Vari frowned. ¡°Plus it¡¯ll give us an excuse to leave and go anywhere else.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I have the feeling that even with our protections this planet is slowly killing us,¡± Vari agreed. ¡°And if he hasn¡¯t shown up by now, he¡¯s not going to come find me in particular.¡± As always, Everheart succeeded in being maximally annoying, even when he wasn¡¯t around. The weird part was that the formations didn¡¯t seem to be new, which meant he either planned to lose a leg or made an unrelated joke beforehand. And Vari was willing to bet it was whichever option was most sinister somehow. Including situations she hadn¡¯t considered, like the leg Chikere saw him losing also being fake and somehow meant to cause harm to the Domination cultivators present. ----- News about Everheart always came to Anton eventually, as the two of them were mutually tolerating acquaintances. Which was almost like saying Anton had been friendly with him when he¡¯d returned briefly to the lower realms. That thought made him wonder if Everheart had done so again¡­ so he added the thought onto the pile of mostly useless theories that they had. There were no signs of it, and they were much better equipped to notice particularly powerful individuals entering the lower realms. Everheart was theoretically stronger now, which might both make it more difficult for him to traverse without the tides of the world, and both better at hiding his presence and somehow still easier to detect. In short, it was a theory about as unsupported as the one that Everheart had actually died. Because frankly, if people seeing the man died proved anything it was precisely the opposite as he was always still alive when people saw it. Everheart aside, Anton knew that Domination cultivators were a concern not just for the upper realms, but perhaps for the lower realms in the future. It was unclear if they would risk entering the lower realms with how it restricted upper energy, but perhaps their strength would break those restrictions. It was something that had to be considered, given what the upper realms had seen of Zaur Beridze. The man could have potentially taken out all of their fleets by himself. The only reason he had to retreat hadn¡¯t been because of the Scarlet Alliance, but because a rival had come to cause trouble with him. Said rival also hadn¡¯t been a person that could be matched by anyone else. Since that time, the upper realms had been frantically studying everything they could about Domination cultivators- which was unfortunately very little. It was a well kept secret among both the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster. The Chaotic Conglomeration wasn¡¯t known to have any Domination cultivators either, though they could be hiding such despite a technical alliance some of them had with the Scarlet Alliance. Then again, the Spirit Slicing Sect and even all of Taon might also have had such information hidden from them, if it existed. There was no way to tell for certain. Their communications were limited for the sake of safety, and Velvet aiding them to gain Augmentation cultivators was mostly valuable to the Alliance by means of keeping the Exalted Quadrant busy. Anton wished he had an opportunity to encounter a Domination cultivator. That didn¡¯t mean he thought he was a match for one. If the stages were similar in power, he was a whole stage behind- the suppression of the lower realms might not be sufficient to overcome that. No, he wasn¡¯t looking for any sort of competition at the moment. He just wanted to know. A nip on his energy got his attention. It was the Great Queen. She signed in her own language to speak to him, ¡°Your energy is in flux. You are disturbed by something, or perhaps eager?¡± ¡°You¡¯re about right,¡± Anton said, explaining his thoughts. ¡°I know you¡¯re likely not afraid of a Domination cultivator, but it is possible to overcome void ants¡¯ resistances.¡± ¡°One would have to know I was coming,¡± she signed. ¡°But should we catch wind of them, I would be a shadow until my mandibles were in their spine.¡± ¡°I appreciate the support,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Sadly, we can¡¯t bet on either of us being wherever they show up. It¡¯s unlikely, if they even come with the invasion, that we would be able to readjust ourselves to whatever system they happen to come to in time.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°But such powerful movements might be predicted ahead of time.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I hope so. Either way, I¡¯d like to know what we were dealing with. Recordings can¡¯t do the feeling justice. Quite literally, as Zaur¡¯s recordings created overflow on all of our devices that couldn¡¯t be replicated. I have many questions, and I don¡¯t know how many will ever be resolved.¡± ¡°You worry about the future still,¡± the Great Queen waggled her antennae. ¡°But you know that you will naturally do all that you can, as well as the rest of us. The lower realms will not give in easily.¡± ¡°No. No we won¡¯t,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I just can¡¯t help but thinking about strange and uncomfortable new things, like what the Numerological Compact was able to accomplish.¡± ¡°We have learned from them, and we will do better,¡± the Great Queen declared. ¡°In all ways you can imagine. Effectiveness and righteousness. People should work together. A queen does not produce progeny for herself, but for the colony.¡± ¡°Speaking of which,¡± Anton said. ¡°How do you think they did?¡± ¡°Exceptional,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Not that I doubted any less. Those two are the most unique of my children, I think. Though Fearsome Mandibles and Crossed Antennae would give them a challenge. Have you heard? There have been several more males who continued to live after breeding. In an old colony, that would have seemed problematic¡­ but we can improvise.¡± ¡°Does it make your people uncomfortable?¡± Anton asked. ¡°It¡¯s quite different from your natural instincts.¡± ¡°My people will be only as uncomfortable as I tell them to be,¡± the Great Queen signed emphatically. ¡°Perhaps I was a bit confused, at first, but it is not like we chose our biology. It just happened. When something unusual comes up, that is where we use our sapience to solve any problems. Or to take advantage of the situation to grow,¡± she added. ¡°The fellow grew back wings. It almost made me want to do the same, but I already had better options.¡± Anton enjoyed speaking with his friend. She was so straightforward. He wondered how the world would have ended up without her sneaking into his bag so long ago. He could think of many disasters that she¡¯d helped avert, along with her people. ¡°What about the reports of Crossed Antennae?¡± Anton said. ¡°She seems to be spreading many colonies in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Perhaps too many,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°She may exhaust herself. And in addition to that jeopardizing the success of the mission¡­ I wouldn¡¯t want her to reach that point.¡± ¡°Maybe you should tell her that,¡± Anton said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because people like hearing that others care about them,¡± Anton pointed out. Chapter 978 ¡°... It¡¯s really difficult to investigate stuff when we can¡¯t bring it to the secret facilities with the cool gadgets,¡± Vari complained. Chikere nodded in agreement. ¡°But we can¡¯t exactly bring random things from Everheart somewhere with sensitive information.¡± She frowned, ¡°My arm isn¡¯t doing so well, do you think it¡¯s a problem to take Ye¡¯sin¡¯s toxin to a repair facility?¡± ¡°As long as we don¡¯t surprise anyone it will be fine,¡± Vari said. ¡°Also, this trip is going to take way longer to recover from than I thought.¡± ¡°We should go speak to the wolf¡­¡± Chikere said. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to be more specific,¡± Vari pointed out. ¡°There are a lot of them.¡± ¡°The poison one, obviously. She and my apprentice were the ones who noticed that Selpeh was gone after they¡¯d been there a few times to train.¡± ¡°I feel like she¡¯d say we should have built up a tolerance to the toxins, but I suppose we could go check. After we talk to physicians and stuff.¡± ----- ¡°The problem with doctors,¡± Aconite said after they finally ended up going to her. ¡°Is that they¡¯re usually not willing to test things. So if there¡¯s a solution like ¡®don¡¯t go to the most toxic planet¡¯ they think that¡¯s good enough when it¡¯s not.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Vari said. ¡°And for us¡­?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about you,¡± Aconite said. ¡°But that one has good control over her own blood. She should be able to expel everything. Though first, you might want to cut everything apart so it doesn¡¯t harm you further.¡± ¡°Oh, good idea!¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°I just have to sense all of it¡­¡± Her focus caused her to drift off into solving that particular internal puzzle. ¡°Do you have any useful suggestions for me?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Even with the various precautions the toxins built up, and they¡¯re quite slippery and difficult to pin down with energy.¡± ¡°Well, that would depend on if there¡¯s active intent¡­¡± Aconite pondered. ¡°If you negate all the energy within you, would it neutralize these toxins? If so, your body could likely take care of them on their own. Or it would get worse instantly without your energy protecting your body. It somewhat depends on the physical form. I haven¡¯t really been willing to go to the Everheart system because of the additional complications it has, so I haven¡¯t experienced any of this personally. And our anatomical differences could vastly change how they affect either of us¡­¡± Aconite¡¯s growls and soft barks faded off. ¡°Chidi can negate energy, right?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Absolutely,¡± Aconite agreed. ¡°But if we¡¯re waiting for your body to filter something, it wouldn¡¯t last well. Though we could see if whatever this is needs energy to survive.¡± ¡°I know people can recover, if slowly,¡± Vari said. ¡°So I think I¡¯ll deal with the least risks.¡± ¡°Makes sense,¡± Aconite nodded. ¡°Meanwhile, in a few moments she will be cutting things inside her own body.¡± Her words of course referenced the meditating Chikere. ¡°Yeah, most likely,¡± Vari agreed. ¡°So about that leg you have,¡± Aconite said. ¡°It smells like Everheart, but not.¡± ¡°By which you mean¡­?¡± ¡°More likely an actual leg or a clone than some sort of construct of energy,¡± Aconite said. ¡°You might be able to use it to track him down, or it might lead you into a trap.¡± ¡°Same thing, really,¡± Vari shrugged. ----- Within the Unified Sector, the teachings of the Shattered Chains were much more popular than the One Hundred Stars. Frankly, Anton thought that was a good thing. People were choosing cultivation styles based on what resonated with them, and not just on what they perceived as strong. Though on the other hand, many people had experienced Devon¡¯s strength as well. Either way, Anton was glad to have some new disciples. The various branch heads were doing an excellent job of training their own disciples in different places, so Anton¡¯s personal teaching had been supplementary for most over the last few decades. Going new places and training new people always appealed to him, and the Unified Sector was a unique place for him to experience. Watching it begin to develop was quite satisfying. He wasn¡¯t able to spend all of his time in the systems, as he was called away for various reasons, but he slowly began to build up his route, binding another pair of stars along the way. That still left a fairly empty stretch of space between the Unified Sector and Ceretos, but there were reasons they hadn¡¯t expanded that far west. Reasons which would hopefully change in the near future. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ----- Devon didn¡¯t need to spend the majority of his time near Aerona, but what the two of them needed and what they wanted weren¡¯t necessarily the same. Which is to say, they still tried to spend as much of their time as possible with each other, even if there were some years where they were in different systems focused on different tasks. Lately, Devon had been focused on the Unified Sector. Since the Shattered Chains was a new sect, he didn¡¯t want to leave it half baked. Even if the locals had the talent and drive, without proper knowledge and teachers they wouldn¡¯t create a sustainable sect. Meanwhile, Aerona was focused on the Sylanis Cluster. Their very first interactions with Rutera, and Ceretos had been negative. Weos had already been through wars with them before there were any inter-system interactions for the other two. That had only escalated after the other systems developed more robust space travel, and a large war had followed. However, that war had been more than four centuries prior. For a period of time following the war there had been an uneasy peace between the groups, as the Lower Realms Alliance was properly formed and began to explore more of the Lower Realms. Even after the exceptionally short cycle of the Tides of the World they had not worked together, each group separately resisting the invasions. It was only much later when either group was willing to trust the other, as new generations of cultivators reached Worldbinding- in many ways just a variant of Assimilation, but they had that name locally first so it tended to stick. There were even some who took the leap of faith and went for Ascension, no longer fearing the upper realms. For a very long time, the Lower Realms Alliance had spread- partially by colonizing new worlds, and in greater part by adopting other systems into their fold. Meanwhile, the Sylanis Cluster grew only slowly within their own systems, spreading to a few more stars slowly. They were tolerable neighbors that respected each other¡¯s boundaries, but not really friends or allies. Aerona had thought that odd, even after Udre, Nidec, and Vrelt had joined up after various difficulties. While there were indeed some of the same people in the Sylanis Cluster, all of those who had chosen to perpetrate the war had died long before. The new generations could be worked with, it was just that nobody from either side had put in much effort. So that was her goal for the near future. If they were able to officially join the Lower Realms Alliance, following the restrictions and gaining the benefits that went along with that, their own people would benefit- and the stagnation of the Alliance¡¯s western borders would fade away. While they could certainly work around the Sylanis Cluster¡¯s claimed areas, it would be much easier to not have to worry about restricting their freedom of expansion. If they were able to freely join any new colonies and likewise have others from the Alliance supporting theirs, then there would be no issues. It was simply that nobody had taken the time to try to convince them properly. Oh, certainly there had been token attempts over the centuries- but sometimes, it would take a decade or two of negotiations. The benefits of joining the Alliance were great¡­ and if the Sylanis Cluster truly couldn¡¯t tolerate the ways of the Alliance, they really couldn¡¯t be trusted as neighbors. The Alliance wasn¡¯t restrictive just for the sake of control. Their laws were for the safety and benefit of all people. Everything was founded on the simple strictures of personal growth and opportunity. It didn¡¯t actually restrict the growth of individuals, except perhaps in the short term. Hogging resources was not acceptable, but if everything went as it should everything became plentiful. They had seen the prosperity of the Alliance and tried to mimic it, but without free access to information they had only managed to go so far. Aerona knew that she could promise the last bits of information they needed, and she would find them quite eager to join. It just had to be said in the right way to the right people, so they didn¡¯t feel like they were simply being absorbed. It was important to the alliance that the various peoples that became part of them still maintained their identity. Nobody was going to mandate replacing culture or cultivation styles with something else. Even if the Alliance had highly developed styles, their people were not above guiding others to refine their own traditional styles to be equally effective. It might take a long time, but that was one of their core values. Devon came to visit and encourage Aerona occasionally, but he didn¡¯t want to seem like a threat so he didn¡¯t stay overly long. Besides, he still had so much work to do back in the Unified Sector. ----- Lev was quite content with his new tree. Even after so many years it wasn¡¯t nearly as impressive as the Grandfather Willow itself, but he respected how stubborn it was. As for the rest of Vecesta, its overall terraforming was going well. Paradise¡¯s role of adding accessible liquid water to the planet had long been fulfilled, but the great turtle still came by frequently. Then again, Paradise visited everywhere. Not just Lev¡¯s groves, but all of the planets in the core systems. The three systems were his new sea, and while there were rarely any stranded sailors for him to pick up¡­ it wasn¡¯t completely unheard of either. The turtle had the uncanny ability to find ships in the vastness of space between systems. He also had the ability to find distortion beasts¡­ and along with Erin and the Island tenders they seemed to take out any such intruders. Not that they were ever frequent. Even between the different systems, they sometimes only showed up every decade or so. The mere presence of distortion beasts didn¡¯t always mean they would attack, but he seemed able to predict when they might be trouble. And quite often, he ate them. Personally, Lev didn¡¯t think his stomach could handle any part of a distortion beast, extradimensionality or not, but Paradise seemed quite happy snacking on various bits and pieces. Lev knew that Anton was often thinking about the next shift in the tides of the world, and the threat it posed to their people. Yet Anton also thought about how it would affect everyone, including those he never met. It was admirable. Meanwhile, Lev was more focused on keeping these core systems safe. With himself and Paradise¡­ Lev wasn¡¯t going to say they didn¡¯t want Anton around, but they were less likely to need him. They would keep the place secure so that Anton could feel confident enough to roam as he felt necessary, spreading his good will from individuals to towns, sects, nations, planets, and whole systems. If for some reason the upper realms chose not to attack¡­ Lev¡¯s efforts wouldn¡¯t be vain. He was helping to build up the ecosystems of planets. The natural energy of the surrounding systems would grow, bringing prosperity to the locals. Honestly, it would be far better if no attack ever came. But the goals of growth weren¡¯t mutually exclusive. All areas of life contributed to a sustainable and functioning society, and as cultivators their strength could be turned to war if necessary. And it was, all too often. How to use their strength for battle wasn¡¯t something they could afford to forget, but neither would they forget that it could be used for so much more than battle. Chapter 979 The most important issue facing the Scarlet Alliance in the upper realms was the matter of how to fight a Domination cultivator. Any sort of information on them including what was necessary for them to advance could turn out to be critical. If they were extremely fortunate, they wouldn¡¯t have to fight Domination cultivators again. Though perhaps that was already too optimistic. The world would have to conspire against Zaur Beridze, resulting in his death through hands that were not their own, or they would inevitably clash again. Perhaps even soon. Betting on him randomly dying or literally everyone forgetting that there was a conflict to begin with was pointless, they needed to prepare to fight. They would have some slight advantages if they could pick the battlefield. Zaur Beridze would no doubt attack Xankeshan given the opportunity, but they couldn¡¯t ignore everything between their borders and their capital planet. Enough damage had been caused during the short occupations during the prior invasion, and they weren¡¯t looking forward to potentially even worse losses. So if the conflict was inevitable, more than just shoring up their defenses they needed a plan. Perhaps if a few of their Augmentation cultivators advanced towards the late stage, they might be able to defeat him together. But even if that might come about with time, time itself wasn¡¯t something they had much of. A few decades, perhaps, but not the centuries they would need to train and improve their top end cultivators. Making use of the techniques that came from the Numerological Compact to focus the energy of many cultivators together was certainly promising, but adapting them to function in the upper realms was also something that would take time. What they really wanted was a weakness they could exploit, preferably involving Domination cultivators in general. Zaur wasn¡¯t likely to be the last cultivator of such status who took issue with them, especially as they no longer appeared inconsequential. It wasn¡¯t that the Scarlet Alliance could match the Exalted Quadrant or the Trigold Cluster- they might not even be as powerful as certain individual sects from those regions- but they had withstood a certain amount of strife. Not knowing where else to start, they planned to get in contact with Ratna. Another Domination cultivator, and a great danger- but at least they believed the woman would prioritize harm to Zaur over them. They weren¡¯t enemies with her, but they¡¯d had some conflicts with the Trigold Cluster and just because they had mutual enemies didn¡¯t mean she would be willing to work with them. It was a stretch to assume she would cooperate with them to take down a mutual foe, but they were willing to offer payment for information or aid. As long as it didn¡¯t end up with her having power over the Scarlet Alliance, they had to at least consider the options. That meant confirming more details about her, such as the primary locations of her sect, the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance and whether she took residence in any particular location. ----- The one tasked with the first part of the plan was Velvet. She was at least as familiar with infiltrating the Trigold Cluster as anyone else within their Alliance. A good portion of the concrete information they had was delivered by her at some point in the past. Not all of it or even the majority now, but as an individual she¡¯d had the most success. That wasn¡¯t strange, with her training and cultivation. She was a spy in Augmentation. As long as she didn¡¯t do anything stupid, it was difficult for her to get caught. Of course, Velvet had the feeling that applied up to and until she encountered a Domination cultivator. She had previously spied on Zaur, confirming his presence in the assault¡­ and while she¡¯d slipped away she had the nagging feeling she¡¯d actually been let go. In short, she would take great precautions anywhere close to a Domination presence. The Trigold Cluster was dangerous, certainly, but with some of its mysteries cut through she found herself much more comfortable venturing deep into their territory. In the end, they were cultivators like anyone else. Dangerous, flawed, and sometimes chaotic, but there were limits to that chaos. While by certain standards their lands were lawless and unpredictable, it wasn¡¯t as if everywhere was a constant bloodbath with people killing each other. There were more dangerous locations, yes, but actual constant slaughter was simply unsustainable. A civilian population had to be able to survive for cultivators to come from- either that or the backbone of population growth was at risk if they were involved in all the danger. In short, Velvet didn¡¯t have to be scared¡­ but she wouldn¡¯t relax in their territory either. Even if someone wasn¡¯t specifically looking for her, getting drawn into trouble could reveal her true origins. One additional cultivator from an unknown sect was nothing among the myriad lives, but a foreign cultivator was something else, should that be recognized. ----- Traveling within the Trigold Cluster, once she was away from the border, was much the same as in the rest of the upper realms. For the most part, she purchased passage from planet to planet. The best way to be hidden was sometimes to hide in plain sight. Another cultivator among many coming in on a ship was far less suspicious than someone nobody remembered where they came from. Payment was a more difficult matter, as they didn¡¯t use the same system the Alliance adopted. The Alliance had a central currency, but in the Trigold Cluster as far as cultivators were concerned payment was something like a barter system. Special materials, cultivation medicines, or anything with a dense concentration of upper energy were used interchangeably- but without set values. Velvet spent far longer than she liked haggling over prices. She likely ended up still overpaying for many things, but allowing too large of a margin would not only be suspicious but also bad for her pocketbook. As an Augmentation cultivator on an official mission she was not low on finances, but she had many purposes to use her wealth for. Travel, bribery, and throwing people off her trail through various means were all important. People would talk for money. Likewise, if she spent money on nothing cultivators tended to purchase, she would appear suspicious. Even if she wasn¡¯t focused on growing her cultivation, she had to at least pay for rooms suited to the Integration cultivator she was pretending to be. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Finding the general territory of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance was easy enough. People needed to know where they were to trade with them- or to avoid them. Likewise, the most populated locations were well known. Asking about where specific elders or the sect head lived was something else. An interesting detail she learned was that people didn¡¯t necessarily know Ratna was a Domination cultivator. For most cultivators, they would have shown off their power. Ratna didn¡¯t exactly hide it, but there was some speculation that she was simply a very strong Augmentation cultivator instead. That was a detail Velvet could easily discount, as the Scarlet Alliance had seen her fighting and it was an unmistakable difference, but it seemed for the most part she didn¡¯t use the full extent of her power. And why should she have to, in her own territory? Velvet moved cautiously, thinking about how she would continue forward. Meanwhile, she hoped that other avenues of researching Domination cultivators could prove fruitful. For safety she hadn''t been in frequent communication with the Alliance, just because something might be intercepted by unknown techniques. The distances involved were sufficient she¡¯d been generally out of touch for a year- faster and more direct travel was possible, but not feasible. She was over a hundred lightyears away from the border, generally east and slightly south, so the timing was reasonable. Now she was going to set up a presence for herself in the local area, since she didn¡¯t plan to leave for some time. Better to be vaguely known and ignored than someone happening to take note of her in the wrong circumstances and having nothing to say for herself. ----- While the upper realms didn¡¯t have many more avenues to research Domination except hoping Everheart would dump a pile of info into their hands- and the man was not known to give up information for nothing- the lower realms had some potential avenues. The easiest was to go to the friendliest sources, regardless of whether they actually knew any details. For Anton, that meant the Unified Sector and Ramalas of the Turilia hivemind. Devon had already talked with those he had longer relations with, and Turilia was an interesting case because of their nearly universal hivemind. Ramalas was thorough with her explanations- drawing from the pool of knowledge, of course. ¡°As previously discussed, we have no information on Domination or even Augmentation. We can only assume that Augmentation is similar to both Integration and your own ¡®Enrichment¡¯ stage. The Numerological Compact did have sufficient information on Integration to ascend, yet their primary focus ended up on Confluence. We can say with certainty that information on Augmentation was intentionally obscured from the lower realms.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Would it be too much to ask if you have any insight into higher realms of cultivation?¡± ¡°We have barely begun to produce Confluence cultivators,¡± Ramalas said. ¡°Any insights would be completely untested and unreliable.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Furthermore,¡± Ramalas offered. ¡°We are uninterested in Ascension. Much like yourself.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You chose to remain to protect those you knew. Likewise, we choose to remain together.¡± ¡°All of you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Anyone interested in Ascension would not be of the hivemind. Imagine, cutting away the majority of what made you the person you are. That would be what Ascension would do.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Anton said. ¡°Right. You would be alone. And there would be no guarantee any future cultivators to ascend from the hivemind would still be joined together.¡± ¡°Precisely. Perhaps some will be risk takers willing to experiment in the far future, but we find no need for such at the moment.¡± Ramalas paused. ¡°We have little insight to provide you, except to mirror what your people told us.¡± ¡°Do you think that would be valuable?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I think it could be. The way you interpret such a thing might provide me with useful insight.¡± ¡°We have only one thought of value,¡± Ramalas said. ¡°Devotion¡­ is useful. And quite complicated. We had considered that our connection would automatically provide Devotion to our first Confluence cultivators but¡­¡± The voice of the hivemind itself spoke to Anton, echoing throughout the space. ¡°It does not.¡± ¡°Perhaps the problem is our understanding of things,¡± Ramalas continued as if there hadn¡¯t been a spooky pause in her speech. ¡°Our indirect connections produce only modest amounts of Devotion. Our Confluence cultivators receive less than Devon or yourself.¡± ¡°Not to cause trouble,¡± Anton said. ¡°But perhaps that is because you have reached the limits of the Devotion you can contribute?¡± ¡°We considered it. But, the limits are not so hard set. Instead, we find that we are lacking an anchor for the devotion. Knowing what we do, we cannot create a false one¡­ like the Saints of the Harmonious Citadel did, for example. Words of glorious deeds tied to individuals that may have in fact been several generations. We would know of its falsity, and while that makes our current devotion pure, it is difficult.¡± ¡°A tough situation. I wouldn¡¯t wish for further strife, but that might provide opportunities for your people.¡± ¡°Peace is better,¡± Ramalas answered. ¡°Nor is it a great hindrance for early Confluence cultivators. Training and time may be sufficient to establish the proper connections.¡± It had already been speculated that Domination cultivators made use of devotion. Indeed, it was known that they certainly did. However, that didn¡¯t indicate whether it was necessary, or what could be done about it. Taking Zaur as an example, based on what Anton knew if the Scarlet Alliance could wipe out the Citadel of Exalted Light, they could probably also defeat Zaur- regardless of whether or not that made him weaker. Destroying the power base of such a person was valuable if it was possible, regardless of any interactions with Devotion- but Zaur wouldn¡¯t just sit around if his sect was attacked. Nor could they easily be defeated by the forces in the upper realms. But a different perspective had been offered. Devotion was given to cultivators- sometimes unwittingly- but Anton hadn¡¯t considered the factors outside of the people on both sides. Indeed, he had no proof for anything else, but something about ¡®anchors¡¯ rang true. The devotion disciples of the Order didn¡¯t come to Anton because he told them to or because he was Anton. It was because he was sect head, or because of things he had done. Sometimes specific things, sometimes larger legacies. It would be difficult to break that connection to Anton, as he had developed those bonds widely and with many deeds¡­ but perhaps a cultivator that had only a few things to speak of that everyone focused on might lose something, should the ¡®anchor¡¯ somehow be shattered. Anton hadn¡¯t been present for the conflict with the Harmonious Citadel, but it had been noted that once they began to lose Saints things quickly crumbled for them. It might not simply have been a shift in the balance of martial power, but something more. Chapter 980 The Free Planet Guardians and Adamant Federation were no longer associated with the Trigold Cluster in the upper realms. Only the favored sects had actually known what was going on, and the two groups resisted in various ways when they learned the truth. Otherwise, they would not have continued to exist in the lower realms. While they were extremely unlikely to have any information relevant to anything beyond Ascension, tangential information could still be useful. Varghese was thus on a diplomatic mission to try to compile information about the upper realms. It was entirely possible that important information had slipped through unaware. There was much that could be learned simply based on what areas they focused on. Much of that focus had been with regards to whatever materials they were looking to extract from the lower realms, but it was possible they might find something else. Especially now that they had time to go through whatever records the key sects had left behind. There was an ongoing exchange of information between the two groups, the Lower Realms Alliance, and the Shining Cooperative. The flow of information wasn¡¯t as free and open as with the Unified Sector, as there was no official alliance. However, both groups had valuable cultivation insights to offer in exchange for copies of data. Varghese was slowly expanding his domain more towards the galactic east, focusing on replacing older stars- though since he was in the earlier stages of Assimilation his growth was quick enough to provide a steady flow of ¡®new¡¯ stars he could bind. Compiled information from many planets over at least a dozen systems was practically limitless, and there was no way any individual cultivator could go through all of it. That included even those with special techniques. However, the limits of humans could be supplemented by equipment. Computers, even. Their spread hadn¡¯t been particularly quick to the eastern parts of the Alliance, but like other technology it came along with the better ships that combined technology and formations. It was entirely possible the information they had wouldn¡¯t be useful, but once it was input into various databases they could more easily access it. Would they find the secrets to cultivation? Likely not. But perhaps they might find hints. And if they could recognize those hints, intentional or not, they could learn from there. ----- Significantly on the other side of the border between realms, Velvet continued on her journey to try to reach Ratna. She only had a short leg of the journey before she was as close as she could get to the core of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. Much further, and she would be on planets exclusively controlled by them. On the surface, such an arrangement seemed efficient. Vast numbers of sect disciples training together on the same things. Absolute control of how everything functioned. It was just that it broke down if you considered that no technique was perfect. The lack of diversity required disciples to seek out opportunities, either traveling between sects or looking for opportunities in untamed lands. Both were common enough within the Scarlet Alliance, with the difference being the necessary amount of travel. Some amount was good for different planets, but when it was something like the Trigold Cluster it was simply unnecessarily distant and dangerous. Though they had a unified title, they didn¡¯t all work together and many systems were effectively lawless. Since she was already infiltrating, Velvet took mental notes on the various systems and planets she encountered. If she found something of critical importance she would only then risk transmitting it, but for the most part she wanted no obvious records. Having some maps was fine, but the point was to not look like a spy. Everything in moderation. To reach her current system, she joined an expedition surveying a system near the Veiled Brilliance¡¯s borders. A system wouldn¡¯t have gone long with such little information about it if the various sects were willing to live next to each other, but as it was the area had only been casually explored. Given that the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance controlled a similar number of systems as the current Scarlet Alliance it wasn¡¯t unreasonably that they might have poorly explored neighbors. There was just one relevant difference. The Scarlet Alliance had only recently incorporated the various systems together, and the Trigold Cluster had claimed their vast number of stars centuries or more likely millennia before. That didn¡¯t mean they were obligated to explore everything, but the way things were set up it was entirely possible several sects knew what was in the Aelox System in depth- and simply hadn¡¯t shared that information. It was useful for Velvet, but it made her glad that she had ended up as part of reasonable groups. Of course, it was possible they would grow to a size they couldn¡¯t manage- but given that there was a solid core structure that seemed unlikely. Most of the planets in the Aelox System their ship- carrying somewhere around a hundred cultivators from the Essence Collection to Integration- were passed by without so much as a second glance. Their energy signatures didn¡¯t reveal anything of interest. But that wasn¡¯t the case for the closest planet to the local star, Carrelos. It was a very hot planet. Unlivable, even for the majority of cultivators. However, it didn¡¯t take them long to spot the anomaly that had brought them to the area to begin with. Specifically, structures on the planet¡¯s surface, complete with functioning formations. Not that there would have been any standing structures without something keeping them solid. It was possible to find materials that would withstand such temperatures, but the difficulty would come when the temperatures changed. Like many planets close to stars, it had no atmosphere- and thus little ability to hold onto heat. That meant one side of it was far colder than the other, and the temperature changed rapidly from something that would melt most common metals to far below where ice froze over the course of a few standard days. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. That was the extent of what they knew as the ship landed cautiously. Velvet had managed to secure what appeared to be a reliable group. Even if it was easier for her to work alone, being a loner was suspicious. Thus, she found several other cultivators that seemed serious enough. A mix between late Life Transformation and early Integration for the most part. There were stronger groups along as well, which was the whole point. Velvet had studied all of them, but whether there would be any lasting connection between them was unclear. It wasn¡¯t likely, but Velvet hadn¡¯t expected to make a friend from within the Chaotic Conglomeration either. As soon as they landed and the groups began to enter the building, Velvet sensed something odd- and she relayed as much to her companions. ¡°It¡¯s unusual. More than finding an apparently abandoned facility out here, I mean,¡± she commented. ¡°It¡¯s just a building, isn¡¯t it?¡± asked Durff. He was¡­ a big meathead. Or if she was more charitable, a large and durable fellow focused on martial pursuits. ¡°You think so?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Then why can¡¯t we feel the groups down the other halls?¡± ¡°Maybe they moved too far¡­?¡± Durff said doubtfully. Velvet wondered what the purpose of isolating them was. She was on the lookout for traps, but she didn¡¯t find any. Not immediately, at least. However, their path was sloping downward- and she suspected the others would as well. The structure on the surface was likely only a small part of whatever the place was. It didn¡¯t take long for them to reach a dead end. Or at least something that appeared like a dead end. ¡°That¡¯s it, I guess,¡± Durff commented. ¡°Do we¡­ report back?¡± An older woman in their group, Jyotsana, clearly had a better understanding of the situation. ¡°Halls don¡¯t end in an archway just for fun. There should be some way to open this.¡± Durff pulled back his hammer, but Velvet stopped him before he took a swing. ¡°Careful, the formations won¡¯t appreciate that. We should look for clues.¡± Something tingled in the back of her mind. She couldn¡¯t sense beyond the dead end, but that wasn¡¯t unreasonable. If people could just feel past your fancy defenses, they could find their way into your sect or¡­ whatever this was. So far there hadn¡¯t been any decorations or anything but an empty grand hall and splitting paths. Another group walked up behind them as Velvet was checking things out. ¡°A dead end?¡± one of them asked. ¡°I might have to break it open,¡± Durff commented. ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It certainly seems like-¡± a swirl of upper energy, and suddenly the archway could be seen through. Except, Velvet was certain it had not opened. Instead, this was a portal. And based on her understanding, it likely went to a secret realm of some sort. She wasn¡¯t sure why it would have opened up now, though. She hadn¡¯t touched anything, very intentionally. Unfortunately, the complexity of the formations was beyond her- and much of it was hidden. ¡°Guess we walk through,¡± Durff said. He did so, and inadvertently tested for traps. He didn¡¯t get disintegrated, which was good. Two more went after him, so unless it very specifically disintegrated the fourth person Velvet felt confident going through, just ahead of Jyotsana. On the other side, they saw several more pathways. ¡°I suppose we split up here,¡± said the other group. ¡°Maybe we can find the rest in here.¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± Velvet agreed. Though she didn¡¯t necessarily want to find them. If there was nothing valuable, people would be looking for some way to make the trip worth it, which might be robbing others. That would just make things complicated for her if they tried. If this place did contain valuables, it was likely their different groups would fight over resources. They might fight within their group as well, but cultivators often showed some restraint if they wanted to live long. Velvet reached out to grab Durff¡¯s shoulder as they were walking along. He nearly dragged her forward, barely recognizing her grip, but he did notice. His head turned. ¡°Why¡¯d you do that?¡± ¡°I think I noticed a trap up ahead,¡± Velvet said. ¡°A pressure plate.¡± That wasn¡¯t crazy, for defending a sect or the like. Obviously placing traps along highly active corridors would be an issue, but if they were rare and in specific locations it made plenty of sense. ¡°Should I smash it?¡± ¡°How about we just¡­ don¡¯t step on it?¡± Velvet commented. ¡°We can stick to the left side.¡± She¡¯d accidentally ended up leading the group, now. Both physically and otherwise. Velvet was constantly scanning, wondering about the potential dangers. However, they didn¡¯t run into many traps. She had the feeling they would be quite effective, but it was a far cry from Everheart¡¯s Tombs, stuffed to the gills with traps. They passed numerous turns, but with nothing to direct them in any particular manner they continued along a central route. That led them to a closed chamber door¡­ with a clear depression in its middle. ¡°Is this a portal too?¡± Durff asked. ¡°It¡¯s a door,¡± Velvet said. ¡°A locked one. It needs some kind of key.¡± ¡°Can you pick it?¡± he asked. ¡°Looks like a formation unlocking type. So the better word would be a token,¡± Velvet commented. ¡°Maybe we can find some.¡± She didn¡¯t like this place. So far, there hadn¡¯t been much danger. Just a few traps. But she couldn¡¯t help but feel she was missing something. There was also something going on around them. Her energy senses only stretched a hundred meters or so, when they should have stretched far further. Another detail meant to confuse intruders, certainly, but she wondered what it was making her miss. Ultimately, they picked another corridor to traverse, where they soon came upon their first signs of anything abnormal. There was a corpse, and a wall filled with arrows of some sort. The corpse was relatively well preserved, but clearly old. It seemed there had been nothing to break it down over time, so it was effectively mummified. ¡°Anyone recognize that emblem?¡± she asked. They were clearly connected to some sect or clan, with a sunburst shape. It had five lines, with the central line being the longest. Nobody did. They carefully removed the body from the trap it was laying on and began to search it, finding a disk with the same emblem. Suspicious. Very suspicious. That was that Velvet¡¯s instincts told her, anyway. And they were rarely wrong. Chapter 981 On the theory that the well preserved corpse was a disciple of the forgotten sect, Velvet and the small crew with her took the token they found back to the door. They didn¡¯t have a formation specialist among them, so they could only make guesses based off experience. It was expected that any rejection of the token shouldn¡¯t be too catastrophic. The one to actually place it in the door was Misi, one of the last two in their group. He was one of a pair of twins, though his sister was somewhat behind in cultivation. He was in early Integration, but she was still in peak Life Transformation. He nodded as the door accepted the symbol. ¡°I thought so. It felt right. There¡¯s something with tricks that is different.¡± Velvet had that same feeling as well, though it was always possible to be wrong. She didn¡¯t mind someone else taking the risk. After the symbol clicked into the door, it began to open- revealing a large robot. No, for cultivators it would be called a golem or the like. Either way, it was made out of some sort of red tinted metal, though whether it was natural or dyed somehow Velvet didn¡¯t know. ¡°Intruders detected,¡± the vaguely humanoid creature spoke in a monotone. ¡°Those not authorized by the Nighstar Sect will be eliminated.¡± ¡°A bloodsteel defender!¡± Juli, the second twin, commented. ¡°It should be weak to resonance from moonlight crystals!¡± Just as Velvet was about to comment that her information wasn¡¯t relevant when they didn¡¯t have any of said presumably rare crystals, Juli pulled something out of her storage bag. Well, apparently Velvet had been wrong. Even Misi had one. Presumably that had something to do with their particular cultivation style. They were from¡­ the Acroamatic Scale? A rather obscure group, but generally well regarded for their techniques. ¡°We¡¯re fighting, right?¡± Durff said, stepping forward. ¡°I don¡¯t think it will leave us alone,¡± the old lady Jyotsana agreed. ¡°Then let¡¯s do it!¡± Durff charged forward, swinging his massive two handed hammer right at the golem. The golem reached forward, predictably catching his attack in its palm, clutching its fingers around it. Meanwhile, its other fist pummeled him right in the chest. He would have done better to let himself get sent flying, but he held his grip on his hammer. It was to his credit that his defenses were sufficient for him to not have his chest shattered to pieces, but it didn¡¯t seem like something he could withstand often either. Velvet dashed in along with the twins, circling around the golem while Jyotsana attacked it with fire. The attack was similarly ineffective as Durff¡¯s swing, though even Velvet didn¡¯t find herself effective. She tried to slash at weak points, but her weapons weren¡¯t able to cut through the durable metal. Her voidsteel blade would have been useful if most of the durability came from enchantments, but that wasn¡¯t the case with the golem. Velvet had positioned herself in the back, opposite Durff, and the twins moved to either side. Each of them had pulled out warhammers- modestly sized instead of exaggerated- though their following actions were somewhat odd. They tapped the crystals with the hammers before swinging at either side of the golem. The twins¡¯ weapons struck, and while Velvet didn¡¯t observe anything spectacular like the golem suddenly crumpling in two, she did spot small dents where they struck. The two quickly backed away when the golem let go of Durff¡¯s weapon, its arms swinging out towards them. Durff hit it straight in the chest, but his weapon bounced off uselessly. Meanwhile, Velvet danced around behind it. She hadn¡¯t cause any damage so it had no reason to focus on her, which let her position herself to strike the already dented area. Her weapon barely scratched it, and with the greater power she¡¯d used for that strike she thought she could have done the same anywhere else. Whatever the twins had done clearly didn¡¯t have much in the way of lasting effects. Not yet, at least. Realizing her flames weren¡¯t hurting the golem, Jyostana focused on its head. It wasn¡¯t clear if it actually had vision focused there, but the concentrated flames seemed to have some effect as the golem tried to push past Durff. The twins rushed back in, striking two more points each. ¡°There!¡± Misi called out. ¡°Attack the convergence!¡± Velvet was going to assume that meant the center of the triangle they¡¯d both hammered out. With the golem charging towards Jyostana, she had to circle around Durff to reach it. Durff might not have been listening to the twins, but he did swing his hammer, striking it on the opposite side of where Velvet was going and actually resulting in the sound of crumpling metal. Velvet¡¯s dagger stabbed into the guardian easily, sinking into it like butter. Her weapon could only go so deep, but her energy reached deeper beneath the armored surface, attacking the formations that animated the guardian. ¡°Sustained damage is unacceptable,¡± the guardian said. ¡°Activating extended threat protocols.¡± That was¡­ an entirely unnecessary announcement. Not that Velvet didn¡¯t appreciate it, because it meant she was attacking before its energy began to surge. The ultimate result was far preferable to whatever it was going to do. She stabbed through the second weak point the twins had created, angling her weapon towards the core of its power. She kept her energy just below the level of augmentation, and the burst of power from the golem as its core came apart caused it to tear apart from the few damaged areas. Fortunately, everyone was able to get out of the way, because the resulting burst tore through the highly enchanted walls and floors along the lines of effect. ¡°Good work,¡± Velvet said to the group. ¡°It was tough, but we managed to take it down.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Jyostana said. ¡°But it was a bit suspicious that the twins had something perfectly suited to counter it. Would you two care to explain?¡± Juli tilted her head. ¡°Of course. Why wouldn¡¯t we?¡± Misi nodded. ¡°It¡¯s only natural.¡± Their candid responses made Jyostana narrow her eyes. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°We try to carry everything. If you¡¯d like, you can peruse the contents of my storage bag,¡± Misi said. Jyostana took the opportunity without saying anything. Her energy wove its way towards his storage bag, then she shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a very large amount of eccentric things.¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Carefully planned to resolve any situation,¡± Misi countered. ¡°Don¡¯t care,¡± Durff said. ¡°What was this thing guarding?¡± As he said that, he reached for the far door in the room. A door which was¡­ apparently unlocked. Velvet felt extremely suspicious. Even more so when it opened up to reveal a mostly empty armory. Among the many empty shelves were those stocked with various pieces of weapon and armor and other assorted equipment. It was far too much to be just a few scattered remnants, and they seemed too valuable for an invading force to leave¡­ or an assaulted sect to not use to defend themselves. Everything about this place bothered her, but she couldn¡¯t quite pin down why. And now that they¡¯d found something valuable, she was worried about more than just the place itself trying to kill them. ----- After the battle with the guardian, Velvet moved ahead of the rest of the group, remaining cautious as the sense limitations around them meant that enemies could show up quite nearby and unexpectedly. She had participated in the distribution of loot, as not trying to get her ¡®fair share¡¯ would have been abnormal and she really did need some wealth for her travels, but there was nothing she actually wanted to use. Before Augmentation much of it would have been quite tempting but she¡¯d had some opportunities to gather generally better equipment, on par with her voidsteel blade. The Scarlet Alliance had many talented people working to equip those who needed it. Everything she had was focused to suit her specifically. Velvet¡¯s defensive equipment required ease of movement, but she also wanted it to limit her presence. Modest enchantments that didn¡¯t radiate energy were better for her than something that could withstand huge blows but would give her away. The mundane side of stealth remained important, and she avoided anything reflective or that made too much noise. Scent was also a frequent issue. While she could minimize any of these with her techniques, having a lower baseline was better. Not long after they had found the armory, they had run across other members of the expedition. A short discussion with them had made it clear that everyone had gone through portals to end up in the same space they were now in. Nobody quite knew why the portals had opened, but it was theorized that it was when there were people at every entrance. While the first group had no malice about them, Velvet didn¡¯t trust that of others, and she also had to watch out for traps. She came upon another group acting oddly, huddled around a map of some sort. She wanted to get close enough to look at it, but decided it was better to report back to her group so they could decide whether to avoid the others or not. Flames barred her path as she approached. ¡°Halt!¡± ¡°It¡¯s just me, Jyotsana,¡± Velvet said. ¡°What¡¯s your problem?¡± ¡°How do we know it¡¯s you?¡± the old woman asked. ¡°Looks like her,¡± Durff said. ¡°She could be in disguise!¡± ¡°As herself¡­?¡± Durff said. Jyotsana rolled her eyes. ¡°I mean someone else disguised as her.¡± ¡°... what name did the golem use for the sect?¡± Misi asked. ¡°The Nighstar sect,¡± Velvet answered. Now the twins didn¡¯t trust her? Perhaps something had happened to them. Juli frowned. ¡°Perhaps she heard that name elsewhere,¡± Juli pointed out. ¡°What did we use to defeat it?¡± ¡°Some sort of moonlight crystal resonance,¡± Velvet said. ¡°That¡¯s all you mentioned about it besides smacking the crystals and the golem with your hammers.¡± ¡°We tapped the crystals!¡± Misi emphasized. ¡°So are we going to continue on?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Because we¡¯re standing around a lot doing nothing.¡± His lack of suspicion was odd. Velvet would need to keep an eye on him. ¡°Ugh, fine,¡± Jyotsana said. ¡°What did you see?¡± ¡°Another group up ahead. They had some sort of map, I think.¡± ¡°We should say hello,¡± Durff said. ¡°Indeed,¡± Jyotsana agreed. ¡°Things like that are important to the whole expedition.¡± Velvet got the impression their reasons were very different. When they finally caught up to the other group, there was a battle already taking place in some sort of old dormitory- where everything was strangely intact. Upon noticing Velvet¡¯s group, both parties turned towards them. ¡°Aha! I knew you had to be up to something!¡± someone from the first group said. ¡°Conspiring with others against us!¡± ¡°We could say the same of you!¡± said the second group. ¡°We know they¡¯re not on our side, which means you¡¯re the ones at fault!¡± ¡°Careful,¡± Jyotsana whispered. ¡°I believe these two groups aren¡¯t actually in conflict, but looking to take out anyone incautious about them.¡± ¡°... is everyone okay?¡± Durff tilted his head. ¡°You¡¯re acting funny.¡± Suspicious. He was suspicious. Everything was suspicious. Even the amount of suspicious details in this place was suspicious. Was it a setup? Were the suspicions intentional, some sort of misdirection to keep them blind to the real dangers? Even her suspicions were suspicious. That was where things snapped into place. ¡°Hold on,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Something is very wrong here.¡± ¡°You¡¯re telling us!¡± said the speaker from the first group. ¡°Others from the expedition snooping around, attacking us!¡± Even though they said that, people were still listening. Yes, it wasn¡¯t unusual for cultivators to fight each other¡­ but she hadn¡¯t even heard a reason yet. ¡°Why were your groups fighting, if I might ask?¡± Velvet said. ¡°What kind of question is that, huh?¡± the second group said. ¡°Obviously they had it out for us!¡± ¡°Please. You were just about to try to take our hard-earned treasure!¡± ¡°It¡¯s suspicious, isn¡¯t it?¡± Velvet said. ¡°Everything.¡± ¡°... Is it?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Okay, you were actually helpful before. But this time it¡¯s not helping,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Let me explain. Have you felt more paranoid since you came here?¡± ¡°Why should we tell you?¡± Jyotsana frowned. ¡°Because I have. And it¡¯s pretty obvious everyone else has too.¡± ¡°... Concerning,¡± Jyotsana said. ¡°What do we do about that?¡± ¡°We recognize it¡­ and look for a way out,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Because something is trying to make us kill each other.¡± Having figured out some part of things, Velvet felt better. But there was something she couldn¡¯t quite place, just out of her conscious recognition. Or maybe that was nothing. Chapter 982 Just because they had a logical reason to work together didn¡¯t mean the three groups that had come together actually did so smoothly. Recognizing the aura of suspicion over the sect grounds didn¡¯t suddenly make people immune. Cultivators could regulate their own thoughts and emotions to some extent, but that depended on their own level of training. Even Velvet found it difficult to filter out. While she wasn¡¯t particularly focused on mental defenses, she wasn¡¯t lacking in them either. Being at the Augmentation stage, she felt she should have done better. In turn, that gave her concerns about the strength of the formations. But if she only thought about what was bothering her, she would get stuck in an infinite loop of chaos and break down, or go crazy and try to destroy everyone and everything. Before that, it was better for them to get out of where they were. It was¡­ difficult. Nobody wanted Velvet to scout alone, as they didn¡¯t trust her. Even her own group expressed doubts- except Durff, who seemed to be immune to the effects. That was- Velvet didn¡¯t even allow herself to finish such thoughts. Ultimately, one person from each group moved ahead. The various groups sort of trusted each other, so having their own representative made people feel vaguely better. But ultimately, they were very restricted with how they scouted. They could only be one corridor ahead, basically up to a turn and no further. Velvet couldn¡¯t make use of her stealth abilities, and the others didn¡¯t always trust where she told them traps were. She could easily get impatient, but she instead just walked in a determined fashion through where she knew were safe paths. They could confirm for themselves or follow or whatever they pleased. The traps weren¡¯t that frequent, but they were well placed. Corners were a good one, as people might not notice them when going around. Intersections were good too, as that had the most possible cross traffic. But also¡­ they were very occasionally at completely boring parts of the halls. ¡°... How many practical rooms have you seen here?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°We saw one sort of armory, and the dormitory.¡± ¡°Why do you want to know? Wondering if we found treasure?¡± one of the other scouts asked. ¡°I was just curious,¡± Velvet said. She made a mental note that perhaps there were too many hallways. She could make a proper determination later. She turned to the other scout. ¡°You said that the entrance you came in was over here?¡± ¡°Yes, it should be¡­¡± the man rushed forward, touching the wall with his hand. ¡°It was here.¡± ¡°Was it? How do we know this isn¡¯t some sort of trap?¡± asked the other. ¡°Because we can see it isn¡¯t a trap,¡± Velvet said. Logic wouldn¡¯t fully convince them, but it would at least keep them busy. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s keep looking.¡± The next thing they came across were more bodies. Not fresh, but well preserved. Just like the first disciple of the Nighstar sect¡­ except this time there were some enemies. Which made things even less sensible. Wouldn¡¯t whoever won clear out their own bodies? Or at least properly loot everything. Everyone was inordinately well equipped. ¡°Now hold on there,¡± people began to complain about the splitting of loot. ¡°You¡¯re going to take that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not particularly partial to it,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I could take first pick of the next round instead.¡± ¡°Hah, no way! I¡¯ll be making that decision. You won¡¯t fool me.¡± ¡°... Alright,¡± she said. Perhaps she should have taken the effort to meet everyone on the way over and memorize their names. A simple thing, but the trust between them would have been better. Now, she only knew the names of four others- and nobody was in any mood to share something even so inconsequential. As they continued looking for loot- or more relevantly, an exit- they came across a garden. The empty sky from which only light came secured the idea they were in a secret realm¡­ but also confirmed it would be more difficult to leave. Velvet tried to fly above, just in case there was something she could see, but flight was difficult. Even when she reached the top of the interiors- somewhere around thirty feet, indicating there were multiple layers- her progress was stopped. Not by a barrier, but by the cessation of space itself. ¡°That¡¯s as far as it goes,¡± she reported as she dropped back down. ¡°But of course you can check to your content.¡± ¡°While you¡¯re down here stealing all the good herbs? Why-¡± ¡°You won¡¯t take your eyes off of me, yes,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°What are they doing?¡± asked one of the women, referencing the twins. ¡°... Are those plants particularly valuable? You have to split things fairly! What is that?¡± ¡°This is the needleleaf sunflower,¡± Misi explained. ¡°It¡¯s useful if someone comes down with pig pox.¡± ¡°Have you seen this pig pox here?¡± the woman asked. ¡°Tell me!¡± ¡°Not yet, no,¡± Misi shook his head. Obviously not. Velvet knew they just liked obscure things. Though if they could make use of them properly, that would be worthwhile. Fortunately, with everyone aware of what was going on they managed to continue without conflict. Everything was fine, until another large group showed up at the same garden. The intentionally short range of senses meant nobody had long to prepare. Suddenly, there were a dozen new people- mostly in the Integration stage. ¡°Everyone cease your activities,¡± said the older man leading the new group. For a moment, Velvet thought he was going to act rationally. Instead¡­ ¡°Hand over everything you¡¯ve found in this place to us, so we know you aren¡¯t hiding any secrets!¡± Was greed being reinforced? No, it was the natural levels of cultivators. Perhaps enhanced tangentially by a lack of respect for others. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Velvet wasn¡¯t much of a negotiator, but she intended to give it her best. But Jyotsana threw a ball of fire saying, ¡°You won¡¯t take our rightfully earned rewards!¡± ¡°Yeah, you just want to take our stuff,¡± Durff said, charging forward with his hammer. Velvet thought she might try to spare people, but by the time she got to the frontlines of the battle it was pretty clear that wouldn¡¯t work out well. Not that she had any particular reason to keep people from the Trigold Cluster alive anyway, except that they might have useful knowledge. She took advantage of those engaged with other enemies, her presence fading away in the battling crowds. Something within her told her she should take down anyone, but her better logic won and she only dealt with the newcomers. The fight was short and brutal. Three from Velvet¡¯s side died, but none of those she¡¯d come in with. Durff had sustained a few injuries, especially in the fight with the golem. The twins clearly weren¡¯t the best at fighting against normal people in a straightforward manner. Velvet realized once again how surprisingly easy it was to not care about people whose names she didn¡¯t know. They needed to get out of this place. The only question was how. ¡°Any signs of the other entrances on these people?¡± Velvet asked as they finished looting them. ¡°If we can find enough of them, we might determine a pattern.¡± Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t seem like anyone had been making a map- though Velvet wondered if she should have. Her mental map should be sufficient, but if something changed she would want confirmation. She decided to draw what they knew. Durff looked over her shoulder. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of hallways.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°I¡¯m trying to find where we might be missing things. We can try to explore everywhere, but that seems risky. Our next fight might not end up so much in our favor.¡± Velvet was confident that she could survive alone, but even if she hadn¡¯t known them that long she didn¡¯t want to just abandon her group, despite the nagging thoughts that she knew didn¡¯t come from her no matter how much they tried. ¡°Can anyone add anything to this map?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°So we can find a way out together.¡± It took a few moments, but a few people from the other groups contributed, creating a clearer picture. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t like that picture. They had something like a half circle made of intersecting lines. Velvet was no formation expert, but she knew it wasn¡¯t just paranoia talking that told her the whole place was some sort of formation. ¡°That¡¯s where we came in?¡± Durff asked, pointing. Velvet nodded. ¡°Well if the entrances are on the outside, why not go to the middle?¡± he pointed to a blank spot. ¡°We might as well try,¡± Velvet shrugged. They made their way along, with Velvet directing them away from the routes she thought would be most likely to have encounters. Not quite a direct shot to the middle. It was a fairly large area, but without combat it would have to be larger than a city to take long at all for cultivators to traverse. Despite the long hallways, it wasn¡¯t nearly so expansive as would have been required. Nothing made sense. Not even the large formation in the middle with what were clearly controls outside of it. ¡°Does anyone understand formations?¡± Velvet asked. Two individuals from other groups tried very hard to pretend to not be inspecting the formations. One of them also reached far less subtly tried to reach for the controls, which were quite clearly placed out of reach. And a moment later it was quite obvious that the controls wouldn¡¯t react to upper energy. ¡°So,¡± one of them said. ¡°This appears to be the exit. It should create a portal out.¡± ¡°Will it teleport people somewhere safe?¡± Jyotsana asked. ¡°I believe it should be like the entrances,¡± the man said. ¡°We should be able to see through.¡± ¡°Then what¡¯s the issue?¡± ¡°Well you see¡­¡± The other fellow studying the formations replied when the first hesitated. ¡°It will create a barrier around the central zone. So whoever activates it can¡¯t go through.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous,¡± Jyotsana said. ¡°How would a sect function like that? Why not have the defenses around the entrance?¡± A good question. Nothing made sense. Was it supposed to be so ridiculous? Velvet had the feeling it was. ¡°Okay,¡± Durff said. ¡°So¡­ you¡¯ll find a way to get me out, right?¡± ¡°What?¡± Velvet blinked. ¡°Well, someone has to activate the thing. But I¡¯m not smart enough to figure out how to get anyone else. So I should stay here while people work from outside.¡± ¡°Right. Sure¡­¡± Velvet said. It was convenient¡­ but he was also one of those she least wanted to potentially sacrifice. Especially because he was the sort to volunteer, which made him a better person. Or someone very sneaky who had a trick¡­ which even the stupid formations couldn¡¯t make her believe for long. If Durff was some great master of deception, she was probably dead anyway. ¡°Someone should go first,¡± another commented. ¡°We can¡¯t be sure the formations won¡¯t kill us.¡± ¡°But what if it only works once?¡± Another point of contention. The formation experts weren¡¯t able to assuage people¡¯s fears. Velvet ultimately didn¡¯t mind being in either party. Despite how unpleasant the circumstances were¡­ she was confident in surviving. Even if space collapsed around her, she¡¯d find some way to get out. Probably. And neither going in the first nor second group seemed like a greater or lesser risk. It was coming into this place at all that had been the mistake. She should have known better, but it wasn¡¯t one of Everheart¡¯s tombs so she underestimated it. If that led to her death¡­ her luck was apparently all used up already. Velvet ended up in the second group after much squabbling- but reminding people enemies might come speed things up. The first activation definitely drew some attention. Velvet could feel a surge of power, which made her wonder where this sect got so much energy for all of its formations. She hadn¡¯t seen any power sources. The barriers let her see the others walk through a rift, back to the surface of the planet that housed the secret realm. Durff easily turned everything on, then off once they were through. Everyone else stepped on. It worked just fine the second time. What if Durff deactivated it while she was stepping through? Her body carried her swiftly. A moment later, Velvet felt stupid. As the layers of paranoia fell off of her, she was finally able to determine how bad it had been. She was surprised that anyone had been functional at all. Perhaps she¡¯d underestimated the willpower of the others. Or¡­ the effect scales up to match higher ranking cultivators. She didn¡¯t like to think about that option. ¡°... We need to save Durff,¡± Gyotsana said. ¡°He¡¯s way too good to get stuck like that- or attacked by others in there.¡± Everyone else, free from paranoia, agreed. They just needed to figure out how. Chapter 983 The question of how to extract someone from a secret realm without entering said realm was a tough one. In some cases it would have been trivial to bring Durff out, as most secret realms had consistent exits and entrances. However, this one seemed to have been built like a trap. Even with the paranoia gone, that part stood true in Velvet¡¯s mind. ¡°Does anyone know where the information on this place came from?¡± Everyone shook their heads. Even if they had the answer, it wouldn¡¯t have been useful at the time. ¡°Any ideas?¡± ¡°We might be able to extract the space of the secret realm into our dimension,¡± commented one of the formation experts. ¡°But that would take a great deal of time not only to modify the formations but also to clear the necessary area. Air is easily displaced, but with the entrances being underground we¡¯d have a catastrophe. So the entire structures would have to be pulled down and the area dug out while keeping the formations stable¡­¡± The old woman, Jyotasana, sighed. ¡°This is where we could use the straightforward thinking of Durff.¡± Misi frowned, and looked at Juli. His twin looked back. ¡°¡°I have an idea,¡±¡± they both said at the same time. ¡°What is it?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Simple. It won¡¯t take long to test, at least,¡± Misi explained. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Juli nodded. ¡°We just have to return to the entrances here. It seemed they were proper portals. So they should be two dimensional.¡± ¡°And then what?¡± Jyotsana asked. ¡°He¡¯s far in the middle, and we can¡¯t extend our energy that far. Do we just yell for him?¡± ¡°Good idea,¡± Velvet said. ¡°That could actually do it.¡± ¡°What about the others?¡± the formation expert asked. ¡°Won¡¯t they come to look at the portals?¡± ¡°We try to get them out too,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Once the paranoia drops, it shouldn¡¯t be an issue. Also, what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Jensen,¡± he replied. ¡°Strange that I thought it important before.¡± ¡°Names have power,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But not in such a way. Anyone have a better idea than the twins? With a focus on speed, obviously.¡± Everyone shook their heads. With all of the entrances, they would have to be solo or in pairs to visit all of them- which seemed to be a requirement for activation. Thus, they split up. Velvet volunteered to be the one doing the most yelling- because everyone calling would be a distraction, and it wouldn¡¯t be safe for some people to draw in other people. She could also work effectively away from others. Even if she would be revealing her location in general, she could actually obscure her precise location in the hall. Velvet didn¡¯t think there was anyone around who could be a danger to her, but she also didn¡¯t intend to be careless. Still, Durff had to be saved. A lovable idiot that didn¡¯t seem to have a drop of suspicion in him was someone that needed to survive this place. Velvet arrived at one of the various entrances. They were clearly separated from each other on purpose, now that she had some information about the area. She was somewhat concerned when they didn¡¯t activate immediately. It shouldn¡¯t have taken anyone more than a few minutes to get in position. If it wouldn¡¯t work, they needed to connect with each other to discuss their next plan. But if they didn¡¯t wait long enough and someone left their position¡­ Fortunately, she didn¡¯t have to dwell on that too long. The dead end opened up into a portal. ¡°Durff!¡± Velvet called. She could bolster her voice, but the formations inside would limit the normal projection through the spreading of energy. Thus, she had to actually shout. She was lucky that could still be supernaturally loud, enough to travel through a few kilometers of hallways. None were particularly closer to where they thought Durff would be, in the center. ¡°Follow my voice, Durff!¡± Others would doubtless hear her, and they might also notice the portals opening up independently. However many were left, that was. There had been a hundred or so to begin with, and there could easily be half that many. Maybe their twenty or so had been the only ones to survive. It was possible. Either the ¡®sect¡¯ could have killed them, or each other due to the paranoia. ¡°This way, Durff!¡± Velvet called out. She could only hope he could hear her. Perhaps he might respond, but he might not realize how loud she had to be. Or maybe her voice was dampened, never making it to him. It might not even pass the portal. Then Velvet heard something from inside, indicating it was properly bidirectional. An old woman rounded the corner, looking straight at her. Her face was more wrinkles than anything else, but her look was anything but friendly. ¡°What¡¯s the racket for? Trying to call in some sort of monster, huh?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t need one,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I¡¯m safe here.¡± ¡°So you can speak reasonably instead of hurting my ears!¡± the old woman grumbled. She clutched something sheathed at her side. ¡°Safe from what, anyway?¡± ¡°People like you,¡± Velvet commented. The old woman flashed, suddenly appearing next to ¡®Velvet¡¯. Her weapon pierced through an illusion, a good portion of the hallway away from where she actually was. ¡°Hey,¡± Velvet¡¯s voice spun out from her chosen location. ¡°Take a moment to think, will you? Why attack me?¡± ¡°Because! Because- hmm.¡± The old woman lowered her weapon. ¡°Wait, why was I doing that?¡± ¡°The formations inside made you paranoid. One moment. You might want to shield your ears now. Durff!¡± Velvet called. ¡°This way, please!¡± She returned to normal volume. ¡°You should go wait in the main hall or something. I don¡¯t think you want to return to that place. There¡¯s no good way out.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Except this one. How¡¯d you get out?¡± the old woman asked, looking around. Her senses brushed past Velvet, but her actual location wasn¡¯t so simple to pinpoint. ¡°There¡¯s a portal generator in the middle¡­ that specifically cuts off the person who activates it from reaching it. Durff!¡± ¡°Yeah I¡¯m coming!¡± a response finally came. From the right person, as well. ¡°Just found some people who want to get out along the way!¡± Velvet could guess he was only around a few corners. Maybe a couple hundred meters. ¡°This way!¡± she said. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be out there,¡± the old woman said. ¡°Seems you have things handled here.¡± Durff rounded the corner with three others behind him. ¡°See, here¡¯s an exit. I told you they¡¯d find a way out.¡± ¡°Well look at that,¡± one of the three said. ¡°It¡¯s really true. Why don¡¯t you head through first.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a portal,¡± Durff said, stepping through easily. ¡°Everyone knows how portals work. You go in one side and come out the other.¡± Well, Durff was right on that. ¡°Hi Sybella,¡± Durff said, using Velvet¡¯s cover name as he walked up to her. ¡°That didn¡¯t take very long.¡± He looked around. ¡°Is this the entrance? I guess it¡¯s the exit too. Makes sense. Thought they closed though.¡± ¡°Anything that closes can be opened,¡± said one of the three following him, stepping through the portal. ¡°Indeed,¡± Velvet agreed as the group approached. ¡°Come on Durff, let¡¯s head back to the entrance. We should have people waiting for us there soon.¡± She ¡®turned¡¯ towards the entrance, though she didn¡¯t actually intend to leave yet. Better to try to see if they could get everyone out first. Well, almost everyone. Three blades flashed through the air, curved weapons aimed at Durff¡¯s back and ¡®Velvet¡¯. In the actual Velvet¡¯s grip was her void blade. She sliced at the elbow of all three in the same instant, cutting both their body and the flow of energy that made their weapons dangerous. Two blades went straight through ¡®Velvet¡¯, and one hit Durff¡¯s back- though without upper energy it didn¡¯t even make him flinch. A dozen following strokes targeted every vital organ insufficiently protected by armor, the attacks snaking their way through gaps. Velvet didn¡¯t hold back at all. The three were well out of the ¡®sect grounds¡¯, and the paranoia should have faded pretty much immediately. Which meant that these three were the sort of people who wanted to hurt Durff normally. She wasn¡¯t particularly concerned about them trying to kill her, though they would have still died for it. ¡°Aww man,¡± Durff said as the weapons clattered to the ground behind him. He turned to look over his shoulder. ¡°Did the paranoia thingy last extra long on them?¡± ¡°I think they were just terrible people,¡± Velvet said. She could feel at least a dozen other people¡¯s equipment in their bags. ¡°Also, you noticed the paranoia effect?¡± ¡°I noticed people weren¡¯t acting right. I didn¡¯t really feel anything, though. Just the normal thoughts.¡± ¡°What are those normal thoughts?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Well, they were a bit more frequent. Sometimes you have thoughts like ¡®you shouldn¡¯t trust that person¡¯ or ¡®what if I smashed my fingers with the hammer¡¯ or ¡®what if I broke that wall¡¯. I try not to listen to those. There were more of the first in there but it¡¯s not really me.¡± So he did recognize it¡­ tangentially. Intrusive thoughts were actually something that many cultivators trained away to have absolute control over their own actions, but it seemed Durff just¡­ ignored them? Apparently it worked, though. And potentially overcame things approaching mind control. ¡°So are we going to the entrance now?¡± he asked. ¡°We need to wait to see if there are other people who might come through,¡± Velvet said. Speaking of which, she shouted through the portal. ¡°Anyone else! Last chance!¡± ¡°But you said we were going to go?¡± ¡°Just because I knew those guys wanted to stab us.¡± ¡°Oh wow, you can tell things like that?¡± Durff asked. ¡°They were radiating violence. Any Insight would tell you.¡± ¡°Usually I just get stabbed,¡± Durff said. ¡°I figure at that point it¡¯s okay to smash people. Or sometimes I¡¯m with other people who figure it out.¡± ----- In the end, a total of thirty people made it out. Based on the sets of equipment, there were about a quarter of people missing. Perhaps others who hadn¡¯t come to the entrances. They could have died further inside, to the sect defenses or otherwise. Or maybe a few people were still holding back information. There had been a few skirmishes at other entrances, but people had been able to hold off long enough for the paranoid to fade. Somehow, basic human decency had won over cultivator greed- though it was entirely possible that some of those who came out recognized it was in their best interest to be peaceful. Given a few moments to think, most cultivators could put together the idea that there were joint efforts to get people out, after all. Ultimately, Velvet didn¡¯t intend to worry about who killed who. Durff was alive, and so were the other decent individuals she knew. Now they could return to their vessel and report back. She still had no idea where to go with her next step, but at least she had an established position near her final destination. ¡°So how did you do the fancy stabby thing?¡± Durff asked without subtlety after they were on the ship. Velvet immediately gave them a screen of privacy. ¡°Lots of training, how else?¡± ¡°Yeah, makes sense. I was wondering if you were a member of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. They do stuff like that. Getting stabbed while not getting stabbed, I mean.¡± ¡°Illusions?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Sure,¡± he nodded. ¡°I think so.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s something like that but unrelated. I¡¯d be interested in studying their techniques though.¡± Durff nodded. ¡°They¡¯re pretty hard but I think you could figure them out. Not me though,¡± he rubbed his head. ¡°None of it really stuck.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Well, my great great great great great¡­ or something aunt lives there. My family visited the sect occasionally, and were friendly.¡± That¡­ wasn¡¯t that weird. There were probably a billion people with real connections to the Guardians within ten lightyears. Maybe ten billion. It was lucky that Durff was one, but it didn¡¯t sound that strong. Still, it might get her to a planet. ¡°Do you think you could contact them and see if I could visit somehow?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I understand if they wouldn¡¯t want to teach me secret techniques, but I¡¯d be interested in sparring with people.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Durff said. ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ try to remember how to contact them.¡± If she got inside¡­ she could make some contacts and maybe learn a few things about Ratna. People would obviously have something to say about a Domination cultivator, and not everything would be secret. There was a lot that could be learned from fully public and seemingly innocent information. Chapter 984 After they left Carrelos, Velvet felt like they¡¯d been there forever, even though it had probably been barely twenty-four hours. Too much wandering around in corridors nearly blind, looking for trouble and fighting guardians and other visitors. The mental strain was more than it should have been, and it was taking her time to realize the full extent of that. Whatever had been going on with the Nighstar sect made no sense, even after talking with others. Perhaps someone back home would be able to make something of the information they had with a more objective perspective. It could be something as simple as a botched attack that ended up with the place not fully looted, while leaving no survivors. Sometimes the chaos of battles would throw people off. Velvet was quite glad to have a connection to the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance through Durff. Maybe with a few years, she could leverage that for some useful information. He was able to arrange for her to visit Rezdu, a couple hops away into their territory. But first, they had to report back on their mission. Loot would be exchanged and sold, then they would be departing. For the meantime, she would stay in contact with other members of her group, but there wasn¡¯t any system she trusted to carry messages secretly. Since nobody really knew the true her, it would likely not last long. They traveled together briefly and fought together even more briefly. The twins had an interesting fighting style, but that was about it. The trip to Rezdu was entirely uninteresting, without even a stop in an intermediate system. The ship also wasn¡¯t particularly fast, though the Trigold Cluster definitely had faster ships they weren¡¯t available for most people. That clearly included people with only tenuous connections to the most prominent sect in the area. ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± Durff declared. ¡°Now we have to wait.¡± Velvet wasn¡¯t particularly surprised. ¡°How long?¡± Velvet was really hoping this wasn¡¯t one of those things where someone was spending untold centuries in closed door cultivation. A decade¡­ she could manage, but only if she was able to do something during that time. ¡°She said¡­ a month?¡± Durff tilted his head. ¡°Something close to that.¡± That wasn¡¯t that bad. ¡°Alright,¡± Velvet said, looking around. The architecture was quite plain, though Velvet surmised that rather than a rejection of opulence for the sake of it, it was meant to fit in with the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance¡¯s method instead of humility. While the result was the same, the underlying reason could be quite different. Perhaps she was being too judgmental though. The two of them were garnering a lot of looks along the way. Sure, they weren¡¯t disciples of the sect but others weren¡¯t that rare. There were always at least a few others around, and Velvet didn¡¯t see them getting stared at. Some of the others had to be passing through as well, right? It wasn¡¯t difficult to see the confrontation coming. A group of Integration cultivators walking together, pretending poorly not to be looking at the two of them but walking directly towards them regardless. What Velvet hadn¡¯t anticipated was how quickly they got to things. They skipped right over all of the normal excuses and went straight to the vitriol. ¡°What a pathetic style, spewing signs of yourself everywhere.¡± It took Velvet a moment to realize they were talking to her. She was about to retort with something, but Durff spoke up first. ¡°Do you know my mom?¡± That wasn¡¯t some sort of intimidation tactic leveled at the disciples. He had turned directly to Velvet as he asked that. ¡°... I don¡¯t,¡± Velvet replied, slightly off guard. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Oh. If you had met her she would have told you that nothing that idiots say matters,¡± Durff said. ¡°But I guess you haven¡¯t heard that from her.¡± ¡°I did just hear it from you though,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°Wait,¡± said one of the men present, so thin it looked like he didn¡¯t know what eating was. Velvet didn¡¯t think there was anything wrong with slim men, but that guy looked like he was trying to hide behind random motes of dust. ¡°This is that one guy, isn¡¯t it?¡± the man said to his friends. ¡°The dumbass who was dropped on his head. Did you know he couldn¡¯t learn even the first step of the Veiled Brilliance Technique even with special training?¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Durff nodded seriously. ¡°She had another thing she said. People who haven¡¯t even been dropped on their head and are still stupid don¡¯t have any excuse.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re stupid, Durff,¡± Velvet commented. Straightforward and simple? Absolutely. But that wasn¡¯t so bad. And even if he¡¯d been entirely unintelligent, what would it matter? ¡°I know I¡¯m not smart,¡± Durff said, but held his head high. ¡°But I also know that I¡¯m not stupid either.¡± He spoke with confidence. That was nice. ¡°Anyway, the point is to ignore idiots as if they don¡¯t exist.¡± If Velvet didn¡¯t know any better, she would have thought Durff was trying to provoke the group. But based on just a short time of knowing him- one day of fighting as companions, and a few weeks of travel where they chatted occasionally- she knew he truly meant it. He was literally just talking to her, informing her of what he knew in case she didn¡¯t. Had he still been interrupted by the group while alone, he most likely would have walked straight past them. ¡°Good plan. Let¡¯s continue on.¡± Durff nodded, then turned his head back forward. At the same time, he strode forward. Right into one of them, because to him they didn¡¯t exist. The fellow was shoved out of the way, though without any malice behind Durff¡¯s actions there was no way he would actually fall over or anything. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Hey! You think you can get away with that?¡± the man shouted after him. Velvet wasn¡¯t as capable of just ignoring them, but she strode forward confidently. ¡°We¡¯re not done!¡± the leader reached out to grab her shoulder, but of course touched nothing. It would have been a pain for Velvet to actually walk between them, so she had just walked around to the side. Their first taunts hadn¡¯t really gotten to her, because she knew that her whole style was based on people making the same mistake as them. Believing that just because they sensed something that was the true source. Several of them tried to stop ¡®Velvet¡¯, but the one who had been shoved aside charged forward, drawing a dagger and stabbing it straight into Durff¡¯s back. Durff did exactly nothing to stop it, beyond maintaining his standard layer of defensive energy. Velvet wanted to react, but she let things play out. The dagger pierced through his energy¡­ but was stopped by his armor. Durff wore something that could stand up to the golem¡¯s attacks- and the massive dent it had caused was already prepared. Some tiny fraction of the assaulter¡¯s energy managed to slip through to Durff¡¯s body, causing a slight cut beneath the armor, but that was trivial. ¡°Hey Durff,¡± Velvet asked, her image stepping next to him. ¡°What¡¯s the punishment for attacking guests of the sect?¡± ¡°No idea,¡± Durff said. ¡°I never learned that stuff. But it doesn¡¯t matter if you never do anything wrong.¡± ¡°Ten days.¡± The voice of a mature woman echoed filled the street around them. ¡°That¡¯s the minimum, if the incident is minor and no retribution is demanded.¡± That was why Velvet hadn¡¯t acted. Because she might have revealed too much of her power to the Augmentation cultivator hiding nearby. And also because she believed Durff would be fine. ¡°Well?¡± the woman asked. ¡°Any additional charges you wish to levy against these disciples?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ have you seen any disciples, Durff?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°... Is this one of those times we count elders?¡± Durff asked. ¡°There¡¯s uh¡­ three over there. And a bunch over there. And of course the elder here,¡± he inclined his head respectfully.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s his report,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that the disciples of the Veiled Brilliance are good at hiding, so there might be more we didn¡¯t notice,¡± Velvet said. The elder snickered. ¡°Is that so. Well, I suppose that¡¯s how it is. I¡¯m Elder Gulmira. And you are?¡± Velvet gave the name of her cover identity, Sybella. Her true name was common enough, but would be more easily traced back. As for whether that could be detected as a lie, Velvet¡¯s training allowed her to integrate some details to make them more true than they would otherwise be. Anyone she posed as long term was her, even if it might not be quite what people were looking for. ¡°Great. Well, as delightful as it sounds my duties don¡¯t allow me to ignore idiots. So I¡¯m going to deal with that.¡± She turned towards the disciples. ¡°Ten days in the null zone! And five more days for embarrassing the sect.¡± Durff eventually led Velvet to their destination. A simple house, barely larger than what she had gotten during her time as a Body Tempering cultivator. Certainly not the sort of residence an Integration cultivator would normally stay at. ¡°It¡¯s not very fancy,¡± he said. ¡°You can probably find somewhere else, if you want.¡± ¡°Is it private?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I¡¯d like to talk.¡± ¡°I think there are formations,¡± Durff said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know for sure.¡± ¡°Good enough,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Do you know that elder?¡± He frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t think I remember her, no.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Velvet said. Looking around, while the furnishings were simple¡­ they were also high quality. Lacking in ornamentation, perhaps, but most likely still quite valuable. Perhaps that was consistent with the Veiled Brilliance. She had also imagined they might have opulent insides. Maybe they would see that somewhere else- she hadn¡¯t been willing to poke and prod inside buildings they passed. ¡°If you want to train,¡± Durff said. ¡°I know where the training grounds are. There¡¯s sturdy stuff for you to hit.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not really necessary for my style,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°Do you think I could practice with the other disciples?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Durff said. ¡°I only heard to come here.¡± Well, based on her single interaction Velvet decided it was better to hold off. Obviously the elder had been fine, but it was better to not cause too much fuss. ¡°Do you mind if I take over that meditation room?¡± Velvet gestured. ¡°Go ahead,¡± he nodded. ¡°It¡¯s not like I would use it.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t meditate at all?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Meditating is to achieve inner peace and balance and stuff, right?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Among other things, yes,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Well, it took me a long time but I got those. So I¡¯m done.¡± A bold statement. For many others, Velvet would say they were wrong. Surely they must have something to improve. And while Durff could definitely continue train his cultivation, his style definitely wasn¡¯t the meditative sort. It was entirely possible that he¡¯d managed to achieve a level of perfection in his mental state he found acceptable. Velvet had the feeling he might have actually removed the existence of those disciples from his mind, once he had formed an opinion about them. She could theoretically do that, but it was too risky. Or perhaps that showed a lack of confidence in herself. Was she going to compare herself to an Integration cultivator and find herself lacking? Actually, that wasn¡¯t unreasonable. Assuming she was better in every way compared to someone of lower cultivation was just foolish. Underestimating people would be the very best way to get herself killed. She doubted she¡¯d ever get to the point she was confident actually ignoring people, though. It wasn¡¯t her style. She needed to be aware of everything, or she wouldn¡¯t be able to function properly. If she erased her presence from everyone but a few idiots, they could still point her out to some people. That wouldn¡¯t be a very effective way to use her abilities. One month. Even if she didn¡¯t get any real training in during that time, it wasn¡¯t too bad. It would have been devastating near the beginning of her cultivation, but now it was just one more month out of centuries full of them. Besides, she could likely learn much just from watching the sect around her¡­ hopefully without looking too much like a spy. Chapter 985 The Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance moved around freely on Rezdu, which was of course entirely unsurprising. It was their planet, and they didn¡¯t need to hide anything. There was a significant difference between that and displaying their techniques, however. Velvet wouldn¡¯t risk intruding on their cultivation grounds, so she mostly got what she could absorb from moving around. Some of their members were better at hiding their true cultivation than others, and she observed varying amounts of natural training. That is to say, there were quite a few people at the training grounds¡­ but nobody just wandered around using stealth techniques. That wasn¡¯t inherently bad, but one never knew what casual experience would reveal during critical moments. Both in the upper and lower realms, Velvet had learned that integrating training into every part of life was vital. Of course, she wasn¡¯t doing much training at the moment except the concealment of her true cultivation level. She was still disguised as a late Integration stage. After the initial trouble, there hadn¡¯t been anyone actually trying to start a fight, but she still overheard comments about Durff. Especially about him being dropped on his head as a child. It was quite prevalent, which was interesting as that meant people knew of him. That didn¡¯t make it true, though. ¡°People sure say a lot of things, huh¡­¡± Velvet commented. ¡°I guess so,¡± Durff shrugged. Ah right, his policy of ignoring idiots. Must be lonely. That would explain why he didn¡¯t live here, though, despite the advantages in terms of facilities. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty vicious story, but not very imaginative. Seriously, you being dropped on your head?¡± ¡°I know, right?¡± Durff said. ¡°My head is part of me and falls with me. I¡¯d have to be dropped on something else. Like someone else¡¯s head.¡± ¡°... Did that happen?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I heard about something,¡± he shrugged. ¡°But I don¡¯t really remember anything like that.¡± Now Velvet had made things awkward. ¡°So, you studied the Veiled Brilliance and found it didn¡¯t fit. What part of it?¡± While he said he didn¡¯t have much insight to offer, he might know more than he thought. ¡°They said all sorts of things. Gather energy, but keep it secret. Even though everyone knows where energy goes.¡± Durff pat his belly, around his dantian. ¡°It just becomes more obvious when you have more of it. Doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± ¡°True enough,¡± Velvet said. ¡°So this aunt of yours. Many generations removed. Does she have a name?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s Aunt Eka,¡± Durff replied. ¡°You think?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t you contact her?¡± ¡°People are smart. They¡¯d have figured it out anyway.¡± ¡°Seems a bit of a stretch to ask for favors when you don¡¯t even know her name.¡± ¡°Aww, she doesn¡¯t care,¡± Durff said. ¡°She said names are only as important as you make them.¡± A single piece of wisdom didn¡¯t make someone wise, but Velvet at least found she agreed with it. As for the actual woman, she couldn¡¯t say until later. ----- After living hundreds of years, one month could pass in the blink of an eye. Even with an enhanced sense of time, cultivators all too often let things slip by. In Velvet¡¯s case, she was looking forward to a particular event, but she did her best to make use of the intervening time. She didn¡¯t learn that much, but perhaps more than the locals would have wanted. Assuming Durff¡¯s aunt would appear after exactly one month was a bit questionable, as it wasn¡¯t really a strict time frame. However, it was the morning of the thirty-first day when there was a knock on the door. Velvet sensed a cultivator in Augmentation. She was surprised, but perhaps she shouldn¡¯t have been. After all, with so many generations between her and Durff, with Durff being in Integration, it was only natural. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s her!¡± Durff commented. ¡°Come on then, let¡¯s go say hi.¡± Aunt Eka¡¯s looks didn¡¯t really give much away about her. She certainly didn¡¯t look youthful, but she wasn¡¯t a crone either. She almost certainly had to be older than Velvet, as she wasn¡¯t in early Augmentation, but judging precisely wasn¡¯t going to be simple. ¡°Hey kid,¡± the woman said as Durff opened the door. ¡°Hello, Aunt Eka. This is the friend who saved my life,¡± Durff gestured to Velvet. ¡°We didn¡¯t do that much,¡± Velvet said truthfully. ¡°I would have felt awful leaving someone like him behind anyway. Especially since he was counting on us.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Eka stepped into the room. ¡°It was still enough for him to recommend you, so that¡¯s something. You wanted training?¡± ¡°Well, given my style I am quite interested in the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. I¡¯m not planning to change sects or anything, though.¡± ¡°Too bad. You seem like a decent specimen, kid. Star based cultivation, huh¡­? I don¡¯t recognize your sect.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not that populous,¡± Velvet said, in a way that was technically true. The alliance promoted all sorts of cultivators among their ranks, so the One Hundred Stars hadn¡¯t grown that large. And certainly when compared to the monosect population of the local systems, they were lower. ¡°I guess I could show you a few tricks,¡± Eka said. ¡°Got any specific questions?¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°I have quite a few,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°But I also find myself interested in Augmentation¡­ and Domination. I heard you have a Domination cultivator?¡± ¡°Ratna,¡± Eka nodded. ¡°Sect head, when we¡¯re formal. Not that I have occasion to use such fancy words often.¡± ¡°As you can imagine, I¡¯m quite interested in advancements to Augmentation. Domination is¡­ more of a stretch,¡± Velvet said. ¡°And perhaps you can¡¯t share any of that information, if it¡¯s even available.¡± ¡°Augmentation?¡± Eka shrugged. ¡°Let me say¡­ it¡¯ll be a piece of cake for you. I guarantee you reach Augmentation in a century or less, feeling your current cultivation. You just need the right insights and such. Well, it¡¯s a bit more complicated but it should come naturally enough. Domination is a different beast. Secrets locked up tightly.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°Buuut¡­ that doesn¡¯t mean I haven¡¯t heard a couple things,¡± Eka grinned. ¡°I¡¯d be very grateful for whatever you could share.¡± ¡°Hmm, now then. What can I say¡­¡± Eka pondered. ¡°Well, let''s start with what we know about our enemies. You¡¯ve heard of the Citadel of Exalted Light, naturally.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°Their sect head, Zaur, is a Domination cultivator. I¡¯ve heard he¡¯s gotten into some battles with Ratna. Shame she didn¡¯t kill him.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°There was a recent incident between them, actually?¡± ¡°Are you talking about the thing with Everheart? I heard he threw out some pretty widespread taunts.¡± ¡°Oh, that asshole?¡± Eka spit. ¡°Well, I meant before that. But since you brought it up¡­ you didn¡¯t hear it from me, but someone said that he tipped of Ratna about Zaur¡¯s presence in the actual incident I meant to talk about. The one in the¡­ whatchamacallit. Mid zone.¡± ¡°The Scarlet Midfields?¡± ¡°Yeah, probably that,¡± Eka nodded. ¡°Anyway she showed up where she was tipped off and chased him to the border, but she couldn¡¯t get to his Anchor.¡± ¡°Anchor¡­?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Ah¡­ well, it¡¯s one part of things,¡± Eka furrowed her brow. ¡°I can¡¯t say too much, but do you think people build fancy crystal palaces for nothing?¡± ¡°Is that a trick question?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Because some people definitely do.¡± Eka chuckled. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll admit that. But yeah. Anchors. I don¡¯t have all the details but¡­ sometimes devotion isn¡¯t enough.¡± ¡°And these Anchors¡­ they just work? I heard that he was almost halfway through the Scarlet Midfields during that incident. Is there no falloff for distance?¡± ¡°How would I know?¡± Eka shrugged. ¡°If there is, any Domination cultivator would be even more unstoppable around their sect. Not that any have a weak sect to begin with.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Velvet said. Assuming her words were true, there wasn¡¯t exactly anything they could do. They¡¯d have to basically take out the Citadel of Exalted Light to make it possible to fight Zaur¡­ but he¡¯d be there, stopping them. That was ignoring literally all of the rest of the Exalted Quadrant. Maybe the Scarlet Alliance would just have to struggle to survive. ¡°I heard Everheart died,¡± Durff commented. He looked to his many times removed aunt, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were there?¡± Eka just smiled and gave him a few pats on the head. ¡°We hear lots of things, kid. They¡¯re not always true.¡± ¡°People saw it, though.¡± Eka shrugged. ¡°People saw Everheart die to Fajra,¡± she pointed out. ¡°And then bam, there was an incident and that new sect popped up. The Scarlet Midfields.¡± Velvet almost corrected her that the Midfields was the name for the whole region, but she held herself back. ¡°Yeah that guy¡­ is never as dead as people want.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never met him,¡± Durff said. ¡°Is he bad?¡± ¡°He makes the most terrible traps,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Worse than the Nightstar sect?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Way worse. More like the last part where you almost got stuck behind,¡± Velvet said. Then it hit her. Yes, Everheart usually put his face and name all over things¡­ but maybe that wasn¡¯t true in the upper realms. Or¡­ maybe she was being paranoid and someone else did it. They might even find some rational explanation for why things had been set up the way they were if it wasn¡¯t some sort of trap. Only the fact that she hated it really connected things for her at the moment. ¡°Speaking of the Nightstar sect,¡± Eka said. ¡°You helped the sect a lot with that. I appreciate you retrieving Durff, but we also found information that old sect was spread more widely. Here, let me show you.¡± She pulled out a scroll, which unfurled into a three-dimensional star map. There weren¡¯t many markings, which slightly disappointed Velvet. ¡°There are a few all the way out west?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Even into the Exalted Quadrant?¡± ¡°Unless their own information were lies,¡± Eka shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s odd, either way. They¡¯d be far too spread out to function. But at least we gleaned this from the records people found. We¡¯d like you to help explore some.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll definitely consider it,¡± Velvet said. However, she¡¯d somehow stumbled into getting most of the answers she ever thought she¡¯d acquire all at once. Not giving away her excitement was all she could do. ¡°You mentioned training?¡± ¡°Oh, indeed,¡± Eka said. ¡°I can¡¯t give away any of our secrets, but an exchange of pointers could be arranged. Or a stealth match.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that? Velvet asked. Durff had an answer there. ¡°It¡¯s fancy hide and seek. I was never very good at it,¡± he sighed. ¡°And even when I won people complained.¡± ¡°Sounds petty,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Why would they complain?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± Durff said. ¡°Just because I smashed all the walls to reveal my opponent, they said I wasn¡¯t ¡®using proper detection techniques¡¯. But I saw them!¡± ¡°I think that counts,¡± Velvet crossed her arms. ¡°Honestly?¡± Eka grinned. ¡°I do too. In a roundabout way, my nephew here might have the highest potential as an anti-spy operative I¡¯ve ever met. But they had a good point that he¡¯s anything but stealthy.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Velvet pondered. ¡°He does lack subtlety. But I bet he could learn it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome to try to teach him,¡± Eka said. ¡°But I certainly don¡¯t know how to get it to him. Not that he needs to learn any of that. As for people who do need to learn¡­¡± Eka laughed. ¡°I heard from Gulmira some idiots tried to get into it with you two.¡± ¡°Sorry to cause a disturbance,¡± Velvet said. ¡°They¡¯re the ones who should be sorry. If they wanted to do something, they should have been more subtle. Of course it would have still ended up with Durff whacking them through a few walls, so really they picked the wrong target. That¡¯s the thing with kids like that. They don¡¯t understand intrigue. You¡¯re never supposed to let your enemy know that you¡¯re enemies. Otherwise they have an advantage over you.¡± Velvet nodded. She took that very seriously. And she¡¯d found it worked out quite well, when she could. Here she had come looking for questions, and they had just been handed to her because Eka thought they were friends. Which they weren¡¯t, but they might not be enemies either. Depending on whether Ratna¡¯s ominous words about not being there for the Scarlet Alliance ¡®yet¡¯ as a threat or just a turn of phrase. If possible, Velvet wanted to learn something more about Ratna, but prying too much would be dangerous. Perhaps it was best to take what she¡¯d learned and go. Though without looking like she was doing that. Maybe a bit more exploration first. Chapter 986 As it turned out, it was much more difficult to be a mother than a queen. This was something Crossed Antennae had learned through trial and error. Oh, so much error. As a queen, she could order any of her subordinates to do whatever she pleased, and they would execute her orders without hesitation. Or at least, usually. Some of her spawn had become downright insubordinate¡­ but only to the point they thought they were doing things for her own good. Those were the four who had been most exposed to other sapients. Fire, Bullet, Chops, and Snips had trained with Aconite and Chidi in the poison and sword arts. Saying they were influenced by humans wasn¡¯t quite right, but the wolves were closely associated. Then again, so were the void ants, at least since the Great Queen. Their entire lineage stretched through her. The aforementioned subordinates had forced Crossed Antennae to take an overly long break. She hadn¡¯t appreciated it at the time, and she was still somewhat annoyed at them, but it had been useful nonetheless. She was fortunate she hadn¡¯t fully screwed anything up. Crossed Antennae had been a bit hasty. Obviously she had limited time, and it would take time to raise up colonies along the border planets¡­ but merely creating the most numbers was not her goal. She wanted the best daughters, aligned with the overall goal of the void ants. She¡¯d almost lost both. The first few- especially those neighboring Bounty- had proper time taken for them in terms of both gestation and teaching. However, most of the rest had been dealt with too quickly and mechanically. Returning to them, Crossed Antennae found many problems. The queens said they would obey her orders- and indeed they would, as long as she was around. They didn¡¯t have a rebellious spirit¡­ but they certainly weren¡¯t invested, either. It was impossible to say what they would have done, when the forces of the upper realms placed their temporal bases. They might have stayed in hiding, or perhaps revealed themselves too soon. It was unlikely they would have been foolish enough to try to work with them, but it was possible. The queens had been weak as well. Not enough time under proper care. Ascension energy made them grow, but an unguided void ant was likely to fall behind. Humans sought out their own goals, but merely being told what to do was not enough for void ants developed enough to properly lead a coordinated attack against humans. At least the queens and perhaps their royal guard needed something more than a royal decree to guide them. All of Crossed Antennae¡¯s days were now spent correcting her mistakes. They were too numerous to count, despite her focus on perfection. If she¡¯d continued as she was, the trust placed in her might have been entirely wasted. The four upstarts held the position of her most honored royal guard. Truth be told, she was fairly certain they could even defeat her. Individually, and not just as a group. That was logical, because she hadn¡¯t been focused on her combat abilities. Nor did she need to be. The Great Queen had a much longer lifespan to grow in all areas, but Crossed Antennae was just trying to be a queen. One of her first orders of business had been to prevent the isolation of planets. While independent travel for void ants was quite difficult, the humans had made useful vessels that could bring a small number of void ants between systems. They were reusable as well, just tiny ships. Having more than extremely rare travel between their systems would be a risk. It wouldn¡¯t be safe after humans came around, even in emergencies. But before then¡­ she could foster a functional social structure. It seemed like a waste at first, but she realized that it would promote the growth of all the void ants. Obviously Crossed Antennae couldn¡¯t spend time with each and every one. No, she usually spent her time with planetary queens. Sometimes there was a single queen over a whole planet, with sub-queens for each colony. When gathered together, Crossed Antennae¡¯s time was more efficient. She could train with and teach them in a group, and they could then go spread any necessary information to their subordinates. For the most part, the queens didn¡¯t have names. It wasn¡¯t a void ant tradition, but Crossed Antennae had been influenced by Akrys. Her own daughters were slowly affected by that as well, and Crossed Antennae felt that it was only a matter of time. In person, pheromone patterns were sufficient. Designations of planet and position were good enough the rest of the time¡­ but sometimes ¡®good enough¡¯ was disappointing. As the planets they were settling were largely empty- sometimes completely so except for a few species of plants- there weren¡¯t many sources of conflict. While peaceful growing was preferred to some extent¡­ Crossed Antennae didn¡¯t want her daughters to be weak. Fortunately, they had sisters. While there were very few things for them to naturally compete over, she could still give them a reason. A proper form of competition, not the sort that tore apart human family structures when taken too far. She came up with several categories. Single combat was easy. Group combat was a bit more complicated, as they didn¡¯t want any deaths¡­ but having void ants work against each other to accomplish arbitrary objectives was great training. It wasn¡¯t all about combat, though. She still needed the colonies to grow. Thus, individual colony growth and planetary growth were both measured. There was an advantage given to those with less fertile planets, to try to keep things as fair as possible. Having just implemented all of her various policies, Crossed Antennae couldn¡¯t actually say that anything worked just yet. Perhaps she was merely distracting the queens from functioning properly. The only way to know for sure was to give it time. And that was something they still had, even if it felt like it was rapidly running out. Frankly, she thought it was better if she didn¡¯t have a known time limit. It was impossible to forget, though. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ----- By the time Velvet was prepared to leave Rezdu and the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance- at least in the short term- there had been news from the more thorough inspections of Carrelos and the Nighstar sect. News that made Velvet extremely glad she wasn¡¯t the one involved. People had disappeared. Not killed by guardians or the like- though that had happened to some as well- but instead they were gone. The cause was later determined to be some sort of portal node. However, unlike the one to exit the sect, it was tucked away behind a number of sealed doors. Furthermore, it seemed that whoever operated the portal was obligated to go through, opposite the exit portal where they couldn¡¯t reach it. A second team had been sent through, but neither had returned after several months. It was entirely possible they went somewhere instantly fatal. When that had come up with Durff around, he had questions. Simple ones, like¡­ ¡°Why? If all your disciples die, then you would run out of sectmates very fast.¡± ¡°Maybe as a trap,¡± Velvet had surmised. ¡°It was awfully hard to get to, wasn¡¯t it?¡± he asked. ¡°Not a great trap.¡± ¡°Or maybe one of the best,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Meant to take out the most competent individuals. Though we don¡¯t actually know it killed them. There might have been no way back, or they found themselves extremely occupied.¡± ¡°Should we go check it out?¡± Durff asked. ¡°I¡¯d be fine fighting alongside you more in the future,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But with this newest revelation, I¡¯d rather not. There¡¯s something about known versus unknown risks- but when the known risks are so high, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth it.¡± Durff nodded. ¡°So you¡¯re going back to your sect?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll be gone for a long time, most likely,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Okay,¡± Durff confirmed. ¡°I still want to explore these sects, though. Maybe one of the other ones, without a scary portal.¡± ¡°I¡¯d recommend against it,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Remember how you almost got trapped inside last time?¡± ¡°But I made it out.¡± ¡°Only with help.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bring friends. This time it just won¡¯t include you,¡± Durff said. He didn¡¯t mean for it to hurt, but it did. It wasn¡¯t about how long they had known each other, but the kind of person he was. Velvet was tempted to remain with him, to try to keep him safe. But she knew she couldn¡¯t be responsible for any individual¡¯s safety, if they chose to take risks. Nor should she be. It was how cultivators grew. If she coddled Durff too much, he might hit a dead end. It still felt like a betrayal, partially because she was going back to her true sect which was potentially in conflict with them. At the very least, the Trigold Cluster as a whole was and enemy¡­ and Ratna hadn¡¯t made that any less likely for the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance in particular. While Durff wasn¡¯t a proper member of them, he also wasn¡¯t associated with anyone else. She almost wanted to invite him to join the Scarlet Alliance. Unfortunately, it was too risky. The problem, in fact, was Durff¡¯s honesty. If he did join, along the way he might give them away accidentally. And if he didn¡¯t, the same might be true even if he didn¡¯t want to get her in trouble. So Velvet said nothing, except. ¡°I¡¯ll contact you later.¡± ----- A year of cautious travel brought her back across the border to the Scarlet Midfields. Her travel speed was much faster there, because she felt safe. She brought back everything she had learned. Learning of some of the Nighstar sect¡¯s locations in the Scarlet Midfields, people were intrigued. Especially Catarina. ¡°Secret realms, portals, and advanced formations?¡± she asked. ¡°Fascinating.¡± ¡°What about the information on Domination cultivators?¡± Timothy asked. Catarina shrugged. ¡°I can¡¯t do anything about that at the moment. We might launch an investigation into these ¡®anchors¡¯, but I¡¯m not the best to do it. Unless we find out formations are involved. More than people normally have in their fancy palaces, I mean.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t really argue with that,¡± Timothy admitted. ¡°It¡¯s just a big, looming issue.¡± ¡°Too bad we can¡¯t have void ants among us,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I imagine they would be quite useful. But since we can¡¯t, we have to deal with things how they are. I think we should ready a team to explore one of these locations. A team including us.¡± ¡°Are you certain that is wise?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Even you couldn¡¯t survive if a portal took you somewhere like the center of a star.¡± ¡°Positive,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Besides, you were missing proper formation masters. I could either figure out where something is going to some level of success¡­ or rework such a formation to bring us to a known safe location. If not, I should at least be able to determine that the formations are beyond me before we get too deep into things. I can¡¯t say I¡¯m perfect, after all. Though with unlimited time, I believe I could pick through even the best work of Everheart. If anyone far surpasses him¡­ then we should very much leave their old, dead sects alone.¡± ¡°It will be quite interesting,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Perhaps like old times. Without Anton, of course. Alva hasn¡¯t reached Augmentation yet, but I doubt she¡¯d hold us back.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to figure out what team composition actually makes sense,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But I certainly think going with familiar figures would be good. And nothing stops us from bringing others along as well. For Alva specifically¡­ perhaps it would be a good opportunity for her to advance.¡± ¡°So,¡± Catarina asked. ¡°One of these sects is located- hmm suspicious¡­¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t even gone inside yet!¡± Velvet said. ¡°Though we should be prepared for something like that paranoia field. But what struck you?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have to see it in person to know,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But I have a theory already.¡± ¡°Well that just makes me more curious,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I¡¯ll wait.¡± Chapter 987 Traveling in Alliance ships was much more pleasant than anything in the Trigold Cluster. It wasn¡¯t a matter of actual luxury, but the ability to enjoy it. Velvet didn¡¯t find herself able to relax in enemy territory, for obvious reasons. Even if they weren¡¯t a unified force standing against the Scarlet Alliance, they controlled dangerous space that she had nobody she could trust in. Or perhaps now very few. The point was it was much more pleasant to be around her longtime allies. That included Catarina, Timothy, Alva, and Fuzz- Spikes was busy with some other business. The increased speed both directly from faster movement and not needing to stop and board new ships every system or two also helped her comfort. Their destination was Metenin- at least by local star charts. Velvet¡¯s information had been less complete, and the Trigold Cluster didn¡¯t necessarily use the same names. Even as they were still approaching their destination, not having landed yet, Catarina nodded to herself. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Learn something already?¡± Velvet asked. The two of them sat in the cockpit, looking towards their destination. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you mentioned this,¡± Catarina said, ¡°But was the other planet quite close to its star?¡± ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Is that weird?¡± ¡°This one is too,¡± Catarina pointed out. Velvet shrugged. ¡°Could be why they¡¯re called the Nighstar sect. Because they¡¯re near stars.¡± ¡°The name is suspicious,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Also, the locations.¡± ¡°What about it?¡± ¡°You remember our issues with powering teleportation?¡± Catarina asked. Velvet nodded, ¡°Yeah, Everheart¡¯s method was dumb and destructive.¡± ¡°Indeed. Well, we settled on solar power. Direct solar power,¡± Catarina emphasized. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s that crazy of a concept,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Ruterans theorized ways to use the full energy of stars like a thousand years ago.¡± ¡°The problem is I¡¯ve never heard of the Nighstar sect,¡± Catarina continued. ¡°I was looking for information like this. If there were only locations off in the Trigold Cluster, I wouldn¡¯t be that surprised. But for them to be here, with no prior hint of their presence? It¡¯s concerning.¡± ¡°You should save your judgment until after you look at the place up close,¡± Velvet said. ----- ¡°My initial analysis of the formations says that the style is not Everheart¡¯s,¡± Catarina explained. ¡°That¡¯s good, right?¡± asked Timothy. ¡°Not that it stops it from being troublesome.¡± ¡°Ah, I misspoke,¡± Catarina said, clearing her throat. ¡°My initial analysis of the formations indicates that the style is very specifically not-Everheart¡¯s.¡± Alva frowned. ¡°The second way sounds more suspicious for some reason.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°It should. Because I think in most cases, people would not make a connection. The style is so unlike Everheart that it is quite like him, you see?¡± ¡°Ah, I get it,¡± Timothy said. ¡°It¡¯s like a rejection of his style. Maybe someone fighting counter to him¡­ or him hiding his style. But doesn¡¯t his technique have a lot of overlap with¡­ everyone?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be more suspicious to not seem like him, specifically?¡± ¡°Only if you notice,¡± Catarina said. At the moment, they were on the surface of a blazing planet, inspecting just the outside of a building. Though from what they could tell, it was likely an entrance much like the previous one Velvet had encountered, though somewhat smaller. ¡°It might be personal bias.¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to not have it,¡± Alva said. ¡°So what about the other question? I can¡¯t really tell¡­ but how old does this look to all of you?¡± Timothy walked around, looking at the surface of the wall in front of him intently. ¡°It looks old and well preserved to me.¡± Velvet agreed, ¡°Same with me. But¡­ I think I know what you¡¯re getting at, Alva. If I look closely enough¡­ it should be better preserved?¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t the formations be breaking down?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°They¡¯re in excellent condition,¡± Catarina declared. ¡°Also,¡± Alva continued, ¡°There¡¯s currently no damage occurring.¡± ¡°That suspicious,¡± Timothy said. ¡°We can safely assume everything will be,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Hopefully not in a supernatural manner, but¡­¡± she shrugged. Fuzz was sniffing around the area along with the rest of them. Then he growled. ¡°Nobody has been here. Or they erased their scent.¡± ¡°It could have broken down over time. Wouldn¡¯t the heat,¡± Timothy gestured to the sun and the surrounding planet that had a dim orange glow, ¡°Pretty much negate that? Especially with time?¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Fuzz sniffed again. He barked a reply, ¡°Yes. But this place smells less like the planet. The ground smells less like itself.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll add that to the list,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Obviously, someone wanted to hide their true involvement with this. Either Everheart or some sort of copycat, I suppose.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we will find many answers on age out here,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We will have to explore inside.¡± ----- Instead of opening up to a grand hall, unadorned, they found themselves looking at an unexpected sight. The ceiling appeared as glass, showing a direct view of the sun. Yet it certainly hadn¡¯t appeared to have a transparent roof from the outside. Investigations revealed that it was a one-way transparent material that they approximated let through ninety percent of the sun¡¯s light. From the outside, it only appeared slightly dim after making the observation. That wasn¡¯t strange, because at their distance from the local star the intensity of light was just as great as most planet¡¯s noon even when vastly diminished. Their eyes weren¡¯t their main source of vision while outdoors, as they were generally overwhelmed by the brightness. From the inside, the circular window focused the light directly downward to the floor, but it didn¡¯t seem to either reflect off the floor or be absorbed. Instead, they only directly saw signs of internal lighting from the formation. Cautious inspections by the group indicated that the intensity of light wasn¡¯t any more dangerous than outside, it simply didn¡¯t scatter around. And when it reached the floor¡­ ¡°Aha!¡± Catarina said. ¡°Should have figured. The floor is an illusion.¡± Fuzz pawed at it. ¡°Well, not like that. It¡¯s still real. But¡­¡± she scratched a marking in the floor. Then a few dozen more in rapid succession. A proper glass floor appeared beneath them. Or rather, just the center of the room where the sun was directed. The rest was solid stone, though it didn¡¯t appear to be local. ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Isn¡¯t it gathering light for power?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°It¡¯s pretty intense.¡± ¡°This is nothing,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re what, at ten or a hundred times normal intensity? This area is less than a hundred square meters. Even at perfect conversion, that¡¯s a small solar field. Enough to power a few houses with low intensity appliances. I suppose if it captured energy it could power the entrance to a secret realm?¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°But there would be many easier ways to do that.¡± Fuzz continued sniffing around. ¡°Scent¡¯s erased here too,¡± he commented with a whine. That didn¡¯t really surprise anyone. They moved cautiously, giving Catarina plenty of time to judge the safety of any upcoming formations. From the single room, they moved directly down a set of spiral stairs at the far end of the room. They were moving parallel to the beam of light, but it was out of reach behind stone. Not that stone and enchantments would stop them if they truly wanted to, but breaking things wantonly when they were trying to understand wasn¡¯t helpful. ¡°This is very different from the other location,¡± Velvet observed. ¡°Except for the part where there are unnecessarily long paths with no side connections.¡± After a few minutes they reached the bottom of the stairs, which opened into a room offset from the theoretical beam of light. Their senses were muted by the surrounding formations, so they couldn¡¯t be quite certain it still remained- though having looked down from above once the glass floor was revealed, it had gone quite a long way down into the planet. As they entered the room, a portal opened up in front of them. ¡°How much of a trap is it?¡± Alva asked. ¡°It looks like it¡¯s going somewhere safe¡­¡± she nodded, ¡°My senses are returning an actual space.¡± ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a problem,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It appears legitimate enough. The question is whether or not it will remain. I sense no way to activate it from the other side.¡± She moved around the edges of the room they were in, feeling in the walls, floor, and ceiling for formation markings. ¡°Indeed, it will close some minutes after we go through.¡± ¡°This is really poor sect security,¡± Timothy said. ¡°If it was only a trap, it would close immediately or manually at the behest of the defenders. This is just asking for explorers to be trapped inside.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Catarina said. ¡°To be clear, this portal leads to a secret realm. A subspace. It¡¯s not particularly difficult with the energy and know-how. But the setup is still unnatural.¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°Traps are better when they don¡¯t look like traps. Is there a greater danger hidden behind this? Is this room going to kill us for our caution? Well, try to kill us I mean. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s enough power here to manage that.¡± Fuzz sniffed the portal. ¡°Smells like sunlight.¡± ¡°More than the rest of us?¡± Catarina asked. They were, after all, practitioners of the One Hundred Stars. Even if they focused on very different disciplines, they had that same core. Fuzz nodded. ¡°The sun is in there.¡± He looked up. ¡°That one.¡± ¡°... That¡¯s a lot of effort to get some natural sunlight,¡± Catarina said. ¡°So we must assume there is another purpose. Or¡­ that they¡¯re simply extravagant.¡± She shook her head. ¡°It will take me some time to refit the formations so that the portal doesn¡¯t close. I¡¯ll also have to modify the other side slightly for security. In the worst case, we can break out of the subspace forcefully, but it¡¯s a bit risky near a star.¡± Velvet frowned. That would be an issue. ¡°We¡¯re not that close, are we?¡± ¡°Its gravitational effects will still be noticeable,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Something we have to account for or have an unacceptably high chance of ending up inside a star.¡± ¡°How much is that, exactly?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°The threshold for unacceptability is a single percent, for such a thing,¡± Catarina clarified. ¡°Because unbound stars have far too much power for any of us to withstand without serious consequences. If any of us were on a similar path to Anton, we might have related experience but our chances of survival would be poor should that happen. And we can¡¯t afford to have frequent risks of such magnitude if we expect to survive until the next cycle. Certainly not when they can be accounted for.¡± He shrugged, ¡°Yeah, I doubt I could effectively block an actual star, if we ended up inside somehow. Need any help?¡± ¡°I will inform you when I do,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Thank you.¡± At various points in the past, Catarina had found herself in difficult situations where she needed to make simultaneous formation markings. Not necessarily complex ones, but simply ones that required being in different places. And creating a link of her own energy between the points could be an issue. Thus, reminding her that more people existed occasionally was useful. Timothy found it quite relaxing to watch his wife work. Most of the time, he didn¡¯t understand what she was doing except in vague strokes. Her previous explanation was all he knew of her current efforts. The formations were simply beyond his understanding. Not that he was useless at formations, but most of the time he found the difference between himself and Catarina in that field was a similar magnitude as that between himself and a day one newbie. Intentionally obfuscated formations simply weren¡¯t something he messed with. It turned out there weren¡¯t any traps set up to stop people like them from modifying things- at least those who knew how to do it carefully- and while the formation markings might not last ¡®long term¡¯ for Catarina that meant they might decay after decades instead of something more concerning like the next few hours. It had been a while since he got to explore anywhere exciting. Timothy hoped he hadn¡¯t gotten rusty from fighting the same few people repeatedly. Even in Augmentation, he had to respect unknown formations and those who could put them together. Chapter 988 ¡°We¡¯re not friends, Durff,¡± said the old woman. Jyotsana. ¡°Okay,¡± he shrugged. ¡°Does that change anything? Are you coming or not? Do you plan to stay at Life Transformation forever?¡± Her face scrunched up, wrinkling even more than normal. ¡°You really think I¡¯d get the opportunity?¡± Durff shrugged. ¡°Maybe. But I know you won¡¯t get it anywhere else, at this point. There aren¡¯t many opportunities outside of claims. So are you coming or not?¡± ¡°Hmm. I wouldn¡¯t have expected you to lead anything. Why me? You¡¯re already solidly in Integration.¡± ¡°I¡¯m motivated to get stronger myself. And I¡¯d rather have people who I trust. Most of the rest¡­ might not have saved me.¡± Jyotsana grinned widely. ¡°And you think I would have, on my own? It was that scout, Sybella,¡± she said, referring to Velvet¡¯s cover identity. Durff shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m also inviting the twins. They made stuff more breakable.¡± ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s just hope it¡¯s less of a disaster.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep everyone in line if you all get paranoid.¡± ¡°Will that actually happen again¡­?¡± Jyotsana wondered. ----- It didn¡¯t, as it turned out. Oh, Jyotsana was worried about all sorts of things, but the actual emotional issues being projected were anger. Fortunately, Jyotsana fought well when angry. They ran across some similar golems to before, and the twins were properly able to repeat their techniques even when mentally oppressed. ¡°Whoever made you tried to trap us!¡± Juli said, smashing in the side of one of the golems. Durff also struck harder, the anger seeming to improve his strength. Maybe everything was fine for them. Even so¡­ ¡°That was harder,¡± Durff said. ¡°Lots,¡± Misi, the brother of the twins agreed. ¡°Who knew one person made so much difference?¡± ¡°That¡¯s because Sybella was strong,¡± Durff explained. ¡°Are you saying I¡¯m not, huh?¡± Misi glared at Durff. ¡°I would not insult my companions. My mom taught me that being angry shouldn¡¯t affect how you talk to people you like.¡± Flames flickered between Jyotsana¡¯s fingers. ¡°This place is also an issue.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Juli, Misi¡¯s sister agreed. ¡°But¡­¡± she punched the wall. ¡°At least we can sort of function? Ow. I¡¯m an idiot.¡± ¡°What was this guardian protecting?¡± Misi wondered. ¡°Aside from the parts, which are rather valuable¡­¡± he looked around. ¡°It seems like a dead end.¡± ¡°Not if I can help it,¡± Durff said. He charged towards the end of the path, swinging his hammer. ¡°Give us the treasure we earned!¡± Rather than his weapon rebounding off the wall or smashing through it, he felt no impact. That caused him to stumble forward. Then he saw only blackness. Well, that was it. ¡°It really was a dead end!¡± he cursed. ¡°I should have been more careful!¡± ¡°Durff?¡± ¡°I can still hear my friends calling from the other world. How odd. I can¡¯t help but be angry I allowed this to happen.¡± Flames suddenly flickered next to him. ¡°Hey, ya lug,¡± Jyotsana commented. ¡°It¡¯s just an illusory wall.¡± Durff smashed one of the real walls. He managed to chip it, but it felt good. ¡°Whoa, look at this!¡± Misi said. ¡°A silver-spined pinecone!¡± ¡°And a five element ivy!¡± Juli said. ¡°I would have been so angry if we missed this!¡± ¡°... Are those valuable?¡± Jyotsana asked, looking at the pile. It seemed like mostly junk. ¡°Better,¡± Misi said. ¡°They¡¯re rare.¡± ¡°So¡­ how much would they sell for?¡± ¡°I would never!¡± Misi clutched the silver pinecone to his chest, piercing his hand. ¡°Ouch. Also, I don¡¯t think anyone would care.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Jyotsana reached into the pile, pulling out a flaming seed. ¡°Amazing!¡± Juli commented. ¡°A true Rubyvine seed!¡± ¡°What¡¯s it good for?¡± Jyotsana asked. ¡°Decent fire element.¡± ¡°Well, you can crush it to make a powder good for slaying ice phoenixes,¡± Misi said. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ specific,¡± Jyotsana commented. ¡°What happens if you eat it?¡± Durff posited. ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t do that!¡± Misi shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s far too rare to just consume.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t we grow it?¡± Jyotsana questioned. Misi chuckled. ¡°Only if you can put its origin planet back together. Anyway, the elemental boost would be a waste. You never know when you need-¡± Jyotsana popped it in her mouth. Flames began to coil around her, and the twins scooped up the rest of the pile and rushed out of the area. ¡°We should have mentioned the explosive potential from consumption first!¡± Juli shouted at her brother. Durff looked at the old woman and pat her on the head. ¡°Ow,¡± he said as his hand burned. ¡°Don¡¯t explode, okay? But I¡¯m going to go over there.¡± ----- Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. An hour later, Jyotsana staggered down the hall, her body blackened. She also had red vines growing out of her limbs, and some stalks from her ears. She also faintly flickered with the power of Integration. ¡°Whoa, you survived that?¡± Juli asked. ¡°Now I¡¯m definitely the weak one.¡± ¡°You all waited?¡± Jyotsana looked around. ¡°You weren¡¯t dead,¡± Durff grumbled. ¡°How could we leave? But we had to fight several patrols of smaller golems,¡± he gestured. ¡°These are new. Or rather, as old as the sect. Probably. But I haven¡¯t seen them before.¡± ¡°We were talking,¡± Misi said. ¡°About getting out of here and taking a rest. You certainly look like you could use it.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Jyotsana grumbled. ¡°I feel awful. But exploding might have been fine.¡± They traced their route back along the path they came, before finally reaching a dead end. They exchanged glances. ¡°... Did we go the wrong way?¡± Durff asked. ¡°These brats were responsible for remembering,¡± Jyotsana said. ¡°This is definitely it! See, there¡¯s the mark I left,¡± Misi commented. ¡°Then why is there a wall?¡± Durff asked. ¡°... I dunno,¡± Juli said. ¡°We checked to make sure we could get in and out, and we passed here several times.¡± ¡°I¡¯m gonna smash it,¡± Durff said. One good swing was not enough to break down the wall. However, he got into a rhythm, and ten minutes later they could see through the back of the stone. It crumbled away to reveal¡­ nothing. Not more wall, or endless dirt. But nothing. Durff poked it. ¡°It¡¯s hard?¡± ¡°But-¡± Misi panicked. ¡°How? We were so careful. If this one had portals we weren¡¯t going to go through!¡± Jyotsana sat down. Her sigh brought with it a gout of fire. ¡°The portal was hidden there,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯d bet anything. We¡¯re trapped in another secret realm.¡± ¡°Okay. So we just have to find our way out. There was one before!¡± Juli commented. ----- ¡°Alright, Catarina said. ¡°That should hold it.¡± She¡¯d just finished the ¡®inner¡¯ portal, just to make it more secure. It shouldn¡¯t disappear when they wandered off. ¡°Everyone ready?¡± Timothy asked, hefting his shield. Fuzz barked in encouragement. As their group started down the corridor, the first thing they ran into was a pack of golems. ¡°These are smaller than I saw before,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I¡¯m sure they¡¯re still fairly dangerous.¡± Alva was already shooting, her arrows impacting one of them repeatedly in the same spot. She slowly worked her way through its armor before any of them reached their frontline- which was Timothy and Fuzz. Timothy stepped forward, blocking the punch of the fastest one. A trembling echo came from his shield, and then a crack- but from the arm of the golem. Normally something like that wouldn¡¯t be able to damage itself in an attack, but Timothy¡¯s techniques allowed him to basically double the strain, reflecting the attack back at his enemies. Fuzz chomped the first one, his flames not causing immediate damage but his teeth sinking nicely. That provided a good opening for Velvet, who slashed at the restrained enemy. Catarina stabbed one with her sword, and it crumpled to the ground. ¡°Well that¡¯s not fair,¡± Timothy said. ¡°What was that, huh?¡± ¡°They¡¯re powered by formations,¡± she shrugged. ¡°And so you can just instantly bring them down?¡± Timothy grinned. ¡°I had to study them¡­ for about that long,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Hmm,¡± Velvet said. ¡°These are somewhat weaker¡­ but mostly I suppose I was held back too much before. Since the majority of us can use Augmentation level strength.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not too bad if they¡¯re like this,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But I¡¯ll stay ready for tougher ones. Our recent participation has been in large scale battles involving Domination cultivators. It turns out Augmentation isn¡¯t really that bad.¡± ----- There wasn¡¯t a way out. Durff and others wandered for days and mapped out the entire area. The good news? They circumvented all the traps and seemed to have defeated all the guardians. They got a number of resources, about half of which were going to Juli- who was at the peak of Life Transformation. Durff punched the wall. It was more cathartic than hitting it with his hammer, in some ways. ¡°Should have brought a formation master.¡± ¡°You think we can just pick those up off the street?¡± Jyotsana commented. ¡°Not a real master, perhaps,¡± Misi shook his head. ¡°But at least a specialist.¡± ¡°... I think we have to do it,¡± Juli said. Technically, they had found a way out. Or rather, some sort of portal generator. The issue was that it was quite similar to the description that had been found in the first of the Nighstar sect¡¯s locations. The second one, that had a whole lot of people missing to never return. ¡°I didn¡¯t think it would be worse,¡± Durff said, punching the wall almost hard enough to break his fist. It was close. Maybe he would. He deserved it. ¡°We can try to bust our way out in the next place,¡± Jyotsana said. ¡°Though¡­ perhaps we try to calm down, and rest?¡± Even as she said that, flames spurted out of some flowers on the vines now growing out of her. She found it unpleasant, but only mentally. It didn¡¯t actually hurt or seem to hinder her in any way. ¡°I¡¯d like to try to break through,¡± Juli said. ¡°We¡¯ve found enough for me to try. But I don¡¯t think this is¡­ the right environment for me.¡± ¡°Pfeh,¡± Jyotsana spit out the sound. ¡°Kids.¡± ----- ¡°I figured it out,¡± Catarina said. ¡°The formations are concealed, but the mental effect here. There is one.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Confidence. Or overconfidence.¡± Fuzz barked in disagreement. ¡°We should be confident, we are very strong.¡± That was, likely, his uninfluenced opinion. The mental effects might not even work on him¡­ certainly not to their full extent. ¡°We can resist it, obviously,¡± Catarina said. She stopped for a moment. ¡°Though it is quite difficult to judge, we¡¯ve been rather successful. And I¡¯ve been marking up some changes to dull the effects. Because it¡¯s annoying.¡± ¡°I think this would be quite dangerous if we were weaker,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Great,¡± Alva grumbled. ¡°I¡¯m the weakest of us. By a very important step. I¡¯m still effective, I think, but¡­¡± she gestured around them vaguely. ¡°An objective assessment will require a clear mind,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But we did not bring you for nothing.¡± ¡°This sensory inhibition stuff is awful,¡± Alva commented. ¡°I could at least take advantage of corners and stuff if it wasn¡¯t so limited.¡± ¡°We might be able to push past it,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t feeling free to maximize my efforts before.¡± Alva furrowed her brow, then nodded. ¡°It¡¯s kind of draining. But I can extend a bit.¡± She took a few shots, rounding the corner. ¡°Enemies?¡± Timothy asked. He didn¡¯t bother rushing forward, since none of them were in danger if she was fighting something around a corner or two. ¡°Just testing. I needed to confirm my attacks could reach. It¡¯s also more difficult.¡± ¡°A good training ground, perhaps,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Though I don¡¯t know what insights you need, in particular.¡± ¡°That makes two of us. Which means that this overconfidence stuff isn¡¯t too bad,¡± Alva said. ¡°Hey, were we looking for a portal like thing?¡± ¡°Eventually,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Though I would prefer to do a thorough exploration of this area first. If it brings us to another location, or a deeper subspace¡­ both are somewhat problematic. But I would like to observe it to see if I can figure it out.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯re almost there,¡± Alva said. Velvet nodded. ¡°I sense it too, now. It¡¯s¡­ sunny?¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°That would make sense.¡± At least it did to someone. Chapter 989 ¡°So,¡± Alva asked. ¡°Why is it sunny and why would that make sense?¡± Catarina walked around the perimeter of the cylindrical room where they had found a portal room. ¡°The sunlight isn¡¯t a power source. Not directly, at least. It¡¯s a connection. With that connection, it would then draw upon the power of the star- but the light and heat reaching Metenin is seriously insufficient to power any of this. Definitely not a single beam.¡± She stepped closer to the middle, where there were controls, of a sort. A pedestal with a hemisphere of crystal on top, just begging to have someone activate it with upper energy. Catarina, of course, did not. Instead, she continued to inspect it. ¡°Can we figure out where it goes?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I think¡­ it doesn¡¯t go anywhere,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°That¡¯s ominous,¡± Timothy replied. She smiled back at him. ¡°Depends on how you look at it. In some ways, the portal here also did not go anywhere.¡± ¡°So it connects to a subspace?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Or a¡­ sub-subspace? Is that even possible? Or does it just go back to the planet?¡± ¡°The second thing, I believe,¡± Catarina said. ¡°About¡­ half a dimension deeper?¡± Alva frowned. ¡°How can you go half a dimension?¡± Catarina paused for a moment. ¡°How many hours do you have?¡± ¡°Will we get squished?¡± ¡°This is where it being a portal is quite relevant,¡± Catarina explained. ¡°Because I don¡¯t know. But I do know that a portal between spaces will allow us to verify whether we will cease to function or not.¡± ¡°So we might get squished,¡± Alva nodded. ¡°I believe we would be going into higher dimensions, so more likely we would find ourselves missing something. Or discover greater form to our selves we haven¡¯t perceived. Either way, I am quite interested¡­ and I have no idea why this is here.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Why what is here?¡± ¡°Any of this,¡± she gestured broadly. ¡°And I say that with great overconfidence. I have no idea. The possibilities are¡­ difficult to even comprehend. First, the traces of Everheart. Style and subrunes gives him away. So I can only make a few basic theories. First, he somehow destroyed an unknown and very advanced sect. That¡¯s out, because people would have remembered that. Second, he found them later, and used their techniques for something. Or third, it¡¯s all fake and made by him. I will always lead to fake, and it best explains random ¡®disciples¡¯ that carry vital keys to nearby areas..¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t the purpose be as some other kind of tomb, then? A way to entrap people and come out ahead with their loot.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not deadly enough for that,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And there was a way out, at least at the first facility,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°But then¡­?¡± ¡°It could be an experiment,¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°But why leave it accessible? He could have absolutely hidden it forever, and he certainly didn¡¯t need to leave clues indicating the existence of other facilities.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s Everheat,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°When we first came, I felt it was him trying to hide his presence,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I think it would have been successful for most. But the clear lack of functionality of this place was something more. He has no sense for aesthetics and practicality. We just come across vaults and armories and gardens. Defenses. Maybe a library, somewhere. But the dormitory was placed impractically far from the kitchen and dining area. And no, there¡¯s not some formation based reason for that. He just put them in because they fit.¡± ¡°For a man with so much attention to detail for formations,¡± Timothy said. ¡°It¡¯s odd.¡± ¡°Is it?¡± Catarina raised an eyebrow looking at her husband. ¡°Which one of us rearranged our living quarters to better support formations? It was me, obviously. And the quarters are worse because of it.¡± ¡°... It¡¯s not that bad,¡± Timothy said. ¡°If we spent more time there, it would be. But we don¡¯t exactly relax at home. We¡¯re just as likely to be somewhere else, designed by people who know what they¡¯re doing. It¡¯s a good thing Ruterans helped with the labs, because otherwise it would be inefficient in so many ways I¡¯d never bother with.¡± ¡°Point made. So, should we try to activate this?¡± Timothy looked at it. ¡°I¡¯m going to study it more deeply. Then we activate it and see if it atomizes a stick.¡± ----- ¡°... Is feeling relaxed a problem?¡± Misi asked. ¡°Because I feel like we should care. But it¡¯s hard to.¡± ¡°Better than being angry,¡± Durff said. ¡°Won¡¯t it affect our combat?¡± Juli shook her head. ¡°Clear minds are good. I hope.¡± She took stock of herself. Advancing to Integration had been weird. And now they were all deeper into this place, and everything was wrong. Another step, through a portal unknown. ¡°I¡¯m more concerned about this,¡± she said, waving her hand through the wall. From the right angle, that worked. And from a different one, she ran into it. Durff had gotten stuck in a wall. Or maybe some of the wall had been stuck in him? Apparently it hadn¡¯t been a pleasant experience. ¡°There was something weird about the portal,¡± Jyotsana commented as they walked along, ¡°I just can¡¯t quite pin it down.¡± ¡°Does it matter?¡± Durff asked. ¡°It might. And I don¡¯t want to forget,¡± Jyotsana said. ¡°It was¡­ warm? Like fire.¡± ¡°Do formations overheat?¡± Misi pondered. ¡°Well, if they lasted this long it will be fine.¡± ¡°There was something else familiar,¡± Jyotsana wrinkled her face even further. ¡°Warmth and light? I feel like I¡¯ve sensed something adjacent.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think about it too hard,¡± Durff said. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°But I¡¯ll lose it if I stop.¡± Durff shook his head. ¡°Thinking too hard always makes me forget. Then a week later, bam! The thing I wanted to say. No longer relevant, of course.¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll give up on- Sybella!¡± ¡°How are you going to give up on her when she¡¯s not here?¡± Durff tilted his head. ¡°You okay?¡± Jyotsana rolled her eyes. ¡°I mean that¡¯s who it reminded me of. Warmth and light.¡± ¡°Light¡­¡± Durff said. ¡°Like the Veiled Brilliance? She did have a similar style.¡± ¡°No, it was more¡­ something. I feel like it was similar but¡­?¡± Jyotsana shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve lost it. And trying not to think about it didn¡¯t help.¡± ¡°... Do you think we can eat golems?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Our food supplies should last us a year,¡± Misi pointed out. ¡°And all of us should be able to sustain ourselves with upper energy.¡± Durff shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t. But I did put a lot of food in my storage bag.¡± He reached his hand in and pulled something out. He squinted. ¡°Is this bread, or steak?¡± ¡°... We should be careful with our storage bags,¡± Juli commented. ----- Alva was working on the range of her senses, fighting against the restrictions of the formations, when Catarina opened the portal. ¡°Arrow,¡± Catarina gestured. ¡°Physical or energy?¡± ¡°Physical first. Just toss it.¡± Alva tossed it into the hallway she saw. It landed and tumbled. ¡°Seems fine,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It turned wrong and I saw the inside,¡± Alva grimaced. ¡°Interesting. Energy arrow?¡± Catarina asked. Alva pondered for a moment. ¡°It should be fine. I won¡¯t actually be there.¡± She nocked a Spirit Arrow in her bow. It snapped forward, crossing the distance in no time at all. She was with the arrow. Suddenly, she was the size of a star, then a planet. Her perception shrunk down rapidly, ceasing at the moment she/the arrow hit a wall. Massive vertigo almost caused her to stumble as the world swirled around her. ¡°I don¡¯t like it,¡± Alva said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s dangerous, but it feels weird.¡± She frowned. ¡°I wish Anton were here. Asking for guidance remotely isn¡¯t the same.¡± All of them nodded, even Fuzz. It had been centuries since they had actually met in person. They were still able to see his face, hear his voice, and even feel his energy through their most complex communication devices but there was no interaction. No back and forth, questions immediately answered. Just recorded messages. Something about the portal ahead of them¡­ she didn¡¯t have questions to put into words, but if Anton was standing beside her he would absolutely be able to answer them. Or guide her towards finding the answer on her own. ¡°Sorry, uh. I think it¡¯s vaguely safe. I don¡¯t know if we should do more tests or-¡± Fuzz swung his tail into the portal. ¡°Weird,¡± he growled. Then he stepped through. ¡°Very uncomfortable.¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°Well, at least it seems that this isn¡¯t a trap. Or at least, not an instant death trap.¡± ¡°Is there a way to return?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Once it closes.¡± Fuzz moved around, then poked his head back through. ¡°No more activation thing.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°I have some options, if we can¡¯t find a return portal.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We might just have to tear through space,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I¡¯m not that great at it, but¡­ we can do it.¡± ¡°I think I have sufficient formation flags to return us to a proper dimension even without modifying anything in there,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I guess we all go in together.¡± ¡°Can we keep it open?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Like the last one?¡± ¡°That would take¡­ much longer,¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°This is more complex, and has greater protections against modification.¡± ¡°Is it a good idea for us to actually go?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Should we come back later?¡± ¡°I would prefer to explore the depths,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And then perhaps tear this whole thing apart from inside out.¡± They had a quick discussion about the pros and cons of waiting, but there wasn¡¯t a more qualified group to send. At most, they could have more people, but sending an army through seemed riskier. So they stepped through. Everyone wobbled a bit, but Alva fell flat on her face. But she didn¡¯t even notice, until her senses returned to her body. The feeling was twice as strong before, her senses extending forever and then collapsing inward. Not that there was anything there. Except¡­ Alva picked herself up. ¡°Is this sub-subspace¡­ bigger?¡± ¡°Can it be?¡± Timothy asked, looking to Catarina for the answer. ¡°Of course. It all depends on how much the formations have stabilized. A limited amount of space is almost an illusion, especially when one crosses dimensions.¡± ¡°The edge of stabilized subspace feels like a wall, right?¡± Alva asked. ¡°You¡¯ve been in secret realms and experienced subspace travel before,¡± Catarina said. ¡°You should know the feeling.¡± ¡°What does it mean when there¡¯s a crack?¡± ¡°A crack in¡­?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°In nothing. A big one.¡± ¡°Where?¡± Catarina looked around. ¡°Between like, a hundred and ten thousand kilometers that way,¡± Alva gestured. Timothy looked at her carefully. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°My expanded senses busted and now my head hurts,¡± Alva said. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure this half dimension is like three quarters of one now, by the way.¡± ¡°Weird,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I don¡¯t sense it. I believe you, of course, but my own senses didn¡¯t go so haywire.¡± Fuzz sniffed. Then he whined an apology. ¡°My daughter would be mad at me for taking so long but¡­ I¡¯m pretty sure this place is filled with poison.¡± ¡°How bad?¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°Do we just¡­ leave?¡± ¡°I have literally no idea,¡± Fuzz shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s the limit of my knowledge. It¡¯s a bad smell.¡± ¡°Does anyone feel¡­ nothing?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Sorry, I mean¡­ I¡¯m noticing the lack of extraneous feelings. Like that overconfidence. I hope it didn¡¯t get us stuck in here.¡± ¡°I feel the same about our decision making now as I did before,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Though that might change as we move about. Fuzz, if you could warn us if the density of this poison increases. Everyone, monitor your own health and those around you. If we feel faint, we¡¯ll opt for an immediate escape.¡± Timothy led the way, straight into a wall. He stumbled back. ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t even see that. No wait¡­¡± he frowned, taking half a step back. ¡°It¡¯s not visible from here.¡± Alva shuffled forward. ¡°I have the feeling that¡¯s not quite right.¡± her senses were extended- not limited by formations at all, but by something else, which was worrying- and she couldn¡¯t feel it at all. She continued forward and the wall was there. Or parts of it. ¡°I think¡­ maybe it didn¡¯t exist.¡± She hopped. ¡°I think we can¡­ go ¡®over¡¯ it?¡± Everyone else hopped as well, trying to see what Alva did. ¡°... Huh.¡± Everyone but Catarina. ¡°I¡¯m going to write a great paper about being in partial dimensional second-order subspace. No, it will need to be a more complex experience. I should take recordings.¡± She pulled something out of her storage bag. It appeared to be inside out. ¡°Noted. Now let¡¯s see if an inverted sensor explodes when powered.¡± Chapter 990 The inverted sensor did not explode. Nor did it implode. Whether or not they would be able to extract useful readings from it later was another question. No doubt it would have a phenomenal amount of information to record if it was functional. Simply figuring out how to move around in the space was more complicated than it seemed. Occasionally the group would run into each other where someone had just been¡­ or, seemingly, was about to be. Traveling in a particular direction was more difficult than it seemed, as walls and the like seemed to move. From certain perspectives, they appeared to be surrounded on all sides- but just a slight movement and they might seem free to travel in all directions. Alva furrowed her brow. ¡°I think I¡¯m beginning to figure it out.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°It¡¯s not really clicking.¡± ¡°Just give me ten years and I¡¯ll have a decent explanation of how this works,¡± Alva said. ¡°Maybe.¡± So far, they had been cautious about damaging any walls. That was because of the break Alva had detected at the edge. Catarina also had something to say about the dimension¡¯s stability as well. ¡°I think¡­ something happened to this location,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Or it¡¯s a very convincing disaster. First evidence- no bodies. Second evidence- no guardians. Third, no treasures.¡± ¡°Just poison,¡± Fuzz growled. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it is poison,¡± Velvet commented. ¡°Though I guess I don¡¯t have a better word for it? It¡¯s certainly not something we want in or around us. But it might not have that purpose. It could be a coincidence.¡± ¡°What is it, then?¡± Fuzz asked. ¡°It feels like¡­¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t really want to say-¡± ¡°Distortion beast,¡± Alva concluded. ¡°Not because I recognized this particular thing, though. Instead, it¡¯s¡­ that.¡± Alva waved her arm vaguely in an arc. Even that wasn¡¯t sufficient for what she was pointing out. Her senses had been freaking out for a while. Expanding and contracting, revealing everything and nothing. Now, they were expanded again- and she figured something out. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to panic anyone, but I think the space is being eaten by a distortion beast. This time, I¡¯d say it¡¯s a worm. The good news is we¡¯re surrounded by walls and we¡¯re not going to have teeth from all directions.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the bad news?¡± Timothy asked, holding his shield at the ready. ¡°It¡¯s still gonna be a full cylinder of teeth. And this thing might eat our ship. Or Metenin.¡± ¡°Well we can¡¯t allow that,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It would be quite difficult to dig our way back out to realspace if it eats the intervening stable zones.¡± ¡°Should we hurry¡­?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I think it¡¯s been here for a while,¡± Alva said. ¡°So we¡¯d better try to avoid startling it. It¡¯s weird, though. I can see¡­ most of it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s because we¡¯re in one of the layers they hide their vital organs,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We might be able to ambush it instead of the other way around.¡± ¡°If you can ambush a moon, sure,¡± Alva said. ¡°I¡¯ll minimize our energy signatures,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Follow my lead on that, and Alva for navigation. We¡¯ll want to keep everything else to a minimum.¡± Alva really hoped her estimation for distance was towards the lower end. This space was weird, and she didn¡¯t really want to travel something like ten thousand kilometers at a human movement pace. That would be like three months. They could obviously go way faster than that, and they would have to, but each amount increased the chance of them being noticed by something very large. They moved at a pace where their energy was manageable. The very same members were used to working together for stealth formation in the past, and Velvet¡¯s control should be enough to hide them among the formations keeping the place together. Alva realized that the ¡®poison¡¯ was part of the distortion beast. Whether it was intentionally deadly was another question. It might be some sort of digestive thing. If Alva looked carefully, she could potentially pick out a way it was slowly dissolving the walls. Very slowly, like on the order of years. And that might be caused by something else. Either way, the effects on their energy were greater. It was difficult for Alva to comprehend a creature as big as the distortion beast. She¡¯d fought some before, but usually they were kilometers across. Anton had mentioned one he fought on Aipra that covered about a third of the planet. Maybe that one was exceptionally big, or maybe¡­ the majority of distortion beasts they¡¯d fought didn¡¯t put much of their body into the physical realm that humans dwelled in. Aipra was closer to where distortion beasts just lived, though with some parts of them still being hidden. This place might be a step closer. Would they be more vulnerable here? Maybe, but they would have to be able to defend themselves from others like them. There were the teeth, after all. Could teeth be sharp if the points were nearly a hundred meters wide? Maybe so, as that seemed to change as they moved as well. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Time was¡­ difficult in a place like this. They move forward, up, down, left, right, backwards and every direction in between to make their way towards the crack Alva had sensed. That should have been the edge of the space. But of course, it was just the stable space. Alva was uncertain of there being an edge to the universe- she didn¡¯t even know what was at the edge of the galaxy but knew there was a lot more beyond that- but she was quite aware that subspaces having an edge was more of a human construct. That was a necessity of function, so that they could interact with them at all. So a break in the edge meant¡­ something. Fortunately, the distance was on the short side. Or they skipped some. Either way, there were a tense few hours approaching, but not so many that they had to figure out some way to stop and rest. Alva gestured to the crack in space. It was like looking out into the night sky¡­ if stars were dancing around randomly, changing in brightness chaotically. Or¡­ like looking at technology receiving random data for images. She was fairly certain there wasn¡¯t any actual light there. That might even be her eyeballs dying slowly. What a pleasant thought. Her energy senses weren¡¯t any better about it, though she was currently trying to only use her passive senses. Now that they were close, there was a constant flow outward towards the distortion beast she¡¯d noticed. Or maybe the beast was flowing inward. Either way, everything here would be a part of it in some time frame. Timothy held the tip of his sword out into the chaos for a moment, protecting it with a small portion of his energy- but clearly leaving it somewhat vulnerable. When he withdrew it and lowered his energy, there were miniscule cracks as well as tiny pockets of material were missing- not something that could be noticed with normal senses. However, what was slightly more noticeable were places where the grain had shifted, seemingly in random directions leaving odd protrusions. Once again on a very small scale, but that was likely to build upon itself. ¡°Guard yourselves well,¡± Timothy said carefully. ¡°We¡¯re not going to want to remain long. Or, we leave this place to its demise.¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°This place is too valuable to just give up. As long as the distortion beast doesn¡¯t feel too strong?¡± With another group? Alva might not have been so certain they could handle it. She was a bit on the fence for her own part, but it felt like it had a power Augmentation cultivators could match. Certainly, it lacked the oppression she would have expected from a Domination equivalent. Its size could be a boon or bane depending on how that worked out with its total energy, but it shouldn¡¯t be able to bring unreasonable amounts of it to bear on them all at once. Alva nodded. ¡°I think¡­ we can do it.¡± She was still at the peak of Integration¡­ though perhaps this was her opportunity. Not the battle, exactly, but the sense of space. She had technically learned to shoot into subspace like Anton could¡­ but her personal insights now were far different. This was something she could make use of. She just wasn¡¯t quite sure how or on what timescale. ¡°I¡¯ll go for its liver,¡± Fuzz growled lightly. ¡°Which is¡­?¡± Catarina asked in a whisper. Though that likely wouldn¡¯t change whether it was aware of them. ¡°The bad part. I smell it.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s best for me to remain on this side of things,¡± Alva said. ¡°If we remain together, I can shield us from chaos,¡± Timothy said, mainly to the others. Fuzz shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m splitting off.¡± ¡°Me as well,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I¡¯m hoping¡­ to find some soft spots.¡± She held up her voidsteel blade. Some parts of distortion beasts were incredibly durable, but just like everything else there were weak points. And they might actually have access to them here. ----- Smashing golems was fun. Durff didn¡¯t care that space was a bit weird, and he honestly found it quite useful because he sometimes smashed things from the inside. Other times his hammer got stuck inside the fist of a golem or inside his own hands, but he managed to carefully extract it with a bit of effort from the more important of those things. His hands, obviously. Though maybe if he messed them up he could take some golem hands? There had been a half dozen big ones guarding some sort of vault, and then the vault had tried to smash them when they entered it. Durff had something like three broken arms, and he¡¯d never had more than two of those before. Oh, that was a golem arm kinda stuck in him. But the inside of the vault was pretty cool. It had a bunch of shiny metal that was probably good for making stuff out of, and a glowing rock. ¡°Nice,¡± Durff said. He turned to look at everyone else. Jyotsana had blood trickling down her forehead, and her eyes were literally on fire. He waved his arm in front of her, but they were focused on the glowing rock. ¡°Hey you alright?¡± ¡°Is that¡­?¡± Juli whispered towards her brother. ¡°I have no idea,¡± Misi admitted. ¡°But¡­ it might be.¡± ¡°Might be what?¡± Durff asked. ¡°A fragment of¡­ starheart¡­¡± Misi said, as if it was difficult somehow. Durff tilted his head. ¡°Can you make a good hammer out of it?¡± ¡°I think you can make anything out of it,¡± Misi frowned. ¡°It would be a pretty small hammer,¡± Durff said, reaching forward to pick it up, a small object the size of a pebble. It was¡­ heavy. He had to really put his back into it. The floor cracked as he held it up. Space cracked. It was probably unrelated, but that was when the snake showed up. At least Durff thought it was a snake. What else was that long and had spiky things? One moment, it wasn¡¯t there. A moment later, and it was everywhere. Durff wasn¡¯t what people called ¡®highly perceptive¡¯, but even he could feel the snake as it suddenly surrounded them, intruding spikes into their little dimension. Well, pretty big dimension. They¡¯d been walking around for what, days, weeks? Either way, they were trying to figure out how to get out. There wasn¡¯t much point in their cool cultivation advancements if they couldn¡¯t. One of the fangs- that was what snakes had, right?- one of the fangs tried to stab either Durff or the glowing rock. Personally, he didn¡¯t like either result, so he yanked himself away. When it did, the fragment starheart went somewhere. Or stopped being somewhere? It was gone. ¡°That¡¯s a big snake,¡± Durff commented. ¡°Distortion beast!¡± Misi cried out. ¡°Planet devouring class!¡± ¡°Oh, good,¡± Durff said. ¡°I was worried it would try to eat us.¡± Chapter 991 Unfortunately for Durff, their group happened to be inside the area of the Misi-designated planet devouring class distortion beast¡­ and the designation didn¡¯t rule out devouring other things. Like, say, all of them. ¡°The snake is still trying to eat us!¡± Durff yelled as the creature¡¯s fangs sank through the facility- in some parts it crushed walls and in others it simply slipped right through, the angles making no sense to any of them. ¡°Do we just leave the shiny rock for it?¡± ¡°No!¡± Juli yelled. ¡°It¡¯s already noticed us, that won¡¯t help! We have to, um¡­!¡± ¡°Fourth dimensional gut melter!¡± Misi declared, pulling something out of his bag. He dodged the incoming teeth of the great worm as he held a packet of powder. ¡°Maybe if we can get to a sensitive spot?¡± ¡°How do you have something so specific?¡± Jyotsana yelled as she rushed alongside him. ¡°But if it¡¯ll melt this thing, great!¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s not really-¡± Misi shook his head. ¡°We have to try something and fighting directly won¡¯t work!¡± ¡°I know!¡± Durff grumbled. ¡°How annoying!¡± He¡¯d smacked a few fangs with his hammer, and while he could crack them it didn¡¯t seem like there was a limited number of them. It was certainly more than he could count. Snakes were only supposed to have two, but maybe they got more if they grew bigger. There was also an issue where sometimes the fangs hit him even though his hammer and armor were supposed to be in the way. The other three were also having a difficult time avoiding things. Walls kept getting in the way, unseen and unsensed until that moment. And, sometimes, they dodged the wrong direction. The fangs, which Durff was certain were straight, also seemed to curve or just straight up change angles. Nobody¡¯d been impaled yet, but that was only barely comforting because if they had it would have taken out their whole body. The few impacts he¡¯d taken had greatly diminished his defenses, though, and his body was sore. More than just from the golems. Something was wrong with the walls. All of them were bad, obviously, but Durff was specifically thinking about the outer ones. The ones at the edge of everything, that the big snake was outside of. They could all see those, sometimes, and also the inside of the thing eating them. It just kept moving, covering the whole dimension they were in and stretching beyond. Durff wondered if it had an end or continued on forever. Well, if it didn¡¯t they could fix that. Just chop it off so it stopped making his head hurt. He didn¡¯t have a big sword but burning it would probably work? Jyotsana was in Integration now¡­ but it was kind of big for her to burn through. Ah well, they¡¯d try that gut melter thing! He smashed his way through wall, sometimes getting them caught up in him. He ripped them away regardless, so that the others could follow. Despite how hard they were all working, with Jyotsana trying to burn any part of this thing that got close and the twins trying to do something with bells when its teeth got close, it wasn¡¯t really trying to kill them. And Durff couldn¡¯t allow that, because if it was going to kill them he at least wanted it to try. They needed something more. In his imagination, he gained cool insights that led him to break through to Augmentation and smashed the thing into a powder. In reality, they were half dead by the time they reached close enough to the outside to potentially attack it. Some parts of it were many kilometers away, but some of the snake''s guts brushed into the structure. Misi threw his fourth dimensional gut melter and¡­ the fourth dimension melted the powder. Which is to say, it seemed to disappear when it went outside of¡­ everything? Sure, that fit. Where the big snake was. ¡°We need to find a close part of the worm!¡± Misi said. ¡°Over there,¡± Juli gestured. ¡°It¡¯s compressing in a rhythmic pattern, and that should be the tightest point, I think¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯ve gotta do it right!¡± Misi grimaced. ¡°I only have one more handful of this.¡± He looked around at the rest of them. ¡°Can you¡­ just burn it? Or squash it?¡± Durff stuck his arm outside, and when he pulled it back his hand was backwards. In every way that was possible, he thought, though he didn¡¯t really know for sure. Maybe it could have been inside out too? It didn¡¯t hurt, but he was very relieved when it returned to normal. It would be difficult to hold a hammer if it had to be inside his wrist. Jyotsana¡¯s attacks did manage to make their way outside, though the flames spiraled off in odd directions. When they reached the beast, the damage was minimal. She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯d exhaust myself long before causing any serious damage. Let¡¯s try Juli¡¯s thing.¡± No amount of damaging the teeth seemed to do them any good, so they moved towards where the worm¡¯s body was inside the stabilized space just a bit. Any formations and walls that might have stopped them were entirely chaotic, if they weren¡¯t already pulverized. Finally, they got to a decently exposed patch of worm insides- though anyone who actually knew about such things would have been able to explain how it was missing key biology. ¡°Try to soften it up!¡± Misi said. ¡°If we could get it deeper inside, it would be better!¡± Durff smashed, and was entirely insulted when there was not a twitch or cry of pain. He did manage to cause some sort of bleeding as he tore away a chunk. A weird liquid that transitioned through various colors of the rainbow covered his arms and was fortunately not caustic or otherwise immediately dangerous. He didn¡¯t want his arms to melt. Jyotsana burned the same spot as they ran along, following the movement of the worm. It was huge, but not fast. It wasn¡¯t clear if it could move faster or not. Maybe it didn¡¯t care. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Misi was having trouble getting the next dose of powder out of his bag. The packet that carried it seemed to have fused into a few other things, and maybe turned inside out. He held the whole concoction together with his upper energy, hoping that at least some of it would do something. He thrust the whole package shoulder deep into the worm- which was practically irrelevant compared to its size. Its muscles almost crushed his arm, and Durff had to yank him out. The good news was that hopefully the powder would stay in there. ¡°Is that gonna melt it?¡± Durff asked. Misi didn¡¯t have the heart to tell the others that the fourth dimensional gut melter was just pepper. Magical, extremely potent pepper? Yes. Multidimensional? Also yes, though whether that would help in this particular situation . It wasn¡¯t that it couldn¡¯t do something to this distortion beast. He was fairly certain it was the best thing in his bag, at least. ¡°I think that¡¯s the best we can do for now,¡± Misi said, as the body of the worm pulled away- not in pain or fear, as far as he could tell, but just through natural expansion and contraction. He hoped it helped, but he was pretty sure they were just going to die. ----- ¡°Don¡¯t eat that, Fuzz!¡± Alva chastised him, but he only responded with an I-know-what-I¡¯m-doing growl. Well, he was a lot more intelligent these days. But even if it wouldn¡¯t kill him, there was no way he could fit any significant portion of the distortion beast inside him before he just literally exploded. Fuzz never stopped, though, and his belly never grew full either. Not that he could eat infinitely, but it was rather that he wasn¡¯t actually eating it. He just didn¡¯t have time to try to explain that anything that entered his mouth at the moment would be consumed by the raging furnace inside him. The ashes would be scattered, though most of it was instantly exploded out into waves of plasma. Directing that back towards the worm was also part of his attack plan. Next to Fuzz was Timothy, stabilizing¡­ everything and fending off some sort of corrosive sludge. They had to occasionally pull back when they got too far from the semi-stable space, or if it seemed like they would be carried away from it. Catarina was on the other side of Fuzz, and it appeared she was trying to carve runes into its ¡®stomach¡¯. The distortion beast defied biological rules, which meant it could have teeth inside those places. It tried to chomp them with the teeth, but nobody was going to let that happen. Velvet kept her presence hidden, trying to find opportunities to cut into the beast¡¯s belly when it overlapped with the stable space. She made use of everything she had, not just the sharpness of her blades. She didn¡¯t carry a large amount of poison, but she figured she might as well use what she had. Her voidsteel dagger was used as a follow-up attack after she¡¯d already cut open a wound, attacking the slightly more vulnerable inner parts and cutting through while easily slicing through defensive energy. She had to be careful with its usage, though, because it was not unbreakable and any damage it sustained was more or less permanent. Alva just shot arrows in random directions. No, that wasn¡¯t true at all. She knew very well that the directions weren¡¯t random, she just didn¡¯t know why they weren¡¯t random. All she was trying to do was hit something important. About half the time, she hit a wall. Half of the remaining time, she ran into one of the billion or so teeth- and she realized that might not be as big of an exaggeration as she¡¯d first thought. Some of the rest of the time, she hit part of the worm¡¯s body. It didn¡¯t have blood vessels in a traditional sense, but she was lucky if she clipped something like that instead of just hitting solid muscle. Or worse, the outside of the beast. But none of that was what she was aiming for. She had ¡®seen¡¯ something that looked extremely vulnerable. Her senses were locked onto it, but she was having trouble figuring out how it got there. Without any idea, she just followed what seemed right. Sometimes, that resulted in shooting a thousand arrows and causing no meaningful damage. But if the thousand-and-first arrow hit something meaningful? It would all be worth it. It didn¡¯t. Neither did anything up to the one-thousand and seventy-third. Nor the fifteen hundredth. She lost count at sixteen hundred and thirteen, but it wasn¡¯t that long after that one when she finally did it. Her arrow flew in what she was going to generously calling a straight line, and saying it was going ¡®towards¡¯ the distortion beast was also incorrect. It was entirely possible to miss it even though it was in every conceivable direction and a large number of inconceivable ones. For some reason, her arrow went through a dozen kilometers of fluid inside the distortion beast. Her target wasn¡¯t at the end of that, but due to weird partial dimensional garbage she knew she would either hit her target or, more likely, run into a tooth somehow. Or shoot her own foot, which had only happened twice but very much annoyed her. Timothy had generously ignored the one that nearly struck the back of his head. Nothing made sense¡­ but even so, it all clicked together. Making arrows out of energy didn¡¯t make sense either, but she did it all the time. This was just a few tiers of comprehension further from normal physics. Her arrow hit something hard, creating the tiniest chip. The entire worm trembled, even though it was a fist sized crystalline structure inside of an at least moon sized distortion beast- she couldn¡¯t feel either end of it, so she wasn¡¯t certain. Fuzz, Catarina, and Timothy were working a vague helix pattern into the stomach of the creature as they tried to maintain a position relative to stable space. The creature¡¯s energy was seemingly unending and so were the amounts of live-giving fluids, but they didn¡¯t give up. It was fairly clear to them that the toxins Fuzz had sensed were part of the beast, however, and came along with it. The concentrations were higher closer to its body. Alva leaned just slightly, and a hundred or so fangs missed her. She was really starting to get this whole dimensional mess. She was going to shoot this guy until that thing broke, and then she was going to vomit into the nearest star and hope her brain wouldn¡¯t feel inside out and backwards permanently. She needed a really specific angle that involved her shooting her bow backwards under her armpit. That seemed to be the only way to do that while not getting random chunks of nearby rubble or teeth stuck inside of her. Did it make sense? No, but her bad shooting posture worked out regardless. She hit the structure, cracking it once more. The distortion beast began to coil, its whole body circling in on itself and bringing its many, many teeth into greater density around them. Timothy and the others rushed back, defending Alva. She was glad for that, because a few hundred teeth of unmeasurable size was too many for her. Another shot. It missed, as did the next ten. One more¡­ and it was blocked by the reinforced energy of the distortion beast. She just didn¡¯t have enough energy to break through that, and it was more than omnidirectional so she couldn¡¯t get a better angle. If she had to do better than that¡­ she just would. Because at this point it seemed that breaking out into real space would be inconvenient, with it trying so hard to chomp them. Not that it wasn¡¯t doing that before they provoked it, just more slowly. Alva lined up one arrow after the other, shooting as many as she could hold onto in sequence without them falling apart. They didn¡¯t go in the same direction, but they all arrived at a single point together. Then something cracked. The worm couldn¡¯t roar, but it did send tremors throughout everything, pulling them into unstable space. Or rather, the four who were together. Velvet got caught up in the worm¡¯s motion, being pulled along by its very presence as she was cutting her way deeper into it. It looked like she wasn¡¯t going to be able to get out quickly, and she was getting pulled further away from stable space. Maybe, she could make it forget she was there and sneak away somehow. Chapter 992 It was too bad that Durff was going to die. He kind of wanted to make it to Augmentation. It was a dumb dream, maybe, but that was a level where he would be strong enough to prove that he was a good cultivator. Integration was not something everyone in the upper realms could achieve, but there were still so many they couldn¡¯t be counted. Augmentation cultivators, however, were special. He¡¯d seen them in the Veiled Brilliance, like his aunt Eka. There were some weak ones and some strong ones, but everyone respected them. People would have to stop calling him a dumb brute if he got that strong- even if it was probably true. The blood wasn¡¯t that big of a deal. He was more worried about the way the rest of his body was breaking down, and the fact that his upper energy was going to run dry fighting the big snake. Then his whole body would collapse. But he couldn¡¯t let Misi or Juli or even the grumpy Jyotsana go first. Everything was breaking around them. Durff smashed an incoming fang, cracking it apart. He was getting pretty good at that. They were all funky with how they grew and shrank and seemed to sometimes poke in different directions, but he¡¯d hit enough of them to get it. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Juli pointed. Durff vaguely swung his senses in that direction, but he wasn¡¯t able to notice anything except more of the snake. Maybe from her position, things were different. Everything was weird here. ¡°I can¡¯t quite make it out,¡± Misi frowned. So he did notice something? ¡°Injuries,¡± Jyotsana said. ¡°Fresh ones. Not caused by us.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Durff said. Jyotsana smiled. ¡°Someone else is fighting this right now. Or perhaps¡­ it never recovers damage. But I think the former is more reasonable.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see anyone,¡± Durff said. ¡°How big are the wounds¡­¡± he trailed off, when he finally sensed them. The wounds went all the way around. Sure, it wasn¡¯t enough to cut the thing in half, but the fact that there were arm deep wounds that far was still impressive. The wounds were rubbing against the structure around them, sometimes, and weird not-blood spilled out. ¡°I¡¯m gonna smash it,¡± Durff declared. ----- For such a ponderous creature, the distortion beast was not actually slow. The great worm only moved a small portion of its visible body length in any given moment, but what Velvet could comprehend of its mass was more than the entire stable subspace they had been in. She had been there moments before. Now she was caught inside the distortion beast and was being carried away. She felt the world break down around her. Ironically, the mass of the distortion beast trying to crush her likely kept her safer than she would have been free. She still needed every ounce of her energy to protect herself, but it would last somewhat longer. Now she was uncertain if she should escape. Velvet was minimizing her presence so the distortion beast didn¡¯t try to actively destroy her, and that was working well enough. But without a stable subspace to leave into, she would have to be very decisive in cutting her way into normal, functional dimensions. First order subspace was naturally quite stable, so if she could reach that she would be fine. Probably. Too bad she didn¡¯t make use of it aside from traveling, and often she was carried by ships. She was capable of traveling through subspace on her own, but not an expert. Waiting too long would be a risk. Velvet knew that, and she prepared herself to act. Once she reached a certain threshold, she would slice her way out. Until then, she was slowly prying herself out of the dense musculature and overlapping physicality of the distortion beast. Such things were a pain to deal with no matter which level of existence you were on, it seemed. Then Velvet sensed something. Which was just as surprising as what she actually sensed. For a moment, she thought she was imagining things. She wouldn¡¯t hallucinate if she passed out, she¡¯d just cease to exist, so it wasn¡¯t that. But sometimes, the mind played tricks. Intentional perception would negate that in a single moment. No, it really was there. They were there. After considering it, Velvet didn¡¯t find it quite as unbelievable as she had at first. Durff had already declared his intention to continue seeking out the locations of the Nighstar sect. Here he was, at one. That Velvet certainly hadn¡¯t expected to reach. How many lightyears had she covered in just a few moments? Hundreds, certainly. She didn¡¯t hesitate any further, slicing her way out of the beast as subtly as possible. She almost got pulled back in as another series of dimensional tremors came from the beast. The continuation of its injured, or new damage from Alva? It didn¡¯t matter either way. Velvet was drawing close to the space. The four were attacking the beast as parts of it drew close. She hadn¡¯t wanted to reveal her Augmentation cultivation to them, but she was in no circumstance to hold back. Paired daggers sliced, finally dropping flee disconnected hunks of flesh. Flames scoured near her. An uncomfortable moment of being exposed to null space, and then she was standing next to them. Stronger tremors began, threatening to pull them out. ¡°Durff! Grab the twins!¡± For his part, the man didn¡¯t hesitate at the sudden command. Any surprise he felt at her appearance didn¡¯t seem to be much. Velvet rushed inward, catching Jyotsana along the way. Durff followed after her as they pulled away from the outer edge. A wave of spatial distortions pushed them outward, but Velvet remained inside. The others were briefly exposed to null space, but the worm¡¯s tremors were less. The final death throes¡­ Velvet hoped. All five of them ran further inward. Fighting it was useless now. The structure was collapsing around them, but the center seemed to be holding together. Space was vaguely stable there. They could- ¡°Hi, Sybella,¡± Durff said. ¡°Where¡¯d you come from? When did you get so strong? Have you always been an Augmentation cultivator?¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The crumbled structure didn¡¯t block their movement, which meant they reached the center area quickly. It also meant the formations were barely functioning, as they were build into everything. ¡°Hello, Durff,¡± Velvet replied. ¡°And the rest of you. I was in the worm. And I¡¯ve been in Augmentation since before you met me.¡± She didn¡¯t mind explaining at least that much. Theoretically, she should just kill them all for the sake of Scarlet Alliance security. Durff didn¡¯t deserve that. The twins didn¡¯t, either. Jyotsana¡­ was probably fine. Not killing her, but she could potentially keep secrets. Also, all of them might die here anyway. So there was that. ¡°That explains a lot,¡± Misi said. Juli nodded. Jyotsana just grunted. ¡°That¡¯s nice to know before I die,¡± Durff said. ¡°I was friends with an Augmentation cultivator. Right?¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°We¡¯re friends,¡± she agreed. Durff smiled. ¡°If you¡¯re actually dying, I¡¯d suggest consuming any medicine you have. Even if it¡¯s outside in.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Durff looked around. ¡°I thought the snake was going to kill us.¡± Snake was¡­ definitely incorrect for the distortion beast. Worm wasn¡¯t quite right either, but it was a thousand times closer than snake. Aside from being a long shape, snake barely fit. The concentric rings of teeth fit a worm¡­ just far too many of them stretching seemingly forever. They were right in the middle of the worm, which meant it didn¡¯t smash into them too much. It was slowing, Velvet thought. She hoped it was actually going to die. Jyotsana was carefully taking things in and out of her bag at different angles, before finally consuming a few pills of condensed powder. ¡°Guess we might as well try to stay alive as long as possible. But I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a way out of here. If there was¡­ it¡¯s busted now.¡± She gestured around them, and there really was little remaining around them. ¡°Unless you suddenly became a formation grandmaster, we¡¯re still just as stuck.¡± ¡°Are you?¡± Durff asked. Velvet shook her head. ¡°Nah. I was with one, though.¡± Misi sighed, ¡°That would be nice.¡± ¡°Right?¡± Juli said. ¡°We could just wait here to be rescued.¡± ¡°That¡¯s my preferred plan,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Not confident about cutting my way out of here.¡± Durff sat down. ¡°Break time, then.¡± Velvet also sat. ¡°So we¡¯re just waiting to die, then?¡± Jyotsana leaned against a wall, which was a difficult maneuver at the moment. ¡°No, we¡¯re waiting for rescue from her formation grandmaster friend,¡± Durff said. Velvet nodded. ¡°I suppose I should try to contact her so she knows where to look.¡± Velvet pulled out a communicator. ¡°I wonder if this works in partial order subspace¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Misi asked curiously. ¡°Comms device,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like any sort of transmission array I know of,¡± Misi frowned. ¡°That¡¯s because it¡¯s special,¡± Velvet shrugged. How long would it take a message to reach if it worked? Would it be instantaneous? Would it have to cover hundreds of lightyears and take months? Velvet got a response a few moments later. Or at least, her communicator lit up. Calling it a response was a bit¡­ generous. The device itself indicated that the message was corrupted, as it was truly random information. She sent a response, explaining things properly just in case it worked one way. Then she got a sound file. Corrupted and painful to listen to, but she responded with one of her own. ¡°Which location did you come from?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°That might help her pin us down.¡± ¡°... it doesn¡¯t look like you¡¯re getting information across,¡± Juli commented. ¡°Maybe not,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I absolutely won¡¯t if I don¡¯t try.¡± Jyotsana gave the location. Velvet sent it on, both text and voice. ¡°Are these places adjacent?¡± Velvet pondered aloud. She hadn¡¯t run into another one- nor anything else. Maybe there was a connection between them. Yes, that would make sense wouldn¡¯t it. If nothing else, the worm might have made the path by trying to consume both. Maybe it was or had been doing the same to the rest of them. ¡°How long do we have to wait?¡± Durff asked. Velvet shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. A day, maybe. Or a year. Probably not more than that.¡± ¡°... Will this place last that long?¡± Misi asked. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know,¡± Velvet said. ¡°All I do know is that-¡± She jumped up. Her energy reached out, towards a fading arrow that was slipping out of the worm. The null space nearly erased her efforts before she touched it, but she made contact. Hopefully¡­ Alva could get feedback somehow. Velvet didn¡¯t have any way to give a response. ¡°Oh, an arrow,¡± Durff commented. ¡°Were we supposed to follow it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s wise at the moment,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Though we might try that if things become riskier.¡± Jyotsana grimaced, sliding to the ¡®floor¡¯. It didn¡¯t exactly function as they would expect, but once someone was in a comfortable position they could remain still and pretend that they weren¡¯t potentially a moment away from overlapping with other objects in the most unpleasant way. With the non-panicking examples of the others, the twins kept some semblance of calm. They were the youngest of the present cultivators, probably no more than a hundred and fifty. That wasn¡¯t exactly a child, but running into new and seemingly impossible threats could fill anyone with despair. Velvet¡¯s guess was technically right. And it was far closer to her hopeful prediction. The worm slowly drifted around them, no longer squeezing and stabbing. Seventeen hours later, the worm began to glow. Just part of it, random slashes. Or rather, the markings Catarina had made. Had she predicted this somehow? No, that was unlikely. Instead, the formation markings had likely been some she could use for generic purposes. Velvet saw the worm¡¯s flesh around the runes begin to shrivel. She stood, sensing something. A wobbly tunnel opened up. ¡°Better hurry,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You won¡¯t want to miss this.¡± It had been seventeen hours. Nobody was asleep, despite their fatigue. Almost a day, which was barely anything as far as several-hundred lightyear subspace rescues went. Velvet knew Durff would follow. The others had to make their choices, and quickly. The tunnel wasn¡¯t a portal, but it did seem to be stable space. She flew forward, hoping that it would last. She didn¡¯t risk touching the edges, as any number of unpleasant things could happen. That became slightly harder as it began to shrink¡­ but several arrows flying past her gave Velvet hope. They avoided everyone, then managed to turn back, disappearing from view. A few moments later, the rear of the tunnel began to pull in behind them. Velvet hoped that was on purpose. Just in case¡­ ¡°Faster!¡± she urged. ¡°Come on!¡± Chapter 993 Of the other four with her, Durff was the fastest. She wasn¡¯t quite sure if he¡¯d been in Integration longer than Misi, but the latter¡¯s area of expertise was not based on physical performance. With the safe tunnel rapidly disintegrating behind them, Velvet didn¡¯t want to test if it would slow down for them. Instead, she urged them onward. With people fatigued, ultimately that resulted in Durff grabbing two of the others while Velvet carried Juli. With her energy she might be able to carry all four of them but the issue would be potentially touching the edges of the tunnel. It was easier to manage her own body and one more than five. Durff¡¯s legs were pumping rapidly. Velvet wondered if he knew that didn¡¯t mean anything, since there was nothing for him to push against. Whatever, he was moving forward and that was all that mattered. No reason to disrupt him at a critical moment. Another arrow from Alva probed the way. Velvet sensed some fluctuations¡­ she was definitely on the brink of Augmentation, now. It wasn¡¯t surprising, with what Velvet had seen during the battle. Velvet felt certain they¡¯d traveled ¡®further¡¯ than when she was going the other way, inside the distortion beast. While the tunnel had reached them while they were fully surrounded, that didn¡¯t necessarily mean it was ¡®inside¡¯ the worm, given all the oddities with space. It could be taking a different route, or something. Less spatial compression might be safer, too, but this was probably just the first functional thing Catarina managed. Durff was clearly exhausted, their break hadn¡¯t really been that restful as the negative effects of being inside the distortion beast lingered. Some sort of toxin like effect that they had to continually resist, as well as watching out for changes in space around them. Even so, he kept going. Admirable. She remained ready to catch the remaining three with her energy if necessary. Until then, she kept herself focused forward, keeping herself and Juli away from the uneven edges of the tunnel. Then she felt Timothy. She should have sensed him from much further, but any number of factors could have thrown that off. They were upon him almost before they could see him. A pulse of energy from him surrounded all of them, pressing against the walls. So she¡¯d been right to assume it wasn¡¯t collapsing entirely on purpose. ¡°Hi new guy! Run!¡± Durff yelled. Timothy was already running before they reached him, of course. He matched pace with the rear, keeping everyone protected- even though Timothy was also fairly fatigued. This had been an exhausting expedition. Suddenly, the tunnel ended and they were back in¡­ well, not real space but at least mostly stabilized subspace. All the familiar faces were there, including the fuzzy one. Velvet had no idea how his fur managed to be soft while also protecting him from attacks, but it was wonderful. ¡°Hi,¡± Velvet said. ¡°This is Durff, Misi, Juli, and Jyotsana. I told you about them before. Somehow, I ended up¡­ there.¡± Catarina just nodded. ¡°No wonder the tunnel was less stable than predicted. I hadn¡¯t expected additional energy sources. It was tuned to your energy.¡± Jyotsana frowned. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ all from the same sect?¡± she questioned. Fuzz barked. ¡°Except for him, technically,¡± Velvet translated, then provided context. ¡°But only extremely technically, because he¡¯s been with us as long as pretty much anyone. Plus human cultivation techniques aren¡¯t great for him.¡± ¡°You feel like Sybella,¡± Durff commented. ¡°But less sneaky.¡± He looked behind them. ¡°The tunnel is gone.¡± He then noticed something else. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s still there, huh?¡± ¡°We were going to cut it in half,¡± Timothy explained regarding the worm. ¡°But then Catarina decided to use it to aid the tunnel. It seems you got carried quite far?¡± ¡°It should have been several hundred lightyears,¡± Velvet confirmed. ¡°Can we get out of here?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It won¡¯t take long. And it will solve two issues at once. It should be really bad for the distortion beast too.¡± ¡°Do you need any help?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Nope,¡± Catarina said, pulling out formation flags. Some of them were wrong, but she adapted on the fly quickly, placing them in alternate locations where the longstanding runes were distorted. ¡°I¡¯ve studied this place enough and I have what we need.¡± After a few minutes¡­ ¡°There,¡± she said, placing one last thing. ¡°Timothy, give me a boost.¡± She reached out her hand, and he clasped hers. Clearly she knew just what to expect when fusing their energies, though Velvet had been anticipating a different result. She¡¯d expected another portal, instead of suddenly seeing the world fade around her while also becoming more real. She recognized regular subspace, as well as a bit of the overconfidence it held. Seems they¡¯d returned. ¡°This way I can keep the flags,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And¡­ some of them are still messed up. I wonder what will happen if I touch them? Recordings first!¡± She set about doing that, while continuing to speak. ¡°Speaking of which, whoever designed this iteration of the communicators is getting a commendation. Functional even in partial order subspace.¡± ¡°So you did get my messages?¡± ¡°Just gibberish!¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°But the fact that we got a message basically means it works. As long as our messages arrived in the order we sent them, that¡¯s sufficient. Preferably with the same time lag. We¡¯ll have to go over that to make sure.¡± After Catarina was satisfied, she plucked up her formation flags. A few seemed to return to normal, while others collapsed into odd piles of nothing as their structures no longer functioned in something closer to normal physical space. Random strips of material were all that held together. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°So you really are a formation grandmaster?¡± Jyotsana asked. ¡°The second best I know,¡± Catarina said. Velvet knew that wasn¡¯t the overconfidence aura- if she¡¯d said best, however, that would have been ridiculous. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get to the portal.¡± ¡°So how do you know Sybella?¡± Durff asked as they walked along. ¡°We met her on a mission recently.¡± On the time scale of cultivators, that was correct. ¡°My name isn¡¯t Sybella,¡± Velvet said. It was impossible to keep them in the dark, now. Showing up in the middle of Scarlet Alliance territory and escorting them to the border but no further? That would reveal all the same things. Instead, she¡¯d prefer to win them over. Durff¡¯s shocked eyes hurt a little. But then- ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, have I been saying the wrong thing this whole time? I thought that¡¯s what you said!¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°It is what I said. I lied to you.¡± ¡°About what?¡± Durff asked. ¡°About everything.¡± ¡°... So we¡¯re not friends?¡± he hung his head. ¡°And you¡¯re¡­ not sneaky? And you don¡¯t use daggers? And-¡± Velvet cut him off. ¡°Okay, not everything. But about some important things. Like my name and where I was from.¡± ¡°Those aren¡¯t important,¡± Durff shrugged. ¡°But I don¡¯t know what to call you now.¡± The other three were just listening intently, clearly uncertain how to react. Jyotsana was skeptical, but the twins were curious. ¡°Velvet,¡± she said. ¡°And I¡¯m from the Scarlet Alliance.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Durff said. ¡°What¡¯s the Scarlet Alliance?¡± ¡°What-?¡± Velvet looked at him dumbfounded. She honestly felt kind of insulted. ¡°So you¡¯re a spy?¡± Jyotsana asked. ¡°That makes sense, I suppose.¡± Misi frowned. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ the new sect in the Midfields?¡± ¡°We¡¯re not new,¡± Velvet countered. ¡°We¡¯ve been around for centuries. Probably longer than you¡¯ve been alive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not that long,¡± Juli shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ve heard of you. So¡­ are you gonna kill us now?¡± ¡°No,¡± Velvet said. She glanced over at the others. ¡°But you also can¡¯t go back.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Durff said. ¡°So we¡¯ll be prisoners?¡± Jyotsana asked. ¡°If necessary,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I think you¡¯d prefer to train with expert fire cultivators and join us.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± she seemed curious. ¡°What sorts of experts?¡± Fuzz was suddenly on fire. Velvet shook her head. ¡°Human experts, probably. Though Fuzz is a good choice still.¡± She pat him on the muzzle, and he nuzzled her on her head. He was taller now, after all. ¡°Do you know any collectors of rare trinkets?¡± Misi asked. Velvet shrugged, looking towards Catarina. ¡°We can introduce you,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It should be fairly easy to determine.¡± ¡°So we have to start over here?¡± Juli asked. ¡°That¡¯s going to be¡­ difficult.¡± Misi comforted her. ¡°You¡¯re in Integration now, remember. It¡¯s not the same.¡± ¡°If you join us,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You¡¯ll receive an appropriate amount of support in the areas you need.¡± She could offer quite a bit, actually, but she didn¡¯t want them to be tempted by wealth. She¡¯d prefer a genuine desire. Jyotsana seemed like she¡¯d be the hardest but- ¡°Done,¡± Jyotsana said. ¡°If that applies to me as well, I don¡¯t care about being poached away.¡± Her eyes lingered on the various cultivators. ¡°Three Augmentation cultivators, a beastly equivalent, and¡­¡± she tilted her head as she looked at Alva. ¡°Peak Integration. Not too bad for a new sect.¡± ¡°Just to be clear,¡± Timothy explained, ¡°We¡¯re all from the One Hundred Stars. The Scarlet Alliance also has other sects working together.¡± Durff was pondering. Velvet wondered if this was hard for him. He didn¡¯t have much in the way of attachments to a sect or anything, but he¡¯d seemed fond of his aunt. Finally, he spoke. ¡°How do you feel about hammers?¡± ¡°Lots of people like hammers,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You¡¯ll have plenty of opportunities.¡± ----- ¡°The entire Nighstar Sect facility is disintegrating?¡± the woman asked. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± commented the messenger. ¡°The consolidated reports also indicate damage at the first location we found. No reports yet from others.¡± ¡°Let me know if anything changes,¡± she said. After the messenger left, she let herself settle into a comfortable chair and relax. She needed to do that, at least. How unfortunate. She knew these things happened, but she liked Durff. He was her favorite nephew, despite his limitations. No, perhaps that was precisely why. It was nice to deal with someone so¡­ straightforward. Even if it meant he got entangled with spies. The funny thing was that the spy had seemed to genuinely be his friend. Obviously Durff would have believed that, but of her various statements that was the one that rang most true. Velvet was pretty good at integrating with her cover, but not perfect. Of course, it made things easier that Ratna had sensed Velvet before, albeit briefly. She wasn¡¯t going to forget Augmentation cultivators from a new faction so easily, even if that hadn¡¯t been her focus at the time. Ratna had almost wanted to teach her to properly conceal her cultivation. Obviously she had experience and talent, but there were a few methods one could use- especially if you were stronger. She¡¯d been careless because ¡®Aunt Eka¡¯ had displayed herself as an Augmentation cultivator as well. Thinking they were matched, Velvet likely assumed she had the upper hand. Perhaps the rest of the time she would have been right. Disappointingly, she¡¯d missed a few subtle hints. Then again, they weren¡¯t intended to actually give her away. Perhaps she¡¯d piece it together later. This new faction¡­ they were enemies with the Citadel and Zaur. Ratna didn¡¯t think they stood any chance as they were currently, but it didn¡¯t hurt her to mention his Anchor. Hers would be more difficult to discover, and they weren¡¯t at odds at this exact moment. Though if the Trigold Cluster as a whole called for action, the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance might have to act. Forcing Ratna herself to do anything would require more than a political push, though. Not because she particularly cared about them or not, but because she was worth more than that. Especially not if Everheart was protecting them. She wasn¡¯t clear on that. Ratna supposed they might just be convenient neighbors. Velvet¡¯s distaste had been genuine but also¡­ nostalgic? As if she¡¯d known of him longer than made sense. But perhaps that was reading too far into things. She grimaced, thinking back to her earlier topic. Durff was probably dead. But she couldn¡¯t have reasonably stopped him. It would have ruined everything good about him if she forced him to do what she wanted. Ratna could only hope that he got lucky and advanced to Augmentation or something like that. He might be able to smash his way out of the predicament. She wanted to focus on other things, but the thoughts kept popping up every once in a while. Why couldn¡¯t he have been a brat like all her other family? They were easier to ignore. Chapter 994 There was plenty of room in the ship for an extra handful of cultivators- if necessary they could have been standing or whatnot, but the sort of ship leaders in the Scarlet Alliance could get was more than spacious enough. They didn¡¯t have any fancy space bending things inside, because that had functional conflicts with the other formations, but it wasn¡¯t difficult to move a decent size vehicle around at high speeds. Everyone was exhausted to different extents. The poison that Fuzz had sensed had been determined to be some effect of the distortion beast- the four Integration cultivators had sensed it during their battle but not before. It had seemed somewhat odd for it to be part of a perpetual trap, but nobody knew exactly what the reason for things had been anyway. Fortunately they were able to begin purging the poisons easily enough once they were safe, with some aid from various pills. Durff just ate anything he was told. Jyotsana was suspicious, but did it once she saw the others had the same thing. Misi and Juli were curious and studied theirs for a while before consuming them. There were a million words that could be exchanged, but for the most part everything important had already been covered. People were content to sit and rest. Technically, the four Integration cultivators needed to be watched. They should have had proper guard shifts, but everyone was close enough together that it didn¡¯t seem necessary. More relevantly, they were far weaker than the other group, so even if Velvet vouching for them wouldn¡¯t have been enough the worst they could do was break the ship, which would be annoying but pointless for them. Alva was the weakest among the others, but even she was probably strong enough to fight them all alone, even before she advanced to Augmentation. Currently, she was taking the final step- the battle had given her the insights, but she hadn¡¯t advanced instantly. Sometimes people needed a more stable environment for an advancement, after all. They had spent a few days heading towards Xankeshan, exchanging reports and the like to make up for the time they had been gone. It wasn¡¯t terribly long, but there were still relevant things for them to manage. Most people¡¯s recoveries were going well. However, Durff seemed to be having more serious issues. He didn¡¯t say anything at first, though Velvet still spotted it. His energy was imbalanced, and he had more injuries than anyone else to begin with. He was tough, but that should have resulted in him being less wounded except that he overdid himself. Ultimately, he wasn¡¯t stoic for no reason. He seemed to have been assessing his recovery, or hadn¡¯t thought to bring it up until it came up in conversation. ¡°I¡¯m pretty much fully recovered now,¡± Timothy had declared. Not that he needed to, but it was nice to have assessments from others since internal matters were less clear. ¡°Just a few small parts need to be rearranged. I never really anticipated that issue.¡± Durff grumbled. ¡°Me neither. I have so many things to put back! I still have bits of wall inside me too!¡± He snorted. ¡°And I feel heavy.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not odd to be tired after something like that,¡± Alva said. Durff shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not like that. Is the gravity in this ship more?¡± ¡°Standard artificial gravity,¡± Catarina confirmed. ¡°How bad it it?¡± ¡°Very uncomfortable,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe I should try moving around more¡­?¡± He did so, but kept shaking his head. His feet thudded as he walked¡­ which was exactly what Velvet expected. He was not quiet when he moved. But it did seem slightly different, now that he mentioned it. Finally, he stopped. ¡°I feel heavier when I use my energy,¡± Durff said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense, right?¡± It was Misi who finally came up with the answer. ¡°Durff. What did you do with the¡­ fragment?¡± Durff pondered for a moment. ¡°The starheart fragment?¡± Misi winced. ¡°It disappeared.¡± ¡°You found something like that?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Right before the snake showed up,¡± he nodded. ¡°I think it wanted to eat it. And everything else.¡± ¡°How did it¡­ disappear?¡± Misi asked. ¡°Well, it was there. And later it wasn¡¯t,¡± Durff said. ¡°I think I would have heard a thud if I dropped it?¡± ¡°Did it get stuck in you, somehow?¡± Misi said. His senses stretched out towards Durff¡¯s torso. Durff pat himself down, then took off his shirt. ¡°Nope, looks all good to me.¡± He poked at a couple wounds. ¡°I don¡¯t think it would fit in any of these.¡± He paid special attention to his belly button, but it was pretty obviously not there just by visual inspection. ¡°Maybe my back?¡± he turned around, letting everyone look. ¡°Just some recovering wounds,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I think we could pick out the feeling of a starheart, if it was here. But¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°Where did the weight come from, then?¡± Misi questioned. ¡°Maybe I ate too much?¡± Durff tilted his head. ¡°You haven¡¯t eaten an abnormal amount since we were reunited,¡± Velvet explained. ¡°So unless you noticed this happening before¡­¡± ¡°Nope,¡± he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure this is new.¡± ¡°Then we should assume he fused with it,¡± Catarina said simply. Jyotsana grimaced. ¡°Does that happen so easily with starhearts?¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Who can say?¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°But it would make sense. It was just a fragment, right? Otherwise I do believe our vessel here would be having issues, based on the theoretical mass and density of such a thing.¡± ¡°It was like this,¡± Durff held his fingers slightly apart. ¡°Pretty small.¡± Suddenly, he grimaced. ¡°Ow. I don¡¯t feel so good. I¡¯m gonna¡­ lie down.¡± He thudded onto his back, his body bouncing slightly- which was better than the alternative, most likely. Timothy was immediately next to him, checking his vitals. He wasn¡¯t a healer, but he knew enough. ¡°He seems¡­ fine? His internal energy is low, but stable. I certainly don¡¯t know if we can do anything to respond to this.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll watch him,¡± Velvet declared. ¡°But unless his signs start to diminish, we should probably leave him as he is.¡± Nobody had a better idea. ----- Durff remained unconscious until they reached Xankeshan itself, including the part where everyone was scanned. While these people were guests of some important people, they were from presumed enemy factions. They could have managed to bypass protocol, but they were exactly the people who shouldn¡¯t be doing that to set the right example. Besides, they hadn¡¯t fully agreed to join- except for Durff. The scanners found nothing specific about Durff or his equipment, but they weren¡¯t for medical purposes. All it proved was there were no clear anomalies in material or energy. Nothing hidden, especially. Everyone was treated as a guest, with luxurious quarters and all, but they had limited range of motion. They couldn¡¯t just be allowed to wander around the capital planet as the pleased, especially without escort. ¡°So, about joining,¡± Catarina said, speaking to the twins. ¡°Will you two be willing to leave your former sect behind?¡± ¡°Well,¡± they looked at each other. Misi shrugged. ¡°We will miss the stores of knowledge of the Acroamatic Scale. But if you promise to allow us to study freely, we¡¯re not so eager to need to return. Umm, we¡¯d rather not fight them, if it came to it?¡± Juli nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not planning to start a war anytime soon,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Or at all, unless some important reason comes up. For the moment, we just wish to survive.¡± The twins were easy to handle, But they still went through a process to confirm they understood everything and were speaking the truth about their willingness. It was extremely improbable they had set out to be spies, given how Velvet had come across them both this time and how they had been chosen as a part of her group before, but this was a matter of important security. Jyotsana was overall more grumpy, though mostly she seemed to want more specific assurances about what resources she would have access to. She also wanted to know the extent what her duties would be. After Velvet explained, Jyotsana frowned. ¡°That¡¯s quite burdensome, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s an unreasonable amount for an Integration cultivator, especially considering the benefits,¡± Velvet commented. Jyotsana looked down at herself, then inside. ¡°Oh. Right. I almost forgot about that, with what happened after. I felt like I was still a Life Transformation cultivator around Integration cultivators.¡± ¡°Not anymore,¡± Velvet smiled. ¡°Though I¡¯m a bit surprised. I thought it would take¡­ longer.¡± Jyotsana nodded. ¡°Me too. The loot we found was surprisingly effective at improving cultivation.¡± Velvet kept her thoughts to herself. Would Everheart want to improve cultivators from other places than Ceretos? That didn¡¯t seem terribly likely, but it might have simply been bait for cultivators to get entrapped. For what purposes Everheart or someone trying to pull a double fake, she wasn¡¯t certain. ----- When Durff woke up, he cracked the floor next to his bed. It was just a small crack, but he felt bad. He¡¯d subconsciously swung his leg over and it hit with more force than intended. He felt sluggish, but when he tried to use his energy to prop himself up he felt proportionately heavier. This¡­ might be fine. As long as he could still swing a hammer. But he¡¯d have to try that. He sensed Velvet approaching a few moments later. ¡°Sorry about your floor,¡± he said as she entered. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to do that.¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d appreciate if you learn to avoid that, but it¡¯s fine. The floors aren¡¯t made to be particularly sturdy.¡± The foundation was, however. There was little point in a secure facility that had one entire direction with subpar resistance. The floor was just there to look nice. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re awake. How are you feeling?¡± ¡°Heavy,¡± he repeated. ¡°But less achy.¡± When Durff described his difficulties, Velvet suggested only using energy to spread his weight out, instead of using it to lift himself. He¡¯d done both before naturally- every cultivator learned that at a certain level of counterforce you pushed yourself into the dirt if you weren¡¯t careful to spread your energy out. Just widening his footprints meant he still felt heavy, but he was still able to move around. Sometimes he had to steady himself on things. ¡°I feel slower. This might be bad,¡± Durff said. ¡°I need to be able to swing a weapon fast enough to hit enemies, or it doesn¡¯t mean anything.¡± ¡°We do actually have techniques for that,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Though they require some energy manipulation. And maybe spatial insights.¡± ¡°I can manipulate energy just fine,¡± Durff said. ¡°I think I¡¯m just really bad at light. And stealth. And everything the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance did. And elements. I¡¯m not great with elements.¡± ¡°... How about you just give things a try and we¡¯ll find out if you can do it? Your muscles might also improve, or you could try some body enhancement techniques.¡± They¡¯d have to send to the lower realms for the best of those, since they didn¡¯t have as good as Nthanda in the upper realms. Though there were a few who practiced body tempering to some extent. Velvet didn¡¯t express her concerns that if he increased his muscle mass then his increased density might make things just as much more difficult, or even worsen his position. It wasn¡¯t something they could do anything about, so the negativity would have been pointless and unhelpful. ¡°... Can I go swing my hammer somewhere?¡± Durff asked. ¡°You can,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But at some point you need to officially join the Alliance.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t I?¡± Durff tilted his head. ¡°You asked and I said yes.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a lot more¡­¡± Velvet shook her head. They had people who could do the paperwork. ¡°At the very least, some people will need to ask you questions. I don¡¯t want to force anything, either.¡± She didn¡¯t want to rely on memory erasure, but it was an option they had access to. Not entirely reliable, but if Durff really had wanted to return. But as he¡¯d said before, he had no real reason to stay. ¡°... Can I let Aunt Eka know I¡¯m alive?¡± Durff asked. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ maybe a bit of an issue,¡± Velvet admitted. Durff shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s okay. She knows people die. She¡¯ll get over it.¡± Velvet nodded. She noticed he didn¡¯t seem to care if he might fight the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance in the future- though Eka specifically would likely be an issue. Maybe they could avoid it somehow? If it looked like there might be conflict¡­ Velvet shook her head. If it came to that, it was probably the whole Trigold Cluster. They could try diplomacy if they had a chance, but it wasn¡¯t worth risking a return when she couldn¡¯t even explain what happened to Durff. Hiding that she knew would be difficult, since that was the only connection she had with Eka. Chapter 995 The general understanding of what could be done with formations was constantly expanding, though it seemed to have stagnated in the powerhouses in the upper realms. That wasn¡¯t quite true, but any advancements were generally adopted by individual sects instead of becoming more widespread. Actual information about what they were doing was limited, of course, but that much was clear. With the information that had come in from the Numerological Compact and the Nighstar sect, Catarina had enough information to assimilate to last her a century. Regardless of the actual purpose of the facilities, the way they had functioned with connections to stars and deep dives into subdimensions was fascinating. The patterns that the creator- who was still suspected but not proven to be Everheart- had worked into the formations opened up entire new fields of thought. ¡°But what if I¡­¡± Catarina muttered, pacing back and forth in her lab. ¡°No, that¡¯s too, extreme, isn¡¯t it? I doubt people would go for that¡­¡± Timothy watched his wife, quite pleased with how things had gone. She was happiest when she had new things to obsess over. But she could spend a long time on topics that weren¡¯t really practical. ¡°What is it?¡± Timothy asked, startling her out of thought. ¡°What¡¯s the idea?¡± ¡°It¡¯s foolish, really,¡± she said, shaking her head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°Are you going to stop thinking about it?¡± Timothy asked, walking forward and placing a hand on her shoulder. ¡°Um¡­ eventually,¡± Catarina replied. Timothy nodded. ¡°Then you should probably tell me about it. So I can tell you that it¡¯s crazy.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ connecting to stars opens up new possibilities. I could upgrade the teleportation stations we already have. Or someone else could do it. It¡¯s not even that hard. Bolster our defenses and all that.¡± ¡°So?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Where¡¯s the crazy part?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still getting to it. You know how we created a spatial distortion field to focus enemy intrusions on fortified positions?¡± ¡°I do,¡± Timothy said. He should know, as defensive strategy was one of his main jobs. ¡°So, that. But more.¡± Timothy frowned. ¡°I fail to see how adding more avenues of attack would benefit us defensively.¡± ¡°No, no. More.¡± Catarina wiggled her fingers right in front of his face. ¡°We can bend space so much further.¡± She arranged her fingers in a circle, then contracted them. ¡°We just have to bring everything¡­ in.¡± Timothy took a slow breath. ¡°Alright, you¡¯re going to have to be more specific. Because what you just described sounds like a good way to collapse the Scarlet Alliance into a black hole.¡± Catarina¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Of course, a black hole!¡± ¡°No,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Absolutely not.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s fine! We can make use of their spatial distortion properties! There are a few good ones around here!¡± Timothy waited. ¡°We just need to take advantage of that and then-¡± she did something extremely disturbing with her fingers that he had no idea how to replicate, though it reminded him of their recent trip where spatial dimensions were turning things inside out and outside in. Though it was worst when things were halfway. ¡°Bam! All of our defenses are on the outside!¡± ¡°We have those,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But they¡¯re not our best ones.¡± ¡°Our best defenses are on Xankeshan,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°We can¡¯t replicate that enough to defend our borders.¡± ¡°Unless¡­¡± Catarina drew out the word. ¡°Everyone who came into our territory ran into Xankeshan first.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°Putting aside the matter of whether or not we can do that, it¡¯s tactically unsound.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll be in control of it.¡± He sighed. ¡°Look, just because it¡¯s our most secure location doesn¡¯t mean we should let people attack our homeworld.¡± ¡°Or maybe we should,¡± Catarina countered. ¡°It¡¯s normally undesirable because it would mean they had gotten past all of our other forces. The last line of defense. But if it¡¯s the first line of defense and we can draw in ships from the whole region to come in after them?¡± She clapped her hands. ¡°We¡¯ll crush them. And the border planets will be safe.¡± It still sounded crazy. And impossible. But¡­ ¡°Draw up some actual plans,¡± Timothy said. ¡°What would things actually function like? Would it distort all of our trade routes? We need to go over how it would make us more vulnerable.¡± If they could effectively force the enemy to attack where the Alliance wanted¡­ that would be good. But it definitely couldn¡¯t be that easy. He could already feel the labor expenses, material expenses, and side effects galore even though he barely understood what she meant. But letting her think about it would hopefully bring her to settle on something nice and sensible. Upgrading their teleportation pads so they could reinforce other systems would be nice. ----- Chidi¡¯s blade flicked forward. He felt the flow, and this time he was certain. His sword was exceptional in its design precisely for its lack of enchantments. In a real battle, his opponent would have cut his sword in half before he got to this point. He had been too slow. He could fend off Chikere¡¯s blades of blood for few moments at best, and if he failed to read the flow he ¡®died¡¯. She didn¡¯t hold back either, piercing through his body- stopping short of actually killing him. The injuries were easy enough to recover from because of how clean they were, but it was a good reminder. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. When he was successful¡­ her blades splattered to the ground, nothing more than lines of red liquid, squelching onto the ground. His sword went towards her throat and- was caught between her fingers. He shouldn¡¯t really have expected otherwise. She could match his moves without energy just fine. It was much more difficult for Chidi to continue his training than he thought. It wasn¡¯t really a flaw in Negation so much as exactly how it worked. There were very few opponents he could spar against safely. If he was successful, formations wouldn''t protect either party- but he couldn''t hold back without making it uncertain whether his attack was going to land. Chikere was open to sparring with him whenever he wanted, and she was a perfect opponent. The only flaw was that she was just one person. If Chidi fought a weaker version of Chikere? He¡¯d certainly win. But everyone was different, and he was lacking breadth of experience. He lowered his blade, as Chikere removed her fingers. ¡°Getting more consistent,¡± she said. ¡°You need to get more practical experience.¡± ¡°You mean almost dying.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Your chance of death is pretty much the same as before. Negligible if you win, pretty much guaranteed if you lose.¡± ¡°Except that now any small mistakes and I don¡¯t win,¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s always true against any worthy opponent,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°You just have more of them now. In a way, I envy you.¡± He knew she meant that as the truth. And Chidi wasn¡¯t going to pity himself for a path he¡¯d chosen after careful deliberation. The issue was¡­ ¡°I¡¯m afraid.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°You should be. Just don¡¯t let it affect your performance. You have to grow, until there is no longer anything to be afraid of. Then you can fear only yourself.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit¡­ difficult,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Finding proper opponents. We¡¯re not at war, and I certainly don¡¯t want to go start one. Fighting wild beasts is actually¡­ much more difficult for me now. I practically have to cut them apart with my insight alone. The Everheart System is¡­ a deathtrap.¡± ¡°I know a place,¡± Chikere said. ¡°It settled down for a while, but people are still scouring the Bloodsoaked Nebula for remnants of ancient sects, and fighting over anything they can find. It¡¯s not properly in Alliance territory and is still very much a lawless zone. While you¡¯re there, you can even get something for me.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± he asked, curious. ¡°I heard that there are some promising sprouts of Dubet¡¯s heart,¡± Chikere grinned. ¡°I can give you the location, even.¡± Chidi¡¯s senses flickered over to her arm. ¡°Are you finally going to do it?¡± ¡°I was planning to get it myself, soon,¡± Chikere explained. ¡°It¡¯s not something that can be cultivated normally, and it should be reserved for important cases. I¡¯ve grown quite used to this arm. I only bring this up because it is an opportunity.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°Should I bring Aconite?¡± ¡°I do believe that would be much more effective than constantly trying to ditch your best friend,¡± Chikere chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s no way you could go alone, so it might as well be on purpose. Having backup is always nice, too. And getting used to allied interference seems critical for your purposes. Starting with a consistent presence seems valuable.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Chidi agreed pleasantly. ¡°I suppose this is my best option. I don¡¯t think waiting will help.¡± ¡°Just follow your instincts,¡± Chikere said. ¡°That¡¯s my best advice.¡± ¡°I agree with your assessment,¡± he said. ¡°And having an outside target should be useful.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t prioritize it over yourself,¡± Chikere warned. ¡°Your parents would try to kill me.¡± Chidi waved her off. ¡°I may be a couple centuries younger, but I know what I¡¯m doing. Your guidance has been quite helpful, thank you.¡± After he walked away, Chikere looked down at her arm. She didn¡¯t like to lie to her apprentice, but sometimes it was necessary. Even if she hadn¡¯t said anything untrue, it was deceptive. Her eyes followed him. No, he¡¯d sense that wouldn¡¯t he? Her senses caught the lingering feel of his blade, unique in its construction. She followed after him, not a single sword near her body. There would be no point in him perishing while he tried to collect another round of Dubet¡¯s Heart. Even if Aconite successfully returned with it, it would be an empty accomplishment. Of course, he couldn¡¯t know anyone was watching out for him. ----- Aconite sniffed as she looked down at the gas giant. ¡°My senses are going to be greatly hampered by the gasses of this planet.¡± Chidi turned his head towards her, opening his ¡®eyes¡¯. ¡°Oh no, how awful.¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to restrict you as well,¡± she growled. ¡°The flow of energy will be disharmonious, even if you can overcome it.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I know the risks of using my abilities deeper in this place. I¡¯ll make sure to test myself on those nice gentlemen coming to meet us.¡± ¡°Need any help?¡± ¡°If I get crushed by the atmosphere, yank me out.¡± They were only early Integration cultivators. That meant Chidi could beat them even with the energy he had. The quantity of energy he wielded currently correspond to Life Transformation, but that wasn¡¯t an issue. The trio were set up to cover all ranges between them. A crossbow user with some fantastic enchantments wielded the weapon more like a gun- weapons with bulkier ammunition were more popular among cultivators, even when it was an option- but his accuracy was pointless when Chidi could cut his attacks out of the air. They were simply too slow, and their power relied on the bolts remaining intact. Chidi dropped into the atmosphere of the planet, where the trio would have a harder time spotting him. The other two moved to intercept him, a setup where one would use their polearm to attack while taking shelter behind the frontline defender. Their teamwork was adequate, and Chidi might have praised them except for the part where they had come to attack without even having some sort of claim nearby they were defending. They probably just wanted his stuff. A pick was crashing towards Chidi¡¯s head as a halberd thrust towards him. From another angle, the crossbow fired towards his side. From the perspective of the other combatants, everything slowed down except for a sword. In actuality, if they were in tune with their weapons their attacks would have gone much faster. The incoming bolt was immediately carried away by the planet itself, and the crossbowman would have been too had the event lasted any longer. Instead, there was a single sweep of Chidi¡¯s sword, cutting through two people. Their armors were made of decent material, but without enchantments it was their insight versus his specially made blade. When energy returned, Chidi turned towards the crossbowman, but Aconite had taken care of him. That was fine, he¡¯d already proven he could do what he needed to. There was just a slight issue. He thought he¡¯d negated the pressure, at least momentarily, but clearly that wasn¡¯t quite the case. Blood trickled out of his ears. At least it was just his eardrums. Still, he¡¯d have to be extremely cautious going any deeper. Perhaps his body would collapse in an instant. That would be the same for his enemies, though. Negating just his enemies was an interesting idea, but didn¡¯t really mesh with his insights. If he didn¡¯t go far enough, they¡¯d likely still have use of their energy. Learning to practically use his new abilities had already taken a long time, and he still had much more to learn. Like how to not die to the environment, apparently. That was something he¡¯d only given slight consideration to. Chapter 996 ¡°... and I knew I would be opening myself up to vulnerability, but I hadn¡¯t thought environmental factors would play such a huge part,¡± Chidi complained to Aconite. In response, she pressed her muzzle into him and gave growls of affirmation. Probably. His eardrums were still shot, so they could have been anything, including calling him dumb. It wouldn¡¯t have been wrong, either. With Aconite¡¯s guidance, Chidi had navigated planets with toxins deadly even to powerful cultivators. The catch there was that most of those slipped passed energy defenses and built up in the body, meaning they generally weren¡¯t damaging in short bursts. But before Chidi finished a single attack, the force of the winds had gotten to him. After some testing, he confirmed that he hadn¡¯t been deep enough for the actual pressure to get to him. He¡¯d have to be hundreds of kilometers deep for that to be an issue. However, the speed at which the winds moved the atmosphere of the gas giant was problematic when in a state of Negation. ¡°I guess I need to work on my body further.¡± He¡¯d been working on everything he needed for offense- muscle power, flexibility, and the like. He could cut however he pleased, but his undefended durability hadn¡¯t been a factor. If he was hit, he would die. He hadn¡¯t considered that he would have to deal with danger that wasn¡¯t from enemy attacks or otherwise boosted by energy. Chidi wasn¡¯t asking for the impossible. He knew there were other cultivators that had successfully trained their bodies far beyond where he was. However, there were different factors at play. Aside from natural temperament, it was too late for him to redo his fundamentals. He was essentially an Augmentation cultivator. Sort of. Because it wasn¡¯t his path, he was never going to be like Nthanda in the lower realms- a body focused cultivator he¡¯d never met. He also wouldn¡¯t match Sly or the other ex-Hardened Crown. Or what was it they called themselves? The Harder Crown. Because obviously they were the right ones, and not the big sect in the Exalted Quadrant. Which¡­ Chidi thought was fine. Confidence was good and all that. He just would have chosen a different name. ¡°I hope Chikere wasn¡¯t expecting me to retrieve Dubet¡¯s Heart soon. Seems like it¡¯s gonna be a while.¡± ----- Cutting apart the winds was actually something Chidi could do, but it didn¡¯t solve his problems. At best it split his offensive capabilities at critical moments, when he needed to be slicing his enemies. It didn¡¯t actually solve his problem. So he¡¯d been slowly dipping himself in and out of the atmosphere, negating the flow of energy and letting his body resist everything directly. He would also practice sword styles in the upper atmosphere, but not for the sake of trying to reduce the pressure on himself. Instead, it was simply a way for him to train. He was a lot more effective in training his offense than he was defense. His actual combat style didn¡¯t involve resisting damage. It was all about deflection and avoidance. At best, he had armor that was supposed to help as a last ditch effort. It wasn¡¯t ineffective, considering he just needed a durable base material when energy was negated, but it wasn¡¯t something he could endure consecutive strikes in. After a month, Chidi was quite confident that his strength and speed had increased¡­ and that he wouldn¡¯t die from a second of exposure to the winds on the upper level. His eardrums had recovered as well, with the aid of some medicine of course. ¡°I bet my eyes would have been ruined if I had them,¡± Chidi said. Speaking to Aconite in a massive storm required his energy, and while the strength of his energy was lower, his control was better than before. ¡°Very funny,¡± Aconite grumbled. ¡°How about your nose and ears?¡± They¡¯d gotten torn up as well. ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t have fur or anything,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°So except for the nose, your natural defenses are better than mine, despite the sensitivity.¡± Both of them had been learning how abrasive tiny particles at extreme speeds could be. Obviously they felt it on their energy, but the upper energy of even a peak Life Transformation cultivator was incomparable to the bodies of all but select few. Chidi was glad that Aconite was training in solidarity with him, though. She would likely outpace him, because as the daughter of Spikes and Fuzz her wolf body was naturally stronger than a human¡¯s by at least an order of magnitude. Even so, the fact that it was still unpleasant for her motivated him. ¡°Should we go a bit deeper?¡± Chidi asked. Aconite nodded. ¡°It¡¯ll be denser and have higher pressure, but hopefully the windspeed will be lower.¡± There was another issue they fortunately didn¡¯t have to deal with much, since Chidi only negated the surrounding energy in short bursts- they would theoretically fall, but in a single instant it wouldn¡¯t be much. Even if they dropped a whole kilometer they would still be in the same layer. It was important for Chidi¡¯s training and their own survival that he was actually negating the energy flow and not that they just dropped their defenses. Apreact was not just a plain old gas giant, but one with a high concentration of upper energy. That meant it charged all parts of itself, and it would have been completely unsurvivable with a bare body without the energy being negated. As each negation lasted less than a second, Chidi ¡®only¡¯ had to take into account the area within a couple hundred meters of them. Or rather, he only had to negate the energy at that distance. Understanding the flow required a somewhat wider perception. It was more than just sensing everything in the area, but understanding how it would interact. And that meant predicting nearly random chaotic windflow. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Fortunately he didn¡¯t have to do it for a long time period. But doing it quickly such that he would be able to work in combat was still a work in progress. Fortunately as they were near the surface they weren¡¯t really bothered. There had been the one group, but all the valuable materials were far deeper. He and Aconite could also fight normally, which for Chidi worked well enough against weaker enemies. Chidi didn¡¯t warn Aconite. Because he had to act when he understood the flow, she wouldn¡¯t always have the luxury. He usually combined his negation with an attack, but this time he chose not to so that she would keep on her toes. The only thing he did was slightly shift his guard, which was part of using the formation marking inside of him to help direct the surrounding flow. He felt the pressure and the winds scouring his skin. He tried not to stand any particular way in his training, because he wasn¡¯t here to reduce wind angles for his own benefit. Instead, he wanted to be able to endure from all angles. Directly up the nose or into an ear was the worst. The top layer of his skin was quickly scoured off, and then energy came back, his defenses springing back into place by instinct. Wolvish cussing followed, but that was to be expected. ¡°You know, it¡¯s really difficult to keep a hold on poisons when this happens,¡± Aconite grumbled. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing our bags are quite sturdy, huh?¡± ¡°Yeah, but¡­ look, if I poison my claws the winds just whip it right off. And am I gonna use powders here, in this mess?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Just use any powder and watch it turn someone¡¯s face into mush.¡± ¡°That¡¯s-¡± Aconite growled. ¡°Maybe useful. But definitely not something I¡¯m going to plan on.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is useful,¡± Chidi said, projecting his voice between them. ¡°But you might consider body modifications? I don¡¯t know if keeping poison in your claws is a terrible idea. Actually, scratch that. It¡¯s definitely terrible. But I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s worse than anything else.¡± He moved forward to keep himself in the same windflow as Aconite, as they didn¡¯t feel it necessary to resist the winds but let it bring them around the planet- as long as it wasn¡¯t pushing them deeper. They could retreat from the depths as they pleased, but they didn¡¯t want to draw the wrong sort of attention by showing up in the wrong place. ¡°That might work,¡± Aconite finally admitted. ¡°It¡¯s going to be painful and I have to be extra certain I¡¯m immune, but it¡¯s not half bad. I could have one poison in each claw prepared ahead of time. With the right combos¡­¡± Chidi shifted, and Aconite stiffened. He had just wanted to make certain she was still alert, but he figured he should follow up with another negation in a moment. It was difficult to create long lasting effects where there was no permanence to anything. He relied more on his internal formations than any markings he could scratch in the world around him, for somewhat obvious reasons. This time, he held his arms directly against the wind. The pressure threatened to buckle his arms, but he needed to deal with the resistance. His skin was constantly growing back and being scoured off again, so he probably either looked like a terrible tomato or a polished gemstone. He leaned towards the former most of the time based on how sensitive his skin felt. While training, he had time to think. While Aconite was catching a gust of something she had clearly deemed to be poison so she could try to bottle it, he considered why he was here. Training, obviously. But why had Chikere suggested this place? Had she known he would run into this particular issue? No, she would have said if that was the case. Yet he also felt like her desire for Dubet¡¯s Heart was¡­odd. He knew she had wanted it before he was born, but she¡¯d grown quite fond of her artificial arm. In fact, she used it quite often because she could expel blood from it without injuring herself- which was where all her ¡®weapons¡¯ were kept. He had no idea why she would suddenly want it. But if it was urgent, she would have told him. She even gave an uncharacteristic warning to stay safe- usually she would tell him to annihilate his enemies which was effectively the same from a different angle. Chidi considered sending her a message, but he figured he could just ask her in person. After he either got one or determined he was too late. He would try to obtain it because she asked, but he couldn¡¯t exactly bring it back if he got himself killed. And that included being crushed instantly by millions of times normal planetary pressure. ¡°How is it?¡± Chidi asked Aconite about the jar she was clutching with her energy. ¡°One moment,¡± she said. ¡°Oh, and no negation please.¡± She placed it in her storage bag- fortunately Chidi¡¯s negation just suppressed the ability to access the extradimensional space instead of breaking it- then continued to explain. ¡°I think I can make something with it. Condensed, obviously, because it¡¯s way too diffuse in those clouds.¡± ¡°Do you want some time for that?¡± Chidi asked. Aconite shook her head. ¡°Later. When we take a break outside atmosphere. Until then, I¡¯m going to pretend I¡¯m not crying every time I get wind directly in my nose.¡± Chidi nodded. A few movements later, and he was tumbling head over heel. That was partially on purpose- he wanted to make certain he wasn¡¯t going to give himself a concussion or whiplash. The effects on his enemies might be great as well, since they wouldn¡¯t be prepared, but he needed to survive both their attacks and the environment. It didn¡¯t matter to them whether they died to just one of them or to both. Obviously it would be them that died. It had to be. Not that he thought he would always win, but the confidence in his own strength would make that more true. Cultivators could always fall¡­ but as long as he didn¡¯t go past confidence into arrogance then he should be alright. That would include something like challenging a Domination cultivator to a battle. While technically if he could negate all energy he could defeat them- that was why he developed the path he was on- practically it was unlikely. Even strong Augmentation cultivators would likely take him down before he could stop them. What would it take? Another year here, another century of training in general? Whether it was fast or slow, he was going to do it. He took another pill and concentrated on repairing his soft outer tissues- and the lining of his nose, throat, and inner ear. Developing them so they returned stronger wasn¡¯t his area of expertise, but he figured he was going to get plenty of practice in the near future. He¡¯d already managed a few steps forward. Chapter 997 While not dying to crushing pressure was obviously high on Chidi¡¯s priority list for purposes of his training, it wasn¡¯t as simple as just increasing his bodily durability. The chances of him directly resisting the pressure in the core of Apreact at any point in his future were so miniscule as to be ignorable. He would have to make a massive breakthrough body tempering, which might be as difficult as reaching Domination. While it was possible to cultivate both energy and body to some extent, it didn¡¯t seem to be possible to maximize both- and he had a late start on the body front. Aconite was performing much better than himself, and her durability might grow sufficiently on its own. That was good, because he couldn¡¯t apply any other mitigating factors for her. Not in the same way he intended to use them for himself. First, he needed to move with the flow of winds. It didn¡¯t matter if the air was moving a thousand kilometers per hour relative to everything else if he was part of that motion. Obviously, that could be impractical in the middle of combat as his opponents wouldn¡¯t necessarily be standing along a nice flow of gasses¡­ but it wasn¡¯t that much harder to also finagle that into place than them being in the center of an optimal flow of energy. While Chidi had not been attacked by humans again in his early training- the concealment provided by the planet itself meant he¡¯d have to get much closer to any theoretical enemies- there were some natural denizens that were aggressive. They were kind of like sea jellies. Chidi had no way to tell if they were clear or blended in with the background, if that could even be relevant with opaque gasses everywhere. He wouldn¡¯t be able to see them regardless. What he did discover was that their energy blended in with the surroundings quite well. If he hadn¡¯t trained with Velvet, he would probably have found them impossible to deal with. As it was, he¡¯d been quite glad that Aconite had smelled them first- which was quite a feat given the circumstances. Smells didn¡¯t nicely drift around on a gas giant. ¡°Beneath your feet!¡± she¡¯d called out. Chidi, without the relevant ability to take advantage of Negation, had slashed ¡®downward¡¯. He¡¯d felt his blade barely touch something, and after determining its location he slashed several more times, extending his blade with energy. He felt his blade cutting through long tendrils and then finally a denser body. He let himself be taken along with the winds, trying to learn more. The body of the creature didn¡¯t last long, but he could sense its deception begin to fade which let him pick them out the next time. They were excellent training partners, as Chidi could defeat them with his energy if he needed to. Life Transformation wasn¡¯t too bad. However, he really wanted to use Negation. That was the whole point of everything. That meant looking vulnerable enough for them to approach. They naturally sought out things within a certain range of energy, presumably where they were confident in their victory. They didn¡¯t seem particularly intelligent, which meant he could often take his time to set up the flow properly, but that wasn¡¯t going to be practical against others. If everything was going right during Negation, Chidi couldn¡¯t protect himself with upper energy- but he could sometimes influence motion before then. Negation was also extremely brief, so he could create a pressure wave expanding outward the instant before, and his energy defenses would return before the pressure. It was just one more thing that would be obvious to human opponents. Obviously Chidi didn¡¯t intend to fight most of his opponents in the depths of a gas giant, but he still needed to be good. If he was next to a star or in a pit of lava, he didn¡¯t want to instantly be burnt to a crisp. Likewise, in a supernaturally cold lake he could end up frozen. Poison continued to be an issue, but most of the time it required longer exposure. But Chidi was becoming ever more aware how each moment made his enemies more exposed to the environment as well. He still preferred to defeat them with sword strikes, but if things were that bad¡­ setting things up and just letting them die while defending himself might be the optimal result. Chidi could cut away the flow of wind around him, if he wanted to. Slicing intangible things had been ingrained into him as important by his master. ¡°That¡¯s about as good as I can expect for now,¡± Chidi declared to Aconite. ¡°I don¡¯t want to get too used to one type of enemy anyway. I¡¯m faster now in practical situations, so that will have to be good enough. Now then¡­ do you have any idea how to find our quarry?¡± Aconite nodded. ¡°I have heard descriptions of the flower. When it is blooming, it should smell like blood and souls. Potentially ozone, as well. Its energy will be strong, regardless. I have vaguely felt something we passed multiple times but¡­ I have no idea if it maintained a position relative to the poles. There might be several.¡± ¡°Did you sense any enemies?¡± ¡°No, but they were likely less potent. Most likely, our targets have been harvested, but we might come across one that is unbloomed. They cannot be transferred, so we would have to defend the location for some time.¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Chidi frowned. ¡°Would you be able to tell how close it is?¡± ¡°Within a certain threshold,¡± Aconite confirmed. ¡°I have learned about other plants aside from those that are toxic. Or at least, primarily toxic. Pretty much anything can be medicine or poison- it¡¯s just one of those is easier to make use of.¡± Chidi was going to assume she meant poisons. Because giving people too much poison usually still killed them, while too much medicine could be quite damaging. Even those specially refined by cultivators usually had side effects that would mount. His sword vaguely gestured around them. ¡°It¡¯s too bad this thing only grows in¡­ terrible environments,¡± Chidi commented. ¡°If Dubet¡¯s Heart could be farmed, it would help a lot of people.¡± ¡°I bet it could be,¡± Aconite said. ¡°But I don¡¯t think the Scarlet Alliance would approve.¡± Chidi nodded. It required death. The Bloodsoaked Nebula had once contained innumerable lives, both locals and otherwise. It was one of the most concentrated battlegrounds between the two powers on either side, and it still remained untamed and lawless. At least as a general thing¡­ his mother had been adding some formations that would make it problematic for enemy invaders to pass through. He¡¯d not sensed most of those formations, but he wasn¡¯t sure how far along the project was to begin with. ----- Aconite caught a trail- or a potential trail, at least. Old smells would dissipate quickly, but the flowers would not be particularly potent before their short period of completion. Technically, they could remain open for a long time, as they were quite durable. They didn¡¯t just rot away instantly- otherwise transporting one away would be pointless. It was just that others would find them and take them as quickly as possible. ¡°We should be catching up,¡± Aconite said. ¡°Unfortunately, we¡¯ll have to keep pushing through the winds instead of trying to catch it on a go around, because I can¡¯t predict where it¡¯ll end up.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I understand. Sometimes-¡± The flow of energy shifted. He felt something coming. No, a number of them. Small pellets infused with energy. If he was a normal Life Transformation cultivator, they likely would have torn him apart. Instead, he twisted out of the way. Aconite was already off, so he didn¡¯t have to inform her of the enemies. Chidi also sped up, cutting his way through the thick gasses. The attacks had come from ¡®upwind¡¯, and there were more than a handful of cultivators there. It made sense, as Chidi was slower in his approach and the speed of their attacks were boosted. However, relying on the flow was where the rock slingers had made a miscalculation. Chidi was extremely familiar with the planet¡¯s flow, and once they entrusted their rocks to it it was difficult to pull them out of the general path. After the initial attacks, Chidi soon got a good impression of the enemies. He felt how their energy spun before flinging the rocks at him. Definitely slings. Not a bad weapon for a cultivator as it let them use almost any level of strength, but the timing of attacks was somewhat predictable. Chidi had no idea what sect this was, but that meant he had no reason not to take them out. If he recognized them as part of the Scarlet Alliance it would be different, but anyone else it was far too risky. And of course, they¡¯d already tried to kill him. Chidi was already aware that he was limited in how far he could use Negation. It was already further than the reach of his blade, but he never covered an area more than a hundred meters from him. He cut apart some of the incoming projectiles when it was convenient, but he didn¡¯t want to make it look too easy. Otherwise, his opponents would run. This was a good time to practice on a group with a similar style. Rather than approaching directly, he spiraled inward towards them, appearing as if he was having trouble getting past their barrage. In actuality, he needed to alter the flow of energy, and his path was optimal for that. His opponents didn¡¯t panic when he drew close. Chidi could tell from the way they held their slings that they were prepared to use them in melee, which would make them fine enough bludgeoning instruments. However, they probably weren¡¯t prepared for what actually happened. Chidi¡¯s sword sliced in the middle of a handful of them, nowhere close to threatening any of them. For a moment, rushing winds battering his ears and skin were all he could feel, as negating energy made him truly blind in that instant. Then everything returned, and his opponents were much less than whole. Not as dead as he might have wanted either, but they were easy enough to finish off with unexpected injuries. If he were fighting enemies solely to take their loot, Chidi supposed his current style would be problematic as the environment could damage enchanted pieces. And some of their storage bags had broken open, spilling some of their contents. That¡¯s what they got for being cheap¡­ or assuming they¡¯d always have their energy to defend them. Which was usually true up until death. ¡°What do you think?¡± Chidi asked as Aconite returned after finishing off several more of their foes. ¡°Is it reasonable to go deeper?¡± ¡°We will survive the planet itself,¡± Aconite said. ¡°Depending on how far.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see if we can catch this flower.¡± ----- As it happened, they missed that opportunity. They did get attacked several times, mostly by humans but once or twice by strange local creatures. The latter were more interesting, ranging from tiny creatures that rode the winds to some that mimicked living clouds of gas. The jelly creatures didn¡¯t seem to exist at their current depth, though perhaps they simply hadn¡¯t seen any. ¡°Found another one,¡± Aconite said. ¡°The smell is strong but¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s deep, right?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°Indeed. And we will likely have much competition.¡± ¡°As long as it¡¯s not actually at the core, we¡¯ll give it a go,¡± Chidi said. ¡°How are your poisons working out?¡± ¡°I¡¯m getting a feel for it. But I will be quite happy to contend with less volatile environments. It is too obvious when I carry powder through the air with my energy, as opposed to letting it settle naturally next to an enemy.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get this thing and get out. I¡¯m tired of this planet. Plus, I want to experience how master fights with two flesh arms. I assume it has to be better or she wouldn¡¯t want it, right?¡± Chapter 998 Once again Chidi had to wonder how much death it took for Dubet¡¯s Heart to appear so frequently in a particular region. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly how long it took for the flower to develop, but the process was happening even now after centuries. This very year, Apreact had more than one bloom. Of course, looking at it from the perspective of the wider world the Bloodsoaked Nebula wasn¡¯t that plentiful. It didn¡¯t have its own population, but if it did a few per planet- which wasn¡¯t the norm but a particularly high mark- was exceedingly low compared to the number of people who desired such things. Nearly perfect recovery from any injury was tempting even to those of the Scarlet Alliance who had extreme quality prosthetics. Most cultivators could not regrow much of their body if they lost it, even with the best medicines humans could create. The relative frequency of Dubet¡¯s Heart¡¯s appearance might have increased competition, as people were always looking for it. People would sell the locations of future blooms to anyone who they could, so the information spread far and wide. Aconite sniffed. Chidi winced in sympathy, but the wolf managed to get something even through the high winds and unpleasant gasses. ¡°We¡¯re close. But we¡¯re not alone. I believe there are members of the¡­ Dead Trees.¡± ¡°Okay, you definitely know the actual name of that sect,¡± Chidi commented. ¡°The Forest of Death would imply they knew what they were doing, instead of merely sending their people to die on Everheart¡¯s worlds and in this place.¡± Aconite nudged him with her nose. ¡°They will likely know of your energy signature, given your master¡¯s previous incidents with them.¡± ¡°Well, they only survived one of those,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t bet against them having done their research.¡± ¡°I believe that the flower will be ripening shortly. I will try to hold them off and you should prepare to gather it. If necessary, I will count on your presence to draw them into a trap.¡± Chidi stretched his senses, feeling for gatherings of similar power. None of the enemy cultivators felt too strong. ¡°Be cautious,¡± he said. ¡°Fighting alone is still dangerous.¡± ¡°I am well aware, and willing to retreat if necessary. But I don¡¯t think we can let them get closer.¡± Chidi nodded, knowing she would sense the movement. Neither of them could really see much here, which was a nice change. The source of burgeoning energy that was a growth of Dubet¡¯s Heart called to Chidi. Or to anyone around, perhaps. Was there something such a plant gained from being devoured? Perhaps its seeds spread best around powerful cultivators who might be able to create more fields of death. He could only recognize its description from the flower¡¯s smell. Both Chikere and later Aconite had described it as smelling like lightning and blood. He couldn¡¯t verify its supposed color, but that didn¡¯t really matter. From its form, he could tell it was only just opening. It might take a few minutes or a few hours. Enough to draw other cultivators from all over, if they could sense this one. Nothing particularly hid it, so Chidi thought it likely. Indeed, a trio came from the opposite side of where Aconite fought with the Forest of Death. They wielded large axes, though their weight was less than that of Hoyt¡¯s blade. Perhaps not the actual mass, but their attacks couldn¡¯t touch him. That was good, because Chidi was having difficulty activating Negation. He could easily control the flow of energy of his opponents and the planet, but Dubet¡¯s Heart was unfamiliar and wild. It took him a few moments longer before he finally managed it, slicing through one of the axemen as his energy ceased functioning for an instant. Armor, muscle, and bone were insufficient to stop the trajectory of Chidi¡¯s weapon. He felt the weight of the world around him in that instant, and was prepared to continue battling the others¡­ but for all their size, the axemen¡¯s tempered bodies didn¡¯t seem to amount to much more than fluff. At least, their defenses without energy were insufficient for them to keep their form, this deep in the planet. Chidi actually used a trick, negating the pressure specifically near him. He¡¯d thought at least one of the remaining two would survive, but in their surprise their bodies broke, and they had no time to rally their energy before they were crushed completely. A reminder to Chidi that he needed to be careful. He was not completely unharmed from his moment, either. He could only manage that a few more times before having to retreat from any opponent he needed Negation for. Then he felt it. A blade approaching with its bearer. Thoughts flashed through Chidi¡¯s mind. Chikere¡¯s insistence that he not die for Dubet¡¯s Heart. It was a training mission, nothing critical. That was relevant because Chidi knew he could die. But Chidi also knew that the swordsman instilled in him could not choose to avoid the battle. It would be worse than death. That wasn¡¯t something he could properly explain to most people. They either got it, or they didn¡¯t. ¡°If it isn¡¯t Chikere¡¯s young apprentice,¡± said an old man, balancing his sword on his shoulder. Chidi could feel him through the whipping winds and swirling atmosphere. He didn¡¯t need his typical senses to pick up the body position of a sword cultivator and his sword. ¡°Rahayu,¡± Chidi inclined his head. ¡°It is a pleasure.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Neither of them confirmed that the other wouldn¡¯t step aside. They just knew. In fact, now that they had spotted each other the prize was ultimately forgotten. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Saiful Rahayu. Chidi knew he could at best only last a few exchanges with a sword cultivator of such magnitude. Then again, that was a style many sword cultivators favored including Chidi himself. If he won, it would be done in a small number of exchanges as well. It would be a great test of whether or not Negation was truly a worthy analog of Augmentation. No, that wasn¡¯t good enough. The purpose was to defeat Domination cultivators just as easily as anyone else. Skill was paramount. Chidi was glad he didn¡¯t have eyes. From what he understood, they were extremely deceptive with fast moving objects, sometimes even for the best trained cultivators. His body just reacted, his sword parrying the blade trying to slice him in half vertically. His energy barely held on, but he¡¯d exchanged blows with Chikere before. The difference in absolute power would lead to his defeat¡­ if he couldn¡¯t capture the flow. For all that Rahayu was Chikere¡¯s master, fighting him felt quite different. He, like Chidi, focused on a single sword. Of course, Chidi was well aware that Chikere had learned from more than just Rahayu just like he hadn¡¯t learned solely from her. Even so, most of his sword style was hers. Blades twirled around the two of them, though none of their extremities ended up in the cutting paths. Both understood exactly how the enemy could extend their blades. Chidi felt the pressure of his enemy¡¯s cultivation bearing down on him. He idly wondered if he was going to die. He didn¡¯t want that to happen, but he also wouldn¡¯t be upset. Aconite probably would be, though. She would be the one who had to live with it, after all. That was still secondary to what Chidi wanted, though. And Chidi wanted to win. He could last two more exchanges at most, before Rahayu found a way past his defenses. Both of them knew that. Chidi shifted, provoking an attack. His blade came up. His senses faded, as the world entered a state of Negation. Rahayu¡¯s sword was still coming to kill him, and it still could. It wouldn¡¯t take fancy enchantments for his blade to cut through Chidi¡¯s flesh and bone. Rahayu didn¡¯t even flinch at the sudden lack of energy, as he had already picked out an optimal path to attack Chidi. At most, Chidi could deflect his blade, and then energy would return. Rahayu would cut him down. One version of Chikere would have killed him for what he did. Even Chidi¡¯s guts churned, but ultimately he was displaying the peak of his sword skills as he cut upward, his blade clashing head on with Rahayu¡¯s¡­ and slicing through it. Their sword insights were nearly matched, no doubt different in various aspects but ultimately similar enough. But one blade was impossibly sharp, while the other was the very best human limits could achieve. And impossible was worthless without energy. Too bad. It was a good blade. Chidi sliced clean through it and took off Rahayu¡¯s head. Or at least, that was the intent. The old man leaned back almost as if he had anticipated that result, his chin barely scratched. Energy returned. Surprisingly, the man hadn¡¯t been crushed. Chidi realized he¡¯d released his own pulse of energy at the same time, guessing Chidi¡¯s intent and negating the pressure around him. He also shortened the time of Negation, Chidi was fairly certain. Rahayu held his former sword. ¡°Interesting. And unfortunate. This was a good blade.¡± He was going to reach into his bag and pull out another blade. Inferior, yes. But Chidi wouldn¡¯t be able to force him into Negation again, not before his own energy ran out. Perils of his path, it seemed. Rahayu dropped the hilt of his weapon, letting it fall deep into the gas giant. ¡°It seems I have to consider different options for what makes the best sword. Yours is nice, but it doesn¡¯t match me.¡± Then he turned. ¡°You¡¯ll have to excuse me, I need to be going. You can have the flower.¡± He paused, mid ¡®step¡¯ before he took off. ¡°Send me contact info for your smith, if you would.¡± Chidi wasn¡¯t sure if he had won or not. However, it was an acceptable result. While Rahayu was well esteemed, that didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t have killed Chidi. He might have even done so precisely to spark some sort of blood feud with Chikere. Conversely, Chidi was quite willing to kill him, and had merely failed to do so. But now, he was certain that they would fight again, if nobody took either of them out first. Without speaking a word of it, that was what they both wanted. Next time, Chidi was going to have to do better than cut his sword. ----- The flower bloomed properly shortly after that, the pair taking it and hiding its energy before rapidly leaving behind the planet. Chidi had found the months training on Apreact to be quite valuable¡­ and he was very much done with that mess. ¡°I caught some of your battle,¡± Aconite noted. ¡°It was excellent.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But I need to do better.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Aconite said. ¡°I can¡¯t even get a draw with an Augmentation cultivator like this. Maybe I need to find a better toxic planet?¡± Chidi just shrugged. It wasn¡¯t his advancement. Though if he thought of anything, he¡¯d certainly tell her. The trip back to just took time, which was fine. Chidi¡¯s body was recovering from constantly being crushed. Aconite had improved more quickly in terms of body, which was unsurprising since her mithridatism was already body tempering of its own. After all, the body couldn¡¯t naturally build up resistance to everything she had wanted, and not nearly as much as she ended up with. Immediately after they arrived, Chidi handed over the special storage bag with Dubet¡¯s Heart to Chikere. It would stay fresh for a while, but it needed some help so the special bag was useful to keep it active before it could be properly used. ¡°Thank you,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I hope you didn¡¯t risk yourself for this.¡± ¡°Only completely unrelatedly,¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°Oh?¡± Chikere raised an eyebrow, her eyes scanning him. ¡°You don¡¯t look particularly injured.¡± ¡°I fought Rahayu.¡± ¡°Did you win?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t lose,¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°I cut his sword.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± Chikere might have once hated that idea, especially for a good sword, but she¡¯d moved on from a view of swords as objects. ¡°And you¡¯re still alive, so victory. I assume he is as well?¡± ¡°I only cut his chin slightly,¡± Chidi acknowledged. He reached out and touched her shoulder. ¡°It will be interesting to fight you with two arms.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got two,¡± Chikere flexed the artificial arm. ¡°This isn¡¯t for me. Otherwise I would have just gotten it myself, you know?¡± ¡°Oh. Right,¡± he nodded. ¡°That makes sense.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why it wasn¡¯t important enough to die for. Well, if it was I should have been the one risking it anyway. Not like most people could challenge me.¡± Chikere clicked her tongue. ¡°Maybe I should have gone though. Rahayu¡­ would have been a fun challenge in a new place.¡± ¡°Well, good luck with that,¡± Chidi said, leaving it with her. ¡°Thank you for the training advice.¡± ¡°No problem! Congrats on not getting murdered by the planet and/or Rahayu!¡± Chikere grinned. Chidi wondered who it was supposed to be for. Odd, he thought he would have heard if anyone was looking for such a thing. It wasn¡¯t like Chikere knew a ton of people he wasn¡¯t acquainted with. Chapter 999 The twins were eager for literally any information the Scarlet Alliance would give them. One would almost think they¡¯d never had the chance to learn anything of import before, despite their broad knowledge. Catarina kept a careful eye on their progress, as formations were one of their many areas of interest. Apparently, they hadn¡¯t been able to get their hands on even basic information on how formations worked in the Trigold Cluster. Or at least, nothing substantial. Obviously they had the opportunity to observe some formations working, but actual learning had been difficult for them to get, even within their sect. It seemed the knowledge of the Acroamatic Scale was disseminated based on standing and merits contributed to the sect, rather than something sensible like¡­ trust and responsibility. Then again, that had been common even in the Scarlet Midfields not so long before. It wasn¡¯t that it was unexpected, just ineffective. Trust in people could certainly be misplaced, but when the focus was more on knowing people instead of a list of numbers they had contributed, it was more difficult for them to slip past. Experience let people discern the difference between those who were simply asocial through choice or personality, and those who were hiding something. Still, without intrusive efforts that might actually push people away from the organization of the Alliance, there would always be some mistakes. That was why they had different levels of security for various techniques and other information. Spies were an unfortunate factor that had to be considered, though they had processes in place that helped them determine if anyone was pulling out a particularly odd level of knowledge. Sometimes, like with the twins, it simply revealed those ravenous for knowledge. Either way, it meant that it was worth paying attention. Catarina had watched them, too timid to pull books off the shelves for fear that they would somehow waste their opportunity. The only thing they could waste was the time they spent not learning things. When they expressed interest in formations, she had taught them personally. ¡°Books are useful,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But you can¡¯t really learn everything you need to just from their pages. Authors make all sorts of mistakes and leave out things that they expect people to already understand.¡± ¡°Umm¡­¡± Misi looked down at the books they both held, ¡®Introduction to Basic Formations¡¯. ¡°If that¡¯s the case then why¡­?¡± ¡°Why what?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Why write anything?¡± he gestured to the book she had written herself. Catarina smiled. ¡°Because I don¡¯t have the time or inclination to teach billions of people myself. You two are fortunate that you¡¯re friends of a friend. Of course, it¡¯s not like you need me in particular to teach you easy stuff.¡± ¡°So I noticed¡­¡± Juli began timidly. ¡°That uh, there¡¯s a section on dismantling formations from the Trigold Cluster?¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It¡¯s not complete or anything because that¡¯s just the primer, and because I haven¡¯t seen all of their formations.¡± She looked over them. ¡°You two have good memories right? If you could recreate some formations for me, it might be useful.¡± ¡°We are still but novices,¡± Misi said, ¡°Unable to perfectly replicate the complexities. And the expense¡­ I don¡¯t think we can afford the many mistakes we would make.¡± ¡°Oh, we¡¯ll just simulate it,¡± Catarina said. ¡°If you¡¯re iffy on anything, or if the simulation chamber doesn¡¯t know how a particular interaction works for some reason, I can probably smooth things out.¡± ¡°... Simulate it?¡± Juli asked. ¡°But to create a formation that replicates other formations¡­ wouldn¡¯t it have to be a perfect representation of every formation all at once?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Catarina said. ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s neither perfect nor made using formations. It¡¯s all technology.¡± Misi frowned. He knew the word, of course, but it seemed to have more meaning here. He¡¯d seen all sorts of strange things here, like doors that opened on their own without a whisper of energy. Those still startled him, sometimes. ¡°How does that work?¡± he asked. ¡°Well, I could give you a basic explanation. Or Uzun could give you a century long course to catch you up to where you could understand an in-depth view of how it works.¡± ¡°Oh, could he?¡± Juli looked excited. Then she shook her head. She doubted she would actually be allowed to monopolize so much of a great elder¡¯s time. ¡°Well, there are a few thousand hours of courses recorded you should probably start with,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It would let you know if you¡¯re actually interested. You¡¯d have to meet a certain standard to catch his interest.¡± A high standard, but the twins had the intelligence. But without the passion for the subject, they¡¯d probably never reach the point they needed him anyway. Even Uzun didn¡¯t understand every piece of technology- though given a few minutes he could figure it out just from observing. Misi was obviously still concerned about whether the section on dismantling certain formations should be so easily disseminated, but Catarina knew it left out the real weaknesses the formations had. And since their own formations didn¡¯t use those same techniques, the worst that could happen was their enemies would adapt. They might, but Catarina was willing to bet it would take a millennium for a behemoth like the Trigold Cluster to actually redo some of the basic vulnerabilities. Especially not when most people still wouldn¡¯t recognize them even with the proper information. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ----- Jyotsana looked at the pair that were supposed to be a grandfather and grandson. Neither of them looked any older, and aside from their aura, neither of them resembled the other in the slightest. But she¡¯d asked for a teacher of fire, and the two were clearly more than qualified. How many Augmentation cultivators did this Scarlet Alliance even have, anyway? Weren¡¯t the Scarlet Midfields devoid of talent? It was immediately clear to her that they were not, but it still clashed with everything she¡¯d known for her whole life. It soon became clear to Jyotsana that while she could learn much from them, she had some fundamental flaws that couldn¡¯t be fixed. Like, for example, her core cultivation method. It was one made to reach Integration, obviously. Only trash methods couldn¡¯t do that much, though she¡¯d still struggled to actually do it. She now realized that it wasn¡¯t able to carry her beyond Integration. She hadn¡¯t even really expected to reach Integration regardless of it being technically possible. Not many people did, and she literally had to chalk it up to luck. Luck of being in the right place, with the right people. Luck that some Augmentation cultivators were actually the ones fighting the great worm that had sought to devour them, and thus she and the others could survive. Jyotsana knew she didn¡¯t have that sort of fortune¡­ so who did? It shouldn¡¯t have been any of the Augmentation cultivators, since they had little to gain from crossing paths with four Integration cultivators. Perhaps the twins or Durff? Yet neither had displayed great fortune in their earlier lives. Even if she was a bit jealous of their talent. Even though Jyotsana didn¡¯t say anything, Prospero seemed to recognize her thoughts. ¡°The limitations of your cultivation style bother you.¡± ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t they?¡± she spat back. ¡°All my advancement has done was doom me to another century or more of mediocrity.¡± He nodded. ¡°If that is your concern, then your best option is to change cultivation styles.¡± Jyotsana sighed. ¡°Look at me. If my cultivation drops, I¡¯m just going to shrivel up and die. So even if you were to share the secrets of your profound method with me, it wouldn¡¯t do me any good.¡± ¡°The core of the One Hundred Stars is widely available,¡± Prospero mentioned. ¡°But you are correct. It would not save your life. However, we do have access to some methods that might accomplish what you want.¡± Jyotsana narrowed her eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t taunt me with impossible promises. I know I¡¯m not so talented to replace my core with anything else and survive the process, no matter how astounding the method.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t necessarily have to survive,¡± Prospero said. That got a confused look from Jyotsana. ¡°Think of the techniques of the Twin Soul Sect. They die and are reborn with some portion of their memories. In theory, at least.¡± ¡°It¡¯s certain they do,¡± Jyotsana nodded. ¡°But they keep their techniques quite secret.¡± ¡°Oh, we have plenty of information on it. I wouldn¡¯t suggest that for numerous reasons.¡± They had perfect replicas of what was disseminated to the lower realms, though they had reason to believe it was still imperfect. Then again, an imperfect reincarnation was probably better than what most people could ever expect. ¡°We do have some methods based on Phoenix Rebirth that would be more suited for someone with fire element insight like yourself.¡± Jyotsana shivered. ¡°What¡¯s the catch? You know I don¡¯t have anything to offer. You want me to sign over my soul or something?¡± ¡°Well,¡± Prospero shrugged. ¡°You¡¯d sort of have to. We couldn¡¯t afford to let you end up anywhere else, and it would be unfortunate for you as well. If you were reborn in the wrong place, you might immediately die again- and be properly immersed in the cycle of reincarnation. Keeping your identity beyond that point would be unlikely.¡± She pondered. She already knew she was afraid to let her body die and her soul be cleansed. So she couldn¡¯t really reject the possibility no matter what might be demanded of her. Still¡­ ¡°What would you gain out of it? I can¡¯t imagine it¡¯s worth it for a mediocre cultivator.¡± ¡°On the contrary,¡± the man said. ¡°It would be one more person who we know can reach Integration. Isn¡¯t that a better gamble than a random young ¡®genius¡¯?¡± His smile was actually somewhat reassuring. ¡°And I¡¯m not going to lie, it is still a gamble on your part. Your life will end earlier, and your success will be up to your own merit. The techniques may even retain flaws. We haven¡¯t had many tests, after all.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Jyotsana asked. ¡°Is it too dangerous to cultivate the technique?¡± Prospero shook his head. ¡°Most people just haven¡¯t died yet.¡± He didn¡¯t explain that they were techniques taken from both the upper and lower realms stitched together. The various pieces had been studied and verified as much as possible. Some by actual phoenixes- though those techniques were the riskiest ones for humans. ¡°I¡¯ll need time to think about it,¡± Jyotsana lied. She didn¡¯t want to appear too eager. But she also wasn¡¯t going to try to stretch the limits of the offer. She had to get one of those techniques. Even if it meant spending her whole life in service, did it really matter? Her elation at reaching Integration with the resources in the secret realm had only been overshadowed by her despair at realizing she was already past her natural limits and could do little more but wait for her decline. ----- Durff looked at the man sent to train him. He had a bald head and powerful body. ¡°You don¡¯t use hammers,¡± Durff declared. Before he knew it, the man¡¯s forehead was interacting with his face. Then he was tumbling across the floor. Oh, he hadn¡¯t realized they¡¯d started training. ¡°I could,¡± said the man. Sly, maybe? ¡°But someone else might be better to teach you weapons. For now, we¡¯re just going to work on how to fight.¡± ¡°I know how to fight,¡± Durff said. ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Sly raised an eyebrow. ¡°Prove it.¡± Durff wanted to think he got smeared all over the floor so easily because his opponent was at the peak of Integration, but it was pretty clear that wasn¡¯t true. Sly never used more energy than him. Even so, he still managed to completely lock Durff down over and over. Sometimes he thought he got in a good swing, and then Sly just took the hit. At some point, Durff was having trouble picking himself up off the floor. But he still did it. He might not technically be learning anything about hammers at the moment, but he was learning. He didn¡¯t know when he¡¯d get another opportunity to do the same. So he stood, again and again until his body shut down. It was weird, allowing himself to get to that point. But it was also freeing, to know that he was around people who would keep him safe while he was out. Chapter 1000 In the private quarters of Timothy and Catarina, they were having a heated discussion. They didn¡¯t necessarily have any disagreements, it was simply that the topic was filled with emotion for both. ¡°What if the same thing as last time happens?¡± Timothy asked. Catarina thought for a few moments, taking the question seriously. ¡°Then we¡¯ll be ready to handle it. This time we have more experience and won¡¯t have to rely on luck. Besides, we can¡¯t really say things ended poorly, did they?¡± Timothy sighed. ¡°No. But they easily could have.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not impor- not critical to the Alliance, whatever we do,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We can just let someone else take the opportunity, if we decide against it.¡± ¡°How long do we have?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°A few months, at most. Though I¡¯d prefer to decide earlier, just in case.¡± Timothy nodded slowly. ¡°We¡¯ll keep talking about it. I think¡­ we probably should. And the timing isn¡¯t bad. A century or two from now and I would be concerned.¡± ¡°Should we ask anyone else?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°We know what most of them will say. It¡¯s our decision. But we also know what they would actually want. Which is mostly whatever we want, but still. People have thoughts.¡± They would come to an agreement, soon enough. They always did. Especially when they made it clear neither of them had to pick a side, and they really just wanted to do whatever was best. Usually, their choices worked out. ----- With the lower realms being stable, Anton was granted an opportunity to travel to new locations¡­ but he wasn¡¯t exploring new territory. Chances were, they would end up in another conflict. Of course, it wasn¡¯t quite that bad. A majority of their contacts had been peaceable and positive. But the few bad ones had left quite a few scars. Rather than going further afield, Anton was simply visiting the Shining Cooperative. They had been wary of someone of his strength previously, but now that they were developing more strong cultivators of their own he didn¡¯t seem so far off. In most of their systems, he had the strength of merely a powerful Assimilation cultivator, instead of Enrichment. Either way, the Shining Cooperative¡¯s citizens had plenty of time to grow used to the idea of his existence, and plenty of evidence of his good intentions. There still remained no plans to join together the Lower Realms Alliance and the Shining Cooperative. They were good neighbors, but they had enough differences that trying to integrate their cultures would be problematic. And unnecessary. Travel between them wasn¡¯t completely unrestricted, but it was common enough even for those who weren¡¯t involved in trade. Adding individual planets or systems to the Lower Realms Alliance was much simpler, as the focused attention could minimize any friction. Even the Sylanis Cluster was nicely integrating, though that had been a very slow process to even officially begin. They were only a few systems, but they had been at peace for most of their shared history. The Shining Cooperative had never been on the other side of a conflict, but they had dozens of systems and many worlds. Neither group would be satisfied with the changes required to exactly fit into one thing, nor would they be happy with the others leading. So, peace. And a less binding alliance, mostly in case something happened on the eastern border. Though Anton was interested in joining forces for trouble they knew was coming. The next cycle was, if not just around the corner, approaching rapidly enough to be a concern. A bit more or less than two centuries was when the Tides of the World would shift, allowing the upper realms to enter the lower realms without as many issues as they would normally encounter. The Trigold Cluster was of chief concern to the Shining Cooperative, and the Alliance had plenty of historical conflict with them. Any cooperation in taking them out would be optimal, if they could accomplish it. Anton of course had to check on his disciples on Mazlerth. There were frequent messages, but some things simply didn¡¯t come across as well unless witnessed in person. The popularity of the One Hundred Stars had been swelling, which wasn¡¯t terribly surprising given that they had Assimilation cultivators now. Both Izaak and his sister Marianna had reached Assimilation in less than two hundred years. That was faster than many cultivators aiming for Ascension or Assimilation, but certainly not on the top end. Then again, they had a significant disadvantage during their early training. Mazlerth simply hadn¡¯t had enough natural energy to support what they needed, nor other cultivators of significant level. Only now did Anton find the planet¡¯s energy levels acceptable, but reaching that from a low population after just a couple centuries of development was actually quite pleasing. There was no hope of any of them to reach Enrichment, but that was an unrealistic standard to set upon anyone. Anton, Lev, and Devon all knew that it wasn¡¯t something anyone could be expected to achieve regardless of support and resources. Assimilation wasn¡¯t a guarantee either, but it was at least a hundred times more achievable. Actual statistics weren¡¯t exactly clear yet, with just the three of them. There were many with potential, but until they either succeeded or failed nobody could say for certain how to count them. He didn¡¯t spend overly long with Izaak and the sect on Mazlerth. Not that he popped in for just a few days- but he only stayed a few months. Relatively short, in the grand scheme of things. They were doing well enough, and he wasn¡¯t needed to handle any issues. Better to let them do it themselves, if they could. Nothing outrageous, as the leadership had plenty of support, but sometimes even with all their efforts a few bad eggs slipped through. There could also be conflict with others competing for resources, though the Shining Cooperative had embraced the general strictures about building up planets¡¯ natural energy. Elsewhere in the Shining Cooperative, Anton confirmed various snippets of history others had already learned. They weren¡¯t exactly hiding anything, but there were a few reasons they didn¡¯t exactly mesh. The Shining Cooperative had been rather aggressive in their expansion. While Anton truly believed they had good intentions, seeking to wipe out the Twin Soul Sect and other influence of the upper realms, they hadn¡¯t exactly given the remaining citizens of various planets any choice about joining. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. There was still some bitterness about that, though for the most part those cultivators that were hundreds of years old had grown to accept the situation. Nor was there much of anything to stage a rebellion against. Being part of the Shining Cooperative was better for them. Anton wouldn¡¯t have chosen to do things that way, of course, but what was done was done. Forcibly separating people now would already be impossible. He couldn¡¯t say he didn¡¯t understand, but he was disappointed. Yet with that disappointment came hope, as he hoped they might learn from the example of the Lower Realms Alliance. Not that there seemed to be anywhere else for them to incorporate, as most of the region around them had been surveyed. Perhaps there were some systems at the extreme edges, or tucked in between the Lower Realms Alliance and the Shining Cooperative, but there wasn¡¯t much else. They still had plenty of room to expand, of course. They could easily ten times as many systems before the borders would be strained. Many centuries, and it would only be relevant if both groups survived the next cycle. Which¡­ was an unknown. It was easy to anticipate a serious assault from the upper realms, and though it was two centuries away their agents in the upper realms had already spotted some signs. ----- Despite the wildest plans of Catarina, not all of the Scarlet Alliance flowed through Xankeshan. Not yet, at least. Even so, it had become the most populated planet given its central location. Its size then attracted more growth, and so on. It was far from becoming crowded, with the luxuries afforded by the seemingly limitless formations on the planet, but it was quite filled out compared to the deathtrap it had once been. Because of its importance, many people passed through. And so if there was to be a chance meeting between any two individuals, Xankeshan was the most likely place. Chikere had been passing through to check up on her disciple and her friends. She didn¡¯t usually stay long, because she found her best enlightenment came in true battle. There weren¡¯t many things that challenged her, but she tried to seek out interesting opportunities. Sometimes, she limited herself. She was very sensitive to a certain sort of gaze. Not casual glances, or even rude staring. No, it only came when there was a certain sort of intensity. An intensity as the large man staring at her held. He was not the largest brute she¡¯d ever seen, but he certainly radiated the right sort of aura. Wondering if he intended to fight- despite his weak cultivation- Chikere approached him. There was nothing she liked more than a direct blade to the throat. Though sometimes, she limited herself to doing so with words. ¡°What are you doing, huh? Wanna fight?¡± The man stared. ¡°I feel like¡­ you¡¯re supposed to have a sword?¡± He tilted his head. ¡°I thought you were supposed to have a sword.¡± ¡°I do,¡± Chikere said. ¡°If you can¡¯t feel it, that¡¯s a lapse in your training.¡± ¡°Hmm. I¡¯m not really a sword guy.¡± At some point in her past, she might have killed someone for saying that. On Xankeshan, she wouldn¡¯t. Or anywhere in the Alliance, if people weren¡¯t actually causing trouble. Besides, she had come to realize it was fine for people to be wrong. ¡°What kind of guy are you, then?¡± Chikere looked him up and down. ¡°Hammer,¡± he said, pointing to his hip. ¡°Hmm. I would have maybe said you were a mountain guy. Or a forehead guy.¡± The man rubbed his forehead. ¡°No. I was just training with someone, that¡¯s all.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you,¡± Chikere said. The man frowned. ¡°I can ask him to tell you? Though I don¡¯t think it¡¯s important.¡± Chikere waved her hand. ¡°Not that you were training. I just don¡¯t believe you¡¯re a hammer guy. You don¡¯t feel like one.¡± Chikere leaned close. He looked horrified. ¡°If you really were, I should be able to feel it. Like you felt I should have a sword.¡± ¡°So like¡­ by remembering a statue?¡± the man tilted his head. Chikere raised an eyebrow. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Oh, I just remembered why I felt like you should have a sword. I saw that statue,¡± he gestured, but there was nothing in eyesight. Chikere assumed he was referring to the grand hall. Now that he mentioned, there was a statue of her there, wasn¡¯t there? Maybe she should make them update it. Then again, they could hardly make one of her blood swords, so it was probably fine as is. ¡°... Did you not feel my sword aura?¡± Chikere said, disappointed. The man shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not really good at sharp stuff. It always breaks.¡± ¡°Right?¡± Chikere said. ¡°But that¡¯s part of the challenge. Besides, I could break your hammer.¡± The man shifted, placing the hip where his hammer was attached behind him. ¡°Don¡¯t do that. I like this hammer.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that great,¡± Chikere said. ¡°I know I¡¯m not a master of hammers, but I¡¯ve seen better.¡± He looked down sadly. ¡°It¡¯s the best one I¡¯ve ever had.¡± Chikere crossed her arms over her chest. ¡°Well, no wonder. You need to take that and beat down a bunch of other hammer users and take a better one from one of them.¡± ¡°I, uh. Isn¡¯t that rude?¡± ¡°Someone outside the alliance, obviously,¡± Chikere said. ¡°You could even take several hammers. I don¡¯t know how you fight, but the point is to grasp better ones with your own hands.¡± ¡°Well, yeah. I can¡¯t hold them well with my feet.¡± He pulled out his hammer, swapping it from hand to hand. ¡°I could probably only hold two.¡± ¡°Have you?¡± Chikere asked. ¡°Not seriously,¡± the man admitted. ¡°You should try it. Just so you know what kind of hammer guy you¡¯re trying to become.¡± With that, she turned around. ¡°Anyway, if you don¡¯t mind your hammer being made out of melted down swords, I¡¯ll probably have some scrap soon. You can send a message to me.¡± ¡°How?¡± the man asked. ¡°I don¡¯t even know your name.¡± ¡°... Didn¡¯t you see my statue?¡± He tilted his head. ¡°Was your name on it? Sorry, I missed it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Chikere,¡± she said, looking back over her shoulder. ¡°What about you?¡± ¡°Durff,¡± he said. ¡°You know, someone mentioned you. I think.¡± ¡°Lots of people do,¡± Chikere shrugged. She wondered if sword materials were different from hammer materials. Probably. But they had to share some things, so a good smith could pick something out. She didn¡¯t know why she made the offer. It was probably better for him to get his own material anyway, but for some reason she thought he deserved to have a nice hammer. If nothing else, he was straightforward enough. Chapter 1001 Any time someone told Chidi he couldn¡¯t cut something, he liked to prove them wrong. That hadn¡¯t actually been Aconite¡¯s point with an offhand comment she made, instead being more to herself. She was speaking about how certain compounds got stuck together, which was either exactly what she wanted her poisons to do or completely ruined them depending on the context and particular poison in question. Now she had spent a month watching him cut apart dust. Well, the majority of the time was spent on her own studies and meditations, but whenever she looked over to her friend he was effectively swinging his sword at empty space. She couldn¡¯t tell if it was better or worse that he wasn¡¯t using a lick of upper energy in his motions. If she pretended he was practicing his sword forms it made sense, except that he never really repeated any motion. She wasn¡¯t even sure he was locked onto any target in particular, his blade never slicing through the same area for long. It was distracting in a way his training usually wasn¡¯t. She¡¯d long gotten used to Chidi¡¯s energy around her, and more recently she¡¯d gotten used to energy suddenly going away. Or at least, that was always what it felt like. Apparently, it was all still there- Chidi just somehow managed to make an entire area balance. Even inside other cultivators, which was the truly astounding part. Then again, she shouldn¡¯t have expected anything less profound from an alternate path to Augmentation. Being incomprehensible was almost a given. Aconite wasn¡¯t looking for anything like that. She thought she would be most effective in Augmentation, simply empowering herself and her poisons. In truth, most of her poisons were already strong enough, it was delivering them to her enemies that was the issue. It was either simple, if they were careless enough to let an unknown gap slip past their defenses and breathe it in, or nearly impossible if they were vigilant of all outside intrusion. Breaking down an opponent¡¯s defenses only to poison them was simply a waste of combat potential. If you got through enemy defenses, it was better to just kill them. Of course, that wasn¡¯t always feasible. Cultivators didn¡¯t always have just one layer of defenses, even if they weren¡¯t persistent. Someone about to be stabbed through the chest might focus all their energy internally, leaving them with broken bones and rent flesh but not a punctured heart or the like. That was where Aconite¡¯s claws came in, carrying with them poisons. Subtle poisons, where just traces of them were left behind for when those internal defenses dropped, pumped through the bloodstream. ¡°I need more dregs,¡± Chidi declared. ¡°Seriously?¡± Aconite asked. ¡°You have a whole barrel full.¡± She looked over. ¡°Did it all get mixed in with the dirt?¡± She was obviously going to provide what he asked for. If he wanted a whole pouch of her best poison for something, she¡¯d give it to him. If he wanted two? Well, he¡¯d need a pretty darn good reason for that. And she was pretty sure he wouldn¡¯t bother poisoning a whole lake or inland sea. Sne sniffed the remnants of what Chidi had been experimenting with. She couldn¡¯t really call it anything else, because he was serious. It wasn¡¯t playing around¡­ but it sure didn¡¯t look like much of anything. It smelled like something was missing. She couldn¡¯t quite place why. How odd. How very odd indeed. ----- Trying to cut something too miniscule to be seen would have been a bigger problem if Chidi could see. It wasn¡¯t exactly simpler without sight, but he didn¡¯t weigh himself down with figuring out how close he was to doing what he wished. He either was successful in his cuts, or he was not. ¡®Close¡¯ meant nothing. He really couldn¡¯t comprehend structures smaller than a certain size. There were also huge issues with air particles slamming into whatever he was trying to cut at first. But if he let himself get bogged down in the details, he¡¯d never get anywhere. If his master had been around to ask for advice, he could guess it would have been along the lines of ¡®just cut it¡¯. So he did that. It really wasn¡¯t an issue anymore. He could cut what he wanted. Any one thing, at least. Maybe two, or ten, or a hundred or thousand things along a path. All of those numbers were practically the same compared to what he was actually dealing with. Same with a million or a billion. That¡¯s what happened when you wanted to cut individual particles. Technically, he¡¯d succeeded. He could cut them- and he wasn¡¯t just destroying molecules, but actually separating them. It was¡­ pointless. Unless he was getting attacked by a single molecule, it was much easier to just cut a person in half. Or a planet. Even if he cut a billion of a particularly important compound inside of an enemy¡­ he could at most slightly inconvenience a small fraction of their cells. It was pointless. His precision would be thrown off by enemy cultivators without even doing it on purpose. But¡­ it certainly increased his awareness of the vastness of things. There was a flow to follow. Besides, now that it had his attention he felt obligated to follow it through. He needed new handfuls of the dregs from one of Aconites projects because he couldn¡¯t test his results without fresh powder. He had to clean up the area around him as well, enough to determine the proper proportion of what he cut. He tossed a handful of powder. He swung, three times. Some swirled away on the wind- currently non-toxic. And some very small portion of it should have returned to a dangerous state. Based on Chidi¡¯s very inconclusive determination, less than one part in a million. Not of the general atmosphere, but the particular substance he was working with. So, nothing. Even if it were Aconite¡¯s most potent poisons. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. He did it again, and again, and again. He obviously couldn¡¯t hit everything in a cloud with his sword. He couldn¡¯t channel his energy into so many individual blades and angles. But he could cut things without a sword. He just had to want it to happen and¡­ well, any amount of energy would completely resist him. Pointless. Chikere once cut something with a look, if he recalled correctly, but that still involved an infusion of energy. But sword intent mattered as well. It was what he used to cut through things during Negation, and a large part of what made Chikere better than other swordmasters who would have otherwise been her match in technique and even energy. If you just cut more, it was enough. But if he thought about it too much, he¡¯d just think himself in circles. So he stopped thinking and cut. He didn¡¯t have anything in mind for what threshold would be a ¡®success¡¯. He¡¯d just know when it was, and be done. ----- Aconite watched Chidi toss a handful of powder in the air and cut it. She wasn¡¯t really surprised when nothing seemed to change. The powder didn¡¯t even swirl around the trail of his blade. Since he could cut apart wind, it wasn¡¯t odd he could choose to not cut apart the air. The sort of thing that only made sense when going beyond the normal laws of the universe, but Aconite got it. However, Aconite was very sensitive to particular things. Chidi could detect swords without his energy actually interacting with one, and so it wasn¡¯t odd for her to be able to pick out poisons before she even sniffed them or felt their aura. As for what a ¡®poison¡¯ was, that was something based on her own internal understanding. Just like the limits between swords, polearms, axes, and other weapons often blurred. Aconite knew what one was, and could confirm or deny any substance was a poison, and even determine something of its potency without interacting further. So it was wild for a handful of powder to go from not having any poison in it to, well, having some. It would have been one thing if it was undergoing a chemical reaction in a lab- or really anything but having a sword swung at it. Aconite watched. The sword slashed. She blinked. Oh. That was a good idea. Cultivators had a lot of instincts about poisons and protecting themselves. But if something wasn¡¯t poison¡­ would it even register in their thoughts? Obviously she couldn¡¯t just throw a random powder at someone and expect them to breathe it in. Nobody she cared about fighting would be so stupid as to assume she had no purpose in that. But if it were hidden¡­ and then became poisonous later? Actually, that fit in with a traditional poisoning technique. Two substances on their own might be completely harmless, but when mixed together¡­? They became deadly. Yet Aconite had found cultivators often sensed that. But would they sense one substance that had the potential to be one or maybe even two deadly toxins if split? If only she could accomplish that somehow. And no, she wasn¡¯t going to ask Chidi to cut things for her. Because he could just kill the enemy at that point. But¡­ she might gain some sort of insight. A sword slashed. Chidi smiled. And Aconite forgot all about everything around her as she swirled energy within her, locking memories in her brain. Alone, it wouldn¡¯t be enough for Augmentation, but she had many other insights already. She subconsciously moved forward towards her waste barrel. What she did would have been incredibly foolish if she hadn¡¯t immunized herself against everything she used- even those things that were normally impossible to develop a resistance to. She buried her head in the powder and transformed it. It came naturally to her. A rush of energy filled her. Then she spent the next several minutes catching the now extremely potent toxins before they swirled away on the wind and devastated the local ecosystem. Chidi helped too, of course, slicing the winds that were most problematic. ----- Despite their prominence in the Scarlet Alliance, neither Timothy nor Catarina were frequently in the public eye. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean people weren¡¯t paying attention to their activities. For security reasons they attempted to keep the movements of most people private, though the Scarlet Alliance rarely managed anything more than preventing such news from being precise and current. Too many people were interested to entirely obfuscate most things, and they merely did their best to keep enemy spies from having information more recent than a few weeks. Many cultivators would feel that such information was quite timely, but the Scarlet Alliance tended to work on shorter timescales than that. If they truly needed to, they could slip away on a private vessel, avoiding populated areas. But the thing they were trying to keep secret wasn¡¯t something that affected national security interests. Nor was it entirely secret. They just avoided making any sort of announcement. They chose their timing based specifically around Chidi departing on a training expedition. But he returned somewhat earlier than expected- and came straight to see them. Obviously they weren¡¯t going to refuse him entry. ¡°Aconite broke through to Augmentation!¡± he said excitedly. Obviously the two of them had already felt that from the wolf standing alongside him. ¡°Congratulations,¡± Timothy said, nodding. ¡°It¡¯s difficult, especially as you haven¡¯t had a proper master, and very few of merit along a similar path.¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°It¡¯s really something. Nobody could have expected much faster.¡± Aconite sniffed. Chidi tilted his head. It wasn¡¯t possible for Catarina to hide anything without making it obvious she was hiding something. So she¡¯d gone for the most subtle approach she could. Chidi looked like he was trying to say something. Catarina could imagine that if her son had eyes, they would be locked on her lower torso. ¡°I- was that what it was for?¡± Chidi was flabbergasted. Surprised, certainly, but not upset. ¡°You could have just¡­ wow.¡± The two parents smiled. Chapter 1002 Preparing for a child might have seemed like it should be trivially easy for cultivators who had done it before, and indeed anything they needed was easily acquired. The real issue Timothy and Catarina faced was not overdoing¡­ everything. It would be so easy for them to plan out the first twenty years or even century of their child¡¯s life. Plans that would ultimately be pointless because they wanted their child to have freedom of choice. As quickly as the first six months had gone, the final three went faster. Chidi barely managed to come to grips that he would actually be getting a younger sibling, and then there he was. The process of birth was not difficult for a cultivator of any decent training, as controlling energy within their own body was as easy as it came. Not that anything would have been an issue even without energy at all, given the facilities the Scarlet Alliance had available. When the time came, Catarina and Timothy carefully guided their son into the world. It happened so quickly that some of those who were rushing over for the birth didn¡¯t even make it- and these were cultivators who could travel around a planet in a very short time indeed. Those who arrived a bit later did get to see the shining face of the new baby, Yuval. Chidi¡¯s name had come from Chikere who gave up her opportunity to regrow her arm for the sake of a child. It would have been kind of awkward to then name their second son after the pair of them, so Yuval was named independently. It was simply a name the two parents found pleasant. Chidi could feel his little brother, and he didn¡¯t know how to react. He¡¯d seen children before, obviously. He¡¯d interacted with more wolf pups than human babies, but it wasn¡¯t like such things were a mystery to him. But there was something about his own little brother that was different. He felt his little brother, finding him healthy and as happy as babies ever tended to be. And unlike himself, Yuval was whole. The chances of him also missing eyes was marginal, but having some other issue was entirely possible. Chidi knew people had been nervous about that. He had too, though mostly he had been thinking of how to prepare. All the various potential accommodations went out the window when everything was fine, though. Little Yuval was introduced to many people. Humans, obviously, as well as Echoing Cry and Half Oink. At first Catarina and Timothy had been hesitant to allow too many people around, just because it could be overwhelming. However, they found Yuval seemed to like meeting new people with different cultivations. The exact details were unclear, but he could definitely feel their energy, and wasn¡¯t intimidated like one would naturally expect. Then again, before he was born he had literally constantly been exposed to his mother¡¯s energy as an Augmentation cultivator. He seemed to like fire cultivators most, like members of the One Hundred Stars, Hoyt, and Fuzz. He even briefly interacted with Jyotsana, though the old woman appeared to be even less knowledgeable about what to do with a child than Chidi. ----- ¡°... So when can we introduce him to swords?¡± Chidi asked. Timothy shook his head. ¡°When he¡¯s old enough to be responsible about it. He needs understanding and¡­ muscle control. Though we don¡¯t want to bias his choice of weapon. Or perhaps he won¡¯t even want to fight at all.¡± ¡°Yeah, I guess,¡± Chidi shrugged. He didn¡¯t get that feeling though. Then again maybe it was just Chidi that was the type to stick his hand in a wolf¡¯s mouth at an early age. Not that he knew it was dangerous. Or theoretically dangerous, since Spikes wouldn¡¯t hurt anyone she didn¡¯t have reason to. Technically being around her, even next to very sharp fangs, was safer than many other places. ----- Seeing his little brother begin ¡®standard¡¯ education, Chidi realized how many differences he¡¯d had. He¡¯d been taught, of course, but reading and writing wasn¡¯t really on the list for obvious reasons. At his current level he could read and write, but only because he could sense the ink in pages with his energy. That was actually better than a lot of display screens, though those could read things to him. Early years passed quickly, and while Yuval didn¡¯t start cultivation or weapons training he did get to handle weapons when supervised during his early life. He thought weapons were ¡®cool¡¯, but didn¡¯t seem to favor anything in particular. Even when Chidi demonstrated what he could do, there wasn¡¯t any particular affinity in his younger brother for the sword. Disappointing, but there was nothing he could do about it. There wasn¡¯t any point forcing it, because if he didn¡¯t naturally like the sword then he wouldn¡¯t get the same sort of results as Chidi did. He wanted his younger brother to be happy, not just for him to be like Chidi. Though¡­ maybe he did want a little of that. Just like their parents probably wanted Yuval to grow up to be a defender or formation master. ----- Yuval was smart, soaking up information rapidly. Chidi wasn¡¯t sure what rate normal kids learned at, but he assumed this was faster because it made him feel better. Chidi didn¡¯t actually interact with his younger brother at school and such, though he was intentionally remaining around home more to spend time with him. Most of his training was fine to do on Xankeshan, and Aconite was spending time in isolation to break through to Augmentation. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Yuval was never unsupervised, but like Chidi he rapidly learned to sense energy watching him. Which meant unless someone was actually in the room with him, it was better to watch everything around him just to make him act more natural. Probably. It worked for Chidi, and Catarina agreed it made sense. The slight difference in how Chidi was paying attention resulted in him being very surprised when there was suddenly a fire in Yuval¡¯s room. It took him exactly one second to dash down the hall and through the door. He snatched up Yuval, and only then did he realize that the fire was caused by energy. He slashed the flames as he negated the surrounding energy, a simple task. The fire suppression systems didn¡¯t even activate. ¡°Aww, it¡¯s gone,¡± Yuval said. His little brother was poking his head out from under Chidi¡¯s arm. ¡°Did you see? I made fire!¡± Ah. So that was what happened. And with energy, no less? The kid was barely six years old. It wasn¡¯t impossible, of course, but it was a concern. Chidi sat his brother down, while he used one hand to send a message to his parents. ¡°You sure did, Yuval. But that¡¯s dangerous to do if you can¡¯t properly control it, okay?¡± He held up a book that Yuval had scorched. ¡°Look, you burned one of your books. That could have easily spread, and you could have gotten hurt.¡± With the fire suppression system he probably wouldn¡¯t have, but still. It was dangerous. Yuval, who had not at all been concerned about the fire or being randomly yanked away, looked up at Chidi with tears beading in his eyes. ¡°Did I do something bad? Are you mad at me?¡± Chidi pat him on the head. ¡°We don¡¯t want anyone to be hurt, okay? So you can¡¯t do things like that without someone watching you to keep you safe.¡± ¡°But you were here. So it¡¯s fine, right?¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°Using energy like that is more dangerous than other things, so we need to know that specifically, okay? And it probably has to happen in the right place.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Yuval agreed. He was a good kid. Yelling at him wouldn¡¯t have helped. Chidi explained everything to Catarina and Timothy when they arrived- just a few minutes later, dropping whatever they had been doing. Since Chidi wasn¡¯t the actual parent, they went over things with Yuval properly. If he wanted to use energy, he had to do it in designated places. ¡°Of course,¡± Catarina said to the other two, off to the side, ¡°We should probably think about updating our formations. I don¡¯t know if we should prevent his energy flow or not¡­¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°He needs to learn to listen in that regard. And it would be confusing if sometimes it didn¡¯t work, without knowing why.¡± ----- Rather than trying to have Yuval develop his power, control was the most important thing. While there was enough information about body tempering to know that it was possible to do without harming a developing body, it was better to not risk it. And while Yuval was eager to use power when he could, introducing him to lower energy was quite a boon. It made things harder for him, but rather than making him give up it just meant he had to use more effort to get a little bit of power. Chidi had gone through a similar training regiment, though not quite so young and not from the very beginning. While Yuval had certainly made a mistake, he wasn¡¯t a reckless child. He saw all around him many adults who were like fire and safe, so he hadn¡¯t really thought it was something dangerous. Now he knew better, and they taught him very carefully. There had been plans to introduce him to cultivation at the age of ten or so, but him figuring out even the very basics before then was still quite a surprise. Not an impossibility, but still rare. After his early start, he began to grow smoothly as the years passed. Ultimately, there was no question he was interested in cultivation. Not just for personal advancement, but with the ultimate idea of engaging in combat eventually. With everyone around him, it only seemed natural after all. ----- Jyotsana returned to Prospero Vandale. ¡°I think I¡¯m ready.¡± ¡°The formation has been prepared,¡± Prospero said. ¡°So as long as you are certain¡­¡± ¡°Certain? Hah!¡± She shook her head. ¡°Not at all. But I know myself well enough. I could linger on for a time, trying to get stronger¡­ but at this rate, I¡¯ll only wither away. This is my best opportunity. If I screw it up¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°Guess that¡¯s it for me.¡± Prospero nodded. Of course, unless she completely screwed up, the formations would keep her soul local. So she would be well taken care of, regardless of what portion of her memories she kept. Reminding her of that seemed unnecessary at the moment. He watched, as she entered the chamber set aside for her. He wondered what it would feel like, as he watched. It didn¡¯t seem painful, but perhaps that was because she felt some sort of peace as the flames picked up and her body faded away. A technique like that might have saved him large amounts of trouble. Or¡­ he might have shone too brightly in a realm that wouldn¡¯t have been ready to accept him. He didn¡¯t actually have any regrets about how things turned out. He was lacking many memories from the lower realms, but he¡¯d made more here in the upper realms. His strength was more than he would have ever imagined possible when he first began cultivating. Though Prospero had not trained the technique himself, he could tell Jyotsana had been at least somewhat successful. He might have wished her good luck in her next life, but she didn¡¯t really need it. ----- Crossed Antennae twitched. She wasn¡¯t anticipating any messages. When she looked at it, she was surprised. It was too early, wasn¡¯t it? No, perhaps not. While the first colony had been established on the border fifty or so years before the invasion, that had been during the short cycle. Here, something like two hundred years wasn¡¯t that surprising. It did suddenly cut off many of her plans. She couldn¡¯t keep hopping back and forth between planets. Though she did have plans to travel secretly, under her own power. She needed to make sure the colonies were alright. She also needed to keep everyone apprised of what was going on, so they could complete their ultimate duty when the time was right. If they began taking out invaders too soon, they¡¯d waste a fantastic opportunity. They just had to go another century or so longer than expected without being caught. Everything would be fine. She told herself that over and over, and eventually she decided to believe it. At least for a little while. Chapter 1003 Every time she¡¯d thought about it since coming to this place, Juli had the exact same thoughts about the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s information network. And she wasn¡¯t talking spies, but the stuff that was available to everyone. ¡°I can¡¯t believe how much stuff they just let people see,¡± Juli commented to her brother for perhaps the thousandth time. ¡°These techniques are just¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°And how will they maintain any sort of power if the planet development methods are security level 0?¡± ¡°Ah, but the thing about that is¡­ that¡¯s what got them here,¡± Misi shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s what earned the loyalty of all of their citizens. Can you imagine anywhere in the Trigold Cluster making use of that stuff? Sharing resources across a whole planet?¡± ¡°Well, the sects and stuff, yeah,¡± Juli said. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s literally everyone. Seriously,¡± Misi said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t work if you don¡¯t let your menial laborers train in energy. And if you try to restrict them from growing too strong, you limit the effectiveness. So, yeah it could work against them if the established sects were willing to implement a new power structure from the ground up. But unless literally all of them do it, it will create internal instability. It¡¯s just¡­ not going to happen.¡± ¡°I mean, not everyone is a powerful cultivator,¡± Juli pointed out. ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter how many Body Tempering or Spirit Building people are up against an Integration cultivator, I don¡¯t think they could possibly win.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I saw a janitor in Integration,¡± Misi said. ¡°What do you mean by that? That it¡¯s possible they weren¡¯t a janitor?¡± ¡°I mean I¡¯m not sure I saw them,¡± Misi shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s possible I hallucinated it. I was walking along and then bam. Something passed me in the hallway and it was clean. I literally couldn¡¯t react.¡± ¡°... But you¡¯re an Integration cultivator,¡± Juli said. ¡°You have to have been able to see them.¡± He shook his head. ¡°Early Integration, yeah. And¡­ they had no intent towards me, you know? Maybe if we were fighting it would be different. I could predict something there. But that level of power, even if focused away from martial abilities, is still significant.¡± ¡°Why would anyone even put so much effort into other pursuits?¡± Juli asked. ¡°I mean¡­ why did we learn to fight?¡± Misi countered. ¡°Because we had to.¡± ¡°And that hasn¡¯t changed,¡± his sister replied. ¡°Though¡­ I guess if we just wanted to continue existing¡­?¡± ¡°I¡¯m learning so much about formations,¡± Misi said. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know how I compare to the great formation masters here, but I¡¯m able to experiment without spending huge piles of treasure. And all I have to do for that learning privilege? Not cause trouble.¡± ¡°And fight in an inevitable war,¡± Juli pointed out. ¡°Well, yeah. But that¡¯s pretty normal. Besides, we can opt for non-frontlines roles. And¡­ isn¡¯t this something worth fighting for?¡± Juli looked at the device she held in her hands. ¡°I have so much knowledge at my fingertips I¡¯m honestly baffled. They don¡¯t even charge for it. Well, they kind of do indirectly.¡± Apparently those who provided information could get paid whenever it was accessed. The whole system was supported by taxes. Taxes that seemed strangely low sometimes, though perhaps that was the various layers of sects she was used to dealing with. ¡°There¡¯s definitely some information not freely available,¡± Misi admitted. ¡°But¡­ we could access pretty much any of it with some effort. It¡¯s never just¡­ completely denied.¡± Both of them agreed it was crazy. But also, it was working. In a way, the entire Scarlet Alliance was treated like one big sect that was trying to make its disciples grow¡­ and not just the ones at the top. The twins hungrily soaked up knowledge, almost worried that they would lose access. That they would find out everything was a joke somehow. Or maybe there was a catch, though unless it required giving up more than half of their souls they honestly couldn¡¯t think of a price that was too much. Juli noticed that one thing that required a higher security clearance were the blueprints for their ships. Not ships in general. Indeed there were some startling revelations about what this technology stuff could do just available to browse. If she had the parts and time she could make a ship. Just not the ones with the best military application. ----- At just a few years old, a young girl¡¯s memories began to pile up enough she actually stood out. Before that, she had simply seemed to learn how to walk and talk more quickly. She didn¡¯t entirely understand what was happening, just that she was alive again. And that she had apparently been a cultivator called Jyotsana. Sometimes she could dredge up things when she thought about specific memories. When she thought about her parents she got¡­ well, nothing resembling her current parents. They took care of her well, and it wasn¡¯t because they expected to get anything from her. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. She was afraid. Afraid of how they would react, when they found out their daughter had been replaced by someone else. Even more so because she might lose her connection to them, which only mattered because she was their daughter. It didn¡¯t really make any sense. Rather than share what was happening, Jyotsana kept things hidden. The more memories she revealed, the more she thought she might have previously been a bad person. Yet¡­ she also had fuzzy memories that someone had helped her, a group of people she could only think of as kind. And when she was being pessimistic, naive. Too trusting. Or maybe, since she wanted to be worthy of that trust, they weren¡¯t too trusting? It was confusing. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t remember enough to figure things out easily. She only knew that when she started cultivating, it felt weird. Both because she¡¯d definitely done it before, and because she knew it was too early. Except that apparently, it wasn¡¯t. Because there were special techniques to help her. It was obvious to even her parents that her mentality was more advanced than that of a normal child. That was why by the time she was ten years old, she was cultivating. Though that involved a lot more doing chores around the house than she remembered, she also couldn¡¯t dispel the notion that doing practical things while training her body was just good sense. Her parents thought she was a genius when she Spirit Building within a year, but she knew better. Anyone looked like a genius if they¡¯d done it before. Even if she was using a different method, since she had only partial memories of her previous one- and the publicly available options seemed superior anyway. Jyotsana, because that was the name she most identified with despite her current official name, didn¡¯t know how much she remembered. Only that there was a lot missing still. She worried she wouldn¡¯t dredge up the rest¡­ but part of her reminder herself that she was lucky to be alive. The one thing that kept bothering her was she couldn¡¯t remember the people who¡¯d helped her very well. If she¡¯d met them she would know, but it was nobody in her city or anywhere she¡¯d been on vacation. Or at least nobody who had come within the range of her energy senses. Then she found one of them. No, that wasn¡¯t right. It was a young woman barely older than her, a disciple of the One Hundred Stars. But she had the same aura. Actually, Jyotsana had almost picked that technique, as she was drawn towards fire styles. Now she was tempted to change. It wouldn¡¯t be so difficult. First, she needed to determine if she could figure out who had helped her. While she didn¡¯t expect anything, she browsed for information about the sect as a whole. Oddly, they didn¡¯t seem to have a sect head. Just a council of elders. Then again, that was just Jyotsana¡¯s old thoughts confusing her. There were plenty of sects that didn¡¯t have just one person at the top. Then she looked at the council of elders. One being familiar would be a coincidence. Two of them? Some sort of distorted inner desire. When she recognized a full four of them clearly, and maybe some others, it was something else. She remembered one of them more strongly. There had been something¡­ near the end. Prospero was important somehow. Maybe she could get in contact. When she sent a message to the sect, she expected to get an automatic rejection. Or no response at all. Her message hadn¡¯t even been a good one, idly sent. ¡°I think I know one of your elders¡± wasn¡¯t exactly her best work, but she¡¯d kind of been in a daze as new memories came to the surface. So when Prospero himself showed up on her planet two weeks later, Jyotsana was surprised. ----- ¡°So it is you,¡± Prospero nodded. ¡°Good.¡± ¡°Why¡­?¡± Jyotsana had many questions. ¡°Why did I end up¡­ with my new parents?¡± She didn¡¯t know a better way to say that. ¡°I thought I would¡­ have parents chosen for me.¡± Strangely, part of her felt like she wouldn¡¯t have wanted that, even though she seemed to be part of a perfectly average household and not related to anyone important. ¡°That¡¯s not possible,¡± Prospero said. ¡°Or rather¡­ it¡¯s not something we would do. We don¡¯t have the expertise to do anything but confine a reincarnating soul to our greater domain. Even if we could, we wouldn¡¯t have replaced an ensouled child.¡± ¡°Ah, that¡¯s¡­¡± Jyotsana was still lacking many memories. Her strongest ones were still from her current body, so she still felt like a young woman. ¡°Good. I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t.¡± She really was. Some part of her very distantly screamed that she¡¯d lost years due to some sort of inefficiency. But, had she? More importantly, did years matter? ¡°I¡¯m glad to see your memories aren¡¯t overwhelming you too much,¡± Prospero said. ¡°I don¡¯t know, they seem kind of overwhelming to me?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not rolling around on the floor in agony, so I¡¯d say it¡¯s good. Regardless¡­ I merely came here to confirm your status.¡± He held out a storage bag. Her storage bag. ¡°Here are your things. As promised, you will have support in cultivating. Though I think pretty much any sect would happily pick you up.¡± ¡°Do I¡­ have to decide now?¡± He shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll give you my personal message code. Stay in touch. Oh, and promote the things about yourself you like most. You won¡¯t ever regret that, as long as you give it a good ponder before picking out what seems best.¡± ----- News from the upper realms- ultimately coming from Crossed Antennae and the void ants- indicated steadily growing forces at the borders. While the fact that they were beginning to build up already indicated that the invasion might indeed be as significant as they feared, it was also helpful. They could begin determining where the largest invasions might occur, based on their growing understanding of potential pathways during the shift in the Tides of the World. So while there was much trepidation, there was also something of a morbid anticipation. They were ready, if it happened now. But they could be more prepared. Their forces, better proportioned between necessary locations. Ready to optimally fend off each and every invasion force depending on which planet they attacked. Actually, they might be able to manage that without the void ants rising up and attacking enemy forces. But most of them recognized such thoughts as a bit arrogant. It would be foolish to give up any advantages against the might of the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster. Still, that left a balance to strike. What forces could the void ants destroy without getting themselves annihilated? In some ways, it would be preferable if the invasions were called off- but in others, it was better to maximize the losses the upper realms took during the invasion, the resources remaining in the lower realms. If the damage was heavy enough, they could cripple them to make future attempts impossible. They also had to consider what the impact would be for the Scarlet Alliance. It was unlikely that their connection was completely secret, and even if it was now by some miracle, remaining that way would be difficult. Would causing too much destruction result in greater retaliation, or begrudging acceptance of their presence? That was not an easy question to answers. Fortunately, they had considered such matters before and still had a couple centuries. Yet the years continued to slip past, day after day. Chapter 1004 Durff was heavy, and that was a problem because his hammer was supposed to be heavy. Heavy hammers hit people hard, that was the simple and basic understanding of how they worked. Oh, sure, the Scarlet Alliance had a lot of fancy words for that. They talked about velocity and momentum and weird sorts of energy that he didn¡¯t know about. It didn¡¯t matter, because he was part of the upper realms and thus used upper energy to do stuff. Simple. He got to see all sorts of scrolls and techniques written for hammers. He appreciated the opportunity, and did his best to learn from them. But for the most part, they were too hard to understand. He wasn¡¯t sure how people were supposed to get that stuff. If he knew, he would probably be a normal member of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. But he didn¡¯t get it. And even though they gave him lots of things that were hard to understand, he liked the Scarlet Alliance and the people in it. They were trying to help, and it was better than not being given any opportunities. Durff thought the best option for him came from that sword lady. Durff had tried holding two hammers. It was helpful, even though the only thing he learned from it was that he wasn¡¯t a two-hammer guy. He was definitely a one big hammer guy. Her other advice had been to fight stuff. Maybe even people with hammers specifically, but he didn¡¯t know of any sizable groups of them that were on any sort of approved hammering list. Maybe far into one of the groups on either side, but he knew better than to intrude into the Exalted Quadrant on his own. And he shouldn¡¯t go into the Trigold Cluster because they might think he was a spy or whatever. Them being his new friends. And maybe the Trigold Cluster too, now that he thought about it. Without a good supply of humans to fight, he looked up things he could hammer. There was one system people didn¡¯t like because of what they called ¡®overly aggressive asteroids¡¯. Frankly, Durff thought that flying space rocks were pretty aggressive by their very nature, just daring anything to get in front of them. ----- The system was up north, but not too close to the Everheart System. Durff wanted to stay away from that. Everyone talked like Everheart was dead, but acted like he was alive. The same was true of the one person Durff had trusted back in the Trigold Cluster, his aunt Eka. Lots of other people said he was dead and acted like it. And then they were dead. Unlike almost everyone, Durff didn¡¯t think he had anything against Everheart. But he also didn¡¯t have any reason to go near something a dangerous cultivator claimed. So he made sure to avoid that place when he came to the weird little system with dangerous rocks. The system didn¡¯t have any planets, just asteroids. They were in big rings and a weird cloud. Durff knew that some people said the system should have once had planets, and they got broken up. In Durff¡¯s opinion, he just thought the asteroids liked being able to move around on their own. They certainly enjoyed it now, rushing towards him as soon as he entered the system. Durff was glad they did, because it was a really long way between each of them and he would have had to turn and change his direction a lot to get to all of them. Well, it was still only a small fraction of them. But a good thousand or so were rushing towards him. They were full of energy. Better, they were heavy. He felt it, even as they approached. He swung his hammer at the first one, fully expecting to smash it to smithereens. It didn¡¯t attempt to avoid him at all, merely rushing towards him in a straight line. However, he didn¡¯t think he even chipped the thing. Instead, he sent it flying back in the other direction. Were they unbreakable? No, Durff knew that wasn¡¯t possible. He had to be able to smash them. He just wasn¡¯t good enough. He batted aside another dozen of them as they came in rapid sequence. Without footing, it was hard to hit good. And smashing things against other things was better than not. Durff knew that, and it seemed the asteroids did too because they tried to smash into him from opposite sides. Occasionally they succeeded. With a big crash, Durff was rocked as two asteroids bigger than him and smaller than a mountain hit him together, squashing him from both sides. He felt his bones creak. He shoved them away, using his legs to kick one out then spinning to smash the other with his hammer. The bombardment of attacks didn¡¯t end. It was¡­ nice. Just a bunch of rocks trying to smash Durff while he tried to smash them. He had a feeling they might kill him, but he didn¡¯t worry about that. All he had to do was be the one who won the fight, and he would survive. They sure didn¡¯t break apart easily. He even slammed one into another, coming in at an angle. They bounced off of each other instead of shattering¡­ though he did see a few small chips. Those little bits also tried to attack him, as it turned out. But they weren¡¯t heavy or fast, so it didn¡¯t matter. At least he only ever had to deal with two or so at once. More than that simply couldn¡¯t squash him, and they didn¡¯t coordinate well enough for the funny shaped ones to fit together. Sometimes, when he smacked them, they seemed to slam into each other on purpose too. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! This was good. Durff didn¡¯t know if he could make a hammer out of one of these things, but maybe he would try. Then it would be heavy and smash things good. Not having to worry about poisons, surprised attacks, traps, teeth, weird energy draining formations, and all sorts of things like that made Durff¡¯s time really relaxing. Sure, his bones were getting chipped both from incoming attacks and sometimes the force of his own blows, but that was fine. He could put the pieces back where they belonged when he was done. ----- Almost on the opposite side of the band of the Upper Realms that contained the Scarlet Alliance, Alva was engaging in significantly less brutal training. In fact, she was facing no resistance at all as her shots flew to the south¡­ across the border into the Lower Realms. She wasn¡¯t trying to hit anything there, of course. She wasn¡¯t even trying to reach the other side. Distance wasn¡¯t her area of expertise, unlike Anton. However, there was something more to each shot now that might bridge that gap. Alva kind of wished she could, actually. That way, she could show him her progress directly instead of through some sort of recording. Those just¡­ weren¡¯t as good. Her arrows flew forward towards the nothingness. Rather than mixed upper and lower energy, the border was basically empty. As empty as anything ever got, which was pretty darn empty. Alva¡¯s arrows were neither fast enough nor enduring enough to cross the whole distance to the lower realms, multiple lightyears even at the thinnest point. However, if that distance was suddenly far shorter? They might. Her arrows distorted space around them, courtesy of the distortion beast they had fought in the secret realm. And the weird way things were constructed there, being stuck in a partial dimension. Nothing really made sense, not straight lines or curves or up or down. If asked to explain it to anyone, she couldn¡¯t have given them anything useful despite the insights being her catalyst for Augmentation. At best, she might be able to demonstrate and compare to those who already had similar insights. An arrow left Alva¡¯s sight and senses in a single instant, traversing more distance than was normally possible. Layers of subspace seemed to be ever tighter, and Alva could shoot into the second and potentially third layers. She would be quite good at killing distortion beasts, but even they didn¡¯t live between realms. Simply nothing existed for them to feed on, no matter or energy of any kind. With each shot, Alva considered what she could actually do. She had shot an arrow inside something, bypassing the outside. That was true even of a static formation, protecting an area with energy. Catarina had made her various iterations meant to restrict subspace movement, and the formation master¡¯s expertise outsped Alva¡¯s ability. She could bypass static shields, even deep and crossing layers of reality, but there was a certain level of adaptation she simply wasn¡¯t ready for yet. Oddly enough, distortion beasts were actually easier to kill as they lived on several layers of reality at once, even if it was difficult to kill them from the top layer where they only occasionally dipped a small and usually deadly part of themself. But Alva wasn''t really worried about shooting distortion beasts. Oh no, the Scarlet Alliance had that handled. The first step was to never tempt them to begin with, but if they had to be killed they had methods. Instead what Alva really wanted to shoot was other cultivators. At this point, she was chiefly concerned with a small group of them. Domination cultivators. If she could slip past their energy defenses, they should die like anyone else. But she knew that it wouldn¡¯t be so easy. The sheer power she¡¯d felt was practically reality warping on its own, so keeping a stable shot even if they were simply standing there would be difficult. Active dodging or blocking? Much more difficult. The chances of someone at that level not understanding at least in part the structure of subspace would be absurd. Well, considering how Zaur and Ratna had zoomed off they clearly knew how to travel in it if nothing else. Unless they were completely insensitive to such things, she¡¯d need to improve her technique to hurt anyone like them. But still, she felt she had something special. Nothing so extreme as Chidi¡¯s Negation, but certainly something she could make good use of. And maybe, hopefully, Anton would be able to see if. If she could reach him, he could praise her properly, instead of just doing it because he was a kind grandpa. And she kind of hoped maybe, for once, he could learn something from her. But for that, she¡¯d probably need to shoot a few million more arrows at least. Which meant there was no time to cease practicing. ----- Yuval¡¯s core fighting style had been obvious early on. From the moment the kid was able to properly control energy, he converted it into fire. But he didn¡¯t settle for simply manipulating energy. On the other hand, he also didn¡¯t pick up any sort of weapon. Vari wasn¡¯t sure if it was her fault. It could have been a coincidence. Either way, Yuval took to using his hands and feet as catalysts for his flames. With superheated flames matching the motion of his own body, his enemies would turn to ash before him. Well, once he actually had more energy. For the moment, he could certainly incinerate wooden training dummies. He couldn¡¯t melt stone yet, but it really wasn¡¯t a surprise. Yuval was still early in his training after all. He¡¯d raced through Body Tempering, and was now pushing through Spirit Building at a rapid pace. All that, even though he was limited by his parent¡¯s insistence that he practice with lower energy. There was something that just wasn¡¯t the same as doing it post Integration, a fact that Vari could attest to herself. ¡°Keep your guard up!¡± Vari instructed. ¡°Remember that if you¡¯re not instantly incinerating your opponent, they can easily counter you. Your range is as short as it can be, so you have to be faster. More flexible.¡± The kid grinned. He clearly enjoyed using his abilities. But¡­ they were going to have to demonstrate to him what losing was like soon. Obviously that was difficult, given those close in age weren¡¯t great matches for his strength, and his parents or Vari herself defeating him was only natural, no matter how much they technically restricted their energy. Though they did have one option. It was probably cheating, but they kept Jyotsana in their pocket for an emergency. Fuzz was betting on one of the wolf pups though. Some of them took after their father, and it would be optimal if Yuval was defeated with his own element. He needed to learn, before he got a big head. It could easily happen, especially to geniuses raised in certain contexts. So they¡¯d find something that wouldn¡¯t kill him but would still make him understand. For his own good. Chapter 1005 Flames coiled around Yuval as he slipped into his stance. He struck out once quickly, his jab merely meant to throw his opponent off guard. The man predictably dodged out of the way, and Yuval followed up with a sweep at his legs. He needed to win this battle quickly. He couldn¡¯t afford to wait until his opponent¡¯s weapon activated, a glowing energy sword that was at the moment merely a hilt. Frustratingly, his older opponent stepped over his leg sweep with barely a care. He was too fast. Yuval needed to be faster himself. Flames hugged his limbs, speeding his movements with their warm embrace. A kick towards his enemy¡¯s side was avoided by the slightest step back. Yuval followed up by slamming his foot into the ground, turning that kick into a lunge. His fist nearly struck the man, but even the flames coiled around his arm didn¡¯t quite touch his opponent¡¯s clothing. Yuval twisted his hips, his left fist aiming for the man¡¯s center of mass. Yet just like everything else, his smug opponent twisted away, dodging his attack with his eyes closed. No, he couldn¡¯t get frustrated at that. It was stupid. He stepped far inside the range of the man¡¯s sword. If the weapon was activated, he might have just impaled himself on the blade. A rising punch at his chin. A spinning kick, and though Yuval turned his back on his foe, his senses could still pick him out. A low, rear kick aimed at a leg. But not once could he touch him. Yuval growled in frustration, flames building inside of him. They filled his lungs, before spraying forth from his mouth. The cone of fire didn¡¯t touch a hair on the man¡¯s head. But perhaps the flow of energy might have forced him into a difficult position. One more jab to push him against a wall and then- All of a sudden, his body felt sluggish. His energy was denied to him, and the flickering light filled his vision. No, it couldn¡¯t be! It was too soon! The blade flashed across his neck. He felt its cruel heat. He gargled as he felt the blood drip down his throat. ¡°You¡¯re dead, Yuval.¡± Yuval tried to stomp Chidi¡¯s foot. Obviously his older brother dodged that, though. ¡°It¡¯s not fair! You said I got ten moves and I only used eight!¡± ¡°Both the leg sweep and the fire breath definitely counted,¡± Chidi retorted. ¡°Also, didn¡¯t you say you were going to change up your energy flow?¡± Yuval grumbled, looking at the sword in Chidi¡¯s hand. It wasn¡¯t a real sword of course. It wasn¡¯t even real lasers. It was more like a flashlight with a defined shape and endpoints. He could feel it when it ¡®cut¡¯ him still, but it was much safer. No matter how much his brother was okay with injuries, Yuval really hadn¡¯t gotten to that point yet. ¡°I was, uh,¡± Yuval struggled to explain. ¡°I was gonna change up my energy flow. On my next move.¡± ¡°It would have been too late,¡± Chidi said. ¡°It would be simple for anyone to account for a single anomaly.¡± Yuval grumbled. If he¡¯d just landed one hit¡­ or at least scorched Chidi¡¯s clothes! He would have won. Not really of course, but according to their rules it would count. Yuval wondered if Chidi had used energy to dodge his fire breath, but he certainly hadn¡¯t sensed anything. He wanted to make Chidi have to use his energy. Yuval also wanted to force his brother into a fair fight, but obviously that was going to take a long time. Chidi was strong. So strong, in fact, Yuval wondered if anyone could beat him. Yuval might have gotten annoyed at him for fighting with his eyes closed if he didn¡¯t do that with everyone else, even their parents. Yuval wished he could beat them, too. However, they never made things easy. Not that he actually wanted that. He was mature enough now to know that it would be a hollow victory. But if he could at least ¡®win¡¯ according to certain restrictions and move onto the next level of training, he would feel his improvements. ¡°Am I ever going to get really strong¡­?¡± Yuval muttered. ¡°Yuval. You¡¯re barely twenty. You¡¯re already plenty strong for your age.¡± ¡°Yeah but¡­ auntie Alva fought in a war by my age.¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°And you should be glad you haven¡¯t had to. Wars aren¡¯t any fun. Besides, that was in the lower realms. If we were to compare the two of us, I was in Essence Collection before I did anything really dangerous. Trust me, you¡¯ll have more than enough opportunities in the future.¡± ¡°Like fighting against the Trigold Cluster?¡± Yuval asked. ¡°If we have to,¡± Chidi agreed. Though personally, he didn¡¯t think his brother was as ready as Yuval thought. Especially if he still cared about little things like cuts. ----- Elsewhere, another youthful fire cultivator trained, though with a much better understanding of what the world involved. Even if she was missing many large pieces. Unfortunately, she too was subject to frustration. ¡°It¡¯s so annoying,¡± Jyotsana complained to Prospero. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m never going to get everything back.¡± ¡°So?¡± the man shrugged. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°So? These are my memories! My insights. I worked hard for those!¡± ¡°Unless you do something royally foolish, without taking another step in your cultivation journey your total lifespan will be longer than before. Furthermore, your early path is clearly more efficient,¡± Prospero said. ¡°What memories concern you? Thoughts of family, friends?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t have any of those.¡± The corner of her mouth twitched. ¡°It was just me.¡± ¡°You must have had a few comrades in arms or the like,¡± Prospero said. ¡°Nah. That¡¯s how I ended up in a group with¡­ those four,¡± Jyotsana reminded him. ¡°I see no issues then,¡± the man shrugged once more. ¡°You live. Your cultivation is improving. You have access to resources. And you can visit with your friends.¡± He paused. ¡°Except you don¡¯t.¡± She blasted a target with flames. Most of the time, her control was much better but she just wanted to use some effort. ¡°We¡¯re not friends.¡± ¡°I can go get Durff and have you say that to his face, if you want,¡± Prospero threatened her. ¡°... Please don¡¯t.¡± Prospero grinned. ¡°I think you¡¯re just embarrassed about how you look.¡± ¡°And what¡¯s wrong with it, huh?¡± she stomped her feet. ¡°Nothing at all, young lady.¡± Jyotsana grumbled. How was she supposed to get any respect like this? It was fine. She¡¯d grow taller soon. Definitely. Her new mother wasn¡¯t this short, so she still had a chance. ----- Durff wasn¡¯t good with numbers, but he was fairly certain that he was supposed to be out of energy. Oh, he was tired alright, but with however long it had been he should have been completely out, what with the constant fighting. He knew that the sensible thing to do was to break off the battle long ago, go rest, and come back. But he hadn¡¯t done that. Instead, he kept hitting things. And he wasn¡¯t going to stop until he smashed the whole system. Except for the star, obviously. That hadn¡¯t done anything to him and he was pretty sure people would get upset. Also that he couldn¡¯t do it, since stars were soft and hard to smash. Unlike the stupid asteroids in this system which were extremely hard and still difficult to smash. But hey, he was making progress. The first time he¡¯d actually broken one of them in two he had been elated. Now, he was being chased by ten times as many quarter asteroids or something like that. But he was still going to smash them all. There were some minor details to iron out. Like if he smashed the entire system into a powder and it kept trying to murder him. The tiny shards were already kind of annoying. Maybe he could instead¡­ smash things together? Durff had long forgotten his reason for actually coming to the system to train. Something about weight or whatever. That didn¡¯t matter so much. Maybe if he smashed these things small enough they would crash into each other more and keep fighting each other. The main problem Durff had was hitting just one thing at a time, so he stopped doing that and just hit everything in an area. He smashed some asteroids, and then bits and pieces of them smashed into him. There were enough that the ones after them were blocked by the pileup, as he was covered from head to toe. When things didn¡¯t smash into him too fast, it didn¡¯t hurt that much. Which was good, because everything already hurt a lot. Durff pushed everything away and began swinging his hammer again. It would be so much easier if everything was in one spot. Maybe rather than trying to break all the asteroids apart, he should have turned them into one big one? He didn¡¯t know how to make the stuff stick together except by hitting it really hard. So he began doing that. Each swing captured clouds of debris, sweeping the area around him. Sometimes he made things worse, causing more stuff to shatter. It appeared even the smallest dust wanted to attack him. How annoying. Durff hadn¡¯t realized it, but his hammer was chipped and cracked from his constant battles. No amount of energy support was enough for the impacts it had to withstand time and time again. Especially not when his energy had gotten lower and he started relying more on feelings to smash things. His body was some part of his success, but a more tempered body would only get him so far. A certain sort of insight was necessary to do things beyond what energy alone provided for. All powerful cultivators relied on such to some extent, though those who focused on particular weapons tended to do so to a greater extent. Durff was far from being any sort of smith, and he never would be. His hammer was a weapon of war, not a tool. Even so, he slowly began to form something. Swing after swing, he compressed more and more of the various rubble inhabiting the system into a single mass. While in theory it was more dangerous like that, in practice it never moved far enough away from him to build up any sort of relative velocity. When it crashed into him, it was no different from him falling a short distance onto a planet. Soon enough, it became an even thinner distinction, as he forced more and more mass together. Even the smaller particles that wanted to launch themselves at him were draw in by the growing mass of the planet he was putting together. There was no rhyme or reason to how Durff went about it. He wasn¡¯t intending to create a planet, just smashing things together. It naturally began to gain in density as its own gravity crushed the inner layers, aided of course by his heavy swings sending more and more matter into the single clump of matter. The natural inclination the local matter had to assault him came with some level of self propulsion, but once gravity reached a certain level the smaller rocks and dust weren¡¯t able to overcome the pull. The larger ones generated proportionately more energy, but they were easy for him to target, leaping over them and sending them down to be part of the mass below. Durff had no idea how long it took, but eventually he found himself standing on a planet with half a hammer. A planet that was trying to smash into him, barrelling around its star with great enthusiasm. But as he was already standing on it, it literally felt like nothing. He frowned. Why was he there again? Oh right. His hammer wasn¡¯t heavy enough. He dropped it. It gave a very satisfying thud. Oh! Maybe he¡¯d just needed somewhere with more gravity? For some reason he felt that wasn¡¯t right. Either way, he was going to have to get a new hammer. This one was pretty busted. Chapter 1006 When Anton was told to wait somewhere for something to arrive, he had a pretty good idea what it would be based on the one sending the request. That only made Anton more surprised when, after a few days of waiting to be certain he arrived on time, an arrow suddenly appeared from nowhere. Saying it whizzed past him was slightly incorrect. Actually, when it actually appeared he felt it was quite slow. It was also not particularly near to him, but he felt it passing through the system regardless. It disintegrated not long after exiting subspace, but that implied Alva truly did not want to hit anything. That was good, because if she hit Akrys Anton would be quite displeased. Not that her attack had much power left after reaching the system anyway. Anton grinned. Well, if it was going to be like that he was going to have to respond to his granddaughter in kind. Surely she wouldn¡¯t leave immediately, so he should have a chance to respond. She might also be making her own follow up attack, perhaps improving her aim. As for Anton, he traced where the attack came from. Not just the star, but a bit more precise than that based on the ripples of energy it made when it arrived. He took a few moments to prepare, as he wanted his shot to be more accurate than Alva. He also had some insights gained from that single shot that he might be able to add to his repertoire. He slightly preferred accuracy over speed for his return arrow, releasing it towards the star Alva shot from. If he was bound to that star his attack would likely be more effective, but he still drew upon the power of Akrys¡¯ star to make his shot properly effective. His attack traveled nearly incomprehensibly faster than the speed of light, though some of that was due to cheating off some distance. It wasn¡¯t to the same level as Alva¡¯s new insights, but Anton attacked through subspace regularly enough at long distances. It still required a lot of concentration, and if there had been enemies in the system Anton would not have dared to leave himself so open. It surprised Anton that Alva¡¯s second shot arrived before his return. Her arrow was vaguely closer to him, but still rather off target. The speed at which it arrived, however, was something admirable. Indeed, even her third shot arrived around the time Anton¡¯s slipped into the system Alva was shooting from, across the divide. But as her arrow only got within a few million kilometers, Anton redirected his arrow towards her. He¡¯d been off, but with only a single shot as reference he didn¡¯t think it was that bad. Alva twisted, catching his arrow and snapping it- the last sensation he had from it. Not that he was surprised she could destroy it, of course. Even in straightforward combat she could have easily dealt with a single arrow now that she was in Augmentation, and Anton¡¯s attack was significantly weakened. Though¡­ maybe a bit less. The exchange of arrows lasted several days, during which Three Squeaks watched intently, having been drawn towards the display. He didn¡¯t disturb the local star¡¯s energy, simply watching, though Anton doubted he would have significantly thrown off Anton by calling upon the same source. Alva managed to increase her accuracy, targeting Anton¡¯s ¡®stationary¡¯ point. In truth, there was some relative motion of the systems, but it was constant and easy to read. While she had powerful new insights, it was still clear she wasn¡¯t a sniper. If Anton were in the same system it would have been one thing, and he wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if an arrow jumped from one planet to another only to end up behind him. As it was, merely traveling the distance took every ounce of power Alva had, even with her shortcuts through deep dimensions. Meanwhile, Anton¡¯s arrows arrived with killing power intact. It would require a weakened enemy, and the upper energy quickly dismantled Anton¡¯s own energy, but there was still some force left upon arrival. And enough speed to eventually past Alva¡¯s defenses and bop her on the nose. He could have probably broken through her energy defenses, but he let the arrow disperse. Anton ceased firing, and Alva only returned one more arrow. It finally properly reached Anton, but he flicked it away when it approached. Their attacks traveled just about as fast as messages, and Alva quickly followed up with one. ¡°I admit defeat,¡± Alva said. Only simple messages could could quickly flow between even the best personal communication devices- a larger setup wouldn¡¯t function inside a closed space like a storage bag, so they couldn¡¯t carry one with them. Anton wished he could hear Alva¡¯s voice and see her face¡­ but he would record a message for her later. ¡°You¡¯re still stronger than me. But¡­ I¡¯m not too far behind. Don¡¯t get lazy.¡± Frankly, Anton didn¡¯t care if Alva surpassed him- but he certainly wasn¡¯t going to neglect his training. ¡°An admirable new technique,¡± Anton replied. ¡°I think I could learn more from it, even improving my own distance.¡± Maintaining control and seeking out targets at such a distance was one of the most difficult things he ever did. Each message exchange took more than a few minutes. It was hardly a real time conversation. ¡°Astounding,¡± Three Squeaks commented, once he was certain Anton was done. ¡°That is your granddaughter?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton said. Well, she was technically his great-granddaughter but that distinction wasn¡¯t relevant here. ¡°I have much to learn still,¡± Three Squeaks said, nodding and stroking his chin. ¡°I am excited. Too bad we will not be able to meet properly.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Well,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s not entirely true.¡± It was already possible for them to send people between realms- though it was only practical for void ants or others without energy at the current moment. The distance itself was not so much an issue as the way the energies changed. Without the influence of the tides of the world, it was a bit more extreme in how people might be rejected. Though not quite so hostile as Fleeting Youth might make the energy to Anton in particular. Actually making ships that could journey back and forth between realms was still far off, and they were limiting such development for safety reasons. If the enemy got their hands on anything like that before the end of the cycle, it could cause endless problems. Finding some way to attune to lower energy without the tides of the world would more or less be part of the solution, and they couldn¡¯t risk that. ¡°Might she be descending during the Tides of the World?¡± Three Squeaks asked. ¡°It¡¯s a possibility,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But there are risks for the Scarlet Alliance directly participating. Unless we can manage to completely prevent information returning to the upper realms, which would be¡­ quite optimal, honestly.¡± It was extremely unlikely for it to be perfect, but if the assaults were completely destroyed with none returning, at least in a number of systems? The actual results would be difficult to predict, but the upper realms would likely be livid. Having that anger track to the Scarlet Alliance would be problematic. And while the initial plan had been for many of them to return, the Lower Realms were strong enough to resist even the wildest predictions for the invasions- though potentially with significant losses. Of course, the Scarlet Alliance would end up in battle with either the Trigold Cluster or Exalted Quadrant sooner or later. They were terrible neighbors, and there were some grudges that had formed already. Especially with the Exalted Quadrant, who had oddly enough been somewhat less terrible in the lower realms. Not that ¡®less terrible¡¯ was much of a recommendation. Anton made sure to properly solidify his burgeoning insights. He doubted it was possible to reach the same level of Alva in any short time, even if he¡¯d had direct exposure to the same thing. Tying it to an advancement had clearly increased the tier of insight into subspaces. Even so, he could learn much. Every extension in range or reduction in power slightly increased the efficacy of his technique, slowly moving it away from the realm of tricks into a proper danger to foes on his own level. ----- Yuval faced off against a swordmaster, his body tense. Well, that title might depend on who he asked. To the general public, his opponent would certainly fit in that category. She didn¡¯t really compare to Chikere or Chidi. Which made sense, because Agom was one step further along that chain, a disciple of both of them at various points. That¡¯s right. Yuval clenched his fists, ready to face off against a wolf with a sword. And he was going to lose. Even though Agom lowered her level of energy, she was far more advanced and had a couple centuries of experience on him. He also found it difficult to predict her movement techniques, as her quadrupedal nature was different than the majority of Yuval¡¯s opponents. Obviously he¡¯d sparred with some wolves before. It would have been crazy to not have such experience. Even some other quadrupeds from Akrys. But even so, he was mainly familiar with humanoids. Agom was, as far as her siblings went, not terribly large. She barely came up to Yuval¡¯s chest. At least that meant he didn¡¯t have to worry about being cut off at the knees. It was his neck that was in danger most. Blood trickled down his cheek at that thought. He¡¯d barely yanked his head out of the way. Would she¡­ really have done it? Based on what Yuval understood, Agom shared the same sort of crazed training ideal as Chikere and his older brother. She really might have cut into his neck. As long as she didn¡¯t decapitate him- mainly because of his spinal cord- a clean cut could be stitched back together. It was still crazy though. He made use of his legs as much as possible, trying to match her reach. He also did his best to slip inside her optimal range. Normally against a wolf that would just be bringing him closer to their claws, but for Agom it wasn¡¯t such a big danger. The very reason she took up the sword to begin with is because of underdeveloped fangs and claws. Yuval felt his energy being sliced as he merely brushed by the sword in the wolf¡¯s mouth. He got in a few strikes on her side, but his flames couldn¡¯t catch her fur alight. No big surprise there, as she had no doubt trained with Fuzz, whose flames were far stronger than Yuval. He trusted his instincts, raising his arms to deflect an incoming slash. Just because he preferred the unarmed brawling sort of fighting style didn¡¯t mean he had to be stupid about it. He had proper gauntlets and combat ready boots, augmenting his punches and kicks. And of course protection for his vulnerable limbs. He had a helmet of sorts too, but Agom wasn¡¯t shy about cutting through things like that. Yuval fought with great intensity. He felt like he was the weakest person he knew, and that might even be true. That said, he also understood it wasn¡¯t his own fault. He was pretty much one of the youngest as well. He did have a few friends near his age¡­ but he hadn¡¯t really meshed that well with most people at school. Being famous didn¡¯t help, since Yuval didn¡¯t like being popular and instead tried to shut himself out of many social situations. He might have had a few more friends without the extra popularity, ironically, but he wasn¡¯t dissatisfied. He liked cultivating. And while most of his bonds weren¡¯t close he did know a wide variety of sparring partners. Most of the time, he lost to all of them. Yuval grinned. He was going to start winning eventually, though. He just had to get stronger. It was pretty fun¡­ and he was getting used to taking injuries. He had once thought he shouldn¡¯t get injured at all because they had formations that could prevent it, but he now realized that receiving his first injuries in a real battle would have been¡­ beyond debilitating. Agom¡¯s sword cut along a tendon in his elbow, making one arm limp. He could have probably continued fighting, but while he could fight with such an injury¡­ it was also better to know when he shouldn¡¯t. ¡°I surrender,¡± he said, holding up his good arm. At least people were really good at fixing this kind of stuff. With a clean cut, he might even be able to use his own energy to recover¡­ extremely slowly. He would just need to hold things together. Chapter 1007 Inspiration could strike at any time for a cultivator, though not every piece of insight gained would lead to a fruitful outcome. A large part of a cultivator¡¯s efforts were focused around discerning valuable insights from those that meant little. Not just true from false, but ones that fit each individual cultivator. Though it might seem like cultivators had endless time, that wasn¡¯t truly the case. The depths of understanding required for advancement beyond a certain point required ever more investment of time for small improvements. Anton had begun his journey of cultivation at the end of a lifetime, a full century. Now, he had surpassed seven centuries. At some point, he might have thought he would know everything in such a time. Instead, Anton was aware of more things he didn¡¯t know with every day. Only in his areas of specialty could Anton really say he knew much of anything. He doubted he could construct the simplest computer, even if all the pieces were arrayed in front of him. Such technology ended up as complex as arrays, and indeed used similar sorts of logic. Anton could probably learn either path, but it would take a time investment that simply didn¡¯t make sense. Instead he stuck to his essence of growth, and of course the field of archery which he used for combat. Hunting, too, though not much of that lately. Unless one counted slaying distortion beasts. They were like predators that needed to be culled. Sometimes their corpses were useful as well, though Anton personally didn¡¯t find himself in the need of any materials. It was highly unlikely for Anton to find a bow that could replace his current one, and he honestly didn¡¯t have much desire for such a thing. His bow was made of worldheart and soulstring, and replacing the former would more or less require starheart. Which would mean a dead star, and Anton didn¡¯t want to see that no matter how suited it might be for him personally. As for defensive equipment, in most cases that was useless. Very rarely was Anton close enough to actually have to consider defense, after all. Even so, he had a robe made of silk from Akrys, woven with quills from phoenix feathers. It would be nearly impossible to find anything matching in flexibility, durability, and elemental affinity. Phoenixes were aligned with fire, obviously, but they also had a hint of reincarnation and spectral energy in them. The silk was merely a requirement for fitting it into a proper garment, produced by some of the most powerful members of the insect population. Aside from a few specialty arrows, Anton needed nothing more. He had material wealth, but he didn¡¯t really need it except to exchange with people he was unfamiliar with. He certainly didn¡¯t need more. So he left useful pieces of distortion beasts to anyone local, to make use of as best as they could. Aipra had some valuable knowledge about how to make use of such things, given the frequent attacks they suffered. Rather than searching for a way to make himself stronger, Anton was focused on the rest of the lower realms. Obviously he was not personally involved in the majority of the preparations for the upcoming invasion, but he was certainly involved in the general plan. Less than two centuries¡­ it still sounded like an extremely long time, perhaps, but it meant solidifying their plans more and more. Word from the upper realms indicated a growing presence of colonies on the border between realms, already larger than they had seen during the short cycle. That was what they had expected, but it still required them to be prepared. They had at most one or two generations of Assimilation cultivators to raise up, and they had to stand against unknown quantities of Integration cultivators. Most likely, there would be Augmentation cultivators involved as well. While the Lower Realms Alliance was filled with cultivators- everyone was encouraged to cultivate regardless of occupation- not everyone was a warrior. There were all sorts of results possible besides complete annihilation of one side or the other, and Anton actually cared about the lives of everyone in the Lower Realms. Even if he didn¡¯t personally know most individuals, he recognized that they were people and not obstacles in the way of resources or some sort of livestock. Thus their warriors needed to be the best they could be, for their own survival and for the sake of the Lower Realms as a whole. Anton knew that the possibility of him reaching some higher tier of cultivation were pretty much nonexistent. It wasn¡¯t a matter of self confidence, talent, or anything like that. He was simply being realistic, as a matter of time. He didn¡¯t even know if there was anything beyond Enrichment to rival Domination. Perhaps the path would be a steady climb without any jumps, but he knew whatever the potential it would take him and any other cultivators more than just a couple hundred more years. So he did his best to provide others opportunities, not expecting a jump in his own power any time soon. But there was one thing that stuck in his head. Not a method of advancement, but a technique. No, it was too vague to be called that. A foolish dream. A childlike fantasy of what he wished he could accomplish, rather than something actually achievable. Anton judged it as such, and that was with the knowledge that Realm Shot was developing into a viable technique and not just a training exercise that stretched his limits. ----- Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Overall, Anton would say he did the impossible far less than certain sorts of cultivators like Chikere, or even some of his own granddaughters. Amazing feats? Certainly. Treading new paths? Often enough. But all of that was based on things he knew were possible, techniques stretched to their limits. Anton flew near Ceretos¡¯ star, and was wasting his time. He could call it relaxation, and that wasn¡¯t too bad. He could even say it was training for Realm Shot. That was at least partially true. But mostly, it was just him spending time as he pleased. His head couldn¡¯t be wrapped up in war all the time, or he would break down and be useless. No, there was little point in struggling to survive if he failed to live while doing so. Anton might have accepted his inevitable demise, but that was an acknowledgement of a life well lived. And he planned to keep it that way. Because, really, it was kind of fun to try new things. Even if he never got anything accomplished. Anton reached out towards the sun next to him, and the stars of Weos and Rutera as well. That was the part he could manage. The other two stars added together provided less power to Anton than the one he was close to, but he was constantly increasing his ability to draw from stars at a distance- beyond the constant flow inside him, of course. He drew back his bow, connecting a sort of tunnel between himself and the other two systems. Then he shot his arrow off into nothingness, simply trying to see how far he could go. With the insights Alva had shared with him, he did in fact achieve a greater distance than ever before. That was the result of spatial techniques and steady practice. A bit more energy certainly helped. But none of that was what Anton wanted. Again and again he shot his bow. Curious passersby made sure to avoid his line of fire, not that Anton could have hit them accidentally. He was well aware of anything within the system, and he didn¡¯t have a particular target. He had a full spherical range of motion, and only the tiniest number of lines would actually result in hitting anything at all. He formed the tunnels again, releasing them at the same time as his Spirit Arrow flew forth. The results were once again a mere empowerment of himself and his established technique. Nothing new, and not what he really wanted. Who would have thought that stringing together multiple stars would be so difficult? It was Anton, of course. He didn¡¯t even know if what he wanted was possible. He sensed something, right near where his previous arrow faded into nothing. A proper target, a distortion beasts between systems. If they were normal predators, Anton would not have randomly killed them despite them being dangerous and ugly. Wolves had a position in an ecosystem, keeping balance. They consumed herbivores, among other things, which allowed plants to continue flourishing that fed that very same prey in the next generation. Distortion beasts had no such role in any ecosystem. Instead, they would prefer to eat it. The whole ecosystem. While distortion beasts had somewhat valuable parts, ultimately they became less than what they ate rather than more. The exact opposite of what Anton wanted, which was every step in a process making something more valuable for the energy put into it. They were at best parasites. If they could be avoided it was considered good, but eliminating them was better. Anton drew back his bow, weaving a bit of spectral energy into his Spirit Arrow. The unusual properties made it somewhat easier to reach into specific depths of subspace, and he had a pretty good idea where his target might have a vital spot. Energy from three stars filled him as he released his arrow. He covered lightyears not in years but minutes, in some part through impossible speed but in greater part through simply skipping the distance. First layer subspace was hundreds of times more effective. He could achieve another multiple of that by going deeper, though it was quite difficult. Unlike targeting most things, however, Anton didn¡¯t have to leave a deeper level of subspace. That was where his target was, and that was where he went as an arrow. Distortion beasts had little that resembled traditional organs except at deeper levels. Anton really wasn¡¯t certain what he was aiming at, but he knew the distortion beast would rather it not be hit. Given the way it tried to pull away, it was worried. Too bad it was a massive target that would have had to jump lightyears at once to avoid Anton¡¯s targeting. He as his arrow pierced through some sort of outer membrane. He made certain to tear it apart, so the odd sort of ichor or other vital fluid within would spill out. Anton felt himself surrounded by thousands of different energies, not quite integrated into the distortion beast. Previous meals, perhaps, though he hoped not from a recent age. He reached the other side, allowing the energy to detonate and tear apart the back of the organ he found. Anton waited an hour, then shot again. The beast was in the same general area of space. It seemed to by dying, testament to the power his attack retained- and the ability to target actual weak points instead of merely hacking at the beasts until they lost all functional matter to display to the world. His second attack was unnecessary, though it helped him verify his kill. He would notify someone, in case they wished to salvage anything. Though they¡¯d likely have to dredge into subspace, since it was buried during his assault. Anton sighed, shaking his head. That was still nowhere near the technique he intended. What was he doing wrong? Was his bow actually insufficient? His visualization of the technique? Perhaps it was truly impossible. His logical side was willing to accept that. But the rest of him wanted to keep trying. Maybe he needed to speak to other archers about it. However, their insights might not match his¡­ and very few had bound stars, which was a requirement for what he theoretically wanted. Three Squeaks was a good disciple, but he wasn¡¯t quite at the requisite level to help much. Or so Anton presumed. He made a note to speak to him regardless, as he¡¯d often heard valuable insights from those with far less experience. He just needed to make certain he didn¡¯t spend too much effort on his quest, since he currently believed it to be little more than an entertaining distraction. It would be a shame to miss out on a viable technique by seeking something fantastical. Chapter 1008 A small emission of energy from his communicator told Anton he¡¯d received a new message. Anyone who was able to contact him was someone he was interested in responding to promptly, even if it didn¡¯t come in as an emergency communication. Though he¡¯d been in the midst of training, that was a fairly common thing. Some levels of training were deeper and more delicate, but for the most part Anton was focusing on small improvements he could make gradually. He only advanced to another star every decade or more, his overall power growing slowly. Anton wouldn¡¯t say his archery techniques were perfect, but they were close enough his development was extremely gradual. Not that he was disappointed. Expecting to increase in strength faster than he was would be rather ridiculous. Even if it was possible, Anton was already more than satisfied. He never thought he would come anywhere close, back when he was in Spirit Building. That was the time he first came across Fleeting Youth, and even Life Transformation had seemed terribly far away, let alone Ascension. He certainly hadn¡¯t considered there was an alternate path at the time. He pulled out his communicator, finding the message from Matija. She occasionally sent messages about her work, given their mutual interests. However, she very rarely recommended he come see a star she was studying quickly. But that was what her message indicated this time. He read it again. ¡°Our team has been studying the star now designated Maheg. Fascinating readings have been recorded, and your presence to help interpret them in person would be greatly appreciated.¡± Attached was an energy impression, though it could only replicate the average feel of something over a period of time. Useful for distinguishing things like cultivation techniques and even individuals, but insufficient to do much else. Unless Anton was in a proper facility set up to replicate the full magnitude of a star with the information from tens of thousands of sensors, he could only get an extremely vague approximate. He wasn¡¯t sure how to interpret the natural energy that Maheg released. Indeed, if he hadn¡¯t been informed it was a star he might have interpreted it as something else. Obviously he was missing the full magnitude of power displayed, but beyond that metric it also seemed off. Ascribing any specific feeling to it seemed hasty, but he could certainly agree that it was odd. If Matija had sent more information his way, Anton might have discerned more. However, that would have taken quite a while, as even simple energy impressions were much more data intensive than text, audio, or video. He was fairly certain that Matija had some sort of theory for what the anomaly was, but she hadn¡¯t mentioned it so as to not taint his own opinion. Anton had to admit he was quite curious. Maheg was some way to the south, in an area that was unpopulated. Anton wasn¡¯t sure if this was a time-limited phenomenon, though it sounded like it had been ongoing for a while. Either way, his initial exposure was enough to make him curious enough to set out immediately. ----- The insights Alva had shared about subspace were more focused on the aspect of archery than general traversal, though Anton found himself slightly faster. Still slower than traveling between bound systems, of course, and the methods he used there involved different techniques. Ultimately he arrived in about a month, and as soon as he entered the system he wondered if the phenomenon was still ongoing. Then a wave of energy brushed over him. It was gentle, but powerful. There were more than a few oddities there, but Anton reserved his impression. Rather than reaching out, Anton let himself passively feel the energy of Maheg. It was on the larger end of stars, though well short of the threshold for a giant star. Perhaps ten times the mass of Ceretos¡¯ star, it was several orders of magnitude brighter. Ultimately it appeared a bright blue, though looking at such a star from within the system without being blinded would be impossible for lesser cultivators. It was a powerful star, but it also had a weird flow to its energy. It was too¡­ regular? Ordered? Either way, it didn¡¯t mass the chaotic flow Anton had come to expect. He made his way towards the star and Matija¡¯s ship. There were only a few small rocky planets, and they didn¡¯t seem to be of much interest. Certainly not more than the star. In idle curiosity, Anton reached out towards the star as he got closer, wondering what it felt like deeper in. It was a difficult task even for someone like him, as his energy would get broken down rapidly. Even so, he hadn¡¯t expected it to be so abrupt. His sensory energy was cut off before he could get very deep at all. Anton knew he could do better up close, and if he was bound to the star its energy wouldn¡¯t hinder him, but he found it odd. Various possibilities flowed through Anton¡¯s head, though there was one that was particularly unlikely that he tried not to linger on. There was probably a better explanation for the oddness. That was what Anton said to himself as he got closer, but even though there wasn¡¯t another wave of energy brushing over him, he still felt odd. Like he was being watched. He knew it wasn¡¯t Matija or the rest of the scientists, because he could properly feel that from them when he got close. Many generations of Ruteran technology had passed since Anton had first come into contact with Matija, and there were a much larger number of people interested in leaving a ship in space. The process was much smoother, like everything else. It was a much better ship, and not just because of technological advancements. It turned out when you¡¯d been a leading scientist in a certain area for enough centuries, you could get the best equipment instead of what was affordable for surveying neighboring systems. ¡°Good to see you again,¡± Matija said. She looked older, now. A few wrinkles and graying hairs. It had been long enough that if she hadn¡¯t reached Assimilation, she would be dead many times over. It didn¡¯t seem that she was ever going to reach Enrichment, but that hadn¡¯t been likely to begin with. Her talent was decent, but even if her cultivation improved with her work that only went so far. Anton doubted more than one in a billion people even had the slightest potential to reach Enrichment, and just because they could didn¡¯t mean they wouldn¡¯t fail along the way. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton smiled. ¡°We have here quite an odd star. What do you think of it?¡± ¡°My thoughts are written down. I¡¯d be interested to see if you came to the same conclusion as me, though I will admit having an advantage of time spent studying this. Your intuition for star based phenomenon, however, runs in a different vein than mine.¡± Anton nodded. He reached out for the star one more time, feeling its surface. He could detect no solar flares, just a nearly uniform surface. It wasn¡¯t a regularity brought about by random chance, as stars naturally released volatile energy simply due to their mass. Which meant it was intentional¡­ and persistent. ¡°It could be some sort of modification¡­¡± Anton postulated. ¡°Were there any locals here?¡± ¡°Yes, actually,¡± Matija said. ¡°On some of the planets. But they don¡¯t seem to have reached spacefaring.¡± ¡°Perhaps someone else came through,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you don¡¯t think that¡¯s what it is,¡± Matija replied. Anton walked over to the main screen, filtering out the vast majority of incoming light and other energy and leaving only the tiniest fraction. It was still almost blindingly bright. He looked at the star. And if he wasn¡¯t wrong, it looked at him. ¡°Just based on the way it actively sensed me, I would posit some level of sentience.¡± He turned to Matija. ¡°Should we be discussing it here?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t think it understands language,¡± Matija said, joining Anton. ¡°It doesn¡¯t appear hostile, though. It has reacted to our various probes, but it hasn¡¯t destroyed any of them. It seems to recognize they are not dangerous. We don¡¯t intend to try any actual attacks. Mostly because it would be rude, but also because¡­ they probably still wouldn¡¯t be registered as dangerous.¡± ¡°Stars are quite sturdy,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Difficult to disrupt. And I wouldn¡¯t want to, either.¡± Anton looked around. ¡°I¡¯m not really sure what to do here.¡± ¡°You¡¯d probably be better suited to some things we want to try. Since you¡¯re¡­ hopefully more friendly feeling? And quite a bit more noticeable than our ship.¡± ¡°What should I try?¡± ¡°A handshake, maybe?¡± Matija pondered. ¡°Like, an extension of energy. Don¡¯t reach all the way to it. See if it will respond.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°When did you first notice it reacting?¡± ¡°Well,¡± Matija tilted her head. ¡°We noticed odd readings immediately. Like when we first arrived in the system. Even from neighboring systems it had been detected as anomalous, though. We didn¡¯t quite understand what it was right away.¡± Anton stretched out a strand of energy. More of a stream, thin enough he would be able to reach the still rather great distance to the star while making it durable and obvious. Anton didn¡¯t know if the star would consciously register something the size of a finger, for example. Assuming it was conscious. It could just have very odd energy that reacted to things in certain ways. Anton would have expected a continuous flow over him if that were the case, instead of a single moment of contact. He held his ¡®hand¡¯ extended. ¡°I suppose this might take a while. It might not understand our intentions, if it can even sense this.¡± Anton waited half an hour. He did sense some shifts Maheg¡¯s energy, all the more obvious because of how regular it was in general. Even without being able to insert his energy within, he felt something of an internal flow, but not the kind natural to stars. More like a cultivation technique, but perhaps that was him presupposing a conclusion he¡¯d assumed. Anton thought for a few more moments. ¡°The star is giving off quite a bit of energy, isn¡¯t it? I don¡¯t know if I would allow this much of my internal stores to leak out.¡± ¡°Well, that assumes several other things,¡± Matija said. ¡°Like its ability to control it. Also, this should be a typical amount.¡± ¡°Hmm, that would lean back towards the mundane then, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± Anton pondered. ¡°Except¡­ if it¡¯s sentient and somewhat capable of cultivation, it might be stronger. So releasing a typical amount of energy might be more controlled.¡± And either way, since normal stars released such energy for millions of years- or far longer- then it wasn¡¯t as if it was a serious issue. Perhaps it was actually better at keeping the energy than Anton. He decided to prompt it. Rather than simply continue waiting, since he saw no further reaction Anton moved his extended ¡®hand¡¯. Not closer, but somewhat to the side. Then he extended another, bending it around the other direction and then twisting the streams of energy around each other. Then he retracted one, leaving the other extended towards the star. For an hour, nothing happened. Then a rush of energy came, something like a solar flare stretching out, overwhelming Anton¡¯s energy. It avoided the ship, but the extended ¡®hand¡¯ was annihilated. The ship¡¯s shields still flared, even being out of the direct path. Anton had thought it capable of finer manipulation than that¡­ but perhaps anything between sensing and that was difficult for it. Or maybe it wanted to tell him to go away. Gathering more energy, Anton made a more serious attempt. He drew on his natural energy from both himself and various more distant stars, creating a much larger and more substantial river of energy. It was still relatively smaller, but he held it well out of the way of the ship, letting it linger. The star responded more quickly. It still took ten minutes, but it stretched out and met his own energy. Anton felt that it was trying to be careful, but it still annihilated his energy in a matter of moments. Even so, the energies mingled for a small bit. He didn¡¯t feel anything like traditional emotions, but there was something there. And it wasn¡¯t simply reacting to the presence of energy, or it likely would have already tried to devour him. Fascinating. Anton was very curious about what would happen if he tried to bond to such a star and he also knew that if it had any malicious intent, opening himself like that could result in his annihilation. Even an unintentional reaction of confusion could spell the end for him. So he wouldn¡¯t try that until he was sure it was safe- to a very high degree of certainty he might never achieve. He did still have things he needed to do with his life, after all. Chapter 1009 Though Anton had experience with several forms of languages, from the standardized human speech to void ant¡¯s sign, that didn¡¯t suddenly make him able to communicate intelligently with whatever he wished. Not that he had expected any different. As a star, Maheg was vastly different from anything else he¡¯d interacted with. He couldn¡¯t even be certain about its level of sapience, though it clearly reacted to him instead of its energy simply acting naturally. Effectively, he knew it had the ability to sense things around it on some level and little more. So far, it seemed gentle. Anton didn¡¯t sense any malice, but that didn¡¯t mean he was planning to approach closer nor that he would suggest Matija or her team do the same. It wouldn¡¯t require any intent to vaporize them. Even Anton would struggle to survive, away from a bound star. He couldn¡¯t actually dive into whatever star he pleased without being annihilated, only those that were effectively part of him. After a day of attempting to communicate, all they accomplished was the star responding more ¡®swiftly¡¯ to Anton¡¯s gestures. It seemed to be able to replicate the broader strokes of anything Anton demonstrated, like the twisting handshake of energy. It was better about not annihilating his energy at the end of things, as it seemed to figure out that was part of the process. But as for learning more beyond that it was willing to replicate actions, there really wasn¡¯t much. Creating rivers of energy large enough for the star to recognize and react to was rather tiring, and while its responses were slow Anton eventually felt himself drained. ¡°I¡¯ll need a break,¡± he informed Matija. ¡°Meanwhile, we should determine our end goal.¡± She nodded. ¡°Indeed. We can keep doing this forever, but I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll learn much of value like this. I think the concept of language might be difficult to convey as well, even if we could organize this into something.¡± ¡°A longer term project,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°Getting advice from various minds would be for the best. We don¡¯t get an opportunity like this every day.¡± If asked if he was surprised about such a development, Anton would say he hadn¡¯t predicted it in the slightest. Yet he wasn¡¯t entirely blindsided by the idea either. Obviously he interacted with stars quite frequently. As humans tended to do, he would project various human features on those he interacted with. Some were calm, some grumpy. Stars that Anton bound to him had more than elemental properties, though he was well aware that any sort of thought he attributed to such stars was merely projection. They responded to his call, but that was a natural reaction of energy. This was quite different, but he had previously thought it might be possible, in some vague sense. That said, he would have expected some human influence, of which he felt none. Then again, there had been some in the system so perhaps they did something. Either way, Anton had seen animals develop intelligence when filled with natural energy, cultivating on their own. Plants were rarer, with only particular things like the Grandfather Willow truly seeming to be sentient. Then again, if Anton¡¯s crops or orchards had their own thoughts, perhaps they simply hadn¡¯t had a way to reveal them. Or a need to, really. He cared for all of the needs of things he planted, helping them develop as best he saw possible. They didn¡¯t need to ask for water except by the slightest curling of leaves, and changes in color often told him when nutrients were missing. If some sort of consciousness existed, they might not want anything beyond that. Animals fit somewhat naturally into the idea of cultivation, as their basic structure was similar to humans, with brains and the like. Yet even insects who had vastly different central nervous systems had developed intelligence and cultivation ability. When he also added plants to that¡­ was it odd for pure energy to have a system of cultivation and some sort of intelligence? Well, yeah. It was still very unusual. But Anton wasn¡¯t completely floored by the possibility. If something had or gained a soul, he wouldn¡¯t say it was impossible for it to grow with the presence of energy. What better place to get it than the source of the majority of energy in every system? ----- After a period of discussion, Anton and Matija decided that studying the remains of the humans in the system might prove fruitful. If nothing else, it might give the star time to think about things, if it even did that. Also to recognize that their presence wasn¡¯t necessarily permanent. The few rocky planets in the same system told pieces of a tale, though Anton wasn¡¯t a skilled archeologist or anything. However, a number of things were fairly clear. He had seen dead planets previously, destroyed by differing catastrophes. This one was different from the others, yet he could certainly tie it to some form of disaster. Anton didn¡¯t see anything indicating it was an invasion or extermination of some sort. However, he did notice some clear signs. First, there were massive graves dug near cities. That, but there were still a small number of decayed bodies within the cities. The architecture was crumbled, but he saw no signs of traumatic destruction. Everything should have been more or less intact when people began to die. ¡°A plague, perhaps?¡± Anton suggested to Matija. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that it is inconsistent,¡± she replied. ¡°However, I¡¯m sure you might notice a certain lack of something else that makes it unlikely.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Anton spread his energy out, realizing belatedly what it was. His initial impression of it as a dead planet had blinded him. In fact, he nearly missed the forest for the dead trees. Dead everything, really. It had all decayed, given time, but plant and animal life had completely fallen apart. Yet, with time to bury bodies, it didn¡¯t seem to have been all at once. Unfortunately, there were no helpful records to be found. What most likely had been sealed vaults had a few half intact cultivation techniques that should have once been enchanted to last. The formations that would have helped sustain them were entirely broken down. A product of time, certainly, but Anton also suspected something else. Anton surveyed the decay, looking over everything at the finest levels. If he focused, he could detect things on the level of individual cells or even tiny bacteria. Bacteria were necessary to break down everything and cause decay¡­ yet there were none still living. That was a surprise, as he would have expected at least some in extreme conditions. But there were other oddities to consider, when he thought of that. Some bacteria could survive in the heat of volcanic vents, others could survive as cold as arctic lakes with barely any source of energy or nutrients. So many things were missing. Arctic zones, in particular. Then again, they couldn¡¯t properly exist without liquid water or an atmosphere. Technically, the planet he was looking at still had a thin atmosphere. There were also small seas, and he¡¯d at first thought it was just a relatively small proportion. Extending his senses, he realized that the world had once had much more water. He could surmise various possibilities, but there was one that stood out over all others. Both water and atmosphere could be taken away by severe solar activity. The very reason they were in the system at all was the greatest oddity, after all. Had it wiped out human life? Possibly. Yet its current output was not sufficient to tear apart the atmosphere or annihilate the seas. Matija said just what Anton was thinking. ¡°A period of heightened solar activity,¡± she commented. ¡°Heat, and most likely excessive radiation. Enough to kill the common folk. Perhaps not cultivators, however. However, it seems whatever cultivators remained happened to be insufficient to rebuild.¡± ¡°With no crops to grow or animals to hunt, what would they eat?¡± Anton said. ¡°Sea life seems to have perished as well, the delicate balance upset. So then, we must ask a question. Was it on purpose?¡± Matija just shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know if we can answer that. We don¡¯t know enough. I¡¯m not sure if we can even know whether or not the star was conscious, at that point.¡± ¡°Or whether it was acting in self defense,¡± Anton added. ¡°Hmm. A possibility,¡± she agreed. ¡°Though I think if they were capable of significantly affecting their local star, they would likely have been able to spread out to nearby systems. We can do a more thorough sweep, but I do believe there were some habitable planets that¡­ aren¡¯t.¡± ¡°Perhaps they were sufficiently advanced in certain paths, but not travel,¡± Anton said. ¡°Without certain advancements, even a cultivator lifespan would be insufficient to reach a neighboring system. Lightspeed or near lightspeed capabilities would be required, or some sort of hibernation or other system that could sustain itself long term.¡± ¡°Right. So, what do we do?¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯re clearly far too late to save any lives. I¡¯m not an expert on the decay due to solar radiation, so I can¡¯t judge how long it¡¯s been¡­ but I suspect this might have been like this before I was born,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though it could be as recent as a couple centuries, if I¡¯m wrong.¡± ¡°Either way,¡± she shrugged. ¡°There is not much that could have been done, as they were unknown. We might be able to satisfy our curiosity by looking at historical readings for this star. Rutera¡¯s should go back at least a thousand years, though obviously much of that was less sophisticated. Before that¡­ it would have been noted only if it were unusually bright or the like.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°We can keep searching for any intact records, but I have the feeling we won¡¯t find much. We might get lucky with a cave or something.¡± ----- Despite whatever happened in the past, it was fairly clear that Maheg had made no attempt to kill any of their group. Whether that was because it didn¡¯t wish to or was being cautious was a question they could not answer, and they had to go with intuition. Personally, Anton thought the star was safe. At least, as it was now. Whether the destruction had occurred pre or post consciousness, it now felt peaceful. Maheg was willing to interact with Anton, but it was also content to have people sitting and studying it for months on end. Though Anton wasn¡¯t able to feel the deeper flow of the star¡¯s energy, he didn¡¯t try to force the issue either. He still found value in simply observing what came to the surface, the particular sort of control that had formed. Even if Anton felt safe, he still kept in mind that he was in the presence of a new and most likely very patient acquaintance. The possibility of being betrayed was still there, though Anton didn¡¯t think there was any benefit to such a thing. It didn¡¯t seem that the star had consumed the energy of the people on the nearby planets or anything like that. Obviously knowing that for certain was difficult, but he would have expected a burned and melted planet instead of one that was slightly cooked at best. He wondered if he would ever understand the mysteries of this star, but he also realized that it didn¡¯t matter. Just like interacting with people, the gains were in the act of getting to know them. The process of understanding was what led to development. Anton had much to learn about stars. He didn¡¯t think he would ever try to change a star that was bound to him, but he might change how he interacted with them. The connection inside of him might be refined to be more efficient. And perhaps Anton could smooth out the lifespans of some of his stars¡­ though that scale was already so long he might do more harm than good by trying to change things, without even realizing it. There would be no way for him to make a meaningful observation about the change a star¡¯s lifespan even if he lived another thousand years. That was true even of his first star, providing warmth and energy to Ceretos. Anton knew that regardless of his lifespan, his end would come in some manner eventually. But he was just one life among many, and he hoped the people of the Lower Realms Alliance could persist far into the future- while maintaining prosperity, of course. Chapter 1010 As it turned out, leaving a planet that was chasing you got a bit harder. It was solidly in its ball form now so it couldn¡¯t really smash Durff into anything or crush him from all sides, but it did push him around a lot. Though he supposed regular planets did that too. Durff got in a lot of thinking about weight and hammers and stuff. Maybe they were special insights, or maybe they were simple things he should have realized a long time ago. Either way, he spent a while wandering around the planet to get back to the half hammer he¡¯d dropped a while ago. He had come to try to learn more about things, and he was pretty sure he got it now. He picked up his busted hammer. He was going to have to get a new one, but it just had to be a bit tougher. While he wanted it to be heavier, he realized he could accomplish that a different way. He looked down at the planet, taking a stance and then using the final swing the hammer had in it. He connected, and felt the weight of that connection. The planet flew away from him and he moved away from it at the same time. It would probably take it a while to gain momentum towards him, and he expected to be out of the system before that. Durff didn¡¯t think he was very good at flying, but he was pretty sure he¡¯d gotten better. It was easy, actually. All he had to do was fall towards wherever he wanted to go. Much less complicated than all the stuff people usually said. He still wasn¡¯t very good at subspace and stuff, so going between systems on his own wouldn¡¯t be great. But there was a ship waiting for him¡­ hopefully. It was supposed to find him, right? Ah, there it was. Good, he didn¡¯t have to figure out all that complicated stuff on his own. The ship was falling with him, and they ended up going the same speed before he got into it. This was way better than that one time he had gone to train in an empty system and needed to wait a year for a ship to pass through and pick him up. He¡¯d been lucky, too, since a year was pretty short. ----- Durff met up with the smith Chikere had recommended, Sadiq. He was pleased to see the man made some decent weapons and not just swords and stuff. Some good hammers and clubs and properly heavy stuff. Chikere was already there, waiting. She apparently wanted to try that idea with the swords and stuff. Durff didn¡¯t have good metal anyway, as even the scraps of his previous hammer were gone now. ¡°So, what do you want?¡± asked the smith. Grandmaster smith, apparently. That meant he was really good. ¡°A hammer,¡± Durff said. ¡°What sort of hammer? I can make a maul, warhammer, various sorts of polearms¡­ anything you have a design for or can describe, really.¡± ¡°I want a heavy one,¡± Durff said. ¡°Something I can hold in two hands. Long is good, as long as the handle won¡¯t break when I swing it.¡± Chikere dumped several armfuls of swords on the floor. ¡°Here¡¯s some infused metal for you to work with,¡± she supplied. Sadiq looked at the pile warily. ¡°Swords into hammers? You¡¯re going to lose most of the essence.¡± Durff shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just for the material,¡± Chikere explained. ¡°Besides, it¡¯s still better this way. And he hasn¡¯t found any roving gangs of hammerers,¡± she gestured to Durff. ¡°Just some rocks. Were they hammers? Should I have taken all that?¡± Durff tilted his head. ¡°Unless they were particularly high in metal content¡­¡± Sadiq shrugged. He picked up the numerous weapons with ease, seemingly unconcerned about cutting himself even though he wasn¡¯t using energy to protect his fingers. ¡°I¡¯ll reshape a few of these into a decent weapon. You can watch, if you want, but don¡¯t interrupt unless I ask something.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯ll need all of them,¡± Durff said. Sadiq raised an eyebrow. ¡°I get that you can probably wield a greatly oversized weapon, but it¡¯s not actually better.¡± Durff shook his head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t need to be that big. Just heavy.¡± ¡°Dense?¡± Sadiq asked. Durff nodded. Dense was a good word. The smith¡¯s eyes traced over him. ¡°If I thought you were doing this just to show off your strength¡­ well, I¡¯d actually just let you die when you couldn¡¯t wield it to be honest. But you seem like you know what you¡¯re doing.¡± ¡°I think so,¡± Durff agreed. Durff thought that smithing involved sticking metal in a big fire until it melted. But Sadiq just tossed the stuff into a big cylinder where it began to float, then slowly spin. It melted without any fire at all. He wanted to ask, but he wasn¡¯t supposed to interrupt. Sadiq took some sort of stone poker with a hook, stirring up the molten metal as it floated. He still wasn¡¯t using energy, which was weird. Slowly, it began to vaguely resemble a long hammer. Sadiq did something that pulled out some strands of metal, dropping them into a trough of water behind the whole contraption. Bad metal, maybe? ¡°You don¡¯t mind it being one solid piece, yeah? How¡¯s this looking?¡± Durff realized he was allowed to respond. Supposed to. ¡°The handle seems pretty skinny. Won¡¯t it break.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°It¡¯s tough metal. I could make it thicker, but it would unbalance the weapon.¡± ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± Durff said. ¡°I have pretty good balance.¡± Sadiq looked over Durff. That was the only thing he¡¯d used energy for so far. ¡°Hmm, I think I get how this might work for you. You¡¯re more of an instinctual sort.¡± Sadiq paused for a few moments. ¡°Well, I suppose I¡¯m making this for you and not anyone else. Better a weapon that works for its wielder than one that¡¯s made for general purposes.¡± He went back to ignoring Durff. A bit more poking around at the glowing lump, and then he yanked it out with his bare hand. That was when he started using energy, and he also started smacking it against a large anvil. Sadiq had a relatively short, stout hammer. Durff could tell it was well made, but it clearly wasn¡¯t a weapon. Each stroke of Sadiq¡¯s weapon reshaped the lump. Sometimes flecks of metal would fall off, though those were always caught and tossed back into the weird floaty furnace or whatever it was. Durff noticed that sometimes, the metal just went away. No, maybe it was squished together with the rest. Denser. He worked quickly, seemingly finishing the head of the weapon before it cooled. Then he flipped just the long handle inside, just the part that was inside the weird contraption heating up and glowing. Sadiq infused some of the scraps into the melted vaguely handle shape, but he also removed a few more strands of metal. He spun that around a lot as he hammered it on his anvil, a rapid rhythmic thumping as his hammer seemed to jiggle up and down. Durff thought it was fascinating, but his hammering technique wouldn¡¯t do much good in a fight. Not that Duff thought the guy wouldn¡¯t be dangerous, it was just that technique probably wasn¡¯t. The smith stopped hammering and spun it around, then blew on it to cool it off. Obviously that wasn¡¯t normally enough, but his lungs were like a hurricane. ¡°Hmm, a good start,¡± he said, holding it up for Durff. ¡°What do you think?¡± Durff tilted his head. ¡°It¡¯s not done? It looks pretty done.¡± Sadiq chuckled. ¡°It still needs polishing. And you should probably still feel the balance.¡± ¡°Does polishing make it better?¡± Durff asked as he held out his hands, the hammer dropping into them. It was heavy. ¡°This is good. I like it.¡± He spun it around slowly. ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s not done?¡± ¡°If the balance is to your tastes,¡± Sadiq shrugged. ¡°Polishing it would still make it more even. Slight imperfections like that could throw off techniques.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a smith,¡± Durff said. ¡°So if you think it¡¯s better. But I like it like this.¡± ¡°Tell you what,¡± Sadiq said. ¡°You use it like that for a while. Let me know if you detect any issues.¡± ¡°Okay. Thank you,¡± Durff bowed. The hammer tried to pull him over, but he didn¡¯t let it. He was pretty heavy himself anyway. ¡°What do I owe you for this?¡± ¡°Oh, if I charge commissions for stuff like this you couldn¡¯t afford it,¡± Sadiq waved his hand. ¡°But I¡¯d be interested in some recordings of you using that.¡± ¡°I can show you right now,¡± Durff said. ¡°Nah, I mean really using it. In a proper fight, too.¡± Durff frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t know if recording equipment would survive.¡± ¡°Not the normal stuff. But there¡¯s some good stuff Uzun could set up. If you¡¯re willing, I¡¯ll talk to him and see if he can arrange for that.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Durff said. ¡°But I¡¯m not good with¡­ technology and stuff.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Sadiq said. ¡°Someone else will deal with that. You just need to give permission. Durff nodded. ¡°Thanks.¡± He wanted to go hit something with his hammer. But¡­ there weren¡¯t really any enemies around. While it seemed like the Scarlet Alliance could be attacked at any time, most of the time they actually weren¡¯t at war. Which was kind of weird, if he was being honest. ----- Upon reviewing the possible invasion paths, given the arrangement of various systems about half of them went through the Shining Cooperative. That was only considering stuff that might reach the Lower Realms Alliance, of course. The Adamant Federation and Free Planet Guardians would likely both face some sort of retaliation, and they were close to the border of the realms, but further east than anything the Lower Reams Alliance had. There was only a relatively thin line starting from Akrys near the border where the Lower Realms Alliance actually had systems. Then there was a cluster of them around the core, and a long arm stretching eastward. It wasn¡¯t quite the path Anton had taken towards Uzun, but that happened to be the majority of independent systems that had ended up joining them. Some places were unlikely to be attacked. The system that Tenoun¡¯a and Shreen occupied was most likely marked down as successfully exterminated. Without any known resources or other reason to return, they¡¯d probably be left alone. However, they were actually flourishing over the last few centuries and it was possible information about them would have gotten out. They would be ready for an attack, if there was one. Ekict was a point of concern as they had killed many members of the Twin Soul Sect. Not that there was anything unreasonable about that, but the point was that they had died normally without any damage to their souls. That meant information should be available from them. Of course, everywhere else that had Twin Soul Sect members might have let a few through, except perhaps Ceretos given Everheart¡¯s traps. Not that the Trigold Cluster would be particularly more lenient to places that had annihilated the Twin Soul Sect without any information getting out- they would just have a harder time making specific preparations for the invasions. Obviously they would be upset about those planets going dark. Assuming that the Lower Realms Alliance had kept a perfect lockdown on information was foolish, but they did the best they reasonably could. The incident with the lower realms Trigold forces would have revealed more than they wanted, but it would have been worse to leave them attacking the Shining Cooperative and In¡¯istra, among other places. The Exalted Quadrant was also building up forces along the border for the upcoming shift in the Tides of the World. They were especially concentrated in an area that should be going to the Numerological Compact¡¯s systems, which was unsurprising. That was where they¡¯d taken the most obvious hit. They might have plans to infiltrate other planets, of course. Nidec was likely also a target given the prevalence of the Hardened Crown Sect and others, which had been convinced to switch sides. Or killed, as necessary. They couldn¡¯t just leave foreign agents in their alliance. The remaining time continued to shrink, though with over a century remaining the situation could change drastically before the time came. Chapter 1011 In most cases, a sect head would want to continually recruit more disciples. As long as they had enough resources and those disciples met their particular standards, why wouldn¡¯t they? That wasn¡¯t true for everyone, however. Devon would be quite pleased if he never got another new disciple in the Shattered Chains. That didn¡¯t mean he disliked being a sect master. While it had certainly taken him a while to get used to it, he ultimately found it quite fulfilling. The issue was that the disciples of the Shattered Chains, or at least those who were most fit for the cultivation techniques, were all former slaves. Devon preferred nobody was enslaved to begin with, and if that was the case nobody could be ex-slaves. Of course, the method wasn¡¯t restricted to those who fit some technical job title or the like, but the techniques were most functional when people had faced some form of massive oppression and lack of agency. For the most part, the Lower Realms Alliance did quite well to prevent that within their borders. They hadn¡¯t encountered any new occupied systems since the Numerological Compact, so there had been one large wave of new disciples followed only by smaller trickles as people sought out the proper developmental path for themselves. Enough time had passed that they now knew through actual data that the hiveminds were stable. Well, it wasn¡¯t even so much separate hiveminds anymore. The deeper connection didn¡¯t stretch between planets or systems, but there was enough movement between the hiveminds that they had sort of fused into a single thing. After the initial birth, the hivemind had grown slowly. There had even been a period of decline, not from deaths but from significant numbers choosing to disconnect from the hivemind. Ultimately, many of them returned, having found independence less fulfilling. Many others, however, chose to stay apart. Devon didn¡¯t blame either. Until they had gone through more than a century, it hadn¡¯t been clear how everything would work out. Nobody had chosen to be in a hivemind, and whether people could truly leave voluntarily had been up for debate. The small portion of those who remained separate proved that case, though ultimately very few of them were resentful for the experience. The ability to break apart, even if it was a slow and somewhat uncomfortable process, was sufficient. In recent years, Devon had observed a significant amount of immigration to the systems, only a small portion of the vast population of the Alliance but there were many curious about the hiveminds, joining for their own reasons. A majority of the population of the various planets still remained as individuals, as the only ones who had fallen into the hivemind without intentionality were the former slaves. They weren¡¯t a small minority by any means, but there were still more who had been from the free population. And a very small portion of the Numerological Compact who had been judged ¡®acceptable¡¯. There was still some tension between the two populations. The unity of the hivemind meant that their political opinions were amplified. Devon wondered how things would have developed without the influence of the Alliance. As it was, the hivemind recognized that they couldn¡¯t only push the agendas of their own members. Instead, they exerted their influence in ways that were meant to benefit the population as a whole- which of course included themselves. The hivemind was able to internally debate complex topics in a rapid manner, with everyone being well informed as long as they had enough individuals dedicated to learning. Devon couldn¡¯t say that they always produced the best possible plans, but they were quite decent. After a surge of early activity, the hivemind served as a stabilizing force for the systems. It had taken the majority of the Alliance a long time to develop their structure, both their laws and their various policies promoting growth. Along the way, there had always been those who tried to exploit things to their own ends, finding loopholes to benefit just themselves. The rules and laws for an interstellar people could grow quite complex¡­ and the hivemind helped simplify things, at least in the systems where they were present. Of course, some of their simplifications required the presence of the hivemind- any incident of note was generally observed by numerous members. Despite what a few paranoid individuals said, they didn¡¯t cover things up for their own. Instead, for the most part they stopped people from getting in trouble to begin with. Devon hadn¡¯t just taken their word for it, of course. But a long time of observation had proven them sufficiently reliable. He wouldn¡¯t say they were perfect, but it was difficult to say that about anything. With the systems physically separated from the rest of the Alliance, they still felt somewhat like a separate thing. Devon had lived among the main body of the Alliance for longer, though he found himself quite attached to his sect for obvious reasons. There was always some expansion within the Alliance, but at the current moment it was cautious. After the end of the cycle? Well, there were plans in play to greatly ramp things up. They didn¡¯t believe the upper realms would be able to detect new colonies, but they didn¡¯t want to risk it, and focusing development on their current planets would improve their survival rates. Frankly, Devon couldn¡¯t see any of their planets being wiped out. They were strong, well coordinated. But there were many levels short of complete annihilation that were unpleasant. The faster they could repel incoming invasions and the more of the enemy they could eliminate, the better off they would be. Then in another six centuries? The might of the upper realms would mean little to them. Of course, they couldn¡¯t be careless. That was in part why they had the void ants¡­ both in the lower realms, and the upper. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ----- Though Crossed Antennae had not grown up among humans but instead the people of Akrys, she understood that non-insectoids tended to share certain ideas about life and survival. With the development of some of the more special void ants in her brood, she had personal understanding of them. Individual people meant something. Not just she and her sister. Nor simply the queens she gave birth to. There were others like Snips, Chops, Bullet, and Fire. More now, but they were the first. Crossed Antennae didn¡¯t know whether it was the influence of humans that made void ants more likely to develop personalities, or whether those who could develop personalities would seek out humans. Either way, she¡¯d seen the spark of growth among her people. Crossed Antennae recognized that she had more people serving under her day after day. She also understood that they would probably be annihilated if and when the upper realms discovered their presence. These people who she was responsible for, and likely Crossed Antennae herself. If they went forward with their plans, they risked all those lives. And she found it acceptable. Because, after all, they were still void ants. Simply because she had her own personality didn¡¯t mean the communal nature of void ants suddenly disappeared. Moreover, even with the new void ants in her founded colonies developing personalities¡­ there still weren¡¯t that many of them. Throughout everything, she doubted they could even match one city on Akrys in number. Maybe a large town, and that was by number. Not that considering the importance of people by mass was a fair metric. That would make that big turtle in the lower realms the most important individual, even though he was just one individual. In short, Crossed Antennae considered the personhood of herself and all of her descendents, and still felt confident it was right and proper to risk them all for their allies. And her friends, since there were indications that one of the planets was likely going to attack Akrys. That was sufficient reason such that she could stop her calculations there without considering the rest of the Lower Realms. Ultimately, the numbers simply demanded that she maintain her course of action. They just had to do it right. ----- Communication between the void ant colonies was difficult, with humans living on their planets and all. Their planets. Crossed Antennae wondered when she¡¯d started seeing them that way. She didn¡¯t think it sounded wrong¡­ though she would have preferred to share. Just not with the particular humans there. Bullet and Fire had proven to be excellent infiltrators, especially once they learned to fly. The Scarlet Alliance had provided void ant sized ships as well- enough to carry a million of them at once, mostly because there was a minimum engine size and they built the shell to match. It was still smaller than would usually be used to carry a single human. Those ships were left at the periphery of systems, hidden by their insignificance among other things. Bullet and Fire had learned to fly- through space as well, which was a trick the Great Queen had been the progenitor of. Not that they could compare, but the point was they could get down to planets and back up. A difficult task, for an ant. ¡°What do you think of the positioning?¡± Crossed Antennae asked her council. ¡°Many planets will need to move their colonies closer,¡± Bullet said. ¡°They were well enough placed for the previous plan, but now¡­¡± Crossed Antennae nodded. ¡°Tell them to remain cautious. If we are unable to assault the enemy forces originating from a particular planet, it is better than giving away our presence. Though optimally, we would destroy a portion of each invasion ourselves.¡± The plan had changed. Not in its goal, but in certain practical matters. It might be possible for them, with the numbers they had built up, to overwhelm the enemy forces. They could likely even coordinate an assault to within a small enough window that communications wouldn¡¯t reach neighboring groups in time to matter. However, that almost certainly meant messages would get out to their greater factions. Just because Crossed Antennae was willing to risk the annihilation of her people didn¡¯t mean she would accept it. A better plan¡­ was to infiltrate the enemy ships. That meant monitoring enemy movements for longer, but if they could assault their enemies between realms, they could lose their opportunity to retreat. Of course, that came with its own risks. Ships that were destroyed would lose all of the void ants on them. However, they would be able to survive any trip where life support functioned at any capacity, making use of minimal food, water, and air. That was the plan. Crossed Antennae expected it to go wrong. There was just one area where they maintained the utmost caution, which was the technology of the upper realms, and their ships. They couldn¡¯t afford to have anything traced back to the Scarlet Alliance. If something like that happened¡­ well, it would have been better to colonize all of their planets to fight with them. But it was too risky, and the people of the upper realms might not all have been on board, despite those from Ceretos finding them acceptable. The council discussed various possibilities. Moving into the ships early with some of their own supplies, packed into unknown pockets of emptiness. The same, but feeding on the ships supplies. Alternatively, going hungry for the first week or so until they were well committed- but that required better understanding of when the various ships would depart. Talking about all of the possibilities made Crossed Antennae nervous. The only thing that kept her from going crazy was one simple fact. She could trust her people to make their own decisions. Though she was still ultimately responsible for what plans they made, and indeed deviations from the plan maybe should have worried her, it was actually comforting. She wouldn¡¯t say that she always approved of void ants acting on their own initiative, but at least more often than not it was because they saw opportunities not planned for, resulting in better results. Trust¡­ trust was an odd thing as an ant queen. Normally, she shouldn¡¯t need trust. Her orders would simply be obeyed. But there was something nice about knowing that even if she messed up, someone would be there to try to put things back on track. Or maybe come up with an entirely new plan, somehow. The waiting was a problem. She almost wished to skip ahead a century and more, especially since many of the colonies were at maximum safe capacity. But alas, she would simply have to wait the normal way. At least she wasn¡¯t alone. Chapter 1012 Sometimes threats could be seen far in advance, and sometimes they came all at once without warning. The Scarlet Alliance had been keeping an eye out for a particular case for a while. Plans had been drawn up, but when the time actually came they weren¡¯t finalized. That meant some improvisations would be necessary. Of course, the incoming information could mean nothing. Movements within the Exalted Quadrant happened all the time. This particular mobilization, however, checked several criteria. First, a large-scale mobilization of the Citadel of Exalted LIght. None of their allies, at least not yet, but that was worrying enough. Then there was Zaur. They didn¡¯t know where he was, which was a bad sign. They could only assume he would end up in the worst possible place. Or at least, that was all Velvet was willing to assume. Her preparations needed to be done quickly, which meant a small team. Unfortunately, that also meant not being able to inform people ahead of time. She had to pick from those who were available, and she was ready to be rejected numerous times. First, though, she needed someone of a particular type. One that she was definitely not. An individual who fought in the category of destruction. For anything else, she would have chosen Chikere. Actually¡­ maybe she still would. Velvet would just tell her there was something that couldn¡¯t be cut. That should work, though Chikere might be busy. And having more than one person for a critical part of the mission was probably a good idea. ¡°Durff!¡± Velvet moved far faster than people usually did to get to a different part of the city. She had to speak to him in person. ¡°There¡¯s a mission I need-¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Durff nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± ¡°Uh-¡± Velvet¡¯s whole spiel was suddenly tossed over on its side. ¡°You should probably¡­ hear what the mission is first.¡± Durff frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. ¡°Why? Do you¡­ not want me to do the mission?¡± ¡°Well, no. Yes.¡± Velvet was going to confuse herself with all of that. ¡°I did come here to ask you to do it, because that¡¯s what I want.¡± ¡°Then I agree. It¡¯s something I can do, right?¡± ¡°About as well as anyone, I think,¡± Velvet said cautiously. ¡°Though it would be better if you were an Augmentation cultivator.¡± ¡°Obviously everything would be easier if I were stronger,¡± Durff agreed. ¡°Do I have time to do that first?¡± ¡°Uh, no. We¡¯d have to leave within a week.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Durff nodded. ¡°Yeah, a week isn¡¯t nearly enough time.¡± Velvet smiled. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t think so. Augmentation isn¡¯t that easy to reach. Cultivation takes time.¡± Durff was somewhere in the mid to late Integration stage- it was difficult for Velvet to know for sure given it was an unfamiliar style that he practiced. Not everyone had clear markers, either. ¡°Anyway¡­ I should still explain. We need you to break something.¡± ¡°Oh, my specialty,¡± Durff flexed. ¡°Consider it done.¡± ¡°Yes, well, it will be something very durable protected by a lot of people who don¡¯t want you to break it.¡± ¡°It usually is,¡± Durff nodded. ¡°I assume we smash them first?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the thing¡­ we might not have the luxury of doing so. And¡­ our target might not even be what we¡¯re looking for. If it is, it might be unbreakable.¡± ¡°Nu-uh,¡± Durff said. ¡°Aunt Eka told me that nothing is unbreakable.¡± Velvet wondered if she actually meant that. Though ultimately, she would have to agree. But just because something was technically breakable didn¡¯t mean it would be simple. It might not even be something an Augmentation cultivator could do. Maybe an army of them, but¡­ it wasn¡¯t possible to get an army to their target. Ultimately, Velvet just had to be honest. ¡°The most likely result of this mission, even if we succeed, is that we die,¡± she continued. ¡°So¡­ don¡¯t feel obligated to join.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going?¡± Durff asked. Velvet nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be responsible for getting us to the target alive.¡± Durff pointed to Velvet. ¡°You¡¯ll die if the mission fails, right?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± there was a small chance of getting out. And if anyone did, it would be Velvet. She¡¯d be willing to give her life for the cause, but she was also the least likely to actually be able to damage anything. Durff should have more destructive power even though she was an Augmentation cultivator. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect me to make it back either.¡± ¡°Then, as your friend, I should go,¡± Durff concluded. ¡°What about Jyotsana and the twins? Are they coming?¡± ¡°Jyotsana is¡­ not strong enough, just yet,¡± Velvet shook her head. Aside from not being suited, she was still in the Life Transformation stage. Maybe given a few more decades she¡¯d reach Integration and even surpass her previous peak strength, but as things were she wasn¡¯t enough. ¡°I don¡¯t think the twins would be good for the mission, either. Though¡­¡± it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a formation master along. Sure, Misi was barely at the point he could be called that, but Velvet couldn¡¯t bring Catarina. She¡¯d be needed here. ¡°I might invite them.¡± ¡°Okay. Who else?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Alva¡­ potentially Sly, if we can get him. And Chikere.¡± ¡°Oh, I like her. She¡¯s nice.¡± He pat his bulky hammer, hanging on his back. ¡°She helped me make this. It isn¡¯t anything like swords anymore.¡± Durff stroked his chin. ¡°Is Alva good at breaking things? I know she¡¯s strong, but more in the way of¡­ killing people by shooting behind their armor. I assume we¡¯re not planning to break a person. Otherwise, you could probably do it without me.¡± ¡°Yeah. Not a person,¡± Velvet agreed. She was actually glad she hadn¡¯t given a full explanation to Durff, not because she wanted to lie to him but because she couldn¡¯t know what information he might accidentally give up. Even in the most extreme paranoid fears she had Durff wouldn¡¯t be sympathetic to the Exalted Quadrant. ----- Sly was pretty high on the list of people that could break things, but with him being the head of the ¡®Harder Crown¡¯ it was really necessary to have him around if there was a big conflict. Velvet would gladly fight with Hoyt and Timothy, but neither of them were quite at the necessary level of destruction. Maybe Hoyt if he had time, but ultimately the mission was likely going to be short and deadly. He couldn¡¯t hang around spinning falling stars around him in sight of the Citadel of Exalted Light itself. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°You want me to cut the enemy¡¯s headquarters in half?¡± Chikere had asked. ¡°Pretty much,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°Or smaller pieces, if that¡¯s easier for some reason.¡± ¡°And we¡¯re going to be attacked by everyone still there while I do that?¡± Chikere confirmed. Once again, Velvet was forced to confirm her words. ¡°Unless you can do that without letting off a ripple of energy for people to detect.¡± Chikere furrowed her brow, clearly thinking deeply. Good, this was something people needed to consider clearly. ¡°I guess that¡¯s a good enough way to die. I¡¯ll do it.¡± At least she didn¡¯t ask if they had swords. Then again, Chikere seemed to have moved past that phase, since she no longer kept swords for herself. ----- Alva had agreed easily enough, once explaining what her role was and why it was a necessity. ¡°I might not be able to actually speed us up much, especially in enemy territory,¡± Alva explained. ¡°But I¡¯ll do my best.¡± ¡°You were working with some of the ships, though,¡± Velvet said. ¡°And I¡¯m familiar enough with you to better be able to hide your energy signature. Your role is¡­ either the most important or superfluous, honestly. We just need to arrive on time, but arriving early might be pointless.¡± ¡°Maybe I can help break stuff,¡± Alva commented. ¡°Since I¡¯ll be there anyway. People tend to put delicate parts behind cover, after all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a good point,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°I wish we had a proper layout, but I think that would take a century of getting good spies killed. The fact that we¡¯re learning of the mobilization is¡­ already about as much as can be expected.¡± ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll get lucky and they¡¯re going after someone else,¡± Alva said. ¡°I hope it¡¯s Everheart,¡± Velvet said. Though, if it was Everheart¡­ they might want to try to complete the mission regardless. Because whatever else she believed about that guy, she knew that he had no intention to wipe out the whole Scarlet Alliance. Unlike, say, Zaur and the Citadel of Exalted Light who would do it just because he failed to do it the first time. Too bad his injuries hadn¡¯t festered and killed him, but if Domination cultivators were that easy to kill Ratna probably wouldn¡¯t have risked the battle. ----- Velvet had a high opinion of Misi, but the truth was that he was relatively new to formations. At least, compared to the amount of experience they needed someone to have. Besides, if they recruited Misi then Juli would want to join as well¡­ and while she was quite good at what she did, none of it was practical for their mission. But going without a proper formation master would be foolish. Catarina was the very best they had, which was why she was needed on Xankeshan. However, just because she was the best didn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t have many other competent formation masters. It wasn¡¯t possible for her to handle important work for all of their planets, even ignoring the various branches of research that the Scarlet Alliance always had in development. With neighbors like theirs, they couldn¡¯t feel comfortable saying what they had was ¡®good enough¡¯. Among other things, several generations of formation masters had apprenticed under Catarina. She didn¡¯t horde information all to herself, after all. The only limitations were on the level of trust people could have, since certain information could be dangerous in enemy hands. Velvet was able to secure the assistance of a man who had begun an apprenticeship under Catarina four hundred years prior. Koralo was his name, and while his official title had changed, he still considered himself an apprentice. ¡°I¡¯m still learning from her every day,¡± he explained. ¡°Even if I am up to her level of expertise from when I first began- which I¡¯m not quite convinced of- she still maintains a certain distance ahead of me. It would be more, if she wasn¡¯t dragging me along with her.¡± Koralo nodded. ¡°I owe her and the Scarlet Alliance much. Of course I will go with you on this mission.¡± ----- Five people packed up into a small ship, where they would be living for the next year or so. After all, they had to travel hundreds of lightyears. That was a big step up from the earliest interstellar ships Velvet had seen, going half a lightyear per day sometimes. Here, they were hoping to surpass two. They could actually outpace that by quite a bit, but not over such a long distance. The ship would need to replenish its energy stores, as well as any cultivators on board. It could probably fly continuously for a month, but that meant a significant number of required rest stops. Those were easy enough in the Scarlet Midfields. Pop out near any convenient unoccupied star, and they could top off. The route through Exalted Quadrant territory would be more difficult. If everything went well, they would arrive early. Or rather, approach their destination early, and hide somewhere appropriate until the time came. If everything went poorly¡­ Zaur would appear the moment they left and start destroying planets in anger. Velvet seriously doubted it would be the latter option, but the point was that even if they could easily outpace the enemy fleets, there was no guarantee of that with the Domination cultivator- especially since it wasn¡¯t clear where he was. There had been some hope that the reports were missing something or that the Citadel of Exalted Light had mobilized to attack a rival within the Exalted Quadrant. That was slowly fading as a few other sects had begun to mobilize and move towards the border of the Scarlet Midfields. Most likely, they were joining up to gain favor in Zaur¡¯s eyes. Or because they were afraid of him, but that didn¡¯t change the end result. ¡°Alright, so,¡± Chikere said, sitting stiffly opposite Durff in some of the few chairs they had in their light craft. ¡°We¡¯re agreed that I¡¯ll cut everything into pieces and then you can smash that stuff into dust.¡± ¡°... No? We agreed that whoever is successful first will do so. That means if I smash this citadel thing to pieces, you then cut them into tiny bits.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Chikere nodded. ¡°Which means that it¡¯s getting cut into eighths or whatever¡¯s convenient depending on the shape. Because I¡¯m obviously going to be successful first.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Durff nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a challenge. I see.¡± ¡°Hmm. It¡¯s not that I doubt your resolve, but without being arrogant I can say that I have sufficient skill that you can¡¯t make up for the gap in cultivation.¡± Durff frowned. ¡°That is a problem. I don¡¯t think I can reach Augmentation here, either. I¡¯d probably break the ship.¡± ¡°Is the time limit not an issue for you?¡± Chikere asked. Durff shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I can do a lot of stuff in a year. A year-ish.¡± ¡°Are you at the peak of your cultivation for Integration?¡± Durff tilted his head. ¡°I guess I¡¯d have to be, huh. Well, I don''t really know. I only really cultivated hammers and the stuff Aunt Eka made for me. I didn¡¯t really get all of the Veiled Brilliance stuff so she made something simple. The hammer stuff was just around, though.¡± Alva poked her head into the bridge. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to pry,¡± Alva said. ¡°But I¡¯m sure you are aware the ship isn¡¯t exactly private. Is your focus actually hammers? Because it feels different.¡± ¡°Heavy stuff,¡± Durff shrugged. ¡°But I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything better for me than a hammer. Whatever I do, I¡¯ll definitely be smashing stuff. You think this citadel will be difficult to break?¡± ¡°It might be the most fortified thing in the entire Exalted Quadrant,¡± Alva said. ¡°If not¡­ it¡¯s in the top rankings equivalent to however many Domination cultivators they have.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too bad that Zaur guy is such a jerk,¡± Durff said. ¡°I¡¯d prefer not to have all my friends die.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re trying to stop it,¡± Alva agreed. ¡°Because I saw Zaur fight before¡­ and even with all the defensive improvements we made I doubt it¡¯s enough.¡± Chikere yawned. ¡°Yeah, he was pretty strong I guess. Doesn¡¯t mean he isn¡¯t going to die though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the plan,¡± Alva agreed. ¡°Maybe it will turn out to be flimsy. I could snipe it from three systems out. Of course, that would require already having attacked it to know, or we just give away our presence. So I won¡¯t actually do that.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Durff said. ¡°Because I have to be near it to smash it, and I¡¯m gonna win. Or we all die or whatever, but that happens to cultivators all the time.¡± Chapter 1013 Every day that passed, Velvet thought to herself how it might be a trap. There had been a trap last time, after all. She¡¯d thought she managed to sneak up on Zaur for a moment¡­ but she was now convinced he had spotted her. After surviving that encounter- and the Alliance miraculously surviving the war- she had intensified her training. There wasn¡¯t exactly a way for her to test herself against a Domination cultivator, but Velvet was confident that if she did not foolishly approach too close she could still retain her stealth. Perhaps that confidence was pointless. Everyone had different reactions to feeling the might of a Domination cultivator, and while none in the upper echelons of the Scarlet Alliance had given into despair permanently¡­ even Velvet retained some feelings of hopelessness. Besides, the Exalted Quadrant had to be able to move their people more stealthily. The Citadel¡¯s movements were far too obvious. Velvet almost didn¡¯t believe it, even though they had crossed paths just recently. And of course by crossing paths she meant strictly as far as a naive map without three dimensional coordinates would be concerned. They never got closer than fifty lightyears. That was one benefit of a ship that didn¡¯t require refined fuel, but functioned off of upper energy in general. ¡°I sense a spiral of doubt,¡± Koralo interrupted her thoughts. His hair and beard were grizzled, indications not so much of a greater age as a lesser cultivation. He had not yet advanced to Augmentation. ¡°Would you mind sharing?¡± Velvet knew she couldn¡¯t expect much privacy on the ship, considering they had tiny compartments to sleep in and little other room. Spatial compression was a point of failure a dedicated spy ship could not afford. Only strict necessities and nothing else. ¡°What if this is all a trap, and they are simply testing our capabilities?¡± ¡°If that is the case¡­¡± the formation master shrugged. ¡°I expect we should gather as much information as possible before retreating. Like whether or not the Citadel itself is an anchor, and what sort of formations protect the outside.¡± ¡°Assuming we notice ahead of time,¡± Velvet said. ¡°And that we can do anything.¡± ¡°Yes. That is indeed the assumption,¡± Koralo said. ¡°It is why you are here, is it not? Both yourself and Alva have the best senses to pick out a trap. You are the head of the alliance infiltration network. And I¡­ am highly ranked in formation assessment.¡± ¡°And if we fail-¡± ¡°Then we die. The Scarlet Alliance loses three Augmentation experts. A serious loss. But probably fewer Augmentation individuals the Exalted Quadrant will lose. The plan is to not approach until the actual war is underway, correct? So they will have to commit their forces. And they will lose them. Trust me, I have seen what our formations can do. Too bad we didn¡¯t complete total inversion¡­ Can you imagine the looks on their faces when they got to Xankeshan directly?¡± He smiled. ¡°They¡¯d laugh maniacally until they began the assault. Then Catarina would be doing it as a whole system¡¯s worth of formations began to rip apart their fleets.¡± ¡°There are worse results than death,¡± Velvet grimaced. ¡°I know too many secrets.¡± ¡°I do have a solution for that, actually. I was going to bring it up when we were closer,¡± Koralo said. ¡°It¡¯s a bit risky, but since this mission bears the hallmarks of a suicide mission¡­ I can set up some enchantments that would kill us should we lose consciousness or energy flow. I won¡¯t say it¡¯s not risky, as I¡¯d have to tune it to be quite sensitive. But since none of us are completely immune to information extraction, it¡¯s likely best for all involved.¡± ¡°... That would actually make me feel much better,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Good. Because we¡¯ll need you at the peak of your game for information gathering before we go in. Unless you learn that Zaur or some equivalently dangerous cultivator is still present, this will be our best opportunity to gain critical information for the Alliance. Assuming we don¡¯t just save the day by destroying a Domination cultivator''s anchor.¡± ¡°What if we don¡¯t have the strength to destroy it?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Everyone counting on us¡­¡± ¡°Then we chuck it into the nearest star,¡± Koralo said without a moment¡¯s thought. ¡°That¡¯ll take care of pretty much anything in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Well but- hmm.¡± ¡°Indeed. I refuse to believe we cannot even move the citadel. I heard that Durff smacked around a planet. Unless he was exaggerating.¡± ¡°Oh, no.¡± Velvet had sent someone to check. ¡°It was definitely a planet sized mass. It likely didn¡¯t have any upper energy resisting him but¡­ if he said it moved, it did.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t imagine the Citadel itself is any larger than a planet,¡± Koralo said. ¡°It will most likely have formations, but it is my job to assess countermeasures for those. Then there will be the enemy cultivators who probably won¡¯t enjoy our presence. I assume yourself and Alva will be primarily responsible for dealing with them, when we get down to it. Or Chikere, depending on if she wants to cut people or the Citadel.¡± ¡°I¡¯d bet on both, honestly,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I do have serious concerns about entrapment, still.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Then I would suggest we arrive before they think we possibly could and complete our infiltration early.¡± ----- ¡°Is this one of those space squishing ships?¡± Durff asked out of nowhere. Alva took a few moments to translate what he was saying. ¡°Oh, no. It doesn¡¯t use a warp drive. It uses a subspace traversal engine. Which is why I¡¯m here. Not so much the engine but¡­ in case we need to know about weird subspace stuff.¡± ¡°So it can¡¯t make me heavier?¡± ¡°... No. Not unless something went horribly wrong and you got parts of the ship stuck overlapping with you.¡± ¡°That happened with that one secret realm,¡± Durff said, looking down at his body. ¡°I think I got all the bits out, though. They weren¡¯t helpful.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Alva said. ¡°I find having the right things in the right spot very helpful. I don¡¯t want extra stuff.¡± ----- Durff found himself staring at a planet, trying to solve the most difficult problem he¡¯d ever faced before. They were in some system that might not have a name, and if it did he definitely didn¡¯t know it. Then again, Durff would never have been the one to ask about things like that. The point was, nobody lived here. Not even a thousand year old hermit. That was what they needed, as their ship was orbiting as close to the star as it reasonably could, filling its battery with energy. An unoccupied planet was what Durff needed, but Velvet¡¯s restrictions made things hard. He couldn¡¯t say she was wrong, of course. It would give them away if people saw huge cracks in a planet or something. But he needed to hit it with his hammer. He was confident in his own strength for most things, but breaking something connected to a Domination cultivator? That was probably a lot harder than what he was used to. So he needed to be stronger, which meant practice. And while he could sit and meditate all day, that only got him so far. Circulating energy was good and made him stronger, but it was very slow. They probably only had a few months now, and that wasn¡¯t long at all to reach Augmentation. He didn¡¯t even know if he could do it. Aunt Eka said it would be difficult for him to reach Augmentation because of¡­ she didn''t precisely say why. Probably because he wasn¡¯t smart and didn¡¯t have a good cultivation method. He would have liked to ask her, but he couldn¡¯t talk to her right now because he was technically working for an enemy group. He wondered if the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance knew they were on a list to watch out for? Well, so was all of the Trigold Cluster. Some of the Guardians weren¡¯t very nice, but Aunt Eka was good. Some other people in the Trigold Cluster were much worse. There was one time someone had tried to kill Durff and he¡¯d killed them back instead, and then Aunt Eka had gotten mad at him for some political thing and something about souls or whatever. She said all that, but nobody came to take revenge on Durff so she¡¯d probably fixed the politics problem. She¡¯d been real mad though so he¡¯d stayed away from people in that sect. The point was, Aunt Eka wasn¡¯t here and his friends had helped him get good training and maybe he could reach Augmentation anyway. The one thing he knew about cultivation was that just because someone else said something was impossible didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t do it. Aunt Eka never said something was impossible. And his new friends in the Alliance agreed with his thoughts. Chikere¡¯s look when she thought about cutting an unbreakable building was kind of how Durff felt about things sometimes. Of course, Durff didn¡¯t have his own statue. He wondered if he needed one to become an Augmentation cultivator, or if it worked the other way around. Maybe they would make one for him after. He could break off a chunk of this planet and turn it into a statue, but he wouldn¡¯t do it if there was no point. And he wasn¡¯t supposed to leave evidence behind. Which made figuring out how to do anything very difficult. Could he hit a planet without anyone noticing? That seemed unlikely. He¡¯d probably leave a big hammer imprint. Maybe if he hit the whole side all at once, all spread out? No, there were a bunch of people who monitored planets¡¯ orbits and stuff. Then again¡­ he could just put it back, right? It wasn¡¯t going to go far. Durff had to think about that. It took enough thinking that he didn¡¯t get to do anything on that stop, and he didn¡¯t notice when he was dragged into the ship. He didn¡¯t even notice when he was plopped down on an entirely different planet a week later. Then he smacked the planet good. Immediately afterwards, he rushed to the other side and hit it just as hard to get it back into the right spot. He¡­ hadn¡¯t thought about how long it would take to get to the other side of the planet. A few minutes shouldn¡¯t matter, right? It was probably fine. Nobody would notice. There weren¡¯t any trees or anything delicate and he hadn¡¯t even smacked it that hard so it was hardly off course even before he fixed it. Well, it was as hard as he could hit but planets were big and heavy. And that was why he did it. Wasn¡¯t he thinking about Augmentation? He checked himself and he was not an Augmentation cultivator. Maybe he needed to do it again, or maybe that wasn¡¯t right at all. Ultimately, he decided it didn¡¯t matter. He did it again because he wanted to. It was fun, and nobody was stopping him. As long as he didn¡¯t break the planet or something, nobody who didn¡¯t set foot on the planet would notice anything. Except maybe a slightly odd spin. Even when Durff stood on it the planet looked fine. Some of the soil was just more compact than the rest. The impact was spread out over such a large area they¡¯d need fancy measuring tools to notice anything. Or some sort of dirt cultivator. Did people cultivate dirt? Yeah, he¡¯d seen them on Xankeshan. Well, mostly people who worked with crops and stuff, but those were in dirt. Then again, on Xankeshan people cultivated while doing everything. Even reading. That just made it hard for Durff to read, but he supposed it fit some people. So. Augmentation. He wasn¡¯t there and didn¡¯t know if he could reach it. But he was probably a little bit stronger now. That way, he wouldn¡¯t disappoint any of his friends or himself if he failed to smash stuff when they needed him to. Chapter 1014 Despite the field of stealth being her specialty, even Velvet couldn¡¯t explain how every stealth related system worked for their ship. The important part was that it didn¡¯t emit any signals except when entering and exiting subspace, and even then they were minimal. Anyone actively scanning with their energy might notice something, though Velvet could mitigate that with her own techniques. Stealth in space was actually much easier than in terrestrial locations, because projecting the feeling of a void was actually¡­ expected. Only in the most extreme cases was that risky. For example, if someone could count individual atoms in an area. Even then, their ship took up a small enough area that there would only be an average of a few thousand at most in the general space, far fewer than in any single speck of dust. The difficult part was replicating the feeling of so little and a random arrangement and movement, if it was required. For the most part, Velvet just did her best to not let anything slip through the cracks as any actual presence would be much more alarming than a random area that really had nothing in it. It could happen, sometimes. Their route carried the ship through as many uninhabited systems as possible, but just because no sizable portion of people lived there didn¡¯t mean it would be completely barren. Cultivators could randomly be training on one of the planets or around a star, and any capable of doing so were more dangerous. So far, about a tenth of the systems they had surfaced in had some form of people that might notice them. Individual cultivators training, or passing ships either replenishing their energy or simply traveling at reduced speed through the system because it was easier than navigating around. This time, it was a few ships flying together. She didn¡¯t immediately recognize the sect, but that didn¡¯t mean caution was unwarranted. ¡°Restrain your energy,¡± Velvet said, using the ship¡¯s speakers to relay the information. People probably didn¡¯t need to be reminded, but it didn¡¯t hurt. She adjusted the ship¡¯s systems to be in standby mode, everything not needed to run the stealth systems using minimal power. They were just drifting along now, and they might continue to do so forever. They could drift out of the system and make another jump. The only issue was that they¡¯d done that last time. Deeper into the core of the Numerological Compact they were more likely to run into random others. Unlike normally, Velvet was traveling with a group. They had no cover story that would suffice if they were revealed, as their ship was obviously made by the Scarlet Alliance. It hadn¡¯t been specifically made to infiltrate the Exalted Quadrant after all, and the tech would have given it away regardless. Even if the enemy didn¡¯t know how it worked- which they might to some extent, given they must have captured some of it by now- it was recognizable. But a sailing ship chassis was just too inefficient. They simply had to rely on not getting caught. Or, if that wasn¡¯t possible, removing anyone who saw them before they could transmit a message. Velvet watched the passive sensors of the ship while keeping her own open, but there were no changes in the enemy flight pattern or shifts in their energy indicating they were even looking. Soon enough, the other ships moved on from the system, leaving them free to replenish their energy stores. Once they reached the local sun, they were actually at minimal risk of detection- any star would far outweigh any energy fluctuations they would accidentally make. However, Durff would be disappointed he couldn¡¯t train here. It was too risky. Velvet turned on the ships active sensors, so they could detect anyone incoming. She couldn¡¯t extend her own energy senses far enough to be relevant except in a very narrow band. To no one¡¯s surprise, space was big. The ship would detect any powerful energy before she did, and even a few moments might prove critical. The ship beeped. Not an emergency message, but still something worth paying attention to. The logs mentioned ¡®energy signature detected¡¯. That could be¡­ many things. But in this case, it shouldn¡¯t be an active cultivator or ship. Velvet opened up the report, which indicated that it had matched an energy signature with something marked ¡®of note¡¯ in the database. Even cultivators couldn¡¯t remember everything, and more relevantly they weren¡¯t always exposed to everything they might one day need to know. In this case, it would be something Velvet recognized¡­ if she had been close enough to sense it. She had to admit, the ship was good. Though it also helped that it was looking in the right place. The next jump they were going to make had something of note near the star. It was part of the ship¡¯s programming to detect anomalies. Velvet just hadn¡¯t expected to stumble across that. ¡°Signature matches the ¡®Nighstar sect¡¯,¡± Velvet mumbled to herself. ¡°Seriously, there?¡± It was only a handful of jumps from Citadel territory. Their actual destination was deeper, but from there on every system was at least nominally occupied. They¡¯d need to conserve power along the final leg of their journey, though that was already part of the plan. Velvet called Koralo to the cockpit. ¡°Formation master. Would you be able to identify something for us?¡± ¡°Depends what it is,¡± the man said. ¡°I don¡¯t believe anything has been picked up by the ship¡­?¡± ¡°In the next system,¡± Velvet said, gesturing to the readout. ¡°A potential outpost of the Nighstar sect. It might not be worth looking into now but¡­ I feel like finding one out here would prove informative. Since the exact origin of such facilities is¡­ still speculative.¡± Velvet would personally believe Catarina, of course, but she was wrong about things sometimes. Usually nothing Everheart related, but some things. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°If I see it up close I can at least verify that it is of the same origin,¡± Koralo confirmed. ¡°I went to see the outposts we had identified in Scarlet Alliance territory.¡± ¡°What do you think it¡¯s doing all the way over here?¡± ¡°I¡¯d assume it serves the same purpose as all the others. Unfortunately, we don¡¯t know precisely what that is,¡± he shook his head. ¡°It might be relevant that they are placed close to major sects. Or, they might be so widely located that it¡¯s coincidence.¡± ¡°How would no one have noticed for so long?¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°There are some assumptions there. We don¡¯t actually know when these were placed. And, at least a few were noticed.¡± ¡°But only recently,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°Precisely,¡± Koralo confirmed. Soon enough their ship was refilled. They weren¡¯t limited by the energy available to be collected, merely how quickly the ships systems could absorb incoming power. They would be able to confirm with their own senses soon enough. ----- Technically, jumping near a star was a good way to avoid detection. It was also risky. Sure, the chance of anything going wrong was fairly small for any individual attempt. Even if they tried to drop their ship into a star, the ship''s systems would prevent that. Assuming they were working properly. Velvet didn¡¯t know what the percent chance of failure was. Probably less than a single percent. And maybe they could do hundreds of jumps right next to stars without issue. But if they didn¡¯t have to, there really wasn¡¯t any point. Better to not compound such risks for no reason. This time they did have a reason, however. Their destination was right next to the star, and while they could have approached closer in realspace from the edge of the system, there was a possibility of people watching. And their suspicions were justified, as they found the planet had a handful of ships present. Complete with cultivators watching over the ships, so nobody tried to steal them away. Not that many people would be so foolish as to attempt that, since the ships were from the Citadel of Exalted Light- and one or two from the Hardened Crown Sect. While they were probably overwhelmed by the star¡¯s energy, approaching from outside might have given them a greater chance to be detected. It was also possible there were other ships or cultivators throughout the system, watching. They¡¯d have to be careful on their exit, because entering subspace near a star was even riskier than exiting. It was better to reach the edge of the system. ¡°Anything you can tell from here?¡± Velvet asked Koralo. He hadn¡¯t just been waiting in the cockpit the whole time, since even the fast Scarlet Alliance ships took a while to cover the space between systems. ¡°Not much,¡± Koralo admitted. ¡°Though I can feel active formations. If we can get closer¡­ well, the ship might be able to do a sufficient reading. I don¡¯t think it would be wise to land.¡± ¡°Certainly not,¡± Velvet agreed. That wasn¡¯t the mission, after all. But as this was already on their path¡­ they had to look. It seemed like a big coincidence, but that was making the assumption that the placement was random. Instead of someone else taking a similar travel path, or otherwise looking for less occupied systems. There might also be far more than they were aware of. Obviously the list of locations they¡¯d found had not been exhaustive. It was just the sort of thing that Everheart would do, to make people think they were safe from¡­ whatever these did. Except they were too obvious. People could just see them. Velvet wasn¡¯t going to be the one to figure out what they were for though. Probably not Koralo either, certainly not right now. He took a look at the ship¡¯s readout. ¡°Yes, this energy signature is one thing, but the formation patterns are recognizably the same. Not that I¡¯m saying I fully understand them, but the style is clear enough.¡± ¡°Great. We¡¯ll move on, then?¡± They maintained their orbit around the star, passively moving beyond the planet and any potential watchers thereon. Velvet set the ship on a path out of the system- it would fly itself, unless she needed to take over due to a combat situation or the like. Though really, it just needed to build up some momentum in the right direction as they shouldn¡¯t be able to run into anything. Velvet focused on minimizing the ship¡¯s presence. Even as they moved further from the star¡¯s overwhelming presence, she didn¡¯t feel any watchers. That didn¡¯t mean there weren¡¯t any, of course. She might be among the top individuals for stealth, but that didn¡¯t mean she was the best. She didn¡¯t know of anyone more skilled, except perhaps Ratna. Maybe others in the Veiled Brilliance. Then again, it wasn¡¯t like sneaks tended to get famous, did they? Usually not as much as anyone else, if they knew what was good for them. There was also the matter of stealth through other means. Velvet knew that if Anton were around, he could avoid her notice not by being good at hiding but by simply being beyond the range she could detect. He could be a system over¡­ maybe more, because he didn¡¯t exactly advertise the very limits of his power, even to people he trusted. Especially since it wasn¡¯t necessary. Velvet might have been able to pick out Anton¡¯s sensory extensions of his energy, but there was no guarantee of that. She also thought she could hide the ship from them, however, so she had to do her best to maintain that with the assumption that people were looking. They were still deep in enemy territory, and getting deeper. Hopefully it would be a bit easier to sneak into Citadel territory with their fleets having launched against the Scarlet Alliance. That said, they could still have any number of powerful cultivators still defending their territory. It was unknown how many Augmentation cultivators they had to call upon, but they¡¯d seen enough that those they missed could be a major concern. At best, their group might deal with a handful somehow. Or at least they shouldn¡¯t assume a victory over any but an extremely small group. Chapter 1015 The infiltration team had sent one of their rare messages back to the core of the Scarlet Alliance. Just because they believed their transmissions wouldn¡¯t be noticed didn¡¯t mean it was worth risking it frequently. However, they needed to know that the Exalted Quadrant forces were still on their way. Indeed, they should be assaulting the Alliance¡¯s borders within a week, if the predictions were correct. At such a distance, even their fastest transmissions would take some time. They should receive a response with a few days to spare from the most recent projections, so they could adjust accordingly. As for their plans before then, they were simply heading further into the core of the Citadel of Exalted Light¡¯s territory. They were quite careful as they approached each system, and that caution quickly paid off as Koralo spotted tracking formations. ¡°I can¡¯t negate the formations without risking some other sort of alarm,¡± Koralo explained. ¡°But we¡¯re not trying to get a whole fleet through. With our ship¡¯s stealth capabilities, I can find the best route through. There are several layers to the formation so sadly we¡¯ll need to do a bit of maneuvering.¡± ¡°Can you pilot the ship and assess the formations at the same time?¡± Alva asked. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be an issue unless we are being attacked as well¡­ in which case the formation would be superfluous anyway.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°Good. I¡¯ll monitor the stealth systems. Let me know if you need something in particular.¡± ¡°And I¡¯ll sit here and do nothing,¡± Durff nodded seriously. That was, in fact, the most helpful thing he could do in their given situation. Picking their way through the formations was quite a bit slower, and if they were spotted doing so it would have been quite problematic. After all, nobody with legitimate business would be avoiding the formations. Then again, there were vast swathes of space where nobody was watching because the formations were supposed to take care of it. Said formations became more frequent as they drew closer to their final destination. They received their reply, updating them on the status of the upcoming invasion. Zaur Beridze had not yet been spotted, but the fleets arrayed against them were approaching as expected. This time, however, the Scarlet Alliance would be prepared to face them in a properly fortified border system. Better than Lonkeon, though not nearly so well fortified as Xankeshan itself. That was expected, however. That left the infiltration team a few days. Their mission needed to be completed before Zaur Beridze assaulted the system, because even with their best defenses they were uncertain about being able to defeat him. They couldn¡¯t choose not to fight, even if it was perhaps a better tactical decision. The Scarlet Alliance was built on a promise, and abandoning a system entirely would ruin the trust they had built. They could afford to be defeated and pushed back, but they couldn¡¯t afford to do nothing. If they were lucky, Zaur wouldn¡¯t bother to fight at first. But they couldn¡¯t count on luck, because if he did fight he could rapidly begin taking out Augmentation cultivators. It wouldn¡¯t matter if he was somehow defeated after that, because they couldn¡¯t afford to lose any of their core strength. They didn¡¯t have huge piles of spare Augmentation cultivators lying around. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t want to have close friends and allies perish even if they did have ¡®backups¡¯. ----- ¡°I was kind of hoping they¡¯d make a mistake,¡± Koralo said as they hovered just outside of their final destination. They could see the Citadel itself, visible even from space. Though only because they had the enhanced eyes of cultivators, since there were limits to how ostentatiously large even the greatest cultivators could make things. The actual sect grounds seemed to take up a good half of the planet, but the crystal citadel merely stood tall on a much smaller footprint. ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± Alva frowned. ¡°Brittle looking,¡± Durff said. ¡°Pointless,¡± Chikere commented. ¡°Difficult to infiltrate,¡± Velvet said finally. Alva shrugged. ¡°I was going to say it was kind of pretty. But we have things that look nice and aren¡¯t pointless. Is that¡­ a throne room a kilometer wide? With nothing else?¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s more impressive up close,¡± Koralo pondered. ¡°But I think the important thing here is the planet itself has a formation. Not only is it more profound than the rest, I feel constant surveillance.¡± ¡°We are invisible,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But it looks a bit tough.¡± They were able to watch a constant flow of cultivators going in and out of the planet¡¯s atmosphere. Hopefully, they would learn something useful. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose there¡¯s any particular weak points?¡± Koralo shook his head. ¡°Not that I can pick out. If there are any, I¡¯d expect them to be paid even greater attention to. I don¡¯t want to give up when we¡¯ve come this far¡­ but we have to consider potential future missions. If we get caught pointlessly¡­¡± he shook his head. ¡°But we¡¯re also needed. Maybe they should have sent someone more qualified.¡± ¡°What does the formation do?¡± Durff asked. ¡°It¡­ looks for ships?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± Koralo explained. ¡°I imagine it¡¯s looking for certain parameters.¡± ¡°So if we don¡¯t send a ship,¡± Durff said. ¡°It won¡¯t notice us.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Koralo shook his head. ¡°I doubt it¡¯s that narrow. It would probably pick out cultivators. It might even be especially interested in lone cultivators. That said¡­ I might have an idea.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Durff said. ¡°What if someone breaks the formation on the opposite side from where we want to go in, and then everyone else sneaks through while they¡¯re distracted?¡± ¡°If it comes down to it,¡± Velvet said. ¡°That might be a good idea. But I think I¡¯d use that as a last resort.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Koralo nodded. ¡°But it might be possible to sneak along with another ship. There are two possibilities. The first is slightly riskier but will ease our escape attempts, among other things. That is, following so closely after another ship that our vessel is assumed to be a part of it. Alternatively, we do the same but with only our persons. I assume our stealth expert can rate the viability of these options better than myself.¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Velvet thought for a few moments. ¡°Our ship¡¯s stealth systems are meant to provide complete stealth. That means being noticed at all can screw things up. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d make the attempt. Unless the other option proves unviable, at least. We need to see how it reacts to transports carrying larger numbers of diverse cultivators.¡± ----- They spent one of their few remaining days just watching the flow of people. In that whole time, one single ship was stopped- some smugglers foolishly trying to slip by, it seemed. That didn¡¯t mean anything, though. Perhaps others had slipped through, if security was lax enough. Alternatively, most people just knew better. But some careful observation let them become more familiar with the formation¡¯s detection methods. ¡°We¡¯ll have to be inside a ship,¡± Velvet declared. ¡°It¡¯s too risky otherwise. I can help mitigate the magnitude of our apparent cultivations, but we need to seem as if we belong. Which means a ship large enough to not notice five temporary passengers. Specifically, if they have to declare number of passengers¡­ it¡¯s better if they think it¡¯s a rounding error.¡± ¡°So how do we get onto the ship?¡± Koralo asked. ¡°I doubt they¡¯ll open the doors¡­ or let us through their outer formations or the like.¡± ¡°We lie in wait,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Then we drop in from subspace.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lot less noticeable than my solution,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Spatial rifts are not subtle.¡± ¡°Indeed. They¡¯re better for speed, but I believe Alva can help us position ourselves properly. What do you think?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Yeah. We¡¯ll have to predict their course, and I wouldn¡¯t want to do it too close to the planet.¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°But if we do it too early, then we risk being noticed by the people on the ship.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It will be difficult to hide from their senses while revealing ourselves to the sensors. But a formation might help.¡± ¡°What kind?¡± Koralo asked. ¡°I have some formation flags, obviously.¡± ¡°Some sort of¡­ stabilizing or unifying formation? If we were all One Hundred Stars cultivators I could do it fairly easily,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But it¡¯s just three of us,¡± she gestured to Alva and Koralo. ¡°We¡¯ll need to do some practice runs.¡± ----- Alva waited. She was waiting for¡­ a deer, yeah. She was just hunting deer. She¡¯d done it so many times before. It was familiar, just waiting and watching. Things were slightly different, in that she wasn¡¯t going to shoot anything. But she was waiting for her target to be in position for her to do something. She was worried they might change trajectory and force her to scurry at the last moment. Distance tolerances were already tight since she was working with subspace, and she hadn¡¯t trained for this particular situation. Maybe she should have, though. It seemed useful. She almost missed it, her senses barely leaking out into normal space. The ship tingled her senses, and she found an empty cabin. She twisted and¡­ they dropped out into real space, past the ship¡¯s barriers. Durff¡¯s shoulder was in the wall. He yanked it out with the sound of splintering wood. Someone banged on the wall next to them. ¡°Can you keep it down? I¡¯m trying to sleep in here!¡± There weren¡¯t any other immediate responses, which implied their spatial ripples hadn¡¯t been too extreme. Velvet was keeping their energy encapsulated as Koralo rapidly set up a formation. They just had to hope that nobody was looking for something like what he placed, and since it was inside all of the ship¡¯s formations¡­ it should hopefully be less obvious. Alva barely noticed any change with the formation active. Velvet had been balancing them marvelously already. Then again, they were expecting high tolerances from the actual detection formations. They should be intersecting with them in about ten minutes. At this point, Alva could only wait once more but without the ability to affect their situation. Durff grimaced, poking and prodding at his shoulder. He couldn¡¯t use his energy to disintegrate whatever was in there just yet, since they had to keep their energy usage to a minimum. The formation slipped over them. Watching, searching. Tensing up wouldn¡¯t help, so Alva did her best to look as relaxed as Velvet. Chikere probably was relaxed, which was a whole different thing. Koralo had mentioned some of them might be on watch lists. If their energy signatures were connected to something, they might be picked up even with the alterations they had in place. There was no clear reaction from the formation, but perhaps that would come with a squad of soldiers when they landed. They¡¯d have to pay attention for gathering Augmentation cultivators. They hoped their ride was going close to the Citadel, but they couldn¡¯t really be picky as there weren¡¯t that many ships transporting people. Or at least not those with mixed cultivations. Alva hoped nobody noticed the damage to their room. ----- When they landed, Velvet led the group in stepping out into the hall. They clumped around her, into the middle of the pack. Just as they were walking down the gangplank, one of the crew stopped them. ¡°Hey, what room were you?¡± ¡°27-A,¡± Velvet replied immediately. Various senses had been watching the whole ship as people scrambled off, so lying about that was foolish. Her thoughts lingered on the weapons at her waist, though killing this man wouldn¡¯t provide much value. They¡¯d have to make a mad dash for the Citadel if something happened here. Or come up with a very good excuse. ¡°What the hell did you do to the wall?¡± the man said. ¡°We have to repair that. Which means you need to pay for it.¡± Thoughts flicked through Velvet¡¯s head. She settled on a course of action quickly. ¡°Your crappy vessel was like that when we got here. No way we¡¯re paying.¡± It was a risk, because arguing might reveal that they weren¡¯t supposed to be on the ship at all- but trying to sneak out had been deemed riskier. ¡°You don¡¯t have much choice.¡± ¡°How much is garbage like that worth anyway? It¡¯s just wood,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Just wood?¡± the sailor said. ¡°This is a vessel of the finest quality!¡± It wasn¡¯t. High quality vessels weren¡¯t packed full of people going between systems. Ultimately, Velvet went back and forth, haggling over the price. She was a troublesome customer, not a stowaway. She didn¡¯t push too hard, but she didn¡¯t give up right away. Ultimately, overpaying for some wood wasn¡¯t as bad as actually causing a commotion. Velvet carefully monitored the reactions of people around them, and didn¡¯t draw things out too long. Then they were gone, leaving the starport behind. Velvet wondered what the next step was until it fell into her lap as they were passing by a bar. ¡°More boooze!¡± a clearly drunk woman called. ¡°Nobody can tell me not to!¡± Velvet hadn¡¯t expected to stumble into anyone of import where they were, still a good few kilometers away from the core of the sect, and outside of restricted areas. But here was an Augmentation cultivator of some value, according to their information gatherers. Was it¡­ Lelka? Velvet tried to recall as much as she could as she approached. ¡°Looks like a good place. You four go on ahead and secure some rooms. I¡¯m gonna get a drink.¡± Chapter 1016 According to normal logic, cultivators weren¡¯t supposed to be so inebriated they could barely sit up straight. However, that was only in a general case. If their body tempering was particularly weak and they never learned to filter alcohol out of their system, it was possible. Of course, for an Augmentation cultivator there was only one possibility that actually made sense. Specifically, choosing to be drunk. Which wasn¡¯t that odd to see because that was one of several reasons people would come to a bar. Some liked the social aspects, some enjoyed the process of drinking, but sometimes people wanted to be drunk. That was what Velvet observed as Lelka tried to keep herself on a stool, a jug of whatever she was drinking sloshing around in her hand. ¡°D¡¯ya know how hard it is to do m¡¯ job?¡± the woman slurred, waving her jug at the bartender. The man looked highly uncomfortable. ¡°I do not, honored elder. This lowly one would never presume-¡± ¡°If I wash honored, people would listen to me!¡± Her jug cracked slightly as it collided with the bar. ¡°Instead they jus¡¯ smile n¡¯ nod!¡± Velvet took a seat at the bar, leaving one space between herself and Lelka. Her information hadn¡¯t indicated the woman was¡­ like this. Then again, they didn¡¯t have a reliable spy network here yet. They were working on it, but they could only trust so much. General information such as names and positions were assumed to be correct but incomplete. ¡°What¡¯s your best wine?¡± Velvet asked, displaying the aura of an Integration cultivator. The bartender appeared to be only in Spirit Building, but would be able to sense that much. Which meant he should serve her something within her projected budget, just in case they actually had something better. This was part of a large sect, after all, though not in the very core. The bartender looked relieved to have an excuse to do something else, and hurried off. Though it appeared he would return quickly enough. ¡°Whadya think, huh?¡± Lelka turned to directly address Velvet. ¡°About what, if I might ask?¡± ¡°About me! Or about what other people think about me,¡± the woman said, attempting to take a swing from her jug but probably getting equal parts alcohol and glass shards. ¡°Well,¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°Everyone respects your position, of course.¡± ¡°Do they?¡± Lelka said, leaning forward until she was precariously balancing an elbow on the stool between the two of them. ¡°B¡¯cause the Exalted ¡®un chose me as a sunny- a sena- a fancy assistant to replace her and didn¡¯t even ask if I wanted ta.¡± Velvet had to carefully regulate her reactions as she responded. ¡°I would not claim to know the thoughts of the Exalted One.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s not everyone! But I bet nobody else respeksht me either. You musht be one a th¡¯ new kids, nobody else talks to me.¡± Velvet forewent mentioning that Lelka spoke to her first, especially since that might call attention to her manipulations to make that happen. ¡°I haven¡¯t been around the main sect much,¡± she explained. That was¡­ technically true. ¡°Yeah?¡± Lelka¡¯s jug crashed to the ground as she tumbled off her stool. A moment later she was kneeling in the spilled booze and glass shards, propping her head up on the middle stool. ¡°Wanna see it?¡± ¡°See¡­ what?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°The main sect. Since nobody appre- cares about th¡¯ stuff I do, I gotta show someone. Newbies are good. You can bring two- no!¡± Lelka slapped her hand on the bar. ¡°Three friends! Plus yourself! That¡¯s¡­ a lot!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure what you mean,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°It¡¯s simple! Grand halls! Gardens! The throne room! Outside the vaults!¡± Lelka grimaced. ¡°Because they won¡¯t let me see inside. Ya can¡¯t visit the bedrooms though. Or the baths.¡± ¡°Okay¡­?¡± Velvet said. This was kind of what she wanted, but she¡¯d really just been looking for a weakness in security or something. It was¡­ weird. Just about that time the bartender returned with a bottle. Lelka snatched it. ¡°Put it on my tab.¡± Then she shoved it into Velvet¡¯s hands. ¡°C¡¯mon, take it!¡± Lelka staggered to her feet. ¡°I¡¯ll meet ya at the wes- or was it south¡­?- the near gate! Bring people!¡± The woman pulled herself up off the ground and began to stomp out of the building. ----- Velvet had concerns. Nothing was this easy. Thus, she had to arrange the possibilities in order. From least likely to most likely¡­ fate was entirely on her side and had decided to make things easy. The next most likely was much less favorable, but still manageable. Lelka might be using her in some sort of scheme related to internal politics. The most likely, or at least the one that she had to plan around, was that their infiltration was already compromised. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. However, any of the scenarios should bring them into the main sect grounds. This might be their only chance, and if they could bring their possibility of success up by any margin they had to take it. If they were compromised, not showing up would be dangerous. Being part of a scheme could go either way, but it might provide them the necessary opportunity. Striding along the street with an unopened bottle of wine still clutched in her hand, Velvet considered the options. They had to go. Was the invitation for two or three others part of the trap, intended to separate them into smaller groups? It might be. But if it was a legitimate invitation for some sort of scheme, Velvet needed to pick a particular group. She was automatically included, of course. Then two more, Alva and Koralo. The reason for that was because¡­ they were the ones who would actually be able to see things. If this was a final assault, they¡¯d need Chikere and Durff, but they wouldn¡¯t be far. Hopefully Koralo would be able to disable formations from inside. Or have an opportunity to study things. Velvet checked herself one more time, and the bottle of wine. It didn¡¯t appear to have any tracking techniques, and there were no strands of energy following either of them. Even so, she found a drunkard of some sort holed up in one of the alleys. She wasn¡¯t quite certain how anyone could survive on the streets of a cultivator sect, but maybe he was a spy. ¡°Hey,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Need a drink?¡± He caught the tossed bottle, looking at it. He sniffed it, popped the cork out with a bit of energy, and took a swig. That seemed like the wrong order to do things in, but Velvet didn¡¯t particularly care. ¡°... This is good,¡± he said. ¡°Too bad for me,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I¡¯m going into a no-drinking zone.¡± She didn¡¯t actually think that was the case, but she wasn¡¯t going to keep the bottle with her. Just in case. The vagrant looked at her with pity. ¡°Sorry to hear that.¡± ¡°Yeah, well,¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°Sometimes you have to deal with circumstances.¡± Not interested in prolonged conversation, she meandered off. She noticed his senses followed her for a block before dropping away. He didn¡¯t seem strong, but she wasn¡¯t going to assume anything. If every random person around her was stronger than herself, however, then things were already hopeless. So she had to assume only a few of them were capable of ruining their infiltration. ----- Velvet grabbed Alva and Koralo because the other two were incapable of creating a believable image of an Exalted Light disciple. Projecting the energy signatures herself would be too risky. Besides, they should still be within attack range of the two if something did go down- though again, they¡¯d have to contend with the local formations. Optimally they¡¯d learn what they needed to, get out, then form a proper strategy. Most likely, they¡¯d have to take down things from the inside. Velvet ignored the scenarios where they all just died, because those weren¡¯t productive. ¡°There you are,¡± Lelka said as they arrived at the gates. Imposing and glittering edifices, entirely pointless for stopping intruders except for their ability to carry formation markings. ¡°Good, you brought friends.¡± Lelka waved them forward after her. Nobody moved to stop them, and Velvet tried to relax as she passed through the formations. ¡°Forget about all that stuff I said,¡± Lelka said, her words much steadier. ¡°As the seneschal here, it¡¯s my job to show the best side of the Citadel of Exalted Light. Which is this one,¡± she gestured forward. Velvet looked, and while the Citadel itself was indeed poking over the other buildings, it wasn¡¯t a particularly impressive view. She couldn¡¯t help but frowning slightly. Lelka sighed. ¡°Well I thought it was funny. But maybe we should have been closer.¡± She turned them down one of the streets. ¡°Here¡¯s the library. Maybe some other day I would be willing to bring you in for a tour and piss off the librarian, but you can check it out yourselves later. Once you have credentials as core disciples.¡± Good, they were still doing that. ¡°I¡¯m hoping it¡¯s soon,¡± Velvet commented. She didn¡¯t like how fast Lelka had sobered up. She hoped it was some sort of pill that was now finished, or they might be in trouble with a completely sober guide. Of course, it could have been an act but she imagined there¡¯d been at least a bit of real intoxication mixed into things to increase the believability. That¡¯s how she would have done it. Once alcohol was in the system, it was a bit more difficult to purge. Velvet would have expected some active effort if Lelka was currently doing that, but maybe she couldn¡¯t sense it. ¡°Training grounds,¡± Lelka said. ¡°Including an archery range, though in my opinion an archery range is never that exciting because it¡¯s just open space. Or occasionally a much larger amount of open space.¡± Alva used the excuse of Lelka referencing the training grounds to extend her senses. ¡°It looks¡­ extravagant.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, the rubies really make the rings of the targets pop,¡± Lelka commented. ¡°Same with the treasury. But I¡¯m not allowed to change any of that.¡± The bitterness seemed real. That was Velvet¡¯s read. She still wasn¡¯t sure why this was happening, but if Lelka asked her to assassinate a rival she¡¯d have to strongly consider it. Though she would of course protest that she was not an assassin. That would be a decent scenario, if she wasn¡¯t immediately double crossed. Preferably, Lelka would wait at least a few minutes, and their team could hopefully take advantage of some potential chaos to attack the Citadel. Speaking of which, it loomed over them constantly. It seemed like the sort of structure that would reflect light into people¡¯s eyes, but the light seemed to be more intentionally directed instead. She could appreciate that factor, at least. Where was the best place for them to get ambushed? In the Citadel itself? The formations there could probably hide a small army. Well, an army of Augmentation cultivators didn¡¯t exactly take much space to begin with. ¡°Here¡¯s the gardens,¡± Lelka said. ¡°If I had free time I¡¯d probably spend a lot of it here. The obviously warded section that¡¯s radiating an aura of death is the poison garden. Don¡¯t go there without special authorization.¡± The gardens were actually relatively modestly sized. Which is to say, just about a square kilometer. Nobody else was in them, but nobody jumped out from behind hedges- or chopped through them. Most likely, these were private gardens for the sect head and particular elders. Then again, Lelka¡¯s words implied they could visit more of it. If they were actually disciples with access to the core sect. With every step, they got closer to their actual target. Velvet tried not to make it too obvious. Alva was happy to look at everything, which was probably better than pretending like she wasn¡¯t looking. Koralo remained somewhat meditative, perhaps passively reading surrounding formations. He wasn¡¯t exactly trained for espionage, so he was doing about as good as could be expected. If they weren¡¯t already discovered, he¡¯d probably be fine. Chapter 1017 There were more than a few places for people to hide in the actual Citadel itself, despite it being open and made entirely of translucent crystal. Light shone through it, only to hide those with the proper techniques. Velvet could have done the same, if she were not already being observed. No, it might have been possible for her to disappear regardless, but the impact would be far less. She avoided clutching her voidsteel dagger, or even moving her hand towards it. She detected a number of individuals that might be overcome by their group, though she was somewhat counting on the combat capability of Chikere, who was outside the core sect. Durff was unfortunately still an Integration cultivator, which would make his participation more difficult. ¡°Here is the Citadel of Exalted Light itself,¡± Lelka said, waving her arm grandly. ¡°Isn¡¯t it astounding?¡± ¡°It is,¡± Velvet admitted. She almost couldn¡¯t pick out any signs of formation markings. She hoped Koralo was doing better. If he could destroy something critical the moment they were attacked¡­ When would it be? If the formations were buried beneath other layers, he might be able to communicate to Alva in time. She could hopefully bypass any defenses. Velvet supposed that actual members of the Citadel of Exalted Light might have found the chamber comforting. However, there was a distant feeling that made her uncomfortable. Maybe that was just her own fears, however. ¡°We can¡¯t approach the throne,¡± Lelka continued. Velvet wondered if that was a weakness, or just because of the status it represented. It would be nice to know. Maybe she should have tried to get Durff and Chikere in here for this. Lelka continued forward and the other three followed her. The optimal ambush location had¡­ already passed. Where were they going? Out a side passage of the Citadel. Perhaps they would be taken to a location more difficult to escape from. ¡°Anyway,¡± Lelka said. ¡°That¡¯s about it. You can have a closer look at some of these places when you¡¯re part of the core. Until then, I¡¯m going to have to guide you out.¡± And so she did. Not by the most direct route, Velvet noticed. Was there some meaning to it, or was she just meandering? She tried to pick out formations, but they were constantly surrounded by different flows of energy. Hopefully, Koralo would get more. Then there was the feeling¡­ Velvet wasn¡¯t surprised the Citadel felt like Zaur, but it was constantly looming over them as they walked. Before she realized, Velvet found herself outside the core sect. ¡°I have a sense about the three of you,¡± Lelka commented. ¡°You radiate competence. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if all of you became Augmentation cultivators.¡± She had to know. ¡°I sure hope so,¡± Velvet replied. What was going on? Had they been poisoned at some point? Marked, somehow? They¡¯d have to be very careful. ¡°How about the two of you, did you enjoy the tour?¡± ¡°There were some pretty amazing sights,¡± Alva managed. Koralo stroked his chin. ¡°I¡¯m truly impressed by everything I saw. Elegant flows of energy.¡± ¡°As you should be,¡± Lelka said. Then¡­ she walked away. Velvet led the group away, carefully poring over every inch of herself and the others. Some senses had followed them from the Citadel, but only as far as the gates. Finally, when Velvet could find nothing and they were in a private room with the others- Koralo having set up a simple but reliable sound negation barrier- Velvet spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what happened there. She had to have figured out who we were.¡± Velvet grimaced. ¡°There¡¯s no way¡­ too many coincidences.¡± ¡°Are they coming to attack us here?¡± Chikere asked, wriggling the fingers of her right hand in anticipation. Velvet knew that the majority of her blood was released from her artificial arm, when it came down to it. Alva turned her head towards the core. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. But I¡¯m also confused about that. Koralo?¡± He nodded. ¡°I would have liked a longer look at the formations. One moment,¡± he said, pulling out a portable computer. ¡°I need to take notes.¡± His fingers were a blur as he input information. ¡°It¡¯s possible she didn¡¯t know we were spies,¡± Durff said. ¡°You¡¯re pretty good at it,¡± he said to Velvet. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t feel particularly reassured by his confidence. ¡°Not good enough to get invited on a tour of the core sect,¡± Velvet said. ¡°By a drunk woman complaining about her position who sobered up quickly.¡± ¡°Maybe she doesn¡¯t like it here?¡± Durff said. ¡°That would be a great cover,¡± Velvet said. ¡°To then lead us into an ambush and get us killed. But that¡­ didn¡¯t happen. It doesn¡¯t make any sense because she¡¯d have to have everyone else on board with¡­ whatever other plan they have. When they could just kill us. Or more likely capture us and torture us for information.¡± Velvet had ample ways to commit suicide, because she knew too much. Probably Alva and Koralo too, but she wouldn¡¯t even ask about it since knowing what they were could be a liability. Chikere¡­ would be difficult to take alive. And the most dangerous thing Durff knew was the existence of this mission, probably. She might have to take him out if things went south, for his own good. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. But they were fine, right now. Which was still odd. ¡°I do like the idea that she¡¯s helping us,¡± Alva said, ¡°But I agree about your point on the others. If everyone was in on it, they could take this thing out on their own.¡± ¡°Maybe it explodes and they don¡¯t want to be around?¡± Durff said. ¡°If it was that,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I¡¯d gladly take that sacrifice. But¡­¡± ¡°Any explosions of energy would be purely coincidental,¡± Koralo said. ¡°I¡¯ll need several hours to analyze these formations, but I think I can find a way through the outer defenses. I¡¯ll try to pick out a few weak points on the Citadel. However, we still need to confirm that it¡¯s actually this ¡®anchor¡¯ we¡¯re looking for.¡± ¡°Oh, definitely,¡± Velvet said. ¡°There¡¯s a flow of Zaur¡¯s energy through it.¡± Alva nodded in agreement. ¡°I was more focused on the formations, so I¡¯ll take your word for it,¡± Koralo said. ¡°I had expected it to be¡­ stronger.¡± ¡°It might be weakened by distance,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I really hope so. If destroying this thing can cause them any sort of setback, it will be worth it.¡± ¡°We just need to finalize our plans. And when we attack,¡± Alva added. ¡°Just tell me where to cut,¡± Chikere said, settling down to wait. ¡°Crystal should be brittle, right?¡± Durff said. ¡°I think I¡¯ll be pretty decent at smashing it.¡± ----- Koralo nervously presented his findings. ¡°I wish I could confer with another formation master. Or especially Catarina. There could be hidden layers I was unable to discern hidden beneath the surface. But what I do see isn¡¯t insurmountable. Let me draw it out. We can force our way through the defenses here¡­¡± he began. ¡°If there are any weak materials protected by a strong barrier,¡± Velvet said. ¡°My weapon should be optimal for that scenario.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Koralo said. ¡°And if the barrier isn¡¯t infused into somewhere, I can just bypass it,¡± Alva said. ¡°Even if they have first order subspace protections, they probably won¡¯t stop me.¡± Chikere had already expressed her ability to cut anything. Which was just about as true as it could get, though nothing was universal. A sufficient level of upper energy would stop her, though it might be inefficient. Overwhelming power would still triumph. Durff¡¯s destructive power was a different kind than her, so it was a valuable alternative. It was a shame he wasn¡¯t an Augmentation cultivator and that Sly could not have come instead, but the circumstances dictated he was one of the best choices. ¡°Alright,¡± Koralo said. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ disappointingly straightforward. I don¡¯t think we can be subtle about this. We¡¯ll have to rush in, trying to avoid fight. Otherwise, we need to make them short. I need to reach the Citadel to help dismantle things, but Alva should be able to hit her targets from¡­ well, here actually. But we¡¯ll want you inside the barrier leading to the core, in case it flickers back to life.¡± The only thing left to do was to go. But first¡­ they needed to rest. They couldn¡¯t afford to wait terribly long, but they needed to be at their peak. They set up a watch, nervously feeling for any concentrations of cultivators approaching their rented room. ----- Velvet¡¯s voidsteel dagger slipped through the outer barrier, creating a long mark just as Koralo had described. She wasn¡¯t entirely sure the full extent of its purpose, but it certainly disrupted the flow of energy along the wall where they were. Everyone had to notice that. Everyone nearby, at least. Velvet was keeping a haze of nothingness over their group, hindering senses, but that just kept enemies from precisely targeting them. The reactions were pretty much instantaneous. Augmentation cultivators perked up instantly, and Integration cultivators were most likely present by the dozens or hundreds. Chikere sliced open a rift in space, allowing them to cross the remaining kilometers to their destination in a shorter instant than the other Augmentation cultivators. As for why they didn¡¯t begin with that, the technique was obvious enough that it would have revealed them just as much. The outer barrier might have restricted it slightly, and if they had an opportunity to flee they really wanted the barrier disabled. Even if it was most likely a suicide mission, they still wanted to aim for a proper success. They didn¡¯t go straight for the Citadel. Indeed, according to what Koralo had determined critical pieces of the core formations were placed throughout the area. However, they wouldn¡¯t all need to be dismantled. Or more realistically, they couldn¡¯t afford to make the attempt. Breaking important pieces would had to do. Which led them to the gardens. They might be falling right into enemy plans, some deeper trap they hadn¡¯t uncovered, but they had to do what they thought best. Durff¡¯s hammer smashed into a statue, shattering it. Chikere cut a long gash through the garden, through flowers, hedges, and path. In theory, it extended to another critical point. With two damaged, the grand formation could become extremely unstable or fail entirely. Alva¡¯s arrows went in all directions, disappearing the instant they left her bow. Even Velvet couldn¡¯t tell where they were going until they arrived. Then the explosions of energy were fairly clear. Koralo scratched a particular disruptive mark before they moved on. Beams of light struck towards the Citadel, and then towards them. Velvet sliced apart one of the incoming beams, the energy in it breaking down when it touched voidsteel and becoming nothing. Chikere also cut a few, in the same stroke that she formed another spatial rift. Durff took a hit in his shoulder, but it was only for an instant. Alva remained in the gardens as the others reached the Citadel. Her task was now to focus on enemies. Any Integration cultivators she felt she could take down quickly were good, and harassing any of the dozen or so Augmentation cultivators she felt would be good as well. She noticed a conspicuous absence of one Lelka. Where was the seneschal hiding? Velvet watched Durff crush an inlay part of the formation, and she felt the power surrounding the citadel flicker. Chikere held a blade of blood, nearly infinitely thin but twice her height. She sliced downward with such power that Velvet thought it would have been a good effort for cutting the planet in half. The line of energy struck the Citadel and faded into nothing, as if a toy sword scratching at a fortified door. Energy thrummed from the Citadel. Not just any energy, but the full power of a Domination cultivator. Was Zaur here? A moment of panic, then acceptance. But no, Velvet only felt the energy infusing the structure. The problem was¡­ with just the five of them, it might as well have been completely invincible. No wonder he wasn¡¯t worried about going a realm away to assault the Scarlet Alliance. Their entire plan was pointless from the start. Then Durff smashed his hammer into the Citadel so hard that it shattered. His hammer, unfortunately, but it also knocked down half of the neighboring buildings. He wasn¡¯t exactly successful, but Velvet credited him for not giving up. Chapter 1018 The assault on the Scarlet Alliance came almost precisely on schedule. That wasn¡¯t due to any clever manipulation on their part, it was simply their enemies sticking to their pace. They didn¡¯t linger nor try to speed up to throw off the Alliance¡¯s timing. Maybe the Exalted Quadrant would come to regret that later. For the moment, they had sufficient power to be confident in their assault. After all, the last time they only retreated because of the interference of another Domination cultivator. Since then, it had only been a couple centuries. They didn¡¯t expect much change. Frankly, that was one of their biggest flaws. It was unfortunate that they couldn¡¯t connect the enemy directly to Xankeshan. The planetary defenses there were several times better than at the border, but they simply hadn¡¯t completed the necessary project. It wasn¡¯t even guaranteed to work even if they¡¯d had the time. There were quite a few different sects in attendance, though the Citadel of Exalted Light still made up the bulk of their number. Zaur Beridze¡¯s initial reason to hate the Scarlet Alliance, the capture of Nadzeya, was long gone. He had learned that Everheart was at fault, and even clashed with the man. But the mere fact that they had resisted was reason enough for Zaur to want to strike at the Scarlet Alliance again. Most likely, that was the same for the whole of the Exalted Quadrant. They just couldn¡¯t stand anyone who thought they could match up. The initial assault was about what was expected. Ships poured into the system one after another, carrying cultivators. That, then, was where they had their greatest failure. Instead of waiting for the incoming ships to approach any of the planets, even though orbital platforms would give the Alliance a defensive advantage, their own fleets rushed towards the approaching enemies. Ships began to fall one after another, except those that contained particularly powerful cultivators. Though their inhabitants wouldn¡¯t suddenly perish just because the ship they were on was destroyed, it did make them vulnerable as many of them weren¡¯t proficient in maneuvering in empty space. The ships were more or less just to carry people between systems and nothing else. Meanwhile, the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s ships were all made to augment the power of the cultivators that rode in them. Some of their cultivators were still more efficient without a ship, but they had a great many able to take down the majority of the enemy ships, and the free-floating cultivators that survived their destruction. Of course, there were numerous powerful Integration cultivators among their enemy, and they weren¡¯t lacking in Augmentation cultivators either. Zazil and Tauno clashed against enemies from the Void Blades and the Forest of Death. Some of the few decent ships the enemy showed in the first wave were manned by members of the Worthy Shore Society. Though the cultivators of Ceretos had broken away from them, the main sect was still part of the Exalted Quadrant. Their formations were higher tier, making their ships more durable. Hoyt and Prospero took that as something of a challenge, making the best use of Falling Stars that they could. Solar energy crashed into the ships, and while they were able to endure- indeed, even sharing barriers between ships- simply enduring wasn¡¯t sufficient. The enemy wasn¡¯t without their own strengths, of course. Aside from having tens of Augmentation cultivators- numbers the Scarlet Alliance still found difficult to match- they had a few exceptional individuals as well. That included Kigal from the Hardened Crown Sect. The old woman might have been even more scraggly than before, though perhaps that didn¡¯t mean anything. Either way, the power her body held was real. She seemed intent to crush as much of the Scarlet Alliance as she could as rapidly as possible. She was particularly interested in one of the larger ships, and had been kicking, punching, and headbutting her way through the fleet towards it. Finally she had an open path, and charged straight towards it. Obviously she sensed sly coming, but she didn¡¯t change anything. His fist met hers head on with a great pulse of energy cracking across the battlefield. ¡°I¡¯m surprised,¡± Sly said. ¡°I thought you were strong, once.¡± ¡°I am strong, brat,¡± Kigal said. Energy rippled off of her in great waves as she stared him down. ¡°Don¡¯t think I haven¡¯t gotten stronger since last time, either.¡± ¡°Nah,¡± Sly said. She kicked him in the side of the head. Two things cracked. One was part of his skull, one was her ankle. Sly didn¡¯t move, even though slowly absorbing the force of the blow would have been ¡®optimal¡¯ from a certain perspective. ¡°See, the thing is¡­ I¡¯ve been here the whole time.¡± ¡°So?¡± Kigal said. ¡°It¡¯s not like this region is particularly affluent with upper energy.¡± ¡°First, you¡¯re wrong about that,¡± Sly retorted. ¡°Second, I noticed you haven¡¯t been here in the last two centuries. And I realized¡­ that¡¯s because you¡¯re afraid to go anywhere without your dear leader.¡± ¡°Hmph. You think I¡¯d believe your alliance wouldn¡¯t have banded together to take me down?¡± ¡°You know they wouldn¡¯t have,¡± Sly said, taking a punch straight to his chest. Ribs cracked. And one knuckle. ¡°Not that they would have needed to anyway. Because you see, I¡¯m a sect head.¡± ¡°I heard about your dumb Harder Crown Sect,¡± Kigal spat. ¡°But I don¡¯t see much. You¡¯ll be ground into powder soon.¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°At least I¡¯m actually the head of a sect instead of just a lackey of some other sect,¡± Sly said. ¡°Also,¡± he beckoned her closer conspiratorially. Then he slammed his head directly into hers. Yes, it was ¡®better¡¯ to try to smash her nose through her brain, but¡­ then he wouldn¡¯t make his point. ¡°My head is harder so everything else you say is invalid.¡± ----- Engineer Uzun watched the battle between Kigal and Sly from the rear. He honestly didn¡¯t know if Sly remembered that he was supposed to be delaying Kigal to the best of his abilities, not actually trying to fight her. But¡­ he seemed to be doing pretty well, all things considered. His body wasn¡¯t being destroyed particularly faster than his opponent¡¯s. The instruments on the panel in front of him indicated everything was in order. Good. It was time to start drawing out the enemy¡¯s true strength. Even their fleets had to be better than this. And of course, Zaur should be somewhere among them. Kigal was decent cover. Obviously her physical form didn¡¯t do much, but she provided great confidence for the area behind her. So they weren¡¯t ready when Uzun¡¯s ship fired upon several of their strongest cultivators, beams of energy empowered by thousands of cultivators aboard. That wasn¡¯t enough to kill Augmentation cultivators directly, but when they were locked in combat¡­ people like Tauno had the beast like reflexes to take advantage of such an opening. Kigal clearly wanted to block the attacks, but Sly had drawn her into a headlock and thus her significant quantities of energy were focused on dealing with that. Enemy ships continued arriving, but they were cut down nearly as fast as they arrived. And not just by ships. There was a particular eagle flying among the various cultivators. Oh, and some extremely odd fish. None of the cultivators from Akrys were Augmentation cultivators, but they were all unique enough to throw off their enemies. Thinking of them as mere beasts or some sort of bonded companion was a good way to get killed. There were other factors at play as well. Though the number of Integration cultivators appeared to be balanced, many of the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s were from the upper realms. While it was not an insurmountable position to make up for the way Ascension affected an individual, it was significant enough. And the Scarlet Alliance had over a dozen strong systems to call upon from the Lower Realms Alliance, plus a small portion from the Shining Cooperative. Meanwhile, over the last cycle the Exalted Quadrant had lost a good handful of those very same systems, as the Lower Realms Alliance would no longer allow them to maintain a foothold since their initial betrayal on Ceretos. If they had been willing to live together, they could have even had a greater number of recruits. Instead, they lost out. They doubtless had others beyond the reach of the Lower Realms Alliance, but that was spread through many different sects. It wasn¡¯t something they couldn¡¯t make up for, but each additional factor in the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s favor gave them more of a fighting chance. Now where was that blasted Domination cultivator? Was he going to wait until the rest of his forces were defeated? That would actually be quite convenient, though the Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t exactly go all out until he was present. Catarina and Timothy especially would be waiting around for nothing. Then an alarm beeped. Ah, there he was. What excellent timing. Zaur moved at a speed surpassing light, cutting through a dozen ships on the way to Uzun. The grand ship was barely able to withstand the blow, being blasted backwards towards the planet they were defending. Uzun was quite proud of his work. The structural integrity was still sufficient to take another few blows, though of course the complexity of the formations helped. The adaptive barrier was tuned to Zaur¡­ which was probably necessary to avoid complete annihilation. Though Uzun wasn¡¯t particularly fond of battle, he¡¯d been needed for this. The Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t afford to hold back in this war. Preferably, they would end it early- though that somewhat depended on factors out of their hands for now. Either way, Uzun was part of the local plans. So he focused all of the weapons on Zaur. As expected, he shone brighter than a star and came out without a scratch. But instead of killing off their Augmentation cultivators, vulnerable on the battlefield, he chased Uzun. The second hit tore a hole right through the center of the ship. That wasn¡¯t great, but the barriers kept the atmosphere in¡­ and there were backups. Shame about the crew, though. A portion of them were wiped out. Even so, none of them lost determination. Uzun guided their will into one final attack, blasting Zaur in the chest. He charged forward. Uzun saw his demise- then the man disappeared. ----- Catarina grimaced. Someone had to be inside the formation, and she¡¯d done her best to convince Timothy it should have been her. Then he had to ruin all her arguments with a single line. ¡°I have a shield.¡± She could hold a shield. That¡¯s how she should have responded. Instead, she was standing on the outside of the formation. It was precisely made, tuned to Zaur¡¯s energy specifically. An ultimate suppression formation. A pulse of energy. That wasn¡¯t a good sign¡­ but it wasn¡¯t the worst possibility, either. It had been ten seconds, and Zaur hadn¡¯t broken out of the formation yet. That meant it was working, at least a little. Twenty seconds, another pulse. Catarina¡¯s heart squeezed tight, but something told her the worst hadn¡¯t happened. The next pulse came at twenty-eight seconds. Then faster and faster, until light began breaking out of the formation. She clamped down on it, modifying the way it reacted. Domination cultivators were such cheaters. Nobody should have that much power. The formation exploded just shy of the one minute mark. Catarina thought it did pretty good. Look, even Timothy was still standing there. He was¡­ still alive, at least. The hole through his lower torso wasn¡¯t immediately life threatening. And of course Zaur stood there, looking uninjured. Catarina blinked. Zaur had a cut on his cheek. She was supposed to activate a secondary formation now, but she couldn¡¯t help but voice her surprise. ¡°Timothy¡­ you injured him?¡± Timothy stood tall and straight, his shield scattering a constant beam of light that Zaur was shooting towards him. ¡°I most certainly did not. It just happened.¡± At that, Zaur became curious. He idly raised a hand- the other still pointed at Timothy, attempting to disintegrate him, almost casually. His fingers touched blood, and he looked at them. A very complex expression came across Zaur¡¯s face. The main thing Catarina recognized was rage as the secondary formation bloomed around Zaur, Timothy, and one other, standing nearby. Too bad their optimal projections hadn¡¯t succeeded. Zaur could have been dead, and Catarina wouldn¡¯t have had to watch her husband and son face off against the deadliest enemy their alliance had ever seen. Chapter 1019 Did it make sense that a Domination cultivator¡¯s anchor was imbued with their power and thus might require a similar level of power to destroy? Yes. Was it extremely unfortunate to discover that when deep in enemy territory trying to do that very thing? Also yes. Cultivators rushed towards the infiltration team from all over. Was this why Lelka hadn¡¯t bothered to spring the trap? Because their goal was pointless anyway? Velvet hated that thought, but she had to accept it as a possibility, even as she erased her own presence. Oh, she wasn¡¯t planning to abandon those with her. She just found it more efficient to kill enemies who couldn¡¯t see her coming. Preferably, they wouldn¡¯t even notice she attacked until she had moved onto another area. It was a delicate balance, striking with her void blade and immediately replacing an opponent¡¯s sensations with an illusion. They would likely feel an instant of pain, but when it went away they might think nothing of it, at least for a second. That was all she needed. Velvet picked out the most threatening enemies- not necessarily the strongest overall, but those she could reach. One such individual was an Augmentation cultivator. She found it worth the risk to plunge her dagger all the way into his eye and deep into his brain. In the last instant of the man¡¯s life, he recognized something and created a wave of upper energy, blinding light that filled the area around him. Velvet didn¡¯t hesitate to make a mad dash away as a hundred attacks were launched at the surrounding area a moment later. Fortunately, she managed to drop lingering motes of light that would have revealed her location. Koralo was having decent success turning the local formations against their enemies. He wasn¡¯t in complete control, but he took advantage of the formations¡¯ excellent abilities to manipulate light. That was what the Citadel of Exalted Light was all about, so of course they were prepared to defend against similar abilities. Or their own, as it turned out. Koralo was holding in place a smooth barrier, powered primarily by the Citadel¡¯s own formations. Alva was within the same barrier, picking off targets outside, her arrows skipping through subspace instead of disturbing the barrier. A barrier that was meant to be one-directional had weaknesses that could be exploited, and she knew that. Unsurprisingly, Chikere hadn¡¯t seemed to consider sheltering in the barrier for a single instant. She was instead wading through a great many disciples of the Exalted Light, a whirling dervish of death. She cared not that their assaults came in the form of intangible energy, as she would sever such things as easily as she cut through their bodies. A thousand razor thin blades made of her own blood were a vortex around her, expanding with every moment. For one instant, an Augmentation cultivator stood facing her, a blade of pure light in her hand. The next instant, the Exalted Light cultivator had crossed the entire width of the core sect, a rift of light following behind her and slicing the grounds in two. Chikere didn¡¯t seem to have moved a single millimeter in the exchange, until her right arm fell to the ground. She cocked her head, looking through the rift in the buildings where the woman stood over a kilometer away. Then Chikere shook her head. Velvet was too far to clearly make out why the other woman fell, but Chikere¡¯s artificial arm reached out to grab an incoming enemy by the ankle. Not that she would have let getting an arm cut off stop her anyway. Though the chaos of battle had only lasted a few minutes, Velvet already thought they were doing quite well to have survived. However, it was entirely possible they should have fled immediately. But they still had someone stubbornly attempting to bring down the Citadel. Durff, largely ignored, was punching the crystalline structure. His hammer had already broken previously, and needless to say his fist was far less of a threat. Yet he seemed determined that if he hit it right, it might do something. No, it wasn¡¯t just him. Koralo was manipulating some of the incoming attacks towards the Citadel, testing how the translucent structure responded to incoming beams. Alva continued to try to attack it, and a portion of Chikere¡¯s efforts were also focused on attacking it. Unfortunately, none of that mattered. Velvet highly doubted that voidsteel would be effective against a Domination cultivator¡¯s strength, and it was a weak enough material she couldn¡¯t afford to swing recklessly. However, Koralo had pointed out some parts of the formation that she might attack. She just had to slip inside. It wasn¡¯t exactly safe, but she felt compelled to try. Everything was protected by Zaur¡¯s energy. It was an extremely uncomfortable feeling, her voidsteel dagger dragging across upper energy so durable when it normally cut through it like air. She couldn¡¯t even reach the formation markings, but she continued to adjust her angle. Then, somehow, she felt a moment of weakness. She didn¡¯t bother to try to find out what it was, she just reacted with Instinct. That wasn¡¯t her regular method of operation, but in a place like this it was all she could do. She stabbed down with all of her might, trying to disrupt the remaining energy. Her voidsteel cut through the rest, and into a section of the formation. Alva¡¯s arrows appeared around Velvet, striking more of the Citadel at the same time. Koralo¡¯s energy spread throughout the area, sending the protective formations off balance. A thin line suddenly split along the center of the Citadel. Chikere stood there grinning, even as she was impaled by several spears of light. Blood shot from her wounds, stabbing into everything around her as she fell to her knees. Even Durff punched the wall and made a small crack in the crystal. They¡¯d far underestimated what they needed, and Durff didn¡¯t have a weapon that could support him. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. A nearby Augmentation cultivator seemed to take the greatest offense at an Integration cultivator daring to defile the symbol of their sect. In the same instant Durff made his small crack, the man sliced into Durff¡¯s left shoulder, severing his arm. Velvet should have been there to protect him. As if she could. Her own strength was only so much. Zaur¡¯s energy returned to the citadel in a huge wave, blasting Velvet out of the Citadel with a huge flash of light. Their best chance to destroy it, and from almost every angle it looked perfectly fine. One good crack, a couple broken formation markings, and a thin cut almost impossible to see. Something grabbed Velvet as she was swept outside by the burst of energy. Her eyes were blinded from the flash and her energy senses were shot for that instant, but she could still hear. ¡°You¡¯ve gotta fix your concealment,¡± Durff said calmly. She heard him hit the Citadel again, causing the surroundings to rock. Velvet felt something splash on her face. ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s not gonna work. I¡¯ve gotta¡­ go.¡± Her senses got back in order just in time to feel Durff jump away. Normally the formations would have prevented him from just escaping, but he flew without anything impeding him. Velvet didn¡¯t judge him for just leaving, carrying his arm with him. That was¡­ odd. Velvet dipped her finger into the slight wetness on her face. Blood wasn¡¯t new to her, but it was still a bit disturbing. She wondered why she hadn¡¯t been killed for her moment of stillness, then she realized she was standing in a crater. The Citadel was buried perhaps fifty meters below the surroundings. When had that happened? Was it Durff? Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t look like the structure had been damaged, just the foundation below- and a good portion of the core sect, of course. ----- Timothy didn¡¯t turn his head towards his son. Before the battle, he¡¯d asked Chidi how long he needed, and the answer had been simple. As long as he could manage, but most important was that Zaur fight as close to full power as possible. The first formation had lasted a minute. Timothy knew this one was less effective for keeping Zaur contained or even for bolstering his own energy. Having all of the rest of their Augmentation cultivators here would have been nice. But that would only help for a moment. So instead, Timothy charged forward as Chidi began slowly moving closer. ¡°Really, you¡¯re still trying?¡± Zaur rolled his eyes. ¡°I guess I can make another hole in you. How many will it take before you fall?¡± Zaur flicked out with a single finger, striking the point of Timothy¡¯s sword and crumpling it. The difference in energy was simply that much, even with the formation bolstering him. Then Zaur lashed out with a kick, striking Timothy¡¯s shield. Well, he was aiming for his chest and Timothy blocked. He staggered back two steps. His arm was already broken, and he was using a good portion of his energy to maintain its structure. His shield was made of little more than hopes and dreams right now, and sadly not in the way he might have preferred. If it was actually made of smithed hopes and dreams, it would have been better. Instead, it was some sort of Worldheart mixture, using just a tiny amount of the rare and often problematic substance. Chidi took another ¡®step¡¯ forward, though there wasn¡¯t a floor around so he was simply flying. Zaur finally took notice of him. Obviously a cultivator as powerful as him wouldn¡¯t actually miss anything in his surroundings, but he had previously disregarded him. ¡°Normally I wouldn¡¯t waste my breath, but your audacity¡­¡± Zaur said. ¡°A simple Life Transformation cultivator dares approach me? You could not cut me even if I completely lowered my defenses. And you must realize that your eyelids will not protect you from my divine light.¡± He raised a hand, a flash a hundred times brighter than a sun coming from him. Timothy¡¯s mind whirled, even though he got only a small portion of it as his mind tried to compensate for what was happening. He could vaguely sense Zaur stabbing out towards Chidi with a single finger, not that the motion had anything to do with the attacks he could unleash. Then Timothy felt nothing. The world was darkness, his eyes blinded. Only vacuum surrounded him, cutting off hearing. And energy? For the briefest moment, it was nothing at all. It returned in a flash, and the formation collapsed. The instant Zaur¡¯s energy had begun functioning fully, he was suddenly in another place- nearly to the edge of the system. The formation hadn¡¯t held him in place at all. Timothy hadn¡¯t recovered his sight, but he sensed something left behind. A grotesque hunk of flesh that appeared to be half of an index finger and a thumb, severed cleanly from the wrist. Blood trickled from Timothy¡¯s lips as he tried to move, to throw himself in front of Chidi. Zaur would destroy him in an instant. But instead¡­ he didn¡¯t stop at the edge of the system. Nor had he simply concealed his energy and hidden himself. Timothy- no, the entire battlefield- could sense Zaur fleeing at top speed, making use of all of his energy. The great presence he radiated spoke of extreme power. Yet everyone knew, now, that Zaur was not strong. Not truly. The strong did not fear for their lives, even if they were about to perish. ----- A corner fell off the Citadel, sliding smoothly and crashing to the ground. It first fell on the edge of the core sect above before toppling into the crater, shattering to pieces. Chikere grinned, even though she hadn¡¯t been the one to cut it. Then she laughed, blood streaming from all parts of her body and dancing wildly around her. ¡°Did you see that? Did you, you weaklings? My apprentice just completely wrecked your sect master!¡± The taunt did not go over well with the remaining enemy cultivators. They had forced the remaining four to huddle together- Chikere still just outside the barrier. The only thing that saved her was Koralo extending it to cover her as beams of radiant energy converged on her. Alva cursed. ¡°That was the perfect opportunity and I missed it.¡± Velvet nodded. The explosion that had flung her out of the Citadel itself felt like forever ago, but was probably a matter of a minute or less. That had taken a lot out of her. ¡°I couldn¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°Me neither,¡± Chikere sighed. ¡°I was going to create a nice perpendicular cut, too. Or preferably turn that thing into eighths. But I was too slow.¡± ¡°You should probably get some of that blood back inside of you,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Too late,¡± Chikere shrugged. ¡°If you see Durff again, tell him he can have my arm. Though it¡¯s the wrong side.¡± A dozen Integration cultivators trying to slip past the barrier were cut down. Even so, there were a number of fresh Augmentation cultivators waiting outside for the four of them to weaken. At least Durff got away. That was what Velvet thought, until she felt a surge of energy from him¡­ all the way on the opposite side of the planet. What was he doing there? Chapter 1020 The first thing Durff knew was that he couldn¡¯t break the Citadel. He wasn¡¯t sure why it was so strong, but it seemed to have the power of a Domination cultivator protecting it. He obviously wasn¡¯t strong enough to crush it whatever the reason. He¡¯d hit it as hard as he could and the only thing he accomplished was shoving it into the ground. Which is why he was implementing one of their other plans. With everyone focused on attacking the people around the Citadel, they had mostly just let him pass by. That wasn¡¯t quite true, but the few Integration cultivators who threw themselves at him got smacked out of the way by¡­ his arm. That he was carrying in his other arm. It wasn¡¯t more durable, exactly. Otherwise it probably wouldn¡¯t have gotten cut off. But it was suited for his needs and really good at channeling his energy. So he took it to the other side of the planet and swung it either down or up at the bottom of the Citadel. Durff realized he might have been able to dig underneath it or something and achieve a similar effect. But somehow, this felt more right. He had experience hitting a planet sized object, after all. Now he was just doing it again. His attack landed in whatever direction it was going, hitting the planet into the Citadel resting on top of it. That was what Durff wanted to do, so that was what he did. A little bit of the planet also crumbled around where he was, but mostly the other thing. It was really easy to feel where the Citadel was. It was the source of all the crazy Domination energy. It popped off the planet and flew towards the sun. Vaguely. He didn¡¯t exactly have a lot of control over the accuracy, he was just lucky it was the right time of day to even have the sun in that direction. The Citadel was big, and getting it moving fast was difficult. But with a good shove from the planet Durff thought it could get there. Until it stopped. Just¡­ stopped. ¡°Aww man.¡± Durff collapsed into the crater around him. It sure was tiring to use that much energy all at once, especially after putting his all into his previous attempts that didn¡¯t do much. He didn¡¯t mind that he would probably die here, but he would have liked to reach Augmentation in a fortuitous moment or actually accomplish their objective. Chikere had gotten in a good cut, but that didn¡¯t seem to do it. ----- The Citadel rocketed out of the ground, though the ground tremors that came with it were also a concern. Alva watched it fly up, soon becoming a tiny point in the sky. Then it stopped suddenly. If she had to guess, Zaur exercised some sort of control over his anchor. Hopefully, that distracted him at some critical moment or something. There had been a momentary lapse in its defense, but it seemed to be over. Alva doubted it would happen again. ¡°There went our target,¡± she said. ¡°No reason to stay here.¡± ¡°Good point,¡± Chikere said. ¡°Get to the ship. I¡¯ll get Durff.¡± A line of blood slashed apart space, creating a vortex as the vacuum pulled on the gathered cultivators. Then another rift appeared, and the group split. Their goal was to destroy the Citadel. It had admittedly been a long shot without a full fleet or some sort of superweapon. Now that they couldn¡¯t do that, they might as well survive. Alva stepped through to space with Velvet and Koralo. They weren¡¯t far from where their ship was, obscured by being near nothing of interest and its own stealth systems. A moment later Durff was chucked through a rift, along with three arms. One attached to his right shoulder, as it should have been. One was his other arm. The third was Chikere¡¯s arm. But¡­ she didn¡¯t come with it. The beacon of energy from the planet explained why. She wasn¡¯t leaving. Spikes of sword intent punctuated her attacks, and just as disciples of the Exalted Light began to seek out the energy of the four of them, there was one final burst. Blood red energy appeared in a ring around the planet, then seemingly did nothing. Even so, Alva shivered at how much power was called on at once. Then she realized, the ring was the aftermath of the attack. It hadn¡¯t circled around the planet menacingly, but instead had burst out of it. Alva¡¯s senses could stretch just far enough to feel the grand scale of things. A planet severed in two, and Chikere¡¯s energy fading away. When her senses returned to herself, she spun her bow towards the ship. ¡°Careful,¡± a voice said. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t want your escape to be hindered by damaging it.¡± The woman¡¯s form appeared in front of their ship. The one individual who had been conspicuously missing the whole time. ¡°So you did figure us out,¡± Velvet said. Or at least¡­ an illusion of her. Alva wasn¡¯t quite certain, but that was her suspicion. ¡°We track the ships entering our systems more strictly than we want anyone to believe,¡± Lelka said. ¡°We still almost missed you. But a slight anomaly, followed by our watchers at the starport? That was sufficient. But I¡¯m not here to talk.¡± ¡°Planning to kill us?¡± Velvet asked. No doubt she was moments away from slitting Lelka¡¯s throat. Alva wondered if she should distract her. ¡°Now why would I want to do that? This ship is my best ticket out of here.¡± ¡°Why would we risk trusting you?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Because you¡¯re exhausted and risk people finding this ship if we fight. And by risk I mean I¡¯d explode in a very clear manner such that only the most incompetent individuals couldn¡¯t track you down.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Why not just try to kill us then?¡± Alva countered. ¡°Because I¡¯d rather survive and that¡¯s what happens if I stay here. Just slower, if this whole thing hadn¡¯t happened.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to let us restrain you,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Make an oath not to kill me,¡± Lelka countered. ¡°I swear not to kill you while you¡¯re not a threat,¡± Velvet agreed. Lelka clicked her tongue. ¡°That¡¯ll have to do given the time crunch.¡± She turned her arms to the side, where shackles immediately clacked around her wrists. ¡°The shackles gave you away, by the way.¡± Velvet appeared in her actual position once she was confident Lelka¡¯s energy was properly restrained- having moved to behind Lelka¡¯s initial facing. ¡°That¡¯s the energy negation. Can¡¯t do much about it.¡± ¡°I do believe we should be moving along,¡± Koralo said, reaching out towards the ship. ¡°The shock of¡­ that,¡± he gestured vaguely back towards the planet. ¡°Will only last so long.¡± Five people piled into the small airlock on the ship, though they didn¡¯t wait for the chamber to properly pressurize, just the outer doors to close. Such safety protocols could be bypassed in emergencies, and on ships where the only expected travelers should be cultivators who could survive in space. ¡°Chikere¡­?¡± Velvet asked as a sort of question, looking towards Alva. Alva shook her head. ¡°She¡¯d need to have either energy or blood in her body, and she had neither. I¡¯m pretty sure she was disintegrated a moment later.¡± The ship was moving, but local vessels were scrambling into action. ¡°Will they be able to track us?¡± Velvet asked Lelka. ¡°Not precisely, but we have enough to scour the area. And that spatial rift should have been sensed by at least a few people with high enough accuracy.¡± ¡°Should we change our escape route¡­?¡± Velvet wondered. ¡°I know you probably don¡¯t trust me, but I¡¯d say you shouldn¡¯t,¡± Lelka commented. ¡°I didn¡¯t hear anything of your approach, though I¡¯d predicted a chance of countermeasures.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re gonna have to be kept out of the cockpit,¡± Velvet said. Lelka shrugged. ¡°I was just following people. And I¡¯ll definitely die if this ship gets blasted apart.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll determine your true intentions later. Alva?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll watch her,¡± Alva agreed. ----- The unmitigated flight of Zaur Beridze, sect master of the Citadel of Exalted Light, came with a tremendous shift in morale. The Scarlet Alliance hadn¡¯t been particularly hopeless, confident in their plans but knowing they faced off against tremendous foes. Their foes, however, had been more than confident in their victory. Then a third of them turned to flee the moment Zaur did. Perhaps they were the smart ones, because only a small portion of them died in their haste. Others had hesitated, not truly believing Zaur would flee. But his energy signature was more than clear, able to be felt even as he went further and further out of the system. It didn¡¯t matter to the Scarlet Alliance precisely why he was running. All they knew was that without him, they were at a sudden advantage- even before their enemies began to flee en masse. With enemy ships having been destroyed in great quantities, each cultivator fleeing did so as an individual instead of part of a greater whole. Some broke into a fighting retreat, vaguely covering the others with them whether intentionally or not. But overall, their various speeds were staggered. Those who were slower fell far behind the rest in mere moments, and the Scarlet Alliance formed uniform battle lines that pressed in on their foes. When they could, they focused on Augmentation cultivators. That would cause the greatest damage to the Exalted Quadrant, each of their deaths being precious. The rest¡­ the enemy had nearly limitless populations to draw upon, and they would hardly be missed. But of course, Augmentation cultivators tended to be the sturdiest and the fastest, so most of them were able to flee. Except for Kigal, who was still wrestling with Sly- not by her choice. His body was broken and bruised, with wounds far sufficient to kill most cultivators. But the smile on his face was as big and bright as it could be. ¡°Look at that. There goes the big guy.¡± Kigal responded by stabbing her fingers into his gut, creating a sharpened blade of energy. She reached only a centimeter deep before Sly¡¯s muscles clamped down around her fingers, his energy flooding his body. Then two palms crushed Kigal¡¯s head. She was focused first on escape, second on Sly. Prasad of the Thousand Palm Sect had no qualms taking advantage of her distraction. Even with that he couldn¡¯t have killed her from full power, but Sly had been fighting with her the whole battle, and others had already taken advantage of that to wear down Kigal. Prasad just happened to be the final one. ¡°That totally counts as Sly¡¯s kill,¡± Tauno commented. Prasad just shrugged. He was not interested in the kill count. He just wanted to maintain his security, and eradicating their enemies was the best way to do so. He hadn¡¯t actually expected any of their plans to drive off a Domination cultivator to succeed, but Prasad was more than happy to be pleasantly surprised at the results. Zaur¡¯s energy faded beyond the senses of all but the very best of them. ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s coming back,¡± Prospeo commented to Hoyt beside him. Catarina had used her husband¡¯s own blood to put together a formation that was stabilizing his condition. He just smiled at her with a hole through him. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to die,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Wasn¡¯t planning to,¡± Timothy retorted painfully. Chidi was currently trying to figure out how to put his adjustable shackles on a singular thumb and forefinger. They tightened down to quite narrow, but not that narrow. Then again, they did their job without perfect contact. Also, he was fairly certain there was nothing special about them. Zaur didn¡¯t seem to have been a particularly advanced body cultivator of any sort. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you did that,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Well, I mean¡­¡± ¡°That you had great confidence in me but it was an impossible task,¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I wasn¡¯t the one who caused the first wound, though.¡± ¡°Indeed¡­¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°I wonder who did?¡± ¡°Chikere, obviously.¡± Chidi replied. ¡°The cut on his forehead made that very clear. A shame she couldn¡¯t do more, but I expect the circumstances on the far end were difficult.¡± His thoughts were clearly on the far end, but he expressed no further opinion on how he thought things had gone. Most likely if it had been a complete success there would have been a more drastic result. But they hadn¡¯t actually expected to successfully kill a Domination cultivator. They were just trying everything they could and hoping something worked. Though now, they didn¡¯t feel as if they could lose against Zaur in particular ever again. He lacked the proper conviction to concern them. And hopefully, his injuries would make him weaker for a long period of time. Chapter 1021 The personal effects of Lelka were being combed through one at a time by Koralo with the intention to provide certainty she wasn¡¯t being tracked somehow. With the restraints negating her energy they didn¡¯t sense anything being transmitted, but it would be foolish to assume. They had considered simply tossing everything she had. However, most of it was too valuable not just from the perspective of material cost or the like, but also the insights it could provide into the enchantment style of the Citadel of Exalted Light. Alva was watching Lelka herself, who seemed to be meditating to pass the time. She couldn¡¯t gain any benefits without access to her energy, but with no way to entertain herself just passing time more quickly might be valuable. Durff had returned to consciousness, and was carefully examining his severed arm and the mechanical arm Chikere had left behind. Velvet was piloting the ship, nominally at least. It only needed input every time they reached a new system, unless something went wrong. ¡°Why?¡± Durff asked, holding up the arm. ¡°That¡¯s a big question,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t we complete our mission? Why did Chikere remain behind?¡± Durff shook his head. ¡°Why leave her arm to me? We barely knew each other. Also it¡¯s the wrong arm.¡± ¡°Maybe a whim. Not everything she did was part of a well thought out, viable long term plan. Sometimes, she just wanted to cut a planet in half.¡± If Chikere had been left behind on a planet full of a trillion sword cultivators who wanted to kill her, then regardless of what Alva had seen Velvet wouldn¡¯t necessarily believe she was dead. However, the state Chikere had been in before the end and the unsuitable combat environment indicated that perhaps she really was. ¡°May I look at the arm?¡± Velvet asked. Durff tossed it over. ¡°It has a lot of weird little holes.¡± ¡°They¡¯re to replicate pores. Chikere found it quite useful for her style.¡± Velvet held the arm in her hand. It still felt¡­ sharp. Like it might try to cut her to pieces at any time. But it wasn¡¯t the same as Chikere herself. More like a remnant. Could they do something with this? Was it even valuable to modify it to fit Durff¡¯s left arm? That one was the most suspect, because he still had his other arm. Whenever Durff wasn¡¯t messing around with it, they were doing their best to preserve it. It was actually quite likely they could reattach it eventually. They had both technological methods and those based around cultivation. Maybe the arm didn¡¯t mean anything. If it did, Velvet certainly couldn¡¯t figure it out. She tossed it back to Durff, who let it clatter on the floor next to him. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I could use it,¡± he said. ¡°I respect Chikere¡¯s intent and the strength she had, but it¡¯s too light. It just doesn¡¯t fit.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to. It might have just been a foolish idea.¡± Velvet let silence reign for a time, then continued. ¡°Good job, by the way. You did the best anyone could expect. You actually almost knocked it into the sun.¡± Durff hung his head. ¡°If only I could have hit it harder. Especially earlier, when it was defenseless. I could have shattered it.¡± ¡°Sure. Or any of the rest of us could have had another century of training. Or we could have found a way to sneak a capital ship deep into enemy territory. Maybe figure out antimatter. But none of that was true. I invited you, and you did great.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to grow strong enough to smash it,¡± Durff gripped his own wrist tightly. Velvet didn¡¯t intend to belittle Durff¡¯s ambition by saying it was unrealistic or something. Sometimes, unrealistic goals were the best for cultivators, ironically becoming possible from their very pursuit of what should have been impossible. Besides, Durff had a certain sort of talent. He might even reach Augmentation soon, which would be an excellent time to focus his will onto a particular goal like that. Velvet hoped that everything had gone well with the main body of the Alliance. Chikere seemed to have thought so, at least. Something about Chidi injuring Zaur? It was unclear, but something had damaged the Citadel that wasn¡¯t related to anything local. Of course, it also hadn¡¯t resulted in the complete destruction of the Citadel, so that meant Zaur was probably alive and most likely still dangerous. He might even be controlling the course of the war. There was no way to find out in a reasonable time frame. ----- Sometime later, Velvet sat with Lelka intending to interrogate her. Not that it would be particularly in depth or reliable, but she might as well figure out what she could. ¡°How much of what you said was true?¡± ¡°About what?¡± Lelka asked. ¡°Pretty much everything was true, to a greater or lesser extent.¡± ¡°It made your word more genuine,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°I couldn¡¯t read you. But¡­ about Zaur and your sect.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I see,¡± Lelka nodded. ¡°The Citadel of Exalted Light and Zaur in particular have not treated me like any other Augmentation cultivator. I was content to remain disconnected from core operations, but I was given no choice. And yet, I gained no real authority to fulfill my duties. Perhaps I was supposed to slaughter people to get others to listen,¡± she shrugged. ¡°But I could have seen that resulting in my termination either way. Likewise, Zaur¡¯s appreciation for my sister seemed to me to be little more than show and posturing. Otherwise he would have gone against Everheart instead of the Scarlet Alliance.¡± She paused briefly, ¡°I hope you were successful in the war. The first time was a miracle due to Ratna, but if your alliance was not competent you wouldn¡¯t have survived to that point. Seeing your results on this end, I would prefer if you did it again.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Because I would hope to be given a chance to change my allegiance. I understand your trepidation, of course. Nobody likes a traitor. That is why I hope to convince you we weren¡¯t really enemies to begin with. If you need further incentives, I have a great number of secrets of the Citadel of Exalted Light¡­ and others throughout the Exalted Quadrant.¡± ¡°We have all of your writings,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°The important stuff is in my head. Obviously,¡± Lelka said. ¡°Too risky to have anything like that written down. Given some time to prepare, I could have had more though.¡± Velvet narrowed her eyes. ¡°When did you make your decision to swap allegiances?¡± ¡°The moment your group was noticed. Obviously, you had to be successful to some extent.¡± ¡°We would have been more positively inclined had you aided us.¡± ¡°Was the tour not enough?¡± Lelka raised an eyebrow. ¡°Trust me, you would not have found my combat prowess to be significantly persuasive.¡± ¡°You are an Augmentation cultivator, though. It¡¯s not like there were a ton of us.¡± Lelka shrugged. ¡°My goal was to survive. Just because I believed you had a chance didn¡¯t mean I thought it was high enough probability to take that risk. I¡¯m not asking to be inducted into your core circle. I just wanted the opportunity to get out, and I judged that the circumstances warranted it. Besides, my information on your alliance indicates that you would be willing to cut me a deal in exchange for willingly offered information instead of that obtained through torture or extraction techniques. It is much more reliable.¡± ¡°If we can trust you.¡± ¡°Much of the information is easily enough verified, once you know it,¡± Lelka shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m fine with being imprisoned for a decade while you figure things out. I have the feeling my lifespan would be longer there regardless.¡± ¡°Why? If you had stopped us¡­¡± ¡°That might have been a viable route. But I¡¯m not confident that would have been better.¡± Ultimately, Velvet couldn¡¯t find any lies in what she said. But that had been true earlier, when she had uncovered their plan and might have been on the verge of having them killed. So clearly, she was adept at hiding her complete intentions. Still, Koralo hadn¡¯t found anything indicating she was a spy just yet. They¡¯d have to be careful when they got to Scarlet Alliance territory, though. ----- The most suspicious incident came when they arrived in the next system, though tying it in any way to Lelka was¡­ difficult. When they dropped into real space they just happened to be in the path of another ship, and having just come out of subspace their stealth systems were not fully operational. The chances of such an occurrence were astronomically low. Velvet didn¡¯t know if it made more sense that it would have been planned somehow or was entirely accidental. Either way, she found it difficult to believe that Lelka could have predicted precisely when and where they would come out over a week ahead of time. It also helped that the enemy ships looked quite surprised to clip something invisible. It took Velvet a moment to figure out the situation, by which point all of the handful of ships flying together were ready for combat. Velvet fed her power into the ship, their weapons systems taking out the others in a matter of moments. But it was too late, as a call of alarm had gone out. They were members of the Citadel, obviously. This was still their territory, so even if it was suspicious it was also the most likely at the same time. That was when the chase began. The only reason Velvet didn¡¯t toss Lelka¡¯s head out the airlock at that moment was because Alva mentioned Lelka had looked quite surprised and concerned when she felt the chaos of battle. It could have been a ploy, of course, but Velvet had to go with what they could read from Lelka. Trusting her was a bit difficult, but Velvet went with her instincts, the same one that had allowed her to come along to begin with instead of killing her after the restraints were on. If she was being manipulated¡­ she¡¯d survive and learn. Perhaps deep in enemy territory was not the time to test herself, but that was how things worked out sometimes. They only remained briefly around the local star to recharge. From then on, they did their best to skip over unnecessary systems, charging the ship with their own energy despite how inefficient it was outside of combat. Citadel ships were scouring the nearby systems, appearing in large numbers. No matter which route they went, they kept running into more. However, there was nothing they could do but press on and hope they could avoid further notice. It was uncertain if the enemy had verified their identity or not, but it seemed likely that any hint of troublemakers after an attack on the core sect would result in the same response. Though they were constantly avoiding detection, there were also longer periods in subspace. That gave more time to question Lelka. ¡°What do you think of this situation?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°From what I felt,¡± she said. ¡°I could have handled the search more efficiently. If anyone would have listened to me.¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I have less information than you do,¡± Lelka shrugged. ¡°I might be able to tell you which elder or elders are coordinating things if you are able to provide more details than the energy that passively reaches me here. Otherwise, I trust in your abilities to get out with as much finesse as you arrived.¡± That was a nice vote of confidence from her, perhaps. Unfortunately, it was somewhat dampened by the fact that the next system they dropped into had an unexpectedly powerful formation, as well as numerous ships from the Citadel of Exalted Light¡­ and the Worthy Shore Society. Obviously not those from Ceretos, but the greater sect that they had been planted from and perhaps any that had ascended before the split. Most relevantly, they seemed to be responsible for the formation- one that their ship hadn¡¯t picked up on the way in. ¡°Koralo!¡± Velvet called for their own formation master. Hopefully, he could get them out of this without too much fuss. At that point, it hadn¡¯t quite struck Velvet which system they had ended up in, though she would later find it worthy of adding another curse to Everheart¡¯s name. Chapter 1022 A basic analysis of the grand formation throughout the system was completed in short order by Koralo. ¡°Do you want the good news or the bad news first?¡± ¡°Does the bad news completely erase any point of there being good news?¡± Velvet grumbled. ¡°Not completely,¡± Koralo said. ¡°So, the good news. I don¡¯t believe that they predicted our arrival here, and most likely they aren¡¯t even looking for us. However, that doesn¡¯t mean we¡¯re not in a delicate situation. The system is still locked down to prevent anyone from getting out, and while their formations might not have detected our arrival there is a decent chance they would notice our departure and be able to track us more directly.¡± ¡°So, what? We¡¯re stuck here?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I suppose we can wait until they move on.¡± ¡°I do not think they will be moving on any time soon,¡± Koralo said. ¡°Because they¡¯re not locking down this system for fun or practice. This system is the one that contained what we believed to be a branch of the Nighstar sect.¡± ¡°Why did we come here?¡± Velvet furrowed her brow. That was a serious question she had to ask herself. ¡°We could have jumped to a half dozen other stars without significantly deviating from our course. There was no reason to go directly back through a system we knew had traffic.¡± Koralo shook his head. ¡°That is a question I am afraid I have no answer to.¡± ¡°Can you go get the others?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Including or excluding Lelka?¡± ¡°She¡¯ll have to be here. We can¡¯t risk leaving her out of our sight.¡± Of course, their energy senses should be able to keep a lock on her. The ship was tiny. But at the moment it seemed like too much of a risk. It didn¡¯t take more than a minute to gather the others. Alva had been watching Lelka, not that there had been any trouble yet. Which was why the surveillance would continue to ensure it stayed that way. Durff¡­ was still carrying his arm. Sustaining it with his energy, since even if the ship had a stasis formation it wouldn¡¯t have been optimal long term. Velvet explained the situation, such as it was. ¡°We should have thought of this. Or maybe not this, specifically, but the risks of entering this system. So why didn¡¯t we?¡± Velvet didn¡¯t believe Alva or herself should have missed something like that. Nor Koralo, realistically. Fine, she mostly thought that Durff might have missed it but not anyone else. ¡°I assumed you remembered,¡± Durff said. ¡°And I don¡¯t think there was a better route.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Well, usually you remember things better than me.¡± ¡°Sure. But I meant the other thing.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this where we wanted to go?¡± Durff asked. Velvet frowned. ¡°Why would we want to go here? We were trying to avoid enemies.¡± ¡°Yeah. But there are a lot of them, right? Like, throughout the rest of the Exalted Quadrant. They¡¯ll probably all look for us. Not because they¡¯re friends but the Citadel is probably very mad and would pay them or threaten them or whatever.¡± ¡°All of that rings true,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°It doesn¡¯t explain coming here.¡± ¡°We can just leave now,¡± Durff said. ¡°By going in there.¡± Lelka¡¯s reaction to that was obvious, along with her confusion. ¡°You¡¯ll just be trapped in the secret realm. Which would include me, and I don¡¯t think the hostage excuse would help since it wouldn¡¯t excuse my ¡®failures¡¯. So what I¡¯m saying is I¡¯d rather not have that happen.¡± ¡°You know about the secret realm?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Tangentially. Elder Ludek should have been the one actually involved with it. Speaking of which, you were rather lucky he wasn¡¯t around the core. He¡¯s one of those closest to being an Exalted One.¡± ¡°A Domination cultivator?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Not quite. Every Domination cultivator would be an Exalted One, but not all of them are Domination cultivators. Also, this had better count towards sharing important information because I really need the contribution.¡± ¡°We never even really agreed on that,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°You will, though,¡± Lelka said. ¡°Anyway, Elder Ludek would have made your infiltration much more difficult, even if he didn¡¯t catch you beforehand. Your tenuous survival would have become complete destruction.¡± ¡°Thanks for the vote of confidence,¡± Velvet said. ¡°That you would have required the addition of someone like him to be wiped out does actually speak to my assessment of your abilities.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Koralo said. ¡°Is this Elder Ludek here?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell,¡± Lelka said. ¡°He isn¡¯t projecting any energy I can feel, but I¡¯d expect most people to be more subtle than that. If I could actively sense it might be different.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not freeing you from the restraints,¡± Velvet declared. Lelka shrugged. ¡°I was just being clear.¡± Alva¡¯s eyes carefully watched the display screen, showing their current facing, and the outside in general. ¡°What are our chances of getting out of the formation undetected?¡± ¡°About¡­ fifty percent,¡± Koralo said. ¡°That is accounting for my understanding of all of our capabilities and my own formation expertise.¡± ¡°If Ludek is here and you are noticed, we all die,¡± Lelka reminded them. ¡°Would his potential presence make the formations more powerful?¡± Koralo asked. ¡°He¡¯s not a formation master. He might be able to empower them at the behest of one, but I¡¯d probably feel that if it was active and ongoing. However, his influence might have brought out some of the better members of the Worthy Shore Society.¡± ¡°What are our other options?¡± Alva asked. ¡°We can try to slip past the formations through subspace¡­¡± ¡°Already considered,¡± Koralo pointed out. ¡°That would have been a better plan that trying to directly bypass the formations.¡± ¡°Or we could try to go to a higher order subspace,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°I agree,¡± Koralo nodded. ¡°Which is why the ship is not our best bet. At least, based on what I have seen and your experiences with the Nighstar sect.¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°That¡¯s what I was saying,¡± Durff complained. ¡°We can just go through there, right?¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°I would not make the assumption all locations operate the same.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve seen more of these?¡± Lelka asked. Velvet just glared at her. ¡°What? I think it¡¯s reasonable to be curious.¡± ¡°Durff,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You¡¯re resistant to mental manipulation, correct?¡± ¡°I sure hope so,¡± he said. ¡°We may have missed something drawing us here.¡± ¡°If it helps,¡± Lelka said. ¡°I¡¯ve never been here before and feel called to this place.¡± ¡°That means it¡¯s a trap, right?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Everything is a trap,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It just matters if we can overcome it.¡± Her energy swirled inside her. ¡°Found it. The local system is responsible for the draw. I just thought it was because we¡¯d seen more of these.¡± She grimaced. ¡°It¡¯s slippery and does a good job to appear like my own thoughts.¡± ¡°So then,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Do we take our chances with unknown but likely high risks, or something quite like an actual coin flip? I¡¯d prefer not to go in there.¡± ¡°I¡¯m for delving into the Nighstar sect,¡± Alva said. ¡°Though the risk is high, I would prefer to take our chances with the ship,¡± Koralo said. People turned to Durff. ¡°I think the secret realm is better. We¡¯ve dealt with that stuff before.¡± ¡°I know that I probably don¡¯t get a vote,¡± Lelka said. ¡°But I would prefer to face the dangers of the secret realm, as long as you believe there is a reasonable chance of escape.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t get a vote,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Everheart made it,¡± Koralo added. ¡°I¡¯ve changed my mind,¡± Lelka commented. ¡°Let¡¯s not go there.¡± ¡°Your vote still doesn¡¯t count,¡± Alva said. ¡°So, uh, I think we should go with the one of us who might be the least mentally manipulated.¡± ¡°But Durff is your choice,¡± Velvet pointed out. Alva shrugged. ¡°Doesn¡¯t it make sense?¡± Durff asked. ¡°It worked before.¡± ¡°Only if there¡¯s a stable space beyond the secret realm,¡± Koralo said. ¡°We don¡¯t have to stay there. We¡¯ll just pass through,¡± Durff said. ¡°Isn¡¯t that what you did all that learning for?¡± he asked Alva. ¡°I had Catarina backing me up.¡± ¡°Koralo knows formations,¡± Durff said. ¡°Didn¡¯t you study the other place?¡± ¡°I did,¡± Koralo admitted. ¡°So we know we¡¯re going at least one bit deeper. From there, we can go even further and find a way out. Isn¡¯t that easier than slipping through regular subspace past some formations that are probably looking for that?¡± ¡°It is,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°I¡¯m concerned about leaving the ship behind,¡± Koralo said. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy,¡± Alva said. ¡°We just let it fall into the sun.¡± ¡°... This is not a cheap ship,¡± Koralo pointed out. ¡°Even if it¡¯s not large.¡± ¡°All the more reason to make sure it doesn¡¯t fall into enemy hands,¡± Velvet agreed with Alva. ¡°And it was already written off as an expense of this. Remember the part where we weren¡¯t expected to make it out? If we hadn¡¯t returned to the ship, it should have been programmed to self-annihilate. Or if captured, to the extent that it could.¡± ¡°So you agree with them now?¡± Koralo asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worse. And Alva would be the one doing the spatial delving. Are you still confident, even if you have to reach higher order or partial dimensional subspace on your own?¡± Alva gave that a few moments of thought. ¡°Yes. Though I could use a stabilization tunnel.¡± ¡°Just one last issue,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°The ships at our destination.¡± ¡°True,¡± Alva said. ¡°We¡¯ll have to slip past anyone exploring the secret realm or standing guard outside. But once we¡¯re in everyone should be trapped with us so we¡¯ll be alright.¡± ¡°About that,¡± Lelka commented. ¡°What do you mean by trapped? Because we have gotten our disciples out, according to the reports I saw.¡± ¡°Did it involve a sacrificial pawn in the center opening up the exits on the outside?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Propping open dimensional portals so you didn¡¯t have to hope another group would enter at the same point?¡± Koralo asked. ¡°I don¡¯t remember the thing that trapped us in ours,¡± Durff said. ¡°At least on the higher layer.¡± ¡°... No? There were no mentions of any difficulty like that. Some deaths, yes, but they were just weaker disciples.¡± Lelka looked at the group. ¡°What did I say? I feel like I said something bad but I don¡¯t know what.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re truly interested in joining the Scarlet Alliance,¡± Alva said. ¡°Keep in mind that we don¡¯t tend to see those who are weaker as without value.¡± ¡°Of course not,¡± Lelka said. ¡°They just have less value.¡± ¡°More like¡­ we see their value in the future,¡± Alva said. ¡°Or just, as people.¡± ¡°An odd philosophy,¡± Lelka commented. ¡°But wouldn¡¯t you still weed out those with low potential?¡± ¡°And what would you say low potential is?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Unable to practice a major cultivation technique.¡± ¡°Right. And those people would be doomed to be weak forever?¡± ¡°Aside from potentially spending an excessive amount of resources, yes,¡± Lelka said. ¡°Hey Durff. Can I share your secrets?¡± Alva asked. ¡°I have secrets?¡± Durff pondered. ¡°Uh, you¡¯re not allowed to share them with the enemy.¡± ¡°Is she our enemy?¡± Alva pointed. Durff tilted his head, taking a good look at Lelka. ¡°Nah, she¡¯s fine. She wants to be our friend, right?¡± ¡°She could be deceiving us.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, probably. What secrets, though?¡± Durff waved her forward and they whispered for a few moments. ¡°Oh, that? That¡¯s not a secret.¡± ¡°Even from the Exalted Quadrant?¡± Alva asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worse than being from the Scarlet Alliance,¡± he pointed out. ¡°We¡¯re closer.¡± ¡°... Fair enough,¡± Alva admitted. ¡°Alright, Lelka. This guy is from the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance.¡± Lelka looked at Alva like she was crazy. ¡°No he isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°His aunt Eka is one of their elders.¡± ¡°Just because you know one of their names doesn¡¯t make it true. I can feel his cultivation,¡± Lelka said. ¡°That¡¯s the point. Because Durff here is someone that by your definition is low potential. No offense, Durff.¡± ¡°I know what you mean,¡± he nodded. ¡°Right. He couldn¡¯t practice the Veiled Brilliance. He got, to my understanding, a fairly modest injection of resources. And he almost killed your Domination cultivator. Or, well, melted your Citadel by smashing it into the sun.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not certain that would have killed Zaur,¡± Lelka said. ¡°But it would have been close enough. I also have to say he¡¯s not my Domination cultivator now or before.¡± Lelka looked at Durff. ¡°I don¡¯t think he had a real chance of success at his current cultivation. But I don¡¯t think someone who has the potential to reach Augmentation truly has low talent, either.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Alva said. ¡°So basically what I¡¯m saying is that those with ¡®low talent¡¯ probably just haven¡¯t found the right path for them. That¡¯s kind of a big part of what makes the Scarlet Alliance work.¡± ¡°I¡¯m interested,¡± Lelka admitted. ¡°But I do believe we can¡¯t afford to sit here talking for a long time.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Alva said. ¡°People weren¡¯t trapped in the secret realm.¡± ¡°The trap would be the desire to return,¡± Velvet said. ¡°That might even get more people, long term. Every method was different¡­ so it fits just fine.¡± ¡°So basically we have to remain unnoticed until we can reach the deeper layers,¡± Alva said. ¡°Or we¡¯ll have a limited time frame after being spotted. I still support the secret realm route.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t changed my opinion either,¡± Durff said. ¡°If Velvet still agrees,¡± Koralo said. ¡°I¡¯ll trust in your experience.¡± ¡°With my mind momentarily clear,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I still feel this is a slightly better option. We do know what we¡¯re getting into. And if we do it right, the Exalted Quadrant will never figure out how we slipped their grasp.¡± Thus, their plans were set. All they had to do was follow through. Chapter 1023 Time was taken to make sure they had everything they could possibly want from the ship. Everything else would be gone in the near future. The ship dropped them off some distance away from the entrance to the ¡®Nighstar Sect¡¯ building. Its stealth capabilities should have let it land among the various watchful eyes, but it was better not to risk it. They could spend a bit more time on their approach for safety. Then the ship lifted off, its route programmed into it with some manual danger overrides acknowledged. In a few minutes, it should be safe and secure inside the sun. In that it would be molten slag drawn into the mass that nobody could get useful information from. Velvet paid special attention to Lelka as they moved along. With her concealment techniques hiding the group, Lelka couldn¡¯t really do much. Shouting would be completely neutralized. Intentionally kicking a rock would force Velvet to take more active steps to alter perception, potentially catching it with her energy and returning it to its position. Lelka might or might not realize the possibilities. But she didn¡¯t do anything as they slipped past the outer perimeter. Soon, they were left with their choice of three portals- always active, if the information they had was to be believed. Alva and Velvet noted a different sort of sun catching arrangement than before. Was this experimental, or was there a reason to have so many different sorts? That wasn¡¯t a question they could answer as they made their way inside. It didn¡¯t take long to come across a dead ¡®Nighstar Sect¡¯ member. The woman¡¯s corpse was already looted, but nobody had bothered to give it the dignity of cleaning it up or moving it out of the area. They wouldn¡¯t either, but only because they couldn¡¯t risk changing anything. They spotted a number of traps, as expected. Some were already dealt with rather forcefully, while others had either been navigated around or nobody had been down particular hallways. Energy of several other groups exploring the area could be felt. Nobody knew quite what they were looking for. Preferably, they would have some sort of entrance to a deeper dimensional level, as it would be more taxing to break through themselves. It would likely also draw unwanted attention, and if they couldn¡¯t be quick enough there would be issues. It wasn¡¯t as simple to slip into deeper dimensions beyond standard subspace, even partial ones. Koralo gestured, seemingly having picked something out among the flow of energy. Velvet couldn¡¯t pick out what was important for their particular task and what was not. They snuck their way into a cylindrical room, a tall pillar in the center surrounded by formation markings. The group remained close as Koralo explored the area, since Velvet couldn¡¯t hide them from too far away. Not completely. Alva might have been able to do a decent job for herself, but Durff would be pretty much useless at concealing himself. ¡°I can¡¯t quite discern the method of activation,¡± Koralo explained, trying to create minimal disturbance as he did so. ¡°It might be triggered by the presence of people?¡± ¡°So if we let it detect us¡­?¡± Velvet prompted. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t risk it,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe I can work around it. Though¡­ these aren¡¯t simple formations to circumvent. Especially given the skill of their creator.¡± ¡°Keep working on that,¡± Velvet said. The rest of them looked around near him. Something was odd about the pillar, though Velvet couldn¡¯t say quite why it filled her with trepidation. It wasn¡¯t dangerous but it also was. In short, her instincts and understanding told her little of use. It wasn¡¯t quite a trap, though. ¡°Enemies approaching,¡± Alva warned. The room they were in was an intersection of four corridors, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise that one of the wandering groups might pass through. It was also notable, so they might be intentionally checking the area out if they hadn¡¯t already. ¡°Remember we¡¯re concealed,¡± Velvet laid a hand on Durff¡¯s shoulder. He probably wouldn¡¯t begin attacking recklessly, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt. ¡°We should just let them pass by.¡± Velvet also paid close attention to Lelka. She couldn¡¯t exactly do much with her restraints, but with more Citadel of Exalted Light cultivators coming she might try something. She wasn¡¯t beyond suspicion yet. Too bad they weren¡¯t Hardened Crown. Those fellows probably wouldn¡¯t even have a chance to notice them. As the group approached, Velvet prepared the others to circle around in the opposite direction from them. Alternatively, if the enemy spread out they would retreat through one of two exit hallways. The strategy was sound, but disrupted by unexpected circumstances. As the dozen or so individuals- including one Augmentation cultivator- stepped into the room, barriers suddenly formed over the doorways. A strange voice spoke from within the pillar. ¡°Proper balance achieved. Please initiate combat.¡± It was then that a pulse of energy went throughout the room, and Velvet realized what the danger was. Not that she could have anticipated the precise results she got, as her stealth techniques were completely undone. Until that point, there had been no indication that the room had a way to sense them at all. In short, frustratingly advanced formations. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Alva was first to react, or at least in a relevant manner. Her bow snapped back, arrows instantly piercing the necks of two of their enemies- including through the spine. Remnants of her energy spiraled out, completing the process as their heads fell- though that appeared to be of secondary importance. One of the Augmentation cultivators sprang into action, and he released a beam of light that Velvet narrowly avoided, feeling the intent. His attack followed her, but not before something else happened. Velvet had neglected to consider that Lelka had stood behind her. Without her energy defenses, she would be completely annihilated by the simple technique. Except her read on the man¡¯s energy was extraordinary, even for one of the same sect. She somehow brought her shackles in front of her without the speed that energy granted. The light cut through one shackle then the next. They might have resisted an attack from someone short of Augmentation, but their primary purpose was to constrain a prisoner. Completely negating energy from inside and out was nearly impossible. Lelka¡¯s energy flared, and in a flash of light her power covered her. ¡°Bellero.¡± A single name from Lelka. Velvet tensed and tried to pull further away from between them, worried about withstanding attacks from both cultivators. Then Lelka launched an attack at Bellero. Velvet seemed to find herself more surprised than the Exalted Light cultivator, as he redirected the beam of light. But that freed up Velvet to lunge forward, striking with her voidsteel blade. The man known as Bellero would likely come to regret having his face completely exposed as she took out an eye, her weapon slipping through his defensive energy. Durff battered his way through a handful of the other Integration cultivators, and while they didn¡¯t all die immediately they were stunned for long enough that the rest of the battle ended without their input. It only lasted a few moments, Lelka continuing to attack the one she called Bellero. Koralo hardly even had a time to establish himself on the battlefield before all of their enemies fell. Except, perhaps, Lelka. ¡°Battle complete,¡± the room said. ¡°Please prepare for transport in 5¡­ 4¡­¡± Then the whole room disappeared, and they were drawn into a different space. ¡°Please forgive the deception. You may now accept your battle rewards.¡± The room they had been in was gone, though the same or an identical pillar was still visible. Only one exit existed on the rectangular room they now found themselves in. Lelka held her hands up. ¡°I don''t intend to fight you. But I wasn¡¯t going to let myself die, either.¡± ¡°She¡¯ll need her energy,¡± Alva said. ¡°This is¡­ a partial dimensional space.¡± As soon as she moved, Velvet confirmed Alva¡¯s words. The shape and angles of the room shifted rapidly with each step. While a cultivator might deal with an overlap with objects, one without any energy and with standard body tempering would be torn to shreds. ¡°Right,¡± Velvet said. ¡°What do you think about this prospect of rewards?¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°I imagine everything will be highly dangerous.¡± They moved along as a group, finding only one path to move along. They came to a room with a great many pedestals- though the placement and content of the pedestals was constantly flickering. They had to be careful not to impale themselves on weapons that stuck beyond reasonable confines. ¡°You may each select one object as your reward. Be aware that further pilfering will result in solar annihilation.¡± Velvet sighed. This place could probably do it, too. At least this area seemed more stable and was less devoured by giant distortion beasts. Though perhaps that might change, if they stayed too long. ¡°Anyone see something they want?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I do believe there is a set of formation flags,¡± Koralo said. ¡°But¡­ they¡¯re spread between different pillars.¡± ¡°Will those help us right now?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Speaking of which, what do the two of you think of our ability to transport ourselves from here?¡± Koralo frowned. ¡°We¡¯ll have to see what happens when we take our rewards. Or perhaps we should refuse.¡± ¡°Refusal is not allowed. The rewards are not harmful to their owners except in the case of extreme negligence.¡± The same voice, but from a different pillar that only partially existed in the corner of where Velvet could see. ¡°So there¡¯s that,¡± Alva said. ¡°I can feel this matches the dimensionality of our other destinations. So we just need to create a bridge¡­¡± ¡°How many formation flags are there?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Would they help with that task?¡± ¡°I¡¯m seeing five,¡± Koralo explained. ¡°With the full set it might-¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Durff drew attention to himself. ¡°Should I¡­ not have taken this helmet?¡± Koralo shook his head. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m not even sure they match anyway.¡± He searched around the area, carefully navigating the maze of objects, some of which seemed to almost reach out and try to grab him. Even if they weren¡¯t dangerous, knocking them off a pedestal probably counted as ¡®taking¡¯ one. ¡°Someone take¡­¡± Koralo shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to explain it in detail. And theoretically the surrounding objects.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it first,¡± Lelka said, as he explained which specific thing he wanted. ¡°What? I am still interested in gaining your good graces. It will make you more relaxed to know I can¡¯t screw up your plans.¡± ¡°Except for the solar annihilation thing,¡± Durff said. Lelka shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in dying. And that¡¯s most likely on an individual basis.¡± Velvet didn¡¯t remind her who they thought made this place. She¡¯d just keep a careful eye on her, along with Alva. Eventually, Lelka snagged the formation flag Koralo wanted. Then he took another himself. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know if there¡¯s a way to approach the last one,¡± Koralo said. ¡°Last one?¡± Alva asked. ¡°I thought there were five?¡± ¡°I believe two of them are decoys,¡± he shrugged. ¡°Or my insights are too minimal to make any use of them. The third of the trio¡­ I can spot it from over here, but the pillars around it seem to make it impossible to approach,¡± he said, carefully moving around. Alva nodded, then approached. She described the shape of the formation markings embedded in the cloth of the flag. ¡°There¡¯s not another one similar to that, right?¡± Koralo confirmed her words. ¡°I think I can get it,¡± Alva said. ¡°Just have to¡­ shift a little bit of space¡­¡± she grimaced. She reached out, grabbing at something and pulling out the formation flag, one centimeter at a time. She slightly adjusted her position and the angle she was pulling. ¡°There sure is a lot of stuff metaphysically in the way of this,¡± she grumbled. But eventually, it was held in her hand, secure. ¡°Anything else?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Not that I can see,¡± Koralo said. ¡°The other flags¡­¡± he shrugged. ¡°Then I would suggest we make our way to the perimeter of this place, and I pick something from there while you study potential departure solutions.¡± Nobody quite knew what would happen when they all picked, so being as ready as possible was all they could do. Chapter 1024 The ¡®reward¡¯ Velvet picked was more determined by what items were around the periphery than what they actually thought was the most useful, though of the choices available it seemed fine. A shield that had a mirrored surface, though whether it was purely aesthetic or functional somehow was unclear. There was a limit to how much they could study their rewards before they risked removing it from the pedestal and counting it as their choice. And they very much wanted to avoid the consequences of going over. While it was likely their group could dismantle the local formations, that wasn¡¯t a guarantee. Even if they did, that might ruin the exact thing they came for. The stable space might collapse, which would hinder all the rest of their plans. If they wanted to bore their own tunnels into deeper levels of subspace, they would have just done that. Because of that, they were careful. When Velvet picked her choice off of the pedestal, she had thought they might all be swept away in another round of portal shenanigans. Separately or together, they couldn¡¯t really know. Instead, the wall at the edge of the area simply faded. ¡°Please proceed to the reward appreciation zone,¡± said the voice that had been instructing them so far. It not coming from the form of a human speaker was quite unlike Everheart, but there was still some small chance that there was someone of great skill mimicking him instead of him pretending to be someone else. Either way, they had to treat the area with the same level of caution. They moved together as carefully as possible, wondering if traps might reveal themselves in the overlapping dimensionality of the place. Instead, they found what they could only see as a completely open area. ¡°I¡¯m not even sensing anything on other layers,¡± Alva said. ¡°And we¡¯re unlikely to get any floor or wall overlapping with us. Just stay away from the pillar, I guess.¡± Speaking of which, the referenced pillar in the center of their new zone added more information. ¡°Welcome to the reward appreciation zone. It is recommended that you familiarize yourself with your rewards here. We hope you made the correct choice.¡± ¡°Do you respond to people, pillar voice?¡± Alva asked. She waited, but got no response. ¡°Alright then. Because that made it sound like there was a right choice.¡± ¡°I thought it was the helmet,¡± Durff said. ¡°It said we got one thing each. I¡¯m sorry that I didn¡¯t wait for people to discuss.¡± ¡°What does the helmet even do?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a helmet¡­¡± he shrugged. ¡°Should I put it on?¡± ¡°Might as well at this point,¡± Velvet said. ¡°If this place was interested in arbitrarily killing us, it shouldn¡¯t need to be done like that. What do you think, Koralo?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t sense anything overtly hostile from it, but it¡¯s difficult to tell with small scale enchantments sometimes.¡± Durff nodded. ¡°I think I should.¡± He lifted the helmet, which was surprisingly unadorned by cultivator standards. He settled it over his head, fitting it snugly in place. ¡°I wonder if it does-¡± Before his words finished, the helmet almost seemed to melt- except the main structure never disappeared. Even so, silvery liquid metal flowed down his neck and over his chest. Down his arm and legs. Then it even reached out, pouring over his detached arm on the ground next to him. ¡°Well that¡¯s neat,¡± Durff said. He picked up the arm now encased fully in metal. ¡°This should make it more durable.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ great?¡± Alva nodded. ¡°I¡¯m still not sure how things ended up like¡­ that, though.¡± ¡°Well, the metal melted and went over it,¡± Durff explained. ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant,¡± Alva said. ¡°I was talking about you using your arm as a weapon.¡± ¡°Oh. Well , my hammer broke. And so I had to use something. And my arm worked.¡± ¡°See, that¡¯s the thing I don¡¯t get. You breaking a hammer you had special made?¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°It happens. Sometimes things aren¡¯t as durable as they seem or we put our weapons through situations above their material grade. But how can your arm, which got cut off, be more durable than that?¡± ¡°They¡¯re not the same thing,¡± Durff pointed out. ¡°I don¡¯t cut or get cut when I attack. It¡¯s all about blunt force and resisting the counterforce. But it¡¯s not weird that my arm could get cut or burned off,¡± he said. ¡°Those are different.¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Alva agreed. ¡°Usually such durability tends to come together, though.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty generally durable against anything below Augmentation cultivators,¡± Durff said. ¡°But the universe seemed to be mad at my shoulder. And my previous armor wasn¡¯t good enough, it seems.¡± Durff¡¯s previous armor had been little better than scrap after the assault on the Citadel. It had ultimately met its final fate with the ship, left behind as more of a hindrance than a boon. The various formation flags had been handed over to Koralo, who was studying them closely and comparing them to things from his storage bag. ¡°Will they do what we need?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°They should be quite helpful. And of course, I had some confidence in sustaining a stable tunnel without anything extra. Otherwise I would have opposed coming here in the first place. We did not particularly expect rewards, after all.¡± He was left to his observations, while Velvet turned her head towards Lelka who was staring at her. Or rather, the shield she had picked up. ¡°What is it?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°A mirrored shield like that should be quite useful against the cultivators of the Exalted Light. I suspect it should be able to deflect a greater area than its size would suggest.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen some techniques that do something akin to what you describe,¡± Velvet agreed. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Lelka hesitated for a while, uncertain if she should say anything. But ultimately, she worked up the courage. ¡°I would like to make use of that. I don¡¯t believe any of the rest of your styles would fit with it.¡± ¡°You seemed pretty capable of fighting earlier,¡± Velvet said. ¡°So?¡± Lelka shrugged. ¡°I imagine you would not be useless without weapons yourself. That does not mean I am most effective like this. And while you might not trust me with my staff, the effort of bringing me along will be wasted if I perish. And the shield should fit with my style well enough.¡± ¡°Can you use it offensively?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Well¡­¡± Lelka hesitated. ¡°Probably.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll consult the others,¡± Velvet said. There wasn¡¯t exactly any privacy, so everyone would have overheard them. Durff voiced his opinion first. ¡°She helped us in the last fight, and she could have betrayed us. I think it¡¯s fine.¡± Alva didn¡¯t say anything directly, instead taking shots with her bow. The first ones were extremely weak, striking the shield one at a time until they ultimately ramped up. Standard Spirit Arrows without an attribute and light attributed ones caused the shield to react differently. Whatever her thoughts, she was ultimately satisfied. ¡°It will be fine.¡± Velvet turned to Koralo. He looked away from his studies of the edge of the area they were in for a moment. ¡°I think I would prefer we shackle her again. But if Lelka is to be free, having her be more effective for other potential conflicts would be best.¡± The shield was tossed to Lelka. ¡°Make sure to protect this guy,¡± Velvet said, gesturing to Koralo. ¡°Trust me, you don¡¯t want to be in unstable partial dimensional space.¡± ¡°I believe it will take an hour or so to work out a functional tunnel design,¡± Koralo added. ¡°I was briefed by Catarina on her methods, but I hadn¡¯t necessarily expected to put them into practical use at this time. I am also missing the, uh, catalyst you worked with before.¡± ¡°What sort of catalyst?¡± Lelka asked. ¡°I have various things in my storage bag. Though I suppose you already inspected them.¡± Velvet chuckled. ¡°A distortion beast that stretched a vast distance through subspace. It¡¯s better to not have to deal with that.¡± ¡°I would have to agree,¡± Lelka said. She looked around. ¡°So how are people normally supposed to leave with these¡­ rewards?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we are,¡± Alva commented. ¡°Not once we end up here. I¡¯ve been surveying the area and there isn¡¯t really anything like an exit formation. Unless, perhaps, the formation flags are meant to construct one.¡± ¡°Not without the requisite knowledge,¡± Koralo chimed in. ¡°And that¡¯s not our current issue, anyway.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We just need to create-¡± As she was speaking, a sudden surge of energy drew the attention of everyone. A dozen disciples of the Hardened Crown, some bloodied, appeared in the battle reward area. ¡°Dammit,¡± Lelka said. ¡°They must have sensed our battle. Most likely more people will be inspecting. And¡­¡± ¡°They probably recognized both you and us,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°How strong is that Elder Ludek?¡± ¡°The five of us together should be able to defeat him alone. But¡­ that would be an unlikely scenario.¡± Koralo nodded. ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll need to focus on this. Take them out, would you?¡± he gestured to the others. Alva drew her bow, but before she could fire a pulse of energy swirled around her. ¡°Do not disrupt the reward selection process, or you will face solar annihilation.¡± Alva grimaced. ¡°I bet grandpa could survive solar annihilation.¡± ¡°Your¡­ grandfather?¡± Lelka frowned. ¡°To think the Scarlet Alliance had secrets such as that.¡± She shook her head. ¡°But I suppose I should not pry, at the moment.¡± ¡°Hey, pillars,¡± Alva asked. ¡°Once they¡¯re no longer selecting, can we kill them?¡± There was no response. ¡°We should let one of them strike first,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Just to be safe. Which means we¡¯ll have to be prepared¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got new armor,¡± Durff said. ¡°I should test it.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s a good idea,¡± Velvet commented. ¡°But if they don¡¯t hit any of us, it might not count as an attack,¡± Durff said, shaking his second arm as he emphasized his words. ¡°If we dodged something and then got solar annihilated when we fought back¡­ that wouldn¡¯t be great, yeah? It sounds bad.¡± Velvet looked towards Lelka. ¡°I would volunteer,¡± she said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know if my new shield is optimized for, uh¡­ the Hardened Crown.¡± ¡°They¡¯d probably smash it,¡± Alva agreed. ¡°Even if it isn¡¯t particularly weak against physical assault.¡± ¡°It¡¯s kind of insulting that they have so many people here,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But that¡¯s better for the Scarlet Alliance so I shouldn¡¯t complain too much. But, Durff, one of them seems to be in Augmentation. Can you handle that?¡± He rapped his armored fist on his helmet, then nodded. ¡°Yeah, should be fine for at least one hit. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve sparred with Sly so I know what I¡¯m talking about.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe how many Augmentation cultivators the Exalted Quadrant has,¡± Alva sighed. ¡°Well, I know how great of a population they have but¡­ it makes our numbers look pathetic.¡± ¡°... I can give you a good approximation of the total numbers,¡± Lelka said. ¡°When we get to safety and I can bargain for a better position.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t expect us to just let you join,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I would be content with good treatment and a comfortable cell,¡± Lelka replied. ¡°That would already be a better prospect than where things were going here.¡± All of them suddenly turned their heads, though they could only sense what happened beyond the currently solid wall. A single flare of energy burned through one of the Hardened Crown members in a single instant. Her upper energy was annihilated as she tried to defend herself, turning her to ash in the same moment it destroyed her defenses. The energy signature indicated the brief flare was almost certainly just a part of the local star. ¡°Please return both unearned rewards back to their pedestals,¡± said a calm voice. The five of them felt the Hardened Crown members scrambling to put back the extra reward- and apparently the one that their dead member was originally entitled to. A few minutes later, and the walls separating them faded away. Instantly, there were hostile looks from the Hardened Crown. Koralo threw a number of formation flags behind and around Durff, small ones from his personal collection. ¡°Welcome to the reward appreciation zone. It is recommended that you familiarize yourself with your rewards here. We hope you made the correct choice.¡± Those words were still being spoken as the Augmentation cultivator- a woman- charged towards the group. She was holding in her arms a massive shield covered with spikes. In a way that was comforting, because it was less likely to take out Durff in a single shot. She still broke through Koralo¡¯s barriers in an instant, and then she struck Durff. A shockwave spread throughout the area as her momentum was mostly absorbed. Durff went tumbling back, only to be caught by Lelka, who set him on his feet. ¡°Ouch,¡± he said. ¡°That really hurt.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°Oh, looks like we¡¯re good to kill them, guys.¡± Chapter 1025 It took Durff all of one second from standing up and making his declaration to directly charge the leading enemy cultivator from the Hardened Crown. The woman had just flung him backwards with her spiked shield but he seemed unconcerned about the damage that might have caused to him. Velvet was still concerned about him swinging his now metal-clad arm as a weapon¡­ but she also understood that it was more functional than it should have been for him, specifically. The Augmentation cultivator was unconcerned about his assault, and she really didn¡¯t need to be. Unlike many other cultivators, the Hardened Crown were durable enough that Durff¡¯s particular style couldn''t¡¯ overcome the cultivation gap even with a direct hit. As the woman used a shield, she faced nothing more than the potential of being knocked back. Unfortunately for her, the surroundings they were in dictated more caution than she would normally take. If she were knocked backwards into a volcano, she would have stood up and walked it off. And while there didn¡¯t appear to be anything lethal behind her, she smacked into one of the pedestals in the reward zone. A silver chalice dropped onto her head. Two moments later she was eradicated from existence. That was twice as long as it had taken for the other Hardened Crown cultivator to burn up, but it hardly meant anything. ¡°Please return both unearned rewards back to their pedestals.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± Durff said. ¡°Didn¡¯t really mean to do that. But I guess we¡¯ve got the advantage of positioning.¡± The Hardened Crown had their backs to the rewards, so they were in peril. Not that such tactics were necessary when their Augmentation cultivator had died in such an inglorious fashion. The main person at risk at that point was Durff, but even he wasn¡¯t at much risk against other Integration cultivators. Especially not when considering his new armor. It wasn¡¯t clear exactly how durable it was, but it didn¡¯t seem seriously damaged by the charge of the Augmentation cultivator. It didn¡¯t take long for them to finish off the rest of the enemies, with Alva and Velvet killing most of the enemies. Lelka was for the most part remaining defensive, uncertain of whether she should be active. Koralo was half paying attention, as he still had to keep in mind their hopefully imminent departure. The voice grew more insistent as it repeated, ¡°Please return both unearned rewards back to their pedestals.¡± Fortunately, they were fairly easily able to determine where they belonged, as the silver chalice had come from the pedestal it was resting next to. The shield which was the only other surviving element of the ¡®solar annihilation¡¯ was tracked to its resting place by Alva, who had been watching the selection. They did seem to be able to take everything else, however, though the choices of the Hardened Crown Sect were somewhat dubious. Mostly oversized weapons or bulky armor, without regard for its actual quality. There weren¡¯t any good hammers for Durff, not that he seemed to be liable to give up on swinging around his own arm at the moment. ¡°Alright,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Clearly we can run into more people here,¡± she said as Alva began to burn the bodies. ¡°Which means we should try to get out as soon as possible.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t alter the plan much,¡± Koralo said. ¡°Except that I need to be more certain that we take the formation with us. I would prefer not to have anyone interfering from the outside.¡± ¡°How long?¡± ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to speed things up. Half an hour.¡± It didn¡¯t take long before alternating groups of Hardened Crown cultivators and Citadel of Exalted Light disciples began to pour through. Alva¡¯s arrows sought them out the moment she felt they were safe to attack, and Velvet hid her presence. Durff was left as the easiest target, but he reveled in that status, wildling swinging at anyone who got near him. Integration cultivators he could handle time after time. Fortunately, they weren¡¯t so replete with Augmentation cultivators that the group had to deal with many of them, but even a few dozen Integration cultivators got tiring after a while. They had to defend Koralo, after all. ¡°At least this is depleting both sects,¡± Alva commented. ¡°This is a massive waste of life but¡­ I do believe someone is losing a whole group for each one that comes here.¡± ¡°A couple hundred Integration cultivators isn¡¯t that much,¡± Lelka said. ¡°Maybe not total,¡± Alva disagreed. ¡°But over the course of an hour? Even with the population of the whole Exalted Quadrant¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s a wise decision,¡± Lelka said. ¡°But both groups can afford it. This could be part of the normal loss statistics except for the Augmentation cultivators.¡± ¡°... Harsh,¡± Alva said. ¡°I do understand the numbers get that big, but that¡¯s pretty awful.¡± ¡°That is why I was not eager to become one of the statistics,¡± Lelka agreed. Every time a new group was brought in, the walls re-established themselves. They could still sense beyond the walls- and in turn, everyone who entered would sense them. While Velvet could have tried to keep them concealed, without anything else to draw attention it was a losing prospect. Plus, they were having trouble with all of the blood and ash. They didn¡¯t want to keep that in their storage bags even if they could. Once again the walls formed around the reward selection area. Lelka tensed. ¡°How close?¡± she said, her voice projected only to the rest of the group. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Ten minutes,¡± Koralo said. ¡°... That¡¯s Ludek,¡± she said. Koralo let his senses take in the new arrivals. ¡°Give me one more minute.¡± The Exalted Light cultivators were making their choices quickly- or rather, Ludek was making choices quickly. He had, as many of the groups, forced one of the lesser cultivators to attempt to take a second reward to test the system. Rather than punishing the one responsible, it was an ultimately unfair system where people could be forced into death. Which was rather typical for cultivators, in the end. As quickly as the cultivator made the choices, however, Koralo was faster with setting up a tunnel. Or rather, something like a bubble. ¡°Everyone gather around me. Defenders behind me, preferably.¡± Durff and Lelka stood with their backs to him. Together, the group stepped forward towards the edge of space, Koralo¡¯s bubble pressing against nothing. Velvet saw static beyond, a concerning jumble of shifting light and darkness instead of something comforting like the void of space and stationary stars. ¡°Could we perhaps go a little bit¡­ faster?¡± Lelka asked. ¡°No we cannot,¡± Koralo said, stepping forward with great intention. At that point, the wall fell. Whatever words Ludek had were lost to the void between space, as he put in little energy to maintain their transfer. He did, however, gather a great quantity of upper energy, projected forward in a beam of light the shape of his own silhouette. Lelka shrank herself behind her shield, calling upon her own energy to make use of its properties and scattering the attack, if only for the moment. ¡°See? I told you I should hold onto this.¡± At the moment, they were an apparent one hundred meters away from the edge of the stable space. That was an almost irrelevant amount of distance for cultivators of their level. Except, the empty space between was not as convenient to move through as a vacuum. Energy fell apart, and even light was rapidly disintegrated. Most of the other cultivators were unable to launch any attacks. One other Augmentation cultivator managed to reach them but caused no real damage- except perhaps to destabilize their formation, which would be a problem on its own. Alva¡¯s shots skipped the unstable space in between, her experience with exactly the same construction of subspace having led not only to her advancement to Augmentation but also a new style of archery. Her arrows struck her enemies from wherever she pleased, appearing right next to them in ways they were unprepared to dodge, if they¡¯d even had the speed. All except for Ludek, as her arrows were met by motes of light that broke down her energy with each attack upon him. ¡°... Still not as bad as a Domination cultivator,¡± Alva said. ¡°As long as we can hold him off for long enough-¡± Suddenly, he was among them. His body was glowing bright like the sun. Lelka spun around, trying to protect herself and maybe somehow protect Koralo¡¯s back. But one among them had already been moving. Durff swung his metal clad arm, striking it into the ribcage of Ludek. The power of upper energy around the man was sufficient to negate the force of Durff¡¯s attack¡­ but that was not where things ended. There was a clash of principles. The Exalted Light valued a certain sort of power, and frailty was not something they accepted- even if they weren¡¯t so durable as the Hardened Crown. With a cultivation in the late stage of Augmentation, it truly wasn¡¯t possible for Ludek to be damaged even with Durff on the edge of breaking through himself. But Durff wasn¡¯t in the state of mind to even try to cause damage. His recent experience told him that certain things were practically indestructible to his attacks, but rather than discouraging him it just made him focus more on what he cared about most. Which was hitting things hard enough that they died. If his attack couldn¡¯t kill them¡­ he just had to knock them into something that could. He didn¡¯t even properly know who he was attacking when he¡¯d spun, he just knew there was something he had to hit. He didn¡¯t have the angle or reaction time to knock Ludek into one of the pedestals, so he settled for a random direction into unstable space. It was in time to save Koralo, but not quite fast enough to stop him from flinging away one of the formation flags Koralo was managing. The flag flew off in one direction, Ludek in the other. Instantly, the bubble around them began to bend and distort. Koralo could force some amount of effect from the energy flow around them, but with one flag gone he was propping up more than he¡¯d bargained for- and he had already rushed their departure. Alva instantly sprang after the formation flag, flickering through the nothingness trying to catch up to it before it was ground down to nothing. Velvet grimaced, knowing that she should have reacted more quickly. Or perhaps instead of reacting, she should have anticipated. Step by step they continued onward, and Velvet erased her presence from the mind of even her companions. Ludek would attack them again. That was a surety in her mind. Even if it was dangerous for him, there would be at least one more assault for the insult of attempting to defend against him. That was how people were. No doubt a man with such power was well aware of killing intent. Velvet might have experience concealing it, but no method was completely perfect. The gap in power made it risky. So, Velvet did the only thing she could do. She clutched her voidsteel blade in hand, feeling its balance. It was amazingly constructed, as it needed to be to withstand her battles up to that point without the benefit of enchantments. But it was balanced for thrusting and cutting, not throwing. Runa might forgive her for this someday. Velvet changed her grip on the dagger and threw it off into the void, guided by Instinct alone. It was a terrible idea, brought about by many foolish examples. Durff and Chikere were the biggest proponents of such inanity, acting without thought. Velvet doubted she¡¯d ever be a dagger master- they were simply her weapon of choice- but sometimes, people got lucky. Obviously she¡¯d had the idea to hit Ludek, but without even knowing quite where he was it couldn¡¯t properly come with killing intent. And the voidsteel would be a patch of nothing in the chaos of unstable partial dimensional subspace, a blip that wouldn¡¯t be noticed. She only knew her attack met its target when their bubble was clipped by a beam of brilliant light for a single instant¡­ instead of an enduring assault. Too bad she¡¯d never be getting that dagger back. Maybe if she brought the Spirit Slicing Sect the head of someone important from the Exalted Quadrant she could get a replacement. It wouldn¡¯t be Ludek, because he was sensible enough to make his way back to the stable section away from the group. He would doubtless make his way back to real space¡­ though the rest of those with him were another matter. Alva made it back, her clothing tattered and carrying about two-thirds of a formation flag. Koralo had them gather closer together, shrinking the bubble as they drew further from their enemies. Each step of a half meter brought them an unknown amount of true distance, and the further they got from the stabilized subspace the more rapidly they lost connection to it, until soon they were surrounded by nothing but a small bubble of energy¡­ and the hope that they could return to somewhere stable to break out layer by layer into real space without being annihilated. Chapter 1026 With the lost flag retrieved by Alva, Koralo was able to reform a smaller bubble of safety, though the instability had caused a permanent deterioration in the flow of energy that could only be resolved in a safe space by completely taking down the formation. As they were still in a void between the relatively stable partial dimension subspaces of the Nighstar sect, that wasn¡¯t possible at the moment. They continued forward one small step at a time, no longer in range of the other Exalted Light cultivators and Elder Ludek. They bore both old and new wounds, especially Alva who had stepped out of stable space to retrieve what they could of the formation flag. As the group trudged along, Velvet and Alva did their best to support Koralo¡¯s energy holding together the formation. Alva sensed the incoming danger first, but their uninvited guest was already properly positioned to react. Lelka responded to Alva¡¯s sudden alertness by calling upon as much of her energy as she could, her mirror shined shield blocking the rear of the group. A beam of light the size of their entire bubble appeared, tearing through the void. It was a mixture of the energy of Elder Ludek and all of the others with him, who apparently hadn¡¯t given up just yet even though he was beyond their best senses. The struggle took only an instant but it felt like an eternity. Lelka kept her shield pressed as far out as she could, as their already unstable bubble couldn¡¯t endure the intrusion of more foreign energy. It was greatly diminished by distance and unstable space, but she could barely defend against it. She had no additional strength to keep herself in place and began to stagger back. She was caught by Durff, bracing her with his forearm pressed against her shoulder blades and pushing her back forward. ¡°You¡¯re a pretty decent person,¡± he said. ¡°You can¡¯t just lose to some guy who doesn¡¯t even have the fancy title he¡¯s going for.¡± His words came too late to actually help with the struggle, but his support had been enough. The diminished energy had only caused a minor disturbance to their stable zone after all was said and done. Though all of them were running low on energy. Alva grumbled. ¡°They¡¯re still in the same spot¡­ I could probably shoot some of them¡­¡± she shook her head. ¡°But we need to be prepared in case that happens again.¡± She shifted herself to the rear, Velvet moving in front of Koralo alone. They continued moving, further and further. Two more attacks came, but each were greatly diminished in power as the separation between stable spaces became too much for any amount of pure strength to overcome. There was one more they sensed, but it passed far from them. Whether it was a ploy to keep them off guard or a true lapse in targeting they did not know. Velvet wished she could conceal them, but her techniques would risk disrupting their hastily constructed moving zone so she could only use what power she had to support Koralo. Each step they moved along, they wished for true darkness around them instead of staticy cracks in reality. What seemed like a mobile field of stars swirled around them and blinked in and out of sight. The bubble shrunk even further, until they had to crouch as they moved, packed together to conserve energy and maintain what stability they could. None of them could say precisely how long it was at the time, but eventually they sensed something. And anything but a distortion beast in this place was a good sign. As they drew closer, Alva was the first to confirm what was ahead. ¡°It¡¯s the same space from Metenin,¡± she said. ¡°The connection was successful.¡± They still had to reach it, but were filled with newfound vigor in their approach. That lasted for long enough that they pressed into the mostly stable space. They were able to breathe an actual sign of relief, finding themselves somewhere they weren¡¯t constantly expending energy and could even recover slightly. Most of them even found it quite refreshing, as it drew upon the power of the local star. Even Lelka¡¯s tangential connection aided here. Durff had no affinity for light or fire in his nature or his techniques, so he simply curled up on the ground, exhausted. ¡°So,¡± Alva said. ¡°Nothing to be alarmed about but¡­ it¡¯s different than I remember.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Velvet asked. She hadn¡¯t memorized the layout, nor was she sure it was entirely possible. With the overlapping states and positions of things, it was a chaotic mess to begin with, especially as it had been damaged when they arrived. ¡°Like I said,¡± Alva commented calmly. ¡°It seems alright. But it almost feels¡­ more stable? Either way, someone has manipulated it. Did the Alliance do anything¡­?¡± ¡°We secured the higher layers,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I don¡¯t think we had done anything this deep. And it would be odd timing, with the war.¡± She frowned. ¡°We¡¯ll need to, though. We don¡¯t want enemies to be able to sneak into our territory like this. And even if they don¡¯t fully understand how, the fact that they saw us is enough. A shame about Ludek, though. Running into him and his survival both.¡± She looked suspiciously at Lelka. ¡°Still, thank you for the warning. And your aid.¡± Lelka nodded. ¡°My reasons aren¡¯t that complicated. You still seem like better people to stake my future on.¡± ¡°I think that¡¯s enough here,¡± Koralo said. ¡°It¡¯s still somewhat unstable here. If we can find where you broke back to the higher layer, we can reach true safety soon enough,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll lead us there,¡± Alva said. ¡°Follow my movements carefully.¡± Everyone was well aware of the hazards, including Lelka and Koralo given what they had recently experienced. Alva had the senses to predict what they would run into instead of being surprised by a sudden unfortunate overlap. And tired as they were, it would be harder to avoid damage if they had something trying to share space with them. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. They dragged themselves to the location three of them had been before- with Durff and the others having been extracted via this location. Koralo didn¡¯t find much useful in terms of lingering remnants, but with the stability forcing themselves to the ¡®normal¡¯ level of subspace was more achievable. Koralo set up a temporary formation that shunted them closer to where they wanted to be. When they arrived, they found that the area was indeed populated by a number of guards who rushed towards them. Fortunately, they could recognize the aura of various Scarlet Alliance sects, including the One Hundred Stars and the Dark Ring. Even though they recognized each other¡¯s cultivation styles they approached cautiously. A young woman led the group of guards. ¡°How did you get here?¡± she asked as she looked down at a scanner that should find their registered energy signatures. At least, most of them. ¡°Same way as last time,¡± Alva said. ¡°And what does that-¡± she stopped as she seemed to get a final reading. ¡°My apologies. I was unaware any of the founders would be here.¡± She still looked slightly suspicious, which made Velvet proud. ¡°It¡¯s not a secret,¡± Koralo commented. ¡°As guards here you should have been apprised of the deeper subspace. We were¡­ forced to traverse it.¡± ¡°One of you is unregistered,¡± the woman said. ¡°Is she¡­?¡± ¡°A prisoner,¡± Lelka assured the woman. ¡°My restraints were eased due to the dangers of travel.¡± Velvet nodded, taking the cue to pull out her secondary pair of restraints. She couldn¡¯t carry that many of the necessary quality to bind an Augmentation cultivator, but it helped when they were placed willingly. Lelka let herself be restrained again, and soon enough they were escorted out of the secret realm. ¡°Do you know the status of the war?¡± Alva asked the guard. ¡°We don¡¯t have many details, but it seems that the enemy retreated,¡± she replied. ¡°We¡¯re a bit remote here so the rest¡­¡± she shrugged. The full news was something they could only hope to find out when they returned properly, then. But they sent a message ahead and took solace in being somewhere safe for the moment- even Lelka. ----- With the infiltration group returned, the infiltration group met up with Timothy and Catarina, along with other leaders. Lelka was taken to a secure, if comfortable, facility until they could be certain of her legitimacy, though her efforts had proven her words sincere to those with her. Together, they began to put together the whole story. ¡°Our timing seems to have been perfect,¡± Velvet commented. ¡°The battles took place simultaneously¡­ and I think we might not have survived otherwise.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°It is a shame that Chikere was unable to return alive. She was responsible for what appeared as a small wound, but that might have been sufficient to tip things on our end.¡± When Chidi¡¯s slash cutting off Zaur¡¯s fingers was revealed, Durff had a comment. ¡°Should have cut off his whole arm.¡± Chidi laughed. ¡°I was aiming for a full bisection of the man. Getting that much is quite fortunate.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I wish I could show Chikere.¡± ¡°I have this, still,¡± Durff pulled out her arm. ¡°She gave it to me, I guess. But it¡¯s the wrong arm. And I don¡¯t know if she really meant for me to use it or was just saying that because it sounded good at the time.¡± Chidi¡¯s face suddenly lit up. ¡°Can I hold it?¡± Durff tossed it to him with no further prompting. Chidi¡¯s fingers traced the metal. ¡°I still feel her energy.¡± ¡°Is she alive?¡± Catarina asked hopefully. ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Chidi shook his head reluctantly. ¡°Not in any way we¡¯d recognize, at least. Some of her is imbued in this arm, though.¡± ¡°She also cut the planet in half,¡± Alva said. ¡°I don¡¯t think we got to that part. But I¡¯m not sure quite why.¡± ¡°Because that way nobody could forget her,¡± Chidi said simply. ¡°Plus, she could prove she was the best. I¡¯ll need to visit someday.¡± Tauno laughed. ¡°You say that like it¡¯s not deep in the heart of enemy territory.¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to destroy his anchor eventually,¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°So maybe it will be then.¡± ¡°Anyway,¡± Alva said. ¡°We learned some important things. A Domination cultivator can protect their anchor from any distance, it seems. But they¡¯re harmed by damage to it. How long do we think Zaur will be injured for?¡± ¡°Those fingers aren¡¯t coming back,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Not that he really needs them. He could be back to full fighting strength sooner except for whatever that means for his anchor. I have to ask, was it damaged already? Signs of repairs?¡± ¡°Not that I noticed,¡± Alva said. Velvet shook her head. ¡°No. I¡¯m not quite sure what that means.¡± ¡°Potentially perfect recovery,¡± Zazil said. ¡°Which would be quite problematic- though I¡¯d bet this takes a long time to recover from. However, I would postulate it is more likely this was an exceptional circumstance. Most injuries should not transfer to the Citadel. Like the fight with Ratna. But we don¡¯t have an easy way to find out.¡± ¡°We do, actually,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Because Lelka was there the whole time. She could have witnessed any changes. She should also have quite a large amount of other information.¡± With that, their discussion turned to how to handle their new captive. ¡°We should get what information we can and get rid of her,¡± Tauno said. ¡°She¡¯s too dangerous to have around.¡± ¡°I would not accept that,¡± Timothy said. ¡°She came freely to offer information. Even if we don¡¯t trust her, we can simply not allow her freedom of movement. We can even keep her energy bound. That would result in a lessened lifespan, but her only desire seems to be life. We should at least provide that.¡± ¡°The Scarlet Alliance should also be seen as fair and balanced,¡± Prasad commented. ¡°There was an implicit acceptance of her terms, at least to some extent.¡± ¡°Publicly accepting her could be valuable,¡± Zazil added. ¡°Though it may provoke further conflict with the Exalted Quadrant. I would not wish to risk that in the near future, regardless of our apparent victory.¡± And a victory it was, because even without the damage to Zaur and his show of fear their losses were relatively minor in comparison. Not that the death of someone like Chikere wasn¡¯t a huge sting, not the only damage they suffered. But it was another chance to continue on and build strength for whatever came next. Hopefully, nothing too soon. Chapter 1027 The damage to the Scarlet Alliance had been kept to their fleets and orbital platforms, due to the swift appearance of Zaur Beridze. It was over so swiftly it almost didn¡¯t feel like a war, but that was part of the reason they created the formations to force their enemies to attack a certain point. It would have also been terribly difficult for them to bypass the system after entering. Zaur¡¯s retreat had been a great victory, but with their forces concentrated there were still significant losses in a short time. It didn¡¯t necessarily feel like they won, but more like a disaster had struck. It was difficult for most people to process, but some ended up with more mundane issues. ¡°I didn¡¯t even get to fight!¡± Yuval complained to his brother. ¡°I was with the planetary forces defending the ground¡­¡± ¡°Be glad it wasn¡¯t necessary. If you seek combat, war is not the best place for it. You might learn much, but the risks are not worth it.¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°Trust me when I say a protracted war is worse for everyone involved. The war with the Harmonious Citadel was a bitter struggle.¡± ¡°But you got to be a war hero,¡± Yuval sighed. ¡°I¡¯m just a kid with important parents who didn¡¯t even get to see battle.¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°You were still on the frontlines. It wasn¡¯t like you were placed back on Xankeshan, like some people. Nobody in your squad was lost, and you were ready to battle. That¡¯s all that matters.¡± ¡°Fine. But I need to experience something real or I¡¯m going to grow old as I fail to advance much beyond the hundredth star.¡± ¡°I would suggest asking Vari for advice on proper challenges. Her style is most similar to yours and she could judge you best.¡± ¡°Maybe I can fight the Trigold Cluster¡­¡± ¡°There are plenty of challenges outside of the great powers,¡± Chidi said. ¡°The rest of us don¡¯t go charging into their territories and battling them. Most of those that go perish.¡± ¡°What about the Everheart System?¡± ¡°You have enough information to judge the lethality yourself, Yuval.¡± ¡°Well, maybe. But unlike the rest of you I¡¯ve never really experienced it.¡± Chidi thought that was for the best. But everyone got to make their own mistakes, and Chidi wouldn¡¯t stop his brother from trying to grow. ----- Word of the assault spread into the Trigold Cluster- how could it not, with the personal participation of a Domination cultivator? Ratna was always on the lookout for such things, but the information that reached her was less than she might have liked. As it turned out, the Scarlet Alliance was pretty good at filtering out spies. Paying members of the general public? That was easy. But their reports were lacking the details she desired. She wasn¡¯t quite sure how she would have reacted if Zaur Beridze had been killed by them. The grudge between them required personal vengeance. However¡­ his current state was quite pleasing. The extent of his injuries was unclear, but forcing him to retreat without a single Domination cultivator on their side? Fantastic. That was followed up by information from within the Exalted Quadrant which shed more light on the situation. The Citadel itself assaulted, their home territory unable to crush an attack by four cultivators. Sure, they¡¯d killed one¡­ but it wasn¡¯t possible for them to hide the fact that she cut their planet in half as she went out. Normally, a clean cut down the middle of a planet would be less impactful than it seemed. The two halves would just press against each other and it would be like little happened. A cultivator with more power might force the two halves apart during their cut, but that wasn¡¯t what had happened. No, the results were much more interesting. It was as if the idea of the planet itself had been cut in half. There was a clear line. People could see through it, but not pass by. Or at least not without fortifying themselves against being sliced into pieces. To take a single step from one side of the border to the other, it was quicker to take a ship off the planet and back around. Which was¡­ extremely interesting for the impact it had on the core sect of the Citadel of Exalted Light. Durff had made good friends. Ratna was most impressed that he survived the battle, and the loss of an arm was a relatively small price to pay for an Integration cultivator standing up against a planet. And if she put the pieces together right, he was the one responsible for catapulting the Citadel off the planet. Zaur would probably try to turn its new location into some sort of symbol, but the truth was he couldn¡¯t have visitors because showing off whatever damage he had would be an embarrassment. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Reports varied wildly on the weapon Durff used. Some said a club made from the bones of a giant. Others said his own arm. Still others said a hammer made out of starheart. The latter was most compelling, as it had come from an individual who had come into contact with an object made from starheart once. Not that he¡¯d touched it, of course, just been in its presence. It was too bad Zaur was so far away. Ratna would have liked to finish him off, but as tempting as it was to dive deep into Exalted Quadrant territory, she was worried about drawing the attention of the other Exalted Ones. She could perfectly hide her presence from the mundane cultivator and could likely reach Zaur, but going into Exalted Quadrant territory herself would likely reveal her to people she couldn¡¯t afford to fight. Besides, even finishing off Zaur would probably leave her in an unacceptable state of weakness. She wanted him dead, but not at the cost of her own life. The point was for him to be gone and for her to still be around. Ratna found herself needing to reassess the power of the Scarlet Alliance. It didn¡¯t matter how they had defeated Zaur- though she very much wanted to know. The fact that they could do it at all, with any amount of preparation, meant they were more than just an upstart faction with a few centuries behind them. They also appeared to be producing Augmentation cultivators at an astounding rate. Maybe in another few centuries they¡¯d have expanded far enough to be forced into conflict with one of the powers. Most likely, that would be the Trigold Cluster as they were closer. Well, there were many factions closer to the border than the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. They would deal with that, while she dealt with the long term conflicts that came with being part of the core. Some of the sects were gearing up for massive invasions of the lower realms. Personally, Ratna didn¡¯t find that a valuable use of the time and resources of sects when the Guardians could instead expand into contested territory when eyes were focused elsewhere. And if the foolish rumors that they were sending a Domination cultivator to the lower realms to cow their planets were true? Ratna would laugh as they lost systems to their neighbors all for the sake of some sort of worthless honor. It would also be a shame, because whoever it was would probably take away the planets in chunks, which wasn¡¯t an efficient way to harvest their resources. Much better to take objects imbued with natural energy from ascenders. Though there had been a strange drop in their population lately. Probably due to the wars down there, though. There had been a few systems that were pretty much wiped out, she recalled. Wars were a good way to gain insights to ascend, and also a good way to die before you could make use of said insights. ----- Durff was sad to see the most compatible weapon he¡¯d ever held be taken away, but he was also glad that he¡¯d be able to use two arms to swing a weapon again. He wasn¡¯t quite sure how they stitched his arm back on. He watched it all, but all he really understood was that they had special needles, string, and some solid and liquid goops. The goops were used to replace the missing parts of his shoulder, since it wasn¡¯t a perfect and clean cut. He was amazed to see that over the course of several months, they turned into his arm. Or his arm grew into them? Either way, it was pretty sturdy at the end of things. Perhaps even more than his shoulder had been before. Durff wasn¡¯t willing to accept that, though. The original sturdiness, of course. Sure, he¡¯d been fighting enemies well above his power, but he still shouldn¡¯t have let an injury like that happen so easily. He needed to be more durable, like the seemingly unbreakable planet he had smashed together. He also needed a weapon that could stand up to him- and that was compatible with him, or he couldn¡¯t perform the same regardless of how good it technically was. The smith who had made his latest hammer seemed like a decent guy, and Durff had to admit that Sadiq¡¯s technique wasn¡¯t at fault. It wasn¡¯t even the materials, necessarily. It had merely been an experiment, and while swords had been turned into what should have been a good hammer¡­ it just didn¡¯t fit. While Durff kind of wanted to tear some chunks off of the planet he¡¯d smashed together, that wasn¡¯t quite right either. It had the right sort of weight, but it was a bit too feisty. At least that was what he thought. Maybe he¡¯d change his mind later. ----- Chidi sat in silence in the middle of a sensory deprivation chamber. No feedback came to him, not sounds or energy or even a sense of touch. It was as if he floated in a void. He felt that was just perfect for recalling a memory. He replayed it over and over, the moment where he cut Zaur. He could have done it better. Not that he was beating himself up, as if it was some sort of failure. Instead, he simply recognized the potential growth. If they ever came into contact again Chidi doubted that Zaur would make it so ¡®easy¡¯ to enforce Negation on him, but an improved technique could help. He saw the minute imperfections in his mind, and repeated the attack over and over until it was perfect. His theoretical attack cut the man directly in quarters, centered on his dantian. That would have the best probability of preventing any sort of backlash upon his death, or at least a controlled one. Great as the power of a Domination cultivator was, it was not limitless. When spread out in all directions, it would diminish quickly. Chidi would prefer to survive, however, and since he would have to be up close it was in his best interests to consider the possibility. He was quite satisfied with his results so far. Negation had been his idea precisely because of Zaur¡¯s previous attack. It had worked better than he expected, even. He hadn¡¯t actually been confident in facing off against him so soon. But he wasn¡¯t going to sit out of the fight either, and with his mother¡¯s formations helping he¡¯d found reading the flow of energy¡­ tolerable. Enough that he was able to actually do it. A shame the only route he could comprehend had taken his sword where it did through his arm, instead of through a vital point. But landing a wound at all on a cultivator who was a whole stage ahead of him and more than a thousand years older was satisfying. As a bonus, he hadn¡¯t even died after. Even though Zaur absolutely could have killed him and Timothy. But fear of the unknown got to the man, and he¡¯d run. Regardless of when he changed his mind and came back for revenge, his martial path would be weakened. Even if his cultivation for some reason dealt well with cowardice, Chidi was prepared to face him again. If he didn¡¯t instantly die, he thought he could manage mutual destruction this time. Of course, the chances of not being annihilated from a distance were a bit dismal. Maybe he should practice cutting apart light beams. He could do it, but he might need to be better. It certainly wouldn¡¯t hurt to have experience with it. Chapter 1028 A very specific communicator was held in Velvet¡¯s hand. She¡¯d just received an acknowledgement of her message to Runa. The main content hadn¡¯t been about her voidsteel dagger. Even so, she was heartened that her friend said they would provide a replacement for Velvet- should they ever again meet in person. Nothing further was required. That did give Velvet some ideas for the future. The Spirit Slicing Sect by itself couldn¡¯t stand up to the Exalted Quadrant, but as part of the Chaotic Conglomeration they were able to cause them quite a bit of trouble. They were already in conflict with the Exalted Quadrant anyway, so it wasn¡¯t like Velvet would be leading people into trouble unnecessarily. Thus came the main thrust of her message. Obviously the Citadel of Exalted Light would not want to spread the message that Zaur Beridze was injured, so of course that was exactly what Velvet told Runa. She gave as many details as she could, as it wasn¡¯t like she had retained anonymity in the assault. It was fairly obvious who the responsible parties were. Thus, even if the message were intercepted somehow it would merely have been inconvenient. The return message had taken some months to arrive, given both the distance and the particular methods required. The Spirit Slicing Sect didn¡¯t exactly have the required technological setup for a more secure and swift transmission. That said, it wasn¡¯t entirely unsecure, it was simply Velvet¡¯s job to think about such things. The chances of interception were quite low for each individual transmission, but it would increase greatly if they were actively trying to capture transmissions along a particular route. Even with paired communicators the security was imperfect. Velvet needed to find an opportunity to see Runa again, both for practical purposes and because she did believe in their friendship, even if they had only spent a relatively short number of years in each other¡¯s presence. Such a friendship was no less real because of the time involved, though more likely to fade into practical acquaintances if no effort was taken to maintain. ----- Anton felt a great amount of tension from the events in the upper realms, even if he couldn¡¯t affect it in any way. Or perhaps because he couldn¡¯t. Learning that they had even partial success with their counter plans was quite gratifying. The reason he worried was not because he didn¡¯t trust their abilities, but because he didn¡¯t have anything else to concern himself with in the lower realms. Not that everything was perfect, but because nothing needed him in particular. So he felt like he was waiting for the next big thing, instead of actively participating in anything. So he assigned himself a project. A lengthy one, but one he thought was worthwhile- yet one that was also entirely unnecessary. Sometimes, the things he enjoyed doing and should do turned into chores and he had to correct himself so as to not fall into a lasting ennui. Cultivation was supposed to be pleasant, if not necessarily exciting. A return to Maheg was what was necessary. All of his questions about the star would be answered in time even without his involvement. Hordes of archaeologists were swarming the planets looking at the remains of the civilization there, not exactly preserved but not decayed in the usual fashions. As Anton entered the system, he felt the star reach out for him. He approached closer, and they exchanged a ¡®handshake¡¯. The energy Anton extended for the effort was still annihilated like his previous attempts, but more slowly than before. He got a feeling of pleasant recognition, though the rest of the emotions the star might have held were too alien or muddled for him to make much out of. He then flew to the planet, avoiding those working there. Hordes might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but there were teams in each major city- and as it was a whole planet they could have easily had thousands of people just to begin to scratch the surface. Anton, however, was unconcerned with their style of pots or delving into their history. He would gladly hear it if anyone managed to figure out more than the surface level destruction that had occurred, but detailed information on that front was slow to piece together. What Anton had planned wasn¡¯t anything world shattering. He simply searched for any remnants of plants that had survived the excessive solar radiation. What he really wanted were seeds. The chances of anything remaining viable after so much time was negligible, but he managed to find a few remnants to start his project. At first Anton intended to simply begin work where he was, but he wasn¡¯t sure how long the efforts of others might take surveying the planet. His plans would also disturb what remained¡­ since he intended to try to re-establish life. The balance was a bit harder to manage with only plants and nothing that would eat them. He¡¯d have to at the very least bring some bacteria to help break things down. Beyond that, he couldn¡¯t say what he might need- if the project even went anywhere to begin with. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ----- A single segment of grain rested in Anton¡¯s palm. A seed, from which could grow a hundred times what it was or more. Or at least, that was what it was supposed to be. But what he truly held was pretty much nothing more than some loose organic matter. He dove deep into its structure, below the cellular level. Most of the cells had collapsed, even though they were more durable than animal cells. Deeper than that, the pieces that made up each cell had withered under the fury of time, as well as intense solar radiation. Strands of DNA were broken down, no single chain holding the pattern for what this seed might grow into. Anton slowly manipulated tiny strands, attempting to piece together at least one whole replica. Between every seed he carried with him, he managed to piece together what he thought was a representative sample of a single chain. Well, two thirds of one- and not connected in the middle. If only he could grow two-thirds of a plant with his results, he would have been content. He needed something more intact. He returned to the planet, driving his senses deep into the ground, searching for long buried traces of organic matter. Fossils of various flora occasionally revealed themselves, but they were useless for creating anything but an image of what once was, and an incomplete one at that. But he did manage to find traces of what he was looking for, buried in the ground. The deeper it was, the longer it had been there- but the more protected it was from solar radiation. Anton scooped a pile of deep soil from a thousand years prior, taking it with him to the moon which he was beginning his project on. It took quite a few different strands to replicate a single proper stretch of DNA. Anton wasn¡¯t even certain it was all from the same plant or plants, but he did his best. Piece by piece, he put together something resembling a seed. He planted the seed, providing a secure area with healthy soil, a balanced atmosphere, and not too much sunlight. As he waited for it to grow, he formed another¡­ and another. Each took days or weeks, and even then most of them didn¡¯t manage to begin growing. That could have been from various failures. Perhaps he had not replicated enough of the plant¡¯s structure for it to take hold. Some didn¡¯t even begin to put out roots, having no sense of life in them despite Anton creating the various structures of cells, comparing them to actual healthy plants he had from elsewhere. Ultimately, he had to admit this wasn¡¯t his specialty. Anton was a farmer who grew plants from seed, not a scientist who manipulated genetic information. He could tell a healthy plant from one that was sick, but he worked at a much higher level in general. But just because he was apparently quite poor at what he was trying to do didn¡¯t mean he wanted to stop. Because though the first sprout to break the surface soon withered away despite the care he gave it, it gave him hope. Years ticked by without Anton doing anything ¡®useful¡¯. He wasn¡¯t growing new crops that would have great yield or strong resistance to disease. Nor was he certain any of them would be edible, let alone have decent flavor or proper nutritional balance. Even so, very slowly, he began to get viable samples that properly maintained their form. The first thing he grew would generally be called weeds. Scraggly things, known only for their heartiness. But weeds were defined by whoever didn¡¯t want them, and Anton wanted these. So instead, they were examples. Demonstrations of what could be done. Not long after, Anton had a decent grass growing- a long grass that happily filled up whatever space it was given. Then some mosses and shrubs, the growing environments diversifying into their own little formations representing different climates and seasons. The formations were simple enough that even Anton could put them together, small bubbles that contained air- imported from elsewhere, since the moon couldn¡¯t hold it. A smile lit up Anton¡¯s face as he watched them grow. He was truthfully still uncertain if anything he made even resembled the flora of the planet, despite being made from them. Anton became better at recognizing what things might grow into from their base genetics, but that might have biased how he stitched the pieces together. However, the more semi-complete segments he saw the better a picture he had of the ¡®correct¡¯ arrangement of things. At the very least, he was more consistent at creating viable seeds. ----- Occasionally, Anton was called away from his new gardens. Sometimes, that was for a discussion with the people nearby, whether the archaeologists or the various people studying Mahegitself. When he had to leave the system for some matter or other, Anton did his best to make sure his garden would last without his care. He also created backup seeds, so that he would have future generations of anything. It probably didn¡¯t matter, because they were at best imitations of what the system must have once had, but he found it quite pleasant. Then there was a ship in distress, its engines having failed between systems on its way to Maheg. That wouldn¡¯t have normally needed Anton to assist them, but the failure caused damage to the ship¡¯s hull as well. He would reach them before any of the local ships, and he rushed off to aid them. Bringing a single small ship with him was easy enough, especially now that he didn¡¯t have issues of recovering his natural energy between systems. Once the matter was resolved, several days had passed. Not enough to be catastrophic for anything stable, but Anton worried about some of his newer seeds. When he returned, however, he found everything well taken care of. He assumed one of his regular helpers had come along, but when he asked around to thank whoever it was, nobody took credit. While it wouldn¡¯t have been a big deal for someone to come around and make sure things were watered and the like, he was still curious. He searched for traces of lingering energy, but found nothing abnormal. There weren¡¯t any signs of anything except for his own energy and the normal background energy of the system. But his curiosity wouldn¡¯t fade, and he continued to ponder on the subject for some time. Then he realized what it might be. However, he had no way to prove his hypothesis while he stayed around. Rushing off immediately wasn¡¯t the best plan, however, so he tended his gardens for a while longer. Then he asked some of the helpful people from Rutera for some simple technology they had. With that, a short journey should provide some answers. Or perhaps he¡¯d have to start his garden again, but that wouldn¡¯t be the worst thing. Chapter 1029 Though Anton was being sneaky, he didn¡¯t really intend to trick anyone or anything. He was just curious and trying to confirm his suspicions. It didn¡¯t seem like any harm would come if he ignored it, but this was also another avenue to move things forward. Thus it was that Anton left his little garden once more. It wouldn¡¯t suddenly fall apart if it wasn¡¯t tended to for a few days or a month, but he was the sort who provided daily care, especially when dealing with the new plants who didn¡¯t exactly fit in the climates he had created- or might belong in one of the other categories. Anton made sure to stay away long enough to have some results, then returned to find his garden a little bit more grown than he¡¯d left it, but just as well cared for. He was quite eager to see the video. Searching through for activity- aside from the growth of the plants, which was actually quite something to watch in fast motion- he finally came to what he was looking for. Nobody showed up to help his plants grow, but that didn¡¯t mean that nothing was actually happening. The camera recorded energy impressions, but it barely revealed any change. Just a slight ripple in the flow of the system¡¯s natural energy, forming into a form solid enough to interact with things. The only energy in the system came from its source, the star Maheg. And unlike the handshakes, it seemed to have gotten down the ability to be gentle. Or perhaps that was a product of being at a much further distance, combined with some amount of practice. Strands of energy held clippers, very carefully cutting off dead leaves and unwanted shoots. Clearly, it had been paying great attention to Anton and those he¡¯d had taking care of things for him. He wouldn¡¯t say it was perfect- it clearly didn¡¯t understand why it was doing what it did- but it was careful. Next floated the watering can. It was actually an enchanted object, containing a vast amount of water. Actually producing material was more difficult than just storing it. Anton had neither the infrastructure nor the desire to have automatic sprinklers nor even a garden hose. The watering can was good enough for his purposes. He watched as precise amounts of water were poured out- any extra instantly evaporated by strands of solar energy. It was more or less the correct result, but once again lacking true understanding. A repetition of actions taken with care regardless of the reasons. Various attempts had been made to communicate with Maheg. It had emotions of some sort, but no real concept of language. It seemed to understand the greeting handshake, but otherwise projected only a general friendliness and curiosity. Anton took his time to plan out another set of plots, including the necessary space and materials for the formations. He also placed an order for more tools, which would be delivered at significant expense. Someone was going to see more of the galaxy than they had probably bargained for, but the payment and experience of travel should be valuable. Besides, it would only be a couple of months with a fast ship. Though Anton wanted to prepare the soil, he stopped himself. Instead, he simply made a mound of dirt. Now that he was aware of Maheg¡¯s interest, he realized he was pretty much constantly being watched. That wasn¡¯t unexpected, as any cultivator did the same for everything within the range of their natural senses- Anton just hadn¡¯t realized that all of the flow of energy Maheg produced was part of that. It didn¡¯t return to the star, but that was for the best as it was needed for the system to have more life in the future. Plus, trying to contain its power might actually be terrible for the star. Ultimately, Anton set up the area of a plot, but did none of the work beyond the formations- simple as they were, they were probably too complex for the star to understand their importance. It might not even be able to tell a difference in temperature except in quantities of thousands of degrees. Once he was done, Anton took a sack of seeds and the tools, holding them up to the sky. He reached out, offering them to Maheg. He tried to give that impression with his energy, but he wasn¡¯t sure if he was understood. When he set them down, nothing happened for a full day. Perhaps that was the time it took the star to process a new idea, or a reasonable response time for something of its size. Finally, energy began to concentrate at the second set of plots- while other energy carefully watched Anton¡¯s response. He nodded encouragingly, still uncertain if his gestures would convey what he needed. But he did nothing to disrupt the energy, while doing his best to make it clear he recognized something was happening. Then the bag of seeds went up in flames. There was a sudden wave of panic, followed by the instant withdrawal of all of the star¡¯s energy. The scientists would absolutely be having a field day with that data. It wasn¡¯t long before the skies went pitch black, and it was a good thing that everyone in the system had their own habitations that could keep them warm. For his part, Anton replicated the effects of a sun on a much smaller scale. He provided light and warmth for his fields, making sure that his efforts would be felt even by Maheg¡¯s withdrawn senses. Heat was not something that was bad, but a necessary feature. It was simply too much that was a problem. Anton should have realized that the enchantments on the tools had made them more durable, and the living plants had been untouched. The star¡¯s energy was quite condensed, but it wasn¡¯t crazy for there to be an aura of heat beyond it. Stolen novel; please report. Anton was patient, but he was beginning to consider drastic measures to get Maheg to return to normal. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t have to go through with any of that because about a month later Maheg finally allowed itself to return to its normal output. It slowly reached out towards Anton, watching. He had spare seeds and some other things he didn¡¯t mind destroying, so Anton decided to demonstrate flammability. He produced a certain amount of heat, showing how it didn¡¯t damage the tools but did damage the crops. And how more heat would destroy pretty much anything. Maheg seemed to naturally understand that, but the important part was the relatively ¡®minute¡¯ differences. On the stellar scale, of course. Maheg had far more power than Anton could draw upon at once- it was power. Not quite a giant star, but a bright blue. Anton could only call upon the tiniest fraction of his stars, even if he was next to one and wielding something like a solar flare. Maheg, meanwhile, was the energy. Though it would likely be dangerous to do too much with its own energy, Anton supposed. Once Anton thought Maheg should have had sufficient examples, he provided a number of things for it once more. Materials of variable flammability so it could practice control. He provided them from most durable first, laying them out in order. It still took Maheg a week to work up the courage to try. Then several months before it could avoid burning solid wood. After it managed to constrain its energy to the proper heat while grasping things, it managed to pick up a seed, which it immediately stuck in the native dirt of the moon and watered. Maheg was, unsurprisingly, very patient. However, after another month of nothing it seemed to realize something was wrong even with regular sunlight and watering. The seed had barely sprouted. Anton spent his time giving various hints, adding new soil and compost into his garden during that time. From there, Maheg dug up the soil, replacing it with what Anton had provided. It was hilarious to watch it work with a garden trowel to dig an acre a half meter down, but it did it. It probably helped that it was tireless, though Maheg didn¡¯t seem to understand extending the shape of tools to go beyond them. After a week Anton gave Maheg a bigger shovel. Big projects needed big tools. It could have probably scooped away all of the soil in a single moment, if it understood how. Or even burned it away, but it was even gentle with the soil. To the extent the star could be, at least. Anton felt genuine excitement when seeds began to sprout. Then a wave of fear and concern washed over him. Anton felt his energy drawn into Maheg, swirling around. Flashes of emotion. Suddenly, the world existed. An awareness of self and other. The largest objects were tiny compared to it, and even smaller upon it were things moving around. But in what seemed like mere moments, they slowed. Many stopped, one at a time, until all of them did. Slowly, they became nothing and everything was¡­ boring. Anton understood he had gotten an extremely abbreviated version of things, of course. The feelings didn¡¯t represent vision or even how he would interpret his own energy senses, but there had clearly been months or years of activity. However, he was able to comprehend that Maheg¡¯s consciousness had come nearly in tandem with the burst of solar energy that had wiped out the local populace. Which triggered the other was unclear. Anton was glad to confirm that Maheg hadn¡¯t maliciously attacked anyone- though he¡¯d been fairly certain of that from the beginning. It might not even have been at fault at all. Though based on the resonant emotions, Maheg wasn¡¯t quite convinced of that. He offered a sense of comfort. He drew Maheg¡¯s attention to the life it was helping to sustain. That seemed to be sufficient. It soon became clear there were significant differences between Anton¡¯s garden and Maheg¡¯s. Anton did his best to demonstrate why, but it was a thousand small things that could only be learned with time. And preferably, understanding of what the goal was. When Anton first ate a fruit from a tree he¡¯d finally gotten to grow, Maheg was horrified. But Anton revealed the seeds. Fruits were basically made to be eaten- some were meant as nutrients for the seed, but many more were meant to attract the right sorts of animals to distribute it further. Or at least that is how the balance had ended up. Sadly, there were no such animals here. All Anton had were bacteria to help things decompose, though he was considering importing insects. That could rapidly lead to escalation, and he didn¡¯t know if he should be maintaining a whole ecosystem. Then again, he kind of wanted to. Everheart had managed it, with a bit of cheating with formations. The man was intelligent, but he wasn¡¯t a disciple of nature. The balance had been maintained with a bit of brute force, or there would have been nothing left on the moon. The moon Anton¡¯s gardens were on currently did not have a proper atmosphere. He wondered if he could change that. Maybe Paradise would be helpful? He¡¯d done wonders elsewhere. And the turtle wouldn¡¯t mind in general, though this was quite some distance from his normal path. Anton thought it was unnecessary to terraform a whole planet himself. But he didn¡¯t want to steal the atmosphere of the other planets either. Perhaps he should be content with a smaller garden, a fun experiment. Maheg soon learned to multitask. That had resulted in more than a few accidental burnings as its concentration wavered, but Maheg was learning to take the damage in stride. Anton hadn¡¯t been able to explain it, but ultimately these plants didn¡¯t have thoughts or feelings. Not that Anton would say that for the universe in general, because it wasn¡¯t unreasonable with everything else he¡¯d seen. With the ultimate result being the recreations of local plants growing to be more and more, a little damage here and there didn¡¯t matter. It was better to be safe, but that might be the biggest reason Maheg focused its efforts around Anton. It was clear it would find it more difficult to accidentally harm him. The world was now a better place. And they had learned more about both the history of the system and what the plants might have looked like. Recreating local animals was much further beyond Anton¡¯s skill, but he was sure the plants were wrong anyway. If he ever got to it, he¡¯d just pick whatever seemed compatible and not worry about being correct. Chapter 1030 The question of whether or not to trust Lelka was a difficult one. Her intentions appeared genuine, but it was also clear that they were¡­ shallow. Rooted in desires of survival rather than some sort of loyalty to the Scarlet Alliance. Of course, it would have been strange if Lelka had any attachment to them. It wasn¡¯t like they¡¯d done anything for her, except let her leave with them. Velvet felt personally responsible for sorting that situation out, which meant frequent interactions with Lelka. For her part, the woman seemed quite content with her position. At least, overall. ¡°Do you think I could have more time outside?¡± Lelka asked. ¡°That would be quite difficult,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We are already quite generous.¡± She had heard the woman¡¯s story- at least how she came to be in her final position. Doubtless there were centuries of earlier life within the Citadel of Exalted Light. Ultimately, she¡¯d been forced to be a replacement by her association. ¡°Why did you not try to stop us?¡± Lelka raised an eyebrow. ¡°Did you forget? By the time we met outside your ship, everything was over for me within the Citadel.¡± ¡°Before that, though,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You spotted us. Giving us away would have doomed our mission and secured your position.¡± ¡°And what position did you think I had?¡± Lelka asked. ¡°Seneschal to the sect head. That seems like a pretty cozy position.¡± ¡°Except for the part where I was responsible for everything. And not in the good ways. Plus, it¡¯s not like I wanted to spend more time around Zaur.¡± Lelka shook her head. ¡°Besides, I dispute your premise. Your group would have managed a ridiculous success no matter what I did. I¡¯m pretty sure that swordmaster with you died and then cut the planet in half. In that order.¡± ¡°Chikere¡¯s martial prowess is an exception,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We survived the battle with Ludek without her. It¡¯s at least partially due to you that your group set foot on our capital world before we spotted you.¡± ¡°I thought you noticed us slipping onto the ship?¡± ¡°Semantics. You were practically there. And you can¡¯t tell me that shooting that ship out of the sky would have helped. I think the results justify my assumptions. I am alive. That¡¯s what I wanted.¡± Velvet looked at her. ¡°You complain about being imprisoned every time we see each other.¡± ¡°Because I know you won¡¯t make things terrible for me and I might get lucky. It got me the best pillow I¡¯ve ever had,¡± Lelka shrugged. ¡°Aren¡¯t you bitter at us? We were enemies.¡± ¡°Not personally. And yes, I know that Laurit died to one of you. But that was her own fault. Or Zaur¡¯s. Or Everheart.¡± ¡°Everheart is to blame for everything,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°Exactly. Maybe even for Laurit dragging me into view, and ending up as seneschal. I had plenty of good reasons to not want to be there.¡± Velvet shook her head slowly. ¡°I imagine I would be quite bitter at the people who killed my sister.¡± ¡°It¡¯s that sort of thing that made me interested in your group to begin with. You don¡¯t even torture your prisoners.¡± ¡°It¡¯s an ineffective method of information extraction,¡± Velvet countered. ¡°You can make it effective,¡± Lelka said. ¡°But you didn¡¯t even develop things in that direction. What¡¯s the point of all this anyway? I already said you can just keep me locked up forever. It would be fine.¡± Velvet deflected her question with another one. ¡°Why were you an ineffective seneschal?¡± ¡°Because nobody can do the job if they aren¡¯t actually given the necessary authority,¡± Lelka said. ¡°Did you know Everheart robbed the vaults during that first war? I wasn¡¯t even allowed to check on the security.¡± ¡°It probably wouldn¡¯t have helped,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I get the point.¡± With a finger on her chin, she went back to the other topic. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t start you in a position of any importance, obviously.¡± Lelka¡¯s expression was clearly trying to hide excitement. No matter how much she expressed acceptance of her current position, she still had complaints about her status. ¡°So there¡¯s actually a chance of me getting out?¡± ¡°We have to verify more of your intel first,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Like that list of Domination cultivators.¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably not complete,¡± Lelka explained. ¡°But everyone on there I listed had been confirmed. Not that it¡¯s a long list.¡± ¡°Sudin is a bit of a problem,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Why him specifically? Actually, it¡¯s only natural to assume that the Twin Soul Sect would have one. They could even have more, with their reincarnations. They¡¯re all the way over in the Trigold Cluster anyway.¡± ¡°You do realize that they¡¯re a lot closer to us than to where you were?¡± Lelka shrugged. ¡°Honestly, we didn¡¯t even consider the Scarlet Midfields as a relevant stretch of distance. But anyway, you guys haven¡¯t even had conflict with them. What¡¯s the big deal?¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Hmm? You can¡¯t just respond with hmm! Now I¡¯m curious,¡± Lelka said. ¡°Seriously, did you fight them and we never heard about it? Oh, was it before you ascended? I suppose they might remember you, potentially. But they have a lot of grudges to take care of locally too. Then there are the people in the lower realms. I heard they lost an entire sector. Honestly, that was kind of hilarious.¡± Then she frowned. ¡°Oh. Waaait¡­¡± Velvet stood up. ¡°You¡¯re too clever to languish in a minor position if you ever get out.¡± ¡°Can I request something that¡¯s not public-facing?¡± Lelka said. ¡°Because of assassins. And it being a pain.¡± ¡°Got any informants in the Trigold Cluster who would swap?¡± ¡°I know some that would be glad to sell the same information to another set of people,¡± Lelka commented. ¡°Does that count?¡± ¡°Probably. You could join the information division.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I get a job in, uh, the backwater farming division?¡± ¡°Sorry, that one¡¯s full up. And way more competitive than you might think. You should see the tree growing contest. It¡¯s a mad brawl for second place.¡± ¡°... Wouldn¡¯t people be trying to win?¡± ¡°Only if they had a chance,¡± Velvet said. Lelka had made some guesses about their connections to the lower realms. It wasn¡¯t clear how much, exactly, but that just meant being even more careful about trusting her. But Velvet had the feeling that as the years passed, she was the one who was going to get worn down. Especially since she really believed Lelka. And Durff did too, which helped. ----- ¡°Starheart would be good.¡± Durff was looking over a list of materials. There were a lot of properties that probably made sense to the right sort of people like hardness and tensile strength and stuff. He just knew they were different words for durability that he¡¯d need to feel to know if they suited him. Starheart was at the top though. And more than that, the tiny fragment he¡¯d gotten to experience was great. But since most Domination cultivators didn¡¯t have access to anything made with starheart, and he really didn¡¯t like how worldheart was harvested either, he had to settle for other options. ¡°Turtle shell?¡± He wasn¡¯t sure why it was on this list, or why it was so highly rated. It was weird. What kind of turtle? For it to be that good, it had to be a specific turtle, didn¡¯t it? Like the Lord of the Seas or Queen of the Depths or some fancy titled one. Why was the potential arrival date ¡®indeterminate¡¯ instead of ¡®unavailable¡¯ like starheart? He also wondered where they got the information on starheart to begin with because he was pretty sure they didn¡¯t have any. Durff went to find someone to help answer his questions. He wasn¡¯t really good at using this ¡®information network¡¯ he had access to. He could put in the question ¡®why is this turtle shell so important¡¯ and it would just bring up a bunch of stuff about Akrys. Akrys was pretty cool, actually. He kind of wished he could visit, but then again so did a lot of people. Either way, it was in the lower realms so he really couldn¡¯t. Unless¡­ it was less than a century until the shift in the tides of the world. Would that be okay? He¡¯d have to ask. Lots of people would probably have opinions. The person Durff found to answer his questions was Alva. She¡¯d at least do her best. ¡°Why is this turtle shell on the list?¡± Alva blinked. ¡°And hello to you too, Durff.¡± She looked at the list he was holding up. ¡°Well, it seems pretty strong.¡± ¡°Did someone kill a big turtle or something? It¡¯s not listed as a limited resource though. Or rather, it¡¯s just time limited instead of quantity limited.¡± ¡°That''s kind of the same thing,¡± Alva said. ¡°Here, let me look it up for you.¡± All she had to do was enter some of the information, and with her credentials she could find a lot more. It wasn¡¯t like they were hiding anything from Durff, but even if he could operate computers his security credentials couldn¡¯t be that high for such things, just in case someone could replicate his aura. Getting the password from him would either be trivial or¡­ harder than squeezing water from rocks. Tricking him would be the easier option, but forcing him definitely wouldn¡¯t work. He¡¯d never willingly betray them. He just wasn¡¯t that sort of guy. ¡°Oh. It¡¯s Paradise,¡± Alva said. ¡°Are there really strong turtles on this planet called Paradise?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Paradise is the turtle. Apparently, bits of his shell are removed occasionally to help direct his growth. So you can theoretically get some sent with someone ascending, since he¡¯s in the lower realms..¡± ¡°Oh. That¡¯s why it¡¯s an indeterminate time.¡± Durff nodded. ¡°Is Paradise strong? Stronger than uh¡­ Mauled-by-Wolves?¡± ¡°You met that guy?¡± Alva asked. ¡°And yes, yes he is. Would you like to see him?¡± ¡°Can I go to the lower realms?¡± Durff asked. ¡°No. I mean, nobody can, right now. I meant a picture,¡± Alva held it up. ¡°Oh!¡± Durff looked. ¡°Cool turtle. Doesn¡¯t look that tough, though.¡± Alva looked over at the picture and began to zoom it in. Soon, towering trees and buildings began to appear. ¡°He¡¯s big.¡± ¡°Ohhh!¡± Durff said. ¡°He¡¯s biiiig.¡± He leaned in, as if that would help him see better. ¡°Is that a painting?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a picture,¡± Alva said. ¡°You know pictures. It¡¯s a copy of what you¡¯d actually see.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the water and why are there stars in the background?¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°He¡¯s in space now.¡± ¡°Are there fish there?¡± Durff asked. ¡°What does he eat?¡± ¡°Distortion beasts.¡± ¡°Like the worm?¡± ¡°... Pretty much,¡± Alva said. ¡°Okay.¡± Durff looked around. ¡°How do I order stuff? I would like some of his shell to make a hammer.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll help you with that.¡± If she requested it, she could explain why Durff deserved to have it. She was still going to make him pay for it, though. He¡¯d been pretty eager to go out and be active anyway, and just because they couldn¡¯t transfer things from the upper realms to the lower realms directly didn¡¯t mean they could just ask for whatever they wanted. Besides, they did their best to pay things back with research as much as possible. They might have an inter-realm alliance held together by people they knew, but that was even more reason to try to be fair. ----- Crossed Antennae received a message sent with the highest priority. She was worried that somehow the Tides of the World would have shifted up by a few decades. Maybe things would even start immediately. She would act as well as she could with what she had prepared but- The message was from her sister. It was, technically, of no importance whatsoever. ¡°You¡¯re going to ride on some invader¡¯s ships to the lower realms, right? When you get here, have someone send you to Akrys. We need to wrestle. Sorry I haven¡¯t sent more messages but I heard you were busy and you seemed to be doing well so I didn¡¯t want to interrupt. But you¡¯ve got a bunch of mini-yous running things now, right? You need to tell me about them. Also, being a mother is weird.¡± A complete waste of things sent on secure channels. That was why Crossed Antennae was here, and not Fearsome Mandibles. But maybe soon they¡¯d both be in the same place again. Next time, she wouldn¡¯t sign up for such a long mission. Chapter 1031 A vague fuzziness filled Catarina¡¯s head as she slowly awoke. She actually couldn¡¯t remember the last time she had slept a full night. Not that she really needed to as an Augmentation cultivator. But as had been pointed out to her, she did need to rest. Though her brain was only slowly shifting to where it should be- at least by her elevated standards- she understood it was important. Today was the day of the final checks, and she needed to be at her best lest there be some mistake. As it turned out, putting in a formation that spanned a great number of systems in all directions took a great amount of resources. It was only possible by using special insights into space and the power of stars. It annoyed Catarina that some of the latter tools had come from Everheart once again. The Scarlet Alliance had actually managed to begin moving past his expertise, developing new techniques of their own. But he just had to go and show off. Catarina refused to believe it was a copycat, because simple solutions were better and Everheart certainly wasn¡¯t dead. His system was as functional as ever before. While his various followers were currently missing, that was only more reason to believe they knew things others did not. Rahayu would have been accepted among the Scarlet Alliance, as his methodology was no worse than most cultivators. He had simply sought out a practical way to grow his own strength. Luksa was another matter, having been part of the Harmonious Citadel. While most wouldn¡¯t remember her as an enemy, it was unlikely she would be easily accepted into their number if Everheart was actually gone. But enough about him. Catarina didn¡¯t intend to play into Everheart¡¯s plans by thinking about him overly much. Whether it made him stronger or simply wasted people¡¯s time, it didn¡¯t matter. She was just glad they were going to complete the project before the shift in the Tides of the World. The void ants would be revealed in the upper realms, and not working to exterminate them would show their connections. It would be nice if they could start colonies within the Scarlet Alliance before that, but that wouldn¡¯t have worked for many reasons. She just hoped they would be able to have them after. Though that might depend on what the void ants wanted as well as the local populace. The void ants deserved to live where they pleased, but they would also respect the opinions of the locals. They did have to live together, after all, and most of those in the upper realms didn¡¯t have the history alongside void ants that some of them did. They were just people. Tiny, dangerous people- but that was no riskier than other cultivators in the end. The next century or two would be tumultuous for many reasons. If the plans of the lower realms went well, the upper realms would be in shock. If they went poorly¡­ then foundations of the Scarlet Alliance would be greatly disturbed. They could survive and potentially even thrive with just what they had in the upper realms, but to be their best they needed the lower realms. And as many of their members had friends and family still there¡­ it was not a future anyone wanted to consider. The last of the formations were around Xankeshan itself, unsurprisingly despite the fact that the majority were around their borders, scattered even in unpopulated systems in a spherical pattern. This was merely an extension of what they had already done, funneling travel to specific border worlds. It was finally time to connect Xankeshan to that. Except, they wouldn¡¯t be testing it. That was the worst part. Perhaps unsurprisingly it was a massive expenditure of energy to invert a sphere over a hundred lightyears across. Even if they were only technically affecting a thin shell on the outside, that was still a tremendous area. Everything worked in theory, and in practice on smaller scales. Bringing Xankeshan to the frontlines would allow them to concentrate their forces where their best defenses were against attacks from any and all directions. The rest of their systems would remain safe. But while a significant number of people were aware of the project, the actual effects were less well known. Hopefully, secret from their enemies. They should just think it was an expansion of the already functional efforts to funnel people along a particular path, which it effectively was. But since they couldn¡¯t test it, they had to be extra careful. Catarina would pore over every inch of this latest system herself, and there were many others who were doing the same here and elsewhere. Koralo and her other apprentices were involved in the project, as well as pretty much every formation grandmaster in the Alliance. Soon, it would be ready. No matter which side the attacks came from or when, they would have their grand formation. Though they could hope that their enemies would kill themselves off, realistically whoever survived would begin to find new trouble with their neighbors so it was a vain hope. And even Catarina¡¯s practical side didn¡¯t actually wish for the total annihilation of the Exalted Quadrant or Trigold Cluster. That would come with the deaths of countless trillions, and the results would no doubt be far worse than what became of the Bloodsoaked Nebula. ----- Maheg noticed it first. Perhaps there were some advantages to being at a greater scale, tapped into the fabric of the galaxy itself. But Anton was quite content being a human still. The shift in Maheg¡¯s attention was quite noticeable, and the star had become more capable of communication over the last decades. A sense of worry and concern. Though perhaps not as much as it might have had, given what the event entailed. After all, it didn¡¯t seem that any invaders had come here in the last cycles. That was about how long Maheg had been conscious, though that consciousness had also been less developed on the order of six and eight centuries prior. But Anton fairly quickly recognized the beginning of the shift in the tides of the world. They still had a few decades before it actually allowed for ¡®easy¡¯ traversal between the upper and lower realms, but the time was coming. At this point, plans had to be solidified in short order on both sides. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Maheg expressed curiosity, and even seemed to notice Anton¡¯s worry. Anton responded with both words and feelings. ¡°Some enemies may come to our stars,¡± he said. ¡°I do not know if they would come here. They come to plunder and destroy¡­ and there is nothing much left here. But the other stars, they bear a grudge.¡± Anton sent feelings of war. Maheg responded with its memories of death, and the pain that it felt. The star seemed to question why anyone would want that. Anton just shook his head. He wondered the same. But he did have an answer. ¡°People seek power.¡± He indicated the energy of the weaker cultivators in the system, himself, and Maheg. ¡°They want to grow stronger and stronger.¡± Maheg swirled some energy above their fields. The moon was large enough that even with consistent efforts, they had only covered a small portion of the surface. Though neither of them were really pushing for maximum area, either. They just enjoyed watching the plants grow. Maheg seemed to be wondering about that. ¡°Yeah, not everyone is content to grow plants, or anything beyond themselves,¡± Anton said. ¡°It¡¯s just the way things are. I¡¯m going to have to spend more time away. To protect those I care for.¡± Maheg reached out towards Anton. It wasn¡¯t just their traditional acknowledgement of greeting or departure, but something more. Even so, Anton responded in the usual way- but now his energy was not annihilated. Though he could have reached for something more, he thought it was a particularly poor idea. ¡°We can try that later,¡± Anton said. ¡°The strength I might gain is too much compared to the risk of side effects.¡± Like being annihilated by Maheg¡¯s energy, whether it intended it or not. Having two consciousnesses sharing an energy pool on such a level was not something they had good data on. The hiveminds didn¡¯t count, nor did they actually share their internal energy in any significant way. Maheg knew there were risks to it as well. But Anton appreciated it had offered, knowing he drew his power from stars. He just hoped his gardens there, at least, could know peace. ----- Anton had not spent all of his time with Maheg for the last century, but it was likely the majority of his time when he was not checking in on the various branch heads of the Order. They didn¡¯t really have anything they needed him for, but there were plenty of things people didn¡¯t need but would appreciate nonetheless. Acknowledgement of their existence, their efforts, and the fruits of their labor were all valuable. Since Anton could give them that, it would have been a shame to just assume they would be fine without him. Would they carry on? Absolutely. But why not aim for better when it was an option. The lower realms were ready for whatever came their way. They¡¯d been preparing vigorously, and Anton was certain they were taking things more seriously than the upper realms. Not that the upper realms didn¡¯t take domination, oppression, or vengeance seriously. But they weren¡¯t fighting for their survival. Hopefully, they would be too much in their habits of victory. They might bring what they felt was an overwhelming force and find it lacking. Though that wasn¡¯t something that the lower realms would assume. That included the Alliance, the Shining Cooperative, and even the Adamant Federation and the Free Planet Guardians. The latter two were perhaps in the least stable positions, though the Trigold Cluster might blame what happened there more on the others instead of what remained. Or they might wish to crush them for their rebellious nature. ¡°What do you think?¡± Anton asked Lev, as they stood in the shade of the Grandfather Willow. ¡°Are there enough of us?¡± ¡°Of what? Enrichment cultivators?¡± Lev shook his head. ¡°It appears it¡¯s more difficult to reach this level than Augmentation. Perhaps that is something to do with upper and lower energy or¡­¡± he shrugged. ¡°We could always use more of our numbers. But¡­ if you mean us,¡± he spread his arms broadly. ¡°Then we simply must believe so. All of our allies both big and small will fight with all of their strength.¡± Among the ranks of the Enrichment cultivators, there was of course Anton himself. Lev and Devon as well. Paradise, and through him Erin the head of the Island Tenders should count as well, though perhaps as one entity. At the very least, they would fight together and could cover only a single position. The Great Queen would count as well, most likely. Then Nthanda, though her path was divergent it was still powerful. Finally, some of their Ascension-class ships had been upgraded over the centuries to nearly match Enrichment, though that was with the benefit of large crews and modified versions of the Numerological Compact¡¯s techniques. Between them Ceretos, Weos, and Rutera had the most at Enrichment or some equivalent which was unsurprising given they had among the greatest amount of time cultivating. The Sylanis Cluster had a similar history and had even gotten a jump start on Worldbinding, but the war had been hard for their bigger sects and their recovery had been slower. They had several of their own, enough to defend each system at least. In the former Compact systems, they had a number of Confluence cultivators including Byron. They strength they could reach when supplemented by others could rival Enrichment, though it was limited by their leaders even when they were entangled in hiveminds. None had reached a personal cultivation level high enough to fight independently, but they should be secure enough. It was other parts of the Alliance that were in worse trouble. Ekict was just shy of having proper Enrichment cultivators, but they were likely one of the prime targets. They would need support. And as far east as In¡¯istra, Varghese had not quite reached Enrichment either. It wasn¡¯t something one could just decide to do, and merely copying Anton was bound to be problematic despite sharing the same style. To the north, there were a few systems off on their own including Nidec and Vrelt. They might face some retaliation, especially the Nidec as their Hardened Crown cultivators had withdrawn from the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s influence. They were close enough to have one defender join them. Then there was Akrys. It was unclear how their world had ended up in its state, but clearly someone had intentions for them at some point. If there was an invasion, however, it wouldn''t be for revenge. In that manner, they should be able to fend for themselves. Anyone intending to harvest some well developed beasts would be in for quite a surprise to descend upon an entire cultivating civilization complete with Assimilation cultivators. If they had the chance, the Lower Realms alliance would lend out some of their cultivators to the Shining Cooperative, but they had to take care of their own people first. Positioning their forces would be important. But before then, they had a few more years of relative peace, to remember what they were fighting for. Chapter 1032 When she took stock of how many humans were on her chosen planet, Crossed Antennae thought they may have significantly undershot their population targets. There were almost as many humans here as void ants! Well, that wasn¡¯t actually true, it was just a lot of humans. But there was certainly more human biomass than what the void ants made up. Estimates indicated almost a million humans amassed on the planet, replete with ships to ease their journeys. Crossed Antennae truly hoped this was the most significant population of invaders on any of the border planets, and while she thought it should be, other locations might have surpassed it depending on timing. She wasn¡¯t focused on Bounty, despite that being her first world. It was too close to the midpoint between the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster for either side to focus on Bounty as one of the border systems. There were still a few more years for the last people to show up, though she suspected most of those who could be here had already arrived by the latest batch. She and her people had been keeping careful tabs on the humans. They had a few cities plopped down around the planet, targets upon which the void ants were now converging- they could only move so fast, after all. Fortunately the humans would be leaving plenty of places to hide, and they had food nearby. The void ants could consume some small portion of it to supplement what they brought with them as they traveled. The planets only had very basic nutrition available, but it covered the entire surface. The humans were farming more, probably finding it impractical to supply such large armies for many years at a time simply via shipping. They were¡­ terrible at it. Oh, sure, they produced enough staple foods to feed their entire population but that didn¡¯t make them any good at the process. Crossed Antennae had seen good farming on Akrys. Care taken to make each plant produce as much as it could- and to not simply slather the area with energy hoping things would grow. Most of that energy would be wasted, not finding its way into the plants. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t mind so much. More humans might be on their way, but it wasn¡¯t terribly likely. In this particular group, there were a dozen Augmentation cultivators. Maybe ten thousand were Integration cultivators, which would be a serious issue for any planet they attacked if they had a balanced fight. Nowhere had thousands of Assimilation cultivators. But of course, the battlefield wouldn¡¯t be balanced. Any upper realms cultivators wouldn¡¯t be able to recover their energy, nor would they be able to fight at full power. They could adapt to ¡®lower energy¡¯, but they simply wouldn¡¯t be as effective after that. Except for natives, but the majority of the armies simply couldn¡¯t be native to the lower realms- the remaining nearly one million who were below Integration had been born in the upper realms. Probably most of the Integration cultivators, too, instead of going through Ascension. Their numbers and total fighting power were still alarming, but optimally every single one of these fellows- starting from the top- would die in transport. Not that the lower realms was counting on that. It was impossible for the void ants to solve all of their problems, and while they were especially potent against human cultivators, void ants could be defeated by proper tactics- or just squashed. Crossed Antennae was willing to bet that whatever ship she ended up on would be cleared out, though. Technically, all of the others were betting their lives as well, but they were individually weaker. She had tried to use her authority as queen to force her four weird guards to go to other ships. Their skills would be helpful, with their various abilities. But they insisted they have a proper royal guard retinue, and that the other royal guards could go wherever she desired instead of the four of them. She couldn¡¯t argue with that. So with five of them, they could definitely take down a ship. Not that she would be foolish about it. She had assigned to herself a small contingent of ten thousand, enough to create a few combat formations to more efficiently assault the humans. From now on everything was about stealth and timing, as killing humans in confines of ships would be much easier than chasing them down across far fields- or into the skies, given that only a small portion of void ants could fly. There was now a communication blackout with the rest of her people on other planets. The training they had received would have to be sufficient. She had to trust them. It was surprisingly difficult, but she didn¡¯t really have a choice. Hopefully the lower realms was doing well with their own preparations. ----- Once more, Anton visited Xicil. He figured it wasn¡¯t too burdensome to cause everyone to flee inside once every few decades¡­ right? Okay, it was a massive disruption- but it was unlikely they needed the labor. The planet was doing great. It seemed that they had rearranged how they grew crops. To Anton, it almost looked natural now. They were limited in their selections given the arid nature of the planet, but they had a wide variety of plants with the core of their production being cactus and succulents. They were no longer placed in clear rows, which would be inconvenient for harvest but perhaps better conceal them from observers. Anton had slowly noticed a small change in style, but they seemed to have ramped up and finalized it just recently. Perhaps their people sensed the shift in the tides. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Anton left just a simple message in the same area before, in case they hadn¡¯t noticed. ¡°The Tides of the World shift. Keep safe. I will return after the end of the cycle, and hope to speak to someone, but will respect your wishes if you choose to remain isolated even after that time.¡± What else could he say? ¡°We have detected no invasion forces on a path that would bring them here, but cannot completely deny the possibility they will come.¡± ----- Some time later, Anton found himself on Azun. The tiny star had been hugely influential on the course of his life, affecting both his encounters and his cultivation. If he had not come to seek the neutron star, they would not have met many of their eastern allies. It was also possible there would still be a strong presence of the Trigold Cluster further east and closer to the border. While the Shining Cooperative would have ended up at war with them still, without the support of the Lower Realms Alliance it would have been a hard fought war, perhaps ending in a stalemate. Varghese and In¡¯istra. Aipra. None would have been part of his life without Azun. The star itself was quite amazing as well, with astonishing density that had shaped Anton¡¯s techniques. His abilities to make use of gravitation and magnetism were mainly due to Azun- though he had to admit that Weos¡¯ star had provided him his first guidance on the former. Should they have reached further, to try to find more oppressed by their enemies? No, the Alliance would have been stretched too far and too thin. They were even now still building up the strength of their longer branches. Maybe with another six centuries, they would expand their total domain- if that was even necessary. Though Anton had no doubt that there were many planets unduly controlled by the upper realms even now, so it was still a worthwhile cause. But they could only do so much, and they had to consider their own survival. Anton reached down and scooped up pieces of the neutron star. They were far beyond his capability to lift naturally, it came only due to his connection. Since Anton could be called upon to fight both masses of enemies or single powerful opponents, different techniques would be necessary for each. Gravity might be the best tool in his arsenal for groups, unless they happened to come in on metal ships. He could employ gravity directly, drawing things in. However, Anton had other ideas. It wasn¡¯t really the style of technique he usually went for, using energy on its own. From the beginning his style had grown from the bow, and he felt that was still appropriate. Previously he had practiced various sorts of techniques. He could indeed create a wave of gravity that followed his arrows, but it was a bit too indiscriminate. Anything he shot past would feel the effects, potentially drawing them in. That meant long circuitous routes around his allies, and while Anton didn¡¯t mind such displays he didn¡¯t want to be forced into a particular method. An arrow imbued with his energy could carry it to a certain designated point then release it, drawing in everything around it. This would allow him to target the core of an enemy fleet without making his assault as obvious. If he simply used his energy, it was like a wave of power sweeping over the surroundings. Like that, while the attack would still register as dangerous, most wouldn¡¯t expect the spread of that danger until too late. Then there was another method, meant for targeting individuals. While Anton might have liked to do something like collapse an enemy in on themself, by the time he managed to reach their body there were any number of more efficient ways to kill them. Instead, he used more esoteric methods that only had the essence of gravity. This was to create an arrow that could strike someone and pin down their position to a point in space. It was somewhat relative to Anton¡¯s perception, and the extent of what he could actually do depended on the power he used. He could even lock someone into their current movement trajectory, for a few moments, preventing changes to their acceleration with a sort of ¡®weight¡¯. The important part was that he did not need to pierce their defensive energy, at least not completely. His attack could attach to it instead. The weaknesses were that it could be overpowered, especially if he left it to passive control as he focused on other shots. But it never hurt to have another tool in his arsenal. Anton practiced, shooting arrow after arrow from Azun¡¯s surface. Sometimes, he let its gravity bind his shots, fighting against its power. Other times, he allowed them to fly free of its influence, streaking off into the galaxy to reach whatever point he pleased¡­ within a certain number of lightyears, of course. An odd thing, that. Once, Anton¡¯s world had been Dungannon and within those confines, his family farm. The woods were part of that as well. At that time, the range of his bow had been measured in the low hundreds of meters, and the world around him had been just as limited. Not that it had been bad. It had suited him for his entire life. Slowly, everything had expanded. He joined the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars- at the time- and improved his abilities. He began looking at international politics and learned Horizon Shot. His archery allowed him to influence the broader world, and as his power grew he went from nations to continents to the whole planet. Long ago, he had gone from the planet to neighboring systems. Now he felt himself watching over a good slice of the lower realms- though Anton understood them to be expansive enough that he might never reach the end of them if he chose to travel as far as he could. He wasn¡¯t sure how far the dominion of humans had spread¡­ but he was content with his slice of the world. It simply happened to be larger now. And whenever outside forces intruded upon him, he would be ready to face them. That was the one thing he regretted from his ¡®first¡¯ life, believing himself safe where he was. He¡¯d almost been right, but almost was not sufficient. Chapter 1033 It had taken time for people to be comfortable with Lelka being free from confinement, and also to take on any sort of role in the Scarlet Alliance. However, it was decided that the place she could cause the least damage should she still secretly hold some loyalty for the Citadel of Exalted Light was the information division regarding the Trigold Cluster. If she was loyal to her previous group, then even if she passed along information her ultimate goal should be to work against the Trigold Cluster. Velvet had spent enough time with her to be as convinced of Lelka¡¯s sincerity as she could be of anything. However, she still felt it wise for the sake of caution and political appearance to keep her acting in a probationary period for a while. Maybe a full century of activity. So far, it had been just a couple decades. She was good at what she did, analyzing information rapidly and finding oddities. Velvet regularly had personal meetings with Lelka to talk over anything of note she had found, or suspected. If Velvet agreed, they would devote further resources to an area. ¡°This information is suspicious as hell,¡± Lelka commented. ¡°Or at least its origin.¡± ¡°What about it?¡± Velvet asked. She had her own ideas, having read it, but she wanted to compare without bias if possible. ¡°The agents who got this information shouldn¡¯t have been able to get their hands on it. Furthermore, they¡¯re from the southwest, regarding events quite far from their purview. Why would they be the ones to learn this?¡± ¡°A good question,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°Were you able to trace the origin of the information?¡± ¡°That¡¯s where it got even more suspicious,¡± Lelka said. ¡°If I¡¯m right, this information traces to the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance, not too far from this informant. They could be on the take. And the Guardians¡­ well, you know.¡± ¡°I think I agree with all of that,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°But that does not mean the information is inaccurate.¡± ¡°Why would you say that?¡± Lelka asked. ¡°I previously interacted with the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. A group which, I should remind you, is not our enemy in particular.¡± ¡°... Oh right,¡± Lelka said. ¡°Any information from the Veiled Brilliance to the Citadel would be inherently suspect, but¡­ well, I wouldn¡¯t necessarily trust it given the circumstances.¡± ¡°Not entirely,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°But we have enough context to believe it to be accurate. And I personally had previous contact with a knowledgeable individual in the Veiled Brilliance. Durff¡¯s aunt, in fact.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Lelka commented. ¡°Now, I know our hammer wielding friend is well regarded by pretty much everyone, but he¡¯s¡­ not politically savvy. He could have fed information to this aunt, possibly unknowingly.¡± ¡°He hasn¡¯t been in contact with her,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I have asked him to mention it if it comes up. And as far as we are aware, his equipment was uncontaminated. That¡¯s to an extremely high degree of certainty.¡± ¡°That leaves a lot of questions. Like why this group would mention movements by a Domination cultivator in the Trigold Cluster, or why they would send the information here, even if indirectly.¡± ¡°They could be rivals. Or they¡¯re luring us to act, somehow. Not that we would send anyone that deep into enemy territory.¡± Lelka raised an eyebrow. ¡°Oh really? And who was it that was attacking the Citadel, then?¡± ¡°That was a special circumstance. We don¡¯t even know what anchor their domination cultivator would have. The Twin Soul sect¡­ also hasn¡¯t caused us too much trouble in the upper realms, given their position.¡± ¡°So you believe,¡± Lelka said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what their anchor would be either, just to clarify. Perhaps one of their reliquaries? Or their soul jars. Or uh¡­ something more esoteric. It could be some form of their sect itself but nothing pops into my mind.¡± ¡°Tell me about these soul jars,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Pretty simple. That''s where they keep all the souls that reincarnate before they place them in someone if they decide to.¡± ¡°... That sounds like a pretty weak follow through on their promise.¡± ¡°Anyone influential or powerful always gets reborn, obviously,¡± Lelka said. ¡°If someone lesser doesn¡¯t¡­ well, maybe their soul got destroyed,¡± she shrugged. ¡°Nothing is perfect.¡± ¡°Sounds like a great excuse. Is the process expensive?¡± Velvet thought about Jyotsana. With the Phoenix Rebirth Technique, it hadn¡¯t been that bad. Though it was somewhat inconvenient regarding not knowing where she was going to pop up, or exactly when. The main costs came in making sure it was somewhere contained within Scarlet Alliance territory. ¡°It certainly can be. Especially when looking for good bloodlines to place them in. Their breeders are quite busy.¡± ¡°Sounds like an unpleasant place. Now then, the message. I think it¡¯s valid enough. If Sudin is joining the invasion, we need to at least inform the lower realms that it¡¯s probable.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make the information less suspect. It would probably have to come with the blessing of Ratna. She¡¯s¡­ well, I suppose as long as I don¡¯t have to meet her I don¡¯t think there¡¯s an issue. But it would be unlikely that information came from the Veiled Brilliance without her approval, if we¡¯re correct about the path.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Including information on other Domination cultivators? Enemies?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Obviously.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°See, now you¡¯re implying there¡¯s something important but you won¡¯t tell me,¡± Lelka grumbled. Velvet shook her head. ¡°Just that I shouldn¡¯t underestimate things. Now then, given this information, what do you think we should do?¡± ¡°Send it down to the lower realms. Also, launch a war on the Silver Fang.¡± ¡°... Those seem entirely disconnected.¡± ¡°They are,¡± Lelka agreed. ¡°But I do think that¡¯s what you should do.¡± Velvet sighed. ¡°Why should we launch an attack on our neighbors¡­ right now?¡± ¡°To avoid appearing weak. I was reviewing the records, and the Scarlet Alliance has barely started any wars. You did a good job annihilating the Harmonious Citadel- and Hans. Guy was a jerk. But since then, you haven¡¯t started a good war. People will think you¡¯re weak. Winning defensive wars doesn¡¯t count.¡± ¡°Even if we injured a Domination cultivator?¡± ¡°That will last you a while,¡± Lelka said. ¡°But you need to be proactive.¡± ¡°And attacking the Trigold Cluster is better than waiting for them to attack us¡­ why?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s just the Silver Fang. It doesn¡¯t even have to be a big war. You just go in, kill some of their guys, loot a few treasuries, and head out. The Trigold Cluster breathes a sigh of relief now that you seem normal. Everyone moves on. Trust me, those who grew up in the upper realms will agree with me. Oh, and if you need like, a reason¡­ pick something about their border activities. Claim a couple systems that they¡¯ve harassed.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not really sure it¡¯s reasonable to look for trouble like that.¡± ¡°Trouble will come,¡± Lelka said. ¡°And you wouldn¡¯t have to make up an excuse. The Silver Fang really will have hurt people, and even if it¡¯s outside your technical borders its within your claim now.¡± ¡°And then we have to deal with trouble near there after its part of us?¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°You¡¯d ask us to expand forever.¡± ¡°Precisely. That¡¯s the proper spirit.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way the others will agree to this. Also, not what I asked about at all.¡± Lelka shrugged. ¡°It is something you should do, though. Think about it.¡± ----- Crossed Antennae was tired of waiting, but if she got impatient now she would ruin centuries of work. Or at least potentially compromise some of it. They needed the ships to be properly between systems, though in a way they would drift with the tides of the world to somewhere they could be retrieved. Right now, they were barely out of atmosphere. Sneaking onto a ship was pretty trivial, since people wouldn¡¯t sense them with their energy and there were all sorts of routes they could slip in with humans. Thinking about the optimal way to fight was weird, as void ants could usually be sacrificed. Obviously she, as the queen, would not be. But other groups? They normally would have considered their mission successful by killing everyone on their ships. Their own survival would be irrelevant. But now they had individuals. And rather than making the void ants less effective, Crossed Antennae thought they were actually better in a way. Because every void ant would still be willing to sacrifice their life if necessary. And if not, they would succeed and survive. Not that most had undergone many practical missions. That was the weakest part of the upper realms void ants at the moment. They did have great stores of knowledge to draw upon, and had trained according to the wisdom of those who came before. The Great Queen, and the victories of their people. Normally, void ants consumed much more food than their strict minimums. Not because they were gluttonous, but because they needed to grow. Crossed Antennae was also counting the colonies as a whole, including new young. At the moment, their numbers were static- the last generation had been birthed a year before, with enough time to grow to a greater maturity. They needed every soldier to be effective. Just a few days. A few days, and they would be far enough to not be able to turn back. As long as they didn¡¯t immediately do so but instead tried to deal with the void ants, they would be taken down. Hopefully, without communicating with others. Unfortunately, Crossed Antennae knew that no plan would be perfect. There could be issues regarding timing. Some ships would leave at different points, based on their various thresholds. And some people would inevitably spread information to others. If they were only off by days, the message might not reach allied ships in time. The split between the Trigold Cluster¡¯s various factions and even the sects and clans of the Exalted Quadrant would be helpful in that regard, as not all would direct warnings to each other. But ultimately, some would fail. Void ants on certain ships would fall, due to failure of strategy, bad timing, or particularly effective cultivators who could actually harm groups of them effectively. Poisons were one such concern, though less for Crossed Antennae herself with Bullet and Fire present. She hoped at least that her fleet would be largely successful at taking out the vast numbers with them. Crossed Antennae would guarantee the three Augmentation cultivators on the ship with her. She resolved herself to do so, while also ensuring the survival of herself and the best of her royal guard. She had to show them off to her sister, after all. Fearsome Mandibles probably wouldn''t find her fangs as fearsome as Snips and Chops, the quasi sword-cultivators who merely happened to lack traditional swords. ----- Those of the lower realms could feel it. A vast number of people, their energies muddled together. Even so, the Tides of the World carried their energies along to the lower realms, giving warning to their destinations. Each and every system and planet had prepared in their own ways. At this point, they could only do minor shuffling between nearby systems, their positions more or less locked into place. Anton was set up to cover Ekict¡­ and the nearby systems that they had colonized. Not that those were likely risk targets, but if some ships did happen to veer off course at the last moment he could take them out. Actually, Anton had a particular advantage he planned to make use of. He could shoot from several lightyears away¡­ so he would. Hitting something in the enemy fleet from such a distance would be trivial. His power likely wouldn¡¯t be enough to take down Augmentation cultivators from such a distance, especially fresh ones¡­ but he did have some ideas. But he wasn¡¯t interested in experimentation at the moment. He¡¯d go for what was guaranteed. It would be some time before they arrived, at which point he hoped their numbers would be much diminished already. Or maybe the void ants would have total victory and the war would be over before it began. But given how many enemies he felt just in their sliver of galactic flow, Anton had his doubts. Even so, the void ants should prove more than just minorly effective. Chapter 1034 The great displeasure of having to deal with the Fearsome Menagerie fell upon Crossed Antennae. They were a troublesome sort who took on animal traits, which included an emphasis on the body. While some of their abilities still required an active use of energy, being generally tougher made the void ants¡¯ job much more difficult. However, with proper tactics even the weaker ones could target the humans¡¯ vulnerable points. It was unfortunate that Bullet and Fire could only carry a modest amount of poison, but there were space concerns affecting stealth and mobility that they couldn¡¯t get around. They might be able to drag around a proper sackful, but they wouldn¡¯t fit through tiny cracks or avoid being spotted. Not that Crossed Antennae could fit through small cracks either. She hadn¡¯t reached the size of her mother, but she was over a centimeter long and now in a different classification of size entirely. Fortunately, her speed had grown with her size so she could dart behind cover and avoid notice. Since humans relied on their energy senses, as long as she avoided being directly spotted she would be successful. Returning to the matter of the poisoners, technically Aconite had mentioned one that they could bring that could potentially wipe out the ship with a small dose. It was just guaranteed to kill them as well with no adaptation being possible. They had considered it, but the safety of Crossed Antennae took priority. Besides, if they couldn¡¯t guarantee the poison spreading to the whole ship, that method would have been a failure. The time had finally come to act. The ship was far enough across the border that even if they did choose to turn around because of the attack, they wouldn¡¯t make it back anywhere safe. Thus, the humans would be trapped on the ship until the conclusion. They did use a poison, put into the water stores of the ship. Its potency was minimal, but it was intended to keep their enemy off guard, with sluggish reactions. That should allow the void ants optimal effectiveness. Their first targets were the Augmentation cultivators. Three of them, to be taken down simultaneously. Though Crossed Antennae thought it inefficient, Snips and Chops would be with her- she could not be without support. Which to her meant she needed to grow much stronger so she could stand alone¡­ but it was difficult to outpace them. Bullet and Fire would be going after another, using what direct poisons they had and hopefully killing their target in his sleep. The rest of the void ants would be going for the final target, a whole swarm of them. Yet their total fighting power was likely less than Crossed Antennae¡¯s group. The man Crossed Antennae and the others were going after was sitting in meditation. There wasn¡¯t much to be done in terms of training, though the Tides did provide some energy where there would be none. Mostly, the man was likely using meditation to pass the time. Being an Augmentation cultivator, he had exceptional senses. Even though there were no fluctuations of energy, the man¡¯s eyes snapped open the moment they attacked. Unfortunately for him, it was too late. Though normally he would be defended against attack by his robes, enchanted as they were, to the void ants they were nothing more than exceptionally sturdy silk. Which would have stopped their lesser brethren, but did nothing to prevent Snips and Chops from driving into the man¡¯s sides while Crossed Antennae attacked from the front, all of them targeting one thing- his dantian. Three void ants'' jaws cut far beyond their physical reach, drawing upon strange mysteries of the universe. The man¡¯s reaction was to try to crush Crossed Antennae between his palms, but his failure was to recognize the void ants as what they were. He called upon his energy even as his dantian was tearing apart, crushing with the force of great elephants stomping- which was nothing more effective than two palms slapping together with the energy being negated. Crossed Antennae imagined it would have crushed any of the lesser ants, though. There were limits even to their chitin. Perhaps Snips and Chops might have survived¡­ or tried to cut through the energy. As for her, she felt the impact on her abdomen and rear legs, but the natural flex of the man¡¯s palms dulled the blow. One of her legs was dangling limply as the man¡¯s energy tore through him, though Crossed Antennae and the others didn¡¯t let it blast outward and destroy the ship. Most of them couldn¡¯t survive in empty space, and certainly not for a prolonged period. Plus, it was a good meal. The second Augmentation cultivator died silently, though perhaps not painlessly. They hadn¡¯t chosen poisons with any particular properties in terms of pain. Just quick incapacitation and then death. The third one¡­ perhaps it was a matter of timing, sensing something happening with the others. Maybe the legion of void ants made a mistake in their approach. Either way, she reacted with great violence, tearing a hole through the walls of her chamber and scattering void ants everywhere. So Crossed Antennae was going to have to deal with that, and the rest of the ship was now alerted to them. It was time to fight. She willed her leg to move as she pleased, annoyed that she could be damaged at all. ----- The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. One thing was missing from Anton¡¯s perception, and as far as he had heard nobody else had sensed it either- though the time lag of messages was enough that he couldn¡¯t be certain. Someone may have already spotted the Domination cultivator. There was some chance they¡¯d been fed false information, but something that would make them prepare for greater danger without trying to direct their attention to anywhere specific was a rather weak ploy. Anton believed it was genuine. So either the Domination cultivator had changed his mind, the informants had been mistaken, or Sudin was able to hide his energy. The last of those was the most likely, simply because the man was part of the Twin Soul Sect. Manipulating their own energy was something they did at a nearly fundamental level. Being able to display as a lower realm of power was not that odd. Regardless of what actually came, however, he could only face off against the foes as they approached. Though according to his reconing, they should barely have passed the border now. They would be coming in contact with the Shining Cooperative and potentially Akrys. ----- The Golden Huntsmen found traditional resource extraction from the lower realms to be trite and unappealing. Anyone could infiltrate cultivators and take what they had built up. Killing humans was easy. It was the challenge of great beasts that appealed to the Golden Huntsmen- and such beasts provided better materials than anything that could be extracted naturally. Thus it was that they had set up for them a planet, seeded with life- though to maintain their sense of adventure, they hadn¡¯t had a direct hand in the process. All they knew was that the planet had plenty of natural energy for beasts to grow wild and strong, thriving in battle and chaos. This was exactly what they wanted. When the Tides of the World shifted, they were able to vaguely feel the planet as a whole, vibrant with energy. Thus the Golden Huntsmen eagerly made their way to the system, and as they drew closer the eyes of Vojtech their leader sparkled. He felt numerous powerful enemies. There might be beasts the size of mountains to battle. A sudden surge of energy from the local sun resulted in quite unfortunate circumstances. A rapid solar flare ripped apart ten or twenty ships of unfortunates. In their haste, they had cut too close to the star, not expecting it to randomly flare so near to them. But the fact that they had been unable to avoid it made those who died weak. Vojtech cared not for their lives. Though he did direct them slightly further from the star, as tempting fate in the same way twice was a certain path to death. As they approached the planet, Vojtech felt something odd. He clearly felt the energies of mighty beasts¡­ but some also felt like cultivators. Had poachers come to take their game? How inconsiderate. Well, even hunters could become prey sometimes. Vojtech was a master of bow and spear, so when he felt the incoming arrows he was surprised but not unable to react. He protected his own ship, leaving the others to defend themselves. They weren¡¯t even that close to the planet yet, and arrows filled with the power of a star continued to fly towards them. No, not just any star. The local star that had also ¡®randomly¡¯ flared. He narrowed his eyes. Even though this archer wasn¡¯t a beast, he would be the first target. Then Vojtech would be able to properly hunt. He was sure it would be enjoyable. Their ships continued to fall, but they had plenty. He cared not for the others, as they were responsible for their own lives. Many of them would make it down to the planet¡¯s surface regardless. Their momentum would carry them into the atmosphere, and only the weak would die from a simple fall. When they drew closer, Vojtech felt another anomaly. How unfortunate, these hunters had set up cities. Hopefully they hadn¡¯t slain the best beasts. No, there were still plenty. He could feel them¡­ in the cities? It made little sense, but perhaps they were beast tamers. How pathetic. A true hunter could take on any and all foes alone, without needing to rely on secondary beasts. The moment they entered atmosphere, more ships began to fall. They were being attacked by flying beasts. Vojtech had missed them among the blur of many energies, and because of their small size. They looked like¡­ normal sized eagles? A few were larger, but none had a hundred meter wingspan. Vojtech began to take aim, but another arrow impacted his ship, setting it aflame even with his energy defending it. Fine, he would have to take care of that one first. Though he did take a few shots on the eagles on his way down as he leapt overboard. He could feel his target. The aura of a great hunter, bow in¡­ tiny paw? Was his opponent so far away he was hallucinating? The attacks were real, regardless. He dodged and twirled as arrows flew up towards him and circled around from behind. As he responded with his own shots, the¡­ beast? He really couldn¡¯t properly call a tiny rodent a beast. The rat made strange movements, avoiding his attacks as it danced among strange buildings. In a small area around it, Vojtech sensed numerous other different beasts. He kicked away an eagle that dared to approach, far too weak to consider a true threat. This rat, whatever it was, had a great store of natural energy. He wondered what it would taste like. It had energy beyond that of Life Transformation, but he was an Augmentation cultivator himself. He might tire, but he would take out his enemy with raw force. He impacted a city street, cracking some form of pavement. Had wild animals taken over the homes of those who hunted them? No, the bow¡­ it didn¡¯t make sense. But he didn¡¯t particularly care. The exchange of arrows continued, but a moment later three lions attacked him. Neither were strong enough individually to give him pause, but the strangeness of the situation got to him. Why were there so many powerful beasts, and why were they¡­ like this. Instead of increasing their size, as they naturally would, they were hardly larger than normal, but instead with energy like a cultivator. There was no way dumb beasts could develop such techniques on their own. Someone had interfered. Perhaps he¡¯d find what planet it was and hunt them down, too. Vojtech was forced to swap to his spear to keep the lions at bay, spinning it to block the incoming arrows. Elsewhere, he saw a hippopotamus tearing through others who landed in the city, quite violently obliterating them. Not just with its jaws, but also with water element techniques. The lions even gave off signs of cultivating sharpness of claws and teeth, not just raw power. Truly fascinating. He would enjoy killing them all. Chapter 1035 None of the lions dared approach Vojtech as he held his spear at the ready. The Golden Huntsman narrowed his focus in towards the archer, one of those tall rats that stood on their hind legs. Nothing of relevance stood between them, and he strode forward confidently. When the creature turned to flee, he would give chase, no longer having to block its arrows. He felt something on his leg, looking down to regard another one of the beasts. It appeared half dead already, but not from any wounds. Instead, its energy spoke of age and rot as it clawed at his ankles. Obviously such dull things would not be able to pierce through even the outermost layer of the hunter¡¯s armor, so he merely kicked away the thing, sending it crashing through nearby buildings. Many animals lay in hiding, not worth hunting. Even the lions, fearsome for but a few moments, were now merely roaring from a distance expressing displeasure at their own weakness. Vojtech continued to parry arrows formed of natural energy with his spear as they came for him. He kept his eyes on his target. The small creature seemed incapable of realizing it should run, though he would have expected better for it having a weapon. Well, if that was all the creature had it was time to end things so he could get on to hunting bigger prey. Perhaps that hippo that was slaughtering some of their weaker members. He stabbed forward to pierce the strange creature. It didn¡¯t even dodge¡­ but his spear went wide. Odd. Was the world tilting? Vojtech saw an odd line of red in his vision. When had his left wrist been attacked? Why didn¡¯t it hurt? Why was his left leg not responding as he would like? His energy defenses protected him against arrows flying for his face, but it was inefficient. He held his spear in one hand and inspected his leg as he thrust. His leg was¡­ what happened to his leg? It was simply covered in fungus¡­ roots burrowing into his leg. Why didn¡¯t he feel anything? Why hadn¡¯t his energy protected him? Vojtech had many questions, none of which were particularly productive as his spear went off track once more. This time, he noticed a sudden lapse in the energy on his elbow, and found his armor chewed through and tendons damaged as his arm dangled limply. A lion crashed into his side, followed by two more, toppling him over. The last thing he saw was a particularly large ant. Author¡¯s note: I know that fungus has mycelium and not roots, but this guy doesn¡¯t. ----- ¡°Good job everyone!¡± Three Squeaks said. ¡°Now that we¡¯re done with this guy, we¡¯ll move onto the next!¡± It was extremely convenient that they had been able to shout combat strategy in front of this guy. He didn¡¯t speak Akrysian, obviously. Just that ¡®universal¡¯ language humans used. Which many of the people of Akrys did understand, which made the enemy calling out their strategies less viable for them. Though most of what Three Squeak had heard were warcries followed by screams of terror. It¡¯s not like they were that terrifying. Well, maybe Meep. Even cultivator fungus wasn¡¯t supposed to spread that fast. The old meerkat was currently picking himself out of a wall. That kick had been serious, but not enough to take down a proper Assimilation cultivator in a single blow. Meep had been hiding the full extent of his energy, or he wouldn¡¯t have gotten that close. Three Squeaks had managed to draw many enemies into their fortified capital as intended, but others were spread throughout Akrys as a whole. That wasn¡¯t optimal, but there were people trained for battle everywhere. Frankly, he pitied any of those who had landed in the ocean. It wouldn¡¯t even have to be the deep sea¡­ but if they tried to flee there, they were going to get more than they bargained for. He sought out his next target. Akrys wasn¡¯t going to let themselves be taken apart by these foolish humans. They were stronger than that. But with the number of enemies, they were looking at quite a bit of damage and losses even in this short time. He shot down weaker targets so they couldn¡¯t set the development of Akrysian society back further. ----- The Fearsome Menagerie ships were terrible. That was what Crossed Antennae decided. It was fortunate that they more or less remained on course during and after the battle, but even a small amount of damage had really limited the speed. At least they had plenty of food to eat while they waited to get into a proper system. Not the humans, obviously. That was barbaric. But what they had remaining in their stores was enough for the thousands of void ants to live for years, if it didn¡¯t spoil. Bullet came back with a report. ¡°We managed to find replacement materials,¡± he said. ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°But we don¡¯t have any formation masters.¡± With all of the odd techniques void ants under her command had picked up, formation master was not one of them. At best, they had those that were competent at dismantling them in elegant fashions instead of simply chewing through the energy. ¡°We¡¯ll have to wait then. I hate to say it, but our job may be finished already.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. All that waiting¡­ for this. She just wished she could get in contact with the others, to learn of their success- or failure. But the communications devices viable for void ants were limited to begin with, even before they had to consider infiltration. ¡°Begin cataloging the food. And prepare to remove the bodies, leaving all of their gear on deck. We don¡¯t want the decay,¡± she said. ¡°But our compatriots might like the rest. Though I dare say we can chew on whatever we like to absorb the energy within, as this is our prize.¡± She hoped those watching the Tides would find an opportunity to retrieve them soon after arrival. The plan was for them to watch for dead ships, after all. Hopefully they didn¡¯t end up enmeshed in combat¡­ though there shouldn¡¯t have been anyone out ahead in this particular batch. Crossed Antennae didn¡¯t know quite what happened with the rest of the fleet. Some of the ships were destroyed, and some others had pulled ahead. So partial successes and failures, it looked like. But there were many more that had departed from other planets. She could only trust in the preparations they had made. Soon, the void ants¡¯ role in this stage would be over, and the lower realms would deal with what was left. Hopefully, not too much. ----- Word came in from various places over the course of the next week. The attack began and ended on Akrys in short order, as they were clearly not prepared to find what they did. Anton was quite pleased with that result, but they had never expected a strong assault on Akrys. There hadn¡¯t been an occupation there. Any reports from the Shining cooperative were still forthcoming, as they were more distant. Ultimately, the Lower Realms Alliance had no other planets embroiled in battle yet- though Nidec and Vrelt should be dealing with their assaults soon. News was that the incoming fleets were diminished, however. That was true in many places, based on what could be sensed through the Tides. As for the fleet approaching Ekict, Anton couldn¡¯t pick out anything. That didn¡¯t mean the void ants were entirely unsuccessful, but a majority of the enemy ships were still functional. Perhaps they had failed to board. But they might have also been spotted early, and it wasn¡¯t impossible to neutralize the void ants. They had been exterminated in the upper realms, after all. Clearly there were methods. News from Ceretos and neighboring systems also indicated the fleets heading in their direction maintained most of their strength. They were among the stronger fleets in general, and while they had tried to balance the development of void ants to match, any number of things could have gone wrong. Hopefully, it was one where void ants lived. Anton didn¡¯t want them to be treated as sacrificial pawns, even if they were in general willing to do so. They¡¯d never expected utter annihilation of enemy fleets. So they could only wait for the next step. Along with Nidec and Vrelt, the somewhat more distant Turilia which had once housed the Numerological Compact should be reached at a similar time according to the initial reports. In¡¯istra as well, though the more distant systems only had initial assessments coming in due to their distance. Anton didn¡¯t expect to hear from In¡¯istra until everything was over¡­ though he would actually be able to feel when the fleet got there. He did have a bound star there, after all. The same with Turilia. The only question was whether he could afford to intercede and risk tiring himself before the incoming fleet reached Ekict. ----- Devon observed the sprawling arrangement of defenders around him. The Shattered Chains had been formed in these systems, and while their recruitment after the initial freedom had been low, that didn¡¯t matter. They still had the original members, both those who were integrated with hiveminds and those who were not. Speaking of which, the various hiveminds had a grand fleet of ships, using modified techniques that didn¡¯t forcibly take the energy from their cultivators. They were technically less energy efficient, but the hivemind would not accept the unwilling draw on their strength regardless of their knowledge that they could be freed and that people like them were in control. That weakness was made up for by each individual cultivator being able to grow stronger than before, and again by the unity of the hivemind. There was simply a certain level they would not stretch to for power. Devon could also feel Byron- the first of the Confluence cultivators before the Numerological Compact had captured him and twisted his cultivation style. The man had his own ship, replete with thousands of other cultivators. Normally, such a packing of individuals in a ship was risky, as they wouldn¡¯t effectively fight together. However, in this case it was quite conservative number. The Compact¡¯s Magnitude IV ships had carried tens of thousands of cultivators, and Byron was capable of channeling the energy of that many. In this case, however, he had a selection of elite cultivators developed over the last centuries. The last of those with them, at least that Devon considered notable, was Aerona. That might have been a bit of personal bias, but she was an Assimilation cultivator now. Unsurprisingly, she had chosen a social aspect. Much like Vincent of the One Hundred Stars, though not through connections to a particular sect. Instead, she had sewn seeds wherever she went, distributed through many far flung planets. Aerona was still far weaker than Devon, but so was practically everyone else. Even the conglomerate ships full of thousands working together would have issues fighting him. An Assimilation cultivation still put Aerona in the top echelons of power¡­ and more relevantly in Devon¡¯s opinion helped extend her lifespan. He did rather enjoy having his wife around, after all. ¡°Are you nervous?¡± she asked him. He grinned. ¡°I feel like I should be asking you that. But I can say¡­ the forces here won¡¯t let any army prevail over them. Worst case scenario is that we all die. And if so, we¡¯ll take down as many as we can with us.¡± That wasn¡¯t just a bit of morbid humor. Devon truly believed that death was better than certain alternatives. So would all of the Shattered Chains, and most likely the majority of the hivemind cultivators. The rest would have heard the stories, but not everyone would have experienced any form of slavery since they would have been born after that time. Though the hivemind cultivators could share some experiences with each other, it seemed they tried to steer away from particularly traumatic ones. At least in any sort of detail. Better not to have the full experience. So death would be better. But best would be death to their enemies. Chapter 1036 The tactics used by Devon were more or less the same as when he¡¯d been fighting the Numerological Compact previously. While their ships from the upper realms were constructed slightly differently, they still had their primary controller at the core. Their cultivators used the principles of Confluence in their advancements to Integration and Augmentation, focusing on directing the energy of others. Just like before, they carried with them unwilling slaves to use as batteries. The rank of such cultivators¡¯ cultivations was higher, but being from the upper realms they weren¡¯t adapted to natural energy. Despite the risk, Devon still intended to focus on keeping the innocent cultivators alive in a war, but Devon had enough leeway given his position in Enrichment that it was worth it. He also had a team of skilled formation experts who would be able to swiftly dismantle the formations and thus allow him to roam freely in a short time. He didn¡¯t want to be locked down for the duration of a battle just to save some people they had no connection to- except perhaps emotionally. The Augmentation cultivators among them had what Devon could only presume were Magnitude V ships, with up to a half million cultivators contained within them. The power contained within was as much as some of the cities Devon had dealt with, but controlled by a more powerful individual. He picked out the strongest target first, and despite the total amount of energy arrayed against him he felt confident in himself. After all, he had experience fighting against the Compact¡¯s particular style, while they would at best have only received transmissions about him. Devon¡¯s power hadn¡¯t remained static over the last centuries either. There were actually a relatively small number of ships on either side of the battlefield, though that was because most were packed to the gills with cultivators- willing or unwilling. When the exchange of attacks began, Devon didn¡¯t hesitate to charge forward. There were three Magnitude V ships that focused on him, grand behemoths brimming with power. Devon danced back and forth, seeming as if he could not approach with their combined firepower cutting off his mobility but in actuality he was trying to test their limits and the placements of their weapons. Having perfectly redundant weapons facing in all directions was expensive, even if it might have fit ships of that particular style. He found a weak point, and pulled the team behind him along as he dove forward. Beams of energy tore towards him, but Devon had new techniques. He smashed his way through the outer barrier that was a shell around the whole vessel- though individual sections of ship were protected by more durable barriers over them specifically. However, Devon was prepared for that. His chains snakes around the nearest segments of the ship, cutting off the flow of power to the core and preventing the counter flow of energy that would signal parts of the ship to destruct. He didn¡¯t slow for a single moment, swinging himself with the chains as attacks tried to keep up with his movements. He did his best to be unpredictable, generally spiraling inward but not entirely. Devon knew that everyone not fighting with the first line of defense was standing below him on the planet watching and waiting, and the devotion from the Shattered Chains in particular but the Turilia in general where they were making their stand kept him energized. A drawn out engagement might benefit him, as the enemy could not replenish their upper energy. But at least for the first ship he needed to be quick, to take out as big of a portion of the enemy¡¯s strength as possible. Devon¡¯s shielding chains brought the formation masters the rest of the way inside the ship¡¯s defenses about the time he reached the center. While the man controlling everything might find them suspicious, he really had to focus on Devon. The innermost barrier was a bit more tricky, retaliating as he kicked into it. However, Devon¡¯s chains encircled the branching pathways, cutting off the majority of the flow towards the core at the same time he squeezed the barrier. The bridge cracked and he slipped through the destabilized barrier to see the man inside. He still had an Augmentation cultivation¡­ but an Augmentation cultivator away from his home and an Enrichment cultivator were not as balanced in strength as their technical cultivation tiers would otherwise imply. The man also clearly wasn¡¯t that specialized in single combat. He wielded a long spear, trying to catch Devon¡­ but soon both man and spear were entangled in sharp chains. Devon was fairly certain that having detached himself properly from the core the ship would not self detonate, but he bound the man properly instead of directly finishing him off. He then loosened his grip on the flow of energy throughout the ship, so that the ship¡¯s automatic defenses would replenish from the power of the surrounding cultivators- to defend the formation masters against the other Augmentation cultivators. One down, two to go. Meanwhile, the rest of the enemy fleets were experiencing just how much proper cooperation could surpass technically higher quantities of energy. Oh, and exactly what the will of hiveminds could do. He wondered if the enemy even understood what was happening with those cultivators. He was fairly certain he sensed a few of them flooding the smaller ships with their combined thoughts and power. Not every enemy ship could be spared, despite the lives of innocents. But everyone was motivated to do their very best. ----- The path of the fleets approaching In¡¯istra took them first through the system housing Azun. No doubt they thought little of it- it was just a neutron star, after all. They didn¡¯t intend to drive their fleets into the star for no reason, so it should have been perfectly safe. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. But Varghese was waiting there, and though their approach seemed quite distance considering they could barely even see the ten kilometer across ball of flame, they were practically touching it. Varghese channeled magnetism from the star, using his blade as an anchor. It was unfortunate in some ways that the majority of the construction of enemy ships was wood and not metal. It was quite difficult to magnetize so much that wasn¡¯t naturally that way. So he didn¡¯t bother, instead focusing on weapons and armor. His magnetic fields pierced through the traditional barriers of the ships, pulling on cultivators. When weapons and armor began to press against the side of the ships, it was only slightly different from directly pulling on the ships. The enemy didn¡¯t just stand there and let him of course. Some launched attacks, though those splattered uselessly into the ultra dense surface of Azun, pulled away from Varghese by the massive gravity around him. Others simply did their best to negate his hold on their weapons and armor. Despite being in his domain, Varghese couldn¡¯t counter an entire invasion force alone. Perhaps if it had been of the same magnitude as caused the devastation of In¡¯istra in his early memories, but the enemy fleets were quite serious this cycle. Otherwise, they would have been annihilated after barely crossing the border. Some weapons and armor tore through the hull of ships, while other ships remained durable which was ultimately a worse fate as they rapidly reached the pull of Azun from which they could not escape. Varghese was an exception, being bound to the star. He wasn¡¯t able to defeat the whole fleet in a single attack. Indeed, when all was said and done Varghese incapacitated at most a tenth of it- counting partially crippled ships and a few injured cultivators. Some abandoned the ships as they were pulled closer, but those who were not swept up by others along the way simply couldn¡¯t catch up. Varghese finished them off, before taking a different route to arrive at In¡¯istra before the rest of the fleets. Since he was going from bound star to bound star, a bit of Anton¡¯s techniques and the constant flow of power to him allowed that to be possible. Besides, the fleet had to travel at the speed of its slowest members- or if not, they could stagger into In¡¯istra¡¯s territory in waves, which was also a victory. ----- ¡°Your sect head lost to one of ours, a man of true spirit!¡± Naamah wasted no time in taunting the Hardened Crown that came to assault Nidec. Technically, she didn¡¯t know Sly all that well. He¡¯d ascended before the branch on Ceretos chose to ignore the orders to fight the locals. That choice had resulted in their exile to another system, but Sly was imprisoned in the upper realms for something that ultimately wasn¡¯t his fault. But instead of being angry with Naamah or the sect, he had shown a stubborn resistance to what became the other Hardened Crown. Sly could call the branch in the upper realms the Harder crown if he liked. Naamah didn¡¯t have to do that, because he couldn¡¯t punch her from there. Naamah stood alongside Vera, from the Nidec branch. They had brawled into cooperation, and ultimately decided that the upper realms telling them what to do was the antithesis of their creed. They could still respect Sly¡¯s browbeating, though. ¡°Sly is not here to protect you,¡± said the older man at the head of the invading segment of the Hardened Crown. ¡°We will see to it that you properly capitulate.¡± Naamah grinned over at Vera. Just as they expected. The main sect wanted to beat them back into line. Technically, they didn¡¯t mind such a philosophy- but they¡¯d have to be able to back it up. And to do that, they¡¯d need the right motivation. As the defensive side, their stubbornness gave an advantage to the lower realms. Not that being on the ¡®defensive¡¯ side would make them do something silly like hide behind their planetary barrier. That was for the rest of the people, and the rest of the fleet. ¡°This guy looks weaker than Devon,¡± Vera said. ¡°Look at his nose.¡± ¡°Hasn¡¯t even been broken once,¡± Naamah shook her head. ¡°Let¡¯s fix that.¡± The two of them charged forward, along with the other higher ranking members. A head on clash was the only way to settle the battle, perhaps literally. ----- Good news continued to pour in, though not all victories were as impressive as Akrys. There, they had severely underestimated what would be required, most likely not even expecting active cultivation. Some systems might not have made it at all, if not for the blunting impact of the void ants. Even then, there were some severe losses, and some were still facing fighting on the ground as they failed to prevent the invaders from taking a foothold. But unless the defenders experienced total annihilation, it was still a victory. No, even total annihilation of a system would only matter if the entire Lower Realms Alliance fell. If they did not, they would still keep their techniques and heritage, instead of having everything forcefully reset. Not that the loss of so many lives wouldn¡¯t be a tragedy, but it wasn¡¯t nearly as bad as letting the old cycles continue. Anton continued to feel the incoming fleets. They would reach Eckit about the same time as other fleets reached the core worlds. Within the margin of error of the time lag of communications, at least, so most likely each conflict would be over rapidly. This time, they had the option to prevent their enemies not only from reaching particular cities or continents, but to entirely keep them off of their planets. That hadn¡¯t worked perfectly so far, but forcing the enemy to breach planetary barriers was still valuable. Soon. Soon this fleet would be within range of Anton¡¯s bow. Then he would be able to resolve the tension that had been building within him. Ekict had throughout its history leaked a greater amount of information to the Twin Soul Sect in the upper realms, and it was theorized that some of those who had stolen their cultivation had ended up in their clutches. That was the only thing that explained the response they saw here, perhaps even more than worlds like Ceretos. Anton concentrated on the field of stars that stretched off into forever, his hand clutching his bow tightly. The upper realms would not be allowed to get away with minor consequences for their evil. Not now, or ever again. And for the Twin Soul Sect in particular, he had spectral energy with their name on it, courtesy of his inability to reincarnate. Chapter 1037 The assault on the Shining Cooperative was split among a great many worlds. When he was young, Izaak never thought he would see more than one. No, he hadn¡¯t even expected to see all of Mazlerth as he lived on his own farm. Or to live, for that matter. Anton might not have technically saved his whole planet, as they would have eventually found their own cures for the plaguing fungus. However, Izaak himself would have certainly perished- and his family wouldn¡¯t have done much better. Izaak himself had not followed Anton along the path of archer nor of starbinding. The latter was partially bred in timidity, and partially a consequence of his earlier life. The fungus designed to wipe out life on Mazlerth- while spreading elsewhere- was defeated in large part by spectral energy. That had influenced his own growth. It didn¡¯t fit perfectly within the cultivation method of the One Hundred Stars, but he was still able to achieve a form of Assimilation balanced around life and death, growth and decay. It sounded more impressive than it was, in Izaak¡¯s opinion. The invasion of the Shining Cooperative was widespread, though ultimately that had been favorable. Izaak himself had moved from system to system with many of the others, slaying the attackers. Those of the Twin Soul Sect met their final end- the others as well, but it was less notable when someone not trained in reincarnation techniques perished permanently. The spread of the Shining Cooperative and the subsequent support by the Lower Realms Alliance had let many worlds grow strong in cultivation, enough that previous tactics of the Trigold Cluster would no longer work. Some of the fleets already arrived somewhat damaged, seemingly the result of void ants- they were not common in the Shining Cooperative, but Izaak had seen many of them throughout the Alliance. It had been impossible to completely stop the invaders, but they would survive and rebuild. That was what Izaak had learned at a young age, and he had been preparing for this moment ever since. ----- The light of life left the last of the Numerological Compact invaders. Devon didn¡¯t enjoy it, but neither would he shy away from their deaths. And the Compact lost the least people out of anyone in the war, since even if an entire ship was destroyed the vast majority aboard were not theirs. They had managed to disable about two thirds of their ships, which was an excellent ratio¡­ but thinking of all the remaining individuals who perished needlessly, they could only blame those in the upper realms. That day, a great many people made the decision to ascend to the upper realms, where they would eventually be able to enact vengeance. Certainly, they had killed all who dared step into their territory using slaves as batteries¡­ but those who commanded them were still far behind. Obviously the Numerological Compact was but one part of the Exalted Quadrant, and thinking of defeating either of the great powers with just the Scarlet Alliance- even if their numbers doubled or tripled- was more than simply ambitious. But they could at least be a thorn in the sides of particular subsets of their enemies. Devon was proud of them, those who would fight for their own freedoms and for others- even those they had not yet met. He was personally bound to the energy of the lower realms, though he could theoretically survive a trip to the upper realms, unlike his grandfather. Though just like Augmentation cultivators were weakened in the lower realms, so he imagined Enrichment cultivators had to be lacking in the upper realms. But not everything was about battle, and he might wish to visit regardless¡­ once it made sense. The Shattered Chains would no doubt grow in numbers once more. The sudden influx of new people would be a burden on the surrounding systems, but nobody would deny those who were just freed a proper opportunity. And they even had convenient ships to drop them off in various places. The Compact wasn¡¯t using them anymore, after all. ----- Even with his training, using magnetism at the same strength around In¡¯istra was impossible for Varghese. That was fine, however, as using the same trick twice would get stale. The enemy fleets were likely already prepared. It was unfortunate that their route was more cautious about getting too close to the star, but fully expected. Either way, he was still able to display great strength defending his home planet. Varghese focused on individual targets instead of the whole fleet at once. In several places, the planetary barriers were broken through and enemy ships tried to sow chaos. They were successful to some extent, though they were quite surprised that everyone on the ground were cultivators as well. Even if they were not all combat trained, most knew at least the basics of using defensive energy. Individual cities also had their own barriers to divert enemy attention to better defended locales, and there were extra defensive emplacements. This wasn¡¯t an unexpected invasion on those who had forgotten the past- or had it erased. People were prepared to fight, to defend their homes and their fields and their cities. ----- Turilia and the surrounding systems made it through. Anton also felt the results of battle around In¡¯istra directly, though official communications wouldn¡¯t arrive for some days yet. The core worlds would be the next reached, and after that only a scattered impression of various systems further from the border. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The twin planets of Shrenn and Tenoun¡¯a were untargeted- the upper realms believed them to have been completely annihilated previously, and all useful resources secured. At least those worth the time of the invaders. They still maintained a force of defenders just in case they were wrong, but many of their strongest cultivators they lent to other systems. Anton had some of them with him in Ekict. Every additional soul was welcome, especially when facing a sizable group like that incoming. With the guidance of others, Ekict had developed their own Assimilation cultivators instead of following the practices of cultivation theft they had once developed. Anton didn¡¯t fault the original developers, and indeed if they had only used it on those who actually wished them harm he might have supported the practice. But they had masked themselves and stolen from the people of Ceretos and the rest of the Lower Realms Alliance, betraying the offered friendship. But that was long past, merely the history of Ekict. Now they were run by the younger generation who had the practice concealed from them, those who had truly believed Ekict intended to befriend their lower realms neighbors in turn. Along with them was Anishka, who had grown into her own during that war. She was supported by the Sergeant, who had been her steadfast ally at the time and ever since. It made Anton miss the Great Queen, but she was focused on defending the core worlds. At a certain point, Anton decided it was time. He began to draw upon the power of his stars, and then he was slipping through space towards the enemy fleet. As an arrow, of course, because it would be foolish to make the trip towards them himself. It would be a waste of all his training. He chose to target a random mid-sized ship in the fleet. While he might have liked to try to take down one carrying an Augmentation cultivator in his first volley, he thought it most likely the would be able to defend themselves and his element of surprise would be lost. Thus, he could take out some of their other ships and force them to at least consolidate their transportation. He couldn¡¯t guarantee everyone aboard would perish, after all. Though Anton hadn¡¯t been using his full power, he hadn¡¯t been holding back either. His arrow contained sufficient power to destroy his target ship and perhaps drive through to another. But instead¡­ his arrow met with an unbreakable force. That clash told him all he needed to know. A diffuse aura throughout the fleet that seemed unimposing, but was actually the greatest among them. And unwilling to allow even the weakest member among them to perish. Anton wasn¡¯t able to confirm if it was the Domination cultivator known as Sudin in particular, as there had been no energy impression in the reports. He couldn¡¯t even confirm from that single interaction if it was a member of the Twin Soul Sect¡­ but it didn¡¯t change his strategy. Anton shot another arrow. And then another. The enemy fleet was still many lightyears away, and Anton intended to take advantage of one thing in particular. His rate of energy replenishment next to his stars was astounding, and it had only grown higher as he bound to new stars. That should be exactly the perfect counter to anyone from the upper realm, who should be unable to replenish their energy. Though Anton seriously doubted that his foe would somehow forget to defend the ships in a particular part of the fleet, his attacks came in from all angles. He wasn¡¯t using any sort of fancy technique, simply curving his arrows as he covered the intervening distance. A few kilometers on either side when he was covering a lightyear was only the most minute of adjustments. In fact, he had to avoid changing trajectory too soon or he could go vastly off target. Without this Domination cultivator¡­ Anton wondered how much of the fleet he could have already taken down on the first day. It might have been enough for them to want to retreat- though he¡¯d have the same amount of time again as they retreated. Perhaps longer, as they could be fighting against the Tides to retreat at the current moment. Instead¡­ he felt like he was trying to stab an ocean to death. He wasn¡¯t entirely certain that a Domination cultivator couldn¡¯t recover energy, as his target felt limitless. But as long as he didn¡¯t give away any other special techniques, it was still worth his while to probe his opponent as they approached- and if Anton wore him down at all it would be worth it. ¡°The void ants are going to be important here,¡± Anton declared. ¡°Sergeant. If you could arrange for a strike force of the best¡­?¡± ¡°Of course, Sect Head Anton,¡± the Sergeant signed. ¡°I will prepare the best of the best. We have not tested ourselves against Domination cultivators just yet, but we will!¡± ¡°Be careful, though,¡± he said to her. ¡°After all, we don¡¯t know what became of those who should have attacked this fleet. I don¡¯t think we would have missed one like this, however.¡± ¡°Affirmative. We¡¯ll focus on a surgical approach, only attacking when this Domination cultivator is distracted. We can also allow the rest of the void ant forces to appear at another part of the battlefield to assuage any worries.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I think anything we can prepare will be worthwhile.¡± The distance from the last system beyond Ekict was covered in just a few days. Anton kept up his bombardment, despite the lack of discernible damage. The Domnation cultivator had still not revealed their full aura until the fleet passed into the system proper. When they did, Anton wasn¡¯t certain it was the true aura of the man. Anton was uninterested in attempting to force the man to reveal a Twin Soul Sect cultivation if he was one of them. Better to not give the man a chance to learn the technique and think of a counter. So far, it seemed they had managed several techniques the greater sect did not know how to counter. Similar techniques were used in the upper realms, so it would be a problem if he learned something and survived. For the moment, Anton would just have to assume the man was Sudin. For the moment he was appearing as some sort of light element cultivator. Perhaps something like the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance, though it wasn¡¯t quite right. Anton doubted that was a mistake, and more likely it was a near perfect replica of some other group that Anton had no energy impressions of. Or the man might just be a light element cultivator. Anton could possibly pick that out by using some of his own light. He was going to be pulling out every technique in this battle, that he well knew. Chapter 1038 The Tides that led to Ceretos first passed Weos and also glanced close to Rutera. It wasn¡¯t precisely possible to determine what proportion of the forces would attack each system, but transferring support from one to another would have been possible in a short timeframe if necessary. Rutera wasn¡¯t expected to be a target, and indeed the fleets that pulled off towards them seemed to have been a last minute adjustment. They recognized another system that now had natural energy, so they moved to attack. On the surface, it seemed like it would have been better for Rutera to remain isolated or to only continue down the path of technology. However, that would have discounted all the good their technology did, especially when combined with traditional formations in areas of more substantial natural energy. And their own system was now flourishing in terms of cultivation after centuries of building up their natural energy levels. Rutera did not regret their association with Ceretos and Weos, nor the wider Lower Realms Alliance. Besides, the incoming enemy ships had more than a few things they had to deal with. Like the solar cannon array that had been set up. Each took only a tiny portion of the power that would have otherwise been scattered uselessly away from the star and focused it through itself. Together, they were a dangerous arrangement of weapons that began to start tearing into enemy ships as soon as they entered the system. Or at least, once they started getting closer to planets. Each was equipped with sophisticated tracking systems and subspace energy manipulation devices- otherwise even a beam of light would take several minutes to reach the planets they were trying to defend. It would be difficult to hit targets like that. The technological components of the solar cannons were some of the best that Rutera had, and the way the energy was concentrated it tore through enemy barriers like paper. They didn¡¯t appear to have any adaptation that could keep up, either. Rutera also had people like Ty Quigley, whose small ship happily flew through the enemy fleet, slicing apart any ship or cultivator he chose to approach. The impromptu breakoff of the fleet wasn¡¯t even going to be able to provide information back to their systems in the upper realms, as all communications were being jammed. That same technology was present in the other core systems, and to a lesser extent elsewhere. It would be better for the results to be mysterious and for the fleets to simply never return, if possible. Some of the ships were going for other planets than Rutera itself, but the rest of the system was no less well defended. And there was a particular moon that some of them took shelter on which was much less peaceful than it seemed to be. Or at least, for them it was. Vecesta was a very nice place in general. Massive forests full of life, and with a relatively small population. For the most part, it was the domain of the Grasping Willows. The invaders were at least somewhat cautious. They avoided getting close to the most massive tree. They were just looking for a chance to catch their breath and regroup. Landing wasn¡¯t a problem for them. But after that¡­ disaster struck when the forest itself began to fight the. Normal Grasping Willows were without consciousness and merely grabbed anything that triggered their branches- but with the guidance of the sect and the giant willow, they took a more active role. They caught individual cultivators and moved to snag ships when they tried to leave. The largest among them wasn¡¯t as grand as Grandfather Willow had been in living memory, but it still towered into the sky. And its branches stretched much further than they thought they would. The scouting invasion of Rutera would not be reporting back. ----- There was an odd combination of ships that came to Ceretos. Both ships from the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster had come for various reasons. They seemed to have a mutual agreement to stay apart- but they certainly weren¡¯t coordinated in their attack. They did happen to draw things onto two general fronts, however. The Exalted Quadrant had numerous ships, but among those stood out a few vessels pulled by giant turtles. At least, by most accounts they would have been enormous. Easily a hundred meters long, and able to swim through space without issue. Unfortunately for them, Paradise was in the system. And while Erin couldn¡¯t quite pick out what he was feeling, he was not happy to see them. She couldn¡¯t quite tell if he was mad at the cultivators for forcing them to do the work or the turtles for allowing themselves to be used in that manner. Paradise was helpful to humans, but that was his own choice- and nobody could force him to do anything. The whole region around the section with turtles, presumably upper realms representatives of the Ponderous Turtle Clan, was suddenly covered with an ocean of water, trapping them inside. Paradise stuck his head inside and chomped one of the ships. Erin followed up by beginning to destroy others. The turtle would be able to decide later what he thought about his fellows, either way the cultivators were clearly going to be one of the targets. The whole situation with Paradise caused the rest of the Exalted Quadrant fleets some consternation and delay, meaning that the Trigold Cluster began to reach planets first. Ceretos was their main target, though they took note of other planets having great natural energy. Even with defensive fleets and Orbital Platforms, the incoming fleets hit hard and fast. They crashed against the planetary barrier, and in some sections they broke through. Some ships began to descend, seemingly to invade the various landmasses below. But they stopped before they got close- and it didn¡¯t seem as if it was because of the other layers of defenses restricting them. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Nothing visible happened, though some of the local cultivators got a sense of wrongness and danger. They were several steps behind Lev, however. The atmosphere trembled, and they sensed Lev¡¯s energy- and that of the Grandfather Willow- catching onto something the ships were releasing. Not in small quantities, either. Indeed, it seemed they had opened up storage holds full of extradimensional space that could only contain invisible poison. That was what people sensed when it got closer. But instead of landing on the cities- or clashing with the lower level barriers- it was instead drawn towards one particular place. The Grandfather Willow himself, where the masses of poison swirled and twisted, only to be devoured by his branches. Lev grinned. Most people couldn''t see the expressions of the enemy ships, but he could pick them out. Speaking of which, he lashed out his energy and grabbed them, dragging them towards him. If they were going to do all that, they had to be prepared to die to their own poison, right? Luckily for them, there was so much of the poison that they died quickly. They were foaming at the mouth and coughing up blood before they even reached the leaves of Grandfather Willow where most of the toxins were currently being held. They died within a few moments, instead of enduring long periods of pain. That was fine with Lev. It was a poetic enough result. The rest of the Trigold fleets had pushed towards the planet with the intent to get those particular ships through the barrier. They¡¯d thought themselves successful, and they were prepared to take advantage of what they had anticipated would be despair by the defenders. But they were thrown off guard when ultimately, their attacks were defeated swiftly. And they weren¡¯t far less ready when a few moments later they realized void ants had begun to board their ships, deployed from the various orbital defense platforms. The Exalted Quadrant forces were lucky to notice something happening and were more cautious in their approach. They tried to spread out towards other planets, looking for somewhere they could secure a foothold. Or at least, most of them did. There was some section of them beyond the Ponderous Turtle Clan which was rapidly being dismantled that refused to call off the attack. Members of the Hardened Crown Sect, unaware that those they wished to clash with weren¡¯t even in the same system anymore. They battered themselves against the planet and its defenders, quickly defeated without the support of the rest of their peers. Not all of them died before they had the sense to retreat, but that was also partially by design. Because letting them go would likely cause them to push their allies to attack sooner, instead of making proper strategical adjustments. The Trigold Fleets were repelled, their initial tactics defeated as they pulled away to try to coordinate for their next move. But already, it was clear that Ceretos would be tough to handle. ----- The flagship of the fleet approaching Weos actually did not know what hit it. That was because their senses were looking for things like large concentrations of natural energy or other similar disturbances¡­ instead of just something very heavy coming at them very quickly. An ¡®arrow¡¯ pierced through the center of their ship, almost going through the Augmentation cultivator in charge. It would have, if not for her quick reaction to the outer part of the ship practically exploding. There was only the tiniest instant to bolster her energy defenses, and even so she was propelled out the back of the ship. While it was an extreme indignity, she ultimately survived with superficial injuries. The ship, however, was not so fortunate. Most of those aboard were not injured in the preliminary attack. However, the first arrow was followed by others- and then there were the local cultivators they had sensed approaching. One cultivator in particular was a woman who carried the weight of a planet with her, drawing the ships of the fleet towards each other as gravity tugged them suddenly off course. A cultivator who was beyond Life Transformation. The invaders from the upper realms had some idea that such things were possible. Indeed, the Trigold Cluster knew of Anchoring cultivators among other things, and the Numerological Compact had shared their version of Confluence with the upper realms. That was not counting other encounters with the Shining Cooperative and the Lower Realms Alliance where they would have had some people survive and potentially send messages to the upper realms- though they weren¡¯t particularly good at doing so, which meant such information was limited. The woman who had been shot in the chest had assumed that being an Augmentation cultivator would be sufficient. Indeed, she thought she could probably defeat the other woman¡­ but that was considering a single battle. And also considering not getting hit by tree-sized arrows. Where were those even coming from? She tracked one along its trajectory with her senses. At least that wasn¡¯t complicated, it was practically a straight line except for subtle influence of gravity. What she was was a woman ¡®holding¡¯ something that could generously be called a ¡®bow¡¯. Though mostly, she was pulling back the string on a rather large structure that was supporting the main body of the bow. When the string snapped forward, tree sized arrows launched towards other ships in the fleet. All of that¡­ could have been handled. Then one of the other Augmentation cultivators died. No, was killed. By what, she could not tell¡­ and that was the worst part. One moment the man was just there, in another section of the fleet, the next he was no longer alive. There didn¡¯t seem to have been an attack or any cause. But it happened again, moments later, to a nearby Integration cultivator. And again. A few moments later, a wave of energy which was the panicked screams of that vessel called out something worrying. Void ant. They had some indication there were void ants in the lower realms still. There had been several incidents, including the previous invasion. But killing an Augmentation cultivator without him noticing? If that was the case, could it happen to anyone? No, the woman knew it wasn¡¯t so simple. Even if void ants were particularly troubling, there was a limit to how fast they could move. It wasn¡¯t as if they could cover a hundred kilometers in a few moments. The massacre stopped. Perhaps the ants had been defeated. Then the woman felt a slight ripple of energy in front of her. Normally, such a tiny fluctuation wouldn¡¯t have alerted her¡­ but she was tense. And having energy just disappear without a clear reason concerned her. She caught just the slightest glance of a pure black carapace as something the size of a finger, maybe slightly more, suddenly appeared in front of her. And that was the last thing she felt or saw except sharp pain in her neck and then her head. Her defensive energy did exactly nothing to help her, and indeed the energy inside her seemed to tear at her body as it was devoured. She shouldn¡¯t have come. None of them should have come. She realized that, but far too late to do anything about it. Whatever rewards she might have received were nothing, now that she was dead. Chapter 1039 There was a thin web of formations surrounding the system of Eckit, just like most of the systems in the Lower Realms Alliance. That formation did nothing to stop the intrusion of the invading forces, so they put it out of their mind. They likely thought it was little more than a useless alarm, as it didn¡¯t leave any lingering traces of energy to even track them. Anton wondered what their reaction would have been if they took more time to inspect the formations. Anger? Fear? Indignation? Clearly, the invaders thought they would win the battle, so most likely something akin to the latter, that some lower realms deplorables would think to act against them. To be fair, they did have a Domination cultivator. But the thing was, Anton didn¡¯t have to think about if he could win. He just had to do it. There wasn¡¯t another option. The same was true with all the others in the lower realms. The only alternatives were total annihilation or victory. The best aspect kept by the people of Ekict that their previous generations had held was a rejection of the dominance of the upper realms. The problem had been when that extended to include everyone not from them, even those who meant good instead of harm. But the younger generation had fought in the war, and now they were full blown Assimilation cultivators of their own, not having to steal cultivations from others. They could continue their growth properly, knowing the paths behind and before them. Now the enemies who had forced their predecessors to tread down dark paths in despair had returned, and they were prepared to fight. What was a Domination cultivator? To Anton, the man was a pain in the neck, covering the entire fleet with his energy. But as they entered the system, Anton¡¯s shots grew stronger and more frequent. Soon, he began to penetrate the outermost reaches of the man¡¯s aura. Whatever light based cultivation method Sudin was emulating, it did well when widespread- good for large scale battles such as this- but it was unable to perfectly protect everything. From a position next to the star, Anton shot down incoming enemy ships, stranding the cultivators aboard when he failed to kill them. Even if they could move in space, their arrival would be staggered from the rest of the fleet. Sudin attacked, a wave of light wiping out a squad of local ships, cultivators and all. A foolish thought in Anton¡¯s mind told him he should have been there to block for them. And foolish it was, because he was most effective offensively where he was. He had no reason to place himself in the line of fire, as he was a big threat in his current position. He did not enjoy watching his allies die¡­ so he focused harder on taking down what enemies he could. Occasionally, some of his arrows targeted Sudin directly, but they ran into a wall of upper energy that he could not break through. Now he had firsthand experience of the struggle that had been relayed to him. Domination cultivators were powerful¡­ but also not unbeatable. The Scarlet Alliance had proven that, and here where natural energy reigned supreme Anton would prove it once more. He never left the man alone so much that he could get entirely comfortable. He couldn¡¯t instantly kill him like most of the others, but the fact that Sudin shifted his energy to block Anton¡¯s attacks, even if subtly, indicated he was cognizant of his vulnerability. Anton just had to make that into a reality. Along with the other forces nearby, of course. If they had known ahead of time that the Domination cultivator would be coming here specifically, they would have had the Great Queen and more of her royal guard. Instead, they simply had the local void ants and cultivators. They were waiting for an opportune moment to strike as the battle began to swell in earnest. Ekict had a huge diversity in cultivation styles. It was a major planet, so of course it did- but the war had broken up many of the large sects, while introducing opportunities for those who weren¡¯t particularly committed to particular styles. They simply had joined the most powerful sect they could find. Given the opportunity, people preferred styles that fit them. That was something cultivators could feel given some experience. It was quite different from the diversity of technique the Twin Soul Sect was displaying. It was clear that many of the invaders were from that very sect, as they fought alongside each other and their techniques didn¡¯t quite fit. Anishka clashed with cultivators who wielded fire and ice. Given the opportunity, they would have swapped to any other opponent. Integration cultivators could not stand against her, and while there were at least ten or more Augmentation cultivators mixed in among the enemy, they were hesitant to attack her as well. She was not quite at the level of Enrichment, not because of level of training but because of the necessary insights. It wasn¡¯t as smooth for everyone as Anton had made it seem. In truth, he¡¯d been lucky to find something that fit him and properly execute it. Being just short of an Augmentation equivalent would have put Anishka at a disadvantage, but in the lower realms ¡®upper energy¡¯ could not be recovered. It was theoretically still ¡®stronger¡¯, but even that was in question as it easily broke down when the control of a cultivator went lax. And then there was the influence of a very tiny friend she had. The Sergeant had hardly grown larger than the size of a regular ant, but her power had continued to improve over the centuries. She was an oddity, but Anton would have placed her in the second tier of void ants- below only the Great Queen, who stood out in a field of her own. Too bad she was dozens of lightyears away at the moment. They might have already won the battle. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Sudin was the only dominant force on the enemy¡¯s side, and even with his aura bolstering allies and hindering enemies the enemy continued to fall. Sudin could only slay so many at once- and Anton finally felt a dip in his stores of energy. He would eventually tire, more so if he tried to win the war alone. The stars inside Anton rippled as Varghese and Three Squeaks lent Anton their support. Without having bound the local star there was little they could actually do, but smoothing the flow of energy from some shared stars was helpful enough. Their own battles had already resolved weeks before, depending on positioning. Thus, they could afford to expend the effort. Anton took advantage, finally using his first batch of stolen ascension energy. That arrow was mixed in with a flurry of others, meant as a surprise for Sudin. The man might have been surprised, but he didn¡¯t show it. That particular arrow crashed against his defenses just like the rest, but the impact was greater than it seemed. Because his own energy struggled to stay in his grasp, instinctively wanting to annihilate Anton¡¯s stolen energy. The gaze of the man fell upon Anton from half a system away. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t foolish enough to rush towards Anton and attempt to fight him next to the star. Anton was quite confident that a good solar lashing could melt even a Domination cultivator into a pile of ash, and then nothing at all. Though Anton¡¯s attack didn¡¯t cause any visible injuries, it did provide a perfect distraction. Even Anton hadn¡¯t sensed the incoming void ants. When he noticed their bites on the man¡¯s energy, starting from one arm, Anton unleashed a hail of thousands of arrows. Sudin¡¯s reaction to the void ants was extreme, but not unwarranted. He must have had prior experience, or at least forewarning, as he immediately scraped his opposite hand along his arm, wiping them away. His energy was dense enough that even the void ants had not been able to bite through all in one go. In a burst of light, Sudin converted some of his energy into true light- no longer a construct of energy nor controlled by him. It was far more effective than any other sort of attack against void ants, destroying the hundreds or thousands who had reached him. Anton¡¯s arrows rained down on him, trying to find holes in his defenses as he was momentarily distracted. Anton wasn¡¯t able to break through, but in that moment Sudin¡¯s aura shrunk to cover just himself- leaving the rest of the battlefield open for others to fight at full strength. Anton kept up the pressure, hoping more void ants were close. Across the rest of the battlefield, which he could have generously called in favor of the lower realms, Ekict¡¯s forces began to dominate as a whole. Void ants in small groups began to land on Sudin, causing the man to first throw them off- or annihilate them with his energy, strong enough to damage even void ants- then flicker around the battlefield to seemingly random positions, moving as fast as light or sometimes even faster. Previously, he had been more or less stationary, not needing to move to attach anywhere he pleased. Cracks appeared in his cultivation, not damage to the man himself but to his facade. Perhaps there was value in the cultivation he displayed, as he held onto it as long as he could before eventually displaying the proper cultivation of the Twin Soul Sect. Anton shivered, feeling the man¡¯s true power. It wasn¡¯t necessarily stronger than Sudin had been displaying, but it was far more malicious. Spectral energy was a component of reincarnation, but aside from himself the man clearly focused on the deathly aspects. His energy swept out, instantly reaping the life of those around him. When he focused on Anishka for a moment, Anton did his best not to panic- instead continue his efforts to whittle down the man¡¯s defenses. Perhaps Sudin noticed the connection, or the way the locals rallied around Anishka. Either way, his palm pressed forward, a skull the size of a small moon roaring forward with jaws open. Anishka¡¯s fire and ice would not defend against that, but as she turned to flee she could not get far enough. Except¡­ just as it closed on her, one of the teeth shattered. At such a distance Anton couldn¡¯t make out the specific void that the Sergeant filled to determine if she was fine after such a clash¡­ but even standing up directly to one assault from a Domination cultivator was sufficient. Anishka was able to relocate to a safer location on the battlefield- more invaders having died around her than allies during that attack- and Sudin hesitated, just for a moment. That was when Anton destroyed one of his lieutenants, one of the Augmentation cultivators. A single arrow with a core of spectral energy lodged directly into the man¡¯s dantian, annihilating him- and not just in body. It was at that point that Sudin noticed something that had been happening the whole battle. As Twin Soul Sect cultivators died, their souls fled the battlefield- only to be caught in the nets around the system. That was the only thing the formations were for. Twin Soul Sect cultivators would not survive. And it wasn¡¯t just their bodies that would be killed. Sudin faltered for a moment, then renewed his attacks with vigor. However, that further hesitation on his part showed weakness to the defender- and more importantly to his allies, whose morale was rapidly faltering. The first who turned to flee was annihilated in body and soul- not by those from the lower realm, but by Sudin. However, such tactics didn¡¯t help. Instead, it led to three of the Augmentation cultivators turning to flee at once, intending to get out of the system and ride the Tides of the World back to the upper realms. Sudin killed two of them himself- and the third fell to void ants who were positioned to grab the woman. But regardless of how they died, it was the Trigold Cluster who lost. And if Anton read the situation properly, the situation would continue to spiral. If Sudin were not present, he could even say they had already won the battle. But the Domination cultivator seemed as if he might try to annihilate the planet alone¡­ and Anton wouldn¡¯t put it past him to be a possibility, even with their planetary barrier and defenders. It certainly wasn¡¯t something they could simply ignore. Anton burned inside, flames made of his stars and of himself. He would not allow Sudin to act as he pleased. His arrows grew in power several fold, and Anton avoided thinking about what the consequences would be later. After all, how could he accept having a future at the cost of billions of others not having said future? Chapter 1040 Waves of ascension energy rolled out from Sudin of the Twin Soul Sect. However, as it touched the cultivators of the Lower Realms Alliance his energy was worn away faster than expected, and the same was true of all the other cultivators in their army. They had special training to fight against ascension energy, after all. That was what was allowing them to fight against higher levels of cultivation effectively. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t make Sudin himself any more vulnerable. Though he was the main focus of attacks now, the strength and speed of a Domination cultivator allowed him to withstand any attacks that struck him and to avoid most of them. Every scrap of Anton¡¯s energy was being used to attack his foe, including what he could get from Candle Wax. As one would expect, he did not regularly burn his lifespan and thus was unfamiliar with the effect the technique had in the Enrichment stage. It wasn¡¯t quite as much as he might have hoped, but to defeat a Domination cultivator he would take any power he could get. Especially as Sudin transformed his aura into a newly malicious configuration. Spectral energy reached out towards the surrounding armies, drawing on the souls of those around him. Friend or foe, Sudin didn¡¯t seem to care. Anton understood he couldn¡¯t let the technique go on for long, as it was spreading towards the planet as well. While those fighting up above could withstand it at least for a few moments, a sufficient portion of those below were weak enough that whatever it was would kill them instantly. Anton wasn¡¯t alone in his attacks. The major sects of Ekict had been reformed, and that meant among others the Enkindled Sun Sect and the Northern Glacier Sect. There was also the Vermillion Inferno, who had been relatively inconsequential centuries ago but had grown into something respectable. Along with Anishka, fire and ice were the most prominent- but Anton spotted cultivators of every sort of elemental form including water, earth, and wind. There were weapon cultivators in abundance including the bow, sword, spear, axe, and weapons more obscure. Cultivators of less concrete ideas such as time, space, and soul combined with cultivators of plants, trees, and even technology- though Ekict was far short of Rutera¡¯s dedication to the latter. Anton¡¯s own attacks included as much spectral energy as he could, trying to disrupt whatever Sudin was doing. His stolen ascension energy was used without hesitation as well, detonating as it came into contact with Sudin¡¯s traditional energy, though that was valuable from Anton¡¯s perspective as Sudin wasn¡¯t able to prevent his own energy from straining to take out Anton¡¯s. Cultivators around Sudin began to fall, especially the remnants of the fleets that had come with him. Anton watched as their bodies remained whole but life drained from their eyes, their souls pulling apart like candy fluff. It seemed that perhaps Sudin could fight all of their forces alone- but if this was something he could do easily he would almost certainly have come alone to have all of the loot and glory for himself. So all they had to do was break the technique. Anton condensed his energy, pulling back his bow. He¡¯d never dared to use so much, and he felt the soulstring straining. As he released his shot, the string snapped- but it propelled his energy forward with greater power than ever before. Along with his attack came a wave of souls. Time slowed as Anton as an arrow flew past the defending fleets. He calmly watched thousands of attacks en route to Sudin, some trying to cause maximum damage and others meaning to constrain his movements even just for a moment. Anton flew over Anishka¡¯s shoulder as she charged forward, heedless of the danger in the man¡¯s surroundings like so many others. If they were afraid of death, then they would have fled long ago. A flicker of recognition lit up in Sudin¡¯s eyes as he noticed Anton¡¯s attack. He took a step, covering a distance halfway to Ekict¡¯s moon. But Anton followed, turning to strike him even as he prepared to move once more. Anton struck the man in the back, aiming for his lower spine. He put everything into the attack, and the memories of souls from his bowstring came along with it. It was astounding that Sudin didn¡¯t end up as mere particulate matter, so thoroughly annihilated that no trace of him remained. Instead, he withstood the attack. On the surface, at least. Even as Anton was feeling despair at his seeming invulnerability¡­ Sudin was three steps further. Beyond the orbit of Eckit¡¯s moon, and with no signs of stopping. Anton had little left in him but the energy to reach out, lashing his senses to the man as he moved. On the surface, the man felt powerful. But like Zaur Beridze, he fled for his life. In this case, he had no visible wounds¡­ and Anton didn¡¯t know of any attack on his anchor, whatever it was. It was a bitter sort of victory, watching the man retreat with so many of them dead. Anton¡¯s energy strained as Sudin stepped into the Tides of the World, the ascension energy tearing at his own energy. He pulled back outside the tides, keeping a distance as he followed the man¡¯s progress out of the system. Anton wanted to chase him, but he could only sink into Ekict¡¯s star in exhaustion. What more could he have done? What techniques could he have developed? Perhaps there was nothing, but to let the man go felt wrong. But what could he even do? If his bow was whole, he would be able to take a few piddling shots at most. Without it¡­ Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Anton formed a bow of energy, shooting from within the star. He certainly wasn¡¯t going to give up. His arrow was swiftly torn into by the tides, but it struck Sudin¡¯s heel. The next arrow revealed an instability in the man¡¯s energy, but not one Anton was equipped to exploit. He simply had no energy left, and it would take time to recover. If Anton had been at full capacity at that moment? He would have had over a day to assault Sudin. With the man in the state he was¡­ Anton might have caused real damage. Anton thought about giving chase, but even using the increased speed between his stars- if he had the energy- the Domination cultivator moved more swiftly than he could have kept up with. It would still take more than a month for him to reach the border, but there wasn¡¯t some sort of fleet that could cut him off along the way. They wouldn¡¯t even be able to touch him. Anton barely managed to keep his senses on the man as he went, while Anton languished inside a star. If the tides had not passed by other bound stars, Anton would have certainly lost that connection. Not that it was a coincidence that he had connections along the path. He¡¯d built up his network for a reason. Now, he was slowly recovering his energy- but what was the point when he was still in Ekict? Ah. But there was that one technique he¡¯d been working on. It wasn¡¯t something he could do swiftly but¡­ with almost a month remaining, perhaps he could manage a single shot. He¡¯d have to recover enough energy as well, but the power of his stars was pouring into him- including more from Varghese and Three Squeaks as they sensed his need. Starting with Ceretos, Anton linked himself to his stars. Weos and Rutera were nearby, and he wrapped himself around them and them around himself. He continued eastward, towards his physical location and Ekict. There were many stars bound along the route to In¡¯istra, and Anton linked his energy between all of them in sequence. He was stretched thin. He had no idea if this would even work. He was barely regaining more energy than he was using, and he almost lost track of Sudin more than once. But he wasn¡¯t going to give up. The upper realms needed to receive a message that they could not do as they pleased. No amount of sacrifices would be sufficient for them to trample upon the lower realms. As Anton thought that¡­ he felt his bound stars respond. They had no consciousness, exactly, but they still burned with his own resolve. The far east endpoint was Azun, just beyond In¡¯istra. A good endpoint. Dense. That was where Anton started making a more solid bridge of energy up to the north. He would have liked to ask for permission from the Shining Cooperative, but his message likely wouldn¡¯t have reached them in time. Either way, he was technically only going around their systems. Anton had spread his bound stars far and wide based on the practicality of the moment, But the shape it made¡­ well, he couldn¡¯t even pretend it fit anything. Even the constellations old astrologists saw in the stars were more accurate to form than what he was doing. Either way, Anton had at one point bound stars along the northern border as well, leading back towards Ekict. He was ahead of Sudin, technically, as he continued to form his bridge of energy. But he was only two thirds done with his full project¡­ if it even meant anything, it would have to be complete. Around the time Anton reached Akrys, Sudin was at the border of the upper and lower realms, swimming the Tides of the World. Anton still had to connect the same distance the man had run, approximately. Anton¡¯s senses were not actually stretching between himself and Sudin anymore. Instead, there was a mote of Anton¡¯s energy that wound its way around the Tides. He was lucky that his energy wasn¡¯t annihilated as it followed him into the upper realms, though it was a close thing. It was probably already too late, but Anton linked back to Ceretos. His bridge of hard energy connecting to the other end of the string. Once again, Anton was amazed at how¡­ inaccurate it was. A bow was supposed to be smooth curves, not random lines between stars not all on the same plane. The string didn¡¯t hang taut. But he pulled upon it anyway. Constellation Shot¡­ he only thought he¡¯d do it with a couple neighboring stars, maybe extend his range slightly. Energy from all throughout the lower realms fed into him as he formed an arrow, filled with more than what Anton had recovered during Sudin¡¯s retreat. All across Anton¡¯s little slice of the lower realm, a bow bent and released an arrow. That was another issue. Anton grumbled to himself. A bow wasn¡¯t supposed to shoot an arrow at something the equivalent of one step in front. But it could, and as long as there was a specific distance it would work just fine. Not that any of this made sense in normal practical terms anyway. But the arrow flew, as straight and true as other arrows. Which meant ultimately where he told it to go¡­ but a much more meandering path than most people realized. There wasn¡¯t a physical bow nor was the arrow made of matter, so the archer¡¯s paradox didn¡¯t exactly apply- but it flew along the boundary of the Tides, where natural energy was being pulled into the upper realms. Sudin had stopped, just about that time. No doubt the man felt himself safe, some hundred lightyears into the upper realms. The man would be composing himself, preparing his story to save face. Resting from his sustained flight- no cultivator could move their maximum speed for so long without consequences. These were all speculation on Anton¡¯s part. He didn¡¯t even have a single instant to actually observe the man¡¯s expression or reacting as the arrow approached, cutting through subspace. Anton¡¯s bowstring had barely reached its full forward position when the arrow reached its target. He made sure the man¡¯s soul would be destroyed. Just because he hadn¡¯t expected his technique to work didn¡¯t mean that he couldn¡¯t do things properly. The point of his arrow dug into the man, infused with energy that defied reincarnation. Anton¡¯s own, and of course that of this man who thought he could do whatever he pleased. Everyone felt it. Not at that exact instant. Some would not sense anything for hundreds of years, as the shockwave slowly propagated throughout the cosmos. But the destruction of a Domination cultivator was no small thing. There would be much speculation on what actually happened until information slowly trickled up from the lower realms. Even after that, most people didn¡¯t believe the truth. Anton might not have, either. But for the moment¡­ he was going to take a nap. He probably should have come out of the star so people could see him first, but he was tired. Chapter 1041 Before the annihilation of Sudin, one final invasion force went completely unnoticed as they trawled through the lower realms for systems of interest. Rather than a full invasion force, it was really more a team of scouts. They would not have made it so far in circumstances with fewer distractions, though in previous cycles the systems of the lower realms wouldn¡¯t have had the capacity to even notice them. Thus, they effectively stumbled into success. Or at least, what appeared to be some sort of success. They found a system with significant quantities of natural energy. They were drawn towards one planet in particular- or rather a moon. They made note that the actual planet seemed to have previously had life, and might still be valuable for mining ores or the like, though its current lack of significant natural energy would mostly result in mundane materials. That said, they might find some buried underground infused with natural energy, since it appeared there had been more natural energy present on some of the planets previously. But the moon was currently flush with it, so that was where they looked first. They were surprised to find formations, yet no humans present. It was a very suspicious situation, so they made certain to carefully inspect the area before landing. It didn¡¯t seem to be a trap, and their formation experts determined that said formations were merely for the sake of providing a proper environment for the moon to sustain life. Specifically, a wide variety of vegetation. About a quarter of the planet was forests, complete with undergrowth. Another quarter, filling the moon halfway overall, were crops of various sorts. That indicated that humans worked here, but weren¡¯t present now. ¡°Do you think they are spacefaring?¡± one member of the team asked. ¡°Someone from a nearby system?¡± ¡°I would say that,¡± said another, ¡°But we didn¡¯t detect anything from nearby systems. So what would that mean here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± said the first. ¡°I do know that fields don¡¯t maintain themselves, however. They must have been here within months. Maybe a bit longer, given the formations.¡± ¡°Does it really matter? We¡¯ll note it down¡­ and since nobody is around to stop us, we¡¯ll take what we want. Any future teams will choose whether or not to return here. Not our problem.¡± And so, they did. First they started by looking for any ripe fruit. They didn¡¯t exactly recognize the varieties, so they scrutinized them carefully to try to make sure they weren¡¯t poisonous. Once they were fairly certain, they tested small bites of a few different things, ready to purge their systems if necessary. There didn¡¯t seem to be any issues, though they did find some things that were obviously poisonous. Most of those seemed to be confined to particular zones in each climate, except for the forested areas where anything would grow wild. After inspecting for some time, the team leader addressed the rest. ¡°Alright, I think we¡¯ve found enough. Let¡¯s start scooping things up to bring back. We don¡¯t want anyone to drop in and spot us since we have no idea who set this up.¡± One of them immediately uprooted a bush. There was a sudden wave of energy from the local star, and the woman stopped, looking worried. ¡°Relax,¡± said the leader. ¡°Just a solar fluctuation. You just feel those kinds of things more strongly on a planet like this without proper atmosphere.¡± He started tearing up some sort of bean plants, tossing them into his storage bag. Seeing no immediate reaction, the others began to do the same until they cleared out a whole section. That was their biggest mistake¡­ because when the fires of the star came down to annihilate them, it didn¡¯t have to damage anything in the surroundings since there wasn¡¯t anything to worry about. And all of the plants were¡­ not exactly safe, but survivably located inside storage bags. Those same bags did burst open and spill their contents even though not directly targeted, but that was after the great pillar of flame consumed the cultivators. Their ships were left alone, as there was no one left to take them away. Maheg was grumpy. If the humans had just wanted the food they could have had it. Why tear out entire plants? These must be the ¡®invaders¡¯ from the ¡®upper realms¡¯. No wonder Anton didn¡¯t like them. Not that the star quite thought about things so concretely, but it had recognized that their energy didn¡¯t fit. Otherwise, it would have hesitated more with its destruction. ----- The incident with Maheg was so minor that it would go unnoticed for months after the war ended. Everyone was quite busy elsewhere, and the single burst of energy on their instruments had merely been noted as a thing to look into later. As for the rest of the lower realms¡­ they found themselves victorious. That was even before what happened with Sudin, though it did shift their perception of things quite greatly. They had lost many lives, even with all of their preparations and techniques. They had saved their homes and their people- they wouldn¡¯t be flattened out like cattle to be farmed or exterminated like vermin. Enemy casualties were even higher than their own. The combination of special techniques, home territory, and the weakening of upper energy meant that they had been able to fight with great power. More of the invaders perished than were able to retreat, and in some places they were annihilated entirely, not even realizing they were in danger before they were gone. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. The assault on Ekict had some of the worst casualties among their soldiers because of the Domination cultivator Sudin, but they kept their civilian population safe. They were more concerned about Anton, who had sunk into the local star. Only the assurances of Varghese and Three Squeaks that he remained healthy made people feel better. But when people learned of Sudin¡¯s death, they celebrated. Everyone had felt Anton¡¯s attack, but they hadn¡¯t really understood what it meant. His Constellation Shot encompassing all of their section of the lower realms- except for Turillia and some scattered systems out west- had seemed more like an outpouring of frustration than an actual attack until they put things together- and the shockwaves of Sudin¡¯s death began to reach other systems. Some portions of those shockwaves only traveled at the speed of light, which meant they would take decades or more to even reach the border, but there had been a burst that traveled faster than the speed of light that some places were able to detect. The lower realms was busy cleaning up after the war- which included picking up any void ants who had overcome the ships they infiltrated. Some had died with the ships they were on, but more than a few groups had annihilated the human invaders and were simply living on the remaining rations and life support systems- which had no trouble sustaining a few thousand or hundreds of thousands of void ants on a ship for just a few weeks. ----- The death of Sudin had happened practically next door to Ratna. Sure, it was some tens of lightyears distant, but it was on the nearest border of the Twin Soul Sect¡¯s territory. Though she wasn¡¯t quite certain whether she felt his death, or the destruction of a portion of their core world- where Sudin¡¯s anchor was. Ratna wasn¡¯t even properly certain what that anchor had been. She had theories, but no one had the opportunity to test any of them. Any attempts to do so would have sparked an all out war, no doubt. Not something she was interested in. She was filled with a small amount of regret. Not at Sudin¡¯s death. No, it was regret because of a fear she now had for her own life. A Domination cultivator had died. That meant people would know they could die. Not that people assumed Domination cultivators were immortal. Not strictly. But none had killed each other in about a millennium, and worse this was a Domination cultivator dying to¡­ something else. Ratna had merely thought her messages would perhaps help Sudin be repelled somehow. Cause him a bit of embarrassment. Not¡­ this. Ratna really couldn¡¯t think of a worse thing that could happen. Unfortunately, that was where she jinxed herself. Because soon after, the worst news in the world came. And yes, it was something that topped a Domination cultivator¡¯s death through methods that were still in question. ----- ¡°Wow,¡± Alva said. Then she sighed. It was too bad Kseniya wasn¡¯t around to see that. She really wanted to say something more profound. Maybe something about the anger of a hundred suns or something. Instead, all she could think was ¡®nice shot¡¯. It wasn¡¯t about the precision of Anton¡¯s attack- though it was that. Nor was it specifically about the power or the range. But all of those factors put together, then factoring in the divide between realms and how that affected Anton in particular? She didn¡¯t really have much more to say. She could still feel the shot now- even though in fact she probably shouldn¡¯t have felt anything yet. But as an archer, she was sensitive to the factors tied to that¡­ and recently, to the spatial manipulation aspects. Alva hadn¡¯t actually known that Sudin died until later. She had only felt the shot, and explained it to the others on the council. They hadn¡¯t actually followed Lelka¡¯s advice to start a war with their neighbors, though they had aggressively pushed to expand their influence. When they actually learned of Sudin¡¯s death, they had a million things to talk about. ¡°Hah! That¡¯s great. You two have an amazing grandfather,¡± Tauno commented to Alva and Catarina. His casual acceptance of the situation was not too odd for him. ¡°Too bad, I was hoping to be the first to kill a Domination cultivator. But I guess I¡¯d have to compete against Chidi in that field.¡± ¡°So what does this mean for the alliance?¡± Prasad said. ¡°Sudin¡¯s death won¡¯t just be brushed over. They will be looking for someone to blame. Our connection may be discovered.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯ve been preparing for, isn¡¯t it?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°We¡¯ll just have to be ready.¡± ¡°We have contingencies in place,¡± Catarina confirmed. ¡°We can muddy the waters by attempting to escalate conflict between the great powers. With both sides showing vulnerability¡­ it may be possible. Though we are hoping for internal chaos in the Trigold Cluster most of all.¡± Ultimately, they couldn¡¯t make any decisions¡­ but they were aided by the other news that followed, providing perhaps not the distraction they wanted, but one sufficient to confuse the situation. ----- The more terrible news came in the form of a polite message that was distributed throughout the upper realms. Not just the Trigold Cluster or the Exalted Quadrant, but propagating out from various different systems. The message was written with wording that sounded like a business proposition of some sort, but it filled innumerable people with dread. ¡°This is an announcement that additional Everheart Systems are open for business! Stop on by at any time, we¡¯ve set up little more than ten steps from your most core worlds. If you don¡¯t have a local branch, don¡¯t worry! That just means you weren¡¯t important enough. You can travel a bit further to challenge yourselves and potentially win great treasures!¡± The message itself could have been taken as a prank. People would have very much preferred that to be the case. However, it was easy to spot the systems in question. Which was another problem, because how they had been taken over was still mostly a mystery. Though it might have had something to do with various missing Augmentation cultivators from differing factions, cultivators who would in the future reveal themselves as having gone over to Everheart¡¯s faction. That was even worse news than Everheart somehow having established a hold on more systems and the death of Sudin. At least, for most of the galaxy. Technically, Sudin¡¯s death was still the worst news for the Twin Soul Sect- in more ways than one. Though not all of the ultimate issues were obvious in the first decade. Chapter 1042 Unsurprisingly, no faction was willing to accept systems by Everheart inside of their borders. The sudden appearance was a cause of consternation for all surrounding factions, and they rather quickly put together assault forces as they no longer had to traverse their entire territory into contested space. Perhaps some of them thought about the fact that Everheart would not expend resources for nothing. Then again, was it more reasonable for them to assume that they would win within their own territory, or that someone who seemed to have set up overnight would come out victorious? Adhti knew that the man was a master of manipulation. On the surface, that appeared to be annoying as hell, and willing to do anything to provoke people to action. But her familiarity with the man, especially recently, showed sufficient intentionality and not just the spirit of an old man yelling at everyone. She¡¯d seen what he could do, which was why she joined him. And she was still about ready to attack him at any moment. Except¡­ the benefits were quite big. His knowledge of formations was annoyingly advanced. As part of the Numerological Compact- or a former part of it, she supposed- Adhti was quite interested in the flow of energy. She¡¯d learned everything she could from the Exalted Quadrant, as well as certain techniques from the Trigold Cluster. Most recently, she had been studying all of the information that came in from the Scarlet Alliance. The new faction had far more impressive formations than they really ought to. Which made stealing their techniques more difficult. But¡­ Everheart seemed to know about all of that too. In fact, it seemed like he knew everything about formations. Adhti knew that couldn¡¯t possibly be true- there might not even be a limit to what formations could do. But he sure was good at displaying himself as something untouchable. Adhti had still been someone nervous about her betrayal. As an Augmentation cultivator, the Numerological Compact wouldn¡¯t just let her go easily. Even so, she hadn¡¯t seen much value in the paths of advancement they offered. She found herself vindicated after the cycle of the Tides. The Compact suffered a humiliating loss trying to retake its most prominent testing grounds in the lower realms. No, the entire cycle was a disaster. It wasn¡¯t just the Compact but the Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster as a whole that lost. They lost. Against systems from the lower realms. And not just one or two but¡­ all of them. Or at least so many that it might have well been a complete waste of lives. Adhti had been thinking about it, and the Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t invade the lower realms. They hadn¡¯t really existed at the end of the last cycle, but they had materials from the lower realms. But rather than try to get more, they didn¡¯t send any forces along with the tides. When she asked Everheart why he thought that was¡­ ¡°Because they¡¯re smart,¡± he said. ¡°Like me. Why would they risk themselves for something when they can just wait for it to come to them?¡± Adhti hadn¡¯t really gotten that. Both for the Scarlet Alliance and for Everheart. Not until the invasions began. Despite the formations supporting her, Adhti was not foolish enough to stand alone against invading armies as a single Augmentation cultivator. No, she was not the only one to have been swayed by promises of resources and knowledge- promises that were fulfilled regularly. She hadn¡¯t even had to perform a century of service or anything. Which meant she could have just taken what she learned and sold it to her former sect. And then she¡¯d get nothing more from Everheart, if he didn¡¯t track her down and kill her. All for what, a couple decades¡¯ worth of training resources at best? Worthless. Ultimately, Everheart just offered more than her old sect. Along with other defectors, Adhti¡¯s confidence was bolstered by the presence of Everheart himself. Or a projection. She honestly didn¡¯t know. What she did know was that he displayed the hallmarks of Domination, so it didn¡¯t really matter if he was a fake that was that strong or the real deal. The closest group to the 17th Everheart System was the Ponderous Turtle Clan. Their defeat in the lower realms had been utterly humiliating, to the point that the few people who managed to return alive had gone mad. They spoke of a planet sized turtle that flew through the stars. They should be the ones who knew best the limits on the growth of turtles. Such a creature would have to be more than a millennium old¡­ but no, it was still ridiculous. Either way, they were quite happy to have a target in the upper realms to vent their wrath. And Adhti was quite happy to activate formations that scrambled the enemy fleets, literally sending them all over the system. The enemy came in with clear intent to annihilate planets- they weren¡¯t intending to play Everheart¡¯s games searching for treasure. But from lockstep flight patterns to sudden disarray around the system, their attacks suddenly only had the force of one or two ships instead of the combined firepower of a fleet. She knew they wouldn¡¯t be able to perceive most of each other, and thus couldn¡¯t coordinate attacks. Her orders, then, were to¡­ snatch a turtle. Not to kill as many people as she can and loot their treasure. But to find a ¡®nice¡¯ turtle and make sure it survived. She wasn¡¯t sure what sort of plot Everheart had. Maybe he would annihilate the entire Ponderous Turtle Clan¡¯s stock by cursing the bloodline of their turtles somehow. She wouldn¡¯t put it past him. Either way, she was going to take her mission seriously. They needed to be finished with this group before slightly further factions reached them. Otherwise they might actually be in trouble. ----- Word of the chaos revolving around the Everheart systems reached the Scarlet Alliance fairly swiftly, as such things went. It wasn¡¯t proper real time updates, but information that was only a few months or a year old was basically fresh. And it involved many cultivators attacking the systems- which numbered up to 672- only to find themselves completely ineffective. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. That included a couple Domination cultivators, though the details on those encounters were a lot more sketchy. The numbers that came in didn¡¯t indicate as many deaths as the Alliance might have thought. For those who normally went to the Everheart System, it was pretty much a random chance between death and treasure. Not on an individual level, but over the whole population. In these instances, only ten percent or fewer perished¡­ but they also didn¡¯t make it out with treasure. It might have also had more total deaths than the centuries of the first Everheart System. Speaking of which, that one was not labeled as the 1st Everheart System. Nor was the 672nd system one of about seven hundred. Probably. The Scarlet Alliance received word of less than ten actual locations, with the numerical designations likely to sow confusion. That should be at least one of the reasons, at least. Either way, they were quite glad that the initial rush to wipe out these systems- and then it seemingly not being possible- resulted in excellent distractions from the existence of the Scarlet Alliance. They weren¡¯t exactly breathing easy, as they could at any time become a target, but the death of a Domination cultivator was not connected to them strongly enough for them to be priority number one for extermination. Everheart took that role, and he was good at it. That was why he was such a great unofficial ally as well as public enemy number one. They were resolved not to trust him on anything if they could help it, but causing trouble for their enemies was quite helpful. ----- It felt like just yesterday that Velvet had sent word to Runa that they injured a Domination cultivator. And now she could send word that one¡­ had died. She certainly wouldn¡¯t be trusting in the security of long term communications enough to say that they had killed him. And if one considered the segments in the upper and lower realms as different entities, they really didn¡¯t have anything to do with it. Velvet wouldn¡¯t have been saying that she killed Sudin. Just that their allies did. But she was unlikely to even admit to that in person at the current point in time. Too much risk. They weren¡¯t strong enough to openly be a single group with their lower realm counterparts, not yet. Though if Anton could repeat that shot from the lower realms, that would be a different story. It appeared he was still in recovery, though. Frankly, she was surprised that he¡¯d survived at all. Enrichment was approximately a step below Domination after all. Even with all of the other factors at play she wasn¡¯t sure it made sense. Then again, most of those ¡®other factors¡¯ were still speculation. Anton hadn¡¯t given his tale. Maybe it all made perfect sense. And if he needed to nap for a few years every time¡­ that would basically be nothing. Though if Velvet knew Anton, he probably sacrificed more than he should have. She really hoped he hadn¡¯t worn down his lifespan, but as a strategic option even killing himself would have been worth it to take down a Domination cultivator. And as a friend, she wanted Anton to live. So he had better make a full recovery or she¡¯d find a way to get to the lower realms and give him a piece of her mind. Speaking of going places, however, she was planning to make a trip to speak to Runa. There was all sorts of useful information she wasn¡¯t willing to share through their comms¡­ and she was kind of hoping she could get a replacement dagger. If she needed to assassinate a few people on behalf of the Spirit Slicing Sect or the Chaotic Conglomeration, she wouldn¡¯t mind doing it. They were mutual enemies, and voidsteel made very useful weapons. Somehow, the knowledge of her trip got to Durff. Velvet hadn¡¯t specifically tried to hide it, but she was still surprised when he declared he was going. ¡°I need a good training excursion,¡± he explained. ¡°And there should be people to fight, right?¡± ¡°Well, sure,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I don¡¯t think you should come.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Durff asked, leaning on his hammer- which had a small piece of shell carved from Paradise. Not that she would have recognized it specifically because it just looked like a piece of ivory in its current form. There were some remnants of aura, though. ¡°Your skills in stealth are¡­ not great. But putting that aside, if you actually fight they¡¯re bound to recognize you.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Durff said. ¡°And then¡­ they try to kill me? Because they¡¯re doing a war there. That I would already be fighting in.¡± ¡°But they¡¯ll recognize you more than just casually. And if they know that the Scarlet Alliance has ties to the Chaotic Conglomeration¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯ll attack one of us?¡± Durff asked. ¡°They¡¯ll begin a second perpetual war with the Conglomeration? Or¡­ that Sour guy will come try to attack us. Before he recovered from his wounds, because obviously he was already going to do that again after he recovered.¡± There had to be broader strategical or political reasons not to bring Durff, but his simple logic threw Velvet off. ¡°I get your point, actually,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°You would be far from any proper reinforcements of the Scarlet Alliance, but if we needed to flee into the Conglomeration¡­ well, things are the most unstable in the Exalted Quadrant right now. It¡¯s probably not the worst time. Though if Zaur does just come try to kill us in their territory they don¡¯t have any Domination cultivators that I know of. Him being injured right now won¡¯t necessarily help us.¡± ¡°Hmm. I can¡¯t kill that guy,¡± Durff admitted. ¡°Though if I get better with my hammer, I could smash his anchor next time. I feel like if I do it right the whole thing would shatter.¡± ¡°I would love to see you do that. But we have to live long enough for that. So about getting there-¡± ¡°We just take the long way. Like, at the edges,¡± Durff said. ¡°Right? Because if you get spotted anywhere in Exalted Quadrant territory they¡¯re also absolutely going to murder you.¡± Velvet had been planning to do a teensy little bit of spying along the way. She had ways to disguise herself. And¡­ if she messed up at all she¡¯d be chased down much more seriously than any time before. She could outrun most people, but a Domination cultivator¡­ not so much. It would also be nice to just not have to travel alone. ¡°Well, fine. You can come along. We¡¯ll take the scenic route.¡± Velvet just hoped that not too many people ended up volunteering themselves to come along. Chapter 1043 The first extra was Durff and that was fine. But soon enough it was looking like it would no longer be a small expedition. More than a few jumped forward at the prospect of practical experience. Velvet hadn¡¯t really been intending to support the war on a large scale, she had mostly mentioned that they would likely have to fight while they were there. But now people were taking it as a sort of primary goal. Chidi was fine. He was capable of being subtle, and might help balance out Durff. Or something like that. He needed more practical experience against strong opponents than he could get without the Scarlet Alliance entering another war. The twins? Misi and Juli just wanted to learn from or about the Chaotic Conglomeration. Both, probably. That was fine. With all of those people being together, obviously Jyotsana would be invited along. It would be good for her to get more practical experience with her ¡®new¡¯ techniques- though she¡¯d had them a short lifetime. Somehow Yuval ended up on the list. Maybe because of Chidi, maybe because of Jyotsana as a fellow flame cultivator of some sort. When Timothy tried to get involved, Velvet had to draw the line. ¡°Unless we¡¯re planning to look like we¡¯re publicly supporting the was from that end, we can¡¯t also have you,¡± Velvet said. ¡°There¡¯s plausible deniability for myself,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Except for Durff and Chidi, the rest aren¡¯t really publicly known. However, Chidi could be any sword cultivator¡­ as long as those who fight him don¡¯t survive. Bringing along the great defender of the Scarlet Alliance¡­¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°Well, that sounds like quite different plans. Plus¡­ Yuval needs the opportunity to feel independent.¡± Obviously the others would watch after him, as the youngest of the bunch. Especially Velvet and his brother. ¡°Fair enough,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Though you should think about Durff in that case.¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t use a cultivation style the Scarlet Alliance is known for, except for¡­ him. With his arm reattached and new armor concealing his identity¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°Well, I¡¯m hoping to keep it to a level where it looks like maybe just one lone individual. And he made good points about how it won¡¯t make much difference in them wanting to kill us. You¡¯re still needed here though.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t argue with any of that,¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°If you still want to go somewhere, convince your wife to run off on an adventure. She¡¯s not busy anymore.¡± ¡°If you count going from constantly doing a thousand things to just a hundred¡­ sure,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Perhaps one of the new Everheart systems if we can get there¡­ and once we know that they¡¯re not trying to murder absolutely everyone. The rules might have shifted.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t recommend that,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But for her, it makes sense. Anyway, we shouldn¡¯t bring more than this group unless we¡¯re planning to make it into an official delegation of some sort¡­ which would be difficult considering the tiny thing known as ¡®all of the Exalted Quadrant¡¯ being in the way.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll let you know if Catarina comes up with an enhancement in teleportation. Though it¡¯s not like she wouldn¡¯t be the one to tell you first.¡± ¡°Deep subspace seems promising. Except for that being Everheart stuff.¡± Timothy sighed. ¡°Yeah. And with him confirmed alive instead of just assumed alive, it¡¯s a dozen times more risky. Even if he¡¯s more positively inclined towards our faction, encounters with him could still be costly.¡± ¡°And using that stuff could open up our territory to him wandering around.¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m just glad the one location we found didn¡¯t get converted into an ¡®Everheart System¡¯. That would have sandwiched the Scarlet Alliance. Instead¡­ well, I guess we¡¯re still close to the first one. So he¡¯s never as far as we might like.¡± ¡°Indeed. Good luck. Take care of my sons, and the rest of yourselves. I don¡¯t want to have to go on some sort of vengeance quest at my age.¡± ¡°You still look thirty,¡± Velvet pointed out. ----- Velvet was ultimately glad that more people were coming along on the journey. It wasn¡¯t a short trip, and being alone for all of it would have been rather tedious. She would have been stopping on populated planets to try to learn information, but really she should be leaving the spying to the rest of her network. Unless there was a specific reason, there was no point in risking herself. Velvet would be the first to admit her techniques weren¡¯t perfect, and she could be found out. Though, she was always trying to draw closer to that perfection. Domination was still a tricky stage to think about, and honestly it wasn¡¯t even clear if it would fit her. Then again, that was partially a lack of knowledge. Ratna of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance was a good example, as her style was not too far away from Velvet¡¯s. It was just the matter of forming an anchor and what that really meant that was in question. Besides, the Scarlet Alliance had many reasons to closely scrutinize various forms of cultivation advancement. They didn¡¯t necessarily believe they could make something better than Domination- that would be doubly arrogant without even understanding it in the first place- but they would want the process to be as smooth as possible if any of them were to try. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster could probably afford to throw a hundred Augmentation cultivators at Domination and only get one back, but they had a massive population and stable strength. Or rather, what had been stable strength. It had only been a few years but the Trigold Cluster was showing some serious unrest since Sudin¡¯s death. But other people were dealing with that, and keeping the Exalted Quadrant equally off balance was a good use of time. Velvet could also see Runa again and maybe get some new voidsteel. ----- Misi and Juli had about a million questions about voidsteel, most of which Velvet couldn¡¯t answer. ¡°Why does it only appear over on that border?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I would assume it appears other places, but nobody has noticed the signs in Scarlet Alliance territory.¡± ¡°What signs are there?¡± Misi asked. ¡°Areas where energy stops functioning, more or less.¡± ¡°Is it related to-¡± ¡°There¡¯s no indication it¡¯s related to void ants,¡± Velvet answered. ¡°Energy negation in any form being ¡®void¡¯ is quite a sensible nomenclature.¡± As for the actual void ants, they were still in the process of discussing repatriation to the upper realms. That was another point of danger- if they were known to be associated with the Scarlet Alliance in any way. It was a good thing that the ultimate plans had involved them boarding ships to the lower realms, because the border worlds were being scoured. To be fair, if they weren¡¯t friends Velvet would have found it quite reasonable to wipe out void ants as well. Not being able to acknowledge them was frustrating. She hadn¡¯t grown close to any of them, but they were still steadfast allies- and having to somewhat pretend they don¡¯t exist was a sign of weakness. They still weren¡¯t quite where she would want to be. ¡°How does it disrupt energy?¡± Misi asked. ¡°This would have been an easier question to answer if I still had my blade,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°We didn¡¯t really know what it did,¡± Juli pointed out. ¡°You didn¡¯t go around telling people about it. It just felt like a dagger.¡± ¡°That was the point,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I¡¯d rather not have people learning counter techniques.¡± ¡°How could they even have any?¡± Misi asked. ¡°Nobody- okay, almost nobody could counter something like that in a zone without energy.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t create a zone,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°But¡­ the ore does? Is the ore stronger?¡± ¡°... No?¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°I guess the effect is stronger, but it¡¯s kind of impossible to carry around a mountain of energy negation. Yes, even for you, Durff.¡± Durff nodded. ¡°I¡¯d sink into the ground.¡± His confidence in that being the only problem was astounding. ¡°The material is rather brittle. It might also fall apart,¡± Velvet said. She wasn¡¯t going to bring up whether he could carry enough without energy. He had been training with various body temperers, and the issues of his surroundings were something that would have to be contended with regardless of his own fitness. ¡°A shame,¡± Chidi said. It was a small ship, so unless conversations were specifically made private everyone could hear. ¡°I would have liked a blade made from said material. But I need something sturdy and capable of being a functional sword without energy.¡± ¡°Yeah, then you don¡¯t want voidsteel,¡± Velvet confirmed. ¡°I had to be very careful with how I used that dagger, or I could have shattered it on armor. Or even broken it twisted up in durable cloth.¡± ¡°I wonder what it will feel like. The area around it,¡± Chidi added. ¡°Like nothing,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Which will probably be highly uncomfortable for you.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°Like the moment of Negation, then.¡± Chidi had never explained why he hadn¡¯t tried to get eyes somehow. With his position, there had to be some sort of miracle medicine that could grow eyes that were never there. Or failing that, artificial implants made with tech. Then again, he didn¡¯t really need eyes except where there was literally no energy. That wasn¡¯t something anyone ever expected to run into- unless they made such an area themself. It could be stubbornness, but more likely he worried about any significant change throwing off his technique. Sight might make him weaker. It didn¡¯t follow directly from anything, but cultivation didn¡¯t always follow logic. While Misi and Juli could study the large piles of information they had with them- both physical and more ephemeral- the others couldn¡¯t really train on the ship. Velvet, perhaps, but using a sword or hammer would be terrible. Fire was even worse, if it went wrong, and unlike a larger battleship they didn¡¯t have any areas for containment. Thus, people focused more on whatever they could do without significant space¡­ or just interacting with the others. They¡¯d doubtless get plenty of practical experience among the Chaotic Conglomeration. Before that, they could focus on discussion of cultivation. Only two pairs of them followed the same general path, the twins and the fire cultivators. Though Jyotsana and Yuval were quite far apart in terms of how they actually fought most of the time. Yuval preferred to fight up close, wreathing his body in flames. Jyotsana had moved further away from such styles in her reborn life, preferring to focus on a wider area. That said, they still had insights to exchange between the two of them, and cultivators could speak on their insights pretty much forever. ----- Their journey was actually progressing more quickly than the path to Zaur¡¯s anchor. They were in a different style of ship, with more of a focus on speed than stealth. The second factor would come through the best possible method- distance. They were effectively going ¡®over¡¯ the core systems of the Exalted Quadrant rather than through them. The slowdown from having a longer route was more than made up for by not having to limit their speed. While the systems they were moving through were nominally in Exalted Quadrant territory, practically they didn¡¯t have anyone but wandering cultivators present- and usually not even those. They didn¡¯t even need to enter most systems, stopping only to replenish the ship¡¯s energy stores when necessary. If they did encounter any enemies they couldn¡¯t beat they could outrun them. Assuming they weren¡¯t a Domination cultivator, of course. Though if they happened to run across a roaming Domination cultivator then they would have to consider it fate. Chidi would certainly give a good attempt at taking them out. And Durff might actually be able to hold them long enough for Chidi to grasp the flow of their energy. But if they actually had any choice, they would be avoiding such dangers. They would fight on the journey, but they intended to avoid conflicts as much as possible until they came to the Chaotic Conglomeration- and joined up with people Velvet knew. Fighting random battles might technically benefit their alliance, but she would prefer to work with the Spirit Slicing Sect and any others who she knew were decent. Chapter 1044 Air rushed past Crossed Antennae as she rushed through the air. Her wings fluttered, redirecting her towards her target as she bit and twisted, trying to grab a hold of something, anything. Black mandibles came from nowhere to clutch around Crossed Antennae¡¯s neck. They snapped closed¡­ just enough to let her know there was nothing she could do. Annoyance radiated from her. She should have been better about watching for dips in energy¡­ but she also wasn¡¯t trained to fight against other void ants. ¡°You won again,¡± she complained as Fearsome Mandibles let her go. Her sister had taken after the Great Queen, her aerial mobility coming without the aid of wings. There was a bit of a debate among the void ants whether wings were good or not. The Great Queen didn¡¯t have any, so that was obviously the popular opinion¡­ but most void ants would never experience flight without. If not for the Son of the Queen, there really wouldn¡¯t be any debate. As it was, nobody was actually going against her by saying his style was better for them, as she encouraged individual development now. Even Crossed Antennae probably wouldn¡¯t have developed her wings if not for hearing about her brother. Not that the familial question would have meant much normally, as she probably had millions of siblings- or maybe low billions. ¡°I didn¡¯t have to spend as much time managing,¡± Fearsome Mandibles said. ¡°I am glad you were the one who went to the upper realms. I don¡¯t think I would have handled it well. My colonies probably would have attacked early and ended up exterminated.¡± ¡°Many of us died still,¡± Crossed Antennae acknowledged. It was still unclear exactly where and how, but only a portion of the void ants from the upper realms had made it to the lower realms on their various ships. Based on the total number of invaders, most of those who died had at least successfully taken down many targets with them. The one exception appeared to be the fleet with Sudin aboard, but she could easily see how they would have fallen to a Domination cultivator. Plus, it wasn¡¯t like she could be mad at him because he was very dead. Anton had made certain of that. Now she just had to wait for him to not be inside a star so she could properly thank him. The Great Queen had joined the two of them on Akrys, as there were important matters regarding the future of the void ants to discuss. Especially with regards to the upper realms. ¡°We have successfully provided aid for our allies,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°We can claim total victory in this latest war. Now we have another full cycle for the lower realms to grow strong on its own. I trust we will grow to be impossible to defeat, all of us together.¡± ¡°I think so,¡± Crossed Antennae agreed. ¡°That is why I am looking forward to returning to the upper realms.¡± There was a moment of stillness, no signs nor pheromones to indicate the Great Queen¡¯s reaction. Then, finally, the Great Queen slowly signed her response with her forelimbs and antennae. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you should.¡± ¡°Because we will draw attention to the Scarlet Alliance?¡± she asked. ¡°That is but one part of it. As a whole, the upper realms are hostile to void ants. Too many died, and for what? We have a few friends in the upper realms, and many will continue to ascend¡­ but void ants aren¡¯t needed there.¡± ¡°Perhaps. But¡­ maybe we don¡¯t have to be needed.¡± Crossed Antennae fidgeted. ¡°What if we went there because we wanted to?¡± The Great Queen thought about that for a time. Fearsome Mandibles was giving Crossed Antennae odd looks. ¡°The best thing for void ants is to be somewhere with powerful energy. However, the lower realms and building their systems to be ever better in that regard. Ascension energy isn¡¯t so much better, is it?¡± It really wasn¡¯t. At least, not out on the border worlds. The energy was good, of course. A delicacy, even. But Crossed Antennae felt like they had barely enough to keep them going. If they had focused on developing the planets like in the lower realms it would have been another matter, but they had to keep a low profile. ¡°You know how good it can taste,¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°But perhaps it is not worth it, as we were living. However¡­ if we were to be accepted into the Scarlet Alliance it would be far greater. Or we could live on isolated worlds separate from them. My guards learned much from some in the upper realms.¡± ¡°Perhaps. But they could not be your friends, could they?¡± The Great Queen shook her head. ¡°Friendly, yes. Good allies. But they were not able to be present at all times for the sake of both, and that will remain true.¡± ¡°... I still wish to return to the upper realms,¡± Crossed Antennae commented. ¡°If that would somehow be possible.¡± ----- Anton¡¯s rest was not entirely because of fatigue, though he certainly felt like he had drained himself and his star enough for several lifetimes. He wasn¡¯t entirely conscious of the passing of time, but he couldn¡¯t have done much about it regardless. He did need the rest. And the time to dwell on his insights. He wasn¡¯t suddenly ready to break through to a level beyond Enrichment. Indeed, it was too early for that, even as centuries began to be the only reasonable measure of time he experienced. But just because he wasn¡¯t suddenly about to break through didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t see the path. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Part of that was courtesy of Sudin himself. The man¡¯s death had provided feedback to Anton that he hadn¡¯t been able to process at the time, revealing many secrets. Whatever lay beyond Enrichment would be different from Domination, just as the previous stages, but that didn¡¯t mean it wouldn¡¯t share principles. Anton was already bound to stars, but the binding wasn¡¯t the same as Domination¡¯s anchors. One was a connection to the self, the other was the self. That was what Anton decided. While in certain ways he could say that his stars were part of him, it wasn¡¯t complete. Zaur had apparently been injured by damage to his Anchor, and the same was true in reverse. Would Anton be harmed if one of his stars was destroyed? Certainly, but only because of how he was connected. Lev wouldn¡¯t die if Grandfather Willow did. Nor would Vincent die if the Order of One Hundred Stars was wiped out. Well, that last one didn¡¯t quite fit. Vincent was not an Enrichment cultivator, but as an Assimilation cultivator he still had a connection. Enrichment was just more. Vincent also would die before he let such great harm come to the Order. The point was¡­ Anton¡¯s cultivation might be harmed due to the damage on things outside, but he would not directly be harmed. Nor did he think he should build up a connection to that point. Clearly it worked, but that was in the upper realms and for those on a different path. But in too many ways, it didn¡¯t match. First, Anton had connected to many stars. The second and perhaps most important from his perspective¡­ he could share said connections. There was no way a Domination cultivator could share an Anchor. Or at least¡­ not in a generic fashion. Obviously there were always going to be exceptions. Thoughts swirled through Anton¡¯s mind. What he wanted was a broader net. Not just the hundred or so stars he had bound, or the two hundred he could see himself reaching someday far in the future. Instead, at least for his personal advancement, he saw the path of constellations. If Anton had bound individual stars starting from Ceretos and the others then spreading outward¡­ he would have reached not even a single notable system other than their core worlds and the Sylanis Cluster. The ¡®adjacent¡¯ systems to a single star could number half a dozen easily, and another layer beyond that could reach another ten or twenty. Two hundred stars would be four or five steps out from a central point at most, not even to Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn to the east, nor to Udre to the south or Nidec and Vrelt to the north. There was no level of cultivation where he could truly cover all of the Lower Realms Alliance, let alone the broader section of the lower realms they were in including the Shining Cooperative. While he didn¡¯t need to control the area of their neighbors, he did want to cover as far as he could. It wasn¡¯t just some sort of selfish ambition, now, but it came with a very practical thing. Constellation Shot came with both power and range- though replicating the exact same feat would not be easy. He could see the path, however, and how linking systems together would not just be good for him but for them. That wasn¡¯t a principle solely tied to cultivation either. The connections slowly formed in Anton¡¯s mind, and he seized every opportunity he could to experience that¡­ before he would have to go out and try it at some point. But he had to take the opportunity he had available, seizing upon valuable insights and casting away those that he felt would lead him astray. ----- ¡°We could probably make this faster,¡± Juli commented. Velvet sighed. ¡°Probably is not good enough. Do you know? Do you even have the materials?¡± ¡°Not much is needed,¡± she said. ¡°We just need to tie it to us in particular.¡± ¡°While I could likely repay the Scarlet Alliance for that¡­ I¡¯m going to have to continue with my refusal to let you tinker with the ship carrying us over hundreds of lightyears of enemy territory,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We can find you the opportunity to tinker with your insights later. Perhaps in the Chaotic Conglomeration.¡± ¡°Do they have tech?¡± Juli asked. ¡°Not to any level that you would count it,¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because it would only work if I messed with the tech and Misi worked on the formations,¡± Juli said. ¡°Each are individually good enough we can¡¯t improve the ship otherwise.¡± ¡°And the two of you after just a century or so are suddenly experienced enough to improve the fusion?¡± Misi shook his head. ¡°That is not the case. It is because it is a fusion that the two of us would be able to make small, if relevant, adjustments. In theory. Furthermore, it might not surpass the personalization that could be achieved by others. This ship just happens to be generically viable.¡± ¡°There¡¯s standardization for a reason,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I really would like to give you the chance to grow, but it can¡¯t be altering our only form of transportation. I¡¯m the only Augmentation cultivator and I¡¯d be slower alone than the ship, except in short bursts. Together, we¡¯d be a slow wander. It could easily add a year to our trip.¡± ¡°How long are we staying at the other end?¡± Misi asked. ¡°We could work on it there. I promise we¡¯d keep it at least as functional as it is now.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t make promises you can¡¯t keep,¡± Velvet said. ¡°... If you can show me some promise in similar areas, I¡¯ll consider allowing it. But don¡¯t expect anything. Besides, I don¡¯t think we could replicate any tech here or there.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t need anything complicated,¡± Juli said. ¡°And recreating existing structures isn¡¯t so bad. Cultivators don¡¯t consider the same materials precious as are relevant for some tech purposes, so extracting what I need from useless slag might be possible.¡± ¡°Interesting. I thought high end materials were equally valued.¡± ¡°In the Alliance, certainly,¡± Juli replied. ¡°But electrical conductivity is not prized except by certain specific cultivators. And they would usually want something sturdy and capable of transmitting large amounts of electricity instead of¡­ nearly negligible amounts.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call this ship¡¯s power usage negligible,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°This ship¡¯s engine could kill Life Transformation cultivators on its own. And that¡¯s at a functional cruise.¡± ¡°It¡¯s still not as much as a lightning storm. It¡¯s just more focused.¡± Velvet might come to regret promising even consideration of their fiddling¡­ but sometimes valuable things had to go for the sake of individual cultivation advancements. If they were just bored, they twins would give up at the other end but if it was the itch of insight then Velvet would have to take it seriously. Chapter 1045 Everything was going smoothly, with just a few days left until they would successfully cross the border into space controlled by the Chaotic Conglomeration. So of course that was when they ran into a patrol. It was really quite unfortunate, given that they weren¡¯t planning to stop in another system along their route. However, they were already well into the system when the patrol came from behind the local star, their energies having been greatly muted by its power. It should have worked in return, which meant they basically stumbled upon the ship. Velvet briefly considered immediately attempting to take them out. However, that came with too many risks. Risks of their ship getting destroyed, risks to the lives of Misi, Juli, Jyotsana, and Yuval. Even Chidi might be at risk, if the enemy concentrated on him first for some reason. Not that they likely would, as any Integration cultivator would assume they could easily take down someone who appeared to be a LIfe Transformation cultivator. Durff would be fine though. He was far more durable than the twins, and there were no Augmentation cultivators among their enemies. Likewise, Velvet had no fear for her own life. She simply wasn¡¯t a defender and couldn¡¯t guarantee protecting the rest. The ships were too spread out in their formation for her to be confident in swiftly taking them down, and they were already too close. Besides, they had planned for a possibility like this. A strand of energy extended towards them, indicating the commander of the patrol. An older man, not that his personal details made any particular difference for how Velvet would react to the encounter. ¡°Unknown cultivators, state your business approaching restricted territory.¡± Velvet responded swiftly. ¡°We are planning to join the fight against the Chaotic Conglomeration. Our goal is the spoils of war.¡± ¡°Do you have military identity tokens?¡± ¡°We were planning to get them before heading to Taon.¡± ¡°You should have registered in the core systems. Prepare to be boarded for inspection.¡± Well, that was to be expected. Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t really have access to tokens from the western border through their current spy network. Technically, her excuse was reasonable but that didn¡¯t prevent things like this. Fortunately the ship was set up for various situations. It wasn¡¯t a model entirely meant for stealth, but it would be rather wasteful if it stuck out like¡­ well, a half-tech ship among more traditional models. Currently, it was in a form somewhat reminiscent of Numerological Compact design. They used very different aesthetics than a traditional sailing ship, and their propulsion was entirely formation based. It would feel similar enough to their ship, with some illusions included of course. Just enough to make things feel more right. ¡°We will comply,¡± Velvet said. Whether she meant it or not¡­ well, it would be easier if they took out some people up close first. Potentially keeping them alive so people might not try to blow up the ship, though moving in for a quick assault seemed more appealing. The total number of opponents wasn¡¯t terribly high, and all the ships got quite close. But a patrol going missing might cause more trouble in the future, even if they were entirely successful. So subterfuge was where they were at. ¡°What a group you¡¯ve got here¡­¡± the old man said after he boarded the ship. He was flanked by guards, of course. Velvet was hiding her cultivation, so it would seem safe enough for him. ¡°Seems more like a group of bandits or outcasts.¡± ¡°Our positions within our various sects have not always been what we preferred,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We joined together to seek opportunity.¡± Once again, she used as much truth as possible. Especially for the sake of those who were¡­ less functional liars. ¡°The young one and I are members of the Solar Wind Sect. This one was almost a member of the Void Blades before the¡­ event.¡± ¡°Let them speak for themselves,¡± the man said. ¡°You two, what is your sect?¡± ¡°We study the school of Esoteric Mystery,¡± Misi said. ¡°Myself and my twin sister both.¡± Juli nodded in support. ¡°And this one? She is not part of your Solar sect?¡± Jyotsana, no longer with the appearance of her proper age, shook her head. ¡°I am a descendant of a branch of the Searing Phoenix Clan.¡± They had prepared at least basic identities before showing up¡­ just in case. The old man nodded. ¡°And this one?¡± Durff folded his arms across his chest. ¡°I use a hammer.¡± ¡°What style do you follow?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t have a name,¡± Durff grumbled. ¡°Indeed.¡± The old man looked around the group. ¡°I am not convinced the lot of you aren¡¯t intending to cause trouble, going against our cause.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Durff said, tilting his head. ¡°And what if we were going to cause trouble?¡± Durff was, according to Velvet¡¯s experience, very bad at lying. So instead of coming up with a sect name, she gave him very simple instructions. And one of them was to be threatening if necessary. The way he shifted his hammer off his back to settle on the floor, handle leaning against his side, spoke of a clear willingness to fight. That might seem like it would cause the very scenario Velvet had wanted to avoid, but the way Durff carried himself spoke of confidence. Earned confidence. And it was quite normal for cultivators to posture when they felt they weren¡¯t being treated fairly. ¡°Then you would be fools, to fight against the might of the Exalted Quadrant.¡± The old man looked around. ¡°An odd ship. Make sure to register properly before approaching the border itself.¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Good. Now Velvet didn¡¯t have to try a bribe. She could have probably swung the angle that they were smugglers or something, but obviously if anyone believed they were going to fight against the Exalted Quadrant, they couldn¡¯t just let them. Which is why this would probably be the last they heard of the old man, as he departed their ship. Unless he happened to be very brave when reports of a group strongly resembling them began to cause devastation on the battlefront. Not that Velvet had any particular plans for that, but some of the others certainly did- and she might need to do a favor or two for Runa. ----- The ship avoided getting anywhere near other systems until they were across the border, their energy signature dampened by the ship¡¯s formations. Even after they were careful with their approach, uncertain of the exact state of the front. Most likely the first planets they came to would be contested. Velvet did have a proper token to get her in contact with the Spirit Slicing Sect, however. She didn¡¯t exchange much information with Runa because of the risk, but it seemed their branch had gotten what they needed from Kaon and moved on. To somewhere else with voidsteel ore, most likely. The whole border was contested, so there should have been plenty of options. Plus, with her father Emrik having reached Augmentation it gave them a special place within the Chaotic Conglomeration, who was severely lacking in that level of cultivator though not total population. Velvet had the ship and the rest of the people wait away from a particular planet, investigating it herself. The Chaotic Conglomeration was too much on the backfoot for them to risk approaching, so she opted to go one layer deeper, returning to the ship with the others. As they entered the next system, a sizable fleet with a few dozen ships curved around a gas giant. ¡°Okay, the first time I believe is coincidence,¡± Misi said. ¡°But twice in a row?¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°No, they were waiting for us. Or at least, someone like us.¡± She could detect the strongest cultivations among them, and recognized the aura of the Prospect Shapers- manipulators of probability. She was already reaching out with her own energy, just in case they were planning to shoot first and ask questions later. They could likely avoid attacks from their current distance, but it was better not to have to deal with it at all. ¡°I come as an ally of the Spirit Slicing Sect,¡± Velvet said, presenting her token for them to feel. Energy brushed past hers, feeling the token. ¡°It is old,¡± responded a woman¡¯s voice. ¡°Only a couple centuries,¡± Velvet countered. She was slowly releasing her true cultivation signature, so as not to surprise anyone too harshly. ¡°I fought alongside some of yours in the past.¡± ¡°Hmm. An Augmentation cultivator, as predicted.¡± Obviously the woman¡¯s voice wouldn¡¯t have reached Velvet if she didn¡¯t intend for it- Velvet hadn¡¯t tried to push past the enemy ships¡¯ barriers, after all. ¡°Indeed. Though it seems you were expecting a fight. I hope you didn¡¯t bring only that many. It would be¡­ risky.¡± ¡°Well, who knows? We have methods to make things go our way.¡± The woman paused, potentially conversing with her companions. ¡°We will escort you until your identity can be properly confirmed.¡± ¡°That will be acceptable,¡± Velvet said. As if she could really refuse. She really didn¡¯t want to fight the Prospect Shapers, and since they were supposed to be allies in a way that was even more true. Fortunately, having such an escort made their progress rather smooth. They just had to match their interstellar speeds- Velvet made sure their ship didn¡¯t go too fast, since they¡¯d probably both leave behind the fleet and give away unnecessary information. They didn¡¯t stop by any other planet in the current system, instead moving to another system- where they were helpfully informed about Renov, a large terrestrial planet, as they approached it. The planet seemed to be well within the control of the Chaotic Conglomeration, to the point that Velvet soon felt Runa, not being subtle about her location at all. Velvet stretched out her own energy¡­ and very quickly her identity was confirmed. Though the ships still followed them until landing and Velvet seeing Runa face to face again. Runa¡¯s cultivation had grown significantly since they parted. With Velvet¡¯s insights and her father¡¯s example, she was now solidly in Augmentation- though Velvet would still consider it the early stage. She wasn¡¯t sure if she herself was middle or late, as Domination was quite a mystery, but she seemed to be a bit further along by her own estimation. Though perhaps Runa was hiding something. It wouldn¡¯t be that odd. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again,¡± Velvet said sincerely. ¡°And I you,¡± Runa nodded. ¡°I hadn¡¯t expected your presence, however. Or¡­ friends.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Durff,¡± the man said helpfully. The others also introduced themselves. ¡°Friends and allies from the Scarlet Alliance,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Some are here to gain experience, and will no doubt be useful to your cause. And others are here to pester you with questions. Well, you and everyone else,¡± Velvet gestured towards the twins. Runa nodded, looking towards Chidi. ¡°And is he one of those?¡± Chidi shook his head, turning his head towards her. His eyelids were closed, as normal. ¡°I am a combatant. And his older brother,¡± Chidi gestured towards Yuval. Runa took him in for a few moments. ¡°Ah. You are more than your cultivation appears, then.¡± In some ways, Chidi really was a Life Transformation cultivator. Aside from the extra power his insights afforded him, he really could only bring to bear as much energy as a Life Transformation cultivator. A peak stage one, but still below the strength of Integration. However, Runa might have picked out the slight connection between him and her voidsteel weapon. ¡°My dagger broke,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Wanna get me a new one?¡± Runa rolled her eyes. ¡°Maybe. If you promise to be responsible.¡± Then she shook her head. ¡°Your timing isn¡¯t great, though. Our production of voidsteel ore is down, and we¡¯re not the only sect who wants it.¡± ¡°Need someone dead?¡± Velvet asked, drawing a finger across her throat. ¡°I could do you a favor.¡± ¡°Always,¡± Runa said. ¡°Unfortunately, it really isn¡¯t going to be easy. The next batches are promised to other sects, otherwise I would just move you to the top of our personal list. I don¡¯t think any of our members could complain, given¡­¡± Runa gestured to herself. ¡°Where is your father?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Managing a different branch. We can¡¯t just pile up Augmentation cultivators in one place. That might provoke the wrath of the Exalted Quadrant coming to wipe us out in a coordinated assault.¡± ¡°They should be weaker now. This guy cut off some of Zaur¡¯s fingers,¡± Velvet gestured to Chidi. ¡°... That¡¯s not the sort of thing you should drop when we¡¯re just standing around talking. I heard he was injured but¡­ seriously?¡± Runa narrowed her eyes. ¡°Want to test it?¡± Chidi asked. Runa shivered, her sight dropping to his sword. ¡°I don¡¯t think that will be necessary. I can¡¯t even tell what enchantments you have on that thing, but I can tell you know how to use it. Plus, I trust Velvet¡¯s word on the matter.¡± Chidi just smiled. Velvet wondered why he was so proactive. Usually he preferred to fight sword cultivators. Then again, the Spirit Slicing Sect had particular stylistic themes that might help his study of Negation. That was one reason he was here, after all. Chapter 1046 Once they had settled in somewhat, Velvet returned to the subject of the most immediate concern for her. ¡°How long is the delay for more voidsteel?¡± A weapon that could cut through energy defenses could not be underestimated, especially since it could also disrupt techniques by severing the connection cultivators had to their energy. They were not perfect weapons, but complemented Velvet¡¯s style. ¡°Right now?¡± Runa shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re looking at something like three decades to fulfill obligations to other sects. If you had sent word ahead we might have managed something but¡­¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t really want to advertise my arrival,¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°Do you need more guards? Are the veins running low?¡± ¡°We have enough guards, and the mines aren¡¯t close to depletion. But it¡¯s extremely difficult to mine voidsteel ore, as you know. Since all uses of energy are disrupted, it requires manual extraction. There¡¯s only so much each person can accomplish.¡± Velvet sat in contemplation. A single decade was not a terribly long time to wait- considering the duration of the trip, it would be a waste to stay for less than a few years. But thirty years was rather far outside of her plans, as the situation back home could change swiftly. The ultimate goal was to actually reduce potential risk for the Scarlet Alliance, but whether or not they would properly accomplish that goal was unknown. ¡°That¡¯s certainly a bit longer than I can afford,¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose we could speed that up by helping take back a planet or something?¡± ¡°... Do you think your group could actually accomplish that?¡± Runa frowned. ¡°I suppose there are some that would be greatly influenced by the arrival of an Augmentation cultivator.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget Chidi. The chances of me defeating him in combat- even knowing his weaknesses- are not terribly high. And Durff¡­¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°He knocked the Citadel of Exalted Light off its home planet by hitting it. The planet, I mean. Too bad Zaur negated its momentum, though.¡± ¡°He was there?¡± Runa asked. ¡°All of the information we have is spotty on that event. Unsurprisingly, the Exalted Quadrant doesn¡¯t want word to get out.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°We had a good team. Durff was held back by his cultivation and equipment, but was still extremely valuable. It¡¯s a shame about Chikere, but at least she cut the planet in half as she went out.¡± ¡°Sorry, what?¡± ¡°Ah, I suppose that detail wasn¡¯t part of what I shared with you. The Citadel¡¯s core planet is now severed in two, physically and metaphysically. I believe it has made moving around very inconvenient.¡± ¡°You mentioned Chikere before. She was one of the best candidates for reaching Domination, right?¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°Her skill with the sword was nearly unparalleled. She was also responsible for some of the damage to the Citadel- and thus Zaur. Chidi was her best apprentice.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t understand his cultivation. He sure feels like a Life Transformation.¡± ¡°Perhaps you can experience it yourself. Or see him on the battlefield. So about those mines¡­¡± ¡°We don¡¯t currently know of any voidsteel where we could easily ramp up our production, even if you helped secure other planets. Not where the Spirit Slicing Sect would have any say over the production, at least. Though you might be able to influence the Conglomeration if you had major success.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll take that into consideration when planning our contributions, then.¡± Velvet would make some assumptions that the others would help her with her personal goal¡­ but since it shouldn¡¯t conflict with their goals, it wasn¡¯t that unreasonable. ----- The twins already had some complaints. ¡°Nobody will tell us anything!¡± Misi grumbled. ¡°Information is locked down,¡± Juli confirmed. ¡°Perhaps we should have stayed among the Scarlet Alliance. Vast quantities of information were available.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sure people will change their minds if you make some contributions. And¡­ you could also exchange some information. You know the secrecy levels of your knowledge, correct?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Misi said. ¡°That¡¯s the best way to determine if something is worth learning.¡± ¡°You can share any formation techniques from the Exalted Quadrant that you¡¯d please,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Just make sure to get something of equivalent value. In fact, you can share anything except the exclusive methods of the Scarlet Alliance. Like details on our ships or the rerouting formations.¡± ¡°What about Everheart related things?¡± Misi asked. ¡°Like the um¡­ Nighstar sect stuff.¡± ¡°Well, possibly,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Consult me on specific details first. The Exalted Quadrant learning what we know of their own weaknesses wouldn¡¯t be too bad- especially if they don¡¯t know said information came from the Scarlet Alliance- but we don¡¯t know how well they can handle any of Everheart¡¯s most recent wave of formations. It would be better if they struggled as long as possible with them.¡± Juli was nodding along. ¡°Okay, what about technology? How much of that can I share?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure how much they would be interested,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°But ships and computers are out. That includes comms. That doesn¡¯t really leave much of interest. Precision machining maybe, but cultivator smiths can replicate that sort of work by hand.¡± Juli furrowed her brow. ¡°Chemical production, maybe? For poisons?¡± ¡°That can also be done by cultivators. Everything can really.¡± ¡°Are we counting weapons on the forbidden list? Like lasers.¡± ¡°The facilities require to produce such things would already be a problem,¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°The Exalted Quadrant is no doubt dissecting our technology, but it would be better to not give them any insights.¡± ¡°So nothing then,¡± Juli shrugged. ¡°Unless they want gas cars.¡± ¡°You know how to make those?¡± Velvet asked. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°I read the technical specifications. It should be easy enough.¡± ¡°I doubt they want cars,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°So, sorry. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s much information along that line that you can pay people with.¡± ----- ¡°Do miners use hammers?¡± Durff asked Velvet pretty much from nowhere. Then again, he wasn¡¯t the sort who tended to do polite greetings and if he changed his style now it would be even weirder. ¡°I¡­ suppose they might. For some things?¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°Though mostly they use picks. Those dig into the stone and pull out chunks.¡± ¡°So do they just need people to smash rocks?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Well, people need to carry out the ore and uh¡­ the other bits that get in the way. I don¡¯t remember all of the problems they had before but there were a lot of things to manage that you don¡¯t think about normally. You¡¯re talking about voidsteel mining, right?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Durff said. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just the same, but without using energy?¡± ¡°That makes it not the same at all,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°After all, normally one good Integration cultivator could scoop out an entire vein of ore, skipping the need for tools or building stable tunnels or pretty much everything else. There are tougher materials to mine, but where energy is still functional people have learned to work around those restrictions.¡± ¡°Can I see?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Sure. I doubt Runa would have trouble getting us permission. As long as we don¡¯t try to walk out with a pile of ore.¡± ¡°How big of a pile?¡± ¡°Any size of pile,¡± Velvet said. ¡°How much do we need, though?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Daggers are like, this big,¡± he gestured with his hands. And then just pointed towards one of Velvet¡¯s. ¡°Somewhere around two tonnes?¡± ¡°How much is that?¡± ¡°About¡­ a cubic meter of ore.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not that much,¡± Durff said. ¡°The ore isn¡¯t that dense, though. And that¡¯s all approximate.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Durff said. ¡°So can we go see it?¡± ----- Upon hearing about a trip to the void ore mines, Chidi wanted to come along. ¡°Studying how it negates energy in its natural environment should be highly beneficial,¡± he explained. ¡°Though I recognize that I will be severely limited in my senses, it shouldn¡¯t be an issue, especially in an enclosed space.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see any reason we couldn¡¯t have one more,¡± Velvet agreed. But of course, just like everything else there wouldn¡¯t be only one more. Misi and Juli wanted to see and study the mines. And with them coming, it seemed rude not to invite Yuval and Jyotsana as well. So the entire expedition force was now heading down into the mines. ¡°This is quite deep,¡± Misi commented. ¡°A proper elevator would be extremely valuable.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the ones we have?¡± Runa asked. ¡°First, they don¡¯t carry people. Second, they¡¯re¡­ basically just dumbwaiters.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like we can do much about it,¡± Runa said. ¡°Given the requirements.¡± ¡°How do purity birds work?¡± Chidi asked, continuing down the ladder at the same pace as everyone else. ¡°I have a friend who would be quite interested.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have any where you¡¯re from?¡± Runa asked. ¡°We tend to have access to energy,¡± Chidi replied. ¡°So if they exist, they weren¡¯t seen as relevant. I wonder how they can process toxins without energy.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Runa admitted. ¡°But I can get you some to study. They¡¯re not the limiting factor in our operations.¡± When they reached the depths of the mines, everyone was sweating. That included Durff, though his wasn¡¯t so much from exertion as from his armor. ¡°You should take that stuff off,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°It¡¯s unlikely we¡¯ll get attacked here.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± Durff replied. ¡°Sure you can. You just- oh, yeah.¡± His armor was, essentially, a fluid that had solidified around him. The good news was that it stayed solid without energy- and the joints functional- the bad news was that it was difficult for him to drink water. But he wasn¡¯t sweating particularly more than the rest of them, despite his circumstances. ¡°All the mining is done by hand?¡± Juli asked. ¡°How else would it be done?¡± Runa countered. ¡°... Explosives?¡± Juli commented. ¡°No energy,¡± Runa pointed out. ¡°There are plenty that don¡¯t use energy,¡± Juli pointed out. Velvet had a proper answer for that. ¡°Thermal shock can destabilize the ore. So they might have tried it. That¡¯s also the reason that there¡¯s so much ladder and elevator swapping, right?¡± ¡°Well, yeah,¡± Runa nodded. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about the explosives, but the mine operators clearly did.¡± ¡°You could at least get some proper air conditioning down here,¡± Juli grumbled. Then she looked over at Velvet. ¡°... Electronics are fine, right?¡± Velvet pondered for a few moments. ¡°I suppose. But there are a lot of steps in between-¡± ¡°Yeah, I read all of that,¡± Juli said. ¡°Also, whoever came up with that Ten Thousand Scrolls is a genius.¡± Velvet refrained from mentioning that it was Everheart. ¡°What are you even talking about?¡± Runa asked. ¡°We can create steady temperatures down here,¡± Juli explained. ¡°And better air quality. You just need some spinning fans, among other things.¡± ¡°And how many people does it take to spin those fans all day? Would they block the position of the other workers?¡± ¡°None? It could be powered from the surface where you could make an energy conversion generator. Ah, are those off limits?¡± Juli asked. ¡°... Probably should be,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Though it¡¯s not that useful for those who don¡¯t use tech.¡± ¡°You can have someone just spin a big turbine at the top to power the rest,¡± Juli said. ¡°What sort of materials would we need?¡± ¡°... Copper, iron, that sort of stuff,¡± Juli said. ¡°Nothing you¡¯d consider expensive. Oh, and if you have an airlock you could potentially transport the ore all in a single vertical shaft. Even if you had to sit and wait for temperature changes, it should be more efficient. And-¡± Runa shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to cut you off there. These ideas might be valuable¡­ but I¡¯m not the one who would implement them. You would have to talk to the mine manager, and he could explain the difficulties.¡± ¡°If you have any literature on the mines I¡¯d love to read it,¡± Juli commented. Then her thoughts clearly drifted. ¡°I suppose we might have to worry about the effects of electromagnetism on the ore, but some limited testing should be sufficient to determine the viability of various options.¡± ¡°I will get you a meeting as soon as possible,¡± Runa confirmed. ¡°Here¡¯s the actual miners. We can sit and watch, but best stay over to the side and out of the way.¡± ¡°... Can I hit the wall?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Don¡¯t cause a cave-in,¡± Velvet replied. ¡°It¡¯s unlikely he could,¡± Runa said. ¡°But¡­ if his insights work without energy, I would be careful regardless.¡± Chapter 1047 A loud noise rang out as Durff¡¯s hammer struck the rock wall¡­ but while it was certainly a greater volume than the other miners, he only released a few fist sized chunks. He tried again, managing to break off a larger chunk. ¡°Hmm,¡± Durff said, turning to a man who was working nearby. ¡°Are those picks expensive? Can I borrow yours for a minute?¡± The man looked to Runa. ¡°Vice head?¡± ¡°They¡¯re basically compressed steel,¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°It doesn¡¯t cost us much to replace them. Go ahead.¡± The man handed over his pick, and Durff hefted it. ¡°It¡¯s a bit heavier than it looks,¡± he commented mostly to himself. He moved back to his position and took another swing- his comments on weight not seeming to limit his swing at all. The pick stuck deep into the rock face. He yanked it free, but didn¡¯t really do much in the way of dropping rock. ¡°If you aim for some weaker seams, you can chip off bits at a time,¡± the miner explained. ¡°And if it goes a bit deeper you can sometimes lever it to pull out more.¡± ¡°Oh, I see,¡± Durff nodded. He swung once more, the pick sinking up to its full length again. His muscles flexed, and he tore out a chunk of rock the size of his torso as he levered the pick. ¡°... Usually it¡¯s not quite that deep,¡± the other man commented. Durff looked at the pickaxe, which was undamaged. ¡°It¡¯s very solid. That¡¯s good.¡± He then repeated the process several times, pulling down more and more chunks until he couldn¡¯t reach the wall because of the rubble. After that, he stacked up the big chunks of mixed rock and ore, walking over towards the nearest minecart. ¡°Now this is heavy,¡± he said. The miner frowned. ¡°... Is it even possible to carry that much without energy?¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Durff said. He dumped it into the minecart. ¡°You just need special training! I¡¯m nowhere near as good as the best, but my body is pretty strong. It¡¯s a lot more useful than you might think.¡± ¡°Oh, I see,¡± the man said, sounding slightly disappointed at the answer. Durff didn¡¯t seem to notice. ¡°It¡¯s trickier in an area like this that doesn¡¯t have any energy at all. It¡¯s not just exercise, you know? You have to tell your body, ¡®hey, I know you¡¯re not supposed to do this but just work with me¡¯. Though Nthanda explains it better.¡± Durff stroked his chin. ¡°Want to watch it with me?¡± ¡°Watch¡­ what?¡± ¡°The explanation on advanced body tempering. I might be able to explain it to you but it would take a lot longer.¡± ¡°So you have an image recording of a master? I would gladly see it.¡± ¡°Great!¡± Durff reached down to his waist. ¡°Oh, my storage bag won¡¯t work here. And I bet the video wouldn¡¯t either.¡± He looked over at Runa. ¡°I¡¯m gonna take this guy out of the mine, okay?¡± She narrowed her eyes. ¡°As long as the work remains on schedule.¡± ¡°Yeah, I was planning to fight people but I think this seems like a really interesting place,¡± Durff commented. ¡°So I think I¡¯ll help out here for a while.¡± Velvet was thinking about whether Nthanda¡¯s existence should be a secret here. But it might help her friend and get her void ore faster- or at all. ¡°Can I watch?¡± Misi asked Durff. ¡°You¡¯re interesting in trying out advanced body tempering?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Well¡­ I guess so. I was thinking of watching what happened to him as his body developed.¡± Misi shrugged. ¡°I guess there¡¯s no reason I shouldn¡¯t try it out myself though. What¡¯s your name, anyway?¡± he asked the miner. ¡°Mundi,¡± the man replied. ¡°Do you mind if I inspect your muscles with my energy, once we¡¯re out of here? I¡¯d like to compare everything to the baseline.¡± ¡°In exchange for access to techniques? That seems fair.¡± ¡°Well, not really. I think Durff would just show you anyway.¡± Misi wasn¡¯t going to force Durff to negotiate for payment. Though he might do so on his behalf at a later time. ¡°It¡¯s pretty much the same to me,¡± Mundi shrugged. ¡°I accept.¡± ----- ¡°First they drag off my miners¡­ then they drag off my foremen¡­¡± Runa shook her head. ¡°I hope at least one of them actually goes somewhere.¡± Velvet grinned. ¡°I¡¯d expect both to help. Unless there¡¯s something about the tech that causes problems with the ore. But the body tempering is well tested.¡± ¡°We do prefer workers who have advanced through Spirit Building and doubly refined their bodies, but I hadn¡¯t really expected anyone to go beyond that. That fellow Durff¡­ his body is strong, I suppose, but it should be nothing compared to his energy.¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°It is more though. And it makes sense to him, so that might make him more efficient somehow. Besides, the potential improvements go a lot further than you might think.¡± ¡°Right. So about these techniques that Juli is mentioning. Do they actually work without energy?¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Absolutely. Also, tech is short for technology. It¡¯s¡­ more or less advanced methods of construction that don¡¯t always rely on energy to provide high level functionality.¡± It wasn¡¯t that other cultivators had nothing that would fall into the general category of technology- the word could broadly refer even to basic tools- but it was always more practical to make things that functioned with upper energy. Or cultivators could actually use techniques to achieve their results. It was only useful when there was a certain level of synergy with upper energy, like Rutera had managed, or when you couldn¡¯t use energy for some reason or other. Like when hiding something from cultivators, or when there were energy disturbances. Void ore definitely fell in that latter category. The Chaotic Conglomeration wasn¡¯t primitive about their extraction operation. The compressed steel in their picks was extra durable. But for various reasons they couldn¡¯t use minecarts all the way in and out. Though that might actually be something they could change. The extraction operations worked, and though they took time cultivators were willing to accept long projects. No doubt they considered the problem solved and didn¡¯t plan to look any further. What else could they do, without energy? But a method that was ¡®good enough¡¯ wouldn¡¯t get Velvet void ore in the time she was here¡­ and it would reduce the speed at which the Spirit Slicing Sect and their allies were able to actually make use of the voidsteel. She didn¡¯t know if the potential improvements would actually manage to triple the production rates somehow, but her companions were interested in these various projects. If they were doing it for her, she was grateful, and if they were doing it for themselves all the better. Either way, she had no reason to stop them. ----- Two blades cut through the air- one a curved sword held in two hands, and the other a small dagger. Neither weapon ever touched the other. Instead, the sword traced trails through the surrounding area, and the dagger did its best to stop it. Runa wasn¡¯t entirely certain what Chidi was doing, but she knew she didn¡¯t want him to accomplish it. She couldn¡¯t clash with his sword with her own weapon, her own weapon was brittle. But she could sever his connection to energy he left lingering. In her other hand, she held a larger blade with which she could menace and parry like a ¡®normal¡¯ cultivator. Unlike Velvet, the Spirit Slicing Sect wasn¡¯t focused on using the voidsteel for piercing through defenses in most cases. Instead, disrupting techniques was their forte. For the first two matches, Runa had actually managed to win. That said, the fact that she had to ¡®manage¡¯ to win against the strength of a Life Transformation cultivator while she herself was an Augmentation cultivator was a bit concerning. She took him seriously, and was glad she had or his sword technique might have cut her down regardless of that gap. But he wasn¡¯t just trying to cut her down. His sword sometimes slashed through empty air and she was certain he had not missed. The fact that it came with a flicker of energy told her all she needed to know, and she was relentless about cutting apart his connection. That was what she was doing now. But as she cut one final connection¡­ suddenly she felt like she was down in the mines. She could barely comprehend the blade swinging towards her, used to the reaction boost from her energy. The sword rested against her throat, making only the slightest cut- though she would have to repair the collar of her robes. Then, energy returned. ¡°What did you do?¡± Runa asked. ¡°What makes you think I did anything?¡± Chidi grinned. He always looked relaxed, with his eyes closed¡­ though she knew that it was for the benefit of others- and because he gained nothing from open eyelids. She wasn¡¯t upset about losing to someone with such a weakness as much as she was not understanding the technique. ¡°I know you did that.¡± ¡°Really? But you¡¯re the one who cut apart my energy,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°I¡­ well¡­¡± she frowned. ¡°That¡¯s technically true. But that doesn¡¯t suddenly wipe out all of the energy in an area.¡± ¡°It can,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Not accidentally.¡± ¡°Technically, that could happen,¡± Chidi said. ¡°It¡¯s just quite a low probability.¡± ¡°How low?¡± Runa asked. ¡°Low enough it might not ever have happened to any cultivators,¡± Chidi shrugged. She shook her head. ¡°I think they call that sort of thing ¡®impossible¡¯.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± the man shrugged. She hadn¡¯t really noticed him clean and sheathe his blade, as all of his movements felt so natural. ¡°Isn¡¯t something like that more difficult on the battlefield?¡± Runa asked. ¡°With the chaotic energies of many cultivators?¡± ¡°Why do you think I want to train there?¡± Chidi countered. ¡°I¡¯m not going to get better without effort. Though I would prefer to face off against sword cultivators if possible, at least at first.¡± ¡°We can definitely arrange that, even with all of you going to the same planet. Well, except those staying here on Renov I suppose.¡± ----- Velvet was already off-planet. She intended to start making an impact on Exalted Quadrant cultivators as soon as possible. So here she was, sneaking into a bathing house. The man she was after very much preferred privacy, which was just perfect. Every meter of distance she could get would lower her chances of being discovered. While she had some intention to assassinate Augmentation cultivators eventually, she would prefer to have a voidsteel blade. Besides, it wasn¡¯t as if she could just run off and kill cultivators in her own stage whenever she wanted. Even if she was confident in winning a fight with one, that didn¡¯t include the rest of the army that would be around them. And she would prefer not to fight. Walking across water without creating a ripple on its surface was a trivial task, unless one was also trying to hide their use of energy. Then it became much more difficult. Even so, avoiding a disturbance in the water was better than letting it ripple and covering it up with an illusion. Every separate thing she had to compensate was another area she would potentially slip up, leading to early discovery. And she would prefer not to have a fight. Her target was not the strongest cultivator on the planet, nor the most prominent politically. However, the man was the leader of the local forces of a certain sect, a sect that had two factions on the verge of infighting. A mysterious death, even if it couldn¡¯t be traced back to either of them, would result in jockeying for position. And Velvet did intend to leave behind some ¡®traces¡¯. The man was actually surprisingly alert, even as he bathed. He was smart enough not to simply trust in his guards. Unfortunately, he was too weak. As he fell, Velvet created an illusion of his energy that would last a few minutes. Just in case anyone chose to invade his privacy, she also replicated his body relaxing in place, so that she would not need more than the repetitive movement of breaths. Then she left a sliver of actual energy, stolen from another cultivator and carefully contained. It wasn¡¯t enough to be obvious, but they should be poring over the area closely. And even if they didn¡¯t find it or believe its authenticity, at least the main goal would still come into play, limiting the effectiveness of the sect members on planet for a while. It wasn¡¯t Velvet¡¯s job to have the maximum body count. Others would be better for that. But she could cause the best disruptions, either by finding information that was kept secret¡­ or removing a key figure or two. All of that was in the name of making the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s life more difficult shortly after they experienced significant losses in the lower realms. It was unlikely to cause them to collapse or even significantly decline, but keeping them off balance for a while longer was good enough. Chapter 1048 Down in the mines, Durff was very seriously working with his pick. He wasn¡¯t thinking of swapping weapons or combat styles or anything- this was merely a form of labor. And despite what people might think about pulling apart rocks, it was a sort of skilled labor. Though people in the Scarlet Alliance were pretty good about that kind of stuff, Mundi had implied that working in these mines wasn¡¯t a particularly sought after position. It came with decent enough rewards, but as it meant most of the day without access to upper energy cultivators weren¡¯t terribly fond of it. Which was why they should have been more serious about their bodies. Oh, they were strong and had gained more strength working in the mines¡­ but even the Body Tempering stage wasn¡¯t just exercise. It involved using energy to promote growth- and while that wasn¡¯t possible in the void ore mines, that didn¡¯t mean it was the only method. Durff thought a lot about his muscles as he swung. It wasn¡¯t just because he liked his muscles- though he was growing rather fond of them- but because the mental focus on them actually helped a cultivator promote their growth. That was much of Nthanda¡¯s path, and some of the insights were from after she surpassed Life Transformation, almost entirely giving up on energy. It would be nice to meet in her in person, she seemed like someone that would be fun to train with. Unfortunately they were in different realms, and the Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t have any ships that could go between the realms whenever they wanted. Though the way they said that made Durff think it was more of a ¡®not yet¡¯ thing. Or maybe it was a secret and they already had some? They had a lot of things he thought were impossible. His pick stuck into the wall, and he twisted and pulled. Huge chunks of rock tumbled to the ground, and Durff realized he was getting pretty good at this whole mining thing. Mundi was next to him. When they¡¯d gotten out of the mines Durff realized the guy was a peak Spirit Building cultivator. He¡¯d been a bit surprised that Durff was in Integration, but it hadn¡¯t changed Durff¡¯s offer, and made Mundi even more ready to accept watching the videos. Complete with energy replication, though that was not good for the battery life so they could only watch a certain amount each day. Durff and Mundi together were tunneling the width of an offshoot vein, leaving huge piles of stone and ore beneath their feet. A half dozen others were responsible for picking up whatever they stepped beyond, so that they didn¡¯t have to stop to carry things away. Mundi¡¯s body wasn¡¯t as strong yet, but he was definitely better with his pick. Durff could drive his all the way up to the handle and wrench things apart, and he could do it several times faster, but he still barely managed to pull down more material than the experienced miner. Mundi¡¯s body should grow faster than Durff¡¯s, but of course Durff had a lot of improvements to make in technique so they weren¡¯t too unbalanced. It was technically against protocol for them to be standing on the piles of rubble they made, but unless either of them collapsed the ceiling or got in the way of each other¡¯s picks they were safe. Even if a pick rebounded off a particularly dense rock, Durff could prevent his pick from hitting Mundi with his muscle control and Mundi simply couldn¡¯t damage Durff¡¯s body. They still remained far enough apart that it shouldn¡¯t really be an issue anyway. The rubble beneath their feet made positioning more awkward, but that was just an incentive to improve their stance and technique. A few other people had begun training with them, but not everyone was willing or able to put in the effort required to develop bodies beyond normal limits. It was exhausting. That was one of Durff¡¯s favorite parts, going up at the end of the day barely able to stand. Being poked and prodded by Misi afterwards wasn¡¯t too bothersome either, because the man¡¯s enthusiasm was plain on his face. Durff liked learning some things, but he seemed to want to know them all. Even if Misi was not that great at advanced body tempering himself. ----- Juli had finished drawing up plans for the mine in the first week, but production of various components would take some time and her personal guidance. Unsurprisingly they didn¡¯t have an industry that grew the proper trees for producing rubber, but there were various ways to get something similar. It was important to have insulated wires both for safety and because they had determined that electromagnetism did indeed cause a deterioration in the ore. That shouldn¡¯t be a huge issue, as any fluctuations would be blocked by insulation and also the shell of the elevator itself. Though before elevators, they were making shafts for air circulation purposes. Most of the length of the shafts could be dug out using energy, and that also meant that the installation work could be done with energy as well. Technically, the locals could have gotten almost ninety percent of the way with purely mechanical components. Big cranks up at the top with drive shafts to spin fan blades could have done fairly well, but creating something that could extend the whole distance and maintain its form would not have been trivial. Making something durable enough when enchanted was simple, but the last segment where they actually got to the void ore would have to rely solely on material properties. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. There was also the issue of consistency, and making sure that the outer temperatures didn¡¯t damage the ore. Juli had gone through several iterations of design documents to that end, just to make certain that there was a gradual shift in temperature in the mines. Dealing with any poisonous air that came up top wasn¡¯t actually that hard, as they could use formations for that. Juli left the details to the Spirit Slicing Sect and instead focused on the tech things that they really didn¡¯t have a good basis for understanding. Not that they weren¡¯t eager to learn. They were especially interested by the various motors that converted electrical energy into mechanical energy. An unnecessary detail when upper energy was available as it was an easy to use and power-dense medium, but still suitable for various purposes. Like not causing energy fluctuations that would disturb surrounding formations. ----- Despite what everyone had said, Yuval really did enjoy battling on the frontlines of a war. He would have preferred to be defending the Scarlet Alliance directly, but battling alongside Chidi- and Jyotsana- against mutual enemies was still a great experience. There was a huge difference between actual battles and sparring. The same was true with warfare and seeking out other trouble. For example, Yuval couldn¡¯t always take breaks whenever he wanted. As they were part of the fighting force, they had to fulfill the duty they signed up for. They had some privileges others didn¡¯t, but when they went out to the front lines they had to listen to orders just like everyone else. Energy suddenly disappeared around Yuval. That would be Chidi again¡­ and while it seemed like continuing to fight his opponent during that instant was pointless there was a lot he could do. For example, kicking someone upside the head could still give them a concussion. Alternatively, if he could grapple them during that instant then when their defensive energy returned he would already have effectively punctured through it, creating flames from his body directly against his foe¡¯s armor and body. He just had to be conscious of forming his own defenses tight against him when he did so, or he would be equally vulnerable. Either way, he usually came out ahead because the enemy never really got experience with Chidi¡¯s Negation. That was because they tended to die unexpectedly. Even if they heard about it or experienced it from afar, it wasn¡¯t really the same. Yuval was well aware how much stronger Chidi was¡­ but it wasn¡¯t as if that was unreasonable, given the several centuries of age between them. Yuval didn¡¯t have to compare himself to Chidi now, just the Chidi of the past¡­ and himself of the day before. ----- Despite what Yuval thought, Chidi was well aware that anyone expecting Negation in any form was much more difficult to deal with. Day after day, he found himself on the edge of life and death. Which was exactly why it was such good training. If he was unable to negate the energy in an area precisely when intended, it was actually much more dangerous than it might seem. He would be expecting his cut to go through without issue, but would instead face the energy defenses of his opponents. With his base energy being weaker, there was only so much his insights could do for his offense. He could still cut down Integration cultivators consistently, but if it took another second or two for each individual he could easily find himself flooded with enemies. Unsurprisingly, allies from the Chaotic Conglomeration did not prefer to fight near him. There were a few who tried to take advantage of his techniques, but otherwise they preferred to avoid having their own energy interrupted. Fighting against greater number of opponents meant dealing with more chaotic energy flow¡­ but when he was successful it was also much more satisfying. It was even better if he could get allies to harm each other during the moment of negation, their attacks not following the course they planned. That was difficult for him to set up against anyone who wasn¡¯t a sword cultivator, but against them he was able to plan another few steps ahead. Every time he properly achieved Negation and the world around him faded, Chidi grew more used to the sensation. He just needed to maintain a picture of everything that had been within his senses, and to predict the most likely reactions of his opponents. Once again, easy against sword cultivators and more difficult against others. He never achieved quite the same results as he had against Zaur. Obviously he did more than cut off a couple fingers, but killing an Integration cultivator was far less impressive than damaging a Domination cultivator. But even though he had been fighting in a formation that limited the fluctuations to his own, that of his father, and Zaur¡­ it had been the most difficult moment to achieve. He¡¯d been pushed to his limits, and he was trying to recreate it. Without risking such a high chance of death, of course. He was well aware of how odds worked, and had no intention to flip a coin enough times that he died. Then again, cultivator odds weren¡¯t exactly fair. Often times it appeared that Chidi was in greater danger than he actually was. Even if he had a dozen sword cultivators attacking him, blades nearly slicing along his throat, he was perfectly fine. The same was true of smaller numbers of other enemies. Twisting his body to slip between a pair of staves was nearly as comfortable for him, as he was trained to fight against all weapons. But if he fought a dozen coordinated spear cultivators, he would likely have to retreat- though that depended somewhat on their cultivation. The Exalted Quadrant had too many people. That was what Chidi decided, when day after day they were successful on the battlefield and their numbers never seemed to deplete even after they¡¯d lost so many people in the invasion of the lower realms. Perhaps that was why they were fine with keeping in the current war forever. Losing Augmentation cultivators might hurt, but there hadn¡¯t been many opportunities to take them out since the arrival on the western front. Or were they on the eastern front, since they were fighting on the side of the Chaotic Conglomeration? Regardless, Chidi felt like the Chaotic Conglomeration had an issue with their own population. They weren¡¯t suddenly running out of people, but it was clear they needed to tap into a wider population somehow. Not that any of that was Chidi¡¯s business. He¡¯d just cut down as many enemies as appeared in front of him and let them worry about the far future. Chapter 1049 ¡°For the first time in centuries,¡± Runa commented to Velvet. ¡°We¡¯re actually pushing back the Exalted Quadrant on the majority of fronts. Knowing that they¡¯re in a time of weakness was valuable, and there¡¯s also an outsized impact from your relatively small numbers. Barely more than a half dozen cultivators and you¡¯re set to secure a second planet in as many years.¡± Technically, only four or five of them were involving themselves in battle during any stretch of time. The twins were more interested in the exchange of information, and Durff was spending a good portion of his time mining. Velvet had only heard positive things about the productivity in the mines and Durff seemed to be enjoying himself, so that was good enough. Besides, it was still a form of training. It might seem inconsequential compared to what he could do with energy- the difference between a few tonnes of material and small moons- but there was also a threshold where advanced body tempering bore great fruit. Granted, that had only happened with Nthanda and to a lesser extent with a few Hardened Crown cultivators¡­ but she trusted Durff to know what was best for him. ¡°I¡¯m glad we¡¯ve managed to secure victories,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I¡¯m not certain this will last.¡± Runa nodded. ¡°They¡¯ll send Augmentation cultivators soon, won¡¯t they?¡± ¡°I would assume so. Even with some losses in the lower realms, they should still be able to outmatch you in that regard. Though you¡¯ve done well to promote the development of Augmentation cultivators here.¡± ¡°Just two beyond my father and myself,¡± Runa said. ¡°Most likely, they would have reached this level without guidance- and you¡¯re the one who provided the insights initially.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But if those two then inspire two more¡­ you¡¯ll have steady growth.¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about the numbers. Not Augmentation cultivators, but in general. Losses on both sides. The Exalted Quadrant has greater casualties.¡± ¡°Yet also a greater population,¡± Runa acknowledged. ¡°It¡¯s unlikely we could actually wear them down to nothing, but we might as well gain ground where we can.¡± ¡°I¡¯m actually interested in historical records. When your side has gained control of systems and when theirs has. And other numbers, if possible.¡± ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Runa asked. ¡°I just want to know if it¡¯s actually possible for you to continue to wear them down until they really can¡¯t continue on. How much would you have to pull ahead in a given period before it wasn¡¯t worth it for them?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I¡¯m not the best strategist, but I have spoken to many and I know more than a few things. If you have access to that information, of course.¡± ¡°I do,¡± Runa said. ¡°But not everyone trusts you like I do. They would want to see an Augmentation cultivator fall.¡± ¡°A specific one?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Because I won¡¯t say we can take on any Augmentation cultivator. But if I get some profiles, I¡¯m sure we could pick one out.¡± ¡°I know it¡¯s a risk,¡± Runa commented. ¡°But we would greatly appreciate it. Or you could wait. I might be able to convince enough people given time.¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re here to help. And every Augmentation cultivator we take down is one they don¡¯t have to harass us later.¡± ----- Juli knew she should have been proud, looking at the numbers. Doubled output in just a couple years. But that wasn¡¯t only her contribution, nor was it sufficient. Maybe they could afford to stay fifteen years. Thirty would have been impossible, but a slight stretch like that might be possible. But she felt that she could do better. For her own sake, as she¡¯d made promises that were nothing less than world altering. More efficient transportation in and out of the mines was one thing, but that didn¡¯t solve all the problems. Better airflow and working conditions, resulting in less danger? That was fine as well. They had already invested sufficiently in structural support. The dangers of the mine were not in this case a product of greedy managers pushing people too hard. Or at least, not most of them. Like the underground beasts. Those would appear regardless, and there were many guards around the area to catch them before they entered a null-energy area. Or to draw them out to somewhere they could be fought if that wasn¡¯t possible. Part of Juli¡¯s determination was for Velvet. She tried not to let on how much she wanted a replacement for her voidsteel dagger, but it was one of the few things she had mentioned. Durff had latched onto that as well. Probably. Maybe he just was suddenly a fan of mining, but the man had certainly thrown himself into his efforts. And the promotion of advanced body tempering among other was helping the mine- it would just likely take decades before they saw anything truly impressive from most of their workers. The rest of Juli¡¯s determination was for herself. This was a puzzle she felt compelled to solve. She had so many new tools in her arsenal, and she needed to know she could actually use them. Things like powered drills- not the hand sized ones, but large ones meant for boring tunnels. Juli had memorized various iterations, though most involved combinations of tech and upper or lower energy- with certain modifications required depending on energy type. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Obviously that was no good for void ore, so purely mechanical was the goal. Fortunately, part repair and construction could be done with energy, otherwise it would have taken a very long time to build up an industry to make all of the parts. It was quite a challenge, recalling each and every necessary dimension. Vast numbers of screws and bolts, plates of varying thickness and orientation, blades of various sorts- even things that didn¡¯t look like blades. She had to relay all that information perfectly, or to be able to rapidly fix any flaws. There was also a question of what size was best. Of course, if they had access to the wondrous networks for information sharing that the Scarlet Alliance had some of the difficulties could be solved in instants. But fortunately with the Ten Thousand Scrolls and her previous memorization experience, Juli had learned enough to help make something functional. They might also use pumps to drain out water that ended up in the mines. They could be far more effective than screw pumps, and more space efficient besides. At the higher levels carving out more area wasn¡¯t difficult, but every centimeter they had to carve out near the mines was labor they could have used for their actual goals. ----- Upon surveying the various targets, Velvet wished that they had brought along Alva. Then again, she could have said the same of pretty much any of the other Augmentation cultivators. Prasad or Tauno or anyone else would have also opened up many options. But for this particular individual, Alva would have been best. Velvet chose the target based both on potential threat yet also ease of elimination. While it might have seemed like a paradox, it was truly possible to have people that were great threats yet relatively simple to eliminate. Zorka was a member of the Disciples of the Beyond, a sect who involved themselves with distortion beasts. Alva would have been useful either for killing the woman inside of the distorted space she might use for protection, or for fighting any distortion beasts if they managed to attract them. The distortion beasts were the danger, capable of widespread destruction. Even if only guided by the Disciples of the Beyond rather than properly controlled, they were quite capable of ruining a planet. The Disciples of the Beyond could also create false projections in large enough numbers or strength. That was why they were going to assassinate Zorka. If she wasn¡¯t expecting danger at a specific moment¡­ they might skip all of the trouble. There weren¡¯t too many of them around yet, either, so taking her out before they were able to create the most dangerous projections of distortion beasts as a group would be best. Most likely, the woman always had some level of spatial distortion from her defensive energy, but while Velvet wasn¡¯t specialized in the area she could deal with little things easily enough. She had plenty of experience- even if it wasn¡¯t all intentional. Dealing with partial dimensional subspaces had been a great pain. Velvet wasn¡¯t crazy enough to go in alone. If she were successful and Zorka died instantly she would still have to completely hide traces of her actions until she was away from their encampment. She wasn¡¯t going to underestimate the danger of being attacked by thousands of cultivators, even if only a hundred at most were in Integration. Thus she brought with her everyone. Misi and Juli were actually interested, as their style could be surprisingly effective against distortion beasts. If there was to be a battle, Jyotsana and Yuval were interested as well. Durff wasn¡¯t going to be left behind either. And then there was Runa, because this particular mission was of serious enough consequence to pull her away from her cultivation and sect administration. ----- The Disciples of the Beyond had chosen a vast wasteland full of the bones of long dead beasts to be their foothold on the planet. Powerful energy had built up in the area, but in a way that was antithetical to continued life. Great beasts could survive, as well as cultivators, but weaker plants and animals couldn¡¯t get a foothold. It was like a field of sacrifices from long in the past. Velvet had no doubt that they would be using the energy to draw in distortion beasts, when they were ready. Velvet cloaked everyone with her energy as they drew closer to the camp. They walked along the ground as flying would only cause more opportunities for them to be detected. As they approached, Misi stopped the group. Velvet spotted the formation a moment later- she likely would have avoided triggering it, but having others looking out for particular hazards was the best part about having allies. Misi and Juli- though mostly Misi- fiddled around for a few moments before gesturing them forward. Velvet could feel some sort of manipulation to the formation, certainly better than whatever she could have done. The fact that she could feel it meant they weren¡¯t yet up to Catarina¡¯s level, however. Velvet led them on a route that wove between enormous rib bones or other pieces of fallen and dissolved beasts. Physical cover was still useful for high level stealth, and the ancient energy the things emanated was also a useful distraction. Soon enough they were winding their way through tents and the like, before coming upon a large formation with formation flags and runes carved into the earth below. It was still being put together¡­ but whatever it was meant for wouldn¡¯t be good for the Chaotic Conglomeration. She hadn¡¯t known about this in particular, but the general risks of the Disciples of the Beyond were why she had chosen this particular threat to take out. Velvet gestured Chidi closer, but he shook his head. With his blade drawn, he gestured to the formation markings. Ah, right. He also had knowledge of formations from his mother. He could disable the formation swiftly. That left herself and Runa as the ones who would participate in the actual assassination efforts. Durff had previously been assigned to wide area combat- he would probably be the best among them at taking out masses of enemy disciples. Though the fire cultivators wouldn¡¯t be far behind in that regard. Meanwhile, Misi and Juli would deal with any unforeseen issues. Their abilities were quite flexible, and they actually had preparations to fight against particular categories of distortion beast. Velvet spotted Zorka working within the area of the formation under construction. The woman was neither young nor old in appearance, though she did look somewhat haggard. She had bags under her eyes, but she didn¡¯t look weak, just haunted. Those very eyes flicked up towards their group. Chapter 1050 Normally Velvet would have found Durff the easiest to blame for disrupting their stealth, but it could have been any one of them revealing a slight trace, even Velvet herself releasing her killing intent. They¡¯d approached close enough either way, and Velvet sprang into action. Even if she hadn¡¯t been fully revealed, she and Runa would still wish to try to take out Zorka as swiftly as possible. The woman who was an Augmentation cultivator from the Disciples of the Beyond reacted not by readying a weapon, but by taking her storage bag and upending it. However, in the time it would take for anything to begin to fall Velvet and Runa were there in front of her. Velvet¡¯s twin blades- sadly missing any voidsteel- cut into the woman¡¯s left side while Runa struck her neck, stabbing upward. She hadn¡¯t locked onto their energies in particular, and barely moved to avoid the blows. Shifting her energy to block Velvet¡¯s incoming attacks was not enough to save her, as Runa¡¯s blade cut into her flesh. There was a pulse of energy from the surrounding formation the moment before Chidi cut into it, a single slash dividing it into useless parts. Velvet and Runa made certain of their kill, Runa¡¯s blade stabbing into the woman¡¯s dantian to disrupt any energy flow she might have in the last moments of semi-consciousness. Even as the bag continued to fall, Velvet turned to catch it, sealing it closed. But the pulse of energy from the formation continued outward carrying with it something. Having secured their objective they should have felt accomplished- even with hundreds of enemy disciples turning on them for an immediate assault, Velvet felt that something unfortunate had happened. Perhaps not as much as might have been, but it was still concerning. Enemies flooded towards them, and were quickly cut down. Or smashed into each other. Or set ablaze. Everyone had different fighting styles. The twins Misi and Juli seemed to swap weapons with alarming frequency. Velvet had first seen them fight with small hammers, but they seemed to use anything particularly agile¡­ while also carrying weird trinkets. Specifically, the two had pulled out what Velvet was pretty sure were some of the teeth of the great worm that had almost killed them in subspace. Or rather, the very tips of the teeth since they stretched up to hundreds of meters. Furthermore, to carry them it had to be ground down to a narrower profile so that it could even fit in their hand. If the twin had used them as weapons, Velvet would have understood. And in a way, they did. But barely swiping the heavily modified teeth in the general direction of their opponents didn¡¯t seem like a useful attack. They might be taking advantage of the multidimensional properties of said teeth, but Velvet didn¡¯t notice any wounds. However, she did discern that whatever the twins were doing, it disrupted the flow of their foe¡¯s energy. She¡¯d have to ask about it later. A seemingly endless tide of enemies posed some danger for the Integration cultivators among them, as many of the enemies were in the same realm. However, they could not gather together to attack as one. Durff was also further advanced within the Integration stage than the others, his wide swings devastating to incoming hordes of enemies, knocking them into each other and causing the demise of all intersecting parties. Chidi cut down cultivators with ¡®superior¡¯ energy blow by blow, focusing on the segment of the battlefield where Jyotsana and Yuval fought together. The appearance of something like a dragon approached the fire cultivators, a great scaled beast- a projection of the disciples and not a true distortion beasts. That did not make its fangs any less sharp, however. But the limitations of humans meant that when Yuval leapt towards it instead of dodging away, when he ended up inside its mouth beyond its teeth he began to cause great damage to the projection. Creating an energy construct that did not have to follow normal rules was possible, but it also weakened the mental image unless all cultivators involved had sufficient insights. Thus, Yuval began to burn the inside of the creature¡¯s mouth- his own focused flames overcoming the natural resistance the projection had. And when it spewed a gout of flames from its throat, catching him in its mouth, the greatest harm went to the artificial dragon. Yuval caught the incoming flames in his bare hands, wrestling them back and causing the force behind them to build up- until the head of the projection exploded. Chidi had been an instant short of cutting the head off of the creature himself to free his brother¡­ but instead he stood proudly even as his brother collapsed. The cultivators who had been forming the projection staggered at the loss, and the dagger wielding duo began to slice them down. Jyotsana¡¯s flames spread across the battlefield, and once they caught something alight they did not die down until she chose to let them. They were flames that sustained themselves off of the energy of her foes, spreading from one to another. As the Disciples of the Beyond fell, the battle was felt from afar. Exalted Quadrant reinforcements began to stream towards the location- but so did others of the Chaotic Conglomeration, ready and waiting for something to happen. They hadn¡¯t been apprised of the exact operation for security reasons, but their approach proved to be a valuable deterrent to incoming enemy forces. Beyond that, the upper energy emanating from two Augmentation cultivators- with only remnants of one who had perished- caused most of the enemy forces to take a cautious approach with their reinforcements, a few groups approaching in a staggered manner while many realized there was nothing they could salvage from the situation- at best they could help cover the fighting retreat of the remaining Disciples of the Beyond. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Yet even with the great success, those present felt something ominous. ----- Chidi carefully opened the neck of Zorka¡¯s storage bag, carefully protecting the area with his energy. Whatever was so important for her to focus on its use before anything else was no doubt dangerous- but also important. ¡°... It¡¯s a bunch of junk,¡± Durff commented. Velvet didn¡¯t find there to be much of interest either, with a quick visual scan. Misi and Juli inhaled sharply. ¡°It¡¯s bait,¡± Misi said. Juli nodded. ¡°Bait for what?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Distortion beasts. Obviously. That¡¯s what the Disciples of the Beyond do.¡± ¡°So we smash it,¡± Durff said. ¡°Then it won¡¯t be a problem. Or should we eat it first?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not food,¡± Juli said. ¡°Well, the distortion beasts might eat it but that doesn¡¯t mean anything. It¡¯s just things with particular energy signatures that they enjoy.¡± ¡°Best we keep it sealed up, then,¡± Jyotsana commented. Chidi shook his head. ¡°Too late. The pulse of energy from the formation¡­ well, it would have been much worse if was sustained, but I expect we¡¯ll have some unwelcome visitors here.¡± ¡°We should leave behind this outpost, then,¡± Runa said. Misi responded before Chidi could. ¡°They won¡¯t be drawn to anywhere so specifically, right? I imagine they¡¯ll come to look at the planet as a whole.¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not an expert on distortion beast behavior, but the formation was certainly imprecise in its function. And I don¡¯t think distortion beasts are so small as to particularly care about where they are on a planet, for the most part.¡± ¡°In short,¡± Juli said. ¡°We should have everyone prepare to fight them.¡± Runa frowned. ¡°How many would you anticipate arriving?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to say,¡± Misi said. ¡°It would depend in large part how many are in the region. If we¡¯re just dealing with anything wandering past the system? No more than one or two. But¡­¡± ¡°I have the feeling I¡¯m not going to like what you say next,¡± Runa commented. ¡°If this was planned beforehand, they might have drawn in many more to the general region. And any who notice the pulse might be followed by others.¡± ¡°How many?¡± Runa asked. ¡°Alert everyone on the planet¡­ and in the neighboring systems just in case,¡± Misi said. ¡°We might get lucky and only run into a handful, but that¡¯s still a reasonable precaution.¡± ¡°Or we might end up facing hundreds,¡± Juli commented. ¡°Yeah. And they¡¯d be the type that don¡¯t eat each other as often,¡± Misi said. ¡°Though we can try something with that.¡± ¡°How long do we have?¡± Runa asked. Velvet had the answer for that. She could sense one already. ¡°It¡¯s already started.¡± At least this one didn¡¯t have a stomach the size of a planet. However, combined with the others they could cause widespread damage to the locals. The upside? That would likely also include the Exalted Quadrant. Especially with the damage to the Disciples of the Void. About half of those involved looked worried, and the others excited. Chidi might not have wanted to test himself against distortion beasts specifically, but if they were coming he was ready. And Durff would absolutely appreciate the opportunity to hit massive monsters. ----- Paradise was a good turtle. Durff had never met Paradise, but just a small piece of shell easily convinced him of the truth. It was heavy and strong and really good for smashing distortion bests. He saw a few snakelike monsters, and of course smashed them back into the weird dimensions they belonged in. He also saw big tentacles, like sea monsters. There were also creatures with bat wings and nothing else- those were awkward to smash as their wings simply tore apart and covered the land with weird goop. Maybe there were more smashable parts of them but those were hidden in subspace, which Durff wasn¡¯t good with. Still, he found he was pretty good at smashing things back into subspace. An eye of something poked out, and then another. And another hundred. Durff hit one, and all of them crumpled back into the creature. He didn¡¯t have to be limited by the size of his own hammer. He¡¯d hit a planet sized¡­ planet before. And a planet sized clump of angry asteroids. If he could do that, he could also hit a bunch of eyes at once. It was simple, really. Giant fang? Cracked in half. That was probably better than sending it back. Unless it smashed into the thing? Hmm, good idea. He didn¡¯t know how many distortion beasts there were, but the answer was at least hundreds. Or maybe one big one? They didn¡¯t really make sense, but most of them tended to have a theme so it was probably a bunch of them. It was more likely to run into one with a thousand eyes and a thousand teeth rather than one with a normal amount of either and a sensible body. But it didn¡¯t matter if any of it made sense, he just had to break it. Was it a claw or some kind of sharp rib striking through into reality and trying to impale him? Didn¡¯t matter. His hammer came down, directly on the end. Yeah, it didn¡¯t matter how these things worked. There had to be more of the thing at the other end of where he hit, so he could hit more of it if he smashed parts of its body into itself. Simple. Durff grinned, even as ten thousand teeth chomped down on him. He had some nice armor that molded around him and two working arms, so he was feeling quite safe. The more of these things he took down on his own terms, the fewer individuals he might care about on the planet would get hurt. Even if they weren¡¯t fully allies of the Scarlet Alliance, the Chaotic Conglomeration was in a similar position where they were forced into conflict with the Exalted Quadrant. Mostly. Even if they had their own fault in the war, he still knew some of them. Others were Velvet¡¯s friends like Runa, which made them his friends by default. And he wouldn¡¯t let his friends get hurt. Within reason, obviously. When they were all fighting in a battle together, he just had to make sure he fought well enough that their battles were easier. Something roared inside of him. Not Durff¡¯s fighting spirit, but an actual monster trying to destroy him with a sonic attack. He focused on the solidity of his body and held himself together. Then he smashed at the general idea of where it had been. He wasn¡¯t good at hitting things in different levels of space, but he wouldn¡¯t get better if he didn¡¯t try! Chapter 1051 Few cultivators waded into the ranks of the distortion beasts like Durff did. Instead, they sought to fight the beasts from the edge of their range, many cultivators working together against the bulk of an individual beast. Yuval did the same, waiting for them to attack then launching his own counter. Flames clung to a particularly densely furred limb, which then withdrew into space beyond. If they were simply normal flames, they would have been immediately quashed. Without oxygen or even the normal concept of space around them, mundane fire would go out. But proper flames could linger and grow on almost any medium. The downside, especially against cultivators, was that they could be put out by thinking foes relatively easily. Yuval couldn¡¯t create a self-sustaining reaction that would function entirely on upper energy, so in most cases it was a waste of effort. Even most beasts would have enough control over their energy to put out such flames upon recognizing the danger. Distortion beasts weren¡¯t somehow less intelligent than normal animals with cultivation, but they did not think in the same way. Regardless of whether it could put out the flames or not, the furred beast clearly didn¡¯t. Other flaming limbs appeared in various places around the city he was defending- but anything they caught alight Yuval was able to put out, as he was still the origin of the flames. He couldn¡¯t say he was solely responsible for defeating a powerful distortion beast, but he certainly caused it great trouble as its outer layer rapidly became charred by the flames. Allied cultivators found it easier to cut into the beast without its thick fur, hacking off pieces to leave charred lumps of flesh everywhere. The cleanup was going to be a pain. Distortion beasts were not even always good as fertilizer, often filled with noxious toxins despite it making no biological sense. Sometimes their remnants could be formed into weapons and armor, but that usually took specialists. The swarm of distortion beasts was widespread, assaulting the whole planet. Yet it was still within the realm that the locals could handle. Most likely it wouldn¡¯t have been, had Zorka lived and the rest of the Disciples of the Beyond not been driven off. This was only a small portion of the attractive force they were intending to propagate. It had to be noted that the Exalted Quadrant had their own forces on the planet, at least at the beginning of the event. The Disciples of the Beyond who had fled from the formation array were among the first to hop onto ships and begin departing the planet, but others rapidly followed. Some flew right into the approaching horde of beasts, and the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s departure was unorganized. No doubt they had planned the attack, but it wasn¡¯t supposed to trigger quite so soon. It shouldn''t have been a coincidence, and while Velvet and Runa would have gladly taken credit for their choices, it was clear there were other manipulations behind the scene. Not that Velvet was opposed, when it was for the proper reasons. She recalled that the Prospect Shapers had been waiting for her approach, escorting her to Renov. They didn¡¯t necessarily have any plans at that point- but diviners and all sorts of fate manipulators were generally good at detecting the presence of higher ranking cultivators. Thus, an Augmentation cultivator like Velvet showing up was a perfectly natural reason for them to be prepared. The particular risk factors that had been mentioned potential as assassination targets had all seemed like good targets, but Velvet had ended up here. And at such timing as they actually killed Zorka and mostly disrupted her efforts. It could have been her own luck, but Velvet kind of hoped it was planned to some extent. Even if they couldn¡¯t see the actual results, simply pushing people towards overall positive or negative ends was quite useful. As for why, if they had a hand in things, they had not simply told Velvet and the others who they should target and helped smooth the way¡­ various similar groups liked to be mysterious. Whether it was actually helpful or not was often in debate, but being straightforward might have changed other factors. Or Velvet could be reading too much into things. But rather than wondering, she planned to investigate the matter. The results this time were about as good as they could have hoped, except arriving slightly sooner might have completely prevented the distortion beast assault. Velvet expected that the Prospect Shapers would have the fate of the entire Chaotic Conglomeration in mind with their efforts¡­ but she wasn¡¯t certain that would include the fate of individuals. Especially those who were not part of them. As it was effectively her job to be suspicious, Velvet felt justified looking into the situation more deeply. Though she had to be careful, since if they did have ill intent then acting carelessly could get her caught in a web. ----- ¡°I can¡¯t believe we were so successful,¡± Runa commented. ¡°It¡¯s hard to catch Augmentation cultivators off guard. Everyone is thrilled. And we couldn¡¯t have done it without you and your team, so I¡¯m very thankful.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± Velvet replied. ¡°On that note¡­ I¡¯m sure you¡¯re interested how the mining efforts here on Renov are going. I¡¯m proud to say we¡¯ve more than doubled our output.¡± Runa saw the look on Velvet¡¯s face and nodded. ¡°I know, that¡¯s not good enough for you to wait in line for your turn. But I¡¯m working on that. If everyone else is still on an accelerated timeframe for their shipments, they won¡¯t worry so much if someone got ahead in line.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. That acceleration of the mining was actually less relevant for the trajectory of the war as a whole compared to killing an Augmentation cultivator, and restoring full control of a planet to the Conglomeration¡¯s hands was also a large factor. But for Velvet personally¡­ the prospect of owning another voidsteel weapon was more personally relevant than the course of the war. At most, she cared about what happened to Runa and the Spirit Slicing sect, and general damage to the Exalted Quadrant. ¡°You think it¡¯s possible?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Good, because I¡¯m thinking that we might have to leave a bit sooner than anticipated.¡± It had already been around a year- from some perspectives quite a long time, and from others a mere instant. ¡°There¡¯s potential trouble on our eastern border. Maybe nothing will come of it but¡­¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°We also can¡¯t remain here forever. We¡¯ll be targets.¡± ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate,¡± Runa said. ¡°Because we always need more help. Together we stopped one push, but we are constantly being pushed back on other planets. We need some sort of stabilizing force to maintain our hold.¡± ¡°Grand formations?¡± Velvet suggested. ¡°You could link several systems together, perhaps.¡± ¡°The resources that would require would be difficult to convince anyone to let go of,¡± Runa shook her head. ¡°Besides, if some particular area then falls into enemy hands it¡¯s that much more difficult to get back the land.¡± ¡°What is it you need, then?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°It¡¯s difficult to say. More victories. A way to increase enemy casualties without increasing our own. More of our own Augmentation cultivators, to stand up against the enemy. And a consistent influx of well trained and equipped fighting forces. So, you know, just a few things.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not easy,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°Hopefully the damage to the bottom line the Exalted Quadrant experienced during their invasion of the lower realms will blunt their impact further.¡± ¡°I hope so. Unfortunately, their attacks haven¡¯t dropped off as much as we might like. And we could have lost an entire planet full of cultivators just now.¡± Runa grinned. ¡°But instead the enemy did. You¡¯re a good luck charm. Your people all seem stronger than they should be.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that luck part,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Winning is just habit for us, since we face so much trouble. We might be constantly beating back bad luck instead.¡± ¡°I bet there are many who would have clear opinions on that. Like the Prospect Shapers.¡± Velvet had asked Runa about them, obviously. If she didn¡¯t start with someone she could trust who had a proper position, then why even bother trying to gather information at all? ¡°I understand your concerns about trusting them directly, however. I can say they have been willing to risk themselves often enough that they have the Conglomeration¡¯s best interest in mind, but you¡¯re right about your group. But as you said, you¡¯re also in the habit of winning. So keep at it. I¡¯ll back you up as much as possible.¡± ----- The earth shook around Durff, but only relatively small amounts. Previously he had moved planets- at least a little bit- but here he was working with far smaller quantities. A few tons or tens of tons at a time, as he continued to work in the mines with Mundi and the others. Durff had rapidly grown in his understanding of proper mining techniques, and with his body being several steps above the rest of the miners they couldn¡¯t keep up. Maybe with another few decades to temper their bodies they would close that gap, but his individual productivity was among the highest. Not that anyone was upset about that. He led them in training, and being handed special techniques for free was something any cultivator could appreciate. Their increased productivity made them more valuable in the eyes of their Spirit Slicing Sect as well. Previously, their position hadn¡¯t been one with much glory. Once they knew that Durff wasn¡¯t trying to deprive them of steady work, they were quite appreciative of his presence. In the null-energy zone of the mines, Durff swung his pick over and over. He wasn¡¯t learning much about hammers from his movements, but he wasn¡¯t battling with the rocks. This was his creative endeavor. He liked to see if he could predict the patterns in which rocks would fall or if he could make a smooth cutoff where he pulled rocks apart. Mining more efficiently was no longer his goal, but instead a side effect of a hobby. There was one particularly good swing he did that took down an entire segment at once, breaking a two meter wide and tall area down into easy chunks, going a full meter back. A trivial amount of area to dig out with energy, but where they were it was a massive amount- especially for a single swing. Durff stepped forward onto the rubble and did it again. How satisfying. He liked the sound of the pick, and the sound of the individual bits of ore rumbling around on the ground. The chorus of other workers was also quite satisfying. And it was much more comfortable than it had been previously. They still had purity birds as well, though they didn¡¯t do much but sit around and be generally disappointed at the lack of toxins to ingest. So there was no singing, but they were nice to look at. When Durff stepped out of the mines that day, he was in Augmentation. Many people had been expecting an earthshaking result when he advanced, and they were technically right. They had just expected it to be, if not more metaphorical, actually quite larger scale. It wouldn¡¯t have been odd if he had to go break apart a planet or something. But instead, it happened while he was in the null element zone of the voidsteel mines engaging in his hobby. It was training, certainly, but for his body and not his energy. Durff noticed the change when he got out¡­ and accepted it. ¡°Oh good,¡± he nodded. And that was that. Others had much greater reactions, especially those who hadn¡¯t been expecting an Augmentation cultivator to suddenly appear. Obviously they quickly recognized Durff¡¯s energy signature, but he made more than a few people¡¯s hearts jump in their chest, worried that Renov was under attack somehow. In a way, his advancement had seemed inevitable- but it was still somewhat of a surprise when it happened. His path of cultivation was circuitous, unable to be guided by the sect he was born into, but his determination had kept him going. He¡¯d still managed to build a solid foundation and had constantly put in the effort. With some proper guidance from the Scarlet Alliance and his own insights, he managed to advance. What changes people might see would soon be revealed on the battlefield. Chapter 1052 With constant war across dozens of systems, the fight between the Chaotic Conglomeration and the Exalted Quadrant came at a great cost for very little gain. The Conglomeration¡¯s main goals weren¡¯t the monopolization of the resources on various border worlds, but instead maintaining control so that they had a buffer zone between the Exalted Quadrant and their main planets. Velvet had not been to any of those deeper planets, with the closest being Renov which was currently under stable control. However, after another series of victories, their group was invited to visit some of those core worlds. It was impossible for Velvet to refuse. The spymaster within her wanted to learn as much as she could, and in general she found it valuable to learn about their semi-allies. Yigora was the name of the planet they were set to visit. Runa was light on the details, telling them that it would be better to see it in person. Meanwhile, she was quite interested in their ship. ¡°Isn¡¯t it problematic to bring this deeper into our territory?¡± she asked as she looked over some of the readouts. Most likely she could make sense of the current page of the console, but would not instantly intuit the rest of the operation. ¡°It¡¯s more risky to leave it on another planet,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Unless you want to constantly be looking out for it?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I do mean personally, of course. I would trust your people for most things, but I wouldn¡¯t want the ship to explode for no good reason.¡± ¡°... It would do that?¡± Runa asked, slightly backing away from the console. Not that the ship contained enough power to harm an Augmentation cultivator. At least, not in a form she would recognize as a danger. ¡°It might,¡± Velvet shrugged. Though actual self-destructive methods were currently positioned to be manually activated, just in case there were people prying where they shouldn¡¯t be. It would be annoying to lose a good ship to curious idiots. Unauthorized computer access- if they somehow managed to get that far- would end up with a full wipe, however. That would be rather inconvenient for its functionality. ¡°You people have such strange¡­ tech,¡± Runa commented. ¡°It¡¯s pretty cool, huh?¡± Juli commented. ¡°Too bad we can¡¯t show you the really good stuff. I¡­ probably shouldn¡¯t have even mentioned it.¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not unexpected that we have secrets yet unknown. But I would certainly avoid sharing any actual details. No offense, Runa, but it would make you a valuable target for the Exalted Quadrant.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± she said. ¡°I already have enough troubles. Though it might be nice if we could use some of this.¡± ¡°The Exalted Quadrant has started trying to make some tech, I think,¡± Velvet said. ¡°They haven¡¯t made it on any scale¡­ but if it becomes a problem, we can at least share an equal level to help you keep up with them. It¡¯s too much risk to do more than that.¡± ¡°I appreciate that very much. It¡¯s not like we¡¯ve ever done anything for you.¡± ¡°Maybe not your people as a whole, but you did. You supported me when I needed it,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Plus, I¡¯m still trying to get some new daggers,¡± she waggled her eyebrows. Obviously any considerations regarding tech would take place after she already had what she needed. That would just be for the sake of causing the Exalted Quadrant more trouble. ----- When they finally arrived at Yigora, they found it quite odd. It was a gas giant, but with no ring or moons. Nor did it have orbital cities of any sort. ¡°You know,¡± Runa said. ¡°I kind of made some assumptions about your ship¡­ but it can survive some pressure, right?¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°As long as we don¡¯t have to go into a star or the like it will be fine. Assuming we have full access to energy for the duration.¡± ¡°Obviously. Do you think our ships could withstand high pressure without upper energy? They¡¯d turn into a pile of splinters. Or pressboard.¡± As they got closer, Velvet was able to slip her senses through the thin barrier protecting the whole planet. There she saw an extremely strange sight. She thought it was odd for a gas giant to have no moons at all¡­ and it turned out to not entirely be true. It was simply that these moons were inside of it. Given that each internal moon had its own barrier protecting it, Velvet doubted it was entirely natural. Though perhaps it was a consideration for those below a certain level, she also figured that most terrestrial bodies would crumble apart under the pressure if unguarded. They did not approach the planet alone, but were escorted by the Spirit Slicing Sect. Otherwise, an unknown ship like them would most likely be assaulted, or at the very least very closely investigated. There was no point in risking any misunderstandings, as a single moment of misunderstanding could result in damage to the ship, and there was no good way to repair it within hundreds of lightyears. Juli¡¯s knowledge could only go so far- many parts simply couldn¡¯t be replicated without complex infrastructure. Instead, they smoothly approached one of the ¡®moons¡¯ that was orbiting around the center of the planet. According to Runa, that was the capital. Even with all she had already been through, Velvet found it a unique experience. No doubt there would be many people eager to inspect the formations that sustained various moons orbiting within a gas giant without losing momentum or being crushed or torn apart or any number of other things. It seemed like it would be an extravagant use of energy, but perhaps there were secret efficiencies that made it work. There were all sorts of tricks that formation masters could use, and Velvet only knew that she wasn¡¯t even close to understanding all of them. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. In the area of novelty, Yigora was more impressive than Xankeshan. It was like diving into a mystical sea and finding strange cities hidden in bubbles. But aside from the barriers protecting the cities, Velvet found it to be typical cultivator fare. Perhaps being part of an effort to smash apart the Citadel of Exalted Light had dulled her sense of wonder. No doubt the palaces were marvelous in their own luxury¡­ but Velvet had become accustomed to practical and widespread luxuries. The quality of her own accommodations on Xankeshan was not that many times better than the average person. There were also other issues that made everything feel outdated. Others were more impressed. Misi and Juli had seen the Scarlet Alliance, but they were still a few centuries younger and thus more easily impressed. And Yuval was only used to the style of the Scarlet Alliance, plus the border regions here in the Chaotic Conglomeration. They were much more sparsely populated and this place was packed with people. Probably less efficiently than Xankeshan, but either way its streets were stuffed with people. Their ship landed at a proper starport, and though it stood out as odd the style was still vaguely within cultivator aesthetics instead of the style of tech ships. It was meant to blend in as much as it could. Though there were only so many factors that could be accounted for, and the Chaotic Conglomeration wasn¡¯t the same as the Exalted Quadrant in terms of how they made their ships. When they stepped off the ship, Yuval¡¯s energy suddenly flared. Chidi grabbed him by the collar, yanking him back. ¡°Let me go!¡± Yuval complained. ¡°Didn¡¯t you sense-¡± ¡°I did,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Now tell me, are you going to fight an entire market full of people? Or the entire city? Or the entire Chaotic Conglomeration?¡± ¡°But- they¡¯re treating people like slaves!¡± ¡°Yes. And there are better ways to resolve that than slaughter.¡± ¡°... I could buy them all?¡± Yuval suggested. ¡°They would have a new lot in place by tomorrow,¡± Chidi shook his head. Yuval grit his teeth. ¡°How can you be so calm?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen many atrocities with my own eyes,¡± Chidi said. ¡°It¡¯s important to understand when and how you can make a difference.¡± ¡°But you don¡¯t even-¡± Yuval stopped himself. Chidi just shook his head, opening his empty eyelids with his head turned towards his brother. ¡°I know what I said. It¡¯s much easier to speak that way. Anyway, if you don¡¯t like this¡­ you need to convince people that there¡¯s something better. And for their own interests, not something nebulous and difficult to comprehend like ¡®righteousness¡¯.¡± Misi cleared his throat. ¡°I could prepare a speech on the efficiencies of a developmentally focused society?¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°I do believe we are several steps away from that being relevant here.¡± Yuval grimaced. ¡°Can¡¯t I do something?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Grow stronger. Become a relevant factor that people have to listen to.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t like it,¡± Yuval said, crossing his arms over his chest. ¡°Good. You should hold to your convictions. I am not saying to do nothing. Just make sure that you actually have a chance of success.¡± Velvet had little she could add to the conversation that Yuval and his brother hadn¡¯t already worked out. She paid attention to Durff¡¯s reaction¡­ and while he looked displeased, this was not the circumstance that hit closest to his heart. Personally, Velvet hadn¡¯t been planning any sort of widespread upheaval within the Conglomeration. They were a valuable target for the Exalted Quadrant and she didn¡¯t want Runa to be placed in danger. If she caused some sort of uprising or civil war, the Exalted Quadrant might take advantage and finally break their resistance. Though Velvet kept thinking about that whole situation and finding strange inconsistencies. If it was just one faction within the Exalted Quadrant they might have struggled¡­ but as a combined effort, why did they dedicate what seemed like so little to the war efforts? Maybe they had other problems she didn¡¯t know about. Velvet would love to find out about a secret enemy they were battling against. If only. Before they could continue onward, a young disciple of the prospect shapers approached the group. ¡°Honored cultivators. The Prospect Shapers wish to meet with you before you meet with the Serene Pill Society. You are currently available.¡± Velvet looked over at Runa. There had been no indication that the Prospect Shapers would be present locally- and Runa didn¡¯t seem to have had any foreknowledge either. ¡°There is no particular schedule for our current engagements,¡± Runa said. ¡°And none would begrudge giving some time to some elders of the Prospect Shapers.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°Then we will meet with them.¡± She hadn¡¯t failed to notice that the disciple had already declared that her own group was available, and not the Prospect Shapers. ¡°Should we go immediately?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± the disciple said. They made their way to an extravagant inn, where each room had privacy barriers. Velvet maintained her standard paranoia regarding areas she could not sense, but didn¡¯t attempt to pry- at least not until they reached their proper destination. Then, before stepping through, she probed beyond the barrier. ¡°These aren¡¯t random elders, are they?¡± she said, speaking to nobody in general. ¡°The Triumvirate is waiting,¡± the disciple inclined his head, opening the door and stepping to the side. ¡°They sound important,¡± Durff commented as he strode into the room first. ¡°Triumvirates are like¡­ people who always win, right? Like triumph?¡± ¡°If only it were like that,¡± said one of the three, a woman. ¡°But alas, it is impossible to always win.¡± Durff frowned. ¡°You just have to not lose.¡± ¡°Not all losses result in death. Even you have lost, have you not?¡± A second woman said. Durff tilted his head. ¡°Do you count training? Otherwise, not recently. But yeah.¡± The third was a wizened old man. ¡°None wish to lose. But there is always something to learn from failure, if one is willing. Welcome,¡± he said, addressing the group as a whole. ¡°We appreciate your joining us. We have important matters to discuss.¡± Chapter 1053 The room containing the Triumvirates had them sitting at one end of a round table, laden with food. Velvet noticed Chidi sniffing, though with his energy senses that shouldn¡¯t have been necessary to determine what food was available. For the most part, energy senses were more complete than vision. ¡°Please sit,¡± said one of the two women. ¡°I am Triumvirate Nasimiyu, and these are Gosia and Ardashir.¡± ¡°If any of you have particular requests,¡± said Ardashir, the only man of the three and clearly much older, ¡°We can certainly provide additional dishes to your taste.¡± Velvet sat opposite of the trio, given her position as leader of the excursion. She looked at the various options available on the numerous serving trays, some of which were suspiciously familiar. ¡°I doubt that will be necessary. Did you use your techniques to predict what we might like to eat?¡± Durff began scooping mixed meat and veggies onto his own place. He seemed like the sort who might demand meat alone, but he had already been conscious of the balance of nutrients his body needed even before he undertook advanced body tempering. Some cultivators just used their energy to replace deficiencies, and as long as they didn¡¯t care about the minor differences in bodily functionality, it really didn¡¯t matter. The second woman, Gosia, smiled at Velvet¡¯s question. ¡°Normally I would say something like perhaps. But I doubt you are not a fan of such mysteriousness. Any techniques we used were far more mundane.¡± ¡°So you¡¯ve been spying on us.¡± Nasimiyu shrugged. ¡°No more than you¡¯ve been spying on the Chaotic Conglomeration, I think. But I must say, it is quite unnecessary to try to predict such things with the use of complicated techniques. And perhaps quite unreliable, even as it pertains to the affairs of the strongest cultivators.¡± Velvet was not overly subtle about how she inspected the food she served herself for poison. It would be rather strange for these individuals to attempt to assassinate them, but she didn¡¯t want to get sloppy. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Misi finally asked the question on his mind- which was of course about one of the exotic fruits placed in the middle of the table. That was what the twins seemed to like most- novelty. And fruits that could be eaten on their own were one of the greatest sources of that. ¡°That is turtlefruit,¡± Gosia explained. ¡°You must pry open the ¡®shell¡¯ to reach the edible parts inside.¡± The twins had many more questions of the same sort which were answered during the course of the meal. Though Ardashir had mentioned there was much to discuss, the Triumvirate didn¡¯t immediately push them into action. Everything seemed designed to make them comfortable, which of course made Velvet uncomfortable. But the fact that they didn¡¯t hide what they were doing kind of made her relax again. Well, she was never going to be a great guest for people she hadn¡¯t known long term anyway. She decided to just accept what she felt. Finally, when everyone had eaten at least their first round, Ardashir began the actual discussion. ¡°I am certain that the seven of you are aware of your significance, even without the support of the Spirit Slicing Sect,¡± he said, inclining his head to Runa. ¡°Two Augmentation cultivators, four Integration cultivators with significant prospects, and¡­ one other,¡± he looked towards Chidi. ¡°What was it you named your stage? Negation?¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°Unique paths are quite rare, and even fewer are successful. But considering just the battlefields you have set foot upon in this last year, it is clear your path is more than successful. Which is good, because we need all the strength we can get.¡± ¡°Who is ¡®we¡¯, in this context?¡± Runa asked. ¡°The Chaotic Conglomeration,¡± Nasimiyu explained. ¡°You will be one of the first to hear this. We expect you will be discreet with what information you share.¡± Durff grunted. ¡°She¡¯d have to actually hear something first. Why bring us here?¡± He looked over at Velvet. ¡°Or should I not speak?¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°The table has no greater or lesser positions. I trust you to make your points as necessary.¡± ¡°As straightforward as we¡¯ve heard,¡± Gosia smiled. ¡°Very well. We need your help dealing with a surge in Exalted Quadrant activity that we have predicted.¡± Velvet considered what she knew. ¡°They¡¯ve suffered significant losses in the lower realms, and we¡¯ve taken out an Augmentation cultivator ourselves. Perhaps that alone is not enough to cripple the Exalted Quadrant, but as I understand it most of the recent conflicts have been victories on the side of the Conglomeration.¡± Durff seemed determined to finish all of the food on the table, one dish at a time. Though he didn¡¯t begin with anything the others seemed to favor, it was likely he could eat more than all others put together. ¡°We have been winning,¡± Nasimiyu agreed. ¡°Which is why we need to keep doing so. But we must also be prepared for the inevitable. Our predictions indicate that at some point in the near future, the Exalted Quadrant will press for the advantage, and if they are serious we have little hope of combating them.¡± ¡°Where have you heard this intel?¡± Runa asked. ¡°I wasn¡¯t informed of anything.¡± She looked peeved that the Spirit Slicing Sect hadn¡¯t been included. Gosia shook her head. ¡°Nobody has heard of anything. Our main source of information is the past.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Misi was suddenly excited. ¡°Were you reading through old documents, only to find that they had been altered to hide a secret cycle of betrayal?¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Before anyone could answer, Juli butted in. ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯d come to us as outsiders, since we¡¯re the only ones you can trust!¡± Nasimiyu raised both eyebrows. ¡°For how far off both of you are, you also aren¡¯t entirely incorrect. We were, in fact, looking through old records of the war. And while there isn¡¯t exactly a specific cycle, it is quite clear that the Exalted Quadrant isn¡¯t usually trying to win.¡± ¡°... Why have a war, then?¡± Durff asked. Chidi shook his head. ¡°For the same reason we¡¯re here, I suspect. To train their next generation of cultivators.¡± ¡°Precisely,¡± Ardashir confirmed. ¡°Of course, we don¡¯t have anything directly admitting that, but what we do know is that occasionally, when we are too advantaged, they mobilize greater forces and push us back, effectively resetting the war. Except they end up taking many of our resources as well.¡± Velvet thought for a while. ¡°I don¡¯t know if that would benefit them right now. Now more than ever they need the continual war for training, wouldn¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Ah, I see my words weren¡¯t quite clear. It isn¡¯t as if they sent a pair of Domination cultivators and wipe our forces clean off the planets. No, they just take a more serious posture, pushing us back over the course of decades. A sufficiently long time to train up a generation of warriors.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not going to be around for that long,¡± Velvet said. ¡°And there¡¯s only so much long term impact we can have before we must leave.¡± ¡°We understand that,¡± Ardashir said. ¡°But we also know that the Scarlet Alliance can provide us with additional information of use. If we could raise more Augmentation cultivators, we might stand a better chance. Enough to make them accept a lesser victory, at least. We understand that the Scarlet Alliance is open to sharing cultivation information, in the right circumstances.¡± ¡°That would depend upon what you can offer,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We can offer pretty much anything you might want. Exotic techniques, rare materials¡­ and of course we will also be keeping mutual enemies in check.¡± ¡°I want you to outlaw slavery,¡± Yuval said. He looked around at the others. ¡°What? Velvet said we were equals here, or whatever. Did that only apply to Augmentation cultivators?¡± Velvet just waited to see what the response would be from the Triumvirate. ¡°Unfortunately,¡± Nasimiyu said. ¡°That is not something we can necessarily offer. We do not speak for the whole of the Chaotic Conglomeration, we merely have the interests of all of us in mind. It¡¯s more of an alliance of convenience, so even if we had greater sway it would be quite an excessive use of political capital to even begin such a task.¡± Yuval nodded, carefully watching Velvet. Since she didn¡¯t stop him, he replied. ¡°Clearly two or five Augmentation cultivators isn¡¯t sufficient to convince you. So how many would it take? Because our methods are several times as reliable for advancement.¡± Velvet was fairly certain he didn¡¯t actually have specific data to back that up. Fortunately, Misi did. Or at least he spoke with that level of confidence. ¡°More than several. Eight to ten times as much per cultivator, and that¡¯s counting our entire population in the figure. We¡¯ve got not only our own experiences to rely upon but stolen guidance from the great factions around us. The Exalted Quadrant, the Trigold Cluster, and¡­ Everheart.¡± Juli grinned. ¡°Too bad we haven¡¯t got much on his path to Domination.¡± While it might seem like that admission would weaken their position¡­ implying that they did have some knowledge on his path to Domination was something serious. And not untrue, though Juli herself hadn¡¯t gotten her hands on any of it. She just knew that people had been there during the event. ¡°This is still a difficult request,¡± Gosia said. However, it was clear the Triumvirate were both surprised at the suggestion, and seriously considering it. ¡°A universal change would be nearly impossible to achieve. However, if you were willing to treat with particular factions, you might yet accomplish what you desire to some extent.¡± That was where Velvet felt obligated to speak. ¡°We¡¯d need a way to know that what information we shared was not spread beyond where it was intended.¡± ¡°You wish to monitor our activities?¡± Nasimiyu asked. ¡°That might be possible. But even if you had a number of mentors present, I doubt we could fully convince you that each and every one of us was upholding our bargain. And should a number of Augmentation cultivators develop without your additional guidance, we would prefer not to have the flow of information caught up if the circumstances are under suspicion.¡± ¡°An interesting admission,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We don¡¯t expect you to simply share an entire library¡¯s worth of information with us all at once,¡± the old man shook his head. ¡°And we are well aware that some of our sects are less than trustworthy. Even if all involved were following any restrictions to the letter, espionage is still possible. We would not wish that to influence the outcome. Perhaps we could offer something else. We have some idea of the resources various factions might be willing to exchange.¡± Yuval grimaced, but didn¡¯t say anything. Durff looked thoughtful as well, but he was well aware that not everyone liked hammers as much as him. Velvet considered for a while, trying to judge Chidi¡¯s reaction. He was the only one who could be considered of the same status within the Scarlet Alliance at the moment. Durff being an Augmentation cultivator would mean something, but without broader backing he was still just one man. And one who really didn¡¯t like politics and negotiations- more than Velvet, even. ¡°I don¡¯t think there is anything else you could offer,¡± Velvet said finally. ¡°Not if you wanted the full cooperation of the Scarlet Alliance.¡± There might be a few from older factions who might not care about slavery, though even most of them would have been won over by the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s style. And ultimately, when there were significant quantities of Integration cultivators about, slaves really weren¡¯t worth that much. They were inefficient for the vast majority of labor. ¡°We might be able to offer some lesser amount of information without,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But at some point, that would have to be the result.¡± There was of course a question of how such things would be monitored. If they had a permanent presence in the Chaotic Conglomeration, their association would be confirmed rather than suspected. And while that wasn¡¯t a terribly huge difference on its own, that would motivate the Exalted Quadrant to secure the further edges of its borders, such that circumventing them could end up impossible. Their ability to be everywhere and making sure there was no untowards exchanges of information would require far more people than the Scarlet Alliance could spare- or they would be far too weak to actually fulfill their duties. Furthermore, being hundreds of lightyears away from home, their own long term loyalty might fall into question. It was a difficult matter, and perhaps not something they could actually draw a hard line on. Either way, it would require years of negotiations. The Prospect Shapers didn¡¯t actually speak for the whole of the Chaotic Conglomeration, and even they weren¡¯t able to make that promise. Which meant much more complex faction by faction negotiations, most likely. Or some other compromise that others would be better qualified for. Velvet would need to get advice before actually going much further- and a simple exchange of information could take many months. Chapter 1054 While the Scarlet Alliance had a hardline stance on certain issues, their current association with the Chaotic Conglomeration showed they were willing to tolerate some things indirectly. Before they left the presence of the Prospect Shapers, however, they offered an alternative that they thought would be easier to convince the Conglomeration as a whole to agree to that would still be beneficial to the Scarlet Alliance. ¡°Given proper warning,¡± Ardashir said. ¡°We can provide military support for specific incidents. We are not so free as to send armies into the Exalted Quadrant whenever you wish, but the Prospect Shapers in specific can help coordinate future activities. If you wish to attempt future assaults like on the Citadel of Exalted Light¡­ our services might be helpful. Of course, we would also be enlisting others from the Conglomeration.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°I should also note that our sect also currently meets your other standards. And we can easily comply with your limitations on sharing information.¡± Velvet pondered. ¡°How much could you actually support a similar assault?¡± ¡°That would depend on the circumstances,¡± Gosia admitted. ¡°However, in a small group such as you used for that attack, you should not underestimate the value of a single valued manipulator of probability. For larger assaults, we could likely coordinate a sufficient number of cultivators to force a particular border faction to react with caution. Given our physical distance, we obviously can¡¯t provide backup within the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s territory.¡± ¡°It would also be difficult for us to enforce such favors,¡± Velvet pointed out. Nasimiyu spread out her hands. ¡°For that, you would have to trust us. Our sect will submit to any reasonable measures such as watchers placed among us. But we should not keep you longer. Your absences might be noticed, and the people of Yigora might think we plot against them.¡± ¡°Do you?¡± Velvet raised an eyebrow. ¡°We only want what is best for all of us. The Serene Pill Society is not antithetical to those ends. We are on good terms, and would prefer to stay that way.¡± That was something at least. ¡°Very well,¡± Velvet said. ¡°How should we remain in contact?¡± ¡°Your friend Runa should be able to pass along anything. Though we would appreciate having a duplicate of whatever method you use so that we can be contacted directly. Assuming that is something that you can do.¡± ¡°Such devices are rare enough that I don''t carry many around,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I am sure that as we work together we will devote proper resources to improve efficiency.¡± She had technically already provided Runa with updated devices- it was amazing what a few hundred years of developments would do. But giving older versions to the Prospect Shapers would be less secure, and she wasn¡¯t quite certain how much to trust them just yet. ----- The Serene Pill Society, in contrast to the meeting with the Prospect Shapers, was full of show and grandeur. While Velvet was certain that everything was quite expensive- including the lavish feast they provided for their guests- she was less interested in it. So were most of the rest of them. Durff certainly ate a lot of the food, though. Among the rest, Jyotsana was most likely to appreciate luxury¡­ and she seemed underwhelmed. The sect head of the Serene Pill Society was a relatively young woman named Nikitha. She focused the majority of her attention on Durff, Velvet, and Runa- the three obviously powerful cultivators. It wasn¡¯t unreasonable¡­ but the whole thing felt just like she was entertaining yet another set of powerful individuals, intending to gain something from the interaction- even if it wasn¡¯t necessarily in the immediate future. Velvet was very careful about what she consumed, though Chidi didn¡¯t seem to be concerned about anything and he was probably the best judge of the rest of them. Just because she doubted anything would directly harm them didn¡¯t mean that there could be no consequences whatsoever. Perhaps a slow-acting poison for which they were offered the antidote at great cost, or more likely some sort of subtly addictive drug that would subconsciously influence her attitude towards them. Inside of her stomach, Velvet subtly burned everything just in case. She would have warned Durff, but she was fairly certain he had to be resistant to ingested poisons to survive. And he was much more insightful than he looked. Ultimately, the entire affair stretched out over multiple days. Somewhere in the end, Misi expressed interest in seeing their pill production¡­ and Nikitha complied. There was a reason Velvet actually incinerated what she ate. She wasn¡¯t inherently distrustful of pill makers- there were countless legitimate uses of their abilities- but she was a bit suspect of those who would use slaves. They didn¡¯t even try to hide it. Some were better off than common laborers, working to extract materials and the like. However, others had to work with the more dangerous materials, and their safety equipment looked wholly inadequate. No doubt a few properly trained cultivators would be more efficient. Velvet kept a careful eye on Yuval, just in case. Given his parents, he had learned how to exhibit proper control in social situations- but within the Scarlet Alliance the worst thing he would face would generally amount to taunts. She didn¡¯t want to end up responsible for a rebellion. She did make notes on potential weaknesses, however. Just in case whoever was here in the future wanted to work on such a project. Velvet honestly didn¡¯t know who that would be, assuming they went through with any of the proposals. It would still be difficult to send anyone all the way around the Exalted Quadrant, and getting a sufficient number of qualified individuals would be even more problematic if they didn¡¯t intend to advertise the connection. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Maybe Velvet should have been content with befriending the Spirit Slicing Sect. She wasn¡¯t meant for diplomacy, regardless of how often she found herself needing to engage in it. ----- Watching Durff in action was in general quite fun. Cultivators rushed at him only to be crushed, quite literally. Sometimes that was individually, or as a group, or in a chain reaction where one person was knocked into the next and into the next, all piling up in a crater somewhere. But that was just how he was in standard combat. Velvet understood using a hammer to smash someone. She also understood how he was able to extend the area of his swing to target more people. But what she didn¡¯t understand were the more esoteric things. She didn¡¯t actually get to see him swing, because he was on the other side of the planet. They had been informed about an enemy compound that was being built up, fortified with grand formations. Misi had been eager to dismantle them, but Durff had declared he would deal with it himself. Velvet had come to watch¡­ but she soon realized he wasn¡¯t even heading for the facility. It was a repeat of something she¡¯d only seen once¡­ and she felt a slight shake as his energy passed through the planet. A huge chunk of earth was torn up as the entire compound was lifted into the air, barrier and all, then tossed into space where it drifted towards the local star. It would probably take several hours to actually reach it, but there wasn¡¯t anything they could do to stop it. They certainly tried, but Velvet followed after them secretly and watched their efforts. In theory, they should have been able to impart an equal amount of energy to stop their motion. In practice, the flight of their compound was nearly an unstoppable object. Though their velocities matched it, when they moved outside of the barrier to try to slow it down they found themselves flung away with great force. Velvet was willing to bet that if they were thinking properly and worked all together they could have managed it, but some of them chose to flee on whatever space-compatible ships were available- and others were trying to salvage whatever resources they had. She picked off small groups as they tried to return to the planet. In the end, she watched it sink into the sun with a satisfying plop. Her energy was barely able to resist annihilation from the star as she felt the last stages of the compound and its extremely durable barrier¡¯s journey. Durff probably still couldn¡¯t overcome the direct control Zaur had over his anchor, but he would be several times more effective with a similar attack regardless. He could probably at least cause some lasting damage if Zaur was distracted, which was more than Velvet could say. Though her specialty wasn¡¯t overpowering enemies, so she didn¡¯t really mind. Though technically very few enemies died that day, the morale implications of a few kilometer wide section of the planet flying off into the sun were significant for the Exalted Quadrant. Along with their other efforts, it brought them one step closer to seizing control of the current planet. It would be the fifth that their group was in large part responsible for tilting the balance in as many years. ----- If they were willing, their group could have stayed on the battlefield constantly. Some of them nearly did that. Chidi, Jyotsana, and Yuval in particular focused on the battlefield. Durff split his time between mining, which he had come to enjoy, and battle. The twins focused on their exchange of information. The time was coming when they would be returning to the Scarlet Alliance. The few exchanges of messages indicated that the Scarlet Alliance was willing to try some greater offering of cultivation advice, but the details were still being worked on. Perhaps nothing would happen for a few decades, and while sooner would be better so that there was time to grow it was still within the Prospect Shapers projected timeframe. ----- One day, Runa was acting very suspicious. The most suspicious part was how she tried not to look suspicious. But Velvet did her best not to let on she knew something was happening. It wasn¡¯t the bad sort of suspicious. It wasn¡¯t like she suspected her longtime friend was going to capture her and hold her hostage in exchange for all the knowledge of the Scarlet Alliance- especially since the Spirit Slicing Sect would simply have access to curated parts that would be most helpful for them. No, Runa was happy about something. And while she doubtless meant to make Velvet wait for whatever it was, she herself became impatient somewhere around mid-day. ¡°I know you¡¯re leaving soon,¡± Runa said. ¡°And you¡¯re still disappointed that the void ore production is more than a decade away from our promised fulfillments. But¡­¡± Runa pulled from her storage bag a dagger and sheath together. ¡°I managed to convince some people to let you step ahead.¡± Velvet had been hoping for something like that, and she couldn¡¯t stop her smile from spreading. ¡°Thank you!¡± she said with great sincerity. ¡°It was extremely helpful to have my other one. I¡¯ll take good care of this one, I swear.¡± ¡°You¡¯d better!¡± Runa said. ¡°We can¡¯t replace these every couple centuries just because you¡¯re my friend, you know!¡± Then she grinned widely as she suddenly pulled out another one. ¡°And since you usually fight with two daggers at once, you¡¯ll have to be double careful. Or you can keep it as a backup, but I¡¯ll be mad if you break another one either way.¡± Velvet took the dagger¡¯s twin. Expertly balanced, and identical in all but slight engravings on the handle. She placed them next to each other, and saw the lines merge into an image of two women embracing. ¡°I hope you did not use too much political capital on my part,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I will remember this forever.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°I think you deserved it. You¡¯ve been a friend, even from afar, and you helped me so much. Besides, with the help of your friends everyone is still getting their promised materials sooner than they expected, so cutting in line a little,¡± she shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll make good use of them,¡± Velvet said. ¡°If I can, I¡¯ll stab your least favorite Domination cultivator for you even.¡± ¡°Eh. I haven¡¯t met any, so take your pick,¡± Runa said. ¡°I would like to be there to see it, but I¡¯m all the way over here, so¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll take a recording,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Or you could come visit. Though that¡¯s not a good time for Domination cultivator stabbing.¡± ¡°I wish I could,¡± Runa said. ¡°But you know. Obligations to the sect and such. The war isn¡¯t going to just go away on its own.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°No, it won¡¯t.¡± But maybe she could help. Trying to end the war¡­ was a bit outside of her reach for the next handful of centuries or more. But providing enough relief that Runa could slip away might be possible. She¡¯d like to show her friend the Scarlet Alliance- and hopefully by then there would be fewer secrets necessary. Chapter 1055 Unsurprisingly, there were many messages waiting for Anton when he came out of his state of meditation. Yet nothing had been urgent enough to disturb him by sending something to his emergency communicator, so that was good. He was surprised, even at himself. The fatigue he¡¯d felt wouldn¡¯t have been enough to put him out of commission for what was apparently well over a decade. Though it was somewhat close, as he¡¯d used everything he had. Instead, he¡¯d been overwhelmed with insights that he had to digest. His successful use of Constellation Shot to take down a Domination cultivator still felt almost like a dream, but he knew it to be real. And while he would like to say he could replicate it, it wasn¡¯t really close. The situation had been quite exceptional, and repeating the task wouldn¡¯t be easy. Then again, he doubted any Domination cultivators would be so brash as to step foot in the lower realms again. Maybe in another six hundred years at the end of the next cycle¡­ but by then Anton fully expected to be more than they could ever bargain for. And if they forced themselves into the lower realms without the benefit of the tides, even if Anton couldn¡¯t take them alone the Lower Realms Alliance certainly could. He took in the total losses reported with proper dignity. He¡¯d have to go pay his respects to the fallen. But for the moment he should get out of this star and stretch his old body. What was notable? Crossed Antennae wished to establish new colonies in the upper realms, somehow. Velvet had gone to visit the Spirit Slicing Sect and was in negotiations with the Chaotic Conglomeration. Rebuilding was¡­ almost finished. Anton rather wanted to participate in some of that process, but he was sure people would forgive him for his absence. Everheart somehow took over numerous systems within the territory of the major factions and even co-opted some of their cultivators. That wasn¡¯t emergency news because¡­ well, everyone expected that he was alive still. And doing another crazy thing that was primarily damaging to the Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster was only a matter of indirect concern. Anton doubted that Everheart could even have proper allies- though perhaps the minions working for him might count. Rahayu certainly seemed to get along with him just fine. Ultimately, he was less of a threat than the great powers. Not because he wasn¡¯t dangerous- he might even be more dangerous- but because they could simply stay out of his way and they would be fine. The Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t exactly up and move away from the others. Though if he suggested it Catarina would probably try to figure out how to make that work. Taking in a proper assessment of himself, Anton found his cultivation advanced two steps while he was in his trance. That placed him at one hundred and seventy-one stars. Though he hadn¡¯t bound all of those, both old and new stars. He was closer to a hundred bound stars, especially with replacing his first one hundred stars being a more lengthy process. Anton reached out towards his stars, gently pulling on the connections between them and himself. He¡¯d have to restrict himself to more reasonably sized attacks for the near future. Maybe he would make use of ten or twenty stars to form a bow, but the full number he had circling around the lower realms was far too much. He¡¯d have to find a good way to practice without alarming people too much as well. ----- Frankly, Anton thought his timing was pretty good. Nothing terrible had happened while he was in his state of enlightenment. It was about the time he woke up that he heard secondhand news of war in the Trigold Cluster. For their purposes, that was a good thing. The full details were not complete, but it was clear enough that it was in relation to the Twin Soul Sect. The loss of a Domination cultivator- hopefully their only Domination cultivator- was a serious blow that would reduce their influence significantly. Frankly, if they were so afraid of death they should have minded their own business. What was the point of creating a reincarnation based technique and then provoking people who would then want to wreck that process? Honestly, some people just thought they could do whatever they wanted without consequences. And they were probably right, until someone like Anton came along and became those consequences. Of course, it wasn¡¯t just Anton. It was the peoples of the lower realms and the Scarlet Alliance. They were causing a great change in their slice of the galaxy. Anton only hoped there were others doing the same sort of thing beyond where they had explored. The widespread influence of the Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster had forced a certain view of what cultivators were on many worlds, but that would not be true everywhere. ----- ¡°How did you do that?!¡± Three Squeaks said when Anton stopped by Akrys. ¡°I believe the answer should appear fairly straightforward,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°You felt it. But unfortunately, explaining exactly how the threads of connection between the stars formed is beyond my current understanding. You should be able to create the basic form, however. You just need a few basic stars close enough to string together.¡± There were additional complexities that couldn¡¯t be put into words. Anton could only demonstrate, and so he did. But really, it was simple archery¡­ at a larger scale. All he needed was sufficient power, and a proper target. Of course, that was the difficult part, but calling drawing upon stars certainly helped. ----- Anton went around, checking on each and every one of his stars. He was under no illusions that he was powerful enough to destroy a star on his own just yet, but he could have caused them lingering injuries of a sort. Being physically present allowed him to get the best possible picture of the energy flow within them, and if it was off somehow it would allow him to correct it. The whole point of Enrichment was that his bound stars should grow stronger because of the connection he had made to them. He wasn¡¯t simply going to treat them as a limitless energy source. Especially since they weren¡¯t limitless. It was simply an amount of energy beyond most comprehension that seemed to last forever. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. And compared to Anton, the stars probably would. Even as a cultivator, his lifespan would probably be¡­ well, he wasn¡¯t a thousand years old just yet but he wasn¡¯t that far either. Maybe he would make it a few thousands when all was said and done, if he hadn¡¯t ruined himself with Candle Wax. Detecting a specific lifespan wasn¡¯t simple, but Anton didn¡¯t want his life to be infinite. It would set a bad example for everyone else. Fortunately, Anton hadn¡¯t caused too much destabilization. But some of the stars probably lost a few million years, which wasn¡¯t great. Maybe he was thinking too long term, but Anton really wanted to create a good environment for future generations. And maybe that included stars, though he was still a little bit understudied on star formation. Having shoved a few things together to boost stars hardly counted. Maybe he would need to start with something less. That sounded like a large project that he should think about carefully, however. So he settled for stabilizing each of his stars. He wanted to improve their performance, but he didn¡¯t even know what metric he wanted. Energy output? That would shorten their lifespan, but it was also the practical thing they gave. He tried not to perform too much modification, going with his gut to bring things back to where he thought they should be. Where they felt right. That was of course an entirely improper metric to use, but as a cultivator certain insights allowed for that result. Of course, some people might disagree on what was right, since that might be what gave them the most power. But Anton thought that was a bit silly, since it usually meant they were a little bit stronger and hated by ten times as many people before they died. He should really have a chat with Everheart, if he ever came back to the lower realms. That guy had some issues he needed to work through. ----- There had been precisely one in person interaction between Anton and the people of Xicil, long in the past. Just before the end of the cycle, he had left a note for the desert planet. He took his time approaching, and was quite pleased when he was met by the same fellow as long before, Bishan. He had placed a table with slightly more potent snacks outside of one of their entrances to their underground civilization. It had been several centuries since they properly saw each other, as Anton had tried not to draw attention to the planet. However, this was the best opportunity they would have as the upper realms was quite occupied. They didn¡¯t have any attention to devote to the lower realms. ¡°We meet once again,¡± the man bowed his head. He considered Anton for a few moments. ¡°Your power has improved even further, mighty one.¡± The local dialect had shifted slightly further, as the planet remained cut off from the outside worlds. But every word was still recognizable- and cultivators living longer tended to solidify language according to their familiar patterns. ¡°I don¡¯t need any fancy titles,¡± Anton reminded him. ¡°Anton is perfectly fine. I see your cultivation has advanced as well. You appear to have managed a form of Worldbinding.¡± Bishan nodded. ¡°It seemed like the most logical choice. I have no intention of roaming far and wide. And more than simply staking a domain, Xicil is my inspiration.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Anton said. ¡°I would hate for you to have limited yourself unnecessarily. Now then, we have much to discuss. Previously, I kept interactions minimal according to the desires of Xicil. Now, however, we come to an opportunity. Previously, there was only so much I could convey at once. There are several options available to Xicil.¡± ¡°I would hear them,¡± Bishan said stoically. ¡°First, you can remain hidden. Though I must ask if you have had more ships wander through the system.¡± ¡°A few,¡± Bishan admitted. ¡°Our formations keep the energy signature of the planet small, however.¡± ¡°A reasonable choice,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Beyond continued isolation, this is the best time to offer other alternatives, since we have just recently been victorious.¡± ¡°You have cleared some planets from the influence of the upper realms?¡± Bishan asked. ¡°We did that long ago,¡± Anton said. ¡°No, this time we won everything. The entire invasion, every planet for several hundred lightyears in any direction, every point of entry resulted in the utter defeat of the upper realms.¡± Technically, that was a slight exaggeration. Not regarding the results in the Lower Realms Alliance, but the Shining Cooperative and former Trigold factions to their east had some worse results. That said, the overall result of the war was their victory. ¡°Oh yes,¡± Anton added, ¡°One of their Domination cultivators died. That is the second stage after Ascension, as you may not have encountered that specific terminology.¡± Bishan studied him carefully. ¡°Did you kill that one? I felt something akin to your energy coming from nearby systems, some decades ago. A powerful surge that continued to echo for some time.¡± ¡°I finished him off,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I extended myself quite far to manage that.¡± Technically, he¡¯d done the vast majority of the work himself¡­ but it was only because of the support of others that he felt confident focusing on Sudin directly. ¡°That brings me to the second option. Our Lower Realms Alliance is quite powerful. Would you like to join us? You can grow even further than we¡¯ve seen¡­ and once you have others beyond Life Transformation you will be relatively safe even once you are known.¡± Bishan thought for a few moments. ¡°An interesting offer. I must assume you vouch for the rest of the Alliance and their intentions.¡± ¡°Clearly,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you wish, I could show you- or others- more about what we are. And that brings us to the third option, which is to remain separate save for any who ascend to the upper realms. There, they could join the ranks of us who have ascended as well. Our methods to draw in particular individuals have improved¡­ though of course it will take more prolonged interaction to connect your people to that system.¡± Bishan nodded. ¡°As you know, we seek security over power¡­ but power can lead to the same. What are the chances of one of us growing as strong as yourself?¡± ¡°I must admit it is rather small,¡± Anton said. ¡°Though it is possible for one who is born in the near future to reach the same stage in the centuries before the next cycle. And if you were to join us, we would provide not only opportunities in trade and knowledge, but mutual defense.¡± ¡°I think we have hidden ourselves too long,¡± Bishan said. ¡°I must still consult with the rest of my people about how we might continue.¡± ¡°I can leave a proper communication device,¡± Anton said. ¡°I didn¡¯t before, as the connection could theoretically be traced. Though it should only be possible within our alliance,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°These fruits are quite good,¡± he said. There were quite a variety of fruits from various sorts of succulents, including cacti. All things that did well on the arid planet. ¡°I noticed that the visual of our surroundings have changed to appear more natural, but clearly you implemented improved techniques.¡± ¡°That was thanks to your inspiration,¡± Bishan said. ¡°But I¡¯m sure people would be interested to hear more.¡± ¡°Then it will be done,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have learned much since last time.¡± Chapter 1056 Though she might have liked to stay longer, Velvet didn¡¯t let her team linger in the Chaotic Conglomeration. There had been several clear attempts to take them out, and the more their presence was known the greater the risk would be. It was too greedy to push for anything more, as Durff¡¯s advancement to Augmentation was already a rare enough event. As for the further cooperation between them and the Scarlet Alliance, that was something that would be worked out in the future. With faster and more secure communication, they could negotiate such things over the next few years. A reasonable portion of their sects already fit within the boundaries the Scarlet Alliance considered acceptable, and they weren¡¯t worried that the Chaotic Conglomeration would somehow use any knowledge given against the Scarlet Alliance- there was the whole of the Exalted Quadrant in between, after all. The only risk would be if the Exalted Quadrant conquered them or otherwise stole the information. A good portion of it wouldn¡¯t benefit them, but there were always weaknesses to be found in information. The return trip carefully avoided taking precisely the same route, even though most of it was through effectively empty territory. It was better to not get into habits that could be exploited, and they couldn¡¯t know for certain how many people had noticed small details about their trip on the way over. Those small things could build up into useful leads, Velvet knew that very well. She imagined she would find herself returning to the Chaotic Conglomeration sooner than not. However, there were things she needed to be present to properly relay. But she wanted to keep her promise to Runa to show her the Scarlet Alliance. She couldn¡¯t say if it would be in one decade or two, perhaps even a century, but it would happen. There were simply so many things that had to be figured out. ----- Uzun tended to show new developments to Catarina, not because she couldn¡¯t find out about them elsewhere but because he was proud of what had been accomplished by himself and the tech focused teams. They coordinated on a lower level to ensure that duplicate projects weren¡¯t undertaken- at least not without clear intent- but as they had continued to expand beyond Xankeshan the sheer volume of projects made it difficult for Catarina to stay informed on each and every one. Not unless she wanted to spend half of her day reading up on things, which would be necessary even at cultivator-accelerated rates. So she mostly waited for things to be brought to her attention, unless she needed something specific. There were so many advancements in all walks of life involving technology and its combinations with enchantments and formations, but Catarina kept her own focus. She did put in the time to keep up with even the smallest developments in the field of formations. Some techniques were actually better by the majority of conceivable metrics, while others had tradeoffs in efficiency and security which greatly changed which fields they were valuable in. ¡°I haven¡¯t heard much about big projects from you lately,¡± Catarina said. ¡°What is it you¡¯re here to show me?¡± ¡°Well,¡± Uzun said. ¡°With that whole invasion thing finally over and done with, we were finally able to do some proper testing around the border. The one with the lower realms, I mean. I¡¯m pleased to say, it works.¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you¡¯ve explained what it is.¡± ¡°Right, right,¡± he said, leading them into a hangar. ¡°What I meant is this. The ART.¡± ¡°Looks like a ship to me,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Is it meant to symbolize something?¡± ¡°It stands for All Realms Traversal,¡± he pointed out. ¡°Ah,¡± Catarina recalled hearing about the beginning of the project some centuries ago. ¡°And what sort of specifications has it reached?¡± ¡°Well,¡± Uzun waved his arm broadly. ¡°This one is capable of transporting one hundred individuals across the border between the upper and lower realms. We based the work off of the much smaller pods designed for the void ants. In essence, it¡¯s capable of interstellar travel entirely on the basis of technology- no formations or need for redundant systems when swapping between the upper and lower realms. It¡¯s¡­ extremely limited in cargo capacity. And it doesn¡¯t do anything to support people,¡± he shrugged. ¡°But it works.¡± ¡°What does that last part mean?¡± Catarina raised an eyebrow. ¡°I assume it must be safe, at least.¡± ¡°Yes, of course,¡± Uzun said, activating a ramp that brought them into the relatively compact ship. ¡°It just can¡¯t replicate the smoothing effect of the Tides. Thus, anyone going from the upper realms to the lower realms will rapidly find their energy diminishing. They¡¯ll have to undergo their own adaptations. Likewise, it doesn¡¯t protect people from the crushing density of upper energy if they come from the lower realms. It¡¯s also quite expensive, and doesn¡¯t transport many people. Though¡­¡± he shrugged. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t expect that many people to want to make the trip.¡± ¡°Except perhaps every ascender with family in the lower realms,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Or anyone curious about the other realm.¡± ¡°... Right. But practically, there are only a few reasons one would need to traverse between realms.¡± Uzun shook his head. ¡°We are working on cargo capacity so we don¡¯t have to rely on ascenders for materials, but sufficiently quick interstellar travel without any tinge of cultivation is not a simple task. Fortunately we were able to form some of the rarer materials with energy, it just can¡¯t require any form to run. Oh, the fuel is another problem. It can¡¯t just siphon off a nearby star.¡± Catarina nodded, looking at the various systems, feeling them with her energy. Most of them were far beyond her level of tech understanding, and she was far above the average knowledge of such things, given she worked with overlap technology. ¡°So is it actually ready, or just in the prototype stage?¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Could I, for example, take this ship to the lower realms right now?¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯d need to finish downloading the data from its systems,¡± he said. ¡°And unless you want to go somewhere very specific, you¡¯d need someone to bring fuel to you. But yes. Why?¡± She smiled. ¡°I could visit my grandfather. And other family. Chidi and Yuval would probably like to meet him, as well.¡± ¡°You could have done that before,¡± Uzun said. ¡°We¡¯ve had working options for some time. Just¡­ even smaller and less practical.¡± ¡°The timing is also important,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°We¡¯re up an Augmentation cultivator, and with the Trigold Cluster distracted I actually feel like I don¡¯t have to be waiting for battle literally all the time.¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°Why is it here instead of near the border?¡± ¡°Because we don¡¯t have secure facilities out there,¡± Uzun reminded her simply. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you can bring a ship with plenty of fuel to escort you to the border.¡± ¡°I would also have to consider my storage bags and literally everything else I have on me,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Uzun agreed. ¡°All of that stuff could stop functioning. It¡¯s not for casual trips, but we have guidelines available.¡± ¡°I also have to consider the risks. What if it gets stolen somehow?¡± ¡°Well, in that case you can say that the lack of energy shift protection is a feature. If, say, a Domination cultivator used one to traverse to the lower realms¡­ their energy loss would be just as much as the same amount of time flying under their own power. Except for the actual travel part, but you know what I mean. It¡¯s not impossible for cultivators to cross from the upper side on their own. Just highly risky, as they effectively shed a great portion of their power. The border would be a completely null area where they are constantly drained, and then they¡¯d have to swap over to lower energy adaptation. And again, all of their enchanted gear would stop working.¡± ¡°The other direction would be less problematic for the traveler, though,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And we trust literally everyone beyond Life Transformation from the lower realms. Enchantments and formations still have issues functioning on upper energy, though.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t really notice the former part,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°Ah, well, proper ascension is kind of an exception. It rewires things to some extent.¡± ¡°Ah yes,¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°That was on my list of phenomena to study.¡± ¡°We actually have quite a bit more information now,¡± Uzun said. ¡°There¡¯s something special about the one direction.¡± ¡°Now I have to wonder if people can Descend. I don¡¯t know if we could get anyone willing to try that, though.¡± ¡°It¡¯s more than a bit risky,¡± the engineer agreed. ¡°But there are more than a few quirky individuals. Someone might try eventually.¡± ----- It took Anton some time to finally return to Maheg. He figured that the star wouldn¡¯t notice a few extra years, after the various decades. And whether it did or not, it greeted him upon his arrival exactly as enthusiastically as it had before. The star had grown far more gentle with its energy. It was more than capable of not incinerating things- otherwise it wouldn¡¯t be so good at growing things. Speaking of which, their combined moon was doing great. They had split it into sides not to divide things in particular but just because it gave them somewhere for each to work as they pleased. Maheg¡¯s side was almost fully covered now, courtesy of the extra years it had. Plus, Maheg didn¡¯t sleep or rest at any point. Anton got back to work himself. He didn¡¯t need to do anything, but he liked to fiddle around with things, and he could help their attempted recreations to grow. No doubt half of what they grew was some form of weir mutants they had put together instead of the original plants, but there was only so much that could be done with the remnants they had found on the planets. He noticed that some of the sensors had logged an event while he was gone, so he idly looked at the video. He was quite surprised to see invaders- they hadn¡¯t expected anyone to make it so far south, and especially not to enter the system. He also watched as, in his interpretation, Maheg first tried to greet the intruders then gently warned them off when they started trying to take everything. And then they had been annihilated. Any traces of the damage had faded. It was somewhat frightening¡­ but also exactly the sort of thing Anton would have expected. And he himself might have been less patient, as he better understood humans. He wouldn¡¯t have needed nearly as long to discern their intent. It was a worthy topic of discussion. Words weren¡¯t much good with vast balls of plasma, but he could still convey meaning through emotions and other feelings, some of which Maheg shared. The process was slow. Anton ultimately expressed that he agreed the particular people had been enemies and approved of the results, though he tried to convey continued caution going into the future. Maheg seemed to understand. In return, it explained its actions. It wasn¡¯t merely that they were taking without permission- and more relevantly scouring the land instead of properly extracting a few things- but also that they did so from Anton¡¯s side. Maheg was more concerned about Anton¡¯s effort and losses than what happened to things of its own. After that thought was resolved, Maheg slowly reached out to convey one more idea. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Anton said, mostly to himself. Though he did try to convey himself. ¡°I did say I would consider the bond after the war.¡± Anton projected as much as he could a feeling of patience. He needed greater understanding, perhaps several centuries worth, before he was confident in bonding to the sentient star. He didn¡¯t want either of them to risk their health and safety. Maheg accepted his plan as easily as if Anton had proposed waiting for a day. And maybe that was the case, from a certain perspective. Maheg had only been conscious for a tiny portion of its existence, but it certainly seemed to feel little of the passage of time. Anton had much to consider about the linking of stars. If he connected too many before Maheg, he would risk greater side effects. But he knew that a bond with a unique entity such as it would be more difficult to accomplish than any random star- or even more special stars like Azun. But Anton knew he could only do his best, relying on his insights- and the advice of others, as they all had different perspectives. That was what the best part of people was. Chapter 1057 Akrys simply happened to be the closest planet to the northern border. Thus, that was where the incoming ship would end up first. It had nothing to do with humans considering many of the inhabitants of the world adorable. No, that was merely a secondary benefit. Though Catarina could already feel Anton, he was not the one to come to officially welcome them. That was left to the locals, and in particular Three Squeaks. They had with them a few ascended locals, including the eagle Echoing Cry and Mauled-by-Wolves- the first tortoise to ascend from among them. Once it had become practical to actually make the trip, Catarina hadn¡¯t been able to get it out of her mind. However, she had managed some amount of patience, which she rather needed to given her station. She was one of the councilors of the Scarlet Alliance, after all. And she would be bringing with her several more. For the moment, that was just family- Timothy, Alva, and Chidi- but most likely some of the others would visit soon enough. Though Catarina likely wouldn¡¯t be with them, as disappearing too frequently from the eye of the upper realms might draw attention. She could be gone for a few years without anyone noticing- she¡¯d actually spent that long in the secure labs a few times, sleeping there and being brought food. But too frequently, and people might begin to look. A tiny little creature with a similarly tiny bow strapped across his back flew up to their ship. His natural energy, however, was far less modest than his physical stature. His energy spread over the ship. ¡°Akrys welcomes you. Some are returning, others will be visiting for the first time, but we are glad for all.¡± The ship was large enough to have a proper communications officer, though in general the captain would have responded if there wasn¡¯t one. It wasn¡¯t Catarina¡¯s job at all, as she was merely a passenger. There were some flowery words said in return, and then they continued on towards the planet. Pictures and video didn¡¯t do Akrys justice. Even though their early technological advancements were guided by humans, Akrys had completely different styles all mashed together. The Lower Plains in particular was quite a sight. Nature was infused into the city, but it was a clear population center. As they passed the planetary barrier and descended, everyone on board got a good look at the various styles. The one feature that all of them had was sturdy. Not so much for defensive purposes, but rather because there were many members of their population that needed it. Not every building was made to accommodate elephants, but most could at least fit a hippo. They ranged in style from very human looking buildings with glass windows to large adobe structures, no doubt reinforced with special techniques. Some buildings seemed to have places to climb around on the outside- or to fly in. There were also some buildings connected to the river flowing through the center of city¡­ and some small ones built into the trees scattered throughout the numerous forested areas. Nothing was wild or untamed, however. Plants and trees were simply part of the plan, providing room for many smaller individuals like the insects. No doubt when they got closer, void ants would be apparent as well. Much closer, unless one had particularly good eyes. There were some formalities to undergo at the starport. Their arrival couldn¡¯t be kept entirely secret, but neither was it advertised. They couldn¡¯t exactly hide a bundle of ascension cultivators, however. Their ship was registered in the lower realms with different information set up ahead of time, just to obfuscate things if there were any spies. Though Akrys was the least likely place to have any of those. Anton was waiting outside as they disembarked, and before Catarina could say anything, Alva scurried up to him. ¡°Nice shot,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°You know which one.¡± ¡°It could have been the one I did from here,¡± he pointed out. ¡°Well¡­ true,¡± Alva admitted, recalling their exchange across the border. ¡°But I meant the other one.¡± ¡°Some people would say it was more than nice,¡± Anton grinned. ¡°Fine. It was world shatteringly impressive,¡± Alva shrugged. ¡°Is that better?¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Anton said. ¡°Honestly, kids these days. No respect for their elders.¡± ¡°You¡¯re like¡­ one eighth older than me!¡± Alva grumbled. ¡°You only say that because you look old.¡± Anton placed a hand over his heart. ¡°You wound me.¡± He looked towards the others, smiling. ¡°It is good to lay eyes upon you again. Or for the first time, properly.¡± He grabbed Alva and pulled her into a hug, while looking towards the others. ¡°You¡¯re even more impressive in person, grandfather,¡± Chidi commented. He used the same manner of address as his mother and aunt, because it was easier than every generation bothering to figure out how many ¡®greats¡¯ there were to Anton¡¯s technical relation. ¡°Recordings don¡¯t do you justice.¡± ¡°The same for you,¡± Anton replied. ¡°I could almost cut myself on your aura. A match for Chikere¡¯s, as distinct as you are.¡± Yuval burned with fire, clearly trying to be as impressive as possible as he clasped his fist. ¡°I greet grandfather.¡± ¡°I am pleased to see you as well. I heard you have great concern for all people. I admire that.¡± ¡°We should probably get out of the way,¡± Timothy pointed out. Mauled-by-Wolves was very slowly coming down the ramp behind the rest. ¡°We can talk as we walk.¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ----- At the first available opportunity, the morning after everyone settled in properly after their journey, Anton took Alva up into space for some practice. ¡°It¡¯s not really a fair competition,¡± she grumbled. ¡°You¡¯re strongest here and I¡¯m¡­ thin.¡± She waved her energy around, sweeping through the natural energy. ¡°It¡¯s been so long since I¡¯ve actually dealt with this.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good enough for our purposes,¡± Anton said. ¡°Now we can properly sync up our energy usage. Pick a target and I¡¯ll match you.¡± Alva nodded. ¡°Sure. Just have to sense something.¡± She stretched out her energy. They had only been immersed in natural energy for a few days, so she was constantly adapting. Finally, she found a decent asteroid and took a shot. The spirit arrow faded away the instant it left her bow, appearing at her target the next instant and puncturing a hole through the asteroid and out the other side. ¡°See if you can beat that, huh?¡± Anton took his time focusing. He carefully measured the amount of energy she had used, then took his shot. His arrow was formed of light and arrived but a few moments later, piercing through subspace. It flew through where her arrow had precisely perpendicular, creating a hole the same dimensions and meeting in the middle of the asteroid. Then it looped around and came in from the ¡®top¡¯, connecting from the third dimension as well. ¡°Fancy,¡± Alva said. ¡°But kinda slow.¡± The old man spread his arms wide. ¡°You got me on that. I do not have the proper spatial insights to cut away so much distance.¡± Alva puffed up, knowing he spoke the truth. It was good to actually be better at something. Even though she knew that he could outdistance her by¡­ at least a few hundred lightyears, apparently. Ten or twenty if he was going for consistency. The two of them could have easily remained there for days, but other people wanted some of Anton¡¯s time¡­ and they also had some business to cover. ----- ¡°You said you had thoughts about the Chaotic Conglomeration?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Not quite. I said we had thoughts,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Others in the lower realms will no doubt have further opinions, but I¡¯m quite fine to bring the first opportunity.¡± He held out his palm. ¡°Though it is actually the Great Queen who had an idea.¡± ¡°Oh? Tell me more,¡± Catarina looked down at the not-so-tiny ant. ¡°The Chaotic Conglomeration has many issues,¡± the Great Queen signed with her antennae and forelimbs. ¡°You trust some of their members, but have not had the time nor manpower to vet the rest. The Chaotic Conglomeration also has trouble with their war, and keeping their fighting population fit. I propose a solution for both issues.¡± ¡°And what is that?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Simple. Along with whoever else you choose, send my daughter and her brood. Crossed Antennae, of course. Fearsome Mandibles is quite happy here, and displacing her would be unnecessary.¡± Chidi was actually doing his best to read her movements by the gaps in energy- and with the Great Queen¡¯s size, it was actually easier than the other void ants he had encountered. His face twitched when he heard her proposal. ¡°That seems¡­ extremely dangerous.¡± ¡°Only if anyone knows they are there,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Though we would need to inform a few individuals. However, I am not proposing that the void ants fight on the frontline. No, that would merely draw in an extermination. Instead, we would act as spies. It is not difficult to fit a sizable population in human cities or even cultivation sects without being noticed. We could remain in secret after planets were taken¡­ or if there was some threat equivalent to extermination of the Chaotic Conglomeration, we could fight alongside them. If the Exalted Quadrant was doing it anyway¡­¡± she gave the equivalent of a shrug. ¡°It carries some risks,¡± Anton said. ¡°But it is a potential solution. I would add it to your other options. I don¡¯t believe the potential value of the Chaotic Conglomeration can be ignored any longer.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll admit,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We would have never thought of that. I must also say that it would take a long time to get permission from the council.¡± ¡°Screw those guys,¡± the Great Queen signed succinctly. ¡°They can bar us from Scarlet Alliance space if they¡¯re afraid of us, but Crossed Antennae should be allowed to go where she pleases.¡± Timothy stroked his chin. ¡°Have you actually discussed this with her?¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± the Great Queen admitted. ¡°But I know she wishes to return to the upper realms. And not somewhere the void ants would be alone.¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°Very well. It¡¯s definitely worth considering. Though the end of the cycle and thus the purge of the border systems is still fresh in people¡¯s minds.¡± ¡°Not near the Conglomeration, though,¡± Catarina said. ¡°It might work. But we would need to convince enough of their leaders that they don¡¯t see it as some sort of attack. Not that they could easily retaliate against us, but they could harm anyone who was teaching locally. And that would be more than a few people if we wanted to provide value in a short time.¡± ¡°A risk, yes,¡± the Great Queen agreed. ¡°But should the void ants be discovered¡­ they could simply be purged.¡± When everyone looked at her with horror, ¡°Obviously just some token population while all of those with personality fled. Crossed Antennae would never forgive me if her royal guard perished. Remember that just because void ants can all become people doesn¡¯t mean we necessarily are.¡± It was a step or two better than the idea that anything short of a queen was expendable. Not everyone felt the same as the void ants about the rest of their workers, but since the individuals in question literally never complained that was the end of things. ¡°Obviously she¡¯d be motivated to remain secret,¡± the Great Queen continued. ¡°But of course, we will not force our desires upon you either. Another place can be found for her with time, perhaps even one more suited. Continuing on the same issue, however¡­ the ship you came in on is quite impressive. And it could be the key to the simplest method of surpassing the Exalted Quadrant for any humans you send.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not particularly stealthy,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Does that matter?¡± the Great Queen tilted her head. ¡°If it never even touches upon their territory, there is little they could do. Traverse solely through the lower realms¡­ and fly back up to the Chaotic Conglomeration. Though allowing our future allies to see such technology may be a risk, it could be kept far from them as well. It would not allow for simple withdrawal, however.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°A solution that comes with its own risks, but elegant nonetheless. I continue to see why you have been such an effective leader for your people.¡± ¡°Along with the help of many humans- and some others like those who live here on Akrys, yes. Cooperation is the most important thing we can do,¡± the Great Queen concluded. Chapter 1058 Throughout his time as a sword cultivators, Chidi had battled against many opponents that outmatched him in size. Larger humans weren¡¯t particularly different, though their increased reach still provided some challenges. The largest animals were the size of small buildings. Then true beasts with cultivation grew to even greater scales, culminating in distortion beasts which often appeared incomprehensibly large. Then sometimes he fought against smaller opponents. Wolves, for example. Both those of Fuzz¡¯s bloodline, and wild creatures that had not yet grown beyond the normal limits. Occasionally, he had to battle against insects, some in swarms and many venomous. Thus, Chidi was used to fighting against opponents of all sizes. But he still hadn¡¯t fought against a sword cultivator that was a mere few hands tall. The actual size of his furry opponent¡¯s blade was closer to a dagger, but the way it was wielded made things quite clear to Chidi what it truly was. He recognized the styles of his opponent, despite the required differences due to the meerkat¡¯s body. Chidi had never personally battled against Ty Quigley- though he planned to, since he had this opportunity to visit the lower realms. However, the style was extremely straightforward, thrusts and cuts and a focus solely on bringing down the enemy. That was combined with Chikere¡¯s style. Though Deep Purr didn¡¯t actually have multiple blades, he made Chidi feel like he was being assaulted by a hundred at once. Blades clashed repeatedly as they parried, dodged, and countered each other¡¯s moves. The meerkat was good, tuned into the world around him. Chidi had no doubt that if he was actually a threat to the locals, the danger he faced would be amplified manyfold. It was a weakness, but not one he could blame him for. Deep Purr chose what was important to him, and it wasn¡¯t winning duels with random visitors. The flow of his energy was clear to Chidi. The only difficulty was once more getting used to natural energy. He had trained with natural energy all the way until Integration, which made his process of attuning to the energy much easier¡­ but it was still different. Just as formations performed differently with the different energies, Chidi had to not only read the flow but figure out how to control it. The whole time he did so, he was constantly battered with attacks. His ankles were most at risk, and not in a playful or joking manner. It was absolutely sensible for the meerkat to attack his lower legs, and he had no doubt that his opponent could cut any enemy down to size. It was difficult for him to attack a small target on the ground, and the footwork his tiny opponent had meant he was constantly darting around Chidi or through his legs. Only quick reactions kept his legs safe. He had already dropped into his lowest stance, but that brought more of his body close enough to target, with the meerkat able to extend his energy or leap through the air- in a manner that he was also able to control his descent. He became the blade, arcing up and down in a manner too deadly to ignore. Chidi was fairly sure Deep Purr had declined to take several opportunities that would have resulted in his victory. Perhaps he simply wanted to make their first battle last as long as possible. Chidi was of a similar opinion¡­ but he had to at least see how his opponent reacted to his complete technique. His footwork adjusted with the intent to draw his opponent into a particular safe pattern, which in turn meant the exchange of blades was altered as well. Chidi¡¯s attacks began to appear more wild, striking far to the side of his opponent in certain cases. But it was all to control the flow. Everything came together¡­ and the world disappeared. It was only Chidi, the sword in his hand, and the sword his opponent held. Though he knew Deep Purr couldn¡¯t hold the blade for long. Even with a special grip for meerkats, they simply weren¡¯t meant to grip anything without energy. His sword came down, connecting with the blade going for his ankle. It easily clattered to the side, the physical strength of a meerkat negligible. He was prepared to follow through by targeting his opponent¡¯s body- stopping just short of serious damage, of course. But he¡¯d already made his mistake. He suddenly felt more swords appear¡­ sweeping under the edge of his pants and slicing into his shin. His clothing was specially made to withstand even sword slashes when there was no energy¡­ but tiny claws found their way inside. The sword intent behind them was strong enough that he felt his leg could have been taken off. His sword stopped at the back of Deep Purr¡¯s neck. ¡°I win. I could get a new leg, but I doubt you could get a new head.¡± Chidi understood the language of Akrys well enough to understand the reply. ¡°There¡¯s not much else I could do about that,¡± Deep Purr said. ¡°Hopefully upon my death, someone else would come finish you off.¡± ¡°Well, you could have beaten me earlier. Your skills are sufficient that your energy advantage actually matters.¡± Chidi shrugged, ¡°So maybe I don¡¯t win.¡± ¡°There were a few openings,¡± Deep Purr admitted. ¡°But I couldn¡¯t determine if they were genuine or not. Your technique is difficult to match, even with greater power.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I hope to see you able to make use of your full techniques someday. Though perhaps that sounds like a wish for calamity upon your people.¡± Deep Purr retrieved his sword, performing the best shrug that could be done without shoulders. ¡°It is unlikely Akrys will never again face attack. We would be honored if you would join our defense at such a time.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°If it is feasible, I will.¡± And not just because meerkats were cute. He couldn¡¯t see them, but his energy senses revealed just as much. He wanted to cuddle them, but he understood that was quite rude except for with close friends. Like humans, more or less. Or even the wolves- he didn¡¯t get close with random members of Aconite¡¯s family. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. It was a shame she hadn¡¯t come, but she was worried that she might not be able to maintain control over her poisons without upper energy. If that had been all she could have left her supply behind and trusted in others, but she was also building up an immunity to a very slow poison that energy couldn¡¯t eradicate from the system but could keep in check. In short, the timing hadn¡¯t worked out¡­ but there would be more opportunities in the future. Especially once they built more ships using the same design. Inter-realm ships would likely never be mass produced, but the Far Horizon wouldn¡¯t always be the lone example either. ----- Akrys was not the only destination that people had in mind, and now that they were across the border they were able to take ships and go their separate ways. Though even with the option, most traveled together. That included everyone from Ceretos, as many returned home for the first time in approximately seven hundred years. Though it wasn¡¯t home anymore. It wasn¡¯t that Catarina, Timothy, and Alva didn¡¯t have great nostalgia for the planet- but not only was it entirely different, but they had a new home. Returning to Ceretos was like¡­ well, like visiting their grandparent¡¯s home. With Anton around, that made it even more clear- though he hardly spent enough time on Ceretos for it to be his only home. Even with the direct influence of Rutera and a longer timespan, Ceretos had adopted less of the technological aesthetic. It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t use technology at all, but it informed less of their architecture. Meanwhile, Xankeshan- or at least a serious part of it- had been built up with those styles mixed with traditional cultivator styles. There were many reunions to be had with various Assimilation cultivators. Nthanda and Alva, though their styles were quite different, had respected each other as archers and kept tabs on each other. They were never close, but it was still gratifying to meet again. They also met with many of the remaining elders of the Order of One Hundred Stars. Some had died, unable to reach Assimilation- or already being so old that their lifespans ran out. However, many were from the same generation as them, if somewhat behind in cultivation. Like Marcio Armani, another archer who had trained with Anton. He had reached Assimilation, just a handful of decades behind the others. But there were others they were unable to return to, like Anish. But Annelie still remained. Alva met with her while Catarina and Timothy were off showing their children their old hometown¡­ and wherever else interested them around the planet. Alva had spent much of her early childhood with her cousin- both before and after their rocky introduction to the cultivation world. ¡°What¡¯s a good phrase to say to someone when you¡¯ve been in a different realm for hundreds of years?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Long time no see?¡± Annelie raised an eyebrow. Then she sighed. Her icy composure melted, revealing her true thoughts. ¡°It was easier to pretend there wasn¡¯t such a large gap between us when I only sensed your energy signature secondhand. Spatial manipulations¡­ I don¡¯t know if I would have ever seen you on that path.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Alva agreed. ¡°It just sort of happened when we stumbled into some weird Everheart stuff.¡± ¡°I hear he¡¯s still being a menace, but at least now he¡¯s further away.¡± ¡°Further away? Yes. But also in multiple places at once¡­ maybe,¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°Anyway, I never got to meet your kid. Is she somewhere around here?¡± ¡°You do realize I have more than one child?¡± Annelie raised an eyebrow. ¡°Oh, sure. I know Josephine, and Wolter¡­ and some of the other ones¡­¡± Alva said, looking around. ¡°But they don¡¯t appear to have come here so I don¡¯t have to remember them.¡± ¡°They have avoided being public figures for the most part. It doesn¡¯t hurt to have some reliable members of the Fire and Ice Palace making sure everything stays functional.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Alva nodded. ¡°But Gudrun is an archer so I¡¯m going to have to track her down. And I want to meet Anishka properly.¡± ¡°She¡¯ll be here,¡± Annelie promised. ¡°After all, with the Great Queen traveling with you, the Sergeant wouldn¡¯t let her miss the opportunity.¡± ¡°I feel like the Sergeant could just follow around the Great Queen if she cares so much,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°Most likely she would say that fawning is improper¡­ but when there is other important family for Anisha to visit, of course she would prompt her to come. Have you seen Lev?¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°We barely just arrived. Is there something in particular¡­?¡± ¡°Just that he¡¯s grown surprisingly strong, especially given his rough early start. Then again, he knew what he wanted out of cultivation.¡± ¡°And you didn¡¯t?¡± Alva asked. ¡°I got what I wanted,¡± she countered. ¡°At first I just wanted more power. Then I realized I wanted Anish. Now? I¡¯m just content experiencing life without as many ups and downs.¡± Alva clicked her tongue. ¡°Wow, they sure make ice cultivators boring, huh?¡± ¡°Maybe boring cultivators become ice cultivators,¡± Annelie countered. ¡°... I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve survived all your tribulations.¡± ¡°The same with you. I¡¯m sorry about your loss.¡± ¡°It is long past, but I appreciate you speaking your words in person.¡± Annelie had returned to her default expressionless face. Time and distance had slowly pulled them apart, and Alva had hardly realized it until that moment. And yet, she had never forgotten. These people in the lower realms were much of the reason they had pushed the Scarlet Alliance to grow as much as it had, to be able to influence the upper realms and hopefully provide some security. And to provide a place for those who chose to ascend. It was a shame that it had taken so long to bridge the gap. But while the relationship of the two who were once very close had certainly grown apart¡­ there was also an opportunity to grow back together. Personally, Alva thought that the Fire and Ice Palace needed an Enrichment cultivator. Maybe her middle-aged cousin would fill that role¡­ or maybe it would be her niece in a couple hundred years. Chapter 1059 Under the wide branches of the Grandfather Willow, a great many individuals from both the upper and lower realms gathered. It was both a reunion, and an opportunity. While the realms had been able to keep in contact, and indeed continued to iterate on their communications increasing the speed and other factors¡­ it still took months for any information to reach between the core planets. That was better than the years it took to travel in person- now that it was even possible- but it did not make for any sort of convenient back and forth. Looking at the composition of members and considering how many were related to Anton directly made clear how different the future could have been. If he hadn¡¯t been drawn into the world of cultivation when he was, their family scattered¡­ what would have come? Anton himself certainly would have perished. Catarina, from the extended family that had ended up away from Dungannon, would likely have been the only one to take up cultivation. Anton would have died of old age, happily moving on, not knowing that an invasion was coming from the upper realms. Based on what had been seen from other planets, they might have developed alternatives to Ascension without Anton. Rutera and Weos would have come into contact with Ceretos- potentially diminished or even ¡®reset¡¯ to an earlier stage of development. The further one went, the more history would diverge. It was an interesting thought exercise now and again, but they¡¯d come to their current history¡­ and all were quite satisfied with the results. They were in an age of prosperity, despite the invasion. It seemed that the majority of people of lower cultivation were also happy with their lives as well. Everyone had great opportunity available, and the natural energy of every system in the Lower Realms Alliance was still building up- though there were diminishing returns on the results. The gathering allowed for people to finally meet in person, or to renew old connections. It also provided for an exchange of insights about cultivation, something that could not be accomplished to nearly the same extent with the loss of instant feedback and the personal touch. Core to their discussions was the stage of Domination, and what that meant for both the upper and lower realms. They¡¯d had only a few clashes- though it wasn¡¯t likely that they would have survived many more. Anton slaying one was not something he was eager to attempt again in the near future. Rather than ask how long it would potentially take Catarina or others of similar training to reach Domination, Anton had another angle to come from. ¡°Is Domination the correct path?¡± He looked at those from the upper realms. ¡°Perhaps that is a matter for individuals to decide, but it must be asked. In the lower realms, we have alternatives for Ascension. Chidi has managed an alternative for Augmentation. Could or should there be alternative routes to Domination?¡± It was a manyfold question. But it brought about interesting discussion. ¡°For the sake of pure power,¡± Catarina began. ¡°It appears to be the most achievable. Once the necessary factors are achieved, at least. That requires a very high level of devotion. Or¡­ alternatives. Like Everheart uses.¡± Timothy nodded. ¡°Consciousness feeds into people heavily.¡± ¡°Speaking of devotion,¡± Alva said. ¡°Has yours increased significantly, Anton?¡± Anton took some time to comprehend the incoming strands of energy. ¡°It¡¯s improving at approximately the same rate as before. Why?¡± ¡°Maybe that means not enough people in the upper realms know who you are. Especially those who were near Sudin¡¯s death.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fairly content with the amount of people who know me,¡± Anton said. ¡°I never did anything to be famous or adored by all.¡± ¡°It might still be necessary for whatever is beyond Enrichment,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that shot wasn¡¯t enough to do something, though. I¡¯d expect a great surge.¡± ¡°Not everyone would come into awareness of it at the same time,¡± Catarina said. ¡°And the connection to Anton may not be obvious to them.¡± Anton didn¡¯t particularly care. Devotion was useful, but he never had plans to use it. Nor was he aiming for something like Domination. ¡°On the topic of devotion,¡± Devon took the chance to speak. ¡°Its power is taken advantage of more directly for the Confluence cultivators I have been living among. Including the hive mind. Though it is interesting to note that even though the hivemind is connected, not everyone higher in cultivation actually receives a large amount of devotion. Even though people are aware of each other, they still have to stand out somehow.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Interesting. If only we had detailed notes on Domination. Couldn¡¯t you have killed Sudin within friendly borders¡­ and not annihilated whatever he carried on him?¡± Anton chuckled. ¡°I wish I had so much leeway. But I imagine he would have been careful to have no clues¡­ just in case. They seem quite secretive.¡± ¡°In general, but we¡¯ve still gotten some information,¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°The matter of anchors was an important connection. It may not be the only way, but it¡¯s the safest. And for the Scarlet Alliance, it¡¯s not a terribly large concern. Based on the Citadel of Exalted Light, anchors aren¡¯t exactly fragile. If we only intend to defend our own territory, it works wonders- and we¡¯d still have great strength beyond.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°About that,¡± Lev finally found a topic he wanted to jump in on. ¡°What about Everheart? Based on the details I heard, he might have¡­ multiple anchors? Or decoys?¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°We haven¡¯t been crazy enough to send people into his systems to try to learn details there. Either option is viable. Or something else entirely that merely appears to line up with what we know of Domination.¡± After Domination, the topic split to alternative paths. Only Chidi¡¯s was clearly different, forgoing the use of energy to reduce its effects. Though Nthanda had suggestions of her own. ¡°Advanced body tempering could work just as well in the upper realms as it does here.¡± She gestured to herself, ¡°The amount of natural energy I have is even less than Chidi. And from what I heard, various people have had success in the upper realms.¡± ¡°To some extent, yes,¡± Alva said. ¡°The Hardened Crown, among other things. And Durff.¡± Nthanda grinned. ¡°Don¡¯t you mean the Harder Crown? I¡¯d be quite interested in meeting Sly. And Durff as well. They would be able to confirm better if my thoughts are viable. Though they are likely too far along the path of energy themselves to choose something solely focused on body tempering. It would likely require giving up some of what they already have. Though even that I don¡¯t know for certain.¡± ----- Eventually the discussion shifted into individual smaller conversations. Anton found himself speaking with Yuval on the concepts of fire. ¡°What drew you to fire?¡± Anton asked. Yuval frowned. ¡°It¡¯s a basic part of the One Hundred Stars. But as for focusing on fire exclusively, I can¡¯t really say. It just felt right. Is that bad?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case at all. As long as you are in tune with the truth, your feelings are relevant,¡± Anton said. ¡°No doubt something about it stuck out to you, be it the concept of pure power, or how it combines destruction and creation.¡± Yuval nodded. ¡°I think that¡¯s a good way to explain it. Fire is cozy¡­ but also had destructive capabilities. Cultivators need that.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°You should speak to Anishka. She will have much to say¡­ even though she also cultivates ice.¡± ¡°That sounds difficult,¡± Yuval said. ¡°It sounds more difficult than it is.¡± They turned to see Anishka approaching. ¡°I heard my name, didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Indeed you did,¡± Anton commented. ¡°What drew you to fire?¡± ¡°It was everywhere around when I was growing up, like ice. I knew it was the power my father used. I also nearly killed myself with it early on but¡­¡± Anishka shrugged. ¡°It was still comfortable. But ice can be comforting as well. And while fire and ice seem contradictory, they both involve the concept of temperature. Adding or removing energy from a system¡­ at least from a certain view. Ice is more solid, but fire is fluid. But in its simplest form, taking heat from one area and putting it in another is more efficient than trying to create it from nothing, or to drain it away to nowhere. Once I realized that, my efficiency skyrocketed. I¡¯m glad the Sergeant kept me alive to reach that point.¡± ¡°Is she here?¡± Yuval asked. ¡°I mean like,¡± he gestured immediately around them, ¡°Here. I presume she came along with you.¡± Anishka shook her head. ¡°I left her with the Great Queen. Last I saw, she was wrestling some of the royal guard and winning.¡± ¡°... isn¡¯t she still tiny? Like a few millimeters?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s quite fascinating to watch. She¡¯s denser than she looks, but still fairly insignificant. But some level of insight and determination ended up with her being strong.¡± Anisha shrugged. ¡°Honestly even though I¡¯m constantly with a void ant, that doesn¡¯t mean I get how they work. They¡¯re like tiny little cultivators who can eat energy but not release it. Except with the power of insight and concepts, I suppose. Not that they¡¯re usually good enough without energy.¡± The three continued to discuss for a while. Anishka contrasted ice and fire. Yuval had focused solely on fire, which he used to fight directly, using it to turn his body into a weapon. And Anton used fire only when it made sense. Otherwise, he was just as comfortable using energy without attributes, light, or even spectral energy. ----- Later, Anton spoke with the Great Queen. She was quite interested in the potential the cross pollination of the realms brought. ¡°There is great potential here,¡± she said. ¡°Crossed Antennae was quite interested in the proposal to reach the Chaotic Conglomeration, as well. I find that her strength improved greatly, to Fearsome Mandible¡¯s consternation. She tries to make her battles with her sister appear effortless, but it is not so. I wonder if it merely the consumption of ascension energy¡­ or some benefit of transition. Should void ants follow the path of ascension?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t really answer that,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Clearly, ascension energy has been good for you and for her. But you might get the same results from consuming natural energy, if you don¡¯t limit yourselves.¡± ¡°We would devour the whole energy of a planet and leave it bare. Which would be a waste,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Humans were right to fear us, I believe. If we move thoughtlessly, we could wipe out whole worlds.¡± ¡°But you¡¯d have to have some way to move between worlds. And as far as I know, the void ants have never developed their own ships,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Which means that if you were living among humans for some time, you must have done so¡­ in relative peace. Otherwise you could have never required a realms-wide extermination.¡± ¡°... You speak the truth,¡± she agreed. ¡°Perhaps there is information we could extract from the upper realms. Though it would come at great risk to us to retrieve it.¡± Anton held up a hand, ¡°I would leave that to human cultivators. The Scarlet Alliance could at least look for such information first¡­ without risking any lives. They¡¯ve been finding quite a few people willing to hand over information.¡± ¡°How careless!¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°We would never do such a thing. We would die first. Even the most divergent among us.¡± ¡°Humans are quite a bit more individually divergent,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°And¡­ not all were raised by individuals of moral character. Whereas all the remaining void ants we are aware of come from you and your own daughters. Besides, if they don¡¯t believe they owe any loyalty to the Exalted Quadrant or Trigold Cluster or their particular sects, I don¡¯t exactly disagree with such spies.¡± The Great Queen nodded. ¡°I forgot to consider their situations. Perhaps it makes sense. And¡­ I am in no rush to search for this information. We have been content to not know for the rest of our history. But I must say I am intrigued.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure it can be added to the subjects of inquiry,¡± Anton said. ¡°You are owed far more than that.¡± Chapter 1060 The size of ¡®arena¡¯ Chidi needed to fight against Deep Purr had been relatively small. Chidi preferred his battles to not be terribly wide ranging, and the meerkat ultimately ended up the same. Using an actual arena had been unnecessary for the task, they simply needed an area where they could afford to damage the surroundings. It was relatively fortunate timing that within Rutera¡¯s system there was an old orbital platform about to be decommissioned. Of course, that wasn¡¯t so uncommon considering their various planets, but convenient nonetheless. A traditional arena was lacking certain features, like the ability to destroy it. The formations would also make things more difficult than necessary for Chidi, who was already at a disadvantage for having to transition back to lower energy. All of that plus the fact that Ty Quigley preferred a much larger area to battle saved them the trouble of going several systems out to find an unoccupied rocky planet that they could cut up. It might have been worth it, but they were both happy to save the weeklong round trip. The instant they had met in person, their sole topic of discussion was when and where they would battle- not if they would. That was never in question. Ty Quigley clutched his sword by his side. For various reasons, he had decided not to make use of his ship in their battle. If he were trying to win at all costs he would be willing to bring it out, but he wasn¡¯t interested in seeing what damage Chidi could do to it in a moment of Negation. He wanted it intact for vital battles. Besides, they would both learn the most in direct conflict. ¡°It¡¯s a shame she¡¯s gone,¡± Ty said, looking vaguely towards the upper realms. Chidi nodded. ¡°She left a permanent mark. We¡¯ll make use of it somehow when we return there next.¡± There was no question in Chidi¡¯s mind that the conflict with the Citadel of Exalted Light wouldn¡¯t continue. It was simply a matter of when. With only a silent agreement, their battle began. The two moved suddenly, Ty Quigley¡¯s steps carrying him past Chidi in an instant. Their swords clashed as he passed, and then he was coming in from behind. He moved much like his ship, which also included the sudden changes in velocity he had mastered long before. Chidi found himself having to deal with a much wider area of energy flow than normal as Ty Quigley sprang hundreds of meters forward over and over. Deflecting one or a few attacks at a time was well within his capability, but he knew he needed to take control of the situation. He moved from the open plaza where they had begun towards some still-standing structures. The buildings did little to limit Ty¡¯s movements, as he simply cut them out of his way. But Chidi could work with that change for at least the slightest restrictions on his opponent. And the greater number of surfaces allowed him to subtly carve useful formation markings to begin manipulating the flow of energy. He had to assume most of his work would be destroyed in their battle, but he had various routes to move forward with his end goal. The weaknesses of Negation was still clear in Chidi¡¯s mind, which was why he was facing against opponents that were conscious of how to fight him. If they didn¡¯t actively try to make the energy chaotic, he could achieve negation easily. But then he¡¯d never get better at it. He couldn¡¯t always count on a well set up formation to deal with people like Zaur, and if he did have perfect circumstances he needed to be enough better to actually kill them instead of simply cutting off a couple fingers. Though Ty only moved in straight lines, he still ¡®circled¡¯ around Chidi as he pleased and forced him to stay on his toes. But Chidi saw a pattern he could work with. He might not even need Negation. The continuation of the pattern would bring Ty to attack him from back and to his left. Obviously Ty would react to his counter, but Chidi was prepared to lock down his movements. A blade was thrust towards him, but he twisted his body low and swept his blade, copies of it swinging from several different angles. And Ty disappeared from his senses completely. Then Chidi had to directly block an attack coming from above. A foolish mistake. Chidi knew that battles involved all dimensions, but Ty had lured him into thinking about their fight as only existing on the flat plane of the orbital platform. It was after that the two of them began tearing into the main structure. Chidi should have probably taken the battle there earlier, as he did well in encapsulated areas with many surfaces. Minutes later, they found themselves standing among carved up fragments of the superstructure. Chidi was having trouble setting up Negation, but at least he was matching Ty blow for blow. But he could only keep that up for so long. Finally the moment came. He caught Ty¡¯s sword, twisting it out of the grip of his right hand and forcing it away. It would take him a moment to swing back, while Chidi¡¯s attack still had forward momentum. He had actually been dancing around the moment of Negation, since Ty could take advantage of that moment as well. His sword thrust forward, stabbing between Ty¡¯s ribs- and slipping alongside his vital organs. An easily healed wound that displayed the potential for a fatal strike- and not one where his strike was manipulated to cause little damage. But Chidi had also felt something at that moment, and a loud sound ringing in his ear and a twinging pain in his gut, right between his heart and liver. Energy returned to the scene, and Chidi carefully withdrew his blade from Ty¡¯s chest. Meanwhile, he took stock of his own- and the small weapon in Ty¡¯s hand. ¡°What is that?¡± Chidi asked. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°A gun, obviously.¡± ¡°Not a normal gun, though,¡± Chidi replied. Ty nodded. ¡°This is a projectile blade shooter. Much better than reshaping traditional bullet profiles.¡± Chidi saw the opening that was a couple centimeters wide, made to shoot flat discs. How hadn¡¯t he noticed the weapon before? ¡°I see your confusion. You said you wanted this to be as difficult as possible. So I made someone enchant these to not be blades.¡± ¡°And then¡­¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°They were once again blades when there was no energy. So I could only sense them at that instant.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Ty grinned. ¡°I do use something like this other times as well. Maybe I¡¯m a terrible swordmaster, but hey¡­ I was raised with guns and ships.¡± ¡°I should have noticed it,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But the question is, who wins this? Is it a tie?¡± ¡°I believe I¡¯d call this a mutual defeat. If you don¡¯t survive, you don¡¯t win. And a tie assumes some sort of continued existence afterwards as well. In my opinion, anyway.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Chidi said. ¡°How about we get stitched up and do this again as soon as possible? There¡¯s still a lot of this platform intact.¡± ----- The Twin Soul Sect was a pretty terrible neighbor, and Ratna had tolerated them because she had to. Before becoming a Domination cultivator, she¡¯d lived in constant fear of them. After, it was not much better. Even if she had been able to kill Sudin, he would have simply died normally. There was no way he would actually battle with someone he thought could destroy his soul. Ratna hadn¡¯t fully believed it either- though she was making preparations from the moment of his death regardless. If Sudin had perished in a way he would return, he would be weakened for a time. She knew they had various contingencies for their reincarnations. Most were simply placed into new bodies, rebuilding their cultivation from the ground up. Sudin had something better than that. But when there was sudden unexplained damage within Twin Soul Sect territory that they first tried to cover up and then tried to downplay, she knew his anchor was destroyed. So even if his soul survived and he somehow got back most of his cultivation¡­ he would be vulnerable. The Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance were the third sect to invade their territory. Not because she wasn¡¯t ready, but because that was the optimal timing. Early enough to expand their borders and plunder, but not so early as to bring distrust from surrounding factions. The Trigold Cluster was nominally full of allies, after all. Turning on allies at the first sign of weakness was frowned upon. But the Twin Soul Sect had thrown their weight around too much, especially considering their previous prominence in the lower realms. For all the good it did them. Ratna knew that there had been something up with the lower realms, but a complete victory and killing a Domination cultivator? That was outside of her wildest imagination. While some were pushing for maximum territorial gains, Ratna focused her efforts on something they could sustain. And especially widening their territory away from the new Everheart System. If she had thought that he could pop up there from a seemingly desolate area, she would have destroyed the whole damn system. At least none of her best elders had been poached. A few other sects lost important individuals¡­ and some had various vaults cleared out. Ratna had no idea what he had promised, and she didn¡¯t care. Nor was she participating in the efforts to destroy his system aside from token efforts to show the others. If the Guardians actually caught his attention, they would be the easiest for him to cause trouble for. No, the Twin Soul Sect was much easier to deal with- and it had happened quite suddenly. Aside from shoring up her own borders, she led charges deep into their territory, scooping up their most precious resources. And that wasn¡¯t what everyone else was thinking. She needed resources infused with natural energy to train up future generations. And without a steady flow of disciples from the lower realms- not that the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance had ever done anything but pick up stray ascension cultivators- those resources became even more critical. And with the invasion failing, it wouldn¡¯t be just until the next cycle before they could acquire more. No, she had felt that final shot. Only fools would trespass in the lower realms. So she needed to grab what she could from within Twin Soul Sect territory. If it was convenient she would also plunder other vaults, but that was her first priority. And she didn¡¯t mind acting in person to accomplish it. The other Domination cultivators could chastise her all the wanted later, but she had already prepared reasonable enough excuses for the Guardian¡¯s portion of the invasion. Aside from the Twin Soul Sect being garbage neighbors. Everyone knew that part. So a particular insult from an elder on this planet, a stolen artifact on that planet¡­ and soon enough she would have enough resources to secure the Veiled Brilliance for centuries. But she would need to think about trading for more. To her understanding, the Scarlet Alliance had more resources of that kind than made any sense- especially since they didn¡¯t participate in invasions either. Could they really have enough people ascending to keep up a steady flow from just what people carried on them? She wasn¡¯t quite certain of that. But they were quite exceptional. Getting proper spies in their territory was a pain and a half, but she knew they had a strong complement of ascended Integration cultivators. Including some very odd ones. Animals, even. Or beasts, since they were clearly intelligent. Ratna also thought about a particular detail she¡¯d heard. It was only in the form of a rumor, but it was worth considering. Durff had gone off on some sort of training expedition- that much was confirmed- and when he came back¡­ he was an Augmentation cultivator. That part was less clear, but the fact that he was stronger was undisputed. Ratna knew her distant nephew was talented in his own way¡­ but the fact that the Scarlet Alliance could pick him up and within just a couple centuries he was Augmentation or so close that people couldn¡¯t tell the difference? That said something. Perhaps she should visit. Not as herself, obviously. She couldn¡¯t officially be seen interacting peacefully with them. But things would become more clear in person. Chapter 1061 Perhaps in the future travel between the upper and lower realms would be more manageable while still keeping the lower realms safe, but for the moment they were quite limited. That meant as much as they might like to focus on companionship, they also had to cover serious matters. They once again returned to such topics, as it was much more comfortable without time lag and the worries of potential interception. They spoke in general of the threat of the great factions in the upper realms, but eventually the topic came back to the Citadel of Exalted Light in particular. The Scarlet Alliance had no doubt that they would be trouble into the future, even if everything else went well and the other sects ignored them. Timothy spoke first. ¡°Our assault on Zaur¡¯s anchor was more successful than we truly hoped it would be¡­ but there is no chance we will find the area so lightly defended in the next centuries. Thus, even if we catch Zaur away from there it will be difficult to threaten him.¡± ¡°It is not a matter we expect you can aid us with directly,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But guidance would be appreciated.¡± The Great Queen had her own style, and she signed some questions. ¡°How durable is the material itself? It is chewable? Does energy extend outside of the Citadel?¡± ¡°Unfortunately,¡± Catarina said. ¡°They will likely be on guard against void ants, considering your appearance during the end of the cycle. As for the material itself, it is unlikely most void ants would be able to damage it. Though it always had energy defenses. The question is, do you believe your void ants could withstand the energy of a Domination cultivator?¡± The Great Queen pondered for a time. ¡°Myself, certainly. And a few others. But not nearly enough to expect we can cause any serious damage on our own.¡± Gabriela, who was bonded to The Wayfarer, added her own suggestion. ¡°Is there some way to negate the energy of an anchor such that conventional explosives could damage it?¡± ¡°Unlikely,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Koralo¡¯s experience told us much. It isn¡¯t simply a structure powered by gathered energy. It is, in essence, part of the Domination cultivator. That active control would require setting up a formation around it¡­ and if we have unrestricted control of the area for such a long time that we can study it and determine exactly what would be required, then we could just destroy it in a more straightforward fashion.¡± ¡°What is the current state of your scouts?¡± Gabriela asked. ¡°The ships, specifically. Are there any that could cloak themselves against enemy detection?¡± ¡°In most places, yes,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But in the core system of the Citadel of Exalted Light? Perhaps not. Even Velvet¡¯s group was detected. Though¡­ that was by Lelka. She has given us what she knew about their defenses, but we must assume they have been enhanced. Though determining to what extent is a worthy assignment.¡± ¡°A smaller vessel would be good,¡± the Great Queen commented. ¡°Minimal energy. And some of us, perhaps. Any who can independently fly and survive in a vacuum. As long as we do not touch the Citadel itself, we should be able to at least avoid triggering any formations.¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible to make formations void ants can¡¯t detect,¡± Catarina said carefully. ¡°They¡¯re¡­ limited in scope. But if they have something like that, they might catch whoever you send, and that would put them on even higher alert.¡± The Great Queen pondered for a few moments. ¡°I have not heard of such formations. What are the chances they have something like that?¡± ¡°They were able to annihilate the presence of void ants in the upper realms,¡± Catarina said. ¡°So we know at least their detection methods were quite effective.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°Or perhaps there are more of my brethren hiding among them as normal ants. But these formations¡­ you developed some of your own, didn¡¯t you? Likely as a countermeasure in case we turned against you.¡± The Great Queen waggled her antennae in a nod. ¡°Good. I would not wish to see any damage inflicted upon our allies by careless management of our people.¡± ¡°Would you call that careless management?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Absolutely. Void ants should be both loyal and intelligent. Those who fail on both counts would represent a failure in our system as a whole.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± Anton said. ¡°As for myself, I am afraid to say I cannot help you.¡± ¡°We know you can¡¯t leave the lower realms¡­¡± Catarina began, ¡°Nor would we expect anyone to assist directly. You¡¯d all be much weaker.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I simply thought I should bring it up since I could probably hit the Citadel, if I was able to observe it. But even then, Zaur would have to be weakened greatly for my contributions to be significant.¡± ¡°... You should bring up how you killed a Domination cultivator more,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I subconsciously put the possibility out of my mind. Can you actually shoot that far?¡±¡± ¡°It¡¯s not particularly about distance,¡± Anton said. ¡°I would need to connect to his energy somehow. Though that¡¯s not the hardest part. I wouldn¡¯t exactly be able to test my effectiveness without giving everything away, could I? Oh, and I wouldn¡¯t expect anything of the sort from me in the near future except as an emergency. I¡¯d rather not kill myself for nothing.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Is it that bad?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Obviously it couldn¡¯t have been easy on you but¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s a matter of both energy and insight,¡± Anton said. ¡°That was an exceptional circumstance. And the Tides of the World provided a connection that I relied on. Actually, that might be the biggest factor. Without that, upper energy would have annihilated my own rather swiftly.¡± Catarina stroked her chin. ¡°Perhaps we should look into how to get you that connection, then. At least as one of many avenues we explore over the next century or two. We can hope that Zaur lost more than simply fingers because of the damage that happened to the Citadel, but he¡¯s not actually weak.¡± ¡°You should also reach out to that woman who wanted to kill him,¡± Anton said. ¡°Ratna, was it? It might be worthwhile.¡± ¡°Working directly with someone from the Trigold Cluster?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°That sounds¡­ risky. It could signal that we¡¯re part of them, even indirectly. If we had to face the Exalted Quadrant as a whole, they would flatten the Scarlet Alliance.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like they really respect the pact anyway,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Maybe they wouldn¡¯t care.¡± ¡°You could also use whatever shenanigans Everheart gets up to as a distraction,¡± Anton added. ¡°At an appropriate time, of course. He¡¯s¡­ at least not as set against the Scarlet Alliance as the rest of the upper realms. Obviously I wouldn¡¯t suggest actually trying to work together though, but he tends to cause large commotions.¡± Anton avoided mentioning Vari or other details, as not everyone present would be aware of exact connections to Everheart. Personally Anton thought the man played up his status as a menace, but he did tend to cause trouble for even those who were agnostic towards him. He was even the catalyst of the conflicts between the Scarlet Alliance and the Citadel of Exalted Light. Though at least that indicated he might also act against them, if it was convenient. ----- Time continued to pass, and the group from the upper realms needed to return. At least some of them should be seen out and about, and the journey was not a short one- especially with the limitations of their inter-realm ship. But their departure was still a pleasant one, because it came with promises to return in the future, as it became practical. That was something they hadn¡¯t been able to dream of when the first of them ascended. ¡°You must promise to return at least every century,¡± Anton said. That was still a very long time, and he would have preferred to visit more often. ¡°Though¡­ how hard would it be to set up some inter-realm teleportation?¡± he grinned. That caught Catarina for a while. Then she shook her head. ¡°Even if we permanently controlled a segment of the border¡­ the complexities¡­¡± her words trailed off. ¡°That will have to wait until after we secure our safety,¡± Timothy said to his wife. He knew she couldn¡¯t avoid interesting challenges, but there would be plenty of those. Their plan to take down the Citadel of Exalted Light was more of an alternative to what they were already doing, which was securing and expanding their own borders. Their territory hadn¡¯t been challenged terribly often, but their defenses couldn¡¯t stay static if they hoped to overcome the caliber of foes they seemed to be attracting. ----- ¡°More void ants in the upper realms?¡± Velvet had already had a significant amount of time to react to the suggestion, but she felt she had to express herself directly when people returned. ¡°That¡¯s an extremely risky proposal. Both for the void ants and anyone associated with them. There¡¯s no way the Chaotic Conglomeration would accept them¡­¡± ¡°Who are you trying to convince?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°It was not particularly our suggestion. It was merely one that was worth passing on.¡± ¡°Obviously we couldn¡¯t introduce the idea openly,¡± Velvet continued. ¡°Could you imagine? The Chaotic Conglomeration would be glad to draw attention away from themselves by declaring us as the source of void ants. Which would be even more terrible as we don¡¯t have any to aid us.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°Though I do wish we did. Secrecy might be a problem, though.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t imagine we maintain secrecy forever,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But we need more time to establish ourselves. I can hardly believe I¡¯m saying that, given how long it¡¯s been and where we started but¡­ the great powers have existed pretty much forever.¡± ¡°Mhm,¡± Catarina just nodded and let Velvet continue. ¡°The Spirit Slicing Sect might be alright with the void ants,¡± Velvet continued. ¡°They¡¯re¡­ kind of similar. And we¡¯ll have to slowly spread our connection to there regardless. It also does provide a fairly elegant solution to the whole secrecy thing. Though maybe then we should keep the void ants themselves secret?¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°It couldn¡¯t be from everyone, though. They would need support to grow and spread. And having transportation assistance is rather critical for them.¡± Finally, Velvet stopped for a moment. ¡°I still think it¡¯s a crazy idea though,¡± she said. Catarina raised an eyebrow. ¡°Were you hoping one of us would try to convince you for or against it?¡± ¡°Obviously!¡± Velvet threw up her hands. ¡°You¡¯re the rational one.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Alright. It¡¯s a bad idea for all those reasons you said.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Velvet nodded seriously. ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s terrible.¡± She frowned. ¡°So why can¡¯t I stop thinking about it?¡± ----- If issues fully resolved themselves one at a time, the jobs of those on the council of the Scarlet Alliance would have been far too easy. However, if that was the case they might not even be needed at all. But there were always issues to be resolved. Their discussions began with how they might potentially contact Everheart or Ratna- with the former being easier but less preferred. Then they moved on to trouble on the eastern border- the Silver Fang, in particular. Velvet could imagine Lelka smirking once she heard about that, as if her suggestion that they should have caused trouble with them first would have prevented the current situation, which wasn¡¯t clear at all. But the former Exalted Light cultivator was not privy to all the news of the council just yet. The trouble at their eastern border wasn¡¯t the only threat to Scarlet Alliance territory. Or rather, the Scarlet Midfields, as their territory only extended so far. News had come in that the southern border planets had higher rates of activity than expected- on both sides. Were the great powers looking to push into their territory, or simply scouring for more void ants? Chapter 1062 Optimally, a scout would both observe the energy and bring back information all without being noticed. However, survival was the most important part. Being spotted but escaping, while inconvenient, was still a victory. Which meant that the best possible option involved being able to gather information in a way that the enemy couldn¡¯t retaliate even if someone was spotted. Spyglasses were invented for that very thing¡­ but they were only useful on scales where people could actually see things. Having heard about people setting up near the border, Anton couldn¡¯t help but be curious and go take a look himself. And while he had no guarantee they wouldn¡¯t notice him¡­ there wasn¡¯t anything they could do if they did. The end of the last cycle had already made it clear that the lower realms was far stronger than the upper realms ever thought they could be, and Anton¡¯s presence wasn¡¯t a secret by any stretch of the imagination. But if possible, he would avoid detection so that people would feel safe. After all, they would reveal much more if they didn¡¯t feel like they were being watched. Stretching his senses more than a system or two was already difficult for Anton, and reaching into the upper realms? That was an order of magnitude more difficult. It was an actively tiring process, not one he could simply keep up indefinitely. Ascension energy instinctively rejected him, and while it was inconvenient in this particular situation, Anton didn¡¯t think that the drawback of Fleeting Youth was actually entirely a negative. Certainly, it made things more difficult for him¡­ but he had to consider one thing in particular. The most relevant factor that overrode all inconvenience. Sudin had perished. Anton wasn¡¯t the sort to be overly humble, but he knew he simply wasn¡¯t strong enough to kill a Domination cultivator. Even with a flash of insight and amazing technique, plus the man being fatigued after a marathon of hundreds of lightyears as he fled the lower realms, it still wasn¡¯t enough. But he¡¯d died. Anton had been so focused on his energy holding up against the upper realms that he had only barely felt the surge of energy joining with him, trying to annihilate his energy. It just so happened to have not been concerned with not harming natives of the upper realms. Anton wondered how Everheart had the insight to create such a technique while still in the lower realms, but it was clear that if nothing else the man was a genius at compiling and combining techniques. For the moment, he¡¯d rather not think of him. Instead, there were planets to inspect. It took Anton more than a few tries but eventually a thin strand of his energy, hidden from the upper realms itself, managed to inspect a particular planet. He couldn¡¯t make out individuals except for the very strongest, but he could detect the overall situation on the planet. They were setting up many structures, and while Anton couldn¡¯t guarantee anything it seemed to be a proper settlement effort. He drew his energy back, towards border planets he¡¯d known Crossed Antennae once had colonies on. Every member of said colonies had been part of the defense of the lower realms, though not all of them made it onto enemy ships. Anton had been far too occupied to see anything in real time, but looking at the planets now¡­ they would find it difficult to support life again. From what he could tell, each planet had been deluged with poison or scoured with fire- sometimes both. An extreme measure, but he supposed only by making the planets uninhabitable could they guarantee void ants would not survive. He wondered if life could ever be established on those planets again. If he could reach them, he would be tempted to put in a good attempt of cleaning them up. Since they were in the upper realms, however, he could do nothing directly. Nor did he think it was worth the resources for the Scarlet Alliance to try, unless it became necessary for some particular reason. Though based on what Anton could tell, the damage extended no more than ten meters into the ground. That was more than enough to completely ruin the vast majority of the planet, and it wouldn¡¯t be feasible to try to replace that much over the entire planet. However¡­ that did mean that if the void ants were able to dig further down, they could have potentially survived eradication. Depending on how long the toxins lingered at levels that could kill them from mere contact, and food stores, and whether it was even practical for them to burrow so deep. Alright, there were all sorts of problems¡­ but if they settled in such placed in the future, perhaps it was worth considering. Anton would relay his thoughts to the Great Queen. She was helping Crossed Antennae to manage her people. Fortunately, it hadn¡¯t been that difficult to house all the surviving void ants from many different planets, as their total biomass was relatively small compared to the planets of the lower realms. At least, those who had survived. The void ants deserved more recognition than they got, but they didn¡¯t seem to want it. It was a shame that it was usually the best who took the brunt of the damage. Rather than try to rebuild their population, Crossed Antennae¡¯s descendents had stopped laying eggs. They weren¡¯t mindless insects, after all, and they were able to work with other void ant colonies to stabilize, especially on Akrys. They didn¡¯t move far from the upper realms, because it was always Crossed Antennae¡¯s intention to return at some point. Now, there was an opportunity for that in the near future. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ----- Anton¡¯s final assessment was that both great powers were pushing into the Scarlet Midfields, but they didn¡¯t yet have worrying numbers or strength of cultivators on any of the planets. Obviously they would need to be carefully watched, but they were more than just forward outposts. If the sects of the upper realms could live peacefully with the Scarlet Alliance, perhaps it wouldn¡¯t have been an issue. Some likely could, but as a whole they had to be considered enemies. Whatever response the Scarlet Alliance had was up to them, of course. They couldn¡¯t afford to make new enemies, but neither could they appear weak. A difficult balancing act. Anton continued to make his way east. The newly settled areas were all near the borders of the great powers, so there was a large empty gap along the edge of the Scarlet Midfields, then Anton had come to the Trigold Cluster. He could tell they were generally pushing their population more towards the border, though there was a buffer due to the uninhabitable planets. Then Anton sensed her. It was difficult not to, and his curiosity couldn¡¯t be denied. He¡¯d felt her energy only through a recording, not that he would have met anyone from the upper realms that wasn¡¯t an ally. Ratna. The instant his energy sensed her, he tried to sense more- and she noticed his intrusion. His strand of energy was torn apart, exposed to the energy of the upper realms. Why was she near the border? A curious question. And since he had already been found out, Anton was willing to extend his energy again. Once more his energy was destroyed¡­ but he sensed she was moving closer. He was not concerned. Even if for some reason this Domination cultivator wanted him dead, she wouldn¡¯t be able to reach him. There had been no indications she had such a long range, as she had been observed when she chased her hated foe Zaur. Even if she were hiding something, a serious attack across the null energy of the border was bound to fail. Plus, Anton was near a bound star. Part of his trip was making certain he had a nice smooth trail of stars, in case he needed to shoot another arrow using the lower realms as a framework. In the worst case, he could retreat to its shelter. Ratna didn¡¯t seem to be in a hurry, taking a week to get a couple systems closer. Anton continuously checked on her, but she didn¡¯t deviate significantly from her path and thus he was always able to find her once in the vague neighborhood- about a system away. He reached out once more, finding it a good form of practice to solidify his senses and protect against ascension energy. Her energy reached out¡­ and he felt an echo of voice. ¡°Are you now able to comprehend my words?¡± Communication? So she¡¯d been attempting that all along. ¡°I am,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Do you intend to try to kill me?¡± she said. ¡°Should I?¡± Anton pushed as much of his true intent into those words as he could. ¡°I just woke up from a nap.¡± He felt her amusement in return. ¡°I imagine we are enemies, are we not?¡± ¡°Only if we have to be. If you were to attempt to invade the lower realms, I wouldn¡¯t hesitate to eliminate you.¡± Her energy resonated with a mighty element of light. As he should have expected. She was a member of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance, after all. Actually¡­ how had he sensed her? She knew she was stealthy¡­ when she wished. ¡°I don¡¯t think you can,¡± she retorted. ¡°You feel weak.¡± She was provoking him. If anything, Anton was stronger than when he¡¯d killed Sudin. And she shouldn¡¯t know about the extenuating circumstances. ¡°It¡¯s a lot of effort,¡± Anton said, flaring the energy of the star behind him and passing the effect through his own connection to her. ¡°So unless you do anything extremely foolish, I don¡¯t see why I would bother.¡± ¡°... You know who I am,¡± she declared. She quite clearly wasn¡¯t asking. Anton wasn¡¯t much for deceit to begin with. ¡°I have heard of you,¡± he admitted. He wanted to immediately break off contact, but that would likely be more suspicious. ¡°That confirms a connection to the upper realms. And it¡¯s not a mystery how,¡± Ratna responded. She increased the intensity of her own energy, perhaps to intimidate Anton somehow, but since the most she would do was actually destroy his connected strand it just let him feel her more clearly. ¡°I have seen some members of your sect. And of course, everyone felt the shot you made¡­ though don¡¯t worry too much. That felt more like a supernova. Unless anyone gets a good look at your energy, they shouldn¡¯t make a connection to the One Hundred Stars.¡± So she knew- enough to know their name. Velvet had been to visit her sect once. Could it be? Anton smiled. Yes, while his deceptive abilities were rather limited, his insight into people was well developed. ¡°How¡¯s your nephew?¡± Anton asked. ¡°You tell me,¡± Ratna replied. ¡°He hasn¡¯t told me much of value.¡± Strangely, those words rang true. ¡°I expected he was a plant.¡± ¡°More of a rock, if anything,¡± Ratna chuckled in reply. ¡°If you¡¯d met him in person, you¡¯d know. But don¡¯t worry, I doubt he¡¯d intentionally betray his friend¡¯s secrets.¡± Anton pondered as he looked at Ratna. Knowing who she was¡­ she was likely already fairly confident about what she had spoken. ¡°It¡¯s in your best interests to focus your attention elsewhere. Like on the Twin Soul Sect. If you cause any trouble¡­ you¡¯d better be quite confident I can¡¯t do it again.¡± ¡°Pfft. As if you could even hit me. But I can say this. Causing trouble for the Scarlet Alliance and especially my nephew is nowhere in my plans.¡± ¡°Good.¡± ----- Technically, Anton reporting that conversation to the Scarlet Alliance was good news. One less potential worry. But while it was good for the Scarlet Alliance, it was not such good news for one member in particular. ¡°... She got me,¡± Velvet grimaced. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I let myself get fooled.¡± Then she sighed. ¡°She even sensed my true cultivation.¡± There was no shame in being outdone by a Domination cultivator. But that didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t make plans to get her back¡­ somehow. Velvet just had to develop her own skills more first. Chapter 1063 In some ways, dealing with the much more powerful Citadel of Exalted Light was simpler than dealing with the Silver Fang. That was because the Citadel had been so confident in their superiority that they didn¡¯t bother with things like tactics- and for their first assault and much of the second, they had been justified in that belief. The Silver Fang, meanwhile, were undoubtedly weaker than the Scarlet Alliance. They weren¡¯t able to take and hold planets, nor could they threaten their core systems in the slightest. But they were able to cause trouble, raiding planets within their sphere of influence. Not all were officially part of the Scarlet Alliance, but they couldn¡¯t allow such intrusions to happen near their territory if they wanted to continue to grow. More than that, they couldn¡¯t ignore the calls for aid. With their complement of Augmentation cultivators, the Scarlet Alliance could take down any of the attacking groups- the only issue was actually catching them. They had swift ships, but unless they could predict the enemy¡¯s path it made little difference. A single ship carrying a modest number- seemingly two Augmentation cultivators and a couple hundred others split between Life Transformation and Integration- was the biggest thorn in their side. Others had similar numbers but seemed to have only a single Augmentation cultivator taking the lead- or none at all. The Scarlet Alliance had sufficient forces to completely fortify ten or twenty systems beyond their borders. They could have smaller complements in others¡­ but they couldn¡¯t completely cover the great number of systems that the Silver Fang could reach. Various options had been suggested, but it wasn¡¯t possible to implement them all. The one that would be guaranteed to work to some extent came with other problems- launching a proper counterattack onto Silver Fang worlds. But that meant committing to a proper war, and the costs in life and other resources involved in that. The Silver Fang wasn¡¯t considered particularly important within the Trigold Cluster, but they still had to consider how the great power would react. The one tactic that was able to be implemented quickly and that should have some effect was the creation of small teams meant to supplement the defenses of the predicted targets. In general that meant forces similar to the greatest offending ship. They could only hope to catch some of the roaming enemies while they prepared more of their forces. ----- Chidi and Aconite, rather than leading other cultivators, were operating independently. Both of their styles were far too disruptive to allied cultivators. They were also confident facing greater numbers, though if they ran into the pair of Augmentation cultivators they would have to carefully assess their odds with the inclusion of the enemy¡¯s numerical advantage. ¡°We should bring your family next time,¡± Chidi commented, speaking of his trip to the lower realms. ¡°I bet Fuzz would be delighted to see things.¡± ¡°Probably,¡± Aconite growled in agreement. ¡°I don¡¯t know if mother would be willing to take the risk of weakening herself, however.¡± She turned to sniff around the area- the site of a recent attack. Chidi nodded. ¡°True, it is quite uncomfortable- especially for those who have little experience with lower energy. What are you sniffing for, by the way?¡± ¡°Signs of those who were here,¡± Aconite said. ¡°Also, they smell weird. Or the ship.¡± ¡°I assume they absconded into space,¡± Chidi commented. ¡°That¡¯s what everyone said.¡± ¡°Yes. But maybe they also smell like¡­ herbs unique to a particular planet. Or some sort of mud found only outside their hideout.¡± Chidi sniffed. ¡°I think it¡¯s a bit too faint to get anything like that, and how would we know before we were practically standing upon said hideout?¡± ¡°Maybe I should have studied spatial techniques,¡± Aconite grumbled. ¡°I could sniff them from afar. I guess we just move on.¡± ¡°Now hold on one moment. You might have a point,¡± Chidi commented. ¡°Maybe not via scent¡­ but can we determine how much energy their ship had stored?¡± ¡°... Difficult,¡± Aconite said. ¡°It would be contained, and the signature has faded significantly. Though we might be able to follow the tracks out of the system? At least until they entered subspace.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°Good idea. Too bad they didn¡¯t have modern scanners here. That might have gotten all the info we needed for us.¡± ¡°You know why we don¡¯t export tech to unsecure areas.¡± ¡°Yes. Though even what has been stolen has been implemented extremely slowly. Our main enemies are ancient and appear to lack certain sorts of adaptability.¡± ----- Departing the planet, Chidi was just able to feel traces outside the atmosphere. They had to approximate what direction the enemy departed, but of the three main options only one had a populated system. That was their best bet. The enemy could be heading towards a further system or they could retreat back towards the Trigold Cluster, but they often went for several targets in a row. It turned out they guessed right¡­ but the enemy had already arrived and moved on before they did. However, because they were faster they had gained some time, and they were able to follow their energy trail to the edge of the system more easily. ¡°It still smells weird,¡± Aconite commented. ¡°Not like a proper ship at all.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, none of the locals really got a good look at it,¡± Chidi commented. ¡°They just mentioned people dropping from the sky. Not that I¡¯m surprised they were paying attention to the more immediate issues.¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ----- On their next attempt, they actually managed to catch their quarry. Their industrious opponents had already completed their raid, but were still leaving the system. ¡°Finally,¡± Aconite said. ¡°Now you cut them down.¡± ¡°About that¡­ I can sense some captives aboard. How about you do it?¡± ¡°... You think I have any poisons that can kill only enemies?¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°I was hoping more for something that would incapacitate them all. Some sort of sleeping powder?¡± ¡°Oh yes. I do have some non-lethal options, I suppose,¡± Aconite confirmed. ¡°However, getting into position to deploy it will be tricky. I can¡¯t just leave a packet for them to run into.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Chidi tilted his head. ¡°I thought you had the technique down.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what sort of air filtration they have on their ship. Or its structural layout.¡± ¡°Right. So we try to get ahead and just hope for the best. I¡¯ll cut something important that doesn¡¯t destroy the ship, and we go from there.¡± Aconite nodded. ¡°Fighting within atmosphere is so much easier.¡± ¡°Ty would probably disagree,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But I don¡¯t have any interest in training for centuries as a fighter pilot just for that.¡± Their ship wasn¡¯t equipped with grand stealth systems, so even though they kept their own energy low as much as possible, the enemy spotted them as they were heading to cut them off. But rather than attempt to flee, they turned towards the smaller ship. To them, it likely felt like a single Life Transformation cultivator and a weak Augmentation cultivator. Against a crew that included dozens of Integration cultivators, it seemed like a decent match for them. Chidi didn¡¯t plan to give them a chance to recognize their mistake. The two of them set the ship to automatically pull away from the battlefield, then rode outside so their attacks would be unhindered on the approach. Aconite suddenly growled fiercely. ¡°I figured out what smelled weird. I¡¯m gonna kill them all.¡± ¡°Just the Silver Fang, please,¡± Chidi said. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll sense it in a moment.¡± And he did. ¡°... You¡¯d think that someone would have mentioned this aesthetic,¡± Chidi commented as he prepared his sword. ¡°Did we miss a meeting?¡± There was no response, as he was already swinging his sword at the enemy ship- one that was decked out to look like a giant howling wolf. Complete with real furs and teeth, if Chidi understood properly. Their ship turned away at the last moment, leaving them with only their momentum carrying them towards the enemy ship. Chidi already had a read on the ship¡¯s energy, and he cut twice. His attacks pierced through the barrier as he struck at its precise weak points, then carried on to quarter the mast. Chidi used the counterforce from the attack to reduce his relative velocity to the ship, using his own energy to match its speed while he was just past the rear of the ship. Meanwhile, Aconite leapt onto the prow and sunk her claws into the surface. Though she was only the size of a regular wolf, her ferocity displayed in a great howl that echoed through the ship. The Silver Fang didn¡¯t appear even slightly bothered by the wolf, and charged at her with their weapons- mainly spears. That was their first mistake, as her howl hadn¡¯t been merely for intimidation but was instead a way to distribute poison. Chidi knew that half of them would fall by the time they got within range, and the others a few moments later. The few who attacked from afar wouldn¡¯t be much better. But that was for Aconite to deal with. He had his own concerns at the moment, such as the other half of the crew coming for him. Most of them wouldn¡¯t be affected by the poison. Chidi had to make full use of his energy to avoid the various incoming attacks, both melee and with ranged extensions of their spears. Each of their Integration cultivators technically had more energy than him, after all. It was wasted in their hands, though. Using complex movement techniques, Chidi twisted himself around their assaults, focusing on how their energy would overlap and negate each other. That was the best part about facing a crowd of attacks by uncoordinated people. It was both more difficult and simpler to enter a proper state of Negation. There were many energy signatures competing with each other in the area, but none of them were consciously controlled to make the process more difficult. Instead of a single instant, he managed many back to back, moving rapidly from foe to foe and cutting them down with his blade. When he found himself without any conscious opponents, Chidi assessed himself. Blood was trickling down from no fewer than a dozen wounds. One on his neck had nicked an artery and needed rapid consideration. He wasn¡¯t a doctor, but he could hold blood in and would be able to stitch it up in a manner that would hold together well enough. That was necessary when undergoing active and near-fatal training like the Million Sword Vault performed- and thus that had been part of Chikere¡¯s training. Around Aconite there were only fallen foes, and the only blood on her was concentrated around her head and upper torso. Considering how much was dripping down her fangs, he presumed it was only from her enemies. They began to make their way inside the oddly adorned ship. Chidi could sense a few active individuals still, but the majority had already rushed to fight them. However, upon stepping down the stairs they came to a scene where an old man- presumably the captain of the ship- had a dozen people in front of him and his remaining crew, spears pressed up against their back. ¡°These are your people!¡± the old men shouted. ¡°Stop right there.¡± Chidi stopped. Though he wondered what would happen next. If the old man told him to drop his weapons and surrender¡­ well, that would be stupid. That would just be consigning the hostages to a fate potentially worse than death along with himself. It wasn¡¯t something that could be reasonably discussed. Aconite growled, but it was doubtful that these people could understand her. So Chidi spoke for her. ¡°What do you want?¡± he asked. All he really needed to do was draw things out. ¡°If you want them to live, you go back where you came from. Oh, and leave the wolf.¡± ¡°Good sir,¡± Chidi said in a manner he hoped was sufficiently supplicatory to the man¡¯s ears. ¡°I certainly wouldn¡¯t want any of our citizens to be harmed. We can certainly withdraw, but I cannot in good conscience leave behind my companion.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a negotiation. Do you want their blood on your hands?¡± This old man had far too naive of an opinion about the Scarlet Alliance. Just because they cared about their people didn¡¯t mean they were completely useless. But¡­ he didn¡¯t have to explain that. Aconite growled. ¡°Fine, but be careful. She bites.¡± Chidi began stepping away¡­ but he didn¡¯t even make it up three stairs before enemy cultivators began falling. Then suddenly all of the hostages. ¡°It¡¯s so much harder to make the strong people collapse first,¡± Aconite grumbled. ¡°Good thing they assumed that my ¡®aura¡¯ was just for intimidation and not carrying doses of deadly poison.¡± Chidi gestured to the captured people. ¡°Deadly because I¡¯m going to tear out their throats. The hostages are fine.¡± Aconite paused. ¡°Okay, they might be in a coma for weeks but after that they¡¯ll be fine.¡± Chapter 1064 Strategy meetings were not something Durff enjoyed being part of, but he was quite happy to get a summary from Velvet. ¡°So basically, these Silver Fang guys are causing a lot of trouble and we want to stop them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Velvet confirmed. ¡°I figured you would be able to determine where you would be most effective, so you don¡¯t have any official assignment.¡± Durff nodded, ¡°Alright. What¡¯s the most important thing they own?¡± ¡°Tactically? It might be their main sect training grounds on Gniteria. Or some of their mines¡­¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll go break those.¡± ¡°... Which thing?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Their main planet and the mines,¡± Durff said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. ¡°We can¡¯t just do that.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Are they not all bad guys? I can just smash certain buildings if necessary.¡± ¡°An assault on their main planet is insanely dangerous. It¡¯s not like with the Citadel of Exalted Light.¡± Durff frowned, pondering for a good ten seconds. ¡°Because these guys are¡­ weaker? I feel like that would make it easier.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not desperate,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I know you didn¡¯t know her that well, but we lost Chikere there. We can¡¯t afford something like that again.¡± Durff thought for a few moments more. ¡°I liked her. She tried to get me a good hammer. She was strong.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Velvet said. ¡°The Silver Fang is much weaker. So we don¡¯t have to be as strong to beat them. And their stuff will be easier to break, so we can just break a few things and then leave.¡± ¡°Well, sure,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°Skirmish tactics can be quite effective. When we¡¯re ready to move on from our defensive position perhaps-¡± ¡°We have to start with the good one,¡± Durff said. ¡°Because if you know someone¡¯s going to hit you in the face, you can be ready and it won¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°... And if we wait until we have everything under control, they¡¯ll be expecting us to be ready,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It¡­ can¡¯t be the solution every time, though.¡± ¡°It can, if you can get us somewhere secretly again. Almost everywhere besides the Citadel of Exalted Light will be easier to get to. They¡¯re closer, and not surrounded by as many enemies.¡± ¡°It¡¯s still risky. And unlike with Zaur, their actual danger doesn¡¯t come from just one thing. So for it to really matter we¡¯d have to be able to defeat a large number of their elders and-¡± Durff was clearly strongly considering if they could do that. ¡°Do you think their planet only has bad people? Because I could probably hit it into the sun.¡± ¡°I-¡± Velvet shook her head. ¡°No, there are probably innocent servants. And slaves.¡± For some reason, Durff pulled his hammer off his back and took a stance, looking at it fiercely. Finally, he replied, ¡°I don¡¯t think I can hit away just half a planet yet.¡± He returned the carved shell hammer to his back. ¡°But we could still break a bunch of important things. And then they¡¯d get angry,¡± Durff said. ¡°And angry people are stupid.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°They might just get sad, but sad people aren¡¯t very effective either.¡± Velvet looked into Durff¡¯s clear eyes. He was serious, as always. Which in turn made her have to think seriously about his plan. ¡°It relies on us being stronger than the forces they have there.¡± Durff nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine. We¡¯re strong. You¡¯re very strong. I¡¯m stronger than I used to be. We can bring some other people. They won¡¯t even know to expect anything. And they don¡¯t have a barrier encompassing their whole domain so they aren¡¯t ready.¡± Durff pondered for a moment. ¡°If they did, I think Koralo could get us through. Or Catarina, if she wasn¡¯t busy. She¡¯s usually very busy.¡± It was such a simple and straightforward plan. It felt wrong to her, not forboding like her insight was trying to warn her away¡­ but it just wasn¡¯t standard. Instead, forces met each other in battle because¡­ they wanted to wear down the other side¡¯s power and train their own forces. There was something to be said about supply lines and reinforcements, but if it was just a quick assault¡­ Velvet had to get information about Gniteria and what there was ¡®most important¡¯. Maybe additional information would show that it was a terrible idea. But if they could get stealthed scouts to the planet to observe it, then she could definitely get a strike team there. And while she doubted they would get invited in by a disgruntled high ranking official, the Silver Fang really were less of a threat. Maybe they could just perform a direct assault. Some of the council might even volunteer. ----- Cutting off applicants quickly was absolutely necessary, otherwise the whole of the Scarlet Alliance would have joined¡­ which would just make it a direct assault on the enemy capital and not some sort of precision tactical strike. ¡°We¡¯ll have to limit it to particular roles,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Tauno will be responsible for fighting off enemies along with Prasad.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take the strong ones,¡± Tauno said. Before the other man could protest, he continued, ¡°You¡¯re better at taking down hordes of enemies.¡± Prasad nodded. ¡°One Thousand Palms shall reap a million lives.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Right,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Lelka¡­¡± ¡°I can perform long range support,¡± Lelka said. Velvet thought she just wanted to do something. It wasn¡¯t bad to give her a chance to prove her loyalty, though. Though fighting against the Trigold Cluster wouldn¡¯t actually mean much, it could influence public opinion. Catarina would be best positioned with the Scarlet Alliance, in case there was any sort of attack on their core systems. She could help manage the formations. So Koralo would once again be assigned to the strike team. ¡°This time it should hopefully be easier,¡± he commented. ¡°I¡¯ll be responsible for our stealthy arrival,¡± Velvet finished. ¡°And Durff will be responsible for breaking things.¡± ¡°I¡¯m better now,¡± he said. ¡°I can break so many things.¡± ----- ¡°Grandmaster smith!¡± Durff enthusiastically greeted Sadiq as he approached the man. ¡°Thank you for your work on my hammer. It¡¯s very good.¡± The man simple nodded. ¡°Would have been a terrible shame to do anything less with materials like that. But you¡¯re not here just to compliment me.¡± ¡°Nope,¡± Durff agreed easily. ¡°I need you to make me something else.¡± Sadiq looked over Durff from head to toe. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can replicate that armor. At most, I¡¯d match it. And that hammer is my best work.¡± ¡°I need something else,¡± Durff said. ¡°Something very special.¡± Durff described what he had in mind. ¡°I see. So a pick.¡± ¡°Not just any pick! A very sturdy one!¡± Durff explained. ¡°It needs to be able to hold up to me using it.¡± ¡°... do you know how to swing a pick correctly?¡± ¡°I actually do,¡± Durff nodded. ¡°I learned how to do it in a weird mine without energy. I didn¡¯t break the last few at all. They just got worn down from normal use.¡± Sadiq frowned. ¡°Do you want something for those same circumstances? I can do it, I suppose. I made Chidi¡¯s weapon, after all.¡± ¡°... I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll have any void ore mines. So the normal kind with fancy enchantments and stuff should be fine.¡± ¡°Alright. And who¡¯s paying for it, you or the Alliance?¡± ¡°Me!¡± Durff grinned. ¡°I got paid a lot for various things.¡± ¡°Great. I¡¯ll have you test out some grips and give your preference or weighting. Just in case it¡¯s different than for your hammer.¡± ----- Various minor victories had been won against the Silver Fang, and the Scarlet Alliance was at least successful in minimizing continuing damage from raids. But it was still quite difficult for them to protect so many outlying systems at once. They were unable to corner any Augmentation cultivators just yet. The few times they encountered them, they had been able to boost their ship¡¯s flight out of the system before the Scarlet Alliance could properly engage. They made a proper show of building up forces at their border, signaling that they were going to attack soon. And they would¡­ but their first strike was already halfway to its destination. ----- Velvet monitored the ship¡¯s cloaking systems, supplementing them with her own abilities. It was unfortunate that they¡¯d had to throw the previous ship into a star, but it was better than letting the Citadel of Exalted Light capture one perfectly intact. They could learn far too much, even if they wouldn¡¯t operate for just anyone. This ship was of equal caliber, if not better. It wasn¡¯t made for precisely this purpose, but instead its primary purpose was scouting deep into enemy territory. From there, it wasn¡¯t a big stretch to have it carry a small strike team. She had no intention to relax just because the scouts who had come before had been successful. It was possible that they had been detected and simply let go. Not likely, but it would be dangerous to underestimate their foes. On the other hand, overestimating them was also foolish. This mission had to be possible, because they had survived against the Citadel of Exalted Light. The Scarlet Alliance ending up in direct conflict with one of the most powerful sects that anyone knew about had skewed her perspective. They really needed to make an impression on the Trigold Cluster. Perhaps this sect hadn¡¯t heard or didn¡¯t believe the events involving the Citadel. Great effort had certainly been made by the sect to cover up the incident¡­ but that was why they had put in equal effort to spread rumors about it. And the Trigold Cluster was the best place for such things to spread, as they would latch onto negative information about their rivals easily. So perhaps they heard it but assumed that it was not the result of the Scarlet Alliance. Or they wanted to gain some clout, and didn¡¯t expect a serious response. As if raiding planets were simply a casual greeting by neighbors. Maybe for some it was, but the Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t intend to tolerate this. Lelka leaned into Velvet¡¯s peripheral vision. ¡°Thinking about something?¡± she asked. ¡°Not really,¡± Velvet said, perhaps too defensively. ¡°You sure? It wasn¡¯t about me saying we should start something with them so that they didn¡¯t act up?¡± ¡°That strategy was rejected even by those more traditionally aggressive cultivators among us,¡± Velvet said. ¡°That¡¯s because you guys haven¡¯t been big for long enough. These little wolves want to try to swarm big prey just to say they can.¡± ¡°How foolish.¡± ¡°Welcome to the world I lived in for way too long,¡± Lelka said. ¡°Can¡¯t spend all your time peacefully cultivating and enjoying life. Someone¡¯s always going to drag you into unpleasant circumstances..¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like we expected eternal peace. It just seems like meaningless aggression.¡± The ship didn¡¯t really have any privacy- just like before. So Tauno felt free to interject his own thoughts. ¡°They¡¯re like scared animals. Which makes sense because from what I¡¯ve seen they only farm pathetic wolves. Oh, they call it hunting and all that, bringing them down ¡®in the wild¡¯, but they never let them grow truly strong. So they end up with it just being aesthetic instead of practical.¡± Lelka looked over Tauno. ¡°I can¡¯t say I know what you¡¯ve hunted. But it¡¯s easy enough to agree it¡¯s better. And that¡¯s why these guys need a taste of the real world.¡± Tauno nodded. ¡°I hope they have someone properly challenging to face.¡± A bit off to the side, Durff was staring intently at a three dimensional image projected in front of him. Simple conversation wasn¡¯t enough to distract Velvet, so she found herself sitting down with him. ¡°Studying Gniteria? Are you having trouble finding anything? I know it¡¯s not a terribly complete map, but it¡¯s what we got.¡± ¡°... Do you think slaves work in their mines?¡± ¡°On Gniteria? No way,¡± Velvet said. ¡°It¡¯s too much work to enslave proper cultivators. And it¡¯s way too inefficient to let lower tier cultivators work where you could get a Life Transformation cultivator or Integration cultivator to do the same work in seconds. So any of these active mines should be worked by their own sect members. Don¡¯t forget those are secondary targets, though. We want to bring down their sect core first.¡± He nodded. ¡°I know. I¡¯m gonna break their big fancy tower first. And the statue in front of it.¡± Chapter 1065 On their final approach to the planet Gniteria, which was the home of the main sect for the Silver Fang, the assault group had just finished wrapping up their final plans. Tauno had a stern look on his face. ¡°These people are terrible.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± Koralo nodded sagely. ¡°They seem as if their purpose has been to cause the most damage to our people, not to gain the most benefit for themselves.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, yeah. That¡¯s not great either. But mostly I meant that their style sucks. Seriously, they¡¯re totally lacking in cohesion. Seriously, hunters of wolves? It¡¯s like their founder saw a wolf once and got scared, then decided they were the apex predator throughout all worlds.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Koralo responded. ¡°I suppose I should have expected that angle from you. But simply because their essence is focused, it does not mean they¡¯re weak.¡± Tauno held up a spear made from some sort of spine. ¡°If they made practical use of their fallen foes it would be one thing. But the fur is an aesthetic and little more.¡± Prasad gave his own comments. ¡°That is quite a judgment for you never having engaged them in combat.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not quite true,¡± Tauno replied. ¡°I fought some of them before the Scarlet Alliance was formed, just to see. I wasn¡¯t impressed. They don¡¯t seem to have done much but breed since then.¡± ¡°At least one of their Augmentation cultivators advanced recently,¡± Koralo explained. ¡°At least on the scale of the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s lifespan. I wouldn¡¯t call that nothing.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see when I fight them. I hope they remembered to leave some people defending their homeworld, or this is going to be boring. You can handle the barrier?¡± ¡°As long as the scouts didn¡¯t miss anything, I hardly need to. Our information indicates it is rather poorly maintained. But I will be prepared to adapt should that prove not to be the case.¡± A planet much like any other appeared before them. It had more apparent wilderness than most highly populated worlds, but that was to be expected from those who fancied themselves great hunters. They needed sufficient space to continue with their traditions. That did lead to cities brimming with greater populations, skyscrapers held up more by enchantments than precision engineering allowing more people to be packed into a smaller space. Within the core sect of the Silver Fang there stood one much greater, a curved tower closely resembling a wolven canine standing nearly double the height of any others. Their target would be the most well defended area, but also the most valuable place to strike. They could only hope that their plan was not more reckless than it seemed. Velvet kept her attention on the stealth systems as they approached the planet itself. The lack of orbital platforms seemed odd to her, but that was not terribly odd for cultivators. They often gave little care to planetary defense aside from a large barrier. ¡°Everyone remember where the ship is going to idle?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°We can¡¯t just leave it near the shockwaves of battle.¡± ¡°Nope,¡± Durff replied smoothly. ¡°So you guys have to survive so I can make it back.¡± Everyone else gave an affirmative answer, of course. ¡°Good,¡± Velvet said, standing up. ¡°I can keep us stealthed at least until we break through the barrier. Beyond that¡­¡± ¡°I expect we¡¯ll quite quickly reveal ourselves,¡± Prasad commented. ¡°I certainly don¡¯t intend to be casual in my approach.¡± Koralo looked at Durff. ¡°Do you at least remember what I told you about the tower¡¯s formations?¡± ¡°I have a pretty good idea where to hit, yeah,¡± Durff said. ¡°I¡¯ll try to follow behind in case there are any hangups,¡± he said. The six of those present made their way to the exit hatch as the ship made the last adjustments above the planet. Then they dropped out. Koralo pulled out a simple looking sphere, but that simplicity faded away when he threw it to strike the barrier below. It suddenly expanded in size, from the size of a fist to double that- but the new size was merely a projection. However, it expanded again and again, doubling in size each time. The projection had extended through the barrier, cutting off the flow into its center. It then collapsed into a ring, leaving a hole about a meter across. Instantly, Durff dropped through. A moment later, he was outside of Velvet¡¯s range to hide his energy- but he also wasn¡¯t trying himself. And the fireball of igniting atmosphere around him wasn¡¯t so simple to hide either. Durff accelerated downward faster than gravity could carry him, his hammer held at the ready. People were scrambling to react when he struck the tip of the Silver Fang itself. His momentum completely ceased¡­ but rather than crumpling into rubble, the tower stood without a mark. Durff did not look disappointed, instead letting himself drop next to its base. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. A hundred disciples and a few elders were rushing out from that very tower, and more from beyond, but massive palms began to crush buildings further away as Prasad began his attack. Meanwhile, Tauno landed next to Durff and immediately struck out at the strongest elder nearby. The first dozen disciples to strike Durff did so simultaneously, and their spears likewise shattered simultaneously. While Durff¡¯s armor flowed around him like a liquid to settle in place, once set it was immeasurably hard and was a hazard to those who were unprepared. Though that would have been of lesser value had the individual inside of the armor not been able to hold himself against the blows. Durff wasn¡¯t even paying attention to the crowd around him. Instead, he was looking at his target¡­ and the tower in front of him, which were not the same thing. With a wide swing, he swept people out of his path. His hammer struck the base of the main tower¡­ and the entire thing sailed through the air, the base cracking apart in a single instant. It sailed point first through a grand statue of the sect¡¯s founder, standing triumphant over a fallen wolf. All that remained after the fight was the man¡¯s legs. When the building finally stopped after having tumbled over a great portion of the inner sect finally sustained the impacts levied upon it, and its enchantments were unable to keep up with the strain. Where it didn¡¯t immediately crack, it began to crumble under its own weight. Tauno¡¯s wish had been fulfilled to some extent, as the elder he was battling was an Augmentation cultivator. However, with the very first move he drove his own spear through the tip of his opponent¡¯s spear, splitting the metal and wood. ¡°Should have made your weapon from a creature you slew with your own hands,¡± Tauno commented. Not that any advice he gave would be useful, as he stabbed the elder in the back as he turned to flee. The man had only had a handful of moments to stabilize his own energy for battle, and while he might have been disturbed in the middle of his cultivation and thus weaker, Tauno wasn¡¯t going to give the man a chance to fight at his full strength. If he had been caught off guard, he deserved his fate. Then Tauno roared, his aura spreading throughout the sect with the uneasy fear that distortion beasts tended to bring with them. Weaker cultivators convulsed, unable to withstand the sudden effect. Durff was pleased, as it allowed him to look around. ¡°Now, where did they put that?¡± he said. He casually attached his hammer onto his back as he walked around, not even thinking about battle at the moment. Velvet was merely a trail of death among the local disciples, taking full advantage of her twin voidsteel daggers. Any exposed flesh became a target as she sliced through the energy of Integration cultivators one after another. They were the greatest threat, numerous as they were, though they could not easily join together against their smaller numbers. Lelka fought exactly as she had said, flying in the air above everything and taking down opponents with beams of concentrated light. A small portion of individuals attempted to fly up and deal with her, but not enough of them coordinated at any one time. The threats of Tauno and Prasad were extremely immediate. Koralo had no visible presence, but Velvet knew he was wandering around disrupting formations that were supposed to give a homeground advantage to the sect. Perhaps in a few minutes they would be the ones bolstered by the formations instead. Durff¡¯s feet carried him over many kilometers, though still within the central sect. He brushed past all of those trying to stop him as he looked for one thing in particular. ¡°There you are,¡± he said as he approached a mountain. ¡°Mine number one.¡± Frankly, Durff thought it would be a pain to try to fight their way all across the planet, collapsing every mine they came across. However, he knew something that they didn¡¯t know. Mines wanted to collapse. Big holes in the ground weren¡¯t stable at all. He pulled out from his storage bag the pick Grandmaster Sadiq had so kindly made him, feeling its weight. If he did it right, all he¡¯d need was one good swing. His pick swung into the ground. With its length, one would expect that he could collapse no more than a meter of stone- but of course, that was only considering its standard length. And Durff wasn¡¯t restricted in his energy usage here. Having good basics really helped with everything. He also had a strong body that could withstand the counterforce of his efforts without him having to supplement with too much upper energy, letting him focus that effect. The ground trembled, once, twice¡­ then a wide pit opened up around where he swung as everything compressed inward. Durff looked at it and shook his head. ¡°That wasn¡¯t the right feeling.¡± He hefted his pick again and swung it down, and when he did there was no immediate feedback as his pick extended and sank a kilometer deep into the collapsed mine. He pulled his weapon out, wiped his forehead, had his armor pull back so he could actually touch his forehead, then nodded. ¡°That should be good enough. Alright guys, we can leave now!¡± he shouted. Even if they didn¡¯t hear him clearly, they¡¯d figure it out as he leapt towards the sky. The planetary formation was a bit shaky above them, considering a large portion of the main sect¡¯s infrastructure had collapsed. Durff wondered if more of it could cave in with the mines. Well, that wasn¡¯t his business. Lelka looked over at him as he flew up next to her. She continued blasting people as she raised an eyebrow. ¡°Done already? I thought we were here to cause maximum damage.¡± ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m done with my tasks now. So we can go.¡± ¡°You collapsed one mine,¡± Lelka pointed out. ¡°It¡¯s not going to be operational anytime soon, I agree. But what about the rest of them.¡± ¡°What about the rest of them? They shouldn¡¯t be much better.¡± A faint rumbling sound reached Lelka¡¯s ears, and she saw buildings below swaying back and forth. Some held together while others collapsed. But given her vantage point, she could see for hundreds of kilometers and the same was happening elsewhere. And if she extended her energy and extrapolated¡­ ¡°Is the entire planet shaking?¡± Durff crossed his arms over his chest. ¡°The mines wanted to collapse. I think some of them were pretty deep.¡± ¡°I- actually, I saw you hit the Citadel of Exalted Light off the planet. So this might actually be more sensible.¡± Lelka frowned. ¡°The whole planet isn¡¯t going to collapse, is it?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly. Innocent wolves live here.¡± Lelka didn¡¯t know whether or not that meant he could have done it. But she had the feeling that maybe he could have. Then again, he was the right sort of cultivator for such a result. The others began to appear around them, starting with Koralo. Tauno was last, looking somewhat disappointed. ¡°Next time, we need to make sure they¡¯re better defended.¡± Chapter 1066 Unlike the attack on the Citadel of Exalted Light, where destroying the Citadel would have caused grave injury or death to Zaur Beridze, destroying structures on Gniteria did not serve the same tactical purpose. The Silver Fang wasn¡¯t suddenly torn apart just because some of their buildings had been destroyed and a single elder was dead. However, the assault was a clear warning to them. They¡¯d chosen to cause trouble with the wrong people, and they were going to suffer the consequences for it. The death of that elder wasn¡¯t going to collapse their sect¡­ but in turn, it also wasn¡¯t a trivial loss. The damage to their morale would also be widespread, likely causing them to be more cautious. Their tactics could keep their raiders safe, but if they had nowhere to return to that could only last so long. At the same time as the assault on Gniteria, the Scarlet Alliance launched several more attacks on their closest border planets, targeting mainly defensive infrastructure such as the formations used to maintain the barriers. They had no intention to attempt to occupy planets immediately, but they could make them more difficult to defend in the future. Though the Scarlet Alliance was eager to retaliate, they still preferred to not be drawn into a protracted war. Thus preparations were made for a potential diplomatic resolution- now that they had made a show of strength, they could leverage that for better concessions. Though actually solidifying diplomatic channels would be difficult. They might need to bring a show of force to one of their planets with the intention to hold that position. ----- Far away in the lower realms, people were not merely sitting idly. Though they had taken some time to allow people to recover from the invasion, a few decades returned them to proper stability. With certain plans that were being made to connect to the Chaotic Conglomeration more long term, more attention was given to the western region. For the most part, the Lower Realms Alliance had branched out in an easterly direction- partially because of the Sylanis Cluster being directly in their path, partially because Anton had explored to the east, and finally because they hadn¡¯t encountered as many occupied planets nearby to the west. The cluster of systems that had once been part of the Numerological Compact but was now simply referred to as the Unified Sector was the largest grouping of people by far, and it was a significant distance away. Ultimately, there had only been so far that the Lower Realms Alliance was willing to stretch itself while preparing for the war. Now, they had an opportunity to cut off the upper realms from access to the lower realms entirely, if they could liberate every occupied system from their influence. The Lower Realms Alliance was able to tolerate those who did not want to join them. For centuries they remained at peace with the Sylanis Cluster, even after the alliance¡¯s combined power dwarfed the few systems. They would have accepted Ekict¡¯s desire for independence. But they could not abide active threats, especially anyone with a continuing connection to the upper realms. Filled with a new vigor to further their exploration, many ships were sent out. They were to attempt to peacefully make contact with any locals- and if they could not, to leave while causing minimal harm. So far, Anton hadn¡¯t heard about any contact, nor had he encountered any occupied systems himself. Though along his current path, he truly didn¡¯t expect it. Anton found himself skirting the border between realms, planning to expand his network of stars. He couldn¡¯t bind every star along the border even in a single flat line- not without using up every remaining star he had and then some. Though he had over a hundred bound stars, even that thin line would be fifty to a hundred more. He was still centuries of cultivation away from that. Plus it took more time to replace the stars in his first hundred than to bind those that came post Assimilation. That time still contributed to his cultivation to some measure, but it had to be carefully considered. Even though he couldn¡¯t bind every star he wished, Anton was still working on the outlines of a grand constellation. He had something of a loop around the eastern part of the lower realms. Replicating that to the west, he could perhaps bring himself to a state where he could repeat the power of his Realm Shot that killed Sudin. Or at least something sufficiently close. For that, his intention was to create a matching loop on the other side, ultimately creating something that could be described as a bow-shaped constellation. He could even count his line up towards Akrys as an arrow. Anton wasn¡¯t certain how important the aesthetics of such a constellation would be, though it felt right to him. Either way, if he wanted to replicate the effect anywhere in the vicinity of the Exalted Quadrant he would need stars bound there, and the extremely loose shape had worked before even if he could only use half at a time. Anton wasn¡¯t being quick with choosing which stars to bind. Instead, he was passing by as many as he possibly could along the way, taking in their features. He had to consider their power and their compatibility with him, and while he would likely only experience results that differed by a few percent in either direction depending on each individual star¡­ if he was efficient and came out five percent stronger than he might have otherwise, that was a significant gain. That sort of margin was often the difference between top cultivators in a certain range of cultivations, and every small amount of power mattered when it was tested many times over centuries. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. There was also a secondary goal for focusing on that path. It would provide security for anyone who wished to travel around through the lower realms from the Scarlet Alliance to the Chaotic Conglomeration. They would have to use the new ships, of course. It wasn¡¯t a current need that Anton was fulfilling, but instead something he anticipated would be useful in the future. Perhaps it would only be necessary to secure one system for border crossing, but that might actually reveal too much information, should the Exalted Quadrant be able to spy across the border. Halfway to his goal, he had found only a few stars that he felt were noteworthy on their own, with another handful that had planets within their systems that possessed sufficient natural energy to consider settling. That wasn¡¯t a surprise, given that the first systems immediately on the border were not surrounded by other systems full of natural energy. That meant that up to a third of their natural energy filtered out into the gap without use- the rest going to systems further into the lower realms or those around them on the border. Anton took the time to explore some of the planets, and he found that even those with strong natural energy had no life. Any natural energy they had would be the product of a long period of time absorbing from their stars, ending at a balance of natural energy where they radiated as much as they gave off. Life, meanwhile, captured said natural energy in different ways- allowing the total amount planets had to build up over time if properly managed. There were a number of terrestrial planets with clear markings. Scars from meteor impacts were part of that, but Anton detected signs of battles long past as well as mining operations. While the ores that could be found on a planet with lesser natural energy weren¡¯t terribly valuable, they were still of some use to those who were earlier in their spacefaring journeys. Anton could only speculate whether the marks had come from natives to the lower realms or the Exalted Quadrant crossing the border, though the lack of permanent structures heavily implied the latter. Anton was confident in his ability to actively sense occupied systems within ten or fifteen lightyears- usually two or three systems away from his position. He was somewhat disappointed to have not found any yet. He hoped that didn¡¯t mean anything like the dead worlds they had found to the east, but he had the feeling he would come across at least one or two eventually. Unless the Exalted Quadrant had gathered their ascenders from only a handful of systems, they had to have a presence on many occupied planets. Perhaps they simply weren¡¯t so close to the border. Others would find them, then, or Anton might stumble across them when he expanded the area of his path. But for the moment, he was sufficiently occupied. Much of his time was spent simply traveling between systems, which gave him a lot of time to think. About himself and his future cultivation, and the state of the known galaxy and the various factions within. His most important thoughts were how he could continue to build up the Lower Realms Alliance- and through them, the Scarlet Alliance in the upper realms. Simple expansion would bolster their numbers, but strength in individuals or strength in numbers were not desirable on their own. They needed to maintain what made everything work. Bonds between people and the environment they dwelled in¡­ as well as with those they lived alongside. ----- Prospero Vandale was called upon to be the first attempt a proper diplomatic outreach to the Silver Fang. He was accompanied by a fleet to aid him, of course. He had the necessary experience for the work from his position as the head of the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars as it had been at the time. Then he had served the Scarlet Alliance as a member of the council ever since it was properly established. His prowess in battle was also necessary for this particular mission. Diplomacy between cultivators sometimes involved violence. There could be proper challenges that both parties agreed to with the intention to decide certain matters¡­ or there could be unprovoked attacks or assassination attempts. Having a weak individual in such a role could mean frequent replacements, unless they had a particularly powerful guard who could fight while keeping them safe. Prospero understood that was the case with Devon and Aerona in the lower realms, but he was sufficiently inclined towards the social side of things so there was no need to make things more complicated. Though he did have something like a guard in the presence of Hoyt. Proper backup was necessary, especially since the Silver Fang was known to have more than one Augmentation cultivator traveling together sometimes. They believed their chosen planet to have only one, but it was a reasonable precaution and the two worked well together. For a brief moment Prospero had considered Fuzz and Spikes as well, but while their battle prowess was significant he wasn¡¯t currently intending to provoke the Silver Fang. If they had proper respect for wolves it might go well, but he expected they would simply feel insulted, as if they were being made fun of somehow. Perhaps in the future, however. The fleet carried Prospero, Hoyt, hundreds of Integration cultivators, and over a thousand Life Transformation cultivators. They might, after all, have to deal with the forces of an enemy planet- though it was unlikely the Silver Fang could gather the majority of their combat forces on the planet together all at once. As they flew into the system, Prospero kept his aura extended as far as it could go, to catch anyone approaching so he could speak to them before they got within firing range. Or at least, as far as their ships were concerned. The Scarlet Alliance¡¯s fleet had excellent range, and of course Prospero and Hoyt could attack from a great distance. Prospero¡¯s range of influence had been measured in kilometers when he was merely in Life Transformation. Now that he was two stages higher as an Augmentation cultivator, while he couldn¡¯t measure up against Anton he could target almost anywhere within a system. Even better if his target was outside atmosphere so he didn¡¯t have to deal with friction. Soon enough, Prospero noticed a group approaching. He hoped they didn¡¯t have to kill too many of them before they were willing to stop and listen. Chapter 1067 ¡°Cultivators of the Silver Fang!¡± Prospero projected his voice across the enemy fleet. ¡°We have come to discuss terms of peace! If you negotiate in good faith, no blood need be spilled today!¡± Hoyt grinned slightly. ¡°You think it will actually work out like that?¡± ¡°That depends entirely upon them,¡± Prospero said. ¡°Even if nothing is accomplished, we must take the steps.¡± A few moments later, there was a response from one of the Silver Fang. ¡°Have your fleet maintain that distance, and we shall meet personally between our fleets.¡± ¡°Very well,¡± Prospero agreed. He then called out to their fleet. ¡°Scarlet Alliance, match velocity!¡± It was quite pleasing to see their own ships move in synchrony, while the enemy ships staggered. They clearly found it more difficult to reduce their forward momentum, with each ship performing differently. But with a bit of twisting and turning, the fleets ended up immobile relative to each other some hundreds of kilometers between them. ¡°Should I come with you?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Just remain on guard,¡± Prospero said. ¡°It appears my counterpart is moving alone as well.¡± Hoyt nodded. ¡°Good fortune to you.¡± Prospero left the ship behind, flying forward to meet the other man. They stood perhaps ten kilometers apart in empty space, barely visible to the naked eye. Yet for Augmentation cultivators, they were practically touching. ¡°My name is Prospero Vandale, of the Scarlet Alliance,¡± he introduced himself. ¡°And yourself?¡± They had some information on the leadership of the Silver Fang, but even those on their own planets didn¡¯t know all of their elders. Many cultivators intentionally limited the spread of even such basic information. The man who looked back at Prospero was covered in wolf furs- and had a wolf skull atop his head, fangs in front of his face. ¡°I am Grand Elder Rafiq, of the mighty Silver Fang. You spoke of terms of peace¡­ and we are willing to allow such, if you pay proper tribute to us.¡± Prospero supposed it would be like that, even though it was clear he was intending to offer terms of the Silver Fang¡¯s surrender. ¡°Return those who you have captured, surrender your resources, and we will not have to burn down your forests.¡± The Scarlet Alliance wasn¡¯t actually going to do that, of course. They would prefer to kill the cultivators responsible directly. But they were still in the simple threats stage. In theory, the negotiations would work towards a middle ground. Prospero wouldn¡¯t mind too much if they accomplished nothing on the current day, as he doubted Rafiq could truly negotiate for the whole of the Silver Fang. But they could have established a connection. Unfortunately, as he had suspected from the moment the man first spoke, that was not to be. Barely a few more words were exchanged before the Silver Fang fleet fired their weapons¡­ and Rafiq charged Prospero with his spear. Prospero caught the spear just in front of his eye, negating the man¡¯s momentum as his defensive energy absorbed the extended aura of the spear. He had kept his internal energy ready, and fire flared around him. The enemy fleet¡¯s weapons were enchanted ballistae, no less effective against defensive barriers than energy beams. But they were also not any more effective¡­ and they were quite well standardized throughout their fleets. With barriers adapted to that particular style of weapon, none of the Scarlet Alliance ships were damaged. It was still possible to break through such a barrier but it took significantly more power or a wider variety of attacks. Their own cultivators might be more flexible¡­ but they had to last that long. Prospero¡¯s fire aura grew, and Rafiq drew back as orbs of flame began to appear, orbiting around Prospero and rapidly growing in size. The same technique surrounded the fleet where Hoyt remained- though only for a moment, as Hoyt built up enough speed to begin letting his attacks loose at the ships that had fired upon them. The Falling Stars that were orbiting Prospero suddenly began to surround Rafiq, flying in towards him and circling back around when he avoided them. He was able to destroy some with his spear, but the explosions shook him. Meanwhile Prospero stood in place without taking a step, mostly to look intimidating. In the long past he might have actually been unable to move due to concentrating on dozens of Falling Stars orbiting, but not anymore. Rafiq found himself unable to advance towards Prospero, contained by the Falling Stars and finding his movements ever more limited. One by one Silver Fang ships fell, causing chaos within their ranks while the Scarlet Alliance was able to improve both their defenses and counterattacks as the enemy fell. The enemy Augmentation cultivator attempted to flee, but a wall of flame blocked his path of retreat. ¡°W-wait!¡± Rafiq called towards Prospero. ¡°I see you are stronger than I thought. Like you said, no blood needs to be shed, right?¡± Prospero nodded. ¡°I both said it and meant it.¡± Then he clapped his hands together, as his dozens of Fallings Stars converged together on Rafiq¡¯s location, crashing into him and exploding, each explosion building upon the other and amplifying the damage to Rafiq. No visible remains existed when the attack faded away. The enemy fleet¡¯s morale was already low, with many turning to flee. That moment convinced the rest, as the entire battlefield felt it. But they would not be allowed to run. Except¡­ The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Prospero locked his energy onto one ship in particular. He pulled out a formation based communication device- a simple sort that was meant for exactly such a situation. He tossed it forward with his energy as he spoke. ¡°Do not worry. You did not join in on the attack, so you will live. Let your elders know that when they are ready to stop your losses, they can speak to us with this token.¡± It was a bit unfortunate that everyone on the ships had to die for the mistakes of their captains, but there hadn¡¯t been any sense that anyone was resisting except the one captain. The bright ball of Prospero¡¯s energy that was chasing after the ship matched pace with it, and the captain tentatively reached out his own energy to grab it, at which point Prospero relinquished his control. Good, at least they could establish simple communication that didn¡¯t require occupying a planet or the like. But Prospero would have very much preferred it if Rafiq had chosen to shout and insult him, completely reject any deal, and then storm off. But he couldn¡¯t allow one who broke the bonds of negotiation get away with it. Hopefully the captain would not be punished for surviving. At the very least, the Silver Fang should understand how to use the communication device. Though in the time it would take to get any sort of message passed back and forth, the Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t intend to simply stop their counterassault. Prospero decided he would have them hold off a few days and try another planet. ----- Chidi was quite at home around Spikes and Fuzz. Without any real intention, Spikes had become something like his aunt. She was gentle¡­ to those who were not a threat to herself or her family. That was allies, of course, but also those who were simply neutral. He was happy to have them join the battle against the Silver Fang. The sect, even with its recent losses, had been quite stubborn. It was months since the assault on the capital planet and the great damage there¡­ but rather than trying to cut their losses, they seemed determined to amplify them. The wolves were quite happy to make that so. They were particularly upset for the disrespect the sect showed to wolves. Those wolves found on other planets were not of especially high intelligence, but simple beasts who cultivated through ingesting prey that possessed spiritual energy. Even so, they found the Silver Fang personally insulting- especially since the wolves were a known factor within the Scarlet Alliance. Personally, Chidi didn¡¯t even find the fur-covered aesthetic of the Silver Fang appealing. The manner they did it in was more of a crude showing of their supposed strength. But none of the wolves they had fought were properly strong. Maybe some equivalent to Life Transformation cultivators at best. The wolves were not possessed of great sapience¡­ but the understanding of animals was also not completely based on instinct. They knew the humans were enemies¡­ and so Fuzz and Spikes intended to show the humans their foolishness. Chidi followed behind as the two crashed into one of the local Silver Fang compounds. And crash they did, the two of them together like an apocalyptic meteor descending upon the sect. An explosion of fire and a shockwave of earth toppled many buildings after they broke through the formation¡­ but they were just getting started. The very land beneath the sect bent to Spikes¡¯ will, twisting and bending to attack her enemies or block their assaults. Fuzz filled the area with flame, melting any weapons that actually managed to make it past various other barriers. They could have probably destroyed the whole compound with just the two of them, but that wasn¡¯t the ultimate purpose. Intead, Chidi landed secretly near the edge of the compound and began to slip apart the formations supporting the barrier. But he wasn¡¯t completely destroying them¡­ instead, they were modified. Without adding anything, he could only make his modifications temporary- then the barriers would slowly collapse. But before then¡­ well, they would see what it was like when the wild beasts could get to them without age old barriers. It wasn¡¯t the most efficient way to defeat the Silver Fang. Once again, Fuzz and Spikes alone could have probably accomplished the same thing with great thoroughness. But the Scarlet Alliance very much wanted the Silver Fang to be forced into submission. They had no interest in eradicating their population, nor did they wish to conquer all of their planets. Besides, trying to establish a permanent foothold within the Trigold Cluster would be asking for further trouble. They just wanted them to stop their assault, with the Scarlet Alliance showing proper strength to discourage others in the future. Aconite followed behind Chidi, leaving not a trail of poison but instead one of temptation, scents to attract the local wolves as well as other cultivating beasts. Perhaps the open barriers would be enough, but if they wanted maximum damage they needed to be attracted en masse. For their escape, Spikes pulled together a giant pillar of stone. It was a completely unnecessary effort, given that everyone could just fly away with their energy. But it was extra insulting to have a mountain of stone torn from under their sect grounds. It could be seen from other cities, not all of which were under direct control of the Silver Fang. They controlled the planets, but other minor sects still existed, as well as those who weren¡¯t serious cultivators filling up the cities. The latter was a waste of potential, but Chidi wasn¡¯t about to start giving the Silver Fang prosperity advice. ----- Velvet took a good look at Durff. ¡°This is perhaps the most insane method I¡¯ve ever heard to free slaves,¡± she said. ¡°I need to know how confident you are it will work.¡± ¡°One hundred percent,¡± he said. ¡°Assuming the ships are there waiting.¡± That was good enough for Velvet. ¡°Then I will help you set that up. It¡¯s¡­ less risky. Though we¡¯ll have to come back for the rest later.¡± Durff nodded. ¡°But we¡¯ll get all the ones that are together. And then maybe everyone can join the¡­ Smashed Shackles?¡± It took Velvet a moment. ¡°Do you mean the Shattered Chains?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. That. I heard there¡¯s a really cool guy in the lower realms who established that sect. The crew of those new ships that have lots of people were talking about it.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°Devon won¡¯t be able to personally oversee their progress, but there are a sufficient number of members of the Sect ascending to establish their own foothold here. And whoever we free, whether formerly of the Alliance or not, should be given the opportunity to join. We just¡­ need to get them all.¡± They had been freeing slaves on the planets they assaulted, of course, but without completely conquering a planet there was only so much they could do at once. Durff¡¯s plan might accelerate that, though only for certain groups. Then again, they had to take things one step at a time. While he was busy with that, Velvet might make sure a few people responsible for maintaining the despicable trade within the Silver Fang never woke up. Chapter 1068 Two steps within the boundary of the Silver Fang territory was the planet Sagrigan. It should have been safely embedded within their defensive lines, but as the incident with Gniteria showed they had no ability to prevent intrusion into their territory. Even so, the defensive complement available was sufficient to deter most forms of attack. Durff had not been informed of any of this- or if he had, he hadn¡¯t been listening. He had come with a plan, and nothing was going to stop that. His hammer came down atop their barrier, making it tremble¡­ but that was all. But if he hit it harder¡­ he took a great swing, sufficient to crush a mountain. His hammer rebounded from the barrier without causing any damage at all. Okay, maybe the barrier would stop him actually. He looked over towards Catarina. ¡°I¡¯ve got it,¡± she said. ¡°One moment.¡± Durff expected her to break through like Koralo, creating a small path for them to move through. Koralo had done some cool things with rings. Instead, Catarina had a small sword and was poking at the surface of the barrier. He wasn¡¯t going to disparage her choice of weapon, but she sure didn¡¯t look like she was trying very hard to break the barrier. Then¡­ the barrier started to fade away like mist under the bright sun. Durff thought it would stop, but it didn¡¯t. As far as he could tell, the entire planetary barrier fell apart. ¡°We¡¯ve got one hour,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Better make the most of it.¡± He looked at her. ¡°Are you going to be breaking their formations?¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°Of course not. I¡¯ll be retrieving them.¡± Could you do that? Well, he supposed they were usually just fancy rocks. Or fancy metal inlaid in fancy rocks. Or¡­ things like that. But formations also usually protected themselves from being picked up. That wasn¡¯t Durff¡¯s business though. Timothy pointed with his sword. ¡°You should get going. I¡¯ll be here to hold off attackers.¡± Durff nodded. That guy was really good with his shield. Durff sparred with him once and knocked himself halfway across the system with his own energy being reflected. As expected of people who worked with Velvet. Alva he¡¯d already seen¡­ but she was already shooting directly downward. Fortunately, her arrow disappeared before it hit the ground. Below them was his target. He did vaguely feel her hit something on the other side of the planet, though. Apparently it was difficult to go through subspace and stuff around ¡®gravity wells¡¯, which was why Durff generally didn¡¯t do that and just hit the whole planet. Much easier. He dropped down towards the area he wanted, swinging his hammer to strike the formation beneath. He was surprised when his attack was once again completely negated. Seriously, had they built these things precisely to counteract him? Huh. Maybe they had. But if that was the plan, they really screwed it up. Because this just made things easier for him. He looked past the barrier, seeing thousands cowering- both those in chains and those who were not. There were also many others preparing to come attack him. Probably after he tired himself by breaking through. So he just looked for the edge of the dome, and struck the ground next to it. Durff was immensely surprised when the whole place didn¡¯t go flying into space. They really did make stuff specifically to negate him! He did collapse the ground around the area, though, turning it into loose sand. Well, since he couldn¡¯t hammer the place into submission¡­ he put his hammer on his back and dove into the ground. He wasn¡¯t trying to collapse things, so his pick wouldn¡¯t do any good. But he still had other perfectly functional abilities. Durff stood beneath the district and pushed his arms up. He¡¯d learned a few things about lifting heavy things, like how to avoid sinking into the ground. He felt his muscles straining, and he boosted them with his energy. He was pretty strong, but not lift thousands of people and the land they were on strong. Not with just muscle. But fortunately for him, half of the work was done by the formation- the big sphere was unbreakable and absorbed sudden impacts. It didn¡¯t seem to resist being slowly pushed, though. He hadn¡¯t actually known it would work, but he had to try. He pushed, accelerating bit by bit until it built up sufficient momentum. Conveniently, everyone inside seemed to be protected from the negative effects of acceleration as well. A very well put together formation. It would probably protect from all sorts of things, like the vacuum of space. Or if not, someone would deal with that. He flung it out towards their hidden fleet regardless. Hiding that many ships was difficult, but much easier when there were people doing big flashy entrances. Like that Timothy guy, who was fighting ten people with spears- because the first thousand people who had rushed at him were now impaled headfirst in the streets below. Well, not directly below because those streets were in space now. Durff looked around. Was he done? Should he help Timothy and Alva? There were several Augmentation cultivators attacking them. Then he noticed Catarina breaking apart actual formation markings and tossing them into a weird looking storage bag. He could definitely help with that. She might have to tell him where to hit things, because she probably wanted them to be broken in a specific way, but he was good at that. Stolen story; please report. ----- Velvet was a big fan of freeing slaves. However, even though a large number of those captured were currently on Sagrigan, many had already passed through on their way to other destinations. Just because they disrupted one market didn¡¯t mean they would be done. More importantly, it didn¡¯t stop them from just invading their territory again. The circumstances weren¡¯t quite ideal for Velvet as she snuck into an overly fancy building. People would be awake and alert. But¡­ that didn¡¯t mean they could stop her. Especially since she wasn¡¯t necessarily looking for the strongest people. In fact, those were all rushing towards Timothy and Alva. Some formations tried to bar her way. Velvet had enough understanding of formations to know how to circumvent them¡­ and if she was uncertain, she could disrupt the formations with her daggers. The voidsteel cut through pure energy like it was butter, negating its flow. It was capable of severing a cultivator¡¯s connection to their own attacks, so the passive control of a formation was nothing. Even if it would re-establish itself soon enough, it didn¡¯t matter. Her first target was a woman. She was holed up in her chambers, guarded on all sides. Except for the secret servant¡¯s entrance. Seriously, how did they not think to protect that one? Did they think she wouldn¡¯t notice? Ah. She¡¯d gotten ahead of herself. They probably didn¡¯t expect her at all. After all, who would send an Augmentation cultivator to assassinate a Life Transformation cultivator? The answer was the Scarlet Alliance. Because they understood that combat prowess was not the only important factor for a civilization. Military might was necessary, but without the smooth flow of commerce, resources would be locked down and pretty much useless. This woman was the first. She dealt in all sorts of trade- including slaves. When Velvet slipped over the servant¡¯s entrance, she wondered if she should leave a note to explain. But she figured that anyone important would figure it out when they put all of the hopefully mysterious deaths together. The tip of her dagger pressed through the woman¡¯s defensive energy, gently touching her neck. But Velvet didn¡¯t even pierce through her skin. Instead, she gently pushed the drop of liquid waiting on the tip of her dagger onto the woman¡¯s neck. She seemed to sense the slight change, reaching up to touch it. But it would absorb through the skin of her hand just as well as her neck. The woman developed a curious expression¡­ and Velvet moved on, releasing her illusion of the closed doorway once it was properly sealed again. Aconite had supplied the poison, so even if Velvet didn¡¯t know what it was going to do, she was certain it would take hold in due time. On to the next one. ----- Chidi sliced open the formation he was standing next to. He kept his voice as low as possible. ¡°It¡¯s open. And no, they didn¡¯t have any wolf-focused barriers here.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Aconite growled back. ¡°Before-¡± ¡°This place isn¡¯t next to their ¡®wild lands¡¯,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°They probably didn¡¯t expect any wolves infiltrating.¡± Then he made a sign over their lips. He used his energy to keep both of them hidden. He was probably two or three tiers below Velvet in the arena of stealth, but he understood formations, the flow of energy, and where people could observe him. He led the two of them on a route through a courtyard that was currently deserted. People were likely focused on his father, fighting a third of the planet away. A reasonable choice, of course. But that allowed them to lay their trap. Or whatever they were going to call it. Aconite was leaving behind a trail of powder that Chidi wouldn¡¯t have noticed if he wasn¡¯t watching. According to what he¡¯d been told, it would spread out as people moved around, clinging to them and eventually working its way into them. Then when they tried to use energy an excruciating death would come for them. Chidi knew about that last part. Well, the excruciating thing. He¡¯d been given very precise doses and instructions for how much energy he was supposed to raise, and he at least felt like he was going to die. He wasn¡¯t perfectly immune, but he should at least be resistant to accidental exposure. Aconite herself¡­ could probably eat a whole bag and get nothing but dry mouth. Speaking of bags, she had a voluminous storage bag full of the stuff. It was ultimately not something Aconite made regular use of because it was very specific in only harming a sort of mid range of cultivators. Integration cultivators and above would generally be able to purge it from their systems- Chidi probably could too, as his energy control was like an Augmentation cultivator, but it was better to not have to find out the hard way. It wasn¡¯t something that could be deployed in front of people obviously without being eradicated. But the insidious part was how its effects might appear seemingly randomly at a later date. They might not tie it back to their sect grounds until it was too late, with many Silver Fang disciples killing themselves. It was brutal, but it focused the results on the people most responsible for the war. Since the Silver Fang had been given several opportunities to have some sort of peace but had refused, this was the result. They were focusing on a defensive posture- perhaps hoping for some allies to come support them- but the Scarlet Alliance wasn¡¯t going to let them sit easy on any of their planets. The pair wove back and forth through the sect grounds, avoiding any highly populated areas for the moment. On the way out, Chidi had them stop by a vault, where he purloined a few swords. It was a decent enough place to leave some of the poison as well. Though the mission wasn¡¯t flashy, it would be impactful. One more step towards them realizing they weren¡¯t safe anywhere¡­ and hopefully the Scarlet Alliance could force a proper resolution to the war. Or at least force their leaders to engage in battle where they could be crushed as a group. If not¡­ they¡¯d slowly run out of high ranking cultivators. The Scarlet Alliance just didn¡¯t want to have to scour every planet for enemies one at a time. Plus, even if the Trigold Cluster were only loose allies they had to act eventually, if things continued to drag on. Chapter 1069 Even after they withdrew from systems, the Scarlet Alliance left behind probes to monitor people coming and going. Their ultimate goal was to track the movements of the Silver Fang leadership. There were several among them who had been responsible for many of the early attacks, and taking them out would go a long way towards forcing the Silver Fang to surrender. The information from said probes was slightly delayed in reaching the Scarlet Alliance, as the fastest methods of communication were also high enough power to be easily detected. However, by analyzing enemy patterns and their historical movements they hoped to predict an optimal time and place for an assault. That unfortunately meant more waiting, though they weren¡¯t inactive. Most of their attacks were focused on planets closer to the border, but they still occasionally launched focused attacks on poorly defended planets deeper into Silver Fang territory. If the war ended sooner it would be better for the Scarlet Alliance, as the conflict placed them in an unstable situation. If the Citadel of Exalted Light thought to take advantage of the conflict they could find themselves at extreme risk¡­ but trouble could come from other sects in the Trigold Cluster as well. Many of the nearby sects had been seen to be repositioning their forces, though whether simply to defend themselves or because of eventual plans to aid the Silver Fang it was unclear. The closest sects of note were the Twirling Forest, the Creeping Fire Sect, and the Fearsome Menagerie. Fortunately the latter two sects had some amount of buffer zone from much smaller sect, but they were still close enough to prove a threat. The instant any sort of reinforcements arrived in the deeper Silver Fang territory, the Scarlet Alliance would have to react. ----- Much too far to affect the war even if he had been willing to try another blatant attack on the upper realms, Anton was surveying an empty system. At least, it appeared empty at first. However, he noticed signs he¡¯d seen before. Extremely basic life was visible, plants and animals that formed a basic but incomplete ecosystem. It didn¡¯t take him long to pick out underground civilizations. He had several examples. As for why they would be that way¡­ it was fairly simple. Invasions from the upper realms weren¡¯t something that could be trivially ignored. Either they had been nearly wiped out, or they chose to isolate themselves to prevent such a situation. The two planets were in the inner system, both within the expected size range for terrestrial planets. Anton noticed quite a few differences in the life on their surfaces, though he wasn¡¯t certain if that was due to differing climates or an intentional lack of standardization. Then again, it was also possible that the planets weren¡¯t spacefaring. At the very least, he spotted nothing in-transit, and he would have expected at least something at any given time if that was the case. Still, two populated planets in one system indicated that they had been part of a spacefaring group at some point, though it was possible that the colonies had been independently established by differing groups and left with none of the required knowledge. Much of the settlement of the lower realms was so many cycles into the past that the knowledge was effectively erased from history, unless the upper realms had been directly involved and kept records somewhere. Probing deeper beneath the surface, Anton was surprised to find that the formations concealing the planets¡¯ energy were not accompanied by defensive barriers keeping anything out. Perhaps they only had the energy required to power the concealing formation, but after reaching through that he felt sufficiently large quantities of natural energy that he thought they could do more. Anton didn¡¯t probe much deeper than that, as people deserved some chance at privacy. The only question in his mind was how he was going to introduce himself- because this system was right along the route he thought would be optimal for reaching the Chaotic Conglomeration. He didn¡¯t want to spook them. But no matter what he did, he imagined they would be quite surprised. He didn¡¯t particularly want to hide, but keeping his energy constrained would probably be wise. If they weren¡¯t spacefaring, they might not even have Assimilation cultivators or some equivalent. It would be quite a shock for an Enrichment cultivator to show up. Though he could have thought himself in circles forever, Anton ultimately just picked one planet and flew over to it. He searched around for an entrance to the underground¡­ and simply landed next to it. He was partially concealing his power, but his presence itself wasn¡¯t hidden. He walked forward and, quite unlike Xicil, went directly into a tunnel with no sort of physical barrier blocking him. He wondered if that was part of some sort of system to convince people that there weren¡¯t any humans here? ¡°Hello?¡± Anton called out, his voice echoing down the hall. ¡°Anyone here?¡± He wondered if they knew he could hear them whispering. Just because they were beyond the barrier that blocked outwards transmission of natural energy didn¡¯t mean that such simple things wouldn¡¯t pass. Whoever created the barrier probably wasn¡¯t concerned about someone yelling and it being heard from afar, given all the empty space in the way and all that. Anton continued forward, only to be assaulted by a hammer and an axe. The former struck him in the head, while the latter went for his belly. ¡°Hello. I would appreciate being directed to whoever is in charge. Do my words make sense to you?¡± They should, as he¡¯d understood their whispers. The local language wasn¡¯t too divergent. The man and the woman who had attacked him failed to respond, though not because they seemed to be ignoring him. Instead, they seemed to be trembling uncontrollably. Anton flicked them on the forehead, using exactly enough energy to break their natural defenses and only leave a somewhat powerful finger strike after that. They staggered back half a step. ¡°Bam. You¡¯re dead. Or you could be, if that was my intention. Now then, will one of you speak?¡± The man managed to calm himself first. ¡°Forgive us, senior. We didn¡¯t-¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Yes, yes. You didn¡¯t know I was this strong. Though you really should have thought about it a little bit. Ah, it appears the situation is resolving itself. I¡¯m going to assume that¡¯s who I need to speak to.¡± The two cultivators were in early Life Transformation. They were far from weak, and the energy they displayed when attacking Anton was sufficient to draw quite a bit of attention. That was why it was natural that the strongest cultivators in the area would notice. Including one Assimilation cultivator. Or Worldbinding? Most likely some other name entirely, but some method for post-Life Transformation advancement. The man didn¡¯t seem to be terribly far along that path. Ahead of him floated seventeen swords. Chikere would have liked to meet the guy. It was a shame that was no longer possible. Seeing that Anton hadn¡¯t pushed past or killed the guards, the man tempered his response. ¡°We were not expecting any arrivals.¡± He was not overly polite¡­ but he also wasn¡¯t overbearing. ¡°I would assume not. I did not see any traffic within your system, nor was there any in the others nearby. We have not met before, so I could not send a message ahead.¡± ¡°What is your purpose here?¡± the man asked. ¡°To introduce myself, and to learn about your world. I am Anton, by the way,¡± he inclined his head. ¡°I come from another system, quite far away. My path has brought me here, and I noticed your people living underground. So I thought it appropriate to investigate.¡± The man nodded, not lowering his flying swords but not bringing them unnecessarily close to Anton. ¡°Togoldor of the Swirling Sword Sect,¡± the man introduced himself. ¡°Are you not from Airus?¡± ¡°Is this Airus?¡± Anton pointed at his feet. ¡°Either way, I am not.¡± ¡°Airus is the other planet in our system,¡± Togoldor explained. Anton nodded. ¡°I see. I noticed them as well, but I chose to visit here first. And this planet?¡± ¡°Xaphiot. May I ask what style you practice?¡± ¡°The One Hundred Stars,¡± Anton declared. ¡°I believe the aura should be distinct enough to differentiate me from others you know.¡± ¡°If you speak of your internal energy¡­ I sense more than one hundred.¡± ¡°Certainly,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But there were only one hundred on the path to Ascension. Though I diverged from that path, much like yourself. What do you call it? We tend to use the terms Assimilation or Worldbinding.¡± ¡°You share information quite easily,¡± the man said. ¡°If the name of a phase is so critical, then I would not imagine the mysteries contained within it to be terribly profound,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°True enough,¡± the man said. ¡°We call it Grounding.¡± ¡°Interesting. That opens many questions, if you wish to discuss. However, it is not terribly comfortable here standing in the hall.¡± Anton used his energy to send the his next words only to Togoldor¡¯s ears. ¡°Nor does it make it seem like you are in control of the situation. I do not mind meeting you outside, within somewhere you choose¡­ or simply leaving the planet, if you cannot tolerate the presence of outsiders.¡± The man thought for a moment. He responded secretly to Anton¡¯s worse, transmitting his words through where their energy met. ¡°Would you then go to Airus?¡± ¡°I would,¡± Anton confirmed. He wondered if the two planets were enemies. Though the man wasn¡¯t quite so aggressive as he would think, in that case. Perhaps rivals, or uneasy neighbors. The man withdrew his blades, until they were spinning point down around him. ¡°You should come with me, honored guest. We have much to discuss.¡± Anton followed behind the man, keeping his senses constrained to what he felt was a polite distance around them- which was still several kilometers of tunnels. Past the entrance, the tunnels quickly became constructed instead of naturally found, though he didn¡¯t expect any civilization that lived underground for long to rely only on natural tunnels. That was simply unrealistic, unless their planet happened to have an excess of caverns and the like. Once population reached a certain point, they would fill up what there was- and artificial tunnels were required to connect between different cities efficiently. ¡°I notice you have extensive fungus farms,¡± Anton commented. ¡°Have you considered surface farms, to increase your variety of produce? Or would that have too many issues? I suppose visitors from the upper realms are often far less friendly.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know much about farming,¡± the man admitted, ¡°But that is certainly one reason.¡± ¡°The last cycle saw significant defeats for the upper realms. So this would be the best time¡­ though if you have gone unnoticed, it might be best to remain that way.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t going to give the pitch for the Lower Realms Alliance just yet. He wanted to at least know something about both planets first. And whatever it was at the core of the planet that he could barely avoid noticing. Some sort of powerful formation, though what it did he couldn¡¯t tell without probing more deeply. For the moment, he kept himself constrained. ----- Over the course of the next few days, Anton met with many individuals from Xaphiot. Word spread quickly, and sect heads from all throughout the world rushed to meet him. That told Anton something, because even with post-Life Transformation power it was difficult to travel so quickly. Especially through tunnels. Even though he was trying not to probe too deeply, he had to keep some awareness of his surroundings. He couldn¡¯t help but notice when people of great power were suddenly around, instead of coming in from the edge of his senses. It didn¡¯t matter that they appeared from inside a sealed area- once they stepped out, they appeared with no clear way they got there. But of course, there was a way. Teleportation had long been known to Anton. Indeed, while it was not necessarily easier than space travel, it was often more valuable and thus more well explored. It was possible there was some other method using tunnels hidden even from Anton¡¯s senses, but he had a fairly good picture of everything around what he expected were teleportation chambers. The only question was how to ask about that. As for the visitors, everyone wanted to meet with and curry favor with the new powerful visitor. At least Anton learned about the local politics- and that while they were not currently at war with Airus, they often had conflicts. Still, that was better than the situation with Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn, so Anton thought the system was in a better place to start out. He just needed to figure out how they felt about the upper realms. He sensed no members of any sects he would recognize, but that didn¡¯t mean there weren¡¯t some he was unaware of. He even checked for members of the Twin Soul Sect- even with Sudin dead, the lower realms might not know that and could cause all sorts of trouble. Chapter 1070 It was quite obvious to Anton that the people of Xaphiot didn¡¯t wish to speak about Airus except in vague terms, and that was doubly true of whatever was in the core of their planet. They also kept silent on the matter of teleportation. Anton hadn¡¯t yet asked directly about any of those pieces, but that was to help maintain his current facade of power. Perhaps stronger than individual cultivators on the planet, but only by a small margin. However, even without a bound star in the system he was actually quite a bit stronger than he led them to believe. So far, nobody had tried to kill him and take his things¡­ so that was good at least. From the small snippets that he overheard, it seemed that there were long standing rivalries between the planets¡­ which indicated some way to interact with each other. Without any apparent space travel, Anton wasn¡¯t quite sure how that was- but he could make some assumptions. Perhaps they had interplanetary teleportation¡­ though why they would not create formations to stop the other side from teleporting to their planet was a mystery. Perhaps their particular techniques were difficult to block. Ultimately, Anton knew that he needed to learn from the other side. So while he appreciated being a guest of the Swirling Sword Sect and Elder Togoldor, he was going to have to visit Airus himself. He just needed to find a way to do that with minimal fuss. At least the two planets weren¡¯t in active conflict, or his task would be several times more difficult. ----- Finally the Scarlet Alliance had managed to track down the biggest trouble in the Silver Fang. The pair of cultivators that had most disrespected the territorial claims of the Scarlet Alliance. One was the sect head, a man named Reigo. The other was one of the sect elders, carrying the name Tanel. Scarlet Alliance forces had pinned them in, eventually driving them to the planet Tros, where they had taken a stand with four other Augmentation cultivators from their sect. The assault on the planet was about to begin, after having gathered what forces they could quickly bring to the area. The Scarlet Alliance fleets were led by Zazil, Prasad, Catarina, and Timothy. While the enemy had an advantage in numbers, the quality of their cultivators had proven to be worse. While they anticipated that Reigo would surpass the others, the few recordings from his raids hadn¡¯t shown an alarming level of power- simply one that outlying planets hadn¡¯t been prepared to deal with. Something drew Catarina¡¯s attention to her tablet. ¡°We¡¯re not a moment too soon,¡± she said. ¡°Looks like some sort of reinforcement fleet is approaching.¡± She furrowed her brow. ¡°A powerful one. Too bad we didn¡¯t have any proper scouts in system, as the report is somewhat lacking. I can only tell that the fleet had sufficient power to trigger a warning.¡± ¡°They should be at minimum days off, right?¡± Prasad asked. ¡°I would anticipate a week,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Unless this fleet is particularly quick. Though subtracting the travel time of the message, it might only be a few days now. But that¡¯s sufficient time to take down Reigo.¡± ¡°We should get started,¡± Zazil said, metal rings spinning around her. ¡°It would be better to be done and off before they arrive. And we have other objectives besides the killing.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°Our strike teams are prepared to focus on major slave markets or labor zones. Some of our transports are still en-route, however. Just a few hours away.¡± ¡°We should have enough to get started,¡± Timothy said. ¡°What¡¯s your assessment of the formation?¡± Catarina grinned. ¡°Weak. And clearly supplied by some other sect. The Silver Fang doesn¡¯t seem capable of fully maintaining their planetary barriers. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve already confirmed attack points with the fleet. They¡¯re just waiting for bombardment orders.¡± ¡°Then we begin,¡± Prasad declared. Two giant hands appeared, nearly cradling the planet between them. They slapped together, delivering a shock to the entire planetary barrier. A third much more modestly sized palm- just a few kilometers across- then crashed into the barrier directly above the enemy¡¯s main defensive position. The four cultivators rushed in as the main fleet followed after, the orders given for the other fleets surrounding the planet to begin their own assault. Enemies rose up to meet them, but their Augmentation cultivators remained beneath the sect¡¯s barriers. Catarina observed the inner barrier without concern. Timothy stood next to her, driving away all attacks. Most cultivators found their assaults rebounding upon themselves, having to expend double their initial investment just to balance things out. The barrier was simple enough that they could certainly just overpower it- though not trivially. Catarina focused on analyzing the barrier while the others dealt with incoming waves of enemies. No doubt reinforcements would be called from other parts of the planet, but they all had their own concerns at the moment. Clearly they¡¯d spent more resources on this inner barrier. Catarina took a good fifteen minutes to confirm its weak points, where it would not only fall more easily but be unable to rebound attacks. If it was a fully passive barrier, she would have not bothered to be so thorough¡­ but she preferred not to underestimate the Silver Fang. Expending too much of their energy before fighting the sect head would be a waste. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°I¡¯ve got it,¡± Catarina declared. She directed the others on how they should begin their assault, with their attacks hopefully continuing to the cultivators sheltering below. Of course, the Augmentation cultivators would no doubt strike back at the same moment. The moment before they began their attack, Catarina paused. Only top priority messages should be coming through. Another fleet? How had they missed it? It was closer than the last. No. That might not be the correct way to interpret things. With this timing¡­ ¡°We don¡¯t have days,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Something is approaching, quickly. Almost at the same rate as our messages propagate. We might only have a couple hours.¡± A measure of hours was both an extremely short time, and an extremely long one. A battle between cultivators could last a single instant, or it could stretch out over days. Prasad wasted no time launching his attacks on the barrier¡­ but as he did so, the Augmentation cultivators inside supplemented the barrier with their own energy and direct control. That wasn¡¯t an efficient use of their energy, however. Were they stalling for time? Did they know? It wasn¡¯t strange for them to have received advance word of incoming reinforcements. Though what concerned Catarina the most was how swift the fleet was moving. Even their best ships weren¡¯t anywhere close to that fast. How could- ¡°We should leave,¡± she declared. Zazil glared at her. ¡°Now? This is our best opportunity to deal a crushing blow to their leadership. If this incoming fleet shows up¡­ we¡¯ll take it down as well.¡± Timothy frowned. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ not a fleet, is it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°The speed is too much. Even an Augmentation cultivator couldn¡¯t manage that speed.¡± ¡°You mean¡­?¡± Zazil interrupted them. ¡°They can¡¯t just throw Domination cultivators around everywhere. Even if one is coming¡­ we need to maintain our assault here so our other forces can withdraw.¡± ¡°I want to at least warn people to try to avoid prolonged engagements,¡± Catarina said. A few moments of discussion hadn¡¯t actually stopped their focus on the barrier. Zazil¡¯s rings were crawling over the surface, cutting into it- and disrupting it at as many points as possible. The actual barrier itself was constantly being torn apart, but the persistent Augmentation cultivators within was maintaining a shield of their own energy. Short battles between high ranking cultivators didn¡¯t tend to be because one side completely wore down the other in a few moments. Instead, they found a weakness in defenses, concentrating their energy to break through in an instant. A pure defense like the Silver Fang were putting on was inefficient¡­ but they might be able to hold out for a couple hours. If Catarina couldn¡¯t convince the others they should immediately withdraw- and Prasad didn¡¯t seem any more willing than Zazil- then she could at least do her best. If only she had a clear assessment of the incoming energy besides a vague magnitude. But since she didn¡¯t, she began setting up a generic shell of a formation. She carved into surrounding buildings while Zazil and Prasad continued their assault on the barrier. The rest of their forces were busy securing the wider area, fighting off lesser cultivators attempting to swarm in. This would have been a perfect day to have someone meant for cracking barriers like Durff present. Or to have begun their assault a few hours earlier, even if it wouldn¡¯t have been perfectly ready. But an unanticipated factor was making things difficult. Timothy had little to contribute to bashing down a barrier. Facing static defenses was his least viable option, so instead he maintained his readiness. With the main barrier that the Augmentation cultivators below flickering into and out of existence, it was possible that counterattacks would be launched. He wouldn¡¯t want harm to come to any of their Augmentation cultivators as they were focused on offense. Or to his wife, concentrating on carving the surrounding buildings into some sort of functional formation. Along with cutting things up, she shattered windows and toppled furniture to shift the flow of energy- along with throwing down formation flags she carried with her to supplement the process. She worked quickly, but it was still not an instantaneous process. By the time she set up a basic formation around the area meant to begin draining the energy from the Silver Fang cultivators huddling inside, several more alerts confirmed some of her fears about the incoming foe. ¡°We need to be done quickly!¡± Catarina warned. Prasad nodded, putting more vigor into his attacks. Giant palms rained down repeatedly on the central structure where the Silver Fang cultivators were sheltering. All of Zazil¡¯s rings focused on a single point, crashing through the final defenses. The six Augmentation cultivators scattered, and no longer able to maintain their defense switched to the attack. Reigo was a silver haired man, his long mane of hair blending with the wolf pelts he wore. Catarina felt his strength as he charged towards her. He was, of course, intercepted by Timothy. Catarina had her own moves prepared to counter him if Timothy had prioritized something else, but the man¡¯s spear deflected off of Timothy¡¯s shield, the energy piercing through several nearby buildings. The old man was clearly drawing upon his deepest reserves. He would be able to fight at full strength for only a short time, even after being worn down¡­ but that might just be enough. Catarina focused on empowering her formation, trying to weaken the six Augmentation cultivators as a whole. Every bit of their energy would help the formation¡¯s secondary purpose. But Catarina¡¯s estimation of timing had relied on a constant rate of approach, which was incorrect. It seemed the incoming individual was actually able to accelerate even further, as evidenced by her early arrival. The instant Catarina sensed a cultivator at the edge of the system, the entire planet was suddenly engulfed in flames. Not consuming flames, but ones that suffused the entire area. In that instant, everyone was aware that a powerful cultivator from the Creeping Fire Sect had arrived. The flames would bolster their allies and suppress their enemies. It could only be assumed that the aura everyone sensed was that of Koronis, the Sect Head of the Creeping Fire Sect. The Scarlet Alliance had no recording of her personal energy, but it was an easy presumption to make. It seemed their intelligence had been lacking, however. Because there had been no previous indication she was a Domination cultivator. ¡°I think that¡¯s quite enough,¡± the woman¡¯s voice rang throughout the system. ¡°This quarrel ends now.¡± Chapter 1071 The aura of a Domination cultivator pressed down on the Scarlet Alliance cultivators. Koronis of the Creeping Fire Sect spread her flames to coil throughout the system, bolstering their enemies. Could they defeat a Domination cultivator with what they had? No. Not without grievous losses¡­ and a plan that Catarina didn¡¯t have. Nor did she expect any of the others to have anything better than her temporary formation. Reigo cackled- the first time they had heard him make any real vocalization. ¡°You¡¯re all done for!¡± The sect head of the Silver Fang hefted his spear, stabbing forward. Flames wrapped around him and- ¡°I said¡­ this quarrel ends now.¡± His arm was captured, negating his momentum- even as she barely remained on the edge of the system, approaching the planet Tros. ¡°It was foolish and should never have happened.¡± Catarina risked a manipulation of energy to have a quick discussion among their leadership. Creating something like a simple sound concealing formation didn¡¯t require her to set up a physical structure, especially her numerous formations flags placed around. They were supposed to be the death of Reigo, but she didn¡¯t want to try to push. ¡°We won¡¯t leave without our people,¡± Timothy made the declaration- because if the Domination cultivator chose to attack merely for speaking up, he was the most likely to survive. If they merely gave up without even an attempt to negotiate, they would look too weak. ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± Koronis said. ¡°Take them. But you won¡¯t be causing any further damage. Oh, and send a message to the rest of your fleets. If they¡¯re still within the Trigold Cluster¡¯s territory in three days¡­ you know what will happen.¡± ¡°Those on the other planets-¡± Timothy began. ¡°I. Don¡¯t. Care.¡± Flames swirled around him angrily. ¡°You will leave. That is all.¡± Catarina wouldn¡¯t have let Timothy push things further, though he stopped himself before she had to. Prasad she could spare- he could be replaced. But the sect head didn¡¯t seem interested in putting himself out there. What else could they do but give the command to their fleets? Though Catarina was quite pleased that those within her immediate senses were clearly paying attention. They were rapidly packing in as many enslaved people as they could. In fact, they¡¯d never really stopped, except where they were restricted from actually battling. If Koronis had chosen to actually suppress them and let the Silver Fang fight¡­ it would be a massacre. Though Catarina had momentarily been prepared to execute forbidden formation techniques. The sorts of things that even Everheart didn¡¯t do because it was too risky. If they were going to die anyway, what was there to lose? But not. Koronis was stopping the battle- and they had to believe she also meant the war. Retreating in peace was actually quite good for them, though it was a shame they hadn¡¯t been able to finish things. It soon became clear that Koronis wasn¡¯t going to have much patience for them, so they packed up within a minute- some people hanging onto the outside of the ships. The strongest cultivators took those positions, packing inside as many others as they could- far beyond normal ship capacity. Even so, some were probably left behind- they hadn¡¯t exactly been able to scour the whole planet, and people would be in individual homes. A bitter end to the war. If only they could have predicted Koronis¡¯ arrival. But they hadn¡¯t even known she was a Domination cultivator, which was another issue. There should have only been a handful amongst the Trigold Cluster and she was not among them. Then again, such a surprise could have come at the annihilation of all of them¡­ so this was the best result. They withdrew, passing along the message to the rest of the fleets. But they weren¡¯t planning to go any further than the official borders. There was no telling if they could trust the Silver Fang to not immediately cause trouble again. ----- ¡°Too bad I wasn¡¯t there,¡± Durff said. ¡°They would have had a lot more broken stuff.¡± ¡°... is that all?¡± Velvet asked. He shrugged. ¡°Maybe their sect head would be dead. Maybe not. I can only be certain things would have broken. But I was breaking other things, and saving other people. And unfortunately, I can only be in one place. I¡¯m not good enough at techniques to be in two.¡± ¡°Do you¡­ know of a technique to be in two places?¡± Velvet asked. Durff stroked his chin. ¡°Nope. But it seems like there should be one, you know? It can¡¯t be that hard.¡± Velvet thought that it very much could be. But that was not a point that needed to be belabored. ¡°Our spy network missed that she was even heading towards advancement.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± Durff said. ¡°She would have been hiding that from even her own elders, most likely. Some other jerks would have tried to stop her otherwise. Koronis is pretty nice, though. Well, that''s what my aunt said. Not precisely like that but¡­ maybe¡­ ¡®She lacks the foulness of many other sect heads.¡¯¡± Durff shrugged. ¡°Or something.¡± ¡°Your aunt said that?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Aunt Eka.¡± ¡°You mean Ratna?¡± Durff furrowed his brow. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the Domination cultivator that leads her sect?¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°I have it on good authority that Ratna is your Aunt Eka.¡± ¡°Oh. Cool,¡± Durff said. ¡°Too bad I wasn¡¯t any good at Veiled Brilliance stuff or I could have been pretty high ranking.¡± ¡°... is that it?¡± ¡°Well, Ratna is the sect head so I wouldn¡¯t have gotten that position, obviously.¡± Velvet chuckled. ¡°I meant about your reaction. Nothing else to say about your aunt secretly being a Domination cultivator?¡± ¡°Nope. It makes sense. I already knew she was pretty strong. It fits, since I just said they like to keep secrets. All those fancy high ranking cultivators, I mean.¡± ¡°You¡¯re kind of one of them,¡± Velvet pointed out. ¡°Not a Domination cultivator, but Augmentation isn¡¯t something to ignore.¡± He nodded. ¡°Unless it¡¯s someone using your techniques. Then you get ignored on purpose.¡± Somehow, Durff once more provided answers to questions she hadn¡¯t even been trying to resolve- and as usual, with those answers came more questions. He didn¡¯t actually know anything she didn¡¯t know, but he somehow continued to bring up useful points. Too bad the only way she knew to get answers would be¡­ risky. Not something to consider in the near future, while they were still at war. Or¡­ just after the end of a war. The Scarlet Alliance was willing to accept the end if necessary, but they hadn¡¯t accomplished all of their goals. ----- Getting people settled was quite a tough job. Returning people to the planets they came from was one thing- but not everyone was willing to go back to the same place. They wanted the safety of the main Scarlet Alliance- and that couldn¡¯t be offered for those border systems, not just yet. Then there were the others¡­ those who weren¡¯t even from the Scarlet Midfields to begin with. The Scarlet Alliance hadn¡¯t exactly been discerning with what slaves they freed. They wanted all of them¡­ and nobody except perhaps the Silver Fang was complaining. But settling a large number of people was a great exercise in administration. Fortunately, there were people for that. Furthermore, with at minimum a ceasefire they could take advantage of what time they had to shuttle people more safely. Then they¡¯d find everyone somewhere they could fit in. A few hundred years prior, even after the Scarlet Alliance had been founded, that might have seemed like a dream. But as more and more time passed, they truly became more efficient in every way. They weren¡¯t just a bunch of cultivators living on the same planets. They weren¡¯t even a sect that pushed to develop their own members- or often just the best members. No, they were more than that. Knowledge shared between realms, treating every person as a significant part of a greater whole. It was a secondary benefit that said people happened to provide more devotion as they grew stronger. ----- ¡°I¡¯d fight her,¡± Tauno commented. ¡°Really?¡± Prospero raised an eyebrow. ¡°I mean, I¡¯m not surprised at you fighting. But what would it be about Koronis in particular? She¡¯s very¡­ human. And she doesn¡¯t seem to be a personal scale combatant, either.¡± ¡°Something makes those flames,¡± Tauno commented. ¡°Something inhuman. It might be the basis of the Creeping Fire Sect¡­ or just her. I don¡¯t know. But I¡¯d fight her, to get to whatever that is.¡± ¡°If we could have had everyone there, I would have fought with you,¡± Prospero said. ¡°An established Domination cultivator like Zaur is one thing. A newer one¡­ I believe we have a solid chance. But I would prefer not to push into enemy territory to do it.¡± Hoyt shook his head. He had been idly playing around with patterns of flame. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about a beast. I wonder what kind. Not a phoenix, certainly. Some sort of dragon, you think?¡± ¡°Not one I¡¯m familiar with,¡± Prospero said. Tauno seemed to have been inspired by that suggestion, however. ¡°Yes. That¡­ or something much like it. A twining world serpent, covering many realms.¡± He nodded. ¡°I wonder how something like that would be hidden within the Creeping Fire Sect¡¯s territory.¡± ¡°Perhaps between systems?¡± Prospero asked. ¡°Though I¡¯d wonder if you¡¯re certain.¡± ¡°The something much like it covers my only uncertainty. Perhaps it is small. Or¡­ a spirit. Or a distortion beast. Though¡­ the latter is quite unlikely considering their often distinctive auras.¡± ----- Chidi was going over the recordings of Koronis¡¯ arrival over and over. He¡¯d been doing that since they met up days before, and Catarina was worried for her son. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have known she would show up. And even if you did somehow, the rest of us weren¡¯t ready. ¡° He had been going over the same recordings for days, now. Different ones, from different ships in the fleets, but all of the same event with no particularly relevant changes, as far as Catarina could tell. But Chidi¡­ ¡°I could kill her,¡± Chidi declared. ¡°Sixty¡­ no, sixty-five percent confidence.¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°The recordings don¡¯t even have her fighting.¡± ¡°That was because she couldn¡¯t fight,¡± Chidi said. Timothy grimaced. ¡°What do you mean? Was it all a ruse?¡± ¡°I am not saying it was unwise to retreat,¡± Chidi assured him. ¡°But, if she had actually acted with her full power¡­ she would have revealed that she is not quite what she appears. You can read the screens. Tell me, is there a regular flicker in the power signature?¡± Catarina pulled up the display. ¡°It¡¯s not a simple image. I can have some people run tests, though. A flicker, you said?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± he nodded. ¡°She should be¡­ not quite a complete Domination cultivator. Though perhaps my own senses are faulty, or there are errors with the recordings.¡± ¡°I thought she was a new Domination cultivator,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°It¡¯s not crazy that she would be on the other side of that divide.¡± ¡°Better to not antagonize her,¡± Chidi declared. ¡°Because otherwise we have a thirty-five percent of being annihilated when she does advance. If I understand successfully, she will be successful. But I wouldn¡¯t announce anything until you can back up my words through other forms of verification.¡± Timothy pondered for a few moments. ¡°Do you think she can complete this process within another two or three weeks? We could gather all of our forces for an assault. If you alone have that chance of success-¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°She is likely to be fully effective across the whole battlefield until the moment of her death. And I don¡¯t think we could get the resources to make a trap that would sway things one way or the other. I always prefer to take chances where possible but¡­ we simply didn¡¯t have the footing.¡± Catarina couldn¡¯t get people started a moment too soon. If it was a complex pattern they might need the computers back on Xankeshan. Even if they weren¡¯t intending to try to take down Koronis¡­ it would be good to know that she actually had a weakness, at least for a moment. If nothing else, recordings of someone about to break through to Domination could help them in the future, in more ways than one. Catarina wondered if any devotion sensors had been active. Unlikely, in a combat scenario, but possible. Chapter 1072 The eastern border of the Scarlet Alliance was seeing as much if not more activity as it was during the war, as among other things they worked to fortify the border region. Previously, much of the territory had only been loosely claimed by the Scarlet Alliance- now all of the populated systems were actively trying to maintain their support. The Scarlet Alliance had no intentions of abandoning them, especially not after they had gone to war for them. Or at least, in part- since the Silver Fang¡¯s assaults had been a direct strike at their legitimacy. They hoped that the Silver Fang was now filled with regret¡­ though it was unfortunate they hadn¡¯t been able to deal a finishing blow. Defensively, the greatest asset of the Scarlet Alliance was their grand barrier covering their core systems. It didn¡¯t simply prevent intruders, but redirected them to fortified locations. That allowed the Scarlet Alliance to defend a much larger space more successfully. The grand barrier only extended so far, but it had always been intended to be modular to some extent. To do that, it had to be slowly built outward. That meant that it would take time for the eastern systems to be properly encapsulated- anywhere between a few decades and a century or two. Until that time, the Scarlet Alliance was working on integrating the various systems to work together for mutual defense. Upgrading their capabilities was an expensive undertaking, but one that the Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t afford to skimp on. They needed the trust of their citizens, as well as those within their broader claimed domain if they wanted to expand. And while the Scarlet Alliance wasn¡¯t in a rush to grow larger, remaining static in size was riskier than focusing on a pattern of growth. Especially if they were going to be targeted by sects from the great powers on either side of them. Those weren¡¯t the only plans underway. While it was tempting to try to assassinate the Domination cultivator Koronis- or the near Domination cultivator by Chidi¡¯s estimation- there was nothing to be gained from such a move. They could cut off a potential threat in the future¡­ and draw in immediate repercussions. The Creeping Fire Sect would not stand idle, and merely adding their presence to the crippled Silver Fang would put the Scarlet Alliance in an untenable situation. Nor was Koronis a great risk to their Alliance in the near future- just an annoyance, for forcibly ending the war just as they were about to secure a key victory. Directly entering into conflict with her would be a waste. Nor would they risk her wrath by attacking the Silver Fang once more after she returned to the Creeping Fire Sect. Instead, they made other plans. They couldn¡¯t get away with killing the higher ranking cultivators in the Silver Fang or wiping out their forces¡­ but they still had knowledge of some of their citizens who had been taken as slaves- not as a practical matter, but merely to provoke them. They didn¡¯t intend to leave behind a single person, as long as they could be found. Koronis might protest such action, if she ever heard about it. But she had very much expressed her only interests when she stopped the battle. As long as it wasn¡¯t affecting the prestige of the Trigold Cluster as a whole, she likely wouldn¡¯t interfere. Though they would still be waiting for her to return to her own territory, whether that took months or years. They hoped it would be a shorter time period, given her advancement appeared incomplete. ----- Given the recent revelations about Koronis, the Scarlet Alliance was justifiably concerned when Creeping Fire Sect cultivators appeared at their border a few months later. However, there were nowhere near enough to form a proper threat, even with an equivalent number of cultivators from the Distant Shadow Sect, and one Augmentation cultivator from the latter group. When they crossed into one of the Scarlet Alliance systems, the local fleets cautiously moved to intercept. But the Augmentation cultivator quickly made clear her intentions. She reached out and spoke to the incoming ships. ¡°I know that you have had no previous contact with the Distant Shadow Sect. My name is Vlasta and I have been sent as an Ambassador to represent both the Distant Shadow Sect and the Creeping Fire Sect- and to a lesser extent, the interests of the Trigold Cluster as a whole. You will escort me to someone capable of making decisions.¡± Though Vlasta was rather haughty in her approach, she was correct in her understanding that they could not ignore her approach, and soon she was on her way deeper into Scarlet Alliance territory- carefully watched. Three members of the council gathered to meet with her outside of the core systems- Zazil, Prasad, and Catarina. An ambassador from the Trigold Clusters was concerning, as it meant they had caught their eye in a greater fashion than before- though that had likely been the case since the incidents with Zaur Beridze and the Citadel of Exalted Light. Since they had already been noticed, sending a proper ambassador was in a way a recognition of legitimacy. Regardless of the exact reasons, she had to be taken seriously. ¡°What is the purpose of your arrival?¡± Zazil asked straightforwardly. ¡°What is the purpose of any ambassador?¡± Vlasta grinned, swirling darkness around her. ¡°To facilitate diplomatic communications between our groups. And to spy on people.¡± Prasad raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s a rather¡­ blatant admission.¡± ¡°You will constantly be monitoring me. It is only fair that you understand I will be watching you as well.¡± The woman¡¯s face was nebulous and vague, though that did little to hide her true self when her energy was on full display. ¡°My personal involvement will only be for a short time. Two decades at most. After that, I imagine I will be replaced. But by that time we should be able to communicate more directly¡­ instead of needing to send a terribly busy sect head in person.¡± Catarina frowned. ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound as if you have much respect for Koronis.¡± Vlasta held up a hand. ¡°That is not my intention at all. Someone of her strength is deserving of all the respect they can get. It is not every day that one is able to meet a Domination cultivator. But though our interests are aligned, she is not my own sect head.¡± Zazil looked over Vlasta carefully. ¡°Does the Distant Shadow Sect have a Domination cultivator of their own?¡± ¡°Not publicly,¡± Vlasta confirmed. ¡°But I would never say that we don¡¯t, either. I trust you will treat myself and any successors with due respect regardless, as the Scarlet Alliance doesn¡¯t appear to have a Domination cultivator either.¡± With no proper excuse to reject her presence- and hopeful that they might at least stave off future wars through diplomacy- the Scarlet Alliance accepted Vlasta as an ambassador. There was some minor debate about whether it was safe to trust her on Xankeshan itself, but they ultimately decided that it was both appropriate that any ambassadors be housed on their capital world¡­ and that she could actually cause the least damage there. Because while the greatest secrets were there, they were also best able to monitor her. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ----- Velvet didn¡¯t trust the new ambassador. It wasn¡¯t just her job as spymaster, but something personal she couldn¡¯t quite put a finger on. She didn¡¯t let it bother her too much, because it was also her job. That included feeding her seemingly valuable information that was either incorrect¡­ or insufficient to bring risk to the Scarlet Alliance. Though Velvet wasn¡¯t personally involved in information warfare to a great extent. Checking into her past, Scarlet Alliance spies had revealed all too little about Vlasta¡¯s past. They had been aware of her existence as an Augmentation cultivator previously, but little more. Every Augmentation cultivator was worth knowing about- and some exceptional Integration cultivators who seemed likely to advance. Below that level, there were simply too many people to track, especially without getting clear details. Having information on billions or trillions of individuals would likely hurt more than it helped, if it couldn¡¯t be confirmed as accurate. Maybe Velvet¡¯s problem was that she so readily admitted to being a spy. Clearly, that had to be meant to put them off guard somehow. Right? Or was she drawing attention to herself with the intention to remove focus from the hundred or so cultivators in her entourage? Monitoring all of them was not too difficult, especially since they could do it openly, but Velvet couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the Distant Shadow Sect had some sort of trick. A secret technique to appear to be in one place but actually be in another. It was literally a baseless theory¡­ but Velvet found that she couldn¡¯t help but keep them in her focus. And maybe, that was just to keep her from looking outside the Alliance. Which¡­ could then put her in a loop. Maybe that was what bugged her the most. ----- The people of Xaphiot might wish that Anton never visit Airus, but they also seemed to recognize that trying to stop Anton would make him even more inclined to do the same thing- and then be inclined towards the other planet¡¯s wishes. Though ultimately, Anton intended to try to only act if it would better the lives of everyone involved. He didn¡¯t wish to cause unnecessary conflict. When he flew to Airus, he found another Grounding cultivator waiting for him, openly displaying his cultivation as he stood, the lone figure on the surface. Anton assumed they used the same terms for the cultivation level, at least. They seemed to have some sort of communication. Anton wasn¡¯t quite aware of how things worked, but clearly a message had gone ahead of him. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting to have anyone waiting for me,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I am Anton. In case you were not actually expecting me, I must say that I come with peaceful intentions. I have just come from Xaphioth, though they were reluctant to speak much about your planet.¡± The man nodded. ¡°I was informed of your approach. I am Limbani. The conflicts between Xapioth and Airus stretch long into the past, but we have learned to live with our situation.¡± ¡°Good. And how do you feel about cultivators from outside the system? Both those from the lower realms¡­ and others from the upper realms?¡± The man had a clear reaction to the latter. ¡°We want nothing to do with the upper realms.¡± Anton nodded seriously. ¡°Indeed, the Exalted Quadrant is quite¡­ problematic. So is the Trigold Cluster, though I would imagine you haven¡¯t had much interaction with them. They are a great distance away.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve only heard of them secondhand,¡± Limbani admitted. ¡°What of the Chaotic Conglomeration?¡± ¡°Much the same. The Exalted Quadrant had little good to say about them. Though¡­ our records indicate they had little positive to say about us either. Have you¡­ interacted with any of them?¡± Anton gestured to himself and then the world around broadly. ¡°I am bound to the lower realms, much like yourself. So the only interaction I have had with the Exalted Quadrant and Trigold Cluster is that of war¡­ with the rare exception of a few sects planted many generations prior who thought it best to cut their ties to a people who cared nothing about them.¡± ¡°And the Chaotic Conglomeration?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°None of our people live this far west. I have no personal interactions with them. Though I¡¯ve heard of peaceful contact.¡± That was sufficiently true without giving away anything that might need to remain secret. ¡°I don¡¯t mean this in a negative way, but your planet¡¯s energy feels quite similar to that of Xaphioth. Both are quite healthy given the conditions on the surface, but¡­ I know they could be greater.¡± Limbani frowned. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°A planet¡¯s ecosystem itself is much like a garden of potent herbs. It can develop and grow strong, if well cared for. The total quantity and quality of natural energy can be improved over time, though it takes concerted effort.¡± Limbani was clearly curious about that, but he chose to move past it for the moment. ¡°I see. You must be quite knowledgeable. But come, we should not stand around on the surface, even though the Tides of the World are calm, but they have been tempestuous as of late.¡± ¡°I actually have a question about that. Since I haven¡¯t been able to speak with any permanent residents this far west before¡­ what were the length of your cycles? Some few decades past ended one of six centuries, and before that¡­ an unnaturally short cycle of two centuries. According to all the records we could scrounge, six centuries should have been the norm.¡± ¡°That is my understanding as well,¡± Limbani agreed. ¡°As for the Tides¡­ they were unbalanced at three and five centuries. Though it made little difference to us, as we remained safe underground for both.¡± ¡°Were you able to experience both?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I have seen three cycles- though only the last slice of one of the first.¡± ¡°I was born after the last standard cycle,¡± Limbani replied. They began to make their way underground, into tunnels developed in much the same style as Xaphioth. Either they changed very slowly, or continued to influence each other in recent days. ¡°Thank you for being so open with me. If I understand correctly¡­ your planets lived underground like this since even before that time, correct?¡± ¡°Yes. We have concealed ourselves from the Exalted Quadrant for countless generations. We have not had¡­ any visitors at all.¡± ¡°I apologize for breaking your isolation,¡± Anton said. ¡°But not making contact at all would have been inappropriate, should you have required aid against the Exalted Quadrant. If you wish, I can declare this system forbidden- or not mention it at all, which should keep you unbothered for some centuries at least. We are still quite far from the main body of the Lower Realms Alliance.¡± ¡°...Why?¡± Limbani asked. ¡°Why what?¡± Anton smiled back. ¡°Why give us the option? You are strong enough that we could not protest whatever choice you made.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the point in being strong if I can¡¯t do what I want?¡± Anton asked. ¡°And what I want is to make powerful friends that can wipe out cultivators from the upper realms who are trying to take what is ours. Is that too much to ask?¡± Limbani chuckled. ¡°Perhaps it is. But I can¡¯t help but notice your true interests seem to lie elsewhere.¡± Anton¡¯s senses had mostly been focused on their underground farms. They were not that different from Xaphioth in design. ¡°I have a friend who farms underground. I carry with me quite a few varieties of fungus and mosses, if you¡¯re interested. Ready to be grown, of course.¡± Chapter 1073 It was quite impossible for Anton to ignore that Airus felt like Xaphioth- and it was a simple atmospheric similarity. Their natural energy felt like it was part of one whole, even though there was no pathway from planet to planet. At least¡­ not on the outside. However, just as he felt something deep within Xaphioth, he felt the exact same thing deep within Airus. A connection of some sort. Anton didn¡¯t really need to know much more than that to begin piecing things together. It was more than a tangential connection. Various planets within a system could share a particular sort of connection, but this was different. It was deeper. Was it¡­ a shared worldheart? How would that even work? Was it even intentional? But it also answered other questions. Like how the planets could have even had conflict without space travel. However, Anton supposed that they must have once moved freely between them to be able to establish such a connection. Now, whether it was some sort of teleportation array or a continuous portal or some other method entirely, they remained connected. And even Anton could tell that attempting to undo that connection would be disastrous. So at some point the two planets had drifted apart. Then they had come into conflict. Now, they had returned to being uneasy neighbors. The actual details would be quite different, but Anton knew stories of the sort. At least they were in a better state than Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn, both in terms of their current conflicts and their actual prosperity. Nowadays, those two planets were merely the core of a healthy system. Their ancient conflicts had been settled, and there was no reason for anyone to try to steal what little the others had. Compared to active war, this place should be easy to handle. ----- Limbani frowned, looking at what Anton had helped grow. ¡°I see that it develops quickly, but plucking off each mushroom without using energy when it¡¯s clumped together in such tight confines¡­ it¡¯s a rather labor intensive process.¡± That was one of the perils of using mushrooms bred for use by meerkats. Humans were massively bigger. Even so, Anton shrugged as he held up some long tweezers, grabbing one growing from the back of a pillar. ¡°It¡¯s good practice. And they taste much better if they aren¡¯t exposed to external energy at the last moments of their attachment. But there are plenty of other options.¡± Limbani nodded. ¡°I can¡¯t see ramping this up to worldwide production.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Anton said. Personally, he thought having a group of people good at harvesting these was worthwhile. But it wasn¡¯t like these planets were starving. They were simply missing some variety they might like to have. Which was another good reason to use these mushrooms. But some people weren¡¯t willing to put in so much effort for just food. ¡°Perhaps Xaphoth will appreciate it more.¡± Limbani¡¯s reaction was obvious, even if he tried to hide it. He looked concerned. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be like that. I¡¯m here to share knowledge with everyone. And I¡¯m not making anyone more dangerous.¡± It was too bad he couldn¡¯t get everyone cultivating, since that was best for the world. But if the planets got an imbalance in strength, he could foresee conflict. So he was willing to take his time and do things right. It seemed that for the moment, however, they wouldn¡¯t be part of any plans bridging the upper and lower realms. Regardless of whether they might be willing to help cause trouble for the Exalted Quadrant, Anton didn¡¯t know the planets well enough yet. But knowing that he had the opportunity to nudge them onto a better path, he wasn¡¯t going to ignore them just because they didn¡¯t fit into his other plans. ----- Though Velvet felt like she should be out on secret missions in Silver Fang territory, she was not. Yes, there were good reasons for her to stay out of further action there¡­ but that didn¡¯t mean she had to be happy about it. But the sudden cessation of the war with the Silver Fang had brought forward other plans. Only one of which the Scarlet Alliance really needed her for that they could implement in the near future. So here she was, planning to pass through the lower realms once more. Her ultimate destination was to be among the Spirit Slicing Sect, and then return to the lower realms. She would be stopping to speak with Crossed Antennae- though the plan wasn¡¯t to bring her along. Not just yet. Instead, Velvet was going to be bringing Runa to visit the lower realms. And to see the void ants living in harmony with humans. That was the sort of thing that people could hear about and not believe. Velvet had only experienced it for a relatively short time before ascending to the upper realms, but she constantly knew about it afterwards. But before she was going to go off and do any of that, she was going to figure out what bothered her about this ambassador. ----- It would have been so easy if Velvet could simply say that Vlasta was a problem because she was a darkness cultivator. Or because there was some specific issue with the Distant Shadow Sect. But as a spy and sometimes assassin herself, she didn¡¯t believe that sneaking around was always a bad thing. It was just important who was doing it and why. And Vlasta was either too good at sneaking around or she wasn¡¯t actually doing it at all. The Scarlet Alliance had a constant monitor of her location and that of all of her aides from both the Distant Shadow Sect and the Creeping Fire Sect. Nobody had been seen sneaking off¡­ not to anywhere they weren¡¯t allowed, anyway. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. There was some political maneuvering, but they really seemed focused on establishing a proper embassy with the Scarlet Alliance. There were some security concerns there, and they were quite interested in computers and other technology- but some of that stuff was already being adapted by the great powers, if slowly. The Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t keep a total lockdown on information while still functioning as they wished¡­ though there were more critical pieces of information they held tightly. Nobody cared if people were able to add up thousands of rows of data all at once. Basic computer stuff was not necessarily better than a practiced cultivator. How they ran their adaptive shields, or their formations? That was the secret stuff. Vlasta didn¡¯t even spend that much time trying to figure out either of those things. Velvet interacted with her occasionally, as her existence wasn¡¯t exactly unknown. But Velvet also crept around and personally monitored her, trying to figure out if the Ambassador was doing something to fool their systems and people. Once or twice Velvet thought that the woman¡¯s eyes landed on her, even hidden at a distance. It could have been coincidence. Or it could be that Velvet wasn¡¯t as good as she thought. That bugged her. But the most annoying thing? She couldn¡¯t find any worrying patterns in Vlasta. Was the woman interested in their Augmentation cultivators? Obviously. It would be crazy if she didn¡¯t ask about them. But everyone who interacted with them was trained to not reveal secret information¡­ and honestly, their very best had been observed by enemies from both great powers. Velvet herself had been around and killing in the Silver Fang before Koronis showed up. ----- One day, Velvet happened to be observing Vlasta when a walking security breach showed up. Alright, that was a bit harsh. Durff was perfectly happy to not learn anything too important so he wouldn¡¯t become that security breach. Actually, this might be a perfect opportunity. It would be immediately clear to Vlasta that Durff would answer questions easily. What she asked him should reveal her secrets. ¡°Oh, hello,¡± Vlasta said pleasantly. ¡°You¡¯re Durff, right?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°I heard you used to be a member of the Trigold Cluster.¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Durff admitted. ¡°My aunt was part of the Disciples of the Veiled Brilliance, but I wasn¡¯t any good at their techniques so I ended up on a very different path. But all of that was within the Trigold Cluster. So I was probably one of them.¡± Vlasta nodded. Her dark, mysterious persona was somewhat laughable paired with Durff. ¡°Do you¡­ like it here?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, it¡¯s great. I¡¯ve learned so much from the various people here. Especially Sly.¡± ¡°Sly? Who is that?¡± ¡°The leader of the Harder Crown Sect. He was part of the Hardened Crown but they were jerks so now he¡¯s not.¡± Durff shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯s not going to attack you just because he was from the Exalted Quadrant. Though he¡¯d probably like to spar.¡± Vlasta chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d really gain much given the style of combat I hear the Hardened Crown has. So is learning about cultivation your favorite thing here?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the best,¡± Durff said. ¡°And my friends. Some of them came from the Trigold Cluster too. Hey, do you want to join the Scarlet Alliance? You seem pretty strong. Oh wait, you¡¯re working as an Ambassador so then we wouldn¡¯t have one.¡± Durff closed his eyes to ponder through that difficulty. ¡°You did say they were going to send another one though, right? So when you¡¯re done you could ask. It¡¯s way better here.¡± ¡°... Usually attempts to poach people are somewhat more subtle,¡± Vlasta pointed out. ¡°Why? I think telling people to join the best place is straightforward.¡± ¡°You think highly of this Scarlet Alliance. But you have no Domination cultivators.¡± ¡°So?¡± Durff asked. ¡°We almost killed one. We have like, half a hand somewhere. And we¡¯ll have some soon, I¡¯m sure.¡± ¡°Oh? Really? Who?¡± ¡°No idea,¡± Durff admitted. ¡°But we¡¯ve got tons of amazing people. Sly is great. Tauno is pretty strong. Chidi is- well, he doesn¡¯t count. Umm, Alva might do it. And I bet Velvet can too.¡± As her name was called out, Velvet felt Vlasta¡¯s eyes land on her for just a moment. No, Vlasta was just scanning the area wondering if she was hiding¡­ right? ¡°It¡¯s difficult for a spymaster to reach Domination.¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard for everyone, isn¡¯t it?¡± Durff pointed out. ¡°She¡¯d just need a sneaky anchor. Which is probably better than that Zaur guy because he just chose a big building. I guess it was pretty durable but I could smash it to bits now if he stopped paying attention for a second.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? Tell me about that,¡± Vlasta said. ¡°The smashing part?¡± Durff asked. ¡°Exactly. I doubt we share any similar insights but¡­ I¡¯m still interested.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s like¡­¡± Durff thought for a few moments. ¡°It¡¯s about weight. The weight of your weapon, and of your ambition. I¡¯ve also been working on my muscles and they help a little bit.¡± ¡°Is that so? Very interesting,¡± Vlasta nodded slowly. ¡°Personally, I don¡¯t think I could manage any sort of body tempering.¡± Durff tilted his head. ¡°Maybe you could have your shadow grow strong. It¡¯s kind of like your body. I assume you attack people with your shadow. I don¡¯t know what else the Distant Shadow Sect would do.¡± ¡°That-¡± Vlasta chuckled. ¡°An interesting thought, but one that would require more specific guidance. I¡¯m sure some of that comes naturally to you, but most of us do well with detailed descriptions.¡± Durff nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why I was so bad at Veiled Brilliance stuff. Like, what does the tangible intangibility of light even mean?¡± Durff tapped his chin. ¡°I assume that isn¡¯t secret because I didn¡¯t get very far, but still don¡¯t tell my aunt, okay?¡± ¡°I promise not one word on the subject will pass from me to your aunt¡­ whoever she is,¡± Vlasta held her hand over her heart seriously. ¡°For one thing, the Distant Shadow Sect is not on great terms with them.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯d probably avoid their territory. They do have a Domination cultivator,¡± Durff pointed out. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s not exactly a secret,¡± Vlasta agreed. There were actually a few things that Velvet knew Durff could have revealed that would have been troublesome. Sly¡¯s connection to the lower realms. Ratna being his aunt. A few other things like that. He wasn¡¯t good at hiding things, but he also didn¡¯t get that close to revealing them. As for Vlasta¡­ she asked far too many questions about Durff himself. Velvet didn¡¯t like that at all. Chapter 1074 It was entirely possible that Velvet was overthinking things and her suspicions would all come to nothing. On the other hand, it was possible that the whole of Alliance security was in danger. It wasn¡¯t too ridiculous to believe that even though Vlasta was just one person. Velvet knew what she herself could do, so it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise if Vlasta was similarly capable. Perhaps even better- she couldn¡¯t assume anything. Obviously, the ambassador was being very closely watched¡­ but the information she was trying to learn might not even be secret. Vlasta might also be looking for people like Durff to find lapses in their security to learn more than she should. Assuming the woman would walk away with no secrets wasn¡¯t something that had even been considered by the Scarlet Alliance. They just intended to keep the things they considered important out of her hands. Velvet wanted to look into the woman herself¡­ but she simply didn¡¯t have time to run off into the Trigold Cluster and infiltrate the Distant Shadow Sect. Besides, they might be expecting her if she did. Vlasta might notice a prolonged absence from Velvet. She was extremely observant. And far too often, Vlasta managed to spot Velvet using her best techniques- even within her home territory. The only way she knew to be less visible was to have Catarina activate certain formations, though the formations themselves would be far more obvious than she ever was. Velvet was using her presence as something like a training exercise, though it was difficult to give proper feedback. When she thought she was unnoticed, she couldn¡¯t be quite certain. There were techniques to tell when one was being observed, but they weren¡¯t perfect. Relying only on the woman¡¯s eyes was certainly insufficient to know if she¡¯d been spotted. There was one thing Velvet was considering that likely overstepped even her bounds as spymaster. That was to directly infiltrate Vlasta¡¯s room while she was away. While most likely any secrets would be kept in a storage bag, she had some hope. But potentially ruining their relationship with the first actual ambassador was a risky proposition. That was a line that should not be crossed without good reason, not just because of her status but the connection to Koronis and the Creeping Fire Sect. They really didn¡¯t need a Domination cultivator angry at them for an actual reason. Zaur was bad enough, even though their first conflicts had probably been the fault of Everheart. Was Vlasta working with Everheart? There wasn¡¯t really any reason to believe that, but it was an angle that had to be considered. That was the problem. Vlasta could be up to anything. Though if Velvet was being honest, there was only one area she¡¯d spotted so far that might actually be worth risking everything. It all came back to Durff. If somehow she was aware of the connection between Durff and Ratna- a Domination cultivator- there was all sorts of trouble Vlasta could get up to. The Trigold Cluster wasn¡¯t exactly harmonious, and if the Creeping Fire Sect intended to make a move once Koronis fully reached Domination, they might try something involving Durff. Capturing him to make Ratna hesitate, killing him to destabilize her emotions, or interrogating him to learn some sort of weakness¡­ all of that could be worth whatever the Scarlet Alliance might do. Maybe they weren¡¯t being considered at all. ----- ¡°You need to sleep,¡± Catarina said to Velvet. ¡°You need to sleep!¡± Velvet countered ungracefully. ¡°No, wait. You need to tell me what sort of formations the ambassador has on her room.¡± ¡°There are quite a number. She is well protected, of course. Ah, but¡­¡± Catarina looked over Velvet. ¡°You mean anything she might have added herself.¡± ¡°It would be a shame if they were interfering with the local formations somehow and made things unsafe.¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°Nice try. If you can give me a good reason, I¡¯d think about it. But even for you¡­ it¡¯s too risky.¡± What could Velvet say? That she had a hunch? No, even if it was a proper insight she had to admit herself that finding anything in Vlasta¡¯s private quarters was fairly unlikely. There was no way she would try to delve into the woman¡¯s storage bags while she carried them on her, and finding a moment where that wasn¡¯t the case would be pretty much impossible. ----- Durff stared at Velvet. Velvet looked straight back. He tilted his head. ¡°... Have you been practicing some sort of vision technique?¡± ¡°I get it! I need to sleep!¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Durff nodded. ¡°Then you should do that. Why have you not been sleeping?¡± ¡°Because of the ambassador.¡± ¡°Why? She seems nice.¡± Velvet¡¯s eye twitched. ¡°She¡¯s always snooping around, asking about¡­ things.¡± Durff shrugged. ¡°You do that too, and you¡¯re nice.¡± Velvet let out a sigh. ¡°How reliable is your insight regarding people? Do you often get tricked?¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Not when I keep good friends around,¡± Durff said. ¡°It usually only happened with new people I don¡¯t know.¡± While Durff had his flaws, his self assessments were usually quite accurate. He knew where he struggled and wasn¡¯t ashamed to admit that. Whereas Velvet¡­ didn¡¯t even know she was on the right track at all. ----- Despite Velvet¡¯s greatest wishes, time continued to pass. That meant in order to stick to the schedule- which they had good reason to do, given the rarity of the inter-realm ships- she had to leave soon. Which meant the mystery of Vlasta would go unsolved. And then she would disappear- along with the twins. And Vlasta might learn something dangerous. They could cancel, of course. It would only take a few years or a decade at most to find another good opportunity. Runa would be somewhat disappointed, but she would understand. A simple message could inform her without posing any risk of security breach. But Velvet didn¡¯t want to cancel. But she also couldn¡¯t stop thinking about the potential risks Vlasta posed every moment she was awake. Since she couldn¡¯t really sleep, that was pretty much all the time. Until she forced herself. She wanted to be rested for the upcoming journey. It was better to let sleep come naturally, but since that wasn¡¯t happening she gave in and had a doctor prescribe her sleep medication. Then all she had to do was not filter them out of her body, and she was asleep. Her dreams were chaotic, and while it seemed like they might cause her to be restless¡­ she woke up at the intended time a few days later. Her mind was clear for a brief moment. Then she immediately went back to thinking about things she couldn¡¯t do anything about. But a few moments of peace was nice. And her thoughts weren¡¯t quite as jumbled. She resolved to organize her various suspicions into a form that others could either attempt to verify or disprove while she was gone. What did Vlasta actually want? Velvet didn¡¯t know. Why did she devote so much attention to Durff? Perhaps it was merely a random outlier, but ignoring the only pattern she¡¯d noticed would be a shame. Though it could have been a diversion. Velvet barely even knew that Vlasta was part of the Distant Shadow Sect. Sure, they had records but little more. Then again, her energy signature checked out. Though something about that pulled Velvet into another hole. ----- So she was supposed to be leaving things to others. Velvet knew that. She had prepared her report. But she was still here, so she might as well put in the time. And she had certain suspicions. Vlasta should have been scanned upon entry to Scarlet Alliance territory. Records indicated that all standard scans had returned proper results. But honestly, Velvet wasn¡¯t sure if some of them were even being performed every time. Records didn¡¯t mean anything¡­ and they didn¡¯t have the storage space required to store the information she wanted. Aura scans were not too burdensome one at a time¡­ but literally every person every time they crossed in and out of an area would be a bit much for them to keep track of. So Velvet planned to do it herself. Though she did get Zazil on board for one of the more obvious ones. They had to check. Because while great disaster had come upon them, if the Twin Soul Sect was here? The Scarlet Alliance had to do something. And Velvet¡¯s insight told her there was something wrong with Vlasta¡¯s aura. The woman¡¯s reaction to being scanned was¡­ underwhelming. She must have noticed Zazil, but completely brushed it off. Still, that gave Velvet an opportunity to find¡­ nothing. Which meant that if Vlasta was part of the Twin Soul Sect, they¡¯d figured out all of their simple revelation options. She almost wanted to grab her and throw her in a formation¡­ but that was probably too far. Even so, Velvet found what opportunity she could to get closer and take a deeper look. Darkness¡­ but not an oppressive darkness. Instead, it was an unknown sort of darkness. Distant may indeed have been the best word for it. But Velvet pushed deeper. Without a proper technique, she was risking much. There were limits to how much one should probe the cultivation of another. However, Vlasta should have been distracted at the moment. This was her best opportunity. She pushed deeper, finding only more darkness. Further and further, and Velvet was beginning to wonder if her insight had failed her. Then she saw it- not the twisting sort of spectral energy that the Twin Soul Sect favored¡­ but a spark of light. That single thing informed Velvet she had been exactly right to be suspicious. Vlasta was not who she claimed to be. She was ten, no, a hundred times as dangerous as a mere Augmentation cultivator from the Distant Shadow Sect. Yet even so¡­ Velvet found herself relieved as she withdrew her energy. Everything made so much more sense. How she always seemed to notice Velvet. Why she was so interested in Durff. Velvet smiled to herself even as piercing eyes turned towards her. She knew Velvet noticed. And she rolled her eyes. But that merely made Velvet more smug. This time, she won. Or at least she didn¡¯t get fooled again. That also explained why ¡®Vlasta¡¯ was going to have to move on in a relatively short time, instead of taking the position long term. After all, they couldn¡¯t afford to have a Domination cultivator just sitting around so far from home. Looking at things from the perspective of devotion, Velvet actually wouldn¡¯t have guessed it was Ratna. Only a reasonable amount seemed to be making its way to her, but of course¡­ that made perfect sense. Because whatever her anchor was should be able to absorb it just as much. Even if there had been something, devotion was much more difficult to track than energy- except for what was coming to or from the cultivator themself. Sensing devotion between others was merely a neat trick. Velvet was relieved. Sure, she would be leaving the Scarlet Alliance with a Domination cultivator in their midst, and she had to wonder what sort of influence Ratna had over the Creeping Fire Sect and the Distant Shadow Sect. That was actually a serious concern. But at least nobody was going to try to hurt Durff. And it was quite unlikely that Ratna was going to do anything directly harmful to the Scarlet Alliance. Velvet should probably still tell someone though. Especially since Ratna almost certainly knew that she knew. If circumstances were different she might ask for training in detection and awareness avoidance from the woman. She would be among the best, after all. But that wasn¡¯t going to work out this time. She did think about telling Durff. But unless Ratna revealed it herself, that was probably a bad idea. It was unclear if he could keep it a secret, and she probably wanted it secret from the general public. And maybe even her own staff, since they were probably truly convinced she was Vlasta. Actually, that last part might be true. It wouldn¡¯t be the weirdest thing to set up an alternate identity in another sect to make use of when convenient. Or Vlasta could still be far aware, unaware of what was happening. Or she was murdered in her sleep and replaced, and honestly Velvet didn¡¯t care which option it was. At least she would be able to sleep properly now. Unknown threats were somehow that much worse than merely the third or fourth most troubling situation she could think of. Chapter 1075 Leaving the matter of diagnosing sensing formations to try to account for special techniques to Catarina, Velvet was ready to move on. Ratna, in the guise of Ambassador Vlasta, was still a threat to the Scarlet Alliance in some sense, but not in the same way she had been worried about. She was a thousand times more relaxed upon coming to that ultimate conclusion of her investigations. Just in time for her to move on. Ratna might take note of her absence, or she might simply assume that Velvet was avoiding her after having confirmed her presence. Most likely, Velvet hadn¡¯t been hidden from her half as often as she believed, and the occasional instances of ¡®spotting her¡¯ might have been to throw her off. She¡¯d have to work on that¡­ from a great distance. Starting with a whole realm away, then going technically further back into the same realm. The twins would be returning with her, armed with stores of knowledge- specifically meant to be both useful to the Chaotic Conglomeration and not too damaging if it fell into the hands of the Exalted Quadrant. Along with them would be a number of others willing to take a long term assignment far from home. They would be the nominal enforcers of the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s rules. But of course, the actual enforcers would be much smaller. The journey to the lower realms was undertaken almost entirely on ¡®normal¡¯ ships. It wouldn¡¯t do to have strange and unique ships going through populated systems frequently, and they wanted to keep the technology secret for as long as possible. Fortunately, even in the worst case where it was captured the vessels weren¡¯t really useful for either of the great powers. What were they going to do, send a couple hundred people to attack the lower realms alone? ----- Rather than adapting to lower energy, Velvet intended to avoid any sort of changes. After all, she wasn¡¯t planning to stay in the lower realms for long. Returning to the upper realms shortly thereafter would then involve adapting back, and she wasn¡¯t certain that was entirely safe. Nobody else really needed to do it either, since they would be safe among allies. Even so, the twins chose to try it- because they had never used exclusively lower energy before. They were born in the upper realms, so their only exposure to lower energy had been from materials obtained from the lower realms. Their first stop was Akrys, where they were meant to pick up Crossed Antennae and her colonies. Or at least, a portion of them. Even though ants were quite compact, a single ship could not cover multiple planets worth of them. Misi and Juli were quite excited about Akrys. They were the sort who would never lose their youthful exuberance even after centuries. Though they were excited, the two of them knew how to act properly. The residents of Akrys were still people, after all- just ones with very different bodies. Even though they had been expecting only a short visit, the twins had both learned the language of Akrys, and made good use of it for the few days they were readying themselves for the longest leg of their journey. It would be quite boring, completely devoid of occupied planets. Boring, but safe. At least in the lower realms. ----- ¡°This is amazing!¡± Misi said, his arms crawling with ants. ¡°I really can¡¯t sense any of them!¡± He watched the response of Crossed Antennae. Unlike the language of Akrys, learning void ant sign was important since they were going to be working with them. ¡°Well, yeah, obviously I can feel them. But if they weren¡¯t on bare skin I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d even notice them.¡± ¡°What about their weight?¡± Juli asked. ¡°I mean, you can try,¡± he held out his arms. Juli nodded. ¡°If you would, I would like to see if I can sense your weight.¡± She stretched out her own arms, and the void ants attached to each other, peeling off of Misi in two flexible structures and swinging around onto Juli. ¡°That¡¯s so amazing.¡± She pondered for a moment. ¡°Hmm, I can slightly feel the weight. But I was waiting for the change.¡± ¡°We are well aware of what triggers human sensory responses,¡± Crossed Antennae signed. ¡°In a combat scenario, if we are able to approach unseen then there will be no response until pain occurs. At which point we do our best to be optimally placed to avoid crushing.¡± Misi stroked his chin. ¡°Do people actually try to crush you first?¡± ¡°It is a split between slapping their arms or side and trying to annihilate us with energy. Usually, they figure out the latter doesn¡¯t work within one and a half seconds.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a lot of time,¡± Misi admitted. ¡°Since you¡¯re not exactly instantly deadly.¡± ¡°We are not,¡± Crossed Antennae admitted. ¡°Though these four are closer,¡± she gestured to her top royal guard, the ones who had trained with Chidi and Aconite. Two learned the ¡®sword¡¯, and two used poison. ¡°But the number of void ants who can directly attack with insights is extremely minimal.¡± Snips added her own thoughts, signing, ¡°Even a sliced vein or artery won¡¯t instantly kill a human. That¡¯s as deep as I can go. Though remaining around to prevent blood stopping techniques can be highly effective.¡± Fire twirled her antennae in the equivalent of a shrug. ¡°It is better to no longer be around when they feel pain. Most humans aren¡¯t ready to purge their blood. Though I will admit the most subtle poisons also take much longer.¡± It was unnecessary for the twins to know the details of how the void ants fought, but it also wasn¡¯t necessary to keep them in the dark. They wanted to learn, and had been proven to be trustworthy- otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have been introduced to them to begin with. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. But even if it was unnecessary, they had several months of travel to deal with- and this part was the safest one for them to regularly interact with the void ants. Once they were back in the upper realms, they would be among the Chaotic Conglomeration soon enough. Only a select few would be trusted with knowledge of the void ants. Misi and Juli were quite happy to let the void ants nibble on their ¡®extraneous¡¯ upper energy. It would naturally fade on its own with time, but purging themselves would help them try to adapt to lower energy. They would be hampered by not staying in a system with high energy, but that was actually a more accurate experience of the ¡®normal¡¯ method of entering the lower realms. Though the Tides of the World did carry with them some lower energy as well. ----- Anton was there to meet them at their final stop in the lower realms. ¡°I¡¯m working with a couple planets to hopefully set up something to connect you guys,¡± he said, entrusting Velvet with the secret of the nearby system. All that was publicly known was that he was generally exploring the western region. ¡°I¡¯m not sure about introducing them to void ants anytime soon, though.¡± ¡°Shame,¡± Velvet said. ¡°This would be the best opportunity. Though everyone has been promised a return to the upper realms and the energy there, so they might not appreciate it. Any particular problems?¡± ¡°Oh, you know how it is. Tension between neighbors and all that. I¡¯ll have them agree to host ambassadors within the year, I think, and hopefully they¡¯ll send some in exchange. The words of their own people will be much more effective than me bragging about how many systems we have or how many of our cultivators are high rank.¡± ¡°I wish you luck with that,¡± Velvet replied. As the best grandfather she was aware of, Velvet would have liked to hang around Anton longer¡­ but duty called. And she could take her time in the lower realms on the way back, whenever that was. ----- Anton watched the ship pass over the border between realms. It was a relatively slow process, due to the limitations of ship design, but he waited until they were out of range to head back. He didn¡¯t expect any dangers to be waiting for them just across the border¡­ but he would rather be prepared to respond than not. Sadly, most of their journey to the main body of the Chaotic Conglomeration would require them to take care of themselves. Not that anyone would mess with an Augmentation cultivator on purpose. But people were known to attack before they used their senses. And while the people could take it, the ship wouldn¡¯t do well under fire. It had one purpose, and that was not combat. ----- Velvet sent a message to Runa, the reply coming in a relatively timely fashion. It was still a matter of weeks given the distance, but they were able to set up a location to meet where they would be escorted the rest of the way. In theory they had sufficient supplies to fly all the way to Renov, stopping only to replenish energy in convenient systems¡­ but actively avoiding interacting with people was suspicious. And another feature that was missing on the inter realm ships was close range stealth capabilities. They might not be noticed from afar, but within the same system what remaining capacity they had was focused on not appearing terribly weird. Whether that worked or not Velvet didn¡¯t know. But a short few days waiting outside a system to ensure that messages of their arrival would go ahead of them, they approached a quaint little planet away from the front lines. They were still looking for enemy ships, of course. The Exalted Quadrant was quite capable of causing trouble with a few ships that slipped past the border planets. ----- ¡°I didn¡¯t even say we would be safe waiting here for a few days,¡± Juli complained. ¡°Why are there people attacking the planet?¡± ¡°Does it matter?¡± Misi raised an eyebrow. ¡°We still need to deal with them.¡± ¡°Bring us along,¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°We will be a great boon.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Misi made a face. ¡°Just myself and my royal guard. I am aware of the logistical issues of bringing the rest of my kin without being revealed. Besides, they must remain to guard the ship against intruders.¡± Juli knew the actual danger to the ship was someone trying to blow it up from afar. Though with all the void ants on it, they might actually be able to stop that. She was certain they had better plans for how to defend it than she could conjure up in the next few minutes. The main reason that Juli was upset was not the mere issue of being attacked, but rather that she could not make use of some of her favored tools. She was growing ever fonder of high technology, and they had no intention of revealing too much of that while among the Chaotic Conglomeration if at all possible. Even so, together the twins were a force to be reckoned with. The two had their own tactical language to describe certain patterns. They flew off to engage with incoming enemy ships, planning to take down attackers before they landed. There was nothing particularly special about their avoidance techniques, but when it came to taking down enemy barriers they were more than efficient. The two of them moved along paths Misi designated, being the one with greater expertise on formations. The weapons they held changed according to the situation, and at the moment they carried long polearms that trailed behind them, dragging along the surface of the barriers. With precise timing, they struck together to not only collapse the barrier, but force the energy to recoil inward, damaging the ship. Of course, the inhabitants of said ship attempted to stop them- but they had not stopped until the barrier was down and the hull of the first ship cracked. From there, the invaders tried to surround them¡­ but mysterious wounds began to appear on the strongest among them. The battle would have been rather unbalanced against Misi and Juli, as they were merely Integration cultivators- and the enemy had a small handful on the ship. But two fell almost immediately, and the twins together took down a third, seeing through the enemy¡¯s style in just a few moves. Of course, it helped that they had studied the many styles of the Exalted Quadrant beforehand. Velvet¡¯s own contributions to the battlefield weren¡¯t as visible, but much like the void ants, enemies fell without truly knowing what had come for them. Furthermore, some of their attacks scattered into nothingness as their connection to the controlled energy was severed. Velvet might not be as good as the actual Spirit Slicing Sect at such things, but she was more than competent enough to replicate it to some extent. Most likely, the planet would have won without them- but the victory would not have been nearly so complete. Personally, Velvet thought that was some good leverage to convince Runa to let horrifying monsters live in her sect. Because they hadn¡¯t actually had a chance to speak about that, since there was no way she was going to send messages about void ants through Exalted Quadrant territory. Chapter 1076 ¡°You just got back and you¡¯re already working overtime, huh?¡± Runa commented. Velvet shrugged. ¡°We just dealt with what appeared in front of us. We honestly didn¡¯t expect any enemies to make it this far. Are things¡­ getting worse?¡± ¡°Here and there,¡± Runa said. ¡°There¡¯s always trouble from the Exalted Quadrant somewhere. You need to go much further in to be truly safe. Doesn¡¯t the Scarlet Alliance have such issues?¡± ¡°I suppose so,¡± Velvet admitted. ¡°Outside of our core territory. We just ended up in conflict with the Silver Fang.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t say I¡¯ve heard of them,¡± Runa commented. ¡°They¡¯re not that important. A mid tier sect in the Trigold Cluster at best. But I suppose you wouldn¡¯t have much news about things happening beyond the Exalted Quadrant.¡± ¡°Nothing except the big stuff. Like the Twin Soul Sect collapsing.¡± ¡°We might be able to relay more information in the future,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Though most of the events really shouldn¡¯t affect you.¡± Runa nodded. ¡°The Exalted Quadrant is a massive barrier from any sort of interactions beyond them. I¡¯m honestly surprised you managed to make it back here. And on a significantly less stealthy ship.¡± She looked it up and down. ¡°It¡¯s weird.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll talk about that later,¡± Velvet said. Runa would have to be entrusted with sufficient information, especially with the void ants coming from the lower realms. But speaking about it near a random planet that she wasn¡¯t sure was fully secure would be a bit awkward. ----- With escort from the Spirit Slicing Sect, the rest of their journey through Chaotic Conglomeration territory was simpler. They were able to move deeper without constantly needing to send messages ahead, and the other ships provided a useful veil of obscurity for their actions. When they finally arrived back at Renov, Runa was overflowing with questions. ¡°This ship is far worse,¡± she commented. ¡°Have you lost favor within the Scarlet Alliance somehow? But then, how would you be here for this? Assuming you do intend to continue the cooperation efforts¡­¡± ¡°We can tell you,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I¡¯ll bring Misi and Juli, as well as some other guests. But we need to be somewhere we won¡¯t be overheard¡­ preferably even by other members of your sect.¡± Runa gave Velvet a look. ¡°I trust the elders of my sect with my life. But I presume you already know that. However, meeting alone with so many might give off impressions of a lack of control.¡± ¡°You could bring your father or another you trust. But Misi and Juli will be those with the highest energy besides myself.¡± Runa nodded. ¡°I do trust you as well, of course. I simply must keep up proper appearances.¡± ----- Soon enough, Velvet found herself back in Renov¡¯s void ore mines. They had been a key component of her prior visit, and she was quickly met by Mundi- now a foreman of sorts. He looked excited to see her, then slightly disappointed. ¡°No Durff?¡± he asked. Velvet nodded. ¡°Most of those who have come with me will be staying long term. We do have a recording you might like to see, though.¡± The assault on Gniteria had their stealth ships quite far from the planet itself, and thus their recordings of what happened were relatively minimal. Almost useless, unless one was particularly interested in seeing the planet tremble at various points. One of which was of course the mine collapse. Technically, Durff had been doing exactly the thing miners didn¡¯t want- but it demonstrated a clear understanding of his time and effort. Mundi nodded. ¡°We do appreciate the technology the twin sages provided, and I see they have returned,¡± he inclined his head. ¡°Do you have anything else of interest to our industry, sage Juli?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a sage now?¡± she asked. She didn¡¯t wait for a response, though. ¡°We¡¯ve got sizable stores of information. Don¡¯t worry, we didn¡¯t forget you. We¡¯ve got permission to provide a more complete picture of non-energetic technology. Though perhaps your people here have reproduced some of that already.¡± ¡°Well, not much changed down in the mines. But I hear some places have taken to having more mechanical air circulation instead of relying entirely on formations.¡± Misi pat one of his storage bags. ¡°We actually have architectural designs that show ways to build passive structures that require very little active input to remain optimally comfortable. If not, power draws can grow out of proportion when you¡¯re not careful.¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll have much to do with that,¡± Mundi said. ¡°But I appreciate having you back. We still work hard down here, but the results are much better.¡± The group continued on, taking a tour of the mines. It was not particularly notable, since they had significant interests in the mines previously. Eventually, Emrik, Runa, Velvet, and the twins all ended up in a section of the mines that had not yet been expanded into except for exploratory tunnels. There was no one around who could hear them speak¡­ and listening in with energy was even more impossible. ¡°It seems you decided not to bring your other companions,¡± Runa¡¯s father commented. ¡°That is not the case,¡± Velvet said. ¡°They are here, waiting to be properly introduced. I was thinking that we might answer Runa¡¯s questions about our ship first¡­ but I realize now that it would be quite awkward.¡± There wasn¡¯t a better way to do this than just getting it done, she decided. ¡°May I present to you the queen, Crossed Antennae.¡± Velvet reached her finger behind her neck, touching just under the neck of her clothing. Then she held Crossed Antennae out in front of her. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The void ant gave a fanciful bow- even those who did not understand void ant mannerisms would understand the gesture, as it was made specifically to appeal to humans. Then she began to sign. ¡°She says she is pleased to meet you,¡± Misi translated. ¡°And that she is sorry that she cannot communicate her own words verbally.¡± Emrik looked the most surprised, though Runa had certainly been taken off guard as well. Runa was the one who recovered first and was able to speak. ¡°We have heard of the non-human members of your alliance, of course. I still must admit to find myself in front of an insectoid. You would be from Akrys, correct?¡± ¡°That is technically the case,¡± Misi said, translating still. However, she would like to clarify that-¡± he looked towards Velvet, not because he was unaware of Crossed Antennae¡¯s meaning, but because of security concerns. ¡°We will be sharing everything relevant,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Crossed Antennae was indeed born on Akrys, but her people as a whole hail from Ceretos.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the planet you ascended from, correct?¡± Emrik asked. ¡°Indeed,¡± Velvet said. That part hadn¡¯t been kept secret. The extent of their ongoing connection, however, hadn¡¯t been fully revealed. ¡°Though it should be noted that Crossed Antennae has not ascended.¡± Runa gave Velvet a look. ¡°But she was born in the lower realms. And she¡¯s here.¡± Her eyes flick to Crossed Antennae, but of course she hadn¡¯t spontaneously learned the sign language over the past few minutes. ¡°Correct. We had to take a very special ship.¡± Emrik frowned. ¡°You have something capable of taking people directly from the lower realms into the upper realms? That is astounding but¡­ perhaps lacking in use. As the one who set me on the path of Augmentation, I know you understand how that would ruin a cultivator¡¯s path.¡± Misi translated Crossed Antennae¡¯s response. ¡°The queen says that it is good that she is not a cultivator, then. For her people, it is not an issue in the slightest.¡± Runa eyed Velvet suspiciously. ¡°And her people are?¡± ¡°Void ants,¡± Velvet just ripped off the bandage. It had to be said, after all. ¡°You might have heard about them before.¡± ¡°We have heard¡­¡± Runa looked at Velvet¡¯s finger, choosing her words carefully. ¡°That the Exalted Quadrant recently came into conflict with some.¡± Misi continued to translate, his voice kept even. ¡°The queen wishes to inform you that she is aware that the Exalted Quadrant sees her people as a blight to be exterminated- like the insects that they are. And also that she is not given to petty insults like mentioning that the people of the Exalted Quadrant have brains smaller than that of void ants.¡± Runa snorted, then caught herself. She looked slightly worried she might have offended someone. Crossed Antennae added a few more words. ¡°She says she appreciates you reacting to her joke. In truth, the Exalted Quadrant actually have enormous heads.¡± Runa relaxed slightly. ¡°I think I like you. Queen, is it?¡± Crossed Antennae tried to protest, but Misi was the translator. ¡°She is a daughter of the Great Queen of the void ants. She has borne many colonies of her own. And so whether she likes the title, she is certainly a queen. But she prefers to be called Crossed Antennae, as she chose the name herself.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Runa said. ¡°So may I ask¡­ why you are here?¡± Velvet explained that, simply because it was more efficient- though when Crossed Antennae had relevant comments, they were always brought up. ¡°... and so, our intention is that they are our enforcement methods. But I promise that they are steadfast allies who will support you against the Exalted Quadrant, should it become necessary.¡± ¡°A terrifying proposition,¡± Emrik said. ¡°Their discovery would bring much risk upon us.¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°They are willing to let you deny knowledge of their existence. Or¡­ we can entirely forgo their presence- but in the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s interests, we would have to vastly limit the information we can provide.¡± Runa looked at Crossed Antennae. ¡°So your people eat energy? Directly sever it from cultivators?¡± ¡°Or free energy,¡± Crossed Antennae clarified. ¡°... Can you show us?¡± Runa asked. ¡°Obviously, I mean once we¡¯re somewhere it¡¯s possible.¡± Velvet kept her smile internal. She had mentioned that aspect precisely to spark the curiosity of the Spirit Slicing Sect. They were quite similar to void ants in that way. Perhaps there was even some ancient connection¡­ or it could be a coincidence, based on finding metal with similar properties to the void ants¡¯ chitin. Crossed Antennae, of course, indicated she would gladly demonstrate. ¡°We will need time to think on this,¡± Emrik said. ¡°Of course,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°It¡¯s not as if we expect you to make such a decisive choice about your future on the spot. Especially since it carries certain risks. But I can promise you, the information we have is of great value, matched only by a symbiotic relationship with void ants. They¡¯re a significant factor in how we won the war in the lower realms.¡± ¡°... We?¡± Runa tilted her head. ¡°Indeed,¡± Velvet said. ¡°We. Because while the Scarlet Alliance operates in the upper realms, we are still tied to the lower realms. It¡¯s a much more effective way to get materials from the lower realms than trying to colonize the planets or invade them every cycle. It helps us raise more effective cultivators.¡± It was a very significant revelation¡­ but aside from trusting Runa and Emrik, Velvet knew that the Chaotic Conglomeration as a whole had nothing to gain from revealing such information to the Exalted Quadrant. They were enemies, after all. Though it would be best kept a high ranking secret so that no opportunistic traitor types thought to try to sell the information for some personal benefit. Aside from the various revelations, Velvet resolved to get Runa and Emrik as much exposure to void ants as was reasonable in the near future. That included lessons in their sign language- direct communication would make them much more at ease. The fear of void ants came from a lack of understanding. Well, understanding didn¡¯t necessarily solve things- because then people would know how dangerous they were. But cultivators were also dangerous. You just needed them to be your allies. Centuries of details about how the void ants had lived with the people of the lower realms in harmony would be quite helpful for acclimatizing the sect leaders. Crossed Antennae was also invested in being accepted, because she had grown fond of the upper realms- and the Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t safely accept her among their members. Not just yet. Though perhaps that needed to change as well. The one difference was that the Chaotic Conglomeration was already being threatened with potential extermination. The risks weren¡¯t quite the same¡­ but it was also hard to say they were allies with the void ants if they constrained them to the lower realms. Another project to look into in the future. Simply because the void ants accepted their reasoning didn¡¯t mean it was right to exclude them. Though Velvet would feel better if the Scarlet Alliance at least had a Domination cultivator first. That should only take¡­ an unknown number of centuries or maybe a millennium or two. Chapter 1077 One thing Velvet felt like she should have researched before things got to the current point was the Chaotic Conglomeration¡¯s history with void ants. However, considering the reactions had been unease instead of instant aggression, she thought it would likely work out. It was too bad the Chaotic Conglomeration didn¡¯t have computers. There were many methods for libraries to document the information contained within them, but there was nothing as good as simply having relevant information appear in front of you. That said, she did ask the twins to look into anything related to the void ants if they got the chance. Velvet¡¯s presence was actually unnecessary beyond the current point. She could certainly continue to help convince the Spirit Slicing Sect to accept their conditions, but she wouldn¡¯t be involved in actually disseminating any information. That was all the others. Rather than being troublesome, Velvet found it quite freeing. With nothing pressing on her time, she could relax. At best, she needed to oversee the transportation of void ants and eventually return the ship. Until then, she chose to spend time with Runa without mentioning anything about void ants. The easiest thing for two cultivators to do was train together, and since their combat styles were similar enough sparring was actually quite useful. The two faced off in a small arena. They didn¡¯t need much space, so it was better to conserve the energy used by the defensive formations to a smaller area. It was unlikely either of them would cause serious injury to the other even without, but the certainty of formations helped them go all out. They had some effects even against voidsteel, though they had to be specially made. Velvet wielded her two voidsteel daggers against Runa¡¯s one. She knew her friend wasn¡¯t limited to the single weapon, so it must have some sort of advantage. When they began, she realized Runa¡¯s defensive energy was extremely light. As Runa ducked and dodge Velvet¡¯s attacks, she sliced only irrelevant quantities of energy away. Meanwhile, Runa cut away a greater portion of Velvet¡¯s energy. Realizing she would be worn out, Velvet adjusted to match, maintaining only enough energy to keep her movements at top speed. She wasn¡¯t looking to turn things into a long brawl, but Runa didn¡¯t make it easy to target anywhere vital. Even without enchantments, the durable robes that Runa wore could entangle a voidsteel blade, potentially entrapping it or even breaking the brittle metal. Velvet made full use of her two blades, threatening Runa with both and forcing her to stay on the defensive. However, she soon discovered why her friend chose her particular fighting style. Runa was continuously pushed back¡­ until she struck out with a kick. Velvet sensed her energy building up and reached out to counter with one of her daggers, preparing to cut away the energy¡­ but none extended beyond Runa¡¯s robes. Velvet¡¯s blade skimmed along the surface, causing only a few tears- and then the kick hit her side. Velvet had only barely ramped her defenses back up, so she was only tossed to the side instead of properly obliterated by the kick. But Runa didn¡¯t let up, following after her. Her dagger cut first, flicking in front of Velvet¡¯s chest¡­ and then a fist struck her ribs. ¡°I win,¡± Runa declared. ¡°Mostly,¡± Velvet agreed. Though she made sure to draw attention to one of her daggers pressed into Runa¡¯s left armpit. With a solid thrust she could have still pierced through the robes¡­ though she¡¯d been a bit slow. In some scenario, both of them were heavily injured by similar results. ¡°How often do you find yourself facing off against similar techniques?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°Almost never,¡± Runa admitted. ¡°But it¡¯s important to know how to deal with things. The blades don¡¯t carry energy well, but cutting apart defensive energy leaves people vulnerable to even a simple fist. You can even temporarily nullify enchantments if you do it right.¡± ¡°I¡¯d do better with an enchanted dagger,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But I suppose that¡¯s more threatening.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a viable option,¡± Runa admitted. ¡°It might make people less wary of the voidsteel. Either can be just as deadly.¡± Velvet nodded. She had some idea of that already¡­ but the ability to cut apart energy was too precious to ignore. She could cover a much larger area with two blades, especially important when fighting multiple opponents. Though if she managed to sneak up on someone, she rarely ever needed two to kill them in a surprise attack. It was good to have options, though. ----- Based on what Anton knew, getting proper embassies established with Xaphiot and Airus happened several hundred times faster than the Trigold Cluster. Then again, they hadn¡¯t even been trying for the latter. And it was only a couple factions within the whole great power. In short, they really weren¡¯t comparable situations at all. But Anton was glad that both had happened. It would have been quite reasonable for the two planets to be xenophobic considering their entire reason for living underground. And unless they were particularly good liars- good enough to throw off literally all of Anton¡¯s insight- that was how things were. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. It seemed like an awfully long way to the next known inhabited system, but Anton suspected there were many more. They just weren¡¯t on this one specific path. After all, the stars weren¡¯t simply packed into a single flat plane. Anton was going to have to expand his explorations after he finished filling out the greater shape he intended to trace. Not that he had to worry about that in the next year. Or ten. It was going to take quite a long time, and he was quite content with that. He found it unfortunate that the upper realms could be embroiled in wars that they could not assist with directly¡­ but then again, the lower realms contributed quite a few people as they ascended. Even though Assimilation was a valid alternative path, most still chose to ascend instead. The exceptions were those places that didn¡¯t believe there was a place for them in the upper realms, preferring to remain in solidarity with their own planets. Or in the case of the original Sylanis Cluster, mostly because they wanted to lord their power over others. Different intentions, similar results. As for Ratna visiting the Scarlet Alliance, Anton saw that as ultimately a good thing. His brief conversation with her had confirmed that they at least did not need to be enemies. And as far as people like that went, it was valuable enough. Her affection for her nephew Durff was likely genuine. Anton wondered when he would have an opportunity to meet the man. They were making more ships that were capable of the journey, though they were currently avoiding any sort of less official reasons to transport people. Ascension cultivators wishing to meet those they left behind was one thing, but someone who had never been to the lower realms with no important business wasn¡¯t high on any list. As for the other direction, Anton heard they had done some tests. It was difficult for lower realms cultivators to adapt to upper energy without properly ascending themselves, but it hadn¡¯t proven dangerous except that they would be weaker for the duration of their stay. They were still running tests to determine if it would be reasonable to carry any sort of Assimilation cultivator. Anton had even more reasons than most not to leave the lower realms, but it could still be risky for others. ----- Sometimes, Anton found himself doing things that others might think was a waste of time. Not all others, of course, as everyone had specific curiosities. He knew that many astronomers would be interested in studying the same system as himself¡­ though perhaps not for quite the same reasons. Anton looked upon a brown dwarf, almost a star but just short of an important threshold to ignite sustained fusion. Around it was a large disc of cosmic dust that might eventually settle into planets. He wanted to know if he could transform the brown dwarf into a star. But not simply by adding mass. He already knew that he could do so- he¡¯d done it for Poriza, after all. There was no particular reason Anton needed an answer to his question. He simply thought the brown dwarf was somewhat sad, but he didn¡¯t want to turn it into a star while at the same time making it lonely. Anton knew that stars didn¡¯t have feelings- Maheg excepted- but that didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t care. He liked things as they were, but thought they could be a bit more. He was a firm believer in Enrichment. So he thought he would do¡­ something. Adding energy directly was a bit of a difficult subject. He could throw natural energy at a star all day and do nothing more than disturb its surface. As an Enrichment cultivator he might do a bit more when he was serious, and it was an awfully small star¡­ but there was a significant issue. Anton wasn¡¯t at his maximum strength. In a binary system, if he had a proper star bound he might be able to slowly build up a star such as this, but he was at a fraction of his power currently. But sitting around wouldn¡¯t get anything done, so Anton gave it his best attempt. He set himself into a nice orbit up close, then began to pour out his power. He doubted he would have enough energy to destabilize it even if all of it went into one place, but making things even would be more optimal if it happened to work. He infused his energy with his desire for the star to be something more, like he did when trying to bring plants to grow. However, normally he wasn¡¯t the only thing feeding into even a simple planet. He relied on¡­ well, stars. Even though he was drawing upon his other stars for the task¡­ his energy simply drained away with no apparent results. Anton spent a full month trying to infuse the brown dwarf with the power to be more, but achieved nothing. He intended to move on, but he decided it would be a shame to not at least catalog it. Actually, Matija and her whole community would yell at him if he didn¡¯t take proper readings and a good scan of any star he stopped at. Usually, that was all he did, but this time he left a note. ¡°Feel sorry for this guy. Just short of being a proper star.¡± Someone would read the note. He wasn¡¯t visiting stars at such a pace that the entire community couldn¡¯t keep up. The scans he could do with hand tools were limited in quality, but the time people needed to spend analyzing that information was more significant. Either way, Anton was far from the only explorer they had- he was just the most comfortable going far away from their already explored territory. The rest were being more thorough. That was a wonderful goal. But Anton just went where he wanted to, wandering along the general path he had chosen to stars that looked the most interesting for whatever reason. He named the little star Karse. Like all the others he visited, he would remember it. Maybe he¡¯d even bind a nearby star and return at some point, to try to give it another boost. There was no point to his little distraction, but if everything he did was only striving towards the goal of ¡®cultivation¡¯, then he wouldn¡¯t be cultivating for anything. Except perhaps power itself, but that was Anton¡¯s least favorite reason for cultivation. Though others might argue that the purity was beneficial, in some way. Just because he was one of the strongest individuals in the lower realms didn¡¯t mean Anton believed he¡¯d always be right about that. Maybe they knew better. But Anton also didn¡¯t have to care. He was enjoying the current age of peace in the lower realms. He hoped it would stretch on forever, instead of breaking with the next cycle. Chapter 1078 It was one month before Misi reported back to Velvet with information about void ants and the Chaotic Conglomeration. ¡°Sorry it took so long,¡± he said. ¡°Some of the information was difficult to find without mentioning names to the librarian.¡± ¡°In that case, I believe you were rather quick with your results,¡± Velvet replied. ¡°You and Juli are known to be curious, so most likely anything you asked about wouldn¡¯t have been notable. How did you find what you were looking for?¡± ¡°Library search techniques. We needed them before joining the Scarlet Alliance, since there weren¡¯t any computer databases,¡± Misi explained. ¡°It is a similar sort of data processing technique as Ten Thousand Scrolls, except you never even see things with your eyes. Instead, you find certain connected words.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Even in those libraries ¡®available to the public¡¯, sects often try to gain an edge by making it difficult for others to find what they are looking for. They can still say they fulfilled certain obligations of making information available to others that way.¡± ¡°Interesting. So how are the results?¡± ¡°Nothing I would worry about, at least,¡± Misi commented. ¡°It doesn¡¯t appear that most of the Chaotic Conglomeration actually came into contact with the void ants. They participated in extermination efforts only on planets where they personally came into conflict. There¡¯s only so much I can learn from the information available on a single planet, but I would suppose that they have a healthy fear of void ants, but no long term vendetta.¡± ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be too biased against it, then,¡± Velvet nodded. ¡°I would expect the Spirit Slicing Sect to eventually agree to our terms regardless, but being able to properly spread the influence through agreements with other sects is rather important for this plan to come to fruition.¡± Velvet wondered how long she would have to wait for a response. She understood that Runa and Emrik would need some time to consider the situation, and more to convince elders or potentially other sect heads to go along with their plans. The fact that things had to be done in secret would make it more difficult as well. However, she simply hoped that things would not stretch too much into cultivator time frames. If they waited decades to begin, that was a significant amount of time wasted. The sooner they could add to their options, the sooner they could achieve the necessary growth to withstand the increased pressure from the Exalted Quadrant. ----- The problem Velvet had left for Catarina and the Scarlet Alliance to solve was more difficult than it appeared. The simplified version could be described as ¡®detect a Domination cultivator¡¯, but they could already do that in normal circumstances. Nor was it even as straightforward as ¡®create formations that can detect Ratna¡¯s hidden cultivation¡¯. Creating a solution that solved one problem while not solving a broader problem lingering behind a waste of time and resources. They could begin the project right now, and Catarina could guarantee that their teams would work out a solution that could detect Ratna¡¯s hidden cultivation crossing their borders¡­ probably about the time she left and had the actual ambassador come replace her. They already had ways to detect Domination cultivators, though that was those who were traveling openly. Those who were hiding themselves with proper techniques were a trickier prospect- especially because it would benefit the Alliance most if they were detected without tipping them off. So the process really became to detect obvious Domination cultivators openly, and hidden ones in secret. Tuning things to individual cultivators might be possible considering the limited number of Domination cultivators- but that was assuming they hadn¡¯t missed any information. This led to many long nights trying to solve seemingly simple questions with Engineer Uzun. Among their questions was one they repeated frequently. ¡°What is an Anchor?¡± The answer was manyfold. It was a physical object bound to a Domination cultivator. ¡°It might not need to be physical, though,¡± Uzun postulated. ¡°We can¡¯t assume anything simply because the Citadel of Exalted Light is Zaur¡¯s.¡± ¡°The ensoulment chambers of the Twin Soul Sect, or something closely tied to them, seemed to have been Sudin¡¯s.¡± ¡°Too bad nobody was about to observe that. Then again, I don¡¯t think anyone anticipated that result. Not even you.¡± Catarina smiled. ¡°I have great faith in Anton. But no, that was a surprise. Even he doesn¡¯t believe he could consistently replicate the same circumstances. So let¡¯s go over what else we know. What about her?¡± Catarina didn¡¯t want to say the name while Ratna was even on the same planet, no matter how much she believed in their privacy formations. ¡°No known anchor. Koronis is rumored to have some sort of beast. Which does somewhat counteract the other part of my definition. Not an object. So far, physical seems likely.¡± ¡°And Everheart¡­ systems? Or perhaps the formations within the systems?¡± Catarina shook her head. ¡°It could be something deceptively simple, or deceptively complicated.¡± The deception was not in question, of course. It was Everheart they were talking about. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°We might need to risk someone studying his systems. Vari might be able to accomplish it but¡­ he may be more sensitive to such scrutiny now,¡± Uzun commented. ¡°And we can¡¯t be certain if the ¡®original¡¯ Everheart system or some other is the actual anchor.¡± ¡°Maybe none of them,¡± Catarina suggested. ¡°But then we wouldn¡¯t have a way to find out. So we¡¯ll have to base everything on what Velvet did. A minor flow of devotion, and a connection to something with a greater flow. Detecting that without alerting someone like Ratna¡­ actually, this is a great opportunity to test it, if we can complete the project.¡± ¡°More formations work?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°I think we might have too many. And if we¡¯re chiefly concerned with Domination cultivators¡­ wouldn¡¯t some sort of technology be optimal? They might not even realize it does anything. Most likely it would require a hybrid, but straining energy flow by weaving in complex detection systems to the borders could cause more harm than good.¡± ¡°Our drones could use upgrades as well. Not just in detection, but also transmission speed.¡± Uzun was most likely thinking of Koronis¡¯ approach. If the warnings had come significantly ahead, they might have been able to react properly. Or if they had detected her as Domination- or a half step from it- then they could have had different warnings. Tied in with their wish to understand Anchors was the potential to use them to advance themselves- or at least someone in the Scarlet Alliance. They still had many questions- did an Anchor need to be made of precious materials? The Citadel of Exalted Light clearly was, and it was durable- but that didn¡¯t mean it was necessary, nor that the durability was not imbued by the process. They had to compare to Assimilation and other similar paths as well. Quality certainly mattered for Assimilation, but most important was connection. Worldbinding cultivators weren¡¯t inherently weaker than Assimilation, but instead many of them had been connected to planets merely for the sake of strength and an alternative to Ascension, not because that was what fit. An exception had been the necromancers of the Ivory Maw. Because of that, Bala Sykora had been one of the most dangerous foes they encountered during that time. It was clear that there were significant differences between Assimilation and Domination, not just the timing and cultivation ranks when they were begun. But they needed more information to determine exactly how much. Perhaps they would be fortunate and Koronis would slip up- she was new, after all, and they might be able to witness what changed as she completed her advancement. Or Ratna might give them a few more tidbits. Perhaps they could gently prod ¡®Vlasta¡¯ on the topic. They would likely have to give something up even for scraps of information, but to secure the future of the Scarlet Alliance understanding Domination was critical. ----- Several populated systems were discovered all at once in the western portion of the lower realms. They were further removed from the vague plane most of their current known occupied systems were on. Scouts had noted their locations, but first contact had been delayed. The Lower Realms Alliance wanted to make a good first impression, and they also had to consider that many of the systems could be under Exalted Quadrant influence- either direct or indirect. They needed to be prepared to act upon whatever they discovered. With the cycle having passed just a few decades prior, it wouldn¡¯t be possible to protect any of the systems- except that wasn¡¯t quite the case. While it was more prominently seen among the Trigold Cluster, devastating a planet and infiltrating their sects as they regrew was a tactic the upper realms used. Catching them early in that process would be better. Either way, they wanted to prepare a balanced revelation of force, enough to show strength but not be unnecessarily intimidating. They had no desire to provoke wars unnecessarily, nor to lose any ships because they were too meek. Of course, there was one approach that was frequently quite successful, but Anton had specifically expressed his opinions that those specialized in diplomacy should be the ones to take care of those matters. It was not that he didn¡¯t care or wouldn¡¯t assist them, but he didn¡¯t want to deny experience to those who would thrive in such scenarios. ----- Anton was quite pleased to come across a planet teeming with life. He sensed no cultivators, nor beasts of significant power. Instead, it was simply a planet with a balance of life. Many of the lifeforms were familiar to him- be they plants, animals, or more exotic forms. But some were new- at least to him. Cataloging the life of an entire planet was actually a much larger endeavor than it seemed. He might be able to quickly approximate the total biomass of the planet, but calculating the number and diversity of even one category of related species was a monumental task. Anton had a particular affinity for plants, especially those that were usable as food, but even he wouldn¡¯t dare to say he could casually catalog every minute variety of grains alone on the planet. His focus was mostly on those things he found to be entirely new. Were they simply complicated inter breeding of plants he would have recognized, or were they unique to the planet- potentially native? Either way, he had strong feelings of similarity to Akrys. A life-seeded planet. Except this one had not developed such powerful energy, and certainly not enough to promote seemingly normal animals into sapient life. The purpose of such a place was unknown, which made it most intriguing. Was this a powerful cultivator¡¯s personal garden project? The product of a nearby civilization that had forgotten about it? Perhaps he might find someone just a few systems away, preparing an expedition to observe their work. It was unlikely that the planet was developed by the upper realms. It was too far from the borders to be convenient, unlike Akrys. Though perhaps it still was, in which case Anton could say it was something of a failed project. Not because it wasn¡¯t a good planet, but because it wasn¡¯t extraordinary enough for cultivators to travel all that way for. At least, not those interested in scouring the planet for resources. The Lower Realms Alliance doubtless had many individuals who would be glad to come visit, just to see it. Their people were able to appreciate a place for what it was as well as what it could be, without everything being envisioned solely as resource extraction sites. Not that the Lower Realms Alliance didn¡¯t need many supplies of different sorts. However, they were wise enough to build up the places they had to become something more, instead of taking away until there was nothing left. That was even possible with seemingly non-renewable resources such as stone and metal ores. They did not grow naturally, but cultivators could even replenish stores of precious metals with the right techniques. Matter wouldn¡¯t suddenly appear on its own, but there were plenty of barren planets that could never host life that could easily be repurposed into something more. Some cultivators might not care, seeing the galaxy as endless. But Anton could already see how such thoughts led them to stagnation, greedy desires to expand into neighboring territory only to run into others with much the same thoughts. Even their own Alliance could devolve into that, if they did not continue under wise leadership. Though Anton didn¡¯t have any true concerns about that, it was important to consider far into the future. Chapter 1079 Around the time that Velvet was beginning to worry that the void ants might have been a step too far even for Runa, she was finally called in for an official response. The fact that she was asked to bring Crossed Antennae with her was probably a good sign. If someone thought they would actually be able to kill the void ant, they would be sorely disappointed. They did not delve deep into a mine, which meant their communication would have to be more careful, but the main details that needed to be discussed had been dealt with before. Emrik, Runa, and several elders were waiting when Velvet arrived, the twins standing alongside her. And of course, Crossed Antennae and her royal guard were present as well though they were certainly less visibly imposing. ¡°Welcome,¡± Emrik said. ¡°We are willing to accept your proposals, but¡­¡± Here was the difficult part, Velvet was certain. ¡°We need certain assurances ahead of time. Specifically, we need access to some of the more sensitive information you carry with you, to be certain the quality is as good as you have said.¡± Velvet¡¯s initial instinct was to agree immediately. But this wasn¡¯t just a negotiation between friends. She was certain that the Scarlet Alliance had vast quantities of information that the Chaotic Conglomeration would find helpful, though they might not recognize the importance of some of it. Most likely, they would be fixated on combat techniques instead of the more important, lower level stuff like agriculture. ¡°What do you need to see?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°The information you have on Domination cultivators. Especially Zaur Beridze.¡± Good. They weren¡¯t trying to get everything they thought was most important and cut away. Not that Velvet thought the Spirit Slicing Sect would do that, but the other sects might pressure them for certain things. ¡°We can certainly do that,¡± Velvet agreed after a few moments of consideration. Though she knew the whole time what her answer would be. ¡°Misi and Juli can easily unlock those portions of information for you.¡± The Scarlet Alliance wanted to share that information regardless, as it should help them stand against their mutual enemies. But they had to consider what changes they might make into the far future. Misi cleared his throat. ¡°I might also suggest reviewing the language sections. They should prove enlightening and useful for future communication.¡± Crossed Antennae wiggled in support of his words. ----- It did not take long after the official agreement for them to review the available information. While it was as detailed as possible concerning Domination cultivators, there was only so much dossiers about single individuals could contain. They didn¡¯t have in-depth records of their long lives, but only what history was publicly known or otherwise verified, then what they had gathered on their own. Though in the case of Zaur Beridze, that included several key weaknesses. At least one of which they had caused themselves. Of course, the Chaotic Conglomeration already knew that Chidi had sliced off some of Zaur¡¯s fingers, but being given detailed information including three-dimensional scans of said fingers, just to be as thorough as possible. The Scarlet Alliance was being less shy about computerized information. Computer systems had been the best way for them to transport large amounts of data as well as maintain some semblance of control over it. If they had tried to bring everything written down, they would have found themselves unable to fit everything in a single ship of the size they had available. Or perhaps even in some of their larger ships, despite the vast volume they could carry. Even then, they intended to rely on future shipments to fill out what they had brought. They had focused on the highest and lowest ends of the spectrum- from how everyone could train in cultivation to develop every facet of life, to deep understandings of Augmentation. The information in between was of less immediate interest, so they stuck to the core structure. That was still enough for any cultivators lacking in direction to find a proper track. After that initial period came a time of distribution, both the scholars who carried the information with them and the guardians. Feeding a full colony of void ants was barely more than an individual human, except for the very largest colonies. They also used space that humans wouldn¡¯t, so it wasn¡¯t particularly difficult to house them- all that required was being willing to accept their presence. Something that Velvet did not tell even Runa was that the functionality of the devices they brought with them were tied to the lives of their keepers. While it might seem like a good form of deterrence to have such information public, humans were excellent at getting around restrictions they knew about. Especially motivated humans. Of course, Velvet expected that the void ants should keep their companions safe. Especially if the scholars were willing to have some riding around on them. That was up to individual preference. Velvet was fairly certain Misi and Juli would have carried half a colony on them if it didn¡¯t become cumbersome, but she did notice quite a few hiding out. Others shouldn¡¯t notice unless they had practice specifically finding void ants, though. ----- Runa was doing her very best to replicate the signs she had been learning. Her manual dexterity was sufficient to move as she pleased, but she simply wasn¡¯t used to the specific patterns in question, and certainly not using her hands to speak. Though perhaps she should have been. ¡°We appreciate you watching over us, Queen Crossed Antennae.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The ant inclined her head. ¡°It is for your safety as well as our own purposes.¡± Since Runa was learning void ant sign, Velvet only translated when Runa asked for it. That was mainly for more complicated things, like esoteric cultivation terms. ¡°You sever energy from its hosts,¡± Runa signed. ¡°Tell me about it.¡± ¡°We can sever it, yes. But we also grab onto it and tear it away,¡± Crossed Antennae explained. Then she demonstrated, pulling a bit of energy off of Velvet¡¯s outstretched hand- she knew she wouldn¡¯t mind. ¡°It holds together?¡± Runa asked. ¡°It doesn¡¯t¡­ fall apart?¡± ¡°It does not dissipate immediately,¡± Crossed Antennae agreed. ¡°Though we can allow it or force it.¡± Runa nodded. ¡°Energy does not harm your body?¡± ¡°You may test,¡± Crossed Antennae said. Technically, there were limits. But as long as Runa didn¡¯t do anything that would be powerful enough to harm Velvet as well, she knew Crossed Antennae would be fine. Runa gently pressed down with a finger of energy, watching the different reactions. Crossed Antennae at first let the energy interact with her- from what Velvet understood, that actually took conscious effort. Then she let it react naturally, scattering apart as it touched her. The energy was not gone like when a void ant devoured it, but without direction it was orders of magnitude less effective, simply dispersing back into the world. ¡°Very very nice,¡± Runa signed, clearly missing some words. Velvet let her continue to struggle through the rest of her conversation. Then once they were done, she spoke to her friend after Crossed Antennae moved on. ¡°You did great. Though it¡¯s actually easier for void ants to comprehend speech. The sign language wasn¡¯t even intended to have a human-speaking version at first, but various people found it useful. To a void ant, however, you look kind of silly. Since they add pheromones for their own people.¡± ¡°Well you could have told me that before! Now I look like a fool.¡± ¡°Crossed Antennae would never make fun of you for trying your best,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I might though,¡± she grinned. ----- Only a few sects were trusted enough to immediately gain access to certain information. There might have been a few more, but they weren¡¯t willing to immediately agree to restrictions the Scarlet Alliance placed. Not the void ants- those were on a need-to-know basis. It was instead the other restrictions that the Scarlet Alliance placed. Basic tenets of morality that many cultivators thought they were above having to comply with. That applied both enforcing for a sect¡¯s members but also within their controlled territory. There was nothing that would actually negatively affect sects¡¯ ability to function- in fact, it should be quite the opposite- but some were resistant to change, especially when they had not yet seen the benefits. But that would be fine. They could end up decades behind when they finally saw how the others would grow, which would be a fair price for their stubbornness. It wouldn¡¯t boost the Chaotic Conglomeration as quickly in power as it might if the Scarlet Alliance freely handed out every bit of information they had¡­ but it would also protect said information from the Exalted Quadrant. Besides, there were more than a few strategies for growth that needed people who were actually willing to work together to pull off, instead of just focusing on individual power. Most of those required some manner of respect for people¡¯s existence. At the top of the list was slavery. That was about the most respectful people got for other¡¯s lives, aside from killing them in the streets for trivial or nonexistent reasons. It wasn¡¯t even terribly practical. But it was a favorite part of traditional hierarchy, and that meant many people approved or at least accepted it. Of course, there were many things similar in structure and similarly harmful to society to slavery that ended up being slavery but by a different name. Those practices took longer to root out of societies, though there were many experiences of success the Alliance had access to. Ultimately, the Scarlet Alliance was only interested in building up what might be a future neighbor if they would not turn out to be a worse enemy than the Exalted Quadrant. Was it a bit much to think ahead centuries or perhaps millennia? Perhaps. But they weren¡¯t interested in causing greater harm to their enemies by losing what had made them strong to begin with. ----- Just before Ratna departed, they managed to test their device. The results were a tentative success. While Uzun believed it wasn¡¯t the cause of inherent bias in their tests, ultimately nobody was happy with the results. But they would know to take things seriously if that particular family of devices reacted in the future. Aminu was the official replacement for Vlasta, and while he probably also had some personal goals and some intent to spy upon the Scarlet Alliance, he was still an effective ambassador. He even arranged for a small group from the Scarlet Alliance to visit the Distant Shadow Sect, safely. The Scarlet Alliance never entirely ceased operations within Silver Fang territory- they simply avoided acting openly. No high profile targets or anything meant to undermine the sect entirely. But slaves of no consequence disappeared to the annoyance of their owners¡­ and to no response from Koronis. She had returned to the Creeping Fire Sect¡¯s territory, and would likely be finishing her breakthrough to Domination. There were all sorts of spies eagerly watching her movements, and the Scarlet Alliance was not alone in that regard. Of course, she would do her best to hide anything of consequence, but scraps of information about Domination were valuable enough on their own. Though Velvet might have been the best scout they had, she had also become a little bit too notable. It was highly possible she would be looked for specifically, so even with her techniques she wouldn¡¯t necessarily be better than the next best option- or a third party that wouldn¡¯t mind getting paid twice for the same information. The only issue was the latter was how much said information could actually be trusted. Probably about as far as they could throw them, and that wasn¡¯t counting someone like Durff. Chapter 1080 Deep within Creeping Fire Sect territory crept several squads of scouts from the Scarlet Alliance. They had tracked Koronis to a particular location, but were careful in their approach as the area was being carefully watched. However, no matter how many people were assigned to such a task it would never be enough. It was possible for cultivators to watch over a given system. It was also possible for a grand array to stretch between systems- but such an array would be extremely sparse. The Scarlet Alliance had created the largest such array that they were aware of, but they were also aware of the limitations of such things. The array was not a barrier that could prevent intruders from entering- only detected them, or when activated to its full extent redirect them. The Creeping Fire Sect were not known for their expertise in formations, but it still required caution as the scouts approached. Any one of them being spotted would draw attention to their presence, causing a cascading effect that might get them all caught. While the scouts were aware they were risking their lives, and would even be willing to guarantee such a fate to succeed, failure was unacceptable. Thus, they slowly crept between systems, their ships producing only the most minor ripples of energy. Around them were thousands of ships that carried quite possibly every Integration cultivator the Creeping Fire Sect had. Most likely however many Augmentation cultivators as well, though the difference was likely thousands to a few handsful. Together, their senses stretched between systems- but feeling the mere passage of an object was beyond what such stretched senses could do. Even the best among the Scarlet Alliance would have to focus on a particular area, but the stretch of lightyears between each ship meant that they would only be able to detect fluctuations of upper energy. The scouts were builts specifically to minimize their impact on such a thing, as they drew ever closer to their target, something everyone was able to sense without even trying. Koronis, placed smack dab in the middle of a large, empty area. Though it was not entirely empty. A few small systems were there, though unpopulated to the knowledge of the Alliance. And most relevantly¡­ the entire area was a nebula that stretched for several lightyears in any direction, odd branches stretching several times as far. While any particular stretch of space could be called empty, as a whole it was very much not. Great waves of energy were flowing from Koronis, rivaling the power of a Domination cultivator. But just as Chidi had first conjectured and others had worked to verify, she had not quite made the final step. That was what they were present to observe. Rather than pressing further themselves, the various scattered squads of scouts released unmanned probes, constructions as purely constructed from technology and avoiding the use of upper energy as was possible, except as necessary for certain key functions. One of those functions was sensing the flow of devotion. Those probes would be constantly sending their data back to the ships, each of which would be recording as much as possible. As longer range transmissions back to the Alliance would be easier to detect, they were not planning to transmit anything unless they were actually discovered. The highest priority was going unnoticed, however, as they were supposed to be at peace with the Creeping Fire Sect- and did not want to cause trouble with a Domination cultivator. But they couldn¡¯t simply let such an opportunity slip past. So they took the risk. The energy emitted by Koronis in any particular direction was mostly inconsequential- but that was only considering the effects of stretching over many cubic lightyears of volume. Being within just a few thousand kilometers of Korinis would have been a different story, as energy sufficient to shatter worlds twirled around her. Like a great serpent or coiling dragon, her energy danced around her, diving into the nebula and reshaping it. Energy flowed rapidly, though on such a large scale it took days. Space warped, drawing in diffuse matter faster than it could possibly travel under normal constraints. It compressed and twisted around itself, creating a pattern that wove through and about itself, knots that seemingly started and ended nowhere as the entire nebula was transformed bit by bit. The twisted shapes did not seem to lock in place, but instead writhed and swayed. The colors of the nebula intensified as the shapes began to look like both a mass of serpentine forms and bright flames flickering. The cultivators watching simply looked on in awe- Creeping Fire Sect, Scarlet Alliance, and any others who had come to spy on the process. Every sensor the scouts had was strained to its limits as Koronis¡¯ anchor reached its final form. It was quite clear that this would not be an anchor that was hidden through some form of obscurity. Those directing the probes had wisely kept them out of the outer bounds of the nebula, though in some ways that had been a restriction on how quickly they could move in a given time frame. Unlike the scout ships, they were limited to sublight engines. ----- The various squads of scouts kept apart on the return trip, so that if they were captured they would not all go together. Their most likely scenario to be caught would have been at the sight of Koronis¡¯ advancement, but they were still cautious on their return trip. They arrived in waves, scattered from two months past the event to some who took an extremely cautious and circuitous route, arriving half a year later. Analyzing the data from the various probes would be an exercise that would continue on for decades, at least. Some of what happened stretched beyond the capacity of the sensors, but they were confident they would be able to build up a picture from that and the testimony of the various scouts. ----- There was another threat of a Domination cultivation that the Scarlet Alliance had to consider, or rather there was a threat that had been looming on their borders more or less since their founding. That would be Everheart, and while they had mutual enemies and were aware he had some fondness for his world in the lower realms¡­ that did not make him less of a threat, if he wanted something they had. Since his re-emergence after the end of the cycle they had managed to avoid any interactions, but while they would have loved to simply ignore him, that was a greater risk. The individual sent to get in contact was, of course, Vari. She undertook the task begrudgingly, knowing it would be much worse for others. She wasn¡¯t really afraid of Everheart, and her interactions with him directly had been relatively positive. She didn¡¯t believe he would try to kill her¡­ but that didn¡¯t mean she wouldn¡¯t die regardless. She cautiously approached the Everheart System- the original, of course. Now there were many more, usually referred to by previous names or simply numbered. This would be #1, then. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The system no longer appeared inactive, like it once had after Everheart¡¯s most recent ¡®death¡¯. Now, it was once more brimming with obvious formations, and no doubt many more hiding and waiting to trap people. ¡°Hey, anyone there?¡± Vari called out, spreading her energy as far as she could. From what she understood, the system maintained a similar ratio of death compared to previous times, unlike many of the others that had popped up within the territory of the great powers which had been completely annihilating all entrants. Vari waited around several hours, watching a few ships go in and out. The own ship that had carried her to the border was left behind, as any pilots were not likely to be afforded the same protection as herself. Eventually, Vari progressed forward, wary of any threats. She passed by several planets, but managed to avoid getting drawn into any sort of formation that impeded her progress. Her goal was to reach the star, as it seemed those had become a vital part of Everheart¡¯s new formations. Then again, stars did have a lot of power that wasn¡¯t being used. The first thing Vari felt was something coming for her neck. She wasn¡¯t quite able to dodge, but she formed a compressed barrier of energy that at least let her keep her head. She readied herself and frowned. ¡°I don¡¯t have any swords, you know.¡± ¡°I am aware,¡± Rahayu said, slicing his way out of some sort of hidden space. ¡°You should invite her disciple along with you next time. Chidi.¡± ¡°Perhaps I¡¯ll ask him about it,¡± Vari replied, not necessarily intending to do so. Chances were that Chidi would actually go, and then who knows what would happen? ¡°I¡¯m here to speak to Everheart. Or at least leave a message if he¡¯s not here.¡± ¡°I am,¡± Everheart said, appearing next to her. Vari jumped back, startled by the sudden energy she felt. ¡°I was more comfortable when you were at least nominally in the same realm as me.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s not my fault,¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°Maybe you should have just made yourself a Domination cultivator.¡± ¡°You¡¯re like, six centuries older than me!¡± Vari retorted. ¡°Also, my path of advancement was sort of¡­ fixed. Now there¡¯s not much of anywhere I can go.¡± Everheart narrowed his eyes. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± ¡°Do you see any more members of the Citadel of Exalted Light?¡± Vari asked. She did get devotion from members of the Scarlet Alliance, but it wasn¡¯t the same as what she¡¯d done to advance, stealing back unwarranted devotion for promised unfulfilled. Everheart looked around. ¡°I suppose not. I assume you aren¡¯t here for a cordial visit, though.¡± ¡°Maybe I would be, if you had couches.¡± Everheart shrugged, pulling one out of a storage bag and setting it floating between them. ¡°There.¡± Vari grumpily took a place on it. ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I meant. You need an embassy or something. You could even create a communications device that we would leave out in the middle of empty space so it couldn¡¯t do anything crazy. But having to come out here to talk to you is a pain.¡± Everheart tossed a second couch for himself at what Vari presumed was supposed to be the most annoying angle, floating somewhere ¡®above¡¯ her. She refused to reorient her own furniture in response. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t want anyone to know we were in contact. Even I hesitate to admit I¡¯m in contact with myself.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Vari admitted. She considered trying to conceal her intentions, but she knew she wasn¡¯t good at that. ¡°We want to trade information.¡± ¡°What sort of information?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°Because I¡¯m sure I¡¯ve got it.¡± ¡°Domination and anchors,¡± Vari said. ¡°For what?¡± Everheart asked. ¡°The same,¡± Vari replied. ¡°Nah, don¡¯t need it,¡± Everheart waved his arm. ¡°In case you haven¡¯t noticed¡­¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way you don¡¯t want more information on Domination,¡± Vari declared. ¡°Next thing you¡¯ll say is that you threw out all but one book in your library, since you already had one.¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯d be interested, but I already have all of the information. I know every Domination cultivator.¡± ¡°Even the new one?¡± Vari asked. ¡°Were you there when Koronis advanced, taking very detailed observations?¡± ¡°Could have been,¡± Everheart said. ¡°In that case, maybe you¡¯d like supporting evidence for your theories,¡± Vari continued on without a pause. ¡°We want everything you have on Domination cultivators.¡± ¡°No way,¡± Everheart said. ¡°Out of the question.¡± ¡°Not counting yourself, of course,¡± Vari continued. ¡°It¡¯s still very unbalanced. I¡¯ll trade you one for one. And for you, the information will be complete.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll need two,¡± Vari said, folding her arms in front of her sternly. ¡°Because we know you hadn¡¯t even ascended when the last advancement happened. So you didn¡¯t get to witness one.¡± ¡°Perhaps someone secretly advanced that you don¡¯t know about,¡± Everheart retorted. ¡°Did you ever consider that?¡± ¡°If you witnessed such a situation, we¡¯ll trade for that.¡± She looked him directly in the eye, despite how it made her neck twist. ¡°Let us know where to make the exchange.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d be willing to exchange such information,¡± Everheart said. ¡°I don¡¯t think you have it. So we want what you have on two others. It¡¯s a fair deal.¡± ¡°Hmm. Only if you throw in a leg.¡± Vari blinked. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You guys have fancy limbs. I have someone in need of a new left leg,¡± Everheart said. Vari was trying to figure out where the trick was. Certainly, the best ones were custom made and rather expensive¡­ but he could probably still manage to steal one if he was after the technology. Ah, right. She¡¯d forgotten. ¡°We¡¯ll need measurements. And preferably to get whoever this is in surgery.¡± ¡°We know how to connect up nerves here. Trust us to handle that part.¡± ¡°Fine. One mechanical left leg and all of our info on Koronis for everything you have on two other Domination cultivators.¡± ¡°Sounds good to me. But maybe you should have brought someone who could write a contract.¡± ¡°If you cheat us I¡¯ll figure out who¡¯s missing a leg and make sure they¡¯re symmetrical,¡± Vari shrugged. Actually, she still expected there to be some sort of negative. But the actual goal was to give Everheart the information. Not because they wanted to share it, but so that he didn¡¯t decide to come steal it from them and then take something else along the way. Whatever they could get in return was just a bonus. They probably could have done better with a real negotiator, but then again¡­ Everheart might have just killed them. He wasn¡¯t necessarily the sort to randomly attack people, but there were only certain people he respected enough to interact with them peacefully long term. And at least Vari believed her life wouldn¡¯t be directly threatened, much. Except for stuff like the Rahayu thing. Vari was actually surprised he was still here, instead of deep inside the territory of the great sects killing their disciples. But maybe he was just on vacation. Chapter 1081 ¡°He sure felt like he had both legs,¡± Vari explained to Engineer Uzun. ¡°But I do remember he lost one.¡± ¡°It could have been part of an illusory formation, or a projection,¡± Catarina commented. ¡°But speculating on that too much will likely be a waste of time.¡± Uzun nodded. ¡°We have to assume that he¡¯ll be able to replicate the functionality if we give him a leg, regardless of who it is for. I think¡­ it¡¯s an acceptable price.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Vari replied. ¡°Because I don¡¯t think we can really go back on this deal. I tried to not accept anything too bad, though.¡± ¡°If the man can threaten our Alliance with an artificial limb,¡± Uzun said, ¡°We have more to worry about than I thought. Even the best aren¡¯t necessarily better than a natural limb, depending on the individual in question.¡± ----- The deal went through fairly quickly. Even for the highest quality work for the leg, it only took several months and could be completed without disrupting other production. It wasn¡¯t as if only one or two people lost limbs every year. Most didn¡¯t have the same quality requirements, but there were still plenty of high ranking cultivators it happened to. As for the other part of the deal, they duplicated all of the data they had collected on Koronis. Given the way it was collected, it could only be displayed with computerized systems. Rather than try to outwit Everheart, they simply gave him the most basic systems possible, the main requirement being speed and longevity. The technology they gave him was made to never connect to networks, so that he wouldn¡¯t have any unnecessary information in that regard. But the basic functionality was important because they didn¡¯t want to find out what he would do if he thought they cheated him. Vari returned later that same year and had a pile of scrolls dumped at her feet. ¡°Here, that¡¯s everything I know about Sudin.¡± Vari¡¯s eye twitched. Technically that wasn¡¯t outside of their deal, but giving information on a dead guy was¡­ very much stretching things. ¡°What about the second Domination cultivator?¡± ¡°Oh right,¡± Everheart said, as if he had forgotten. But he still had a single scroll prepared. ¡°Here it is,¡± he said. ¡°... That¡¯s just a name,¡± Vari commented. ¡°This scroll contains all the information I know about this particular Domination cultivator,¡± Everheart said. Vari wanted to punch him. So she did. He literally didn¡¯t move, and his defenses absorbed all the damage. ¡°Jackass,¡± Vari said. Then she scooped up all of the scrolls, carefully placing them in her storage bag. She placed down the other bag. ¡°Here¡¯s everything you asked for,¡± Vari said. ¡°You¡¯ll find it much more complete.¡± Everheart shrugged. ¡°You never said I had to have more than a certain amount of information on the person. Oh, I guess I should say that I am certain that Shelach is a Domination cultivator from the Trigold Cluster, so you can scribble that down on there.¡± Vari rolled her eyes. ¡°Thanks. How enlightening.¡± She resolved to leave quickly before her semi-uncle decided that it would be fun if she were entrapped in some sort of maze on her way out¡­ and before she showed that she was actually unbothered by the results. She¡¯d been warned he''d probably try to pick the two least useful individuals¡­ and the information wasn¡¯t her goal. It was instead the information going to him that was the plan. They didn¡¯t have any reason to believe he would fight Koronis, but if he did it would be more effective with that info. And they sincerely believed Everheart would have learned they had the info and tried to steal it. So selling it was far superior¡­ and it wasn¡¯t like they lost anything. The leg was weird though. Vari paid close attention but Everheart really felt real. Though it wouldn¡¯t be crazy if a Domination cultivator could overpower her senses. ----- Within the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s most secure council chambers, Vari revealed the information she had gained. ¡°So we¡¯ve got info on a dead guy,¡± Vari commented, pulling out various scrolls, ¡°And a name.¡± ¡°Who bet on just a name?¡± Zazil asked. Tauno held up his hand. ¡°That was me.¡± Prospero clicked his tongue. ¡°I was betting on just a physical description.¡± ¡°Is Shelach dead too?¡± Hoyt asked. ¡°Uh¡­ I got the feeling he was still alive?¡± Vari tilted her head. She repeated Everheart¡¯s addition verbatim. ¡°He didn¡¯t really say that, but it sounded like Shelach is active. Though it could be was, a long time ago.¡± Catarina was looking through some of the scrolls on Sudin. ¡°The information here is actually quite detailed, at least. Apparently, he had made some attempts to deal reincarnation to cultivators not from the Twin Soul Sect. Though it¡¯s unclear how that worked out.¡± Tauno laughed. ¡°They¡¯re not gonna be happy if they made that deal. Since I don¡¯t think the Twin Soul Sect has anything left at all.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Probably some infiltrators,¡± Zazil commented. ¡°However, their core sect is destroyed, likely including the necessary pieces to capture souls for reincarnation. Though it is possible Sudin shared the secrets with others. I can¡¯t imagine it would have come cheaply, though.¡± Vari frowned. ¡°Does that mean any Domination cultivators we kill might just come back to life?¡± ¡°They¡¯d almost certainly have to recultivate,¡± Prospero said. ¡°Of course, we won¡¯t have an example from Sudin because his soul was annihilated. But all of the other Twin Soul Sect members had to begin cultivation from the beginning. I imagine a Domination cultivator would be much more efficient the second time around¡­ but we¡¯re still talking long centuries.¡± ¡°Personally, I¡¯d want to destroy their sects anyway,¡± Tauno said. ¡°Anywhere that produced a Domination cultivator would be more likely to be able to produce another and take revenge. If we¡¯re worried about reincarnation, that would solve two issues.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t seen any confirmations of successful negotiations,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Though there are more than a few scrolls to look through. Some detailed histories¡­ and speculation. That does leave the scroll on Shelach rather lacking, though. Everheart promised complete knowledge but I should say¡­ maybe we shouldn¡¯t trust him.¡± Everyone had a good laugh at that. Everyone from Ceretos knew that Everheart was not to be trusted, and his infamy had spread through the upper realms. The only thing that made them slightly believe in what he¡¯d done was that his deals usually went through- at least to the letter, if not the spirit. And they had kind of been hoping his fondness for Vari because of her aunt might help as well. ----- ¡°We¡¯re agreed then,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Sometime within the next few decades, you find an opportunity to visit the Scarlet Alliance. Traveling with our people, of course.¡± Runa nodded. ¡°I¡¯d love that. Hopefully I can actually find the time.¡± ¡°I expect you¡¯ll be very busy, but you¡¯re not the arbiter on spreading our knowledge. We have people for that. Though if people are coming to you for negotiations, feel free to take advantage if you can. But you know what our lines are.¡± ¡°Absolutely. And¡­ I¡¯m glad we¡¯re actually able to spend time together. When you first left¡­ I truly thought we might never see each other again.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll admit that was possible,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But only in the same manner as it is true for any two cultivators- or any two people. Short of death, however, I wouldn¡¯t let our friendship end like that.¡± It was somewhat strange, how their friendship had worked out. Velvet had been in a multi-layered infiltration, but she¡¯d still grown attached to Runa. The same was true in return. There were some rocky points, especially when Velvet¡¯s true identity was revealed, but enough of what she¡¯d shown had been herself. And the fact that she really wasn¡¯t an enemy couldn¡¯t be overestimated. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t have let herself grow fond of anyone. That would have made her infiltration more difficult, however, spending years among people she didn¡¯t know and didn¡¯t like. That was something others could manage, but it certainly wasn¡¯t her area of specialty with regards to infiltration. ¡°You¡¯ll love it,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I guarantee it. There are so many amazing things I can¡¯t even begin to describe them all. You can even see the lower realms.¡± They needed people in the upper realms who could escort their people from the border in the future, otherwise they would risk too much with future groups. But that meant certain information would become obvious¡­ and that measure of trust was far easier in some ways than revealing the connection to void ants. ¡°I look forward to it. Though, are you certain we¡¯ll see results that quickly? I can¡¯t imagine a planet changes so easily.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t see a complete transformation of your planets within two decades¡­ unless you get everyone on board,¡± Velvet said. ¡°But think of a planet like any other cultivator. In the early stages, advancement is rapid. You¡¯ll notice the increase in available energy by then, and you¡¯ll see a huge increase in the growth of Body Tempering and Spirit Building cultivators. Everyone else will still benefit, but it won¡¯t necessarily be as obvious in that limited amount of time.¡± ¡°It does seem like a risk to improve planets that could be taken over by the Exalted Quadrant at any time.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re suggesting starting in your core worlds. Renov is safe enough you¡¯re making other decades long plans, right?¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Runa admitted. ¡°I suppose we couldn¡¯t have done this on Taon, though.¡± ¡°For various reasons,¡± Velvet said. ¡°You need full planetary control. Too many selfish people ruins it¡­ even for them. Though efficient training methods will help even without planetary changes. Trigold Cluster styles should be very interesting for your people to study as well.¡± ¡°Yes, we occasionally came across cultivators who had a partial manual or the like from that far¡­ but incomplete pieces are sometimes worse than useless.¡± ¡°On that note,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have to say this, but the forbidden techniques are forbidden for a reason. They¡¯re there only as a reference, or for those willing to suffer the consequences. We simply wouldn¡¯t have shared them if they fell into the other category.¡± ¡°Some fools won¡¯t realize that,¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°But we don¡¯t really need them anyway.¡± ----- Leonid was, in essence, a glorified photocopier. No, he didn¡¯t replicate scrolls or anything. He was the person who put things into the machines that could also be called photocopiers. He was perhaps slightly more valuable than others because he was well trusted and knew how to handle delicate materials. He¡¯d worked with old scrolls, especially back when the Scarlet Alliance primarily had scrolls. And books. They still used them, but they also kept digital records. Leonid wasn¡¯t good with them, but he usually didn¡¯t have this much trouble. ¡°Ugh, this error again. Let¡¯s see¡­ ¡®Insufficient resolution to parse glyphs¡¯.¡± He looked at the machine, and then he looked at all of the scrolls that had just worked. He carefully pulled the final scroll out, taking a good hard look at it. Even if he was trusted to handle highly classified information, he still didn¡¯t read most of what he was working with. But when there were errors that required human intervention, someone had to take a look at things. There it was, written in what he would say was exactly the same letter size as all of the rest of the scrolls he¡¯d just scanned. No, there were actually smaller bits and pieces of Everheart¡¯s writing. Leonid took a good hour making sure that it had actually been capturing the smaller letters, but found it had worked just fine. With the handwriting being literally the same, what was wrong with this final scroll? Probably just a dumb bug. It was literally seven characters. How could it mess up? He opened up the file, which was an image and an associated text rendering. He was just going to write Shelach in there by hand. Problem solved. But what Leonid saw already in the file was quite a surprise. Chapter 1082 Leonid wondered if he had opened up the wrong file. It already had a thousand pages of information. Had he accidentally copied all the other scrolls data into this final one somehow? It should have just said Shelach. Well, that was the first word. No, it shouldn¡¯t have been copied from the information on Sudin. The text was talking about Shelach. Leonid took a look at the scroll, the image, and finally the output text. Then he clicked on a word. A tiny pixel was highlighted on the image. He zoomed in¡­ and in. ¡°Huh. Look at that. It is a word.¡± He couldn¡¯t make it out with his naked eyes, and even his energy senses could hardly pick out the tiny writing squashed together to make up the text of the name. Then he recognized glyphs that he recognized as being part of formations. And then he had to call for emergency assistance. ----- Fifteen minutes later, Formation Grandmaster Catarina and Grandmaster Engineer Uzun were standing in the same room as Leonid. Timothy the warden was also there, making Leonid feel both that he was in danger but also well protected from said danger. ¡°What are the damages?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure,¡± Leonid answered. ¡°Everheart protocols were being followed, so it should be cut off from the rest of the network. Assuming these formation markings didn¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°Should we engage the energy nullifiers?¡± Uzun asked Catarina. She shook her head. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t change anything if we can help it. First I need to review these images.¡± She began nudging the representative image that the system was displaying, focusing on that instead of the actual scroll. Meanwhile, Uzun carefully scanned the computer systems in the area with his senses, looking first for any sort of physical breaches. ¡°Is there anything I should do?¡± Leonid asked. ¡°Keep a careful watch on that scroll,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure what it¡¯s supposed to be doing yet and we don¡¯t want any surprises.¡± Catarina first followed the runes in the order that the system had detected the actual text went, but didn¡¯t find any sense within them. While Leonid had indicated there was likely another layer beneath that, the images didn¡¯t have sufficient resolution and she wasn¡¯t risking interacting with the scroll just yet. She decided to try scanning across the page horizontally and vertically to see if that made the flow make sense. She simply wasn¡¯t making out the connections, even though all of the runes should have been linked together somehow. ¡°System checks return normal. Software shows no signs of tampering, and hardware is intact,¡± Uzun commented. ¡°It¡¯s possible Everheart has an intimate understanding of the error checking process and accounted for it, but we¡¯d have to get the team responsible for the code in here to verify.¡± ¡°Might as well send for them,¡± Catarina said. ¡°This will take me a while, and having a team wouldn¡¯t help me for this part.¡± ----- Several hours later, they had verified as much as they could that the detached input system was not tainted. Even if it had been they could have disposed of everything- an expensive proposition, but better than risking some sort of infiltration. Technically, Everheart protocols were just the maximum level of caution and could apply to others¡­ but there were reasons it had its name. Catarina had reached the limits of what she could do without directly interacting with the scroll containing Shelach¡¯s name. The images simply didn¡¯t give a complete enough picture of whatever formations were in place. They shouldn¡¯t be terribly powerful- Catarina didn¡¯t even detect a power source- but they still had to be cautious. ¡°Leonid, if you could hand that over to Timothy now.¡± He did so, treating it as if it might explode at any moment- though if it was going to do that in particular, it likely already would have. Timothy held it, creating a shield of energy around it. Seeing that there was no reaction, Catarina carefully reached through with her own senses. Timothy¡¯s energy didn¡¯t interfere with hers in any way, which made him the best choice to minimize risk and maximize her efficiency. Catarina¡¯s senses managed to pick up even smaller glyphs, including sub-runes embedded into the larger- if still quite small- runes that made up the first tier. But that wasn¡¯t the end of things. She realized that there were layers- the ink in deeper layers of the thick material wasn¡¯t in precisely the same spots. Both actual text and runes continued onto the deeper layers, and Catarina finally began to get a picture of how everything was arranged. Small runes and sub-runes were only the beginning, but the layers turned it into a three dimensional formation which allowed energy to flow around obstructions she had noticed previously. All that put together¡­ and she was able to determine what the formation did, finally. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t put this in the system,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Or alternatively, we must be extremely cautious. Perhaps we shouldn¡¯t even mention the name of this Shelach fellow outside of secure areas.¡± As Catarina spoke, she felt a slight reaction from the page- specifically upon speaking the name. She paused for a few moments to verify that what she thought should be happening actually was. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Does that imply that even Everheart was cautious about sharing this information?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°Indeed,¡± Catarina confirmed. ¡°It appears he significantly under exaggerated how much he knew.¡± That didn¡¯t mean she was going to assume everything was accurate¡­ but clearly they should take things cautiously. Rather than attempt to get more complex systems involved, Catarina simply began to read through. Nothing appeared to be further encoded, though perhaps there might be more than met the eye. Either way, it revealed a story shrouded in mystery. And for all the density of lettering and effort made to keep things secret, the total volume of knowledge about Shelach was quite limited. Aside from generally operating in the Trigold Cluster, there were no known associations. Neither people nor groups. If he was tied to a sect, it wasn¡¯t public knowledge. The only clear things were the man¡¯s name and probably that he was a man, though there were no reliable physical descriptions. Everheart had tied the man to a large number of high profile deaths, though any connection between them beyond that was unclear. In addition, the connection was that the deaths were mysterious with no visible signs. The notes Everheart left actually speculated on that count- and Catarina was surprised that he admitted to speculation instead of being certain of the truth. He had apparently seen three bodies in person he suspected were the result of Shelach¡¯s actions, and he found needle marks in two of them. He had suspected poison, but found no traces of anything he could recognize, nor were there signs of struggle. Any sort of possible Anchor was unknown. However, Everheart knew of a death long in the past of another Domination cultivator that had the same signs- or lack of signs. That was why he could only presume Shelach was a Domination cultivator or an equivalent level of power. Even at their most defenseless, a Domination cultivator wouldn¡¯t suddenly die to an Augmentation cultivator. As far as aiding anyone in the Scarlet Alliance with understanding anchors or advancing to Domination in any way, the information was useless. But as a warning¡­ it reminded them that some cultivators had been around for vast periods of time, and not all were openly throwing their weight around. The Scarlet Alliance would do everything they could not to offend such a character¡­ but they didn¡¯t know what those things were. While they didn¡¯t generally go around causing trouble, if he had a particular faction he favored, it wasn¡¯t clear what they would do. Then again, there weren¡¯t any indications of him wiping out entire sects. Everheart mentioned a few incidents of sects being wiped out that some people associated with him, but he mentioned those having too much evidence to believe they were connected. So maybe the Scarlet Alliance would only lose someone important if they got in his way. Not particularly reassuring, but less of an existential threat than certain other Domination cultivators at the moment. ----- A careful review was done of all the scrolls on Sudin, just in case. However, they were nothing more than ink on paper, plus minor enchantments for the purpose of making both last indefinitely. That information made it into their networked systems as top secret, unlike the scroll on Shelach which was sealed in a vault for individual viewing only. Information on Sudin had already been reviewed before the scanning process, but it did mention a few notable pieces of information about Anchors. That led to some theories among their members, but to verify them they¡¯d have to visit an anchor¡­ and preferably the remnants of what the Twin Soul Sect had. Velvet was returning from the Chaotic Conglomeration, so she might be assigned the task to slip in among the various groups picking through the remains of the sect that was one of the most influential just a handful of decades prior. ----- Anton wasn¡¯t afraid of Everheart, for several reasons. He didn¡¯t care if the man was a Domination cultivator or not, the only place they could meet up was the lower realms where Anton would have an advantage. And he also chose to not be afraid of the man, as he believed that would actually make him weaker. Perhaps it was a matter of devotion, where it would actually change things¡­ or perhaps a confident front would suffice. Either way, though he¡¯d only faced off against an injured Everheart once in the past, Anton was far more confident now. Both of their strengths had increased, but Anton was confident he¡¯d grown more. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean he would trust the man. It didn¡¯t even seem that Everheart trusted himself, so if they did ever meet again he wasn¡¯t simply going to let down his guard. But the man had a weakness. He cared about things. Maybe not many, but at the very least he cared about Vari¡¯s aunt Silvija, and at least a little bit about her. And he cared about causing trouble for the upper realms- far more than he cared about the mischief he¡¯d achieved on Ceretos. Anton also had things he cared about- indeed, they were far more numerous. But it was only a weakness when one refused to accept they were a real human with feelings. That was Anton¡¯s belief, at least. Having things one cared about did provide more openings to strike at, but also more motivation to be better. To be stronger. And to have allies who could cover for any potential weaknesses. Technically, Everheart had allies- or at least subordinates he had poached from various factions in the upper realms. That was all well and good¡­ but given that Everheart had access to perhaps the most extensive stores of knowledge in the entire upper realms- at least on an individual basis- the fact that he was not raising his own disciples really said something about him. The man was, when he chose to be, an excellent conveyer of knowledge. It was too bad he wasted that potential. Anton chuckled, knowing that thinking about an older individual¡¯s wasted potential wasn¡¯t particularly common¡­ but as cultivators, it was never really too late to live up to their potential. Before he was a cultivator, Anton had certainly made use of his own potential- but without natural energy it was merely comparable to a weak Body Tempering cultivator when he was in his youth. Then he discovered a much broader potential existed than he could have ever imagined- he¡¯d known about cultivators, but never thought he could be one. Nor had he been motivated to. He¡¯d been a bit too focused only on what was immediately around him in the world. He didn¡¯t regret those times, but he now knew he needed more. Arrows pierced through empty space. Somehow, they were more accurate when Anton pictured Everheart¡¯s dumb face there- even if the only real grief had been during Anton¡¯s early cultivation and when he robbed Ceretos before he left. And some trouble he¡¯d caused the Scarlet Alliance. And how he might continue placing them in peril. The man was disliked for a reason. But of everyone in the world who¡¯d actually met him, Anton perhaps disliked him the least. He was just another lost soul who had yet to come to maturity- it didn¡¯t matter whether he was 12 or 1200. Maybe he should send a letter. That should produce interesting results. Of course, he¡¯d ask for the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s approval since they would have to deal with however Everheart responded. Chapter 1083 By the time the Scarlet Alliance approved a letter from Everheart to Anton, he had gone through several iterations of what he wanted to send. His ultimate goal was to encourage the man to continue to focus on mutual enemies, as well as to encourage the few positive traits the man had. Everheart had put a large amount of effort into creating tombs meant to raise the generation just before the invasion, knowing what would happen. Even if he¡¯d done it to spite the upper realms, he still took care not to unnecessarily kill too many people in his tombs. He already knew about the connection to the Scarlet Alliance- he¡¯d been back to Ceretos, after all. So Anton focused on the most recent information to come in. Specifically, the information on Sudin. ¡°I find it interesting how Sudin used various forms of attention, including devotion, to empower himself and the soul drawing chambers the Twin Soul Sect made use of. I find that contrasts with the information I know regarding other Domination cultivators.¡± Sharing information about Shelach with the lower realms had been a careful process. The process had taken several years to carefully transport the original scroll for those who needed to be aware of the details- primarily Enrichment cultivators. Even if they were confident in the security of their transmissions, they thought it better to not risk potential dangers. It was a curious question, how a man like Shelach might have formed an anchor. If nobody knew about him or the anchor, where would he get devotion? If perhaps he cultivated spite or similar negative emotions like Everheart seemed to, it would still require being known. And fear¡­ while the fear of a small number of individuals might be powerful, would that really be enough? Perhaps it might be. Especially if he kept himself secret. Fear of the unknown was often worse than fear of the known. In such a case, spreading the information could either empower Shelach¡­ or weaken him. But knowing whether or not he was going to be a problem for them was important first. Either way, Anton wasn¡¯t afraid. An assassin from the upper realms meant very little to him. He didn¡¯t believe he would be killed, nor was he afraid of death if it did come for him. But they would have to be careful about others. Whether they tried to find out more or not would be the prerogative of the Scarlet Alliance, since they were the ones actually at risk. Though hopefully, their formations would be prepared to pick up sneaking Domination cultivators. Anton¡¯s letter continued, touching mainly on topics of power. ¡°It is unfortunate that I couldn¡¯t witness Koronis¡¯ advancement firsthand. Bonding with a nebula is quite adjacent to my own style. I hear that you have been quite interested in stars lately as well. You¡¯d better take good care of them. You never know when one you mistreat might develop a consciousness and try to hunt you down.¡± The chances of such a thing happening were practically nonexistent. Though, if Everheart was messing around with stars perhaps such changes were more likely, as it was outside of the normal bounds of stellar interaction. None of Anton¡¯s stars had showed signs of growing independence or sapience, and Maheg might truly be a unique phenomenon, but it was worth considering. Speaking of which, Anton had promised to see if they could bond together. Anton wanted to take some time to prepare for the possible results still, and the star was nothing if not patient. But soon enough, he probably would. ¡°Have you been practicing your archery? I know you aren¡¯t the sort to devote yourself to a single weapon, but I imagine you should at least learn to shoot something in an adjacent system. It¡¯s quite a useful trick. And perhaps with enough practice, you might strike much further than that.¡± In all cases when interacting with Everheart- first his projections, then the real man for some time- confidence was key. If he saw weakness he was liable to exploit it. ¡°Oh, right,¡± Anton added at the end. ¡°Paradise says hi. He heard you got a new turtle and would like to remind you to take better care of it and not abandon it for centuries.¡± With that, he included an image of Paradise, taken by an excellent photographer. There was of course a planet nearby for scale. Paradise was significantly smaller than a planet¡­ but he did outscale most landmasses except the proper continents. He should be something like a couple hundred kilometers across. The invaders from the upper realms who saw him had gotten quite a shock at that. ----- After delivering his letter, Anton found himself on the border of the upper realms. He didn¡¯t have to roam far to confirm how much the Exalted Quadrant was pushing into the Scarlet Midfields. The Trigold Cluster too, and they should have had first hand witness that they were on shaky footing. But since the upper realms had only really seen the one shot that annihilated Sudin, most of them didn¡¯t really know the danger they were in. When the time came, Anton could take out anyone on any of those planets, just a few handfuls of lightyears over the border. They weren¡¯t close to cutting off the connection between upper and lower realms, as they had only pushed a few systems deep on either side and the Scarlet Midfields were far wider than that. But the Scarlet Alliance certainly had to think about expanding. Anton practiced his shots far from the occupied planets. He couldn¡¯t surpass a hundred lightyears like he had with Sudin, but his attacks could withstand the corrosive effect of ascension energy trying to annihilate him. And the more he grew used to it, the better he was able to steal it, or use the energy of the upper realms that was trying to annihilate his own against a target. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. By the end of the next cycle¡­ Anton didn¡¯t expect that anyone would be able to cross the border, if they were stupid enough to invade. Or at least, he could take out a great number of targets in the days it would take them to pass through his range. More Domination cultivators might be an issue, but perhaps he could discover the next step beyond Enrichment before that theoretical time. He already had ideas. Domination was an interesting topic of study, but if anything the similarities were in the concept of Anchors, which Assimilation used from the beginning. It was possible that Anton wouldn¡¯t be able to reach the next stage due to taking the wrong path or a lack of guidance. However, he had no worries that it didn¡¯t exist. It was clear to him that it must, another great increase in power. Cultivation might have an end, but he could see enough of the path ahead to know that being restricted to natural energy didn¡¯t somehow limit the heights of power that could be reached. ----- Infiltrating the planets being established in the Scarlet Midfields was easy. They weren¡¯t completely without defensive formations, but establishing secure planets took more than a few decades. Velvet noticed the Exalted Quadrant was well prepared for void ants, but they were looking in the completely wrong direction. She hoped that the Chaotic Conglomeration would soon cause enough trouble to make the Exalted Quadrant feel less comfortable about pushing into the midfields. She would think that their losses in the lower realms would make expanding seem like a bad idea. The same should be true of their increased pressure on the Conglomeration. But perhaps their losses were exactly why they were taking risks. Other than a clear intent to drive out void ants, there didn¡¯t seem to be much else to it. The Scarlet Alliance would like to claim the entirety of the Midfields, but that was simply infeasible. This was over a hundred lightyears from their southern border. They were being obvious that the Trigold Cluster could have accused them of violating the compact if they actually cared, but both sides were pretty well beyond that point. THey¡¯d both interfered with the Citadel of Exalted Light, and both had their own conflicts with the emerging Scarlet Alliance. Trying to push them into conflict over the old compact of neutrality would just be asking for trouble for the people who actually lived there, which happened to be most of the people in the upper realms that Velvet knew. It was still somewhat surprising that there were others. Not just Runa and the Chaotic Conglomeration, but also Ratna- at least a little bit. Velvet was still somewhat bitter at having been tricked, but she couldn¡¯t really say it wasn¡¯t her own fault. She hadn¡¯t been good enough to see through the deception. It was a relatively lengthy trip across the Midfields to the Trigold Cluster, but she had to verify that their situation was similar. A desire to confirm the eradication of the void ants and for what resources they could squeeze out of the planets. One detail that Velvet noted was how few people were colonizing the new planets. It made sense, as it required cultivators to withstand the rough state of an early developing planet. But the Scarlet Alliance was able to grow more quickly, because they simply had more cultivators. Even if most people wouldn¡¯t make it past Body Tempering or Spirit Building, each person would be several times more durable and generally effective. Even a single tier of cultivation improved body strength and cognitive function. The problem for the great powers was that they were not willing to share. Each cultivator was a drain on the energy in the area. But with proper methods, they would be a net positive over time, allowing each cultivator to actually boost each other. Velvet didn¡¯t intend to give anyone advice, of course. They would have to figure it out on their own- and they didn¡¯t yet seem to find the Scarlet Alliance worth emulating. Hopefully, they would hesitate to take them at full seriousness for a few more centuries so they could further establish themselves. ----- Leonid wasn¡¯t supposed to do anything involving physical storage. He was more of an archivist. However, the Scarlet Alliance did have a number of dangerous artifacts¡­ and he happened to be the closest person of sufficient security permissions when something happened. Thus, he found himself running into the secure vaults to do¡­ something. He sure didn¡¯t know what that something might be. But maybe he could make whatever bad thing was going to happen delay until someone actually important showed up. He preferred a quiet life, and the last few years had been far too stressful. ¡°What are the contents?¡± Leonid asked the guards outside the room. They might not know, which would help inform his reaction. ¡°I dunno,¡± said one young woman. ¡°Fingers or something?¡± The older man next to her shook his head. ¡°Not ¡®or something¡¯. These would be some rather important digits.¡± Ah. Leonid knew this one. The exact details weren¡¯t public, but Zaur Beridze had lost fingers in the most recent confrontation. ¡°So what should we do?¡± asked the woman. ¡°Do we open it up or¡­?¡± ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Leonid said. ¡°We¡¯ll be watching to see if the formations are doing their job. If they struggle, we¡¯ll supplement their energy until someone proper shows up.¡± A worrying burst of energy came from behind the door. Leonid had felt that before, but only from a great distance. Everyone on Xankeshan had. Nobody would forget a Domination cultivator. His mere presence above the planet had caused some people¡¯s cultivation to go awry, and others broke through barriers they¡¯d been struggling with due to sudden insights. Leonid had hidden under his bed. But apparently he had ended up rubbing shoulders with too many important people, so here he was. Oh good, the formations worked. He felt things settle down in a few moments. ¡°How many times has it done that?¡± he asked. ¡°Four or five,¡± the woman said. ¡°Exactly four. Stronger each time,¡± the more reliable older man declared. ¡°About every minute then,¡± Leonid grumbled to himself. There was another surge of energy and something in the room cracked. Leonid just about jumped out of his skin, but he supported the wall with his energy. He really hoped that someone else would show up soon. Surely they couldn¡¯t be more than a minute or two behind him, right¡­? Chapter 1084 As focused he was on keeping the vault sealed, Leonid almost failed to notice when help arrived. That said, his failure to notice could slightly be excused by the fact that the person who showed up was ¡®only¡¯ a Life Transformation cultivator. Or at least, that¡¯s what he felt like. ¡°What¡¯s happening here?¡± said a voice that caused Leonid to nearly jump out of his skin. He quickly recognized the individual who had suddenly appeared. Indeed, he couldn¡¯t have his current position as an honored archivist without knowing about Chidi. ¡°Swordmaster! The uh¡­ contents of this vault were suddenly imbued with energy.¡± ¡°I can feel that,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Hold it like that for just a few more moments, will you?¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± Leonid said. He nodded to the two guards on either side of the door who were providing the majority of the augmentation of the formations. Honestly he wasn¡¯t even sure if their efforts mattered, let alone his own. Leonid was a cultivator, but his most practiced technique was Ten Thousand Scrolls. He was supposed to read things, not¡­ do things. How long was a few moments anyway? He felt the power of a Domination cultivator from the other side of the door, emanating from what he understood to be severed fingers of Zaur Beridze. Suddenly, with a great burst of energy, the door was broken apart. Leonid¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t register what was happening except for the blinding light. By the time he was able to react, he knew he would be long dead. But at least it didn¡¯t hurt. Perhaps it was cowardly to close his eyes to his death, but his specialty wasn¡¯t fighting and risking his life. He could have preserved a library full of books in an afternoon, though. Odd, he didn¡¯t remember practicing any sort of reincarnation technique, but here he was. Still conscious. He opened his eyes, to see two fingers- the index and thumb of a right hand, pointed at him. Chidi had closed one hand around them, and held them in place. The power of Domination was gone, and in its place was¡­ nothing. ¡°Go welcome my family, would you?¡± Chidi said. ¡°I need to continue to hold this.¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Leonid said. He noticed Catarina and Timothy approaching. Along with them was Yuval, who technically didn¡¯t have clearance to enter the area. But who was going to tell him not to, when he was with those two? ¡°Councilors! The uh¡­ remnants of Zaur Beridze are acting up.¡± He noticed the guards he had been expecting simply remaining in the hall. Surely they could have come to support him? But perhaps there was a bigger plan. ¡°That¡¯s why we rushed over as soon as we could,¡± Catarina said. She and Timothy didn¡¯t bother walking or running along the corridor, instead nearly teleporting as soon as the door was properly open. They were probably just flying in a straight line faster than Leonid could comprehend, but he didn¡¯t know if they had some other special technique. ¡°This is probably the most exciting thing that could happen on my birthday,¡± Yuval commented. He stepped forward, wiggling one hand. ¡°It¡¯s those fingers, right?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Leonid said, escorting Yuval towards the actual incident. ¡°Your birthday¡­?¡± ¡°We only celebrate once a decade,¡± Yuval said. ¡°But I¡¯m still a kid in their eyes. Well, I suppose I¡¯m never really going to catch up. I probably won¡¯t even hit Augmentation before my parents figure out Domination. And Chidi¡­ will do whatever he does,¡± Yuval shrugged. By the time they walked back down the corridor, the room was sealed once more and the fingers were dormant. The actual structure needed repairs, but the formations were fully active. ¡°What should we do about this?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°I dunno, burn ¡®em?¡± Yuval commented as he approached. She shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s too valuable to have them around for research.¡± ¡°Yeah, but he¡¯d be permanently weaker, right? Obviously he¡¯d be mad but¡­ that¡¯s never not going to be the case.¡± ¡°I could cut them into microscopic pieces,¡± Chidi suggested. Catarina rolled her eyes. ¡°That kind of ruins our ability to study them. It¡¯s not any better than the burning.¡± Leonid knew his security clearance was significant, but should he really be standing around listening to them discuss this? He decided not, simply for his own sake. ----- Later, far away from the vaults, Catarina asked the question again. ¡°Obviously we have to do something. But even though I didn¡¯t see any ears¡­¡± she shrugged. ¡°Who knows if he could have overheard somehow. Zaur clearly figured out how to channel his energy through them.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Uh¡­¡± Yuval grimaced. ¡°Should I not have suggested burning them? Or throwing them into a star? Or freezing them on an ice planet?¡± Timothy smiled, ¡°Those were all wonderful distractions that will hide our true intentions.¡± ¡°So you knew we weren¡¯t gonna do it?¡± Yuval asked. ¡°If we were going to destroy them, we wouldn¡¯t have bothered sealing them,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°It was tough enough even with the built in formations. And he could only channel a fraction of his power.¡± ¡°Useful information,¡± Catarina said. ¡°He can channel full power at his body or his anchor, but this disconnected part of his body is¡­ far less functional.¡± ¡°I could chop up the fingers,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But I could do it in a way that we could put them back together layer by layer. How many layers do you think would be good? We could hide a sliver in each system to study later.¡± ¡°As much value as there is in studying pieces of a Domination cultivator, I can¡¯t actually allow for a security breach,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We do have to deal with them. Your idea¡­ while interesting, won¡¯t produce the best results. I would prefer to ask for assistance elsewhere. I suspect we¡¯re headed towards a third invasion by the Citadel of Exalted Light.¡± ----- Later that same week, the fingers were moved to an independent location, sealed in what appeared to be an ordinary box, the sort that might hold jewelry. It was of course far from ordinary, with preparations made internally and externally to secure it against even the most extraordinary events. The incident was kept secret from the general public, which was why the Scarlet Alliance definitely didn¡¯t let anything slip to their new ambassador Aminu. They certainly wouldn¡¯t have been counting on word to make it through him to Ratna. After all, they weren¡¯t allies with anyone in the Trigold Cluster. Though Ratna was also an enemy of Zaur Beridze, so if she happened to act against him they wouldn¡¯t be upset. Those assigned to watch the box knew it was important. The exact details were not shared with most of them, but they were to report if the box did anything more than wobble- and the regular wobbles would be reported at the end of the day or if they had a change in frequency. For the first several weeks, things were quite tense¡­ but there was no immediate reaction. The box did wobble frequently, but the energy was well sealed. The cultivators guarding it took their jobs very seriously, even as weeks stretched into years and it began to act up less frequently. ----- It was only because of a slight slip-up that Varghese noticed the enemy incoming. However, that slight error gave In¡¯istra several days¡¯ notice, once he realized what he had felt. It had only been the slightest change on the periphery of his senses. A mere blip of magnetism next to Azun. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t even Varghese that had sensed it. The fleet had actually circumvented the domain of the star, though whether it was because they were cautious of some sort of connection or for another reason of practicality Varghese was uncertain. But the movement of a great amount of metal created just enough fluctuations that Varghese noticed something, and after confirming it he called upon the people of In¡¯istra to prepare to mobilize. It was possible that the fleet would turn off towards an adjacent system, so they had to be prepared to intercept them in such a case. But it seemed that as the most populated planet, they were chosen as the direct target. Once they entered the system, Varghese realized he wouldn¡¯t have noticed them at all if their ships were of the normal build. There were ships made entirely out of metal, a very unusual construction for cultivators. It wasn¡¯t unique, but the fact that they didn¡¯t even resemble waterborne ships was a surprise. Along with them was another group Varghese actually felt only dimly- not because they were particularly stealthy, but because they came with a complete lack of metal so didn¡¯t register to his understanding of magnetism but only his normal senses. Though Varghese didn¡¯t expect that large fleets showing up out of nowhere came in peace, he supposed he should at least try to speak to them. ¡°Be aware that you have crossed into the sovereign territory of the Lower Realms Alliance,¡± Varghese declared as he approached with fleets at his back. He projected his voice from quite a distance, to prevent any fighting starting before his attempt at diplomacy. ¡°Your alliance means nothing to us,¡± the woman declared. So it was going to be like that. ¡°May we at least know what your sects are called?¡± ¡°We are the Imbued Fragments and Broad Eyed Harvesters. Should you act respectfully and comply with our demands, we will not need to disassemble your planets.¡± ¡°Listen, just because I asked who you are didn¡¯t mean I was worried about offending your faction. I just wanted to know what to call you when I turned you into pulp.¡± Though Varghese would have liked to attack then and there, they were really too far for him to fight effectively. Anton could have of course started attacking long before, but Varghese was generally more close ranged- and the influence of his local stars was significantly less. Still, he could fight at full strength well away from the planet so that no collateral damage would come to them. It didn¡¯t seem that the enemy fleets were necessarily interested in facing off against them. They weren¡¯t turning to retreat, but rather spreading out- what Varghese could only assume were the Broad Eyed Harvesters, flying stone ships, were clearly trying to circumvent them. Varghese didn¡¯t want to leave the planet undefended, but splitting their forces was just perfect. In¡¯istra still had plenty of cultivators and of course some defensive platforms. Meanwhile, he was quite looking forward to crushing the Imbued Fragments like so many suits of armor. Or tin cans, but he hadn¡¯t seen those until far later in his life. He waited for the enemy to be well within his range, so that if they immediately turned to flee somehow, they would find it more difficult. The surrounding fleets were ready in case the Broad Eyed Harvesters attempted to flank them, but Varghese was first to attack with the Imbued Fragments closing in. With a single horizontal slash of his sword, Varghese created a plane of magnetism intended to pull in the enemy fleet. And it did, though they actually resisted better than he thought they might. Instead of instantly flattening them and then forming them all into a ball with his cross-stroke that created a line of magnetism in the middle of their fleet, their ships managed to struggle against his control- but struggle they did, their movement slowed. Then the ships began to tear apart. Varghese hadn¡¯t done that, he was quite certain. Perhaps their wrestling for control had strained the hulls? No, it didn¡¯t look right for that at all. The ships were pulling apart into slivers instead of tearing off random chunks. Somehow, the dislodged bits and pieces all crashed together into his intended space, but the rest of the ships continued forward. A fascinating level of control, to negate his magnetism with decoys. That was a level of rule breaking insight most would never reach, and the combined fleet performed it so naturally. However, if they thought Varghese was done with his first move they would be sorely mistaken. Chapter 1085 Redirecting magnetic pull to a small portion of their ships¡¯ mass was an interesting trick that this new Imbued Fragments Sect managed to pull, but Varghese wasn¡¯t about to quit just because he didn¡¯t utterly annihilate them with his first attempt. Seeing that they had methods to counter that only made him more interested. How would they deal with that if their own ships were the epicenters of the magnetic fields? Varghese shifted in space until Azun stood precisely on the opposite side of himself and the fleet. Perhaps that didn¡¯t matter, but they had fastidiously avoided the neutron star, which happened to be the greatest source of magnetism Varghese had ever interacted with. Even if the angle didn¡¯t matter at all, it certainly wouldn¡¯t hurt for him to feel that everything was aligned properly. In his head, Varghese saw each ship as a blot in between him and the neighboring- and rather tiny- star. He imagined its connection to him settling on the ships as his aura flooded over them. Immediately, the loose fragments that they had unleashed onto the crossed planes that Varghese had first created began to flow towards the nearest ships, but that was not the end of things. Each ship began to drag towards each other. Having so many nodes made none of them quite as strong, but soon enough ships were crashing into each other. Surprisingly, they molded together like waves, once again revealing how the structure of the ships were not as they seemed on the surface. But even as ships tried to fuse with each other, Varghese felt death. The material might have survived, but not everyone could get out of the way of the process. Against an entire fleet working together, Varghese wasn¡¯t certain he could take them out in a short time- but their concentration was solely focused on him and their own survival, without even the opportunity to attack. Meanwhile, their other fleet was likely waiting for them to break through and help with the assault on In¡¯istra. The local defensive fleets had split between those providing backup for Varghese- even an Assimilation cultivator could be overwhelmed with numbers- and those chasing down those who tried to bypass them. In their eagerness to attack the planet directly, the stone ships of those referred to as the Broad Eyed Harvesters had foregone their potential to flank and had instead found themselves in nearly the same situation, with ships behind them and orbital defense platforms in front of them. In¡¯istra actually found the enemy ships to be surprisingly effective, holding together under their assaults. Their cultivators even managed to disembark the ships and begin hacking pieces off of the orbital platforms, using picks to break apart the structure. But for all their haste in dismantling, they couldn¡¯t withstand the continuous assaults forever. Soon their ships began to crumble, though they still managed to carry random bits and pieces of the orbital platform to their ships, killing some of the defenders along the way. But they swiftly lost momentum and were beginning their retreat about the time that the Fragments began to flee. Rather than trying to catch everything and potentially letting them all slip through his fingers, Varghese focused his efforts on the densest group of metal ships. The structure of the ships shifted moment by moment, splitting into shards and then returning to smooth surfaces as the cultivators adjusted the placement of their ships. Their form of metal control was a direct elemental synergy- their training to resist magnetism was simply a necessary defensive measure. By focusing on a smaller area, Varghese was able to use more strength. Perhaps a third of the remaining fleet was pulled together into a single mass, with local ships chasing after the others and shooting down as many as they could. The fleets of In¡¯istra gave chase until the enemies felt safe to jump into subspace at the edge of the system¡¯s influence- though a few ships jumped early and left a bit of themselves behind. Varghese still had a large mass of metal that was once many ships- and still had a good number of cultivators who had carved out their own places within the structure. He projected his voice to them. ¡°If you surrender now, I can guarantee your lives will be spared and you will be treated with dignity. But if you continue to struggle, the consequences will be on your own heads.¡± He was slightly worried that nobody would act up and let him demonstrate, but in a group of cultivators beyond a sufficient size there was always going to be at least one. The question was simply if they had already gotten themselves killed. This time, there were a few spares. They had worked their way towards the outer segment of the metal mass, striking outward and sending sharp metal shards flying at Varghese. The distance the attacks had to cover gave him plenty of time to swing his swords a few times, flames extending from his weapon to melt the metal, which he then sent back directly towards the attackers. It was a completely excessive and inefficient method of killing them, but the point was to show how little control they really had. ¡°Anyone else?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Because I¡¯d like to remind you that there¡¯s also a fleet surrounding you.¡± He could feel people shifting into more structurally sound pockets within their mass, but beyond that everyone seemed to be capitulating. Varghese sent word ahead to have special restraints prepared. Energy nullification cells should be sufficient, but it was still better not to have bindings that matched the preferred material of prisoners. Fortunately, the Lower Realms Alliance had more than a few options for just such cases. The damage to In¡¯istra was not significant, but they had not managed to entirely avoid casualties. How the planet would respond to the assaults depended on what they learned from their captives. Stolen story; please report. ----- The Unified Sector, formerly under the influence of the Numerological Compact, was not expecting an attack¡­ but they were ready. When attackers came to their systems, they acted in tandem. Many were parts of greater or lesser hiveminds, but even those who were not fought in harmony besides the rest. Devon was among them, having made the cluster of systems his long term home. The Shattered Chains were strong there, built by cultivators who were turning their worst experiences into power they used to take control of their future. The attacks were not precisely at the same time as those on the eastern portion of the Alliance, but they came in too short of succession to be entirely coincidental. Even with their most efficient communication systems, word had not yet spread to the western front. Devon recognized the cultivators, not entirely from previous interactions but in large part from recordings sent from the upper realms. Chief among them were cultivators of the Citadel of Exalted Light. There were several other sects from the Exalted Quadrant among them. The most notable exception was that there were none from the Numerological Compact. Either way, all were clearly from the lower realms. There was a visible difference between cultivators who typically used ascension energy but temporarily adapted to natural energy and those who always used it. Beyond that¡­ their cultivations maxed out at Life Transformation. It was a foolish attack. Devon doubted they thought it through at all. Thousands of ships, but for what? If all the fleets had come to one system, he could likely have wiped them out himself. Did they really have so many cultivators to throw away? That might only be answered along with the more important question- where had they come from? It was well known that the exploration of the lower realms was not complete, especially more towards the ¡®west¡¯. But even so, they could not have been from within fifty lightyears in any direction. The only thing that made sense in Devon¡¯s head was that they were assuming that these systems were weakened from the invasion a few decades ago, and that one final push from these lower realms flunkies would cripple them. But of the various options, the Unified Sector was perhaps the least damaged aside from the first worlds to join the Lower Realms Alliance. Having an Enrichment cultivator like Devon around certainly helped. Devon had several hundred people chained up, and not a single ship had made it back out of the systems. There were plenty of people who could spill the beans. ----- Anton suddenly found himself having to choose between his grandson and his disciple¡­ though the choice wasn¡¯t something that kept him for long. In¡¯istra itself had done well, but it wasn¡¯t the only system attacked on the east. The western systems happened to be more isolated, but they had established a very powerful fleet by using the technology of the Numerological Compact. Thousands or tens of thousands of individuals could combine their energies into one greater whole, facilitated by cultivators or by ships. They were not forced to, anymore, but chose to be part of the fighting forces. With the initial attacks causing them little harm, they could afford to wait for backup. Combined with the attacks on In¡¯istra happening first and thus alerting Anton to trouble, Anton had already begun to move. He did ask the Ceretos branch of the One Hundred Stars and others to send reinforcements, just in case. There were also other colonies being established in that direction, and they might be next. Thus, people were mobilized to support the systems that suddenly found themselves attacked, and preparations were made for those that might. The origin of the attacks would be hunted down. Anton had been hoping for centuries of peace¡­ but the upper realms had to call attention to their continued presence skulking about in the lower realms. That simply wouldn¡¯t be tolerated. While he was on the way, news came to Anton that the Adamant Federation and the Free Planet Guardians, which had once both been under the control of the Trigold Cluster, had also been attacked- to greater success. A few border regions of the Shining Cooperative had also come under attack. That gave a better picture of where the enemy could have come from. He had some information to add to their potential routes, given he had sensed various ships passing by some of his bound stars. Ultimately, Anton expected that most of the assaults should have come from further east, perhaps including southeast of In¡¯istra. There was also another dimension to consider, but if they were coming directly from the ¡®upper¡¯ and ¡®lower¡¯ edges of the lower realms their attack patterns would have been different. Conversely, Anton expected that the attackers approaching the Unified Cluster might have come from perpendicular to the galactic plane. He himself had made a large loop around the western region just recently, after all. He hadn¡¯t sensed any planets housing cultivators within his very significant sensory range, but if they were away from his plane of motion they could easily be a few systems further. ----- Before Anton could reach In¡¯istra, there were several more attacks in the region, including on the system of In¡¯istra itself. Anton watched closely through his connection to the local star as the Imbued Fragments began to adjust themselves to Varghese¡¯ style¡­ only for him to adjust his actions in turn. Magnetism wasn¡¯t the only tool in his kit, after all. It simply happened to be the best one to use against ships made entirely out of metal. Anton was looking forward to hearing a better explanation of what they were doing when he arrived¡­ but for each attack along the way he tried to find a good spot to stop and aid them. Unless enemies were right next to one of his bound stars Anton was far weaker than he would have been, but that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t have any effect. He wasn¡¯t trying to annihilate a fleet on his own, just protect those he could. He didn¡¯t find any proper engines or even movement formations in either the metal or stone ships, but that simply meant that shooting through them to kill the cultivators inside served double duty. If they were the power source, then killing the right people would rapidly make them nonfunctional. But if he was there in person¡­ he could take them out before they could even threaten a single person. He didn¡¯t have to do that, but he kind of wished he could. Which once again made him consider what the step beyond Enrichment was¡­ even if it felt a little bit greedy to seek that much power. Chapter 1086 ¡°I trust you kept a few stars free?¡± Anton said to Varghese. His apprentice nodded. ¡°Of course. I likely would have done so on my own, but certainly with your wisdom.¡± ¡°Good. Because that is the main feature that allows us to be mobile. Now then, do you trust your branch?¡± Varghese actually looked offended, but he replied evenly. ¡°With my life.¡± ¡°Then I would hope that you would trust them with the lives of In¡¯istra- and everyone else. I know you wish to act as a defender¡­ but that¡¯s not what is needed at the moment.¡± Anton gestured broadly towards the east. ¡°There is a wide area to cover, and we need people who can act if necessary.¡± ¡°That may be the case,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°But away from bound stars, I am little more than a Life Transformation cultivator. Once we find targets of course I could bind to local stars but I would be at risk alone otherwise.¡± Anton thought for a few moments about what to tell his apprentice. Directly telling him might guide him down the wrong path, but so could saying too little. ¡°Sometimes, we must take risks. You have among your branch those who can take over your responsibilities while you are away, but I doubt any can take over for you out in the field. I suggest you take a group of sufficient size to support you to help hunt down the precise locations of our enemies. I will move too quickly for any to come along with me, so I will be alone.¡± With that, Anton changed the topic to give Varghese some time to think about his suggestion. Anton could order him to do what he wanted, but that wouldn¡¯t achieve the desired effect. ¡°I felt the way you adapted to the invaders. I was quite impressed by your versatility even within the same domain. Clearly, your own control overwhelmed their own. I imagine you can do even greater when you next encounter them.¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°Yes, but they will adapt to me as well.¡± ¡°Will they?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I suspect they will try. But tell me this- can they perfectly share the feeling of battling you with each other? We found no traces of computers or any sort of formation based recording device that could do as much. How much can each individual adapt to battle you, and you alone? Certainly it is important for them to try, and maybe some will be ready when you next meet them. But not all of them. And if they somehow happen to perfectly counter you¡­ then you will have a clear example of your flaws. Survive and return with them all erased.¡± ¡°All of them?¡± Varghese raised an eyebrow. ¡°Might as well. Though you don¡¯t have to let them see that. Now then, I¡¯m going to see if I can beat the scouts in reaching the territory we¡¯ve heard about. Stay in contact with me if you need any further advice.¡± ----- The attacks upon the lower realms felt like a very delayed reaction to the failures in the previous invasions. Whatever the reason- be it a lack of understanding, a large communication lag, or some sort of belief that they had a usable opportunity- the Lower Realms Alliance, at least, was quite ready for more trouble. Even without considering the presence of Assimilation cultivators, the Alliance itself had far outgrown what had been seen at the end of the first cycle where they surpassed the invasion. They had no lack of Essence Collection or Life Transformation cultivators, whereas once only the strongest sects had Life Transformation cultivators. Any powerful planet had at least a few Assimilation cultivators- with Ceretos having over a hundred. But so far, they had only a very few Enrichment cultivators. That could only be explained in part by many of the cultivation generation around Anton choosing to ascend. It also seemed that advancing far into Assimilation took greater insights than a similar increase in Integration, perhaps due to the nature of the available energy. Enrichment was a step more difficult. Even the latest war hadn¡¯t been sufficient to push many beyond the threshold. Yet now there was one more opportunity, and people flocked to it. They¡¯d had decades to digest their insights since the end of the war, and now they might have a chance. ----- On the way out from In¡¯istra, Anton passed by Azun. He was able to sense that Varghese had more influence over the neutron star than himself, which was a comforting thought. It didn¡¯t mean that Varghese was weakening Anton¡¯s own position, but instead that he was focused on his particular style properly- and the area around him. Meanwhile, Anton doubted there would ever be a cultivator more in tune with Ceretos¡¯ star while he was alive. That was his home, even if he ranged far and wide. Anton sensed ships passing in another system. He debated trying to take them out, but decided against it. It was only a small group of scouts, and he would do better to report their position. There should be enough spare resources to deal with them. It would be good practice for someone. Besides, Anton didn¡¯t know what they already knew about him, or if they had some way to send a communication back to their sects from their ships. If they had long range communication easily available, there might be warnings about him. If he thought that this particular group would be dangerous he wouldn¡¯t mind, but he had other goals beyond simply winning. There was a reason sect heads didn¡¯t clear out secret realms themselves. Aside from the fact that Everheart¡¯s in particular wouldn¡¯t let them. Now that there weren¡¯t lost pieces of history hanging around on their own planets, such formative experiences had to be found elsewhere. Anton was most interested in the growth of his people- whether that be the Order of One Hundred Stars or the alliance- including those in the upper realms. Stolen novel; please report. ----- Only vague directions had been given to the locations of enemy territory, and while they weren¡¯t much more useful than the approximations the Alliance made independently, it did give Anton a better idea of how far he was going. He was surprised at how far the sects were willing to go for an attack. It was a big risk, as that left them effectively without supply lines. It took Anton weeks, which meant it likely took them months. But he saw where some of their confidence might have come from when he saw the first of their planets. If they could even be called that anymore. He¡¯d seen asteroids stripped of their precious metals that had more structural integrity than the planets. He was fairly certain they had to be held together by formations. While Anton found himself directly revulsed by what he saw, he had to admit that at least it was functional. Whatever they¡¯d done, the remaining skeleton of the planet had dense natural energy. And presumably the rest of the planet had been used for something. Anton could sense the two sects that had attacked In¡¯istra. The Imbued Fragments made use of metal, while the Broad Eyed Harvesters dealt in stone. He somewhat doubted it was efficient to tear apart planets, but perhaps it was training? He noticed that they seemed to have little effect on gas planets, except for any terrestrial moons. Frankly, Anton thought that if they were going to be scouring everything they should have gotten in good with a sect that would want everything that gas planets had to offer. Anton eventually drifted back towards one of the largest rocky planets, intending to take a closer look. He would have to actually enter the system instead of simply sensing from outside their influence, but he thought it would be worth it. He didn¡¯t want to give away his presence so he was trying to constrain his energy signature, but that couldn¡¯t be perfect. Perhaps he¡¯d be discovered and have to fight- or flee. Appearing weak might be to his advantage. The ¡®planet¡¯ was even more strange than he¡¯d first imagined. He had felt the general shape, but it was more extreme than he¡¯d even thought. Once again, even calling what remained a planet was a bit of a stretch. Currently, there was a metal core in the middle of an earthen cage. Upon that cage, with spindly stone perhaps only a couple hundred kilometers thick at any point, was what remained of the planet. Stretched long the protrusions and up the structural spires from the core were all the cities. Not that there was anywhere else for him to be, but it quickly became apparent that it was all city. They¡¯d effectively turned the planet into little more than sprawling skyscrapers, stuffed with everything people needed to survive. Anton didn¡¯t think that people were really living. Just producing sufficient food and consuming it, with some small portion of them absorbing the natural energy that was clinging to the remains of the planet. In a way, it was a clever setup. The natural energy would tend to gather around what structure there was, and thus it could be much more dense if there was little planet left. The logic just barely checked out¡­ but that didn¡¯t mean it seemed sane. All the effort they put into tearing it apart and then keeping it from collapsing with formations could have just gone into energy gathering formations directly. It was absurd. What were they even doing with all the material, evaporating it? That clearly wasn¡¯t the case, and Anton managed to find some examples. The most obvious was found all around him, with ships flying every which way between the various ¡®planets¡¯, as well as in and out of the system. Anton had kept out of their paths, of course, but it was far more traffic than he was used to even in the core systems of the Lower Realms Alliance. Then again, most seemed to be small, individual ships. An inefficient use of resources. Unless one had many planets¡¯ worth. But even then, there were certain requirements for quality. That, Anton found, they seemed to solve another way. It took him several days of snooping around at their various uses of energy until he found the right one. A great factory that seemed to take in a constant stream of rocks and junk ore. Anton knew the best ore was taken away separately. What then did they do with all the junk? They transformed it. Technically, that was something the Lower Realms Alliance could do as well, but they never did it on such a scale. No, they didn¡¯t make such extravagant uses of materials and energy anywhere. Anton saw many tonnes of ore compacted into something like a tenth of its size. At first Anton thought they had simply made it more dense- and they had, transforming it into different elements. But as he continued to watch, he found that some was missing. It was just¡­ gone. Or perhaps transformed into energy. Not necessarily natural energy that was usable¡­ but heat and light and vibrations and perhaps a million more kinds that Anton would only be partially knowledgeable about. He¡¯d seen matter annihilated before, in large cultivator battles. The link between matter and energy was well known from the perspective of natural scientists and cultivators alike. However, it was massively inefficient to convert between them. There was a reason Anton didn¡¯t make arrows but Spirit Arrows. He achieved the solidity he needed in the moment, but it wasn¡¯t a permanent effect. Likewise, turning matter into energy through nearly any process was extremely inefficient, because even if technically the same amount of energy or matter still existed, that didn¡¯t mean it was usable. But perhaps they didn¡¯t care. They had a result they wanted- certain types of stone he recognized both as making up the structures around them and the stone ships- and they had a method to get it. That might be the end of things from their perspective. Who cares if it was wasteful? As long as it was more efficient than finding another planet with the materials they wanted naturally present¡­ though wasn¡¯t even sure about that. Anton didn¡¯t like these people. They did exactly the opposite of everything he stood for. Where he wanted to build up, they tore down. Where he wanted to grow, they took away. They were fine with ending up at a net worse situation because they had the specific things they wanted- and to an extreme Anton had never considered before. The deep Trigold Cluster that spawned these sects and then established these in the lower realms were an abomination Anton hadn¡¯t heard about. He wished he¡¯d seen them earlier so that he could have already finished annihilating them. But he didn¡¯t start the process immediately. There was likely more to learn¡­ such as who might be innocent in the process. Certainly there would be some, living among them somewhere. Ignoring them wouldn¡¯t sit well with Anton. Chapter 1087 Despite having a powerful sensory technique, Devon was far from a scout. At the very least, he needed to already know where his targets were. Seeking them out wasn¡¯t within his purview. But the Unified Cluster was extremely qualified for the task. All they needed was a vague direction to begin their search, and they began to scour the area en masse. Of course, they were making use of more than just numbers. As they spread out they made use of the web of connections between them to cover a broad area, making use of only one central group to connect them to all the systems in an area. It was a taxing effort, but still more efficient than individually searching each and every one of potentially thousands of systems individually. It wasn¡¯t difficult to find the first few systems through interrogating captured individuals, but the concern was that there might be even more. Though it seemed unlikely the upper realms had foreseen events, their remaining systems were outside of the comfortable zone that had been scouted properly. Even reaching some of the enemy systems took over a year, both due to distance and the required slowdown from properly exploring the area. However, once they found the first system about two hundred lightyears off- in a direction perpendicular to the galactic plane- they found more and more. They didn¡¯t avoid notice completely, nor could they have been expected to. They came across dozens of occupied planets. In some places the scouts lost their lives, but their sacrifices were not in vain. Their deaths were sensed by their connected brethren, even at a vast distance. Normally the connection only stretched throughout a planet or at most a system, but consciously extending it was possible. With their location discovered, Devon prepared to set out- along with local fleets and reinforcements from other parts of the Lower Realms Alliance. That included the Wayfarer under the command of Gabriela. The vessel was the oldest Ascension-class ship still in use, but that did not make it obsolete. Instead, it had been constantly upgraded¡­ and its crew and commander had grown deeper connections. Just recently- in the grand flow of time, at least- they had begun to integrate the Unified Cluster¡¯s technology, allowing for better mass energy sharing. Along with some other familiar faces, including some powerful residents of Akrys, Devon was surprised to find out that the most familiar face was also planning to join the war. It was a face he saw more than his own, that of his wife Aerona. ¡°I thought you would avoid the war,¡± Devon commented. ¡°We¡¯re far from the point that we can make good use of a diplomat.¡± Aerona held her head high. ¡°Perhaps that¡¯s simply because your diplomats have not been good enough. I refer even to myself.¡± Devon could have told her that she was already the best he could imagine¡­ but she knew that. She didn¡¯t seem to be in a mood where she needed mental reinforcement, at least not in that manner. In fact, she looked more confident than he¡¯d ever seen her. ¡°What are your intentions, then?¡± ¡°I need to know the truth,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Whether those of us who cultivate a path beyond battle can reach the same heights as others. I am an Assimilation cultivator, of course, but I find the concept of Enrichment difficult. It came to me that perhaps I have not properly challenged myself.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°Very well. What challenges do you think would best suit you?¡± He knew what worked best for him, and while he also knew her very well her path of cultivation was far different from his own. ¡°I need to understand people. Not just individuals¡­ and not just those we have already connected with. I can spend a century with the natives of Ceretos, or the hive minds of the Unified Cluster. For everything I learn, however, my understanding broadens only slightly. How little I have treated with those who remained enemies I only realized recently. Like the stubborn Hardened Crown, perhaps we can reconcile with the rest.¡± ¡°Stubborn as they were- or as they are- they still showed a measure of nobility during the initial conflicts on Ceretos. They refused to follow the orders of annihilation from the upper realms. The same was not true of many sects, both from the Exalted Quadrant or the Trigold Cluster.¡± ¡°I know. But that doesn¡¯t mean it isn¡¯t possible. Surely, they aren¡¯t all completely tainted.¡± Devon took some time to carefully word his next thoughts. ¡°Not every sect, I suppose. But there was little room for the Twin Soul Sect to raise any half-decent disciples.¡± ¡°Perhaps not them,¡± Aerona admitted. ¡°Though I never took the chance. The question must be¡­ could we tolerate peace, if they should agree?¡± ¡°The very reason we can¡¯t is because they never would. I find it quite doubtful that their leadership would let their sects have peace¡­ nor would we be willing to forgive them. Even with the leadership slain, could we trust those who remained not to simply prepare to backstab us later?¡± ¡°Not easily,¡± Aerona said. ¡°But that is the challenge of which I speak. The ability to say with certainty that a large group will act a certain way, or that they will not. Or the ability to influence things to a desired end. To even know if it is possible¡­ I have to be there. Showing up far after the fact would provide little value.¡± ¡°Where are we headed, then?¡± Devon asked. There was no need to say that there would be danger¡­ and there was similarly no need to say that Devon would be there to protect her wherever she went. Either from enemies, or from her own successes or failures. ----- As the Scarlet Alliance continued to receive updates from the lower realms, they did not forget to pay attention to their own borders. Zaur Beridze¡¯s fingers had not yet caused further trouble, but with news of the Citadel of Exalted Light acting in the lower realms, would he really do nothing against them? That seemed unlikely. As for whether the deeper connection had been made between the Scarlet Alliance and the lower realms- aside from of course receiving many ascended cultivators into their ranks- that was yet unknown. It was unlikely the great powers would take their losses at the end of the cycle lightly if they knew that they had a part in it. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Just as they were looking for some way to affect the wars in the lower realms, preferably to cause damage to the upper realms sects in the short term and not just crippling their long term prospects, someone happened to show up. ¡°For the archives,¡± said the handsome young man who had walked in, hefting a few scrolls. Leonid didn¡¯t usually work the front desk, but someone had to be there for classified receipts, and today that was him. ¡°Thank you,¡± Leonid commented, ¡°Just leave them on the desk there.¡± It might seem careless to have potentially sensitive documents just lying on the edge where anyone could snatch them, but security in the archives was not so lax that robbers would be able to make it out. More importantly, the mere act of placing it down shielded the contents with the local formations. Aside from noting that the young man was the kind to attract others, Leonid didn¡¯t take note of him. The scrolls were of interest, of course. Everything that came to his desk was. But when he took a look at them¡­ well, it wasn¡¯t that the information was not valuable enough to come into his hands. Instead, he realized there were a few things missing. Like certain security markings. Leonid rubbed his forehead. ¡°Again? Why does it always have to be me?¡± Sure, there weren¡¯t many others of his rank, but he hadn¡¯t heard about them running into so many problems in recent years. Though maybe it just didn¡¯t make for good workplace conversation. He sent his senses out, finding of course that the young man was nowhere on the premises. ¡°Security, please review cameras of drop-off desk B-17. Possible unwanted entry.¡± Leonid relied on the formations to keep him safe as he inspected the scrolls. He wanted to make sure there was no tampering, since apparently that step had been missed. Whether anyone was going to get fired for this was another question. An hour later when it turned out that nobody showed up on the cameras¡­ Leonid had to accept that some sort of remedial training might be in order- but it didn¡¯t appear that anyone failed to properly process the young man. They had simply missed him entirely. Someone might figure out how later¡­ but as far as Leonid could tell they hadn¡¯t actually missed any danger. The scrolls he now held were for formations- ones with which he was familiar, even. It was simply that the exact details were secret. Or they were supposed to be. Which was exactly why it was good that these came to the archives. Now then, who would want to know that they¡¯d come into what looked to be legitimate schematics for ascension receiving formations¡­ from among other things the Citadel of Exalted Light. And several other sects that they did not get along with. Leonid could of course simply copy the information into the archives, but someone might be able to make immediate use of this. Somehow. Perhaps he¡¯d just show it around to a few people. It wasn¡¯t so secret that he couldn¡¯t ask some people for suggestions. He didn¡¯t need to go straight to the top or anything. ----- One further hour later, Leonid found himself in a meeting with ¡®the top¡¯. Of course. Because it was going to be one of those days. He had been directed up the chain until reaching Catarina and Uzun, though he didn¡¯t understand why at first. At least, not for one of the details. The security thing was a bit of an issue, and he¡¯d explained all he saw several times. A young man¡­ clearly handsome, but otherwise barely noteworthy. Which was actually extremely odd, because he should have had a perfect picture of face, voice, and clothing. Knowing things was his job, after all. ¡°They found it,¡± Catarina declared. Leonid wasn¡¯t quite sure what it was, as these two were constantly working on several issues. ¡°That¡¯s good at least,¡± Uzun said. ¡°So¡­ what¡¯s the verdict?¡± Catarina sighed. ¡°Good news is that the detection formations must work. The bad news is that we¡¯re still not the foremost experts on formations. But he wouldn¡¯t have bothered disabling the detection if it wasn¡¯t going to work.¡± Leonid decided that he probably knew who this ¡®he¡¯ was, and also that he didn¡¯t want to confirm his guess. ¡°Is there something valuable about these formations that I should know? Is it perhaps relevant to the plans for the Citadel assault?¡± Leonid knew about that because detailed information on the Citadel of Exalted Light had been requested- repeating the pattern of their first attempt, but now they had more experience. He avoided learning the actual details of the plans, though. ¡°It could be useful,¡± Uzun said, switching back to that topic. ¡°But we were also thinking that we might have something relevant to the lower realms.¡± Leonid thought for a few moments. ¡°It would be rather extreme to train cultivators in their styles only to infiltrate them after ascension. Though I suppose that¡¯s not unheard of, if in reverse.¡± ¡°Too risky,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I doubt we¡¯d inspire much loyalty from people trained up in that manner. Even if we knew they were perfectly loyal, so many things could go wrong. They¡¯d be less effective if underinformed, and a liability if they were properly educated and then captured.¡± ¡°... Has such a strategy already been considered?¡± Leonid asked. ¡°Not specifically. But we¡¯ve seen how such things go,¡± she said. ¡°But with proper details, we might actually have a plan. We were just looking for something like this.¡± Leonid frowned. ¡°Ascension formations specifically?¡± Uzun shook his head. ¡°Nothing that precise. No reason to assume we have a security breach, at least. Just something connecting the upper and lower realms because of the war. Maybe this won¡¯t lead anywhere. But with him involved, there¡¯s probably some idea.¡± That was enough of that, Leonid decided. ¡°Do you need anything else from me?¡± ¡°Unless you remember something else,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Should I get myself checked for mental influence?¡± Leonid asked. ¡°Start with a self assessment,¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°My bet is that you never received more mental information, so there¡¯s nothing to remember. Should be far easier than memory modification, and more passive. The formations should have stopped weird external things.¡± Probably should have stopped him from just walking through as well, Leonid thought. But he wasn¡¯t going to say that because Catarina doubtless knew that. And he knew he¡¯d see her in the hall over the coming weeks adding further, deeper layers to the formations he could barely sense already. Chapter 1088 A bad man had just passed by, and he was trying to hide it. But Fuzz had been assigned the very important task of tracking him down. The man had no scent, which was certainly a difficulty, but Fuzz had dealt with worse situations. He could have smelled horrendous, or been trailing caustic chemicals. Simply not having a scent was hardly a big deal. Technically, it was impossible to track someone with no scent. Scent was very small things that people left behind, and if they didn¡¯t do that, he simply couldn¡¯t follow it. But the bad man had made a mistake. He left nothing behind, but that didn¡¯t mean his passing had no traces. Indeed, the very trail of nothing was what Fuzz followed. It wasn¡¯t easy, as the surrounding scents had already filled in the area. But he could just pick out the remains of how there were slightly more scents from one side than there should be, and how there were fewer dust particles on the ground from people passing by. Because the man left no scent, anything that touched him hadn¡¯t left. So Fuzz would find him. He began at a desk and rapidly made his way out. His paws moved as swiftly as he could parse the scent. The first few minutes he barely waddled forward, but he felt himself getting further behind. He also grew more used to the ¡®scent¡¯ and was able to move more quickly. He followed the scent out of the compound all the way to a teleportation formation¡­ which was where he lost the trail. Fuzz carefully sniffed. ¡°I don¡¯t think he came in on this one,¡± he growled to the people following him. He rushed back along his trail, startling security. It was more difficult to pick up the even older trail from when he first appeared. The scent of nothing further minutes in the past was the faintest thing he¡¯d ever tried to smell. But Fuzz was probably the best at smelling he¡¯d ever been. The original trail took Fuzz through winding streets, only to end up in¡­ a random alley. ¡°The trail ends here,¡± Fuzz whined. ¡°No, it begins here.¡± Alva had run along after him. ¡°Not gonna lie,¡± she admitted, sniffing. ¡°I have no idea how you did that.¡± She reached out her hand. ¡°I do have some ideas how he did this though.¡± ¡°Teleportation?¡± Fuzz asked. ¡°Well¡­ kind of.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need an explanation if you don¡¯t have an easy one,¡± the wolf said. ¡°It¡¯s subspace stuff,¡± Alva said. ¡°Though I¡¯m only guessing on the exact methods involved.¡± A short time later, Catarina had been called over and finished investigating the alleyway. ¡°There aren¡¯t any runes here compromising our defenses, at least.¡± Alva nodded. ¡°Good. I suspect he likely used one of his solar orbital stations to break into a level of subspace our formations weren¡¯t ready to block. I don¡¯t know how he got out, though.¡± ¡°Likely specific formation flags prepared for such an occasion,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Either way, I suspect that the ¡®Nighstar¡¯ location within our domain might have an activity report. Whether he passed through it or split the difference with the original Everheart system somehow.¡± ¡°Can we do anything to prevent further intrusions?¡± Alva asked. ¡°We might be able to. But that sounds like an arms race we wouldn¡¯t win. Instead, I¡¯d prefer to try to secretly monitor this activity. At least he doesn¡¯t seem to have stolen anything this time¡­ so once we assess these flaws we might be prepared for his next arrival, assuming we don¡¯t let on that we figured it out. So we¡¯ll do our best to look like we¡¯re locking down an embarrassing scenario- which isn¡¯t untrue. And then hopefully we can use the information he delivered to do something helpful.¡± ----- Beyond the first system Anton found, the others weren¡¯t any better. Little better than shells of planets remaining, and even if they were functional for their purposes¡­ they had gone far down the wrong path of how to get the most out of their resources. There were astounding levels of waste. Curiosity forced Anton to look further. He had many questions¡­ such as why these sects had not participated in any prior wars. They hadn¡¯t assisted the invasion forces, and they had delayed decades afterwards before launching an attack. He thought perhaps they were attacking other unknown systems in the lower realms. Or they had simply been far enough that it had been impractical to respond immediately, instead taking time to prepare their forces. Anton certainly found that they had copious ships and cultivators within their systems at the current time. Perhaps they had been at some critical point¡­ but he hadn¡¯t yet spotted anything that quite fit. Interrogation was outside of his area of expertise, unless it was common knowledge, and he was still trying to avoid revealing himself. He thought that perhaps someone else would find answers first¡­ but he happened to look towards the next system. Normal people might not notice a fifty percent decrease in light from a star. While that sounded like a massive amount, most cultivators would find their sight overwhelmed by the brightness of a star even at a single percent of its luminosity. The thing that made it stand out to Anton was that particular star had seemed brighter before. It wasn¡¯t likely that it had suddenly gotten dimmer, but instead that he had gotten close enough to realize the dimming happened. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. He made his way to the edge of the system, and then towards the other star to confirm. But if his assumption was correct, perhaps there really was something that happened between five and ten years prior- more than that, and he would have likely seen the changes from yet another system more distant. In just a few days he had his answer, as he was able to more directly sense the star- and the structure being formed around it. He¡¯d heard of theoretical star encapsulating projects, but as far as Anton was aware not even cultivators in the upper realms had made serious efforts. A number of stars had been destroyed over the course of time which occasionally resulted in securing starhearts, but this particular sort of project didn¡¯t seem to have been completed. At a surface level, Anton could not fault them for wanting to harness the power of a star. That was a desire he shared, in fact. Even capturing the entirety of the power it produced was not necessarily a bad thing- as long as the local planets didn¡¯t need the heat and light, the energy could be extremely useful. But even in the current state of things, Anton could tell something was wrong. He almost reached out to bind the star immediately. He would have then focused the power to annihilate the structure. But he held himself back, drifting closer. He was glad for his temperance, not because he found some sort of innocents he would have harmed but because the situation made rash action unwise. Approaching the structure, a partially filled lattice that would cover the entire star when complete, he felt the star more closely. He also saw active links between the structure and the star- it wasn¡¯t merely passively collecting energy. Whatever they were doing had put the star in an unstable state, that Anton was certain of. He likely had the skills to stabilize it, if the structure was destroyed- but not taking at least a few minutes to study it would have been an unnecessary risk. After he took a closer look, Anton realized it would be a waste to destroy it immediately even if he could do so safely. The structure was immensely valuable for its composition and the formations that made it up. It needed to be studied. He didn¡¯t like leaving a star in a state of suffering but¡­ this star didn¡¯t show any signs of consciousness. For all his love of stars, he recognized that this was just a massive ball of plasma and it would be fine. Even if the structure was meant to dismantle the star somehow, another few days, weeks, or even years wasn¡¯t going to cause great harm. Unless the destabilization accelerated, in which case everyone in the system would reap the consequences of their hubris. It would have to be monitored, of course. Anton didn¡¯t want a supernova to wipe out the innocents remaining in the system, and there had to be some. Even if the majority of what he was were cultivators contributing to the dismantling of both planet and star, there were always innocents. War would be so much easier if there weren¡¯t. ----- Hundred of lightyears away on the opposite side of the Lower Realms Alliance, the system that Devon and Aerona first arrived at looked far more typical of cultivators. They had a presence on multiple planets, as typical for spacefaring cultivators. They were clearly concentrated around the ¡®best¡¯ locations with the highest levels of natural energy. Devon could tell that from afar without anything fancy. ¡°So what¡¯s your plan?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Simple. I¡¯m going to approach a planet and ask to speak to them.¡± ¡°Reasonable,¡± he said. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t sound¡­ enlightened. Then again, if you could explain your insights you might have already mastered them.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. That¡¯s just the surface. But that¡¯s what you should expect. I expect they''ll attack, at which point I¡¯ll retreat and you and the fleets can do as you please.¡± Once expectations were set for the fleets, they made their approach. It didn¡¯t seem that this particular system was ready to defend their whole domain, though the individual planets clearly had their own defenses. Aerona moved in front, with Devon supporting her. Before she even got terribly close, enemy ships were already departing her chosen planet. That didn¡¯t dissuade her, however. Her aura spread out, much as one would usually do when projecting their voice through empty space. But Devon could tell that wasn¡¯t all that was happening. ¡°People of the Exalted Quadrant, why must you bring war?¡± Before any sort of audible response, Aerona recoiled. She looked crestfallen, but not defeated. However, she withdrew her energy and shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s all I¡¯m going to be able to do for now,¡± she said to Devon. ¡°Though I¡¯ll wait for their response nonetheless.¡± The commander of the fleets soon responded. ¡°It¡¯s the only logical response for those who don¡¯t understand the glory of the Exalted Quadrant.¡± ¡°Damned fanatics,¡± Aerona said, though without sending her words towards the approaching fleet. She turned to Devon. ¡°You¡¯d think they¡¯d at least be a little hesitant with you here.¡± ¡°Should I try to be intimidating?¡± Devon asked. He¡¯d just been keeping his energy fairly neutral. ¡°Just wipe out the ships. Nothing will happen with them anyway,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Very well,¡± Devon said. Then he projected his voice to the fleet. ¡°Prepare to engage. Negotiations have fallen through.¡± If they could even call it that. He understood the aggressive response, given they approached with fleets¡­ but that didn¡¯t mean these people had to throw themselves into battle. Several ships from the Lower Realms Alliance chose the same target- specifically, the ship of the enemy commander. At the current distance only the more powerful ships could attack, but they certainly did. One was Gabriela¡¯s ship, clearly prioritizing the strongest cultivator felt among the enemy. The second was the ship of Byron, the first true Confluence cultivator. The third was one of the larger hivemind ships. It was impossible to say if it was even necessary for two of the ships to attack together, but all three together were clearly overkill. The barrier of the ship lasted only a single instant before crumbling, then the entire vessel was annihilated. The commander was only a Life Transformation cultivator, after all. Even with the power of the ship and crew, they were gone before they could even make a single flash of light to counter. The rest of the fleet was rapidly annihilated¡­ but Devon had the feeling that they hadn¡¯t seen the limits of what their enemy could do. Fanaticism was one thing, but the enemy had not displayed the numbers or any sort of secret that would give them the confidence to launch an attack, knowing that the upper realms failed in their invasion. Perhaps that was it. He would suggest Aerona bring up them being lied to, in case they thought otherwise. But Devon had the feeling they were simply hiding something, and while it was just a feeling, as a cultivator he knew it was unwise to ignore such things. Chapter 1089 Even with the enemy fleets defeated, they still approached the planet with caution. Too much was concealed behind formations, but the enemy wasn¡¯t going to give them the luxury of time to try to peer through carefully. Devon had his World Encompassing Chains, but that wasn¡¯t particularly great if people were coming to attack him. Instead, he needed his presence to be unknown. They still approached with caution, their large ships beginning their bombardments of the planet below. The combined energy of thousands of cultivators struck repeatedly, giving them a better picture of how to break through the barrier. They could just wear it down, but seeing how it reacted to assault and adapting was more efficient. Devon was waiting for further trouble. Perhaps fleets from the other planets would be the greatest risk factor. However, soon it was revealed that there was more they hadn¡¯t anticipated. So far, they hadn¡¯t seen any cultivators beyond Life Transformation¡­ but a sudden surge of energy appeared. Not natural energy, though. Ascension energy, from the upper realms. Even as Devon was making that connection, a vast beam of light shot towards their fleet. Dozens of smaller ships were caught up in the blast, but most critically the Wayfarer was the main target. Gabriela and her crew reacted instantly, not only fortifying their forward barriers but also jumping the ship a quarter of its width out of the line of fire. Even with that, their barriers were shattered and a portion of the ship disintegrated. The casualties wouldn¡¯t be as great as a ship carrying a Confluence cultivator, but the loss of life and material cost were still not trivially ignored. Devon felt the energy begin to build up again, but he could tell it wasn¡¯t from a cultivator. The planetary barrier hadn¡¯t recovered from their own assault, leaving him free to extend his chains down towards the planet- and towards the great cannon angled up towards them. Did they have more of them? Most likely, as a planet wouldn¡¯t be well covered with just one. But how did they store so much ascension energy and even create a device that could release it in the lower realms? Rather than directly battling the energy, Devon¡¯s chains merely sealed parts of the formations. He didn¡¯t quite know which ones to target, but he figured that every part was necessary for such a thing- and he was right. He¡¯d intended to capture the cannon so they could study it, but instead it exploded. One moment it was charging up¡­ and the next thing he knew, one side of the planet was disintegrating. The explosion also rose towards the fleets, but the cannon was not placed directly beneath them. They caught only the edge of the blast, with enough time for the fleet to form a single larger barrier, anchored around Wayfarer, a second Ascension-class battleship known as the Stellar Redoubt, and the Resolute Heart captained by Byron the Confluence cultivator. Together, their energy deflected the blast. As Devon saw that one face of the planet was rapidly turning into a crater, the fleet called for a retreat. No matter how much the damage was to their enemy, the Lower Realms Alliance couldn¡¯t afford to casually remain where such absurd quantities of energy were being stored. Devon wondered if it would have been better or worse to have his grandfather present, given how ascension energy felt about him. Well, Anton would have been fine as he wouldn¡¯t have been within range of the attacks or the accidental blast. But whether or not he would be particularly good or particularly bad against such a thing, he was involved in another war on the far side of known territory. As Devon was more mobile than the larger ships, he watched their rear as the fleet began to retreat. However, the planet below didn¡¯t seem to have any additional ships, or if they did they weren¡¯t willing to scramble from the far sides. Nor would they want to be anywhere close to the still ongoing explosion. His instincts of danger had certainly been right. Should he have warned anyone? Devon decided not to doubt himself. Everyone was ready for danger, and since he hadn¡¯t known a precise trajectory things went as well as could be expected. He was still troubled by what happened, though. It was known that the Trigold Cluster had been preparing devastating weapons on a similar scale in the eastern war, but now the Exalted Quadrant? And both great powers were attacking at the same time. Devon didn¡¯t know if it was worse for them to be working together or to have independently come up with superweapons. Neither idea was much good. Soon the fleet reached Aerona. ¡°Sorry your plan got disrupted,¡± Devon said. Aerona shrugged. ¡°Sometimes that¡¯s how things go. I¡¯d actually try again right now but the energy is¡­ a bit unsettled.¡± Devon found that an understatement, considering that the mushroom cloud from the explosion was still growing. He wondered if the planet would still have an atmosphere when all was said and done. If the local inhabitants weren¡¯t cultivators, they certainly wouldn¡¯t survive the event. ----- Gabriela sighed. The Wayfarer had extra parts, but not so many that they could fix almost a quarter of the hull being gone. And here they were, dozens of lightyears away from their nearest proper base. They had established lines of supply this far out, but nobody expected an Ascension-class battleship to sustain so much damage- and hold together. The beam had almost gone straight through them. If they hadn¡¯t managed their side hop, that would have been it. Maybe she would have survived, but without the ship and her crew she wouldn¡¯t be much of anything. Of the two¡­ crew was more important. ¡°Bad luck.¡± Gabriela turned to see Byron. She¡¯d missed his approach because he didn¡¯t feel like much. Mostly like a Life Transformation cultivator, of which she had plenty on her crew. ¡°Our ship might have done better.¡± Gabriela raised an eyebrow. ¡°Against that magnitude of energy? No offense, but I don¡¯t think you could take it directly, and with your ship packed to the gill with crew¡­¡± she grimaced. ¡°The ship is modular for a reason. The Compact made their vessels too rigid, but current models are flexible.¡± Byron held up his hands, placing his palms flat against each other then folding them into a circle. ¡°We might have fit around it.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Interesting. But can you teleport into position?¡± ¡°No, but our reflexes are more streamlined,¡± Byron said. ¡°You are nearly a Confluence cultivator yourself. I think your main difference is you aren¡¯t willing to call upon your crew for everything. You rely on yourself and your ship.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true. I value my crew the most.¡± ¡°How should I say this¡­¡± Byron frowned. ¡°It¡¯s not bad to value your crew. But overvaluing them to the point that you aren¡¯t willing to let them give as much of themselves as you would give is a weakness. It might sound like the opposite of what you intend, but you have to trust them to know their limits. Ask for everything, and they will give what they can.¡± He shook his head. ¡°Of course, nothing guarantees that we would have done any better against such a surprise. And you yourself are further along in your cultivation journey, so perhaps my words are pointless.¡± ¡°Your words ring true. Thank you,¡± Gabriela said. ¡°As for that cannon¡­ we clearly need to reveal them. I can¡¯t imagine that we simply didn¡¯t notice. It couldn¡¯t have just been the planetary formation dulling our senses, either. How do you counter that, a ground assault?¡± ¡°Infiltration,¡± Byron said. ¡°And I hear we have just the right folks. Well, perhaps the second best. No void ants along, since we were focused on ship-to-ship combat.¡± ----- Leaf of Common Oak in Early Spring was a stealthy ninja. Nobody would spot her, and even if they did, she was just another leaf. Her energy was undetectable by these foolish humans. Well, she¡¯d better stop herself there. Arrogance was how bugs got squished. Unlike the Great Queen she did have her own stores of energy¡­ but also unlike the Great Queen, her body had kind of plateaued at the can¡¯t-get-squished-by-children level. In short, she needed her energy to defend¡­ but if she was actively doing that, she would be easily picked out by cultivators. Common Oak was a stealthy leaf that wasn¡¯t going to get caught moving. Or be seen in anything but outer hallways still. Because she did not want to be squished or slashed or burned or blasted by beams of light. She wasn¡¯t the only one infiltrating the planet, but each of them had their work cut out for them. Planets were big and no matter how fast they went it was kind of hard to explore all the potential secret facilities hiding gigantic weapons with Ascension energy. So they were doing their best and looking for any weird energy fluctuations. There was an area Common Oak had tracked some weird fluctuations to. She sensed members of the Golden Huntsmen- which she hadn¡¯t even known had a presence in the lower realms. No, none of them thought there were still any Exalted Quadrant sects hanging out in this odd place or the entire Alliance would have already dealt with them. Aside from the Golden Huntsmen who were probably still mourning their best and brightest from the upper realms, there were a number of other animal-focused factions based out of this same facility. She had already seen some overly muscular horses, a den of wolves- wolves which didn¡¯t look particularly bright or happy- and some birds which actually looked quite content and wouldn¡¯t have minded trying to snack on a bug, if they knew she was one. And if she wouldn¡¯t have annihilated them with a flick of her leg. But what they were keeping on the outside of the facility was frankly the least interesting. There was way too much security further in for there to not be juicy stuff. And juicy they were. Though some were goopy and slimy. Clearly a number of creatures had been inexpertly smashed together, and whatever survived were contained in various cages. Slipping her way past formations wasn¡¯t that difficult, because even if she didn¡¯t have the abilities of the Great Queen she¡¯d still learned a few things from her friend about energy disruption. Even if it wasn¡¯t natural to her, it was valuable to pick up. Though it was rather horrid to look at the beasts, Common Oak reminded herself that they didn¡¯t have the spark of sapience inside of them. That made it slightly less awful, but they were still suffering creatures. She didn¡¯t like these people. That said, that was kind of assumed going in before she even knew there were Golden Huntsmen present. Upper realms sects in general had not received favorable reviews. Eventually Common Oak came to a particular set of doors that she just had to sneak behind. She tried to slip under them like many of the others, but these doors seemed to be extremely precise. She couldn¡¯t see even the slightest gap. So she climbed above the door and waited. And waited. But everyone knew that secret facilities needed daily maintenance. She presumed. Common Oak waited more. Okay, maybe there was nothing living inside? Or the people here were worried about that whole atmospheric scouring happening and slacking off. But eventually her patience paid off, and she was glad that her leafy body didn¡¯t get stiff like those with weird internal skeletons. Someone went into the room, and she slipped in the top of the door. What she saw inside were a series of large glass chambers filled with crawling black forms, and she didn¡¯t like it at all. She hadn¡¯t had plans to cause any trouble. But when she found colonies of void ants stuffed in prisons? She couldn¡¯t help herself. She could tell that they weren¡¯t just normal ants because once the door was open the energy anomaly created by their colonies was obvious. A single ant sized hole in her energy senses? Ignorable. But when it was an entire column, she didn¡¯t even need a special technique. She waited for the person who came in to leave. Apparently he was just dropping some sort of slop into some tubes, which then found their way to the void ants¡¯ chambers. Once the place was empty, Common Oak made her way to the base of one of the glass chambers. She began to sign to those inside. ¡°I¡¯m here to rescue you! Stand back from the glass!¡± They just looked at her, stopping and staring. Well, whatever. She just had to use careful control. Or hope that these workers weren¡¯t people yet. They looked young enough. As for breaking the glass, she couldn¡¯t expect it to be that difficult. It had to be stronger than standard glass, but it wasn¡¯t enchanted. Actually, that would have made it easier for the void ants to break out. Even then, Common Oak would have expected them to find their way free somehow. But maybe they hadn¡¯t been here long. With a single flick of her wing- infused with natural energy, of course- she cracked the glass. Then she pulled out the shards, letting dirt and void ants spill free. Some were probably buried, and they would doubtless dig each other out, but she flapped her wings to blow the dirt away regardless. The saved ants came forward to thank her. Though they were really unexpressive. Except for their pheromones. They were clearly on edge from their captivity, radiating aggression and hunger and- Common Oak leapt back as they lunged for her, crashing against another structure indelicately. ¡°What the heck guys!¡± she signed down at them. ¡°This isn¡¯t the time for playing around!¡± And they didn¡¯t sign back. Common Oak realized that their pheromones also didn¡¯t smell quite right. As if¡­ these weren¡¯t even descendents of the Great Queen. She looked at the cracked glass she was standing on, and the ants pushing their way out. She was suddenly quite glad she could fly. Chapter 1090 Common Oak was quite startled by the attacks from what she had perceived as allies, but she still kept herself vigilant for aerial assaults. Then she realized that traditionally, void ants didn¡¯t keep their wings. That was a recent development among the ones she knew- which she had rather expected to be all of them. Where had these void ants come from? Had their queens been captured from the upper realms and transferred here? Common Oak had many questions, but they would have to be answered later. Right now, she was being attacked. She hadn¡¯t seen most of the structures the void ants were putting together before, but they were fairly straightforward. Ladders of ants trying to climb up to her- all she had to do was flutter a slight bit to the side and their efforts were in vain. The most annoying so far were the catapults, flinging void ants at her. That required constant movement, but even if they could predict her trajectory in a particular instant, she was more than capable of shifting her motion. She took note that the two colonies seemed to be working together instead of trying to eliminate each other. That wasn¡¯t necessarily typical, based on the Great Queen¡¯s tale of her history. But they were quite focused on her. Ah. Of course they would be- she was the largest source of natural energy in the room. No, on the whole planet most likely. Even away from her namesake source- though leaves in general still provided her power- she was still an Assimilation cultivator, after all. These local cultivators seemed set on Ascension, so they would no longer be present after Life Transformation. Seeing how the void ants were climbing the walls, Common Oak decided it was best to not let the void ants figure out how to kill her. Because they might actually manage it. She led them over towards the door- which was the only other source of natural energy around. They began climbing that too, but at least some of them began to pick at the formations. Since her task here clearly wasn¡¯t going the way she wanted, Common Oak found it most important to leave. The humans likely had some way to contain the void ants- or to eliminate them, should something like this happen. She hadn¡¯t wanted to kill them, but if they couldn¡¯t communicate with her she really couldn¡¯t save them anyway. Aiming at the wall above where any void ants had climbed, Common Oak spun around, using her wings as cutting implements. Since the chaos would have already revealed her presence, holding back her energy for the attack wasn¡¯t necessary. A formation meant to stop weaker individuals simply wasn¡¯t enough. The walls were quite durable, but she made a leaf bug sized hold easily enough. Then she fluttered through at speed, before the void ants could cut her off. Common Oak liked void ants a lot more when they were on her side. Unlike humans, she couldn¡¯t easily squash hundreds of them- her only method of combat was her natural energy, which they were nearly completely immune to. Even if these ants happened to be young enough that her power as an Assimilation cultivator could kill them en masse¡­ Common Oak didn¡¯t want to see it. Rather than instantly fleeing the facility, she made certain that the humans were panicking over the void ants being loose, using them as a distraction to leave. Fair was fair- she would have gladly led them out secretly, but they tried to eat her so they had to either live or die on their own merits. ----- ¡°... and they tried to eat me!¡± Common Oak ended her message to the Great Queen. Mostly, she was talking about how rude the feral void ants were. She didn¡¯t know if they were somehow descendents of the Great Queen who had lost their learning- perhaps through captured royal eggs- or simply some other void ants left over from the extermination over a millennia before. The final step, at least, had to have occurred during Everheart¡¯s lifetime or he would never have been able to keep some safe. Of all the miraculous things Everheart could pull off, time travel surely wasn¡¯t one of them. Common Oak believed it be impossible- though manipulation of time flow as one progressed forward was actually quite doable. Even she knew some of that, since she liked to keep some trees near the right season for comfort. What the Alliance was able to discern of the chaos at the facility after her escape was fairly minimal. Common Oak had kind of been hoping they would at least wipe out the city, but it seemed the void ants were contained to the facility. Potentially exterminated, which was sad, but only because she couldn¡¯t help but think they looked like friends. Normally she didn¡¯t care too much about the lives of anything that tried to eat her, though. ----- Across the galaxy once more, the eastern forces had been fighting their way through enemy fleets. Their approach had been cautious, as they did not want to overextend themselves into enemy territory. However, once actually in enemy territory they would conversely be safer to some extent, specifically because of Varghese and Anton. Roaming around they would not be at full strength, but with bound stars they would be at a level difficult for the enemy to match. Before they could begin their counterassault properly, there were various details to consider. The various scouts combined their knowledge- and would pass such knowledge on to the cultivators of the Shining Cooperative when they arrived. The Free Planet Guardians were also expected to participate, as their borders had also been threatened. A personal discussion between Anton and Varghese came before anything else. Anton especially noted the star they were draining. ¡°It would be a risk to bind it. Then again, every other star here is also a risk. The Trigold Cluster is more than aware of our abilities.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Do you think that they have more star destroying weapons?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°We are but a small step away from where I created my blockade,¡± Anton said. ¡°I don¡¯t imagine it¡¯s much more difficult for them to shift their launch location. However¡­ the border is significantly further from these systems. The locals would likewise have to stretch themselves.¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°But we can¡¯t afford to ignore the threat. Do you think it would be inappropriate to call upon the Free Planet Guardians to take on that task?¡± ¡°It¡¯s closest to their territory. Coordinating with them is the least we could do. We must be willing to handle it ourselves, though. Perhaps I could repeat my efforts,¡± Anton said. ¡°It seems like a waste of your skills.¡± ¡°Perhaps. But it would require just myself, instead of however many squads to block off several systems. We can¡¯t guarantee the Trigold Cluster will be using the same tricks¡­ but we can¡¯t expect them not to, either.¡± Anton stroked his chin, ¡°We might not have to do that, though. I could take an active role in hunting down unwanted packages. Specifically, I can shoot across the border now. This is a situation worth revealing that Sudin wasn¡¯t an exception. As long as I don¡¯t show my actual limits, it should be worthwhile.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t they take forever to show up?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Indeed. They were sending kinetic packages at sublight speed, which means at least a decade of travel time between realms. They would have already had to have begun this task, if they were planning it. Or perhaps they might already have finished, thus the reason for the assault.¡± ¡°Their first attack was kind of pathetic,¡± Varghese said. ¡°But that could have been specifically to throw us off. Enough effort to possibly look serious, but based on what has been seen within their systems¡­ they could have had fleets ten times as large.¡± Varghese looked at a star map projected in front of him. ¡°You¡¯re not at risk of them attacking a star with you next to it, are you? What if you never had to leave?¡± ¡°I¡¯m intrigued,¡± Anton said. ¡°Continue.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fairly simple. Any of these stars here puts you in range of¡­ most of their territory. You can hit ten lightyears out, right?¡± ¡°Slightly more, though my shots would be far weakened.¡± ¡°How weakened?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Like¡­ could you still take out ships? Kill individual Life Transformation cultivators?¡± ¡°With a good star at my back¡­¡± Anton considered for a few moments. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be much good in a planetary siege, but I could cause chaos before that. Though I could likely handle whichever system we chose on my own- new superweapons excepted.¡± Varghese laughed. ¡°You just have to prevent them from getting anywhere near you. What could they really do?¡± Anton raised an eyebrow. ¡°Should we really ask the question like that?¡± Varghese sighed. ¡°Fair enough. Perhaps there is some extreme they could achieve. But we¡¯re confident that their cultivations are limited, right?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Anton said. ¡°The cultivators themselves wouldn¡¯t be the issue for me. Though it seemed they were quite capable in their own right.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°I thought I¡¯d completely wipe them out, but it wasn¡¯t good enough. I¡¯m so close to Enrichment, though. I just¡­ have to figure out the next step.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t suggest pushing for it in a war,¡± Anton said. ¡°But if it happens naturally¡­ then it would be riskier to try to stop yourself. Pay close attention to your heart, and make sure you¡¯re not fooling yourself.¡± ----- The target planets of the Trigold cultivators weren¡¯t strictly difficult to attack, but their unusual structure bore special consideration. Their formations were more tightly bound to what remained of their hollowed out planets, and it appeared that they had weapon emplacements that could cover the planets inside and out. The fact that there was an exposed inside of their planet would have been a major weakness otherwise. Though there had to be some consideration for whether or not they cared. While traffic between planets and systems was consistent, it seemed that there was a pattern where older planets were less active, instead of more. If their only goals were to tear apart planets for resources it did fit, but everything had to be considered. They had yet to understand their enemy¡¯s full motives. Among other things, they knew that these sects had to believe there was an avenue towards victory for them. They weren¡¯t the Twin Soul Sect, counting on some sort of reward after they perished. That was why more forces were being shifted to guard the Alliance¡¯s worlds, their cultivators readied for battle. Caution was appropriate- but too much caution would lead to inaction. They laid out a plan of attack that would go through the enemy systems starting at their nearest border. No doubt it would have to be flexible based on how the enemy responded, but they were prepared to attack the first system immediately. Since it was their first intrusion into enemy territory, Varghese didn¡¯t hold back. As they were approaching, he bound the local star. They had plenty of reason to be cautious about such moves, but they¡¯d determined there was nothing wrong ahead of time- and it would be a good place to establish themselves. Having a bound star would make that more stable. He didn¡¯t push himself out front beyond the fleets, however. He used exactly the same attack patterns as he had the first time, trying to draw enemy fleets into each other. Without another target the stone ships flew with the rest, so they were of course unaffected by the magnetism- but the metal ships responded about the same as before. Perhaps they were hiding their new tricks too. Anton forewent binding the first star they approached, instead keeping his distance at the back of the fleet. He was still able to pick off key targets one at a time, drawing upon his substantial energy stores. The enemy quickly fell back towards the nearest shell of a planet where some surprises would no doubt be waiting, but the Alliance was ready to deal with all sorts of counters. Chapter 1091 As they approached the first planetary shell, the Lower Realms Alliance targeted weapons emplacements and those parts that were most obviously starports. They remained cautious, but nothing could quite prepare them for what happened. One moment they were approaching the planet, the next moment it was approaching them. The skeletal structure of the planet bent and twisted, angling more of itself towards their fleets. Waves of attacks propagated along the thin structures, massive projectiles of stone and metal launched at extreme velocities. They targeted not a single ship, but the fleet as a whole. With a sweep of his sword, Varghese deflected much of the initial burst, at least those made of metal. He couldn¡¯t stop everything from hitting the fleets, and many ships were impacted. Smallers ones were annihilated, and even with their barriers larger ones took severe damage. Their barriers could resist kinetic force, but at a sufficient level it was impossible to completely adapt. Anton had been hesitant to attack the planet previously. Its structure was doubtless more durable than it appeared, but with such a dense population any damage would be catastrophic. But it was a different story when they were all contributing to the war. It wasn¡¯t a clearly unified effort like the hiveminds or ships controlled by Confluence cultivators- merely soldiers following commands. Now he didn¡¯t have to worry about impacting noncombatants. Ascension energy gathered between his fingers, drawing into an arrow. It cut through space, arriving among launchers just as they were beginning their volley. For that instant, the barrier was down- a weakness Anton was conveying to the rest of their forces at that very moment. The stone skeleton from which the attacks were coming trembled and cracked all across its width, some hundreds of kilometers. The shockwaves spread through the structure, rocking it to pieces even as the stone cultivators tried to hold it together- but they were better at destruction than solidity. That was a choice they had made for themselves, consciously or not. It was just one segment of many, but as it began to crumble the greater planet became more hesitant. No doubt they had felt invincible, but they were not. A planet full of cultivators was certainly a danger, but if they couldn¡¯t perfectly bring their energy to bear it wasn¡¯t beyond the might of the Alliance fleet, who had come ready to invade a planet if necessary. Varghese seemed to take inspiration from Anton¡¯s assault, flying forward among allied fleets to reach the closest segment. His sword slashed outward with the power of the local sun, thin lines of flame melting through another segment of the structure. The cross pattern he cut destroyed anything it went through, but a moment later the structure settled as his slashes weren¡¯t wider than the width of his blade. But his attack was not finished, the lines of attack becoming magnetic zones that drew in any surrounding metal- including ships, weapons, and armor on all sides of the structure. Everything warped and twisted as it pulled, causing another segment to crumble. Enemy ships joined in with the bombardment from the planet itself, but they had already been beaten back. The Lower Realms Alliance ships spread out so that the bombardments were less effective, and the attackers from the planet below also split their fire- decreasing the density of the assaults and allowing them to avoid more of the incoming fire. The planet¡¯s barriers stood strong when they weren¡¯t attacking, but the Alliance Fleets took advantage of every moment the barriers were down, attacking with a wide variety of abilities. They were not just one sect and one style, but along with the One Hundred Stars there were many styles local to In¡¯istra, and many more that came from the rest of the lower realms. Mobile Assimilation cultivators found their way inside the barriers together, fighting hordes of weaker cultivators. Any collateral damage was a victory, weakening the structure of the remains of the planet. The locals had to be careful- the Alliance did not. Soon enough, a third segment was weakening. Then a fourth. A wave of fear swept over the planet, and they began to haphazardly shift to a defensive posture, attempting to pull away from the attacking fleets. That worked to some extent, but it also left their own fleets off kilter. The Alliance let them retreat, focusing on taking down as many ships as they could. Chasing too vigorously would only result in unnecessary casualties. Finally, the groups broke apart¡­ but things weren¡¯t truly over. Anton didn¡¯t bother to stop attacking just because the enemy ships were further. In fact, he focused on the best of them. What did it matter to him if they were another thousand kilometers away? Or a million. Or a hundred million. Anything within the system was an equally valid target. However, he could only do so much without a bound star of his own nearby- he focused on powerful shots rather than hundreds at a time. The retreating planet seemed to be safe, but that was far from true. Even if the attackers had let them be, it was too late. Their formations were strained, their cultivators disorganized. With pieces crumbling, shockwaves rippled through the planet. If there were no other factors, over the course of thirty or so hours the shockwaves would travel through the whole planet like a massive earthquake. But that wasn¡¯t the only force acting upon them. For a moment it looked like the planet might stabilize¡­ then all at once it began to collapse inward. Over the course of the next half hour, the structure was twisted and pulled. Stone and metal cultivators tried to stop it from collapsing, in some cases tearing it apart even more quickly. At a certain point, it was too late, as they couldn¡¯t hold the planet together. The skeletal shell of the planet collapsed into little more than a pile of rubble. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Whoever could get away from the planet did- holding onto small islands of stone and metal, regardless of whether they would be able to survive beyond that. For those who remained, only a small number of Life Transformation cultivators who were able to remain on the outside of the collapse survived- the rest perished from inevitable disastrous impact. The Lower Realms Alliance fleets were regrouping, loading any of their survivors who could not survive in a vacuum onto their ships- and any enemies willing to surrender. A few thought themselves clever and tried to tear the ships apart from the inside, but the ships were made to resist cultivators- and those aboard quickly took down those who violated trust. Their fleets repositioned into the middle of the system- next to the star. Should the enemy approach them there, Varghese would be able to wreak havoc alone- let alone with so many allies around him. But they did not immediately move to press the attack and conquer the rest of the system. Varghese stood next to Anton, his twisted face revealing his thoughts. ¡°... Why?¡± Anton just shook his head. ¡°The fault here lies in the choices of these sects. Their greed to core out their planets. Their arrogance to think that they can still use what remained as spires of might¡­ instead of monuments to instability.¡± In truth, the planet-ship had held together quite well until the end. The engineering wasn¡¯t flawed so much as it was unnecessary. Spherical planets served their purpose just fine. ¡°How many deaths?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Fewer than there would be if we let them do as they pleased,¡± Anton answered. ¡°But I had not quite expected this reaction, either. Let me ask, do you think I was too aggressive with my power?¡± Varghese shook his head. ¡°No. Not given the circumstances. This was the best way for our people to be safe. But we must consider carefully what will happen with the other planets.¡± Their fleets were still calculating their own casualties, undergoing necessary repairs, and patching up their wounded. They had hoped to take over a planet, but they were making do with the setup they had. Eventually, Anton continued his thoughts. ¡°Even though they did most of the work destroying the planet long in the past, I wish it could have been avoided. And this may just be justification but¡­ I noticed the planet had no worldheart. In a way, it was already dead. Little more than a large ship, or the corpse of a planet. Not that it makes up for all the deaths.¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°Do you think they would accept an end to the war, with this? A ceasefire, at least.¡± ¡°I think anyone with a heart would,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I¡¯m afraid that these sects are too far gone for that. The only thing we can do is try. And if they try to lie, make sure to cut off the heads with the highest cultivation first. Perhaps eventually someone will listen.¡± ----- In the upper realms once more, a box trembled slightly. And though those around it had no visible response, it did not go unnoticed or unreported. Each incident required investigation, and none failed to take the duty seriously. But unlike the previous incidents, there was one difference they managed to discern. The connection was slightly closer. The risks of keeping something of that sort on Xankeshan was not for nothing- the connection went both ways. And now, the former possessor of the contents of the box was moving. ----- The first time Zaur Beridze had attacked the Scarlet Alliance, they had survived more through providence than plan. It just so happened that Ratna, a rival of his, got wind of the situation. The fleets he brought with him also weren¡¯t sufficient to take them out¡­ though they could have been. Of course, the word reaching Ratna might have been someone¡¯s plan, but not theirs. The second time, they had a plan. They¡¯d even implemented it with some success. They¡¯d obviously hoped that their formations- and Chidi- could kill Zaur. Or that their assault on the Citadel of Exalted Light could break his Anchor. Neither had quite worked- but neither did they exactly fail. The Scarlet Alliance survived at least to some extent on their own merit. Plans were already in place for the third time. It was inconvenient that it might be coming while the lower realms were in turmoil, but perhaps that was also a plan of some sort. ----- Void ants in the territory of the Exalted Quadrant spoke only of hypocrisy- which wasn¡¯t that surprising. Perhaps spreading the information might cause internal turmoil, or maybe there was some sort of unspoken rule that they only had to be truly exterminated in the upper realms. For those with high cultivation, void ants were a greater terror than for random commoners. After all, they could by and large ignore their best attacks and defenses. The Lower Realms Alliance was aware of the dangers more than perhaps any others¡­ which was also why they were unafraid. All they had to do was be careful where they landed. In truth, things weren¡¯t quite so simple as that, but it just meant they needed proper caution. There was also a world of difference between their own void ants which were allies¡­ and the ones that Common Oak had seen. Even if they weren¡¯t as feral as they described, the true dangers of void ants came in their alliance to humans. If necessary, there were protocols to fight them- but the humans were reluctant to unleash any if they didn¡¯t need to. So they settled for the solutions they had at hand. Proper caution was first and foremost. They also called for Nthanda. She would generally be effective, of course, but against void ants? She and any others with bodies tempered beyond standard limits would be practically invincible. Not that they planned to relegate her to squashing ants¡­ but if they were in particular need of an agent to land on a planet, calling upon her to help would be the most effective they could achieve. And unbeknownst to most of the western fleets, there were others joining the fight because of the void ants. They weren¡¯t afraid of their special properties in the slightest. Chapter 1092 The western war wasn¡¯t suddenly going to stop and wait for reinforcements- that would be far too much time during which the enemy had the initiative. Nor were any reinforcements strictly necessary, as their battle power wasn¡¯t lacking. Along with the void ants- which could be avoided- they had found several more ascension energy cannons. Rather than attempting to infiltrate the areas to take out the cannons, they simply planned to avoid certain parts of the planet at the moment. If the enemy had a way to rapidly redeploy said weapons, they would adapt. Before beginning the next assault, Aerona once more attempted her part. Their approach was highly visible, so a few moments for diplomacy wouldn¡¯t ruin some sort of surprise. And if she could actually accomplish something, it would be worth more than a slight tactical advantage. Aerona¡¯s energy easily spread about the planet. Their formations weren¡¯t set up to block low intensity energy such as that used to project sound, though they did still slightly restrict her. However, Aerona wasn¡¯t bothered. ¡°Why do you persist in your aggression? Your Exalted Ones in the upper realms sent their best to die. Your remaining tricks won¡¯t benefit you.¡± Though Aerona had countless books full of arguments, she knew that ultimately few would be convinced by her words. However, that wasn¡¯t her goal- though if they happened to stumble into a group willing to negotiate, it was another matter. Instead, she was aiming to develop her abilities in a particular way. A few verbal responses came from various parts of the planet- unorganized shouting, but she was able to filter them easily enough. That was actually quite revelatory. ¡°Nobody is in charge,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Not really. And they are still quite unwilling to surrender, despite the¡­ previous damage they sustained.¡± ¡°... Why?¡± Devon asked. ¡°It seems they still believe themselves superior. Perhaps our retreat and following delay seemed like hesitation instead of preparations for a final assault on this planet.¡± Aerona shrugged. ¡°Perhaps you were too tame before.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not really an expert at mass combat,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°I think the Unified Cluster will be more effective in that regard.¡± ¡°We know that. They don¡¯t. And unlike the Hardened Crown, these fellows aren¡¯t just hardheaded.¡± ¡°Right. So¡­ how did it go?¡± ¡°I¡¯m slightly closer. Perhaps you might even say I was already effective here- the sentiment for resistance still exists planetwide, despite the massive wreck caused by their own failures. Regardless, we can continue our assault without worries.¡± ¡°I suppose that¡¯s good,¡± Devon said. ¡°Though it would be nice if they would have surrendered. I didn¡¯t think they would be as bad as the Twin Soul Sect.¡± ¡°Perhaps they will change their mind soon.¡± ----- The assault on the planet began again shortly following. The planet-wide barrier was significantly weakened due to the fact that a chunk of the planet had been blown off, unbalancing it as a whole. That made battering their way through in whatever areas they pleased much more straightforward. Rather than contributing directly, Devon spread his energy around the whole planet, his World Encompassing Chains creating a suppressive atmosphere- for their enemies, of course. Their allies would find it quite helpful. It wasn¡¯t as flashy as capturing an enemy leader in his chains or causing a cannon to explode, but it was effective. A small boost compounded greatly with their ships, as each individual fed into the greater Confluence cultivators- or those in similar positions. The enemy¡¯s long ranged attackers were quickly targeted, being taken out by orbital bombardments. Only a small portion of the planet was actually being targeted, since they wanted to avoid the ascension cannons, but that was to the benefit of the Alliance- they were able to concentrate their forces. It didn¡¯t seem that any of the other planets were willing to send their fleets to support them. The Lower Realms Alliance had been operating beyond the level of Life Transformation cultivators in space for more than a full cycle, and though the enemy had a numerical advantage without their tricks from the upper realms they were at a serious loss. Within an hour, they were putting boots on the ground- they had many soldiers who were better in individual combat than ship-to-ship. Another hour later¡­ and most of their forces had lifted off. Not because they were losing, but because they had confirmed something important. Just because they could fight void ants didn¡¯t mean they wanted to- so once they confirmed their presence they lifted off. Then the locals had a problem- once they released the void ants, there wasn¡¯t much they could do. Devon noticed that they tried to guide the void ants to some sort of containment area with pheromones of some sort¡­ which massively backfired. It was like someone throwing a huge speaker that yelled ¡®come here, it¡¯s safe¡¯ in the middle of a battlefield. It conveyed a message people wanted to hear, perhaps, but it was also completely unbelievable. And even if the local void ants seemed somewhat more feral, they were still intelligent. They sensed where everything had come from- and without the Alliance on the ground, they simply moved towards the largest sources of energy remaining. That was the local barriers and cultivators. The Alliance didn¡¯t just end their assault, though. Instead, they focused on aerial assaults while the various areas were under siege by their own last ditch attempts. If the Alliance had been surprised by the void ants they might have had a slower response, but it was still the easy call. Even if not every cultivator under their command could fly, their ships were able to pick up everyone quite easily- and those who couldn¡¯t fly could at least jump ten or twenty meters up to a waiting vessel. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Weaker cultivators simply wouldn¡¯t be deployed as ground forces, as their numbers would be most effective as part of a whole. The Numerological Compact¡¯s ship designs had been iterated upon, and it was possible for a single Confluence cultivators to control the entire ship or for individual segments to make use of the weaponry in their own sections. Ultimately, they could focus on single powerful targets or dozens to hundreds of different targets, combining the powers of hundreds of cultivators to tens of thousands into a greater whole. The hive minds were especially good at multitasking while keeping in mind the battlefield as a whole. Soon enough, the local enemy forces crumbled. With footholds established, the Alliance then began to push to combine their controlled area, connecting their various landing zones. That did mean in some cases moving on the ground or flying low, but if more void ants were deployed they would already be ready. It would be one thing if it was a coordinated ambush by the locals- but with the void ants not having any loyalty their deployments were usually worse for the locals. When their forces got close to Ascension cannons- close in the global sense, at least- Devon was ready. And this time, he actually managed to bind some instead of causing them to explode. The Exalted Quadrant cultivators were not thrilled at that, but despite how massive the cannons were, Devon could easily rip one at a time out of their hands and up into space, where they could drift into Alliance controlled territory, out of the way. Of course, a few were fired at their cultivators. The results were devastating¡­ though not only for the alliance. With their forces intermingled on the planet, they destroyed their own buildings and took out their own people as well- perhaps even more than the attackers. After all, the weapons were not precise, and the alliance knew not to group up. Even with their numerous fleets, the majority of targets weren¡¯t them. Aerona returned to the planet as the battle dragged on. ¡°They expect to die even if they surrender,¡± she commented to Devon. ¡°Unfortunately, I am currently unable to impress upon them an alternative idea.¡± ¡°... This seems quite abnormal,¡± Devon said. ¡°I would expect them to be more self-interested and taking any chance to survive.¡± ¡°Perhaps they¡¯ve been effectively brainwashed. We will learn much from capturing them.¡± Devon nodded. ¡°Alright. Are you sure you want to remain on the battlefield?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen it before. And I think I have to,¡± Aerona said. ¡°I¡¯m not bothered by death. Well¡­ ours, perhaps.¡± ----- Far away, on Rutera itself, the greatest research centers of the Lower Realms Alliance were hard at work. The other core worlds were nearly as good with technology as Rutera, but it was difficult to catch up with their long history. Those focused on the topics wanted easy access to others in their fields, and thus they at the very least tried to establish themselves in the same system. Information was shared to those who needed it, but concentrating some aspects together was simply more efficient. There was a split on whether what they were trying to do would be more effective from a pure tech standpoint or a combined tech-formation standpoint. Pure formations would be the worst, because they were trying to overcome set formations. The particular problem they were working on was based on information sent from the upper realms. Specifically, detailed plans for ascension chambers- both for some Exalted Quadrant Sects and some in the Trigold Cluster. Verifying the information wasn¡¯t possible without infiltrating their enemies¡­ but the source was something that couldn¡¯t be ignored. Rutera finally felt Ceretos¡¯ pain. Everheart hadn¡¯t even grown up on their planet, but he was causing them headaches. Some portion of them were aware that he had actually been there- post ascension and his retreat to Ceretos to try to recover- but only those who needed to know. But given their connection, nobody could be unaware of how much trouble Everheart caused- and how much people couldn¡¯t just ignore him. Because his knowledge was extremely valuable. Their plans might not work. In fact, it wasn¡¯t just a single plan. Either way, the goal was to do something to mess up the enemy¡¯s Ascension Chambers. Making sure there was nobody to ascend was also something of a goal, but if they could directly damage the upper realms? They¡¯d do it. All of the current designs involved creating a sympathetic connection of some sort. It would be best to have cultivators of the right style ascend within some sort of device they made. The chances that they would willingly do so were slim, so second best was having those who were close and pushing them over the edge artificially. Artificial ascensions were a terrible idea, because even if someone survived the process they would be less potent afterwards. But that was only if you cared about their survival or continued ability to cultivate. If they were being used as a weapon, it really didn¡¯t matter. There were some ethical concerns. However, it also had to be considered that they were currently at war and the upper realms had previously attempted to exterminate them entirely. Killing a few of their people was only justified. The damage that might be caused in the upper realms was questionable, but there were certain sects that they could easily justify destroying entire planets if it worked. For example, the Citadel of Exalted Light was a perpetual enemy of their inter-realm alliance. There were more bitter enemies of the Twin Soul Sect¡­ but their destruction had happened top-down. Though there was a sort of connection, as their particular versions of ascension chambers also happened to be related to their reincarnations. Both processes involved capturing souls that had certain cultivations¡­ it was just that one of them also came with a body. Since the Twin Soul Sect collapsed, however, the Citadel of Exalted Light was widely recognized as the biggest threat. Not in the lower realms, perhaps, but to the Scarlet Alliance, in which many people had friends and family that they cared about- and which many people who still intended to ascend planned to join. But along with them, there were many sects that people wanted to cause trouble in. That included the Golden Huntsmen. In fact, despite them only focusing on a single planet and that particular planet having completely annihilated the invaders during the last cycle¡­ public sentiment put them almost as high- or perhaps low- as the Citadel of Exalted Light. Because nobody wanted to see cute animals killed. Not that they would, because the people of Akrys were also cultivators who could defend themselves. But that didn¡¯t necessarily change how people felt about it. But before picking a target, they needed to be fairly confident what they would do would work. Fortunately for them, brilliant minds in the upper and lower realms were working on the task, and motivated by the thought that someone else might finish before them. And with the time lag involved, they might claim to be first and find out they were six months late. Not a world ending result, but embarrassment and competitive spirit were good motivators. Chapter 1093 Since he had been given no reason to stop shooting, Anton continued picking out targets within the system. Unlike Varghese he hadn¡¯t bound the local star. With each step of cultivation taking longer and having covered a much wider range, he simply didn¡¯t have the spare capacity unless there was an emergency. From his current location he could have bound the central star of the cluster and that was still the plan- but he didn¡¯t want the enemy to know he could do that. His continuous attacks taught them a few things. First, the planets- or what remained of them- were all able to move. Or perhaps it should be said that all the cultivators working together could move them, since those movements were something done by their energy control and not formations or technology. They weren¡¯t terribly fast, but they did slowly make their way out of the system. But as they only moved at sublight speed¡­ they couldn¡¯t make it outside of his range. Anton didn¡¯t want to let the enemy know his exact comfortable range, but as he was more than fine with shooting into adjacent systems five or ten lightyears away, he certainly wasn¡¯t worried about something in the range of one ten thousandth of that distance. So while they weren¡¯t willing to approach the star, they also couldn¡¯t get away from Anton. Thus, he was able to keep damaging them. They did have some way to replenish their natural energy- or extremely large stores- so he wasn¡¯t able to bring down their barriers permanently. Instead, he had to puncture them with each shot- or bypass them. The latter he achieved with spectral energy, targeting some of their stronger cultivators. By the time their fleets had gotten proper rest and were prepared for their next attack, Anton had killed somewhere around ten percent of their Life Transformation cultivators. In addition, he had taken out numerous weapon emplacements at various points around the skeletal planets. There was one downside of their delay, but it seemed to be an inevitable result. Even since the first planet had mobilized to attack them, the other planets had been converging together. Now, the remaining handful of rocky planets stood as a unified whole. Whether there was any boost in power beyond simple numbers was unclear, but it had to be assumed that they would be more difficult to fight. Even so, the fleets of the Lower Realms Alliance were far more maneuverable than the enemy¡¯s planet-ships and even their actual spacefaring vessels, so they were able to maneuver into an advantageous position. The enemy being further from the star would have weakened Varghese- if it had been him shortly after he reached Assimilation. But now, the distance the enemy was able to reach in a few days was insignificant. For all they had done, they were still in the effective range of the star. Anton watched happily as his apprentice led the charge against their foes. Though Varghese had a very different style than himself, he made great use of the concepts of starbinding. Magnetism had been one of his favorites, even before he reached the point of Assimilation. However, Varghese also had control over flames, light, and gravity to various extents. He used the latter to great effect when the enemies thought they could resist his magnetism. They were right, to some extent. But when their ships suddenly found themselves pulled towards each other- or the planets they were swarming from- they lost confidence in their own abilities. That was when Varghese suddenly turned up the magnetism. As for the stone ships, he had plenty of tricks for them too. Nothing stopped Varghese from simply cutting their ships in half- and if their cultivators were willing to fight him outside in empty space, Varghese was still at an advantage. Some of the cultivators might have had a few centuries of training, but since they didn¡¯t have anyone beyond Life Transformation their major threat was numbers. And numbers they had. Anton could hardly comprehend how much difference there was between armies he had seen on a single planet¡­ and what could be gathered from multiple planets growing for far longer. Tens of thousands of individuals made up a relatively small fleet- and there were even individual ships with that many people in the Alliance. Here, they were fighting against planets with limited space but dense populations, numbering somewhere around hundreds of millions- even if the only contribution of some cultivators was to make the planets move. One might assume that some of those many individuals were unwilling, but Anton hadn¡¯t seen any indication of cultivators willing to surrender or otherwise achieve peace except out of fear for their lives. From those they had interrogated, they appeared in some ways to be worse fanatics than the Twin Soul Sect- because they didn¡¯t think they were fanatics and had no promise of something for their sacrifice. Rather than try to overwhelm the enemy planets- though they could- they chose to retreat after causing sufficient damage to the enemy fleets and infrastructure. The reason was simple enough- only the enemy ships were mobile enough to chase them down. Even though the planets could protect each other, they couldn¡¯t stop the Alliance from an organized retreat where they would be able to return refreshed. With fewer but higher quality cultivators, that was their best way to manage their own casualties. The current system they were in wasn¡¯t the only one controlled by the stone and metal sects, but potential reinforcements were being monitored- and the Alliance wasn¡¯t entirely focused on just the one system. Nor were they the only ones involved. The Free Planet Guardians and Shining Cooperative had also been targeted and wanted revenge for the damage they had sustained. Unlike the Alliance, not all of their initial encounters came away in a victory. Some of their planets had been partially dismantled¡­ with no heed taken for those living upon them. Over the course of several weeks, just to be cautious, they finally completed their conquest of that first system. It wasn¡¯t pleasant, but war never was. Their next goal was driving deeper into enemy territory, striking at their heart- though not their most populous systems. Instead, they were going to secure one of the central stars for Anton, following their original plan. That would allow him to have a greater influence on future battles in many systems. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ----- News continued to reach the western assault forces about attacks on the Unified Cluster. However, Devon wasn¡¯t worried. The systems formerly under Numerological Compact control were some of the strongest systems in the Alliance, or at least they had the most concentrated power. For all the terrible things the Compact did¡­ the aftermath of their existence had resulted in some amazing things as well. The hiveminds were happy with their existence, despite the horrors some had endured. Together, their many individuals took their traumatic and painful experiences and built something far better. Overlapping with them were the Shattered Chains, Devon¡¯s sect. He was proud of them as well. And it seemed there were some potential new recruits. Not that it made Devon happy. The only thing he could say he was happy about was that this particular combination of sects didn¡¯t have a huge abundance of slaves¡­ but that didn¡¯t mean there were none. Devon was always able to pick them out as they resonated with him. As the war had progressed, he¡¯d had various opportunities to use World Encompassing Chains on new planets they encountered, taking in the planet as a whole- but he always ended up focused on those in chains, physical or otherwise. He focused his energy on a mine, where miners rested after a hard day¡¯s work. Anton always said work was hard enough without intentionally making it more difficult¡­ and these people could use a full belly and a release from unnecessary burdens dragging along with them. Normally Devon wouldn¡¯t interfere for worry about the consequences to slaves- if they were seen as some sort of weakness, they would be threatened or killed. However, they were just about to begin their assault of this planet. And with his personal attention, he could prevent any issues. Devon created an image of himself in between the bunks. The slaves weren¡¯t even cultivators, so they didn¡¯t react to the changes in natural energy. However, several were alert enough to pick out his presence regardless. ¡°... Who are you?¡± asked an older woman- probably ineffective for a position in a mine. Not that the local cultivators likely cared about being effective, or they would have done the work themselves. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard something about us. Attackers from space or miscreants of some sort. I prefer the proper inhabitants of the lower realms¡­ much like yourselves, perhaps.¡± Honestly, Devon really didn¡¯t care about the origins of these people. Just like they had accepted sects from the upper realms under the banner if they were willing to swear them off, anyone oppressed by them willing to despite the Exalted Quadrant was alright in his book. ¡°... How did you get in?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a cultivator,¡± Devon explained. ¡°The Sect head of the Shattered Chains.¡± The woman looked down at her own wrists. ¡°Will you destroy these?¡± ¡°Is that what you want?¡± Devon asked. At this point, the rest were waking up- and many were clearly getting worried. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t hear us talking.¡± ¡°Why¡­ why wouldn¡¯t I want my chains destroyed?¡± the woman asked. ¡°Your sect¡­?¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t get me wrong,¡± Devon said. ¡°I¡¯ll free you. And I can absolutely break your chains if you want. But wouldn¡¯t you rather I teach you to do it yourself?¡± ¡°You think these old bones can break steel?¡± the woman asked. ¡°Can you break stone?¡± Devon asked. ¡°Hardly. They just enjoy seeing me struggle and I¡¯ve refused to die.¡± Devon grinned widely. ¡°That sounds like exactly what you need. In other circumstances I¡¯d let you defeat your former captors with your own hands, but we don¡¯t have the luxury of capacity to hold onto them. So you¡¯ll have to settle for taking your revenge as you please. Or you can ignore them and wait to be picked up.¡± Outside of the densely packed shack the miners were kept in, the sound of clinking chains began to grow louder- and even those inside felt the pressure of natural energy as Devon forced his energy through the barrier and bound the guards and all those responsible for keeping them in place. ¡°Go ahead and take a look out the window.¡± The old woman dragged herself along, an unnecessarily heavy ball and chain wearing her down. Between the simple slats- the opening not wide enough to squeeze out of if they were removed- she just managed to pick out some of the guards struggling. That was around the same time that Devon ripped off the door leading to the outside. ¡°You can wait in here for rescue or go out. A ship will be here in an hour or two at most,¡± Devon said. Devon watched the old woman, weighed down as she was, struggle her way to the door first, and out. ¡°What is your name?¡± he asked. ¡°It¡¯s Gaila,¡± the old woman grunted. ¡°You said we can do what we want to them?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Devon said. He understood that captives might be particularly cruel to their former captors¡­ but he knew they all deserved it. It would also let him judge what people might need to recover their minds. Gaila dragged herself out to the closest guard, held by Devon¡¯s chains. She walked right up to the other woman, then shoved her with her relatively more mobile hands. ¡°What are you doing?¡± the guard demanded, trying to sound strong but the quiver in her voice making her not very successful. ¡°They¡¯ll kill you for this.¡± Gaila just shook her head. ¡°None of you get to choose if I live or die, or I would have died long ago.¡± She stepped forward¡­ eventually dragging the heavy ball onto the other woman¡¯s chest. The guard was a cultivator in early Body Tempering¡­ but without the benefit of her energy- sealed by Devon¡¯s chains- the weight was more than she could bear. But not in the short term. Her body was just strong enough that she could breathe¡­ with great effort. Gaila just watched as the woman struggled to fill her lungs¡­ until finally she collapsed. Then Gaila dragged herself off to the side and looked up at the sky. ¡°Let¡¯s see if that ship is coming.¡± Chapter 1094 As Anton entered the next system, he was overcome with a feeling of dread and death. He almost instinctively called for a retreat, but he recognized the source as outside of himself before the words could reach his lips. It was not his own instincts, nor was it an active projection of energy. ¡°Do you feel that?¡± Anton asked Varghese. His apprentice swept his senses around the system. ¡°Is there some problem?¡± That told Anton enough, and his further exposure to the sensations was making the situation more clear. ¡°Not anymore, I think.¡± During his previous scouting, Anton had not entered this particular system. At most, he had scanned it from outside. Normally, that would have picked up anything of note¡­ but upon further consideration the feelings around him were extremely faint. It was only upon being completely surrounded by them that they were magnified. It was quite possible Varghese did pick up on what Anton was feeling and simply did not interpret it the same way. A thin haze of spectral energy could have any number of reasons for existing. But something that made Anton react in this exact manner could only be the result of a great number of deaths. Many had died in the system they had just come from- some allies, and many more enemies. However, their grievances upon death were broadly spread out with little lingering spite. To have the same results as in this second system, something truly terrible had to have happened to the inhabitants. Or the previous inhabitants, since the Imbued Fragments and Broad Eyed Harvesters were clearly inhabiting this system quite happily. Normally, Anton would have expected traces left on conquered planets- but he also would have expected that said planets hadn¡¯t been torn apart, stripped of the majority of what made them a planet in the first place. So perhaps whatever had taken place here would remain a mystery, except that the fear and spite was denser around the planets. As they moved further into the system, Anton let the feelings flow over him. It wasn¡¯t pleasant to dwell in negative emotions, but sometimes one had to move through them. Anton himself couldn¡¯t resolve the negativity of a whole system¡­ ordinarily. But in this state, perhaps he could. Before any of that, however, he needed to bind the star. He took special care, uncertain if the spectral energy might hinder the process. But aside from the distraction it provided, Anton felt no hindrance as he opened a connection to the star. ¡°I¡¯m going to try something special,¡± Anton informed Varghese- and the fleets with them, as he didn¡¯t wish to worry them with his actions. ¡°Something regarding whatever it is you felt?¡± Varghese surmised. ¡°Spectral energy,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°I feel this system was occupied by others, in the past.¡± Varghese nodded, well aware of the situation in what was now the territory of the Adamant Federation and Free Planet Guardians. Anton immediately locked his senses onto one of the larger planets. There was a man commanding their forces, preparing them for the assault no doubt. Anton formed a Spirit Arrow, forming it with his own spectral energy. The results were far beyond what he anticipated. His bowstring resonated with the surrounding spectral energy. Soulstring. It seemed there was a connection of purpose between his bow and the surroundings- though Anton did not think it reached beyond a similar intent. His arrow flew straight and true- Anton did not need an arrow without substance to avoid physical barriers. The arrow gathered surrounding spectral energy, building momentum as it approached his target, slipping past their natural energy barriers as well. The commander was pierced through the heart, and a wave of souls- or the remnants of them- spread through the surroundings. The reaction from the locals was immediate. Cultivators scrambled for ships, and the shells of the planets themselves morphed and bent. If Anton wasn¡¯t mistaking things, they were faster than the previous system. Anton¡¯s projection of their trajectories placed them together at a central point, and Anton had the suspicion that the results would be less than pleasant for the Alliance. ¡°This system will not be as easily conquered as the other,¡± Anton said. ¡°Yet I don¡¯t hear you suggesting we retreat,¡± Varghese commented. He was forming his own connection with the local star, as his personal risks were too high without a bound star, given that he had to fight from closer to their enemies. His personal strength would be something that could be overcome with numbers, without the full power of Assimilation. ¡°I assume you mean without your empowerment¡­ and that spectral energy you made use of.¡± ¡°Indeed. But we still must pay special attention to their intentions. And thwart their plans before they come to completion,¡± Anton said. ¡°We must be swift about this. We will direct the fleets to act decisively.¡± Anton took another shot, carefully drawn out to rally the local spectral energy. Another of the strongest cultivators fell, along with the area around him. Slaying them would both severely damage their power and disrupt their morale. But Anton wasn¡¯t content to deal with one individual at a time. Fully empowered by his bound stars, he could do far more than single shots. Even consecutive shots from his bow could only reach so many- hardly effective for a wide battlefield with vast numbers. While they were far weaker without a physical bow to support them, he created bows of pure energy around him. First ten, then a hundred, then a thousand. They fired consecutively, with Anton acting as a legion of archers on his own. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. That was his preferred method, as he was able to influence more of the battle. Besides, he wanted to leave some of the stronger enemies for Varghese. The man needed to push himself to break through to the next level. He wasn¡¯t far from Enrichment. There was another reason. With Anton focusing on the wider battlefield, not only could he better accustom himself to enemy tactics but also because he could see they were doing something new. Of course, he still intended for it to be disrupted¡­ but giving them just enough time to show off their plans seemed useful. This system had twelve planets, though perhaps the smaller ones were once moons. Either way, they were barely skeletal structures of what they had once been. But the way their trajectories were lining up, they weren¡¯t just preparing for a combined assault. As they got closer, it became ever more clear that they were headed for the exact same overlapping area from their various points around the system. Defeating them in the time it took to reach that point was impossible¡­ but with Anton¡¯s support the Alliance fleets took out several structural joins on the closest planets. They fought their way through enemy fleets, the battle one of widespread destruction. Finally, when it appeared that two of the planets were going to crash into each other¡­ they bent and twisted. Their long segments twisted and separated, swinging outward away from the core¡­ then connecting to each other. Anton felt their formations combining, as well as the energies of the inhabitants. That was enough of that. But Anton wasn¡¯t the one who was best fit to prevent them from continuing further. His combat style might have been capable of destroying a single planet- something he hadn¡¯t tried for obvious reasons- but without a core holding everything together he would only be suited for breaking some of the limbs holding everything together. The various segments of the planets were like polygonal edges that moved to snap together, but as more planets beyond the first two began to fit themselves together, Varghese turned his attention away from the fleets. The planets were made only of bare stone and metal. They had no ability to move on their own, but were instead controlled by the cultivators. Rather than the mix of metal and stone being a disadvantage for Varghese, however, his magnetism was put on full display as he flew into the middle of the first pair. His sword slashed around him, drawing complex curves that he inscribed inside the structure. He wasn¡¯t creating any sort of formation that would direct the flow of energy beyond his own, but instead simply relied on his own might. That might, of course, came from his bound stars. Azun was one of the mightiest, despite how small it was. He manipulated magnetism to pull many parts of the structure inward- while also making the field splay out in random directions, pulling the great structure of the planets into torsion. Or rather, he created a wide variety of stresses all together. For a moment it began to collapse, then a few nodes began to resist the magnetism. Those were the next targets Anton focused on, drawing upon the surrounding spectral energy with only his main bow. Cultivators fell one after another- and the weaker cultivators simply did not have the technique to stand up against Varghese¡¯ constantly shifting magnetic fields. The combining planets began to collapse inward, clipping a third planet as they bent and twisted. Varghese flew out from between them, holding the fields in place to continue the accelerating collapse as he formed a connection to the next shell of a planet. Alliance fleets had already swarmed the planets around him, though they kept their distance to allow Varghese to spread his magnetism as he pleased. Instead, they provided supporting fire to take the pressure off of him. It was clear that the planets hadn¡¯t been set up to deal with attackers inside of their structure, though the fact that their own fleets would make use of the area should have tipped them off. Then again, having to face rains of attacks along the way would have stopped a weaker cultivator, or even a large group of them. They never got to see what the combined planets would do. By the time they fully understood the magnitude of what Varghese could do, it was too late. Six of the planets he entangled together, and the remaining ones- two larger and four small- were unable to reach each other. Yet they also couldn¡¯t retreat, with Anton¡¯s full power attack meaning they would just let themselves be worn down if they tried. One of the larger planets tried to catch Varghese in its own inevitable collapse, their cultivators focusing their formations inward- but when Varghese noticed what they were up to, he didn¡¯t even bother trying to break out. Instead, he let Anton take out those coordinating the efforts¡­ and during the final moments of the collapse simply cut his way through the crumbling structure. The planets weren¡¯t fast enough to retreat, but a great quantity of enemy ships did flee the system. Several of the moons even had industrious individuals form something similar to the ships out of part of the planetary structure. The only thing they were missing was the proper experience. Rather than trying to shoot down the fleeing ships, Anton focused on minimizing their own casualties. While those fleeing ships would be a problem later, Anton had a good reason to prioritize things as he did. Simply put, he wasn¡¯t moving from his spot until the war was over. It might take them several hours to clean up the rest of the enemies in the system¡­ at which point the retreating fleets would be at most a quarter of a lightyear away. They wouldn¡¯t reach the neighboring system for days- and Anton could shoot them while they were in subspace. So after they were done in the local system, Anton would move on to them. And then another system, even if they weren¡¯t ready to attack yet. Because the enemy couldn¡¯t stop him. Anton might not get much rest for the foreseeable future¡­ but neither would their enemies. If they knew what Anton did, they might be even worse off. He could feel Varghese resonating with the stars that they had bound. He had no doubt that these sects would have another Enrichment cultivator on their hands by the end of the war. Though even if Varghese didn¡¯t advance, the rest of the Alliance were up to the task. It was simply a matter of what cost they would have to bear. No doubt their enemies would attempt to pull something horrifying, but the Alliance was ready to respond. Chapter 1095 Elder Sudheer of the Silver Rhino Legion may not have seemed like the optimal sort of individual to bring to defend a system from invaders. His armor might have fooled people, but his style didn¡¯t exactly scream ¡®defense¡¯. However, just because he wasn¡¯t going to be sitting around blocking people didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t a valuable part of the Alliance¡¯s defensive strategy. These ¡®Imbued Fragment¡¯ cultivators controlled metal, so he really didn¡¯t want to hang around them longer than he had to. But his natural style worked just fine for that. He picked a target- usually a nice big ship- charged headlong towards it at maximum speed, and sent it on a trajectory headed for one of its allies, crushing both ships and optimally sending them towards a third and sometimes fourth vessel. Chain reactions longer than that were difficult to set up when every cultivator aboard actively controlled the structure of the vessel. Sudheer paid no attention to anything trying to get closer to the local planets. His only job was to find his next target- preferably one of the rock ones- and hurl them at the next target. Rinse and repeat, building momentum and transferring it all to his enemies. It actually took special techniques for him to not simply create a body-shaped hole in the vessels. Targets were chosen in some part by proximity, but also by power. Strongest first, because that would cause maximum damage and he didn¡¯t want them hanging around. Highest on the list were ships he felt were avoiding him- though at the same time, others were the lowest priority. It relied on snap judgments to differentiate between types, but ultimately Sudheer focused not on those who were shying away from them, but instead those who were trying to slip past. The former were just around- the second had a goal. And whatever the goal was, he didn¡¯t want it. He slapped his chest to collapse his breastplate back into its place. He was going to need to spend a good long time with some smiths getting the thing ironed out, but even his defensive energy couldn¡¯t completely stop the enemy¡¯s manipulations. They primarily focused on trying to stab him with his armor, but when they found that didn¡¯t work because it had a good sense of form they tried to separate the pieces. Fortunately, nobody ever got to affect him for more than a few instants. Swiveling his head, Sudheer found his next target. He was breaking all of his guidelines about strength and proximity. Honestly, he almost hadn¡¯t noticed the ship at all¡­ but instincts told him to look. And there it was, a tiny ship flying far away from the other vessels. It didn¡¯t have any notable energy coming off of it¡­ which was actually probably what tipped him off. It was too minimal, as it didn¡¯t even have the fluctuations of natural energy the ship had to have with the cultivators who were effectively shoving it about. He knew he made the right choice when suddenly other ships tried to block him. And instead of letting them distract him, he just continued to speed up. Anything that got in his way was flung aside callously, unless it was angled right for him to stomp off of and boost his own momentum. With only ten or twenty layers of ships between himself and the edge of the fleet, Sudheer was out of there in no time. Meanwhile, the little ship was not particularly impressive in its manner of acceleration. It did make a sudden lurch as he approached, but Sudheer wasn¡¯t planning to impact it with pinpoint accuracy regardless. He didn¡¯t have to hit it with his body, just his energy. Sudheer was an enormous rhino rampaging through the stars, just as he liked it. His presence extended widely, and he impacted the tiny ship¡­ only to be met with a counterforce that sent him flying backwards into the fleet he¡¯d just departed. The first thoughts to flicker through his head were, ¡®huh?¡¯ and ¡®What¡¯s that dense¡¯ and then ¡®Where¡¯d they get worldheart?¡¯ The answer to that final question wasn¡¯t actually that difficult to figure out, either. From what he¡¯d heard from the frontlines, they were literally ripping apart planets every day. Perhaps it was surprising he hadn¡¯t seen a ship sized chunk before. As he righted himself, Sudheer was at least glad to see that the ship hadn¡¯t managed to maintain its trajectory. It was able to force a massive rebound force upon him¡­ but he wasn¡¯t so fragile that it could crush him. The ship didn¡¯t seem to have been damaged either, a number of solidly powerful Life Transformation cultivators holding it together along with whatever formations it had. He was pretty sure he¡¯d knocked loose some of their stealth stuff, because he could feel them now. He wasn¡¯t sure he could break that ship. Maybe he should throw it into the sun? Sudheer was already charging them, of course. Thinking was done in the moments between motion and impact. He decided not to toss them into the sun simply because they looked like they were going towards it. And if he couldn¡¯t break the structure, he just needed to impact in a different manner. He crashed into the ship, his momentum instantly negated. The ship managed no counterforce, however, because all of that kinetic energy bypassed the hull and transferred to those inside. Sudheer thought they would probably be shocked, if they had comprehended the situation. Then the ship exploded. Oh right, whatever they were doing involved something inside that ship. Sudheer got a shard of worldheart piercing through his heart and out his shoulder blade as worldheart turned into shrapnel. Fortunately, no one else was near enough to be hit right away- though the planetary barriers in the system were going to have a field day deflecting that debris. Sudheer looked down at the huge chunk of metal through his heart. It fit pretty snugly, so at least he wasn¡¯t bleeding much. Time to look around to see if there was anyone else he should butt heads with. ----- Elder Sudheer was not the only one to discover a ship made of worldheart bearing weapons. He was the only one to cause one to explode directly next to him, and fortunately he was also the only one to cause one to explode in general. The Alliance managed to capture a couple ships, their various sensors picking them out as a threat. More than a handful of others determined they couldn¡¯t complete their mission and were able to retreat from the various systems. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. As for the payloads, experts determined that they had a similar effect to what had previously taken the Trigold Cluster an entire fleet- a destabilizing force meant to destroy stars. Sudheer had actually been around for the first such incident with Zunrose¡¯s star, where they¡¯d even been willing to destroy their own people. There was a reason the Lower Realms Alliance had sent him and so many others as reinforcements- they feared something like this was possible. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t have to experience anything the hard way. If they had merely brushed off their enemies as a bunch of Life Transformation cultivators, the results would have been catastrophic. ----- Gaila was a determined and diligent student. Devon paid close attention as she focused on her training. She wasn¡¯t particularly filled with great cultivation talent. It took her four months to complete her first step of Body Tempering, though some of that was because she needed to recover from her nutritional detriments. Her determination reminded Devon of his grandfather- though it also showed Anton to be a wild exception to the norm. By four months, he¡¯d ignited four stars. Even if his physical condition and health had been better, his training methods hadn¡¯t actually been as good. Devon knew that because Anton himself had helped develop new training methods for both those young and old. Perhaps the Shattered Chains was simply a worse cultivation style for an elder. Then again, if it was sub-par then someone of advanced age wouldn¡¯t be able to take even the first step of energy cultivation. Yet despite all that, Gaila didn¡¯t give up. Now she was lugging around her heavy ball and chain, making laps around their base. Any former slaves who wished to were able to be taken away from the frontlines, but she desired Devon¡¯s personal instruction. She wasn¡¯t the only one, and though Devon hadn¡¯t quite intended it to end up that way he certainly had made an impression on the locals. Despite the minimal involvement of slaves, over the various planets they had gone through he found more than a few batches of new disciples. All of those interested in learning the Shattered Chains accepted Devon¡¯s declaration- and they continued to move around with their chains. They could have them removed at any time, but it would be better if they could do it themselves. Four months became one year, and where the most talented disciples were breaking into the late Body Tempering stage, their success was through talent more than determination. Not that Devon would disparage the success of any of his disciples, but Gaila might have become something amazing if she had talent. No, Devon supposed she still could. She should still be coming out ahead on lifespan, at least. Her wrinkled face wasn¡¯t growing any smoother, but that was probably from her constant expression of determination. After a year and two months, she broke through to the first tempering, besides the full body tempering. She chose muscle, an unsurprising choice among the Shattered Chains. However, Devon found it somewhat risky. Following her breakthrough, she took several days to ready herself¡­ and then she set about breaking her shackles with her bare hands. It was not pleasant to watch. Even with the first general tempering, her skin was thin like paper. Blood flowed down her fingers when she was barely started, grasping the inside of one of her restraints. But it didn¡¯t stop her, even when Devon felt her bones straining. The metal gave out first¡­ though just barely. Gaila fell unconscious, only one out of four of her targets down. Devon wrapped her hands in bandages filled with medicinal herbs to help stop bleeding and promote recovery. When she woke, she replenished her natural energy by eating and meditating. He wasn¡¯t certain if she even noticed the bandages, and at the end of the day she repeated her efforts with her other wrist. The bindings around her ankles were stronger, and her fingers gave out before the metal. She spent months in recover, but made another attempt as soon as she was ¡®healthy¡¯. First one ankle, then the other. When she was done, Devon expected a shout of joy. An exclamation of victory. Any sort of response except for standing up and stretching. ¡°Ah. That feels better,¡± she nodded to herself. She did eventually come to find Devon. ¡°I¡¯m done,¡± she said. ¡°Congratulations,¡± Devon said. ¡°Now you can begin cultivating in earnest, having freed yourself.¡± She smiled at him, a big smile with many missing teeth. She hadn¡¯t exactly received proper care in captivity- having any teeth left might be a sign of her stubbornness. ¡°Nah. I¡¯m done,¡± she said. ¡°Just wanted to let you know.¡± Then she sat down directly in front of him, closing her eyes. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Devon asked. She opened one eye. ¡°I thought it was pretty straightforward. I¡¯m done now. So I¡¯m not going to do¡­ anything.¡± ¡°If you merely wanted to be freed¡­ the option was available,¡± Devon said. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to force anything upon you.¡± ¡°Oh no. You were right, sect head. Teaching me to do it myself has made me the most free I¡¯ll ever be. So I can finally decide what I want for myself. And on my own terms¡­ I¡¯m done. With everything.¡± It didn¡¯t take a great level of insight to understand her. She wasn¡¯t hiding anything, after all. Even so, it was not what Devon would have expected. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose I can convince you otherwise? You still have potential.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already heard you speak about Anton. And aside from knowing that I don¡¯t even have a sliver of his talent¡­ I don¡¯t care. I don¡¯t mean to seem ungrateful for your rescue. But I¡¯m done.¡± ¡°Are you just going to sit there until you die?¡± Devon asked. The old woman frowned, then slowly pushed herself to her feet. ¡°I should at least get somewhere out of the way, shouldn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t really the issue I had,¡± Devon sighed. ¡°In that case¡­ could I at least encourage you to share your story with others? Some have become discouraged about their lack of progress, and I am not much good at encouragement in that regard. Saying I understand would be disingenuous.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± the old woman tapped her wrinkled chin. ¡°I suppose I might as well. Until my heart or lungs give out. Or perhaps my liver. Or anything else. Doesn¡¯t hurt to yammer on a bit.¡± Devon smiled slightly. He could understand something of what she felt, even if he hadn¡¯t experienced it himself. Anton spoke of accepting his end in a peaceful manner, until he¡¯d been disrupted. For Gaila, it had simply come in a different order. But still¡­ she might find something more, if she stuck around for a while. Chapter 1096 Fatigue was slowly building on Anton¡­ but he imagined that the fatigue on the dual-sect that had attacked them was far worse. Because it was far easier to attack a thousand or a million times than to be attacked so many times¡­ and be able to do nothing about it. There had been some consideration given that, with Anton¡¯s range, they could eventually take out all of the Imbued Fragments and Broad Eyed Harvesters without risking more of their own people. However, the enemy¡¯s movements made that an impossibility. Many fleets were targeting their own systems and the defensive war was harder on them. If the Lower Realms Alliance gave up their initiative, the enemy might be best served by focusing only on offense. If their various fleets banded together to target just a single system, they might not be able to withstand the assault. That wasn¡¯t the only potential danger. While Anton was immensely strong around a bound star, their enemies weren¡¯t completely without options. They had been consolidating fleets together¡­ and the surrounding systems had begun to combine their planets as well. It was clear that it was extremely energy intensive for the planets to move and build upon each other¡¯s defenses, but Anton alone couldn¡¯t cause much damage though the combined barriers. Fortunately, not every system reacted with the same speed and the Alliance was able to target those that adapted more slowly. Before the enemy could consolidate too many of their forces, they managed to take apart some of the isolated systems. They still found it possible to take on the systems with consolidated planetary mass, but they had to draw out the enemy fleets, causing as much damage as possible while minimizing their own losses. Then they retreated, taking advantage of the relative immobility of the planets. Anton was now focusing much of his efforts on fleets traveling between systems. It wasn¡¯t always possible for their own fleets to cut off the enemy movements, and their forces seemed to be gathering in one particular system. Ever since he saw it, Anton knew it would be a critical system¡­ and their greatest problem. That was the system with the star being encapsulated and slowly drained. Ocreaf, according to the local naming. The project hadn¡¯t advanced in any measurable way in the relatively short time the war had been ongoing- a project like that likely took centuries- but it wasn¡¯t completion that was the threat. It was its mere existence, what it represented. And of course the fleets and shells of planets gathered near it. In any other situation it would have been vulnerable- even some other sort of megastructure could easily be taken down by a starbinding cultivator. But one connected to the star? The risks of destabilization were high, and Varghese had personally experienced the dangers that came along with that with Zunrose. While the sects might not prefer that their star was destroyed, it was possible they were crazy enough- and it was a decent defense against starbinding cultivators. Anton was in reach of the system, but he wouldn¡¯t be maximally effective. Before they could attempt to deal with them, however, it was best to ensure they had no backup. And from what they¡¯d seen of the attacks on their system, this wasn¡¯t a war where there could be a peaceful end. Unlike with Zunrose, these sects couldn¡¯t be ignorant of what they were doing. ----- An arrow pierced through the stars, striking a lone ship traveling between systems. Normally, that would have been the point where the arrow pierces through the ship¡¯s barriers and hull before exploding inside of it¡­ but instead it was snuffed out. For a moment, Anton thought he¡¯d fully exhausted himself without noticing. But taking a moment to check his current stores of energy, he didn¡¯t seem to be empty. Forming a Spirit Arrow in front of him, it was if not full power at least ninety percent of what he expected. He still needed to rest. But before that, he had to figure out what was going on with that ship. His consciousness flew with his arrow, but instead of crashing into his target he spun around it. It would make his intentions obvious, but his normal senses could only lock onto the ship¡¯s location from a distance, revealing few details except for cultivation auras and the like. They were enemies, so he had attempted to destroy them. The ship was certainly larger than normal, but size didn¡¯t necessarily equate to durability. Indeed, a large ship had to spread its barriers more thinly, and a ship with a grand scale could often have a thinner hull to save on weight. Though that wasn¡¯t the case with the Imbued Fragments. It was a metal ship, and it only took Anton a good ponder to surmise what he was looking at. He would have come to the conclusion more quickly if it were a smaller ship, but at that scale¡­ he hadn¡¯t expected to find worldheart. Looking at the bow in his hand, it measured in the low number of kilograms. Anton knew that his bow was not made of a full worldheart, but the size contrast was staggering. The Lower Realms Alliance was quite adamant on not harvesting worldhearts, because that involved destroying a planet that had occupants. Technically the planet didn¡¯t have to be destroyed, but harvesting the worldheart would turn them into a dead planet. Obviously, these sects had no problem with that as they had been scooping out the majority of their planets, not leaving even the entirety of their surface. Still, Anton hadn¡¯t expected them to have such a massive ship. What worried him more was the possibility that it wasn¡¯t the only one. Anton would need to consult with Varghese, once he returned. And of course, he would be passing the information along to the rest of the Alliance. They might have more subtle plans. ----- If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Varghese¡¯s first thought was to test if worldheart was magnetic. It was a reasonable question, since many metals weren¡¯t to any significant degree. Anton¡¯s bow flew out of his grip- though he could have easily stopped it if he wanted to. ¡°Well that answers one thing,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I can¡¯t imagine it¡¯s enough on its own.¡± ¡°No,¡± Varghese agreed. ¡°Not on its own, but it gives me greater potential to counter the ship. Could you make out any weapons?¡± Anton was tracking the vessel with his senses still. He could have brought his consciousness closer with another shot, but his memory was sufficient. ¡°It seemed to be a solid shell. Though knowing the Imbued Fragments¡­ the vessel itself might be the weapon.¡± ¡°I imagine propelling worldheart would be quite useful,¡± Varghese agreed. ¡°Though I could counter that as well. Assuming not too many enemies aboard.¡± Anton frowned. ¡°That¡¯s where you might run into an issue. There were probably at least a dozen Life Transformation cultivators aboard.¡± ¡°Would your spectral energy work?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°I¡¯m not certain. Worldheart is valuable for being supernaturally resistant in many ways. I doubt I would be completely ineffective, but if I test now they might confirm that I can¡¯t damage them. There isn¡¯t any extra ambient spectral energy around them for me to call upon to boost that, at the moment.¡± ¡°Would it hurt for them to believe your alternatives can¡¯t damage them either?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°What if you simply confirm the possibilities?¡± ¡°Lure them into overconfidence, perhaps?¡± Anton nodded. ¡°I like the idea. If I appear to fail, they will believe that¡­ but I¡¯ll be able to tell us the truth. Normal Spirit Arrows aren¡¯t good enough unless they¡¯re foolish enough to sunbathe by my bound star. I¡¯ll make some attempts¡­ then maybe take a nap.¡± ¡°Good. You should. It¡¯s not like you can¡¯t immediately be in play again should something happen.¡± ----- Ascension energy was generally considered stronger than natural energy¡­ but against worldheart, Anton didn¡¯t feel it. That would explain some of worldheart¡¯s value, however. Even if it wasn¡¯t a negation of that advantage, diminishing effectiveness could be significant. Spectral energy¡­ was still hindered by the worldheart. However, Anton believed he could have gotten a shot through. Just not with enough power to kill anyone important. From their perspective, however, his attack was completely negated. In the right circumstances, he could potentially do more. There were several other systems with lingering spectral energy from their conquests. Alternatively, if he used a greater portion of what he had access to, he could take a handful of shots that should be effective. It was good to know they had the option¡­ but Anton was honestly counting on Varghese. He didn¡¯t want to put too much pressure on his apprentice, but there needed to be some. That was how he would grow to the next step. Regardless of what he could or couldn¡¯t do, the ship would doubtless become an important factor in the near future as the war was coming to a peak. Before that, Anton was going to rest. Perhaps the enemy would be emboldened by that, thinking him vulnerable. And maybe he was¡­ but a few days off and he¡¯d be good as new. Or perhaps good as old. New wasn¡¯t always better. ----- Varghese entered Ocreaf¡¯s influence- cautiously. He didn¡¯t want to be overwhelmed by enemies, after all. But he had to see it for himself. He had some thoughts. Just as Anton determined, the star was not pleased with its situation. He could feel the strain, and was almost compelled to act. Not by the star, but by himself. Stars didn¡¯t generally need protection so he hadn¡¯t felt anything similar very often¡­ but he wouldn¡¯t be much of a starbinder if he just let his chosen Assimilation targets be harmed without repercussions. The structure around the star was only half complete, but that was not much comfort. That would be like saying to someone being tortured that they should be happy only half their body was being destroyed. If the structure was merely collecting the energy that the star released- and the sects involved hadn¡¯t begun a war- then Varghese could only say that it was the choice of the locals how to manage their resources. But just like what they did with their planets, it was clear their intent was to consume. A star¡¯s lifespan was- even by cultivator standards- endless. To bring such a thing to an abrupt halt was inexcusable. The same was true for completely dismantling their planets. Perhaps some had no life other than them, but there must have once been other life besides that which they farmed. None of that remained¡­ and the planets could barely be called that. Varghese didn¡¯t regret the deaths that had happened. At most, he could only say that these people should have been killed sooner. The two sects were everything, and while among their vast numbers there were certainly some that had no choice but to be part of them, their whole structure needed to be eliminated. Preferably in both the upper and lower realms. Varghese could only directly affect one of those, but he had heard about certain devices. One problem they were having was that replicating an Ascension took vast amounts of energy. Varghese might have two solutions in one. It wasn¡¯t going to be easy, though. He seriously doubted he could do it, as a mere Assimilation cultivator. But perhaps what was holding him back was not his ability, but certain beliefs. Varghese believed Anton could achieve what he was thinking about, but he didn¡¯t think that he could do it himself. That was the difference between an Assimilation cultivator and someone in Enrichment. Except¡­ Varghese should be able to reach Enrichment. He knew that, not because of his belief in himself- his trust in his own abilities was not quite that firm- but because Anton believed it. Anton had always been far stronger than him. If he reached Enrichment¡­ well, it might still be true. But he hadn¡¯t quite realized that, since it was difficult to measure how much Anton had grown. What did another lightyear or two of range mean to him who could only fight within a system at an entirely different scale? But he could do some things Anton couldn¡¯t. His master could control magnetism, but Varghese had certainly surpassed him in that regard. Maybe he could find other ways. Or maybe he would die trying¡­ but that wouldn¡¯t be so bad. As long as he made sure any consequences of his death fell on their enemies. He¡¯d prefer to live, though. Chapter 1097 Stone wasn¡¯t seen as much of a threat to most cultivators, but the Broad Eyed Harvesters were able to make it both defensively and offensively viable. They were also a large portion of the effectiveness of the enemy¡¯s moving planets. However, their bigger risk was what they could do to other planets if they got to them. The Imbued Fragments with their control of metal were also quite troublesome, providing danger for both ships and orbital platforms. Fortunately, the Lower Realms Alliance was able to adapt their barriers to the sect¡¯s energy signature, preventing them from directly affecting vessels without first puncturing their barriers. Both sects favored kinetic weapons, launching their favored materials with great speed. When their attacks hit they were devastating though if they could be avoided the enemy tended to waste significant effort. The Alliance still found themselves at an advantage and they were slowly wearing them down, including taking down smaller ships made of worldheart. However, they had not yet dealt with some of the bigger problems looming, including the battleship made of worldheart. The correct thing to do would be to continue their slow and steady victories. If they were able to wear down their enemies and minimize their own losses, then they should continue to do so. But Varghese had other ideas. Or rather, something called to him that he could not ignore. ----- At the next battle strategy meeting, Varghese had to speak his mind. ¡°We need to attack Ocreaf next,¡± Varghese stated plainly. Though with the presence of both Anton and himself there was nobody who could really go against them if they said to do something¡­ they didn¡¯t just bring the various military advisors in as yes-men. In¡¯istra wasn¡¯t the only system of note on the eastern border, but two of the other generals came from there. Jamilah of the Reef of Serenity and Sharma, formerly captain of the Iron Plate Mercenaries, were part of that. The latter wouldn¡¯t have grown strong enough to be placed in such a position without the influence of Anton and Varghese, but he was not wholly beholden to their whims. ¡°According to what I know,¡± Sharma said. ¡°That is where they are most well defended. Any assault on the system is likely to be lengthy, potentially allowing them to draw in their remaining forces as reinforcements.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Varghese said. ¡°I have a feeling.¡± From the perspective of non-cultivators, that sort of admission was as good as saying he had no reason. That Varghese just wanted to. However, it was something cultivators had to take seriously. ¡°What sort of feeling?¡± Jamilah asked. ¡°Is there some event we could prevent, perhaps?¡± Varghese shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know if this would be critical for the Alliance or not. However, I have certain insights I feel like I need to act upon. I don¡¯t think I can do so alone, but¡­ it might not actually be the best option.¡± ¡°That depends,¡± Anton spoke up, ¡°On whether or not you can advance to Enrichment. That is the opportunity, isn¡¯t it?¡± Varghese nodded. ¡°Yes. And well¡­ I believe I can. But there¡¯s no way to know until I succeed. Or fail. Even if I do succeed, though, it¡¯s not worth sacrificing our fleets if they have to defend me for an indeterminate time. I can¡¯t guarantee I¡¯d be functional during my attempt to advance.¡± Anton both agreed and disagreed with his assessment. Looking at things strictly from a strategic standpoint, if Varghese had a good chance of succeeding or as little as even odds, it could still be worth the loss of lives. With another Enrichment cultivator their eastern borders could be ever more secure. However, that was ignoring the people that made up the fleets. Their lives mattered, even if they didn¡¯t necessarily have the combat potential. So Anton had to ask. ¡°What¡¯s your actual plan? Bind the star and¡­¡± ¡°Well,¡± Varghese said. ¡°They have strange devices. And I¡¯ve been thinking about connections. Something tells me that this structure draining the star is more than it appears. And it already appears to be quite a lot. I was just thinking, if there¡¯s some sort of connection to the upper realms¡­¡± Varghese made vague gestures. But just because he couldn¡¯t put it into words didn¡¯t mean there wasn¡¯t a sensible thought there. ¡°We¡¯ll back you,¡± Jamilah said. ¡°As long as you believe you have a strong chance of success.¡± ¡°I can do it,¡± Varghese said. ¡°Though¡­ I might need help with the star draining structure. The plan, however, is to keep it intact until I do something about it. But if I get entangled¡­¡± Varghese looked to Anton. ¡°I can manage that,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°How close do you need to get? I assume if you could bind the star from the edge of the system or here¡­ you would just do that.¡± ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t actually consider those options,¡± Varghese admitted. ¡°But no. I think I¡¯ll need to get as deep as possible.¡± ¡°The structure is likely well defended,¡± Sharma warned. ¡°I don¡¯t think our fleets would be able to help if you linger around there.¡± Varghese made a face. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll be sun-diving.¡± Anton knew binding itself shouldn¡¯t take long. So if that went well, he shouldn¡¯t get consumed by the star. ¡°Might I suggest leaving particularly expensive or irreplaceable items elsewhere. Unless you need them, of course.¡± Anton himself had lost everything on him but his bow once- because even if the star wouldn¡¯t kill him that didn¡¯t mean it wouldn¡¯t destroy everything around him when he was missing consciousness. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Noted,¡± Varghese said. ¡°If we¡¯re going, we should try to not be too obvious. Which means the majority of the fleets focus on the planets, while some others escort me closer. Once we get close I¡¯ll break through. The last bit of distance shouldn¡¯t take more than a few seconds.¡± With the basics of a plan in place, they proceeded to iron out the details. But they couldn¡¯t afford to spend too long- only what their own fleets needed to rest and recover. ----- Anton was shooting Spirit Arrows towards a system that was not Ocreaf. He didn¡¯t know what the locals called it, but that wasn¡¯t important. What was important was that it was the most isolated of the remaining systems. Even so, it was adjacent to another system adjacent to Ocreaf¡­ and the point of his assault was to try to get them to draw reinforcements from their neighbor. The actual plans began when movement started, though they had to send their own fleets before they knew the full extent of the enemy¡¯s reaction. They had been tracking the worldheart battleship, and it didn¡¯t seem as if it was going to get any further. Which meant it had the potential to join the battle, but at least it was out of the system at the moment. And if everything went smoothly, reinforcement would only arrive after everything was settled. Which was why they had to assume that things would mess up in nearly every conceivable way. They even had protocols for if the star seemed liable to explode. Varghese at least intended to try to nudge said explosion away from their fleets, though he might not be in a functional state to do so. Preparations were good, but Anton believed in his disciple. He had to. Nobody would be upset if things went better than expected, though. Anton kept up his attack the entire few days the fleets were in transition to Ocreaf. He hadn¡¯t pulled away quite as many ships as he wanted from the neighboring system. So he shot a few of them. But he then had to focus on the targets in Ocreaf itself. As soon as he felt the enemy react to their fleet¡¯s presence, he began to launch his own attacks. They crossed vast distances in mere moments, cutting through subspace. They would have retained more power if the destination system had a star bound to Anton, as he could focus on a corridor, but they were still plenty good for taking out weaker targets- and to Anton, anything below Assimilation fit the bill. Ocreaf also had a good bit of spectral energy to draw upon. It seemed a bit thinner than other systems, indicating fewer lives¡­ or an earlier conquest. Either way, he rationed how much he used, focusing on taking down enemy cultivators on their planets- those same planets happened to be stitched together in close orbit to the star- about as close as they could get without melting, somewhat closer than planets normally could get without formations. It must have been hard on their formations, regardless of how much natural energy they had. Then again, Anton knew it was possible to go even closer with the right designs- it simply didn¡¯t seem that was the plan for their planets. The planets formed a sort of half ring on one side of the star. The Alliance fleets approached from one end to attempt to obscure their true target. No doubt their foes expected them to take down the solar structures, since they knew about starbinding. Speaking of which¡­ Anton could feel the stellar fluctuations. It wasn¡¯t a process that took terribly long with practice, and even with the strangeness Varghese took just a few minutes to nearly complete the task. But it was obvious to Anton that he planned to save the final moment for when he dove towards the star. ----- Varghese broke off from the rest of the fleets, circling around the ¡®back¡¯ side of the star, opposite the planets. There was still a half finished megastructure on any part of the star, complete with formations and cultivators and weapon emplacements. The cultivators began firing their ¡®ammunition¡¯- bits of metal from the structure that were presumably extraneous. So far, nothing of the enemy¡¯s had collapsed without the Alliance causing the final bit of damage so they had to know what they were doing. The stones were the biggest problem for Varghese. He could influence their direction with gravity, but so he found magnetic fields easier to generate and control in complex patterns. He¡¯d formed a ring around their own fleet to draw the metal debris to the outside- and forcing metal to magnetize was fairly easy for the parts that weren¡¯t normally that way. But the stone he simply relied on the fleets to handle. When they got close, the enemy fire intensified. That was the moment that Varghese broke off, drawing more fire onto himself- but he wasn¡¯t so slow as to get hit by anything hastily aimed at him. He had only hesitated about going alone as they could have focused solely on him and predicted his movements. But now that he was close enough¡­ he reached inside himself- and the star in front of him. Varghese tied the final connection he was waiting for, opening a link inside his dantian. Immediately, he felt the wrongness of the structure around- and while he¡¯d intended to keep it intact he couldn¡¯t help but chop apart a very small portion of it as he dashed towards and then into the star. Unsurprisingly, they hadn¡¯t been prepared for that eventuality. Some projectiles followed after him, providing irrelevant changes to the star¡¯s mass and overall doing nothing. But the drain on the star from the structure was far more clear, and Varghese intentionally sought out that connection. He was linked only indirectly, but instead of relying on that for safety he did the opposite. He focused on connecting himself- and his other stars- to the great structure. More than that, he focused on smoothing the flow of energy, expediting the process. It seemed stupid, on the surface. He was just giving them what they wanted, at great risk to himself. However¡­ Varghese could now confirm that there was a further connection stretching to the upper realms. How it worked¡­ he didn¡¯t have time to study. He would have to apologize to all the engineers and formation masters later. This structure wasn¡¯t going to last. Varghese amped up the connection¡­ but he felt the destabilization increase, not only in the local star but also others he was connected to. Then a gentle hand stretched out, holding him up. He really hadn¡¯t considered what would happen to his other stars- and people bound to them. But not only Anton, there were also tiny paws from Three Squeaks supporting him. Tiny only in actual size, of course. The meerkat was nearly as strong as Varghese¡­ unless he made this step. Enrichment. What did it mean to him? He wasn¡¯t going to enhance a failed star into a real one. That was Anton¡¯s method, and while it had been amazing¡­ it just didn¡¯t fit. But he could free this star from its shackles¡­ and he hoped that only his enemies would regret it. Varghese was no longer aware of the outside world. Attacks couldn¡¯t reach him, and he was so internally focused he didn¡¯t know what was happening with the fleets. He couldn¡¯t say whether he was quick or slow, but piece by piece he amplified the draw of every part of the half built structure¡­ and even imagined it as full. And then he pushed. Then everything melted, including himself. Chapter 1098 Ascension was something Varghese had never strongly considered. His early life was filled with visions of ruin caused by those in the upper realms- he had no desire to be among them. However, he had still heard descriptions of what it was like from others in the Alliance, choosing to end up in a friendlier segment of the upper realms. He imagined it was something like what was happening to his consciousness. Varghese wanted to struggle against it, except that he felt his other connections remain. So he allowed the strange sensations to continue, finding himself drawn over a large distance. Time had slowed down, at least by his reckoning. He followed the familiar sensation of natural energy, mixed in among his surroundings. He was suddenly jerked to a halt. His perceptions still seemed slow, as he felt energy surging. He remembered what he had been doing, pushing natural energy through the structure around Ocreaf. His consciousness just managed to continue that push. Without his body, he was little more than his energy senses, stretched to his limits and beyond. Similar structures to what he had seen came into view, except they were feeding the natural energy into stars in the upper realms. Even split between them, the surge of natural energy overwhelmed them. The structures melted, collapsing into their stars as their rigidity was lost. It took no time at all to begin, but Varghese watched in slow motion as the structures began to crumble. Then he was snapped back to where his body was, in the middle of Ocreaf with the structure having already melted into the surface of the star, erased from existence except by the slight ripples left behind- ripples he could only feel through his connection to the star. He wanted to reach out for the fleets, but time surged forward as the star around him tried to come to terms with the sudden change in its status. He held tightly to it, holding it steady¡­ but what felt like a single moment went beyond the end of the battle. Varghese only sensed blurred masses of energy as the fleets and planetary forces clashed, the Alliance eventually withdrawing¡­ but staying near the star. His star. He returned to normal experience just about the time as a small ship approaching Ocreaf was shot out of the sky- small, but not inconsequential. For the brief moments he properly comprehended it, Varghese was filled with revulsion and fear. The small worldheart ship still felt off even with the crew dead. Varghese knew that it had most likely been carrying one of their star disrupting weapons. Fortunately, Anton was watching out for him. Through their connected stars, he sent a feeling of thanks. Anton replied with relief. Stretching his senses to one of the ships, Varghese determined it had been several days. That wasn¡¯t bad, all things considering. It wouldn¡¯t have been for him to be stuck in such a state for weeks¡­ or years. Their fleets were battered, but still holding strong. Varghese spread out his energy to contact them. ¡°Sorry about that. It was less smooth than I anticipated.¡± That was a partial lie. It could have been far rockier¡­ especially if he failed. The first thing Varghese did with his heightened connection was reach out towards the ship-planets that had withdrawn from his star. It had been a point of safety with the star draining structures in place, but without they were concerned about the consequences. ¡°Surrender,¡± Varghese ordered- after stretching his star¡¯s magnetic fields around the half-metallic planets. Even before anyone could react, he was pulling them closer. If Varghese had not advanced to Enrichment they would be properly outside of the proximity zone¡­ but now they hadn¡¯t retreated far enough. And there were still echoes of their energy inside his star, a connection he didn¡¯t appreciate but made use of nonetheless. Varghese repeated his order, focusing on a random Life Transformation cultivator. They hesitated for a moment, so he cut them apart with some of their own metal fragments. He¡¯d seen them use their style enough to see how they broke down the bonds within metal to reform it. His version used significantly more force, but he was too far to properly swing a sword. One at a time was too slow. Varghese focused on several more Life Transformation cultivators. They actually verbally refused, so he took them apart. He planned to continue until someone surrendered. That should encourage others. However, the sects reacted quickly. It was impossible for so many millions to be true fanatics¡­ but if such individuals rose to the top they could have great impacts. That was what he saw as the strongest cultivators among them took control of their combined planetary structure. They began the collapse before everyone could understand what was going on. Once the main structures began to slip, there was no hope of them catching the momentum and reversing the process- though Varghese felt the majority of those remaining try. For a moment, he considered letting the sects come to their own deserved end. Several seconds, in fact. Fortunately for them, they had longer than that before their inevitable crash in the middle. Rather than trying anything complicated, Varghese first eliminated gravity in the area. No doubt some people would debate that being complicated, but it was only a temporary measure, the force of his various stars combining together to sever bonds, if just for a few moments. The momentum of the various segments was still an issue, but the billions of individuals didn¡¯t want to die. They fought together to stop the momentum and reattach their planetary structures. The results were somewhat sloppy as many of the strongest among them rapidly became occupied by a civil war. Perhaps one of the shortest in history considering it spanned several planets- even if they were mashed together. It wasn¡¯t quite clear to everyone exactly what was happening, but they could tell that some of them had tried to collapse their planets. By the time Varghese was forced to let gravity take hold once more, less than a minute later, the battles had mostly settled down. Just to be safe, Varghese let the gravity return a little bit at a time so that people could figure out where their improvised structures were strained. Because of the scales involved even slight tremors were catastrophically devastating, the equivalent of entire countries being rocks by massive earthquakes. Varghese didn¡¯t let himself be concerned with the scale of damage, however. This was still better than what would have been, a single mass of rubble. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I¡¯m going to assume the rest of you prefer to live. Be aware that you couldn¡¯t stop me from throwing you into this star, if I wished to. But if you surrender, there is a path for your survival.¡± Varghese wouldn¡¯t and couldn¡¯t promise all of them would be allowed to live¡­ but the Alliance wasn¡¯t known for eradicating populations where they didn¡¯t have to. It would be a huge project to deal with these sects, but¡­ with so many bound stars in the area, Varghese supposed it was inevitable he¡¯d take up the project. His senses weren¡¯t as sharp as Anton¡¯s but he still picked out something else approaching. More fleets, but they weren¡¯t what initially drew his attention. It was the gigantic ship made of worldheart. Neither the fleet nor the ship would have concerned Varghese too much in other circumstances, but he had just expended most of his energy causing planets not to collapse, whether or not they deserved that. How unfortunate. He should have known they were coming- if he¡¯d only bothered to survey the scene thoroughly before focusing on the planets. He was exhausted¡­ but power was flowing into him at a rate never before felt. No wonder Anton could fight for so long. In the time before the fleets drew too close, he¡¯d recover perhaps a tenth of the maximum energy he¡¯d had before advancing. So he certainly wouldn¡¯t be useless. And they had to come to him, into his domain. ¡°Don¡¯t fly out to engage them,¡± Varghese warned their fleets. A response came from Sharma. ¡°What if they carry anti-stellar weaponry?¡± ¡°It will still be easier to deal with up close. Only the large ship is likely capable.¡± Varghese reached through his combined stars. He couldn¡¯t quite create the energy response he wanted to properly speak to Anton, but he got a general sense of support and vigor, indicating Anton was ready to fight. Hopefully the plans the Sect Head had made would be effective. There was a brief concern that the incoming fleets would link up with the local planets and take control¡­ but they seemed to ignore their presence entirely, even as Varghese continued to very slowly reel them closer. Whether to protect himself against them or to aid them, it was better for him if they were nearby. The fleets were faster, however, and soon the battle began. Varghese found it odd to have no fear for his personal safety. He felt so¡­ free. He was fairly certain he still had a body, but given he had half a star between him and any incoming attack he only had to worry about anything specially made to disrupt the structure of a star. So he was free to focus on offense and tracking the battle as a whole. He created small but powerful magnetic fields within enemy lines. Rather than slashing out with his sword, he caused Ocreaf itself to lash out with solar flares, mimicking his motions. Some portion of the enemy fleet collapsed together, and that was sufficient disruption. The main threat was the worldheart ship. Varghese just needed to take some of the pressure off the rest of their fleets. Anton¡¯s arrows were already arriving, weaving through enemy fleets and dragging spectral energy to the ship itself. Alone, they were insufficient- but they weren¡¯t completely useless either. Varghese felt a large grouping of Life Transformation cultivators aboard the ship. Twenty, fift, perhaps even a hundred. The ship moved forward without thought, cutting through anything in front of it. Its shape transformed at the will of the cultivators aboard. Just to be sure, Varghese tried to manipulate the ship with magnetism, but they negated his efforts rather handily. Perhaps he could overpower them, but he didn¡¯t think it worth devoting so much of his remaining energy to that. Instead, he focused on an element he rarely used- even though it was far less obscure than gravity and magnetism. Varghese used fire- drawn from the very star itself. The incoming ship was still beyond the stage where he could actually hit it with the star itself, but he still channeled the energy from an extended thread. All he wanted was for the ship to be hot. They had barriers, of course. Fire was a typical sort of attack, so they weren¡¯t unprepared¡­ but Varghese¡¯s assault didn¡¯t end. Frankly, he didn¡¯t want to know what they could do, what weapons they had. Perhaps they had one way to destabilize a star, perhaps they had a dozen. It didn¡¯t matter. Likewise, it seemed they didn¡¯t care that he was attacking them- they continued forward. That meant that soon they would be close enough for him to simply reach out and melt them- but that moment of contact might be the one their weapons destroyed Ocreaf- and by extension, Varghese and the surrounding fleets. But they weren¡¯t as suicidal as they seemed. The front third of their vessel suddenly disconnected, rocketing forward and reversing the rest of the ship¡¯s momentum. Varghese instantly called upon Azun to defend its distant brother, enhancing the magnetic field of the star. Even with his focus on a specific area, that disrupted the whole battle- even the stone ships who were anticipating certain sort of movement from the others around them. Even with a single moment of touching the incoming mass of worldheart surrounding something, Varghese shuddered. But as the attacking ship withdrew, the cultivator¡¯s connection snapped, letting Varghese send the payload into distant orbit. It seemed as if the ship expected to get away. But even if Varghese couldn¡¯t control the ship around them, he could control roughly half of their fleet. He connected all of their surrounding ships, trying to provide a corridor for the others to escape, to a shell outside of the worldheart ship. Ships crashed together as Varghese used the last scraps of natural energy he had recovered, turning into various lumps that then piled around the internal structure of the worldheart. And it wasn¡¯t just a few ships. That was one thing the enemy had in abundance, from the resources they had taken by tearing apart so many planets. Not just hundreds of ships, or thousands, but tens of thousands even in that small area around the escaping ship. Enough that it turned into a small moon. Those in the center surprisingly managed to keep their ship¡¯s structure¡­ but it didn¡¯t seem they could do much more than that. They managed to maintain a small amount of momentum, but there was no way they could pass between system by any normal methods without unburying themselves. Varghese was tired. It turned out with more power came previously unknown levels of fatigue. Anton probably felt like this for the last year, based on how much the old man had been doing. But he never complained, did he? Good for him. But as the apprentice, Varghese felt entitled to do so. He was so exhausted. Chapter 1099 When they next met up in person, Anton took a good look at Varghese. ¡°When I first reached Assimilation I came back¡­ crispy. You learned from my mistakes and were able to keep yourself whole, but who would have thought you would return in Enrichment while still aflame?¡± Varghese looked down at his arm, flickering like a flame- the structure itself dissipating and reforming. ¡°I suppose you could call this that. Fire wasn¡¯t really one of my focuses¡­ but I suppose now I am tied to it.¡± ¡°How does it feel?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Well¡­ it¡¯s not painful or anything. But it¡¯s certainly odd. I don¡¯t think I would choose this if I was informed.¡± Varghese grit his teeth, appearing fully solid for a few moments. ¡°I think it will take me a while to stabilize. Speaking of which, thank you for keeping our mutual stars steady. I couldn¡¯t have handled them all on my own.¡± Anton nodded. ¡°Even if it wasn¡¯t necessary for my own benefit, I wouldn¡¯t let my apprentice perish when I could do something. Though I suppose with you being in the same stage now, perhaps we¡¯re equals.¡± ¡°Hah! As if I would believe that now. I was vaguely aware of how far Enrichment could stretch before reaching it, but you¡¯re quite far ahead of where I am now. You might even be close to the next advancement, if it exists.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Anton stroked his chin. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen an end to the path of cultivation yet. But whether or not I can make it is uncertain. Then again, what need have I for more power? At best, I¡¯d like to be able to consistently defeat our strongest enemies.¡± ¡°Expecting more Domination cultivators?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°Not if they know what¡¯s good for them,¡± Anton retorted. ¡°Though perhaps there is a stage beyond even that. The mysteries are not well known to us, so we have no personal attestations in that regard. Once the Scarlet Alliance gets a Domination cultivator or two, they can let us know what they see ahead. Personally, I see the potential. But just because something is theoretically possible doesn¡¯t mean anyone currently alive will succeed- or anyone at any point in the future.¡± ¡°Surely someone would, eventually?¡± Varghese asked. ¡°If we continue to thrive and develop our knowledge of cultivation? I should think so. But there¡¯s no guarantee that we will not encounter an insurmountable threat. Either other cultivators, distortion beasts beyond our comprehension, or something new.¡± Anton glanced at Varghese, flickering again. ¡°Let¡¯s get in some training so that you don¡¯t give anyone cancer by accident.¡± Varghese gave a smirk. ¡°I doubt anyone affected would last that long. It¡¯s a good thing I can fly between systems alone because I wouldn¡¯t risk getting on a ship like this.¡± ----- News of the approaching victory in the eastern war would not reach Devon for some time, but with another Enrichment cultivator and the greatest threats already defeated there was little worry for them. They simply needed a dedicated force to fight their way to the end. Dealing with the ascension cannons in the western war was not a trivial task, but the bigger issue they were encountering was related to void ants. Their presence was a risk for the locals as well, but the Alliance wasn¡¯t able to land in certain areas on more than a few planets. It would be possible to scour a portion of the planet- they had mundane weapons that would kill void ants- but they really preferred not to cause permanent damage to planets. Even if some amount was inevitable, they avoided it when possible. There were a small number of individuals who were not constrained by the same limitations, but Devon wasn¡¯t among them. As an Enrichment cultivator, he was just as vulnerable as a Spirit Building cultivator. His body wasn¡¯t any stronger, though he might be able to overpower their resistance to energy. But if the void ants got to him, his defenses would be useless and he could die far too easily. He kept up proper precautions, avoiding anywhere void ants could reach. But Nthanda had joined them, as well as a number of others who practiced advanced body tempering. Against void ants, Nthanda was effectively invincible- from what Devon knew, even the Great Queen¡¯s royal guard with insights into cutting attacks couldn¡¯t damage her. Perhaps the Great Queen herself could, but that knowledge would be secret between the two of them. Devon was relieved that the local void ants all seemed to be young and weak. Inexperienced. They were well coordinated and clever enough to work together with other colonies. The locals only let the void ants out when they were desperate- and though it was usually to their immediate detriment, it prevented the Alliance from gaining as much ground as they would like. The void ants knew that their captors were their enemies, but they clearly also presumed other human cultivators were as well. With no way to communicate, the Alliance couldn¡¯t dispel that notion. It had been surmised that the void ants might learn to understand human speech from their captors, but so far they hadn¡¯t had much success. To fully secure planets along their path, they had to eliminate any remaining void ants. They didn¡¯t enjoy it, but it was necessary. Devon couldn¡¯t see any path to victory for the Exalted Quadrant. It seemed their attacks had been ill advised¡­ though perhaps there was some other goal they had aside from victory. Even as they were winning, he kept alert for any dangers. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ----- Gabriela could feel it, and that meant the rest of the crew probably could too. She was close to the next step. Enrichment¡­ it wasn¡¯t a mystery to her what she would focus on. Her ship, her crew. Just as the ship itself had sustained many wounds, parts salvaged from other Ascension-class battleships when necessary or produced anew, so too had the crew lost many members over time. But always, there were replacements- and those few who left alive always had greater purposes. Regardless of what happened, the sum total had always grown stronger with time. The ship itself didn¡¯t naturally grow- despite how much Rutera wished their technology got better with age, most of those experiments reached dead ends- but the ship was full of cultivators and with regular upgrades across the centuries it had become something amazing. There had been several opportunities for Gabriela to take over an all new ship, but even with the option to take her crew it never felt right. There had been lulls in their growth that tempted her, but having reached where they were now Gabriela felt vindicated. Perhaps some other cultivator would reach Enrichment by swapping ships, but that wasn¡¯t her. The Wayfarer would continue to grow under her command. And while she would have preferred not to have a war since it was happening failing to take advantage of the opportunity for growth would be a waste. Ascension cannons were a problem. Even if the enemy could only use them irregularly, the Wayfarer had garnered more than a few scars from them during this war. But her own familiarity with the ascension energy involved might provide a solution- as well as the engineers who helped run the barriers, of course. Any time Gabriela thought of her own accomplishments, she considered the whole crew. She had a foolish idea. It was natural to try to avoid the fire of the cannons, but she really wanted to face them head on and come out on top. She brought the idea up with senior crew, expecting to be talked out of it. Then they brought it up with their subordinates, and soon enough the whole ship was preparing. She¡¯d never declared that it would be done, instead everyone had been filled with similar feelings. Of course, they were just as aware as Gabriela of the risks. Yet without her even needing to say anything, they also saw opportunity. The path to growth. They accepted it as a challenge to be overcome instead of avoided- or deflected. It did seem foolish, having experienced how the ascension cannons could take off a section of the ship. Taking such a shot head on was a terrible risk¡­ but it wasn¡¯t as crazy as it sounded. And there was also the subject of a murmuring going around among the crew. If they were really an Ascension-class ship, surely they could face off against a cannon full of ascension energy? The cannons were basically an Integration cultivator using all of their power in a single attack, but the thought had burrowed its way in. And it became the only option that they would do something about it- when they were properly prepared, of course. ----- The opportunity came soon enough after they finished their preparations. Knowing there was some risk of failure, Gabriela had informed those who needed to be aware. Devon, among others, needed to be ready to pick up their slack if something failed. And to not block for them, thinking they were unable to maneuver. There were no plans to fail, but they couldn¡¯t risk their allied fleets collapsing if they did. As always, there was another planet. That was the problem with galaxies- they were far too big, even just the little slice their Alliance was occupying. Too many places for enemies to establish themselves, even centuries before they knew there were enemies. But enough of that. Gabriela stood at the helm. They intentionally set the Wayfarer out front, to be the primary target. It was a temptation that had never failed before, but usually they tried to deflect the incoming attack. It was difficult to focus on the surrounding battle, enemy fleets rising up, knowing what they intended. Gabriela did her best to sustain the energy flow of the ship and crew, bolstering them with her own power. Then the moment came. A rising pulse of energy, then a laser with a beam almost as wide as the bridge. It was meant to cut through even loosely flying formations of ships, but of course it also had the power to take down single large vessels- and perhaps everything behind them afterwards. Gabriela stared down the incoming attack, and only prompted a slight movement, to make sure the beam was centered directly. She wasn¡¯t facing the challenge just because she had a big ego, but because there was actually a logic to it. She stood front and center, the core of power on the ship. Their barriers contracted, while the fortified structure of the ship was prepared to withstand the pressure should the barrier buckle. It was certainly easier to dodge or deflect¡­ but that left others vulnerable. And if one were prepared¡­ taking a hit precisely where they wished to was not bad either. The beam would last only a few seconds, usually enough to melt everything up to and including Assimilation cultivators and any parts of an Ascension-class ship in the way. Gabriela felt the force, and nearly staggered back. But she held her position, standing strong for the crew, the ship, and of course herself. Alarms were raised as the barrier hit a critical point, collapsing inward and allowing the outer portion of the hull to absorb a portion of the attack while they refreshed for a fraction of a second. A brilliant glow lit the prow of the ship- both reflected light from the lasers and the glow of the heat it absorbed. But while it bent and distorted from the rapid heating, it held. Gabriela held too. And the Wayfarer. The barrier snapped back into place, mitigating the last of the assault. The ship¡¯s batteries were drained. Gabriela felt her dantian running dry. But their ship stood- and the enemy fleets were heavily impacted by the event. The whole battlefield sensed it¡­ and their enemies would learn fear. Meanwhile, their allies were inspired. Gabriela was supposed to care¡­ but she wasn¡¯t interested in expanding her influence to fleets. The Wayfarer was all she needed. She turned to face the rest of the bridge. ¡°You all did well. Now let¡¯s do that again.¡± The glow of their nose rapidly diminished as the ship drained the ambient heat to power their batteries. Devotion flowed freely throughout the ship. Gabriela felt her personal stores of energy being poured into¡­ but she felt empty. Not because she couldn¡¯t recover, but because there was so much more capacity than before. All it took was pushing the Wayfarer hard enough. After this, she¡¯d push for all the upgrades the crew wanted. Nobody could say that the materials wouldn¡¯t go to the best use possible. Chapter 1100 While she was perfectly capable of fighting from space, and indeed in some ways more effective there if her arrows were bulky enough, Nthanda chose to fight on the ground for one reason. Void ants. They were a continual problem, but if she provided a target it was easy enough to distract them from other targets. At least, until they realized that they could do nothing to her. Technically, she had natural energy that they were able to devour, and that lasted all of a few moments before they realized that they couldn¡¯t actually hurt her. But by then, a good portion of their forces would have latched onto her, able to be squashed en-masse. There were a few reasons Nthanda was willing to kill the void ants, besides having many as friends. First, they were dangerous to others. Second, many of them weren¡¯t quite people. Even those that might have developed to that point were kind of jerks. They should know better than to attack random people who were clearly at war with their captors. But every time, upon being broken from their confinement, they went after every available source of natural energy. Had Everheart somehow stumbled upon particularly tame void ants, or had the Exalted Quadrant turned them particularly aggressive? She wasn¡¯t sure. All she knew was that she was covered in ants and they were getting in the way of her vision. Different colonies tried different tactics. Some immediately abandoned attacking Nthanda upon realizing she couldn¡¯t be harmed, aiming for other targets. Others tried various ways to kill her. It wasn¡¯t actually pleasant, but Nthanda was so far being damaged by standard void ants that she didn¡¯t have to do anything. Though she could always crush them all by squeezing a hand tightly around an arm and sliding along. This colony was persistent, and was using the most unique method she¡¯d seen. They couldn¡¯t hurt her¡­ but they simply began to pile on greater and greater numbers. Now she was something like ten ants deep. Frankly, though it was original, Nthanda didn¡¯t find it particularly practical. They seemed to be trying to crush her with weight. She supposed they might actually succeed if it was a normal cultivator. They were up to a few hundred kilograms now. The colony seemed to be extremely numerous. Far more than she expected that anyone would let them grow, in fact. This wasn¡¯t just millions of ants. Maybe tens of millions? Hundreds? A portion of them died every time she fired her bow, but so far they weren¡¯t really slowing her down. But they were quite useful in case anyone launched an energy attack¡­ if a bit impractical. Her own training to modify her skin to absorb natural energy was sufficient. Nthanda let them continue to come. She did determine she had something they could damage- her communicator. So she had to call for aid- not because she was in danger, but because she would prefer not to kill so many all at once. They had ways to contain them, all she needed was to detach them all at once. It was easier than it sounded, if a bit uncomfortable. Though any of that was better than when they tried to climb into her nose. Even if they couldn¡¯t hurt her from the inside it was weird, so she put a swift end to any trying anything like that by blasting them away with high force winds. A colony that merely wanted to crush her was much more acceptable, though clearly poorly informed. Then again, it wasn¡¯t like the Exalted Quadrant shared any information with them. ----- Deploying void ants with projectiles was a threatening prospect, but clearly the Exalted Quadrant didn¡¯t check to make sure it actually worked. Various attempts were either too slow to hit any of their ships or too fast for the void ants to survive. Despite her best efforts Nthanda could only be in one location at a time so the void ants were still a problematic factor for terrestrial combat¡­ and they were currently dealing with some sects that lived in caverns. Fortified caverns, so they couldn¡¯t just collapse them from space. Or at least nobody currently in attendance. Nthanda was fine¡­ but others with her or in other locations were not. These sects had void ants too, and even with flamethrowers and other specifically engineered weapons some slipped by and were causing casualties. They were also quite adept at getting around behind¡­ and that was where they ran into danger. It seemed they missed a small crack a kilometer back, and now were being pressed on both sides. Taking everything into account, Nthanda made a snap decision to collapse the tunnels in front of them. That wouldn¡¯t perfectly seal off the direction, but should slow the void ants. But they still had to deal with behind. Invincible as she was, she couldn¡¯t stem the tide alone. Each ant had to be crushed in bunches, but she could only cover so much area. Nthanda didn¡¯t mind flamethrowers including her in the area, since they were relatively low intensity, but since they didn¡¯t function off of natural energy their ammunition was limited. ¡°Their numbers seem infinite!¡± cried one of her soldiers. ¡°We have to run through!¡± Nthanda grabbed the soldier as he tried to run past- better than letting him get himself killed. ¡°You should at least wait for orders,¡± she said. ¡°They¡¯re only so fast. I can tell their numbers don¡¯t continue endlessly. We move forward together.¡± What she didn¡¯t tell them was that she was fairly certain they couldn¡¯t make it all the way. They sprayed the walls with fire, but they couldn¡¯t use poisons in confined corridors or their own people would suffer. The air quality was already bad enough that people were using what natural energy they had to refresh it- but since it couldn¡¯t be used against void ants anyway, they might as well. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The first few colonies seemed like they might have been exceptions, carefully contained for experimentation. However, they¡¯d seen so many more that it was clear these sects had been building them up for a long time. Perhaps as a form of retaliation against the lower realms, or perhaps they were meant to influence the upper realms eventually. Though the fact that they drew attention to themselves implied the lower realms might be the first targets. Nthanda wanted to run ahead and try to seal the cracks, but the void ants were already out by the time she noticed. There probably weren¡¯t more, so she¡¯d just be abandoning her people. Her presence might not make much difference in who survived, but there was nothing more for her to do. Then she noticed something new coming- flying through the air. An arrow whistled through the air, piercing a dozen meters into the wall behind as her target dodged. And then signed at her. ¡°And hello to you too.¡± Once she was close, Nthanda could recognize the form of the Great Queen. There were a few scars, she was far larger than most, and most tellingly the way she flew without wings revealed her. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see you,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°That¡¯s why I came first,¡± the Great Queen signed. ¡°Tell your people to leave the second wave alone. It will be obvious.¡± Void ants dropped from the ceiling towards the Great Queen, further along the hallway into their mass as she was. They recognized her as from a different colony¡­ but they far underestimated what they needed. With a single sweep of her jaws she clove a thousand of them into bits. ¡°Reinforcements are on their way!¡± Nthanda said. She looked at the Great Queen. ¡°Our own allied void ants. You¡¯ll be able to recognize them.¡± Nthanda really hoped that was the case¡­ because as much as the void ants didn¡¯t mourn their individual losses, there would still be some with potential. Especially among such numbers. As for how long it would take¡­ Nthanda fortunately didn¡¯t have to wait. It was obvious. First was the way they rolled together as a number of separate masses, but also the fact that they had a line of reflective silver paint down the middle of their bodies. Clearly, they¡¯d thought about this. Both the dangers of friendly fire¡­ and how they would fight other void ants en masse. The ¡®local¡¯ void ants tried to fight back- and indeed, they killed many. But where the Alliance void ants were bigger, they used their mass to their advantage and where they were smaller they used more complex tactics. Then of course there were the Royal Guard, carving out large paths ahead of them. From a hundred meters of tunnel, it was barely a minute before the incoming tide of void ants was half dissipated. Just in time, as the flamethrowers were beginning to sputter. That meant the cultivators simply had to withstand the void ants for a short time before their allies arrived and took care of the rest. ¡°... How many deaths?¡± Nthanda asked. ¡°Looks like twenty or so,¡± the Great Queen said. ¡°... among yours?¡± The Great Queen tilted her head. ¡°Maybe the same. But in millions. Few had practical experience against their own kind, except in training. But I am proud to see they did not hesitate.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°I hadn¡¯t heard about reinforcement ships.¡± ¡°We arrived in the days since you¡¯ve been in the tunnels. We are here, of course, to stop these ruffians from giving us bad names.¡± ¡°Their numbers¡­¡± Nthanda began hesitantly. ¡°Won¡¯t be a problem. Aside from the Unified Cluster, the Lower Realms Alliance has plenty of void ants. We might run out of paint, though. That was a last minute thing.¡± ----- The Lower Realms Alliance void ants had come to join the battle in a single ship- a single long distance cargo vessel. And while some of the Alliance had been concerned about the number of void ants the enemy kept releasing¡­ the Great Queen had brought enough followers to complete their goal. Specifically their goal was that humans should not concern themselves with void ants. If the enemy released them onto the battlefield? The Alliance ants would take care of them. Anywhere people had to land they would go. While there were a few concerns at first due to possible confusion, their zealotry was not to be questioned. ¡°We don¡¯t want you to look and think ¡®is that an enemy?¡¯ Of course not.¡± The Great Queen shook her head vigorously in her speech, being broadcast to the fleets. ¡°If it is an enemy, fear not for we will take care of it. Step without caution as we root them out of their dark hiding places.¡± Perhaps it should not have been surprising since the Great Queen¡¯s leadership had been continuous for more than eight centuries, but the Alliance void ants were far more effective than the others. And it seemed they weren¡¯t lacking in numbers, either. The various planets had been growing colonies in containment- meanwhile, throughout the rest of the alliance the void ants moved freely. They just didn¡¯t look like they took up much space, because they used places humans couldn¡¯t. Aside from battlefield tactics, the Alliance ants had the one advantage holding the others back- cooperation. Specifically, ships that could transport them. The Exalted Quadrant had to worry about keeping them contained until they got somewhere. The Alliance just had to worry about not stepping on them- except of course the void ants were smart enough to make trails that were safe. Everywhere that enemy void ants had been seen, the Alliance ants scoured the area¡­ but that wasn¡¯t all. They also established a colony to watch the area. It would take them some time to build up proper numbers, but the Great Queen was adamant that nothing would slip through their mandibles. As for the previously captured void ants¡­ they were quite intimidated by the Great Queen¡¯s presence. Not understanding speech and only recognizing her scent as different, they were quite aggressive until the first few thousand died- mostly by her own jaws or the cutting insights of her Royal Guard. After some initial trouble, they recognized that the sign language was a form of communication. Some of the colonies calmed down when the Great Queen didn¡¯t press the attack. Any colonies¡¯ queens who were willing to back down or at least tried to communicate continued to have necessary food and water provided. A few colonies were riled up by their queens and then completely eliminated. As for fruitful communication, that would take more time. Chapter 1101 Capturing enemies was a task that was extremely simple for Devon to accomplish, but also a matter he had to take very seriously. He was well aware that some cultivators managed to operate on contradictory axioms, but he was not one of those cultivators. He needed to be certain he didn¡¯t cross a certain line transforming people from captives to slaves, nor could he allow others to do so. His thoughts on the matter could likely fill a hundred tomes, though not every aspect would be shared with every other member of the Shattered Chains. That was fine, but as an Enrichment cultivator he couldn¡¯t get sloppy with his actions. Capturing enemies so that they could be interrogated? Reasonable. Though they would obviously prefer not to be imprisoned, it was a critical part of war. Imprisoning anyone that was not a threat- in any of the potential ways a person could be a threat to themselves or others- was certainly outside of Devon¡¯s realm of operation. There was still a lot of uncertainty in between those points, however. Even if they were enemies, Devon wouldn¡¯t be comfortable with capturing people with the intention to force them to work. A key point was the reasoning behind the actions, and it was best to avoid anything that might lead to such ends because of how easy it was for humans to fool themselves, even cultivators with powers of deep introspection. Where on the line did capturing cultivators close to ascension with the intention to use their deaths against other enemies fall? Devon could certainly justify wrapping someone in his chains and bludgeoning someone else to death with them¡­ but that was neither efficient nor precisely comparable to what they had planned. He didn¡¯t have the answers yet, so he captured Life Transformation cultivators on the cusp of Ascension with the caveat that he might later disallow any further action. For the moment, their auras were being carefully studied while the war was ongoing. ----- Aerona was one of the first people that Devon would go to with his struggles, moral or otherwise. Even if she had no answers herself, she always helped him learn. ¡°Is it any different from forcing slaves to set off traps ahead of an army?¡± Devon asked. ¡°A task that comes with certain death, outside of the will of the individuals involved.¡± ¡°It would somewhat depend on whether they are slaves, I would suppose,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Not all prisoners are, but in such a situation it certainly seems so. As for how it is different¡­ I can¡¯t say much that makes it sound better.¡± Devon raised an eyebrow. ¡°But you did think of another analogy?¡± Aerona nodded. ¡°It¡¯s more like¡­ using them as ammunition from a cannon.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s¡­ definitely not better,¡± Devon admitted. ¡°As much as I would like to cause maximum damage to the upper realms, I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s appropriate for the Alliance or for myself. Though some of that is because we¡¯d basically be forcing people to step into the cannon themselves. Though it might not be better some other way.¡± ¡°You would prefer our enemies to come to a swift end, should they deserve it. A not unreasonable solution. But what if they volunteered?¡± ¡°And why should they?¡± Devon asked. ¡°It results in only death to them for no benefit, unless they seek a petty revenge on the upper realms themselves.¡± ¡°You cannot say what is in the hearts of others,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Besides, they might not know the consequences of their actions.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think tricking them is any better,¡± Devon shook his head. ¡°Indeed. But if they were fully informed and chose that path anyway?¡± ¡°You really think there will be any?¡± Devon asked. ¡°That, I don¡¯t know. But there are many people to choose from.¡± ¡°We¡¯d still be forcing them, effectively,¡± Devon frowned. ¡°Telling someone to choose between death and something we say is death but might result in their survival is uncomfortably coercive.¡± ¡°Do you trust me?¡± Aerona asked. ¡°I do,¡± Devon said. ¡°Then believe me when I say I am ready to extract true responses from our enemies. Maybe I am wrong and there will be none¡­ but if we start with a planet over which we have no control? I think you will see something interesting. Though first I¡¯m getting those answers nobody would give me earlier.¡± ¡°Ah. You¡¯re ready?¡± Devon prompted. ¡°I believe so. I have cultivated more slowly than many others, but being constantly exposed to you and the few others I have sufficient understanding of Enrichment. Or we shall see disappointing results once more. But this time, I hope to accelerate our victories in a certain manner. Though I also need you.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Devon agreed. Anything Aerona would ask him for was something he would happily do. ----- ¡°Bringing fleets with us would be safer,¡± Devon said. ¡°But I suppose that¡¯s not beneficial to you.¡± ¡°They would be both an energy disturbance and reduce the appropriate pressure I feel,¡± Aerona confirmed. ¡°Oh. I believe they have sensed us.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Devon said. ¡°Let them come. They can¡¯t keep up with us. Once the ships leave atmosphere, I¡¯ll take us around to the other side. Should give us a good bit of wiggle room.¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. So they waited, above a planet swarming to attack a seemingly vulnerable pair. Of course, they were still cautious of Devon, but the fleets gathered together into a group that would be overwhelming even for him. A single chain wrapped around the planet, attaching to Devon and Aerona on either end. Then it contracted, whipping them around opposite sides of the planet. For Aerona¡¯s sake, Devon took a few minutes to complete the process instead of going at the maximum velocity he could accomplish¡­ but the fleets were far from being able to keep up. On the other side, Devon equalized their momentum to stop them together. ¡°What next?¡± he asked. ¡°Use your World Encompassing Chains to help me transmit my words. Include the fleets, if you would.¡± Devon stretched his chains out, not bothering to hide the pattern he created. Anyone paying attention would be locked onto his energy already. The fleets were racing to meet him, with a small number of ships that had not departed taking off to reach their new position. ¡°I hope this doesn¡¯t take long,¡± Devon said. ¡°Or that you can afford a minor disruption for battle.¡± ¡°It will only be a few moments,¡± Aerona said. ¡°The power of words is quite an interesting thing.¡± She took Devon¡¯s hand, and he helped guide her natural energy- far more than was required to merely transmit her voice. Her energy was far deeper, carrying more than just the words she spoke. ¡°Your attempts to fight are pointless,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Your defeat is inevitable. Surrender, and you will be treated well.¡± With those words, the truth behind them was also transmitted. Yet the response clearly showed that it wasn¡¯t forcing people to accept it. Instead, the response that came was difficult for Devon to interpret. Not the part where people were yelling profanities into the sky, but something else. Aerona simply nodded to herself. ¡°Both better and worse than I thought. Could you help me link together certain like minded individuals? It¡¯s about¡­ a tenth of the population.¡± ¡°My chains don¡¯t really work like that. They¡¯re more¡­ restrictive.¡± ¡°What some people will use to bind in solitude we can use to tie others together,¡± Aerona said. She was already manipulating her energy, and Devon implicitly followed her lead. As he did, he felt her interpretation of the response coming through. Some of those below didn¡¯t wish to die in this war. As Aerona said, perhaps a smidge more than tenth of the population which was rather small. But to them, it felt even less as they were isolated, unable to express themselves safely. Devon¡¯s energy flowed over the whole planet, overwhelming the senses of those watching so that they would not pick up the fine chains he connected between those like minded individuals- though really, he just provided the means. Their own will and Aerona¡¯s guidance, her words, brought them together. Somehow, Devon knew that after this they would seek each other out in the future. ¡°It¡¯s done,¡± Aerona said, as the closer fleets were perhaps a minute away. ¡°Now we just need to find our volunteers.¡± She paused for a moment, then made her declaration. ¡°Who would like to Ascend, even if it likely results in your own death and that of others?¡± The words weren¡¯t the limit of her meaning, and just like the first there was more to it than what she strictly said. It included the full explanation, just not in a way anyone would consciously recognize later- they couldn¡¯t give away their plans, after all. Devon was surprised at the vast number of responses- though at the same time, most of them were unviable. Those who wished to ascend at truly any cost were generally weaker, understanding it was impossible for them. But there were a few who were at the peak of Life Transformation, stuck at the final step. ¡°I suppose we¡¯ve found our volunteers.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Aerona said. ¡°Now snatch them up. I¡¯m sure you can manage a handful just fine.¡± That he could. And as he did, he marveled at his wife. Perhaps it should have been obvious to him, but she didn¡¯t really feel any stronger. And why should she, if her method of Enrichment didn¡¯t require raw power? Indeed, she only needed to draw upon Devon for making something of the results she gathered. A planet full of people able to reveal some of their true desires without judgment. Well, without judgment from Aerona at least. And Devon would keep his quiet. Now then, time to yank a few fools into space. ----- Even after speaking with those they grabbed, Devon couldn¡¯t quite comprehend it. Then again, he didn¡¯t fully understand even a single other person. In fact, he could remove other from that sentence, as his path of cultivation still required deeper understanding of himself. The cultivators weren¡¯t particularly happy about being snapped up, but despite certain outside protests Devon was confident in Aerona- and that they really had agreed on a primal level. Was it wrong to shoot crazy people out of a cannon? Devon didn¡¯t care to bother himself with further questions along that line. Whether these people thought they could sabotage the Alliance¡¯s efforts or had some sort of grudge against the upper realms or hoped for reincarnation, the choice was there to Devon¡¯s satisfaction. When things were properly explained to them, they were always resistant in front of their peers¡­ but ultimately cooperative. Devon could tell when someone really wanted to be freed from chains. What were the chances of finding such people? Devon didn¡¯t have to actually guess. There were four here¡­ so it could be about one in three billion. Except there had been far more with the frankly suicidal desires in their hearts- it was merely that four were actually suited. Now he just had to get them- and any others that would express their candidacy- to the right place. That would be Yoron, where they had constructed the necessary components of their plans. Some sort of lower realms Ascension chamber, meant to trigger ascension¡­ but at a cost. They weren¡¯t exactly convenient to the frontlines, but with the void ants busy securing planets Devon could afford to be away for a bit. Plus, a portion of a planet¡¯s population should be organizing itself for surrender. No matter how many times he thought about it, it didn¡¯t make sense to Devon. But he fully trusted Aerona¡¯s perception on the matter. It was difficult to imagine wanting something like power more than his own life. The only thing he ranked more highly than his life was the lives of friends and family, and the Alliance as a whole. But not much more highly, because he was aware that others would be sad to see him gone. Anyone else who had come to Devon with this plan he would have rejected- but not only did he trust Aerona¡¯s truth, he was also aware she didn¡¯t have a particular stake in what they were trying to do. Damaging the upper realms, that is. War wasn¡¯t her thing, and she barely considered military victories a positive. So she shouldn¡¯t be trying to assist him because he subconsciously wanted an excuse, right? ¡°Is what I want¡­ good?¡± Devon asked Aerona. ¡°Nice try,¡± Aerona said. ¡°But you¡¯ll have to provide those answers for yourself. But I¡¯d like to think I wouldn¡¯t pick someone who wasn¡¯t at least striving for the best.¡± Somehow, Devon understood that trying to provide the answers for Devon with her abilities would be unsatisfactory. Which was¡­ just like cultivation techniques. Humans had to puzzle through the truth of the universe by relying on what wisdom they could find around them. Chapter 1102 One would think that Devon, as an Enrichment cultivator, would be suited to answer general cultivation questions and they would be right- except on a certain topic. That specific topic was of great interest to those they had captured, given that it was the goal of most cultivators in the lower realms- or at least, it once had been. That aspect was of course Ascension. And while Devon knew quite a bit about it, he had no personal experience. Nor did anyone who was able to personally speak with them- but that didn¡¯t mean there was no information available. In fact, there was quite a large quantity of information available from ascended individuals regarding common questions people had. That was one reason the Lower Realms Alliance had a constant flow from the lower realms to the upper realms- previously, there hadn¡¯t been much experience worth sharing since most of it came from those who failed to reach the next step. Of course, planets having cultivation knowledge reset every cycle hadn¡¯t helped. Teaching enemies to cultivate, especially to cross one of the great thresholds, was not really the norm, even for the Alliance. Teaching former enemies? Absolutely. But nobody could say that these captive individuals weren¡¯t still currently their enemies. But even so, that sliver of their goals aligned. They wanted to ascend, and the Alliance needed them to do that to cause damage. Of course, not everyone would want to ascend if it was followed by nearly assured death, but each person rationalized it differently. Some doubtless hoped that they would reincarnate, keeping some portion of memories or even a vague impression on their soul. Others imagined that what the Alliance was trying to do was impossible, or that they could overcome it. They weren¡¯t precisely willing participants in sabotaging their own sects¡­ but there was a certain level of deep resonance that Devon could accept the way things were being done. He had returned to the frontlines with Aerona, focusing not so much on stamping out the last bits of resistance but instead reaching a particular goal. Their victory in the lower realms was inevitable- especially with the growth of new Enrichment cultivators. ----- The western war was nearing completion, while the eastern war was practically wrapping up. It seemed the old factions from the upper realms truly couldn¡¯t comprehend their strength, or they would never have provoked them again. Any weapons they brought could be dismantled¡­ and if they thought the lower realms would be afraid of void ants, they had another thing coming. They tried to deploy them like feral animals, but they were allies. Tiny and admittedly a bit unusual allies, but steadfast. They¡¯d been around almost as long as any humans, and a stable part of Ceretos before the Alliance was formed. With conflict after conflict, they were just looking for a moment of rest. But the moment for that was not just yet¡­ at least for the combined Alliance. ----- In the upper realms, a box twitched. On its own, an unremarkable sight as it had done so quite frequently for the past few years. However, combined with certain other information coming in it provoked a carefully prepared response. Zaur Beridze was on the move once more, and the Scarlet Alliance couldn¡¯t afford to be timid in their response. Activating their defensive fleets could be delayed slightly, as the Exalted Quadrant would take some time to reach their territory- even the Domination cultivator himself could only move so quickly- but their counterattack had to begin immediately. A somewhat familiar group gathered. It had become clear that taking out an anchor was the more achievable option, so they didn¡¯t hold back. Velvet was of course a key part of any infiltration team- they would likely never reach their target without their best stealth specialist. But aside from Durff, the supporting cast was quite different. Catarina would be taking the role of the formation master- it had to be assumed that the Citadel of Exalted Light had received defensive improvements for the actual Citadel. Timothy was of course not going to let Catarina go alone, and they needed a defensive expert to cover the assault team. Chidi was also going as part of the assault team. The logic was that Zaur Beridze would almost certainly be looking to kill him¡­ and he wasn¡¯t quite up to fighting a Domination cultivator alone yet. There was also very little chance they could repeat the prior traps and have any level of success. Finally, Prasad would be there. One Thousand Palms was a technique highly suited for wide area suppression. They didn¡¯t expect him to be able to defeat all of the incoming enemies, but any space he could provide would be extremely welcome. Remaining behind to defend the Scarlet Alliance were all of their other Augmentation cultivators, and of course their great fleets and the formations of Xankeshan. Their offensive team was rather conservative- just slightly less conservative now that they had time to prepare further in advance. It simply couldn¡¯t be much larger and still manage to reach their goal in secret. ----- The hopes that the movements were a false alarm rapidly faded as agents in the western portion of the Scarlet Midfields reported approaching fleets. More than a few sects were participating, and while that was a worrying prospect it was still far short of being a combined effort of the Exalted Quadrant. Just the Citadel of Exalted Light and some others they could draw to their cause. Most importantly, there were no signs of other Domination cultivators being involved. It was a matter of months for their fleets to reach the proper borders of the Scarlet Alliance, hopefully surpassed in the other direction by their strike team. They were aware that they might not be able to damage the Citadel if Zaur wasn¡¯t engaged in combat, but they couldn¡¯t expect the battles to last long. Rather than a situation where they forced enemies to push past their outer planets one at a time, the Scarlet Alliance had committed to concentrating around Xankeshan. Though it was possible that things might turn into a protracted siege, it was still rather important for their assault team to arrive sufficiently early. That way, they could better arrange their own opportunities. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ----- Alva sighed, looking off into the distance. ¡°What is it?¡± Prospero asked. She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m just annoyed that this guy can effectively just keep throwing himself at us, and common logic dictates that he¡¯ll come out on top.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what happens when you get strong enough,¡± Prospero said. ¡°Though¡­ I do believe we are beyond common logic already. The first time he was stopped by another Domination cultivator, but failing even once without that? He probably hasn¡¯t wrapped his head around it. Or he wouldn¡¯t come back.¡± ¡°... Do you think she got our message?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Someone with a grudge like that probably didn¡¯t even need us to tip them off,¡± Prospero pointed out. ¡°As for what she¡¯ll do with the information, we can only assume something that causes maximum damage to him. Which might not be coming here.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t really counting on that,¡± Alva admitted. ¡°I¡¯d just like to know that he¡¯ll probably go down even if we die here.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s all your positivity?" Prospero asked. ¡°Buried under my realism.¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I just have a bad feeling about this time.¡± Alva turned and looked over her shoulder. ¡°Like some sort of doom creeping up on me.¡± ¡°Well now,¡± Prospero said. ¡°That is something we need to discuss. I have no such feeling¡­ but perhaps you are sensitive to different things. Do you fear Zaur is bringing dangerous allies? That he has some other tricks?¡± Alva frowned. ¡°I do, but¡­ not enough to feel like this. It might be something else. Or nothing at all.¡± ¡°Never discount your hunches,¡± Prospero said. ¡°You are more sensitive to spatial disturbances than I. Perhaps something along those lines? Distortion beasts?¡± Alva frowned. ¡°It could be the Disciples of the Beyond again. We heard about their movements.¡± ¡°It would be logical,¡± Prospero agreed. ¡°But you don¡¯t seem to believe that¡¯s it either.¡± Alva looked over her shoulder again, and Prospero simply turned to face the other way- galactic east, more or less. ¡°What¡¯s over this way?¡± Alva turned with him. ¡°The Trigold Cluster.¡± ¡°Koronis?¡± Prospero asked. ¡°Can you feel her nebula?¡± Alva asked. ¡°I can, vaguely,¡± Prospero said. ¡°Distant as it is. I don¡¯t feel any disturbances from there, however. Should we consult a third party?¡± ¡°It¡¯s something about stars,¡± Alva said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s there. We should contact Hoyt.¡± The best part about being prepared for a defensive war was that they could easily gather others. While it was true that quite often the majority of them were around Xankeshan, it wasn¡¯t as if they stayed entirely in one place. They roamed in and out of the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s territory somewhat regularly. Hoyt joined them as well in just a few minutes. Upon explaining the situation, he focused his thoughts eastward. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything different about the Creeping Fire Sect. Maybe it¡¯s the Silver Fang?¡± ¡°We can expect them to jump on this situation,¡± Prospero admitted. ¡°We should reconsider how we deploy our defensive forces.¡± Alva nodded. ¡°At least we¡¯ve extended our eastern border. They won¡¯t be able to cause too much trouble. But¡­ I¡¯m still thinking about different stars.¡± ¡°Should we pull up a chart?¡± Prospero asked. ¡°Or the telescopes?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think a chart would tell my gut anything,¡± Alva admitted. ¡°But¡­ perhaps if I see the stars¡­?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a bad way to spend the time, I think. Even if it leads to nothing.¡± ¡°You and my grandpa both,¡± Alva shook her head. ¡°Indeed,¡± Prospero said. ¡°If I was reborn in the lower realms, I think I might have become a starbinding cultivator.¡± ¡°I appreciate stars just fine,¡± Alva said. ¡°I just am less excited about simply looking. If we had time, maybe I¡¯d go visit a few hundred to see if we could solve anything.¡± ¡°Should we consult the rest of the sect?¡± Hoyt suggested. ¡°Even if the next generation is short of being Augmentation cultivators¡­ they might have some impressions. Though we wouldn¡¯t wish to cause unnecessary worry. It¡¯s difficult to know if this is worth escalating.¡± ¡°It is,¡± Alva said. ¡°Now that I realize I was looking the wrong way, I can tell there¡¯s something¡­ though where in the Trigold Cluster is another question.¡± ----- Velvet would have thought that with all of her experience, sneaking into the Exalted Quadrant would be easier. And maybe it was, but the situation was more serious so she found the task much more draining. Planning out their route was a pain as well- they had one pre-established but they would almost certainly have to adapt based on enemy readiness. ¡°Do we risk passing the Everheart System?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°The one near the Citadel of Exalted Light, I mean. And on our retreat¡­ is that a viable safe haven? Should we have brought Vari? Or Alva?¡± Catarina responded first. ¡°Using his structures as a method to escape is not particularly a reliable plan. Repeating our tricks isn¡¯t a good idea.¡± ¡°Wait, hold on,¡± Durff interjected. ¡°Does that mean I¡­ shouldn¡¯t hammer the Citadel?¡± Velvet smiled. ¡°We brought you for a reason. You¡¯re much stronger than last time, so we should expect different results from you. But you absolutely should be focused on smashing it. Likewise, I¡¯m still here to sneak us closer. We simply have to assume they¡¯ll have adapted. That¡¯s why we have Catarina, as we¡¯ll be relying on her as our top formation expert.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Catarina said. ¡°As for our route, I¡¯d avoid Everheart if possible. Whatever his reaction, it might delay our plans or tip people off. No doubt he¡¯s already received word of what¡¯s going on and he might cause trouble¡­ but asking him for aid is too much of a risk. We¡¯re not allies, we just happened to have many mutual enemies.¡± Ultimately, their route was a mix between their need to be efficient with their movements and safety. Velvet doubted she would change anything even as they went deeper, but she couldn¡¯t stop thinking about it. Because if she did and something came up, then everything would be her fault. Chapter 1103 The ship sent to infiltrate the Exalted Quadrant had been enhanced to deal with potential difficulties. They didn¡¯t anticipate needing to enter the planetary barrier, but if that situation should come up it was prepared to do so while maintaining secrecy. Only a small number of tweaks were made for the actual stealth capabilities, and Velvet had taken to heart the small disturbances that had allowed Lelka to notice them the previous time. The main change was to enhance the range so that they could travel between systems less directly. Each additional system they could bypass without stopping was a significant reduction in chances of detection. Since their enemy had to be watching for them specifically, they found those features to be critical. One moment they were peacefully traveling along, then Catarina dashed to the controls and forcibly dropped the ship out of subspace. The scale of the ship they were on was so small any of them could reach anywhere on the ship in an instant. ¡°What was that for?¡± Velvet asked. She avoided an accusatory tone, since she could easily assume there would be a good explanation. ¡°Interstellar sensory formations,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I¡¯m not willing to assume that they are unable to sense us.¡± ¡°Can you sense how far it extends?¡± Timothy asked, having followed just behind her- the whole crew was crowded around the area because of the disturbance. ¡°Given the curvature¡­ it has to surround most of Exalted Quadrant space. Similar to our grand formation.¡± ¡°But worse,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Different, at least. Lower energy,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But we¡¯ll need to find a formation node. I would assume this is an omnidirectional shell.¡± ¡°Could be,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Or perhaps they only blocked off the side they expected us to come from. If it¡¯s for us, I mean.¡± ¡°They would-¡± Catarina caught herself. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s possible. I don¡¯t think responsible formation masters would leave a flaw like that, but it might actually avoid other flaws. A complete encirclement has to be very carefully calculated. Regardless, we are likely to find a node so we can see some of the actual runes instead of making assumptions based off the energy flow.¡± ¡°Can we calculate another subspace route?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°How much do you trust the curvature of this formation?¡± Catarina sighed. ¡°We¡¯ll have to make small hops. One lightyear at a time, maybe less. That will be more taxing on the ship¡¯s systems, dropping in and out like that.¡± ¡°We should have brought an engineer,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But it¡¯s too late for that.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I am of course versed in technology, but not to the same level as a focused engineer. We will have to trust in the system''s assessments of its energy requirements.¡± ----- Three jumps later, after which they were essentially no closer to their destination, they found themselves flying through real space to try to find one of the physical nodes. Catarina and Chidi both reach the same assessment that one would probably be ¡®in the area¡¯. Though said area was quite a bit larger than they would have liked. ¡°If they planned this out, I¡¯m impressed,¡± Chidi said. ¡°I mean, the fact that we¡¯d have to dredge along through standard space. But I¡¯d bet they expected us to get caught.¡± ¡°The delay is still advantageous for them,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°We predicted several weeks of leeway, but we¡¯re losing some of that.¡± It was one more day of travel before they properly found the node- which meant that on an interstellar scale they had jumped nearly on top of it. ¡°How long will it take to assess the formation?¡± Prasad asked. ¡°Well,¡± Chidi said. ¡°If we were being cautious, we could spend any amount of time.¡± ¡°And if you were trying to be time conscious?¡± he prodded. ¡°Then we would already be done,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But since we can¡¯t afford to tip them off to when and where we¡¯re entering their territory, we¡¯re being cautious. In the worst case, we can take a straightline jump to the Citadel system at the last moment. They wouldn¡¯t be able to stop us.¡± ¡°No spatial distortion formations?¡± Prasad queried. ¡°The Exalted Quadrant might not have the knowledge to do so,¡± Catarina began. ¡°But they certainly don¡¯t have the necessary mutual cooperation or trust. If any of their sects were too secure, might they not act against the others with impunity?¡± ¡°Hmm. Perhaps I have been too long in the comfort of the Scarlet Alliance,¡± Prasad admitted. ¡°I lost my sense of paranoia.¡± Velvet grinned. ¡°I can help you get that back if you want.¡± ¡°So,¡± Durff commented. ¡°Do we smash that thing, or cut it?¡± ¡°Neither,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Any changes we make need to be temporary.¡± ¡°Oh, okay,¡± Durff nodded. ¡°And you can¡¯t¡­ un-cut things?¡± ¡°I-¡± Chidi was taken aback for a moment. ¡°Not on my path of swordsmanship. Can you un-smash things?¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°A little,¡± Durff said. ¡°Depending on how it was smashed and what people want.¡± ----- Eventually, they created a temporary hole in the barrier, doing their best not to disturb it. They used more or less the same methods they would have used without further investigations, but they were more confident in their exact style. The ship was simply pushed through the gap to avoid energy fluctuations, building up a bit of momentum to continue through. It wasn¡¯t the last sort of detection barrier they found, but the others were more contained. The only other one they actually had to pass through was around the system containing the Citadel itself. At that point, they were prepared to push forward and launch their attack if they felt any fluctuations from the Anchor. ¡°I hate to do this,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But I¡¯m going to have to alter our plans slightly. When we start, I need to make my way to the planet.¡± ¡°Will it help stop reinforcements?¡± Prasad asked. ¡°It likely should. You may sense that the planet is already cut in half.¡± ¡°By your master,¡± Prasad agreed. ¡°A shame that she came to her end there. You don¡¯t believe she could have survived somehow, do you? This isn¡¯t a rescue operation.¡± ¡°While it would be nice¡­¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°I only sense lingering effects. But I feel like the remains are going to react somehow, and I need to be there.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been centuries,¡± Prasad frowned. ¡°But¡­ I do know your master was an exceptional individual. I¡¯m more surprised the locals haven''t ground down her lingering will.¡± Velvet had the answer for that. ¡°According to our spies, they mostly just¡­ ignored it. They¡¯ve been treating it as two separate planets with an inconvenient hazard zone in between.¡± ¡°A Domination cultivator should have been easily able to do it in that time, though,¡± Prasad commented. ¡°Unless Zaur hasn¡¯t been in the system for some reason?¡± Chidi had the answer for that. ¡°I don¡¯t think he could. Because the Anchor was cut apart in the same way, you see. It was unfortunately a thin slice, though. It didn¡¯t separate.¡± ¡°You think the lingering will might have sought him out if he approached? Finished the job?¡± ¡°Something like that. And with his injuries,¡± Chidi shrugged. ¡°I thought he would have recovered,¡± Durff said. ¡°I cut off his fingers,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°... Can he not even grow back body parts? I mean, with the resources of a Domination cultivator.¡± Chidi grinned. ¡°I¡¯m sure they tried very hard. But Domination cultivators are special¡­ which makes some things harder. There¡¯s a reason we kept those fingers around.¡± ¡°Oh. Isn¡¯t he just going to get them back? And then be strong and dangerous? You¡¯re not around to do it again.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s sort of where you come in,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°If you smash the Citadel, his fingers won¡¯t matter. Also¡­ we did think about that and we made plans. That¡¯s why my combat buddy isn¡¯t here.¡± ¡°Was that¡­ a sword?¡± Durff tilted his head. ¡°No, you have that. Oh, the wolf! She seemed nice. Aconite is a pretty name.¡± ¡°She¡¯s very nice,¡± Chidi agreed. ¡°To her friends.¡± ----- The Domination cultivator sensors went off far before Zaur Beridze actually reached the edge of Scarlet Alliance territory. That didn¡¯t really tell them anything useful about cultivators trying to hide themselves, because he was approaching with the full brilliance of a star. At least, compared to his actual scale. Most likely he would be blinding his own allies more than enemies at that distance, but he wasn¡¯t known for subtlety or care. Upon reaching the edge of the Scarlet Alliance¡­ they were also nearly at the center. Because the spatial distortions brought the outer edge to Xankeshan. There, they had their greatest defenses ready, with guardians drawn from their many planets. But since the enemy was brought to face them head on, there was no risk of them harming other plants. There were tricks in place if they wanted to leave Xankeshan behind and attack elsewhere, but that was clearly not Zaur¡¯s intention. The only sign of hesitation in his demeanor was that he did not rush ahead of the surrounding fleets. Instead, he moved at the head of the Citadel of Exalted Light, Numerological Compact Ships, Disciples of the Beyond, and various other sects who were lending their power. The local forces immediately went to face the incoming fleets, catching the intruders where their first orbital platforms could help support them. Tauno in particular rushed towards the Disciples of the Beyond, hoping to face Distortion Beasts- even in projected forms. The Scarlet Alliance fleets appeared unable to stop Zaur and the fleets immediately around him, spearheading through the defensive forces and reaching Xankeshan itself within minutes. The might of a Domination cultivator- even one with lingering injuries- was unquestionable. He wasted no time breaking through the planetary barrier, arriving unscathed atop a special facility made to contain a particular box. All of the damage went to the fleets being dragged along with him. Falling Stars from Hoyt and Prospero were blasted out of the sky by beams of light as Zaur swept his good hand toward their incoming attacks. He ignored Alva¡¯s incoming arrows, allowing them to strike him directly. Even when she tried to sneakily slip her arrows into the space behind his energy defenses, Alva found that the Domination cultivator¡¯s energy permeated his whole being. Then again, if it was that easy to kill one they wouldn¡¯t be in this situation again. Koralo and Zazil stood with the great wolves Fuzz and Spikes around Zaur¡¯s goal. However, even with Koralo trying to steady the formations Zaur broke through. He gave no heed to the incoming attacks, moving at a speed that surpassed light even within the atmosphere of the planet, shattering the defenses of the container that held his fingers with raw power. The resulting explosion blasted away all of the defenders. The severed thumb and forefinger appeared as pristine as the day Chidi had removed them and the connecting bit of hand as the piece of Zaur floated towards him. It fused to his body with a flicker of light- though it seemed to be imperfect, as a constant glow sealed the cracks in his body. ¡°Strange,¡± Zaur said, his gaze falling on Koralo. ¡°I thought you had a better formation master. Did she get herself killed? Ah, no. She would be part of the group attacking the Citadel. Along with that brat,¡± he said, clenching his fist. ¡°Did you really think I would be unprepared for the same ploy once again?¡± Zaur turned his head. A great pulse of power gathered around him, lines of light stretching off into the distance. Everyone moved out of the line of effect, certain that he was about to perform a great act. ¡°You¡¯re pathetic!¡± A random heckler distorted the severity of the situation. Zaur¡¯s eyes locked on Lelka, who was grinning. ¡°You¡¯re the worst boss anywhere and you can¡¯t do anything for yourself.¡± ¡°Ah. You truly did turn traitor, then. No matter,¡± Zaur said. ¡°Your life was forfeit regardless for your failures.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard it all before,¡± Lelka said. ¡°Next you¡¯ll say something about how your big ego makes you important somehow. Even though you¡¯re literally about to die.¡± ¡°The strength I displayed mere moments ago should have been enough to cow a weakling like you. But if you insist on a personal demonstration now that I am whole¡­¡± Zaur merely glanced at her, and along with her surroundings she was covered in a beam of light that pierced through the planet. ¡°Now then. I have other things to attend to.¡± Chapter 1104 The crater Lelka found herself in- though she wasn¡¯t sure if it was appropriate to call a collapsing hole through a planet a crater- was about as bad as she had expected. No, slightly less because she hadn¡¯t necessarily expected to survive. It had been worth it though, because she couldn¡¯t truly be free from his influence if she was unable to stand up to him. The Scarlet Alliance had helped her gain the necessary strength, and she felt her growth had been better in the past centuries than it had been during the time she spent with the sect that had developed the Exalted Light techniques. How much of her life had been wasted? Having survived, Lelka had no intention to throw herself back into battle- if she could even call it that. But aside from her personal vindication, she had one purpose for her words. To delay Zaur- even if only by a few moments. Not so that others could pile their attacks upon him- though they were certainly doing so- but for a greater reason. Every moment counted. ----- The assault team had managed to slip through the final sensory formations with several days of time remaining- though they were not aware of the exact amount. Catarina and Chidi had been able to pore over the remaining formations surrounding the Citadel. It had some clear upgrades, floating monoliths of power that would prevent people from getting close. Stronger than even what had previously protected the core sect. The Citadel had not been returned to the planet- though it was unclear if that was because it couldn¡¯t. Obviously it was possible to move it, but perhaps Zaur didn¡¯t trust anyone. Or perhaps he liked being literally above everyone. Two days before the time came, the group noticed more ships passing through the area- some leaving passengers and departing with others. Overall, they saw a trend of ships passing towards the eastern border- though they could not fathom why. Obviously their own position had not been compromised, and any intention to join the assault on the Scarlet Alliance was months late. As it turned out, however, the reason wasn¡¯t a well kept secret. Velvet- alone- managed to infiltrate the planet, during which time she learned the source. The Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance- and more specifically Ratna. It was unclear if they had been attempting to sneak into the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s territory or were intentionally causing a distraction, but either way the assault team didn¡¯t care. They were just glad that she was taking advantage of the timing like they had hoped. Either reason benefitted them, with a mutual enemy. Plans were modified with their new information- both about the formations, and the lingering will on the planet below. Catarina was glad to have some time to plan her counters, and since they wouldn¡¯t be concerned about being spotted when they did perform their assault she only had to create functional instead of perfect counters. Truthfully, far easier than trying to capture a Domination cultivator. Other than studying the arrangement of enemy cultivators- both inhabiting the Citadel and on the planet below- there was little else that most of them could do. Durff wasn¡¯t suddenly going to learn a secret weakness of the Citadel. At least¡­ not without hitting it again. At which point they were far beyond the time of preparation. ----- The instant they felt the fluctuations of energy from the Citadel, they were ready. They waited only a few further moments to make certain that it was the energy of combat, which they had to assume was an attack on Xankeshan. Then they sprang into action. As if they had a prepared response, dozens of beams of light focused towards Catarina, who was approaching the formations. But she didn¡¯t concern herself with anything so distracting as defending herself. Timothy was there for that¡­ and he would have been quite offended if she didn¡¯t think him capable. There were a handful Augmentation cultivators among the defenders on the Citadel, but Timothy still stood strong, his shield spreading his defensive energy in front of himself, Catarina, and Durff. Velvet was nowhere to be seen- the rest didn¡¯t even know where she was so they couldn¡¯t accidentally give away her position. Chidi and Prasad, meanwhile, were rushing towards the planet. A massive pair of palms appeared around the planet, mirroring Prasad¡¯s own movements. His actions were rather extreme- attempting to crush the planets from both sides- but it certainly got their attention. Though he did little more than shake their defensive formations and neutralize the first round of attacks, he hadn¡¯t committed everything to that move either. Chidi approached the lingering will. The cloud of blood and sword intent lingering around the bisected middle of the planet didn¡¯t seem to recognize Chidi, but either way he recognized its intent. Two moves. One, he added his own power to what remained, pushing the lingering mass of will back through the planet and forcing the two halves apart, defying gravity. With the second move, he prepared to receive everything left beyond that. Because the only thing better than slicing a planet in two was fighting a powerful sword cultivator. Limitless blades came for him, but there was no trickery behind them. They moved together as one, and he cut them down in a single motion. It was a shame Chidi hadn¡¯t been able to test himself against the full might of his namesake for a final time¡­ but he knew she had a proud legacy. ----- While Chidi and Prasad began their attack on the planet, Catarina took her pre-prepared formations flags and tore open the defenses rapidly. More than that, she arranged for the disruption to create a counterforce that passed through the Citadel. It wouldn¡¯t even cause the structure itself to tremble, despite Zaur using his power elsewhere, but the cultivators inside had to take cover or shake off the counterforce. Which was enough time for Durff to charge in and smash the Citadel with his hammer. Previously, he had not even been an Augmentation cultivator but had still caused some minor damage- and then shot the Citadel to its current position in space. This time, he had greater power. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. He struck the Citadel¡­ and it trembled, but did not move. Instead, the counterforce knocked him back. ¡°... I thought Zaur was busy?¡± Almost as if in answer to his query, a flash of light filled the area- as well as the power of a Domination cultivator. ¡°I would not fall for the same tricks twice. Unfortunately for all of you, your last ditch attempts won¡¯t do you any good. Now get that stupid turtle shell hammer out of here.¡± A blast of upper energy buried Durff in light¡­ but it scattered away as Timothy stepped to the fore. Blocking the attacks of all the other cultivators was nothing compared to Zaur¡­ but Timothy held strong. In fact¡­ he felt slightly sturdier than he should have. An illusion? No. ¡°Big words for someone who isn¡¯t even here,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Also the turtle isn¡¯t stupid!¡± Durff protested. ¡°I might be stupid. And you might be stupid. But Paradise is a good boy!¡± ¡°... I have no idea who Paradise is,¡± Zaur said, clearly confused. ¡°He¡¯s- the- turtle!¡± Durff said as he charged in, swinging his hammer¡­ at the Citadel. Defended by Domination energy, it appeared to have no effect¡­ but Durff didn¡¯t seem to care. He struck again, and again. Nobody noticed when someone died- not even Zaur. Though if he had any regard for the wellbeing of his own subordinates, perhaps he would have seen through Velvet¡¯s mental illusions. But it was far easier to get someone to ignore something they were naturally inclined to disregard. ----- Prasad wasted no time at all when the planet split. His palms struck the flat center of the two halves, forcing them further apart. Then he struck again, spinning the two halves of the planet. The ends crashed into each other, and everything began to crumble as the planet turned nearly inside out. That still left the majority of threats alive- anyone who could attack into space was able to avoid being crushed- but some chose to save their fellow sect members instead of moving to attack. ¡°You should go!¡± Prasad declared. ¡°I¡¯ll hold them off.¡± Chidi felt the appearance of Zaur¡­ but ignored him for just a moment. Not entirely, of course, because he was still within the Domination cultivator¡¯s range. ¡°I¡¯ll take that one,¡± Chidi said, picking out one of the Augmentation cultivators from the planet below. ¡°He seems like the strongest.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have time for-¡± Chidi didn¡¯t listen of course. He was already moving forward at maximum speed. In return, the woman countered with a direct attack- a concentrated beam of light about the size of his torso. It was meant to tear through him. But he cut it in half. The woman might have accepted it if he split the beam with his energy or held his sword steady to repel her attack- but that wasn¡¯t what he did. Instead, he truly cut it in half. The very form of her attack split, going around him as he approached. She of course wouldn¡¯t limit herself to a single attack. If he could somehow manage that, how would he fare against a thousand attacks from every angle? She¡¯d never find the answer, of course, because her energy suddenly didn¡¯t exist. Given that they were without a breathable atmosphere and energy, she couldn¡¯t hear Chidi¡¯s words¡­ but she felt in her soul something about forcing people into predictable patterns. And then she was severed from head to toe, her thoughts ceasing instantly. ----- When Zaur casually flung an attack at Chidi¡¯s back, Timothy of course was there to block it. Even if it had been the man¡¯s full might, he still would have done so for his son. But an attack he could survive? That was even better. No, it wasn¡¯t a casual attack. It was one meant to look casual. It should be close to Zaur¡¯s maximum potential in this state- where he was both protecting the Citadel with his energy, attacking, and presumably doing the same with his actual body. Timothy imagined he could manage slightly more, but not that much more. Though he wasn¡¯t sure he could stop such a thing if it happened. Catarina had ten storage bags full of formation flags that she flung around the Citadel. She took control of the flow of energy- as much as possible near an Anchor, at least. Even the trap formation they had set up around Xankeshan previously would likely not have been as effective here, in the seat of Zaur¡¯s power. Zaur threw attacks at everyone he knew was present. Catarina, Timothy, Durff, Prasad, and Chidi. Timothy blocked for himself and the two beyond him, towards the planet. Durff twisted his body to focus the energy on his hammer, accelerating it into the Citadel he was constantly hammering on. And Catarina did nothing, as space around her distorted and the attack went nowhere. The Scarlet Alliance had poured no small amount of resources into this. She was carrying enough energy to supply a populous planet for a year- nothing she could use directly, but enough to power her formations. Yet even with that, she didn¡¯t even consider for a moment taking Zaur head on. Or half of him. ----- Hoyt and Prospero didn¡¯t even exchange a glance, but the pattern of their Falling Stars told each other that they had both discerned the same thing. Zaur was weaker suddenly. It began when the conduit of light stretched off into the distance. They had hoped that Lelka¡¯s distraction interrupted him, but that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. Either way, they continued their constant assaults, while doing their best to defend themselves from Zaur¡¯s counterattacks. He showed a certain form of weakness only one who was excessively strong would display. Specifically, his lack of attention to any individual. Even if he could fight all of them at once, he didn¡¯t really need to. More importantly, he never focused on killing anyone. He threw out attacks he assumed would kill them. But that was because he seemed to think the Scarlet Alliance was static, merely as strong as they were the last time they encountered him- or at best slightly more. From a certain perspective, he was right. But they were supported by a vast number of formations around Xankeshan, acting both offensively and defensively in ways big and small. The expense the Scarlet Alliance was going through to keep their strongest cultivators alive was unimaginable¡­ except perhaps by a Domination cultivator like him. The two wolves were bravest of them all, choosing to enter melee combat with Zaur. Spikes distorted the shape of the planet to try to impale Zaur, but she still used her fangs. Fuzz went in blazing like a star¡­ while also trying to bite Zaur¡¯s recently reattached hand. That forced Zaur to pay special attention to it- but not in the way he should have. Meanwhile, there was a third wolf that was having a great effect on the battle¡­ but she hadn¡¯t stepped anywhere near Zaur. No, Aconite kept herself well away. After she¡¯d made sure the poisons in the fingers he had been seeking were fresh as he was approaching. Zaur might notice her fighting, but if she slung poisons at him and he thought to check himself for that¡­ half their plan would be ruined. It was taking an awfully long time for the deadliest poisons in the universe to affect Zaur. But Aconite¡¯s eyes saw the slightest change in the blood vessels in his eyes. Not something most would notice, and something he wouldn¡¯t even feel. Until they exploded. Not his eyes, but all of his blood vessels. And hopefully, that would be only the start. Chapter 1105 The instant the forces defending Xankeshan seemed to be getting a leg up on Zaur, a certain alarm went off. With most communications on lockdown during a battle, Koralo knew that the incoming message had to be important. He diverted some of his attention from bolstering the formations- though he didn¡¯t feel like he could spare much- to hear the message. He almost wished he hadn¡¯t. But of course, ignoring problems wouldn¡¯t make them any better. It appeared Alva¡¯s senses had been correct. Fleets were approaching their eastern border. The questions he would have asked to try to bring some hope to the situation had already been answered. It was not, unfortunately, the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. Nor the Distant Shadow Sect. It didn¡¯t even happen to be the Creeping Fire Sect- who might prioritize Exalted Quadrant cultivators despite any other plans they had. First were a smattering of Silver Fang cultivators- with those numbers a trivial threat except for the current circumstances- but they appeared to be more of an addendum to the main forces. Those forces were the Imbued Fragments. Koralo didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to look at the breakdown of enemy forces beyond that point. The numbers were sufficient to be threatening, especially at such a sensitive time. What could he even do? Perhaps he should drop the spatial distortion. That was a risk, because it would take time to gather enough energy to re-establish it. Still, that would force the approaching forces to fight their way through the eastern systems. Systems which were¡­ relatively unprotected at the moment. And if the Exalted Quadrant was repelled, they would pass through the western systems. They might feel the need to plunder vulnerable targets along the way. If it led to the survival of the Scarlet Alliance, Koralo was willing to make the sacrifice- and take the consequences of such choices upon his head. But¡­ he didn¡¯t truly believe that was the correct solution. Regardless of the reason the Imbued Fragments were here- having drawn the connection to their losses in the lower realms or simply trying to take advantage- would they really prioritize the Scarlet Alliance over the Exalted Quadrant? He had no idea, but Koralo would prefer to limit their choices. He couldn¡¯t stop them from coming- a solid barrier around Alliance territory would be more like a thin piece of paper waiting to be torn open. However, perhaps he could¡­ redirect the arrival location of the incoming fleets? He had a few minutes to think of a solution. The grand formation mapped the space at the edge of their territory onto Xankeshan¡¯s system. But did it have to map it onto the same side? No. But just because he had an idea didn¡¯t mean the solution was trivial. ¡°Uzun!¡± Koralo urgently contacted the head engineer. Perhaps Catarina could have managed a solution on her own, but he needed every bit of help he could get. They had to at least try. ----- Voidsteel stabbed into the dantian of another cultivator, preventing them from lashing out as they died. They¡¯d have a few moments of pain, while everyone else would experience nothing at all. They would forget their ally was even there, at least for the moment. Velvet doubted she could erase more than one or two further individuals before the distortion became too unbelievable, but she¡¯d already taken down several of the Augmentation cultivators. The Citadel of Exalted Light wasn¡¯t known for their physical defenses- though normally their energy could prevent attacks from reaching them, so it hardly mattered. But with enchanted clothing being their main defense, voidsteel easily cut through. Velvet shuddered at the feeling of Zaur¡¯s energy. Even though he might only be half as powerful as before- and he wasn¡¯t even really present as Timothy had pointed out- it was still an overwhelming power. Voidsteel¡­ wouldn¡¯t be enough. She was confident in that. The metal''s miraculous suppressive properties could only go so far. The same was true of the techniques the Spirit Slicing Sect had taught her. As much as she would like to be a hero saving the day, she wasn¡¯t sure she could act against him. She could perhaps take down the last of the Augmentation cultivators, and at that point she could fight the others on the Citadel head on. Prospero was doing an excellent job of repelling the rest coming from the planet below- if it could even properly be called a planet in its current state. So she could kill or¡­ help Durff. Obviously Velvet wasn¡¯t going to be able to damage the Citadel. With her enchanted daggers, she couldn¡¯t break through the defensive energy. With her voidsteel daggers, she couldn¡¯t damage the structure- they were too brittle and barely even sharp after a few uses. But Durff was relentlessly smashing a single point. Whether it was important or not Velvet had no idea, but if he could actually cause damage¡­ it would be significant. Because if there was one thing he was good at, it was smashing things with his hammer. She winced as another attack from Zaur blasted Durff. Unfortunately, the excess energy that went around her friend wasn¡¯t able to harm the Citadel- it was all Zaur¡¯s Domination energy, so he wouldn¡¯t so easily screw things up. As for Durff¡­ the armor he¡¯d found in one of Everheart¡¯s places was holding, though it probably wasn¡¯t supposed to be glowing. The good news was that it didn¡¯t melt when white hot, the bad news was that meant Durff¡¯s defenses had failed and he was almost out. Even if she¡¯d had other plans, at that point she had to act. She didn¡¯t want to reveal herself- even to Durff, as his change in expression might reveal her presence to Zaur. She was fairly certain that she had avoided his senses this time- finally, due to her long practice. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Between Durff¡¯s wild swings, which caused the energy underfoot to tremble, Velvet sliced the edge of the pillar Durff was hitting. She wasn¡¯t certain it would be substantially different than trying to target Zaur, but the important thing was she didn¡¯t need to cause any damage herself. Just cause enough of a distortion to let Durff do something. Her blade flickered, sliding along the energy. At first, it appeared to do nothing. It was Domination energy after all. She stepped back for a moment as Durff swung again- fortunately in a nice rhythm. But she felt it. The tremors changed- and she saw the slightest scar in the energy, not yet reinforced. She twisted her body to slash with all her power and technique. The tip of her blade just grazed the pillar, sparking. But that meant it tore through the energy. Durff may or may not have noticed, but his follow up attack seemed slightly more powerful. The energy of his hammer blow sank into the pillar, and Velvet could see how deep the infusion of Domination energy went. But with the surface marred, the perfection was broken and that single pillar still shattered. One out of hundreds. Zaur¡¯s reaction showed it was more than just a minor pain to him- the Citadel was his Anchor, and they had previously seen how it was tied to his body. ¡°I can¡¯t believe a fool like you would actually dare to mar my body.¡± The speed at which Zaur spoke could only be comprehended by cultivators- but Zaur was clearly the dramatic sort so he didn¡¯t simply act. ¡°Perish.¡± Velvet had expected another beam of light from the man¡¯s hands. Perhaps one that was far more focused than before, but the origin was expected to be Zaur. Instead, the Citadel itself lit up, and Velvet had only an instant to move around behind Durff and slash her two voidsteel blades. One towards the floor, and one towards the other pillars. Durff didn¡¯t seem to give a single thought to defense and swung his hammer down- onto the collapsed pillar. Velvet heard a dull thunk sound. Now that was odd. Had the sound actually reached her ears before she died? A few shards of crystal fell to the floor. Velvet had no idea what was going on. Wasn¡¯t there supposed to be¡­ energy? ¡°Left leg or right leg?¡± Chidi¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t something Velvet had expected to hear at that moment, though she was likely confused because of the lack of energy. ¡°Psst. Velvet.¡± Durff whispered to her. ¡°When did you get here? Is your energy broken too?¡± Ah. She was visible. That made sense. Sort of. She looked over at Durff. Then at Chidi. Then back at Durff. ¡°Stop trying to use your energy and just hit it.¡± She said. Velvet had seen Negation before from Chidi. She knew it lasted less than a second. It was more difficult with more people, too. But this¡­ how long had it been? Nobody seemed to know what to do. ¡°You¡¯re slow, kid,¡± Zaur said. ¡°I know your ability won¡¯t last. You want an answer?¡± ¡°I do,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Well¡­¡± Zaur drew it out. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll destroy your right leg first.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll count that,¡± Chidi said, stepping forward. As he moved, there was a bright flash- somehow Zaur managed that even with energy not functioning. Velvet winced, surprised at how vulnerable her eyes were. Then she felt the flow of energy return all at once. Domination energy reared its oppressive head around her. Velvet¡¯s eyes cleared with her own upper energy, and she saw Zaur holding a crystal blade. Chidi was standing in front of him, blood around his waist. But¡­ it was Zaur¡¯s leg that was falling to the floor. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you tried to blind me. That was literally the worst move you could have picked,¡± Chidi said. Ever since he reached negation, Chidi never felt very strong. His energy had dropped from Integration to Life Transformation. Now, exhausted, Velvet thought he felt more like an Essence Collection cultivator- which wasn¡¯t much of anything. Durff¡¯s hammer came down, and at the same time a whole section of the Citadel collapsed. Maybe a tenth of the whole place? Not from Durff¡¯s hammer- though he did drive the remnants of the pillar through the floor and out. A trickle of blood appeared on Zaur¡¯s chest, most likely in response to that. ----- There was no time for Koralo and Uzun to come up with an elegant solution. Instead, they simply started the first solution that came to them- twisting the coordinate map. The first ships appeared in the system from the north, but rather than a line they were a twisting spiral extending to the west. Traveling through the spatial distortions, they probably noticed something weird with the ships in front of them¡­ but there wasn¡¯t any damage, so they likely thought it safe to proceed. And it was. It was simply that they were strewn around a quarter turn of the system¡­ placing some of them among the Exalted Quadrant¡¯s reserve fleets. Nobody stopped to ask who anyone else was. They just started fighting. Of course, that was only the ones who were immediately next to each other. More of the Imbued Fragments continued directly towards Xankeshan, but at least the impact had been blunted. Now they just had to deal with all of the invading fleets and a Domination cultivator. Speaking of which¡­ Koralo felt weird. A strange pulse within the Domination energy. It was a scream of anger that threatened to shatter the planet itself- and yet, for all that it caused Koralo to cough up blood, it felt like an idle threat. His senses stretched to feel Zaur- who normally felt like nothing more than a mass of unfathomable energy. But that energy was a step weaker- and there was a leg sitting on the ground. Until Fuzz snatched it up in his mouth and ran away with it. Suffuse with flames, the wolf was targeted with a beam of light- but Spikes threw herself and a good portion of the planet between Fuzz and the attack. When Koralo could next pick anything out, there was nothing in Fuzz¡¯s mouth except some charred bones. The wolf shook his head, flicking the bones to the ground. And the visual display for Zaur was briefly not overwhelmed by excessive light. There was a lot of blood- and not just from where his leg was missing, but any patch of exposed skin. Zaur coughed. His body almost looked like it was melting, before it turned into a pillar of pure light. Very angry light. Chapter 1106 ¡°Grrrr¡­¡± Aconite grumbled as Zaur turned into a form that seemed to be mostly made of light. That could negate more than half of the poisons she¡¯d painstakingly chosen! Not all of them, obviously. Some of them reacted directly with energy. If she¡¯d known this would be the result, though, she could have created some pretty impressive results. But she¡¯d done her part, and she recognized Chidi¡¯s work with that leg. Though it wasn¡¯t like there was anyone else who could have cut off Zaur¡¯s actual leg from hundreds of lightyears away. What was even happening over there? This Domination cultivator being made of light was a problem, but not her problem. Her problem was these incoming ships. Metal and stone. They¡¯d of course heard about the war in the lower realms, but they hadn¡¯t put as much consideration into countering them as the Citadel of Exalted Light. The stone was¡­ actually, Spike should probably handle that. Aconite¡¯s parents had been blasted into space by a previous attack, so that was a good time for them to get away from Zaur and let people with the right sort of attacks focus on him. Aconite howled, clearly declaring her intent- to those who knew how to speak wolf. That should not include the incoming sects, even if the Citadel¡¯s spies might have. ¡°Great wolves! Draw your focus on the vessels of metal and stone!¡± Now, one might have thought that Aconite would be a terrible match against these people, and she would understand where people were coming from and respectfully disagree, for multiple reasons. First, with the way they moved around the parts of their ships it would actually be fairly easy to slip poisons into their contained systems. Second, Aconite had a quite liberal definition of poisons. There were some things she carried that weren¡¯t what people would normally consider poisons. But they were substances that she could use to make people feel very bad, so poison was correct. Or in this case, it didn¡¯t work on people at all. Except the ones with prosthetic limbs. There was a reason she wasn¡¯t allowed to keep this stuff on her most of the time. War was an exception. Wolves weren¡¯t made to fly, but they weren¡¯t any worse at it than humans. Once you got into space, it literally just took pushing yourself with energy. Aconite picked out a good ships and clawed it as she rushed by. She didn¡¯t use the good stuff, but if the part she touched ever reached the inside of the ships it would react splendidly with their internal air supplies. Shards of metal and hurling chunks of stone flew towards her, but Aconite didn¡¯t remain in any one place. It was never her style to get locked down in a brawl with anything. She scratched up a few ships, appearing to cause no real damage, and then she spotted the big one. She¡¯d had a vague sense of it, since there wasn¡¯t really anything blocking, but it was big and ponderous so it had also been more distant. The thing was probably the size of a handful of orbital defense platforms crushed together. Maybe more. That was absolutely going to be trouble. ----- If Chidi were able to activate Negation back to back, he would have. However, his control was yet imperfect. Negating energy until he completed an attack was already an astounding improvement. Having seriously wounded Zaur twice, he could die content in his contributions. But he didn¡¯t want to, so when Timothy rushed forward to cover him, Chidi gladly moved back. The Citadel was spraying energy in all directions, and he really didn¡¯t want to be disintegrated. Now where was his mother? She was doubtless up to something clever, but since they both worked with energy flow it would be easy to disrupt each other if they weren¡¯t careful. Ah, there she was. The Citadel had only just begun to crumble, but she was already observing the new edges- most likely to mess with the structure itself. Zaur was clearly not happy, but he was also severely injured. And while it might not seem like losing a leg should have weakened him in any way, even a normal cultivator would be afflicted by more than blood loss. A Domination cultivator? Damaging his body affected his anchor, which affected his source of power. Zaur probably should have looked into fortified bones or something. He might still have that leg. Of course, ¡®reduced power¡¯ merely meant ¡®attacks that Timothy was barely capable of blocking¡¯. Chidi happily retreated with his father so that they could take the pressure off, though it wasn¡¯t actually possible to escape Zaur¡¯s range. Being inside the Citadel seemed problematic though. When Zaur fully turned his form into light, the first thing he did was try to kill Velvet. She was cutting apart the energy attacks he was sending at her, so he attacked directly. The only part of him that was still vaguely physical was that crystal sword he was holding- he¡¯d tried to counter Chidi with it, but of course he wouldn¡¯t be touched by such amateur swordsmanship. At the speeds Zaur could move with his energy, however, Velvet was barely moving. Chidi thought that perhaps he should have broken the weapon. It sliced towards Velvet¡¯s neck, and there was no way she could dodge. A frontal confrontation with a Domination cultivator¡¯s power was basically the stupidest thing that Chidi could think of. Obviously Velvet wouldn¡¯t try it- but Durff would. The thing was, Zaur could absolutely avoid the trajectory of his hammer, but he was clearly going for two victories in one. The weapons clashed¡­ and Durff was sent flying through the Citadel. It looked like his loss, but it was actually a double victory. The fact that any momentum transferred to him at all meant his weapon wasn¡¯t cut through¡­ and Durff really went through the Citadel. He took out a huge chunk of floor with him, and Chidi thought he saw a bit of Zaur¡¯s jaw briefly flicker out of existence, before being replaced. Another inefficiency, as Zaur couldn¡¯t even admit to himself he was taking damage. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Velvet hadn¡¯t just stood still. Her weapons flickered towards Zaur- one targeting his outstretched hands, the other his waist. Because of the way Velvet contorted her body, she actually touched his waist first. The voidsteel dagger began to cut into Zaur¡­ and he flickered away instantly. The wound was probably trivial, but the reaction meant Velvet could hurt him. Chidi ended up next to Catarina, just ¡®outside¡¯ the Citadel. ¡°What do you need?¡± he asked. She¡¯d come up with something, given the offer. ¡°I can¡¯t carve this,¡± Catarina declared. Then her energy traced a symbol in the air. ¡°Channeling rune!¡± The shape Catarina drew was far from complete, but Chidi knew the correct depth and angles he should cut to. As for carving into the Citadel¡­ Zaur¡¯s energy was weaker, and negating a small area on the tip of his blade was still within Chidi¡¯s capabilities. Normally he had to negate a wide area to avoid being obliterated by his opponent¡¯s energy. Chidi didn¡¯t question for an instant why they began carving energy amplification runes into the Citadel. He hadn¡¯t studied it much. His mother would know why, and the time it took to ask would be more symbols he could draw. Zaur refused to focus on just one person, and Chidi wasn¡¯t going to correct his mistake. The Domination cultivator continued to throw out attacks, but Velvet had disappeared again and Durff was seemingly unconcerned with his position embedded with his head and shoulders in translucent crystal. Timothy¡¯s posture changed slightly, but the two next to him knew what it meant without him saying. He was practically out of energy. Like the rest of them. But they weren¡¯t going to stop now. Escape was probably impossible¡­ and Zaur was in a death spiral. If they could just manage a little bit more, they might be able to break him. And if not, at least the Scarlet Alliance should be able to deal with what was left after they died. Chidi punctuated what he knew to be the final rune by thrusting his sword into the crystal. When his blade withdrew, energy came spilling with it. The reactions of himself and his parents were quite different. Chidi withdrew into himself, focusing only on the energy immediately around him. He lost all feeling of the outside world beyond a thin layer of energy washing over him as he activated Negation¡­ But it wasn¡¯t enough. His internal energy was disrupting things, so he cast that aside. He briefly felt cold. Then again, he was in space. He¡¯d absolutely die without energy¡­ but it wasn¡¯t like he was going to live long enough to freeze, suffocate, explode, or any of the other vacuum-related ends that might come for him if he didn¡¯t do this. ----- Timothy stepped between his wife and the overflowing Domination energy. He had no idea how long he could last, and it wasn¡¯t even an attack, but he didn¡¯t care what it was or if he lived. He had the best chance of resisting it, so he did. The sensations that washed over him told a story. A story of power. Of Light. But it wasn¡¯t a happy story. There was fear- and less of it was respectful fear than straight up terror. Timothy couldn¡¯t say it was tainted. Clearly it worked for Zaur. But Timothy would never tread down that path himself. Not that he¡¯d get the opportunity. He was trying to figure out whether his legs would disintegrate or his shield when his energy ran out. Not that there would be any appreciable difference in time between the two. Then something stabbed into his chest. Catarina¡¯s arm was wrapped around him, and she had in hand a dagger, carving into his breastplate- and him. He didn¡¯t even have an instant where he felt betrayal. Instead, his only thought was that she was up to something crazy again. ----- Normally, it didn¡¯t matter to Catarina whether or not she was ambidextrous. She could use one hand- or no hands- for pretty much everything. There was only a very slight difference between left and right either way. But when things had to be perfect, like special formation markings? She thought perhaps she should have tried to train any difference out of her limbs. Too late for that. Her left arm contorted to carve into her own back. Timothy¡¯s energy flickered out, and the fact that she was able to comprehend that meant something was working at least a little bit. Energy built up in his chest, seeming like the power of a star. Just one, but Catarina wasn¡¯t going to disparage anything on the level of a star. As the energy built up, Catarina squeezed herself tightly against her husband. She¡¯d studied Domination energy as thoroughly as possible- including a trickle that had come through Zaur¡¯s severed fingers- and she had a million ideas for how to affect it. Even ideas for how she might some day reach Domination herself. Those all involved grand formations, even trying to work with it. The energy building up in Timothy suddenly began to diminish, instead flowing into Catarina. But there was a constant flow from the outside, and when Catarina was at her limit Timothy was still receiving more. But she let the energy reciprocate back into him. Timothy caught on, instinctively controlling the energy as his own. At least, to the point it didn¡¯t disintegrate his body when it reached a new, higher peak. Catarina used the short break to prepare herself and the cycle repeated. The two of them only vaguely comprehended Chidi next to them¡­ or the Citadel cracking in front of them. ----- Durff was stuck headfirst in the Citadel. Not optimal, he supposed, but he got a real close look at it. It was trying to murder him, but it wasn¡¯t really meant to target people half inside it. Zaur blasted lasers or something at his legs, but Durff was too busy to care if he lost a leg or two. After his assessment, Durff realized he¡¯d been attacking wrong. He¡¯d been expecting a durable structure, but this crystal was not strong. It just pretended to be. So with the right push- and the annoying Domination energy getting out of his way- he just needed to suggest kindly to it that it fall apart. He was pretty sure he broke his arm getting his hammer loose, but then he gave the Citadel a nice good tap. It cracked around him, bits and pieces flinging in different directions. Oh darn, he forgot to aim for the sun. Oh well, surely some of that would go there. And maybe it wouldn¡¯t matter since it was pretty busted now. Chapter 1107 Spirit Arrows cut their way through subspace not to improve their speed but merely to make it more difficult for Zaur Beridze to dodge. Alva saw how quick he could be once threatened, and his movement patterns were nearly impossible to predict. He could move speeds in atmosphere that even Augmentation cultivators could only achieve in space, and he had the awareness and control to actively avoid any threats. However, he still stopped eventually- and if he didn¡¯t know an attack was coming Alva could hit him. Which was about as effective as if she had tried to shoot down a castle when she was twelve. But¡­ she was slowly chipping away at his energy. She just had to keep up the pressure along with everyone else. Then, her attack missed. Not because her accuracy was off, or because Zaur dodged out of the way¡­ but because he simply stopped existing. Or rather, he stopped existing in a single piece. His body had transformed into light and it just¡­ lost cohesion. A wave of Domination energy spread at unbelievable speed, but the structure of the planet itself was protected by the quick reactions of the formation masters, limiting the destruction to the size of a small country. Many surrounding cultivators were vaporized on both sides, though he had moved away from the densest area of battle. Nobody was really prepared, as nothing had happened on their end of space. Which meant the assault team had been successful. Their plans had worked. Not that Xankeshan wasn¡¯t still in a shaky situation. They¡¯d intentionally focused on the fleets, but there were still vast numbers of enemies remaining. ----- Before Zaur died, Aconite had been engaged with a very large and uncomfortable ship. Nothing was strictly wrong with it, but it smelled problematic. When she tried to claw it open, she realized what it was. She tried again in a different spot just to confirm, but only managed to hurt her ego and didn¡¯t cause a scratch. The entire ship was made out of worldheart. Aconite hadn¡¯t been there, but she had seen footage of the ¡®planets¡¯ left in the lower realms. They¡¯d had worldheart ships there too¡­ but they were much smaller. Perhaps this explained where the rest of their various systems¡¯ materials went. Aconite backed away, worried about the needles the ship cultivators were preparing. She wouldn¡¯t want to touch those with her paws. As for the ship¡­ it wasn¡¯t melting. Just to test, she made her way to another metal ship and renewed her poison. And though her initial claw print did very little to the vessel, in mere moments the ship began to ¡®melt¡¯ as the metal eating bacteria began to tear it apart. Xankeshan had special formations dedicated to eradicating just this particular strain of bacteria. Aconite thought it devoured every sort of metal, but perhaps she¡¯d failed to test it with worldheart. Or it needed a boost. Aconite watched as her mom batted the enemy¡¯s stone ships into the big one. They exploded like chalk thrown at a brick wall, with about as much damage to the battleship as one might expect. Her father who could melt pretty much anything with his flames and tear through the strongest materials¡­ only caused a small scratch on its surface- a scratch which was quickly rectified by the cultivators on the ship. Right. The best ship would have the best cultivators, and thus the best active defenses. Aconite prepared to bolster her ¡®poison¡¯ with her own energy. She needed to apply it in several locations at once, preferably just after the ship took damage. Even if it was just a small amount. That way, the bacterial bloom could surge. Aconite barked at her mother. She was going to need to strike from several directions in rapid succession, and having platforms to push off of would help. Spikes agreed to her plan quickly, overwhelming the stone control of the Broad Eyed Harvesters and tearing material from their hands. The battleship clearly felt the setup was threatening, but launching metal shards to break the platforms- but not faster than Spikes could set them up. Then Aconite launched herself- synchronizing with Fuzz. Spears of metal stabbed into his fur, but they didn¡¯t stop him from impacting the ship and taking a solid bite out of it. Aconite heard a pained howl as the chunks of metal in her father¡¯s mouth sharpened, but a bit of blood wasn¡¯t going to stop him. He began to run along the surface of the ship, dragging his claws while moving in an unpredictable pattern to prevent the ship itself from attacking him. Aconite struck the ship, dragging her claws. She curled up a tiny bit of the outside, but that was enough. She pushed off, jumping towards a platform of stone and then shoving it away as her momentum rebounded towards another part of the ship. She did that over and over, until she came around to see Fuzz just as the ship folded around him. She was wary of the same happening to her, but she used her energy to pull the last glass vial of bacteria out of her bags, not bothering to apply it to her claws but instead applying her energy to enhance it as much as possible, providing juicy energy for what she hoped was rapid growth. The vial was propelled forward with great speed towards where the ship was still wriggling around Fuzz. He wouldn¡¯t be killed so easily. The vial cracked open, and Aconite could sense small patches of the bacteria finally growing on other parts of the ship. But even with exponential growth, they wouldn¡¯t likely expand fast enough to help Fuzz. Spikes was battering the other side of the ship to force the cultivators aboard to split their energy. Aconite looked around for someone that could help. They were deep in enemy lines, and though allied fleets were fighting towards them there wasn¡¯t much help they could get. The only person who was close happened to be Tauno. He was fighting the Disciples of the Beyond- which meant fighting distortion beasts. Oh, that was a great idea. Too bad she didn¡¯t carry any distortion bait on her, but she could improvise. She just had to make her energy seem extradimensionally tasty. She rushed over in time to see Tauno get knocked through some enemy ships by a massive leathery wing, then stabbed by some sort of expanding spike. Which he then tore off of the beast and used as a weapon, shifting in his hands as he moved. Yeah, he could handle that. Aconite just grabbed some attention of one- or part of one? She didn¡¯t know or care. Then she ran back towards the ship, dodging teeth that appeared form nowhere. She moved around the far side of the ship from Fuzz, nearly getting impaled by metal shards and then quills with some sort of poison she found extremely fascinating but didn''t have time to study. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Just about the time the distortion beast realized there were a bunch of unprotected buffoons inside the ship it could eat, Zaur exploded. That shocked everyone enough for Fuzz to claw his way out of the ship, but it was the thought that counted. Aconite snapped off a quill, hoping she didn¡¯t get any of the poison on her. She probably wasn¡¯t immune to it if it seemed new. ----- Durff found another chunk of crystal and smacked it towards the sun. Then another. ¡°Durff.¡± Velvet appeared next to him. ¡°Yeah?¡± he said. ¡°You can stop now.¡± This chunk was about the size of one of those ¡®car¡¯ things. It shattered, but its overall momentum carried it in the right direction. ¡°Stop what?¡± ¡°Smashing the crystals.¡± ¡°But this is the Citadel. We¡¯re here to destroy it,¡± Durff said. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ pretty destroyed,¡± Velvet said. ¡°Zaur is dead.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± Durff asked. ¡°What if he can come back to life from the remaining bits?¡± ¡°I¡­ seriously doubt that. But you know what?¡± Velvet shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re right. Let¡¯s just grab one sample to take back to the Alliance. Assuming we can get back.¡± ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t we be able to?¡± ¡°We¡¯re still in the middle of enemy territory. I think our ship was far enough from that blast but¡­¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°They have to be coming.¡± ¡°Would you?¡± Durff asked. ¡°If you were part of the Exalted Light, would you come here?¡± ¡°Of course. We¡¯re invaders.¡± ¡°So if you were them¡­ you¡¯d go towards the massive wave of death that used to be your Sect Head. To¡­ avenge him?¡± ¡°I, uh¡­¡± Velvet frowned. ¡°Because I bet they¡¯ll run.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know that. Angry people do crazy things.¡± Durff gestured towards their main planet- or what was left of it. ¡°Everyone there is running.¡± Velvet watched a few fatigued slaps from Prasad annihilate a few swathes of cultivators. Then he stood proudly¡­ before slowly drifting towards the rest of them. ¡°Are we actually all¡­ alive?¡± Velvet asked. ¡°I can¡¯t sense Chidi. And those two¡­¡± Huge pulses of Zaur¡¯s Domination energy were echoing between Catarina and Timothy. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s safe to move them?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not safe to not move them,¡± Durff said. ¡°Even if these people run, it won¡¯t be everyone.¡± He spun his one still mobile arm and then swung, most of his remaining energy spreading wide to catch freefloating fragments of the citadel. ¡°Oops.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I think I hit Chidi. He¡¯s floating¡­ over there. Ish.¡± Velvet frowned. Her senses stretched out¡­ and found nothing. But nothing was quite something, when the whole area was suffused with lingering remnants of Domination energy. Velvet herself had only made it through by virtue of being in relatively good shape before¡­ and by sacrificing one of her voidsteel blades to the shockwave. Though she had most of the fragments, so she hoped it could be reforged. ¡°I¡¯ll grab the ship,¡± Velvet said. ¡°See if you can gently move those two. And if you can get close enough to visually confirm that Chidi is there.¡± ----- Chidi felt different energy, and he was quite glad. It was familiar, but he couldn¡¯t quite place it. Not that surprising, given how overwhelmed all of his senses had been for the whole duration of the battle. He curled around his sword and embraced the chill of space. He sure hoped someone came to get him before he died. Because he was fully bereft of energy now. Like a void ant. Wait, couldn¡¯t the Great Queen still fly without wings? No, that wasn¡¯t something he should try now. Most likely he¡¯d pass out trying anything complex, and then he could get annihilated by any stray bit of energy. He slowly began to grow more numb, his lungs screaming for air. He¡¯d been able to refresh his lungs with energy, but now he had to get along with little more than a tempered body. Though upon going down the path of Negation, he¡¯d developed his body a bit more than most. It still wasn¡¯t enough to live in empty space, though. Large fingers wrapped around his arm. He felt slight vibrations indicating someone was speaking, but his ears probably didn¡¯t work and he couldn¡¯t hear because of the vacuum. He was still negating any energy from touching him, so voice projections wouldn¡¯t work. He felt a slight tug on his arm, and then a rush of air a short time later. Hot air. Or¡­ neutral air, which felt hot to him. He tried to uncurl, but his body was partially frozen. All he managed was a strained cough as he took a breath. The release of tension caused him to finally pass out. ----- Somehow, the assault team survived, and their ship was even mostly intact. Chidi was in a coma, Durff had a non-functioning arm, and finally Timothy and Catarina were undergoing a constant cycle of passing energy between them, wrapped around each other. But Prasad hadn¡¯t sustained any deadly injuries, and Velvet was whole enough to man the ship. Though she hoped they didn¡¯t run into anything that would require her active participation in stealth for at least a week. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to be coming back,¡± Prasad admitted. ¡°I thought I would survive,¡± Durff said confidently. Velvet shook her head. ¡°If he ever truly focused on any of us, we wouldn¡¯t have made it. It doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t fighting him,¡± Prasad said. ¡°Except for the random attacks he flung at me. But each contained killing intent. He believed we would die. But his own state was likely weaker than he expected. Even though he still felt¡­ well, like that.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to thank Aconite,¡± Velvet said. ¡°I bet some of the poisons impaired his cognitive functions.¡± ¡°Or he was just that arrogant. Domination cultivators don¡¯t die every day,¡± Prasad pointed out. ¡°The last time was¡­¡± ¡°Just a couple decades ago, right?¡± Durff said. Prasad frowned. ¡°Well, yes. But before Sudin¡­ it hadn¡¯t even happened in my lifetime. Probably more than a millennium." ¡°And now there are two,¡± Velvet said. ¡°This isn¡¯t going to make things easier on the Scarlet Alliance, though. Now we¡¯re a threat. Though with the other option being to lay down and die, at least this extends our existence for a while. Depending on how things went back on Xankeshan¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯ll be fine,¡± Durff said. ¡°They have lots of wolves.¡± Chapter 1108 Falling Stars suddenly found themselves free to seek new targets, as Zaur ceased to be a threat. Even if someone managed to avoid them on one pass, they would inevitably strike somewhere in the enemy fleets. While the Scarlet Alliance had kept an advantage even with fleets from both the Citadel¡¯s allies and the Trigold Cluster, their enemies suddenly became aware of how much of their energy had been devoted to suppressing Zaur. Of course, the Domination cultivator had caused significant damage and strain on their forces¡­ but even just a few moments after his death the course of the battle shifted. Morale was a serious factor in battles, even among those who were not cultivators. Those who were afraid to fight could hardly be effective. For cultivators, the rift was actually larger. Without strength of purpose behind them, their use of energy was severely hampered. That wasn¡¯t counting the actual disciples of the Citadel of Exalted Light, because they were in a far worse state than any others. Many others tried to organize their withdrawal, some broke into a chaotic retreat- but the disciples of the Citadel simply¡­ stopped. Not all of them, but the psychic shock was so great that some of them died due to their energy running amok inside them. Cultivation was a practice of belief- in one¡¯s self or also in others. When an ¡®invincible¡¯ leader died, what were people to do? The Imbued Fragments and Broad Eyed Harvesters had been trying to take advantage of the situation, though it wasn¡¯t clear what their final goal was. However, with Zaur¡¯s death they quickly began to withdraw as well. That included their great battleship made entirely of worldheart, though it likely would have had to withdraw regardless. Though Aconite¡¯s metal-eating bacteria weren¡¯t infinitely sustaining like on lesser metals, their ship had numerous patches of damage that they could not repair, at least not at the moment. Keeping such a valuable ship intact was more important than whatever else they could retrieve from the battle- though it was seen that they did drag the remnants of various ships with them. At some point in the past, the Scarlet Alliance had considered various modifications to their spatial distortions. One of those was to not only draw everyone to Xankeshan, the most fortified location¡­ but also to make the trip one-way. It was a nice thought, preventing their enemy from retreating, but simply infeasible unless they had a massive advantage. They might be the victor here, but their own forces weren¡¯t limitless and all powerful. Forcing those who remained into a battle to the end simply wouldn¡¯t be worthwhile. They did cut down all those who were still fighting and if they had the opportunity, all who were attempting to flee. ----- For those deep inside the Citadel of Exalted Light¡¯s territory, the bad news was that every disciple knew what had happened and would kill them if given the slightest opportunity. The good news was¡­ they were in no state to pick out a single hidden ship. Not every single cultivator within their systems was a disciple of the Exalted Light, but all those who were simply¡­ couldn¡¯t. Velvet had the misfortune of dropping right next to one of their fleet patrols when attempting to stop to replenish their ship¡¯s energy. She could hide a lot, but the spatial fluctuations from rising out of subspace came before she was able to affect anything in her current state. Well, she was able to make it about half subtle. She panicked as she expected the enemy ships to immediately turn on them, or at least throw out cultivators to assess them. By the time they actually reacted, she had properly reestablished illusions around the ship and they were zooming away from the fleet. Even then, the search parties seemed¡­ lackluster. Though that didn¡¯t convince Velvet to linger any longer than necessary to replenish their ship. Not that she felt comfortable moving slowly regardless, with Timothy and Catarina in their current states. Chidi was¡­ fine. But they were most certainly not, and she thought it important to reach someone who could help as soon as possible- if that was even feasible. It would still be a journey of months, so hopefully they could last. ----- Though Velvet stayed far away, as the group worked their way towards less populated areas they came into contact with the ripple effects of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance¡¯s attacks. There wasn¡¯t much conversation to be had, with half of the team incapacitated. However, Prasad still had some comments. ¡°It is unfortunate Ratna was not able to personally experience his death.¡± ¡°Hopefully she¡¯ll still appreciate it,¡± Velvet said. Durff frowned. ¡°He disintegrated, right? I guess the closest thing we have to a souvenir are those chunks of crystal.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Velvet agreed. ¡°Are they¡­ reacting?¡± Durff shook his head. When he was not focusing on recovery, it was his job to watch their scavenged supply of bits and pieces of the citadel. ¡°It seems pretty dead. I don¡¯t think he could fake something like that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like he¡¯s Everheart,¡± Prasad agreed. ¡°Though we would do well to be cautious regardless.¡± ----- The news of the death of Zaur spread like wildfire. Even if the Exalted Quadrant tried to quash the information, it only spread more quickly. Nor did the information propagate from just a single point. Every disciple felt his death to some extent, both throughout the upper realms¡­ and in the lower realms. Over the next several years, the fanatic cultivators who chose to ascend even unto death began to break their bonds to the lower realms¡­ bringing with them destruction to various sects in the Exalted Quadrant that could not afford to take further damage to their foundations. Just like with the death of Sudin, surrounding sects converged on the territory of the Citadel of Exalted Light, and there was hardly any resistance to be found with many still shocked to their core. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ----- Koralo looked at the pair of cultivators in front of him, as he had done for so many days. He simply shook his head. He knew he was Catarina¡¯s apprentice, but every time he thought he was catching up she went and did something like this. Uzun was consulted as well, but he didn¡¯t have much in the way of answers. ¡°Much like yourself, Koralo, unless you have further insights¡­ disrupting the situation within them is likely a great risk.¡± ¡°Maybe we can stabilize their surroundings? No, that¡¯s not quite right. Neutralize them, maybe. I know we shouldn¡¯t move them too much, but maybe we should place them next to our star?¡± Koralo sighed. ¡°I haven¡¯t found any details on something like this, and I doubt I could get into her secure storage bags. Though there¡¯s also some chance that all of this was in her head. Obviously the situation wasn¡¯t ideal, but should I fix it?¡± ¡°I think the better question is what we should do about that,¡± Uzun gestured to Timothy¡¯s chest, and some wounds which were beginning to scar. ¡°Is it better to let them heal and the effect fade out, or do they need to be maintained?¡± ¡°If only Chidi were conscious,¡± Koralo grumbled. ¡°How¡¯s that going anyway?¡± ¡°His vital signs are stable,¡± Uzun said. ¡°At least, that is what the hospital tells me. They were quite surprised to require entirely mundane technology, but everything else was faulty.¡± Koralo nodded. ¡°I fully understand that. He¡¯s like a perfect neutralizer for all the energy around him- and I¡¯ve seen void ants. Though I imagine it¡¯s quite difficult for his body and mind to come to terms with that. It¡¯s quite a shame that we can¡¯t celebrate these heroes as they deserve.¡± ¡°Considering what we expected¡­¡± Uzun shrugged. ¡°Having anyone return was quite a miracle. The same with having a home to return to.¡± ----- Velvet wanted to stay on Xankeshan for the next century, but unfortunately other difficulties were conspiring against her. Information from captured Imbued Fragment cultivators was quite worrying. Lower level disciples seemed to have no concept of any connection between the upper and lower realms, and they hadn¡¯t been able to capture anyone stronger alive. But they did hear some interesting stories that had to be confirmed. And as the foremost stealth specialist, Velvet couldn¡¯t just sit around. The Scarlet Alliance had other operatives, but Velvet felt the need to go herself. The Trigold Cluster had too many mysteries, and had shown themselves to be a persistent enemy of the Scarlet Alliance. Not that they expected otherwise, but they had grown large enough to be recognized¡­ and they anticipated further trouble. ----- Runa heard about Zaur¡¯s death from Exalted Quadrant cultivators before she heard about it from Velvet- though that was quite reasonable, given Velvet¡¯s unwillingness to send a message within Exalted Quadrant territory. The exact details were difficult to confirm. Some said the Citadel was launched into the sun and then Zaur exploded. Others were adamant Zaur had been cut into tiny pieces by a grandmaster of the sword and then the Citadel crumbled. Some said Zaur transformed into light and escaped- though that didn¡¯t mesh well with the clear certainty every disciple had. The feedback from his death had devastated them. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we missed it,¡± Misi complained. ¡°The things we could have seen¡­¡± Juli rolled her eyes. ¡°You know we¡¯re not strong enough for that. Our heads may be filled with information, but we¡¯re not strong enough to fight that. You sensed the old recordings.¡± A small but notable figure made her presence known, nipping a bit of energy from the air to draw attention. ¡°It is only as expected,¡± Crossed Antennae signed. ¡°Victory was inevitable.¡± Runa shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve heard and seen much from the Scarlet Alliance, and as impressed as I have been I wouldn¡¯t say so. Domination cultivators are in their own tier of power. Insurmountable. Or at least¡­ by conventional wisdom. Obviously no one is truly undefeatable, but I wouldn¡¯t say this was inevitable.¡± ¡°Those who live in fear are never truly strong,¡± Crossed Antennae said, as if that explained everything. ¡°You think Zaur was¡­ afraid?¡± ¡°Not just him. All Domination cultivators.¡± ¡°Afraid of what?¡± Runa asked. ¡°Of us, obviously,¡± the void ant specifically gestured to herself. ¡°Void ants.¡± Runa thought for a moment. ¡°Why do you say that?¡± ¡°Because otherwise they wouldn¡¯t exterminate us.¡± ¡°That is¡­ the natural reaction of many cultivators. The Domination cultivators aren¡¯t responsible.¡± ¡°Why is that natural?¡± Crossed Antennae asked. ¡°You know why. You¡¯re dangerous.¡± It was simply the truth. Runa herself was also dangerous. ¡°To a Body Tempering cultivators, a small army of us is hardly more dangerous than a Spirit Building cultivator. Do you really think the common folk fear us on their own? Any number of beasts are more deadly than us.¡± ¡°I know they do,¡± Runa pointed out. ¡°If I asked any person who did not know any of you personally about void ants-¡± Crossed Antennae swirled her forelegs. ¡°They would repeat the lies told by Domination cultivators. Because they are afraid.¡± Misi leaned closer. ¡°Do you have any proof of this? I hadn¡¯t heard it.¡± ¡°It is self evident. They create fear in their subordinates, because they are afraid of void ants. If they were not so full of fear, they would not care.¡± Misi sighed. ¡°So there¡¯s still no actual proof.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t need it,¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°I wonder if their energy is tasty¡­¡± Runa naturally recoiled, just a bit. ¡°See? And you have Domination cultivators to fear. But if we were the only ones, would not we be the most fearsome? Yet we can be crushed by a small child.¡± ¡°Not all of you,¡± Juli pointed out. Crossed Antennae performed her version of a shrug. ¡°It takes many billions of us to produce one like myself. And I must still take care not to be sat upon.¡± Perhaps she was underestimating the durability of certain void ants, but not by far. And all agreed that whether or not she was entirely correct, Domination cultivators certainly had reason to amplify that particular fear. Chapter 1109 After enemy fleets retreated from their territory, there wasn¡¯t much the Scarlet Alliance could do. They did send pursuit fleets, chasing down the stragglers who were unable to keep up, but their victory hadn¡¯t been so complete that they could afford to get into pitched combat beyond their borders. On the eastern end, they quickly ran into Trigold Cluster territory. While they would have loved to properly retaliate against the Imbued Fragments and Broad Eyed Harvesters, they couldn¡¯t realistically do much without dragging themselves into an even greater war. However, just because they didn¡¯t have any militaristic actions they could do didn¡¯t mean there was nothing. They now had contacts within the Trigold Cluster- it was far too early to call them allies, but they were at least useful for spreading information. A declaration that any who chose to breach the sovereignty of the Scarlet Alliance would find themselves in the same situation as Zaur Beridze. Reminding others that they had just killed a Domination cultivator was a good way to make them hesitate about¡­ everything. No doubt the Silver Fang were trembling in fear. They might have thought themselves secure with the backing of Koronis¡­ but it was one thing to repel Zaur and another to kill him. Some might have been ready to deny them injuring him in the second war, but it was impossible to deny his death. Everyone would feel it. The Silver Fang would be the first in the Trigold Cluster for the waves to reach, and the Trigold Cluster wasn¡¯t over the death of Sudin. Not that it was expected they would get ¡®over¡¯ such a thing for centuries at a minimum. Domination cultivators didn¡¯t die every day. Yet there were suddenly two in the same century. Everyone would be more cautious. ----- Aconite sniffed Chidi¡¯s body, but senses no poisons or other abnormalities. His heart sounded normal. She couldn¡¯t smell his brain functions but the machines assured her everything was normal. In fact, the doctors said he wasn¡¯t even in a coma. Even though he clearly was. ¡°Hey. Wake up,¡± Aconite barked. Obviously, that didn¡¯t work. If Yuval hadn¡¯t been able to wake him, it stood to reason Aconite wouldn¡¯t be much better. And his parents¡­ were still currently incapacitated. Which was about a thousand times better than dead. Unlike the older Westons, Chidi had been determined to be safely touchable. Which was good, because his body wasn¡¯t self-regulating. He was getting nutrients through a tube. The one concession they had made to treating him as a normal patient was his sword. They couldn¡¯t remove it from his grip, though they had only made halfhearted attempts. Just because the doctors here worked without the benefit of upper energy didn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t understand cultivators. Indeed, most were cultivators themselves¡­ but such specialized facilities existed for exactly things like this. Aconite nosed the metal of Chidi¡¯s blade. The sheath had probably disintegrated in the battle, since as far as she knew it hadn¡¯t been made of anything special. She got no response to the more direct touch. She licked the back of his hand. It was weird, feeling her energy just¡­ stop. It wasn¡¯t like he ate it, but anything that got near him no longer functioned. It felt like it disappeared, but it was still there when she pulled back. ¡°I melted a ship made of worldheart. Or at least, partially. Those metal guys are probably so mad. They might figure out how to reconstitute what didn¡¯t get left behind though.¡± It wasn¡¯t like the bacteria suddenly made materials not exist. They just turned metals into less functional forms. The actual chemical elements were mostly still there. Mostly, because cultivation sometimes transformed things between matter and energy. Before she had been allowed to return to Xankeshan, Aconite had been very carefully purified. By the sun. Which was totally reasonable, as everything she had used really shouldn¡¯t touch¡­ anything. ¡°I poisoned that guy so much,¡± Aconite said. ¡°I hope it helped. I don¡¯t think it all made its way out of his fingers into his bloodstream because it wasn¡¯t properly connected, but it clearly did something. Even after he turned into light.¡± She whined slightly. ¡°I saw his leg get cut off. I know that had to be you.¡± It wasn¡¯t like he was going to wake up and say ¡®thanks¡¯, but she didn¡¯t really know what else to do. Chikere was dead- that had been confirmed. The planet was fully obliterated now. Who else could get a reaction from him? Aconite thought about that. She also thought about using sneezing powder on him to see if that would get a reaction. The doctors probably wouldn¡¯t approve. ----- Velvet didn¡¯t know if she was close to Domination. Nor did she know if she could advance to Domination. It seemed like a very public sort of thing, but Ratna did it so she couldn¡¯t be certain. What she did know, however, was that she had been effective enough to escape Zaur¡¯s perception when he wasn¡¯t actively focused on looking for her. Which was a good enough threshold to reach. If he still existed- which he didn¡¯t- he most likely regretted letting her go the first time. The point was of course to instill fear in the Scarlet Alliance with news of his presence and power¡­ but she¡¯d been there for both the first and last contact the Scarlet Alliance would have with him. She wasn¡¯t afraid of him, or of other Domination cultivators. Not that she was eager to fight them alone, or at all. But avoiding their notice, and more relevantly the notice of everyone else? Her confidence was greatly boosted. Ratna had been very helpful with her growth, mostly indirectly. A few glimpses of her presence and trying to hide around her had been great training. It would be nice to talk to her, but she wasn¡¯t traveling through the Trigold Cluster¡¯s territory for that purpose. She was heading for the combined territory of the Imbued Fragments and Broad-Eyed Harvesters¡­ because there were many mysteries to solve about them. And maybe she¡¯d take a little retribution while she was there. The metal cultivators would be a problem, if they sensed her. She probably wouldn¡¯t try voidsteel on them in any case. But the others¡­ she didn¡¯t have any stone equipment nor was she worried about being attacked if they didn¡¯t even know she was around. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Sometimes, Velvet traveled through the normal routes of enemy systems, riding on their ships in disguise. She might do that in the future, but for now she was making use of the same vessel that had gotten them to the Citadel. It had been somewhat cramped feeling with six people, but alone it was quite roomy. Though for the most part, she cultivated to pass the time as the ship would handle itself. She¡¯d actually considered requisitioning another ship, but the problem was what she wanted didn¡¯t exist. So she really couldn¡¯t. But somehow, Velvet had the feeling it might in the future. Just not a near enough one she was willing to wait. ----- Uzun steepled his fingers as he looked at the lab ahead of him. ¡°Plastic,¡± he said. Koralo just raised an eyebrow. ¡°There¡¯s, uh, no plastic there. Just metal and stone.¡± Uzun blinked, then shook his head. ¡°My apologies. I was thinking about something else.¡± He moved forward, finding the few salvaged bits of the great star draining device that the lower realms had sent. If they had these samples earlier, would it have helped with the war? Not without more warning, likely. He ran his senses over the partial plate in front of him. It would likely not be bothered by a simple touch, given the sturdy materials, but there were protocols to follow. ¡°What do you make of the formations?¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to tell you that I have the same level of insight as Grandmaster Catarina, but I don¡¯t,¡± he shook his head. ¡°I know what these do mostly because I was told what they do. I was able to confirm it, but I doubt I can do anything like reconstruct the whole project. Not that we would want to.¡± ¡°Certainly not,¡± Uzun agreed. ¡°I think the material itself is worth considering. Hand constructed lattices, meant to withstand massive pressure. Replicable at a large scale, obviously. Completely necessary. I have many ideas.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re the head of technological development,¡± Koralo said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be where I am without an excellent teacher.¡± ¡°Catarina learned from others as well.¡± ¡°Yes. But I needed the best teacher,¡± Koralo shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m cut out to be chief formation master. Even if I¡¯m currently the most qualified. I¡¯d prefer to be an expert lab assistant for Catarina.¡± He shook his head. ¡°If I could just snap my fingers and remove that energy, I would.¡± Koralo didn¡¯t realize he¡¯d been in a daze until he heard the sound of Uzun sipping a drink he hadn¡¯t previously been carrying. ¡°So?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°So¡­ what?¡± Koralo said. ¡°Are you going to do whatever you thought of?¡± ¡°I- how could I? It¡¯s crazy. Reckless. We wouldn¡¯t be able to test it.¡± ¡°A superweapon?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°What? No!¡± Koralo shook his head. ¡°Why would you think that?¡± ¡°Well, we can test pretty much anything else. Even a replica of this.¡± He gestured to the plate in front of them. ¡°For a few moments. Anton isn¡¯t here to tell us we¡¯re bad boys and hurt a star¡¯s feelings.¡± ¡°Oh Yeah?¡± Koralo raised an eyebrow. ¡°So you¡¯re saying you¡¯re confident he couldn¡¯t shoot you?¡± ¡°... Obviously I¡¯d stop it immediately,¡± Uzun said. ¡°If we even needed to test something like this. Which we don¡¯t. But what was your idea?¡± Koralo sighed. ¡°It¡¯s stupid, but basically this.¡± ¡°For what purpose?¡± ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s reckless.¡± ¡°Just tell me then, and I¡¯ll let you know.¡± ¡°... To try to save Catarina and Timothy. By draining that Domination energy cycling between them. But I¡¯m certain she has her own plans and I don¡¯t want to disrupt them,¡± Koralo explained. ¡°She told you she had plans?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°Well, no. But she always has plans,¡± Koralo pointed out. ¡°This isn¡¯t the sort of thing where I go ¡®ooops, I wasted the money equal to a planet¡¯s GDP¡¯ and brush it off.¡± ¡°Did you do that?¡± Uzun asked. ¡°Or did she do that?¡± Koralo scratched his cheek. ¡°Or did I do that?¡± ¡°None of that¡¯s the point,¡± Koralo said. ¡°She¡¯d die.¡± ¡°Pretty sure she¡¯s going to die like this,¡± Uzun said. ¡°And let¡¯s say she had a plan. Do you know what it is?¡± ¡°I already said I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°So how do you know it wasn¡¯t to take inspiration from these formations here and save her?¡± Koralo furrowed his brow. ¡°That¡¯s way too specific. Besides, she hasn¡¯t even seen this. Just¡­ the scans from the Lower Realms.¡± ¡°So she does know about this.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way she anticipated what happened to her.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± Uzun said. ¡°I agree. Which is why you should do something. And that something is likely to be formation-forward. But of course, I¡¯ll gladly support you from the tech end.¡± ¡°... We¡¯re studying this anyway,¡± Koralo said. ¡°I don¡¯t have to build anything if it doesn¡¯t seem like it will work. I guess I can at least try to put together some plans?¡± ¡°Good,¡± Uzun grinned. Koralo began to take notes. ¡°So what was that about plastic?¡± ¡°Oh, that?¡± Uzun shrugged. ¡°Just thinking about subspace drives. And ship hulls. And¡­ well, everything. Wood might be better except there are way more wood cultivators than plastic cultivators.¡± Koralo paused for a moment. ¡°There are plastic cultivators?¡± ¡°Of course. We make plastic. Someone has to break the more obscure ones down for re-use.¡± ¡°... I honestly did not know about that part of our recycling initiatives.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Uzun said. ¡°So as long as we don¡¯t get anyone from our own faction angry at us, I¡¯d say plastic is pretty well uncontrollable by enemies. I don¡¯t think a ship could be made out of it. I mean, not a pure tech one. I¡¯ll have to talk to some of the specialists. How hard is it to carve formations into plastic?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ not one of the preferred materials,¡± Koralo said. ¡°To be honest, I can¡¯t say I¡¯ve ever done it outside of very specific practice.¡± Koralo sighed. He couldn¡¯t believe Uzun thought of a plastic ship and yet he was the one in the room with the stupid idea. Chapter 1110 The voidsteel dagger Velvet had spent so much effort to get was left behind as she approached her destination. It shouldn¡¯t easily be found, so she wasn¡¯t particularly worried about it. The greater concern was her not surviving to retrieve it. Along with her other that was currently being reforged back in the Scarlet Alliance, Velvet had left most of her remaining weapons. She carried with her only some lightly enchanted daggers. She would have preferred to bring no metal at all, but that was far more suspicious. Instead, her equipment would ¡®prove¡¯ that she was a weak cultivator to anyone who saw her, when she allowed it. But currently, she was spending most of her time on the daytime side of planets. Traditional stealth wisdom indicated that she should stick to shadows and other low visibility settings. To remain quiet. But traditional wisdom only worked to a certain extent with cultivators. If Velvet was wandering around in the sun, who would be looking hard? Conversely, in the dark people would be watching for sneaks and thieves. Likewise, in silence people would listen. If she stood next to a crowded market, who would hear her? She wasn¡¯t going to be seen when she didn¡¯t want to. She had the use of illusions if necessary, a negation of others¡¯ perceptions. However, there was another method. If she didn¡¯t want it to, sunlight wouldn¡¯t dare touch her. It was much like making herself transparent, but less work on her part. It was still due to her active will, and so far Velvet hadn¡¯t found any stars with sapience even after hearing about Maheg, but the way in which she used her abilities mattered. So convincing light to work with her was easier than relying on shadows. Though Velvet was plenty familiar with every form of stealth. She didn¡¯t know what she wanted, except to leave these places. Even though the planets seemed relatively normal, they didn¡¯t feel quite right. Perhaps it was bias from the lower realms. She hadn¡¯t seen any hollowed out planets yet. But she also wasn¡¯t in the core worlds of the combined sects just yet. Not knowing what information she was looking for exactly, she made use of pieces of equipment to copy everything she could find. Images and video were costly, but if she simply took text she could get an unlimited amount. The only unfortunate thing was that all the technology she used to copy things was made of metal, and even hidden in her storage bags she had some concerns. Hiding the presence of their elements from lesser cultivators was easy enough, but it was a bit more difficult with those who were stronger. Zaur was an exception because his element was also her element. One was simply the radiance of a person, whereas Velvet used the light of stars. Though she reminded herself she was only successful because he was distracted. She wasn¡¯t strong enough to trust in hiding herself from Domination cultivators consistently. Integration cultivators from the Imbued Fragments were easy enough. They probably had some decent information too, though she obviously couldn¡¯t review everything. She just stole what was convenient as she made her way further along. The Broad Eyed Harvesters seemed like they would have been a pain to avoid if she was actually visible. She supposed their eyes might see on other spectrums, but she was prepared for pretty much any sensory technique. At least the stone cultivators wouldn¡¯t find much of anything on her, though she wasn¡¯t guaranteeing that nothing she carried would count. Ultimately Velvet wasn¡¯t planning to find scraps of knowledge. What she wanted was further into their territory, where she could try to verify certain strange rumors. If that was even possible. ----- When she saw it, Velvet had no idea how there were only rumors. Maybe nobody cared for some reason, or maybe they were immensely effective at suppressing information. But the instant she entered one of the systems in question, she knew. Not that she needed to be part of the One Hundred Stars to recognize what was happening with the star. Literally every cultivator from the weakest to the strongest would be overwhelmed by the shock of what they saw. A star¡­ producing natural energy. No wonder there were energy containment arrays around the place. This was something that other sects might kill for. Raising cultivators on natural energy- or lower energy- provided a smoother transition to Integration, for those who were born in the upper realms. That was of course all the descendents of the most powerful figures, so it was a big deal. And here they had a star- and thus a whole system- flooded with natural energy. It was astounding and¡­ it made Velvet feel sick. She wasn¡¯t anywhere close to being a starbinder, but something was wrong. Aside from the fact that these stars absolutely weren¡¯t supposed to produce natural energy. Ignoring the nearby planets- which she noticed were hollow skeletons like their planets in the lower realms- Velvet went directly for the star. Soon enough, she noticed remnants of a structure. And a very faint lingering energy. Varghese. Their chances to meet in person were more than rare, but she had familiarized herself with the energy signatures of the strongest cultivators in the lower realms. Obviously Anton¡¯s greatest apprentice would be among them. And Varghese. Three Squeaks was obviously the better of the two even if he hadn¡¯t reached Enrichment yet. Though that might be personal bias. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. But she was distracting herself. His energy had made it to the upper realms. And he¡¯d definitely overloaded what she assumed had once been star-spanning structures. Now they were mostly scraps. Were the remnants what was wrong? Perhaps in part. Velvet wasn¡¯t a formation master, but she could tell this particular system was mostly non-functional. So it had to be an inherent issue with the star. It wasn¡¯t supposed to produce lower energy. So it was something of an abomination, with its stolen energy signature. There was one problem Velvet immediately discovered. There had only been one star in the lower realms being drained¡­ right? But if this star was flush with lower energy, what about the others? Could one star power so many? Unless Velvet¡¯s recall was extremely far off, Ocreaf¡¯s Star hadn¡¯t been of such a magnitude as to make that even vaguely feasible. Normally, Velvet might approve of such a project. There was nothing wrong with lower energy being in the upper realms, it just didn¡¯t naturally fit. If it was done properly, it could be a great boon. But she could tell it wasn¡¯t done with great care for the stars in the long term. This star was¡­ unstable. Though whether that meant it would unravel in years or last a million more Velvet wasn¡¯t quite sure. Fortunately, someone else would be able to tell her, as she took detailed readings. She was here to investigate these stars, she simply hadn¡¯t expected it to be more extreme than the rumors let on. She would have to be careful so she could actually leave and report back. Though in an emergency, she could at least transmit the information if she thought she was going to be captured. It was extremely unlikely they could prevent transmissions, even if they could detect them. ----- Chidi was not dead. Obviously other people knew that, or he would be. He was only vaguely aware of his own body and the passage of time, but he knew that it had been long enough that he would have decayed long ago if not for outside assistance. If his health had begun to falter¡­ he might have still chosen to remain in his trance. Because it was a unique opportunity. He would have gladly spent a century to familiarize himself with the next step of Negation. He didn¡¯t find the need to name it something else fancy. He wasn¡¯t even sure it matched up to other cultivation systems anymore. Slowly, he became more aware of his body. Of the physical world around him. And then the energy beyond, especially with how it interacted with him. Or the space just beyond him? No. Chidi decided that the Negation was part of him. It would not exist without him, he could feel it and control it. What other parameters were necessary for it to be part of him? It was odd, having reached a point where something so difficult to achieve even for a moment was automatic. But great trials provided much. Chidi did not open his eyes, for that never meant anything to him. He did return to his other senses, however. He heard the sound of machines, but the energy he felt was distant. How relaxing. His sword was tucked into the bed next to him, nearly propped underneath his armpit. He didn¡¯t have to have this sword, but he would admit that he would have missed it. Chidi sniffed. Aconite had been here two, no, three days prior. And quite regularly before that, it seemed. The room was clean to the standards of normal humans and most cultivators, but lingering scents like that were fairly clear. Hidden beneath that were other familiar scents. Yuval. Hoyt and Prospero. Alva. Durff. More rarely some of the other Augmentation cultivators. Missing among them were his parents. He didn¡¯t know what that meant, but he wasn¡¯t fond of the idea. Their deaths were¡­ not unlikely. In fact, anyone coming back from their mission was a miracle. The death of a Domination cultivator wasn¡¯t a small thing. Though he sensed a faint aura far in the distance, lingering. Perhaps the devastation had been split between his projection and his actual body? Or at least his actual body and the Citadel. Chidi might have survived anyway. He wasn¡¯t bragging. He was just aware that his abilities had grown leaps and bounds. First, he¡¯d managed to negate an entire area for a long duration. Or perhaps a very short one, since it was exactly enough time for him to make one attack- and not because he had been slow about it. He could do that again, probably. But the constant part of him that was maintaining Negation was a huge step in another way. He¡¯d been slowly adding to his internal formation markings, and now that his insights had reached the right level, he was able to maintain it with little consciousness. No, perhaps even if he slept it would remain. That was what the long meditation had been for, to secure his hold. Though it had first started as an emergency defensive measure. Shouldn¡¯t someone have come to check on him? It had been only a few minutes, but surely the systems monitoring him would have noticed some change. Chidi could of course divest himself of the feeding tubes and various other things, but he wasn¡¯t a doctor. He might need some of them for his health. And the easiest way to remove them from himself would be to cut them up, which was rather wasteful. Surely there were proper ways, but that involved somewhat more mobility than he currently had. He waited, keeping his senses about him while reflecting on Negation. He was pleased with his path. Even if he had perished, he would have been happy with his choices, but surviving was always nice. When a nurse came in, Chidi moved. He couldn¡¯t easily speak with the various tubes, but he made it clear to the man that he was conscious. ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡± the man confirmed. Chidi slightly nodded his head. ¡°Any pains?¡± No. Or at least, nothing of significance. ¡°I¡¯m sure you must be uncomfortable. But I should contact a doctor before doing anything. Can you wait a few minutes?¡± Chidi could wait a very long time. Impatience was the bane of proper cultivation. An hour later, he was getting released. He could hear Aconite barking in the distance. ¡°I told you I left all the poisons behind! And I don¡¯t have any on my fur or on my claws! You think I wouldn¡¯t know how to keep everything contained? Just let me goooo!¡± she howled. Chidi smiled. That seemed about right. Chapter 1111 Waking up with no indication of his parents filled Chidi with great concern. He was only slightly less worried when he learned about what happened to them. He wanted to hug them. People who went centuries without hugging anyone probably became terrible people like Zaur. Unless they just didn¡¯t like hugs. But he couldn¡¯t. Or shouldn¡¯t. Chidi awoke with new confidence, but while he was perfectly certain in his ability to negate external energy, negating energy inside of others was another thing entirely. Chidi was able to observe his parents from a safe distance, and he learned quite a bit. The energy was flowing back and forth between them. It was so tempting to reach out and disrupt it, but that could go wrong in any number of ways. First of all, it was clear that the remnants of energy were what was powering the transition back and forth between Catarina and Timothy. If he disrupted the transfer, the constant movement that kept it contained would also become unstable. The energy could easily go wild and tear them apart from the inside. The current solution was quite elegant, though not without risks of its own. It was unlikely to be perfectly stable, improvised as it was. But in theory, over time it would use up the excess energy. The problem there was that the timeframe to use up domination energy for such a simple process was immense. Aconite stood with him, attempting to solve the issue much as he was. ¡°I could¡­ introduce some energy negating compounds into their bodies?¡± she growled lightly. ¡°That¡¯s just as risky as what I might do alone,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Perhaps I could create a longer lasting wide area negation. But that wouldn¡¯t really free them from the situation. The energy doesn¡¯t even really go away.¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°But this isn¡¯t our problem alone. We should join with the rest of the Scarlet Alliance on this issue. Koralo has some plans that are intriguing. We both learned from my mother, but the exact details were different given our focuses. I¡¯m sure we can figure something out.¡± If not¡­ well, Chidi had already been exceptionally lucky as a cultivator. The number of losses around him had been minimal. Though if there were going to be losses¡­ he might have preferred it to be Prasad. Though obviously he would never say that to the man himself. They were still allies, even if their interests were not allied on every minor topic. ----- The lower realms were still feeling the aftereffects of the wars, though spirits were high overall. The east and west, however, had different consequences. There had been a push to annihilate the Imbued Fragments and Broad-eyed Harvesters. Their skeletal planets were mockeries of a healthy system, and the devastation left in their wake simply couldn¡¯t be forgiven. Some likely had little choice but to participate- where could they go, when every planet they¡¯d ever known was controlled by the sects? However, the ultimate decisions had come at the hand of those sect¡¯s stronger cultivators. They fought to the last. Not every cultivator at even the lower ranks, but their ¡®planets¡¯ could not hold themselves together after using up too much of their natural energy. Very few survived the inevitable collapses into minor planetoids- or larger planet-sized piles of rubble where they had combined into multiple planet-ships. As for where the rest of the planetary mass had gone, there were a great quantity of ships and of course the star draining structure. Even half complete, it could have easily taken all of the rocky mass from multiple systems. There was some suspicion that they had also found a way to send worldheart to the upper realms, though that was a tiny portion of the overall mass. Any survivors on the eastern front were few and far between. To the west, there were actually quite a few innocents in the mix. First there were the slaves- though only a small portion of the population- and then those who were wrapped up under the power of the Exalted Quadrant in other ways. As for the void ants¡­ they were impossible to reason with. The Alliance ants took on the scattered colonies easily. Capturing enemies was more or less impossible, and so it was not done to any notable extent. Except, as far as the void ant sensibilities went, it could be argued that they captured every single person they could. That would be the queens and few others. The standard rank-and-file were not considered people, and given the development of their own members it had to be believed on the whole. Either way, the queens were kept carefully contained- and separate from each other, since they would most likely not see each other as allies either. What would actually happen to them in the long run was difficult to predict immediately. ----- Gaila was done. And that didn¡¯t bother her at all. In fact, of everyone she saw she was perhaps the least worried about her own condition. ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried about your lifespan?¡± someone would ask. Clearly she wasn¡¯t. ¡°And why should I be? What happens to me when it runs out, hmm?¡± ¡°... You die.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Gaila nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to die happy? This is the optimal result.¡± Usually, they¡¯d say something about striving for immortality. Or at least mention prolonging her happiness. Maybe they were right. But Gaila had the freedom to just exist, and having the freedom to not exist was part of that. From what she¡¯d seen so far of the Lower Realms Alliance she wasn¡¯t in danger of losing that freedom anytime soon, but returning to some form of captivity after a taste of freedom? That would destroy her. Then again, wasn¡¯t that what the Shattered Chains were all about? That was why it had worked for her enough to get through the first few minor steps in Body Tempering, even if her body wasn¡¯t particularly up for the task. ¡°Begin by comparing what things were like then to how they are now,¡± Gaila explained to a group of young disciples. They were young, so the length of their experience was far less. ¡°I¡¯m not saying you should never forget. In fact, if you can put it out of your mind forever, then you will be truly free.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. When any were discouraged about their progress, she supported them. She herself was not even at the peak of body tempering several years later. ¡°Don¡¯t rush,¡± Gaila reminded them. ¡°Unlike myself, none of you are close to reaching the end of your lifespan.¡± Some were older than others, and a few had health issues of a sort, but none were lingering on the very edge. Not with the aid of the Shattered Chains and the Alliance. She said that but¡­ there actually was one fellow. Significantly older. But he didn¡¯t appear to be practicing the style of the Shattered Chains. He was stronger than her too. Spirit Building, maybe? ¡°Did you previously learn cultivation or¡­?¡± she inquired. ¡°I¡¯m just visiting from another sect,¡± the old man explained. ¡°I like to keep up with everything that is going on. I doubt I can guide anyone according to the precepts of the Shattered Chains, but I¡¯ve picked up some helpful things in my time.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± Gaila asked. It was a mix of curiosity and politeness. ¡°There are certain techniques that are useful for people of advanced age like myself,¡± the man explained. ¡°Though there are some drawbacks.¡± ¡°Hmm. Painful?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± the man shook his head. ¡°It just cuts off certain paths. Ascension and reincarnation.¡± ¡°The former doesn¡¯t sound too bad,¡± Gaila admitted. ¡°Many people wouldn¡¯t be interested, but there are other options, right? Not that I¡¯d get close myself. Reincarnation¡­ well, I wasn¡¯t really counting on anything like that anyway.¡± ¡°Indeed. You might be suited.¡± ¡°Are you calling me old?¡± Gaila grinned. ¡°You can make that determination yourself. It also has value for those younger, but the potency is less.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Gaila asked. ¡°It draws upon a connection with death. Age is simply one of the more survivable factors. Unless one wishes to imbue themselves with near-fatal injuries perpetually.¡± ¡°Sounds unpleasant,¡± Gaila frowned. ¡°Who would come up with such a technique?¡± ¡°A truly terrible person,¡± the old man said. ¡°But sometimes, those same people are quite talented. But it would certainly be categorized as a forbidden technique.¡± ¡°Careful with that. You might get in trouble with the sect head.¡± ¡°Bah,¡± the old man waved his hand. ¡°I know Devon¡¯s nieces. Besides, it¡¯s Alliance approved by those with particular circumstances.¡± ¡°Like myself?¡± Gaila asked. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about that. How attached are you to your life?¡± ¡°Not very,¡± she said. ¡°You must not have been around here much.¡± The man shrugged. ¡°Perhaps you might humor me. I understand you have accepted the end. But I honestly don¡¯t know if you¡¯d be suited.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t really counting on that,¡± Gaila admitted. ¡°After all, it must require a certain talent to use well. And motivation.¡± ¡°Both true. But you also seemed interested in reincarnation.¡± Gaila hadn¡¯t thought that would come through. She¡¯d been pretty dismissive, hadn¡¯t she? ¡°Maybe to some extent. I can¡¯t help but wonder what a life would be like if it was¡­ tolerable from the beginning. But I also have no desire to try to reset.¡± ¡°Hmm. Then you are both more and less suited for the technique. It would guarantee that whatever becomes of your soul would no longer be you, should some part of it be drawn into a future life.¡± ¡°That implies the process is outside of the norm. If anything, wouldn¡¯t that be typical reincarnation?¡± ¡°There are certain things that connect people who are reborn, even if they retain no memories. And I¡¯ve heard some testimonies of those who have reincarnated, both intentionally and unintentionally.¡± ¡°... You sure know a lot of people, huh?¡± Gaila asked, looking over the old man. ¡°How does that happen?¡± ¡°You just have to be around for a while.¡± Of course. But how old could one person be? Gaila realized she didn¡¯t actually know the answer. But that was fine. ¡°I think I¡¯d prefer a natural end.¡± ¡°Honestly, you¡¯d have to have a very good reason to seek anything else. Friends, family, or a greater cause.¡± ¡°I think my position in any greater cause would be suspect,¡± Gaila explained. ¡°If I gave up on what I wanted. And that¡¯s to die peacefully in my age. Maybe after setting a few people on the right track.¡± ¡°A healthy mindset. I can see it is doing well.¡± ¡°Thank you. Oh, I didn¡¯t ask your name. I¡¯m Gaila.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Anton. Pleasure to meet you.¡± ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve heard that name somewhere.¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite common. I¡¯d be surprised if you hadn¡¯t,¡± Anton said. And it was true. It fell in and out of favor during his early life, but there were a constant stream of them now. Just like he imagined a few people present around him might name their first son Devon. ----- The Great Queen was annoyed. It was obvious that they were trying to teach the other queens to sign, but they seemed to take it as some sort of threat instead. They were so aggressive. That in turn made her aggressive. But she could control herself. They stayed behind their carefully crafted glass walls, receiving enough nutrients to keep them healthy but not enough to build up a colony. It would be a wasted effort, if they did so with impure intentions. It didn¡¯t seem like it should take this long for them to learn. Was there something wrong with them? Was there something wrong with her? The Great Queen accepted magnanimously that there were probably many things wrong with her from certain perspectives. This was not one of them. Learning to communicate was how her people had grown so strong. Even if the other queens didn¡¯t trust her, shouldn¡¯t they at least want to learn so they could spy on what she and the others said? Maybe that was the best way to teach them. Indirectly. First, though, she would consult with the humans to make sure they were not broken. She could consult the records of experiments that the Exalted Quadrant had been up to, even if they were unpleasant. She didn¡¯t intend to give up easily. After all, what was the point of supporting the Alliance¡¯s intention to include all people under their banner if it didn¡¯t include all of her people. And while void ants might mean only those under a single queen, she was willing to adopt. Accepting them as equal rank would at least require them to be¡­ more. They were quite disappointing at the moment. Chapter 1112 Dozens of individuals sat within arge meeting auditorium, there to represent the various interests within the lower realms. Despite all of their advancements,munications between systems were not instant. Thus, for important asions everyone had to be within the same system- which meant they might as well meet in person. In this case, they met within the borders of the Shining Cooperative. That was because the location was convenient for most parties involved. There were representatives of the Lower Realms Alliance, the Free Guardians, the Adamant Federation, and of course the Shining Cooperative themselves. The former Trigold Clusters preferred to keep their independence, but they shared mutual enemies. The Shining Cooperative was closer to the Alliance both physically and politically, but they still kept separate governance despite the freedom of movement across their borders. Anton looked around at everyone. Nobody seemed willing to break the silence. ¡°No need to be so glum. Though today¡¯s matters are of great importance, it¡¯s nothing so urgent as being drawn into another war. Though we do intend to prevent that.¡± Tor of the Shimmering Spears was the main representative of the Free Guardians- the more friendly of the former Trigold groups. Even so, he didn¡¯t seem to be much in the business of speaking. ¡°And how do you n to do that?¡± ¡°Personally? The usual way. Build us up so we cannot be ovee. But the project we have in mind will go far beyond myself or the One Hundred Stars.¡± Aerona drew attention to herself, not with a sound but a mere flicker of her energy. That was precisely what it was meant to do, nothing more or less. ¡°Everyone is interested in maintaining their own sovereign ims on their territory. That is understood. And we have no intention to limit current ims in any way. In fact, we intend to encourage expansion.¡± Before anyone could ask what the difference was from their current policies, Aerona repeated her words, driving forward more information. ¡°We wish for everyone to expand as far as they can to starve out the upper realms.¡± Along with her words, people gained an understanding of traveling tens of systems or further, a vast expansion. And while she would be able to judge the agreement of those involved swiftly if she needed to, taking their time was best for long term stability. Ravil of the Righteous Inscription Sect, a mighty formation master from the Shining Cooperative, took the opportunity to speak. ¡°A bold n. But would we not spread ourselves too thin? The gxy is vast.¡± ¡°But the Trigold Cluster and Exalted Quadrant are very finite,¡± Aerona said, both agreeing and exining. ¡°We ask for your cooperation, as the expenses will be significant. However, we do not intend to colonize every system. Notpletely. All we need is a few million ships, and an equal or higher number of individuals willing to spend time in rtive istion.¡± A woman threw back her head,ughing uproariously. ¡°Is that all? A few million ships! Capable of interster travel, no less.¡± The woman was Varinia of the Fearsome Menagerie- they felt no need to change their sect name from those who resided in the upper realms. However, she had gone down the path of Assimtion, as many of the Adamant Federation. ¡°You will simply drain us dry of everything.¡± ¡°It need not be all at once.¡± Aerona didn¡¯t let anything disrupt her calm delivery. ¡°A hundreds can produce ten thousand ships each in a reasonable time frame. And the numbers are only an example, as long as we encapste every system potentially within the reach of the great powers in the upper realms.¡± ¡°For what purpose?¡± Ravil asked. ¡°Do you intend to set a barrier around the lower realms, just as the Scarlet Alliance?¡± ¡°An intriguing idea,¡± Aerona said. ¡°But one that may prove too costly, given the differences in natural and ascension energies. But no. The intention is to starve them out by making sure they establish no footholds of any sort. That would make us all far more secure. By the next Cycle, there is no real chance they can conquer us. They would simply lose forces they cannot spare.¡± ¡°So, what,¡± Varinia butted in again. ¡°We send people to be watchers? Why not just send your scouting drones? Surely you can make a million of those.¡± Aerona prepared a response, but Anton spoke first. She was good for negotiations, but sometimes you just needed to get a point across. ¡°We could,¡± Anton said. ¡°Easily. The Lower Realms Alliance could ce people or machines at every point in the lower realms that any of us will ever go. We can tuck them in nicely around every system you upy. And if you want to move into one? Just tell us and we¡¯ll make room.¡± Varinia grimaced. ¡°Well when you say it like that¡­¡± ¡°The goal,¡± Aerona projected her peaceful demeanor. ¡°Is that everyone be responsible for their own regions. Keeping undue influence of the upper realms away is in our aligned interests, even for those who wish to have nothing to do with the Scarlet Alliance. I¡¯m sure you would all be morefortable. But we must spread to every star within a vast area. Of course, this n may not be the perfect method. It is merely the one we havee up with. If anyone is in disagreement that it is necessary?¡± Her power received a consensus from all involved. ¡°Then the details of how we wish to aplish it can be worked out. It need not be the same methods for all. We merely need to know the timeframes people find eptable, the resources they willmit, and of course the pledge to manage your regions.¡± Varinia nced over at Tor. ¡°We will need to work out something. Lest the Adamant Federation get boxed in.¡± ¡°We are not prepared to make permanent concessions on imed territory,¡± Tor replied. ¡°But we need not concern ourselves with how a two dimensional map would look. We can easily enough split intoyers, however. As long as we are prepared to share longer borders and negotiate. It would be a matter of whether we intend to reach towards the gctic roof or floor.¡± The Lower Realms Alliance was also hooked around the Shining Cooperative- but the Alliance¡¯s trail of systems spreading out to the east didn¡¯t truly cut off the other¡¯s path to expansion. They hadn¡¯t even gotten close yet, and moving around a thin trail in three dimensions was more or less trivial. However, it would be good to measure what people thought was eptable, in case future expansion might lead to tensions. They did have to think about centuries in the future, after all. The other matter of import was deciding how they would deal with any upied systems they found- and perhaps other expanding groups. Though it was easy enough to agree on a peaceful approach until they confirmed some sort of allegiance with the great powers. It was something more than a widespread and sustained scouting n, but not quite an expansion imperative. But they had found that even five or ten systems beyond their borders was not a sufficient gap to guarantee safety from other locations in the lower realms. Slow but thorough exploration would still be valuable, but a general survey seemed imperative. As their own systems of travel improved, so might those around them- narrowing the gaps that once felt insurmountable. Especially if the lower realms ever began to adopt the interster teleportation the Scarlet Alliance had been implementing for some time. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ----- While the information was valuable to the Scarlet Alliance, they didn¡¯t actually know what to do with the knowledge that there were stars that radiated natural energy in Trigold Cluster territory now. Except to maintain caution¡­ and perhaps set up long term surveince, if they ever got to the point where stic ships worked. Wooden ships might be fine, but those would likely be reliant on formations- which the enemy were prepared to detect. Running purely on technology would be a valuable advantage- though they were aware that such technology was no longer their exclusive domain. That was a long term project to assuage a single source of worry. Before that, they needed to handle something else. Though it was an important project, the team involved was actually rtively small with asional exceptions. Chidi joined others to work on Koralo¡¯s n to modify the energy draining formations of those same enemies to their own benefit. And specifically the benefit of Catarina and Timothy. While Chidi believed he had about a fifty percent chance of freeing them from danger himself, he didn¡¯t intend to risk the devastation that could happen the other half of the time. And this way he was studying the energy still, so it could boost his potential for Negation. He had to stay away from theb equipment and actual formations, but he could work on things from a theoretical standpoint and apply his knowledge. And he could turn off his Negation. He just didn¡¯t want to. Without it, he was little more than a normal human with effectively no energy of his own. One with significant training in sword techniques and a body that was somewhat more enhanced than others, but he could still be injured by something with equivalent power to a Spirit Building cultivator in an ident. Plus, it was decent training to maintain that state, especially where it might be considered a risk. He would have to be conscious with his control, but even in the worst case he would only cause disruptions. The energy didn¡¯t just cease existing, it was simply forced into a state of inaction. Their teams were working tirelessly to determine exactly what ratios would be safest. They even considered abination of the formations and Chidi and one of Aconite¡¯s energy negationpounds. Though Chidi would probably be an emergency measure rather than the actual n. ----- It was unfortunate that the Exalted Quadrant stood between Runa and the Scarlet Alliance. Of course, that very thing was what had brought her into contact with them. Now, they surrounded their mutual enemy. Sort of. The Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t quite have the physical size to control the movements of the Exalted Quadrant¡­ but they certainly had the necessary power. Zaur was dead. Conveniently, that reduced the pressure on the Chaotic Conglomeration- and as they were wont to do, that allowed them to push for resources on the border. Personally, Runa thought they should secure their previous positions, as the Exalted Quadrant was likely to push back twice as hard. But some cultivators couldn¡¯t see beyond the next year or decade. They might be content to live for a few centuries, but Runa was set on hitting at least a millennium. It just seemed like a good number. Her ambitions didn¡¯t end there. She had a lot of Augmentation to go before even thinking about Domination¡­ but it wasn¡¯t off the table. Which was a huge surprise. Crossed Antennae seemed to think that some of the members of the Scarlet Alliance were guaranteed to advance to Domination given time- and not in a vague sense. Instead, the void ant thought that every prominent Augmentation cultivator from their founding generation would have a good chance. ¡°Of course, Catarina will make her y first,¡± the void ant signed. ¡°You think so?¡± Runa asked. ¡°In what manner?¡± ¡°Likely some sort of grand formation. That could be her anchor. It is her style. Oh, and the wolves might do it too.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit¡­ optimistic,¡± Runa said. ¡°The number of Domination cultivators in the Exalted Quadrant can likely be counted on two hands. And you¡¯re talking about nearly matching that.¡± ¡°Not all at once, of course. And some may fail, perishing. But you have seen the talent they draw in.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying I would be upset if your words came to pass,¡± Runa shook her head. ¡°But I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible.¡± She hadn¡¯t thought she would be friends with an ant before¡­ but at some point, she¡¯d naturally fallen into it. With no offense to Crossed Antennae, Runa would still prefer a human friend though. Too bad Velvet was both busy and distant. Having helpers from the Scarlet Alliance made their messages more consistent, however. ¡°How goes your colony foundings?¡± Runa asked. ¡°I was able to go and return without fear. In some manners, I wish we spread more quickly,¡± Crossed Antennae said. ¡°We were free to do so along the borders. But here, a more conservative approach is reasonable. We wish to remain hidden among our allies.¡± Her antennae twitched, indicating there was something more. ¡°What is it?¡± Runa asked. ¡°I do not believe I should say. Though you are our primary point of contact, sharing secrets of others unnecessarily is a breach of trust.¡± ¡°Is it something that could harm us?¡± ¡°That would depend on how one defined ¡®us¡¯.¡± ¡°The Spirit Slicing Sect?¡± Runa asked. ¡°I know you¡¯re supposed to be neutral but-¡± ¡°You should have no worries.¡± ¡°How about the Conglomeration?¡± ¡°As a whole? There will be no issues.¡± ¡°Crossed Antennae.¡± There was rarely a reason to use her name, as it was clear when the void ant was being spoken to. But sometimes, emphasis was required. ¡°Is someone nning a civil war?¡± ¡°It might be nothing. Or some¡­ intersect conflict.¡± Runa shook her head. ¡°That is, unfortunately, quite typical. Are you at risk of discovery?¡± ¡°We should not be.¡± ¡°But¡­?¡± ¡°How does one choose between nominal allies?¡± Crossed Antennae asked. ¡°Usually by how much they like them. Though people will give various ¡®practical¡¯ or ¡®moral¡¯ reasons.¡± Runa shrugged. ¡°How likely is this conflict?¡± ¡°Unclear. Because I¡¯ve never lived among humans.¡± ¡°Of course you have. What about in the lower realms?¡± ¡°There were very few humans on Akrys. And everyone there chose unification.¡± ¡°Oh. Right,¡± Runa said. ¡°I guess the important question then. Would the conflict be between groups that epted the knowledge pact?¡± ¡°If there was going to be a conflict, one of those who epted the pact might be aggressive against one outside. They seem likely to abuse the knowledge meant for fighting the Exalted Quadrant.¡± ¡°Perhaps we should point them towards the weakened border worlds.¡± ¡°But¡­ did you not say the Exalted Quadrant would be pushing back?¡± ¡°Sometimes, people just need something to do to keep out of trouble. And sometimes they need a little kick in the teeth,¡± Runa shrugged. In the worst case¡­ they¡¯d probably win their little conflict, which could convince others that the knowledge pact was worthwhile. Though conflict with fellow Chaotic Conglomerate sects was very close to breaking the terms of that pact. If they actually started the conflict¡­ there might be issues. Though provoking it wasn¡¯t much better. Maybe Runa could convince Crossed Antennae to tell her the actual details. Chapter 1113 Over the course of his life, Anton had visited hundreds of stars. That was more than most, certainly, but in the grand scheme of things it was¡­ very small. In a single gxy there were hundreds of billions of stars. Even in the tiny section of the gxy that they called home, stretching far enough so that the great powers in the upper realms could not reach beyond, there were millions. If Anton somehow managed to visit one per day- which would have been far beyond a sustainable pace- it would take him thousands of years to even get close to a single million. This was a projectpletely out of his grasp. And he liked that. His individual contribution would be negligible. He couldn¡¯t be in more than one ce at a time, and even his bound stars didn¡¯t have perfect perception around them. This was a task that would be taken up by many others¡­ including some of the more recent sesses in the field of Starbinding. Despite Anton¡¯s best efforts, not all of those who made the attempt were sessful. They ended up like he had, a charred husk, but without the ultimate sess that allowed them to recover. Other more conservative methods of Assimtion were more sessful. One of the starbinding cultivators was from Rutera- and more relevantly was not part of the Order. An ambitious fellow named Ujarak who had been part of the eastern war as a Life Transformation cultivator took inspiration in the best way. He had seen Ocreaf surrounded by its massive shell, and had thought that there could be something better. Over thest decade, he¡¯d constructed a few small tforms with the help of others. Then he had taken them to a small, unstable star to try his hand at a project. Anton had been present to watch as the technology provided a minor but still very real boost to the star¡¯s stability. But that wasn¡¯t good enough for Ujarak. He wanted to be part of the process, and tied himself to the tforms with an ingenious piece of technology. From all ounts he was as close to perfectly sessful as possible- though he would admit himself that if his calctions were off by as much as a single percent he would not have survived the process. He didn¡¯t have a direct conduit to the star inside of him, but the device synchronized him and the star Striul. As ambitious as the fellow was, he recognized his limitations. To bind another star, he would need to find one that could sync up with Striul properly. The man had set up a permanent residence there as one of the many staking out positions for themselves. Ujarak wasn¡¯t in any hurry to bind his second star, instead happily letting his cultivation improve in the new tier a little bit at a time. There were more stories of people than the stars they spread to, stories both big and small. Some took their positions as a temporary task. They intended to stay a decade or two, living alone or in small groups before seeking recements. Significant resources were invested to those willing tomit their time. Colonies were established as well, sometimes just a few handfuls of people and sometimesrger projects where there were particrly promising worlds. The more locations people established, the more connected they were even spanning over a distance of hundreds of lightyears. But it was a long project that Anton could see would still take centuries, especially for people to push to the farthest limits away from other support. Even so, it was worthwhile. Clearly, they couldn¡¯t leave anywhere for the upper realms to grow their roots. There could be more hiding, and furthers suffering under their influence. Systems that were already upied would take special care to make certain they weren¡¯t unduly influenced. The n was to gain permission to temporarily upy nearby systems, at least until they could secure their own neighborhoods. It was likely anyone they came across would have experience with the upper realms, if they had managed to maintain their independence. Some might fear others in the lower realms as well, but there were experts for that sort of thing. Meanwhile Anton was happily taking advantage of a time of peace, even if it only turned out to be a few decades. But he could hope it would stretch into many centuries. ----- It had been a long time since Lev felt out of ce. The trick to that was to mold the ces around him to suit himself. Very little of his time was spent anywhere that he was not growing one of his grand willows. He had only a handful in and around the core systems of the Lower Realms Alliance, but there was no reason they had to be constrained to specific areas. Which is why he was trying something new. But it was extremely odd. Everything felt wrong. But at least the world wasn¡¯t rejecting him. The first tests where people from the lower realms came by their special inter-realm transports had been sessful. Without negative consequences except for difort for only having ascension energy instead of natural energy. Having not undergone the correct process, Lev hadn¡¯t purged his energy and reced it. Thus, he was much like someone from the upper realms descending into the lower realms, his energy slowly leaking away while he was unable to replenish it. Except that wasn¡¯t quite true. His connections to his willows, while not the same as the conduits to stars that Anton possessed, stabilized him at about half of the energy he would have expected. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Knowing that others had been sessful with the same, Lev had begun to very slowly draw upper energy into himself. Controlling it was difficult, as it was more naturally dense and resistant. It wasn¡¯t like he was used to, evenparing it to morepressed versions of lower energy that he was familiar with. The differences came in ways he couldn¡¯t quite describe, except that the knowledge that they were not meant to mix. And while some would have taken that as a challenge, he epted it. Lev¡¯s goal was simple. He was going to nt and nurture a willow. nts that functioned well in lower energy wouldn¡¯t necessarily thrive in upper energy, just like cultivators. However, it was a step on arger project. If the upper realms could invade the lower realms, why not attack them in turn? Despite some rough patches, the lower realms were more secure than ever. Their strength should continue to grow unchecked. In that case, it would be best if they could directly lend some of that strength to the upper realms beyond simply sending cultivators through ascension. Lev had a hundred seeds in individual boxes, carefully sealed. Storage bags couldn¡¯t properly transfer between realms, as they ran off the wrong kind of energy. Some would simply cease functioning, while others would be destroyed. Either way, it wasn¡¯t useful. The natural ce for Lev to start was Xankeshan, but if his efforts were sessful it would be too obvious. Even if it took a century to grow to any reasonable size, whatever he nted would still be notable. If nothing else, it would raise too many questions. So Lev was working in a plot ofnd on a nice in the center-south of the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s territory. Meirus was the¡¯s name, and it was filled with wild and vicious beasts. None strong enough to threaten Lev, even weakened, but he had some helpers to keep him safe just in case. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you again, Fuzz,¡± Levmented. They had met unintentionally at more or less the true beginnings of their journeys. Both had nearly died to the same parasitic moss. One had grown to use fire, and the other focused on nts. Funny how that worked out. Though Fuzz¡¯s choices were probably based on hanging out with the Order of One Hundred Stars. Not that they¡¯d been called that at the time. Fuzz growled in a manner that was both friendly and aggressive. ¡°Nothing will harm your hide, tree friend! My mate and I will keep you safe!¡± Spikes hadn¡¯t been able to stop sniffing Lev. ¡°He still smells strange.¡± ¡°Not ascending will do that, I suspect,¡± Lev shrugged. ----- Choosing a location for a tree he expected to be multiple kilometers tall with a canopy wider than that wasn¡¯t a simple task. Lev circled the a few times before stopping to check out another location that felt good. It wasn¡¯t that he was being casual about things, but at a certain point feelings were more important for cultivators than what they could necessarily express with words. In the end, Lev determined there was no reason to nt just one. He had extra seeds for a reason. He fully expected some to be dug up and consumed. They would be nutritious and intriguing, filled with lower energy as they were. Lower energy was useful for cultivators to properly develop, but did upper energy provide the same benefits for those who mainly cultivated lower energy? That was a question he had to answer. Anton couldn¡¯t, because of his special circumstances. Otherwise the man would have bound at least a few stars in the upper realms centuries ago. Lev¡¯s results were¡­ mixed. When the seeds weren¡¯t eaten, they rotted. He either put too much energy or too little. Or the ambient upper energy was throwing off his efforts to jumpstart the growth of the seeds. But Lev didn¡¯t grow discouraged. He didn¡¯t need a hundred sesses. He just needed one¡­ and he was sure that somewhere among these seeds he¡¯d get another survivor like the one on Vecesta. He didn¡¯t need one to grow big and strong immediately- it just had to live so that it could reach those great heights eventually. This was a long term n, like everything he did as a cultivator these days. That happened, when you lived many centuries and didn¡¯t even feel old. Lev sighed when he saw another seed split by some sort of razor toothed squirrel. However, despite the damage the seed still appeared alive. He decided to put it back in the ground and spend some time with that one. Maybe it woulde to nothing¡­ but he had a good feeling. ----- Creating a device for a specific purpose could be an endless pursuit, continually making tweaks until perfection was achieved. Sometimes it would reach closer to that perfection and sometimes it would drift away. However, the energy negation project kept records of their theoretical sess rates. The project might have continued for another few decades, if it could. But while they had time, it clearly wasn¡¯t unlimited. The energy filtering between Catarina and Timothy was growing more unstable. The fact that they had survived for so long without very much obvious buildup of damage was already extraordinary. And Catarina¡¯s methods were clearly not meant to be a permanent thing. They were an improvised solution for a situation she no doubt had only considered a few times. ¡°Well, this is it,¡± Koralo said. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ really ugly.¡± It looked kind of like a crown made of spikes, except it was three meters across. Even the formation markings weren¡¯t really elegant. Large cords connected every which way, connecting necessary energy to the device while containing it so that it would not influence the flow between the couple. ¡°If Timothyins we did not give it an aesthetic coating of paint,¡± Uzun said, ¡°Then I will ask Catarina to tell him the risk factors.¡± ¡°I think it looks nice,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Very, um, colorful. And¡­ visual?¡± He shrugged. He had a vague awareness of the shape of certain pieces of the device, but he¡¯d never interacted with it as a whole. And as it very specifically didn¡¯t respond to energy, he couldn¡¯t feel it at all. Once it activated, no matter how much shielding it had he would be able to sense its shape. And hopefully he could follow the flow of energy just in case something went wrong. The long project had made Chidi ever more certain that he could free his parents, but also that the actual project was more likely to be sessful. But with him as backup in case something started to go wrong, he didn¡¯t think it could be any more survivable considering the circumstances. The chances of death for at least one of them were still over ten percent, with long term injuries being nearly guaranteed, but that was still rtively low. Not that most people would gamble family members on that if they had any other options. ¡°Time for the final checks,¡± Koralo said. ¡°And then¡­ there¡¯s no further reason to dy. This is our one shot.¡± Chapter 1114 Strangely shaped pirs of rare materials were carefully navigated through by a specially prepared robot. Carried in its grasp were Catarina and Timothy, still locked in their endless cycle. Aside from the two of them, there were practically no energy fluctuations in the entire facility¡­ and outside of it there was only empty space. The void itself was notcking in energy, but it was at a low concentration which was easy to handle. Those present were only those absolutely necessary, with no distractions. They believed the formation would work, but they had unique circumstances and thus hadn¡¯t truly been able to test it. But they were ready. Koralo understood how it might look if Catarina died in something designed inrge part by him, but what were they going to do- fire him? He didn¡¯t want to be a candidate for best formation master in the Scarlet Alliance. It was easier when he was just her apprentice and the best was obvious. He truly hoped everything worked so he could continue to avoid the public eye. Uzun was just as serious. He liked having apatriot who saw things from different angles. He leaned more towards pure tech rather than formations, so how they solved the same problem in different ways was a big part of his development. And of course, usually the correct answer was hybrid technology. Chidi was part of the project as well as being the emergency backup n. He truly hoped he wouldn¡¯t have to act, because that would indicate things were already off course. A dark empty space filled the area around them, not because they couldn¡¯t have lights, but because literally any interference might throw things off. And the Domination energy they were dealing with came from a light cultivator, so it seemed best to be cautious and minimize the slightest variables. A countdown timer was on the disys in front of all of them. When it reached zero, the systems began pumping energy into the various pieces of their contraption. Webs of energy without type crossed each other, invisible to the naked eye but extremely clear and bright to those who could sense energy. They connected for but a moment before fading into a dull form. The process in ce was ultimately extremely simple, but delicate. It was difficult for even those with the best senses to determine much was happening. At best, they could sense the runes activating and attempting to perform their purpose.The Domination energy continued to flow between the pair. Slowly, the various pirs moved closer as gears gradually slid them along a predetermined path. Then there was a moment of resistance, before energy began to spiral outward from between them. The trick was pulling it out of the two without harming their bodies, and withoutpletely disrupting its momentum. Without any relevant defensive energy of their own, they could bepletely disintegrated by much weaker energy, let alone domination energy. The exact path it was taking through them was the safest. Chidi was tense, ready to spring forward and stop everything if necessary. The flow was continuing, and he could feel that everything was steady so far¡­ but the process had only just begun. The swirl of energy took only the tiniest strands, spiraling outward to connect to the various pirs and be absorbed. But as miniscule as the amount of energy seemed, the pirs strained and thrummed with effort. Koralo sweated as he kept everything stable. The process seemed to take hours- perhaps it had- as the total quantity of energy was finally measurably diminished. About two thirds of what remained was within Catarina, with the mass flowing towards Timothy. The cycle continued back and forth, with each wave pulling away just a little bit. Then suddenly the drain elerated. Light filled the room, bringing with it intense heat a momentter. Chidi was already moving, but the single step he had to take was further than he anticipated. Explosions red as his sword cut in a sweeping arc. He took control of the flow of energy as much as he could, trying to damp its vigor. A momentter, Chidi could only sense Koralo and Uzun. The surrounding formations were burnt out. He reached forward carefully with one hand, his pulse and breath the only feedback in his ears. His fingers touched soft hair¡­ but it began to pull away. Chidi lunged forward, grabbing his mother and father. Their positions had been held by unnatural forces, and the sudden rxation of their muscles caused them to fall out of the setup around them. There was a slight wheeze. Then a cough from the other side. ¡°... I¡¯ll assume it¡¯s supposed to be dark,¡± Catarina said slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t know how long it has been¡­ but try to keep us in a low energy environment.¡± Her head slumped, but Chidi could now hear two more bodies around him. ----- It was a tense time as the two were transformed to the same intentionally mundane hospital that Chidi had contained in. It was a tense time, not knowing if and when they might actually wake. It could take years¡­ or decades. Then before anyone could make Chidi go home, Timothy woke after just three days. He didn¡¯t make any sorts of dramatic motions, simply opening his eyes. ¡°Good morning, boys,¡± he smiled slightly, looking at Chidi and Yuval both. Thetter would likely have been too much for the hospital¡¯s restrictions if not for Chidi¡¯s presence, as he was far from a little kid. Though as far as cultivators went in the upper realms, barely three centuries was still considered on the younger end. The two of them threw themselves forward, hugging him tightly. His own grip was weak, but he didn¡¯tin at their enthusiasm. ¡°It¡¯s been so long,¡± Yuval said. ¡°I was out for less than half this long,¡± Chidi agreed, pulling away. This novel''s true home is a different tform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Is that so?¡± Timothy said. ¡°I feel strangely empty.¡± He looked down at himself. ¡°And wrinkly.¡± Chidi frowned. ¡°I suppose that happens when your body is overwhelmed by foreign energy for a few decades.¡± ¡°Oh, in that case, I¡¯d say I don¡¯t look bad at all.¡± He sighed. ¡°Still tired, though. Your mother¡­?¡± ¡°Just next to you,¡± Yuval said, gesturing past him. Timothy turned and nodded. ¡°Good.¡± Then he fell back to sleep. A dayter, a very simr situation happened with Catarina, and two days after that both of them were awake together and at least somewhat active. Though they still remained in their beds. ¡°Should we get you outside?¡± Chidi asked. ¡°So you can get some energy in you? Would that help with your recovery? The doctors weren¡¯t sure, and because of your request¡­¡± ¡°No,¡± Catarina said. ¡°We¡¯ll stay here. In fact, we¡¯d appreciate you remaining around.¡± Timothy shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll go with what she said. I think I could probably start drawing in upper energy. I¡¯d be a bit sore, but I¡¯d probably recover in a year or two. Maybe a bit more or less.¡± He smiled at Catarina. ¡°But you don¡¯t think that¡¯s the right option.¡± Catarina nodded, taking some time to think through her following words. ¡°We survived Domination energy for¡­ quite some time. With some rest, we could certainly go back to how we were.¡± ¡°You see how she is,¡± Timothy chuckled. ¡°Though honestly, I feel like I¡¯ve had a few insights on my own.¡± Yuval frowned. ¡°You think you can be a Domination cultivator?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°No,¡± Catarina said. Chidi raised an eyebrow. ¡°And what does that mean?¡± Catarina crossed her arms. ¡°Domination isn¡¯t for me.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t take you for the type to give up,¡± Chidi said. ¡°So I still need an exnation.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Catarina said slowly. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t really be that different from Domination. Probably. Without clear guidance from Domination cultivators on that, there¡¯s still a lot of spection that I¡¯m not any closer to confirming. Can you get me a tablet? I need to write some notes.¡± ¡°No energy?¡± Chidi asked. Catarina nodded. ----- Catarina stopped only to eat. Simple foods, and in some ways more expensive for being devoid of energy. That actually took special preparation within the Scarlet Alliance, since there was usually no reason for it. Chidi was happy to sleep near them as an energy negation device. It took only a slight effort to expand his control where there was already very little energy. He had quite a bit of spection about what Catarina might intend, but even reading over her shoulder he couldn¡¯tprehend all of it. Unsurprisingly, it involved formations. Her speed of input was far slower than Chidi was used to, but that was not surprising without ess to energy. Her brain would be operating at a standard level, at best. There was likely lingering damage in various ways. ¡°There,¡± Catarina eventually said, after a week. ¡°That¡¯s a good outline. What do you think?¡± she held it out to Chidi. ¡°I value your opinion as someone progressing on an alternate path. Oh. When did you get so¡­ nk?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been like this the whole time,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°I already discussed it with dad.¡± ¡°Well, I missed it,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°Would you say you¡¯re Domination-equivalent?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°I do know there¡¯s more progress for me to make in Negation, but it did work at least on the free Domination energy at the end.¡± ¡°Oh yes. About that¡­ I assume we won? I vaguely recall something like that.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a holiday and everything,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Also the council really wants you guys to be healthy so you can ept medals and stuff.¡± ¡°Tell them I¡¯m busy.¡± Chidi shrugged. It wasn¡¯t his problem. As for actually consulting his mother on her ns, he did his best. He admired her intentions to not plicate¡¯ things by absorbing more energy at the moment. But what she wanted to do with formations was in a very different direction than what he¡¯d personally done within himself. He figured she¡¯d probably do fine though. People didn¡¯t just call her a genius for nothing. ----- A curious beaver moved to sniff a tree. The bark appeared quite tasty, and full of energy. It gave a little nibble. Then something wrapped around its waist and yanked it up into the air, holding it upside down. Without the benefit of the right sorts of limbs, all it could do was il helplessly, which only invited the branch to squeeze more tightly. Lev only nodded, content that another one was growing nicely. It was barely five meters tall, but the earliest stages were the hardest. With a bit of nurturing he could see it growing to overshadow all of the surrounding trees. He was tempted to give it some more space by removing some unwantedpetitors, but he wanted these to grow big and strong on their own. Coddling them wouldn¡¯t be a good idea. That was fine for garden nts and crops, but not so much for towering monuments of cultivation. Besides, the grasping willow could probably tear down surrounding trees itself soon enough. They didn¡¯t do that for others of their kind, as they shared nutrients with each other, but they asionally reacted to touching other branches in extreme manners, iling around and clearing the area around them. In the early stages there was probably no conscious thought involved- even the original Grandfather Willow was at best a primitive intelligence- but the few sorts of active movements the trees could aplish were quite effective. The tree looked quite different from what he was used to. The proportions were different. Stouter, rather than growing tall. That included the branches, normally whip thin but now thicker. A little less flexible, but sturdy. It seemed that was what was required to grow in upper energy. Of his hundred seeds, there were only about ten that had survived to this point. There could have been a few more if he knew how to promote them properly, but if he knew that it wouldn¡¯t be a learning exercise. Thergest remaining question was whether it was safe for him to bond with one. Lev thought the answer was yes. The various specimens were rather weak at the moment so he wouldn¡¯t be any stronger than an Integration cultivator if it came down to it, but perhaps in the future he could fight in the upper realms. Though he¡¯d need to be certain first, and of course have trees in the right ces. Inconvenient, especially since not everyone wanted to manage Grasping Willows. Though they did have some ascenders that would do just fine taking care of them. Even if they hadn¡¯t gone down the path of Assimtion, they could still appreciate the origins of their techniques. Chapter 1115 Travel between the upper and lower realms was still limited, though no longer was the primary reason ack of appropriate vessels. They were able to produce them at a slow but steady rate. However, they limited themselves to a certain level because of other factors. Specifically, the need to keep them secret. The distance between the lower realms and the Scarlet Alliance was significant, and with the great powers poking their heads into the Scarlet Midfields once more they were making it more difficult to avoid them. More circuitous routes had to be taken to maintain their safety. Losing a few ships wouldn¡¯t matter. It would be inconvenient if the hostile factions could transport their people safely to the lower realms at any point, but it wouldn¡¯t be in significant quantity even if they replicated the technology. Thergest actual risk was them making a connection between the Scarlet Alliance and the lower realms. Because they could certainly organize more than a handful of sects and a single Domination cultivator to act against them, given the repeated humiliations they had suffered. Of course, the current extent of their secrecy was already in question. The rank and file of the Imbued Fragments had not been aware why they were involved in the attack, but there wasn¡¯t much reason for them to do so except the events in the lower realms. Long term investigations of thebined sect were still underway to reveal their motives. ----- Humans were fascinating. Crossed Antennae strongly believed that. In her mind, she lumped in all the people of Akrys into that category. Energy cultivators, for the most part, aside from rarities like Nthanda who still had some energy of her own. Her royal guard had learned much from cultivators, and Crossed Antennae had picked up a few snippets here and there. But she was uninterested in poisons or of making her jaws cut more sharply than they ought to. Despite what her closest sister seemed to think, void ant queens weren¡¯t meant for battle. It was merely the case that any who lived long enough could grow to suit it. Despite having no interest in learning anything in particr, Crossed Antennae still paid attention to all the humans around her for purposes other than spying. And she finally understood the passion her Royal Guard had. It hadn¡¯te all at once. The first time she¡¯d seen the techniques of the Spirit Slicing Sect, she found them functional but unnecessary. After all, void ants could naturally devour energy- they didn¡¯t need a technique to do anything of the sort. But Runa did far more than simply prevent energy from going point to point. She also negated the connection to energy beyond in a way that void ants only achieved by coincidence. Small strands of cultivator¡¯s connections to their techniques would naturally slip from the grasp of a hungry void ant as they tried to protect that all important connection. And for Crossed Antennae, that didn¡¯t really matter. If a technique even could threaten her, she could devour enough of what was directly in front of her to effectively negate it. But that wouldn¡¯t protect humans, or young void ants who were still susceptible to sufficiently powerful energy. So cutting off the connection was interesting. She tried her best to figure it out on her own, though her training partners were quite limited in variety and she could never quite get it. So she did the only obvious thing. She asked about it. ¡°Runa. Can you teach me how to perform that technique?¡± ¡°Can I?¡± Runa raised an eyebrow. ¡°Can void ants even use techniques like that? It also uses voidsteel¡¯s properties and certain insights¡­ I suppose the energy isn¡¯t strictly necessary.¡± Crossed Antennae nodded. ¡°It¡¯s mainly for mobility, correct?¡± ¡°The attack needs to be swift and precise. But obviously voidsteel isn¡¯t augmented by the energy. That¡¯s the whole point. I suppose I might be able to teach you. I know some of your people have gained certain insights. But I¡¯m not sure if I should.¡± Of course. ¡°It is a secret of your sect.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Runa agreed. ¡°But that¡¯s not the only reason. I taught Velvet, after all. But I don¡¯t know you as well. Give me time to think about it.¡± Runa also intended to contact Velvet to ask if there was any reason she shouldn¡¯t teach Crossed Antennae. Because Velvet should have been able to do it herself, right? Runa had developed a friendship with the void ant, but it was nothing like the longer term connection to her other friend. She was willing to trust the void ants on Velvet¡¯s word in general, but this was a unique situation. Obviously she wouldn¡¯t be telling Crossed Antennae the true reason for the dy, though. ----- A dozen tiny ants marched in formation, carrying equally tinyponents to a circuit board and cing them in. It was¡­ surprisingly inefficient. Juli could have put them in by hand more rapidly one at a time with tweezers, if she needed to avoid using energy. Or if the parts weren¡¯t energy-sensitive, she could just pop them all in at once. And if she took the time to set up the parts so that the void ants could be more efficient, she was just using more of her own time. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Sometimes inefficiency was fine, though. There were certain goals she had that revolved around things like this. It wasn¡¯t her intention to make some sort of void ant assembly line. She could set up an actual assembly line far more easily. But they might want to have one. Though actually¡­ they might also set up a real assembly line more easily in the long run. Juli¡¯s main problem was, intended entirely without malice, that most void ants were uneducated. Oh, they learned to sign and could often read, but aside from queens that tended to learn history and other moreplex things, they tended to just¡­ stop. And why not? To them, there wasn¡¯t any reason to have further knowledge. They weren¡¯t going to improve their lifestyle. All of them worked and got fed. None of them had luxuries. At best, these void ants were the ones with all of the luxuries- as much upper energy as they wanted to consume. They didn¡¯t have beds or fancy entertainment. Not even the queens. Their entertainment was all social, what little of it they had. Though that wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing. The ability to be fulfilled without much was actually quite admirable. There were a few void ants that were exceptions. Some of the Royal Guards got into various cultivation things and their training was their primary source of entertainment- that wasn¡¯t odd for cultivators though. It was kind of like an obsession. Juli understood that very well. It was why she wasn¡¯t bothered that none of the void ants seemed to care what she was doing. Even though the project could eventually benefit them, they didn¡¯t seem to find it necessary. The ultimate goal being for void ants to be able to construct their own technology for necessary things. Like¡­ space travel. And long rangemunication. Honestly, those were the only things they actually seemed to need. They could construct functional colonies anywhere, whether humans made things easier or not. Their metabolisms were efficient enough that a modest supply of food they farmed themselves paired with the local energy of any they would actually choose to live on would be sufficient. But Juli couldn¡¯t help but think it was a waste of potential. What if void ants could carry tiny weapons? There were a few pure tech things that were dangerous to cultivators. She¡­ didn¡¯t know how topact them small enough to be carried by a void ant just yet, but she was figuring it out. She sent a whole ton of questions to people back in the Scarlet Alliance on the regr. Half of the questions she answered herself before a reply came, but even then there was great insight added to what she knew and the other half cleared many things up. She still had so much to learn. A few centuries simply was not enough to learn everything. Some people said it was impossible to actually aplish given any length of time, given what different people produced. Uzun said not to let that slow her down. He figured he only needed to learn two or three times faster to keep up with all of the most important advancements in tech. That did mean Juli needed to learn something like hundreds of times faster if she wanted to know everything, even if she theoretically matched Uzun¡¯s speed ofprehension which she doubted. And that it was probably inefficient to be inventing her own new fields of study at the same time in void ant built tech. But if she had an infinite amount of time, she could learn everything. Unless the infinities didn¡¯t line up, but rather than epting that the wouldn¡¯t all she had to do was make them. That was what being a cultivator was all about. Juli looked at some new schematics. These weren¡¯t for sharing, but for her personal edification. New stic materials and their properties. Obviously not stic, but something outside of the standard cultivator understanding of the world could actually be quite useful. Those distracted her for a few hours, but it didn¡¯t seem likely that void ants would work with those materials any better than anything else. The biggest issue was that they didn¡¯t have hands. Though if she could set up something from which they could build basic parts with their limitations, including another machine, then they could really get going. And maybe one of these void ants would be the one to actually make use of that. They didn¡¯t indicate much interest, but they also kept showing up even though it was entirely voluntary- though that might have been just because they were allies and void ants were helpful. ----- Misi wished he could have been present to see the formation that freed Catarina and Timothy. Or that he was in the central Scarlet Alliance to learn from her or Koralo or someone another step or two down the line. But the amount of ess he had for personal study was already quite great. Between his sister and himself, they could probably learn everything. Probably. But if not, he¡¯d at least be a useful backup in case something catastrophic happened in the Scarlet Alliance and wiped out the top hundred or thousand formation masters. Not that he thought that was likely. Catarina herself dying was fairly likely up until a few years before, though, until they hadpleted that project. And once someone died, all the information in their head was gone. Or at least, in any useful way. And Misi had studied brain scans from all sorts of people through various different methods. If nothing else, cultivation insights were etched on the soul, or something. It wasn¡¯t like people could reincarnate with memories if brains were a key part of that. There was something more to it. Did souls fall under formations? Maybe not. Certainly not tech, but there was a lot of middle ground for Misi and Juli to scoop up together. Though he wasn¡¯t part of the Chaotic Conglomeration, nor was he nning to stay forever, Misi still nned to bolster them as much as possible. The Exalted Quadrant probably wasn¡¯t going to stop making a fuss just because a Domination cultivator died. In fact, just like before it would probably result in them ramping up aggression in various ways. To that end, good formations were needed to stop them. But not ones they could easily steal and turn back against the Chaotic Conglomeration. He had to make some assumptions on what certain sects would know and who would end up where. Or he could just let the Conglomeration be responsible for what they did with their knowledge and seed or screw up on their own merits. But he preferred to support them since he was currently living among them. At least for another few decades, maybe a century or two. But he would be going back to the Scarlet Alliance. They were still the ones supporting him even at a distance. And it was nice to know that they cared about him, unlike most of the Chaotic Conglomeration. Chapter 1116 A bowstring released, shooting an arrow made of light into a star. Far away, an arrow shot out of another star. If someone had been able to observe both locations at once, they might have been impressed, but Anton wasn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t getting any better. At the moment, he was more or less just telling the second star to shoot an arrow of energy. The initial arrow dropping into the star in front of him didn¡¯t matter at all. Unfortunately, Anton wasn¡¯t sure if it was a conceptual issue or something he actually couldn¡¯t do. Though he was a proponent of the idea that there was very little a cultivator couldn¡¯t do with the right knowledge or enough power- perhaps they could do anything in theory- that didn¡¯t mean every cultivator could potentially do everything. Each individual had their own personality, environment, thought processes. What they could aplish might not be the same as others who practiced their same cultivation method, no matter how closely all parties followed the core of the method. That was the nebulous idea of ¡®talent¡¯ and ¡®affinity¡¯. Anton wasn¡¯t even quite certain what he was trying to do. Was it spatial maniption? Energy entanglement? Ultimately, it was to be another method to extend his range. Situations like taking down Sudin weren¡¯t just going to present themselves to him. Normally, his range was far less without some sort of conduit like the Tides of the World. The actual conduits were within himself more than within his bound stars. Maybe he would have to shoot through himself. That was¡­ not something Anton would be attempting. It simply didn¡¯t feel right to him, regardless of whether it was something that could be aplished. He was quite aware of how few stars he had boundpared to the region around him. That was why he was pushing towards the next step. Exactly how long it would take was uncertain, but potentially soon, within the next century, or it could be a handful. No longer than that, if he was sessful. Anton hated topare himself to Everheart, but it could be at a vaguely simr age that the man reached Domination. It was a shame the old geezer hadn¡¯t returned to the lower realms. A man like that was never off guard, always knowing everything. But Anton¡¯s alternate path had clearly been very confusing to the man. Most likely he¡¯d built up his knowledge on that topic now. Even his advancement to Domination might have been non typical, though the man still kept an air of mystery around him so their information was limited. Several more shots into the star, which Anton attempted to replicate at the other end. They just never came out so snappy. Probably because they weren¡¯t really doing anything. Perhaps he should have focused on his other methods that already worked¡­ but he wanted something more instantaneous. And there was no reason he couldn¡¯t have both methods. Maybe Three Squeaks would have some insights. The tiny archer was a great student, and he¡¯d been around long enough that Anton couldn¡¯t just assume he knew everything Three Squeaks did. Yes, it would be good to visit. And then he could focus on something besides archery training for a while. Though of course, he wasn¡¯t going to take a day off. He¡¯d just limit himself to a set amount.----- The number of popteds the Lower Realms Alliance found once theymitted to going to every star was both quite high and yet extremely limited. Most people they found had not expanded to space travel. Those that had were mostly constrained to their systems. Estimates ranged between one civilization for every few hundred stars, going as infrequent as one per five thousand. Which would still be quite arge number over the whole region, merely numbering in the hundreds instead of thousands. But split among the whole poption of the Lower Realms Alliance, even if they had found them all at once it wouldn¡¯t take all that long to contact each and every one. Properly, of course. It wouldn¡¯t take long after finding them to send a single ship or a probe, but it was important to make a good impression. If they strictly wanted the best impression, they would probably send Aerona. But that was a lot of distance to cover for one person, and it would reveal a rather limited picture of their alliance. Of course, she still did spend most of her time traveling from one ce to another. Half the time she had Devon with her, though it wasn¡¯t so much for safety as forpanionship. She was strong enough to survive on her own, even if she wasn¡¯t much of a fighter. She could at the very least keep herself from being attacked or flee. She had a good ship for that. And as an Enrichment cultivator, even if she was very much not focused onbat, she could easily take down Life Transformation cultivators. The only danger would be if there were those on alternate paths, but even then she would be able to detect aggression long before she was actually in danger. Her methods were a little less personal than they had once been, at least for the very first contact. What she would do was gently nket the target in her energy. Then she effectively introduced herself and asked a bunch of questions. The answers were provided more by her technique than any individual. It wasn¡¯t mind reading so much as an advanced level of insight. After her peaceful greeting, indicating she came from another system in the lower realms, she asked her first question. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. How did people feel about people from the upper realms? Whether the general consensus was hostility, servility, or a mix she could interpret that to determine if they were upied, nted by the Exalted Quadrant, or had been recently invaded. She kept to the ¡®western¡¯ territory and thus anticipated no interaction with the Trigold Cluster. After that, she would mix up her questions. If people had a negative attitude towards the upper realms, she would try to determine how they felt about the idea of her. If people were amenable or even neutral, she would try to determine if they were unified or not. That was important, because she wanted to set up in-person meetings where she could really talk and if various different people thought they were the most important? She had to determine how to meet with them all. Sometimes people would meet together, others might not coexist in the same room as others. In which case, she had to pick an order. One that would least offend those she didn¡¯t wish to offend. If certain factions were amenable to meet, assessing their rtive strength was important. She could meet with them secretly if they were weak, or openly if they were strong. But there were always worries about what others would think, and how they would react. But to Aerona, that was just how things were done. It was the flow of cultivation. Just like others engaged themselves inbat, creation, bureaucracy, or any number of other fields, her area was diplomacy. So she was not timid with her choices. After all, showing up and then pondering her decisions for too long also sent a message. Only asionally did she worry about causing a war of some sort. Once or twice, she suggested the Alliance support a certain faction, at least defensively. Other times, things were so entangled that the or system had to be left alone with the bare knowledge that others were out there. Long term observation might be the only solution to a peaceful coexistence in the future. And sometimes thes were in part or in whole controlled by the Exalted Quadrant factions and she had to assess theirbat potential, for others to deal with. Aerona didn¡¯t like that, but she took sce in the fact that the rest of the Alliance didn¡¯t either. If they ever grew to enjoy battle more than they ought to, then their alliance might be failing in its core ts. Not that there couldn¡¯t be a certain satisfaction to be gained in securing safety. Just leaving them wasn¡¯t an option. The upper realms had shown time and again that they were not willing to leave them alone. Repeated invasions, and sending their lower realms minions to cause chaos. And Aerona could always count on people like Devon to extract the innocents from such ces. There were rarely ever situations where all the people were of one mind. Even the actual hiveminds within the Alliance had different thoughts on things, both between hiveminds and within them. Far too often, Aerona found a certain pattern. It had been discovered by Anton before her, but it was a truth that held on all scales. It was a pattern that appeared in anything from realm to realm all the way to between systems,s, countries, cities, or individual people. Conflict between neighbors caused not by irreconcble differences but by ack of resources or the threat of a third party or both. Fortunately the invasion at the end of thest cycle had not been too devastating as the upper realms had focused on the ¡®problem areas¡¯, but there were still worlds rebuilding. Tenoun¡¯a and Shrenn were the prime examples, though there were more. Neighborings that had been part of a greater whole, and that had had enough for their people. The devastation from the upper realms left them resistant to others and desperate for scraps stolen from their own brethren. Aerona thought she was pretty good at handling those situations, though unfortunately she couldn¡¯t carry enough food to feed one or two worlds with her. Thus, there were asionally immediate issues she had trouble resolving. And other times she coordinated an exchange of necessities between opposite sides of the that the locals simply couldn¡¯t aplish, because they couldn¡¯t circumnavigate a in minutes. She was always happy to resolve problems. Yet for every number of ces that she had a peaceful resolution, sometimes things would only be resolved with war. Either letting them settle their differences through violence, or having the Alliance participate directly. Aerona wished she could just force everyone to stop, but even if she knocked out the entire- something beyond her abilities- they wouldn¡¯t suddenly change their minds. They¡¯d just add her as another threat. Alright, so there was once or twice that overwhelming a group of people had cowed them enough to actually listen. But more often than not, it just annoyed them. It might have been better if she ughtered some, given the violence that was core to older cultivator philosophies. Sometimes, a show of strength in the wrong way didn¡¯t aplish what she might want. Though the vast majority of cases were peaceful, others still existed. She hated to bring war to the Alliance in what could have been a time of peace¡­ but having the option of when and how to engage was very useful for their alliance. They could afford to wait a few years while resolving one thing or another. And a single or a small cluster of systems simply couldn¡¯t stand up to the forces the Alliance could send. Even if it took a great amount of resources to go a hundred or a hundred and fifty lightyears, everyone agreed it was better than letting the groups grow more powerful. And the only conflicts that were truly unavoidable were when the Exalted Quadrant controlleds either directly or through subterfuge. Rather than thinking of it as going to war with them, it was more like continuing an ongoing war that they had started and perpetuated. Independent groups simply wouldn¡¯t be able to cause them trouble for decades, and that was if they developed long distance space travel rapidly. Some of those were left alone forter, when someone like Aerona or others who could assess a as a whole coulde back and determine if the general sentiment had shifted somehow. Even with cultivator¡¯s long lives, it happened. Chapter 1117 Chaos was where Everheart thrived. That was why he did his best to foment more of it. Though of course, he didn¡¯t want continual chaos. He was only one man. Sometimes thousands or more of one man, but the point was that he did need some downtime. There were all sorts of things he needed to do with all the resources he picked up, after all. Zaur Beridze¡¯s death was something he had been prepared for, unlike Sudin. Thus, he had been on site shortly after, running into the area about the time the Scarlet Alliance was running away. And they left behind so much of value. Everheart was annoyed they had apparently destroyed most of the Citadel itself. He hadn¡¯t actually been close enough to tell what they were doing until after he was certain Zaur was quite dead. Was it technically the correct choice? Probably. Even if the chance was low that Zaur could somehow revive himself from shattered remains of the Citadel it wasn¡¯t nothing. Though it would have been once Everheart got his hands on it. But in the shattered remains of the Citadel¡¯s core, they left behind a perfectly good chunk of Worldheart. Maybe they didn¡¯t think it would fit in their ship. But it wasn¡¯t like leaving that behind would save a that had been turned inside out. The was dead, so regardless of their morals it was now just material. He dug through the rubble of the and swept up any books he could. Most likely they were things he already had, but duplicates didn¡¯t hurt. And there could be a few things. Zaur¡¯s personal notes were likely on the man himself, and his real body had been attacking the Alliance. They probably wouldn¡¯t survive his death, but the man might have stolen some useful details to teach his sect. Then there was Rahayu. The man didn¡¯t speak much, but when he volunteered to do something Everheart knew there was a good reason. His reasons this time were clear enough- if it wasn¡¯t Chikere, what else could it be? It would have been to retrieve her sword, if she had one. But somehow she¡¯d transcended that. Everheart had no personal investment in using his blood as a weapon, and he didn¡¯t have enough devotion to any weapon path to replicate the same thing. ¡°It¡¯s a shame when the apprentice dies before the master, isn¡¯t it?¡± Everheartmented. Rahayu shrugged. Rather than uncaring callousness, Everheart chose to interpret the man¡¯s actions differently. Perhaps it was that Chikere had no longer been his apprentice for centuries. And that sword cultivators of their type didn¡¯t seem to care about death in the same manner. Everheart didn¡¯t really get it, but they seemed to see dying in battle as somehow both inevitable and correct. The swordmaster moved unerringly towards a certain point. Then he swung his sword, cutting the flipped in half again. His arms didn¡¯t stop, slicing the into numerous pieces. Though his energy didn¡¯t linger, so the simply settled back into its same mass. ¡°If you were looking for her arm,¡± Everheartmented. ¡°I do believe it ended up leaving with themst time.¡± ¡°Just testing something,¡± Rahayu said. He then moved out to a lonely point in space. His sword didn¡¯t cut through a consecutively there, and indeed his energy didn¡¯t go beyond the edge of his de, but Everheart thought there was something equally profound. ¡°I need to fight Chidi someday.¡± ¡°Well, don¡¯t go starting a war with the Scarlet Alliance. They seem quite good at killing Domination cultivators.¡± Obviously Everheart had ns for what would happen if they came after him. He wasn¡¯t going to foolishly y by their rules, attacking their well fortified capital system. But his main ns were to just avoid them because it wasn¡¯t beneficial. ¡°He¡¯ll want to fight me as well,¡± Rahayu said. ¡°I¡¯m sure we can arrange for a spar through Vari,¡± Everheart said. Rahayu shook his head. ¡°No. It will be real, when the time is right.¡± If Everheart was talking about the time being right, he would be looking at something like an ambush. Or cleaning up after a battle. Just because he could fight and defeat people head on didn¡¯t mean he was going to risk that. Rahayu probably meant something more profound. Maybe the two of them would wander off to an isted system by instinct. Everheart wouldn¡¯t put it past them, despite iming no foretelling abilities. ----- Trying to carve out a small divot shouldn¡¯t have made Catarina¡¯s hands hurt, but it did. She had also been finding random wounds on her arms, blood trickling down. She was worried she had some sort of mysterious illness, or lingering side effects from her trials. Visiting a proper medical practitioner revealed to her the awful truth. Everything she was experiencing was normal. That happened when people got older. And without her energy maintaining her body, it was beginning to revert to something more resembling a non-cultivator. It was awful. Nobody should have to live like that. Getting old was way worse than Anton had described it. Fortunately, nobody did have to live like this. At the very least, cultivators who grew old while still having their energy were more¡­ functional. Probably. Catarina didn¡¯t exactly have arge cohort of people who weren¡¯t constantly improving in cultivation. ¡°Do all of your joints hurt?¡± Catarina asked Timothy after slowly limping her way back from theb. ¡°All the time,¡± he confirmed. ¡°It¡¯s much harder to swing a sword, and I can barely lift my armor. But if I don¡¯t move, I feel even worse.¡± This story has been uwfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°This is my fault,¡± Catarina said. Timothy shook his head. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t me yourself for keeping us alive.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t have to suggest we stay¡­ like this.¡± ¡°And I didn¡¯t have to agree,¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°I trust your insights.¡± ¡°I¡¯m so close,¡± Catarina sighed. ¡°But I feel like I¡¯ve been saying that for thest decade. I¡¯m worried¡­ I don¡¯t have a n for you.¡± Timothy looked far into the distance. ¡°I¡¯ve experienced Domination energy in battle, and I¡¯ve felt it flowing through me¡­ for quite a long time. I don¡¯t think I can be any more familiar. I have my own ns. They¡¯re actually quite a bit like your own.¡± ¡°... Formations?¡± Catarina tilted her head. Timothy chuckled. ¡°Oh no. Not at all. I was referring to the sr tforms. The teleportation pads. They draw a great quantity of power from the stars. Their barriers are quite powerful. I think that would fit me quite well.¡± ¡°Just like that?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°You don¡¯t want to¡­ make any modifications?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°But I- what if it improves your chances? Just a little bit¡­?¡± Timothy smiled. ¡°Do you think I would intentionally leave you, after all this? Your style is to take care of all the fine details. I just do what I must. I don¡¯t intend to die, you know. Protecting people¡­ it¡¯s not just about keeping my allies from being injured, you know? I¡¯m perfectly aware of how you would feel if I sacrificed myself. So I have to be strong enough to not get wounded myself.¡± He looked down at his hands covered in new scars. ¡°These don¡¯t count. My skin tempering is wearing out just about as fast as yours.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to live if you don¡¯t,¡± Catarina said. ¡°I don¡¯t think¡­ Chidi and Yuval don¡¯t need me. The Alliance, while they have my loyalty, wouldn¡¯t be enough reason to stay. So you have to live.¡± Timothy frowned. ¡°I could say the same to you. Which very much lowers our overall chances. Though there is one thing we need to do to improve our chances.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Catarina asked. ¡°Make an announcement,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°Say exactly when and where we will be advancing. Or at least when. Because Domination is even more devotion based than anything else before it. We need the support of our people. I doubt that Everheart invited people just for fun, you know.¡± ¡°Well, it was probably also to harm their dignity,¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°But I see your point. Which means¡­ I need to lock in a n. I could keep striving for perfection forever, just one more day. But I already know that I might be lowering my chances. Especially if our bodies weaken too much.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Your insights are good. Being like this, devoid of energy, will provide us great opportunities.¡± He didn¡¯t mention the possibility that they might instead be overwhelmed by energy and get annihted. That was possible for anyone trying to advance to Domination. Saying whether it was more or less likely in their cases was a bit difficult. ¡°Five years,¡± Catarina said. ¡°No¡­ seven.¡± ¡°Four,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Unless you want to invite other Domination cultivators to watch.¡± ¡°Do you think that would improve our chances?¡± ¡°Well, that depends on whether they want to kill us,¡± Timothy said tly. ¡°How¡¯s your rtionship with Everheart?¡± ¡°Vtile.¡± Catarina thought for a few moments. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not up for letting any Domination cultivators enter our borders. Even Ratna. How about we arrange for the announcement to be secret. We¡¯ll only tell the people we trust.¡± ¡°That¡¯s hardly publicizing it.¡± ¡°And then a few months before the date, we¡¯ll tell a few other people and inform them of how very secret it is,¡± Catarina continued. ¡°Nothing travels faster than secrets. And I say this fully intending to anchor myself to a teleportationwork.¡± ¡°Ants in the Chaotic Conglomeration will probably hear it by morning,¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°I¡¯m sure the council will be d to hear our announcement as well. Everyone¡¯s waiting for someone to go first. And they¡¯re hoping we¡¯ll seed to guide them, but they can also learn from our failures.¡± ¡°Sounds about right. So the real question is, which one of us is going to be the first Domination cultivator from the Scarlet Alliance?¡± ¡°I think we¡¯ll leave that for others to specte on. I don¡¯t know about you,¡± Timothy grimaced, ¡°But I don¡¯t think having your example of sess would inspire me in the right way. I¡¯d be more nervous about potential failure. And then I¡¯d think about how being nervous would cause me to lower my chances. There¡¯s no recovering from that spiral. So, I think we should aim for the same time.¡± ¡°And we won¡¯t be around for everyone to yell at us if we totally destroy the teleportationwork,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°A good n. This is better than trying to bind to the grand spatial distortion formation too. I feel like that would feel too much like saying ¡®look at me, I¡¯m the Scarlet Alliance¡¯.¡± ¡°Or you could act like you¡¯re giving it a big hug,¡± Timothy pointed out. ¡°Sheltering the Alliance.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯m sure that would work for you,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°But personally I¡¯d rank myself no higher than third or fourth in terms of spatial insights in this family. And I couldn¡¯t help but approach it from that angle. I did think about anchoring Xankeshan, though. Since we awakened the old formations and all that.¡± ¡°What made you change your mind?¡± Timothy asked. ¡°Too limited. The teleportationwork can expand.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ actually an interesting point. I don¡¯t know if the Citadel of Exalted Light ever got added on to, however.¡± ¡°Well, maybe Zaur was an idiot.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s fair to say that having not yet reached Domination,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Perhaps there¡¯s a perfectly reasonable limitation about immutability or something.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Catarina agreed. ¡°I¡¯ll hold my judgment for after. Five years.¡± Timothy shot her a look. ¡°Four years from now. And¡­ maybe a few months?¡± ¡°We can look for an auspicious date in a several month range around four years from now,¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°It could even be a little early.¡± Catarina¡¯s face twitched as she looked down at her fingers. ¡°Do you have to carve the changes yourself?¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Requisition some super-mundane tools. Like Chidi¡¯s sword.¡± ¡°Good n.¡± ¡°And wear gloves.¡± Chapter 1118 Nobody had a worse view for his parents¡¯ own advancement than Chidi. Technically, his perspective was tied with the vast majority of people in the system, but for someone who could have been close enough to actually watch it was pretty limited. He would be getting secondary replications of energy signatures and that was it. And he wouldn¡¯t actually be able to see because¡­ he couldn¡¯t. It was better to be somewhat disappointed at missing out than have any risk of causing something to go wrong. This wouldn¡¯t be a process where his parents could back down, so they needed as clear of a flow of energy as they could. With Chidi¡¯s inner formations meant to negate energy flow, even if he wasn¡¯t intentionally entering a state of negation he could be a confounding factor. So he waited nervously, trying not to think about the odds of a double sess. ----- Timothy and Catarina shared looks. They could feel devotion pouring into them from all around, devotion they had been rejecting along with all forms of energy. Any words they had to exchange had been said long before, and two people could not be so close for centuries without going beyond the need for words most of the time regardless. Not that they didn¡¯t enjoy hearing each other¡¯s voices, even as they changed with age. They moved with the confidence necessary to be a Domination cultivator. If they weren¡¯t confident, they would have given up before they got so far. Unless they were truly foolish, and even cultivation couldn¡¯t select out certain sorts of fools. If it were practical, they might not have chosen to be observed- but the Alliance watching was literally going to improve their chances. It seemed impossible that they could end up with too much devotion. If they couldn''t handle a certain amount of energy, they couldn¡¯t handle Domination. They approached their chosen positions where they sat back to back in the middle of a sr teleportation tform. Complex runes spiraled out around them, many of which had been recently added by Catarina¡¯s own hands. Some were simply carved out painstakingly, while others had been iid with expensive materials. There were fillings of worldheart and even some specks of starheart dust that had been obtained through much effort by their allies. Beyond contributing their personal wealth, the Scarlet Alliance had invested heavily in them. In the case of their unfortunate failure, the Alliance would lose out in many ways but they couldn¡¯t afford not to invest in their potential first Domination cultivators. Even the sects that were part of the great powers understood that, despite their frequent jockeying for power. The tension around them was palpable, nobody speaking a word- even though the tform was empty except for them, and thus any sound would have faded into the vacuum of space unless they intentionally projected it.The pair took deep breaths, then began to allow the torrent of devotion to flow into them, absorbing the ambient upper energy and the greater quantities prepared around them in various forms. Symbols began to light up beneath them, only those with the quickest minds able toprehend the pattern. The order was somewhat abnormal, but that was in part due to Catarina needing the formations to work a specific way at the moment while maintaining their standard effects into the future. If she could have pushed the standard formations onto anotheryer of reality to reduceplexity, she would have happily done so. Though only after spending the effort to figure out how to make it work anyway. Torrents of energy poured into the two of them, but after only a few moments Timothy¡¯s eyes opened. ¡°It¡¯s not enough.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Catarina confirmed regretfully. ¡°Our calctions were naive. Do you¡­ have a n?¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°Not a sane one.¡± Catarina shrugged. ¡°There¡¯s no point in doing things by half measures. I certainly don¡¯t intend to survive this in any way except advancement. Do you think there will be enough energy for us both?¡± ¡°Absolutely. If we can convince our friends to give us some help.¡± Timothy stood up, the surge of energy through his body reminding him what it was like. His movement surged, carrying him to the edge several kilometers away. The distance itself wasn¡¯t as important as his positioning. He ced his hand on the barrier as he extended his aura. ¡°Uzun, we need more energy. As quickly as possible, and at the greatest rate you can achieve..¡± ¡°... I can try to rig our ships¡¯ batteries?¡± Uzun replied cautiously. ¡°I¡¯d suggest shooting us. If you could coordinate the distribution of any high-intensity energy attacks, it would be appreciated.¡± ¡°That barrier won¡¯t hold, you know,¡± Koralomented. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m here for,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Moral support. Now quickly.¡± Uzun nodded, sending the impression to Timothy. ¡°Got if. You want¡­ everything? Including the fleets?¡± ¡°As quick as you can.¡± A few momentster, an rm went off all over Xankeshan. It was a warning of an iing attack, telling people to scramble for their ships, or to otherwise prepare themselves. All of the Augmentation cultivators were near Uzun, watching the event. They each spread their aura, givingmands to those who they were best connected to. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°We need every ship with energy based weapons,¡± Uzun said. ¡°This is not a drill. Kic weapons, remain on standby.¡± He couldn¡¯t know if they would need them¡­ and maybe there would be an actual enemy attack. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to have people ready. Alva simply began firing arrows as quickly as she could. Prospero called upon the rest of the Order as he and Hoyt beganunching Falling Stars at the barrier, trusting the assessment of their allies. Tauno sighed. ¡°Man, I was hoping for a monster.¡± He sort of looked awkwardly at his hands and began flinging his energy toward the tform, something he clearly was not familiar with. His usual method of attack all involved imbuement into physical mediums, and they¡¯d asked for just energy. Everyone understood the true intent. High intensity energy, but ack of control was actually preferred. Attacks began to strike the barrier, breaking into free energy which was rapidly absorbed by the two on the tform, as well as the tform itself. That enhanced the barrier, but it could only sustain a certain energy flow before burning out. It didn¡¯t take long for them to go beyond the threshold, and the tform was being held together more by Catarina¡¯s will than the materials involved in its construction. Timothy focused only on the solidity of the barrier, ignoring the greaterplexities at work. There was a record timing on the fleets scrambling. They began to leave atmosphere within five minutes, and some reached the orbital tform. They were guided into position, matching velocity with the tform. Then they began to unload their energy attacks, trusting in Timothy and Catarina. Those very acts imbued their energy with greater devotion. It wasn¡¯t of exactly the same sort the Citadel of Exalted Light used. Rather than subservience, unity was one of the primary pirs of the Scarlet Alliance. Everyone was pleased to be part of a greater whole, even if they didn¡¯t understand exactly how they were contributing at first. But it was fairly clear to them that the rate of absorption from the two was tremendous as they devoured the ambient energy, including what wasing off of the nearby star. At first, they only captured the enemy directly striking the orbital tform- it was close to the star and at great intensity, but as they absorbed more energy they began to reach together, stretching further. If they hadn¡¯t spoken to so many starbinding cultivators about the process, they might not have understood how to deal with the turbulence. They were undergoing an entirely different process, but the shared insights were still critical to their sess. ¡°... Still not enough,¡± Catarina whispered, her words carrying only to her partner whose energy was intertwined with hers. ¡°Time for the final push.¡± She released their finalponents, the traces of Domination energy that had been drawn out of the two of them. It was only a small fraction of it that had survived to be drawn into storage containers, and some had been used in various tests. But having an example of what they wanted seemed pertinent. The energy was quite fearsome, but that was not surprising. Energy on its own was simply power, and without the proper intent behind it danger was expected. The tform around them rippled, moving in ways the material wasn¡¯t meant to. It warped and cracked, but Catarina bent it back into ce with her will. Everything began to glow white hot, many materials reaching their melting points or worse as excessive amounts of energy flowed through everything, including the two cultivators. It still wasn¡¯t enough. But Catarina had one more idea where to get energy. It had already been part of the n to begin with. The full formation active, Catarina focused on the teleportation properties of the sr tform, reaching out through the wider Scarlet Alliance to draw upon the energy that reached them. The other tforms did not have her personal touch, since she hadn¡¯t intended to incorporate any of them right away. They were forcibly connected, activating to send not their inhabitants but instead nothing at all. A million security protocols were bypassed as pure energy was drawn through. Then everything went white. ----- Chidi was d that he was down on the. He couldn¡¯t do something crazy like trying to cut apart the mass of energy around his parents and save them. And while that also meant he couldn¡¯t save everyone else around them, it just meant he had to trust them. The energy replication device had already been overloaded long before, and people¡¯s screens probably weren¡¯t disying anything of value if he understood anything about sight. But he could feel the energy fluctuations as if he were standing up against the barrier. The power kept building, and he had no doubt that it could turn into a massive explosion if anything went wrong. Unfortunately, he had no way to tell if it had as his own path was essentially the opposite. So he waited and did his best to believe at them harder. In theory, that actually helped, though he might be an exception. ----- The tform exploded. Or at least the outeryer did. The material simply couldn¡¯t handle the power in it. But somehow, everything remained functional. No, Timothy knew he was only concentrating on the barrier. Clearly the rest had been aplished by Catarina. But pieces of the tform continued to explode away. Now he could see a hole straight through the sr tform. That had to be bad. But Timothy held the barrier in ce. If he didn¡¯t they would be crushed by energy from the outside. Though the energy flowing through him was also somewhat of a problem. As the tform continued to disintegrate, Timothy noticed something odd. He could see holes through it¡­ but he could also very clearly see the formation markings. It was only when the floor beneath him disintegrated that he figured it out. Gravity was pulling him towards the star, with the tform providing its own buoyancy from the iing energy. And even with nothing beneath his feet, he felt a firm surface even as everything began to peel away. That was intriguing. And it exined something about the material of the Citadel. Though Timothy didn¡¯t know if fully transparent was better, worse, or simply different. He could see the star now when he looked down, though it wasn¡¯t particrly different from before as his eyes had long been overwhelmed. The fact that he could tell the tform was clear was already exceptional, in his opinion. He almost thought it would happen to him too. At the very least, he felt like he should have disintegrated if not transformed into a new material. But he came to realize that wasn¡¯t going to happen. He felt a tug on his energy from Catarina and allowed his senses to be drawn far away. Then he realized he was supposed to connect to the other barriers, at least in part. It was far less intense than his connection to the barrier in front of him- handily keeping the attacks from all of Xankeshan¡¯s forces at bay. His body ached¡­ but rather than being concerned, he was ted. Because he hadn¡¯t been able to feel anything for a while. And the energy inside him¡­ it was still intense. He would need to get it to settle down. But that was more for the sake of everything else than himself. He managed to catch Catarina¡¯s eye, and she smiled. The energy inside her was so intense that he almost missed the familiar elements. The same must have been true of him. Now all they had to do was not screw things up at the final step. He steeled himself, focusing internally while still making sure to keep the barrier intact. The flow of energy was likely still necessary until they finished truly transforming themselves, so he couldn¡¯t just ask people to stop. Chapter 1119 Changes were urring more rapidly inside Catarina than she could properlyprehend, and that was without considering the effect she was having on the world around her. It was partially instinctual, though in many ways it was informed by what she had learned about Domination from others, as well as different cultivation paths. Her path to Domination wouldn¡¯t look exactly like that of Zaur Beridze. Nor would it look like Sudin, Koronis, or even Timothy. Despite the fact that he was advancing along with her, even her husband shared different perspectives on the world and on themselves. The aesthetic shift in the tform beneath her was influenced by the Citadel of Exalted Light in part. The fact that there was a transformation, however, was not merely a choice she made. It was a fundamental part of Domination, as far as she could tell. Unlike Assimtion, where a cultivator took an object, region, or concept and bound themselves to it to gain power, Catarina came to understand Domination functioned in almost an opposite manner. Instead of being empowered by her anchor, she was the one empowering it. That matched the growth aspects of Enrichment to some extent, but it still wasn¡¯t quite right. Catarina almost got caught up in the flow of energy. She wasn¡¯t sure what would have happened if she did. Perhaps she would have died, or perhaps she would have achieved something akin to a second Ascension. The only thing that she was certain of was that she would no longer be present in the same way if she had let it happen. The anchor was not a ce to store her power, though it did indeed do that. The reason for the name made more sense. It wasn¡¯t something to which Domination cultivators shackled themselves for no reason. Not a weakness without purpose. Instead, it was a necessary part of continued existence, at least in any way they¡¯d previously experienced. If Catarina let her ego speak for her, she would say she now had a greater control over the rules of reality itself. If she was more humble she might recognize that she could merely break some of the rules more easily than before. After some indeterminable amount of time Catarina felt her connection to reality solidify once more. She was quite pleased that she hadn¡¯t exploded. And extremely curious as to the changes her husband had wrought. ----- Timothy hadpleted his transformation first. Perhaps he had chosen something lessplicated, or being closer to the outside had more ess to the external energy. He didn¡¯t actually care why or how, though no doubt schrs would pester him and Catarina to try to find out the reasons for every little thing. He hadn¡¯t realized he was transforming anything until it was done. There he was, supporting the barrier. The same barrier that most of Xankeshan was attacking in the friendliest way possible¡­ while still outputting nearly iprehensible levels of energy. And then Timothy found that actively supporting the barrier wasn¡¯t necessary any longer, because the barrier just was. No exnation made sense. It wasn¡¯t that it was bnced by absorbing the iing attacks equally with its power output. Timothy could tell that, because Catarina was still absorbing most of the energy that struck the barrier. In a certain sense it could be said that he was empowering the barrier¡­ and in other ways he could see it from a different perspective. He¡¯d simply made the barrier a concrete entity of its own. It might not even have a power source. Though it would be easier to see if his suppositions were correct once the fleets stopped bombarding them. He was prepared to call them off the moment Catarina finished her own transformation. He turned to watch, keeping only half a mind on the barrier in case something changed, though the only relevant fluctuation was that people and ships began to run out of energy. Fortunately, there were a decent number of recements¡­ and Catarina appeared to be almost finished. ----- Catarina locked eyes with Timothy as her energy flow stabilized. ¡°I might be overstepping my nascent understanding of Domination, but I do believe that Zaur was a moron.¡± Timothy smiled. ¡°And congrattions to you as well. Though, I pretty much agree with yourment. I can¡¯t see how a rigid single structure like the Citadel allowed for any sort of growth. We didn¡¯t even see signs of him making any attempts to expand in any meaningful regard.¡± ¡°... Are you going to tell them to stop?¡± Catarina asked. Timothy shrugged. ¡°I was hoping they would figure it out.¡± He spread his energy beyond the barrier. ¡°We are finished. You may cease your attacks.¡± Timothy was quite careful with his actions, because he had the feeling that everything around him was so breakable. Except for the sr tform they were on, obviously. In only a few moments, people began to cease their assault. A few were in the middle of attacks they didn¡¯t seem to be able to cut off halfway. Many turned away in embarrassment afterwards. Catarina spread her aura as well. ¡°Citizens of the Scarlet Alliance. Friends and family. Timothy and I appreciate your unnned contributions to our own advancements. With your help, we have been sessful. Never forget it couldn¡¯t have happened without all of you.¡± ----- There were most likely trillions of questions that people wanted to ask the two of them. However, they first met with the council and all the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s Augmentation cultivators. ¡°Devotion was a key for most of us to rise to Augmentation,¡± Catarina began. ¡°But it is even more critical for Domination. As previously seen, Devotion can take many forms. Everheart¡¯s particr advancement may be the greatest example of negative devotion still being used effectively. And his rapid spread afterwards¡­ indicates he had great understanding of potential growth within Domination.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the vition. ¡°Howrge is that potential?¡± Prasad asked. ¡°Can you quantify it for yourselves?¡± ¡°Proportionately,¡± Timothy said, ¡°It appears to be at least as much as any other stage of cultivation. Which is to say, a factor of multiple times power potential. If there is such a thing as ate Domination cultivator, they would put us to shame.¡± Durff had been part of the Alliance¡¯s Augmentation cultivators for some time, even if he wasn¡¯t involved in general council activities. ¡°Could you take a hit from Zaur now? If he was able to focus properly.¡± ¡°Absolutely,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Though, as a specialist in defense I wouldn¡¯t find that surprising. Saying he wouldn¡¯t scratch me¡­ would be a bit of an overstatement. But I could certainly withstand any of the attacks he previously made without worry.¡± ¡°We have questions about the barrier,¡± Koralomented. ¡°Should I ask you or Catarina?¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not connected to the formations anymore,¡± Catarina said. ¡°On that note¡­ I believe we can much more efficiently route teleportations through this system.¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± Uzun perked up at that. ¡°How much? Ten percent? More?¡± ¡°I can¡¯tment precisely until we begin to test,¡± Catarina said. ¡°But¡­ it should be significantly more. Without going too overboard, the power of Domination is such that I almost wish I had connected to the grand spatial distortion formation, even if it wouldn¡¯t be the bestpatibility.¡± Durff had his hand raised for a while until he was acknowledged. ¡°Can I try to hit you? I mean Timothy. But either of you would be fine if you¡¯re confident you wouldn¡¯t get hurt. I never really got to attack Zaur himself.¡± ¡°I suppose a proper demonstration is in order,¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°It may provide insights our words cannot. Though¡­ I think we will have to keep things out of the public eye for reasons of national security. At least for now.¡± ----- Durff had knocked a halfway across a sr system once. He¡¯d shattered the Citadel of Exalted Light¡­ or at least smashed up pieces of it when its defenses fell. But the bestparison he could think of for attacking Timothy was trying to attack his aunt when he was a little kid. Actually, at that point she was probably already a Domination cultivator. He almost thought he hadn¡¯t grown stronger at all. Timothy did take half a step back, though. And everyone else clearly seemed to think differently. ¡°A mighty blow,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I¡¯m sure you can feel how much I¡¯ve changed, based on previous spars.¡± Durff nodded. ¡°It feels like a greater difference than any other stage. Domination energy is¡­ very strong.¡± ¡°It is,¡± Timothy admitted. ¡°But I would say that¡¯s more because of how it bends thews of realitypared to other forms of energy. The amplification effect on insight is significant. If I simply formed a wall of energy without any understanding, I believe you could break through.¡± He turned to Chidi. ¡°And now we should test something else.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°I¡¯m ready. Should I expect you to fight back?¡± ¡°How? Could I even touch you with a sword?¡± ¡°I¡¯m practically a normal person,¡± Chidi said. ¡°You might be able to manage something. How about we take it slow at first and ramp up to a more serious level? I would be embarrassed if I thought too highly of myself and ended up being killed.¡± Though Chidi said that, he showed no concern for anything on the level of regr injuries. The area provided for Durff and his father had been ten kilometers across to ount for reverberations of energy, but he would hardly need any of that. While it seemed like his movements being restricted to that of a normal person would make it impossible for him to touch Timothy, who could likely move at near light speed, there were various factors that had allowed him to keep up with Zaur that would still apply. He felt Timothy¡¯s sword intent before he even began to swing, and negating a wave of Domination energy from the sword was simple. He didn¡¯t even have to parry¡­ though he raised his sword regardless. That temporary touch to Timothy¡¯s energy provided him an instant of time that the other cultivator might not even realize where he functioned at something akin to normal speed. Then Chidi cut apart space- just a few kilometers of distance where some might cross an entire system. He didn¡¯t want to cheat by beginning in his melee range. He almost met his loss by underestimating Domination, despite having fought against it twice. Most importantly, he had underestimated the way Timothy changed, and his read of the energy flow wasckingpared to his assumptions. A trail of blood on his neck told him he was dead, though his father had more control than to actually cut more than skin deep. Chidi had been too slow to respond to the attack even if he technically felt iting. ¡°How embarrassing,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Shall we continue?¡± Timothy nodded, and at that acknowledgement Chidi took control of the local energy. He cut towards his father, aiming for his side away from the man¡¯s shield. But Timothy twisted his body and more importantly altered his energy flow so that he suddenly had an unbreakable guard. ¡°I¡¯ve already seen that one,¡± Timothy pointed out. Chidi grinned. ¡°Oh good. I was worried my growth would be too easy.¡± It would have been no fun to surpass those with more experience so easily. No doubt even Zaur had only faltered because it was a new technique and he was waid on many sides. Chidi was still surprised that his father altered his energy flow in the right way without even having an ess to any sense of it, though. ----- The first official act of the Scarlet Alliance now that they had Domination cultivators was to demand an apology from the Silver Fang. They still shared a border with the sect, after all, and they¡¯d never gotten proper retribution. Koronis had interrupted that. But, rather than immediately starting up a war and ying their neighbors, they gave her some face. The power of the Scarlet Alliance had jumped from an interesting, up-anding new group which might one day be relevant to the only group with two known Domination cultivators in a single moment. While it was reasonable for them to possess confidence, they were still surrounded by enemies. Angering even newer Domination cultivators seemed like an unnecessary risk. Even if it came down to a conflict and they won, they would likely just turn themselves into a target. Nobody wanted to find out what happened if the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster put aside their differences to annihte a mutual threat. Even among Domination cultivators there were clearly weaker and stronger specimens, and they had no intention of revealing their hand. And if it turned out that Timothy and Catarina had overestimated themselves because of some misunderstanding of Zaur¡¯s effectiveness, they might be the shortest lived Domination cultivators ever. Neither was interested in such a legacy. Chapter 1120 Over two centuries of study had psed since Maheg had been discovered and people began studying the remains of the. Two centuries was a long time, but to carefully study the remains of a whole it was just barely scratching the surface. The itself was left more or less as it was, with Maheg itself doing its very best to minimize any continued decay due to sr radiation. But the system wasn¡¯t empty aside from those studying the. Indeed, it had a growing poption upon its moons, with the one that Maheg and Anton had popted with some replication of the local nts having a poption of a few million people. That was still a sparse poption even given the small size of the moon, but it could grow quite quickly once it took off. With the Lower Realms Alliance expanding, it could go either way. Some parts of the poption might spread out broadly, and they might gather in others. Maheg was unique enough to be a reasonable ce for cultivators to develop themselves, though it was also valuable for them to begin their growth in more established systems. But with traffic increasing, people might find themselves morefortable with going to further systems with the knowledge they could more easily return where they came from. That was where Anton was when Catarina and Timothy were undergoing their advancement. He was aware of the precise date, but as much as he would have liked to support them he couldn¡¯t from so far away. Even if he¡¯d heard the call they put out within their system somehow, Xankeshan was still a bit far for him to shoot. He did send his own devotion to them consciously. He hoped it helped. After finding out about how it actually happened, he calcted the possibility of attacking all the way to Xankeshan through the upper realms. If he used the same technique as he did against Sudin and he had the help of the Tides of the World¡­ he¡¯d still be a bit short even with optimistic calctions. But his growth had not stagnated yet, and he was still working his way towards a theoretical next stage. For that, he needed to actually bind more stars. ----- A particr star came to Anton¡¯s attention due to one of their scouts. Even if they were as thorough as possible, they simply didn¡¯t have the people to actually visit each and every star just yet. Producing millions of ships and drones would be the easy part. For the more long term details, finding people who would be content going hundreds of lightyears away from the core of the Alliance for long periods of time was a bit more difficult. Most importantly, they needed people both willing and with the proper skills to survive. They didn¡¯t intend to just scatter people about for nothing. Because numbers were still limited, the particr star in question hadn¡¯t been visited, and for good reason. It was weak¡­ which meant it might not be possible to refuel there, or at least it would be more difficult. But the energy signature of that particr star caught Anton¡¯s attention. Checking with what they had on record from their long distance measurements, he confirmed it had weakened sometime in thest few centuries. On a ster scale, that meant it had literally just happened. And the fact that it hadn¡¯t been measured previously meant it might have been a result of outside influence. Anton was the first to be interested in that particr star and free to go in that precise direction, so he mapped out a route that would have him stopping by a cluster of other stars for in-person measurements to help do his part for the greater project. Anton hadn¡¯t been certain what he would find, but upon entering his targeted system he spotted a lone- or at least only one body directly orbiting the star. It was a gas giant that had a number of moons that could have been consideredary bodies on their own were they not wrapped up in its orbit. One in particr was a sizable terrestrial¡­ or at least what remained of it. Unlike the usual methods he¡¯d seem from the upper realms, the rocky moon had been devastated more than just on the surface. It was broken into chunks, some of which had clearly settled back together in the incorrect ce while others were floating in a sort of ring system. Perhaps the whole would eventually pull back together, or it might split apart into the ring now that it had been destabilized. Anton could feel traces of energy from long in the past, and there were clear remnants of human built structures, mainly rubble that didn¡¯t match the rest of the moon. Though the past wasn¡¯t quite so distant as it might have been. It should have been from the end of thest cycle, now many decades past. He briefly wondered if he could have done something. But as his senses continued scanning he realized he could still do something now. The rocky was done for. It might be made into something usable again in the future, but there was no life there. However, he did sense life somewhere quite unexpected. He would have missed it, except that the natural energy levels of the system were extremely low so it stood out. Buried under the surface of an icy was a liquid ocean. Such phenomena were known quantities, and life was theoretically able to survive in such ces. But it was expected that it would be small organisms, like single-celled extremophiles. Even with natural energy, it wouldn¡¯t be expected to have much else. But Anton sensed people. It was pretty unmistakable, given they had formations protecting their settlements and clear traces of cultivation. Not many people, but they had set up some sort of structures at the bottom of the seas, where the ocean gave way to rocky structure. They were¡­ not doing great, by his estimations. Choosing to have a low poption was fine, but sensing the general nutrition level of the residents he didn¡¯t think everything was entirely by choice. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the tform they originally published on. One thing that made Anton both more and less hopeful was that nobody was well fed. Obviously he didn¡¯t prefer to have everyone suffering and weak, but it was in some ways preferable to having a ss of those who had everything and others who had nothing. Having found some people, he was disappointed to find nothing on the other moons. Perhaps only a small remnant had fled from the original. It wasn¡¯t that unlikely. But Anton kept looking. There was one more ce he thought was viable. However, he couldn¡¯t find anyone floating around inside the gas giant. Not until he reached the very core. He hadn¡¯t sensed the formation directly because the immense pressure and heat towards the center of the gas giant registered with its own intensity. But once he brushed up against it, he knew he wouldn¡¯t lose track of it again. Scouring the core, there was just onerge city to be found, totaling a greater poption than the various small settlements on the icy moon. Anton¡¯s senses stretched through the barrier keeping its inhabitants from being crushed and incinerated all at once. From what he could tell, it was drawing its power from that very heat that threatened to destroy it. A risky proposition, but it was unlikely anyone would try to live in the core of a gas giant for fun. The risk must have seemed worthwhile. The people seemed overall healthier, if still downtrodden. There was a policy Anton had that it was not his problem to search out and fix each and every issue he found in a civilization. But he also had the policy to not ignore anything happening directly in front of his eyes. His bow snapped into his hands and an arrow flickered through the system before cutting its way through the dense gas. Then it cut through subspace to avoid puncturing their barrier- he wouldn¡¯t be saving everyone if he did that. That final maneuver weakened his power by half, but he hardly needed it for his intended purpose. His target reacted too slowly to jump back, but Anton wasn¡¯t in a mood to annihte anyone for an only half-understood situation. The man¡¯s arm did snap back rather painfully as he struck it, however. That left an opening for the urchin to run. Having not seen the whole situation Anton couldn¡¯t say if the urchin had stolen something, but it was entirely inappropriate for someone of that size to be menacing a child with a weapon. And worse to have actually taken a swing. Anton felt more justified when the man cursed at the rooftops. The way people reacted to setbacks said a lot about them. The man was currently calling him a coward for noting out and fighting. There was nothing ethically wrong about being slow to understand a situation one was in, but he would have expected someone to default to caution in the same circumstances. Strands of his perception stuck to the two involved individuals- it might not be his responsibility to prevent future trouble, but now that he had involved himself he would feel strange not to. Anton had been intending to check out the star before revealing himself to any of the locals, but the situation hadn¡¯t quite worked out that way. On the other hand, he didn¡¯t seem to have alerted the city as a whole. Perhaps their energy senses were underdeveloped. Then again, Anton had limited the impact of his energy and there was a powerful barrier to distract everyone. Now then, the star. It was¡­ not looking good. As in it actually looked bad, which was not something he could say for most stars. There was a sort of gray pallor covering something like a third of the surface, a shadow that was¡­ yes, it was growing. Quickly or slowly depended on perspective. Anton reckoned it would take decades more to cover the surface, so that might be considered slow. But stars were big, and the fact that it might cover the whole star was concerning. Furthermore, the timing wasn¡¯t necessarily what he first estimated. Was it elerating? Careful consideration indicated that may be the case. Anton sighed. He would be going against two norms right away. Normally, he would ask for permission to bind a star, but this one needed him. Waiting would only mean there was more damage that needed to be fixedter, and Anton already didn¡¯t know how long that might take. Reaching into the core of the star to begin the process, Anton was relieved to find that it was healthy. If it had been tainted from the inside out, he wasn¡¯t sure he could fix it- or whether it was worth the risk to himself. But since it wasn¡¯t an inherent part of the star, he could rest easy. He was still opening himself to some risk, but that often happened when one wanted to do good. Previously, Anton thought he had been too shy about binding stars. Not ones that others should have some say over- he still felt it only right to ask in that case- but rather he¡¯d been keeping too many ¡®free¡¯ stars. He might have been neglecting part of his growth. So he¡¯d been filling every avable space except for a few for emergencies. This might be one of them. The corruption was almost as bad as it had seemed on the surface. As Anton developed his connection, he determined that while it wasn¡¯t a full third distorted on the inside, it was certainly more than a blemish on the surface of the star. When hepleted his binding of the healthy parts, he focused some of the energy of the star onto the edge of the blighted area. It pushed past him, but he reached out and grabbed it. It was cold, unlike the star. It was the opposite of life and growth. A cessation of power, the end to fusion. And it was malicious. This wasn¡¯t some ident or some consequence of the age of the star. Anton began building a wall within the star, slowing the growth of the corruption. He needed to know he could do that before he worked out how to heal it. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t have to work with just his own power¡­ and he had the example of nearly two hundred other stars to work from for what was natural and correct. Those were just the ones he had bound, as he¡¯d observed far more either up close or from a distance. He¡¯d save this star¡­ and its people. Though one of their groups might make the task more difficult for him. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 1121 There was a bit of a dilemma for Anton to resolve in the new system. He didn¡¯t want to dy in visiting any of the locations he had spotted, but he couldn¡¯t be in two ces at once. That was still true. But he was more than capable of multitasking, and he could at least be a little bit in two ces at once. It seemed a bit rude to not show up in person for first contact, but it was actually a better idea for the icy moon. He didn¡¯t want to have to break through the ice- though he could- and he likewise didn¡¯t want to damage their seafloor habitats. Meanwhile, he thought he could get through the barrier within the gas giant without harming anything. So he could have a sort of projection visit the former. Unlike what Everheart did, it would just be him creating a simple illusion and not some sort of independent entity. It would be little more than a mass of energy, but he could manage something like that easily enough having bound the local star. Anton could even manage it while pushing back their star¡¯s corruption, since that problem would take a significant amount of time to resolve regardless. Anton could try to do more, but splitting his thoughts into too many potential conversations at once might be a bit much. If he had to stretch his energy between multiples he might have more trouble, but a single and one of its moons were close enough for such a task. ----- Sr energy slipped through theyers of ice, following Anton¡¯s trail of energy he had been using solely for perception. Once he was beneath the ice, he formed something like a body. He kept the amount of energy rtively conservative to not attract too much attention. He¡¯d sensed a few things in the local waters that indicated it wasn¡¯t entirely a lifeless, and he didn¡¯t want to draw them to the habitats. Or to scare the people inside. Obviously they would still be somewhat startled to find someone show up outside, but there was only so much Anton could do to mitigate that. He continued to dive down at a reasonable speed that would give people some time to react if they sensed himing. He found a nice hatch to stop outside, though he didn¡¯t know if it would still open. It seemed like it might be functional still, which was good enough for him. Anton reached forward and carefully knocked. His energy amplified the sound to carry further, towards a group of people somewhere around fifty meters inside the undersea habitat. As he waited for them to sort out their response, he ¡®looked¡¯ at the habitat itself. It was artfully constructed of metal and thick ss. No organic materials as far as he could see, though whether that had been because it wasn¡¯t optimal or because they didn¡¯t have ess he couldn¡¯t tell. The dome-like structure held together quite well with minimal corrosion. Part of it was likely due to their formations but Anton also thought it was due to regr maintenance of some sort. That made it more likely the hatch actually worked. He didn¡¯t see any diving suits, but maybe the cultivators did without. They¡¯d have to withstand a tremendous amount of pressure, but so would anything like a diving suit. Though it was far less than the gas giant had to deal with. Anton was d he was there in person to focus more of his energy on the task. People had definitely heard Anton. They were speaking in hushed tones that he could just barely make out with his energy. It was strange to not actually have to suppress his abilities as he was already limited in that regard. He knocked again and transmitted some speech. ¡°Hello. I would like to speak to you, if I may.¡± A short timeter people started moving. Mostly not towards him, though fortunately one man drew closer. ¡°What do you want, stranger?¡± Oh good, thenguage was divergent for less than a cycle. Though Anton could likely learn a new one, he preferred to avoid such a struggle. ¡°I¡¯m a visitor from another system in the lower realms. It seems to me that your people might not have chosen your current locations without duress. I can offer help with knowledge about cultivation growth, food, and transportation.¡± ¡°How can we know you¡¯re not an enemy?¡± the man asked. ¡°I have no way to perfectly assure you,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°But my energy signature should at least assure you I am not from the upper realms. I assume that¡¯s who pushed you to end up in such a state. Oh, forgive me. I¡¯m Anton Krantz. Sect Head of the Order of One Hundred Stars, and member of the Lower Realms Alliance.¡± It was always good to remind people that he, too, was a person. ¡°... Hadrianus,¡± the man responded after a significant pause. ¡°Guardian of the Eighth Vent.¡± Another pause. ¡°We did have trouble with the upper realms.¡± ¡°The Exalted Quadrant?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Or the Trigold Cluster?¡± ¡°Thetter.¡± ¡°They¡¯re probably the worse option,¡± Anton admitted. Though the Scarlet Alliance had had more trouble with the former, so it wasn¡¯t as if either was fully tolerable. In short, circumstances wereplicated. ¡°Are you just going to leave me out here?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Hadrianus said without drawing anything out. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you yet.¡± This tale has been uwfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Thus it was that Anton remained out in the crushing pressure of the depths, and he was getting annoyed. Though not with that, or with Hadrianus. It was perfectly reasonable to be a bit suspicious. ----- Most of Anton was focused on his ster repairs and resisting the pressure of a gas giant¡¯s core. It wasn¡¯t a trivial task no matter when he did it. There were only a few oddities who could survive on the merits of their bodies. Anton was trying to figure out how to introduce himself to the habitat. They had arge bubble attached to the¡¯s solid core. The shape was likely meant to equalize the pressure and thus improve the viability of their barrier. It had to withstand both the pressure of a hundred million standard atmospheres and an equally significant heat caused inrge part by that same pressure and friction. The barrier clearly wasn¡¯t meant to let anyone through. Anton considered contacting someone and trying to negotiate a way through, but he was fairly certain there wasn¡¯t one. So it would be better to slip through himself. All he had to do was pull apart some of it- while making sure the outside dangers didn¡¯t slip through, plugging the gap with his energy- and then letting it seal back up when he got through. He was surprised there weren¡¯t any rms he could sense, but perhaps they expected to die if the barrier were breached. The¡¯s atmosphere and heat could flood the whole city-colony in a heartbeat. In other circumstances Anton might have contacted the kid he protected first, but he was going to let them settle down for a while. No need to spook some kid by showing up with great power and unreasonable demands. Already, Anton liked this ce first. He¡¯d noticed several more thugs causing trouble- and directly driven them away. He was likely to be less charitable as time went on, but he still didn¡¯t want to truly injure people before understanding the whole situation. There had been one guy who wasn¡¯t willing to give up, though. Trying to break into a property that he definitely had no right to enter, Anton had knocked him back once, twice, ten times¡­ and then he¡¯d started amping up the damage. The man hadn¡¯t left until he had three small holes in his arms and one through his cheeks. Was it a coincidence that all the thugs happened to have the same energy signature? It could be. It was the mostmon cultivation method from what he felt, leaving people with what Anton would describe as a shifty aura. It didn¡¯t take too long listening in on conversations to determine that they were in fact part of the Twisting Spike sect. So that didn¡¯t particrly endear Anton towards them. But he kept an open mind as he wandered around the little civilization. Tightly packed buildings atop numerous shallow tunnels- though it seemed digging deep was quite difficult due to the density of the material, having been packed by tremendous pressure. There was one thing that Anton didn¡¯t see as much of as he thought he should, which was any form of nts. Unov had some form of aquaponics, but the gas giant- Moturn- didn¡¯t seem to have much. Maybe they didn¡¯t have a good opportunity as they were fleeing, but their poption seemed to outpace their food production. Not a great situation. ----- Hadrianus kept Anton busy for a while, before finally more people showed up. That did involve some repeat introductions and statements from Anton, but he patiently went through everything. ¡°So what, precisely, can you offer?¡± someone asked. ¡°Well, if I could see your food production I could help you with your growth. Or,¡± Anton continued before anyone could react to him potentially going inside, ¡°I could give you a manual on fungus growth as well as various seed products. Because I doubt you¡¯re going to be able to grow much else until you get to higher level energy imbuement techniques.¡± Anton was also going to make the same offer to Moturn. He just wasn¡¯t sure in what manner. Maybe he¡¯d find someone working in what limited farming fields they had and offer something, or maybe he¡¯d reveal himself. Though he wasn¡¯t fully hiding his energy there, so people would doubtless be curious about his presence. ¡°You¡¯d just¡­ give it to us?¡± Hadrianus asked. ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t like people going hungry when they don¡¯t need to. I don¡¯t have the manual on me at the moment, however. Or rather, I¡¯m not really here at the moment,¡± Anton rified. ¡°But I could have it to you with an hour¡¯s notice easily enough. Are you in contact with the other vents?¡± Anton hadn¡¯t yet pressed far enough to determine if they had connective tunnels, but he¡¯d sensed no one trying to swim. ¡°Why?¡± Hadrianus asked. ¡°If you can give them copies and some spores then you could do it yourselves. Or I could make my own copies and visit them if you can¡¯t. I imagine it¡¯s rather difficult to reach them with the pressure out here.¡± ¡°You said you are not actually here,¡± Hadrianus asked. ¡°I did feel your¡­ insubstantiality. Can you handle the seas?¡± ¡°Absolutely. It¡¯s less trouble than Moturn¡¯s atmosphere.¡± Anton tried to judge their reaction. It was more difficult with a wall in the way and his actual body a moon¡¯s orbit away, but they didn¡¯t seem to be opposed. ¡°You entered Moturn¡¯s atmosphere?¡± Hadrianus sounded incredulous. ¡°Your people did at some point. Why can¡¯t I? Let me know when you want your copy delivered.¡± They could peruse the tomes before seeing the spores, if they were ufortable. Not everyone wanted to trust random fungus. Of course, as the source of both was himself they might still be wary. ----- Anton was being followed. People seemed to have finally caught on to the source of his little love taps. Or at least some of them suspected. If he didn¡¯t want them to, they couldn¡¯t trace it back to him and they certainly wouldn¡¯t have been able to see him moving. He didn¡¯t need to fire his bow for such weak attacks, especially since he was inside the barrier now. He could form attacks anywhere within his aura which was diffuse throughout the city- and around where he was showing a version of himself on Unov, of course. Rather than let on that he knew, Anton chose to interact with random citizens. He asked about many different things, though he didn¡¯t spend long with any individual. Individually, they seemed to be casual questions. Some he already had answers to, just to throw off his followers. Soon he¡¯d find some way to mention his tome of farming knowledge. Maybe he should try to sell it? It would be perceived as more valuable then. Good for people who were suspicious, perhaps. Chapter 1122 When he paid for a room to stay just to seem like he was properly part of the habitat in the depths of Moturn, Anton technically gave fraudulent payment. He didn¡¯t have any of the local currency, and most of the valuables he had would stand out too much. However, he had no intention to let things remain in such a state. Though his coins were only a temporary product of energy, he would rece them as soon as possible. It would have been strange for him to stay out all day and night, however, and he was being watched. So far it didn¡¯t seem like there was anything but vague suspicions, but people would eventually risk probing closely enough to determine that Anton was beyond Life Transformation. Even an unknown cultivator in Life Transformation would be suspicious, as the total poption under the dome was limited. The setup of the habitat was¡­ sloppy. Industries were imbnced, with many having more workers than jobs or materials. But Anton didn¡¯t me them for that. It was unlikely they were able to choose exactly who and what they brought with them. The fact that they survived at all was already impressive. It took three days for Anton to sell more than a few handfuls of mushrooms. Nobody trusted his words about how much they would grow on any sort of organic refuse, even though Anton thought his numbers were actually quite conservative. Mushrooms were already one of the most rapidly growing life forms, and with the right conditions- which were not terribly difficult to achieve- they would thrive. Anton ended up eating about half of what he¡¯d produced, not because he was hungry himself but to demonstrate they were safe. It was a reasonable concern, but he did get tired of the same suspicions over and over. Nobody wanted a full manual, but he did manage to sell some mushrooms and some ¡®tips¡¯ to a grocer. Not that they were anything like the grocers he was used to- because they didn¡¯t have much in the way of products. Not by their own fault, but by the limited resources around them. Or at least, seemingly limited resources. It wasn¡¯t as if it was actually possible for a poption measured in millions to use up any significant portion of the material of a gas giant or to deplete the total energy. Just what was immediately usable. They needed special formations, strong cultivators, or something simr to capture more natural energy. And special techniques would be required to transform thepressed material beneath them into something usable. But waste they had aplenty, and all manners of fungus would be happy to devour it. nts would too. It was merely a matter of organizing everything and potentially giving the industry a boost with a few good crops. Unlike what first seemed apparent, nts did not grow in size primarily by absorbing the soil in which they were nted, nor from water. The gain in mass from such things was extremely minimal, with the majority of massing from the air. Fungi, however, often gained much of their mass from breaking downponents of what they were growing on. Both behaviors were good in certain circumstances. Anton spent about a week trying to get in the good graces of the few farmers he could find. A rtively small area was devoted to their work¡­ and Anton didn¡¯t think they were productive enough. He¡¯d seen people who were malnourished, after all. He did need to study the local setup to actually give good advice, but he¡¯d worked on moreplicated situations. Like remaking nts from vague scraps of DNA not destroyed by the sr rays of Maheg. Awkward soilposition was a cakewalk. At the end of the week, there wasn¡¯t anything amazing like a whole new season¡¯s worth of crops, but his efforts would improve some of the fields¡¯ gains by ten or twenty percent at the first harvest. More, if people actually followed his instructions on donating their energy. Mushrooms grown by natural energy were another matter. It was possible for them to grow fast enough to be seen with the naked eye- when ced in somewhere sufficiently potent or tended by someone with a cultivation in Spirit Building or greater. Though the local natural energy was a bit weak, there were a decent number of cultivators at higher ranks, likely survivors of the disaster itself. At the end of the first week, someone tried to shake down a merchant right in front of Anton. He knew that interrupting could cause more trouble for them in the future, but there were cases of exception. He couldpletely eradicate the group causing the problem, which he was actually considering. And more relevantly, the man looked like he would probably be killed, and thus avoiding future trouble wouldn¡¯t matter if he didn¡¯t have a future. The one causing most of the trouble was an Essence Collection cultivator. She was unlikely to advance any further, given her visible age. Of course, there were always exceptions but Anton saw someone that was taking out their frustrations on others. ¡°Excuse me,¡± he said, bumping past her as she was about to stomp on the head of the poor stall tender. Her stomp cracked the ground, but left the man unharmed. She then tried to kick Anton in his spine. He caught her foot behind his back with a single hand. He looked over her shoulder. ¡°Do you like having two feet?¡± ¡°... What?¡± the woman stared at him in shock. ¡°I was just wondering. Because you¡¯re sure acting like you don¡¯t enjoy having a whole body. Otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t act so recklessly. What gives you such ego?¡± The woman tried to yank her leg away. Anton honestly barely needed to use any of his energy- his body wasn¡¯t tempered much beyond what anyone else did, but he didn¡¯t neglect it as part of his overall cultivation even as centuries went by. Enough to wrestle with a petnt Essence Collection cultivator easily. ¡°I¡¯m an elder of the Twisting Spike! If you don¡¯t let me go, there will be consequences!¡± ¡°Consequences?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Is that what you want? I was going to give you an opportunity to beg for forgiveness, but if you want consequences you will have them. I¡¯ll give you one opportunity to decide.¡± The woman tried to twist herself, raising up to kick Anton in the face. For the sake of the audience, he ducked under her leg. Then she staggered away. Not because he¡¯d let go of her foot, but because there was no longer anything to hold onto. This book''s true home is on another tform. Check it out there for the real experience. It took a few moments for her to realize, as she tried to set her foot down and kept nearly toppling over. And the spies watching took a moment to reveal herself. The woman screamed at him as the pain of a burnt off stump finally hit her, and Anton waved his hand as a half dozen others charged towards him. Arrows of energy pinned their feet to the ground in a manner that was less than merciful. Though most of them would probably recover given time. ¡°Are you happy with your consequences?¡± Anton asked. ¡°What is your sect even doing here? You provide no value to the city.¡± The old woman probably wasn¡¯t thinking right when she pulled out a stiletto and attempted to impale Anton, but that didn¡¯t stop him from turning the weapon into her own forearm. Then he shoved her away. He turned to the fallen man, helping him to his feet. ¡°How are you? Seems like you should be able to recover in time.¡± The man sighed. ¡°I appreciate your kindness, stranger, but I wish you hadn¡¯t interfered.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Anton asked, knowing there were several possible answers. ¡°Because I¡¯m not worth saving. Or rather, it would have just been me that perished. Now the Twisting Spike sect wille after you as well, and I would not wish such a fate upon the sort of person that wished to help. Unless¡­ you were looking for death?¡± Anton looked at the man with clear eyes. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°... You¡¯re confident, at least,¡± he said, eyeing the market around them. Everyone was staying well away, even though the cultivators Anton had pinned had broken free of the arrows and retreated out of sight. ¡°But you can¡¯t stand against a city alone.¡± ¡°I might not be as alone as I look,¡± Anton said. Though, actually, he was. But it was more reasonable for his confidence toe from allies¡­ and he was hoping to find some resistive elements. ¡°I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t be getting much business done today. Perhaps you should take the rest of the day off.¡± Anton transmitted his words directly to the man, blocking the sound from spreading beyond and not even moving his lips. ¡°If you have anyone who needs protecting, let me know.¡± ¡°I would normally say that unfortunately, I have no one. But in this case¡­¡± the man shook his head. ¡°I am d it¡¯s just me. I intend to leave the district, but I don¡¯t know if I can escape without being spotted. Though¡­¡± Clearly the man had some ns. Anton would let him try those¡­ but the man was under his care now. ¡°I¡¯m Anton, by the way.¡± ¡°Draza,¡± the man said, beginning to sweep the unbroken pieces of his merchandise- various wood carvings- into a bag. ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you. An unexpected one, but a pleasure nheless.¡± ----- Unov was better. It wasn¡¯t just the Eighth Vent, either. Ironically, with fewer resources the people on the icy moon were being better stewards of everything. Most likely it had to do with the people in each ce, but there were always various factors that influenced people¡¯s behaviors. Sometimes need broughtmunity, and sometimes it brought extortion. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you let me get eaten by a deadly jelly, Hadrianus,¡± Anton said. ¡°I thought we were better friends than that.¡± ¡°We have known each other for merely a week,¡± the man said. ¡°And you didn¡¯t exactly protect yourself. Also, I can¡¯t just teleport through the airlock.¡± ¡°This all started when you wouldn¡¯t let me in,¡± Anton said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re exploiting a poor old man by forcing me to leave valuable treasures to you and you still won¡¯t let me inside.¡± ¡°Trust does note so easily,¡± Hadrianus said. ¡°However, you are rapidly growing in our esteem. In my own estimation, part of that is the fact that we can¡¯t actually keep you out, can we?¡± ¡°I have no idea what you mean,¡± Anton said, lying in a manner that nobody could fail to mistake. ¡°I am restricted by thews of the physical world just as much as you.¡± ¡°You already admitted to being an energy projection. And I know you can extend your energy through our barriers. And I also know that your main body has to be strong enough to break through forcibly if nothing else.¡± ¡°That could be true,¡± Anton said. ¡°So¡­ did you know they were jerks?¡± Hadrianus frowned. ¡°Who?¡± he looked over his shoulder towards the rest of the colony. ¡°Is there¡­ something I should know?¡± ¡°The Twisting Spike. Moturn.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Hadrianus nodded. ¡°They were quite disconnected from us, but I still had an inkling.¡± ¡°And you left me in the dark?¡± Anton said, mock offended. ¡°You didn¡¯t ask. And I have the feeling you already knew right away.¡± ¡°They¡¯re bad at hiding it,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°I¡¯m still debating whether or not to eliminate them.¡± Hadrianus actually took a step back at that. ¡°... what?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not so umon for cultivators, is it? Eliminating a problematic sect. Unless you were particrly lucky with your home world, but given what I¡¯ve seen¡­¡± Anton shrugged, transmitting the feeling through the closed airlock. ¡°You were just so¡­ frank about it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve had more than enough trouble coexisting with terrible people that my patience isn¡¯t to be taken for granted,¡± Anton said. ¡°Oh, I did deliver everything you requested to the other vents. Give it a year or two, and you won¡¯t even remember you were hungry.¡± ¡°I doubt it,¡± Hadrianus said. ¡°But even if that¡¯s the case¡­ people willin about theck of variety.¡± ¡°Sadly, I have nothing to say for you about hunting ice jellies. Either you can, or you can¡¯t. And I doubt they¡¯re particrly edible. So you get nts.¡± ¡°We happen to becking sunlight,¡± Hadrianus said. ¡°So fungi might be the limit.¡± ¡°Oh, I can fix that,¡± Anton said. ¡°The sunlight thing. Oh, did you know they did something awful to your sun on the way out?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ awful. But I¡¯m currently handling it.¡± ¡°I thought you were on Moturn?¡± Anton was trying to limit world shattering revtions to just a few per day. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it too much. It¡¯s rted to my cultivation style. If anyone wants to learn it¡­ you can get yourself some all natural sunlight indoors! You just have to swear not to be a terrible person.¡± ¡°And unwavering loyalty, I imagine.¡± ¡°Nah, just that first thing. I do mean it though. Can¡¯t have anyone who feels like me going around causing trouble.¡± Anton wasn¡¯t going to ignore his need for devotion, but honestly it came naturally with what he did. Gratefulness made up a good portion of his iing devotion. It was less potent than loyalty, but loyalty without cause was surprisingly unenduring. Not that people were limited to just one sort of devotion, so he had plenty of standard loyalty as well. Chapter 1123 Departing from Draza- but not letting the merchant out of his senses- Anton continued to move throughout Moturn. The merchant would have to think of some way to create a new identity to avoid retribution from the Twisting Spike sect. He might not be sessful, but Anton would be around, watching. He had no intention to wait for the situation to develop further. He wanted to resolve everything with his current presence. Of course, that could be a few years if people were patient. He did have to finish with the star, so he wouldn¡¯t mind if things were drawn out. But he had the feeling a certain group wasn¡¯t going to let that happen. Walking into the worst part of the city- it must have all been constructed about the same time, but one segment had clearly been meant to be temporary- Anton looked for a particr urchin who had been the catalyst of his interference in this ce. Several people attempted to pick his pocket or yank on his purse, but Anton only gave them disapproving looks¡­ after which they scuttled away in a panic. Nobody here could touch him if he didn¡¯t let them, and their hands suddenly stopping was the sign of a cultivator. Did they risk it because he was old? Anton supposed with his bow stowed away he looked quite nonthreatening. Hopefully he could guide them on a path where they wouldn¡¯t throw away what life they had. But first he had to deal with a certain young man. He made his way to a back alley where wide eaves provided a sort of shelter,bined with rotting crates for privacy. It wasn¡¯t much of a shelter, but Anton supposed the habitat had one valuable feature above all others. There was no weather, so the only variations in climate were the artificial lights of the ¡®day¡¯ and the darkness of the night. Barely a few degrees difference in temperature, though not every area matched the intended temperatures perfectly. In this case, the slums were a bit hot. That was easier to deal with, at least. ¡°Hey, kid,¡± Anton said as he rounded the corner. ¡°Wanna be a cultivator?¡± The young man nearly turned to run away, but was clearly taken off guard. He rose from his crouched position slowly. ¡°I¡¯m not going to be turned into soup.¡± That was¡­ an odd response. A lot to unpack. Did he think Anton was going to kill him and cook him? Was that something that happened? Anton didn¡¯t think so, even in this ce. But the kid seemed to think it was possible. ¡°Has that ever happened?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I¡¯ve heard about it. Some ¡®cultivator¡¯es along and says a random kid has talent. Then they get turned into materials.¡± Anton frowned. ¡°Would it help that I have no idea if you have any talent?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ no?¡± ¡°Too bad. I¡¯m Anton, by the way. Order of One Hundred Stars. We cultivate fire and light, though there are many branches of techniques.¡± Anton demonstrated by filling his hand with me. He did make sure he stood far enough back that the kid didn¡¯t feel too oppressed. It wasn¡¯t supposed to be a threat. ¡°Do you have a name?¡± Anton already knew it was Abder, but he¡¯d only heard that indirectly. ¡°... Does telling you my name give you power over me?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe that¡¯s the case for any sort of cultivator.¡± At worst, someone might use a simple exchange of information as an opportunity to begin some sort of maniption. Perhaps an extremely esoteric technique might gain some power from names. ¡°I can teach you different styles as well, if you aren¡¯t into fire and light.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± Abder asked. ¡°Pretty much anything. Pick a weapon, pick an element. I have manuals for most things. Oh, no blood techniques though.¡± Technically Anton had some, but most of them were risky for their users. Not something he¡¯d give to an untested kid. ¡°Oh, and you have to promise you won¡¯t steal.¡± ¡°So, what, I begin cultivating and then¡­ starve to death?¡± ¡°I¡¯d not let a disciple starve. Do you like mushrooms?¡± Anton asked, pulling one about the size of his head from his storage bag and tearing off a chunk that he devoured. Anton held it out. ¡°I¡¯m not epting your deal,¡± the kid said. Anton just pushed the mushroom closer. Abder took it. ¡°Is it poisonous? I hear cultivators can resist poison.¡± Abder¡¯s stomach growled. ¡°Only one way to find out, I suppose,¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°... Feed it to someone else.¡± Anton chuckled. ¡°I suppose that works. If you want to share it, I won¡¯t stop you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m gonna¡­ go test this on someone,¡± Abder said. ¡°Is that so?¡± Anton asked. He leaned back against the wall. ¡°I¡¯ll wait here. Don¡¯t get yourself in trouble.¡± Abder scuttled off through the back alleys, rxing once he was out of sight of Anton. Which told Anton he didn¡¯t know much about cultivators. Even weaker ones could sense that far away. Ultimately, the kid found his way around to the other side of the alley wall through a circuitous route. He actually ate some of the mushroom himself before he got there, then waited a bit before offering any. Anton was d. He didn¡¯t have any knowledge of this kid¡¯s temperament, though he believed he could patch together even one with a rough background. Not everyone came withpassion, but people could usually learn it if given a chance. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the vition. Abder shared with two more young kids before returning to Anton. ¡°I¡¯m Abder,¡± he said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like my test subject is going to die.¡± He ate a much smaller bite in front of Anton. ¡°You said you can teach me anything?¡± ¡°Pretty much,¡± Anton said. ¡°... I want to know the Twisting Spike Technique.¡± ¡°Bold,¡± Anton said. ¡°They might not take well to someone stealing their style. But I can give you a copy.¡± Abder frowned. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°If that¡¯s what you want.¡± Anton happened to already have one from that old woman. Her storage bag had been pretty empty- not that it could have held much to begin with- but it at least had the proper cultivation method of the sect in there. ¡°Personally, I¡¯d rank it as middling.¡± ¡°... you¡¯re crazy,¡± Abder said. ¡°It¡¯s the best technique in all of Moturn.¡± ¡°Nah,¡± Anton said. ¡°And even if it was, it¡¯s still not great. You can have something better. Sword techniques, ice, nts, beast transformations, body tempering, whirlwind styles¡­¡± Anton was trying to gauge the kid¡¯s reaction. The scrawny kid frowned. ¡°Body tempering? Isn¡¯t that the first stage of cultivation? Why would you list that separately?¡± ¡°Because instead of training natural energy, you can focus exclusively on that. Well, not that a skinny kid like you has much chance.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Abder said. ¡°I just bet you¡¯re afraid I¡¯ll¡­ punch you. Or something.¡± ¡°Petrified,¡± Anton said neutrally. ¡°It¡¯s a bit of an oddball technique, though,¡± Anton said. ¡°If you¡¯re not good at it¡­¡± ¡°I will be!¡± Abder said. ¡°I¡¯ll be so good. You don¡¯t even know.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to eat a lot.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± the kid frowned. ¡°You¡¯ll feed me, right? Since you¡¯re a cultivator maybe even¡­ meat?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll eat nts and you¡¯ll like it,¡± Anton said. He couldn¡¯t easily secure meat unless Moturn¡¯s general production went up. Also, the kid really needed a wide variety of nutrients right now. ¡°Fine. So what do I do?¡± Anton didn¡¯t know if the kid would be good at advanced body tempering, but he could at least teach him some proper forms to be ready to make his choiceter, once he¡¯d experienced natural energy. He needed the same foundation either way. ----- When Anton returned ¡®home¡¯, he found people waiting to kill him. They were waiting in the shadowed corners of the room, as if any halfpetent cultivator couldn¡¯t sense them. ¡°You don¡¯t want to die for something stupid like this,¡± Anton said. A man rushed him once he noted their presence. A thin de stabbed Anton in the eye. Or rather, it hit the surface of his eye and stopped. ¡°You done?¡± Anton asked. The man tried to stab him again, aiming to stab in his ear. Anton shook his head, then sent a wave of his energy into the man. He died from internal damage, simply toppling over and leaving no blood for the poor people who owned this room to have to clean up. ¡°The rest of you can still make better choices.¡± Two more people rushed Anton together. They died in much the same manner. The fourth individual jumped out the window. Anton would have let her out the door, but she probably didn¡¯t believe that. ¡°Good choice!¡± Anton called after her. ¡°If your sect head is awful, don¡¯t report back for your own sake!¡± The woman staggered, hesitating. Then she continued on her way. Anton carried the other three bodies directly outside, dumping them on the opposite side of the street. The owner of the apartments stared at him wide eyed. ¡°I can leave if you want,¡± Anton said. ¡°Whatever causes you less trouble.¡± The woman¡¯s eyes flickered back and forth between Anton and the bodies. ¡°I can also wait here for when they send more people.¡± The woman bit her lip. ¡°You¡¯ll be safer if you run.¡± ¡°But will you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°... I can¡¯t have my guests die.¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about that,¡± Anton said. Then he went back inside. ----- Inside the local star, Anton began to slowly push back the corruption. With his conscious control, experience, and connection to over a hundred other stars, Anton was able to make consistent progress. It wasn¡¯t going to be a short task, though. Decades, likely. Though that was because he wanted to maintain proper caution. More than half of Anton¡¯s total effort was focused on the star. A much smaller sliver went to his projection on Unov, and if necessary he could let that fall away. Hadrianus might be worried, but Anton could easily return. The darkness within the star was also quite¡­ heavy. Like shackles limiting its ability to engage in fusion. He was d that he¡¯d immediately began the task, because he honestly didn¡¯t know if the star would split or explode or copse or what if the process got further. But Anton was pushing it back, expanding his wall brick by brick. He wasn¡¯t much of an architect, but he¡¯d done necessary work around his farm. Putting together an enduring wall of energy wasn¡¯t really much different, as he had far more experience in that field. He didn¡¯t directly try to resist the pressure pushing against him, but instead let his wall of energy curve- without letting anything through to corrupt the other side. Then he would carve out a small section, no bigger than a modest city, building up a new wall and then eliminating the corruption within the surrounded zone. And he did that over and over. Stars were quite big, as it turned out, so even if he¡¯d been encircling areas the size of continents it would take time. As he pushed further, he wouldn¡¯t have to maintain such arge wall and his progress could hopefully elerate. Either way, he¡¯d see things through to the end. ----- In the morning, there were a hundred cultivators surrounding Anton¡¯s apartment. They took up the whole street when he stepped out. A middle aged woman among them spoke. ¡°You wille with us to meet Sect Head Jaya.¡± It was about time. Though Anton had also been hoping that he might learn more about other factions first. After all, someone was going to have to rece them. ¡°Is it a long walk?¡± Anton asked. He just got prodded with spears. How rude. ¡°Fine, I¡¯m going.¡± He actually knew how far he had to go. A couple districts over, in fact. Quite an inconvenient trip for non-cultivators. As for the group with him, they kept prodding him to move faster. Anton kind of wanted to simply outrun them, but looking like he was vulnerable currently fit his ns best. And maybe he could talk some sense into the higher ups. Or maybe Jaya would be apologizing for her subordinates¡¯ reckless actions. As if. Chapter 1124 Though Anton might have been more effective if he was allowed into the Eighth Vent, he couldn¡¯t fault them for their caution. What difference would a few weeks of dys makepared to consequences stretching far into the future? The people of Unov shouldn¡¯t rush. ¡°You haven¡¯t spoken much of what happened,¡± Anton said. ¡°My current assumption is that you fled to these locations during an invasion from the upper realms. Before that time, did you know Jaya of the Twisting Spike Sect?¡± Hadrianus was Anton¡¯s nearly constant conversation partner and guard, though the man wasn¡¯t so much guarding him as guarding against him. Or making people believe he was, since Hadrianus was fairly well aware that he couldn¡¯t restrict Anton if the old man didn¡¯t want it. ¡°I know of her,¡± Hadrianus agreed. ¡°But we were not particrly acquainted. We lived on different continents, and I likely wouldn¡¯t have any knowledge of her if she were not a Life Transformation cultivator.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton said. ¡°I was hoping that you would say she has a good heart.¡± ¡°How often is that the case?¡± Hadrianus asked. ¡°Often enough. Sometimes people merely choose the wrong council.¡± The man inside the protective barriers pondered for a few moments. ¡°That may be the case. She may have to make difficult choices, given the limited resources avable.¡± ¡°I¡¯m taking that into consideration,¡± Anton nodded. A few minutester, Hadrianus suddenly turned, staring wide-eyed towards therger below. Even if he couldn¡¯t actually see beyond the confines of the protective structure he was in, he could tell what direction the energy event was in. With vision being the most precise sense humans were born with, they tended to unnecessarily turn their eyes towards things felt with their energy senses. ¡°What is that?¡± Hadrianus demanded. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Anton asked. ¡°That¡¯s just me.¡± ----- It took some time to reach Jaya, even though they were moving rtively quickly through the city. During that time, Anton kept his senses focused on the woman, though it didn¡¯t seem she noticed. He¡¯d known she was one of the stronger cultivators on Moturn since he arrived- most likely the strongest, though he couldn¡¯t tell that without intrusive investigations into a few others. However, the only things he had learned from her interactions with others over the weak hadn¡¯t been particrly revtory. She spent much of her time cultivating, not giving orders or speaking to people. She had an air of authority and confidence that could be taken as arrogance, but at least the confidence was earned. Other than that, Anton had little to judge her on. Her subordinates didn¡¯t particrly spark his hopes, though. When they finally corralled him into the throne room she had managed to construct- a waste of limited resources especially when there would be few social functions required- one of the guards prodded him as they stopped. ¡°Kneel.¡± ¡°Why should I?¡± Anton asked. The woman seemed unable toprehend the question. She fumbled whatever response she had, her words turning into nothing more than mush pouring out of her mouth. For her part, Jaya at least seemed able to answer for herself. ¡°It is a form of respect.¡± Subordination, more like. Anton never asked anyone to kneel to him. A polite bow or nod were fine. And if people chose not to acknowledge his presence, that would be fine too. Though he had to allow some sort of formal greeting structure for sect purposes, he didn¡¯t need people to show respect in that manner. ¡°Respect must be earned, and I have seen nothing worthy of it just yet,¡± Anton replied. Jaya was not happy¡­ but she clearly had some self control. Her power red, but she didn¡¯t turn it into an actual assault, merely disying herte Life Transformation energy. ¡°If nothing else, you should respect my strength.¡± Anton said nothing in response. He didn¡¯t wish to lie, and any acknowledgement of her strength wouldn¡¯t be fully sincere. Saying anything else wouldn¡¯t do much for the diplomatic course he intended. No doubt there were methods that wouldn¡¯t involve deceit, but he wasn¡¯t able to read her well enough to discern anything specific. So he remained silent. R?? Jaya sat haughtily upon her stone throne. The materials should have been taken from the they were on, as suchrge objects weren¡¯t the sort of things one took when fleeing. Though people didn¡¯t always make sensible decisions, Anton could sense a connection between the stone and the solid core beneath them. ¡°You know why you are here,¡± she finally said. ¡°The only question is what the punishment for your crimes should be.¡± ¡°Have Imitted any crimes?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Don¡¯t pretend you can hide it. We know you murdered one of our sect members, and maimed others. Do you think we would simply forget about that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid your subordinates must have misremembered. Or they are not aware of the definition of murder.¡± There was a tiny chance that the word had a different definition on this, but the feelings he got from her didn¡¯t indicate any such misunderstanding. ¡°Murder is an unjust killing, and I have not in anyone unjustly.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°You killed a member of the Twisting Spike Sect in cold blood.¡± ¡°When would you say that was?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Was that when she first began extorting a merchant? When she was beating him on the ground? When she was attacking me? And I do believe she survived that encounter.¡± ¡°She died of her wounds.¡± ¡°Ah. So you murdered her,¡± Anton nodded. ¡°How dare you use the sect head of wrongdoing!¡± One of the subordinates stabbed their spear at Anton¡­ so he vaporized it without looking. Jaya showed only the slightest bit of concern. ¡°She is dead as a consequence of your actions.¡± ¡°So you say. But somehow, I don¡¯t believe you¡¯re willing to cause this trouble over one simple elder. Why are you actually angry with me?¡± Anton paused. ¡°Is it the mushrooms? Was someone allergic?¡± ¡°Mushrooms?¡± Jaya reacted to the word more strongly than she attempted to let on. ¡°Why do you think I would concern myself with such trivialities?¡± Anton frowned. ¡°If no one was hurt by them¡­ why would you be upset? Do you not want people to have plentiful food?¡± Her look told him everything. ¡°Ah. You simply can¡¯t be allowed to continue to exist.¡± ¡°Guards! Kill him!¡± It was at that moment that Anton disyed his power. He didn¡¯t do more than that, simply releasing the ties that his some portion of his cultivation from casual inspection, but the results were significant. The whole city would feel it. Hadrianus felt it clearly, and he was up on a moon quite some distance away. ¡°I was hoping to keep a core of the local structure around,¡± Antonmented. ¡°I would have preferred not to have to organize everything.¡± All of those who made a motion to attack Anton died, consumed in me. Those who didn¡¯t, either because of sensible caution, fear, or some other reason, were left alone. Jaya nearly teleported behind him, stabbing towards his spine. She was pretty fast¡­ for a Life Transformation cultivator. He left her body intact not because she deserved it, but so that people could confirm her death. She didn¡¯t die immediately. Instead, he let her strike hit him uselessly before kicking his foot upward, knocking her towards the vaulted ceiling. While she was hurtling upwards, he pulled his bow out of his storage bag and drew a single proper arrow. The arrow pierced through her heart, then shattered the ceiling, causing the entire ¡®throne room¡¯ to copse. He dissolved his arrow before it punched through the barrier far above. ¡°People of Moturn,¡± Anton said, projecting his voice to the whole habitat city. ¡°The Twisting Spike Sect shall oppress you no longer. Jaya is dead. Any who wish to violently protest¡­ you will be able to find me. The same is true for any who believe themselves capable of government. Oh, and if you intend to cause trouble in chaotic times¡­ be aware that I am watching and will not be merciful.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°Oh, yes. I am Anton. I¡¯m not from this system, but I am from the Lower Realms and I intended to help. But Jaya was unhappy that people might have full bellies.¡± ----- Nobody was foolish enough to directly confront Anton. Even if they presumed he was faking his power somehow, it was indisputable that he was the strongest. What people did attempt was scrabbling for power. Where Anton had left some privacy previously, he was now watching the whole city. He had to take responsibility for removing the power structures. People didn¡¯t immediately heed his warnings, and some wanted to take advantage of the general fear. Others were looking for revenge on the Twisting Spike Sect, and Anton had to rify some things. ¡°You¡¯re still not allowed to enact violence upon the Twisting Spike Sect. If you have grievances, I will hear them and resolve the matter. But there will be no attacking people in the streets.¡± Those who attacked Twisting Spike members were given the greatest leeway, though they still got knocked around by Anton¡¯s arrows. Others might have been going after legitimate grudges, but he couldn¡¯t know everything. He didn¡¯t hide any of his energy, however, so people soon became aware that he could target hundreds of positions at once. Anton didn¡¯t even have to hit his limit¡­ though he did slow his progress on their star to retain his focus. Once people were exposed to enough events, they started to understand, and only a small portion actually sought out trouble. ----- Draza was in charge of logistics. And to avoid any appearance of bias, the man wasn¡¯t being paid. His sessful escape to another district should be apuded, but Anton had snatched him up because he needed someone basicallypetent to help with food and water distribution. That was the most important thing, followed more distantly by medicine. Medicine was of course important, but not very useful for those that had already died. Resources werecking. Water was a bigger problem than Anton had thought¡­ and fortunately something he could solve with power. It was certainlyplicated to draw water out of the swirling whirlwinds of a gas giant, but the necessary chemical elements were avable. And once he got enough, water was renewable- though there was some work to be done on filtration. Work to be done on everything, really. Unfortunately, Anton didn¡¯t carry nts for every asion with him. How could he, when he could barely begin to fit the seeds from a single¡¯s varieties in a storage bag? But when introduced to a problem, Anton could at least try to coordinate people to find a solution. People were going to be sick of eating mushrooms. But until they had more soil and a way to entice nts to grow, that was what they got to live with. Abder really didn¡¯t want to be known, so Anton¡¯smunications with him were private. No doubt he was thinking about a future where he had to rely on himself, and Anton quite preferred the kid to not try to take advantage of his master¡¯s position. Running a city wasplicated. Especially when it had problems. Maybe people on Unov had more experience with such things. He could ask them for advice, even if they weren¡¯t willing to travel. Oh right, and now that Anton had fully disyed his abilities, he could just bring people ces. Not that he intended to be a transport service for those looking to go on vacation to an icy moon or anything. He¡¯d move people just when it was necessary or useful. Unov was run so much better Anton almost wanted to give them control of Moturn directly, but aside from the logistical issues it wouldn¡¯t be much better than him being in charge. They were more than half a century disconnected from a shared home, with different sects and factions having split based on proximity and alliance among other things. That was still better than a stranger running things, but Anton was hoping to get things into a stable pattern¡­ sooner rather thanter. If only so he could focus on their star for a few decades. Chapter 1125 Everyone needed more and Anton was not enough by himself to help them all. He hadn¡¯t intended to so heavily involve himself, and now he was taking on constant responsibility that allowed him little sleep. He¡¯d asked for assistance from the Lower Realms Alliance, but to properly prepare a ship, plus travel time, could easily take half a year. More if they wanted people with the right training for uplifting every category of life. Anton wondered how the Twisting Spike managed everything¡­ but as he and others reviewed their records it became blindingly obvious. They didn¡¯t. The sect did take some matters that personally affected them into their hands, but for the most part they were more harm than good. It was actually Anton¡¯s fault. Not that things were bad, but that he had so many problemse to him. It was his fault for actually sincerely asking people toe to him. And when people got a true sense of who he was, they believed him. Prioritizing things was the most difficult part. Anything that involved someone actively dying was at the top. Anton had been able to suppress one hundred percent of assaults for the weeks he¡¯d been running things, but he couldn¡¯t stop people from being sick and preventing every ident was difficult. He could sense heightened tensions and red energy, but actively paying attention to every movement of every object in arge city was impossible. Short term, this was what people needed. Anton was doing his best to coordinate people to manage things, but unfortunately they didn¡¯t all have the right mindset. Nobody wanted to be the cultivator who carried supplies from district to district at a rapid pace. Carrying stuff was for weak people, or to be done with carts. But sometimes, the most direct routes were over the between districts. If he could just¡­ No, tearing down walls wouldn¡¯t help. He almost it, but there was nowhere for the rubble to go. There wasn¡¯t space. They needed more space and more resources for the people. That was both the fault of previous overconfident individuals¡­ and nobody. Or the upper realms for forcing the situation. They had rock. Anton could carve out the ultra dense material, but teaching the locals how to do it themselves was better¡­ and took time. They had dirt, but not enough. That problem would eventually solve itself, but potentially in a disastrous manner with a poption copse. That wasn¡¯t eptable. But letting it naturally umte was too slow, and they might run out of carbon in their contained atmosphere and¡­ there were so many issues. It wasn¡¯t like Anton carried dirt with him. Or rather, he didn¡¯t carry much dirt with him. A few hundred cubic meters wasn¡¯t going to be enough for a city. Where was he even going to get dirt? Or proper quality soil, rather. But they only had small amounts, and though low quality soil was the mostmon thing on a terrestrial there was only dense rock at the center of a gas giant. Anton nearly pped himself when he realized the actual solution. The locals couldn¡¯t get anything, but he could. He had a whole¡¯s worth. Maybe more, if the other moons were suitable. He quickly extended his senses towards their old. Nobody had spoken the name, and it felt disrespectful to ask. The disassociated chunks did still have plenty of dirt sitting around. Anton could also scour the nearby area to gather more. Some was probably lost, spiraling away from the or dropping into its atmosphere, but he didn¡¯t really need an entire¡¯s worth. Just enough for the single habitat on Moturn. An hourter, Anton was diving back into the gas giant, straining his energy to keep a mass of dirt together. If his stars weren¡¯t constantly feeding into him, he would have copsed from exhaustion long before, but he realized he was pushing himself too far. When he reached the habitat he was reminded that there wasn¡¯t supposed to be a way in. Which meant opening the barrier without copsing it while maintaining his blockade in the local star and keeping his mountain of dirt from being swept away. And where was he even going to put it down? Anton needed to take a nap. Or at least do a lot less. He did manage to get through the barrier without copsing it- that was the most important part- and he found the easiest thing to do with the dirt was¡­ to set it down in the streets. All of them. It was not the best solution, but that was pretty much all of the remainingnd they had. ¡°Citizens of Moturn,¡± Anton dered broadly. ¡°As you may notice, you have some new dirt. For the next week, everyone who does not have a critical or time sensitive task should focus on soil development. I have distributed several copies of scrolls that should continue to be copied. Those of you who already know what you¡¯re doing, teach others. If you can¡¯t use energy yet, practice your basic exercises. There¡¯s enough space for everyone to grow their own little plot of¡­ mushrooms. I know, I can hear your groaning. Tough it out for another month, and we¡¯ll get a wider variety of crops going.¡± Actually, very few people were groaning orining. Anton didn¡¯t do anything to people just forining, but those whoined when they actually had more food than any time in thest decade tended to cause other trouble, and whether Anton had to directly get involved or not it eventually came to him. Which had to stop. These people could handle their ownws. And they didn¡¯t need aplicated bureaucracy when the basics weremon sense. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the vition. ----- The more Anton kept other people busy, the less he found he had to do, and that didn¡¯t mean just handing off responsibilities. Moturn¡¯s main problem had been that there was little productive for people to do. Cultivate, if they could. Craft useful goods, but only if they had materials. There had barely been any space, seeds, soil, water, or anything else farmers needed. Now the biggest issue was sunlight, since they didn¡¯t have that. But cultivators could make sunlight if they did it properly, and Anton was able to give excellent demonstrations. And then people were gainfully upied for a few weeks, during which Anton did very little. There were fewer cases to settle because people couldn¡¯t get up to much trouble, and previous issues had already been resolved one way or another. So he focused on only half watching the city, just maintaining his blockades in the star because he wouldn¡¯t be able to rx if the corruption was spreading, and recovering his mental faculties. ? Not everyone Anton picked was good at their jobs. However, at the end of the month everyone who Anton picked was either good, trying to get better, or looking for another way they could help. Either that, or kicked out of their positions. He wasn¡¯t going to kill people for beingzy, but they certainly weren¡¯t going to get sympathy from him. Given a perfect opportunity to grow and failing to seize it was something Anton couldn¡¯t abide. At least Draza was good at some aspects of management. Food from all districts of the city either circled around the perimeter to needy neighbors or passed through the center, depending on supply and need. By now, even with the increased movement between district from a political shake-up, they had a pretty consistent idea of need. Some people weren¡¯t happy to not be making a ¡®profit¡¯ off of things, but Anton had a pretty simple thing to say for them. If they wanted gold, silver, or precious metals? They could have them. Anton could go snag a mountain of gold from an asteroid somewhere. But they could either get paid in metal now, orter in natural energy. Anton thought it was fairly straightforward and easy to understand, but a few people still screwed it up. He didn¡¯t tell them that he was the one giving money to everyone that wasing to buy from them- either directly or indirectly. If they couldn¡¯t figure it out, that was their own problem. Moturn was almost a utopia¡­ if you could call a group of desperate people scrambling for mere scraps of hope a utopia. And having an oppressive governing force controlling anything didn¡¯t make that better. It didn¡¯t matter that the oppressive individual was Anton, because people still couldn¡¯t act freely. But it was better than letting things copse into chaos, and Anton was wise enough to know he had to break away from the patterns he had set up eventually. If he¡¯d actually wanted to be a dictator, he could have done it long before. If Anton was actually the best option long term he might have stuck with it despite his personal distaste, but he knew that wasn¡¯t true. He just needed to make people fit for their future tasks- in terms of knowledge, mentality, morality, and in every other way. ----- Unov was a bit cold. Its people were also locked beneath deadly pressure where light couldn¡¯t reach. Unlike Moturn, they were divided. Yet in that division, they sought cooperation. ¡°One airlock full of dirt, as ordered,¡± Anton grinned, dering his delivery to Hadrianus. With the ¡®vents¡¯ having physical barriers, it was ironically more difficult to bring material in. But fortunately, they needed less. Anton had to disappear asionally, when he was focused on other things, but they didn¡¯t need him all that often. And he could deliver messages between them instantly¡­ but once he¡¯d gotten them to let him inside he just gave them a pile of unboundmunicators. Without a ry they could only work on, but what else did they need? Unov had big ns, and Anton liked it. He especially liked how the ns involved him only very minimally. They wanted to build underground tunnels between their various seafloor habitats. Anton surveyed the density of rock for them to help them n their routes. He transcribed onto scrolls a special work of knowledge previously only known digitally. ¡®Durff¡¯s Guide to Mining Stubborn Stone With a Stubborn Body¡¯ was a big hit. Some of the people of Unov really like the idea of body tempering. A few were overly eager to try themselves against the crushing pressures of the deep, but fortunately restrictions were in ce that kept people from just going out whenever they wanted. Anton didn¡¯t think it was a bad way to train, but they would probably need a decade of experience at least for it to be a feasible method. It was probably going to take Unov many years for their first tunnels to connect, as they had to do more than just dig things out, but that was just one of their many potential improvement methods. And since they weren¡¯t in crisis, Anton thought it was actually for the best that things would take time. ----- Abder probably wasn¡¯t going to be able to keep his status as one of Anton¡¯s disciples secret for long. His energy would feel too much like the proper One Hundred Stars once he had a few stars of Body Temperingpleted. But Anton was willing to let the kid try to keep the spotlight off of him, and he¡¯d offered to just take him away if it came down to it. Or maybe the kid would actually have early sess with advanced body tempering without much natural energy. But for the moment, Anton found the young man splitting his time between farming- Anton¡¯syer of dirt had extended to the back alleys- cultivating, and helping his fellow street children. While Anton had dered that everyone was to be treated fairly in the distributions of food, they didn¡¯t all trust him or the various adults that they felt had failed them. Likewise, not everyone was willing to seek medical treatment. That left the one mundane healer that they had traditionally been able to trust quite busy with them. However, Anton made sure he was less busy with others and properly supplied. Some day, he would ask the man if he wanted to be in charge of a whole house of healing or something simr. The man would probably refuse, given his temperament. But maybe if Anton could get him some suitable cultivation methods he would be able to free up some time. The only difficulty would be getting the man to devote some time up front to gain moreter. But that could wait until they were another step out of the emergency zone. They probably had too much dirt. Oh well. People could move it to undergroundyers once they expanded that far. Thebor would be good for them. It would help grow chest hair or something. Chapter 1126 Expanding Moturn¡¯s avable area was partially for the sake offort and partially for necessity. Though the poption had technically dropped since Anton¡¯s arrival¡­ that was on the order of thousands out of millions. More members of the Twisting Spike Sect had been involved in their oppression, but the charges leveled against many of them had not always reached a threshold deserving of death. There were lesser reparations that could be made. The wasn¡¯t terribly corrupt, just desperate, and that just happened to include those of the strongest sect around. They were more aware of how bad the situation was. That didn¡¯t excuse their behavior, of course. Those with power and authority should be held to even stricter standards, in Anton¡¯s opinion. It didn¡¯t excuse anything, but it exined why they acted in a certain way, aside from those who just enjoyed bullying others. If they were going to expand, they needed to not go outward but downward, at least at first. If they fortified their tunnels properly, they could be protected from the outside pressure. Trying to expand on the surface of Moturn¡¯s rocky core would be much more difficult, as that would involve expanding the barrier. They simply didn¡¯t have the materials or free energy to manage that. There was some debate whether the darkness of the underground was preferable to viewing the swirling storms outside the barrier, as both were potentially unpleasant, but practicality came first either way. Many Twisting Spike Sect members got to learn how to use picks. Of course, they weren¡¯t restricted to that form ofbor¡­ but everyone needed to do work. So that he would not set a bad example, Anton himself took to mining through the dense rock by hand on a regr basis. Nobody did work Anton wouldn¡¯t do- though there were a few who did work he was hardly qualified for. He was basically proficient as a herbalist and in pretty much any profession, but he wasn¡¯t amazing at any of them. Aside from farming and farming adjacent activities, obviously. As Anton took more opportunities to do manual work instead of organizing and settling disputes and working with people, he became more confident about the future of what they were working with. And thus it was that enough time passed for help to arrive. ----- When Anton had asked for aid he hadn¡¯t yet taken some of their previous moon¡¯s dirt. Then he¡¯d dumped more than Moturn had needed at the moment. But Anton was still very d when Lev showed up with a ship full of dirt- and nts. Some of the vegetation might not work out in the gas giant, but that would partially depend on the people tending to things Shortly after Lev, other ships arrived with food- notably of various different kinds. Lots of beans, tubers, and grains. Staple food that people could grow if they learned to make sunlight. Or just moved back to one of their other moons, which the presence of Alliance ships made possible- though the atmospheres weren¡¯t exactly optimal. Surprisingly, many people didn¡¯t want to leave. The reasons were varied, but they generally came down to fear. Lack of trust in the alliance, fear of further attacks from the upper realms, a general dislike of change, or simr reasons. Anton didn¡¯t really me them since everything was new. The important thing was that ¡®many people¡¯ was not ¡®everyone¡¯. The opportunity to be resettled somewhere that wasn¡¯t in the middle of a gas giant appealed to many people, which would actually be freeing up a lot of space on Moturn. Not everyone had fled to Moturn because they thought it was a good idea, but because people were running and hiding and that was the ce that everyone was going. Honestly, they had already done amazingly well to escape and remain unnoticed while not dying on their descent. It was an impressive feat- just because Anton could do something simr by himself didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t deserving of praise. Even he couldn¡¯t carry all those people without any dying. Though¡­ it was true that many had not made it. The poption of their former moon hadn¡¯t been just measured in the millions after all- it was effectively the size of a full terrestrial and just happened to orbit a gas giant. Since their former had been thoroughly devastated to the point even its atmosphere barely remained, establishing a project for them to settle on another rocky moon in the system- since everything orbited Moturn- was already underway. Though it might be a long time before it was stable, it was far easier to deal with a thin atmosphere than one with temperatures as high as the surface of a star while also dealing with crushing pressure. Plus, it came with free, less than 33% corrupted sunlight. ----- ¡°Abder,¡± Anton found his new apprentice. ¡°I would like you to meet Nthanda. She¡¯s a former apprentice of mine.¡± The young man frowned. ¡°She doesn¡¯t feel anything like you.¡± ¡°I trained her in archery,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Not really anything else. Which is actually why she¡¯s here. Since you wanted to get good with body tempering, she¡¯s the best.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Abder took a long time looking over Nthanda. ¡°You look pretty strong, but how strong are you really?¡± Nthanda shrugged. ¡°I came down to this rocky core without using any energy to protect my own body. Is that good enough?¡± ¡°Uh, what do you mean?¡± Abder asked. ¡°Like, you fell¡­?¡± ¡°She means she was outside in that,¡± Anton gestured broadly. ¡°Unprotected.¡± Technically, she would have been manipting things around her, though not for the sake of her body but for her gear. Because very few objects could survive such circumstances. Though both her and Anton did have specially made Storage Bags, given where they tended to end up. Abder¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You can survive in the storm?¡± he eximed. ¡°That¡¯s- but-¡± ¡°Did you think I would let you take interest in a lesser path?¡± Anton asked. ¡°I still hoped you would give up on it, not because of the limited potential but because of the difficult requirements. But you¡¯ll be able to get a better picture with a proper teacher, and she¡¯s the best.¡± ¡°Better than Durff?¡± Abder asked. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°I taught him everything he knows about body tempering,¡± Nthanda pointed out. ¡°Or at least all the important stuff. He¡¯s likely not even post-Ascension in terms of body tempering alone.¡± ¡°... post Ascension?¡± ¡°Beyond Life Transformation,¡± Nthanda exined. ¡°It could apply to alternate paths like us, as well as actual Ascension cultivators.¡± ¡°You know some?¡± Abder was thirsty for knowledge. ¡°We know so many of them,¡± Nthanda grinned. Abder looked at Anton, offended. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me any of this?¡± ¡°It would be bragging. And it won¡¯t even be relevant to you until you at least hit Life Transformation, in maybe half a century.¡± Thirty years if the kid was very talented, but Anton didn¡¯t want to put too much pressure on him. He was determined, but half a year of advancement didn¡¯t tell everything. ----- Moturn wasn¡¯t the only ce that got emergency aid. Just because Unov didn¡¯t need it as much didn¡¯t mean that they weren¡¯t happy to ept help. Most of it came in the form of necessities and materials rather thanpleted goods, however. The reason for that was that the Alliance didn¡¯t want anyone to be dependent. The biggest thing they shared was of course knowledge, even if it was only a small portion of what they knew. So much had been lost during the flight from their home. It hadn¡¯te to quite a full wipe of their knowledge and cultivation techniques, but much of the breadth of knowledge had been lost. Knowing the specific challenges Unov faced, the Alliance brought blueprints for things like formation-based submarines. They could bring everyone away to somewhere easy to live, but living in adversity was one of the ways cultivators grew strong. Getting help didn¡¯t lessen growth unless people became dependent- indeed, those who insisted on individual survival at all costs usually didn¡¯t make it in the long run. Hadrianus appreciated the aid provided, but Anton still found him somewhat ufortable. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Anton asked. ¡°Is there something missing? Or is it too much?¡± ¡°More of thetter,¡± the man admitted. ¡°It¡¯s still difficult for me to fathom why you would help like this.¡± ¡°Hmm. If it makes you feel better, I am receiving devotion in return.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve said that, but do you really need it?¡± Anton had pondered that. He knew it was useful. He was quite certain that the orthodox path of Assimtion and Domination needed it. But did he? Probably not. ¡°It¡¯s valuable to me, at the very least,¡± Anton said. ¡°And what is the point of having all of this stuff if we don¡¯t share it? The Alliance is made for this. We need to do things like this, to remain what we have built up. Otherwise, we¡¯ll only see the wars and we might decay back into selfish cultivation practices.¡± Anton crossed his arms, ¡°I like being like this. It makes being this old worth it.¡± ¡°How old are you?¡± Hadrianus asked. ¡°About a thousand,¡± Anton said. The actual date had passed by without much of anything on his part. Most of the lower realms didn¡¯t know his actual birth date, and he wasn¡¯t the first person to hit a thousand years old. Perhaps the most prominent, but many others would be following shortly behind him- even his littlest great-granddaughters were less than a century younger than him, after all. Their ages were practically the same now. Anton was simply old and wrinkled because he¡¯d already been old when he began and never thought it was worth fixing it except for a few practical developments. ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Hadrianus pondered. ¡°Both extremely long and yet vaguely within myprehension.¡± ¡°How old are you?¡± Anton asked. ¡°A bit over a hundred?¡± ¡°You think highly of me. I¡¯m nearly two hundred.¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°I find that good listeners who are willing to interact cultivate well. Though you might have had less ess to good techniques.¡± ¡°I was Life Transformation before¡­ the end,¡± Hadrianus pointed out. ¡°And you still are. Does your technique manual cover Ascension.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± the man said. ¡°What¡¯s your probability of sess?¡± ¡°More than ten percent,¡± the man said proudly. Anton almostughed, but that would have been rude. ¡°We can do better. With the benefit of more than two cycles of development, things pick up quite quickly.¡± Maybe too quickly. Catarina and Timothy were Domination cultivators now. There weren¡¯t even that many in the upper realms. Anton found it odd. Then again¡­ For who knows how many millennia, the lower realms were repeatedly crushed and reset. Out of necessity, any cultivators would have had to develop a sense of persistence. Or not gone very far in cultivation, Anton supposed. But some portion of those who had been beaten down would spring back stronger. Ceretos and Weos had been some of the lucky ones, a bit earlier than others. From there, with the addition of Rutera, spreading out with littlepetition was quite obvious. ¡°Do you like it here?¡± Anton asked. ¡°... in the freezing, crushing depths?¡± Hadrianus asked. The old man nodded and smiled. ¡°Yes. In this terribly oppressive ce that you have made into your home.¡± Hadrianus thought for a while. ¡°I do, actually. We wed for survival with everything we had. We got thestugh. I suppose I¡¯m not just staying here out of responsibility.¡± ¡°A great answer,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯ll help you avoid some of the pitfall of cultivation advancement. You should think about whether you want to stay here or stick it to the Exalted Quadrant with Ascension. We can make sure you end up among our Alliance there. Oh, those details are secret though so don¡¯t tell anyone else.¡± ¡°... You¡¯re connected to the upper realms?¡± ¡°No no no,¡± Anton wagged his finger. ¡°The Scarlet Alliance is connected to us. Much of their core structurees from our Ascension cultivators. And some natives, neither from the Trigold Cluster or the Exalted Quadrant. Plus any strays from elsewhere. You can remain independent here, if you wish, once we give you the tools to survive. But I¡¯d think carefully about what we can offer. We have¡­ big trees. And meerkats.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a meerkat?¡± ¡°Oh, let me show you!¡± Anton said. ¡°Here is my apprentice, Three Squeaks. Or, if I were to use his real name¡­¡± Anton made the actual Three Squeaks that made up his name. ¡°Isn¡¯t it cute? Like him?¡± ¡°An¡­ apprentice? This animal?¡± ¡°They¡¯re intelligent cultivators just as much as the rest of us, but much cuter,¡± Anton said. ¡°Even this old guy. Look at this grump here,¡± Anton said, swapping to images of Meep. ¡°Oh, right. This image device is one of the good things the Alliance has. It¡¯s not just a disy crystal that has a couple images.¡± Anton had restrained from showing those sorts of things all at once, since a powerful cultivator was already something hard to trust, but a powerful cultivator with weird things that couldn¡¯t be easily understood? That was cause for rm. But this system was already connected, even if they could potentially choose not to stay that way. Chapter 1127 Though Anton was making progress on the local star, he wasing to a realization. The more he managed to remove the corruption and push back against its growth, the more a certain sort of pressure was building up in the quarantined zone. He thought it would be easier as he was able to work with a small area, but it was staying fairly constant¡­ and it might even grow more difficult. As always, situations turned out moreplex than things appeared on the surface. The Lower Realms Alliance couldn¡¯t just show up and make everything okay, even as they grew strong. Even if they could solve some of the current problems, they couldn¡¯t bring back the everyone had lost. Not without it being something else entirely, a recycled mass of rock and little more. Between Moturn and Unov, there was less than a single percent of the previous poption. If they were going to rescue the, they needed to have done it at the end of the cycle. But they simply hadn¡¯t reached far enough. Not that it had been feasible. Time was required for everything. The Alliance couldn¡¯t suddenly expand into every star in the gxy just because they wanted to. Though they were making a good effort at least to visit. The smaller scale growth that individuals from the system were undergoing also took time. Even discounting cultivation, developing skills to fit into necessary industries took time. Finding people suited for particr sorts of work was a long process, though fortunately there were specialists. The Lower Realms Alliance couldn¡¯t guarantee matching people with a career that was a perfect fit, but they could guide them towards something at least suitable. Ultimately, that would result in people being happier and more efficient- and they could always try to experiment on their own. Abder was carrying around a bundle that was heavier than himself. Anton wouldn¡¯t have suggested that level of physical training at any point, particrly not after just a couple of years, but the young man was only partially his responsibility now. He liked body tempering, and Anton wasn¡¯t going to say that he was putting in the wrong kind of effort. He was working towards what he wanted, and Nthanda was teaching him in the way she thought would be most effective. The one insistence Anton had was that the pack he carried be for a practical purpose, so the young man was running between districts distributing finished goods and materials to various ces that needed them. Flight was barely avable for the locals, and for Abder who was focused on a low-energy style it was even less achievable at his low cultivation. Though there might eventually be a certain point where he could manipte matter around him like Nthanda. He might end up on a different path, though. Nothing could be certain, especially with unique situations like Nthanda. Cultivators who focused on advanced body tempering rarely made it past Life Transformation- though Anton supposed that neither did most others, stagnating a bit lower even with reliable methods. Despite being trained by Anton and Nthanda, Abder had not adopted the sharedbat style they had. That was to say archery, though their styles there had also quite diverged out of necessity. Rather than rejecting it, Abder had rejectedbat as a basic part of his training. He learned basic martial arts to be able to defend himself, and because they suggested it he had practiced with the bow- but it was clear his heart wasn¡¯t in it. It was one thing to pick a non-martial path. Anton certainly saw the value in those. But tobine that with body tempering, what else was there to do? He would be an inferior porterpared to simply having a good storage bag, no matter how strong he got. Far be it from Anton to discourage anyone¡¯s path when it was functional, however. Maybe Abder would choose abat styleter. Or maybe he didn¡¯t want to be useful. Being strong and capable just because he could wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing. ----- In their period without any energy within them, Catarina and Timothy had grown older. Over time they were slowly rejuvenating their bodies after reaching Domination, though they would likely not return to a prime age anytime soon, if ever. They could of course make cosmetic alterations through various methods, or disy false images¡­ but they felt that was unnecessary. After a few hundred years, vanity tended to fade. Either that or it could grow into an obsession, but for those who were secure in their self image their actual looks weren¡¯t necessarily as important. After all, who would the two of them even be looking good for, aside from each other? Of course, they still would prefer to be youthful again, they just weren¡¯t going to rush the process. Especially not with an unfamiliar type of energy. Domination energy had more inmon with upper energy than thetter did with lower energy, but it was certainly a qualitative increase and required some effort to handle properly. Drawing out power was actually easy- it was gentleness that required practice. Actually using Catarina¡¯s tform to teleport¡­ well, it was a good thing that they tested with a few unnecessary things first. Some calctions were slightly off, leaving things floating nearby in space or asionally dumping them in the star. Meanwhile, Timothy was connected to the barrier which worked pretty much as intended even with excessive energy, though if he concentrated on things a little too hard he prevented useful things like maintaining a rtive momentum with the star. He only severed the pull of gravity on the orbital tform for a few instants, though. Timothy found himself the sparring partner of quite a few people now, as they both wanted to test their limits and gain insight into Domination. He didn¡¯t find that to be a bad way to spend his days, as he¡¯d done that before- he was just the favored partner now. Because fighting Chidi was difficult and Catarina didn¡¯t really spar. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ----- Officially, only Koronis came to visit the Scarlet Alliance as a Domination cultivator. Her visit was short and decidedly neutral. Her mere presence aplished more than any attempt to get a politicalmitment of some sort from here. At most, she didn¡¯t object to the passingments of how the Alliance would be demanding retribution from the Silver Fang. That was the best they expected to get. ? Having an actual visit provided legitimacy, however. If they could get a friendly- or at least not unfriendly- Domination cultivator from the Exalted Quadrant, the Scarlet Alliance might be seen as something like a third great power. Though perhaps they didn¡¯t want to rush anything like that, in case anyone became eager to disprove it. Just because they had Domination cultivators to defend themselves didn¡¯t mean they wanted to have to use them in that capacity. The Scarlet Alliance also got a visit from Ambassador sta. It was quite informal, given that Aminu was still present to represent the interests of the Distant Shadow Sect as well as the Creeping Fire Sect. Extremely informal, in fact, such that they only received word she wasing slightly before their sensors went off. The good news was that they could reconfirm they worked on someone concealing their energy- at least to some reasonable limit. sta was, of course, not just a random ambassador. The Scarlet Alliance knew she was Ratna, and she knew that they knew. The only person of note who didn¡¯t know was Durff, because the man could be a massive security w. Not that they held it against him, it was in his nature to be open and trusting. Even so, that meant they had to keep some things secret from him. They didn¡¯t think he would begrudge that fact, and Ratna could keep in touch with him in other ways, even if they were less personal. ----- Timothy had been disappointed that they might not be able to spar, but it was somehow arranged that both one of their Domination cultivators- him- and the visiting but not actually assigned ambassador would both disappear for a few days. It still required quite a bit of setup to prevent their energy from escaping their sparring location¡­ in deep space far from any system. Because if they were to be at all serious, people would feel them from adjacent systems. Fortunately, a bit of restraint and some formations should dampen the effects enough. Only a modest group of necessary individuals including Koralo were present. ¡°I appreciate your willingness to do this,¡± Timothy said. Ratna grinned, not bothering to hide her true self. ¡°I don¡¯t often have an opportunity to find¡­ appropriate sparring partners.¡± ¡°People strong enough to matter that don¡¯t want to kill you?¡± ¡°That won¡¯t want to kill me,¡± Ratna emphasized. ¡°I can¡¯t just expect people in the Trigold Cluster to not change their mindster. But as long as your alliance doesn¡¯t gopletely off the rails, I can¡¯t see that we woulde into conflict.¡± ¡°I¡¯d sure hope not,¡± Timothy agreed. It was good to have some allies¡­ or at least enemies of enemies who were otherwise neutral. Timothy had vaguely witnessed Ratna battle once before. It was one thing to be standing on the sidelines, barely able to perceive the battle, and quite another to be the target. Ratna¡¯s killing intent was powerful, but its sharpness wasn¡¯t quite there. That was simply the signal that they were starting. It was actually more disturbing when it faded away along with her person and he couldn¡¯t anticipate her movements at all. Timothy almost tricked himself into believing she¡¯d never even been there at all, that was how thoroughly she was gone. And then he was stabbed in the kidney. Or at least, that was the intent. He couldn¡¯t move to avoid the attack, but he did manage to fortify his armor enough to actually resist the blow. The only question Timothy had was whether that was Ratna¡¯s true power or not. He imagined not, as it was only a probing attack. Furthermore, she¡¯d been a Domination cultivator far longer than himself. He¡¯d leapt over a massive chasm, crossing the gap of magnitude once between him and any Domination cultivator, but that didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t still just be stronger than him. And even a ten or twenty percent difference could spell the end for a cultivator. If there was one thing Timothy was good at, however, it was defense. He continued to take her attacks while attempting to counter. His shield was little good since he couldn¡¯t bring it to bear, but that was an excellent thing to learn. And Timothy had a couple tricks to try. Ratna could be anywhere, which made his life difficult. So he intended to stop that. When she came close for her next attack, he amplified his defense so she would have to actually push closer. Their energies shed for a moment, then she disappeared. A momentter, Timothy felt an impact on the inside of a barrier he created. Or maybe it was more appropriate to say he called upon it. Timothy had drawn out the stored energy and formed it around them, trapping the pair in an arena just a few dozen meters across. That was practically touching, as far as such high level battles went. Ratna had tried to casually cut her way out without revealing herself beforehand, but the barrier stood firm. Unbreakable¡­ was not the case. Timothy didn¡¯t want to be arrogant. That was just asking for someone to actually break it. Enduring and powerful¡­ definitely. He swept his de, trying to catch her as she moved, but her reactions were more than fast enough. Even so, Timothy slowly began to restrict the radius of the barrier, and thus her mobility. If he were using his energy directly, maintaining such a barrier away from his body would have vastly weakened it. But by calling upon his connection to his anchor, it was almost maximally efficient. He was easily able to keep up his bodily defenses at the same time. When the barrier shrank to about half size, Timothy suddenly felt something prod his ankle directly- having pierced through his defensive energy. Obviously his ankle wasn¡¯t a particrly vulnerable location, but that didn¡¯t matter because the attack had gone through his outer defensive energy without him detecting it. That meant Ratna could have pushed her energy through his rtively undefended body. Timothy might have only lost a leg if she did, but it showed some ws in his style. ¡°Want to tell me what I did wrong?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly,¡± Ratna said. ¡°How would I have any fun then? I should at least be able to beat some young folk asionally. But I¡¯ll give you a hint. Your thinking is too limited.¡± He¡¯d have to figure that one out. He didn¡¯t want holes in his defenses. Chapter 1128 Timothy never wanted to be the face of the Scarlet Alliance, but he ended up in that role by virtue of being the most personable Domination cultivator they had. Which was to say, one of two which was already a surprising result. While they had some hope for others to soon reach Domination, it couldn¡¯t be guaranteed even if they considered the level of cooperation they had. The two had more or less identally bypassed a long period of understanding necessary by being forced to handle Domination energy. So even for the other members of the One Hundred Stars, they couldn¡¯t necessarily guide them along a safe path. The actual responsibilities Timothy had didn¡¯t shift. He was responsible for defensive coordination, and otherwise went along with the will of the council. Fortunately, Domination cultivators weren¡¯t known for frequent interaction with others, so he only really had to deal with outside contact every few years. Reaching Domination actually made the council wonder about the Harmonious Citadel, with their emphasis on unity. They had been infiltrated by the Citadel of Exalted Light, and it was the opinion of the council as a whole that it was probably being used as a sort of experiment. The exact details were unknown- they hadn¡¯t been written down anywhere- but most likely Zaur was hoping that several might eventually reach Domination together. A test at the stability of multiple Domination cultivators in a sect, essentially. Because while Zaur Beridze certainly wasn¡¯t the sort to share power, having stronger subordinates would have been useful. As for why he couldn¡¯t just guide someone to Domination, the answer was actually rtively simple- the total amount of devotion required might be insufficient. That wasn¡¯t an issue for Timothy and Catarina, both because of their rtion but also the total poption of the Scarlet Alliance. They had a greater emphasis on the poption in general, instead of just a select group of cultivators, which meant they had more people with a rtively high average of cultivationpared to individual sects. They were still far dwarfed in numbers by the great powers as a whole, but they likely had more poption than thergest sects. Of course, Domination cultivators weren¡¯t made with just Devotion. They needed an anchor, which usually meant materials of great value. Then again, given what Timothy had experienced that might be a partial red herring- the transformative aspects of Domination had created far more value than the teleportation tform had originally had. It might not have survived the process if it wasn¡¯t sufficiently worthy to begin with, but it wasn¡¯t like they could easily experiment with that. Especially since failure would mean damaged cultivation or death. ----- Catarina looked at a teleportation tform, but not the one that was hers. Her understanding of higher level cultivation was obviously influenced by her grandfather, so she might just be fooling herself¡­ but she felt fairly certain that she could create another anchor out of the tform. The question is why people wouldn¡¯t¡­ and she had several theories. First was that anchors provided a form of vulnerability. Of course, that wouldn¡¯t be particrly more true if Catarina bound to another sr tform in the same system- if they had more than one- but that might also not be¡­ different. Her intuition might be incorrect, but she had the feeling that doing that would be more like expanding her original anchor. Then again, wouldn¡¯t that be what she was doing here? It would just be expanded into two points that were further apart. Obviously, the actual size of an anchor wasn¡¯t all that relevant to begin with. Koronis bound a neb, which was a rather extreme thing to do. It spanned multiple star systems, but didn¡¯t seem to make her more powerful. Or at least, not in a way that was directly proportional to the volume it epassed, because otherwise her presence would have been far more intimidating. All Catarina had felt upon her visit was what she would expect from a somewhat more experienced cultivator, and Koronis barely had decades more experience with Domination than she did. Those decades weren¡¯t an insignificant amount of time, but they would eventually reach that point. What mattered was how their rtive development within Domination shaped up. Because Domination wasn¡¯t the end point. Whether there was another stage to reach was debatable, but Zaur had been stronger than Catarina was now- but she highly doubted he had instantly been that way upon advancement. Catarina stared at the sr tform. She was confident that she could attune to it and gain some sort of benefit- either power or a widening of certain effects. She didn¡¯t have to be close to her anchor to draw on its full power, so that wasn¡¯t relevant. Perhaps that would be why Zaur had stuck to just the Citadel, as it would be easier to focus attention on himself and a single location. Catarina could connect to this other tform, as it was of simr design¡­ but she wasn¡¯t sure she could do it yet. Unlike Anton, she didn¡¯t have an intuitive feeling of ¡®room¡¯. Maybe that meant she was full, or merely that she operated on a different system than Assimtion. There were plenty of other differences after all. Even so, she didn¡¯t want to rush into things. If she messed up, the best she could hope for was ruining a teleportation tform that wasn¡¯t cheap to rece. And of course, she could kill herself if she tried to force something she wasn¡¯t ready for. It would be a shame to cut off potentially thousands of years of her lifespan because she couldn¡¯t wait a few more decades to understand things properly. She wondered what it would like to be in the lower realms. From her understanding, Sudin had been weakened by the process but she couldn¡¯t imagine why. Could he not draw on his anchor? Perhaps the divide between realms was more than just a transitional boundary. If she could find an opportunity to go she would, but too many eyes were on her at the moment. Once people- both local and far- grew used to her existing as a Domination cultivator she might be able to travel between realms without revealing what they could do to the wrong people. Stolen novel; please report. Until then, she could pepper Anton with questions about what it was like when he was full on stars. ----- ¡°Advanced body tempering is not just exercise.¡± That was what Nthanda said every time before sending Abder to exercise. It seemed like a contradictory statement to him, but he still felt himself growing stronger in ways he couldn¡¯t always quantify, so clearly something was working. It was more than just shoving natural energy into his body. Anton was a bit better at exining some things. He mentioned that the intent of what he did with his body would change things far more than just the motions. That was probably important. He wanted to be stronger and it was happening so¡­ it must be working. Observing his teachers when he got the chance, Abder determined that the way they interacted with things was¡­ different. For example, how they opened doors. He wasn¡¯t even sure they knew they did it dramatically, but it was a regr urrence. Anton did it more when he was going to some sort of social gathering, while Nthanda did it when she was rushing somewhere. Anton used his energy to push away the air behind the door before he swung it open, unimpeding its progress. Nthanda just used more power¡­ but that wasn¡¯t all. Because Abder had tried it once and ended up with a broken door. It hade off the hinges even before it had gotten to the point it would have mmed into the wall. Abder had a lot of time to think about that as he was putting in a new door. Finally, he determined she put something into the door. Not natural energy, but aspects of herself? Something of strength and durability. Maybe what they called insight? Abder tried it again. At least he knew where to get recement doors, though he¡¯d need to rebuild the doorframe too as it was starting to fall apart. So he didn¡¯t have that insight yet. That might be important, if he wanted to be quick but gentle. He was perfectly capable of controlling his own strength. He wouldn¡¯t identally break something unless he mistakenly thought it was stronger- or he was trying something like forcing a door open quickly. It was a silly thing to work on, a trivial task¡­ but he had honed in on it because it demonstrated something he didn¡¯t have. When he asked them about it, they were able to give exnations¡­ but Abder realized they hadn¡¯t thought about it. Which was actually the important part. It was instinct. These people had been working with such power for so long, it was instinct. And here he was barely an adult even by the standards of non-cultivators. Though apparently there might not be any of those in the future, because Anton insisted everyone cultivate. Abder first thought it was silly, but after a few years he had gotten it. Everything was better with cultivation involved. Obviously him seeing finer clothing was a mix of actually having some resources and the improvements people made with natural energy, but everything else saw incremental improvements. He might have missed it in everything else if he didn¡¯t pay attention. After all, what was a little bit of durability in a shirt when people had gone from near starvation to being buried in mushrooms? There was a whole group who insisted on only eating mushrooms despite them now having ess to a wider variety of crops, but they¡¯d gotten a bit obsessed. At least they wouldn¡¯t go hungry anywhere that had basically any amount of life. Unlike some of the others, Abder didn¡¯t remember their old. He¡¯d been born in the depths of Moturn, so seeing pictures of others and stars was¡­ astounding. Yet despite his instincts, he didn¡¯t ask Anton to bring him away to see those things in person. Instead, he wanted to earn that himself¡­ as if his current ability to grow hadn¡¯t also been given to him. But Abder wasn¡¯t going to let that little quibble stop him. He was going to learn and grow, and he was going to help others. He had a whole lot of others who relied on him now, not quite trusting the rest of the system. Abder lived as the dividing line between the two, slowly guiding people towards the blinding brightness that Anton carried with him. ----- The more hepressed the corruption in the star, the more Anton grew in his understanding of it being at least in part a physical substance. He had managed to contain it to a quarter slice of the star, down from about a third. Depending on how one looked at it, that was only a small improvement or a significant step. However, Anton could tell his progress was slowing. He needed toe to a greater understanding of what was going on to continue to clean it out. So he personally visited the edge of his exclusion zone. He wasn¡¯t certain it would be wise to try to eject whatever it was from the star- he might bring other material with it, and at the scale he might have to work at that could be a whole¡¯s worth. Minimal for the star, but still significant. Anton preferred the idea of destroying the corruption, but even though he felt like he¡¯d been doing that he was now more certain that he¡¯d simply been moving it around. So what was it, then? Anton couldn¡¯t quite say, except that it was something that held its form even in the heat and pressure of a star. Where the upper realms might have gotten it he couldn¡¯t say. Nor could he easily separate it from the natural material of the star. He thought about trying to touch it¡­ but even using his own energy instead of the star¡¯s seemed risky, and obviously he wouldn¡¯t touch it unaided. He might ask Nthanda at some point, but he wasn¡¯t at the point where he needed to risk his friends. Perhaps he needed to look into which sect or sects attacked this system¡­ and then ask the upper realms to research them. The main thing he knew was that it was the Tigold Cluster again- and it was a different method of damaging a star than what he¡¯d seen. That didn¡¯t mean it involved different sects, but whoever they were, Anton didn¡¯t like how much hate they had for the fundamental pirs of existence. Maybe he could show them what it felt like to lose their own stars. Alright, Anton had to admit that was a bit of an extreme reaction. He could just destroy theirs or kill all of them. If he could reach them. Most likely, they were too far from the border for him to actually do that¡­ yet. But he wasn¡¯t willing to say he¡¯d never be able to. He couldn¡¯t let his granddaughter get too far ahead, even if she was on a different sort of advancement track. Chapter 1129 The amount of time it would take for a group to build up to a functional level of long distance travel varied significantly on the foundation that a group already possessed. In the case of Moturn and Unov, they had to put together a functional industry before they could start anything else. Thus it took quite some years before they could even think about more than survival. However, with the assistance of knowledge from the Lower Realms Alliance they were able to shave off centuries of development. Anton observed genuine surprise when Alliance members began to withdraw from the system. No doubt they believed the ¡®helpful upation¡¯ would be permanent. However, the Alliance firmly believed in freedom of choice¡­ even if those choices ended up to be poor ones. In this case, thes had not given any indication that they wished to formally join the Alliance- at least not as a whole- and thus those who chose to remain were left with just the extra knowledge they were given. Of course, Anton couldn¡¯t leave yet. Their star was quite stubborn. But with their civilization stabilized, Moturn was just about at the point that it could fully self-police, if that was what the people wanted. Which meant that Anton wouldn¡¯t interfere in things that didn¡¯te into his sight. As for the new power structures that were forming, the Twisting Spike Sect had more than fallen out of favor. Many of their members had undergone the difficult process of refactoring their cultivation into different styles to distance themselves from the negative feelings. Meanwhile, over the course of a few decades other cultivators had grown into their own power as the local natural energy began to grow. Rather than sects being a single cultivation method, the new groups that had formed were around those with simr ideas, practicing cultivation methods both local and from the Alliance. A small but relevant group was one that Abder had slowly been forming unconsciously. From what Anton saw, it was focused on those passed over by the rest of society. Not just orphans, but also the crippled and the infirm. Abder seemed to find great joy in finding cultivation styles suited to individuals that helped them ovee whatever they were dealing with. Food and shelter were provided only to the necessary extent, with people strongly encouraged to obtain what they needed for themself- but they were able to do so because they had others backing them. Anton was pleased with his choice. It wasn¡¯t exactly what he would have done, but that just made it better. Receiving help from one who had recently struggled was far more meaningful than Anton himself providing people with their needs from a ce of plenty. ----- Because Abder did not practice the One Hundred Stars, Anton didn¡¯t establish a branch of the sect on Moturn. He believed it was possible to do so and still let them remain independent, but he needed trusted leadership. Nobody quite fit, as Draza wasn¡¯t interested in that style of cultivation. Unov, however, had people that fit. Not Hadrianus, because he had his own style in Life Transformation. But a woman named Yadira rmended by him had been interested. Cultivating stars without being able to see them was certainly an interesting oue, but not unreasonable. After all, they could feel their local star because of Anton. So even when he would no longer be physically present they would have an example. He could understand why people trapped beneath dark, freezing waters would wish to cultivate warmth and light. So they were trying it out, and there had been some sess. Yadira did have some suggestions, however. ¡°I think we should seek the surface to properly see the stars once more. Once submarines aremon enough, we can cut through the ice above.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t suggest cultivating on ice sheets,¡± Anton said. ¡°It sounds like asking for trouble.¡± The thin woman shook her head. ¡°We would merely contemte up above, then bring warmth and light back with us.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Anton said. ¡°I approve. Though¡­ if you desire the stars, why not move to New Ibbore?¡± New Ibbore was the newly colonized terrestrial moon, named after their former. It was smaller than their original and its atmosphere was thin. Its ecosystem was yet iplete. But it had ess to the sky, and was far easier to live upon than either Moturn or Unov. Their one special feature happened to be a series of formations set up to conceal their¡¯s energy from watching eyes so that they wouldn¡¯t draw in future trouble. ¡°If we wished an easy life, we would do so,¡± Yadira agreed. ¡°However, there are many people still afraid that need hope. We can bring that to them, and thus we should. And you won¡¯t always be around.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Anton said. ¡°But this star is being quite stubborn so it may yet be a while.¡± ¡°Decades, perhaps. Though even if I grow no further in cultivation, I should expect to spend far more time without you than with you.¡± ¡°I wille visit, of course,¡± Anton said. ¡°But you could remain only a fraction of the time. We¡¯re not the only ones who need the attention. And you have to travel very far.¡± ¡°True,¡± Anton said. ¡°No matter how swift I be, I find I just have arger area of concern. Once, I would have been fine with a small vige.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you rely on others.¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Especially when it seems like I could handle everything ¡®better¡¯ myself.¡± Yadira had felt Anton¡¯s power on Moturn- being in a distant orbit didn¡¯tpletely hide the power he had disyed when removing Jaya. ¡°You can,¡± she agreed. ¡°But it¡¯s better to find ces where such power is actually needed. If¡­ if there even are any.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the vition. ¡°There are some,¡± Anton said. ¡°This most recent cycle, a Domination cultivator invaded from the upper realms.¡± ¡°... and here I thought your people were dealing with the same troubles as us.¡± ¡°If all went well,¡± Anton said. ¡°They won¡¯t have the guts to do it again. Most likely, they¡¯ll be stubborn and foolish. So I need to be capable of killing a Domination cultivator without luck or carelessness being involved.¡± Yadira nodded. ¡°You can at least rest assured we¡¯ll be growing stronger here.¡± ----- Normally, throwing something into a star would be a great way to dispose of it. No matter how toxic or otherwise vtile, stars could absorb pretty much anything without even a disturbance. Their sheer size and power pretty much guaranteed that. Yet the corruption in the star was stubbornly refusing to be annihted, no matter how much Anton focused his energy. Perhaps there was some threshold he could reach that would break it down¡­ but Anton was concerned about what might be released if he did destroy it. After long periods of study, Anton hade to the conclusion that he couldn¡¯t actually erase this problem. That didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t heal the star, however. He just had to remove the corruption. And since it seemed to be physical mass of some sort, expelling it from the star might work. The problem was where it would go from there. Obviously just chucking it into another star was a terrible idea. So was leaving it in the local system. Setting it to orbit around the system was viable, but he didn¡¯t want to cause trouble down the line. So if he was looking for somewhere to put something massive and unpleasant, where would he look? His first thought was a more powerful star, but that wouldn¡¯t necessarily have a better oue. But if he wanted something gone that couldn¡¯t be destroyed in a star, there was a pretty good ce to put it. The most theoretically inescapable location in the universe¡­ inside a ck hole. Or he could figure out a target in the upper realms he wanted to throw it at. But that was problematic in many ways. Just because people were terrible didn¡¯t mean their stars deserved to die. And actually reaching his target would be difficult. Furthermore, if they were the ones who had done it in the first ce he would just be returning their weapon to them. It wasn¡¯t like he could guide it the whole way, it would probably be flying hundreds of lightyears beyond the border which meant they¡¯d have a very long time to notice and respond. So since he didn¡¯t want it to bother the lower realms¡­ ck hole. He just had to pick a good one. That meant doing a vast number of orbital calctions to figure out how he could toss the forbidden mass such that it wouldn¡¯t run into any other systems on the way. Too bad there weren¡¯t any ck holes in neighboring systems. That sure would have been convenient. But the closest one was over a thousand lightyears away and¡­ through a very densely popted area. So he couldn¡¯t aim that way. Of course, if Anton was willing tomit a thousand years to guiding the mass he could certainly do so, but that seemed like an inefficient use of his lifespan. Given that he wouldn¡¯t really be cultivating along the way except where he was binding random stars to help boost himself it seemed like a risky prospect even if he was willing tomit half of his life to effectively nothing. So he picked a further target and prepared to set up some warning systems. Depending on how the mass functioned when free from the star, maybe they could put some formations or a beacon or something on it to warn anyone who identally got in the way. Just in case calctions were off over the course of millennia. This wasn¡¯t a project Anton feltfortablepleting alone, so he began to recruit others. Maybe someone else would figure out a better alternative, but the ck hole thing seemed pretty good at the moment. ----- Anton spent long enough in one ce that he began getting visitors from the rest of the Alliance. They met him away from Moturn to keep the privacy of the locals. A small orbital tform had been set up to monitor the corrupting mass to see if something could be gleaned that Anton couldn¡¯t, and supplies were being gathered to put together the theoretical beacons and the like. With a steady but small stream going in and out, Anton was still surprised at a particr visitor. He came with others of the Order of One Hundred Stars on a pilgrimage of sorts, but his presence was quite a surprise. ¡°You¡¯re quite out of the way, friend.¡± Anton had sensed himing, but he still hadn¡¯t really the man¡¯s presence until he spoke. ¡°Vandale. Or¡­ Prospero, since Hoyt is here too,¡± Anton said. ¡°You should havee sooner.¡± ¡°We only have so many inter-realm ships, you know,¡± he said. ¡°And I wasn¡¯t expecting you to spend so many years out in the depths of nowhere.¡± ¡°You look different now,¡± Anton said. ¡°Obviously. You¡¯ve seen me, though.¡± ¡°In pictures,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°But not in person.¡± Anton turned his head. ¡°Look what someone did to this star. It¡¯s awful.¡± ¡°So I¡¯ve heard,¡± Prospero agreed. ¡°It¡¯s really quite¡­ grumpy isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°That would be because of me,¡± Anton said. ¡°I¡¯m exerting quite a bit of pressure to keep it in ce. It was really hampering the star¡¯s fusion process.¡± Anton paused for a bit. ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to take good care of the Sect.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen. I stopped to speak with Vincent. Though obviously I¡¯ve been kept in the loop. I think I was a pretty decent sect head, but you¡¯re better.¡± Prospero held up a hand, ¡°I mean it. There¡¯s a reason I didn¡¯t strive for a simr position after my surprising rebirth.¡± Anton looked at his old friend. He could tell there was a reason Prospero hadn¡¯te in person earlier. Even now, things were somewhat awkward. ¡°You were hoping to remember more.¡± Prospero sighed. ¡°Your insight has developed far too much.¡± ¡°You should know that,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯ve still exchanged more words since your rebirth than we did when you were first alive. It just wasn¡¯t in conversation.¡± ¡°... Have we really?¡± Prospero asked. Anton nodded. ¡°We only knew each other for a few decades of your life,¡± Anton said. ¡°We¡¯re not any less friends now than we were before. We just live further away, and I don¡¯t have a passport to your country.¡± ¡°Hah. Sounds about right,¡± Prospero nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve heard you¡¯re going to toss part of this star. I might not be the best for that anymore, but I came to offer my services.¡± He gestured to Hoyt. ¡°And those of this kid.¡± ¡°I¡¯m older than you now,¡± Hoyt pointed out. Prospero held up his nose. ¡°I¡¯m not going to hear any excuses from my grandson.¡± ¡°Obviously we¡¯ll help Anton¡­ old man,¡± Hoyt said. ¡°If that¡¯s what you want to be.¡± ¡°... I may regret this,¡± Prospero frowned. Chapter 1130 Any single one of those present could have managed the issue on their own if they merely had to fling a reasonable sized mass towards something a rtively ¡®close¡¯ as the nearest system a handful of lightyears away. However, the task they were undertaking would take a bit more than simply that. Instead, they needed to make use of their experience with applied orbital mechanics. Mainly Prospero and Hoyt¡¯s tendency to throw things at their enemies. Anton could actually perform the Falling Stars technique as well, but he preferred precision attacks with his arrows. Though it wasn¡¯t like Falling Starscked its own level of precision, as the first time Anton had seen it had involved a wide area strike on a beast horde while avoiding allies. It still fit him better to make use of archery techniques. Because of his style, Anton was less involved with the dealings of gravity- he still had to be aware of how it would affect everything, but it wasn¡¯t an empowering mechanism for his attacks. The other two would be more experienced, so they could help him make real-time adjustments that would align with the calctions that had been performed. The biggest mystery at current time was the size, shape, and actual mass of the corruption in the star. That was what would require the most active involvement, and while they had to precisely align the mass along an intended trajectory it wasn¡¯t actually that delicate of a procedure- they would be able to spend a significant amount of time fine-tuning its motion after ejecting it from the star. It had already been decided that all three of them would be responsible for acting together. Though in the lower realms Hoyt and Prospero were weaker, they were still sufficient to support Anton¡¯s actions. Their actual power wasn¡¯t the important part. From the time of their arrival until the day of reckoning was over a year, as implementing their ns took a bit longer than expected- though it wasn¡¯t an unreasonable amount of time for them, even if their ascension energy was slowly diminishing. During thest week, Anton¡¯s focus was solely on the star and none of the locals were in his mind. His connection was taken to its limits as he separated star matter from what did not belong, slowly pushing the foreign material towards one end of the star. It clung to the star, not simply from gravity but also from some other sort of attraction. It felt almost actively malicious, though it was just short of that since it didn¡¯t seem to have any consciousness. Pressure built up greater and greater as it clung onto the surrounding bits of the star, trying to fling itself deeper- or to carry a chunk of the star with it. Neither were eptable results, and Anton had been working out how to disentangle the mass for most of the time he had been in the system. It was a matter he had been practicing for decades, and he was getting pretty good at it. But he¡¯d still like the effort to be done and over with. The time finally came. Anton was ready for thest push, and hemunicated that to hispatriots. ¡°Aid me,¡± Anton requested. ¡°We¡¯re going to tear it out¡­ even if it means taking a chunk of the star with it.¡± If everything went well, however, Anton would disentangle over ny-nine percent of the starstuff from the corruption before it was flung away. It was the most difficult wrestling match against an inanimate force Anton had ever had to deal with. It was like working with sap or msses, and he could imagine it was actually a liquid- instead of gaseous or in the form of sma like would be expected of the matter in a star. Anton called upon the power of the star in front of him while also drawing on all the rest he was connected to. It wasn¡¯t the same sort of harmony of constetions that had resulted in the death of Sudin, but he still pulled on their physical presence at the end. It was¡­ heavy. Anton honestly had no idea how the upper realms could have brought such mass to the system. Even if it was a small fraction of the star¡¯s actual mass, it was more than everything else in the system put together- Moturn and its many moons. More than all thes in any system, really. Perhaps it had grown. Anton didn¡¯t like the idea, but it made sense. Even so, it would have had to increase by a factor of ten every few years just to vaguely make sense at its current mass. Unless they had a way to open tunnels to the upper realms wherever they were pulling from, which was a much less reasonable feat. Trillions of tonnes wouldn¡¯t have even begun to ount for it. Anton¡¯s interference might have been more necessary than he realized. Anton found himself pulling on the mass, but he realized that wasn¡¯t correct. Hoyt and Prospero could try to do that, but he knew there was a better ce for him. Anton flew around the corruption into the center of the star, moving easily through its density as it made way for him. Its great power didn¡¯t devour him, as he was part of it. He didn¡¯t need to protect himself- and a tiny fraction of thought protected everything with him. Reaching out in front of him, Anton shaped a portion of the power into a string- though the profile of what he wanted to move wasn¡¯t the same as an arrow, the image was more important to him than anything else. A gathering of power, and then a release as it snapped forward, flinging out the unwanted mass at tremendous speeds. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the vition. When Anton poked his head out to finally look at it, he saw¡­ nothing aside from some glowing fragments of starry matter clinging to it which he peeled away. He could feel the snaking mass, curling back and forth on itself, but he couldn¡¯t see anything. It wasn¡¯t dark, such that it blocked out the stars beyond- it simply wasn¡¯t anything. ¡°Now that¡¯s curious,¡± Anton said. Perfectly clear, and he didn¡¯t even see any distortion of light. He still had no name for it. ¡°Now we have to figure out if we can attach anything to it or if it is harmful to more than just stars.¡± The speed at which it was flung out of the star meant Anton, Hoyt, and Prospero had to chase after it along with other ships- though it was moving slower than the speed of light so it was at least manageable. As he went, Anton paid special attention to the star to make sure he¡¯d gotten all of it out. Fortunately, it felt so unnatural that it was hard to miss, and though stars were immense it was no more difficult for Anton to sense the details than when looking for something wrong inside his own body. It was good that they didn¡¯t have to worry about air resistance. As long as they didn¡¯t fly it through too many nebe its actual shape wouldn¡¯t matter too much. However, it was moldable to some extent so Anton did his best to reshape it into a vague sphere- though it would not give up the shape of spindly tubes it was made out of. Like evil noodles. Or intestines. The mass was active to some extent, but a few hours after being removed from the star it fell dormant. It didn¡¯t seem to react to warning formations being tied to it, so that was something. It wasn¡¯t conscious, just¡­ self-replicating, perhaps. ¡°I¡¯d rather get rid of this sooner rather thanter,¡± Anton said. ¡°But we can¡¯t significantly affect its travel, even if we wanted to go with it.¡± There was no way it was brought in its current form, unless it had beenunched thousands of years prior. ¡°Let¡¯s get this on track.¡± While there were many curious scientists who wished to study it, they could still do so. Anton, Hoyt, and Prospero merely elerated it to a significant fraction of the speed of light, trivial for any interster ship or cultivator to surpass. After all, they took mere days to move lightyears. People would be able to study it for millennia if they wished, and they could monitor to make certain it remained on its track towards the ck hole they had chosen to dispose of it in. Anton¡¯s resolve to do so was only increased now that he¡¯d removed it. As for it being safe to study¡­ there was no guarantee of that. But they intended to maintain proper caution, and everyone involved would be aware there were risks. Anton almost hoped they learned nothing, since he¡¯d rather be done with it, but he also didn¡¯t want to have to interact with things like that again. It didn¡¯t look like any of the other methods the Trigold Cluster had used to try to destroy stars. Perhaps it was a new one. Experimental. Either way, preventing whichever sects were involved from doing anything like that in the future was important. Maybe if they lived close enough to the border Anton would wipe them out himself. Though that was extremely unlikely, as he could only shoot a couple systems into the upper realms at best. The three of them took some time making slight adjustments to the speed and trajectory of the mass. They could fix thingster and it was possible that anyone studying it would slightly affect it, but it was best to try to set it on the correct course to begin with. They finally had to be satisfied with the speed because it was as fast as they could reasonably get it- and a little bit faster would run it into a star a few centuries out, or they would have to design a whole other orbit. It fairly quickly drifted out of what could be officially called the system¡­ and with that, the Lower Realms Alliance could leave. At least, until the locals invited them back. Anton was still going to visit friends of course¡­ but they would also be able tomunicate with him long distance. Now that he had his freedom again, he thought he would bind some new stars- he needed to keep up with that to reach the next big threshold- and maybe check on his other long termmitments. ---- On the gctic scale, Maheg wasn¡¯t that far from where Anton had been. It was more than a hundred lightyears, but that was still rtively close. Anton finally returned to the star to fulfil an old promise. He was in a bold move at the moment. Each star he bound made the next more precious, as it took more time to advance his own cultivation. He certainly didn¡¯t want to leave Maheg out, and his confidence in his insights had improved. Maheg didn¡¯t speak or usenguage in a traditional manner, though Anton still spoke around the star as it seemed to help. Before anything else, he intended to warn Maheg about the same sort of thing that had infested the other star. If the Trigold Cluster got wind of Maheg wiping out previous invaders- which was unlikely given the fact that nobody had returned- they might try the same thing. And regardless, informing the star that there were actual threats to its person was useful. Anton created a representative energy as a warning. Maheg epted the understanding of danger, though up to its current point it had been the cause of all the cmities around it, intentional or not. It sent a feeling to Anton. Had it been long enough for him to make his decision? Previously, Anton had indicated centuries. Maheg didn¡¯t feel impatient- more that it was actuallycking the sense of time scale to pick out how long it had been. Anton nodded. ¡°Long enough,¡± he said. He¡¯d once had some thoughts that this interaction could be the step he took to reach whatever the next stage was. After all, he¡¯d fused together a star beyond a threshold to reach Enrichment. But Maheg was a friend- an unusual one, to be certain, but he didn¡¯t intend to exploit his friends in quite that way. All he needed to be certain of was a reasonable level of safety. Hesitating longer than that might have Anton missing an opportunity. Though he wasn¡¯t going to rush into it. What was a few more decades in another system? The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 1131 Though Anton had appeared from nowhere, Abder almost hadn¡¯t thought he would ever not be around even though he had warned about it. Now the old man was gone, like he said. Abder didn¡¯t have any reason to believe he wouldn¡¯t visit- he¡¯d also said he woulde back to visit- but the shock at him suddenly being gone was real. Ever since he¡¯d appeared he¡¯d never been more than a moment away. Which was probably why he left. Abder understood he didn¡¯t want people to be dependent on him, and he hadn¡¯t really understood that. He¡¯d gone from street kid to someone that mattered, and Anton had been there for what was now a significant majority of his life. Of course, just because he was gone didn¡¯t mean things would suddenly fall apart. Abder hadn¡¯t needed Anton for anythingtely, but just knowing he was there meant something. And not just to him, but to everyone in the system. Though not everyone felt the same way about things. Unlike Abder, the members of the Twisting Spike Sect who had been in control of everything hadn¡¯t spent a majority of their lives with Anton around. Indeed, most of them had been well over a century old when Anton first arrived, with some being older. The time Anton had to influence people hadn¡¯t changed, but people with a century of habits were more difficult to change than a kid. The fact that he was obsessing so much about it already was actually a good realization. But it didn¡¯t stop him from hoping that Anton was still somewhere, hiding and watching. That was because there were other people doing the same. They thought they were pretty good, but they forgot one thing. Apleteck of feedback was more suspicious than anything else. So when all energy disappeared from a spot, Abder got suspicious. When sound was gone and he didn¡¯t see anything in a reflection? Even more so. He wasn¡¯t going to look directly, though. No point in letting anyone know he had caught on. He hadn¡¯t really known what he was getting into as far as advanced body tempering went. It had been difficult, but it wasn¡¯t a wrong choice exactly. Just different, which was an advantage. If he had been normal, they would have been prepared to counteract him. It could just be paranoia, but he made sure to be careful with his interactions. It was about time to go see Draza anyway, as the man should be able to help him secure cultivation techniques for some of the new kids. Maybe they would be fine with what they already had ess to, but Abder didn¡¯t want to deny anyone the opportunity to try whatever their hearts desired. And since he couldn¡¯t just ask Anton to hand him copies now, there were a few things missing. Draza ran arge emporium, as his influence and power had grown significantly under the influence of the Lower Realms Alliance. Technically everyone had grown in prosperity, but not everyone understood that if they merelypared themselves to others. Abder knew, though. The bottom rung was not so low that people would just starve or die on the streets. Plus, there were no drugs except what people had been able to concoct from more innocent ingredients in thest few years. It was amazing what someone who could literally see everything could do. Technically Anton hadn¡¯t wiped out everything, but given that it had been decades without anything hard drugs were pretty much gone. Without a pre-addicted poption, Abder didn¡¯t think there was much market for the new stuff but some people were ambitious. Once upon a time, getting to go inside anywhere would have been astounding for Abder. Now, he was escorted straight to Draza. The man was overlooking the shop floor of his main emporium, though he didn¡¯t really need to be there personally. But he immediately made time for Abder like he was someone important. That felt good. Draza¡¯s office was actually fairly conservative, given his wealth. Everything was expensive. High quality. But not ostentatious. Fancier than Abder would have chosen, though. ¡°This is a solid chair,¡± hemented. ¡°It better be,¡± Draza said. ¡°I don¡¯t want them copsing under people. Do you have trouble walking on normal floors?¡± ¡°Are you calling me fat?¡± ¡°Hah!¡± the other man shook his head. ¡°As if. I imagine you only have any body fat because Nthanda mandated it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s important to have some reserves,¡± Abder agreed. Technically, he had a higher percentage of body fat than before he¡¯d started training. Starting out at the level of starving would do that. He absolutely agreed with mistress Nthanda that some reserves were good, and he really didn¡¯t want to have to cannibalize his muscle or bone density right away if he ended up in a rough spot. ¡°So what are you here for?¡± ¡°I need some cultivation methods.¡± Draza raised an eyebrow. ¡°Did you lose your libraries?¡± ¡°Just trying for some diversity. I don¡¯t need anything specific.¡± ¡°I see. What¡¯s your budget?¡± Abder frowned. ¡°Well¡­¡± ¡°Come now. I¡¯m still a businessman. I won¡¯t be unreasonable, but I can¡¯t just be giving things away. Not to people who truly don¡¯t need handouts.¡± Abder nodded. His budget wasn¡¯t huge. Gathering wealth hadn¡¯t really been a focus. The most valuable thing he had were cultivation methods, but as most of them had been freely copied Draza already had most of them so it wasn¡¯t of any real value to the other man. But the group Abder ran did have some budget for such things. ¡°I¡¯m looking for a shadow technique and maybe a nt control method.¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the vition. ¡°Shadow I can do,¡± Draza said. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what people would do with nt control.¡± ¡°Enhanced farming, presumably,¡± Abder suggested. Despite decades of being given various sorts of seeds to build up some sort of ecosystem, Moturn was still quite limited by theck of natural sunlight. In theory it was nowhere close to a normal. Not that Abder had seen one of those. He should have taken Anton up on travel opportunities¡­ but he had things he still needed to take care of locally. Eventually, they worked out a fair exchange- though Draza didn¡¯t have any specific nt based technique he could at least find one more easily. That was part of the price. Hopefully, people would be in a sharing mood. R? ----- Unlike Abder, Anton was buried in nts. Maheg really liked growing nts. At first Anton had thought it was some sort of penance for the star¡¯s idental frying of the, and maybe that was part of it, but mere obligation did not produce such results. Maheg liked growing things. That was a good point of connection. Normally, Anton just reached out for mass and heat and let it pour through him. That might do, but he wasn¡¯t ready for a consciousness to end up in his dantian. He wanted to be certain that it wouldn¡¯t hurt him or the star when they eventually did form a bond. Most of theirmunication wasrge scale. Simple concepts, not because Mahegcked intelligence but because it didn¡¯t really think the same way as humans. It was sorry that it had killed everyone in the local system before it was even conscious, but Maheg had also killed invaders, something that had only been discovered secondhand. Not because it had been hidden, but because the star didn¡¯t think it bore mentioning. The more synced they could get on every concept the safer they would be. That was Anton¡¯s opinion at least. They didn¡¯t need to think the same, but rather in ways that would flow together. Today- or maybe this week since the star didn¡¯t get tired- they would be practicing external energy exchange. Anton could fairly easily absorb energy from a star granted to him, but sometimes Maheg kept a grip on it identally¡­ and it was still extremely potent regardless. Anton was strong and empowered by stars, but he wasn¡¯t actually as strong as a star. At least not in some fundamental ways. It was quite possible that Anton could destroy a star if he needed to, but that would be by destabilizing it somehow and not overpowering it. And the situations that would cause Anton to do so were so theoretical that they were hardly worth considering. Maheg was good at ¡®handshakes¡¯ at least. Not burning up energy that reached out towards it was an excellent start. It had a gentle enough application of energy to not burn up seeds it was nting, even. And that was only bing more true with time. There was a great deal of difference that conscious practice made. Being somewhat closer to the rest of known civilization, Anton was taking advantage of the opportunity to catch up with various groups- and individuals like Prospero who really shouldn¡¯t stay for more than a few years. Maheg was quite intrigued about Prospero and Hoyt. They were clearly strong, like Anton. They had a simr energy signature from the One Hundred Stars, but they also had ascension energy. It was thetter that had caused Anton to carefully introduce them, but Maheg was immediately friendly- presumably because they felt right. But because of the intruders it hadn¡¯t been certain he wouldn¡¯t see all of those infused with Ascension energy as dangerous. The star didn¡¯t like Ascension energy. Void ants did, but it would be difficult to have any less rtion between two things. Maheg created energy, they ate it. Maheg didn¡¯t need a potent source of energy when it was one. Most likely, the star was recognizing a potential destabilization effect, but it had been quite insistent on interacting with the two cultivators. Just because Maheg didn¡¯t want to absorb it didn¡¯t mean it seemed put off by the energy in general. The star seemed to enjoy watching the two spar, flinging their energy around the star itself and taking advantage of orbital mechanics. Maheg even circted its own ¡®falling stars¡¯, though it was a rather trivial application of energy for something of that size. ----- In recent years, Velvet had found herself more involved in coordinating iing intel than gathering it herself. While she liked being out in the field, it was really unnecessary for the most part. Unless they were trying to spy directly on a Domination cultivator, and even then she wasn¡¯t a hundred percent confident in her sess. As for her own potential advancement¡­ she was still a few pieces short. She might have ess to sufficient devotion, but a good anchor was going to be difficult toe by. Ratna wasn¡¯t exactly open about what hers was. Most information wasn¡¯t so sensitive that Velvet absolutely had to be the one it passed through, but knowing the majority of what was going on helped her piece things together. Mostly, it helped her be assured that no Domination cultivators were moving against them. No sects in general, really. It might still being, but probably not this year or this decade. It was impossible to say what would happen in a century, though. Only the craziest diviners thought otherwise, but any predictions they would make were so inurate about far off events as to be worse than random guesses. Velvet kept her ears open for hints about one particr individual, but there was nothing that fit. Obviously, the name Shch never came up. If Everheart was afraid to write it down, it was reasonable for everyone else to be more than cautious. Assuming it wasn¡¯t just some sort of horrible prank, of course. Everheart was terrible but his niece Vari was also part of the Scarlet Alliance so they were at a level of trust where they presumed Everheart wasn¡¯t intending to destroy the alliance and would probably want to prevent anyone else from doing so. Any sort of lesser harm they were less sure about. Though obviously he would take resources if they were ¡®unsecured¡¯ near him, though what he might consider unsecure was more than anyone else. As for other Domination cultivators¡­ Velvet was trying to learn anything at all. There were often flood of public information, but that wasn¡¯t exactly a reliable indicator for actual strength. Half of the things said about them could either be bragging or literally true. With Domination, it was difficult to tell if someone could teleport across a system unaided or just spawn an energy projection that was effectively full power while hiding their main body- if it was even present to begin with. Zaur had formed a sort of body near his anchor, but doing the same elsewhere shouldn¡¯t be impossible. All the destroying talk was fairly easily verifiable. Someone had destroyed thoses, so why shouldn¡¯t it be Domination cultivators? It made as much sense as anything else. Velvet just needed to make sure that no futures destroyed would be part of the Alliance. Chapter 1132 When Abder¡¯s business with Draza drew to a close, the merchant held him for just a moment longer. Privacy was provided for business dealings, augmented by formations to protect against people snooping. ¡°You are aware that people are following you?¡± Draza asked. ¡°My people noticed some watchers lingering about.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve noticed,¡± Abder confirmed. ¡°I¡¯m hoping to figure out what their goals are without ending up in danger.¡± ¡°Can you handle them?¡± Abder shrugged. ¡°I either can or I can¡¯t. If something happens to me, you know who to watch out for. Recently, they seem to have grown bold. Unfortunately, there¡¯s nothing I could give to the peacekeepers just yet. Following someone around in public is rude and suggestive of ill motives, but difficult to prevent.¡± ¡°With Anton gone¡­ things will be more dangerous.¡± In full agreement, Abder nodded. ¡°We have to show we can take care of ourselves. Otherwise, we¡¯re just back to the copsing civilization we had when he first appeared. Except with more mushrooms.¡± The mushroomment was just that. They had far more food options now than they used to¡­ but for a time, that had been thergest impact everyone saw because they could grow them pretty much anywhere. Not wanting to dy any further, Abder moved on. He didn¡¯t wish to draw any trouble to his friends and allies, but in turn he needed to ensure their safety. It was unlikely the people following him would be surprised where he went, and attacking when he was surrounded by other cultivators was far less likely. Thus, he shouldn¡¯t really be bringing any risk with him.----- The Gathering had a longer name that the current Abder thought rang of false humility or self-condescension, so he was happy to call his people what they naturally defaulted to anyway. The Gathering of the Lowly was a name filled with regret, even if it was named with good intentions. It was a true gathering of people, drawn from different districts into one part of the city. The buildings were built tall, like others under the protective dome. Now that they had better ways to carve out stone, they used the material they removed to build up while they went down at the same time. The Gathering didn¡¯t stand out from its surroundings, however. At most the heights were slightly different from the other buildings in the same district, though personally Abder thought the quality was higher. Ultimately, it was something like a sectpound without walls. That was a sign of trust and inclusion¡­ and an ultimate concession to the fact that they could not fully control their own space. The Twisting Spike Sect had previously possessed the strongest walls, in addition to those separating the districts, but most of those had been brought down as they served little to no purpose except separating people. Very few others in The Gathering practiced advanced body tempering like Abder. In fact, it was difficult to find more than a handful who practiced the same cultivation methods. That was in part because they were not terribly numerous- a few hundred in all- with wide ess to different methods. The natural energy in their surroundings was cultivated to grow strong, though they didn¡¯t contain it with formations. It was a disadvantage to them in some ways, but it represented hope for the future. Others had also been open at least until the Alliance withdrew, when they began to put up barriers. They could have their own energy¡­ but Abder thought it would lose them friends. Their greatest source of life was in fact fungus. They didn¡¯t need to eat all of them, but having them growing throughout the buildings with everything else that took minimal space lessened the sense of lifelessness that the dense stone otherwise possessed. That was something difficult for Moturn to get away from, as their environment was a harsh one. But they chose to wrestle with it to grow strong. Some grew discouraged and tried to make their way to New Ibbore, and Abder didn¡¯t me them, but he was born on Moturn and really wanted it to be the best it could be. It wasn¡¯t short on natural energy, at least- though it was a delicate bnce how much could be let in from outside the barrier. Though Abder minimized his own practice of using energy, he could feel the various different kinds the disciples used. He made his way through them, feeling different elements. Fire and light to fight off the darkness, while others embraced it. Some walked the path of weapons, studying their implements in istion or together in their reinforced courtyards. Abder made sure to stop and speak to everyone he could. Many were formerly from the streets, and all who became part of The Gathering had great difficulties in their past- though that was just humanity in general. The insights he could provide into cultivation were less important than the interactions he had. Having heard the story of Vincent who was the branch head of there Order of One Hundred Stars on Ceretos, Abder didn¡¯t think he was anywhere close to that level of connection even with far fewer disciples, but he did his best. His goal was ultimately the library, which possessed not only a great number of tomes and scrolls but also something else- a repository of knowledge. Technology, apparently. Very few of the locals knew how it worked to any significant degree, aside from basic operation. Thus, they treated it very carefully. It had copies of pretty much every physical piece of information they possessed, plus more. It even had the ability to search for certain topics, finding centuries of insights and guidance from cultivators experienced in many of the styles they currently practiced. It was important¡­ but not unique. Anton even said it wasn¡¯t that valuable- except that it would take time to rece. Even Moturn had a few, so The Gathering shouldn¡¯t be envied for it¡­ but Abder could see the Twisting Spike Sect might want it if they wanted to return to their monopolization of knowledge and power. Stolen novel; please report. But they wouldn¡¯t be following him to know that. Even if the exact location wasn¡¯t public, nothing would be revealed to the watchers just because Abder visited here. His reasons were fairly simple, just making some notes about his future acquisitions. He¡¯d also find those who requested the styles so they could know that something wasing. Then he¡¯d take the time to watch some of the recorded guidance himself- video lessons were one of the most helpful for cultivation. Abder could watch Nthanda¡¯s guidance or some of the others who had undergone various levels of advanced body tempering. There were various different disys, so he wouldn¡¯t be monopolizing the repository. Sustainable food production was the most necessary, but the repositories were probably the second best thing that the Alliance had brought. Sometimes Abder would stay the ¡®night¡¯ at The Gathering, but he had his own quarters elsewhere for when he wanted some privacy. Not that they were much more than a roof over his head- and even that wasn¡¯t necessary. Just like there wasn¡¯t a real night and day cycle, there wasn¡¯t any weather to worry about. Aside from the massive storms outside the barrier, but everyone did their best to ignore those if they could. ----- It was a week before anyone actually did anything. Abder had attempted to covertly contact those he could trust, but he didn¡¯t learn much more about motivation before that time. Eventually, some of those following Abder revealed themselves- though they did not approach. Instead, they effectively herded him in a particr direction. He went along with it just so he could see what would happen- and to keep up the facade that he hadn¡¯t noticed the others in hiding. He was wary of entering any sort of formation that might hide a use of energy, but he was ultimately led to the edge of the city, his paths of retreat seemingly cut off. ¡°Why did you lead me here?¡± Abder asked. ¡°We can speak anywhere, if privacy was what you wanted.¡± He had serious doubts about that¡­ but it was better to hope for the best. Perhaps they knew something and simply intended to warn him¡­ though the leaking killing intent didn¡¯t make him particrly optimistic about that. Men and women began to step out of the shadows around him. None of them were stronger than Abder individually, but he began to think he might have gotten in over his head. Perhaps he should have been more proactive. ¡°Do it,¡± one of the men said, gesturing to another. A needle flew towards Abder. He twisted his body, but couldn¡¯t avoid its speed. That was too bad, because he hadn¡¯t wished to disy his durability so easily. The needle struck his body without puncturing, even amplified by natural energy. ¡°Good. It provoked no reaction.¡± Abder frowned. Was something more supposed to happen? Had he missed a poison? Fortunately, the man rified things for him a momentter. ¡°You are a troublesome issue,¡± the man said. ¡°But it seems your guardian is truly gone. Now we can remove you from the picture. It should be fairly easy to defeat a pacifist.¡± There were several things wrong with what the man said. First of all, Anton absolutely had the acuity to tell if an attack was going to hurt him- though Abder did believe Anton was truly away so that didn¡¯t really help him. He wasn¡¯t a pacifist, though. He didn¡¯t have much of an opportunity to make that case, however, as he was soon swarmed by needles, throwing daggers, and even spears. Some of the attackers had insights into puncturing that allowed them to bypass his skin. Fortunately, Abder wasn¡¯t relying on that as his only defensiveyer. He didn¡¯t like being stabbed directly in the heart, but his internals were also quite durable. Getting away with just a few bleeding wounds against over a dozen attackers seemed like a good start, but Abder didn¡¯t have an opportunity to counterattack. Perhaps he could or should have thrown their own weapons back at them, but it wouldn¡¯t have been that effective. He immediately thought to flee, but with the streets blocked and cultivators standing on nearby rooftops, they converged on him from all directions- except the edge of the city itself. Abder made his best use of his training to entangle his opponents as they stabbed with various thin weapons, driving him back. He caught a pair of weapons in his hands, twisting the metal to the point of uselessness past their augmenting natural energy, but others struck his body. If they didn¡¯t do any damage, he could withstand endless attacks as he wasn¡¯t expending anything to resist. However, he also couldn¡¯t concentrate his defenses against particrly strong attacks. The best he could do was avoid or deflect them. Abder shoved a few cultivators into their allies, sending them tumbling dozens of meters down the street. He could and would fight, but there were too many enemies and he was pressed up against the barrier. He needed to move away but¡­ It was already toote. More attacks came, but they were merely a distraction. While he was dealing with most of the attackers, several others pulled out strange crystal devices, which suddenly activated with a massive amount of natural energy. He was surrounded by a box of energy he couldn¡¯t break through. He struck several times, using techniques for getting the most momentum in a tight space. The energy of the box surrounding him continued to grow. Abder crossed his arms in front of him, prepared to be crushed or burned but he wasn¡¯t prepared for what actually happened. The barrier behind him opened, and the box snapped towards him. He wasn¡¯t damaged, but the power did push him back¡­ into the outside. The barrier reformed instantly- which was actually a relief, because a man sized hole could potentially destroy the whole city. Abder couldn¡¯t believe they would be so reckless. What if something had gone wrong? Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t say anything to him because he was busy dealing with... everything. Endless winds, heat, and pressure. Abder immediately fell to his knees, his wounds burning with acidity and heat. His training had been going well, he thought. Yet here he was, about to die to his home. His eardrums ruptured, and he squeezed shut his eyes and pinched his nose, hudding to protect himself as much as he could. It was a shame he wasn¡¯t as strong as Nthanda. She had actuallye to a ce like this to train¡­ but he knew he wasn¡¯t ready for what she¡¯d done. He could barely even keep his body intact. Chapter 1133 Barely holding on to his corporeal form was the limit of what Abder could do when subjected to Moturn¡¯s true environment. Which¡­ was actually pretty amazing already, wasn¡¯t it? He wasn¡¯t instantly vaporized or crushed. It was smallfort, but something. The only question was how he could survive. He couldn¡¯t break through the barrier- and even if he did the damage to the city would be significant. There were a few points where it was meant to be passed through, but Abder didn¡¯t know where they were. He could walk around the barrier but that was far too casual¡­ and some were meant to be entered in flight from New Ibbore. Crushing pressure and relentless heat decided Abder¡¯s actions for him. He needed to do something, so he did it. He didn¡¯t exactly have a lot of sources for advanced body tempering to draw from, so when he thought about his mentors in that field his thoughts immediately moved to the one that didn¡¯t seem to overthink things. He pushed himself away from the barrier, barely felt through the storm even for all of its power, and then struck downward. He probably should have had a pick or at least a hammer to attempt what he did, but his strength was enough¡­ barely. Compressed rock cracked beneath him, and he reached for a chunk. His uncovered ears screamed at him as his fingertipspressed around the meter wide piece, wrangling it out. Dropping into a small hole wasn¡¯t really any better, but this was only step one. The edges were rough, and he wanted to do better. It didn¡¯t need to be aesthetically pleasing, but he needed the stone to fit out of the opening he¡¯d already made and he couldn¡¯t be fiddling with rubble. Lifting hundreds of kilograms with a poor grip would already be difficult enough. When that rock was hot enough to be molten and only retained its solidity due to massive pressure, it was even more difficult. It sure felt good when he managed it, though. Piece after piece, he broke away the ground. He tried to build a shelter atop his little hole, but his continued need to expel what he removed around him meant that was a foolish n. He soon realized that using his fingers to carve out the edges he wanted was better, since he didn¡¯t have any particr experience with mining. Still, Durff¡¯s vigorous videos to him- or really anyone who would listen since he probably didn¡¯t even know Abder existed- had inspired him to action. He dug out an overhang which didn¡¯t really make him less hot or reduce the crushing pressure, but at least his proto-tunnel made him feel assured he wasn¡¯t going to be blown away. His trained density was probably the only thing that had gotten him that far. He half dug, half mined down at an angle. Eventually he had to widen his tunnel so he could turn around a block or vaguely block shaped thing. The deeper he got, the less hot it was. The pressure remained, but as long as he kept his eyes closed and his lips pressed tight¡­ well, he still had problems with his nostrils and ears, but just because his lungs burned with each breath didn¡¯t mean he was going to give up. It wasn¡¯t much worse than it had felt to intensely train when he first started. His goal was to get under the city. The barrier didn¡¯t extend forever underground. Probably. And if it did, it shouldn¡¯t hurt too much to break through from underneath. The passage of time was unclear to Abder. Maybe it was minutes, maybe hours, maybe days. It could have been any of those. He had no idea how far he went, but when he could no longer sense the barrier above him he began to dig up- he certainly couldn¡¯t have gone past the city. His sense of direction wasn¡¯t that jumbled up. His determination wasn¡¯t just for his own survival, though he certainly didn¡¯t want to die. There were others who relied on him, and the attempt to kill him meant the Twisting Spike Sect- what was left of them- weren¡¯t likely to stop. Abder should have yelled, or otherwise drawn more attention to the battle. Someone had to have noticed but¡­ putting effort into it would have been smarter. But he hadn¡¯t really faced that much adversity, had he? After Anton arrived, his life had been fairly nice. Training had been difficult, but satisfying. The hardest thing he had to do was¡­ well, usually tunneling like he was now. Though usually in a more intentional manner. Abder felt something above him. Obviously there were many things above him, because there was a city. But specifically he felt some energy fluctuations that weren¡¯t just the storm outside. Unfortunately, it did feel like a regr barrier. How many people would he kill if he opened a hole and let the pressure in? With the way his tunnel wound and its size¡­ that wasplicated. He tried to dig closer to the barrier, to see if maybe someone could feel him past it. Then his arm reached through. That was¡­ bad? Except his arm felt cold. Or maybe normal temperatures felt cold when you¡¯d been at extreme temperatures. His body acted almost on his own, breaking more stone and pulling himself up. He risked opening his eyes, only to see nothing. For a moment he worried he had gone blind¡­ but it was just dark. Poking his head down from the little perch he¡¯d carved out, even with his eyes closed he could ¡®see¡¯ the stone was still white-hot past the barrier, the glow prating his eyelids. The light and heat just didn¡¯t pass the barrier. Abder had to admit he didn¡¯t fully understand how the barriers worked. The dome was clearly solid but this was¡­ not. He didn¡¯t mind, though. Because he wasn¡¯t dead. He took a moment in rtive safety to catch his breath. It was a good thing he didn¡¯t need a standardplement of gasses to breathe, wasn¡¯t it? That training had been specifically tailored to Moturn, so it wasn¡¯t a coincidence¡­ but even so, he was d Nthanda had insisted on that. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Abder had wanted to be strong to ovee future dangers. And now they were here. He didn¡¯t regret it, and if anything he almost wished he¡¯d somehow worked harder- though he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d cked off. He was justcking the current need. There was no way he could have carved that tunnel in such a time with his normal mindset. With his break done, Abder had to continue on. Hopefully, the peacekeepers weren¡¯t in on it or the city would fall even if he returned. Either way, some particr individuals were going to learn that just because he didn¡¯t choose to train with weapons or focus onbat didn¡¯t mean he was a pacifist. ----- When Abder put his ear to the stone above, he could hear the sounds of civilization¡­ which meant he was fairly close to the surface. Based on the intensity of the sound, it shouldn¡¯t be more than five or ten meters more. His fingers ached from tearing apart stone, even if his technique was slightly improving as he went along. From what he had heard, ¡®normal¡¯ stone wasn¡¯t so hard as Moturn¡¯s solid core, but thepression it underwent due to the significant pressure bearing down on it made it difficult for even an early Life Transformation cultivator like himself to deal with. Or Life Transformation equivalent, anyway. Advanced body tempering didn¡¯t precisely match, but given how he¡¯d held his own against a significant number of Essence Collection cultivators he felt quite solid in that assessment. Speaking of which, he could finally feel his injuries now that he was out of the heat and pressure. Few attacks had gone further than skin deep, with a few having gone a centimeter or so into muscle. However, those rtively manageable wounds were made worse by the scouring heat. Abder had a number of charred wounds, and his skin had barely made it through. Recovery was going to take a while¡­ but at least he wasn¡¯t bleeding out and his organs were no longer trying to boil, so that was good. Nothing stopped him from moving, but even though his training included taking some actual wounds, these were the worst he¡¯d had. The stabs on their own wouldn¡¯t have been that bad, though. The street gave way above Abder as he reached into empty air. Or maybe the floor, since it was still dark. He smelled food. Mushrooms, specifically. They had a particr scent that he could pick out even through his burnt nostrils- if barely. Inside, then. Hopefully it was a business of some sort. He had some sense of what was around him from the sense of energy in things and the flow of air, but he was missing an important sense. Aside from sight, which simply didn¡¯t have anything to work with, he was missing his hearing. That was why he didn¡¯t notice anything until he was hit on the back of the head. It hurt. It really, really shouldn¡¯t have hurt. Fortunately, he was confused enough with the situation that he didn¡¯tsh out. When something whacked him on the head again, he held up a palm to try to catch it. There was something there, but his sense of touch was also not great at the moment. Abder tried to speak, but just coughed smoke and gasses. Whatever it was in his hand struggled against his grip. From the shape, some sort of long handled weapon? Maybe a spear? People had just tried to kill him earlier, but he wasn¡¯t really feeling killing intent. ¡°What are you doing?¡± he managed to croak out. His ears didn¡¯t really work, but he thought he heard something. A voice, maybe. And he felt the slight change in pressure as whatever he was holding was released. His eyes adapted quickly as light suddenly filled his vision a few momentster. His eyelids hurt like hell, but they¡¯d protected his vision well enough. What was revealed was an angry old woman holding amp. With one hand she wagged a finger at him. Then she seemed to spot the hole in the ground and got an exasperated look. ¡°I can¡¯t actually hear right now,¡± Abder tried to say at a reasonable volume. She paused her rant for just a moment. Then she continued anyway. He should have learned to read lips. Now he was going off vague gestures. She pointed at him, and the hole. ¡°I¡¯ll get someone to fix it. It¡¯s difficult to exin why I came out there,¡± Abder said. That should be what she was bothered by, right? That did seem to solve one issue, but she gestured to him from head to toe. Abder looked at himself. He was a real mess. Burned skin, stone dust, and little else covered him. Barely a few scraps of cloth dangled off him, and it was not kind enough to be strategically located. Right. His clothing might have been durable, but he hadn¡¯t had anything that was outside resistant. The fact that any of it still existed said a lot. ¡°Yeah, my clothes burned up. Sorry.¡± He wasn¡¯t ashamed of his body, but it was still embarrassing to be seen in such a state. The woman gestured at him. Maybe to stay? She trudged off, taking themp with her. Abder considered following her up the stairs, but decided against it. If she was going to bring someone to arrest him or whatever it might take some exining, but his story was fairly easily verifiable if anyone followed the hole. It was a good thing the lower part of the barrier worked. The old woman returned with herntern, a bucket full of water, and some pants. She dumped the bucket on Abder¡¯s head, which kind of stung because of everything, but it was better to be vaguely clean, especially since he would begin healing rapidly. ¡°Thanks,¡± he said as she handed him pants. He had just about finished putting them on when his stomach grumbled. Now that he was safe, his body was telling him to consume food to sustain its healing efforts. He could already see slight traces of healing on his hands. The old woman tore a head sized bundle of mushrooms off the wall, shoved them into Abder¡¯s arms, then shoved him up the stairs, down a short hallway, and out of her house. Abder didn¡¯t recognize the specific street he was on, but he¡¯d be able to navigate from some of the more impressive structures in the city. When he turned around, the door was shut behind him. ¡°I¡¯ll be back with someone for your floor,¡± he mentioned again before he began to stuff his face with mushrooms. He¡¯d need a lot more than that to heal- as well as some days or weeks- but it was a good start. Now he just had to figure out who to contact first about people actively trying to murder him. Chapter 1134 The peacekeepers were probably fine. The Alliance had done their best to make sure they only epted people who swore true oaths of protection, but people could change their minds. Then there was the issue that Abder couldn¡¯t hear and he looked like he¡¯d just been in a battle to the death. Which was true, but still rather suspicious. At least he had pants. From what Abder knew, Nthanda could focus her healing on specific parts of her body. She could do a lot of things, actually. But he didn¡¯t know how to do any of that, so he was going to need to work without hearing for a while. Paper would be good. He might need to go home and get some, because¡­ would The Gathering let him in looking like he was? He didn¡¯t really look like him right now. Normally he had hair. And non-charcoal skin. His voice might not even sound the same. Cultivators might still be able to tell. It wasn¡¯t like there were a ton of advanced body temperers. However, home was his best bet as long as nobody was watching it. And why would they be? He was dead. Or at least stuck outside, if they thought he would survive. He hadn¡¯t really believed in himself there, so he would be kind of pleased if the Twisting Spike thought he¡¯d live. He got a lot of weird looks on the streets, but that was probably good. Nobody was running or panicking. There wasn¡¯t violence everywhere. Presumably if there were sounds of battle, people would be paying attention to that. Abder also didn¡¯t feel any of the huge bursts of energy that he would expect. He still moved quickly, his feet aching on the bare stone. The good news was that pain meant there was enough of him left that his nerves were in decent condition. The bad news was that Abder didn¡¯t like pain. Running seemed like it would be the correct choice at first, but he avoided it. With no way to clear up any misunderstandings, he didn¡¯t want to look like some kind of weirdo running away from a crime. So his feet kept a strong rhythm with long, quick steps. In only a dozen minutes he¡¯d found his neighborhood, and then he was home shortly afterwards. Without his key, because that had probably melted. The door was locked, which was good. He crushed the handle in his grip, then tore out the bits. It wasn¡¯t meant to be that secure. There would just be a pulse to wake him up if things were disturbed. The first thing he grabbed were some pills to elerate healing and replenish what blood he¡¯d lost early on. Then he ate everything in his pantry that didn¡¯t need to be cooked. It tasted like nothing but pain, hurt to swallow, and then he felt bloated at the end. But he¡¯d quickly digest what was left, and he could already feel it infusing into his body. Hopefully he¡¯d be more functional in a few hours. He grabbed paper, wrote a few things he thought he¡¯d have to say, threw on some new clothes that at least looked like his, and took quick steps towards The Gathering. Someone came to greet him, based on their expression- though they didn¡¯t recognize him. He pointed towards some things on his paper, then remembered he could still sort of talk. The papers were mostly for other people to write responses. ¡°I¡¯m Abder, I got attacked, thrown outside, and now I can¡¯t hear,¡± he said. ¡°Please write your responses,¡± he held out his paper and writing implement. It was not a great setup, but the other fellow- Colo- managed a response. ¡°You look and feel awful. But I recognize your general shape. Wait here while I get others.¡± A few minutester, Abder was being swarmed by friends. He couldn¡¯t understand anything they said, so he had to stop them- including the people trying to cover him in salves. He could do that himself, they were being far too gentle and slow. He thered goop over his arms as he exined as best he could, cing Colo in front of him as the official writing representative. ¡°Everyone alright here?¡± Colo nodded. ¡°It was Twisting Spike remnants. I could point them out if I encountered them. Send someone to Draza. Actually, warn all our allies. They¡¯re likely going to act soon.¡± Colo held up his paper with new words. ¡°Unov? New Ibbore?¡± ¡°I suppose we should,¡± Abder said. Could he hear things? Maybe just his own blood pumping in his ears. Not terribly useful. ¡°We need them to know, at least.¡± Abder had just about organized things, preparing to go with some allies to find the peacekeepers, when he sensed someoneing. Someone he¡¯d seen earlier in the day¡­ presuming it was the same day, otherwise they were quite slow to get to the next stage of their ns. Marching with weapons against The Gathering waspletely foolish. All they did was help people grow. They even shared their knowledge with anyone reasonable. Abder quickly made his way to themotion, feeling the tense emotions but little else. A few of the people who¡¯d tried to kill him earlier were there, with others mixed in. Just as Abder got in sight, the leading woman stabbed towards one of the younger members of The Gathering with a spear. Abder sprang forward, trying to reach out. He wouldn¡¯t reach in time¡­ but his hand flicked. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences elsewhere. A quill pen stabbed through the wooden haft of the spear, splitting it and nearly negating the energy flowing through and around it. It was enough for the young man- Karl, probably- to raise stony defenses on his torso. His ribs snapped under the distributed force, but he wasn¡¯t impaled. Everyone turned towards him, and Abder realized he was roaring in anger. His lungs were pretty messed up, but still far more powerful than a normal person¡¯s. He reached out for the woman, grabbing her arms as she tried to block him. His aching fingers crushed her wrists as he kicked one leg up into her belly, the other sweeping behind her legs. He folded her in half, and he felt her spine snap. Obviously her defensive energy tried to stop him, but she had to focus it on a single point. She wasn¡¯t strong enough on her own, so that was her fate. Obviously her allies had something to say about that, and a half dozen needles and one rapier stabbed into Abder. The former couldn¡¯t prate even his damaged skin, while thetter slid cleanly through his belly. That wasn¡¯t his intention at all- he¡¯d simply been careless0 but he clenched his abdominal muscles and shattered the weapon before the man could redirect their energy to tear him apart from the inside. Then people from The Gathering began to charge down the road and throw attacks out of windows, joining the battle. Even if they were individually weak- which wasn¡¯t always the case- they were sufficient to overwhelm the attackers with Abder present. And when he wasn¡¯t fighting alone against dozens, he was able to focus on one enemy at a time. He didn¡¯t let another weapon touch him, unless he grabbed it first or was swatting it out of the way. Focusing on the strongest enemies first meant it wasn¡¯t long before the remaining middle strength enemies were running for their lives screaming, as the weakest ones had been taken out in the first waves of attacks and with their leaders dying they didn¡¯t have any confidence in their victory- regardless of the actual odds. Abder was not in a good mood, so he began to chase them down. He could have snapped necks and shattered skulls, but he didn¡¯t want to kill unnecessarily. Letting people get away to try to harm peopleter wasn¡¯t his n either. He grabbed the first two around the neck, and while they tried to il and stab him they couldn¡¯t get an angle on him, focus energy on their weapons, and stop him from cutting off the flow of blood to their brains. He wasn¡¯t able to catch all of them, but the neighborhood as a whole quickly became aware of what was going on- some of them joined the pursuit, and they caught most of those running. Then without having to seek them out, peacekeepers quickly showed up. Abder was d that Colo and the others weren¡¯t far away so they could help exin. Because his ears were still ny-nine percent busted. He was pretty sure he could hear words now, but without being able to hear which words it was kind of meaningless. ¡°They want to know the names of those who attacked you,¡± Colo wrote. ¡°I only know a few. She was one, though,¡± Abder pointed to the woman with the broken spine. She wasn¡¯t dead, but she couldn¡¯t move without energy and with a broken weapon she couldn¡¯t threaten anyone either. Though there were a dozen people prepared to attack her in case she did anything. Abder gave up the few other names he knew. Then Colo asked about where he was first attacked. Abder added some useful info- even if they cleaned up the scene there should be some metal shards from broken weapons. Abder did his best to sense the intentions of the peacekeepers as they were cing shackles on the surviving attackers. It would be better if he could hear their heartbeats or tone of voice, but their postures indicated sincerity. They were nning to go investigate the location he mentioned when flickers of energy activated themunication devices they had among them. Anton said they were ¡®simple¡¯, as they only ryed sound, but they did so anywhere in the city. Around the same time, Abder felt fluctuations from a nearby neighborhood. He took off running. He was not a pacifist, he just hadn¡¯t made his main thing fighting. His strong body was meant to make him feel safe- which it did- and to perform useful tasks. But sometimes that had to be turning people into pretzels. It wasn¡¯t his job to fend off trouble, and the peacekeepers would probably be saying that if he could hear them. But he couldn¡¯t, and nobody was going to stop him and his battered body from helping people. ----- Abder blocked a fireball going for an innocent civilian with his body. It was¡­ really not that hotpared to what he¡¯d been dealing with. If he¡¯d been healed, he probably wouldn¡¯t have felt much of anything. Instead, his fist twinged in pain. He hadn¡¯t just let it hit his torso, obviously. Better to sacrifice an arm if it could cause that much damage, so he¡¯d punched out with his left. Fortunately, his body was durable enough even as it was. He was absolutely going to copseter, but first there were some people to deal with. It was difficult to tell whether the ming woman was a former Twisting Spike or just someone aligned with their interests, but Abder didn¡¯t much care. He charged forward, tackling her to the ground. The streets were just smoothed stone from Moturn, so they were incredibly durable. The heat would do literally nothing to them. ¡°Cease your mes or I¡¯ll snap your neck,¡± Abder threatened. Her attacks were widespread, so he really might do it. The woman was stubborn enough to make Abder demonstrate he could actually hurt her, even though the fact that she couldn¡¯t stand should have been suspicious. So after he bashed her head into the ground and created a few cracks, she decided she didn¡¯t have enough natural energy to keep that up when Abder could probably continue forever. Fighting continued around Abder, and he focused on those most dangerous to civilians. The peacekeepers either didn¡¯t mind or had given up on yelling at him. Once everyone was down, Abder strained his senses for any other battles. If he could hear, he could probably pick up the sound of a sh all the way across the city, but with just energy senses they had to be close. There was nothing, for the moment. That was a relief. He¡¯d fear some sort of city-wide uprising. If it was less than that, Moturn could definitely handle it. Which was good, because they really needed to be able to handle themselves without the Alliance. Either that, or give in and officially join them which was honestly fine with Abder- but proving they could be independent was attractive as well. Chapter 1135 Getting personal revenge wasn¡¯t as important to Abder as preventing people who attacked him in the streets from doing the same to people who were more likely to die. Not that he was all that far from death himself, but even with what happened to him he had a good bit more life in him than many. As a higher stage cultivator, he felt it was his responsibility to act. There were a few more incidents that urredter that day, but once people were mobilized to act it seemed to send the culprits into hiding. Tracking them down would take some time, but it would be pretty much impossible topletely disappear. What were they going to do, flee the city? As Abder could easily point out¡­ it wasn¡¯t great out there. And they wouldn¡¯t have any way to go to Unov or New Ibbore. It was an exhausting day making sure everything was in ce. All he wanted to do was go home and copse in his bed. ----- Without a sound, a thin stiletto stabbed through the top sheet of a bed, piercing skin, muscle, and bone until it went through the heart and out by the spine. Abder clutched his heart. That was brutal. Good thing it wasn¡¯t him. It was a waste of good bed sheets, but the one who died wouldn¡¯t be missed. It was his allies¡¯ own fault, though he hadn¡¯t really been useful to either side since he wasn¡¯t really in the know about anything and unwilling to give it up regardless. Both so that he would feel more like Abder and to prevent him from causing trouble, his energy had been suppressed by binding shackles. The assassin had been a bit careless, still. No doubt she had already noticed how easily punctured her target was, though she might not know that consciousness didn¡¯t change that. Abder took his first step towards her at the same time as his first breath in ten minutes- the assassin had been skulking around for a while. He would also have to rece his closet door, but opening it would be too slow. The high speed splinters might harm the would-be assassin if he was lucky. Even in the dim light, Abder recognized her, in the way he could picture most of the strongest cultivators in the city. This woman was Jaya¡¯s distant cousin, friend, or importantckey of some sort. She hadn¡¯t been around during the incident, and she hadn¡¯t had any sustainable causes brought against her so she¡¯d made it through. Isi, if Abder remembered correctly, though this was no time for introductions. He wasn¡¯t good at kicks, so he wasn¡¯t that surprised that even with his speed he went right over her head. In turn, she stabbed him in the back of the knee. It clearly didn¡¯t go as deep as she would like, but she snapped her stiletto away before Abder could clutch his knee around her weapon and pull it away. He got into a better stance as she stabbed at him. Abder was cautious. He wanted to grab her weapon, but the timing had to be just right. His testing efforts showed she could turn her weapon upon him instantly, and he wasn''t eager to get his hand or forearm impaled in the process of trying to stop her. Apparently there were people who fought like that, but Abder wasn¡¯t going to be one of them if he couldn¡¯t help it. Isi wasn¡¯t running, and her energy fluctuations were well contained so it was possible that not too many people would be aware of what was happening. Abder hadn¡¯t been certain that he would be attacked at night, and he wouldn¡¯t have been if he just had guards hanging out inside. Abder was still catching his breath so a shout at the moment seemed ill advised. The guards were a bit further down the block, but hopefully they would notice themotion soon. Except he didn¡¯t sense them. He hadn¡¯t even noticed they were gone, dozing off in the closet. The sounds ofbat still seemed like they were underwater. Abder had maybe ten percent of his hearing back at best. In some ces he had new skin¡­ which wasn¡¯t exactly more durable. He still had many wounds, though most of them were covered. Isi could probably still feel them with her energy, though. Abder couldn¡¯t exactly block her senses. He realized quickly that she was reading the tension of his muscles very well- which he couldn¡¯t prevent for the same reason. Thus, she seemed to react to his moves before he began. Abder couldn¡¯t sessfully strike or grab without exposing himself, and Isi was likely getting used to his patterns. How unfortunate. Perhaps he should have focused onbat instead of other things. Longer days of sparring might have made all the difference here. But this wasn¡¯t what he¡¯d wanted to do- it was just thrust upon him. Abder realized he was covered in wounds¡­ and he had a nice new one. He could use that. Doing his best to look like he was winding up for a powerful attack, he brought his foot down¡­ and stumbled. He had actually considered kicking through the floor, but that might be harder to believe was an ident. The outline of a de stabbed towards him, and Abder reached to grab the de. Then the second one in her other hand was finally revealed, stabbing into his ribs. The n was likely to go between them, but they weren¡¯t as easy to push apart as she might have expected, even with the thin des. It still scraped across his rib, tearing at the muscle, but there was no risk of it reaching deeper. He didn¡¯t manage to get a hold of her off hand or his real target- her wrist- but he wasn¡¯t willing to let go of the stiletto in her other hand. He yanked her forward, and she made the correct choice to release her weapon. Abder almost snapped it, but instead he spun it around. Hisck of expertise in the weapon might be clear, but using it as an extension of his own body that he didn¡¯t care if it got stabbed was good enough for him. Thatsted all of two exchanges before Isi snapped it with her other stiletto with an unexpected sweeping strike. Either it wasn¡¯t as expensive as Abder thought, or Isi was really determined. Obviously the enchantments would make the weapon a bit more durable, but with him unable to relevantly augment it with natural energy it was an easy task to destroy the weapon. Holding just a handle¡­ Abder chucked it at her torso and tried to slip inside her range. He really hoped she only had one weapon. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The handle crashed through the wall, and her stiletto continued to keep Abder at bay. She even managed to wound his forearm. If he was doing a better job of wearing down her natural energy Abder might feel confident still, but sustaining more wounds while still having been half-roasted earlier in the day was a bit much. Should he run? No, he had at least one more thing he needed to try. Something he could do as an advanced body temperer. Well, anyone could do it- it should just work better. He nned his next move, his muscles tensing. Then he lunged. Isi thrust her weapon towards his iing knee, but his leg twisted, instead sweeping her leg. The things he had to do with his tendons to change trajectory like that were serious. Normal cultivators would probably tear something or have some sort of concentration of energy that gave them away. Isi leapt over his sweeping leg, but the weight of gravity didn¡¯t pull her back to the ground fast enough to get solid footing. Abder held his arms out wide, looking to epass her as he rushed forward. Her stiletto stabbed forward towards his eye, but he tilted his head just enough for the de to scrape along the ridge of his eyebrow. His bones were still quite solid, and her insights into piercing simply weren¡¯t enough. She might have gotten a little bit of his brain though, skipping past his skull. He couldn¡¯t be sure, because there were no pain sensors there. Abder¡¯s arms wrapped around her at the shoulders and squeezed. There was a moment of resistance as her energy tensed against him. Then she snapped all at once. He should have probably yelled at her to surrender, but he didn¡¯t have such an upper hand that he thought that would have been sessful. So now there were two dead bodies in his room. And Abder was quite certain Anton had left him alone. Which was both scary and heartening. He could manage on his own, even without someone watching over him at all times. ----- Anton breathed out slowly. ¡°It¡¯s so difficult not to interfere,¡± he said to Prospero. ¡°He took some significant wounds. And Moturn is¡­ well, they¡¯re handling things well.¡± ¡°Hmm. You can really do something from here?¡± Prospero asked. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ far more distance than I thought.¡± ¡°I¡¯d beunching an attack from the star,¡± Anton said. ¡°It would be weaker, but enough to do something in situations like this. I¡¯m two full stages above them, after all. Should I¡­ should I have saved those two guards?¡± ¡°You told Moturn they were responsible for their own problems,¡± Prospero shook his head. ¡°While the guards didn¡¯t deserve to die, it wasn¡¯t your responsibility to save them.¡± ¡°I would have saved Abder, though. If he really was about to die.¡± ¡°And he¡¯s your apprentice, of a sort,¡± Prospero shrugged. ¡°Different rules apply. But it sounds like you let things get far enough.¡± ¡°... I really want to tell them where the rest of the people are hiding,¡± Anton said. ¡°What if I just leave little hints? Is that too much?¡± Prospero rolled his eyes. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll get it soon enough.¡± ----- They did. Abder wasn¡¯t there for any of it, but the issues were resolved with a minimum of excess bloodshed, at least not from those he cared about. The people attempting a coup had also tried to kill him and those he cared about, so his sympathy for them was less. Currently, he was searching to see if the archives had any information on how to heal stab injuries to the brain. Once the battle was over he¡¯d used his small bits of natural energy to determine there was indeed a wound inside him, and even if it was small he didn¡¯t think any damage to the brain was insignificant. He didn¡¯t feel bad, which partially made him feel that everything was fine- and partially made him panic that he was going to die without knowing it wasing. Clearer thoughts won out, and after making sure the bleeding stopped, Abder had gone to look for solutions. He wasn¡¯t a huge fan of the information he was finding. If part of the brain was destroyed, the rest of it could take over functionality in some cases¡­ but his options for healing it were generally things that even the Lower Realms Alliance said were rare, including cultivators who were good at healing. At least it was a straightforward puncture, and nothing was really missing. He¡¯d have to live with that. And since he wasn¡¯t dead already and wasn¡¯t still bleeding, he would almost certainly live. To take his mind off of that, he needed to do something else. Training was probably not a good idea at the moment. Bouncing around his wounded brain might be a bad idea, as it turned out. Well, he owed someone a new floor. And he¡¯d just saved a stone cultivator¡¯s life. Though he could have requested aid from other members of The Gathering regardless, it was best not to be too burdensome. They really did need to make sure that hole was fixed, though. He didn¡¯t want someone to stumble through the bottom of the barrier, least of all an old grandmother sort. Even if she¡¯d been a bit cranky when he first met her. He knocked on her door, but heard no reaction. He knocked a bit louder. He could hear her moving around inside. A bit louder, and finally she started making her way. ¡°Who could that be?¡± she muttered. She flung open the door. ¡°Yeah? Who is it?¡± ¡°Hi. It¡¯s Abder again. I can sort of hear now. Thanks for helping me out. This is Karl. He¡¯s here to fix your floor.¡± Karl waved gently, as his ribs were currently bound. The woman blinked. ¡°Wait¡­ you really came back?¡± ¡°I did promise. I can¡¯t imagine you¡¯ve gotten it repaired yourself so quickly.¡± ¡°I put some boards over it,¡± she said. ¡°But if you¡¯ll do a proper fix¡­ well, know I can¡¯t pay anything.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t expect you to,¡± Abder said. ¡°It was my fault.¡± At least, to the extent he was responsible for it getting fixed. Obviously most of the ones actually at fault were dead or would be soon, since murder- or even attempted murder- were executable offenses. Oh, right, and barrier tampering. Though nobody had ever been stupid enough to actually do that before, as far as he recalled. Chapter 1136 The hole was a clear blemish in the old woman¡¯s basement, but Abder much preferred it to being a charred corpse. Of course, fixing it was the best option. Moving aside the boards that might not actually stop someone from stumbling into the hole, Abder began to drop down. ¡°I¡¯ll head down first. Somewhere down here the barrier undercuts the city and we don¡¯t want you stumbling into that.¡± ¡°Wait, you were outside?¡± Karl looked at him incredulously. Abder gestured to his whole body. ¡°How did you think I ended up like this, huh?¡± ¡°... Fire cultivators?¡± ¡°And the stab wounds?¡± Karl furrowed his brow. ¡°I¡¯m gonna be honest and say I can¡¯t really tell that¡¯s what those were. Uh, I do need all this stone. Isn¡¯t the barrier pretty far down? Maybe I should just seal stuff up here.¡± ¡°I brought a storage bag for the chunks,¡± Abder said, wrapping the opening of said bag around the stone he¡¯d cracked apart. ¡°Most of it ended up in the tunnel behind me, since I didn¡¯t really have a better option. Anything outside the barrier will probably reform but I figured we shouldn¡¯t leave huge gaps.¡± Karl frowned as he saw Abder lifting heavy chunks of stone. ¡°As long as you¡¯re fine doing all that. I can¡¯t really lift stuff right now, with my ribs. Should you be moving?¡± ¡°My muscles are mostly intact,¡± Abder exined. ¡°Just some damage to my pecs on this side but I can use one arm just fine.¡± Or he could hook things with his foot. Even if he couldn¡¯t grip things, bncing anything was simple enough. The tunnel went further than he remembered- and that was just the vertical portion. He hadn¡¯t had a good sense of time, though he hadn¡¯t been extremely careful with the state things ended up in. ¡°It¡¯s not going to look pretty,¡± Karlmented. ¡°Like stone mushed together. I¡¯ll have to thin some of it out. But as long as nobody tries to mine it out for solid material, it should be good.¡± In the end, the storage bag Abder brought wasn¡¯t enough. He had to settle for taking some of therger and more stable chunks and piling them up in the basement. ¡°I hope you¡¯re not nning to leave those there,¡± said the olddy. ¡°Of course not,¡± he shook his head. ¡°This is just part of the process.¡± ¡°Pfeh. I¡¯ve heard that before. Still got holes in the wall- and one that isn¡¯t standing anymore.¡± ¡°We might look at that after,¡± Abder said. Then he climbed back down, until he finally felt the edge of the barrier. ¡°Okay, found it! Karl,e climb down here. There¡¯s a little ledge I made that you can work from.¡± Abder remained in the tunnel above Karl with his body pressed against either side of the tunnel to hold him steady. Karl began pulling material out of the storage bag, taking small bit and mixing them with some of the stony powder they¡¯d ended up with. The whole mass sort of began to melt into shape with the power of his natural energy. He soon had a vague disc which he lodged into the bottom of the tunnel, fusing it with the sides. Then he began pilingrger rocks, and once he¡¯d filled up the very bottom he had Abder begin bringingrger chunks, fitting other material around it. The repair process was much slower than tearing apart the rocks to begin with, though if Karl was also a Life Transformation cultivator he might have been able to match Abder¡¯s digging speed. ¡°You should take a break,¡± the old woman said after a couple hours. She brought seasoned mushrooms out on chipped tes, with cool water in cracked ceramic cups. Karl couldn¡¯t help but seal up the cracks in his own mug, but made no otherment on it. By the end of the day, he¡¯d only managed to fill in maybe ten percent of the tunnel. Repairing a hole a meter wide and dozens of meters long wasn¡¯t that easy, as it turned out. It was good practice though. ----- It took until the third day they returned that the old woman actually gave her name. Mostly she just watched them working while fiddling around in her basement- as if there was actually anything she could do to promote the growth of the mushrooms without cultivation of her own. ¡°Thank you for the amazing lunch, Suraya,¡± Abder said. ¡°Bah. It¡¯s nothing to praise. Little more than cheap spices.¡± She paused, getting a faraway look. ¡°Though they didn¡¯t used to be so easy to get a hand on.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Karl asked. ¡°I can¡¯t remember a time without salt and pepper.¡± ¡°Used to be only cultivators had them,¡± Surayamented. ¡°Before the big cultivator incident.¡± Karl nodded. ¡°Ah, that makes sense. I heard things changed significantly after the Alliance showed up.¡± ¡°Tends to be. That¡¯s how my son got killed,¡± Suraya said. Then she made her way out of the room. Karl looked at Abder wide eyed. He transmitted his voice so he wouldn¡¯t be overheard. ¡°Did you know about that? How was I supposed to know her son died?¡± R This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Abder shook his head. ¡°I had some idea he was gone, but nothing more.¡± ¡°... Should I apologize?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think she¡¯s the right type. We¡¯ll just try to avoid bringing it up again.¡± ----- Avoidance worked until Karl finished the original project, smoothing out the floor of the basement. He actually lowered the whole area by almost a centimeter to make up for lost material, but that was just expanding the basement¡­ or something. ¡°Good,¡± Suraya said. ¡°Now I can get to my crop without falling down to hell.¡± Though she said that, she seemed rather pleased with the results. ¡°You said something about¡­ other walls in your house, right?¡± Karl asked. ¡°If they¡¯re stone, I can probably do a repair.¡± ¡°Is brick stone?¡± Suraya asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you cultivators can do.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Karl frowned. ¡°If you want it to match, it would be better for me to do it,¡± Abder said. ¡°Let¡¯s see what it looks like.¡± Suraya took them to the kitchen. Or¡­ her bedroom? The house only had a few rooms off the one hallway leading from the basement to the door out. Some cutting surfaces and something vaguely like a firece indicated what was probably supposed to be a kitchen, given the pile of tes and cups. ¡°Is there no sink?¡± Karl asked. ¡°It¡¯s old style,¡± Suraya said. ¡°I¡¯d think the bigger problem is that,¡± she gestured. By that, she of course meant the fact that the wall between what might have been a bedroom and the kitchen was just¡­ rubble. Much of which had been pushed against one side or removed long before, but there were still uneven surfaces on the floor. ¡°My son knocked that wall down, after I asked him to put the firece between the bedroom and kitchen so I wouldn¡¯t waste the heat.¡± Karl nodded slowly. ¡°And then he¡­ never got an opportunity to finish.¡± ¡°Oh no. He had plenty of opportunities.¡± Suraya crossed her arms. ¡°It was dragging on for months before the cultivator incident.¡± ¡°... right.¡± Karl didn¡¯t really know what to say, and looked to Abder for help. ¡°We can get this fixed up real quick,¡± Abder redirected the topic to more productive things. ¡°It might not match the outer walls perfectly, but maybe I can find someone who knows the same style of bricks.¡± He could do the work himself, if he knew the style. Carrying around a tonne of bricks wasn¡¯t too difficult- he¡¯d moved that amount hundreds of times to dig himself back into the city, after cracking the dense stone. ----- Halfway through that project, for which Abder found simr looking but sturdier bricks, he sensed a draft from one of the other rooms. The city was big enough to have some differences in pressure and airflow, but without any natural weather drafts were pretty rare. It would have to be a pretty significant hole to get movement he could sense outside the room. When he brought it up with Suraya, she opened the room. ¡°That¡¯s the wall I mentioned. The wall with the holes.¡± She was right, in some sense. Though Abder might have described it more as holes with some semnce of wall. A great number of mostly regrly spaced punctures filled the outer wall of the room- which looked like another bedroom. A dusty one. ¡°We can fill those in,¡± Abder said. It was difficult to imagine what might have caused such a thing. Clearly it couldn¡¯t be an ident. Looking more closely, he got an idea. These should be marks from various puncturing weapons. Was Suraya¡¯s son a member of the Twisting Spike? That would exin how he died in the ¡®cultivator incident¡¯. Abder had been fairly certain that after Anton showed up he prevented anyone else from being killed¡­ which also meant that Anton had almost certainly been the one who killed her son. Everyone had family and people connected to them¡­ even the Twisting Spike. Even when family was strained, they still provided something. Even if this particr fellow might have only provided holes in the wall, Abder still thought that he should help make up for some harm Anton indirectly caused¡­ even if it was decadester than it should have been. Abder briefly wondered why the woman hadn¡¯t asked for help from anyone- especially the city¡¯s services. They would have at least repaired the outer wall, and would have probably made certain Suraya had running water as the city began to actually develop such things. But all of that had to do with cultivators, and she didn¡¯t seem to really trust them. She wasn¡¯t afraid of them- otherwise she wouldn¡¯t have used a broom to hit one one who broke through her basement floor- but ack of understanding didn¡¯t bring much trust. Abder wondered if he should try to convince her to cultivate energy. On one hand, he had a perfect example of an older person who had begun cultivatingte. On the other, that was the very person she probably was the most wary of. Even non-cultivators had been able to feel Anton¡¯s presence when he fully revealed his aura. ----- The walls were easy to fix, but they weren¡¯t really the problem. The actual problem was that Suraya didn¡¯t have anyone to help her. In the more than a week that Abder and Karl had been around all day, nobody hade to check up on Suraya- neither friends nor family. The Alliance had helped the city set up services to assist anyone who came to them. Abder sought out people who were passed over¡­ but clearly he hadn¡¯t found all of them. He doubted he could have personally checked on the million of people in the city, but he¡¯d sort of missed a certain category of people because they appeared to be in good condition. To someone who had grown up on the street, having any sort of building to keep your things and your self safe within had seemed like luxury. But even ignoring the disrepair, that clearly wasn¡¯t the case for Suraya. Abder wondered what her life had been like in the years before she was able to grow her own food. Having learned more about her, it could have taken some time to adopt that practice. Before that, he didn¡¯t know what she could have done to earn money. She didn¡¯t have any apparent job, but peeking into other rooms Abder saw a writing table and old inkwells. A scribe, perhaps? Except it certainly didn¡¯t seem like she had anything currently. Perhaps it could have been her husband who did such work, but Abder got the feeling he hadn¡¯t been around on ount of having never been mentioned once. And he may never have been an actual husband. Abder wondered if Anton knew about Suraya. Unlike some, he knew Anton wasn¡¯t omnipotent and omniscient. A single woman who had no natural energy and wasn¡¯t being harassed by any cultivators could slip through even his significant senses. He might ask, but it really didn¡¯t matter. All that mattered was what he did now. He could have been satisfied with fixing what he broke, then a little bit extra to make up for the trouble¡­ but he wasn¡¯t. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 1137 ¡°Are ya crazy, or just dumb?¡± Clearly, Suraya did not like Abder¡¯s suggestions. ¡°Well I¡¯m-¡± ¡°My fingers already hurt plenty, thank you very much. I already know how exercise works and it¡¯s far toote for that to help me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s more than that,¡± Abdermented. Though he did believe that proper light movements could actually help her out, if she was willing tomit to a n. ¡°Infusing natural energy into the body can produce greater results with a faster recovery.¡± It took him more than another week to convince her, but she eventually gave up as there was nothing else for him to do around the house other than bother her- and she couldn¡¯t get him to just go away and leave her alone. Even if she had said it, Abder knew enough to understand that she wouldn¡¯t want that. She desiredpany as much as anyone else. Of course, he couldn¡¯t spend all his time around her. He had his own training to do, duties to The Gathering, and so on. The city was also busy recuperating from the aftermath of the attempted coup. Finally, Abder apportioned some of his time to finding people like Suraya who should have had ess to aid but for some reason chose not to ask for or ept it. Sometimes, that would take getting to know people, to convince them that people actually wanted to help. Finding such people was the hardest part, though. Abder knew where those who were like him tended to find themselves, but those who appeared to be in a stable state but were actually struggling were harder to track down. That, he thought, was going to be a long project. ----- The way he finally managed to get Suraya to finally want to train was simply to disy his own handwriting¡­ while slightly exaggerating the ws. He hadn¡¯t ever bothered to be particrly good at writing once he surpassed basic proficiency. If he just got a littlezy with his hand control, his writing looked quite terrible. Suraya attempted to correct him, and while her calligraphy was certainly superior to Abder¡¯s own, her hands were old and weak. Even he could pick out ws which she was no doubt doubly aware of. All he had to do to inspire her was to give her an opportunity- and provide ink and paper. Those weren¡¯t cheap for someone with effectively no ie. Not many people wanted to buy mushrooms that anyone could easily grow. And with no offense meant to Suraya, her crop of basement fungus wasn¡¯t particrly exceptional- she wasn¡¯t a fungal cultivator after all, so there were limits to what she could do. Finger exercises didn¡¯t look like much. Suraya didn¡¯t exactly know what she needed to do- just how she needed to move, and where she was having trouble. Fortunately, Abder was more than qualified to help out there. He knew every muscle and bone in the body and how they interacted. He had decades of study on that particr topic, and practical experience to boot. Coming up with a n that suited her needs was simple, though her ability to sense natural energy was still in question. Even without that she could grow stronger due to the energy directly infused in food she ate. Anton hadn¡¯t sounded particrly impressed by Moturn¡¯s state in that regard, but Abder thought he was just picky about such things. Abder had seen how much the world had grown from the bottom, after all. ----- Anton was currently locked in a staring contest with a star, and he thought he might be winning. There was the slight problem that Maheg didn¡¯t have eyes, but he felt he could get past that. ¡°You don¡¯t have to rush on my ount,¡± Prosperomented. ¡°I would much rather hear about your sess from a distance than personally witness a failure caused by rushing.¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s exactly why you need to be here. Keep me motivated to seed, instead of getting sloppy.¡± ¡°I doubt you would, considering the potential consequences.¡± Nobody quite knew how bad things might get if Anton failed a critical advancement- though those who knew him would bet that he would try to take the consequences entirely upon himself. Most likely, that would result in hisplete annihtion, since he would be dealing with star-scale bacsh. Maheg was ready to try to form the bond as well. Alternatively, the star could probably wait another thousand years and barely notice. From its perspective, Anton had only recentlye into view- but he was also its oldest and closest friend, as much as such things were possible. Generations of nts upon the little moon were their legacy. This wouldn¡¯t be the one to put him over the edge. Even if Anton didn¡¯t strictly stick to prime star numbers, he knew he certainly needed to bind more stars before attempting his stage advancement, whenever he got around to that. Timothy and Catarina got a little boost through adversity, but Anton was trying to carve out what he hoped would be a consistent path for those with the aptitude. Binding with a sapient star wasn¡¯t on the normal list, but there were certainly oddities to look into. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the vition. Anton reached out, the movement of energy at first looking like the typical ¡®handshake¡¯. He needed to be certain that their entwined energies would be stable before epting it into himself. Cutting off a connection wasn¡¯t something he would do lightly, especially not in the moments it was supposed to be forming. It shouldn¡¯t take long. He¡¯d been slowly building up a sort of bond the whole time- even if it wasn¡¯t the same as his attunement to other stars. He had the groundworkid, and he would have help from the other side. Maheg¡¯s energy carefully wrapped around his. That connection, even if it was one human and one star, was far more solid than it would appear on the surface. Since hade this far, Anton wasn¡¯t going to hesitate. Sometimes, being slow was worse than nned haste. He needed to take the dunk, except instead of the chill of water it would be the fire of a star. ? There was an intensity to it that he hadn¡¯t quite expected. The control Maheg had on the surface was real and extended deep into the star, but that was the point. Control. The star had transitioned between life stages before awakening sapience, annihting life on its locals. Now, it was consciously holding back the negative parts of itself. mes spread throughout Anton¡¯s body, but they were no more likely to hurt him than his own energy or that of his other bound stars. Maheg did not sleep, and that meant constant practice. Once it had realized it damaged the, that had been its life until new people appeared. Anton had merely taught fine-tuned control instead of star-wide control on the scale of a million kilometers. Before he even realized, it was over. However, just because the bond was finished didn¡¯t mean that would be the end of things. Anton could feel the changes in Maheg more strongly than the other stars. Slow changes, likely to mold over decades or centuries, but changes nheless. That was connected to him, and it would remain that way. If Maheg got into a bad state, it would affect him. The same was true with other stars, but usually they were more stable in the way that only massive spheres of sma that were basically endless explosions could be. Anton pulled on a bit of Maheg¡¯s energy, and it flowed into him. The star pushed a bit more, and Anton soon found himself overflowing with energy. It was too much all at once, and Anton knew he had to release it. It flew directly back into the source, sshing into Maheg. The slightest twinge of apology came to Anton through the connection- or at least that was how Anton hade to interpret what the star could disy. Maheg had tried to be helpful, but clearly they needed to do some work on tuning the draw. ¡°Now it¡¯s your turn,¡± Anton said. Normally, his stars didn¡¯t draw upon him. At best, he would feel his power and that of others into a star himself. But also normally, they didn¡¯t have intent. He might have ascribed certain personality traits to them like humans were wont to do, but the others weren¡¯t actually temperamental or stoic or whatever he imagined them to be. Maheg was, at least a little. Anton emphasized his intent through his energy, which the star should have felt- he wanted it to try to call upon him, though just a little. There was a careful pull- careful like an elephant tugging with its trunk, but regardless of power it was indeed careful- and Anton felt energy flowing out of him naturally, as if he had called upon it himself. And not just out of him, but from the source inside of his dantian that connected to nearly two hundred stars. The energy flickered into a shape in front of Anton, taking the form of a smiling sphere about a meter across. A star- in fact an almost cartoonish one. Anton wondered where Maheg hade across such aesthetics, but perhaps it was simply natural to exaggerate lines and features so they stood out. A simple pair of eyes, dots for nostrils, and a line for a mouth. No ears, but they would have looked out of ce regardless. The image¡¯s ¡®eyes¡¯ looked around randomly. Perhaps Maheg didn¡¯t realize how eyes worked, just that they existed. Likewise, the mouth opened and let out a sound- projected through energy so that it could extend through space. As for what the sound was, it sounded like speech. Or at least, what someone who didn¡¯t really understand speech might think it was. Rising and falling tones, pauses for words. A bit of rhythm, but little more. ¡°Hello to you too, Maheg,¡± Anton said, smiling and projecting happiness in return. Even if the star didn¡¯t understand, that didn¡¯t matter. Anton held out his hand, and the mini-star formed arms in return. The fingers weren¡¯t perfect, but Anton grasped the hand. This time, they performed a real handshake, which was much more satisfying between beings at the same scale. The face turned towards Prospero next, and the other man didn¡¯t hesitate. Anton would have warned him if it were dangerous, after all. The form produced wasn¡¯t quite solid, but Maheg seemed to have some understanding of how it should be. Hoyt also shook the hand of the star as well¡­ then the energy reached the end of its cohesiveness. Anton could have used the same energy for a much more enduring projection, but Maheg had focused all its efforts on farming- not interaction. The fact that it was able to not burn everything it touched on their little moon was already amazing enough. Being efficient with energy was probably never something Maheg had previously needed to consider, considering it was nothing less than a great mass of energy itself. ¡°That went splendidly, I think,¡± Anton said. ¡°What about you two?¡± ¡°What¡¯s it like?¡± Prospero asked. ¡°Hmm. Like a big, powerful child,¡± Anton said. ¡°Let¡¯s hope this guy isn¡¯t going to undergo his terrible two thousands anytime soon. Though if he does, I¡¯ll be here to help him out.¡± He had already taken on responsibility for various stars, and in this case he merely had a greater ability to handle any difficulties. There would always be risk he took onto himself when helping people- even if that risk was usually quite small. It hadn¡¯t taken nearly as long as Anton had thought for him to be ready to form the bond. Now he would be free to move around again¡­ though of course he intended to stay with Maheg for a while still, just to make sure everything was stable. Only after that would Anton move away and experiment with how that bond felt at a distance. Chapter 1138 It was a shame that Ratna had only stayed for a short time, but Timothy understood that they weren¡¯t really allies. Either way, she likely had many responsibilities to get back to as she might not be able to rely on anyone else at the top. Fortunately for the Scarlet Alliance, they hade together in a manner that let various groups stand together onmon ground without fear. There had been something she hinted at that Timothy didn¡¯t quite get, even with years of follow-up practice. He was certain of that, because while he was certainly growing morefortable with his new abilities there was still something missing. The first person he asked was as always Catarina. They would frequently go to each other first, even if they didn¡¯t expect the other to be able to provide an actual answer. ¡°What do you think it could be? She didn¡¯t show much interest in sparring with you for example.¡± ¡°Maybe I already understood it?¡± Catarina tilted her head. ¡°Or maybe I¡¯m the wrong type. Truthfully, I¡¯m having difficulty figuring out how to work with my new power. I¡¯ve been working on new formations, but I keep having to put in limiters instead of expanding into anything new and exciting, and I¡¯m running out of space. That¡¯s for using my own energy without active input, I mean.¡± ¡°It sounds like you need more robust materials and runes to handle Domination energy to begin with. For the current moment, have you removed the energy gathering portions? If you already have too much¡­¡± Timothy shrugged. ¡°I did limit them, but I suppose I could scrap them entirely. It¡¯s a difficult shift in functionality. Some energy intensive things are so easy, but outside of the anchor we transformed everything else is too fragile. I have been working to replicate that, but that doesn¡¯t seem to be amon practice. I don¡¯t want to dilute my energy somehow.¡± She frowned. ¡°It might be worth taking risks for the Alliance though. We could discover so much as long as the results aren¡¯t crippling.¡± Timothy supposed they had been rather timid. He wondered what the limits of what they could do might be, and it was difficult to know without testing. At a moderate level of output, he expected he would never run out of energy. Maybe even much higher, because he couldn¡¯t actually tell if there was a proper limit. Zaur¡¯s example hadn¡¯t exactly been clear. They had worn him down through consecutive wounds more than actually depleting his energy, as could be seen in the explosions upon his death. Certainly, it hadn¡¯t been unlimited but Zaur had never felt particrly empty. Day after day, Timothy had been sparring with Augmentation cultivators but it hadn¡¯t been enough. He could handle small groups, but he wasn¡¯t quite living up to Zaur¡¯s level of expertise. The potential was certainly there, but whether he needed centuries of growth or there was something else Timothy wasn¡¯t sure. He wasn¡¯t going to give up, though. There was something there. ----- It was a shame that Chikere was gone. Chidi was skilled enough to rece her in certain manners, but he wasn¡¯t equally functional as part of a team. They were more than lucky to have lost only Chikere, but Timothy could have used her deadly attacks as a challenge. With Chidi, it was more of an all or nothing, where Timothy was untouchable or Chidi actually managed to sessfully negate him. Tauno was a pretty good recement in terms of savagery, and Prasad kept Timothy on his toes. Against the two of them, he was constantly having to shift his defensive energy. Tauno was just as likely to try to stab him through the guts as to try to bite out his throat or chop off his leg. Prasad could wield his palms as versatile weapons, eitherunchingrge attacks thatpletely epassed Timothy or small ones that came from many directions. If Timothymitted to counterattacking he had sufficient power to take them out, and defend himself, but only if he could shift his energy in the right ways. Prasad rarely got close enough to attack, and while Timothy could augment the reach of his sword the power rapidly fell off to the point even his Domination energy wasn¡¯t sufficient to take down Prasad at mid range. That range simply happened to be hundreds or thousands of kilometers, because people like them weren¡¯t suited to fighting on the surface ofs anymore. The point was that Prasad¡¯s own range was better, so he was able to fight effectively at a distance Timothy couldn¡¯t easily take him out. At least, when Tauno was added to the mix. The man certainly knew how to extend the reach of his weapons, but he rarely ever did. He had a spear made of the spine of some beast that he¡¯d in that he clearly wanted to drive directly through Timothy, and an axe made from a wickedly curved w for all his cutting needs. He could wield either in a single hand, or swap to a two handed grip by hooking either weapon onto straps around his body. Attacks came high and low, but Timothy knew that wasn¡¯t the end of things. Prasad would definitely strike his back- but would there be anywhere else? Shifting his energy to guard the most likely locations, Timothy managed to just read his foes¡¯ intent- this time. More than a few times his energy had been battered to a thin edge that might have spelled his death if his foes had been serious¡­ but in such a case his own de would have taken lives as well, regardless of his actual proficiency. Tauno¡¯s instincts for dodging were legendary, and he was able to twist his body in all directions, a fact that he happily used to try to throw off his foes. However, after a few times of him flying sideways or upside down at Timothy it grew old. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Timothy¡¯s de stopped as it touched Tauno¡¯s ribcage, cutting throughyers of defensive energy. His remaining energy was more than sufficient to break the physical barrier. But that brought only a momentary pause to that match. It was a good matchup that pushed Timothy, but it wasn¡¯t quite right. What other options made sense? How could he go further? ----- A list of the most likely prospective Domination cultivatorsy in front of Velvet. Once a cultivator was active in Domination it was difficult to hide any of that, and there were a few sects that had ties to the Citadel of Exalted Light that fit the bill. The Disciples of the Unending Void were one of them. The distortion beast focused cultivators likely hadn¡¯t sent their best on Zaur¡¯s crusades, and the Alliance was lucky. Two Domination cultivators would have more than wiped them off the map, no matter their ns and good fortune. Most likely they had expected Zaur to win, but perhaps they were fine with a rival being taken out. Aside from a terrifying visage, very little information was avable on Ramil, their Domination cultivator. Like the other known Domination Cultivators, he retained the title of Exalted One. It could be presumed his abilities were much like the rest of the sect, but they hadn¡¯t been able to confirm much else. Even such limited information had been difficult toe by. Petitioning Everheart for more was pointless, as he¡¯d already shared as much as he was likely to. So Velvet and the whole information division had to work with that and whatever Lelka happened to know. Next was the Ponderous Turtle n, which had possessed a presence on Ceretos. They fortunately had minimal participation in the wars but Cynbel, who was their sect head, was a Domination cultivator. He was rumored to ride on a massive turtle but¡­ Velvet didn¡¯t think the turtle sounded that big. A couple kilometers across at best. Maybe they didn¡¯t feed their turtles well in the upper realms. Finally was the Soul Piercers, who made their home on the western edge of the Exalted Quadrant. Apparently they were serious trouble for the Chaotic Conglomeration. They only used spears, and while that made them appear like a weapon sect it was said they didn¡¯t quite fit with the rest of their style. From what information had been gathered, they used esoteric attack styles that simply fit well with long weapons, rather than focusing on spear skills above all else. Their Sect Head Korin had seemingly reced much of her body with various non-living material. That was the limit of confirmed Domination cultivators from the Exalted Quadrant that Velvet had ess to. Then there were dozens of rumored individuals, ranging from highly likely to probably just to bolster their own ego. Confirming some of those would be useful, but mostly the Scarlet Alliance wanted to avoid conflict in general. There were a number of others referred to as Exalted Ones, usually among the same sects. Ludek of the Citadel of Exalted Light had nearly imed the title, but the destruction of the core sect had doubtless thrown that into chaos. As for the Trigold Cluster, they knew of Ratna of course. They also had reason to believe that she was also the leader of the Distant Shadow Sect in addition to the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. That lowered the potential numbers by one. Then there was Koronis, who they had actually observed reaching Domination. Neither of those were enemies, for the moment, so that wasforting. The Fearsome Menagerie had a Domination cultivator by the name of Yann, or at least they did at some point. He hadn¡¯t been heard from in something like five centuries¡­ which might or might not mean something. He could be dead, captured, or in a particrly long period of istion. Even with their extended lifespans cultivators rarely went more than a few years in istion, but Domination cultivators had the best chance to be the exception. Then there was Shch. His name wasn¡¯t even written in front of Velvet, just for the sake of safety. That was about the limit they knew of the seemingly unattached Domination cultivator, except for the great danger. The final ¡®known¡¯ cultivator was one in the Swirling Swarm. They operated far away from the Scarlet Midfields. Each sect membercked individuality, at least from the view of outsiders. They had a Domination cultivator who had been observed, but nobody knew their name. They simply showed up among their ranks in battles, which on the surface was a straightforward game of numbers. Maybe that was all there was to it, but Velvet found it difficult to imagine they could have produced a Domination cultivator if they didn¡¯t have some sort of deeper skill aside from attacking people with a lot of them. This information gave them a list of people they shouldn¡¯t make angry. Now that the Scarlet Alliance had defeated Zaur- and had two Domination cultivators- anyone who came against them would take them more seriously. Zaur Beridze had, to a certain extent, but only after the first attempt when they had sufficient information to try tobat him. Some of the sects in question could potentially have more Domination cultivators- it simply wasn¡¯t known. From the perspective of the Scarlet Alliance, the world was up a of one Domination cultivator in the past century or so¡­ but most likely that was an exception, both with the deaths and advancements. ----- From what Abder had seen, being stubborn could be extremely detrimental¡­ or equally beneficial. Fortunately for Suraya, she seemed to be in thetter camp. Once she saw slight improvements, she stuck with her training without fail. She also didn¡¯tin seriously when Abder consistently made it more difficult. Over the course of a few years Abder she didn¡¯t even really surpass the first two ranks of cultivation¡­ but she did improve. Whenever he could, Abder tried to get her to follow more traditional cultivation methods, but she only epted training for her hands. The way he got around that is by extending that slowly to her arms, which then affected her shoulders and following that her upper torso in general. At least he got her to train both arms. There weren¡¯t a lot of people who needed excellent calligraphy, but those who wanted it would pay well. If Suraya could have imbued insights into her writing, cultivators would have fawned over her but she simply wasn¡¯t at that level. She could make excellent copies of the actual texts which were both embellished and highly readable while keeping any important formatting. The Lower Realms Alliance apparently had some way to produce exact copies of things, but Moturn hadn¡¯t really adopted much technology. Abder had been a bit disappointed about that, but in Suraya¡¯s case it was quite convenient. Now, at least, she wouldn¡¯t be at risk if left on her own again- not that Abder intended to give her up. Sometimes, people just fell into each other¡¯s lives. That could be a meeting on the streets, or in their basement. Though thetter was likely lessmon. Chapter 1139 Differentbinations of opponents kept Timothy on his toes. He was limited in his choices mainly by those who wouldn¡¯t have destructive interference with each other, attacking a single human sized target. Powerful cultivators were sometimes capable of great precision, but unleashing their powers wasn¡¯t always that neat and tidy. Anyone who specialized in wide area attacks wouldn¡¯t be that relevant for Timothy to battle alone, though he often used his abilities to protect others, and group battles would be relevant . Once he figured out what he was missing. He felt like he was getting closer to something, but he might have been fooling himself. Tauno¡¯s spear struck Timothy¡¯s shield- which he had aplished by twisting his arm behind himself. If he turned his whole body, the other cultivator inevitably managed to redirect his attacks. As for why striking the shield mattered, Timothy was much more experienced with creating the rebound force there. The wild man went flying off into the distance as his own attack forced him back. Relying on a shield to create a counterforce might be a limitation that Timothy should deal with. If he could get one of sufficient quality it might still be relevant against Domination cultivators, but against weaker cultivators he could likely manage without. Timothy didn¡¯t think that was the insight he was looking for, however. A dozen sharp rings struck him from every direction, rolling around his body. Zazil¡¯s attacks didn¡¯t rely on impact force, and thus it was difficult to push them away. Quick flickers of his weapon dealt with them for a moment, but they¡¯d strike again when he left another opening. Then his sword stabbed towards his third opponent. He struck a t barrier that could have rivaled his previous defenses. Vari angled it such that his attack didn¡¯tpletely break through, then counterattacked, kicking him in the hip. Her own attacks were decent, but nothing that could faze his current state. ¡°That doesn¡¯t really mean anything,¡± Timothy said. ¡°You¡¯d be dead before that attack hit.¡± Vari shrugged. ¡°Maybe you should actually break my barrier then.¡± ¡°You¡¯d copse shortly into the spar, then.¡± ¡°If you hold back against others, you¡¯re only going to give opportunities to actually defeat you,¡± Vari grumbled. ¡°I understand that,¡± Timothy agreed. ¡°But this is training.¡± Tauno¡¯s presence had disappeared a few moments prior, which meant he was doubtless about to attack. Timothy evened out his defensive energy, preparing to reflow it towards wherever he was targeted. Vari lunged forward, but instead of attacking formed the corner of a cube with three t barriers. That was at the same time Zazil¡¯s rings reached Timothy, leaving him nowhere to dodge. His energy easily absorbed the cutting surfaces, but a spear stabbed towards him from his rear, aiming through Vari¡¯s barrier which faded as his attack came. Timothy had underestimated their speed. Tauno¡¯s spear struck and¡­ that was it. The bone weapon lost its momentum immediately upon touching him. The man pulled back, sighing. ¡°Come on, you could at least try. It¡¯s disheartening tounch a full powered sneak attack and get no response.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Timothy frowned. ¡°I was serious. And that attack should have at least punctured my diluted defenses.¡± Timothy folded his arms, recalling the moment. He¡¯d been thinking about resisting all of Zazil¡¯s des, focusing on defense. He hadn¡¯t reacted to Tauno, certainly, but that was because he had been thrown off guard¡­ and already felt adequately defended. Spread evenly around his body, the small fraction of his energy that should have met Tauno¡¯s attack should have been ovee, as the difference between Domination and Augmentation wasn¡¯t endless. It just felt like it, and Timothy had one reason why. Or at least why it would be true for him. He recalled back to his advancement. The core of the Scarlet Alliance had been- at the behest of himself and Catarina- bombarding the sr tform that they were forming into an anchor. The process had amplified the barrier to nearly impossible levels, but even after he hadpleted his advancement and gained conscious control he still blocked everything, from all angles. Timothy himself wasn¡¯t a formation master, but he¡¯d picked up more than a few things from his wife. Formations were meant to be efficient about distributing their energy, but one way barrier formations could be ovee was by attacking many points at once, either overwhelming their output or overloading their capacity to redistribute defensive energy. With sufficient power that hardly mattered, but it had to far outscale everythinging at it. That fit what was happening during his advancement, but afterwards? Even if the attacks came with the intent that it would be absorbed, they were still serious. Something should have slipped through even the energy of a Domination cultivator, wherever it was weakest. Even if it the energy was perfectly distributed, a series of powerful attack on one location should have had some effect. He knew he would have been overwhelmed eventually, but he hadn¡¯t felt any particr weaknesses. Rather than having his energy distributed throughout, it had been more like all of his output was at every point. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. That didn¡¯t necessarily line up with Zaur¡¯s abilities, but it rang true to Timothy. And just because his abilities manifested in a particr way didn¡¯t mean others would function the same. But he had to test it to be certain of his theory. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to take offense,¡± Timothy said. ¡°But I want you to try to strike me at maximum power. I don¡¯t intend to respond.¡± Tauno looked at him. ¡°Fine. But don¡¯t me me if you lose an arm.¡± ¡°The two of you as well,¡± Timothy said. ¡°Just so I can be certain of something.¡± Zazil nodded. Her rings pulled back, forming a sphere around him with room for Vari and Tauno. Thetter pulled back to a great distance, then charged forward with his spear, picking up speed. Vari¡¯s own attack wasn¡¯t going to be much on its own, but Timothy knew she could provide counterforce to Tauno¡¯s attack, forcing him to take the full brunt of the attack without letting the energy dissipate. He stood firm, unmoving. But he called upon his power with all seriousness. He needed his defensive energy not to be evenly distributed around him, but to be everywhere all at once. An omnidirectional defense¡­ if he wasn¡¯t mistaken about how it could work. Timothy was at not risk of losing an arm, mainly because Taunto was aiming for his center of mass. He might have his sternum split open and his stomach pierced through, but the attack was low enough that it shouldn¡¯t destroy his heart. True to his word, he didn¡¯t do anything to redistribute his energy, simply calling upon that feeling of the first time¡­ and this most recent moment where he¡¯d not been thinking about it. He felt the impact force, but three Augmentation cultivators together had less power output than he did. Their attacks were negated just as much as if they had all chosen to attack Timothy¡¯s shield with his full might concentrated on it. Excellent. Now he needed to see how far he could spread that. It might be a bit ambitious to defend a whole or fleet at once just yet, but if he could take over the defenses for a few key people, it could greatly influence their strategy. He also needed to make certain he could maintain a perfect defense while separating a portion of his energy for counterattacks. It should be possible, since it didn¡¯t feel much more difficult to maintain that state than to constantly shift his energy around. In fact, it was even more natural- though it did require a constant output of energy. ----- The system Anton was currently headed towards had dangers of some sort, though little was known about them as the scout had been almost immediately destroyed upon entering the system. All they had was a report while they were approaching the system about high natural energy and active usage. It could easily be a cultivator inhabited system, and Anton wouldn¡¯t me them for taking out a foreign entity. A bit rude, maybe, but the lower realms had more than a few reasons to be paranoid about visitors. Either way, it was deemed unsafe for exploration, but that also made it unsafe to leave alone. Anton thought he would most likely be safe, but more importantly he could get a decent picture of what was going on without getting close. His long distance senses were the best anyone had. Anton would bet on that, even counting the upper realms. Though of course, if someone in the upper realms took exception to his ims there wasn¡¯t much they could do about it. He had recently finished his stay with Maheg and was looking forward to further exploration. If there were people, he wanted to ensure there would be peace. And if it was something else, it was certainly worth studying. From two systems away, he could feel it. The star itself was a blue giant, so he had a vague sense of it from significantly further away- but the system itself was visibly more full of natural energy than others from such a distance. That usually indicateds with life, to retain the natural energy. It took several more days before Anton was actually on approach to the system itself- space was big after all- but he was beginning to sense more details. Most notable was that he didn¡¯t sense any sort of formations around the system. That meant that whatever had destroyed the scout had merely stumbled across it. That implied a significant poption. Anton was able to confirm the early details of the report that it was upied and quite active. In fact, rather than simply congregating around thes Anton felt energy moving throughout the whole system. Were there inteary structures? That didn¡¯t feel quite right, but he couldn¡¯t ce it until he got closer. Massive beasts popted the system. Not distortion beasts, but instead the normal sort that seemed to dwell among standard dimensionality¡­ if more ustomed to vacuum than Anton would have expected. Regardless of their origin, some were asrge as Ascension-ss battleships, and if Anton wasn¡¯t reading them wrong they might be simrly powerful. Some of them might even be able to match Paradise. There were smaller beasts, too- he merely noticed the most significant figures first. They too filled the area betweens, while many more seemed to dwell on the surface of any or moon in the system. Before he was even inside the system, Anton witnessed numerous battles among the beasts. It would be impossible to sustain beasts of such size and quantity without great power in the system, but Anton suspected that there were even more specimens smaller in quantity. He wondered if this was what those who life-seeded Akrys had wanted. Unlike Akrys, however, the beasts here were nor direct corories tomon animals. Still, keeping that in mind Anton had to consider that they had their own thoughts. If he epted sapience in cute animals, he had to ept it in more foul looking ones- and he didn¡¯t just mean the deep sea residents of Akrys. So far, he had no evidence either way for sapience orck of it. He expected intelligence, as that was a key to survival, but whether it extended beyond that couldn¡¯t be known. He approached cautiously. The first thing that happened as he was beginning to enter the system proper was an ambush by hundreds of dart-like creatures that appeared from seemingly nowhere. The closest Anton couldpare them to would be small swordfish, if said fish could swim in space. Either way, their stealth skills were exceptional considering they had nothing to hide behind. Star Steps instantly elerated Anton out of their central ambush zone, but they quickly turned to follow him. Anton prepared to defend himself, projecting an aura of danger. He hoped they would respond with something beyond aggression, but their response bordered more on hunger. It would be a fight, then. Avoiding killing them would be difficult, but until he knew more he was going to err on the side of safety. Chapter 1140 Hundreds of tiny creatures threw themselves at Anton, trying to cut off his every line of movement. He wasn¡¯t able to directly escape encirclement, even with a significant advantage in his individual speed. Killing the dart shaped things would be easy enough, if he was willing to risk it. Withpletely new creatures, however, he didn¡¯t want to judge them merely based on appearances and a single encounter. He could only manage that because he had the luxury of power, however. They seemed to have no reaction to bursts of light, so Anton began throwing out concussive sts of natural energy. He could certainly burn them up, but he didn¡¯t know which organs were vital or how much damage he would cause by puncturing their bodies. If he wanted to kill them he could have managed that easily enough, but he just wanted to stop them. It took a bit for him to test the limits of their sturdiness, but soon he was knocking them unconscious with expert precision. Once he got used to their swarming patterns, Anton also found himself more able to dodge them. When he got the opportunity, he broke through an opening and elerated away from them- moving further from the system. As he watched their behavior after he was gone, some of the creatures began to fight among themselves and devour each other. That didn¡¯t speak of any sort of sapience Anton wanted to be associated with, but he could afford to take his time. He considered binding the star for his own safety. There were certainly more powerful individual life forms in the system that might be able to cause him trouble otherwise. But if there was anyone who could actually care and with the potential to give permission, Anton didn¡¯t want to just assume. There could even be human residents somewhere he hadn¡¯t sensed, hiding from what he presumed were beasts. The way a great number of them lived among the stars was quite unique. Now that he¡¯d seen their capacity to hide among nothing at all, Anton was content to observe from further away. One of thergest individuals was a great sheetlike thing. If he were topare it to anything, it would be a deep sea jelly- except without any sort of gathering tendrils, and without a curved body. It was more or less t, except for round pustules that Anton thought were captured bits of food. Watching for a few days, it seemed to be drifting towards a particr pocket of natural energy, catching anything in front of it. That included many smaller life forms that Anton hadn¡¯t previously noticed. Everything had ways to hide from the others, both their physical form and natural energy. The engulfer- since calling it a ¡®nket creature¡¯ was a bit odd- was mostly transparent, revealing the stars behind it. As for natural energy, it seemed to disperse it throughout its hundred meter across body, barely surpassing ambient levels even to his own refined senses. It was best observed by its effects on the world around it- and the asionalrger specimen that got stuck to it. Though even that wasn¡¯t enough for some less intelligent creatures that tried- usually unsessfully- to feast on the seemingly unimed remains. Often they ended up captured themselves, slowly drawn into a pocket that digested them. Anton hadn¡¯t conclusively determined that the engulfer was not sapient, but the likelihood of it having anything more than simple reactions to simple stimuli was low. It didn¡¯t have anything resembling a nervous system, though that didn¡¯t entirely eliminate the possibility of sapience. Maheg was little more than sma and natural energy, but the star had a consciousness and real thoughts, even if its intelligence was alien. Eventually Anton would probably judge everything in the system to be beasts, but he¡¯d seen too many oddities to befortable assuming after just a day or two. The dart-like, fishy creatures who had ambushed him seemed to be proficient pack hunters, taking downrger individuals with great sess. It wasn¡¯t that strange they had thought they could take him out as well, though their mistake was likely one of magnitude. His body wasn¡¯t thatrge, but his energy should have tipped them off. Anton had already sent messages back to the Alliance. No doubt a whole swarm of biologists would be here at some point, as they rarely had opportunities to study one wholly new species, let alone what seemed an entire system¡¯s worth. While it might not be a friendly ecosystem, Anton thought it was actually quite healthy. While there were things constantly devouring each other, that behavior could only be observed on arge scale. There were much smaller and more efficient creatures that the smallest things fed upon- and things like the engulfer, ironically. Thes seemed to have nt life, which was the basis of everything. It wasn¡¯t possible to have a functioning system entirely based off of life devouring other life, because some energy was always lost in the process. Usually a significant portion. On that note, one of the terrestrials with a thick atmosphere had a very healthy poption of all sorts of things. It had forests and seas full of nts, animals, and of course fungi. Some of the nts seemed fond of eating things, which somewhat ruined their efficiency, but that was only a small portion. Maybe one percent of the nt biomass, split betweennd and sea. Carnivorous nts weren¡¯t unique in the cultivator world, as seen in grasping willows. Technically the trees could survive on sunlight alone, but they rarely did. They certainly grew more when receiving alternate energy sources. Grandfather Willow got donated natural energy from the sect, and a few stray forest beasts. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred tform. Support original creators! Though he could call the system terrifying and savage, Anton liked it. It was lively. He wasn¡¯t the sort that thought ¡®natural¡¯ worlds were better than any other sort. Well cultivated crops were extremely valuable to life, and humans could help stabilize ecosystems if they chose to, but it was nice to see something functional instead of another ce that was suffering the aftermath of upper realms invasions. Anton doubted that any invaders would have brought a fully functioning intearywork of life with them to try to wipe out a system. Or that they could have, given the huge variety. Speaking of the system, given that he hadn¡¯t heard a native name to call it, Anton would be going with r. That was what it had been named by the Alliance, after the scout who had perished trying to observe it. It wasn¡¯t exactly the same name, but it was meant as a form of respect for their sacrifice. It took Anton some time to figure out where he wanted to jump into closer observation. He couldn¡¯t get a full picture from the edge of the system. He could vaguely pick out insects on thes, but he kind of wanted to see what sort of microorganisms they had. That said, he needed to make sure such things didn¡¯t get too good of a look at him, as he wasn¡¯t keen on getting a new and exciting space disease. Something very exciting happened on the other side of the system. A distortion beast attracted to the system suddenly appeared, devouring the local inhabitants¡­ before it was swarmed by everything within that section of space. Most of the various spacefaring creatures were able to elerate to significant speeds, given thepleteck of friction. They didn¡¯t seem afraid of impacts at such velocity, either. It was a fight thatsted days, but the most interesting part was how many of the local creatures took bites out of the bits of the distortion beast hanging out in subspace. By the time the distortion beast realized it should retreat, it was being devoured by a menagerie of different things. So, there was some cooperation between different species- at least as it came to distortion beasts. Anton would have to be careful in case that applied to any outsiders, though he hadn¡¯t noticed such a strong reaction when he was attacked. Only the local space-darts had gone after him, with some nearby creatures seeming to observe, likely interested in scavenging. Anton had only seen some bones, wings, and ws from the distortion beast, but he could feel quite a number of odd bits of flesh and organ in the bellies of the other creatures. As the battle had dragged on he¡¯d approached closer- going around the system- so he was close enough to sense such things at the end. It seemed not a single scrap of the distortion beast was left in empty space- or within subspace, as far as Anton could tell with his experience. The local creatures seemed to be mostly sated, avoiding violence as they drifted apart- though there were a few exceptions. Aside from the strong natural energy, Anton wondered what unique circumstances had led to such exceptional developments. He was far more used to life-seededs, and anywhere humans went they tended to bring along familiar species even if a was formerly unique. Ultimately he decided to approach again, wary of ambush predators. He wasn¡¯t going to get close to any just yet, but he could sense life living among the vast distances in a far out asteroid field. Rather than moving quickly- aside from the distortion beast incident- the general state of the local creatures seemed to be picking a direction and drifting. Sometimes they would drift rapidly, but they were content waiting days or weeks without atmosphere or any sort of food or drink. Natural energy could sustain them to some extent, but unique biology had to cover the rest. Anton picked as his destination an asteroid a few kilometers across. Not tiny, but certainly not one of the biggest. As for his approach, he tried to mimic the locals, giving himself an initial eleration then avoiding using his energy. That did make it easier to conceal himself from would-be predators, though he did have to keep his senses primed. His senses certainly couldn¡¯t catch everything, as to extend beyond a certain point he had to sharpen them into narrow bands which could cover approximately none of the total area- unlike on a where most life was in a narrow band atopnd. Avoiding actuallynding on his target, Anton caught himself into a simr movement pattern near it. At just a few dozen kilometers he was able to focus his senses sufficiently to pick out the smallest things- like bacteria. As he had noticed along the way, there were certainly simr microscopic organisms spread out in empty space itself but he found far more on the surface of the asteroid. It didn¡¯t really have much in the way of soil, but where it was looser he felt what he assumed was a healthy poption of various organisms. There were a few things burrowed into the rocks that had arger scale, but thergest things in the area didn¡¯t live on the surface at all. That didn¡¯t just count the giants. No nts were growing on this particr asteroid, but he¡¯d felt a few oddities on some others ¡®nearby¡¯. He¡¯d obviously have to cover the many thousands of kilometers between them to know for sure, but there might be something. Oh, and there was some sort of fungus in some of the cracks on his asteroid. The people of Moturn would be so happy to hear about that. Obviously Anton was kidding. He wouldn¡¯t have anyone touch unknown fungus more than he would touch mysterious energy. They were more liable to be deadly than nutritious, or at the very least mildly unhealthy in entirely unique ways. Perhaps they weren¡¯t even technically fungus, as with the oddity of r they could fit in entirely unique categories of life¡­ but even if they weren¡¯t rted, Anton nned to use useful descriptors. Having not been swarmed, even after he was fairly certain some of the locals noticed him, Anton decided that distortion beasts were the biggest local threat. People like him might be prey or they might be predators, but he wasn¡¯t seen as the same sort of existential threat. Or maybe he didn¡¯t smell tasty. Chapter 1141 Chapter 1141 Blending in within r wasn¡¯t that bad once Anton got used to it. Seeming like he belonged didn¡¯tpletely inste Anton from assault- carnivores would always be looking for something to eat and pretty much anything might want to tap into his natural energy. However, it was possible to go one step further. Back when he had been a normal hunter, it had all been about avoiding senses. Sound, sight, smell. All could tip off creatures in the woods. The way his natural energy felt was one more thing. Anton didn¡¯t intend to go for aplete lockdown of his energy, but he also didn¡¯t want things chasing him from halfway across the system. The first asteroid he had set foot on likely had enough new things to study for the rest of his life, if he wanted to understand them in detail- but Anton was happy withrger categorizations. He wanted a broad overview of r, to see if he could discover how so many different species adapted to the vacuum of space. Perhaps it was simply that they had enough natural energy, but something had to reach the point of using such techniques first. r was the least empty system he¡¯d ever been in, and Ceretos had people zipping around betweens all the time. But nobody lingered elsewhere, except for brief periods of time. Here, within a certain distance of the local star, there was always life. Microorganisms both in the form of miniscule animals and even nts. Normally all forms of life involved a certain environment- usually that meant a certain range of temperature and a certain mixture of gasses. That was required for respiration by ns and animals. Even underwater fish typically extracted oxygen from the surrounding environment. The methods the local creatures used were quite varied. Therge ones mostly seemed to be using natural energy to directly handle internal processes that would require such things like breathing, as well as maintaining their own body temperature. On the other end of the spectrum, there were tiny nts surrounded by fine hairs that captured a miniature atmosphere around them, encouraged by a bit of natural energy of course. It wasn¡¯t possible for them to grow to any relevant extent without capturing more atmosphere around them, but merely maintaining their current state was possible. Some creatures consumed said tiny nts to make use of their air and their nutrients. Anton had the mind to try to ¡®nt¡¯ such things elsewhere, but without exactly the right conditions he doubted a star could sustain them. With an ecosystem like r¡¯s, half replication would likely result in total copse. Though on the actuals with proper atmospheres it would be easier to achieve a reasonable bnce, as the building blocks of life were more readily avable. Yet despite the ease of living in such ces, it seemed that the local popce almost shunned them.Not entirely, of course. It was hard to describe any part of the system as anything but teeming with life, but Anton would have thought that some of therger creatures would have taken advantage of easy terrestrial resources. Then again, at a certain point their bodies might only be able to thrive in zero gravity. Anton picked out one particr solid as his next destination after the far asteroids. He intended to descend upon a mountaintop, because while he could fly around andnd anywhere, that would cause arger disturbance. However, even said snowy mountaintop wasn¡¯t entirely without inhabitants. There were a number of creatures that Anton could only describe as bubbles. He supposed that like the tiny nts they would be carrying their own atmosphere into space, but internally instead of externally. They seemed to be fairly easily able to ascend and descend, using their buoyancy within the atmosphere until it thinned, then propelling themselves further with energy. Active energy usage was widespread, though Anton still had difficulty in determining if there was any sapience behind any of it. One of the first things Anton encountered on the mountaintop aside from said bubbles was a strange nt. Anton could liken it to a pitcher nt, but it was living in nothing at all like a jungle. Instead, it was freezing cold. Anton didn¡¯t think it could have survived if not for the natural energy it carried. Rather than a trap of some sort, the water the nt carried within it seemed to be for its own use somehow. Anton watched as a vine was dipped into the liquid- which should certainly have been freezing- before being pulled out, coated in ice. The nt did that again and again, creating an everrger icicle upon it which was used for¡­ Anton had no idea what. Nothing it was doing in the hours he spent observing it seemed practical and likely to contribute to its survival. Perhaps if he watched for several days he might have seen something. Maybe the strange motions simply allowed it to absorb more natural energy somehow. ----- r continued to surprise Anton with creatures that made their homes in rocks. He discovered that when he stepped close to one and it rolled backwards. That motion caused Anton to focus more clearly on what he¡¯d thought to be a normal boulder. Something was living inside it. In another ce, the natural energy within the creature would have stood out, but here Anton had simply expected the rocks to be full of energy like everything else. He checked a few others just to make certain and they were indeed normal rocks infused with natural energy. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences elsewhere. Cultivators might see this system as a ce of treasures to scour for profit. Less so the Lower Realms Alliance, since they knew the value of imbuing things with their own natural energy- they didn¡¯t have to wait for it to ur naturally. Taking from nature within reason was fine- Anton had been a hunter, and he didn¡¯t see foraging for nts or using stone to build a home as inappropriate things. But everything required proper bnce. Anton could have made extra money one year by hunting thergest bucks, and the next year there would have been hardly any deer in the forest for him to feed his family. In short, to live somewhere long term moderation had to be achieved. Cultivators lived a long time, but they didn¡¯t always live where they harvested. That was where the negative aspects of the upper realms hade into y most clearly- though even the invaders tended to have some sense of sustainability, leaving a core poption to live in the world each cycle before snatching up what they had. It was quite rude, though, to treat other humans like livestock or crops. Rude in the sort of way that required the deaths of those involved in self defense. It was far different from the care a good farmer gave to their livestock. Anton¡¯s feet continued to carry him down the mountain, observing the rock-encapsted creatures and many more things. Some nts took familiar shapes- grasses and the like thrived for a reason, taking up little mass but gathering much sunlight and air. Here, they seemed to subsist easily even in the cold and thin atmosphere. There was a forest below. Like grass, trees existed for a reason. Being big and tall to oupete everything below you for light was a huge advantage. It worked just as well for absorbing the natural energy from a star, as they would still be closer. Though more mobile animals took advantage of that by using trees as perches¡­ and Anton saw vines that were quite happy to live among them as well. Anton¡¯s steps were light, not wanting to crush anything underfoot. This was a strange ce where he was just a visitor, and even though he¡¯d been met with violence, he had no reason to respond in the same manner. More than that, something told him to be cautious. Anton had learned to trust his insight even when it was at its most vague. Sometimes, the subconscious could pick up on things far before the conscious mind. One might think that it was easier for cultivators to turn those thoughts into conscious ones, and it was true to some extent- but a healthy development made the subconscious even more insightful, keeping it ahead of even the most acute of rational thinkers. The amount of life the could sustain was far higher than it would have been ording to its climate. Anton might think he was in the tropics with the way that the local area almost resembled a jungle, but he knew that this wasn¡¯t even close to being the most density of life, based on his wide area observations. His mind always wanted to put familiar names to what he saw- trees, vines, birds, snakes, and the like. Usually, that worked. Here, he was often surprised. A winged creature might indeed be a bird, but it could also be a bat. Or, apparently, they could be reptilian. There was one particr that Anton had thought was basically just a snake, until it flew between trees. He¡¯d seen snakes that were good at jumping, and this one did use some natural energy to boost it, but thergest factor was the wings it unfolded from alongside its thin body. It could certainly glide without any natural energy, and with a bit of a boost pushing it upward it seemed able to control its movement to loop upward. It snatched something dangling from a tree- surprisingly, a fruit. Then it caught its tail around a branch, dangling downward. The wings folded back into its sides, seeming as if they were never there, as the creature slowly pulled the fruit vertically into it. So it was something like a snake and flying squirrelbined. And it ate fruit, though Anton supposed that anything might eat fruit infused with so much natural energy. As it dangled, the snake would be able to watch for most iing predators. If attacked from above¡­ Anton supposed it could drop down beneath the canopy safely. So the animals were weird, but the nts even more so. He¡¯d seen more than a few examples of carnivorous nts. There were various forms of traps, from entangling vines like the grasping willows totching leaves or sticky surfaces, but that was only the beginning. Anton almost missed it, but one nt actually shot a zap of electricity at a beetle climbing above it, causing the insect to drop next to it. Roots- or something simr- slowly began to wrap around the beetle, dragging it into a sort of cagelike center where presumably it would be digested. There it was again. Active energy use. Anton knew that even beasts could cultivate, using certain elements almost instinctually when they had sufficient natural energy. Here, it was the norm instead of the exceptional creatures that seemed able to make use of such things. Without even touching it, Anton managed to trigger some sort of sinuous thorny groundcover to snap out and il around his leg. If he didn¡¯t have defenses it could have pierced into him- and he detected poison on the thorns. ¡°Sorry, but I¡¯m not for eating,¡± Anton said as he pulled his leg away. The nt seemed to recoil as he stepped away, not quite resetting to its former position. It wasn¡¯t long before Anton encountered a mushroom. He¡¯de to like them as a vision of robustness. They could grow quickly in many different environments, and though they needed something suitable for their particr needs they were often an efficient use of space or a good way of recycling unwanted resources. This mushroom- or colony of mushrooms- was a bitrger than typical. By which Anton of course meant that head height was usually reserved for untouched paradises, brimming with natural energy. Technically r fit into that category, so maybe it was more odd that it was only as tall as him. Anton looked at it. The mushrooms shook, releasing spores downwind. Better to avoid those, or be very careful to make sure they didn¡¯t reach his lungs. Regardless of whether they meant to, it would be easy for such delicate organs to be harmed. Especially when imbued with such powerful natural energy. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 1142 Of the various dangers in a forest, one thing that wouldn¡¯t be at the top of people¡¯s lists was fruit. There were of course some that contained toxins that might not be processed properly, but Anton wasn¡¯t thinking about that aspect of things. He was thinking about blunt force trauma. Or in this case Anton was considering puncture dangers as a head sized fruit with spines doubling its size crashed into the ground in front of him. To actually harm a cultivator like him it would require more than gravity, but Anton almost had the feeling the tree had tried to kill him. There had been a surge of natural energy within it before the fruit rapidly descended. Even if it had hit it didn¡¯t have any apanying energy bolstering its killing power, but still. Anton carefully picked it up. He was aware that there were asionally materials that could puncture defensive energy, and thus handling with care was appropriate. But the fruit itself, while far sharper than any fruit had any right to be, was merely that. Rather sharp. There were clear marks in the ground in front of Anton where it had fallen, more than two fingers deep. Plenty to kill passing creatures. Was it some sort of defense mechanism, or a ploy to kill an animal to provide nutrients? Anton¡¯s observation of the tree revealed sturdier spines along its trunk. It was quite tall, easily over twenty meters. He slowly reached out to touch its trunk¡­ and it reacted. Bark rippled, realigning spines towards his hand, along with a surge of natural energy that would be sufficient to puncture the defenses of most creatures. That certainly indicated some form of awareness, and it might even be necessary to protect itself against particrly voracious creatures. Anton pulled his hand back and walked off. He didn¡¯t need to make the tree waste more energy trying to protect itself. He did take the fruit, of course. It was his now. His senses picked through the structure of the fruit. Beneath the spines, it had quite a bit of edible flesh in the central sphere. Along with significant quantities of natural energy, Anton sensed mostly familiar ediblepounds. Nothing that seemed dangerous to him, at least. He cut it open as he began to walk along, keeping in mind the particr tree that had dropped the fruit. If it was the right season for the fruit, he might be able to observe more of its behavior. He hoped to catch a simr situation that had happened to him, and it seemed to have at least a few dozen simrly ripe fruit. Beneath the tough skin of the fruit were many smaller sacs. Anton ate one the size of a small berry. It was sweet and juicy, with notes of citrus. That was all he consumed at first, to see if his body would react negatively. It shouldn¡¯t, but he was confident in purging any problematicpounds, and it would be much easier if he only had a very little. The seeds were the shape of two cones joined at their base, effectively forming a single pointy package. Anton picked one out and studied it. The flesh of the fruit was strongly imbued with natural energy, but the seed was several times as potent. Eating it would be a problem if one was not careful, as the energy seemed to contribute to its solidity and the puncturing power. Carelessness would result in great pain inside the mouth. After counting a dozen of the seeds, Anton considered eating one but the effort the nt put into making that not happen filled him with a sort of pity. Even if it had tried to kill him, he could help it out by looking for a decent ce to nt them. Somewhere without too muchpetition, preferably, though it wasn¡¯t as if there was anywhere without some form of life. r had life in abundance. Much of it was struggling to be on top, while other bits were filling the gaps. Perhaps not so different from a standard ecosystem, but all the more visible for the novelty of its individual pieces. When he picked the first location, Anton pushed a seed into the soil gently. He was trying to determine what depth would most make sense when the seed suddenly shot downward, propelled by some portion of the natural energy within it. It ended up buried about a half meter deep. Intrigued by the event, Anton tossed the next seed onto the ground casually. For a moment nothing happened, then it twisted until the point was down before also shooting into the ground in two bursts. Fascinating. For the third one, he used his own energy to ce it in the ground. The seed reacted to his active energy by solidifying itself, but seemed to settle into a simr strata of the soil- making very slight adjustments. Around that time, Anton was charged by a quadruped with a spined head- like someone put a porcupine onto the head of a boar. Personally Anton thought that a single horn or a pair was better than a whole forest of puncturing weapons, but he didn¡¯t have time to discuss that with the creature. He looked around for markings that might indicate it was the creature¡¯s territory as he leapt over it. Whatever the creature was, it didn¡¯t seem to have good braking abilities or eyesight. It crashed into a fallen trunk. Numerous spines were left behind as it pulled back. Anton expected that regenerating them would take some time, but whatever that cost the creature was the consequences of its own actions. It didn¡¯t pursue Anton, perhaps realizing it would be a fruitless endeavor. There were a few things Anton could guess were territorial signs, but he could only tie a few of them to that particr creature. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Somewhere around that point, the original spined tree did something again. Itunched one of its fruits far into the distance. A propulsive burst of natural energyunched it a full three kilometers away over the canopy, before the fruit itself exploded, sending the seeds in all directions. It seemed a rather destructive method of reproduction, but that might be beneficial. If it actually harmed surrounding nts, they would be less able topete with the new trees. Anton wondered if the angle meant anything. Clearly it was a different sort of action than throwing the fruit at him- his hadn¡¯t exploded, for one thing. But if it was trying to kill him, why not make it explode? Perhaps to protect itself? Anton thought the tree felt sturdy enough, but maybe it still hadpunctions about detonating anything directly near it. ----- Once Anton was satisfied that the fruit wasn¡¯t going to harm him, he finished eating the rest of it for lunch, sitting by a nice stream that was flowing into a pond. Water features were always rxing. ? It seemed that r hadn¡¯t diverted too far from the standard form for fish. Generally, long bodies with some sort of fins. Mobility was important, and without that it was unlikely any sorts of creatures would survive. This particr stream only had smaller fishes, as it likely couldn¡¯t support anything much longer. For the most part the fish acted as he expected. There were even some archer fish- shooting spurts of water to knock bugs into the water. Of course, the couldn¡¯t go long without producing something unique from Anton¡¯s perspective. He saw one fish swimming back and forth, picking up speed before finally vaulting out of the water and onto the shore- right into a berry bush full of spines. The fish appeared unconcerned, however. Indeed, it must have been its destination as it wiggled through the bush, swallowing peach colored berries. The fish seemed to be aided by some sort of mucousy coating on it, making the spines slide off of its scales. When it had its fill, it wiggled out of the bush and used its fins to push itself along the surface of the ground like paddles. Somewhat like a mudskipper, but on dry leaves and twigs. Quite a few of which were also sharp. The fish made it back into the water and Anton wouldn¡¯t have guessed it just had an excursion on the surface if he didn¡¯t know better. As he stood up from his lunch perch to continue his hike, he noticed something happening on the pond. The algae was swirling and gathering together. Natural energy was infusing into it as it gathered together into clumps. Then it began forming arger shape, the final version of which Anton could easily say he had not anticipated. The algae pushed itself towards a shallower part of the pond, standing up- on two legs- and walking towards Anton. Saying it was humanoid was about as far as Anton could go, but it was missing the majority of features. The best it got was something like two arms, two legs, and the head and torso shapes- though the head flowed smoothly from the ¡®shoulders¡¯ instead of being atop a neck. ¡°Well, hello,¡± Anton said, waving. The algae waved back, then settled into the same position Anton was standing in. He quickly learned that it mirrored his movements. If it was just to that point, Anton might have been able to convince himself it was simply some form of mimic, taking upon a new form to try to gain some advantage. However, it seemed like a rather excessive use of natural energy just for that. As for where that energy came from¡­ it was the algae. Unless there was something with truly phenomenal control skills, nothing else was connected to it. The algae was operating all on its own. Anton slowly took a step closer, and his mirror did the same. With not much in the way of better ideas, Anton reached out his hand to attempt a handshake. Obviously the algae wouldn¡¯t recognize the gesture. Anton hadn¡¯t quite expected how pleasantly awkward that would make things. As it mirrored him, what he would consider its left arm reached out. Conveniently, since it hadn¡¯t formed a hand it had a more or less round protrusion. Because of that, Anton tilted his hand and gently grabbed the ¡®wrist¡¯, moving up and down gently. He kept his energy restrained during the process so as to not frighten his new acquaintance. The algae seemed quite brave, and shortly after he touched it the thing reformed its arms into more urate shapes with something like hands- or at least mitten shaped protrusions instead of simply tubes. It stretched forward its right hand, aiming for Anton¡¯s left wrist. Anton decided to let it, because letting a few odd social habits form was safer than causing confusion. Its ¡®hand¡¯ gently wrapped around Anton and moved up and down. It was wet and slimy, but none of it clung to Anton as it pulled away. It would be difficult for Anton to call it anything but friendly. Furthermore, it was hard to deny it had some real understanding. Or that it had some sort of moreplex cultivation, though Anton might not have been able to recognize that without seeing Maheg. Both humans and animals had some form of dantian, semi-spiritual organs within which they contained their gathered energy. In some respects, Maheg could be considered to be entirely such a construct, though perhaps it was better to not push human constructs on things. As for the algae, what Anton had taken for infused energy when he was sitting nearby watching the fish actually seemed to be an intentional arrangement of some sort. He didn¡¯t fully understand how it worked, but it clearly did otherwise none of what was happening in front of him would be taking ce. There had been some small hope in Anton¡¯s mind that he might discover new sapient life in this system because of the wide variety of odd things, but if he had been asked what it would be, Anton would have ced algae at the bottom of the list, just below many other nts and slightly above single celled organisms or bacteria. Anton also now had to re-evaluate other things he had encountered in the context of cultivating- and thinking- nt life. There were more than a few things that had struck him as odd, in fact. Chapter 1143 Of the various dangers in a forest, one thing that wouldn¡¯t be at the top of people¡¯s lists was fruit. There were of course some that contained toxins that might not be processed properly, but Anton wasn¡¯t thinking about that aspect of things. He was thinking about blunt force trauma. Or in this case Anton was considering puncture dangers as a head sized fruit with spines doubling its size crashed into the ground in front of him. To actually harm a cultivator like him it would require more than gravity, but Anton almost had the feeling the tree had tried to kill him. There had been a surge of natural energy within it before the fruit rapidly descended. Even if it had hit it didn¡¯t have any apanying energy bolstering its killing power, but still. Anton carefully picked it up. He was aware that there were asionally materials that could puncture defensive energy, and thus handling with care was appropriate. But the fruit itself, while far sharper than any fruit had any right to be, was merely that. Rather sharp. There were clear marks in the ground in front of Anton where it had fallen, more than two fingers deep. Plenty to kill passing creatures. Was it some sort of defense mechanism, or a ploy to kill an animal to provide nutrients? Anton¡¯s observation of the tree revealed sturdier spines along its trunk. It was quite tall, easily over twenty meters. He slowly reached out to touch its trunk¡­ and it reacted. Bark rippled, realigning spines towards his hand, along with a surge of natural energy that would be sufficient to puncture the defenses of most creatures. That certainly indicated some form of awareness, and it might even be necessary to protect itself against particrly voracious creatures. Anton pulled his hand back and walked off. He didn¡¯t need to make the tree waste more energy trying to protect itself. He did take the fruit, of course. It was his now. His senses picked through the structure of the fruit. Beneath the spines, it had quite a bit of edible flesh in the central sphere. Along with significant quantities of natural energy, Anton sensed mostly familiar ediblepounds. Nothing that seemed dangerous to him, at least. He cut it open as he began to walk along, keeping in mind the particr tree that had dropped the fruit. If it was the right season for the fruit, he might be able to observe more of its behavior. He hoped to catch a simr situation that had happened to him, and it seemed to have at least a few dozen simrly ripe fruit. Beneath the tough skin of the fruit were many smaller sacs. Anton ate one the size of a small berry. It was sweet and juicy, with notes of citrus. That was all he consumed at first, to see if his body would react negatively. It shouldn¡¯t, but he was confident in purging any problematicpounds, and it would be much easier if he only had a very little. The seeds were the shape of two cones joined at their base, effectively forming a single pointy package. Anton picked one out and studied it. The flesh of the fruit was strongly imbued with natural energy, but the seed was several times as potent. Eating it would be a problem if one was not careful, as the energy seemed to contribute to its solidity and the puncturing power. Carelessness would result in great pain inside the mouth. After counting a dozen of the seeds, Anton considered eating one but the effort the nt put into making that not happen filled him with a sort of pity. Even if it had tried to kill him, he could help it out by looking for a decent ce to nt them. Somewhere without too muchpetition, preferably, though it wasn¡¯t as if there was anywhere without some form of life. r had life in abundance. Much of it was struggling to be on top, while other bits were filling the gaps. Perhaps not so different from a standard ecosystem, but all the more visible for the novelty of its individual pieces. When he picked the first location, Anton pushed a seed into the soil gently. He was trying to determine what depth would most make sense when the seed suddenly shot downward, propelled by some portion of the natural energy within it. It ended up buried about a half meter deep. Intrigued by the event, Anton tossed the next seed onto the ground casually. For a moment nothing happened, then it twisted until the point was down before also shooting into the ground in two bursts. Fascinating. For the third one, he used his own energy to ce it in the ground. The seed reacted to his active energy by solidifying itself, but seemed to settle into a simr strata of the soil- making very slight adjustments. Around that time, Anton was charged by a quadruped with a spined head- like someone put a porcupine onto the head of a boar. Personally Anton thought that a single horn or a pair was better than a whole forest of puncturing weapons, but he didn¡¯t have time to discuss that with the creature. He looked around for markings that might indicate it was the creature¡¯s territory as he leapt over it. Whatever the creature was, it didn¡¯t seem to have good braking abilities or eyesight. It crashed into a fallen trunk. Numerous spines were left behind as it pulled back. Anton expected that regenerating them would take some time, but whatever that cost the creature was the consequences of its own actions. It didn¡¯t pursue Anton, perhaps realizing it would be a fruitless endeavor. There were a few things Anton could guess were territorial signs, but he could only tie a few of them to that particr creature. This story has been uwfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Somewhere around that point, the original spined tree did something again. Itunched one of its fruits far into the distance. A propulsive burst of natural energyunched it a full three kilometers away over the canopy, before the fruit itself exploded, sending the seeds in all directions. It seemed a rather destructive method of reproduction, but that might be beneficial. If it actually harmed surrounding nts, they would be less able topete with the new trees. Anton wondered if the angle meant anything. Clearly it was a different sort of action than throwing the fruit at him- his hadn¡¯t exploded, for one thing. But if it was trying to kill him, why not make it explode? Perhaps to protect itself? Anton thought the tree felt sturdy enough, but maybe it still hadpunctions about detonating anything directly near it. ----- Once Anton was satisfied that the fruit wasn¡¯t going to harm him, he finished eating the rest of it for lunch, sitting by a nice stream that was flowing into a pond. Water features were always rxing. It seemed that r hadn¡¯t diverted too far from the standard form for fish. Generally, long bodies with some sort of fins. Mobility was important, and without that it was unlikely any sorts of creatures would survive. This particr stream only had smaller fishes, as it likely couldn¡¯t support anything much longer. For the most part the fish acted as he expected. There were even some archer fish- shooting spurts of water to knock bugs into the water. Of course, the couldn¡¯t go long without producing something unique from Anton¡¯s perspective. He saw one fish swimming back and forth, picking up speed before finally vaulting out of the water and onto the shore- right into a berry bush full of spines. The fish appeared unconcerned, however. Indeed, it must have been its destination as it wiggled through the bush, swallowing peach colored berries. The fish seemed to be aided by some sort of mucousy coating on it, making the spines slide off of its scales. When it had its fill, it wiggled out of the bush and used its fins to push itself along the surface of the ground like paddles. Somewhat like a mudskipper, but on dry leaves and twigs. Quite a few of which were also sharp. The fish made it back into the water and Anton wouldn¡¯t have guessed it just had an excursion on the surface if he didn¡¯t know better. As he stood up from his lunch perch to continue his hike, he noticed something happening on the pond. The algae was swirling and gathering together. Natural energy was infusing into it as it gathered together into clumps. Then it began forming arger shape, the final version of which Anton could easily say he had not anticipated. The algae pushed itself towards a shallower part of the pond, standing up- on two legs- and walking towards Anton. Saying it was humanoid was about as far as Anton could go, but it was missing the majority of features. The best it got was something like two arms, two legs, and the head and torso shapes- though the head flowed smoothly from the ¡®shoulders¡¯ instead of being atop a neck. ¡°Well, hello,¡± Anton said, waving. The algae waved back, then settled into the same position Anton was standing in. He quickly learned that it mirrored his movements. If it was just to that point, Anton might have been able to convince himself it was simply some form of mimic, taking upon a new form to try to gain some advantage. However, it seemed like a rather excessive use of natural energy just for that. As for where that energy came from¡­ it was the algae. Unless there was something with truly phenomenal control skills, nothing else was connected to it. The algae was operating all on its own. Anton slowly took a step closer, and his mirror did the same. With not much in the way of better ideas, Anton reached out his hand to attempt a handshake. Obviously the algae wouldn¡¯t recognize the gesture. Anton hadn¡¯t quite expected how pleasantly awkward that would make things. As it mirrored him, what he would consider its left arm reached out. Conveniently, since it hadn¡¯t formed a hand it had a more or less round protrusion. Because of that, Anton tilted his hand and gently grabbed the ¡®wrist¡¯, moving up and down gently. He kept his energy restrained during the process so as to not frighten his new acquaintance. The algae seemed quite brave, and shortly after he touched it the thing reformed its arms into more urate shapes with something like hands- or at least mitten shaped protrusions instead of simply tubes. It stretched forward its right hand, aiming for Anton¡¯s left wrist. Anton decided to let it, because letting a few odd social habits form was safer than causing confusion. Its ¡®hand¡¯ gently wrapped around Anton and moved up and down. It was wet and slimy, but none of it clung to Anton as it pulled away. It would be difficult for Anton to call it anything but friendly. Furthermore, it was hard to deny it had some real understanding. Or that it had some sort of moreplex cultivation, though Anton might not have been able to recognize that without seeing Maheg. Both humans and animals had some form of dantian, semi-spiritual organs within which they contained their gathered energy. In some respects, Maheg could be considered to be entirely such a construct, though perhaps it was better to not push human constructs on things. As for the algae, what Anton had taken for infused energy when he was sitting nearby watching the fish actually seemed to be an intentional arrangement of some sort. He didn¡¯t fully understand how it worked, but it clearly did otherwise none of what was happening in front of him would be taking ce. There had been some small hope in Anton¡¯s mind that he might discover new sapient life in this system because of the wide variety of odd things, but if he had been asked what it would be, Anton would have ced algae at the bottom of the list, just below many other nts and slightly above single celled organisms or bacteria. Anton also now had to re-evaluate other things he had encountered in the context of cultivating- and thinking- nt life. There were more than a few things that had struck him as odd, in fact. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 1144 Despite how he appeared on the surface, Tauno¡¯s style wasn¡¯t one of brute force. Or not solely brute force. He liked to use his power where it was applicable, taking advantage of weaponry and the force multipliers they provided while aiming for weak points on his targets. Everyone tried to do that to some extent, but Tauno took the best parts of his foes for future use. With his spine spear gone, clearly it was time to upgrade his weaponry. He needed something with high offensive power and durability. From what he could see, about half of this beetle probably counted. Part of the problem was the scale it was acting at, and how hard it made it for it to assault him. The mountain sized beetle wasn¡¯t helpless, though. It had heaps of energy to batter him with, and the flexibility of its limbs was something that honestly didn¡¯t even make much sense. The segments of its legs could bend around in such a way that it was able to attack him with some of its rear legs when he was on the front, and with its front legs when he was at its back. In the middle, he was subject to attack from both sides. Tauno¡¯s current efforts were all based around trying to get the creature tangled up in itself, which might require some physical repositioning on his part. Getting a grip on a giant leg was a bit difficult, however. The smooth surface of the beetle¡¯s chitin didn¡¯t provide much grip, and unsurprisingly his fingers weren¡¯t long enough to fit around a tower sized appendage. If he gathered his energy he could extend his grip, but the beetle very quickly shrugged off any hold he had on it. Thus, he had to get the timing just right before it beat him to a pulp. All of that was part of his training to reach Domination¡­ but Tauno knew even if he defeated this creature it wouldn¡¯t be enough. Still, it would bring him one step closer. The middle was the most dangerous place, but also optimal for his plans. Tauno danced around crashing limbs, making his way to the center around the shockwaves and tornado force winds they generated. Once he was precisely between the middle pair of legs, Tauno prepared himself. The massive beetle could support itself on just two legs, attacking with its front and rear pairs, and it did so, blades angling in on Tauno. His hands flicked out to the side, his energy grabbing the middle legs and twisting. He didn¡¯t try to pull them into an impossible alignment. Snapping them off directly would have taken more force than he could reasonably generate with his power in Augmentation. But twisting them? The beetle was surprisingly flexible, which was an advantage for trying to deal with smaller foes on its back- for example- but a disadvantage in that it was easier to manipulate them. One twisted back and one forward. As the massive body dropped, the front and rear legs clashed with the middle pair, using the force of the creature against itself. Massive chitin cracked, shattering the middle legs. Before the massive bulk of the beetle could impact the ground, pulled ponderously down by gravity, the other legs flickered back to their holding positions- but that too was part of Tauno¡¯s strategy. During the moments it was catching its weight, Tauno rushed forward towards the base of its horn, twisting around them to go for the eyes. Rather than attacking one of the most vulnerable parts of a creature, Taunto felt like he was trying to batter down the fortified walls of a keep, or he supposed that these days it would likely be akin to tearing an orbital platform in half. Or a number of smaller ones, perhaps, as the beetle¡¯s compound eyes had their own weaknesses. Tauno placed himself in a small ¡®valley¡¯ within one of the eyes, and by the time the beetle had stabilized its front legs it simply didn¡¯t have the manual dexterity to pick him out- though it was actually much closer than might have been imagined. The sturdy hairs along one of the front legs threatened to sweep him away many times, but with only one leg involved he could pick out a path for his movement. The beetle couldn¡¯t move as quickly as it would have otherwise, as it didn¡¯t want to harm its own eye, but Tauno had no compunctions about causing collateral damage with his own movements. Pushing off of the various parts, he picked up speed as he dodged past a sharpened part of the forelimb, snapping off a relatively sharp bit. He began to drag it along behind him, slowly carving apart the beetle¡¯s eye. At some point it gave up on trying to preserve itself, but by that point its attacks became too reckless, and he still expertly avoided them. All except for one stab that pushed him through the eye and to the back. His body was bruised and broken, but he had an excellent path to what it might call a brain, and its own body now completely protected him. At that point, the battle was already over. Tauno wanted the creature¡¯s horn¡­ but figuring out how to wield such a thing was a puzzle that might take some time. It was probably as big as a city, so even if he could lift it swinging it would be a bit problematic. But he was going to figure it out, or something else of similar value. -----Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Before anyone could arrive in Klar to help with interpretation efforts, Anton continued his wandering path. He went wherever his thoughts led him, with no concern whether it was efficient. Eventually, he ended up in a desert- but just like Xicil, the lack of water did not mean it was without life. There were numerous cacti and other succulents, but also other drought resistant plants. Anton had the feeling that any number of such things could be cultivators, though once again they would have a different style that took particular effort to make out. At a base, he could only tell that all of the plantlike denizens were greedily soaking up the sunlight from the local blue star, just like everything else. Whether anything was able to think at a higher level or not, that would be the basis for all their power. There was something else that Anton noticed, however. Fungus living in the dirt was kicked up just by him moving around. Having already dealt with spacefaring bacteria, however, Anton was well prepared to handle small particulates. He didn¡¯t particularly want to breathe in actual dust, either, so he was already prepared to filter everything coming into him. Though Anton could tell the bacteria would certainly be harmful, without further study it was difficult to tell if any of that would be intentional- if anything of that size could even have ¡®intention¡¯. But the point was that it might not necessarily prefer living hosts, though Anton could observe some of the local wildlife to learn about that. The desert was not entirely without water, it was simply that everything had to use it efficiently. If Anton was to find anything along the lines of cultivation, he could bet that it would involve water manipulation, though heat manipulation was also a possibility. Anton kept his senses relatively close to him, except for the few targets he was still watching from afar. He found too much was lost when dealing with unfamiliar flows of energy when he focused on the world as a whole. Instead, he limited himself to a number of kilometers, ranging a bit further if he sensed a particularly large source of energy. With his senses limited in that way, he was quite surprised to stumble upon something he saw before his senses picked it up- aside from a few birds. The particular thing in question was a tree¡­ and not a thin trunked desert sort, weak and scraggly. Instead, it stood proud and tall. No single portion of it was filled with such potent natural energy that it stood out, but taken as a whole it was a very significant find. The closer Anton got, the more questions he had. The area around the tree was certainly still desert, though the varieties of life around the tree were different than in the rest of the desert. That was because the tree itself provided some measure of shade, which would be detrimental to some life and beneficial to others. The shade came from the tree¡¯s wide leaves, which were quite antithetical to the desert as they would be prone to evaporation. Absorbing more power from the sun might be beneficial, but unless the tree didn¡¯t use water at all Anton wondered how it functioned. However, as he got closer his senses picked up actual signs of evaporation, so it clearly had water within it. The question was just where it came from. Was there a special phenomenon where rain fell only in this particular patch of desert? The tree might actually be tall enough to affect clouds- though it was still far shorter than Grandfather Willow- but that wouldn¡¯t explain how it grew to that height to begin with. As was often the case, the solution was actually far more simple than many of the scenarios he had come up with. Anton¡¯s senses followed the tree¡¯s roots down¡­ and down¡­ and down. There, they spread out as they hit the water table deep underground. It wasn¡¯t exactly a sustainable situation if there were more similar trees, but with just one slurping up deep water from many kilometers around it Anton supposed it was at least stable. Nor could he judge a plant for just trying to survive and thrive. The tree did not react in any way as he approached. Anton carefully observed the various things living around it. He had expected something to try to parasite its source of water, but there didn¡¯t seem to be anything. When he pushed his senses into the body of the tree itself, he picked out at least one possible reason. The water within the higher roots and the trunk was highly alkaline, which meant it would have quite similar properties to acid, though from the opposite chemical direction. Clearly the tree itself was adapted to live with the change, and Anton even guessed it might be on purpose- but determining sapience in the tree was a fruitless endeavor. It was just a tree, and Anton felt no active response to anything he was willing to do. No doubt he could launch an attack and see if it defended itself, but going around damaging things out of curiosity wasn¡¯t particularly nice. Anton leaned against the trunk, appreciating the shade. Just because he could survive the most extreme environment didn¡¯t mean he actually found them comfortable. Even a small effort of natural energy to regulate himself was a mental drain he would rather be without. ¡°Let me know if you can talk,¡± Anton said, rapping on the trunk. He waited a few minutes, just in case it was a slow speaker. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t think so.¡± He would be moving on. He¡¯d sensed a large lizard up ahead. The middle of the day was actually the best time to approach, as it would likely be more relaxed. Many other desert creatures would minimize their activities in the middle of the day, so a lizard could generally relax while sunning itself. Ectothermic creatures might be just as solar powered as plants. Well, not truly- they would still have to eat, which plants didn¡¯t really do unless you counted free carbon or other gasses. Even so, it made Anton feel a sense of affinity for the creature. If he had a bond with the local star, he would be tempted to provide it a little bit of a boost. Then again, too much of a good thing wasn¡¯t always good. There was a delicate balance with natural energy. There was a reason people couldn¡¯t just throw a bunch of energy in a new cultivator and expected them to reach Life Transformation. They simply weren¡¯t ready to handle it. Chapter 1145 Anticipation. That was what Catarina felt as she let energy flow into the formation in front of her. If she was making use of the solar platform for precisely its standard functions, she would have no reason to feel much of anything except confidence. She knew it would work as designed, as it had done so before she reached Domination and had continued to do so afterwards. But seeing Timothy break rules even normal cultivators had to deal with had inspired her to try more radical things herself. If all that happened with Domination was that her fighting abilities rose another level, Catarina would be extremely disappointed. Combat was never the goal. Even when trying to survive against invading armies, Catarina wouldn¡¯t reach for her sword first. It was much better to concoct a situation where there couldn¡¯t even be combat. To win before a battle could begin. That hadn¡¯t quite worked against Zaur Beridze, but they had at least achieved the possibility of victory beforehand, which wouldn¡¯t have otherwise existed without formations. But formations were good for more things than just winning. They had massive utility, and while Catarina thought they had tapped into most of what was possible, she certainly didn¡¯t believe that everything had been achieved. And there might be a few things that simply required extra power. The formation in front of her was almost fully powered, but Catarina¡¯s energy wasn¡¯t just flowing into it but through her. Unlike Chidi, she hadn¡¯t created specific permanent formations inside of herself, but she could replicate certain applications temporarily with her understanding and sufficient power. Moreso at Domination, where power felt almost limitless. Power surged and the world shifted in front of her eyes, resolving into¡­ nothing. Or rather, a field of stars around her as was the case anywhere that could see the sky and wasn¡¯t overwhelmed by other light. But nothing of note within a few lightyears. She was between systems, away from anything. Exactly as intended. That was step one functioning. She did some basic calculations with known stars just to make certain she ended up in the right place- otherwise she wouldn¡¯t want to attempt the next stage of her experiments. To the level of precision her calculations could be accurate, she was confident she had appeared in the correct location. That was important, because for the second step being a tenth of a percent off in the wrong direction would be extremely awkward. She probably wouldn¡¯t die if she ended up inside a star or buried at the core of a planet, but it was better to not have to test things like that. Catarina then repeated the process in reverse, activating a temporary formation around and within herself formed of pure energy- but much more solid than she could have previously created. She had a few thoughts about that, but they would be considered in more detail later. First she called out to one of the platforms bound to her, activating it with her energy. Once again the world shifted, and she was in an entirely different system than when she¡¯d first begun her journey. That wasn¡¯t weird, since they¡¯d been able to perform interstellar teleportation for some time, but being able to go to a somewhat arbitrary location from a proper platform and then to arrive at a different one was new. So that worked. Now she just had to determine if she could bring anyone else safely. She¡¯d start with her extremely durable husband, just in case. After that, she needed to determine if it was possible to teleport to locations she hadn¡¯t bound. And if it seemed feasible at the end of things, replicating the process entirely without a physical medium on either end, taking advantage of the spatial manipulations around the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s territory. That last thing was currently more likely than not to fail, but Catarina didn¡¯t know how rules-breakingly powerful Domination might be. Zaur might have wielded his power more like a nearly limitless lake of energy, but that didn¡¯t mean that was all it was good for. ----- Anton would have thought that plant cultivators would love the rainy season- and some of them certainly did- but some of his watch targets clearly didn¡¯t. So far he had less than a hemisphere to watch over, so the rainy season began at fairly similar times based on the particular climates involved. The forest plants seemed to enjoy the rain just fine, though they seemed able to obtain however much water they needed already, so having more probably only benefitted them minorly. The one Anton knew was working with water actually seemed annoyed at swirling snow in the mountains. The pitcher plant adjacent individual spent far more energy preventing water freezing than actually studying and practicing abilities. Though perhaps resisting the storms around it was also good training for temperature control. It certainly didn¡¯t seem to think so, as it turned into what Anton interpreted as a sulky posture. Of course, Anton could have been wrong, but it was certainly less energetic during actual storms. The desert tree that should have been most interested in the few days of rain¡­ seemingly didn¡¯t care. Then again, it didn¡¯t really react to anything. Anton was still assuming it was one of the sapient plants because it was large and powerful in an unusual situation, instead of actually interacting with it like his algae friend. Said algae friend did enjoy the rain. It walked around outside its pond, shifting between animal shapes and Anton¡¯s upright humanoid walk depending on the terrain. By the end of the season the algae had assessed a number of other water sources to determine their quality, finally settling on a sizable lake where it remained at the end of things. It wasn¡¯t the largest lake, but Anton anticipated that some of the others would shrink down more after the end of the rainy season, just based on their topology.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. It was just about time for help from the Scarlet Alliance to arrive. They would set up a base outside of the system both to avoid disturbing the locals and for their own safety. Language specialists weren¡¯t known to be the best combatants, after all. Not that some couldn¡¯t stand toe to toe with anyone else, but in general they were less combat inclined than those who engaged in more physical labor. Hopefully, they would already have some insights based on the information Anton had sent them, but he expected it to be a long project to learn nonhumanoid communication. Void ants had pretty much invented their own sign language after interacting with humans, but that had been a project of decades- and it involved a common sense of sight that plants didn¡¯t necessarily share. ----- Just when Abder thought he¡¯d found everyone who was in a bad place, there was another person or another group. He just hoped that the world was producing them more slowly than they could be found. Suraya was doing great, now. She wasn¡¯t exactly going to become wealthy with her work, but perhaps that was because she didn¡¯t want to. She was an old woman with simple tastes. For a long time she would have been happy to have all the walls in her house be solid and now that she actually had that everything else seemed to be extra. She did still call upon Abder to help her out occasionally, but the fact that she actually asked meant something. The old woman was quite generous with what she had. When she previously only had basic mushrooms, that was what she offered. Now, she made use of her functioning kitchen and stocked larders to prepare meals that tasted like home. Abder very much appreciated those, because for much of his early life he hadn¡¯t had one of those. Just because the majority of his life had been spent in prosperity didn¡¯t mean he would forget such formative times. The people of The Gathering didn¡¯t practice just one style of cultivation or one profession. Instead, they did everything- at least as a whole. Because of that, they could always find a place for those coming in. Likewise, they always had people who had dealt with all forms of trauma or addiction or anything else that had them end up on the streets, even in the current prosperous times. Moturn was lucky in that most drugs came from plants that hadn¡¯t survived the emergency transplantation of civilization. However, there were some that made it, and there were other things with legitimate uses that could be abused. Often, people didn¡¯t realize they were becoming addicted to something until too late, at which point rational thoughts didn¡¯t really work to stop them. Cultivation could surpass that- or make it worse, as someone could survive far more. Abder had been lucky to avoid getting into anything- mostly because he couldn¡¯t steal anything and he certainly hadn¡¯t been able to afford it. Some others had, and for many the treatment was still ongoing. But stories of success and advice from those who had made it through had changed many. Abder brought in anyone and found someone to help their particular issues. Sometimes, money was a solution. Resources to provide shelter, food, and then training to be able to do something. Finding things people enjoyed was the best, because enjoying daily work led to an overall better life experience. Having the freedom of choice and access to learning was a luxury, but it was one that could be provided through the care of people who understood what it was like. There were a few rare individuals- very few- who refused to work. They were content with meagre subsistence. Abder didn¡¯t think that was the natural state of humans. Work on its own wasn¡¯t some sort of glorious thing, but seeing something produced by your own hands was a joy that could be repeated. His belief that everyone could find something that fit them if given the chance was inherited from Anton, of course. The few who didn¡¯t put in the effort to grow even when given every opportunity were usually broken by the world. Everyone was, to some extent, but not everything could be fixed. Or rather, knowing what could be done with cultivation, Abder understood that sometimes it simply couldn¡¯t be done yet. Nobody could cure every physical or mental ailment, but things could be learned one at a time. Unfortunately, that wasn¡¯t always in time for certain individuals to be helped. ----- Anchors were on the mind of most Augmentation cultivators. Velvet knew that, because the possibilities were always on her mind, and she consulted with the others quite often. For a while, Velvet had wanted nothing as her anchor. Or the concept or nothing. Or the void between stars. However, while concepts were good for earlier cultivation, there was a certain level of physicality that Domination required. Or at least, based on what they knew. Velvet considered a particular vessel containing a vacuum, but that still didn¡¯t work. She didn¡¯t really want emptiness, just stealth. Ratna did just fine hiding behind space and the like. The details of her anchor were unfortunately vague at best, though that was actually an encouragement to Velvet in some ways. Domination cultivators needed devotion, but that meant their anchors didn¡¯t always have to be known. Perhaps it made them stronger, perhaps not. That wasn¡¯t something they had been able to discuss with anyone at length, and their pair of new Domination cultivators were both known to pretty much everyone so they couldn¡¯t test anything. Nothingness might be valid for someone else, somehow, but Velvet had moved on from that. After all, the basis of her cultivation was still the One Hundred Stars, and the concept of light. Light was physical, but usually transitory. Then again, wasn¡¯t everything? If trying to find the oldest thing in the universe, particular motes of light would likely be the winners. Maybe elementary particles, but even those didn¡¯t always retain their form forever. But light from distant stars could be billions of years old. So worrying about the fact that it was temporary was a bit less relevant than whether she could actually use it as an anchor at all. And if she did, would her source of power be constantly shifting? If so, what would that mean? Maybe she should pick a nice cave. They were kind of sneaky. But if that worked, it would be a mediocre anchor at best- and that might be worse than not advancing at all. Chapter 1146 The first person Anton put in significant effort to speak with was of course the friendly algae. Assuming that whole thing was a single individual was easier, but he didn¡¯t actually know that. Still, a few minor discontinuities on a physical body being connected was a small matter compared to lacking the normal requirements for sapience such as a brain of some sort. His friend was excited to see him again. They bubbled out of their new home into a humanoid form and went right in for another same-side handshake. That was more or less where communication broke down, but Anton was in contact with others who should be able to help. He tried a few things. Sound still didn¡¯t work, but his movements seemed to be perceived by his conversation partner. Sign language was suggested, but not one that Anton knew. There were some language specialists who took stock of the situation, and having received updates along the way they had begun to develop something that seemed to fit. Since the algae didn¡¯t seem to do well at distinguishing smaller digits like fingers, the specialists in space had come up with a sort of full body sign language. Anton felt very silly, waving his arms around and making exaggerated gestures, but the algae didn¡¯t seem to care and happily joined in while mimicking his actions. After a few hours the algae seemed to get tired, but the next day it happily interacted with Anton again. It took several days of attempts before it actually seemed to understand the meaning behind anything. They were beginning with object words, starting with relevant things like lake, river, and human. The translators weren¡¯t really sure if they should come up with a name for the algae. Calling it algae might not even be correct at the current point- that would be more like calling humans ¡®skin cells¡¯ or something equally insufficient like ¡®flesh¡¯. The algae based individual¡¯s ¡®hands¡¯ were still more like mittens than anything else, but they placed them ¡®palm down¡¯ and made a wide sweeping gesture towards the lake, then an arm gesture that Anton was trying to use for follow. They then moved out onto the lake, collapsing into a floating pile. ¡°They did it!¡± the voice of Anton¡¯s contact, Abioye. There was a whole team with him, but it was easier if only one person spoke directly to Anton once they made decisions on how to go about things. ¡°I think.¡± ¡°I will follow to find out,¡± Anton agreed. He stepped into the lake, following after the algae. There was a microscopic chance it was trying to lead Anton to a watery demise, but that didn¡¯t seem likely. He felt curious senses on him as he began swimming. Clearly they didn¡¯t expect him to move in that particular way. The algae formed into humanoid shape and tried swimming, but it quickly gave up. As a single mass, it moved around sort of like an octopus, swimming circles around Anton in a way he was quite certain he could interpret as happy. Considering the only real words Anton had exchanged with his friends were pretty much ¡®hello¡¯ and ¡®lake follow¡¯ he still did feel they were friends. Because of that, he wanted to show off a little. Anton picked himself up out of the water before standing atop it. Excited algae looked curiously at his feet, moving quite close and observing the way he spread his energy out to increase the effect of surface tension. That was the most reliable way to stand on water, in Anton¡¯s opinion. The algae moved its energy to try to replicate the feat- succeeded- and then seemed to immediately regret it, dropping back into the water. Given that being in water was probably necessary for survival, it made sense. The algae didn¡¯t seem to want to give up on replicating Anton, however. It was doing something, changing shape and flailing about at the surface, before finally turning into ¡®humanoid form¡¯ with water captured inside it. They ran around flailing their arms, clearly quite excited at the novelty¡­ though it quickly wore off. Perhaps it realized that walking atop water was a lot like walking on the ground, not that there was much experience with either as far as Anton could tell. For one thing, the way they ran was just by going through walking motions more quickly, not that it was ever actually quick. Except when scooting around in the water in vague clump form. No new words seemed to be learned the rest of that day, but it was fun. ----- The next day, they were down one word. Because the word Anton¡¯s new friend used for lake was now also being used for the ground. ¡°Oh! It probably thinks it means anything sort of flat!¡± Abioye commented. ¡°Or perhaps just horizontal. I guess that makes sense, with the gestures.¡± Anton was following it through the nearby area, not quite certain where it should be leading him. He¡¯d vaguely observed it moving further from its home a few times, but it seemed to quickly return. They came to a clearing, upon which the mass of algae collapsed onto the ground and began struggling with something. No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. Anton thought at first his friend had a hiccup in natural energy, but on further observation the collapse should have been purposeful.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Anton only took so long to recognize what it was doing because he was unfamiliar with plant based energy cultivation. He¡¯d only interacted from the human perspective, but soon he realized he¡¯d seen the behavior before, atop the lake. It was cultivating, specifically the core process of taking in energy in the surroundings. The algae was of course spread out to get the most sunlight possible. An ¡®arm¡¯ raised up, making a follow gesture. So it wanted Anton to do the same thing. Anton sat down and began gathering energy, though most of his energy came from internal sources now. His limitations in cultivation weren¡¯t based on how much energy he could get his hands on, but how much he could hold and how well he could use it. Still, he did his best to visibly represent cultivating. As he did so, his friend stood up, reached out and grabbed his wrist, and left- shaking out twigs and leaves from within its strands. ¡°Oh, a combined hello and goodbye!¡± ¡°That¡¯s my fault, probably,¡± Anton said. He didn¡¯t get any indication he was supposed to follow, so he just sat. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°I have no idea,¡± Abioye commented. ¡°But if I had to guess¡­ it wanted you to cultivate, and thought since you lived on land you¡¯d need a proper clearing?¡± ¡°About what I thought,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I would have expected more observation, though. Maybe they don¡¯t care?¡± ¡°We need a name,¡± Abioye said. ¡°For us to use, if nothing else.¡± ¡°Well, algae is no good. And there¡¯s no way I¡¯m using ¡®Al¡¯.¡± ----- They came up with a name a few days later. Each day, the algae had been generally more interested in physical contact with Anton, grabbing his wrist, elbow, then shoulders- with both hands. That last one had just happened, and Anton chuckled, putting his arms over its shoulders and pulling his buddy close. The way they wiggled momentarily made Anton think he¡¯d gone too far, but the algae only did so to free its own arms to return the gesture to Anton. And from then on, instead of attempting any sort of handshake- or wristshake- the standard greeting was always a bear hug. ¡°Bear Hug isn¡¯t a bad name,¡± Anton said. ¡°And going by Akrys naming conventions might have been a bit too clinical,¡± Abioye agreed. ¡°Though ¡®Ten Thousand Strands¡¯ wouldn¡¯t have been too bad.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not even the right number,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°And it changes.¡± ¡°I still think its a decent name,¡± Aboye countered. ¡°But Bear Hug is quite fitting.¡± ----- After about a month, after spending hours every day with his friend, he couldn¡¯t particularly hold a conversation¡­ but he could communicate practical things. One of those was ¡®cultivation¡¯ or ¡®natural energy¡¯. His algae friend tended to use those interchangeably, or maybe it didn¡¯t recognize the subtle differences. They hadn¡¯t even been a big part of the language plans until it became clear that it was one of the few things the algae cared about. Another thing was fun. Running around, swimming, and roughhousing with Anton seemed to be the main things there. Food was¡­ not something it understood. Drinking water was odd to it, because Anton only drank a very little bit and not all the time. Bear Hug didn¡¯t seem to like actual combat, but Anton saw it happen regardless. Some fish were nibbling at it, not quite getting why they couldn¡¯t bite. Everything had some amount of natural energy, and they chomped down on a bit of Bear Hug. The fish were immediately slapped away. When one returned to bite at the food it couldn¡¯t quite sink its teeth into regardless, Bear Hug was a little less gentle, whipping the creature with their strands. The fish was enraged by the ¡®attack¡¯ and rallied most of its energy, but when it lunged forward Bear Hug stabbed through it, a hundred different strands sticking through the creature¡¯s body. Bear Hug shook it off and sulked for the rest of the afternoon, not even enjoying the sun and cultivation. Anton was quite happy to make friends with something peaceful. He also realized that by Bear Hug¡¯s estimation, Anton might be the only other thinking thing in the world. As far as he could tell, there wasn¡¯t a community of plant cultivators. There were a few that had colonies he¡¯d found, but Bear Hug might not even know about the spiky-fruit tree at all, let alone one that could cultivate. Maybe it was better that way. Except that Anton believed, even with some of the plant cultivators being sessile, that eventually they would come across each other. Violence was highly possible, if they felt threatened- and unclear communication could increase that probability. Since Anton hadn¡¯t seen signs of language, let alone a common one, that could be a serious problem. That said, he wasn¡¯t entirely sure that there weren¡¯t some communication methods he was missing. He¡¯d placed some unobtrusive pieces of equipment that were helping monitor the area, looking for things like pheromones or whatever else the language team thought might take the place of something like speech or gestures. ----- Communicating to Bear Hug that he would be gone for a long time was difficult. At the end, Anton wasn¡¯t even quite certain he had succeeded. The exaggerated hug he received as a goodbye was a little bit longer than usual, he thought, but that was about it. Still, even if he personally wanted to hang around, without introducing more people into the mix he was also the only method to learn about other natives. Anton considered creating an energy clone, like on Unov, but it would be difficult to make tangible and he didn¡¯t want to confuse Bear Hug with something unreal. With humans, he could just explain- and they would likely already understand what was going on. So he would have to be away for a while¡­ but that would be a good way to see how well Bear Hug retained words. Anton mostly shared a number of nouns with his friend, as tangible objects were the easiest things to indicate. It wouldn¡¯t be a big loss if those were forgotten, and he doubted ¡®swim¡¯, ¡®run¡¯, and ¡®cultivate¡¯ would be lost, but how memory worked for a mass of algae was somewhat in question. Still, he¡¯d been recognized some weeks later so clearly there was something there. The next target was the spiky tree, mostly because Anton thought maybe it had tried to communicate with him already. It was possible it had told him to go away and never come back, but he still felt it was something. Provoking more reactions could make that more certain, and satisfy the numerous language fanatics up in space. There would never be enough data for them to pore over, Anton imagined. Not that he thought they should ever be satisfied with having ¡®enough¡¯ of their essence, it was just interesting to see what particular things humans focused on if given the opportunity. Chapter 1147 Intentional cultivation and directing complex energy flow required a higher level of intelligence than a standard beast, but that didn¡¯t mean the intelligence was always recognizable.Some things Anton assumed the natives of Klar would all want- mainly centered around communication- didn¡¯t seem to be of interest to them. Specifically, Spike didn¡¯t respond to Anton in any way except to occasionally throw a fruit near him. Enemies were attacked, and those who seemed likely to eat a fruit while traveling received a fruit with less puncture wounds involved. That was all. Anton had quickly been placed in the latter category, and as long as he didn¡¯t attack the tree he would likely remain there. A better name for the spike fruit tree might have been developed if there was more in depth interaction, but sadly Anton didn¡¯t manage anything after weeks. Perhaps the immobile nature of the tree changed social needs, or the way it formed intelligence. It was potentially just less developed, though it was difficult to tell. The out of place pitcher plant likewise ignored anything that didn¡¯t seem to be a threat, including Anton- until he practiced cultivation around it. It showed some interest when he formed a small bit of fire, but it grew far more interested when he created ice. Anton was by no means a specialist in the field of ice, but it was well within his power to manipulate heat with the amount of power he had. He could replicate a large number of lesser abilities, if inefficiently. The yet unnamed pitcher plant endeavored to communicate for the sake of asking about Anton¡¯s abilities, but seemed frustrated by the simpler words Anton and his team started with. After interacting with a variety of individuals, it soon became clear that even if Anton was willing to devote decades of his life it wouldn¡¯t be enough to develop individual patterns of communication for each individual. Aside from the form-shifting Bear Hug, few individuals shared a common form with which they could replicate gestures. Introducing more people would likely be necessary to cover the wide variety, but that had to be done carefully so as to not disrupt the locals too much. Leaving the system untouched wasn¡¯t necessarily morally superior, but it was better to not unintentionally make any changes before they knew how the world actually worked. ----- Abioye had been wracking his brains for a while on the communication problem. Creating a language they thought any individual could understand, at least a simple one, was a problem their team was fully capable of solving. Scaled to enough time, that was true of any number of individuals- but as much as the team loved the challenge, it wasn¡¯t really a solution. None of the locals would be able to communicate with each other if they continued as they were. So they had to pull on the common threads they knew of. It took a while to think of what was in some ways a very simple thing, simply because they were coming from a human perspective. But finally, they got it. ¡°Good news, Anton. We¡¯ll be adjusting our approach in a way that should hopefully require less individual manipulation¡­ though it will require a stricter adherence to the forms.¡± ¡°Sounds interesting,¡± Anton replied. ¡°Let¡¯s hear it.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the one thing we know all of our prospects have in common?¡± ¡°They¡¯re plants?¡± Anton offered. ¡°Even you know that¡¯s not true. There were those fungi, and even what they have in common isn¡¯t that useful. Unless you want to grow your own chlorophyll, it¡¯s not a good basis for a widespread language.¡± ¡°Alright, fine,¡± Anton said. ¡°You¡¯re right, I wasn¡¯t confident on that one. Let¡¯s see¡­ they¡¯re sapient? Which is the reason we¡¯re trying this and they can learn a language, so that¡¯s not quite it. Aha.¡± Abioye grinned. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got it now.¡± ¡°It has to be cultivation, right? At least, that works for all of those we¡¯ve identified.¡± ¡°Exactly. And given their general lack of humanoid senses or appendages, a more direct approach is best. The best part is you already did this before. That is to say, direct energy communication. Not any sort of emotional transferrence, but simply form-shaping your energy in simple ways that should be easily replicated.¡± It was so simple, yet Abioye knew it wasn¡¯t at the same time. At the current point, humans in the Lower Realms Alliance all cultivated¡­ but they didn¡¯t need to communicate with their energy because speech just worked. At best, they used their energy to emphasize their words or allow them to be heard at a longer distance, or to communicate simple emotions. Using it as the main form of communication sounded more difficult, but even a simple sign language required Bear Hug to use just as much energy- or more- as their body had to be controlled by energy. The current plan was for Anton to work with Bear Hug for a while to make sure that their most willing participant could get it. It might be difficult to re-learn, but it should be a more adaptable language. For example, cultivators could reference an object by directly pointing to it with their energy, or even surrounding a particular area- though some of that required proximity or sufficient power control. But forming simple motions should be easy enough, and all should have the senses to pick out invisible energy, especially if it was consciously amplified.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Abioye at least hoped that was the case. They¡¯d been working on it for some time now, and it was hoped that it would be intuitive- though most likely some things made more sense to humans than to plants. ----- Bear Hug liked cultivation and they liked games- so learning a new language based entirely around energy manipulation turned out to not be a bother at all for Anton¡¯s algae friend. Having reached a certain level of understanding, Anton wasn¡¯t at all surprised that it was picked up more quickly than actual gestures. Soon enough Bear Hug was expressing while in a pile on the ground by waving around tendrils of energy. Not like arms, exactly, but usually in pairs. While cultivators could theoretically make use of unlimited separate energy streams, there were practical limitations and they didn¡¯t want to exclude weaker individuals from participation. Determining exactly what the cultivation equivalent of the algae was took more than a bit of effort, but Anton thought something around early Essence Collection, though perhaps they wouldn¡¯t be able to leverage it properly outside of their natural habitat. Fairly strong, though not even close to the strongest on the planet- and there were also stronger things elsewhere in the system on other planets and in the space between. Bear Hug did still prefer some physical motions. Despite most likely lacking any tactile sensation, the algae preferred to greet Anton with a sopping wet hug rather than anything else, including an energy handshake. Anton preferred it that way too. ----- Observing different forms of cultivation was good for Anton. It helped that he had one directly connected to him in the form of Maheg. Anton would call it something like distributed non-dantian based cultivation. The important thing wasn¡¯t the name, but that it still worked. In truth, most of Anton¡¯s cultivation was also outside of himself, in his bound stars. Outside, yet also ready to be called through him at the same time. It was different than being distributed throughout a whole physical body, but it still worked. Having a dantian helped, though. Anton had observed more than a few residents that he thought were attempting to begin proper cultivation journeys, and they were more like grain packed with natural energy than cultivators. They would be a tempting target for beasts to consume. Anton wondered how many had failed to make it past the early stages. Even if the planet itself was safer than his initial impressions of space, it wasn¡¯t exactly peaceful. But on the right days at the right time, it sure felt like it. Anton would have been quite glad to bind to the local star, with its significant power. It wasn¡¯t exactly in the place he would have picked¡­ but he had enough of those to go through with his plans. The whole shape thing wasn¡¯t the most important part of his planned advancement anyway. It had begun on a whim, and now Anton was continuing with it because cultivators did well with resonance of that sort. As long as it made sense to him, it was a good idea. It fit in well with his ideas for the next stage. Though Anton was perhaps the most famous Assimilation cultivator, and one of a very few Enrichment cultivators, he had to remember that he was not the first. Even if he set aside Worldbinding cultivators from the Sylanis cluster- which he really shouldn¡¯t- just from Ceretos Anton was actually second. Lev had actually managed to very slightly outpace him in that regard. It had come at a cost at the time, though Lev had long since worked past the harm he caused himself. Technically, the other man¡¯s limbs hardly worked at all, but with so much natural energy available it didn¡¯t really matter. Anton didn¡¯t have to be first, but Lev had been slower to expand his sphere of influence. Lev would likely expand beyond Enrichment at some point, but Anton was closer. He only needed a few more stars bound and the right opportunity. Said opportunity could be something he arranged for himself, if he did so properly. That was probably better than some sort of emergency or disaster that forced him through, or some sort of massive cosmic event that would affect the lower realms. A couple more decades. That was the plan. He had some insights from Domination cultivators to sift through, and they were still learning quickly, so he had no need to rush. But waiting too long would likewise hold him back. Day by day, Anton pictured what he wanted. He wasn¡¯t ready to start making connections just yet, and he needed to make sure he did things precisely right. Otherwise he might cause an imbalance- or worse, unintentional balance in areas that shouldn¡¯t be balanced. That could be worse than accidentally blowing up a star or two. Not that Anton would allow any stars to come to harm if he could help it. Even if they weren¡¯t part of him, they were far too important to treat casually. And it was precisely because they were part of him now that they might be at risk. It was a sobering thought, but he¡¯d reached a certain level of power where the consequences of his failures could reach extremely massive scales. It was difficult to think about. And in some ways, it was less real than other dangers he had faced. It was simply too big for him to comprehend. Anton had begun his life worrying about whether the next batch of crops would be plentiful or tracking down animals that managed to break their pens. He worried about family getting sick and what to eat for meals. In some ways, what he would have for breakfast still felt more important than whether or not he accidentally destabilized a star- or many of them. The good news was that Anton wouldn¡¯t be alone. He would have help from the Lower Realms Alliance, and from other starbinding cultivators like Three Squeaks and Varghese. Then there was Maheg, who surely wouldn¡¯t allow destabilizations to take hold within it. That consciousness was something Anton was integrating into his plans as a balancing factor. Maheg didn¡¯t have any influence over Anton¡¯s other stars, but having one solid anchor he didn¡¯t have to worry about would help. Plus, there were old reliable stars. Ceretos¡¯s sun was the first, Azun was one of great personal import, and Akrys was also meaningful. Not that Anton didn¡¯t know all of his stars, but he had some favorites. Fortunately, unlike children, they didn¡¯t care. Not even Maheg, though it would have been fine because Maheg was one of the favorites. Chapter 1148 Reaching a tremendous breakthrough during a time of crisis was a time honored tradition among cultivators¡­ and Anton thought that it was about time for that to be done away with. The lower realms, at least, did not need to be associated with such things. It could already be seen in the names they chose. Assimilation and Enrichment versus Augmentation and Domination expressed quite different ideas. The Scarlet Alliance in the upper realms was not the origins of Augmentation or Domination, of course. They merely accepted the names as already established. There was nothing wrong with that, but names had meaning¡­ and Anton didn¡¯t want to start off on a bad foot. He didn¡¯t want to be an emperor, or a god. What would even be the point? Besides, having killed a Domination cultivator, the latter felt especially arrogant. It was just asking to be proven to be nothing more than an old and powerful mortal. Given the ideas of cycles and tying things back together, ¡®Mortal¡¯ almost fit. But Anton didn¡¯t like it because it was still missing something. Many people, in fact. There was no chance Anton would have reached his current level based solely on his own talent and insight. What brought him high were the people he knew¡­ and people he didn¡¯t. When Anton had first learned about devotion he hadn¡¯t been entirely enthusiastic, but it was impossible to get away from. At some point he had decided he merely had to be worthy of what was coming his way, and that meant paying it back to those who shared their devotion- even if it wasn¡¯t directly. It hadn¡¯t actually required any changes in what Anton actually did, just his attitude. He wanted to make the world a better place, and his definition of the limits of said world merely expanded as time went on. He wasn¡¯t some sort of benevolent force, he was merely paying people back for what they did for him. Sometimes his efforts came before the devotion, but he had no reason to have such a limited concept of cooperation that he should be bothered by that. A new stage would have to have a name. Since Domination didn¡¯t fit and merely calling it More Enrichment or something was a bit lackluster, Anton discussed with other Enrichment cultivators first, consulting on what common factors they could see in the next stage. Out of his discussions with Devon, Lev, and even some others on different paths, a single word stood out. Unity. Everything Anton understood drove him more towards that, and the others understood the same thing. The Great Queen was in agreement on that matter, and even Nthanda who did not follow the path of energy cultivation agreed that it was appropriate- even for herself, should she reach a certain level of power. It was likely possible to forge a path that ended up at a different end goal using natural energy, but Anton simply didn¡¯t see one that would be worthwhile. Becoming one with people, places, or a concept was the ultimate goal. The only way the word might be imperfect was that the cultivators would also be imperfect. It was a concept to strive for, but it might never be reached fully. ----- Leading up to the date of his advancement, Anton did relatively little. He thought to visit important places from his past, but decided against it- not because his past no longer mattered, but because if it truly mattered so much, the connection should still be with him. There were very few places he had memories that he could not relive through his connection to a local star. He could look down upon Ceretos, narrowing in on Brogora and then Dungannon. National borders had faded after planetary unification, and most of the population wouldn¡¯t remember a time when Graotan was separate from anything else around it. Anton looked down upon empty fields. The town had been rebuilt, abandoned, and built again several times over the course of what was nearly a millennium. Some people had tried to venerate the area as Anton¡¯s birthplace, but few even knew of the connection. It wasn¡¯t secret, but that didn¡¯t mean it was well known. Now, there were layers of history atop a few remaining pieces of what had once been the town Anton knew- and he was quite content with that. He had moved on, taking with him his memories of the places and people. The fact that the fields were currently empty of intentional growth did not bother him, as the area was brimming with natural energy. Wild plants grew tall and strong, unneeded as a source of sustenance for the surrounding. People were fed and healthy even without making use of that plot of land. Neighboring systems. Those further afar where his greatest disciples first bound their home stars. To the east, a few stars curving between the Shining Cooperative and the Adamant Federation, then back around the border of the lower realms. Finally to the west, the extreme end of his roaming, most of which had yet to be colonized to any extent. His thoughts flickered between all of them in mere moments. He was able to take in his stars as a whole, the people around them or that would be around them. Some of those people were paying close attention to their stars, because even if Anton would have liked his advancement to go by unnoticed, it really wasn¡¯t feasible. ----- The first time Anton had comprehended power on the scale he was aiming for it had been a flash of inspiration borne from need. He couldn¡¯t entirely get away from strife, even as he was enjoying a time of peace.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The need to stop Sudin had been so great that Anton would have gladly given up himself. Instead, he¡¯d likely received far more in the end. It was fortunate that he¡¯d been close enough at the time to touch upon Unity, or what he would eventually mold into that. Taking a cross section of the lower realms as viewed from either above or below would reveal a pattern in Anton¡¯s stars that had at first been coincidental. A vaguely curved or oval shape had reminded him of a bow, and linking to his stars his power had chased Sudin along the Tides of the World into the upper realms, rendering him asunder with spectral energy. Now Anton had formed what he considered to be another wing of a bent bow along with a nocked arrow. Artists could argue about the accuracy of the exact placements of the stars in his constellation and whether it truly fit a proper bow, but the thing that mattered to Anton was what he thought. And it was one thing to him. Certainly better than most ¡®shapes¡¯ people thought they saw in ¡®constellations¡¯ of a handful of stars that weren¡¯t within a hundred lightyears of each other. A bow was still a symbol of violence, even when used for its most basic form of hunting out of necessity. Anton wouldn¡¯t be able to completely get away from that, but he didn¡¯t intend to¡­ because it was also a threat. Just not to anyone in the lower realms. Anton tried not to keep those waiting in suspense for too long, but as he ramped up his intake of power days passed by in an instant. Then a week. Every star within Anton was activated together, and more than just drawing upon their power he connected them. However, he didn¡¯t wish to connect them merely as sources of power, balls of plasma of differing sizes, densities, and power. Instead, he was stitching together the concept of their existence, and the life they provided to those around them- or that they could provide. Maheg was excited. Anton could tell that, but he could also tell that the star was keeping itself in check. Rapid changes in stars were anything but good. Even tearing the corruption out of a star had left it unstable for a number of years. Said corruption was still being monitored on its way to a distant grave in the second-nearest black hole, a lengthy journey. Each star was different. Normalizing their size and power would be a waste, but there was something Anton could learn from each- and connecting them could also connect the people around them. That was the hope, and Anton felt the people around them beginning to feel the changes. Taking the devotion that was flowing towards him, Anton tied the streams into each other. He wanted each and every person to look at their stars and think about how others were looking at something similar. Everyone except Aipra, perhaps- though he thought to offer them the opportunity to have a star, should they feel safe coming into the outer layers of the world. Power flowed into Anton and through him. No doubt he would be growing stronger as his access to energy increased, but it wasn¡¯t for him. He was simply a medium of connection. It wasn¡¯t easy. After nearly a thousand years of cultivation, Anton thought he could go for a thousand more before being truly comfortable with what he was trying. But in that thousand years, what would happen to the world? What opportunities would people miss? Anton was sweating. He was sweating, and he was smiling. He loved work, and he loved having a purpose. He wasn¡¯t the only one. He had thousands- tens of thousands- working with him to monitor the stars, making sure the connection wasn¡¯t going to harm them somehow. Then there were billions and trillions more who were aware on a lesser level that something was happening. The people would not be connected to each other directly. Anton knew his style wasn¡¯t suited for such a thing, and he would leave that to the hiveminds. Being a step removed was likely a good thing for most people. Unity and connection was available, but individuality still had to be respected. Anton was on fire, both his passions and actually. Tiny paws reached out to stabilize him, Three Squeaks aiding him from Aipra. Varghese also joined from In¡¯istra, calming the fires of power within Anton. And finally, the best specialist of the bunch, the only one with real experience being a star. Maheg nudged Anton from inside, powerful but gentle. The flames flowing through his various connections circulated and grew, but Anton grew larger than his stars- one hundred and ninety-seven in all. He created within himself a distance, not of separation but of room to grow. Within that space, he would be able to add further stars¡­ and provide for the wants and needs of the people connected. Anton was certain of that as he felt the flames fade into something resembling a cozy hearth. The needs of the people were about what Anton expected. Safety and security- well accounted for, but yet imperfect. Opportunities to grow individually or as a community. And a desire Anton was aware of, but had avoided wrestling with because he was powerless in that area- a desire for connection to those who had gone to the upper realms. All of that was simply the first wave, the strongest overlapping needs. Others slowly arrived from the various people in the shelter of the stars¡­ and from some of the stars themselves. Lifespans of millions or billions of years, depending upon the size of the star, meant they had few urgent needs. Indeed, having personally observed these stars Anton hadn¡¯t found any problems with them or he would have already tried to help. But with the various connections, small things began to become clear. And while very few things would be an issue for thousands or millions of years yet, it was better to act much sooner than that. And he would, as he settled into Unity. Anton was tempted to test out his new power¡­ but he had no target for violence. The upper realms were generally a problem, but provoking more conflict wouldn¡¯t be helpful. He¡¯d instead prefer to let themselves weaken themselves with another attempted invasion. They might not, of course, but it wouldn¡¯t be too late to change his mind when something was happening. More constructively, Anton thought he could shore up some stars that were a bit imperfect, like Poriza¡¯s. He was the reason it was a proper star, and thus also the reason it was imperfect. Small imbalances might lead to more in the future. But as a human, sizing up a star was already an accomplishment he¡¯d never thought he would have achieved. He had no immediate successes from the advancement still stabilizing inside of him, but the potential for nearly limitless activities was there within him- and able to be seen by others. Chapter 1149 The only negative thing Anton could say about his advancement to Unity was that it was a tiny bit¡­ unsecret. Which was to say, the upper realms wouldn¡¯t even need their spies to inform them something was happening. It wasn¡¯t just the activity of people in various systems, but upon Anton completing his advancement a pulse of power had gone out from every star. So unless everyone in every system along the border and several systems deep happened to have gone on vacation all at once, the upper realms would be feeling the aftermath. Then again, the Lower Realms Alliance wasn¡¯t exactly secretly resisting the oppression of the Exalted Quadrant and the Trigold Cluster. The latest cycle had made that very clear, as they had decimated their forces and since then driven out many pockets of remaining presence. It was possible there were still some systems they inhabited either primarily or as part of a larger group, but they would be significantly more isolated. The main downside of the lack of secrecy was straightforward- Anton couldn¡¯t reasonably test his maximum range. It didn¡¯t matter where he aimed, hundreds of systems would directly witness the energy, and probably thousands total would be able to watch from adjacent systems. Anton was stronger and he would be able to test the power of his arrows on a personal level- he might add a handful of lightyears or two onto his range- but on the constellation-scale of things he could only estimate his power. He could first conclude that he would be more effective than when he shot down Sudin, with the exception that he¡¯d been utilizing the tides of the world and how they created a pathway that linked natural and ascension energy together. Without that, Anton would have to deal with the effects of upper energy interacting with Fleeting Youth. An unfortunate late term side effect, but even if Anton had been able to anticipate his ability to shoot into the upper realms some nine hundred years later, he would have still chosen to use the technique for how useful it was along the way. And given Sudin¡¯s death, the way ascension energy reacted to his presence wasn¡¯t entirely negative if he just wanted to cause damage. It violently clashed with his own energy, so if he could sustain any attack for enough distance to reach his target, it should be quite effective. ----- Alva and Catarina were watching a video from their grandfather. ¡°And so, that¡¯s done now. Anyone who wants to discuss insights can come visit me. I can¡¯t come see you on account of my bad back and how existence itself hates me there.¡± Catarina chuckled. ¡°Did he ever have a bad back?¡± ¡°He was hunting in the woods at a hundred so¡­ not in any way that counted,¡± Alva confirmed. ¡°I probably should go visit. It might be too late to get into traditional starbinding, but he¡¯s certainly got scale down.¡± Catarina nodded. ¡°He was already outclassing us in that manner before. Now, I suspect his various stars will be as functional as one giant anchor- able to distribute power wherever it needs to. It¡¯s a shame I can¡¯t go visit.¡± ¡°Any secrecy about our ongoing alliance is strained at best,¡± Alva pointed out. ¡°And I certainly won¡¯t be the one to break that illusion once and for all. Besides, even if that weren¡¯t the case someone might wish to take advantage of my absence. We¡¯re going to need more than just a pair of Domination cultivators here.¡± ¡°... How soon do you expect that to be possible?¡± Alva asked. ¡°Because it¡¯s not¡­ particularly likely to be soon.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Catarina began thoughtfully. ¡°Tauno will be dead or advance within a decade. And though I believe in his spirit, we should expect that a pair of successes aren¡¯t sufficient to guarantee more. It¡¯s hardly a pattern, and our guidance could even steer people wrong if we¡¯re not careful.¡± ¡°What about me?¡± Alva prompted. ¡°Given the pace I was at,¡± Catarina pondered, ¡°Less than two centuries. Nearly dying to Domination energy attempting to take over significantly accelerated the insights Timothy and I had.¡± ¡°Hmm. Does Domination take longer to reach than¡­ Unity?¡± Alva tilted her head. ¡°There are a million factors that could have influenced that number,¡± Catarina said. ¡°Or perhaps actual trillions. Grandfather is more than capable of gathering devotion without ever attempting to do so.¡± ¡°Ugh. Does this mean I have to go out and help people or something?¡± Alva wasn¡¯t actually opposed to the idea, but roaming around to help random people when she didn¡¯t feel like it was weird. ¡°Seems exploitative.¡± ¡°If people have actual problems and you aid them, they won¡¯t think so. As long as you don¡¯t arrange for said issues to occur.¡± Alva made a face. ¡°You think anyone has ever done that?¡± Catarina raised an eyebrow. ¡°The real question is, how many people at the top haven¡¯t? I imagine some portion of the invasions were performative. And people can feel like they were helped by surviving a war- even if their own leadership was the main reason it began.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°People are terrible. I¡¯m going to go find Fuzz and gather wolf devotion.¡± ¡°Not a terrible idea,¡± Catarina admitted. ¡°Though if you do so, you might need a very specific form of Domination.¡± ----- The problems his mother and father had did not extend to Chidi. It was almost the opposite, except people didn¡¯t actually forget about him or anything. It was simply difficult to track him, because he didn¡¯t make many public appearances and his energy wasn¡¯t obvious. He had more or less just enough energy to fly around in a vacuum, but he felt unremarkable to those who didn¡¯t know him when he wasn¡¯t covering large areas with Negation. So visiting the lower realms for him was a relatively easy prospect. They had more ships going back and forth now. Not exactly a casual journey, but securing a position for himself was easy enough. Sparring with Ty Quigley once more might be entertaining. In matters of pure skill, the other man was a decent enough match despite generally relying on unusual methods. But that wasn¡¯t the reason Chidi would be going to the lower realms again. It was for the same reason everything else was happening- because of Anton. His grandfather with a couple more generations thrown in somewhere might not be of interest from the perspective of a sword cultivator, but both of them could certainly benefit from interaction. Chidi needed to know if Negation worked on a Unity cultivator. Anton should benefit from the exercise too, in some manner. It wasn¡¯t likely that there would be many others suddenly following in Chidi¡¯s footsteps, but someone might try to replicate the path¡­ and if they happened to be extraordinarily effective in the lower realms, it was best for people to be prepared. Though setting aside Anton, the lower realms themselves were very much prepared for someone like Chidi. Though they were few and far between there were a number of pure tech weapons that he simply wouldn¡¯t be able to handle. Negation wouldn¡¯t work on them, and he could only cut apart so many lasers before he would be defeated. If Chidi¡¯s concept of severing hadn¡¯t advanced to the level of severing immaterial things, there were far more numerous weapons that would be able to defeat him. But as it stood, he believed that only the best weapons or those in great quantity would be able to manage it. Testing that while not being annihilated would be a bit difficult, however. ----- Anton knew Chidi was only a few days from the border of the lower realms, and he was all the way out at Klar¡­ but things would work out. A not insignificant portion of the journey would be leaving the system itself. But before that, he had business to attend to. He had promised to meet an evergreen for the changing of the seasons, and he wasn¡¯t going to break such a promise just because something came up after. He¡¯d need a better reason to pull him away. Away from his bound stars, Anton probably didn¡¯t feel like a Unity cultivator. So as to not disrupt the locals too much, he did his best to keep his aura much as it was before. He didn¡¯t want to attract any of the more powerful space dwelling individuals to the planet where his friends lived, if they weren¡¯t already aware of the details on the surface. Anton could certainly deal with any threats, but he couldn¡¯t watch the system while he was away without a bound star. Unfortunately, he was probably decades away from even being able to ask to bind their stars, and that was assuming they didn¡¯t find entirely new people groups that would need to be accounted for. Just the various plants and fungi. Then again, any other sapient individuals would probably cultivate and thus be able to speak the new energy sign language. Hopefully. The evergreen had refused to receive a name, after seeming to understand what they meant. It was inconvenient, but the evergreen was also a solitary individual for the most part. Thus, Anton could walk up to the tree and say, ¡°Hey, you.¡± That would be sufficient. In the hemisphere his intentionally nameless friend resided, the particular changing of the season was from winter to spring. This particular evergreen was a fir, or at least broadly resembled one. Anton walked up to the tree, nearly stepping on it. ¡°Oh, hello there friend. Almost missed you.¡± The evergreen was unamused, and its energy was much larger than its physical stature. ¡°There is nothing else here.¡± It was true. The tiny tree lived alone atop a crag in a small patch of soil that was barely enough to support an immature tree. Through some amount of determination and luck, the tree had survived at about two hands tall, at the same time awakening sapience. Anton sat down next to the tree. ¡°So, I heard you have big plans. Want to let me in on them?¡± Some of the words he intended to say didn¡¯t translate perfectly, but Anton didn¡¯t let that hinder his intent. ¡°All shall be known when the sun hits its highest point in the sky on the agreed upon day.¡± Anton nodded. The tree understood that gesture, as his energy moved with his body. The same wasn¡¯t necessarily true for his small friend which only had so much room to pack the natural energy it wished to store. Instead, it maintained a sort of aura, even imbuing some of its ¡®own¡¯ natural energy into the rocky rise it dwelt upon. Waiting a few hours was simple. Anton had arrived on the precise day given his recent busy schedule, so it was no longer than that. As he waited, he did his best not to pry into how the fir was using its energy so as to not spoil the surprise. It was difficult, but he could at least be somewhat surprised. The cracking sounds were difficult to ignore, however, even if they were extremely quiet at first. ¡°Behold,¡± the miniature fir tree said as the sun reached its zenith. ¡°Freedom.¡± Beneath it, the rock split apart as natural energy spiraled out of roots that had no doubt been growing deep into cracks for years. As one side plummeted away, the roots were exposed to air- and indeed the majority of the fir. Only a slight push of energy, and it topped forward out of its longtime home, landing messily in the soil below. The small tree seemed unperturbed, manipulating its roots to reach for the soil and to right itself. ¡°You may now provide me with a name, if you still wish,¡± it signed from down below. No wonder it had refused Anton¡¯s offer to transplant it, despite clearly being unsatisfied. Frankly, that was much better. ¡°I do,¡± Anton confirmed. ¡°We¡¯ll go with what you said. Liberty.¡± It was the same sign, but if actually speaking he would say Liberty instead of Freedom. ¡°Good,¡± Liberty said. ¡°It fits. Now then, human Anton, feel free to return to your starry roots. I will be here.¡± So it would. Though clearly, some mobility was possible. Chapter 1150 Having watched Liberty break free of its rocky bonds, Anton had no further obligations in Klar for the moment. It was a little bit of a waste to come out all that way for a single event, but not nearly as much as it would have been a short time in the past. As Anton continued to grow in power, his speed continued to increase. Even before reaching Unity he had been able to cover multiple light years per day, and afterwards¡­ He was a bit faster now. If considering neighboring systems, he could traverse perhaps one or two per day. That would still make a trip back to the core of the Lower Realms Alliance a journey of nearly a month, but Anton thought it was pretty good that it wasn¡¯t closer to years or centuries. Plus, there was a caveat there. He could travel that quickly between arbitrary destinations, but if he had bound stars along the path he could do much better. It would take Anton a few days to reach his nearest bound star, at which point Chidi would have already entered the Lower Realms. The inter-realm ships were not quick, which was why they were generally intercepted by speedier replacements, leaving them free to shuttle people back and forth across the border. If Anton left now, he could catch Chidi long before he reached Ceretos¡­ but because they were going to a central location like that he could afford to spend a bit more time in Klar. Much of that time was spent not with his various acquaintances- nor, sadly, with his friend Bear Hug- but instead using his significant senses to observe new parts of the system. The makeup of interplanetary species was quite interesting, and the various methods of mobility were being recorded for use by ship designers. It was unlikely that any of the various biological propulsion methods would be directly usable for ships, but they could certainly inform design. At least, that was what Anton heard they wanted the information for. When he finished some observations, he resolved to spend a longer period in the system building up relationships and helping to spread language when he next had an opportunity. But for the moment, he had an obligation to meet. ----- The trip to the nearest bound star was relatively boring, but nowhere near as slow and uneventful as Anton¡¯s first interstellar journey alone. Anything measured in days was fairly trivial, as he¡¯d been raised with more than sufficient patience for such a journey even with little stimulus. Obviously since he became a cultivator and his lifespan widened, he became even more comfortable with days slipping away. It was a relaxed journey during which he meditated upon the way his greater access to energy changed what he could do- and of course the unique aspects of Unity and the association of others with his stars. But that was how things were before reaching his bound star. Once there, he used an upgraded version of a previous technique, dropping into the star and vaulting out of the other side, hurtling through subspace at tremendous speeds. The Lower Realms didn¡¯t have widely usable interstellar teleportation, as it was somewhat more difficult due to differences between the various sorts of energy available. So while Catarina could take advantage of their network to teleport where even others couldn¡¯t, Anton was stuck making use of more primitive methods. His speed constantly threatened to make him break out of subspace, requiring constant concentration to keep himself connected to the spatial tunnels he formed between bound stars. He had hoped he might step into one and come out another, but it didn¡¯t quite work like that. It would require an even higher level of connection between stars, one that Anton wasn¡¯t certain was wise to strive for. As it was, he was deeply aware of how distance slipped away, drawing him between one bound star and the next consecutively. Anton was certainly he could squeeze out even more speed if he was willing to push himself, and this was a perfect time to experiment. If he showed up exhausted, Chidi would simply have to wait for him to recover. Anton¡¯s rate of energy intake was greater, but so were his potential stores. He didn¡¯t yet have full access to the power of his bound stars- and if it was up to him he never would. It was too much power for one person to use responsibly, and he truly hoped there was no crisis that could ever cause him to even think about trying to use such power. The reason was that the power a star put out was in essence its very being- if he could draw upon all of the energy in a star, the star itself would cease to exist. Though of course, even if Anton engaged in an excessive display of energy, he would only slightly diminish one at present. But even that was unacceptable- he wished for anything connected to him to be more due to that connection instead of less. Anton wasn¡¯t quite sure if he could reasonably replenish the power of a star or meaningfully extend its lifespan, except for specific situations of instability like the corruption that had been within Klar. Other than that, Anton couldn¡¯t expect to survive more than a thousandth or a millionth of the lifespan of a star to observe his true impact. Anything he did might only accomplish short-term changes, but if so he at least wanted those impacts to be positive. The same was true of his interactions with people, though obviously it wasn¡¯t possible with everyone. Various groups were seemingly determined to be enemies of the people of the lower realms. ----- A burst of power went out from Ceretos¡¯ star, a little unnecessary flare to signal Anton¡¯s arrival. He didn¡¯t let the energy go to waste, however, directing it towards various parts of the system that would make good use of ambient natural energy. He immediately tried to seek out Chidi, and found it to be a much more difficult task than anticipated. He should have been able to find a void, but his descendent must have reacted to his arrival and begun to actively conceal himself. An amusing diversion Anton was quite happy to go along with.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Threads of energy spread throughout the system, but found nothing. Anton expanded their numbers, widening the threads into flat planes that he swept through the area. He felt some sort of response, but was quite pleased that he couldn¡¯t tell which portion of his energy was being manipulated. Anton supposed that Chidi was actually the first among them to reach such a late stage, though whether or not his second tier of Negation was actually equivalent to Domination and now Unity was difficult to discern. Though from what he had heard, Chidi¡¯s father could find it difficult to battle him even in single combat. Energy spread out from the star in waves, Anton focusing on any minor disturbances. He found some, but they were merely curious distortion beasts at the outlying edges of the system- no doubt attracted by his own activities. The Lower Realms Alliance had ways to deal with their intrusions, but since he was responsible for drawing them in Anton also felt obligated to drive them off. A surge of energy scared off some of the distortion beasts, but others remained. Anton had to pull out his bow, taking shots that dipped into the subspace where distortion beasts primarily lived. Anton didn¡¯t need to clearly understand their anatomy if he could simply annihilate it, and flames imbued with spectral and ascension energy burned the creatures from some sort of center outwards. For all their viciousness, Anton considered them beasts driven by their instincts. He preferred to not have to kill them, but they were too dangerous to let remain near civilized areas if they could not be chased off. Though he was sidetracked by the prospective trouble, Anton¡¯s efforts had not been in vain. He detected an area where energy flowed differently, and was eventually able to focus in on a particular point. Once he focused, he got a brief glimpse of Chidi¡­ and then all of his energy that entered a certain region simply disappeared. Even so, the signs were close enough. Anton flew towards the distant outpost where Chidi was currently staying, and eventually his grandson- with a couple extra generations in there somewhere- revealed himself. The two of them had never interacted much. Chidi had been born in the upper realms, where Anton could not go, so for centuries their only contact had been through videos or other messages. Only with a stable method to travel between realms not during the Tides of the World did they have the opportunity to meet for pleasure. ¡°People say you remind them of Chikere,¡± Anton commented once he was actually face to face with the other man. ¡°But I don¡¯t see it.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Chidi tilted his head. ¡°Aside from being excellent with swords, I fail to see the comparison. And that would be like comparing Anish and Fuzz for both being fire users.¡± ¡°I never got to interact with Anish,¡± Chidi commented. ¡°Right. Well, he¡¯s one of many family members you have here in the lower realms.¡± Chidi only had his parents, one sibling, and Alva in the upper realms- and since the latter had no partner or children, that was the end of his relatives. Chidi nodded, an expression Anton knew was only for the sake of others. ¡°I have heard there is much anticipation for Devon reaching Unity.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a difficult process, even if the tales told of me don¡¯t show that. Devon has the talent, but it¡¯s hard to say.¡± ¡°Tell me about it. Unity. Negation is obviously far removed from both that and Domination, but I might still learn something.¡± ¡°And this is where you differ most from Chikere. She would have demanded a spar first.¡± Chidi smiled, his face lighting up, even spreading as far as his closed eyelids. ¡°She certainly would have.¡± A few minutes later, the two of them were sitting and drinking tea. Anton thought that even the most basic products had sufficient quality for anyone but the greatest tea snobs- anything that didn¡¯t was quickly driven out of the market by more passionate producers. Tea hadn¡¯t been something he particularly interacted with in Dungannon, but he¡¯d grown to love it in the Order. ¡°Unity is just what it sounds like,¡± Anton said. As he did, he thought of a different way he could have found Chidi. He reserved that idea for later. ¡°It¡¯s about becoming one with things outside of the self. I always chose a path of promoting relations with others, even in Essence Collection.¡± ¡°And before you cultivated, I have heard. Alva had much to say about you as her grandfather. Even though Janina had died not long after she was born, she recalled the joy you brought to the family.¡± For the first decade, the memories of death had been sharp- and painful for at least another century beyond that. Now, Anton simply retained fond memories. ¡°It is the most good I can do for the world. People need a place to belong, both with people and with what they do. Everyone can become an important part of things, if given the opportunity. Forcing people into a position they don¡¯t fit, however, isn¡¯t much fun for anyone.¡± Anton went on to describe the connections he felt to the people as a whole. Turilia was a particularly special example of that, as it was part of the former Numerological Compact and had hivemind cultivators there. Perhaps ironically, that meant he revealed few needs that were not already known¡­ but the desires of those not part of the hivemind still came through. Nothing individualistic, but providing opportunities for those with strong passions was made simple with widespread cooperation. Not that hiveminds were necessary. The Lower Realms Alliance was excellent at such things. Not every system was precisely as developed as they might want to be, but they could get help from neighbors if they communicated their needs. People still had to deal with cycles of pain and loss, grievance over deaths of loved ones. There were also other pains, such as loss of employment or failures to advance, but those were temporary. Either way, people were ready for the negative circumstances that came upon them- far more often through misfortune than intentional actions of other humans. Some still made mistakes or had ill intent, but the Alliance strove for perfection, even if they would never reach it. Chidi then discussed Negation. More than a rejection of the world or powerful energy, it was an acceptance. He didn¡¯t force anything to stop, but balanced the flow such that nothing happened, at least for a time. It was an understanding of both himself but the world around him. And both Chidi and Anton were highly interested in seeing how it would affect him. So they would be moving onto sparring soon. Just not as the very first thing after meeting up. Chapter 1151 Anton faced off against Chidi at a distance of a hundred meters apart, on a spatial platform made precisely for high tier duels. The distance was chosen as a compromise to actually getting some sort of benefit from their sparring and of course the limitations of physical arenas. Obviously Anton could be a full system away and continually pepper Chidi with attacks, but that wouldn''t be interesting. It still seemed appropriate that he should have to close some distance to reach Anton. Chidi felt weak. Anton knew he was anything but weak, yet it still felt like it. That was something he had to be aware of, as the lack of threat that he naturally felt could easily cause him to act carelessly. The instant the signal indicated the match to begin, Anton formed a dozen bows of energy and began to rain arrows down upon Chidi. He was more than certain that his opponent could handle as many arrows as he could shoot with just his primary bow, but he figured that he might force something from his opponent this way. He did. Instantly, the entire ten meter area around Chidi suddenly became empty. Not of space or matter, for which Anton was quite grateful, but simply of all energy, or at least any sense of it. Anton felt his arrows simply erase as they entered the area, all at precisely the same distance around him- and Anton had attacked from all sides except for below out of respect for the local infrastructure. Anton wondered if that distance was Chidi¡¯s limit, or if he was even limited to a spherical area. He would be willing to bet no for both. Chidi had immediately begun to dash forward, but with his negation abilities active he moved at a nearly trivial pace. Until he suddenly dropped negation, covering fifty meters in a fraction of a second with a surge of energy. Anton leapt to the side, while at the same time firing more arrows. This time, he focused on different types. He retained his standard Spirit Arrows, but added to the mix those imbued with elements of fire and light. Just for fun he mixed in a few ice arrows as well- it was far from his specialty element so it was likely ten times as costly for half the effect, but it was worth experimenting with. What Anton learned was that Chidi¡­ didn¡¯t care. All of the arrows simply disappeared around him, regardless of type. Anton had been led to believe that Chidi was actively canceling the energy fluctuations in the area around him, though that was information from when he first achieved Negation as an augmentation equivalent. Even if he didn¡¯t require active effort, activating Negation was a weakness in itself. Anton took a single ¡®step¡¯ while his arrows were being turned into nothing, making use of his distance to use his full speed. He was easily a hundred meters away once more, and he could have been a thousand or more if he were not acting within particular limitations. That was where Chidi finally had to reveal something more, and Anton nearly lost his head for it. Or more likely he would have received a deep cut that would stop short of decapitation, based on how his master acted during spars. Anton was forming new bows around him as Chidi instantly changed directions of his sprint. The process only took a fraction of a second, so he would be able to rain down more arrows and repeat. Anton could have even used the previous energy bows, since they were hardly a significant distance away, but he¡¯d dissolved them back into usable energy instead. He saw Chidi extend his sword, but it was as if it was in slow motion. Anton¡¯s senses were still heightened by his own energy, while Chidi acted purely with his body. There were so many orders of magnitude of difference between their speeds he was effectively immobile. And then suddenly Chidi was faster, but Anton lost all sense of him except for sight¡­ and the very slightly delayed sound of his feet. Anton attempted to fire his weapons, but found that they didn¡¯t exist. None of the energy previously around him did, or at least not in any meaningful way. Anton turned to run, but at over fifty meters away Chidi slashed out. Without even extending his reach with energy, just his sword intent was enough to fill Anton with a sense of danger. He ducked and rolled, during which time his pursuer actually managed to close the rest of the gap. Had the materials in Anton¡¯s bow been anything less than worldheart, he doubted that he could have parried the incoming sword swipe. Acting on what was presumably a level playing field, Anton felt almost entirely helpless. He could try to kick Chidi, but he didn¡¯t like the idea of his leg getting punctured or severed. He hadn¡¯t even noticed the Negation expanding to cover him- if that was even a concept that mattered for it. Anton couldn¡¯t even feel his stars, though he was certain the connection was still there. It was simply that the flow of information and energy didn¡¯t exist. A few moves later, and Anton had a sword pressed against his heart. ¡°You¡¯re much nicer than your master,¡± Anton said. ¡°She would have run me through. In an entirely safe but painful manner.¡± Chidi stepped back, and Anton felt everything return. ¡°I don¡¯t have the luxury while doing that.¡± Anton pondered for a moment, wondering if Chidi somehow lost control. Then he remembered. During negation, they both had to rely on their physical senses- and Chidi was blind. Or even, he had no eyes to begin with. Judging distance between himself and his opponent with sound and other means with great accuracy was likely within his capabilities, but determining the minute differences in position between various organs and important muscle groups when stabbing through the chest was probably a bit much to do without energy senses.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The first round was obviously Chidi¡¯s victory, and Anton hadn¡¯t really underestimated him. He¡¯d been serious, trying to keep his distance, but clearly that wasn¡¯t enough. The second round, he kept moving. His feet never stopped as he made instantaneous changes in direction. If Chidi could fully encompass the area between them without warning there was nothing he could do, but Anton expected that to extend beyond a particular distance- not necessarily that ten meters- would take more time and likely a narrowing of effect. As he ran, Anton left trails of energy bows behind him. He also began pulling things out of his storage bag, because during negation he had no access to it. He hooked onto his belt some hatchets which would likely be useless against Chidi but he¡¯d prefer to have a proper melee weapon. He also withdrew some actual, physical arrows. Most of them were things that negated energy, but he kept a few around for novelties- and others he had prepared for this spar. He would just normally draw things directly from his storage bag, because that kept his enemies guessing. That just didn¡¯t work if his supernatural access was cut off. The trailing bows continuously fired at Chidi, who mostly ignored negation and instead cut his way through, slicing open a path to forge ahead. Only when he was completely surrounded with no way to dodge would he erase everything around him. The transition was so smooth that Anton truly couldn¡¯t tell if it took any time at all. The same was true of his Spirit Arrows, which didn¡¯t split into free energy but were effectively just gone while within the area- though they did return to unbound energy spread throughout the area when Chidi left. Anton thought he could do something with that, but it would require an excessive amount of energy. It would be worth experimenting with for Chidi¡¯s sake, in case he wasn¡¯t aware of the potential threats. So far, he hadn¡¯t been caught again- but he had to keep his movement pattern from becoming predictable. As for his offense, he had an idea how he might actually do something. Suddenly, Anton shot an arrow formed of Ascension energy. He knew Chidi could negate that, and indeed he would be more attuned to it than natural energy- but he followed with another arrow of natural energy that approached from a different angle with the same timing. It worked, in that it forced Chidi to react differently. Even Chidi didn¡¯t seem to quite know how it was going to happen as he swung his sword before activating negation. Anton¡¯s natural energy arrow was completely eradicated, but the other arrow continued on with little hindrance. Chidi split it in two, but Anton maintained control turning both halves back around until Chidi severed the actual connection- which was also made out of the same sort of energy, or it wouldn¡¯t have continued to exist. Having succeeded at his experiment, Anton immediately added spectral energy to his attacks- including all of his energy bows. He made certain that the controlling connection would also be of the same energy, even if it was more expensive. Spectral energy was not the same as imbuing natural energy with fire or light, or even some vaguely deathly elements- it was something more. Yet even without having prior experience, Chidi immediately reacted. All of the spectral energy was negated, leaving only a few natural energy arrows to be individually cut apart. Anton had a plan. And he was ready to enact it¡­ on the third round. Somewhere in the process of cutting one of his arrows out of existence, Chidi had also cut through space and appeared behind Anton. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could do that,¡± Anton admitted. ¡°Chikere could,¡± Chidi pointed out. ¡°Yes, but she also used her blood as swords. And I don¡¯t believe you do that.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t,¡± Chidi shrugged. A fair enough point. Though Anton was certain that Chidi would be quite limited in that regard. It required its own path to make any sense, and if he made use of Negation he would lose his connection to every mote of blood. But it was good to know he could perform high tier sword abilities such as severing space with lower tier energy. Not that Anton ever expected to have Chidi as an actual enemy. Otherwise, the battle would have been recorded instead of specifically not having that be the case. Plus, Chidi¡¯s presence alone was something like an alliance secret. Anton no longer felt that any distance was safe, and any patterns in his movements were quickly discovered. But he could mix his attacks between spectral energy, natural energy, and ascension energy. Two of those were specialized sorts that he had limited quantities of, but Chidi couldn¡¯t negate more than one type at a time. Until he managed two of them. And surprisingly, Anton found that it was natural energy and spectral energy together instead of the more normal pairing. He¡¯d been trying to land a single hit, but he simply couldn¡¯t keep up the pace, especially not with Chidi expanding his negation to include any energy bows Anton formed. Even if each group took only a fraction of a second to form, suddenly having them be lost along with a portion of his attacks put great dents in Anton¡¯s plans. Mundane arrows weren¡¯t any better. Chidi cut down groups of them in a single swing, while at the same time slicing through the arrows of Ascension energy individually. Anton was growing low on his special resources- which included his store of mundane arrows. His energy stopped around him as Negation expanded to cover him, but Anton called upon Fleeting Youth to form arrows of Ascension energy as Chidi moved directly towards him. Anton couldn¡¯t run fast enough to leave the area, so that was his only choice. Arrows flew out, but they circled around Chidi instead of getting within his reach. Anton timed them to reach Chidi slightly before Chidi would reach him. If he felt any access to the other two forms of energy, he¡¯d immediately call upon them. The arrows were meant to disintegrate peacefully upon touching Chidi, obviously. He had no reason to actually cause any harm. Chidi swung his blade to cut off Anton¡¯s connection to his arrows, but some of the trails were beyond his reach. Yet, no arrows hit Chidi. Instead, Anton felt his connection wobble and then his arrows slowly began to fall apart. It wasn¡¯t as instantaneous, but the effect was the same. And now Anton had access to no type of energy at all. Chidi¡¯s blade was coming for his gut, which Anton parried. He reached for one of his hatchets, despite knowing he¡¯d never land a blow on the swordmaster. Then Chidi collapsed, his energy exhausted. The complications of negating the flow of distinct and separate bases for energy combined with his low quantities of actual internal energy must have been too much. Though Anton had already died twice, so it wasn¡¯t particularly much of a victory. Nor did he think winning a battle starting a lightyear distant would be much of an accomplishment. Chapter 1152 Despite being born and raised in the upper realms, Chidi actually recovered quite quickly with only natural energy to sustain him. That was due at least in part to his original training methods, adapting to ¡®lower energy¡¯ before finally incorporating ¡®upper energy¡¯ upon reaching Integration. Unlike many others at equivalent stages of cultivation, he didn¡¯t carry massive stores of energy with him. In fact, upon taking further steps into Negation he had reduced his own personal energy. Even so, his energy control was quite potent, so he filled up his stores rather quickly. Before facing off against Anton again, it would be better for both of them to spend time on insights. However, both Chidi and other powerful cultivators in the lower realms could have much to learn from personal matchups. All things told, Chidi vs Anton was a relatively fair matchup. Several of the upcoming matches would not be nearly so balanced, but not because the cultivators were lower in cultivation. It still made some difference, because of experience or what they could do when not limited by Chidi¡­ but with the way his training had gone, more powerful cultivators were the most vulnerable to his style. Next on the list was another archer with a similar style¡­ or at least a style with the same basis. Because while Nthanda was trained by Anton, their actual abilities as archers had significantly diverged. Unlike when going up against Anton, Chidi had no expectations of victory or even the potential for victory. But he was still going to do his best. As he faced off against Nthanda, holding her quivers of physical arrows, Chidi was glad for at least one thing. The number of attacks she could manage to launch at any one time would be limited. He was normally quite capable of dealing with physical threats, but Nthanda¡¯s arrows were a far greater threat than anything Anton carried. Their battle would take place in a different location, because Nthanda could quite easily destroy an orbital platform. Anton could as well- but he couldn¡¯t do it accidentally. Meanwhile, Nthanda wouldn¡¯t be able to stop the momentum of her arrows if Chidi negated her energy. So they were on a small asteroid. As the match began, Chidi was still quite excited. He moved instantly, trying to close the distance. Nthanda had no difficulty matching his pace as she moved in any direction while still aiming her bow. Arrows began to fly, half of them crashing into the ground and scattering chunks of rock while the other half flew off into space- someone was responsible for stopping those, so that they wouldn¡¯t be hazards. The one concession Nthanda made was that she could not alter the trajectory of her arrows after they were in flight. Thus, Chidi was able to barely keep himself out of the line of fire. Or when he could not avoid them, his sword cut them in two. Doing that without being knocked back was a difficult task, as the momentum in each arrow felt like a mountain crashing onto him. Nthanda¡¯s path was one of advanced body tempering and the rejection of energy, or at least any sustained use of energy. Meanwhile, Chidi was all about negating the energy his opponents used. Similar in concept, but not a matchup that favored him. He couldn¡¯t even reach her. At least, not using any traditional method. Chidi chased after Nthanda, dodging, deflecting, and slashing his way through arrows launched one after another. She casually moved backwards, her steps carrying her further than Chidi could go. He¡¯d engaged in a small amount of advanced body tempering himself, and he was far above what normal humans could do, but he simply couldn¡¯t match her. So he disappeared. It was a simple stealth trick making use of the slight variation in terrain features. Chidi expected Nthanda¡¯s senses to be excellent, but the majority of them should be useless on an asteroid. Sight was still a problem, of course, which was why he dealt with that first. He made sure to insulate himself from making any sort of energy fluctuations. Aside from that, with near vacuum surrounding them, sound and smell wouldn¡¯t travel. Obviously neither would touch¡­ so Chidi began to make his way around the asteroid to try to catch Nthanda off guard. No doubt she expected he would be doing the same, so he could only pick a direction and rely on his skills, hoping for the best. He was fortunate enough to come up ¡®behind¡¯ her as she turned to scan another part of the horizon. His footsteps were light as he approached. His sword intent was kept concealed until the very moment his blade swung. His blade struck her forearm and stopped. That was a double loss for Chidi, because not only had she detected him in time to react- though he wasn¡¯t surprised her speed was something he couldn¡¯t keep up with- but also because he simply couldn¡¯t damage her. No, wait. It just took a moment. Chidi¡¯s senses revealed blood dripping down her arm. So there was that at least. ¡°That was pretty serious,¡± Nthanda said. ¡°I was aiming for your ribs,¡± Chidi admitted. ¡°I knew I¡¯d never get through bone.¡± ¡°That sword and your skill must be something special,¡± Nthanda admitted. ¡°To be able to harm my tempered body without the use of energy.¡± ¡°Such a minor wound is hardly reassuring, though,¡± Chidi said. ¡°So what gave me away?¡± ¡°Footsteps. I could feel the vibrations through the asteroid the whole way. No matter how minute the movements you made, you¡¯re the only thing here other than myself.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Maybe I should have tried to launch myself into an orbit¡­¡± Chidi commented. Though the gravity of the asteroid was so minimal that wasn¡¯t practical at all. Chidi felt the edge of his blade. He hadn¡¯t encountered anything so durable before- and this was a person. One who had specially tempered her body over centuries, but still. It didn¡¯t matter how good his cutting insights were if she had such a durable body- and most likely a powerful image of herself. His skills simply couldn¡¯t deal with that. But he didn¡¯t mind where his choices had led him. ----- Going from the least winnable fight he would ever had- and he¡¯d fought a Domination cultivator- Chidi moved onto a fight that he was probably the second most qualified individual to win in all the realms. The fight didn¡¯t look like much of anything, and it was mostly for fun. And partially for the sake of his opponent. The instant the match began, legs began to skitter. Chidi simply pointed his sword at his target, thrusting forward- and pulling his attack so his blade just touched the Great Queen¡¯s forehead. Though she was small and felt like nothing, Chidi could actually use that to track her position far better than before. He¡¯d interfaced with some void ants under Crossed Antennae, and he¡¯d thought about how to handle them. Chops and Snips wouldn¡¯t be able to beat him, and the Great Queen was specialized in a similar thing to himself- and thus she lost based purely on her body. Chidi did need some help interpreting her exact gestures. ¡°She says you have trained your senses well, and she accepts her first defeat,¡± Anton said. ¡°She wants to try other things.¡± Chidi nodded. He knew the void ant queen could do more than that. But each and every time, his sword would find her. She couldn¡¯t completely conceal herself, and her speed was limited. There was one circumstance she could obtain more speed, however. The Great Queen could fly, but not with wings. It was fascinating to observe how she consumed some of the surrounding natural energy to guide her movements, matching the speed of a powerful cultivator- for a single instant. Chidi twisted slightly, and his blade came between himself and her once more, pressed against her neck. Using Negation on passive energy was a trivial exercise, and so ending her manipulations was just that easy. Air pressure instantly slowed her, allowing him to react to her remaining speed. But the Great Queen wanted to try again, and Chidi didn¡¯t begrudge her attempts. She wanted to be faster, and conversely he needed to be able to activate Negation in tiny fractions of moments. Cultivators could move at incomprehensible speeds, and if Chidi couldn¡¯t react in time¡­ his body was as vulnerable as any other. Well, he was slightly more tempered than others, but he¡¯d never get close to Nthanda¡¯s level. The Great Queen moved faster, in strange patterns, and even tried to eat up Chidi¡¯s control over Negation. That almost worked, surprisingly. She tried stealth, but even when there was no ambient energy to disrupt, Chidi could use his own small quantities of energy to flood the area. The very final move the Great Queen attempted was something that would have gotten most people who thought they knew how void ants worked, but the sudden spear intent that tried to pierce Chidi simply wasn¡¯t high enough quality. Plus, Chidi was the first one to observe void ants making use of anything of the sort. Twisting his body out of the way was easy enough, and he swung his sword, cutting apart the air. The Great Queen was sent gently tumbling away. ¡°She says she appreciates your time,¡± Anton translated. ¡°And that you were willing to work with her descendents to create new styles.¡± Chidi nodded. ¡°Snips and Chops are perhaps my best disciples, despite not having humanoid anatomy.¡± ----- Finding an even match was difficult for Chidi, but he knew that would always be the case. His cultivation method revolved around humbling the strong, but that also meant he could be humbled himself by those on alternate paths. Knowing his weaknesses was always valuable, though Chidi was surprised one of them was trees. Or tree. A very particular tree with leaves strong enough even he could not cut through them. Grandfather Willow towered over Chidi. With Negation active, the natural strength of the dangling branches was enough that Chidi couldn¡¯t cut them- at least not all the way through. And without negation active, he had to deal with so much natural energy that he simply couldn¡¯t manage. Chidi let himself continue dangling upside down, wrapped in one of the branches. He had really thought that they were only able to move because of energy. But no, they had their own mechanisms for movement. He should have realized that most grasping willows weren¡¯t traditionally imbued with significant natural energy. Technically, this was supposed to be a battle with Lev. But if he couldn¡¯t reach Lev, it didn¡¯t matter. Chidi could insist that they have a match away from the Grandfather Willow, but that wasn¡¯t particularly great either. Lev was grinning up at him, leaning against the tree. It was both to show how casual things were and¡­ because he had to. If Chidi activated Negation, Lev would simply topple over. If Chidi understood correctly, Lev had exactly one limb with properly functioning nerve connections. So with Negation active, he would be a blind guy with a sword picking on one who couldn¡¯t stand. ¡°... Why don¡¯t you get someone to regrow your nerves?¡± Chidi asked, perhaps because he had too much blood in his head. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you gotten bionic eyes?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never had eyes,¡± Chidi said. ¡°At this point, they¡¯d just be a distraction.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± Lev agreed. ¡°As for me, there¡¯s no point. And it¡¯s a reminder of how I got to where I am. And to my disciples, in case they think that directly connecting to a tree is a good and safe idea, I can remind them it¡¯s not. Their faces when I flop over? Priceless.¡± Chidi attempted to replicate the look of shocked horror he was imagining. ¡°Something like this?¡± ¡°Sometimes they pass out from the shock. As if Enrichment cultivators can¡¯t show weakness. Or have any weakness.¡± ¡°Nobody¡¯s invincible.¡± ¡°Not everyone gets that,¡± Lev shrugged. ¡°You want to try again?¡± ¡°As long as you promise not to get mad if I successfully cut through one of these limbs.¡± ¡°Every tree needs pruning,¡± Lev said. ¡°Even this guy.¡± Chapter 1153 Crossed Antennae found the responses of humans to various events fascinating. The Chaotic Conglomeration was more than a little bit surprised when the Scarlet Alliance managed to raise two Domination cultivators simultaneously. Crossed Antennae herself thought it was a fairly natural progression- when pressured, humans always grew quickly. Void ants were slower to adapt, which was why attaching themselves to humanity had been quite useful. Everyone was somehow more surprised about the other thing that had happened recently. Having met Anton on her trip through the lower realms around the Exalted Quadrant, she had felt it. Crossed Antennae knew that humans could feel each other¡¯s energies too, so why would they be surprised? Well, she supposed that most of them hadn¡¯t met Anton. Or the other Enrichment cultivators. They probably still thought that the lower realms were as stagnant as they had been for millennia past- as if that made any sense now that they weren¡¯t being oppressed. In Crossed Antennae¡¯s opinion, this was merely the natural result of things, an explosion of power. Sure, it had taken almost a thousand years on its own to reach this point, but there had been so much buildup in the lower realms it simply had to happen. But almost nobody ever asked Crossed Antennae for her opinion. Most people didn¡¯t know she existed, and the rest just¡­ didn¡¯t. The twins were an exception, though. They asked everyone about everything. It seemed to Crossed Antennae that they should have run out of questions for the whole of the Chaotic Conglomeration, but they were still going. ¡°Nobody¡¯s really able to determine with certainty who will make it to higher stages of cultivation,¡± Misi commented. ¡°Are you sure you knew?¡± ¡°Even if I didn¡¯t trust my mother¡¯s judgment,¡± Crossed Antennae signed, ¡°I would have known. But of course, it is not that people are strictly destined. Anton could have failed, and it would not have been surprising as one of those leading the charge.¡± ¡°I still think being the first to reach a particular stage is always going to be surprising,¡± Juli added. The twins were paying careful attention to not miss anything she said, even as they recorded their own thoughts. Crossed Antennae thought about that. ¡°One time is a surprise. Twice might be unexpected. After a certain point, people must resolve not to be shocked.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Misi agreed. ¡°But this is the first,¡± he pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m not speaking strictly of Unity,¡± Crossed Antennae commented. It was a good name. Very void ant. At least, the void ants she knew. There had been some news from the lower realms about some that were a bit more jumbled up. ¡°Nor of Anton. However, he was one of the first to reach Assimilation- at least as known in Ceretos. Then Enrichment and finally now Unity. But this stretches beyond that. This is a time of great change. Humans and void ants have become friends- and others who are not human. The wolves and Akrys. Maybe this new system.¡± Crossed Antennae was not done. No, far from that- she felt she could continue to speak on what she had learned forever. Her passion was shown in the exaggerated gestures of her forelimbs and antennae. ¡°The Scarlet Midfields are unified for the first time in the memory of the people there. The lower and upper realms are working together- in some sections. Multiple Domination cultivators died within a century of each other. No one should be surprised at anything because nothing fits what people used to think was normal and unsurprising. I haven¡¯t even mentioned the other cultivation paths that have sprung up. But I will. Advanced body tempering, Confluence, Negation¡­¡± Crossed Antennae looked at Juli. ¡°Technology, both as connected to cultivation and as an independent factor.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Juli¡¯s face lit up. ¡°How¡¯s the micro tech process going, by the way?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve run into limitations of the laws of physics,¡± Crossed Antennae said. Misi frowned. ¡°In what way?¡± ¡°Electricity doesn¡¯t like many very small pathways close to each other. Among other things.¡± He thought for a couple moments. ¡°Maybe just make normal sized tech and¡­ shrink it?¡± Crossed Antennae tilted her head. ¡°That sounds even more difficult for us to do independently.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got to get some of you interested in formations,¡± Misi sighed. ¡°Void ants are so good at sensing energy flow!¡± ¡°It is not my job to create interest,¡± Crossed Antennae pointed out. ¡°But you are allowed to attempt to seduce my kin away from their productive careers if you believe it can be successful.¡± ----- Occasionally, Anton was actually able to reach Chidi with a trinity of energy styles. Chidi simply couldn¡¯t negate upper and lower energy plus spectral energy all at the same time with any consistency. And while it was nearly impossible for him to encounter such anywhere else, the possibility of there being more obscure yet seemingly fundamental energies was possible. Domination cultivators would be the most likely candidates. Previously, Anton had never needed to combine the energies. They functioned better independently, and he only combined them when he simply did not have enough of one kind. They weren¡¯t strictly incompatible, but Anton didn¡¯t necessarily see further progression down that path as anything of value in most circumstances. At best, it would be usable to bypass something like adaptive defenses. As for Chidi, however, it was valuable for him so Anton helped him train.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. There was one more thing they tested, and perhaps the most important when considering who Chidi intended to fight. Though Chidi was aware of his weaknesses, it was necessary to overcome as many as possible. Thus, Anton was about a day away from Chidi- by the best speed he believed the younger man capable of. It was a distance at which Anton was still comfortable, though very few others would even get close. However, it allowed Anton the luxury of safety, representing an enemy Chidi could not reach no matter what. Because of that, Anton could gather as much energy as he could control. For the sake of safety, Chidi was on a small device that should be able to absorb any accidental energy aftershocks while still allowing him sufficient freedom of movement to react and potentially counter Anton. Obviously Anton wouldn¡¯t actually hit Chidi, but when gathering a certain amount of energy simply dissolving it into the surroundings could still be extremely dangerous. Anton intended to let his attack dissolve safely far away, but something could go wrong. Anton expected he would display a similar effect to when he killed Sudin, and when he completed his advancement. The upper realms would no doubt be in a tizzy- but not knowing where the attack went, he might hope they would underestimate anything in the future. This attack wouldn¡¯t be traveling past multiple systems, so it would only exist briefly and that was it. Energy condensed around the lower realms, snapping everything into place. The shape of a bow wouldn¡¯t really allow attacks to go from the outside to the inside, but Anton wasn¡¯t physically using the stars as structure. He drew upon all of his bound stars, gathering energy for quite a long time. He didn¡¯t take anywhere near as long as the flight of Sudin, both because he was more efficient with the process and because his attack didn¡¯t have to go nearly as far. Even so, it was an amount of time that would have been impossible to use in a short ranged battle. It could only be done like this as a sort of artillery strike, or through the methods of an assassin. Chidi was aware the attack was coming here, but not precisely when. That would have to be good enough as far as Anton¡¯s contribution went. A streak of blinding energy tore through space itself, arriving at a speed Chidi shouldn¡¯t have anticipated. Anton was confident enough to aim straight for his grandson, but he was prepared to alter the trajectory of his attack at any moment if he had to. He was his arrow, streaking towards Chidi. Then the image of Chidi disappeared from his vision as an area of Negation stretched outward. Anton didn¡¯t even feel his arrow fade- it was just gone. A minute later, the natural energy in the system was several times higher than the normal ambient, but otherwise not notable. Certainly it didn¡¯t have any resemblance concentrated force sufficient to destroy a planet. There was just one more quite annoying thing Anton had to do. He shot one arrow after another, spaced out so they would arrive several seconds apart. He could do that literally forever. He might find he had to sleep after a few months, but until that time his energy replenishment was far more than necessary. He could have used more power, but that wasn¡¯t actually useful. Staggering the timing between the arrows so they weren¡¯t predictable, Anton forced Chidi to defend himself. Some arrows he sliced apart as individuals. Often he had to use Negation directly around himself, but even if it didn¡¯t tire him much, over the course of hours he was beginning to look rather ragged. If that was where things ended, Anton would have been disappointed. After all, Chidi had weeks to think of a proper counter measure. He wasn¡¯t expected to somehow catch Anton, but if he could at least escape it would be good enough. Even so, Chidi hadn¡¯t moved at all from his starting position. An illusion¡­ was both outside of Chidi¡¯s wheelhouse and impractical. It couldn¡¯t be directly affecting Anton¡¯s mind, and any energy he used would have been blown away by Anton¡¯s arrows reaching the area regardless of what Anton¡¯s senses might be convinced was going on. Chidi simply didn¡¯t have the energy stores to resist that. Was Chidi simply going to surrender? No, more likely he was waiting for Anton to be off guard somehow. He did his best to continue his attacks with minimal paused- though he took a few minutes off every once in a while, keeping his senses locked on Chidi. He also launched hails of arrows, forcing Chidi to cover himself from all arrows. Again and again Anton continued his attacks. If this was endurance training he¡¯d gladly continue, but he hadn¡¯t seen any progress. And he didn¡¯t until one time Negation faded and Chidi simply wasn¡¯t there. Anton searched for him, trying to extend his senses to cover more of the system, but the young man was just gone. There weren¡¯t even traces of spatial distortions- though that didn¡¯t mean they hadn¡¯t happened, just that they were covered up. It took about an hour for Anton to get a message from Chidi. That gave him a hint to Chidi¡¯s location, but aside from informing Chidi not to taunt any actual opponents it was sufficient to show that Chidi had actually escaped his notice, moving further than Anton thought was capable and keeping his energy concealed, after a short time of Negation cutting of Anton¡¯s sensory access to the local space. ----- ¡°So how did you do it?¡± Anton asked. ¡°If I told you, I¡¯d have to silence you,¡± Chidi said, dragging his finger across his throat. ¡°Harsh but fair,¡± Anton agreed. He had his own guesses, actually. Most likely, it was some combination of keeping the area of Negation static while moving himself towards the edge, thus foiling Anton¡¯s immediate sweep of the area. But he could only guess that was what it was. ¡°Is there any more training I can help with?¡± ¡°Just an endurance test. Something like omnidirectional suppression. It would be a shame if I lost to someone¡¯s aura, and I can¡¯t imagine there¡¯s anyone better here. Then I was hoping to take some of Devon¡¯s time.¡± ¡°Really? I hadn¡¯t expected he¡¯d be a good matchup for you. Or rather, despite his considerable abilities, he¡¯d certainly lose.¡± Devon¡¯s range was merely planetary, so at best he could run from Chidi. There was no way he could slip past Chidi¡¯s defenses or overpower him, especially not as an Enrichment cultivator. Maybe if he reached Unity- if that was even something that was a universally valid path. ¡°I do believe that would be the case,¡± Chidi agreed. ¡°But I need to match myself against alternative energy suppression.¡± A fair point. ¡°Have you tested with standard energy negating shackles?¡± ¡°I can cut them apart with merely my sword intent,¡± Chidi confirmed. ¡°And I¡¯m confident I could handle most formations.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯d be glad to help. You¡¯re family, after all.¡± Chapter 1154 As Velvet left the bounds of the Scarlet Alliance¡¯s territory, she was briefly able to look upon it as an outsider. If she had the choice, she absolutely wouldn¡¯t intrude upon the region, as it was terrifying. A mighty presence, standing vigilant ready to defend the area. The worst part was that Velvet didn¡¯t know if Timothy could actually guard their whole territory at once or not. It seemed a bit extreme, but with the spatial distortions it wasn¡¯t unreasonable. Unwanted intruders would be brought to their most well defended system, that of Xankeshan, and then they would have to face him. And Catarina, but for all that she was probably far more dangerous if she had time to prepare, she wasn¡¯t particularly intimidating. At least, as far as Domination cultivators went. Velvet had gotten the opportunity to properly observe five of them throughout her life. Everheart didn¡¯t count, since he hadn¡¯t been around since his advancement, but beyond Timothy and Catarina there were Ratna, Koronis, and of course Zaur Beridze. The latter had seemed more bluster than strength. For all that he had appeared to handily defeat any individual who matched up against him, they had for the most part survived. Mainly due to luck, numbers, or planning, but if so many factors could limit Zaur then he wasn¡¯t quite as powerful as he appeared. As Velvet continued to drift away from the Scarlet Alliance, she brought to mind her mission. She was to investigate to determine the weakest and least stable of the colonies beginning to worm their way into the Scarlet Midfields. Studying their various rivals among the opposite factions would be most useful if she could manage to get them to call each other out for breaking the pact without getting the rest of the midfields into a war. Not the easiest task, but that made it all the more necessary. The Scarlet Alliance was slowly expanding to fill the midfields, but unless something suddenly changed it would be another thousand or two thousand years before they truly encompassed the majority of the area. They could place nominal outposts wherever they wanted, but the only areas they could be said to truly control were those that they had encompassed by the spatial distortion. Some of the planets that were occupied were close enough to the southern border that Velvet could count on Anton¡¯s ability to reach them now that he was a Unity cultivator. However, it wasn¡¯t feasible to assume he could handle more complex operations than simply annihilating people. If they got to that point, the upper realms part of the Alliance would handle things themselves since he would be best reserved for what might happen afterwards. It was too bad he couldn¡¯t come to the upper realms. He would probably be able to cover all of the Alliance¡¯s territory without the spatial distortion. He hadn¡¯t been entirely forthcoming about his limits, potentially because he didn¡¯t know but Velvet suspected it was more likely so that people didn¡¯t count on him. At least, not in that way. ----- Aside from training in cultivation, and specifically with Chidi, Anton had recently become a catalyst for another wave of sweeping social changes- small ones, but significant in their reach. Mainly, they were things people couldn¡¯t give voice to, and that they hadn¡¯t really even understood to be a problem. Major inequalities were always being worked on by the Alliance, and if people could give voice to a problem it would be looked into. However, there were smaller issues that were no less serious but that still required addressing. For example, issues of mobility. It was entirely possible for people to go from one system in the Alliance to another for a relatively cheap price considering the distances involved. Given the proliferation of a common language, it wouldn¡¯t be impossible to get along, but there were still cultural differences between planets that lingered. That wasn¡¯t the main issue, however. Certain systems had more people that wanted to leave to seek opportunities elsewhere, but the flights weren¡¯t there. Some of them were simply unable to give voice to those ideas, others held the thoughts in their subconscious- if given the opportunity, they would travel. It was a need people couldn¡¯t fulfil not because they didn¡¯t have the ships or pilots, but because they didn¡¯t know. Obviously such a thing didn¡¯t mean much to Anton personally, as he could travel wherever he wished far faster than anyone else- but it was safe to say most people couldn¡¯t independently surpass light speed. Long distance communication was fast but not instantaneous. Communities were still separated by distance, and though the problem was constantly being worked on for various practical reasons, once people were aware of the issue efforts were redoubled. Maybe they would have teleportation available in the next century, or at least instantaneous cross-system communication. Then there were intangible things which Anton couldn¡¯t do anything to facilitate except to connect people together in ways he didn¡¯t even fully understand. One example Anton learned about after the fact was an individual looking for peace, trying to find a particular place of relaxation. A cove with particular conditions he assumed simply didn¡¯t exist¡­ but someone else did. The manifestation of the connection was simply drawing two people together for a moment. The second individual merely mentioned the place in passing conversation, not knowing the full extent of healing it could bring to the first. If Anton had to consciously control it, he imagined he would go mad. A single connection between two people was one thing, but with the total population in the trillions, the myriad possibilities were impossible to discern. Anton simply allowed energy to be used according to the principles of Unity he had laid out for himself. It was much like devotion in that way.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Because this particular form of Unity was tied to Anton, that meant it was certainly incomplete in coverage. Plenty could go undiscovered, things away from his bound stars being the most prominent. But he could hope that eventually other Unity cultivators would arise- or perhaps society would develop to a point that they weren¡¯t useful. That was a hard situation to imagine, however, as it wasn¡¯t as if the rest of the galaxy stopped existing just because the Lower Realms Alliance happened to be doing well. The Alliance really didn¡¯t need Anton¡¯s Unity, just like it didn¡¯t need most of the other components individually. But if individual pieces were lost, eventually the whole thing would unravel. It was just one thing that should hopefully result in things becoming better. Anton didn¡¯t fully understand the connections, but according to what he heard it was like a prompting that people followed. However, there were no serious consequences for ignoring it. It wasn¡¯t a divinatory ability that somehow predicted or mandated the future. Instead, the more people something could affect, the more connections were made that could solve said problems. The connections between two people were most rare, and Anton remembered hearing about it precisely because of that. If opportunities were missed, it didn¡¯t somehow lead to disaster. Instead, there would always be promptings¡­ until the need was no longer significant enough. Since it was new, not everyone was willing to follow mysterious promptings. Even for cultivators who learned to follow a certain sort of instinct, it was odd to connect with something that was clearly external to some extent. Anton himself felt no promptings himself. Perhaps that meant nobody needed him and he needed nothing in return, but more likely it was that he couldn¡¯t interface with the effects himself. Or it could be because he¡¯d simply not considered himself when he was making his attempt. Anton didn¡¯t need to help himself, because he already had everything he could ask for and more¡­ multiple lifetimes worth. Asking for more would be greedy. As for how he could help others, if Unity wasn¡¯t personal enough, Anton still tried to leave his personal touch wherever he went. A few words of guidance could help a cultivator suck at a bottleneck, especially when Anton had seen the same difficulties hundreds or thousands of times in disciples. Sometimes people just needed a kind word during a rough day. That wouldn¡¯t change just because Anton was stronger now. People might find it weird that someone with planet destroying capabilities just talked like a normal person, but Anton would find it weird if he didn¡¯t. Cultivators who thought themselves above everyone and everything were kind of missing out on part of existence. Though there were a few who could actually be content with a solitary lifestyle, focused on self perfection. ----- In some ways, Chidi found escaping from Devon¡¯s restraint to be easier than the simplest of physical shackles. Those made with cultivators in mind, of course. Others weren¡¯t even worth considering, as he wouldn¡¯t even need any sort of abilities. Having his energy suppressed was certainly inconvenient. Chidi couldn¡¯t manipulate his own energy or the energy around him with Devon¡¯s chains wrapping him. But with the right shifting of his body, simple and minute adjustments, the flow of energy could change. Once Negation took hold, he could propagate it outward- and once he erased any part of the binding effects, it was worthless. The chains were gone as if they had never existed. ¡°Fascinating,¡± Devon said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I could reasonably learn enough about energy flow to stop you.¡± ¡°Normally, I wouldn¡¯t describe my own weaknesses,¡± Chidi said. ¡°But I¡¯m going to be out of here soon enough, uncle Devon.¡± He was a great-uncle or something similar, but it was the most proper thing to call him. And Devon liked it. ¡°If you happen to run into someone like me somehow, there¡¯s one trick. Just make sure I can¡¯t move at all.¡± ¡°I considered that,¡± Devon said. ¡°The problem is¡­ you¡¯d be dead. I couldn¡¯t truly be certain that you were incapable of doing that unless everything about you would be perfectly still. Your heart. Your lungs. Every portion of your cells¡­¡± Chidi made a face. ¡°That sounds a bit excessive. On the surface, at least.¡± Chidi wondered if he could carve formations on individual cells. That would be difficult for many reasons, including that they weren¡¯t usually entirely stationary and that whole pesky thing where they were living and dying. Anyone actually trying to restrain him would likely just take the opportunity to crush him if they successfully caught him, so training such a niche ability was probably excessive. That said, he would absolutely scale the formations inside of himself in ways that he could still shift them without appearing to move. Flexing or unflexing muscles, perhaps, though he¡¯d have to make certain not to disrupt the flow of energy when he didn¡¯t mean to. ----- There was one more family member Chidi had to meet in the lower realms. Actually, that was completely untrue. There were probably thousands or tens of thousands, as there had been many generations of family that didn¡¯t really live as cultivators after Anton rescued them. Plus he was pretty sure he had aunts and uncles from his mother¡¯s side in the centuries after she was gone. But there was only one active in high tier cultivation and to which he had a personal connection- even if they¡¯d never met. The connection itself wasn¡¯t even important. They¡¯d merely been born close together in time with vast distances separating them. That person was Anishka. Her mother Annelie had been close to Alva for most of their early life, and even until the latter Ascended. Then Annelie had nearly given up on cultivation after her husband¡¯s death, and was now living out something like her final days. ¡°You¡¯re more impressive in person,¡± Anishka admitted. ¡°Energy recordings don¡¯t do Negation justice.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll say the same for you,¡± Chidi replied. ¡°Fire and ice together is a difficult combination.¡± She shrugged. ¡°So you say. But I was raised with it and it always made sense. Except during brief periods of crisis.¡± She stared at Chidi, hard. ¡°What are you thinking about¡­ cousin?¡± ¡°Just whether I can beat you in a fight. And I don¡¯t think I could.¡± ¡°Or you¡¯d completely destroy me,¡± Chidi said. ¡°It¡¯s not like I could ambush you. I know you¡¯ve got better awareness than that. And I don¡¯t have amazing range.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m not telling you how,¡± Chidi said. ¡°Because I think others could replicate it easily enough, and I really can¡¯t let that happen.¡± Anishka frowned for a moment. ¡°I think I figured it out.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t intend to let you test it,¡± Chidi shook his head. ¡°So don¡¯t ask.¡± Chapter 1155 Despite the amount of time he had spent there, Anton felt that his explorations of Klar were rather incomplete. He¡¯d landed on a single planet and associated with the plant cultivators living upon it. While the development of a language spoken purely with energy was certainly valuable, there was a lot more to the systems. Other planets, certainly, but most relevant was the large variety of things living in the vacuum of space. For the most part, Anton had avoided those. They seemed to act with the instincts of beasts, and even those that seemed more intelligent were just clever hunters. Anton hadn¡¯t yet pinned down anything of sapience in the spacefaring individuals, but he might yet. It required closely watching a number of individuals for an extended period of time- unless he simply got lucky with certain forms of displays that would tip him off. Reaching Unity allowed Anton to return to the system more quickly, though it was still isolated in various ways. The first was the distance from the Lower Realms Alliance as a whole, with the second being Anton not having a nearby bound star. But he had some thoughts about that. In the past, Anton had come to the decision that he should gain permission from the locals before binding a star- and he stuck to that. But he thought he actually had a better method now. What he was doing would reveal him to the whole system, if they hadn¡¯t yet noticed him moving about, but Anton didn¡¯t find that particularly concerning. Merely knowing he was around might make some beasts seek him out, but he hoped sapient individuals would recognize he wasn¡¯t a threat. Blue supergiant stars burned bright and fast, at least by stellar standards. Something around ten million years, though there hadn¡¯t been enough long term observation to confirm that fully, and especially not whether decay accelerated or decreased when a star possessed greater natural energy. Most likely, there were stable and unstable configurations. Klar¡¯s star was a highly potent blue supergiant. The life around it had likely been supercharged in its development, though the exact magnitude depended on whether there had been any outside influence. That didn¡¯t necessarily mean life seeding, but even simple bacteria ending up in the system by coincidence could have skipped a large part of the process. Anton reached out to the star, infusing it with his power- but not with any intention to form a bond. Not yet, at least. Even so, he was infusing it with the power of Unity. If Anton¡¯s experience hadn¡¯t failed him, he should be able to achieve his desired results with that. The power of Unity resonated with the residents of the system, and Anton felt pulses of responses. Nothing conscious, exactly, but responses nonetheless. Klar wasn¡¯t ready to accept a bonded star, and the main resonance came from the one planet Anton had already surveyed, plus one more- and then a very weak response from space itself. Something of sufficient sapience might be hiding there, or perhaps sufficient cultivation strength or quantities of lesser thinking ability could produce the same response. The feedback Anton received was sufficient to guide his future actions, even if he couldn¡¯t perfectly interpret the results. But he¡¯d likely get better at it- and he could perform his test again as he felt he was making progress. ----- Anton had no need to visit Bear Hug. The algae based individual was one of the few that Anton was certain would be accepting of him bonding to the local star. But just because Anton didn¡¯t need to do it didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t going to. It would be rude to come into the neighborhood and just ignore your friend. After the traditional greeting, Bear Hug stepped back, gesturing broadly with their general limbs and rallying their energy to speak. ¡°You were with the star?¡± One thing Anton had to accept was that language was mutable- as long as the information was conveyed, that was all that mattered. There were already as many dialects as there were different people Anton interacted with- including the Alliance members who had invented the language. They were the ones who had a harder time letting go of their grammatical structure. Anton just tried to make sure that anyone who met would be mutually intelligible. ¡°Yes,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I am responsible for the phenomenon with the star,¡± Anton explained. ¡°You will be part of the star?¡± The way Bear Hug¡¯s energy twisted in and around itself actually seemed to imply a mutual entanglement. A good sign for a bond. ¡°The plan is to become that way in the future,¡± Anton replied with his energy. It could also be interpreted as ¡®to grow into something¡¯. He¡¯d been speaking with a lot of plants. Bear Hug nodded- actually nodded, though they had little neck to speak of and only a vague blob for a head. ¡°The soil and season are not yet ready.¡± For not actually growing in the ground, Bear Hug sure took to plant metaphors quickly. And for maybe being technically not a plant by certain definitions. ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Anton confirmed once more. ¡°Do you need assistance?¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be necessary. Maybe moral support. And if anyone happens to come by, let them know I would like to speak with them. If you can communicate.¡± ¡°Energy speech is easy to learn,¡± Bear Hug said. ¡°I will teach.¡± If anything actually showed up around Bear Hug while Anton was on planet, Anton would know. He constantly monitored his friend, for the sake of their safety. He wouldn¡¯t be able to bear it if something happened and he could have stopped it. As Bear Hug moved, Anton noticed something. Patches of brown among vibrant green. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Anton asked. As part of the question, his energy gestured to the part in question.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Bear Hug looked down- mimicking Anton¡¯s movements, even though it was pointless to move the head to see anything if one had no eyes. Or actual head. A mass of brown pushed to the surface, and then was pulled out by a ¡®hand¡¯. Bear Hug tossed it away into the lake. ¡°Not a problem. Some death and decay is natural. Will grow more. I need occasional¡­ pruning?¡± That was a good enough word. Anton supposed for a mass of algae, it wouldn¡¯t be troublesome to lose a body part. Obviously cutting a limb off of a tree produced a permanent change, but in some cases it was necessary- and they could simply grow more. Other sorts of plants were even more mutable than that, and Bear Hug was just a colony. Anton supposed that as long as sufficient mass existed, so would Bear Hug. It sounded a bit concerning to know that Bear Hug might stop existing if they lost enough of their body, but¡­ that was also generally true of humans. The quantities were simply different depending on what was lost. Bear hug could probably lose a ¡®head¡¯ or even a ¡®torso¡¯ without any lasting damage. Though maybe the latter might be too much all at once. Anton certainly didn¡¯t intend to test that. ¡°I¡¯m going to be traveling around, settling the concerns of others,¡± Anton explained, returning them back to the topic of Unity. He hadn¡¯t really expected people to trust a stranger, especially when most of those people he¡¯d met had been isolated individuals. He¡¯d just wanted to get a vague sense of locations so he could have somewhere to start looking. ¡°I will come with you,¡± Bear Hug said. ¡°Are you certain? It may be dangerous.¡± Anton would of course do his best to protect his friend- and it was unlikely that there would be anything too dangerous- but it wasn¡¯t just traveling with Anton that would be dangerous. Instead, it would be associating with him. ¡°I might make enemies,¡± Anton said. ¡°And I will not always be here.¡± ¡°Dangers always exist. But I am strong.¡± Bear Hug looked around in an exaggerated fashion. ¡°I have encountered an issue. I cannot carry a lake.¡± Anton could. But that would be a bit disruptive. ¡°You could carry part of it,¡± Anton pointed out. ¡°Keep it around you,¡± he said as he demonstrated, forming a sort of bubble around him. ¡°I should be around it,¡± Bear Hug said. In the end, they pulled up a portion of lake into and around them. Bear Hug paused. ¡°I have concerns about the danger. I will stay here.¡± ¡°That might be for the best,¡± Anton agreed. ¡°I would enjoy your company, but I would not wish to see you hurt.¡± ¡°I will not get hurt,¡± Bear Hug said. ¡°I am safe in my lake. When are you leaving?¡± ¡°I only planned to stop by for a short time,¡± Anton said. ¡°Very well. Let us go.¡± ¡°... I thought you said you were staying.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You just implied you were coming with me.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do both of those things.¡± Bear Hug was clearly thinking hard- hard enough that no physical motions were made. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t come with you?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say that. I just said you can¡¯t do both things.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t?¡± Bear Hug looked very confused. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t?¡± Clearly they were failing some sort of communication. Anton was fairly certain he hadn¡¯t mixed up the words, but the meanings might not have been delivered properly to begin with. ¡°You can come with me if you want, and stay here if you want. I¡¯m going to go now,¡± Anton explained. He turned and began to walk away from the lake at a slow pace, paying attention for whatever Bear Hug said. Then his friend tore in half. One half flopped into the lake, floating on the surface as a shapeless mass. The other turned into a child-sized mass, plodding forward. ¡°Yes, I want to go with you. And I want to stay here.¡± ¡°Oh. So you can do both,¡± Anton said. ¡°I was not aware of that. Is it safe? How far apart can you be?¡± To Anton¡¯s understanding, Bear Hug functioned by being a combined mass carrying energy. He didn¡¯t sense any sort of link between the two- was there just another Bear Hug? Was one of them a different person now? Or was there merely a connection he couldn¡¯t sense? ¡°Beyond the horizon is how far,¡± Bear Hug explained. That was either not very far, or ¡®endless¡¯. ¡°Let me know if you have any problems,¡± Anton said. ¡°For now, we really must begin.¡± ----- There were a few things Anton took for granted, like walking and talking at the same time. Or walking and manipulating energy. Or¡­ having a skeletal structure. Bear Hug was only partially capable of those first things, and the last was certainly not the case. Short legs didn¡¯t help with their walking pace either. Speaking consumed energy, even if only a small amount, and so did walking. Even more so because Bear Hug was carrying a mass of water at the same time. Thus it was that they stopped to meditate after just a couple of hours at a slow pace. They stopped in the sun, and Anton watched as Bear Hug clumsily absorbed energy while trying to maintain a form. The net gains were rather slow, so Anton did his best to smooth out the incoming energy to make it more easily absorbed by his friend. In the future, they should at least try to find a pond or something. ¡°Have I made you too slow?¡± Bear Hug asked with worry, energy swirling slightly. ¡°I have lived a very long time,¡± Anton said. ¡°Sometimes, the pace is slow.¡± He truly didn¡¯t mind. Sure, he could have covered the same distance in a single second, but he would have missed seeing so many things along the way. He would of course ¡®see¡¯ them, but only technically. Anton had some concerns about the separated parts of Bear Hug. The mass back at the lake was happily cultivating, but Anton was concerned that this might result in some sort of split consciousness. He wouldn¡¯t mind two individuals with the same personality, but it would be better to not end up that way accidentally. Bear Hug likely understood themself better than Anton would, but it wasn¡¯t as if all sapient individuals had perfect understandings of how they worked. But in this case, Anton simply had to trust that cultivation instincts would prevail. He did his best to monitor his friend''s water levels, leading them towards future sources of water. He had a decent understanding of the purity requirements, though Anton had to admit he¡¯d only really seen Bear Hug live two places, plus a short journey along the way. Chapter 1156 As Anton journeyed with Bear Hug, he also monitored another local friend. Liberty didn¡¯t move much, but after breaking free from the rock that Liberty had grown into the fir never again remained in a single position for more than a week. Though it might have perhaps been better for its physical growth, being confined clearly wasn¡¯t acceptable for the tree. It was unclear if Liberty would get along with Bear Hug, but that was only a theoretical possibility as they were quite some distance apart, nearly a quarter of a planet distant with a sea in the way. Not something either of them could feasibly travel, and it would be more meaningful if they did it themselves instead of just being carried around by Anton. Lacking any sort of central structure, Bear Hug clearly found it difficult to move, but still happily came along with Anton. At the same time, Bear Hug remained in their pond. There was no connection between the two, but the energies shared the same signature. Anton could almost certainly discern the full nature of the connection if he was willing to probe deeper into his companion¡¯s cultivation, but that would be a bit much. Observing what was displayed externally was one thing, but there was a limit to what made sense. Furthermore, Anton was uncertain if he might cause damage unknowingly. He would be fully confident with a human or even one of the cultivators of Akrys, but with the core of cultivation diverging so far from what he was used to he was cautious about interacting that deeply even aside from privacy concerns. As far as Anton could tell, Bear Hug did not sleep. He had attempted to ask, but the concept was conflated with rest and cultivation. In short, either Bear Hug could cultivate while sleeping, or simply did not seem to sleep. Obviously Bear Hug was more active during the day when they could photosynthesize, but inactivity at other times wasn¡¯t necessarily the same. Though Anton had warned of dangers, they were rarely attacked. Anton didn¡¯t completely erase his own presence, as it seemed unfair to anything acting on its instincts if something they picked as prey was suddenly strong. If they were just trying to eat, he couldn¡¯t blame them- though he might have to defend himself. Some things were willing to attempt to pick off Bear Hug, which likely seemed like a great boon. After all, most things wouldn¡¯t expect even plants with higher natural energy to defend themselves. Algae might seem out of place walking around, but such oddities could be overlooked by those looking for a potential meal. As they entered a clearing, a meter high creature with a sharp horn on its head charged into Bear Hug. Anton very much wanted to defend his friend, but his experience had told him that Bear Hug could defend themself from such things. And his reactions were fast enough to affect the situation even if it got bad. Bear Hug turned towards the incoming enemy, but did nothing more. The algae might seem to be standing in shock, but it was simply that moving was a waste of energy. The horn pierced right through their center of mass, and the algae flopped loosely over the beast that impaled them as water splashed everywhere. Then strands twisted around the head and neck of the creature that seemed to be in between a boar and rhinoceros. The beast had some level of natural energy that it instinctively used in defense, but such instincts could only go so far against intelligent control. Algae simply pushed its way into the creature''s head, breaking past the defenses with concentrated energy and driving into its brain. It stumbled and crashed into a tree, half uprooting it. Bear Hug disentangled themself, completely unfazed by the encounter. The hole in their center of mass was hardly a greater concern than if something parted some strands of Anton¡¯s hair. No doubt the beast had expected something moving around to have a more defined anatomy. The loss of most of their carried water was likely worse than any actual damage. ¡°What do we do with this?¡± Bear Hug asked. Speaking with energy, they had to pause to nudge the beast away from the base of the tree before shoving the tree back into approximately the right position. Once done with that exertion, Bear Hug continued. ¡°Do I cook and ¡®eat¡¯ it? I don¡¯t think I eat.¡± ¡°Since it is dead, it¡¯s reasonable to try to consume it,¡± Anton said. ¡°But given that you don¡¯t live in soil and don¡¯t have a stomach, I¡¯m not sure what you can do. If you can absorb its natural energy directly, that might be all you can manage.¡± ¡°Let us find a lake with fish.¡± Bear Hug scaled a tree, extending their energy senses as far as they went- which was around a hundred meters. The algae was fairly strong, something near Essence Collection, but was not trained for distance sensing. ¡°Anton. Why do you mount a tree to find things far away?¡± ¡°Because I have sight,¡± he explained. ¡°If there is nothing but air or water in a direct line between myself and what I want to see, I can sense it. Like the sun,¡± Anton pointed. Bear Hug seemed confused. ¡°Even at night when it is far away?¡± ¡°... The sun doesn¡¯t actually go away. It¡¯s just blocked by the planet.¡± ¡°The planet is big, isn¡¯t it? That means the sun is very far at night. But during the day it is right here.¡± Anton took the time to explain to Bear Hug that the sunlight and the sun were not really the same thing. Or at least, not as humans tended to speak about them. In the case of Maheg, Anton thought of the sunlight it radiated as like his own energy, but he supposed that until it reached a certain point it might actually be part of the star. Cultivator¡¯s energy wasn¡¯t an intrinsic part of them in the same way, though losing it would be just as bad as losing a limb, if not far worse. Thus, it couldn¡¯t really be considered as something separate. Bear Hug actually moved much more smoothly with a smaller complement of water, though clearly Anton¡¯s algae based friend was eager to get back to greater quantities of water. Anton himself was carrying the beast, because Bear Hug couldn¡¯t manage that while at the same time effectively puppeteering their own body. Lev could probably help with that, though he did have a rigid structure to work with.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Anton wondered what response plant cultivators would have to the other sort of plant cultivators. They could feel threatened, perhaps. It would also be interesting to see what another grasping willow would develop into. Lev had more trees. Would it become sapient? Clearly different species had independently ended up that way, though exactly why was still unclear. Abundant natural energy wasn¡¯t sufficient, so the system must have some subtle properties that influenced things in that direction. Eventually, Anton splashed the beast into a decent sized lake. A rotting corpse could pollute water, but at the same time lake creatures and plants could feed off of the nutrients. Rot was disgusting, but perfectly natural and part of an important process. Though it might be less efficient on a large corpse, so Anton was considering chopping up the creature so that none of the more problematic consequences of decay would easily develop. Bear Hug flopped into the water, then wrapped themself vaguely around the corpse. Rather than leeching natural energy from the body, they took it from the water as it slowly diffused out. It was an interesting process, but quite slow. ----- In the morning, Anton ended up scattering most of it around the area, some in the lake and some in the woods for scavengers. Bear Hug wouldn¡¯t be able to get much more use unless they waited around for days or weeks. After seeing he was up, Bear Hug came up to Anton and wrapped around him in greeting. ¡°Happy morning! Enjoy the sun!¡± Just the previous day, Anton had seen Bear Hug move in much the same way before killing the attacking beast, but he was not afraid. After all, if he feared hugs from everyone that could kill such a thing then almost everyone he knew would qualify. He was no more afraid of his new friend hurting him than most humans. Especially not as he became more in tune with his friend¡¯s emotions. They were muted in some ways, but no less real. Curiosity, fear, happiness, anger. Positive and negative depending on the situation. With no face or actual body, such emotions were expressed mainly through control of energy- but small fluctuations in said energy also gave things away subconsciously, just like humans. As they walked along over the next few days, the conversations between Anton were mostly him trying to explain what humans lived like. The concept of family, having others around that could think and feel, seemed to be quite attractive to Bear Hug. ¡°There,¡± Bear Hug said. ¡°A new friend.¡± Anton extended his senses in the direction Bear Hug indicated. ¡°Are you certain?¡± He could certainly see how the tree might give off the signature of active cultivation instead of just being full of natural energy. ¡°You don¡¯t feel it?¡± Anton shrugged, then relayed the expression through energy. ¡°I¡¯m just as new to this as you are.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to say hello,¡± Bear Hug said. They walked closer to the tree. ¡°Hello. I know you don¡¯t speak yet, but my name is Bear Hug.¡± Though the tree certainly wouldn¡¯t know the language, the whole point was that any sort of energy cultivator should at least be able to tell something intentional was happening. It was made not with sounds, but with movements of energy. It involved a whole lot of pointing. ¡°You appear to be stuck,¡± Bear Hug continued. ¡°Do you require assistance?¡± At that point, Anton noticed that Bear Hug was actually speaking to ivy growing on the tree. ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be like that,¡± Anton said, indicating the aerial roots sticking onto the tree. Anton had to admit that the flow of energy in the ivy was a bit more lively, but he still hadn¡¯t felt a proper reaction. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re supposed to be like that,¡± Bear Hug said. ¡°Do you want more sunlight?¡± Bear Hug mimed slicing through branches on nearby trees, though it was only tiny threads of energy with no real power instead of actual cutting. ¡°This one doesn¡¯t talk much.¡± Anton was actually willing to bet that it simply wasn¡¯t sapient. But with how sure Bear Hug had been, he wasn¡¯t going to declare that for certain. ¡°What did you notice that made you think this one is what we¡¯re looking for?¡± ¡°Active energy intake.¡± It didn¡¯t feel the same for Anton as what Bear Hug did, but perhaps he shouldn¡¯t expect it to. ¡°Did it stop?¡± ¡°Yes. Do you think we feel threatening?¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite possible,¡± Anton said. ¡°Let us give some space.¡± Bear Hug dejectedly slunk away. Perhaps they had been expecting all others to react precisely as they did, curious about the moving thing clearly intentionally trying to interact. But sometimes people wanted to be left alone. As for determining whether Bear Hug was right or not, they set up vaguely nearby. Not so close as to be problematic, but Bear Hug gave up the comfort of a proper pond overnight and instead continued to hold themself together with their bubble of water during that time. The slow expenditure of energy seemed to be balanced by an equally slow absorption of the water and the natural energy within it. As long as there was no active movement, Bear Hug maintained a pretty decent equilibrium. Anton decided not to sleep, keeping an eye on his friend and the ivy. It was quite boring, just sitting in the woods for a number of hours and not even cultivating, but he was rewarded for his patience when morning came. It was subtle, but he both saw and felt the ivy shift as the sun crested the horizon. Plants were known to adjust themselves to the sunlight, but it was usually a very slow process. This involved a very small nudge of active natural energy, almost as if trying to avoid notice. But Anton noticed, and Bear Hug did too. The algae jumped up. ¡°Good morning! Happy sunlight!¡± They hugged Anton, then rather daringly approached the ivy, extending a tendril of drooping material. The ivy jerked away. That more than anything else was a clear sign. Anton knew that it wasn¡¯t an attack, but Bear Hug¡¯s movements were necessarily imbued with natural energy and the ivy certainly might not know. There were a few tense moments, before Bear Hug demonstrated by shaking together their own limbs, making vague representations of leaf shapes with energy to show one of them should be the ivy. The ivy slowly extended, just barely letting Bear Hug touch it. Then it yanked away, ripping a few strands of Bear Hug with it- seemingly unintentionally ¡°Wow, that¡¯s an aggressive handshake!¡± Bear Hug commented. ¡°You¡¯re not very good at that. Let¡¯s try again.¡± Chapter 1157 Slowly and patiently Bear Hug extended part of themself towards the nearby ivy that had just torn off part of it. About ninety percent of the way to actually touching the vine, they stopped and waited. Anton watched Bear Hug hold the pose for several minutes. For a human non-cultivator, their arm might have gotten tired holding such a pose. Bear Hug had no skeletal structure, which meant all support had to be actively maintained by their own energy. It was about the same as constantly levitating material. But Bear Hug waited, until slowly the ivy dared to cross the last bit of distance, wrapping around. The two twisting bits of greenery waggled up and down¡­ and down and up. Left and right and in and out and eventually the ivy realized it was supposed to let go. ¡°You did good!¡± Bear Hug said, indicating their new friend. ¡°We can also do that like this.¡± Bear Hug extended just a thin strand of energy, waiting. The ivy responded more quickly this time. Their energies touched, providing a level of feedback that their bodies likely didn¡¯t possess. Yet Bear Hug still clearly preferred physical contact. ¡°Good, you¡¯re learning.¡± Bear Hug repeated the word good frequently, likely because Anton had done the same. As the only example of teaching language, that was only natural. Over the next few days they came and went- there wasn¡¯t anywhere comfortable for Bear Hug to rest within close proximity of the tree. Anton, being the odd member of the bunch, preferred to allow Bear Hug to interface with the new friend most directly. However, he also participated in energy conversation with Bear Hug for purposes of demonstration. Slowly, the ivy came to understand the basics. It seemed they were shy more than unable to understand, but eventually the concept of names came up. Referencing people that were present was simple, but signs for names came about when people couldn¡¯t be directly pointed out. Bear Hug was a particular folding and entangling of energy representing the action they were named after, while Anton went with a bow shaped with the warmth of the sun. The latter was a bit more complicated, but most cultivators would be able to make a vague approximation of the feeling even if they didn¡¯t use fire. Ultimately, the bow would be sufficient unless other humans arrived or someone else picked up weaponry. The ivy eventually ended up with a name that took a simplistic representative form, a curving line representing coiling around a tree. Helix. Anton thought it was a good name when translated into actual words, and a unique enough form to be recognizable. Eventually flourishes might be necessary once there were enough known individuals to have overlap in their name structures, but it was unlikely anyone would be taking the name ¡®spring¡¯ as in the mechanical object any time soon, so Helix was plenty distinct. The concept of days was clear enough to every plant- heat and cold of the sun. Thus, they were eventually able to communicate that they would be going away for many days, but would return. ¡°We need to find other people to talk to,¡± Bear Hug explained. ¡°I can¡¯t be here and there and over there very well, so I have to go.¡± Helix waved goodbye. They did not appear particularly sad nor happy at the parting. That was good enough, at least. When they were on their way a few hours out, Bear Hug twisted around. ¡°We forgot to ask Helix to accept you being the sun!¡± Anton shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not important. Though it is also more likely now regardless, creating connections between people is the most important. I want you to be able to get along.¡± ¡°But things would be better if you were part of the sun, wouldn¡¯t they?¡± ¡°My answer would be biased towards that, since it is what I already do. But it may not be the case.¡± Of course, after reaching Unity people would be guided towards a more harmonious world with a bound star around, but there was some possibility that it wouldn¡¯t be as beneficial for people who were so different. Though if Anton grew to understand the locals better- what they wanted and needed- then that problem should theoretically solve itself. There could be sapient creatures somewhere that were alien enough he couldn¡¯t grow to understand them, though. Or they might have incompatible needs. A world that was significantly unbalanced might be difficult to bring into unity without causing some harm to some of its residents. Anton knew that it was impossible to live in a way that caused no harm to anyone or anything, but striving for ideal results was the best thing about being a cultivator. He¡¯d rather not make any big mistakes, and at his level of power it would not require much of his power to make a massive mistake. Though that was only if he wasn¡¯t careful with his control. ----- As they traveled, Anton taught Bear Hug how to sense things further away. Previously Bear Hug had traveled from location to location along waterways, and while that was a useful method it also greatly restricted the directions and areas of travel. If they were to be exploring the entire region, more mobility would be required. Anton was always happy to find water sources for Bear Hug, but Anton wanted to promote independence. Currently, he was watching Bear Hug get eaten alive. Very slowly by a swarm of small fish. Bear Hug didn¡¯t seem to mind. From what Anton could tell, they had moved all of the older and soon to be dead pieces to their outer surface. Human bodies recycled dead cells automatically, and algae likely did as well, but having entire sections die off was strange. From what Anton understood, those were older and ¡®worse¡¯ iterations of Bear Hug¡¯s body. They didn¡¯t seem concerned and overall kept up the same amount of biomass, so Anton just accepted it. Over the course of weeks, they had traveled far enough to change into a hotter climate, the beginnings of something resembling rainforest. Bear Hug was excited to see dense plant life and very much enjoyed frequent rains- which was why Anton had chosen the direction they were headed. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. While Bear Hug had difficulty traversing terrain in general, what might be considered obstacles weren¡¯t really the issue. Except for cliffs that completely blocked movement unless climbed over, the strands of algae and water easily fit through and around any sort of obstruction. Dense foliage and bushes weren¡¯t a problem except that some strands got left behind. Bear Hug rarely bothered to disentangle any bits. ¡°Oh!¡± Bear Hug¡¯s energy bounced up and down in excitement. ¡°Look, a friend with a pond inside them! This is a good place to sleep for the night.¡± Bear Hug rapidly approached an enormous pitcher plant- large enough to catch more than bugs, but it might even be large enough to catch humans- if there were humans to catch. Anton detected a few remains of bones at the bottom, which was telling. ¡°No,¡± Anton said. ¡°That¡¯s not good for sleeping in. It¡¯s bad water.¡± ¡°... Why?¡± Bear Hug asked. ¡°Because that¡¯s actually the stomach of that plant. Animals fall in there and can¡¯t get out, and it dissolves them.¡± Bear Hug pondered for a few moments. ¡°That makes sense. It¡¯s a pretty devious trap. Do you think that one set it up on purpose?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s sapient,¡± Anton said. ¡°I have observed similar plants that are that way naturally. And one elsewhere of a similar form but smaller in magnitude. Do you sense any active energy control?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Bear Hug admitted. ¡°I was just hopeful.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll find a new friend soon, I¡¯m certain.¡± ----- Soon was relative, but eventually they came upon a large briar patch that if nothing else possessed significant natural energy. It was clear to Anton that the whole thing was a single entity- including spines as well as various bladelike features. That was about as far as his observations got when Bear Hug ran forward. ¡°Don¡¯t scare people!¡± Anton called out. Bear Hug slowed down, just in time for a blade to swipe in front of them. Unlike when the beast had stabbed them, this clearly had natural energy control. The swipe extended a good meter beyond the end of the wide blade, slicing a finger¡¯s length into the front of Bear Hug and severing a number of strands. Instantly, Anton formed an energy bow and arrows in his hands, firing it towards the briar patch. ¡°No!¡± Bear Hug gestured, clearly towards him. ¡°Let it be!¡± Anton¡¯s arrow curved upwards before dissipating. He had been ready to transform it into a wide blade, cutting apart the entire patch at once. ¡°It attacked you.¡± ¡°They were probably scared,¡± Bear Hug said. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Bear Hug displayed a calming aura, taking half a step forward. Bear Hug was blasted backwards twenty meters. They were nice and perhaps incautious, but not a complete fool. While their defensive energy had been loose during the first attack, Bear Hug had prepared for the second and solidified their energy. Thus being knocked back instead of¡­ whatever else might have happened. While Anton didn¡¯t expect that a small bit of cutting would be ultimately fatal for his friend, there had to be some limit. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡± Anton asked Bear Hug. He continued to observe the briar patch, noting that there was a significant lack of other vegetation nearby- following a trail. It seemed to be able to move to some extent, though at the moment it appeared sessile. Bear Hug stood up, brushing themself off- removing twigs and dirt. Vaguely. ¡°Yes, I just need to try again.¡± Stubborn. Anton liked that. He watched as Bear Hug approached again. This time, a different shaped blade- closer to an axe head- chopped down from above. The direct clash of natural energy went in favor of Bear Hug for the first exchange, but attacks repeatedly rained down, intentionally avoiding flinging Bear Hug away. Anton watch closely as some of the body twisted around behind Bear Hug. The one good thing about not having sensory organs was that Bear Hug never really got too used to having a front and a back. Long stems whipped forward in an attempt to pull Bear Hug closer to an inevitable demise, but the algae simply split apart, shielding their divided body and then rolling backwards. Only some water was lost. ¡°I don¡¯t think they understand I am friendly.¡± Anton paused for a moment. ¡°I think they eat plants.¡± ¡°... But not thinking ones, right?¡± Anton shrugged. ¡°Maybe they do. Maybe they haven¡¯t met any.¡± The briar patch crawled forward visibly, with Bear Hug keeping a more cautious distance as they tried to communicate. However, any strands of energy that reached out were severed by various attacks. The briar patch was quite good at picking out such strands of energy and reacting to anything. Anton also thought that it was paying attention to him while fighting Bear Hug. Bear Hug was stubborn, and continued to make attempts. Energy was severed or consumed as a defensive measure again and again, late into the evening. Bear Hug had lost perhaps a quarter of their mass and was barely able to hold their form together when Anton finally managed to get them to stop for the night. ¡°You need to rest. I don¡¯t know how close you are to dying but¡­¡± Even if this body wasn¡¯t important- which it might be- he¡¯d rather not have Bear Hug push that far. ¡°You need to rest and recover. We¡¯ll come back, if you really want to.¡± Bear Hug reluctantly agreed, breaking into a full retreat. Anton stood watch during the night, and the next day as Bear Hug sulked in a nearby river, latched onto some rocks so that they did not drift away. ¡°Why don¡¯t they want to be friends?¡± ¡°People who have never had a friend don¡¯t understand how nice it is,¡± Anton said. And sometimes, people were just violent and murderous. Sapience didn¡¯t equate to friendliness or sociability, just the ability to reason in certain manners. Active cultivation made it fairly clear that the briar patch understood something¡­ and seemed to not care that Bear Hug wasn¡¯t a threat. But perhaps it had previous bad experiences with others. It was highly likely that the first encounters anything had with another sapient was combative in some way. Though they might mutually decide that fighting wasn¡¯t worthwhile. In the morning, Bear Hug was significantly more full of natural energy and had recovered some lost mass. Anton was prepared to allow them another chance, though he would be ready to yank them away as necessary. Chapter 1158 Ten days. Ten brutal days in a row, Bear Hug repeatedly threw themselves at the briar patch, hoping for any sort of interaction beyond violence. Anton was willing to give up the briars as hopeless. On the tenth day, the long stemmed creature didn¡¯t whip any blades at Bear Hug as they approached. Instead, they reached out a single spiny branch. Bear Hug reached out, wrapping a portion of their algae strands around the proffered limb. About the time elation filled Anton¡¯s friend, the thorn patch attacked all at once. Anton nearly annihilated the briar patch despite Bear Hug¡¯s insistence. Surely, they hadn¡¯t meant for him to allow that. Bear Hug was constantly making active use of their own energy to retain a form, so they were not caught entirely stagnant by the sudden move. Much of what remained was torn away, Bear Hug¡¯s energy control stripped away as the briar patch captures chunks of algae. Yet half of Bear Hug¡¯s effort was to tell Anton not to interfere, while the rest went to shooting a chunk of algae the size of two fists towards Anton. The small clump was only a tiny portion of Bear Hug. ¡°I don¡¯t think¡­¡± weak energy limply spoke. ¡°That our friend is ready to talk to anyone right now.¡± With that, Bear Hug collapsed, entrusting their corporeal form to Anton. His senses told him the other body back at the lake was trembling- this was far too close to true destruction. It wasn¡¯t too late to tear apart the briar patch and steal back more of Bear Hug¡­ but Anton followed their wishes. However, he didn¡¯t take the situation casually. One step, and Anton was at a nearby lake, dipping his friend into the waters. Hungry fish that like to nibble were kept away by a barrier of energy. Anton amplified the incoming sunlight to bolster the water, and was pleased to see that his friend was hungrily drinking in the power. At every moment, Anton was tempted to just destroy the aggressor. Bear Hug had to learn that sometimes, people weren¡¯t nice. Not everyone was going to be a friend, or even cordial. Sometimes, people wanted to tear you apart and devour you. In that way, they were worse than beasts. At least beasts were acting without malice simply out of hunger, but it was clear to both Anton and Bear Hug that the briar patch was more than simply mobile plant matter. Three days passed with Bear Hug¡¯s secondary body in a bitter state. Anton still didn¡¯t understand what the split meant, but whether his friend was dying or merely maimed the circumstances hurt Anton as well. Perhaps as the strongest party present he should have taken responsibility and stopped things long before. ----- ¡°I¡¯m ready to try again,¡± Bear Hug said. They were currently a collection of algae the size of Anton¡¯s head, about doubled in volume from their low point. Their energy felt something like an unstable Spirit Building cultivator. ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Anton said. This was where he had to draw the line. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t survive.¡± Bear Hug thought for a while. ¡°You could save me.¡± ¡°Yes. But if you sustained any more damage, I¡¯m certain it would be debilitating. So I¡¯d have to destroy the briar patch.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to do that. You¡¯re strong. You could just¡­¡± ¡°Suppress it with my overwhelming energy?¡± Anton suggested. ¡°I don¡¯t think threats would accomplish what you want. You don¡¯t make friends that way. And so, if I have to act it will be the end of things.¡± Bear Hug floundered around for a little, flopping around on the surface and creating ripples. That was a way they physically expressed their displeasure without words. ¡°Can¡¯t you just make them listen?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± Anton declared. Solving a situation with brute force generally just resulted in death. Sometimes it was necessary, but it was rarely good. Anton wouldn¡¯t mind destroying the duplicitous briar patch, but it would upset Bear Hug. Thus, he had to bring an end to things. Bear Hug thought for a while longer, slowly cultivating and regrowing. ¡°I¡¯ll have to grow stronger myself. I can do that, then come back here.¡± Anton sighed. His energy shaped words for his friend. ¡°If you want to try that, I won¡¯t stop you. But it might grow more quickly than you. After all, it consumed much of your energy.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t work forever,¡± Bear Hug said. ¡°They¡¯ll get all jumbled up. I don¡¯t want that. So I¡¯ll have to get strong fast enough to set them on the right path.¡± Anton didn¡¯t have it in himself to dash Bear Hug¡¯s motivations and tell them not to try to be a good person. And seeing that instead of depression their response was motivation, he wasn¡¯t too worried about their first exposure to malignancy would forever ruin them. ¡°We¡¯ll seek out somewhere good for you to grow,¡± Anton said. ¡°Would being in just one place help?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°That¡¯s a long walk. Too many days,¡± Bear Hug said. Anton wanted to point out he could bring them together in mere seconds, but decided against it. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s actually better. We¡¯ll go like this.¡± Anton nodded. He needed to find waters overflowing with natural energy¡­ but not too many predators that might want to eat Bear Hug. As his energies swept around, he thought about whether he would prefer that his friend was willing to sacrifice their life to try to make a friend or if Bear Hug believing they wouldn¡¯t die was better. One was more sensible, the other noble. Noble sacrifices were usually foolish- failing to accomplish the actual goal- but Anton couldn¡¯t help but respect them in some way. ----- The movements of people were weird. That was what Velvet¡¯s instincts told her, though she couldn¡¯t say why. Cultivators moving to claim systems for a particular goal- that of stretching the pact around the Scarlet Midfields while also pushing what the Alliance would let them get away with made sense. Everyone wanted to try to take as much as they could. The void ants at the turn of the tides of the world had been a decent excuse. Velvet understood all of that, and that they would bring in a supporting population of lesser cultivators and non-cultivators. But there were too many, and she couldn¡¯t say why she thought that. In fact, their numbers might not have been the actual problem. If it was a small group, she might have resolved to believe they were spies- but that didn¡¯t exactly match up. Would the Exalted Quadrant be spying on the Exalted Quadrant? Absolutely, yes. But she couldn¡¯t imagine how this would be efficient. And spies were just her personal first guess because of her own occupation. In short, she only understood that something was wrong with the masses of people. Maybe it was just that they were far poorer than she expected. Some people didn¡¯t even have enough to eat, which was insane because the planet was producing more than enough food. It was like ancient Ceretos, back before unification. The Exalted Quadrant had held together for millennia, how could they not have solved this issue? Oh right. It was because they didn¡¯t care. If people weren¡¯t cultivators, they didn¡¯t matter. Everyone in the Scarlet Alliance was a cultivator, at least to some extent, but that wouldn¡¯t have been enough. Nobody cared about potential unless they also had connections. In fact, those with potential that weren¡¯t part of some larger group were either snapped up or eliminated as threats. How annoying. Velvet decided to go look at turtles. The Ponderous Turtle Clan had been quite prolific about settling one particular planet. It had a decent atmosphere and tolerably lively seas, so that was something. The turtles were just turtles though. Kind of big sea turtles and little more. Nothing even resembled the size that the Exalted One Cynbel was supposed to possess, and they certainly weren¡¯t like Paradise. Paradise was great. He roamed around and provided a port for ships, even before people actually knew what he was. He was a noble turtle that provided a home for a whole sect and hunted the terrors of the sea. And then there were pet turtles. Velvet thought they were pretty decent turtles, but that was it. Clan members rode them around, including underwater. They directed them with special reigns when they were about the size of horses. Maybe Velvet was biased, but they felt more like a clan that had turtles than a proper turtle clan. But enough of that. She had to determine if they were planning to invade the Scarlet Alliance. If so, would it be now or later? A year, a decade, a century? Were they building up a new empire that would try to crush the Alliance in a millennium? Obviously they wouldn''t be able to do it alone, but if this was just a way of expanding their growth as part of the Exalted Quadrant, the Ponderous Turtle Clan could be part of some greater operation. Unfortunately, nobody went around speaking about their plans, and they didn¡¯t just carry papers that talked about secret plans either. All of the stated goals were to confirm the annihilation of void ants- which was stupid because people didn¡¯t have to settle a planet for that. Storage bags were a pain. Without them people might leave important documents back at some office just for the taking. If there were only a few layers of security alarms and traps, they were as good as out in the open. However, Velvet found it was much more difficult to reach into someone¡¯s storage bag and pull out a bunch of papers, scrolls, and communication devices. She could do it, obviously. It was just a much slower process. She had way more information than she wanted to know about how many people were sleeping with other people behind their official partner¡¯s backs. And that wasn¡¯t even the information that was counted as worthy of being blackmail material. The steady flow of information was no doubt going to be valuable for their information warfare division. The potential ways that the Scarlet Alliance could deploy information to sow division in their neighbors were growing. For the most part they were resisting such influence within themselves, but obviously Velvet couldn¡¯t say trillions of individuals were without corruption. That was why they had special security for all of the important things. One piece of information Velvet had actually tied to the Ponderous Turtle Clan- through the lower realms. It was top secret not because the particular piece of information was particularly important, but because of the category it fell into. Specifically, Everheart. Everheart seemed to have more enemies than there were people in the galaxy, and for good reason. He was dangerous and an asshole. Just recently, he¡¯d taken several systems from the Citadel of Exalted Light¡¯s territory. The Scarlet Alliance didn¡¯t mind when it was their enemies, but at any time Everheart could turn away from his vaguely neutral stance towards them. And it wasn¡¯t like he hadn¡¯t stolen from them at any point. As for the pertinent connection, it was actually Paradise. Nobody knew the full truth, but Paradise had likely been stolen from the Ponderous Turtle Clan in the lower realms. Then he became ¡®Everheart¡¯s Turtle¡¯. A few centuries passed and everyone forgot that, while Paradise grew even bigger. Velvet wasn¡¯t going to say that Everheart couldn¡¯t raise a giant turtle up himself, but the independence certainly seemed to have boosted Paradise by more than a few kilometers. If Everheart had been a decent owner, he would have taken Paradise with him upon ascension. He had enough tricks that had to be possible. On the other hand, Paradise- or whatever he might have been called before- almost certainly would have become a casualty of the extremely frequent trouble Everheart got himself into. Just like almost everyone Everheart interacted with. Becoming a cultivator whose name was spoken throughout the upper realms- even as a curse- sure sounded like a lonely prospect. Then again, Everheart had friends now. Or allies. Or subordinates. Whatever they were, they only made him more dangerous. Chapter 1159 The logs of a long range independent probe sat in front of Engineer Uzun. It always felt better to pilot something himself compared to reviewing logs, but that was simply impossible with the task they had at hand. Even faster than light communication had its limit, even more so when one had to consider security factors. If a message took weeks or months to arrive, needless to say it was infeasible to actually pilot such a thing. Human operators would be more effective, if their cultivation was matched with the task, but they would also have to end up near the most dangerous places. But any good spying would take place somewhere dangerous. Uzun took in data from a variety of different sensors, not simply reading it off a screen but experiencing it- to some extent, at least. The probe was assigned to Exalted Quadrant territory, and had been tasked with gathering information about the Exalted Citadel. Despite Zaur Beridze¡¯s death, the sect hadn¡¯t completely collapsed. It wasn¡¯t quite the same as what happened to the Twin Soul Sect, with other sects converging upon it in chaos. Ludek had stopped things from devolving into complete chaos, though obviously losing their primary planet along with their sect head had significant consequences. The probe had detected unusual trade activity. That was what the summary of its automatic logs had logged. Uzun didn¡¯t have to review things himself, but for particular locations it was worthwhile to do so. Ships moving in and out of the system didn¡¯t mean anything by themself, but Uzun paid careful attention to the time lapse information. One issue was a greater quantity of ships coming through one of the Harmonious Citadel systems, but they would feasibly be rebuilding. Notable for the location, perhaps, but not actually unusual. But there were particular ships that had been flagged. Uzun was waiting for them to appear in the recordings. The automatic systems of the probe could have made a mistake, since it wasn¡¯t a true intelligence. That avenue of technological research was very carefully controlled, because even success would have great consequences. The Alliance didn¡¯t need to deal with such quandaries. The first ship in question that had been flagged didn¡¯t appear to be of interest, nor did the second, third, or so forth. However, given that some of the anomalies had been logged after the fact perhaps whatever was wrong hadn¡¯t risen to the level of a true pattern just from what he had seen. The ships all appeared to be typical. Aside from more passing through the area than he would have expected, Uzun didn¡¯t see much of note about them. But he paid close attention to the sensors. They picked up all sorts of energy reading, replicating them for human consumption. It wasn¡¯t as good as being there to scan the ships with his own energy, but it at least created a clear record of what could be felt passively. The ships weren¡¯t particularly high powered or special. They ran smoothly, but what ship wouldn¡¯t when flying through the vacuum of space? If it could move at all, it should have predictable acceleration. The Exalted Quadrant should have had millennia to perfect such ships, so Uzun didn¡¯t find anything odd. But then he figured it out. There was something off about the ships¡¯ formations. Without active barriers it was easier to sense some of the details. Nothing had stood out to Uzun because everything was the same. His Ruteran upbringing didn¡¯t think anything was odd about that, but he was reminded that not everyone grew up on worlds with precision manufacturing. Cultivators could be very exacting in their creations, but their work tended to be high quality or easily repeatable, not both. That wasn¡¯t because it was impossible for them to work with machine precision, but because high quality products were paid for by rich cultivators who didn¡¯t want something to be the same as everyone else. Maybe it was nothing. The Exalted Quadrant could use one manufacturer for much of their shipping vessel production. Uzun would have to check that¡­ and speak to Catarina about the formations. By itself, it didn¡¯t mean anything except that they continued to be active, which would probably be troublesome in the future. Hopefully centuries or more, but Uzun had to think about that because he hoped most people he cared about would still be around. ----- Bear Hug grew rapidly, replacing much of their lost mass within a few months. Or perhaps it was slowly, given the pace at which standard algae could replicate. Anton simply assumed that the body of a cultivator would be much more difficult to replace. Bear Hug didn¡¯t have much to say on the topic. There was one piece of evidence that Bear Hug was holding back. Specifically, Anton noticed that the other Bear Hug- or their other body, or however that worked out- was much larger. As in expanding from a few square meters to ten times that size in the same time. But that might have something to do with all day cultivation and growth without having to expend any energy for unnecessary things like walking. Anton¡¯s friend had been quite morose after failing to befriend the briar patch- or as they insisted, taking a long break between attempts to befriend that particular individual. Anton didn¡¯t know if that particular issue could be resolved peacefully, however. It was odd to watch the briar patch creeping along. It devoured everything in its path- mainly plants, but occasionally animals. Trees were taken down and mulched into more material, widening the spread of the briar patch. Some of the various protrusions were clearly meant to function as axes.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. A wake of devastation was left behind it. And yet, Anton didn¡¯t think that was necessarily bad. Certainly, there was a long stripe through the jungle behind it where nothing stood, but far enough along the trail of destruction and it had already been overgrown by new undergrowth. Trees would take much longer, but a single ravenous individual was not the end of an ecosystem. Nor was the briar patch focusing on a particular area. A single long line was far more manageable than an ever expanding circle, which might have been optimal if it wished to devour everything. A plant consuming other plants was an oddity, but not actually that concerning once Anton thought about it. Animals ate animals and plants, why would a plant not do the same if it could? The only issue that really stuck with Anton was its treatment of Bear Hug. A lack of regard for sapient life was a huge concern that he couldn¡¯t just pass up. Fortunately it didn¡¯t seem that such life was so populous that it was likely to come across anything soon. If it did, Anton would probably try to save anything he could. Without that bit, it was just something trying to grow as well as it could. It would have been a step better if it replanted behind it, but nothing was born with the knowledge of how to sustain long term growth in an ecosystem, least of all unique entities such as that. Maybe an encounter far in the future would be good for them. Bear Hug clearly wasn¡¯t going to give up, and Anton wasn¡¯t going to lie and say he couldn¡¯t find the briar patch when they finally asked. But for the moment, he was still going to enforce that Bear Hug try other things. Maybe they could meet some more ivy. Helix was nice. ----- The invasion began just above Anton. It could have been a coincidence, but it could have also been because he was a notable entity. Anton had sensed the swarm of spacefaring creatures approaching, but he hadn¡¯t expected them to simply drop into the atmosphere, certainly not in the way they did. It was a brutal descent, in which those individuals at the top of the pile used the ones in front as a sort of ablative shielding, wearing through their natural energy and then their bodies before the next layer of beasts took over. They dropped in large clumps, making use of their numbers to slow their descent. Surprisingly, over ninety percent of those involved seemed to land successfully. There wasn¡¯t even a crater as the beasts hit. Many of them had the ability to fly in the vacuum of space, so even if they couldn¡¯t do so entirely under the weight of gravity they at least slowed down enough that crashing into treetops slowed their fall enough more. ¡°Something fell!¡± Bear Hug excitedly gestured. ¡°Is that a shooting star?¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± Anton said as a swarm of what Anton would have considered unrelated beasts began to flow over the landscape towards them, devouring things along the way. The pace at which they moved made the briar patch look astoundingly temperate in their hunger. ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯re going to be friendly.¡± ¡°... Do they think?¡± Bear Hug asked. ¡°It¡¯s difficult to tell,¡± Anton admitted. He focused his senses. ¡°With so many of them, I would presume not more than animals.¡± The leaders of the swarm were stronger, but even paying special attention to them Anton didn¡¯t see a spark of intention. They were just faster, and thus they were out front- at least until they came across something they considered edible. The beasts of the swarm mostly seemed to avoid devouring each other. Mostly was the key word there, as occasionally they came into conflict over a particular bit of food and sometimes decided to go from a squabble over a particularly tasty bush or a juicy hunk of meat into eating each other. ¡°I did not think it would be this dangerous to leave my lake,¡± Bear Hug admitted, watching the approaching group with their energy senses. ¡°Anton can fly fast, so you should go.¡± ¡°I can carry you, you know.¡± ¡°I would slow you down. It¡¯s hard to carry things,¡± Bear Hug said. They folded themselves around Anton briefly, almost seeming to change their mind. Then they shoved Anton with all of their squishy might. Anton let himself be shoved a few meters back. ¡°Go! I will suffer only a partial death. Some of me will live at the lake, and we can meet again.¡± Anton really didn¡¯t like the wording there. ¡°I appreciate your nobility,¡± Anton said. ¡°But I didn¡¯t grow so strong to abandon my friends or allow them to sacrifice themselves.¡± Arrows weren¡¯t appropriate for Anton¡¯s next move. While he could target very large numbers of enemies at once, he didn¡¯t want to draw too much extra attention from other things living in the system. Otherwise, this planet could receive even more visitors. Anton was already worried that this might be his fault- though given the current arrangement of the planets, he thought it might be a repeated phenomenon. A spiral of flame appeared in front of Anton, forming into a wall of fire. The majority of the swarm didn¡¯t seem to find fire to be a good enough reason to stop, and the same principles of survival applied to them as they pushed through the barrier. Those in front mainly perished, but others lived. That said, the bodies impeded the progress of the swarm, and a few different sorts of creatures thought it was easier to eat roasted meat than bother continuing further. Bear Hug nervously flickered their energy towards Anton. ¡°You won¡¯t flee?¡± ¡°Not without you.¡± He could grab his friend and go. He would, if he had to. But Bear Hug needed to accept that violence sometimes happened. ¡°I am not good at running,¡± Bear Hug commented. They focused their energy on the charging horde. ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t come!¡± The words carried with them an intimidating power, sending some of the beasts reeling. Slowing them even for a moment staggered much of the horde for a second time after the wall of fire- which was now rapidly being stomped out. The leader of the pack was a large ape of some sort, and it swung towards Bear Hug with a large fist. Comparing it to the briar patch, Anton thought it was weaker and generally less of a threat, so he waited to see how Bear Hug would respond. They appeared to do nothing, but the way their energy mobilized actually meant they wrapped around the fist. The ape smashed the algae into the ground a few times to no visible effect. Then it simply pulled the mass towards its mouth, taking a great bite. Bear Hug¡¯s energy flared, hardening some of their strands into spikes inside the creature¡¯s mouth. The results were particularly gruesome, though perhaps not any more deadly than the aggressor had intended.